h..':'.i i3J MZb CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY FROM The Estate of a.L.Burr DATE out JAN 71949*? ■■r itf^R ' I 1 957 H 2 ^ CorneH University Library DJ 226.V26 Rise of the Dutch kingdom, 1795-1813: 3 1924 028 527 848 The Rise of the Dutch Kingdom Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924028527848 WILLIAM I The Rise of the Dutch Kingdom 1795-1813 A SHORT ACCOUNT OF THE EARLY DEVELOPMENT OF THE MODERN KINGDOM OF THE NETHERLANDS BY Hendrik Willem van Loon, ILLUSTRATED GARDEN CITY NEW YORK DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY^ 1915 Copyright, 1915, by DOUBLEDAY, PaGE & CoMPANY All rights reserved, including that of translation into foreign languages, including the Scandinavian DEDICATION This little book, telling the story of our national usur- pation by a foreign enemy during the beginning of the nineteenth century, appears at a moment when our nearest neighbours are suffering the same fate which befell us more than a hundred years ago. I dedicate my work to the five soldiers of the Belgian army who saved my life near Waerloos. I hope that their grandchildren may read a story of na- tional revival which will be as complete and happy as that of our own land. Brussels, Belgium, Christmas night, 191 4. APOLOGIA And for those other faults of barbarism, Doric dialect, extemporanean style, tautologies, apish imita- tion, a rhapsody of rags gathered together from several dung-hills, excrements of authors, toys and fopperies confusedly tumbled out, without art, invention, judg- ment, wit, learning, harsh, raw, rude, fantastical, absurd, insolent, indiscreet, ill-composed, indigested, vain, scurrile, idle, dull, and dry, I confess all ('tis partly affected) ; thou canst not think worse of me than I do of myself. So that as a river runs, sometimes precipitate and swift, then dull and slow; now direct, then fer ambages; now deep, then shallow; now muddy, then clear; now broad, then narrow; doth my style flow: now serious, then light; now comical, then satirical; now more elaborate, then remiss, as the present subject required or as at that time I was affected. And if thou vouchsafe to read this treatise, it shall seem no otherwise to thee than the way to an ordinary traveller, sometimes fair, sometimes foul, here champaign, there enclosed; barren in one place, better soil in another. — Anatomy of Melancholy. — Burton. vi FOREWORD THIS foreword is an afterthought. It was written when the first proofs of the book had gone back to the printer. And this is how it took its origin: A few days ago I received a copy of a Dutch historical magazine containing a violent attack upon one of my former books. The reviewer, who evidently neither had taken the time to read my book nor had taken the trouble to understand what I was trying to say, accused me among other things of a haughty contempt for my forefathers during their time of decline. Haughty con- tempt, indeed ! Nay, Brother of the Acrid Pen, was it not the truth which hurt thee so unexpectedly rather than my scornful irony? There are those who claim that reviews do not matter. There are those who, when their work is talked about with supercilious ignorance, claim that an author ought to forget what has been said about his work. Pious wish! The writer who really cares for his work can no more forget an undeserved insult to the product of his brain than he can forgive a harsh word given unmerited to one of his children. The thing rankles. And in my desire to see a pleasant face, to talk this hurt away, as soon as I arrived this morning in New York I went to see a friend. He has an office downtown. It overlooks vii FOREWORD the harbour. From its window one beholds the Old World entering the new one by way of the Ellis Island ferryboat. It was early and I had to wait. Over the water there hung a low, thin mist. Sea-gulls, very white against the gray sky, were circling about. And then suddenly, in the distance, there appeared a dark form coming sliding slowly through the fog. And through a window, opened to get over the suffocating effect of the steam- heat, there sounded the vibrating tones of a hoarse steam-whistle — a sound which brought back to me my earliest years spent among ships and craft of all sorts, and queer noises of water and wind and steam. And then, after a minute, I recognized by its green and white funnel that it was one of our own ships which was com- ing up the harbour. And at that instant everything upon which I had been brooding became so clear to me that I took to the nearest typewriter, and there, in front of that same open window, I sit and write what I have understood but a moment ago. Once, we have been a very great people. We have had a slow decline and we have had a fall which we caused by our own mistakes and during which we showed the worst sides of our character. But now all this has changed. And at the present moment we have a better claim to a place on the honour-list of nations than the mere fact that once upon a time, some three centuries ago, our ancestors did valiant deeds. viii FOREWORD For, more important, because more difficult of ac- complishment, there stands this one supreme fact: we have come back. What I shall have to tell you in the following pages, if you are inclined to regard it as such, will read like a mockery of one's own people. But who is there that has studied the events of those years between 1795-1815 who did not feel the utter indignation, the terrible shame, of so much cowardice, of such hopeless vacillation in the hour of need, of such indifference to civic duties? Who has ever tried to understand the events of the year of Restoration who does not know that there was very little glory connected with an event which the self-contented contemporary delighted to compare to the great days of the struggle against Spanish tyranny? And who that has studied the history of the early nineteenth century does not know how for two whole generations after the Napo- leonic wars our country was no better than a negative power, tolerated because so inoffensive? And who, when he compares what was one hundred years ago with what is to-day, can fail to see what a miracle of human energy here has happened? I have no statistics at hand to tell you about our shipping, our imports and exports, or to show you the very favourable place which the next to the smallest among the nations occupies. Nor can I, without looking it up, write down for your benefit what we have invented, have written, have painted. Nor is it my