for protection to the emperor Maximilian II and the German princes. The emperor promised it to him, and condemned the proceedings of Alva, who had declared the prince outlawed for not appearing in person on the appointed day, had confiscated his property, stationed troops in his city of Breda, and removed his son Philip William, then thirteen years of age, from the university of Louvain, and sent him as a hostage to Spain.* The prince of Orange now took the field against Alva. He publicly professed the Protestant religion, and received aid in money and troops from several Protestant princes. With the army, which he had raised, his brothers Louis and Adolphus invaded Friesland. At first, they defeated, at Heiligerlee, in Gröningen, the Spanish general, John of Ligne, count of Aremberg, who fell in the engagement; but Adolphus also lost his life; and, as count Louis wanted money to pay his troops, he was soon after beaten by Alva at Jemmingen, July 21, 1568. William now raised a new army of 24,000 Germans, who were joined by 4000 French soldiers, and declared publicly that Alva and his council of blood (conseil des troubles), in Brussels, were the cause of the war. He conducted his forces, with great skill, across the Rhine and Meuse, entered Brabant, and defeated a division of the hostile army, but was unable to bring the duke of Alva, who threw himself into the fortresses, to an engagement, or to excite the people, who trembled before the Spaniards, to a general insurrection: on the contrary, he was obliged to sell his plate and baggage, and even pledge his principality of Orange to pay his arrears to his officers and soldiers. His army now dispersed. He himself, with 1200 cavalry, and his brothers, repaired to the duke of Deux Ponts, and took part in his expedition to France, against the Catholic party of the Guises. In this expedition, he distinguished himself in several battles and sieges, but, after the unhappy termination of the campaign, returned to Germany. In France, adıniral Coligny had advised him to fit out privateers against the Spanish, and establish himself particularly in Zealand and Holland, from which the Spaniards would hardly be able to drive him. The prince followed this advice, and the privateers made themselves masters, in 1572, of the town and harbor of Briel, on the island of Voorn, and also took Flushing. As *He was eventually released, and died in 1618.

Alva's tyranny became more intolerable, and the people were exasperated by new exactions, several cities of Holland, Zealand, Overyssel and Gueldres publicly declared for the prince of Orange. To relieve his brother Louis, besieged by Alva at Bergen, in Hainault, he entered Brabant with 17,000 men, where Mechlin and Louvain threw open their gates to him; but the French auxiliaries, sent him by Coligny, were defeated, and he himself could not compel Alva, who had stationed his forces in an entrenched camp, to an engagement. He therefore retired, not without loss, to the Rhine, and narrowly escaped the danger of being captured by 1000 Spaniards, who broke by night into his camp. A little dog waked him in time to assemble his soldiers, and cut off the retreat of the enemy. He next proceeded to Utrecht and Zealand, where the Dutch privateers had appointed him their admiral. In 1575, the states of Holland conferred on him the sovereignty and chief command, for the time that the war with Spain should last; and the example was followed by Zealand, and afterwards by Utrecht, Gueldres and Overyssel. This trust was renewed in 1581. Some days before they openly announced their defection from Spain, the states did homage to the prince as their sovereign, and took the oath of allegiance. This sovereignty, however, was merely personal; but, in 1582, the grant of the hereditary dignity of the old counts of Holland, to which was annexed the possession of their domains, was made him by the states, and formally accepted. The prince was de serving of this confidence. He had already, in 1573, equipped a fleet of 150 sail at Flushing. This fleet was always superior to the Spanish, so that it may be truly said, that the Dutch achieved their freedom on the ocean. After Alva and the prince had each taken several cities, Louis of Zuñiga and Requesens succeeded the duke in 1573, and, April 14, 1574, defeated Louis and Henry of Nassau, the brothers of the prince, who both fell on the field of battle. William raised the siege of Leyden by breaking down the dikes. Zuñiga soon after died; but the Spanish soldiers at Antwerp and other places committed such outrages, that ail the provinces of the Low Countries,excepiing Luxemburg, united at Ghent, in 1576, to expel the foreign troops, and relieve themselves from religious restraints; and when the new stadtholder, John of Austria, a natural brother of the kirg

