burghers, merchants, and manufacturers who for two centuries
gave laws to Holland. It was largely due to the intelligence
displayed by these men that the republic, during the
continuance of its war, was enabled to support a burden of
taxation such as the world has rarely seen before or since.
{2285}
The internal taxes seem appalling. Rents were taxed
twenty-five per cent.; on all sales of real estate two and a
half per cent. were levied, and on all collateral inheritances
five per cent. On beer, wine, meat, salt, spirits, and all
articles of luxury, the tax was one hundred per cent., and on
some articles this was doubled. But this was only the internal
taxation, in the way of excise duties, which were levied on
everyone, natives and foreigners alike. In regard to foreign
commodities, which the republic needed for its support, the
system was very different. Upon them there was imposed only a
nominal duty of one per cent., while wool, the great staple
for the manufacturers, was admitted free. Here the statesmen
of the republic showed the wisdom which placed them, as
masters of political economy, at least two centuries in
advance of their contemporaries."
D. Campbell,
The Puritan in Holland, England, and America,
volume 2, pages 324-331.
ALSO IN:
W. T. McCullagh,
Industrial History of Free Nations,
volume 2: The Dutch, chapter 12.
NETHERLANDS: (The United Provinces): A. D. 1651-1660.
The rule of Holland, and her Grand Pensionary, John de Witt.
"The Republic had shaken off the domination of a person; it
now fell under the domination of a single province. Holland
was overwhelmingly preponderant in the federation. She
possessed the richest, most populous, and most powerful towns.
She contributed more than one-half of the whole federal
taxation. She had the right of naming the ambassadors at
Paris, Stockholm, and Vienna. The fact that the States General
met on her territory—at the Hague—necessarily gave her
additional influence and prestige. … With the Stadtholder's
power that of the States General also, as representing the
idea of centralisation, had largely disappeared. The
Provincial Estates of Holland, therefore, under the title of
'Their High Mightinesses,' became the principal power—to
such an extent, indeed, that the term 'Holland' had by the
time of the Restoration [the English Restoration, A. D. 1660]
become synonymous among foreign powers with the whole
Republic. Their chief minister was called 'The Grand
Pensionary,' and the office had been since 1653 filled by one
of the most remarkable men of the time, John de Witt. John de
Witt therefore represented, roughly speaking, the power of the
merchant aristocracy of Holland, as opposed to the claims of
the House of Orange, which were supported by the 'noblesse,'
the army, the Calvinistic clergy, and the people below the
governing class. Abroad the Orange family had the sympathy of
monarchical Governments. Louis XIV. despised the Government of
'Messieurs les Marchands,' while Charles II., at once the
uncle and the guardian of the young Prince of the house of
Orange, the future William III. of England, and mindful of
the scant courtesy which, to satisfy Cromwell, the Dutch had
shown him in exile, was ever their bitter and unscrupulous
foe. The empire of the Dutch Republic was purely commercial
and colonial, and she held in this respect the same position
relatively to the rest of Europe that England holds at the
present day."
O. Airy,
The English Restoration and Louis XIV.,
chapter 9.
ALSO IN:
J. Geddes,
History of the Administration of John de Witt,
volume 1.
NETHERLANDS: (Spanish Provinces): A. D. 1652.
Recovery of Dunkirk and Gravelines.
Invasion of France. See FRANCE: A. D. 1652.
NETHERLANDS: (The United Provinces): A. D. 1652.
First Settlement at the Cape of Good Hope.
See SOUTH AFRICA: A. D. 1486-1806.
NETHERLANDS: (The United Provinces): A. D. 1652-1654.
War with the English Commonwealth.
See ENGLAND: A. D. 1652-1654.
NETHERLANDS: (Spanish Provinces): A. D. 1653-1656.
Campaigns of Condé in the service of Spain against France.
See FRANCE: A. D 1653-1656.
NETHERLANDS: (Spanish Provinces): A. D. 1657-1658.
England in alliance with France in the Franco-Spanish War.
Loss of Dunkirk and Gravelines.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1655-1658.
NETHERLANDS: (Spanish Provinces): A. D. 1659.
Cessions of territory to France by the Treaty of the Pyrenees.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1659-1661.
NETHERLANDS: (Holland): A. D. 1664.
The seizure of New Netherland by the English.
See NEW YORK: A. D. 1664.
NETHERLANDS: (Holland): A. D. 1665-1666.
War with England renewed.
"A formal declaration of war between Holland and England took
place in March, 1665. The English nation, jealous of the
commercial prosperity of Holland, eagerly seconded the views
of the king against that country, and in regard to the war a
remarkable degree of union prevailed throughout Great Britain.
Such, however, was not the case with the Dutch, who were very
much divided in opinion, and had many reasons to be doubtful
of the support of France. One of the grand objects of Charles
II. was undoubtedly … to restore his nephew the Prince of
Orange to all the power which had been held by his ancestors
in the United Provinces. But between Holland and England there
existed, besides numerous other most fertile causes of
discord, unsettled claims, upon distant territories, rival
colonies in remote parts of the world, maritime jealousy and
constant commercial opposition. These were national motives
for hostility, and affected a large body of the Dutch people.
But, on the other hand, considerations of general interest
were set aside by the political factions which divided the
United Provinces, and which may be classed under the names of
the Republican and the Monarchical parties. The Monarchical
party was, of course, that which was attached to the interests
of the House of Orange. … In the end of 1664, 130 Dutch
merchantmen had been captured by England; acts of hostility
had occurred in Guinea, at the Cape de Verd, [in New
Netherland], and in the West Indies: but Louis [XIV. of
France] had continued to avoid taking any active part against
Great Britain, notwithstanding all the representations of De
Witt, who on this occasion saw in France the natural ally of
Holland. On the 13th of June [1665], however, a great naval
engagement took place between the Dutch fleet, commanded by
Opdam and Van Tromp, and the English fleet, commanded by the
Duke of York and Prince Rupert. Opdam was defeated and killed;
Van Tromp saved the remains of his fleet; and on the very same
day a treaty was concluded between Arlington [the English
minister] and an envoy of the Bishop of Munster, by which it
was agreed that the warlike and restless prelate should invade
the United Provinces with an army of 20,000 men, in
consideration of sums of money to be paid by England.
