A Wanderer in Holland eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 339 pages of information about A Wanderer in Holland.

A Wanderer in Holland eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 339 pages of information about A Wanderer in Holland.

“The populace received his address with shouts and cries of ’To arms, to arms!  Treason, treason!’ and pressed in a still denser crowd towards the prison door.  The States of Holland, immediately on information of the tumult, sent three troops of cavalry, in garrison at the Hague, for the protection of the gaol, and called out to arms six companies of burgher guards.  But in the latter they only added fresh hosts to the enemies of the unfortunate captives.  One company in especial, called the ‘Company of the Blue Flag,’ was animated with a spirit of deadly vengeance against them; its leader, Verhoef, having that morning loaded his musket with a determination either to kill the De Witts or perish in the attempt.  They pressed forward towards the prison, but were driven back by the determined appearance of the cavalry, commanded by the Count de Tilly.

“So long as these troops remained, it was evident that the fell purpose of the rioters was impracticable.  Accordingly, a report was raised that a band of peasants and sailors was coming to plunder The Hague; and two captains of the burgher guards took occasion from thence to demand of the Council of State, that the soldiers should be drawn off from their station, in order to protect the houses from pillage.  First a verbal order, and on Tilly’s refusing obedience to such, a written one, was sent, commanding him to divide his troops into four detachments, and post them upon the bridges leading into the town.  ‘I shall obey,’ said he, as he perused the mandate; ’but it is the death-warrant of the brothers.’

“His anticipations were too soon realized.  No sooner had he departed than the rioters were supplied by some of those mysterious agents who were actively employed throughout the whole of these transactions, with wine, brandy, and other incitements to inflame their already maddening fury.  Led on by Verhoef and one Van Bankhem, a sheriff of The Hague, they assailed the prison door with axes and sledge-hammers, threatening to kill all the inmates if it were not instantly opened.  Terrified, or corrupted, the gaoler obeyed their behests.  On gaining admittance they rushed to an upper room, where they found their victims, who had throughout the whole of the tumult maintained the greatest composure.  The bailiff, reduced to a state of extreme debility by the torture, was reclining on his bed; his brother was seated near him, reading the Bible.  They forced them to rise and follow them ’to the place,’ as they said, ‘where criminals were executed’.

“Having taken a tender leave of each other, they began to descend the stairs, Cornelius de Witt leaning on his brother for support.  They had not advanced above two or three paces when a heavy blow on the head from behind precipitated the former to the bottom.  He was then dragged a short distance towards the street, trampled under foot, and beaten to death.  Meanwhile, John de Witt, after receiving a severe wound on the head with the butt-end of a

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A Wanderer in Holland from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.