ABSTRACT
The truth of the matter is that as early as September 1672 William III was breaking away from the rank and file of his party. The aims of his democratic supporters went far beyond a mere change of personnel in the urban administrations. He differed from other democratic pamphleteers by insisting upon the distinction between citizens and rabble. All the democratic demands were inextricably mixed up with orangist requests. The mob, which had been used for the orangist restoration, was now to be called upon for the restoration of the orangists. When John De Witt and his brother Cornelis were murdered, they had become private citizens, and that their murder was a direct result of the propaganda of hatred inspired by the supporters of the prince of Orange. Rotterdam petitioners also demanded that the stadtholdership should be made hereditary in the house of Orange.
