VOLUME XIII SLICE V Hinduism to Home, Earls of (continued 10)

The triumph of Tromp had, however, a bad effect on public feeling in England. The circumstances under which the battle of the Downs was won were galling to the pride of the English people, and intensified the growing English and Dutch Commercial Rivalry. Marriage of William and Mary. unfriendliness between two nations, one of whom possessed and the other claimed supremacy upon the seas. The prosperity of the world-wide Dutch commerce was looked upon with eyes of jealousy across the Channel. Disputes had been constantly recurring between Dutch and English traders in the East Indies and elsewhere, and the seeds were already sown of that stern rivalry which was to issue in a series of fiercely contested wars. But in 1639-1640 civil discords in England stood in the way of a strong foreign policy, and the adroit Aarssens was able so “to sweeten the bitterness of the pill” as to bring King Charles not merely to “overlook the scandal of the Downs,” but to consent to the marriage of the princess royal with William, the only son of the stadholder. The wedding of the youthful couple (aged respectively 14 and 10 years) took place on the 12th of May 1641 (see William II., prince of Orange). This royal alliance gave added influence and position to the house of Orange-Nassau.

About this time various causes brought about a change in the feelings which had hitherto prevented any possibility of peace between Spain and the United Netherlands. The revolt of Portugal (December 1640) weakened Changed relations of the United Provinces with France and Spain. the Spanish power, and involved the loss to Spain of the Portuguese colonies. But it was in the Portuguese colonies that the conquests of the Dutch East and West India Companies had been made, and the question of the Indies as between Netherlander and Spaniard assumed henceforth quite a different complexion. Aarssens, the strongest advocate of the French alliance, passed away in 1641, and his death was quickly followed by those of Richelieu and Louis XIII. The victory of Condé at Rocroy opened the eyes of Frederick Henry to the danger of a French conquest of the Belgian provinces; and, feeling his health growing enfeebled, the prince became anxious before his death to obtain peace and security for his country by means of an accommodation with Spain. In 1643 negotiations were opened which, after many delays and in the face of countless difficulties, were at length, four years later, to terminate successfully.

The course of the pourparlers would doubtless have run more smoothly but for the infirm health and finally the death of the prince of Orange himself. Frederick Henry expired on the 14th of March 1647, and was buried Death of Frederick Henry—his last campaigns. by the side of his father and brother in Delft. In his last campaigns he had completed with signal success the task which, as a military commander, he had set himself,—of giving to the United Provinces a thoroughly defensible frontier of barrier fortresses. In 1644 he captured Sas de Ghent; in 1645 Hulst. That portion of Flanders which skirts the south bank of the Scheldt thus passed into the possession of the States, and with it the complete control of all the waterways to the sea.

The death of the great stadholder did not, however, long delay the carrying out of the policy on which he had set his heart, of concluding a separate peace with Spain behind the back of France, notwithstanding the compact of 1635 The Peace of Münster. with that power. A provisional draft of a treaty had already been drawn up before the demise of Frederick Henry, and afterwards, despite the strenuous opposition of the new prince of Orange (who, under the Acte de Survivance, had inherited all his father’s offices and dignities) and of two of the provinces, Zeeland and Utrecht, the negotiations were by the powerful support of the States of Holland and of the majority of the States-General, quickly brought to a successful issue. The treaty was signed at Münster on the 30th of January 1648. It was a peace practically dictated by the Dutch, and involved a complete surrender of everything for which Spain had so Complete triumph of the Dutch. long fought. The United Provinces were recognized as free and independent, and Spain dropped all her claims; the uti possidetis basis was adopted in respect to all conquests; the Scheldt was declared entirely closed—a clause which meant the ruin of Antwerp for the profit of Amsterdam; the right to trade in the East and West Indies was granted, and all the conquests made by the Dutch from the Portuguese were ceded to them; the two contracting parties agreed to respect and keep clear of each other’s trading grounds; each was to pay in the ports of the other only such tolls as natives paid. Thus, triumphantly for the revolted provinces, the eighty years’ war came to an end. At this moment the republic of the United Netherlands touched, perhaps, the topmost point of its prosperity and greatness.

No sooner was peace concluded than bitter disputes arose between the provincial States of Holland and the prince of Orange, supported by the other six provinces, upon the question of the disbanding of the military forces. William was a young The form of Government in the United Provinces. man (he was twenty-one at the time of his father’s death) of the highest abilities and of soaring ambition. He was totally opposed to the peace with Spain, and wished to bring about a speedy resumption of the war. With this view he entered into secret negotiations for a French alliance which, as far as can be gathered from extant records, had for its objects the conquest and partition by the allies of the Belgic provinces, and joint action in England on behalf of Charles II. As a preliminary step William aimed at a centralization of the powers of government in the United Provinces in his own person. He saw clearly the inherent defects of the existing federation, and he wished to remedy a system which was so complicated as to be at times almost unworkable. The States-General were but the delegates, the stadholders the servants, of a number of sovereign provinces, each of which had different historical traditions and a different form of government, and one of which—Holland—in wealth and importance outweighed the other six taken together. Between the States of Holland and the States-General there was constant The position of Holland and Amsterdam. jealousy and friction. And yet strangely enough the States of Holland themselves were not really representative of the people of that province, but only of the limited, self-coopting burgher aristocracies of certain towns, each of which with its rights and liberties had a quasi-independence of its own. Foremost among these was the great commercial capital, Amsterdam, whose rich burgher patriciate did not scruple on occasion to defy the authority of the States-General, the stadholder and even of the States of Holland themselves.

The States of Holland had, in the years that followed the truce of 1609, measured their strength with that of the States-General, but the issue had been decided conclusively in favour of the federal authority by the sword of The position in 1650. Maurice. The party and the principles of Oldenbarneveldt, however, though crushed, were not extinguished, and though Frederick Henry by his personal influence and prudent statesmanship had been able to surmount the difficulties placed in his way, he had had to encounter at times strong opposition, and had been much hampered in the conduct both of his campaigns and of his policy. With the conclusion of the peace of Münster and the death of the veteran stadholder the struggle for predominance in the Union between the Orange-federalist and the Hollander States-rights parties was certain to be renewed. The moment seemed to be favourable for the assertion of provincial sovereignty because of the youth and inexperience of the new prince of Orange. But William II., though little more than a boy, was endowed with singular capacity and great strength of will, and he was intent upon ambitious projects, the scope of which has been already indicated. The collision came, which was perhaps inevitable. The States-General The question of disbanding the forces. in the disbanding of the forces wished to retain the cadres of the regiments complete in case of a renewal of the war. The States of Holland objected, and, although the army was a federal force, gave orders for the general disbanding of the troops in the pay of the province. The officers refused to obey any orders but those of the council of State of the Union. The provincial states, on their part, threatened them with loss of pay. At this juncture the States-General, as in 1618, appointed a commission headed by the prince of Orange to visit the towns of Holland, and provide for the maintenance of order and the upholding of the Union. Both parties put themselves in the wrong, the province by refusing its quota to the federal war-sheet, the generality by dealing with individual towns instead of with the states of the province. The visitation was a failure. The town councils, though most of them willing to receive William in his capacity as stadholder, declined to give a hearing to the commission. The Prisoners of Loevenstein. Amsterdam refused absolutely to admit either stadholder or commission. In these circumstances William resolved upon strong measures. Six leading members of the States of Holland were seized (30th of July 1650) and imprisoned in Loevenstein Castle, and troops under the command of William Frederick, stadholder of Friesland, were sent to surprise Amsterdam. But the town council had been warned, and the gates were shut and guarded. The coup d’état nevertheless was completely successful. The anti-Orange party, remembering the fate of Oldenbarneveldt, were stricken with panic at the imprisonment of their leaders. The States of Holland and the town council of Amsterdam gave in their submission. The prisoners were released, and public thanks were rendered to the prince by the various provincial states for “his great trouble, care and prudence.” William appeared to be master of the situation but his plans for future action were Sudden Death of William II. never to be carried into effect. Busily engaged in secret negotiations with France, he had retired to his hunting seat at Dieren, when he fell ill with smallpox on the 27th of October. A few days later he expired at the Hague (6th of November), aged but twenty-four years. A week after his death, his widow, the princess Mary of England, gave birth to a son who, as William III., was to give added lustre to the house of Orange.

The anti-Orange particularist party, which had just suffered decisive defeat, now lifted up its head again. At the instance of Holland a Grand Assembly was summoned, consisting of delegates from all the provinces, to consider the The Grand Assembly. state of the Union, the army and religion. It met at the Hague on the 18th of January 1651. The conclusions arrived at were that all sovereign powers resided in the provinces, and that to them severally, each within its own borders, belonged the control of the military forces and of religion. There was to be no captain-general of the Union. All the provinces, except Friesland and Groningen, which remained true to William Frederick of Nassau-Dietz, agreed to leave the office of stadholder vacant. The practical result was the establishment of the hegemony of Holland in the Union, and the handing over of the control of its policy to the patrician oligarchies who formed the town councils of that province.

Such a system would have been unworkable but for the fact that with the revival of the political principles of Oldenbarneveldt, there was found a statesman of commanding ability to fill the office in which the famous advocate The office of Grand Pensionary. of Holland had for so many years been “minister of all affairs” in the forming state. The title of advocate had indeed been replaced by that of grand pensionary (Raad Pensionaris), but the duties assigned to the office remained the same, the only change of importance being that the advocate was appointed for life, the grand pensionary for a term of five years. The grand pensionary was nominally the paid servant of the States of Holland, but his functions were such as to permit a man of talent and industry in the stadholderless republic to exercise control in all departments of policy and of government. All correspondence passed through his hands, he wrote all despatches, conducted the debates over which he presided, kept the minutes, drafted the resolutions, and was ex officio the leader and spokesman of the delegates who represented the Province of Holland in the States-General. Such was the John de Witt. position to which John de Witt, a young man of twenty-eight years of age, belonging to one of the most influential patrician families of Dordrecht (his father, Jacob de Witt, was one of the prisoners of Loevenstein) was appointed in 1653. From that date until 1672 it was his brain and his will that guided the affairs of the United Netherlands. He was supreme in the States of Holland, and Holland was dominant in the States-General (see John de Witt).