lated the privileges granted them by the edict of 1577, the states of Antwerp called the prince of Orange to their aid. The people received him with acclamations in Brussels, where a part of the estates offered him the stadtholdership. But as several nobles were opposed to him, he effected the adoption of a resolution that Matthew of Austria should be received as stadtholder, while he himself should have the rank of lieutenant-general; but he retained the management of all public business. Meanwhile, by the victory at Gemblours, January 31, 1578, the Spaniards recovered their superiority in the Walloon provinces, which were zealously Catholic. The new stadtholder, Alexander Farnese of Parma, appointed by the king after the sudden death of John, was a politic general, who knew how to win the favor of the Belgians, dissatisfied with the religious peace, or the political equality of the two churches, and converted to the Spanish interest the nobles, who were disaffected towards the prince of Orange. The prince, therefore, brought the seven northern provinces into closer connexion, by the union of Utrecht, January 23, 1579, and thus laid the foundation of the republic of the United Netherlands. (q. v.) The negotiations for peace at Cologne having been fruitless, the states, at the proposal of the prince, conferred the sovereignty, in 1580, on Francis, duke of Anjou, brother of king Henry III of France, and on July 26, 1581, renounced their allegiance to king Philip of Spain, as a tyrant. The king had already declared the prince of Orange outlawed, as a "heretic and false Christian, another Cain and Judas, a committer of sacrilege, a perjurer, an instigator of the disturbances in the Netherlands, and a real pest of human society," and had set a price of 250,000 dollars on his head. Whoever should deliver him, living or dead, into the hands of the Spaniards, was to receive a pardon for all crimes, and, with his posterity, be raised to the rank of nobility. The estates, in consequence, gave their stadtholder a body-guard, and the prince replied in a violent manifesto, in which he accused the king of lust and murder, of the death of his son don Carlos, and of his wife Elizabeth. Meanwhile, the duke of Parma took several fortified places, but was obliged to raise the siege of Cambray, when the duke of Anjou advanced with an army. The French prince was hereupon proclaimed duke of Brabant, March, 1682, on which occasion the prince of

Orange presented him the ducal coronet, and publicly administered the oath, that he would reign agreeably to the tenor of the compact. This event took place in Antwerp, where an attempt was soon after made to assassinate the prince. A Spaniard, named Jaureguy, shot him with a pistol: the ball entered under the right ear, and passed out through his left cheek, destroying several of his teeth. The perpetrator was cut down on the spot by the guard. A Spaniard, Salzedo, and an Italian, Francis Baza, were likewise apprehended, who had received money from the duke of Parma to make way with the duke of Anjou and the prince of Orange. Both were convicted: one was torn to pieces by four horses, at Paris; the other put an end to his own life. After these occurrences, the duke of Anjou began to aim at unlimited power, heedless of the advice of the prince of Orange. But his design of making himself master by force of the most important cities, such as Bruges and Antwerp, was frustrated by the citizens; and he returned to France, January 3, 1583, where he died the same year. July 10, 1584, the prince of Orange was shot in his palace, at Delft, by a young Burgundian, named Balthasar Gerard, who had insinuated himself into his confidence. He was rising from table, when the assassin fired a pistol at him, containing three balls. He fell, and died with the words, "Mon Dieu! Mon Dieu! Ayez pitié de moi et de ton pauvre peuple!" His murderer was not more than twenty-two years old. On his examination, he confessed that a Franciscan of Tournai, and a Jesuit of Treves, had persuaded him to commit the deed by the assurance that it would secure his eternal happiness. William was fifty-two years old, was well formed, had chestnut hair, and a brownish complexion. He spoke little; but what he said was judicious and pleasing. In the art of winning the good will of men, he was a master. Towards his people, his demeanor was friendly and discreet. He frequently went in the streets with his hat off, and conversed freely with the citizens. In his house, he was hospitable, a lover of splendor, and liberal of every thing but his confidence. His acute understanding penetrated the character of men and events; but he himself was impenetrable. Reserved in his manners, and apparently even timid, when he spoke, the fire and boldness of his eloquence carried along the minds of all. Danger he met with calm equanimity, obstacles with a wise