desire to show you in detail how ix FOREWORD the old neglected inheritance of the East India Company has been transformed into a colonial empire where not only the intruding Hollander but where the native, too, has a free chance to develop and to prosper. But what I can say and will say with all emphasis is this : Look where you will, in whatever quarter of the globe you desire, and you will find Holland again upholding her old traditions for efficiency, energy, and tenacity of purpose. Pay a visit to the Hollander at home and you will find that he is trying to solve with the same ancient industry of research the eternal problems of nature, while with the utmost spirit of modern times he at- tempts to reconstruct the relationship between those who have and those who have not, until a basis mutually more beneficial shall have been established. Then you will see how upon all sides there has been a return to a renewed interest in life and to a desire to do cheerfully those tasks which the country has been set to do. And then you will understand how the year 1913, proud of what has been achieved, though not content that the goal has been reached, can well afford to tell the truth about the year 1813. For after a century and a half of decline Holland once more has aspired to be great in everything in which a small nation can be great. New York, N. Y., October 31, 1913. CONTENTS PAGE Apologia vi Foreword vii Dramatis Persons xv Prologue 3 The Last Days of the Old Order .... 11 The Revolution 31 The Cost of Revolution 45 The Provisional 55 The Opening Ceremonies 69 PiETER Paulus 77 National Assembly No. I at Work ... 83 National Assembly No. II at Work • • • 93 Glory Abroad ... 103 Coup d'Etat No. I iii The Constitutional 123 Coup d'Etat No. II 131 Constitution No. II at Work 141 More Glory Abroad 147 Constitution No. Ill 155 The Third Constitution at Work .... 163 Economic Condition 167 Social Life 177 Peace 185 xi CONTENTS PAGE schimmelpenninck i93 King Louis of Holland 203 The Department Formerly Called Holland 215 Liberation 227 The Restoration 243 William I 251 A Comparison of the Four Constitutions of Holland 263 Bibliography 271 xu LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS HALF-TONES William I Frontispiece FACING PAGE The Estates of Holland . 20 Flight of William V 22 Krayenhoff 31 Warship entering the "Port of Amsterdam .... 34 Daendels . 36 French troops entering Amsterdam 38 Capetown captured by the English 60 Pieter Paulus 77 The National Assembly 83 The speaker of the Assembly welcoming the French minister 86 Invasion of the British 148 Dutch troops rushing to the defence of the coast . 150 Armed bark of the year 1801 167 The executive council of the East India Company . 168 Dutch ships frozen in the ice 170 Batavia — the fashionable quarter 172 A country place 177 Skating on the River Maas at Rotterdam .... 178 Trades: Printer, Bookbinder, Diamond Cutter, The Mint 180 Schimmelpenninck 193 Schimmelpenninck arrives at The Hague .... 196 Louis ^ikftfilsQft 203 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS FACING FAGS Napoleon visits Amsterdam 215 Departure of Gardes D'Honneur from Amsterdam . 220 Gysbert Karel van Hogendorp 227 Proclamation of the new government 232 Arrival of William I in Scheveningen .... 238 Lieutenant Van Speyck blows up his ship . . . 254 King William II 256 Line maps in text on pages 17, 25, 94, 207, 216, 217, 252 XIV DRAMATIS PERSONS Dramatis persons (in order of their appearance). Curtain; December, 1795. William V: Last hereditary Stadholder, futile, well- meaning, but without any conception of the events which during the latter half of the eighteenth century brought about the new order of things. Unable to institute the highly necessary centralization of the country and emancipate the middle classes, which for the last three centuries have been cut totally out of all political power. He is driven out by the French Rev- olution more than by his own discontented countrymen. Dies, forgotten, on his country estates in Germany. The Patriots: Mildly revolutionary party, since the middle of the eighteenth century working for a more centralized and somewhat more representative govern- ment. Belong almost without exception to the pro- fessional and higher middle classes. Represented in the new Batavian Assemblies mostly under the name of Unionists. The Regents: The old plutocratic oligarchy. Dis- appear with the triumph of the Patriots. Continue opposition to the centrahzing process, but for all intents and purposes they have played their little role when the old republic ceases to be. XV DRAMATIS PERSONS The Federalists: Combine all the opposition elements in the new Batavian Republic which work to maintain the old decentralization. Daendels: Lawyer, cart-tail orator, professional exile. Fallen hero of the Patriotic struggles; flees to Belgium when the Prussians in 1787 restore William V to his old dignities. Returns in 1795 as quite a hero and a French major-general. Later with French help organizes a number of coups d'etat which finally remove the oppos- ing FederaHsts and give the power to the Unionists. A capable man in many ways. An enthusiast who spared others as little as he did himself. Krayenhoff: Doctor, physicist, experiments in new medical theories with same cheer he does in the new science of politics. Able and efficient in everything he undertakes. Too much of a man of principle and honesty to make much of a career during revolutionary days. Pieter Paulus: The sort of man who twenty years before might have saved the Republic if only the Stad- holder had known how to avail himself of such a simple citizen possessed of so much common sense. Trained thoroughly in the intricate working of the Republic's government. Scrupulously honest. So evidently the One and Only Man to lead the new Batavian Republic that he was killed immediately by overwork. , Schimmelpenninck: Lawyer, man of unselfish patri- otism, honest, careful, no sense of humour, but a very sober sense of the practically possible. No lover of xvi DRAMATIS PERSON.E extremes, but in no way blind to the impossibility of maintaining the old, outworn system of government. Tries at his own private inconvenience to save the coun- try, but when he fails keeps the everlasting respect of both his enemies and those who were supposed to be his friends. France, or, rather, the French Revolution, regards the Republic in the same way in which a poor man looks upon a rich man with a beefsteak. Being possessed of a strong club, it hits the rich man on the head, grabs his steak, his clothes, everything he possesses, and then makes him turn about and fight his former friends. Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity: Trademark pat- ented by the French Republic between the years 1790 and 1809. The goods covered by this trademark soon greatly deteriorate and finally cover a rank imitation of the original article. Napoleon Bonaparte: Chief salesman of the above article for the territory abroad. Further references unnecessary. Gets a controlling hold of the firm in which at first he was a subordinate. Removes the article which made him successful from the market and introduces a new brand, covered merely with a big N. Firm fails in 181 5. The involuntary customers pay the deficit. England: Chief enemy of above. In self-defence against the Franco-Dutch combination, it takes all of the Republic's outlying territories. Louis Napoleon: Second brother of Napoleon Bona- xvii DRAMATIS PERSONiE parte. Only gentleman of the family. Made King of Holland in anticipation of a complete French annexa- tion. Makes an honest but useless attempt to prevent this annexation. Wife (Napoleoji's stepdaughter) no good. Son, Napoleon III, Emperor of the French. Le Brun, Duke of Plaisance: Governor of the annexed Republic. Makes the very best of a rather odious job. Far superior to the corps of brigands who were his sub- ordinates. Van Hogendorp: Incarnation of the better elements of the old order; supporter of William V, although very much aware of the uselessness of that prince. Has seen a little more of the world than most of his con- temporaries. During the Batavian Republic and an- nexation refuses to have anything to do with what he considers an illegitimate form of government. Man of great strength who, practically alone, arranges the Revolution of 1813, which drives out the French before the European allies can conquer the Republic. William I: First constitutional King of Holland, oldest son of William V, has learned a good deal abroad, but only during the last ten years of his exile. Person- ally a man of the Old Regime, but with too excellent a business sense not to see that the times have changed. Rather too much a business man and too little a states- man. Excellent organizer. In many ways too energetic. Pity he did not live a hundred years later. Of the real people we shall see very little. A small minority, very small indeed, will try to make a noise xviii DRAMATIS PERSONS like Jacobins. But their little comedy is abruptly ended by the great French stage manager every time he thinks that such rowdy acting is no longer suitable. Unfortu- nately for themselves, they began their particular acting three years later than Paris, and, fortunately for the rest of us, the sort of plays written around the guillotine were no longer popular in France when the managers in Holland wished to introduce them. The majority of the people, however, gradually impoverished by eternal taxation, without the old revenues from the colonies, with their sons enlisted and serving a bad cause in foreign armies — the majority takes to a dis- astrous way of vegetating at home, takes to leading an introspective and non-constructive religious life, finally despairing of everything save paternal despotism. In the country everything becomes Frenchified. The fashions are the fashions of Paris (two years late). Furniture, books, literature, everything except an old- fashioned and narrow orthodoxy becomes a true but clumsy copy of the French. The other actors in our little play are foreigners: Sansculottes, French soldiers of all arms, British and Russian invaders, captives from all of the Lord's coun- tries, French customs officers, French policemen, French spies, adventurers of every sort and nationality; French bands playing the "Carmagnole" and "Marseillaise," ad infinitum and ad na-useam. Finally Cossacks, Russian Infantry, Bliicher Hussars, followed by a sudden and wild crowd of citizens waving xix DRAMATIS PERSONS orange colours. And then, once more for many years, dull, pious citizens, taking no interest in anything but their own respectability, looking at the world from be- hind closed curtains, so terribly hit by adversity that they no longer dare to be active. Until this generation gradually takes the road to the welcome cemetery, the curtains are pulled up, the windows are opened, and a fresh spirit of energy and enterprise is allowed to blow through the old edifice, and the old fear of living is re- placed by the desire to take an active part in the work of the greater world. XX The Rise of the Dutch Kingdom The Rise of the Dutch Kingdom PROLOGUE AND now — behold the scene changes. The old RepubHc of the United Netherlands, once the stronghold of an incipient liberty, the asylum to which for many centuries fled all those who were per- secuted — this same republic will be regarded by the disciples of the great French Revolution as another Bastille of usurped power, as the incarnation of all despotic principles, and will soon be demolished by its own eager citizens. The ruins will be carted away as so much waste material, unworthy of being used in the great New Temple now to be constructed to the truly divine principles of Liberty, Fraternity, and Equality. The old Stadholder, last representative of the illustrious House of Orange, alternately the Father of his Country and the Beast of the Book of Revelation, will flee for his life and will spend the rest of his days in England or Germany, nobody knows and nobody cares where. Their High and Mightinesses of the Estates, proud lit- tle potentates once accustomed to full sovereign honours, refusing to receive the most important communication unless provided with their full and correct titles, these same High and Mightinesses will have to content them- 3 THE RISE OF THE DUTCH KINGDOM selves with the even greater honour of being called Citizen Representatives. Their ancient meeting hall, too sacred to allow the keeping of official records of their meetings, will be thesight of the town and will be patron- ized by the loafers to whom the rights of men mean a Maypole, the tricolor, free gin, and a brass band. Why go on with a minute recital? The end of the world has come. The days of tyranny, of indignity to the sover- eign sanctity of the individual, are over. Regents, coal-heavers, patriots, fish peddlers, officers and soldiers, soon they are all to be of the same human clay. The vote of one is as good as that of the other. Wherefore, in the name of Equality, give them all a chance and see what will come of it. If a constitution does not suit at the first attempt, use it to feed a patriotic bonfire. After all, what else is it but some woodpulp and printer's ink? If the parliament of to-day does not please the voters of to-morrow, dissolve it, close it with the help of gendarmes. If the members resist, call out the reserves or borrow some soldiers from the great sister republic, which is now teaching her blessed creed to all the world. They (the soldiers) are there for the asking (and for the paying). They are a little out at the elbows, very much out in regard to shoes, and they have not seen a real piece of money for many a weary month, but for a square meal and a handful of paper greenbacks they will dismiss a parliament, rob a museum, or levy taxes, with the utmost fidelity to their orders and with strict dis- cipline to their master's commands. 