Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 12.djvu/94

82 82 HOLLAND FHISTORY. the death of Louis XLV. in 1715, the old ill-will between France and the provinces died entirely out, so that they were secure in a position of tranquillity ; they also brought to a fair conclusion their difficulties with Austria on the subject of the Netherlands barrier. These, however, began again when in 1723 the emperor set on foot the Ostend East India Company, which was at once regarded as an offensive rival by the Amsterdam merchants. For the sake of crushing this competition the States in 1731 consented to guarantee the Pragmatic Sanction of Charles VI. In 1743 they joined England in supporting the claims of Maria Theresa, queen of Hungary, and fell consequently into complications with France, which invaded the barrier country. In 1744 they granted a subsidy in money and put 20,000 men in the field, and became a member of the Quadruple Alliance with Austria, England, and Saxony. In 1745 the Provinces took their part in the rout of Fontenoy, after which Marshal Saxe overran the Austrian | Netherlands, while England and Holland were alike para- : lysed by the Jacobite rising in Scotland. The States lost I every barrier-town, and lay defenceless before the French, who in 1747 entered Dutch Flanders, and made an easy conquest. And now the Orange party, supported by English aid, began to lift its head. The Provinces had fallen so low that all men began to wish for a dictator. Accordingly Prince William Charles Henry Friso was pro- i claimed stadtholder. captain, and admiral-general of Zealand at Terveer, under the title of William IV. The movement thus begun spread like wildfire ; all Zealand accepted him with enthusiasm, and Holland was not far behind ; even at Amsterdam and the Hague the popular feeling was too strong to be resisted, and the Government had to give way. William IV. became captain and admiral-general of the whole union, and stadtholder of the Seven Provinces ; a little later these offices were declared hereditary in both male and female lines. The peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, in 1748, though it nomi nally restored things to their old estate, could not efface the mischief and humiliation which the war had caused to Holland. Nor ; were affairs mended by the death of the stadtholder William IV. in 1751, who, though dull and quiet, did his best to develop the commercial and manu facturing prosperity of the States. His widow, Anne of England, daughter of George II., carried on the govern ment for her son William V. She showed but little aptitude for the post of regent, and the Provinces had great difficulty in standing clear of the European compli cations of the Seven Years War. They did so, however, and after her death in 1759 were on better terms with England, which had urged them to take up the cause of Frederick the Great. In 1766 William V. was declared to be of age ; irresolute and weak, he was entirely under the command of his old preceptor Louis of Brunswick, and his wife Frederica Wilhelmina, niece of Frederick the Great. His rule is only distinguished for the springing up of several learned societies, and for the stimulus, derived partly from England partly from France, given to scientific inquiries. In other respects the influ ences of England and France were not propitious to the Provinces. In the American War of Independence William sympathized with the English court against the French and the revolted colonies, while the Dutch people warmly embraced the other side. Hence arose again old maritime disputes. The Provinces quarrelled at home over the relative importance of army and navy, and strengthened neither. So things went on from 1776 to 1780, when the famous &quot; Armed Neutrality,&quot; with which the Conti nental states replied to the demands of England on the seas, drew the Provinces once more into the arena of ; European politics. After a division of the States, in ! which four were on one side and three on the other, the United Provinces decided to adopt the Neutrality, and threw in their lot with France and Russia against England. But War though war broke out at once, nothing could cure the vio- lence of party spirit the stadtholder and the court party going with the English, and neutralizing all the warlike efforts of the &quot;patriot&quot; party. In 1781 Dutch commerce was utterly paralysed; the other powers set on the Provinces, and took each its part. Their West India Islands were seized, and it seemed as if they could do nothing in their own defence. At lust, however, an indecisive but not inglorious action with Admiral Parker at the Dogger Bank roused the national spirit, and the Orange party lost ground every where. In 1782 the Provinces recognized the independence of the United States of America ; with generous sympathy the aged commonwealth saluted the rising republic of tha West, which, was destined to take its share also in the ruin of Dutch trade. In 1783 the States made an inglorious peace with England, in which the English got right of free traffic with the Dutch East India colonies. The patriot party was so much excited by this long series Troubli of blunders and humiliations that the fall of the house with of Orange seemed imminent, and the king of Prussia had to p ssia interfere on behalf of his kinsfolk. In 1784 the States Austria were in trouble with a new antagonist; the emperor Joseph IE. sought to compel them to acquiesce in the reopening uf the mouths of the Scheldt, so as to restore some of its ancient prosperity to Antwerp. But as neither party was able to fight, a peace was patched up in 1785, though its terms, as usual, were very humiliating to the States. The resistance against the princess of Orange continued to increase in violence, until in 1787 the Prussians again interfered, occupying Amsterdam, reinstating the stadt holder, who had been driven out, and compelling the states to ally themselves, much against their will, with England and Prussia. Under their sway the Dutch passively remained, and when the French Revolution came they stood neutral as long as they could between it and the kings ; it was not till Dumouriez had overrun all the Austrian Netherlands in 1792, and had determined to secure justice to Antwerp by forcing open the passage of the Scheldt, that they were drawn into the strife. On the death of Louis XVI. in War 1793 the national convention at once declared war against with both England and the Provinces. Their first campaign France against the Dutch under Dumouriez failed : the invaders were arrested before Willemstadt, and ultimately were compelled to retreat. But in the autumn of 1793 Jourdan restored the credit of the French arms in the Austrian Netherlands. In 1794 Pichegru brilliantly completed the conquest of Belgium, and before the end of the year invaded the Provinces. The very severe frost of that winter gave his army easy passage over all the rivers and low-lying lands, which still formed the chief defence of the states ; he occupied Amsterdam, and with his hussars crossed the ice and took the Dutch fleet as it lay at the Tex el ; the stadtholder fled (1795) to Eng land ; and the shattered remains of the duke of York s army having reached Bremen returned home in disgrace. The republican party in the Provinces now reorganized the government so as to bring it into close harmony with that of Paris. A new constitution was framed; the The ancient system of representative government, the stadt- Batavis holderate, and the offices of captain and admiral -general Re P nl)1 were all swept away ; a fair and open representation was established ; and the Batavian republic came into being in close alliance with France. The French with one hand delivered the Provinces from a worn-out system of govern ment, and with the other seized on a substantial return for their assistance. The new constitution, so excellent