machinery of those buildings, which I afterwards examined, is very
curious; they were originally invented by Corneille Van Uitgust. The
flies of the mill are fixed to a large beam, which turns on an axis; in
the centre of the beam the principal wheel is fixed, which impels one
immediately below it, which is also fixed on the middle of a piece of
timber, hanging on an axis, to which four perpendicular saws, ten in
each compartment, are fastened, which, as the wheel revolves, are
elevated and depressed. Two iron hooks are fastened at the end of this
beam, which catch a wheel, and as the saw rises and falls, move this
wheel one cog; that wheel impels another, which catches into a piece of
iron, and draws it towards itself; at the end of this iron there is a
cross bar, which presses against the end of the tree, while the other
end is sawing, and gradually forces it on to the teeth of the saws, as
they proceed in cutting.
I remember at Memel, in Polish Prussia, the sawing mills there had
another mechanical power, that of drawing up the trees from the barks in
which they were brought in the river, into the yard or store-house. I
believe mills for sawing timber have been introduced only partially into
England. All the mills in Holland rise to a very great height, to secure
as much wind at all times as possible. Many of these mills were thatched
on the sides as well as the roof.
A very ingenious discovery, infinitely more curious than the Dutch
sawing-mill, has, however, been recently made in London, by Sir George
Wright, Bart. of machinery for sawing stone, for which a patent has been
obtained, now the property of Samuel Hill, Esq. who has added many
improvements to it. By means of a steam-engine, a number of saws are set
in motion, by which a solid block of marble or stone, rough from the
quarry, can be cut into shafts of columns of diminishing diameters, one
within the other, at the same time: the blocks fixed in an iron circular
frame, resting upon four small wheels, by which they can be turned round
by the person who has the care of a certain number of them, to keep the
saws, which are almost in a horizontal position, constantly acting upon
them; the blocks are a little inclined, to enable the saws to be
supplied with water from a trough above, conducted by means of tin pipes
to the respective orifices.
By means of this admirable invention, a saving of three-fourths of the
stone is produced upon a block of large diameter; the outer cases being
as strong as the cube, _five_ men can perform the work which occupied
_forty_ before the discovery; and stone columns are reduced to the price
of wooden ones. These saws can also cut out an entire gothic window,
which they effect at a saving of eighty per cent. with great beauty and
precision, and which in its former construction was divided into six
different parts; the last savings or cubes, upon being cemented
together, constitute a complete gothic column, and the concavity of the
divided outer case of a large column forms an entire recess; a block
will also, after it has afforded several shafts of columns, form a
handsome series of chimnies. The pipes for conveying water by this
machinery are much preferred, on account of their durability: the
proprietors of several public works have adopted them in preference to
those of wood, which are continually wanting repairs. This highly
ingenious discovery has been matured and prosecuted with great public
spirit and expense by the proprietor, and promises, from its great
utility and economy, to become an object of high national importance.
In our treckschuyt, I witnessed a strong contrast to the spirits and
loquacity of the French and Germans; all was smoke and silence, save
when it yielded to a few short sentences, in which the word _mi vrow_
frequently met my ear. One very grave elderly gentleman, who wore an
enormous curled and powdered wig, and who somewhat resembled Lord
Burleigh in the Critic, spoke but once all the way, and that was in the
following oracular sentence; “_Wat is goed voor de man is ook goed voor
de vrow_—What is good for the husband, is as good for the wife;” so
similar in many instances are the Dutch and English languages, that some
of our witlings have observed that bad English will make very good
Dutch. M. Siegenbeek, minister of the anabaptist church at Leyden, and
the first who has occupied the chair for Dutch literature and eloquence
in the university of that city, in which, by his genius and attainments,
he reflects honour upon his country, has published a very ingenious
work, entitled, _Verhandeling over de Nederduitsche Spelling_; a
Treatise on Dutch Orthography, tending to render it uniform: this work
and another by the same author, called _Verhandeling over den Ionsted,
&c._ or a Treatise on the Influence of Euphony or agreeable Sound, and
of the Facility of Pronunciation, on the orthography of the Dutch
language, were, at the instigation and by the able exertions of M.
Vander Palm, the agent of national education, some years since
published, for the improvement of the national language and poetry. The
late Batavian government adopted the system of orthography proposed by
M. Siegenbeek, and ordered it to be used by all the offices of
administration.
It is generally understood that the language of Holland is divided into
High and Low Dutch, whereas there is but one pure language, as in
England, which is called Neder Duitch, the language of the Netherlands,
or of a country lying very low. In Holland, as in every other country,
there is a variety of provincial idioms; for instance, a raw native of
Friesland would not be understood at Amsterdam.
Of the Dutch language our immortal lexicographer, Johnson, says, “Our
knowledge of the northern literature is so scanty, that of words
undoubtedly Teutonic the original is not always to be found in any
ancient language, and I have therefore inserted Dutch or German
substitutes, which I consider not as radical, but parallel; not as the
parent of, but as sisters to the English.” To close this digression, the
language, I must confess, did not sound dissonant to my ear from the
lips of well-bred persons.
The following specimens will enable the reader to observe the solidity
of the learned doctor’s remark.
Was you at Lord Nelson’s funeral? Yes.
Waart gy by Lord Nelson’s begravenis? Ja.
Waren sie bey Lord Nelson’s begræbniss? Ja.
Be then so good as to describe it to me.
Weest dan zoo goed en beschryft het my.
Sein sie dann so gut, und beschreiben sie es mir.
The procession was abruptly broken into three parts,
De processie was volmaakt afgebroken in drie deelen,
Die procession war plœtzlich abgebrochen in drey theile,
or rather there were three distinct and unconnected processions.
of eerder er waare drie veschillende & afgezonderde processien.
oder vielmehr, es waren drey verschiedene & abgesonderte processionen.
First came trumpeters playing the dead march in Saul,
Eerst kwamen de trompetters de dood marsch in Saul blaasende,
Zuerst kamen die trompeter, die den Toden marsch in Saul bliessen,
followed by a large body of cavalry and foot soldiers,
gevolgd door een groot corps ruitery en infantery,
auf welche ein grosses corps cavallerie und infanterie folgte,
having the appearance of going to a review.
het voorkomen hebbende als of zy naar een revue ginge.
welches aussahe, als wenn sie nach einer revue giengen.
When they had passed, and patience was nearly exhausted,
Toen zy voorby waaren, & het geduld byna ten einde was,
Als sie vorbei waren, und die gedult beinahe erschœpft war,
and a million or more of teeth had chattered with the cold,
en een millioen van tande ge klappert hadden van de koude,
und millionen zæhne geklappert hatten vor kælte,
more melancholy trumpeters appeared, blowing dirges,
verscheenen nog meerder droevige trompetters treur liederren blaazende,
erschienen andere melancholische trompeter, die trauerlieder bliessen,
then followed a line of mourning coaches, one filled with
daarna volgde een rey rouw koet zen van de welke eene
alsdann folgte eine reihe trauerwagen, der eine gefült mit
little flags, as returning from a Dutch fair;
met kleine vlaggen gevuld was, als komende van een Hollandsche kermis;
kleinen flaggen, als kæme er von einer Hollændischen kirmis zurück;
another with a knight’s shirt, spurs, and gloves,
een ander met een ridders hembd, spooren & handschoenen,
ein anderer mit eines ritters hemd, spornen und handschuen,
which dangled in the air from little white wands,
al het welke in de lugt wapperde, hangende aan witte stockjes,
welche flatterten in der luft, an kleinen weisen stecken hangend,
then succeeded a group of noble fellows,
dan volgde een hoop braave knaape uitmaakende,
dann folgte ein haufen braver kerls,
part of the crew of Nelson’s ship,
gedeelte van het volk van Nelson’s schip,
ein theil der mannschafft von Nelson’s schiff,
their faces were embrowned by the hard duties of war;
hun aangezichte waare bruin door de harde oorlogs pligte;
ihre gesichter waren braun geworden durch die harten kriegs dienste;
their hearts seemed touched with genuine sorrow;
hunne herte scheenen aangedaan door op rechte droefheid;
ihre hertzen schienen gerührt mit aufrichtigem schmerze;
very few could look upon them with dry eyes.
zeer weinige konde hun met drooge oogen aanzien.
Sehr wenige konnten auf sie sehen mit trocknen augen.
In the simple garb of sailors, with downcast looks,
In de eenvoudige matroozen kleeding met neergeslagen oogen,
In der einfachen matrosenkleidung, mit niedergeschlagenen blicken,
they engaged more attention than all the military pomp
trokken zy meerder aandacht op zig als al de militaire
zogen sie mehr aufmerksamkeit auf sich, als alle militaire pracht
which had preceded them;
die hun voorafgegaan was:
die ihnen vorangegangen war:
I saw one of them raise his rough hand to his eye
Ik zag, een van hun, zyn ruwe hand tot zyn oog brengen
Ich sahe einen von ihnen seine rauhe hand nach seinem auge bringen
and wipe away a tear—perchance the first he ever shed.
en een traan afwissen de eerste dien hy mischien in zyn leeven gestort
had.
und eine thraene abwischen, vielleicht die erste, welche er jemals
vergoss.
All thought the hero’s body would immediately follow.
een yder dagt dat nu het lichaam van den held volgen.
jederman glaubte, des helden leichnam werde unmittelbar folgen.
An hour had elapsed, during which the volunteers
Een uur ging voorby, geduurende het welke de vrywillige
Eine stunde gieng vorüber, wæhrend welcher die freiwilligen
broke from their ranks to get refreshments,
uithunne geleederren liepen om zig te verfrischen,
aus ihren reihen liefen, um sich zu erfrischen,
and all was chaos and confusion—These brave men,
en alles was een Caos van verwarring—Deeze braave mannen,
und alles war chaos und verwirrung—Diese braven maenner,
although they have been slandered by one high in the state,
al hoewel zy door een groot man in de staat geheekelt waaren,
Obschon sie von einem hohen staats manne sind verhoehnet worden,
will, when the hour arrives, discharge their duty.
zullen, wanneer de tyd koomt, hunne pligt voldoen.
werden, wann die stunde kommt, ihre pflicht thun.
