Abstract
THE upheavals and indignities which overtook the Dutch Republic at the end of the eighteenth century were, in several respects, the progeny of war. Military reverses had traditionally acted as the trigger of domestic disorder and, save that on this occasion the Stadholder was the intended victim, rather than the beneficiary of the agitation, the ‘Patriot revolution’ of the 1780s was no exception. The somewhat inglorious course of the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War (1780–84) precipitated a campaign of sustained invective in which the hapless William V, pilloried variously as tyrant or poltroon, was held answerable for the loss of colonies and naval débâcle.1 By 1785, moreover, the more audacious among the Patriot politicians and journalists had extended their diatribes to the regent oligarchs, accused of pilfering office and degrading national morality by sumptuary excess, venality and nepotism. The manifest incapacity of the Republic to protect its integrity without becoming the catspaw of the Anglo-French power struggle, engendered odium and apprehension which ripened into revolutionary disaffection.
I should like to thank the participants in the sixth Anglo-Dutch Historical Conference, and the members of Professor Richard Cobb’s seminar on French history at Worcester College, Oxford, to whom a slightly modified version of this paper was presented, for helpful criticism during discussion.
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Abbreviations
- A.R.A., B.Z.:
-
Algemeen Rijksarchief, Archief van Binnenlandse Zaken 17981813.
- G.A.D. Gemeente:
-
Archief, Delft.
- G.A.H. Gemeente:
-
Archief, The Hague.
- G.A.L. Gemeente:
-
Archief, Leiden.
- G.A.R. Gemeente:
-
Archief, Rotterdam.
- G.A.S. Gemeente:
-
Archief, Schiedam.
- G.A.V. Gemeente:
-
Archief, Vlaardingen.
References
In particular, as Admiral-General of the Union the Stadholder was held formally responsible for the ignominious capitulation of St. Eustatius in the Dutch Antilles, and the abortive attempt to rendezvous with the French fleet at Brest. In a more general sense he was held by opinion in the maritime provinces to have unduly favoured the strengthening of the Army at the expense of the re-equipping of the fleet. See J.S. Bartstra, Vlootherstel en legeraugmentatie (Assen, 1952), passim. The pungency of the diatribes intensified after 1782 when hostile opinion succeeded in removing the éminence grise Duke Louis of Brunswick —Wolfenbüttel from The Hague. For some of the more typical items of demonology see J. Hartog, De Patriotten en Oranje 1747–1787 (Amsterdam, 1882), pp.167–231. From being dubbed “malle Willem” (William the simpleton) and an “obdurate good-for-nothing”, he was later compared with Nebuchadnezzar: Wat het is een vrij Volk to zijn, Catalogus van de pamfiettenverzameling berustende in de Koninklijke Bibliotheek (W.P.C. Knuttel ed., 9 vol., The Hague, 18891920) [hereafter Knuttel] V, no. 19987; to Rehoboam persecuting the Israelites (A. van der Kemp, Staatkundige aanmerkingen (The Hague, 1783); and described as the instrument chosen by Lucifer to bring hatred, discord and strife to the Netherlands (Haagsche Correspondent,no. 73, 1786). By the time that the country was in a state of virtual civil war it was commonplace in the Patriot camp to refer to William as “The Tyrant” or “The Traitor”.
Cited in C.H.E. de Wit, La République Batave”, in Occupants-Occupés 1792–1815 (Brussels, 1969), p. 146. The politician was Pieter Paulus, the first President of the Batavian National Assembly.
See C. to Lintum (ed.), “Een rotterdamsch gedenkschrift uit den patriottentijd en de dagen der revolutie”, Bijdragen en mededelingen van het historisch genootschap,XXXI (1910), 142. Such sentiments were legion, even in the early phase of the Patriot rebellion. In the Redevoering van F.A. van der Marck (1783), for example it is said that “to defend freedom and justice it behoves every man to become a soldier”, and in the other major Patriot newspaper, the popular Amsterdam Politieke Kruger in November 1782 (no. 9) an article appealed to the people to “arm yourselves, all; in that alone will be your strength and your safety; let, ere long, the name of soldier be unknown and exchanged for that of the armed citizen…”.
J.G.A. Pocock, The Machiavellian Moment (Princeton, 1975 ), pp. 289–93, 528; C. Robbins, The Eighteenth Century Commonwealthman ( Cambridge, Mass., 1959 ).
