H O L L A N D. 
Holland was now for a long while permitted to enjoy 
a fufpeniion from military levies and contributions, which 
enabled her to profecute her commercial interefts with 
energy and effect. Happily for the country, that ftate of 
repofe continued, until the general war about the Auftrian 
fucceffion embroiled the whole continent of Europe. From 
the infidious defigns of marefchal Saxe in marching into 
Dutch Brabant, the ftates took the alarm, and the friends 
of the prince of Orange did not omit fo favourable an op¬ 
portunity of getting him declared ftadtholder ; a dignity 
which had been laid afide fince the death of William III. 
The beneficial effects of this meafure loon appeared. A 
fleet was equipped ; a militia railed : the exportation of 
naval ftores prohibited, and orders were ilfued for com¬ 
mencing hoftilities againft France without delay. The 
French arms were, however, at firft fuccefsful, and the 
taking of Bergen op Zoom threw the United Provinces 
into the utmolt confirmation. During the winter, how¬ 
ever, a congrels met at Aix-la-Chapelle, in 17+7, which 
ended in the peace of that name, the general bafis of which 
was the mutual reftitution of all conquefts made fince 
the beginning of the war, and a releafe of prifoners with¬ 
out ranfom. See the article England, vol. vi. p. 720. 
In the war which broke out in 1756, between the French 
and the Englilh, the States-general wifely determined on 
remaining neutral ; nor was it until the great afcendancy 
which the commerce of their Ealt-India Company enabled 
them to acquire on that continent, that they were involved 
in a conteft with the Englilh. The avarice of the repub¬ 
lic, and that grafping fpirit which no principles could re- 
flxain, or treaties moderate, induced to form a confpiracy, 
the moll atrocious, for the extirpation of their rivals. The 
Englilh were, however, upon their guard, and not only 
completely deftroyed a body of land-forces which the 
Dutch had lent up the river Slughley, but gave battle to 
a fquadron of feven fliips of the line, and obliged the 
whole to ftrike, after an obftinate engagement, though 
their opponents had only three Eaft-India fliips manned 
and armed for the purpofe. This deftruftion of the 
■whole armament induced the fettlement in India to fub- 
mit to fuch terms as the government of Calcutta thought 
proper to impofe ; and the States-general declaimed to 
the Britilh miniftry, in Europe, all idea of hoftile in¬ 
tentions. 
In 1766, the dignity of ftadtholder having been made 
perpetual, the prince of Orange, on attaining the twenty- 
firft year of his age this year, took the adminiftration upon 
him, an event affording much addition of ftrength to the 
proteftant caufe. The great rejoicings on this occafion, 
through all the United Provinces, ftrongly demonftrated 
the great weight which the princes of that houfe bore in 
the republic. The ftadtholder foon afterwards married the 
princefs royal of Pruflia, an event the molt pleaiing to the 
whole provinces, as they by this meafure formed an alli¬ 
ance with a great and powerful neighbour,-whole difpo- 
fition, if not a certain friend, was always to be dreaded. 
During the conteft between Great Britain and her co¬ 
lonies in America, the Dutch cautioufly avoided being 
drawn into the confederacy which had been formed againft 
the mother-country, but they certainly took every means 
of fupplying the revolted ftates with ftores of every de- 
feription, to which their conftant thirft of gain excited 
them. It was this conduct that excited the Englilh to 
the capture of St. Euftatius; an event which brought on 
an immediate war with Holland: the fevere and unwar 
rantable conduit of the Britilh commanders, in theconfifca- 
tion of all the property found there, to the amount of three 
millions fterling, was an outrage not to be paffed by. Al¬ 
though the nation had been long difuied to war, and were 
very ill prepared for it, when hoftilities commenced, it 
foon appeared that their failors had not loft that courage 
which diftinguilhed them. An engagement between the 
two fleets was fought with the molt delperate obftinacy, 
off the Dogger Bank, which continued for three hours 
and a half, with equal advantages when the Dutch com- 
Vot X. No. 656. 
