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WILLIAM I. (NETHERLANDS) ambassador, Count Benedetti, who had repeat- edly importuned him at Ems (July, 1870), be- came the pretext for the French declaration of war against Prussia. The South German states at once joined the North German confedera- tion against France, under the lead of Prussia, and the war was a continuous series of pro- digious victories. (See FRANCE.) William, accompanied by Bismarck, Von Roon, and Moltke, was with the German armies from the beginning to the end of the contest, and received at Sedan (Sept. 2) the surrender of Napoleon III. On Oct. 5 he fixed his head- quarters in the palace of the former French kings at Versailles, and here, on Jan. 18, 1871, he was proclaimed emperor of Germany. After signing the preliminaries of peace, Feb. 26, he intimated to the emperor of Russia that Germany would never forget the service ren- dered by his strict neutrality. The treaty was ratified on March 1 and 2, and the emperor left Versailles on the 7th. He entered Berlin on the 15th, and on the 21st opened the first Reichstag of the new empire. The definitive peace with France was signed at Frankfort May 10, and on June 9 appeared the empe- ror's proclamation incorporating Alsace-Lor- raine with the empire. On Aug. 16, 1875, the emperor unveiled Bandel's colossal monument of the national hero Arminius, on the summit of the Grotenberg near Detmold. After ex- changing visits with the emperor of Austria, he reached Milan on Oct. 18, to return the visit of the king of Italy, his good relations with Victor Emanuel being of special impor- tance in view of the increasing magnitude of the emperor's contest with the Roman hierar- chy. Early in 1876 he joined the emperors of Austria and Russia in the project of reform suggested to Turkey for the pacification of her revolted provinces. Monuments in his honor have been erected all over the empire. His life has been written by Schneider (4th ed , 1868) and Weisshuhn (8th ed., 1869). L. Schmidt has written his military history, em- bracing the -years 1867-'7l (Militdrische Le- tensbeschreibung, Berlin, 1875-'6). By his wife, the empress Augusta (daughter of the grand duke Charles Frederick of Saxe- Weimar-Eise- nach, born Sept. 30, 1811, and married June 11, 1829), he has one son, the crown prince (see FREDERICK WILLIAM NICHOLAS CHARLES, vol. vii., p. 462), and one daughter, the prin- cess Louisa, born Dec. 3, 1838, who married in 1856 the grand duke Frederick of Baden. WILLIAM I. (FREDERIK WILHELM), first king of the Netherlands, grand duke of Luxemburg, born at the Hague, Aug. 24, 1772, died in Ber- lin, Dec. 12, 1843. His mother was a niece of Frederick the Great, and his father was the last stadtholder of the republic, as William V. As prince of Orange he had command of the Dutch army till 1795, when, the country being conquered by France, he joined his father at Hampton court, and subsequently went to Ber- lin. In 1802 he received from his father the WILLIAM III. (NETHKBLAND8) 633 principality of Fulda and other territories which had been given to him in compensation for the Netherlands, but lost them in 1806 for refusing to join the Rhenish confederation His father died in the same year. He became a Prussian general, fell into the hands of the trench at the battle of Jena, but was released and served under the Austrians at Wagram in 1809. On the downfall of Napoleon he was in conformity to the resolutions of the con- gress of Vienna, declared king of the Nether- lands by an assembly of notables as William L, March 16, 1815, under a limited 'constitu- tion, and with Belgium included in the new kingdom ; and at the same time he exchanged his German possessions for the grand duchy of Luxemburg. The Belgians having established their independence with the aid of France (1830-'32), he stubbornly refused to acknowl- edge it, but was finally in 1839 obliged to yield. The financial embarrassments of the country, and his relations with the Catholic and Bel- gian countess Henriette d'Oultrernont, made him unpopular. On Oct. 7, 1840, he abdica- ted in favor of his eldest son William II., and retired to Berlin, where in 1841 he married the countess, his first wife, a daughter of Fred- erick William II. of Prussia, having died in 1837. He left an immense fortune. His sec- ond son, Prince Frederick, born Feb. 28, 1797, became a field marshal, admiral, and colonel general in the Prussian service. He married the princess Louisa, daughter of Frederick Wil- liam III. WILLIAM II. ( WILHELM FKEDERIK GEORO LODEWIJK), king of the Netherlands and grand duke of Luxemburg, born Dec. 6, 1792, died March 17, 1849. He studied in Berlin and Ox- ford, and in 1811 distinguished himself under Wellington in Spain, and in 1815 at Quatre- Bras, where he commanded, and at AVaterloo, where he was wounded. In 1816 he married the Russian grand duchess Anne, a sister of Alexander I. In 1830 he went to Antwerp, and thence to Brussels, to arrange a peaceful settlement with the revolted Belgians, and on Oct. 16 recognized their independence. This act was repudiated by the king, and the prince was recalled and went to England. Subse- quently he commanded the Dutch army against the Belgians, and in August, 1832, he was obliged to retreat before the French. He suc- ceeded his father on the throne in 1840. In 1848, after the French revolution, he was con- strained to liberalize the constitution still fur- ther, and to grant extensive reforms. The queen died on March 1, 1865; she had borne him a daughter, the present grand duchess of Saxe- Weimar-Eisenach, and two sons, his suc- cessor William, and Prince Henry, born June 13, 1820, who became lieutenant admiral, and in 1850 governor of Luxemburg. WILLIAM III. (WILHELM ALEXANDER^ PAUL FREDERIK LODEWIJK), king of the Nether- lands, born Feb. 19, 1817. He was educated in England. In 1849, after his accession to