River landscapes: The origin and development of the printed river map in the Netherlands, 1725–1795

Abstract

River management in the province of Holland in the eighteenth century was co‐ordinated by a Hydraulic Department which worked closely with local, regional and other provincial authorities to maintain river beds and channels. To perform its function efficiently, all the Hydraulic Department's main river maps followed general precepts laid down as early as 1725 by the surveyor Nicolaas Cruquius (1678–1754). The basic principle was to create clear maps with uniform scale and design which contained only the topographical information relevant to the work of the department. Experiments with depth contours were made, and profiles and diagrams were included in order to portray as accurately as possible the invisible natural processes which influenced the river landscape. The cartographical model thus established was followed consistently throughout the eighteenth century.     

Soldiers and Citizens: the concept of citizenship and the Anjala Covenant, 1788–1790

This article discusses the relationship between ‘citizenship’ and military duty during the late 18th century. This is illustrated by the legal conflict that erupted between the members of the Anjala Covenant and the Board of War in 1788. In a study of the records from the following court martial, the trial is viewed as a political discussion concerning the definition of the concept of the ‘citizen’. The covenanters and the Board of War held different definitions of this concept, which had implications for when and how a military officer was allowed to act politically. According to the final verdict, a military officer was deemed not to be allowed to delve into politics during an ongoing war, even though he considered himself forced to do so by his duty as a citizen. Through a study of the covenanters’ own writings and arguments, a new picture emerges of how their collective insubordination was motivated. According to the covenanters themselves, they wanted the Anjala Covenant to be seen as an attempt to reach a compromise in a moral dilemma, which would inevitably force them to abandon either their duties as ‘citizens’ or as ‘soldiers’.     

The Profumo affair in popular culture: The Keeler Affair (1963) and ‘the commercial exploitation of a public scandal’

This article demonstrates that the Profumo affair, which obsessed Britain for large parts of 1963, was not simply a political scandal, but was also an important cultural event. Focussing on the production of The Keeler Affair, a feature film that figured prominently in contemporary coverage of the scandal but which has been largely overlooked since, the article shows that this film emerged from a situation in which cultural entrepreneurs, many of them associated with the satire boom, sought to exploit the scandal for financial gain. Many Profumo-related cultural products found an audience, and thus formed an integral part of, and helped to shape public attitudes towards, the Profumo affair. However, these products did not go uncontested, and resistance to them, and especially to the idea that Keeler might benefit materially from her role in the scandal, speak to concerns about cultural mediations of sex, politics and humour in early-1960s Britain.