. Mediæval and modern history . rince of Orange, they did not lose heart but con-tinued the struggle with admirable courage and Maurice, a mere youth of seventeen years, the second sonof William, was chosen stadtholder in his place. He provedhimself a worthy son of the great chief and patriot. 1 It has been asserted that the Declaration had an influence in shaping the EnglishDeclaration of Rights in 16S9 and the American Declaration of Independence in 1776;but there is no evidence that in either of these cases the Dutch Declaration was eitherknown or consulted or that it h
. Mediæval and modern history . rince of Orange, they did not lose heart but con-tinued the struggle with admirable courage and Maurice, a mere youth of seventeen years, the second sonof William, was chosen stadtholder in his place. He provedhimself a worthy son of the great chief and patriot. 1 It has been asserted that the Declaration had an influence in shaping the EnglishDeclaration of Rights in 16S9 and the American Declaration of Independence in 1776;but there is no evidence that in either of these cases the Dutch Declaration was eitherknown or consulted or that it had the slightest influence. 332 REVOLT OF THE NETHERLANDS [§370 The war now went on with unabated fury. France as well asEngland became involved, both fighting against Philip, who wasnow laying claims to the crowns of both countries. To tell of thebattles on land lost and won, of the naval combats on almostevery sea beneath the skies, would be a story without end. Thedestruction of the Spanish Armada in 1588 marked the turning. point of the struggle, yet not the end of it. Philip II died in 1598,but the losing fight was carried on by his successor, Philip III. Europe finally grew weary of the seemingly interminable strug-gle, and the Spanish commanders becoming convinced that itwas impossible to reduce the Dutch rebels to obedience by forceof arms, negotiations were entered into which issued in the cele-brated Truce of 1609. This truce was in reality an acknowledg-ment by Spain of the independence of the United Provinces of § 370] CONDITION OF THE UNITED PROVINCES 333 the Netherlands, although the Spanish king was so unwilling toadmit the fact of his inability to reduce the rebel states to sub-mission that the treaty was termed simply ^a truce for twelveyears. ^ Spain did not formally acknowledge their independenceuntil forty years afterwards, in the Peace of Westphalia, at theend of the Thirty Years War (1648). Thus ended, after a continuance of over forty years, one of the
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