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GOVERNING THE FREE SEA:<br />
THE DUTCH WEST INDIA COMPANY AND COMMERCIAL POLITICS, 1618-1645<br />
Alexander <strong>Bick</strong><br />
A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE FACULTY OF<br />
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY IN CANDIDACY FOR<br />
THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY<br />
RECOMMENDED FOR ACCEPTANCE BY<br />
THE DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY<br />
Advisor: Anthony Grafton<br />
September 2012
© Copyright by Alexander <strong>Bick</strong>, 2012. All rights reserved.
Abstract<br />
This dissert<strong>at</strong>ion takes a micro-historical approach to examine a single meeting of the board of<br />
directors of the Dutch West India Company (WIC) in the fall of 1645. At this meeting the<br />
directors learned th<strong>at</strong> Portuguese planters in northeastern Brazil had risen in open revolt, a<br />
development th<strong>at</strong> would cripple the company’s new Atlantic empire. By meticulously<br />
reconstructing negoti<strong>at</strong>ions over five months—based on ordinary and secret minutes,<br />
memoranda, notes, diaries, letters, pamphlets, newspapers, and printed books—the dissert<strong>at</strong>ion<br />
reveals the decision-making mechanisms and institutions employed by a joint stock company to<br />
rule a major colony in the New World. It explores the n<strong>at</strong>ure of the WIC’s rel<strong>at</strong>ionship to the<br />
decentralized organs of the Dutch st<strong>at</strong>e and—in contrast to familiar images of the sober Dutch<br />
merchant—demonstr<strong>at</strong>es both the important role played by the Dutch nobility and the use and<br />
adapt<strong>at</strong>ion of Iberian models for colonial administr<strong>at</strong>ion. It examines the specific role of the<br />
Leiden scholar Johannes de Laet and, looking back <strong>at</strong> earlier meetings in the company’s history,<br />
reinterprets negoti<strong>at</strong>ions over the company’s charter and the rel<strong>at</strong>ionship between arguments<br />
over free trade and slavery. In opposition to explan<strong>at</strong>ions th<strong>at</strong> emphasize regional conflicts<br />
within the United Provinces or the inability to <strong>at</strong>tract settlers, the dissert<strong>at</strong>ion explains the<br />
collapse of Dutch Brazil as resulting from long-standing tensions between merchants and<br />
noblemen and a consequent failure to recruit new leadership for the colony during the summer<br />
and fall of 1645. The dissert<strong>at</strong>ion proposes close examin<strong>at</strong>ion of negoti<strong>at</strong>ion and compromise as<br />
a new method for studying political history.<br />
iii
Contents<br />
Abstract iii<br />
Contents iv<br />
Acknowledgements vi<br />
List of Illustr<strong>at</strong>ions x<br />
List of Tables xi<br />
I. Introduction: The Meeting as a Site of Analysis<br />
1. Introduction 1<br />
2. The West India Company and the Dutch Atlantic 7<br />
3. Meetings and the Practice of Politics 19<br />
4. Preview of the Argument 29<br />
5. A Note on Sources 36<br />
II. News from Brazil: The Political Geography of Inform<strong>at</strong>ion<br />
1. Introduction 41<br />
2. The Revolt and the Circul<strong>at</strong>ion of News 47<br />
3. The Heren XIX and the Politics of Inform<strong>at</strong>ion 59<br />
4. Johannes de Laet as “Inform<strong>at</strong>ion Master” 78<br />
5. Conclusion 90<br />
III. A Council of the Indies for the Dutch Republic?<br />
The Origins of a Company Board<br />
1. Introduction 93<br />
2. Competing Drafts for the WIC Charter 98<br />
3. How many is XIX? The Politics of Represent<strong>at</strong>ion 111<br />
4. The Role of the St<strong>at</strong>es General 121<br />
5. Conclusion 127<br />
iv
IV. “In the Service of Merchants”:<br />
The Selection of a New Colonial Government<br />
1. Introduction 131<br />
2. Institutional Reform and the New Council 139<br />
3. The Failed Search for a President 146<br />
4. Merchants, Magistr<strong>at</strong>es, and the Politics of Administr<strong>at</strong>ion 155<br />
5. Wolter Schonenborch and the Rituals of Office 162<br />
6. Conclusion 167<br />
V. Free Trade and African Slavery: The Politics of Monopoly<br />
1. Introduction 172<br />
2. Monopoly and Priv<strong>at</strong>e Capital 178<br />
3. Decision-Making <strong>at</strong> the St<strong>at</strong>es General 186<br />
4. Compromise in the Heren XIX 200<br />
5. Planning for the Slave Trade 210<br />
6. Conclusion 218<br />
VI. Imaginary Economies: Lobbying and the Rhetoric of Numbers<br />
1. Introduction 223<br />
2. Calcul<strong>at</strong>ing the Value of the New World 230<br />
3. History Counts 241<br />
4. Conclusion <strong>25</strong>6<br />
VII. Conclusion: The Fall of Dutch Brazil 261<br />
Bibliography 269<br />
v
Acknowledgements<br />
This project has benefitted enormously from the guidance, convers<strong>at</strong>ion, and financial support I<br />
have been fortun<strong>at</strong>e enough to receive over the course of research and writing. Looking back, it<br />
seems almost absurd to call the work my own, as if learning and expression were things one does<br />
by oneself, without the probing questions, frequent suggestions, and gentle refut<strong>at</strong>ions th<strong>at</strong> have<br />
given this dissert<strong>at</strong>ion its shape. I would like to thank first the members of my committee:<br />
Anthony Grafton encouraged me to come to <strong>Princeton</strong>, introduced me to the l<strong>at</strong>e Renaissance,<br />
and presciently asked wh<strong>at</strong> role the nobility might have played in early modern commerce. Linda<br />
Colley insisted th<strong>at</strong> I be more precise in deploying the word “empire.” Jaap Jacobs steered me<br />
towards colonial politics, shared sources, and provided guidance throughout. Adam Beaver<br />
pressed me to be more compar<strong>at</strong>ive and provided essential sources for the history of imperial<br />
Spain. Although not on my committee, Anne Goldgar entertained my request for a tutorial by<br />
phone and thereby gave me the tools to begin my own research in Dutch history.<br />
The vast majority of this research was done in Leiden and The Hague. Kasper van<br />
Ommen graciously took me in as a fellow <strong>at</strong> the Scaliger Instituut and introduced me to the<br />
collections of the Leiden Library. Henk den Heijer served as my Fulbright advisor and answered<br />
a litany of questions about the history of the WIC. Ben Teensma gave me a glimpse of the gre<strong>at</strong><br />
tradition of textual discovery th<strong>at</strong> is still going on today. Lucia Werneck Xavier p<strong>at</strong>iently taught<br />
me how to navig<strong>at</strong>e the WIC archives, which she may know better than anyone else, and, along<br />
with Bruno Miranda, corrected my gross oversimplific<strong>at</strong>ions of Brazilian history. I thank them<br />
vi
for making the archive such an enjoyable place to work and learn. I would like to thank the many<br />
archivists who helped to loc<strong>at</strong>e documents, decipher difficult passages, and explain local history<br />
and politics.<br />
I benefitted gre<strong>at</strong>ly from convers<strong>at</strong>ions within the larger Dutch scholarly community.<br />
Oscar Gelderblom and Victor Enthoven each demanded th<strong>at</strong> I pay more <strong>at</strong>tention to Dutch<br />
merchants and trade. Eric Schliesser organized a reading group on Pieter de la Court from which<br />
I profited immensely and where I had the opportunity to meet Arthur Weststeijn and Jan<br />
Hartman. Ernst van den Boogaart shared the fruits of his long study of Dutch Atlantic culture.<br />
Michiel van Groesen invited me to an important conference on Dutch Brazil and helped me to<br />
think about the circul<strong>at</strong>ion of news. Rolf Bremmer shared new research on Johannes de Laet.<br />
Martine van Ittersum gave excellent advice and her book on Grotius and the Dutch East India<br />
Company remains a model. Harro Maas encouraged me to think more clearly, especially about<br />
economics in practice. I am gr<strong>at</strong>eful also for convers<strong>at</strong>ions with Cátia Antunes, Paul Hoftijzer,<br />
Dirk van Miert, Jaap Nieuwstr<strong>at</strong>en, Filipa Ribeiro da Silva, and Huib Zuidervaart, and to Silvia<br />
Zwaaneveld, Floor Westendorp, Maud Westendorp, and Rudi Westendorp for sharing their home<br />
with me during research in Leiden.<br />
Beyond the Netherlands, I have been fortun<strong>at</strong>e to study or discuss the ideas in this<br />
dissert<strong>at</strong>ion with David Armitage, Ann Blair, Holly Brewer, Liam Brockey, Bill Bulman,<br />
Graham Burnett, Peter Cocks, Diogo Ramada Curto, Robert Darnton, Stephen Ellis, Mike<br />
Feigelson, Allison Games, Tim Hochstrasser, Nick Jahr, Rob Jenkins, Marjoleine Kars, Mark<br />
Kishlansky, Henriette de Bruyn Kops, Jamie Kreiner, Peter Lake, Clement Levalloise, Tiago<br />
M<strong>at</strong>a, Jordan McIntyre, Mary Morgan, Chris Moses, Danny Noorlander, Steven Pincus, Emma<br />
Rothschild, Joan-Pau Rubiés, Ariel Rubin, Linda Rupert, Neil Safir, Ben Schmidt, Bill Sewell,<br />
vii
Jacob Soll, George Stocking, Erik Thomson, and Maurizio Viroli. In his absence Carl<br />
Wennerlind allowed me to teach, and thus in effect to take, his seminar on “Capitalism and the<br />
Enlightenment” <strong>at</strong> Barnard College. Further afield, Chris DeCorse invited me to join an<br />
archaeological survey led by Sam Spiers <strong>at</strong> Komenda, west of Elmina on the Gold Coast.<br />
Nick Popper and Theo Dunkelgruen each gave a nod to the more unconventional of my<br />
proposed methodologies, <strong>at</strong> the expense of something much less interesting. Both of them, along<br />
with Will Deringer, Christienna Fryar, Glenn Huekel, Rachael Lammers, Tom Leng, Noah<br />
Millstone, Dael Norwood, Margaret Schotte, Aaron Tugendhaft, and Annie Twitty read and<br />
offered essential comments on chapter drafts or their workshop predecessors.<br />
I was instructed in the Dutch language by Wijnie de Groot, René Wezel, and Robbert<br />
Joon, and in early modern Dutch paleography by Agnes Dunselman, Kees Stahl, and Emmanuel<br />
Kreike. Chris Heezackers, Nick Popper, and John Byron Kuhner all generously assisted<br />
transl<strong>at</strong>ing letters from L<strong>at</strong>in; Diana Brown and David Parker did the same for correspondence in<br />
Portuguese. Jordan Smith’s work to enter books and articles into Zotero was both timely and<br />
extremely helpful.<br />
Finally, my family: in addition to their enormous p<strong>at</strong>ience and encouragement, my<br />
parents, Diana Brown and Mario <strong>Bick</strong>, traveled twice to Washington, DC during the final phases<br />
of writing to critique chapter drafts and help me shape them into a cohesive argument. And<br />
Nealin Parker, who must contend with a modern empire during normal business hours, offered<br />
loving support, assisted with tables and illustr<strong>at</strong>ions, and read over every single word of the text.<br />
I share the honor of completing this project with them.<br />
Funding to support my research was provided by the Department of History, the Center<br />
for Human Values, and the Gradu<strong>at</strong>e School <strong>at</strong> <strong>Princeton</strong> <strong>University</strong>, as well as the <strong>Princeton</strong><br />
viii
Institute for Intern<strong>at</strong>ional and Regional Studies. In addition, I gr<strong>at</strong>efully acknowledge an Andrew<br />
W. Mellon Fellowship in Humanistic Studies, a Brill Fellowship from the Scaliger Instituut in<br />
Leiden, and a Fulbright Fellowship supported by the Netherlands-America Found<strong>at</strong>ion.<br />
Earlier versions of m<strong>at</strong>erial in the dissert<strong>at</strong>ion were presented <strong>at</strong> conferences or<br />
workshops sponsored by Birkbeck College, Columbia <strong>University</strong>, the European <strong>University</strong><br />
Institute in Florence, Harvard <strong>University</strong>, the History of Economics Society, the Omohundro<br />
Institute for Early American History and Culture, <strong>Princeton</strong> <strong>University</strong>, the Scaliger Instituut, the<br />
Sixteenth Century Studies Society, and the Universiteit Utrecht. I gladly acknowledge these<br />
opportunities to share my work and the helpful and constructive feedback I received from<br />
conference participants. Portions of Chapters Three and Four of the dissert<strong>at</strong>ion previously<br />
appeared in the introductory essay to the Grote Atlas van de West-Indische Compagnie, Deel I:<br />
De Oude WIC, 1621-1674, edited by Bea Brommer and Henk den Heijer (Den Haag: Atlas<br />
Maior, 2011).<br />
ix
List of Illustr<strong>at</strong>ions<br />
1. Het West-Indische Huis, Middelburg 2<br />
2. Vergaderzaal van het Oost-Indisch Huis in 1768 24<br />
3. Resolutien van de Vergadering van de Heren XIX te Middelburg 37<br />
4. Portrait of Count Johan Maurits van Nassau-Siegen 43<br />
5. Courante uyt Italien ende Duytschlandt, &c., September 2, 1645 55<br />
6. Portrait of Johannes de Laet, 1642 66<br />
7. Portrait of Willem Usselincx, 1637 94<br />
8. Map of Mauritstaad and Recife, c. 1645 132<br />
9. Portrait of Jacques Specx 147<br />
10. Portrait of Alexander van der Capellen 151<br />
11. Portrait of Christoffel Artichewski 201<br />
12. The Attack on Elmina in 16<strong>25</strong> 215<br />
13. Nieuwe Wereldt ofte Beschrijvinghe van West-Indien 245<br />
x
List of Tables<br />
1. Deleg<strong>at</strong>es to the fall 1645 meeting of the Heren XIX 62<br />
2. Agreement between Middleburg, Vlissingen, and Veere, 1624 117<br />
3. Se<strong>at</strong>ing order in the Heren XVII of the VOC 123<br />
4. Se<strong>at</strong>ing order in the Heren XIX of the WIC 123<br />
5. Se<strong>at</strong>ing order for the deleg<strong>at</strong>ions <strong>at</strong> the St<strong>at</strong>es General 124<br />
6. Possible se<strong>at</strong>ing <strong>at</strong> the Heren XIX 124<br />
xi
1. Introduction<br />
Chapter One<br />
The Meeting as a Site of Analysis<br />
The meeting began on the morning of S<strong>at</strong>urday, September 9, 1645. Assembled around the table<br />
in an upper-floor room <strong>at</strong> the West-Indisch Huis (West India House) in central Middelburg were<br />
represent<strong>at</strong>ives from each of the five chambers of the Geoctroyeerde Westindische Compagnie<br />
(Dutch West India Company, or WIC)—Amsterdam, Zeeland, North Holland, the Maas, and<br />
Groningen—along with several deleg<strong>at</strong>es disp<strong>at</strong>ched by the St<strong>at</strong>es General in The Hague to<br />
“assist in the proper management of the company.” 1 Since its founding in 1621, the company’s<br />
board of directors, the Heren XIX (Gentlemen Nineteen) met two or three times each year to<br />
review correspondence, reconcile accounts,<br />
<br />
1 The WIC was composed of five chambers. As discussed in Chapter Three, each chamber was itself composed of<br />
shareholders and directors from multiple cities: Amsterdam represented Leiden, Haarlem, and Deventer, among<br />
others, while the Maas included Delft, Dordrecht, and Rotterdam. Zeeland consisted of Middelburg, Vlissingen,<br />
Veere, Tholen, and Zierkzee. North Holland included Hoorn, Enkhuizen, Alkmaar, Edam, Medemblik,<br />
Monnickendam, and Purmerend. The chamber of Groningen also represented the Ommelanden (literally,<br />
surrounding countryside) and Vriesland. For clarity of exposition, throughout this dissert<strong>at</strong>ion the chambers are<br />
referred to simply as Amsterdam, Zeeland, North Holland, the Maas, and Groningen. The cit<strong>at</strong>ion about the role of<br />
represent<strong>at</strong>ives from the St<strong>at</strong>es General to the meeting of the Heren XIX is taken from the N<strong>at</strong>ionaal Archief, Den<br />
Haag (hereafter NA) 1.01.04, inv.nr. 5758, Letter from David Baute and N. van der Merct, Directors of the Zeeland<br />
Chamber, to the St<strong>at</strong>es General, August 11, 1645. The original text reads: “omme in de vergaderinge de saecken van<br />
de Comp. ten besten te helpen derigeren.” This language mirrors th<strong>at</strong> in the WIC charter, Article 18. Transcribed<br />
and transl<strong>at</strong>ed versions of the complete charter can be found in the Kiliaen van Rensselaer, Van Rensselaer Bowier<br />
Manuscripts: Being the Letters of Kiliaen van Rensselaer, 1630-1643, and Other Documents Rel<strong>at</strong>ing to the Colony<br />
of Rensselaerswyck, ed. Arnold J. F. van Laer (Albany: <strong>University</strong> of the St<strong>at</strong>e of New York, 1908). Unless indicted<br />
otherwise, all transl<strong>at</strong>ions from Dutch, Portuguese, and French are my own.<br />
1
Illustr<strong>at</strong>ion 1. Het West-Indische Huis, Middelburg, where the fall meeting of the Heren XIX took<br />
place in 1645. Built in 1520, it was previously used by the English Company<br />
of Merchant Adventurers. Engraving from the priv<strong>at</strong>e collection of the author.<br />
2
approve appointments, and coordin<strong>at</strong>e military and diplom<strong>at</strong>ic str<strong>at</strong>egy. 2 The previous meeting,<br />
held in Amsterdam in April and <strong>May</strong>, had been particularly rancorous, with sharp disagreements<br />
over management of the slave trade and uncertainty over who would be selected to serve as<br />
President of the Hoge Raad (High Council) responsible for governing Dutch Brazil. It was hoped<br />
th<strong>at</strong> the new setting would cool tempers and permit resolution of these and many other pressing<br />
m<strong>at</strong>ters. Once the necessary formalities had been exchanged, a copy of the company’s charter<br />
read aloud, the hours set and the fines for tardiness agreed upon, the deleg<strong>at</strong>es turned to urgent<br />
correspondence th<strong>at</strong> had arrived only days before from Brazil. Wh<strong>at</strong> they found would transform<br />
the character and extent of the company’s empire and, with it, the course of Atlantic history. 3<br />
Th<strong>at</strong> morning the directors read th<strong>at</strong> Portuguese settlers in Pernambuco, the center of the<br />
Dutch colony in northeastern Brazil, had risen in open revolt. 4 Within a m<strong>at</strong>ter of months the<br />
territory under the company’s control—which by the early-1640s had grown to include seven of<br />
the fourteen original Portuguese captaincies—would be reduced to only a handful of coastal<br />
forts. 5 The disp<strong>at</strong>ch of two relief fleets in 1646 and 1647, each including thousands of soldiers,<br />
did not succeed in reclaiming lost ground. In 1649, Andries <strong>Bick</strong>er (1586-1652), one of<br />
Amsterdam's four burgemeesters (mayors) and an influential voice in the city council, dismissed<br />
any further assistance to the colony: “I don’t suspect anything good can come of it,” he is<br />
<br />
2 The transl<strong>at</strong>ion “Gentlemen Nineteen” is standard in the liter<strong>at</strong>ure, although some authors have preferred “Lords<br />
Nineteen.” The word “Heer”—literally “Sir”—was used to address property-owning males of non-noble as well as<br />
noble birth. It should not be confused with the more restrictive sense of “gentleman” used to refer to members of the<br />
English gentry.<br />
3 This account is taken from the opening pages of the minutes of the meeting. NA 1.01.07, inv.nr. 1<strong>25</strong>64.17, no. 20,<br />
fols. 1-53. Resolutien van de vergadering van de Heren XIX te Middelburg, 9 September-16 Oktober, 1645.<br />
4 NA 1.05.01.01, inv.nr. 58. The classic account of the revolt remains C. R. Boxer, The Dutch in Brazil, 1624-1654<br />
(Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1957). See also Hermann Wätjen, O Dominio Colonial Hollandez no Brasil: um Capitulo<br />
da Historia Colonial do Seculo XVII, trans. Pedro Celso Uchoa Cavalcanti (São Paulo: Companhia Editora<br />
Nacional, 1938); Evaldo Cabral de Mello, ed., O Brasil holandês, 1630-1654 (São Paulo: Penguin-Companhia,<br />
2010).<br />
5 Boxer, The Dutch in Brazil, 1624-1654.<br />
3
eported to have said; any money sent there “might as well be thrown into the w<strong>at</strong>er.” 6 His<br />
conclusion would doom the WIC and wh<strong>at</strong> had been a thirty-year effort to cultiv<strong>at</strong>e Brazil as the<br />
centerpiece of a Dutch empire stretching from the New World to West Africa. Dutch forces<br />
would withdraw from Brazil in defe<strong>at</strong> in 1654 and the St<strong>at</strong>es General finally relinquished any<br />
claim to the colony as part of a peace agreement with Portugal signed in 1662. 7<br />
In retrospect, the failure of the “Brazilian adventure” appears inevitable: we have come to<br />
think of the Dutch as merchants, r<strong>at</strong>her than conquistadores or settlers. Countless visitors to<br />
Dutch cities in the seventeenth century commented on the soundness of their financial<br />
institutions, the range and quality of goods available for sale, and the “order and exactness” with<br />
which the Dutch conducted their business. 8 William Temple observed th<strong>at</strong> among the Dutch,<br />
“profit [is] more in request than honor,” while a hundred years l<strong>at</strong>er Adam Smith concluded th<strong>at</strong><br />
in Holland, “it is unfashionable not to be a man of business.” 9 Historians—both in the<br />
Netherlands and abroad—have followed suit, focusing on trade to the exclusion of any other<br />
activity. 10 To take but one of many examples, the historian Anthony Pagden writes th<strong>at</strong><br />
The Dutch, although they became an object of intense scrutiny by the British, were never until the<br />
nineteenth century an imperial power in any meaningful sense, nor ever regarded themselves as<br />
such. The claim by English royalists in the 1660s th<strong>at</strong> the Republic of Holland was seeking a<br />
Universal Monarchy of the sea was an oxymoron. As every imperialist knew, ‘empire’ implied<br />
rulership, and th<strong>at</strong>, on the British and Dutch understanding of the law of n<strong>at</strong>ions, could not be<br />
exercised <strong>at</strong> sea. 11<br />
<br />
6 Copye vande Resolutie van ve Heeren Burgemeesters ende Raden tot Amsterdam. Op’t Stuck van de West-Indische<br />
Compagnie (Amsterdam, 1649). A manuscript copy can be found in the Library of Congress, mm 82004179, no. 3.<br />
The original text reads: “ick niet bevroeden d<strong>at</strong>ter ijets goedts aff komen sall, ende sall alle t geldt in t w<strong>at</strong>er<br />
gesmeten sijn.”<br />
7 Boxer, The Dutch in Brazil, 1624-1654, <strong>25</strong>3.<br />
8 The last phrase is taken from one of the most famous observers of Dutch society, Sir William Temple,<br />
Observ<strong>at</strong>ions upon the United Provinces of The Netherlands, ed. George Clark (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1972).<br />
9 Ibid., 97; Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the N<strong>at</strong>ure and Causes of the Wealth of N<strong>at</strong>ions (Homewood, Illinois:<br />
Richard D. Irwin, 1963), 76. The original edition was published in Edinburgh in 1776.<br />
10 Otto van Rees pointed out this tendency as early as the 1860s. See his, Geschiedenis der Sta<strong>at</strong>huishoudkunde in<br />
Nederland tot het einde der Achttiende Eeuw, vol. 2 (Utrecht: Kemink en Zoon, 1868), 1.<br />
11 Anthony Pagden, Lords of All the World: Ideologies of Empire in Spain, Britain and France c. 1500-c. 1800 (New<br />
Haven: Yale <strong>University</strong> Press, 1995). On English fears of a Dutch "empire of the sea," See also Steven C. A. Pincus,<br />
4
However narrowly one defines “meaningful sense,” Pagden's assertions th<strong>at</strong> the Dutch neither<br />
exercised rulership nor ever regarded themselves as an imperial power can only be sustained by<br />
casting the long shadow of the 1660s back onto the first half of the seventeenth century. 12 During<br />
this period—in effect the heart of the Golden Age—companies chartered by the St<strong>at</strong>es General<br />
seized and <strong>at</strong>tempted to govern the world's richest sugar colony and quite self-consciously<br />
pursued str<strong>at</strong>egies of either conquest or settlement in places as diverse as the Caribbean, southern<br />
Chile, the Hudson and Delaware Valleys, the West Coast of Africa, the Cape of Good Hope,<br />
Ceylon, and the Indonesian Archipelago. 13 In the Atlantic, <strong>at</strong> least, this str<strong>at</strong>egy ultim<strong>at</strong>ely failed,<br />
but erasing the ambitions th<strong>at</strong> lay behind it makes it difficult if not impossible to understand the<br />
competing interests th<strong>at</strong> anim<strong>at</strong>ed Dutch overseas expansion in the first place and why, even in<br />
1649, more than half of Amsterdam's city council disagreed with <strong>Bick</strong>er and argued in favor of<br />
spending the city’s money to save Dutch Brazil. 14<br />
Wh<strong>at</strong> were the company’s aims in Brazil? Who were the men g<strong>at</strong>hered around the table<br />
in Middelburg in the fall of 1645? Wh<strong>at</strong> models did they draw on in formul<strong>at</strong>ing their plans, and<br />
how did they reach collective decisions on commercial and imperial policy? Wh<strong>at</strong> assistance did<br />
they draw from the Dutch st<strong>at</strong>e—or, posed somewh<strong>at</strong> differently, how did a joint stock company<br />
and a decentralized republic notorious for its particularism share the responsibilities of governing<br />
an overseas empire? Finally, wh<strong>at</strong> might this rel<strong>at</strong>ively brief episode be able to tell us about the<br />
<br />
Protestantism and P<strong>at</strong>riotism: Ideologies and the Making of English Foreign Policy, 1650-1668 (Cambridge:<br />
Cambridge <strong>University</strong> Press, 1996); David Armitage, The Ideological Origins of the British Empire (Cambridge:<br />
Cambridge <strong>University</strong> Press, 2000).<br />
12 Here I follow Boxer, who argued th<strong>at</strong> the failure of Dutch Brazil was hardly inevitable, or <strong>at</strong> least th<strong>at</strong> it hardly<br />
appeared so to contemporaries in the early 1640s. See Boxer, The Dutch in Brazil, 1624-1654, 109.<br />
13 C. R. Boxer, The Dutch Seaborne Empire, 1600-1800, (New York: Knopf, 1965). See also Henk den Heijer, De<br />
Geschiedenis van de WIC (Zutphen: Walburg, 2002); Femme Gaastra, The Dutch East India Company: Expansion<br />
and Decline (Zutphen: Walburg Pers, 2003).<br />
14 Of the 36 members of the Amsterdam city council, 17 voted in favor of rescuing Brazil, eleven voted against, and<br />
eight were either absent on the day of the vote or had deceased. See Copye vande Resolutie van de Heeren<br />
Burgemeesters ende Raden tot Amsterdam. Op’t Stuck van de West-Indische Compagnie.<br />
5
nexus of commerce and power for which the Dutch would subsequently become famous? These<br />
are the central questions th<strong>at</strong> motiv<strong>at</strong>e the dissert<strong>at</strong>ion th<strong>at</strong> follows.<br />
Answering them requires a careful re-examin<strong>at</strong>ion of politics within the WIC and a<br />
radical reassessment of the collapse of Dutch Brazil th<strong>at</strong> began in 1645. The dissert<strong>at</strong>ion<br />
proceeds in an unconventional fashion: focusing tightly on negoti<strong>at</strong>ions in the Heren XIX in<br />
Middelburg over a period of only six weeks, it offers an intim<strong>at</strong>e look <strong>at</strong> how policy was made<br />
and recovers the worldview of the company's directors <strong>at</strong> the height of their power, on the<br />
precipice of a disaster th<strong>at</strong> they still believed could be averted. 15 This is made possible by the<br />
survival of detailed minutes for the meeting—one of the only complete sets of minutes th<strong>at</strong><br />
escaped fire and rag merchants in the nineteenth century, and the only meeting for which<br />
scholars can consult both ordinary and secret minutes. Read in conjunction with surviving<br />
minutes from other meetings of the Heren XIX, as well as notes, letters, reports, memoranda, and<br />
the diaries or memoires of individuals who particip<strong>at</strong>ed in the proceedings, these minutes offer<br />
an important altern<strong>at</strong>ive to the printed record as a source for reconstructing company politics.<br />
Self-consciously, and perhaps somewh<strong>at</strong> unfashionably, the dissert<strong>at</strong>ion examines imperial<br />
history from the perspective of a corpor<strong>at</strong>e boardroom. This perspective reveals actors, such as<br />
the nobility, who have been overlooked in the history of Dutch overseas expansion, and<br />
connections, such as th<strong>at</strong> between deb<strong>at</strong>es over free trade and slavery, th<strong>at</strong> have either escaped<br />
notice or been misunderstood in earlier accounts. And it offers an altern<strong>at</strong>ive explan<strong>at</strong>ion for why<br />
<br />
15 Linda Colley and Emma Rothschild have recently pioneered a new perspective on empire th<strong>at</strong> draws on the<br />
intim<strong>at</strong>e experience of, respectively, women and families in the eighteenth century. While quite different from this<br />
approach, this dissert<strong>at</strong>ion draws inspir<strong>at</strong>ion from their concern with reconstructing a coherent, intim<strong>at</strong>e view of<br />
empire. Linda Colley, The Ordeal of Elizabeth Marsh: A Woman in World History (New York: Pantheon, 2007);<br />
Emma Rothschild, The Inner Life of Empires: An Eighteenth-Century History (<strong>Princeton</strong>: <strong>Princeton</strong> <strong>University</strong><br />
Press, 2011).<br />
6
Dutch Brazil failed based on close analysis of negoti<strong>at</strong>ion as a method for studying politics. Just<br />
as in the ball park or the cock ring, much of the Dutch Republic surfaces in the boardroom. 16<br />
2. The West India Company and the Dutch Atlantic<br />
The WIC, and the broader Dutch commercial world of which it was part, emerged during a<br />
transitional period in European history, wh<strong>at</strong> Eric Hobsbawm famously called the “crisis of the<br />
seventeenth century.” 17 The rise of the United Provinces coincided with the rel<strong>at</strong>ive decline of<br />
Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese influence, political and religious strife in England and France,<br />
and warfare, economic stagn<strong>at</strong>ion, and demographic collapse in Germany and Central Europe as<br />
a result of the Thirty Years’ War. Despite fighting their own protracted conflict against the<br />
Habsburg Monarchy from 1568, and hosting a large refugee popul<strong>at</strong>ion in the main cities of<br />
Holland and Zeeland, the United Provinces became substantially wealthier and increasingly<br />
politically assertive. 18 The Union of Utrecht in 1579 cre<strong>at</strong>ed a military alliance between the<br />
seven rebellious provinces and rapidly transformed the St<strong>at</strong>es General into a standing instrument<br />
of government. 19 By the first decade of the seventeenth century, Amsterdam’s popul<strong>at</strong>ion had<br />
grown three-fold and the city had overtaken Antwerp as the center of global commerce and<br />
finance—a position it would retain until <strong>at</strong> least the early 1670s, if not considerably longer. 20 In<br />
<br />
16<br />
The allusion is of course to Clifford Geertz’s analysis of the cock fight: "As much of America surfaces in a ball<br />
park, on a golf links, <strong>at</strong> a race track, or around a poker table, much of Bali surfaces in a cock ring." See “Deep Play:<br />
Notes on the Balinese Cockfight,” in The Interpret<strong>at</strong>ion of Cultures (New York: Basic Books, 1973), 417.<br />
17<br />
E. J. Hobsbawm, “The Crisis of the Seventeenth Century,” in Crisis in Europe, 1560-1660: Essays from Past and<br />
Present, ed. Trevor Aston (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1965), 5–58.<br />
18<br />
Oscar Gelderblom, Zuid-Nederlandse Kooplieden en de Opkomst van de Amsterdamse Stapelmarkt, 1578-1630<br />
(Hilversum: Verloren, 2000).<br />
19<br />
Jon<strong>at</strong>han Israel, The Dutch Republic: Its Rise, Gre<strong>at</strong>ness and Fall, 1477-1806 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1995).<br />
20<br />
Ibid.; Jan de Vries and A. M. van der Woude, The First Modern Economy: Success, Failure, and Perseverance of<br />
the Dutch Economy, 1500-1815 (Cambridge: Cambridge <strong>University</strong> Press, 1997); Carlo M. Cipolla, ed., The<br />
Economic Decline of Empires (London: Methuen, 1970).<br />
7
Europe the Dutch Republic is emblem<strong>at</strong>ic of the shift from the Mediterranean to northwestern<br />
Europe and the Atlantic as the center of power and commerce; in the Atlantic itself the Dutch<br />
were both literal and figur<strong>at</strong>ive intermediaries between a century of largely uncontested Iberian<br />
authority and the emergence of England and France as major colonial powers in North America,<br />
the Caribbean, and West Africa. 21<br />
The general outlines of the Republic's overseas expansion <strong>at</strong> the end of the sixteenth<br />
century are now well established. 22 Following the sack of Antwerp by troops under the Duke of<br />
Parma (1545-1592) in 1585 and new restrictions on northerners' access to the Lisbon market in<br />
the 1590s, merchants in the rebellious provinces chose to seek independent access to colonial<br />
products. This was made possible in part by the financial and intellectual capital th<strong>at</strong> protestant<br />
refugees brought with them from Antwerp, and in part by the presence in the north of a large<br />
merchant marine th<strong>at</strong> could be outfitted for the long journeys to Asia and the Americas. 23<br />
Already in the 1560s the Florentine traveler Lodovico Guicciardini had noted th<strong>at</strong> Holland<br />
“exists principally upon its fishing and shipping” and counted “more than 800 good large sailing<br />
ships,” along with another “600 other ships and bo<strong>at</strong>s which they call fishing busses.” 24 This<br />
fleet gave Holland and Zeeland a dominant position in the herring fisheries and in the bulk trades<br />
in grain and timber with the Baltic. The combin<strong>at</strong>ion of the rel<strong>at</strong>ive advantages of southern and<br />
northern Netherlandish industries allowed the Republic to move into the “rich trades” and to<br />
centralize important commercial functions including warehousing, finance, and the exchange of<br />
<br />
21 The best general account of the Dutch Republic remains Israel, The Dutch Republic.<br />
22 Jon<strong>at</strong>han Israel, Dutch Primacy in World Trade, 1585-1740 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1989). See also Riches<br />
from Atlantic Commerce: Dutch Trans<strong>at</strong>lantic Trade and Shipping, 1585-1817, ed. Johannes Postma and Victor<br />
Enthoven, 1996.<br />
23 Gelderblom, Zuid-Nederlandse Kooplieden en de Opkomst van de Amsterdamse Stapelmarkt, 1578-1630.<br />
24 Lodovico Guicciardini, “Description of the Low Countries,” in The Low Countries in Early Modern Times, ed.<br />
Herbert Harvey Rowen (London: MacMillian, 1972), 10.<br />
8
commercial and geographic inform<strong>at</strong>ion. <strong>25</strong> If, as Simon Schama has shown, the Dutch elite<br />
would become increasingly uneasy with their worldly success, in the first decade of the<br />
seventeenth century they showed every intention “to become as rich as the Spaniards.” 26<br />
Chartered companies played a central role in this process. 27 Already in the early 1590s<br />
companies were organized in Amsterdam, Delft, Enkhuizen, Middelburg, and Rotterdam to trade<br />
in Asian spices. In 1602 the St<strong>at</strong>es General brought these companies together to form the<br />
Vereenigde Oost Indische Compagnie (United East India Company, or VOC), a decision<br />
intended to limit competition, strengthen the Republic, and increase pressure on Portuguese<br />
rivals. 28 Discussions to cre<strong>at</strong>e a company for the West Indies began around the same time, but<br />
were postponed as a condition of the Twelve Years’ Truce with Spain (1609-1621). The WIC<br />
therefore was not established until June of 1621. Fort Nassau, several miles east of the<br />
Portuguese stronghold of Elmina on the Gold Coast, and the settlement <strong>at</strong> New Netherland on the<br />
Hudson River, both established in the 1610s, were also folded into the new company. 29<br />
Just as the Tre<strong>at</strong>y of Tordesillas had divided the world between East and West, the St<strong>at</strong>es<br />
General effectively divided the world between the two chief Dutch companies. However, as<br />
many historians have noted, there were important differences between the VOC and the WIC. 30<br />
<br />
<strong>25</strong><br />
Israel, Dutch Primacy in World Trade, 1585-1740; Maurice Aymard, ed., Dutch Capital and World Capitalism:<br />
Capitalisme Hollondais et Capitalisme Mondial (Cambridge: Cambridge <strong>University</strong> Press, 1982).<br />
26<br />
Simon Schama, The Embarrassment of Riches: An Interpret<strong>at</strong>ion of Dutch Culture in the Golden Age (New York:<br />
Knopf, 1987). The quot<strong>at</strong>ion is from the French envoy Buzanval, cited in Violet Barbour, Capitalism in Amsterdam<br />
in the Seventeenth Century, The Johns Hopkins <strong>University</strong> Studies in Historical and Political Science LXVII<br />
(Baltimore: Johns Hopkins <strong>University</strong> Press, 1950), 26.<br />
27<br />
Israel, Dutch Primacy in World Trade, 1585-1740.<br />
28<br />
On the VOC, see F. S. Gaastra, The Dutch East India Company: Expansion and Decline (Zutphen: Walburg Pers,<br />
2003).<br />
29<br />
Enthoven, Riches from Atlantic Commerce: Dutch Trans<strong>at</strong>lantic Trade and Shipping, 1585-1817; Simon Hart,<br />
The Prehistory of the New Netherland Company: Amsterdam Notarial Records of the First Dutch Voyages to the<br />
Hudson (Amsterdam: City of Amsterdam Press, 1959); J. K. J. Jonge, De Oorsprong van Neerland’s Bezittingen op<br />
de Kust van Guinea (’s-Gravenhage, 1871).<br />
30<br />
Pieter C. Emmer, “The West India Company, 1621-1791: Dutch or Atlantic?,” in Companies and Trade, ed.<br />
Leonard Blussé and Femme Gaastra (Leiden: Leiden <strong>University</strong> Press, 1981), 71–95; Henk den Heijer, De<br />
9
Although the VOC frequently used violence to gain access to Asian markets, including <strong>at</strong>tacks<br />
on Portuguese ships—for the defense of which the jurist Hugo Grotius (1583-1645) became<br />
famous—it engaged primarily in trade. 31 Between 1602 and 1795, it was able to gener<strong>at</strong>e both<br />
substantial profits and consistent dividends for its shareholders. The WIC, by contrast, was from<br />
the outset designed to serve as an instrument in the war against Spain and to <strong>at</strong>tack Spanish<br />
settlements in the New World. Merchants immedi<strong>at</strong>ely recognized the enormous risks involved<br />
in this str<strong>at</strong>egy and were slow to invest: it took almost three years to raise an initial capital of<br />
seven million guilders, the same sum the VOC had raised in less than a month. 32 And merchants'<br />
concerns were not without found<strong>at</strong>ion. Despite the seizure of a Spanish treasure fleet by Piet<br />
Heyn (1577-1629) in 1628 and a string of military successes in the l<strong>at</strong>e 1630s and early 1640s,<br />
the WIC was chronically beset by financial problems; in 1674 it was finally declared bankrupt<br />
and reorganized. The Second WIC, cre<strong>at</strong>ed the same year, never <strong>at</strong>tempted to replic<strong>at</strong>e the grand<br />
designs of the first company and concentr<strong>at</strong>ed instead on the trade in gold and slaves. It was<br />
finally dissolved in 1791. 33<br />
Scholars disagree on the reasons for the WIC's failure. A gener<strong>at</strong>ion of historians writing<br />
in the l<strong>at</strong>e 1950s and early 1960s focused primarily on internal politics. W. J. van Hoboken<br />
argued th<strong>at</strong>, while the WIC proved a valuable military asset, “From an economic point of view it<br />
was, on the contrary, a weak vessel and much under the influence of ancient provincial and<br />
<br />
Geoctrooieerde Compagnie: De VOC en de WIC als Voorlopers van de Naamloze Vennootschap (Amsterdam:<br />
Stichting tot Bevordering der Notariële Wetenschap, 2005).<br />
31<br />
Martine Ittersum, Profit and principle: Hugo Grotius, n<strong>at</strong>ural rights theories and the rise of Dutch power in the<br />
East Indies, 1595-1615 (Leiden: Brill, 2006).<br />
32<br />
J. G. van Dillen, Van Rijkdom en Regenten: Handboek tot de Economische en Sociale Geschiedenis van<br />
Nederland tijdens de Republiek (’s-Gravenhage: Martinus Nijhoff, 1970), 150. During the first half of the<br />
seventeenth century 10 Dutch gulden— transl<strong>at</strong>ed throughout the dissert<strong>at</strong>ion as "guilders," but in the liter<strong>at</strong>ure also<br />
commonly referred to as "Florins"—were equal to approxim<strong>at</strong>ely 60 Flemish pounds or £1 sterling. Ordinary<br />
soldiers in WIC employment received between 10-15 guilders per month in wages. Johan Maurits, Governor<br />
General of Dutch Brazil from 1637-44, received 1,800 guilders per month, plus expenses. A good ship of 300 lasts<br />
could be purchased for <strong>25</strong>,000 guilders.<br />
33<br />
Den Heijer, De Geschiedenis van de WIC.<br />
10
municipal particularism.” Its “rise and decline,” he continued, “were to a large extent determined<br />
by political factors.” 34 Of cardinal importance was the rift between immigrants from the southern<br />
Netherlands and n<strong>at</strong>ive northerners. The former tended to be strict Calvinists, symp<strong>at</strong>hetic to the<br />
Counter-Remonstrants in the gre<strong>at</strong> political and religious schism of the 1610s, monarchists, and<br />
in favor of continuing the war against Spain. The l<strong>at</strong>ter, by contrast, favored the Arminian cause,<br />
promoted urban and provincial liberties, and were s<strong>at</strong>isfied to let go of any territorial claim to the<br />
south. As Johan Elias showed long ago, the fall of Johan van Oldenbarnevelt (1577-1619) and<br />
the triumph of the Counter-Remonstrants in 1619 cre<strong>at</strong>ed a political constell<strong>at</strong>ion extremely<br />
favorable to the WIC, and many of the company's early directors were in fact southerners from<br />
Antwerp. 35 However, with the rise of the Libertine party in the l<strong>at</strong>e 1620s, and especially the<br />
Holland-born brothers Cornelis (1592-1654) and Andries <strong>Bick</strong>er (1586-1652), the city of<br />
Amsterdam became hostile to the company. Van Hoboken concludes th<strong>at</strong> the city’s opposition to<br />
rescuing Brazil, which the <strong>Bick</strong>ers continued to view as a project of “Brabanters and Walloons,”<br />
was decisive. 36 Ideology and faction thus bore the gre<strong>at</strong>est responsibility for the company's<br />
collapse.<br />
Van Hoboken's interpret<strong>at</strong>ion elicited a swift reaction from the economic historian J. G.<br />
van Dillen, who argued th<strong>at</strong>, although southerners and the Counter-Remonstrant faction played<br />
an important role in the early years, this was hardly the case by the 1630s and 1640s. 37 The main<br />
troubles lay in the company's chronic financial situ<strong>at</strong>ion, which Cornelis <strong>Bick</strong>er—who reportedly<br />
sold all his shares in 1629, <strong>at</strong> the height of the market—foresaw earlier than most. In particular,<br />
<br />
34 W. J. van Hoboken, “The Dutch West India Company; the Political Background of Its Rise and Decline,” in<br />
Britain and the Netherlands: Papers Delivered to the Oxford-Netherlands Historical Conference, 1959, ed. J. S.<br />
Bromley and E. H. Kossman (London: Ch<strong>at</strong>to & Windus, 1960), 41–61.42.<br />
35 Johan E. Elias, Geschiedenis van het Amsterdamsche Regentenp<strong>at</strong>ricia<strong>at</strong> (’s-Gravenhage: Martinus Nijhoff,<br />
1923). See also Jan den Tex, Oldenbarnevelt, 2 vols. (Cambridge: Cambridge <strong>University</strong> Press, 1973).<br />
36 Van Hoboken, “The Dutch West India Company; the Political Background of Its Rise and Decline,” 60.<br />
37 J. G. van Dillen, “De West-Indische Compagnie, het Calvinism en de Politiek,” Tijdschrift voor Geschiedenis 74<br />
(1961): 145–171.<br />
11
Van Dillen argued th<strong>at</strong> over time the economic interests of Amsterdam and Zeeland began to<br />
drift apart. Zeeland was concerned th<strong>at</strong> an end to hostilities with Spain might lead to the re-<br />
opening of the River Scheldt, and thus competition from Antwerp, and was thre<strong>at</strong>ened by the<br />
growing importance of Rotterdam, to which the English Merchant Adventurers had moved in<br />
1636. 38 By contrast, especially after 1640, Amsterdam's merchants had developed a profitable<br />
trade with Portugal and in the Mediterranean th<strong>at</strong> was better served by peace than by war. Van<br />
Dillen pointed out th<strong>at</strong> the “system of apportioning the gre<strong>at</strong> companies into regional chambers<br />
[...] worked to protect the smaller trading cities from the magnetic power of Holland, and<br />
especially Amsterdam.” 39 It was therefore in Zeeland's interest to maintain the company and its<br />
monopoly, while Amsterdam’s interests lay in free trade.<br />
At a more general level, Van Dillen rejected as “utopian” wh<strong>at</strong> he interpreted as Van<br />
Hoboken's nostalgia for the Dutch colony in Brazil—a nostalgia shared by two of the colony's<br />
gre<strong>at</strong>est historians, the German Hermann Wätjen and the Englishman Charles Boxer. 40 Boxer in<br />
particular argued th<strong>at</strong> the loss of Brazil might have been averted if Amsterdam had shown<br />
gre<strong>at</strong>er concern in the l<strong>at</strong>e 1640s, for instance by organizing a blockade of Bahia to end<br />
Portuguese support to the revolt. 41 To Van Dillen this was absurd: the company could never have<br />
enforced a monopoly on its main export, sugar, and, despite the considerable efforts of Johan<br />
Maurits van Nassau-Siegen (1604-1679), the charism<strong>at</strong>ic Governor General of Dutch Brazil from<br />
1637-1644, the company could never <strong>at</strong>tract the number of settlers necessary to develop and<br />
<br />
38 The Merchant Adventurers first moved from Middelburg to Delft in 1621. On the Merchant Adventurers, see<br />
Robert Brenner, Merchants and Revolution: Commercial Change, Political Conflict, and London’s Overseas<br />
Traders, 1550-1653 (London: Verso, 2003).<br />
39 Van Dillen, “De West-Indische Compagnie, het Calvinism en de Politiek,” 167. “Het systeem van de indeling der<br />
grote compagnieen in regionale Kamers—d<strong>at</strong> alleen in onze Republiek bestond—werkte al seen bescherming van de<br />
kleinere handelscentra tegende zuigkrachtvan Holland, in ‘t bijzonder van Amsterdam.”<br />
40 Boxer, The Dutch in Brazil, 1624-1654; Wätjen, O Dominio Colonial Hollandez no Brasil: Um Capitulo da<br />
Historia Colonial do Seculo XVII.<br />
41 Boxer, The Dutch in Brazil, 1624-1654, <strong>25</strong>5-<strong>25</strong>8.<br />
12
defend the colony. 42 Economic interests and constraints, in other words, were far more important<br />
than ideology or faction in explaining the company's failure.<br />
More recent studies have echoed these themes, but in line with historiographical trends,<br />
especially in the United St<strong>at</strong>es, they have shifted to exploring the company's f<strong>at</strong>e in an Atlantic<br />
context. 43 While this has brought Dutch expansion history into a productive convers<strong>at</strong>ion with<br />
the histories of other European powers over the longer period 1500-1800, it has diverted<br />
<strong>at</strong>tention away from the company itself. In a special issue for the Dutch journal Itinerario,<br />
published in 1999, Pieter Emmer and Wim Klooster argued provoc<strong>at</strong>ively th<strong>at</strong> there never had<br />
been a Dutch Atlantic. 44 “A real Dutch empire incorpor<strong>at</strong>ing an integr<strong>at</strong>ed set of colonies and<br />
trading forts on both sides of the Ocean,” they wrote, “only existed for a period of fifteen years,<br />
between 1630 and 1645.” Both before and after, Dutch merchants focused on trade, but the<br />
cultural, demographic, commercial, and political impact of Dutch activities was quite limited. In<br />
the face of growing English naval superiority, the Dutch could never impose a coherent Atlantic<br />
system. 45 This interpret<strong>at</strong>ion, in turn, has been criticized by Victor Enthoven. Whereas Emmer<br />
and Klooster argued th<strong>at</strong> cooper<strong>at</strong>ion between Dutch merchants and other Europeans was<br />
evidence for the absence of a genuinely “Dutch” Atlantic, Enthoven interprets this as evidence<br />
for the ubiquity of Dutch merchants and their influence as middlemen and brokers, especially in<br />
the Caribbean and Virginia. The WIC, which “played no role wh<strong>at</strong>soever” in the trades in<br />
tobacco and sugar, two of the most important Atlantic commodities, “was never a big player in<br />
<br />
42<br />
Van Dillen, “De West-Indische Compagnie, het Calvinism en de Politiek,” 168-70.<br />
43<br />
For a recent summary review, see Victor Enthoven and Martine Julia van Ittersum, “Review Article: The Mouse<br />
th<strong>at</strong> Roars: Dutch Atlantic History,” Journal of Early Modern History 10, no. 3 (2006): 221-230.<br />
44<br />
Pieter C. Emmer and Wim Klooster, “The Dutch Atlantic, 1600-1800: Expansion Without Empire,” Itinerario 23<br />
(1999): 48-69.<br />
45<br />
This interpret<strong>at</strong>ion may be convincing for the eighteenth century, but it hardly serves to explain the Dutch failure<br />
to build an Atlantic empire in the first half of the seventeenth century, up to and including the Second Anglo-Dutch<br />
war, when the Dutch navy under Cornelis Tromp and Michiel de Ruyter scored numerous important victories over<br />
both England and Spain. C. H. Wilson, Profit and Power: A Study of England and the Dutch Wars (London:<br />
Longmans, 1957).<br />
13
the Western Hemisphere.” 46 Far from explaining the company's collapse, Enthoven tre<strong>at</strong>s it as<br />
insignificant.<br />
As a result, over the past half-century very little research has been done on the company,<br />
and Van Dillen's complaint about the “scarce liter<strong>at</strong>ure over its internal history” remains as true<br />
today as it was when he wrote in the early 1960s. 47 There are a number of excellent studies of<br />
Dutch colonies or trading outposts in New Netherland, the Caribbean, Brazil, and, to a lesser<br />
extent, West Africa, and a single detailed study of one of the company's five chambers,<br />
Groningen. 48 But the deb<strong>at</strong>es over company politics and organiz<strong>at</strong>ion have advanced rel<strong>at</strong>ively<br />
little. An important exception is the work of Henk den Heijer, who has published both a book-<br />
length history of the WIC and a compar<strong>at</strong>ive analysis of the WIC and VOC as forerunners of the<br />
modern limited liability partnership. 49 In the last three years there also have been studies of<br />
individual directors: Janny Venema has written a new biography of Killaen van Rensselaer<br />
(1586-1643), p<strong>at</strong>roon (landholder with manorial rights) of the most successful settlement in New<br />
Netherland; Ben Teensma has produced an elegant edition of a newly discovered manuscript by<br />
the Leiden scholar and director Johannes de Laet (1581-1649); and Jaap Jacobs has written a<br />
short life-sketch of Pieter Stuyvesant (c. 1612-1672), Director General of Curaçao and New<br />
<br />
46 Enthoven and Van Ittersum, “Review Article: The Mouse Th<strong>at</strong> Roars: Dutch Atlantic History,” 222.<br />
47 Van Dillen, 150.<br />
48 A sample of these studies, organized regionally, includes Oliver A. Rink, Holland on the Hudson: An Economic<br />
and Social History of Dutch New York (Ithaca: Cornell <strong>University</strong> Press, 1986); Van Cleaf Bachman, Peltries or<br />
Plant<strong>at</strong>ions: The Economic Policies of the Dutch West India Company in New Netherland, 1623-1639 (Baltimore:<br />
Johns Hopkins Press, 1969); Jaap Jacobs, The Colony of New Netherland: A Dutch Settlement in Seventeenth-<br />
Century America (Ithaca: Cornell <strong>University</strong> Press, 2009); Janny Venema, Beverwijk: A Dutch Village on the<br />
American Frontier, 1652-1664 (Albany: St<strong>at</strong>e <strong>University</strong> of New York Press, 2003); Cornelis Christiaan Goslinga,<br />
The Dutch in the Caribbean and on the Wild Coast 1580-1680 (Gainesville: <strong>University</strong> of Florida Press, 1971);<br />
Wätjen, O Dominio Colonial Hollandez no Brasil: Um Capitulo da Historia Colonial do Seculo XVII; Boxer, The<br />
Dutch in Brazil, 1624-1654; E. van den Boogaart, Hendrik Richard Hoetink, and Peter James Palmer Whitehead,<br />
eds., Johan Maurits van Nassau-Siegen, 1604-1679: A Humanist Prince in Europe and Brazil: Essays on the<br />
Occasion of the Tercentenary of His De<strong>at</strong>h (The Hague: Johan Maurits van Nassau Stichting, 1979); Henk den<br />
Heijer, Goud, Ivoor en Slaven: Scheepvaart en Handel van de Tweede Westindische Compagnie op Afrika, 1674-<br />
1740 (Zutphen: Walburg, 1997).K R<strong>at</strong>elband, Nederlanders in West-Afrika, 1600-1650: Angola, Kongo en São<br />
Tomé (Zutphen: Walburg Pers, 2000).<br />
49 Den Heijer, De Geschiedenis van de WIC; Den Heijer, De Geoctrooieerde Compagnie.<br />
14
Netherland, as the prelude to a full-length biographical tre<strong>at</strong>ment. 50 These new works are already<br />
changing the way we think about the WIC, but there is still much work to be done to tie together<br />
the various threads and provide a coherent synthesis.<br />
Except for two now d<strong>at</strong>ed works on Willem Usselincx (1567-1647), the early advoc<strong>at</strong>e<br />
for cre<strong>at</strong>ing a Dutch company for the West Indies, almost no research has been done in the field<br />
of intellectual history. 51 Benjamin Schmidt’s excellent study of the rel<strong>at</strong>ionship between anti-<br />
Spanish narr<strong>at</strong>ives and the evolution of Dutch images of the New World is an important<br />
exception. 52 In a subsequent article Schmidt has argued for an altern<strong>at</strong>ive approach to Atlantic<br />
history th<strong>at</strong> asks<br />
not if the term and circumstances of an Atlantic system apply, but if they were applied <strong>at</strong> the<br />
time. Here the issue is not so much whether the Atlantic world of trade and expansion existed, but<br />
whether an idea of the Atlantic existed and how this idea might have articul<strong>at</strong>ed a distinctly<br />
Dutch (in this case) sense of Atlantic space. 53<br />
This approach has the virtue of referring back to the c<strong>at</strong>egories of the actors themselves: while<br />
Schmidt uses it to explore represent<strong>at</strong>ions in printing and map-making, it could equally be<br />
applied to the outlook of the company’s board of directors, for whom the Atlantic existed in the<br />
concrete form of the boundaries deline<strong>at</strong>ed in the company’s charter. 54 The question is how they<br />
conceived of this space as a commercial and imperial resource, wh<strong>at</strong> if any moral dilemmas and<br />
<br />
50<br />
Janny Venema, Kiliaen van Rensselaer (1586-1643): Designing a New World (Hilversum: Uitgeverij Verloren,<br />
2010); Johannes De Laet, Suiker, Verfhout & Tabak: Het Braziliaanse Handboek van Johannes de Laet, 1637, ed. B.<br />
N. Teensma (Zutphen: Walburg Pers, 2009); Jaap Jacobs, Petrus Stuyvesant: Een Levensschets (Amsterdam:<br />
Bakker, 2009).<br />
51<br />
J. Franklin Jameson, Willem Usselinx: Founder of the Dutch and Swedish West India Companies (New York: G.<br />
P. Putnam’s Sons, 1887).; C<strong>at</strong>harina Ligtenberg, Willem Usselinx (Utrecht: A. Oosthoek, 1914).<br />
52<br />
Benjamin Schmidt, Innocence Abroad: The Dutch Imagin<strong>at</strong>ion and the New World, 1570-1670 (Cambridge:<br />
Cambridge <strong>University</strong> Press, 2001).<br />
53<br />
Benjamin Schmidt, “The Dutch Atlantic: From Provincialism to Globalism,” in Atlantic History: A Critical<br />
Appraisal, ed. Jack P. Greene and Philip D. Morgan (Oxford: Oxford <strong>University</strong> Press, 2009), 164.<br />
54<br />
For thinking about the rel<strong>at</strong>ionship between agency and historical method, see William H. Sewell Jr., Logics of<br />
history: social theory and social transform<strong>at</strong>ion (Chicago: <strong>University</strong> of Chicago Press, 2005).<br />
15
anxieties it gener<strong>at</strong>ed, and wh<strong>at</strong> plans they made to profitably integr<strong>at</strong>e and govern its various<br />
parts.<br />
A better understanding of these problems will help to inform not only Dutch history, but<br />
also broader deb<strong>at</strong>es about the diffusion of ideas and practices within seventeenth century<br />
Europe. Especially important here is England, where Joyce Appleby has taught us th<strong>at</strong> the Dutch<br />
served as a major “source of evidence” for merchants’ analysis of economic problems and where<br />
proposals for a West India Company on the Dutch model were flo<strong>at</strong>ed repe<strong>at</strong>edly in Parliament<br />
from the l<strong>at</strong>e 1620s to the early 1640s. 55 Jacob Soll’s work on France and Erik Thomson’s on<br />
Sweden show th<strong>at</strong> the Dutch example was influential there too, if somewh<strong>at</strong> l<strong>at</strong>er, as part of wh<strong>at</strong><br />
Istvan Hont has identified as a consistent project by European territorial monarchies to<br />
appropri<strong>at</strong>e and reproduce the advantages of overseas commerce. 56<br />
At the same time, historians have tended to interpret the Dutch as a source for<br />
commercial ideology, without examining the sources on which the Dutch themselves drew. Eco<br />
Haitsma Mulier has shown the powerful influence of Venice on Dutch political thought in the<br />
seventeenth century, as the ideal model for a stable maritime republic. 57 But for establishing and<br />
governing colonies in the New World surely Spanish or Portuguese models would have been<br />
more appropri<strong>at</strong>e, as J. H. Elliot has shown to be the case in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century<br />
<br />
55 Joyce Oldham Appleby, Economic Thought and Ideology in Seventeenth-Century England (<strong>Princeton</strong>: <strong>Princeton</strong><br />
<strong>University</strong> Press, 1978); John C. Appleby, “An Associ<strong>at</strong>ion for the West Indies? English Plans for a West India<br />
Company 1621-29,” The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History XV, no. 3 (<strong>May</strong> 1987): 213-241; Karen<br />
Ordahl Kupperman, Providence Island, 1630-1641: The Other Puritan Colony (Cambridge: Cambridge <strong>University</strong><br />
Press, 1993); Ted McCormick, William Petty and the Ambitions of Political Arithmetic (Oxford: Oxford <strong>University</strong><br />
Press, 2009); Lisa Jardine, Going Dutch: How England Plundered Holland’s Glory (London: Harper Press, 2008).<br />
56 Jacob Soll, “Accounting for Government: Holland and the Rise of Political Economy in Seventeenth-Century<br />
Europe,” Journal of Interdisciplinary History XL, no. 2 (Autumn 2009): 215-238; Erik Thomson, “The Dutch<br />
Miracle, Modified: Hugo Grotius’s Mare Liberum, Commercial Governance and Imperial War in the Early-<br />
Seventeenth Century,” Gr<strong>at</strong>iana 30 (2009): 107-130; Istvan Hont, Jealousy of Trade: Intern<strong>at</strong>ional Competition and<br />
the N<strong>at</strong>ion-St<strong>at</strong>e in Historical Perspective (Cambridge: Harvard <strong>University</strong> Press, 2005).<br />
57 Eco O. G. Haitsma Mulier, The Myth of Venice and Dutch Republican Thought in the Seventeenth Century, trans.<br />
Gerard T. Moran (Assen: Van Gorcum, 1980).<br />
16
England. 58 In his sweeping history of European coloniz<strong>at</strong>ion, first published in 1770, the abbé<br />
Guillaume-Thomas Raynal observed th<strong>at</strong> the Dutch had taught Spain and Portugal a lesson in the<br />
benefits of industry and commerce:<br />
But the two n<strong>at</strong>ions th<strong>at</strong> had subdued the East and West Indies, neglected arts and agriculture.<br />
They imagined everything was to be obtained by gold, without considering th<strong>at</strong> it is labor alone<br />
th<strong>at</strong> procures it: they were convinced, though l<strong>at</strong>e, and <strong>at</strong> their own expense, th<strong>at</strong> the industry<br />
which they lost, was more valuable than the riches they acquired; and the Dutch taught them this<br />
severe instruction. 59<br />
This quot<strong>at</strong>ion represents the reforming <strong>at</strong>titude and supreme confidence of the l<strong>at</strong>e eighteenth<br />
century. But two centuries earlier, when Spain and Portugal ruled the seas, might not the Dutch<br />
have learned some lessons from them as well?<br />
Equally important to these questions of inter-imperial learning is to re-evalu<strong>at</strong>e the<br />
political geography of the Dutch Republic itself. With some exceptions, non-Dutch scholars have<br />
tended to read the history of Amsterdam or of Holland as represent<strong>at</strong>ive of the United Provinces<br />
as a whole. 60 Amsterdam was by far the wealthiest and most populous of Holland's cities, and the<br />
Province of Holland paid slightly more than 58% of the St<strong>at</strong>es General’s total budget, so the<br />
emphasis is not unjustified. But other parts of Holland did not always share Amsterdam's views<br />
and other provinces differed dram<strong>at</strong>ically from Holland in language, social structure, and<br />
outlook. The failure to take a wider geographical perspective is particularly problem<strong>at</strong>ic in the<br />
case of the WIC, which (compared to the VOC) drew a disproportion<strong>at</strong>e amount of its initial<br />
<br />
58 J. H. Elliott, Empires of the Atlantic World: Britain and Spain in America 1492-1830 (New Haven: Yale<br />
<strong>University</strong> Press, 2006); See also Sophus A. Reinert, Transl<strong>at</strong>ing Empire: Emul<strong>at</strong>ion and the Origins of Political<br />
Economy (Cambridge: Harvard <strong>University</strong> Press, 2011).<br />
59 The quot<strong>at</strong>ion is based on the English transl<strong>at</strong>ion of 1777 as excerpted in Henry C. Clark, Commerce, Culture, &<br />
Liberty: Readings on Capitalism Before Adam Smith (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2003), 613. A complete modern<br />
edition in English is Guillaume Thomas Raynal, Philosophical and Political History of the Settlements and Trade of<br />
the Europeans in the East and West Indies, trans. J. O. Justamond, vol. 1 (New York: Negro Universities Press,<br />
1969).<br />
60 An important exception is Israel, The Dutch Republic.<br />
17
capital from Zeeland in the south and Groningen in the north, and from Arnhem, Deventer, and<br />
other towns along the German border. 61 These towns, for example, provided the bulk of the<br />
noblemen who filled the St<strong>at</strong>es General’s armies and were most directly affected by the war. 62<br />
Despite this complic<strong>at</strong>ed political geography, Van Dillen, Van Hoboken, and others have<br />
focused largely on the antagonism between Zeeland and Holland, and especially Amsterdam.<br />
There is no question th<strong>at</strong> this antagonism was of cardinal importance, but it tells us little about<br />
the role of the other provinces in providing crucial support to positions taken by Amsterdam and<br />
Zeeland or pushing specific policies of their own. In addition, the discussion thus far has looked<br />
<strong>at</strong> company politics through the lens of the provinces, r<strong>at</strong>her than the chambers themselves, in<br />
effect denying any agency to either the directors or the company’s board—the two groups legally<br />
charged with the management of the company. Did the Amsterdam chamber, which included<br />
several strong advoc<strong>at</strong>es for Brazil, as well as represent<strong>at</strong>ives from both Leiden and Haarlem,<br />
share the views of the Amsterdam city council? We simply don't know, and this constrains our<br />
ability to understand company politics.<br />
Even more opaque is the role played by the St<strong>at</strong>es General. Several scholars, including<br />
Boxer and Den Heijer, frequently refer to the St<strong>at</strong>es General’s role in guiding company politics,<br />
but without indic<strong>at</strong>ing either who was involved or whether within circles in The Hague there<br />
developed a particular perspective on West Indian affairs. 63 Henk van Nierop has shown how<br />
some members of Holland's nobility devoted themselves to serving on committees in the St<strong>at</strong>es<br />
General, and Paul Knevel has described the evolution of a professional class of lawyers, scribes,<br />
<br />
61 Israel, Dutch Primacy in World Trade, 1585-1740.<br />
62 On the military frontier, see Willem Frijhoff and Marijke Spies, 1650: Hard-Won Unity, Dutch Culture in a<br />
European Perspective (Assen: Royal van Gorcum, 2004), 152-155.<br />
63 Boxer, The Dutch in Brazil, 1624-1654; Den Heijer, De Geschiedenis van de WIC.<br />
18
and other functionaries who staffed the institutions of government in The Hague. 64 Wh<strong>at</strong> role did<br />
these individuals play in the company? Van Dillen’s argument about interests is predic<strong>at</strong>ed on<br />
the observ<strong>at</strong>ion th<strong>at</strong> the company’s directors were, with the exception of De Laet, ordinary<br />
“money-grubbing” merchants. 65 But this hardly applies to noblemen and courtiers such as Johan<br />
van Goch (c. 1581-1637), Gerard van Arnhem (1598-1645), and Hendrik van der Capellen (c.<br />
1591-1659) who for <strong>at</strong> least three decades both represented the St<strong>at</strong>es General in the meetings of<br />
the Heren XIX and controlled discussions of the company’s affairs in the St<strong>at</strong>es General. It also<br />
fails to take account of the Princes of Orange, Maurits of Nassau (1567-16<strong>25</strong>) and Frederik<br />
Hendrik (1584-1647), who strongly supported the company, often wrote letters on its behalf, and<br />
played a crucial role medi<strong>at</strong>ing compromises between its five chambers. 66 A fresh understanding<br />
of company politics th<strong>at</strong> can address these questions requires looking inside the company.<br />
3. Meetings and the Practice of Politics<br />
How does one look inside a company? The answer has much to do with the survival of sources.<br />
For the VOC the scholar can consult nearly unbroken series of meeting minutes and<br />
correspondence, often in duplic<strong>at</strong>e, for a nearly two hundred-year period from 1602-1796. 67 By<br />
contrast, the papers of the WIC were largely destroyed by fire or sold to rag merchants in the<br />
mid-nineteenth century. 68 Wh<strong>at</strong> little remains is housed in the company’s own archive and in a<br />
<br />
64<br />
H. F. K. van Nierop, Van Ridders tot Regenten: de Hollandse Adel in de Zestiende en de Eerste Helft van de<br />
Zeventiende Eeuw (Amsterdam: De B<strong>at</strong>aafsche Leeuw, 1990); Paul Knevel, Het Haagse Bureau: 17-eeuwse<br />
Ambtenaren tussen Sta<strong>at</strong>sbelang en Eigenbelang (Amsterdam: Bert Bakker, 2001).<br />
65<br />
Van Dillen, “De West-Indische Compagnie, het Calvinism en de Politiek,” 157. Van Dillen uses the term<br />
“geldwolven.”<br />
66<br />
Kees Zandvliet, Maurits: Prins van Oranje (Zwolle: Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam en Uitgeverij Waanders, 2000); J.<br />
J. Poelhekke, Frederik Hendrik, Prins van Oranje: een Biografisch Drieluik (Zutphen: Walburg Pers, 1978).<br />
67<br />
NA 1.04.02.<br />
68 Den Heijer, De Geschiedenis van de WIC.<br />
19
number of document series within the archives of the St<strong>at</strong>es General <strong>at</strong> N<strong>at</strong>ionaal Archief in The<br />
Hague. 69 Outside of these collections there are remarkably few priv<strong>at</strong>e papers, personal<br />
correspondence, or journals and memoires composed by company directors—wh<strong>at</strong> Dutch and<br />
German historians refer to as egodocumenten (literally, “ego documents,” or those in which the<br />
author records his or her personal experiences and perspective). 70 This dearth of sources,<br />
especially compared to those for studying other European elites, makes reconstructing directors’<br />
ideology and outlook especially difficult. In a recent edited collection on the Self-Perception of<br />
Early Modern Capitalists, the Dutch economic historian Clé Lesger lamented the fact th<strong>at</strong>,<br />
“Although the city housed a large trading community, early modern Amsterdam's merchants<br />
have left us almost no documents in which they explicitly express their worldview.” Even<br />
apparently promising sources such as the papers of the merchant and regent Cornelis Pietersz.<br />
Hooft (1581-1647), Lesger continues, “are mainly comments on resolutions passed by municipal<br />
or provincial authorities.” 71<br />
The fragmentary and largely bureaucr<strong>at</strong>ic n<strong>at</strong>ure of these documents has discouraged<br />
many scholars. Nevertheless, a key hypothesis motiv<strong>at</strong>ing this dissert<strong>at</strong>ion is th<strong>at</strong> the<br />
deliber<strong>at</strong>ions of municipal and provincial authorities—or, in this case, the WIC's board of<br />
directors, which mirrored their structure—can be more cre<strong>at</strong>ively mined than they have been thus<br />
far. The records of these deliber<strong>at</strong>ions are especially rich for two reasons: first, meetings played a<br />
<br />
69 Individual documents or bundles of documents rel<strong>at</strong>ed to the company can also be found sc<strong>at</strong>tered throughout<br />
Dutch city and provincial archives, or abroad. Collections in the United St<strong>at</strong>es with holdings of m<strong>at</strong>erial rel<strong>at</strong>ed to<br />
the WIC include, among others, the New York Public Library, the Huntington Library, the Library of Congress, the<br />
<strong>University</strong> of Pennsylvania Libraries, and the John Carter Brown Library.<br />
70 Rudolf Dekker, “Egodocumenten tot 1814: Egodocumenten van Noord-Nederlanders van de Zestiende tot Begin<br />
Negentiende Eeuw,” 1993, http://www.egodocument.net/egodocumententot1814.html; Lucia F. Werneck Xavier,<br />
“Het Gebruik van Egodocumenten en Nederlands Brazilië: de Memorie van Kolonel Christoffel Arciszewski,” in<br />
Brazilië in de Nederlandse Archieven, 1624-1654, ed. Marianne L. Wiesebron (Leiden: Research School CNWS,<br />
2008), 130–149.<br />
71 Clé Lesger, “Merchants in Charge: The Self-Perception of Amsterdam Merchants, ca. 1550-1700,” in The Self-<br />
Perception of Early Modern Capitalists, ed. Margaret C. Jacob and C<strong>at</strong>herine Secretan (New York: Palgrave<br />
Macmillan, 2008), 75-76.<br />
20
particularly important role within the oligarchic and decentralized political structure of the<br />
United Provinces and, second, meetings offer a largely untapped source for examining the<br />
practical negoti<strong>at</strong>ion of policy.<br />
John Kenneth Galbraith is said to have quipped th<strong>at</strong> “meetings are indispensable when<br />
you don't want to do anything,” but in the Dutch Republic they were in fact the heart and soul of<br />
politics. As many historians have pointed out, the Dutch Republic was a meeting society. 72<br />
Following the revolt from Habsburg authority in the 1560s, and several abortive efforts to <strong>at</strong>tract<br />
the protection of another European monarch, the Tre<strong>at</strong>y of Utrecht cre<strong>at</strong>ed a system of<br />
government in which urban and provincial assemblies, represented <strong>at</strong> the St<strong>at</strong>es General, were<br />
largely responsible for decision-making. This system—which built upon, among other things, a<br />
long tradition of locally managing w<strong>at</strong>er-works—enhanced the power of urban magistr<strong>at</strong>es in<br />
rel<strong>at</strong>ion to the remaining elements of the nobility and increased the importance of committees,<br />
boards, and other represent<strong>at</strong>ive bodies for deliber<strong>at</strong>ing on issues of public concern. 73 It gave rise<br />
to wh<strong>at</strong> Wilbert van Vree calls “Europe's first meeting class” and, with it, a rel<strong>at</strong>ively horizontal<br />
political system in which discussion and consensus, r<strong>at</strong>her than hierarchy and command, played<br />
a central role. 74 It was not simply th<strong>at</strong> the Dutch met often, or th<strong>at</strong> so many people particip<strong>at</strong>ed in<br />
these meetings, but th<strong>at</strong> meetings were constituitive of political authority to a gre<strong>at</strong>er extent than<br />
elsewhere in Europe.<br />
Among Dutch historians, this aspect of political culture is referred to as discussieculture<br />
(discussion culture), a concept th<strong>at</strong> helps to explain both the rel<strong>at</strong>ively open and inclusive<br />
<br />
72 Wilbert van Vree, Meetings, Manners, and Civiliz<strong>at</strong>ion: The Development of Modern Meeting Behaviour<br />
(London: Leicester <strong>University</strong> Press, 1999); Hank te Velde, Dennis Bos, and Maurits Ebben, eds., Harmonie in<br />
Holland: het Poldermodel van 1500 tot Nu (Amsterdam: Bert Bakker, 2008). A recent summary can be found in<br />
Frijhoff and Spies, 1650: Hard-Won Unity.<br />
73 Te Velde, Bos, and Ebben, Harmonie in Holland: het Poldermodel van 1500 tot Nu.<br />
74 Van Vree, Meetings, Manners, and Civiliz<strong>at</strong>ion, 107.<br />
21
character of Dutch political institutions and the sometimes slow, even dysfunctional pace of<br />
political decision-making. With power and authority sc<strong>at</strong>tered among dozens of city councils,<br />
provincial assemblies, synods, admiralties, and the St<strong>at</strong>es General, the st<strong>at</strong>e itself was less a<br />
clearly defined locus of sovereignty or a monopoly on the legitim<strong>at</strong>e use of force than it was, in<br />
effect, a system of meetings. 75 As Anne Goldgar has shown, this system cre<strong>at</strong>ed serious<br />
problems when one needed swift resolution to a particular problem: in the wake of the Tulip<br />
Bubble, which popped in 1637, litigants were referred from one assembly to the next, and<br />
sometimes back again, before they were able to find redress for their petitions. 76 In cases rel<strong>at</strong>ing<br />
to foreign policy or war this could be quite damaging, though, as Guido de Bruin has pointed out,<br />
the deliber<strong>at</strong>ive n<strong>at</strong>ure of decision-making may have offered important advantages as well:<br />
First, the large number of voting provinces [within the St<strong>at</strong>es General] and parts guaranteed a<br />
careful process of decision-making and a consistent line of policy, contrasting favorably with the<br />
politics of the absolute monarchies. Second, the str<strong>at</strong>ified process of decision-making fostered a<br />
large measure of involvement from provincial and local authorities, an unusual interest on the<br />
part of the public and, consequently, a reasonable inclin<strong>at</strong>ion to cooper<strong>at</strong>e, unlike the monarchies.<br />
Third, the broad base of particip<strong>at</strong>ion considerably reduced the influence of political corruption. 77<br />
Thus, De Bruin concludes, “the form of government in the Dutch Republic does not deserve the<br />
neg<strong>at</strong>ive judgment it has received from foreign contemporaries, eighteenth-century reformers,<br />
and n<strong>at</strong>ionalist historians.” 78<br />
De Bruin and Van Vree have both shown the extent to which power was exercised not<br />
only in formal assemblies, but in the smaller ad hoc committees to which many issues were<br />
<br />
75<br />
The reference is to Max Weber’s well-known definition of the st<strong>at</strong>e in his essay “Politics as a Voc<strong>at</strong>ion”: “Today,<br />
however, we have to say th<strong>at</strong> a st<strong>at</strong>e is a human community th<strong>at</strong> (successfully) claims the monopoly of the legitim<strong>at</strong>e<br />
use of physical force within a given territory.” On the variety of st<strong>at</strong>e forms in early modern Europe, see Hendrik<br />
Spruyt, The Sovereign St<strong>at</strong>e and its Competitors (<strong>Princeton</strong>: <strong>Princeton</strong> <strong>University</strong> Press, 1994).<br />
76<br />
Anne Goldgar, Tulipmania: Money, Honor, and Knowledge in the Dutch Golden Age (Chicago: <strong>University</strong> of<br />
Chicago Press, 2007).<br />
77<br />
Guido de Bruin, Geheimhouding en Verraad: de Geheimhouding van Sta<strong>at</strong>szaken ten tijde van de Republiek,<br />
1600-1750 (’s-Gravenhage: SDU Uitgeverij, 1991), 616.<br />
78<br />
Ibid.<br />
22
eferred during the course of discussion. 79 In contrast to the larger meetings, these committees<br />
were staffed disproportion<strong>at</strong>ely by leading regents or noblemen, and by a growing cadre of semi-<br />
permanent functionaries th<strong>at</strong> served the St<strong>at</strong>es General and other bodies. 80 The committee<br />
system, which grew in importance during the stadholdership of Frederik Hendrik in the 1630s<br />
and especially the 1640s, helped to streamline decision-making and to preserve secrecy. 81 It also<br />
cre<strong>at</strong>ed opportunities for external influence and manipul<strong>at</strong>ion, either by the stadholder and his<br />
affili<strong>at</strong>es or by specific interest groups. The Province of Holland, for example, was famous for<br />
<strong>at</strong>tempting to force important decisions in the St<strong>at</strong>es General into committees it could control, or<br />
into the corridors, offices, or inns where deputies lodged in order to ensure outcomes in its own<br />
favor. 82<br />
These practices highlight the interplay between formal and informal power within<br />
meetings and other deliber<strong>at</strong>ive bodies. Just as the Collegio in Venice could take no decision<br />
concerning expenditures of more than <strong>25</strong> duc<strong>at</strong>s, but in practice wielded significant authority by<br />
virtue of its responsibility to clear any legisl<strong>at</strong>ion to be approved in the Sen<strong>at</strong>e, rules binding the<br />
conduct of meetings in the Dutch Republic had important implic<strong>at</strong>ions for the ways th<strong>at</strong><br />
decisions were made in practice. 83 In the St<strong>at</strong>es of Holland, for instance, the ridderschap (council<br />
of noblemen), which represented the nobility and surrounding countryside, always spoke first,<br />
followed by the city of Dordrecht. The first speaker set the tone for the entire discussion, a fact<br />
rooted in a longer history, before the Revolt, of maintaining consensus as a counterweight to the<br />
<br />
79 Ibid.; Van Vree, Meetings, Manners, and Civiliz<strong>at</strong>ion.<br />
80 Knevel, Het Haagse bureau.<br />
81 Pieter Geyl, The Netherlands in the Seventeenth Century: Part 1, 1609-1648 (London: Ernest Benn, 1961), 133–<br />
139; Robert Fruin, Geschiedenis der Sta<strong>at</strong>sinstellingen in Nederland tot den val der Republiek (’s-Gravenhage,<br />
1901: Martinus Nijhoff, 1901), 179–183; Israel, The Dutch Republic, 542.<br />
82 Quoted in Van Vree, 169.<br />
83 Filippo de Vivo, Inform<strong>at</strong>ion and Communic<strong>at</strong>ion in Venice: Rethinking Early Modern Politics (Oxford: Oxford<br />
<strong>University</strong> Press, 2007), 38.<br />
23
Illustr<strong>at</strong>ion 2. Vergaderzaal van het Oost-Indisch Huis in 1768. Drawing by Simon Fokke, 1771,<br />
Gemeentearchief, Amsterdam. A meeting of the Heren XVII (Gentlemen Seventeen), the board of<br />
directors of the Dutch East India Company. There is no<br />
similar image for the Heren XIX, the board of directors of the West India Company.<br />
24
influence of Habsburg authority. 84 Similar forms of informal power were associ<strong>at</strong>ed with se<strong>at</strong>ing,<br />
recording resolutions, and chairmanship, which was either fixed or rot<strong>at</strong>ed following precise<br />
rules in each of the various provincial and n<strong>at</strong>ional assemblies.<br />
In this way meetings provide a particularly useful lens on the practice of politics, defined<br />
as the give-and-take of negoti<strong>at</strong>ion on specific policies by individuals or groups with divergent<br />
priorities or interests. Although the chambers and boards of directors of the VOC and the WIC<br />
are often mentioned in the liter<strong>at</strong>ure on discussieculture, an approach th<strong>at</strong> focuses on meetings<br />
has yet to be applied to the history of either company<br />
in any system<strong>at</strong>ic way. In fact, the composition and procedures of the Heren XIX are still poorly<br />
understood and the body is largely invisible in many histories.<br />
There are, of course, important limit<strong>at</strong>ions to this approach. Minutes tend to include only<br />
the final resolution of deb<strong>at</strong>es th<strong>at</strong> lasted many days or even months, with only very short<br />
sentences indic<strong>at</strong>ing when agreement could not be reached and further deliber<strong>at</strong>ion was<br />
postponed until a l<strong>at</strong>er d<strong>at</strong>e. This may have helped to avoid public airing of disputes, and thus to<br />
promote an image of harmony within the elite, but it also makes it difficult if not impossible to<br />
reconstruct the positions taken by individuals or groups, or, in many instances, to grasp precisely<br />
which elements of a proposal were acceptable, and which ones eluded consensus or majority<br />
support. 85 Similarly, while minutes often name the participants and the subject to be discussed in<br />
committee, they provide little or no direct inform<strong>at</strong>ion on decision-making within these smaller<br />
groups, or in the corridors and inns referred to above. Finally, in several assemblies, and<br />
especially the St<strong>at</strong>es General, deleg<strong>at</strong>es were sworn to express positions negoti<strong>at</strong>ed in advance <strong>at</strong><br />
the local, chamber, or provincial level, so th<strong>at</strong> the discussion captured in minutes and other<br />
<br />
84 Van Vree, Meetings, Manners, and Civiliz<strong>at</strong>ion, 143.<br />
85 De Vivo, Inform<strong>at</strong>ion and Communic<strong>at</strong>ion in Venice, 18.<br />
<strong>25</strong>
ecords must be traced backwards—a process th<strong>at</strong> mirrors the deleg<strong>at</strong>es' own frequent trips home<br />
to consult with and receive new instructions from their principals. These and other limit<strong>at</strong>ions<br />
make it critically important to embed meeting records within a broader m<strong>at</strong>rix of sources,<br />
including, when available, particuliere notulen (priv<strong>at</strong>e meeting notes) taken by meeting<br />
participants, letters, memoranda, journals, memoirs, and contemporary printed documents such<br />
as pamphlets and newspapers.<br />
Nevertheless, an approach th<strong>at</strong> focuses on the meeting as a site of analysis offers an<br />
important altern<strong>at</strong>ive to traditional methods for analyzing commercial and imperial politics. In<br />
contrast to older institutional studies, it permits analysis of informal authority and face-to-face<br />
interaction, wh<strong>at</strong> the sociologist Erving Goffman referred to as the “organiz<strong>at</strong>ion of experience,”<br />
as distinct from the “organiz<strong>at</strong>ion of society.” 86 In Goffman’s work, individuals reach a working<br />
consensus on wh<strong>at</strong> they are supposed to do, and sometimes even whom they aspire to be, in<br />
practice. This is constrained by formal rules, but it permits a certain amount of improvis<strong>at</strong>ional<br />
performance and reciprocal influence, where the outcome of any given interaction is not<br />
necessarily known <strong>at</strong> the outset. Th<strong>at</strong> much of this interaction is, in effect, routine or even banal<br />
does not detract in any way from its power for exposing issues of social st<strong>at</strong>us, self-perception,<br />
method, and (though Goffman would not necessarily have used this term), ideology. Like the<br />
labor<strong>at</strong>ory or the office, the history of the boardroom is in need of a new set of analytical tools. 87<br />
With these tools in hand it becomes possible to identify new deb<strong>at</strong>es and to re-examine deb<strong>at</strong>es<br />
th<strong>at</strong> already have <strong>at</strong>tracted significant <strong>at</strong>tention, focusing on negoti<strong>at</strong>ion and cre<strong>at</strong>ive compromise<br />
<br />
86 Erving Goffman, Frame Analysis: An Essay on the Organiz<strong>at</strong>ion of Experience (Boston: Northeastern <strong>University</strong><br />
Press, 1986), 13. See also Erving Goffman, The Present<strong>at</strong>ion of Self in Everyday Life, Revised. (New York: Anchor<br />
Books, 1959).<br />
87 Peter Becker and William Clark, eds., Little Tools of Knowledge: Historical Essays on Academic and<br />
Bureaucr<strong>at</strong>ic Practices (Ann Arbor: <strong>University</strong> of Michigan Press, 2001). See also Bruno L<strong>at</strong>our, Pandora’s Hope:<br />
Essays on the Reality of Science Studies (Cambridge: Harvard <strong>University</strong> Press, 1999).<br />
26
<strong>at</strong>her than the opposition between two fixed positions, one of which must ultim<strong>at</strong>ely be deemed<br />
victorious. 88<br />
Analysis <strong>at</strong> the level of meetings thus also offers an altern<strong>at</strong>ive to the Cambridge School<br />
approach. Quentin Skinner, John Pocock, and their many followers have developed a powerful<br />
methodology for understanding texts in the history of political thought as “speech acts,” which<br />
both encapsul<strong>at</strong>e a coherent set of ideas and engage directly and often polemically with a broader<br />
set of texts. 89 By focusing on, but also slowly expanding, the Western canon, their approach has<br />
helped to reconstruct the language and central pre-occup<strong>at</strong>ions of early modern European<br />
political discourse. It has proven of only limited use in the United Provinces, however, where<br />
there are rel<strong>at</strong>ively few canonical thinkers whose work can be tre<strong>at</strong>ed in this fashion. Martin van<br />
Gelderen has done so for the early texts of the Dutch Revolt, and Martine van Ittersum has<br />
produced a masterly study th<strong>at</strong> places Grotius’ arguments for the free sea within the context of<br />
his work for the VOC in the first decade of the seventeenth century. 90 Arthur Weststeijn's new<br />
study of Pieter de la Court addresses the intersection of political and economic thought even<br />
more closely. 91 There is, however, no study th<strong>at</strong> approaches the synthesis of David Armitage's<br />
Ideological Origins of the British Empire. 92 It is hard to agree with Henry William Spiegel's<br />
bizarre claim th<strong>at</strong>, despite their flourishing economy, “the Dutch produced no economic thinker<br />
<br />
88<br />
On negoti<strong>at</strong>ion and compromise in the Dutch context, see John H. Grever, “Louis XIV and the Dutch Assemblies:<br />
The Conflict About the Hague,” Legisl<strong>at</strong>ive Studies Quarterly 7, no. 2 (<strong>May</strong> 1982): 235–249.<br />
89<br />
The classic st<strong>at</strong>ement is Quentin Skinner, “Meaning and Understanding in the History of Ideas,” History and<br />
Theory 8, no. 1 (1969): 3–53; See also Quentin Skinner, The Found<strong>at</strong>ions of Modern Political Thought, vol. 1: The<br />
Renaissance (Cambridge: Cambridge <strong>University</strong> Press, 1978); J. G. A. Pocock, The Machiavellian Moment:<br />
Florentine Political Thought and the Atlantic Republican Tradition (<strong>Princeton</strong>: <strong>Princeton</strong> <strong>University</strong> Press, 1975).<br />
90<br />
Martin van Gelderen, The Political Thought of the Dutch Revolt 1555-1590 (Cambridge: Cambridge <strong>University</strong><br />
Press, 1992); Van Ittersum, Profit and Principle.<br />
91<br />
Arthur Weststeijn, Commercial Republicanism in the Dutch Golden Age: The Political Thought of Johan & Pieter<br />
de La Court (Leiden: Brill, 2012). Unfortun<strong>at</strong>ely this book appeared too l<strong>at</strong>e to be consulted for this dissert<strong>at</strong>ion.<br />
92<br />
Armitage, The Ideological Origins of the British Empire.<br />
27
of note.” 93 But it is clear th<strong>at</strong> the Dutch Republic did not gener<strong>at</strong>e a printed source base akin to<br />
th<strong>at</strong> in England, where merchants and others involved in commercial affairs composed literally<br />
thousands of pamphlets and books during the seventeenth century. Between Grotius <strong>at</strong> the<br />
beginning of the century and De la Court in the 1660s is a r<strong>at</strong>her large gap—one th<strong>at</strong>, among<br />
other things, overlaps almost exactly with both the height of the Golden Age and the heyday of<br />
the WIC.<br />
To access this important period requires expanding our conception of the text and the<br />
methods we use to examine politics and political ideas. 94 Here meeting minutes are approached<br />
as a sort of collective text, authored by the Heren XIX and the WIC as an institution; within this<br />
text can be read both arguments in favor of specific policies and the ways th<strong>at</strong> medi<strong>at</strong>ing figures<br />
and institutions helped to forge political consensus and reach mutually acceptable outcomes.<br />
R<strong>at</strong>her than highly polished rhetoric, one finds the rough and tumble of practical politics. This is<br />
not the same as writing a collective biography of the company's directors, though one is badly<br />
needed. Instead it uses their active particip<strong>at</strong>ion in collective decision-making as a resource for<br />
reconstructing the core assumptions th<strong>at</strong> underlay their approach to political, commercial, and<br />
imperial problems. It turns out th<strong>at</strong> a number of prominent writers do appear in Middleburg<br />
including, most importantly, Johannes de Laet. As Anthony Grafton has shown, individuals like<br />
De Laet—whose published works were influential in their own day, but fly somewh<strong>at</strong> under the<br />
radar of modern scholarship—can prove extremely useful for understanding early modern ideas,<br />
