![Pieter Paulus (1753-1796)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f4/Pieter_Paulus_%281753-1796%29.jpg)
Pieter Paulus (9 April 1753 – 17 March 1796) was a Dutch jurist, fiscal (prosecutor) of the
Admiralty of the Maze
The Admiralty of Rotterdam, also called the Admiralty of de Maze, was one of the five Dutch admiralties in the Dutch Republic.
History
The Admiralty of Rotterdam was founded in 1574 during the Dutch Revolt, when (after the Capture of Brielle) W ...
and politician. He was one of the ideologues of the
Dutch Patriot movement and is considered by many Dutch as the founder of their democracy and political unity.
[Prof. J.Th.J. van den Berg, a political scientist at ]Maastricht University
Maastricht University (abbreviated as UM; nl, Universiteit Maastricht) is a public research university in Maastricht, Netherlands. Founded in 1976, it is the second youngest of the thirteen Dutch universities.
In 2021, 22,383 students studied at ...
praised Pieter Paulus in his valedictory lecture, entitled ''De dominee en 'de tweede apostel Paulus' '' (27 September 2012), as the founder of Dutch parliamentary democracy and for that reason asked for a hall in the Dutch parliament building in The Hague
The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital o ...
to be named after him, a proposal that was echoed on the opinion pages of Dutch newspapers at the time. Cf. Van den Berg, p. 17; Cf. Hans Goslinga, ''Eer Pieter Paulus met een eigen zaal in de Tweede Kamer'', in Trouw
''Trouw'' (; ) is a Dutch daily newspaper appearing in compact size. It was founded in 1943 as an orthodox Protestant underground newspaper during World War II. Since 2009, it has been owned by DPG Media (known as De Persgroep until 2019). ''T ...
, 16 October 2012 (Honor Pieter Paulus with a dedicated hall in the ''Tweede Kamer''br>
Life
Paulus was born in
Axel, Netherlands, Axel,
Zeelandic Flanders
Zeelandic Flanders ( ; zea, Zeêuws-Vlaonderen; vls, Zêeuws-Vloandern)''Vlaanderen'' in isolation: . is the southernmost region of the province of Zeeland in the south-western Netherlands. It lies south of the Western Scheldt that separates ...
, the son of Josias Paulus and Maria de Lege. His father was Axel's mill-builder,
schepen A schepen (Dutch; . ') or échevin (French) or Schöffe (German) is a municipal officer in Belgium and formerly the Netherlands. It has been replaced by the ' in the Netherlands (a municipal executive).
In modern Belgium, the ''schepen'' or ''éch ...
and mayor. He came, perhaps, from a family of lapsed
Huguenots
The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Be ...
. After an education in
's-Hertogenbosch
s-Hertogenbosch (), colloquially known as Den Bosch (), is a city and municipality in the Netherlands with a population of 157,486. It is the capital of the province of North Brabant and its fourth largest by population. The city is south of th ...
, he received his training from the
Vlissingen
Vlissingen (; zea, label= Zeelandic, Vlissienge), historically known in English as Flushing, is a municipality and a city in the southwestern Netherlands on the former island of Walcheren. With its strategic location between the Scheldt river ...
rector Van Cruysselenbergen, in whose house he lived. He became a student in
Utrecht
Utrecht ( , , ) is the fourth-largest city and a municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, in the very centre of mainland Net ...
in 1770.
Paulus became known nationwide through his bestselling book on the
stadholder
In the Low Countries, ''stadtholder'' ( nl, stadhouder ) was an office of steward, designated a medieval official and then a national leader. The ''stadtholder'' was the replacement of the duke or count of a province during the Burgundian and ...
system, in which he (just 20 years old) opposed both the stadholder system and the
duke of Brunswijk.
[Though the title of the (originally anonymous; Paulus admitted his authorship only in 1775; Suringar, p. 21, note 2) work appeared to defend the stadtholderian system. But if one closely read his argument the positive remarks turned out to be "faint praise", and the negative criticisms of the practices of the Duke outweighed them; cf. Suringar, pp. 5-10] In 1774, he became a student at
Leiden
Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration wi ...
