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History of Holland by George Edmundson

G >> George Edmundson >> History of Holland




In the years immediately succeeding the Peace of Utrecht difficulties
arose with Charles XII of Sweden; whose privateers had been seizing
Dutch and English merchantmen in the Baltic. Under De Witt or William
III the fleet of the Republic would speedily have brought the Swedish
king to reason. But now other counsels prevailed. Dutch squadrons sailed
into the Baltic with instructions to convoy the merchant vessels, but to
avoid hostilities. With some difficulty this purpose was achieved; and
the death of Charles at the siege of Frederikshald brought all danger of
war to an end. And yet in the very interests of trade it would have been
good policy for the States to act strongly in this matter of Swedish
piracy in the Baltic. Russia was the rising power in those regions. The
Dutch had really nothing to fear from Sweden, whose great days came to
an end with the crushing defeat of Charles XII at Pultova in 1709. Trade
relations had been opened between Holland and Muscovy so early as the
end of the 16th century; and, despite English rivalry, the opening out
of Russia and of Russian trade had been almost entirely in Dutch hands
during the 17th century. The relations between the two countries
became much closer and more important after the accession of the
enterprising and reforming Tsar, Peter the Great. It is well known how
Peter in 1696 visited Holland to learn the art of ship-building and
himself toiled as a workman at Zaandam. As a result of this visit he
carried back with him to Russia an admiration for all things Dutch. He
not only favoured Dutch commerce, but he employed numbers of Hollanders
in the building and training of his fleet and in the construction of
waterways and roads. In 1716-17 Peter again spent a considerable time in
Holland. Nevertheless Dutch policy was again timid and cautious; and no
actual alliance was made with Russia, from dread of entanglements,
although the opportunity seemed so favourable.

It was the same when in this year 1717 Cardinal Alberoni, at the
instigation of Elizabeth of Parma the ambitious second wife of Philip V,
attempted to regain Spain's lost possessions in Italy by an aggressive
policy which threatened to involve Europe in war. Elizabeth's object was
to obtain an independent sovereignty for her sons in her native country.
Austria, France and England united to resist this attempt to reverse the
settlement of Utrecht, and the States were induced to join with them in
a quadruple alliance. It was not, however, their intention to take any
active part in the hostilities which speedily brought Spain to reason,
and led to the fall of Alberoni. But the Spanish queen had not given up
her designs, and she found another instrument for carrying them out in
Ripperda, a Groningen nobleman, who had originally gone to Spain as
ambassador of the States. This able and scheming statesman persuaded
Elizabeth that she might best attain her ends by an alliance with
Austria, which was actually concluded at Vienna on April 1, 1725. This
alliance alarmed France, England and Prussia, but was especially
obnoxious to the Republic, for the emperor had in 1722 erected an East
India Company at Ostend in spite of the prohibition placed by Holland
and Spain in the treaties of 1714-15 upon Belgian overseas commerce. By
the Treaty of Alliance in 1725 the Spanish crown recognised the Ostend
Company and thus gave it a legal sanction. The States therefore, after
some hesitation, became parties to a defensive alliance against Austria
and Spain that had been signed by France, England and Prussia at Hanover
in September, 1728. These groupings of the powers were of no long
duration. The emperor, fearing an invasion of the Belgian provinces,
first agreed to suspend the Ostend Company for seven years, and then, in
order to secure the assent of the maritime powers to the Pragmatic
Sanction, which guaranteed to his daughter, Maria Theresa, the
succession to the Austrian hereditary domains, he broke with Spain and
consented to suppress the Ostend Company altogether. The negotiations
which took place at this time are very involved and complicated, but
they ended in a revival of the old alliance between Austria and the
maritime powers against the two Bourbon monarchies of France and Spain.
This return to the old policy of William III was largely the work of
Slingelandt, who had become council-pensionary on July 27, 1727.