These were formed much earlier than often supposed and had spread throughout Holland in the course of 1783. See the Brief van een utrechts burger aan zijn vriend to Amsterdam (Knuttel, V, no. 20669) and for their organization, the Verslag van gecommitteerde, besluiten en provisioneele wetten van de Societeit van Wapenhandel, opgericht binnen Leiden (Knuttel, V, no. 20655). For their more general political implications see S. Schama, Patriots and Liberators, Revolution in the Netherlands 1780–1813 (New York, London, 1977), pp. 81–8.
As a splendid pictorial example of this idealization see the engraving, dated 1784, by Reinier Vinkeles, of Otto Dirk Gordon, the Colonel-Commandant of the Pro Patria et Libertate Society in Utrecht. He is shown wearing the black cockade, and with his finger pointing to the musket, the symbol of patriotic vigilance and purity.
The ritual of the Batavian Revolution along with its innumerable public feasts, tableaux and ceremonies has scarcely been noticed by historians, much less subjected to serious analysis or iconography. Purely descriptive accounts of some of them can be found in C. Rogge, Tafereel van degeschiedenis der jongste omwenteling (Amsterdam, 1796), but the most illuminating source is the fine collection of Batavian prints and engravings in the Prentenkabinet of the University of Leiden. I am grateful to the Curator for permitting me an all-toohurried inspection of this splendid collection in August 1976. An article on revolutionary feasts and ceremonies in the Netherlands is being prepared.
The reference is to the famous proclamation of 17 November 1813: “Oranje Doyen! Holland is vrij…. De zee is open./De koophandel herleeft./Alle partijschap heeft opgehouden./Al het geleden is vergeeten/en vergeven/… Elk dankt God!/De oude tijden komen wederom/Oranje boven”. (Up with Orange/Holland is free/… The sea is open/trade revives/All party strife has disappeared/All that has passed is forgotten/And forgiven/… Every person thanks God/The old times are coming back again/Up with Orange!) The text is said to have been written by Gijsbert Karel van Hogendorp.
See H. van der Hoeven, Gijsbert Karel van Hogendorp, conservatief of liberaal (Groningen, 1976), pp. 104–12.
See Schama, Patriots, ch. xi; L.J.G. Rogier, “Uit verdeeldheid tot eenheid” in Terugblik en uitzicht ( Hilversum, Antwerp, 1964 ), pp. 248 – 61.
See, for example, the conclusions of historians who have studied the impact of the Revolution at a local level: C. Lucas, The Structure of the Terror (Oxford, 1973); W.F. Scott, Terror and Repression in Revolutionary Marseilles (London, 1973),
See, for example, the report from Middelburg in Zeeland in A.R.A., B.Z. (UB) 381; Haarlem in A.R.A., B.Z. 203 and B.Z. (SB 230) where the condition of the Diaconie and the needs of the poor were described, even in 1800 as schreeuwend (lit. screamingly or “wildly expensive”); Franeker in Friesland where the same problem was described as being of the most “urgent” (dringendste) necessity (SB 231). Similar complaints came in from The Hague, Rotterdam, Amsterdam and Leiden virtually every year after 1798. The only problem after 1803 when the situation deteriorated even further was how to find adequate terms to describe the urgency without crying wolf.
See A.R.A., Collectie Dassevael 50, 92.
In 1776 the Nederlandsche Jaarboek commented that “the common people (gemeen) are perishing from wretchedness and want; the poor houses lie crammed with their bodies”. For similar comments in the earlier period see J. Hartog (ed.), De spectatoriale schritten van 1741–1800 (Utrecht, 1872).
Joh. de Vries, De oeconomisch — patriottische beweging”, De Nieuwe Stem, VII (1952) and De economische achteruitgang der republiek in de achttiende eeuw (Amsterdam, 1959 ).
For a discussion of those debates see P.B.A. Melief,De strijd om de armenzorg in Nederland 1795–1845 (Groningen, 1955); for some of the ideas which informed them, H.F.J.M. van den Eerenbeemt, Het huwelijk tussen filantropie en economie: een patriotse en bataafse illusie, Economisch en sociaal-historisch jaarboek, XXXV (1972), 72 seqq.
For information concerning the poor in the respective departments, as well as protests, implicit and explicit against any attempt at amalgamation with public authorities see the files of A.R.A., B.Z. 202–9. The reply of NederBetuwe Ambts in the Dpt. of the Rijn is fairly typical, “Herewith a prompt response must be given to your [the Directory’s] question [whether they would be willing to coalesce], and is unanimous, that we hold our municipal property, in thrift and orderly management, as a gift from our ancestors… and except by force this shall never be alienated from us….” (A.R.A., B.Z. 206).
