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(fifteenth–eighteenth centuries) and the chief magistrate of the United Provinces of the Netherlands (1579–1795). Originally, the stadtholders were appointed by the central government (the dukes of Burgundy and, later, the kings of Spain), but when the northern Netherlands revolted, the office became elective. At first, the States-General elected the stadtholder; later, elections took place in the provincial States. The office soon became associated with the house of Orange-Nassau. After 1747, the stadtholdership became hereditary in the house of Orange-Nassau. Besides settling differences between provinces, the stadtholder commanded the military forces of the confederacy. In practice the provinces often resorted to the stadtholder when the confederacy proved incapable of concerted action. The office became extinct when the republic succumbed to invading French armies in 1795.

p. 131. Such is the nature of the celebratedBelgic Confederacy…: The Belgic Confederacy was an alternative designation for the organization formed by the Union of Utrecht in 1579.

p. 131. It was long ago remarked byGrotius…: Hugo Grotius (1583–1645) was a Dutch jurist, theologian, and scholar. The author of numerous works, he is best known in America for his On the Laws of War and Peace (1625), a classic treatise on natural and international law.

p. 132. Foreign ministers, saysSir William Temple…: Sir William Temple (1628–1699) was an English statesman, diplomat, and author. As a young resident at the court of Brussels, Temple acquired the superb negotiating skills that were to place him among the greatest diplomats of the period. In five days of negotiation, he brought the Dutch and the Swedes into the Triple Alliance against Louis XIV in 1668. The reversal of English policy against France in 1670 resulted in his recall and temporary retirement, during which he published An Account of the United Provinces (1672). Popular unrest forced Charles II to ask Temple to return to service, and although he was offered the office of secretary of state by Charles as well as by William III, Temple refused, preferring the less political position of ambassador to the Hague. After retiring permanently from public service he wrote, with the help of his secretary Jonathan Swift, highly praised memoirs of his diplomatic exploits.

p. 132. In 1726 thetreaty of Hanoverwas delayed…: This was an agreement establishing a coalition between Britain, France, and Prussia as a counterweight to the alliance between Austria and Spain.

p. 132. The treaty…was concluded without the consent ofZeeland: Zeeland is a region in the Low Countries of northwestern Europe consisting mostly of islands. One of the original seven members of the Union of Utrecht(1579), it is now a province in the southwestern Netherlands.

Federalist 21

p. 135. if the malcontents had been headed by aCaesar…: Gaius Julius Caesar (100–44 BC) was a Roman soldier and populist statesman whose assassination precipitated a civil war that led to the establishment of the Roman empire. The scion of aristocratic families, Caesar held a number of high posts in Roman government, before assuming, with the help of Pompey and Crassus, the supreme office of consul (60 BC). From 58 to 51 BC, he conquered Gaul, in the process amassing great wealth and inciting the jealousy of the Senate. In order to avoid the possibility of recall to Rome for prosecution (on charges of abuse of power), Caesar marched back into Italy at the head of his army. He encountered little resistance and soon defeated his former ally Pompey. After subduing forces loyal to the republic in Egypt and elsewhere, he returned to Rome in 44 BC as dictator, and, by February, perpetual dictator. On the fifteenth of March, a group of Senators assassinated him in the name of the Republic.

p. 135. or by aCromwell: The reference is to Oliver Cromwell (1599–1658), an English soldier and statesman. As a Member of Parliament (1628–1629 and 1640–1653), he acquired a reputation as a resolute Puritan and an enemy of the established church. A captain of cavalry