William IV of Orange-Nassau, Stadtholder of the United Provinces of the Netherlands

WILLIAM IV OF ORANGE-NASSAU, Stadtholder of the United Provinces of the Netherlands. - B. at Leeuwarden on 1 Sept. 1711, posthumous son of John William Friso, Prince of Nassau.

The events of the War of the Austrian Succession and the danger through which the country passed in 1747, when the French forces violated its borders, constituted the favorable occasion for the elevation of W., who was enthusiastically acclaimed stadtholder of all the provinces (May 1747). To remedy the disasters of the war, W. set about reorganizing the army; but he did not succeed in halting the enemy advance: at Lauffeld the Dutch forces, although supported by the English army of the Duke of Cumberland, were defeated (July 1747). In Sept. Bergen op Zoom fell into the hands of the French. The Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle saved the external situation; but internally the agitations that had arisen because of fiscal impositions were rekindled, while the clash persisted more bitterly between the class of the petty bourgeoisie, which in the elevation of W. had hoped for a democratic policy, and the aristocracy of the States. W. died in 1751. Too respectful of ancient customs and [too] reluctant to admit the bourgeoisie to government, he, although he had succeeded in abolishing the odious tax farming and in improving the government of the Indies, was on the whole a mediocre statesman and military man.

WILLIAM V of Orange-Nassau, last stadtholder of the United Provinces of the NETHERLANDS. - B. of William IV, at The Hague, on 8 March 1748. On the death of his father (1751) the States General declared him heir and successor, while he was only three years old, and instituted a regency in the person of his mother Caroline of Hanover and of Louis Ernest of Brunswick, who was given supreme command of the army. In 1766 W. was declared of age.

At that time the country was somewhat flourishing again. Husband of Frederica Sophia Wilhelmina, niece of Frederick II of Prussia, the new stadtholder strengthened the ties with the German Protestants, and seemed inclined to pursue a policy of peace; but France, exploiting the enthusiasm that the American Revolution had aroused in the country and the activity carried on by the democratic party of Van der Capellen, pushed him against England. The conflict was disastrous for Holland, which was no longer provided with the powerful fleet of former times, and it cost it the loss of numerous colonies in America and in India. In the following years the anti-Orange ferment continued; W. sought to repress it; but the States of Holland reacted fiercely against him. Help was vainly sought from the English; only through the enterprise of his consort did the stadtholder save his power. In fact she solicited the aid of Prussia, and a Prussian army in Sept. 1787 entered Holland, forcing the fiercest agitators to take refuge in France. In 1792 war broke out with revolutionary France, which ended with the enemy occupation carried out by the army of Pichegru. On 18 Jan. 1795, W. embarked at Scheveningen and fled to England, where he issued a proclamation to place the colonies of India under English authority. The Batavian Republic declared him deposed on 23 Febr. After some years of residence in Nassau, W., the last stadtholder of Holland, passed away on 9 Apr. 1806.