At last, when every eye had been strained with expectation,
Eindelyk, toen yder oog vermoeid was door verwagting,
Endlich, als jederman’s auge gespannt war mit erwartung,
the dark plumed car appeared, bearing the remains
verscheen de zwarte gepluimde, kar met de overblyfsels
erschien der schwarze, gefederte wagen, tragend die uberbleibsel
of the mighty chief, whose fame will live as long
van de magtige bevelhebber, wiens _roem_ zoo lang zal bestaan
des maechtigen befehlshabers, dessen ruhm bestehen wird so lange
as the ocean which supported him
als de oceaan die hem in zyn triumph
als der ocean, der ihn trug
in his triumph, shall roll his waves.
droeg zyne baaren rollen zal.
in seinem triumph, wird seine wellen wælzen.
No solemn music announced its approach,
Geen solemneel muziek verkondigde zyn naadering,
keine feierliche musik verkündigte seine ankunft,
or closed its melancholy movement.
of sloot zyn droevige beweeging.
oder beendigte seine melancholische bewegung.
A line of mourning coaches succeeded,
Een rey van gemeene rouw koetzen volgde,
Eine reihe von gemeinen trauerwagen folgte,
at unequal distances.
in ongelyke afstanden.
in ungleicher entfernung.
Many of them, having been left behind,
Verscheide zyndeagter af gebleeven,
Viele von ihnen, die zurück geblieben waren,
drove furiously along the streets,
reede met drift door de straaten,
fuhren wüthend durch die strassen,
and so closed this public spectacle,
en zoo sloot dit algemeen spectakel,
und so endigte sich dieses œffentliche schauspiel,
upon which enormous sums were lavished to show,
voor het welke groote somme weggeworpe waaren omde,
auf welches grosse summen sind verschwendet worden, zu zeigen,
the nation’s love of valour, and its want of taste.
natsie haar liefde voor moed, & gebrek aan smaak te tonen.
der nation’s liebe für tapferkeit, & ihren mangel an geschmack.
CHAPTER VI.
DEXTERITY OF BOATMEN ... OVERCHIE ... DUTCH GINGERBREAD ... A FRENCH
SAYING ... DELFT CHINA ... DELFT ... DUTCHMAN’S REMARK ON THE WAR ...
NEW CHURCH ... ANECDOTE OF GROTIUS ... AFFECTIONATE STRATAGEM ...
GROTIUS’S REMARKS ON EDUCATION ... BARNEVELDT ... NOBLE FEMALE
ANECDOTE ... THE CARILLONS ... CARILLONEURS ... DUTCH FRUGALITY TOWARDS
THE DEAD ... REVOLUTIONARY MODERATION ... FIRMNESS OF MANUFACTURERS.
My companions continued smoking, and enjoying the delightful novelty of
our aquatic conveyance and the surrounding scenery. We met several
boats, and the dexterity by which the line was slackened by one boat, to
permit the other, which kept its towing mast standing, to pass over the
cord, according to the custom which governs this sort of rencontre on
the canal, was admirable, as also was the ease and skill with which the
skipper who has the care of the line throws it up on one side, and
catches it on the other of a bridge under which the boat is obliged to
pass.
At Overchie, a village about three miles, or one hour from Rotterdam,
the houses are close to the water, and little children were playing on
its very margin without exciting any apprehension. In this town the
prospect of a late dinner induced me to taste its gingerbread, for which
Holland is very justly celebrated. Before every cottage, brass kettles
and pans just cleaned were placed upon stools in the open air, or were
polishing under the hands of their indefatigable owners; and even
certain utensils shone with such resplendent brightness in the sun, that
the well-known saying which the French whimsically apply to the grave
and thoughtful, Il est sérieux comme un pot de chambre, would lose the
fidelity of its resemblance here.
We were passed by several curricles, a very common carriage in this part
of Holland, the horses in rope harness, going to and from Rotterdam. In
the roof of the boat were some ladies and gentlemen, who, as well as I
could discern through the smoke, seemed pleased to see me so with their
country. The land all the way on each side was rich pasture. On our
left, a short distance from Delft, we passed a cannon foundry, and on
our right some potteries, where the Delft china, formerly much prized
all over Europe, and which Vandevelt and other eminent artists
embellished with their pencils, used to be manufactured in great
abundance. These potteries, since last war, have greatly declined, to
the severe injury of the adjoining town.
The principal cause of the decay of these potteries has been the vast
quantities of porcelain which, for more than a century and a half, have
been imported from China into Europe, and the great improvement of that
beautiful manufacture in England and Germany. Some years since the
earth-ware of Staffordshire was so much admired in Holland, that to
protect the manufacture of Delft from utter ruin, the States General
imposed a duty upon its importation into the republic, that nearly
amounted to a prohibition. Hence the name of an Englishman is not very
popular in Delft. I tasted some excellent beer in this town, which is
celebrated for its breweries, and produces an admirable imitation of
London bottled porter.
The town is very ancient and picturesque; at the place where we
disembarked, were several treckschuyts moored under an old castellated
gateway, from which, preceded by a commissary or licensed porter, who
attends the moment the boat arrives, with his wheelbarrow, to convey the
luggage of the passengers, we entered Delft, the capital of Delftland,
in the province of Holland, and proceeded to a very comfortable inn,
which furnished some good cutlets, and a bottle of claret. Before the
hotel all was bustle, from the number of carriages filled with genteel
people proceeding to, and returning from the Hague, to and from which
boats are passing every half hour.
Here, as in every inn in Holland, however humble, the guest has always
the comfort of a silver fork placed by his side, and a tablecloth of
snowy whiteness: in the room where I dined was a glass china cupboard,
and every article within it bore shining testimony to its having
received a due proportion of diurnal care. Delft is a large but gloomy
town, and as silent as a monastery, except in the street immediately
leading to the Hague; upon quitting which, no sound was to be heard but
that of mops and buckets: narrow, green, stagnant canals divide most of
the streets, which are generally, for some little distance before the
houses, paved with black and white marble. However, the principal part
of the town is handsome, having two spacious streets, with broad canals
bordered with trees.
The navigation is interrupted from the Rotterdam entrance to that of the
Hague, so that the water within it presents no animating object. In this
town turf is principally burnt.
Although the taciturnity of the place would induce a stranger to think
its population small, it reckons 13,000 inhabitants, 6000 of whom, since
the war, have been reduced to the class of paupers. I met with two or
three inhabitants who spoke good English, and expressed in terms of
feeling misery, the heavy losses and distresses which they had sustained
by a rupture with England; yet, strange as it may appear, they seemed to
think well of their new government, and spoke with great esteem of their
king, of whom they said they well knew, he felt the impolicy of a war
with England as much as any Dutchman, and that he would rejoice at the
hour, when the great political events which were passing in other parts
of the world, would admit of a renewal of amity and free intercourse
with that country; they spoke of the government of the Stadtholder with
contempt, and of the Republic with detestation.
I visited the new church, the tower of which is very fine, and of a
prodigious altitude. The first object that excited my curiosity, was the
tomb of the immortal Grotius, whose remains were brought here, after he
expired at Rostock, in 1645, upon his return from the court of
Christina, Queen of Sweden, to this, his native city. The tomb erected
to his memory is simple, but handsome; it consists of a medallion
representing the head of this great man, and a child leaning upon an urn
with a torch inverted. The epitaph in latin is elegant, and expressive
of the merits and virtues it perpetuates. I regret, upon opening my
memorandums, to find my pencil copy of it so effaced as to be
unintelligible: of this great civilian and general scholar, Aubere du
Marier, who knew him very intimately said, “that he was tall, strong,
and a well made man, and had a very agreeable countenance. With all
those excellences of body, his mind was still more excellent. He was a
man of openness, of veracity, and of honour, and so perfectly virtuous,
that throughout his whole life, he made a point of avoiding and of
deserting men of bad character, but of seeking the acquaintance of men
of worth, and persons distinguished by talents, not only of his own
country, but of all Europe, with whom he kept up an epistolary
correspondence.”
Grotius displayed great precocity of talents. At the age of fifteen, he
accompanied the Dutch ambassador, Barneveldt, into France, and was
honoured by several marks of esteem by Henry the Fourth, who at that age
discovered extraordinary powers in the mind of Grotius, but could not
help expressing his surprise, that the States should send a youth
_without a beard_ as an assistant to their ambassador; upon which the
stripling astonished the great Henry by this brilliant reply: “Had my
country conceived that your Majesty measured ability by the length of
the beard, they would have sent in my room a _he goat of Norway_.”
At seventeen he pleaded as a civilian at the bar in his own country, and
was not twenty-four when appointed attorney general. He escaped from the
castle of Louvestein, where he was condemned to be imprisoned for life,
for the share he had in the affairs which proved the ruin of Barneveldt,
in the following interesting manner: his wife, Maria Van Reygersbergen,
who was most tenderly attached to him, and a lady of great learning and
accomplishments, conciliated the esteem of the wife of the governor of
the castle so far as to obtain permission, during the absence of the
governor one day, to have removed from her husband’s apartment a large
quantity of books, which he had borrowed of a friend at Gorcum: by the
address and excellent management of a servant maid, Grotius occupied the
place of the books in the trunk; he was safely conveyed from the castle,
not without imminent peril of being drilled through the body, in
consequence of the porters who carried him down stairs, suspecting that
the trunk held a more learned treasure, than that which it was said to
contain.
Grotius took refuge in France, which he quitted in consequence of the
illiberal conduct of the Cardinal de Richlieu towards him, and accepted
of an invitation from that singular princess Christina, queen of Sweden,
who was greatly attached to him, and made him her ambassador at Paris,
where the Cardinal gave him much trouble, in consequence of his not
yielding precedence to him. When Grotius had breathed his last, his
countrymen felt contrition for their oppression, and struck a medal in
honour of him, on which he is styled, “The Oracle of Delft, the Phœnix
of his Country.”
