all religion. Through
the influence of France the Dutch became enslaved to vicious customs,
taste, modes of thought, and conversation. The etiquette of the
Parisians was domesticated among their northern imitators. The works
published in Holland were mere reproductions from the French, and many
of them were written in that language. The simplicity, truthfulness,
and attachment to old forms, which had so long existed, gave place to a
general spirit of innovation. The reverential and determined spirit that
had enabled their forefathers to gain their independence was no longer
apparent in the children. Liberal to a fault, Holland was now paying the
penalty of her excessive hospitality. Sensuality and superficial
epicureanism were at once the taste and the destruction of many of the
young minds of the country.

When the people of Holland began to awaken to their condition, they were
seized with a spirit akin to despair. The coldness of the church amid
all the attempts to destroy the basis of her faith appeared as the chill
of death. When the learned societies offered a prize in 1804 for the
best work on _The Cause and Cure of Religious Apathy_, they could not
find one to crown with their medal. Holland, finding herself unable to
keep pace with the quick step of French recklessness and irreligion,
bethought herself of finding refuge in Gallic politics. "Our people,"
says Bronsveld, "then became a second-hand on the great dial of the
French nation." Old men are now living who have not forgotten those days
when all distinctions vanished, when the only name heard was "burgher,"
and when the skeptical and daring favorites of the people obtained seats
in the national assembly. Religion was driven from the elementary
schools and also from the universities. The chairs of philosophy and
theology were united, for it was enjoined that no doctrine should be
taught in future but natural theology and ethics. The Sabbath was
abolished.

Then came Napoleon Bonaparte. He presented his plea, was received with
open arms, and returned his thanks by draining the country of its
treasures. It was only when the people felt the physical sting of his
wars, and saw the indescribable moral dearth pervading their country,
that they resolved to go back to the old paths and the good way, and to
abandon all deference to French examples. On the occasion of the great
jubilee of 1863, which commemorated deliverance from the yoke of France,
there was heard