{2286}
This treaty at once called Louis into action, and he notified
to the Bishop of Munster that if he made any hostile movement
against the States of Holland he would find the troops of
France prepared to oppose him. This fact was announced to the
States by D'Estrades on the 22nd of July, together with the
information that the French monarch was about to send to their
assistance a body of troops by the way of Flanders. … Still,
however, Louis hung back in the execution of his purposes,
till the aspect of affairs in the beginning of 1666 forced him
to declare war against England, on the 26th of January in that
year, according to the terms of his treaty with Holland. …
The part that France took in the war was altogether
insignificant, and served but little to free the Dutch from
the danger in which they were placed. That nation itself made
vast efforts to obtain a superiority at sea; and in the
beginning of June, 1666, the Dutch fleet, commanded by De
Ruyter and Van Tromp, encountered the English fleet, under
Monk and Prince Rupert, and a battle which lasted for four
days, with scarcely any intermission, took place. It would
seem that some advantage was gained by the Dutch; but both
fleets were tremendously shattered, and retired to the ports
of their own country to refit. Shortly after, however, they
again encountered, and one of the most tremendous naval
engagements in history took place, in which the Dutch suffered
a complete defeat; 20 of their first-rate men-of-war were
captured or sunk; and three admirals, with 4,000 men, were
killed on the part of the States. The French fleet could not
come up in time to take part in the battle, and all that Louis
did was to furnish De Witt with the means of repairing the
losses of the States as rapidly as possible. The energy of the
grand pensionary himself, however, effected much more than the
slow and unwilling succour of the French king. With almost
superhuman exertion new fleets were made ready and manned,
while the grand pensionary amused the English ministers with
the prospect of a speedy peace on their own terms; and at a
moment when England was least prepared, De Ruyter and
Cornelius de Witt appeared upon the coast, sailed up the
Thames, attacked and took Sheerness, and destroyed a great
number of ships of the line. A multitude of smaller vessels
were burnt; and the consternation was so great throughout
England, that a large quantity of stores and many ships were
sunk and destroyed by order of the British authorities
themselves, while De Ruyter ravaged the whole sea-coast from
the mouth of the Thames to the Land's End. The negotiations
for peace, which had commenced at Breda, were now carried on
upon terms much more advantageous to Holland, and were
speedily concluded; England, notwithstanding the naval glory
she had gained, being fully as much tired of the war as the
States themselves. A general treaty was signed on the 25th of
July."
G. P. R. James,
Life and Times of Louis XIV.,
volume 2, chapter 6.
"The thunder of the Dutch guns in the Medway and the Thames
woke England to a bitter sense of its degradation. The dream
of loyalty was roughly broken. 'Everybody now-a-days,' Pepys
tells us, 'reflect upon Oliver and commend him: what brave
things he did, and made all the neighbour princes fear him.'
But Oliver's successor was coolly watching this shame and
discontent of his people with the one aim of turning it to his
own advantage."
J. R. Green,
History of the English People,
book 8, chapter 1 (volume 3).
ALSO IN:
C. D. Yonge,
History of the British Navy,
volume 2, chapter 5.
NETHERLANDS: (The Spanish Provinces): A. D. 1667.
The claims and conquests of Louis XIV.
The War of the Queen's Rights.
In 1660 Louis XIV., king of France, was married to the Infanta
of Spain, Maria Theresa, daughter of Philip IV., who solemnly
renounced at the time, for herself and her posterity, all
rights to the Spanish crown. The insincerity and hollowness of
the renunciation was proved terribly at a later time by the
long "war of the Spanish succession." Meantime Louis
discovered other pretended rights in his Spanish wife on which
he might found claims for the satisfaction of his territorial
greed. These rested on the fact that she was born of her
father's first marriage, and that a customary right in certain
provinces of the Spanish Netherlands gave daughters of a first
marriage priority of inheritance over sons of a second
marriage. At the same time, in the laws of Luxembourg and
Franche-Comté, which admitted all children to the partition of
an inheritance, he found pretext for claiming, on behalf of
his wife, one fourth of the former and one third of the
principality last named. Philip IV. of Spain died in
September, 1665, leaving a sickly infant son under the regency
of an incapable and priest-ruled mother, and Louis began
quickly to press his claims. Having made his preparations on a
formidable scale, he sent forth in May, 1667, to all the
courts of Europe, an elaborate "Treatise on the Rights of the
Most Christian Queen over divers States of the monarchy of
Spain," announcing at the same time his intention to make a
"journey" in the Catholic Netherlands—the intended journey
being a ruthless invasion, in fact, with 50,000 men, under the
command of the great marshal-general, Turenne. The army began
its march simultaneously with the announcement of its purpose,
crossing the frontier on the 24th of May. Town after town was
taken, some without resistance and others after a short, sharp
siege, directed by Vauban, the most famous among military
engineers. Charleroi was occupied on the 2d of June; Tournay
surrendered on the 24th; two weeks later Douai fell; Courtrai
endured only four days of siege and Oudenarde but two; Lille
was a more difficult prize and held Turenne and the king
before it for twenty days. "All Walloon Flanders had again
become French at the price of less effort and bloodshed than
it had cost, in the Middle Ages, to force one of its places.
… September 1, the whole French army was found assembled
before the walls of Ghent." But Ghent was not assailed, the
French army being greatly fatigued and much reduced by the
garrisoning of the conquered places. Louis, accordingly,
returned to Saint-Germain, and Turenne, after taking Alost,
went into winter quarters. Before the winter passed great
changes of circumstance had occurred. The Triple Alliance of
England, Holland and Sweden had been formed, Louis had made
his secret treaty at Vienna with the Emperor, for the
partitioning of the Spanish dominions, and his further
"journey" in the Netherlands was postponed.
