HISTORY FROM 1579 TO MODERN TIMES[5]

Consequences of the Union of Utrecht.

Sovereignty offered to the Duke of Anjou.

The Ban against William of Orange.

The Act of Abjuration.

The Apology.

The political compact known as the Union of Utrecht differed from its

immediate predecessors, the Pacification of Ghent, the Union of Brussels

and the Perpetual Edict, in its permanence. The confederacy of the

northern provinces of the Netherlands which was effected (29th of

January 1579) by the exertions of John of Nassau, was destined to be the

beginning of a new national life. The foundation was laid on which the

Republic of the United Netherlands was to be raised. Its immediate

results were far from promising. The falling away of the Walloon

provinces and the Catholic nobles from the patriot cause threatened it

with ruin. Nothing but the strong personal influence and indefatigable

labours of the prince of Orange stood in the way of a more general

defection. Everywhere, save in staunch and steadfast Holland and

Zeeland, a feeling of wavering and hesitation was spreading through the

land. In Holland and Zeeland William was supreme, but elsewhere his aims

and his principles were misrepresented and misunderstood. He saw that

unaided the patriotic party could not hope to resist the power of Philip

II., and he had therefore resolved to gain the support of France by the

offer of the sovereignty of the Netherlands to the duke of Anjou. But

Anjou was a Catholic, and this fact aroused among the Protestants a

feeling that they were being betrayed. But the prince persisted in the

policy he felt to be a necessity, and (23rd of Jan. 1581) a treaty was

concluded with the duke, by which he, under certain conditions, agreed

to accept the sovereignty of the Netherlands provinces, except Holland

and Zeeland. These two provinces were unwilling to have any sovereign

but William himself, and after considerable hesitation he agreed to

become their Count (24th of July 1581). He felt that he was justified in

taking this step because of the Ban which Philip had published on the

15th of March 1581, in which Orange had been proclaimed a traitor and

miscreant, and a reward offered to any one who would take his life. His

practical answer to the king was the act of Abjuration, by which at his

persuasion the representatives of the provinces of Brabant, Flanders,

Holland, Zeeland, Gelderland and Utrecht, assembled at the Hague,

declared that Philip had forfeited his sovereignty over them, and that

they held themselves henceforth absolved from their allegiance to him.

In a written defence, the famous _Apology_, published later in the year,

William replied at great length to the charges that had been brought

against him, and carrying the war into the enemy's camp, endeavoured to

prove that the course he had pursued was justified by the crimes and

tyranny of the king.

Attempt on the Life of Orange by Jean Jaureguy.

The French Fury.

Assassination of William the Silent.

The duke of Anjou was solemnly inaugurated as duke of Brabant (February

1582), and shortly afterwards as duke of Gelderland, count of Flanders

and lord of Friesland. William had taken up his residence at Antwerp in

order to give the French prince his strongest personal support, and

while there a serious attempt was made upon his life (March 18th) by a

youth named Jean Jaureguy. He fired a pistol at the prince close to his

head, and the ball passed under the right ear and out at the left jaw.

It was a terrible wound, but fortunately not fatal. Meanwhile Anjou soon

grew tired of his dependent position and of the limitations placed upon

his sovereignty. He resolved by a secret and sudden attack (17th of

January 1583) to make himself master of Antwerp and of the person of

Orange. The assault was made, but it proved an utter failure. The

citizens resisted stoutly behind barricades, and the French were routed

with heavy loss. The "French Fury" as it was called, rendered the

position of Anjou in the Netherlands impossible, and made William

himself unpopular in Brabant. He accordingly withdrew to Delft. In the

midst of his faithful Hollanders he felt that he could still organize

resistance, and stem the progress made by Spanish arms and Spanish

influence under the able leadership of Alexander of Parma. Antwerp, with

St Aldegonde as its burgomaster, was still in the hands of the patriots

and barred the way to the sea, and covered Zeeland from invasion. Never

for one moment did William lose heart or relax his efforts and

vigilance; he felt that with the two maritime provinces secure the

national cause need not be despaired of. But his own days had now drawn

to their end. The failure of Jaureguy did not deter a young Catholic

zealot, by name Balthazar Gerard, from attempting to assassinate the man

whom he looked upon as the arch-enemy of God and the king. Under the

pretext of seeking a passport, Gerard penetrated into the Prinsenhof at

Delft, and firing point blank at William as he left the dining hall,

mortally wounded him (10th of July 1584). Amidst general lamentations

"the Father of his Country," as he was called, was buried with great

state in the Nieuwe Kerk at Delft at the public charge.

Maurice of Nassau.

The Sovereignty offered to Henry III. and declined.

Leicester Governor-general.

But though the great leader was dead, he had not striven or worked in

vain. The situation was critical, but there was no panic. Throughout the

revolted provinces there was a general determination to continue the

struggle to the bitter end. To make head, however, against the

victorious advance of Parma, before whose arms all the chief towns of

Brabant and Flanders, Bruges, Ghent, Brussels and lastly--after a

valiant defence--Antwerp itself had fallen, it was necessary to look for

the protection of a foreign ruler. The government, now that the

commanding personal influence of William was no more, was without any

central authority which could claim obedience. The States-General were

but the delegates of a number of sovereign provinces, and amongst these

Holland by its size and wealth (after the occupation by the Spaniards of

Brabant and Flanders) was predominant. Maurice of Nassau, William's

second son, had indeed on his father's death been appointed captain and

admiral-general of the Union, president of the Council of State, and

stadholder of Holland and Zeeland, but he was as yet too young, only

seventeen, to take a leading part in affairs. Count Hohenloo took the

command of the troops with the title of lieutenant-general. Two devoted

adherents of William of Orange, Paul Buys, advocate of Holland, and

Johan van Oldenbarneveldt, pensionary of Rotterdam, were the statesmen

who at this difficult juncture took the foremost part in directing the

policy of the confederacy. They turned first to France. The sovereignty

of the provinces was offered to Henry III., but the king, harassed by

civil discords in his own country, declined the dangerous honour (1585).

Repelled in this direction, the States-General next turned themselves to

England. Elizabeth was alarmed by the successes of the Spanish arms, and

especially by the fall of Antwerp; and, though refusing the sovereignty,

she agreed to send a force of 5000 foot and 1000 horse to the aid of the

Provinces under the command of the earl of Leicester, her expenses being

guaranteed by the handing over to her the towns of Flushing, Brill and

Rammekens as pledges (10th of August 1585). Leicester, on landing in

Holland, was in the presence of the States-General and of Maurice of

Nassau invested with the title of governor-general and practically

sovereign powers (February 1586).

Failure and withdrawal of Leicester.

The new governor had great difficulties to contend with. He knew nothing

of the language or the character of the people he was called upon to

govern; his own abilities both as general and statesman were mediocre;

and he was hampered constantly in his efforts by the niggardliness and

changing whims of his royal mistress. In trying to consolidate the

forces of the Provinces for united action and to centralize its

government, he undoubtedly did his best, according to his lights, for

the national cause. But he was too hasty and overbearing. His edict

prohibiting all commercial intercourse with the enemy at once aroused

against him the bitter hostility of the merchants of Holland and

Zeeland, who thrived by such traffic. His attempts to pack the council

of State, on which already two Englishmen had seats, with personal

adherents and to override the opposition of the provincial states of

Holland to his arbitrary acts, at last made his position impossible. The

traitorous surrender of Deventer and Zutphen by their English governors,

Stanley and York, both Catholics, rendered all Englishmen suspect. The

States of Holland under the leadership of Johan van Oldenbarneveldt,

took up an attitude of resolute hostility to him, and the States of

Holland dominated the States-General. In the midst of these divided

councils the important seaport of Sluis was taken by Parma. Utterly

discredited, Leicester (6th of August 1587) abandoned the task, in

which he had met with nothing but failure, and returned to England.

Johan van Oldenbarneveldt.

Maurice of Nassau.

Nothing could have been worse than the position of the States at the

beginning of 1588. Had Parma had a free hand, in all probability he

would have crushed out the revolt and reconquered the northern

Netherlands. But the attention of the Spanish king was at this time

concentrated upon the success of the Invincible Armada. The army of

Parma was held in readiness for the invasion of England, and the United

Provinces had a respite. They were fortunately able to avail themselves

of it. The commanding abilities of Oldenbarneveldt, now advocate of

Holland, gradually gathered into his hands the entire administration of

the Republic. He became indispensable and, as his influence grew, more

and more did the policy of the provinces acquire unity and consistency

of purpose. At the same time Maurice of Nassau, now grown to man's

estate, began to display those military talents which were to gain for

him the fame of being the first general of his time. But Maurice was no

politician. He had implicit trust in the advocate, his father's faithful

friend and counsellor, and for many years to come the statesman and the

soldier worked in harmony together for the best interests of their

country (see OLDENBARNEVELDT, and MAURICE, prince of Orange). At the

side of Maurice, as a wise adviser, stood his cousin William Louis,

stadholder of Friesland, a trained soldier and good commander in the

field.

Campaign of 1591.

Death of Parma.

New province of Stadt en Landen.

