Joan Derk van der Capellen tot den Pol

Joan Derk, Baron van der Capellen tot den Pol (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈjoːɑɱ vɑn dər kaːˈpɛlə(n) ˈtɔ dəm ˈpɔl]; 2 November 1741 in Tiel – 6 June 1784 in Zwolle) was 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.

For that reason, his opponents compared Van der Capellen's public appearance with the style of the English politician John Wilkes.

As a member of the States Van der Capellen applied himself to the abolition of the so-called "drostendiensten", which compelled the farmers of Overijssel to labour for a pittance a few days every year for the local magistrate, the Drost ("bailiff").

Previously, van der Capellen and other Patriots had greatly disagreed with William V, Prince of Orange and his fellow stadtholders when William proclaimed that he was against expanding the Royal Netherlands Navy, favoring the Dutch States Army as an institution that should be expanded and better funded than the navy instead, and took action to back up his statements on the matter.

[1] In 1776, King George III asked the Dutch Republic whether he could borrow the Scots Brigade and use them in the ongoing American Revolutionary War; van der Capellen voted against sending the regiment to North America.

[citation needed] To lend support to his views, he translated the text Observations on Civil Liberty by the Welsh philosopher Richard Price into Dutch.

In 1992 Fortuyn wrote his own "To the people of the Netherlands" and declared himself to be the successor of Van der Capellen, as one who had to struggle against the political elite of his time.