H. Martin,
History of France: Age of Louis XIV.
(translated by M. L. Booth),
volume 1, chapter 4.
ALSO IN:
A. F. Pontalis,
John de Witt,
chapter 7 (volume 1).
{2287}
NETHERLANDS: (Holland): A. D. 1668.
The Triple Alliance with England and Sweden
against the French king.
"The rapid conquests of the French king in Flanders during the
last summer had drawn the eyes of Europe towards the seat of
war in that country. The pope, Clement IX., through pity for
the young king of Spain, and the States, alarmed at the
approach of the French arms to their frontier, offered their
mediation. To both Louis returned the same answer, that he
sought nothing more than to vindicate the rights of his wife;
that he should be content to retain possession of the
conquests which he had already made, or to exchange them
either for Luxembourg, or Franche-comté, with the addition of
Aire, St. Omer, Donai, Cambrai, and Charleroi, to strengthen
his northern frontier. … But Spain was not sufficiently
humbled to submit to so flagrant an injustice. … If it was
the interest of England, it was still more the interest of the
States, to exclude France from the possession of Flanders.
Under this persuasion, sir William Temple, the resident at
Brussels, received instructions to proceed to the Hague and
sound the disposition of de Witt; and, on his return to
London, was despatched back again to Holland with the proposal
of a defensive alliance, the object of which should be to
compel the French monarch to make peace with Spain on the
terms which he had previously offered. … Temple acted with
promptitude and address: … he represented the danger of
delay; and, contrary to all precedent at the Hague, in the
short space of five days—had the constitutional forms been
observed it would have demanded five weeks—he negotiated
[January, 1668] three treaties which promised to put an end to
the war, or, if they failed in that point, to oppose at least
an effectual barrier to the further progress of the invader.
The first was a defensive alliance by which the two nations
bound themselves to aid each other against any aggressor with
a fleet of forty men of war, and an army of 6,400 men, or with
assistance in money in proportion to the deficiency in men; by
the second, the contracting powers agreed by every means in
their power to dispose France to conclude a peace with Spain
on the alternative already offered, to persuade Spain to
accept one part of that alternative before the end of May,
and, in case of a refusal, to compel her by war, on condition
that France should not interfere by force of arms. These
treaties were meant for the public eye: the third was secret,
and bound both England and the States, in case of the refusal
of Louis, to unite with Spain in the war, and not to lay down
their arms till the peace of the Pyrenees were confirmed. On
the same day the Swedish ambassadors gave a provisional, and
afterwards a positive assent to the league, which from that
circumstance obtained the name of the Triple Alliance. Louis
received the news of this transaction with an air of haughty
indifference. … In consequence of the infirm state of
Charles II. of Spain, he had secretly concluded with the
emperor Leopold an 'eventual' treaty of partition of the
Spanish monarchy on the expected death of that prince, and
thus had already bound himself by treaty to do the very thing
which it was the object of the allied powers to effect. …
The intervention of the emperor, in consequence of the
eventual treaty, put an end to the hesitation of the Spanish
cabinet; the ambassadors of the several powers met at
Aix-la-Chapelle [April-May, 1668]; Spain made her choice; the
conquered towns in Flanders were ceded to Louis, and peace was
re-established between the two crowns. … The States could
ill dissemble their disappointment. They never doubted that
Spain, with the choice in her hands, would preserve Flanders,
and part with Franche-comté. … The result was owing, it is
said, to the resentment of Castel-Rodrigo [the governor of the
Spanish Netherlands], who, finding that the States would not
join with England to confine France within its ancient limits,
resolved to punish them by making a cession, which brought the
French frontier to the very neighbourhood of the Dutch
territory."
J. Lingard,
History of England,
volume 11, chapter 6.
"Dr. Lingard, who is undoubtedly a very able and well-informed
writer, but whose great fundamental rule of judging seems to
be that the popular opinion on a historical question cannot
possibly be correct, speaks very slightingly of this
celebrated treaty [of the Triple Alliance]. … But grant that
Louis was not really stopped in his progress by this famous
league; still it is certain that the world then, and long
after, believed that he was so stopped; and that this was the
prevailing impression in France as well as in other countries.
Temple, therefore, at the very least, succeeded in raising the
credit of his country, and lowering the credit of a rival
power."
Lord Macaulay,
Sir William Temple (Essays).
ALSO IN:
O. Airy,
The English Restoration and Louis XIV.,
chapter 14.
Sir W. Temple,
Letters, January 1668
(Works, volume 1).
L. von Ranke,
History of England, 17th Century,
book 15, chapter 4 (volume 3).
A. F. Pontalis,
John de Witt,
chapter 7 (volume 1).
NETHERLANDS: (Holland): A. D. 1670.
Betrayed to France by the English king.
See ENGLAND: A. D. 1668-1670.
NETHERLANDS: (Holland): A. D. 1672-1674.
The war with France and England.
Murder of the DeWitts.
Restoration of the Stadtholdership.
"The storm that had been prepared in secret for Holland began
to break in 1672. France and England had declared war at once
by land and sea, without any cause of quarrel, except that
Louis declared that the Dutch insulted him, and Charles
complained that they would not lower their flag to his, and
that they refused the Stadtholdership to his nephew, William
of Orange. Accordingly, his fleet made a piratical attack on
the Dutch ships returning from Smyrna, and Louis, with an
immense army, entered Holland. … They [the French] would
have attempted the passage of the Yssel, but the Dutch forces,
under the Prince of Orange, were on the watch, and turned
towards the Rhine, which was so low, in consequence of a
drouth, that 2,000 adventurous cavalry were able to cross,
half wading, half swimming, and gained a footing on the other
side." This "passage of the Rhine" was absurdly celebrated as
a great military exploit by the servile flatterers of the
French king. "The passage thus secured, the King crossed the
river the next day on a bridge of boats, and rapidly overran
the adjoining country, taking the lesser towns, and offering
to the Republic the most severe terms, destructive of their
independence, but securing the nominal Stadtholdership to the
Prince of Orange.
