John L. Stoddard was a lecturer who published ten volumes of his lectures, one of which I found at The Last Bookstore in Los Angeles. The volume I purchased were lectures from 1898, talking about his travels. It’s an interesting insight into travel and the world at the turn of the previous century.
That said, I found this extremely interesting:
Compared with the leading European nations of this century, the Netherlands are at present insignificant, and it is not imporbabl¥ that they will, ultimately, be absorbed by France and Germany, which stand continually ready to appropriate them.
Stoddard, John L, John L Stodadard’s Lectures Vol 7, p.119
Obviously that has not occurred – though Germany did invade and occupied during World War II – and in fact the Netherlands were one of the original countries in what is now the European Union.
