Pieter Paulus

Portrait of Pieter Paulus by Reinier Vinkeles

Pieter Paulus (9 April 1754 – 17 March 1796) was a Dutch jurist, admiral-fiscal and politician. He was one of the ideologues of the Patriot movement and is considered by many Dutch as the founder of their democracy and political unity.

Life

Pieter Paulus (center, left) in 1796 as president of the First National Assembly in The Hague. Engraving created in 1797 by George Kockers

Paulus was born in Axel, Zeelandic Flanders. His father was Axel's mill-builder, schepen and mayor. He came, perhaps, from a family of lapsed Huguenots. After an education in 's-Hertogenbosch, he received his training from the Vlissingen rector Van Cruysselenbergen, in whose house he lived. He became a student in Utrecht in 1770.

Paul became known nationwide through his bestselling book on the stadholder system, in which he opposed both the stadholder system and the duke of Brunswijk. In 1774, he became a student at Leiden and he graduated on 12 December 1775, with his dissertation a second publishing success. He established himself in 1776 as a lawyer at the Court of Holland in the Hague. In 1780, he was involved in the controversy over the expansion of the fleet, defended by Admiral Jan Hendrik van Kinsbergen. 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, that was one of the first cities (after Schoonhoven) to pass a resolution to limit the influence of the stadholder. Paul was approached, meanwhile, to be one of the leaders of the Patriots, with whom he began to negotiate. He was invited to come to consult for the Zeekantoor of the Admiralty of Amsterdam with princess Wilhelmina of Prussia and Joan Cornelis van der Hoop. In April 1785, he became Darn public- prosecutor (advocaat-fiscaal) for the Admiralty of the Maze, taking the initiative in its reorganisations. After the events in Hattem, Paul refused to come to Het Loo, but probably was in friendly negotiations with the French ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Paul was banished in 1788 and left with his brother-in-law for Paris. He spoke with Mattheus Lestevenon, friendly between the quarrelling old-regents Valckenaer and Van Beyma. The French politicians and ministers received him with much regard.

Convinced of the ideals of the French Revolution, he turned against slavery and published a Dissertation on the question: In which senses can men be said to be? And which are the rights and duties that result? (In welken zin kunnen de menschen gezegd worden gelijk te zijn? En welke zijn de regten en pligten die daaruit voortvloeien?) In 1793 he was named "apostle of the mankind" (apostel der mensheid). In 1795, he was one of the foremost men of the revolution. The next year he was appointed unanimously to become chairman of the Batavian Republic's National Assembly. At the inauguration, he caught a serious cold from which he died, in 's-Gravenhage, aged 41.

Works

• Het nut der stadhouderlijke regeering aangetoond (1773)
• Verklaring van de Unie van Utrecht (4 dln., 1775–1779), dedicated to Joachim Rendorp

Sources

• Gou, L. de (1985) Biografische bijdragen over achttiende eeuwers. Fragmenten van jaarredes gehouden in de algemene vergadering van de Hollandsche Maatschappij der Wetenschappen 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.
• Dutch Parliament page
• DBNL entry