Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 11.djvu/505

Rh takeu by Hardenberg. The latter was anxious to maintain peace, but when in 1805 Napoleon s troops marched through Anspach he strongly protested, and entered into a conven tion with Russia. The victory of the French at Austerlitz, however, made it difficult for Prussia to proceed to hostili ties ; and on the 15th December 1805 Haugwitz signed a convention with Napoleon, whereby in return for Hanover Prussia conceded Anspach, Cleves, and Neuchatel to the French. Hardenberg then retired, and Haugwitz returned to power. The policy of Haugwitz was exceedingly un popular, and led to the war in which his country was pros trated at the feet of Napoleon. After the battle of Jena Hardenberg undertook the office of foreign minister ; but when the treaty of Tilsit was signed he withdrew and watched from a distance the vigorous and enlightened efforts of Stein to restore new life to the fallen and humili ated state. Stein being compelled to retire in 1810, Hardenberg was recognized as the only possible successor of the great minister; and he amply justified the con fidence with which he was honoured. The circumstances of the time did not admit of his pursuing an independ ent foreign policy ; but he steadily prepared for the in evitable struggle with France by carrying out Stein s far- reaching schemes of social and political reorganization. The military system was completely reformed, serfdom was abol ished, municipal institutions were fostered, the civil service was thrown open to all classes, and great attention was devoted to the educational needs of every section of the community. In the war of liberation Hardenberg was one of those who did most to stimulate the patriotic en thusiasm not only of the Prussians but of all Germans; and so important were his services that on the 3d June 1814, after he had signed the first treaty of Paris, he was raised to the rank of a Fiirst or Prince. He accompanied the allied sovereigns to London, was one of the chief pleni potentiaries at the congress of Vienna, and took a leading part in the negotiations which led to the second treaty of Paris. After the restoration of peace he retained his place at the head of the Prussian cabinet, but his conduct of affairs was no longer marked by energy and foresight. He was accused of being too submissive to the papacy, and, although a man of liberal sentiments, he had not the courage to resist his royal master s dislike of constitu tional government. He died at Genoa, November 26, 1822.

1em  HARDERWIJK, a town of the Netherlands, in the pro vince of Guelderland, on the coast of the Zuyder Zee, about 28 miles N.E. of Utrecht. Its principal buildings are the town-house, the Reformed church rebuilt in the 15th cen tury, the Nassau- Veluwe gymnasium, the colonial dockyard depot, formerly the mint, and the municipal orphanage. Agriculture, fishing, and a few trifling domestic industries form the sole employment of the inhabitants, who in 1872 numbered 5041.

1em  HARDICANUTE,, or (c.–), the last of the Danish sovereigns of England, son of Canute king of England, and his wife Alfgiva Emma, the sister of Richard duke of Normandy, and widow of King Ethelred,was born most probably in or. When Canute died in Hardicanute was ruler of Denmark, and Swend, the elder reputed son of Canute by Alfgiva of Northampton, one of his concubines, was ruler of Norway. It is said to have been the wish of his father that Hardi canute should be ruler of both England and Denmark, but his connexion with Denmark seems to have been prejudi cial to his English interests ; and though his claims were supported by Godwiue and the West Saxons, the witenage- mot which met at Oxford decided that his government should not extend further north than the Thames, and that Harold, Canute s younger son by Alfgiva of Northampton, should reign over the northern provinces, being also in all probability overlord of the whole kingdom. Hardicanute refused, however, to come to England on such conditions, and in the witan of Wessex deposed him, and chose Harold also for their king. On the death of Harold in, Hardicanute, who was about to invade England, had his hostile intentions disarmed by the message which reached him at Bruges, making him an offer of the crown for which he was preparing to do battle. The witan s choice of him seems to have been spontaneous, and not at all due to the threatening attitude he had assumed; but apparently he had not forgotten the former slight he had received, and his short reign was marked by great oppression and cruelty. He caused the dead body of Harold to be dug up from its place of sepulture at Westminster, and thrown into a marsh or, according to another account, into the Thames ; he exacted so heavy a danegeld for the support of his foreign fleet that great discontent was created throughout the king dom, and in Worcestershire a general uprising took place against the earls sent to collect the tax, upon which he burned the city of Worcester to the ground and devastated the surrounding country; in he permitted Eadwulf, earl of Northumbria, to be treacherously murdered after having granted him his full friendship. It would appear that Hardicanute was greatly given to excess in eating and drinking; and while carousing at the marriage feast of one of his thegns he was suddenly seized with an epileptic fit, from which he died a few days afterwards, June 8, . He had no children, and though the line of Danish sovereigns might have been continued by Swend, the choice of the kingdom was unanimous for Edward Atheling, son of Ethelred.

1em  HARDING, (1798–1863), a landscape painter, was the son of an artist, and took to the same vocation at an early age, although he had originally been destined for the law. He was in the main a water-colour painter, but he produced various oil-paintings both at the beginning and towards the end of his career. He fre quently contributed to the exhibitions of the Water-Colour Society, of which he became an associate in 1818, and a full member in 1822. He was also very largely engaged in teaching, and published several books developing his views of art, amongst others, The Tourist in Italy, 1831 ; The Tourist in France,, 1834 ; The Park and the Forest, 1841 ; The Principles and the Practice of Art, 1845 ; Ele mentary Art, 1846 ; Scotland Delineated in a Series of Views, 1847 ; Lessons on Art, 1849. He died at Barnes on 4th December 1863. Harding was noted for facility, surenet-s of hand, nicety of touch, and the various qualities which go to make up an elegant, highly trained, and accomplished sketcher from nature, and composer of picturesque landscape material ; he was particularly skilful in the treatment of 