A.R.A., B.Z. 192–202.
According to the deacons and the burgomaster, the Reformed Church Diaconie alone in Haarlem was spending at least fi. 125,000 a year on poor relief (A.R.A., B.Z. 197). By 1808 the city was almost derelict, with just one cotton mill left, two woollen factories, one major brewery and two soap boilers. For tabulated information on its economic plight see A.R.A., B.Z. 783.
Despite this, the condition of the Friesland towns left a lot to be desired (see A.R.A., B.Z. 200). In 1797, by no means the most severe of the years in this period the Stads Arme Kassen (City Poor Fund) was already laying out fl. 30,984 for the support of just 1,159 souls - with an income estimated at only fl. 3,000, and the Paupers Orphanage in the same town some fl. 12,380 with an income of only fl. 1,200. Some other smaller Frisian towns remained similarly depressed like Sneek and Dokkum. Even Harlingen which should have been doing fairly well out of the coastal trade was in serious deficit by the end of the 1790s.
See H.F.J.M. van den Eerenbeemt, “s-Hertogenbosch in de bataafsche en franse tijd 1794–1814 (’s-Hertogenbosch, 1955). Professor Van den Eerenbeemt has been the pioneer in analysing the problems and extent of poverty in the eighteenth-century Netherlands, concentrating for his evidence principally on the south of the country. See his important articles, Armoede en drankmisbruik in de meierij van “s-Hertogenbosch”, Brabantia,VII (1958), 310–20; In het spanningsveld der armoede. Agressief pauperisme en reactie in Staats-Brabant (Tilburg, 1968); “De oorzaken van het pauperisme in Nederland in de 18de eeuw”, Maandschrift Economie,XXVII (1963), 156–66.
The problem of inflation and depreciation in the eighteenth century remains a stumbling block for any accurate assessment of real economic trends. The classic Prÿsgeschiedenis of N.W. Posthumus provides helpful indices, but more remains to be done before the air of unreality surrounding most value quotations is satisfactorily removed. In particular this problem makes the true assessment of cost differentials between the middle of the eighteenth century and the end, very problematic. But for the most part I am here concerned with the short-term deterioration of the poor relief operation between 1790 and 1810 during which period it seems fairly safe to assume depreciation was not greater than around 50–75 per cent. Comparing the end of the eighteenth century with the end of the seventeenth century presents even more formidable problems since one is dealing with a pre-statistical period. Here the historian must fall back on the deduction from a lack of petitions, protests, complaints etc. coming from the towns to the States of Holland that while the long wars had taken a very serious toll, they were still a long way from considering the burden of the poor, in the literal sense, insupportable. That does seem to have been the case by 1810.
See A.R.A., B.Z. 182. Between 15 November 1799 and 15 April 1800, the municipality of Maassluis spent fl. 46,429 on just 600 households - nearly half its community - on poor relief.
See G.A.R., Burgerlijk Armbestuur, 283–4, and in particular the eloquent general reports of 1 May 1808 and 1 May 1809. The latter spelled out the causal nature of the problem unequivocally referring to “the stoppage of trade; the dearness of elementary commodities of life; the disaster of the war and other calamities” as contributing to the totals of the poor being “very much noticeably greater (than in previous years) and requiring thousand more guilders for relief”.
A.R.A., B.Z. 1011. For example the figures, expressed in francs, were (one guilder = 2.05 francs),
G.A.L., Secretarie-Archief 5553. This is a good instance — and there are countless instances of municipalities complaining about declining revenues from collections and special tolls — of inflation and monetary depreciation exacerbating rather than qualifying the dimensions of the problem discussed here.
On the amalgamation of the provincial debts and Gogel’s attempts to overcome local protests about this see S. Schama, “The exigencies of War and the Politics of Taxation in the Netherlands 1795-1810”, in War and Economic Development (ed. J.M. Winter, Cambridge, 1975), pp. 107–17; see also F.N. Sickenga, Geschiedenis der nederlandse belastingen, tijdvak der omwenteling (Amsterdam, 1865); also A.R.A., Gogel 29, 173, Archief van Financiën 386.
G.A.L., Secretarie-Archief 5907–14; for comparable figures for The Hague see G.A.H., Oud-Archief 157–82.
