But how was it that whilst French and English soldiers perished so unaccountably in the prime of life, the inhabitants of these countries lived seemingly unaware of the pestilence walking around and amongst them? This problem may, I think, be solved; and as not foreign to the matter in hand, I may be permitted to glance at the character, position, and social condition of a race and a nation so distinct from all other branches of the great European family. My remarks will bear mainly on the influence they exercise over the portion of the earth they inhabit, and on the modifications which man’s industry, guided by prudence and science, may imprint on “the earth, the air, and water” of the territory which, under the circumstances I now describe, may especially be called their own. CHAPTER IV. HOLLAND AND BELGIUM, THE LAND OF MARSHES AND OF FEVER, RECLAIMED AND RENDERED SALUBRIOUS BY THE ENERGIES OF A FREE PEOPLE. Necessity is the mother of invention. “Quis psittacum loqui docuit? Venter: Magister artium.”[17] A constant struggle with Nature for existence taught the Hollander and Brabanter a practical philosophy in respect of the management of river mouths, tidal rivers, low levels, freshwater and seawater floods, unmatched by any other nation. It required the unceasing vigilance of the most experienced scientific men to combat the adverse circumstances under which their country was placed. An error of calculation laid waste a province; a breach in a sea-wall let in upon the land not only the ocean, but famine, followed by its sure accompaniment--fever, and a wide-spread mortality. [17] Persius, Sat. Napoleon expressed the same idea when he said, “The stomach governs Europe.”