Nicolaas. If I may speak without danger, I should like to ask what is the Government that we are to submit to? I have already heard some half-dozen sovereigns mentioned; and really I should not be surprised if you had offered the crown to a Chinese mandarin.
D’Eglantiers. Tut! tut! all you’ve got to do is to submit—it doesn’t matter to whom. That’s not your business.
Nicolaas. Then I vote against such an absurdity.
The Schoolmaster and others. So do I! so do I!
D’Eglantiers. I shall put you under arrest if you don’t vote as I tell you.
Nicolaas. Is that what you understand by liberty?
D’Eglantiers. You are at liberty to talk as much as you like, but you must vote as I wish.
Nicolaas. I thought you were more liberal than that, Captain!
D’Eglantiers. I can’t waste time arguing with you. [Takes the proclamation out of his pocket.] Here’s my manifesto. Let the Burgomaster read it out loud.
Michiel. Silence! Let every one listen! (Reads.) “Proclamation,—We, Captain D’Eglantiers——”