After the destruction of the Armada, Parma had been occupied with

campaigns on the southern frontier against the French, and the

Netherlanders had been content to stand on guard against attack. The

surprise of Breda by a stratagem (8th of March 1590) was the only

military event of importance up to 1591. But the two stadholders had not

wasted the time. The States' forces had been reorganized and brought to

a high state of military discipline and training. In 1591 the

States-General, after considerable hesitation, were persuaded by Maurice

to sanction an offensive campaign. It was attended by marvellous

success. Zutphen was captured on the 20th of May, Deventer on the 20th

of June. Parma, who was besieging the fort of Knodsenburg, was forced to

retire with loss. Hulst fell after a three days' investment, and finally

Nymegen was taken on the 21st of October. The fame of Maurice, a

consummate general at the early age of twenty-four, was on all men's

lips. The following campaign was signalized by the capture of Steenwyk

and Koevorden. On the 8th of December 1592 Parma died, and the States

were delivered from their most redoubtable adversary. In 1593 the

leaguer of Geertruidenburg put the seal on Maurice's reputation as an

invincible besieger. The town fell after an investment of three months.

Groningen was the chief fruit of the campaign of 1594. With its

dependent district it was formed into a new province under the name of

Stadt en Landen. William Louis became the stadholder (see GRONINGEN).

The soil of the northern Netherlands was at last practically free from

the presence of Spanish garrisons.

Triple Alliance of France, England and the United Provinces.

The growing importance of the new state was signalized by the

conclusion, in 1596, of a triple alliance between England, France and

the United Provinces. It was of short duration and purchased by hard

conditions, but it implied the recognition by Henry IV. and Elizabeth of

the States-General, as a sovereign power, with whom treaties could be

concluded. Such a recognition was justified by the brilliant successes

of the campaign of 1597. It began with the complete rout of a Spanish

force of 4500 men at Turnhout in January, with scarcely any loss to the

victors. Then in a succession of sieges Rheinberg, Meurs, Groenlo,

Bredevoort, Enschede, Ootmarsum, Oldenzaal and Lingen fell into the

hands of Maurice.

Albert and Isabel, Sovereigns of the Netherlands.

The relations of the Netherlands to Spain were in 1598 completely

changed. Philip II. feeling death approaching, resolved to marry his

elder daughter, the Infanta Isabel Clara Eugenia, to her cousin, the

Cardinal Archduke Albert of Austria, who had been governor-general of

the Netherlands since 1596, and to erect the Provinces into an

independent sovereignty under their joint rule. The instrument was

executed in May; Philip died in September; the marriage took place in

November. In case the marriage should have no issue, the sovereignty of

the Netherlands was to revert to the king of Spain. The archdukes (such

was their official title) did not make their _joyeuse entree_ into

Brussels until the close of 1599. The step was taken too late to effect

a reconciliation with the rebel provinces. Peace overtures were made,

but the conditions were unacceptable. The States-General never seriously

considered the question of giving in their submission to the new

sovereigns. The traders of Holland and Zeeland had thriven mightily by

the war. Their ships had penetrated to the East and West Indies, and

were to be found in every sea. The year 1600 saw the foundation of the

Chartered East India Company (see DUTCH EAST INDIA COMPANY). The

question of freedom of trade with the Indies had become no less vital to

the Dutch people than freedom of religious worship. To both these

concessions Spanish policy was irreconcilably opposed.

The Battle of Nieuport.

Siege of Ostend.

Dunkirk, as a nest of freebooters who preyed upon Dutch commerce, was

made the objective of a daring offensive campaign in 1600 by the orders

of the States-General under the influence of Oldenbarneveldt in the

teeth of the opposition of the stadholders Maurice and William Louis. By

a bold march across Flanders, Maurice reached Nieuport on the 1st of

July, and proceeded to invest it. The archduke Albert, however, followed

hard on his steps with an army of seasoned troops, and Maurice, with his

communications cut, was forced to fight for his existence. A desperate

combat took place on the dunes between forces of equal strength and

valour. Only by calling up his last reserves did victory declare for

Maurice. The archduke had to fly for his life. Five thousand Spaniards

were killed; seven hundred taken, and one hundred and five standards. To

have thus worsted the dreaded Spanish infantry in open fight was a great

triumph for the States troops and their general, but it was barren of

results. Maurice refused to run further risks and led back his army to

Holland. For the following three years all the energies alike of the

archdukes and the States-General were concentrated on the siege of

Ostend (15th of July 1601-20th of Sept. 1604), the solitary possession

of the Dutch in Flanders. The heroic obstinacy of the defence was

equalled by the perseverance of the attack, and there was a vast

expenditure, especially on the side of the Spaniards, of blood and

treasure. At last when reduced to a heap of ruins, Ostend fell before

the resolution of Ambrosio de Spinola, a Genoese banker, to whom the

command of the besiegers had been entrusted (see SPINOLA). A month

before the surrender, however, another and more commodious seaport,

Sluis, had fallen into the possession of the States army under Maurice,

and thus the loss of Ostend was discounted.

Negotiations for Peace.

The Twelve Years' Truce.

Spinola proved himself to be a general of a high order, and the

campaigns of 1606 and 1607 resolved themselves into a duel of skill

between him and Maurice without much advantage accruing to either side.

But the archdukes' treasury was now empty, and their credit exhausted;

both sides were weary of fighting, and serious negotiations for peace

were set on foot. The disposition of the Spaniards to make concessions

was further quickened by the destruction of their fleet at Gibraltar by

the Dutch admiral Heemskerk, (April 1607). But there were many

difficulties in the way. The peace party in the United Provinces headed

by Oldenbarneveldt was opposed by the stadholders Maurice and William

Louis, the great majority of the military and naval officers, the

Calvinist preachers and many leading merchants. The Spaniards on their

side were obdurate on the subjects of freedom of trade in the Indies and

of freedom of religious worship. At last, after the negotiations had

been repeatedly on the point of breaking off, a compromise was effected

by the mediation of the envoys of France and England. On the 9th of

April 1609 a truce for twelve years was agreed upon. On all points the

Dutch demands were granted. The treaty was concluded with the Provinces,

"in the quality of free States over whom the archdukes made no

pretentions." The _uti possidetis_ as regards territorial possession was

recognized. Neither the granting of freedom of worship to Roman

Catholics nor the word "Indies" was mentioned, but in a secret treaty

King Philip undertook to place no hindrance in the way of Dutch trade,

wherever carried on.

Theological strife in Holland.

Arminius and Gomarus.

Remonstrants and Contra-Remonstrants.

Waard-gelders.

Oldenbarneveldt executed.

One of the immediate results of this triumph of his policy was the

increase of Oldenbarneveldt's influence and authority in the government

of the Republic. But though Maurice and his other opponents had

reluctantly yielded to the advocate's skilful diplomacy and persuasive

arguments, a soreness remained between the statesman and the stadholder

which was destined never to be healed. The country was no sooner

relieved from the pressure of external war than it was torn by internal

discords. After a brief interference in the affairs of Germany, where

the intricate question of the Cleves-Julich succession was already

preparing the way for the Thirty Years' War, the United Provinces became

immersed in a hot and absorbing theological struggle with which were

mixed up important political issues. The province of Holland was the

arena in which it was fought out. Two professors of theology at Leiden,

Jacobus Arminius (see ARMINIUS) and Franciscus Gomarus, became the

leaders of two parties, who differed from one another upon certain

tenets of the abstruse doctrine of predestination. Gomarus supported the

orthodox Calvinist view; Arminius assailed it. The Arminians appealed to

the States of Holland (1610) in a Remonstrance in which their

theological position was defined. They were henceforth known as

"Remonstrants"; their opponents were styled "Contra-Remonstrants." The

advocate and the States of Holland took sides with the Remonstrants,

Maurice and the majority of the States-General (four provinces out of

seven) supported the Contra-Remonstrants. It became a question of the

extent of the rights of sovereign princes under the Union. The

States-General wished to summon a national synod, the States of Holland

refused their assent, and made levies of local militia (_waard-gelders_)

for the maintenance of order. The States-General (9th of July 1618) took

up the challenge, and the prince of Orange, as captain-general, was

placed at the head of a commission to go in the first place to Utrecht,

which supported Oldenbarneveldt, and then to the various cities of

Holland to insist on the disbanding of the _waard-gelders_. On the side

of Maurice, whom the army obeyed, was the power of the sword. The

opposition collapsed; the recalcitrant provincial states were purged;

and the leaders of the party of state rights--the advocate himself, Hugo

de Groot (see GROTIUS), pensionary of Rotterdam, and Hoogerbeets,

pensionary of Leiden, were arrested and thrown into prison. The whole

proceedings were illegal, and the illegality was consummated by the

prisoners being brought before a special tribunal of 24 judges, nearly

all of whom were personal enemies of the accused. The trial was merely a

preliminary to condemnation. The advocate was sentenced to death, and

executed (13th of May 1619) in the Binnenhof at the Hague. The sentences

of Grotius and Hoogerbeets were commuted to perpetual imprisonment.

Synod of Dort.

Meanwhile the National Synod had been summoned and had met at Dort on

the 13th of November 1618. One hundred members, many of them foreign

divines, composed this great assembly, who after 154 sittings gave their

seal to the doctrines of the Netherlands Confession and the Heidelberg

Catechism. The Arminians were condemned, their preachers deprived, and

the Remonstrant party placed under a ban (6th of May 1619).