Simon van Slingelandt, with the able assistance of his brother-in-law
Francis Fagel, clerk of the States-General, was during the nine years in
which he directed the foreign policy of the Republic regarded as one of
the wisest and most trustworthy, as he was the most experienced
statesman of his time. His aim was, in co-operation with England, to
maintain by conciliatory and peaceful methods the balance of power. Lord
Chesterfield, at that time the British envoy at the Hague, had the
highest opinion of Slingelandt's powers; and the council-pensionary's
writings, more especially his _Pensees impartiales_, published in 1729,
show what a thorough grasp he had of the political situation.
Fortunately the most influential ministers in England and France, Robert
Walpole and Cardinal Fleury, were like-minded with him in being sincere
seekers after peace. The Treaty of Vienna (March 18,1731), which secured
the recognition by the powers of the Pragmatic Sanction, was largely his
work; and he was also successful in preventing the question of the
Polish succession, after the death of Augustus of Saxony in 1733, being
the cause of the outbreak of a European war. In domestic policy
Slingelandt, though profoundly dissatisfied with the condition of the
Republic, took no steps to interfere with the form of government. He saw
the defects of the stadholderless system plainly enough, but he had not,
like Fagel, strong Orangist sympathies; and on his appointment as
council-pensionary he pledged himself to support during his tenure of
office the existing state of things. This undertaking he loyally kept,
and his strong personality during his life-time alone saved Holland, and
through Holland the entire Republic, from falling into utter ruin and
disaster. At his death Antony van der Heim became council-pensionary
under the same conditions as his predecessor. But Van der Heim,
though a capable and hard-working official, was not of the same calibre
as Slingelandt. The narrow and grasping burgher-regents had got a firm
grip of power, and they used it to suppress the rights of their
fellow-citizens and to keep in their own hands the control of municipal
and provincial affairs. Corruption reigned everywhere; and the patrician
oligarchy, by keeping for themselves and their relations all offices of
profit, grew rich at the same time that the finances of the State fell
into greater confusion. It was not a condition of things that could
endure, should any serious crisis arise.

John William Friso, on whom great hopes had been fixed, met with an
untimely death in 1711, leaving a posthumous child who became William
IV, Prince of Orange. Faithful Friesland immediately elected William
stadholder under the regency of his mother, Maria Louisa of
Hesse-Cassel. By her fostering care the boy received an education to fit
him for service to the State. Though of weakly bodily frame and slightly
deformed, William had marked intelligence, and a very gentle and kindly
disposition. Though brave like all his family, he had little inclination
for military things. The Republican party had little to fear from a man
of such character and disposition. The burgher-regents, secure in the
possession of power, knew that the Frisian stadholder was not likely to
resort either to violence or intrigue to force on a revolution.
Nevertheless the prestige of the name in the prevailing discontent
counted for much. William was elected stadholder of Groningen in 1718,
of Drente and of Gelderland in 1722, though in each case with certain
restrictions. But the other provinces remained obstinate in their
refusal to admit him to any place in their councils or to any military
post. The Estates of Zeeland went so far as to abolish the marquisate of
Flushing and Veere, which carried with it the dignity of first noble and
presidency in the meetings of the Estates, and offered to pay 100,000
fl. in compensation to the heir of the Nassaus. William refused to
receive it, saying that either the marquisate did not belong to him, in
which case he could not accept money for it, or it did belong to him and
was not for sale. William's position was advanced by his marriage in
1734 to Anne, eldest daughter of George II. Thus for the third time a
Princess Royal of England became Princess of Orange. The reception of
the newly married pair at Amsterdam and the Hague was, however, cool
though polite; and despite the representatives of Gelderland, who
urged that the falling credit and bad state of the Republic required the
appointment of an "eminent head," Holland, Utrecht, Zeeland and
Overyssel remained obdurate in their refusal to change the form of
government. William had to content himself with the measure of power he
had obtained and to await events. He showed much patience, for he had
many slights and rebuffs to put up with. His partisans would have urged
him to more vigorous action, but this he steadily refused to take.

The Republic kept drifting meanwhile on the downward path. Its
foreign policy was in nerveless hands; jobbery was rampant; trade
and industry declined; the dividends of the East India Company
fell year by year through the incompetence and greed of officials
appointed by family influence; the West India Company was
practically bankrupt. Such was the state of the country in 1740,
when the outbreak of the Austrian Succession War found the
Republic without leadership, hopelessly undecided what course of
action it should take, and only seeking to evade its responsibilities.

