Biographical Catalogue of the Portraits at Panshanger, the Seat of Earl Cowper, K.G.

by Mary Louisa Boyle

JOHN DE WITT was born at Dort in 1625. He was educated in the Latin School of Dort, was at Leyden for four years with his brother Cornelius, two years older than himself, travelled with him in France and England, and in 1648 went to study law and mathematics at the Hague.

It may be as well to begin by briefly depicting the political situation of the Dutch Provinces at this period.

They had for some time been divided into two parties. One was headed by the Prince of Orange, composed of the old nobility and of the lower orders both in town and country, and supported by the bulk of the clergy. The other consisted mainly of the higher classes in the large towns. The differences between the two parties were numerous, but may chiefly be described as having reference to War, Trade, and Religion. The House of Orange, by the line it had taken at a critical moment against Philip II., by the indomitable constancy of its Princes, and by their vast political and military talents, had been the principal instrument of the liberation of the Netherlands from the dominion of Spain; but their enemies accused them of continuing the war for the sake of their own aggrandisement much longer than was necessary, and of thus squandering the resources and weakening the energies of the State. They complained of the heavy burdens laid upon commerce, and of the losses sustained by the mercantile interest, owing to the insecure condition of the seas. As to religion, the wealthier burgesses belonged for the most part to the Arminian, or what we may perhaps call the Broad Church party, and were ardently in favour of toleration, while their opponents leaned strongly for support upon the rigid and persecuting Calvinists. In addition to the causes of disagreement which I have mentioned, was the conflict between the authority of the Union, on the one hand, and, on the other, the individual rights of each particular Province. These provincial rights were more especially insisted upon by those who opposed the House of Orange in the Province of Holland itself, for they complained that though Holland paid more towards sustaining the public burdens than all the other Provinces put together, she was constantly outvoted and overruled on the most important subjects of public policy.

This is as full an account as our limits will permit of the subjects of dispute between the party of the House of Orange and the Opposition. The Opposition, we must bear in mind, derived its chief strength from the rich merchants and the magistrates of the large towns. These magistrates were elected by close corporations, and were chosen in each town, generation after generation, from a small number of select families. It was to one of the most considerable of these families in the town of Dort that John de Witt belonged; he had thus the advantages and the disadvantages of having his political party already decided for him by the accident of his birth, and the less doubtful good fortune of finding an open access to public life.

It was while De Witt was studying at the Hague that the struggle between the two parties in the State was brought to a crisis. Peace had at last been made with Spain; but it was expected that the young Prince of Orange, William II., who had just succeeded to his father, would soon break it. Fearing this, the Provincial Government of Holland, which was in the hands of the burgess oligarchy, refused to pay its share of the expenses of the troops, and directed certain numbers to be disbanded. The Prince obtained an order from the States-General of the United Provinces to go with a deputation to the different towns of Holland and forbid the local authorities from obeying the directions of the Provincial Government. At Dort, which was the first place he visited, he was thwarted by Jacob de Witt, John’s father, ex-burgomaster, and one of the principal men in the town. On returning to the Hague, he summoned Jacob de Witt and five or six others of the leading deputies, and put them in prison. Meanwhile, he attempted to seize Amsterdam. The attempt failed; but the municipality of that city, in order to avert a civil war, agreed to abandon all further opposition to the Prince, who was now all-powerful; but at the moment of his triumph he fell ill of the small-pox and died. His only son was not born till a week afterwards.

The rich middle-class oligarchical party now found itself raised by fortune from complete prostration to the supreme direction of affairs. Whether they could maintain their position might well have been doubted. They had many difficulties to contend with; they had against them the large circle of personal adherents of the House of Orange, all the distinguished soldiers, many of the distinguished admirals, the ancient nobility, and the mass of the common people. They were few in number, and none of them had yet shown any particular ability. It is in circumstances like these that the appearance of a remarkable man affects the current of history. Such a man appeared at this moment in John de Witt, who had just received his first official appointment as Pensionary of Dort. Born, as we have seen, in the very centre of the faction which was now dominant, he obtained at once, and without an effort, their full confidence. On the other hand, his just and impartial nature, conspicuous from the very first, the consummate ability which he gradually developed, and, above all, his commanding resolution, raised and sustained the weak party to which he belonged. His influence extended far beyond its narrow circle, and his name is associated with one of the most prosperous times in the history of his country.

It was not, however, for some years that De Witt filled more than a subordinate position. Meanwhile the new Government proved itself both feeble and unfortunate. It was compelled by the fundamental principles of the party to push provincial independence to an extreme that almost disintegrated the Union. The office of Captain-General, which had largely contributed towards holding the Union together, was abolished, for it would assuredly have fallen into the hands of the House of Orange. The provincial office of Stadtholder remained vacant for the same reason. Business had never been rapidly conducted by the Dutch; but now it could hardly be conducted at all. The first result of this state of things was drifting into a war with England, against the wishes and interests of both nations, particularly of the Dutch. Nor was the war carried on in a manner creditable to the authorities at home. The ships were ill-fitted and ill-provisioned, the instructions were confused, and nothing but the genius and conduct of the admirals, Van Tromp and De Ruyter, saved the country from overwhelming calamities. In spite of the most desperate fighting that ever took place at sea, and of some brilliant victories by the Dutch, they were overmatched, blockaded, and very nearly reduced to starvation. The ablest men in the country had for some time seen the folly of the war and the necessity for putting an end to it. But the breakdown in the machinery of government, which made it difficult to carry on the war with vigour, made it almost impossible to conclude a peace. It was now that De Witt, appointed Grand-Pensionary of Holland, began to play a leading part. On the one hand, he commenced building a new fleet of larger and better ships; on the other, he started negotiations with Cromwell, at this time Lord Protector of England. The difficulties in his way, both in prosecuting the war and in making peace, were almost inconceivable. He had no actual power in his hands; nothing but moral influence. Every measure had to be debated in each of the Assemblies of the Seven Provinces. It was then brought before the States-General, whose members had no authority to decide any new point without referring it back to their constituents; even when the States-General had come to a decision, there was no means of binding the dissentient minority. It is an under-statement of the case to say that no diplomacy ever exercised throughout Europe by Cardinal Richelieu, by William III. of England, by Metternich, or by Talleyrand, was vaster or more intricate than that required by De Witt to bring about the end he had in view. His difficulties were the greater that the bulk of the nation thoroughly detested the new Government. The Orange party among the lower classes were almost as violent now as they became later in 1672, and De Witt went about in danger of his life. At last, by incredible exertion and dogged resolution, joined with admirable tact and temper, by impenetrable secrecy, and, it must be confessed, by a certain amount of duplicity, he attained his objects. The new fleet was begun, and shortly afterwards peace was concluded on better terms than might have been expected.

Still greater duplicity was shown in carrying out a secret agreement whereby the State of Holland bound itself to exclude for ever any members of the House of Orange from the office of Stadtholder. Was this really forced upon De Witt by Cromwell? Was his own judgment warped by prejudice? Or was it one of those sacrifices to the passions of a party, which, in a time of excitement, are occasionally demanded even from the most upright Minister? It was accomplished in a most discreditable manner; the storm it raised when it became known shook the Seven Provinces to their very foundation. Its immediate effect, when that storm subsided, was to confirm the power of the class which held the reins of Government; but the measure was pregnant with future mischief.

By the tact and tenacity shown in these proceedings, De Witt had raised himself to so high a position that he never again had quite the same herculean labours to go through in carrying out his measures; but, in order to judge his abilities fairly, we must always remember that on every occasion when it was necessary to act, obstacles somewhat of a similar nature had to be overcome.