attracted to himself the affection of the Orangist party.  But at the time of William III’s death Friso was but fourteen years of age; and the old “States” or “Republican” party, which had for so many years been afraid to attempt any serious opposition to the imperious will of King William, now saw their opportunity for a return once more to the state of things established by the Great Assembly in 1651.  Under the leadership of Holland five provinces now declared for a stadholderless government.  The appointment of town-councillors passed into the hands of the corporations or of the Provincial Estates, not, however, without serious disturbances in Gelderland, Utrecht, Overyssel and also in Zeeland, stirred up partly by the old regent-families, who had been excluded from office under William, partly by the gilds and working folk, who vainly hoped that they would be able to exercise a larger share in the government.  In many places faction-fights ensued.  In Amersfoort two burghers were tried and beheaded; in Nijmwegen the burgomaster, Ronkens, met the same fate.  But after a short while the aristocratic States party everywhere gained control in the town-corporations and through them in the Provincial Estates.  In Zeeland the dignity of “first noble” was abolished.

The effect of all this was that decentralisation reached its extreme point.  Not only were there seven republics, but each town asserted sovereign rights, defying at times the authority of the majority in the Provincial Estates.  This was especially seen in the predominant province of Holland, where the city of Amsterdam by its wealth and importance was able to dictate its will to the Estates, and through the Estates to the States-General.  Money-making and trade profits were the matters which engrossed everybody’s interest.  War interfered with trade; it was costly, and was to be avoided at any price.  During this time the policy of the Republic was neutrality; and the States-General, with their army and navy reduced more and more in numbers and efficiency, scarcely counted in the calculations of the cabinets of Europe.

But this very time that was marked by the decline and fall of the Republic from the high position which it occupied during the greater part of the 17th century, was the golden age of the burgher-oligarchies.  A haughty “patrician” class, consisting in each place of a very limited number of families, closely inter-related, had little by little possessed themselves, as a matter of hereditary right, of all the offices and dignities in the town, in the province and in the state.  Within their own town they reigned supreme, filling up vacancies in the vroedschap by co-option, exercising all authority, occupying or distributing among their relatives all posts of profit, and acquiring great wealth.  Their fellow-citizens were excluded from all share in affairs, and were looked down upon as belonging to an inferior caste.  The old simple habits of their forefathers were abandoned.