II of Spain, who had made the grandson of Louis XIV his heir, induced William to arm all Europe against Louis in the great alliance of the Hague, Sept. 7, 1701. For the benefit of Austria, and to preserve the balance of power, but more especially because he could not brook that Belgium should be dependent on the policy of France, he wished the Spanish monarchy to be divided, and for this purpose repaired to Holland, at the end of June, 1701. Though his lungs, at this time, were so weak that he could not speak loud, and he felt that his end was approaching, he made all preparations, with his usual sagacity, for the opening of the campaign. After the death of James II, Louis XIV having caused his son, James III, to be proclaimed king of England, William found it easy to induce England to accede to an alliance with Holland, the emperor, Denmark and Sweden, and to consent to the equipment of 40,000 soldiers and 4000 sailors. But in the midst of these projects, he broke his collar-bone by a fall from his horse, between Kensington and Hampton court, March 8, 1702, and died, in consequence of the accident, March 16, aged fifty-two years. (His wife, Mary, had already died childless, in 1695.) With him the hereditary stadtholdership of the five provinces became extinct, and the Orange possessions were divided between Prussia and William's nearest cousin and testamentary heir, John Will. Friso, the prince of Nassau-Dietz, hereditary stadtholder of Friesland and stadtholder of Gröningen, from whom the present king of Holland is descended. William's manners were too cold and ungracious to allow him to be popular with the British. Under a reserved exterior he concealed a strong love of renown and power. His chagrin, when he was compelled to disband his Dutch guards, and the regiments of French fugitives in his pay, was so great, that he was on the point of resigning the government, and was prevented with difficulty by his friends and ministers. The British continental policy, a consequence of jealousy towards France, was founded by William; but he founded, at the same time, the subsidy, or loan system, and the national debt. To obtain the majority of votes in parliament, he made use of bribery. Otherwise he reigned in the spirit of freedom and tolerant Protestantism, and agreeably to the true interest of the nation, which had been wholly disregarded by the Stuarts. The whigs were, therefore, now the ministerial party, and

the house of commons from this time acquired new political importance. In t Netherlands, William founded a school of great statesmen, like Fagel and Heinsius. Immersed in politics and war, he had neither leisure nor inclination for literature and art. In conversation, he was grave and repulsive; but in business, penetrating, quick and decided; in danger, undaunted; in difficulties, unshaken; in war, bold without ostentation. Though of a weak constitution, he feared no hardships. Much as he loved fame, he hated flattery and pomp. (See James II, Marlborough, and Great Britain.)

WILLIAM IV, king of the united kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, third son of George III, born August 21, 1765, ascended the throne on the death of his brother, George IV, June 26, 1830.. Previous to his elevation to the royal dignity, he was known by the title of the duke of Clarence. (q. v.) Being appointed lord high admiral, during the short administration of Canning, who, deserted by a large part of the tory party, had been obliged to cast about for support in every quarter, the duke of Clarence was censured for expenditures made without waiting for parliamentary appropriations, and had found it advisable to resign his office during the Wellington administration (1828). On his accession to the throne, he retained the ministers who were in office at the decease of his predecessor (the Wellington cabinet), with assurances of his confidence in their zeal and ability. Opposition, disappointed in their expectations of a change of ministry, founded on the whig family connexions formed by several of the Fitzclarences (natural children of the duke of Clarence by Mrs. Jordan), and partly on the character and previous political course of the king, now renewed their attacks on the ministry with additional vigor. In the new parliament, which met in November, the ministry being left in a minority on a motion of sir H. Parnell for referring the civil list to a select committee (15), immediately sent in their resignation; and a whig administration was formed on the twenty-second, with earl Grey at its head. The great event which will render the reign of William IV memorable, is the passage of the reform act. (See Parliamentary Reform, in the Appendix to this volume.) William IV is described as affable in his manners, cordial in his deportment, with somewhat of the rude heartiness of the deck, on which he had passed some of his early