Renewal of the war.

Death of Maurice.

The period of Frederick Henry.

The East and West India Companies.

In 1621 the Twelve Years' Truce came to an end, and war broke out once

more with Spain. Maurice, after the death of Oldenbarneveldt, was

supreme in the land, but he missed sorely the wise counsels of the old

statesman whose tragic end he had been so largely instrumental in

bringing about. He and Spinola found themselves once more at the head of

the armies in the field, but the health of the stadholder was

undermined, and his military genius was under a cloud. Deeply mortified

by his failure to relieve Breda, which was blockaded by Spinola, Maurice

fell seriously ill, and died on the 23rd of April 1625. He was succeeded

in his dignities by his younger brother Frederick Henry (see FREDERICK

HENRY, prince of Orange), who was appointed stadholder of Holland,

Zeeland, Utrecht, Overyssel and Gelderland, captain and adjutant-general

of the Union and head of the Council of State. Frederick Henry was as a

general scarcely inferior to Maurice, and a far more able statesman. The

moderation of his views and his conciliatory temper did much to heal the

wounds left by civil and religious strife, and during his time the power

and influence of the stadholderate attained their highest point. Such

was his popularity and the confidence he inspired that in 1631 his great

offices of state were declared hereditary, in favour of his

five-year-old son, by the _Acte de Survivance_. He did much to justify

the trust placed in him, for the period of Frederick Henry is the most

brilliant in the history of the Dutch Republic. During his time the East

India Company, which had founded the town of Batavia in Java as their

administrative capital, under a succession of able governor-generals

almost monopolized the trade of the entire Orient, made many conquests

and established a network of factories and trade posts stretching from

the Cape of Good Hope to Japan (see DUTCH EAST INDIA COMPANY). The West

India Company, erected in 1621, though framed on the same model, aimed

rather at waging war on the enemies' commerce than in developing their

own. Their fleets for some years brought vast booty into the company's

coffers. The Mexican treasure ships fell into the hands of Piet Heyn,

the boldest of their admirals, in 1628; and they were able to send

armies across the ocean, conquer a large part of Brazil, and set up a

flourishing Dutch dominion in South America (see Dutch West India

Company). The operations of these two great chartered companies occupy a

place among memorable events of Frederick Henry's stadholderate; they

are therefore mentioned here, but for further details the special

articles must be consulted.

Policy of Frederick Henry.

When Frederick Henry stepped into his brother's place, he found the

United Provinces in a position of great danger and of critical

importance. The Protestants of Germany were on the point of being

crushed by the forces of the Austrian Habsburgs and the Catholic League.

It lay with the Netherlands to create a diversion in the favour of their

co-religionists by keeping the forces of the Spanish Habsburgs fully

occupied. But to do so with their flank exposed to imperialist attack

from the east, was a task involving grave risks and possible disaster.

In these circumstances, Frederick Henry saw the necessity of securing

French aid. It was secured by the skilful diplomacy of Francis van

Aarssens (q.v.) but on hard conditions. Richelieu required the

assistance of the Dutch fleet to enable him to overcome the resistance

of the Huguenot stronghold of La Rochelle. The far-sighted stadholder,

despite popular opposition, by his powerful personal influence induced

the States-General to grant the naval aid, and thus obtain the French

alliance on which the safety of the republic depended.

Sieges of Hertogenbosch and Maestricht.

Death of the Infanta Isabel.

The first great military success of Frederick Henry was in 1629. His

capture of Hertogenbosch (Bois-le-duc), hitherto supposed to be

impregnable, after a siege of five months was a triumph of engineering

skill. Wesel also was taken by surprise this same year. In 1631 a large

Spanish fleet carrying a picked force of 6000 soldiers, for the invasion

of Zeeland, was completely destroyed by the Dutch in the Slaak and the

troops made prisoners. The campaign of the following year was made

memorable by the siege of Maestricht. This important frontier town lying

on both sides of the river Meuse was taken by the prince of Orange in

the teeth of two relieving armies, Spanish and Imperialist, whose

united forces were far larger than his own. This brilliant feat of arms

was the prelude to peace negotiations, which led to a lengthy exchange

of diplomatic notes. No agreement, however, was reached. The death of

the Infanta Isabel in November 1633, and the reversion of the

Netherlands to the sovereignty of the king of Spain, rendered all

efforts to end the war, for the time being, fruitless.

Alliance with France.

Capture of Breda.

Battle of the Downs.

At this juncture a strengthening of the French alliance seemed to the

prince not merely expedient, but necessary. He had to contend against a

strong peace party in Holland headed by the pensionary Pauw, but with

the aid of the diplomatic skill of Aarssens all opposition was overcome.

Pauw was replaced as pensionary by Jacob Cats, and the objections of

Richelieu were met and satisfied. A defensive and offensive alliance

with France was concluded early in 1635 against the king of Spain, and

each party bound itself not to make a peace or truce without the assent

of the other. A large French force was sent into the Netherlands and

placed under the command of the prince of Orange. The military results

of the alliance were during the first two campaigns inconsiderable. The

Cardinal Infant Ferdinand had been appointed governor of the

Netherlands, and he proved himself an excellent general, and there were

dissensions in the councils of the allies. In 1637 the stadholder was

able to add to his fame as an invincible besieger of cities. His failure

to relieve Breda had hastened the death of Maurice. It fell in 1625 into

the hands of Spinola after a blockade of eleven months; it was now

retaken by Frederick Henry after a siege of eleven weeks, in the face of

immense difficulties. The reluctance of the States of Holland, and of

Amsterdam in particular, to grant adequate supplies caused the campaigns

of 1638 and 1639 to be in the main defensive and dilatory. An attempted

attack on Antwerp was foiled by the vigilance of the Cardinal Infant. A

body of 6000 men under Count William of Nassau were surprised and

utterly cut to pieces. The year 1639, which had begun with abortive

negotiations, and in which the activity of the stadholder had been much

hampered by ill-health, was not to end, however, without a signal

triumph of the Dutch arms, but it was to be on sea and not on land. A

magnificent Spanish armada consisting of 77 vessels, manned by 24,000

soldiers and sailors under the command of Admiral Oquendo, were sent to

the Channel in September with orders to drive the Dutch from the narrow

seas and land a large body of troops at Dunkirk. Attacked by a small

Dutch fleet under Admiral Marten Tromp, the Spaniards sheltered

themselves under the English Downs by the side of an English squadron.

Tromp kept watch over them until he had received large reinforcements,

and then (21st of October) boldly attacked them as they lay in English

waters. Oquendo himself with seven vessels escaped under cover of a fog;

all the rest of the fleet was destroyed. This crushing victory assured

to the Dutch the command of the sea during the rest of the war. The

naval power of Spain never in fact recovered from the blow.

English and Dutch Commercial Rivalry.

Marriage of William and Mary.

The triumph of Tromp had, however, a bad effect on public feeling in

England. The circumstances under which the battle of the Downs was won

were galling to the pride of the English people, and intensified the

growing unfriendliness between two nations, one of whom possessed and

the other claimed supremacy upon the seas. The prosperity of the

world-wide Dutch commerce was looked upon with eyes of jealousy across

the Channel. Disputes had been constantly recurring between Dutch and

English traders in the East Indies and elsewhere, and the seeds were

already sown of that stern rivalry which was to issue in a series of

fiercely contested wars. But in 1639-1640 civil discords in England

stood in the way of a strong foreign policy, and the adroit Aarssens was

able so "to sweeten the bitterness of the pill" as to bring King Charles

not merely to "overlook the scandal of the Downs," but to consent to the

marriage of the princess royal with William, the only son of the

stadholder. The wedding of the youthful couple (aged respectively 14 and

10 years) took place on the 12th of May 1641 (see WILLIAM II., PRINCE OF

ORANGE). This royal alliance gave added influence and position to the

house of Orange-Nassau.

Changed relations of the United Provinces with France and Spain.

About this time various causes brought about a change in the feelings

which had hitherto prevented any possibility of peace between Spain and

the United Netherlands. The revolt of Portugal (December 1640) weakened

the Spanish power, and involved the loss to Spain of the Portuguese

colonies. But it was in the Portuguese colonies that the conquests of

the Dutch East and West India Companies had been made, and the question

of the Indies as between Netherlander and Spaniard assumed henceforth

quite a different complexion. Aarssens, the strongest advocate of the

French alliance, passed away in 1641, and his death was quickly followed

by those of Richelieu and Louis XIII. The victory of Conde at Rocroy

opened the eyes of Frederick Henry to the danger of a French conquest of

the Belgian provinces; and, feeling his health growing enfeebled, the

prince became anxious before his death to obtain peace and security for

his country by means of an accommodation with Spain. In 1643

negotiations were opened which, after many delays and in the face of

countless difficulties, were at length, four years later, to terminate

successfully.

Death of Frederick Henry--his last campaigns.

The course of the _pourparlers_ would doubtless have run more smoothly

but for the infirm health and finally the death of the prince of Orange

himself. Frederick Henry expired on the 14th of March 1647, and was

buried by the side of his father and brother in Delft. In his last

campaigns he had completed with signal success the task which, as a

military commander, he had set himself,--of giving to the United

Provinces a thoroughly defensible frontier of barrier fortresses. In

1644 he captured Sas de Ghent; in 1645 Hulst. That portion of Flanders

which skirts the south bank of the Scheldt thus passed into the

possession of the States, and with it the complete control of all the

waterways to the sea.

