516 Disillusionment [1830-40

of France by Michelet, that noble attempt to reflect a nation's life by the aid of science (1833-43).

But in other works, and with other writers, the great opposition between the rSgime of July and the wishes of the younger generation of literary men was apparent in the anathemas hurled at the apologists of this regime, Guizot and Villemain, and the cries of anger and disillusionment of the younger men. " The generation, which succeeded to literary life after 1830, has had a youth of deplorable sadness," Maxime du Camp wrote later; and Flaubert at twenty years of age raised the same complaint. Alfred de Musset was the chief spokesman of this feeling: from his Confession d'un Enfant du Siecle (183(3) and his Nuits (1835-40) to his exquisite dramatic works, which are also in their way a confession. Balzac was the avenger of the younger generation, when in his unrestrained romanticism he used the novel to depict the bourgeoisie of July, laborious, servile, desirous of riches and power, amassing wealth by commerce and industry, and found among them the types for his Comedie Humaine, " taking hold upon contemporary society," as Victor Hugo said, "and robbing some of their illusions, others of their hope." Finally of this "generation so full of promise in 1830, and so undeceived," Sainte-Beuve made himself the historian, after having written in 1834 his novel VbluptS. To understand this period and its uncertainties we must read again his articles published in 1833 on La Litt&rature de ce temps-ei, those in 1840 and 1843, Dix ans apres en litterature, and his Chroniques parisiennes. " While the positive party of the century," he wrote, " pursues its progress in industry and material advancement, the so-called spiritual party is unable to counteract it. It is a magnificent rout, a forced retreat of all the talents." And Sainte-Beuve shared in this rout; he went to Lausanne to write the Histoire de Port Royal, sought for success abroad, consoled himself for the present by the study of the past, wherein he was to find employment for his rare gifts of observation of human souls, and to become the foremost critic of his time.

Thus in all departments, poetry, drama, romance, critical history, parliamentary or religious eloquence, the magnificent literary activity the true Renaissance of French intellect which had conferred glory upon the Restoration, pursued its course. It became, however, more difficult to recognise its direction and tendency in the conflict of rival influences, literary, social, and political, among which each was trying to find his path, and endeavouring to predict or to influence the future in his own way. By the Revolution of 1830, literature had been mixed up more than ever with party struggles; in the regime of July it found no firm or sufficient foothold.

CHAPTER XVI
THE LOW COUNTRIES

Few of the oppressed nationalities had suffered more under the stern yoke of Napoleon than the Dutch, but the old spirit of independence had not been crushed out. Exactly a month after the overthrow of the conqueror at Leipzig, risings took place at Amsterdam, November 15 and l(i, and at the Hague, November 17,1813, against the foreign domination. The French garrison was weak and unable to offer any effectual resistance ; the French officials were driven out and the symbols of French authority destroyed. A declaration of independence was publicly made at the Hague, November 21; and a provisional Government under Gisbert Charles van Hoogendorp and van der Duyn van Maasdam was set up in the name of the Prince of Orange. The Prince, who had been an exile for eighteen years, landed, November 30, at Scheveningen, and was received by the entire population with joyous acclamations. On the following day at Amsterdam, he received the offer of the sovereignty of the land, and accepted it under the style of William I, Sovereign Prince of the Netherlands. The assumption of the title William I, instead of William VI, while recalling the name of William the Liberator, marked a new departure. It signified that the old Republic, with its cumbrous and unworkable system of government, its Stadholders, and burgher-regents, was for ever swept away. The words Oranje boven (up with Orange) were on everyone's lips, no longer as a party cry, but as the expression of national trust in the representative of the famous House, which had played so great a part in the country's history; and sovereign powers were conferred upon the Prince under the sole condition that he should in due course promulgate a free Constitution.

William Frederick of Nassau-Dietz was a man not unworthy of the confidence reposed in him ; and his personality exercised a great influence upon the whole course of events recorded in this chapter. Endowed with a clear understanding and considerable ability, he had, during an exile in which he had learnt and suffered much, received an excellent training. His mind was richly stored with knowledge of many kinds; and he had more particularly an intimate acquaintance with the history and laws of his country. He was an unwearied worker; and to such a

518 William of Nassau. — The Fundamental Law [1813-4

point did he carry his love of examining all the details of public business with his own eyes that he mistrusted others. But this close attention to details often made him lose sight of main issues; and he was rather a great administrator than a great statesman. He had moreover a firm belief in his own powers of insight and of judgment, and was in consequence obstinate in his adherence to the opinions he formed, and easily irritated by opposition. Simple in his habits, a burgher and man of business rather than a soldier, keenly interested in commercial and industrial matters, frugal, easily accessible, he was a genuine Hollander. But the very qualities which won for him the love of his subjects in the northern Netherlands were to be hindrances to him, as will be seen later, in his real efforts to acquire the confidence and affection of the people of the Belgian provinces, over whom by the will of the Great Bowel's he was soon to be called upon to rule.