{2288}
The magistrates of Amsterdam had almost decided on carrying
the keys to Louis, and the Grand Pensionary himself was ready
to yield; but William, who preferred ruling a free people by
their own choice to being imposed on them by the conqueror,
still maintained that perseverance would save Holland, that
her dykes, when opened, would admit floods that the enemy
could not resist, and that they had only to be firm. The
spirit of the people was with him, and in Amsterdam,
Dordrecht, and the other cities, there were risings with loud
outcries of 'Orange boven,' Up with Orange, insisting that he
should be appointed Stadtholder. The magistracy confirmed the
choice, but Cornelius de Witt, too firm to yield to a popular
cry, refused to sign the appointment, and thus drew on himself
the rage of the people. He was arrested under an absurd
accusation of having bribed a man to assassinate the Prince,
and … [after torture] was sentenced to exile, whereupon his
brother [the Grand Pensionary] announced that he should
accompany him; but while he was with him in his prison at [the
Hague], the atrocious mob again arose [August 20, 1672], broke
open the doors, and, dragging out the two brothers, absolutely
tore them limb from limb."
C. M. Yonge,
Landmarks of History,
part 3, chapter 4, part 6.
The Prince of Orange, profiting by the murder of the De Witts,
rewarded the murderers, and is smirched by the deed, whether
primarily responsible for it or not; but the power which it
secured to him was used ably for Holland. The dykes had
already been cut, on the 18th of June, and "the sea poured in,
placing a waste of water between Louis and Amsterdam, and the
province of Holland at least was saved. The citizens worked
with the intensest energy to provide for their defence. …
Every fourth man among the peasantry was enlisted; mariners
and gunners were drawn from the fleet." Meantime, on the 7th
of June, the fleet itself, under De Ruyter, had been
victorious, in Southwold Bay, or Solebay, over the united
fleets of England and France. The victory was indecisive, but
it paralyzed the allied navy for a season, and prevented a
contemplated descent on Zealand. "All active military
operations against Holland were now necessarily at an end.
There was not a Dutch town south of the inundation which was
not in the hands of the French; and nothing remained for the
latter but to lie idle until the ice of winter should enable
them to cross the floods which cut them off from Amsterdam.
Leaving Turenne in command, Louis therefore returned to St.
Germain on August 1." Before winter came, however, the alarm
of Europe at Louis' aggressions had brought about a coalition
of the Emperor Leopold and the Elector of Brandenburg, to
succor the Dutch States. Louis was forced to call Turenne with
16,000 men to Westphalia and Condé with 17,000 to Alsace. "On
September 12 the Austrian general Montecuculi, the Duke of
Lorraine, and the Grand Elector effected their junction,
intending to cross the Rhine and join William;" but Turenne,
by a series of masterly movements, forced them to retreat,
utterly baffled, into Franconia and Halberstadt. The Elector
of Brandenburg, discouraged, withdrew from the alliance, and
made peace with Louis, June 6, 1673. The spring of 1673 found
the French king advantageously situated, and his advantages
were improved. Turning on the Spaniards in their Belgian
Netherlands, he laid siege to the important stronghold of
Maestricht and it was taken for him by the skill of Vauban, on
the 30th of June. But while this success was being scored, the
Dutch, at sea, had frustrated another attempt of the
Anglo-French fleet to land troops on the Zealand coast. On the
7th of June, and again on the 14th, De Ruyter and Van Tromp
fought off the invaders, under Prince Rupert and D'Estrees,
driving them back to the Thames. Once more, and for the last
time, they made their attempt, on the 21st of August, and were
beaten in a battle near the Zealand shore which lasted from
daylight until dark. The end of August found a new coalition
against Louis formed by treaties between Holland, Spain, the
Emperor and the Duke of Lorraine. A little later, the Prince
of Orange, after capturing Naarden, effected a junction near
Bonn with Montecuculi; who had evaded Turenne. The Electors of
Treves and Mayence thereupon joined the coalition and Cologne
and Munster made peace. By this time, public opinion in
England had become so angrily opposed to the war that Charles
was forced to arrange terms of peace with Holland,
notwithstanding his engagements with Louis. The tide was now
turning fast against France. Denmark had joined the coalition.
In March it received the Elector Palatine; in April the Dukes
of Brunswick and Lüneburg came into the league; in May the
Emperor procured from the Diet a declaration of war in the
name of the Empire, and on the 1st of July the Elector of
Brandenburg cast in his lot once more with the enemies of
France. To effectually meet this new league of his foes, Louis
resolved with heroic promptitude to abandon his conquests in
the Netherlands. Maestricht and Grave, alone, of the places he
had taken, were retained. But Holland still refused to make
peace on the terms which the French king proposed, and held
her ground in the league.
O. Airy,
The English Reformation and Louis XIV.,
chapter 19.
ALSO IN:
F. P. Guizot,
History of France,
chapter 44 (volume 5).
C. D. Yonge,
History of France under the Bourbons,
chapter 15 (volume 2).
A. F. Pontalis,
John de Witt,
chapters 12-14 (volume 2).
Sir W. Temple,
Memoirs,
part 2 (works, volume 2).
See, also,
NEW YORK: A. D. 1673.
NETHERLANDS: (Holland): A. D. 1673.
Reconquest of New Netherland from the English.
See NEW YORK: A. D. 1673.
NETHERLANDS: (The Spanish Provinces): A. D. 1673-1678.
Fresh conquests by Louis XIV.
