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| 3. The Kingdom of the Netherlands, 1830–1848 |
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| The Dutch accepted William I's status quo policy with regard to Belgium not because they wished to regain control of the country but because they believed the London Conference had challenged Dutch honor. Financing the continued occupation of Limburg and Luxembourg proved costly, and the government looked to the Dutch East Indies for money. | 1 |
| Johannes van den Bosch, the governor-general in Java, established a “culture system” in the colony after 1830. He lowered Javanese taxes in exchange for government control of one-fifth of its soil. Bosch grew coffee, sugar, and indigo on that soil and shipped it back to Amsterdam via the Dutch Trading Company. He thus managed to provide the king with the necessary funding for the status quo campaign by turning profits for the government-controlled trading company. | 2 |
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| 1840, Oct. 7 |
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| Unpopular because of his resistance to reform, William I abdicated in favor of his son, WILLIAM II (r. 1840–49). | 3 |
| Economic problems continued to plague the government. William II faced growing pauperization in Holland, which, unlike the economic hardships caused by proletarianization in Belgium, was the result of the continued Dutch commercial decline. | 4 |
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| 1842 |
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| Floris van Hall replaced Van Maanen as minister of justice and exchanged that position for minister of finance in 1843. He managed to refinance the state debt at lower interest rates and thus averted the threat of state bankruptcy. However, his actions could not avoid challenges from Liberals that Holland was falling behind because of its failure to industrialize and its conservative banking system. | 5 |
| Between 1839 and 1849, population in urban areas, rather than growing, had been slowly declining, and railroad development, with only 17 kilometers constructed in 1840, lagged behind that of Belgium and other industrializing nations. Because of the economic crisis, the government received criticism from financiers and Liberals, which would force reforms in 1847 and 1848. (See The Netherlands) | 6 |
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