WILLIAM II. REVISION OF THE CONSTITUTION.
1842-1849
The Dutch nation welcomed the final separation from Belgium with
profound relief. The national charges had risen from 15 million florins
in 1815 to 38 million florins in 1838. Taxation was oppressive, trade
stagnant, and the financial position growing more and more intolerable.
The long-tried loyalty of the people, who had entrusted their sovereign
with such wide and autocratic powers, had cooled. The king's Belgian
policy had obviously been a complete failure; and the rotten state of
public finance was naturally in large part attributed to the sovereign,
who had so long been practically his own finance minister. Loud cries
began to be raised for a revision of the constitution on liberal lines.
To the old king any such revision was repugnant; but, unable to resist
the trend of public opinion, he gave his assent to a measure of
constitutional reform in the spring of 1840. Its limited concessions
satisfied no one. Its principal modifications of the Fundamental Law
were: (1) the division of the province of Holland into two parts; (2)
the reduction of the Civil List; (3) the necessary alteration of the
number of deputies in the Second Chamber due to the separation from
Belgium; (4) abolition of the distinction between the ordinary and the
extraordinary budget; (5) a statement of the receipts and expenditure of
the colonies to be laid before the States-General. Finally the principle
of ministerial responsibility was granted most reluctantly, the king
yielding only after the Chambers had declined to consider the estimates
without this concession. But William had already made up his mind to
abdicate, rather than reign under the new conditions. He knew that he
was unpopular and out-of-touch with the times; and his unpopularity had
been increased by his announced intention of marrying the Countess
Henriette D'Oultremont, a Belgian and a Catholic. On October 7 he issued
a proclamation by which he handed over the government to his son William
Frederick, Prince of Orange. He then retired quietly to his private
estates in Silesia. He died at Berlin in 1843.
William II was forty-eight years of age on his accession to the throne.
He was a man of a character very different from that of his father.
Amiable, accessible, easily influenced, liberal-handed even to
extravagance, he was deservedly popular. He had shown himself in the
Peninsula, at Quatre Bras and Waterloo and later in the Ten Days'
Campaign, to be a capable and courageous soldier, but he possessed few
of the qualities either of a statesman or a financier. He had married in
1816 Anna Paulovna, sister of the Tsar Alexander I, after his proposed
marriage with the Princess Charlotte of England had been broken off.
He entered upon his reign in difficult times. There was a loud demand
for a further sweeping revision of the constitution. Religious
movements, which had been gathering force during the reign of William I,
required careful handling. One minister after another had tried to
grapple with the financial problem, but in vain. In 1840 the public debt
amounted to 2200 million florins; and the burden of taxation, though it
had become almost unendurable, failed to provide for the interest on the
debt and the necessary expenses of administration. The State was in fact
on the verge of bankruptcy. The appointment in 1842 of F.A. van Hall
(formerly an Amsterdam advocate, who had held the post of minister of
justice) to be finance minister opened out a means of salvation. The
arrears to 1840 amounted to 35 million florins; the deficit for 1841-3
had to be covered, and means provided for the expenditure for 1843-4.
Van Hall's proposals gave the people the choice between providing the
necessary money by an extraordinary tax of one and a half per cent, on
property and income, and raising a voluntary loan of 150 million florins
at 3 per cent. After long debates the States-General accepted the
proposal for the voluntary loan, but the amount was reduced to 126
millions. The success of the loan, though at first doubtful, was by
March, 1844, complete. The Amsterdam Bourse gave its utmost support; and
the royal family set a good example by a joint subscription of 11
million florins. By this means, and by the capitalisation of the annual
Belgian payment of five million francs, Van Hall was able to clear off
the four years' arrears and to convert the 5 and 4-1/2 per cent. scrip
into 4 per cent. He was helped by the large annual payments, which now
began to come in from the Dutch East Indies; and at length an
equilibrium was established in the budget between receipts and
expenditure.
In the years preceding the French Revolution the Reformed Church in the
United Provinces had become honey-combed with rationalism. The official
orthodoxy of the Dort synod had become "a fossilised skeleton." By the
Constitution of 1798 Church and State were separated, and the property
of the Church was taken by the State, which paid however stipends to the
ministers. Under King Louis subsidies were paid from the public funds to
teachers of every religious persuasion; and this system continued during
the union of Holland and Belgium. A movement known as the _Reveil_ had
meanwhile been stirring the dry-bones of Calvinistic orthodoxy
in Holland. Its first leaders were Bilderdijk, De Costa and Capadose.
Like most religious revivals, this movement gave rise to extravagancies
and dissensions. In 1816 a new sect was founded by a sea-captain,
Staffel Mulder, on communistic principles after the example of
the first Jerusalem converts, which gathered a number of followers
among the peasantry. The "New Lighters"--such was the name they
assumed--established in 1823 their headquarters at Zwijndrecht. The
first enthusiasm however died down, and the sect gradually disappeared.