* * * * *




CHAPTER XXII

THE AUSTRIAN SUCCESSION WAR. WILLIAM IV, 1740-1751


The death of the Emperor Charles VI in October, 1740, was the signal for
the outbreak of another European war. All Charles' efforts on behalf of
the Pragmatic Sanction proved to have been labour spent in vain. Great
Britain, the United Provinces, Spain, Saxony, Poland, Russia, Sardinia,
Prussia, most of the smaller German States, and finally France, had
agreed to support (1738) the Pragmatic Sanction. The assent of Spain had
been bought by the cession of the two Sicilies; of France by that of
Lorraine, whose Duke Francis Stephen had married Maria Theresa and was
compensated by the Grand Duchy of Tuscany for the loss of his ancestral
domain. The only important dissentient was Charles Albert, Elector of
Bavaria, who had married the younger daughter of Joseph I and who
claimed the succession not only through his wife, but as the nearest
male descendant of Ferdinand I. On the death of Charles VI, then, it
might have been supposed that Maria Theresa would have succeeded to her
inheritance without opposition. This was far from being the case. The
Elector of Bavaria put forward his claims and he found unexpected
support in Frederick II of Prussia. Frederick had just succeeded his
father Frederick William I, and being at once ambitious and without
scruples he determined to seize the opportunity for the purpose of
territorial aggression. While lulling the suspicions of Vienna by
friendly professions, he suddenly, in December, 1740, invaded Silesia.
Maria Theresa appealed to the guarantors of the Pragmatic Sanction. She
met no active response, but on the part of Spain, Sardinia and France
veiled hostility. Great Britain, at war with Spain since 1739, and
fearing the intervention of France, confined her efforts to diplomacy;
and the only anxiety of the United Provinces was to avoid being drawn
into war. An addition was made to the army of 11,000 men and afterwards
in 1741, through dread of an attack on the Austrian Netherlands, a
further increase of 20,000 was voted. The garrisons and
fortifications of the barrier towns were strengthened and some addition
was made to the navy. But the policy of the States continued to be
vacillating and pusillanimous. The Republican party, who held the reins
of power, desiring peace at any price, were above all anxious to be on
good terms with France. The Orangist opposition were in favour of
joining with England in support of Maria Theresa; but the prince would
not take any steps to assert himself, and his partisans, deprived of
leadership, could exert little influence. Nor did they obtain much
encouragement from England, where Walpole was still intent upon a
pacific policy.

The events of 1741, however, were such as to compel a change of
attitude. The Prussians were in possession of Silesia; and spoliation,
having begun so successfully, became infectious. The aged Fleury was no
longer able to restrain the war party in France. In May at Nymphenburg a
league was formed by France, Spain, Sardinia, Saxony and Poland, in
conjunction with Prussia and Bavaria, to effect the overthrow of Maria
Theresa and share her inheritance between them. Resistance seemed
hopeless. A Franco-Bavarian army penetrated within a few miles of
Vienna, and then overran Bohemia. Charles Albert was crowned King of
Bohemia at Prague and then (January, 1742) was elected Emperor under the
title of Charles VII.

Before this election took place, however, English mediation had
succeeded by the convention of Klein-Schnellendorf in securing a
suspension of hostilities (October 9) between Austria and Prussia. This
left Frederick in possession of Silesia, but enabled the Queen of
Hungary, supported by English and Dutch subsidies, not only to clear
Bohemia from its invaders, but to conquer Bavaria. At the very time when
Charles Albert was elected Emperor, his own capital was occupied by his
enemies. In February, 1742, the long ministry of Walpole came to an end;
and the party in favour of a more active participation in the war
succeeded to office. George II was now thoroughly alarmed for the safety
of his Hanoverian dominions; and Lord Stair was sent to the Hague on a
special mission to urge the States to range themselves definitely on the
side of Maria Theresa. But fears of a French onslaught on the southern
Netherlands still caused timorous counsels to prevail. The French
ambassador, De Fenelon, on his part was lavish in vague promises not
unmingled with veiled threats, so that the feeble directors of Dutch
policy, torn between their duty to treaty obligations urged upon them by
England, and their dread of the military power of France, helplessly
resolved to cling to neutrality as long as possible. But events proved
too strong for them. Without asking their permission, an English force
of 16,000 men landed at Ostend and was sent to strengthen the garrison
of the barrier fortresses (May, 1742). The warlike operations of this
year were on the whole favourable to Maria Theresa, who through English
mediation, much against her will, secured peace with Prussia by the
cession of Silesia. The treaty between the two powers was signed at
Berlin on July 28. Hostilities with France continued; but, though both
the Maritime Powers helped Austria with subsidies, neither Great Britain
nor the States were at the close of the year officially at war with the
French king.