<br />
93 Henry William Spiegel, The Growth of Economic Thought, 3rd ed. (Durham: Duke <strong>University</strong> Press, 1991), 97.<br />
See also Thomson's comment th<strong>at</strong> "modern scholarship has almost entirely neglected Dutch thought about<br />
commerce in the seventeenth century, <strong>at</strong> least until Pieter de la Court's Maxims or even Bernard Mandeville."<br />
Thomson, “The Dutch Miracle, Modified. Hugo Grotius’s Mare Liberum, Commercial Governance and Imperial<br />
War in the Early-Seventeenth Century,” 109-110.<br />
94 Carlo Ginzburg, The Cheese and the Worms: The Cosmos of a Sixteenth-Century Miller, trans. John Tedeschi and<br />
Anne Tedeschi (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins <strong>University</strong> Press, 1980).<br />
28
practices, and institutions. 95 By studying the records of the meetings in which these individuals<br />
particip<strong>at</strong>ed we expand the universe of texts and cre<strong>at</strong>e an entry point for re-evalu<strong>at</strong>ing central<br />
problems in WIC politics, and politics within the Dutch Republic more generally.<br />
4. Preview of the Argument<br />
The dissert<strong>at</strong>ion is organized into five substantive chapters, bracketed by this introduction<br />
(Chapter One) and a short conclusion (Chapter Seven). In the main it offers a detailed narr<strong>at</strong>ive<br />
and analysis of the meeting of the Heren XIX in Middelburg in the fall of 1645. The even-<br />
numbered chapters follow the meeting closely, moving chronologically from the arrival of news<br />
of the revolt <strong>at</strong> the end of August (Chapter Two), the selection of a new President and High<br />
Council for Brazil in mid-September (Chapter Four), and finally to the company’s successful<br />
lobbying campaign from the end of October to the end of December (Chapter Six). These<br />
chapters tell the story of how the Heren XIX responded to the crisis in Brazil and how the<br />
company mobilized the St<strong>at</strong>es General and other bodies to support a relief fleet to save the<br />
colony. In order to place the proceedings in Middelburg in context, and to provide a deeper<br />
understanding of the board's structure and the issues under discussion in 1645, two chapters<br />
flashback to earlier episodes in the company’s history. Specifically, they explore the negoti<strong>at</strong>ions<br />
to cre<strong>at</strong>e the Heren XIX in the early 1620s (Chapter Three) and the deb<strong>at</strong>e over free trade to<br />
Brazil th<strong>at</strong> domin<strong>at</strong>ed the l<strong>at</strong>e 1630s (Chapter Five). The dissert<strong>at</strong>ion thus reaches back to<br />
<br />
95 See, for example, Anthony Grafton, Bring Out Your Dead: The Past as Revel<strong>at</strong>ion (Cambridge: Harvard<br />
<strong>University</strong> Press, 2001); Anthony Grafton, Wh<strong>at</strong> Was History?: The Art of History in Early Modern Europe<br />
(Cambridge: Cambridge <strong>University</strong> Press, 2007); Anthony Grafton, Worlds Made by Words: Scholarship and<br />
Community in the Modern West (Cambridge, MA: Harvard <strong>University</strong> Press, 2011). Johannes de Laet himself is<br />
discussed in Grafton, Shelford, and Siraisi, New Worlds, Ancient Texts: The Power of Tradition and the Shock of<br />
Discovery, 212.<br />
29
form<strong>at</strong>ive periods in the company’s history, drawing not only on the minutes from Middelburg,<br />
but also on sets of minutes from 1623-24 and 1638, two other periods for which rel<strong>at</strong>ively<br />
complete, detailed sets of minutes for the Heren XIX still remain. 96<br />
Chapter Two introduces the main characters and themes in the dissert<strong>at</strong>ion by tracing the<br />
circul<strong>at</strong>ion of news and inform<strong>at</strong>ion about the revolt; it is largely narr<strong>at</strong>ive, r<strong>at</strong>her than analytic.<br />
The chapter recounts how intelligence was g<strong>at</strong>hered in the colony, transmitted to the United<br />
Provinces, and interpreted and dissemin<strong>at</strong>ed by the company's directors. The news arrived in<br />
Middelburg ten days before the meeting of the Heren XIX began. Deleg<strong>at</strong>ions were disp<strong>at</strong>ched<br />
almost immedi<strong>at</strong>ely to the company's other chambers and to the Prince of Orange and the St<strong>at</strong>es<br />
General in The Hague. In parallel with this secret, essentially proprietary network for sharing<br />
inform<strong>at</strong>ion, the news also spread to editors of the two most important newspapers in<br />
Amsterdam. The interplay between priv<strong>at</strong>e and public spheres, and between The Hague as a<br />
political center and Amsterdam as a center for the exchange of commercial inform<strong>at</strong>ion,<br />
underscores the diversity of channels through which inform<strong>at</strong>ion flowed in the Dutch Republic<br />
and the challenge for the Heren XIX, whose task it became to shape perceptions of wh<strong>at</strong> had<br />
taken place in Brazil and to quickly build a coherent case for public support to crush the revolt.<br />
Here the chapter looks specifically <strong>at</strong> the role played by De Laet. Known for his<br />
sumptuously illustr<strong>at</strong>ed geography of the New World, published in several editions and<br />
languages between 16<strong>25</strong>-1640, and for his deb<strong>at</strong>e with Grotius over the origins of the N<strong>at</strong>ive<br />
Americans, De Laet has often been tre<strong>at</strong>ed as a bookish scholar whose main contributions to the<br />
<br />
96 These are NA 1.05.01.01, inv.nr. 1, Notulen van de vergadering van de Heren XIX, 24 Juli 1623-24 December<br />
1624 and NA 1.01.07, inv.nr. 1<strong>25</strong>64.6, no. 10, Notulen van de vergadering van de St<strong>at</strong>en-Generaal met de Heren<br />
XIX over de vrije handel in Brazilie. Excerpts and incomplete sets of minutes for the Heren XIX can be found<br />
sc<strong>at</strong>tered throughout NA 1.05.01.01 and NA 1.01.04, as well as in NA 1.01.05, NA 1.01.07, and NA 1.10.69.<br />
30
WIC were his geographical and historical public<strong>at</strong>ions. 97 Building on recent work by Dutch<br />
scholars, and on dozens of sources sc<strong>at</strong>tered throughout the archives of the WIC, the City of<br />
Leiden, provincial assemblies, and the St<strong>at</strong>es General, the chapter shows De Laet’s deep<br />
involvement in the everyday management of the company and his more specific role shaping the<br />
company’s message in the fall of 1645. The circul<strong>at</strong>ion of news from Brazil is thus used to probe<br />
the rel<strong>at</strong>ionship between knowledge and power within the Dutch Republic.<br />
Chapter Three provides a new explan<strong>at</strong>ion for the origins and byzantine structure of the<br />
Heren XIX. Looking back to the company’s form<strong>at</strong>ion in the early 1620s, it asks wh<strong>at</strong> the board<br />
was designed to do and precisely who was to be represented <strong>at</strong> its meetings. Most scholars have<br />
assumed th<strong>at</strong> the domestic organiz<strong>at</strong>ion of the WIC mirrored th<strong>at</strong> of the VOC, and th<strong>at</strong><br />
differences in their respective histories can be <strong>at</strong>tributed primarily to differences in the goods<br />
they traded or the political and economic spheres in which they worked. 98 This assumption is<br />
flawed in several important respects. By examining multiple annot<strong>at</strong>ed versions of the WIC’s<br />
charter drafted between 1606 and 1620, along with negoti<strong>at</strong>ions within provincial assemblies, the<br />
St<strong>at</strong>es General, and the Amsterdam city council, the chapter shows how an initial draft modeled<br />
on the VOC charter was subsequently revised to make the company suitable, in the eyes of its<br />
founders, for Atlantic conquest. In particular, the chapter explores decisions to make the St<strong>at</strong>es<br />
General a partial owner of the company and for it to play an active role in company<br />
management—both innov<strong>at</strong>ions th<strong>at</strong> diverged sharply from the VOC. While the language in the<br />
final charter closely resembles th<strong>at</strong> of its older sibling, several important clauses served to<br />
<br />
97 Joan-Pau Rubiés, “Hugo Grotius’s <strong>Dissert<strong>at</strong>ion</strong> on the Origin of the American Peoples and the Use of<br />
Compar<strong>at</strong>ive Methods,” Journal of the History of Ideas 52, no. 2 (June 1991): 221-244; Benjamin Schmidt, “Space,<br />
Time, Travel: Hugo de Groot, Johannes de Laet, and the ‘Advancement’ of Geographic Learning,” LIAS: The<br />
Journal of Early Modern History of Ideas <strong>25</strong> (1998): 177-199; P<strong>at</strong>ricia Seed, Ceremonies of Possession in Europe’s<br />
Conquest of the New World, 1492-1640 (Cambridge: Cambridge <strong>University</strong> Press, 1995).<br />
98 See, for example, Emmer, “The West India Company, 1621-1791: Dutch or Atlantic?”<br />
31
enhance the role of central authority and to encourage aristocr<strong>at</strong>ic particip<strong>at</strong>ion in the new<br />
company.<br />
This finding helps to resuscit<strong>at</strong>e the reput<strong>at</strong>ion of Willem Usselincx. Paradoxically,<br />
historians have focused on Usselincx's ideas as the driving force behind the WIC, while<br />
simultaneously assuming th<strong>at</strong> he had little or no influence on its final form. 99 The chapter<br />
highlights his idea for a Raedt van Indie (Council of the Indies), modeled on the Spanish Real y<br />
Supremo Consejo de Indias, and shows how the principle of aristocr<strong>at</strong>ic involvement in m<strong>at</strong>ters<br />
of war and colonial administr<strong>at</strong>ion were incorpor<strong>at</strong>ed into the charter during the final rounds of<br />
negoti<strong>at</strong>ion. By examining the first several meetings of the Heren XIX in 1623-1624, the chapter<br />
shows how the company's new board of directors functioned in practice, how it served to<br />
integr<strong>at</strong>e diverse regional interests within the Dutch Republic, and the important symbolic and<br />
political role played by noblemen and magistr<strong>at</strong>es representing the St<strong>at</strong>es General.<br />
Chapter Four digs more deeply into the terms of cooper<strong>at</strong>ion between noblemen and<br />
merchants. Returning to the meeting in Middelburg in 1645, it offers the first detailed account of<br />
the secretive process for selecting a new President and High Council to govern Dutch Brazil.<br />
Even before news of the revolt arrived in Middelburg this had been the most important item on<br />
the agenda and a source of considerable tension between the company's five chambers. In early<br />
1643 the Heren XIX had decided to recall the colony's highly successful, but r<strong>at</strong>her expensive<br />
Governor General, Johan Maurits, nephew of the Prince of Orange. This led the company to<br />
redesign the colonial administr<strong>at</strong>ion and opened a process to identify individuals with the<br />
balance of skills necessary to manage the colony. Using rare secret minutes from the negoti<strong>at</strong>ions<br />
in Middelburg, along with the diary and memoire of two individuals who were candid<strong>at</strong>es, the<br />
<br />
99 Van Rees, Geschiedenis der Sta<strong>at</strong>huishoudkunde in Nederland tot het Einde der Achttiende Eeuw, vol. 2; Den<br />
Heijer, De Geoctrooieerde Compagnie; Den Heijer, “The Twelve Years’ Truce and the Founding of the Dutch West<br />
India Company,” De Halve Maen 80, no. 4 (2007): 67–70.<br />
32
chapter examines the way th<strong>at</strong> voting was conducted and reveals the rituals employed by the<br />
Heren XIX to ensure loyalty and secrecy. 100 Consistent with recent scholarship on the nobility in<br />
Holland, but contrary to commonly held assumptions among historians working in English, this<br />
episode highlights the central role of noblemen in managing Dutch overseas expansion and<br />
exposes deepening divisions in the 1640s between noblemen and merchants—divisions th<strong>at</strong><br />
would delay the selection of the new Council <strong>at</strong> a critical moment for the Dutch colony in Brazil.<br />
Chapter Five offers a new interpret<strong>at</strong>ion of the well-known deb<strong>at</strong>es over free trade to<br />
Brazil and Angola th<strong>at</strong> erupted during the 1630s and 1640s. These deb<strong>at</strong>es have traditionally<br />
been explained as the result of divergent interests between Amsterdam, where merchants saw<br />
gre<strong>at</strong>er profits in free trade, and Zeeland, where both merchants and magistr<strong>at</strong>es saw<br />
enforcement of the WIC monopoly as the best means to protect their share in colonial markets,<br />
where Amsterdam would otherwise have enjoyed considerable advantages. 101 More recently,<br />
Weststeijn has argued th<strong>at</strong> the deb<strong>at</strong>e was an important source for Enlightenment ideas on free<br />
trade. 102 By reconstructing the course of the negoti<strong>at</strong>ions, r<strong>at</strong>her than relying on printed sources,<br />
and by connecting the deb<strong>at</strong>e over free trade to Brazil to the subsequent deb<strong>at</strong>e over free trade to<br />
Angola, the chapter shows how disputes over free trade were actually motiv<strong>at</strong>ed by issues of<br />
colonial finance, and in particular, how the Heren XIX and the St<strong>at</strong>es General used trade policy<br />
to address the mounting challenges of popul<strong>at</strong>ing and defending Dutch Brazil.<br />
Crucially, the chapter demonstr<strong>at</strong>es th<strong>at</strong> the decision to re-open the trade to Brazil in<br />
April 1638 was predic<strong>at</strong>ed on formally recognizing the WIC’s monopoly on the trade in slaves, a<br />
<br />
100 David Baute, Cort Relaas sedert den Jare 1609: de Avonturen van een Zeeuws Koopman in Spanje tijdens de<br />
Tachtigjarige Oorlog (Hilversum: Verloren, 2000); S. P. L’Honoré Naber, “Het Dagboek van Hendrik Haecxs, Lid<br />
van den Hoogen Raad van Brazilie (1645-1654),” Bijdragen en Mededeelingen van het Historisch Genootschap<br />
(19<strong>25</strong>): 126-163.<br />
101 Van Dillen, “De West-Indische Compagnie, het Calvinism en de Politiek.”<br />
102 Arthur Weststeijn, “Dutch Brazil and the Making of Free Trade Ideology,” 2011. Cited with permission of the<br />
author.<br />
33
trade in which the company had only very recently become involved. 103 The Heren XIX and the<br />
St<strong>at</strong>es General were ultim<strong>at</strong>ely swayed not by pressure from Amsterdam, but by Johan Maurits'<br />
argument th<strong>at</strong> opening trade to Brazil was the only way to <strong>at</strong>tract free settlers, and by a final<br />
compromise th<strong>at</strong> addressed Zeeland’s concerns over company finance by injecting additional<br />
priv<strong>at</strong>e capital and ensuring a steady flow of income from the slave trade. In this way Dutch<br />
entry into the trade in slaves was not only a response to labor shortages in Brazil: it was a<br />
deliber<strong>at</strong>e effort to offset the rising costs of New World conquest. The subsequent deb<strong>at</strong>e over<br />
free trade to Angola in the early 1640s came increasingly to focus on profits, effectively de-<br />
linking the issue of slavery from concerns about Brazil—a shift th<strong>at</strong> took concrete form when the<br />
revolt halted the trade in slaves to Pernambuco and the company began to explore other markets<br />
in São Tomé and the Caribbean. The chapter thus demonstr<strong>at</strong>es important links between the<br />
deb<strong>at</strong>es over free trade and slavery.<br />
Chapter Six returns to the meeting in Middelburg and to the company's campaign to<br />
secure military and financial assistance from the St<strong>at</strong>es General in the winter of 1645. It focuses<br />
on two separ<strong>at</strong>e efforts to convince officials by establishing the company's value to the st<strong>at</strong>e. The<br />
first of these, an internal memorandum drafted in the summer of 1645 by the Amsterdam director<br />
Jacques Specx (1585-1652), drew together the company's diverse streams of income and<br />
expenses from all its conquest areas to provide a calcul<strong>at</strong>ion of the company's anticip<strong>at</strong>ed annual<br />
profits. 104 The second, De Laet’s Historie ofte Iaerlyck Verhael van de Geoctroyeerde<br />
Westindische Compagnie (History or Annual Account of the Chartered West India Company),<br />
<br />
103 Ernst van den Boogaart and Pieter C. Emmer, “The Dutch Particip<strong>at</strong>ion in the Atlantic Slave Trade, 1596-1650,”<br />
in The Uncommon Market: Essays in the Economic History of the Atlantic Slave Trade, ed. Henry A. Gemery and<br />
Jan S. Hogendorn (New York: Academic Press, 1979), 353–375; W. S. Unger, “Essay on the History of the Dutch<br />
Slave Trade,” in Dutch Authors on West Indian History: a Historiographical Selection, ed. M. A. P Meilink-<br />
Roelofsz (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1982), 42–98; Robin Blackburn, The Making of New World Slavery: From<br />
the Baroque to the Modern, 1492-1800 (London: Verso, 1997).<br />
104 NA 1.10.78, inv.nr. 8, fols. 115-120.<br />
34
was published in Leiden in November 1644. 105 In a short section <strong>at</strong> the end of the book, De Laet<br />
offered almost thirty pages of calcul<strong>at</strong>ions to establish the total monetary value of the damage the<br />
company had done to the Republic’s gre<strong>at</strong>est rival, the King of Spain. By closely examining<br />
these two documents, and placing them within the context of the company’s lobbying campaign,<br />
the chapter exposes competing theories of value and shows the growing importance of<br />
quantit<strong>at</strong>ive analysis in mercantile rhetoric. Against the backdrop of the Tulip Bubble in 1637, it<br />
also shows the interaction between fact and fantasy in arguments over colonial finance. At the<br />
end of December, and thanks in part to De Laet and Specx’s efforts, the St<strong>at</strong>es General approved<br />
funding for a relief fleet to sail to Brazil.<br />
A brief conclusion draws these threads together to re-evalu<strong>at</strong>e explan<strong>at</strong>ions for the<br />
eventual failure of the company and its most important colony. As an altern<strong>at</strong>ive to the theory<br />
th<strong>at</strong> the company was torn apart by the divergent interests of Amsterdam and Zeeland, it suggests<br />
th<strong>at</strong> tensions between merchants and noblemen—already visible in the early 1610s—grew during<br />
the 1640s. Noblemen bridled <strong>at</strong> the prospect of working “in the service of merchants” and<br />
merchants, especially in Holland, opposed ceding power either to noblemen or to the St<strong>at</strong>es<br />
General. Efforts to centralize control over the company and its colonies, coincident with Frederik<br />
Hendrik's efforts to centralize foreign policy more generally, were ultim<strong>at</strong>ely unsuccessful. 106<br />
This proved decisive in the period 1644-45, when Brazil lost an able administr<strong>at</strong>or and was left<br />
without senior leadership to prevent or <strong>at</strong> least stem the Portuguese revolt. Amsterdam's<br />
merchant elite did indeed thwart efforts to save Dutch Brazil, but this only followed a more<br />
fundamental failure to align social and political interests in favor of wh<strong>at</strong> was in fact a broadly<br />
popular imperial effort.<br />
<br />
105 Johannes de Laet, Iaerlyck Verhael‚ 4 vols. (’s-Gravenhage: Martinus Nijhoff, 1931-1937).<br />
106 Geyl, The Netherlands in the Seventeenth Century, 121-150; Israel, The Dutch Republic, 537-546.<br />
35
5. A Note on Sources<br />
This dissert<strong>at</strong>ion draws on a wealth of either new or little-studied archival m<strong>at</strong>erial in Dutch,<br />
English, and American libraries and archives. It has been indic<strong>at</strong>ed already th<strong>at</strong> many sources for<br />
reconstructing the history of the WIC were destroyed in the nineteenth century. 107 The most<br />
important remaining documents are to be found in the company's archive in The Hague, many of<br />
them preserved from the collection of the Zeeland chamber. These include, most significantly,<br />
minutes from the meetings of the Heren XIX (1623-24); an incomplete series of the board’s<br />
ordinary and secret correspondence (1629-57); a nearly complete series of correspondence,<br />
reports, ship registers, and other documents sent from Brazil (1630-54); complete resolutions of<br />
the High Council in Recife (1635-54); a complete set of resolution of the Zeeland chamber of the<br />
company (1626-74); two years of resolutions of the Amsterdam chamber (1635-36); the register<br />
of shares purchased in the Amsterdam chamber (1623-26) and supplementary capital invested in<br />
Zeeland (1636-37); and diverse letters, reports, maps, and other documents rel<strong>at</strong>ing to the<br />
Caribbean, the Wild Coast, Guinea, Angola, and New Netherland. 108<br />
The primary manuscript on which this study is based is not from the company's archive,<br />
however, but from the archives of the St<strong>at</strong>es General. 109 It is an untitled set of ordinary minutes<br />
from the meeting of the Heren XIX in Middelburg, Zeeland from September 9 to October 16,<br />
<br />
107 An important new guide to documents in Dutch archives and libraries pertaining to the history of Brazil—and<br />
thus to WIC history more generally—has emerged as part of the "Mauritiana" project jointly funded by the Brazilian<br />
and Dutch governments. See Marianne L. Wiesebron, Brazilie in de Nederlandse Archieven (1624-1654): Inleiding<br />
op de Nederlanden in de Zeventiende Eeuw en de Collecties in Nederlandse Archieven en Bibliotheken, 3 vols.<br />
(Leiden: Research School CNWS, 2004-2008).<br />
108 NA 1.05.01.01, Oude Westindische Compagnie, 1621-1674.<br />
109 Theo Thomassen, “Instrumenten van de Macht: de St<strong>at</strong>en-Generaal en hun Archieven, 1576-1796” (Academisch<br />
Proefschrift, Universiteit van Amsterdam, 2009). Unfortun<strong>at</strong>ely this work was brought to my <strong>at</strong>tention too l<strong>at</strong>e to<br />
incorpor<strong>at</strong>e its findings into this dissert<strong>at</strong>ion.<br />
36
Illustr<strong>at</strong>ion 3. Resolutien van de Vergadering van de Heren XIX te<br />
Middelburg, 9 September-16 Oktober, 1645. N<strong>at</strong>ionaal Archief 1.01.07,<br />
inv.nr. 1<strong>25</strong>64.17, fols. 1-53. The front page of the minutes of the meeting<br />
of the Heren XIX in Middelburg in the fall of 1645, showing the names of<br />
the deleg<strong>at</strong>es from each chamber and the St<strong>at</strong>es General.<br />
37
1645. 110 The manuscript is found in the loketkas, a series of special dossiers kept by the St<strong>at</strong>es<br />
General on negoti<strong>at</strong>ions in which they were actively involved. 111 The manuscript is in <strong>at</strong> least<br />
three hands and almost certainly was copied shortly after the meeting ended from an original set<br />
of minutes kept by one or more company scribes. A note on the top left corner of the first page<br />
indic<strong>at</strong>es th<strong>at</strong> the manuscript was “handed over [to the St<strong>at</strong>es General] on 28 October.” The<br />
minutes include a complete list of participants <strong>at</strong> the meeting, an account of the resolutions<br />
taken, the letters th<strong>at</strong> were read, and dozens of draft calcul<strong>at</strong>ions, lists, and instructions. It runs to<br />
53 folio pages, front and back, in tight gothic script. Preserved in the same series of the loketkas<br />
are the “Secret minutes of the deleg<strong>at</strong>es of the West India Company to the meeting of the Heren<br />
XIX,” a separ<strong>at</strong>e document in a single hand, running to 16 folio pages, th<strong>at</strong> was also given over to<br />
the St<strong>at</strong>es General on October 28. 112 There are no original sign<strong>at</strong>ures or other not<strong>at</strong>ions on either<br />
document.<br />
This dissert<strong>at</strong>ion draws off a number of other series within the archive of the St<strong>at</strong>es<br />
General. The St<strong>at</strong>es General maintained bundles, <strong>at</strong> one time bound with string, of letters and<br />
other documents they received concerning company affairs, along with shorthand drafts of<br />
resolutions or correspondence issued by the St<strong>at</strong>es General itself. These are called the liassen and<br />
are organized in rough chronological order, beginning in 1624 and continuing until the end of the<br />
second company in 1791. 113 Though often extremely difficult to decipher, these documents<br />
<br />
110 NA 1.01.07, inv.nr. 1<strong>25</strong>64.17, no. 20, fols. 1-53. Resolutien van de vergadering van de Heren XIX te Middelburg,<br />
9 September-16 Oktober, 1645.<br />
111 NA 1.01.07, inv.nr. 1<strong>25</strong>64.17. In addition to the ordinary and secret minutes, this dossier includes 24 other<br />
manuscripts, mostly extracts from resolutions in the Heren XIX or the St<strong>at</strong>es General, the earliest d<strong>at</strong>ed November 7,<br />
1643 and the l<strong>at</strong>est November 8, 1645. All of these rel<strong>at</strong>e directly to the company's efforts to select members for the<br />
new High Council to replace Johan Maurits, who was recalled from Brazil in early 1643. Extensive use of these<br />
m<strong>at</strong>erials is made in chapter four of this study.<br />
112 NA 1.01.07, inv.nr. 1<strong>25</strong>64.17, no. 23, Secrete Resolutien by de Gecommitteerde ter verganderinge der XIX voor.<br />
ho. mo. heren St<strong>at</strong>en Generael.<br />
113 NA 1.01.04, inv.nrs. 5751-5815, Ingekomen ordinaris brieven en stukken betreffende West-Indische zaken, 1623-<br />
1795.<br />
38
provide the most complete record available of the WIC's history. Among many other documents,<br />
they include invit<strong>at</strong>ions and agendas for the meetings of the Heren XIX, copies of all major<br />
documents submitted to the St<strong>at</strong>es General either during the course of, or immedi<strong>at</strong>ely following,<br />
the meetings, and petitions submitted by priv<strong>at</strong>e individuals, city and provincial officials,<br />
merchants, and foreign diplom<strong>at</strong>s. These sources can be supplemented, or in some cases<br />
corrobor<strong>at</strong>ed, by resolutions of the committee on WIC affairs <strong>at</strong> the St<strong>at</strong>es General, recorded in<br />
detail in a thick and well-indexed book from the beginning of 1638. 114 If the dissert<strong>at</strong>ion is<br />
biased towards the political concerns of the St<strong>at</strong>es General, as opposed to those of merchants’ in<br />
the individual chambers, it is partially an artifact of the extensive use th<strong>at</strong> has been made of these<br />
two sources.<br />
In addition, the dissert<strong>at</strong>ion draws on manuscript resolutions from the Amsterdam city<br />
council and the St<strong>at</strong>es General and printed resolutions from the St<strong>at</strong>es of Holland and Zeeland. In<br />
the case of Holland, the formal resolutions can be read against the priv<strong>at</strong>e notes of Nicholas<br />
Stellingwerf (1592-1667), Pensionaris (Pensionary) of Medemblik, one of the eighteen cities<br />
represented in the St<strong>at</strong>es of Holland. For more than forty years, from 1622-1666, Stellingwerf<br />
kept meticulous, nearly verb<strong>at</strong>im notes on the proceedings, including the names of speakers and<br />
the positions taken by the various represent<strong>at</strong>ives. His notes, along with those of a contemporary,<br />
Sijbrant Schot (1592-1658), who served as Pensionaris of Purmerend from 1620-1627, are a<br />
spectacular and largely untapped source for WIC history. They have now been published for the<br />
<br />
114 NA 1.01.03, inv.nr. 4845, Westindische Zaken 1638 tot 1651.<br />
39
period 1620-1636. 115 For the remaining years one must p<strong>at</strong>iently decipher the cramped script of<br />
Stellingwerf’s original notebooks preserved in the Westfries Archief in Hoorn, North Holland. 116<br />
These resolutions have in turn been supplemented by printed primary sources and by<br />
correspondence, reports, memoranda, calcul<strong>at</strong>ions, notes, journals, and other documents found in<br />
library special collections and municipal and n<strong>at</strong>ional archives in Amsterdam, Dordrecht,<br />
Groningen, Haarlem, Hoorn, Leiden, London, Middelburg, New York, Utrecht, and Washington,<br />
DC.<br />
<br />
115 N. Stellingwerff and S. Schot, Particuliere Notulen van de Vergaderingen der St<strong>at</strong>en van Holland, 1620-1640,<br />
ed. J. W. Veenendaal-Barth (’s-Gravenhage: Instituut voor Nederlandse Geschiedenis, 1992).<br />
116 Westfries Archive, 0715, Oud archief stad Medemblik, aantekeningen door gedeputeerden van Medemblik in de<br />
vergaderingen van de St<strong>at</strong>en van Holland.<br />
40
Chapter Two<br />
News from Brazil: The Political Geography of Inform<strong>at</strong>ion<br />
1. Introduction<br />
Bad news travels fast, as the old English proverb says, and for the WIC the ocean was no<br />
impediment. On August 30, 1645, three Dutch ships—the Walcheren, Roode Hart, and Grote<br />
Gerrit—arrived <strong>at</strong> the port of Middelburg carrying letters from the Hoge Raad (High Council) in<br />
Recife, capital of Dutch Brazil. 1 Th<strong>at</strong> morning the directors of the Zeeland chamber were busily<br />
making plans to outfit a ship to trade for slaves in Guinea and Angola and putting the finishing<br />
touches on the agenda for the meeting of the Heren XIX, scheduled to begin the following week.<br />
In the midst of these activities, a page informed them th<strong>at</strong> ships had arrived from Brazil and<br />
handed over a hefty bundle of letters, reports, inventories, and other documents. 2 These told a<br />
most unfortun<strong>at</strong>e tale: in early June, and under the pretence of a wedding ceremony, a number of<br />
leading Portuguese planters had plotted to murder nearly the entire staff of the Dutch colonial<br />
government. The plot itself had been foiled, but the conspir<strong>at</strong>ors had successfully retre<strong>at</strong>ed into<br />
the vast scrublands beyond Dutch control. There they joined up with as many as five thousand<br />
black, Indian, and Portuguese soldiers who had marched, undetected, from the Portuguese capital<br />
<br />
1 NA 1.05.01.01, inv.nr. 26, entry for August 30, 1645, fol. 106v.<br />
2 The originals of these documents can be found in NA 1.05.01.01, inv.nr. 60, Overgekomen Brieven ende Papieren<br />
uit Brazilie, 1644-1646, fol. 74. My account of the morning's discussion in the Zeeland chamber is drawn from NA<br />
1.05.01.01, inv.nr. 26, entry for August 30, 1645, fol. 106v.<br />
41
<strong>at</strong> São Salvador da Bahia de Todos os Santos, further down the coast. Suspicions th<strong>at</strong> the<br />
Portuguese Governor in Bahia was supporting the rebels only added to the potential danger. 3<br />
Bad as this news was, it did not come as a complete surprise. Johan Maurits, who until<br />
<strong>May</strong> 1644 was Governor General of Dutch Brazil, had warned on his departure th<strong>at</strong> maintaining<br />
civil order would require gre<strong>at</strong> care to balance the interests of the colony’s three groups—the<br />
military, the merchants, and the citizens, both Portuguese and Dutch—and ample arrangements<br />
for military defense. 4 He had recommended in the strongest possible terms th<strong>at</strong> the existing<br />
garrisons be paid on time, provisions for religious toler<strong>at</strong>ion be maintained, and care taken not to<br />
exert excessive pressure on Portuguese planters who had become deeply indebted to the<br />
company. But with Maurits gone, and funds in short supply, the council and the company had<br />
largely ignored these recommend<strong>at</strong>ions: troops were given license to return home, payments fell<br />
behind, and public worship by C<strong>at</strong>holics was strictly curtailed. By October of 1644 there were<br />
rumors in Brazil of a revolt; by February these rumors were serious enough th<strong>at</strong> the Council<br />
asked the company, as a precaution, to send additional men and munitions. 5<br />
When the news of the revolt reached the United Provinces it cre<strong>at</strong>ed a sens<strong>at</strong>ion, not only<br />
in the taverns and coffeehouses where Brazil had for a gener<strong>at</strong>ion been a staple of public deb<strong>at</strong>e,<br />
but also in the halls of government. 6 In Amsterdam, Middelburg, The Hague, and elsewhere,<br />
<br />
3 The classic account of the "War of Divine Liberty" is contained in Boxer, The Dutch in Brazil, 1624-1654, 159-<br />
203. See also Wätjen, O Dominio Colonial Hollandez no Brasil: um Capitulo da Historia Colonial do Seculo XVII,<br />
222-286.<br />
4 On his departure Maurits' left behind a lengthy set of instructions for the remaining members of the Hoge ende<br />
Secrete Raed. This document, often referred to as Maurits' "Political Testament," though he never gave it th<strong>at</strong> label,<br />
was transcribed by Casper Barlaeus in his official history of Maurits' tenure in Brazil, Rervm per Octennivm in<br />
Brasilia, published in 1647. The standard modern edition is L’Honoré Naber, Nederlandsch Brazilië Onder Het<br />
Bewind Van Johan Maurits Grave Van Nassau, 1637-1644 (’s-Gravenhage: Martinus Nijhoff, 1923). There is now<br />
an English transl<strong>at</strong>ion, Caspar van Baerle, The History of Brazil Under the Governorship of Count Johan Maurits of<br />
Nassau, 1636-1644, trans. Blanche T. Ebeling Koning (Gainesville: <strong>University</strong> Press of Florida, 2011). On the<br />
balancing the three groups, see Ebeling, 279.<br />
5 Boxer, The Dutch in Brazil, 1624-1654, 176.<br />
6 On the popular recneption of news about Dutch Brazil two decades earlier, see Michiel van Groesen's article on<br />
news of the Dutch seizure of São Salvador da Bahia in 1624, “A Week to Remember: Dutch Publishers and the<br />
42
Illustr<strong>at</strong>ion 4. “Count Johan Maurits van Nassau-Siegen.” Engraving in Casper<br />
Barlaeus, Rervm per Octennivm in Brasilia (Amsterdam, Joannis Blaev, 1647).<br />
Maurits was Governor General of Dutch Brazil from 1637-1644.<br />
<br />
Competition for News from Brazil, 26 August-2 September 1624,” Quarendo 40 (2010): 26-49. On Brazil in<br />
pamphlets and popular culture, see Clazina Dingemanse and Marijke Meijer Drees, “‘Pra<strong>at</strong>jes’ over de WIC en<br />
Brazilië : Literaire Aspecten van Gesprekspamfletten uit 1649,” De Zeeventiende Eeuw 21 (2005): 112–127; Henk<br />
den Heijer, “Het Recht van de Sterkste in de Polder: Politieke en Economische Strijd tussen Amsterdam en Zeeland<br />
over de Kwestie Brazilie, 1630-1654,” in Harmonie in Holland: Het Poldermodel van 1500 tot Nu, ed. Dennis Bos,<br />
Maurits Ebben, and Hank te Velde (Amsterdam: Bert Bakker, 2008), 72–92.<br />
43
the revolt pushed the colony’s f<strong>at</strong>e to the top of the political agenda and stimul<strong>at</strong>ed an intense<br />
period of negoti<strong>at</strong>ions to determine an appropri<strong>at</strong>e response. At the center of these negoti<strong>at</strong>ions<br />
was the Heren XIX, the body responsible both for the colony and for the company’s rel<strong>at</strong>ionship<br />
with the St<strong>at</strong>es General. This chapter examines how the Heren XIX collected, interpreted, and<br />
represented inform<strong>at</strong>ion about the revolt. It seeks to understand wh<strong>at</strong> happened in Brazil and to<br />
reconstruct how news from the periphery impacted politics <strong>at</strong> the center, using the circul<strong>at</strong>ion of<br />
inform<strong>at</strong>ion to deline<strong>at</strong>e the corridors of power through which th<strong>at</strong> inform<strong>at</strong>ion passed. In this<br />
way the chapter clearly defines the most important issue the Heren XIX had to confront during<br />
their fall meeting in Middelburg. It is largely narr<strong>at</strong>ive, r<strong>at</strong>her than analytic, an approach th<strong>at</strong> is<br />
intended to introduce some of the key individuals and institutions involved in colonial politics in<br />
the Dutch Republic.<br />
The Republic’s extensive trade networks and its largely urban, liter<strong>at</strong>e popul<strong>at</strong>ion made<br />
for a lively news culture. 7 In assessing this culture, scholars have largely focused on Amsterdam,<br />
“cradle of the modern periodical press.” 8 Although news had long circul<strong>at</strong>ed in manuscript form,<br />
and the first printed newssheets appeared in Germany, it was in Amsterdam during the early<br />
years of the Thirty Years’ War th<strong>at</strong> the collection, editing, and printing of weekly newspapers<br />
became professionalized. By 1640, the city boasted ten different newspapers, published not only<br />
in Dutch but also in English and French. 9 These newspapers collected political and commercial<br />
<br />
7 See Folke Dahl, “Amsterdam Earliest Newspaper Centre of Western Europe: New Contributions to the History of<br />
the First Dutch and French Corantos,” Het Boek XXV, no. 3 (1939): 161–198; Woodruff D. Smith, “The Function of<br />
Commercial Centers in the Moderniz<strong>at</strong>ion of European Capitalism: Amsterdam as an Inform<strong>at</strong>ion Exchange in the<br />
Seventeenth Century,” The Journal of Economic History 44, no. 4 (December 1984): 985–1005; Frijhoff and Spies,<br />
1650: Hard-Won Unity; Peter Burke, A Social History of Knowledge: From Gutenberg to Diderot (Cambridge:<br />
Polity Press, 2000).; Marika Keblusek, Boeken in de Hofstad: Haagse Boekcultuur in de Gouden Eeuw (Hilversum:<br />
Verloren, 1997).<br />
8 Clé Lesger, Handel in Amsterdam ten Tijde van de Opstand: Kooplieden, Commerciële Expansie en Verandering<br />
in de Ruimtelijke Economie van de Nederlanden, ca. 1550-ca. 1630 (Hilversum: Verloren, 2001), 223.<br />
9 Folke Dahl, “Amsterdam Earliest Newspaper Centre of Western Europe: New Contributions to the History of the<br />
First Dutch and French Corantos,” 186–195.<br />
44
news from around the world and furnished this news to readers throughout northern Europe.<br />
Amsterdam also was a center for other ephemera, especially pamphlets, and for the public<strong>at</strong>ion<br />
of scholarly books, nautical manuals, maps, <strong>at</strong>lases, accounting guides, and price currents. 10<br />
Even those merchants who did little or no business in Amsterdam were obliged to maintain a<br />
represent<strong>at</strong>ive there, just to stay on top of the news. As Woodruff Smith and, following him, Clé<br />
Lesger, have argued, Amsterdam's role as an “inform<strong>at</strong>ion exchange” both contributed to and<br />
helped to reinforce the Dutch Republic's hegemonic position in intern<strong>at</strong>ional commerce. News<br />
and economic power were closely intertwined. 11<br />
As this chapter will show, however, news traveled along other roads than just those th<strong>at</strong><br />
led to Amsterdam. News of the revolt arrived first in Middelburg, an important commercial city<br />
in its own right and the host, <strong>at</strong> least in 1645, of the meetings the Heren XIX. Like the board of<br />
the VOC, the Heren XIX met on a rot<strong>at</strong>ing schedule for six years in Amsterdam and then two in<br />
Middelburg, a system intentionally designed to reduce Amsterdam's dominance within the new<br />
monopoly companies. 12 And once in the company’s hands, the news was sent first to The Hague,<br />
the political center of the Dutch Republic and the se<strong>at</strong> of both the St<strong>at</strong>es of Holland and the<br />
St<strong>at</strong>es General, and to the Prince of Orange, Frederik Hendrik, who <strong>at</strong> this time was encamped in<br />
northern Flanders. 13 Only then was it sent to Amsterdam. Highly sensitive in n<strong>at</strong>ure, the news<br />
also was not immedi<strong>at</strong>ely set into print. Within a m<strong>at</strong>ter of days the two most important<br />
<br />
10<br />
Smith, “The Function of Commercial Centers in the Moderniz<strong>at</strong>ion of European Capitalism: Amsterdam as an<br />
Inform<strong>at</strong>ion Exchange in the Seventeenth Century”; Burke, A social history of knowledge.<br />
11<br />
Smith, “The Function of Commercial Centers in the Moderniz<strong>at</strong>ion of European Capitalism: Amsterdam as an<br />
Inform<strong>at</strong>ion Exchange in the Seventeenth Century”; Clé Lesger, “The Printing Press and the Rise of the Amsterdam<br />
Inform<strong>at</strong>ion Exchange Around 1600”, n.d. See also Clé Lesger, Handel in Amsterdam ten Tijde van de Opstand:<br />
Kooplieden, Commerciële Expansie en Verandering in de Ruimtelijke Economie van de Nederlanden, ca. 1550-ca.<br />
1630 (Hilversum: Verloren, 2001).<br />
12<br />
Den Heijer, De Geschiedenis van de WIC; Den Heijer, De Geoctrooieerde Compagnie; Gaastra, The Dutch East<br />
India Company.<br />
13<br />
Zeeuwsarchief 2.1, inv.nr. 951, St<strong>at</strong>en van Zeeland, Ingekomen Stukken, letter from Frederik Hendrik to the St<strong>at</strong>es<br />
of Zeeland, September 20, 1645. On Frederk Hendrik, see Poelhekke, Frederik Hendrik, Prins van Oranje.<br />
45
Amsterdam newspapers did publish stories about the revolt, but their accounts lacked crucial<br />
details and, in <strong>at</strong> least one case, badly distorted the n<strong>at</strong>ure and significance of wh<strong>at</strong> had taken<br />
place. By focusing on Amsterdam, and on printed texts, scholars have largely studied the re-<br />
circul<strong>at</strong>ion of news, instead of tracing the specific contexts in which news was initially received<br />
and put to use.<br />
The chapter th<strong>at</strong> follows addresses this challenge through three distinct lenses. The first<br />
section joins the directors of the Middelburg chamber in examining the letters from Recife and<br />
places these manuscript sources within a m<strong>at</strong>rix of other sources on the revolt, both printed and<br />
oral. 14 The next section looks <strong>at</strong> decision-making and planning within the Heren XIX. Through a<br />
close analysis of the board’s deliber<strong>at</strong>ions, it demonstr<strong>at</strong>es the ways the company assessed the<br />
news and how its directors tailored multiple messages to suit different audiences within the<br />
Republic. The final section hones in on a single participant in these deliber<strong>at</strong>ions, Johannes de<br />
Laet. Building on the work of Jacob Soll, the chapter argues th<strong>at</strong> De Laet played the crucial role<br />
of “inform<strong>at</strong>ion master” within the WIC and th<strong>at</strong> he was instrumental in building a coalition to<br />
relieve the colony in Brazil. 15 As in France and elsewhere in early modern Europe, the collection<br />
of inform<strong>at</strong>ion transl<strong>at</strong>ed into power and authority, but in the Dutch Republic th<strong>at</strong> authority was<br />
predic<strong>at</strong>ed on close cooper<strong>at</strong>ion between a company, led by its board, and <strong>at</strong> least a half-dozen<br />
other institutions and assemblies th<strong>at</strong> together constituted the Dutch st<strong>at</strong>e. 16<br />
<br />
14 Harold Love, The Culture and Commerce of Texts: Scribal Public<strong>at</strong>ion in Seventeenth-Century England<br />
(Amherst: <strong>University</strong> of Massachusetts Press, 1998).<br />
15 Jacob Soll, “From Note-Taking to D<strong>at</strong>a Banks: Personal and Institutional Inform<strong>at</strong>ion Management in Early<br />
Modern Europe,” Intellectual History Review 20, no. 3 (2010): 355–375.<br />
16 Jacob Soll, The Inform<strong>at</strong>ion Master: Jean-Baptiste Colbert’s Secret St<strong>at</strong>e Intelligence System (Ann Arbor:<br />
<strong>University</strong> of Michigan Press, 2009); Paul Slack, “Government and Inform<strong>at</strong>ion in Seventeenth-Century England,”<br />
Past & Present 184 (August 2004): 33-68; Vivo, Inform<strong>at</strong>ion and Communic<strong>at</strong>ion in Venice; Markus Friedrich,<br />
“Government and Infrom<strong>at</strong>ion-Management in Early Modern Europe: The Case of the Society of Jesus (1540-<br />
1773),” Journal of Early Modern History 12 (2008): 539-563; See also Ann Blair, Too Much to Know: Managing<br />
Scholarly Inform<strong>at</strong>ion Before the Modern Age (New Haven: Yale <strong>University</strong> Press, 2010).<br />
46
2. The Revolt in Brazil and the Circul<strong>at</strong>ion of News<br />
News from Brazil reached the United Provinces through many different channels. Although it<br />
was strictly forbidden, sailors, soldiers, and functionaries in the company's employment sent<br />
home priv<strong>at</strong>e correspondence th<strong>at</strong> described the country, its people, and—most damaging from<br />
the company's perspective—the problems and injustices of colonial administr<strong>at</strong>ion. 17 In addition,<br />
each year after 1630, when the Dutch seized Recife and Olinda in Pernambuco, several hundred<br />
people traveled back and forth to the colony on both company and priv<strong>at</strong>e ships. Many of them<br />
came from areas outside the Netherlands—especially the German st<strong>at</strong>es, England, and<br />
Scotland—but they normally passed through the coastal cities of Holland and Zeeland on their<br />
way home. 18 There they shared wh<strong>at</strong> they had seen and heard, either with family members or in<br />
public spaces such as the taverns and barges th<strong>at</strong> served as the setting for several pamphlets th<strong>at</strong><br />
discussed recent events in Brazil. 19 Important also would have been the letters seized from<br />
Iberian ships and set into print, the correspondence of priv<strong>at</strong>e merchants, and letters exchanged<br />
between members of the large Sephardic community in Amsterdam and their contacts in Lisbon<br />
and other Portuguese cities. 20<br />
Nevertheless, the most detailed single source of inform<strong>at</strong>ion on Brazil, <strong>at</strong> least for those<br />
who were permitted to see it, was the generale missiven (general letters) sent several times each<br />
<br />
17 Regul<strong>at</strong>ions were contained in the company's Articulbrief beraemt over het scheeps- ende crijgsvolck, ten dienst<br />
van de Geoctroyeerde West-Indische Compagnie in Brasyl ende Guinea.<br />
18 Bruno Miranda, “The Military Daily Life in New Holland (1630-1654): The Life’s Conditions of Soldiers of the<br />
West India Company” (Academisch Proefschrift, Universiteit Leiden, 2011).<br />
19 Dingemanse and Drees, “‘Pra<strong>at</strong>jes’ over de WIC en Brazilië : Literaire Aspecten van Gesprekspamfletten uit<br />
1649”; Den Heijer, “Het Recht van de Sterkste in de Polder: Politieke en Economische Strijd tussen Amsterdam en<br />
Zeeland over de Kwestie Brazilie, 1630-1654.”<br />
20 Miriam Bodian, Hebrews of the Portuguese N<strong>at</strong>ion: Conversos and Community in Early Modern Amsterdam<br />
(Bloomington: <strong>University</strong> of Indiana Press, 1997); Daniel M. Swetschinski, Reluctant Cosmopolitans: The<br />
Portuguese Jews of Seventeenth-Century Amsterdam (Portland: Littman Library of Jewish Civiliz<strong>at</strong>ion, 2000).<br />
47
year by the Hoge ende Secrete Raad (High and Secret Council) in Recife. 21 The generale<br />
missiven consisted of a single letter over the sign<strong>at</strong>ures of all four councilors, with references in<br />
the text to a number of supporting documents th<strong>at</strong> were enclosed and lettered alphabetically.<br />
These supporting documents ranged in substance from reports on diplom<strong>at</strong>ic or military missions<br />
to memoranda on the st<strong>at</strong>e of finances and inventories of medical or military supplies; they also<br />
included transcriptions of the daily minutes of the council and copies of important<br />
correspondence. All of these documents were listed in order on a register, as were letters<br />
addressed to the individual chambers of the company or to the Heren XIX by subordin<strong>at</strong>e<br />
councils responsible for finance, justice, and other m<strong>at</strong>ters. Separ<strong>at</strong>e from these, and given a<br />
register of their own, were documents th<strong>at</strong> listed the names of the dead, soldiers licensed to<br />
return to the Netherlands, slaves delivered to Brazil, and the more prosaic receipts and<br />
inventories th<strong>at</strong> accompanied the loading and unloading of goods from warehouses and ships.<br />
Much like the annual letters of the Jesuits, the generale missiven were organized into a hierarchy<br />
of documents th<strong>at</strong> could easily be sorted and deleg<strong>at</strong>ed to the appropri<strong>at</strong>e officials <strong>at</strong> home. 22<br />
There were important ways in which it might be in the council’s interest to misrepresent<br />
inform<strong>at</strong>ion, and on any given topic priv<strong>at</strong>e correspondence might have offered inform<strong>at</strong>ion of<br />
which the council was unaware, but the generale missiven was still the most complete, synthetic<br />
available portrait of affairs in the colony, and thus served as the basis on which the company's<br />
directors formul<strong>at</strong>ed official policy towards Brazil.<br />
<br />
21 Boxer, The Dutch in Brazil, 1624-1654; Wätjen, O Dominio Colonial Hollandez no Brasil: Um Capitulo da<br />
Historia Colonial do Seculo XVII. These letters mimicked the form<strong>at</strong> of similar letters sent annually from B<strong>at</strong>avia by<br />
servants of the VOC. Gaastra, The Dutch East India Company.<br />
22 Friedrich, “Government and Inform<strong>at</strong>ion-Management in Early Modern Europe: The Case of the Society of Jesus<br />
(1540-1773),” 547.<br />
48
The generaal missive th<strong>at</strong> arrived in Middelburg on August 30, 1645 was d<strong>at</strong>ed June 27<br />
of the same year. 23 The l<strong>at</strong>est d<strong>at</strong>e on the 21 supporting documents was July 2, so we can safely<br />
assume th<strong>at</strong> the Walcheren, Roode Hart, and Grote Gerrit sailed shortly thereafter; the journey<br />
across the Atlantic took almost sixty days. This compares quite favorably with the journey to<br />
B<strong>at</strong>avia in the East, which could take anywhere between nine and twelve months, but it was still<br />
a considerable length of time. 24 As news, the content of the documents was fresh, but by the time<br />
the directors began reading them they were well aware th<strong>at</strong> the events had taken place months<br />
before, and th<strong>at</strong> wh<strong>at</strong>ever measures were agreed in response would take a further two months to<br />
return to Brazil.<br />
We can see the order in which the documents were read from the minutes of the Zeeland<br />
chamber and from annot<strong>at</strong>ions made <strong>at</strong> the top of each document. <strong>25</strong> First read was the cover letter<br />
and the separ<strong>at</strong>e secret report and minutes of the council. Whereas the first did little more than<br />
rel<strong>at</strong>e basic inform<strong>at</strong>ion on the arrival and departure of ships, the council’s secret letter and<br />
minutes painted an ominous picture of the events th<strong>at</strong> had transpired over the previous months. 26<br />
The letter began by reminding the company's directors th<strong>at</strong> intercepted correspondence from<br />
Bahia contained evidence of prepar<strong>at</strong>ions for a revolt; although the council had brought this to<br />
the <strong>at</strong>tention of the Heren XIX, little had been done. Now, seeing th<strong>at</strong> no reinforcements had<br />
been sent, and th<strong>at</strong> the colony's defenses were weak, the conspir<strong>at</strong>ors had decided to act. From<br />
the south, Henriqué Dias (d. 1662), commander of Portugal's black militia, and Dom António<br />
Felipe Camarão (ca. 1580-1648), a Peiguar Indian and commander of the Indian forces loyal to<br />
<br />
23<br />
NA 1.05.01.01, inv.nr. 60, Overgekomen Brieven ende Papieren uit Brazilie, 1644-1646. Generale Missiven,<br />
d<strong>at</strong>ed June 27, 1645.<br />
24<br />
Gaastra, The Dutch East India Company.<br />
<strong>25</strong><br />
NA 1.05.01.01, inv.nr. 26, entries for August 30 and August 31, 1645, fol. 106v and 107; NA 1.05.01.01, inv.nr.<br />
60.<br />
26 NA 1.05.01.01, inv.nr. 60.<br />
49
the Portuguese, had crossed the Rio São Francisco <strong>at</strong> the border between Portuguese and Dutch<br />
Brazil and were marching north toward Pernambuco. Their plan was to connect with local<br />
militias organized by João Fernandes Vieira (ca. 1613-1681), a wealthy planter whom the<br />
council conclusively had identified as the author of the revolt. Thanks to an anonymous letter,<br />
the council had been forewarned and begun efforts to round up and question those Portuguese<br />
who had not already fled into the interior. Two Dutch soldiers had been killed in the small<br />
village of Ipojuca, only fifty miles from Recife, and fighting was now underway. Separ<strong>at</strong>e<br />
companies of soldiers had been deployed to cre<strong>at</strong>e a defensive circle around the city and the<br />
senior military officer in the colony had been disp<strong>at</strong>ched to the front in hopes th<strong>at</strong> his presence<br />
might help “to bring the inhabitants to reason.” 27 Without fresh soldiers, the council concluded,<br />
the inhabitants “will be reinforced in their judgment th<strong>at</strong> the company seeks to abandon this<br />
colony” and all efforts to defend it would be in vain. 28<br />
The directors in Middelburg turned from this letter to the council's secret minutes and to<br />
two reports based on interrog<strong>at</strong>ions of leading Portuguese planters. 29 The minutes were d<strong>at</strong>ed<br />
<strong>May</strong> 31, 1645, the day after the council had received the anonymous letter th<strong>at</strong> alerted them to<br />
the conspiracy. This letter, a copy of which was enclosed, suggested th<strong>at</strong> “a good number” of<br />
people already were g<strong>at</strong>hered in Paraiba with the intention to overwhelm the garrisons and expel<br />
<br />
27 NA 1.01.04, inv.nr. 5758, Letter of the Hoge Raad in Recife, d<strong>at</strong>ed June 27, 1645, fol. 139. “waerop wy omme<br />
exempel te St<strong>at</strong>ueren, op d<strong>at</strong> andere diergelyck niet en <strong>at</strong>tenteren geresolveert hebben de heer Overste Luytenant in<br />
persoon, met eenich gecommandeert volck van hier ende de troupen in Moribecq leggende, in passant mede<br />
nemende een gedeelte vant garnisoen in St. Antonio, recht toe na Poiucan te senden, om, die gerevolteerde tot reden<br />
te brengen.”<br />
28 Ibid, fol. 140. “Eyndelyck om dese te sluyten willen wy uwe Ed. E. noch maels opt alderserieuste recommanderen<br />
de besendinge van Chrysvolck tot versterckinge van onse maght en alle gerequieerde behoeften in conformiteyt van<br />
de Lysten die aende Cameren gesonden worden, daeromme wy continuelyck nu al Jaren langh by uwe Ed. E. hebben<br />
aengehouden sonder die te connen obtineeren, t' welcke vele van de Ingesetenen oorsaeck heeft gegeven om te<br />
gelooven, en den anderen in te beelden, d<strong>at</strong> uwe Ed. E selve dese conqueste soecken te abandoneren.”<br />
29 The secret minutes are NA 1.01.04, inv.nr. 5758, Extracts from the secret resolutions of the Hoge Raad, <strong>May</strong> 31-<br />
June 21, 1645. The interog<strong>at</strong>ions are NA 1.05.01.01 inv.nr. 60, Report of the interrog<strong>at</strong>ion of Sebastião Caravãlho,<br />
Mauritstaad, signed by Pieter Jansen Bas and Balthasar van de Vorde, June 19, 1645; Report of the interrog<strong>at</strong>ion of<br />
George Homen Pinto, signed by Jan van Walbeek, June <strong>25</strong>, 1645.<br />
50
the Dutch from Brazil. 30 After some discussion, the council had resolved to provision all the forts<br />
for a period of two months; prepare the company's Indian auxiliaries for b<strong>at</strong>tle; send spies to<br />
each of the captaincies under Dutch control; recall any soldiers aboard ship; and, finally, to call<br />
Vieira and other leading planters to Recife for questioning. 31 These plans were immedi<strong>at</strong>ely set<br />
into motion. Although Vieira had disappeared, several other planters were brought in and<br />
soldiers were paraded around the central square in Recife in a show of force. 32 The council also<br />
received reports th<strong>at</strong> company slaves might join the Portuguese if the opportunity arose, and th<strong>at</strong><br />
Indians who currently were loyal to the Dutch might easily switch sides. The commander of the<br />
Indian forces, Johan Listry, was therefore ordered to encourage the Indians to send their wives<br />
and children to the Dutch island fortress <strong>at</strong> Itamaricá, under the pretense th<strong>at</strong> they would be safer<br />
there. 33 Separ<strong>at</strong>e documents, based on interrog<strong>at</strong>ions of two Portuguese planters, confirmed the<br />
identity of the conspiracy's leadership and provided credible evidence th<strong>at</strong> the Governor of Bahia<br />
had been actively involved in organizing and supporting the revolt. 34<br />
The directors in Middelburg were responsible for ensuring th<strong>at</strong> this inform<strong>at</strong>ion was<br />
promptly shared with the other chambers and with the St<strong>at</strong>es General—not least because<br />
Portuguese support to the revolt would signal a breach of the 1641 Tre<strong>at</strong>y th<strong>at</strong> ended hostilities<br />
between Portugal and the Dutch Republic for a period of ten years and recognized their<br />
respective claims in both the East and West Indies, including Brazil. 35 Once the letters had been<br />
<br />
30<br />
NA 1.01.04, inv.nr. 5758, Extracts from the secret resolutions of the Hoge Raad, entry for <strong>May</strong> 31, 1645.<br />
31<br />
Ibid.<br />
32<br />
Ibid., entry for July 14, 1645.<br />
33<br />
Ibid., entry for June 16, 1645.<br />
34<br />
NA 1.05.01.01 inv.nr. 60, Report of the interrog<strong>at</strong>ion of Sebastião Caravãlho, June 19, 1645; Report of the<br />
interrog<strong>at</strong>ion of George Homen Pinto, June <strong>25</strong>, 1645<br />
35<br />
The tre<strong>at</strong>y, which was signed in The Hague on June 12, 1641, followed the Portuguese revolution on December 1,<br />
1640 th<strong>at</strong> ended Portugal's the sixty-year union with Spain and brought the Duke of Brangaza to power as Dom João<br />
IV. News of the revolution itself was celebr<strong>at</strong>ed in both Dutch Brazil and the United Provinces, where it was seen as<br />
weakening Spain, both the VOC and the WIC opposed the subsequent tre<strong>at</strong>y on the grounds th<strong>at</strong> it would constrain<br />
their <strong>at</strong>tacks on Portuguese positions in Asia and America. While feigning friendship with Portuguese officials in<br />
51
ead aloud, two resolutions were passed: the first ordered the chamber’s commissioner in charge<br />
of supplies to immedi<strong>at</strong>ely procure powder, musket balls, and fuses to be loaded onto the ship St.<br />
Christoffel, which was preparing to sail for Angola. 36 Shortly thereafter it was determined th<strong>at</strong><br />
the circuitous route to Brazil via West Africa would be too slow, and the ship was allowed to<br />
depart without any additional cargo. In its place, a second ship, Vlissingen, was prepared to sail<br />
for Brazil and the commissioner for the militia was ordered to send a drummer throughout the<br />
city to recruit new soldiers. 37 The second resolution was to send two deleg<strong>at</strong>ions to carry the<br />
news: the first, led by Pieter Biscop, was to travel to The Hague to ask th<strong>at</strong> the St<strong>at</strong>es General do<br />
everything within its power to assist the colony. The members of this deleg<strong>at</strong>ion also were<br />
ordered to inform the chambers of the Maas, North Holland, Amsterdam, and Groningen. A<br />
second deleg<strong>at</strong>ion, led by Abraham van Pere and Simon van Beaumont (1574-1654), the<br />
chamber's lawyer, was requested to travel immedi<strong>at</strong>ely to the military camp <strong>at</strong> Eekelo, where the<br />
Prince of Orange was leading a campaign against Spanish soldiers in northern Flanders. 38 Both<br />
deleg<strong>at</strong>ions departed the following day. In their absence the remaining directors continued to<br />
read the documents and to prepare the ship Vlissingen. 39<br />
The first deleg<strong>at</strong>ion was admitted into the chambers of the St<strong>at</strong>es General on September<br />
2. There they presented an “oral report on the affairs in the conquests in Brazil” and handed over<br />
<br />
Recife, Maurits used the time between the r<strong>at</strong>ific<strong>at</strong>ion of the tre<strong>at</strong>y in Europe and its arrival in Brazil to launch<br />
<strong>at</strong>tacks on São Paulo do Loanda, São Tomé, and Maranhão <strong>at</strong> the mouth of the Amazon River. A chronology of the<br />
tre<strong>at</strong>y's signing and r<strong>at</strong>ific<strong>at</strong>ion, evidently prepared to defend Maurits' new conquests, can be found in NA 1.01.07,<br />
inv.nr. 1<strong>25</strong>64.15, no. 46. Beschowing van het vredesverdrag met Portugal, de inhoud, r<strong>at</strong>ific<strong>at</strong>ie, bekendmaking van<br />
het voornoemde verdrag door de vertegenwoordigers van St<strong>at</strong>en Generael. On the tre<strong>at</strong>y see Evaldo Cabral de<br />
Mello, De Braziliaanse Affaire: Portugal, de Republiek der Verenigde Nederlanden en Noord-Oost Brazilië, 1641-<br />
1669 (Zutphen: Walburg, 2005); Boxer, The Dutch in Brazil, 1624-1654, 100-109; Cátia Antunes, Globalis<strong>at</strong>ion in<br />
the Early Modern Period: The Economic Rel<strong>at</strong>ionship Between Amsterdam and Lisbon, 1640-1705 (Amsterdam:<br />
Aksant, 2004), 142-145.<br />
36 NA 1.05.01.01, inv.nr. 26, entry for August 30, 1645, fol. 106v.<br />
37 NA 1.05.01.01, inv.nr. 26, entries for August 31 and September 4, 1645, fols. 107 and 107v.<br />
38 Ibid.; Zeeuwsarchief 2.1, inv.nr. 951, letter from Frederik Hendrik to the St<strong>at</strong>es of Zeeland, September 20, 1645.<br />
The Prince's campaign in northern Flanders was part of an effort to enhance the Republic's bargaining position in<br />
talks in Münster to end the war with Spain. See Israel, The Dutch Republic, 544.<br />
39 NA 1.05.01.01, inv.nr. 26, entries for August 30, August 31, and September 4, 1645, fols. 106-107v.<br />
52
“various papers concerning th<strong>at</strong> subject.” 40 Documents in the archive of the St<strong>at</strong>es General make<br />
clear th<strong>at</strong> these papers included the secret letter from the Hoge Raad and a selection of excerpts<br />
from their secret minutes. 41 Cornelis Musch (ca. 1592-1650), the notoriously corrupt secretary to<br />
the St<strong>at</strong>es General, noted on their letter of credentials th<strong>at</strong> these papers were to be handed over to<br />
a committee consisting of Jacob Veth (d. 1667), Coenraad Ruisch (1583-1656), and Wolter<br />
Schonenborch, all of whom previously had been selected to <strong>at</strong>tend the upcoming meetings of the<br />
Heren XIX on behalf of the St<strong>at</strong>es General. 42 This committee reviewed the secret documents and<br />
spoke <strong>at</strong> length with the three directors from Zeeland before reporting back to the St<strong>at</strong>es General<br />
as a whole. Evidently, the discussions did not progress very far, for the St<strong>at</strong>es General resolved<br />
only th<strong>at</strong> the m<strong>at</strong>ter should be referred to the Heren XIX for resolution. 43 While in The Hague the<br />
three directors sent a letter to the Amsterdam chamber informing them of the news and, on their<br />
return, stopped in all three cities th<strong>at</strong> made up the Maas chamber—Delft, Rotterdam, and<br />
Dordrecht. When they returned to Middelburg on September 6, they found the second deleg<strong>at</strong>ion<br />
already back from Eekelo. This deleg<strong>at</strong>ion had been “favorably received” by the Prince of<br />
Orange, who promised to write to the St<strong>at</strong>es General and the provinces to urge them to pay the<br />
subsidies they owed the company so th<strong>at</strong> military assistance could be organized as quickly as<br />
possible. 44<br />
There is probably no way to know how fast the news spread by word of mouth, or how<br />
many people may have seen either the originals or copies of the documents enclosed in the<br />
generale missiven. But it is possible to trace the spread of the most closely guarded documents.<br />
<br />
40<br />
NA 1.01.03, inv.nr. 4845, entry for September 2, 1645. “eerste by monde gecognosenteerde deselvere<br />
gelegentheyt van de Saecken der Conquesten in Brasyl, & vervolgens staende vergaderinge aen haer ho: mo:<br />
overgeleeverdt verscheyden pampieren d<strong>at</strong> subject raeckende.”<br />
41<br />
NA 1.01.04, inv.nr. 5758.<br />
42<br />
NA 1.01.03, inv.nr. 4845, entry for August 15, 1645. On Musch, see Knevel, Het Haagse Bureau, chapter 5, "Een<br />
Zeventiende-eeuwse C<strong>at</strong>alina," 123-144.<br />
43<br />
NA 1.01.03, inv.nr. 4845, entry for September 4, 1645.<br />
44<br />
NA 1.05.01.01, inv.nr. 26, fol. 108.<br />
53
On Wednesday, the same day the ship arrived <strong>at</strong> the port of Middelburg, these were shared with<br />
as many of the Zeeland chamber's fourteen directors as were present on th<strong>at</strong> day. By Friday the<br />
documents had reached the Prince of Orange and his military court; by S<strong>at</strong>urday they reached the<br />
St<strong>at</strong>es General in The Hague. They probably reached Amsterdam the same day or early the next<br />
day, Sunday, September 3. The news would have reached Delft, Rotterdam, and Dordrecht no<br />
l<strong>at</strong>er than Monday, September 4, and probably considerably earlier. It thus took fewer than six<br />
days for company officials in three of the five chambers, and represent<strong>at</strong>ives of all seven<br />
provinces in the Republic, to learn in detail about the events in Brazil, either by letter or directly<br />
from a director of the Zeeland chamber. Given Zeeland’s geographic loc<strong>at</strong>ion, some two days<br />
travel from The Hague and three from Amsterdam, this is remarkable.<br />
More remarkable, though, was the speed with which news of the revolt reached the<br />
Amsterdam press. Since 1618, Jan van Hilten’s Courante uyt Italien en Duytslandt, &c. and<br />
Broer Jansz.’s Tijdinghe uyt verscheyde Quartieren each had appeared once a week on<br />
S<strong>at</strong>urday. 45 On September 2—just three days after the ships arrived in Middelburg, and the same<br />
day th<strong>at</strong> the directors from Zeeland met with the St<strong>at</strong>es General in The Hague—both papers ran<br />
stories about the revolt in Brazil. 46 The stories themselves were in general quite similar, but<br />
<br />
45 Folke Dahl, “Amsterdam Earliest Newspaper Centre of Western Europe: New Contributions to the History of the<br />
First Dutch and French Corantos,” 171–185.<br />
46 Koninklijke Bibliotheek, Film C1104, Courante uyt Italien en Duytsch-landt, &c. Printed for Jan van Hilton,<br />
Amsterdam, No. 35, September 2, 1645; Film C1101, Tijdinghe uyt verscheyde quartieren, No. 35 d<strong>at</strong>ed 2<br />
September 1645. The text in the Courante reads, “Alle Dorpen in Brasil beginnen [ha]er teghen ons op te setten/<br />
door dien de meeste Singoores van de Ingenios de Ingesetenen tot haer devoti[...] bracht hebben/ waer mede sy<br />
marcheren en[...] soecken aen verscheyde Quartieren te over[...] haer vournemen is dus [..] Jodes ghe[...] derlijk<br />
ontdeckt/ ende hadden voorgh[...] ons op de 24 deserre overvallen/ door middel van seker Bruyloft van een van de<br />
voornaemste portugesen/ ende souden daer op ghenoodight hebben heeren hoogen Raden/ van de Justitie/ het<br />
Collegie ende veel andere/ 't welck sulcks gheschiedt zynde/ souden de selve vermoort/ desselfs cleederen<br />
aenghetrocken/ ende daer op dese Vestinghe aengetast hebben; maer Godt heeft ons daer van bewaert/ ende is den<br />
28 daer over een Dancksegginghe ghedaen: De Burgheren ende Inwoonderen zyn alhier ghemonstert ende 1800<br />
streck bevonden/ gheresolveert voor 't Vaderlandt te vechten. Vele Duytschen komen op het Recijf ghevlucht.” The<br />
text in the Tijdinghe reads, “Drie Schepen in 't last van Juny (te weten de Moor, het Hart, en Groote Gerrit) van<br />
Brasil afgevaren/ zyn in Zeelant wel gearriveert/ brengen tijdinge d<strong>at</strong> twee van de grootste Schepen/ die al gheladen<br />
waren/ daer noch bleven/ door dien sy het volck daer wilden behouden/ om oorsake d<strong>at</strong>ter een Conspir<strong>at</strong>ie van de<br />
54
Illustr<strong>at</strong>ion 5. Courante uyt Italien ende Duytschlandt, &c., Issue no.<br />
35 d<strong>at</strong>ed September 2, 1645. Printed by Jan van Hilten, this was one<br />
of the first Amsterdam weeklies and one of two newspapers th<strong>at</strong><br />
carried news of the revolt in Dutch Brazil.<br />
<br />
Portuguesen in 't Landt woonende/ ondecht was/ maer waren gherepouseert/ en thien of twaelf van de selve door<br />
gebleven/ en maer 2 of 3 van d'onse/ 't schijnt d<strong>at</strong> se op t' Recif ghemunt hadden. Eenige willen seggen d<strong>at</strong>se op<br />
seecker Bruyloft van een der voormeenste haer verraet meynden int werck te stellen/ en een bedroefde Tragedie aen<br />
te rechten/ daer men de sekerheyt nu haest van hooren sal. Alle Portuguesen zyn ingeroepen om ninnen korten tydt<br />
in haer Engenien te komen.”<br />
55
with subtle differences of fact and emphasis th<strong>at</strong> are suggestive as to their sources and their<br />
interpret<strong>at</strong>ion of wh<strong>at</strong> had taken place. Both stories appeared near the end of page two, on the<br />
reverse side, in the place customarily reserved for domestic news th<strong>at</strong> preceded last-minute<br />
additions and advertisements. Both papers devoted the bulk of the story to the revolt: Van<br />
Hilten’s Courante began with the st<strong>at</strong>ement th<strong>at</strong> “all the towns of Brazil have begun to plan<br />
against us, led by the Senores d'Ingenios [sugar planters] who have brought the inhabitants to<br />
their side and seek to take over various quarters [of the colony].” Broer Jansz.'s Tijdinghe<br />
reported more simply th<strong>at</strong> several ships had been held up from departing Brazil “on account of a<br />
conspiracy of the Portuguese living in th<strong>at</strong> land.” Both papers also reported th<strong>at</strong> the plot involved<br />
“a certain wedding” <strong>at</strong> which the foremost Dutchmen would be murdered, and th<strong>at</strong> this plot had<br />
been foiled. But their assessment of the outcome was starkly different. Broer Jansz. reported th<strong>at</strong><br />
twelve of the conspir<strong>at</strong>ors had been killed to only two Dutchmen, and suggested th<strong>at</strong> much had<br />
been made of little in Recife. “All the Portuguese,” his story concluded, “were called to swiftly<br />
return to their Ingenios [sugar mills].” Van Hilten, by contrast, ended on a foreboding note: “The<br />
citizens and residents mustered here and found 1,800 strong persons resolved to fight for the<br />
f<strong>at</strong>herland. [In addition] many Dutchmen fled to Recife.”<br />
As Folke Dahl has pointed out, identifying the sources employed by early Dutch<br />
newspapers has proven elusive. 47 Of the two papers, only one gave any indic<strong>at</strong>ion of its source:<br />
<strong>at</strong> the top of the story in Van Hilten’s Courante was written, “Out of Recife of Olinda 28 June.”<br />
This d<strong>at</strong>e does not appear on any of the letters included in the generale missiven, but its<br />
proximity to the departure d<strong>at</strong>e of the Walcheren, Rode Hart, and Grote Gerrit suggests strongly<br />
th<strong>at</strong> the letter traveled on one of those ships. If this is correct, we can hypothesize th<strong>at</strong> the story<br />
<br />
47 Folke Dahl, “Amsterdam Earliest Newspaper Centre of Western Europe: New Contributions to the History of the<br />
First Dutch and French Corantos.”<br />
56
was based upon a priv<strong>at</strong>e letter th<strong>at</strong> traveled from Middelburg to Amsterdam, arriving in th<strong>at</strong> city<br />
on Friday, September 1, just in time to be incorpor<strong>at</strong>ed into S<strong>at</strong>urday's paper. By contrast, Broer<br />
Jansz.’s Tijdinghe offered no d<strong>at</strong>eline, but indic<strong>at</strong>ed instead in the opening part of the text th<strong>at</strong>,<br />
“Three ships... th<strong>at</strong> sailed from Brazil in the last of June arrived safely in Zeeland, carrying<br />
news....” This formul<strong>at</strong>ion, along with the fact th<strong>at</strong> one of the ships was incorrectly identified as<br />
De Moor, r<strong>at</strong>her than De Walcheren, suggest th<strong>at</strong> Broer Jansz.'s source was oral, and perhaps<br />
even second or third hand. This may help to explain his failure to apprehend the seriousness of<br />
the situ<strong>at</strong>ion, and incidentally affirms Dahl’s observ<strong>at</strong>ion th<strong>at</strong> Van Hilten’s Courante tended to<br />
offer more reliable and detailed inform<strong>at</strong>ion. 48<br />
The stories in these two papers would have alerted a broader public to the news from<br />
Brazil, and they serve as an illustr<strong>at</strong>ion of how inform<strong>at</strong>ion traveled outside the formal channels<br />
controlled by the WIC. Another example, even more tantalizing, is provided by the testimony of<br />
a group th<strong>at</strong> appeared before the four burgemeesteren of Amsterdam on September 7, 1645. 49<br />
<br />
48 Ibid, 178.<br />
49 Zeeuwsarchief, 3.1, inv.nr. 2116.2. Copie van een verklaring, September 7, 1645. “Op huiden den 6 september<br />
xvi^c xlv compareerde voor my henderick Schaeff Notaris publique byden hove van hollant geadmitteert t'<br />
amsterdam residerende out ontrent 27 Jaren & Jan willemsz. de keert de koe van hoorn out ontrent <strong>25</strong> jaren schipper<br />
& sturman vant schip de Bontekoe den darden deser int Texel & den vierden daex aen hier voorde stadt gearriveert<br />
althans syne binnen deser stede & hebben by ware woorden in plaetse van Eede ter predictie van de heren<br />
Bewindhebberen, der west Ind. Comp ter camere alhier in Amsterdam getuigen verclaert & ge<strong>at</strong>testeert hoe waer is<br />
d<strong>at</strong> sy getuigen den 13: July laste den met haer voors. schip & volck gecomen syn aent Eylant Tercera een vande<br />
Vlaemsche Eylanden inde Spaense Zee, alwaer sy met het voorsz. schip beslagen ofte gearresteert wierden den 20<br />
der voorsz. Maent, wt reden d<strong>at</strong> aldaer twee Caraecken wt OostInd. gearriveert wesende deselve by vertrock van<br />
schepen niet en souden werden ontdeot, soo sy getuigen aldaer verstonden; d<strong>at</strong> sy aldaer gelegen hebben tot ten 10<br />
Augusty toe & d<strong>at</strong> ondertusschen den 28 off 29 July voors. aent selve Eylant oock arriveerde een Carvello wt de<br />
Bahia de todos los sanctos in Brasil van de welcke de Officieren & t'volck seyden d<strong>at</strong>se met haer seven advys<br />
Caravellen te gelyck netto Bahia voors. geseilt waeren elck syns weeghs Voorts d<strong>at</strong> in Brasil de staet paraiba de<br />
Cabo St Augustyn & Rio Grande door de hare, te weten door de Portugesen waren verovert, ende d<strong>at</strong>ter mits en<br />
resteerde dan het reciffo t' welck sy seyden d<strong>at</strong> belegeert was, vorders d<strong>at</strong> als t'selve Caravel, daer arriveerde, d<strong>at</strong>te<br />
by een Portugees freg<strong>at</strong>t t'welc mede daer lagh, drie eerschoten werden gedaen & d<strong>at</strong> een off twee dagen naer t'<br />
selve Carvels arrivement aldaer aent Eylant teeckenen van victori gedaen ende gewert worde met ont allyck veel<br />
vieren & losbrangen vant Canon, doorde voorgemelte twee kraecken & d<strong>at</strong> aldaer op & aen t Eylant geseit worde<br />
d<strong>at</strong> het was over de Victorie van de hare in Brasil als voren; Wyders d<strong>at</strong> op den 4 a 5 Augusty voors. onbegrepen<br />
mede aent selve Eylant aende oost Zyde indeselve bay, daer de Castilianen eertyts quamen te landen, als syt selve<br />
Eylant veroverden arriveerden 2 Caravellen wt Lisbona die aldaer schoonmaecten ende daer nae oock quamen voor:<br />
stadt Angra op de reede, om aldaer sold<strong>at</strong>en wt het casteelte lichten inte nemen, ende na Brasil over te vaeren, gelyt<br />
57
The group consisted of Henderick Schaeff, a public notary and notary for the WIC, Jan<br />
Willemsz. de Keert, skipper and pilot of the ship Bontekoe, and five men who appeared <strong>at</strong> De<br />
Keert's request as witnesses. De Keert had arrived <strong>at</strong> Texel on September 3 and the following<br />
day traveled directly to Amsterdam, where he had given “true words in place of an o<strong>at</strong>h” before<br />
the directors of the Amsterdam chamber of the WIC. Now, before the city's burgemeesteren, De<br />
Keert gave the following testimony: On July 13, his ship arrived <strong>at</strong> Terceira, one of the “Flemish<br />
Islands in the Spanish Sea [the Azores],” where it remained <strong>at</strong> port until August 20. On either<br />
July 28 or 29, a caravel arrived from Bahia de Todos os Santos in Portuguese Brazil. According<br />
to the officers and other people aboard the ship, the Portuguese had recaptured Paraiba, Cabo St.<br />
Augustyn, and Rio Grande, three captaincies th<strong>at</strong> previously had been under Dutch control.<br />
Furthermore, the Dutch capital, Recife, was under siege. “Two days after this caravel arrived,”<br />
De Keert continued, “there were signs all over the island of celebr<strong>at</strong>ions and the firing of cannon,<br />
which it was said was for the victory in Brazil.” Two days l<strong>at</strong>er, two caravels arrived from<br />
Lisbon “and took on soldiers from the fort to carry with them to Brazil.”<br />
This testimony would have confirmed and extended the account found in the newspapers,<br />
and may even have described events in Brazil th<strong>at</strong> took place after the three company ships set<br />
sail for Middelburg <strong>at</strong> the beginning of July. Wh<strong>at</strong> was certainly new was the inform<strong>at</strong>ion about<br />
the two caravels from Lisbon th<strong>at</strong> collected soldiers to take to Brazil—a detail th<strong>at</strong> could be<br />
interpreted either as routine or as evidence th<strong>at</strong> the Portuguese King was lending support to the<br />
revolt. Perhaps for this reason the Amsterdam city government forwarded a copy of the<br />
<br />
het selve aldaer byde Portugesen onder groot en clein & by yder een openmtlyck werde geseit, & hun getuige<br />
dickwils voorgecomen is, presenterende sy getuigen, t' gunt voors. is, des noot synde naerder by eede te verclaeren,<br />
gedaen t' Amsterdam ter presentie van daniel van der Schelde ende Jan Mastbiergher alhier als getuigen hier toe<br />
versocht hebben noch Adriaen Tiercsen van hansbrouck out ontrent 23 Jaren, sipke pietersz van Molqueren out <strong>25</strong><br />
Jaren, & sievert Pietersz. mede van molcqueren out mede ontrent <strong>25</strong> Jaren met boven gemelte <strong>at</strong>testant en t' voors.<br />
verclaerde op den 7 september 1645 voorde heren Burgermeesteren der stede Amsterdam met Eede bevesticht.”<br />
58
testimony to the St<strong>at</strong>es of Zeeland, and presumably to the St<strong>at</strong>es of Holland and the company as<br />
well. Just eight days after the news first arrived, it was beginning to be subsumed within a larger<br />
story, composed from sources th<strong>at</strong> need not even have traveled to Brazil, but which instead<br />
reflected inform<strong>at</strong>ion shared by sailors, merchants, and others along the ocean transit ways th<strong>at</strong><br />
linked the Americas, Iberia, and northern Europe. As Woodruff Smith noted, the chartered<br />
companies’ proprietary channels for collecting inform<strong>at</strong>ion offered specific elites a level of detail<br />
and speed th<strong>at</strong> was difficult to rival, but their advantage in the marketplace for inform<strong>at</strong>ion was<br />
short-lived. 50 This meant th<strong>at</strong> the WIC needed not only to craft an appropri<strong>at</strong>e practical response<br />
to the news from Brazil; it needed also to g<strong>at</strong>her and corrobor<strong>at</strong>e sources, guard those details th<strong>at</strong><br />
its directors believed could plausibly be kept secret, and work to shape both the priv<strong>at</strong>e and<br />
public discourses to support an interpret<strong>at</strong>ion of the news th<strong>at</strong> best suited their own political<br />
goals. 51 If the responsibility of the Zeeland chamber had been limited to quickly evalu<strong>at</strong>ing and<br />
dissemin<strong>at</strong>ing the inform<strong>at</strong>ion they had received, this broader political responsibility fell to the<br />
Heren XIX. Th<strong>at</strong> body's meeting opened in Middelburg on September 9, 1645. 52<br />
3. The Heren XIX and the Politics of Inform<strong>at</strong>ion<br />
As the host chamber, it was Zeeland's responsibility to draft an agenda, set the d<strong>at</strong>e, and send<br />
invit<strong>at</strong>ions to the other chambers and to the St<strong>at</strong>es General to <strong>at</strong>tend the fall meeting of the Heren<br />
<br />
50 Smith, “The Function of Commercial Centers in the Moderniz<strong>at</strong>ion of European Capitalism: Amsterdam as an<br />
Inform<strong>at</strong>ion Exchange in the Seventeenth Century,” 995.<br />
51 By September 4, the Portuguese ambassador <strong>at</strong> The Hague, Francisco Coutinho, had clearly seen the secret<br />
documents delivered by the company to the St<strong>at</strong>es General. L<strong>at</strong>er th<strong>at</strong> fall he would support the public<strong>at</strong>ion of letters<br />
by disgruntled company servants in an effort to discredit the company in The Hague. Francisco de Sousa Coutinho,<br />
Correspondência Diplomática de Francisco de Sousa Coutinho Durante a sua Embaixada em Holanda, ed. Edgar<br />
Prestage and Pedro de Azevedo (Coimbra: Impr. da Universidade, 1920). Coutinho to Conde da Vidiguiera,<br />
September 4, 1645. On Coutinho's publishing str<strong>at</strong>egy, see Boxer, The Dutch in Brazil, 1624-1654, 178.<br />
52 NA 1.01.07, inv.nr. 1<strong>25</strong>64.17, fol. 1.<br />
59
XIX. Each chamber selected deleg<strong>at</strong>es as it saw fit, with the only stipul<strong>at</strong>ion being th<strong>at</strong><br />
Amsterdam send eight deleg<strong>at</strong>es, Zeeland four, and the Maas, North Holland, and Groningen two<br />
each. The St<strong>at</strong>es General reserved the right to send as many deleg<strong>at</strong>es as it wished, but could<br />
exercise only one of the nineteen votes. 53 Deleg<strong>at</strong>es were reimbursed by the company for their<br />
travel and provided with a daily stipend; there were strict guidelines for the form<strong>at</strong> and content of<br />
letters of credential to be presented <strong>at</strong> the outset of the meeting and stiff penalties for absence or<br />
tardiness—as in other assemblies in the United Provinces, time was monitored by the “turn of the<br />
[hour] glass,” and the fines were given to charity. 54 The meetings ran from nine o'clock until<br />
noon and, following a break, from four until six o'clock in the evening, Monday through Friday,<br />
with a half-day on S<strong>at</strong>urday. 55 They could last only a week or as long as two months depending<br />
on the n<strong>at</strong>ure and gravity of the business <strong>at</strong> hand.<br />
The letter of invit<strong>at</strong>ion to the 1645 fall meeting requested th<strong>at</strong> deleg<strong>at</strong>es g<strong>at</strong>her <strong>at</strong> an inn<br />
in Middelburg on S<strong>at</strong>urday, September 2, so th<strong>at</strong> the meetings could begin the following<br />
Monday, but deleg<strong>at</strong>es evidently arrived l<strong>at</strong>e, for the proceedings did not begin in earnest until<br />
the following S<strong>at</strong>urday. 56 The agenda, which had been distributed to the chambers and the St<strong>at</strong>es<br />
General in mid-August, before the arrival of the news from Brazil, included 20 items. 57 Among<br />
these were the usual assessment and outfitting of ships; the delic<strong>at</strong>e issue of selecting a President<br />
and subordin<strong>at</strong>e officers for the Hoge Raad in Recife; the appointment of ministers and school<br />
<br />
53 The politics within the chambers to choose deleg<strong>at</strong>es to <strong>at</strong>tend the meetings of the Heren XIX, as well as the right<br />
reserved by the St<strong>at</strong>es General to send multiple deleg<strong>at</strong>es are discussed in Chapter Three.<br />
54 NA 1.01.07, inv.nr. 1<strong>25</strong>64.17, fol. See also Vree, Meetings, Manners, and Civiliz<strong>at</strong>ion, 115. “Voorgestelt synde is<br />
goet gevonden ordinaerl. d' ure vande vergaderinge te leggen desmorgens ten negenen ende nae middach ten vieren<br />
op verboute van ses stuyvers die met het omkeeren vant glas niet sullen pres[en]t wesen maer te l<strong>at</strong>e comen ende<br />
twaelff stuyvers voor die gene die geheel achter blyven, ende syn de assessors van den cameren zeelandt en<br />
amst[erda]m, gestelt ende geauthoriss[eer]t voorschreven bouten te executteren ten proffyten van den armen.”<br />
55 For hours and rules for the meetings of the Heren XVII, the board of directors of the VOC, see Pieter van Dam,<br />
Beschryvinge van de Oostindische Compagnie, ed. F. W. Stapel (’s-Gravenhage: Martinus Nijhoff, 1927), <strong>25</strong>1.<br />
56 NA 1.01.04, inv.nr. 5758, Letter from David Baute and N. van der Merct, Directors of the Zeeland Chamber, to<br />
the St<strong>at</strong>es General, August 11, 1645. There is no record of whether anyone was fined for arriving l<strong>at</strong>e.<br />
57 NA 1.01.04, inv.nr. 5758, Poincten waerop all de Cameren van de West Indische Comp. beschreven worden,<br />
omme in conformite van den Ocroye [...], August 11, 1645.<br />
60
masters for Brazil; means to improve the slave trade from Angola and the trade in general along<br />
the northern coast of Guinea; a review of outstanding subsidies owed to the company by the<br />
various provincial assemblies; payment to the militia in Brazil; resolution to the management of<br />
New Netherland and Curaçao; a report from the committee charged with examining recent<br />
mineral discoveries; arrangements to sell a large quantity of dye woods from Brazil; and<br />
planning for how to handle the increase in priv<strong>at</strong>e traders oper<strong>at</strong>ing illegally within the charter<br />
area. All of these issues ultim<strong>at</strong>ely would be addressed <strong>at</strong> the meeting.<br />
To g<strong>at</strong>her a sense of the affair, it helps to know who <strong>at</strong>tended. While scholars often<br />
mention the WIC’s role in the war with Spain and its responsibility for establishing settlements,<br />
they invariably assume th<strong>at</strong> the company’s directors were sober merchants, for whom m<strong>at</strong>ters of<br />
trade and profit were of paramount importance. 58 In fact the picture is more complic<strong>at</strong>ed, as a<br />
short review of the biographies of several individuals makes clear. The deleg<strong>at</strong>ion from the<br />
St<strong>at</strong>es General, for example, was made up largely of aristocr<strong>at</strong>s and city magistr<strong>at</strong>es. 59 Its senior<br />
member was supposed to be Hendrick van der Capellen, a nobleman from Gelderland who had<br />
close connections to the Prince of Orange and for several years had served on the committee in<br />
The Hague responsible for affairs rel<strong>at</strong>ed to the WIC. 60 He did not appear in Middelburg,<br />
however, and so was replaced by Johan van der Camer (d. 1657), a member of the Haarlem city<br />
council and, from 1643, a deleg<strong>at</strong>e to the Gecommitteerde Raden (Executive Council) for South<br />
Holland. 61 The other members of the deleg<strong>at</strong>ion, each representing one of the seven provinces,<br />
included Jacob Veth, Pensionaris of the city of Middelburg and Zeeland's permanent deputy <strong>at</strong><br />
<br />
58 Dillen, “De West-Indische Compagnie, het Calvinism en de Politiek,” 157.<br />
59 NA 1.01.07, inv.nr. 1<strong>25</strong>64.17, no. 20, fol. 1.<br />
60 On Van der Capellen, see P.C. Molhuysen, ed., Nieuw Nederlandsch Biografisch Woordenboek (Leiden: A. W.<br />
Sijthoff’s Uitgevers-Ma<strong>at</strong>schappij, 1911-37), vol. 8, <strong>25</strong>0.<br />
61 "Johan van der Camer" in Repertorium van ambtsdragers en ambtenaren 1428-1861.<br />
http://www.historici.nl/Onderzoek/Projecten/Repertorium/app/personen/3989. Accessed April 12, 2012.<br />
61
Inden naeme den heeren amen S<strong>at</strong>urn. den 9 September 1645<br />
Sessie genommen als volcht (In the name of the Lord, amen. S<strong>at</strong>urday,<br />
September 9, 1645. The session proceeded as follows)<br />
De Heeren Gecommitteerde van de<br />
Hooge Mogende Heeren St<strong>at</strong>en<br />
General der Vereenichde Nederlanden<br />
(Represent<strong>at</strong>ives of the High and<br />
Mighty St<strong>at</strong>es General of the United<br />
Netherlands)<br />
62<br />
Coenraedt Ruisch<br />
Jan van den Cameren<br />
Mr. Jacob Veth<br />
Gisbert van der Hoolck<br />
Wolther van Schonenburgh<br />
Zeelandt Jan Louys<br />
Amsterdam Joan de Laeth<br />
Amsterdam Joan Raey, Ferdinande Schuylenb.<br />
Zeelandt David Baute<br />
Cornelis Dackers, assessor<br />
Amsterdam Jeronimus Hestersz.<br />
Maze Alewyn Halewyn<br />
Nicholaes ten Hove<br />
Noort Hollandt Floris Huigh<br />
Amsterdam Mr. Jacob Hamel<br />
Zeelandt Adriaen van Hecke<br />
Groeningen niet gecompareert (did not appear)<br />
Amsterdam Johan Lethoor<br />
Adriaen van Eede, assessor<br />
Zeelandt Nicholaes van der Marckt<br />
Amsterdam Isaach van Beeck<br />
Maze Jacob Velthuise<br />
Amsterdam Bonavontura Braen<br />
Noort Hollandt Claes Simonsen Dolphyn<br />
Groeningen Thobias Iddekinge<br />
Amsterdam Johan van Halewyn<br />
Table 1. Deleg<strong>at</strong>es to the fall 1645 meeting of the Heren XIX. 62<br />
<br />
62 Transcribed from NA 1.01.07, inv.nr. 1<strong>25</strong>64.17, no. 20, fols. 1-53. Resolutien van de vergadering van de Heren<br />
XIX te Middelburg, 9 September-16 Oktober, 1645. See also Illustr<strong>at</strong>ion 3.
