French
empire, in an equal degree of the emperor Napoleon. By the former he was
created marshal and count of Huessen, and given the command of the armed
forces both by sea and land. Napoleon gave him the grand cross of the
Legion of Honour and appointed him inspector-general of the northern
coasts, and in 1811 he placed him at the head of the fleet he had
collected at the Texel. Soon afterwards De Winter was seized with
illness and compelled to betake himself to Paris, where he died on the
2nd of June 1812. He had a splendid public funeral and was buried in the
Pantheon. His heart was enclosed in an urn and placed in the Nicolaas
Kerk at Kampen.

DE WITT, CORNELIUS (1623-1672), brother of JOHN DE WITT (q.v.), was born
at Dort in 1623. In 1650 he became burgomaster of Dort and member of the
states of Holland and West Friesland. He was afterwards appointed to the
important post of _ruwaard_ or governor of the land of Putten and
bailiff of Beierland. He associated himself closely with his greater
brother, the grand pensionary, and supported him throughout his career
with great ability and vigour. In 1667 he was the deputy chosen by the
states of Holland to accompany Admiral de Ruyter in his famous
expedition to Chatham. Cornelius de Witt on this occasion distinguished
himself greatly by his coolness and intrepidity. He again accompanied De
Ruyter in 1672 and took an honourable part in the great naval fight at
Sole Bay against the united English and French fleets. Compelled by
illness to leave the fleet, he found on his return to Dort that the
Orange party were in the ascendant, and he and his brother were the
objects of popular suspicion and hatred. An account of his imprisonment,
trial and death, is given below.

DE WITT, JOHN (1625-1672), Dutch statesman, was born at Dort, on the
24th of September 1625. He was a member of one of the old burgher-regent
families of his native town. His father, Jacob de Witt, was six times
burgomaster of Dort, and for many years sat as a representative of the
town in the states of Holland. He was a strenuous adherent of the
republican or oligarchical states-right party in opposition to the
princes of the house of Orange, who represented the federal principle
and had the support of the masses of the people. John was educated at
Leiden, and early displayed remarkable talents, more especially in
mathematics and jurisprudence. In 1645 he and his elder brother
Cornelius visited France, Ita