[Sidenote:  XIV. 1.  William III.]

Still, the civil discord continued.  The States of Holland renewed the Edict of Exclusion, with the addition of a clause, that, whenever a person should be invested, with the office of Captain, or Admiral General, he should swear never to aspire to the office of Stadtholder, and to refuse it, if it should be offered to him.

[Sidenote:  CHAP.  XIV 1650—­1702.]

The year 1671 is remarkable for the league entered into by Louis XIV. and Charles II. against the United States, and by their vigourous resistance to it.  The circumstances into which it drove the United States, compelled them to appoint the Prince of Orange Captain General and Admiral:  he took the oath prescribed by the Perpetual Edict, not to aspire to the stadtholderate, and to reject it, if offered.  He was at this time in his twenty-second year:  he owed his elevation to the critical situation in which the United States were then placed; but it was also owing to the great prudence with which he had conducted himself when fortune was opposed to him; and to the talents and application to business which he then discovered.

At sea, the navy of the United States was generally successful.  At land, the arms of Lewis XIV. triumphed; he conquered Gueldres, Overyssell, and the city and province of Utretcht.  This maddened the populace.  They massacred John De Witt, and Cornelius De Witt, his brother, after having subjected them to the cruellest tortures and the most brutal indignities.  To the indelible reproach of William III. he did not interfere to prevent or stop these horrors.  His measures for obtaining the stadtholderate succeeded.

[Sidenote:  XIV. 1.  William III.]

On the 4th of July 1672, it was re-established in the person of William III.; and all the dignities and rights enjoyed by his predecessors were conferred upon him.  These, in 1674, were made hereditary in his family.  His subsequent conduct is entitled, on many accounts, to the warmest praise.  The success of the United States at sea compelled Charles II. to make peace with them, so that Lewis XIV. was their only enemy.  The war with him was terminated by the peace of Nimeguen in 1678.  Ten years after it, the Stadtholder, on the abdication of James II. became King of England.  In 1690, England, Spain, Austria, and the United Provinces, entered into the Grand Alliance against France.  The Duke of Savoy and several Princes of Germany afterwards joined it.  In general, the proceedings of the confederacy were unsuccessful; the war was terminated in 1697 by the peace of Ryswick.  In 1700, the disputes on the succession to the Spanish monarchy, in consequence of the death of Charles II. of Spain, without issue, called the world again to arms.  William III. died in 1702.

XIV. 2.

John William Count of Nassau Dietz, 1702-1711; William IV. 1711-1751.