John William Friso, on whom great hopes had been fixed, met with an untimely death in 1711, leaving a posthumous child who became William IV, Prince of Orange.  Faithful Friesland immediately elected William stadholder under the regency of his mother, Maria Louisa of Hesse-Cassel.  By her fostering care the boy received an education to fit him for service to the State.  Though of weakly bodily frame and slightly deformed, William had marked intelligence, and a very gentle and kindly disposition.  Though brave like all his family, he had little inclination for military things.  The Republican party had little to fear from a man of such character and disposition.  The burgher-regents, secure in the possession of power, knew that the Frisian stadholder was not likely to resort either to violence or intrigue to force on a revolution.  Nevertheless the prestige of the name in the prevailing discontent counted for much.  William was elected stadholder of Groningen in 1718, of Drente and of Gelderland in 1722, though in each case with certain restrictions.  But the other provinces remained obstinate in their refusal to admit him to any place in their councils or to any military post.  The Estates of Zeeland went so far as to abolish the marquisate of Flushing and Veere, which carried with it the dignity of first noble and presidency in the meetings of the Estates, and offered to pay 100,000 fl. in compensation to the heir of the Nassaus.  William refused to receive it, saying that either the marquisate did not belong to him, in which case he could not accept money for it, or it did belong to him and was not for sale.  William’s position was advanced by his marriage in 1734 to Anne, eldest daughter of George II.  Thus for the third time a Princess Royal of England became Princess of Orange.  The reception of the newly married pair at Amsterdam and the Hague was, however, cool though polite; and despite the representatives of Gelderland, who urged that the falling credit and bad state of the Republic required the appointment of an “eminent head,” Holland, Utrecht, Zeeland and Overyssel remained obdurate in their refusal to change the form of government.  William had to content himself with the measure of power he had obtained and to await events.  He showed much patience, for he had many slights and rebuffs to put up with.  His partisans would have urged him to more vigorous action, but this he steadily refused to take.

The Republic kept drifting meanwhile on the downward path.  Its foreign policy was in nerveless hands; jobbery was rampant; trade and industry declined; the dividends of the East India Company fell year by year through the incompetence and greed of officials appointed by family influence; the West India Company was practically bankrupt.  Such was the state of the country in 1740, when the outbreak of the Austrian Succession War found the Republic without leadership, hopelessly undecided what course of action it should take, and only seeking to evade its responsibilities.