The death of William II. had left the Dutch republic at the very highest point of commercial prosperity, based upon an almost universal carrying trade, and the strictest system of monopoly. Friction and disputes had Disputes between English and Dutch Traders. frequently arisen between the Dutch and the English traders in different parts of the world, and especially in the East Indies, culminating in the so-called “Massacre of Amboyna”; and the strained relations between the two nations would, but for the civil discords in England, have probably led to active hostilities during the reign of Charles I. With the accession of Cromwell to power the breach was widened. A strong party in the Provinces were unfriendly to the Commonwealth, and insults were offered in the Hague to the English envoys. The parliament replied by passing the memorable Navigation Act (Oct. 1651), which struck a deadly blow at the Dutch carrying trade. It was the beginning of that struggle for supremacy upon the seas which was to end, after Naval struggle with England. three great wars, in the defeat of the weaker country. The first English war lasted from May 1652 to April 1654, and within fifteen months twelve sea-fights took place, which were desperately contested and with varying success. The leaders on both sides—the Netherlanders Tromp (killed in action on the 10th of August 1653) and de Ruyter, the Englishmen Blake and Monk—covered themselves with equal glory. But the losses to Dutch trade were so serious that negotiations for peace were set on foot by the burgher party of Holland, and Cromwell being not unwilling, an agreement Peace of Westminster. was reached in the Treaty of Westminster, signed on the 5th of April 1654. The Dutch conceded the striking of the flag and compensation for English claims against the Dutch in the East Indies and elsewhere. The act of Seclusion, which barred the young prince of Orange from holding the office of stadholder and of captain-general, had been one of the conditions on which Cromwell had insisted. The consent of the States-General was refused, but by a secret treaty Holland, under the influence of de Act of Seclusion. Witt, accepted it in their own name as a sovereign province. The popular feeling throughout the United Provinces was strongly antagonistic to the act of Seclusion, by which at the dictation of a foreign power a ban of exclusion was pronounced against the house of Orange-Nassau, to which the republic owed its independence.

In 1658, the States-General interfered to save the Danes from Charles Gustavus of Sweden. In 1659 a treaty of peace was concluded between France, England and the United Provinces with a view to the settlement of the Dano-Swedish War with Sweden. question, which ended in securing a northern peace in 1660, and in keeping the Baltic open for Dutch trade. The foreign affairs of the republic were throughout these years ably conducted by de Witt, and the position of Dutch colonial expansion in the Eastern seas made secure and firm. An advantageous peace with Portugal was made in 1662.

Meanwhile the Commonwealth in England had been followed in 1660 by the restoration of the monarchy. To conciliate the new king the act of Seclusion was repealed, and the education of the young prince of Orange was undertaken Second English war. by the States of Holland under the superintendence of de Witt. But Charles owed a grudge against Holland, and he was determined to gratify it. The Navigation Act was re-enacted, old grievances revived, and finally the Dutch colony of New Netherland was seized in time of peace (1664) and its capital, New Amsterdam, renamed New York. War broke out in 1665, and was marked by a series of terrific battles. On the 13th of June 1665 the Dutch admiral Obdam was completely defeated by the English under the duke of York. The four days’ fight (11th-14th of June 1666) ended in a hard-won victory by de Ruyter over Monk, but later in this year (August 3rd) de Ruyter was beaten by Ayscue and forced to take refuge in the Dutch harbours. He had his revenge, for on the 22nd of June 1667 the Dutch fleet under de Ruyter and Cornelius de Witt made their way up the Medway as far as Chatham and burnt the English fleet as it lay at anchor. Negotiations between the two countries were already in progress Peace of Breda. The Triple Alliance. and this event hastened a settlement. The peace of Breda was signed (31st of July 1667) on terms on the whole favourable to the Dutch. New Netherland was retained by England in exchange for Suriname. In the following year by the efforts of Sir William Temple the much vaunted Triple Alliance was concluded between Great Britain, the United Provinces and Sweden to check the ambitious designs of Louis XIV. The instability of Charles II., who sold himself to Louis by the treaty of Dover (1670), speedily rendered it of no effect, and left the United Provinces to face unaided the vengeance of the French king.

From 1668 to 1672 Louis made ready to destroy the Dutch, and so well had his diplomacy served him that they were left without a friend in Europe. In 1672 the storm broke: the English without a declaration of war tried, unsuccessfully, The French invasion. to intercept the Dutch Mediterranean fleet; and the French at the same time set forth in apparently irresistible strength to overcome the despised traders of Holland. The States were ill-prepared on land though their fleet was strong and ready; party spirit had become intensely bitter as the prince of Orange (see William III.) grew to man’s estate, and the ruling burgher party, knowing how great was the popularity of William, especially in the army, had purposely neglected their land forces. Town after town fell before the French armies, and to de Witt and his supporters there seemed to be nothing left but to make submission and accept the best terms that Louis XIV. would grant. The young prince alone rose to the height of the occasion, and set his face against such William III. Stadholder and Captain-general. The third English war. Murder of the Brothers de Witt. cowardly counsels, and he had the enthusiastic support of the great majority of the people. Amidst general acclamation William was elected stadholder, first of Zeeland, then of Holland, and was appointed captain-general of the Union (June 1672). Meanwhile the fleet under de Ruyter had encountered a combined English and French force in Solebay (7th of June), and after a desperate fight, in which the French had but slackly supported their allies, had more then held its own. William, in his turn, with an army wholly insufficient to meet the French in the open field, was able to persuade his countrymen to open the dikes and by flooding the land to prevent its occupation by the enemy. The courage and resourcefulness of their youthful leader inspired the people to make heroic sacrifices for their independence, but unfortunately such was the revulsion of feeling against the grand pensionary, that he himself and his brother Cornelius were torn in pieces by an infuriated mob at the Hague (20th of August).

William, now supreme in the States, while on land struggling with chequered success against the superior forces of the French, strove by his diplomacy, and not in vain, to gain allies for the republic. The growing power of Peace of Westminster. France caused alarm to her neighbours, and Sweden, Denmark, Spain and the emperor lent a willing ear to the persuasions of the stadholder and were ready to aid his efforts to curb the ambition of Louis. On sea in 1673 de Ruyter, in a series of fiercely contested battles, successfully maintained his strenuous and dogged conflict against the united English and French fleets. In England the war was exceedingly unpopular, and public opinion forced Charles II. to conclude peace. The treaty of Westminster, which provided that all conquests should be restored, was signed on the 14th of February 1674. The French now found themselves threatened on many sides, The war with France. Death of de Ruyter. Peace of Nymwegen. and were reduced to the defensive. The prince, however, suffered a defeat at Seneff, and was in 1674 prevented from invading France. The war, nevertheless, during the following years was on the whole advantageous to the Dutch. In 1676 a Dutch squadron fought two hard but indecisive battles with a superior French force, off Stromboli (8th of January) and off Messina (22nd of April). In the last-named fight Admiral de Ruyter was badly wounded and died (29th of April). In 1677 negotiations for peace went on, and were forwarded by the marriage, at the close of the year, of William of Orange with his cousin the princess Mary, daughter of the duke of York. At last (August 1678) a peace was concluded at Nymwegen by which the Dutch secured the integrity and independence of their country. All the conquests made by the French were given up.

The aggressive policy of Louis XIV. in the years that followed the peace of Nymwegen enabled William to lay the foundations of the famous confederacy which changed the whole aspect of European politics. The league of Augsburg (1686), which League of Augsburg. followed the revocation of the edict of Nantes, placed Orange at the head of the resistance to French domination. The league was formed by the emperor, Spain, Sweden, the United Provinces and by several German states. In England William and Mary were looked upon as the natural successors to the throne on the death of James II., and William kept up close relations with the malcontents in Church and State, who disliked the arbitrary and papistical policy of his father-in-law. But with the birth of a prince of Wales the situation was changed, and William determined to intervene actively in English affairs. His opportunity came when Louis XIV., having declared war against the Empire, had invaded the Palatinate. The opposition of Amsterdam to an English Revolution of 1688. expedition, in the absence of danger from the side of France, was overcome. The Revolution of 1688 ensued, and England became, under William’s strong rule, the chief member of the Great Coalition against French aggression. In the Grand Alliance of 1689-1690 he was accused of sacrificing Dutch to English interests, but there can be no doubt that William loved his native country better than his adopted one, and was a true patriot. If the United Provinces suffered in prosperity through their close relations The Grand Alliance. with and subordination to Great Britain during a long series of years, it was due not to the policy of William, but to the fact that the territory of the republic was small, open to attack by great military powers, and devoid of natural resources. The stadholder’s authority and popularity continued unimpaired, despite of his frequent absences in England. He had to contend, like his predecessors, with the perennial hostility of the burgher aristocracy of Amsterdam, and at times with other refractory town councils, but his power in the States during his life was almost autocratic. His task was rendered lighter by the influence and ability of Heinsius, the grand pensionary of Holland, William and Heinsius. a wise and prudent statesman, whose tact and moderation in dealing with the details and difficulties of internal administration were conspicuous. The stadholder gave to Heinsius his fullest confidence, and the pensionary on his part loyally supported William’s policy and placed his services ungrudgingly at his disposal (see Heinsius).

