High life there is represented by members of the nobility and by such
high officials in the army, navy, and civil service as mix with that
nobility. Of course there are sets just as there are everywhere else, sets
as delightful to those who are in them as they are distasteful to
outsiders; but talent and money frequently succeed in making serious
inroads upon the preserves of noble birth. This is, however, unavoidable,
for the Netherlands were a republic for two centuries, and the scions of
the ancient houses are not over-numerous. They fought well in the wars of
their country against Spain, France, and Great Britain, but fighting well
in many cases meant extermination.

On the other hand, two centuries of republican rule are apt to turn any
republicans into patricians, particularly so if they are prosperous,
self-confident, and well aware of their importance. And a patrician
republic necessarily turns into an oligarchy. The prince-merchants of
Holland were Holland's statesmen, Holland's absolute rulers; two centuries
of heroic struggles, intrepid energy, crowned with success on all sides,
may even account for their belief that they were entrusted by the Almighty
with a special mission to bring liberty, equal rights, and prosperity to
other nations.

When, after Napoleon's downfall, the Netherlands constituted themselves a
kingdom, the depleted ranks of the aristocracy were soon amply filled from
these old patrician families. Clause 65 of the Netherlands constitution
says, 'The Queen grants nobility. No Dutchman may accept foreign
nobility.' This is the only occasion upon which the word nobility appears
in any code. No Act defines the status, privileges, or rights of this
nobility, because there are none. There is, however, a 'Hooge Raad van
Adel,' consisting of a permanent chairman, a permanent secretary, and