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Breda those parishes in Zealand which had belonged to tlie Diocese of Ghent.

On 7 October, 1S40, William I abdicated and mar- ried the Catholic Belgian Countess Henrietta d'Oul- tramont. William II succeeded him. On 28 No- vember, 1840, tha king signed two decrees in favour of religious communities. Again the intolerance and opposition of the Protestants were manifested so intensely that not alone the Catholics, but the king as well became uneasy. On 19 May, 1S41, Monsignor Capaccini went to The Hague to confer about the con- cordat. At that time the southern provinces (Dutch Limburg and North Brabant) had about 700,000 Catholics, and the northern provinces 400,000, so that the total number of Catholics in the whole kingdom amounted to 1,100,000. It was realized that the concordat could not be made operative at that time and must remain in suspense. Holland remained under the supervision of the archpriests over whom stood the vice-superior, or internuncio, of The Hague. Limburg already had a vicariate. Two new ones were established, at Bois-le-Duc, and at Breda.

For the time being, the king could do no more. In order to put the Jansenists on the same footing as the CathoUcs, their bishops were, from now until 1S53, no longer recognized as such by the Government. No changes had been made in the law governing element- ary education since 3 April, 1806. This had proved disastrous for the Catholics. William II promised something better, but he could not do much as yet. A royal decree concerning elementary instruction appeared on 2 January, 1842. The greatest benefit to the Catholics resulted from Article X, by which the public and private schools were obliged to furnish the clergymen of the dilTerent denominations " in their city or municipality in response to their written appli- cation for the same, a list of the books, songs, and writings in use in their instruction and schools". From this period dates the actual emancipation of the Catholics; since 1795 it had existed in theory only. This is particularly noticeable in the Catholic litera- ture. For a long time past eiforts had been made at establishing periodicals. The " Godsdienstvriend " (1818) and the "t'atholyke Nederl. Stemmen", founded by the convert Le Sage ten Broek, alone sur- vived. Those who tried to follow his example did not succeed. In 1841 " De Katholiek" was founded; it exists still, and has accomplished untold good for Catholicism in Holland. The first Catholic daily paper was "De Noord-Brabander " (1829), then followed "De Tijd" (1845) at first published in Bois-le-Duc, but, in 1846, transferred to Amsterdam, where it was to surpass greatly its predecessor. During the strug- gle for emancipation " De Katholiek " and " De Tijd " rendered the greatest service of any periodicals in Holland.

Another sign of emancipation was the formation of the Catholic Committee (1848), which in its first year consisted of eighteen prominent Catholics. The comrnittee fostered the project of a general Catholic association, a general Catholic electoral association, a Catholic daily paper in French to be published at The Hague, and the restoration of the Catholic hierarchy. All except the first of these objects were attained. In 1S47 the placet was removed from the penal code, principally through the intervention of the king, in spite of the strong Protestant opposition. When the Constitution was amended in 1848, Catholics made known their wants and obtained more than they could have hoped for. Article X favoured the mo- nastic state; Article CLXIV concerning freedom of worship was better formulated. Article CLXVIII accorded salaries to the Catholic clergy, but treated the Protestants more liberally. Through Article CLXX the placet became a thing of the past.

Unfortunately, William II died on 17 March, 1849. His successor was William III. After the revision of

the Constitution under the Liberal Thorbecke min- istry, the Catholics were more than ever before hope- ful as to the restoration of the ecclesiastical hierarchy. The initiative was taken by prominent laymen, who, even before the revision of the Constitution, had presented a petition. After 1848 different peti- tions from laymen and from Catholic members of Parliament followed one another. At first the higher clergy feared too much interference on the part of the laity; but the higher clergy were soon carried along with the general movement, and, in 1851, sent a peti- tion to the pope requesting the re-establishment of the hierarchy. After Rome and the Dutch Government had agreed that on the restoration of the hierarchy the Concordat of 1827 and the agreement of 1841 should cease to exist, the minister of foreign affairs, van Sonsbeek, and the internuncio, Belgrade, contin- ued the negotiations. On 16 October, 1852, the last document was signed by the minister of foreign afi'airs. Rome was now free to proceed to the erection of the hierarchy. The Dutch Ministry denied that the pre- liminary notification promised by Cardinal Antonelli, the papal secretary of state, had been duly transmitted by the internuncio, and a dispute thereupon arose between the Holy See and the Netherlands Govern- ment. But while this dispute went on, the curial officials were busy in Rome preparing the Brief, signed 4 March, 1853, which provided for the restora- tion of the hierarchy. An archbishopric was to be established at Utrecht, and four bishopries at Haar- lem, Bois-le-Duc, Roermonti, antl Breda respectively. When the appointment of bishops was annoiuiced the so-called " Aprilbeweging " (.\pril Movement) broke forth, during which, in a few daj's' time, hun- dreds of pamphlets anil circulars gave vent to the spite of intolerant Protestants against Rome, against the Catholics, and against the Government. The king dissolved the Thorbecke cabinet in order to ap- pease the anger of the Protestants. The law of 10 September, 1853, in which Catholic worship and the Catholics were slightly favoured, was greeted in the same manner. The bishops were officially recognized on 23 September, 1853, and on the same day they re- ceived the franking privilege for all correspondence relating to their office. On 24 September, the king signed a decree allowing the bishops the same salary which had been paid the vicars Apostolic, namely, 2500 florins (about $1000). The secretaries received 400 florins and administration expenses to the amount of 6 florins for every parish within their juris- diction. On 7 November, 1853, the Archbishop of Utrecht received the pallium. In October, 1856, the division of parishes was approved and, shortly after- wards, enforced. On 23 July, 1858, appeared the con- stitution for the erection of chapters, each one of which was to have eight canons, these, however, not to receive any pay from the State.

At the time of the restoration of the hierarchy, the number of Catholics and Catholic parishes was as follows: the mission of Utrecht and Haarlem, 542,590 Catholics in 435 pari.shes; Bois-le-Duc, 340,000 Cath- olics in 222 parishes; Breda, 125,181 Cathohcs in 77 parishes, Roermond, 196,152 Cathohcs in 184 parishes; total, 1 ,203.923 Catholics in 918 parishes. The.se were ministered to by 1552 ecclesiastics — 918 pastors and 634 assistants. The Church in Holland was to ex- perience a great revival after the restoration of the hierarchy. The last provincial synod had been held in 1565 by the Archbishop of Utrecht, Frederik Schenck van Toutenburg. Exactly three centuries later, 24 September, 1865, the First Provincial Synod of Utrecht assembled in St. John's church at Bois- le-Duc. It furnished the basis for those of the dio- cesan synods which were to take place in all the diocesan seminaries in 1867. In lieu of synods, Rome, on 16 July, 1866, ordered that, "once every year the pastors shall meet under the presidency of the deao