The conduct of the war by the allies was far from successful. In 1690 (July 1st) Waldeck was defeated by Luxemburg at Fleurus; and the Anglo-Dutch fleet was so severely handled by Tourville (10th July) off Beachy Head War with France. that for two years the command of the sea remained in the possession of the French. A striking victory off Cape la Hogue (29th of May 1692) restored, however, supremacy to the allies. On land the combined armies fared ill. In 1691 the French took Mons, and in 1692 Namur, in which year after a hard-fought battle William was defeated at Steenkirk and in 1693 at Neerwinden. But William’s military genius never shone so brightly as in the hour of defeat; he never knew what it was to be beaten, and in 1695 his recapture of Namur was a real triumph of skill and resolution. At last, after long negotiations, exhaustion compelled the French king to sign the peace of Peace of Ryswick. Death of William III. Ryswick in 1697, in which William was recognized by France as king of England, the Dutch obtaining a favourable commercial treaty, and the right to garrison the Netherland barrier towns. This peace, however, did no more than afford a breathing space during which Louis XIV. prepared for a renewal of the struggle. The great question of the Spanish succession was looming in all men’s eyes, and though partition treaties between the interested powers were concluded in 1698 and 1700, it is practically certain that the French king held himself little bound by them. In 1701 he elbowed the Dutch troops out of the barrier towns; he defied England by recognizing James III. on the death of his father; and it was clear that another war was imminent when William III. died in 1702.

In 1672 the stadholdership in five provinces had been made hereditary in the family of the prince of Orange, but William died childless, and the republican burgher party was strong enough to prevent the posts being filled up. William Stadholderless Government. had wished that his cousin, Count John William Friso of Nassau, stadholder of Friesland and Groningen, should succeed him, but his extreme youth and the jealousy of Holland against a “Frisian” stood in the way of his election. The result was a want of unity in counsel and action among the provinces, Friesland and Groningen standing aloof from the other five, while Holland and Zeeland had to pay for their predominance in the Union by being left to bear the bulk of the charges. Fortunately there was no break of continuity in the policy of the States, the chief conduct of affairs remaining, until his death in 1720, in the capable and tried hands of the grand pensionary Heinsius, who had at his side a number of exceptionally experienced and wise counsellors—among these Simon van Slingeland, for forty-five years (1680-1725) secretary of the council of state, and afterwards grand pensionary of Holland (1727-1736), and Francis Fagel, who succeeded his father in 1699 as recorder (Griffier) of the States-General, and held that important office for fifty years. The tradition of William III. was thus preserved, but with the loss of the firm hand and strong personality of that great ruler the United Provinces were relegated to a subordinate place in the councils of the nations, and with the gradual decadence of its navy the Dutch republic ceased to rank as a power to be reckoned with.

In the War of the Spanish Succession, which broke out in 1702, Dutch troops took part in the campaigns of Marlborough and Eugene, and had their share in winning the great victories of Blenheim (1704), Ramillies (1706), Oudenarde War of the Spanish Succession. (1708) and Malplaquet (1709). At the peace of Utrecht, concluded in 1713, the interests of the Netherlands were but half-heartedly supported by the English plenipotentiaries, and the French were able to obtain far more favourable terms than they had the power to exact. But they were compelled to abandon all claim to the Spanish Netherlands, which were formally handed over to the United Provinces, as trustees, to be by them, after the conclusion of a satisfactory barrier treaty, given up to the emperor, Treaty of Utrecht. and be known henceforth as the Austrian Netherlands. The peace of Utrecht taught the Dutch that the great powers around them, while ready to use their resources for war, would not scruple to abandon them when they wanted peace; they, therefore, determined henceforth to stand clear of all foreign complications. With 1713 the influence of the United Netherlands upon European politics comes almost to an end.

The ruling party in the States took an active part in securing George I. on the throne of England; and they succeeded in coming to an agreement both with France and with Austria over the difficulties connected with the barrier Peace policy. towns, and were thus able in tranquillity to concentrate their energies upon furthering the interests of their trade. Under the close oligarchical rule of the patrician families, who filled all offices in the town councils, the States of Holland, in which the influence of Amsterdam was dominant, and which in their turn exercised predominance in the States-General, became more and more an assembly of “shopkeepers” whose policy was to maintain peace for the sake of the commerce on which they thrived. For thirty years after the peace of Utrecht the Provinces kept themselves free from entanglement in the quarrels of Ostend East India Company. their neighbours. The foundation of the Ostend East India Company (see Ostend Company), however, by the emperor Joseph II. in 1723, at once aroused the strong opposition of the Amsterdam merchants who looked upon this invasion of their monopoly with alarm, and declared that the Ostend Company had been set up in contravention to the terms of Article V. of the treaty of Münster. In maintaining this position the States had the support of England, but it was not until 1731 that they succeeded in obtaining the suppression of the company by consenting to guarantee the Pragmatic Sanction of Charles VI. This step led in 1743 to their being involved in the War of the War of the Austrian Succession. Revolution of 1747. William IV. Austrian Succession, and thus being drawn into hostilities with France, which invaded the barrier country. In 1744 they formed with Great Britain, Austria and Saxony, a Quadruple Alliance, and put a contingent of troops in the field. The Dutch took an active part in the campaign of 1745 and suffered heavily at Fontenoy, after which battle Marshal Saxe overran the Austrian Netherlands. The French captured all the barrier towns, and in 1747 entered Dutch Flanders and made an easy conquest. The United Provinces, as in 1672, seemed to lie at the mercy of their enemies, and as in that eventful year, popular feeling broke down the opposition of the burgher oligarchies, and turned to William IV., prince of Orange, as the saviour of the state. John William Friso had died young in 1711, leaving a posthumous son, William Charles Henry Friso, who was duly elected stadholder by the two provinces, Friesland and Groningen, which were always faithful to his family, and in 1722 he became also, though with very limited powers, stadholder of Gelderland. The other provinces, however, under pressure from Holland, bound themselves not to elect stadholders, and they refused to revive the office of captain-general of the Union. By the conquest of Dutch Flanders Zeeland was threatened, and the states of that province, in which there were always many Orange partisans, elected (April 1747) William stadholder, captain-general and admiral of Zeeland. The example once given was infectious, and was followed in rapid succession by Holland, Utrecht and Overysel. Finally the States-General (May 4) appointed the prince, who was the first member of his family to be stadholder of all the seven provinces, captain and admiral-general of the Union, and a little later these offices were declared hereditary in both the male and female lines.

William IV., though not a man of great ability, was sincerely anxious to do his utmost for securing the maintenance of peace, and the development of the resources and commercial prosperity of the country, and his powerful dynastic Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle. connexions (he had married Anne, eldest daughter of George II.) gave him weight in the councils of Europe. The peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, in 1748, in which the influence of Great Britain was exerted on behalf of the States, though it nominally restored the old condition of things, left the Provinces crippled by debt, and fallen low from their old position among the nations. At first the stadholder’s efforts to promote the trade and welfare of the country were hampered by the distrust and opposition of Amsterdam, and other strongholds Death of William IV. Anne of England Regent. of anti-Orange feeling, and just as his good intentions were becoming more generally recognized, William unfortunately died, on the 22nd of October 1751, aged forty years, leaving his three-year-old son, William V., heir to his dignities. The princess Anne of England became regent, but she had a difficult part to play, and on the outbreak of the Seven Years’ War in which the Provinces were determined to maintain neutrality, her English leanings brought much unpopularity upon her. She died in 1759, and for the next seven years the regency passed into the hands of the States, and the government was practically stadholderless.

In 1766 William V. was declared to be of age; and his accession to power was generally welcomed. He was, however, a weak man, without energy or resolution, and he allowed himself to be entirely led by his old guardian the William V. duke of Brunswick, and by his wife Frederica Wilhelmina of Prussia, a woman of marked ability, to whom he entirely deferred. In the American War of Independence William’s sympathies were strongly on the English side, while those of the majority of the Dutch people were with the revolted colonies. It is, however, certain that nothing would have driven the Provinces to take part in the war but for the overbearing attitude of the British government with regard to the right of neutral shipping upon the seas, and the heavy losses sustained by Dutch commerce at the hands of British privateers. The The Armed Neutrality. famous agreement, known as the “Armed Neutrality,” with which in 1780 the States of the continent at the instigation of Catherine II. of Russia replied to the maritime claims put forward by Great Britain drew the Provinces once more into the arena of European politics. Every effort was made by the English to prevent the Dutch from joining the league, and in this they were assisted by the stadholder, but at last the States-General, though only by the bare majority of four provinces against three, determined to throw in their lot with the opponents of England. War with England. Nothing could have been more unfortunate, for the country was not ready for war, and party spirit was too strong for united action to be taken or vigorous preparations to be made. When war broke out Dutch commerce was destroyed, and the Dutch colonies were at the mercy of the English fleet without the possibility of a blow being struck in their defence. An indecisive, but bravely fought action with Admiral Parker at the Dogger Bank showed, however, that the Dutch seamen had lost none of their old dogged courage, and did much to soothe the national sense of humiliation. In the negotiations Peace of Paris. of the Treaty of Paris (1783) the Dutch found themselves abandoned by their allies, and compelled to accept the disadvantageous but not ungenerous terms accorded to them by Great Britain. They had to sacrifice some of their East Indian possessions and to concede to the English freedom of trade in the Eastern seas.

One result of this humiliating and disastrous war was the strengthening of the hands of the anti-Orange burgher-regents, who had now arrogated to themselves the name of “patriots.” It was they, and not the stadholder, who The “Patriot” Party. Intervention of the King of Prussia. Difficulty with the Emperor. had been mainly responsible for the Provinces joining “the Armed Neutrality,” but the consequences of the war, in which this act had involved them, was largely visited upon the prince of Orange. The “patriot” party did their utmost to curtail his prerogatives, and harass him with petty insults, and at last the Prussian king was obliged to interfere to save his niece, who was even more unpopular than her weak husband, from being driven from the country. In 1784 the emperor Joseph II. took advantage of the dissensions in the Provinces to raise the question of the opening of the Scheldt. He himself was, however, no more prepared for attack than the Republic for defence, but the Dutch had already sunk so low, that they agreed to pay a heavy indemnity to induce the Austrians to drop a demand they were unable to enforce. To hold the mouth of the Scheldt and prevent at all costs a revival of Antwerp as a commercial port had been for two centuries a cardinal point of Dutch policy. This difficulty removed, the agitation of the “patriots” against the stadholderate form of government increased in violence, and William speedily found his position untenable. An insult offered Prussian Invasion. Restoration to power of William V. to the prince of Orange in 1787 led to an invasion of the country by a Prussian army. Amsterdam capitulated, the country was occupied, and the patriot leaders declared incapable of holding any office. The Orange party was completely triumphant, and William V., under the protection of Prussia and England, with which states the United Provinces were compelled to ally themselves, was restored to power. It was, however, impossible to make the complicated and creaking machinery of the constitution of the worn-out republic of the United Netherlands work smoothly, and in all probability it would have been within a very short time replaced by an hereditary monarchy, had not the cataclysm of the French Revolution swept it away from its path, never to be revived.