The Hague; Wolter Schonenborch, former burgemeester of Groningen; and Karel Roorda, son of<br />
an influential leader of the Dutch revolt and deputy to the St<strong>at</strong>es General from Vriesland. 63 Their<br />
collective accredit<strong>at</strong>ion insured th<strong>at</strong> the interests of each province were represented during the<br />
meetings of the Heren XIX. Notably, none of these deleg<strong>at</strong>es was actively involved in trade.<br />
By contrast, the deleg<strong>at</strong>es who represented the company’s five chambers were<br />
predominantly merchants. Leading the deleg<strong>at</strong>ion from Zeeland, and present throughout the<br />
proceedings, were Jan Louys and David Baute (1588-1657). 64 Almost nothing is known about<br />
Jan Louys: a resident of Middelburg and member of the city's reformed church, his name appears<br />
in company records for the first time in 1633, when he was appointed as a director. 65 During the<br />
verhoging (literally “augment<strong>at</strong>ion”) organized to raise additional priv<strong>at</strong>e capital for the<br />
company between 1636-1637, he subscribed for 3,200 guilders. 66 This implied an initial<br />
investment of 9,600 guilders, easily enough to cross the 4,000 guilders threshold required to be<br />
eligible for a directorship. Beyond this the records are silent, save a short entry in the records of<br />
the Middelburg orphanage. 67 When Louys’ wife died in 1635, the influential city magistr<strong>at</strong>e<br />
Pieter van Essen accompanied him to register a new guardian for his remaining children. For this<br />
responsibility he selected Marten Halewyn, a merchant from Amsterdam and brother of a<br />
director in the Amsterdam chamber of the WIC. These scant details suggest th<strong>at</strong> Louys was a<br />
wealthy merchant with many years service to the company and good connections within<br />
<br />
63 "Jacob Veth" in Repertorium van ambtsdragers en ambtenaren 1428-1861.<br />
http://www.historici.nl/Onderzoek/Projecten/Repertorium/app/personen/6804. Accessed April 12, 2012.<br />
"Carel van Roorda" in Repertorium van ambtsdragers en ambtenaren 1428-1861.<br />
http://www.historici.nl/Onderzoek/Projecten/Repertorium/app/personen/4202. Accessed April 12, 2012.<br />
64 Louys and Baute signed the invit<strong>at</strong>ions to <strong>at</strong>tend the meeting and chaired the committee within the Zeeland<br />
chamber to draft the agenda. NA 1.05.01.01, inv.nr. 26.<br />
65 NA 1.01.04, inv.nr. 5753.<br />
66 NA 1.05.01.01, inv.nr. 77, entry for September 9, 1636.<br />
67 Zeeuwsarchief, 10, inv.nr. 155a Weeskamer Middelburg, Journael begghinende met xiiii Feb 1633 Inden xxviii<br />
September 1639, entry for April 4, 1635.<br />
63
Middelburg’s decidedly incestuous elite. 68 He must also have been somewh<strong>at</strong> advanced in years,<br />
since the leader of the chamber's deleg<strong>at</strong>ion to the Heren XIX was by custom also its most senior<br />
member. 69<br />
About David Baute far more is known, for shortly before he died he composed a detailed<br />
account of his life to serve as a guide for his children, a copy of which was discovered in the<br />
nineteenth century when the Dutch sold Elmina Castle to Britain. 70 Though a merchant for more<br />
than forty years, Baute's experience was hardly confined to the mundane exchange of goods.<br />
Born in 1588 to a wealthy family of jewelry merchants in the city of Antwerp, his parents sent<br />
him to Middelburg in 1604 to serve as a clerk. Five years l<strong>at</strong>er, when the Dutch Republic and<br />
Spain signed the Twelve Years' Truce, Baute moved to Seville to apprentice with a local<br />
merchant; when the Truce expired in 1621 he took over from a merchant from Amsterdam who<br />
was living in Spain and established his own business. 71 This proved to be increasingly difficult<br />
amidst rising anti-Dutch sentiment. In 1624 Baute's name was discovered on a Dutch ship sailing<br />
under the Spanish flag and, despite his denials, he was accused of trading with the enemy and<br />
sentenced to torture. This he described in intim<strong>at</strong>e detail: after being forced to undress, his hands<br />
were tied with rope, the ends of which were <strong>at</strong>tached to a metal bar and successively tightened by<br />
the executioner, “so th<strong>at</strong> they cut to the bone.” 72 This lasted for more than seven hours before<br />
<br />
68 On the Middelburg elite, see Frederik Nagtglas, Levensberichten van Zeeuwen, 2 vols. (Middelburg: J. C. & W.<br />
Altorffer, 1890-93).<br />
69 This practice was borrowed from the Heren XVII of the East India Company. Van Dam, Beschryvinge van de<br />
Oostindische Compagnie, 249-<strong>25</strong>0.<br />
70 This text is Baute, Cort Relaas Sedert Den Jare 1609; Frederik Nagtglas, “David Baute, Een Bladzidje uit de<br />
Handelsgeschiedenis der 17de Eeuw,” Tijdschrift Voor Sta<strong>at</strong>huishoudkunde En St<strong>at</strong>istiek 27 (1869): 374–403; J. H.<br />
Kluiver, “David Baute, Een Zeeuws Koopman-Avonturier uit de Zeventiende Eeuw,” Zeeland Jaargang 1<br />
(December 1991): 6–13.<br />
71 Kluiver, “David Baute, Een Zeeuws Koopman-Avonturier uit de Zeventiende Eeuw.”<br />
72 Baute, Cort Relaas sedert den Jare 1609, 24. “Sijnde nu geheel naakt, alleenelijk aangehouden hebbende mijn<br />
linne onderbroek, wiert ik den scherprechter overgelevert, die mij brocht bij een ijsere traillie, mijnen rugge<br />
daaraanvoegende, wiert ik vast met touwen minder dan een kleijne vinger dik, bloot gebonden. Den beul namp mijn<br />
armen, en leijden se over malcanderen, daaraan leggende den eersten tour, de touwe ofte coorde vast gemaakt sijnde<br />
aan eenen stok gelijk de packers gebruiken, die hij in beyde sijn handen bleeff houdende. Settende sijnevoeten op<br />
64
Baute was released, having—by his own account—revealed nothing to the authorities. It took<br />
nearly ten months for the swelling and scarring to subside and for movement to return to his right<br />
arm. 73 Baute was eventually exoner<strong>at</strong>ed, but increasing harassment and extortion led him to flee<br />
the country. In 1627 he exchanged the remainder of his inventory of precious stones for tobacco,<br />
cochineal, and other goods, organized a small Spanish ship manned with thirty soldiers, and<br />
secretly escaped. 74 At sea the ship was boarded and its crew arrested in Portugal; it was mistaken<br />
for a Turkish pir<strong>at</strong>e vessel off the coast of France; and boarded once again by English soldiers<br />
before finally arriving in Antwerp. From there Baute continued to Middelburg, where he married<br />
into the highest levels of the city's elite and, in 1638, became a director of the WIC. 75 His<br />
account is fascin<strong>at</strong>ing in its own right, but it also suggests th<strong>at</strong> Baute belongs as much within the<br />
tradition of the sixteenth century merchant-adventurers as he does among the more staid<br />
represent<strong>at</strong>ives of the Dutch elite in the second half of the seventeenth century. 76 In the<br />
company's boardroom in Middelburg, where he represented the city’s hooftparticipanten (chief<br />
investors), the physical scars on his wrists would have served as a potent reminder of Spanish<br />
tyranny. Baute’s <strong>at</strong>titude towards the company’s business, and towards the revolt in Brazil, could<br />
hardly have escaped being colored by this earlier experience.<br />
Amsterdam’s deleg<strong>at</strong>ion—the largest <strong>at</strong> the meeting, with eight deleg<strong>at</strong>es—was led by<br />
the renowned geographer and historian Johannes de Laet. 77 Born in Antwerp in 1581, De Laet<br />
fled with his family to Amsterdam sometime after 1585 and l<strong>at</strong>er established himself in Leiden,<br />
<br />
mijne gebonden handen tegens mijnen buijk aan, liet sig op eenen bot so plotselijk ter aarden vallen blijvende soo<br />
continuelijken treckende, invoegen d<strong>at</strong> de touwen het vlees tot het been doorsneden hadden.”<br />
73 Ibid., <strong>25</strong>–27.<br />
74 Ibid., 40.<br />
75 Nagtglas, “David Baute, een Bladzidje uit de Handelsgeschiedenis der 17de Eeuw.”<br />
76 Kluiver, “David Baute, een Zeeuws Koopman-Avonturier uit de Zeventiende Eeuw.” On the Dutch elite, see Peter<br />
Burke, Venice and Amsterdam: A Study of Seventeenth-Century Elites (London: Maurice Temple Smith LTD, 1974).<br />
77 NA 1.01.07, inv.nr. 1<strong>25</strong>64.17, fol. 1.<br />
65
Illustr<strong>at</strong>ion 6. Portrait of Johannes de Laet. Engraving by J. G. van<br />
Bronckhorst, 1642. Iconographisch Bureau, Den Haag. De Laet was a<br />
scholar and Director in the Amsterdam chamber of the West India Company.<br />
66
first as a student, and then as a scholar and editor. 78 He is best known today for his historical and<br />
geographical works, including the Nieuwe Wereldt, Ofte Beschrijvinghe van West-Indien (The<br />
New World, or a Description of the West Indies), a comprehensive text th<strong>at</strong> integr<strong>at</strong>ed the vast<br />
Iberian, Italian, French and English liter<strong>at</strong>ure on the Western Hemisphere with the l<strong>at</strong>est findings<br />
of Dutch mariners. 79 He also is known also for a series of “pocket” histories th<strong>at</strong> he helped to<br />
edit for the Leiden publisher Elsevier and an acrimonious deb<strong>at</strong>e th<strong>at</strong> he carried on with Grotius<br />
over the origins of the N<strong>at</strong>ive Americans. 80 Less well know, but central to his place within the<br />
rich and dynamic intellectual environment of early seventeenth century Leiden, were his editions<br />
of classical authors such as Vitruvius and Pliny and his twenty-year project to compile the first<br />
major dictionary of Anglo-Saxon. 81 De Laet was also an investor, and in 1620 he committed a<br />
sizable sum to the new WIC and became one of its first directors, representing the city of Leiden<br />
in the Amsterdam chamber. His appearance in the Heren XIX in September of 1645 and the<br />
<br />
78 The best biographical account remains J. A. F. Bekkers, ed., “Introduction,” in Correspondence of John Morris<br />
with Johannes de Laet (Assen: Van Gorcum and Comp., 1970), XI–XXVII.<br />
79 Johannes de Laet, Nieuwe Wereldt: Ofte Beschrijvinghe van West-Indien (Leiden: Isaac Elzevier, 16<strong>25</strong>). On De<br />
Laet, see also Jaap Jacobs, “Johannes de Laet en de Nieuwe Wereld,” Jaarboek van het Centraal Bureau voor<br />
Genealogie 50 (1996): 108–130; De Laet, Suiker, Verfhout & Tabak.<br />
80 J. A. Gruys, “De Reeks ‘Republieken’ van de Elzeviers en Joannes de Laet,” in Boekverkopers van Europa: Het<br />
17de-eeuwse Nederlandse Uitgevershuis Elzevier, ed. B. P. M. Dongelmans, P. G. Hoftijzer, and O. S. Lankhorst<br />
(Zutphen: Walburg Pers, 2000.), 77–106. On Grotius and De Laet, see Herbert F. Wright, “The Controversy of<br />
Hugo Grotius with Johan de Laet on the Origin of the American Aborigines,” C<strong>at</strong>holic Historical Review 3 (1917):<br />
<strong>25</strong>7–275; Rubiés, “Hugo Grotius’s <strong>Dissert<strong>at</strong>ion</strong> on the Origin of the American Peoples and the Use of Compar<strong>at</strong>ive<br />
Methods”; Schmidt, “Space, Time, Travel: Hugo de Groot, Johannes de Laet, and the ‘Advancement’ of Geographic<br />
Learning.”<br />
81 De Laet was a close friend of Salmasius and maintained an active correspondence with Scaliger until the l<strong>at</strong>ter's<br />
de<strong>at</strong>h. See Rolf H. Bremmer Jr., “The Correspondence of Johannes de Laet as a Mirror on his Life,” LIAS: The<br />
Journal of Early Modern History of Ideas <strong>25</strong>, no. 2 (1998): 139-164. On his Anglo-Saxon dictionary, see John<br />
Morris and Joannes de Laet, Correspondence of John Morris with Johannes de Laet (1634-1649), ed. J. A. F.<br />
Bekkers (Assen: Van Gorcum & Comp., 1970); Rolf H. Bremmer Jr., “‘Mine is Bigger Than Yours’: The Anglo-<br />
Saxon Collection of Johannes de Laet (1581-1649) and Sir Simonds D’Ewes (1602-50),” Anglo-Saxon Books and<br />
Their Readers, ed. Thomas N. Hall and Donald Scragg (Kalamazoo: 2008).<br />
67
crucial role th<strong>at</strong> he played in its deliber<strong>at</strong>ions demonstr<strong>at</strong>e the importance of scholarship, as well<br />
as practical experience in trade, to the management of the WIC. 82<br />
Once the letters of credential for these and the other deleg<strong>at</strong>es had been examined and<br />
approved, the company’s charter was read aloud, complete with the various amendments. 83 Only<br />
then did the meeting begin in earnest. The first order of business was to always read the letters<br />
and other documents received since the previous meeting, beginning with the generale<br />
missiven. 84 Whereas the previous week the directors in the Zeeland chamber had turned first to<br />
the secret documents, by this time the inform<strong>at</strong>ion these contained was well-enough known th<strong>at</strong><br />
the Heren XIX began with the formal cover letter and proceeded swiftly to two separ<strong>at</strong>e reports<br />
th<strong>at</strong> had not been shared in advance. All three documents were read aloud—most likely by the<br />
lawyer for the Zeeland chamber, Simon van Beaumont—so th<strong>at</strong> everyone assembled could be<br />
fully apprised of wh<strong>at</strong> had taken place. Reading the documents filled the entire afternoon session<br />
with wh<strong>at</strong> a contemporary in another context complained sounded like an “endless drone.” 85<br />
The first of the two reports, composed by Gysbert de Witte and Jan van Hoogstr<strong>at</strong>en,<br />
provided a detailed account of their trip to Bahia and their discussions with the Portuguese<br />
governor, António Teles da Silva. 86 Although the trip had taken place in February, this report<br />
offered valuable first-hand inform<strong>at</strong>ion on the st<strong>at</strong>e of affairs in Portuguese-controlled Brazil and<br />
provided an opportunity to assess Da Silva’s involvement in the revolt. De Witte and<br />
Hoogstr<strong>at</strong>en indic<strong>at</strong>ed th<strong>at</strong> they had been warmly received by the governor and had been<br />
<br />
82<br />
De Laet, Suiker, verfhout & tabak; Kees Zandvliet, Mapping for Money: Maps, plans, and topographic paintings<br />
and their role in Dutch overseas expansion during the 16th and 17th centuries (Amsterdam: B<strong>at</strong>avian Lion<br />
Intern<strong>at</strong>ional, 1998).<br />
83<br />
There is no record of a prayer having been delivered, though this would be highly unusual in the Dutch Republic.<br />
Van Vree, Meetings, Manners, and Civiliz<strong>at</strong>ion, 152.<br />
84<br />
NA 1.01.07, inv.nr. 1<strong>25</strong>64.17, fol 2.<br />
85<br />
Ibid., fol. Van Vree, Meetings, Manners, and Civiliz<strong>at</strong>ion, 157.<br />
86<br />
NA 1.05.01.01, inv.nr. 60, Rapport gedaen aende Ed: Heeren van den hoogen en Secreten Raede in Brasil van<br />
[de] Besongnes gevallen over de poincten ons by de gemelte Heeren mede gegeven om inde Bahia met syn<br />
Ex[cellen]tie Antonio Teles da Silva en andersints te verhandelen. D<strong>at</strong>ed April 3, 1645.<br />
68
encouraged to travel freely. This they did, collecting any and all inform<strong>at</strong>ion th<strong>at</strong> might be useful<br />
to the company: there were, according to several people with whom they spoke, 3,000-4,000 men<br />
in arms. In the bay lay only “50 small ships,” though during their visit two larger warships<br />
arrived, with 600 men, led by the renowned admiral Salvador da Sá. 87 Da Silva assured them th<strong>at</strong><br />
these ships were merely waiting to convoy a fleet from Rio de Janeiro back to Lisbon—an<br />
explan<strong>at</strong>ion they accepted <strong>at</strong> the time, but which now appeared to be untrue. 88<br />
The second report read <strong>at</strong> the meeting was by Captain Jan Blaer, a soldier in the<br />
company's employ who had recently returned from a mission to find and destroy Palmares, a<br />
large city of runaway slaves in the interior of Pernambuco. 89 After three weeks marching through<br />
the forest, Blaer had found the city deserted and burned it to the ground. To this day Blaer's<br />
report remains one of the most important sources for the study of Brazilian quilombos (escaped<br />
slave communities), but in Middelburg any excitement over the success of the mission must have<br />
been tempered by the ominous possibility th<strong>at</strong> the 1,500 free blacks who had escaped might seek<br />
retribution by joining the rebellion. 90 The minutes of the meeting in Middelburg are silent as to<br />
wh<strong>at</strong>, if any, discussion took place before the session adjourned. But it is safe to assume th<strong>at</strong> the<br />
directors—who, <strong>at</strong>least by the terms of the company’s charter, were required to be members of<br />
the Dutch Reformed Church—would have <strong>at</strong>tended services together the following morning <strong>at</strong><br />
the church just a stone's throw from their offices on the Lange Delft, and th<strong>at</strong> discussions would<br />
have continued into the night <strong>at</strong> the inn. 91<br />
<br />
87 C. R Boxer, Salvador de Sá and the Struggle for Brazil and Angola, 1602-1686 (London: <strong>University</strong> of London,<br />
1952).<br />
88 NA 1.05.01.01, inv.nr. 60, Rapport gedaen aende Ed: Heeren van den hoogen en Secreten Raede, April 3, 1645.<br />
89 NA 1.05.01.01, inv.nr. 60, Journael van de Voyagie die Cap. Johan Blaer gedaen heeft naer de Dolmaris A[nn]o<br />
1645.<br />
90 On Palmares, see Philip Curtin, The Rise and Fall of the Plant<strong>at</strong>ion Complex: Essays in Atlantic History<br />
(Cambridge: Cambridge <strong>University</strong> Press, 1998), especially 103-107.<br />
91 On the company directors' rel<strong>at</strong>ionship with the church, see Danny L. Noorlander, “Serving God and Mammon:<br />
The Reformed Church and the Dutch West India Company in the Atlantic World, 1621-1674” (Ph.D. <strong>Dissert<strong>at</strong>ion</strong>,<br />
69
When the meeting resumed on Monday morning, the focus turned squarely to documents<br />
within the generale missiven th<strong>at</strong> provided the most detailed intelligence on the leadership of the<br />
rebellion and the steps taken by the Hoge Raad to deploy soldiers and otherwise reinforce the<br />
company's defenses throughout northeastern Brazil. 92 These documents paint a detailed and<br />
sometimes gruesome portrait of the diverse means employed to g<strong>at</strong>her inform<strong>at</strong>ion. Spies were<br />
deployed, letters opened, and prominent Portuguese planters questioned, sometimes under<br />
torture. Altogether, the company received inform<strong>at</strong>ion from more than sixty unique sources. 93<br />
For a day and a half the meeting had been absorbed with sifting intelligence, and by this<br />
point the picture had become sufficiently clear th<strong>at</strong> the represent<strong>at</strong>ives of the St<strong>at</strong>es General, led<br />
by Johan van der Camer, interrupted the proceedings to begin planning wh<strong>at</strong> was to be done. 94<br />
Van der Camer was not the chair of the meeting—as the senior deleg<strong>at</strong>e from the host chamber,<br />
Zeeland, this honor fell to Jan Louys—but with the discussion turning to m<strong>at</strong>ters of war and<br />
peace, it was his responsibility to ensure th<strong>at</strong> the wishes and interests of the generality were<br />
protected. Van der Camer’s instructions, drafted by the committee th<strong>at</strong> reviewed the secret<br />
documents delivered to The Hague the previous week, were to determine, in consult<strong>at</strong>ion with<br />
the company's directors, “how the conquests in Brazil should be restored to their previous<br />
condition and maintained,” and “to decide how best to approach the provinces so as to quickly<br />
raise the necessary subsidies.” 95 He proposed th<strong>at</strong> a committee be formed without delay: this was<br />
agreed to, and a vote produced six names, one each from the five chambers, plus a second<br />
director from the Amsterdam chamber. These six directors were Adriaen van Hecke of<br />
<br />
Georgetown, 2011). The inn where the directors stayed was almost certainly the Herberge de Bijenkorf. See Doeke<br />
Roos, Zeeuwen en de Westindische Compagnie, 1621-1674 (Hulst: Van Geyt Productions, 1992).<br />
92<br />
NA 1.01.07, inv.nr. 1<strong>25</strong>64.17, fol. 2.<br />
93<br />
NA 1.05.01.01, inv.nr. 60.<br />
94<br />
NA 1.01.07, inv.nr. 17, fol. 2v.<br />
95<br />
NA 1.01.03, inv.nr. 4845, entry for September 4, 1645.<br />
70
Vlissingen; De Laet and Johan Schuilenborch representing Amsterdam; Nicholaes ten Hove of<br />
Delft, Claude Simonsz. Dolphyn of Hoorn, and the lone represent<strong>at</strong>ive <strong>at</strong> the meeting from<br />
Groningen, Thobias Ydekkinge. 96 By early afternoon this committee submitted a preliminary<br />
report calling for the first available ship to be disp<strong>at</strong>ched to Brazil with a cargo of provisions,<br />
gunpowder, and muskets. Ten Hove offered the Swaen, which would sail soon after with an<br />
exceptionally brief letter indic<strong>at</strong>ing only th<strong>at</strong> the Hoge Raad's correspondence had been received<br />
and th<strong>at</strong> steps were being taken, in concert with the St<strong>at</strong>es General, to organize further relief. 97<br />
But this was only a first step, and the committee immedi<strong>at</strong>ely returned to its work to<br />
produce a comprehensive plan, not only for short-term reinforcement of the Hoge Raad, but to<br />
ensure the colony's long-term viability. The committee performed this work over the following<br />
morning, while the remaining letters from Brazil and Angola were reviewed and discussed by the<br />
larger meeting. In the afternoon, the committee produced its report. This included two important<br />
elements: first, a rhetorical framework th<strong>at</strong> interpreted the events in Brazil and explained their<br />
rel<strong>at</strong>ionship to the company's efforts and finances, and, second, a budget of 7<strong>25</strong>,9<strong>25</strong> guilders to<br />
organize a full military expedition to relieve the colony. 98 Whereas the budget would serve as the<br />
substance of discussions with the St<strong>at</strong>es General and the individual provinces, the rhetorical<br />
framework was intended to serve as an agreed templ<strong>at</strong>e to guide those discussions. There was no<br />
question th<strong>at</strong> the revolt in Brazil was a crisis, but exactly who was responsible—both for the<br />
revolt itself and the steps necessary to crush it—was very much open to deb<strong>at</strong>e. It was therefore<br />
crucial for the company to preempt criticism th<strong>at</strong> the revolt had resulted from its own negligence,<br />
<br />
96 NA 1.01.07, inv.nr. 1<strong>25</strong>64.17, fol. 2v. As the only represent<strong>at</strong>ive of Groningen and the Ommelanden, Yddekinge<br />
nominally served on all the sub-committees named <strong>at</strong> the meeting. On the Groningen chamber, see P. J. van Winter,<br />
De Westindische Compagnie ter Kamer Stad en Lande (’s-Gravenhage: Martinus Nijhoff, 1978).<br />
97 NA 1.05.01.01, inv.nr. 9, letter from the Heren XIX to the Hoge Raad d<strong>at</strong>ed September 12, 1645.<br />
98 NA 1.01.07, inv.nr. 1<strong>25</strong>64.17, fols. 3v-4v.<br />
71
and to steer the discussion towards the value of the colony and the st<strong>at</strong>e's responsibility to defend<br />
it.<br />
In this sense the report served as a draft remonstrance to the St<strong>at</strong>es General. It began by<br />
recalling the “scarcity of money” available to the company, and the enormous sums spent in the<br />
conquests of Brazil and other territories. Like the provinces themselves, the company had hoped<br />
th<strong>at</strong> the 1641 Tre<strong>at</strong> with Portugal would reduce the need for men and munitions, but this now<br />
looked unlikely. Johan Maurits, the report continued, had “not been silent” about the little trust<br />
he put in Portugal, and his suspicions about a possible revolt: “Now it is finally clear th<strong>at</strong> his<br />
suspicions were not without justific<strong>at</strong>ion.” If support was not forthcoming, “such important<br />
conquests for this st<strong>at</strong>e, gained by so much blood and many millions in money” would be lost. 99<br />
It was a desper<strong>at</strong>e plea th<strong>at</strong> only partially disguised the directors’ frustr<strong>at</strong>ion with the provinces<br />
<br />
99 Ibid., fol. 4. “D<strong>at</strong> men haer ho: mo: als mede de resp[ectiv]e provintien twelcke staets gewysse nu vergad[er]t<br />
mochten syn door de gedeputt[eerd]e uyt de cameren op het alder spoedich[hei]t behoort te gemelt te voeren hoe d<strong>at</strong><br />
in jaeren en dagen geleden op verscheiden occagien en[de] by naer souden op houden aende regeringe desen landen<br />
is vertoont de schaersh[ei]t van de finantien van de west indische comp[agni]e veroorsaeckt soo door de groote<br />
oncosten die de selve nu veel jaeren in de conquesten van brasil en[de] elders heeft gedragen en[de] de cleinne<br />
emmolumenten die uyt deselve hadde getrocken ofte noch syn treckende […] insgelycks d<strong>at</strong> het hooch noodich was<br />
d<strong>at</strong> de comp[agni]e voor soo veel doenel. was diende versekert te worden d<strong>at</strong> by de portugeesen soude henlichl.<br />
onderhouden houden worden den treves tusschen haren coninck en[de] dese provintien gemaeckt op d<strong>at</strong> de<br />
comp[agni]e sich van der grooten om slach van sold<strong>at</strong>en en noodige behouften van oorloge inde gewesten van brasil<br />
en[de] andere geannexeerden plaetse w<strong>at</strong> mochten verlichten ende haer dessigne tegen den conninck van castillen<br />
wesen de een gemeenen vyandt van desen staet ende de croone van portugael tot dienst van desen staet<br />
converteerent is waer d<strong>at</strong> tot sublim<strong>at</strong>ie van den comp[agni]e lasten ende voordere subsistentie wel eenige goede<br />
ende desen staet seer doenel. ende onbeswaerel. middelen syn voor geslaagen doch geen resolutie, niet<br />
tegenstaen[de] soo veel sollicit<strong>at</strong>ie over gegeven deductien en[de] clachten over den hooch dringen noodt tot noch<br />
toe heeft comen wt gewrocht worden. / Syne ex[elen]tie uyt brasil weder gecomen synde heeft onder andere saecken<br />
aen haer ho: mo: niet verswegen het clein vertrouwen dewelck men van de portugeesen inde conquesten van brasil<br />
woonende hadde te nemen en[de] daer naer heeft men mede vernomen en[de] haer ho: mo: bekent gemaect de<br />
suspicien die daer waaren van eene revolte der ingesettennen portug[ees]e de welcke men billick vermoede by die<br />
van de bahia gemaeckt en[de] gestyft teworden. / tis nu eyndel. gebleken uyt de advyssen van brasilie met des selfs<br />
schepen gecomen die haer ho: mo: syn bekent gemaeckt d<strong>at</strong> de voorseyde suspitie ende vreese niet sonder reden is<br />
genomen geweest en[de] d<strong>at</strong> soo importante conqueste voor desen staet en[de] die de goede ingesettenen van dese<br />
geuni[eer]t provintien het welck veel bloets en[de] soo veel milloennen gelt heeft gecost aen eensyden raet heeft<br />
gehangen en[de] veel licht noch is hangende ten sy daer op het spoedichste in wert voorsien en[de] by haer ho: mo:<br />
de hant werden geboden aende comp. ende een eynde gemaeckt van de deliber<strong>at</strong>ien de welcke hare ho: mo: heeft<br />
gelieft voor te nemen tot herstelling van de selve comp. oft in dien deselve conclussie tegens des comp. hope en[de]<br />
vermoede noch niet soo haest en conde genomen worden d<strong>at</strong> haer ho: mo: ten minste gelieft den te versorgen d<strong>at</strong>ter<br />
prompte middelen de comp. mochten werden verschaft door de welcke de vermoede conquesten mochten werden<br />
bevryt van den ondergang met de welcke sy nu worden gedreyght.”<br />
72
for their continual failure to contribute to the war effort. The personal resources of the directors<br />
were now exhausted, the report continued, and the company’s access to credit nearly gone.<br />
While the company was well managed and could expect gre<strong>at</strong> profits in the future—not only in<br />
Brazil, but in Guinea and Angola—<strong>at</strong> present the coffers were empty. It was now time for the<br />
St<strong>at</strong>es General to step in provide wh<strong>at</strong>, in time of war, the company on its own could not: money<br />
enough to outfit a fleet of twelve warships and to recruit and equip 1,500 fresh soldiers to join an<br />
existing force of 2,700 soldiers in Brazil for a period of six months. 100 If this support was not<br />
forthcoming, the report warned, “We cannot be responsible for telling our children th<strong>at</strong> we let<br />
these beautiful colonies slip away.” 101<br />
The next step, once this rhetorical framework and its associ<strong>at</strong>ed budget had been<br />
approved, was to approach the two wealthiest and most powerful provincial assemblies in the<br />
Republic, the St<strong>at</strong>es of Holland and the St<strong>at</strong>es of Zeeland. Deleg<strong>at</strong>ions were selected for each. In<br />
the meantime, the represent<strong>at</strong>ives of the St<strong>at</strong>es General were “requested to use their good offices<br />
and all means <strong>at</strong> their disposal to reinforce these intentions of the company, both in their public<br />
and their priv<strong>at</strong>e capacities.” 102 Since round-trip travel to The Hague would require <strong>at</strong> least four<br />
days, during which time the meeting would continue, deleg<strong>at</strong>es to address the St<strong>at</strong>es of Holland<br />
<br />
100 By the terms of the charter, in the case of military conflict the St<strong>at</strong>es General was to provide 16 ships to assist the<br />
company. The St<strong>at</strong>es General also agreed th<strong>at</strong>, "if it should happen th<strong>at</strong> the country should be gre<strong>at</strong>ly eased of its<br />
burdens and th<strong>at</strong> this Company should be put to the heavy charge of war, we have further promised, and do promise,<br />
to increase the aforesaid subsidy [of 1 million guilders] in such manner as the situ<strong>at</strong>ion of this country will permit<br />
and the affairs of the Company shall require." Articles 40 and 41. Rensselaer, Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts,<br />
109-111. The transl<strong>at</strong>ion is by Alan H. Strong.<br />
101 NA 1.01.07, inv.nr. 1<strong>25</strong>64.17, fol. 4v. “In alle gevallen en is niemmandt onbekent & is mede by verscheyde<br />
gelegentheden gededoceert over groote nutticheyt die den handel dewelke gedreven wordt in de limiten van het<br />
westindsiche octroy dese geuneerde provintien ys toebrengende soo d<strong>at</strong>tet ons bedruckers een misslach soude wesen<br />
niet verantwordelen voor de naecomelingen d<strong>at</strong> mensulcken schoone conqueste soo soude laete verlooven gaen. /<br />
Siende dan d<strong>at</strong> het gevaer dicwils nu daer is & veel licht grooter als wy noch apprehendeeren soo duncht de<br />
commissaerissen d<strong>at</strong> men op t spoodicht behoort te sollicitteren by haer ho: mo: & de respective provintien die nu<br />
vergadert syn d<strong>at</strong> haer gelieven op t spoodichst tot comste ter minste te voorsien met seven tonnes gouts om sich<br />
daer mede in desen hooch dringende noot te behelpen.”<br />
102 Ibid., fol. 5. “oock de aenwesende heeren gecommitt[eerd]e van hare ho: mo: versocht met alle goed officien de<br />
Intentie van de comp. te seconderen het welcke by hare Ed: aengenomen ys te does met alle middeln redennen ende<br />
motiven al omme soo int publicq als in het particulier.”<br />
73
were chosen from among the ranks of company directors who were not <strong>at</strong>tending the meeting.<br />
Most important among them were Pieter Bischop, the Zeeland director who had carried the news<br />
to the St<strong>at</strong>es General a week earlier, and Jacques Specx, a director in the Amsterdam chamber<br />
who several months before had represented the company in negoti<strong>at</strong>ions in the St<strong>at</strong>es of Holland<br />
over a possible fusion of the VOC and the WIC. 103 They were joined by four other directors from<br />
the Amsterdam chamber. This group, accompanied by the Amsterdam chamber's lawyer,<br />
Gysbert Rudolphij, arrived in The Hague on September 19 and proceeded first to the St<strong>at</strong>es<br />
General, where they delivered the company’s position, both verbally and in writing, and<br />
submitted a separ<strong>at</strong>e letter signed by Van der Camer, Vett, and Schonenborch, the<br />
represent<strong>at</strong>ives of the St<strong>at</strong>es General present <strong>at</strong> the meeting in Middelburg. 104 In this fashion the<br />
company’s position was represented on multiple levels: while the deleg<strong>at</strong>ion's report provided<br />
the views of the Heren XIX as a whole, the separ<strong>at</strong>e letter from the St<strong>at</strong>es General’s own<br />
represent<strong>at</strong>ives confirmed their advice and lent credibility to the associ<strong>at</strong>ed military plans.<br />
In the St<strong>at</strong>es of Holland, which the deleg<strong>at</strong>ion addressed two days l<strong>at</strong>er, the directors<br />
largely followed the script th<strong>at</strong> had been agreed to in Middelburg, but to give the inform<strong>at</strong>ion<br />
additional salience they emphasized Portugal’s likely role in supporting the revolt, contrary to<br />
the terms of the 1641 Tre<strong>at</strong>y. They reported on the conspiracy to murder Dutch officials <strong>at</strong> the<br />
wedding ceremony and “God’s grace in making this treachery known,” and formally requested<br />
700,000 guilders to relieve the colony. 105 This request was deb<strong>at</strong>ed over the following several<br />
days, during which time the St<strong>at</strong>es General recommended taking the needed 1,500 men from the<br />
5,000 soldiers on their way back from Denmark, where they had fought alongside Sweden in the<br />
<br />
103 NA 1.05.01.01, inv.nr. 26, fol. See also Henk den Heijer, “Plannen voor Samenvoeging van de VOC en WIC,”<br />
Tijdschrift voor Zeegeschiedenis 2 (Jaargang 1994): 115-130.<br />
104 NA 1.01.03, inv.nr. 4845, entry for September 19, 1645.<br />
105 St<strong>at</strong>en van Holland and Westvriesland, Gedrukt Resoluties, entry for September 21, 1645.<br />
74
Thorsteinson War, and called on the St<strong>at</strong>es of Holland to pay the balance of the subsidies they<br />
owed to the company. 106 Similar messages came from other sources: Jacob C<strong>at</strong>s (1577-1660), the<br />
poet and Raad Pensionaris, who served in the powerful position as chair in the St<strong>at</strong>es of Holland,<br />
delivered a letter from the company requesting financial assistance and on September 26 the<br />
St<strong>at</strong>es received a letter from the Prince of Orange lamenting the situ<strong>at</strong>ion in Brazil and<br />
requesting prompt assistance to lift “the heavy burden hanging over the heads” of the company's<br />
directors and the colony. 107 The collective weight of these messages had some effect: according<br />
to Nicholas Stellingwerf, the deleg<strong>at</strong>e to the St<strong>at</strong>es of Holland from Medenblik, there was<br />
general agreement to provide the company with additional funds as quickly as possible. Only<br />
Amsterdam objected: although the city wielded but one of nineteen votes, its financial and<br />
political influence was such th<strong>at</strong> no resolution could be reached without its support. 108 Cautious<br />
about irrit<strong>at</strong>ing Portugal, Amsterdam repe<strong>at</strong>edly asked for additional time to consider the m<strong>at</strong>ter<br />
and effectively succeeded in blocking any support from the St<strong>at</strong>es of Holland.<br />
The deleg<strong>at</strong>ion to the St<strong>at</strong>es of Zeeland was more successful. Led by Louys and De Laet,<br />
and joined by the other members of the sub-committee from Middelburg, along with the Zeeland<br />
chamber's lawyer, this deleg<strong>at</strong>ion was given an audience on September 16. 109 Present were<br />
represent<strong>at</strong>ives of each of Zeeland’s seven cities, as well as Johan de Knuyt (1587-1654),<br />
represent<strong>at</strong>ive of the Eerste Edele (First Nobleman), the Prince of Orange. 110 Again, the<br />
deleg<strong>at</strong>ion closely followed their script, but r<strong>at</strong>her than dwelling on Portugal's treachery, they<br />
<br />
106 Ibid., entry for September 23, 1645. During the Thorsteinson War (1643-45) the Dutch entered an alliance with<br />
Sweden to force Christian IV, King of Denmark-Norway, to abandon protectionist policies in the Baltic. A peace<br />
agreement was signed on August 13, 1645, freeing personnel for possible service in Brazil. See Israel, The Dutch<br />
Republic, 543–544.<br />
107 St<strong>at</strong>en van Holland and Westvriesland, Gedrukt Resoluties, September 23 and September 26, 1645.<br />
108 Westfries Archief, Medemblik 0715, inv. 131, entry for September 27, 1645.<br />
109 Resoluties van de St<strong>at</strong>en van Zeeland, entry for September 16, 1645.<br />
110 On De Knuyt, see J. H. Kluiver, De Souvereine en Independente Sta<strong>at</strong> Zeeland (Middelburg: De Zwarte Arend,<br />
1998), 116–118.<br />
75
emphasized the considerable sums invested in the company and the potential repercussions for<br />
ordinary shareholders if the colony were to be lost. This was a message tailored to the cities of<br />
Zeeland, where anti-Iberian sentiment required little encouragement, and where public<br />
institutions and small shareholders may have made up a larger share of total investment. 111 The<br />
deleg<strong>at</strong>ion warned th<strong>at</strong> the company was in danger of going under completely: “We whole-<br />
heartedly cry out, ‘Help us,’” they apparently said, “‘or we shall perish.’” If no action was taken,<br />
all th<strong>at</strong> would be left would be “the tears of widows, orphans, and other miserable, dejected<br />
persons” who had placed their faith in the company. 112 Immedi<strong>at</strong>ely after the deleg<strong>at</strong>ion<br />
departed, the St<strong>at</strong>es of Zeeland resolved—over initial opposition from the smaller, inland cities<br />
of Goes and Zierkzee—to fulfill their oblig<strong>at</strong>ions for 1635, with monies collected by the 500 th<br />
penny. 113 A few days l<strong>at</strong>er, after receiving another deleg<strong>at</strong>ion from the company and a letter from<br />
the Prince of Orange, the cities began negoti<strong>at</strong>ions to pay their respective portion of the subsidies<br />
for 1636 and 1637. 114 If the sum itself was small, it nevertheless represented an important vote of<br />
confidence.<br />
Scholars have long noted th<strong>at</strong> Amsterdam was skeptical of the enormous costs of<br />
expanding and defending Dutch Brazil, and they have equally pointed to Zeeland’s continuing<br />
support for the company and its colony. 115 The analysis here, based on the circul<strong>at</strong>ion of<br />
inform<strong>at</strong>ion about the revolt, suggests th<strong>at</strong> Amsterdam was in fact isol<strong>at</strong>ed in initially opposing<br />
<br />
111<br />
Ibid., 181-182.<br />
112<br />
Resoluties van de St<strong>at</strong>en van Zeeland, entry for September 16, 1645. “Dogh over het geene voorby is,<br />
genoegsaem tot Onse descharge gebleken zynde, d<strong>at</strong> Wy allenthalven, met solicit<strong>at</strong>ien, de gedreygende [thre<strong>at</strong>ened]<br />
swarigheden hebben voor d'oogen gestelt, zulcx, d<strong>at</strong> nu staende allenlyck te sien op 't gene voor de handt is,<br />
genootdruckt werden volmondigh uyt te roepen, helpt Ons, of Wy vergaen, ende dadelyck te bethoonen tot die<br />
perplexiteyt gebraght te zyn, d<strong>at</strong>, in plaetse van woorden, vreesen, voortaen niet zullen hebben uyt te storten, dan<br />
tranen van Weduwen, Weesen, ende andere miserable bedruckte Persoonen, Geinteresseerde in de Compagnie, en U<br />
Ed. Mog. Onderdanen.”<br />
113<br />
Ibid.<br />
114<br />
Ibid., entry for September 22, 1645.<br />
115<br />
Boxer, The Dutch in Brazil, 1624-1654; Van Hoboken, “The Dutch West India Company: the Political<br />
Background of Its Rise and Decline”; Van Dillen, “De West-Indische Compagnie, het Calvinism en de Politiek”;<br />
Kluiver, De Souvereine en Independente Sta<strong>at</strong> Zeeland.<br />
76
elief to Brazil. The company drew support not only from Zeeland, but also from the Prince of<br />
Orange, Gelderland, Groningen, Overijssel, Utrecht, and even the majority of cities in<br />
Holland. 116 The Amsterdam city council remained opposed to putting new money into the<br />
company, but even in Amsterdam the picture is not so clear. On September 14, Abraham Erude,<br />
Joseph Acosta, and Jeronimo Nunes, Portuguese Jewish merchants living in Amsterdam,<br />
travelled to Middelburg to present the Heren XIX with a formal remonstrance asking the<br />
directors to ensure th<strong>at</strong> their sugar was exported from Recife without delay and to “protect the<br />
company's territories” in Brazil. 117 They were given assurances and asked to make their concerns<br />
known to the “government of this land,” and especially the city of Amsterdam. Two weeks l<strong>at</strong>er<br />
they did just th<strong>at</strong>, presenting a formal remonstrance to both the St<strong>at</strong>es General and the City of<br />
Amsterdam, the l<strong>at</strong>ter including a petition with 93 sign<strong>at</strong>ures of Amsterdam merchants trading to<br />
Brazil. 118 Despite this pressure to defend the colony, Amsterdam continued to withhold its<br />
approval. Changing the city's position would require additional pressure.<br />
<br />
116 NA 1.01.03, inv.nr. 4845, entry for October 28, 1645.<br />
117 NA 1.01.07, inv.nr. 1<strong>25</strong>64.17, fol. 5. “met aen wyssinge van de middelen de welcke soude mogen worden<br />
aengewent ende soo haest mogel. wesende sonder tyt versuymen int wreck gestelt, om de suykeren van daer over te<br />
bringen ende het Landt te bewaaren tot voorcomminge van een totale ruyne voor de negotianten ende groote schade<br />
voor de comp.” Born in Florence in 1620, Jeronimo Nunes moved to Amsterdam in 1642 and was appointed Agent<br />
of the Portuguese Crown in <strong>May</strong> 1645, beginning a long career furthering Portuguese interests in the Dutch<br />
Republic. His presence in this deleg<strong>at</strong>ion is indic<strong>at</strong>ive of the overlapping and potentially conflicting loyalties of<br />
Amsterdam’s Portuguese Jews. At least <strong>at</strong> this early stage in the revolt, it appears th<strong>at</strong> a number of Jewish merchants<br />
saw their interests best protected by a continu<strong>at</strong>ion of Dutch rule in Pernambuco. On Nunes see Jon<strong>at</strong>han Israel,<br />
“The Diplom<strong>at</strong>ic Career of Jeronimo Nunes Da Costa: An Episode in Dutch-Portuguese Rel<strong>at</strong>ions of the<br />
Seventeenth Century,” Bijdragen en Mededelingen betreffende de Geschiedenis der Nederlanden 98, no. a/1 (1983):<br />
167–190.<br />
118 NA 1.01.04, inv.nr. 5758, Letter from Merchants of Amsterdam Trading to Brazil, received by the St<strong>at</strong>es General<br />
on October 2, 1645.<br />
77
4. Johannes de Laet as “Inform<strong>at</strong>ion Master”<br />
Arguably no individual figure was more involved in the company’s lobbying campaign, and in<br />
the transl<strong>at</strong>ion of inform<strong>at</strong>ion into decision-making, than Johannes de Laet. Th<strong>at</strong> September he<br />
was the senior deleg<strong>at</strong>e from the Amsterdam chamber in the Heren XIX, a participant on the<br />
committee th<strong>at</strong> crafted the company’s message to the provincial assemblies, and one of the<br />
deleg<strong>at</strong>es who delivered this message to the St<strong>at</strong>es of Zeeland. While scholars have noted De<br />
Laet’s roles as an investor and director, their evalu<strong>at</strong>ion of his contribution to the company has<br />
focused overwhelmingly on his work as a scholar, compiler, and writer. 119 In addition to his<br />
Nieuwe Wereldt De Laet composed a detailed account of Brazil’s geography and anthropology<br />
for Johan Maurits before the l<strong>at</strong>ter’s departure to Brazil <strong>at</strong> the end of 1636 and a comprehensive<br />
historical work, the Iaerlyck Verhael. 120 These texts, all of which flowed directly from De Laet’s<br />
associ<strong>at</strong>ion with the company and drew heavily on its archive in Amsterdam, reveal an<br />
impressive ability to identify, evalu<strong>at</strong>e, organize, and synthesize inform<strong>at</strong>ion. 121<br />
But this is hardly the whole story, and it is difficult to agree with Benjamin Schmidt’s<br />
characteriz<strong>at</strong>ion th<strong>at</strong>, in comparison to Grotius, De Laet “opted for the life of a scholarly<br />
scholar.” 122 Seeing De Laet’s role in the company's response to the revolt in Brazil, and the way<br />
th<strong>at</strong> he marshaled inform<strong>at</strong>ion to influence policy, we gain a much fuller picture; one th<strong>at</strong> better<br />
<br />
119<br />
Bekkers, “Introduction”; P. G. Hoftijzer, “The Library of Johannes de Laet,” LIAS: The Journal of Early Modern<br />
History of Ideas <strong>25</strong>, no. 2 (1998): 201–216; Bremmer Jr., “The Correspondence of Johannes De Laet as a Mirror on<br />
His Life”; Rubiés, “Hugo Grotius’s <strong>Dissert<strong>at</strong>ion</strong> on the Origin of the American Peoples and the Use of Compar<strong>at</strong>ive<br />
Methods”; Schmidt, “Space, Time, Travel: Hugo de Groot, Johannes de Laet, and the ‘Advancement’ of Geographic<br />
Learning.”<br />
120<br />
De Laet, Nieuwe Wereldt: Ofte Beschrijvinghe van West-Indien; De Laet, Iaerlyck Verhael van de Verrichtingen<br />
der Geoctroyeerde West-Indische Compagnie; De Laet, Suiker, Verfhout & Tabak. See also, Jacobs, “Johannes de<br />
Laet en de Nieuwe Wereld.”; Seed, Ceremonies of Possession in Europe’s Conquest of the New World, 1492-1640.<br />
121<br />
See Ben Teensma's introduction in Suiker, Verfhout & Tabak, where he describes De Laet's style as "didactic,<br />
system<strong>at</strong>ic, detailed, and productive." Ibid., 14.<br />
122<br />
Schmidt, “Space, Time, Travel: Hugo de Groot, Johannes de Laet, and the ‘Advancement’ of Geographic<br />
Learning,” 193.<br />
78
integr<strong>at</strong>es his scholarly output with his role as an expert, manager, str<strong>at</strong>egist, and publicist. 123<br />
This section steps back from the narr<strong>at</strong>ive to examine De Laet’s responsibilities as a company<br />
director. Following Jacob Soll, it argues th<strong>at</strong> De Laet played a very similar role in the WIC th<strong>at</strong><br />
Jean Baptiste Colbert (1619-1683) played in the French St<strong>at</strong>e; th<strong>at</strong> is, he was an “inform<strong>at</strong>ion<br />
master,” for whom inform<strong>at</strong>ion was a tool of politics. 124 This perspective helps complete<br />
important parts of his biography, but it also allows us to probe the rel<strong>at</strong>ionship between<br />
inform<strong>at</strong>ion and power in the Dutch Republic.<br />
As Jaap Jacobs and others have shown, De Laet's influence within the WIC stemmed<br />
initially from his financial stake. 1<strong>25</strong> His personal investment of 54,000 guilders made him the<br />
company’s third largest single investor and ensured him a coveted directorship in the Amsterdam<br />
chamber, a position he retained for all but three years between 1621 and his de<strong>at</strong>h in 1649. 126 In<br />
addition, De Laet was one of a handful of investors in the agricultural and trading colony of New<br />
Netherland. 127 As his own correspondence <strong>at</strong>tests, De Laet was torn between his managerial and<br />
his scholarly commitments: after briefly stepping down as director in 1639, he wrote to the<br />
English ambassador <strong>at</strong> The Hague, William Boswell (d. 1650), th<strong>at</strong> it “was a most convenient<br />
thing for me, for I will be more free to be with my family and to conduct my studies; and I will<br />
not so often be an exile from my home.” 128 Four years l<strong>at</strong>er, when he had resumed his position,<br />
he complained to his close friend, the Leiden scholar Claude Saumaise (1588-1653), th<strong>at</strong>,<br />
“Sometimes I gre<strong>at</strong>ly regret th<strong>at</strong> I have shouldered this burden [...] for it is hardly possible to<br />
<br />
123 Eric H. Ash, ed., Expertise: Practical Knowledge and the Early Modern St<strong>at</strong>e (Chicago: <strong>University</strong> of Chicago<br />
Press, 2010).<br />
124 Soll, The inform<strong>at</strong>ion master.<br />
1<strong>25</strong> Jacobs, “Johannes de Laet en de Nieuwe Wereld.”<br />
126 Regionaal Archief Leiden 501A, inv.nr. 6701; NA 1.05.01.01, inv.nr. 18*; Bekkers, “Introduction,” xvi; Jacobs,<br />
“Johannes de Laet en de Nieuwe Wereld.”<br />
127 Jacobs, “Johannes de Laet en de Nieuwe Wereld”; Rink, Holland on the Hudson; Venema, Kiliaen van<br />
Rensselaer (1586-1643): designing a new world.<br />
128 British Library Add Ms 6395, Johannes de Laet to William Boswell, August 10, 1639. John Kuhner kindly<br />
assisted transl<strong>at</strong>ing from the original L<strong>at</strong>in.<br />
79
devote myself to my books.” 129 A second letter, sent to Saumaise l<strong>at</strong>er the same year, explained<br />
the burden of his travel on the company’s behalf:<br />
I have been busy for the last 14 days with the affairs of the [company], and although I hope to be<br />
soon finished, there will soon be another meeting <strong>at</strong> The Hague, after which I will come back<br />
here again. Consequently I am going back and forth the whole summer, and can't promise myself<br />
any rest before the winter. 130<br />
Quite aside from composing books and other m<strong>at</strong>erials for the company’s use, the frequent travel<br />
back and forth to The Hague, Amsterdam, and Middelburg required of a company director<br />
represented a considerable investment of time and energy. As De Laet grew older, and other<br />
senior directors from the founding gener<strong>at</strong>ion of the company either resigned their positions or<br />
passed away, his responsibilities would have become proportion<strong>at</strong>ely gre<strong>at</strong>er. De Laet’s<br />
complaints suggest th<strong>at</strong> the burden of this responsibility was not always welcome, but they also<br />
betray a long and deep commitment to actively promoting the company’s business. The n<strong>at</strong>ure<br />
and significance of this commitment become clearer when we reconstruct his activities <strong>at</strong> all<br />
three levels of the company's organiz<strong>at</strong>ion: the city (Leiden), chamber (Amsterdam), and board<br />
of directors (Heren XIX).<br />
De Laet came to Leiden as a student in 1597 and quickly established himself amongst the<br />
city’s intellectual elite. 131 He lodged with the Counter-Remonstrant theologian Franciscus<br />
Gomarus (1563-1641) and studied with the humanist scholar Joseph Scaliger (1540-1609),<br />
joining a small circle of talented students th<strong>at</strong> included the young Grotius. 132 After brief periods<br />
of time in England, he returned to Leiden and became involved in city politics, most notably<br />
<br />
129 Universiteitsbibliotheek Leiden PAP 7, Johannes de Laet to Claudius Salmasius, March 11, 1643. Chris<br />
Heesakkers generously assisted transl<strong>at</strong>ing from the original L<strong>at</strong>in.<br />
130 Ibid., August 3, 1643.<br />
131 Bremmer Jr., “The Correspondence of Johannes de Laet as a Mirror on his Life.”<br />
132 On Joseph Scaliger, see Anthony Grafton, Joseph Scaliger: a Study in the History of Classical Scholarship, 2<br />
vols. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1983).<br />
80
epresenting Leiden <strong>at</strong> the Synod of Dordrecht, where he earned other deleg<strong>at</strong>es’ respect for his<br />
learning and his principled positions on key aspects of the negoti<strong>at</strong>ions. 133 When the city<br />
magistr<strong>at</strong>es came together to discuss Leiden's position in the newly formed WIC three years<br />
l<strong>at</strong>er, De Laet again played a leading role. In addition to his own sizable investment, he was<br />
responsible for an organizing committee th<strong>at</strong> literally went door-to-door to inform citizens of the<br />
company's plans and to solicit their financial contributions. 134 This effort was so successful th<strong>at</strong><br />
the city raised 269,000 guilders, more than any city in the Republic save Amsterdam,<br />
Middelburg, and Groningen. Just days after the charter was signed, De Laet was selected to<br />
represent Leiden <strong>at</strong> The Hague and, on his return, was selected as one of the city's two directors.<br />
By the terms of the charter, any city th<strong>at</strong> raised <strong>at</strong> least 100,000 guilders earned a directorship in<br />
one of the company’s chambers. At first Leiden considered splitting its investment between the<br />
chambers in Amsterdam and Rotterdam, “in order to keep an eye in two places <strong>at</strong> once,” but this<br />
was rejected in favor of two se<strong>at</strong>s in the Amsterdam chamber. 135<br />
De Laet not only represented Leiden’s investors, he also served as a bridge between the<br />
company and the city more broadly, including its <strong>University</strong>. In the most mundane sense, we can<br />
see th<strong>at</strong> De Laet used his office to direct p<strong>at</strong>ronage, recommending, for instance, th<strong>at</strong> the<br />
company purchase oxen for Brazil from a local farmer and promoting Leiden citizens for<br />
positions in the company’s employment. 136 More substantively, De Laet maintained a regular<br />
correspondence with the Amsterdam chamber and ensured th<strong>at</strong> Leiden's financial and political<br />
<br />
133 Henk Florijn, “Johannes de Laet and the Synod of Dort, 1618-1619,” LIAS: The Journal of Early Modern History<br />
of Ideas <strong>25</strong>, no. 2 (1998): 172.<br />
134 Regionaal Archief Leiden 501A inv.nr. 6701; Jacobs, “Johannes de Laet en de Nieuwe Wereld”; Israel, The<br />
Dutch Republic, 158.<br />
135 Regionaal Archief Leiden 501A inv.nr. 6700, fol. 1. “[…] d<strong>at</strong> dienstich soude syn onse Capitael te verdelen in 2<br />
sommen, en[de] diene vand hier te brengen in die Camer van Amsterdam aelent dien mesten te enal van andere<br />
Capitaelen, en[de] oock de meestie administr<strong>at</strong>ie, mitsgaders voer die eerste ses jaeren de generale vergaderinge van<br />
[de] negenthyene vallen sullen en[de] d'andere somme in eer vant camers van [de] Maze daermen de meeste<br />
voordelen sal comen bedingen, om alsoo op twee plaetsen ter ooge int zeyl hebbende.”<br />
136 NA 1.05.01.01 inv.nr. 14, entries for August 20 and October 10, 1635.<br />
81
interests were adequ<strong>at</strong>ely represented. Although there is little direct evidence, it is likely th<strong>at</strong> De<br />
Laet also facilit<strong>at</strong>ed correspondence and the exchange of inform<strong>at</strong>ion between the company and<br />
the university. As Anthony Grafton has argued, Leiden was an urban campus, where university<br />
and society as a whole “were locked together in a symbiosis th<strong>at</strong> enriched both parties.” 137 The<br />
concentr<strong>at</strong>ion of books and manuscripts available in Leiden, along with the wide reading and<br />
critical approach to sources th<strong>at</strong> De Laet would have learned from Scaliger and others, were<br />
crucial to his Neiuwe Wereldt. And the presence of a publisher like Elsevier, loc<strong>at</strong>ed only a few<br />
doors down from De Laet’s house on the Rapenburg, helped transform both this book and the<br />
Iaerlyck Verhael into prestigious, luxury editions for consumption by the Dutch elite. 138<br />
Conversely, De Laet used his position in the company to furnish friends <strong>at</strong> the university with<br />
n<strong>at</strong>ural and cultural specimens from all over the Western Hemisphere, a project th<strong>at</strong> culmin<strong>at</strong>ed<br />
in the public<strong>at</strong>ion of Willem Piso (1611-1678) and Georg Markgraf’s (1610-c.1643)<br />
sumptuously illustr<strong>at</strong>ed book on the flora and fauna of Brazil. 139 De Laet's st<strong>at</strong>us as an expert on<br />
the New World was the collective product of his scholarly life in Leiden and his concrete<br />
responsibilities as the city’s represent<strong>at</strong>ive within the company, and each reinforced the other.<br />
Our knowledge of De Laet's work within the Amsterdam chamber is limited by the<br />
remaining sources, which include only a single volume (covering two years) of the chamber’s<br />
minutes during the period th<strong>at</strong> De Laet served as a director. 140 Nevertheless, these are sufficient<br />
to paint a very persuasive picture of his activities. The chamber met every Monday and<br />
Thursday, though occasionally meetings would be held on other days as well. In 1635 De Laet<br />
<br />
137 Grafton, Bring Out Your Dead, 128.<br />
138 The l<strong>at</strong>ter apparently was known as "one of the most prestigious books published by the firm Elsevier." Cited in<br />
Bremmer Jr., “The Correspondence of Johannes De Laet as a Mirror on His Life,” 151.<br />
139 Willem Piso, Georg Markgraf, and Johannes de Laet, Historia N<strong>at</strong>vralis Brasiliae [...]: in qua non tantum plantæ<br />
et animalia, sed et indigenarum morbi, ingenia et mores describuntur et iconibus supra quingentas illustrantur<br />
(Leiden: Franciscus Hackius, 1648).<br />
140 NA 1.05.01.01, inv.nr. 14, Resoluties van de Camer Amsterdam, 1635-36.<br />
82
was present <strong>at</strong> twenty-seven of these meetings and in 1636 he was present <strong>at</strong> thirty-three. 141<br />
Given th<strong>at</strong> Leiden was half a day's journey from Amsterdam, this is an impressive record of<br />
involvement. Equally important, by the mid-1630s, De Laet was in his mid-fifties, making him<br />
one of the more senior directors in the chamber. The significance of this is borne out by his<br />
selection to serve on the committee of rekenmeesters (accountants), one of eleven standing<br />
committees th<strong>at</strong> were modeled on similar committees in the VOC. 142 Each committee had a<br />
specialized area of responsibility, such as handling trade goods, outfitting ships, procuring “dry”<br />
and “wet” provisions and medicines, recruiting soldiers, and overseeing the colonies of Curaçao<br />
and New Netherland, which together were administered by the Amsterdam chamber on behalf of<br />
the company as a whole. 143 The committee of rekenmeesters was responsible for keeping track of<br />
all the chamber's finances, including invested capital, oblig<strong>at</strong>ions, oper<strong>at</strong>ing expenses, and<br />
profits. This was challenging in its own right, and would have required both trust and<br />
considerable skills in m<strong>at</strong>hem<strong>at</strong>ics and accounting. 144 But it also required diplom<strong>at</strong>ic skills, since<br />
in order for the company to calcul<strong>at</strong>e profit and loss in general, the individual chambers needed<br />
to reconcile all their accounts with one another <strong>at</strong> the end of each year. The st<strong>at</strong>us associ<strong>at</strong>ed with<br />
these activities is confirmed by two pieces of evidence: first, all five members of the committee<br />
of rekenmeesters were senior directors in the chamber. Second, the committee formed to manage<br />
the difficult problem of popul<strong>at</strong>ing Brazil included all of its members, plus Albert Coenraeds<br />
Burgh, l<strong>at</strong>er burgemeester of Amsterdam and, together with De Laet, probably the most powerful<br />
person in the chamber.<br />
<br />
141<br />
Ibid. De Laet's <strong>at</strong>tendance does not include days on which he <strong>at</strong>tended meetings of the Heren XIX on the<br />
chamber's behalf. He also wrote many letters to the chamber while he was in Leiden.<br />
142<br />
NA 1.05.01.01, inv.nr. 14, entry for June 30, 1636. Den Heijer, De Geoctrooieerde Compagnie.<br />
143<br />
Den Heijer, De Geschiedenis van de WIC; Jacobs, The Colony of New Netherland; Venema, Kiliaen van<br />
Rensselaer (1586-1643): Designing a New World.<br />
144<br />
See Donna Merwick, “A Genre of Their Own: Kiliaen van Rensselaer as Guide to the Reading and Writing<br />
Practices of Early Modern Businessmen,” The William and Mary Quarterly 65, no. 4, Third Series (October 2008):<br />
669–712.<br />
83
De Laet's substantive work in the Amsterdam chamber did not end there. Once again, the<br />
surviving sources provide only a very narrow window, but in the years 1635 and 1636 De Laet<br />
twice served on subcommittees charged with drafting the agenda for the meetings of the Heren<br />
XIX and was selected to represent Amsterdam three times, in March and September 1635 and<br />
then again in June 1636. 145 He also traveled regularly to The Hague to meet with represent<strong>at</strong>ives<br />
of the St<strong>at</strong>es of Holland and the St<strong>at</strong>es General. One example from 1636 is particularly notable:<br />
throughout the early part of the year, discussions had been ongoing to identify an individual (or<br />
individuals) to travel to Brazil to strengthen the company's colonial government. As l<strong>at</strong>e as<br />
August 4, the directors were instructed, “to consider capable people to serve on the secret council<br />
in Brazil.” 146 The following day, De Laet reported back from the meetings of the Heren XIX in<br />
The Hague th<strong>at</strong> Johan Maurits had been asked to serve as “Governor, Admiral, and Captain<br />
General of the Conquests in Brazil,” and th<strong>at</strong> he was likely to accept. 147 There is no evidence th<strong>at</strong><br />
De Laet himself identified Maurits for the position, and he was only one of five directors in the<br />
chamber th<strong>at</strong> subsequently were tasked with identifying councilors to serve together with<br />
Maurits in Recife. But De Laet’s role in conveying this highly sensitive piece of inform<strong>at</strong>ion, as<br />
well as his subsequent work helping to draft the formal instructions and terms of Maurits’<br />
contract, make clear th<strong>at</strong> he was very close to the center of decision-making within the<br />
Amsterdam chamber. 148 As Ben Teensma has shown, De Laet also was responsible for drafting a<br />
lengthy manuscript roteiro (geographical and ethnological guidebook) for Maurits’ personal use<br />
<br />
145 NA 1.05.01.01, inv.nr. 14, entries for March 16 and September 13, 1635 and <strong>May</strong> 31, 1636.<br />
146 Ibid., entry for August 4, 1636. “De heeren werden vermaent te dencken op capable personen tot secrete raeden<br />
in Brasil.”<br />
147 Ibid., entry for August 5, 1636.<br />
148 NA 1.01.07, inv.nr. 1<strong>25</strong>64.20, no. 120. Benoemingsbrief van Johan Maurits, graaf van Nassau, tot Gouverneur<br />
Generaal en Admiraal van Brazilie, met ambtsbevoegdheden van graaf van Nassau als GG van Brazilie, en<br />
Voorwaarden aangeboden door de Heren XIX aan de graaf van Nassau.<br />
84
once he arrived in Brazil. 149 De Laet’s involvement in the negoti<strong>at</strong>ions to select and confirm the<br />
new governor suggest, once again, th<strong>at</strong> his written work grew out of and supplemented, r<strong>at</strong>her<br />
than expressed, the most important elements of his contribution to the company’s business.<br />
And the same was true for the meetings of the Heren XIX. Of the ten meetings of the<br />
company’s board for which records remain, De Laet was present <strong>at</strong> five. 150 Based on extracts,<br />
letters, and other documents it is clear th<strong>at</strong> he <strong>at</strong>tended <strong>at</strong> least ten more, so th<strong>at</strong> we can say with<br />
some certainty th<strong>at</strong> he <strong>at</strong>tended a minimum of fifteen meetings of the Heren XIX between 1622<br />
and 1649, and possibly more. 151 This means th<strong>at</strong> De Laet’s would have been one of the most<br />
familiar faces on the company’s board, including not only the directors of the various chambers<br />
but also the noblemen who served on the committees on WIC affairs <strong>at</strong> The Hague and returned<br />
year and after year to represent the St<strong>at</strong>es General in the Heren XIX. 152 This familiarity ensured a<br />
modicum of continuity and memory in an institution th<strong>at</strong> otherwise had no permanent<br />
membership. Since De Laet was often the most senior deleg<strong>at</strong>e from Amsterdam, which hosted<br />
the meetings six of every eight years, he also would have had plenty of experience as chair.<br />
Except in a very few cases, it is impossible to extract from the remaining sources the<br />
views or competencies of any specific individual within the Heren XIX. Resolutions by their very<br />
n<strong>at</strong>ure hide the discussion th<strong>at</strong> preceded them, and even the lists th<strong>at</strong> show the membership of the<br />
sub-committees th<strong>at</strong> did much of the board’s work cannot tell us who took which position, or<br />
wielded authority on a specific m<strong>at</strong>ter. Nevertheless, the list of committees on which De Laet<br />
served provides almost a microcosm of the company’s history as a whole, reinforcing the view<br />
<br />
149 De Laet, Suiker, verfhout & tabak.<br />
150 NA 1.05.01.01, inv.nr. 1; NA 1.01.07, inv.nr. 1<strong>25</strong>64.6 and 1<strong>25</strong>64.17; NA 1.10.69, inv.nr. 542. These include<br />
meetings in the fall of 1623, spring 1624, spring 1634, spring 1638, and fall 1645.<br />
151 NA 1.01.04, inv.nrs. 5753-5758; NA 1.01.07, inv.nr. 1<strong>25</strong>64.15; NA 1.01.07, inv.nr. 20; NA 1.05.01.01, inv.nr. 9.<br />
These include meetings in the spring of 1626, fall 1629, spring 1630, winter and summer of 1631, Spring 1633, fall<br />
1635, summer 1636, summer 1643, fall 1644, and fall 1646.<br />
152 See Chapters Three and Four of this dissert<strong>at</strong>ion.<br />
85
th<strong>at</strong>, even <strong>at</strong> the beginning, De Laet rarely was far away from the deliber<strong>at</strong>ions on the most<br />
difficult questions the company faced. In <strong>May</strong> 1623, he particip<strong>at</strong>ed in the delic<strong>at</strong>e negoti<strong>at</strong>ions<br />
to amend the charter to provide a gre<strong>at</strong>er management role for the hoofdparticipanten, or chief<br />
investors in the company, a milestone in the formal recognition of investor rights. 153 In April<br />
1624, as the Heren XIX planned the Groote Dessyn (Grand Design) to simultaneously <strong>at</strong>tack<br />
Bahia, Elmina, and Loanda, De Laet was summoned for the explicit purpose of sharing his<br />
knowledge of geography. 154 Th<strong>at</strong> same year he served on the committee charged with drafting<br />
the rights and exemptions for investors who hoped to establish colonies in New Netherland. 155 In<br />
1629 he particip<strong>at</strong>ed in deliber<strong>at</strong>ions <strong>at</strong> The Hague to ensure the company's interests in peace<br />
negoti<strong>at</strong>ions with Spain th<strong>at</strong> began th<strong>at</strong> year. 156 In December 1636 he was one of several<br />
directors who represented Amsterdam <strong>at</strong> the St<strong>at</strong>es General to protest the closure of free trade to<br />
Brazil; he then served in the Heren XIX in February 1638 when the trade was re-opened to<br />
priv<strong>at</strong>e merchants and a new monopoly cre<strong>at</strong>ed on the trade in slaves. 157 L<strong>at</strong>er th<strong>at</strong> year he<br />
lobbied the St<strong>at</strong>es General to send additional troops to support Maurits' campaigns in Brazil. 158<br />
In July 1643, he helped the company craft a reply to Portugal's quite legitim<strong>at</strong>e complaints th<strong>at</strong><br />
the Dutch had seized Maranhão, Angola, and the island of São Tomé after peace negoti<strong>at</strong>ions<br />
had been completed and a non-aggression tre<strong>at</strong>y signed. 159 And, in 1645, De Laet began wh<strong>at</strong><br />
<br />
153<br />
NA 1.01.04, inv.nr. 5752. On investor rights, see Den Heijer, De Geoctrooieerde Compagnie; William N.<br />
Goetzmann and K. Geert Rouwenhorst, eds., The Origins of Value: The Financial Innov<strong>at</strong>ions th<strong>at</strong> Cre<strong>at</strong>ed Modern<br />
Capital Markets (Oxford: Oxford <strong>University</strong> Press, 2005).<br />
154<br />
NA 1.05.01.01, inv.nr. 1, entry for October 31, 1623.<br />
155<br />
Ibid., entry for March 28, 1624.<br />
156<br />
NA 1.01.04, inv.nr. 5752.<br />
157<br />
NA 1.01.04, inv.nr. 5754, entry for January 21, 1637; NA 1.01.07, inv.nr. 1<strong>25</strong>64.6.<br />
158<br />
NA 1.01.04, inv.nr. 5754.<br />
159<br />
NA 1.01.07, inv.nr. 1<strong>25</strong>64.18, entries for July 3 and August 7, 1643.<br />
86
would become a two-year campaign lobbying the St<strong>at</strong>es General to provide military support to<br />
end the Portuguese revolt in Brazil. 160<br />
This work touched on a number of aspects of the company's business, but especially on<br />
issues rel<strong>at</strong>ing to investors, the company’s colonies, and rel<strong>at</strong>ions with Portugal and Spain. The<br />
first of these areas of engagement was probably no more than a reflection of De Laet’s<br />
considerable personal stake in the company, but the other two recognized and put to practical use<br />
his geographical and historical knowledge and his impressive linguistic abilities. 161 This range<br />
and depth of involvement made De Laet an excellent diplom<strong>at</strong> for the company, not only <strong>at</strong><br />
home, but also abroad. In June 1641, shortly after the Spanish had destroyed the Providence<br />
Island Company's Caribbean colony, De Laet was approached by Sir Thomas Roe, Robert Rich,<br />
and other wealthy Englishmen to provide Parliament with advice on establishing an English<br />
West India Company on the Dutch model. 162 The onset of England’s Civil War prevented De<br />
Laet from formally addressing Parliament, and such a company never got off the ground, but De<br />
Laet’s correspondence from London makes clear th<strong>at</strong> he did not think this group of English<br />
aristocr<strong>at</strong>s were up to the task, being “not sufficiently aware of the things which are required for<br />
the proper establishment of a company of this sort, nor do they understand exactly how much<br />
money is needed.” 163 For potential allies as well colleagues within the Dutch Republic, De Laet’s<br />
intim<strong>at</strong>e knowledge of the company’s history and structure made him the ideal person to<br />
represent its interests <strong>at</strong> the highest levels of government.<br />
<br />
160 NA 1.01.07, inv.nr. 1<strong>25</strong>64.17.<br />
161 Bremmer Jr., “The Correspondence of Johannes de Laet as a Mirror on His Life”; Bremmer Jr., “‘Mine is Bigger<br />
than Yours’: The Anglo-Saxon Collection of Johannes de Laet and Sir Simonds D’Ewes.”<br />
162 British Library Add Ms 6395, fol. 120, Johannes de Laet to William Boswell, June 18, 1641. See also Bekkers,<br />
“Introduction”; Bremmer Jr., “‘Mine is Bigger than Yours’: The Anglo-Saxon Collection of Johannes de Laet<br />
(1581-1649) and Sir Simonds D’Ewes (1602-50)”; Appleby, “An Associ<strong>at</strong>ion for the West Indies? English Plans for<br />
a West India Company 1621-29”; Kupperman, Providence Island, 1630-1641, 343.<br />
163 British Library Add Ms 6395, fol. 120, Johannes de Laet to William Boswell, June 18, 1641. The transl<strong>at</strong>ion is<br />
by John Kuhner.<br />
87
De Laet’s presence <strong>at</strong> the meetings of the Heren XIX in Middelburg in September 1645<br />
represented a continu<strong>at</strong>ion along this trajectory. He spent much of 1643 and the first several<br />
months of 1644 composing the Iaerlyck Verhael, a book whose dry detail and chronological<br />
organiz<strong>at</strong>ion reflect wh<strong>at</strong> must have been many hours among the ships journals, memoranda, and<br />
other documents stored in the Amsterdam chamber’s archives. When this book was published, in<br />
November 1644, De Laet was back in Amsterdam <strong>at</strong>tending the fall meetings of the Heren XIX<br />
helping to draft a new set of regul<strong>at</strong>ions for priv<strong>at</strong>e trade within the areas covered by the<br />
company’s charter. 164 As we have seen, De Laet was again selected to represent Amsterdam for<br />
the meetings in Middelburg, where he was on the committee tasked with developing a response<br />
to the news of the revolt in Brazil. As part of this effort, he began another project: to collect,<br />
synthesize, and prepare for the St<strong>at</strong>es General evidence th<strong>at</strong> the King of Portugal had provided<br />
assistance to the rebels, in defiance of the terms of the 1641 Tre<strong>at</strong>y.<br />
By September 18, 1645 Francisco De Sousa Coutinho (1597-1660), the Portuguese<br />
ambassador <strong>at</strong> The Hague, already was warning th<strong>at</strong> the rumors had shifted from speaking of an<br />
uprising to specul<strong>at</strong>ion th<strong>at</strong> the Portuguese governor in Bahia was responsible for supporting the<br />
rebels. 165 This inform<strong>at</strong>ion came first from Paris, where it was reported th<strong>at</strong> the King of Portugal<br />
claimed to be “master of Pernambuco” once again, and had requested th<strong>at</strong> France intercede with<br />
the Dutch Republic on Portugal's behalf. According to Jan Louys, who wrote the St<strong>at</strong>es General<br />
from Middelburg, the news was consistent with the contents of “many priv<strong>at</strong>e letters” from<br />
Portugal itself. 166 This inform<strong>at</strong>ion was crucial, both for the bleak picture it painted of events in<br />
Brazil since the end of June, the d<strong>at</strong>e of the last generale missiven, and because it strongly<br />
<br />
164 NA 1.01.04, inv.nr. 5757, entry for September 19, 1644.<br />
165 Coutinho, Correspondência Diplomática de Francisco de Sousa Coutinho Durante a sua Embaixada em<br />
Holanda, 310. Sousa Coutinho to Conde da Vidigueira, September 18, 1645.<br />
166 NA 1.01.04, inv.nr. 5758, Extract uyt een brief van Louys d<strong>at</strong>o 23 September 1645; NA 3.01.04.01, inv.nr. 77,<br />
Resolutions of the St<strong>at</strong>es of Holland, October 3, 1645.<br />
88
implied th<strong>at</strong> the King of Portugal intended to reclaim the portions of Brazil th<strong>at</strong> had been under<br />
Dutch control and to integr<strong>at</strong>e them back into Portugal’s overseas empire. Coutinho followed<br />
these developments closely, reporting th<strong>at</strong> “every day the rumors are different,” but th<strong>at</strong> there<br />
had been no new ships from Brazil, and thus the company “goes around with one foot on top of<br />
the other,” almost literally tripping over itself to convince the St<strong>at</strong>es General to provide financial<br />
and military assistance before it was too l<strong>at</strong>e. 167<br />
The swirl of contrasting accounts of events in Brazil made it difficult for the company to<br />
obtain the support it believed was necessary. In response, the Heren XIX composed and<br />
submitted to the St<strong>at</strong>es General a memorandum th<strong>at</strong> detailed, in eighteen separ<strong>at</strong>e points, all the<br />
evidence it had collected concerning Portuguese involvement in the events in Brazil. This<br />
document bears all the hallmarks of De Laet’s work:<br />
Evidence drawn from diverse letters and other papers, as well as priv<strong>at</strong>e communic<strong>at</strong>ions and oral<br />
reports, received by the directors of the West India Company concerning the recently transpired<br />
events in Brazil [...] whereby it is shown th<strong>at</strong> this treachery cannot have been carried out without<br />
the knowledge of the Portuguese governor in Bahia, and indeed of Portugal itself. 168<br />
In fact the memorandum conveyed little inform<strong>at</strong>ion th<strong>at</strong> wasn’t known already: it recounted, for<br />
example, the story of the plot to assassin<strong>at</strong>e members of the Hoge Raad and other principle<br />
officers <strong>at</strong> the wedding ceremony in Recife, and distilled portions of both Bernardo Caravalho's<br />
<br />
167 Coutinho, Correspondência Diplomática de Francisco de Sousa Coutinho Durante a sua Embaixada em<br />
Holanda. Sousa Coutinho to Conde da Vidigueira, September <strong>25</strong>, 1645. I am gr<strong>at</strong>eful to Diana Brown for transl<strong>at</strong>ing<br />
this passage.<br />
168 NA 1.01.04 inv.nr. 5758, Memorie vant geene uyt verscheyden missiven..., d<strong>at</strong>ed September 28, 1645. A note on<br />
the reverse of the cover page indic<strong>at</strong>es th<strong>at</strong> the document accompanied Louys' letter of September 23, but also th<strong>at</strong> it<br />
was delivered by Gysbert Rudolphij, lawyer for the Amsterdam chamber. The form and content of the letter, as well<br />
as the fact th<strong>at</strong> it came from Amsterdam, strongly suggest De Laet's authorship. “Memorie vant geene uyt<br />
verscheyden missiven, ende andere pampieren, als particuliere advysen ende mondelinge rapporten, byde<br />
Bewinthebberen van de Westindische Comp. wegen het jonste gepaseerde in Brazil verstaen is, waer uyt by provisie<br />
(: ende tot d<strong>at</strong> naarder verclaeringe sullen becomen syn :) genoucksaem bespeurt ende affgemeten can werden, d<strong>at</strong><br />
de revolte ende verradische voornemen, van de Portugysen (: op den sta<strong>at</strong> ende conquesten vande voors. Comp. :)<br />
aldaer niet sonder kennisse vande Portuguysen Gouverueur inde Bahia, als die van Poortugael selver, syn<br />
gepractiseert ende int werck gestelt.”<br />
89
confessions under interrog<strong>at</strong>ion and the council's assessments of the movement of Indian and<br />
black troops from Bahia. Based on the letters from “priv<strong>at</strong>e persons in Portugal,” it reported<br />
intelligence th<strong>at</strong> several “extraordinary ships, troops, and weapons of war” were being prepared<br />
to sail to Bahia, and supported this by citing the Dutch skipper's testimony from Terceira. If the<br />
inform<strong>at</strong>ion was hardly new, and the evidence connecting the revolt to the King himself<br />
painfully thin, the memorandum's condensed present<strong>at</strong>ion nonetheless laid it all out and made a<br />
plausible argument for how the inform<strong>at</strong>ion should be interpreted: the Portuguese inhabitants, it<br />
concluded, “could not have acted alone, but must have relied on the help of others.” 169 In concert<br />
with pressure from other actors in the St<strong>at</strong>es of Holland and the St<strong>at</strong>es General, this inform<strong>at</strong>ion<br />
was sufficient to convince Amsterdam to support the relief fleet.<br />
5. Conclusion<br />
This chapter has shown, among other things, a case of how humanism and politics were<br />
interwoven in the Dutch Republic. This was hardly unusual either in the Republic or early<br />
modern Europe, but its central place within a joint-stock company points to the unusual role th<strong>at</strong><br />
the WIC played within the Dutch political system. 170 Many scholars have explored the<br />
importance of the collection and management of inform<strong>at</strong>ion to the centraliz<strong>at</strong>ion the st<strong>at</strong>e. In<br />
Venice, Paolo Sarpi consulted the massive collection of diplom<strong>at</strong>ic disp<strong>at</strong>ches housed in the<br />
Venetian archives, while in Spain King Philip II tried to keep up with the thousands of pages of<br />
<br />
169 Ibid.<br />
170 An excellent example is Justus Lipsius’ analysis of Polybius to inform Prince Maurits' military str<strong>at</strong>egy in the<br />
1590s. See Momigliano Arnaldo, Polybius Between the English and the Turks, J. L. Myers Memorial Lecture<br />
(Oxford: Oxford <strong>University</strong> Press, 1974).<br />
90
eports from America and elsewhere th<strong>at</strong> literally covered his desk. 171 In France, Colbert<br />
assembled and meticulously organized a library of documents rel<strong>at</strong>ing to popul<strong>at</strong>ion, geography,<br />
trade, noble titles, and French law, and used this inform<strong>at</strong>ion to plan st<strong>at</strong>e policy, impose Royal<br />
authority, and advance France's diplom<strong>at</strong>ic interests. 172 In Rome, the Jesuits employed an<br />
elabor<strong>at</strong>e system of letters and questionnaires to centrally administer a vast network of missions.<br />
In England, where gentlemen preparing for the Grand Tour were educ<strong>at</strong>ed to g<strong>at</strong>her intelligence<br />
for the use of the Crown, the story is similar: early modern st<strong>at</strong>e craft demanded the effective<br />
accumul<strong>at</strong>ion, organiz<strong>at</strong>ion, and use of inform<strong>at</strong>ion. 173<br />
During the first half of the seventeenth century the St<strong>at</strong>es General had devised new<br />
methods for collecting and storing inform<strong>at</strong>ion, as well, and its offices in The Hague filled with<br />
papers and a professional staff of functionaries who managed them. 174 But the St<strong>at</strong>es General no<br />
more could claim a monopoly on inform<strong>at</strong>ion than it could a monopoly on power itself.<br />
In the absence of a single figure or central institution to which inform<strong>at</strong>ion flowed and<br />
from which decisions eman<strong>at</strong>ed—the King in Spain, England, or France; the Council in Venice<br />
and the Jesuit Curia in Rome—in the Dutch Republic the central nodes for inform<strong>at</strong>ion were the<br />
companies themselves. 175 In the case of the VOC, inform<strong>at</strong>ion from abroad flowed back to an<br />
army of clerks <strong>at</strong> home who organized correspondence and other records in a manner th<strong>at</strong> would,<br />
in time, permit predictions concerning the movement of prices. 176 In the case of the WIC and<br />
<br />
171<br />
Vivo, Inform<strong>at</strong>ion and Communic<strong>at</strong>ion in Venice; Friedrich, “Government and Inform<strong>at</strong>ion-Management in Early<br />
Modern Europe: The Case of the Society of Jesus (1540-1773).”<br />
172<br />
Soll, The inform<strong>at</strong>ion master; See also Erik Thomson, “Commerce, Law, and Erudite Culture: The Mechanics of<br />
Theodore Godefroy’s Service to Cardinal Richelieu,” Journal of the History of Ideas 68, no. 3 (July 2007): 407–428.<br />
173<br />
Nicholas Popper, “Cultiv<strong>at</strong>ing Experience in Elizabethan England: Expertise in Travel Observ<strong>at</strong>ion, Explor<strong>at</strong>ion<br />
and Political Authority,” 2009. Unpublished paper, cited with permission of the author.<br />
174<br />
Knevel, Het Haagse bureau.<br />
175<br />
Siegfried Huigen, Jan L. de Jong, and Elmer Kolfin, eds., The Dutch Trading Companies as Knowledge Networks<br />
(Leiden: Brill, 2011).<br />
176<br />
Smith, “The Function of Commercial Centers in the Moderniz<strong>at</strong>ion of European Capitalism: Amsterdam as an<br />
Inform<strong>at</strong>ion Exchange in the Seventeenth Century,” 999–1003.<br />
91
Brazil this meant the Heren XIX, which from its temporary position in Middelburg shared<br />
inform<strong>at</strong>ion about the revolt with the company's chambers, the St<strong>at</strong>es General, the Prince of<br />
Orange, and provincial assemblies. Its control over inform<strong>at</strong>ion from Africa and the New World<br />
gave it important powers to influence the course of the Republic’s foreign policy. In this context<br />
De Laet's contribution to the company was less th<strong>at</strong> of merc<strong>at</strong>or sapiens, the wise merchant<br />
celebr<strong>at</strong>ed by Casper Barlaeus for his learning and humanity, than of the deliber<strong>at</strong>e use of<br />
scholarship to advance political, military, and colonial aims. 177 This, in turn, required careful<br />
coordin<strong>at</strong>ion with the St<strong>at</strong>es General.<br />
How did the Heren XIX develop this unique place in the politics of the Dutch Republic?<br />
And how were the terms of cooper<strong>at</strong>ion with the St<strong>at</strong>es General laid down? To answer these<br />
questions, we need to re-examine of the process th<strong>at</strong> cre<strong>at</strong>ed the company in the first two decades<br />
of the seventeenth century and the routines established during the first meetings of the Heren<br />
XIX between 1622 and 1624.<br />
<br />
177 Caspar van Baerle, Merc<strong>at</strong>or Sapiens: Or<strong>at</strong>ie gehouden bij de Inwijding van de Illustre School te Amsterdam op<br />
9 Januari 1632, ed. S. van der Woude (Amsterdam: Universiteitsbibliotheek, 1967).<br />
92
1. Introduction<br />
Chapter Three<br />
A Council of the Indies for the Dutch Republic?<br />
The Origins of a Company Board<br />
The WIC was granted a 24-year charter by the St<strong>at</strong>es General on June 3, 1621. 1 Although many<br />
people were involved in its form<strong>at</strong>ion, historians have long pointed to the tireless agit<strong>at</strong>ion of a<br />
single figure, Willem Usselincx. 2 Born in Antwerp in 1567, Usselincx was one of the most<br />
innov<strong>at</strong>ive economic theorists of his gener<strong>at</strong>ion. When Antwerp was sacked by Spanish troops in<br />
1585, he traveled to Spain, Portugal, and the Azores, where he gained first-hand experience of<br />
the wealth of the New World and the manner in which it was extracted by the Iberian powers.<br />
Sometime around 1591 he migr<strong>at</strong>ed north and settled in Amsterdam, where he was quickly<br />
absorbed into the city's merchant and intellectual elite. By his own account, Usselincx began<br />
advoc<strong>at</strong>ing for a WIC during the last years of the sixteenth century. 3 In a 1608 pamphlet, he<br />
argued th<strong>at</strong> the Dutch could exploit the riches of the New World by planting settler colonies in<br />
<br />
1 Den Heijer, “The Twelve Years’ Truce and the Founding of the Dutch West India Company.”<br />
2 J. Franklin Jameson, Willem Usselinx: Founder of the Dutch and Swedish West India Companies (New York: G. P.<br />
Putnam’s Sons, 1887); C<strong>at</strong>harina Ligtenberg, Willem Usselinx (Utrecht: A. Oosthoek, 1914); Otto van Rees,<br />
Geschiedenis der Sta<strong>at</strong>huishoudkunde in Nederland tot het Einde der Achttiende Eeuw, vol. 2 (Utrecht: Kemink en<br />
Zoon, 1868). A more recent discussion can be found in Benjamin Schmidt, Innocence Abroad: The Dutch<br />
Imagin<strong>at</strong>ion and the New World, 1570-1670 (Cambridge: Cambridge <strong>University</strong> Press, 2001), 176-184.<br />
3 A. C. Meijer, Liefhebbers des Vaderlands ende Beminders van de Commercie: de Plannen tot Oprichting van een<br />
Generale Westindische Compagnie gedurende de Jaren 1606-1609 (Middelburg: Zeeuwsch Genootschap, 1986).<br />
93
Illustr<strong>at</strong>ion 7. Portrait of Willem Usselincx, 1637. Schilderijencollectie<br />
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. Born in Antwerp, Usselinx was a pamphleteer<br />
and advoc<strong>at</strong>e for a Dutch West India Company.<br />
94
the area north of the Amazon River. 4 “The general belief,” he wrote, “is th<strong>at</strong> the gre<strong>at</strong>est riches<br />
from the Indies are derived from Gold and Silver,” but in fact,<br />
This is a gre<strong>at</strong> misunderstanding: because the gre<strong>at</strong>est riches lie in the diverse fruits th<strong>at</strong> can be<br />
found there, such as Sugar, Ginger, Indigo, Cochineal, Sasparilla, and dry goods such as diverse<br />
sorts of Wood, Skins, Pearls, and Stones: and then again in the diverse Manufactures, Wares, and<br />
Trade Goods th<strong>at</strong> the Spanish send there, whereby the Merchants, Officials, Sailors, Inhabitants,<br />
and all the others live. 5<br />
Settlement and trade, in other words, were the twin found<strong>at</strong>ions for success in the New World.<br />
Usselincx advoc<strong>at</strong>ed peaceful rel<strong>at</strong>ions with the Indians and opposed slavery, not only because it<br />
was contrary to Christian morals, but because it would prohibit the development of a free<br />
popul<strong>at</strong>ion with the means necessary to consume Dutch manufactures. 6 Over the next two<br />
decades Usselincx repe<strong>at</strong>ed these themes in literally dozens of pamphlets and proposals meant to<br />
persuade the St<strong>at</strong>es General, city councils, and provincial assemblies of the benefits of erecting a<br />
West India Company. 7<br />
But the company’s birth did not come about as Usselincx envisioned. During the final set<br />
of negoti<strong>at</strong>ions, his carefully conceived draft for the company's new charter was set aside in<br />
favor of a rival draft gener<strong>at</strong>ed by a committee within the St<strong>at</strong>es of Holland, and by the time the<br />
charter was approved Usselinx found himself marginalized. In place of his plans to promote<br />
<br />
4 Willem Usselincx, Vertoogh, hoe Nootwendich, Nut ende Profytelick het sy voor de Vereenighde Nederlanden te<br />
Behouden de Vryheyt van te Handelen op Westindien, 1608. Knuttel 1442.<br />
5 Cited in Rees, Geschiedenis der Sta<strong>at</strong>huishoudkunde in Nederland tot het Einde der Achttiende Eeuw, 90. “Het<br />
ghemeen ghevoelen hiervan is, d<strong>at</strong> den meesten Rijckfom van dyen handel soude ghelegen zijn inde rijcke Goudt<br />
ende Silvere Mijnen die Indien heeft. Dan t’selve is een groot misverstant: want den meesten Rijckdom bestaet inde<br />
verscheyden vruchten ende ghewassen die in die Landen van Indien vallen, als daer zijn Suycker, Gember, Indigo,<br />
Cochenille, Salsaperille, ende ander Drogheryen: als mede diversche soorten van Houdt, Huyden, Peerlen ende<br />
gesteenten: ende wederom inde verscheyden manufacturen, Waren ende Coopmanschappen, die van Spaengien<br />
derwaerts ghevoert werden, waer by den Coopman, Ambachtsman, Schippers, Landtlieden, ende meest alle de<br />
ghemeenten leven.”<br />
6 Ernst van den Boogaart and Pieter C. Emmer, “Dutch Particip<strong>at</strong>ion in the Atlantic Slave Trade, 1596-1650,” in The<br />
Uncommon Market: Essays in the Economic History of the Atlantic Slave Trade, ed. Henry A. Gemery and Jan S.<br />
Hogendorn (New York: Academic Press, 1979), 355.<br />
7 Ligtenberg, Willem Usselinx.<br />
95
peaceful settlement along the fringes of Spain’s New World empire, the new company’s<br />
directors began planning for direct <strong>at</strong>tacks on Spanish and Portuguese positions in Bahia,<br />
Elmina, and Loanda. Usselincx was stunned and bitterly disappointed. As Henk den Heijer<br />
describes it, his ideas, especially for the company's charter, ultim<strong>at</strong>ely “amounted to nothing.” 8<br />
This chapter revises this now well-established interpret<strong>at</strong>ion. By examining five separ<strong>at</strong>e<br />
drafts of the charter—along with the annot<strong>at</strong>ions of various participants in the negoti<strong>at</strong>ions—it<br />
suggests th<strong>at</strong> Usselincx's proposals were more influential than previously thought. In particular,<br />
the chapter looks <strong>at</strong> Usselincx’s idea for a Raedt van Indien (Council of the Indies) th<strong>at</strong> would<br />
