CHAP. L.] JOSEPH'S DISPUTES WITH THE DUTCH. 225 source but to protest and comply. The barrier fortresses were then razed-a step which Austria had afterwards cause to rue. 3 The Emperor soon afterwards demanded from the Dutch the free navigation of the Scheldt; and this demand was accompanied with others respecting boundaries.' The States-General, in reply, appealed to the fourteenth article of the Treaty of Münster, ordering the closing of the Scheldt, and the fifth article of the Treaty of Vienna in 1731, abolishing the Ostend Company, and proscribing all commerce between the Austrian Netherlands and the Indies. They placed a Dutch squadron at the mouth of the Scheldt, renewed their treaty of alliance and subsidies with the Elector of Cologne, who was Joseph's brother, October 30th, 1784,2 and also endeavoured to renew their alliance with England, broken since the American war, to which we shall advert in a subsequent chapter. The English Cabinet determined to remain neutral, but the fear of such an alliance induced the French to support Holland. France continued to regard Austria, in spite of the alliance between the two countries, as a probable rival, and had always opposed the wish of Maria Theresa to be admitted into the Family Compact. Catharine II., on the other hand, supported the demands of the Emperor. To bring the question to an issue, Joseph ordered some Austrian ships to ascend the Scheldt, in attempting which they were fired upon by the Dutch. The Emperor now put an army of 30,000 men in motion; the Dutch opened their sluices, and everything seemed to threaten the outbreak of a war. But Louis XVI. declared to the Court of Vienna, that he should oppose any hostile attempt upon Holland; and causing two armies to assemble, one in Flanders, and the other on the Rhine, he offered his mediation. This led to a settlement. The Emperor relinquished his demands for a sum of nine and a half million guilders. The Dutch would pay only five million; but Louis engaged to make good the difference-a step which bred much ill blood among the French, who imputed it to Maria Antoinette's love for her brother Joseph. The Emperor had likewise demanded an apology for the insult to his flag; but he interrupted the Dutch deputies as soon as they began it. The definitive treaty, guaranteed by France, was signed at FONTAINEBLEAU, November 8th, 1785.* The Treaty of Münster was taken as its basis, and the Barrier 1 See Tableau sommaire des Prétentions de l'Empereur, presented at the Conferences in Brussels in May, 1784, in Martens, Erzählung merkw. Fälle des neuern Eur. Volkerrechts, ii. 50 f. 2 Martens, t. ii. p. 540. 3 Politique de tous les Cabinets, ap. Coxe, Spanish Bourbons, vol. iv. p. 311. 4 Martens, t. ii. p. 602. 226 DISSENSIONS IN HOLLAND. Treaty, and that of Vienna of 1731, were annulled. [CHAP. L. The Dutch having attained their main object in shutting up the Scheldt, made more cessions of forts, &c., even than the Emperor had demanded. The Dutch followed up this treaty with another of alliance with France, November 10th, 1785. Holland, as we have hinted, was at this time the scene of domestic disturbances, and one of the objects of the French alliance was to procure for the Republican party the support of France against the House of Orange. The dissensions of the two factions had been nourished by the long minority of the hereditary Stadholder William V. At the death 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 Stadholder 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 Stadholder, 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 Stadholderate, 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 patriot party dragged the United Provinces into the maritime war against England, 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 was 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 Martens, t. ii. p. 612. CHAP. L.] DEATH OF FREDERICK II. 227 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,1 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. The Republican party, encouraged by this alliance, proceeded to lengths which ultimately produced a revolution. William V., at the request of the States of Gelderland, who were devoted to his 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 themselves a 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. died August 17th, 1786, after a reign of forty-six years. If the title of GREAT may be justly bestowed on the Sovereign, 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 the 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 increase of his means and power is thus stated by a contemporary diplomatist: "He found, on his father's death, a revenue of 13,000,000 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 1 See Frederick's Letters in Hertzberg, Recueil de Déductions, t. ii. p. 394 sqq. 2 Despatch of Sir James Harris (afterwards Earl of Malmesbury) to the Earl of Suffolk, March 18th, 1766, in Adolphus, 228 THE STADHOLDER RESTORED BY PRUSSIA. [CHAP. L. 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 measureswith 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 served, 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 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 characterized 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 dispose 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 Stadholder. The negotiation 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 re-establish the Stadholder in his prerogatives. In September 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 CHAP. L.] TRIPLE ALLIANCE, 1788. 229 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, 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 two 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 declared, September 16th, that she would not suffer the Constitution of the United Provinces to be violated. But it was well known that the internal condition of France, now on the brink of a revolution, precluded her from all active interference. England declared that she would defend the Stadholder, 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 Stadholder, 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 Stadholder, Captain-General, and AdmiralGeneral were declared an essential part of the Constitution.' 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 Stadholdership to the family of Orange. On the same day a defensive alliance was also signed at Berlin 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. |