See NETHERLANDS (HOLLAND): A. D. 1672-1674, and 1674-1678;
also, NIMEGUEN, PEACE OF.
NETHERLANDS: (Holland): A. D. 1674.
The Treaty of Westminster.
Peace with England.
Relinquishment of New Netherland.
An offer from the Dutch to restore New Netherland to England
"was extorted from the necessities of the republic, and its
engagement with Spain. With the consent of the States General,
the Spanish ambassador offered advantageous articles to the
British government. Charles, finding that Louis refused him
further supplies, and that he could not expect any from
Parliament, replied that he was willing to accept reasonable
conditions. … Sir William Temple was summoned from his
retirement, and instructed to confer with the Spanish
ambassador at London, the Marquis del Fresno, to whom the
States General had sent full powers.
{2289}
In three days all the points were arranged; and a treaty was
signed at Westminster [February 19, 1674] by Arlington and
four other commissioners on the part of Great Britain, and by
Fresno on the part of the United Netherlands. The honor of the
flag, which had been refused by De Witt, was yielded to
England; the Treaty of Breda was revived; the rights of
neutrals guaranteed; and the commercial principles of the
Triple Alliance renewed. By the sixth article it was
covenanted that 'all lands, islands, cities, havens, castles
and fortresses, which have been or shall be taken by one party
from the other, during the time of this last unhappy war,
whether in Europe or elsewhere, and before the expiration of
the times above limited for the duration of hostilities, shall
be restored to the former Lord and Proprietor in the same
condition they shall be in at the time that this peace shall
be proclaimed.' This article restored New Netherland to the
King of Great Britain. The Treaty of Breda had ceded it to him
on the principle of 'uti possidetis.' The Treaty of
Westminster gave it back to him on the principle of reciprocal
restitution. Peace was soon proclaimed at London and at the
Hague. The treaty of Westminster delivered the Dutch from fear
of Charles, and cut off the right arm of Louis, their more
dreaded foe. England, on her part, slipped out of a disastrous
war. … By the treaty of Westminster the United Provinces
relinquished their conquest of New Netherland to the King of
England. The sovereign Dutch States General had treated
directly with Charles as sovereign. A question at once arose
at Whitehall about the subordinate interest of the Duke of
York. It was claimed by some that James's former American
proprietorship was revived. … The opinion of counsel having
been taken, they advised that the duke's proprietorship had
been extinguished by the Dutch conquest, and that the king was
now alone seized of New Netherland, by virtue of the Treaty of
Westminster. … A new patent to the Duke of York was
therefore sealed. By it the king again conveyed to his brother
the territories he had held before, and granted him anew the
absolute powers of government he had formerly enjoyed over
British subjects, with the like additional authority over 'any
other person or persons' inhabiting his province. Under the
same description of boundaries, New Jersey, and all the
territory west of the Connecticut River, together with Long
Island and the adjacent islands, and the region of Pemaquid,
were again included in the grant. The new patent did not, as
has been commonly, but erroneously stated, 'recite and confirm
the former.' It did not in any way allude to that instrument.
It read as if no previous English patent had ever existed. …
As his colonial lieutenant and deputy, the duke, almost
necessarily, appointed Major Edmund Andros, whom the king had
directed in the previous March to receive New Netherland from
the Dutch."
J. R. Brodhead,
History of the State of New York,
volume 2, chapters 5-6.
NETHERLANDS: (Holland): A. D. 1674-1678.
Continued war of the Coalition against France.
"The enemies of France everywhere took courage. … Louis XIV.
embraced with a firm glance the whole position, and, well
advised by Turenne, clearly took his resolution. He understood
the extreme difficulty of preserving his conquests, and the
facility moreover of making others more profitable, while
defending his own frontier. To evacuate Holland, to indemnify
himself at the expense of Spain, and to endeavor to treat
separately with Holland while continuing the war against the
House of Austria,—such was the new plan adopted; an
excellent plan, the very wisdom of which condemned so much the
more severely the war with Holland. … The places of the
Zuyder-Zee were evacuated in the course of December by the
French and the troops of Munster. … The evacuation of the
United Provinces was wholly finished by spring. … Louis
resolved to conquer Franche-Comté in person; while Turenne
covered Alsace and Lorraine, Schomberg went to defend
Roussillon, and Condé labored to strengthen the French
positions on the Meuse, by sweeping the enemy from the
environs of Liege and Maestricht. On the ocean, the defensive
was preserved." Louis entered Franche-Comté at the beginning
of May with a small army of 8,000 infantry and 5,000 or 6,000
cavalry, but with Vauban, the great master of sieges, to do
his serious work for him. A small corps had been sent into the
country in February, and had already taken Gray, Vesoul and
Lons-le-Saulnier. Besançon was now reduced by a short siege;
Dole surrendered soon afterward, and early in July the
subjugation of the province was complete. "The second conquest
of Franche-Comté had cost a little more trouble than the
first; but it was definitive. The two Burgundies were no more
to be separated, and France was never again to lose her
frontier of the Jura. … The allies, from the beginning of
the year, had projected a general attack against France. They
had debated among themselves the design of introducing two
great armies, one from Belgium into Champagne, the other from
Germany into Alsace and Lorraine; the Spaniards were to invade
Roussillon; lastly, the Dutch fleet was to threaten the coasts
of France and attempt some enterprise there. The tardiness of
the Germanic diet to declare itself" frustrated the first of
these plans. Condé, occupying a strong position near
Charleroi, from which the allies could not draw him, took
quick advantage of an imprudent movement which they made, and
routed them by a fierce attack, at the village of Seneffe
(August 11, 1674). But William of Orange rallied the flying
forces—Dutch, German and Spanish now fighting side by
side—so successfully that Condé was repulsed with terrible
loss in the end, when he attempted to make his victory
complete. The battle was maintained, by the light of the moon,
until midnight, and both armies withdrew next morning, badly
crippled. Turenne meantime, in June, had crossed the Rhine at
Philippsburg and encountered the Imperialists, on the 16th,
near Sinsheim, defeated them there and driven them beyond the
Neckar. The following month, he again crossed the river and
inflicted upon the Palatinate the terrible destruction which
made it for the time being a desert, and which is the black
blot on the fame of the great soldier. "Turenne ordered his
troops to consume and waste cattle, forage, and harvests, so
that the enemy's army, when it returned in force, as he
foresaw it would do, could find nothing whereon to subsist."
