H O L L A N D. 
239 
event of which, fee the article England, vol. vi. p. 781- 
782 : and the-article France, vol. vii. p. 842^-843. 
The Biitiih army had no fooner retired from the fhores 
of Holland, than every meafure was taken to opprefs, and 
confilcate the property, of, the unfortunate party which 
had exerted itfelf in the ftadtholderian interelt. In i3oi, 
the conlfitution and government aflumed-a new form; 
and, under the authority and direction of the lirit conful 
of France, the United Provinces forever funk their name, 
and took that of Batavian Republic ; in which cha- 
rafter it could only be conlidered as a province of the 
overgrown republic of France, which direffed all its coun¬ 
cils, and levied contributions upon the country at plea- 
lure. This, however, was not fufiicient. Napoleon Bo¬ 
naparte, {till jealous of the Britilh army and navy, and of 
the ftadthoider’s interelt, and having no confidence in the 
unftable attachments of the wily Dutch, refolved to place 
the country more within his own grafp, by making his 
brother a nominal king, and placing a Handing army at 
his elbow, whole fwords might with eafe maintain the 
laws of arbitrary fubjeftion. 
In 1806, therefore, a plan was concerted between the 
conftituted authorities of the Batavian republic and the 
emperor of France, whereby a new form of government 
was decided upon, at-the head of which Louis Bonaparte, 
one of the brothers of Napoleon, was to be placed as king, 
and the country thenceforth called the Kingdom of 
Holland: under this regulation the Seven United Pro¬ 
vinces, and Batavian Republic, were funk in the new king¬ 
dom, which was immediately divided into the following 
Departments. 
Groningen 
■2. Friefland 
3. Overyflel 
4. Guelderland 
Con fifing of 
{ The Province of Gro-'j 
ningen, compriftng l 
Wied, and Weft- [ 
Woldingerland. J 
f The Province of Frief- \ 
\ land and Ameland. J 
f Overyflel and the couii-\ 
\ try of Drenthe. J 
f Guelderland, Kuilem-\ 
\ berg, and Buren. J 
Utrecht and Veanen. 
Holland, Iftelftein. 
Dutch Brabant. 
Zealand. 
Chief Towns. 
Groningen. 
Leewarden. 
called Flevo, now a fouthern portion of. the Zuyder Zee. 
Tire canal of Drufus being neglected, and left to the'ope¬ 
rations of nature, the Rhine joined the Iftil with fuch 
force, that their conjunct waters increafe.d the lake of 
Flevo to a great extent; and, in Head of a river of the 
lame name, which ran for near fifty Roman miles from 
that lake to the lea, there was opened the wide gulf 
which now forms the entrance. This northern and chief 
mouth oi the Rhine was, at the fame time, weakened, and 
almoft loft by thedivftion of its waters ; and even the ca- 
nal of Drufus was afterwards almoft obliterated by the de- 
pofttion of mud, in the fame manner as fome of the an¬ 
cient mouths of the Nile have disappeared in the Delta of 
Egypt.—See the article E<svpt, vol. vi. p. 366—3 08. 
The fouthern branch of the Rhine, which flowed into 
the-eftuary of the Meufe, as above-mentioned, was an¬ 
ciently called Vahalis; now the modern Wahal; the an¬ 
cient i'lle ofl the Batavi being included between the two 
branches of the Rhine, and thus extending about one 
hundred Roman miles in length, by about twenty-two 
at the greateft breadth. The eft Hawes of the Meuie and 
the Scheldt have alfo been opened to great inroads from 
the ocean ; and the latter in particular, which anciently 
formed a mere delta, with four or five fmail branches, 
now prelents the iflands of Zealand, and the mod fouth- 
ern of thofe or Holland, divided by wide creeks of the 
fea. This remarkable irruption is funpofed to have hap¬ 
pened at the time that the Goodwin Sands arofe, by the 
diiFufion and confequent Ihallownefs.cf the water. Thefe 
great changes may be conceived to have made a flow and 
gradual progrefs ; and none of them feem lo ancient as 
the time of Charlemagne. Some are fo recent as the 
fifteenth centuryfor in 1421 the eftuary of the Meufe, 
or Maefe, fuddenly formed a vaft lake to the fouth-eaft 
of Dort, overwhelming feventy-two large’villages, with 
one hundred thoufand inhabitants, who perifned in the 
deluge. 