[Up to that year he had been unofficially studying at ]Utrecht University
Utrecht University (UU; nl, Universiteit Utrecht, formerly ''Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht'') is a public research university in Utrecht, Netherlands. Established , it is one of the oldest universities in the Netherlands. In 2018, it had an enrollme ...
, but he decided to transfer to Leiden University to write and defend his dissertation; cf. Suringar, p. 24-26 and he graduated on 12 December 1775, with his dissertation becoming a second publishing success. He established himself in 1776 as a lawyer at the
Court of Holland in the Hague. In the following years he worked on his ''magnum opus'': ''Verklaring der Unie van Utrecht'' (Elucidation of the
Union of Utrecht
The Union of Utrecht ( nl, Unie van Utrecht) was a treaty signed on 23 January 1579 in Utrecht, Netherlands, unifying the northern provinces of the Netherlands, until then under the control of Habsburg Spain.
History
The Union of Utrecht is r ...
) which became a standard work on the
constitutional law
Constitutional law is a body of law which defines the role, powers, and structure of different entities within a state, namely, the executive, the parliament or legislature, and the judiciary; as well as the basic rights of citizens and, in fe ...
of the
Dutch Republic
The United Provinces of the Netherlands, also known as the (Seven) United Provinces, officially as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands (Dutch: ''Republiek der Zeven Verenigde Nederlanden''), and commonly referred to in historiography ...
[As often with the young Paulus, the work was not without controversy, as some accused him of plagiarism as he had not always attributed his quotations from the unpublished work of Grand Pensionary ]Simon van Slingelandt
Simon van Slingelandt, lord of the manor of Patijnenburg (14 January 1664, in Dordrecht – 1 December 1736, in The Hague) was Grand Pensionary of Holland from 17 July 1727 to 1 December 1736.
Simon van Slingelandt was the son of Govert van Sling ...
appropriately; cf. Suringar, pp. 29-43 which Paulus considered "the only Dutch constitution" (whereas others would argue that other treaties, like the
Great Privilege
The Great Privilege was an instrument signed by Mary of Burgundy on 11 February 1477, which reconfirmed a number of privileges to the States General of the Netherlands. Under this agreement, the provinces and towns of Flanders, Brabant, Hainaut, ...
, the
Pacification of Ghent
The Pacification of Ghent, signed on 8 November 1576, was an alliance between the provinces of the Habsburg Netherlands. The main objectives were to remove Spanish mercenaries who had made themselves hated by all sides due to their plundering, and ...
, the
Twelve Years' Truce
The Twelve Years' Truce was a ceasefire during the Eighty Years' War between Spain and the Dutch Republic, agreed in Antwerp on 9 April 1609 and ended on 9 April 1621. While European powers like France began treating the Republic as a soverei ...
treaty and the
Peace of Münster were also part of the ''corpus'' that together comprised that constitution). In 1780, he was involved in the controversy over the expansion of the fleet, defended by Admiral
Jan Hendrik van Kinsbergen
Jan Hendrik van Kinsbergen, Count of Doggerbank (1 May 1735 – 24 May 1819), was a Dutch naval officer. Having had a good scientific education, Van Kinsbergen was a proponent of fleet modernization and wrote many books about naval organization, ...
.
In 1781, he married the very rich Françoise Vockestaert and bought the country house "Pasgeld" near
Delft.
He again became nationally known in 1783 through his apologia for the city of
Alkmaar, one of the first cities (after
Schoonhoven
Schoonhoven () is a city and former municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. Since 2015 it has been a part of the municipality of Krimpenerwaard, before it had been an independent municipality.
The former municipa ...
) to pass a resolution to limit the influence of the stadholder. Paulus became one of the leaders of the Patriot movement. In the early intrigues between the Stadtholder's Court, led by princess
Wilhelmina of Prussia, and the fiscal of the
Admiralty of Amsterdam
The Admiralty of Amsterdam was the largest of the five Dutch admiralties at the time of the Dutch Republic. The administration of the various admiralties was strongly influenced by provincial interests. The territory for which Amsterdam ...
