1654] Act of Seclusion.-Holland and the States General 143

van Beverningh and Nieuwpoort stating the requirement of Cromwell. Surprised and perplexed, the deputies asked for time to consult their principals before coming to a decision. It was agreed, however, in order to avoid delay and publicity, that only the regent Burgomasters should be informed of the contents of the envoys' dispatch, once more under oath of secrecy, and that the States should meet again it three days' time. On May 1 the Assembly met, when the Pensionary read another dispatch which he had just received from London, notifying Cromwell's demand that the Act should be handed over to him within a couple of days of the ratification of the treaty - or he would not consider it binding upon him. After stormy discussion, under the influence of Cromwell's threat and de Witt's persuasive arguments, a majority, consisting of the nobles and thirteen towns, voted for the signing of the "Act of Seclusion." Five towns, Haarlem, Leyden, Alkmaar, Edam and Enkhuizen, however, obstinately refused their assent. Despite the protest of the minority, de Witt declared the Act to be passed; and it was sent on the following day to the two envoys in London, with instructions, however, not to deliver it unless it were absolutely necessary.

Through the treachery of a clerk the secret was betrayed to William Frederick, Stadholder of Friesland; and, as the rumour spread throughout the country, a loud and threatening outcry arose against the States of Holland and the Grand Pensionary. Not only was the entire Orange party up in arms, but the other Provinces bitterly resented the action taken by the Hollanders as a breach of the Union. In the States General de Witt endeavoured to meet the attacks upon him by evasive replies, asserting in general terms that the States, his masters, had done nothing that was illegal or outside their powers. The States, however, themselves were not as courageous as their Pensionary and shrank before. the storm which they had raised, thanking their envoys for not having handed in the Act to the English Government. Some five weeks passed, but at length the patience of the States General was exhausted; and on June 6 it was resolved that orders be dispatched to the envoys to send all the secret instructions they had received from the States of Holland to the States General, together with a copy of the Act of Seclusion. But de Witt's extraordinary skill in political strategy and his talent for diplomatic intrigue shone out the more brilliantly, the more hopeless the embarrassments from which he had to extricate himself. At the eleventh hour he determined to make one last effort to gain his end. Acting on his advice, the States General gave instructions that the dispatch to the envoys should be written in cipher, not in the ordinary form. With the dispatch, however, he enclosed a letter to van Beverningh and Nieuwpoort, informing them that the States of Holland assented to the request of the States General, and asking them to send the copy of the Act, if it were still in their possession. The plan succeeded. While the dispatch of the States General was being painfully deciphered,

144 Great ability of de Witt. The "Deduction"

[1650-5

van Beverningh read de Witt's letter, at once grasped its meaning, demanded an interview with the Protector, and delivered the Act of Seclusion into his hands. When the deciphering was completed, it was already too late to carry out the instructions of the States General.

Throughout the whole course of this crooked business there can be no two opinions as to the ability displayed by the Grand Pensionary. His correspondence, moreover, proves his honesty of purpose. He felt peace to be absolutely necessary for the welfare of the Republic, so long as its conditions were not humiliating or threatened the independence of the State. Bitterly hostile as he was to the House of Orange, there are no grounds for the accusation that the Act of Seclusion was desired by him, still less that it was due to his instigation. Such a course of chicanery and deception is, however, not to be defended either by its motives or its results; and, as a matter of fact, it brought unpopularity upon de Witt and his party and was never forgotten or forgiven by the great majority of the people of the Netherlands, who cherished the memory of the great deeds of the House of Orange. Nothing could have more effectually enlisted the sympathy and affection of the populace for the young Prince than the thought that he had been in an underhand way defrauded of his rights at the bidding of a foreign ruler.

