Johan van Oldenbarnevelt

Johan van Oldenbarnevelt (September 14, 1547 – May 13, 1619) was a Dutch statesman, who played an important role in the Dutch struggle for independence from Spain.

Analysis

The accusations brought against Oldenbarneveldt of having been a traitor to his country, whose interests he had betrayed for foreign gold, have no basis in fact. The whole life of the advocate disproves them, and not a shred of evidence has ever been produced to throw suspicion upon the patriot statesmans conduct. All his private papers fell into the hands of his foes, but not even the bitterest and ablest of his personal enemies, Francis Aarssens, could extract from them anything to show that Oldenbarneveldt at any time betrayed his country's interests. That he was an ambitious man, fond of power, and haughty in his attitude to those who differed from him in opinion, may be granted, but it must also be conceded that he sought for power in order to confer invaluable services upon his country, and that impatience of opposition was not unnatural in a man who had exercised an almost supreme control of administrative affairs for upwards of three decades. His high-handed course of action in defense of what he conceived to be the sovereign rights of his own province of Holland to decide upon religious questions within its borders may be challenged on the ground of inexpediency, but not of illegality. The harshness of the treatment meted out by Maurice to his fathers old friend, the faithful counselor and protector of his own early years, leaves a stain upon the stadholders memory which can never be washed away. That the prince should have felt compelled in the last resort to take up arms for the Union against the attempt of the province of Holland to defy the authority of the Generality may be justified by the plea reipublicae salus suprema lex. To eject the advocate from power was one thing, to execute him as a traitor quite another. The condemnation of Oldenbarneveldt was carried out with Maurices consent and approval, and he cannot be acquitted of a prominent share in what posterity has pronounced to be a judicial murder.

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