Quint Ondaatje
Encyclopedia
Colombo
Colombo is the largest city of Sri Lanka. It is located on the west coast of the island and adjacent to Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte, the capital of Sri Lanka. Colombo is often referred to as the capital of the country, since Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte is a satellite city of Colombo...
, 1758 - Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
, 18 April 1818) was a Dutch patriot and politician. He is called the champion of Dutch democracy.
Life
Ondaatje was born at Colombo on CeylonSri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
, as the son of a minister. His mother came from Amsterdam. He had a dark complexion as his father was descended from Europeans on the island, known as "burghers"
Burgher people
The Burghers are a Eurasian ethnic group, historically from Sri Lanka, consisting for the most part of male-line descendants of European colonists from the 16th to 20th centuries and local women, with some minorities of Swedish, Norwegian, French and Irish.Today the mother tongue of the Burghers...
. At the age of 14 year he came to Amsterdam, becoming a pupil at the Athenaeum Illustre. He then moved to Utrecht to study law and theology. He rented a room in the same building as the poet Jacobus Bellamy
Jacobus Bellamy
Jacob Bellamy was a Dutch poet.He was the son of a Swiss baker.- Works :* Gezangen mijner jeugd...
, who complained about the noise Ondaatje caused in the building. Ondaatje became an officer in the exercitiegenootschap
Exercitiegenootschap
An exercitiegenootschap or militia was a military organisation in the 18th century Netherlands, in the form of an armed private organization with a democratically chosen administration, aiming to train the citizens and the lower bourgeoisie in use of muskets...
exercising in the Sterrebos. He wrote petitions to the vroedschap
Vroedschap
The vroedschap was the name for the city council in the early modern Netherlands; the member of such a council was called a vroedman, literally a "wise man"...
on the rights and responsibilities of the stadholder concerning the appointment of new candidates.
On 11 March 1785 Utrecht's population came en masse to the city hall. They then entered the city hall under the leadership of Ondaatje, who made a fierce speech demanding the resignation of Sichterman if the regenten
Regenten
In the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, the regenten were the rulers of the Dutch Republic, the leaders of the Dutch cities or the heads of organisations . Though not formally a hereditary "class", they were de facto "patricians", comparable to that ancient Roman class...
would not yield. He added that it would hard to leave the hall since many people were standing in the doorway. The regenten decided to give in, provided that Ondaatje would calm down the people. From the steps Ondaatje announced their victory and asked the people to go to their homes. The crowd dispersed but, when the danger had passed, further assemblies were banned and Ondaatje arrested for disturbing the peace and sent to jail.
In May 1785 Ondaatje and his friend Von Liebeherr traveled many times to the Hague to get access to the stadholder William V of Orange. Ondaatje was forced to defend himself in the patriot newspaper Post van den Neder-Rhijn.
As a refugee in northern France involved in the foundation of a brotherhood around contacts still in the Netherlands, Ondaatje sought help from Johan Valckenaer
Johan Valckenaer
Johan Valckenaer was a Dutch lawyer, patriot and diplomat.- Life :His father Lodewijk Caspar Valckenaer was Franeker university's professor of law and, in 1766, was appointed to succeed Tiberius Hemsterhuis at Leiden...
and Court Lambertus of Beyma and proposed the formation of a Batavian Legion
Batavian Legion
The Batavian Legion was a unit of Dutch volunteers under French command, created and dissolved in 1793.-History:...
. By a raid into the Dutch Republic, Ondaatje put the rights of man first and laid his emphasis on freedom of speech and the people's sovereignty. The formation of a union between the Republic and the Belgian region was another sphere in which Ondaatje was interested, having withdrawn to Ghent
Ghent
Ghent is a city and a municipality located in the Flemish region of Belgium. It is the capital and biggest city of the East Flanders province. The city started as a settlement at the confluence of the Rivers Scheldt and Lys and in the Middle Ages became one of the largest and richest cities of...
with Von Liebeherr. As his former aide, in 1792 Ondaatje wrote an apology to the Rijngraaf of Salm, who on 16 September 1787 left Utrecht and fled to Amsterdam. From 1794 Ondaatje was active in Calais
Calais
Calais is a town in Northern France in the department of Pas-de-Calais, of which it is a sub-prefecture. Although Calais is by far the largest city in Pas-de-Calais, the department's capital is its third-largest city of Arras....
as a printer
Printer (publisher)
In publishing, printers are both companies providing printing services and individuals who directly operate printing presses. With the invention of the moveable type printing press by Johannes Gutenberg around 1450, printing—and printers—proliferated throughout Europe.Today, printers are found...
and writer.
Together with Samuel Iperusz Wiselius, Wybo Fijnje
Wybo Fijnje
Wybo Fijnje was a Dutch Mennonite minister, publisher in Delft, Patriot, exile, coup perpetrator, politician and - during the French era - manager of the state newspaper.-Early life:...
, Theodorus van Kooten
Theodorus van Kooten
Dr. Theodorus van Kooten was a Dutch poet, professor and politician.Van Kooten was the son of the sexton at Leeuwarden, and amazed all visitors to his father's house by translating randomly selected pieces from the Greek bible into Dutch. Van Kooten became Kampen's rector in 1772...
and Von Liebeherr, Ondaatje was in 1796 appointed a member of the Committee to dissolve the Dutch East India Company
Dutch East India Company
The Dutch East India Company was a chartered company established in 1602, when the States-General of the Netherlands granted it a 21-year monopoly to carry out colonial activities in Asia...
.
External links
Sources
This article is a translation from the Dutch Wikipedia.- Hulzen, A. van (1966) Utrecht in de patriottentijd, p. .
- Schama, S.Simon SchamaSimon Michael Schama, CBE is a British historian and art historian. He is a University Professor of History and Art History at Columbia University. He is best known for writing and hosting the 15-part BBC documentary series A History of Britain...
(1987) Patriots and Liberators, Revolution in the Netherlands 1780-1813, p. 84, 86, 89-92. - Wilschut, A. (2000) Goejanverwellesluis. De strijd tussen patriotten en prinsgezinden, 1780-1787, p. 41-3, 51.