Peace once concluded, commerce revived and with returning prosperity men's spirits grew calmer, and the angry manifestations against the Act of Seclusion gradually died down. Even the two Princesses of Orange were appeased by the personal explanations and marked courtesy of de Witt, and thought it better not to run any risk of doing injury to the interests of William by adopting an attitude of irreconcilable hostility. The States of Holland admitted that their conduct required exculpation; and the Grand Pensionary drew up a laboured defence of their action in the matter of the Act of Seclusion in a lengthy document known as the "Deduction of the States of Holland." This state-paper was far indeed from convincing the opponents of de Witt's policy, notwithstanding the undoubted skill and acumen which it displayed; but those opponents were far too divided amongst themselves to be able to concentrate their efforts against the constantly increasing power and influence of the Grand Pensionary. The Princess Dowager and the Princess Royal were at enmity with one another and with Count William Frederick, and their family bickerings and private ambitions prevented the supporters of the House of Orange from being able to pursue any common policy. Moreover, the marriage of de Witt in February, 1655, with Wendela Bicker greatly strengthened his position. Two of Wendela's uncles had been the leaders of Amsterdam's opposition to William II in 1650 and had been declared incapable of henceforth holding any municipal office. Through this marriage de Witt became connected with several of the principal members of the burgher oligarchy of the great commercial city, thus supplementing the powerful family

1655]

De Witt's marriage.

Financial reforms

145

influence he already possessed in the south of Holland. The Grand Pensionary, indeed, was soon surrounded by a group of relatives and intimate friends, holding important official posts in public or local administration. His brother Cornelis was appointed Ruwaard (Governor) of Putten in 1654; his father was made a member of the Chamber of Finance in 1657; his cousins van Slingelandt and Vivien were in succession Pensionaries of Dort; his wife's uncles, Cornelis Bicker and Cornelis de Graeff, were all-powerful in Amsterdam. The most influential functionary of the States General, the Griffier (Secretary), Nicolas Ruysch, de Witt's predecessor as Pensionary of Dort, was his devoted adherent; so were the distinguished diplomatists van Beverningh, van Beuningen and Nieuwpoort. Successive vacancies in high commands in the army and navy and in the presidencies of the Courts of Justice were filled with supporters of the anti-Stadholder party; so that, in the absence of any serious rival to his authority, the Grand Pensionary found himself able, while nominally only a Minister in the service of the Provincial States of Holland, to gather into his hands the supreme direction alike of the foreign and domestic affairs of the State. Not even Oldenbarneveldt during the youth of Maurice had possessed so wide and far-reaching an authority.

One of the great difficulties with which Holland had to contend was that of finance. The Province had borne the greater part of the burden of the War of Independence; and although, with a view to lightening its weight, the rate of interest had in 1640 been reduced from 61 to 5 per cent., the debt had kept growing, and at the close of the English War amounted to 153,000,000 florins, the annual charge upon which reached nearly 7,000,000 florins. De Witt began with retrenching expenditure, wherever it could be done with safety, by a careful examination into all superfluous and wasteful outgoings, and a better and more vigilant administration of the public revenues. Finding it impossible, however, to make the charges balance the receipts, and faced by an annual deficit, the Grand Pensionary resolved upon the bold step of a further reduction of interest. It was with difficulty that he persuaded the States of Holland to agree to his proposal, that the rate of interest should be reduced from 5 to 4 per cent. Such a step could not be taken without a serious loss of income to the numerous holders of public securities. By establishing a sinking fund, however, for the paying off of the entire debt in 41 years, he succeeded in carrying out his proposal. This achieved, he was able to induce the States General to follow the example of the Province, and to reduce the interest on the federal debt likewise to 4 per cent.

No one saw more clearly than de Witt that the foremost interest of a trading and colonising country like the United Provinces was peace, and to this end all his efforts in the conduct of foreign affairs were directed. Unfortunately his lot was cast in troubled and anxious times. In the relations with England, in spite of the goodwill of the respective

C. M. H. V.

10

146

Wars with Portugal and Sweden

[1654-7

Governments, the trade rivalry caused continual controversies to arise. In Nieuwpoort, however, the States had an envoy in whom the Grand Pensionary reposed the utmost confidence, and who succeeded in ingratiating himself both with Cromwell and his Secretary of State, Thurloe. Difficulties arose between the two countries with regard to Portugal, and still more acutely in the Baltic. The death of Cromwell

in 1658 alone prevented active English intervention in the war with Portugal caused by the loss of Brazil, where the Portuguese rebels against Dutch rule in Pernambuco had had at first the secret and afterwards the open support of the mother country. The last remnant of the authority of the Dutch West India Company had disappeared so long ago as 1654 with the loss of Reciff, and the English War had prevented any active steps being taken to reassert it. There was no inclination in the Netherlands to send any expedition across the Atlantic to recover the lost colony; but it was felt that there was a claim against Portugal for compensation, and de Witt in 1657 determined to enforce it. War was declared against Portugal; and the conquest of Ceylon and Macassar followed. In Europe the hostilities, which dragged on for some years, were confined to naval demonstrations on the Portuguese The complications in the north were much more serious.

coast.

