A tour through Holland

by Sir John Carr

The hereditary successor of a long line of princes is like the owner of an ancient mansion devolved to him by hereditary right; he must take the edifice as it is, with its commodious and inconvenient chambers, its fantastic turrets and heavy chimney-pieces, its dark and its cheerful passages; or if he alters, it must be with a cautious and gentle hand, otherwise the whole fabric will fall about his ears; whilst he who is elevated by revolutions to command, may choose his ground, build wholly with new, or partly with the old materials of the prostrate constitution.

In order to appreciate the present constitution, it may be necessary to take a slight review of the old one. Anterior to 1747 the United Provinces subsisted in one common confederacy, yet each province had an internal government or constitution, wholly independent of the others, called the States of such a Province, and its delegates the States General, in whom the supreme sovereignty of the whole confederacy was lodged; and notwithstanding the number of delegates which a province might send, yet in every constitutional measure each province had only one voice, and the sanction of every province, and of every city within it, was necessary before such a measure could pass into a law, and every resolution of the states of a particular province required unanimous adoption. The Council of State consisted also of deputies from the several provinces, but differed in its constitution from the States General; it was composed of twelve persons, of whom Holland sent three; Guelderland, two; Zealand, two; Utrecht, two; Friesland, one; Overyssel, one; and Groningen, one. Such deputies could only vote personally: it was their department to prepare estimates, and ways and means, &c. to be submitted to the States General. The states of the provinces, were styled “Noble and Mighty Lords;” those of Holland, “Noble and most Mighty Lords;” and the States General, “High and Mighty Lords,” or “the Lords of the States General of the United Netherlands,” or “their High Mightinesses.” Queen Elizabeth called them in her time Messieurs the States. The Chamber of Accounts, in which all the public accounts were audited, and composed of provincial deputies, was placed under these two bodies. The executive part of the Admiralty was committed to five colleges, in the three maritime provinces of Holland, Zealand and Friesland. In Holland the people were excluded from choosing their representatives or magistrates. In Amsterdam, which had precedence in all public deliberations, the magistracy was lodged in thirty-six senators chosen for life, and every vacancy filled up by the survivors, and the representatives for the cities in the province of Holland, were elected by the same senate.

Such a complicated piece of machinery must have proceeded slowly if it proceeded regularly, and must have been constantly exposed to the peril of being disordered, without a principal head to guide it, which led to the stadtholdership becoming hereditary in the year 1747. The wonderful and constant vicissitudes to which Holland has been exposed, rendered such an expedient, however, objectionable; it afterwards proved to be in many instances necessary to the preservation of the country. The history of the republic for 147 years, namely, from its first entering the field of battle in 1566 to the peace of Utrecht in 1713, is a tissue of battles lost and won. The twelve years’ truce which produced an hiatus in her many wars with Spain, did not extend to the Indian possessions of the Dutch; and after a prodigal effusion of blood, the peace obtained in 1648 lasted only four years. The first war with Great Britain continued to 1654; and scarcely had the republic tasted of the sweets of peace before she was roused to resist at the same time the arms of Portugal, Denmark, and Sweden; and in the North their hostilities continued till 1660, and in the South to 1661: then immediately followed a fierce contest with Great Britain, which did not close till the treaty at Breda in 1667, and the moment that was concluded, the country was invaded by Louis the Fourteenth.

A respite of three years followed, when the republic was unexpectedly attacked by the united forces of England and France, both on the sea and shore; and after a carnage of six years more, the peace of Nimeguen was concluded in 1678; which, however, was fettered with several severe stipulations imposed by the French monarch. In 1688 the Prince of Orange sailed for England, to occupy its vacant throne; an event which involved the Dutch in a nine years’ war: the peace of Ryswick was scarcely signed, when the Spanish succession again called them forth to arms, which they did not lay down till after a slaughter of eleven years.

The peace of Utrecht gave them a slight repose, which was frequently disturbed by the insults and predatory attacks of the African corsairs upon the Dutch flag in the Mediterranean. The internal troubles of the republic, from its revolution, and its final submission to the French arms followed. Such is the brief history of a country which, in a political and physical view, may be truly called extraordinary.

The first princes of the House of Orange, by the illustrious services which they rendered the state by their wars and negotiations, were rewarded by its confidence and employments of the highest dignity and trust, which were conferred upon them by the grateful approbation and concurrence of the most rigid republicans.

These princes, in obedience to that law of nature which seems to be pretty equally predominant amongst all her sons, extended the power they enjoyed as often as they had the means, and what they gave to themselves was taken from the liberties of the people; but they dazzled the eyes of the subject, and concealed the encroachment, or legitimated it by the brilliancy of illustrious achievements. A small territory, scooped from the ocean, rose to rank and estimation in the scale of nations, by its valour, its riches, and its arts, and was enabled to resist the mighty power of England and France, by the genius and energy of succession of five princes of the House of Orange, for upwards of a century.

The stadtholderate remained vacant from the death of William the Third, who by his talents preserved the republic from impending danger, till fresh difficulties, the wishes of the nation, and the powerful interposition of George the Second, in 1747, induced them to confer the dignity of stadtholder on William the Fourth, father of the last stadtholder, and to make it hereditary in his family. This prince (I mean the father) possessed considerable talents, from which the country did not derive much advantage, for he died soon after his elevation to the dignity. By this act the offices of captain-general and admiral-general were united in the person of the stadtholder, who also became president of every province; and his power and influence was such as to enable him to change every deputy, magistrate, and officer, in every province and city, at pleasure, by which he had the almost complete formation of the States General, although he had no voice in it.

CHAPTER VIII.
REMARKS ON THE LAST STADTHOLDER ... ALSO ON THE PRINCESS OF ORANGE ... HER PRESUMPTION AND INDISCRETION ... HATRED OF THE DUTCH TO THE HOUSE OF ORANGE ... FETE AT THE HAGUE ON THE FLIGHT OF THAT FAMILY ... REASONS ASSIGNED FOR THE PROGRESS OF THE FRENCH ARMS ... FOR THE GLORIOUS TRIUMPH OF BRITISH PROWESS ... CONDUCT OF THE NEW GOVERNMENT TOWARDS SOME OF THE SERVANTS OF THE OLD ... THE NEW CONSTITUTION OF HOLLAND.

The authority described in the last chapter, so princely and powerful, in all human probability would have continued in the family of the prince upon whom it was conferred to this hour, and descended to their posterity, had the last stadtholder possessed the virtue, spirit, and wisdom of his ancestors: but the imbecility of his character, more than those wonderful events which were agitating other portions of Europe, was the principal cause of the overthrow of his house. Without any portion of ability, William the Fifth was alive only to his own aggrandizement and depraved pleasures. The attachment which he had been taught to cherish for the politics of England, had long marked him out as an object of hatred with the Dutch: under his auspices they saw their own trade deteriorated, and the ocean covered with the commercial vessels of the British empire, wafting wealth into her ports from every quarter of the globe, the resources and energies of the republic consuming without any attempt to resuscitate them, until at length his weak and culpable conduct closed in the conquest of the country, and the precipitate retreat of himself and family. The conduct of the Princess of Orange also contributed not a little to augment the displeasure of the people. She had that influence over him which strong minds always have over weak ones, but in no instance were her counsels advantageous to the state, and she had no one quality to conciliate the lower classes of the people.