HAGUE, hag, THE (Dutch 's Grarenhage, the count's hedge). The seat of the Government of the Netherlands and residence of the sovereign, pleasantly situated in the Province of South Holland, about 15 miles northwest of Rotterdam and three miles from the North Sea (Map: Netherlands, C 2). It is intersected in all direc tions by canals and shaded avenues of linden trees, and is famed above all other Dutch cities for its broad, handsome streets, palaces. Govern ment and municipal buildings, and stately houses. Of these edifices the picturesque town hall is the most interesting from an architectural stand point. The most notable church is the Groote Kerk, or Church of Saint James, a Gothic struc ture of the fifteenth and sixteenth eenturies, with a lofty hexagonal tower. The nalaee of justice is a handsome building in the Dutch Renaissance style. In the Meuritshuis, rebuilt in 1704. is loented the renowned picture gallery, containing about 450 canvases, largely of the best Dutch period, and especially rich in Rembrandts. Among the most celebrated pictures are Rem brandt's "School of and "Presenta tion in the Temple." Ruysdael's "View of Haar lem," Paul Potter's well-known "Bull," and Rulicns's "Portrait of Ophovius." The municipal museum and the house of Baron Stecngracht also haw fine collections of paintings, the former con taining corporation pieces by Ravestevn.
The royal library possesses 500.000 volumes mid a valuable collection of more than 40,000 coins and medals, and over 300 cameos. In the centre of %Villeins-Park rises the magnificent na monument commemorating thy restoration of Dutch independence in 1813. It was unveiled in 1869 and is surmounted by the "Nederlandsche Maagd"—the virgin personification of Holland. Other monuments are the equestrian statue of William 1. of Orange before the royal palace, and the bronze figure of Spinoza, erected opposite the house in which he lived. Still other museums and monuments merit attention.
The Government buildings are handsome, and their archives include State papers over four centuries old. From an historic point of view the most interesting buildings of The Hague are the Gevangenpoort, or the prison gatehouse in which Oldenbarnevelt, the brothers De Witt, and many others distinguished in the history of Hol land were confined; and the Binnenhof, in which Oldenbarnevelt was executed, and which, together with the Buitenhof, forms an irregular mass of public buildings of various ages, inclosed by moats and approached by drawbridges. These edifices are situated in the wealthy central quarter of the town around the attractive Vyver (fish pound)— an ornamental lake, with an island. The fish market is one of the most interesting in Europe. The suburbs are particularly beautiful with their meadows, gardens, woods, and villas. The so-called
zoological and botanical garden is almost exclu sively a pleasure park, and a fine road and five tramways lead to the celebrated watering place of Scheveningen on the coast. The far-famed royal villa of Huis ten Bosch (The House in the Wood), situated on the outskirts of the city in the midst of a noble and much frequented park-forest (het Haagsche Bosch), has costly and dainty apart ments filled with fine art objects and rare ex amples of interior decoration, including tapes tries, embroideries, and grisailles. The Orange Room, an octagonal hall decorated with paint ings by Jordaens and others, especially attracts the visitor.
The city is provided with good educational institutions; comprising public schools, a gym nasium, a drawing school, the Royal School of Music, and an educational institute of the Free Masons. There are many learned societies, the most notable being The Hague Society for the Defense of the Christian Religion, founded in 1785. Others are the Witte Society, the Physics Society, the' artists' association called Pulchri Studio, and the Netherland-India Institute. The Hague is a residential city, conspicuous for fash ionable life. Its prosperity depends chiefly on the Court and nobility and on the throngs of for eigners that visit the city and Scheveningen. The manufactures are neither important nor varied, consisting chiefly of articles of luxury, such as gold and silver work and porcelain. There are some gun-casting and brass and copper molding; and carriages and furniture are also mannfac tured. But little trade is carried on. The city is the starting-point of the railway system of Holland, and has steam and electric trams. The Hague, like other Dutch towns, has increased rapidly in population. The figures were 81.393 in 1863; 174.700 in 1894; and 212.211 in 1900 (including Scheveningen). Two-thirds of the' in habitants are Protestants. The death-rate is low—less than 17 per 1000.
The Hague was originally a hunting seat of the counts of Holland. Under William TT. (1250) it became a princely residence, and prospered thereafter to such an extent as to become, in the sixteenth century, the seat of the States General and of the Stadtholder of Holland. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries The Hague was the diplomatic capital of Europe. Here were concluded the triple alliance of Eng land, Sweden, and the Netherlands against France (1668), and the triple alliance of England, France, and Holland for the preservation of the Treaty of Utrecht (1717). Between May 18 arid July 29, 1899, the city was tile seat of the International Peace Conference (q.v.). Cu riously enough, The Hague possessed no municipal rights till the time of Louis Bonaparte, having remained for centuries the most magnificent 'vil lage' in Europe.