SLINGELANDT, SIMON VAN

(1664–1736)

Secretary of the Coun cil of State from 1690 to 1725; treasurer of the Republic; and after 1727, grand pensionaryof Holland. As a diplomat, van Slingelandt managed to bring England and Austria together in the Treaty of Vi enna in 1731, by which the Habsburg law of succession was recog nized (also by the Republic, which had an interest in the Southern, or Austrian, Netherlands). His mediation brought about—after his death—the 1738 Peace of Vienna between Austria and France, con cluding the war caused by the Polish succession. Van Slingelandt was a politician critical of the slow decision-making process in the exist ing system of government. He tried in vain to reform the Dutch Re publican constitution. His treatises and proposals were published in 1780–1787 when the Patriots tried to reform the political system.