Such a state of precarious make-believe could not last much longer. The
Austrians were anxious that the English force in the Netherlands, which
had been reinforced and was known as the _Pragmatic Army_, should
advance into Bavaria to co-operate with the Imperial forces.
Accordingly the army, commanded by George II in person, advanced across
the Main to Dettingen. Here the king, shut in by French forces and cut
off from his supplies, was rescued from a very difficult position by the
valour of his troops, who on June 27, 1743 attacked and completely
routed their opponents. The States-General had already, on June 22,
recognised their responsibilities; and by a majority vote it was
determined that a force of 20,000 men under the command of Count Maurice
of Nassau-Ouwerkerk should join the _Pragmatic Army_.

The fiction that the Maritime Powers were not at war with France was
kept up until the spring of 1744, when the French king in alliance with
Spain declared war on England. One of the projects of the war party at
Versailles was the despatch of a powerful expedition to invade England
and restore the Stewarts. As soon as news of the preparations reached
England, a demand was at once made, in accordance with treaty, for naval
aid from the States. Twenty ships were asked for, but only eight were in
a condition to sail; and the admiral in command, Grave, was 73 years of
age and had been for fifteen years in retirement. What an object lesson
of the utter decay of the Dutch naval power! Fortunately a storm
dispersed the French fleet, and the services of the auxiliary squadron
were not required.

The news that Marshal Maurice de Saxe was about to invade the Austrian
Netherlands with a French army of 80,000 men came like a shock upon the
peace party in the States. The memory of 1672 filled them with terror.
The pretence of neutrality could no longer be maintained. The choice lay
between peace at any price or war with all its risks; and it was
doubtful which of the two alternatives was the worse. Was there indeed
any choice? It did not seem so, when De Fenelon, who had represented
France at the Hague for nineteen years, came to take leave of the
States-General on his appointment to a command in the invading army
(April 26). But a last effort was made. An envoy-extraordinary, the
Count of Wassenaer-Twickel, was sent to Paris, but found that the king
was already with his army encamped between Lille and Tournay. Wassenaer
was amused with negotiations for awhile, but there was no pause in the
rapid advance of Marshal Saxe. The barrier fortresses, whose defences
had been neglected, fell rapidly one after another. All west Flanders
was overrun. The allied forces, gathered at Oudenarde, were at first too
weak to offer resistance, and were divided in counsels. Gradually
reinforcements came in, but still the Pragmatic army remained inactive
and was only saved from inevitable defeat by the invasion of Alsace by
the Imperialists. Marshal Saxe was compelled to despatch a considerable
part of the invading army to meet this attack on the eastern frontier,
and to act on the defensive in Flanders. Menin, Courtrai, Ypres, Knocke
and other places remained, however, in French hands.

All this time the Dutch had maintained the fiction that the States were
not at war with France; but in January, 1745, the pressure of
circumstances was too strong even for the weak-kneed Van der Heim and
his fellow-statesmen, and a quadruple alliance was formed between
England, Austria, Saxony and the United Provinces to maintain the
Pragmatic Sanction. This was followed in March by the declaration of war
between France and the States. Meanwhile the position of Austria had
improved. The Emperor Charles VII died on January 20; and his youthful
successor Maximilian Joseph, in return for the restoration of his
electorate, made peace with Maria Theresa and withdrew all Bavarian
claims to the Austrian succession. Affairs in Flanders however did not
prosper. The command-in-chief of the allied army had been given to the
Duke of Cumberland, who was no match for such an opponent as Maurice de
Saxe. The Prince of Waldeck was in command of the Dutch contingent.

The provinces of Friesland, Groningen, Overyssel and Gelderland had
repeatedly urged that this post should be bestowed upon the Prince of
Orange; and the States-General had in 1742 offered to give William the
rank of lieutenant-general in the army, but Holland and Zeeland steadily
refused. The campaign of 1745 was disastrous. The battle of Fontenoy
(May 11) resulted in a victory for Marshal Saxe over the allied forces,
a victory snatched out of the fire through the pusillanimous withdrawal
from the fight of the Dutch troops on the left wing. The British
infantry with magnificent valour on the right centre had pierced through
the French lines, only to find themselves deserted and overwhelmed by
superior forces. This victory was vigorously followed up. The Jacobite
rising under Charles Edward, the young Pretender, had necessitated the
recalling not only of the greater part of the English expeditionary
force, but also, under the terms of the treaties between Great Britain
and the United Provinces, of a body of 6000 Dutch. Before the year 1745
had ended, Tournay, Ghent, Bruges, Oudenarde, Dendermonde, Ostend,
Nieuport, Ath fell in succession into the hands of Marshal Saxe, and
after a brave defence Brussels itself was forced to capitulate on
February 19, 1746.