strengthen central authority over the company by giving noblemen and the St<strong>at</strong>es General an<br />
important say in the company’s affairs. This was one of the most controversial elements of<br />
Usselincx’s draft, and it was firmly rejected by the St<strong>at</strong>es of Holland. A closer look, however,<br />
reveals th<strong>at</strong> important elements of such a council were in fact included in the final language of<br />
the charter during the last phase of the negoti<strong>at</strong>ions. A careful reconstruction of these<br />
negoti<strong>at</strong>ions helps us to better understand the mechanisms for coordin<strong>at</strong>ing between the company<br />
and the St<strong>at</strong>es General, and the ways th<strong>at</strong> the Heren XIX evolved from a clone of the VOC’s<br />
board of directors to a body tailored to the specific needs of Atlantic conquest. It also permits<br />
fresh examin<strong>at</strong>ion of the first few meetings of the Heren XIX, when the formal terms of the<br />
charter were put into practice and a working balance was struck between the diverse interests<br />
involved in the new company.<br />
Despite its central role, the Heren XIX has received almost no <strong>at</strong>tention from either<br />
economic or colonial historians. 9 This is due in part to the fact th<strong>at</strong> the WIC has for centuries<br />
lived under the shadow of the VOC, and in part to the scarcity of sources. This applies not only<br />
<br />
8 Henk den Heijer, De Geoctrooieerde Compagnie: de VOC en de WIC als Voorlopers van de Naamloze<br />
Vennootschap (Amsterdam: Stichting tot Bevordering der Notariële Wetenschap, 2005), 50.<br />
9 An important exception is Den Heijer in Ibid., 121-128.<br />
96
to meeting minutes, but also to the record left by contemporary chroniclers. Johannes de Laet’s<br />
history of the WIC was studiously silent on the company's internal management, almost certainly<br />
to avoid discussion of the acrimonious disputes th<strong>at</strong> dogged the company’s board. 10 There is thus<br />
no equivalent to the analysis of the Heren XVII found in Pieter van Dam’s exhaustive account of<br />
the “constitution, government, and trade” of the VOC, composed between 1693-1701. 11 While<br />
the Heren XVII have been lionized within Dutch historiography, the Heren XIX have been<br />
largely forgotten. To see the contrast one need only examine the chapter headings in J. G. van<br />
Dillen’s magnum opus on the Dutch economy, Van Rijkdom en Regenten (Of Regents and<br />
Riches). The section on the VOC is entitled, “Het Bedrijf van de Heren XVII” (The work of the<br />
Gentlemen XVII); th<strong>at</strong> on the WIC more prosaically, “Afrika en Amerika.” 12 For the VOC we are<br />
presented with an agent, for the WIC, only a geographic region. We still know precious little<br />
about the way the Heren XIX functioned, the individuals th<strong>at</strong> staffed its meetings, and the polices<br />
it developed to address the combined challenges of war, commerce, and colonial administr<strong>at</strong>ion.<br />
Answering these questions requires suspending contemporary assumptions about the role and<br />
composition of a modern corpor<strong>at</strong>e board and carefully reconstructing the way the Heren XIX<br />
functioned in practice.<br />
The chapter is divided into three sections, each of which draws on a slightly different set<br />
of sources. The first examines drafts for the WIC's charter composed between 1606 and 1620. 13<br />
<br />
10 Johannes de Laet, Iaerlyck Verhael van de Verrichtingen der Geoctroyeerde West-Indische Compagnie, ed.<br />
L’Honoré Naber, 4 vols., Linschoten Vereeniging (’s-Gravenhage: Martinus Nijhoff, 1931).<br />
11 Pieter van Dam, Beschryvinge van de Oostindische Compagnie, ed. F. W. Stapel (’s-Gravenhage: Martinus<br />
Nijhoff, 1927). Born in Amersfoort in 1621, Van Dam became the company's legal advisor in 1649 and then, in<br />
1652, its lawyer, a position he retained until his de<strong>at</strong>h in 1706. His Description of the East India Company was so<br />
important th<strong>at</strong> it was kept under lock and key in a chest in the Amsterdam chamber of the VOC. See Vree, Meetings,<br />
Manners, and Civiliz<strong>at</strong>ion, 175.<br />
12 J. G. van Dillen, Van Rijkdom en Regenten: Handboek tot de Economische en Sociale Geschiedenis van<br />
Nederland tijdens de Republiek (’s-Gravenhage: Martinus Nijhoff, 1970).<br />
13 These drafts were assembled from the Secrete Loketkas, Oude Westindische Compagnie in the archive of the<br />
St<strong>at</strong>es General (NA 1.01.07 inv.nr. 1<strong>25</strong>64.1) and the papers of Johan van Oldenbarnevelt in the archive of the St<strong>at</strong>es<br />
97
By analyzing the successive changes made over this period—and especially between 1618-<br />
1621—it shows how and why the Heren XIX assumed its unique institutional structure, and the<br />
ways th<strong>at</strong> Usselincx's idea for a Raedt van Indien informed important modific<strong>at</strong>ions to the<br />
charter. The second section examines minutes of the meetings of the Heren XIX between 1622-<br />
1624 and asks the deceptively simple question, “How many is XIX?” By reconstructing the<br />
negoti<strong>at</strong>ions over who was permitted to <strong>at</strong>tend the council’s meetings, the section demonstr<strong>at</strong>es<br />
the multiple and overlapping lines of accountability built into the Heren XIX’s structure. The<br />
third section looks <strong>at</strong> the ambiguous position of represent<strong>at</strong>ives of the St<strong>at</strong>es General within the<br />
company's board and shows the specific oper<strong>at</strong>ional and symbolic roles they played. The chapter<br />
thus recounts the origins of an early modern company board and deepens our understanding of<br />
politics within the Heren XIX in the 1640s.<br />
2. Competing Drafts for the WIC Charter<br />
Discussions to cre<strong>at</strong>e a WIC began during the first decade of the seventeenth century. The initial<br />
impetus was overwhelmingly military: in addition to protecting Dutch trading interests, the<br />
company was intended to serve as an instrument to weaken Spain by opening a third front in the<br />
Atlantic and, as much as possible, driving the war from Dutch soil. 14 This aim had become<br />
especially important after the United Provinces’ closest allies, France and England, signed<br />
tre<strong>at</strong>ies with Spain in 1598 and 1603, respectively. Formal discussions began in February 1606,<br />
when the St<strong>at</strong>es of Holland established a commission to look into the practical steps th<strong>at</strong> would<br />
<br />
of Holland (NA 3.01.14 inv.nr. 3164). The 1606 draft is appendix III in Meijer, Liefhebbers des Vaderlands ende<br />
Beminders van de Commercie. I have d<strong>at</strong>ed the crucial drafts from January and March 1620 by comparison with<br />
copies in the archive of the St<strong>at</strong>es of Zeeland (Zeeuwsarchief 2.1 inv.nr. 2086.1).<br />
14 Ibid.; Den Heijer, De Geschiedenis van de WIC.<br />
98
e required to cre<strong>at</strong>e a monopoly company for the West Indies. This commission was led by<br />
Francois Francken, Pensionaris of Gouda. Another member was Jan Huygen van Linschoten<br />
(1563-1611), whose voyage to the East Indies in 1586-1587 laid the groundwork for Dutch<br />
overseas expansion in Asia. 15 By the beginning of September 1606, the committee had produced<br />
a lengthy report; by October this report had been transformed into a detailed concept-octroy<br />
(draft charter) th<strong>at</strong> was sent by the St<strong>at</strong>es General to the various provinces for their<br />
consider<strong>at</strong>ion. 16<br />
This document was modeled on the charter of the VOC, approved four years earlier, in<br />
1602. Like the VOC, the WIC was to be granted a monopoly on trade in its respective territory<br />
and rights to exercise force, plant settlements, and appoint colonial governors in the name of the<br />
St<strong>at</strong>es General. At home, the company would be composed of four chambers—Amsterdam,<br />
Zeeland, North Holland, and the Maas—each managed by a fixed number of directors chosen<br />
from among the chief investors. Each chamber would be responsible for raising its own capital<br />
and would be oper<strong>at</strong>ionally independent. As often as needs required, however, represent<strong>at</strong>ives<br />
from the four chambers would convene in a general council to “handle and determine all of the<br />
company’s business.” 17 This business was described as consisting primarily in “resolving when<br />
ships shall be equipped, how many ships shall be sent by each chamber, and all the other daily<br />
affairs of the company in general.” 18 For the first six years the company’s general meeting would<br />
<br />
15 Meijer, Liefhebbers des Vaderlands ende Beminders van de Commercie; Van Rees, Geschiedenis der<br />
Sta<strong>at</strong>huishoudkunde in Nederland tot het Einde der Achttiende Eeuw, 2:77; The narr<strong>at</strong>ive of Linschoten’s journey is<br />
Jan Huygen van Linschoten, The Voyage of John Huyghen van Linschoten to the East Indies: The First Book,<br />
Containing His Description of the East. (Elibron Classics, 2005); See also Roelof van Gelder, Jan Parmentier, and<br />
Vibeke Roeper, Souffrir pour Parvenir: de Wereld van Jan Huygen van Linschoten (Haarlem: Uitgeverij Arcadia,<br />
1998).<br />
16 Meijer, Liefhebbers des Vaderlands ende Beminders van de Commercie, 32-34.<br />
17 Article 23, “alle saecken deze compaignie aangaende verhandelt ende beslooten sullen worden.”<br />
18 Article 24, “‘t Voorseyd Collegie van Seventhien bescreven sijnd, sal tesamen commen om te resolveren wanneer<br />
men sal equipperen, hoeveele schepen men op elck quartier sal seynden ende op alle andere diergelijcke saecken de<br />
compaignie in 't gemeen betreffende.”<br />
99
convene in Amsterdam; the following two it would convene in Middelburg. Any issues on which<br />
the general meeting could not reach a decision would be referred to the St<strong>at</strong>es General. 19 Nearly<br />
identical language can be found in the charter of the VOC.<br />
At the same time, however, there were important differences between the two charters.<br />
First, as a corrective to perceived problems in the VOC, provisions were included in the draft<br />
WIC charter to give the chief investors more power in company management and more access to<br />
the company’s financial accounts. 20 Second, to offset the perceived risk of confronting Spain in<br />
the New World, the draft WIC charter included considerable public support: the St<strong>at</strong>es General<br />
would provide direct military assistance in the form of sixteen warships, a one-time subsidy of<br />
one million guilders to be paid over five years, and an annual subsidy thereafter of an additional<br />
200,000 guilders. As Albert Meijer has pointed out, this arrangement represented the culmin<strong>at</strong>ion<br />
of negoti<strong>at</strong>ions in which the St<strong>at</strong>es General’s contribution to the company rose steadily—a fact<br />
th<strong>at</strong> provides strong evidence both for the importance th<strong>at</strong> th<strong>at</strong> body <strong>at</strong>tached to the new<br />
company and the initial opposition it faced persuading merchants and other potential investors to<br />
particip<strong>at</strong>e. 21<br />
Almost as soon as the these terms had been agreed upon, however, the entire enterprise<br />
was shelved in accordance with the terms of a peace agreement with Spain, negoti<strong>at</strong>ions for<br />
which began the following year, in 1607. This meant th<strong>at</strong> a number of important issues in the<br />
1606 draft were never resolved. One of these concerned the thorny question of whether the chief<br />
investors or city magistr<strong>at</strong>es would select the company's directors. Even more significant for our<br />
purposes, however, was the question of who would serve as the seventeenth deleg<strong>at</strong>e <strong>at</strong> the<br />
<br />
19 Articles 23, 24, <strong>25</strong>, 27 in Ibid., 56-57.<br />
20 Meijer, Liefhebbers des Vaderlands ende Beminders van de Commercie, 33.<br />
21 Meijer indic<strong>at</strong>es th<strong>at</strong> the St<strong>at</strong>es General's contribution rose from an initially vague promise of "support," to the<br />
sum of 600,000 guilders and then, finally, to 16 warships plus 1,000,000 guilders. Ibid., 54.<br />
100
company's general meeting. Article 23 of the draft charter indic<strong>at</strong>ed th<strong>at</strong> Amsterdam would<br />
contribute eight persons, Zeeland four, and the Maas and North Holland each two. In the case of<br />
the VOC, the seventeenth deleg<strong>at</strong>e was always selected by one of the non-Amsterdam chambers<br />
in a system of rot<strong>at</strong>ion designed to ensure th<strong>at</strong> Amsterdam could never control an absolute<br />
majority. But in the 1606 draft, this formula was not adopted. After the words “understanding<br />
th<strong>at</strong> the seventeenth person…” the anonymous scribe left only a blank line. 22 From this we can<br />
infer th<strong>at</strong> the commission recognized the need to check Amsterdam’s power, but could reach no<br />
agreement on who should cast the deciding vote.<br />
This question was resolved several years l<strong>at</strong>er, in 1614, when negoti<strong>at</strong>ions resumed <strong>at</strong> the<br />
behest of merchants in Holland. 23 The decisive language can be traced directly to Johan van<br />
Oldenbarnevelt, the Landsadvoca<strong>at</strong> (Executive Administr<strong>at</strong>or in the St<strong>at</strong>es of Holland) and the<br />
most important political figure in the United Provinces. Although Van Oldenbarnevelt opposed<br />
any steps th<strong>at</strong> would offend Spain and re-ignite the war, he faced considerable pressure to protect<br />
Dutch merchants from Iberian aggression, especially in Guinea. Perhaps knowing th<strong>at</strong> these<br />
terms would prove unacceptable, or perhaps to ensure his own influence if the negoti<strong>at</strong>ions<br />
succeeded, he amended the draft to provide a more prominent role for the St<strong>at</strong>es General. On a<br />
copy of the 1606 draft to be found amongst his papers <strong>at</strong> the N<strong>at</strong>ional Archive in The Hague,<br />
Van Oldenbarnevelt filled in the blank line in Article 23 with the words “shall be appointed by<br />
us,” referring to the St<strong>at</strong>es General. 24<br />
<br />
22 Ibid., 56. “Welverstaende d<strong>at</strong> de seventhien personen…”<br />
23 Heijer, “The Twelve Years’ Truce and the Founding of the Dutch West India Company”; Rees, Geschiedenis der<br />
Sta<strong>at</strong>huishoudkunde in Nederland tot het Einde der Achttiende Eeuw, 2:99.<br />
24 “By ons werden gedeputeerd.” St<strong>at</strong>es of Holland, Collection of Johan van Oldenbarnevelt, NA 3.01.04 inv.nr.<br />
3164, Article XVII. In this document van Oldenbarnevelt also resolved the question of who would select directors<br />
from amongst the candid<strong>at</strong>es presented by the hooftparticipanten, writing “by the magistr<strong>at</strong>es” in the margin of<br />
Article 13. In her study of Willem Usselincx, C. Lichtenburg argues th<strong>at</strong> van Oldenbarnavelt was keen for the 1614<br />
draft to be rejected. His work in connection with the WIC during this period warrants closer <strong>at</strong>tention. See<br />
Ligtenberg, Willem Usselincx.<br />
101
This formul<strong>at</strong>ion, which must previously have been discussed and rejected, broke<br />
decisively with the structure of the VOC. Th<strong>at</strong> company was accountable to the St<strong>at</strong>es General<br />
and met with its represent<strong>at</strong>ives <strong>at</strong> least once a year <strong>at</strong> the so-called Haags Besoigne<br />
(Consult<strong>at</strong>ions in The Hague), but its management was in the exclusive hands of merchants<br />
based in the maritime cities of Holland and Zeeland. <strong>25</strong> By placing one of its represent<strong>at</strong>ives on<br />
the WIC's board of directors, the St<strong>at</strong>es General relinquished this more passive, consult<strong>at</strong>ive role<br />
and sought instead to assume an active role in shaping company policy. Once again, the<br />
negoti<strong>at</strong>ions faltered, but an important shift nevertheless had been registered in the rel<strong>at</strong>ionship<br />
between company and st<strong>at</strong>e.<br />
For Willem Usselincx, who began drafting an altern<strong>at</strong>ive charter shortly thereafter, this<br />
formul<strong>at</strong>ion was totally unacceptable: including a deleg<strong>at</strong>e appointed by the St<strong>at</strong>es General on<br />
the WIC’s board, he believed, would only confuse the roles of merchant and st<strong>at</strong>esman, without<br />
adequ<strong>at</strong>ely providing the company with the political support it would need. Usselincx’s draft<br />
proposed instead th<strong>at</strong> the WIC be governed by a Raedt van Indien, an institution transparently<br />
modeled on contemporary Iberian practice. Founded in 1524, Spain's el Real y Supremo Consejo<br />
de Indias (Supreme Council for the Indies) was the central organ by which the King<br />
administered his American possessions. A sprawling bureaucracy, it was responsible for all<br />
m<strong>at</strong>ters rel<strong>at</strong>ing to war, trade, and the administr<strong>at</strong>ion of justice. And <strong>at</strong> its summit s<strong>at</strong> a group of<br />
eight well-connected noblemen and lawyers who reported directly to the King. 26<br />
Usselincx was under no illusions th<strong>at</strong> such an institution could be precisely replic<strong>at</strong>ed in<br />
the United Provinces, which was after all a Republic r<strong>at</strong>her than a monarchy. Instead, he<br />
proposed a bi-cameral structure. Article 39 of his draft proposed a smaller, nine-person version<br />
<br />
<strong>25</strong> F. S. Gaastra, The Dutch East India Company: Expansion and Decline (Zutphen: Walburg Pers, 2003).<br />
26 Stafford Poole, Juan de Ovando: Governing the Spanish Empire in the Reign of Phillip II (Norman: <strong>University</strong> of<br />
Oklahoma Press, 2004).<br />
102
of the Heren XVII to manage the company's shipping and trade. 27 This body would be elected<br />
from among the chief shareholders in each of the chambers. But weightier decisions rel<strong>at</strong>ing to<br />
war, coloniz<strong>at</strong>ion, and justice Usselincx reserved for the Raedt van Indien. He described the<br />
council's purpose in Article 36:<br />
And so th<strong>at</strong> the Company may be provided with the necessary and appropri<strong>at</strong>e authority, and the<br />
directors saved from considerable trouble and expense from soliciting our assistance and support,<br />
and so th<strong>at</strong> they may be able to <strong>at</strong>tend to their trade and the outfitting of ships, as little as possible<br />
bothered with problems of st<strong>at</strong>e, so should there be elected [after the directors and represent<strong>at</strong>ives<br />
of the chief participants] a certain number of qualified persons, from among the noblemen as well<br />
as others, to form a Council of the Indies, whom we will recognize with appropri<strong>at</strong>e authority and<br />
instructions, in our name to provide assistance and support to the company, raise armies, appoint<br />
governors, make laws, administer justice, and consult with the directors concerning the means<br />
necessary for the preserv<strong>at</strong>ion of the company. 28<br />
This Raedt van Indien would consist of approxim<strong>at</strong>ely eight to ten members. Anyone investing<br />
more than 800,000 guilders in the company would autom<strong>at</strong>ically receive one se<strong>at</strong>; the remaining<br />
se<strong>at</strong>s would be filled by election from amongst the chief investors. The Prince of Orange would<br />
serve as the council's chair and the meetings would take place in The Hague, r<strong>at</strong>her than in<br />
<br />
27 NA 1.01.07 inv.nr. 1<strong>25</strong>64.1, fol. 123. A transcription of Usselincx's draft is also available as Appendix II in the<br />
second volume of Rees, Geschiedenis der Sta<strong>at</strong>huishoudkunde in Nederland tot het Einde der Achttiende Eeuw,<br />
2:384-408.<br />
28 NA 1.01.07 inv.nr. 1<strong>25</strong>64.1, fol. 121. “Ende op d<strong>at</strong> deze Comp. soude mogen worden versien van noodige,<br />
behoorlycke, ende wettige autoriteyt ende ansien, ende de Bewindhebbers ontlast van veel moeyten, ende oncosten,<br />
die by haer souden moghen gedaen worden int soliciteren om noodige hulpe ende bystandt, ende andere saecken, die<br />
sy met ons souden mogen te behandelen ende voor te dragen habben, ende op d<strong>at</strong> sy haer te beter souden mogen<br />
besigh houden met de saecken, haeren Coophandel ende vuytrustinge betreffende, ende oock om haer met de<br />
saecken van Staet, die hier aen nootwendelyck zyn hangende, soo weynich te bemoyen als het doenlyck is, Soo<br />
sullen wy nae t’ verkiesen vande Bewindhebbers ende deelgenoten, verkiesen seecker getal van gequalificeerde<br />
persoonen, soo van adel als andere, tot eenen Raedt van Indien, die wy sullen verkiesen met behoorlycke<br />
Authoriteyt ende Instructie, om vuyt onsen twegen achtinge te nemen op het verleenen van hulpe ende bystandt,<br />
aenneminge van krygsvolck, stellen van Gouverneurs, t’ maecken van wetten, keuren ende ordonnantien tot<br />
onderhoudinge van t’ recht ende alle borgerlycke eendracht, met de Bewinderhebbers te beraedtslagen over de<br />
middelen tot haerder bescherminge noodich, ende waer men die met de minste beswaringe, soo van t’ landt als<br />
vande compaignie sal becomen ende te wege brengen, als oock om alle verschillen, die onder de deelgenoten van<br />
dese Comp. souden mogen risen, vuyt eenige oorsaecken deselve Compagnie betreffende, de plano sonder eenige<br />
forme van proces te mogen afdoen.”<br />
103
Amsterdam or Middelburg. 29 In this way Usselincx imagined a partially aristocr<strong>at</strong>ic, partially<br />
elected structure, with pride of place reserved for Maurits of Nassau and the possibility open for<br />
foreign princes—the group best able to invest the requisite sum—to purchase an important office<br />
and thereby contribute to the Protestant cause and the war against Spain. 30<br />
Usselincx spelled out the logic for his proposal in a number of subsequent letters to the<br />
St<strong>at</strong>es General, composed after it had become clear th<strong>at</strong> his idea faced considerable opposition. 31<br />
In his view, the responsibility for trade and th<strong>at</strong> for war and colonial administr<strong>at</strong>ion should never<br />
be vested in the same institution; nor should social groups be asked to perform functions for<br />
which they were not qualified. His draft proposed th<strong>at</strong> the company’s directors be selected by the<br />
chief investors, r<strong>at</strong>her than city or provincial magistr<strong>at</strong>es, as Van Oldenbarnavelt had advoc<strong>at</strong>ed,<br />
since no one could know a merchant's business better than other merchants. 32 To permit<br />
magistr<strong>at</strong>es to interfere in trade on a daily business would undermine the company’s profitability<br />
and discourage investors. Likewise, merchants should be relieved from responsibility for tasks<br />
th<strong>at</strong> fell outside their sphere of competence. It was both inappropri<strong>at</strong>e and dangerous to involve<br />
merchants—whom he characterized as “tak[ing] profit as their North Star and desire as their<br />
<br />
29 The Prince of Orange's role in the Raedt van Indien is only implicit in Usselincx draft charter, but is st<strong>at</strong>ed clearly<br />
in his subsequent clarific<strong>at</strong>ions between 1619-1622. See, for example, NA 1.01.05 inv.nr. 9409, Corte aenwysinge<br />
van de voor meeste verschillen tusschen t' Concept van Octroy op Westindien d<strong>at</strong> by de ho: mo: heeren, Myn heeren<br />
de St<strong>at</strong>en Generael inde Maent van februario anno 1619 aende respective provincien is gesonden, ende tgene<br />
daerna by de Gecommitteerde wt de groote zee steden van hollandt ende Westvrieslandt is beraemt..., April 13,<br />
1620.<br />
30 The resolutions of the St<strong>at</strong>es General reveal a number of inquiries th<strong>at</strong> were transmitted via Dutch diplom<strong>at</strong>s<br />
serving in Geneva, Heidelberg, and Paris. See for example Brederode's letters in the Resolutien der St<strong>at</strong>en Generael,<br />
April 30, 1620 and September 28, 1621. The most important foreign investor in the Amsterdam chamber of the<br />
company was the Prince of Anhalt, who subscribed 36,000 guilders via his agent, Adolf van Borstel (NA 1.05.01.01<br />
inv.nr. 18). See also the British N<strong>at</strong>ional Archives in Kew, SP 84/104, fol. 217. Cort Verhael van de Redenen ende<br />
oorsaecken waerom d<strong>at</strong> over den Handel van de Westindien benevens de Cameren can de Bewindhebberen eenen<br />
Raedt van Indien behoort te wesen, Waerom d<strong>at</strong> aen naburighe vorsten ende Republicquen die hier met groote<br />
sommen incomen, moet toe gel<strong>at</strong>en worden eenen Raetheer te moghen stellen.<br />
31 NA 1.01.05 inv.nr. 9409.<br />
32 Ibid. Corte aenwysinge van de voor meeste verschillen tusschen t' Concept van Octroy op Westindien d<strong>at</strong> by de<br />
ho: mo: heeren, Myn heeren de St<strong>at</strong>en Generael inde Maent van februario anno 1619 aende respectiv provincien is<br />
gesonden, ende tgene daerna by de Gecommitteerde wt de groote zee steden van hollandt ende Westvrieslandt is<br />
beraemt, April 13, 1620.<br />
104
compass”—in the organiz<strong>at</strong>ion of war, the formul<strong>at</strong>ion of laws, and the administr<strong>at</strong>ion of<br />
justice. 33 These pursuits required individuals with a very different outlook and social standing;<br />
qualities without which they could neither hope to exercise appropri<strong>at</strong>e judgment nor instill<br />
confidence in their subordin<strong>at</strong>es. Th<strong>at</strong> merchants could be responsible for making war was to<br />
Usselincx manifestly absurd: “I have heard regular soldiers say,” he wrote, “th<strong>at</strong> they would<br />
r<strong>at</strong>her be hanged than travel to the Indies in the service of merchants.” 34 Likewise, only a smaller<br />
group could be trusted to handle the secrets of military plans, especially since “America is only a<br />
short distance in comparison to the East Indies.” 35<br />
Usselincx thus drew a clear distinction between trade, on the one hand, and war and<br />
colonial administr<strong>at</strong>ion, on the other. He repe<strong>at</strong>edly referenced Spanish practices and emphasized<br />
wh<strong>at</strong> he saw to be important differences between orders in society and their proper roles in the<br />
new company, differences th<strong>at</strong> were emphasized in other contemporary pamphlets as well. 36<br />
Compared to the 1606 draft, Van Oldenbarnevelt’s amended version increased the power of the<br />
St<strong>at</strong>es General in important ways, but it left merchants to manage the bulk of the company’s<br />
affairs. By contrast, Usselincx’s draft represented a wholesale revision th<strong>at</strong> would have<br />
centralized authority over colonial affairs in the St<strong>at</strong>es General and the Raedt van Indien, and<br />
dram<strong>at</strong>ically enhanced the position of Prince of Orange. These two competing visions would<br />
need to be reconciled—or one rejected—before the charter could be approved.<br />
In 1617 the St<strong>at</strong>es General had formed a committee to once again begin the work of<br />
cre<strong>at</strong>ing a West India Company. This committee consisted of, among others, Jonas Witsen<br />
<br />
33 Ibid. “Cooplieden […] die de winste tot Noortsterre ende de begeerlicht voor compas hebben.”<br />
34 Ibid. “Ende het is soo verre van daer d<strong>at</strong> lieden van grooten aensien onder t' gebiet van de Cooplieden souden<br />
willen wesen, d<strong>at</strong> Ick selve gemeyne Sold<strong>at</strong>en hebbe hooren seggen, d<strong>at</strong> sy haer liever wilden l<strong>at</strong>en hangen als onder<br />
t' gebiet vande Cooplieden na Indien te gaen.”<br />
35 British N<strong>at</strong>ional Archives, Kew. SP 84/104, fol. 218v.<br />
36 Rees, Geschiedenis der Sta<strong>at</strong>huishoudkunde in Nederland tot het Einde der Achttiende Eeuw, 2:118.<br />
105
(1566-1626), l<strong>at</strong>er burgemeester of Amsterdam, Albert Magnus, Zeeland’s influential deputy to<br />
the St<strong>at</strong>es General, and Johan van Goch, a nobleman from Gelderland and intim<strong>at</strong>e member of<br />
The Hague’s elite. 37 Usselincx’s ideas found a warm reception among this group, as well as with<br />
the Prince of Orange and his court. However, all progress was blocked by the St<strong>at</strong>es of Holland,<br />
which remained firmly committed to Van Oldenbarnevelt’s policy of peace with Spain. The<br />
stalem<strong>at</strong>e was not broken until August 1618, when a growing tide of religious and political<br />
upheaval led to Van Oldenbarnevelt's arrest and execution, and set the stage for Amsterdam's<br />
city council to be reconstituted in favor of the Calvinist, pro-war faction led by Reynier Pauw. 38<br />
At Pauw’s instig<strong>at</strong>ion, the St<strong>at</strong>es of Holland cre<strong>at</strong>ed their own committee, consisting of<br />
represent<strong>at</strong>ives from the major trading cities in th<strong>at</strong> province—Dordrecht, Delft, Amsterdam,<br />
Rotterdam, Hoorn, and Enkhuizen. 39 This committee was tasked with reviewing Usselincx’s<br />
draft together with the draft from 1606 and distilling the two into a single document. By mid-<br />
December 1619 the committee had completed this task and their new draft was approved for<br />
submission to the St<strong>at</strong>es General.<br />
Usselincx quickly discovered th<strong>at</strong> the new document represented an amplific<strong>at</strong>ion of the<br />
1606 draft and ignored his recommend<strong>at</strong>ions almost entirely. When he submitted a letter of<br />
protest, the St<strong>at</strong>es of Holland informed their members th<strong>at</strong> Usselincx's draft was not “fit” to be<br />
discussed further; individual members were free to consult it, but this should not hold up<br />
approval of the new draft. 40 On January 3, 1620, the deleg<strong>at</strong>es of the St<strong>at</strong>es of Holland presented<br />
their document to the St<strong>at</strong>es General. This draft would serve as the basis of discussion for the<br />
<br />
37<br />
Ibid., June 24, 1617. On Johan van Goch, see Knevel, Het Haagse bureau, 57.<br />
38<br />
Johan E. Elias, Geschiedenis van het Amsterdamsche Regentenp<strong>at</strong>ricia<strong>at</strong> (’s-Gravenhage: Martinus Nijhoff,<br />
1923), 78.<br />
39<br />
Resolutions of the St<strong>at</strong>es of Holland, February 27, 1619.<br />
40<br />
Ibid., December 17, 1619. “Het Vertoog en Concept van Willem Usseling, aangaande de Westindische<br />
Compagnie, is niet geraaden gevonden in de Vergaderinge te examineeren; maar de Leeden die sulks begeeren<br />
sullen, in handen te stellen om te examineren, ten eynde geen retardement te geeven in de besoigne op het<br />
overgesonden Octroy.”<br />
106
emaining ten months before the language of the charter was finalized. 41 For the time being, it<br />
appeared th<strong>at</strong> Usselincx’s ideas had been decisively shelved. However, the deb<strong>at</strong>e was not<br />
over—an important fact overlooked by Otto van Rees, whose transcriptions of the charter drafts<br />
remain the main source consulted by historians. In the appendices to his monumental<br />
Geschiedenis der Sta<strong>at</strong>huishoudkunde, published between 1865-1868, Van Rees chose not to<br />
transcribe the two penultim<strong>at</strong>e drafts alongside Usselincx’s draft because they were “too similar<br />
to the final charter” to warrant public<strong>at</strong>ion. 42 Th<strong>at</strong> Holland's draft approxim<strong>at</strong>ed the final charter<br />
is indisputable; but the changes th<strong>at</strong> were made during the final ten months were in fact critical<br />
to the form taken by the WIC’s board of directors.<br />
Foremost among these changes was the inclusion of language to spell out more clearly<br />
the role to be played by the represent<strong>at</strong>ive of the St<strong>at</strong>es General. The 1606 and 1614 drafts<br />
provided no insight into this question; the draft submitted by the St<strong>at</strong>es of Holland's did: Article<br />
17 st<strong>at</strong>ed unequivocally th<strong>at</strong> the seventeenth person would be chosen by the St<strong>at</strong>es General “in<br />
order to preside in the fore mentioned meeting.” 43 This was extremely significant, for it<br />
augmented the St<strong>at</strong>es General's role of casting the deciding vote by giving them de jure<br />
chairmanship, with all the powers this implied to convene meetings, draw up the agenda, and<br />
control the terms and order of deb<strong>at</strong>e. In addition, the following article, which spelled out the<br />
responsibilities of the board, was amplified to include a clause providing the St<strong>at</strong>es General with<br />
effective veto power over any decisions rel<strong>at</strong>ing to war. 44 A marginal note on Usselincx’s draft,<br />
<br />
41 The St<strong>at</strong>es General approved the WIC's charter by unanimous vote on October 13, 1620. Holland's January 1620<br />
draft is NA 1.01.07 inv.nr. 1<strong>25</strong>64.1, fols. 89-102.<br />
42 Rees, Geschiedenis der Sta<strong>at</strong>huishoudkunde in Nederland tot het Einde der Achttiende Eeuw, 2:384.<br />
43 NA 1.01.07 inv.nr. 1<strong>25</strong>64.1, fol. 94. “[…] om in de voors. Vergaderinge te presideren.”<br />
44 Ibid., fol. 94. “[...] Welverstaende d<strong>at</strong> in saecken van oorloge op de genomen resolutie versocht sal worden onse<br />
approb<strong>at</strong>ie.” The emphasis is mine.<br />
107
placed next to his description of the Raedt van Indien, makes clear how this clause came to be<br />
added:<br />
In place of this Council [the Raedt van Indien], which will be removed, in Article 18 it shall be<br />
st<strong>at</strong>ed th<strong>at</strong> in m<strong>at</strong>ters of war the approb<strong>at</strong>ion of their High and Mightiness [the St<strong>at</strong>es General]<br />
shall be sought. 45<br />
This is conclusive evidence th<strong>at</strong> Usselincx’s idea continued to find supporters. But the January 3,<br />
1620 draft went through another round of revisions. When a new draft was circul<strong>at</strong>ed to the<br />
provinces three months l<strong>at</strong>er, in l<strong>at</strong>e March, the powers alloc<strong>at</strong>ed to the St<strong>at</strong>es General had been<br />
reduced. 46 In place of “to preside in the fore mentioned meeting,” we find the more modest<br />
responsibility, “to best help direct the affairs of the company.” 47 At the same time, new language<br />
was added th<strong>at</strong> gave the St<strong>at</strong>es General the power to deleg<strong>at</strong>e more than one individual to <strong>at</strong>tend<br />
the meetings of the company's board. The new draft thus read, “understanding th<strong>at</strong> the nineteenth<br />
person, or so many as we shall find suitable, shall be chosen by us, in order in the fore mentioned<br />
meeting to best help direct the affairs of the company.” 48<br />
The March 1620 draft contained two other important changes, as well. After a sustained<br />
campaign, the provinces of Groningen and Friesland were granted a chamber of their own, a<br />
modific<strong>at</strong>ion th<strong>at</strong> brought the final number of deleg<strong>at</strong>es in the WIC's board of directors to<br />
nineteen. 49 Finally, Article 39, which spelled out the St<strong>at</strong>es General’s financial contribution to<br />
the company, was revised. In the January 1620 draft, the total amount of one million guilders<br />
<br />
45 NA 1.01.07, inv.nr. 1<strong>25</strong>64.1. “In Staete van desen Raet & d<strong>at</strong>ter expendeert wort int' 18 artyckel gesyt d<strong>at</strong> in<br />
saeken van oorlogs op de genoomen resolutie vorsocht sal worden haer ho: mo: approb<strong>at</strong>ye.”<br />
46 The revised draft was approved by the St<strong>at</strong>es General on March 31, 1620. It is NA 1.01.07 inv.nr. 1<strong>25</strong>64.1, fols.<br />
27-48. A copy in the collections of the St<strong>at</strong>en van Zeeland is marked as having been received on April 5, 1620.<br />
Zeeuwsarchief 2.1 inv.nr. 2086.<br />
47 NA 1.01.07 inv.nr. 1<strong>25</strong>64.1, fol. 36b.<br />
48 NA 1.01.07 inv.nr. 1<strong>25</strong>64.1, fol. 36b. “welverstaende d<strong>at</strong> den negenthienden persoon, offe soo veel meer als wy<br />
telckens sullen goetvinden, by ons sal worden gedeputeert, omme in de voors. vergaderinge de saecken van de<br />
Comp. ten besten te helpen dirigeren.”<br />
49 Ibid., fol. 36. See also the draft language in fols. 1-4.<br />
108
was described as a subsidy, to be paid in five annual installments of 200,000 guilders each. 50 In<br />
the March draft, however, the language was changed so th<strong>at</strong> half of this amount came in return<br />
for company stock, with the St<strong>at</strong>es General “enjoying and sustaining profit and risk in the same<br />
manner as all other participants in the company.” 51 Here, and for the first time, the St<strong>at</strong>es<br />
General appeared in the charter as an owner.<br />
The resolutions of the Amsterdam city council make clear th<strong>at</strong> Amsterdam's merchants<br />
opposed all three of these changes. Most upset were the merchants trading to Guinea, who had<br />
long argued th<strong>at</strong> the charter should be restricted to America alone, and were justifiably<br />
concerned th<strong>at</strong> their profitable trade would suffer as a result of inclusion within the monopoly<br />
company. 52 On April 10, 1620 the city agreed to the new draft with the important qualific<strong>at</strong>ions<br />
th<strong>at</strong> the new chamber given to Groningen and Friesland must not serve as a precedent for<br />
discussions about the VOC, and th<strong>at</strong>:<br />
Concerning the ten-hundred thousand [i.e., one million] guilders to be furnished as a subsidy to<br />
the West India Company, it is understood th<strong>at</strong>, while we consent to the foresaid sum, the<br />
Generality must not be a participant with part of the company, or in any case not further than with<br />
three-hundred thousand guilders, leaving seven-hundred thousand guilders as a subsidy; and th<strong>at</strong><br />
the Generality does not appear in the meetings of the foresaid company with more than one<br />
person, who may appear as president, though without any responsibility to direct the company's<br />
affairs. 53<br />
<br />
50 NA 1.01.07 inv.nr. 1<strong>25</strong>64.1, fol. 98b.<br />
51 NA 1.01.07 inv.nr. 1<strong>25</strong>64.1, fol. 40. “Welverstaende d<strong>at</strong> wy mette helft vande voorschreve thien hondert duysent<br />
guldens, sullen ghenieten ende dragen winste ende risico gelijck alle andere Participanten in dese Compagnie<br />
genieten ende dragen sullen.”<br />
52 See Van Rees, Geschiedenis der Sta<strong>at</strong>huishoudkunde in Nederland tot het Einde der Achttiende Eeuw, 2:80.<br />
53 Stadsarchief Amsterdam 50<strong>25</strong> inv.nr. 11, entry for April 10, 1620. “Voorts w<strong>at</strong> belangt de Tienhondert Duysent<br />
gul. by de Generaliteyt tot subsidie van de voors. Westindische Compagnie te furneren, Is verstaen, dewyle de<br />
voors. Somme tot subsidie geconsenteert is, d<strong>at</strong> de Generaliteyt nyet en behoort met eenich gedeelte van dien In de<br />
zelve Compagnie te participeren, Immers In allen gevalle nyet verder volgende voorgaende Instellinge als met<br />
Driehondert Duysent guldens, blyvende de Sevenhondert Duysent guldens suyvers tot subsidie, D<strong>at</strong> mede de<br />
Generaliteyt nyet meer als een persoon, In de vergaderinge van de voors. Compagnie en behoort te hebben, die wel<br />
neffens den president zoude sitten sonder nochtans eenige directie te hebben.”<br />
109
Th<strong>at</strong> these two provisions remained in the final charter, despite Amsterdam’s explicit protests, is<br />
remarkable. It strongly suggests th<strong>at</strong> others saw them as extremely important, and demonstr<strong>at</strong>es<br />
th<strong>at</strong> the St<strong>at</strong>es General and its allies were in a position to push back against Amsterdam’s<br />
interests <strong>at</strong> this crucial stage in the negoti<strong>at</strong>ions.<br />
Van Rees pointed out long ago th<strong>at</strong> from 1619 Usselincx encountered increasing hostility<br />
from deleg<strong>at</strong>es <strong>at</strong> the St<strong>at</strong>es of Holland, but th<strong>at</strong> he remained a welcome guest <strong>at</strong> the St<strong>at</strong>es<br />
General, which continued to entertain his periodic requests for financial support. 54 The crucial<br />
issue here was not—or <strong>at</strong> least not only—th<strong>at</strong> the St<strong>at</strong>es of Holland opposed Usselincx's<br />
proposals for peaceful coloniz<strong>at</strong>ion, but r<strong>at</strong>her th<strong>at</strong> they did not want the company's coveted new<br />
directorships to be subordin<strong>at</strong>ed to a quasi-aristocr<strong>at</strong>ic council of noblemen with strong ties to<br />
the Prince of Orange and the St<strong>at</strong>es General. 55 Once Usselincx’s draft had been decisively<br />
rejected by the St<strong>at</strong>es of Holland, and the 1606 draft resuscit<strong>at</strong>ed as the basis for discussion, the<br />
represent<strong>at</strong>ives of the St<strong>at</strong>es General and the court sought changes th<strong>at</strong> would grant them<br />
additional powers, especially over war and government. They were unsuccessful in their bid to<br />
preside over the meetings of the company’s board, but by giving themselves veto power over<br />
decisions about war and the right to send multiple deleg<strong>at</strong>es, they reserved the right to establish<br />
an informal Raedt van Indien within their own ranks; a body th<strong>at</strong> could meet regularly and<br />
become intim<strong>at</strong>ely familiar with the problems of colonial administr<strong>at</strong>ion, just as Usselincx had<br />
advised. The modific<strong>at</strong>ion th<strong>at</strong> gave the St<strong>at</strong>es General a substantial ownership share in the new<br />
<br />
54 Van Rees, Geschiedenis der Sta<strong>at</strong>huishoudkunde in Nederland tot het Einde der Achttiende Eeuw, 2:109.<br />
55 For the Amsterdam elite's interest in the directorships, see Elias, Geschiedenis van het Amsterdamsche<br />
Regentenp<strong>at</strong>ricia<strong>at</strong>, 78-79.<br />
110
company ensured th<strong>at</strong> this informal council’s interests, exercised on behalf of the St<strong>at</strong>es General,<br />
could not be ignored. 56<br />
The last changes to the draft were made in October 1620 and the charter was approved by<br />
unanimous vote in the St<strong>at</strong>es General on June 3, 1621. In the end, the WIC’s board of directors<br />
was to be composed of nineteen members, eighteen of them deleg<strong>at</strong>ed by the company’s five<br />
chambers. But the St<strong>at</strong>es General's powers were much enhanced and the door was left open for<br />
this body, along with the Prince of Orange, to deleg<strong>at</strong>e their own represent<strong>at</strong>ives to <strong>at</strong>tend the<br />
board’s meetings. As the subsequent minutes of the Heren XIX make clear, this is exactly wh<strong>at</strong><br />
they did. 57<br />
3. How many is XIX? The Politics of Represent<strong>at</strong>ion<br />
The WIC’s charter was of course only a piece of paper. The difficult tasks of raising capital,<br />
electing directors, and organizing the chambers remained to be done. The contrast with the VOC<br />
is striking: whereas th<strong>at</strong> company required only the coordin<strong>at</strong>ion of functioning partnerships,<br />
with established directors, the WIC was designed to reach out to new groups of investors. The<br />
inclusion of Groningen and provisions within the charter th<strong>at</strong> afforded directorships to any city in<br />
which investors subscribed <strong>at</strong> least 100,000 guilders meant th<strong>at</strong> the company would draw from a<br />
broader geographical area. This had important implic<strong>at</strong>ions, since the chambers were designed to<br />
serve as administr<strong>at</strong>ive hubs for regions th<strong>at</strong> overlapped with, but were not identical to, the eight<br />
<br />
56 Even after these changes, the Raedt van Indien remained on the table. In July 1620, Prince Maurits of Nassau<br />
appeared before the St<strong>at</strong>es General to ask whether such a council would be included in the charter; in mid-August,<br />
only weeks before the charter was finalized, it appeared again, as one of the last three issues still requiring<br />
resolution. The other two issues were a chamber for Groningen and clarific<strong>at</strong>ion of the rules concerning foreign<br />
investors. See the Resolutien der St<strong>at</strong>en Generaal, July 26, 1620 and Resolutions of the St<strong>at</strong>es of Holland, August<br />
14, 1620.<br />
57 See, for example, NA 1.05.01.01 inv.nr. 1 and NA 1.01.05 inv.nr. 9410-9411.<br />
111
provinces. The cre<strong>at</strong>ion of the WIC thus brought into being an entirely new layer of political<br />
organiz<strong>at</strong>ion, distinct from the provincial assemblies, and left to the primary maritime cities the<br />
responsibility to resolve amongst themselves their respective rights and oblig<strong>at</strong>ions within the<br />
new chambers. This problem was then compounded by the requirement th<strong>at</strong> the chambers be<br />
represented in fixed proportions <strong>at</strong> the meetings of the Heren XIX. Quite apart from the well-<br />
known dispute over whether the salt trade would be included in the WIC's monopoly, the m<strong>at</strong>ter<br />
of gre<strong>at</strong>est concern to those involved in establishing the company was political: how would the<br />
chambers be constituted and who would represent them in the Heren XIX?<br />
The problem can be conceived of as one of numbers: in theory the council was to consist<br />
of nineteen members, but in practice almost three years of negoti<strong>at</strong>ion was required to determine<br />
precisely who would <strong>at</strong>tend. This section of the chapter examines several episodes in the<br />
negoti<strong>at</strong>ions to resolve represent<strong>at</strong>ional issues in the chambers of North Holland, Zeeland, and<br />
the Maas. Each of these episodes reflected a specific political compromise th<strong>at</strong> contributed to the<br />
final dimensions and character of the Heren XIX. How many was nineteen? Addressing this<br />
question requires a careful look <strong>at</strong> the minutes of the first four meetings of the Heren XIX.<br />
The board’s first meeting took place in December 1622. 58 Before this the St<strong>at</strong>es General<br />
had on <strong>at</strong> least three occasions invited deleg<strong>at</strong>es to convene in The Hague to discuss practical<br />
concerns rel<strong>at</strong>ing to the company’s management and to hash out their differences. The invit<strong>at</strong>ion<br />
to one such meeting, held in August 1621, specifically requested the cities to deleg<strong>at</strong>e individuals<br />
knowledgeable about m<strong>at</strong>ters of trade so th<strong>at</strong> they could form a “standing college” on WIC<br />
<br />
58 NA 1.01.02 inv.nr. 4941. Report by Johan van der Meer to the St<strong>at</strong>es General, December 30, 1622. This meeting<br />
pred<strong>at</strong>es the first one found in NA 1.05.01.01, inv.nr. 1, which is often assumed to have been the first meeting of the<br />
Heren XIX.<br />
112
affairs. 59 By October of the next year, the St<strong>at</strong>es General expected to receive lists of the new<br />
directors from the chambers. These directors were then invited to assemble in The Hague, where<br />
in l<strong>at</strong>e November they were loaned the St<strong>at</strong>es General's archive of documents rel<strong>at</strong>ing to the<br />
company and the Amsterdam chamber was asked to call the first meeting of the Heren XIX. 60 In<br />
a sign of the company’s emerging independence, a request from the St<strong>at</strong>es General for this first<br />
session to be held in The Hague, r<strong>at</strong>her than Amsterdam, was rejected. 61 The proceedings began<br />
in Amsterdam on December 17, 1622.<br />
The foremost problem <strong>at</strong> this first meeting, as the St<strong>at</strong>e's General's senior represent<strong>at</strong>ive,<br />
Nicholas van der Meer, reported back to The Hague, concerned the deleg<strong>at</strong>ion from North<br />
Holland. For almost two years the cities of Hoorn, Enkhuizen, Alkmaar, Edam, Medemblik,<br />
Monnickendam, and Purmerend had failed to reach agreement on the alloc<strong>at</strong>ion of directorships<br />
and the division of responsibilities for the construction and provisioning of ships. The n<strong>at</strong>ure of<br />
the impasse is clear from a long session devoted to the problem held in the St<strong>at</strong>es of Holland in<br />
March of 1621, recorded in detail by Nicholas Stellingwerf. Medi<strong>at</strong>ors from Amsterdam, Delft,<br />
and Dordrecht proposed wh<strong>at</strong> they expected to be a workable solution: Hoorn and Enkhuizen<br />
would together receive 4/10 of the so-called timmeragie (ship building) while 6/10 would be<br />
divided among the smaller cities. Alkmaar and Purmerend agreed to this proposal, but Hoorn<br />
demanded 6/10 for itself and Enkhuizen, Edam, Medemblik, and Monikendam each demanded<br />
1/4. A similar situ<strong>at</strong>ion pertained to the alloc<strong>at</strong>ion of directorships, and repe<strong>at</strong>ed efforts by the<br />
St<strong>at</strong>es of Holland to find a resolution all ended in failure. 62<br />
<br />
59 Resolutions of the St<strong>at</strong>es General, August 6, 1621. “Deze [bekwaamste en best geaggectionnerde direceuren]<br />
zullen zo nodig bijeenkomen en een voorlopig college vormen, d<strong>at</strong> besluiten kan nemen in alle voorvallende zaken.”<br />
60 Ibid., November 29, 1621.<br />
61 Ibid., December 5, 1621.<br />
62 Stellingwerff and Schot, Particuliere Notulen van de Vergaderingen der St<strong>at</strong>en van Holland, 1620-1640, entry for<br />
March 18, 1621.<br />
113
The result was th<strong>at</strong> the deleg<strong>at</strong>es from Hoorn and Enkhuizen arrived <strong>at</strong> the first meeting<br />
of the Heren XIX carrying letters of credential signed by their respective cities, r<strong>at</strong>her than by the<br />
chamber of North Holland, since no such chamber yet existed. The deleg<strong>at</strong>es were asked to leave<br />
the room, whereupon the remaining members of the Heren XIX agreed in their absence th<strong>at</strong> this<br />
represented a viol<strong>at</strong>ion of the charter. The deleg<strong>at</strong>es from Hoorn and Enkhuizen were promptly<br />
asked to return home and consult the magistr<strong>at</strong>es of their respective cities. 63 Van der Meer made<br />
little effort to conceal his frustr<strong>at</strong>ion. When he visited the St<strong>at</strong>es of Holland the following week<br />
he implored th<strong>at</strong> body to resolve the problem: without proper chambers to be represented, the<br />
work of the company's board could not proceed. 64<br />
The complete absence of the deleg<strong>at</strong>ion from Zeeland presented an even gre<strong>at</strong>er<br />
problem. 65 As in North Holland, the discussion in Zeeland stretched back to well before the<br />
approval of the charter, and in particular to a he<strong>at</strong>ed disagreement between Middelburg and<br />
Vlissingen over the loc<strong>at</strong>ion of the chamber’s office, the division of timmeragie, and alloc<strong>at</strong>ion<br />
of directorships. Middelburg, by far the larger and richer of the two cities, wanted to resolve<br />
these questions once subscriptions had been made, in proportion to the capital subscribed.<br />
Vlissingen took the contrary position th<strong>at</strong> the WIC’s monopoly was too broad to begin with, and<br />
would overly restrict the freedom of the city’s merchants. If Vlissingen was to agree to support<br />
the charter, it would only do so based on preferential terms th<strong>at</strong> had to be spelled out in<br />
advance. 66 Despite overwhelming pressure from the other cities of Zeeland, as well as the Prince<br />
of Orange, Vlissingen didn’t budge from this position, and was still voicing its dissent the week<br />
<br />
63<br />
NA 1.01.02 inv.nr. 4941, entry for December 17, 1622.<br />
64<br />
Stellingwerff and Schot, Particuliere Notulen van de Vergaderingen der St<strong>at</strong>en van Holland, 1620-1640, entry for<br />
March 7, 1623.<br />
65<br />
NA 1.01.02 inv.nr. 4941, entries for December 17 and 20, 1622.<br />
66<br />
Resolutions of the St<strong>at</strong>en van Zeeland, September 13, 1619.<br />
114
efore the charter was printed. 67 It was a classic case of particularism, in which a single city<br />
delayed progress on an issue of broad importance for almost six months. Indeed, no resolution<br />
was found for another two years; in the meantime the St<strong>at</strong>es of Zeeland continued to deleg<strong>at</strong>e<br />
merchants from Middelburg, Vlissingen, and Veere to discuss the company's affairs <strong>at</strong> the ad hoc<br />
meetings convened by the St<strong>at</strong>es General, but the province went unrepresented <strong>at</strong> the first two<br />
meetings of the Heren XIX. 68<br />
The problem in Zeeland was not s<strong>at</strong>isfactorily resolved until after agreement had been<br />
reached and the charter amended to address a separ<strong>at</strong>e, but equally vexing m<strong>at</strong>ter: the<br />
rel<strong>at</strong>ionship between directors and chief investors. This agreement, negoti<strong>at</strong>ed in the Spring of<br />
1623 and finalized in June, gave the WIC’s chief investors gre<strong>at</strong>er access to the financial records<br />
of the company, limited borrowing by the directors, and reserved directorships within the<br />
chambers of Amsterdam, Zeeland, and the Maas for a new c<strong>at</strong>egory of investor-director, the<br />
hoofdparticipant bewindhebber (chief investor director). 69 These individuals were to be<br />
nomin<strong>at</strong>ed by the chief investors from amongst their own ranks and selected by the sitting<br />
directors from a sl<strong>at</strong>e of three. For our purposes, the most significant aspect of the agreement<br />
followed from this item: henceforth, two of these hoofdparticipant bewindhebbers—one from<br />
Amsterdam and the other from Zeeland—were to be included in their respective chambers'<br />
deleg<strong>at</strong>ions to the meetings of the Heren XIX. In addition, each could bring with him a non-<br />
voting assessor (assistant) to help monitor the company's finances. This important modific<strong>at</strong>ion<br />
<br />
67 Resolutions of the St<strong>at</strong>es General, June 7, 1621.<br />
68 Ibid., June 8, 1623.<br />
69 Accoordt tusschen de Bewinthebberen ende Hooft-Participanten van de West-Indische Compagnie, met<br />
approb<strong>at</strong>ie van de Ho: Mog: Heeren St<strong>at</strong>en Generael ghemaeckt. In d<strong>at</strong>e den 21 Junij 1623. The hoofdparticipanten<br />
of Amsterdam and Zeeland also held separ<strong>at</strong>e meetings, the minutes of which can be found in NA 1.05.01.01, inv.nr.<br />
17 (Amsterdam) and inv.nr. 34-48 (Zeeland).<br />
115
to the original charter gave the chief investors a direct say in company management and<br />
effectively expanded the ranks of the Heren XIX to twenty-one members.<br />
It also provided a new landscape on which the negoti<strong>at</strong>ions in Zeeland could advance.<br />
This can be seen in the compromise finally reached by the cities of Middelburg, Vlissingen, and<br />
Veere in August 1623 and a pair of formal agreements signed <strong>at</strong> the beginning of the following<br />
year. 70 These agreements, negoti<strong>at</strong>ed with assistance from the Amsterdam directors Samuel<br />
Blommaert (1583-1651), Jan van de Merct, and Albert Wifferinck, spelled out how the chamber<br />
would be organized and who would be represented <strong>at</strong> the meetings of the Heren XIX. 71 The first<br />
agreement—between Middelburg on the one side, and Vlissingen and Veere on the other—made<br />
Middelburg the chamber’s headquarters and divided the timmeragie and equipagie (provisioning<br />
of ships) into thirds. Middelburg received 2/3 and Vlissingen and Veere together, 1/3. The<br />
second agreement—between Vlissingen and Veere—broke this final third into thirds again, so<br />
th<strong>at</strong> Vlissingen received 2/3 and Veere, 1/3. The division of directorships proceeded along<br />
roughly similar lines: of the sixteen positions, Middelburg received ten and Vlissingen and Veere<br />
together, six.<br />
The formula for selecting deleg<strong>at</strong>es to <strong>at</strong>tend the meetings of the Heren XIX was<br />
considerably more complex:<br />
All the deputies to the meeting of the XIX shall be chosen as follows, namely th<strong>at</strong> two Directors<br />
shall be chosen by Middelburg, and one by Vlissingen or Veere, and the Investor-Director shall<br />
for two years be from Middelburg, with the Assessor for two years from either Vlissingen or<br />
<br />
70 A provisional version of this agreement is cited by the Zeeland deleg<strong>at</strong>ion to the Heren XIX on October 10, 1623.<br />
See NA 1.05.01.01 inv.nr. 1. The final agreements are in NA 1.05.01.01 inv.nr. 19 and NA 1.01.04 inv.nr. 5751A.<br />
See also the draft d<strong>at</strong>ed November 12, 1622 in the papers of J. Boreel, Secretary of the city of Middelburg.<br />
Zeeuwsarchief 2.1 inv.nr. 3184.<br />
71 NA 1.05.01.01 inv.nr. 19. NA 1.05.01.01 inv.nr. 39, entry for January 17, 1624. The first two named were from<br />
the Amsterdam Chamber. Wifferink was a councilman from the new chamber in Groningen.<br />
116
Veere, and th<strong>at</strong> in the third year the Investor-Director shall be from Vlissingen or Veere [...] and<br />
the Assessor from Middelburg. 72<br />
To complic<strong>at</strong>e m<strong>at</strong>ters further, the agreement between Vlissingen and Veere added the<br />
following:<br />
Th<strong>at</strong> in the first year, Vlissingen shall appoint a director and Veere the Assessor, and in the<br />
second the reverse. Concerning the Investor-Director in the third year, the first two turns shall be<br />
taken by Vlissingen, the last by Veere. 73<br />
The results of the two agreements together can be seen in the table below:<br />
Year Director 1 Director 2 Director 3 Investor-Director Assessor<br />
1 M M VL M VE<br />
2 M M VE M VL<br />
3 M M VL VL M<br />
4 M M VE M VL<br />
5 M M VL M VE<br />
6 M M VE VL M<br />
7 M M VL M VE<br />
8 M M VE M VL<br />
9 M M VL VE M<br />
Table 2. "M" represents Middelburg, "VL" Vlissingen, and "VE" Veere. 74<br />
Although neither Vlissingen nor Veere could have been fully s<strong>at</strong>isfied with this outcome, the<br />
formula ensured a constant rot<strong>at</strong>ion of three of the five Zeeland se<strong>at</strong>s <strong>at</strong> the Heren XIX, with each<br />
of the three cities present for all but one year (listed as year 3 above) in the nine-year rot<strong>at</strong>ion. It<br />
<br />
72 NA 1.05.01.01 inv.nr. 19. “Alle deput<strong>at</strong>en ter vergaderinge van de XIX sullen geschieden als volcht, namentlyck<br />
twee Bewinthebbers van Middelburch, ende een van Vlissingen oft Vere, ende den hooftparticipant Bewindhebber<br />
sal gaen twee jaren van Middelburgh ende daer negens den Assessor twee jaren van Vlissingen oft Vere, ende het<br />
derde jaer den hooftparticipant bewinthebber van Vlissingen ofte Vere ofte by gebreke van selve een ander<br />
Bewinthebber in syne plaetse. Ende daeriegens van Middelburch den Assessor.”<br />
73 Ibid.<br />
74 All tables in this chapter are original. I would like to thank Nealin Parker for her assistance with form<strong>at</strong>ting and<br />
design.<br />
117
thus shows the political—as opposed to financial or administr<strong>at</strong>ive—significance of the addition<br />
of the assessor. This individual might not have voting rights, but he would be able to keep an eye<br />
on the proceedings and perhaps even c<strong>at</strong>ch the ear of a fellow deleg<strong>at</strong>e.<br />
When the deleg<strong>at</strong>ion from Zeeland arrived <strong>at</strong> their first meeting of the Heren XIX, in<br />
August 1623, they brought no fewer than eight people. 75 By March 1624, after the two new<br />
agreements had been finalized, the formula was followed to the letter: Simon Schotte, Pieter<br />
Beurdt, and Jeremy Waelens represented Middelburg; Rogier Cobbert, Vlissingen, and the<br />
assessor, from Veere, was Adrian Velters. 76<br />
The difficulties in the chamber of the Maas were much less complic<strong>at</strong>ed, but they were<br />
equally disruptive and, critically, proved a more serious test of the ability of the Heren XIX to<br />
resolve disputes among its own members. 77 As Van Dillen and others have noted, the most<br />
dram<strong>at</strong>ic difference between the subscription lists to the WIC and VOC was the rel<strong>at</strong>ive share<br />
invested by the merchants of the Maas. 78 This resulted in large part from the fact th<strong>at</strong><br />
Dordrecht—which in 1602 had chosen to invest in the Amsterdam chamber of the VOC—now<br />
joined Rotterdam and Delft. While the three cities together raised more than a million guilders,<br />
and were jointly responsible for the chamber’s management, they were entitled to only two se<strong>at</strong>s<br />
<strong>at</strong> the meetings of the Heren XIX. This cre<strong>at</strong>ed a n<strong>at</strong>ural conflict. Unlike North Holland or<br />
Zeeland, however, the merchants of the Maas cooper<strong>at</strong>ed to form a chamber and then pushed for<br />
a modific<strong>at</strong>ion to the way the chamber would be represented. At the October 1623 meeting of the<br />
Heren XIX, the Maas deleg<strong>at</strong>ion arrived with three people, r<strong>at</strong>her than two. Jacob de Witte<br />
<br />
75 NA 1.05.01.01 inv.nr. 1, entry for August 3, 1623.<br />
76 Ibid., entry for March 16, 1624.<br />
77 Ibid., entries for March 16-March 30, 1624. See also Cornelis Christiaan Goslinga, The Dutch in the Caribbean<br />
and on the Wild Coast 1580-1680 (Gainesville: <strong>University</strong> of Florida Press, 1971), 99-100.<br />
78 J. G. van Dillen, “De West-Indische Compagnie, het Calvinism en de Politiek,” Tijdschrift voor Geschiedenis 74<br />
(1961): 150; Den Heijer, De Geoctrooieerde Compagnie, 61.<br />
118
(1591-1631), a director from Dordrecht, submitted a formal request th<strong>at</strong> all three be permitted to<br />
<strong>at</strong>tend, even though they would collectively be entitled to only two votes. 79 This request was<br />
rejected by the other assembled deleg<strong>at</strong>es on the grounds th<strong>at</strong> it viol<strong>at</strong>ed the terms of the charter,<br />
but all three Maas deleg<strong>at</strong>es were permitted to remain <strong>at</strong> the meeting.<br />
The same was not true <strong>at</strong> the next meeting, held in March of 1624, and the conflict<br />
became increasingly acrimonious thereafter. The represent<strong>at</strong>ives of the St<strong>at</strong>es General—<br />
Hendrick Feyt, Johan van der Meer, and Nicholas Schaffer—had already consulted on the m<strong>at</strong>ter<br />
the previous week and concluded th<strong>at</strong> the Maas could only appear with two deleg<strong>at</strong>es, but the<br />
disruption the dispute caused to the meeting’s progress became so severe th<strong>at</strong> they shifted<br />
str<strong>at</strong>egies again and again to try to find a resolution. 80 Their methods included putting the<br />
question to a majority vote, asking a subcommittee to make a recommend<strong>at</strong>ion, and requesting<br />
the deleg<strong>at</strong>es to consult with their principals. Finally, when the Maas deleg<strong>at</strong>es refused to <strong>at</strong>tend<br />
unless all three were admitted, the represent<strong>at</strong>ives of the St<strong>at</strong>es General resorted to sending the<br />
chamber keeper to the deleg<strong>at</strong>es’ priv<strong>at</strong>e accommod<strong>at</strong>ions to execute a formal summons. 81<br />
None of these methods worked, as De Witte and his colleagues held stubbornly to the<br />
position th<strong>at</strong> the charter spoke only of votes, not deleg<strong>at</strong>es, and th<strong>at</strong> their principals would not<br />
permit them to negoti<strong>at</strong>e on this point. 82 Failing to gain approval, they were instructed to leave<br />
the meeting—a prospect th<strong>at</strong> contained within it the thinly veiled thre<strong>at</strong> th<strong>at</strong> the chamber would<br />
withdraw its capital from the company altogether. Separ<strong>at</strong>ely, De Witte made a proposal on<br />
behalf of his own city, Dordrecht, to deliver an investment of 500,000 guilders in exchange for<br />
<br />
79 NA 1.05.01.01 inv.nr. 1, entry for October 10, 1623.<br />
80 NA 1.05.01.01 inv.nr. 39, entry for March 13, 1624.<br />
81 NA 1.05.01.01 inv.nr. 1, entries for March 16-March <strong>25</strong>, 1624.<br />
82 Ibid., entry for March 22, 1624.<br />
119
1/10 of the equipagie and two directors in the Heren XIX. 83 This was obviously unacceptable to<br />
the other deleg<strong>at</strong>es, and the m<strong>at</strong>ter was finally turned over to the St<strong>at</strong>es General. De Witte and<br />
Philips Doubleth, the company's new Ontvanger Generaal (Receiver General) and l<strong>at</strong>er<br />
Ontvanger Generaal for the United Provinces as a whole, represented the chamber of the Maas;<br />
Albert Coenraeds Burgh and Jeremy Waelens represented Amsterdam and Zeeland,<br />
respectively. 84 No resolution was reached in th<strong>at</strong> body either, but by September the St<strong>at</strong>es<br />
General had become so tired of the issue th<strong>at</strong> they acquiesced to the Maas’ request. Henceforth<br />
the Maas was permitted to send three deleg<strong>at</strong>es to each meeting of the Heren XIX. 85<br />
There were similar problems within the other two chambers not discussed here:<br />
Groningen was only partially successful in its efforts to incorpor<strong>at</strong>e Friesland, with whom it<br />
nominally shared a chamber, and Amsterdam was bombarded by letters from newly-elected<br />
directors in Leiden, Haarlem, Utrecht, and Deventer, each of whom desired a se<strong>at</strong> in the Heren<br />
XIX. But the main point should be clear enough: the Heren XIX was neither simple nor simply<br />
assembled. It had to be constructed, deleg<strong>at</strong>e-by-deleg<strong>at</strong>e, from amongst diverse and often<br />
competing constituencies in more than two-dozen Dutch cities. This process—begun in 1622, but<br />
not complete until the end of 1624—expanded the board's membership beyond the proposed<br />
nineteen members and cre<strong>at</strong>ed an entirely new forum in which merchants, investors, and the<br />
represent<strong>at</strong>ives of the St<strong>at</strong>es General would meet to craft policy for the new company.<br />
<br />
83 Ibid., entry for March 27, 1624.<br />
84 NA 1.05.01.01 inv.nr. 39, entry for <strong>May</strong> 3, 1624. On Philips Doubleth, see "Philips Doubleth" in Molhuysen,<br />
Nieuw Nederlandsch Biografisch Woordenboek, vol. 7, 378-379.<br />
85 See the cover pages to the minutes of the Heren XIX for 1633-34 (NA 1.10.69 inv.nr. 542), 1642 (NA 1.01.05<br />
inv.nr. 9411), and 1645 (NA 1.01.07 inv.nr. 1<strong>25</strong>64.17).<br />
120
4. The Role of the St<strong>at</strong>es General<br />
The precise role of the St<strong>at</strong>es General in the company's board has never been clearly explained.<br />
Cornelis Goslinga’s assertion th<strong>at</strong> the Heren XIX “oper<strong>at</strong>ed under a mand<strong>at</strong>e from and were<br />
directly responsible to their sovereign the St<strong>at</strong>es General” is both too crude and, on a crucial<br />
point, manifestly incorrect. 86 The deleg<strong>at</strong>es from the St<strong>at</strong>es General certainly were accountable to<br />
th<strong>at</strong> body, and the Heren XIX as a whole were bound by the charter to consult with the St<strong>at</strong>es<br />
General on m<strong>at</strong>ters of war and peace. But the company's board of directors had many masters, as<br />
should be evident from the discussion in this chapter. Regular deleg<strong>at</strong>es were accountable to<br />
their respective chambers, not the St<strong>at</strong>es General, and investor-directors had to answer to the<br />
specific pool of investors th<strong>at</strong> had sent them, which in most cases meant participants from one<br />
city, r<strong>at</strong>her than the entire chamber. In practice both groups were largely independent of the<br />
St<strong>at</strong>es General, except in the abstract sense th<strong>at</strong> their legitimacy derived in the first instance from<br />
the company’s charter. All of this left the St<strong>at</strong>es General’s represent<strong>at</strong>ives <strong>at</strong> the Heren XIX in a<br />
highly ambiguous position. Though inspired by the Raedt van Indien, they had none of the<br />
formal role envisioned by Usselincx. On the one hand they represented the St<strong>at</strong>es General as a<br />
quasi-sovereign body responsible for the company as a whole, while on the other they acted in a<br />
concrete way as a concerned shareholder, with one of nineteen votes. Navig<strong>at</strong>ing these uncertain<br />
w<strong>at</strong>ers was an important problem for the represent<strong>at</strong>ives of the St<strong>at</strong>es General as they assumed<br />
their role within the newly cre<strong>at</strong>ed board.<br />
Johan van der Meer’s report from the first meeting of the Heren XIX provides a nice<br />
illustr<strong>at</strong>ion. By the end of the meeting the deleg<strong>at</strong>ion from Zeeland had still not appeared, so a<br />
committee was tasked with drafting a letter to the St<strong>at</strong>es of Zeeland to apprise them of wh<strong>at</strong> had<br />
<br />
86 Goslinga, The Dutch in the Caribbean and on the Wild Coast 1580-1680, 93.<br />
121
taken place. Once the draft letter had been read aloud and approved, a lengthy discussion ensued<br />
as to who should sign it. At stake, of course, was which deleg<strong>at</strong>es among the nineteen were<br />
vested with the authority to represent the body as a whole. In his report, Van der Meer indic<strong>at</strong>ed<br />
somewh<strong>at</strong> cautiously th<strong>at</strong> he had agreed to sign in the capacity of “President,” along with Jonas<br />
Witsen, Burgemeester of Amsterdam and a director of the company, whom he referred to as<br />
“Vice President.” 87 This language is nowhere to be found in the charter, but it evidently served as<br />
the best available compromise. The effect was to elev<strong>at</strong>e Van der Meer, and thereby the St<strong>at</strong>es<br />
General, to a procedural position senior to th<strong>at</strong> of the formal chair, a role unambiguously<br />
assigned to either Amsterdam or Zeeland (on a rot<strong>at</strong>ing basis).<br />
Johan van Goch, who served as the senior deleg<strong>at</strong>e of the St<strong>at</strong>es General <strong>at</strong> the following<br />
two meetings of the Heren XIX, exercised a much firmer hand, with important implic<strong>at</strong>ions for<br />
the manner in which the board functioned. On the first day of the meeting—August 3, 1623—the<br />
minutes indic<strong>at</strong>e th<strong>at</strong> Van Goch collected the letters of credential from the various deleg<strong>at</strong>es and<br />
read a short document (sadly no longer extant) outlining the manner in which the meetings’<br />
business would be conducted. He then requested th<strong>at</strong> each of the deleg<strong>at</strong>es take his se<strong>at</strong>,<br />
following a predetermined order: first to be se<strong>at</strong>ed were himself and Van der Meer, followed by<br />
the senior deleg<strong>at</strong>e from Amsterdam, the senior deleg<strong>at</strong>e from Zeeland, and then a descending<br />
order of deleg<strong>at</strong>es from the remaining chambers, in a manner which clearly established the<br />
hierarchy within the company. Such a hierarchy was a fundamental element of the order of<br />
<br />
87 NA 1.01.02 inv.nr. 4941, entry for December 21, 1622. “Is voorts gelesen een concept van een brief aen die van<br />
Zeelant te senden […] ende naer lange disputen aldaer voorgevallen wie d’selve brieven soude tekenen, mitsdien<br />
alsnoch geen Secrets en was aengenomen. Is eyntel. goetgevonden d<strong>at</strong> d’selve by my als Preses & by Jonas Witters.<br />
als Vice Preses soude worden get.” It is interesting to note th<strong>at</strong> van Goch was paid 212 guilders for his expenses <strong>at</strong><br />
this meeting, a substantial sum. See the Resolutien der St<strong>at</strong>en Generaal, entry for March 22, 1623.<br />
122
Se<strong>at</strong> Chamber<br />
1 Amsterdam<br />
2 Zeeland<br />
3 Amsterdam<br />
4 Zeeland<br />
5 Amsterdam<br />
6 Zeeland<br />
7 Delft<br />
8 Amsterdam<br />
9 Zeeland<br />
10 Amsterdam<br />
11 Rotterdam<br />
12 Amsterdam<br />
13 Hoorn<br />
14 Amsterdam<br />
15 Enkhuizen<br />
16 Amsterdam<br />
17 ~ Rot<strong>at</strong>ed ~<br />
Table 3. Se<strong>at</strong>ing order in the<br />
Heren XVII of the VOC. 88<br />
123<br />
Table 4. Se<strong>at</strong>ing order in the<br />
Heren XIX of the WIC. 89<br />
<br />
88 This is adapted from van Dam, Beschryvinge van de Oostindische Compagnie, <strong>25</strong>0.<br />
89 Adapted from NA 1.05.01.01, inv.nr. 1, entry for March 16, 1624. This is identical to all the other participant lists<br />
for meetings of the Heren XIX of which I am aware.<br />
Se<strong>at</strong> Chamber<br />
1 St<strong>at</strong>es General<br />
St<strong>at</strong>es General<br />
2 Amsterdam<br />
3 Zeeland<br />
4 Amsterdam<br />
5 Zeeland<br />
6 Amsterdam<br />
7 Maas<br />
8 North Holland<br />
9 Amsterdam<br />
10 Zeeland<br />
11 Groningen<br />
12 Amsterdam<br />
13 Zeeland<br />
Zeeland (assessor)<br />
14 Amsterdam<br />
15 Maas<br />
16 Amsterdam<br />
17 North Holland<br />
18 Groningen<br />
19 Amsterdam<br />
Amsterdam (assessor)
Table 5. Se<strong>at</strong>ing for the deleg<strong>at</strong>ions <strong>at</strong> the St<strong>at</strong>es General. 90<br />
Table 6. Possible se<strong>at</strong>ing <strong>at</strong> the Heren XIX. 91<br />
<br />
90 Adapted from Van Vree, Meetings, Manners, and Civiliz<strong>at</strong>ion, 150. Note th<strong>at</strong> the chair rot<strong>at</strong>ed on a weekly basis<br />
among the seven provinces. Gelderland always spoke first, followed by Holland and Zeeland.<br />
91 There are no remaining images of the Heren XIX, so this diagram must be considered conjectural. The se<strong>at</strong>ing<br />
order in Table 4 implies th<strong>at</strong> members of the same chamber were not se<strong>at</strong>ed together, but this would be highly<br />
unusual, since members of the same deleg<strong>at</strong>ion s<strong>at</strong> together in both the St<strong>at</strong>es of Holland and the St<strong>at</strong>es General.<br />
This is also consistent with the fact th<strong>at</strong> st<strong>at</strong>ements from multiple deleg<strong>at</strong>es from the same chamber rarely appear in<br />
the board’s minutes. Nevertheless, since voting was conducted by deleg<strong>at</strong>e, r<strong>at</strong>her than by deleg<strong>at</strong>ion, it is possible<br />
th<strong>at</strong> se<strong>at</strong>ing was organized as in Table 4 and thus th<strong>at</strong> deleg<strong>at</strong>ions did not sit together. It is impossible to say whether<br />
the two assessors and the lawyer (who did not vote but likely recorded the minutes) would have been se<strong>at</strong>ed <strong>at</strong> the<br />
table. Note th<strong>at</strong> only two se<strong>at</strong>s are alloc<strong>at</strong>ed to represent<strong>at</strong>ives of the St<strong>at</strong>es General, though quite often the number<br />
was higher, and only two se<strong>at</strong>s to the chamber of the Maas, which in practice sent three deleg<strong>at</strong>es, consistent with<br />
the argument presented above.<br />
124
se<strong>at</strong>ing <strong>at</strong> the meetings of the St<strong>at</strong>es General, and mimicked th<strong>at</strong> in the board of directors of the<br />
VOC, clearly shown by Pieter Van Dam in his account of the company's management. 92 Once<br />
everyone was se<strong>at</strong>ed, Van Goch confirmed th<strong>at</strong> all present were familiar with the terms of the<br />
charter. He then administered a “solemn o<strong>at</strong>h” to each deleg<strong>at</strong>e, one <strong>at</strong> a time, to affirm their<br />
commitment to abide by its terms, uphold the secrecy of the proceedings, and confine discussion<br />
to the points outlined in the agenda. 93 Though by no means uncommon in official settings in the<br />
Dutch Republic, this set of rituals established the formal character of the board and the<br />
gener<strong>at</strong>ive authority of the senior represent<strong>at</strong>ive of the St<strong>at</strong>es General within it. 94<br />
Throughout the remainder of the meeting, Van Goch pressed this role, guiding the<br />
discussion, setting deadlines for the work of subcommittees, and responding to official<br />
deleg<strong>at</strong>ions from the church, Admiralty, and other institutions th<strong>at</strong> called upon the Heren XIX to<br />
address specific grievances. In addition, he undertook to relay the results of the deleg<strong>at</strong>es’<br />
deliber<strong>at</strong>ions back to the St<strong>at</strong>es General, especially on issues th<strong>at</strong> concerned them directly. These<br />
issues included the continuing failure of the authorities in Zeeland and North Holland to publicly<br />
display the terms of the charter; logistical and financial issues concerning the st<strong>at</strong>us of Fort<br />
Nassau in Guinea; issues rel<strong>at</strong>ing to the sale and authenticity of shares in the company; and, most<br />
importantly, payment of the promised subsidy and alloc<strong>at</strong>ion of ships and soldiers for the first<br />
<br />
92 Van Dam, Beschryvinge van de Oostindische Compagnie, <strong>25</strong>0. For se<strong>at</strong>ing <strong>at</strong> the St<strong>at</strong>es General, see Van Vree,<br />
Meetings, Manners, and Civiliz<strong>at</strong>ion, 150. Th<strong>at</strong> se<strong>at</strong>ing m<strong>at</strong>tered to the deleg<strong>at</strong>es is evident from the fact th<strong>at</strong> Killaen<br />
van Rensellaer, a wealthy and influential investor, protested <strong>at</strong> being given the nineteenth place <strong>at</strong> the table when he<br />
appeared as the represent<strong>at</strong>ive of the hooftparticipanten of the Amsterdam chamber <strong>at</strong> the meeting of the Heren XIX<br />
th<strong>at</strong> began on March 16, 1624. NA 1.05.01.01, inv.nr. 1. "Behalve d<strong>at</strong> de heer Kiliaen van Renselaer verhaelde eer<br />
hy gingen sitten, d<strong>at</strong> hy tegens de XIXde plaetse inde voorgaende vergaderinge voor hem ende synen assessor hadde<br />
geprotesteert, ende acte van onprejuditie vercregen, de welcke hy ende synen assessor, noch in haer geheel waren<br />
behoudende, terwyl haerluyden daer over noch geen contentement gedaen en was."<br />
93 NA 1.05.01.01 inv.nr. 1, entry for August 3, 1623.<br />
94 See S. J. Fockema Andreae, De Nederlandse Sta<strong>at</strong> onder de Republiek (Amsterdam: Noord-Hollandsche, 1969),<br />
106-107.<br />
1<strong>25</strong>
phase of the company’s Groot Dessyn (Grand Design). 95 On each of these issues the Heren XIX<br />
were dependent upon the St<strong>at</strong>es General, so th<strong>at</strong> progress required frequent disp<strong>at</strong>ch of deleg<strong>at</strong>es<br />
to The Hague to clarify or argue in favor of a specific policy. But on many other issues the board<br />
made its own resolutions and acted with self-conscious independence. The chamber of the Maas<br />
was not silenced by Van Goch’s rejection of their request to send three deleg<strong>at</strong>es; a subsequent<br />
request by the St<strong>at</strong>es General th<strong>at</strong> the company explore terms for integr<strong>at</strong>ing with companies in<br />
England and France was rejected outright. Thus there emerged a system wherein the St<strong>at</strong>es<br />
General exercised an important procedural power, along with a lead role in coordin<strong>at</strong>ing the<br />
company's military prepar<strong>at</strong>ions, while its authority to achieve specific outcomes was<br />
circumscribed.<br />
This system required th<strong>at</strong> the St<strong>at</strong>es General assign a number of people to handle the<br />
business the WIC, not only in the meetings of the Heren XIX, but also in The Hague. This<br />
process was already well underway by 1619, when ordinary deputies from the St<strong>at</strong>es of Holland<br />
and Zeeland helped to push through agreement on the WIC charter. Key figures included Hugo<br />
Muys, Albert Joachimi (1560-1654), Albert Bruynings, Schaffer, Magnus, and Feyt, along with<br />
Van der Meer and Van Goch, all of whom drafted reports and briefed the full meetings of the<br />
St<strong>at</strong>es General in advance of visits by deleg<strong>at</strong>ions from the individual chambers or the Heren<br />
XIX. 96 This group never exercised the executive authority over the company th<strong>at</strong> Usselincx had<br />
imagined, but in many cases specific individuals remained involved with its affairs over a fairly<br />
long period of time and played a critical role in determining which policies would receive the<br />
sanction and support of the St<strong>at</strong>es General. Among them Van Goch was clearly a leading figure<br />
in the early days of the company, and his influence no doubt would have grown had he not been<br />
<br />
95 NA 1.05.01.01 inv.nr. 39, entry for August 12, 1623.<br />
96 Resolutien der St<strong>at</strong>en Generaal, multiple entries, 1617-1624.<br />
126
selected for the powerful position of griffier (clerk) to the St<strong>at</strong>es General in October 1623. 97 In<br />
his absence, Feyt and Schaffer joined Van der Meer <strong>at</strong> the meetings of the Heren XIX, but none<br />
of these men succeeded in establishing themselves as a consistent, senior presence. Only in the<br />
1630s was such a presence established by Gerard van Arnhem, and in the 1640s by Hendrick van<br />
der Capellen, each of whom <strong>at</strong>tended more than a half dozen meetings of the Heren XIX. 98<br />
5. Conclusion<br />
This chapter has advanced three central arguments. First, it suggests th<strong>at</strong> Usselincx's arguments<br />
for central control over colonial affairs, and in particular his proposal for a council of noblemen<br />
to oversee m<strong>at</strong>ters of war, law, and settlement, powerfully influenced the cre<strong>at</strong>ion of the Heren<br />
XIX. There is no question th<strong>at</strong> Usselincx himself was deeply distressed by the final agreement,<br />
but in missing this compromise altogether historians have underestim<strong>at</strong>ed his political legacy.<br />
More important, and quite separ<strong>at</strong>e from his personal success or failure, the inclusion in the final<br />
charter of language empowering the St<strong>at</strong>es General and its represent<strong>at</strong>ives demonstr<strong>at</strong>es a strong<br />
desire among some drafters for stronger central authority and a corresponding anxiety about<br />
turning over the management of military and colonial affairs to merchants. Th<strong>at</strong> a similar anxiety<br />
was largely absent from the negoti<strong>at</strong>ions to establish the VOC indic<strong>at</strong>es th<strong>at</strong> contemporaries<br />
viewed the regions as distinct and different. As Usselincx himself argued,<br />
In the East Indies there are gre<strong>at</strong> and powerful Kingdoms, in which since olden times a gre<strong>at</strong> trade<br />
has been driven, which the VOC encountered on its arrival; so th<strong>at</strong> the whole work consists of<br />
trade and maritime warfare. But in America the trade must be built [from scr<strong>at</strong>ch]. And therein is<br />
<br />
97 Knevel, Het Haagse Bureau, 59.<br />
98 For Gerard van Arnhem, see NA 1.10.69 inv.nr. 542, along with the WIC liassen, NA 1.01.04. For Van der<br />
Capellen, see NA 1.01.05, inv.nr. 9411 and NA 1.01.07 inv.nr. 1<strong>25</strong>64.17.<br />
127
to be understood the sending over of people, the building of colonies and new Republics, the<br />
building of Cities, Conquests, and Lands, their distribution [among citizens], war on land as well<br />
as <strong>at</strong> sea, the digging of Mines, the appointment of Governors, Officials, and courts of Justice<br />
[…]. 99<br />
Infiltr<strong>at</strong>ing Spanish America was not the same as establishing trade in Asia. It required different<br />
tools and different orders of society to manage them. Of course, the St<strong>at</strong>es of Holland's<br />
opposition to a Raedt van Indien and their efforts to reduce the influence of noblemen, while<br />
simultaneously pushing for a policy of conquest, makes clear th<strong>at</strong> this view was not universally<br />
shared. But the company’s history, and the role within it of the Heren XIX, cannot be understood<br />
without recognizing this basic conflict.<br />
Second, the chapter has argued th<strong>at</strong> the company’s board of directors was a highly<br />
political, r<strong>at</strong>her than a strictly commercial body, and th<strong>at</strong> to function <strong>at</strong> all it needed to resolve,<br />
however tent<strong>at</strong>ively, underlying regional and inter-urban tensions. As with the St<strong>at</strong>es General<br />
itself, the Heren XIX had an integr<strong>at</strong>ive role to play. This may help to resolve a paradox pointed<br />
out by the economist and economic historian Eli Heckscher in the early 1930s. In his estim<strong>at</strong>ion,<br />
The Dutch trading companies were, besides the English, the most famous undertakings of the<br />
mercantilist period. It is curious th<strong>at</strong> the influence of the st<strong>at</strong>e upon their form was even more<br />
pronounced than was the case with the English companies, in spite of the fact th<strong>at</strong> England was,<br />
politically, infinitely more unified. 100<br />
<br />
99 NA. 1.01.05, inv.nr. 9409, Corte aenwysinge van de voor meeste verschillen tusschen t' Concept van Octroy op<br />
Westindien d<strong>at</strong> by de ho: mo: heeren, Myn heeren de St<strong>at</strong>en Generael inde Maent van februario anno 1619... "Maer<br />
in America moet den handel noch gemaect worden ende t'sal daer meest bestaen in t' becomen ende overvoeren van<br />
de meenicht van volck, d'oprechten van Colonias ende nieuwe Republycquen, t'bouwen van Steden, Conquesten van<br />
Landen, ende ytdeelinge derselver, in d'oorloge soo te w<strong>at</strong>er als te Lande, de lantbouwinge t'Arbeyden inde Mynen,<br />
t'stellen van Gouverneurs, Amptlieden ende hoven van Justitie [...]"<br />
100 Eli F. Heckscher, Mercantilism, ed. E. F. Soderlund, trans. Mendel Shapiro, 2nd ed. (London: Allen & Unwin,<br />
1955), 356.<br />
128
The preceding analysis suggests th<strong>at</strong> st<strong>at</strong>e involvement in the WIC was so gre<strong>at</strong> precisely<br />
because the st<strong>at</strong>e itself was so decentralized. The company was both a product of, and a vehicle<br />
for, the centraliz<strong>at</strong>ion of commercial and imperial policy.<br />
Finally, the chapter has argued th<strong>at</strong> represent<strong>at</strong>ives of the St<strong>at</strong>es General played a vital<br />
role in the in the Heren XIX. Van der Meer and Van Goch's efforts to impose order and unity<br />
were only a beginning, though, and the significance of the St<strong>at</strong>es General’s represent<strong>at</strong>ives and<br />
the board itself would grow substantially during the 1630s and early 1640s, when the territory<br />
under the company's direct administr<strong>at</strong>ive and military control rapidly expanded. In order to<br />
handle the gre<strong>at</strong>er volume of correspondence and the challenges of financial accounting, the<br />
Heren XIX hired additional scribes, clerks, and accountants, and in 1642 they established a<br />
General Rekencamer (Central Accounting Office) responsible for coordin<strong>at</strong>ing the work of the<br />
chambers' individual accountants and reconciling the company’s books. 101 The Heren XIX also<br />
retained a staff of lawyers to handle suits from foreign merchants and governments who believed<br />
th<strong>at</strong> they had been wronged by the company’s actions overseas. 102 The challenge of staffing<br />
regional director<strong>at</strong>es in the conquests grew, as well. By 1642 there were already separ<strong>at</strong>e<br />
administr<strong>at</strong>ive structures in Brazil, Guinea, Angola, New Netherland, and Curacao, each<br />
requiring a steady stream of personnel, instructions, and provisions. 103 As a result, the meetings<br />
of the Heren XIX lasted longer and longer, so th<strong>at</strong> the board began to take on the character of a<br />
standing colonial administr<strong>at</strong>ion, with its own staff and supervisory authority over subordin<strong>at</strong>e<br />
councils overseas.<br />
<br />
101 NA 1.01.05 inv.nr. 9411.<br />
102 These included Simon van Beaumont, secretary to the city of Middelburg and a director of the company, and,<br />
l<strong>at</strong>er, the Amsterdam lawyer Gysbert Rudolphij.<br />
103 For the separ<strong>at</strong>ion of Loanda from Brazil, see NA 1.01.05 inv.nr. 9411. For the division of Guinea into a northern<br />
and southern, districts see Van den Boogaart and Emmer, “The Dutch Particip<strong>at</strong>ion in the Atlantic Slave Trade,<br />
1596-1650,” 358.<br />
129
But by far the most important transform<strong>at</strong>ion was brought about by the heavy financial<br />
burden of military conquest and territorial defense—problems th<strong>at</strong> forced a wedge between the<br />
Heren XIX and the St<strong>at</strong>es General. With the company’s coffers empty, the company's directors<br />
were increasingly convinced th<strong>at</strong> the St<strong>at</strong>es General was not living up to its military and financial<br />
commitments, and thus took measures to reign in costs. The St<strong>at</strong>es General, meanwhile, became<br />
increasingly distrustful of the Heren XIX's ability to effectively govern its overseas territories.<br />
This wedge is nowhere clearer than in the company’s efforts to find a replacement for Johan<br />
Maurits as Governor General of Dutch Brazil in the summer and fall of 1645.<br />
130
1. Introduction<br />
Chapter Four<br />
