JOWIN AUSTillA ; Pyrl.by 11.; WILLIAM I.; (Of Na,...,:111).
Political 41 iid r1.1 igiOUF• dissensions now arose in the Republic. The Arminian controversy in the Church mingled itself unhappily with the politieal differences between Prince 'Alaurice, of Nassau, agid Borneveldt. Finally Barneveldt was seized, eonglimmed wit limit fair trial. and o.xceuted Slay 13,1619. See Dont% SYNOD Or; BARNEVELDT: ;HUTH'S.
In the course of the struggle with Spain the foreign 1,f the provinces had undergone a rapid expansion. The Dutch East India Company was organized in 1602. Following the discovery of the Hudson River by Henry Hudson. sailing for the Dutch East India Company in 1609, the Dutch established by degrees a trading colony in New Netherland, the later New York. The New Netherland Company Was given a trading charter in 1615, and in 1621 the Dutch West India Com pany came into existence mud began to people the new colony, which remained a Dutch possession until 1664, when it was taken by the English, to be recovered in 1673 for fifteen months, and then finally lost to the Republic.
In 1621, the twelve years' truce having expired and the IMtch refusing to aeknowledge allegiance to Spain, the war was renewed by Philip IV. The Dutch, led by Prince Slaurice until his death in 1625, and then by his brother Frederick Henry, with the French as allies, carried on a struggle for the possession of Flanders. the incidents of which served to increase the hostile feeling be tween the Catholic and Protestant parts of the country. In the meantime the religious dissen sions in the United Provinces themselves died out and a spirit of toleration which made the country the asylum for European Protestant refugees. In 1046 Spain began negotiations for peace with the Remildie, and the Dutch, already suspicious: of the growing French influence, and themselves weary of the long struggle,made terms which became a part of the general Peace of West phalia in I04S. The United Provinces were now fully recognized as free and sovereign States. The Scheldt was closed to commerce, and the right of the Dutch to a share in the trade of the Indies was acknowledged. William IL, who succeeded Frederick Henry as Stadtholder of the Republic, attempted to become a sovereign with the aid of France, hut died at the age of twenty four, and the danger his ill-advised attempt had shown led the States to hold the stadtholdership in abeyance. Holland, the wealthiest of the
provinces, now became the real controlling force, and the executive power in Holland was vested in the Grand Pensionary, an office which from 1650 to 1672 was held by Jan de Witt (q.v.). This was the golden age of the Republic. when its fleets fought successfully against the English (1652-54 and 1005-07). and made it the leading sea power of Europe. The prosperity, wealth, and power of the Republic brought it new enemies in the place of decadent Spain. Having united in 16GS with England and Sweden to hold Louis XIV. in check, the Republic found itself, in 1672, facing both France and England, the former at tacking by land, the latter by sea. In this struggle William the young Prince of Orange, posthumous son of William IT., by his generalship and patriotism won the approval of a large party of the nobles and common people, who demanded the restoration of the stadtholder ship. France liad demanded the restoration of the House of Orange to its authority, but had declined to receive a gift forced by the enemies of his country. .1an and C?irnelins de Witt, who opposed vesting any further powers in the House of Orange, were murdered by a mob (1672). and the Prince of Orange became once more Stadtholder and the central figure in the United Netherlands. In the shifting Euro pean policies of the snceeeding years. the Repub lic found itself sometimes with one ally, some times with another, sonwtimes single-handed, lint with the calling of the Stadtholder William to the English throne (1688) it was brought into the large scheme of the Grand Alliance against Louis XIV. William of I (q.v.), the Grand Pensionary of llolland, were the soul of the resistance to the schemes of the French King. (See Lot is NI V.) By the Peace of Utrecht. in 1713, closing the War of the Span ish Suceession ( see SUCCESSION WARS the Span ish Netherlands were handed over to .Austria. Tay the Itarrier Treaty, concluded with England and Austria in 1715, the Dutch acquired the right of maintaining garrisons in the fortified towns of the Austrian ( lelgium) Netherlands.