with
Philip II. of Spain, the seven provinces to the north achieved their
independence at the beginning of the seventeenth century and, under
the name of the United Provinces, built up a system of government,
republican in form though in operation much of the time really
autocratic, which survived through more than two hundred years. The
ten provinces to the south continued under the sovereignty of Spain
until 1713, when by the Treaty of Utrecht they were transferred to
Austria. They did not attain the status of independent nationality
until 1831.

*570. The French Domination, 1793-1814.*--The constitutional
arrangements operative in the Holland and Belgium of to-day are to be
regarded as products largely of the era of the French Revolution and
of the Napoleonic domination. Between 1795 and 1810 both groups of Low
Country provinces were absorbed by France, and both were forced quite
out of their accustomed political channels. The provinces comprising
the Austrian Netherlands were overrun by a French army early in 1793.
By decree of October 1, 1795, they were incorporated in the French
Republic, being erected into nine departments; and by the Treaty of
Luneville, February 9, 1801, they were definitely ceded by Austria to
France.[716] February 1, 1793, the French Republic declared war upon
Holland. During the winter of 1794--1795 the Dutch provinces were (p. 518)
occupied, and by the Treaty of The Hague, May 16, 1795, they were
erected into a new nationality known as the Batavian Republic, under
the protection of France.[717] The constitution of the old republic
was thoroughly overhauled and the stadtholderate, long in the
possession of the house of Orange, was abolished. To the considerable
body of anti-Orange republicans the coming of the French was, indeed,
not unwelcome. May 24, 1806, the Batavian Republic was converted by
Napoleon into the kingdom of Holland, and Louis Bonaparte, younger
brother of the French Emperor, was set up as the unwilling sovereign
of an unwilling people. Nominally, the new kingdom was both
constitutional and independent; practically, it was an autocracy and a
dependency of France. King Louis labored conscientiously to safeguard
the interests of his Dutch subjects, but in vain. After four years he
abdicated, under pressure; whereupon, July 9, 1810, an Imperial edict
swept away what remained of the independent status of the Dutch people
and incorporated the kingdom absolutely with France. Th