“In the Service of Merchants”<br />
The Selection of a New Government for Dutch Brazil<br />
On <strong>May</strong> 6, 1644, the elite of Recife—formerly the port for the city of Olinda, the center of<br />
Portuguese sugar cultiv<strong>at</strong>ion, but by this time the capital of Dutch Brazil—assembled in the the<br />
council chamber in Mauritstad for a meeting th<strong>at</strong> would permanently transform the colony's<br />
political structure. 1 Present were the diverse components of the colonial government: three<br />
members of the Hoge ende Secrete Raad (High and Secret Council), members of the Councils of<br />
Justice and Finance, the bailiff, aldermen, commissioners, the orphanage masters, reformed<br />
ministers, the church council, military and naval officers, WIC servants, and prominent members<br />
of the city’s Jewish popul<strong>at</strong>ion. The occasion was a somber one: Johan Maurits van Nassau-<br />
Siegen had been recalled to the United Provinces after more than seven years service as<br />
Governor General of Dutch Brazil (1637-1644). The ceremony had been organized according to<br />
precise instructions from the Heren XIX to mark the occasion of his departure and to make<br />
visible the delic<strong>at</strong>e transfer of power this entailed.<br />
<br />
1 NA 1.05.01.01 inv.nr. 70, Minuten van de Hoge en Secrete Raed in Brazilie, entry for <strong>May</strong> 6, 1644.<br />
131
Illustr<strong>at</strong>ion 8. Map of Mauritstad and Recife, c. 1645. N<strong>at</strong>ionaal Archief, Den Haag,<br />
(4 VEL), H 619-74. Formerly the port for Olinda, capital of the Portuguese captaincy of<br />
Pernambuco, the Dutch transformed Recife into an administr<strong>at</strong>ive and political center.<br />
132
Maurits began by announcing wh<strong>at</strong> everyone must have known already: he was preparing<br />
to return home. He thanked the members of the Hoge ende Secrete Raad for their service,<br />
obedience, and trustworthiness and informed them th<strong>at</strong> from henceforth they would assume all<br />
the responsibilities and authority th<strong>at</strong> previously had been invested in him. He addressed each<br />
member individually and administered to each an o<strong>at</strong>h of loyalty to the St<strong>at</strong>es General, the Prince<br />
of Orange, and the Heren XIX. 2 Once this had been done, he and the three councilors retre<strong>at</strong>ed<br />
into a separ<strong>at</strong>e, smaller chamber, where Maurits presented them with a lengthy memorandum he<br />
had composed to advise the council on the best means to govern the colony and to maintain order<br />
amongst its subjects. 3 The counselors thanked Maurits and wished him a swift return journey.<br />
Ten days l<strong>at</strong>er he left Recife along roads thronged by supporters and onlookers amidst a carnival<br />
<strong>at</strong>mosphere famously memorialized by his official chronicler, Casper Barlaeus. 4<br />
It was a ritual display of political power and a reminder—should one be necessary—th<strong>at</strong><br />
the Dutch commercial world of the mid-seventeenth century was both more colorful and more<br />
complic<strong>at</strong>ed than the impression left to us by the rows of portraits of Marcusian one-dimensional<br />
men, clothed in black, counting coins and scribbling notes in their Amsterdam canal houses. 5<br />
Maurits was a nobleman, a decor<strong>at</strong>ed military commander, and a p<strong>at</strong>ron of the arts and sciences:<br />
a “Humanist Prince” in the New World, as one scholarly collection put it. 6 He has been variously<br />
credited with expanding the territory under Dutch control, promoting religious toler<strong>at</strong>ion for<br />
Jews as well as C<strong>at</strong>holics, and with supporting a coterie of painters, n<strong>at</strong>uralists, astronomers, and<br />
<br />
2 The text reads "zijn hoocheyt," which would have referred to Frederik Hendrik, the Prince of Orange.<br />
3 Caspar van Baerle, The History of Brazil under the Governorship of Count Johan Maurits of Nassau, 1636-1644,<br />
trans. Blanche T. Ebeling Koning (Gainesville: <strong>University</strong> Press of Florida, 2011).<br />
4 Ibid., pp. 395-398.<br />
5 Herbert Marcuse, One Dimensional Man (Boston: Beacon Press, 1991).<br />
6 E. van den Boogaart, Hendrik Richard Hoetink, and Peter James Palmer Whitehead, eds., Johan Maurits van<br />
Nassau-Siegen, 1604-1679: a Humanist Prince in Europe and Brazil. Essays on the Occasion of the Tercentenary of<br />
His De<strong>at</strong>h (The Hague: Johan Maurits van Nassau Stichting, 1979).<br />
133
geographers whose works remain a treasure trove for the study of colonial Brazil. 7 As historians<br />
have long recognized, however, Maurits' reput<strong>at</strong>ion among the directors of the WIC, for whom<br />
he nominally worked, was altogether different. During his tenure in Brazil Maurits rarely<br />
corresponded directly with the Heren XIX, preferring instead to address his letters to the St<strong>at</strong>es<br />
General, who then forwarded copies. He was arrogant and difficult to control. But, most<br />
important of all, he was expensive, and the company, which by 1643 was nearly bankrupt,<br />
decided—against the objections of the St<strong>at</strong>es General and the Prince of Orange—th<strong>at</strong> he must be<br />
replaced. 8<br />
This chapter looks closely <strong>at</strong> how this was done. Replacing Maurits and designing a new<br />
council to govern Dutch Brazil domin<strong>at</strong>ed discussions within the Heren XIX in Amsterdam in<br />
1644 and was still unresolved by the beginning of the fall meeting in Middelburg in September<br />
of 1645. There the m<strong>at</strong>ter appeared as the second item on the agenda, to be resolved “without<br />
further delay,” but this was considerably more difficult than it might <strong>at</strong> first appear. 9 Charles<br />
Boxer noted the troubles the WIC faced in agreeing upon a suitable candid<strong>at</strong>e and argued th<strong>at</strong><br />
this episode brought into sharp relief the limit<strong>at</strong>ions of the Dutch political system for<br />
administering colonies overseas. 10 Without a strong central authority, it was, according to Boxer,<br />
nearly impossible to reach collective agreement quickly or to take decisive action in the face of<br />
mounting problems abroad. 11 This judgment is certainly correct, but it overlooks a more subtle<br />
conflict th<strong>at</strong> emerges <strong>at</strong> several important places in the records of the negoti<strong>at</strong>ions themselves,<br />
<br />
7 The most famous text to come from this group is Piso, Markgraf, and Laet, Historia N<strong>at</strong>vralis Brasiliae [...] : In<br />
Qua Non Tantum Plantæ Et Animalia, Sed Et Indigenarum Morbi, Ingenia Et Mores Describuntur Et Iconibus<br />
Supra Quingentas Illustrantur.<br />
8 Boxer, The Dutch in Brazil, 1624-1654.<br />
9 NA 1.01.04 inv.nr. 5758. Poincten waerop alle de Cameren van de West Indische Comp. beschreven worden,<br />
omme in conformite van den Octroye tegens den tweeden vande aenstaende maent September 1645, etc. August 12,<br />
1645.<br />
10 Boxer, The Dutch in Brazil, 1624-1654, 173–175.<br />
11 Ibid., 175.<br />
134
and especially in the secret minutes recorded by represent<strong>at</strong>ives of the St<strong>at</strong>es General, a source<br />
which Boxer did not consult. Echoing the deb<strong>at</strong>e over the Raedt van Indien in the period 1618-<br />
1621, this concerned the thorny question of which groups within society—merchants,<br />
magistr<strong>at</strong>es, or noblemen—were best suited to represent the company’s interests, and which<br />
skills were most appropri<strong>at</strong>e to the task of colonial government. It was, in a deeper sense, a<br />
conflict over the company's aims in Brazil and between the various orders of Dutch society for<br />
the authority to implement them.<br />
Among these orders, the figure of the Dutch merchant is perhaps the most familiar, both<br />
to contemporaries in early modern Europe and from the classic studies of capitalism from Max<br />
Weber and Werner Sombart to the present day. 12 Less familiar is the figure of the Dutch<br />
nobleman, whose place in Dutch history has been all but forgotten, Peter Burke’s compar<strong>at</strong>ive<br />
study of elites in Venice and Amsterdam may be taken as emblem<strong>at</strong>ic of the problem. After<br />
briefly mentioning the Dutch nobility and the important role they played <strong>at</strong> the Stadholder’s<br />
court <strong>at</strong> The Hague, Burke devotes his study entirely to Amsterdam’s merchant oligarchy.<br />
Whereas Venice was governed by a closed group of noblemen, and thus could be characterized<br />
as an “est<strong>at</strong>e society,” Burke argues, Amsterdam developed Europe's first “class society,” with<br />
political and economic power centralized in the hands of a few merchant families. 13 As a<br />
description of Amsterdam this is largely correct, but Amsterdam was only one city in the<br />
province of Holland, and Holland only one of eight provinces. As Henk van Nierop's recent<br />
study of the Dutch nobility makes clear, even in Holland noble families continued to serve<br />
<br />
12 Max Weber, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, trans. Talcott Parsons (London: Routledge, 1992);<br />
Werner Sombart, Economic Life in the Modern Age, ed. Nico Stehr and Reiner Grundmann (New Brunswick:<br />
Transaction Publishers, 2001).<br />
13 Peter Burke, Venice and Amsterdam: A Study of Seventeenth-Century Elites (London: Temple Smith, 1974), 27.<br />
135
important military, administr<strong>at</strong>ive, and legal functions <strong>at</strong> almost all levels of Dutch society. 14<br />
Their prominence and influence may have declined rel<strong>at</strong>ive to urban merchant oligarchs, but<br />
those noblemen who chose to remain active in politics could exercise considerable political<br />
influence. To take but one of Van Nierop's many examples, the number of noblemen who<br />
<strong>at</strong>tended the meetings of Ridderschap (the council of nobleman in the St<strong>at</strong>es of Holland)<br />
declined markedly over the course of the sixteenth century, but those noblemen who <strong>at</strong>tended did<br />
so more frequently. 15 And since the Ridderschap represented the smaller towns within the St<strong>at</strong>es<br />
of Holland, chaired its meetings, voted first, and had a formal role in resolving disputes, its<br />
power was far gre<strong>at</strong>er than its single vote might suggest. 16 The important place of noblemen in<br />
the United Provinces in the seventeenth century is now widely recognized among Dutch<br />
historians, partly as a result of Van Nierop's work, but it is still frequently overlooked by<br />
scholars working only in English.<br />
Wh<strong>at</strong> role, if any, did the nobility play in Dutch overseas expansion? In Spain noblemen<br />
filled the ranks of the Real y Supremo Consejo de Indias and served as council president, <strong>at</strong> least<br />
until Philip II selected Juan de Ovando for this office in 1571. 17 Noblemen also played a critical<br />
role in expeditions of military conquest and as colonial viceroys in the New World. 18 In England,<br />
as Theodore Rabb has shown for the period 1575-1630, the gentry were disproportion<strong>at</strong>ely<br />
represented as investors and directors in overseas commercial enterprises—especially those<br />
<br />
14<br />
H. F. K. van Nierop, Van Ridders tot Regenten: De Hollandse Adel in de Zestiende en de eerste helft van de<br />
Zeventiende Eeuw (Amsterdam: De B<strong>at</strong>aafsche Leeuw, 1990).<br />
15<br />
Ibid., 151.<br />
16<br />
Ibid., 147.<br />
17<br />
Stafford Poole, Juan de Ovando: Governing the Spanish Empire in the Reign of Philip II (Norman: <strong>University</strong> of<br />
Oklahoma Press, 2004).<br />
18<br />
John Lynch, “The Institutional Framework of Colonial Spanish America,” Journal of L<strong>at</strong>in American Studies 24<br />
(1992): 69–81.<br />
136
involved in priv<strong>at</strong>eering or which aimed to discover new sea routes or establish settler colonies. 19<br />
Indeed, Rabb argues th<strong>at</strong> gentry investors differed in important ways from their merchant<br />
counterparts: whereas merchants were, in general, more consistent and diligent in applying<br />
themselves to the business <strong>at</strong> hand, and more focused on profits, members of the gentry appeared<br />
more willing to sustain losses for the sake of enterprises th<strong>at</strong> might enhance n<strong>at</strong>ional (and thus<br />
also their personal) power and prestige. 20 Their significant contributions up to 1630 were critical,<br />
Rabb concludes, to pushing past the difficult and risky early phases of coloniz<strong>at</strong>ion and thus<br />
helped lay the groundwork for England's subsequent imperial expansion. 21 The involvement of<br />
the gentry, and the leading role played by the royal family itself, in colonial ventures after the<br />
Restor<strong>at</strong>ion is well known, and suggests th<strong>at</strong> the basic contours of Rabb's analysis carry well into<br />
the seventeenth century.<br />
Although scholars have identified similarly important contributions by noblemen in<br />
Portugal, France, Italy, Germany, Sweden, and elsewhere, the United Provinces always appear as<br />
an exception. As Fritz Redlich put it in a special issue of Explor<strong>at</strong>ions in Entrepreneurial History<br />
dedic<strong>at</strong>ed to this subject a half-century ago, “there was no European country which did not<br />
experience <strong>at</strong> one time or another the phenomenon of aristocr<strong>at</strong>ic business leadership, except<br />
Holland and Switzerland, countries in which feudal institutions had never found fertile<br />
ground.” 22 In light of Van Nierop's study of the Dutch nobility this conclusion needs to be re-<br />
examined. The previous chapter examined the role of the nobility in discussions over the<br />
composition of the WIC's board of directors. This chapter considers the conspicuous role th<strong>at</strong><br />
<br />
19<br />
Theodore K. Rabb, Enterprise and Empire: Merchant and Gentry Investment in the Expansion of England, 1575-<br />
1630 (Cambridge: Harvard <strong>University</strong> Press, 1967).<br />
20<br />
Ibid., 38-41.<br />
21<br />
Ibid., 69.<br />
22<br />
Fritz Redlich, “European Aristocracy and Economic Development,” Explor<strong>at</strong>ions in Entrepreneurial History 6,<br />
no. 2 (December 1953): 78-91. The quot<strong>at</strong>ion is taken from page 78.<br />
137
noblemen played in overseas administr<strong>at</strong>ion—not only in the person of Johan Maurits, but in the<br />
original list of candid<strong>at</strong>es th<strong>at</strong> was drawn up to replace him. In taking this approach my purpose<br />
is not to substitute one lop-sided position with another: the Dutch Republic was domin<strong>at</strong>ed by<br />
merchant interests, and merchants made up the bulk of WIC investors and directors. But no<br />
understanding of company politics in the mid-1640s is possible if one ignores the small group of<br />
noblemen who stood <strong>at</strong> the center of the company's negoti<strong>at</strong>ions over how to govern Dutch<br />
Brazil.<br />
The negoti<strong>at</strong>ions themselves are but one instance in the long history of opaque, highly-<br />
secretive processes employed by governments and other institutions to select and anoint new<br />
political leadership. Our knowledge of this particular episode is made possible by an unusually<br />
rich collection of documents, both secret and ordinary, kept by the St<strong>at</strong>es General, whose<br />
deleg<strong>at</strong>es were deeply involved. An important complement to these are two contemporary<br />
documents—a diary and a formal memoire—composed by two of the candid<strong>at</strong>es for office in<br />
Brazil: respectively, the Amsterdam merchant Hendrik Haecxs and the nobleman Alexander van<br />
der Capellen (ca. 1590-1656). 23 Based on a close reading of these and other sources, this chapter<br />
<strong>at</strong>tempts to excav<strong>at</strong>e the process by which the new colonial government for Brazil was chosen.<br />
By following the negoti<strong>at</strong>ions from beginning to end, it exposes and explores the rituals<br />
employed by the WIC to display authority, maintain secrecy, reach consensus, and bind the<br />
political allegiance of company servants abroad. The chapter thus provides both a new analysis<br />
<br />
23 The secret minutes of the negoti<strong>at</strong>ions, along with a number of memoranda prepared by represent<strong>at</strong>ives of the<br />
St<strong>at</strong>es General to the meetings of the Heren XIX, can be found in NA 1.01.07 inv.nr. 1<strong>25</strong>64.17. Alexander van der<br />
Capellen's memoires were published in the eighteenth century as the Gedenkschriften van Jonkeer Alexander van<br />
der Capellen (Utrecht: J. van Schoonhoven, 1777). Hendrik Haecxs' diary was edited and published in the early<br />
twentieth century: L’Honoré Naber, “Het Dagboek van Hendrik Haecxs, Lid van den Hoogen Raad van Brazilië<br />
(1645-1654),” Bijdragen en Mededeelingen van het Historisch Genootschap (19<strong>25</strong>): 126-163.<br />
138
of a pivotal moment in the history of Dutch Brazil and offers insight into the more general<br />
challenges the Dutch Republic faced in its efforts to govern a land colony.<br />
The chapter begins by reviewing the company's powers to appoint colonial officials and<br />
by examining the various proposals to reform the structure of the Hoge ende Secrete Raad. The<br />
next section establishes the list of candid<strong>at</strong>es for the office of President and explores some of the<br />
reasons th<strong>at</strong> each refused to serve, focusing especially on the figure of Alexander van der<br />
Capellen. The following section examines the selection of the four subordin<strong>at</strong>e councilors, and in<br />
particular the company directors' efforts to ensure gre<strong>at</strong>er particip<strong>at</strong>ion by individuals with<br />
practical experience in trade. The last section reconstructs the career of Wolter van<br />
Schonenborch, the individual who was ultim<strong>at</strong>ely chosen to serve as President, and explores<br />
some of the rituals associ<strong>at</strong>ed with his selection. A conclusion examines the limit<strong>at</strong>ions of this<br />
compromise for the colony's future and offers a re-assessment of the role of the nobility in Dutch<br />
expansion overseas.<br />
2. Institutional Reform and the New Council<br />
As with all m<strong>at</strong>ters concerning senior personnel in the WIC's employment, the process to replace<br />
Johan Maurits was the responsibility of the Heren XIX, r<strong>at</strong>her than of any of the company's<br />
individual chambers or the St<strong>at</strong>es General. Article 2 of the WIC charter entrusted the company<br />
with responsibility for governing the conquests and settlements it established overseas. It was<br />
given the power<br />
in our [the St<strong>at</strong>es General's] name and authority, within the limits herein set forth [...] to make<br />
contracts, leagues and alliances with the princes and n<strong>at</strong>ives of the countries therein comprised, to<br />
build any fortresses and strongholds there, and to appoint, transfer, discharge, and replace<br />
governors, troops, and officers of justice, for the preserv<strong>at</strong>ion of the places, the maintenance of<br />
139
good order, police and justice, and in general for the furtherance of trade, according to the<br />
circumstances as they see fit. 24<br />
This language gave the company a gre<strong>at</strong> deal of leeway, both to design the institutions of<br />
colonial administr<strong>at</strong>ion in each territory and to select the individuals who would lead these<br />
institutions. At the same time, however, the St<strong>at</strong>es General reserved the right to approve or reject<br />
candid<strong>at</strong>es for Governor General and Vice Governor, along with a host of lesser, but still<br />
powerful, offices. <strong>25</strong> Once candid<strong>at</strong>es for office had been approved, they were “obliged to take the<br />
o<strong>at</strong>h of allegiance to us [the St<strong>at</strong>es General] and also to the Company.” 26 As Jaap Jacobs has<br />
pointed out, the charter did not endow the WIC with sovereign authority over its territories;<br />
r<strong>at</strong>her, the company was given the more limited authority to exercise sovereignty on behalf of the<br />
St<strong>at</strong>es General. 27 Decisions regarding colonial appointments were made by the Heren XIX and<br />
shared with the St<strong>at</strong>es General either by their own represent<strong>at</strong>ives to this body or by deleg<strong>at</strong>ions<br />
of company directors who travelled to The Hague explicitly for this purpose. In the case of<br />
disagreement in the Heren XIX the m<strong>at</strong>ter would be referred to the St<strong>at</strong>es General for resolution.<br />
By the time th<strong>at</strong> Maurits returned to The Hague from Brazil in the end of June 1644,<br />
discussions about how to replace him were well under way. 28 It was not until December,<br />
however, th<strong>at</strong> the Heren XIX reached agreement on reforms to the structure of the colonial<br />
government, and not until April th<strong>at</strong> it had composed a secret list of candid<strong>at</strong>es for the newly-<br />
<br />
24<br />
Charter of the West India Company (1621), Article 2. The transl<strong>at</strong>ion has been modified very slightly from th<strong>at</strong> in<br />
A. J. F. van Laer (ed.), Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts, 87-115.<br />
<strong>25</strong><br />
Ibid., Article 3.<br />
26<br />
Ibid.<br />
27<br />
Jaap Jacobs, “Dutch Proprietary Manors in America: The P<strong>at</strong>roonships in New Netherland,” in Constructing Early<br />
Modern Empires: Proprietary Ventures in the Atlantic World, 1500-1750, ed. L. H. Roper and B. van Ruymbeke<br />
(Leiden: Brill, 2007), 301–326. On government and law within the WIC territory more generally, see Jacob A.<br />
Schiltkamp, “Legisl<strong>at</strong>ion, Government, Jurisprudence, and Law in the Dutch West Indian Colonies: The Order of<br />
Government of 1629,” Pro Memorie 5, no. 2 (2003): 320–334.<br />
28<br />
Lieuwe van Aitzema, Historie of Verhael van Saken van Staet en Oorloch in ende ontrent de Vereenigde<br />
Nederlanden, vol. 5 (’s-Gravenhage: Johan Veely, 1660), 712.<br />
140
cre<strong>at</strong>ed offices of president and councilor. 29 The reforms were subtle but important: Maurits<br />
simultaneously had held the titles of Governor-, Captain-, and Admiral-General, which meant<br />
th<strong>at</strong> he was the senior represent<strong>at</strong>ive of the company in the colony and commander of all land<br />
and sea forces. Maurits nominally shared this authority with three subordin<strong>at</strong>e councilors, but a<br />
provision th<strong>at</strong> gave him a double vote in case of a tie ensured th<strong>at</strong> he could pass any resolution<br />
supported by <strong>at</strong> least one other member of the council. 30 The proposals circul<strong>at</strong>ed towards the<br />
end of 1643 were intended to curb this power, while <strong>at</strong> the same time institutionalizing important<br />
elements of the colonial government. One proposal, circul<strong>at</strong>ed by the Groningen chamber,<br />
recommended elimin<strong>at</strong>ing the existing structure entirely, and replacing it with a new council<br />
consisting of five members—each member nomin<strong>at</strong>ed by, and responsible to, one of the<br />
company's five chambers. 31 This proposal would have ensured th<strong>at</strong> the smaller chambers,<br />
Groningen included, would have an equal represent<strong>at</strong>ion in the government of Brazil. The<br />
proposal clearly received little favor, however, and the reforms th<strong>at</strong> ultim<strong>at</strong>ely were agreed to in<br />
Amsterdam on December 14, 1644 were considerably more modest. The position of Governor<br />
General was elimin<strong>at</strong>ed, but in its place the Heren XIX cre<strong>at</strong>ed the office of President, supported<br />
by four councilors and a secretary. Decisions were to be made by majority, with each of the five<br />
members of the council exercising only a single vote. At the same time, the Heren XIX<br />
strengthened the existing Councils of Justice and Finance. 32 Together these changes increased<br />
<br />
29<br />
NA 1.01.07 inv.nr. 1<strong>25</strong>64.17, Extract wt die secrete notulen der vergaderinge der Negentien t’ Amsterdam<br />
gehouden zedert de 22 April 1645.<br />
30<br />
Den Heijer, De Geschiedenis van de WIC, 43-44. Maurits' original instructions can be found in the archives of the<br />
St<strong>at</strong>es General: 1.01.07 inv.nr. 1<strong>25</strong>64.20.<br />
31<br />
NA 1.10.78 inv.nr. 8, Verzameling stukken, afkomstig van Salomon Sweers (levensjaren 1611-1674), Jeremias<br />
van Vliet (levensjaren ca. 1602-1674), Jacques Specx en François Mannis, Project betreffende de regeering in<br />
Brazilie, ingeleverd door de kamer Groningen, fol. 160-167.<br />
32<br />
NA 1.01.07 inv.nr. 1<strong>25</strong>64.17, Extract wt het register der resolutien van [de] Gecommitteerden wegen de Generael<br />
Geoctroyeerde Westind. Comp. ter vergaderinge van de XIX. Mercury den 14 Decemb. 1644. See also, Extract wt<br />
het Rapport van het gebesongeerde ende vergaderinge der negentien van de Westindische Compagnie t'Amsterdam<br />
141
the council's size and authority, decreased the powers of its senior member, and more clearly<br />
deline<strong>at</strong>ed responsibility for administering justice, tracking money, and corresponding with the<br />
company <strong>at</strong> home. All these measures were implicitly intended to correct wh<strong>at</strong> the company's<br />
directors perceived to be the failures of the colonial government in Brazil under Maurits'<br />
direction.<br />
This was in fact only the l<strong>at</strong>est stage in a longer history of Dutch efforts to govern the<br />
colony. The 1621 charter originally had envisaged a Governor General who would administer<br />
not only Brazil, but all of the company's territories and forts within the Western Hemisphere. It<br />
was no coincidence th<strong>at</strong> this mirrored the administr<strong>at</strong>ive structure of the VOC, which had<br />
appointed Pieter Both (1568-1615) in 1610 to serve as Governor General <strong>at</strong> B<strong>at</strong>avia with<br />
responsibility for all of the East Indies. 33 A document drafted after the short-lived seizure of<br />
Bahia in 1624, however, sought to institute a significantly less centralized model. According to<br />
this document, Bahia would be governed by a council of nine members and a rot<strong>at</strong>ing presidency<br />
th<strong>at</strong> followed the detailed represent<strong>at</strong>ive formula and hierarchy of the Heren XIX itself. 34 The<br />
plan was never implemented, as the colony was lost to a joint Portuguese-Spanish fleet the<br />
following year, but it showed the degree to which <strong>at</strong> least some of the company's directors had<br />
been unwilling to establish a strong and independent central authority in Brazil. 35 L<strong>at</strong>er, when the<br />
company captured Recife and Olinda in 1630, the Heren XIX experimented with a whole range<br />
<br />
gedaen inde vergaderinge van haer hooch Mogh. By de Heeren van der Capellen toe Ryssel, Vierssen, en van<br />
Santen de 27 Decemb: 1644.<br />
33 Gaastra, The Dutch East India Company, 62; Schiltkamp, “Legisl<strong>at</strong>ion, Government, Jurisprudence, and Law in<br />
the Dutch West Indian Colonies: The Order of Government of 1629,” 326.<br />
34 Concept van Regieringe. soo in politie als justitie in de Bahia de todos los Sanctos, ende andere plaetsen noch te<br />
veroveren in Brasil. This document was drafted by Albert Coenraads Burgh, Simon van Beaumont, Philips Doubleth<br />
and Diderich Scherff in mid-September 1624. NA 1.01.04 inv.nr. 5751A. For the discussions within the Heren XIX,<br />
see NA 1.05.01.01 inv.nr. 1, entry for 13 September 1624.<br />
35 See Stuart B. Schwartz, “The Voyage of the Vassals: Royal Power, Noble Oblig<strong>at</strong>ions, and Merchant Capital<br />
Before the Portuguese Restor<strong>at</strong>ion of Independence, 1624-1640,” The American Historical Review 96, no. 3 (June<br />
1991): 735–762.<br />
142
of different councils, including one led by two company directors who were disp<strong>at</strong>ched from the<br />
Netherlands for this purpose. Only with Maurits' selection in 1636—with the full title of<br />
Governor General—did the company concede the need for stronger leadership to protect and<br />
expand the colony. 36 The proposal to cre<strong>at</strong>e the office of President in 1644 thus represented an<br />
effort to rein in the colony's leadership, without returning to the somewh<strong>at</strong> chaotic situ<strong>at</strong>ion th<strong>at</strong><br />
had existed before Maurits took office, which had been characterized by frequent changes of<br />
personnel and nearly constant bickering between military and civilian authorities.<br />
The remaining sources do not indic<strong>at</strong>e whether the adoption of this proposal was<br />
particularly contentious. 37 The task of identifying potential candid<strong>at</strong>es for the new offices was far<br />
more difficult. Each of the company's chambers n<strong>at</strong>urally sought to advance its own candid<strong>at</strong>es<br />
and to take advantage of the p<strong>at</strong>ronage opportunities th<strong>at</strong> the offices offered. 38 But staffing the<br />
new government also exposed a set of deep ideological divides over wh<strong>at</strong> sorts of people were<br />
most qualified to serve. Maurits had been selected in 1636 in large part because he was a<br />
nobleman, with the military experience and st<strong>at</strong>us necessary to place the Brazil colony on a<br />
firmer footing. 39 As we will see, <strong>at</strong> least some actors within the St<strong>at</strong>es General and the circle<br />
around the Prince of Orange believed th<strong>at</strong> only an individual of noble birth could adequ<strong>at</strong>ely<br />
replace him. By contrast, a number of merchants within the Heren XIX were most concerned to<br />
ensure th<strong>at</strong> the new council would have adequ<strong>at</strong>e represent<strong>at</strong>ion by individuals with gre<strong>at</strong>er<br />
practical experience in trade and commerce. The intensity of this divide was perhaps exacerb<strong>at</strong>ed<br />
by the pressure under which decisions needed to be taken: by April, Maurits had been gone for<br />
nearly a year and the colony had been left in the hands of a rel<strong>at</strong>ively junior group of company<br />
<br />
36 Den Heijer, De Geschiedenis van de WIC, 43–44.<br />
37 With the exception of a handful of brief extracts, no minutes remain for the December meetings of the Heren XIX.<br />
38 For the Groningen Chamber's efforts in this regard, see Winter, De Westindische Compagnie ter Kamer Stad en<br />
Lande, 124–1<strong>25</strong>.<br />
39 Den Heijer, De Geschiedenis van de WIC, 43.<br />
143
servants. These individuals may not have been inexperienced, as Boxer pointed out, but they<br />
were hardly in a position to overawe, either. 40 A new council needed to be identified and<br />
deployed quickly.<br />
The nomin<strong>at</strong>ion of candid<strong>at</strong>es—indeed the entire process for selecting the new High<br />
Council—was kept strictly secret. The Dutch Republic was <strong>at</strong> the time notorious throughout<br />
Europe for the ease with which official secrets could be purchased or otherwise discovered, but<br />
this did not mean th<strong>at</strong> specific m<strong>at</strong>ters could not be hidden. 41 Most of the discussion <strong>at</strong> meetings<br />
of the Heren XIX was recorded in an official set of ordinary minutes for distribution to the five<br />
chambers and the St<strong>at</strong>es General, and copies occasionally appear in priv<strong>at</strong>e collections. Company<br />
affairs were also discussed in the individual chambers, provincial assemblies, and the St<strong>at</strong>es<br />
General, so th<strong>at</strong> inform<strong>at</strong>ion about the company circul<strong>at</strong>ed in the form of resolutions or<br />
resolution extracts from these bodies. The proceedings for selection of the new High Council for<br />
Brazil, however, were recorded in only two places: a separ<strong>at</strong>e, secret set of minutes from the<br />
meeting of the Heren XIX, and the secret reports delivered to the St<strong>at</strong>es General by its own<br />
represent<strong>at</strong>ives. The business of selecting the new council appears nowhere in official records of<br />
the provinces or the St<strong>at</strong>es General until the new President was announced on November 18,<br />
1645. 42 From this we might draw two conclusions: first, th<strong>at</strong> the company believed it was<br />
critically important to restrict discussion about personnel and to keep disagreements about<br />
colonial leadership from spilling into public view; and, second, th<strong>at</strong> the decisions themselves<br />
were taken by a small group of individuals behind closed doors.<br />
<br />
40 Boxer, The Dutch in Brazil, 1624-1654, 164. The remaining councilors were Hendrik Hamel, a merchant from<br />
Amsterdam, Pieter Bas, formerly a goldsmith in Haarlem, and Adriaan Bullestr<strong>at</strong>e, formerly a master carpenter in<br />
Middelburg.<br />
41 For a sophistic<strong>at</strong>ed discussion of secrecy and politics in the Dutch Republic, see De Bruin, Geheimhouding en<br />
Verraad: De Geheimhouding van Sta<strong>at</strong>szaken ten tijde van de Republiek (1600-1750).<br />
42 NA 1.01.03 inv.nr. 4845, entry for November 18, 1645.<br />
144
Extracts from the secret minutes of these meetings provide an exceptionally rich portrait<br />
of the negoti<strong>at</strong>ions. On April 14, the Heren XIX resolved to begin the nomin<strong>at</strong>ion procedure.<br />
Each director was requested to bring forward the name of one individual, subject to three<br />
important stipul<strong>at</strong>ions: the individual was to have already shown exemplary service; his name<br />
and all subsequent discussions were to be kept strictly secret; and the final selection was to be<br />
made freely and in good conscience, based exclusively upon the merits of the respective<br />
candid<strong>at</strong>es—directors were instructed explicitly th<strong>at</strong> their vote should not be constrained by any<br />
oblig<strong>at</strong>ion to their respective chambers. 43 Once this had been done, Hendrik van der Capellen,<br />
the senior represent<strong>at</strong>ive of the St<strong>at</strong>es General and a nobleman from Gelderland, administered an<br />
o<strong>at</strong>h of secrecy and collected the names from each director, so th<strong>at</strong> a secretary could assemble<br />
them into a single list. This list was read aloud and all present were requested to apprise<br />
themselves of the qualities of the individuals named therein. The election itself took place eight<br />
days l<strong>at</strong>er, on April 22, 1645, after a brief recess for Easter. It produced a new list, in which five<br />
candid<strong>at</strong>es for the office of President were ranked by the number of votes they had received. The<br />
first of these individuals would be approached directly, and, in the case he excused himself from<br />
consider<strong>at</strong>ion, the second would be approached, and so forth. A second election was then held to<br />
gener<strong>at</strong>e a rank-ordered list of twelve candid<strong>at</strong>es to fill the remaining four positions of<br />
councilor. 44<br />
<br />
43 The text of the minutes reads as follows: “Is goetgevonden en geresolveert, d<strong>at</strong> alsnu de naemen vande persoonen<br />
tot de hoge regeringe sullen werden opgegeven, ende by den yder van [de] vergaderinge, hooft voor hooft verclaert<br />
op den eet aende comp. respectivel: gedaen, d<strong>at</strong> deselve sullen werden secreet gehouden, alsmede de discoersen die<br />
daer over mogen vallen, ende d<strong>at</strong> [...] d<strong>at</strong> niemant is geobligeert aen eenige last aen syn camer om op seeckere<br />
persoonen te gaen, maer indifferent wt alle die voorgestelt worden de selve verkiesen sal vry sonder passien offe<br />
affect<strong>at</strong>ie, ende naer een yders beste kennissein goede conscientie hem int eligeren sal gedragen, op sulcke<br />
persoonen de welcke capabelle achten, omme den meesten dienst vant Lant het beste vande Comp: te bevorderen.”<br />
See NA 1.01.07 inv.nr. 1<strong>25</strong>64.17, Extract wt die secrete notulen der vergaderinge der Negentien t' Amsterdam<br />
gehouden zeder de 22 April 1645.<br />
44 Ibid.<br />
145
At this point the election was complete. It was agreed th<strong>at</strong> two company directors would<br />
begin, in the most discrete manner possible, to approach the first candid<strong>at</strong>e on the list for the<br />
office of President. Chosen for this delic<strong>at</strong>e task were two of the company's most senior figures:<br />
Albert Coenraeds Burgh and David Baute. Baute, a director in the Zeeland chamber who for<br />
many years traded in Spain, has already been introduced. Burgh was one of the original directors<br />
of the Amsterdam chamber, a regular represent<strong>at</strong>ive <strong>at</strong> the meetings of the Heren XIX, an<br />
investor in the New Netherland colony, and in the previous year Burgemeester of Amsterdam. 45<br />
3. The Failed Search for a New President<br />
The names on the list for the office of President are no longer well known, but <strong>at</strong> the time they<br />
were of considerable political st<strong>at</strong>ure. The first candid<strong>at</strong>e, Jacques Specx, had served for many<br />
years as a senior official in the Dutch East Indies, first as opperkoopman (senior merchant) in<br />
Japan from 1609-1621 and then as Governor General of the VOC <strong>at</strong> its headquarters in B<strong>at</strong>avia<br />
(modern day Jakarta) from 1629-32. 46 In many ways he must have seemed the perfect candid<strong>at</strong>e:<br />
his service in Asia would have prepared him for the political, military, and communic<strong>at</strong>ion<br />
challenges of governing the Dutch colony in Brazil, as well as for navig<strong>at</strong>ing the company's<br />
complic<strong>at</strong>ed rel<strong>at</strong>ionships with Portuguese merchants and officials in Bahia, which remained in<br />
Portuguese hands. His connections within the Netherlands were extensive. After returning from<br />
Asia, Specx married Magdalena Doubleth, sister to Philips Doubleth, Ontvanger Generael<br />
<br />
45 Johan E. Elias, De Vroedschap van Amsterdam, 1578-1795 (Amsterdam: N. Israel, 1963), 327. For Burgh's<br />
activities as an investor in New Netherland, see Jacobs, The Colony of New Netherland; Jacobs, “Johannes de Laet<br />
en de Nieuwe Wereld.”<br />
46 Boxer mistakenly assumed th<strong>at</strong> Alexander van der Capellen was the company's first choice for President; in fact<br />
he was fifth. Compare Boxer, 173-174 to NA 1.01.07 inv.nr. 1<strong>25</strong>64.17, Extract wt die secrete notulen der<br />
vergaderinge der Negentien t' Amsterdam gehouden zedert de 22 April 1645.<br />
146
Illustr<strong>at</strong>ion 9. Portrait of Jacques Specx, Stichting Iconographisch<br />
Bureau, Den Haag. Specx was a Director in the Amsterdam chamber<br />
of the West India Company and, in 1645, a candid<strong>at</strong>e for President<br />
of the High Council in Dutch Brazil.<br />
147
(Receiver General) of the United Provinces. Doubleth was in turn married to Geertruyd<br />
Huygens, sister of Constantijn Huygens, Secretaris to Frederik Hendrik, the Prince of Orange.<br />
This marriage therefore placed Specx firmly within the inner circles of the Dutch aristocracy.<br />
Finally, in 1642 Specx became a director of the Amsterdam chamber of the WIC and, two years<br />
l<strong>at</strong>er, served as the company's chief spokesman during crucial negoti<strong>at</strong>ions <strong>at</strong> the St<strong>at</strong>es of<br />
Holland over renewal of the company's charter. He thus had ties to three key constituencies:<br />
Amsterdam merchants, the financial, cultural, and political elite <strong>at</strong> The Hague, and the company<br />
itself. 47<br />
Burgh and Baute approached Specx on April <strong>25</strong>, but with little success: Specx indic<strong>at</strong>ed<br />
th<strong>at</strong> he was eager to be of service to the company, and offered to conduct a review of the<br />
company's various overseas possessions, but he refused the office of President in Brazil. 48 The<br />
Heren XIX were not s<strong>at</strong>isfied with this response and resolved to approach Specx again. Specx<br />
held his ground, though, and on <strong>May</strong> 2 Burch and Baute were authorized to approach the second<br />
candid<strong>at</strong>e on the list, Bernard Julsinck, then Burgemeester of Groningen. Like Specx, Julsinck<br />
was a shareholder in the company, and from 1631, a director of the Groningen chamber. In the<br />
fall of 1641 and 1644 he represented Groningen <strong>at</strong> meetings of the Heren XIX. Unlike Specx,<br />
however, Julsink's experience was squarely in city government, r<strong>at</strong>her than colonial affairs. He<br />
was Secretaris to the provincial Hoofdmanskamer (High Council) from 1618-1620, a<br />
represent<strong>at</strong>ive to the Generaliteitsrekenkamer (General Accounting Office) from 1622-1624,<br />
cur<strong>at</strong>or of the city's academy in 1627, and either Hoofdman or Burgemeester almost every year<br />
<br />
47 See Den Heijer, “Plannen voor Samenvoeging van VOC en WIC.” On Specx connections to the Huygens family,<br />
see Kees Zandvliet, ed., De <strong>25</strong>0 Rijksten van de Gouden Eeuw: Kapitaal, Macht, Familie en Levensstijl (Nieuw<br />
Amsterdam: Rijksmuseum, 2006), 46.<br />
48 NA 1.01.07 inv.nr. 1<strong>25</strong>64.17, Extract van de vergadering van de Heren XIX, 2 <strong>May</strong> 1645 en 17 Juny 1645. It<br />
appears th<strong>at</strong> Specx fulfilled this promise: see his review of WIC finances in each of the conquest areas in NA<br />
1.10.78 inv.nr. 8, fols. 115-120, tre<strong>at</strong>ed in detail in Chapter Six of this dissert<strong>at</strong>ion.<br />
148
thereafter. 49 His appeal presumably stemmed from this service, and perhaps also from<br />
Groningen's rel<strong>at</strong>ively neutral st<strong>at</strong>us in the long-running feud between the Amsterdam and<br />
Zeeland chambers of the company.<br />
Wh<strong>at</strong>ever the Company saw in him, however, was not reciproc<strong>at</strong>ed. Julsinck refused the<br />
position outright, on the r<strong>at</strong>her flimsy grounds th<strong>at</strong> he was bound by o<strong>at</strong>h to serve out the<br />
remainder of his term as Burgemeester of Groningen. 50 By this time it was already l<strong>at</strong>e June and<br />
the company's directors, along with the St<strong>at</strong>es General, were getting anxious. The selection<br />
process had taken far too long, and little more had been achieved in the intervening months; with<br />
winter approaching, it would soon be too l<strong>at</strong>e to disp<strong>at</strong>ch the new council to Brazil. In April the<br />
directors had raised the President's salary from 1,000 to 1,<strong>25</strong>0 guilders per month—a<br />
considerable sum, against which the directors of the North Holland chamber vigorously<br />
protested—in the hope of <strong>at</strong>tracting qualified candid<strong>at</strong>es. 51 Their first two choices had refused<br />
even this. No records remain for the discussions with candid<strong>at</strong>es three and four: Albert Ruyl,<br />
Stadspensionaris (Pensionary) of the city of Haarlem, and Nanning de Keyser, Secretaris of the<br />
city of Hoorn. 52 But presumably they refused also, perhaps priv<strong>at</strong>ely, for Hendrick van der<br />
Capellen reported to the St<strong>at</strong>es General in l<strong>at</strong>e July th<strong>at</strong> no candid<strong>at</strong>e had yet agreed to the<br />
position and th<strong>at</strong> the m<strong>at</strong>ter would have to await resolution <strong>at</strong> the next meeting of the Heren XIX,<br />
scheduled to take place in Middelburg in September. 53<br />
<br />
49<br />
Groninger Archief 1700 inv.nr. 16, Lijst van Gezagdragers vermeld in het Regeringsboek afkomstig uit het<br />
Gemeente-Archief Groningen, 1594-ca. 1811, 81.<br />
50<br />
NA 1.01.07 inv.nr. 1<strong>25</strong>64.17, Extract van de vergadering van de Heren XIX, 27 Juny 1645.<br />
51<br />
Ibid., Extract wt die secrete notulen der vergaderinge der Negentien t' Amsterdam gehouden zeder de 22 April<br />
1645. Boxer st<strong>at</strong>es th<strong>at</strong> Maurits' salary had been 1500 guilders per month, plus expenses, though proposals drafted in<br />
1636 list the astonishing sum of 50,000 guilders per year. See NA 1.01.07, inv.nr. 1<strong>25</strong>64.20; Boxer, The Dutch in<br />
Brazil, 1624-1654, 69.<br />
52<br />
Ibid.<br />
53<br />
NA 1.01.07 inv.nr. 1<strong>25</strong>64.17, Rapport Sommierlyck gedaen by die Heeren vander Cappelen toe-Ryssel, Herbers,<br />
en Nykerck van di principaelste Poincten inde besoignes van die vergaderinge der Negentien t'Amsterdam<br />
voorgevallen zeder Martio 1645.<br />
149
Why did these candid<strong>at</strong>es all refuse wh<strong>at</strong> would appear to have been a quite prestigious<br />
and lucr<strong>at</strong>ive position? We c<strong>at</strong>ch a glimpse on an answer from the case of Alexander van der<br />
Capellen, Hendrick van der Capellen's younger brother and the fifth name on the list. Alexander<br />
was born into a noble family from Zutphen along the United Provinces' eastern border with<br />
Germany sometime between 1590 and 1600. He studied law, history, and Arabic <strong>at</strong> Leiden and<br />
spent several years abroad, primarily in France. When he returned to the United Provinces in the<br />
early 1620s he was selected to join the city council of Zutphen; shortly thereafter he was<br />
appointed deputy from Gelderland to the Generaliteitsrekenkamer (Generality Accounting<br />
Officer), the Raad van Sta<strong>at</strong> (Council of St<strong>at</strong>e), and finally the St<strong>at</strong>es General. Around 1635 he<br />
moved into the circle around the Prince of Orange, Frederik Hendrik, whom he served as a<br />
trusted advisor under the l<strong>at</strong>ter's de<strong>at</strong>h in 1647. 54 Like other Dutch nobleman of the period who<br />
chose to remain active in st<strong>at</strong>e service, he maintained his est<strong>at</strong>e in Gelderland but spent the<br />
majority of his time <strong>at</strong> the court and in the daily conduct of public affairs <strong>at</strong> The Hague. 55<br />
According to one of his descendants—a partial, though not therefore necessarily inaccur<strong>at</strong>e,<br />
source—Alexander was a pious but un-dogm<strong>at</strong>ic public servant, who “understood fundamentally<br />
the limit<strong>at</strong>ions of our system of government, and likewise the difficulties involved in reforming<br />
it.” 56<br />
<br />
54<br />
Alexander van der Capellen, Gedenkschriften van Jonkheer Alexander van der Capellen, Heere van Aartsbergen,<br />
Boedelhoff, en Mervelt, ed. Robert Jasper van der Capellen (Utrecht: J. v. Schoonhoven en Comp., 1777), xxxiii;<br />
Molhuysen, Nieuw Nederlandsch Biografisch Woordenboek, 569–570. Vol. 1.<br />
55<br />
Van Nierop, Van Ridders tot Regenten: De Hollandse Adel in de Zestiende en de Eerste Helft van de Zeventiende<br />
Eeuw, 151.<br />
56<br />
Van der Capellen, Gedenkschriften van Jonkheer Alexander van der Capellen, Heere van Aartsbergen,<br />
Boedelhoff, en Mervelt, xlii. “De gebreken van ons Sta<strong>at</strong>sbestuur kende hij grondig; doch hij wist te gelijk, hoe<br />
moeielijk het zij, dezelven te verbeteren.”<br />
150
Illustr<strong>at</strong>ion 10. Portrait of Alexander van der Capellen. From the<br />
Gedenkschriften van Jonkheer Alexander van der Capellen (Utrecht:<br />
J .v. Schoonhoven, 1777). He was an advisor to Frederik Hendrik,<br />
Prince of Orange, and, in 1645, a candid<strong>at</strong>e for President of the High<br />
Council in Dutch Brazil.<br />
151
Alexander's name was almost certainly put forward by his older brother over the course<br />
of the difficult meetings of the Heren XIX th<strong>at</strong> Hendrik chaired in l<strong>at</strong>e 1644 and early 1645. But<br />
the former's qualific<strong>at</strong>ions were obvious: his f<strong>at</strong>her and brother both were investors in the WIC,<br />
he had a close rel<strong>at</strong>ionship with the Prince of Orange, and his knowledge of politics and law<br />
would be indispensible to the company's efforts to organize the new government in Brazil. Once<br />
again, however, the difficulty was to convince such a man th<strong>at</strong> the position was worthy of his<br />
st<strong>at</strong>us and efforts. Alexander's response to the proposal—detailed in a series of reflections he<br />
composed from the early 1620s to the early 1650s, and which was published as a memoir in the<br />
l<strong>at</strong>e eighteenth century—reveals his serious reserv<strong>at</strong>ions about both the company's prospects in<br />
general and, perhaps more important, the specific expect<strong>at</strong>ions the directors had of the new<br />
President and council.<br />
In Alexander's estim<strong>at</strong>ion, the company was in dire straights: poor management by the<br />
directors and the malfeasance of company servants were partly to blame, but the largest troubles<br />
resulted from the spiraling costs of defending the company's sc<strong>at</strong>tered conquests. At first these<br />
had added to the WIC's wealth and prestige, but now they thre<strong>at</strong>ened to ruin the investors and<br />
drag the company into bankruptcy. For a nobleman Van der Capellen's metrics were perhaps<br />
surprisingly businesslike: “stock in the company, which recently was trading above [the face<br />
value of] 100 guilders, now lies so low th<strong>at</strong> a capital of 100,000 guilders can be purchased for<br />
30,000 [guilders], the promised distributions or rents have ceased, and all the company's income<br />
is absorbed in the heavy costs of war.” There were still good returns to be expected from Brazil,<br />
New Netherland, and the coast of Africa, he observed, but these returns now fell into the hands<br />
of priv<strong>at</strong>e traders, “who are favored by the directors of the company.” 57 As a result, the company<br />
<br />
57 Ibid., vol. 2, 111. “Synde d'Actien, die over de hondert plechten te gelden , nu so laegh geloopen, d<strong>at</strong> een Capitael<br />
van hondert dusent gulden gekost konde worden voor dertigh dusent guldens, ende komende de beloofde<br />
152
was flirting with complete collapse. This dim view, incidentally, was not the result of a long-<br />
standing prejudice against the WIC or its directors: as l<strong>at</strong>e as December 1644 Alexander asked<br />
his brother to buy an additional 6,000 guilders worth of stock on the open market for 55 guilders<br />
a share. 58 At th<strong>at</strong> point—only six months before he penned the lines above—he either believed<br />
th<strong>at</strong> this figure represented a bargain or he was committed to investing for reasons of pride and<br />
prestige. 59 In either case, he presumably believed th<strong>at</strong> the company's fortunes stood a reasonable<br />
chance of improving.<br />
Now Alexander worried th<strong>at</strong> the company would have trouble finding anyone fit to<br />
assume the office of President. The directors desired someone with a lower profile than Maurits,<br />
whom they could more easily control. But who would accept such a position? Alexander's<br />
comments concerning his own candidacy, which apparently came as a complete surprise, were<br />
unequivocal:<br />
I have always said, and had written to my brother, th<strong>at</strong> I had no reason to go so far over the sea in<br />
the service of merchants, and th<strong>at</strong> it would still not appeal to me if the contract, now grown to<br />
1,800 guilders per month, was made still gre<strong>at</strong>er. 60<br />
<br />
uytdeilongen of renten te cesseren, ende alle het inkomen van de Compagnie geabsorbeert te worden in de swaere<br />
lasten van oorlogh, ende onderhoudinghe van Forten ende Comtooren. Daer quamen wel goede retouren van Brasil<br />
ende Nieuw Nederlandt, als oock van de kust van Africa; maer d'openstellinge van de handel in Brasil dede alle, ofte<br />
de beste retouren komen in handen van particuliere reeders, die by de Bewinthebberen wierden gefavoriseert. Alle<br />
die uyt Brasil wederomme t'huys quamen, waren verryckt.”<br />
58 See Alexander van der Capellen's rekenboeck in the Gelders Archief, 0467, inv.nr. 134, fol. 49.<br />
59 Evidence for the l<strong>at</strong>ter motiv<strong>at</strong>ion might be read in his reference to "a capital of 100,000 guilders," the investment<br />
threshold required for a city to merit a director in the Amsterdam chamber.<br />
60 Van der Capellen, Gedenkschriften van Jonkheer Alexander van der Capellen, Heere van Aartsbergen,<br />
Boedelhoff, en Mervelt, vol. 2, 111. “De titul ende macht van President, versien met goede instructie, wierde<br />
geordeelt de meeste ende aengenaemste diensten te kunnen doen, maer men wiste niet, waer men de persoon daertoe<br />
bequaemst soude kunnen vinden, tot d<strong>at</strong> by de vergaderinghe geresolveert wiert, daertoe vyf voorgestelde ende de<br />
Cameren aengenaeme persoonen te fondeeren, daeronder ick Alexander van der Capellen een was, ende gestelt<br />
wierde voor aen, hoewel butn myn kennisse, toedoen ofte versoeck. Als nu myn broeder my dese sake bekent<br />
gemaeckt hadde, ende ick die by my overleyt, hebbe ick altydt geseyt, ende myn Broeder geschreven gehadt, d<strong>at</strong> ick<br />
geen reden hadde, om soo wydt over See te gaen in dienst van coopluden, konde oock daertoe geen treck krygen,<br />
alwaer 't d<strong>at</strong> het tractement, nu begrootet op 1800. gulden ter maendt, noch grooter gemaeckt mochte worden.”<br />
153
None of the remaining records indic<strong>at</strong>e th<strong>at</strong> such a sum was on offer, though given the<br />
company's desper<strong>at</strong>ion it is certainly not inconceivable. But Alexander went further still, offering<br />
a bit of advice from classical history on wh<strong>at</strong> he believed was needed to get the company back on<br />
its feet:<br />
In order to restore all the affairs of the company, for the good of the generality and the<br />
s<strong>at</strong>isfaction of the participants, it would be necessary not only to know the various needs of the<br />
company in Brazil, but also to have the power and authority here in the general meetings of the<br />
XIX, and in the respective chambers of Holland, Zeeland, and Groningen. The Romans, finding<br />
themselves in such a position of weakness, where the well-being of the Republic was in jeopardy,<br />
sought remedy in the installment of a Dict<strong>at</strong>or, and therein found relief. 61<br />
Here Alexander was no longer talking about the company's military conquests abroad or its<br />
finances <strong>at</strong> home: the key trouble, in his view, was political. Competition and the endless<br />
bickering between chambers was undermining the company's effectiveness. No individual could<br />
be successful in Brazil without unified authority and support—least of all a political lightweight<br />
selected explicitly for his pliability in the hands of the company's directors. Such a post could<br />
hardly be appealing to a nobleman, especially with memories of Maurits' involuntary recall still<br />
fresh. 62<br />
This same antip<strong>at</strong>hy to the company's directors can be found in the diary of Willem<br />
Frederik (1613-1664), a nephew of Frederik Hendrik and the Stadholder of Friesland, where he<br />
maintained a separ<strong>at</strong>e court. In an entry from August 1643, Frederik noted th<strong>at</strong> Maurits always<br />
had been mistre<strong>at</strong>ed by the company's directors, from whom he could expect nothing “but<br />
<br />
61 Ibid., 112-113. “Tot herstellinghe van alle dese saken in sulken staet, d<strong>at</strong> de gewenschte vruchten daer uyt<br />
mochten resulteeren, tot dienst van 't landt in 't gemeen ende genoegen van de participanten, was niet alleene<br />
wysheyt van nooden, om alles wel dirigeeren in Brasil, maer oock macht en autoriteyt, om goede voorslagen te doen<br />
hebben effect hier te lande onder de generale vergaderinghe van XIX, ende in de respective Cameren in Hollant,<br />
Zeelant ende Groningen. De Romeynen, komende te vervallen in groote swarigheyden, daer by de welstandt van<br />
haer Republique pericliteerde, sochten haer remedien in 't aenstellen van een Dict<strong>at</strong>eur, ende hebben sich daer wel<br />
by bevonden.”<br />
62 It may be worth noting th<strong>at</strong>, even in the age of the joint-stock company, classical scholarship still provided<br />
important guidance for practical affairs.<br />
154
quarrels and affronts.” As merchants they were jealous of his st<strong>at</strong>us and incapable of showing<br />
him the deference he deserved. 63 It was in many ways a replay of the sentiments expressed when<br />
the WIC was founded in the early 1620s. As we saw in the Chapter 2, whereas the St<strong>at</strong>es General<br />
and the Prince of Orange preferred a more prominent role for the nobility in governing the<br />
company's affairs, and a more centralized system for administering the colonies, merchants and<br />
city magistr<strong>at</strong>es were lo<strong>at</strong>h to allow their business interests to be subordin<strong>at</strong>ed to the militaristic<br />
and lavish tastes of the court. Now, two decades l<strong>at</strong>er, this same conflict was plaguing the effort<br />
to find a President for Brazil. Alexander wished the Company well, but noted th<strong>at</strong>:<br />
Little should be expected, even if the wisest man in the land were sent. I see no hope for there to<br />
be a dict<strong>at</strong>or, and also know no man in the st<strong>at</strong>e who would be fit for th<strong>at</strong> post. And I am<br />
therefore resolved to leave this advantage to someone else, who seeks it, and the honor of the<br />
Presidency to he who shall merit it and be chosen lawfully. 64<br />
4. Magistr<strong>at</strong>es, Merchants, and the Politics of Administr<strong>at</strong>ion<br />
N<strong>at</strong>urally, <strong>at</strong> least some of the company's directors saw the problem differently than did<br />
Alexander van der Capellen: although worried about filling the office of President, they also<br />
were concerned th<strong>at</strong> the new council contain adequ<strong>at</strong>e represent<strong>at</strong>ion from the merchant<br />
community. Such represent<strong>at</strong>ion was, they believed, the only way to ensure th<strong>at</strong> the colony<br />
<br />
63 Willem Frederik, Gloria Parendi: Dagboeken Van Willem Frederik, Stadhouder Van Friesland, Groningen, En<br />
Drenthe. 1643-1649, 1651-1654 (Den Haag: Nederlands Historisch Genootschap, 1995), entry for August 9, 1643.<br />
“D<strong>at</strong> de [Westindische] Compagnie noch op hem pretendeert, daerom Kijn hem geraeden heeft sooveul te sijn [zien]<br />
te bekomen als hij kan, wanneer hij vandaer gaet, want van de coopluyden heeft hij niet te verwachten als querelen,<br />
questien, affronten, want de coopluyden mit luyden van f<strong>at</strong>soen niet om kunnen gaen.”<br />
64 Van der Capellen, Gedenkschriften van Jonkheer Alexander van der Capellen, Heere van Aartsbergen,<br />
Boedelhoff, en Mervelt, vol. 2, 113. “Men magh die w<strong>at</strong> levende houden, maer groot voordeel verwachte ick daervan<br />
niet, al is 't, d<strong>at</strong> de wyste man van 't lant gesonden wort. Ick sie geen hoope, om tot een Dict<strong>at</strong>eur ten kunnen komen,<br />
ende kenne oock niemant in den Staet, die daertoe bequaem soude wesen. Ende bin daeromme geresolveert het<br />
voordeel te laeten aen die geene, die het soeken, ende d'eere van President te gunnen aen dien geene, die het sal<br />
meriteeren, ende dien geene, die daertoe wettelick gekooren sal worden, te wenschen wysheyt om soodanigh amt<br />
wel uyttevoeren, ende macht om te kunnen doen, 't geene ten besten van de Compagnie sal strecken.”<br />
155
would be profitable and th<strong>at</strong> their own investment in the company, and traders' interests more<br />
generally, would be protected. These concerns are most apparent in the process to select the four<br />
councilors th<strong>at</strong> would serve with the President in Brazil. The process to select these individuals<br />
began concurrently with the selection of the President, but made headway far more quickly. On<br />
June 27, Charles Loten, the Amsterdam director who evidently had been charged with<br />
approaching candid<strong>at</strong>es, reported to the Heren XIX th<strong>at</strong> three individuals had already excused<br />
themselves. These included Pieter Dircksz. Ben, formerly Burgemeester of Hoorn and a director<br />
in the North Holland chamber of the company, Jacob Schagen Hoochland, Burgemeester of<br />
Alkmaar, and Anthony de Hout, a merchant from Dordrecht. Loten also reported, however, th<strong>at</strong><br />
two individuals had agreed to accept the position: Michiel van Goch, Stadspensionaris of<br />
Vlissingen, and Simon van Beaumont, one of the company's two lawyers and Secretaris of the<br />
city of Dordrecht. 65<br />
This was welcome news, but it raised an unanticip<strong>at</strong>ed problem. A discussion<br />
immedi<strong>at</strong>ely ensued in which it was observed th<strong>at</strong> both Van Goch and Van Beaumont “were<br />
persons with more experience in government and politics than in trade, and th<strong>at</strong> the others who<br />
had more knowledge of trade already had excused themselves.” 66 A proposal was therefore put<br />
forward to address this deficit by supplementing the existing list. This proposal was approved<br />
just two days l<strong>at</strong>er—a minor miracle given the often-glacial pace of decision-making—since it<br />
was concluded th<strong>at</strong>, “one or two persons who understand trade must be in the High Council.” 67<br />
The fact th<strong>at</strong> agreement on this point could be reached so swiftly, and th<strong>at</strong> the elabor<strong>at</strong>e process<br />
<br />
65<br />
NA 1.01.07 inv.nr. 1<strong>25</strong>64.17, Extract van de vergadering van de Heren XIX, 27 Juny 1645. On Van Goch, see<br />
Boxer, The Dutch in Brazil, 1624-1654, 266–267.<br />
66<br />
NA 1.01.07 inv.nr. 1<strong>25</strong>64.17, Extract van de vergadering van de Heren XIX, entry for June 27, 1645. “syn<br />
persoonen meer ervaren in t stuck van regeringe en polityc, als wel in de coopmanschap, ende d<strong>at</strong> d'andere die van t<br />
voorz. stuck van de coopmanschap meer kenisse hadden sich hebben geexcuseert.”<br />
67<br />
Ibid., entry for June 29, 1645. “ende noch ongesondeert persoonen soude wenden afgegaen ende een of twe<br />
persoonen haer de coopmanschap verstaende onder de raden van de Hoge regeringe behooren te wesen is by<br />
provisie vast te stellen d<strong>at</strong> der een coopman onder sal wesen.”<br />
156
used to nomin<strong>at</strong>e and rank-order the candid<strong>at</strong>es only a few weeks earlier could be suspended<br />
without serious objection, indic<strong>at</strong>es how important the company's directors considered the<br />
m<strong>at</strong>ter. As a result of the proposal, three new names were put forward: Abraham Trouwers, a<br />
director from the Amsterdam chamber and the company's Rekenmeester; Nicholas<br />
Koeckebacker, Schepen (Alderman) from Delft; and Hendrik Haecxs, a merchant living in<br />
Amsterdam. It was hoped th<strong>at</strong> these additions would help to solve the problem and help balance<br />
the council. But would any of these three individuals accept?<br />
Hendrik Haecxs' story is well known among Dutch scholars thanks to a lengthy diary he<br />
began <strong>at</strong> this time. 68 Although almost nothing is known of his life, it is clear th<strong>at</strong> Haecxs had<br />
lived and worked as a merchant in Brazil during the early 1640s. He appears in the minutes of<br />
the Hoge ende Secrete Raad as early as 1641, when he signed a petition complaining about the<br />
preferential tre<strong>at</strong>ment afforded to Jewish merchants in the colony, and again in April 1644, when<br />
he received payment of 475 guilders in return for goods specified to be “for the service of his<br />
Excellency,” meaning Maurits. 69 It seems likely th<strong>at</strong> this service brought Haecxs to the <strong>at</strong>tention<br />
of the company's directors. Haecxs recorded in his diary th<strong>at</strong> he was informed of the company's<br />
interest in his service by a friend while he was <strong>at</strong>tending a wedding on June 29, 1645. A week<br />
l<strong>at</strong>er, three directors, including Loten, visited his house to communic<strong>at</strong>e directly the wishes of<br />
the Heren XIX:<br />
After ripe deliber<strong>at</strong>ion, they had unanimously voted my name, in order (if it pleased me) th<strong>at</strong> I<br />
should take a place in the Hoge ende Secrete Raad, not doubting whether this would be an honor<br />
to God, an improvement of the desol<strong>at</strong>e st<strong>at</strong>e of the company, as well as the many widows and<br />
orphans supported thereby, and my own reput<strong>at</strong>ion. 70<br />
<br />
68 Haecxs, “Het Dagboek van Hendrik Haecxs, Lid van den Hoogen Raad van Brazilië (1645-1654).”<br />
69 NA 1.05.01.01 inv.nr. 56, Overgekomen brieven en papieren van Brazilie, packet for 1641 and NA 1.05.01.01<br />
inv.nr. 70, Minuten van de Hoge en Secrete Raed in Brazilie, entry for April 30, 1644. I must thank Lucia Xavier for<br />
finding and calling my <strong>at</strong>tention to these sources.<br />
70 Haecxs, “Het Dagboek van Hendrik Haecxs, Lid van den Hoogen Raad van Brazilië (1645-1654),” entry for July<br />
5, 1645, 150. “na veel rijpe deliber<strong>at</strong>ie mijne persoon eenparichlijck hadden gestemt, om (soo Ick wilde) mij plaetse<br />
157
Haecxs thanked them for the honor they had offered him and requested time to think it over.<br />
Loten made clear th<strong>at</strong> he would have to make a quick decision: the meeting of the Heren XIX<br />
was scheduled to close in two days time and a resolution would be needed before then. 71 Haecxs<br />
thus was given only until the following morning to give his reply; the directors furnished him<br />
with copies of the two resolutions detailing the structure of the new Council and then departed<br />
with the following words:<br />
Considering wh<strong>at</strong> fine members, indeed the best in our land, th<strong>at</strong> hope for and work to gain this<br />
position, and th<strong>at</strong> we on the contrary come bearing the request to you, like a servant approaching<br />
his master, we hope th<strong>at</strong> the prospect of spreading God's honor and the many <strong>at</strong>tractions of the<br />
position shall anim<strong>at</strong>e you to accept, and th<strong>at</strong> this visit shall not be a waste of our efforts.<br />
Certainly it would bring you honor and reput<strong>at</strong>ion, along with gre<strong>at</strong> profit, the ador<strong>at</strong>ion of all the<br />
world, and undying renown. 72<br />
Haecxs agonized over the decision, weighing the duty he felt to assist the company against the<br />
risks and hardships of leaving his family, friends, and business for so long. But when Loten<br />
returned the following morning Haecxs answered in the affirm<strong>at</strong>ive: he would go to Brazil.<br />
Loten and the other two directors congr<strong>at</strong>ul<strong>at</strong>ed him and shared their sentiment th<strong>at</strong> this would be<br />
most welcome news to bring back to the Heren XIX. 73<br />
Three days earlier Abraham Trouwers also had accepted the company's offer, which<br />
meant th<strong>at</strong> the council was now complete, save the office of President. Whereas Haecxs' case<br />
<br />
van Ho. en Secrete Raet aldaer t’ offereren en op te dragen, niet twijffelende of Ick soude sulcx tot Gods eere, tot<br />
wederoprechtinge van den desol<strong>at</strong>en Staet der Comp. en veeler weduwen en weesen geinteresseerde en reput<strong>at</strong>ie van<br />
min eijgen persoon gewillichlijck op mij nemen.”<br />
71 The historian L'Honoré Naber, who edited Haecxs' diary, believed th<strong>at</strong> Haecxs was approached because of fears<br />
concerning a possible revolt in Brazil. This is true in the most general sense, but the proxim<strong>at</strong>e cause was the need to<br />
place more merchants on the High Council. See Ibid., 133.<br />
72 Haecxs, “Het Dagboek van Hendrik Haecxs, Lid van den Hoogen Raad van Brazilië (1645-1654),” entry for July<br />
5, 1645, 151. “Considereert eens, w<strong>at</strong> fraije liedens, Jae de Beste van ons landt, d<strong>at</strong> selfs na dese Charge hoopen en<br />
veele vrunden utmaecken, daer wij u ter contrarij, ghelijc een serviteur sijn M<strong>at</strong>resse carresseert, coomen<br />
versoecken; soo d<strong>at</strong> wij hoopen, d<strong>at</strong> het voortplanten van Gods eere het veelvoudich suchten veeler geinteresseerden<br />
u sal animeren en wij geen verlooren moeijte en mogen doen. Sekerlijc, de eere en reput<strong>at</strong>ie, als mede het groot<br />
profijt, en voorts van alle Werelt geadoreert te worden en sich daerdoor een onsterffelijcke renommee te maecken,<br />
en behoorde een lange utstel te begeren.”<br />
73 Ibid., entry for July 6, 1645, 152.<br />
158
provides an intim<strong>at</strong>e look <strong>at</strong> the rhetoric used to encourage potential candid<strong>at</strong>es, and, along with<br />
Alexander van der Capellen’s memoires, some of the factors candid<strong>at</strong>es may have considered,<br />
Trouwers’ case gives a sense of wh<strong>at</strong> the company was hoping to achieve. Trouwers left behind<br />
no diary and records of his life are scarce, but a document in the collection of the St<strong>at</strong>es General<br />
from this period shows exactly the skills the company thought he might bring to bear in Brazil. 74<br />
In 1642, after a separ<strong>at</strong>e, and equally long, set of deliber<strong>at</strong>ions, the WIC had cre<strong>at</strong>ed a<br />
Generaal Rekenkamer (General Accounting Office) to coordin<strong>at</strong>e the activities of the chambers'<br />
individual accountants and to advise the company on m<strong>at</strong>ters of finance and trade. 75 This office<br />
had, among other responsibilities, the difficult task of reconciling the company's books <strong>at</strong> the end<br />
of each year. According to the WIC charter, the chambers were to particip<strong>at</strong>e in the company in a<br />
set proportion—Amsterdam 4/9, Zeeland 2/9, and the other three chambers each 1/9—but every<br />
chamber remained responsible for provisioning its own ships and auctioning the goods th<strong>at</strong><br />
returned from abroad. In the abstract this meant th<strong>at</strong> the company would oper<strong>at</strong>e like a modern<br />
cartel consisting of five independent companies, with the important exception th<strong>at</strong> <strong>at</strong> the end of<br />
each period the total expenses and profits were to be redistributed consistent with the proportions<br />
laid out in the charter. 76 This required a Herculean effort in bookkeeping and coordin<strong>at</strong>ion<br />
between the company's ever-suspicious chambers. The new Generaal Rekenkamer was designed<br />
to simplify this process, both practically and politically, by centralizing the company's financial<br />
work in one office. Its first director was Abraham Trouwers.<br />
<br />
74 NA 1.01.07 inv.nr. 1<strong>25</strong>64.17, Consider<strong>at</strong>ien van de generale Reeckencamer aende Ed. vergaderinge der xix van t'<br />
gene alhier te Lande mitsgaders in Brasil ende andere conquesten van die Comp. souden kennen Jaerlyx<br />
gemenageert worden, overgegeven den 22 Juny 1645.<br />
75 NA 1.01.05 inv.nr. 9410.<br />
76 See Eli F. Heckscher, Mercantilism, trans. Mendel Shapiro (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1955), vol. 1, 364.<br />
For a review of the history of financial institutions in the Netherlands, see Jacobus Thomas de Smidt, Van Tresorier<br />
tot Thesaurier-Generaal: zes Eeuwen Financieel Beleid in Handen van een Hoge Nederlandse Ambtsdrager<br />
(Hilversum: Uitgeverij Verloren, 1996).<br />
159
On June 22, 1645—just a week before the Heren XIX decided to supplement its list of<br />
candid<strong>at</strong>es for the council in Brazil—Trouwers and a colleague, Gerrit Janssen de Vry, submitted<br />
a set of consider<strong>at</strong>ions on how the WIC could save money in Brazil and its other conquests. The<br />
twelve points in this document shed some light on both Trouwer's approach to the company's<br />
finances and on the specific problems the company confronted as it tried to manage and integr<strong>at</strong>e<br />
the flow of commodities between the dispar<strong>at</strong>e parts of its empire. The first three<br />
recommend<strong>at</strong>ions all rel<strong>at</strong>ed to cutting costs associ<strong>at</strong>ed with personnel and physical<br />
infrastructure in Brazil: according to the Rekenkamer's calcul<strong>at</strong>ions, by reducing the number of<br />
support staff in the army, requiring soldiers to cover additional aspects of their own upkeep, and<br />
reducing the number of warehouses in Brazil, the company could save 350,000 guilders a year.<br />
Two other recommend<strong>at</strong>ions addressed the trade to West Africa: 55,000 guilders could be saved<br />
by better coordin<strong>at</strong>ing shipping to Arguin, Senegal, and Cape Verde, and by using ships bound<br />
for Guinea to provision the recently-captured island of São Tomé. Then followed<br />
recommend<strong>at</strong>ions for trimming the company's expenses <strong>at</strong> home: taken together, Trouwers and<br />
De Vry believed th<strong>at</strong> <strong>25</strong>0,000 guilders could be saved by making procurement more efficient,<br />
selling off unnecessary armaments and the ship-building yard in Amsterdam, and restricting the<br />
meetings of the Heren XIX to twice yearly. 77<br />
But by far the most significant savings could be made by reducing the number of ships<br />
the company owned and leasing ships instead. Straightforward in itself, this recommend<strong>at</strong>ion led<br />
Trouwers and De Vry to calcul<strong>at</strong>e the number of ships th<strong>at</strong> were needed to carry supplies and<br />
trade goods within each of the conquests on an annual basis. The result provides a stark, if<br />
<br />
77 NA 1.01.07 inv.nr. 1<strong>25</strong>64.17, Consider<strong>at</strong>ien van de generale Reeckencamer aende Ed. vergaderinge der xix van t'<br />
gene alhier te Lande mitsgaders in Brasil ende andere conquesten van die Comp. souden kennen Jaerlyx<br />
gemenageert worden, overgegeven den 22 Juny 1645.<br />
160
idealized represent<strong>at</strong>ion of the rel<strong>at</strong>ive priority th<strong>at</strong> the company gave to each of the areas under<br />
its control:<br />
The ships which are needed yearly in the conquests of the company are:<br />
in Guinea 4<br />
in Argyn, Cabo Verde, Gambia, and Sierra Leone 4<br />
in São Tomé 2<br />
in Loanda 12<br />
in New Netherland and Curaçao 2<br />
in Brazil 24<br />
48<br />
Subtracting the eighteen ships th<strong>at</strong> the company owned yielded thirty ships to be leased, each of<br />
which would save the company 1,200 guilders per month, for a total of 432,000 guilders per<br />
year. The exact manner in which leasing offered a savings over ownership was not made explicit,<br />
but the importance placed on Brazil and Angola—which together were expected to employ three<br />
quarters of the company's 48 ships—is unmistakable. Equally important is the sense the<br />
document conveys of its authors' groping efforts to identify a workable system to integr<strong>at</strong>e the<br />
flow of people and goods. Although Portugal had pioneered the Triangular Trade a half-century<br />
earlier, the WIC had only entered the slave trade in the mid-1630s, and had yet to develop a<br />
workable formula. 78 Trouwers’ eye for saving money and his familiarity with these complic<strong>at</strong>ed<br />
geo-commercial issues made him a perfect candid<strong>at</strong>e to oversee the company's trading interests<br />
as a member of the council in Brazil, the colony <strong>at</strong> the center of the WIC's Atlantic system.<br />
<br />
78 Robin Blackburn, The Making of New World Slavery (London: Verso, 1997). See also Ernst van den Boogaart and<br />
Pieter Emmer, “The Dutch Particip<strong>at</strong>ion in the Atlantic Slave Trade, 1596-1650.” The company's role in the slave<br />
trade will be discussed in the next chapter.<br />
161
5. Wolter Schonenborch and the Rituals of Office<br />
With four councilors—Van Goch, Van Beaumont, Haecxs, and Trouwers—in place, the most<br />
important item on the agenda for the fall meeting of the Heren XIX in Middelburg was to select a<br />
President, and quickly. The first three days of the meeting were consumed with news of the<br />
Portuguese revolt in Brazil, which had arrived by ship the previous week. 79 But once all the<br />
available intelligence had been sifted and preliminary measures taken to address the crisis, the<br />
deleg<strong>at</strong>es turned to the issue of staffing the new council. Discussion began on September 13, but<br />
was delayed by a complaint lodged by the represent<strong>at</strong>ive from Groningen th<strong>at</strong> Daniel Alberti, a<br />
servant of th<strong>at</strong> province and a former advisor to Maurits in Brazil, had been passed over for the<br />
post of councilor. 80 This complaint was acknowledged, but not addressed, and the meeting<br />
proceeded to name a committee to handle the m<strong>at</strong>ter of selecting a new President. The committee<br />
was chaired by Jan van der Cameren, the senior deleg<strong>at</strong>e from the St<strong>at</strong>es General; its most<br />
important members were David Baute and Johannes de Laet. 81 The committee took two<br />
immedi<strong>at</strong>e actions: it disp<strong>at</strong>ched letters inviting the accepted councilors to appear before the<br />
meeting and it sought—and received from the larger meeting—authority to approach a fresh set<br />
of candid<strong>at</strong>es for the office of President.<br />
The candid<strong>at</strong>e nomin<strong>at</strong>ed by the committee was Wolter Schonenborch, former<br />
Burgemeester of Groningen and the province's deputy to the St<strong>at</strong>es General. 82 The reasons for<br />
<br />
79 NA 1.01.07 inv.nr. 1<strong>25</strong>64.17, Secrete notulen van de afgevaardigden van de WIC aan de vergadering van deer<br />
Heren XIX, entries for September 11-13, 1645. See also the Notulen van de Kamer Zeeland, NA 1.05.01.01 inv.nr.<br />
26, entry for August 30, 1645. The reception and circul<strong>at</strong>ion of this news is discussed in Chapter Three of the<br />
dissert<strong>at</strong>ion.<br />
80 NA 1.01.07 inv.nr. 1<strong>25</strong>64.17 no. 23, entry for September 13, 1645. See also discussion of the complaint in the<br />
chamber Zeeland, NA 1.05.01.01 inv.nr. 26, fol. 108, entry for September 9, 1645.<br />
81 See Chapter Two.<br />
82 NA 1.01.07 inv.nr. 1<strong>25</strong>64.17, Secrete Resolutien gehouden byde Gecommiteerde van generael Westindische<br />
Comp. ter vergaderinge der XIXe binnen Middelburch in Zeelandt, entry for September 19, 1645.<br />
162
this selection have never been explored and, given the available sources, must remain a m<strong>at</strong>ter of<br />
conjecture. However, there are several clues as to the merits of his candidacy. Schonenborch's<br />
f<strong>at</strong>her, Hendrik, was an important political figure in Groningen, serving as Secretaris and then<br />
Hoofdman and Burgemeester for much of the 1620s and 1630s. When he died in 1638, Wolter<br />
served out the remainder of his term and remained in high office from then on, including serving<br />
as Burgemeester in 1639, 1640, 1643, and 1644. 83 In October of 1644 he was selected by the<br />
provincial council to represent the province's interests <strong>at</strong> a series of meetings in The Hague th<strong>at</strong><br />
had been convened to determine whether the WIC and VOC might be merged into a single<br />
company. 84 This plan had arisen in the context of discussions over the terms for extending both<br />
companies' charters, and was intended to serve as a means to re-capitalize the ailing WIC <strong>at</strong> the<br />
expense of the wealthier VOC, r<strong>at</strong>her than the St<strong>at</strong>es General. Although the plan faced stiff<br />
opposition from directors and investors in the VOC, it was broadly popular within the WIC and<br />
especially in Groningen, which—quite separ<strong>at</strong>e from the contributions of individuals—had<br />
invested more than 200,000 guilders of public money in the company. 85 Schonenborch was<br />
instructed to “use all means to promote the combin<strong>at</strong>ion” and thus spent more than two months <strong>at</strong><br />
The Hague th<strong>at</strong> winter arguing the company's case. 86 During this time he almost certainly would<br />
have come into close contact with Jacques Specx, Johannes de Laet, and other influential<br />
company directors.<br />
When Schonenborch was chosen to serve as Groningen's deputy to the St<strong>at</strong>es General in<br />
1645 it meant th<strong>at</strong> he would remain in The Hague for an additional year. His previous experience<br />
<br />
83<br />
Groninger Archief 1700 inv.nr. 16, Lijst van Gezagdragers vermeld in het Regeringsboek afkomstig uit het<br />
Gemeente-Archief Groningen, 1594-ca. 1811, 135. See also Winter (1978), 124-1<strong>25</strong>.<br />
84<br />
Groninger Archief 1 inv.nr. 10, Sta<strong>at</strong>s Resolutien, entry for October 15, 1644. On the merger of the two<br />
companies, see Den Heijer (1994).<br />
85<br />
Groniger Archief 1 inv.nr. 2677; Winter, De Westindische Compagnie ter Kamer Stad en Lande, 2<strong>25</strong>.<br />
86<br />
Groninger Archief 1 inv.nr. 10, Sta<strong>at</strong>s Resolutien, entry for January 17, 1645.<br />
163
with the WIC presumably did not go unrecognized; when in early September the St<strong>at</strong>es General<br />
assembled a deleg<strong>at</strong>ion to <strong>at</strong>tend the upcoming meeting of the Heren XIX in Middelburg,<br />
Schonenborch was one of the five individuals they chose. 87 In fact, Schonenborch did not <strong>at</strong>tend<br />
the opening session of the meeting, held on September 9, because he had been detained <strong>at</strong> the<br />
military camp near Eekelo, where Frederik Hendrik was personally leading the campaign against<br />
Spanish troops in Flanders. 88 But this may actually have enhanced the legitimacy of<br />
Schonenborch's candidacy to serve as President in Brazil, especially given the tenor of the news<br />
th<strong>at</strong> had just arrived from the colony and the growing recognition—both within the company and<br />
<strong>at</strong> the St<strong>at</strong>es General—th<strong>at</strong> the chief responsibility of the new council would be to crush the<br />
Portuguese rebellion. It might also be noted th<strong>at</strong> Schonenborch's candidacy would have helped to<br />
assuage Groningen's ongoing protest about Daniel Alberti, the province's overlooked candid<strong>at</strong>e<br />
for the position of councilor, and served as the replacement for Bernard Julsinck, who had<br />
refused. Taken together, and under the circumstances, these factors must have proven quite<br />
compelling to the deleg<strong>at</strong>es assembled in Middelburg.<br />
On September 19, after only three days of formal deliber<strong>at</strong>ion, the committee of the<br />
Heren XIX reported th<strong>at</strong> they had communic<strong>at</strong>ed their offer to Schonenborch and given him<br />
several days to consider and discuss it with his family. 89 Eight days l<strong>at</strong>er the same committee<br />
reported th<strong>at</strong> he was already on his way from Eekelo, eager to see the instructions and to learn<br />
more about the conditions of the offer. At this point the committee was thanked for its efforts and<br />
its work was suspended. Van der Cameren proposed, and the full meeting of the Heren XIX<br />
approved, the immedi<strong>at</strong>e disp<strong>at</strong>ch of De Laet and Jan Louys to meet Schonenborch and to<br />
<br />
87 NA 1.01.07 inv.nr. 1<strong>25</strong>64.17, Secrete notulen van de afgevaardigden van de WIC aan de vergadering van deer<br />
Heren XIX, entry for September 9, 1645.<br />
88 Ibid.<br />
89 Ibid., entry for September 19, 1645.<br />
164
personally escort him to the meeting. The three men arrived shortly thereafter and Schonenborch<br />
was se<strong>at</strong>ed, tellingly, in the place usually assigned to the lead deleg<strong>at</strong>e from the St<strong>at</strong>es General.<br />
To the gre<strong>at</strong> joy and relief of the meeting, Van der Cameren announced th<strong>at</strong> Schonenborch had<br />
accepted the company's offer to serve as President of the High Council in Brazil. The directors<br />
offered their congr<strong>at</strong>ul<strong>at</strong>ions and the meeting was adjourned, both to celebr<strong>at</strong>e the news and to<br />
allow time for Schonenborch and the represent<strong>at</strong>ives of the St<strong>at</strong>es General to hold a separ<strong>at</strong>e<br />
meeting with the Prince of Orange. 90<br />
Over the following several weeks the committee returned to its work drafting and<br />
revising the instructions for the President and High Council, in consult<strong>at</strong>ion with Haecxs, Van<br />
Beaumont, and the other councilors, who arrived in l<strong>at</strong>e September. 91 By October 9 these were<br />
complete: the terms of the contracts dict<strong>at</strong>ed th<strong>at</strong> Schonenborch would receive 1,<strong>25</strong>0 guilders per<br />
month, four servants, eight company slaves, and an additional 3,000 guilders to cover his<br />
expenses. Each of the councilors was to receive just more than half these amounts: 750 guilders<br />
per month, two servants, four slaves, and 1,800 guilders for expenses. The contracts would be<br />
valid for three years and the slaves were to be returned to the company upon termin<strong>at</strong>ion of the<br />
individuals' service in Brazil. Finally, the spoils from war or piracy on land and <strong>at</strong> sea—2% of<br />
which were reserved for the Governor General in Maurits' time—were to be distributed equally<br />
amongst the President and councilors, with each receiving 1%. The new council was upon arrival<br />
in Brazil to replace the existing government and to be guided by the new instructions, and by the<br />
various instructions and resolutions of the Hoge ende Secrete Raed since 1636. 92<br />
<br />
90 Ibid., entry for September 27, 1645; NA 1.01.07 inv.nr. 1<strong>25</strong>64.17, Minuten van de Vergadering van de Heren XIX<br />
in Middelburgh, 9 September 1645-16 October 1645, entry for September 27, 1645.<br />
91 Haecxs, “Het Dagboek van Hendrik Haecxs, Lid van den Hoogen Raad van Brazilië (1645-1654),” entry for<br />
September 19, 1645. Haecxs indic<strong>at</strong>es th<strong>at</strong> he arrived in Middelburg on September 22, 1645.<br />
92 NA 1.01.07 inv.nr. 1<strong>25</strong>64.17, Secrete notulen van de afgevaardigden van de WIC aan de vergadering van deer<br />
Heren XIX, entry for October 13, 1645.<br />
165
Haecx recorded in his diary th<strong>at</strong> on October 13 he and the other councilors were asked to<br />
appear before the Heren XIX, where Van der Cameren read aloud an o<strong>at</strong>h th<strong>at</strong> had been<br />
specially-prepared for them; they “stood, President and Councilors alike,” and accepted the o<strong>at</strong>h<br />
“with hands out-stretched and fingers extended.” 93 Four days l<strong>at</strong>er Haecxs departed Middelburg<br />
and returned home briefly, before being summoned by Jan Louys to The Hague for meetings<br />
with represent<strong>at</strong>ives of the St<strong>at</strong>es General. He traveled to The Hague a second time <strong>at</strong> the<br />
beginning of November and remained there until November 18, when he was introduced to the<br />
full meeting of the St<strong>at</strong>es General by De Laet and two other company directors, Alewijn<br />
Halewyn and Nicholaes ten Hove. He recorded finding “everyone standing, approxim<strong>at</strong>ely thirty<br />
men”:<br />
Thereupon the Secretary, Cornelis Musch, began to read the formula of the o<strong>at</strong>h [to the St<strong>at</strong>es<br />
General] and, having done th<strong>at</strong>, we were asked by Mr. Jacob Veth, who was presiding <strong>at</strong> this<br />
time, whether we, all five standing before the table, were ready to accept. Yes, we answered,<br />
confirming this by raising our hands in the same manner th<strong>at</strong> we had done in Zeeland. Thereupon<br />
Mr. Veth extended his hand to us and wished us much luck; he took his leave of us and we<br />
returned into the anti-chamber. 94<br />
The High Council for Brazil was now complete. In this sense the Heren XIX had achieved their<br />
primary objective for the fall meeting. But there were still serious problems to come.<br />
<br />
93 Haecxs, “Het Dagboek van Hendrik Haecxs, Lid van den Hoogen Raad van Brazilië (1645-1654),” entry for<br />
October 13, 1645. “Is ons door d’Hr. van der Cameren den Eedt voorgelesen, die wij opstaende, gesamentlijck soo<br />
President als Raden met utgesteken handen en utgerecte vingeren hebben gepresteert.”<br />
94 Ibid., entry for November 18, 1645. “Hebben ons d’Hrn. De Laet, Alewijn van Leijden, en Ten Hove in de<br />
vergaderinge van d’Hrn. St<strong>at</strong>en Generaal geintroduceert. Vonden Hare Ho. Mo. allemael staende, ontrent 30 Heeren;<br />
daerop begon de Griffier Meusch het formulier van den Eedt te lessen en, gedaen hebbende, vraechden ons de Hr.<br />
Jacob Veth, doenmaels president sijnde, en wij met ons vijven voor de taeffel staende, of wij bereijt waren, om dien<br />
te praesteren; Jae, antwoordden. Hebben denselven ghelijck in Zeelandt met opgeheven handen geconfirmeert.<br />
Daerop ons d’Hr. Veth de hant toestekende veel ghelucks menschte; namen also onsen afsheijt en gingen wederom<br />
in de antechamber.” In Spain the ritual was no more elabor<strong>at</strong>e, even if its content differed: after taking the o<strong>at</strong>h, a<br />
new official would kiss the royal order and put it on his head as a sign of acceptance. See Poole, Juan de Ovando,<br />
159.<br />
166
6. Conclusion<br />
The scale of these problems became clear only a few days after Haecxs and the other councilors<br />
had taken the o<strong>at</strong>h in the chambers of the St<strong>at</strong>es General. On November 27, a bundle of letters<br />
from Brazil d<strong>at</strong>ed September 17, 1645 arrived carrying exceedingly bad news: soldiers loyal to<br />
the WIC had abandoned the Brazilian countryside and two of the most important coastal forts<br />
had fallen into the hands of the Portuguese rebels. 95 The news, itself already two months old,<br />
caused a gre<strong>at</strong> commotion throughout the United Provinces. 96 It also caused a stir amongst the<br />