„ , . 1 n By a fubfequent change the Rhine was again fubdi- 
.,or o . vided ; and a chief branch fell into the Leek, .which joins 
Arnheim. 
5. Utrecht - Utrecht and Veanen. Utrecht. 
6. Holland - Holland, Iftelftein. The Hague. 
7. Brabant - Dutch Brabant. Bois le Due. 
8. Zealand - Zealand. (Middleburg 
Thus the departments are named after the ancient pro¬ 
vinces, with the addition of the duchy of Brabant, which 
is added to the kingdom of Holland. But in 1807, it 
being found that the term Holland, by being applied both 
to the department or,province, and alfo to the kingdom 
at large, created oftentimes confufion; it was therefore 
decreed, that the province of Holland fliould be fplit into 
two departments, inftead of one, by the names of the 
u Department of the Amftel,” and the “Department of 
the Meufe ;” and that the county of Drente Ihould alfo 
be converted into a department; and the name Houand 
in future to denote only the kingdom itfelf, comprifmg 
thefe ten departments. The kingdom is alfo formed into 
four military cantonments, whereby every part is lubjeft- 
ed to military law 7 .—For detailed accounts of thefe de¬ 
partments or provinces, and the cities, and towns contain¬ 
ed therein, fee under their refpective names in this En¬ 
cyclopaedia. 
The formation of the land and waters in and about 
Holland, has long been a fubjeft of curious inveftiga- 
tion to the geologift and philofopher. Upon infpecting 
the maps of ancient Gaul by d’Anville, it will be per¬ 
ceived that the Rhine divided itfelf into two grand 
branches at Burginafium or Schenk, about five miles 
north-weft of the Colonia Trajana, now an inconfiderable 
hamlet called Koln, near Cleves. The fouthern branch 
joined the Meufe at the town of Mofa or Meuvi; while 
the northern palled by Durftadt, Utrecht, and Leyden, 
into the ocean. From the northern branch was led the 
canal of Drufus, which originally joined the Rhine to the 
Iftil, a river that flowed into a confiuerable inland lake 
joins 
the eftuary of the Meufe between Dort and Rotterdam, 
and mult now be regarded as the northern mouth of that 
noble river; while the Vahalis or Wahal continues to be 
the fouthern ; both branches being loft in a compara¬ 
tively fmail ft ream, the Meufe. There was a third or cen¬ 
tral branch, which fnotild rather be conlidered as the main 
ftream of the Rhine, which poured its waters by a direct 
courfe into the North Sea; but this central mouth or 
channel having-been in courle of ages flopped up by the 
depofition of land, and the accumulation of peat and clay 
from the walking of rivers, and the adjoining continent, 
formed at length the whole of the land which conftitutes 
the province of Holland, properly fo called. For particulars 
of this curious phenomenon, fee the article Earth, vol. vi. 
p. 197. 
The Rhine and the Meufe give rife to almoft all the 
running waters in the country, except the Ems, which 
has its fource in the department of Utrecht. In the con- 
ftruertion of their canals, the Dutch have fhown of what 
human induftry is capable, and what is its recompence ; 
but their dykes are ftiil a more extraordinary monument 
in the eyes of ftrangers. Thefe artificial banks are gene¬ 
rally railed about thirty feet above the level of the adjoin¬ 
ing land, which feems in a manner enclofed by this fpe- 
cies of ramparts. The expences of keeping the djdtes in 
order is paid by the whole nation, and every diftrift is 
taxed according to the utility it derives from them, and 
the proportion of the extent of country it Ihelters from 
the waters. Under the denomination of dam, the Dutch 
comprehend every fort of dyke raifed to confine the 
waters of a river, or a lake ; for which reafon it is, that 
moft of the names they have given to their cities and 
towns, end in dam. Rotterdam owes its names to the 
dyke raifed upon the Rotte, a river near the town. Am- 
fterdam receives her’s from the dyke on the Amftel. It 
is the fame with Saardam, Schiedam, Monnikendam, and 
many others. From fo much water, cold and humidity 
in 
