Discord Consensus

of reconciling each party in the ill-​assorted match, and inspiring them
with sentiments of mutual moderation’ (342). He lists Belgian concerns
about religion, the threat posed to aristocratic dominance and old
monopolies, hostility to free trade, and the fact that ‘pride of national
independence was foreign to the feeling of those who had never tasted
its blessings’ (345). All those objections, however, are said to be dispelled
by the Battle of Waterloo, which ‘consolidated the kingdom of the
Netherlands’: the heroic conduct of the Prince of Orange in particular
‘acted like a talisman against disaffection’ to the new subjects of the
Orange monarchy (350). Drawing on contemporary rhetoric about the
‘amalgamation’ of the Northern and Southern Netherlands, 34 Grattan
concluded that ‘the different integral parts of the nation were amalgamated
from deep-​formed designs for their mutual benefit’: ‘they were
grafted together, with all the force of legislative wisdom’ (351).
The first reviews of Grattan’s History started appearing in the
very months when insurrection swept Brussels. The Eclectic Review of
October 1830 still found it a ‘well-​timed and well-​written volume’ on a
nation ‘bound to [Britain] by strong hereditary ties’. 35 Another review
dismissed the recent troubles as ‘trifling and local’ in one paragraph, but
concluded with the observation that the ‘news from Brussels within the
last few days has been alarming’, 36 confirming how quickly British commentators
had to adjust their views of events. Grattan’s own views took
some time to adjust too –​and when they did, the result would lead to
some blatant inconsistencies in the revised version of the History that
appeared in 1833. While such inconsistencies may confirm the assessment
that Grattan was a talented but struggling hack, the revisions that
he did carry out can refine our insight into the shifts that British perceptions
of the Low Countries underwent in those years, and more particularly
into the adaptability of Whig historiography to the new European
realities that emerged around 1830.
Grattan’s revised History
The second version of the History, remarkably enough, did not change
its opening sentence: ‘The Netherlands form a kingdom of moderate
extent, situated on the borders of the ocean . . .’ (1833: 21). 37 Neither
did the table of contents change: it did not advertise the most striking
change in the revised edition, namely, its additional last chapter on the
causes of the Belgian revolution. A careful reading, however, shows that
Grattan did not only adjust his original opinion of King William’s state,
48
DISCORD AND CONSENSUS IN THE LOW COUNTRIES, 1700–​2000