3/10 Between the Dutch and English characters there is absolute incompatibility." As a rule, I attach little faith to such generalities; in this case, I am sure, rightly. Forgetting his dictum of "absolute incompatibility" (p. 520, shows that, as far as he is concerned, it is only relative; for in speaking of England, he goes on to say:-- "Were I not a Dutchman, I should prefer to be one of her sons. Her habitual veracity is above suspicion; the sense of duty and justice is innate in her. |