Joan Cornelis van der Hoop to give her more influence to counteract the Duke of Brunswick, and to institute a secret Naval Council, Paulus was seen as a useful ally. On 13 April 1785, he was appointed public prosecutor (advocaat-fiscaal) for the
Admiralty of the Maze
The Admiralty of Rotterdam, also called the Admiralty of de Maze, was one of the five Dutch admiralties in the Dutch Republic.
History
The Admiralty of Rotterdam was founded in 1574 during the Dutch Revolt, when (after the Capture of Brielle) W ...
, taking the initiative in its reorganisation, and being appointed as prosecutor in the
Brest Affair. The Princess regarded him as the most sympathetic of her opponents (as she wrote to the Prussian ambassador), but his suggestion that the stadtholder should make an alliance with the democrats under the Patriots, she completely rejected. After the events in Hattem,
[The stadtholder, ]William V William V may refer to:
* William V, Duke of Aquitaine (969–1030)
*William V of Montpellier (1075–1121)
* William V, Marquess of Montferrat (1191)
* William V, Count of Nevers (before 11751181)
*William V, Duke of Jülich (1299–1361)
* Willia ...
sent troops to occupy the city of Hattem
Hattem () is a municipality and a town in the eastern Netherlands. The municipality had a population of in . The municipality includes the hamlet of 't Zand.
Name origin
The name “Hattem” is a typical farmyard name. The exact origin of “H ...
that was a Patriot
A patriot is a person with the quality of patriotism.
Patriot may also refer to:
Political and military groups United States
* Patriot (American Revolution), those who supported the cause of independence in the American Revolution
* Patriot m ...
stronghold on 4 September 1787; cf. Vles, p.m 69ff. Paulus refused to come to
Het Loo
Het Loo Palace ( nl, Paleis Het Loo , meaning "The Lea") is a palace in Apeldoorn, Netherlands, built by the House of Orange-Nassau.
History
The symmetrical Dutch Baroque building was designed by Jacob Roman and Johan van Swieten and was b ...
, but probably was in friendly negotiations with the French ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Paulus was not banished in 1788, in the purge that followed the Anglo-Prussian suppression of the Patriot revolution, after being fired as fiscal of the Rotterdam Admiralty on the instigation of the new Grand Pensionary
Laurens Pieter van de Spiegel
Laurens Pieter van de Spiegel (19 January 1736, in Middelburg – 7 May 1800, in Lingen) was Grand Pensionary of Zeeland and, from 9 November 1787 to 4 February 1795, of Holland. He was an Orangist, which means that he was a supporter of Prince ...
in February 1788 but he left with Lambert van Eck for
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
. He spoke with
Mattheus Lestevenon
Mattheus Lestevenon, heer van Berckenrode (1715–1797, The Hague) was a city-secretary and schepen in Amsterdam, then Dutch ambassador to France. Lestevenon played an important role in the year 1748 and in the negotiations for the Treaty of Par ...
, and unsuccessfully mediated between the quarreling democratic and aristocratic factions of the exiled Patriots, led by
Valckenaer and
Van Beyma respectively. The French politicians and ministers received him with much esteem.
Convinced of the ideals of the
French Revolution
The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in coup of 18 Brumaire, November 1799. Many of its ...
, he turned against slavery and in 1793 published a treatise on the question: ''In welken zin kunnen de menschen gezegd worden gelijk te zijn? En welke zijn de regten en pligten die daaruit voortvloeien?'' (In what respect can men be said to be equal? And what are the rights and duties that follow from this equality?). The occasion for the writing of this work was an essay contest organised by
Teyler's Theological Society in 1790. Another person won, but Paulus' entry immediately attracted far more attention and enthusiasm, especially among adherents of the Patriot faction. Paulus was even called an "apostle of mankind" by his fans.
