WILLIAM I. (OF HESSE.) 



61 



and passed out through his left cheek, destroying 

 several of his teeth. The perpetrator was cut 

 down on the spot by the guard. A Spaniard, Sal- 

 zedo, and an Italian, Francis Baza, were likewise 

 apprehended, who had received money from the 

 duke of Parma to make way with the duke of An- 

 jou and the prince of Orange. Both were convict- 

 ed : one was torn to pieces by four horses, at Paris; 

 the other put an end to his own life. After these 

 occurrences, the duke of Anjou began to aim at 

 unlimited power, heedless of the advice of the 

 prince of Orange. But his design of making him- 

 self master by force of the most important cities, 

 such as Bruges and Antwerp, was frustrated by 

 the citizens ; and he returned to France, January 3, 

 1583, where he died the same year. July 10, 1584, 

 the prince of Orange was shot in his palace, at 

 Delft, by a young Burgundian, named Balthasar 

 Gerard, who had insinuated himself into his confi- 

 dence. He was rising from table, when the assas- 

 sin fired a pistol at him, containing three balls. He 

 fell, and died with the words, " Mon Dieu I Mon 

 Dieu I Ayez pitie de moi et de ton pauvrepeuple I" 

 His murderer was not more than twenty-two years 

 old. On his examination, he confessed that a Fran- 

 ciscan of Tournai, and a Jesuit of Treves, had per- 

 suaded him to commit the deed by the assurance 

 that it would secure his eternal happiness. Wil- 

 liam was fifty-two years old, was well formed, had 

 chestnut hair, and a brownish complexion. He 

 spoke little ; but what he said was judicious and 

 pleasing. In the art of winning the good-will of 

 men, he was a master. Towards his people, his 

 demeanour was friendly and discreet. He fre- 

 quently went in the streets with his hat off, and 

 conversed freely with the citizens. In his house, 

 he was hospitable, a lover of splendour, and liberal 

 of every thing but his confidence. His acute un- 

 derstanding penetrated the character of men and 

 events : but he himself was impenetrable. Re- 

 served in his manners, and apparently even timid, 

 when he spoke, the fire and boldness of his elo- 

 quence carried along the minds of all. Danger he 

 met with calm equanimity, obstacles with a wise 

 firmness. He was not anxious for his own exalta- 

 tion, but for the interest of the people : the free- 

 dom, therefore, which he established did not perish 

 with him, and his name has acquired a permanent 

 place in the history of Europe. He was four times 

 married. His son Maurice, who succeeded him in 

 the office of stadtholder, was one of the greatest 

 captains of his age. His other son, Frederic Henry, 

 succeeded Maurice, and died in 1647. William 

 III., king of England, was grandson of Frederic. 

 There arc three lives of William, in Dutch, by 

 anonymous authors. See, also, Meursii Guglielmus 

 Auriacus, etc. (Amsterdam, 1638, fol.) and Kluit's 

 History of the Dutch Government. 



WILLIAM I., elector of Hesse, was born in 

 Cassel, in 1743, during the reign of his grand- 

 father. His father Frederic II. ascended the 

 throne in 1760. Having become a Roman Catholic 

 in 1754, the education of the children was left, 

 according to agreement, entirely with his wife, 

 who also received the government of the county of 

 Hanau as the guardian of the children. Prince 

 William studied at the university of Gottingen. 

 During the seven years' war, he lived at the court ! 

 of Christian VII., whose second sister he married ; 

 in 1764. When of age, he took the government 

 of the county of Hanau out of the hands of his 

 mother. The young prince was active, economi- 



cal, just, and popular. In 1776, he concluded, as 

 did several other German princes, a treaty with 

 England, to furnish troops to be employed against 

 her colonies in North America, then at war with 

 the mother country. Two years later, he was 

 made a major general by Frederic the Great of 

 Prussia, and took part in the war of the Bavarian 

 succession. In 1785, he became sovereign of all 

 the Hessian territories, after the death of his fa- 

 ther. He now showed himself severe, active, and 

 just; but his disposition for saving often degene- 

 rated into avarice, whilst his mania for soldiers be- 

 came a curse to his country. He ruled indepen- 

 dently, and closely watched the officers of his go- 

 vernment, often protecting the peasants, whom he 

 considered as his property, against them. He im- 

 proved the schools and churches, the police, and 

 the administration of justice. In 1787, he conclud- 

 ed another treaty with England, agreeing to fur- 

 nish 12,000 men, in consideration of receiving for 

 their service, 675,000 crown-dollars annually. He 

 also marched troops against France when the revo- 

 lution broke out. The peace of Basle, concluded 

 August 28, 1795, between Prussia and France, put 

 an end to his exertions in this war. By the peace 

 of Luneville, William received the dignity of elec- 

 tor, and an indemnification for the territory that he 

 had lost, taken chiefly from the possessions of the 

 elector of Mayence. He took the greatest care of 

 the increase of his private treasure. His known 

 disposition towards France, his relations with Prus- 

 sia, (he being a field-marshal in her service, and 

 his eldest son having married, in 1797, the sister of 

 Frederic William III. of Prussia), and his continual 

 military preparations, drew upon him the misfor- 

 tunes which befel him after the battles of Jena and 

 Auerstadt. In consequence of the threats of Na- 

 poleon, and the advance of French troops under 

 Mortier and the king of Holland, he fled to the 

 neutral states of the king of Denmark, saving only 

 his family and his treasures. By the peace of 

 Tilsit arid the foundation of his kingdom of 

 Westphalia, William I. was deprived of all his 

 dominions, and lived, from July, 1808, in Prague. 

 In 1809, when Austria took arms against France, 

 the exiled elector issued a proclamation to his for- 

 mer subjects, and began to collect an army near 

 Eger, in Bohemia, with which he thought to re- 

 cover his electorate ; but the issue of the war put 

 an end to his undertaking. The victory of the al- 

 lied powers at Leipsic, in 1813, improved his con- 

 dition. In November, 1813, he entered his former 

 capital, the city of Cassel. Though seventy years 

 old, he resumed the labours of government with 

 great activity, but not to the benefit of his people. 

 His ideas of monarchical power were entirely at 

 variance with the spirit of the times. Every thing 

 was to be put on the old footing : 20,000 men 

 (with queues, like the soldiers of former times), 

 soon marched to join the allies, but were allowed 

 to return even before the peace of Paris, on condi- 

 tion that they should be kept ready for immediate 

 service. The elector, however, did not comply 

 with this condition, from motives of economy, and 

 became thereby involved in difficulties with the 

 allies, who marched troops into his country. By 

 the mediation of Prussia, this difficulty was ad- 

 justed. In 1815, the elector sent 15,000 men to 

 act against France ; they fought at Sedan, Charles- 

 ville, Mezieres, &c. His wish to see the German 

 empire restored by the congress of Vienna was as 

 fruitless as his plan to have himself acknowledged 