More serious was the liberal revolt against the cut-and-dried orthodoxy
of Dort. Slowly it made headway, and it found leaders in Hofstede de
Groot, professor at Groningen, and in two eloquent preachers, De Cocq at
Ulrum and Scholte at Deventer. These men, finding that their views met
with no sympathy or recognition by the synodal authorities, resolved
(October 14,1834) on the serious step of separating from the Reformed
Church and forming themselves and their adherents into a new church
body. They were known as "the Separatists" (_de Afgescheidenen_). Though
deprived of their pulpits, fined and persecuted, the Separatists grew in
number. In 1836 the government refused to recognise them as a Church,
but permitted local congregations to hold meetings in houses. In 1838
more favourable conditions were offered, which De Cocq and Scholte
finally agreed to accept, but no subsidies were paid to the sect by the
State. William II, in 1842, made a further concession by allowing
religious teaching to be given daily in the public schools (out of
school hours) by the Separatist ministers, as well as by those of other
denominations. All this while, however, certain congregations refused
to accept the compromise of 1838; and a large number, headed by a
preacher named Van Raalte, in order to obtain freedom of worship,
emigrated to Michigan to form the nucleus of a flourishing Dutch colony.
The accession of William II coincided with a period of political unrest,
not only in Holland but throughout Europe. A strong reaction had set in
against the system of autocratic rule, which had been the marked feature
of the period which followed 1815. Liberal and progressive ideas had
during the later years been making headway in Holland under the
inspiring leadership of Johan Rudolf Thorbecke, at that time a professor
of jurisprudence at Leyden. He had many followers; and the cause he
championed had the support of the brilliant writers and publicists,
Donker-Curtius, Luzac, Potgieter, Bakhuizen van der Brink and others. A
strong demand arose for a thorough revision of the constitution. In 1844
a body of nine members of the Second Chamber, chief amongst them
Thorbecke, drew up a definite proposal for a revision; but the king
expressed his dislike to it, and it was rejected. The Van Hall ministry
had meanwhile been carrying out those excellent financial measures which
had saved the credit of the State, and was now endeavouring to conduct
the government on opportunist lines. But the potato famine in 1845-46
caused great distress among the labouring classes, and gave added force
to the spirit of discontent in the country. The king himself grew
nervous in the presence of the revolutionary ferment spreading
throughout Europe, and was more especially alarmed (February, 1848) by
the sudden overthrow of the monarchy of Louis Philippe and the
proclamation of a republic at Paris. He now resolved himself to take the
initiative. He saw that the proposals hitherto made for revision did not
satisfy public opinion; and on March 8, without consulting his
ministers, he took the unusual step of sending for the President of the
Second Chamber, Boreel van Hogelanden. He asked him to ascertain the
opinions and wishes of the Chamber on the matter of revision and to
report to him. The ministry on this resigned and a new liberal ministry
was formed, at the head of which was Count Schimmelpenninck, formerly
minister in London. On March 17 a special Commission was appointed to
draw up a draft scheme of revision. It consisted of five members, four
of whom, Thorbecke, Luzac, Donker-Curtius and Kempenaer, were prominent
liberals and the fifth a Catholic from North Brabant. Their work was
completed by April 11 and the report presented to the king.
Schimmelpenninck, not agreeing with the proposals of the Commission,
resigned; and on May 11 a new ministry under the leadership of
Donker-Curtius was formed for the express purpose of carrying out the
proposed revision. A periodical election of the Second Chamber took
place in July, and difficulties at first confronted the new scheme.
These were, however, overcome; and on October 14 the revised
constitution received the king's assent. It was solemnly proclaimed on
November 3.
The Constitution of 1848 left in the hands of the king the executive
power, i.e. the conduct of foreign affairs, the right of declaring war
and making peace, the supreme command of the military and naval forces,
the administration of the overseas possessions, and the right of
dissolving the Chambers; but these prerogatives were modified by the
introduction of the principle of ministerial responsibility. The
ministers were responsible for all acts of the government, and the king
could legally do no wrong. The king was president of the Council of
State (15 members), whose duty it was to consider all proposals made to
or by the States-General. The king shared the legislative power with the
States-General, but the Second Chamber had the right of initiative,
amendment and investigation; and annual budgets were henceforth to be
presented for its approval. All members of the States-General were to be
at least 30 years of age. The First Chamber of 39 members was elected by
the Provincial Estates from those most highly assessed to direct
taxation; the members sat for nine years, but one-third vacated their
seats every third year. All citizens of full age paying a certain sum to
direct taxation had the right of voting for members of the Second
Chamber, the country for this purpose being divided into districts
containing 45,000 inhabitants. The members held their seats for four
years, but half the Chamber retired every second year. Freedom of
worship to all denominations, liberty of the press and the right of
public meeting were guaranteed. Primary education in public schools was
placed under State control, but private schools were not interfered
with. The provincial and communal administration was likewise reformed
and made dependent on the direct popular vote.
The ministry of Donker-Curtius at once took steps for holding
fresh elections, as soon as the new constitution became the
fundamental law of the country. A large majority of liberals was
returned to the Second Chamber. The king in person opened the
States-General on February 13, 1849, and expressed his intention of
accepting loyally the changes to which he had given his assent. He
was, however, suffering and weak from illness, and a month later
(March 17) he died at Tilburg. His gracious and kindly personality
had endeared him to his subjects, who deeply regretted that at this
moment of constitutional change the States should lose his experienced
guidance. He was succeeded by his son, William III.
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