BRITAIN AND THE NETHERLANDS

Transcription

1 BRITAIN AND THE NETHERLANDS

2 BRITAIN AND THE NETHERLANDS Volume IV METROPOLIS, DOMINION AND PROVINCE PAPERS DELIVERED TO THE FOURTH ANGLO-DUTCH HISTORICAL CONFERENCE EDITED BY J. S. BROMLEY AND E. H. KOSSMANN MARTINUS NIJHOFF / THE HAGUE / 1971

3 1971 by Martinlls Nijhoff, The Hague, Netherlands Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1971 All rights reserved, including the right to translate or to reproduce this book or parts thereof in any form ISBN DOl / ISBN (ebook)

4 Contents PREFACE 1 London as an 'Engine of Economic Growth' by F. J. Fisher, London School of Economics and Political Science, London 3 2 Scotland and England: Culture and Nationality, by J. H. Burns, University College, London 17 3 The Survival of Country Attitudes in the Eighteenth Century House of Commons by J. B. Owen, The University of Calgary, Alberta 42 4 Ireland and England by R. B. McDowell, Trinity College, Dublin 70 5 Greater and Greater London: Notes on Metropolis and Provinces in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries by H. J. Dyos, University of Leicester 89 6 Aspects of the Frisian Contribution to the Culture of the Low Countries in the Early Modern Period by E. H. Waterbolk, Rijksuniversiteit, Groningen Holland and Six Allies: the Republic of the Seven United Provinces by H. Wansink, Rijksuniversiteit, Utrecht The Crisis of the Dutch State : Nationalism, Federalism, Unitarism by E. H. Kossmann, Rijksuniversiteit, Groningen The Party Structure of Holland and the Outer Provinces in the Nineteenth Century by Th. van Rijn, Rijks universiteit, Utrecht The Role of the Outer Provinces in the Process of Dutch Economic Growth in the Nineteenth Century by J. A. de Jonge, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam 208 Index 226

5 PREFACE EXCEPT for chapter 8, an editorial foot-bridge across the confused years which separate the Dutch Republic from the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the essays collected in this volume were originally read and discussed at meetings of Dutch and British historians held between 22 and 27 September 1969 in a number of delightful comers of Groningen and Friesland. That this conference took place at all was due in the first instance to the initiative and organizing genius of the Instituut voor Geschiedenis of the University of Groningen: particular thanks are due to the Rector Magnificus and his colleagues of that illustrious place of learning. On behalf of those fortunate enough to take part, we also wish to place on record our deep gratitude for the benevolent assistance of the Netherlands Ministerie van Onderwijs, of the H. S. Kammingafonds and of the Groninger Universiteitsfonds. As our sub-title strives to hint, the conference papers were commissioned with a view to stimulating historical awareness of a problem which is increasingly forcing itself on the attention of contemporary statesmen, administrators, sociologists and others - indeed of all who value local character and the human scale in the age of mass communications and socialized government. Today, when packaged tourism and the media are turning the world's heritage into everyman's oyster, there is the paradoxical danger of a shrinkage in that heritage, at least of its power to renew itself in that infinite variety of strongly indigenous regional characteristics which it is so easy to take for granted. As culture becomes more standardized, it also becomes more cosmopolitan. At the same time, the technology on which the new standards of life and educational opportunities both depend is not only international in the scope of its application; its economic cost carries us inexorably towards gigantic international business mergers and larger free-trade areas. Meanwhile, as the stirring of neo-nation-

6 2 PREFACE alist protest movements incessantly reminds us, Leviathan perfects the instruments of centralized rule. On the one hand, more states: on the other, the contracting circle of great powers. So it has seemed timely to investigate a few cases of the basic relationship between a metropolis and its dependencies, as this is seen to develop in the very diverse situations of Dutch and British historical development. How far has this been a onesided relationship? What resistance has there been to the cultural, economic or political dominance of Amsterdam or The Hague and of London? Were there (contrary to what is usually supposed) alternative 'capitals' in the Outer Provinces of the Netherlands, such as we know Edinburgh and Dublin to have been at certain times before and after the formation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland? What is involved in the notion of a metropolis, whether it be a universal centre like the Great Wen or a whole province, with its government in one city and its economic pulse in another, as Holland has been? And does it follow that the trans-provincial impulses behind the modem state, the nation-building process, have originated in the metropolitan centre? These are some of the leading questions which arise out of the papers contributed to the present volume.1 It is too soon to expect clear answers to them all, and the limitations of a single conference could not permit an attack on them from every conceivable angle; one may regret, for example, the absence here of any treatment of the relations between England and the principality of Wales, or of the balance of power between London and Manchester (or Birmingham) in the nineteenth century. It may be easier to distinguish the cultural and political contribution of a subordinate region, whether province or kingdom, than to specify its role in a wider economic complex. Nevertheless, the historical cases explored in the following pages may prove to be well worth extending to other times and places, not least at a juncture when Britain is contemplating a wholesale restructuring of her system of local government and, with the steadfast friendship of the Dutch government and people, that entry into a wider European community whose destiny none can foresee. May 1971 I.S.B. E.H.K. 1 The editors wish to express their thanks to Mr A. C. Duke, of the University of Southampton, for assistance in 'englishing' one of the Dutch chapters.