firmness He was not anxious for his own exaltation, but for the interest of the people: the freedom, therefore, which he established did not perish with him, and his name has acquired a permanent place in the history of Europe. He was four times married. His son Maurice, who succeeded him in the office of stadtholder, was one of the greatest captains of his age. His other son, Frederic Henry, succeeded Maurice, and died in 1647. William III, king of England, was grandson of Frederic. There are three lives of William, in Dutch, by anonymous authors. See, also, Meursii Guglielmus Auriacus, etc. (Amsterdam, 1638, fol.), and Kluit's History of the Dutch Government.

WILLIAM I, elector of Hesse, was born in Cassel, in 1743, during the reign of his grandfather. His father, Frederic II, ascended the throne in 1760. Having become a Roman Catholic in 1754, the education of the children was left, according to agreement, entirely with his wife, who also received the government of the county of Hanau as the guardian of the children. Prince William studied at the university of Göttingen. During the seven years' war (q. v.), he lived at the court of Christian VII, whose second sister he married in 1764. When of age, he took the government of the county of Hanau out of the hands of his mother. The young prince was active, economical, just and popular. In 1776, he concluded, as did several other German princes, a treaty with England, to furnish troops to be employed against her colonies in North America, then at war with the mother country. Two years later, he was made a major-general by Frederic the Great of Prussia, and took part in the war of the Bavarian succession. In 1785, he became sovereign of all the Hessian territories, after the death of his father. He now showed himself severe, active and just; but his disposition for saving often degenerated into avarice, whilst his mania for soldiers became a curse to his country. He ruled independently, and closely watched the officers of his government, often protecting the peasants, whom he considered as his property, against them. He improved the schools and churches, the police, and the administration of justice. In 1787, he concluded another treaty with England, agreeing to furnish 12,000 men, in consideration of receiving for their service, 675,000 crown-dollars annually. He also marched troops against France when the revolution broke out. The peace of Basle, concluded August

28, 1795, between Prussia and France, put an end to his exertions in this war. By the peace of Luneville, William received the dignity of elector, and an indemnification for the territory that he had lost, taken chiefly from the possessions of the elector of Mayence. He took the greatest care of the increase of his private treasure. His known disposition towards France, his relations with Prussia (he being a field-marshal in her service, and his eldest son having married, in 1797, the sister of Frederic William III of Prussia), and his continual military preparations, drew upon him the misfortunes which befell him after the battles of Jena (q. v.) and Auerstädt. (q. v.) In consequence of the threats of Napoleon, and the advance of French troops under Mortier and the king of Holland, he fled to the neutral states of the king of Denmark, saving only his family and his treasures. By the peace of Tilsit (q. v.), and the foundation of the kingdom of Westphalia, William I was deprived of all his dominions, and lived, from July, 1808, in Prague. In 1809, when Austria took arms against France, the exiled elector issued a proclamation to his former subjects, and began to collect an army near Eger, in Bohemia, with which he thought to reconquer his electorate; but the issue of the war put an end to his undertaking. The victory of the allied powers at Leipsic (q. v.), in 1813, improved his condition. In November, 1813, he entered his former capital, the city of Cassel. Though seventy years old, he resumed the labors of government with great activity, but not to the benefit of his people. His ideas of monarchical power were entirely at variance with the spirit of the times. Every thing was to be put on the old footing: 20,000 men (with queues, like the soldiers of former times) soon marched to join the allies, but were allowed to return even before the peace of Paris, on condition that they should be kept ready for immediate service. The elector, however, did not comply with this condition, from motives of economy, and became thereby involved in difficulties with the allies, who marched troops into his country. By the mediation of Prussia, this difficulty was ad justed. In 1815, the elector sent 15,000 meu to act against France; they fought at Sedan, Charlesville, Mezières, &c. His wish to see the German empire restored by the congress of Vienna was as fruitless as his plan to have himself acknowledged king of the Catti (q. v.), so that he retained his for

