Quint Ondaatje
Pieter Philip Jurriaan Quint Ondaatje (born in Colombo, 18 June 1758 – died in Batavia, 30 April 1818) was an illustrious Dutch patriot and influential revolutionary politician at the end of the 18th century.
[8] In February 1783, influenced by Andrew Fletcher (patriot) and Van der Capelle tot den Pol, Ondaatje played a pivotal role as founder of the local Free corps, which aimed to supplant the orangist schutterij.
During this time he was elected as officer and renting a room in the same house as the poet Jacobus Bellamy, who complained about the noisy gatherings in Ondaatje's quarters.
[9] In the same year nl:Rijklof Michaël van Goens, the principal mouthpiece of the Orangists, was removed from the oligarchic city councel.
[17] He defended himself against attacks in the patriot newspaper De Post van den Neder-Rhijn and was visited by Pieter Paulus, a public prosecutor from Rotterdam.
Despite a vigorous campaign by the patriots advocating for the adoption of new democratic urban regulations, the council remained entrenched in traditional governance methods.
On 19 December, he successfully rallied a crowd and led them to the town hall, demanding that the city council implement the democratic regulations within three months.
[19] Despite internal divisions, they agreed in early August 1786 that the city council should no longer be appointed by the stadtholder but by the Free corps and religion nor property a condition.
Amidst intense public interest, the Utrecht city council was removed from power with only seven members retaining their positions.
[23] However, the Orangist majority in the provincial States refused to acknowledge these regulations and relocated to Amersfoort, while the Patriot minority remained in Utrecht.
[31] In the night of 15 September the Salm-légion, Ondaatje and his armed volunteers and supporters left Utrecht and fled in the direction of Ouderkerk aan de Amstel.
[35][36] The formation of a union between the Republic and the Belgian region was a topic in which Ondaatje was interested, having withdrawn to Ghent with Von Liebeherr in 1790.
In July 1792 Ondaatje sought help from Johan Valckenaer and Court Lambertus of Beyma and proposed the formation of a Batavian Legion, assisting in an invasion into the Dutch Republic by general Dumouriez.
[39] On 17 February 1793, the French troops and the Batavian Legion crossed the border; Ondaatje was present during the Siege of Breda by Westermann,[40] occupied by an army of Sans-Culottes that lacked almost everything.
[45][46] In March 1796, Ondaatje, alongside Samuel Wiselius, Wybo Fijnje, Theodorus van Kooten, and Bogislaus von Liebeherr, was appointed to the Committee tasked with dissolving the Dutch East India Company.
[47] As he spoke Portuguese he was sent on a journey to Portugal, aiming to safeguard the East Indian return fleet, which had entered Saint Ubes laden with valuable merchandise, from English interception.
[53][54][55] The fleet reached its destination on 19 May 1816, and after three months, the British governor consented with establishing three Commissioners-General of the Dutch East Indies.