4 PROLOGUE Then, if constitutions and parliaments have failed in an equal degree, humbly beg for a king from among that remarkable family the father of which was a little pettifogging lawyer in a third-rate Italian city, and the members of which now rule one half of the European continent. After the rights of men, the rights of a single man. In the great melting pot of the Bonapartistic empire all Hollanders at last become equal in the real sense of the word. They all have the same chance at promotion, at riches, and the pursuit of happiness. Devotion to the master, and devotion to him alone, will bring rec- ognition from the new divinity who issues orders signed with a single gigantic N. Old Republic of the United Netherlands, enlightened Republic of the Free Batavian Proconsulate, Kingdom of Holland, it's all the same to the man who regards this little land as so much mud, deposited by his own, his French, rivers. Vainly and desperately the bankrupt little Kingdom of Brother Louis has struggled to maintain a semblance of independence. A piece of paper, a big splotchy N, and the whole comedy is over. The High and Mightinesses, the Citizen Representa- tives, First Consul, Royal Majesty, all the big and little political wirepullers of fifteen years of unstable government, are swept away, are told to hold their peace, and to contribute money and men, money and men, more money and men, to carry the glory of the S THE RISE OF THE DUTCH KINGDOM capital N to the uttermost corners of the world. Never mind about their government, their language, the remembrance of the old days of glorious renown. The old days are over for good. The language has no right to exist save as a patois for rustic yokels. As for the government, gold-laced adventurers, former barkeepers, and prize-fighters, now bearers of historic titles, will be sent to look after that. They come with an army of followers, tax-gatherers, policemen, and spies. They execute their duties in the most approved Napoleonic fashion. There is war in Spain and there is war in Russia. There is murder to be done in Portugal, and there is plunder to be gathered in Germany. The Hollander does not care for this sort of work. Never mind his private likes and dislikes! Hang a few, shoot a few, and the rest will march fast enough! And so, up and down the Spanish peninsula, up but not down the Russian steppes, the Hollander who cared too much for trade to bother about politics is forced to march for the glory of that letter N. Amsterdam is reduced from the richest city in Europe to a forgotten nest, where the grass grows on the streets and where half of the population is kept alive by public charity. What matters it? His Majesty has reviewed the new Polish and Lithuanian regiments and is highly contented with their appearance. The British have taken all the colonies, and the people eat grass for bread and drink chiccory for coffee. Who cares? His Majesty has bought a new goat cart for the King of Rome, his august son, and is tremendously 6 PROLOGUE pleased with the new acquisition. The country is bankrupt. Such a simple matter! Some more paper, another scrawly N, and the State debt is reduced by two thirds. A hundred thousand famihes are ruined, but his Majesty sleeps as well as ever and indeed never felt better in his life. Until this capital letter goes the way of all big and small letters of the historical alphabet, and is put away in Clio's box of enormities for all time And then, O patient reader, who wonders what all this rhetoric is leading to, what shall we then have to tell you ? How out of the ruin of untried schemes, the terrible failures, the heartbreaking miseries of these two dec- ades of honest enthusiasm and dishonest exploitation, there arose a new State, built upon a firmer ground than ever before, ready and willing to take upon itself the burden and the duties of a modern community, and showing in the next century that nothing is lost as long as the spirit of hopefulness and cheerful work and the firm belief in one's own destiny are allowed to survive material ruin. Amen. I THE LAST DAYS OF THE OLD ORDER DECEMBER, I795 I THE LAST DAYS OF THE OLD ORDER DECEMBER, 1795 IT IS the year of grace 1795, and the eighth of the glorious French Revolution. For almost a century there has been friction between the different parts of the population. A new generation has grown up in an at- mosphere of endless political debate — finally of mere political scandal. But now the days of idle discussions are over. More than forty years before, manifestly in the year 1745, the intelligent middle classes began their agitation for a share in the government, a government which during the days of great commercial prosperity has fallen entirely into the hands of the capitalistic classes. In this struggle, reasonable enough in itself, they have looked for guidance to the House of Orange. Alas! those princes who so often have led the people, who have made this nation what it is, whose name has come to stand for the very land of which they are the hired executives — these princes now no longer are in direct touch with the basic part of the nation. This time they have failed to see their manifest duty. Left to their own devices, the reformers, the Patriots as they II THE RISE OF THE DUTCH KINGDOM are commonly called, have fallen into bad hands. They have mistaken mere rhetoric for action. They have allowed themselves to be advised by hot-headed young men, raw boys, filled with undigested philosophies borrowed from their better-instructed neighbours. As their allies they have taken experienced politicians who were