In September the city of Strasburg opened its gates to the
Imperialists and gave them the control of its fortified
bridge, crossing the Rhine.
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Turenne, hastening to prevent the disaster, but arriving too
late, attacked his enemies, October 4, at the village of
Ensisheim and gained an inconclusive victory. Then followed,
before the close of the year, the most famous of the military
movements of Turenne. The allies having been heavily
reinforced, he retired before them into Lorraine, meeting and
gathering up reinforcements of his own as he moved. Then, when
he had completely deceived them as to his intentions, he
traversed the whole length of the Vosges with his army, in
December, and appeared suddenly at Belfort, finding their
forces scattered and entirely unprepared. Defeating them at
Mülhausen December 29, and again at Colmar, January 5, he
expelled them from Alsace, and offered to Strasburg the
renewal of its neutrality, which the anxious city was glad to
accept. "Thus ended this celebrated campaign, the most
glorious, perhaps, presented in the military history of
ancient France. None offers higher instruction in the study of
the great art of war." In the campaign of 1675, which opened
in May, Turenne was confronted by Montecuculi, and the two
masterly tacticians became the players of a game which has
been the wonder of military students ever since. "Like two
valiant athletes struggling foot to foot without either being
able to overthrow the other, Turenne and Montecuculi manœuvred
for six weeks in the space of a few square leagues [in the
canton of Ortnau, Swabia] without succeeding in forcing each
other to quit the place." At length, on the 27th of July,
Turenne found an opportunity to attack his opponent with
advantage, in the defile of Salsbach, and was just completing
his preparations to do so, when a cannon-ball from one of the
enemy's batteries struck him instantly dead. His two
lieutenants, who succeeded to the command, could not carry out
his plans, but fought a useless bloody battle at Altenheim and
nearly lost their army before retreating across the Rhine.
Condé was sent to replace Turenne. Before he arrived,
Strasburg had again given its bridge to the Imperialists and
they were in possession of Lower Alsace; but no important
operations were undertaken during the remainder of the year.
In other parts of the wide war field the French suffered
disaster. Marshal de Crequi, commanding on the Moselle, was
badly defeated at Konsaarbrück, August 11, and Treves, which
he defended, was lost a few weeks later. The Swedes, also,
making a diversion in the north, as allies of France, were
beaten back, at Fehrbellin.
See SCANDINAVIAN STATES (SWEDEN): A. D. 1644-1697.
But next year (1676) Louis recovered all his prestige. His
navy, under the command of Duquesne and Tourville, fought the
Dutch and Spaniards on equal terms, and defeated them twice in
the Mediterranean, on the Sicilian coast. On land the main
effort of the French was directed against the Netherlands.
Condé, Bouchain and Aire were taken by siege; and Maestricht
was successfully defended against Orange, who besieged it for
nearly eight weeks. But Philippsburg, the most important
French post on the Rhine, was lost, surrendering to the Duke
of Lorraine. Early in 1677, Louis renewed his attacks on the
Spanish Netherlands and took Valenciennes March 17, Cambrai
April 4, and Saint-Omer April 20, defeating the Prince of
Orange at Cassel (April 11) when he attempted to relieve the
latter place. At the same time Crequi, unable to defend Lower
Alsace, destroyed it—burning the villages, leaving the
inhabitants to perish—and prevented the allies, who
outnumbered him, from making any advance. In November, when
they had gone into winter-quarters, he suddenly crossed the
Rhine and captured Freiburg. The next spring (1678) operations
began early on the side of the French with the siege of Ghent.
The city capitulated, March 9, after a short bombardment. The
Spanish governor withdrew to the citadel, but "surrendered, on
the 11th, that renowned castle built by Charles V. to hold the
city in check. The city and citadel of Ghent had not cost the
French army forty men." Ypres was taken the same month.
Serious negotiations were now opened and the Peace of
Nimeguen, between France and Holland, was signed August 11,
followed early the next year by a general peace. The Prince of
Orange, who opposed the peace, fought one bootless but bloody
battle at Saint-Denis, near Mons, on the 14th of August, three
days after it had been signed.
H. Martin,
History of France: Age of Louis XIV.
(translated by M. L. Booth),
volume 1, chapters 5-6.
"It may be doubted whether Europe has fully realised the
greatness of the peril she so narrowly escaped on this
occasion. The extinction of political and mental freedom,
which would have followed the extinction of the Dutch
Republic, would have been one of the most disastrous defeats
of the cause of liberty and enlightenment possible in the then
condition of the world. … The free presses of Holland gave
voice to the stilled thought and agony of mankind. And they
were the only free presses in the world. But Holland was not
only the greatest book mart of Europe, it was emphatically the
home of thinkers and the birthplace of ideas. … The two men
then living to whose genius and courage the modern spirit of
mental emancipation and toleration owes its first and most
arduous victories were Pierre Bayle and John Locke. And it is
beyond dispute that if the French King had worked his will on
Holland, neither of them would have been able to accomplish
the task they did achieve under the protection of Dutch
freedom. They both were forced to seek refuge in Holland from
the bigotry which hunted them down in their respective
countries. All the works of Bayle were published in Holland,
and some of the earliest of Locke's writings appeared there
also; and if the remainder saw the light afterwards in
England, it is only because the Dutch, by saving their own
freedom, were the means of saving that of England as well. …
At least, no one can maintain that if Holland had been
annihilated in 1672, the English revolution could have
occurred in the form and at the time it did."
