passage of light
vehicles.

"The people seem to have a peculiar affection for these ditches, and you
will often find that the Dutchman has his little private canal,
extending around his house, apparently only to gratify his national
vanity, though perhaps really it is his fence. Even here in Rotterdam, I
have noticed a filthy ditch, from four to ten feet wide, between the
house and the road. It is nearly filled with water, which is covered
with a vile green scum. The wonder is, that this stagnant water does not
breed a pestilence.

"The principal canals are sixty feet wide, and six feet deep, though of
course many in the cities and elsewhere, intended for the passage of
large vessels, are broader and deeper.

"With this imperfect statement of the physical characteristics, as a
basis for your observation, I leave the subject to say a few words about
the government and history of the country.

"William III. is the present king of the Netherlands. He is forty-seven
years old, and is a lineal descendant of William of Orange, and a
grandson, on the mother's side, of Czar Paul I. of Russia. He has a
salary, or civil list, of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars a year,
which is pretty fair pay for ruling over a kingdom about the size of the
State of Maryland, or of Massachusetts and Connecticut united, and
containing a population about equal to that of the State of New York.

"The government is a limited monarchy, the whole legislative power being
vested in the two chambers called the States General. The First Chamber
consists of thirty-nine members, elected by provincial councils, from
those inhabitants who pay the highest grade of taxes. The Second Chamber
contains seventy-two members, elected by general ballot; but only those
who pay taxes to the amount of fifty dollars a year are voters. All
measures appropriating money for any purpose must originate in the
Second Chamber, which is the popular body, and become laws only when
assented to by the sovereign and the First Chamber. The king executes
the laws with the aid of seven ministers, who receive a salary of five
thousand dollars a year.

"Free toleration is allowed to all religious sects. Protestants are
largely in the majority, the proportion being as twenty to twelve.
Education is generally diffused among the people. In 1863 the revenue of
the Netherlands amounted to forty-one millions of dollars. The Dutch
have extensive colonial possessions in the East and W