willing to use this party of enthusiasts for their own selfish purposes. More through the mistakes of their enemies than through the virtue of their own partisans, the Patriots have gained a victory in the Chambers of the old Estates, where the clumsy ma- chinery of the republican government, outworn and ill- fitted for modern demands, rolls on like some forgotten water-wheel in an ancient forest. This victory, however, has been won too easily to be of any value to the conqueror. The Patriots, believing themselves safe behind their wall of mere words, have gone out of their way to insult the hereditary Stad- holder. What is worse, they have given offence to his wife, the sister of the King of Prussia. Ten years before, in the last English war, through a policy of criminal ignorance, they risked their country's last bit of naval strength in an uneven quarrel. This time (we mean the year 1787) they bring upon themselves the military strength of the best-drilled country of the western world. In less than one week the Prussians have blown together this card-house of the Dutch Patriots. Their few untrained soldiers have fled without firing a single shot. Stadholder WilHam once more drives in state 12 THE LAST DAYS OF THE OLD ORDER to his ancestral palace in the woods, and again his clumsy fingers try to unravel the perplexing maze of this antiquated government — ^with the same result as before. He cannot do it. Truth is, that the old govern- ment is hopelessly beyond repair. Demolition and com- plete reconstruction alone will save the country from anarchy. But where is the man with the courage and the tenacity of purpose to undertake this gigantic task? Certainly it is not William, to whom a new cockade on the cap of his soldiers is of vastly more importance than a reform of the legislative power. Nor can anything be hoped from old Van den Spiegel, the Raadpensionaris, a man nearing the seventies, who desires more the rest of his comfortable Zeeland estate than the hopeless management of an impossible government. There is, of course, the Princess Wilhelmina, the wife of William, a woman possessed of all the strength and executive ability of her great-uncle Frederick, the late King of Prussia. But just now she is regarded as the arch- traitress, the Jezebel of the country. Alone she can do nothing, and among the gold-laced brethren who doze in the princely anterooms there is not a man of even mediocre ability. For a short while a young man, trained abroad, capable observer, shrewd in the judgment of his fellow- men, and willing to make personal sacrifices for his principles, has supported her with vigorous counsel. But he, too, has given up the hopeless task of inciting the Stadholder to deeds of energy, and we shall not 13 THE RISE OF THE DUTCH KINGDOM hear the name of Gysbrecht Karel van Hogendorp until twenty years later, when in the quiet of his study he shall prepare the first draft of the constitution of the new Kingdom of the Netherlands and shall make ready for the revolution which must overthrow the French yoke. In Rotterdam, leading the uneventful life of a civilian director of the almost defunct Admiralty, there is Pieter Paulus, who for a moment promised to play the role of a Dutch Mirabeau. He, too, however, found no elements with which he could do any constructive work. He has retired to his books and vouchers, trying to solve the puzzle of how to pay captains and sailors out of an empty treasury. A country of a million and a half of people, a country which for more than a century has led the destinies of Europe, cannot be devoid of capable men in so short a time? Then — ^where are they.'' Most of them are still within the boundaries of the old republic. But dis- heartened by the disgrace of foreign invasion, by the muddling of Patriot and regent, they sulk at home and await the things that are bound to come. Many citizens, some say 40,000, but probably less than 30,000, have fled the country and are exiled abroad. They fill the little Belgian cities along the Dutch frontier. They live from hand to mouth. They petition the govern- ment in Paris, they solicit help from the govern- ment in London, they will appeal to everybody who may have anything to give, be he friend or enemy. H THE LAST DAYS OF THE OLD ORDER When support is not forthcomlng-r-and usually the petitioned party turns a deaf ear — they run up a bill at the little political club where their credit is good, until the steward himself shall go into bankruptcy. Then they renew their old appeals, until finally they receive a few grudging guilders, and as barroom poli- ticians they await the day of vengeance and a return to the fraternal fleshpots. Meanwhile in The Hague, where, as of old, the Stad- holder plays at being a little monarch, what is being done ? Nothing ! The year 1789 comes and brings the beginning of the great French Revolution. The government of the republic thinks of the frightful things that might have happened if the Patriots, instead of the Prussians, had been successful in 1787, and it draws the lines of re- action tighter than before. At the same time a new business depression sets in. Large banking houses fail. The West India Company of glorious memory is dis- solved and put into the receiver's hands. Two years more and France declares war upon the republic and upon England. The unwilling people are urged to fight, but refuse. Town after town is surren- dered without the firing of a single shot. It was the dis- sension in the French camp — it was the treason of Dumouriez — ^which this time saved the country, not the bravery of its soldiers. And the moment the French had reorganized their forces, the cause of the Stadholder was lost. In the years 1794 and 1795 new attacks 15 THE RISE OF THE DUTCH KINGDOM followed. Driven into a corner, with a vague feeling that this tinie it meant the end of things, the defence showed a little more courage than before. Of organiza- tion, however, there was not a vestige. In between useless fortifications, insufficiently manned and badly defended, the French Revolutionary armies walked straight to the well-filled coflFers of rich Amsterdam. It was midwinter. The rivers were frozen. How often had the ice served the invader as a welcome road into this impassable country! And just how often had not divine Providence interfered with a timely thaw and had changed the victorious inroad into a disastrous rout? It had happened time and again during the rebellion against Spain. It had happened in the year 1672 when the cowardly neglect of a Dutch commander alone had saved the army of Louis XIV from total annihilation. Again, in this year of grace 1795, the people expected a miracle. But miracles do not come to those who are not prepared to help themselves. The frost continued. For two weeks the thermometer did not rise above the freezing point. The Maas and the Waal, large rivers which were seldom frozen over, became solid banks of ice. Wherever the French troops crossed them they were welcomed as deliverers. The country, honeycombed with treason, overrun with hungry exiles hastening home to a bed with clean linen, and a well-filled pantry, hailed the ragged sanscuUottes as the bringers of a new day of light. 