J. C. Morison,
The Reign of Louis XIV.
(Fortnightly Review, March, 1874).
ALSO IN:
H. M. Hozier,
Turenne,
chapters 12-13.
T. O. Cockayne,
Life of Turenne.
Lord Mahon,
Life of Condé,
chapter 12.
See, also, NIMEGUEN, PEACE OF.
NETHERLANDS: (Holland): A. D. 1689.
Invasion of England by the Prince of Orange.
His accession to the English throne.
See ENGLAND A. D. 1688 (JULY-NOVEMBER),
to 1689 (JANUARY-FEBRUARY).
NETHERLANDS: (Holland): A. D. 1689-1696.
The War of the League of Augsburg, or the Grand Alliance
against Louis XIV.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1689-1690, to 1695-1696.
{2291}
NETHERLANDS: (The Spanish Provinces): A. D; 1690-1691.
The Battle of Fleurus and the loss of Mons.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1689-1691.
NETHERLANDS: (Holland): A. D. 1692.
The Naval Battle of La Hogue.
See ENGLAND: A. D. 1692.
NETHERLANDS: (The Spanish Provinces): A. D. 1692.
The loss of Namur and the Battle of Steenkerke.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1692.
NETHERLANDS: (The Spanish Provinces): A. D. 1693.
The Battle of Neerwinden.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1693 (JULY).
NETHERLANDS: (The Spanish Provinces): A. D. 1694-1696.
Campaigns without battles.
The recovery of Namur.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1694; and 1695-1696.
NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1697.
The Peace of Ryswick.
French conquests restored.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1697.
A. D. 1698-1700.
The question of the Spanish Succession.
The Treaties of Partition.
See SPAIN: A. D. 1698-1700.
NETHERLANDS: (The Spanish Provinces): A. D. 1701.
Occupied by French troops.
See SPAIN: A. D. 1701-1702.
NETHERLANDS: (Holland): A. D. 1702.
The Second Grand Alliance against France and Spain.
See SPAIN: A. D. 1701-1702;
and ENGLAND: A. D. 1701-1702.
NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1702.
The War of the Spanish Succession: The Expedition to Cadiz.
The sinking of the treasure ships in Vigo Bay.
See SPAIN: A. D. 1702.
NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1702-1704.
The War of the Spanish Succession:
Marlborough's first campaigns.
"The campaign [of 1702] opened late in the Low Countries,
owing, doubtless, to the death of king William. The elector of
Bavaria, and his brother the elector of Cologne, took part
with France. About the middle of April, the prince of
Nassau-Saarbruck invested Keyserwerth, a place belonging to
the latter elector, on the Rhine; whilst Lord Athlone, with
the Dutch army, covered the siege, in pursuance of the advice
of Lord Marlborough to the states. The place was strong; the
French Marshal Boufflers made efforts to relieve it; after a
vigorous defence, it was carried by assault, with dreadful
carnage, about the middle of June. Boufflers, unable to
relieve Keyserwerth, made a rapid, march to throw himself
between Athlone and Nimeguen, with the view to carry that
place by surprise; was defeated by a forced and still more
rapid march of the Dutch, under Athlone, to cover it; and
moved upon Cleves, laying the country waste with wanton
barbarity along his line of march. Marlborough now arrived to
take the command in chief. It was disputed with him by
Athlone, who owed his military rank and the honours of the
peerage to the favour of king William. Certain representatives
of the states, who attended the army under the name of field
deputies, thwarted him by their caution and incompetency; the
Prussian and Hanoverian contingents refused to move without
the orders of their respective sovereigns. Lord Marlborough,
with admirable temper and adroitness, and, doubtless, with the
ascendant of his genius, surmounted all these obstacles. The
Dutch general cheerfully served under him; the confederates
were reconciled to his orders; he crossed the Meuse in pursuit
of the French; came within a few leagues of Boufflers' lines;
and, addressing the Dutch field deputies who accompanied him,
said, in a tone of easy confidence, 'I will now rid you of
these troublesome neighbours.' Boufflers accordingly
retreated,—abandoning Spanish Guelderland, and exposing
Venloo, Ruremonde, and even Liege, which he had made a
demonstration to cover. The young duke of Burgundy, grandson
of Louis XIV., and elder brother of the king of Spain, had
commanded the French army in name. He now returned to
Versailles; and Boufflers could only look on, whilst
Marlborough successively captured Venloo, Ruremonde, and
Liege. The navigation of the Meuse and communication with
Maestricht was now wholly free; the Dutch frontier was secure;
and the campaign terminated with the close of October. … The
duke of Marlborough resumed his command in the Low Countries
about the middle of spring. He found the French strong and
menacing on every side. Marshal Villars had, like Marlborough,
fixed the attention of Europe for the first time in the late
campaign. He obtained a splendid victory over the prince of
Baden at Fredlingen, near the Black Forest. That prince lost
3,000 men, his cannon and the field. … Villars opened this
year's campaign by taking Kehl, passed through the Black
Forest into Bavaria, and formed a junction with the elector;
whilst the prince of Baden was kept in check by a French army
under marshal Tallard. … The imperial general, Count Styrum
was now moving to join the prince of Baden with 20,000 men.