mer title of elector; and, having received several additions to his territory, he called himself also grand duke of Fulda and prince of Isenburg. He would not acknowledge the validity of the sale of the crown domains, which had been made under Jerome, and took them away from the buyers. This fact, the crying injustice of which was admitted by Prussia and Austria, is mentioned in the article Domain. The assemblies of the estates, to which he had added the estate of peas'ants, gave him much trouble, as the ground assumed by them did not agree with his antiquated notions of the rights of the crown. Towards his officers he was avaricious and severe. His soldiers received little pay and much drilling and flogging. He refused to separate the public treasury from his enormous private accumulations. His conduct towards individuals who had been in office under the Westphalian government was unprincipled. On the other hand, he must be admitted to have been careful to prevent his officers from abusing their authority. He was accessible to his subjects, and protected justice when it did not clash with his interests, or unless he had formed wrong notions of what was right. He died in 1820, and was succeeded by his only son, the elector Wi...am II.

WILLIAM I (William Frederic of Orange), king of the Netherlands and grand duke of Luxemburg, was born Aug. 24, 1772. His father, William V, prince of Orange and Nassau, hereditary stadtholder, who died in 1806, at Brunswick, was descended from John, the youngest brother of the great William I of Orange (q. v.); his mother was a princess of Prussia. In 1788, he made a tour in Germany, and remained for some time in Berin, at the court of his uncle, king Frederic William II. In 1790, he entered the university of Leyden. In 1791, he married the Prussian princess Frederica Louisa Wilhelmina, sister of the present king of Prussia. He then undertook many improvements in the army, but suffered much opposition from the patriots, who had been put down, in 1787, by Prussian troops. Part of them had fled to France; and the national convention declared war against the stadtholder, Feb. 1, 1793. Dumouriez conquered Dutch Brabant; but the prince, the subject of this article, delivered it, by the aid of the troops of the allies, after the victory at Neerwinden (q. v.), March 18, gained by prince Coburg, in the Austrian service, over Dumouriez. The crown-prince

now prevented the French from entering Western Flanders. But, September 13, he was attacked in his position between Menin and Werwick, with such superior force that he was obliged to retreat behind the Scheldt, after a long resistance, in which his brother, prince Frederic, was wounded. The next year, he took Landrecies. He then forced the enemy to retire behind the Sambre; but, in the great battle on June 26, in which he had been successful at the head of the right wing, he was obliged to retreat, after the French had taken Charleroi by assault, and beaten the left wing at Fleurus. The Austrian forces having retreated, before Pichegru and Jourdan, behind the Meuse, the prince, with his enfeebled army, could only protect the frontiers of the republic, in unison with the duke of York. But the fortresses were reduced, and the ice enabled the enemy to pass the Waal, so that Pichegru entered Utrecht, Jan. 17, 1795. The party of the patriots favored the enemy, and the stadtholder soon found himself incapable of saving the republic, forsaken by her allies. His sons, therefore, gave up their commands, Jan. 16, and William V embarked, on the 18th and 19th, with his family, at Scheveningen, in nineteen poor fishing vessels, for England. Hampton court was assigned as a residence to the exiled family; but the two sons soon returned to the continent, in order to arm a body of Dutch emigrants at the expense of England, which body, however, after the peace of Basle, was again dissolved. Prince Frederic entered the Austrian service, and died at Padua, in 1799. The subject of this article went with his family to Berlin, where he expected a favorable change from the influence of Prussia, then on friendly terms with France. He occupied himself with the education of his children, the cultivation of science, and the improvement of some estates which he had bought in Poland, and on which he immediately abolished bondage. His father had ceded to him the places which the diet had assigned him in Germany by way of indemnification, namely, Fulda, Corvey, Dortmund, &c., August 29, 1802, and he took possession of them in the same year. He lived at Fulda, but spent part of the winter in Berlin. Living himself in the most economicai manner, he established in his new possessions an economical administration, and reformed numerous abuses. His impartial treatment of all his subjects, of whatever religion, gained him the hearts of al!

