16

CHAPTER II.

The Dutch Republic ill prepared to resist the forces of France and England. Is speedily overrun by the French troops. -Increasing unpopularity of the Pensionary, John De Witt, and the Republican party. - Appointments of Captain and Admiral-General conferred upon William by the unanimous voice of the States. His early success against the French. -Popular insurrections in the principal Dutch towns.-The office of Stadtholder revived and conferred on William.-Cruel massacre of the De Witts at the Hague in 1672.-Interesting particulars relative to that frightful tragedy. Marked improvement in the state of affairs in Holland.-Attempt by France and England to inveigle the young Stadtholder into a treaty injurious to the interests of his country.-His noble conduct on the occasion.-His successful campaign against the troops of Louis the Fourteenth. Treaty of peace between the French and the Dutch signed in February, 1674.— Office of Stadtholder settled in perpetuity on William and his descendants.-Anecdote of William and Count Starenburg.War renewed between France and Holland. Personal bravery of William at the battle of Seneffe.-He receives a severe wound at the siege of Maestricht.

THE hostile coalition of two such powerful nations as France and England against the Dutch, would, under any circumstances, have involved the latter in a most unequal and dispiriting contest. On no occasion, moreover, had the Republic been so ill prepared as at the

present crisis. Not only were they harassed and divided by internal contentions, but, fully confiding in the provisions of the Treaty of Munster, they little contemplated the possibility of a foreign invasion, and consequently, when the hour of danger arrived, could oppose but a handful of raw and inexperienced troops, to the overwhelming and highly disciplined forces of the French monarchy. Defeat and disgrace were anticipated by even the bravest and most sanguine, and the result proved how well-grounded were their apprehensions. Within an incredibly short space of time, the French troops overran almost the whole of the United Provinces. The panic extended to every heart: at first sight of the invading army, every town and garrison threw open its gates; the Dutch troops, with scarcely a show of opposition, retired before their foe; already the French monarch was, in person, before the gates of Utrecht; and the entire conquest, if not dismemberment, of the Dutch dominions, appeared inevitable.

It was in this terrible emergency that the States, calling to mind the illustrious services of the House of Nassau, fixed their last hopes on the young Prince of Orange. It was true, on the one hand, that he had barely attained his twenty-first year, and that he had hitherto had but little experience in the art of government or of war. On the other hand, his detestation of tyranny, his natural

VOL. I.

C

talents, and his zeal for his country's liberties, were universally acknowledged; moreover, it was remembered how often his predecessors had led the States to victory over the Spaniards; and they hoped, therefore, that the last of the line of Nassau would again extricate the Republic from its difficulties, and lead his countrymen victoriously against the far more powerful enemy now ravaging their territories. There was another circumstance which tended still more to swell the almost universal clamour, that called on the Prince of Orange to take the helm. This was the increasing unpopularity of the Pensionary, John De Witt, and the republican party. In addition to other charges brought against this celebrated man, it was argued that his long administration had rendered him too powerful for a private citizen, and that, instead of selecting persons of acknowledged merit to fill the offices of state, he had invariably advanced his own unworthy creatures and friends. These and similar offences against the Commonwealth were strenuously insisted upon by his enemies; and such were the prejudices and credulity of the mass of the people, that the present extraordinary difficulties, under which the States laboured, were almost universally attributed to the Pensionary's mal-administration and neglect.

These were the circumstances which laid the first stepping-stone to William's greatness. He

had returned, in the month of February, 1672, from inspecting some fortifications in one of the Provinces, when he was waited upon by three deputies from the States General, who notified to him that, on the day previous, the appointments of Captain and Admiral-General had been conferred upon him, by the unanimous voice of the States. An inefficient army of seventy thousand men had been recently raised, and was now encamped at Nienkop: thither, at the commencement of the spring, the young general repaired, and though unable to act on the offensive, yet, by his prudent and successful measures, he very shortly did full justice to the high opinion which had been formed of him. Notwithstanding that he was confronted with the vast armies of France, he continued to maintain the post he had taken up, till the enemy, finding it impossible to drive him from his intrenchments, at length abandoned their own position, and retired with no inconsiderable loss.

This temporary success, however, though it tended in no slight degree to raise the military fame of the Prince of Orange, and to render him popular with his fellow-citizens, was, after all, productive of little advantage to the unfortunate Dutch. Opposed as the Prince was by the most powerful and highly disciplined armies, it was impossible for him to act on the offensive; and, consequently, the frontier towns continued, one by one, to fall into the hands of Louis; nor could

anything be more gloomy than the whole aspect of the affairs of the Republic. In the midst of these troubles arose those formidable popular insurrections in the principal Dutch towns, of which the name of the Prince of Orange was the watchword, and the revival of the Stadtholdership in his person the principal aim. It need scarcely be remarked, that, in the end, the mob proved too powerful for the republican party, and, on the 5th of July, 1672, the office of Stadtholder, with its usual powers and immunities, was solemnly conferred on the Prince.

One circumstance which, more than any other, tended to establish William securely in his new office of Stadtholder, was the barbarous massacre of the De Witts by the mob, which was perpetrated at the Hague on the 10th of August, 1672. The circumstances connected with this event are well known, but are too full of painful interest to be altogether passed over in this place. When the populace at Dort (which town had taken the lead during the commotions of the preceding month), by their furious violence, had compelled the magistrates to sign the repeal of the edict by which the office of Stadtholder had been abolished, Cornelius De Witt, - notwithstanding the threatenings of the mob, the entreaties of his friends, the tears of his wife, and the fact that he was himself lying on a sick bed,-was the only person in the