“The Black Tulip,” published in 1850, was the last of
     Alexandre Dumas’ more famous stories, and ranks deservedly
     high among the short novels of its prolific author.  Dumas
     visited Holland in May, 1849, in order to be present at the
     coronation of William III. at Amsterdam, and according to
     Flotow, the composer, it was the king himself who told Dumas
     the story of “The Black Tulip,” and mentioned that none of the
     author’s romances were concerned with the Dutch.  Dumas,
     however, never gave any credit to this anecdote, and others
     have alleged that Paul Lacroix, the bibliophile, who was
     assisting Dumas with his novels at that time, is responsible
     for the plot.  The question can never be answered, for who can
     disentangle the work of Dumas from that of his army of
     helpers?  A feature of “The Black Tulip” is that in it is the
     bulb, and not a human being, that is the real centre of
     interest.  The fate of the bulb is made of first importance,
     and the fortunes of Cornelius van Baerle, the tulip fancier,
     of Boxtel, and of Rosa, the gaoler’s daughter, exciting though
     they are, take second place.

I.—­Mob Vengeance

On the 20th of August, 1672, the city of The Hague was crowded in every street with a mob of people, all armed with knives, muskets, or sticks, and all hurrying towards the Buytenhof.

Within that terrible prison was Cornelius de Witt, brother of John de Witt, the ex-Grand Pensionary of Holland.

These brothers De Witt had long served the United Provinces of the Dutch Republic, and the people had grown tired of the Republic, and wanted William, Prince of Orange, for Stadtholder.  John de Witt had signed the Act re-establishing the Stadtholderate, but Cornelius had only signed it under the compulsion of an Orange mob that attacked his house at Dordrecht.

This was the first count against the De Witts—­their objection to a Stadtholder.  The second count was that the De Witts had always done their best to keep at peace with France.  They knew that war with France meant ruin to Holland, but the more violent Orangists still believed that such a war would bring honour to the Dutch.

Hence the popular hatred against the De Witts.  A miscreant named Tyckelaer fanned the flame against Cornelius by declaring that he had bribed him to assassinate William, the newly-elected Stadtholder.

Cornelius was arrested, brought to trial, and tortured on the rack, but no confession of guilt could be wrung from the innocent, high-souled man.  Then the judges acquitted Tyckelaer, deprived Cornelius of all his offices, and passed sentence of banishment.  John de Witt had already resigned the office of Grand Pensionary.