NETHERLANDS 



56B7 



NETHERLANDS 



of a cousin, and this fourth 

 William married {George II 

 .l.iu" liter Anne. The peace of Aix- 

 ,,,-lU- (17-1S) left the Nether- 

 lands at a very low ebb of its for- 

 tunes. After eight years' regency 

 of the widowed Anne (1751-59) 

 ii William was elected stadt- 

 holder. The old feud of the 

 states against the united power 

 which the stadtholdor symbolised 

 was resumed by the patriot party, 

 which, following the French Revo- 

 lution, welcomed the French in 

 their country (1794). William, 

 lifth and last of the stadtholders, 

 fled to England. 



The period following (1795- 

 1813), in which the Batavian re- 

 public took the place of the old, 

 was one of French domination. Its 

 successive stages were recognition 

 of independence to 1805 ; dictator- 

 ship of Napoleon through the grand 

 pensionary, llutger Jan Schim- 

 _ melpenninck, 



I 1805-6; Louis 

 I Napoleon 's 

 reign as king 

 of independent 

 N e t h e rlands, 

 1806-10; an- 



ne xation by 

 France, 1810-13. 

 In the last 

 named year, 

 after Leipzig, 

 the people re- 

 volted and re- 

 called the prince 

 of Orange (the 

 fifth William's 

 son), not as their 



stadtholder, but as their sove- 

 reign. Thus the modern kingdom of 

 Netherlands came into existence. 

 After the brief period (1815-30) 

 and unhappy experience of union 

 with Belgium, and the prolonged . 

 discussion of questions between | 

 the two countries, not closed till 

 1839, King William I abdicated in 

 favour of his son, William II, who 

 reigned until 1849. His son and 

 successor, William III, lived until [ 

 1890, after which the queen- | 

 dowager, Emma of Waldeck Pyr- 

 mont, acted as regent until hei 

 daughter, Wilhelmina (b. 1880), 

 ascended the throne in 1898. 



Queen Wilholmina married in 1901 

 Prince Henry of Mecklenburg, and 

 their only child, Princem Juliana, 

 became heir presumptive on her 

 birth in 1909. 



CONSTITUTION AND GOVERN- 

 MENT. The constitution of the 

 Netherlands is the fundamental law 

 of 1814, based on that of 1682, but 

 modified to suit an hereditary 

 monarchy and the inclusion of the 

 southern provinces It was altered 

 on the separation of Belgium, 

 1830-31, and several times later, 

 the last in 1917 ; and its further 

 revision was discussed in 1921. 



Crown and Council ol State 

 The sovereign, whose person is 

 inviolable, is head of army and 

 navy ; the executive power is his 

 exclusively, and the initiative in 

 war and treaty. Ministers, never- 

 theless, are always consulted ; the 

 progress towards democracy is 

 greater in practice than in theory. 

 There exists, to advise the crown, 

 a resuscitated historic body, the 

 council of state (Road van Stoat) ; 

 it has the influence of its individual 

 members, but cannot interfere 

 directly with government. It has 

 some slight judicial powers, but 

 its authority is 

 confined to emer- 

 gency. Another 

 nominal link be- 

 tween the Nether- 

 lands present and 

 past is the pro- 

 vincial states, 

 now, except in 

 respect of defence 

 against river and 

 sea, a purely 

 administrative 

 body. It is popu- 

 larly elected, but 

 not for political 

 ends, although it, 

 in turn, elects the 

 senators. 



Real legislative 

 authority lies with 

 thestates-general. 

 It comprises two 

 chambers, the 



"*' 



Netherlands. Types from the country 

 districts of Holland. L A Zealand 

 village schoolmaster. 2. Unmarried 

 girls from Zealand. 8 and 4. Old 

 Qelderland peasants 



first with 50 member*, the second 

 with 100. Members of the fint, 

 or senators, are elected by the pro- 

 \ in' i.il states, on a special qualifica- 

 tion of taxable wealth mainly, for 

 nine yean, one-third retiring every 

 third year. Expense* are allowed 

 them, 16s. 8d. per day, during tern- 

 nion. Their function is to advue or 

 control, not to initiate, legislation . 

 the introduction of amendment)*, 

 however, is now permitted tin -in 



The 100 deputies in the chamber, 

 as the second is generally known, 

 are (under the Reform Act, 1919) 

 elected for four years by the 

 votes of all citizens of both sexes 

 who have reached 23, on a system 

 of proportional representation. 

 Deputies are paid 250 annually 

 in addition to expenses. 



The chambers meet in the his- 

 toric Binnenhof in The Hague, 

 separately, each under a president 

 nominated by the crown, except 

 for joint opening and closing ses- 

 sions, or when specially called 

 together by crisis. The sovereign 

 can dissolve either chamber, or 

 both at will ; a new chamber 

 must be formed within 40 days. 



The departments of state are : 

 home affairs ; foreign ; justice ; 

 finance ; colonies ; waterstaat ; 

 agriculture, commerce, and indus- 

 try ; war and marine (joint or 

 separate) ; labour ; education ; 

 each with a minister, generally 

 possessed of a professional qualifi- 

 cation for his post. Ministers are 

 nominated by the sovereign, but 

 are responsible to the states- 

 general, of which they need not 

 have been, and need not become, 

 members. They appear in either 

 chamber to defend government 

 measures. It was an extra-parlia- 

 mentary government which held 

 office throughout the Great War. 

 Politics and Religion 



Dutch politics have always been 

 inseparable from religion. Both 

 chambers show a Right composed 

 of Roman Catholics and Anti-Re- 

 volutionists, with a few of the Pro- 

 testant party, entrenched against 

 Liberals and Socialists, aided by 

 a few independents. The Anti- 

 Revolutionists are a militant ortho- 

 dox party, representing a powerful 

 section in the country, created, or 

 rendered articulate, by a leader of 

 genius, Dr. Abraham Kuyper (d. 

 1920). Calvinists and Roman 

 Catholics, historical foes, have for 

 many years been in a successful 

 " monstrous coalition " against ad- 

 . vanced opinions of the Left, pre- 

 sumably generated by the French 

 Revolution, from opposition to 

 which they derive their name. In 

 a House so small, with groups so 

 numerous, stability for the govern- 

 ment is precarious, and an inde- 