The Peace of Munster.

Complete triumph of the Dutch.

The death of the great stadholder did not, however, long delay the

carrying out of the policy on which he had set his heart, of concluding

a separate peace with Spain behind the back of France, notwithstanding

the compact of 1635 with that power. A provisional draft of a treaty had

already been drawn up before the demise of Frederick Henry, and

afterwards, despite the strenuous opposition of the new prince of Orange

(who, under the _Acte de Survivance_, had inherited all his father's

offices and dignities) and of two of the provinces, Zeeland and Utrecht,

the negotiations were by the powerful support of the States of Holland

and of the majority of the States-General, quickly brought to a

successful issue. The treaty was signed at Munster on the 30th of

January 1648. It was a peace practically dictated by the Dutch, and

involved a complete surrender of everything for which Spain had so long

fought. The United Provinces were recognized as free and independent,

and Spain dropped all her claims; the _uti possidetis_ basis was adopted

in respect to all conquests; the Scheldt was declared entirely closed--a

clause which meant the ruin of Antwerp for the profit of Amsterdam; the

right to trade in the East and West Indies was granted, and all the

conquests made by the Dutch from the Portuguese were ceded to them; the

two contracting parties agreed to respect and keep clear of each other's

trading grounds; each was to pay in the ports of the other only such

tolls as natives paid. Thus, triumphantly for the revolted provinces,

the eighty years' war came to an end. At this moment the republic of the

United Netherlands touched, perhaps, the topmost point of its prosperity

and greatness.

The form of Government in the United Provinces.

The position of Holland and Amsterdam.

No sooner was peace concluded than bitter disputes arose between the

provincial States of Holland and the prince of Orange, supported by the

other six provinces, upon the question of the disbanding of the military

forces. William was a young man (he was twenty-one at the time of his

father's death) of the highest abilities and of soaring ambition. He

was totally opposed to the peace with Spain, and wished to bring about a

speedy resumption of the war. With this view he entered into secret

negotiations for a French alliance which, as far as can be gathered from

extant records, had for its objects the conquest and partition by the

allies of the Belgic provinces, and joint action in England on behalf of

Charles II. As a preliminary step William aimed at a centralization of

the powers of government in the United Provinces in his own person. He

saw clearly the inherent defects of the existing federation, and he

wished to remedy a system which was so complicated as to be at times

almost unworkable. The States-General were but the delegates, the

stadholders the servants, of a number of sovereign provinces, each of

which had different historical traditions and a different form of

government, and one of which--Holland--in wealth and importance

outweighed the other six taken together. Between the States of Holland

and the States-General there was constant jealousy and friction. And yet

strangely enough the States of Holland themselves were not really

representative of the people of that province, but only of the limited,

self-coopting burgher aristocracies of certain towns, each of which with

its rights and liberties had a quasi-independence of its own. Foremost

among these was the great commercial capital, Amsterdam, whose rich

burgher patriciate did not scruple on occasion to defy the authority of

the States-General, the stadholder and even of the States of Holland

themselves.

The position in 1650.

The question of disbanding the forces.

The Prisoners of Loevenstein.

Sudden Death of William II.

The States of Holland had, in the years that followed the truce of 1609,

measured their strength with that of the States-General, but the issue

had been decided conclusively in favour of the federal authority by the

sword of Maurice. The party and the principles of Oldenbarneveldt,

however, though crushed, were not extinguished, and though Frederick

Henry by his personal influence and prudent statesmanship had been able

to surmount the difficulties placed in his way, he had had to encounter

at times strong opposition, and had been much hampered in the conduct

both of his campaigns and of his policy. With the conclusion of the

peace of Munster and the death of the veteran stadholder the struggle

for predominance in the Union between the Orange-federalist and the

Hollander States-rights parties was certain to be renewed. The moment

seemed to be favourable for the assertion of provincial sovereignty

because of the youth and inexperience of the new prince of Orange. But

William II., though little more than a boy, was endowed with singular

capacity and great strength of will, and he was intent upon ambitious

projects, the scope of which has been already indicated. The collision

came, which was perhaps inevitable. The States-General in the disbanding

of the forces wished to retain the _cadres_ of the regiments complete in

case of a renewal of the war. The States of Holland objected, and,

although the army was a federal force, gave orders for the general

disbanding of the troops in the pay of the province. The officers

refused to obey any orders but those of the council of State of the

Union. The provincial states, on their part, threatened them with loss

of pay. At this juncture the States-General, as in 1618, appointed a

commission headed by the prince of Orange to visit the towns of Holland,

and provide for the maintenance of order and the upholding of the Union.

Both parties put themselves in the wrong, the province by refusing its

quota to the federal war-sheet, the generality by dealing with

individual towns instead of with the states of the province. The

visitation was a failure. The town councils, though most of them willing

to receive William in his capacity as stadholder, declined to give a

hearing to the commission. Amsterdam refused absolutely to admit either

stadholder or commission. In these circumstances William resolved upon

strong measures. Six leading members of the States of Holland were

seized (30th of July 1650) and imprisoned in Loevenstein Castle, and

troops under the command of William Frederick, stadholder of Friesland,

were sent to surprise Amsterdam. But the town council had been warned,

and the gates were shut and guarded. The _coup d'etat_ nevertheless was

completely successful. The anti-Orange party, remembering the fate of

Oldenbarneveldt, were stricken with panic at the imprisonment of their

leaders. The States of Holland and the town council of Amsterdam gave in

their submission. The prisoners were released, and public thanks were

rendered to the prince by the various provincial states for "his great

trouble, care and prudence." William appeared to be master of the

situation but his plans for future action were never to be carried into

effect. Busily engaged in secret negotiations with France, he had

retired to his hunting seat at Dieren, when he fell ill with smallpox on

the 27th of October. A few days later he expired at the Hague (6th of

November), aged but twenty-four years. A week after his death, his

widow, the princess Mary of England, gave birth to a son who, as William

III., was to give added lustre to the house of Orange.

The Grand Assembly.

The anti-Orange particularist party, which had just suffered decisive

defeat, now lifted up its head again. At the instance of Holland a Grand

Assembly was summoned, consisting of delegates from all the provinces,

to consider the state of the Union, the army and religion. It met at the

Hague on the 18th of January 1651. The conclusions arrived at were that

all sovereign powers resided in the provinces, and that to them

severally, each within its own borders, belonged the control of the

military forces and of religion. There was to be no captain-general of

the Union. All the provinces, except Friesland and Groningen, which

remained true to William Frederick of Nassau-Dietz, agreed to leave the

office of stadholder vacant. The practical result was the establishment

of the hegemony of Holland in the Union, and the handing over of the

control of its policy to the patrician oligarchies who formed the town

councils of that province.

The office of Grand Pensionary.

John de Witt.

Such a system would have been unworkable but for the fact that with the

revival of the political principles of Oldenbarneveldt, there was found

a statesman of commanding ability to fill the office in which the famous

advocate of Holland had for so many years been "minister of all affairs"

in the forming state. The title of advocate had indeed been replaced by

that of grand pensionary (_Raad Pensionaris_), but the duties assigned

to the office remained the same, the only change of importance being

that the advocate was appointed for life, the grand pensionary for a

term of five years. The grand pensionary was nominally the paid servant

of the States of Holland, but his functions were such as to permit a man

of talent and industry in the stadholderless republic to exercise

control in all departments of policy and of government. All

correspondence passed through his hands, he wrote all despatches,

conducted the debates over which he presided, kept the minutes, drafted

the resolutions, and was _ex officio_ the leader and spokesman of the

delegates who represented the Province of Holland in the States-General.

Such was the position to which John de Witt, a young man of twenty-eight

years of age, belonging to one of the most influential patrician

families of Dordrecht (his father, Jacob de Witt, was one of the

prisoners of Loevenstein) was appointed in 1653. From that date until

1672 it was his brain and his will that guided the affairs of the United

Netherlands. He was supreme in the States of Holland, and Holland was

dominant in the States-General (see JOHN DE WITT).

Disputes between English and Dutch Traders.

Naval struggle with England.

Peace of Westminster.

Act of Seclusion.

The death of William II. had left the Dutch republic at the very highest

point of commercial prosperity, based upon an almost universal carrying

trade, and the strictest system of monopoly. Friction and disputes had

frequently arisen between the Dutch and the English traders in different

parts of the world, and especially in the East Indies, culminating in

the so-called "Massacre of Amboyna"; and the strained relations between

the two nations would, but for the civil discords in England, have

probably led to active hostilities during the reign of Charles I. With

the accession of Cromwell to power the breach was widened. A strong

party in the Provinces were unfriendly to the Commonwealth, and insults

were offered in the Hague to the English envoys. The parliament replied

by passing the memorable Navigation Act (Oct. 1651), which struck a

deadly blow at the Dutch carrying trade. It was the beginning of that

struggle for supremacy upon the seas which was to end, after three great

wars, in the defeat of the weaker country. The first English war lasted

from May 1652 to April 1654, and within fifteen months twelve sea-fights

took place, which were desperately contested and with varying success.

