Hague

Hague, THE (Dutch's Gravenhage, 'the count's hedge'), the capital of the Netherlands, and the residence of the court, stands 2 miles from the North Sea and 15 NNW. of Rotterdam. It is one of the handsomest cities in the country, being intersected by canals and shady avenues of lime-trees, and having many fine public buildings and private houses. In the centre of the city is the Vijver, or Fish-pond, to the south of which stands the old castle of the counts of Holland. It consists of two courts, an outer and an inner; in this latter are the 13th-century Gothic knight's hall and the chambers in which the Dutch parliament holds its sittings. On one side of the outer court (Buitenhof) stands the gate-tower, which was formerly used as a state-prison, and in which the brothers De Witt were confined till dragged thence and torn to pieces by the populace (1672). The most noteworthy amongst the public buildings and institutions of the place are the picture-gallery, with a splendid collection of works by native painters (Paul Potter's 'Bull' and Rembrandt's 'Lesson in Anatomy'); the royal library, with 200,000 volumes, 4000 MSS., and collections of coins and gems; the municipal museum, with several Dutch pictures; the Museum Meermano-Westreenen, containing a collection of early printed books; the ethnographic museum, rich in Chinese and Japanese objects; the town-house; and the royal palaces. The church of St James is the most important ecclesiastical edifice; it dates from the 14th century, and is Gothic in style. The Hague is the seat of several learned societies, as the Indian Society and the Institute for the Language, Land, and People of the Dutch Indies. Amongst the numerous statues that adorn the city are those of William I. (two in number), William II., Spinoza, Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar, and the monument which commemorates the deliverance from the French. Close to the town is the beautiful pleasure-park called 'The Wood,' in which stands a royal residence (1647) with the magnificent so-called 'Orange Hall.' Ryswick, where the treaty of 1697 was signed, is in the immediate vicinity. The Hague is connected by beautiful roads with Scheveningen, a fashionable bathing-place on the coast of the North Sea, which is incorporated municipally with The Hague. The city owes its importance mainly to the fact that it is the residence of the court and the capital of the country; but it has also considerable manufacturing industry, as iron-founding, copper and lead smelting, cannon-founding, printing, furniture and carriage making, and the manufacture of gold and silver lace. Pop. (1875) 100,254; (1891) 165,560. From 1250 a hunting-lodge of the Counts of Holland, The Hague did not acquire importance until the 16th century: in 1527 it became the seat of the supreme court in Holland, in 1584 the place of assembly of the States of Holland and of the States-general; and it was also the residence of the stadtholders. There, too, numerous treaties have been signed and diplomatic conferences held, especially the Triple Alliance of 1668 and that of 1717.