——“This common body,
“Like to a vagabond flag upon the stream,
“Goes to and back, lackeying the varying tide.”
_Anth. and Cleop._ Act I. Sc. 4.
The lines of Horace may be well applied to this great man;
Urit enim fulgore suo, qui praergravat artes
Infra se positas: extinctus amabitur idem.
I shall conclude these interesting anecdotes of Grotius, by giving his
excellent sentiments on the education of boys, as he imparted them to
Isaac Vossius, which in my humble opinion ought to be considered as a
treasure to every parent; “Many persons,” says he, “make use of tutors
for the education of their children, which hardly ever succeeds as it
was intended. I have never approved of that method of education, for I
know that young persons learn only when they are together, and that
their application is languid where there is no emulation. I am as little
of a friend to schools, where the master scarce knows the names of his
scholars; where the number is so great that he cannot distribute his
attention upon each of them, whose composition requires a particular
attention. For these reasons I wish that a medium of the two methods
were taken, that a master took only ten or twelve boys, who should live
in the same house, and be of the same classes, by which means the master
himself would not be overloaded with cares.” Grotius also recommends the
student to begin with those histories which are nearest to his own time.
The fate of Barneveldt is related with great spirit by Voltaire, who
says, But human affairs are ever chequered with good and evil. Mankind
are so apt to deviate from their principles, that this republic
(Holland) had nearly destroyed the liberty for which she had so bravely
fought, and persecution boiled in the blood of a people, whose happiness
and laws were founded on toleration. Two calvinistical doctors did what
so many doctors have done in so many other places. Gomar and Arminius
disputed most furiously at Leyden, about what neither of them
understood. This produced dissensions in the United Provinces.
The dispute was in many respects similar to those of the Thomists and
Scotists, or of the Jansenists and Molinists, concerning predestination,
grace, liberty, and other obscure and frivolous articles, where they
know not how to define the very subject on which they dispute. The
leisure they enjoyed during the truce, unluckily gave those ignorant
people an opportunity to fill their heads with theological disputes,
till at length, out of a scholastic controversy, there arose two parties
in the state. Maurice, Prince of Orange, headed the Gomarists, and the
pensionary Barneveldt supported the Arminians.
Du Maurier says, that he had been told by the ambassador his father,
that Maurice having proposed to the pensionary Barneveldt, to concur in
giving him the supreme power, this zealous republican showed him the
danger and injustice of the proposal, and _from that time Barneveldt’s
ruin was resolved upon_. This however is certain, that the Stadtholder
endeavoured to increase his authority by means of the Gomarists, and
Barneveldt to check it by means of the Arminians: that several towns
levied soldiers who were called _Expectants_, because they expected
orders from the magistrate, but would take none from the Stadtholder:
that there were insurrections in some cities, and that Prince Maurice
vigorously persecuted the opposite party. At length he convened a
calvinistical council at Dordrecht, composed of all the reformed
churches in Europe, except that of France, the deputies from which were
not permitted by the King of France to attend.
The fathers of this synod who had exclaimed so loudly against the
fathers of various councils, and against their authority, condemned the
Arminians, just as they themselves had been condemned by the council of
Trent. Above a hundred Arminian ministers were banished from the United
Provinces. Prince Maurice chose twenty-six commissioners from the
nobility and the magistrates, to try the grand pensionary Barneveldt,
the celebrated Grotius, and some others of the Arminian party. They had
been kept six months in confinement, previous to their trial.
One of the chief motives of the revolt of the Seven Provinces, and of
the house of Orange, against Spain, was the Duke of Alva’s severity, in
suffering the accused to languish for a long period in confinement,
without bringing them to trial, and in appointing commissioners to
condemn them. The same grievances which had caused such complaints under
the Spanish monarchy, were revived in the bosom of liberty. Barneveldt
was beheaded at the Hague, more unjustly than Count Egmont, and Count
Horn at Brussels. He was an old man of _seventy_, who had served the
Republic _forty_ years in the cabinet, with as much success as Maurice
and his brothers had served her in the field. The sentence imported,
“_That he had done all he could to vex the Church of God_.”
A charming anecdote is related of the admirable conduct of the widow of
Barneveldt. After he had perished on the scaffold, his sons, René and
William, entered into a conspiracy to revenge his death, in which they
were discovered. William fled, but René was taken and condemned to die.
His mother solicited his pardon of Prince Maurice, who replied, “It
appears strange that you do that for your son, which you refused to do
for your husband;” to which she nobly replied, “I did not ask pardon for
my husband, because he was innocent; I ask it for my son, because he is
guilty.”
The view from the steeple of this church is esteemed the most beautiful
in Holland, and is remarkable fine and extensive; but the beauty of the
scenery is principally _at a distance_, as the land immediately
surrounding the town is boggy, dotted with piles of white turf. The
chimes of this church, or as they are called, the Carillons, are very
numerous, consisting of four or five hundred bells, which are celebrated
for the sweetness of their tones. This species of music is entirely of
Dutch origin, and in Holland and the countries that formerly belonged to
her, it can only be heard in great perfection. The French and Italians
have never imitated the Dutch in this taste; we have made the attempt in
some of our churches, but in such a miserably bungling manner, that the
nerves of even a Dutch skipper would scarcely be able to endure it.
These carillons are played upon by means of a kind of keys communicating
with the bells, as those of the piano forte and organ do with strings
and pipes, by a person called the Carilloneur, who is regularly
instructed in the science, the labor of the practical part of which is
very severe, he being almost always obliged to perform in his shirt with
his collar unbuttoned, and generally forced by exertion into a profuse
perspiration, some of the keys requiring a two pound weight to depress
them: after the performance, the Carilloneur is frequently obliged
immediately to go to bed: by pedals communicating with the great bells,
he is enabled with his feet to play the base to several sprightly and
even difficult airs, which he performs with both his hands upon the
upper species of keys, which are projecting sticks, wide enough asunder
to be struck with violence and celerity by either of the two hands
edgeways, without the danger of hitting the adjoining keys. The player
uses a thick leather covering for the little finger of each hand, to
prevent the excessive pain which the violence of the stroke, necessary
to produce sufficient sound, requires: these musicians are very
dextrous, and will play pieces in three parts, producing the first and
second treble with the two hands on the upper set of keys, and the base
as before described. By this invention a whole town is entertained in
every quarter of it; that spirit of industry which pervades the kingdom,
no doubt originally suggested this sudorific mode of amusing a large
population, without making it necessary for them to quit their
avocations one moment to enjoy them. They have often sounded to my ear,
at a distance, like the sounds of a very sweet hand-organ; but the want
of something to stop the vibration of each bell, to prevent the notes of
one passage from running into another, is a desideratum which would
render this sort of music still more highly delightful. Holland is the
only country I have been in, where the sound of bells was gratifying.
The dismal tone of our own on solemn occasions, and the horrible
indiscriminate clashing of the bells of the Greek church in Russia, are,
at least to my ear, intolerable nuisances. I afterwards learnt that the
carillons at Amsterdam have three octaves, with all the semi-tones
complete on the manual, and two octaves in the pedals; each key for the
natural sound projects near a foot, and those for the flats and sharps,
which are played several inches higher, only half as much. The British
army was equally surprised and gratified, by hearing upon the carillons
of the principal church at Alkmaar, their favorite air of “God save the
king” played in a masterly manner, when they entered that town.
In this church is a superb monument raised to the memory of William the
First, the great Prince of Orange, in the east end of the church, which
is semicircular, and a range of semicircular pillars support the roof:
within these pillars is a large space railed off, and paved with black
and white marble, under which is the family vault of the House of
Orange; in the centre is the monument, a sarcophagus on which is placed
a marble figure of the above prince, in his robes after death: at his
feet is a dog, the expression of whose countenance is very much admired;
above is a marble canopy supported by four buttresses of white marble,
and twenty columns of black and gold in fine style: the epitaph, in
small obscure characters, is inscribed upon a tablet held up by two boys
in bronze, and at each corner of the tomb stands a bronze figure, the
first representing Liberty with a cap, inscribed with _aurea libertas_;
the second is Fortitude, the third Religion, and the fourth Justice, not
blind, but ardently gazing upon the balance in her hand. Under an arch
at the head of the tomb is a bronze statue of the same prince, and at
the other end a figure of Fame just taking wing. The other internal
parts of this edifice are adorned with the usual mortuary decorations in
Holland, long sable lines of escutcheons. I am as little fond of
describing, as I am sure my reader must be of reading, minute
descriptions of monuments; but I have been particular here, because the
Dutch, with their accustomed frugality, do not much indulge in
mausoleums and statues. In France, the late revolution, in its savage
phrenzy, with hands still reeking with the blood of the dying, tore open
the tombs of princes, and their favourites, and disfigured the
consecrated depositaries with the shattered fragments of their marble
mausoleums: that revolution, which, with the guillotine in front, and
the broken cross in the rear, threatened to spread over and waste the
whole of civilized Europe, marched to Holland, where thousands flocked
to its standard; but it there very rarely inebriated the mind, and never
overpowered the national love of economy; it taught them to despise and
expel their living princes, but with pious frugality they spared the
costly asylums of their illustrious dead.
CHAPTER VII.
SPIRITED REMONSTRANCE ... ANECDOTE OF A REGICIDE ... INTERESTING
ANECDOTE OF FRANK HALS AND VANDYKE ... A DUTCH BLOOMFIELD ... DELIGHTFUL
PASSAGE TO THE HAGUE ... DUTCH DISCUSSION OF DESDEMONA’S WISH ...
RYSWICK ... APPROACH TO THE HAGUE ... DUTCH REVIEW ... OLD AND NEW
CONSTITUTIONS COMPARED ... BRIEF REVIEW OF THE ANCIENT CONSTITUTION OF
HOLLAND ... ALSO OF THE POLITICAL HISTORY ... REMARKS ON THE PRINCES OF
THE HOUSE OF ORANGE.
