a Dutch nobleman who played a prominent role in the revolutionary events that preceded the formation of the Batavian Republic. As a member of the Patriots and inspired by the American Revolution, he wrote the noted pamphlet Aan het Volk van Nederland ("To the People of the Netherlands"), pleading for a more liberal society and the end of the Stadtholder regime, which had been marked by corruption and nepotism. He was also an ardent supporter of the legal recognition of the recently created United States of America.