The leaders on both sides--the Netherlanders Tromp (killed in action on

the 10th of August 1653) and de Ruyter, the Englishmen Blake and

Monk--covered themselves with equal glory. But the losses to Dutch trade

were so serious that negotiations for peace were set on foot by the

burgher party of Holland, and Cromwell being not unwilling, an agreement

was reached in the Treaty of Westminster, signed on the 5th of April

1654. The Dutch conceded the striking of the flag and compensation for

English claims against the Dutch in the East Indies and elsewhere. The

act of Seclusion, which barred the young prince of Orange from holding

the office of stadholder and of captain-general, had been one of the

conditions on which Cromwell had insisted. The consent of the

States-General was refused, but by a secret treaty Holland, under the

influence of de Witt, accepted it in their own name as a sovereign

province. The popular feeling throughout the United Provinces was

strongly antagonistic to the act of Seclusion, by which at the dictation

of a foreign power a ban of exclusion was pronounced against the house

of Orange-Nassau, to which the republic owed its independence.

War with Sweden.

In 1658, the States-General interfered to save the Danes from Charles

Gustavus of Sweden. In 1659 a treaty of peace was concluded between

France, England and the United Provinces with a view to the settlement

of the Dano-Swedish question, which ended in securing a northern peace

in 1660, and in keeping the Baltic open for Dutch trade. The foreign

affairs of the republic were throughout these years ably conducted by de

Witt, and the position of Dutch colonial expansion in the Eastern seas

made secure and firm. An advantageous peace with Portugal was made in

1662.

Second English war.

Peace of Breda.

The Triple Alliance.

Meanwhile the Commonwealth in England had been followed in 1660 by the

restoration of the monarchy. To conciliate the new king the act of

Seclusion was repealed, and the education of the young prince of Orange

was undertaken by the States of Holland under the superintendence of de

Witt. But Charles owed a grudge against Holland, and he was determined

to gratify it. The Navigation Act was re-enacted, old grievances

revived, and finally the Dutch colony of New Netherland was seized in

time of peace (1664) and its capital, New Amsterdam, renamed New York.

War broke out in 1665, and was marked by a series of terrific battles.

On the 13th of June 1665 the Dutch admiral Obdam was completely defeated

by the English under the duke of York. The four days' fight (11th-14th

of June 1666) ended in a hard-won victory by de Ruyter over Monk, but

later in this year (August 3rd) de Ruyter was beaten by Ayscue and

forced to take refuge in the Dutch harbours. He had his revenge, for on

the 22nd of June 1667 the Dutch fleet under de Ruyter and Cornelius de

Witt made their way up the Medway as far as Chatham and burnt the

English fleet as it lay at anchor. Negotiations between the two

countries were already in progress and this event hastened a settlement.

The peace of Breda was signed (31st of July 1667) on terms on the whole

favourable to the Dutch. New Netherland was retained by England in

exchange for Suriname. In the following year by the efforts of Sir

William Temple the much vaunted Triple Alliance was concluded between

Great Britain, the United Provinces and Sweden to check the ambitious

designs of Louis XIV. The instability of Charles II., who sold himself

to Louis by the treaty of Dover (1670), speedily rendered it of no

effect, and left the United Provinces to face unaided the vengeance of

the French king.

The French invasion.

William III. Stadholder and Captain-general.

The third English war.

Murder of the Brothers de Witt.

From 1668 to 1672 Louis made ready to destroy the Dutch, and so well had

his diplomacy served him that they were left without a friend in Europe.

In 1672 the storm broke: the English without a declaration of war tried,

unsuccessfully, to intercept the Dutch Mediterranean fleet; and the

French at the same time set forth in apparently irresistible strength to

overcome the despised traders of Holland. The States were ill-prepared

on land though their fleet was strong and ready; party spirit had become

intensely bitter as the prince of Orange (see WILLIAM III.) grew to

man's estate, and the ruling burgher party, knowing how great was the

popularity of William, especially in the army, had purposely neglected

their land forces. Town after town fell before the French armies, and to

de Witt and his supporters there seemed to be nothing left but to make

submission and accept the best terms that Louis XIV. would grant. The

young prince alone rose to the height of the occasion, and set his face

against such cowardly counsels, and he had the enthusiastic support of

the great majority of the people. Amidst general acclamation William was

elected stadholder, first of Zeeland, then of Holland, and was appointed

captain-general of the Union (June 1672). Meanwhile the fleet under de

Ruyter had encountered a combined English and French force in Solebay

(7th of June), and after a desperate fight, in which the French had but

slackly supported their allies, had more then held its own. William, in

his turn, with an army wholly insufficient to meet the French in the

open field, was able to persuade his countrymen to open the dikes and by

flooding the land to prevent its occupation by the enemy. The courage

and resourcefulness of their youthful leader inspired the people to make

heroic sacrifices for their independence, but unfortunately such was the

revulsion of feeling against the grand pensionary, that he himself and

his brother Cornelius were torn in pieces by an infuriated mob at the

Hague (20th of August).

Peace of Westminster.

The war with France.

Death of de Ruyter.

Peace of Nymwegen.

William, now supreme in the States, while on land struggling with

chequered success against the superior forces of the French, strove by

his diplomacy, and not in vain, to gain allies for the republic. The

growing power of France caused alarm to her neighbours, and Sweden,

Denmark, Spain and the emperor lent a willing ear to the persuasions of

the stadholder and were ready to aid his efforts to curb the ambition of

Louis. On sea in 1673 de Ruyter, in a series of fiercely contested

battles, successfully maintained his strenuous and dogged conflict

against the united English and French fleets. In England the war was

exceedingly unpopular, and public opinion forced Charles II. to conclude

peace. The treaty of Westminster, which provided that all conquests

should be restored, was signed on the 14th of February 1674. The French

now found themselves threatened on many sides, and were reduced to the

defensive. The prince, however, suffered a defeat at Seneff, and was in

1674 prevented from invading France. The war, nevertheless, during the

following years was on the whole advantageous to the Dutch. In 1676 a

Dutch squadron fought two hard but indecisive battles with a superior

French force, off Stromboli (8th of January) and off Messina (22nd of

April). In the last-named fight Admiral de Ruyter was badly wounded and

died (29th of April). In 1677 negotiations for peace went on, and were

forwarded by the marriage, at the close of the year, of William of

Orange with his cousin the princess Mary, daughter of the duke of York.

At last (August 1678) a peace was concluded at Nymwegen by which the

Dutch secured the integrity and independence of their country. All the

conquests made by the French were given up.

League of Augsburg.

Revolution of 1688.

The Grand Alliance.

William and Heinsius.

The aggressive policy of Louis XIV. in the years that followed the peace

of Nymwegen enabled William to lay the foundations of the famous

confederacy which changed the whole aspect of European politics. The

league of Augsburg (1686), which followed the revocation of the edict of

Nantes, placed Orange at the head of the resistance to French

domination. The league was formed by the emperor, Spain, Sweden, the

United Provinces and by several German states. In England William and

Mary were looked upon as the natural successors to the throne on the

death of James II., and William kept up close relations with the

malcontents in Church and State, who disliked the arbitrary and

papistical policy of his father-in-law. But with the birth of a prince

of Wales the situation was changed, and William determined to intervene

actively in English affairs. His opportunity came when Louis XIV.,

having declared war against the Empire, had invaded the Palatinate. The

opposition of Amsterdam to an English expedition, in the absence of

danger from the side of France, was overcome. The Revolution of 1688

ensued, and England became, under William's strong rule, the chief

member of the Great Coalition against French aggression. In the Grand

Alliance of 1689-1690 he was accused of sacrificing Dutch to English

interests, but there can be no doubt that William loved his native

country better than his adopted one, and was a true patriot. If the

United Provinces suffered in prosperity through their close relations

with and subordination to Great Britain during a long series of years,

it was due not to the policy of William, but to the fact that the

territory of the republic was small, open to attack by great military

powers, and devoid of natural resources. The stadholder's authority and

popularity continued unimpaired, despite of his frequent absences in

England. He had to contend, like his predecessors, with the perennial

hostility of the burgher aristocracy of Amsterdam, and at times with

other refractory town councils, but his power in the States during his

life was almost autocratic. His task was rendered lighter by the

influence and ability of Heinsius, the grand pensionary of Holland, a

wise and prudent statesman, whose tact and moderation in dealing with

the details and difficulties of internal administration were

conspicuous. The stadholder gave to Heinsius his fullest confidence, and

the pensionary on his part loyally supported William's policy and placed

his services ungrudgingly at his disposal (see HEINSIUS).

War with France.

Peace of Ryswick.

Death of William III.

