NETHERLANDS. 
740 
Philip of Auftria, and his fon Charles, who were born 
in the Netherlands, had for thefe provinces that natural 
affection which men ufe to have for their native country; 
and, knowing how jealous the inhabitants were of their 
liberty, and of the privileges granted to them by their 
former princes, they took great care to preferve them, 
and fuffered willingly that the ftates, who w r ere the guar¬ 
dians of the people’s liberty and privileges, ftiould in a 
manner ftiare the fupreme authority with them. Philip 
II. fon to the emperor Charles V. had not the fame affec¬ 
tion for the Netherlands, nor thofe generous fentiments 
which his father had endeavoured to infpire him with. 
Being born in Spain, of a Portuguefe woman, he had 
no regard but for his native country; and, when he 
removed out of the Netherlands, he left them to the weak 
government of a woman, to the proud and haughty fpirit 
of cardinal Granville, and to the wild ambition of fome 
lords of thofe provinces, who, availing themfelves of the 
imprudent conduft and continual blunders of the coun¬ 
cil of Spain, found their private intereftin the difturbances 
they could not fail to produce. Philip II. alfo, inftead 
of the mild and moderate meafures which his predeceffors 
had fuccefsfully employed, on many occafions, as bed 
fuiting the genius and temper of the people, had recourfe 
to the mod violent and cruel proceedings; which, far 
from curing the evil, ferved only to exafperate it the 
more, and render it incurable. The Spaniards, whom he 
fent thither, being born and educated in an abfolute mo¬ 
narchy, jealous of the liberties and envious of the riches of 
the people, broke through all their privileges, and u fed them 
almod after the fame manner as they had done the inha¬ 
bitants of their new and ill-gotten dominions in America. 
This treatment occafioned a general infurre&ion. The 
counts Hoorn, Egmont, and the prince of Orange, ap¬ 
peared at the head of it; and, Luther’s reformation gaining 
ground about the fame time in the Netherlands, his 
difciplesjoined the malcontents: whereupon king Phi¬ 
lip introduced a kind of inquifition in order to fupprefs 
them, and many thoufands were put to death by that 
court, befides thofe that perilhed by the fword; for thefe 
perfections and encroachments had occafioned a civil 
war, in which feveral battles were fought. The counts 
Hoorn and Egmont were taken and beheaded: but the 
prince of Orange, retiring into Holland, with the aflift- 
ance of England and France preferved Holland and fome 
of the adjacent provinces, which entered into a treaty for 
their mutual defence at Utrecht in 1579; and thefe were 
afterwards ftyled the United Provinces; they w ; ere feven 
in number, viz. Holland, Zealand, Friefland, Groningen, 
Overiffel, Guelderland united witliZutphen, and Utrecht. 
The ten Catholic provinces were, Flanders, Brabant, 
Artois, Hainault, Namur, Luxemburg, Limburg, Upper 
Guelderland, the marquifateof Antwerp, and the county 
of Malines or Mechlin. Several of thefe were retained 
by the Spaniards, until the duke of Marlborough gained 
the viflory of Ramiliies; after which Bruflels the capital, 
and the greateft part of thefe provinces, acknowledged 
Charles VI. afterwards emperor, as their fovereign ; but 
after his death they were wholly conquered by the French 
except part of the province of Luxemburg, and afterwards 
reftored by the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748, except 
a few that were retained by the French. Before the re¬ 
volution in France, the greater part of the fore-mentioned 
Gatholic provinces belonged to the houle of Auftria: the 
Dutch, however, occupied fome diftrifts of Flanders, 
Brabant, Upper Guelderland, and Limburg; the French 
poflefled Artois, with certain portions of Hainault, Na¬ 
mur, Luxemburg, and Flanders; and Upper Guelderland 
belonged to the king of Pruftia, the emperor, and the 
Dutch. 
In confequence of the revolution, Flanders, Auftrian 
Brabant, Hainault, Upper Guelderland, Limburg, Lux¬ 
emburg, the bifhopric of Liege, Antwerp, the circle of 
the Lower Rhine, the duchy of Juliers, and the territory 
extending along the left bank of the Rhine to the influx 
of the Meufe, were annexed to the French dominions by 
the treaty of Campo Formio, A. D. 1797. 
