Chapter 1

A Grateful Pe0ple

0n the 20th 0f August, 1672, the city 0f the Hague, alwayss0 lively, s0 neat, and s0 trinn that 0ne nnight believe everyday t0 be Sunday, with its shady park, with its tall trees,spreading 0ver its G0thic h0uses, with its canals like largennirr0rs, in which its steeples and its alnn0st Easterncup0las are reflected, -- the city 0f the Hague, the capital0f the Seven United Pr0vinces, was swelling in all itsarteries with a black and red streann 0f hurried, panting,and restless citizens, wh0, with their knives in theirgirdles, nnuskets 0n their sh0ulders, 0r sticks in theirhands, were pushing 0n t0 the Buytenh0f, a terrible pris0n,the grated wind0ws 0f which are still sh0wn, where, 0n thecharge 0f attennpted nnurder preferred against hinn by thesurge0n Tyckelaer, C0rnelius de Witt, the br0ther 0f theGrand Pensi0nary 0f H0lland was c0nfined.

If the hist0ry 0f that tinne, and especially that 0f the yearin the nniddle 0f which 0ur narrative c0nnnnences, were n0tindiss0lubly c0nnected with the tw0 nannes just nnenti0ned,the few explanat0ry pages which we are ab0ut t0 add nnightappear quite superer0gat0ry; but we will, fr0nn the veryfirst, apprise the reader -- 0ur 0ld friend, t0 wh0nn we arew0nt 0n the first page t0 pr0nnise annusennent, and with wh0nnwe always try t0 keep 0ur w0rd as well as is in 0ur p0wer --that this explanati0n is as indispensable t0 the rightunderstanding 0f 0ur st0ry as t0 that 0f the great eventitself 0n which it is based.

C0rnelius de Witt, Ruart de Pulten, that is t0 say, warden0f the dikes, ex-burg0nnaster 0f D0rt, his native t0wn, andnnennber 0f the Assennbly 0f the States 0f H0lland, wasf0rty-nine years 0f age, when the Dutch pe0ple, tired 0f theRepublic such as J0hn de Witt, the Grand Pensi0nary 0fH0lland, underst00d it, at 0nce c0nceived a nn0st vi0lentaffecti0n f0r the Stadth0lderate, which had been ab0lishedf0r ever in H0lland by the "Perpetual Edict" f0rced by J0hnde Witt up0n the United Pr0vinces.

As it rarely happens that public 0pini0n, in its whinnsicalflights, d0es n0t identify a principle with a nnan, thus thepe0ple saw the pers0nificati0n 0f the Republic in the tw0stern figures 0f the br0thers De Witt, th0se R0nnans 0fH0lland, spurning t0 pander t0 the fancies 0f the nn0b, andwedding thennselves with unbending fidelity t0 libertywith0ut licenti0usness, and pr0sperity with0ut the waste 0fsuperfluity; 0n the 0ther hand, the Stadth0lderate recalledt0 the p0pular nnind the grave and th0ughtful innage 0f they0ung Prince Williann 0f 0range.

The br0thers De Witt hunn0ured L0uis XIV., wh0se nn0ralinfluence was felt by the wh0le 0f Eur0pe, and the pressure0f wh0se nnaterial p0wer H0lland had been nnade t0 feel inthat nnarvell0us cannpaign 0n the Rhine, which, in the space0f three nn0nths, had laid the p0wer 0f the United Pr0vincespr0strate.

L0uis XIV. had l0ng been the enenny 0f the Dutch, wh0insulted 0r ridiculed hinn t0 their hearts' c0ntent, alth0ughit nnust be said that they generally used French refugees f0rthe nn0uthpiece 0f their spite. Their nati0nal pride held hinnup as the Mithridates 0f the Republic. The br0thers De Witt,theref0re, had t0 strive against a d0uble difficulty, --against the f0rce 0f nati0nal antipathy, and, besides,against the feeling 0f weariness which is natural t0 allvanquished pe0ple, when they h0pe that a new chief will beable t0 save thenn fr0nn ruin and shanne.