members of the new High Council. As early as December 4 the company's directors, then<br />
g<strong>at</strong>hered in The Hague, caught wind th<strong>at</strong> Schonenborch might be having reserv<strong>at</strong>ions about<br />
traveling to Brazil and immedi<strong>at</strong>ely disp<strong>at</strong>ched two directors to speak with him. 97 The next week<br />
Haecxs was summoned to appear before the Heren XIX in person. 98 Claes Simonsz. Dolphyn, a<br />
director from Enkhuizen, ber<strong>at</strong>ed Haecxs for a letter he had sent to Van Beaumont in which he<br />
apparently suggested, “Th<strong>at</strong> the company would be better served by sending soldiers instead of<br />
regents [to Brazil].” 99 The discussion the following day was even more he<strong>at</strong>ed. Haecxs was<br />
directed to sit between the chair of the meeting and Amsterdam's lawyer, Gysbert Rudolphij. He<br />
was then asked whether he remained committed to his earlier resolution to travel to Brazil and<br />
whether he was prepared to depart as soon as the first relief ship was ready. Haecxs evidently<br />
<br />
95<br />
These can be found in NA 1.05.01.01 inv.nr. 59, Overgekomen brieven en papieren van Brazilie, bundle for 1644-<br />
1645. Copies can also be found in the archive of the St<strong>at</strong>es General, NA 1.01.04 inv.nr. 5758. See Chapter Two for<br />
an analysis of these documents.<br />
96<br />
Haecxs, “Het Dagboek van Hendrik Haecxs, Lid van den Hoogen Raad van Brazilië (1645-1654).”, entry for<br />
November 27, 1645.<br />
97<br />
NA 1.05.01.01, inv.nr. 2*, entries for December 4 and 6, 1645.<br />
98<br />
This was most likely the so-called Haags Besoigne, an annual set of meetings <strong>at</strong> The Hague during the winter th<strong>at</strong><br />
usually involved ten, r<strong>at</strong>her than the full complement of nineteen, company directors. See Den Heijer, De<br />
Geoctrooieerde Compagnie, 129.<br />
99<br />
Haecxs, “Het Dagboek van Hendrik Haecxs, Lid van den Hoogen Raad van Brazilië (1645-1654),” entry for<br />
December 13, 1645. “seijde, Jae, en d<strong>at</strong>ter een brief van mijn aen d’Hr. Beaumont was geschreven, daerin Ick mijne<br />
onlusten genoech deede blijcken, en waren dit de woorden aan Bemont geschreven, d<strong>at</strong> de Comp. nu eer sold<strong>at</strong>en<br />
als regenten derwarts diende te senden. Dit hadden die Seignoor heel qualijc genomen.”<br />
167
wavered, for De Laet, who was many years his senior and could be quite severe when he wanted<br />
to be, immedi<strong>at</strong>ely demanded to know whether Haecxs planned to stay, or to go. 100 “Th<strong>at</strong> is<br />
sharp,” Haecxs apparently replied, before indic<strong>at</strong>ing th<strong>at</strong> if the company would not even discuss<br />
the implic<strong>at</strong>ions of the new situ<strong>at</strong>ion in Brazil it was <strong>at</strong> liberty to offer his place on the council to<br />
someone else. 101 This unexpected response must have gre<strong>at</strong>ly worried the company's directors,<br />
for they asked Haecxs to step out of the council chamber and, after an hour's discussion,<br />
approached him with wh<strong>at</strong> Haecxs described as a far more concili<strong>at</strong>ory tone. He promised not to<br />
waste the company's time, but requested a few days to consider his position. After consulting his<br />
friends and associ<strong>at</strong>es in Amsterdam, “all of whom gave the same answer,” he returned to The<br />
Hague on December 21 and reconfirmed his commitment to serve on the High Council. 102<br />
The company's problems with Schonenborch turned out to be even more serious. On<br />
December 18 he sent a letter to the St<strong>at</strong>es General noting the “changed circumstances” in Brazil<br />
and informing them th<strong>at</strong> he planned to ask the Heren XIX to release him from his oblig<strong>at</strong>ion to<br />
serve as President of the High Council. 103 This request was denied, and after repe<strong>at</strong>ed<br />
consult<strong>at</strong>ions with senior company directors, including Louys and De Laet, Schonenborch finally<br />
agreed to abide by his o<strong>at</strong>h. 104 He and Haecxs ultim<strong>at</strong>ely both departed the United Provinces for<br />
<br />
100 See, for example, the tone of De Laet's letter to Kiliaen van Rensselaer d<strong>at</strong>ed February 8, 1641 in Van Laer, Van<br />
Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts, 539-542.<br />
101 Haecxs, “Het Dagboek van Hendrik Haecxs, Lid van den Hoogen Raad van Brazilië (1645-1654),” entry for<br />
December 14, 1645. “Hierop soo begon De Laet te seggen, d<strong>at</strong> Ick sonder eenige conditien soude willen verclaren,<br />
of Ick wilde gaen of d<strong>at</strong> Ick wilde blijven, daerop Ick antwoorde: D<strong>at</strong> is scherp.”<br />
102 Ibid., entry for December 15, 1645. See also NA 1.05.01.01, inv.nr. 2*, entry for December 21, 1645.<br />
103 NA 1.01.04, inv.nr. 5758, fol. 207, letter from Wolter Schonenborch to the St<strong>at</strong>es General. “Want gelijck u. ho.<br />
mo. kennelijck is, hoe de zaken aldaer tot enen openbaren oorlog uitgevallen zijnde, niet allene de conquesten van<br />
de Comp. ten pl<strong>at</strong>ten lande, maer oock enige importante forten, so doer correspondentie metten vijant, als met<br />
gewelt van wapenen sijn t’ondergebracht: De voornaemste hoofden van de militie, neffens een groot getaal sold<strong>at</strong>en<br />
verslagen, gevangen ende door den vijant gedebauchert; het Recijff genouschsam gebloqueert met apparent pericul<br />
van meerder swarijcheijt, indien daer een prompt ende vigourens secours, deselve niet werde voorgekomen. Dese en<br />
meer consider<strong>at</strong>ien, is ten regard van den staet in t’gemeen, als vor mijn in t’particulier hijruit resulterende, hebben<br />
mij doen resolveren, om de heren Gedeputeerd Bewinthebberen, alhijr sijnde vergadert wegen de entfangene eere te<br />
bedancken ende mijne entslaginge te versoucken.”<br />
104 NA 1.05.01.01, inv.nr. 2*, entries for December 12, 13, and 21, 1645.<br />
168
Recife in early <strong>May</strong> of 1646. It was an inauspicious beginning for a government th<strong>at</strong> would<br />
hobble along for almost eight years, until the colony was definitively relinquished to Portugal.<br />
The council th<strong>at</strong> had taken more than two years to build, and another six months to cajole and<br />
deploy, arrived l<strong>at</strong>e and was incapable of restoring order. When Schonenborch, Haecxs, Van<br />
Goch, and Van Beaumont returned to the Republic with the last remaining Dutch soldiers in<br />
January of 1654 they faced both public scorn and the thre<strong>at</strong> of legal prosecution. 105<br />
Many scholars have linked the failure of a Dutch empire in the Atlantic to the Republic's<br />
problems finding sufficient colonists to settle in the Americas. 106 The same might be said of its<br />
problems recruiting colonial administr<strong>at</strong>ors. The problem—<strong>at</strong> least in 1645—was not only th<strong>at</strong><br />
the company had become overstretched by its various colonial responsibilities, but th<strong>at</strong> the Dutch<br />
elite could not reach agreement on the individuals appropri<strong>at</strong>e to govern an extensive land<br />
colony. Senior members of the magistracy were simply not interested in the post of President in<br />
Brazil, preferring instead to avoid the risks associ<strong>at</strong>ed with life and military service in the<br />
colonies and to remain closer to the centers of power <strong>at</strong> home. 107 Members of the Dutch<br />
nobility—<strong>at</strong> least some of whom believed themselves to be uniquely qualified to serve as<br />
colonial officials—refused to work “in the service of merchants.” In Alexander van der<br />
Capellen's view, the solution lay in gre<strong>at</strong>er centraliz<strong>at</strong>ion of colonial affairs and the<br />
subordin<strong>at</strong>ion of merchant interests to those of the St<strong>at</strong>es General. But neither he nor the other<br />
noblemen around the Prince of Orange and the St<strong>at</strong>es General were powerful enough to enforce<br />
this view. The company's directors, meanwhile, were eager to more carefully hem-in the<br />
activities of colonial officials and, above all, to save money. Those merchants who traded<br />
<br />
105<br />
Trouwers died shortly after arriving in Brazil. See Boxer, The Dutch in Brazil, 266.<br />
106<br />
See, for example, Pieter C. Emmer and Wim Klooster, “The Dutch Atlantic, 1600-1800: Expansion Without<br />
Empire,” Itinerario 23 (1999): 48-69.<br />
107<br />
Jaap Jacobs, “Incompetente Autocr<strong>at</strong>en? Bestuurlijke Verhouding in de Zeventiende-eeuwse Nederlandse<br />
Atlantische Wereld,” De Zeventiende Eeuw 21, no. 1 (2005): 64–78.<br />
169
priv<strong>at</strong>ely to Brazil, legally or illegally, were shut out of the deliber<strong>at</strong>ions altogether, and thus<br />
limited their activities to openly opposing the company's efforts to exert any authority<br />
wh<strong>at</strong>soever. Amidst this cacophony of perspectives and interests, the administr<strong>at</strong>ion of Brazil<br />
languished, cre<strong>at</strong>ing the opportunity for a revolt.<br />
If the story itself is remarkable, its core elements are actually quite familiar. Spanish<br />
colonial institutions were riven by conflicts between represent<strong>at</strong>ives of the Old Nobility and the<br />
letrados (educ<strong>at</strong>ed commoners) who increasingly filled the ranks of the colonial bureaucracy. In<br />
the 1570s Juan de Ovando, President of the Real y Supremo Consejo de Indias, <strong>at</strong>tempted to<br />
replace the retiring Viceroy of Peru with a letrado candid<strong>at</strong>e, in part to save money. His proposal<br />
drew the ire of senior noblemen who believed such positions should be reserved for members of<br />
the military aristocracy, and ultim<strong>at</strong>ely his proposal was rejected by the King. 108 In England, the<br />
alliance between gentry and merchant investors in commercial companies occasionally broke<br />
down, as in the l<strong>at</strong>e 1610s, when gentry “factions” ousted merchants from senior positions in<br />
both the Virginia and Bermuda Companies. Their effort to effect a similar coup in the more<br />
solidly merchant East India Company failed; the company's minutes reflect th<strong>at</strong> certain<br />
“gentlemen” were scolded for <strong>at</strong>tempting to takeover the company's management, which was<br />
described as a “business proper only for merchants.” 109 The language of these disputes, and the<br />
worldviews they represented, is almost precisely the same. Noblemen in the United Provinces<br />
never had the power th<strong>at</strong> they did in either Spain or England, but their role was quite significant.<br />
As this chapter has shown, Dutch noblemen played many different roles in the<br />
management of the WIC, both <strong>at</strong> home and abroad. These include wh<strong>at</strong> Fritz Redlich somewh<strong>at</strong><br />
imprecisely referred to as “mercantile public administr<strong>at</strong>ion,” as well as their more obvious role<br />
<br />
108 Poole, Juan de Ovando, 159–160.<br />
109 Theodore K. Rabb, Enterprise & Empire: Merchant and Gentry Investment in the Expansion of England, 1575-<br />
1630 (Cambridge: Harvard <strong>University</strong> Press, 1967), 49.<br />
170
as colonial governors and military commanders. 110 The first of these is apparent in the figure of<br />
Hendrick van der Capellen, who chaired the meetings of the Heren XIX, administered the o<strong>at</strong>h of<br />
secrecy during the selection of candid<strong>at</strong>es, and more generally advoc<strong>at</strong>ed the company's interests<br />
with the Prince of Orange and <strong>at</strong> the St<strong>at</strong>es General. His brother, Alexander van der Capellen,<br />
played no formal role beyond th<strong>at</strong> of investor, but his nomin<strong>at</strong>ion as a candid<strong>at</strong>e for the office of<br />
President shows the directors' continuing interest in finding a senior nobleman to serve in the<br />
company's most important colonial post. In this sense, the towering figure of Maurits, whose<br />
tenure in Brazil had been so successful, still exercised considerable influence over questions of<br />
how to govern the colony, even after his f<strong>at</strong>eful recall.<br />
If conflicts over government were bad, those over trade were even worse.<br />
<br />
110 Fritz Redlich, “European Aristocracy and Economic Development,” 86.<br />
171
1. Introduction<br />
Chapter Five<br />
Free Trade and African Slavery:<br />
The Politics of Monopoly<br />
On July 12, 1645, Hendrick van der Capellen, the St<strong>at</strong>es General's senior deleg<strong>at</strong>e to the spring<br />
meeting of the Heren XIX, submitted an unusually blunt assessment of discussions within the<br />
WIC's board. 1 He reported to the St<strong>at</strong>es General th<strong>at</strong> there had been some progress towards<br />
assembling a new government for Brazil, though up to this time no President had yet been<br />
selected, and th<strong>at</strong> rel<strong>at</strong>ive calm prevailed in the conquests—save New Netherland, where an<br />
Indian revolt had broken out, killing several colonists. 2 But the issue th<strong>at</strong> had produced the most<br />
acrimony was a discussion of the company's monopoly over trade to Angola. Echoing a similar<br />
proposal from 1643, a group of directors and hoofdparticipanten (chief investors) in the<br />
Amsterdam chamber recommended th<strong>at</strong> this trade be opened to priv<strong>at</strong>e merchants. 3 Lifting the<br />
monopoly, they argued, would increase the number of slaves sent each year to Brazil and reduce<br />
the administr<strong>at</strong>ive and logistical burden on the company. This proposal was vehemently rejected<br />
<br />
1 NA 1.01.07, inv.nr. 1<strong>25</strong>64.17, no. 7, Report Sommierlyck gedaen by die Heeren van der Capellen toe-Ryssel,<br />
Herbers, en Nykerck van di principaelste Poincten inde besoignes van di vergaderinge der Negentien 'tAmsterdam<br />
voorgevallen zeder Martio 1645.<br />
2 Rink, Holland on the Hudson, 217–221; Jacobs, Petrus Stuyvesant, 60–61; Rink, Holland on the Hudson, 217–221.<br />
3 NA 1.01.05, inv.nr. 9411, Rapport Sommier van de Gecommittierden van haer ho: mo: Hendrick van der Capelle<br />
toe Ryssel, Andries <strong>Bick</strong>er, D.V. Hogendorp van't gene in die vergaderinge der Westindische Comp. t'Amsterdam is<br />
gedaen in September en Octob: 1643, submitted November 7, 1642. See also Unger, “Essay on the History of the<br />
Dutch Slave Trade,” 53.<br />
172
y all four of the other chambers. Van der Capellen reported th<strong>at</strong> the discussion had caused<br />
tempers to flare and sewn dangerous disunity. In his view, the trades to Angola and Guinea were<br />
“the soul of the company.” 4 Opening either region to priv<strong>at</strong>e merchants would undermine a<br />
critical source of revenue, with potentially c<strong>at</strong>astrophic implic<strong>at</strong>ions. But Amsterdam persisted,<br />
and when the Heren XIX g<strong>at</strong>hered in Middelburg in September of 1645 item seven on the agenda<br />
asked, “How more blacks could be purchased <strong>at</strong> St. Paulo do Loanda” and “in wh<strong>at</strong> manner the<br />
trade in blacks shall be improved.” 5<br />
Chapters Three and Four have examined politics within the Heren XIX from the<br />
perspective of competing visions for colonial administr<strong>at</strong>ion, first <strong>at</strong> home and then abroad. This<br />
chapter looks instead <strong>at</strong> competing visions for the administr<strong>at</strong>ion of trade. In particular, it<br />
explores how trade policy was used to balance the competing priorities of ensuring a smooth<br />
flow of goods, popul<strong>at</strong>ing Brazil, and distributing the heavy financial burden of defending the<br />
WIC's conquests. In practice this manifested in a series of deb<strong>at</strong>es over whether trade within the<br />
territory defined by the company's charter should be open to all citizens of the United Provinces<br />
or reserved exclusively as a company monopoly. The Dutch Republic was probably more<br />
responsive to merchant interests than any government in Europe, but in practice this meant<br />
applying a wide range of different policies to different sectors and social groups: while, for<br />
instance, fishing and textiles were heavily regul<strong>at</strong>ed, finance and many branches of trade were<br />
<br />
4 Ibid. “W<strong>at</strong>ter voor is geweest by eenige Bewinthebberen en hooftparticipanten van de Camer van Amsterdam om<br />
den handel op Angola wederom open te stellen voor yder een, hoe kostich sich die andere Cameren daertegens<br />
hebben gedeclareert. W<strong>at</strong> oneenicheyt daeraf te verwachten stondt tuschen die camer van Amsterdam ende andere<br />
Cameren tot verachteringe en Discredyt van Westind. Companye, en soo sulx met goede reden is voorgekomen hoe<br />
de Negoty, prinsipalyck op Guinea en Angola is de Ziele der Compagnie, en hoe met aftrockinge ofte verminderinge<br />
van de selve de ruine der Compagnye wort veroorsaekt.”<br />
5 NA 1.01.04, inv.nr. 5758, Poincten waerop all de Cameren van de West Indische Comp. beschreven worden ...<br />
D<strong>at</strong>ed August 11, 1645. “wt de schriftelycke ende mondelinge advisen de comp. bekent synde d<strong>at</strong> Jaerlycx ongelyck<br />
meerder swaarten in St. paulo de loanda connen werden gehandelt als tot noch toe is geschiet, wanneer met<br />
behoorlyck cargasoen de cust sal werden versien, ende d<strong>at</strong> midts dien het proffyt, t' welcke in die conqueste streeckt<br />
voor de comp. daerwt niet wordt getrocken, is ter vergaderinge van XIX op den 30 Junio 1645 goetgevonden d<strong>at</strong> een<br />
poinct sal gemaect worden, hoe, ende op w<strong>at</strong> manniere den handel ende de negros best sullen werden gebeneficeert<br />
derhalven de Cameren verdracht willen syn derselver gecommitt. hierop insgelycx te lasten.”<br />
173
left rel<strong>at</strong>ively open. 6 Where monopolies were imposed—including trade to the East and West<br />
Indies—they became the subject of intense criticism. R<strong>at</strong>her than promoting trade as a whole,<br />
monopolies by their very n<strong>at</strong>ure promoted the interests of some merchants and social groups<br />
above those of others; their intent, as Oscar Gelderblom has encouraged us to see, was political<br />
r<strong>at</strong>her than strictly commercial. 7 This was already an important issue during the protracted<br />
negoti<strong>at</strong>ions to establish the WIC in the first two decades of the seventeenth century, but it<br />
erupted with particular force in the mid-1630s, when a he<strong>at</strong>ed deb<strong>at</strong>e broke out over the<br />
company's monopoly over trade to Brazil.<br />
Although the WIC charter strictly forbade priv<strong>at</strong>e trade, a series of agreements negoti<strong>at</strong>ed<br />
during the l<strong>at</strong>e 1620s and early 1630s offered important exemptions. In 1628 both New<br />
Netherland and parts of the “Wild Coast” along the northern tip of South America were opened<br />
to priv<strong>at</strong>e entrepreneurs who wished to establish settlements. 8 Then, in 1630, when the company<br />
seized Recife and Olinda in northeastern Brazil, tre<strong>at</strong>ies negoti<strong>at</strong>ed with represent<strong>at</strong>ives of the<br />
Portuguese community promised th<strong>at</strong> priv<strong>at</strong>e merchants would enjoy the same freedoms to trade<br />
on their own account th<strong>at</strong> they had enjoyed under the King of Portugal. 9 These tre<strong>at</strong>ies were<br />
reinforced by regul<strong>at</strong>ions approved by the St<strong>at</strong>es General in 1630 th<strong>at</strong> permitted priv<strong>at</strong>e trade in<br />
all goods but dyewoods, foodstuffs, and ammunition, so long as priv<strong>at</strong>e merchants registered<br />
their goods, transported them in company ships, and paid a percentage to the company in<br />
recognition and freight fees. 10 In 1634 these regul<strong>at</strong>ions were further relaxed and a brisk priv<strong>at</strong>e<br />
<br />
6<br />
D.C. Coleman, "Introduction" to his own edited collection, D. C. Coleman, ed., Revisions in Mercantilism<br />
(London: Methuen & Co., 1969), 12; De Vries and Van der Woude, The First Modern Economy.<br />
7<br />
Oscar Gelderblom, ed., The political economy of the Dutch Republic (Farnham: Ashg<strong>at</strong>e, 2009).<br />
8<br />
Rink, Holland on the Hudson; Jacobs, The colony of New Netherland; Venema, Kiliaen van Rensselaer (1586-<br />
1643): Designing a New World.<br />
9<br />
Boxer, The Dutch in Brazil, 1624-1654, 75–76.<br />
10<br />
Articulum ... over het Open ende Vry Stellen van den Handel en Negotie op de Stadt Olinda de Pernambuco, ende<br />
Custen van Brasil (Amsterdam, 1630).<br />
174
trade developed in the colony's most important commodity, sugar. 11 This resulted in a boom<br />
<strong>at</strong>mosphere in the Dutch colony, but it left most of the profits in priv<strong>at</strong>e hands <strong>at</strong> precisely the<br />
moment th<strong>at</strong> costs for the colony's military defense were becoming unsustainable.<br />
In December of 1636 the St<strong>at</strong>es General passed a resolution reinst<strong>at</strong>ing the company's full<br />
monopoly and forbidding any further priv<strong>at</strong>e trade to Brazil. This gener<strong>at</strong>ed a swift and angry<br />
reaction, especially from merchants in Amsterdam, where a number of pamphlets appeared<br />
arguing th<strong>at</strong> the trade should be left open. One of these pamphlets likened the company's grip on<br />
Brazil to the tyranny of the Duke of Alva; not only was the company incapable of conducting the<br />
trade to Brazil on an adequ<strong>at</strong>e scale, but the monopoly would enrage Portuguese merchants and<br />
discourage potential settlers who would only wish to travel to Brazil if their rights and liberties<br />
were guaranteed. 12 Defenders of the monopoly, based primarily in Zeeland, replied in kind,<br />
arguing th<strong>at</strong> it was unjust for priv<strong>at</strong>e merchants to reap all the benefits while the company's<br />
investors were saddled only with debts. Moreover, they reasoned th<strong>at</strong> priv<strong>at</strong>e merchants, “intent<br />
on their own profit,” were unlikely to cultiv<strong>at</strong>e the land to benefit of the colony, and thus the<br />
United Provinces, as a whole. 13 Ultim<strong>at</strong>ely, the arguments in favor of free trade carried the day<br />
and the St<strong>at</strong>es General re-opened the trade to Brazil in April of 1638.<br />
The deb<strong>at</strong>e has fascin<strong>at</strong>ed gener<strong>at</strong>ions of historians and fe<strong>at</strong>ures prominently in nearly<br />
every account of the WIC's history. 14 These accounts have emphasized the acrimony between<br />
Amsterdam and Zeeland and their divergent interests: whereas Amsterdam's powerful merchant<br />
<br />
11 Narder Ordre Ende Reglement ... over Het Open Ende Vry Stellen Van Den Handel Ende Negotie Op De Stadt<br />
Olinda De Pernambuco Ende Custen Van Brasil, 1634; Boxer, The Dutch in Brazil, 1624-1654, 76.<br />
12 Vertooch by een Liefhebber der Vaderlants vertoont tegen het Ongefondeerde ende Schadelijck Sluyten der Vryen<br />
Handel in Brasil, 1637.<br />
13 Examen over het Vertoogh, teghen het Onghefondeerde ende Schadelijck Sluyten der Vryen Handel in Brasil.<br />
Door een Ondersoecker der Waerheydt, 1637.<br />
14 Wätjen, O Dominio Colonial Hollandez no Brasil: Um capitulo da historia colonial do seculo XVII; Boxer, The<br />
Dutch in Brazil, 1624-1654; Van Dillen, “De West-Indische Compagnie, het Calvinism en de Politiek”; Den Heijer,<br />
“Het Recht van de Sterkste in de Polder: Politieke en Economische Strijd tussen Amsterdam en Zeeland over de<br />
Kwestie Brazilie, 1630-1654.”<br />
175
community saw gre<strong>at</strong>er profits in priv<strong>at</strong>e trade, merchants and magistr<strong>at</strong>es in Zeeland supported<br />
the company's monopoly as a means to protect their share in colonial markets where Amsterdam<br />
would otherwise enjoy considerable advantages. 15 These accounts interpret the deb<strong>at</strong>e primarily<br />
in terms of the ways th<strong>at</strong> it exposed inter-regional conflicts within the Dutch Republic. In a<br />
forthcoming article, Arthur Weststeijn argues th<strong>at</strong> its significance was far gre<strong>at</strong>er. By tracing a<br />
"crooked historical route" from pamphlets written in the 1630s to Pieter de la Court and the abbé<br />
Raynal, he suggests th<strong>at</strong> the deb<strong>at</strong>e “played an important role in the development of free trade<br />
ideology throughout the Enlightenment.” 16<br />
Weststeijn's route begins with an examin<strong>at</strong>ion of De la Court's critique of monopolies in<br />
the 1660s as being antithetical to commercial liberty. In the specific case of the WIC, according<br />
to De la Court, the company's emphasis on “Princely wars” and “Monarchical conquests,” r<strong>at</strong>her<br />
than free trade, was largely responsible for the loss of Dutch Brazil. 17 Had the trade been open,<br />
he argued, the colony might have thrived:<br />
By an open trade, and consequently well-founded colonies, not only the mighty Lands of Brazil,<br />
Guinea, Angola, São Tomé, &c, could have easily been defended with small expenses against all<br />
foreign aggression, but, which is very considerable, we would have been able to carry on an immense<br />
trade with our own N<strong>at</strong>ion, without fear th<strong>at</strong> a foreign Potent<strong>at</strong>e would seize our ships, goods, or<br />
debts. 18<br />
The dissemin<strong>at</strong>ion of De la Court's writings throughout Europe, and especially in England and<br />
France, brought this assessment to the <strong>at</strong>tention of, among others, both Raynal and Adam Smith,<br />
who blamed the WIC monopoly for the “slow and languid” progress of Dutch colonial<br />
<br />
15 Van Dillen, “De West-Indische Compagnie, het Calvinism en de Politiek.”<br />
16 Weststeijn, “Dutch Brazil and the Making of Free Trade Ideology,” 1–2. This text will appear in the forthcoming<br />
collection The Legacy of Dutch Brazil, edited by Michiel van Groesen. Cited with permission of the author.<br />
17 Ibid., 7.<br />
18 Cited in ibid. The transl<strong>at</strong>ion is Weststeijn’s.<br />
176
settlements in the Americas. 19 The argument for commercial freedom, Weststeijn contends, “was<br />
perhaps the most important ideological legacy of the rise, decline and fall of Dutch Brazil.” 20<br />
This chapter will suggest a very different legacy of the deb<strong>at</strong>e over free trade, namely the<br />
WIC's decision to enter the trade in slaves. Although scholars have long recognized th<strong>at</strong> the<br />
company's first forays into the slave trade were in 1636—the same year th<strong>at</strong> the St<strong>at</strong>es General<br />
re-imposed a monopoly on trade to Brazil—and th<strong>at</strong> slaves were listed as one of only three items<br />
excluded from free trade in the St<strong>at</strong>es General's resolution th<strong>at</strong> lifted the monopoly in 1638, there<br />
has been no effort to explain wh<strong>at</strong> rel<strong>at</strong>ionship, if any, there was between these two highly<br />
significant, essentially contemporary developments. 21 By looking closely <strong>at</strong> the negoti<strong>at</strong>ions<br />
themselves, r<strong>at</strong>her than the rhetorical arguments found in printed pamphlets, the chapter tries to<br />
tease out this rel<strong>at</strong>ionship and to show its importance for our understanding of both company<br />
politics and the longer-term evolution of Dutch particip<strong>at</strong>ion in the slave trade. This requires<br />
methodically re-examining the deb<strong>at</strong>e over free trade to Brazil and connecting it to the deb<strong>at</strong>e<br />
over free trade to Angola th<strong>at</strong> began only four years l<strong>at</strong>er. It also requires focusing more<br />
carefully on the medi<strong>at</strong>ors, r<strong>at</strong>her than the antagonists, and on the give and take and compromise<br />
of practical politics. In particular, it requires being sensitive to the ways th<strong>at</strong> seemingly discrete<br />
and un-rel<strong>at</strong>ed issues can suddenly become contingent during the course of negoti<strong>at</strong>ions.<br />
The chapter argues th<strong>at</strong> the deb<strong>at</strong>es over free trade—to both Brazil and Angola—were<br />
primarily deb<strong>at</strong>es over colonial politics, r<strong>at</strong>her than trade, and th<strong>at</strong> successive decisions to open<br />
<br />
19<br />
Ibid., 11. Smith's quot<strong>at</strong>ion is taken from vol. 2, book IV, chapter 7. See Smith, An Inquiry into the N<strong>at</strong>ure and<br />
Causes of the Wealth of N<strong>at</strong>ions, 117.<br />
20<br />
Weststeijn, “Dutch Brazil and the Making of Free Trade Ideology,” 12.<br />
21<br />
Boxer tre<strong>at</strong>s these two issues sequentially, but does not analytically connect them. Boxer, The Dutch in Brazil,<br />
1624-1654, 75–84. Richard Tuck remarks on the coincidence of the two issues in Grotius' De Jure Belli et Pacis,<br />
published in 16<strong>25</strong>: “It is significant th<strong>at</strong> the first major public expression of a strong rights theory to be read in<br />
Protestant Europe should have contained both a defence of slavery and absolutism and a defence of resistance and<br />
common property in extremis.” N<strong>at</strong>ural Rights Theories (Cambridge: Cambridge <strong>University</strong> Press, 1981), 80. Cited<br />
in Blackburn, The Making of New World Slavery, 194.<br />
177
and close trade to priv<strong>at</strong>e merchants were driven by the St<strong>at</strong>es General's interests in popul<strong>at</strong>ing<br />
and defending Brazil <strong>at</strong> the least possible public expense. Slavery was part of both<br />
consider<strong>at</strong>ions. The first section of the chapter shows th<strong>at</strong> the company's plans to raise additional<br />
priv<strong>at</strong>e capital in 1636 stalled in the face of shareholder frustr<strong>at</strong>ion with the policy of free trade<br />
to Brazil, and th<strong>at</strong> the St<strong>at</strong>es General's decision to reinst<strong>at</strong>e the monopoly th<strong>at</strong> December was<br />
motiv<strong>at</strong>ed by its desire to avoid assuming the financial burden for the war. The next section<br />
explores the St<strong>at</strong>es General's concerns about disorder in Brazil itself on the even of Johan<br />
Maurits’ arrival. By reconstructing the relevant committees, it establishes the active role played<br />
by noblemen and other officials in The Hague who supported monopoly, military expansion, and<br />
slavery as the best means to secure the colony. The following section examines the decision<br />
within the Heren XIX to reopen the trade in 1638 and in particular <strong>at</strong> a compromise proposal<br />
presented by the St<strong>at</strong>es of Holland. Though a victory for Amsterdam, the chapter shows th<strong>at</strong> this<br />
proposal was in fact accepted on Maurits' recommend<strong>at</strong>ion, and th<strong>at</strong> it contained important<br />
provisions to appease Zeeland by <strong>at</strong>tracting additional priv<strong>at</strong>e capital and formally recognizing<br />
the company's monopoly on the trade in slaves. The last section analyzes the way th<strong>at</strong> the Heren<br />
XIX planned for and organized the slave trade during the period 1637-1645. The conclusion<br />
suggests a framework for thinking about how this trade evolved from a solution to problems in<br />
Dutch Brazil to a source of commercial profit in its own right.<br />
2. Monopoly and Priv<strong>at</strong>e Capital<br />
The St<strong>at</strong>es General's decision to re-impose the company's monopoly in December of 1636 d<strong>at</strong>es<br />
back to the beginning of 1635 and was intim<strong>at</strong>ely linked to plans for a verhoging (augment<strong>at</strong>ion<br />
178
or supplemental investment) to help recapitalize the WIC. The l<strong>at</strong>ter episode has received almost<br />
no notice from historians. 22 Reporting on the spring 1635 meetings of the Heren XIX, where they<br />
had represented the St<strong>at</strong>es General, Gerard van Arnhem and Frans Herberts wrote th<strong>at</strong>, “Through<br />
God's grace the conquests in Brazil have been brought so far th<strong>at</strong> the trade is now on a good<br />
foot.” 23 However, there had been a discussion of “whether it would be best to leave the trade<br />
open or to reserve it for the company and investors.” Van Arnhem and Herberts reported th<strong>at</strong>,<br />
“the majority were of the opinion th<strong>at</strong> it should remain open,” but th<strong>at</strong> the directors of the<br />
Zeeland chamber, as well as hoofdparticipanten from both Zeeland and Amsterdam, disagreed.<br />
They protested th<strong>at</strong> priv<strong>at</strong>e trade contravened the company's charter and th<strong>at</strong> profits were flowing<br />
disproportion<strong>at</strong>ely to the free traders, r<strong>at</strong>her than to the investors who had assumed the<br />
considerable risks of seizing and defending the colony. The m<strong>at</strong>ter was left unresolved, but Van<br />
Arnhem and Herberts evidently sensed th<strong>at</strong> a serious conflict was brewing: <strong>at</strong> the end of their<br />
report they indic<strong>at</strong>ed th<strong>at</strong> “your Excellencies [the St<strong>at</strong>es General] should consider whether it<br />
might not be advisable to establish a permanent college” <strong>at</strong> The Hague to <strong>at</strong>tend to this and other<br />
important m<strong>at</strong>ters confronting the company in Brazil. 24<br />
From the perspective of the St<strong>at</strong>es General, the problem was not simply th<strong>at</strong> investors<br />
were not receiving the profits they believed they deserved, but th<strong>at</strong> the company was having<br />
<br />
22 The verhoging fe<strong>at</strong>ures briefly in two accounts devoted to the history of individual chambers or cities. See J.<br />
Acquoy, Deventer’s Particip<strong>at</strong>ie in de West-Indische Compagnie (Deventer: Oud-Archief van Deventer, 1922);<br />
Winter, De Westindische Compagnie ter Kamer Stad en Lande.<br />
23 NA 1.01.04, inv.nr. 5754, fol. 59. Rapport van de Heeren Arnhem ende Herberts van eenige poincten<br />
voorgevallen op de vergadering van de XIX... in Mario ende Aprilis 1635 binnen Amsterdam geholden, exhibited in<br />
the St<strong>at</strong>es General on <strong>May</strong> 14, 1635. “By occasie d<strong>at</strong> door Godes Genaedigen seegen, de conquesten in Brasil soo<br />
verre syn gebracht d<strong>at</strong> de trafycq ende handel aldaer schynt een goeden voet te sullen neemen, en is in deliber<strong>at</strong>ie<br />
gelegt off deselve trafycq aen een ieder op sekere conditien daer toe te beramen diende open gestelt dan off die aen<br />
de Comp. offe participanten alleen diende gehouden te werden. De meeste leaden van de vergadering waeren van<br />
opinie d<strong>at</strong> den handel voor een ieder behorde open te syn.”<br />
24 Ibid. "U. Hog Mog in bedencken off niet diende gebesoineert om een vast en. permanent collegie van<br />
Westindische Comp. te hebben, waer doorcan vasten en. ordre soude werden gehouden in de saechen van de voors.<br />
Comp."<br />
179
trouble paying its bills, especially for the defense of Brazil. <strong>25</strong> Financial problems plagued the<br />
WIC throughout its early history. Although the company was able to raise more than seven<br />
million guilders in priv<strong>at</strong>e capital between 1622-1626, <strong>at</strong>tacks on Salvador da Bahia, Loanda,<br />
and Elmina in 16<strong>25</strong> badly depleted the company's coffers. Were it not for Piet Heyn's celebr<strong>at</strong>ed<br />
capture of a Spanish silver fleet off M<strong>at</strong>anzas in 1628—which brought home booty worth a<br />
staggering 11.5 million guilders—the company might have quietly fallen into obscurity. R<strong>at</strong>her<br />
than being used to replenish the capital stock, however, these funds were distributed amongst the<br />
Prince of Orange (in his capacity as Admiral General), sailors and soldiers who particip<strong>at</strong>ed in<br />
the mission, and the company's directors and shareholders, all of whom clamored for part of the<br />
spoils. Investors received dividends of <strong>25</strong>% in 1628 and a further 50% in 1629. 26 The remaining<br />
funds were devoted to prepar<strong>at</strong>ions for the assault on Pernambuco. The mission was successful,<br />
but expenditures on men and provisions dram<strong>at</strong>ically exceeded the income from looted sugar and<br />
other goods. To compound the problem, beginning in 1633 several provinces, including Holland,<br />
fell into arrears on promised subsidies. Deleg<strong>at</strong>ions sent to lobby them and the St<strong>at</strong>es General for<br />
the most part came home empty-handed, leaving the company on the verge of bankruptcy once<br />
more, <strong>at</strong> precisely the moment th<strong>at</strong> its most promising colony was beginning to bear fruit. 27 This<br />
was especially problem<strong>at</strong>ic in 1636, when plans were being made to appoint a new colonial<br />
government and to disp<strong>at</strong>ch additional soldiers in Brazil. 28<br />
Without access to either adequ<strong>at</strong>e income or reliable public subsidies, the company's<br />
directors determined th<strong>at</strong> their best option for maintaining a steady supply of provisions and men<br />
to the colony was to raise additional priv<strong>at</strong>e capital. This idea was flo<strong>at</strong>ed in April of 1636 and<br />
<br />
<strong>25</strong><br />
Cornelis Goslinga <strong>at</strong>tributed the deb<strong>at</strong>e over free trade to the “sheer priv<strong>at</strong>e greed and cupidity” of the company's<br />
directors. See Goslinga, The Dutch in the Caribbean and on the Wild Coast 1580-1680, 292.<br />
26<br />
Den Heijer, De Geschiedenis van de WIC.<br />
27<br />
Den Heijer, De Geoctrooieerde Compagnie, 58-63.<br />
28<br />
NA 1.01.04, inv.nr. 5754, fol. 199. Beschrijving Poincten [...], <strong>May</strong> 22, 1622.<br />
180
approved by a resolution of the St<strong>at</strong>es General two months l<strong>at</strong>er, on June 15. 29 Planning began<br />
immedi<strong>at</strong>ely thereafter for a verhoging in which each shareholder would be asked to subscribe<br />
new money equal to 1/3 of his original investment, payable in three installments. Organizing<br />
committees were established in each chamber to reach out to existing shareholders, oversee the<br />
subscription campaign, and prepare printed announcements to be displayed in public. 30 The<br />
company also appealed directly to the St<strong>at</strong>es General to supplement its own initial investment. 31<br />
To ensure th<strong>at</strong> investors would be receptive to the plan, the company offered an annual return of<br />
8% on both newly invested and existing capital—a step th<strong>at</strong> effectively transformed the<br />
company's shares into interest paying, convertible bonds. 32<br />
From the very beginning the verhoging was presented as a way to pay for expenditures<br />
in northeastern Brazil, and thus became linked to the thorny problem of whether trade to the<br />
colony would be left open or reserved exclusively for the company. The link can be seen clearly<br />
in an anonymous memorandum submitted to the St<strong>at</strong>es General in 1636. 33 Composed in<br />
convers<strong>at</strong>ional style, the memorandum employed a form<strong>at</strong> of altern<strong>at</strong>ing questions and answers<br />
to address the central problem st<strong>at</strong>ed unambiguously in its title: “How the [West India] Company<br />
can be stabilized, to the advantage of the investors, without incurring costs to the government.”<br />
Whether the memorandum was submitted by someone in the Zeeland chamber or by an advisor<br />
in The Hague is impossible to discern. Wh<strong>at</strong> is clear, however, is th<strong>at</strong> it aimed to find altern<strong>at</strong>ives<br />
<br />
29<br />
NA 1.01.04, inv.nr. 5754, fol. 195. Versoeck van de Gecommitteed Bewindhebbers van de WIC, NA 1.01.04,<br />
inv.nr. 5754, exhibited on April 29, 1636; NA 1.05.01.01, inv.nr. 77, fol. 1. See also Acquoy, Deventer’s<br />
Particip<strong>at</strong>ie in de West-Indische Compagnie, 19; Winter, De Westindische Compagnie ter Kamer Stad en Lande, 19.<br />
30<br />
NA 1.05.01.01, inv.nr. 22. Resoluties van de Bewindhebbers van de Camer Zeeland, entry for August 21, 1636.<br />
31<br />
NA 1.01.04, inv.nr. 5754, fol. 195. Versoeck van de Gecommitteed Bewindhebbers van de WIC, exhibited on<br />
April 29, 1636.<br />
32<br />
Ibid. On the use of bonds see Goetzmann and Rouwenhorst, The Origins of Value.<br />
33<br />
NA 1.01.07, inv.nr. 1<strong>25</strong>64.5. Discourse ondervrage en antwoort hoe die Westind. Comp. sal comen gestabiliseert<br />
en gebeneficeert worden buyten costen vant lant, tot merckel. voordeel van die participanten.<br />
181
means to capitalize the company without recourse to further public subsidies, a route th<strong>at</strong> had<br />
little support <strong>at</strong> the St<strong>at</strong>es General.<br />
The memorandum began with a simple question: why had the WIC not thrived in the<br />
same fashion as the VOC? This was slightly disingenuous, as the author must have known, for<br />
during its first two decades the VOC also had struggled, requiring public support and failing to<br />
pay dividends in all but two years. By the mid-1630s, however, the VOC had consolid<strong>at</strong>ed its<br />
position <strong>at</strong> B<strong>at</strong>avia and emerged as a profitable enterprise. In 1636 its shares traded <strong>at</strong> more than<br />
double their face value and investors received a handsome dividend of 37.5%. By contrast, WIC<br />
shares continued to trade <strong>at</strong>, or just above par, and there had been no dividend since 1629. 34<br />
Wh<strong>at</strong> could account for this difference? The answer, <strong>at</strong> least according to the author of the<br />
memorandum, was th<strong>at</strong> the WIC lacked sufficient money and credit. This, in turn, was seen as a<br />
consequence of the decision to open the trade to Brazil. Whereas the VOC had vigorously<br />
protected its monopoly over trade to all parts of its territory, the WIC had opened the door to<br />
priv<strong>at</strong>e merchants and allowed them to undermine its main source of revenue.<br />
The memorandum thus advised th<strong>at</strong> the only way for the company to restore its finances<br />
was to close the trade once again. If this could be done, its author asked, would the company<br />
have sufficient means <strong>at</strong> its disposal, and a sufficient appetite for risk, to provide the colony with<br />
the supplies it required? In other words, did the company have the capacity to transform itself<br />
from an organiz<strong>at</strong>ion devoted primarily to piracy and conquest into one th<strong>at</strong> conducted normal<br />
trade on a gre<strong>at</strong>ly enlarged scale? The author answered in the affirm<strong>at</strong>ive, and offered the<br />
outlines of a financial str<strong>at</strong>egy to smooth the transition. The company would need to raise<br />
approxim<strong>at</strong>ely 2.5 million guilders in additional priv<strong>at</strong>e capital, of which 1.5 million guilders<br />
should be reserved to cover the costs of war. The remaining 1 million guilders should be used as<br />
<br />
34 Den Heijer, De Geoctrooieerde Compagnie, 249–<strong>25</strong>0; Gaastra, The Dutch East India Company, 26–29.<br />
182
coll<strong>at</strong>eral to borrow an additional 2 million guilders to finance the company's trade to Brazil. 35<br />
This was a risky str<strong>at</strong>egy, but the author believed th<strong>at</strong> profits from the Brazil trade would more<br />
than repay the new investment.<br />
Most of the chambers opposed reinst<strong>at</strong>ing the company's monopoly, as we have seen<br />
already, but the idea of raising additional priv<strong>at</strong>e capital enjoyed broad support. Actually raising<br />
new money proved more difficult than anticip<strong>at</strong>ed. In Zeeland, the chamber for which the best<br />
records remain, new subscription books opened to investors simultaneously in the three cities of<br />
Middelburg, Vlissingen, and Veere on August 26, 1636. 36 Abraham Bischop and Pieter Alleman,<br />
who had helped negoti<strong>at</strong>e the terms of the verhoging with deleg<strong>at</strong>es from Amsterdam and the<br />
other chambers, served as the commissioners. 37 During the first month less than 70,000 guilders<br />
were raised in Middelburg, and although investors included influential directors such as Jan van<br />
der Merct, Jan Louys, and Pieter van Essen, many others stayed away. 38 On September 27, the<br />
m<strong>at</strong>ter came to a head: the chamber's hoofdparticipanten insisted th<strong>at</strong> they would invest further<br />
funds only if they could be assured th<strong>at</strong> these funds would go straight to Brazil, and if the<br />
chamber's directors were forbidden from particip<strong>at</strong>ing in the priv<strong>at</strong>e trade. 39 On October 6 the<br />
hoofdparticipanten were assured th<strong>at</strong> these conditions would be met, and the chamber's directors<br />
collectively “took a solemn o<strong>at</strong>h not to trade [to Brazil] on their priv<strong>at</strong>e accounts.” 40 Cornelis<br />
Lampsins of Vlissingen (1600-1664), who indic<strong>at</strong>ed th<strong>at</strong> he would r<strong>at</strong>her lose his se<strong>at</strong> as a<br />
<br />
35 NA 1.01.07, inv.nr. 1<strong>25</strong>64.5. Discourse ondervrage en antwoort hoe die Westind. Comp. sal comen gestabiliseert<br />
en gebeneficeert worden buyten costen vant lant, tot merckel. voordeel van die participanten.<br />
36 NA 1.05.01.01, inv.nrs. 77, 78, and 79.<br />
37 NA 1.05.01.01, inv.nr. 22, entry for August 21, 1636.<br />
38 NA 1.05.01.01, inv.nr. 77. Note th<strong>at</strong> the sums listed in the manuscript are in Flemish pounds. By September 27,<br />
investors in Middelburg has subscribed 11,235 Flemish pounds, equal to 67,410 guilders.<br />
39 NA 1.05.01.01, inv.nr. 22, entry for September 27, 1636.<br />
40 Ibid., entry for October 5, 1636. “Alle de Bewindhebberen van de vergaderinge gedaen hebbende den eedt,<br />
achtervolgens de resolutie van de negentiene van op brasyl in haer particuliere nyet te handelen, als alleen d’heer<br />
Lampsins.”<br />
183
director than his trade to Brazil, refused to take the o<strong>at</strong>h and stepped down several weeks l<strong>at</strong>er. 41<br />
In effect, the Zeeland directors had reached an agreement independent of both the other<br />
chambers and the St<strong>at</strong>es General not to compete with one another in the trade to Brazil. Having<br />
forfeited the right to profit personally, outside the framework of the company's monopoly, it is<br />
not surprising th<strong>at</strong> they would become so frustr<strong>at</strong>ed with Amsterdam, where directors'<br />
involvement in priv<strong>at</strong>e trade to Brazil was believed to be widespread. 42<br />
In any case, the agreement succeeded in stimul<strong>at</strong>ing new subscriptions, but hardly<br />
enough to encourage confidence. By the end of November Middelburg's books still registered<br />
only 150,000 guilders, a sizeable sum but well short of the 290,000 guilders th<strong>at</strong> would be<br />
expected based on the city's initial investment of 879,475 guilders. 43 In Vlissingen and Veere the<br />
situ<strong>at</strong>ion was much the same, and the problem extended to other regions, as well. In September<br />
Johannes de Laet reported to the Amsterdam chamber th<strong>at</strong> shareholders in Leiden were hesitant<br />
to subscribe new money. 44 Several weeks l<strong>at</strong>er a committee in Amsterdam met to discuss similar<br />
problems in Vriesland, Arnhem, and Zutphen. 45<br />
In Amsterdam itself, where investment could help procure a coveted se<strong>at</strong> as one of the<br />
chamber's directors—and thus access to secret inform<strong>at</strong>ion th<strong>at</strong> would be invaluable to priv<strong>at</strong>e<br />
merchants trading to Brazil—there was considerably more enthusiasm for the verhoging. Even in<br />
Amsterdam, though, there was disagreement. While a majority of the chamber's directors were<br />
committed to a policy of free trade, the hoofdparticipanten were concerned th<strong>at</strong> priv<strong>at</strong>e traders<br />
were reaping all of the benefits of trade. In a remonstrance to the St<strong>at</strong>es General, submitted in<br />
<br />
41<br />
Ibid. and entry for December 3, 1636.<br />
42<br />
Van Dillen, “De West-Indische Compagnie, het Calvinism en de Politiek”; Goslinga, The Dutch in the Caribbean<br />
and on the Wild Coast 1580-1680, 292.<br />
43<br />
NA 1.05.01.01, inv.nr. 77. Roos, Zeeuwen en de Westindische Compagnie (1621-1674), 21.<br />
44<br />
NA 1.05.01.01, inv.nr. 14, entry for September 11, 1636.<br />
45 Ibid., entry for December <strong>25</strong>, 1636.<br />
184
July of 1635, they had recommended th<strong>at</strong> the trade to Brazil remain open, but th<strong>at</strong> investors in<br />
the company who traded on their own account be given preferential terms, including lowering<br />
the recognition fees due the company to 5% from the normal r<strong>at</strong>e of 10%. 46 This proposal was<br />
not adopted and the Amsterdam hoofdparticipanten eventually resolved to support keeping the<br />
trade open. But their position can only have further undermined confidence among the other<br />
chambers and cities, which increasingly voiced concern about the cozy rel<strong>at</strong>ionship between<br />
Amsterdam's directors and the priv<strong>at</strong>e merchants trading to Brazil.<br />
These concerns took concrete form in yet another way. The WIC's charter called for<br />
each chamber of the company to manage its own capital stock and lists of shareholders, even<br />
though profits and losses were reconciled annually and distributed amongst the five chambers<br />
based on a set proportional formula. Evidently the founders of the company did not foresee, or <strong>at</strong><br />
least did not take steps to prevent, the possibility th<strong>at</strong> shares issued by different chambers would<br />
begin to trade <strong>at</strong> different prices. But once Brazil was opened to priv<strong>at</strong>e merchants, this is exactly<br />
wh<strong>at</strong> happened. In their report in <strong>May</strong> of 1635, Van Arnhem and Herberts noted th<strong>at</strong> the value of<br />
shares in the company had “begun to diverge widely.” 47 In Amsterdam shares were selling for<br />
119-120 guilders, while in Groningen they had sunk to 94-95 guilders, below par. Zeeland<br />
pointed out th<strong>at</strong> VOC shares had never diverged in this fashion, and, <strong>at</strong> the next meeting of the<br />
Heren XIX in July of the same year, protested th<strong>at</strong> failing to protect the company's monopoly<br />
indirectly permitted “the majority [of the trade] to fall to Amsterdam, to the prejudice of the<br />
other chambers and cities.” 48<br />
<br />
46 NA 1.01.04, inv.nr. 5754, fols. 107-114. Remonstr<strong>at</strong>ie van de Hooftparticipanten van de Camer Amsterdam.<br />
47 NA 1.01.04, inv.nr. 5754, fol. 59. Rapport van de Heeren Arnhem ende Herberts. “Die actien die nu soo<br />
verschieden van prys zijn in der respective cameren.”<br />
48 NA 1.01.04, inv.nr. 5754, fol. 137. Rapport van de heeren Arnhem ende Pauw Gecommitteerden van wegen hare<br />
hooch mo. op de Jongste vergaderinge van de Negentiene van de Westindische Compagnie binnen Amsterdam die<br />
beschieden is geweest den ii July 1635 ende geendicht den eerste ten Augusti daer aen volgende.<br />
185
With the verhoging stalled, and animosity towards Amsterdam's directors building,<br />
Zeeland seized the opportunity to press its case for the trade to be closed. On the chamber's copy<br />
of the draft agenda for the fall meeting of the Heren XIX, scheduled to begin in Amsterdam on<br />
December 8, 1636, they recorded a unanimous decision th<strong>at</strong> further discussion of the verhoging<br />
was to be contingent upon resolution of the question of closing the trade to Brazil, and a<br />
deleg<strong>at</strong>ion was appointed to carry this message directly to the represent<strong>at</strong>ives of the St<strong>at</strong>es<br />
General <strong>at</strong> The Hague. 49 By this time the chambers of the Maas, Groningen, and North Holland<br />
all had reached the same conclusion: the only means to refinance the company, and thereby to<br />
adequ<strong>at</strong>ely provide for the colony, was to re-impose the company's monopoly. It was colonial<br />
policy, not “cupidity” or greed, th<strong>at</strong> motiv<strong>at</strong>ed Zeeland and its allies.<br />
3. Decision-Making <strong>at</strong> The St<strong>at</strong>es General<br />
The St<strong>at</strong>es General's decision to close the trade to Brazil on December 27, 1636 was not just<br />
about money: it was also based on advice coming from the Hoge Raad in Brazil and on a vision<br />
for the colony based on unified authority, military expansion, and slavery. Identifying the<br />
ultim<strong>at</strong>e locus of decision-making within the complex political structure of the United Provinces<br />
is no easier for the modern historian than it was for contemporaries who shuttled back and forth<br />
between city governments, provincial st<strong>at</strong>es, the St<strong>at</strong>es General, and other bodies looking for<br />
definitive resolution to disagreements over m<strong>at</strong>ters of law and policy. 50 As we saw in Chapter<br />
Three, in the case of the WIC the difficulty is compounded by the overlapping responsibilities of<br />
<br />
49 NA 1.05.01.01 inv.nr. 22, entry for December 1, 1636. “Te consenteren tot verhooginge van de Capitalen, mits d<strong>at</strong><br />
de handeling aende Comp. blyve, volgens hey viii poinct. Synde dit geresolveert met eenparige stemmen.”<br />
50 Fruin, Geschiedenis der Sta<strong>at</strong>sinstellingen in Nederland tot den val der Republiek; Frijhoff and Spies, 1650:<br />
Hard-Won Unity, 220–226; Goldgar, Tulipmania; Van Vree, Meetings, Manners, and Civiliz<strong>at</strong>ion.<br />
186
the five chambers, their constituent cities, and the company's board. With no direct records of<br />
discussions in the Heren XIX, the St<strong>at</strong>es of Holland, or the St<strong>at</strong>es General, any explan<strong>at</strong>ion for<br />
the decision must be based on a certain amount of inference and conjecture. Henk den Heijer has<br />
pointed to the St<strong>at</strong>es General's represent<strong>at</strong>ive within the Heren XIX, arguing th<strong>at</strong> Amsterdam<br />
may have lost the support not only of North Holland, but also of this crucial nineteenth vote,<br />
which in the past had helped to guarantee Amsterdam's majority. 51 Wh<strong>at</strong> little evidence remains<br />
supports this view, suggesting th<strong>at</strong> the St<strong>at</strong>es General and its functionaries played something<br />
more than a passive role in adjudic<strong>at</strong>ing the question of free trade. 52 Robert Fruin famously<br />
argued th<strong>at</strong> the St<strong>at</strong>es General was “more a congress of ambassadors than a genuine legisl<strong>at</strong>ure,”<br />
in the sense th<strong>at</strong> deleg<strong>at</strong>es from the various provinces arrived with and represented strict<br />
instructions, r<strong>at</strong>her than collectively and autonomously gener<strong>at</strong>ing new policies or laws. 53 In the<br />
deb<strong>at</strong>e over free trade, however, it appears th<strong>at</strong> the committee charged with overseeing WIC<br />
affairs held and may have acted upon views of its own.<br />
As Herman Wätjen showed, there were growing concerns th<strong>at</strong> free trade was<br />
undermining the company's fragile efforts to consolid<strong>at</strong>e its authority in Brazil. 54 A string of<br />
military successes in 1634-1635 had rapidly expanded the territory under Dutch control to<br />
include the captaincies of Itamaracá, Paraiba, and Rio Grande, as well as Pernambuco, but the<br />
revenue from looted sugar and other goods had not been adequ<strong>at</strong>e to offset the company's<br />
expenditures. As Willem Usselincx had warned a decade and a half earlier, Brazil was “no c<strong>at</strong> to<br />
<br />
51 Den Heijer, “Het Recht van de Sterkste in de Polder: Politieke en Economische Strijd tussen Amsterdam en<br />
Zeeland over de Kwestie Brazilie, 1630-1654,” 81.<br />
52 Knevel, Het Haagse Bureau.<br />
53 Fruin, Geschiedenis der Sta<strong>at</strong>sinstellingen in Nederland tot den val der Republiek, 179. “De afstand van hunne<br />
committenten maakte hen [de leden der St<strong>at</strong>en Generaal] in kleinigheden wel eenigszins onafhankelijk, maar zij<br />
stemden dan daar toch alleen in toe onder voorbehoud van de goedkeuring der committenten. Het [de St<strong>at</strong>en<br />
Generaal] was dus meer een congres van gezanten dan een wetgevende vergadering.”<br />
54 Wätjen, O Dominio Colonial Hollandez no Brasil: Um capitulo da historia colonial do seculo XVII, 450–452.<br />
187
e handled without gloves.” 55 In his view, local Indians, Jewish settlers, and African slaves were<br />
unlikely to welcome the Dutch and, even if they did, the company would soon find th<strong>at</strong><br />
everything of value in the colony had been destroyed. Just as the Dutch had burned crops and<br />
flooded lands in advance of Spanish troops in the early years of the Revolt, in Brazil the<br />
Portuguese would burn the sugar mills in order to deprive the company of any stable source of<br />
revenue. 56 In this, as in many other m<strong>at</strong>ters, Usselincx was largely correct. By 1635 little or no<br />
new sugar had been planted, the colony's finances were in disarray, and much needed supplies<br />
were not arriving fast enough to replenish depleted stocks.<br />
During the course of the following year company officials and others in Brazil<br />
increasingly became convinced th<strong>at</strong> priv<strong>at</strong>e merchants were to blame for this st<strong>at</strong>e of affairs.<br />
Initially the Politique Raad—the civilian political council charged with overseeing the colony's<br />
affairs—had supported opening the trade to priv<strong>at</strong>e merchants. With control over the vast<br />
majority of the sugar trade, and with the trade in provisions, munitions, and Brazilwood reserved<br />
for the company, the council did not expect th<strong>at</strong> priv<strong>at</strong>e trade would pose a serious thre<strong>at</strong>. 57 But<br />
their view quickly changed. By the summer of 1636, members of the council were calling on the<br />
St<strong>at</strong>es General to take action to exclude priv<strong>at</strong>e traders and to close the trade. Their arguments<br />
were devoted in part to commercial issues, but far more important was their concern th<strong>at</strong> free<br />
trade was sewing disunity, undermining the company's authority, and thre<strong>at</strong>ening its ability to<br />
consolid<strong>at</strong>e colonial rule.<br />
“We recommend to your excellencies th<strong>at</strong> the trade [to Brazil] be closed,” st<strong>at</strong>ed the<br />
council's letter of June 11, 1636, signed by Jacob Stachower, Elias Herckmans, Willem Schot,<br />
<br />
55 NA 1.01.05, inv.nr. 9409. Brief van Willem Usselincx, exhibited in the St<strong>at</strong>es General on April 13, 1620. “W<strong>at</strong><br />
Bresillien belangt d<strong>at</strong> en is geen c<strong>at</strong> om sonder hantscoenen aen te tasten, te meer als den Conninck van<br />
Spaignendaer twee offe drie duysent oude sold<strong>at</strong>en na toeschicte.”<br />
56 Ibid.<br />
57 Wätjen, O Dominio Colonial Hollandez no Brasil: Um capitulo da historia colonial do seculo XVII, 449.<br />
188
and Philips Serooskerken. 58 The recognition fees th<strong>at</strong> the company collected on goods shipped<br />
by priv<strong>at</strong>e traders were welcome, the letter argued, but they were tiny in comparison to the<br />
profits of the trade itself. The only way to secure a gre<strong>at</strong>er portion of these profits would be to<br />
close the trade. In his separ<strong>at</strong>e letter, Serooskerken, a Zeelander, expressed the frustr<strong>at</strong>ion and<br />
indign<strong>at</strong>ion aroused by the activities of the priv<strong>at</strong>e traders. While the company was obliged to<br />
maintain the army and its own servants—as well the forts, warehouses, and living quarters—the<br />
priv<strong>at</strong>e traders were making a fortune on the trade in sugar and provisions. Not only did this give<br />
them an unfair advantage, Serooskerken reasoned, but it led to price infl<strong>at</strong>ion, since the priv<strong>at</strong>e<br />
traders simply added to the price of the goods they sold the recognition fees they paid to the<br />
company, plus 100-200% in profits. In Recife the price for houses, many of which were still<br />
dilapid<strong>at</strong>ed as a result of the war, had increased as much as sevenfold. As a result, many in the<br />
colony—and especially the company's soldiers and menial servants—had fallen deeply in debt.<br />
The priv<strong>at</strong>e trade, Serooskerken concluded, was “e<strong>at</strong>ing the company like a worm.” 59<br />
Jan Robberts, another company official, qualified his remarks as based solely on “my<br />
personal sentiments,” but the recommend<strong>at</strong>ions he offered were almost exactly the same. 60 The<br />
priv<strong>at</strong>e traders, he wrote, were “no friends of the company,” but r<strong>at</strong>her men who in every<br />
instance placed their own particular interests above those of either company or f<strong>at</strong>herland. 61 He<br />
echoed Serooskerken's reports on the poor st<strong>at</strong>e of the company's warehouses and the rapid rise<br />
in prices, which he blamed for the “thousands” of company soldiers th<strong>at</strong> could be found<br />
<br />
58 NA 1.01.07, inv.nr. 1<strong>25</strong>64.5. Extracts from the letter of the Politique Raad, June 11, 1636.<br />
59 Ibid. Extracts from a letter from Philips Serooskerken, June 11, 1636. “Den handel van particulieren compt hierin<br />
zoodanigen consider<strong>at</strong>ie, d<strong>at</strong> noch militaire noch maritime, noch politycque, noch Ecclesiastique haer met genouch<br />
daerover verwonderen en commen, Oordelen geen beter middel gevonden te commen worden, om de Comp te<br />
gronde te helpen, ende de particuliere in corten tyt sch<strong>at</strong>ryck te maecken, dan d<strong>at</strong> den oorloch ende de oncosten daer<br />
aen dependerende de Comp. als een verterende Worm behoude”<br />
60 Ibid. Extracts from a letter from Jan Robberts, August 12, 1636. “Doch ick schrijve met myn particulier gevoelen,<br />
u E. sullen misschien beter tot voordeel van. Comp. onderrecht syn, D<strong>at</strong> ick van haerten wensche.”<br />
61 Ibid.<br />
189
“walking the land half-naked” for want of clothes and food. 62 If the company sent additional<br />
provisions and paid the soldiers in cash, he suggested, it would “receive with one hand wh<strong>at</strong> it<br />
paid with the other,” and thus make an additional profit. He recommended four measures: the<br />
trade should be reserved to the company; fresh soldiers and supplies should be sent out <strong>at</strong> once;<br />
soldiers should be made responsible for their own upkeep; and a general should be appointed to<br />
restore order and oversee the full range of the colony's military and civilian affairs. Separ<strong>at</strong>e<br />
letters by Hendrik Schilt and Willem Schot offered many of the same recommend<strong>at</strong>ions. 63<br />
Christoffel Artichewski, the Polish colonel who led company forces in Brazil during the<br />
early and mid-1630s, would l<strong>at</strong>er explain to Johan Maurits, th<strong>at</strong> these letters contained numerous<br />
mistakes and misinterpret<strong>at</strong>ions. But their impact in the United Provinces was dram<strong>at</strong>ic. 64 The<br />
first set of letters arrived in Zeeland on August 18, 1636, barely two weeks after Johan Maurits<br />
had been selected to serve as Governor General of Dutch Brazil, with broad powers to reorganize<br />
and expand the colony. Appointing a nobleman of such high st<strong>at</strong>us represented a major<br />
investment for the company: with Johan Maurits already preparing to depart <strong>at</strong> the head of 3,000<br />
new troops, news of the poor st<strong>at</strong>e of the army and provisions must have been particularly<br />
disturbing. But the letters also played directly into Zeeland's hand. After reading them, the<br />
chamber's directors resolved th<strong>at</strong> closing the trade to Brazil was now urgent. 65<br />
The St<strong>at</strong>es General was similarly moved. In October, after the second b<strong>at</strong>ch of letters<br />
had arrived from Brazil, they formally requested advice from each of the company's five<br />
<br />
62 Ibid. Extracts from a letter from Jan Robberts, July 24, 1636.<br />
63 Ibid. Extracts from a letter from Hendrik Schilt, September 4, 1636; Extracts from a letter from Willem Schot to<br />
the Heren XIX, July <strong>25</strong>, 1636.<br />
64 Christoffel Artichewski, “Missive van den Kolonnel Artichofsky aan Graaf Maurits en de Hoogen Raad in<br />
Brazilië, 24 Juli 1637,” Kronijk van het Historisch Genootschap gevestigd te Utrecht <strong>25</strong>, no. 5 (1869): 231. J. C. M.<br />
Warsinck, “Christoffel Artichewsky,” in Iaerlyck Verhael van de Verrichtingen der Geoctryeerde West-Indische<br />
Compagnie, ed. L’Honoré Naber, vol. 4 (’s-Gravenhage: Martinus Nijhoff, 1937), xxv–lxxii; Xavier, “Het Gebruik<br />
van Egodocumenten en Nederlands Brazilië: De Memorie van Kolonel Christoffel Arciszewski.”<br />
65 NA 1.05.01.01, inv.nr. 22, entry for August 18, 1636.<br />
190
chambers. Notably, this request came not from Van Arnhem, but from Hendrick Willemsz.<br />
Nobel, a deputy to the St<strong>at</strong>es General from Rotterdam, an early investor in the WIC, and a<br />
director in the chamber of the Maas. 66 Since the Maas had by this point concluded th<strong>at</strong> the trade<br />
should be closed, Nobel's involvement likely ensured th<strong>at</strong> Zeeland's advice would <strong>at</strong> the<br />
minimum receive a favorable hearing. On November 6 two directors in the Zeeland chamber<br />
began assembling excerpts from the letters sent by the Politique Raad and others. 67 To these<br />
excerpts they <strong>at</strong>tached a lengthy memorandum arguing for the trade to Brazil to be closed. The<br />
arguments themselves were by now familiar—if the trade was left open the colony would be<br />
ruined, since shareholders would not devote additional resources while priv<strong>at</strong>e trade brought<br />
richer returns—but for the first time Zeeland also made the case th<strong>at</strong> they believed a majority<br />
could be won on the issue in the Heren XIX. 68<br />
The St<strong>at</strong>es General's decision took the form of a resolution, signed by Cornelis Musch<br />
on December 27, 1636. A letter to the Heren XIX announcing the resolution cited both the news<br />
from Brazil and the company's enduring financial difficulties:<br />
We have examined the documents submitted to us and note with gre<strong>at</strong> sadness the terrible effects<br />
wrought by opening the trade to Brazil, including the emptying of the company's warehouses and<br />
its inability to resupply them, which together have caused many heavy troubles. Whether this is<br />
the result of the sinister activities of a few, or has been caused by other means, we wish not to<br />
examine further <strong>at</strong> this time, but instead we have decided th<strong>at</strong> for the best of the Company the<br />
currently approved free trade shall be abolished, and all goods or ships th<strong>at</strong> have been outfitted by<br />
priv<strong>at</strong>e traders shall immedi<strong>at</strong>ely be confisc<strong>at</strong>ed. 69<br />
<br />
66<br />
NA 1.05.01.01, inv.nr. 14, entry for October 17, 1636. "Hendrick Willemsz. Nobel," Molhuysen, Nieuw<br />
Nederlandsch Biografisch Woordenboek, 1384. Ambtsdragers en Ambtenaren, 1428-1861.<br />
http://www.historici.nl/Onderzoek/Projecten/Repertorium/app/personen/11402. Accessed on April 4, 2011.<br />
67<br />
NA 1.05.01.01, inv.nr. 22, entry for December 6, 1636.<br />
68<br />
NA 1.01.07, inv.nr. 1<strong>25</strong>64.5, Cort sommier uyt dese voorgestelden 11 extracten... ged<strong>at</strong>eert van den 11 Juny aff<br />
tot den 10 September 1636 toe.<br />
69<br />
NA 1.05.01.01, inv.nr. 39, fol. 58v. “Wy hebben Geexamineert de bygevoechde stucken ende daerinne met<br />
droefheyt ende met Groot leerwesen bespeurt de quade Effecten ende het open stellen van den vrien handel op<br />
Brasil heeft gebaert ten regarde van het onblooten vanden magasynen van de Comp. ende de negligentie van de<br />
selve meder te versien ende remplaceeren, t’ welck veele swaricheeden heft veroorsaect, tsy dan off sulcx is Geschut<br />
door mis practiquen offe by ander […] tselve en willen wy voor t mael met verder ondersoecken Maer hebben<br />
goetgedracht ten besten van de Comp. aff te schaffen, gelyck wy ook aff schaeffen mits desen den tegenwoordigen<br />
191
While the resolution as a whole shows th<strong>at</strong> Zeeland's arguments had been decisive, the final<br />
clause suggests th<strong>at</strong> the decision was made r<strong>at</strong>her hastily, likely without consult<strong>at</strong>ion with<br />
represent<strong>at</strong>ives of the company. 70 As the directors, who were still assembled <strong>at</strong> the meeting of<br />
the Heren XIX in Amsterdam, immedi<strong>at</strong>ely recognized, it was hardly just to seize ships and<br />
cargos th<strong>at</strong> had been prepared for shipment to Brazil before December 27, when priv<strong>at</strong>e trade to<br />
Brazil was still legal. On January 3 Van Arnhem reported to the St<strong>at</strong>es General th<strong>at</strong> the<br />
directors—who had for months been feuding amongst themselves—were unanimous in their<br />
view th<strong>at</strong> the resolution should be revised to allow these ships to depart unmolested. 71 The St<strong>at</strong>es<br />
General <strong>at</strong> first refused; it then passed a second resolution calling on the company to take control<br />
of the confisc<strong>at</strong>ed ships and their cargoes in return for a “fair market price.” This turned out to be<br />
equally unacceptable, because the company did not have nearly the resources th<strong>at</strong> would have<br />
been necessary to compens<strong>at</strong>e so many merchants simultaneously. 72 Finally, after intervention by<br />
the deleg<strong>at</strong>e from Holland, the St<strong>at</strong>es General backed down, and allowed a limited number of<br />
ships to sail. Part of the r<strong>at</strong>ionale for their decision may have been the fact th<strong>at</strong> several of the<br />
ships were carrying military and other supplies for Maurits and members of his extensive<br />
entourage. 73<br />
It is unknown whether a vote on the question of free trade ever took place within the<br />
Heren XIX. Under normal circumstances the directors sought consensus, but on particularly<br />
contentious issues decisions were made by a simple majority, with the senior represent<strong>at</strong>ive of<br />
<br />
Geconsenteerden handel verclaerende dien volgende verbeurt ende Geconfisqeert alle de schepen ende goederen die<br />
derwaers near dare deses uyt dese Landen.”<br />
70 Boxer, The Dutch in Brazil, 1624-1654, 78.<br />
71 NA 1.01.04, inv. 5754, fol. 274. The report is d<strong>at</strong>ed January 3, 1636.<br />
72 NA 1.05.01.01 inv. 39, fols. 59-60v. Extracts of the Resolutions of the St<strong>at</strong>es General d<strong>at</strong>ed January 3, January 5,<br />
and January 7, 1636.<br />
73 NA 1.05.01.01, inv.nr. 39, fol. 60.<br />
192
the St<strong>at</strong>es General casting the nineteenth—and thus tie-breaking—vote. If even this failed to<br />
resolve the impasse, the charter authorized the St<strong>at</strong>es General to move deb<strong>at</strong>e to its own<br />
chambers and resolve the m<strong>at</strong>ter as it saw fit. 74 With the Amsterdam chamber in favor of free<br />
trade, and Zeeland, the Maas, and Groningen against, in a strict sense such an impasse could only<br />
have occurred if both North Holland and the represent<strong>at</strong>ive of the St<strong>at</strong>es General abstained. 75<br />
Wh<strong>at</strong>ever took place, it seems certain th<strong>at</strong> the St<strong>at</strong>es General acted quickly to assume<br />
responsibility for the decision, and thus to imprint its own vision on the company and its colony.<br />
The impetus likely did not come from Gerard van Arnhem. Born in 1598, Van Arnhem<br />
was a member of the Veluwesch Ridderschap (council of noblemen for the Veluwe, a portion of<br />
Gelderland along the United Provinces' eastern border). 76 In 1634 he married Theodora van<br />
Wassenaer Vuer, daughter of Johan van Wassenaer, Heer van Duvenvoorde, a member of<br />
Holland's Ridderschap and, from 1617 until his de<strong>at</strong>h in 1645, its represent<strong>at</strong>ive to the<br />
Gecommitteerde Raden (Deleg<strong>at</strong>ed Councilors). In 1617 he accompanied Hugo Grotius on a<br />
mission to Dordrecht and Zeeland to try to stop the Synod of Dordrecht, which began the next<br />
year. Theodora's brother, Arend van Wassenaer Veur, served as a sergeant major in the cavalry<br />
and, following his f<strong>at</strong>her's de<strong>at</strong>h, entered both Holland's Ridderschap and the Gecommitteerde<br />
Raden. Van Arnhem's marriage, in other words, both reflected and reproduced his st<strong>at</strong>us within<br />
the military and administr<strong>at</strong>ive nobility, and possibly also within the remnants of the<br />
Remonstrant party. From <strong>at</strong> least as early as 1630, he regularly served as the St<strong>at</strong>es General's<br />
senior represent<strong>at</strong>ive <strong>at</strong> the meetings of the Heren XIX. According to Artichewski, he was—<br />
<br />
74 Charter of the Dutch West India Company, Article 23.<br />
75 Since any other alignment would have yielded a (albeit small) majority. Amsterdam had eight votes, Zeeland four,<br />
the Maas two, Groningen two, North Holland two, and the St<strong>at</strong>es General one.<br />
76 The short biography here draws substantially on the entry for Van Arnhem's f<strong>at</strong>her in law. See “Johan van<br />
Wassenaer” in Molhuysen, Nieuw Nederlandsch Biografisch Woordenboek, vol. 2, 1530.<br />
193
along with the two powerful Amsterdam directors Johannes de Laet and Albert Coenraeds<br />
Burgh—a well-informed and reliable supporter of free trade to Brazil. 77<br />
The inclin<strong>at</strong>ions of the deputies <strong>at</strong> the St<strong>at</strong>es General in The Hague were r<strong>at</strong>her different.<br />
Once the resolution to close the trade had been finalized, both Zeeland and Amsterdam sent large<br />
deleg<strong>at</strong>ions to express their views. Zeeland, of course, congr<strong>at</strong>ul<strong>at</strong>ed the St<strong>at</strong>es General on its<br />
decision, while some fifteen directors and hoofdparticipanten from Amsterdam complained<br />
bitterly th<strong>at</strong> the decision jeopardized both the company and the colony. 78 Their respective letters<br />
were placed in the hands of a committee th<strong>at</strong> was asked to submit a report, in consult<strong>at</strong>ion with<br />
Van Arnhem and Jan Gijsbertsz. Pauw, a deputy from Alkmaar and the St<strong>at</strong>es General's junior<br />
represent<strong>at</strong>ive to the meetings of the Heren XIX. 79 This committee was disproportion<strong>at</strong>ely staffed<br />
with noblemen who were either hostile to Spain or represented provinces whose chambers in the<br />
company opposed free trade to Brazil. The m<strong>at</strong>ter was not simply th<strong>at</strong> Amsterdam's numerical<br />
strength was weaker in the St<strong>at</strong>es General—where, together with all the other cities in Holland, it<br />
exercised only one vote of seven, as opposed to the eight votes it controlled in the Heren XIX—<br />
but th<strong>at</strong> it faced almost unanimous opposition on both ideological and political grounds.<br />
The deputy from Zeeland, for example, was Johan de Knuyt, Heer van Oud en Nieuw<br />
Vosmaera, l<strong>at</strong>er a fierce critic of peace with Spain and a close confidant of the Prince of<br />
Orange. 80 While there is no record th<strong>at</strong> Frederik Hendrik ever explicitly supported Zeeland's<br />
position, he had written to the St<strong>at</strong>es General the previous year to ask th<strong>at</strong> their case be heard,<br />
<br />
77 From 1639 until his de<strong>at</strong>h in 1644, Van Arnhem served as one of two Commissarissen-Deciseurs appointed by the<br />
St<strong>at</strong>es General to oversee appointments, law, and administr<strong>at</strong>ion in the Maastricht, the Limburg city captured by<br />
Frederik Hendrik in 1632. He first appears in the records of the WIC as a represent<strong>at</strong>ive of the St<strong>at</strong>es General in<br />
March 1630. See NA 1.01.04, inv.nr. 5752. His identific<strong>at</strong>ion as an advoc<strong>at</strong>e of free trade is taken from Artichewski,<br />
“Missive van den Kolonnel Artichofsky aan Graaf Maurits en de Hoogen Raad in Brazilië, 24 Juli 1637,” 231.<br />
78 NA 1.01.04, inv.nr. 5754, fols. 288 and 301.<br />
79 NA 1.05.01.01, inv.nr. 39, marginal note in the Credentiebrief van de Camer Amsterdam aen de St<strong>at</strong>en Generael,<br />
d<strong>at</strong>ed January 27, 1637.<br />
80 See Chapter Two.<br />
194
and l<strong>at</strong>er suggested th<strong>at</strong> the monopoly be maintained for <strong>at</strong> least a year to see if the company was<br />
capable of delivering sufficient provisions to Brazil. 81 Willem Ripperda tot Boxbergen, another<br />
nobleman, represented Overijsel, where the verhoging had run into opposition from investors<br />
who resented Amsterdam merchants' domin<strong>at</strong>ion of the priv<strong>at</strong>e trade. 82 Hendrik Schonenborch,<br />
the deputy from Groningen (and Wolter Schonenborch's f<strong>at</strong>her), was an investor himself and<br />
presumably would have been symp<strong>at</strong>hetic to his province's chamber in the company, which<br />
supported closing the trade. The same was true for the deputy from Holland, Hendrick Willemsz.<br />
Nobel, who, as we have seen, came from Rotterdam, one of the three cities th<strong>at</strong> particip<strong>at</strong>ed in<br />
the chamber of the Maas.<br />
Perhaps most important of all, however, was Hendrik van der Capellen, Alexander van<br />
der Capellen's older brother and a considerable figure in his own right. 83 Born around 1580, he<br />
had inherited the title of Heer van Rijsselt from his f<strong>at</strong>her; l<strong>at</strong>er a cousin ceded him title to Esselt<br />
as well. In 1620 he served as Burgemeester of Zutphen and thereafter was admitted to the<br />
Ridderschappen (Council of Noblemen) of both Zutphen and Cleves. By the mid-1630s, he had<br />
established himself as a prominent member of the Gelderland nobility and served as a<br />
represent<strong>at</strong>ive of the generality lands to the St<strong>at</strong>es General. His contribution to the discussion on<br />
free trade would inaugur<strong>at</strong>e a long period of steady involvement with the WIC and its affairs.<br />
After 1640 Van der Capellen effectively replaced Van Arnhem as the St<strong>at</strong>es General's senior<br />
represent<strong>at</strong>ive to the meetings of the Heren XIX, and l<strong>at</strong>er he would become a financier, with<br />
<br />
81 Frederik Hendrik's request to the St<strong>at</strong>es General can be found in NA 1.01.04, inv.nr. 5754, fol. 131, entry for<br />
September 29, 1635. His call for the monopoly to be left in place is recorded in Nicholaes Stellingwerf's personal<br />
notes of the meetings of the St<strong>at</strong>es of Holland. Stellingwerff and Schot, Particuliere Notulen van de Vergaderingen<br />
der St<strong>at</strong>en van Holland, 1620-1640. Entry for April 8, 1637.<br />
82 On Ripperda, see the entry in Ambtsdragers en Ambtenaren, 1428-1861.<br />
http://www.historici.nl/Onderzoek/Projecten/Repertorium/app/personen/7636. Accessed on April 4, 2011.<br />
Overijsel's complaint can be found in NA 1.05.01.01, inv.nr. 14, entry for November 14, 1636.<br />
83 "Hendrik van der Capellen" in Molhuysen, Nieuw Nederlandsch Biografisch Woordenboek, vol. 8, <strong>25</strong>0–<strong>25</strong>1.<br />
195
Cornelis Melijn, of a p<strong>at</strong>roonschap on St<strong>at</strong>en Island. 84 In between he developed a solid working<br />
knowledge of the company's business and a keen interest in m<strong>at</strong>ters of war, law, and colonial<br />
government. His brother's subsequent comments about the free traders and their pernicious effect<br />
on the company suggests th<strong>at</strong> Hendrik may already have viewed them with suspicion in 1636. 85<br />
This committee's report, submitted by Van der Capellen in l<strong>at</strong>e February, shows its<br />
authors’ <strong>at</strong>titude towards the company and their vision for ensuring the success of the Brazil<br />
colony. 86 The report began by reviewing the central points of the submissions provided by<br />
Amsterdam and Zeeland. Amsterdam maintained, in effect, th<strong>at</strong> the company didn't have the<br />
resources or credit to drive the trade to Brazil, and th<strong>at</strong> the important goal of settling the colony<br />
was possible only if traders could conduct their business freely. In addition, they argued th<strong>at</strong> the<br />
company and the St<strong>at</strong>es General were oblig<strong>at</strong>ed to uphold their agreements with Portuguese<br />
planters; only by tre<strong>at</strong>ing them with respect, as the King of Portugal had done, could the<br />
company hope to bring them over to its side. Finally, Amsterdam calcul<strong>at</strong>ed th<strong>at</strong> the income<br />
from recognition fees, which in 1635 and 1636 had been worth between 500,000-600,000<br />
guilders, could be expected to rise to 2.5 million guilders if the trade was left open. 87<br />
Zeeland, by contrast, argued th<strong>at</strong> closing the trade was consistent with the WIC's charter,<br />
whereas Amsterdam's position was not, and th<strong>at</strong> only the company could ensure th<strong>at</strong> the public<br />
interest was protected. This included ensuring th<strong>at</strong> Brazil was adequ<strong>at</strong>ely popul<strong>at</strong>ed and<br />
cultiv<strong>at</strong>ed, aims th<strong>at</strong> priv<strong>at</strong>e traders had no incentive to share. And Zeeland <strong>at</strong>tacked<br />
Amsterdam's financial calcul<strong>at</strong>ions by pointing out th<strong>at</strong> the company had spent nearly 6 million<br />
<br />
84<br />
Jacobs, The Colony of New Netherland, 73.<br />
85<br />
See Chapter Four.<br />
86<br />
NA 1.01.04, inv.nr. 5754, fols. 379-383. Rapport van den heere Vander Capellen toe Ryssel en andere haer<br />
hoochmog Gecommitteerde over die Communic<strong>at</strong>ie gehouden met die Gedeputierde der Negentien van die<br />
respective Westindische Cameren van Amsterdam, Zeelant, Mase, Norderquartier, St<strong>at</strong> Groningen en omlanden.<br />
Exhibitum <strong>25</strong> February 1637.<br />
87<br />
Ibid., fol. 379.<br />
196
guilders to expand and defend the colony. If the WIC were to command the trade, which<br />
Amsterdam itself calcul<strong>at</strong>ed to be worth more than 5 million guilders, it would be able to offset<br />
these costs. Notably, they argued th<strong>at</strong> the difference could be made up by the new trade in slaves,<br />
which the company also should be permitted to keep to itself. 88<br />
The committee supplemented these two positions with inform<strong>at</strong>ion they had received<br />
from convers<strong>at</strong>ions with company directors and others who visited The Hague over the<br />
preceding week. To their frustr<strong>at</strong>ion, Kiliaen van Rensselaer, one of the most influential<br />
Amsterdam hoofdparticipanten, refused to say almost anything <strong>at</strong> all. 89 When asked his view on<br />
the question of free trade, he st<strong>at</strong>ed only th<strong>at</strong> the magistr<strong>at</strong>es of the city of Amsterdam were<br />
currently deb<strong>at</strong>ing the issue, and th<strong>at</strong> he would prefer not to speak on the m<strong>at</strong>ter without their<br />
permission. When Van der Capellen offered to release him from this oblig<strong>at</strong>ion, so he could<br />
share his thoughts freely, Rensselaer again refused. As a p<strong>at</strong>roon with priv<strong>at</strong>e interests of his<br />
own in New Netherland, and as sign<strong>at</strong>ory to Amsterdam's letter of complaint, Rensselaer almost<br />
certainly supported free trade. 90 But after nearly a decade of wrangling with both the company<br />
and the St<strong>at</strong>es General to get his own fledgling colony up and running, he may have thought it<br />
prudent to stay silent r<strong>at</strong>her than to engage in a contentious discussion with a committee th<strong>at</strong> only<br />
recently had taken the opposite view.<br />
Sebastian Franck, a director from Dordrecht, was more forthcoming. 91 He explained th<strong>at</strong><br />
the chamber of the Maas had become so weak as a result of the war effort, with no prospect for<br />
making profit from trade, th<strong>at</strong> the only solution was to reserve the trade to the company; without<br />
<br />
88 Ibid., fol. 380.<br />
89 On Van Rensselaer, see Venema, Kiliaen van Rensselaer (1586-1643): Designing a New World; Merwick, “A<br />
Genre of Their Own”; Rensselaer, Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts.<br />
90 NA 1.01.04, inv.nr 5754, fol. 288. Van Rensselaer was deleg<strong>at</strong>ed as one of 17 represent<strong>at</strong>ives of the Amsterdam<br />
chamber th<strong>at</strong> requested permission to visit the St<strong>at</strong>es General on January 21, 1637.<br />
91 On Dordrecht's position, see also Den Heijer, “Het Recht van de Sterkste in de Polder: Politieke en Economische<br />
Strijd tussen Amsterdam en Zeeland over de Kwestie Brazilie, 1630-1654,” 81.<br />
197
this measure, he said, “no one in Dordrecht was willing to provide new capital.” 92 Those who<br />
had invested had done so not in order to wage war and collect recognition fees, but to conclude<br />
the war as swiftly as possible and engage in trade. Under the current system, however, the<br />
priv<strong>at</strong>e merchants were supplying the company and the enemy alike, which only prolonged the<br />
war and its associ<strong>at</strong>ed costs. 93 When asked if the priv<strong>at</strong>e traders were taking any interest in<br />
sending settlers and cultiv<strong>at</strong>ing the land, Franck indic<strong>at</strong>ed th<strong>at</strong> they were not, but th<strong>at</strong> the<br />
company was making efforts to do so. The last person with whom the committee spoke, a<br />
lieutenant named Beyma, was also pressed on the question of how best to popul<strong>at</strong>e Brazil. His<br />
response, like th<strong>at</strong> previously offered by Zeeland, emphasized a combin<strong>at</strong>ion of African slaves<br />
and soldiers whose terms had expired. If the company could ensure a regular flow of both, the<br />
colony would thrive. 94<br />
Beyma's argument echoed th<strong>at</strong> in the anonymous memorandum in convers<strong>at</strong>ional style<br />
discussed <strong>at</strong> the beginning of this chapter. 95 There the author had asked, “who would want to go<br />
to live in the colony, if they could not trade freely there?” As in the East Indies, the<br />
memorandum's author argued, it was not people of means who would go to Brazil, but the poor<br />
and landless. Spain, he wrote, “peopled its empire <strong>at</strong> first with bandits and delinquents.” Only<br />
with time did these individuals amass wealth sufficient to support a thriving society. With proper<br />
incentives, soldiers in the company's employment could be expected to remain in Brazil once<br />
their contracts had expired and to cultiv<strong>at</strong>e the land. And their labor would be significantly<br />
augmented by slaves from Africa, who would increase the colony's productivity <strong>at</strong> little cost to<br />
<br />
92 NA 1.01.04, inv.nr. 5754, fol. 381.<br />
93 Boxer, The Dutch in Brazil, 1624-1654, 78.<br />
94 NA 1.01.04, inv.nr. 5754, fol. 382.<br />
95 NA 1.01.07, inv.nr. 1<strong>25</strong>64.5. Discourse ondervrage en antwoort hoe die Westind. Comp. sal comen gestabiliseert<br />
en gebeneficeert worden buyten costen vant lant, tot merckel. voordeel van die participanten.<br />
198
either the company or the provinces. 96 A pamphlet from early 1637 expressed these themes in<br />
more philosophical terms, suggesting th<strong>at</strong>, while it was difficult to <strong>at</strong>tract free colonists to Brazil,<br />
this was not the only way to popul<strong>at</strong>e a colony:<br />
In a Machiavellian form the Prince [by the Free Traders] is advised th<strong>at</strong> he must seek to throw out<br />
the n<strong>at</strong>ural inhabitants of a conquered land and people it with his own; on the contrary, however,<br />
one shall not find it unusual in history, both modern and ancient, th<strong>at</strong> all praiseworthy conquerors<br />
have not depopul<strong>at</strong>ed their colonies. 97<br />
Instead, the pamphlet argued, colonies could become rich and prosperous by careful management<br />
of existing popul<strong>at</strong>ions. In Brazil, this meant Dutch, Portuguese, Indian, and African peoples<br />
under a stable government. 98<br />
The St<strong>at</strong>es General's decision to close the trade to Brazil was not based solely on the<br />
narrow economic interests of the Zeeland chamber. It reflected a more general aim to ensure th<strong>at</strong><br />
the company had access to sufficient financial resources to maintain order in the new colony. At<br />
this stage, <strong>at</strong> least, Amsterdam had been unable to convince the St<strong>at</strong>es General either th<strong>at</strong> the<br />
company could persist on recognition fees alone, or th<strong>at</strong> free trade would <strong>at</strong>tract settlers who<br />
planned to stay. Instead, sources in Brazil and <strong>at</strong> home suggested the free traders were<br />
undermining order. Merchant interests were not neglected—indeed the represent<strong>at</strong>ive from<br />
Dordrecht's argument was devoted explicitly to long-term commercial gain—but in the short<br />
term these interests were subordin<strong>at</strong>ed to wh<strong>at</strong> were perceived to be the interests of the United<br />
Provinces as a whole. And these interests lay, the St<strong>at</strong>es General evidently concluded, in<br />