When war broke out between the French revolutionary government and the coalition of kings, the Provinces remained neutral as long as they could. It was not till Dumouriez had overrun all the Austrian Netherlands The French invade the Netherlands. in 1792, and had thrown open the passage of the Scheldt, that they were drawn into the war. The patriot party sided with the French, but for various reasons the conquest of the country was delayed until 1795. In the closing months of 1794 Pichegru, at the head of a large and victorious army, invaded the Provinces. The very severe frost of that winter gave his troops an easy passage over all the rivers and low-lying lands; town after town fell before him; he occupied Overthrow of the Stadholderate. Flight of William V. The Batavian Republic. Changes of Government. Amsterdam, and crossing the ice with his cavalry took the Dutch fleet, as it lay frost-bound at the Texel. The stadholder and his family fled to England, and the disorganized remnants of the allied forces under the duke of York retreated into Germany. The “patriots,” as the anti-Orange republicans still styled themselves, received the French with open arms and public rejoicings, and the government was reorganized so as to bring it into close harmony with that of Paris. The stadholderate, the offices of captain and admiral-general, and all the ancient organization of the United Netherlands were abolished, and were transformed into the Batavian Republic, in close alliance with France. But the Dutch had soon cause to regret their revolutionary ardour. French alliance meant French domination, and participation in the wars of the Revolution. Its consequences were the total ruin of Dutch commerce, and the seizure of all the Dutch colonies by the English. Internally one change of government succeeded another; after the States-General came a national convention; then in 1798 a constituent assembly with an executive directory; then chambers of representatives; then a return to the earlier systems under the names of the eight provincial and one central Commissions (1801). These changes were the outcome of a gradual reaction in a conservative direction.

The peace of Amiens gave the country a little rest, and the Dutch got back the Cape of Good Hope and their West Indian colonies; it was, however, but the brief and deceptive interlude between two storms; when war began Constitution of 1805. again England once more took possession of all she had restored. In 1805 the autocratic will of Napoleon Bonaparte imposed upon them a new constitution, and Rutger Jan Schimmelpenninck (1765-1825) was made, under the ancient title of grand pensionary, head of the government. In the next year the French emperor added Holland, as the United Provinces were now named, to the ring of dependent sovereignties, by means of which he sought to build up a universal empire, and he forced his brother Louis to be the unwilling king of an unwilling people. The new Louis Bonaparte King of Holland. king was a man of excellent intentions and did his best to promote the interest of his subjects, but finding himself unable to protect them from the despotic overlordship of his brother, after a four years’ reign, Louis abdicated. In 1810 the Northern Netherlands by decree of Napoleon were incorporated in the French empire, and had to bear the burdens of conscription and of a crushing weight of taxation. The defeat of Leipzig in 1813 was the signal for a general revolt in the Netherlands; the prince of Orange (son The Sovereign Prince. Creation of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The Hundred Days. of William V.) was recalled, and amidst general rejoicing accepted at Amsterdam the offer of the sovereignty under a free constitution (Dec. 1, 1813), with the title of sovereign prince. On the downfall of Napoleon the great powers determined to create in the Low Countries a powerful state, and by the treaty of London (June 14, 1814) the Belgians were united with the Dutch provinces to form the kingdom of the Netherlands, which was also to include the bishopric of Liège and the duchy of Bouillon, and the prince of Orange was placed upon the throne on the 15th of March 1815 as William I., king of the Netherlands (see William I., king of the Netherlands). The ancestral possessions of the House of Nassau were exchanged for Luxemburg, of which territory King William in his personal capacity became grand duke. The carrying out of the treaty was delayed by the Hundred Days’ campaign, which for a short time threatened its very existence. The daring invasion of Napoleon, however, afforded the Dutch and Belgian contingents of the allied army the opportunity to fight side by side under the command of William, prince of Orange, eldest son of the new king, who highly distinguished himself by his gallantry at Quatre Bras, and afterwards at Waterloo where William I. crowned at Brussels. Constitution of the Netherlands. he was wounded (see William II., king of the Netherlands). The Congress of Vienna confirmed the arrangements made by the treaty of London, and William I. was crowned king of the Netherlands at Brussels on the 27th of September 1815. Under the constitution the king, as hereditary sovereign, possessed full executive powers, and the initiative in proposing laws. He had the power of appointing his own council of state. The legislative body bore the time-honoured title of States-General, and was divided into an Upper Chamber nominated by the king, and a Lower Chamber elected by the people. Freedom of worship, freedom of the press, and political equality were principles of the constitution, guaranteed to all.

The union of the Dutch and Belgian provinces, like so many of the territorial arrangements of the Congress of Vienna, was an attempt to create a strong state out of diverse and jarring elements. It was an artificial union, Difference between the Dutch and Belgic provinces. which nothing but consummate tact and statesmanship could have rendered permanent and solid. North and south were divided from one another by religious belief, by laws and usages, by material interests, and by two centuries and a half of widely severed national life. The Belgians were strict Catholics, the Dutch Calvinistic Protestants. The Dutch were chiefly a commercial and seafaring people, with interests in distant lands and colonial possessions; the Belgians were agriculturists, except where their abundance of minerals made them manufacturers. The national traits of the Dutch were a blend of German and English, the national leaning of the Belgians was towards France and French ideals. Nevertheless the materials were there out of which a really broad-minded and conciliatory handling of religion and racial difficulties might have gradually built up a Netherland nation able to hold from its population and resources a considerable place among European powers. For it must not be forgotten that some two-thirds of the Belgian people are by origin and language of the same race as the Dutch. But when difficulties and differences arose between North and South, as they were sure to arise, they were not dealt with wisely. The king had good intentions, but his mind was warped by Dutch prejudices, and he was ill-advised and acted unadvisedly. The The Belgian Revolution. Reign of William II. Accession of William III. The Constitution of 1848. consequences were the Belgian Revolution of 1830, which ended in the intervention of the great powers, and the setting up, in 1831, of Belgium as an independent kingdom. The final settlement of outstanding questions between the two countries was not reached till 1839 (for an account of the Belgian Revolution, see Belgium). King William I. in the following year, having become unpopular through his resistance to reform, resigned his crown to his son William II., who reigned in peace till his death in 1849, when he was succeeded by his eldest son William III. (see William III., king of the Netherlands). His accession marked the beginning of constitutional government in the Netherlands. William I. had been to a large extent a personal ruler, but William II., though for a time following in his father’s steps, had been moved by the revolutionary outbreaks of 1848 to concede a revision of the constitution. The fundamental law of 1848 enacted that the first chamber of the States-General should be elected by the Provincial Estates instead of being appointed by the king, and that the second chamber should be elected directly by all persons paying a certain amount in taxation. Ministers were declared responsible to the States-General, and a liberal measure of self-government was also granted. During the long reign of William III. (1849-1890) the chief struggles of parties in the Netherlands centred round religious education. On the one side are the liberals, divided into moderates and progressives, the representatives to a large extent of the commercial towns. Opposed to them is the coalition of Political parties in the Netherlands. the orthodox Protestant conservatives, styled anti-revolutionaries, supported by the Calvinistic peasantry, and the Catholics, who represent about one-third of the population and have their headquarters in Dutch Brabant, Dutch Flanders and Limburg. There is also in the Netherlands a small, but very strenuous socialist party, which was founded by the active propaganda of an ex-pastor Domela-Nieuwenhuis. It draws its chief strength from Amsterdam and certain country districts of Friesland.

The liberals were in power from 1871 to 1888 continuously, but a Catholic-anti-revolutionary ministry under Baron Mackay held office from 1888 to 1891, and again a coalition ministry was formed in 1901 with Dr Kuyper at its Religious education. head. From 1894 to 1897 a ministry of moderate liberals supported by a large part of the Catholic and anti-revolutionary parties were in power. The constitution of 1848 made it the duty of the state to provide free primary secular education, but it allowed to members of all creeds the liberty of establishing private schools, and this was carried into effect by a law passed in 1857 by the joint efforts of the liberals and Catholics against the opposition of the orthodox Calvinists. But the long liberal ascendancy closed the ranks of the Catholic-Calvinist coalition, and united them against the neutral schools, and in 1889 they were able to pass a law enabling not only the unsectarian public schools, but all private schools organized by societies and bodies recognized by the law to receive subventions from the state. In 1890 there were 3000 public schools with 450,000 scholars and 1300 private schools with 195,000 scholars.