16 THE LAST DAYS OF THE OLD ORDER 17 THE RISE OF THE DUTCH KINGDOM William, among his turnip-gardens and his little bodyguard, surrounded by his trivial court, wondered what the end was going to be. When first he entered upon the struggle with the Patriots it was the head of old King Charles which had haunted him in his dreams. Now he had fresh visions of another but similar episode. Two years before his good brother, the Citizen Capet, had climbed the scaffold for his last view of his rebel- lious subjects. Since then all that was highest and finest and noblest in the French capital had trundled down the road which led to the Place de la Concorde. William was not of the stock of which heroes and martyrs are made. What was to become of him when the French should reach The Hague? The advance guard of the invading army was now in Utrecht. One day's distance for good cavalry separated the revolu- tionary soldiers from the Dutch capital. The jewels and other valuables of the princely family had been sent away three months before, and were safely stored in the Castle of Brunswick. The personal belongings of the august household had been packed and were ready for immediate transportation. All running accounts had been settled and closed. What ready money there was left had been carefully collected and had been put up for convenient use by the fugitives. Remained the all-important question, "Where would they go?" Evidently no one at the court seems to have known. There still was a large British auxiliary army in the eastern provinces of the republic; but at i8 THE LAST DAYS OF THE OLD ORDER the first approach of the French troops, the British soldiers had hastily crossed Gelderland and Overysel and had fled eastward toward Germany, a disorganized mob, burning and plundering as they went along to make up for the hardships of this terrible winter. Close at their heels followed the French army, strengthened by Dutch volunteers, guided by young Daendels, who knew his native province of Gelderland as he did the home town of Hattum. This time the young Patriot came as the conquering hero, and by the capture of the fortification of Heusden he cut off the road which con- nected the province of Holland with Germany. To the north, to Helder, the road was still open. And the fleet, assembled near Texel, was entirely de- pendable. But before William could make up his mind to go northward it was too late. The sudden surrender of Utrecht, the march of the French upon Amsterdam, cut off this second road, too. There remained but one way: to take ship in Scheveningen and flee to England. The only vessels now available were small fishing smacks, not unlike in form and rigging to the craft of the early vikings. The idea was far from inviting. The ships were bad sailers at all times. In winter they were positively dangerous. Now, however, these little vessels were all that was left, and to Scheveningen went the long row of carts, loaded with the goods of the small family and their half-dozen retainers, who were willing to follow them into exile. The end had come. The only question now was how to leave the stage with a 19 THE RISE OF THE DUTCH KINGDOM semblance of dignity. William was passive to all that happened around him, accepting his fate with religious resignation. The Princess, a very grand lady, who would have smiled on her way to the scaffold, kept up an appearance of cheerful contempt. Their two sons' — William, the later King of Holland, and Frederick, who was to die four years later at the head of an Austrian army — vaguely attempted to create some military enthusiasm among the people; offered to blow themselves up in the last fortification. But what with ten thousand disorganized soldiers around them clamouring for food, for shoes, and for coats, it was no occasion for heroics. Why make sacrifices where nothing was to be gained.? Despair and despondency, a shrugging of the shoulders and a protest, "What is the use?" met their appeal to the ancient courage and patriotism. Old Van den Spiegel, the last of the Raad- pensionares, came nobly up to the best that was ever expected of his high office. He stuck to his duty until the very last. Day and night he worked. When too sick to go about he had himself carried on a litter into the meeting hall of the Estates. There he continued to lead the country's affairs and to give sound counsel until the moment the French entered The Hague and threw him into prison. On January the 17th the definite news of the sur- render of Utrecht, of the imminent attack upon Am- sterdam, and the approach of the French, had reached The Hague. It was a cold and sombre day. The 20 Q < O o w H < W THE LAST DAYS OF THE OLD ORDER people in a desultory curiosity flocked around the Stad- holder's palace and the rooms of the Estates. A special mission had been sent to Paris several days before to offer the Committee of Public Safety a Dutch proposal of peace. The delegates, however, who had met with the opposition of the exiled Patriots who infested the French capital, had not made any headway, and for a long time they had been unable to send any news. The ordinary means of communication were cut oflF. The canal-boats could no longer run on account of the ice, and travel by land was slow. Any moment, however, their answer might be expected. But the 17th came and the 17th went by and not a word was heard from Paris. That night, in their ancient hall, in the dim light of flickering candles, the Estates General met to discuss whether the country could still be saved. Van den Spiegel was carried into the hall and reported upon the hopeless state of aflFairs. A committee of members was then appointed to inquire of his Highness whether he knew of a possible way out of the danger which was threatening the fatherland. Late that night the Prince received the