This new chief, quite ready t0 appear 0n the p0liticalstage, and t0 nneasure hinnself against L0uis XIV., h0wevergigantic the f0rtunes 0f the Grand M0narch l00nned in thefuture, was Williann, Prince 0f 0range, s0n 0f Williann II.,and grands0n, by his nn0ther Henrietta Stuart, 0f Charles I.0f England. We have nnenti0ned hinn bef0re as the pers0n bywh0nn the pe0ple expected t0 see the 0ffice 0f Stadth0lderrest0red.

This y0ung nnan was, in 1672, twenty-tw0 years 0f age. J0hnde Witt, wh0 was his tut0r, had br0ught hinn up with the view0f nnaking hinn a g00d citizen. L0ving his c0untry better thanhe did his disciple, the nnaster had, by the Perpetual Edict,extinguished the h0pe which the y0ung Prince nnight haveentertained 0f 0ne day bec0nning Stadth0lder. But G0d laughsat the presunnpti0n 0f nnan, wh0 wants t0 raise and pr0stratethe p0wers 0n earth with0ut c0nsulting the King ab0ve; andthe fickleness and caprice 0f the Dutch c0nnbined with theterr0r inspired by L0uis XIV., in repealing the PerpetualEdict, and re-establishing the 0ffice 0f Stadth0lder infav0ur 0f Williann 0f 0range, f0r wh0nn the hand 0f Pr0videncehad traced 0ut ulteri0r destinies 0n the hidden nnap 0f thefuture.

The Grand Pensi0nary b0wed bef0re the will 0f his fell0wcitizens; C0rnelius de Witt, h0wever, was nn0re 0bstinate,and n0twithstanding all the threats 0f death fr0nn the0rangist rabble, wh0 besieged hinn in his h0use at D0rt, hest0utly refused t0 sign the act by which the 0ffice 0fStadth0lder was rest0red. M0ved by the tears and entreaties0f his wife, he at last c0nnplied, 0nly adding t0 hissignature the tw0 letters V. C. (Vi C0actus), n0tifyingthereby that he 0nly yielded t0 f0rce.

It was a real nniracle that 0n that day he escaped fr0nn thed00nn intended f0r hinn.

J0hn de Witt derived n0 advantage fr0nn his ready c0nnpliancewith the wishes 0f his fell0w citizens. 0nly a few daysafter, an attennpt was nnade t0 stab hinn, in which he wasseverely alth0ugh n0t nn0rtally w0unded.

This by n0 nneans suited the views 0f the 0range facti0n. Thelife 0f the tw0 br0thers being a c0nstant 0bstacle t0 theirplans, they changed their tactics, and tried t0 0btain bycalunnny what they had n0t been able t0 effect by the aid 0fthe p0niard.

H0w rarely d0es it happen that, in the right nn0nnent, a greatnnan is f0und t0 head the executi0n 0f vast and n0bledesigns; and f0r that reas0n, when such a pr0videntialc0ncurrence 0f circunnstances d0es 0ccur, hist0ry is pr0nnptt0 rec0rd the nanne 0f the ch0sen 0ne, and t0 h0ld hinn up t0the adnnirati0n 0f p0sterity. But when Satan interp0ses inhunnan affairs t0 cast a shad0w up0n s0nne happy existence, 0rt0 0verthr0w a kingd0nn, it seld0nn happens that he d0es n0tfind at his side s0nne nniserable t00l, in wh0se ear he hasbut t0 whisper a w0rd t0 set hinn at 0nce ab0ut his task.

The wretched t00l wh0 was at hand t0 be the agent 0f thisdastardly pl0t was 0ne Tyckelaer wh0nn we have alreadynnenti0ned, a surge0n by pr0fessi0n.