HAGUE, The (in Dutch, ’s Gravenhage or den Haag; in French, La Haye ; and in Modern Latin, Haga Comitis), a town of the Netherlands, in the province of South Holland, 13 miles N.W. of Rotterdam, 10 miles S.W. of Leyden, and 2 miles inland from the German Ocean. It is connected with both Rotterdam and Leyden by the “Holland Railway,” and with Utrecht by the railway of the Rhine. Besides being the chief town of the province, the Hague is the usual residence of the court, and the seat of the Government, the states-general, the high council of the Netherlands, the council of state, the chamber of accounts, and various other administrative bodies. The characteristics of the town are quite in keeping with its political position. It is “the handsomest, the most fashionable, and the most modern-looking” town in the Netherlands. D’Amicis rightly describes it in his Olanda as half Dutch half French, Broad and regular streets, extensive avenues and drives, and spacious squares well planted with trees, are the main features of its general plan; large and beautiful buildings are numerous; and the population consists for the most part of Government officials and members of the nobility, the army, and the navy. A good idea of the place is obtained by passing along the Vijverberg or Fishpond Hill, which takes its name from the large basin of water which it skirts, the Voorhout, and the Willemspark, next through Java Street and Sumatra Street, and then the Buitenhof or Outer Court, the Binnenhof or Inner Court, the Plein, the Kneuterdijk, and the Groote Markt. Willemspark was laid out by King William II., and in 1869 it was chosen as the site of the national monument in memory of the recovery of independence in 1813, executed by Waaijen, Pietersen, and Koelman. The Plein, a ...square bordered with the offices of the various ministers and the high council, is adorned with a statue of William I., the “father of his people,” by Louis Royer; an equestrian statue of the same prince, by the count of Nieuwerkerke, is placed in front of the royal palace; and there is a statue of William II. by Georges in the Buitenhof.
The centre of the Hague, both historically and topographically, is the buildings of the court. The oldest portion was founded by Count William II., “king of the Romans,” in 1249. A handsome Gothic building, with towers at each corner of the façade, contains the great or knights’ hall, a noble chamber 130 feet in length, 62 feet in breadth, and 69 in height, in which the states of the Netherlands abjured their allegiance to Philip II. of Spain, and in front of which the greyheaded Olden-Barneveldt lost his life in 1619. To the south-east of the hall is the troonzaal, or throne room, in which the second chamber of the states-general holds its sittings; and to the west is the meeting-place of the first chamber. The archives of the kingdom and several Government offices are in the same range of buildings. The royal palace proper was purchased by the states of the Netherlands in 1595, rebuilt by Prince William III., and extended by King William I. The palace of the prince of Orange was founded about 1720 by Count Unico William of Wassenaar Twiekels; the palace of Prince Frederick of the Netherlands dates from 1825 to 1828; the palace of Prince Henry was erected in 1743 for the deputies of Rotterdam; and the palace of Prince Alexander was in the 17th century the house of John de Witt, pensionary of the council. Among the public institutions of the Hague, the following are the most important :—the royal library, with upwards of 100,000 volumes, and a collection of manuscripts, coins, and gems, erected between 1734 and 1738; the Museum Meermanno-Westreenianum, comprising books, manuscripts, maps, plates, pictures, antiquities, and curiosities; the royal picture gallery in the Prins-Mauritz-Huis, which was founded in 1633 by Prince John Maurice of Nassau-Siegen, governor of Brazil; the Vijverberg hôtel, with a collection of curiosities; the town museum of antiquities and modern art; the zoological gardens, founded in 1862; the royal school of design and music; and the new buildings for the arts and sciences, erected in 1874. Of the fourteen churches of the Hague five belong to the Dutch Reformed communion, six to the Roman Catholics, and one to the Old Catholics; one is Episcopalian, one German Evangelical, and two Apostolical. There are also two synagogues and one Greek chapel. Architecturally the Groote Kerk, under the patronage of St James, is the most note-λvorthy; it is 300 feet long by 154 broad, and has a lofty tower and spire; in the interior are the sepulchral monuments of James Baron of Wassenaar Obdam, a Dutch naval hero, of Gerrit of Assendelft, and of Philip, landgrave of Hessen-Philipsthal. The Willemskerk was a present of William III. to the Reformed community of the Hague.’
The principal industries of the town are iron-casting, copper and lead smelting, cannon-founding, the manufacture of furniture and carriages, silk-dyeing, liqueur-distilling, lithographing, and printing. In 1622 the population of the Hague was only 17,430; in 1732 it was estimated at 34,000; in 1796, inclusive of the inhabitants of Scheveningen,—a watering-place now connected with the town by a tramway line,—it was 41,266; in 1811, 42,150; in 1830, 56,105; in 1840, 58,521; and in 1850, 66,329. In 1860 it was 78,405, and in 1870, 91,328. At the last date 52,600 belonged to the Dutch Reformed Church; 27,486 were Roman Catholics, 3471 Dutch Jews, and 148 Portuguese Jews. In 1874 the total was stated at 94,895.
The Hague, mentioned as early as 1097 in a document by Count Floris II., seems originally to have been a shooting lodge of the counts of Holland. Under William II. it became a residence of the court; and in the 15th century it begins to be called a town, though for long after, down even to the time of Louis Napoleon, it was as frequently described as a village. In 1479 the soldiers of Maximilian of Austria put the place to ransom; in 1525 it was the scene of the martyrdom of Johannes Pistorius (Jan de Bakker of Woerd); in!528 it was plundered by the people of Guelderland; and in 1572, 1573, and 1574 it was laid waste by the Spaniards. Restored by William I. in 1576, it was in 1584 the seat of the sessions of the States of Holland. Fosses were constructed round the town in 1620. In 1672 it was the scene of the famous assassination of the brothers De Witt. It was at the Hague that the convention was arranged in 1710 between the German emperor, the king of Prussia, the emperor of Russia, and the maritime powers, for the maintenance of the neutrality of North Germany; it was at the Hague that the Triple Alliance of 1717 was concluded, and that the peace of the same year was signed between Spain, Savoy, and Austria. From 1782 to 1787 the town had its full share in the civil disturbances of the country. In 1808 it was made the seat of the Government administrative offices.
See Guide ou Nouvelle Description de la Haye, The Hague, 1785; Description succincte de la ville de la Haye, The Hague, 1823; Aforgen-wandelingen door en in den omtrek van ’s Gravenhage, The Hague, 1832; Gezigten van ’s Gravenhagen, Amsterdam, 1845; Petit Guide de la Haye, The Hague, 1860; La Haye et Scheveningue photographiis, The Hague, 1860.
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