In 1795, he was one of the ringleaders of the
Batavian Revolution. He was elected the first chairman of the
Provisional Representatives of the People of Holland. He played a leading role in this assembly that in its turn had great influence in the
Revolutionary States-General, where he led the Holland delegation (he was president of the States-General between 5 March 1795 and 1 May 1795). One of the first actions of the Provisional Representatives was the adoption, on 31 January 1795, of the Dutch version of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen,
[''Publicatie, behelzende de erkentenis en verklaring der Rechten van den Mensch en den Burger, gearresteerd den 31. Januarij 1795. Het eerste jaar der Bataafsche vriheid]
/ref> which was not simply a translation of the earlier French version, but contained original thought. It was drafted by a commission chaired by Paulus, and leaned on his 1793 treatise on Equality for its philosophical underpinning.
Paulus led the Dutch delegation in the negotiations with the representatives of the Committee of Public Safety of the National Convention
The National Convention (french: link=no, Convention nationale) was the parliament of the Kingdom of France for one day and the French First Republic for the rest of its existence during the French Revolution, following the two-year Nationa ...
of the French First Republic, led by Sieyès and Reubell, in May 1795, which issued in the Treaty of The Hague (1795)
The Treaty of Den Haag (also known as the Treaty of The Hague and occasionally the Hedges Treaty) was signed on May 16, 1795 between representatives of the French Republic and the Batavian Republic. Based on the terms of the treaty, the Batavian ...
. Though the conditions in the treaty were onerous for the Batavian Republic, it at least retained its independence, and was recognized as such by its French "sister republic", a result that was far from assured beforehand.
Once the retention of independence was assured and the captured Dutch fleet had been returned to Dutch ownership, Paulus was a leader in the reforms of the Batavian Navy
The Batavian navy ( nl, Bataafsche marine) was the navy of the Batavian Republic. A continuation of the ''Staatse vloot'' (Dutch States fleet) of the Dutch Republic. Though thoroughly reorganized after the Batavian Revolution of 1795, the navy em ...
, like the abolition of the old admiralties, and the reform of the officer corps. The administration of the navy was taken over by the standing Committee on Naval Affairs, of which Paulus again became the chairman.
One of the political issues in the Revolutionary States-General was the question of how far to go in democratising the country and making it a unitary state, in which the defenders of the privileges of the Regenten
In the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, the regenten (the Dutch plural for ''regent'') were the rulers of the Dutch Republic, the leaders of the Dutch cities or the heads of organisations (e.g. "regent of an orphanage"). Though not formally a hered ...
(also those of the "Patriot" persuasion) and of provincial particularism opposed the radical democrats (gaining a large following in the political clubs in the city quarters of the larger cities) and the unitarists. The former wanted as little change in the old constitutional order as possible, while the latter proposed to completely overturn that old order and replace the States-General, and the institutions on which it was based, with a National Assembly for the entire country, elected with male universal suffrage
Universal suffrage (also called universal franchise, general suffrage, and common suffrage of the common man) gives the right to vote to all adult citizens, regardless of wealth, income, gender, social status, race, ethnicity, or political stan ...
. Paulus was a leading member of a commission of the Provisional Representatives of the People of Holland that presented a proposal on the latter lines to the States-General that was eventually adopted on a vote of 4 provinces (Holland, Utrecht, Overijssel and Gelderland) against 3 by the States-General. Zeeland, Friesland and Groningen remained opposed until in January 1796 popular unrest in those provinces forced the hands of the provincial governments. Elections for the proposed National Assembly of the Batavian Republic
The National Assembly of the Batavian Republic ( Dutch: ''Nationale Vergadering'') was the Dutch parliament between 1796 and 1798. The National Assembly was founded in 1796 after general elections. It replaced the States-General of the Batavian ...
were held in early 1796.