The subject of the extension of the franchise has also been the cause of violent party strife and controversy. It was taken in hand as early as 1872, but as a revision of the constitution was necessary, no change was actually carried out till 1887. The law of that year lowered the qualification of the payer of a direct tax to 10 fl. Votes were given to all householders paying a certain minimum house duty, and to all lodgers who had for a given time paid a minimum of rent, also to all who possessed certain educational and social qualifications, whose definition was left to be specified by a later law. The passing of such a law was deferred by the coalition (Catholic-Orthodox) ministry of 1888-1891. The liberal ministry of 1891 attempted to deal with the question, and a proposal was made by the minister Tak van Poortvliet, which almost amounted to universal Extension of the suffrage. suffrage. The educational qualification was to be able to write, the social that of not receiving charitable relief. This proposal caused a cleavage right through all parties. It was supported by the radical left, by a large portion of the Orthodox-Calvinists under Dr Kuyper, and by some Catholics; it had against it the moderate liberals, the aristocratic section of the Orthodox-Calvinists, the bulk of the Catholics, and a few radicals under an influential leader van Houten. After a fierce electoral fight the Takkians were victors at the first polls, but were beaten at the second ballots. Of the 46 Takkians, 35 were liberals; of the 54 anti-Takkians, 24 were Catholics. A moderate liberal ministry was formed (1894) and in 1896 carried into law what was known as the van Houten project. It gave the right of voting to all Dutchmen over twenty-five years of age, who paid 1 fl. in direct taxation; were householders or lodgers as defined in 1887, or tenants of a vessel of, at least, 24 tons; were the recipients of certain salaries or had certain deposits in the public funds or savings banks. By this reform the number of electors, which had been raised in 1887 from 140,000 to 300,000, was augmented to Military service. 700,000. The question of universal military service has also divided parties. The principle of personal service has been strongly opposed by the Catholics and conservatives, but became the law of the land in 1898, though exemptions were conceded in favour of ecclesiastics and certain classes of students.

The long-continued and costly wars with the sultan of Achin have during a series of years been a source of trouble to Dutch ministries. In 1871-1872 Great Britain, in exchange for certain possessions of Holland on the coast of The Achin war. Guinea, agreed to recognize the right of the Dutch to occupy the north of Sumatra. The sultan of Achin opposed by force of arms the efforts of the Dutch to make their occupation effective, and has succeeded in maintaining a vigorous resistance, the Dutch colonial troops suffering severely from the effects of the insalubrious climate. Until 1871 the surplus derived from the colonial budget had been turned into a deficit, and the necessity of imposing fresh taxes to meet the war expenses has led to the downfall both of individual ministries and of cabinets.

William III. dying in 1890 was succeeded by his only surviving child, Wilhelmina. The new queen being a minor, her mother, the queen-dowager Emma, became regent. One effect of the accession of Queen Wilhelmina was the Queen Wilhelmina. severance of the bond between the Netherlands and Luxemburg. The grand duchy, being hereditary only in the male line, passed to the nearest agnate, the duke of Nassau. In 1898 the queen, having reached the age of eighteen, assumed the government. She married in 1901 Prince Henry of Mecklenburg. The outbreak of the Boer War in 1899 led to a strong outburst of sympathy among the Dutch on behalf of their kinsmen in South Africa, and there were times during the war, especially after President Kruger had fled from the Transvaal in a Dutch war vessel and had settled in Holland, when it was a task of some difficulty for the Dutch government to prevent the relations between Great Britain and the Netherlands from becoming strained. The ministry, however, under Dr Kuyper were able to keep the popular feeling in favour of the Boers in restraint, and to maintain towards Great Britain a correct attitude of strict neutrality. In 1903 the government took strong measures to prevent a threatened general strike of railway employees, the military were called out, and occupied the stations. A bill was passed by the States-General declaring railway strikes illegal. The elections of 1905 for the Second Chamber gave the liberals a narrow majority of four. Dr Kuyper accordingly resigned, and a moderate liberal cabinet was formed by Th. H. de Meester. The fact that up to 1908 the queen had not become a mother gradually caused some public concern as to the succession; but in 1909 Queen Wilhelmina, amid national rejoicings, gave birth to a princess.

Bibliography.—See (for the general history) J. Wagenaar, Vaderlandsche historie, to 1751 (21 vols., 1749-1759); continuation by Az. P. Loosjes, from 1751-1810 (48 vols., 1786-1811); W. Bilderdijk, Geschiedenis der Vaderlands (13 vols., 1832-1853); Groen G. van Prinsterer, Handboek der Geschiedenis van het Vaderland (6th ed., 1895); (for particular periods): L. ab Aitzema, Saken van spaet en oorlogh in ende om trent de Vereenigde Nederlanden (1621-1668) (15 vols., 1657-1671); continuation by Lambert van den Bos (Lambertus Sylvius) (4 vols., 1685-1699). The work of Aitzema contains a large number of important diplomatic and other documents; A. de Wicquefort, Histoire des provinces des Pays-Bas depuis la paix de Munster (1648-1658) (2 vols., 1719-1743); in these volumes will be also found a rich collection of original documents; R. Fruin, Tien jaren uit den tactig jarigen oorlog (1588-1598), (6th ed., 1905), a standard work; J. L. Motley, History of the United Netherlands (1584-1609), (4 vols., 1860-1868); P. J. Blok, History of the People of the Netherlands, vol. iii. (1568-1621) (trans. by Ruth Putnam, 1900); Cambridge Modern History, vol. iii. ch. xix. and vol. iv. ch. xxv. (see the bibliographies); Ant. L. Pontales, Vingt années de république parlementaire au 17me siècle. Jean de Witt, grand pensionnaire de Hollande (1884); E. C. de Gerlache, Histoire du royaume des Pays-Bas 1814-1830 (3 vols., 1859); Bosch J. de Kemper, Geschiedenis van Nederland na 1830 (5 vols., 1873-1882); also the following important works: Groen G. van Prinsterer, Archives ou correspondance inédite de la maison d’Orange-Nassau, 2e série (1584-1688) (5 vols., 1857-1860); J. de Witt, Brieven (1652-1669) (6 vols., 1723-1725); A. Kluit, Historie der Hollandsche Staatsregering tot 1795 (5 vols., 1802-1805); G. W. Vreede, Inleiding tot eene geschiedenis der Nederlandsche diplomatic (6 vols., 1850-1865); J. C. de Jonge, Geschiedenis van het Nederlandsche Zeewesen, (6 vols., 1833-1848); E. Luzac, Holland’s Rijkdom (4 vols., 1781); R. Fruin, Geschiedenis der Staatsinstellingen in Nederland tot den val der Republick, edn. Colenbrander (1901); N. G. van Kampen, Geschiedenis der Nederlanders buiten Europa (4 vols., 1833); W. J. A. Jonckbloet, Geschiedenis der Nederlandsche Letterkunde (2 vols. 1881); C. Busken Hüet, Het Land van Rembrandt-studien over de Nordnederlandsche beschaving in de 17e eeuw (2 vols., 1886); L. D. Petit, Repertorium der verhandelingen en bijdragen betreffende de geschiedenis des Vaterlands in tijdschriften en mengel werken tot op 1900 verschenen, 2 parts (1905); other parts of this valuable repertorium are in course of publication.

(G. E.)

1 At Maastricht, however, a portion lies on the left bank of the river, measured, according to the treaty with Belgium, 19th of April 1839, art. 4, by an average radius of 1200 Dutch fathoms (7874 ft.) from the outer glacis of the fortress.

2 The datum plane, or basis of the measurement of heights, is throughout Holland, and also in some of the border districts of Germany, the Amsterdamsch Peil (A.P.), or Amsterdam water-level, and represents the average high water-level of the Y at Amsterdam at the time when it was still open to the Zuider Zee. Local and provincial “peils” are, however, also in use on some waterways.

3 See J. Lorié, Contributions à la géologie des Pays-bas (1885-1895), Archives du Mus. Teyler (Haarlem), ser. 2, vol. ii. pp. 109-240, vol. iii. pp. 1-160, 375-461, vol. iv. pp. 165-309 and Bull. soc. belge géol. vol. iii. (1889); Mém. pp. 409-449; F. W. Harmer, “On the Pliocene Deposits of Holland,” &c., Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc., London, vol. lii. (1896) pp. 748-781, pls. xxxiv., xxxv.

4 The dates indicate the period of construction of the different sections.

5 For the history of the Netherlands previous to the confederacy of the northern provinces in 1579 see Netherlands.

HOLLAND, COUNTY AND PROVINCE OF.—The first mention of Holland in any document is found in an imperial gift brief dated May 2nd, 1064. In this the phrase “omnis comitatus in Hollandt” occurs, but without any further description of the locality indicated. A comparison with other documentary evidence, however, leads to the identification of Holland with the forestum Merweda, or the bush-grown fenland lying between the Waal, the old Meuse and the Merwe. It is the district surrounding the town of Dordrecht. A portion of the original Holland was submerged by a great inundation in 1421, and its modern appellation of Biesbosch (reed-forest) is descriptive of what must have been the condition of the entire district in early times. The word Holland is indeed by many authorities thought to be a corruption of Holt-land (it was sometimes so spelt by 13th-century writers) and to signify wood-land. The earliest spelling is, however, Holland, and it is more probable that it means lowlying-land (hol = hollow), a derivation which is equally applicable to the district in Lincolnshire which bears the same name.

The title count of Holland appears to have been first borne by the Frisian count Dirk III., who founded Dordrecht (about 1015) and made it his residence (see below). It was The first Count of Holland. not, however, till late in the 11th century that his successors adopted the style “Hollandensis comes” as their territorial designation (it is found for the first time on a seal of Dirk V. 1083), and that the name Holland became gradually extended northwards to connote all the land subject to the rule of the counts between Texel and the Maas.