The conduct of the war by the allies was far from successful. In 1690

(July 1st) Waldeck was defeated by Luxemburg at Fleurus; and the

Anglo-Dutch fleet was so severely handled by Tourville (10th July) off

Beachy Head that for two years the command of the sea remained in the

possession of the French. A striking victory off Cape la Hogue (29th of

May 1692) restored, however, supremacy to the allies. On land the

combined armies fared ill. In 1691 the French took Mons, and in 1692

Namur, in which year after a hard-fought battle William was defeated at

Steenkirk and in 1693 at Neerwinden. But William's military genius never

shone so brightly as in the hour of defeat; he never knew what it was to

be beaten, and in 1695 his recapture of Namur was a real triumph of

skill and resolution. At last, after long negotiations, exhaustion

compelled the French king to sign the peace of Ryswick in 1697, in which

William was recognized by France as king of England, the Dutch obtaining

a favourable commercial treaty, and the right to garrison the Netherland

barrier towns. This peace, however, did no more than afford a breathing

space during which Louis XIV. prepared for a renewal of the struggle.

The great question of the Spanish succession was looming in all men's

eyes, and though partition treaties between the interested powers were

concluded in 1698 and 1700, it is practically certain that the French

king held himself little bound by them. In 1701 he elbowed the Dutch

troops out of the barrier towns; he defied England by recognizing James

III. on the death of his father; and it was clear that another war was

imminent when William III. died in 1702.

Stadholderless Government.

In 1672 the stadholdership in five provinces had been made hereditary in

the family of the prince of Orange, but William died childless, and the

republican burgher party was strong enough to prevent the posts being

filled up. William had wished that his cousin, Count John William Friso

of Nassau, stadholder of Friesland and Groningen, should succeed him,

but his extreme youth and the jealousy of Holland against a "Frisian"

stood in the way of his election. The result was a want of unity in

counsel and action among the provinces, Friesland and Groningen standing

aloof from the other five, while Holland and Zeeland had to pay for

their predominance in the Union by being left to bear the bulk of the

charges. Fortunately there was no break of continuity in the policy of

the States, the chief conduct of affairs remaining, until his death in

1720, in the capable and tried hands of the grand pensionary Heinsius,

who had at his side a number of exceptionally experienced and wise

counsellors--among these Simon van Slingeland, for forty-five years

(1680-1725) secretary of the council of state, and afterwards grand

pensionary of Holland (1727-1736), and Francis Fagel, who succeeded his

father in 1699 as recorder (_Griffier_) of the States-General, and held

that important office for fifty years. The tradition of William III. was

thus preserved, but with the loss of the firm hand and strong

personality of that great ruler the United Provinces were relegated to a

subordinate place in the councils of the nations, and with the gradual

decadence of its navy the Dutch republic ceased to rank as a power to be

reckoned with.

War of the Spanish Succession.

Treaty of Utrecht.

In the War of the Spanish Succession, which broke out in 1702, Dutch

troops took part in the campaigns of Marlborough and Eugene, and had

their share in winning the great victories of Blenheim (1704), Ramillies

(1706), Oudenarde (1708) and Malplaquet (1709). At the peace of Utrecht,

concluded in 1713, the interests of the Netherlands were but

half-heartedly supported by the English plenipotentiaries, and the

French were able to obtain far more favourable terms than they had the

power to exact. But they were compelled to abandon all claim to the

Spanish Netherlands, which were formally handed over to the United

Provinces, as trustees, to be by them, after the conclusion of a

satisfactory barrier treaty, given up to the emperor, and be known

henceforth as the Austrian Netherlands. The peace of Utrecht taught the

Dutch that the great powers around them, while ready to use their

resources for war, would not scruple to abandon them when they wanted

peace; they, therefore, determined henceforth to stand clear of all

foreign complications. With 1713 the influence of the United Netherlands

upon European politics comes almost to an end.

Peace policy.

Ostend East India Company.

War of the Austrian Succession.

Revolution of 1747.

William IV.

The ruling party in the States took an active part in securing George I.

on the throne of England; and they succeeded in coming to an agreement

both with France and with Austria over the difficulties connected with

the barrier towns, and were thus able in tranquillity to concentrate

their energies upon furthering the interests of their trade. Under the

close oligarchical rule of the patrician families, who filled all

offices in the town councils, the States of Holland, in which the

influence of Amsterdam was dominant, and which in their turn exercised

predominance in the States-General, became more and more an assembly of

"shopkeepers" whose policy was to maintain peace for the sake of the

commerce on which they thrived. For thirty years after the peace of

Utrecht the Provinces kept themselves free from entanglement in the

quarrels of their neighbours. The foundation of the Ostend East India

Company (see OSTEND COMPANY), however, by the emperor Joseph II. in

1723, at once aroused the strong opposition of the Amsterdam merchants

who looked upon this invasion of their monopoly with alarm, and declared

that the Ostend Company had been set up in contravention to the terms of

Article V. of the treaty of Munster. In maintaining this position the

States had the support of England, but it was not until 1731 that they

succeeded in obtaining the suppression of the company by consenting to

guarantee the Pragmatic Sanction of Charles VI. This step led in 1743 to

their being involved in the War of the Austrian Succession, and thus

being drawn into hostilities with France, which invaded the barrier

country. In 1744 they formed with Great Britain, Austria and Saxony, a

Quadruple Alliance, and put a contingent of troops in the field. The

Dutch took an active part in the campaign of 1745 and suffered heavily

at Fontenoy, after which battle Marshal Saxe overran the Austrian

Netherlands. The French captured all the barrier towns, and in 1747

entered Dutch Flanders and made an easy conquest. The United Provinces,

as in 1672, seemed to lie at the mercy of their enemies, and as in that

eventful year, popular feeling broke down the opposition of the burgher

oligarchies, and turned to William IV., prince of Orange, as the saviour

of the state. John William Friso had died young in 1711, leaving a

posthumous son, William Charles Henry Friso, who was duly elected

stadholder by the two provinces, Friesland and Groningen, which were

always faithful to his family, and in 1722 he became also, though with

very limited powers, stadholder of Gelderland. The other provinces,

however, under pressure from Holland, bound themselves not to elect

stadholders, and they refused to revive the office of captain-general of

the Union. By the conquest of Dutch Flanders Zeeland was threatened, and

the states of that province, in which there were always many Orange

partisans, elected (April 1747) William stadholder, captain-general and

admiral of Zeeland. The example once given was infectious, and was

followed in rapid succession by Holland, Utrecht and Overysel. Finally

the States-General (May 4) appointed the prince, who was the first

member of his family to be stadholder of all the seven provinces,

captain and admiral-general of the Union, and a little later these

offices were declared hereditary in both the male and female lines.

Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle.

Death of William IV.

Anne of England Regent.

William IV., though not a man of great ability, was sincerely anxious to

do his utmost for securing the maintenance of peace, and the development

of the resources and commercial prosperity of the country, and his

powerful dynastic connexions (he had married Anne, eldest daughter of

George II.) gave him weight in the councils of Europe. The peace of

Aix-la-Chapelle, in 1748, in which the influence of Great Britain was

exerted on behalf of the States, though it nominally restored the old

condition of things, left the Provinces crippled by debt, and fallen low

from their old position among the nations. At first the stadholder's

efforts to promote the trade and welfare of the country were hampered by

the distrust and opposition of Amsterdam, and other strongholds of

anti-Orange feeling, and just as his good intentions were becoming more

generally recognized, William unfortunately died, on the 22nd of October

1751, aged forty years, leaving his three-year-old son, William V., heir

to his dignities. The princess Anne of England became regent, but she

had a difficult part to play, and on the outbreak of the Seven Years'

War in which the Provinces were determined to maintain neutrality, her

English leanings brought much unpopularity upon her. She died in 1759,

and for the next seven years the regency passed into the hands of the

States, and the government was practically stadholderless.

William V.

The Armed Neutrality.

War with England.

Peace of Paris.

In 1766 William V. was declared to be of age; and his accession to power

was generally welcomed. He was, however, a weak man, without energy or

resolution, and he allowed himself to be entirely led by his old

guardian the duke of Brunswick, and by his wife Frederica Wilhelmina of

Prussia, a woman of marked ability, to whom he entirely deferred. In the

American War of Independence William's sympathies were strongly on the

English side, while those of the majority of the Dutch people were with

the revolted colonies. It is, however, certain that nothing would have

driven the Provinces to take part in the war but for the overbearing

attitude of the British government with regard to the right of neutral

shipping upon the seas, and the heavy losses sustained by Dutch commerce

at the hands of British privateers. The famous agreement, known as the

"Armed Neutrality," with which in 1780 the States of the continent at

the instigation of Catherine II. of Russia replied to the maritime

claims put forward by Great Britain drew the Provinces once more into

the arena of European politics. Every effort was made by the English to

prevent the Dutch from joining the league, and in this they were

assisted by the stadholder, but at last the States-General, though only

by the bare majority of four provinces against three, determined to

throw in their lot with the opponents of England. Nothing could have

been more unfortunate, for the country was not ready for war, and party

spirit was too strong for united action to be taken or vigorous

preparations to be made. When war broke out Dutch commerce was

destroyed, and the Dutch colonies were at the mercy of the English fleet

without the possibility of a blow being struck in their defence. An

indecisive, but bravely fought action with Admiral Parker at the Dogger

Bank showed, however, that the Dutch seamen had lost none of their old

dogged courage, and did much to soothe the national sense of

humiliation. In the negotiations of the Treaty of Paris (1783) the Dutch

found themselves abandoned by their allies, and compelled to accept the

disadvantageous but not ungenerous terms accorded to them by Great

Britain. They had to sacrifice some of their East Indian possessions and

to concede to the English freedom of trade in the Eastern seas.