It is but just to state, however, that, during their political change,
many of the people displayed great firmness, and none more than the
manufacturers of this town, who in the year 1803 presented to the
executive government of the Batavian republic, a very spirited
remonstrance against the temporary suspension of an edict passed in
1802, prohibiting the importation of foreign manufactures of which the
following is an extract: “Should we be left destitute,” said they, “of
that just and lawful support, which we still hope to obtain, we shall be
compelled to demand, that the laws which forbid the exportation of
manufacturing tools and implements be repealed, in order that we may be
enabled to sell our valuable tools and implements, which will then
become altogether useless to us, to foreigners who know how to
appreciate their value, or to transplant our manufactories into
countries where they daily experience the encouragement which they so
highly deserve.”
Not far from the old church, the tower of which is alarmingly out of its
perpendicular, is the identical house in which William I. was murdered
by a bigoted hireling of the King of Spain in 1584. A Dutch inscription,
placed over two holes in the wall on the stairs, made by the pistol
bullets after they had passed through his body, communicates the savage
circumstance. The bigots of Spain celebrated the murderer as a martyr,
and his family were ennobled and pensioned. A solitary instance of
honours being paid to a regicide. Well has our immortal bard observed:
——If I could find example
Of thousands, that had struck anointed kings,
And flourish’d after, I’d not do’t; but since
Nor brass, nor stone, nor parchment bears not one,
Let villainy itself forswear’t.
_Winter’s Tale._
The old church had not sufficient attractions to induce me to enter it.
The tombs of Admirals Tromp and Heine are there. Opposite the new
church, in the great square, is the Stadt or Town House, the front of
which is extensive, and very curious: in this house are some excellent
pictures by Frank Hals, who died in 1666: this artist is justly
celebrated for the beauties of his colouring and penciling. A pleasant
anecdote is related of Vandyke’s having so high an opinion of the genius
of this artist, that he went to Haarlem, where Hals lived, for the sole
purpose of visiting him, and introduced himself as a gentleman on his
travels, who had but two hours to spare, and wished in that time to have
his portrait painted: Hals, who was enjoying his bottle at a tavern at
the time, sprang from his companions, and on the first canvass he could
lay his hands upon, commenced the portrait with all possible celerity;
after he had proceeded some way, Vandyke desired to look at his
progress, and observed, with great pleasantry in his countenance, that
the work seemed to be so very easy, that he thought he could do the
same: upon which he took up the palette and pencils, requested Hals to
sit down, and painted his portrait in a _quarter of an hour_: the moment
Hals saw it, he exclaimed with rapturous astonishment, “No one but
Vandyke could have achieved such a wonder!” and embraced him with
transport. Vandyke was desirous of Hals accompanying him to England,
where he promised to make his fortune, but he declared that the
enjoyment of his _bottle_ and his _friend_ was too powerful to permit
him to accept of so generous and promising a proposal. Of this great
painter Vandyke said, that he would have been unequalled had he given
more tenderness to his colouring, and that in his pencil he was without
a rival.
In the council chamber there is a fine composition by Bronchorst, who
died 1661, representing the judgment of Solomon, and another of Christ
driving the money changers out of the temple; the figures are finely
finished, and the architecture, in which he excelled, truly admirable.
In the great hall of the physicians and surgeons is a celebrated picture
by Cornelius de Morn or Maan, who was born in this town, and who died
1706: the subject of it is a representation of the most celebrated
doctors and surgeons of his time: it is in the manner of Titian, and in
high estimation. Michael Jansen Mirevelt, who died in 1641, was also
born in this town: he was an admirable portrait painter, and is said to
have been in such high repute, and so indefatigable, that Sandrart,
Descampe, and the authors of the _Abrégé de la Vie des Peintres_ assert,
that he painted at least _ten thousand_ portraits, for the smallest of
which he never received less than one hundred and fifty guilders, or
fifteen pounds. In the surgeons’ hall there is a fine picture by this
artist.
This town has produced also a self-taught poet, who flourished rather
more than a century since, of the name of Hubert Noot. This man, who is
said to be the father of Dutch pastoral and elegiac poetry, much
resembles our Bloomfield in his early difficulties and his talents: he
made his verses whilst he laboured, and committed them to memory from
not being able to write. After he had taught himself to read, he even
sold his wearing apparel to purchase books. He died in 1733: his images
are said to be highly poetical, and his versification melodious.
In the Spin-house, or Bridewell, were several female prisoners, many of
whom had been confined for several years, for respecting the genial laws
of _nature_ more than the sober laws of the nation, and some of them,
for the same offence, had been publicly and severely flogged. What a
contradiction in this government does its _Spin_ and its _Spill-houses_
present! In one place it sanctions prostitutes, and in the other
imprisons and scourges them! Perhaps the legislature may think that it
punishes the poor prostitute of the spill-house, by the oppression of
her creditor and her gaoler; and thus, by Justice presenting a variety
of shapes, she realizes the remark of our divine bard;
We must not make a scarecrow of the law,
Setting it to fear the birds of prey,
And let it keep _one_ shape, till custom make it
Their perch, and not their terror.
_Measure for Measure_, Act III. Scene 5.
The stranger will find nothing to detain him in this melancholy town
long. In Holland every traveller naturally becomes amphibious: the
constant contemplation of so much water quickly engenders all the
inclinations of a webfooted animal, and he soon feels out of his proper
element when out of a canal. Right merrily did I follow my commissionary
and his wheel barrow with my baggage through the whole town, until I
reached the Hague gate, when my favourite conveyance, the treckschuyt,
was ready to start. The boat-bell rung, all the party got on board, and
away we glided, passing on each side of us the most lovely _close_
scenery. Instead of seeing, as had been represented to me in England, a
dull monotonous scene of green canals, stunted willows, and from a
solitary house or two, _foggy_ merchants stupidly gazing in fixed
attention upon _frog_ water, the canal was enlivened with boats of
pleasure and traffic continually passing and repassing, the noble level
road on the right, broad enough to admit four or five carriages abreast,
thickly planted with rows of fine elms, the number of curricles and
carriages, and horses, driving close to the margin of the water, the
fine woods, beautiful gardens, country-houses, not two of which were
similiar; the eccentricity of the little summer temples hanging over the
edges of the canal; the occasional views of rich pasture land, seen as I
saw them, under a rich, warm sky, formed a _tout ensemble_ as delightful
as it was novel, and very intelligibly expressed our approach to the
residence of sovereignty. The single ride from Delft to the Hague would
alone have repaid the trouble and occasional anxiety I experienced in
getting into, and afterwards out of the country.
All the principal country-houses have a wooden letter-box standing upon
the margin of the canal, into which one of the boatmen, upon the
treckschuyt being steered close to the adjoining bank, without stopping,
drops the letters and parcels directed to the family residing there. In
no part of the continent is social intercourse and communication so
frequent, cheap, and certain.
For keeping the dams and roads in repair, turnpikes are established at
proper distances, and the care of their repair is confided to directors,
who are always gentlemen of high respectability, and receive a fixed
salary for their services. The principal roads are kept in good
condition; and, on account of the flatness of the country, are very easy
for the horses, but the bye roads are intolerably bad.
In the steerage I found three very handsome and well-bred Dutch young
ladies seated, one of whom spoke English very well: they all insisted
upon my being an Englishman the moment I entered the boat; how they
could think so, the spirit of physiognomy, if there be such a spirit,
must explain; for in my best hours of health and delight, John Bull
would scarcely acknowledge me for one of his family.
My charming companions talked much of Shakspeare and Milton, with both
of whom they seemed to be familiar. They entered with much ability on
Desdemona’s wish, alluding to her passion for Othello, “that Heaven had
made her such a man.” Two of the three fair disputants contended that
she would have been more happy had Providence made her a man, and such a
man as Othello; the other observed that was impossible, for as she was
deeply in love with the Moor it would have been irreconcileable to her
passion to wish to be of his own sex, by which she could have felt only
friendship for him. I was so pleased with my fair voyageurs, who talked,
sung, and laughed, with so much talent, taste, and vivacity, that our
two hours or six miles, the distance from Delft to the Hague passed
rapidly away, and tempted me not to quit the vessel to visit the village
of Ryswick, which lies about half way, and is only about half a mile
from the canal, and, I am told, abounds with beauty and richness of
scenery. It is known to the political world for the celebrated peace
concluded there at a little palace of William III. called the House of
Neubeurg, after a nine years’ war, on the 20th September, 1697, between
Louis XIV. and the confederate powers, called the Treaty of Ryswick. I
mention this as a guide for strangers who may follow me, and who may not
be fascinated as I was by my situation in the boat and content with the
highly cultivated and embellished scenery around me. A man must be in
bad humour with nature indeed, who can pass, in the summer, from Delft
to the Hague without emotions of strong delight.
As we approached the Hague, the scenery became more refined and
beautiful, and the last light of a setting sun purpled the lofty
edifices of that celebrated city; it was quite dusk as we passed the
water-houses, in which the royal yachts are contained, the rich gilded
carving of which was just visible through the grated doors; and after
gliding along the suburbs, which were well lighted though not in this
respect comparable with London, I disembarked, bade adieu to my charming
companions, and proceeded with my usual attendant, through the greater
part of the city to the Mareschal de Turenne, an excellent hotel, but at
a most inconvenient distance from the place where the Delft boats stop,
and where those for Leyden or Haarlem start from.
The morning after my arrival there was a grand review of the Dutch
troops, who presented a very soldierly appearance; that of the
body-guard, both horse and infantry, was very superb in military
appointments. I was well informed that the king felt so secure in his
government, that there were not at this time twenty French soldiers in
the country, and that, accompanied by his queen, he was attending to his
health at the waters of Wisbaden, in the south of Germany. The French
interest, however, was predominant, and it was indispensably necessary
that the passport of every foreigner should be countersigned by the
French consul, whose fiat upon all such occasions was final.