On 1 March 1796 Paulus was unanimously elected the first chairman of the National Assembly of the Batavian Republic. At the inauguration, he caught a serious cold[Ramaer tells us that after he walked without a hat in the inaugural parade on March 1, he caught the cold. On March 4 a scandal developed, when an alternate member of the National Assembly, Reinier Bouwens, accused Paulus of having caused the loss of the ]Dutch Cape Colony
The Cape Colony ( nl, Kaapkolonie) was a Dutch United East India Company (VOC) colony in Southern Africa, centered on the Cape of Good Hope, from where it derived its name. The original colony and its successive states that the colony was inco ...
in the previous year, because of his role in the bankruptcy of the VOC
VOC, VoC or voc may refer to:
Science and technology
* Open-circuit voltage (VOC), the voltage between two terminals when there is no external load connected
* Variant of concern, a category used during the assessment of a new variant of a virus
...
. Paulus then removed himself from the hall while this was debated, and stood for a long time in a cold and drafty antechamber, which probably contributed to him developing pneumonia on March 7. The National Assembly declared the accusation baseless on March 25 after a thorough investigation of the matter; cf. Ramaer, pp. 759-760. from which he died, on 17 March 1795 in 's-Gravenhage, aged 42. He was buried in the Scheveningen cemetery ''Ter Navolging''.[Parlement & Politiek]
Works
*''Het nut der stadhouderlijke regeering aangetoond by gelegenheid der geboorte van Willem Frederik, Prince van Oranje en Nassau, et.'' (1773)
*''De origine, progressu et solutione nexus foedalis flandriam inter et zeelandiam'' (dissertation, Leiden 1775)
*Verklaring van de Unie van Utrecht (4 dln., 1775–1779), dedicated to Joachim Rendorp
*''Wat het is, een vry volk te zyn'' (1783)
*''Verhandeling over de vrage: in welken zin kunnen de menschen gezegd worden gelyk te zyn? en welke zijn de regten en pligten, die daaruit voordvloeien?'' (1793)
Notes and references
Notes
References
Sources
*Aa, A.J. van der, ''Biographisch woordenboek der Nederlanden. Deel 15'' (1872), pp. 126–127
*Berg, J.Th.J. van den, ''De dominee en 'de tweede apostel Paulus' '' (27 September 201
*Gou, L. de (1985) Biografische bijdragen over achttiende eeuwers. Fragmenten van jaarredes gehouden in de algemene vergadering van de Hollandsche Maatschappij der Wetenschappen
The Koninklijke Hollandsche Maatschappij der Wetenschappen (Royal Holland Society of Sciences and Humanities), located on the east side of the Spaarne in downtown Haarlem, Netherlands, was established in 1752 and is the oldest society for the scie ...
1979-1985, pp. 143–69.
*Roosendaal, J. (2003) Bataven! Nederlandse vluchtelingen in Frankrijk 1787-1795.
*Vles, E.J. (2004) Pieter Paulus (1753 - 1796) Patriot en Staatsman.
*''Mr. P. Paulus'' o
Dutch Parliament page
DBNL entry
*Ramaer, ''Paulus, Mr. Pieter'' in Blok, P.J. and P.C. Molhuysen, Nieuw Nederlandsch biografisch woordenboek
The ''Nieuw Nederlandsch Biografisch Woordenboek'' (''NNBW'') is a biographical reference work in the Dutch language. It has been succeeded by the '' Biografisch Woordenboek van Nederland''.
It was published in ten parts between 1911 and 1937 b ...
, deel 9 (1933), pp. 758–760
* Schama, S. (1977), ''Patriots and Liberators. Revolution in the Netherlands 1780-1813'', New York, Vintage books,
* Suringar, P.H., ''Biographische aanteekeningen betreffende Pieter Paulus. Eerste gedeelte (1753-1784)'' (dissertation Leiden, 1879)
*Wall, E. van der, ''Geen natie van atheisten. Pieter Paulus (1753-1796) over godsdienst en mensenrechten'', in: Jaarboek van de Nederlandse Letterkunde, 1996, pp. 45–58
{{DEFAULTSORT:Paulus, Pieter
1754 births
1796 deaths
Dutch jurists
Dutch politicians
Members of the Dutch Patriots faction
People from Terneuzen
Deputies of the National Assembly of the Batavian Republic