by the extensive powers with which the stadholder princes
Contest between the Principles of National and Provincial Sovereignty.
of Orange were invested; and the chief crises in the internal
history of the Dutch republic are to be found in
the struggles for supremacy between two, in reality,
different principles of government. On the one side
the principle of provincial sovereignty which gave to
the voice of Holland a preponderating weight that was
decisive; on the other side the principle of national
sovereignty personified in the princes of Orange, to
whom the States-General and the provincial states
delegated executive powers that were little less than monarchical.
The conclusion of the twelve years’ truce in 1609 was a triumph
for Oldenbarneveldt and the province of Holland over the
opposition of Maurice, prince of Orange. In 1617 the
outbreak of the religious dispute between the Remonstrant
Maurice Prince of Orange and John of Oldenbarn-
eveldt.
Frederick Henry Prince of Orange.
William II. Prince of Orange.
John de Witt.
William III. Prince of Orange.
and Contra-remonstrant parties brought on a
life and death struggle between the sovereign province
of Holland and the States-General of the union. The
sword of Maurice decided the issue in favour of the
States-General. The claims of Holland were overthrown
and the head of Oldenbarneveldt fell upon the scaffold (1619).
The stadholder, Frederick Henry of Orange, ruled with well-nigh
monarchical authority (1625–1647), but even he at the
height of his power and popularity had always to
reckon with the opposition of the states of Holland
and of Amsterdam, and many of his plans of campaign
were thwarted by the refusal of the Hollanders to furnish supplies.
His son William II. was but 21 years of age on succeeding
to the stadholdership, and the states of Holland were
sufficiently powerful to carry through the negotiations
for the peace of Münster (1648) in spite of his opposition.
A life and death conflict again ensued, and once
more in 1650 the prince of Orange by armed force crushed the
opposition of the Hollanders. The sudden death of William in
the hour of his triumph caused a complete revolution in the
government of the republic. He left no heir but a posthumous
infant, and the party of the burgher regents of Holland was
once more in the ascendant. The office of stadholder
was abolished, and John de Witt, the grand pensionary
(Raad-Pensionaris) of Holland, for two decades held
in his hands all the threads of administration, and occupied the
same position of undisputed authority in the councils of the land
as Oldenbarneveldt had done at the beginning of the century.
Amsterdam during this period was the centre and head of the
United Provinces. The principle of provincial sovereignty was
carried to its extreme point in the separate treaty concluded
with Cromwell in 1654, in which the province of Holland agreed
to exclude for ever the prince of Orange from the office of stadholder
of Holland or captain-general of the union. In 1672
another revolution took place. John de Witt was
murdered, and William III. was called to fill the office
of dignity and authority which had been held by his
ancestors of the house of Orange, and the stadholdership
was declared to be hereditary in his family. But William
died without issue (see William III.) and a stadholderless period,
during which the province of Holland was supreme in the union,
followed till 1737. This change was effected smoothly, for
though William had many differences with Amsterdam, he had
in Anthony Heinsius (van der Heim), who was grand pensionary
of Holland from 1690 to his death in 1720, a statesman whom
he thoroughly trusted, who worked with him in the furtherance
of his policy during life and who continued to carry out that
policy after his death. In 1737 there was once more a reversion
to the stadholdership in the person of William IV.,
whose powers were strengthened and declared hereditary
William IV. Prince of Orange.
both in the male and female line in 1747. But
until the final destruction of the federal republic by
the French armies, the perennial struggle went on between the
Holland or federal party (Staatsgesinden) centred at Amsterdam—out
of which grew the patriot party under William V.—and the
Orange or unionist party (Oranjegesinden), which was strong in
the smaller provinces and had much popular support among
the lower classes. The French conquest swept away the old
condition of things never to reappear; but allegiance to the
Orange dynasty survived, and in 1813 became the rallying
point of a united Dutch people. At the same time the leading
part played by the province of Holland in the history of the
republic has not been unrecognized, for the country ruled over
by the sovereigns of the house of Orange is always popularly,
and often officially, known as Holland.
The full title of the states of Holland in the 17th and 18th centuries was: de Edele Groot Mogende Heeren Staaten van Holland en Westfriesland. After 1608 this assembly consisted of nineteen members, one representing the nobility (ridderschap), and eighteen, the towns. The Constitution of the States of Holland. member for the nobles had precedence and voted first. The interests of the country districts (het platte land) were the peculiar charges of the member for the nobles. The nobles also retained the right of appointing representatives to sit in the College of Deputed Councillors, in certain colleges of the admiralty, and upon the board of directors of the East India Company, and to various public offices. The following eighteen towns sent representatives: South Quarter—(1) Dordrecht, (2) Haarlem, (3) Delft, (4) Leiden, (5) Amsterdam, (6) Gouda, (7) Rotterdam, (8) Gorinchem, (9) Schiedam, (10) Schoonhoven, (11) Brill; North Quarter:—(12) Alkmaar, (13) Hoorn, (14) Enkhuizen, (15) Edam, (16) Monnikendam, (17) Medemblik, (18) Purmerend. Each town (as did also the nobles) sent as many representatives as they pleased, but the nineteen members had only one vote each. Each town’s deputation was headed by its pensionary, who was the spokesman on behalf of the representatives. Certain questions such as peace and war, voting of subsidies, imposition of taxation, changes in the mode of government, &c., required unanimity of votes. The grand pensionary (Raad-Pensionaris) The Grand Pensionary. was at once the president and chief administrative officer of the states. He presided over all meetings, conducted the business, kept the minutes, and was charged with the maintenance of the rights of the states, with the execution of their resolutions and with the entire correspondence. Nor were his functions only provincial. He was the head and the spokesman of the deputation of the states to the States-General of the union; and in the stadholderless period the influence of such grand pensionaries of Holland as John de Witt and Anthony Heinsius enabled the complicated and intricate machinery of government in a confederacy of many sovereign and semi-sovereign authorities without any recognized head of the state, to work with comparative smoothness and a remarkable unity of policy. This was secured by the indisputable predominance in the union of the province of Holland. The policy of the states of Holland swayed the policy of the generality, and historical circumstances decreed that the policy of the states of Holland during long and critical periods should be controlled by a succession of remarkable men filling the office of grand pensionary. The states of Holland sat at the Hague in the months of March, July, September and November. During the periods of prorogation the continuous oversight of the business and interests of the province was, however, never neglected. College of Deputed Councillors. This duty was confided to a body called the College of Deputed Councillors (het Kollegie der Gekommitteerde Raden), which was itself divided into two sections, one for the south quarter, another for the north quarter. The more important—that for the south quarter—consisted of ten members, (1) the senior member of the nobility, who sat for life, (2) representatives (for periods of three years) of the eight towns: Dordrecht, Haarlem, Delft, Leiden, Amsterdam, Gouda, Rotterdam and Gorinchem, with a tenth member (usually elected biennially) for the towns of Schiedam, Schoonhoven and Brill conjointly. The grand pensionary presided over the meetings of the college, which had the general charge of the whole provincial administration, especially of finance, the carrying out of the resolutions of the states, the maintenance of defences, and the upholding of the privileges and liberties of the land. With particular regard to this last-