The king had been at the Hague, or rather at his palace in the wood
adjoining, only about six weeks, in the course of which, I was credibly
informed, he had displayed uncommon activity and talent in the discharge
of the great duties of his station. Although an invalid, he was at his
bureau with his ministers every morning at six o’clock, which he never
quitted until the business of the day was completed. The poor-laws
occupied much of his attention, and they are, I hear, to undergo a
considerable amelioration. I have already mentioned his abolition of
useless offices, sinecures, and unmerited pensions, the reduction of
excessive salaries, and an extension of the time devoted to the service
of the state in the public offices. These advantages could only be
expected to flow from that vast power which revolutions, after their
effervescence has subsided, generally deposit with some fortunate
individual, who, if he has talent and good inclination, is enabled to
consult the prosperity of a state, by measures at once prompt, summary,
and efficacious, unretarded by forms, clashing interests, or hoary
prejudices. The first of the new has ever this advantage over the last
of an old dynasty.
The hereditary successor of a long line of princes is like the owner of
an ancient mansion devolved to him by hereditary right; he must take the
edifice as it is, with its commodious and inconvenient chambers, its
fantastic turrets and heavy chimney-pieces, its dark and its cheerful
passages; or if he alters, it must be with a cautious and gentle hand,
otherwise the whole fabric will fall about his ears; whilst he who is
elevated by revolutions to command, may choose his ground, build wholly
with new, or partly with the old materials of the prostrate
constitution.
In order to appreciate the present constitution, it may be necessary to
take a slight review of the old one. Anterior to 1747 the United
Provinces subsisted in one common confederacy, yet each province had an
internal government or constitution, wholly independent of the others,
called the States of such a Province, and its delegates the _States
General_, in whom the supreme sovereignty of the whole confederacy was
lodged; and notwithstanding the number of delegates which a province
might send, yet in every constitutional measure each province had only
one voice, and the sanction of _every province_, and of _every city
within it_, was necessary before such a measure could pass into a law,
and every resolution of the states of a particular province required
unanimous adoption. The _Council of State_ consisted also of deputies
from the several provinces, but differed in its constitution from the
States General; it was composed of twelve persons, of whom Holland sent
three; Guelderland, two; Zealand, two; Utrecht, two; Friesland, one;
Overyssel, one; and Groningen, one. Such deputies could only vote
personally: it was their department to prepare estimates, and ways and
means, &c. to be submitted to the States General. The states of the
provinces, were styled “Noble and Mighty Lords;” those of Holland,
“Noble and most Mighty Lords;” and the States General, “High and Mighty
Lords,” or “the Lords of the States General of the United Netherlands,”
or “their High Mightinesses.” Queen Elizabeth called them in her time
_Messieurs the States_. The Chamber of Accounts, in which all the public
accounts were audited, and composed of provincial deputies, was placed
under these two bodies. The executive part of the Admiralty was
committed to five colleges, in the three maritime provinces of Holland,
Zealand and Friesland. In Holland the people were excluded from choosing
their representatives or magistrates. In Amsterdam, which had precedence
in all public deliberations, the magistracy was lodged in thirty-six
senators chosen for life, and every vacancy filled up by the survivors,
and the representatives for the cities in the province of Holland, were
elected by the same senate.
Such a complicated piece of machinery must have proceeded slowly if it
proceeded regularly, and must have been constantly exposed to the peril
of being disordered, without a principal head to guide it, which led to
the stadtholdership becoming hereditary in the year 1747. The wonderful
and constant vicissitudes to which Holland has been exposed, rendered
such an expedient, however, objectionable; it afterwards proved to be in
many instances necessary to the preservation of the country. The history
of the republic for 147 years, namely, from its first entering the field
of battle in 1566 to the peace of Utrecht in 1713, is a tissue of
battles lost and won. The twelve years’ truce which produced an hiatus
in her many wars with Spain, did not extend to the Indian possessions of
the Dutch; and after a prodigal effusion of blood, the peace obtained in
1648 lasted only four years. The first war with Great Britain continued
to 1654; and scarcely had the republic tasted of the sweets of peace
before she was roused to resist at the same time the arms of Portugal,
Denmark, and Sweden; and in the North their hostilities continued till
1660, and in the South to 1661: then immediately followed a fierce
contest with Great Britain, which did not close till the treaty at Breda
in 1667, and the moment that was concluded, the country was invaded by
Louis the Fourteenth.
A respite of three years followed, when the republic was unexpectedly
attacked by the united forces of England and France, both on the sea and
shore; and after a carnage of six years more, the peace of Nimeguen was
concluded in 1678; which, however, was fettered with several severe
stipulations imposed by the French monarch. In 1688 the Prince of Orange
sailed for England, to occupy its vacant throne; an event which involved
the Dutch in a nine years’ war: the peace of Ryswick was scarcely
signed, when the Spanish succession again called them forth to arms,
which they did not lay down till after a slaughter of eleven years.
The peace of Utrecht gave them a slight repose, which was frequently
disturbed by the insults and predatory attacks of the African corsairs
upon the Dutch flag in the Mediterranean. The internal troubles of the
republic, from its revolution, and its final submission to the French
arms followed. Such is the brief history of a country which, in a
political and physical view, may be truly called extraordinary.
The first princes of the House of Orange, by the illustrious services
which they rendered the state by their wars and negotiations, were
rewarded by its confidence and employments of the highest dignity and
trust, which were conferred upon them by the grateful approbation and
concurrence of the most rigid republicans.
These princes, in obedience to that law of nature which seems to be
pretty equally predominant amongst all her sons, extended the power they
enjoyed as often as they had the means, and what they gave to themselves
was taken from the liberties of the people; but they dazzled the eyes of
the subject, and concealed the encroachment, or legitimated it by the
brilliancy of illustrious achievements. A small territory, scooped from
the ocean, rose to rank and estimation in the scale of nations, by its
valour, its riches, and its arts, and was enabled to resist the mighty
power of England and France, by the genius and energy of succession of
five princes of the House of Orange, for upwards of a century.
The stadtholderate remained vacant from the death of William the Third,
who by his talents preserved the republic from impending danger, till
fresh difficulties, the wishes of the nation, and the powerful
interposition of George the Second, in 1747, induced them to confer the
dignity of stadtholder on William the Fourth, father of the last
stadtholder, and to make it hereditary in his family. This prince (I
mean the father) possessed considerable talents, from which the country
did not derive much advantage, for he died soon after his elevation to
the dignity. By this act the offices of captain-general and
admiral-general were united in the person of the stadtholder, who also
became president of every province; and his power and influence was such
as to enable him to change every deputy, magistrate, and officer, in
every province and city, at pleasure, by which he had the almost
complete formation of the States General, although he had no voice in
it.
CHAPTER VIII.
REMARKS ON THE LAST STADTHOLDER ... ALSO ON THE PRINCESS OF ORANGE ...
HER PRESUMPTION AND INDISCRETION ... HATRED OF THE DUTCH TO THE HOUSE OF
ORANGE ... FETE AT THE HAGUE ON THE FLIGHT OF THAT FAMILY ... REASONS
ASSIGNED FOR THE PROGRESS OF THE FRENCH ARMS ... FOR THE GLORIOUS
TRIUMPH OF BRITISH PROWESS ... CONDUCT OF THE NEW GOVERNMENT TOWARDS
SOME OF THE SERVANTS OF THE OLD ... THE NEW CONSTITUTION OF HOLLAND.
The authority described in the last chapter, so princely and powerful,
in all human probability would have continued in the family of the
prince upon whom it was conferred to this hour, and descended to their
posterity, had the last stadtholder possessed the virtue, spirit, and
wisdom of his ancestors: but the imbecility of his character, more than
those wonderful events which were agitating other portions of Europe,
was the principal cause of the overthrow of his house. Without any
portion of ability, William the Fifth was alive only to his own
aggrandizement and depraved pleasures. The attachment which he had been
taught to cherish for the politics of England, had long marked him out
as an object of hatred with the Dutch: under his auspices they saw their
own trade deteriorated, and the ocean covered with the commercial
vessels of the British empire, wafting wealth into her ports from every
quarter of the globe, the resources and energies of the republic
consuming without any attempt to resuscitate them, until at length his
weak and culpable conduct closed in the conquest of the country, and the
precipitate retreat of himself and family. The conduct of the Princess
of Orange also contributed not a little to augment the displeasure of
the people. She had that influence over him which strong minds always
have over weak ones, but in no instance were her counsels advantageous
to the state, and she had no one quality to conciliate the lower classes
of the people.
During the troubles of 1787, she created uncommon disgust by answering
in her own name an address of the States General to the prince her
husband, when she had no recognised character in the republic, and
consequently no right whatever to interfere in its affairs. Amongst
other acts of presumption in the same year, so memorable in the Dutch
annals, when the Orange party, supported by Prussia, and Great Britain,
acquired the ascendency, she managed the negotiations between the Duke
of Brunswick, who commanded the Prussian army, and the city of
Amsterdam, in the course of which she declared in a tone of angry
insolence, that the generosity of her disposition induced her to spare
the lives of the guilty, but that they should be held incapable of
discharging the duties of any public trust in future. Among the persons
whom she caused to be dismissed were several distinguished and popular
citizens, the survivors of whom were, upon the overthrow of the house of
Orange, called to participate in the government of the country with the
most flattering marks of congratulation.
This princess I know has had her admirers, she has been extolled for her
spirit, and capaciousness of mind; but upon almost every occasion her
talents were misapplied, and only served to augment the storm that burst
over and laid the glory of her house prostrate. What was to close a
reign (if such it may be called), so characterized by weakness and
disaster, required not the spirit of a prophet to foretel. The French
revolution found an unembarrassed introduction into Holland, and the
feeble resistance which the Dutch troops opposed to the French armies,
pretty clearly demonstrates the estimation in which the country held its
unworthy ruler, and the desire they had of delivering themselves from
him and the influence of England upon their councils. It is well known,
that in the last war, the Dutch refused the sick and wounded of their
allies, the British army, admission into Delft, and a body of burghers
was formed at Amsterdam, to prevent the entrance of foreign troops; in
other words, _the English_, into that city. In his last struggles the
Stadtholder obtained a plenary power, resembling that of a dictator, a
short time before the French army crossed the Waal, an event that
decided the fate of Holland. Aukwardly clothed with this vast authority,
he issued a proclamation, invoking the people to rise _en masse_ to
oppose their invaders: in obedience to the invocation, the Dutch army
was strengthened by the accession of about _fifty recruits_. An order
then followed, that throughout the United Provinces three houses should
furnish one man for the defence of the state, the order experienced a
worse fate than the proclamation.