Villars persuaded the elector to cross the Danube and prevent
this junction; attacked the imperialists in the plain of
Hochstedt near Donawert; and put them to the rout. The capture
of Augsburg followed: the road was open to Vienna, and the
emperor thought of abandoning the capital. … Holland was
once more threatened on her frontier. Marshal Villeroi,
liberated by exchange, was again at the head of an army, and,
in conjunction with Boufflers, commenced operations for
recovering the ground and the strong places from which
Marlborough had dislodged the French on the Meuse. The
campaign had opened at this point of the theatre of war with
the capture of Rheinberg. It was taken by the Prussians before
the duke of Marlborough arrived. The duke's first operation
was the capture of Bonne. He returned to the main army with
the view to engage the French under Villeroi. That marshal
abandoned his camp, and retired within his lines of defence on
the approach of the English general. Marlborough was prevented
from attacking the French by the reluctance of the Dutch
generals and the positive prohibition of the Dutch field
deputies. … The only fruit of Marlborough's movement was the
easy capture of Huy. Boufflers obtained the slight advantage
of surprising and defeating the Dutch general Opdam near
Antwerp. Marlborough, still embarrassed by the Dutch field
deputies, to whose good intentions and limited views he bowed
with a facility which only proves the extent of his
superiority, closed the campaign with the acquisition of
Limburg and Guelders. … In the beginning of … [1704] the
emperor, threatened by the French and Bavarians in the very
capital of the empire, implored aid from the queen; and on the
19th of April, the duke of Marlborough left England to enter
upon a campaign memorable for … [the] victory of Blenheim.
… On his arrival at the Hague, he proposed to the states
general to alarm France for her frontier by a movement on the
Moselle.
{2292}
Their consent even to this slight hazard for their own
security, was not easily obtained. Villeroi, who commanded in
Flanders, soon lost sight of him; so rapid or so well masked
were his movements; Tallard, who commanded on the Moselle,
thought only of protecting the frontier of France; and
Marlborough, to the amazement of Europe, whether enemies or
allies, passed in rapid succession the Rhine, the Maine, and
the Necker. Intercepted letters, and a courier from the prince
of Baden, apprised him that the French were about to join the
Bavarians through the defiles of the Black Forest, and march
upon Vienna. He now threw off the mask, sent a courier to the
states, acquainting them that he was marching to the succour
of the empire by order of the queen of England, and trusted
they would permit their troops to share the glory of his
enterprise. The pensionary Heinsius alone was in his
confidence; and the states, though taken by surprise, conveyed
to him their sanction and confidence with the best grace. He
met Prince Eugene for the first time at Mindlesheim.
Marlborough and Eugene are henceforth associated in the career
of war and victory."
Sir J. Mackintosh,
The History of England,
volume 9, chapter 4.
ALSO IN:
L. Creighton,
Life of Marlborough,
chapters 6-7.
G. Saintsbury,
Marlborough,
chapter 5.
W. Coxe,
Memoirs of Marlborough,
chapters 11-22 (volume 1).
J. H. Burton,
History of the Reign of Queen Anne,
chapters 5-6 (volume 1).
Sec, also,
GERMANY: A. D. 1702, and 1703.
NETHERLANDS: (Holland): A. D. 1704.
The War of the Spanish Succession:
The campaign on the Danube and victory at Blenheim.
See GERMANY: A. D. 1704.
NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1705.
The War of the Spanish Succession: A campaign spoiled.
After his campaign in Bavaria, with its great victory on the
field of Blenheim (see GERMANY: A. D. 1704), Marlborough
passed the winter in England and returned in the spring of
1705 to the Low Countries, where he had planned to lead,
again, the campaign of the year. Prince Eugene was now in
Italy, and the jealous, incapable Prince Louis of Baden,
commanding the German army, was the coadjutor on whom he must
depend. The latter assented to Marlborough's plans and
promised co-operation. The Dutch generals and deputies also
were reluctantly brought over to his views, which contemplated
an invasion of France on the side of the Moselle. "Slight as
were the hopes of any effective co-operation which Prince
Louis gave, they were much more than he accomplished. When the
time came he declared himself sick, threw up his command and
set off to drink the waters of Schlangenbad. Count de Frise
whom he named in his place brought to Marlborough only a few
ragged battalions, and, moreover, like his principal, showed
himself most jealous of the English chief. … Marlborough
nevertheless took the field and even singly desired to give
battle. But positive instructions from Versailles precluded
Villars [the commander of the French] from engaging. He
intrenched himself in an extremely strong position at Sirk,
where it was impossible for an inferior army to assail him.
And while the war was thus unprosperous on the Moselle, there
came adverse tidings from the Meuse. Marshal Villeroy had
suddenly resumed the offensive, had reduced the fortress of
Huy, had entered the city and invested the citadel of Liege."
Marlborough, on this news, being applied to for immediate aid
by the Dutch General Overkirk—the ablest and best of his
colleagues—"set out the very next day on his march to Liege,
leaving only a 'sufficient force as he hoped for the security
of Treves." Villeroy "at once relinquished his design upon the
citadel of Liege and fell back in the direction of Tongres, so
that Marlborough and Overkirk effected their junction with
ease. Marlborough took prompt measures to re-invest the
fortress of Huy, and compelled it to surrender on the 11th of
July. Applying his mind to the new sphere before him,
Marlborough saw ground to hope that, with the aid of the Dutch
troops, he might still make a triumphant campaign. The first
object was to force the defensive lines that stretched across
the country from near Namur to Antwerp, protected by numerous
fortified posts and covered in other places by rivers and
morasses, … now defended by an army of at least 60,000 men,
under Marshal Villeroy and the Elector of Bavaria. Marlborough
laid his plans before Generals Overkirk and Slangenberg as
also those civilian envoys whom the States were wont to
commission at their armies. But he found to his sorrow that
for jealousy and slowness a Dutch deputy was fully a match for
a German Margrave." He obtained with great difficulty a
nominal assent to his plans, and began the execution of them;
but in the very midst of his operations, and when one division
of the Dutch troops had successfully crossed the river Dyle,
General Slangenberg and the deputies suddenly drew back and
compelled a retreat. Then Marlborough's "fertile genius
devised another scheme—to move round the sources of the river
[Dyle] and to threaten Brussels from the southern side. … On
the 15th off August he began his march, as did also Overkirk
in a parallel direction, and in two days they reached Genappe
near the sources of the Dyle. There uniting in one line of
battle they moved next morning towards Brussels by the main
chaussée, or great paved road; their head-quarters that day