237 
mander, having fecured the retreat of his valuable convoy, 
drew off his fliips, but the Englith fleet was too much dif- 
abled to purfue them. The ifland. of St. Euftatius was 
alfo foon after retaken by the afiiftance of the French : 
but the Dutch fuftained home fevere Ioffes in the capture 
of their Eaft Indiamen. The negleft of keeping up the 
navy now excited much difeontent againft the government, 
which was at that time principally under the direction of 
duke Louis of Brunfwick Wolfenbuttle, field-rnarlhal of 
Holland, and captain-general during the minority of the 
prince of Orange._ 
The fuccefs which the emperor of Germany had met 
with refpefting the demolition of the Dutch Barrier, de¬ 
termined him, in 1781, to advance further claims upon 
the ftate ; and, to enforce his demand, he began with feiz- 
ing the Dutch forts in the neighbourhood of Sluys. His 
real object feerns to have been the opening of the Scheldt, 
a meafure of infinite importance to the Auftrian poffeifions: 
and for lucceeding, no time feemed more favourable. The 
provinces were harafled with civil diffenfions. The con- 
tefts between the prince of Orange and the ariftocracy 
were kept up with confiderable acrimony. The power of 
the ftadtholder was rapidly declining, and there teemed 
neither energy, wifdom, nor policy, to counteraft his ruin. 
The commotions became at laft l'o ferious, that the duke 
of Brunfwick was compelled to relign all command, and 
retire to Aix-la-Chapelie. The determination of the em¬ 
peror feemed fixed. He declared the navigation of the 
Scheldt free, and ordered a ftiip to fail down the river, and, 
upon its feizure by the Dutch, loft no time in putting his 
army in motion, with all the appearance of commencing 
an immediate war. Through the interference of the 
French court, conferences were opened at Verfailles, and 
the demands of the emperor were finally commuted for 
ten millions of florins. 
In 1784, the States of Holland adopted one of the 
boldeft objedts in their fyftem of politics againft the ftadt¬ 
holder ; a moft intimate alliance being then formed be¬ 
tween the government of Verfailles and that of the Hague. 
The treaty ftipulated that either party fhould lupply the 
other with an auxiliary force upon being attacked, and 
the expences to be defrayed by the government furr.ifiring 
the afiiftance. The whole of the articles, taken together, 
feern to amount nearly to a counterpart of the celebrated 
family-compact. The internal commotions which led to 
thefe mealures firft difplayed tlremfelves in 1780 ; and the 
foundation of them had probably been laid much earlier. 
Two parties, for the laft two centuries, had been conti¬ 
nually ltruggling for fuperiority. The firft of thefe was 
the family of Orange ; the fecond, that of the States and 
of the town-councils. From the death of the De Witts, 
of Barnevelt, and of William II. the republic had declined, 
and, inftcad of venerable patriots and diitinguiflred con¬ 
querors, Europe had for the laft century been accuftomed 
to regard them as a nation of merchants, purfuing the 
acquifition of wealth, in contempt of every other qua¬ 
lity or accomplilhment. It cannot be doubted, that the 
oligarchy had, for many years previous to 1780, enter¬ 
tained the defign of excluding the ftadtholder, and of 
ftripping him of his authority. Their plan was to watch 
with attention the occafions that might arile, and, inftead 
of boldly diredting the progrel's of events, merely to feize 
and improve fuch as might arile. To prepare the public 
mind for the execution of this fcheme, they lucceeded in 
fixing a contempt upon the minifters, and even, in feme 
meafure, upon the ftadtholder. This was thought the 
more neceffary, as the people were in general attached to 
their prince, and it was doubtful whether the army would 
not adhere to him. Accordingly, in 1783, they contrived 
that the different burghers fliould form themlelves into a 
free corps, with the character of volunteers, taking care 
that the commanders fliould be clofely connected with 
themlelves. This fpirit, when once let on foot, rapidly 
extended itfelf through all the provinces ; and in feme- 
towns the, corps conlifted of the richeft, the moft conli- . 
3 P defable. 
