holderless system plainly enough, but he had not,
like Fagel, strong Orangist sympathies; and on his appointment as
council-pensionary he pledged himself to support during his tenure of
office the existing state of things. This undertaking he loyally kept,
and his strong personality during his life-time alone saved Holland, and
through Holland the entire Republic, from falling into utter ruin and
disaster. At his death Antony van der Heim became council-pensionary
under the same conditions as his predecessor. But Van der Heim,
though a capable and hard-working official, was not of the same calibre
as Slingelandt. The narrow and grasping burgher-regents had got a firm
grip of power, and they used it to suppress the rights of their
fellow-citizens and to keep in their own hands the control of municipal
and provincial affairs. Corruption reigned everywhere; and the patrician
oligarchy, by keeping for themselves and their relations all offices of
profit, grew rich at the same time that the finances of the State fell
into greater confusion. It was not a condition of things that could
endure, should any serious crisis arise.

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