deputies. A prolonged discussion took place. His Highness, alas! knew of no way out of the present difficulties. Unless the thaw should suddenly set in, unless the people should suddenly and spontaneously take up arms, unless Providence should directly inter- cede, the country was lost. The next morning came, and still the frost continued, and not a single word of hopeful news. Panic seized 21 THE RISE OF THE DUTCH KINGDOM the Estates. In all haste they sent two of their members to travel east, go find the commander of the invading army, and offer peace at any price. For when the French had attacked the republic they had proclaimed loudly that their war was upon the Stadholder as the tyrannous head of the nation, but not upon the nation itself. If that were the case, the Estates reasoned, let the nation sacrifice its ruler and escape further con- sequences. Wherefore, in their articles of capitulation, they did not mention the Stadholder. And from his side, William, who did not court martyrdom, declared nobly that he "did not wish to stand between the country's happiness and a continuation of the present struggle, and that he was quite ready to offer up his own interest and leave the land." In a lengthy letter to the Estates General he explained his point of view, took leave of his country, and recommended the rest to God. During the night from Saturday to Sunday, January 17-18, 1795, the western storm which had been raging for almost a week subsided. An icy wind made the chance for flight to the English coast a possibility. Early in the morning the Princess Wilhelmina and her daughter-in-law, with a two-year-old baby, prepared for flight. Inside the palace, in the Hall of Audience, a room newly furnished at the occasion of her wedding, the Princess took leave of her few remaining friends. Many had already fled. Others, now that the French were within striking distance of the residence, preferred to be indisposed and stayed at home. Silently the Prin- 22 < 1^ o tn o THE LAST DAYS OF THE OLD ORDER cess wished afarewelltoherold companions. Outsidethe gate tliere was a larger assembly. Tradespeople grown gray in deep respect for their benefactors, simple folk whose political creed was contained in the one phrase "the House of Orange," Patriots wishing to see the last voyage of this proud woman, stood on both sides of the court's entrance. Nothing was said. It was no oc- casion for political manifestations. The two women and the baby, with a few servants following, slowly drove to Scheveningen. Without a moment's hesitation they were embarked, and at nine o'clock of the morning of this frightfully cold day they set sail for England. There, sick and miserable, they landed the next af- ternoon. At eleven o'clock the Prince heard that his wife had left in safety. The little palace in which he had built and rebuilt more than any of his ancestors was prac- tically deserted. Outside, through force of habit, the sentinels of the Life Guard still trudged up and down and presented arms to the foreign ambassadors who drove up to take leave. The members of the Estates, in so far as they did not belong to the opposition, came in for a personal handshake and a farewell. Poor William, innocent victim of his own want of ability, during these last scenes almost becomes a sympa- thetic figure. He tried to read a farewell message, but, overcome by emotion, he could not finish. A courtier took the paper and, with tears running down his face, read the last passages. 23 THE RISE OF THE DUTCH KINGDOM At half-past one the court carriages drove up for the final journey. By this time the whole city had made the best of this holiday and had walked out toward the road to Scheveningen. Slowly, as if it meant a funeral, the long procession of carriages and carts wound its way over the famous road, once the wonder of its age, and now lined with curious folk, gazing on in silence, asking themselves what would happen next. In Scheveningen the shore was black with people; and everywhere that same ominous quiet as if some great disaster were about to happen. At two o'clock everything was ready for the departure. The Prince, with the young Duke of Hesse-Darmstadt and four gentlemen in waiting and his private physician, embarked in the largest ship. The other members of their suite were divided among some twenty little ves- sels, all loaded to the brim with trunks, satchels, bales of clothes, everything, in most terrible confusion. The situation was uncomfortable. To ride at anchor in the surf of the North Sea is no pleasure. And still the sign of departure was not given. Hoping against hope, the Stadholder expected to hear from the French authori- ties. At half-past four one of the members of the secret committee on foreign affairs of the Estates came galloping down to Scheveningen. News had been re- ceived from the French. It was unfavourable. The war was to continue until the Stadholder should have been eliminated. The native fishermen — and they should have known 24 Reproduced Jrom Avihor's Sketch 25 THE RISE OF THE DUTCH KINGDOM what they were talking about — declared that every hour longer on this dangerous coast meant a greater risk. At any moment a boat manned with French troops might leave Rotterdam and intercept the fugi- tives. Furthermore, the sea was full of ice. The wind, which now was favourable, might change and blow the ice on the shore. They all advised his Highness to give the order to depart without further delay. Whereupon William, in the cramped quarters of this smelly craft, in a sprawling hand, wrote his last official document. It reads like the excuses of a pouting child. "Really" — so he tells the Raadpensionaris — "really, since the French refuse an armistice, since there is no chance of reaching one or the other of the Dutch ports, really now, you cannot expect me to remain here aimlessly floating up and down in the sea forever." And then comes some talk of reaching Plymouth, where there "are a number of Dutch men-of-war, and of a speedy return to some Dutch province and to his good town of The Hague." All very nice and very common- place and dilatory until the very end. At five o'clock the ship carrying the Prince hoisted her sails. Before midnight William was well upon the high sea and out of all danger. The next morning, sick and miserable, he landed in Harwich. There the fisher- men were paid off. Each captain received three hundred and fifty guilders. Then WiUiam wished them Godspeed and drove off to Yarmouth to meet his wife. It was the last time he saw so many of his countrymen. From 26 THE LAST DAYS OF THE OLD ORDER now on he saw only a few individuals, exiles like him- self, who visited him at his Uttle court of Hampton and later at Brunswick, mostly asking for help which he was unable to give. Exit at the age of forty-seven, William V, last heredi- tary Stadholder of the United Netherlands — a sad figure, intending to do the best, succeeding only in doing the worst; victim of his own weakness and of conditions that destroyed the strongest and the most capable. In the quiet atmosphere of trifling details and petty etiquette of a third-rate German princedom he ended his days. At his funeral he received all the honours and pomp to which his exalted rank entitled him. But he never returned to his own country. Of all the members of the House of Orange WiUiam V is the only one whose grave is abroad. 