The Story of Nations - Holland/Chapter 37

The entire indifference of the Stadtholder to national interests, and the declaration of war, with the great losses which followed on hostilities, led to the development of the party of “Patriots” in Holland. The framers and advocates of the “Armed Neutrality,” it is true, took no steps to defend that country on which the brunt of the contest fell. Nay, many of the Powers treated them with less favour than they did the English. Probably they hoped to succeed to some of the Dutch possessions, and to all its trade. If so, the English were beforehand with them, for they attacked the Dutch possessions in the West Indies, at the Cape, and in India, before the rupture was known. The spirits of the Dutch was a little raised by the indecisive naval engagement of the Doggerbank in 1781. Peace was effected in 1783, but on disadvantageous terms to Holland.

Meanwhile the Patriots had compelled the Duke of Brunswick to relinquish his authority in the States, and the Orange faction was greatly depressed. Day by day, the wretched Stadthollder lost character and influence with his unfortunate countrymen, while the Dutch contrasted the present condition of the States with that which it occupied during the two centuries of heroism of which she had fondly anticipated that William would be a present exemplar. The Patriots began to resume that authority over the councils of which the Senates had been deprived, and to revive the local guard, under the name of “schuttery,” which had been all but disbanded by the Stadtholder, William complaining that his prerogative was being invaded. In this crisis, the King of Prussia interfered, to protect the interests of his niece and her husband, and though the interference came to little more than an angry protest, the Dutch learnt anew how wise their forefathers were, when more than a century before, they suspected what would ensue if their Stadtholder allied himself with the reigning houses of Europe.

In 1783 the Dutch were attacked by Joseph II, Emperor of Austria, It was owing to their efforts that the Belgian Netherlands had been taken from Spain, and made over to Austria under the treaty of Utrecht. But Joseph, rightly interpreting the financial position of Holland, and seeing how discredited the Stadtholder's government was, determined to take advantage of the situation to wrest the navigation of the Scheldt from the Dutch, and secure himself, if he pleased, an easy entry into Holland. In 1784, war seemed impending, and the States made some effort to enlist soldiers, and to collect army stores. But the emperor's threat came to nothing. The house of Austria has always depended for its existence on foreign alliances and foreign subsidies, and Joseph was not popular with other European governments. He therefore patched up a peace with the States, the principal condition of which was that the Dutch should pay him some money.

The Patriot or States party was meanwhile increasingly hostile to the unpopular Stadtholder, and set to work to deprive him of all the prerogatives which he had usurped, and even of those which the States had granted, forty years before, to his father. Certain members of the national party having been insulted by the Orange mob at the Hague, and William having connived at the disorder, the States took away from him the command of the Hague garrison, and on his threatening never to return to the seat of government, unless his rights were restored, adhered to their resolution. As they had taken this step, they went further, and in particular at Amsterdam, resumed those military and naval functions which had been previously ceded to the Stadtholder.

The power of the Stadtholder was gradually being curtailed, and his only chance of his retaining a shadow of it was in the strength of the Orange party, and in what was virtually civil war, the forcible restraint of malcontents. The States answered his action by deposing him from his office of Captain-General. It is true that, under the pretence of mediation, the sovereigns of England, of Prussia, and even of France, counselled moderation in the crisis, and perhaps had the advice of the French ambassador, Rayneval, been accepted, an accommodation might have followed. But the Prussian wife of William was obstinate, and demanded that the States should abandon the position which they had taken up. This was out of the question, and the breach became wider, the Stadtholder being held up to the public execration of his fellow countrymen as an unfaithful minister, “whose heart was as corrupt as his mind was narrow.” The States made his property liable to land-tax, examined his accounts and allowances, and substituted the arms of the States for those of the house of Orange in public documents, on the regimental colours, and even on furniture.

But while it was comparatively easy to circumscribe the powers of the Stadtholder, and even to reduce him to the position of first citizen in the Republic or less, it was not easy to reconstruct the constitution of the Republic. There were leaders of the popular party who thought that enough had been done there were others who wished to put the constitution on a more popular basis ; there were others who proposed to proscribe the whole Orange party, to make the use of its party cries and party emblems a capital offence, even to prohibit the exhibition of orange-coloured flowers, and the sale of carrots, unless the roots were decently hidden. And, above all, the smaller states became jealous of Holland, and seemed inclined to retrace their steps. The Stadtholder thought his opportunity was come, and began civil war in 1787.

On the plea that an insult had been offered to his sister, who had been prevented from stirring up the Orange party at the Hague, the King of Prussia now took part in the war, and invaded Holland. Utrecht was abandoned, and the Stadtholder was restored to his full authority. Amsterdam was besieged and capitulated. Even the English Whigs expressed their satisfaction at the result. The Patriot party seemed to be extinguished. The Dutch were under English influence, and the French Government was accused of bad faith and poltroonery. The leaders of the Patriots were declared incapable of serving their country hereafter, and every one was constrained to wear the Orange badge.

I have given these wearisome and miserable details of misgovernment and abortive attempts at reform, because they form a necessary prelude to the events which followed. In 1789 the French constitution was remodelled, and, for a time, good and wise men rejoiced over the re-form of what had become the most detestable government in Europe. The Stadtholder's son contracted a fresh alliance with the house of Prussia; but Holland took no part in the League of Pilnitz, a league which was to prove so disastrous to the States which joined it, when they forced revolutionary France to act on the defensive, and finally justified its reprisals. The Stadtholder, of course, as soon as possible joined the alliance of the European sovereigns. But the Patriots determined to welcome the French. The winter of 1794-95 gave them the wished-for opportunity. The Stadtholder fled to England, and the Dutch revolution was effected.

It is very possible that many of those who formed and developed the French revolution were men of high purposes and patriotic ends. But France was bankrupt, its finance aggravated the mischief, and at first, constrained to defend itself, and then led to aggressive war, it naturally made war support itself. The Dutch paid dearly for the revenge which they took on William. Their trade was ruined, their commercial integrity violently destroyed, their resources squandered for objects which did not concern them, their colonies wrested from them. They were erected into a kingdom, dependent on the French Empire, and ruled by one of Napoleon's brothers. In 1813 came a counter revolution, when Holland, despairing of republican institutions, resolved to accept a limited monarchy. It was perhaps impossible, in the existing temper of European governments, to adopt any other course. When Europe was remodelled, at the final termination of the great continental war, Belgium was added to Holland, and the principle of the Ghent pacification was temporarily enforced by the authority of Europe. Holland recovered most of her dependencies.

These had been temporarily occupied by the English during the time that Holland had been a dependency of France. It was virtually inevitable that they should be, for they were virtually French possessions during the French occupancy. But two of them, Ceylon and the Cape of Good Hope, were retained by the English after the war was over, contrary, as I think, to good faith and justice. It is doubtful whether England has gained anything by the Cape Settlement. The country is essentially Dutch, and the dissatisfaction of the Dutch settlers with the English Government has led to secession, revolt, and war, under circumstances which has conferred no credit on the intrusive government, and have been no particular honour to English arms. And though in our time Holland cannot, even if she had her old spirit and resources, vie with the great military Powers of Europe, as she once did, her reputation is still high, and her energy is renewed.