The beginnings of the history of this feudal state (the later Holland) centre round the abbey of Egmont in whose archives its records have been preserved. In 922 Charles the Simple gave in full possession to a count in Frisia, Dirk I. Dirk by name (a shortened form of Diederic, Latin Theodoricus), “the church of Egmont with all that belonged to it from Swithardeshage to Kinhem.” This man, usually known as Dirk I., died about 939 and was succeeded by his son of the same name. Among the records of the abbey of Egmont is a document by which the emperor Arnulf gave to a certain count Gerolf the same land “between Swithardeshage and Kinhem,” afterwards held by Dirk I. It is generally assumed that this Gerolf was his father, otherwise their deed of gift would not have been Dirk II. Extent of his dominions. Arnulf. Dirk III. preserved among the family papers. Dirk II. was the founder of the abbey of Egmont. His younger son Egbert became archbishop of Treves. His elder son Arnulf married Liutgardis, daughter of Siegfried of Luxemburg and sister-in-law of the emperor Henry II. He obtained from the emperor Otto III., with whom he was in great favour in 983, a considerable extension of territory, that now covered by the Zuider Zee and southward down to Nijmwegen. In the deed of gift he is spoken of as holding the three countships of Maasland, Kinhem or Kennemerland and Texla or Texel; in other words his rule extended over the whole country from the right bank of the Maas or Meuse to the Vlie. He appears also to have exercised authority at Ghent. He died in 988. Arnulf was count till 993, when he was slain in battle against the west Frisians, and was succeeded by his twelve-year-old son Dirk III. During the guardianship of his mother, Liutgardis, the boy was despoiled of almost all his possessions, except Kennemerland and Maasland. But no sooner was he arrived at man’s estate than Dirk turned upon his enemies with courage and vigour. He waged war, successfully with Adelbold, the powerful bishop of Utrecht, and made himself master not only of his ancestral possessions, but of the district on the Meuse known as the Bushland of Merweda (forestum Merweda), hitherto subject to the see of Utrecht. In the midst of this marshy tract, at a point commanding the courses of the Meuse and the Waal, Foundation of Dordrecht. Defeat of Godfrey of Lorraine. Beginning of the County of Holland. he built a castle (about 1015) and began to levy tolls. Around this castle sprang up the town of Thuredrecht or Dordrecht. The possession of this stronghold was so injurious to the commerce of Tiel, Cologne and the Rhenish towns with England that complaints were made by the bishop of Utrecht and the archbishop of Cologne to the emperor. Henry II. took the part of the complainants and commissioned Duke Godfrey of Lorraine to chastise the young Frisian count. Duke Godfrey invaded Dirk’s lands with a large army, but they were impeded by the swampy nature of the country and totally defeated with heavy loss (July 29, 1018). The duke was himself taken prisoner. The result was that Dirk was not merely confirmed in his possession of Dordrecht and the Merweda Bushland (the later Holland) but also of the territory of a vassal of the Utrecht see, Dirk Bavo by name, which he conquered. This victory of 1018 is often regarded as the true starting-point of the history of the county of Holland. Having thus established his rule in the south, Dirk next proceeded to bring into subjection the Frisians in the north. He appointed his brother Siegfrid or Sikka as governor over them. In his later years Dirk went upon a pilgrimage to the Holy Land from which he returned in 1034; and ruled in peace until his death in 1039.

His son, Dirk IV., was one of the most enterprising of his warlike and strenuous race. He began the long strife with the counts of Flanders, as to the lordship over Walcheren and other islands of Zeeland; the quarrel was important, Dirk IV. Quarrel with Flanders about Zeeland. as dealing with the borderland between French and German overlordship. This strife, which lasted 400 years, did not at first break out into actual warfare, because both Dirk and Baldwin V. of Flanders had a common danger in the emperor Henry III., who in 1046 occupied the lands in dispute. Dirk allied himself with Godfrey the Bearded of Lorraine, who was at war with the emperor, and his territory was invaded by a powerful imperial fleet and army (1047). But Dirk entrenched himself in his stronghold at Vlaardingen, and when winter came on he surrounded and cut off with his light boats a number of the enemy’s ships, and destroyed a large part of their army as they made their way amidst the marches, which impeded their retreat. He was able to recover what he had lost and to make peace on his own terms. Two years later he was again assailed by a coalition headed by the archbishop of Cologne and the bishop of Utrecht. They availed themselves of a very hard winter to penetrate into the land over the frozen water. Dirk offered a stout resistance, but, according to the most trustworthy account, was enticed into an ambuscade and was killed in the fight (1049). He died unmarried and was succeeded by his brother Floris I.

Floris, like his predecessors, was hard-fighting and tenacious. He gradually recovered possession of his ancestral lands. He found a formidable adversary in the able and warlike William, who, becoming bishop of Utrecht in 1054, Floris I. was determined to recover the lost possessions of his see; and in 1058, in alliance with Hanno, archbishop of Cologne, Egbert, margrave of Brandenburg, the bishop of Liége and others, invaded the Frisian territory. At first success attended the invaders and many places fell into their hands, but finally they were surprised and defeated near Dordrecht. The counts of Guelders and Louvain were among the prisoners that fell into the hands of Floris. The attack was renewed in 1061. In a battle at Nederhemert Floris met with his death in the hour of victory. He is said to have been killed as, wearied with pursuing, he lay asleep under a tree. He was succeeded by his Dirk V. son, Dirk V., a child, under the guardianship of his mother, Gertrude of Saxony. Bishop William seems now to have seized his opportunity and occupied all the territory that he claimed. In this he was confirmed by two charters of the emperor Henry IV. (April 30 and May 2, 1064). Among the possessions thus assigned to him is found comitatus omnis in Hollandt cum omnibus ad bannum regalem pertinentibus. An examination of these documents shows the possessions of Dirk as in Westflinge et circa oras Rheni, i.e. west of the Vlie and around the mouths of the Rhine. Gertrude and her son appear to have withdrawn to the islands of Frisia (Zeeland), leaving William in undisturbed occupation of the disputed lands. In 1063 Gertrude contracted a marriage with Robert, the second son of Baldwin V. of Flanders, a man famous for his adventurous career (see Flanders). On his marriage his father Robert the Frisian guardian to his stepson invested him with Imperial Flanders, as an apanage including the islands of Frisia (Zeeland) west of the Scheldt. He now became guardian to his stepson, in whose inheritance lay the islands east of the Scheldt. Robert thus, in his own right and that of Dirk, was ruler of all Frisia (Zeeland), and thus became known among his Flemish countrymen as Robert the Frisian. The death of his brother Baldwin VI. in 1070 led to civil war in Flanders, the claim of Robert to the guardianship of his nephew Arnulf being disputed by Richilde, the widow of Baldwin. The issue was decided by the decisive victory of Robert at Cassel (February 1071) when Arnulf was killed and Richilde taken prisoner (see Flanders). While Robert was thus engaged in Flanders, an effort was made to recover “the County of Holland” and other lands now held by William of Utrecht. The people rose in revolt, but by command of the emperor Henry IV. were speedily brought back under episcopal rule by Godfrey the Hunchback of Lorraine conquers Holland. The Bishop of Utrecht surrenders it to Dirk V. Floris II. Dirk VI. an army under the command of Godfrey the Hunchback, duke of Lower Lorraine. Again in 1076, at the request of the bishop, Duke Godfrey visited his domains in the Frisian borderland. At Delft, of which town tradition makes Godfrey the founder, the duke was treacherously murdered (February 26, 1076). William of Utrecht died on the 17th of the following April. Dirk V., now grown to man’s estate, was not slow to take advantage of the favourable juncture. With the help of Robert (his stepfather) he raised an army, besieged Conrad, the successor of William, in the castle of Ysselmonde and took him prisoner. The bishop purchased his liberty by surrendering all claim to the disputed lands. Henceforth the Frisian counts became definitively known as counts of Holland. Dirk V. died in 1091 and was succeeded by his son Floris II. the Fat. This count had a peaceful and prosperous reign of thirty-one years. After his death (1122) his widow, Petronilla of Saxony, governed in the name of Dirk VI., who was a minor. The accession of her half-brother, Lothaire of Saxony, to the imperial throne on the death of Henry V. greatly strengthened her position. The East Frisian districts, Oostergoo and Westergoo, were by Lothaire transferred from the rule of the bishops of Utrecht to that of the counts of Holland (1125). These Frisians proved very troublesome subjects to Dirk VI. In 1132 they rose in insurrection under the leadership of Dirk’s own brother, Floris the Black. The emperor Conrad III. (1138), who was of the rival house of Hohenstaufen, gave back these Frisian districts to the bishop; it was in truth somewhat of an empty gift. The Frisian peasants and fisher folk loved their independence, and were equally refractory to the rule of any distant overlord, whether count or bishop. Dirk VI. was succeeded in 1157 by Floris III.

Floris III. reversed the traditional policy of his house by allying himself with the Hohenstaufens. He became a devoted adherent and friend of Frederick Barbarossa. He had Floris III. troubles with West Friesland and Groningen, and a war with the count of Flanders concerning their respective rights in West Zeeland, in which he was beaten. In 1170 a great flood caused immense devastation in the north and helped to form the Zuider Zee. In 1189 Floris accompanied Frederick Barbarossa upon the third Crusade, of which he was a distinguished leader. He died in 1190 at Antioch of Dirk VII. pestilence. His son, Dirk VII., had a stormy, but on the whole successful reign. Contests with the Flemings in West Zeeland and with the West Frisians, stirred up to revolt by his brother William, ended in his favour. The brothers were reconciled and William was made count of East Friesland. In 1202, however, Dirk was defeated and taken prisoner by the duke of Brabant, and had to purchase peace on humiliating terms. He only survived his defeat a short time and died early in 1204, leaving as his only issue a daughter, Ada, 17 years of age. The question of female succession thus raised was not likely to be accepted without a challenge by William. It had been the intention of Dirk VII. to secure the recognition of his daughter’s rights by appointing his brother her guardian. His widow Alida, however, an ambitious woman of strong character, as soon as her husband was dead, hurried on a marriage between Ada and Count Louis of Loon; and attempted with the nobles of Holland, who now for the first time make their appearance as a power in the country, to oppose the claim which William had made to the countship as heir in the male line. A struggle William I. ensued. William was supported by the Zeelanders and Ada was forced to fly to England. William, by a treaty concluded with Louis of Loon in 1206, became undisputed count. He took an active part in the events of his time. He fought by the side of the emperor Otto IV. in the great battle of Bouvines in 1214 (see Philip Augustus), and was taken prisoner. Two years later he accompanied Louis, the eldest son of Philip Augustus, in his expedition against King John of England. William is perhaps best known in history by his taking part in the fourth Crusade. He distinguished himself greatly at the capture of Damietta (1219). He did not long survive his return home, dying in 1222. The earliest charters conveying civic privileges in the county of Holland date from his reign—those of Geertruidenberg (1213) and of Dordrecht Floris IV. (1220). His son Floris IV., being a minor, succeeded him under the guardianship of his maternal uncle, Gerard III. of Gelderland. He maintained in later life close relations of friendship with Gerard, and supported him in his quarrel with the bishop of Utrecht (1224-1226). Floris was murdered in 1235 at a tournament at Corbie in Picardy by the count of Clermont. Another long minority followed his death, during which his brother Otto, bishop of Utrecht, acted as guardian to his nephew William II.

