aintained
the struggle with honour; but on land they were at first borne down by
irresistible force. A great French army passed the Rhine. Fortress
after fortress opened its gates. Three of the seven provinces of the
federation were occupied by the invaders. The fires of the hostile camp
were seen from the top of the Stadthouse of Amsterdam. The Republic,
thus fiercely assailed from without, was torn at the same time by
internal dissensions. The government was in the hands of a close
oligarchy of powerful burghers. There were numerous selfelected Town
Councils, each of which exercised within its own sphere, many of the
rights of sovereignty. These councils sent delegates to the Provincial
States, and the Provincial States again sent delegates to the States
General. A hereditary first magistrate was no essential part of this
polity. Nevertheless one family, singularly fertile of great men, had
gradually obtained a large and somewhat indefinite authority. William,
first of the name, Prince of Orange Nassau, and Stadtholder of Holland,
had headed the memorable insurrection against Spain. His son Maurice had
been Captain General and first minister of the States, had, by eminent
abilities and public services, and by some treacherous and cruel
actions, raised himself to almost kingly power, and had bequeathed
a great part of that power to his family. The influence of the
Stadtholders was an object of extreme jealousy to the municipal
oligarchy. But the army, and that great body of citizens which was
excluded from all share in the government, looked on the Burgomasters
and Deputies with a dislike resembling the dislike with which the
legions and the common people of Rome regarded the Senate, and were as
zealous for the House of Orange as the legions and the common people of
Rome for the House of Caesar. The Stadtholder commanded the forces of
the commonwealth, disposed of all military commands, had a large share
of the civil patronage, and was surrounded by pomp almost regal.

Prince William the Second had been strongly opposed by the oligarchical
party. His life had terminated in the year 1650, amidst great civil
troubles. He died childless: the adherents of his house were left for
a short time without a head; and the powers which he had exercised were
divided among the Town Councils, the Provincial States, and the States
General.

But, a few days after William's death, his widow, Mary, daughter of
Charles the first, King o