In Sweden, on the abdication in 1654 of Christina, the warlike and ambitious Charles Gustavus ascended the throne. As has been already seen, he aimed at nothing short of the conversion by force of arms of the Baltic into a Swedish lake. But the interests of the United Provinces in the Baltic trade were enormous. It was from the Baltic that their supplies of corn were brought. Aided by Frederick William of Brandenburg, Charles Gustavus entered upon a career of victory. Poland was overrun, and the allied armies (1656) laid siege to Danzig, the emporium of the wheat trade. Under pressure from the merchants of Amsterdam de Witt determined on an energetic policy. It was proposed by the States of Holland, and agreed to by the States General, that a naval demonstration should be made to save the beleaguered town and preserve the balance of

power in the Baltic. A fleet of forty-two ships accordingly set sail under Obdam de Wassenaar, which raised the blockade of Danzig, and by an understanding with the Poles placed a garrison in the town. This act of vigour brought the King of Sweden to reason. At a conference at Elbing (September, 1656) the former treaty of friendship between the two Powers was renewed, and Danzig was declared a neutral port. This check to Sweden was, however, to be the precursor of fresh strife. Hostilities again broke out. Brandenburg changed sides, and the Swedes were rapidly driven out of Poland. Their defeat encouraged Frederick III of Denmark to declare war against his northern neighbours, in spite of the counsel and remonstrances of the States. A treaty of defensive alliance had recently been concluded between the United Provinces and Denmark; and de Witt therefore regarded with alarm this bold assault

1658-60] Victories in the Baltic. Peace of Copenhagen 147

of the weaker upon the stronger Scandinavian Power. It was too late. Charles Gustavus attacked and utterly defeated the Danes, and was able to dictate terms of peace at Roeskilde (March, 1658), where Frederick agreed to close the Sound to all foreign fleets. But when, on the plea that the Treaty of Roeskilde had not been carried out by the Danes, Charles Gustavus laid siege to Copenhagen, de Witt, who had hitherto in his desire to avoid the risks of war confined himself to diplomatic pressure, now felt that, unless the absolute dominion of the Baltic was to be given up to the Swedish King, instant action must be taken. It was a dangerous situation, for the Republic was at war with Portugal and on far from friendly relations with either France or England. But the Baltic question was vital, and de Witt did not hesitate. In the beginning of October, Admiral Obdam de Wassenaar sailed for Copenhagen, which was obstinately defended at the head of a fleet of thirty-five vessels carrying 4000 troops. His orders were to destroy the Swedish fleet and to raise the siege of Copenhagen. A terrific battle took place at the entrance into the Baltic. The Swedish fleet of fortyfive vessels under the command of Wrangel, made a valiant defence against the attack of the Netherlanders. The two Dutch Vice-Admirals, Witte de With and Pieter Floriszoon, were both killed; Obdam himself was nearly taken prisoner; but the Swedes suffered heavy loss and took refuge in the harbour of Landskrona. Copenhagen was saved from capture. The siege, nevertheless, went on; and, fearing the intervention of France and England, de Witt prudently entered into negotiations with those two Powers, and a convention was signed by which the three States agreed to act together as mediators between the Kings of Sweden and Denmark, and, if necessary, compel them to make peace. For months the negotiations continued without an agreement being reached. Both Kings were obstinate, but more especially Charles Gustavus, who refused to accept the terms proposed by the mediators, and still threatened Copenhagen on the land side with a strong force. In these circumstances de Ruyter, who was now in command of the Dutch fleet, was ordered to expel the Swedes from the island of Fyen. On November 24, 1659, the town of Nyborg was taken by storm, and the whole Swedish force there entrenched was captured. The Swedish fleet took refuge in Landskrona, where it was blockaded by de Ruyter. The proud spirit of Charles Gustavus was broken by this disaster, and he died a few months later (February 23, 1660). Peace between Sweden and Denmark was at length signed at Copenhagen (May 27), guaranteed by the mediating Powers. The Swedes retained most of their conquests; but the passage of the Sound was made open. The firm, but prudent, policy of de Witt thus successfully attained its aim; and the Republic, after this display of maritime power, took its place with added weight in the councils of Europe.

The sudden restoration of Charles II, in May, 1660, to the throne