5 - The first stadholderless period: 1 exclusion

Summary

Never did unanticipated circumstance bring a more profound transformation of the political scene in the United Provinces than occurred with the death of William II. At a time when Dutchmen had to think very hard about the necessity and desirability of the stadholderate, the Prince of Orange was a posthumous child for whose succession no provision had been made.

Proof that leadership in the Republic resided in the province of Holland no less than in the House of Orange was instantly provided. The States of Holland moved with a swiftness that would ordinarily have been astonishing in a constitutional system notorious for its dilatoriness. William II died on the night of 6 November; before midnight the Delegated Councilors of Holland had already sent word to the voting towns that the new situation would be the subject of a meeting of the States of Holland already convoked for 9 November. When they met, Their Noble Great Mightinesses the States of Holland acted with speed and vigor to consolidate their own leadership within the Republic and to reassure the other provinces, their “allies” in the accepted nomenclature, that they did not consider the Union of Utrecht to be dissolved but rather sought to maintain its permanency.