Gin, Cloth, Salted Meat and Abuse of Office: Ethics in the Dutch Batavian Republic in 1798 Toon Kerkhoff Leiden University, Institute of Public Administration Leiden, the Netherlands
[email protected] Working paper for NIG-conference, Leiden 12-13 November 2009 Abstract In the wake of two coups d’état in the Dutch Batavian Republic (1795 – 1801) an investigation was launched into the actions and ethics of several leading representatives. The result was a scandal of corruption involving bribery, high treason and the misappropriation of public funds for private purposes. The scandal erupted in a period when the Dutch called for improving the morals of a nation thought to be in serious decline. Influenced by revolutionary thought, administration too was to be cleansed from abuses of office, nepotism and patronage. The paper offers a detailed historical analysis of this case for three reasons. First, it serves to help explicate what the ethics and values of the Bataves actually consisted of. Second, it serves to begin to answer theoretical questions on change and/or continuity of ethics and values. Third, it is meant to further methods of inquiry into ethics of public administration from a historical perspective. Introduction Administrative history and ethics of public administration The use of administrative history is hard to dispute (cf. Mahoney and Rüschemeyer 2003; Raadschelders 1998). In short, to quote Jos Raadschelders, it "enables us to see through political and administrative fads and fashions of the day and enables us to get a perspective on more fundamental differences and similarities between present and obsolete structures, operations and policies" (Raadschelders 1998, 13).