WILLIAM WILLIAMS. 



ential men in the Netherlands were labouring to 

 prepare the way for the restoration of the house of 

 Orange. William Frederic was then in England, 

 in order to concert, with the British government, 

 measures to support the Dutch. After the battle 

 of Leipsic, the victorious armies approached the 

 frontiers of Holland; the people rose in Amster- 

 dam, Nov. 15 and 16 ; and even the Hague, in the 

 midst of French troops, declared itself, on the 17th, 

 for the prince. When the prince received the news 

 of these movements, he embarked, and landed, 

 Nov. 29, at Scheveningen. The people received 

 him with demonstrations of joy. In Amsterdam, 

 the commissioners of the provisionary government 

 issued, Dec. 1, the proclamation, " The Nether- 

 lands are free !" and " William I. is the sovereign 

 prince of this free country," without being autho- 

 rised to do so by the nation. The prince yielded 

 reluctantly, and declared that a constitution should 

 be established to secure the liberties of the people. 

 Twenty-three fortified places were yet in the hands 

 of the enemy, who were encamped near Utrecht. 

 But the allies soon drove them from the country. 

 William Frederic hastened the arming of the peo- 

 ple, and charged a committee to draw up a consti- 

 tution, which was adopted, March 29, 1814, by the 

 representatives of the people, and then sworn to by 

 the monarch. He had also again taken possession of 

 his German hereditary possessions, towards the end 

 of 1813. After this the congress of Vienna united 

 Belgium and Liege with the Netherlands, to form 

 a kingdom ; and the prince was proclaimed king of 

 the Netherlands, prince of Liege and duke of Lux- 

 emburg, under the name of William I., on March 

 16, 1815, at the Hague. He and his Dutch sub- 

 jects were both dissatisfied with this arrangement, 

 apprehending that the Dutch commerce would suf- 

 fer by this union with the manufacturing state of 

 Belgium : the difference of language and religion 

 also presented great obstacles ; but England wished 

 to retain possession of several of the former Dutch 

 colonies, and Belgium was given in exchange for 

 them. The king was also obliged to cede to Prus- 

 sia his hereditary possessions in Germany in ex- 

 change for Luxemburg. Since that time, William 

 I. has ruled with great integrity and firmness, as 

 even his enemies have admitted, except in the 

 fiercest heat of party struggles. The king has con- 

 scientiously and often scrupulously adhered to the 

 constitution. Justice was always a predominant 

 trait in his character. A committee was charged 

 in 1815, with the drawing up of a general code for 

 the Netherlands. It ended its labours in 1819. 

 June 21, 1816, William became a member of the 

 holy alliance. In 1814, he founded the William 

 order of military merit, and, in 1815, the order of 

 the Belgiac lion for civil merit. He resided before 

 the late revolution, alternately at the Hague and 

 in Brussels ; lives simply, is very industrious, and 

 accessible to all : and though the majority of the 

 Dutch were anti-Orange, and, therefore, anti-monar- 

 chical, he is popular with them, particularly since 

 1830. See the article Belgium. 



WILLIAM, FORT, a fortress in the West High- 

 lands, in the shire of Inverness, situated on the 

 east side of Lochiel, and the south side of the small 

 river Nevis, where it falls into that inlet of the sea, 

 at the distance of sixty-one miles south-west of In- 

 verness, and twenty-nine and a half south-west of 

 Fort Augustus. It is of a triangular form, with 

 two bastions mounting fifteen twelve-pounders. 

 The fort was originally built d iring the usurpation 



of Cromwell, by general Monk, and occupied much 

 more ground at that time than it does at present, 

 accommodating no fewer than 2000 men. It was 

 then named " the garrison of Inverlochy," from the 

 ancient castle of that name in the neighbourhood. 

 In the time of William III., it was rebuilt on a 

 smaller scale, with stone and lime instead of earth, 

 and received its name in honour of that monarch. 

 In the year 1745, it stood successfully a siege of five 

 weeks, but it is by no means a place of strength. It 

 is now garrisoned by a governor, fort-major, and a 

 company of soldiers. 



WILLIAMS, HELEN MARIA ; a distinguished 

 writer on history and general literature, was born 

 in the north of England, in 1762. She went to 

 London at the age of eighteen, and was introduced 

 to the literary world by doctor Andrew Kippis. 

 The first production of her pen appears to have been 

 a legendary tale, in verse, entitled Edwin and El- 

 truda (1782) ; and this was followed by an Ode on 

 Peace (17B3) ; Peru, a poem (1784), and a Collec- 

 tion of Miscellaneous Poems (1786, 2 vols., 8vo.). 

 In 1788, she published a poem On the Slave-Trade ; 

 and, the same year, she visited France, where she 

 formed many literary and political connexions. In 

 1790, she went again to France, and settled at 

 Paris; and soon after appeared her Letters written 

 from France, in the Summer of 1790, of which she 

 published a continuation in 1792. The object of 

 these, and of some contemporary productions of this 

 lady, was to recommend the doctrines of the Girond- 

 ists; and, consequently, on their fall, under the 

 tyranny of Robespierre, she incurred great danger, 

 and, being arrested, was for some time a prisoner 

 in the Temple at Paris. On obtaining her free- 

 dom, she renewed her application to literary 

 pursuits. Besides many works of minor import- 

 ance, she engaged in an English translation of the 

 Personal Narrative of the Travels of Humboldt and 

 Bonpland in America (18141821, 6 vols., 8vo.). 

 Miss Williams died at Paris, in December, 1827. 

 In addition to the works already mentioned, she 

 wrote Julia, a novel (2 vols.) ; a Narrative of 

 Events in France, in 1815 ; Letters on the Events 

 which passed in France since the Restoration in 

 1815 ; and other pieces ; and she was at one time a 

 contributor to the New Annual Register. 



WILLIAMS, ROGER, was born of reputable pa- 

 rents in Wales, in 1598. He was educated at the 

 university of Oxford, was regularly admitted to or- 

 ders in the church of England, and preached for 

 some time as a minister of that church ; but embrac- 

 ing the doctrines of the Puritans, he rendered him- 

 self obnoxious to the laws against non-conformists, 

 and embarked for America, where he arrived, with 

 his wife, in February 1631. In April following, 

 he was called by the church of Salem, as teaching 

 elder, under their then pastor Mr Skelton. This 

 proceeding gave offence to the governor and assis- 

 tants of the Massachusetts bay, and, in a short time, 

 he removed to Plymouth, and was engaged as assis- 

 tant to Mr Ralph Smith, the pastor of the church at 

 that place. Here he remained until he found that his 

 views of religious toleration and strict non-conform- 

 ity gave offence to some of his hearers, when he re- 

 turned again to Salem, and was settled there after Mr 

 Skelton's death, in 1634. While here, and while 

 at Plymouth, he maintained the character he had 

 acquired in England that of " a godly man and 

 zealous preacher." He appears, however, to have 

 been viewed by the government of that colony 

 with jealousy, from his first entrance into it. He 