years. In the navy he had, of course, been under the command of plebeians, and the messmate and companion of simple commoners. This had given him more knowledge of the common classes than his brother and predecessor had had an opportunity of acquiring, and, although he had never distinguished himself in the navy, something of popular manners, and a command of sea-phrases. His unkind treatment of Mrs. Jordan (q. v.), and the license of his private life at Bushy park, are stains upon his character. The eldest son of the king, George Fitzclarence, was created earl of Munster in 1831; a second, lord Adolphus Fitzclarence is captain in the royal navy; a third, lord Frederic Fitzclarence, colonel in the army and aid-de-camp to the king; and fourth is one of the king's chaplains. The earl of Munster is author of an Account of the British Campaign of 1809 in Spain and Portugal (London, 1831, 2d vol. of Memoirs of the Late War). The five daughters of Mrs. Jordan are married to the earl of Errol, the honorable J. E. Kennedy (son of earl Cassilis), Mr. Sidney, colonel Fox (son of lord Holland), and lord Falkland. As the king has no children by the queen, the princess Victoria is heiress presumptive of the crown of the British empire.

WILLIAM I THE YOUNGER, Count of Nassau, prince of Orange, the founder of Dutch freedom, was the eldest son of William the Elder, count of Nassau, and Juliana, countess of Stolberg, and was born April 16, 1533, at the castle of Dillenburg, in the county of Nassau. He was educated in the Roman Catholic faith, by Maria, queen of Hungary, sister of Charles V, and spent nine years in attendance on the person of the emperor, who had so high an esteem for the spirit, the prudence and intelligence of the prince, that he asked his opinion respecting the most important matters, and, when he was but twenty-two years old, intrusted him with the chief command of the army in the Netherlands, in the absence of Philibert, duke of Savoy. He also recommended him to his successor, Philip II, who, however, deceived by the calumnies of the Spaniards, regarded him as the cause of the resistance of the Netherlands, and, therefore, would not confer on him the office of stadtholder. As cardinal Granvella had now the entire confidence of the king, and Margaret of Parma, who was charged with the government of the Netherlands, was obliged to do whatever this proud and ambitious

prelate suggested, especially with respect to the introduction of the detested Spanish inquisition, and the erection of new bishoprics, the count' of Egmont, the prince of Orange, and the count of Horn, therefore, represented to the king, in writing, that, unless the cardinal was speedily recalled, his violence would drive the country to rebellion. Philip looked on this step as treason; but he concealed his anger, and recalled the cardinal, but, on the other hand, sent the duke of Alva, with Spanish and Italian soldiers, to the Netherlands. After the remonstrance, offered, in 1566, by three hundred noblemen, with count Louis of Nassau, the brother of William, at their head, against the introduction of the inquisition and the establishment of new bishoprics, had been rejected with contempt (the petitioners were styled beggars-Gueur), William had a meeting with Egmont, Horn, his brother Louis, and others, at Dendermond, to deliberate on the means of averting the threatening danger. The majority advised an armed resistance. Count Egmont alone, governor of Flanders and Artois, was of opinion that they should trust to the grace and clemency of the king. "This grace," replied the sagacious Orange, "will be our destruction, and Egmont the bridge by which the Spaniards will pass into the Netherlands, and which they will then destroy." When they separated, Egmont and Orange, in presentiment of the future, embraced, and took leave of each other with tears. The prince, with his wife and his children, excepting the eldest, who was studying at Louvain, repaired to Breda, whence, however, he returned to his castle at Dillenburg. Meanwhile, Alva advanced into the Netherlands. Many men of consequence, including Egmont and Horn, were immediately arrested, and executed at Brussels, June 5, 1568. When cardinal Granvella was apprized of this at Rome, he inquired whether Alva had taken Secrecy (so be termed the prince of Orange). If this fish is not caught, the duke's fishing is good for nothing." Alva caused the prince, the counts of Hoogstraten, of Kuilenburg, and others, who had retired from the country, to be summoned before the council of twelve. The prince did not appear, but sent in an appeal to the states of Brabant, as his natural judges, and to the king in person, because, as a knight of the Golden Fleece, he could be judged only by the king in person, and by the knights of the order. He applied

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, admiral 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 deserving 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 all the provinces of the Low Countries,excepting 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 king, vio

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 adjusted. In 1815, the elector sent 15,000 men 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