of his father in 1751, that prince was only three years of age. Until 1759, the regency was conducted by his mother, an English princess; and after her death, the guardianship of the young Stadtholder was divided between the States-General and Louis Ernest of Brunswick, Field-Marshal of the Republic. When, in 1766, William V. attained his majority, he signed an act called the Act of Consultation, engaging the Duke of Brunswick to assist him in his affairs-a proceeding regarded as unconstitutional by the patriotic, or republican party. The provinces of West Friesland, Holland, Zealand, and Utrecht, where that party chiefly prevailed, demanded the duke's dismissal; who, fatigued by the clamours of the people, at length resigned in October 1784, abandoning the Stadtholder, who had little political capacity, to the intrigues of his enemies. During this long and stormy period, the patriot party had courted the protection of France, while those who were attached to the family of Orange, and desired to uphold the Stadtholderate, cultivated the friendship of England. The chief leaders of the aristocratical or patriot party were Van Berkel, Pensionary of Amsterdam, to whom Van Bleiswyk, Grand Pensionary of Holland, though far superior in rank, was entirely subservient; Gyzlaas, Pensionary of Dordrecht, and Zeebergen, Pensionary of Haarlem. The superior influence of the former party had dragged the United Provinces into the maritime war against England in 1780, which for the present we pass over, as we shall have to relate it in the ensuing chapter. We have already recorded the struggle of the Dutch with the Emperor Joseph II. Their accommodation with that sovereign had been hastened by their domestic dissensions. A tumult had broken out at the Hague in September 1785. The States-General deprived William of the command of the garrison in that town, who thereupon claimed the protection of his uncle-in-law, the King of Prussia. Frederick II. did not show much zeal in the cause of his relative,21 but he took some steps in his favour, and the apprehension of Prussian interference caused the States-General to conclude the arrangement with the Emperor, and the subsequent alliance with France, already recorded. devoted to his The republican party, encouraged by this alliance, proceeded to lengths which produced the revolution of 1787. William V., at the request of the States of Gelderland, who were cause, had taken military possession of two towns in that province, which, in contempt of his prerogative, had ventured to name their own magistrates. Hereupon the States of Holland, arrogating to 21 See Frederick's Letters on this subject in Hertzberg, Recueil de Déductions, t. ii. p. 394 sqq. 480 DEATH OF FREDERICK II. [BOOK VI. themselves the right to judge the proceedings of a neighbouring province, suspended the prince from his office of captain-general (September 1786). These events were followed by great excitement and irritation; which France endeavoured to allay by sending M. Rayneval to the Hague, to act in concert with the Prussian minister, Baron Görtz. A new sovereign now occupied the throne of Prussia. Frederick II. had expired August 17th 1786, after a reign of forty-six years. If the title of GREAT may be justly bestowed on the monarch who, by his abilities and conduct, adds largely to his possessions, without inquiring very strictly into the means by which these acquisitions were made, Frederick is undoubtedly entitled to this appellation. Silesia, conquered by his arms, the Polish provinces, acquired by his diplomacy, formed an immense and highly valuable addition to the Prussian monarchy, and may entitle him to be regarded as its second founder. The material results of his reign are thus stated by a diplomatist of those days: "He found, on his father's death, a revenue of 13,000,000 of crowns; a treasure of 16,000,000; no debts, and an army of 50,000 men; and, at the time, this was reckoned the greatest effort of economy. He has now an income of 21,000,000 crowns; three times that sum, at least, in his coffers; and nearly 200,000 effective men." Frederick had employed the years of peace which followed the Seven Years' War in alleviating, by a paternal administration, the evils which that struggle had brought upon his country. This period, though not the most brilliant, was the happiest of his reign. Manufactures and agriculture flourished; the towns and villages ruined during the war were rebuilt and repeopled; the army was again raised to a formidable footing, and the finances were reestablished by the introduction of the strictest order and economy into all branches of the administration. Frederick's measures with regard to commerce, though well meant, were not so happy. In political economy, he was an admirer of Colbert and the French school, and hence was led to adopt a narrow and exclusive system. He had a natural genius for art and literature as well as war, and to the fame of a great general added that of a respectable author. His extravagant admiration of the French school seryed, however, rather to retard than promote the intellectual progress of his own subjects. The philosophical and freethinking principles which he had imbibed from the same school, as he forbore to force them 22 Despatch of Sir James Harris (afterwards Earl of Malmsbury) to the Earl of Suffolk, March 18th 1766, in Adolphus, Hist. of George III., vol. ii. App., No. ii. The same letter contains a discriminating character of Frederick. upon his subjects, were perhaps on the whole beneficial, as they helped to introduce more tolerant views, and to mitigate the rabid bigotry which had too often characterised the professors of Lutheranism. These maxims, however, led him not to any relaxation in his method of civil government, and Prussia under his administration remained as complete a despotism as it had been under that of his predecessors. Frederick II. was succeeded by his nephew, Frederick William II. The new monarch seemed disposed to take more interest than his uncle in the affairs of Holland; and he had, immediately after his accession, sent Baron Görtz to the Court of the Stadtholder. The negociation of that minister led, however, to no result. The views of the two parties were too opposite for conciliation; but an event which occurred towards the end of June 1787 brought matters to a crisis. The consort of William V., a princess of a high spirit, resolved to visit the Hague, although her husband could not go thither. At Schoonhoven she was stopped by the troops belonging to the States of Holland, treated almost like a prisoner, and turned back. For this affront the Princess of Orange demanded vengeance at the hands of her brother, the King of Prussia; but although the States of several provinces disapproved of what had been done, the States-General, relying on the aid of France, refused to give befitting