step, for Maurice was resolved to purge the Estates and the town-councils of Holland, as he had already purged those of Utrecht.  Attended by a strong body-guard he went from town to town, changing the magistracies, so as to place everywhere the Contra-Remonstrants in power.  As a consequence of this action the deputies sent by the towns were likewise changed; and, when the Estates next met, the supporters of Oldenbarneveldt and his policy had disappeared.  A peaceful revolution had been accomplished.  All opposition to the summoning of the Synod was crushed; and (November 9) the Estates passed a vote of thanks to the stadholder for “the care and fidelity” with which he had discharged a difficult and necessary duty.

Meanwhile Oldenbarneveldt and the other prisoners had been confined in separate rooms in the Binnenhof and were treated with excessive harshness and severity.  They were permitted to have no communication with the outside world, no books, paper or writing materials; and the conditions of their imprisonment were such as to be injurious to health.  A commission was appointed by the States-General to examine the accused, and it began its labours in November.  The method of procedure was unjust and unfair in the extreme, even had it been a case of dealing with vile criminals.  The treatment of Oldenbarneveldt in particular was almost indecently harsh.  The aged statesman had to appear sixty times before the commission and was examined and cross-examined on every incident of the forty years of his administration and on every detail of his private life.  He was allowed not only to have no legal adviser, but also was forbidden access to any books of reference or to any papers or to make any notes.  It was thus hoped that, having to trust entirely to his memory, the old man might be led into self-contradictions or to making damaging admissions against himself.  De Groot and Hoogerbeets had to undergo a similar, though less protracted, inquisition.  Such was its effect upon Ledenburg that he committed suicide.

It was not until February 20, 1619, that the States-General appointed an extraordinary court for the trial of the accused.  It consisted of twenty-four members, of whom twelve were Hollanders.

It is needless to say that such a court had no legal status; and the fact that nearly all its members were the Advocate’s personal or political enemies is a proof that the proceedings were judicial only in name.  It was appointed not to try, but to condemn the prisoners.  Oldenbarneveldt protested in the strongest terms against the court’s competence.  He had been the servant of the Estates of the sovereign province of Holland, and to them alone was he responsible.  He denied to the States-General any sovereign rights; they were simply an assembly representing a number of sovereign allies.  These were bold statements, and they were accompanied by an absolute denial of the charges brought against him.  It was quite useless.  All the prisoners were condemned, first De Groot, then Hoogerbeets, then Oldenbarneveldt.  The trials were concluded on May 1, but it was resolved to defer the sentences until after the close of the National Synod, which had been meeting at Dordrecht.  This took place on May 9.