Dumas, Alexandre – The Black Tulip

The judges, notwithstanding, acquitted Tyckelaer from every

charge; at the same time sentencing Cornelius to be deposed

from all his offices and dignities; to pay all the costs of

the trial; and to be banished from the soil of the Republic

for ever.

This judgment against not only an innocent, but also a great

man, was indeed some gratification to the passions of the

people, to whose interests Cornelius de Witt had always

devoted himself: but, as we shall soon see, it was not

enough.

The Athenians, who indeed have left behind them a pretty

tolerable reputation for ingratitude, have in this respect

to yield precedence to the Dutch. They, at least in the case

of Aristides, contented themselves with banishing him.

John de Witt, at the first intimation of the charge brought

against his brother, had resigned his office of Grand

Pensionary. He too received a noble recompense for his

devotedness to the best interests of his country, taking

with him into the retirement of private life the hatred of a

host of enemies, and the fresh scars of wounds inflicted by

assassins, only too often the sole guerdon obtained by

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Dumas, Alexandre – The Black Tulip

honest people, who are guilty of having worked for their

country, and of having forgotten their own private

interests.

In the meanwhile William of Orange urged on the course of

events by every means in his power, eagerly waiting for the

time when the people, by whom he was idolised, should have

made of the bodies of the brothers the two steps over which

he might ascend to the chair of Stadtholder.

Thus, then, on the 20th of August, 1672, as we have already

stated in the beginning of this chapter, the whole town was

crowding towards the Buytenhof, to witness the departure of

Cornelius de Witt from prison, as he was going to exile; and

to see what traces the torture of the rack had left on the

noble frame of the man who knew his Horace so well.

Yet all this multitude was not crowding to the Buytenhof

with the innocent view of merely feasting their eyes with

the spectacle; there were many who went there to play an

active part in it, and to take upon themselves an office

which they conceived had been badly filled, — that of the

executioner.

There were, indeed, others with less hostile intentions. All

that they cared for was the spectacle, always so attractive

to the mob, whose instinctive pride is flattered by it, —

the sight of greatness hurled down into the dust.

“Has not,” they would say, “this Cornelius de Witt been

locked up and broken by the rack? Shall we not see him pale,

streaming with blood, covered with shame?” And was not this

a sweet triumph for the burghers of the Hague, whose envy

even beat that of the common rabble; a triumph in which

every honest citizen and townsman might be expected to

share?

“Moreover,” hinted the Orange agitators interspersed through

the crowd, whom they hoped to manage like a sharp-edged and

at the same time crushing instrument, — “moreover, will

there not, from the Buytenhof to the gate of the town, a

nice little opportunity present itself to throw some

handfuls of dirt, or a few stones, at this Cornelius de

Witt, who not only conferred the dignity of Stadtholder on

the Prince of Orange merely vi coactus, but who also

intended to have him assassinated?”

“Besides which,” the fierce enemies of France chimed in, “if

the work were done well and bravely at the Hague, Cornelius

would certainly not be allowed to go into exile, where he

will renew his intrigues with France, and live with his big

scoundrel of a brother, John, on the gold of the Marquis de

Louvois.”

Being in such a temper, people generally will run rather

than walk; which was the reason why the inhabitants of the

Hague were hurrying so fast towards the Buytenhof.

Honest Tyckelaer, with a heart full of spite and malice, and

with no particular plan settled in his mind, was one of the

foremost, being paraded about by the Orange party like a

hero of probity, national honour, and Christian charity.