After the death of his father, he took possession of the lands of Nassau belonging to his family. But, having refused to become a member of the confederacy (q. v.) of the Rhine, he lost the sovereignty over the lands of Orange, which were divided between his relations of NassauUsingen and Nassau-Weilburg, and Murat, grand-duke of Berg. He was also threatened with the loss of Fulda if he should continue to decline joining the confederation; but in case he should join, he was to be rewarded by the grant of Würzburg. But he declared that he would not dishonor the name of Orange by bending his neck to a foreign master. In August, 1806, he went to Berlin, where, as commander of a Prussian regiment and lieutenant-general, he subsequently received the command of a part of the right wing of the Prussian army between Magdeburg and Erfurt. After the battle of Jena, he was obliged to follow field-marshal Möllendorf to Erfurt, and became a prisoner when Möllendorf capitulated. He was, however, permitted to live with his wife in Prussia. But Napoleon declared him, the elector of Hessia, and the duke of Brunswick, to have forfeited their dominions; and Fulda took the oath of allegiance to the emperor, Oct. 27. Corvey, Dortmund, and the county of Spiegelberg, were given, in 1807, to the kingdom of Westphalia and the grand-duchy of Berg. His domains, even those reserved to him by the act of confederation, were taken by Berg and Wűrtemberg; but Bavaria did not follow their example, and the other princes promised to pay him the surplus revenue of the lands. He had gone, in the mean time, to Dantzic, whence he proceeded to Pillau. In the peace of Tilsit, he was not mentioned. He retained only his possessions in the duchy of Warsaw, and again lived privately in Berlin, where his eldest son was educated in the military academy. (See the following article. When Austria was engaged in war with France, in 1809, the unfortunate prince joined the army of the arcnduke Charles, and fought at the battle of Wagram. He then returned to Berlin. In the mean time, particularly, however, after the battle of Leipsic, influential men in the Netherlands were laboring to prepare the way for the restoration of the house of Orange. William Frederic was then in England, in order to concert, with the British government, measures to suppo the Dutch. After the battle of Leipsic, the victorious armies approached the 17

VOL. XIII.

frontiers of Holland; the people rose in Amsterdam, Nov. 15 and 16; and even the Hague, in the midst of French troops, declared itself, on the 17th, for the prince. When the prince received the news of these movements, he embarked, and landed, Nov. 29, at Scheveningen. The people received him with demonstrations of joy. In Amsterdam, the commissioners of the provisionary government issued, Dec. 1, the proclamation, "The Netherlands are free!" and "William I is the sovereign prince of this free country," without being authorized to do so by the nation. The prince yielded reluctantly, and declared that a constitution should be established to secure the liberties of the people. Twenty-three fortified places were yet in the hands of the enemy, who were encamped near Utrecht. But the allies soon drove them from the country. William Frederic hastened the arming of the people, and charged a committee to draw up a constitution, which was adopted, March 29, 1814, by the representatives of the people, and then sworn to by the monarch. He had also again taken possession of his German hereditary possessions, towards the end of 1813. After this, the congress of Vienna united Belgium and Liege with the Netherlands, to form a kingdom; and the prince was proclaimed king of the Netherlands, prince of Liege and duke of Luxemburg, under the name of William I, on March 16, 1815, at the Hague. He and his Dutch subjects were both dissatisfied with this arrangement, apprehending that the Dutch commerce would suffer by this union with the manufacturing state of Belgium: the difference of language and religion also presented great obstacles: but England wished to retain possession of several of the former Dutch colonies, and Belgium was given in exchange for them. The king was also obliged to cede to Prussia his hereditary possessions in Germany in exchange for Luxemburg. Since that time, William I has ruled with great integrity and firmness, as even his enemies have admitted, except in the fiercest heat of party struggles.* The king has conscientiously and

*M. Surlet de Chokier, the regent of Belgium, who was, for fifteen years, in the states-general, and generally in opposition to the court, called the king, in 1818, "one of those philosophic princes who reign for the happiness of human ity" and March 8, 1830, four months before the Belgic revolution, he thus expressed himself I towards his august person. "No one is more penetrated with gratitude than I can say, withont flattery or compliment, a king like ours, a man of