scarcely have conceded, of their free will, so great an augmentation of Prussian power. But he still hoped to gain the coveted prize by diplomacy, backed by the veiled threat of an armed neutrality. Then occurred Napoleon’s contemptuous violation of Prussian territory by marching three French corps through Ansbach; King Frederick William’s pride overcame his weakness, and on the 3rd of November he signed with the tsar Alexander the terms of an ultimatum to be laid before the French emperor. Haugwitz was despatched to Vienna with the document; but before he arrived the battle of Austerlitz had been fought, and the Prussian plenipotentiary had to make the best terms he could with the conqueror. Prussia, indeed, by the treaty signed at Schönbrunn on the 15th of December 1805, received Hanover, but in return for all her territories in South Germany. One condition of the arrangement was the retirement of Hardenberg, whom Napoleon disliked. He was again foreign minister for a few months after the crisis of 1806 (April-July 1807); but Napoleon’s resentment was implacable, and one of the conditions of the terms granted to Prussia by the treaty of Tilsit was Hardenberg’s dismissal.
After the enforced retirement of Stein in 1810 and the unsatisfactory interlude of the feeble Altenstein ministry, Hardenberg was again summoned to Berlin, this time as chancellor (June 6, 1810). The campaign of Jena and its consequences had had a profound effect upon him; and in his mind the traditions of the old diplomacy had given place to the new sentiment of nationality characteristic of the coming age, which in him found expression in a passionate desire to restore the position of Prussia and crush her oppressors. During his retirement at Riga he had worked out an elaborate plan for reconstructing the monarchy on Liberal lines; and when he came into power, though the circumstances of the time did not admit of his pursuing an independent foreign policy, he steadily prepared for the struggle with France by carrying out Stein’s far-reaching schemes of social and political reorganization. The military system was completely reformed, serfdom was abolished, municipal institutions were fostered, the civil service was thrown open to all classes, and great attention was devoted to the educational needs of every section of the community.
When at last the time came to put these reforms to the test, after the Moscow campaign of 1812, it was Hardenberg who, supported by the influence of the noble Queen Louise, determined Frederick William to take advantage of General Yorck’s loyal disloyalty and declare against France. He was rightly regarded by German patriots as the statesman who had done most to encourage the spirit of national independence; and immediately after he had signed the first peace of Paris he was raised to the rank of prince (June 3, 1814) in recognition of the part he had played in the War of Liberation.
Hardenberg now had an assured position in that close corporation of sovereigns and statesmen by whom Europe, during the next few years, was to be governed. He accompanied the allied sovereigns to England, and at the congress of Vienna (1814–1815) was the chief plenipotentiary of Prussia. But from this time the zenith of his influence, if not of his fame, was passed. In diplomacy he was no match for Metternich, whose influence soon overshadowed his own in the councils of Europe, of Germany, and ultimately even of Prussia itself. At Vienna, in spite of the powerful backing of Alexander of Russia, he failed to secure the annexation of the whole of Saxony to Prussia; at Paris, after Waterloo, he failed to carry through his views as to the further dismemberment of France; he had weakly allowed Metternich to forestall him in making terms with the states of the Confederation of the Rhine, which secured to Austria the preponderance in the German federal diet; on the eve of the conference of Carlsbad (1819) he signed a convention with Metternich, by which—to quote the historian Treitschke—“like a penitent sinner, without any formal quid pro quo, the monarchy of Frederick the Great yielded to a foreign power a voice in her internal affairs.” At the congresses of Aix-la-Chapelle, Troppau, Laibach and Verona the voice of Hardenberg was but an echo of that of Metternich.