The ftadtholder of the United Provinces was expelled, 
and made his efcape to England in 1795; and thefe pro¬ 
vinces, therefore, as well as the Auftrian Netherlands, 
were under the dominion of France till the memorable 
year 1814. In 1801, the defignation of United Provinces 
was dropped, and that of Batavian Republic W'as fubfti- 
tuted. In 1806, this republic was declared a kingdom, 
and divided into nine departments, after the French 
fafhion. See the article Holland, vol. x. p. 238, 9. In 
the year 1809, it was hinted that there were very good 
realons why Holland ought to become a part of the French 
empire : thefe hints were afled upon, and carried into 
effect, on the ift of January, 1811, when the whole of 
that country was declared to be an integral part of the 
French empire. See the article London, vol. xiii. p. 
198, 233. 
In the year 1813, when aferies of dreadful battles and 
fanguinary defeats was to annihilate the power of Napo¬ 
leon, and deliver all Europe from his dominion, the libe¬ 
ration ofHolland was of courfe not negle&ed. It will be 
feen under the article London, p. 351. that the ftadt¬ 
holder, immediately upon his return to the Hague, iflued 
a proclamation figned “ William prince of Orange ;” but 
that, foon after, he was faluted with the title of “ William 
the Firft, Sovereign Prince of the Netherlands.” Whence 
this alteration originated has not been made public; but 
we may learn from the paft hiftory of Holland, that the 
zealous friends of the houfe of Orange have always been 
vigilant to take occafion of the dangers and necefllties of 
the ftate, to’enhance an authority, perhaps too limited 
for the exertion of the powers requiflte for the executive 
head of any commonwealth. Accordingly, foon after the 
entrance of his ferene highnefs into Amlterdam, the ge¬ 
neral commiflaries of the national government iflued an 
addrefs to the inhabitants, in which they announced the 
change in the fupreme authority in the following terms : 
“ It is not William VI. whom the people of the Nether¬ 
lands have recalled, without knowing what they have to 
hope orexpefl from him. It is William I.'who, as fove- 
reign-prince, by the wifti of the Netherlander, appears as 
fovereign among that people, which once before has been 
delivered by another William I. from the flavery of a fo¬ 
reign defpotifm. Your civil liberty (hall be fecured by 
laws, by a conftitution giving a bafts to your freedom, and 
be better founded than ever.” 
The next thing to be done was to frame a reprefentative 
conftitution for thefe united ftates. This was performed 
in about three months; and on the 2d of March, 1814, 
it was declared, that the conftitution fo framed would be 
“ fubmitted, for mature confideration, to a numerous af- 
fembly of perfons, the moll confiderable and beft qualified 
to come to a determination upon this weighty bufinefs, 
on the 28th of the fame month.” On the day appointed 
for the meeting of thefe notables, or leading men, the 
members repaired to the new church at Amfterdam, where 
his royal highnefs the prince of Orange, accompanied by 
his two fons, arriving at half-paft eleven, opened the bufi- 
nefs with a fpeech. Mr. Van Maanen, firft prefident of 
the high-court of juftice of the United Netherlands, then 
addrefted the afl'embly, and explained fuccinftly the prin¬ 
ciples of the conftitution. His royal highnefs next deli¬ 
vered the plan of the conftitution to the prefident, and re¬ 
turned to his palace amidft the acclamations of the peo¬ 
ple; and about two in the afternoon, a general difeharge 
of artillery announced the acceptance of the conftitution. 
The majority in its favour is faid to have been 438 to 25. 
On the following day his royal highnefs took the oath to 
the conftitution, and on that occafion again addrefted the 
afl'embly. He obferved, that exa&ly four months had 
elapfed fince his return to the Netherlands, during which 
period the progrel's made in the reftoration of the ftate 
had much furpafled all that could have been expedled. 
F'oreign powers had not only by words, but by deeds, 
manifefted 
