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290 POLITICAL CONSEQUENCESdepended upon their emulation but as France; was nowoccupied with its own internal dissensions, and Austria, itsstrength much diminished by the separation from Spain,was kept inactive by the incapacity of Rudolf II, Spainand England stepped forward in their stead. In the rivalrybetween the two former powers, religion had little to do ;in that of the latter, religion and politics were inseparablyunited. In the one case, every thing depended upon theforces by land in;the other, the navy was of great importance, the army of hardly any while from the defeat of the:invincible armada, Europe dates the use of the term " Naval Powers/' which, till then, the science of politics eitherdid not admit at all, or understood but partially.Such were the elements of the new system of which therepublic of the Netherlands became every year a more distinguished constituent. It soon attained to a separationfrom Spain, though such an act was far from its originaldesign and ; quickly reached a degree of importance whichrendered the assistance of any foreign power superfluous.But the path of fame upon which it entered was new to theambition of Europe, whose nations gazed in wonder uponthe goal to which it led. Even while its existence as a statewas yet uncertain, this upstart power grasped the wholecommerce of the world as its portion, and thus supplieditself with resources for a struggle which was longer andmore desperate than that of Greece with Persia.Thus, in the midst of the monarchies of Europe, arose arepublic which first presented this quarter of the globe withthe example of a commercial state supported by naval power;and if,as we have shown, its risemay be attributed to theReformation, to the Reformation also belongs the principleof life which commerce served to breathe into politics, afterthe direct influence of religion had expired,THIRD PEBIOD, 16031648.la the first half of the seventeenth century the system ofa balance of power in Europe was both altered and extended ;the influence of the Reformation, however, far from beingdiminished during that period, showed itself in its greatestforce.The death of Philip IL, (1598,) and of Elizabeth,(1603,) put an end to the rivalry of Spain and England,