A.R.A., B.Z. 1011; estimate of d’Alphonse. Part of his statistics were published in: F.-J.-B. baron d'Alphonse, Aperçu sur la Hollande (Paris, 1813 ).
The Aperçu may be found in A.R.A., B.Z. 1229–30. See the tables at pp. 482–99 (Vol. II).
A.R.A., B.Z. 971.
G.A.H., Oud-Archief 5757, 5770–2. In Schiedam the outlay in subsidies doubled from an average of fl. 30,0001800-5 to fl. 60,0001806-10, see G.A.S., Comité van Finantie 2946; Archief van Ordinaris Thesaurier 736.
G.A.V., Oud-Archief 313–15.
G.A.D. (1795-1813) 62.
G.A.H., Oud-Archief (Burgerlijk Armebestuur) 5757.
G.A.L., Secretarie-Archief 6094 (report of Parnassim on the Jewish community). For these problems see also the reports printed in Gedenkstukken der algemeene geschiedenis van Nederland van 1789 tot 1840 (ed. H.T. Colenbrander, 24 vol., Amsterdam, 1905-22), Ryks Geschiedkundige Publicatiën, Grote Serie, 5, V, 284 – 6.
A.R.A., B.Z. 1229–30.
Cited in the Rapport, written in 1805 and deposited in G.A.L. 5973 but on an unnamed major city that is almost certainly Amsterdam.
G.A.D., Archief van de Camer van Charitate 36–7.
G.A.D., Archief van de Camer van Charitate 85.
G.A.L., Secretarie-Archief 5933–4.
F. Crouzet, L’économie britannique et le blocus continental 1806–1813 (Paris, 1958), p. 99.
Official values as given by d’Alphonse, A.R.A., B.Z. 1011, 1229–30. 1808 was an exceptional year when no less than fl. 620,000 worth of buckwheat was imported. In 1809 the figure falls back to approx. fl. 245,000 but that still represents an extraordinary increase over the 1803-4 average of around fl. 13–14,000 worth. Real values would of course modify this phenomenon somewhat but would hardly affect the overall trend.
A.R.A., B.Z. 784.
G.A.L., Secretarie-Archief 5555.
Ibid.
For an account of the drie schoft Oranje boven see Gedenkstukken,VI, 389–400, 1510–12; and for a much abbreviated version, Schama, Patriots,pp.628–30; Woordenboek der nederlandsche taal,vol. XIV, col. 771.
A.R.A., B.Z. 1073.
The study of the family in Dutch history is as yet in its infancy and has so far been restricted largely to emulating the exercises in “reconstitution” pioneered by the Cambridge Group for the History of Population. It might perhaps be more fruitful to concentrate on an historical study of relations within the family in the Netherlands, an area of social experience profoundly affecting the essential nature of Dutch culture.
G.A.R. (Burgerlijke Armbestuur) 776, 786.
G.A.L., Secretarie-Archief 5555.
For the account of life in the work — or kinder — huis see G.A.L. 5947.
See, in particular, C. Rogge, De armen kinderen van den Staat. Of onderzoek nopens de verpligting van het Gouvernement om de armen te verzorgen; en ontwerp van plan daartoe strekkende (Leiden, 1796).
G.A.L., Secretarie-Archief 5946–7; 5968.
A.R.A., B.Z. 1229–30. He referred to “le méphitisme qu’ils respirent (in the orphanages and workhouses) atrophie leur constitution” and was alarmed by the observable fact that many of the children contracted infirmities and diseases in the institutions which worsened as they grew older.
G.A.L., report of Armeninrigting 1812.
G.A.L., Secretarie-Archief 5996.
G.A.H., Oud-Archief 5772, 5779.
G.A.R., Sociale en Maatschappelijke Aangelegenheden, 10: Verslag van de commissie van oppertoezicht over het algemeene stadsarmebestuur over het resultaat van de leer en werkscholen; see also report for 1809.
See the report on the Feijenoord Instituut in G.A.H. 5757. It was claimed, at least, that each child received half a pound of bread, a quarter of a pound of meat and a quarter of grits or gruel each day plus a quart of beer — certainly a heavy charge on the city.
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Schama, S. (1977). Municipal Government and the Burden of the Poor in South Holland during the Napoleonic Wars. In: Duke, A.C., Tamse, C.A. (eds) Britain and the Netherlands. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-7518-8_5
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