The public antipathy to the Stadtholder and his government was now
raised to its highest elevation: the French entered the country in
triumph, and the flight of the Prince of Orange was received with
enthusiastic expressions of exultation. On the 16th of February, 1795, a
solemn assembly of the deputies from all the provinces was held at the
Hague, at which meeting the stadtholderate was formally declared to be
abolished for ever, and in the evening of that day a grand republican
festival was celebrated, at which the Dutch legislators, the French
representatives, and the chiefs of the army assisted. When the British
troops afterwards landed at the Helder, they found the sense of the
people still the same. It was not the dread of the revenge of the French
army, that induced them to observe such marked and unequivocal
disinclination to co-operate with a force which professed to have in
view the achievement of salutary objects for their benefit, but the
unextinguishable abhorrence in which they held the house of Orange, in
whose name the English army endeavoured to wrest the country from the
arms of France; and, I believe, since the death of the son of the
Stadtholder, a young prince of great promise, that throughout the
kingdom scarcely one partizan for the house of Orange is to be found.
The fate of Holland is a memorable lesson to other nations. We wonder
that the power of France rolls on with overwhelming fury: the military
observer traces her resistless march to her brilliant improvements in
modern warfare; the politician to the magnitude, energy, and endless
reinforcements of her troops; the superstitious to her good fortune, and
the moralist to the divine interposition to rebuke the vices of her
enemies. They forget, or will not see, that the victories of France have
hitherto been the triumph of genius, promptitude, and energy, over
ignorance, procrastination, and supineness: of vigorous over weak
councils; of able, experienced, and faithful, over hereditary,
senseless, and perfidious commanders. These are the causes that made
Austria bow her neck to the chief of the French empire, and in ten days
offered up Prussia to the manes of Poland, in memorable expiation of the
horrors perpetrated in that devoted country in 1771. In the glorious
triumphs of the British flag upon the ocean, we saw great yielding to
greater skill: in Egypt and Media we beheld indisputable heroism
yielding to superior intrepidity, directed by great military skill, and
united to high national honour.
The moderation and mildness which characterized the conduct of the
French, rendered them popular by a comparison with the rigorous folly of
the Stadtholder in the last convulsions of his expiring power. The
French checked and kept in complete awe some of the most illiterate and
most depraved of the Dutch republicans who were preparing to avenge the
long and galling triumph of their adversaries, with sharp and sanguinary
resentment; not a drop of blood was judicially shed upon the overthrow
of the ancient government of the United Provinces, although it had
endured for two centuries; and the pensioners of the house of Orange,
whose stipends were the rewards of meritorious services, received, and
continue to receive, their salaries with generous punctuality, without
being obliged to take an oath of hatred to the Stadtholder, as other
persons who lived by the bounty of the republic were obliged to do.
After Bonaparte had assumed the imperial purple of France, and
determined upon creating a dynasty of sovereigns in his own family, he
prepared the Dutch for the conversion of their republic into a kingdom,
and the reception of a king.
On the 9th of June, 1806, Messrs. Verhuel and Van Styrum returned from
Paris. His Excellency M. Verhuel, after paying a visit to the acting
pensionary, held conferences with the secretaries of state, and opened
the special mission entrusted to him by his Imperial Highness Prince
Louis Napoleon, as King of Holland, as the result of several resolutions
for the organization of the government and communicating, that his
majesty the king had appointed M. Verhuel minister of the marine, and M.
Gogel, minister of finance; the other secretaries of state being charged
to continue in their posts till the king’s arrival.
The same gentleman repaired in person to the assembly of their High
Mightinesses, where also, in pursuance of his commission, he expressed
his majesty’s desire, and made the necessary communications; he also
proceeded to the council of state; after which his excellency assumed
the executive power, in the name, and by the authority of his majesty,
whilst the pensionary, who had acted _ad interim_, resigned that post,
and resumed that of president of their High Mightinesses. The following
is the new constitution which has been digested and promulgated for the
Dutch nation. I have given it rather at length, that the reader may be
in possession of the principal branches of so important and interesting
a document.
LOUIS NAPOLEON, by the grace of God and the constitutional laws of the
state, to all whom these presents shall come, sends greeting. Be it
known to all, that we have accepted, and do accept, with the
approbation of his majesty the Emperor Napoleon, our august brother,
the dignity of King of Holland, conformably to the wishes of the
country, the constitutional laws, and to the treaty which, being
protected by reciprocal ratifications, has been this day presented to
us by the deputies of the Dutch nation. Upon our accession to the
throne, our dearest care shall be to watch over the interests of our
people. We will always study to give them constant and multiplied
proofs of our love and solicitude (supporting for those ends) the
liberty of all our subjects, as well as their rights, and in employing
ourselves incessantly for their welfare. The independence of the
kingdom is guaranteed by his majesty the emperor and king. The
constitutional laws, and our firm and resolute good will, equally
secure to every one his credit with the state, his personal liberty,
and the liberty of conscience. It is after this declaration that we
have decreed, and do decree, by these presents, as follows:
ART. 1. Our ministers of marine and of finance, nominated by our
decree of this day, shall enter immediately upon their office: the
other ministers shall continue in theirs till further orders.
2. All the constituted authorities, either civil or military, shall
continue their functions until further, or other, orders.
3. The constitutional laws of the state, and the treaty concluded at
Paris the 24th of May, in the present year, between his majesty the
emperor and king, and the Batavian Republic, the purport of which is
here-in-aftermentioned, shall be published immediately, as well as the
present decree, in the most authentic manner.
We therefore order, that these presents be published and posted up in
all places where it is usual so to do; and enjoin all those whom it
may concern, to provide for the exact performance of every thing
contained in these presents.
Given at Paris, the 5th of June, 1806, in the first year of our reign.
(Signed) LOUIS.
(Underneath was written) on behalf of the king,
For the Secretary of State. (Signed) VERHUEL,
The Minister of the Marine.
THE CONSTITUTIONAL LAWS.
FIRST SECTION. GENERAL DISPOSITIONS.
ART. 1. The constitutional laws actually in force, particularly the
constitution of 1805, as well as the civil, political, and religious
laws now exercised in the Batavian republic, the operation of which is
conformable to the dispositions of the treaty concluded the 24th of
May, in the present year, between his majesty the emperor of the
French and king of Italy, and the Batavian republic, shall be wholly
preserved, excepting only those which shall be abolished by the
present constitutional laws.
2. The administration of the Dutch colonies is regulated by particular
laws. The revenues and the expenses of the colonies shall be
considered as making part of the revenues and expenses of the state.
3. The _public debt of the state is guaranteed by the present
articles_.
4. The Dutch language shall continue to be employed exclusively for
the laws, publications, ordinances, judgments, and all other public
acts, without distinction.
5. There shall be no change made in the name or weight of the current
coin, but by virtue of a particular law.
6. The ancient flag of the state shall be preserved.
7. The council of state shall be composed of thirteen members. The
ministers shall have rank, a seat, and a vote in the council of state.
SECTION II. OF RELIGION.
ART. 1. _The king and the law grant an equal protection to all
religions professed in the state._ By their authority is to be
determined all that is judged necessary in the organization, the
protection, and exercise of all worships. Every exercise of religion
is confined to the interior of the temples of all the different
communions.
2. The king is to enjoy in his palace, as well as in every place where
he shall reside, the free and public exercise of his religion.
SECTION III. OF THE KING.
ART. 1. The King has exclusively, and without restriction, the entire
exercise of the government, and of every necessary power to insure the
execution of the laws, and to make them respected. He appoints to all
the offices, and to all the civil and military employments, which,
according to the preceding laws, were at the nomination of the grand
pensionary. He has the entire enjoyment of the pre-eminences and
prerogatives hitherto attached to that dignity. The coins of the state
shall be stamped with his head. Justice is to be administered in his
name. He is to have the right of granting pardon, abolition or
remission of penalties inflicted by sentence of law: nevertheless, he
cannot exercise this right without having heard in private council the
members of the national court.
2. At the death of the king the guardianship of the minor king shall
be always confided to the queen mother; and in case there shall be no
queen mother, to such person as shall be appointed by the emperor of
the French.
3. The regent shall be assisted by a national council, whose
composition and privileges shall be determined by a particular law.
The regent shall not be personally responsible for the acts of his
government.
4. The government of the colonies, and all that relates to their
internal administration, belongs exclusively to the king.
5. The general administration of the kingdom is confided to the
immediate direction of four ministers of state, named by the king,
viz. a minister for foreign affairs, a minister of war and of marine,
a minister of finance, and a minister for the home department.
SECTION IV. OF THE LAW.
ART. 1. The laws of Holland being made by the concurrence of the
legislative body, formed of the assembly of their high mightinesses
and of the king; the legislative body shall be composed of thirty-nine
members, elected for five years, and named in the following
proportions, viz. for the department of Holland, seventeen members,
for that of Guelderland, four; for that of Brabant, four; for that of
Friesland, four; for that of Overyssel, three; for that of Zealand,
two; for that of Groningen, two; for that of Utrecht, two; for the
country of Drenthe, one. The number of the members of their high
mightinesses may be augmented by the law, in case of the
aggrandizement of territory.
2. For this time, in order to proceed to the nomination of the
nineteen members of their high mightinesses, by whom the number
determined in the preceding article will be completed, the assembly of
their high mightinesses shall present to the king a list of two
candidates to fill each of the places. The departmental assembly of
each department shall equally propose a double list of candidates. The
king will make the election among the proposed candidates.
3. The grand pensionary for the time being shall take the title of
president of their high mightinesses, and shall remain in office in
this character during his life. The choice of his successors shall
take place in the manner determined by the constitution of 1805.
4. The legislative body shall elect from itself a notary by a majority
of votes.