The cause lay partly in the difficult circumstances of the loosely-knit Prussian monarchy, but partly in Hardenberg’s character, which, never well balanced, had deteriorated with age. He continued amiable, charming and enlightened as ever; but the excesses which had been pardonable in a young diplomatist were a scandal in an elderly chancellor, and could not but weaken his influence with so pious a Landesvater as Frederick William III. To overcome the king’s terror of Liberal experiments would have needed all the powers of an adviser at once wise and in character wholly trustworthy. Hardenberg was wise enough; he saw the necessity for constitutional reform; but he clung with almost senile tenacity to the sweets of office, and when the tide turned strongly against Liberalism he allowed himself to drift with it. In the privacy of royal commissions he continued to elaborate schemes for constitutions that never saw the light; but Germany, disillusioned, saw only the faithful henchman of Metternich, an accomplice in the policy of the Carlsbad Decrees and the Troppau Protocol. He died, soon after the closing of the congress of Verona, at Genoa, on the 26th of November 1822.
See L. v. Ranke, Denkwürdigkeiten des Staatskanzlers Fürsten von Hardenberg (5 vols., Leipzig, 1877); J. R. Seeley, The Life and Times of Stein (3 vols., Cambridge, 1878); E. Meier, Reform der Verwaltungsorganisation unter Stein und Hardenberg (ib., 1881); Chr. Meyer, Hardenberg und seine Verwaltung der Fürstentümer Ansbach und Bayreuth (Breslau, 1892); Koser, Die Neuordnung des preussischen Archivwesens durch den Staatskanzler Fürsten v. Hardenberg (Leipzig, 1904).
HARDERWYK, a seaport in the province of Gelderland,
Holland, on the shores of the Zuider Zee, 17 m. by rail N.N.E.
of Amersfoort. Pop. (1900) 7425. It is a quaint old town,
approached by a fine avenue of trees, and standing in the midst
of a patch of fertile ground. Harderwyk is chiefly important as
being the depot for recruits for the Dutch colonial army. It
contains a small fort and large barracks. The principal buildings
are the town hall, with some ancient furniture, a large 15th
century church with a notable square tower, a municipal orphanage,
and the Nassau-Veluwe gymnasium. Agriculture, fishing,
and a few domestic industries form the only employment of the
inhabitants. As a seaport its trade is now confined exclusively
to the Zuider Zee.
HARDICANUTE [more correctly Hardacnut] (c. 1010–1042),
son of Canute, king of England, by his wife Ælfgifu or Emma,
was born about 1019. In the contest for the English crown
which followed the death of Canute in 1035 the claims of Hardicanute
were supported by Emma and her ally, Godwine, earl of
the West Saxons, in opposition to those of Harold, Canute’s
illegitimate son, who was backed by the Mercian earl Leofric
and the chief men of the north. At a meeting of the witan at
Oxford a compromise was ultimately arranged by which Harold
was temporarily elected regent of all England, pending the final
settlement of the question on the return of Hardicanute from
Denmark. The compromise was strongly opposed by Godwine
and Emma, who for a time forcibly held Wessex in Hardicanute’s
behalf. But Harold’s party rapidly increased; and early in
1037 he was definitely elected king. Emma was driven out and
took refuge at Bruges. In 1039 Hardicanute joined her, and
together they concerted an attack on England. But next year
Harold died; and Hardicanute peacefully succeeded. His short
reign was marked by great oppression and cruelty. He caused
the dead body of Harold to be dug up and thrown into a fen;
he exacted so heavy a geld for the support of his foreign fleet
that great discontent was created throughout the kingdom, and
in Worcestershire a general uprising took place against those
sent to collect the tax, whereupon he burned the city of
Worcester to the ground and devastated the surrounding
country; in 1041 he permitted Edwulf, earl of Northumbria,
to be treacherously murdered after having granted him a safe-conduct.
While “he stood at his drink” at the marriage feast
of one of his flegns he was suddenly seized with a fit, from which
he died a few days afterwards on the 8th of June 1042.
HARDING, CHESTER (1792–1866), American portrait painter,
was born at Conway, Massachusetts, on the 1st of September
1792. Brought up in the wilderness of New York state, Harding,