satisfaction. Frederick William II. seized the occasion to reestablish the Stadtholder in his prerogatives. In September 1787, a Prussian army of 30,000 men, under the Duke of Brunswick, entered Holland. The dryness of the summer prevented the Hollanders from having recourse to inundation. Utrecht surrendered without a blow, and other places followed the example. The patriots, disunited among themselves, found the free companies, which they had raised in imitation of the middle ages, and which they had placed under the command of the incapable Rhinegrave, Von Salms,23 totally unable to oppose an army of disciplined troops; while the nobles, who dreaded a popular government, favoured the Prussian invasion. The Prince of Orange entered the Hague, September 20th, after an absence of wo years, amid the acclamations of the populace; Amsterdam surrendered, after a short resistance, October 10th, and the free companies were disarmed. France made some show of assisting her ally, and had declared, September 16th, that she would not suffer the constitution of the United Provinces to be violated. But it was well known that the 23 The French Government had dissuaded the Hollanders from accepting the services of La Fayette. 482 TRIPLE ALLIANCE, 1788. [Book VI. internal condition of France, now on the brink of a revolution, precluded her from all active interference. England declared that she would defend the Stadtholder, if attacked, and prepared her fleets for action. The Court of Versailles submitted, and exchanged declarations with England, October 27th. The disgrace reflected on the French Government by these transactions, assisted the designs of the revolutionary party in France. But the Stadtholder, though thus restored by force of arms, did not overstep the limits of the Dutch constitution. All the satisfaction he exacted was, that seventeen magistrates, directly concerned in the outrage upon his consort, should be deposed and declared for ever incapable of serving the Republic; and he cashiered several hundred officers who had borne arms against him. After establishing his authority, William proposed a general amnesty, from which only some of the ringleaders were excepted. Banished from their country, these turbulent men carried their democratic principles into France, and helped to foment the troubles of that kingdom. By a solemn Act, signed by the various States, entitled Act of mutual Guarantee of the Seven United Provinces, the hereditary dignities of Stadtholder, Captain-General, and Admiral-General were declared an essential part of the constitution.24 By the extinction of the patriot party, an end was put to the alliance between the United Provinces and France. It was replaced by a treaty of mutual defence between Great Britain and the States-General, April 15th 1788, by which Great Britain guaranteed the hereditary Stadtholdership to the family of Orange. On the same day a defensive alliance was also signed at Berlin between the States-General and Prussia.25 These treaties were followed by a defensive alliance between Great Britain and Prussia, concluded at Loo, in Guelderland, June 13th 1788; renewed and confirmed by another treaty signed at Berlin on the 13th of the following August. 26 By a secret article, England undertook to support Prussia, in case of need, with its whole naval power, and with an army of 50,000 men.27 Thus was formed the Triple Alliance, which exercised for some years a decisive effect upon the affairs of Europe.28 24 Among the authorities for this revolution are Jacobi, Vollständige Gesch. der sieben jährigen Verwirrungen und der darauf erfolgten Revolution in den vereinigten Niederlanden, Halle, 1789, 2 B. 8vo.; Ségur, Tableau de l'Europe, t. i. p. 342. 25 Hertzberg, t. ii. p. 444; Martens, t. iii. p. 133. 26 Hertzberg, t. ii. pp. 449, 452; Mar tens, t. iii. pp. 138, 146. 27 Zinkeisen, B. vi. S. 697. 28 Namely, by compelling Denmark to desist from succouring Russia against Sweden; by dictating at Reichenbach the conditions of a peace between Austria and the Porte; by forcing Russia to renounce great part of her Turkish conquests; and by restoring tranquillity to the Austrian Netherlands. The Emperor's conduct in selling the freedom of the Scheldt to the Dutch made him very unpopular in the Austrian Netherlands; and the attempt already mentioned to exchange these provinces for Bavaria, converted dislike into hatred. His church reforms were also highly distasteful to that bigoted population. As in Austria, convents were dissolved, pilgrimages and spiritual brotherhoods abolished, appeals to the Pope forbidden, in short, all the measures adopted of an incipient Reformation. Towards the end of 1786, tumults broke out at Louvain, on the suppression of the episcopal schools in that city and the removal of the university to Brussels. The disturbance was increased by alterations in the civil government. An ordinance of January 1st 1787 abolished the various councils by which the Government was conducted, and established in their place a Central Board. Innovations were also made in the constitution of the courts of law. The boundaries of the provinces were soon afterwards altered, and the whole country was divided into nine Circles, each under a commissary named by the Court of Vienna. Symptoms of insurrection appeared at Brussels in April. De Hont, a merchant of that city, implicated in a criminal case, had been arrested and tried at Vienna, contrary to the privileges of the Brabanters to be judged by their countrymen. The States of Brabant took up his cause, and declared that this violation of the Joyeuse Entrée prevented them from voting the annual supplies. A general fermentation ensued, which was increased by the manifest weakness of the Government. The States presented to the Archduchess Christina, Joseph's sister, who, with her husband, Duke Albert of Saxe Teschen, acted as governors, a list of their grievances in nine heads. The Council of Brabant, or first court of justice, went still further and abrogated all the new tribunals (May 8th). In consequence of a riot at Brussels towards the end of the month, the governors notified their resolution to maintain all the privileges of the States, and to revoke all regulations contrary to the Joyeuse Entrée. This compliance occasioned their recall. Count Trautmannsdorf was now appointed governor, with instructions to carry out the Imperial decrees, for which purpose military preparations were made. Negociations, however, ensued; .apparent reconciliations were repeatedly effected, and the final outburst was postponed for a year or two. But the latent discontent was not extinguished. A secret society was formed, with ramifications throughout the provinces, which numbered 70,000 persons, and matters wore an alarming aspect when Joseph entered upon a Turkish war. Joseph had cultivated a close friendship with the Czarina, |