William II. became a man of mark. Pope Innocent IV., having deposed the emperor Frederick II., after several princes had refused to allow themselves to be nominated in the place of the Hohenstaufen, caused the young William II. Elected King of the Romans. Floris V. count of Holland to be elected king of the Romans (1247) by an assembly composed chiefly of German ecclesiastics. William took Aachen in 1248 and was there crowned king; and after Frederick’s death in 1250, he had a considerable party in Germany. He brought a war with Margaret of Flanders (Black Margaret) to a successful conclusion (1253). He was on the point of proceeding to Rome to be crowned emperor, when in an expedition against the West Frisians he perished, going down, horse and armour, through the ice (1256). Like so many of his predecessors he left his inheritance to a child. Floris V. was but two years old on his father’s death; and he was destined during a reign of forty years to leave a deeper impress upon the history of Holland than any other of its counts. Floris was a man of chivalrous character and high capacity, and throughout his reign he proved himself an able and beneficent ruler. Alike in his troubles with his turbulent subjects and in the perennial disputes with his neighbours he pursued a strong, far-sighted and successful policy. But his active interest in affairs was not limited to the Netherlands. Alliance with Edward I. of England. He allied himself closely with Edward I. of England in his strife with France, and secured from the English king great trading advantages for his people; the staple of wool was placed at Dort (Dordrecht) and the Hollanders and Zeelanders got fishing rights on the English coast. So intimate did their relations become that Floris sent his son John to be educated at the court of Edward with a view to his marriage with an English princess. To balance the power of the nobles he granted charters to many of the towns. Floris made himself master of Amstelland and First Charter to Amsterdam. Gooiland; and Amsterdam, destined to become the chief commercial town of Holland, counts him the founder of its greatness. Its earliest extant charter dates from 1275. In 1296 Floris forsook the alliance of Edward I. for that of Philip IV. of France, probably because Edward had given support to Guy, count of Flanders, in his dynastic dispute with John of Avesnes, count of Hainaut, Floris’s nephew (see Flanders). The real motives of his policy will, however, never be known, for shortly afterwards a conspiracy of disaffected nobles, headed by Gijsbrecht van Amstel, Murder of Floris V. Gerard van Velzen and Wolfert van Borselen, was formed against him. He was by them basely murdered in the castle of Muiden (June 27, 1296). The tragic event has been immortalized in dramas from the pens of Holland’s most famous writers (see Vondel, Hooft). The burghers and people, who knew him to be their best friend, took such vengeance on his slayers as permanently to reduce the power of the nobles.

John I., his son, was in England when his father was murdered; he was but 15 years of age, feeble in body and mind. He was married to Eleanor, daughter of Edward I. His reign was a struggle between John of Avesnes, the John I. young count’s guardian and next heir, and Wolfert van Borselen, who had a strong following in Zeeland. In 1299 van Borselen was killed, and a few months later John I. died. John of Avesnes was at once recognized as his successor by the Hollanders. Thus with John I. ended the first line of counts, after a rule of nearly 400 years. Europe has perhaps never seen Extinction of the first line of Counts. Their high character. an abler series of princes than these fourteen lineal descendants of Dirk I. Excepting the last there is not a weak man among them. Physically handsome and strong, model knights of the days of chivalry, hard fighters, wise statesmen, they were born leaders of men; always ready to advance the commerce of the country, they were the supporters of the growing towns, and likewise the pioneers in the task of converting a land of marshes and swamps into a fertile agricultural territory rich in flocks and herds. As individuals they had their failings, but one and all were worthy members of a high-souled race.

John of Avesnes, who took the title of John II., was the son of John of Avesnes, count of Hainaut, and Alida, sister of William II. of Holland. On his succession to the countship the Hollanders were willing to receive him, John II. of the House of Avesnes. but the Zeelanders were hostile; and a long struggle ensued before his authority was generally recognized. In 1301 Bishop William of Utrecht invaded Amstelland, but was killed in battle. John made use of his victory to secure the election of his brother Guy as bishop in his place. A war with the Flemings followed, in which the Flemings were at first victorious, but after a struggle of many vicissitudes they were at length driven out of Holland and Zeeland In 1304. John II. died in that year and was succeeded by his son William III., surnamed the Good (1304-1337). In his reign the long-standing quarrel William III. with Flanders, which had during a century and a half caused so many wars, was finally settled by the treaty of 1323, by which the full possession of West Zeeland was granted to William, who on his part renounced all claim in Imperial Flanders. The Amstelland with its capital, Amsterdam, which had hitherto been held as a fief of Utrecht, was by William, on the death of his uncle Bishop Guy, finally annexed to Holland. This count did much to encourage civic life and to develop the resources of the country. He had close relations through marriage with the three principal European dynasties of his time. His wife was Jeanne of Valois, niece of the French king; in 1323 the emperor Louis the Bavarian wedded his daughter Margaret; and in 1328 his third daughter, Philippa of Hainaut, was married to Edward III. of England. By their alliance William III. occupied a position of much dignity and influence, which he used to further the interests and increase the welfare of his hereditary lands. He was in all respects a great prince and a wise and prudent statesman. He was succeeded by his William IV. son, William IV., who was the ally of his brother-in-law, Edward III., in his French wars. He was fond of adventure, and in 1343 made a journey to the Holy Land in disguise, and on his way took part in an expedition of the knights of the Teutonic Order against the infidel Wends and Lithuanians. He was killed in battle against the Frisians in 1345. He left no children, and the question as to the succession now brought on Holland a period of violent civil commotions. The Empress Margaret. His inheritance was claimed by his eldest sister, the empress Margaret, as well as by Philippa of Hainaut, or in other words, by Edward III. of England. Margaret came in person and was duly recognized as countess in Holland, Zeeland and Hainaut; but returned to her husband after appointing her second son (the eldest, Louis, renounced his rights) Duke William of Bavaria, as stadholder in her place. William was but sixteen, and disorder and confusion soon reigned in the land. The sudden death of the emperor in 1347 added to the difficulties of his position. In 1349 Margaret was induced to resign her sovereignty, and William V. of the House of Bavaria. the stadholder became count under the title of William V. This was the time of the formation of the famous parties in Holland, known as Kabbeljauws (Cods) and Hoeks (Hooks); the former, the burgher party, were the supporters of William (possibly the name was derived from the light blue, scaly looking Bavarian coat of arms), the latter the party of the disaffected nobles, who wanted to catch and devour the fat burgher fish. In 1350 such was the disorder in the land that Margaret, at the request of the nobles, came to Holland to take into her own hands the reins of government. The struggle between the nobles and the cities broke out into civil war. Edward III. came to Margaret’s aid, winning a sea-fight off Veere in 1351; a few weeks later the Hooks and their English allies were defeated by William and the Cods at Vlaardingen—an overthrow which ruined Margaret’s cause. Edward III. shortly afterwards changed sides, and the empress saw herself compelled (1354) to come to an understanding with her son, he being recognized as count of Holland and Zeeland, she of Hainaut. Margaret died two years later, leaving William, who had married Matilda of Lancaster, in possession of the entire Holland-Hainaut inheritance (July 1356). His tenure of power was, however, very brief. Before the close of 1357 he showed such marked signs of insanity that his wife, with his Albert of Bavaria. own consent and the support of both parties, invited Duke Albert of Bavaria, younger brother of William V., to be regent, with the title of Ruward (1358). William lived in confinement for 31 years. Albert died in 1404, having ruled the land well and wisely for 46 years, first as Ruward, then as count. Despite outbreaks from time to time of the Hook and Cod troubles, he was able to make his authority respected, and to help forward in many ways the social progress of the country. The influence of the towns was steadily on the increase, and their government began to fall into the hands of the burgher patrician class, who formed the Cod party. Opposed to them were the nobility and the lower classes, forming the Hook party. In Albert’s latter years a fresh outbreak of civil war (1392-1395) was caused by the count’s espousing the side of the Cods, while the Hooks had the support of his eldest son, William. Albert was afterwards reconciled William VI. Jacqueline of Bavaria. to his son, who succeeded him as William VI. in 1404. On his accession to power William upheld the Hooks, and secured their ascendancy. His reign was much troubled with civil discords, but he was a brave soldier, and was generally successful in his enterprises. He died in 1417, leaving an only child, a daughter, Jacqueline (or Jacoba), who had in her early youth been married to John, heir to the throne of France. At a gathering held at the Hague (August 15, 1416) the nobles and representatives of the cities of Holland and Zeeland had promised at William’s request to support his daughter’s claims to the succession. But John of France died (April 1417), and William VI. about a month later, leaving the widowed Jacqueline at 17 years of age face to face with a difficult situation. She was at first welcomed in Holland and Zeeland, but found her claims opposed by her uncle, John of Bavaria, supported by the Cod party. Every one from whom she might have expected help betrayed her in turn, her second husband John IV. of Brabant, her third husband Humphrey of Gloucester, her cousin Philip the Good of Burgundy, all behaved shamefully to her. Her romantic and sad life has rendered the courageous and accomplished Jacqueline the most picturesque figure in the whole history of Holland. She struggled long against her powerful kinsfolk, nor did she know happiness till near the end of her life, when she abandoned the unequal strife, and found repose with Francis of Borselen, Ruward of Holland, her fourth husband. Him Philip the Good, duke of Burgundy, craftily seized; and thereby in 1433 the Duchess Jacqueline was compelled to cede her rights over the counties of Holland and Hainaut. Consequently at her death in 1436, as she left no Accession of the Burgundian Dynasty. Philip the Good. Flourishing state of Holland. children, Philip succeeded to the full and undisputed possession of her lands. He had already acquired by inheritance, purchase or force almost all the other Netherland states; and now, with the extinction of the Bavarian line of counts, Holland ceased to have an independent existence and became an outlying province of the growing Burgundian power (see Burgundy). During the years that followed the accession to the sovereignty of Duke Philip, Holland plays but an insignificant part. It was governed by a stadholder, and but small respect was shown for its chartered rights and privileges. The quarrels between the Hook and Cod factions still continued, but the outbreaks of civil strife were quickly repressed by the strong hand of Philip. Holland during this time contented herself with growing material prosperity. Her herring fishery, rendered more valuable by the curing process discovered or introduced by Benkelszoon, brought her increasing wealth, and her fishermen were already laying the foundations of her future maritime greatness. It was in the days of Duke Philip that Lorenz Koster of Haarlem contributed his share to the discovery of printing. During the reign of Charles the Bold (1467-1477) Charles the Bold. Mary of Burgundy. the Hollanders, like the other subjects of that warlike prince, suffered much from the burden of taxation An outbreak at Hoorn was by Charles sternly repressed. The Hollanders were much aggrieved by the establishment of a high court of justice for the entire Netherlands at Mechlin. (1474). This was regarded as a serious breach of their privileges. The succession of Mary of Burgundy led to the granting to Holland as to the other provinces of the Netherlands, of the Great Privilege of March 1477, which restored the most important of their ancient rights and liberties (see Netherlands). A high court of justice was established for Holland, Zeeland and Friesland, and the use of the native language was made official. The Hook and Cod troubles again disturbed the country. Hook uprisings took place at Leiden and Dordrecht and had to be repressed by armed force.