The "Patriot" Party.

Intervention of the King of Prussia.

Difficulty with the Emperor.

Prussian Invasion.

Restoration to power of William V.

One result of this humiliating and disastrous war was the strengthening

of the hands of the anti-Orange burgher-regents, who had now arrogated

to themselves the name of "patriots." It was they, and not the

stadholder, who had been mainly responsible for the Provinces joining

"the Armed Neutrality," but the consequences of the war, in which this

act had involved them, was largely visited upon the prince of Orange.

The "patriot" party did their utmost to curtail his prerogatives, and

harass him with petty insults, and at last the Prussian king was obliged

to interfere to save his niece, who was even more unpopular than her

weak husband, from being driven from the country. In 1784 the emperor

Joseph II. took advantage of the dissensions in the Provinces to raise

the question of the opening of the Scheldt. He himself was, however, no

more prepared for attack than the Republic for defence, but the Dutch

had already sunk so low, that they agreed to pay a heavy indemnity to

induce the Austrians to drop a demand they were unable to enforce. To

hold the mouth of the Scheldt and prevent at all costs a revival of

Antwerp as a commercial port had been for two centuries a cardinal point

of Dutch policy. This difficulty removed, the agitation of the

"patriots" against the stadholderate form of government increased in

violence, and William speedily found his position untenable. An insult

offered to the prince of Orange in 1787 led to an invasion of the

country by a Prussian army. Amsterdam capitulated, the country was

occupied, and the patriot leaders declared incapable of holding any

office. The Orange party was completely triumphant, and William V.,

under the protection of Prussia and England, with which states the

United Provinces were compelled to ally themselves, was restored to

power. It was, however, impossible to make the complicated and creaking

machinery of the constitution of the worn-out republic of the United

Netherlands work smoothly, and in all probability it would have been

within a very short time replaced by an hereditary monarchy, had not the

cataclysm of the French Revolution swept it away from its path, never to

be revived.

The French invade the Netherlands.

Overthrow of the Stadholderate.

Flight of William V.

The Batavian Republic.

Changes of Government.

When war broke out between the French revolutionary government and the

coalition of kings, the Provinces remained neutral as long as they

could. It was not till Dumouriez had overrun all the Austrian

Netherlands in 1792, and had thrown open the passage of the Scheldt,

that they were drawn into the war. The patriot party sided with the

French, but for various reasons the conquest of the country was delayed

until 1795. In the closing months of 1794 Pichegru, at the head of a

large and victorious army, invaded the Provinces. The very severe frost

of that winter gave his troops an easy passage over all the rivers and

low-lying lands; town after town fell before him; he occupied Amsterdam,

and crossing the ice with his cavalry took the Dutch fleet, as it lay

frost-bound at the Texel. The stadholder and his family fled to England,

and the disorganized remnants of the allied forces under the duke of

York retreated into Germany. The "patriots," as the anti-Orange

republicans still styled themselves, received the French with open arms

and public rejoicings, and the government was reorganized so as to bring

it into close harmony with that of Paris. The stadholderate, the offices

of captain and admiral-general, and all the ancient organization of the

United Netherlands were abolished, and were transformed into the

Batavian Republic, in close alliance with France. But the Dutch had soon

cause to regret their revolutionary ardour. French alliance meant French

domination, and participation in the wars of the Revolution. Its

consequences were the total ruin of Dutch commerce, and the seizure of

all the Dutch colonies by the English. Internally one change of

government succeeded another; after the States-General came a national

convention; then in 1798 a constituent assembly with an executive

directory; then chambers of representatives; then a return to the

earlier systems under the names of the eight provincial and one central

Commissions (1801). These changes were the outcome of a gradual reaction

in a conservative direction.

Constitution of 1805.

Louis Bonaparte King of Holland.

The Sovereign Prince.

Creation of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

The Hundred Days.

William I. crowned at Brussels.

Constitution of the Netherlands.

The peace of Amiens gave the country a little rest, and the Dutch got

back the Cape of Good Hope and their West Indian colonies; it was,

however, but the brief and deceptive interlude between two storms; when

war began again England once more took possession of all she had

restored. In 1805 the autocratic will of Napoleon Bonaparte imposed upon

them a new constitution, and Rutger Jan Schimmelpenninck (1765-1825) was

made, under the ancient title of grand pensionary, head of the

government. In the next year the French emperor added Holland, as the

United Provinces were now named, to the ring of dependent sovereignties,

by means of which he sought to build up a universal empire, and he

forced his brother Louis to be the unwilling king of an unwilling

people. The new king was a man of excellent intentions and did his best

to promote the interest of his subjects, but finding himself unable to

protect them from the despotic overlordship of his brother, after a four

years' reign, Louis abdicated. In 1810 the Northern Netherlands by

decree of Napoleon were incorporated in the French empire, and had to

bear the burdens of conscription and of a crushing weight of taxation.

The defeat of Leipzig in 1813 was the signal for a general revolt in the

Netherlands; the prince of Orange (son of William V.) was recalled, and

amidst general rejoicing accepted at Amsterdam the offer of the

sovereignty under a free constitution (Dec. 1, 1813), with the title of

sovereign prince. On the downfall of Napoleon the great powers

determined to create in the Low Countries a powerful state, and by the

treaty of London (June 14, 1814) the Belgians were united with the Dutch

provinces to form the kingdom of the Netherlands, which was also to

include the bishopric of Liege and the duchy of Bouillon, and the prince

of Orange was placed upon the throne on the 15th of March 1815 as

William I., king of the Netherlands (see WILLIAM I., king of the

Netherlands). The ancestral possessions of the House of Nassau were

exchanged for Luxemburg, of which territory King William in his personal

capacity became grand duke. The carrying out of the treaty was delayed

by the Hundred Days' campaign, which for a short time threatened its

very existence. The daring invasion of Napoleon, however, afforded the

Dutch and Belgian contingents of the allied army the opportunity to

fight side by side under the command of William, prince of Orange,

eldest son of the new king, who highly distinguished himself by his

gallantry at Quatre Bras, and afterwards at Waterloo where he was

wounded (see WILLIAM II., king of the Netherlands). The Congress of

Vienna confirmed the arrangements made by the treaty of London, and

William I. was crowned king of the Netherlands at Brussels on the 27th

of September 1815. Under the constitution the king, as hereditary

sovereign, possessed full executive powers, and the initiative in

proposing laws. He had the power of appointing his own council of state.

The legislative body bore the time-honoured title of States-General, and

was divided into an Upper Chamber nominated by the king, and a Lower

Chamber elected by the people. Freedom of worship, freedom of the press,

and political equality were principles of the constitution, guaranteed

to all.

Difference between the Dutch and Belgic provinces.

The Belgian Revolution.

Reign of William II.

Accession of William III.

The Constitution of 1848.

Political parties in the Netherlands.

The union of the Dutch and Belgian provinces, like so many of the

territorial arrangements of the Congress of Vienna, was an attempt to

create a strong state out of diverse and jarring elements. It was an

artificial union, which nothing but consummate tact and statesmanship

could have rendered permanent and solid. North and south were divided

from one another by religious belief, by laws and usages, by material

interests, and by two centuries and a half of widely severed national

life. The Belgians were strict Catholics, the Dutch Calvinistic

Protestants. The Dutch were chiefly a commercial and seafaring people,

with interests in distant lands and colonial possessions; the Belgians

were agriculturists, except where their abundance of minerals made them

manufacturers. The national traits of the Dutch were a blend of German

and English, the national leaning of the Belgians was towards France and

French ideals. Nevertheless the materials were there out of which a

really broad-minded and conciliatory handling of religion and racial

difficulties might have gradually built up a Netherland nation able to

hold from its population and resources a considerable place among

European powers. For it must not be forgotten that some two-thirds of

the Belgian people are by origin and language of the same race as the

Dutch. But when difficulties and differences arose between North and

South, as they were sure to arise, they were not dealt with wisely. The

king had good intentions, but his mind was warped by Dutch prejudices,

and he was ill-advised and acted unadvisedly. The consequences were the

Belgian Revolution of 1830, which ended in the intervention of the great

powers, and the setting up, in 1831, of Belgium as an independent

kingdom. The final settlement of outstanding questions between the two

countries was not reached till 1839 (for an account of the Belgian

Revolution, see BELGIUM). King William I. in the following year, having

become unpopular through his resistance to reform, resigned his crown to

his son William II., who reigned in peace till his death in 1849, when

he was succeeded by his eldest son William III. (see WILLIAM III., king

of the Netherlands). His accession marked the beginning of

constitutional government in the Netherlands. William I. had been to a

large extent a personal ruler, but William II., though for a time

following in his father's steps, had been moved by the revolutionary

outbreaks of 1848 to concede a revision of the constitution. The

fundamental law of 1848 enacted that the first chamber of the

States-General should be elected by the Provincial Estates instead of

being appointed by the king, and that the second chamber should be

elected directly by all persons paying a certain amount in taxation.

