Afterward, Dutch Speaker Dandels came before the crowd and spoke on behalf of the Dutch Government with a grief-stricken expression.
He first harshly condemned the United Kingdom and Prussia for forcing the Netherlands to take part in this unjust war, causing irreparable harm to France. On behalf of the Netherlands, he offered France their most sincere apologies.
Then he produced the Ceasefire Agreement and began reading it aloud clause by clause.
"Our government will put the war criminals who participated in the invasion of Walloon on trial..."
Dandels immediately explained the meaning of war crimes—there was no such concept in this era yet.
Before he had even finished speaking, faint sobs could already be heard all around.
This time, the Netherlands had sent more than twenty thousand soldiers to join the Anti-French Alliance, and many of the watching citizens were relatives of those soldiers.
Dandels hurriedly raised a hand and pressed it down, shouting, "The soldiers merely obeyed orders. Only officers of Major rank and above must bear the guilt of starting this war!"
The gathered crowd immediately breathed a sigh of relief, then began raising their arms and shouting, "Severely punish those guilty of starting the war!"
"Put the war criminals on trial!"
"Hang them!"
Once the crowd had gradually quieted down, Dandels read out the amount of the War Reparations:
"...A total of 700,000 Dutch Guilders shall be paid to the French Government as compensation."
He immediately added, "We caused France losses exceeding 800,000, but His Majesty the King of France showed mercy and forgave part of it."
The people did not feel much about it. Last year, when the Bank of Amsterdam acquired Batavia Trading Bank, it had spent more than a million Dutch Guilders. Seven hundred thousand did not seem like such a large sum.
After