5. The legislative body shall reassemble as usual twice a year, viz.
from the 15th of April to the 1st of June, and from the 15th of
November to the 15th of January. An extraordinary convocation may be
made by the king on the 15th of November in every year; the oldest
fifth of the members forming the legislative body shall retire from
the same. The first going out shall take place the 15th of November
1807; and for this time the persons going out shall be determined by
lot. The members who go out shall be always re-eligible.
SECTION V. OF THE JUDICIARY POWER.
ART. 1. The judiciary institutions shall be preserved as they were
established by the constitution of the year 1805.
2. The king shall exercise (relative to the judiciary power) all the
rights and all the authority which have been attributed to the grand
pensionary by the articles 49, 51, 56, 79, 82, and 87, of the
constitution of the year 1805.
3. All that relates to the military criminal justice shall be
separately regulated by a further law.
Treaty concluded between his Majesty the Emperor of the French and King
of Italy, and the Assembly of their High Mightinesses representing the
Batavian Republic.
His imperial and royal Majesty Napoleon, emperor of the French and
king of Italy, and the assembly of their high mightinesses
representing the Batavian republic, president, his excellency the
grand pensionary, accompanied by the council of state and the
ministers and secretary of state.
In consideration, 1. That, seeing the general disposition of minds,
and the actual organization of Europe, a government without
consistency, and without a certain duration, cannot fulfil the end of
its institution.
2. That the periodical renewal of the chief of the state will always
in Holland be a source of dissensions, and out of it, a constant
subject of agitation and discord between the powers either friends or
enemies of Holland.
3. That an hereditary government alone can guarantee the quiet
possession of all that is dear to the Dutch people, the free exercise
of their religion, the preservation of their laws, their political
independence, and their civil liberty.
4. That their greatest interest is to secure to themselves a powerful
protection, under whose shelter they may freely exercise their
industry, and maintain themselves in the possession of their
territory, their commerce, and their colonies.
5. That France is essentially interested in the happiness of the Dutch
people, in the prosperity of their state, and the stability of their
institutions, as much in consideration of the northern frontiers of
the empire, which are open and unprovided with fortified places, as of
the principles and interests of general policy, have named for
plenipotentiary ministers, viz. his majesty the Emperor of the French
and King of Italy, M. C. M. Talleyrand, grand chamberlain, minister of
foreign affairs, great cordon of the legion of honour, knight of the
orders of the red and black eagle of Prussia, and of the order of St.
Hubert, &c.; and the Grand Pensionary, M. M. C. H. Verhuel, vice
admiral, minister of the marine of the Batavian republic, decorated
with the great eagle of the legion of honour; J. J. A. Gogel, minister
of finance; S. Van Styrum, member of the assembly of their high
mightinesses; William Six, member of the council of state; and G. de
Brantzen, plenipotentiary minister of the Batavian republic, by his
imperial and royal majesty decorated with the grand eagle of the
legion of honour, who, after having exchanged their full powers, have
agreed upon as follows.
ART. 1. His majesty the emperor of the French and king of Italy, as
well for himself, his heirs and successors for ever, guarantees to
Holland the maintenance of its constitutional rights, its
independence, the entirety of its possessions in the two hemispheres,
its political, civil, and religious liberty, as it is consecrated by
the actual established laws, and the abolition of all privileges in
matters of taxes.
2. Upon the formal demand of their high mightinesses, representing the
Batavian republic, that the Prince Louis Napoleon be named and crowned
hereditary and constitutional king of Holland, his majesty, with
deference to this desire, authorises the Prince Louis Napoleon to
accept the crown of Holland to be possessed by him and his natural and
legitimate male descendants, according to priority of birth, to the
_perpetual exclusion of females and their descendants_. In consequence
of this authority, Prince Louis Napoleon shall possess this crown
under the title of King, and with all the power and all the authority,
which shall be determined by the constitutional laws that the Emperor
Napoleon has provided in the preceding article; nevertheless, it is
enacted _that the crowns of France and Holland can never be re-united
on the same head_.
3. The domain of the crown comprehends, 1. _a palace at the Hague_,
which is to be destined for the residence of the royal household; 2.
the _palace of the Wood_; 3. the domain of _Soestdyk_; 4. a revenue in
landed property of 500,000 florins. The law of the state further
assures to the king an annual sum of 1,500,000 florins of Dutch money,
payable by twelve monthly instalments.
4. In case of a minority, the regency shall belong of right to the
queen; and in case there shall be no queen, the French emperor, in his
capacity of perpetual chief of the imperial family, is to name the
regent of the kingdom. He is to choose among the princes of the royal
family, and in default of them, among the nation. The minority of the
king is to end at the age of eighteen.
5. The jointure of the queen shall be determined by her marriage
contract; for this time it is settled that the jointure is fixed at
the annual sum of 250,000 florins, which shall be taken from the
domain of the crown. This sum deducted, the half of the remainder of
the revenues of the crown will serve for the expenses of the
maintenance of the house of the minor king, the other half shall be
appropriated to the expenses of the regency.
6. The king of Holland shall be for ever grand dignitary of the
empire, under the title of constable; the functions of this grand
dignitary may, nevertheless, be filled at the will of the emperor of
the French, by a prince vice-constable, when he shall judge proper to
create this dignity.
7. The members of the reigning house of Holland shall remain
personally subject to the dispositions of the 30th of last March,
forming the law of the imperial family of France.
8. _The offices and employments of the state, exclusive of those
appertaining to the house of the king, can only be conferred on
natives._
9. The arms of the king shall be the ancient arms of Holland
quartered, with the imperial eagle of France, and surmounted with the
royal crown.
10. There shall be forthwith concluded between the contracting powers,
a treaty of commerce, by virtue of which the subjects of Holland will
be treated at all times in the ports, and on the territory of the
French empire, as the nation especially favored. His majesty the
emperor and king, further engages to intercede with the powers of
Barbary, that the Dutch flag may be respected by them, as well as that
of his majesty the emperor of the French. The ratifications of the
present treaty shall be exchanged at Paris in the space of ten days.
(Signed) CH. M. TALLEYRAND.
CH. HENRI VERHUEL.
J. J. A. GOGEL, JEAN VAN STYRUM,
W. SIX, et BRANTZEN.
Paris, this 24th May, 1806.
The 20th of June, 1806, his majesty the king of Holland made a
proposal to their high mightinesses, concerning the oaths to be
pronounced by the king and by the public officers, as also of the
publication of the laws: their high mightinesses approved the same day
the law, which is to the following purport:
OF OATHS.
ART. 1. Immediately after the proclamation, the king will receive the
oath of their high mightinesses, of the ministers the counsellors of
the state, of the high court of justice, of the great and other
officers of the palace, of the national chamber of accounts, of the
presidents, of the attorney general, of the courts of justice, of
officers of the land and sea; to the rank of lieutenant-colonel and
captain; lieutenant inclusively.
2. In the course of this year, the king, accompanied by his ministers,
the great officers, and the officers of the palace, will take the oath
to the Dutch nation, in the presence of their high mightinesses, the
council of the state, of the high court of justice, of the national
chamber of accounts, of the high military court, of the council of
taxes and prizes by sea and land, of the presidents of the
departmental administrations, and of the presidents of the tribunals.
The secretary of state to commit to writing the verbal process of
taking the oath. The oath of the king is conceived in these terms:
“I swear to maintain the constitutional laws of the kingdom, to defend
the integrity of the territory of the kingdom, to respect the liberty
of worships, to respect and to cause to be respected the equality of
rights, as well as the civil, and political liberty: not to raise any
taxes, and to order no impositions but by virtue of the law: to have
no other end in my reign than the sole interests, the prosperity, and
the glory of the Dutch nation.”
3. The oath that is made to the king is conceived in these terms:
“I swear obedience to the constitutional laws of the kingdom, and
fidelity to the king.”
OF THE PUBLICATION.
ART. 1. The king will seal and publish all the laws.
2. Two copies are to be made of each law, both to be signed by the
king, countersigned by the secretary of state and one of the
ministers, and sealed with the great seal.
3. One of the copies is to be deposited among the archives of the
secretary of state, and the other among the archives of their high
mightinesses.
4. The publication shall be conceived in these terms, &c.
The minister of the home department has the care of the publication.
5. Judgments shall be pronounced, and the execution of them follows
immediately.
The court shall execute its judgments in the name of the king. All
civil and military authorities, legally required for the purpose, are
bound to render their assistance.
Royal Decree of the 25th of June, 1806, creating general directors for
the different departments of the public administration.
Louis Napoleon, &c. considering, that the affairs of the colonies are
administered by two councils, who have neither strength nor unity
sufficient to act to the advantage of the interests of the kingdom;
and that nevertheless this important branch of the administration of
the affairs of the kingdom merits all our solicitude: considering,
that the ministry of marine is of too high a nature, and that the
objects which relate to it are too multiplied and too abstract to be
united with that of the war department: considering, that the minister
for the home department is sufficiently occupied by the inspection of
administration, and the inspection of the waters; by the cares of
promoting the advancement of agriculture; of the public safety and
instruction; and, indeed, of the arts and sciences, we have decreed as
follows:
ART. 1. There shall be three general directors, who shall follow
immediately in rank the ministers, and shall be employed directly with
us, viz. The director general of the war department; the director
general of the affairs of India and of commerce; the director general
of affairs relative to public worship and justice, and at the same
time charged with the care of all that regards the safety of the
kingdom.
2. They shall enjoy the honours, rank, and treatment of ministers.
3. Our ministers are respectively charged, as far as they are
concerned, with the execution of the present decree.
Royal Decree of the 1st of July, 1806, containing the Organization and
the Attributes of the Council of State.
Louis Napoleon, &c. considering, that the council of state is charged
with high and important functions; that all the laws, and almost all
the acts of administration, ought to be prepared and discussed there:
considering, that amongst these acts there are many of great
importance for the interests and security of the different
departments, and which require the local knowledge of each country,
its situation and particular customs: considering, that there are laws
and acts of government of such importance, that they require the
united talents and zeal of all the citizens who have experience
thereon, have decreed, and do decree as follows:
ART. 1. That the council of state shall be composed of thirteen
members residing near us.