27 II THE REVOLUTION i.-B— i-vi-'«' JfC-^TT i--t <■ -'•jOrEcT"-»H'^ _ -. -— ^ >fX KRAYENHOFF II THE REVOLUTION c A IRA. Indeed and it will. While William is still bobbing up and down on the uncomfortable North Sea, the republic, left without a Stadholder, left without the whole superstructure of its ancient government, is wildly and hilariously danc- ing around a high pole. On top of this pole is a hat adorned with a tricoloured sash. At the foot of the pole stands a board upon which is painted "Liberty, Fraternity, Equality." The music for the festivities is provided by the drums and fifes of the French soldiers. The melody that is being played is the "Marseillaise." Soon the Hollanders shall provide the music themselves to the tune of some 40,000,000 guilders a year. And they shall dance a gay little two-step across every battlefield of Europe. The worst of the revolution of 1795, from our point of view, was its absolute sincerity and its great honesty of purpose. The modern immigrant approaching the shores of the promised land in total ignorance of what he is about to discover, but with a deep conviction that soon all will be well, is no more naive and simple in his 31 THE RISE OF THE DUTCH KINGDOM unwarranted optimism that was the good patriot who during the first months of the year 1796 welcomed the bedraggled French sansculottes as his very dear de- liverers and put his best guestroom at the disposal of some Parisan tough in red, white, and blue pantaloons. Verily the millennium had come. Never, until within our own days of amateur sociology and of self-searching and devotion to the woes of our humbler brethren, has there been such conscientious desire to lift the world bodily out of its wicked old groove and put it upon a newer and better road. Whether this hysterical joy, this unselfish ecstasy, about a new life was founded upon a sound and tangible basis few people knew and fewer cared. The sacred fire burned in their breasts and that was enough. It was no time for a minute analogy of inner senti- ments. The world was all astir with great events . . . allons enfants de la Patrie, and the devil take the hind- most. Meanwhile, since in all enthusiasm, genuine or other- wise, there must be some method; since the music of brass bands does not fill empty stomachs, but a baker has to bake bread; since, to come to our point, the old order of things had been destroyed, but no state can continue without some sort of order — meanwhile, what was the exact status of this good land ? The French, as we have said before, had not made war upon the nation but upon the head thereof. Exit the head; remains the nation. What was the position 32 THE REVOLUTION of the latter toward their noble deliverers ? This was a question which had to be decided at once. The mo- ment the French soldiers should overrun the entire country and should become conquerors, the republic was liable to be treated as so much vanquished terri- tory. The republic knew of other countries which had suffered a like fate and did not aspire to follow their example. Wherefore it became imperatively necessary to "do something." But what? In The Hague, as a last nucleus of the old govern- ment, there remained a number of the members of the General Estates, deliberating without purpose, waiting without hope for some indication of the future French policy. Wait on, Your High and Mightinesses, wait until your fellow-members, who are now suing for peace, shall return with their tales of insult and contempt, to tell you their stories of an overbearing revolutionary general and of ill-clad ruffians, who are living on the fat of the land and refuse insolently to receive the honour- able missionaries of the Most High Estates. Of real work, however, of governing, meeting, dis- cussing, voting, there will be no more for you to do. You may continue to lead an humble existence until a year later, but for the moment all your former ex- ecutive power is centred in a body of which you have never heard before — in the Revolutionary Committee of Amsterdam. The Revolutionary Committee in Amsterdam, what was it, whence did it come, what did it aspire to do.? 33 THE RISE OF THE DUTCH KINGDOM Its name was more formidable than its appearance. There were none of the approved revolutionary par- aphernalia, no unshaven faces, nor unkempt hair. The soiled linen, once the distinguishing mark of every true Progressive, was not tolerated in this honourable company. It is true that wigs were discarded for man's own natural hair, but otherwise the leaders of this self-appointed revolutionary executive organ were law-abiding citizens, who patronized the barber regu- larly, who believed in the ancestral doctrine of the Saturday evening, and who had nothing in common with the prototypes of the French revolution but their belief in the same trinity of Liberty, Equality, and Fra- ternity, with perhaps a little less stress upon the Equal- ity clause. No, the Revolutionary Committee which stepped so nobly forward at this critical moment was composed of highly respectable and representative citizens, mem- bers of the best families. They acted because nobody else acted, but not out of a desire for personal glory. The army of personal glorifiers was to have its innings at a later date. Now, let us try to tell what this committee did and how the old order of things was changed into a new one. After all, it was a very simple affair. A modern newspaper correspondent would have thought it just about good for two thousand words. On Friday, the i6th of January, the day on which the French took the town of Utrecht, a certain Wiselius, 34 ^ i -^ I « i- 9 ^ i K I 3 i P.