but for my absence.  Your confidence, your affection, offer me the sovereignty; and I am called upon to accept it, since the state of my country and the situation of Europe require it.  I accede to your wishes.  I overlook the difficulties which may attend such a measure; I accept the offer which you have made me; but I accept it only on one condition—­that it shall be accompanied by a wise constitution, which shall guarantee your liberties and secure them against every attack.  My ancestors sowed the seeds of your independence:  the preservation of that independence shall be the constant object of the efforts of myself and those around me.”

CHAPTER XXIII

FROM THE INSTALLATION OF WILLIAM I. AS PRINCE SOVEREIGN OF THE NETHERLANDS TO THE BATTLE OF WATERLOO

A.D. 1814—­1815

The regeneration of Holland was rapid and complete.  Within four months, an army of twenty-five thousand men was raised; and in the midst of financial, judicial, and commercial arrangements, the grand object of the constitution was calmly and seriously debated.  A committee, consisting of fourteen persons of the first importance in the several provinces, furnished the result of three months’ labors in the plan of a political code, which was immediately printed and published for the consideration of the people at large.  Twelve hundred names were next chosen from among the most respectable householders in the different towns and provinces, including persons of every religious persuasion, whether Jews or Christians.  A special commission was then formed, who selected from this number six hundred names; and every housekeeper was called on to give his vote for or against their election.  A large majority of the six hundred notables thus chosen met at Amsterdam on the 28th of March, 1814.  The following day they assembled with an immense concourse of people in the great church, which was splendidly fitted up for the occasion; and then and there the prince, in an impressive speech, solemnly offered the constitution for acceptance or rejection.  After a few hours’ deliberation, a discharge of artillery announced to the anxious population that the constitution had been accepted.  The numbers present were four hundred and eighty-three, and the votes as follows:  Ayes, four hundred and fifty-eight; Noes, twenty-five.

There were one hundred and seventeen members absent; several of these were kept away by unavoidable obstacles.  The majority among them was considered as dissentients; but it was calculated that if the whole body of six hundred had voted, the adoption of the constitution would have been carried by a majority of five-sixths.  The dissentients chiefly objected to the power of declaring war and concluding treaties of peace being vested in the sovereign.  Some individuals urged that the Protestant interest was endangered by the admission of persons of every persuasion to all public offices; and the Catholics complained that the state did not sufficiently contribute to the support of their religious establishments.