2. That it shall be formed in a general assembly, and divided into
sections.
3. That the general assembly shall be convoked, and presided over by
the king.
4. That the ministers shall have rank, a seat, and a deliberative
voice in the council of state.
5. That there shall be five divisions of the council of state, each of
which shall have its president.
6. These divisions shall be as follows: the division of legislation
and of general affairs, comprehending the affairs of administration,
and all that has not a reference to the other divisions; the division
of marine; of finances; of commerce and the colonies; the division of
war. The president and the members of the divisions or sections shall
be appointed by us every three months. Each section shall have a
superior clerk attached to it.
7. The title, rank, and honours of the counsellors of state shall be
granted either to the public officers or to the members of the
different authorities, or to the citizens most distinguished by their
talents and probity. They shall not be annexed to the divisions of the
council of state until they have been called by us to the council.
8. There shall always be a counsellor of state of each of the eight
great departments for the legislation and general affairs, another for
financial affairs, and another for the affairs relative to commerce
and the colonies; and this in order that we may be well assured that
the laws, or very important acts of government, shall not be prepared
and discussed without having taken into consideration the situation
and interests of each of the eight grand departments.
9. These counsellors of state shall have no other provision than for
such duty as they shall be otherwise called upon to exercise. They
shall have no right to come to the council unless called thither by
us. The counsellors extraordinary of state, who might be nominated
members of the assembly of their high mightinesses, shall not be
assembled at the council of state so long as they shall exercise that
dignity.
10. On the first of January every year we will determine the list of
the thirteen resident counsellors of state, and of the presidents, in
order to call to a residence near us those who might be in the
departments.
11. The resident counsellors who shall be preserved on the list will
occupy in the departments the places to which they shall be or might
have been called.
12. There shall be a secretary general of the council of state, having
under him the offices necessary for the dispatch of business.
13. There shall be near our council of state, Auditors, of whom we
shall determine the number and the distribution. They shall be chosen
from amongst those young men who are destined for the administration,
who have finished their studies, and who have distinguished themselves
therein. There shall be two classes, the first composed of young
people who shall have shewn in the exercise of their functions more
capacity, discretion, and attachment to their duty: they shall take
the name of auditors of the king, and the others merely the name of
auditors. They shall be employed to prepare business, according to the
orders they shall receive from the presidents of the sections of the
council of state: they shall have no communication with the ministers
unless by a formal order from us. The auditors of the king shall
assist at the general sittings of the state when they are called there
by us. In that case they shall rank behind the counsellors of state,
and shall have no voice in council, unless we, from a wish to assure
ourselves whether they improve in the transaction of affairs, in
qualifying themselves for the administration, shall ask their advice:
the other auditors shall only be employed in the interior of the
divisions.
14. As the institution of auditors is intended to initiate young men
in business, and to facilitate the means of succeeding in it, they
will receive no provision.
Royal Decree of the 9th July, 1806, relative to the Presentation of the
projected Laws of their High Mightinesses.
ART. 1. When the plan of a law, (the council of state having been
heard) shall have been adopted by us, the secretary of state shall
summon, by a letter, the president of the legislative body, at least
two days beforehand, to assemble the orators of the government at such
a day and such an hour, at the assembly of their high mightinesses, to
present to them one or several projects of law; if there are many, the
number shall be indicated.
2. The secretary of state shall inform the same day the secretary
general of the council of state that such project of law has been
adopted by his majesty; he will transmit to him at the same time a
decree, signifying: 1st, the nomination of auditors; 2d, the day of
presentation.
3. On the day appointed for the presentation at the latest, the
general secretary of the council of state shall transmit to the person
first named in the decree, and who is to be the speaker, 1st, a copy
of the same decree by which their powers are constituted; 2d, two
copies of the law.
6th. The orators of the government shall repair to the assembly of
their high mightinesses, in the carriages of government, preceded by
two tipstaffs and accompanied by two of the royal horse guards. The
guards before whom they pass will draw up, and present their arms: at
the palace, where the sittings of the assembly of their high
mightinesses are held, they are to be received in a private room by
the committee of that assembly, then at the door of the chamber of
sittings by the notary, who shall introduce them to the place of the
sittings of the assembly, and accompany them to the place destined for
them, and which is similiar to that of the members of the assembly.
The orator of the government first named in the decree, shall ask the
president for leave to speak, and read, first, the royal decree and
the project of the law, and secondly the exposition of the motives.
This address finished, the president shall return the act to the
orators, and a copy signed, which they are to report, and the orators
will retire with the same ceremony with which they arrived.
As the 7th article of the treaty signed at Paris the 24th of May,
1806, ordains that the members of the reigning house of Holland shall
remain personally subject to the dispositions of the 30th of last
March, forming the law of the imperial family of France, it cannot but
be agreeable to find here the most important articles to which his
majesty the King of Holland is subjected, and which are most adapted
to him: they are as follows:
TITLE 1st. Of the Princes and Princesses of the Imperial House.
ART. 1. The emperor is the chief and common father of his family;
under these titles he exercises paternal authority over those who
compose it, during their minority; and preserves always, in respect to
them, a power of inspection, of police, and of discipline, the
principal objects of which will be determined hereafter.
3. The imperial house is composed, first, of the princes comprised in
the hereditary order established by the act of the constitutions of
the 28th May, 12th year, concerning their marriage, and their
descendants in legitimate marriage: 2d. of the princesses our sisters,
of their husbands, and of their descendants in legitimate marriage, to
the fifth degree inclusively: 3dly. of our children by adoption, and
of their legitimate descendants.
TITLE III. Of the Education of the Princes and Princesses of the
Imperial House.
26. The emperor regulates all that concerns the issue of the princes
and princesses of this house: he nominates and revokes at will those
who are commissioned with it, and determines the place where it is to
be effected.
27. All the princes born in hereditary order will be brought up
together, and by the same tutors and officers, either in the palace
inhabited by the emperor, or in another palace within the distance of
ten _myriamètres_[2] from his usual residence.
Footnote 2:
_Myriamètre_ is equal to 5132 43–100 toises, or 1 7–20 German mil 15
to a degree.
26. Their course of education will begin at the age of seven, and will
finish at the attainment of the age of sixteen. The children of those
who have distinguished themselves by their services may be admitted to
participate of the advantages.
27. Should it happen that a prince in the hereditary order should
ascend a foreign throne, he will be bound, when his male issue should
be seven years old, to send them to the above-mentioned houses to
receive their education.
OF THE PRESENTATION OF PETITIONS AND AUDIENCES.
Those who wish to present petitions, or addresses, &c. to the king,
will put at the head, “To the King.” They all begin with the title of
Sire, and in the body of the addresses, &c. the words “Your Majesty”
must be used. His majesty has provisionally charged the counsellor of
state, M. Golberg, in order to receive in his name all the requests,
supplications, and remonstrances which may be presented, and to give a
circumstantial account of them to the King. This counsellor attends
for this purpose in the apartments of the old court, every Tuesday and
Friday, from nine in the morning till two in the afternoon. But all
petitions, supplications, or remonstrances, must be presented in
writing, on stamped paper: and there ought besides to be indorsed on
the petitions, &c. the name of the supplicant, the nature of the
demand, and in concise terms, the motives of the same. It must be
observed besides, that all demands, addresses, or remonstrances to the
courts, or tribunals of justice, departmental administrations, or
other constituted authorities, ought to be sent to the minister or
directors general, that the deed which relates to the object, be made
by them, and presented to the king. Those who desire to be admitted to
the audience of his majesty the king, are obliged to address
themselves for this purpose to the chamberlain of the day, the motive
for which this audience is requested, must be signified by writing,
and the place where the answer may be sent exactly mentioned. The king
has decreed, that in order to facilitate and assure as much as
possible the relation between him and his subjects, all the ministers,
or directors general, have to give once or twice a week a public
audience; for this purpose they have fixed the following days, &c. &c.
The leading features in this constitution, are the guarantee of the
payment of the national debt; the free and unqualified exercise of
religion; the predominant authority vested in the king; the
establishment of the salique law, for ever excluding females from the
throne; the declaration that the minority of any future king shall
expire upon his attaining his eighteenth year; that only natives shall
be eligible to any offices under the state, exclusive of those
immediately appertaining to the king’s household; that the yearly
revenue of the king shall be two millions of florins, and that the royal
residences shall be the palaces of the Hague, in the Wood, and at
Soestdyke.
As a few months have only rolled away since the promulgation of this
constitution, it would be somewhat hasty to offer any objections to it:
it must be left to time to ascertain how far it is adapted to the genius
and resources, and propitious to the prosperity of the people.
CHAPTER IX.
GRAND ENTRY OF KING AND QUEEN INTO HOLLAND ... OPENING OF THE MEETING OF
THEIR HIGH MIGHTINESSES ... ANECDOTE OF ROYAL ECONOMY ... THE HAGUE
DESCRIBED ... LADY W. MONTAGU’S REMARKS REBUTTED ... PRETTY FEMALE
FACES ... A DUTCH NURSERY ... DUTCH MODE OF INCREASING ANIMAL HEAT ...
THE WOOD ... ITS SANCTITY ... THE PALACE FORMERLY CALLED THE HOUSE IN
THE WOOD ... ANECDOTE OF KING WILLIAM THE THIRD ... UNOSTENTATIOUS
HABITS OF THE ORANGE FAMILY ... CHARMING JAUNT TO SCHEVELING ... A
MARINE HOTEL ... MR. FOX.
Soon after the promulgation of the constitution, the King and Queen set
off from Paris to take possession of their new kingdom, and on the 23d
of June following made their solemn entry into the Hague: they left the
palace in the Wood in the following order; a herald at arms, his
majesty’s horse guards, the guard of honour, the council of state in
three coaches, the admirals in one coach, the ministers in two coaches,
the great officers of the crown in one coach, their majesties in one
coach, the generals in two coaches: the ladies and officers of the royal
household in one coach, followed by aids-de-camp and other officers, and
the whole procession closed by detachments of hussars and dragoons.