When at last the time came to put these reforms to the test, after the Moscow campaign of 1812, it was Hardenberg who, supported by the influence of the noble Queen Louise, determined Frederick William to take advantage of General Yorck’s loyal disloyalty and declare against France. He was rightly regarded by German patriots as the statesman who had done most to encourage the spirit of national independence; and immediately after he had signed the first peace of Paris he was raised to the rank of prince (June 3, 1814) in recognition of the part he had played in the War of Liberation.
Hardenberg now had an assured position in that close corporation of sovereigns and statesmen by whom Europe, during the next few years, was to be governed. He accompanied the allied sovereigns to England, and at the congress of Vienna (1814-1815) was the chief plenipotentiary of Prussia. But from this time the zenith of his influence, if not of his fame, was passed. In diplomacy he was no match for Metternich, whose influence soon overshadowed his own in the councils of Europe, of Germany, and ultimately even of Prussia itself. At Vienna, in spite of the powerful backing of Alexander of Russia, he failed to secure the annexation of the whole of Saxony to Prussia; at Paris, after Waterloo, he failed to carry through his views as to the further dismemberment of France; he had weakly allowed Metternich to forestall him in making terms with the states of the Confederation of the Rhine, which secured to Austria the preponderance in the German federal diet; on the eve of the conference of Carlsbad (1819) he signed a convention with Metternich, by which—to quote the historian Treitschke—“like a penitent sinner, without any formal quid pro quo, the monarchy of Frederick the Great yielded to a foreign power a voice in her internal affairs.” At the congresses of Aix-la-Chapelle, Troppau, Laibach and Verona the voice of Hardenberg was but an echo of that of Metternich.
The cause lay partly in the difficult circumstances of the loosely-knit Prussian monarchy, but partly in Hardenberg’s character, which, never well balanced, had deteriorated with age. He continued amiable, charming and enlightened as ever; but the excesses which had been pardonable in a young diplomatist were a scandal in an elderly chancellor, and could not but weaken his influence with so pious a Landesvater as Frederick William III. To overcome the king’s terror of Liberal experiments would have needed all the powers of an adviser at once wise and in character wholly trustworthy. Hardenberg was wise enough; he saw the necessity for constitutional reform; but he clung with almost senile tenacity to the sweets of office, and when the tide turned strongly against Liberalism he allowed himself to drift with it. In the privacy of royal commissions he continued to elaborate schemes for constitutions that never saw the light; but Germany, disillusioned, saw only the faithful henchman of Metternich, an accomplice in the policy of the Carlsbad Decrees and the Troppau Protocol. He died, soon after the closing of the congress of Verona, at Genoa, on the 26th of November 1822.
See L. v. Ranke, Denkwürdigkeiten des Staatskanzlers Fürsten von Hardenberg (5 vols., Leipzig, 1877); J. R. Seeley, The Life and Times of Stein (3 vols., Cambridge, 1878); E. Meier, Reform der Verwaltungsorganisation unter Stein und Hardenberg (ib., 1881); Chr. Meyer, Hardenberg und seine Verwaltung der Fürstentümer Ansbach und Bayreuth (Breslau, 1892); Koser, Die Neuordnung des preussischen Archivwesens durch den Staatskanzler Fürsten v. Hardenberg (Leipzig, 1904).
HARDERWYK, a seaport in the province of Gelderland, Holland, on the shores of the Zuider Zee, 17 m. by rail N.N.E. of Amersfoort. Pop. (1900) 7425. It is a quaint old town, approached by a fine avenue of trees, and standing in the midst of a patch of fertile ground. Harderwyk is chiefly important as being the depot for recruits for the Dutch colonial army. It contains a small fort and large barracks. The principal buildings are the town hall, with some ancient furniture, a large 15th century church with a notable square tower, a municipal orphanage, and the Nassau-Veluwe gymnasium. Agriculture, fishing, and a few domestic industries form the only employment of the inhabitants. As a seaport its trade is now confined exclusively to the Zuider Zee.
HARDICANUTE [more correctly Hardacnut] (c. 1010-1042), son of Canute, king of England, by his wife Ælfgifu or Emma, was born about 1019. In the contest for the English crown which followed the death of Canute in 1035 the claims of Hardicanute were supported by Emma and her ally, Godwine, earl of the West Saxons, in opposition to those of Harold, Canute’s illegitimate son, who was backed by the Mercian earl Leofric and the chief men of the north. At a meeting of the witan at Oxford a compromise was ultimately arranged by which Harold was temporarily elected regent of all England, pending the final settlement of the question on the return of Hardicanute from Denmark. The compromise was strongly opposed by Godwine and Emma, who for a time forcibly held Wessex in Hardicanute’s behalf. But Harold’s party rapidly increased; and early in 1037 he was definitely elected king. Emma was driven out and took refuge at Bruges. In 1039 Hardicanute joined her, and together they concerted an attack on England. But next year Harold died; and Hardicanute peacefully succeeded. His short reign was marked by great oppression and cruelty. He caused the dead body of Harold to be dug up and thrown into a fen; he exacted so heavy a geld for the support of his foreign fleet that great discontent was created throughout the kingdom, and in Worcestershire a general uprising took place against those sent to collect the tax, whereupon he burned the city of Worcester to the ground and devastated the surrounding country; in 1041 he permitted Edwulf, earl of Northumbria, to be treacherously murdered after having granted him a safe-conduct. While “he stood at his drink” at the marriage feast of one of his flegns he was suddenly seized with a fit, from which he died a few days afterwards on the 8th of June 1042.
HARDING, CHESTER (1792-1866), American portrait painter, was born at Conway, Massachusetts, on the 1st of September 1792. Brought up in the wilderness of New York state, Harding, as a lad of splendid physique, standing over 6 ft. 3 in., marched as a drummer with the militia to the St Lawrence in 1813. He became subsequently chairmaker, peddler, inn-keeper, and house-painter, painting signs in Pittsburg, Pa., and eventually going on the road, self-taught, as an itinerant portrait painter. He made enough money to take him to the schools at the Philadelphia Academy of Design, and he soon became proficient enough to gain a competency, so that later he went to England and set up a studio in London. There he met with great success, painting royalty and the nobility, and, despite the lackings of an early education and social experience, he became a favourite in all circles. Returning to the United States, he settled in Boston and painted portraits of many of the prominent men and women of his time. He died on the 1st of April 1866.