Van der Heim and the Republican conclave in whose hands was the
direction of foreign affairs, dreading the approach of the French armies
to the Dutch frontier, sent the Count de Larrey on a private mission to
Paris in November, 1745, to endeavour to negotiate terms of peace. He
was unsuccessful; and in February, 1746 another fruitless effort was
made, Wassenaer and Jacob Gilles being the envoys. The French minister,
D'Argenson, was not unwilling to discuss matters with them; and
negotiations went on for some time in a more or less desultory way, but
without in any way checking the alarming progress of hostilities. An
army 120,000 strong under Marshal Saxe found for some months no force
strong enough to resist it. Antwerp, Louvain, Mechlin, Mons, Charleroi,
Huy and finally Namur (September 21) surrendered to the French. At last
(October 11) a powerful allied army under the command of Charles of
Lorraine made a stand at Roucoux. A hardly-fought battle, in which both
sides lost heavily, ended in the victory of the French. Liege was taken,
and the French were now masters of Belgium.

These successes made the Dutch statesmen at the Hague the more anxious
to conclude peace. D'Argenson had always been averse to an actual
invasion of Dutch territory; and it was arranged between him and the
Dutch envoys, Wassenaer and Gilles, at Paris, and between the
council-pensionary Van der Heim and the Abbe de la Ville at the Hague,
that a congress should meet at Breda in August, in which England
consented to take part. Before it met, however, Van der Heim had died
(August 15). He was succeeded by Jacob Gilles. The congress was destined
to make little progress, for several of the provinces resented the way
in which a small handful of men had secretly been committing the
Republic to the acceptance of disadvantageous and humiliating terms of
peace, without obtaining the consent of the States-General to their
proposals. The congress did not actually assemble till October, and
never got further than the discussion of preliminaries, for the war
party won possession of power at Paris, and Louis XV dismissed
D'Argenson. Moderate counsels were thrown to the winds; and it was
determined in the coming campaign to carry the war into Dutch territory.

Alarm at the threatening attitude of the French roused the allies to
collect an army of 90,000 men, of whom more than half were Austrian;
but, instead of Charles of Lorraine, the Duke of Cumberland was placed
in command. Marshal Saxe, at the head of the main French force, held
Cumberland in check, while he despatched Count Loewenthal with 20,000 to
enter Dutch Flanders. His advance was a triumphal progress. Sluis,
Cadsand and Axel surrendered almost without opposition. Only the timely
arrival of an English squadron in the Scheldt saved Zeeland from
invasion.

The news of these events caused an immense sensation. For some time
popular resentment against the feebleness and jobbery of the
stadholderless government had been deep and strong. Indignation knew no
bounds; and the revolutionary movement to which it gave rise was as
sudden and complete in 1747 as in 1672. All eyes were speedily turned to
the Prince of Orange as the saviour of the country. The movement began
on April 25 at Veere and Middelburg in the island of Walcheren. Three
days later the Estates of the Province proclaimed the prince stadholder
and captain-and admiral-general of Zeeland. The province of Holland,
where the stadholderless form of government was so deeply rooted and had
its most stubborn and determined supporters, followed the example of
Zeeland on May 3, Utrecht on May 5, and Overyssel on May 10. The
States-General appointed him captain-and admiral-general of the Union.
Thus without bloodshed or disturbance of any kind or any personal effort
on the part of the prince, he found himself by general consent invested
with all the posts of dignity and authority which had been held by
Frederick Henry and William III. It was amidst scenes of general popular
rejoicing that William visited Amsterdam, the Hague and Middelburg, and
prepared to set about the difficult task to which he had been called.

One of the first results of the change of government was the closing of
the Congress of Breda. There was no improvement, however, in the
military position. The allied army advancing under Cumberland and
Waldeck, to prevent Marshal Saxe from laying siege to Maestricht, was
attacked by him at Lauffeldt on July 2. The fight was desperately
contested, and the issue was on the whole in favour of the allies, when
at a critical moment the Dutch gave way; and the French were able to
claim, though at very heavy cost, a doubtful victory. It enabled Saxe
nevertheless to despatch a force under Loewenthal to besiege the
important fortress of Bergen-op-Zoom. It was carried by assault on
September 16, and with it the whole of Dutch Brabant fell into the
enemy's hands.

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