William, in accordance with the condition under which he had assumed the sovereignty, at once appointed (December 21) a Commission to draw up a Fundamental Law (Grond-wet~). There were fourteen Commissioners — six for Holland, two for Gelderland, and one each for Zeeland, Utrecht, Overyssel, Friesland, Groningen, and North Brabant. Their president, van Hoogendorp, was the author of the provisional draft, which formed the basis for discussion. Their labours were completed by February 14, 1814. The Fundamental Law was now presented for the approval of six hundred notables selected by the Government. This body of notables, summoned to meet at Amsterdam, March 28, approved the proposed Law by 448 votes to 26. The Fundamental Law thus adopted consisted of 146 articles. Its principal provisions may be summarised thus: — The succession to the sovereignty was to be hereditary by right of primogeniture; in the hands of the sovereign were placed the executive and a considerable legislative power, the power of peace and war, the control over finance, and the administration of fleets and armies. The old sovereign rights of provinces and municipalities were transferred in their entirety to the Sovereign Prince, nothing being left to them but the administration of local affairs. The rights of the people were guaranteed by the creation of a representative assembly, bearing the time-honoured name of the States General, and consisting of 55 members nominated for three years by the provincial States. The States General possessed, like the Sovereign, the power to initiate legislation and a veto ; and to them all extraordinary expenditure had annually to be submitted. The Judiciary was made independent; and equal rights were guaranteed to the members of all religious persuasions. The entire care of public instruction was given to the Government. There was no responsible Ministry, no jury, no liberty of the Press. It will thus be seen that the authority possessed by the Sovereign under the Fundamental Law of 1814 was to a large extent autocratic.

This erection of the old Republic of the United Provinces into a

1814] The United Netherlands. — The Eight Articles 519

unified State under the sovereignty of the Prince of Orange had not merely been received with entire approval by the Allied monarchs, but had suggested to them the creation of a larger Netherland State, which might serve as an effective barrier to French ambition in north-western Europe. The idea of a union of the entire Low Countries was, on the initiative of Lord Castlereagh, first considered at Chaumont (February, 1814), and assumed practical shape in the Treaty of Paris (May 30). Article 6 of that treaty contains the provision: " Holland placed under the sovereignty of the House of Orange shall receive an increase of territory." What this meant is made clear in a secret article annexed to the treaty: — "the establishment of a just equilibrium in Europe demanding that Holland be constituted so as to be in a position to maintain its independence by its own resources, the countries comprised between the sea, the frontiers of France as defined by the present treaty, and the Meuse, shall be united in perpetuity to Holland." The suggestion that the Belgic provinces were to be added to Holland as " un accroissement de territoire " was, to say the least, impolitic, and could not fail to give rise to needless irritation.

The next step was taken at the Conference of London, June 20, 1814, when the representatives of the Allied sovereigns drew up what are known as the Eight Articles. They were not made public until a year later, but they were submitted to the Prince of Orange, who, on July 21, in his capacity of Sovereign Prince, accepted them. These momentous Eight Articles, which defined the conditions of the proposed union between the northern and southern Netherlands, run as follows: — 1. The union shall be intimate and complete, so that the two countries shall form only a single State, to be governed by the Fundamental Law already established in Holland, which by mutual consent shall be modified according to the circumstances. 2. There shall be no change in those articles of the Fundamental Law, which assure to all religious cults equal protection and privileges, and guarantee the admissibility of all citizens, whatever be their religious creed, to public offices and dignities. 3. The Belgian provinces shall be in a fitting manner represented in the States General, whose sittings, in time of peace, shall be held by turns in a Dutch and a Belgian town. 4. All the inhabitants of the Netherlands thus having equal constitutional rights, they shall have equal claim to all commercial and other rights of which their circumstances allow, without any hindrance or obstruction being imposed on any to the profit of others. 5. Immediately after the union the provinces and towns of Belgium shall be admitted to the commerce and navigation of the Colonies of Holland upon the same footing as the Dutch provinces and towns. 6. The debts contracted on the one side by the Dutch, and on the other side by the Belgian provinces shall be charged to the public chest of the Netherlands. 7. The expenses requisite for the building and maintenance of the frontier fortresses of

520 The attitude of the Powers [1814

the new State shall be borne by the public chest as concerning the security and independence of all the provinces of the whole nation. 8. The cost of the making and upkeep of the dykes shall be at the charges of the districts more directly interested, except in the case of an extraordinary disaster.

These articles were accompanied by a Protocol, dated June 21, in which the Allied Powers explain the reasons for their action. In this document they assert that they desire to consult equally the particular interests of both Holland and Belgium, with the view of bringing about the most perfect amalgamation (amalgame) between the two countries, and that they are acting in respect of Belgium in virtue of their right of conquest. They invite the Prince of Orange to give his formal sanction to the union, to designate a provisional Governor-General of Belgium, and to take steps in a liberal spirit of conciliation to bring about the amalgamation desired.

The project of union, as set forth in the Eight Articles, was largely the product of British diplomacy, working in secret accord with the Prince of Orange. The thoroughness of the understanding between the British and Dutch Governments was evident from the terms of the Convention of London concluded between Castlereagh and Fagel (August 13). By this treaty Great Britain restored to Holland her Colonies that had been occupied since 1803 with the important exceptions of the Cape of Good Hope, and of the Guiana Colonies, Essequibo, Berbice, and Demerara. The cession of these possessions was the price paid for Great Britain's help in the accomplishment of the union with Belgium. Holland had likewise to assent to the assumption by the new State of the heavy burden of restoring the fortresses along the French frontier, which had been dismantled by Joseph II. The goodwill of Great Britain, however, was conclusively shown by her offer to contribute £3,000,000 towards the cost of the fortifications.

It will have been seen that the Belgic provinces had, on the ground that the French had been expelled from this territory by the Allied forces, been treated by the Great Powers throughout these transactions as a conquered country whose destinies they could decide at will. The Austrian Government had no desire to recover an outlying dependency exposed to French attack. It sought compensation elsewhere, and was quite ready to support the proposal for the union of the northern and southern Netherlands under the rule of the Prince of Orange. Pending the negotiations, a provisional Government had been established at Brussels, at the head of which was placed the Austrian Baron von Vincent, as Commissary of the Allied Powers (May 5). On August 1, the Sovereign Prince, after his acceptance of the Eight Articles of London, took over the government in the place of Vincent, pending the final decision of the Congress of Vienna upon the boundaries and political status of his new dominions. Many difficulties arose, and the decision