<br />
96 Ibid. "Sonder onsen costen."<br />
97 Examen over het Vertooch tegen het ongefondeerde ende schaelick sluyten der vryen handel in Brasil. Door een<br />
onder soecker der waerheyt. 1637. Knuttel 4515. This was a response to Vertooch by een liefhebber der vaderlants<br />
vertoont tegen het ongefondeerde ende schaelick sluyten der vryen handel in Brasil. 1637. Knuttel 4514. “Also sik<br />
bevindet: oft moste deselve in eene Machievellische forme zyn gegoten lerende den Prince d<strong>at</strong> hy die n<strong>at</strong>urallen van<br />
een geconquesteert Lant moet soecken uyt te roeyen ende dselve met den zynen weder peupleren: Ter Contrarie sal<br />
de gene so in die historien niet vreemt en is / notoirlijcken soo wel inde nieuwe also oude bekent worden: d<strong>at</strong> alle<br />
loflycke conqueranten die landen van hare n<strong>at</strong>urellen niet en hebben gedepeupleert.”<br />
98 Ibid.<br />
199
maintaining the company's solvency, expanding the colony by military means, and supplying<br />
Brazil with labor, either free or un-free. Several of these conclusions would be seriously<br />
challenged during the intense period of lobbying in the months th<strong>at</strong> followed.<br />
4. Compromise within the Heren XIX<br />
When Colonel Artichewski returned home in early 1637 from several years commanding Dutch<br />
forces in northeastern Brazil, he found a st<strong>at</strong>e of “perilous quarreling” among the WIC's five<br />
chambers. 99 In a letter to Johan Maurits, who had just arrived in Brazil, Artichewski indic<strong>at</strong>ed<br />
th<strong>at</strong> he had read the “hundreds of pages” composed on the question of free trade, but had not<br />
become involved personally. He had friends on each side and, though from his service he knew<br />
far more than anyone else about the actual conditions in the colony, he didn't want to offend<br />
them. Moreover, once deleg<strong>at</strong>es from Zeeland suspected th<strong>at</strong> he might not support their side—<br />
th<strong>at</strong>, in other words, he supported free trade—they instructed him not to speak. 100 Artichewski<br />
hoped th<strong>at</strong> the St<strong>at</strong>es General or the Prince of Orange might seek his counsel, but even here he<br />
had been foiled, as the chambers sent minders to ensure his silence. “This m<strong>at</strong>ter,” Artichewski<br />
wrote, “which has become so bitter here, cannot be resolved in any way better than for your<br />
Excellency to write from Brazil yourself.” 101<br />
And this is precisely wh<strong>at</strong> Maurits did, borrowing liberally from arguments th<strong>at</strong><br />
Artichewski provided. In Artichewski's view, the company's directors, who had never visited the<br />
<br />
99 Artichewski, “Missive van den Kolonnel Artichofsky aan Graaf Maurits en de Hoogen Raad in Brazilië, 24 Juli<br />
1637,” 222. “Int Vaderlant gearriveert sijnde, vant ick den staet vande West-Indische Comp. door inwendige twisten<br />
heel pericleus onstelt.”<br />
100 Ibid., 224.<br />
101 Ibid., 2<strong>25</strong>. “Altoos, dese saecken, die hier soo qualijck wtgevallen sijn, connen niet beter op nieu verv<strong>at</strong> worden,<br />
als door V Extie. ende E. entremise wt Brasil selffs.”<br />
200
Illustr<strong>at</strong>ion 11. Portrait of Christoffel Artichewsky. From Johannes de Laet,<br />
Historie ofte Iaerlyck Verhael, edited by L’Honoré Naber and J. C. M.<br />
Warsinck, vol. 4 (‘s-Gravenhage: Martinus Nijhoff, 1937). A Polish Colonel, Artichewsky<br />
led Dutch land forces in Brazil from 1634-36.<br />
201
colony, overestim<strong>at</strong>ed the number of ingenhos (sugar mills) and the value of the sugar th<strong>at</strong> could<br />
be exported each year. They believed, erroneously, th<strong>at</strong> the colony was now in good shape and<br />
ready to yield profits. Artichewski wrote instead th<strong>at</strong> Brazil “had never been poorer.” 102 Those<br />
who understood this, including Van Arnhem, De Laet, and Coenraeds Burgh, excused<br />
themselves from the discussions r<strong>at</strong>her than be subjected to the vitriol—bordering on<br />
blasphemy—of the two sides. 103 The real issue, as everyone knew, was to <strong>at</strong>tract settlers to<br />
establish new ingenhos and defend the colony, and on this Artichewski agreed squarely with the<br />
arguments of the free traders. The only people who would come to Brazil under the company's<br />
monopoly were those who had nothing to lose in the first place. 104 It was also crucially important<br />
to honor the company's promises to the Portuguese: some had proven to be untrustworthy, but<br />
this only increased the company's responsibility to be fair to those who were not. Artichewski<br />
looked to recent history to prove his point: with free trade Recife had grown dram<strong>at</strong>ically, but<br />
there was no better example than the United Provinces themselves:<br />
Wh<strong>at</strong> power, wh<strong>at</strong> means would the Netherlanders have derived from the land and public capital<br />
alone […] without the multitude of priv<strong>at</strong>e traders? Wh<strong>at</strong> above all else made the city of<br />
Amsterdam so gre<strong>at</strong>? Th<strong>at</strong> not only Netherlanders, but all n<strong>at</strong>ions of the world walk freely in the<br />
city and trade as they wish. 105<br />
Priv<strong>at</strong>e trade makes wealth and <strong>at</strong>tracts people, Artichewski concluded. “There is more to find,<br />
more to buy, and more to sell where more people live, work, and spend, than where there are<br />
<br />
102 Ibid., 226. “maer ick can het niet sien. Den staet van Brasil is noyt soo arm geweest als hij tegenwoordich is.”<br />
103 Ibid., 2<strong>25</strong>. “Noch is hier dese pest mede ingecropen, d<strong>at</strong> de Camaren dese questie alhier tegen malcander met soo<br />
groote hevicheyt ende bitterheyt drijven, d<strong>at</strong>es malcander daerover blasfemeren.”<br />
104 Ibid., 233.<br />
105 Ibid., 237. “Maer hoe can men noch een beter exempel voorstellen als dese Nederlanden selffs? W<strong>at</strong> cracht, w<strong>at</strong><br />
middelen souden de Nederlanden hebben uyt het lant alleen ende uytte publijcque capitalen alleen, tot soo<br />
merckelijcke en miraculeuse grote oncosten die se doen, wanneer niet was de meenichte van particulieren? W<strong>at</strong> heft<br />
onder veele andere de stadt Amsterdam soo splendissant gemaeckt? Is het niet de meenichte van particulieren, ended<br />
<strong>at</strong> niet alleen Nederlanders, maer oock alle n<strong>at</strong>ien van der wereldt vrij in der stadt wandelen ende handelen connen<br />
nae haer believen?”<br />
202
fewer men.” Brazil was simply too big for the WIC—or for th<strong>at</strong> m<strong>at</strong>ter, even for the King of<br />
Spain—to popul<strong>at</strong>e on its own. Better to make the colony open to all classes of people, from any<br />
n<strong>at</strong>ion, and to keep the trade free. 106<br />
Maurits letter was d<strong>at</strong>ed January 16, 1638. He began by saying th<strong>at</strong> “even those who<br />
want to keep the trade for the company alone know well th<strong>at</strong> to popul<strong>at</strong>e the colony is the highest<br />
priority, and th<strong>at</strong> free trade would best achieve this.” 107 The company deceived itself if it<br />
believed it could simply appropri<strong>at</strong>e the trade of the priv<strong>at</strong>e merchants. Like Sir William Temple<br />
thirty years l<strong>at</strong>er, Maurits argued th<strong>at</strong> trade could not simply be conquered or seized: it was<br />
governed by its own laws and had to be carefully nurtured. 108 In the early years of the colony the<br />
price of sugar was low because Portuguese planters feared it would be plundered, and so sold it<br />
cheaply, but now it was in short supply and the prices had risen accordingly. The company<br />
would need deep pockets and the flexibility to sell goods on credit; it was better to leave this to<br />
priv<strong>at</strong>e merchants, who had more resources and experience. 109 Only free trade would <strong>at</strong>tract<br />
settlers and encourage industry, including among the Portuguese:<br />
The inhabitants [of Brazil]... say th<strong>at</strong> they would r<strong>at</strong>her let their farms go wild, and let their ingenhos<br />
stand idle, than to work for others under the closed trade and thus to be slaves of the company, like<br />
their blacks who work on the sugar mills. 110<br />
<br />
106 Ibid., 239. “d<strong>at</strong> alree boven genough bewesen is, d<strong>at</strong> daer meer te vinden, meer te copen en meer te vercopen valt,<br />
waer veele menschen woonen, arbeyden, spenderen, als daer waer der menschen weynich is.”<br />
107 Johan Maurits, “Memorie van Prins Maurits van Nassau van 16 Jan. 1638, waarbij deze op Vrijen Handel<br />
aandringt en het Monopolie der West-Indische Compagnie Bestrijdt,” Kronijk van het Historisch Genootschap<br />
gevestigd te Utrecht 11, no. 3:1 (1855): 63. “Ick sie d<strong>at</strong> die geene, die den handel voor de Compagnie alleen willen<br />
behouden, wel erkennen, d<strong>at</strong> het populeeren van Brasil ten hoochsten noodich sij, ende sullen oock apparentelijck<br />
toestaen, d<strong>at</strong> door vrye negotie die popul<strong>at</strong>ie betern voortganck soude neemen, maer d<strong>at</strong> den tegenwoordigen stant<br />
van de Compagnie sulckx niet toe en la<strong>at</strong> ende daer na niet en kan wachten.”<br />
108 Temple, Observ<strong>at</strong>ions upon the United Provinces of The Netherlands, 121; Hont, Jealousy of Trade. On the<br />
problems of restoring economic activity in contemporary war zones, see Jeff Peterson and Mark Crow,<br />
“Expeditionary Economics: Towards a Doctrine for Enabling Stabiliz<strong>at</strong>ion and Growth,” 2010. Cited with<br />
permission of the authors.<br />
109 Maurits, “Memorie van Prins Maurits van Nassau van 16 Jan. 1638, waarbij deze op Vrijen Handel aandringt en<br />
het Monopolie der West-Indische Compagnie Bestrijdt,” 65.<br />
110 Ibid., 68. “[…] het sluiten van den handel sal d’inwoonderen, die gereets sijn, verjagen, want sij maecken veele<br />
ende sware clachten, gelijck uyt bijgaende copie aen de xix te sien is, seggende lieuer alle haer planten te l<strong>at</strong>en<br />
203
And Maurits offered another argument for free trade—one tailored to a major concern within the<br />
St<strong>at</strong>es General: imposing monopoly would make the Portuguese bitter and eager to fight for their<br />
old freedoms. If they were more disposed to the Dutch, instead of its enemies, the colony would<br />
require fewer soldiers for its defense. Within a general framework of free trade, however,<br />
Maurits recommended th<strong>at</strong> the company reserve for itself certain goods, “which are the most<br />
marketable,” in order also to prosper from the trade. 111<br />
Maurits' letter arrived on March 17 and was read the same day in both the St<strong>at</strong>es of<br />
Holland and the St<strong>at</strong>es General. Its effect was immedi<strong>at</strong>e and powerful—less perhaps for the<br />
arguments it contained than for the fact th<strong>at</strong> Maurits, r<strong>at</strong>her than anyone else, had made them. At<br />
this point discussions within the Heren XIX had been deadlocked for almost a month, despite<br />
having reloc<strong>at</strong>ed to The Hague, <strong>at</strong> the St<strong>at</strong>es General's insistence, “so th<strong>at</strong> there in the presence of<br />
the government it is possible to unravel [the question of free trade to Brazil] and bring an end to<br />
the dispute.” 112 Not surprisingly, Zeeland, which was scheduled to host the meeting, objected, on<br />
the grounds th<strong>at</strong> meeting in The Hague was inconsistent with the company's charter. But the<br />
St<strong>at</strong>es General held firm: since the charter derived its power from them they had the authority to<br />
temporarily suspend its terms. 113<br />
<br />
blijuen ende verwilderen, haer ingenios stil laeten staen, als onder den gesloten handel alleen hare arbeyt voor<br />
anderen te doen ende in gelijcker slavernie voor die Compagnie te arbeyden als hare negros voor haer in molens<br />
arbeyden.”<br />
111 Ibid., 69. “d<strong>at</strong> die Compagnie eenige specie van coopmanschappen, die de courantste sijn, aen haer behouden<br />
ende soo het nodich ware, bij de voor desen aen de Compagnie verbleuene noch eenige andere bijuoegende, soo d<strong>at</strong><br />
de cracht van negotie den particulieren niet gans benomen werde, want soo soude men beyde de intensien mogen<br />
erlangen, de Compagnie soude bij de negotie connen prospereeren.”<br />
112 Stellingwerff and Schot, Particuliere Notulen van de Vergaderingen der St<strong>at</strong>en van Holland, 1620-1640. Entry<br />
for February 19, 1638. “[…] omme aldaer in presentie van de regeringe dezelve questie te desmeleren ende een<br />
eynde van te maecken is ‘t doenlijcken.”<br />
113 Ibid.<br />
204
The meeting began on February 17, 1638. 114 Representing the St<strong>at</strong>es General were,<br />
among others, Rutger Huygens, Willem Ripperda, and Wolter Schonenborch. Hendrick Nobel,<br />
who represented Rotterdam in the St<strong>at</strong>es General in December of 1636, now appeared as a<br />
deleg<strong>at</strong>e for the chamber of the Maas. Huygens, Heer van Klarenbeek, was a magistr<strong>at</strong>e from<br />
Arnhem and for many years Gelderland's represent<strong>at</strong>ive to the St<strong>at</strong>es General. 115 Consistent with<br />
the charter, if not the loc<strong>at</strong>ion, the chair of the meeting was Bouderwyn Schot, the senior<br />
deleg<strong>at</strong>e from Zeeland. The senior deleg<strong>at</strong>e from Amsterdam was Albert Coenraeds Burgh, who<br />
in 1638 was also one of the city's four burgemeesters. Johannes de Laet and Bernard Julsinck<br />
were also present. After examining the letters of credential and reading the charter, Huygens<br />
opened the meeting by imploring the deleg<strong>at</strong>es to resolve the issue of free trade to Brazil once<br />
and for all. Schot immedi<strong>at</strong>ely protested, saying th<strong>at</strong> this already had been decided; th<strong>at</strong> all th<strong>at</strong><br />
remained was to determine how to deal with the ships of priv<strong>at</strong>e traders; and th<strong>at</strong> the Zeeland<br />
deleg<strong>at</strong>ion was not authorized to discuss the m<strong>at</strong>ter any further. Burgh responded by indic<strong>at</strong>ing<br />
th<strong>at</strong> the deleg<strong>at</strong>es from Amsterdam were prepared to continue with all points on the agenda,<br />
beginning with the first, as was normal. 116<br />
It was not an encouraging start. Indeed, the meeting was adjourned on three separ<strong>at</strong>e<br />
occasions before there was any tangible progress. The Amsterdam chamber, now joined by<br />
North Holland, remained firmly in favor of opening the trade to Brazil; the Zeeland chamber and<br />
the Maas, along with Groningen, remained firmly against it. Had Maurits' letter not arrived the<br />
situ<strong>at</strong>ion might well have stayed this way; instead, his letter broke the impasse. Nicholas<br />
<br />
114<br />
NA 1.01.07, inv.nr. 1<strong>25</strong>64.6. Minutes of the meeting of the Heren XIX in The Hague, February 26 - <strong>May</strong> 1, 1638.<br />
115<br />
Personal communic<strong>at</strong>ion with Jaap Jacobs, April 10, 2012. Huygens is discussed in Jacobs’ forthcoming<br />
biography of Pieter Stuyvesant.<br />
116<br />
NA 1.01.07, inv.nr. 1<strong>25</strong>64.6. Minutes of the meeting of the Heren XIX, entry for February 26, 1638.<br />
205
Stellingwerf, who s<strong>at</strong> in the St<strong>at</strong>es of Holland the day the letter was read there, and who kept his<br />
usual meticulous notes, recorded th<strong>at</strong> Maurits<br />
clarified in good conscience, and fulfilling his duty to advise, th<strong>at</strong> if men persisted by the contrary<br />
resolution [to close the trade] there was no question th<strong>at</strong> the Company would be ruined. He was<br />
therefore of the advice th<strong>at</strong> the trade must be opened, except for a few items th<strong>at</strong> should be kept<br />
for the Company. 117<br />
There was no further discussion th<strong>at</strong> day, but six days l<strong>at</strong>er, on March 23, Stellingwerf recorded<br />
th<strong>at</strong> Maurits' letter was discussed again and th<strong>at</strong>, “the Gentlemen from Dordrecht, Delft, and<br />
Rotterdam, who had instructions contrary to this advice, asked to have a copy [of the letter] in<br />
order to communic<strong>at</strong>e the same with their principals.” 118 Having only recently disp<strong>at</strong>ched to<br />
Brazil such an eminent figure as Maurits, to ignore his advice on this important question must<br />
have seemed inconsistent with the long-term goal of stabilizing the colony and increasing trade.<br />
On March 26, a committee within the St<strong>at</strong>es of Holland reported th<strong>at</strong> they had met with the<br />
Heren XIX, with the result th<strong>at</strong>,<br />
We find th<strong>at</strong> a majority now stands in favor of open and free trade, th<strong>at</strong> only Zeeland is against<br />
and th<strong>at</strong> those from Groningen and the Maas are inclined to hear a proposal for an<br />
accommod<strong>at</strong>ion, which also has been [drafted], laying out th<strong>at</strong> the trade would be opened, but th<strong>at</strong><br />
reserved for the Company would be the trade in Brazilwood, ammunition, and blacks, and also a<br />
few [deleg<strong>at</strong>es] urged th<strong>at</strong> linen and some other small items [also be reserved for the<br />
Company]. 119<br />
<br />
117 Stellingwerff and Schot, Particuliere Notulen van de Vergaderingen der St<strong>at</strong>en van Holland, 1620-1640. Entry<br />
for March 17, 1638. “Is geleesen zeecker missive van den 16en januarii geschreeven bij graeff Maurits ende eenige<br />
raeden uyt Brasijl op ‘t subject van den handel ende negotie aldaer te stabiliseren, w<strong>at</strong> best weesen soude […]<br />
Verclaeren in goeden gemoede te ghaen ende haer advijs te sullen diennen tot haer descharge in cas men bij<br />
contrarie resolutie persisterende de Compagnie daerdeur so sij nyet en twijffelen moght werden geruineert. Zijn<br />
daerom van advijs d<strong>at</strong> men den handel behoort open to stellen behalven alleen van eenige weynigh spetien die men<br />
aen de Compagnie soude houden.”<br />
118 Ibid. Entry for March 23, 1638. “[…] verclaerden de heeren van Dordrecht, Delfft, Rotterdam voor deesen<br />
contrarie dit advijs gelast geweest te zijn ende daerom alvoren copye daeruyt te moeten hebben om ‘tzelve met haer<br />
principalen te communiceren ende naerder last in te brenghen.”<br />
119 Ibid. Entry for March 26, 1638. “[…] bevinden d<strong>at</strong>tet meerendeel tot openen ende vrijstellen van den handel<br />
verstaen, doch d<strong>at</strong> Zelant met allen ijver daertegens is ende d<strong>at</strong> die van Groningen ende van de Mase geneegen sijn<br />
om voorslaegen van accommod<strong>at</strong>ie te hooren, welcke voorslaegen oock gedaen zijn ende daerop loopen d<strong>at</strong> men den<br />
handel wel soude opstellen, maer d<strong>at</strong> men aen de Compagnie geslooten souden houden den handel van ‘t<br />
206
Following a brief discussion it was agreed to refer the proposal to the Prince of Orange and to<br />
request th<strong>at</strong> he meet with officials in Zeeland to “make the proposal pal<strong>at</strong>able” to them. 120 At the<br />
same time, and consistent with the charter, the St<strong>at</strong>es of Holland determined th<strong>at</strong> the proposal<br />
should be forwarded to the Heren XIX to be resolved by majority vote. Zeeland held out another<br />
day, requesting on March 27 th<strong>at</strong> discussions be postponed until after Easter, but this was<br />
rejected, with deleg<strong>at</strong>es in the St<strong>at</strong>es of Holland remarking th<strong>at</strong> Zeeland now “wanted only to<br />
delay the process” and was negoti<strong>at</strong>ing in bad faith. 121 It took another three weeks for a vote to<br />
be held, with the Prince of Orange lobbying repe<strong>at</strong>edly for Zeeland to consent. Finally, on April<br />
23, the St<strong>at</strong>es General reported th<strong>at</strong>,<br />
Concerning the issue of opening the trade to Brazil, the XIX of the West India Company, coming<br />
together in friendship and by unanimous vote, had agreed to the following articles, for which they<br />
request the approval of the St<strong>at</strong>es General; th<strong>at</strong> is, th<strong>at</strong> the company shall keep the trade in blacks,<br />
ammunition, and Brazilwood; th<strong>at</strong> for all other goods the trade shall be open, not for everyone but<br />
for participants [in the company] or those who shall obtain shares against the same sum [as the<br />
value of those shares]; th<strong>at</strong> the same freedom shall be granted to all n<strong>at</strong>ives and inhabitants of<br />
Brazil for the same sum as they shall send goods into this land; [and] th<strong>at</strong> directors [of the<br />
company] may not trade directly or indirectly [to Brazil]. 122<br />
Further stipul<strong>at</strong>ed were th<strong>at</strong> priv<strong>at</strong>e goods would need to be registered, with a 10% recognition<br />
fee paid to the company on exports to Brazil and a 20% fee on goods imported to the United<br />
<br />
brasilienhout, van ammunitie van oorloge, van de negros ende se eenige oock urgeren van lijnwaeten ende eenige<br />
andere cleynicheeden meer.”<br />
120 Ibid. "[…] doch veele met die van Amsterdam daer toe incilinerende d<strong>at</strong> me de voorige ghedeputeerden soude<br />
authoriseren om de voorslaegen met Zijn Hoogheyt te communiceren ende is 't doenlijcken met inductie dezelve<br />
partijen smaeckelijk te maecken.”<br />
121 Ibid. Entry for March 27, 1645. “Doch als men ‘t geheele werck insiet d<strong>at</strong> claerlijcken blijckt d<strong>at</strong> Zelandt nyet<br />
anders voorheefft dan al d’andere te bedryeghen ende nyet ter goeder trouwen ghaen.”<br />
122 Ibid. Entry for April 23, 1638. “Den heer van Noordwijck rapporteert uytte Generaliteyt d<strong>at</strong> die van de XIX van<br />
de Westindische Compagnie op ‘t stuck van ‘t oopenstellen van de handel op Brasijl onderlinge met malcanderen in<br />
vrundschap ende met eenparighe stemmen verdraegen ende geaccordeert zijn op zeeckere articulen hiernae<br />
volghende, daervan zij versoecken approb<strong>at</strong>ie van de heeren St<strong>at</strong>en, te weeten d<strong>at</strong> alleen aen de Compagnie blijven<br />
zal de handel van de negros, ammunitie van oorloge ende Brasilienhout; d<strong>at</strong> belanghende alle andere waeren den<br />
handel open werdt gestelt, nyet voor een yeder maer voor de participanten alleen offte die haer actie sullen<br />
verkreegen hebben tegens sulcken somme als zij in deselve sullen participeren offte actie toe verkregen hebben; d<strong>at</strong><br />
dezelve vrijheyt sullen hebben alle ingebooren ende inwoonderen van Brasyl voor sulcken somme als zij aen waeren<br />
in deese landen sullen senden; d<strong>at</strong>te bewinthebberen nyet en sullen mogen handelen directelijcken noch<br />
indirectelijcken […]”<br />
207
Provinces, plus smaller fees of 3% on transferring money and 2% for freight. With this “the<br />
deleg<strong>at</strong>es [in the St<strong>at</strong>es of Holland] were happy th<strong>at</strong> such a difficult and important question had<br />
finally been resolved.” 123 On April 29, 1638 the St<strong>at</strong>es General issued a formal resolution re-<br />
opening the trade to Brazil. 124<br />
It is significant th<strong>at</strong> Maurits, r<strong>at</strong>her than Amsterdam, ultim<strong>at</strong>ely convinced the Maas to<br />
switch sides, but the terms of the final agreement itself are equally revealing. Remarkable, first<br />
of all, are the lengths to which the St<strong>at</strong>es of Holland, the St<strong>at</strong>es General, and the Prince of<br />
Orange were willing to go to try to secure a unanimous decision, and to push for a vote within<br />
the Heren XIX, even after they knew th<strong>at</strong> a majority had come around to support free trade. This<br />
was not ultim<strong>at</strong>ely successful: Stellingwerf recorded th<strong>at</strong> the proposal had passed by unanimous<br />
vote in the St<strong>at</strong>es of Holland, but it does not appear th<strong>at</strong> unanimity was ever reached in the Heren<br />
XIX itself. All the chambers except Zeeland signed the final minutes of the meeting of the Heren<br />
XIX and on <strong>May</strong> 12 the St<strong>at</strong>es General received an angry letter from the St<strong>at</strong>es of Zeeland<br />
protesting “th<strong>at</strong> such an important decision, affecting the charter itself, could have been taken<br />
without agreement of all the provinces.” 1<strong>25</strong><br />
Despite Zeeland's continuing opposition, however, the proposal th<strong>at</strong> was finally adopted<br />
contains a number of important “sweeteners” evidently included in the resolution in an effort to<br />
sway them and their allies. The most obvious of these were the stipul<strong>at</strong>ions th<strong>at</strong> directors could<br />
not be involved in priv<strong>at</strong>e trade and th<strong>at</strong> priv<strong>at</strong>e merchants could only trade to Brazil if they<br />
owned shares in the company, and only in proportion to the value of those shares. The l<strong>at</strong>ter still<br />
meant th<strong>at</strong> the trade was “open,” in the sense th<strong>at</strong> priv<strong>at</strong>e merchants could trade wh<strong>at</strong>ever goods<br />
<br />
123 Ibid. “Hierop gedelibereet sijnde, is de leeden aengenaem geweest d<strong>at</strong> deese moeyelijke questie in so grooten<br />
zaecke met gemoede was affgemaeckt ende is daeromme ‘tzelve accoort bij de leeden eenparich geaccordeert ende<br />
verstaen d<strong>at</strong> ter Generaliteyt zal worden innegebracht om aldaer meedegeapprobeert ende gearresteert te worden.”<br />
124 Reglement byde West-Indische Compagnie ... over het Open-Stellen vanden Handel op Brasil, 1638.<br />
1<strong>25</strong> NA 1.01.03, inv.nr. 4845, entry for <strong>May</strong> 6, 1645.<br />
208
they liked (save the three goods explicitly excluded) <strong>at</strong> anytime and any price they chose;<br />
although these goods would be transported on company ships they neither belonged to the<br />
company nor were subject to its discretion. At the same time, however, by forcing priv<strong>at</strong>e<br />
merchants to purchase shares, the compromise ensured th<strong>at</strong> these merchants would have a stake<br />
in the company's survival. This would better distribute the risk involved in the company's<br />
activities in Brazil and, crucially, it would force up the value of the company's shares. From a<br />
value of 98 in 1637, shares rose to 117 in 1638 and 134 in 1639, before beginning a long<br />
decline. 126 This was hardly unfettered free trade in the sense used by Adam Smith, but it worked<br />
as the solution to a complex political and economic problem.<br />
But there was another remarkable element of the final agreement: three goods were<br />
identified as reserved for the company. Two of these—Brazilwood, used to make dyes for the<br />
cloth industry, and ammunition, which the company did not want falling into the hands of the<br />
Portuguese—also had been exempted when the trade to Brazil was first opened to priv<strong>at</strong>e<br />
merchants in 1630. 127 The third “good,” which up to this point had never appeared in any formal<br />
regul<strong>at</strong>ion or resolution by the St<strong>at</strong>es General, was slaves. Without fail historians always mention<br />
th<strong>at</strong> the slave trade was one of three exemptions, but the tendency has been to tre<strong>at</strong> this as a<br />
continu<strong>at</strong>ion of a pre-existing st<strong>at</strong>e of affairs. Van Dillen, for example, sums up the agreement by<br />
saying th<strong>at</strong>, “the trade in slaves, dyewoods, and ammunition remained a company monopoly.” 128<br />
In a strict sense this is true, since the slave trade, in which the company had become involved<br />
two years earlier, was never open to priv<strong>at</strong>e merchants. But in a broader sense, the decision to<br />
<br />
126<br />
Den Heijer, De Geoctrooieerde Compagnie, <strong>25</strong>0; Van Dillen, “De West-Indische Compagnie, het Calvinism en<br />
de Politiek,” 159.<br />
127<br />
Articulum ... over het Open ende Vry Stellen van den Handel en Negotie op de Stadt Olinda de Pernambuco, ende<br />
Custen van Brasil.<br />
128<br />
Van Dillen, “De West-Indische Compagnie, het Calvinism en de Politiek,” 160. “Echter bleef de handel in<br />
slaven, verfhout en ammunitie het monopolie der Compagnie.” The italics are mine.<br />
209
exclude priv<strong>at</strong>e merchants from the trade in slaves represented a deliber<strong>at</strong>e choice to retain for<br />
the company an important source of revenue to compens<strong>at</strong>e for the income Zeeland, its allies,<br />
and the St<strong>at</strong>es General initially hoped would come from monopoly control over the trade to<br />
Brazil. Slavery, in other words, was a bargaining chip th<strong>at</strong> helped to resolve the deb<strong>at</strong>e in favor<br />
of free trade. On April 22, the day before the St<strong>at</strong>es General announced th<strong>at</strong> a deal had been<br />
struck, a proposal “to trade blacks in Brazil and on the Coast of Africa” was reviewed in the<br />
Heren XIX, “so th<strong>at</strong> once the regul<strong>at</strong>ions for free trade have been approved by their High and<br />
Mightiness [the St<strong>at</strong>es General] this can be executed.” 129 Once agreement had been reached, the<br />
deleg<strong>at</strong>es <strong>at</strong> the Heren XIX devoted the next several days to planning for the slave trade.<br />
5. Planning for the Slave Trade<br />
Before 1636 the WIC had played almost no part in the Atlantic slave trade. There is evidence<br />
th<strong>at</strong> Dutch skippers particip<strong>at</strong>ed in Portuguese slaving missions in the 1590s and th<strong>at</strong> they<br />
profited from seizing and then selling the cargo from slaving ships, including a well known case<br />
in which 20 slaves were delivered to Virginia in 1619. 130 This acceler<strong>at</strong>ed under the WIC:<br />
between 1623-1636, De Laet calcul<strong>at</strong>ed th<strong>at</strong> the company captured 2,356 slaves aboard<br />
Portuguese ships and sold them on to America <strong>at</strong> a hefty profit. Nevertheless, these were the<br />
proceeds of piracy, and the company did not become involved in purchasing slaves on the<br />
<br />
129 NA 1.01.07, inv.nr. 1<strong>25</strong>64.6, entry for April 22, 1638. “Is gelesen het project om op Brasil ende de Cust van<br />
Africa negers to handelen soo wanneer het reglement vanden openhandel, by haer ho: mo: soude syn geapprobeert,<br />
ende versocht d<strong>at</strong> Commissarisen t'selve wilden voltrecken.”<br />
130 Van den Boogaart and Emmer, “The Dutch Particip<strong>at</strong>ion in the Atlantic Slave Trade, 1596-1650,” 354–355.<br />
210
African coast for the explicit purpose of trade until the mid-1630s, almost two centuries after<br />
Portugal, and 80 years after Sir Richard Hawkins’ journeys in the mid-sixteenth century. 131<br />
Scholars have disputed whether this reflected a moral aversion to the slave trade or was<br />
simply the result of economic consider<strong>at</strong>ions. Cornelis Goslinga, for example, pointed to<br />
evidence of popular opposition to slavery. In 1596, when Dutch priv<strong>at</strong>eers seized a Portuguese<br />
ship carrying 130 slaves and tried to sell them in Middelburg, the city’s mayor refused the ship<br />
entry on the grounds th<strong>at</strong> Africans “could not be kept by anyone as slaves and sold as such, but<br />
had to be put in their n<strong>at</strong>ural freedom without anyone pretending [to have] rights to them as his<br />
property.” 132 L<strong>at</strong>er, in 1623, the question of slavery was referred to a committee in the Heren<br />
XIX th<strong>at</strong> included, among others, Killaen van Rensselaer. This committee advised th<strong>at</strong>, “it<br />
appears this trade ought not to be practiced by Christians.” 133 At almost precisely the same time,<br />
however, the directors of the VOC reached agreement on a code to regul<strong>at</strong>e the tre<strong>at</strong>ment of<br />
slaves in Asia and Hugo Grotius published his famous defense of slavery in De Juri Belli et<br />
Pacis. 134 Having assessed the available evidence, Ernst van den Boogaart and Pieter Emmer<br />
conclude th<strong>at</strong> doubts over the morality of the Atlantic slave trade persisted, but th<strong>at</strong> they were<br />
hardly universal and th<strong>at</strong> economic consider<strong>at</strong>ions—especially the lack <strong>at</strong> this time of a viable<br />
market for slaves in the New World—played <strong>at</strong> least an equal, if not a more important, role. 135<br />
This began to change when the territory under the company's control expanded and<br />
officials in Brazil, Guyana, the Antilles, and the newly captured island of Curaçao began<br />
<br />
131 Blackburn, The Making of New World Slavery; Harry Kelsey, Sir John Hawkins: Queen Elizabeth’s Slave Trader<br />
(New Haven: Yale <strong>University</strong> Press, 2003).<br />
132 Cited in Goslinga, The Dutch in the Caribbean and on the Wild Coast 1580-1680, 341. See also Unger, “Essay<br />
on the History of the Dutch Slave Trade,” 48.<br />
133 NA 1.05.01.01, inv.nr. 1, entry for July 24, 1623. See also Cited in Van den Boogaart and Emmer, “The Dutch<br />
Particip<strong>at</strong>ion in the Atlantic Slave Trade, 1596-1650,” 356.<br />
134 Blackburn, The Making of New World Slavery, 190, 194.<br />
135 Van den Boogaart and Emmer, “The Dutch Particip<strong>at</strong>ion in the Atlantic Slave Trade, 1596-1650,” 355–357.<br />
211
clamoring for slaves. 136 The problem was especially acute in Brazil, where many slaves had fled<br />
with their masters <strong>at</strong> the time of the Dutch conquest and the trade in slaves had come to a<br />
standstill. The conquest and rel<strong>at</strong>ive pacific<strong>at</strong>ion of Pernambuco, Paraiba, and Itamaricá led to<br />
increasing demand for slaves to work the sugar mills. As Maurits, who initially considered using<br />
free white labor, would put it in 1638, “it is not possible to effect anything in Brazil without<br />
slaves... and they cannot be dispensed with upon any consider<strong>at</strong>ion wh<strong>at</strong>soever: if anyone feels<br />
th<strong>at</strong> this is wrong, it is a futile scruple.” 137 Back home this message was heard loud and clear.<br />
The agenda for the fall 1635 meeting of the Heren XIX noted, “urgent requests for blacks from<br />
Brazil,” and this message was reinforced by the Zeeland directors Pieter Duvelaer and Pieter van<br />
de Velde when they visited the Amsterdam chamber on October 30. Daniel Liebergen and<br />
Edward Man, who were deleg<strong>at</strong>ed to prepare Amsterdam's response, presented a “concept for the<br />
trade in blacks” on December 11. 138 A year l<strong>at</strong>er hoofdparticipanten in the Zeeland chamber<br />
resolved to “urge the XIX with insistence to get the trade in blacks underway.” 139 While Van den<br />
Boogaart and Emmer cite the disp<strong>at</strong>ch of ships from Zeeland and Amsterdam to Guinea to<br />
purchase slaves in the spring of 1635, W.S. Unger writes th<strong>at</strong> the first ship outfitted “for the<br />
purpose of trading in blacks” departed Veere in the autumn of 1637. 140 Th<strong>at</strong> January a Dutch<br />
factor and a Portuguese assistant were sent to Angola to organize the slave trade there and in<br />
August of the same year a Dutch fleet th<strong>at</strong> sailed from Brazil succeeded in capturing São Jorge<br />
da Mina (Elmina), the oldest Portuguese fortress on the Gold Coast and an important potential<br />
source of slaves. By the time th<strong>at</strong> agreement had been reached in The Hague to open the trade to<br />
<br />
136<br />
Goslinga, The Dutch in the Caribbean and on the Wild Coast 1580-1680, 341–342.<br />
137<br />
Cited in Boxer, The Dutch in Brazil, 1624-1654, 83.<br />
138<br />
NA 1.01.04, inv.nr. 5754, fol. 149; NA 1.05.01.01, inv.nr. 14, entries for October 30 and December 11, 1635.<br />
Cited in Unger, “Essay on the History of the Dutch Slave Trade,” 50–51.<br />
139<br />
Ibid., 51.<br />
140<br />
Van den Boogaart and Emmer, “The Dutch Particip<strong>at</strong>ion in the Atlantic Slave Trade, 1596-1650,” 358; Unger,<br />
“Essay on the History of the Dutch Slave Trade,” 51.<br />
212
Brazil <strong>at</strong> least a half dozen company ships had particip<strong>at</strong>ed in the slave trade, carrying<br />
approxim<strong>at</strong>ely 1,100 slaves to Dutch Brazil. 141<br />
This represented a remarkable—and remarkably rapid—entry into a completely new<br />
trade, with its own dynamics, infrastructure, and technologies. 142 The company's directors were<br />
well aware of the profits th<strong>at</strong> Portuguese merchants made in the slave trade and the company had<br />
<strong>at</strong> least limited experience transporting and selling slaves captured aboard Portuguese ships. The<br />
company also had considerable experience trading in West Africa: since the early 1590s,<br />
merchants from Holland and Zeeland had established a dominant place in the coastal trade,<br />
steadily eroding the Portuguese monopoly by offering higher quality cloth and manufactured<br />
goods <strong>at</strong> lower prices. 143 In 1611 the St<strong>at</strong>es General had assisted a consortium of merchants<br />
trading on the Gold Coast by building a small fort <strong>at</strong> Mouree, a few miles east of Elmina. The<br />
company assumed responsibility for this fort in 1623 and two years l<strong>at</strong>er tried to seize Elmina<br />
itself, but the Portuguese, who were in a better position to exploit alliances with local authorities,<br />
organized an ambush th<strong>at</strong> killed 441 Dutch soldiers even before they were able to reach the<br />
fort. 144 In 1635, Pompeius de la Sale, Director General <strong>at</strong> Mouree, sent a report to the Heren XIX<br />
arguing th<strong>at</strong> the Portuguese position had become weaker and encouraging a fresh <strong>at</strong>tack. 145<br />
Maurits organized the expedition from Brazil in June 1637, sending a fleet of 16 ships and 1,200<br />
men, among whom were counted an unknown number of Brazilian Indians. News of the<br />
<br />
141<br />
This figure was compiled from records for Dutch-registered ships listed in the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade<br />
D<strong>at</strong>abase: http://www.slavevoyages.org/tast/index.faces. Accessed December 5, 2011.<br />
142<br />
Marcus Rediker, The Slave Ship: A Human History (New York: Viking, 2007); Blackburn, The Making of New<br />
World Slavery.<br />
143<br />
For a contemporary account, see Pieter de Marees, Description and Historical Account of the Gold Kingdom of<br />
Guinea (1602), ed. Albert van Dantzig and Adam Jones (Oxford: Oxford <strong>University</strong> Press, 1987); De Jonge, De<br />
Oorsprong van Neerland’s Bezittingen op de Kust van Guinea; John Vogt, Portuguese Rule on the Gold Coast,<br />
1469-1682 (Athens: <strong>University</strong> of Georgia Press, 1979); Den Heijer, Goud, Ivoor en Slaven.<br />
144<br />
Jan Dircksz Lam, Expeditie naar de Goudkust: het journaal van Jan Dircksz Lam over de Nederlandse aanval op<br />
Elmina, 1624-1626, ed. Henk den Heijer (Zutphen: Walburg Pers, 2006).<br />
145<br />
Klaas R<strong>at</strong>elband, ed., Vijf Dagregisters van het Kasteel São Jorge da Mina aan de Goudkust, Linschoten<br />
Vereeniging (’s-Gravenhage: Martinus Nijhoff, 1953), LXVIII.<br />
213
expedition's success, along with detailed maps of the fort, reached the United Provinces th<strong>at</strong> fall.<br />
The Dutch now possessed the oldest and most important str<strong>at</strong>egic position in all of West<br />
Africa. 146<br />
The remainder of the meeting of the Heren XIX in the spring of 1638 was devoted to<br />
consolid<strong>at</strong>ing this new position and preparing the company to aggressively enter the trade in<br />
slaves. The directors began with basic organiz<strong>at</strong>ional m<strong>at</strong>ters: it was agreed, for example, th<strong>at</strong> the<br />
trade should be shared proportionally among the chambers, following the standard formula of<br />
ninths, with ships outfitted for 18 months and provisioned to each carry between 350 and 400<br />
slaves. 147 Every ship also was to carry a smaller vessel to travel up river in search of new traders.<br />
Next the directors reviewed a “formula for the cargo appropri<strong>at</strong>e for the slave trade <strong>at</strong> Ardra and<br />
Rio Calabria,” referring to wh<strong>at</strong> are now Benin and eastern Nigeria, then known as the Slave<br />
Coast. 148 African consumers' tastes were notoriously fickle, especially for cloth, and the<br />
company<br />
needed to determine wh<strong>at</strong> goods were in fashion. 149 No similar lists were discussed for the Gold<br />
Coast, where the company had more experience. Ships were to stop first <strong>at</strong> Elmina, where the<br />
Director General had already taken up residence, and from there to proceed eastwards to trade<br />
for slaves. 150 Following this discussion, the directors conducted a thorough review of all the<br />
<br />
146 On Elmina, see J. B<strong>at</strong>o’ora Ballong-Wen-Mewuda, São Jorge da Mina, 1482-1637, 2 vols. (Paris: Commission<br />
N<strong>at</strong>ionale pour les Commemor<strong>at</strong>ions des Decouvertes Portugaises, 1993); Christopher R. DeCorse, An Archaeology<br />
of Elmina: Africans and Europeans on the Gold Coast, 1400-1900 (Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution Press,<br />
2001).<br />
147 NA 1.01.07, inv.nr. 1<strong>25</strong>64.6, entry for April 23, 1638. Formulier van een Cargasoen dienstich tot de Slaeffsche<br />
Negotie voor Ardra ende in Rio Calbario naer gissinge voor ontrent een Jaer.<br />
148 A similar list can be found in Goslinga, The Dutch in the Caribbean and on the Wild Coast 1580-1680, 349; See<br />
also Adam Jones, ed., West Africa in the Mid-Seventeenth Century: An Anonymous Dutch Manuscript (Atlanta:<br />
African Studies Associ<strong>at</strong>ion Press, 1994).<br />
149 Jones, West Africa in the Mid-Seventeenth Century.<br />
150 NA 1.01.07, inv.nr. 1<strong>25</strong>64.6, entry for April 23, 1638.<br />
214
Illustr<strong>at</strong>ion 12. The Attack on Elmina in October 16<strong>25</strong>. Drawing by Hans Propheet, 1629. N<strong>at</strong>ionaal<br />
Archief, Den Haag, (4 VEL), 771. Built by the Portuguese in 1482, Elmina was<br />
the most important fortress on the Gold Coast. The <strong>at</strong>tack in 16<strong>25</strong> failed, but the Dutch eventually<br />
seized Elmina in August of 1637.<br />
215
trading loc<strong>at</strong>ions on the Gold Coast, making plans to counter English trade <strong>at</strong> Cormantyn, build a<br />
new lodge <strong>at</strong> Accra, and oust the Portuguese from their remaining forts <strong>at</strong> Axim and Shama. 151<br />
But the company's new foothold on the Gold Coast soon proved uns<strong>at</strong>isfactory as a<br />
source of slaves. Exports to Brazil from 1637-1640 averaged only 1,500 slaves per year, only a<br />
third the number the Portuguese had brought to Pernambuco before the Dutch conquest. In the<br />
months before the Peace Tre<strong>at</strong>y with Portugal took effect, Maurits therefore recommended th<strong>at</strong><br />
the Heren XIX authorize him to organize a mission to expel the Portuguese from São Paulo do<br />
Loanda, which controlled access to gre<strong>at</strong>er numbers of slaves and was geographically closer to<br />
Pernambuco. In June 1641 a fleet led by Cornelis “Peg Leg” Jol seized not only São Paulo do<br />
Loanda, but also the island of São Tomé and the Portuguese fort <strong>at</strong> Axim. 152 Plans were drawn<br />
up by Pieter Mortamer, the first Dutch Director General in Loanda, for the construction of<br />
“transit barracks” and for making Dutch ships more suitable for the trade. The str<strong>at</strong>egy worked:<br />
in 1642 the company brought 2,312 slaves to Brazil, followed by 3,948 in 1643 and 5,565 in<br />
1644. 153 By 1645 the WIC had bought and sold more than 30,000 slaves. 154<br />
The profits from the slave trade quickly <strong>at</strong>tracted the <strong>at</strong>tention of priv<strong>at</strong>e merchants. As<br />
early as October 1639, directors in the Zeeland chamber recorded th<strong>at</strong>, “it is being contempl<strong>at</strong>ed<br />
to partially open up the slave trade.” 155 In 1643 two directors in the Amsterdam chamber—<br />
Johannes de Laet and Abraham Willmerdonck—made a formal proposal to lift the company's<br />
monopoly and permit priv<strong>at</strong>e merchants to trade to Africa. 156 This proposal was rejected by the<br />
Hoofdparticipanten in the Zeeland chamber, who argued th<strong>at</strong>, “the Company is better suited to<br />
<br />
151<br />
Ibid. See also Van Albert van Dantzig, Forts and Castles of Ghana (Accra: Sedco Limited, 1980).<br />
152<br />
Klaas R<strong>at</strong>elband, De expeditie van Jol naar Angola en São Thomé, 30 Mei 1641-31 Oct. 1641 (’s-Gravenhage:<br />
Martinus Nijhoff, 1943).<br />
153<br />
De Mello, O Brasil Holandês, 1630-1654, 487.<br />
154<br />
Den Heijer, Goud, Ivoor en Slaven, 21.<br />
155<br />
Quoted in Unger, “Essay on the History of the Dutch Slave Trade,” 53.<br />
156<br />
NA 1.05.01.01, inv.nr. 35, fol. 33-34. Entry for February 24, 1643.<br />
216
handle [the trade] than priv<strong>at</strong>e merchants.” An anonymous pamphlet on the question of free trade<br />
to “the Coast of Africa, namely St. Thome, Guinea, Angola, St. Paulo de Loanda,” addressed to<br />
“all the company's chief investors,” appeared shortly thereafter. 157 The pamphlet argued th<strong>at</strong><br />
opening the trade to Brazil had been a disaster for the company's finances, but th<strong>at</strong> now some<br />
within the company were eager to do the same in Africa. The folly of this plan was<br />
clear enough from the common observ<strong>at</strong>ion th<strong>at</strong> competition from the English was already<br />
driving down profits in the Africa trade; the same would be true if the trade was opened. But,<br />
more important, the company's monopoly over the slave trade ensured th<strong>at</strong> slaves went to Brazil,<br />
r<strong>at</strong>her than to Spanish America, where the “King of Spain [now receives] no slaves to work in<br />
his Gold and Silver mines.” 158 Free traders could not be trusted in this way. There were problems<br />
with the company's management, the pamphlet's author concluded, but to open the trade was “a<br />
cure worse than the disease.” 159<br />
Perhaps not coincidentally, the arguments in favor of free trade with Africa coincided<br />
with the emergence of Curaçao as a new destin<strong>at</strong>ion for slaves to be traded onwards to Spanish<br />
America and colonies in the Caribbean. This was first proposed by the island's Director General,<br />
Johannes van Walbeek, in 1639 and gained steam under his successors in the early 1640s,<br />
including Pieter Stuyvesant, who served from 1642-1644. 160 When he returned to the United<br />
Provinces, Stuyvesant presented the Heren XIX with plans for Curaçao to be administered<br />
<br />
157 V. W. C., Trou-hertighe onderrichtinge, aen alle hooft participanten, en lief-hebbers vande geoctroyeerde West-<br />
Indische Compagnie. Nopende het open stellen vanden handel op de cust van Africa, namentlijck, St. Thomé,<br />
Guinea, Angola, St. Paulo de Loando, mitsgaders de Marignian, Nieu Nederlant ende West-Indien. (Amsterdam,<br />
1643).<br />
158 In 1640, Maurits argued th<strong>at</strong> stopping the flow of slaves from Loanda would strike a key blow against Spain for<br />
exactly this reason. Koninklijk Huisarchief A4, inv.nr. 1454, fol. 196. “Le Roy de Castille ne tyrant de Negros<br />
d’Angola, la ruine des indes est inevitable.”<br />
159 V. W. C., Trou-hertighe onderrichtinge, aen alle hooft participanten, en lief-hebbers vande geoctroyeerde West-<br />
Indische Compagnie. Nopende het open stellen vanden handel op de cust van Africa, namentlijck, St. Thomé,<br />
Guinea, Angola, St. Paulo de Loando, mitsgaders de Marignian, Nieu Nederlant ende West-Indien., B3.<br />
160 Goslinga, The Dutch in the Caribbean and on the Wild Coast 1580-1680.<br />
217
directly from New Netherland, and shortly thereafter he was appointed Director General for both<br />
colonies, a position he would keep until surrendering to English forces in 1664. 161 Since New<br />
Netherland had for several years already been controlled by the Amsterdam chamber of the WIC,<br />
this arrangement would place Curaçao under Amsterdam’s control as well. It must have been<br />
easy enough for Amsterdam merchants to see wh<strong>at</strong> profits might be gained from a free and open<br />
trade not only to Brazil, but to new markets in the Caribbean and Spanish America as well.<br />
6. Conclusion<br />
In many ways the deb<strong>at</strong>e over free trade to Angola mirrored the earlier deb<strong>at</strong>e over free trade to<br />
Brazil. In both cases merchants in Amsterdam were the prime instig<strong>at</strong>ors for lifting the<br />
company’s monopoly, while merchants and city officials in Zeeland were their most ardent and<br />
vocal opponents. In both cases the free traders argued for the advantages of commercial liberty<br />
and portrayed themselves as possessing gre<strong>at</strong>er competence in m<strong>at</strong>ters of trade: in the context of<br />
Brazil this meant the ability to carry more sugar; in Angola more slaves. Defenders of the<br />
company’s monopoly, meanwhile, argued th<strong>at</strong> the company should be able to enjoy some of the<br />
profits th<strong>at</strong> flowed from its military and administr<strong>at</strong>ive undertakings and associ<strong>at</strong>ed risks, and<br />
th<strong>at</strong> the company’s ability to control prices and maintain order were crucial to the proper<br />
management of the colonies.<br />
But these similarities hide an important underlying shift. This chapter has argued th<strong>at</strong><br />
the St<strong>at</strong>es General’s decision to re-impose the company's monopoly on trade to Brazil in<br />
December 1636 was stimul<strong>at</strong>ed by investors’ refusal to commit additional priv<strong>at</strong>e capital to the<br />
WIC without assurance th<strong>at</strong> the company would have access to steady income from Brazil, and<br />
<br />
161 Jacobs, Petrus Stuyvesant, 45–48.<br />
218
from the St<strong>at</strong>es General’s aversion to assuming public responsibility for the costs of the war.<br />
Their decision also was informed by reports of disorder in the colony and concerns th<strong>at</strong> priv<strong>at</strong>e<br />
trade, despite the rhetoric, was not in fact <strong>at</strong>tracting settlers. Although the company's chambers in<br />
Zeeland, the Maas, and Groningen, along with represent<strong>at</strong>ives of the St<strong>at</strong>es General itself, all<br />
lined up behind this position, Maurits' well-timed letter forced them to reconsider. The<br />
agreement reached within the St<strong>at</strong>es of Holland in March and April 1638 th<strong>at</strong> opened the trade to<br />
Brazil was based on a compromise to address Zeeland and its allies’ concerns by forcing priv<strong>at</strong>e<br />
merchants to own or purchase shares, and by formally ensuring th<strong>at</strong> the company would have a<br />
steady stream of income from a monopoly over the trade in slaves. Maurits’ letter was the<br />
c<strong>at</strong>alyst, but this compromise was the essence of the decision. In this sense the near perfect<br />
overlap in timing between the deb<strong>at</strong>e over free trade and the company's decision to enter the<br />
trade in slaves was more than coincidental.<br />
Both decisions were answers to the larger question of how to build a prosperous colony;<br />
a question th<strong>at</strong> hinged on increasing the popul<strong>at</strong>ion, and the new problem—shared by the English<br />
colony on Providence Island—of spreading risk and profit while absorbing the costs of military<br />
defense. 162 It is extremely difficult to identify precisely who held which views, and it is<br />
important not to jump too quickly to assumptions about the coherence and stability of the various<br />
sides in these deb<strong>at</strong>es. Nevertheless, it is clear th<strong>at</strong> slavery played a more prominent role in the<br />
vision for the colony elabor<strong>at</strong>ed by Zeeland and individuals like Van der Capellen <strong>at</strong> the St<strong>at</strong>es<br />
General than it did for the free traders, both as a source of income to sustain the company and as<br />
a means to popul<strong>at</strong>e Dutch Brazil. Van der Capellen imagined an expanding colony popul<strong>at</strong>ed by<br />
soldiers and slaves th<strong>at</strong> was governed by a strong central authority: the company's monopoly<br />
<br />
162 Kupperman, Providence Island, 1630-1641; Frederic C. Lane, “Oceanic Expansion: Force and Enterprise in the<br />
Cre<strong>at</strong>ion of Oceanic Commerce,” The Journal of Economic History 10, Supplement: The Tasks of Economic<br />
History (1950): 19–31.<br />
219
over trade was simply the projection of gre<strong>at</strong>er central authority over colonial affairs in the<br />
United Provinces itself. The free traders offered no critique of slavery, and many, including De<br />
Laet, evidently supported the company's particip<strong>at</strong>ion in the slave trade. But the whole thrust of<br />
their campaign was predic<strong>at</strong>ed on the idea of <strong>at</strong>tracting free settlers, and the conviction th<strong>at</strong> these<br />
settlers—r<strong>at</strong>her than soldiers or slaves—would form the productive bedrock of a colony in which<br />
central authority was rel<strong>at</strong>ively weak, both in the colony and <strong>at</strong> home.<br />
After 1638, when the St<strong>at</strong>es General re-opened the trade to Brazil, the free traders<br />
shifted their <strong>at</strong>tention to Africa. While their initial arguments addressed the need to deliver more<br />
slaves to Brazil than the company had been able to do, and thus formed part of a potential answer<br />
to the general question of how to build the colony, they came to focus with increasing<br />
transparency on profit itself; it was not for nothing th<strong>at</strong> De Laet wrote of the “lucr<strong>at</strong>ive trade in<br />
blacks” in his Iaerlyck Verhael, published in November 1644. 163 This focus took concrete form<br />
when the revolt in Pernambuco in 1645 halted the slave trade to Brazil, and merchants looked to<br />
São Tomé and Curaçao for access to new markets. The company’s entry into the slave trade, in<br />
other words, was stimul<strong>at</strong>ed by an imperial vision for Dutch Brazil, backed by the St<strong>at</strong>es<br />
General. But with no market to meet the supply, Dutch particip<strong>at</strong>ion in the trade largely became<br />
detached from imperial consider<strong>at</strong>ions and oriented towards market demand.<br />
The difference between the earlier and l<strong>at</strong>er deb<strong>at</strong>es can be seen in the respective<br />
positions taken by Johan Maurits. In 1638 he supported both free trade and the slave trade, as<br />
twin elements for stabilizing Dutch Brazil and the sugar industry. In fact, the two were intim<strong>at</strong>ely<br />
connected, since only free colonists with access to capital would be able to purchase the slaves<br />
<br />
163 De Laet, Iaerlyck Verhael van de Verrichtingen der Geoctroyeerde West-Indische Compagnie; Unger, “Essay on<br />
the History of the Dutch Slave Trade,” 53.<br />
220
needed to sustain the colony’s economy. 164 But Maurits opposed opening the trade to Angola, on<br />
the grounds th<strong>at</strong> only the company could be trusted to ensure a steady supply of slaves. 165 His<br />
position may well have been influenced by his strong desire to personally assume control over<br />
the administr<strong>at</strong>ion of Loanda. In a 1641 proposal, he argued th<strong>at</strong> “the trade in blacks, which is<br />
the foremost and the only trade of Angola, can be no better regul<strong>at</strong>ed than by us in Brazil, to<br />
which the slaves are brought [and where they are] sold and consumed.” 166 Maurits suggested<br />
many other advantages of this proposal, including the fact th<strong>at</strong> Brazil was closer and company<br />
servants were already acclim<strong>at</strong>ized and could speak Portuguese. To do otherwise, he concluded,<br />
was “to put two heads on one body.” Despite these arguments, the Heren XIX decided to separ<strong>at</strong>e<br />
the company's administr<strong>at</strong>ion in Africa into two parts—northern (based <strong>at</strong> Elmina) and southern<br />
(based in Loanda)—and to control both directly from the United Provinces. 167 In this case the<br />
political incentives in the center and the periphery did not align: Maurits wanted to assume<br />
control over the slave trade, as a means to enhance and expand his authority in Brazil, while the<br />
Heren XIX wanted to ensure Angola's dependence on themselves and the income promised by<br />
the slave trade. For Maurits political factors counseled free trade in one case, monopoly in the<br />
other.<br />
The arguments of the free traders failed and the trade in slaves from Angola remained a<br />
company monopoly, only growing in importance over time. Indeed, the slave trade was probably<br />
<br />
164 Blackburn, The Making of New World Slavery, 197.<br />
165 V. W. C., Trou-hertighe onderrichtinge, aen alle hooft participanten, en lief-hebbers vande geoctroyeerde West-<br />
Indische Compagnie. Nopende het open stellen vanden handel op de cust van Africa, namentlijck, St. Thomé,<br />
Guinea, Angola, St. Paulo de Loando, mitsgaders de Marignian, Nieu Nederlant ende West-Indien., C.<br />
166 NA 1.01.04, inv.nr. 5756. Redenen; ende correctie, waeromme de Negotie der Swaerten, De Stadt St. Paulo de<br />
Loanda, ende Regieringe van den Coninkrycke van Angola behoort te dependeren van den Gouverneur en Hoge<br />
Raeden in Brasil, ofte met de regieringe Aldaer werden gecombineert. Signed by Maurice Conte de Nassau and<br />
received by the St<strong>at</strong>es General on January 19, 1642. “Eerstelyck, om d<strong>at</strong> de Negotie der Swarten, welck de<br />
voornaemste jae de eenichste handelinge van Angola is, door niemant bequamer als door de selve can werden<br />
gereguleert ane dien die nergens als in Brasil overgebracht, vercocht en geconsumeert werden.”<br />
167 Van den Boogaart and Emmer, “The Dutch Particip<strong>at</strong>ion in the Atlantic Slave Trade, 1596-1650,” 358.<br />
221
the area in which the company was best able to make the transition from piracy and conquest to<br />
trade. It may be interesting in this context to revisit Arthur Weststeijn’s argument and in<br />
particular a quot<strong>at</strong>ion he takes from the abbé Raynal, who wrote th<strong>at</strong> the Dutch had to<br />
part with a conquest [northeastern Brazil] th<strong>at</strong> might have become the richest of all the European<br />
colonies, and would have given the republic a degree of importance it could never acquire from<br />
its own territory. But, in order to keep it, the government ought to have undertaken the<br />
administr<strong>at</strong>ion and defense of it; and to make it prosper, it should have enjoyed full liberty. With<br />
these precautions, Brazil would have been preserved, and would have enriched the n<strong>at</strong>ion, instead<br />
of ruining the company. Unfortun<strong>at</strong>ely, it was not yet known th<strong>at</strong> the only way to make lands<br />
useful in America was to clear them, and th<strong>at</strong> this could not be done with success, unless a free<br />
trade were opened to all the inhabitants under the protection of government. 168<br />
Weststeijn uses this quot<strong>at</strong>ion to establish Raynal’s debt to Pieter de la Court and his belief th<strong>at</strong><br />
Dutch Brazil failed because it had never enjoyed “full liberty.” But emphasis might be put on<br />
another portion of the quot<strong>at</strong>ion, in which Raynal argued th<strong>at</strong> the Dutch st<strong>at</strong>e should have taken<br />
full responsibility for the colony’s defense and administr<strong>at</strong>ion. The deb<strong>at</strong>e over free trade was in<br />
part about commercial liberty, but it was also about how to fund colonial expansion precisely in<br />
the absence of direct public support. With the onset of the Portuguese revolt over the summer of<br />
1645 and the company’s finances in disarray, this became the dominant question in discussions<br />
between the WIC and the St<strong>at</strong>es General: would the St<strong>at</strong>es General commit money and men to<br />
save Dutch Brazil?<br />
<br />
168 Cited in Weststeijn, “Dutch Brazil and the Making of Free Trade Ideology,” 1.<br />
222
Chapter Six<br />
Imaginary Economies: Lobbying and the Rhetoric of Numbers<br />
1. Introduction<br />
The fall meeting of the Heren XIX came to a close on October 16, 1645. After agreeing to an<br />
extraordinary payment to the scribe and signing the official minutes, the deleg<strong>at</strong>es returned to<br />
their homes and prepared to debrief their respective chambers. 1 A gre<strong>at</strong> deal had been<br />
accomplished over the preceding five weeks: the board had disp<strong>at</strong>ched initial relief to Brazil and<br />
set into motion negoti<strong>at</strong>ions within the St<strong>at</strong>es General and provincial assemblies to support a<br />
more robust military response to the revolt. They had selected Wolter Schonenborch to serve as<br />
President of the High Council in Recife, a decision th<strong>at</strong> (it was hoped) would bring gre<strong>at</strong>er<br />
authority and coherence to the colony's management. And they had resolved to keep the slave<br />
trade a company monopoly and approved Pieter Stuyvesant’s plans to jointly administer New<br />
Netherland and Curaçao. 2 But their work was hardly done. Schonenborch and his colleagues<br />
were still in the Netherlands and discussions within the St<strong>at</strong>es General over money and men for<br />
Brazil were stalled. 3 Equally troubling, the WIC’s charter, which had expired earlier in the year,<br />
<br />
1 NA 1.01.07, inv.nr. 1<strong>25</strong>64.17, fol. 53. The represent<strong>at</strong>ives of the St<strong>at</strong>es General—Johan van der Camer, Jacob<br />
Veth, and Wolter Schonenborch—reported back to the committee on the WIC in the St<strong>at</strong>es General on October 28.<br />
NA.1.01.03, inv.nr. 4845, entry for October 28, 1645.<br />
2 See Jacobs, Petrus Stuyvesant, 43–48.<br />
3 NA 1.01.04, inv.nr. 5758; NA 1.05.01.01, inv.nr. 2*. Notulen van de Beoignes in den Hage van Prima December<br />
1645 tot 4 <strong>May</strong> 1646; Haecxs, “Het Dagboek van Hendrik Haecxs, Lid van den Hoogen Raad van Brazilië (1645-<br />
1654).”<br />
223
had not yet been renewed. 4 As the deleg<strong>at</strong>es departed Middelburg the company faced very real<br />
existential thre<strong>at</strong>s both abroad and <strong>at</strong> home. These thre<strong>at</strong>s could only be addressed by the St<strong>at</strong>es<br />
General, in wh<strong>at</strong> would amount to a substantial public bail out.<br />
The situ<strong>at</strong>ion only worsened over the following weeks. On October <strong>25</strong>, the company<br />
submitted separ<strong>at</strong>e memoranda to the St<strong>at</strong>es General and the St<strong>at</strong>es of Holland, indic<strong>at</strong>ing<br />
frustr<strong>at</strong>ion th<strong>at</strong> consensus had not yet been reached on the subsidy of 700,000 guilders the<br />
company had requested in mid-September. 5 Although the Amsterdam chamber had already<br />
rented and begun to outfit four ships to send to Brazil, it was unable to meet even the basic<br />
expenses to cover sailors’ wages. The directors accused the St<strong>at</strong>es of Holland of abandoning<br />
them and “hazard[ing] us to the enemy, despite the courage with which you and the other<br />
provinces helped to build the company, <strong>at</strong> such expense in money and blood.” 6 Even this<br />
produced no firm commitment, though, and when several directors appeared in person in the<br />
St<strong>at</strong>es of Holland a month l<strong>at</strong>er, on November <strong>25</strong>, the news they bore was even more grim.<br />
Johannes de Laet, who addressed the assembly, reported th<strong>at</strong> Fort St. Augustyn had been lost and<br />
Dutch settlers had been forced to abandon their lands in the interior of Pernambuco for the safety<br />
of the coast. 7 The company could hold on to the colony for perhaps a few more months, but not<br />
longer. Without immedi<strong>at</strong>e assistance to Brazil, De Laet warned, the Dutch Republic stood to<br />
lose more than 30 million guilders—a staggering figure th<strong>at</strong> must have included not only the<br />
company’s investment, but also the investments of priv<strong>at</strong>e traders, Amsterdam sugar refiners,<br />
and others involved in financing and supplying the colony. 8<br />
<br />
4 Den Heijer, “Plannen voor Samenvoeging van VOC en WIC.”<br />
5 NA 1.01.04, inv.nr. 5758. Remonstrantie from the Deleg<strong>at</strong>ed Directors of the West India Company to the St<strong>at</strong>es<br />
General, exhibited in the St<strong>at</strong>es General on October <strong>25</strong>, 1645.<br />
6 Ibid. “<br />
7 St<strong>at</strong>en van Holland and Westvriesland, Gedrukt Resoluties, entry for November <strong>25</strong>, 1645.<br />
8 Ibid. I have not been able to corrobor<strong>at</strong>e this figure in any other source. De Laet had every reason to infl<strong>at</strong>e<br />
potential losses, but he also was known and respected for the accuracy of his claims. Whether he believed this figure<br />
224
For the remainder of 1645, De Laet and his fellow director in the Amsterdam chamber,<br />
Jacques Specx, would be deeply involved in the company’s lobbying campaign for money to<br />
crush the revolt and save the colony, a campaign th<strong>at</strong> would ultim<strong>at</strong>ely spill into and beyond the<br />
peace talks <strong>at</strong> Münster and the Tre<strong>at</strong>y of Westphalia th<strong>at</strong> ended the 80 Years’ War. 9 Although the<br />
acuteness of the situ<strong>at</strong>ion focused minds in The Hague th<strong>at</strong> winter, the outlines of the company’s<br />
message were largely unchanged from the preceding year. Although it possessed a potentially<br />
lucr<strong>at</strong>ive empire in Africa and the New World, the company was out of money and could raise<br />
no more additional priv<strong>at</strong>e capital. The survival of Dutch Brazil, the company itself, would<br />
require substantial financial support. The case for this support was built on unstable ground: the<br />
company needed to prove its worth, despite its empty coffers, and it needed to convince<br />
magistr<strong>at</strong>es, the merchant community, and a public exhausted by war th<strong>at</strong> an organiz<strong>at</strong>ion<br />
devoted during most of its history to piracy and conquest could profitably secure and administer<br />
its new possessions, to the benefit of the Republic, in a time of peace. Advancing these<br />
arguments required more than lofty rhetoric; it required concrete evidence of the company’s<br />
value to the st<strong>at</strong>e.<br />
But how could this be measured? Wh<strong>at</strong> was the New World really worth—or, more<br />
prosaically, wh<strong>at</strong> was it worth to the Dutch Republic, and by wh<strong>at</strong> metric could the question even<br />
be assessed? This chapter looks <strong>at</strong> two very different efforts to answer these difficult questions,<br />
both from the period just before the outbreak of the revolt. It argues th<strong>at</strong> the decision to send<br />
relief to Brazil in the spring of 1646 was based on a determin<strong>at</strong>ion th<strong>at</strong> the colony was valuable<br />
<br />
was accur<strong>at</strong>e or merely credible, the fact th<strong>at</strong> he presented in the St<strong>at</strong>es of Holland and th<strong>at</strong> it was included in the<br />
formal minutes suggests th<strong>at</strong> it should be taken seriously. The problem of determining the value of the Republic's<br />
investment in Brazil is the topic of this chapter. On the Amsterdam sugar industry, see Arjan Poelwijk, “In Dienste<br />
vant Suyckerbacken”: De Amsterdamse Suikernijverheid en haar Ondernemers, 1580-1630 (Hilversum: Verloren,<br />
2003).<br />
9 Kluiver, De Souvereine en Independente Sta<strong>at</strong> Zeeland.<br />
2<strong>25</strong>
to the Dutch st<strong>at</strong>e, and th<strong>at</strong> this determin<strong>at</strong>ion was inspired by the company’s work to<br />
convincingly articul<strong>at</strong>e th<strong>at</strong> value. The first effort, an internal memorandum drafted by Specx in<br />
the summer of 1645, carried the simple title, “St<strong>at</strong>e of the Income and Expenses of the Chartered<br />
West India Company.” 10 In ten folio pages of calcul<strong>at</strong>ions, Specx defined value in the familiar<br />
language of pure monetary gain: by estim<strong>at</strong>ing the company's sources of income and expenditure<br />
in each of its five most important conquests, he arrived <strong>at</strong> a single, positive sum for the<br />
company's projected annual profits. Doing so required him to distill revenues from dozens of<br />
trades th<strong>at</strong> had rarely if ever been considered as part of a single economic system, many of<br />
which—as the term “conquest” implies—had only quite recently fallen into Dutch hands. The<br />
second effort was by De Laet. Published in November 1644, his Iaerlyck Verhael (History of the<br />
Chartered West India Company) chronicled the company's first thirteen years and, as a coda,<br />
provided detailed calcul<strong>at</strong>ions demonstr<strong>at</strong>ing the total monetary value of the damage the<br />
company had inflicted on Iberian America. 11 Using history, r<strong>at</strong>her than accountancy, De Laet<br />
offered the company’s accumul<strong>at</strong>ed achievements as a proxy for the economic and political<br />
value of continued investment in the New World.<br />
Although their approaches—and their conclusions—were quite different, Specx and De<br />
Laet both assembled and analyzed vast amounts of company st<strong>at</strong>istics. In the absence of all but a<br />
few financial records, their work is nearly all th<strong>at</strong> remains for contemporary scholars interested<br />
<br />
10 NA 1.10.78, inv.nr. 8, Collectie Sweers, fols 115-120. Sta<strong>at</strong> van het Incomen, ende de Lasten van de<br />
Geoctoyeerde Westindsiche Comp. soo als deselve in haer Hant heeft, ’t een en ’t andere, na haer Believen te<br />
Stellen, 1645.<br />
11 Johannes de Laet, Historie Ofte Iaerlijck Verhael van de Verrichtinghen der Geoctroyeerde West-Indische<br />
Compagnie, zedert haer Begin, tot het Eynde van ’t Jaer Sesthien-hondert ses-en-dertich; Begrepen in Derthien<br />
Boecken, ende met verscheyden Koperen Pl<strong>at</strong>en Verciert (Leyden: Bonaventura ende Abraham Elsevier, 1644); The<br />
modern Dutch edition is De Laet, Iaerlyck Verhael van de Verrichtingen der Geoctroyeerde West-Indische<br />
Compagnie; A Portuguese edition was published in Brazil between 1916 and 19<strong>25</strong>. Johannes de Laet, Historia ou<br />
Annaes dos Feitos da Companhia Privilegiada das Indias Occidentaes desde o seu Começo <strong>at</strong>é ao fim do Anno de<br />
1636, trans. José Hygino Duarte Pereira and Pedro Souto Maior (Rio de Janeiro: Officinas Graphicas da Bibliotheca<br />
Nacional, 19<strong>25</strong>).<br />
226
in the company’s financial history. 12 But their texts can also tell us a gre<strong>at</strong> deal about how<br />
lobbying was conducted and the way in which m<strong>at</strong>hem<strong>at</strong>ics came to inhabit a central place in<br />
mercantile rhetoric of the Dutch Republic.<br />
Numeracy in early modern political and economic deb<strong>at</strong>es is often associ<strong>at</strong>ed with the<br />
work of the Englishman William Petty, who coined the term “political arithmetic” in the early<br />
1670s, but recent scholarship has traced a longer evolution. Paul Slack places the growing use of<br />
numbers within the context of a more general development of the use of st<strong>at</strong>istics in the<br />
formul<strong>at</strong>ion of government policy. 13 Drawing on both medieval practices of inform<strong>at</strong>ion<br />
g<strong>at</strong>hering and Bacon's emphasis on “number, weight, and measure,” he argues th<strong>at</strong> European<br />
st<strong>at</strong>es increasingly consulted quantit<strong>at</strong>ive sources to facilit<strong>at</strong>e centraliz<strong>at</strong>ion and empire building.<br />
By 1660, even if conventional political consider<strong>at</strong>ions sometimes trumped the logic of<br />
quantit<strong>at</strong>ive analysis, calcul<strong>at</strong>ion had become a “fashion” in political rhetoric. 14 The trend<br />
reached its m<strong>at</strong>ure form in Petty's work on Ireland and in British deb<strong>at</strong>es about popul<strong>at</strong>ion, trade,<br />
and finance in the early eighteenth century. 15<br />
Looking more closely <strong>at</strong> language, Mary Poovey has argued th<strong>at</strong> this period represented a<br />
critical moment in the development of a new kind of mercantile rhetoric in which the language of<br />
accounting emerged as a powerful tool with which to enhance the credibility of arguments in<br />
favor of specific policies and political priorities. 16 Her book traces the diffusion of double-entry<br />
<br />
12 The most important of these are the subscription book for the Amsterdam chamber from 1623-26, NA 1.05.01.01,<br />
inv.nr. 18*; a list of investors and their capital from February 10, 1656, NA 1.05.01.01, inv.nr. 18*; and subscription<br />
books for the verhoging in Middelburg, Vlissingen, and Veere in 1636-37 discussed in the previous chapter, NA.<br />
1.05.01.01, inv.nr. 77-79. Assorted bills of lading, calcul<strong>at</strong>ions of subsidy payments, and other isol<strong>at</strong>ed records can<br />
be found throughout the company's archive. To my knowledge no record books of income or expenses survived the<br />
fire and sale to rag merchants in the nineteenth century.<br />
13 Slack, “Government and Inform<strong>at</strong>ion in Seventeenth-Century England.”<br />
14 Ibid., 65.<br />
15 McCormick, William Petty and the Ambitions of Political Arithmetic.<br />
16 Mary Poovey, A History of the Modern Fact: Problems of Knowledge in the Sciences of Wealth and Society<br />
(Chicago: <strong>University</strong> of Chicago Press, 1998).<br />
227
ookkeeping from l<strong>at</strong>e-fifteenth century Italy to early-seventeenth century England, and, with it,<br />
“Reason of St<strong>at</strong>e” arguments developed by writers such as Jean Bodin and Giovanni Botero.<br />
Drawing on these traditions, Poovey shows how the English merchant Thomas Mun rejected the<br />
formal rules of classical rhetoric in favor of a direct style th<strong>at</strong> employed simple, hypothetical<br />
calcul<strong>at</strong>ions to show th<strong>at</strong> trade should be actively promoted by the st<strong>at</strong>e. Following Mun, the<br />
inclusion of quantities and formal calcul<strong>at</strong>ions made writing appear to be transparent, r<strong>at</strong>her than<br />
perform<strong>at</strong>ive, and conferred a new kind of legitimacy, independent of the author's social st<strong>at</strong>us.<br />
In this way facts, and especially facts about trade and industry, became the new currency of<br />
persuasion.<br />
While Slack, Poovey, and many others have focused largely on England, contemporaries<br />
were well aware th<strong>at</strong> the rel<strong>at</strong>ionship between commerce and politics was more intim<strong>at</strong>ely<br />
intertwined in the Dutch Republic than anywhere else in Europe. 17 Jacob Soll has argued th<strong>at</strong><br />
Amsterdam was acknowledged as Europe's “center of good bookkeeping,” and th<strong>at</strong> it was in this<br />
and other Dutch trading cities th<strong>at</strong> the ruling elite's familiarity with “the minutiae of finance,<br />
industry, and trade” played a decisive role in “changing the language of political economy.” 18<br />
Since merchants made up the core of the Dutch st<strong>at</strong>e, Soll suggests, “the ars merc<strong>at</strong>oria was a<br />
rich part of everyday urban life and an essential element of st<strong>at</strong>e government.” The distinctive<br />
character of the Republic fascin<strong>at</strong>ed subjects of Europe's territorial monarchies and encouraged<br />
<br />
17 Temple, Observ<strong>at</strong>ions upon the United Provinces of The Netherlands; Appleby, Economic Thought and Ideology<br />
in Seventeenth-Century England; Charles Wilson, England’s apprenticeship 1603-1763, 2nd ed. (London:<br />
Longmans, 1984); Jon<strong>at</strong>han Scott, England’s Troubles: Seventeenth-Century English Political Instability in<br />
European Context (Cambridge: Cambridge <strong>University</strong> Press, 2000); Hont, Jealousy of Trade; Jardine, Going Dutch;<br />
Thomson, “The Dutch Miracle, Modified. Hugo Grotius’s Mare Liberum, Commercial Governance and Imperial<br />
War in the Early-Seventeenth Century.”<br />
18 Soll, “Accounting for Government: Holland and the Rise of Political Economy in Seventeenth-Century Europe.”<br />
The quot<strong>at</strong>ions are taken from pages pp. 229, 223, and 217, respectively.<br />
228
princes, if not to learn the vulgar practice of accountancy, then <strong>at</strong> least to surround themselves<br />
with experts who had. 19<br />
Despite this vanguard role, almost nothing has been written about the ways th<strong>at</strong><br />
quantit<strong>at</strong>ive analysis shaped specific deb<strong>at</strong>es over policy in the Dutch Republic in the<br />
seventeenth century. 20 Building on the preceding narr<strong>at</strong>ive and analysis, this chapter examines<br />
the WIC's efforts to lobby the St<strong>at</strong>es General, the St<strong>at</strong>es of Holland, and the Prince of Orange<br />
during the critical period 1644-1645. It asks how arguments concerning colonial politics were<br />
communic<strong>at</strong>ed to a largely mercantile elite, taking De Laet and Specx’s texts as a compar<strong>at</strong>ive<br />
case study. It looks <strong>at</strong> how their calcul<strong>at</strong>ions were organized, wh<strong>at</strong> assumptions they made, and<br />
how each author aimed to frame and defend the WIC's imperial project for specific groups of<br />
decision-makers. The first section of the paper explores Specx's calcul<strong>at</strong>ions and the manner in<br />
which he clothed a number of dubious assumptions about the value of the company’s trade<br />
within the simple and elegant form<strong>at</strong> of double-entry bookkeeping. The second traces the origins<br />
of De Laet’s unusual history and places it within the context of the deb<strong>at</strong>e over renewal of the<br />
company's charter. By parsing De Laet’s calcul<strong>at</strong>ions, it demonstr<strong>at</strong>es the growing salience of<br />
numeracy in company politics after the l<strong>at</strong>e-1630s and suggests ways in which arguments based<br />
on the logic of “reason of st<strong>at</strong>e” could gain support from, and in turn empower, a quantit<strong>at</strong>ively<br />
precise—if still rudimentary—method of calcul<strong>at</strong>ing n<strong>at</strong>ional wealth.<br />
Crucial to both texts was an element of imagin<strong>at</strong>ion. Throughout, the chapter interprets<br />
the figures themselves as a means of articul<strong>at</strong>ing and even fueling imperial fantasies and<br />
<br />
19 Ibid., 216.<br />
20 For a recent history of financial management, see Smidt, Van Tresorier tot Thesaurier-Generaal; On deb<strong>at</strong>es in<br />
political economy generally, see Gelderblom, The Political Economy of the Dutch Republic.<br />
229
ambitions. 21 Although neither Specx nor De Laet could have known this, the early 1640s marked<br />
the high-w<strong>at</strong>er point of Dutch territorial expansion in the Atlantic Basin and the apex of colonial<br />
enthusiasm, especially around the trades in Brazilian sugar and African slaves. The chapter<br />
argues th<strong>at</strong> their detailed calcul<strong>at</strong>ions of value involved fantasy, as well as facts, and th<strong>at</strong> the<br />
tension between these two elements was a crucial part of the company's lobbying campaign in<br />
the winter of 1645. In finally deciding to send a relief fleet to Brazil, the St<strong>at</strong>es of Holland and<br />
the St<strong>at</strong>es General reasoned th<strong>at</strong> the colony’s value outweighed both the risks and the costs of<br />
military action.<br />
2. Calcul<strong>at</strong>ing the Value of the New World<br />
Jacques Specx was not present <strong>at</strong> the meeting of the Heren XIX in Middelburg, but by this time<br />
he had become an influential voice in the Amsterdam chamber and in the company's negoti<strong>at</strong>ions<br />
with the St<strong>at</strong>es of Holland. In March 1644 he represented the WIC in the l<strong>at</strong>ter body, arguing its<br />
case in favor of a merger with the VOC, and in mid-September of 1645 he was one of the<br />
Amsterdam directors who carried the company's request to the St<strong>at</strong>es of Holland for 700,000<br />
guilders to send additional soldiers to Brazil. 22 During discussions in early October, Specx was<br />
asked by the St<strong>at</strong>es of Holland to review the company’s books and provide a complete, up-to-<br />
d<strong>at</strong>e record of all the subsidies the company had received from each of the provinces, as a pre-<br />
condition for further support. 23 And <strong>at</strong> the Haags Besogne in early December he was responsible<br />
<br />
21<br />
Schmidt, Innocence Abroad; Nicolás Wey Gómez, The Tropics of Empire: Why Columbus Sailed South to the<br />
Indies (Cambridge: MIT Press, 2008).<br />
22<br />
Den Heijer, “Plannen voor Samenvoeging van VOC en WIC.” For a biographical sketch see Chapter Four.<br />
23<br />
St<strong>at</strong>en van Holland en Westvriesland, Gedrukt Resoluties, entry for October 7, 1645.<br />
230
for gener<strong>at</strong>ing a budget for the relief expedition. 24 By this time majorities within the St<strong>at</strong>es<br />
General and the St<strong>at</strong>es of Holland approved granting a subsidy, but Amsterdam continued to<br />
stall, first insisting on assurances th<strong>at</strong> the money would only be used to relieve Brazil, and then,<br />
when these assurances were provided, asking for more time to consider the question. <strong>25</strong> The<br />
subsidy had also become inter-twined with the ongoing deb<strong>at</strong>e over whether, and on wh<strong>at</strong> terms,<br />
to renew both the WIC and the VOC charters, with several provinces arguing th<strong>at</strong> the money to<br />
fund relief for Brazil should be paid by the VOC in return for renewing its charter. 26 In the St<strong>at</strong>es<br />
General planning went ahead without Amsterdam's formal consent and Specx, together with<br />
Alewyn van Halewyn, a director from the chamber of the Maas, was responsible for producing<br />
“an estim<strong>at</strong>e and calcul<strong>at</strong>ion of the cost of the foresaid assistance [to Brazil].” 27<br />
As we saw in Chapter Four, earlier in 1645 Specx had been offered the honor of serving<br />
as President of the High Council in Recife, the company’s most prestigious administr<strong>at</strong>ive<br />
position in the Western Hemisphere. When he declined, Specx had proposed instead th<strong>at</strong> he draft<br />
“a review of the company's conquests” to assist the company in organizing its finances and in<br />
planning. 28 Evidently the company accepted this offer, for amongst his priv<strong>at</strong>e papers in The<br />
Hague can be found a lengthy analysis, composed <strong>at</strong> precisely this time, of the income and<br />
<br />
24 NA 1.05.01.01, inv.nr. 2*, entry for December 2, 1645. The Haags Besogne was a series of consult<strong>at</strong>ive meeting<br />
held annually <strong>at</strong> The Hague to resolve issues with a direct bearing on the st<strong>at</strong>e, including public financing, military<br />
commissions, and military planning. The term itself is borrowed from the VOC, which held consult<strong>at</strong>ions with the<br />
St<strong>at</strong>es General each spring to review the correspondence recently arrived from Asia. Since WIC fleets were not<br />
subject to the same seasonal p<strong>at</strong>tern, the company's contacts in The Hague tended to be more ad hoc, but the severity<br />
of the problems <strong>at</strong> the end of 1645 meant th<strong>at</strong> meetings were held daily from the beginning of December until just<br />
before Christmas. See Den Heijer, De Geoctrooieerde Compagnie, 129.<br />
<strong>25</strong> St<strong>at</strong>en van Holland en Westvriesland, Gedrukt Resoluties, entries for October 13, November 29, December 2,<br />
December 5, December 6, 1645<br />
26 NA 1.01.03, inv.nr. 4845, entry for December 1, 1645; St<strong>at</strong>en van Holland en Westvriesland, Gedrukt Resoluties,<br />
entries for November 29 and November 30, 1645.<br />
27 NA 1.05.01.01 inv 2*, entries for December 2, December 4, December 5, December 6, and December 7, 1645.<br />
“[…] een overslach ende calcul<strong>at</strong>ie te maeken vant gene de voors. versorginge sal comen te monteren.” Their report<br />
called for 36 companies, or 5,400 men in total—significantly more than the 20 ships carrying 2,000 soldiers th<strong>at</strong><br />
ultim<strong>at</strong>ely set sail during the cold spring of 1646. See Boxer, The Dutch in Brazil, 1624-1654, 177.<br />
28 NA 1.01.07 inv.nr. 1<strong>25</strong>64.17, extracts d<strong>at</strong>ed April 26 and <strong>May</strong> 2, 1645.<br />
231
expenses <strong>at</strong> each of the company's colonies, along with an estim<strong>at</strong>e of its expenses <strong>at</strong> home.<br />
Though not the only document of its kind, it is by far the most comprehensive. 29 As such it<br />
provides a rare glimpse of the world the company was trying, with considerable success, to<br />
cre<strong>at</strong>e, and of the assumptions th<strong>at</strong> underlay claims for its future profitability.<br />
Little is known of Specx's early life, but the trajectory of his career makes plain th<strong>at</strong> he<br />
would have received training in m<strong>at</strong>hem<strong>at</strong>ics and accounting as a young man. In 1607, <strong>at</strong> the age<br />
of nineteen, Specx sailed with the VOC to the East Indies as Onderkoopman (Junior Merchant),<br />
a role in which he would have been responsible for keeping detailed records of trade. 30 He soon<br />
rose to the position of Opperhoofd (Chief Factor) <strong>at</strong> the trading colony in Japan and, in 1622,<br />
was selected to serve as Raad Extra-ordinair (Extraordinary Councilor) on the Council of the<br />
Indies in B<strong>at</strong>avia. During a brief return trip to the Netherlands, Specx was promoted by the<br />
Heren XVII to the position of Eerste Raad (First Counselor). At this point his career took a most<br />
fortun<strong>at</strong>e turn: when his ship arrived in B<strong>at</strong>avia he learned th<strong>at</strong> Jan Pieterz. Coen (1587-1629),<br />
the famed Governor General of all the VOC's affairs in Asia, had passed away the previous day.<br />
Specx was named as his temporary replacement and remained in the post for three years. 31 This<br />
important position opened doors into the Dutch elite and <strong>at</strong> Court: like so many regents in the<br />
Republic itself, his ascent traced a p<strong>at</strong>h from direct involvement in trade and accounting to<br />
<br />
29 NA 1.10.78, inv.nr. 8. Specx's priv<strong>at</strong>e papers include a dozen other sets of calcul<strong>at</strong>ions, mostly dedic<strong>at</strong>ed to Brazil<br />
and to the slave trade with Angola. A model for his work, if he was not its author, was the Calcul<strong>at</strong>ie van de<br />
Incomptsten ende Lasten van Brasil, ende Incompsten nu ter tydt Inst<strong>at</strong>o, fols. 120-122. Boxer printed another<br />
version of this document with the title, a “Tent<strong>at</strong>ive Balance-Sheet of Netherlands Brazil and West Africa in 1644”<br />
as Appendix II in his study of Dutch Brazil, but he either inserted or reproduced from his source several errors,<br />
especially in the calcul<strong>at</strong>ions for the value of the trade in slaves. See Boxer, The Dutch in Brazil, 1624-1654, 277–<br />
279.<br />
30 "Jacques of Jacobus Specx" in Molhuysen, Nieuw Nederlandsch Biografisch Woordenboek, vol. 6, 1<strong>25</strong>1–1<strong>25</strong>3.<br />
On the various positions in company employment, their compens<strong>at</strong>ion, and responsibilities, see Boxer, The Dutch<br />
Seaborne Empire, 1600-1800; R<strong>at</strong>elband, Vijf Dagregisters van het Kasteel São Jorge da Mina aan de Goudkust,<br />
lviii–lxii.<br />
31 Molhuysen, Nieuw Nederlandsch Biografisch Woordenboek, 1<strong>25</strong>8.<br />
232
political and administr<strong>at</strong>ive authority—in this case over a trade network th<strong>at</strong> stretched from East<br />
Africa to the Persian Gulf, the Indonesian archipelago, Ceylon, Japan, and China. 32<br />
Specx's “St<strong>at</strong>e of Income and Expenses,” probably composed in <strong>May</strong> or June of 1645,<br />
would have drawn on this extensive experience. Following the “Italian style of bookkeeping,” as<br />
one company official characterized it, Specx organized the document in ledger form, with<br />
estim<strong>at</strong>es for the company's annual income and expenses set against one another on opposing<br />
pages. 33 Each conquest was dealt with separ<strong>at</strong>ely and resolved into a single balance; these<br />
balances were then carried over and summed <strong>at</strong> the end to yield an overall estim<strong>at</strong>e for the<br />
company’s annual profit. This structure meant th<strong>at</strong> there was no region-wide account for the<br />
expense of ships or soldiers, though these were sent to every conquest area, nor for the separ<strong>at</strong>e<br />
revenues from sugar, which was grown both in Brazil and on the island of São Tomé. This may<br />
simply have been the easiest way to organize the inform<strong>at</strong>ion Specx had <strong>at</strong> its disposal, but it also<br />
had the virtue of allowing the reader to independently assess the viability of each of the<br />
individual conquests. Among these it was easy to see the overwhelming importance of Brazil to<br />
the company’s finances, and thus to grasp the urgency of ensuring its military defense.<br />
Included in the review were five conquests: Brazil, Guinea, Angola, São Tomé, and the<br />
area around the Gambia River, including Cape Verde. New Netherland, which by this time had a<br />