By the sudden death of the Duchess Mary in 1482 her possessions, including the county of Holland, passed to her infant son Philip, under the guardianship of his father the Archduke Maximilian of Austria. Thus the Burgundian Maximilian of Austria. Philip II. the Fair. dynasty was succeeded by that of the Habsburgs. During the regency of Maximilian the turbulence of the Hooks caused much strife and unrest in Holland. Their leaders. Francis of Brederode and John of Naaldwijk, seized Rotterdam and other places. Their overthrow finally ended the strife between Hooks and Cods. The “Bread and Cheese War,” an uprising of the peasants in North Holland caused by famine, is a proof of the misery caused by civil discords and oppressive taxation. In 1494, Maximilian having been elected emperor, Philip was declared of age. His assumption of the government was greeted with joy in Holland, and in his reign the province enjoyed rest and its fisheries benefited from the commercial treaty concluded The Emperor Charles V. (Charles III.). Philip III. William of Orange Stadholder. The revolt of the Netherlands. Union of Utrecht. Abjuration of Philip’s Sovereignty. with England. The story of Holland during the long reign of his son and successor Charles III. (1506-1555), better known as the emperor Charles V., belongs to the general history of the Netherlands (see Netherlands). On the abdication of Charles, his son Philip II. of Spain became Philip III., count of Holland, the ruler whose arbitrary rule in church and state brought about the revolt of the Netherlands. His appointment of William, prince of Orange, as stadholder of Holland and Zeeland was destined to have momentous results to the future of those provinces (see William the Silent). The capture of Brill and of Flushing in 1572 by the Sea-Beggars led to the submission of the greater part of Holland and Zeeland to the authority of the prince of Orange, who, as stadholder, summoned the states of Holland to meet at Dordrecht. This act was the beginning of Dutch independence. From this time forward William made Holland his home. It became the bulwark of the Protestant faith in the Netherlands, the focus of the resistance to Spanish tyranny. The sieges of Haarlem, Alkmaar and Leiden saved Holland from being overwhelmed by the armies of Alva and Requesens and stemmed the tide of Spanish victory. The act of federation between Holland and Zeeland brought about by the influence of William was the germ of the larger union of Utrecht between the seven northern provinces in 1579. But within the larger union the inner and closer union between Holland and Zeeland continued to subsist. In 1580, when the sovereignty of the Netherlands was offered to the duke of Anjou, the two maritime provinces refused to acquiesce, and forced William to accept the title of count of Holland and Zeeland. In the following year William in the name of the two provinces solemnly abjured the sovereignty of the Spanish king (July 24). After the assassination of William (1584) the title of count of Holland was never revived.

In the long struggle of the united provinces with Spain, which followed the death of Orange, the brunt of the conflict fell upon Holland. More than half the burden of the charges of the war fell upon this one province; and with Zeeland it furnished the fleets which formed the chief defence of the country. Hence the importance attached to the vote of Holland in the assembly of the States-General. That vote was given by deputies at the head of whom was the advocate (in later times called the grand pensionary) of Holland, and who were responsible to, and the spokesmen of, the provincial states. These states, which met at the Hague in the same building as the States-General, consisted of representatives of the burgher oligarchies (regents) of the principal towns, together with representatives of the nobles, who possessed one vote only. The advocate was the Government of Holland. Johan van Oldenbarneveldt. paid minister of the states. He presided over their meetings, kept their minutes and conducted all correspondence, and, as stated above, was their spokesman in the States-General. The advocate (or grand pensionary) of Holland therefore, if an able man, had opportunities for exercising a very considerable influence, becoming in fact a kind of minister of all affairs. It was this influence as exerted by the successive advocates of Holland, Paul Buys and Johan van Oldenbarneveldt, which rendered abortive the well-meant efforts of the earl of Leicester to centralize the government of the United Provinces. After his departure (1587) the advocate of Holland, Oldenbarneveldt, became the indispensable statesman of the struggling republic. The multiplicity of his functions gave to the advocate an almost unlimited authority in the details of administration, and for thirty years the conduct of affairs remained in his hands (see Oldenbarneveldt). This meant the undisputed hegemony of Holland in the federation, in other words of the burgher oligarchies who controlled the town corporations of the province, and especially of Amsterdam. This authority of Holland was, however, more than counterbalanced by the extensive powers with which the stadholder princes of Orange were invested; and the chief crises in the internal Contest between the Principles of National and Provincial Sovereignty. history of the Dutch republic are to be found in the struggles for supremacy between two, in reality, different principles of government. On the one side the principle of provincial sovereignty which gave to the voice of Holland a preponderating weight that was decisive; on the other side the principle of national sovereignty personified in the princes of Orange, to whom the States-General and the provincial states delegated executive powers that were little less than monarchical.

The conclusion of the twelve years’ truce in 1609 was a triumph for Oldenbarneveldt and the province of Holland over the opposition of Maurice, prince of Orange. In 1617 the outbreak of the religious dispute between the Remonstrant Maurice Prince of Orange and John of Oldenbarneveldt. Frederick Henry Prince of Orange. William II. Prince of Orange. and Contra-remonstrant parties brought on a life and death struggle between the sovereign province of Holland and the States-General of the union. The sword of Maurice decided the issue in favour of the States-General. The claims of Holland were overthrown and the head of Oldenbarneveldt fell upon the scaffold (1619). The stadholder, Frederick Henry of Orange, ruled with well-nigh monarchical authority (1625-1647), but even he at the height of his power and popularity had always to reckon with the opposition of the states of Holland and of Amsterdam, and many of his plans of campaign were thwarted by the refusal of the Hollanders to furnish supplies. His son William II. was but 21 years of age on succeeding to the stadholdership, and the states of Holland were sufficiently powerful to carry through the negotiations for the peace of Münster (1648) in spite of his opposition. A life and death conflict again ensued, and once more in 1650 the prince of Orange by armed force crushed the opposition of the Hollanders. The sudden death of William in the hour of his triumph caused a complete revolution in the government of the republic. He left no heir but a posthumous infant, and the party of the burgher regents of Holland was John de Witt. once more in the ascendant. The office of stadholder was abolished, and John de Witt, the grand pensionary (Raad-Pensionaris) of Holland, for two decades held in his hands all the threads of administration, and occupied the same position of undisputed authority in the councils of the land as Oldenbarneveldt had done at the beginning of the century. Amsterdam during this period was the centre and head of the United Provinces. The principle of provincial sovereignty was carried to its extreme point in the separate treaty concluded with Cromwell in 1654, in which the province of Holland agreed to exclude for ever the prince of Orange from the office of stadholder of Holland or captain-general of the union. In 1672 William III. Prince of Orange. another revolution took place. John de Witt was murdered, and William III. was called to fill the office of dignity and authority which had been held by his ancestors of the house of Orange, and the stadholdership was declared to be hereditary in his family. But William died without issue (see William III.) and a stadholderless period, during which the province of Holland was supreme in the union, followed till 1737. This change was effected smoothly, for though William had many differences with Amsterdam, he had in Anthony Heinsius (van der Heim), who was grand pensionary of Holland from 1690 to his death in 1720, a statesman whom he thoroughly trusted, who worked with him in the furtherance of his policy during life and who continued to carry out that policy after his death. In 1737 there was once more a reversion William IV. Prince of Orange. to the stadholdership in the person of William IV., whose powers were strengthened and declared hereditary both in the male and female line in 1747. But until the final destruction of the federal republic by the French armies, the perennial struggle went on between the Holland or federal party (Staatsgesinden) centred at Amsterdam—out of which grew the patriot party under William V.—and the Orange or unionist party (Oranjegesinden), which was strong in the smaller provinces and had much popular support among the lower classes. The French conquest swept away the old condition of things never to reappear; but allegiance to the Orange dynasty survived, and in 1813 became the rallying point of a united Dutch people. At the same time the leading part played by the province of Holland in the history of the republic has not been unrecognized, for the country ruled over by the sovereigns of the house of Orange is always popularly, and often officially, known as Holland.