Ministers were declared responsible to the States-General, and a liberal

measure of self-government was also granted. During the long reign of

William III. (1849-1890) the chief struggles of parties in the

Netherlands centred round religious education. On the one side are the

liberals, divided into moderates and progressives, the representatives

to a large extent of the commercial towns. Opposed to them is the

coalition of the orthodox Protestant conservatives, styled

anti-revolutionaries, supported by the Calvinistic peasantry, and the

Catholics, who represent about one-third of the population and have

their headquarters in Dutch Brabant, Dutch Flanders and Limburg. There

is also in the Netherlands a small, but very strenuous socialist party,

which was founded by the active propaganda of an ex-pastor

Domela-Nieuwenhuis. It draws its chief strength from Amsterdam and

certain country districts of Friesland.

Religious education.

The liberals were in power from 1871 to 1888 continuously, but a

Catholic-anti-revolutionary ministry under Baron Mackay held office from

1888 to 1891, and again a coalition ministry was formed in 1901 with Dr

Kuyper at its head. From 1894 to 1897 a ministry of moderate liberals

supported by a large part of the Catholic and anti-revolutionary parties

were in power. The constitution of 1848 made it the duty of the state to

provide free primary secular education, but it allowed to members of all

creeds the liberty of establishing private schools, and this was carried

into effect by a law passed in 1857 by the joint efforts of the liberals

and Catholics against the opposition of the orthodox Calvinists. But the

long liberal ascendancy closed the ranks of the Catholic-Calvinist

coalition, and united them against the neutral schools, and in 1889 they

were able to pass a law enabling not only the unsectarian public

schools, but all private schools organized by societies and bodies

recognized by the law to receive subventions from the state. In 1890

there were 3000 public schools with 450,000 scholars and 1300 private

schools with 195,000 scholars.

Extension of the suffrage.

Military service.

The subject of the extension of the franchise has also been the cause of

violent party strife and controversy. It was taken in hand as early as

1872, but as a revision of the constitution was necessary, no change was

actually carried out till 1887. The law of that year lowered the

qualification of the payer of a direct tax to 10 fl. Votes were given to

all householders paying a certain _minimum_ house duty, and to all

lodgers who had for a given time paid a _minimum_ of rent, also to all

who possessed certain educational and social qualifications, whose

definition was left to be specified by a later law. The passing of such

a law was deferred by the coalition (Catholic-Orthodox) ministry of

1888-1891. The liberal ministry of 1891 attempted to deal with the

question, and a proposal was made by the minister Tak van Poortvliet,

which almost amounted to universal suffrage. The educational

qualification was to be able to write, the social that of not receiving

charitable relief. This proposal caused a cleavage right through all

parties. It was supported by the radical left, by a large portion of the

Orthodox-Calvinists under Dr Kuyper, and by some Catholics; it had

against it the moderate liberals, the aristocratic section of the

Orthodox-Calvinists, the bulk of the Catholics, and a few radicals under

an influential leader van Houten. After a fierce electoral fight the

Takkians were victors at the first polls, but were beaten at the second

ballots. Of the 46 Takkians, 35 were liberals; of the 54 anti-Takkians,

24 were Catholics. A moderate liberal ministry was formed (1894) and in

1896 carried into law what was known as the van Houten project. It gave

the right of voting to all Dutchmen over twenty-five years of age, who

paid 1 fl. in direct taxation; were householders or lodgers as defined

in 1887, or tenants of a vessel of, at least, 24 tons; were the

recipients of certain salaries or had certain deposits in the public

funds or savings banks. By this reform the number of electors, which had

been raised in 1887 from 140,000 to 300,000, was augmented to 700,000.

The question of universal military service has also divided parties. The

principle of personal service has been strongly opposed by the Catholics

and conservatives, but became the law of the land in 1898, though

exemptions were conceded in favour of ecclesiastics and certain classes

of students.

The Achin war.

The long-continued and costly wars with the sultan of Achin have during

a series of years been a source of trouble to Dutch ministries. In

1871-1872 Great Britain, in exchange for certain possessions of Holland

on the coast of Guinea, agreed to recognize the right of the Dutch to

occupy the north of Sumatra. The sultan of Achin opposed by force of

arms the efforts of the Dutch to make their occupation effective, and

has succeeded in maintaining a vigorous resistance, the Dutch colonial

troops suffering severely from the effects of the insalubrious climate.

Until 1871 the surplus derived from the colonial budget had been turned

into a deficit, and the necessity of imposing fresh taxes to meet the

war expenses has led to the downfall both of individual ministries and

of cabinets.

Queen Wilhelmina.

William III. dying in 1890 was succeeded by his only surviving child,

Wilhelmina. The new queen being a minor, her mother, the queen-dowager

Emma, became regent. One effect of the accession of Queen Wilhelmina was

the severance of the bond between the Netherlands and Luxemburg. The

grand duchy, being hereditary only in the male line, passed to the

nearest agnate, the duke of Nassau. In 1898 the queen, having reached

the age of eighteen, assumed the government. She married in 1901 Prince

Henry of Mecklenburg. The outbreak of the Boer War in 1899 led to a

strong outburst of sympathy among the Dutch on behalf of their kinsmen

in South Africa, and there were times during the war, especially after

President Kruger had fled from the Transvaal in a Dutch war vessel and

had settled in Holland, when it was a task of some difficulty for the

Dutch government to prevent the relations between Great Britain and the

Netherlands from becoming strained. The ministry, however, under Dr

Kuyper were able to keep the popular feeling in favour of the Boers in

restraint, and to maintain towards Great Britain a correct attitude of

strict neutrality. In 1903 the government took strong measures to

prevent a threatened general strike of railway employees, the military

were called out, and occupied the stations. A bill was passed by the

States-General declaring railway strikes illegal. The elections of 1905

for the Second Chamber gave the liberals a narrow majority of four. Dr

Kuyper accordingly resigned, and a moderate liberal cabinet was formed

by Th. H. de Meester. The fact that up to 1908 the queen had not become

a mother gradually caused some public concern as to the succession; but

in 1909 Queen Wilhelmina, amid national rejoicings, gave birth to a

princess.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.--See (for the general history) J. Wagenaar,

_Vaderlandsche historie_, to 1751 (21 vols., 1749-1759); continuation

by Az. P. Loosjes, from 1751-1810 (48 vols., 1786-1811); W.

Bilderdijk, _Geschiedenis der Vaderlands_ (13 vols., 1832-1853); Groen

G. van Prinsterer, _Handboek der Geschiedenis van het Vaderland_ (6th

ed., 1895); (for particular periods): L. ab Aitzema, _Saken van spaet

en oorlogh in ende om trent de Vereenigde Nederlanden (1621-1668)_ (15

vols., 1657-1671); continuation by Lambert van den Bos (Lambertus

Sylvius) (4 vols., 1685-1699). The work of Aitzema contains a large

number of important diplomatic and other documents; A. de Wicquefort,

_Histoire des provinces des Pays-Bas depuis la paix de Munster_

(1648-1658) (2 vols., 1719-1743); in these volumes will be also found

a rich collection of original documents; R. Fruin, _Tien jaren uit den

tactig jarigen oorlog (1588-1598)_, (6th ed., 1905), a standard work;

J. L. Motley, _History of the United Netherlands (1584-1609)_, (4

vols., 1860-1868); P. J. Blok, _History of the People of the

Netherlands_, vol. iii. (1568-1621) (trans. by Ruth Putnam, 1900);

_Cambridge Modern History_, vol. iii. ch. xix. and vol. iv. ch. xxv.

(see the bibliographies); Ant. L. Pontales, _Vingt annees de

republique parlementaire au 17me siecle. Jean de Witt, grand

pensionnaire de Hollande_ (1884); E. C. de Gerlache, _Histoire du

royaume des Pays-Bas 1814-1830_ (3 vols., 1859); Bosch J. de Kemper,

_Geschiedenis van Nederland na 1830_ (5 vols., 1873-1882); also the

following important works: Groen G. van Prinsterer, _Archives ou

correspondance inedite de la maison d'Orange-Nassau_, 2^e serie

(1584-1688) (5 vols., 1857-1860); J. de Witt, _Brieven (1652-1669)_ (6

vols., 1723-1725); A. Kluit, _Historie der Hollandsche Staatsregering

tot 1795_ (5 vols., 1802-1805); G. W. Vreede, _Inleiding tot eene

geschiedenis der Nederlandsche diplomatic_ (6 vols., 1850-1865); J. C.

de Jonge, _Geschiedenis van het Nederlandsche Zeewesen_, (6 vols.,

1833-1848); E. Luzac, _Holland's Rijkdom_ (4 vols., 1781); R. Fruin,

_Geschiedenis der Staatsinstellingen in Nederland tot den val der

Republick_, edn. Colenbrander (1901); N. G. van Kampen, _Geschiedenis

der Nederlanders buiten Europa_ (4 vols., 1833); W. J. A. Jonckbloet,

_Geschiedenis der Nederlandsche Letterkunde_ (2 vols. 1881); C. Busken

Huet, _Het Land van Rembrandt-studien over de Nordnederlandsche

beschaving in de 17^e eeuw_ (2 vols., 1886); L. D. Petit, _Repertorium

der verhandelingen en bijdragen betreffende de geschiedenis des

Vaterlands in tijdschriften en mengel werken tot op 1900 verschenen_,

2 parts (1905); other parts of this valuable _repertorium_ are in

course of publication. (G. E.)