In this document (KA 272), Kuyper deals with the dispute between him and the so-called vijf heren [five gentlemen] (Anema, Bavinck, Diepenhorst, De Vries, and Heemskerk) who had published Leider en leiding in de Anti-Revolutionaire Partij [Leader and leadership in the Anti-Revolutionary Party] (see 1915.14). In the nine points of the statement, Kuyper limits himself exclusively to criticizing the actions and behavior of Th. Heemskerk. He charges that Heemskerk had ignored Kuyper, the leader of the Anti-Revolutionary Party, when charged with forming the new government in 1907 and that he had continued to ignore Kuyper’s counsel after becoming prime minister. For the cover letter to this document, see 1916.18.

After the publication Leider en leiding in de Anti-Revolutionaire Partij, Kuyper received the five authors at his home on February 26, 1916. A decision was made at that meeting to submit the two brochures at issue (1915.12 and 1915.14) to an arbitration committee (see also 1916.18).