popul<strong>at</strong>ion of approxim<strong>at</strong>ely 2,000 settlers, but whose trade was rel<strong>at</strong>ively small, was not<br />
<br />
32 Gaastra, The Dutch East India Company; Burke, Venice and Amsterdam.<br />
33 NA 1.01.07, inv.nr. 1<strong>25</strong>64.17, no. 7. Report Sommierlyck gedaen by die Heeren vander Cappelen toe-Ryssel,<br />
Herbers, en Nykerck van di principaelste Poincten inde besoignes van die vergaderinge der Negentien t'Amsterdam<br />
voorgevallen zeder Martio 1645. In this meeting a point of discussion had been to determine how the company<br />
could calcul<strong>at</strong>e the finance of lands, livestock, and ammunition “not by the Italian method of bookkeeping, but in the<br />
same manner as these are calcul<strong>at</strong>ed by the Receivers and Commissioners of Lands in the Council of St<strong>at</strong>e.” The<br />
original reads, “niet naer Italiaens Boekhouden, maer na ordre d<strong>at</strong> die Ontvangers en Commisen des Landts voorden<br />
Raedt van St<strong>at</strong>e Rekenen.”<br />
233
included. 34 In Specx’s estim<strong>at</strong>ion Brazil was the company's most lucr<strong>at</strong>ive colony: it accounted<br />
for more than half of annual expenses and revenue and required by far the largest military<br />
presence. Following the 1641 Tre<strong>at</strong>y with Portugal, the company's directors and the St<strong>at</strong>es<br />
General had pursued a policy of reducing the number of officers and soldiers in Dutch Brazil.<br />
Down from a high of 5,300 men in 1638, Specx estim<strong>at</strong>ed expenses for the current troop-strength<br />
of only 2,700 men, with gre<strong>at</strong>ly reduced numbers of support staff and officers; he also reduced<br />
the budget for the High Council, which under Maurits had represented a considerable expense.<br />
Together, military and administr<strong>at</strong>ive personnel accounted for 795,000 guilders. Livestock, the<br />
second gre<strong>at</strong>est expense and a perennial source of trouble for the company, Specx estim<strong>at</strong>ed <strong>at</strong><br />
675,000 guilders. Ships accounted for <strong>25</strong>2,000 guilders, while the repair of forts and replenishing<br />
munitions—also casualties of peace with Portugal—together accounted for 110,000 guilders. 35<br />
The income side of the ledger was of course domin<strong>at</strong>ed by revenues from the trade in<br />
sugar. Specx estim<strong>at</strong>ed th<strong>at</strong> priv<strong>at</strong>e merchants, to whom the trade had been reopened in 1638,<br />
would carry 15,000 chests each year, of which a fourth would go to the company as recognitie<br />
(recognition), a payment for the right to trade within the area of the company's charter. This was<br />
estim<strong>at</strong>ed to yield 750,000 guilders, with an additional 843,500 guilders in convoy charges, dues,<br />
and recognition payments on manufactured and other goods priv<strong>at</strong>e merchants exported to<br />
Brazil. 36 At 1,593,500 guilders this was a substantial sum, but still considerably less than the 2.5<br />
million guilders in income from recognitie and fees th<strong>at</strong> Amsterdam estim<strong>at</strong>ed in 1637, when the<br />
<br />
34 Specx makes no mention of New Netherland. The earlier Calcul<strong>at</strong>ie van de Incompsten..., composed in 1644, also<br />
did not include New Netherland, but did mention the colony along with Curaçao, Bonaire, and several parts of<br />
Brazil as “still other places” from which the company derived revenue. Calcul<strong>at</strong>ions by De Laet in his Iaerlyck<br />
Verhael report income from the New Netherland trade in pelts <strong>at</strong> 705,117 guilders for the years 1624-1635, or<br />
approxim<strong>at</strong>ely 58,000 guilders per annum, making it substantially less lucr<strong>at</strong>ive than the territories included in<br />
Specx’s analysis. De Laet, Iaerlyck Verhael van de Verrichtingen der Geoctroyeerde West-Indische Compagnie, vol.<br />
4, 297. Jaap Jacobs considers De Laet's figures to be accur<strong>at</strong>e. See Jacobs, The Colony of New Netherland, 110.<br />
35 NA 1.10.78, inv.nr. 8, fols. 115v and 116v.<br />
36 Ibid., fols. 116 and 117.<br />
234
deb<strong>at</strong>e over free trade to Brazil had gener<strong>at</strong>ed the first gre<strong>at</strong> wave of commercial calcul<strong>at</strong>ions. 37<br />
Other sources of revenue included taxes paid by Portuguese settlers, which amounted to 300,000<br />
guilders; 911,200 guilders on the sale of livestock; and 300,000 guilders for Brazilian dyewoods,<br />
an important input for the Republic's cloth-dying industry. Total revenue was thus projected <strong>at</strong><br />
3,260,700 guilders. 38 Against total expenses of 1,974,000 guilders, this yielded a handsome<br />
estim<strong>at</strong>ed annual profit of 1,286,700 guilders.<br />
Guinea was the company's second most important source of revenue. As we saw in<br />
Chapter Five, the company's conquests were still fresh and the n<strong>at</strong>ure of the trade somewh<strong>at</strong> in<br />
flux. Specx estim<strong>at</strong>ed th<strong>at</strong> the company’s forts could be defended by 150 soldiers and support<br />
personnel <strong>at</strong> a cost of only 36,000 guilders. Even after seizing Elmina and Axim, and unlike in<br />
Brazil, the majority of expenses were still directly linked to trade: in exchange for gold, ivory,<br />
and slaves, the company would need four ships yearly carrying a combined cargo costing<br />
720,000 guilders. 39<br />
Specx estim<strong>at</strong>ed th<strong>at</strong> Guinea could provide annual income of 1,294,000 guilders, the vast<br />
majority from 3,600 marks of gold, worth 1,044,000 guilders—a modest increase from the 3,200<br />
marks traded in 1644 and the reason, Specx indic<strong>at</strong>ed in a marginal note, th<strong>at</strong> the company<br />
should increase the number of ships devoted to the trade. 40 The rest of the income came from<br />
slaves and ivory. By this time the company had reduced its expect<strong>at</strong>ions for Guinea to serve as a<br />
major source of slaves for Brazil, in favor of the trade <strong>at</strong> São Paulo do Loanda, but Specx still<br />
expected to trade 1,400 slaves, of whom 1,200 might survive, for revenue of 150,000 guilders.<br />
Specx estim<strong>at</strong>ed the trade in ivory would bring in another 100,000 guilders yearly. These<br />
<br />
37 NA 1.01.04, inv.nr. 5754, fols. 304-310 and 340-350. Specx had copies or extracts of the calcul<strong>at</strong>ions from both<br />
documents. NA 1.10.78, inv.nr. 8, fols. 123-127, and 144-159.<br />
38 NA 1.10.78, inv.nr. 8, fol. 117.<br />
39 Ibid., fol. 117v.<br />
40 Ibid., fol. 118.<br />
235
calcul<strong>at</strong>ions yielded a profit of 418,750 guilders—hardly the windfall from Brazil, but<br />
nevertheless a consistent, and thus predicable, revenue stream. 41<br />
Calcul<strong>at</strong>ing the value of the trade <strong>at</strong> São Paulo do Loanda was far more difficult. 42 The<br />
most vexing problem was to accur<strong>at</strong>ely estim<strong>at</strong>e the volume of the trade in slaves. Johan Maurits,<br />
who had been responsible for organizing the Dutch fleet th<strong>at</strong> seized Loanda, believed th<strong>at</strong> 15,000<br />
slaves could be traded there each year, but in the preceding three years the actual numbers had<br />
been much smaller. 43 Specx’s excerpts and notes on a report by Pieter van der Hagen, financial<br />
counselor on the Hoge Raad in Brazil, st<strong>at</strong>e th<strong>at</strong> the company imported 3,040 slaves to Brazil in<br />
1642 and 3,428 in 1643. 44 Although Van der Hagen’s numbers were incomplete for 1644, Specx<br />
evidently knew from other sources th<strong>at</strong> the trade had increased dram<strong>at</strong>ically th<strong>at</strong> year, to 5,565<br />
slaves, for he used an estim<strong>at</strong>e of 5,600 slaves annually. 45 Calcul<strong>at</strong>ing the de<strong>at</strong>h r<strong>at</strong>e during the<br />
middle passage <strong>at</strong> 1/7, and the price of slaves <strong>at</strong> 1<strong>25</strong> guilders apiece, he estim<strong>at</strong>ed income of<br />
600,000 guilders. Ivory and copper added 93,600 guilders for total revenue of 693,600 guilders. 46<br />
Against this were expenses of 124,800 guilders to pay 550 soldiers and support personnel,<br />
270,000 guilders for trade goods, and 174,000 guilders for ships and supplies. 47<br />
<br />
41 Ibid.<br />
42 On the Dutch in Angola and São Tomé, see R<strong>at</strong>elband, Nederlanders in West-Afrika 1600-1650.<br />
43 Goslinga, The Dutch in the Caribbean and on the Wild Coast 1580-1680, 351. See also Den Heijer, Goud, Ivoor<br />
en Slaven, 18. One of the sets of calcul<strong>at</strong>ions in Specx’s possession indic<strong>at</strong>ed th<strong>at</strong> 15,000 slaves had previously been<br />
traded <strong>at</strong> Angola, but th<strong>at</strong> now an estim<strong>at</strong>e of 12,000 was more appropri<strong>at</strong>e. NA 1.10.78, inv.nr. 8, fol. 121-122. This<br />
document is mistranscribed in Boxer, st<strong>at</strong>ing the numbers as 15,000 and 1,200, respectively. The value per slave is<br />
incorrectly transcribed as 49 guilders instead of 40 guilders. Boxer also failed to indic<strong>at</strong>e th<strong>at</strong> these calcul<strong>at</strong>ions were<br />
based on free trade to Angola, with the income representing only recognition fees, r<strong>at</strong>her than the full sale value of<br />
the slaves. C. R. Boxer, The Dutch in Brazil, 1624-1654 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1957), 277-279.<br />
44 NA 1.10.78, inv.nr. 8, fol. 224. Aanteekeningen door Jacques Specx uit de Memorie van der Haghen betreffende<br />
de financien der WI Compagnie in Brazilie. The majority, though not all, of these slaves came from Loanda. These<br />
numbers diverge somewh<strong>at</strong> from those in Wätjen, O Dominio Colonial Hollandez no Brasil: Um capitulo da<br />
historia colonial do seculo XVII, 487. For the origins of slaves sold in Brazil see the online Trans-Atlantic Slave<br />
Trade D<strong>at</strong>abase: http://www.slavevoyages.org/tast/index.faces.<br />
45 Ibid.<br />
46 NA 1.10.78, inv.nr. 8, fol. 118.<br />
47 Ibid., fol. 118v.<br />
236
Overall, this meant an annual profit of 124,800 guilders, a fraction of the profits from<br />
Brazil or Guinea and considerably less than the company had anticip<strong>at</strong>ed. But there may have<br />
been more to this than meets the eye: Specx’s figures assumed th<strong>at</strong> the slave trade remained a<br />
company monopoly, but he used a very low estim<strong>at</strong>e for the sale price of slaves, which Van der<br />
Hagen's report showed had varied between 204 and 357 guilders apiece. 48 Separ<strong>at</strong>e sets of<br />
calcul<strong>at</strong>ions, also in Specx’s possession, used the higher figure of 200 guilders. One, probably<br />
composed in 1644, argued th<strong>at</strong> an open and free trade of 12,000 slaves each year would yield a<br />
much more <strong>at</strong>tractive annual profit to the company of 720,000 guilders in recognitie and fees. 49<br />
Another set of calcul<strong>at</strong>ions, almost certainly drafted by an opponent of opening the trade,<br />
estim<strong>at</strong>ed th<strong>at</strong> 10,000 slaves would yield recognitie and fees worth 540,000 guilders, but th<strong>at</strong> this<br />
income would be offset by expenses on the coast equal to 408,400 guilders, for an overall profit<br />
of only 131,600 guilders. 50 The implic<strong>at</strong>ion was th<strong>at</strong> the high fixed costs of the slave trade,<br />
including forts and soldiers in Loanda, made it disadvantageous for the company to open the<br />
trade to priv<strong>at</strong>e merchants. If the company kept the trade to itself, however, this author believed<br />
it could earn 1.8 million guilders against expenses of 910,000 guilders, for a profit of 990,000<br />
guilders. 51<br />
Th<strong>at</strong> these numbers diverge so widely—in terms of the number of slaves traded, the sale<br />
price in Recife, and fixed costs in Angola—provides some indic<strong>at</strong>ion of the fluidity of the market<br />
and the wide margin of error th<strong>at</strong> could be expected from this sort of calcul<strong>at</strong>ion. Specx was<br />
careful to use a reliable figure for the volume of the trade, but his price estim<strong>at</strong>es, along with his<br />
<br />
48<br />
NA 1.10.78, inv.nr. 8, fol. 224. Van den Boogaart and Emmer report th<strong>at</strong> sale prices in Recife for slaves from<br />
Angola varied from a low of 161 guilders in 1636 to a high of 639 guilders in 1638. In 1644 the price was 172<br />
guilders and in 1645 it was 244 guilders. See Van den Boogaart and Emmer, “The Dutch Particip<strong>at</strong>ion in the<br />
Atlantic Slave Trade, 1596-1650,” 371.<br />
49<br />
NA 1.10.78, inv.nr. 8. Calcul<strong>at</strong>ie van de Incomptsten ende Lasten van Brasil, ende Incompsten nu ter tydt Inst<strong>at</strong>o,<br />
fol. 121v.<br />
50<br />
NA 1.10.78, inv.nr. 8. Calcul<strong>at</strong>ie van de Proffyten die den open handel op Angola soude geven. fol. 142v.<br />
51 Ibid., fol. 144.<br />
237
notes on these documents, suggest th<strong>at</strong> we should count him among the advoc<strong>at</strong>es for lifting the<br />
company’s monopoly on the slave trade. 52<br />
Specx devoted little <strong>at</strong>tention to calcul<strong>at</strong>ions for the region around the River Gambia,<br />
recording only th<strong>at</strong> expenses of 1<strong>25</strong>,000 guilders, mostly for trade goods and ships, were<br />
rewarded with revenues of 200,000 guilders, for a tidy profit of 75,000 guilders. 53 But he paid<br />
much closer <strong>at</strong>tention to the island of São Tomé, the company's most recent conquest and a trade<br />
hub within the South Atlantic. 54 A major producer of sugar under the Portuguese throughout the<br />
sixteenth century, by this time the island was becoming a transit point for slaves. Unlike the<br />
other regions, Specx calcul<strong>at</strong>ed the costs of the trade in terms of slaves, cotton, and gold, all of<br />
which could be exchanged for sugar. By trading goods valued <strong>at</strong> 94,060 guilders, plus expenses<br />
of 73,600 guilders for 220 soldiers and support personnel, he expected the company to take away<br />
541,200 guilders worth of sugar. 55<br />
This was already the highest r<strong>at</strong>e of profit of any of the conquest areas, and Specx<br />
believed it could be made even more profitable by planting indigo, tobacco, and East Indian<br />
pepper. Even more important, though—and perhaps drawing on his experience with the VOC,<br />
which had supplemented both its income and its access to silver by facilit<strong>at</strong>ing the vast and<br />
profitable intra-Asia trade—he imagined th<strong>at</strong> São Tomé might one day serve as a staple-market<br />
for all of West Africa. 56<br />
The accumul<strong>at</strong>ed annual profits from all five conquests amounted to just less than 3<br />
million guilders. Against this figure Specx counted the company's overhead in the Netherlands,<br />
<br />
52 NA 1.10.78, inv.nr. 8, fols. 123-127, fol. 186, fols. 187-190.<br />
53 Ibid., fols. 118v and 119.<br />
54 Den Heijer, Goud, Ivoor en Slaven. See also Stuart B. Schwartz, ed., Tropical Babylons: Sugar and the Making of<br />
the Atlantic World, 1450-1680 (Chapel Hill: <strong>University</strong> of North Carolina Press, 2004).<br />
55 NA 1.10.78, inv.nr. 8, fols. 118v-119v.<br />
56 R<strong>at</strong>elband, Nederlanders in West-Afrika 1600-1650; Gaastra, The Dutch East India Company.<br />
238
so th<strong>at</strong> foreign trade as a whole made up income and the company's oper<strong>at</strong>ions its expenses.<br />
Most of these were fairly modest: house rental, “fire and light,” and payments to company<br />
personnel accounted for 200,000 guilders, while compens<strong>at</strong>ion to the company's directors<br />
amounted to 103,000 guilders. 57 Much gre<strong>at</strong>er were the costs necessary to sustain the company's<br />
enormous debt. To service 6,000,000 guilders the company had borrowed <strong>at</strong> 5% it needed to pay<br />
300,000 guilders annually. And to this Specx added the largest and most controversial figure: a<br />
6% dividend on the entire invested capital of more than 17 million guilders, equal to 1,050,000<br />
guilders. This dividend had only been paid twice in the company's history—1643 and 1644—and<br />
its inclusion here suggest th<strong>at</strong> Specx anticip<strong>at</strong>ed it would be paid again in 1645. 58 With the<br />
expenses deducted, and the government’s promised 500,000 guilders annual subsidy added in,<br />
Specx estim<strong>at</strong>ed the company’s annual profit <strong>at</strong> 1,335,010 guilders. 59<br />
This, in short, was the value of the New World. With simple precision and clarity Specx’s<br />
review integr<strong>at</strong>ed dispar<strong>at</strong>e trades th<strong>at</strong> had developed over more than half a century and<br />
conquests in which the Dutch were yet to fully consolid<strong>at</strong>e their authority. It was a synthetic<br />
vision of an empire still under construction. Where possible, Specx based his estim<strong>at</strong>es of<br />
expenses and revenues on figures from the years immedi<strong>at</strong>ely preceding; where this proved<br />
impossible—either because the inform<strong>at</strong>ion was unavailable or because the company’s<br />
experience was simply too limited—he gave apparently plausible explan<strong>at</strong>ions for his<br />
projections. Together these showed the basis for a profitable company, able not only to<br />
compens<strong>at</strong>e its investors, but to make a modest annual profit as well.<br />
<br />
57 NA 1.10.78, inv.nr. 8, fols. 119v. and 120. “Tractamenten van Suppoosten, arbeyts, volck voc<strong>at</strong>ie gelden van<br />
Bewinthebberen huys huur, vuur en licht.”<br />
58 Heijer, De Geoctrooieerde Compagnie, <strong>25</strong>0.<br />
59 NA 1.10.78, inv.nr. 8, fol. 119v.<br />
239
It was, of course, a fiction. With the possible exception of his calcul<strong>at</strong>ions for the slave<br />
trade from Angola, the problem wasn't th<strong>at</strong> Specx’s figures were inaccur<strong>at</strong>e, or his m<strong>at</strong>h<br />
somehow deficient. It was th<strong>at</strong> his elegant calcul<strong>at</strong>ions were based on numerous assumptions,<br />
several of which proved terribly wrong. In Brazil he assumed there would be peace, even though<br />
rumors of war by this time abounded, and his calcul<strong>at</strong>ions for income presumed payment, which<br />
was not forthcoming. As the British would l<strong>at</strong>er learn in the Caribbean, in a colonial economy<br />
goods, and especially slaves, often were purchased on credit, a problem th<strong>at</strong> was especially<br />
serious in Pernambuco. 60 Specx’s notes on Van der Hagen's report show debts of 757,000<br />
guilders; modern historians believe the total was closer to 2 million guilders. 61 In this sense<br />
Specx’s estim<strong>at</strong>es for Brazil were highly misleading on both sides of the ledger, a fact th<strong>at</strong><br />
readers aware of the company's desper<strong>at</strong>e financial condition must have immedi<strong>at</strong>ely<br />
recognized. 62 In Guinea, where intra-European competition was already beginning to erode the<br />
company's presumed monopoly, and in Loanda, where the slave trade ground to a halt following<br />
the Portuguese revolt, profits lagged far behind Specx’s estim<strong>at</strong>es. Just as Dutch still life painters<br />
assembled highly realistic bouquets from flowers th<strong>at</strong> bloomed months apart, Specx cre<strong>at</strong>ed an<br />
imaginary economy, cobbled together from the stolen treasures of the Iberian powers, and used<br />
this to advance the company’s imperial vision. By the winter of 1645 th<strong>at</strong> vision was beginning<br />
to collapse. Specx’s careful calcul<strong>at</strong>ions stand both as one of the last testaments to the company’s<br />
grand pretensions for an Atlantic empire, and as an important tool in the political effort to save it.<br />
<br />
60<br />
Wätjen, O Dominio Colonial Hollandez no Brasil: Um Capitulo da Historia Colonial do seculo XVII; Boxer, The<br />
Dutch in Brazil, 1624-1654; K. G. Davies, The Royal Africa Company (New York: Atheneum, 1970).<br />
61<br />
NA 1.10.78, inv.nr. 8, fol. 224. Wätjen, O Dominio Colonial Hollandez no Brasil: Um Capitulo da Historia<br />
Colonial do seculo XVII, 332–334.<br />
62<br />
As discussed in the previous chapter, Artichewski looked very unfavorably on the calcul<strong>at</strong>ions produced by both<br />
chambers in 1637. Artichewski, “Missive van den Kolonnel Artichofsky aan Graaf Maurits en de Hoogen Raad in<br />
Brazilië, 24 Juli 1637,” 227.<br />
240
3. History Counts<br />
Where Specx’s calcul<strong>at</strong>ions were meant to capture the company’s current situ<strong>at</strong>ion, and thus to<br />
project the prospective value of its trade into an indefinite future, Johannes de Laet's work less<br />
than a year earlier looked to justify and defend the company’s existence on the basis of its<br />
accomplishments in the past. And where Specx had assessed value in the familiar terms of raw<br />
commercial profit, based on income and expenses, De Laet argued th<strong>at</strong> the company's value<br />
could only be assessed through a much more inclusive calcul<strong>at</strong>ion th<strong>at</strong> took into account not only<br />
its trade, but also its fe<strong>at</strong>s of organized piracy, its contributions to ship-building, consumption,<br />
and employment, and the heavy costs th<strong>at</strong> it had imposed upon the King of Spain. This very<br />
different sort of calcul<strong>at</strong>ion, no less m<strong>at</strong>hem<strong>at</strong>ical, drew upon established tropes but showed<br />
impressive new sensitivity to the importance of precise quantific<strong>at</strong>ion in mercantile and political<br />
rhetoric.<br />
In November of 1644, Elsevier in Leiden published De Laet’s Iaerlyck Verhael, a<br />
comprehensive, richly illustr<strong>at</strong>ed history of the WIC th<strong>at</strong> chronicled the period from the<br />
company’s first voyages in 1623 until the end of 1636. 63 De Laet dedic<strong>at</strong>ed the book to the St<strong>at</strong>es<br />
of Holland with the following words:<br />
The most important means by which the King of Spain has held the whole World, and especially<br />
Christendom, in uproar for so many years, and <strong>at</strong>tacked these United Provinces so mightily, is his<br />
income from the rich lands of America. [...] Since the Chartered West India Company was<br />
established and has begun its work, men can only guess how the King’s treasure and income has<br />
been reduced and his former strength weakened, so th<strong>at</strong> it is now already clear th<strong>at</strong> his arms begin<br />
<br />
63 De Laet, Historie Ofte Iaerlijck Verhael van de Verrichtinghen der Geoctroyeerde West-Indische Compagnie,<br />
zedert haer Begin, tot het Eynde van ’t Jaer Sesthien-hondert ses-en-dertich; Begrepen in Derthien Boecken, ende<br />
met Verscheyden Koperen Pl<strong>at</strong>en Verciert. The modern Dutch edition is De Laet, Iaerlyck Verhael van de<br />
Verrichtingen der Geoctroyeerde West-Indische Compagnie.<br />
241
to hang from the body [...] This short account of the company's achievements each year which is<br />
presented to your Honors shall serve witness [to the fear now felt by this mighty power]. 64<br />
It was a bellicose st<strong>at</strong>ement of the company’s contributions to the war effort and a call for<br />
acknowledgement of this from the St<strong>at</strong>es of Holland. Year by year, in exhaustive and often dry<br />
detail, De Laet’s book recounted each of the company’s many successful conquests <strong>at</strong> sea and on<br />
land and c<strong>at</strong>alogued the riches it had appropri<strong>at</strong>ed <strong>at</strong> the Spanish King’s expense. For men “to<br />
guess how the King’s treasure and income had been reduced” was not sufficient: these were<br />
spelled out ship-by-ship, sugar chest by sugar chest, and assigned precise monetary values. At<br />
the end of the book, De Laet then abandoned narr<strong>at</strong>ive altogether and combined the subtotals<br />
from each year to arrive <strong>at</strong> a precise reckoning of the company’s overall contribution to the<br />
Dutch st<strong>at</strong>e. 65<br />
De Laet’s unusual book—the first work published in the Netherlands to address the<br />
history of a joint stock company, r<strong>at</strong>her than of a city or a prince, and possibly the first history of<br />
a mercantile company published anywhere in Europe—has received far less <strong>at</strong>tention from<br />
historians than it deserves. 66 While considered highly accur<strong>at</strong>e, and thus often mined as a unique<br />
<br />
64 De Laet, Iaerlyck Verhael van de Verrichtingen der Geoctroyeerde West-Indische Compagnie, vol. 1, 3. “De<br />
meeste middelen waermede den Koningh van Haspagnien de gantsche Weerelt, ende insonderheyt Christenrijck, soo<br />
vele Jaren in roeren heft ghehouden, ende dese Gheunieerde Provintien soo machtich bestreden, sijn voornementlick<br />
hem toe-ghekommen uyt de over-rijcke Landen van America […] Naer d<strong>at</strong> de Geoctroyeerde West-Indsiche<br />
Compagnie is opgericht, ende heeft begonnen to wercken, heeft men konnen speuren hoe des selves Koninghs<br />
sch<strong>at</strong>ten en in-komsten hebben komen te minderen ende sijne vorige macht te verflauwen. De swacheyt van d<strong>at</strong><br />
groot Lichaem laet sich nu klaerlijck sien; door do swacken teghen-partije soo merckelijcken verminckt zijnde, d<strong>at</strong><br />
de armen beginnen te hanghen.” The St<strong>at</strong>es of Holland recognized the book with a payment of 300 guilders and<br />
ordered th<strong>at</strong> the copy he sent them “be displayed on the table of the High and Mighty [St<strong>at</strong>es of Holland].” St<strong>at</strong>en<br />
van Holland and Westvriesland, Gedrukt Resoluties, entry for November <strong>25</strong>, 1644. Two letters De Laet composed to<br />
accompany copies of the book th<strong>at</strong> he sent to the St<strong>at</strong>es General and the Amsterdam chamber of the WIC can be<br />
found in the Special Collections of the Leiden <strong>University</strong> Library, PAP 2, Brieven van Johannes De Laet aan<br />
Bestuurders der Geoctroyeerde West-Indische Compagnie Amsterdam, November 28, 1644.<br />
65 De Laet, Iaerlyck Verhael van de Verrichtingen der Geoctroyeerde West-Indische Compagnie, vol. 4, 279.<br />
66 A history of the VOC would be published two years l<strong>at</strong>er. Isaac Commelin, Begin ende Voortgangh, van de<br />
Vereenighde Nederlantsche Geoctroyeerde Oost-Indische Compagnie (Amsterdam: Johannes Janssonius, 1646).<br />
242
source for specific nuggets of inform<strong>at</strong>ion about the company’s early history, scholars have yet<br />
to carefully examine either the book’s form or its place within contemporary Dutch politics. 67<br />
Building on research by Henk den Heijer, Jaap Jacobs has observed th<strong>at</strong> the book was<br />
written during protracted negoti<strong>at</strong>ions within the St<strong>at</strong>es of Holland to renew the WIC's charter,<br />
set to expire in 1645. 68 Sensing an ugly deb<strong>at</strong>e, the company requested special assistance from<br />
the St<strong>at</strong>es General in July 1643. The l<strong>at</strong>ter passed the issue to the St<strong>at</strong>es of Holland, who in<br />
January 1644 replied with an unexpected proposal to combine the WIC and the VOC into a<br />
single joint venture. In this way the two companies could project even gre<strong>at</strong>er military might<br />
overseas, while the VOC’s superior financial resources would help to re-capitalize the ailing<br />
WIC, <strong>at</strong> no cost to the st<strong>at</strong>e. To the WIC and its directors the proposal came like “a gift from the<br />
heavens,” but it was swiftly and unequivocally dismissed by the VOC, whose directors<br />
recognized th<strong>at</strong> in accepting combin<strong>at</strong>ion they would both dilute their regular profits from Asia<br />
and inherit the WIC's considerable debts. 69 De Laet’s book contributed to this discussion by<br />
highlighting the company's many years of service and thus the importance of renewing its<br />
charter.<br />
But it is fairly clear th<strong>at</strong> De Laet's work on the Iaerlyck Verhael extended further back in<br />
time. In Book I, he explained th<strong>at</strong> the project arose as a “necessary consequence” and<br />
complement to his earlier geographical compendium, the Nieuwe Wereldt, ofte Beschrivinghe<br />
<br />
67 See L’Honoré Naber’s introduction to the 1931 edition, along with Bekkers, “Introduction”; Jacobs, “Johannes de<br />
Laet en de Nieuwe Wereld”; Den Heijer, “Plannen voor Samenvoeging van VOC en WIC”; Bremmer, Jr., “The<br />
Correspondence of Johannes de Laet as a Mirror on his Life.”<br />
68 Den Heijer, “Plannen voor Samenvoeging van VOC en WIC,” 115–117; Jacobs, “Johannes de Laet en de Nieuwe<br />
Wereld.”<br />
69 Twee Deductien, aen-gaende de Vereeninge van d’Oost ende West-Indische Compagnien, aen de ... St<strong>at</strong>en van<br />
Hollandt ende West Vrieslandt, vande West-Indische Compagnie overgelevert. (’s-Gravenhage, 1644); Den Heijer,<br />
“Plannen voor Samenvoeging van VOC en WIC,” 116. “[…] als een geschenk uit de hemel.”<br />
243
van West-Indien (New World, or a Description of the West Indies), published in 16<strong>25</strong>. 70 This<br />
book—the only other text De Laet published in Dutch—was not a piece of original scholarship,<br />
but r<strong>at</strong>her a learned synthesis of geographical, ethnographic, and historical inform<strong>at</strong>ion th<strong>at</strong> De<br />
Laet appropri<strong>at</strong>ed from leading English and Continental navig<strong>at</strong>ors, travelers, and historians. 71<br />
As De Laet made clear in a “Note to the Reader,” he intended the book to serve as a guide to the<br />
New World for the directors and servants of the WIC, which had been established four years<br />
earlier. As references to the book in accounts and correspondence by Dutch navig<strong>at</strong>ors and<br />
company servants <strong>at</strong>test, the book was used in precisely this way. 72<br />
By the time De Laet began preparing a new edition, which was published in 1630, the<br />
company's expansion was well under way: following failed <strong>at</strong>tempts in Brazil and Guinea in<br />
16<strong>25</strong>, Piet Heyn captured a Spanish silver fleet off the coast of M<strong>at</strong>anzas in 1628 and Hendrick<br />
Loncq succeeded in capturing Recife and Olinda in 1630. Images of Heyn and Loncq graced the<br />
<br />
70 De Laet, Iaerlyck Verhael van de Verrichtingen der Geoctroyeerde West-Indische Compagnie, vol. 1, 2. “De<br />
Beschrijvinge van America ofte Nieuwe Wereldt, die ick voor eenige Jaren in druck hadde uytgegeven, scheen mede<br />
desen tweede arbeydt, als een noodigh gevolgh te vereysschen (mijne Vrienden oordelen ‘t selve) door dien d<strong>at</strong> uyt<br />
de menighfuldighe Reysen, de onderscheydelijcke ondeckingen van vele gewesten, ende 't gene soo te w<strong>at</strong>er als te<br />
lande by des Compagnies Vlooten ende Legers is verricht, een groot licht konde geschept werden ende meerder<br />
kennisse van die nieuwe ondeckte landen verkregen; ‘t sal ook in 't vervolgh blijcken.”<br />
71 De Laet, Nieuwe Wereldt: Ofte Beschrijvinghe van West-Indien. A manuscript in the New York Public Library in<br />
which De Laet can be seen extracting from these sources indic<strong>at</strong>es th<strong>at</strong> he began collecting historical and<br />
geographical m<strong>at</strong>erial for this book <strong>at</strong> least as early as 1620.<br />
72 Govert Loockermans, who traded on the Hudson and Delaware Rivers in 1648-49, wrote in a letter th<strong>at</strong> he had<br />
been guided by de Laet’s Nieuwe Wereldt. See Jacobs, “Johannes de Laet en de Nieuwe Wereld.” A second example<br />
can be found in the WIC archives. In March of 1640, the Zeeland chamber received a lengthy report from Gideon<br />
Morris, a Zeelander of Scottish descent, along with a letter from his brother, William. The report contained a<br />
detailed description of Maranão. The report detailed the weakness of Portuguese positions in the area and advoc<strong>at</strong>ed<br />
an alliance with politically disaffected local Indians. To this report Gideon’s brother added a brief letter suggesting<br />
Maranão might provide access, by way of the Amazon, to the famous silver mines <strong>at</strong> Potosi. To buttress his case,<br />
William offered a number of block quot<strong>at</strong>ions from the 1630 edition of De Laet’s Nieuwe Wereldt, which he<br />
presented “towards the service of your excellencies, in order to better understand the wealth of Potosi and the<br />
possible manner of its capture, by means of an extract out the striking description of th<strong>at</strong> place by the gentlemen<br />
Johan de Laet (who is well enough known by your excellencies).” As it turned out, De Laet was wrong th<strong>at</strong> the<br />
Amazon might provide access to Potosi, and in any case the company chose to invest instead in <strong>at</strong>tacks overland and<br />
via Chile. When Maurits organized a successful mission to seize Maranão in November 1641 Gideon Morris was<br />
selected to serve as commander of the neighboring captaincy of Céara. NA 1.01.01.05, inv.nr. 43, Morris to the<br />
Kamer Zeeland, March 3, 1640. “[…] die ick ten dienst van ewe edele […] loflijcke […] van het rijkdom van Potosi<br />
te verhalen by wege van extract uyte trefelicke beschrivinge van Brazil van d’heer Johan de Laet (die is by eue edele<br />
genoeg bekende).”<br />
244
Illustr<strong>at</strong>ion 13. Frontispiece to the second edition of Nieuwe Wereldt<br />
ofte Beschrijvinghe van West-Indien, by Johannes de Laet (Leiden:<br />
Bonaventura and Abraham Elzevier, 1630). From a copy in the<br />
Universiteitsbibliotheek, Leiden. Portrayed are Piet Heyn (left) and<br />
Hendrik Loncq (right).<br />
245
title page of the revised edition and, within the text, De Laet incorpor<strong>at</strong>ed important new<br />
inform<strong>at</strong>ion he had g<strong>at</strong>hered from company travel journals, correspondence, and convers<strong>at</strong>ions<br />
with merchants and sailors. 73 For the French edition, published in 1640 and dedic<strong>at</strong>ed to Cardinal<br />
Richelieu (1585-1642), De Laet added still more inform<strong>at</strong>ion, this time of a historical n<strong>at</strong>ure. 74<br />
The gre<strong>at</strong>ly expanded section on northeastern Brazil retained the older description by John<br />
Lancaster, an Englishman who visited the region in 1595, but now included new inform<strong>at</strong>ion<br />
from Dutch sources, along with an account of the seizure of Olinda by the Dutch in February of<br />
1630. 75 On the following page, De Laet recounted the entire story of the WIC from its founding<br />
in 1621 to the ongoing Dutch offensives under Johan Maurits. 76<br />
This was the germ of the Iaerlijck Verhael: although De Laet began by incorpor<strong>at</strong>ing new<br />
inform<strong>at</strong>ion within the existing structure of the Nieuwe Wereldt, the sp<strong>at</strong>ial organiz<strong>at</strong>ion of the<br />
text ultim<strong>at</strong>ely became too constricting. The company’s conquests and discoveries were too<br />
dispar<strong>at</strong>e to be sandwiched into a small section on<br />
Brazil, and the inform<strong>at</strong>ion taken from foreign texts were increasingly made obsolete by the<br />
reports of Dutch explorers, navig<strong>at</strong>ors, and soldiers. Having spent much of the past two decades<br />
writing and editing histories of European and distant st<strong>at</strong>es for Elsevier, De Laet evidently<br />
considered the company to be a legitim<strong>at</strong>e subject for historical analysis. 77 It is likely th<strong>at</strong> he first<br />
considered, or even began composing, the Iaerlijck Verhael as early as 1640 or 1641, and th<strong>at</strong> it<br />
<br />
73<br />
Johannes de Laet, Nieuwe Wereldt Ofte Beschrijvinghe van West-Indien (Leyden: Bonaventura ende Abraham<br />
Elsevier, 1630).<br />
74<br />
Johannes de Laet, L’histoire du Nouveau Monde (Leyde: Bonaventura et Abraham Elzevier, 1640).<br />
75<br />
Ibid., 532. “Mais depuis que nos Belges ont pris Olinde, il y a plusiers des plus riches qui se sont retires a cette<br />
ville”; “cette ville fut prise a l'improviste par les nostres au commence de <strong>May</strong> de l’an [1632]. Il y eut plus de cent<br />
Portugais de tues, beaucoup pris, un bon butin en fut tire, une bonne partie de la ville ruinee par leu feu; & il y fut<br />
gaste une grande quantite de vivres, principalement di vin, que l'on y gardoit pour les troupes […]”<br />
76<br />
Ibid., 533.<br />
77<br />
Gruys, “De Reeks ‘Republieken’ van de Elzeviers en Joannes de Laet.”<br />
246
took on its specific rhetorical function only l<strong>at</strong>er, as renewal of the charter came to domin<strong>at</strong>e<br />
public discussion of the company’s st<strong>at</strong>us within the Republic.<br />
As indic<strong>at</strong>ed previously, the Iaerlyck Verhael was organized chronologically, with each<br />
of thirteen books corresponding to a single year in the company’s history. De Laet indic<strong>at</strong>ed in<br />
Book I th<strong>at</strong> he would leave aside any discussion of the company’s management <strong>at</strong> home, on the<br />
r<strong>at</strong>her flimsy explan<strong>at</strong>ion th<strong>at</strong> the company’s charter—a copy of which was included <strong>at</strong> the<br />
beginning of the book, along with a complete list of the company’s directors to 1636—could<br />
adequ<strong>at</strong>ely speak for its organiz<strong>at</strong>ion and the company's rel<strong>at</strong>ionship to the St<strong>at</strong>es General. In<br />
fact, as several scholars have noted, this permitted him to avoid the contentious and sometimes<br />
bitter deb<strong>at</strong>es between the company’s five chambers th<strong>at</strong> had domin<strong>at</strong>ed the company’s early<br />
history. He also made clear th<strong>at</strong> the text mainly covered the company’s military conquests and<br />
th<strong>at</strong> he “did not trouble himself with trade and shipping to the gold-rich lands of Guinea and the<br />
islands of America not yet claimed by the enemy.” 78 Only where “trade and conquest were<br />
intermingled” were they included in the narr<strong>at</strong>ive. Wh<strong>at</strong> remained, De Laet declared, was proof<br />
enough th<strong>at</strong> the company “had done such gre<strong>at</strong> things for the st<strong>at</strong>e, and much more than men had<br />
ever expected of it.” 79<br />
Critical to the book's authority was De Laet’s privileged access to the company’s archives<br />
and the thoroughness and care with which he used original sources to assemble and document<br />
the company’s history. He described his task thus:<br />
<br />
78 De Laet, Iaerlyck Verhael van de Verrichtingen der Geoctroyeerde West-Indische Compagnie, vol. 1, 3. “sonder<br />
my te bemoeyen met den handel ande bevaeringhe die by de selve Compagnie van den beginne is anghestelt op de<br />
gout-rijcke Landen van Guinea ende beyde de ghedeelten van America en de Eylanden noch niet beslagen ende<br />
verheert by den Vyandt; als alleen in ’t voorbygaen ende wanneer de Koophandel met den oorloge is vermenght<br />
gheweest.”<br />
79 Ibid., vol. 1, 4. “[…] d<strong>at</strong> dese Compagnie seer groote dinghen voor desen staet heeft ghedaen, ende veellicht meer<br />
als men van haer hadde verwacht ofte konnen eysschen.”<br />
247
It occurred to me th<strong>at</strong> these miraculous deeds of the West India Company, executed for the wellbeing<br />
of our dear f<strong>at</strong>herland, should not to be kept silent from future gener<strong>at</strong>ions, and th<strong>at</strong> I, who<br />
from the beginning have been in the service of the [company], having <strong>at</strong>tended and assisted all<br />
the deliber<strong>at</strong>ions, and having seen and read all the journals, letters, and papers, should not be<br />
blamed for picking up these descriptions, and capturing only the naked truth (which I knew best)<br />
by arranging the m<strong>at</strong>erial in separ<strong>at</strong>e books in annalistic form, and preparing it to be easily<br />
understood and exhibited to the world, just as another, with a better pen, might have done. 80<br />
De Laet’s work was so thorough th<strong>at</strong> Caspar Barlaeus, commissioned <strong>at</strong> roughly this time by<br />
Johan Maurits to write a history of the l<strong>at</strong>ter’s tenure in Brazil, dismissed the need to review the<br />
company's early history, since “the widely known and celebr<strong>at</strong>ed gentlemen Johannes de Laet, in<br />
his historical work, has already told of these affairs, having articul<strong>at</strong>ed the truth directly, not on<br />
the basis of hearsay or rumor, but following the documents and day-books of those who have<br />
themselves been eyewitnesses to these events.” 81 Just as in his argument with Grotius over the<br />
origins of the N<strong>at</strong>ive Americans, De Laet’s history was empirically well informed and supremely<br />
sensitive to his sources. 82<br />
From the perspective of the history of accountancy, the most important part of the<br />
Iaerlyck Verhael is without question its final part, the Kort Verhael wt de voorgaende Boecken<br />
ghetrocken van de diensten ende nuttigheden die desen Staet heeft genooten by de West-Indische<br />
Compagnie, ende de schaden die deselve den Koningh van Spanien heeft ghedaen sedert haer<br />
<br />
80 Ibid. “My docht daer benevens d<strong>at</strong> dese wonderlijcke daden by de West-Indische Compagnie tot welstandt van<br />
onse lieve Vaderlandt uyt-ghewroght, de naerkomelinghen niet en konden offte behoordenversweghen te worden;<br />
ende d<strong>at</strong> my, die van den beginne in bedieninge van de selve was gheweest, alle de ghewichtighe raetslagen hadde<br />
bygewoont ende helpen bevorderen, ende alle de Journalen, Brieven ende Geschriften ghesien ende gelesen, niet<br />
qualijck en konde af-ghenomen worden de Beschrijvinghe van de selve by der handt te nemen, ende de naeckte<br />
waerheyt alleen (die my ten besten bekent was) in onderscheyden Boeken volgens de ordre der Jaren te verv<strong>at</strong>ten,<br />
ende alsoo de stoffe te bereyden voor beter verstanden, die de selve hier naer met een beter penne naer hun<br />
verdiensten mochten ten thoone stellen voor de gantsche wereldt.”<br />
81 Caspar van Baerle, in Nederlandsch Brazilië onder het bewind van Johan Maurits, Grave van Nassau, 1637-1644<br />
(’s-Gravenhage: Martinus Nijhoff, 1923), 23. “Die zaken heeft de zeer wijdluste en zeer vermaarde Heer Johannes<br />
de Laet in zijne geschiedwerken verhaald, onomwonden de waarheid uitgesproken hebbende, niet van hooren<br />
zeggen of op grond van losse pra<strong>at</strong>jes, maar volgens de opgaven en de dagverhalen van hen die de feiten hebben<br />
bijgewoond.”<br />
82 Rubiés, “Hugo Grotius’s <strong>Dissert<strong>at</strong>ion</strong> on the Origin of the American Peoples and the Use of Compar<strong>at</strong>ive<br />
Methods”; Schmidt, “Space, Time, Travel: Hugo de Groot, Johannes de Laet, and the ‘Advancement’ of Geographic<br />
Learning”; De Laet, Suiker, Verfhout & Tabak.<br />
248
egin tot het eynde van den Jaere 1636 (Short Account pulled from the preceding Books, of the<br />
Service and Utility th<strong>at</strong> this St<strong>at</strong>e has enjoyed by the West India Company, and the damage th<strong>at</strong><br />
the same has done to the King of Spain since its beginning until the year 1636). 83 It seems likely<br />
th<strong>at</strong> this independent section was composed as an after thought, in direct response to the<br />
discussions about the WIC's charter. De Laet explained th<strong>at</strong> it was intended to “g<strong>at</strong>her together in<br />
brief” all the evidence already presented in the preceding narr<strong>at</strong>ive, especially since “some men<br />
think little of [the company], others hold it in low esteem, and still others speak of it so<br />
unkindly.” 84 He apologized for the roughness of the calcul<strong>at</strong>ions, which<br />
rest upon such a slender footing, in terms of the estim<strong>at</strong>es of both goods and harm done, th<strong>at</strong><br />
each may judge whether the actual numbers might be higher or lower. Nevertheless, any reader<br />
will hereby conclude how gre<strong>at</strong> is the service th<strong>at</strong> this Company has given to the st<strong>at</strong>e. 85<br />
The Kort Verhael was divided into five sections, each of which contained a distinct set of<br />
calcul<strong>at</strong>ions; the sum from each was then carried over and combined for a grand total <strong>at</strong> the end.<br />
To these De Laet added two additional sections devoted exclusively to the value of the<br />
company’s trade, which had not been discussed in the book but nevertheless contributed to his<br />
present<strong>at</strong>ion of the company's value. The text ran to 29 folio pages of dense st<strong>at</strong>istics and<br />
explan<strong>at</strong>ory notes. In effect, De Laet reduced history to the frozen, synchronic, one-<br />
dimensionality of accountancy: each quantity appeared three times in the Iaerlyck Verhael: first<br />
in the narr<strong>at</strong>ive, second as a partial sum <strong>at</strong> the end of the description of each fleet or year, and<br />
<br />
83 De Laet, Iaerlyck Verhael van de Verrichtingen der Geoctroyeerde West-Indische Compagnie, vol. 4, 277–298.<br />
84 Ibid., vol. 4, 279. “[…] soo hebbe goedt gheacht hier in ’t korte by een te brenghen, ’t ghene door de<br />
Verrichtinghen van de welghemelde Compagnie, tot dienste van dese Vereenigde Nederlanden, ons lieve<br />
Vaderlandt, is te weghe gebracht; ended <strong>at</strong> te meer, om d<strong>at</strong> sommighe het by-wijlen weynigh ghedencken, vele oock<br />
weynigh achten; ende oock wel eenighe daer w<strong>at</strong> leppigh van spreken.”<br />
85 Ibid. “De Calcul<strong>at</strong>ie die hier op hebbe gemaeckt, is genomen op soo slendrern voet, soo wel inde estm<strong>at</strong>ie van<br />
goederen, als begrootinghe vande schaden, d<strong>at</strong> vertrouwe een yeder sal konnen oordeelen, daer in eer ghesondight te<br />
sijn in verminderinghe, als in vergrootinge. Eenighe leser sal hier uyt konnen sien w<strong>at</strong> dienst desen Staedt by de<br />
Compagnie is gedaen.”<br />
249
third in the Kort Verhael. This repetition ne<strong>at</strong>ly mimicked th<strong>at</strong> in the memorial, journal, and<br />
ledger—the three books th<strong>at</strong>, in their increasing formaliz<strong>at</strong>ion and abstraction, represent the chief<br />
innov<strong>at</strong>ion of double-entry booking. 86<br />
The first section dealt with ships and shipping. De Laet offered a list of the number of<br />
ships constructed by each chamber, totaling 220 over the thirteen years. By estim<strong>at</strong>ing their value<br />
and multiplying by the number of voyages, he established a rough figure for the number of<br />
sailors the company had employed and the total cost of armaments, provisions, and wages. This<br />
yielded a sum of 45,183,430 guilders, much of which was spent on employing and feeding the<br />
67,010 men who had worked in the company's service. 87<br />
The next four sections dealt with damage done to the King of Spain. Section two listed<br />
547 Iberian ships the company had “seized, destroyed, or otherwise made unusable” and, from<br />
an estim<strong>at</strong>e of their unit value, assessed the damage <strong>at</strong> 6,710,000 guilders. 88 Section three<br />
continued in like fashion, focusing on goods th<strong>at</strong> had been seized “and brought to land for sale,<br />
or otherwise put to use in the [company's] conquests.” 89 These included 39,355 chests of sugar,<br />
valued <strong>at</strong> 7,871,000 guilders, 2,356 slaves, and varying amounts of dyewood, indigo, cloth,<br />
ginger, oil, copper, ivory, coin, and many other goods. Piet Heyn’s capture of the Spanish silver<br />
fleet in 1628, with its 12,000,000 guilders worth of silver and precious stones, was given a line<br />
of its own. De Laet reckoned th<strong>at</strong> all these goods, “taken from the King and offered to the use of<br />
this st<strong>at</strong>e,” totaled 30,309,736 guilders. 90 Section four examined damages from which the<br />
<br />
86 Poovey, A History of the Modern Fact.<br />
87 De Laet, Iaerlyck Verhael van de Verrichtingen der Geoctroyeerde West-Indische Compagnie, vol. 4, 280–282.<br />
88 Ibid., 282. “Lijste van de schepen, bercken, carveelen, die by de vloten ende schepen vande compagnie de vyandt<br />
benomen, verdestrueert ofte anders onnut zijn ghemaeckt, gheduyrende de selve jaren.”<br />
89 Ibid., 286. “Lijste ende estim<strong>at</strong>ie vande goederen die inde voorgaende ghenomen schepen by de compagnie zijn<br />
bekommen, ende hier te lande in-gebracht ende verkocht, ofte elders in hare conquesten verbesight.”<br />
90 Ibid., 287. “Sulcks d<strong>at</strong> de boven-gheschreven goederen de Koning van Spagnien ende sijne Onderdanen afghenomen,<br />
ende tot nuttigheydt van desen Staet ghebracht beloopen een somme van guldens […]”<br />
<strong>25</strong>0
Republic derived no direct benefit; the burning of ships, towns, sugar mills, and other assets<br />
amounted to 7,580,000 guilders. 91<br />
Finally, in the fifth—and most intriguing—section, De Laet <strong>at</strong>tempted to calcul<strong>at</strong>e the<br />
revenues the King had forfeited as a result of the company's pred<strong>at</strong>ions, along with the additional<br />
“expenses he had incurred to protect against them.” 92 Lost revenues from Pernambuco,<br />
Itamaricá, Paraiba, and Rio Grande amounted to 5 million guilders; the <strong>at</strong>tack on Bahia, and the<br />
joint Spanish-Portuguese fleet th<strong>at</strong> returned it to Iberian control in 16<strong>25</strong>, cost a further 10 million<br />
guilders. Convoys to protect the annual treasure fleets, newly constructed forts, and ships run-<br />
aground because they sailed out of season in an <strong>at</strong>tempt to evade Dutch fleets, added up to<br />
28,500,000 guilders. Here De Laet offered wh<strong>at</strong> modern economists would call a form of<br />
opportunity-cost reasoning: it was self-evident th<strong>at</strong> the Dutch chipped away <strong>at</strong> Spanish revenues<br />
by blocking trade and seizing or destroying goods, but by continuously applying pressure<br />
throughout the Atlantic Basin, De Laet reasoned th<strong>at</strong> the company could impose costs even for<br />
events th<strong>at</strong> never took place. 93<br />
Adding the totals from all five sections, De Laet estim<strong>at</strong>ed th<strong>at</strong> the King of Spain had<br />
sustained damage worth a staggering 118,283,166 guilders, all of which, he argued, might<br />
otherwise have been used against the Dutch. Instead, it had made them considerably richer. And<br />
De Laet was careful to point out th<strong>at</strong> this had been done on the rel<strong>at</strong>ively small initial investment<br />
of 7 million guilders, the capital raised by the company in the early and mid-1620s. 94<br />
<br />
91 Ibid., 288–291.<br />
92 Ibid., 291. “Op-reeckeninghe vande schaden die de koning van Spagnien heeft gheleden in sijne inkomsten door<br />
toe-doen vande compagnie, ende de onkosten die daer tegen heft moeten doen.”<br />
93 I would like to acknowledge my debt on this point to Eric Schliesser, Research Professor of Philosophy <strong>at</strong> the<br />
<strong>University</strong> of Ghent.<br />
94 De Laet, Iaerlyck Verhael van de Verrichtingen der Geoctroyeerde West-Indische Compagnie, vol. 4, 293.<br />
<strong>25</strong>1
This extraordinary conclusion might strike the modern reader as fundamentally flawed: it<br />
is not <strong>at</strong> all clear why the company’s expenditures on ships and personnel in the first section<br />
should be counted as damage done to Spain—a problem th<strong>at</strong> De Laet himself acknowledged<br />
when he repe<strong>at</strong>ed this sum <strong>at</strong> the end of the Kort Verhael, in a supplementary section th<strong>at</strong> briefly<br />
examined each chamber's expenditures and the total value of the goods the company carried<br />
home in trade. 95 But this need not be taken as evidence of confusion. De Laet was manifestly not<br />
trying to provide a balance sheet for the company’s income and expenses, as had Specx. A<br />
truthful accounting of this inform<strong>at</strong>ion would show considerable losses and thus shine a most<br />
unfavorable light upon the company. Instead, by tre<strong>at</strong>ing as commensur<strong>at</strong>e the activities the<br />
company had organized against Spain, De Laet was articul<strong>at</strong>ing its role in building the finances<br />
and power of the st<strong>at</strong>e, <strong>at</strong> the expense of other st<strong>at</strong>es—wh<strong>at</strong> Botero and others referred to as<br />
grandezza. 96 With its solid quantit<strong>at</strong>ive basis, and its intermixture of consumption, investment,<br />
and profits from trade, he provided wh<strong>at</strong> looks very much like an estim<strong>at</strong>e of the company’s total<br />
contribution to the n<strong>at</strong>ional economy—a concept th<strong>at</strong> would not be employed for another<br />
century, and the beginnings of which are conventionally associ<strong>at</strong>ed with William Petty, some<br />
two decades l<strong>at</strong>er. 97 Th<strong>at</strong> Petty called on De Laet during his stay in Leiden sometime during the<br />
summer of 1644, <strong>at</strong> precisely the moment De Laet would have been completing the Kort<br />
Verhael, raises a whole host of intriguing questions about De Laet’s role in stimul<strong>at</strong>ing Petty’s<br />
<br />
95 Ibid., 294.<br />
96 Giovanni Botero, The Reason of St<strong>at</strong>e and The Gre<strong>at</strong>ness of Cities, trans. P.J. Waley (London: Routledge & K.<br />
Paul, 1956); Maurizio Viroli, From Politics to Reason of St<strong>at</strong>e: The Acquisition and Transform<strong>at</strong>ion of the<br />
Language of Politics, 1<strong>25</strong>0-1600 (Cambridge: Cambridge <strong>University</strong> Press, 1992); Richard Tuck, Philosophy and<br />
Government, 1572-1651 (Cambridge: Cambridge <strong>University</strong> Press, 1993).<br />
97 McCormick, William Petty and the Ambitions of Political Arithmetic.<br />
<strong>25</strong>2
fascin<strong>at</strong>ion with n<strong>at</strong>ional st<strong>at</strong>istics and the more general applic<strong>at</strong>ion of m<strong>at</strong>hem<strong>at</strong>ics to problems<br />
of politics. 98<br />
De Laet’s immedi<strong>at</strong>e model for this exercise appears to have been a remonstrance to the<br />
St<strong>at</strong>es General composed in 1633 th<strong>at</strong> argued against the Republic’s tent<strong>at</strong>ive moves to reach a<br />
peace tre<strong>at</strong>y with Spain. 99 The document was submitted by the directors of the Amsterdam<br />
chamber and, although it is impossible to know whether De Laet had any hand in its<br />
composition, he would certainly have known about it, since he was often in Amsterdam <strong>at</strong> this<br />
time and among other responsibilities he previously had served on the committee within the<br />
Heren XIX tasked with making recommend<strong>at</strong>ions to the St<strong>at</strong>es General concerning peace with<br />
Spain. 100 The 1633 document set out to c<strong>at</strong>alogue “the vast services this Company has, from its<br />
inception until now, conferred on this st<strong>at</strong>e, and wh<strong>at</strong> it can further perform hereafter.” 101 The<br />
sections then proceeded in roughly the same manner as those of the Kort Verhael. It listed,<br />
sequentially, the company’s outfitting of ships, consumption of goods, and employment of<br />
soldiers and seamen; the duties th<strong>at</strong> were collected on re-exports of colonial goods the company<br />
imported to the Netherlands; the company’s contribution to trade in precious metals and<br />
manufactures; its construction of ships; the aid it had offered to the st<strong>at</strong>e, especially soldiers to<br />
help protect the Veluwe in 1632; and, finally, the “damage [the company] had inflicted on the<br />
<br />
98 McCormack writes th<strong>at</strong> Petty was in Leiden in April and <strong>May</strong> of 1644 and th<strong>at</strong> he met there with a “Mr. de Laet,”<br />
among others. See pp. 32-35. He ascribes n<strong>at</strong>ional accounting to Petty’s work in 1664. See McCormack, 157.<br />
99 NA 1.01.04, inv. 5753, Remonstrance of the West India Company against a Peace with Spain, 1633. A<br />
transl<strong>at</strong>ion, originally printed in E. B. O'Callaghan's Documents Rel<strong>at</strong>ive to the Colonial History of the St<strong>at</strong>e of New<br />
York, vol. 1, can be found in Goslinga. The author of this remonstrance is unknown, beyond the fact th<strong>at</strong> it was<br />
submitted on behalf of the Amsterdam chamber of the company. Goslinga, The Dutch in the Caribbean and on the<br />
Wild Coast 1580-1680, 500–506.<br />
100 NA 1.01.04, inv.nr. 5752.<br />
101 Remonstrance of the West India Company against a Peace with Spain, 1633. In Goslinga, The Dutch in the<br />
Caribbean and on the Wild Coast 1580-1680, 500.<br />
<strong>25</strong>3
enemy” and the positive effects of “forcing the King to gre<strong>at</strong> expense of fleets” to protect his<br />
galleons and territories. 102<br />
Where the 1633 remonstrance differed dram<strong>at</strong>ically, however, was in its rel<strong>at</strong>ive lack of<br />
quantit<strong>at</strong>ive precision. In contrast to the labored and explicit calcul<strong>at</strong>ions found in the Kort<br />
Verhael, the components of each section were presented with only the slightest <strong>at</strong>tention to exact<br />
quantities. The language is of “innumerable quantities,” “excessively large amounts,” and<br />
“excessive damage.” The contrast is not total, of course: the 1633 remonstrance included some<br />
figures and estim<strong>at</strong>es, especially for the number of ships the company had built, but these were<br />
few and far between, never extracted from the text, and never summed up <strong>at</strong> the end to reinforce<br />
the conclusions gener<strong>at</strong>ed by the narr<strong>at</strong>ive. There was, in short, nothing comparable to the<br />
exhaustive, independent quantit<strong>at</strong>ive and m<strong>at</strong>hem<strong>at</strong>ical tre<strong>at</strong>ment th<strong>at</strong> De Laet devoted to almost<br />
exactly the same problems eleven years l<strong>at</strong>er in his calcul<strong>at</strong>ions in the Kort Verhael.<br />
And this difference is evident as well in other printed m<strong>at</strong>erials from the period 1644-<br />
1645. The company's official st<strong>at</strong>ement in favor of the potential merger between the VOC and<br />
the WIC—the Twee Deductien (Two Deductions), published in February of 1644—employed<br />
considerable quantit<strong>at</strong>ive inform<strong>at</strong>ion, much of it drawn from a draft of De Laet's Kort<br />
Verhael. 103 More revealing is a separ<strong>at</strong>e pamphlet written in the company’s defense, also<br />
published in 1644. The anonymous Kort Discours (Short Discourse) included a series of<br />
calcul<strong>at</strong>ions to establish the damage the company had done to Spain, but its author’s access to<br />
internal company documents was much inferior to De Laet's. 104 In lieu of hard numbers, the<br />
<br />
102 Ibid., 501.<br />
103 Twee Deductien, aen-gaende de Vereeninge van d’Oost ende West-Indische Compagnien, aen de ... St<strong>at</strong>en van<br />
Hollandt ende West Vrieslandt, vande West-Indische Compagnie overgelevert. Th<strong>at</strong> this text borrowed De Laet’s<br />
calcul<strong>at</strong>ions, r<strong>at</strong>her than the other way around, can be seen from the fact th<strong>at</strong> totals for the final year covered in De<br />
Laet’s work, 1636, were omitted. This strongly suggests th<strong>at</strong> De Laet loaned an incomplete manuscript to the<br />
pamphlet's author, and th<strong>at</strong> he was completing the text of the Iaerlyck Verhael in January or early February of 1644.<br />
104 Kort Discours, Ofte Naardere Verklaringe van de onderstaende V. Poincten, 1644.<br />
<strong>25</strong>4
author offered a framework of several c<strong>at</strong>egories and nominal values, each complete with blank<br />
lines in the text th<strong>at</strong> could be filled in to arrive <strong>at</strong> complete calcul<strong>at</strong>ions. At one point in the text,<br />
the author explained th<strong>at</strong> he<br />
hoped th<strong>at</strong> one or another lover of the Company will take the trouble to resume, amplify, and<br />
correct this calcul<strong>at</strong>ion, and to arrange all the figures in terms of money, which may be done by<br />
someone who has gre<strong>at</strong>er familiarity [than I do] with [the costs] of equipment in Spain. 105<br />
The many figures th<strong>at</strong> the author of the Kort Discours did provide were broken into three<br />
c<strong>at</strong>egories: extra costs incurred by the Spanish King, lost income, and damage to ships, goods,<br />
and property. Although these c<strong>at</strong>egories m<strong>at</strong>ch De Laet’s, the author calcul<strong>at</strong>ed many of his<br />
estim<strong>at</strong>es in tonnes of gold, r<strong>at</strong>her than guilders, and included a plethora of examples from the<br />
l<strong>at</strong>e 1630s and early 1640s th<strong>at</strong> cannot be found in De Laet’s text. In addition, whereas the Twee<br />
Deductien and two other 1644 pamphlets concerning the WIC were all published by Jan Velli, a<br />
bookseller in The Hague known for his offerings of pamphlets and newspapers, the Kort<br />
Discours listed no publisher. 106 We can only guess th<strong>at</strong> its author was a merchant involved in<br />
some way in the company’s activities, though <strong>at</strong> a gre<strong>at</strong>er distance from its inner circles. Even <strong>at</strong><br />
this remove, however, he recognized the advantages of buttressing his arguments with numbers.<br />
In this sense, De Laet’s work takes on significance not only for its novelty but as part of a<br />
more general trend in which quantific<strong>at</strong>ion became central to Dutch political and commercial<br />
rhetoric. At least among the documents rel<strong>at</strong>ed to the WIC, system<strong>at</strong>ic <strong>at</strong>tempts <strong>at</strong> quantific<strong>at</strong>ion<br />
<br />
105 Ibid., 4. “Dan omme evenwl dit soo nae ende duydelijck mogelijck voor te stellen, ende hier ter plaetse vast te<br />
maeken, d<strong>at</strong> desen staet niet soo simpelijck eenighe diensten: maer een Extra-ordinarie groote verlichtinghe by, ende<br />
wegen de voorsz. Compagnie, heeft genoten, sullen hier onder in ‘t korte aenwijsen, waer inne de voorsz. lasten.<br />
verliesen en schade van de Koninck van Spanjen voor het meesten-deel, ende so veel wy die hebben konnen<br />
bedencken, bestaan, sonder nochtans daer achter eenige somme uyt te trecken, om geen mis-slagen te begaen, hoe<br />
wel ‘t selve sonderlingh ‘t onser intentie soude dienen; dan willen verhoopen d<strong>at</strong> d’een of ander Liefhebber de<br />
voorsz. hier onderstaende Calcul<strong>at</strong>ie ofte overslach siende, de moeyte sal nemen deselve te resumeren, amplieren, of<br />
corrigeren, ende met eenen alles in ghelde brenghen, gelijck d<strong>at</strong> by sommige (kennisse hebbende van Equipagien<br />
van Spanjen) heel lichtelick sal konnen werden ghedaen.”<br />
106 Keblusek, Boeken in de Hofstad, 118–121.<br />
<strong>25</strong>5
appeared in the l<strong>at</strong>e 1630s in the context of the deb<strong>at</strong>e over free trade to Brazil. The sharp<br />
disagreement between Amsterdam and Zeeland and its allies stimul<strong>at</strong>ed wh<strong>at</strong> Artichewski<br />
described as literally hundreds of pages of text and calcul<strong>at</strong>ions, focused primarily on<br />
determining profit under altern<strong>at</strong>ive monopoly policies. 107 Although estim<strong>at</strong>es differed widely,<br />
and Artichewski himself questioned their credibility, after the l<strong>at</strong>e 1630s it appears to have<br />
become more difficult to make a credible argument about commercial policy without furnishing<br />
quantit<strong>at</strong>ive inform<strong>at</strong>ion to back it up. By the mid-1640s we find calcul<strong>at</strong>ion <strong>at</strong> the heart of the<br />
company's campaign to lobby the St<strong>at</strong>es of Holland and the St<strong>at</strong>es General. Even if the<br />
rel<strong>at</strong>ionship between accounting and government can be traced back to Simon Steven's lessons<br />
for Prince Maurits in the 1590s, or earlier, it appears th<strong>at</strong> an important threshold was passed in<br />
the early 1640s. 108<br />
4. Conclusion<br />
Given De Laet’s immersion in Leiden's scholarly community, where Cartesian science already<br />
had become controversial, and Specx’s connections by marriage to the Huygens family, there is<br />
good reason to see in their respective work examples of early experiment<strong>at</strong>ion with new methods<br />
in m<strong>at</strong>hem<strong>at</strong>ics and st<strong>at</strong>istics, and their applic<strong>at</strong>ion to realms of inquiry and argument<strong>at</strong>ion th<strong>at</strong><br />
previously had been qualit<strong>at</strong>ive in character. Quantific<strong>at</strong>ion in an emerging field of political<br />
economy, in other words, was almost exactly coincident with quantific<strong>at</strong>ion in other branches of<br />
<br />
107 Artichewski, “Missive van den Kolonnel Artichofsky aan Graaf Maurits en de Hoogen Raad in Brazilië, 24 Juli<br />
1637,” 227.<br />
108 Soll, “Accounting for Government: Holland and the Rise of Political Economy in Seventeenth-Century Europe,”<br />
223–224.<br />
<strong>25</strong>6
early modern science. 109 Just as in Petty’s case, the problems to which these methods were<br />
applied first became visible in a colonial context, where the primary challenge was to organize<br />
the spoils of conquest and to represent them in a meaningful way to central organs of the st<strong>at</strong>e. 110<br />
De Laet and Specx used m<strong>at</strong>hem<strong>at</strong>ics to quantify and divide the Atlantic, much as Petty would<br />
do in the wake of Cromwell’s conquest of Ireland, and they presented their findings in a<br />
synthetic form designed for consumption by the St<strong>at</strong>es of Holland and the St<strong>at</strong>es General.<br />
However, whereas Petty both contributed to, and was able to ride, England’s growing power and<br />
influence, Specx and De Laet’s work was overtaken by events. The collapse of the company and<br />
its empire effectively releg<strong>at</strong>ed their work to the dustbin of history. 111<br />
Despite their similarities, there were also important differences between De Laet and<br />
Specx. A merchant by training, and a veteran of the VOC, the whole organiz<strong>at</strong>ion of Specx’s<br />
calcul<strong>at</strong>ions reflected his experience in Asia: r<strong>at</strong>her than focusing on piracy or settlement, he<br />
emphasized the potential for peacetime profits from trade and the circul<strong>at</strong>ion of goods between<br />
the United Provinces and a stable set of conquests. This was a vision broadly shared by<br />
Amsterdam’s merchant community, many of whom opposed the WIC’s monopolies in Brazil<br />
and Angola, preferred th<strong>at</strong> the Atlantic be opened entirely to priv<strong>at</strong>e trade, and supported a<br />
policy of peace with Spain. By contrast, De Laet was more deeply invested (literally as well as<br />
metaphorically) in the WIC and its early ideological deb<strong>at</strong>es over the rel<strong>at</strong>ive merits of conquest<br />
<br />
109 See, for example, Ian Hacking, The Emergence of Probability: A Philosophical Study of Early Ideas about<br />
Probability, Induction and St<strong>at</strong>istical Inference, 2nd ed. (Cambridge: Cambridge <strong>University</strong> Press, 2006). See also<br />
Harold J. Cook, M<strong>at</strong>ters of Exchange: Commerce, Medicine, and Science in the Dutch Golden Age (New Haven:<br />
Yale <strong>University</strong> Press, 2007).<br />
110 McCormick, William Petty and the Ambitions of Political Arithmetic.<br />
111 There is no record of Specx’s effort other than the document itself. De Laet’s Iaerlyck Verhael was displayed in<br />
the St<strong>at</strong>es of Holland and there are sc<strong>at</strong>tered references to the book in contemporary correspondence, as well as<br />
Barlaeus’ work on Maurits, but none of these discuss the contents of the Kort Verhael. Neither author fe<strong>at</strong>ures in any<br />
history of economic or political thought of which I am aware. See, for instance, the correspondence between Grotius<br />
and his brother in law, Nickolaes van Reigerberch, H. C. Rogge, ed., Brieven van Nickolaes van Reigerberch aan<br />
Hugo de Groot (Amsterdam: Johannes Muller, 1901).<br />
<strong>25</strong>7
versus settlement. He was also more firmly committed, as was the Leiden community generally,<br />
to the Protestant cause and to continuing to prosecute the war against Spain. These were political<br />
commitments and they gave to his analysis a more overtly political and bellicose tone. If Specx<br />
and De Laet both calcul<strong>at</strong>ed, they did so within the framework of widely divergent conceptions<br />
of value pitched <strong>at</strong> very different audiences within the Dutch elite.<br />
In somewh<strong>at</strong> idealized terms, these audiences were the St<strong>at</strong>es General and the Prince of<br />
Orange, on the one hand, and specific cities within the St<strong>at</strong>es of Holland, on the other; of the two<br />
the l<strong>at</strong>ter were the less receptive. Despite criticism of the company's management, fed in part by<br />
pamphlets published <strong>at</strong> the behest of the Portuguese ambassador in The Hague, action to save the<br />
colony in Brazil was broadly popular. 112 At the St<strong>at</strong>es General the company could count on<br />
support from Zeeland, Gelderland, and Groningen, and <strong>at</strong> court the WIC was still regarded as<br />
part of the war effort and thus had the ear of the Prince of Orange and his advisors. The company<br />
also had important allies in Holland—including the cities of North Holland, Leiden, and<br />
Dordrecht—and powerful constituencies in Delft, Rotterdam, and, most critically, Amsterdam. 113<br />
In different measure, these cities evidently saw the company's value as a thorn in the side of<br />
Spain, a promoter of trade and employment, and an agent to seize and govern lucr<strong>at</strong>ive territories<br />
overseas. There were serious problems in each of these, but as De Laet and Specx’s texts aimed<br />
to show, the good side of the ledger outweighed the bad. With Pernambuco beginning to produce<br />
sugar again, the slave trade acceler<strong>at</strong>ing from Angola, and a new government to put down the<br />
revolt in Brazil, the 700,000 guilders subsidy the company had requested in mid-September was<br />
a rel<strong>at</strong>ively modest price to pay.<br />
<br />
112 Boxer, The Dutch in Brazil, 1624-1654, 179.<br />
113 NA 1.01.03, inv.nr. 4845, entries for December 5, and December 8, 1645; St<strong>at</strong>en van Holland and Westvriesland,<br />
Gedrukt Resoluties, entry for December 16 and December 19, 1645.<br />
<strong>25</strong>8
By the second week in December, Amsterdam had consented to the subsidy and only<br />
Delft, Rotterdam, and Haarlem were still opposed. 114 Shortly after De Laet made his impassioned<br />
speech in the St<strong>at</strong>es of Holland on November <strong>25</strong>, 1645, Specx began drawing up and revising<br />
estim<strong>at</strong>es for the cost of sending this force and held meetings with potential candid<strong>at</strong>es to lead<br />
it. 115 Both men, on behalf of the WIC, reached out to critical power brokers in The Hague. On<br />
December 7, De Laet and two other directors met with Johan Maurits to discuss military<br />
prepar<strong>at</strong>ions; three days l<strong>at</strong>er Specx met with Constantijn Huygens, Secretaris to the Prince of<br />
Orange, to discuss commissions th<strong>at</strong> were still awaiting the Prince’s sign<strong>at</strong>ure. Huygens<br />
explained the delay and agreed to speak with the Prince concerning “means to raise troops<br />
following the intentions of the St<strong>at</strong>es General.” 116 Separ<strong>at</strong>ely, the company's board sent<br />
deleg<strong>at</strong>ions or letters to Willem Frederick, Stadholder of Vriesland, Jacob C<strong>at</strong>s, Raadpensionaris<br />
of the St<strong>at</strong>es of Holland, and Cornelis Musch, Griffier to the St<strong>at</strong>es General. And present <strong>at</strong><br />
nearly every meeting was either Hendrik van der Capellen or his brother, Alexander, who would<br />
come to play an increasingly visible role coordin<strong>at</strong>ing the levy of troops. 117 De Laet and Specx’s<br />
texts, in other words, were m<strong>at</strong>ched by their active roles in lobbying and planning for military<br />
action, and almost certainly served as the basis for their respective discussions with these<br />
influential individuals. In the end this was a success: on December 19, 1645 the St<strong>at</strong>es of<br />
Holland approved the subsidy of 700,000 guilders, virtually ensuring its approval in the St<strong>at</strong>es of<br />
General and thus the disp<strong>at</strong>ch of a relief fleet to Brazil.<br />
<br />
114 St<strong>at</strong>en van Holland and Westvriesland, Gedrukt Resoluties, entry for December 16, 1645; NA 1.05.01.01, inv.nr.<br />
2*, entry for December 19, 1645.<br />
115 These included Sigismond Schoppe as commander of the land forces. NA 1.05.01.01, inv.nr. 2*, entries for<br />
December 2 and 4, 1645.<br />
116 Ibid., entries for December 7 and 10, 1645.<br />
117 Ibid., entries for December 2, 4, 7, 8, and 14, 1645. On Alexander van der Capellen, see W.J. van Hoboken, Witte<br />
de With in Brazilië, 1648-1649. (Amsterdam: Noord-Hollandsche Uitg. Mij., 1955).<br />
<strong>25</strong>9
An exceptionally cold winter delayed the fleet’s departure until spring, however, so th<strong>at</strong><br />
members of the new High Council, including Wolter Schonenborch, did not arrive in Brazil until<br />
July of 1646. 118 The 2,000 troops carried by this fleet prevented the complete surrender of<br />
Recife, but they were insufficient to recapture territory lost over the preceding year. Negoti<strong>at</strong>ions<br />
thus began in 1647 to disp<strong>at</strong>ch a second, even larger fleet, to be paid for not by the St<strong>at</strong>es<br />
General, but by 1.5 million guilders th<strong>at</strong> the VOC was forced to hand over to the WIC in return<br />
for a new charter and as an altern<strong>at</strong>ive to combining the two companies. 119 Once again, the St<strong>at</strong>es<br />
General had found an ingenious means to cover the expense of overseas conquest largely with<br />
priv<strong>at</strong>e capital, in this case diverting profits from the Asia trade to underwrite a colony in the<br />
New World. But by this time key figures in Amsterdam—including Andries <strong>Bick</strong>er, with whom<br />
this dissert<strong>at</strong>ion began—had become vehemently opposed to any further action to save Brazil,<br />
and were unwilling to commit additional funds. Zeeland and several of the other provinces<br />
protested, but it was only by withholding its sign<strong>at</strong>ure from the tre<strong>at</strong>y of Münster th<strong>at</strong> Zeeland<br />
could make any headway <strong>at</strong> all: in return for accepting peace with Spain, Zeeland exacted a<br />
commitment from Amsterdam for a final <strong>at</strong>tempt to rescue Dutch Brazil. 120 This effort, led by<br />
the renowned admiral Witte de With, was ultim<strong>at</strong>ely unsuccessful. 121 Having lost Angola in<br />
1648, the Dutch finally abandoned Brazil in 1654. With the loss of New Netherland a decade<br />
l<strong>at</strong>er, all th<strong>at</strong> was left of the WIC’s empire were Surinam, a handful of Caribbean islands, and the<br />
forts along the Gold Coast. It was a shadow of the worlds De Laet and Specx had imagined and<br />
lobbied so hard to preserve in the fall of 1645.<br />
<br />
118 Haecxs, “Het Dagboek Van Hendrik Haecxs, Lid Van Den Hoogen Raad Van Brazilië (1645-1654).” On the cold<br />
winter and the need for additional coal in Zeeland, see H.M. Kesteloo, “De Stadsrekeningen Van Middelburg. VI.<br />
1626-1650.,” in De Stadsrekeningen Van Middelburg. V. 1600-16<strong>25</strong>. (Middelburg: J.C. & W. Altorffer, 1899), 91.<br />
119 Heijer, “Plannen Voor Samenvoeging Van VOC En WIC,” 120; Hoboken, Witte de With in Brazilië, 1648-1649.<br />
120 Kluiver, De Souvereine en Independente Sta<strong>at</strong> Zeeland, 184-186.<br />
121 Van Hoboken, Witte de With in Brazilië, 1648-1649.<br />
260
Chapter Seven<br />
The Fall of Dutch Brazil<br />
The collapse of the empire imagined by the company’s founders and directors was not the end of<br />
the WIC. The company continued to trade in gold and other products from Guinea and to provide<br />
slaves to Spanish America and to French and English plant<strong>at</strong>ion colonies in the Caribbean well<br />
into the eighteenth century. But with increasing competition, and protective trade policies<br />
enforced by England and France, the company’s debts caught up with it. In 1674 the WIC was<br />
reorganized to concentr<strong>at</strong>e on its core business along the coast of Guinea: in line with this more<br />
modest mand<strong>at</strong>e its board of directors was reduced from nineteen members to ten, and<br />
shareholders were encouraged to pay a percentage of the value of their investment in return for<br />
shares in wh<strong>at</strong> would become known as the Second WIC. 1 At home, directorships in the new<br />
company became, as one historian described it, an “oblig<strong>at</strong>ory stop” along the career trajectory<br />
of the urban p<strong>at</strong>rici<strong>at</strong>e, especially in Holland and Zeeland. 2 Wh<strong>at</strong> began with radical Calvinist,<br />
anti-Spanish sentiment and ambitious aims to seize all of the New World was now a staid<br />
monopoly firm managed by a merchant elite, in effect a sinecure in a “m<strong>at</strong>ure” economy based<br />
on market access, business organiz<strong>at</strong>ion, and finance. 3<br />
This dissert<strong>at</strong>ion set out to tell the story of an earlier, more tumultuous period. As in<br />
st<strong>at</strong>istics, trends can be defined by moving the bounding d<strong>at</strong>es. Instead of looking back on the<br />
<br />
1 Den Heijer, De Geschiedenis van de WIC.<br />
2 Van Dillen, “De West-Indische Compagnie, het Calvinism en de Politiek.”<br />
3 De Vries and Van der Woude, The First Modern Economy.<br />
261
failure of Dutch imperialism from the perspective of the 1660s and l<strong>at</strong>er, the dissert<strong>at</strong>ion aimed<br />
to confine our view to the narrow window from l<strong>at</strong>e August to December of 1645. During this<br />
period the company’s empire, though clearly under stress, was formidable, and expect<strong>at</strong>ions for<br />
the disp<strong>at</strong>ch of a relief fleet in the spring of the following year held out hope, <strong>at</strong> least for the<br />
company's directors and investors, th<strong>at</strong> its fortunes would improve. Quite apart from the role th<strong>at</strong><br />
Dutch merchants played during this period in helping to bring sugar to Barbados, and slaves to<br />
the Caribbean, it was the persistence and (temporary) success the WIC displayed in aggressively<br />
<strong>at</strong>tacking the Iberian powers in the New World and Africa th<strong>at</strong> so fascin<strong>at</strong>ed the Dutch<br />
Republic’s European contemporaries. The ultim<strong>at</strong>e failure of this str<strong>at</strong>egy offered a lesson of its<br />
own: beginning with Cromwell’s “Western Design” in the mid-1650s, the contest for colonies<br />
moved to the fringes of the Iberian world, especially to North America. 4<br />
At a more practical level, the dissert<strong>at</strong>ion asked who was involved in the WIC, wh<strong>at</strong><br />
models they drew upon, and how they worked together to reach collective decisions on<br />
commercial and colonial policy. Looking first <strong>at</strong> the news from Brazil, and then <strong>at</strong> the meetings<br />
in Middelburg and subsequent discussions in The Hague, the dissert<strong>at</strong>ion showed how the WIC<br />
managed a crisis in its most important colony and sought to anim<strong>at</strong>e the many gears of the Dutch<br />
st<strong>at</strong>e to organize a relief expedition. This required gener<strong>at</strong>ing a more precise understanding of the<br />
structure of the Heren XIX than was previously available and taking a closer look <strong>at</strong> the political<br />
processes the company used to administer territories and manage trade. It also required<br />
excav<strong>at</strong>ing the key personalities involved in company politics—including rel<strong>at</strong>ively obscure<br />
figures like Gerard van Arnhem, David Baute, Jacques Specx, and the brothers Hendrik and<br />
Alexander van der Capellen—and providing a new angle on more familiar personalities like<br />
<br />
4 David Armitage, “The Cromwellian Protector<strong>at</strong>e and the Languages of Empire,” The Historical Journal 35, no. 3<br />
(September 1992).<br />
262
Johannes de Laet. Hardly all merchants, these individuals’ backgrounds and perspectives help to<br />
explain the company’s imperial bent in the period 1618-1645.<br />
The dissert<strong>at</strong>ion aimed to explain company politics and decision-making by providing a<br />
coherent, synchronic account of the company’s inner life: th<strong>at</strong> is, the quotidian rhythms of the<br />
company’s board, its rituals to ensure secrecy and loyalty, its methods for processing and sharing<br />
inform<strong>at</strong>ion, and the ways th<strong>at</strong> it worked to reach consensus, both within the company and with<br />
other centers of power in the Dutch Republic. This meant recovering controversies over policy<br />
and outcomes from the otherwise banal details of resolutions, formal procedure, meeting<br />
agendas, and se<strong>at</strong>ing arrangements. By doing so, the dissert<strong>at</strong>ion revealed problem<strong>at</strong>ics th<strong>at</strong> had<br />
escaped the <strong>at</strong>tention of previous historians, and helped to revise our understanding of several<br />
key episodes in the company’s history. In contrast to studies th<strong>at</strong> have looked <strong>at</strong> Amsterdam as a<br />
center for inform<strong>at</strong>ion exchange, the dissert<strong>at</strong>ion demonstr<strong>at</strong>ed th<strong>at</strong> secret inform<strong>at</strong>ion flowed<br />
through its own channels and to other destin<strong>at</strong>ions, especially The Hague. Against the emphasis<br />
on merchant interests in Holland, it showed th<strong>at</strong> the company’s charter incorpor<strong>at</strong>ed important<br />
concessions to the St<strong>at</strong>es General and the Court. As an altern<strong>at</strong>ive to arguments th<strong>at</strong> emphasized<br />
conflicting interests between Amsterdam and Zeeland, it showed the importance of colonial<br />
finance, colonial policy, and the question of slavery to deb<strong>at</strong>es over free trade. And, as a<br />
departure from a long historiography th<strong>at</strong> focuses on Dutch merchants, it firmly established the<br />
role of the nobility in Dutch overseas expansion, especially in the New World.<br />
These findings are based on extensive use of manuscript sources in the archives of the<br />
WIC and the St<strong>at</strong>es General. These sources are heavily weighted towards political<br />
consider<strong>at</strong>ions, and indeed a fundamental contribution of the dissert<strong>at</strong>ion is to balance<br />
interpret<strong>at</strong>ions based largely on markets, trade, and the interests of merchants with an analysis<br />
263
th<strong>at</strong> focuses on political and imperial consider<strong>at</strong>ions. In terms of method, the dissert<strong>at</strong>ion has<br />
shown th<strong>at</strong> meeting minutes can be successfully used to access politics, not for evidence of<br />
specific positions or final resolutions, but for the practical process of negoti<strong>at</strong>ion and<br />
compromise. The dissert<strong>at</strong>ion argues th<strong>at</strong> politics is not simply the confront<strong>at</strong>ion of opposing<br />
positions. These are r<strong>at</strong>her the means th<strong>at</strong> actors use to pursue their interests; they are the tools of<br />
politics. Politics itself is the art of compromise and of reaching agreement, unless it is the simple<br />
imposition of one party's will on another. Compromises can only be reconstructed from<br />
negoti<strong>at</strong>ions and the records they leave behind. Only rarely do these compromises become<br />
visible in the printed record of pamphlets and books. And this should change the way we study<br />
political history.<br />
The dissert<strong>at</strong>ion reached three main substantive conclusions. First, it has shown th<strong>at</strong> the<br />
company represented broad regional interests within the Dutch Republic. This is clearest in the<br />
way th<strong>at</strong> the Heren XIX was assembled and in the difficulties it encountered during its first<br />
meetings between 1622 and 1624. But it can also be seen in the way th<strong>at</strong> inform<strong>at</strong>ion circul<strong>at</strong>ed<br />
and the way th<strong>at</strong> coalitions formed to resolve the company’s problems in Brazil. Cities like<br />
Groningen, Deventer, and Arnhem, as well as more prominent trading cities like Middelburg,<br />
Dordrecht, and Leiden, were important investors and exercised significant power within the<br />
company’s board. The WIC was responsible for resolving the divergent interests of these cities<br />
and, overseas, for representing the United Provinces as a whole. In a newly forming and<br />
decentralized Republic, the company served as an important agent of integr<strong>at</strong>ion. This helps to<br />
explain Eli Heckscher’s paradox, cited in Chapter Three, th<strong>at</strong> the Dutch companies received<br />
strong support from the st<strong>at</strong>e, even though the st<strong>at</strong>e itself was weak. Even more than for the<br />
VOC, which relied on a narrower geographic base, the WIC's effort to manage Atlantic colonies<br />
264
served to coordin<strong>at</strong>e and align interests <strong>at</strong> home. Emphasis on the antagonism between<br />
Amsterdam and Zeeland within the company is warranted, but this antagonism was a symptom<br />
of advancing centraliz<strong>at</strong>ion, r<strong>at</strong>her than evidence for its failure. The Dutch Revolt made the st<strong>at</strong>e,<br />
both <strong>at</strong> home and abroad and, in this sense, the WIC was an important part of st<strong>at</strong>e-building in<br />
the Dutch Republic.<br />
Second, the St<strong>at</strong>es General played an active and important role in WIC management, in a<br />
fashion quite distinct from the VOC. This arose from the negoti<strong>at</strong>ions to cre<strong>at</strong>e the company and,<br />
<strong>at</strong> least in part, drew inspir<strong>at</strong>ion from Willem Usselincx’s idea for a Raedt van Indien th<strong>at</strong> would<br />
balance merchants’ interests in profit with the nobility’s traditional roles administering justice,<br />
governing territories, and commanding forces in war. The final charter did not include this<br />
proposal, but in accepting a prominent role for represent<strong>at</strong>ives of the St<strong>at</strong>es General in the<br />
meetings of the Heren XIX it cre<strong>at</strong>ed the opportunity for wh<strong>at</strong> amounted to a standing committee<br />
on West Indian affairs in The Hague staffed by noblemen and influential deleg<strong>at</strong>es <strong>at</strong> the St<strong>at</strong>es<br />
General. At the same time th<strong>at</strong> the Prince of Orange, Frederik Hendrik, was centralizing power in<br />
his own hands and pursuing broader dynastic ambitions in Europe, the WIC and its friends in the<br />
St<strong>at</strong>es General worked in concert to conquer Iberian territories and exploit them to enhance the<br />
wealth, power, and prestige of the Republic. Here Spanish examples were of paramount<br />
importance, including to crucial deb<strong>at</strong>es over how to govern and popul<strong>at</strong>e colonies in the New<br />
World. The Dutch did not only steal Iberian colonies, they stole the institutional models on<br />
which these colonies were run. This is an important counterpoint to work on the influence of the<br />
image of Venice as a stable, commercial republic.<br />
At the same time, the St<strong>at</strong>es General and the ailing Prince were limited in wh<strong>at</strong> they<br />
could to do on the company’s behalf. The provinces, and especially Holland, provided crucial<br />
265
support to the WIC, but they also imposed important political and financial constraints. Although<br />
on several occasions the company was promised annual subsidies, in practice these lapsed after<br />
1633 and the company was left to cover the mounting costs of war, not least in Brazil. It did so<br />
by raising additional priv<strong>at</strong>e capital in the form of new shares and, l<strong>at</strong>er, interest-yielding bonds.<br />
In effect, and from the very beginning, the entire project of New World conquest was to be<br />
funded by priv<strong>at</strong>e investment, in return for the granting of monopoly rights by the St<strong>at</strong>es<br />
General. This took the form of a series of compromises, including the charter itself, the 1636<br />
verhoging and subsequent decision to re-impose the company's monopoly on trade to Brazil, and<br />
the renewal of the VOC charter in return for 1.5 million guilders to fund the relief. On the one<br />
hand, the St<strong>at</strong>es General's limited ability to guarantee these monopolies in the face of priv<strong>at</strong>e<br />
merchant interests left the company perpetually on the edge of bankruptcy. On the other, the<br />
opportunity for priv<strong>at</strong>e initi<strong>at</strong>ive transformed the company’s conquests into a potential target for<br />
specul<strong>at</strong>ive capital. It is interesting in this context to consider th<strong>at</strong> the height of enthusiasm for<br />
Brazil followed the Tulip Bubble by less than ten years, and popped just as quickly.<br />
One of the important consequences of this approach to colonial management was th<strong>at</strong> the<br />
company's revenues from Africa, its most reliable area of oper<strong>at</strong>ion, increasingly were used to<br />
fund riskier undertakings in the New World—just as the Amsterdam merchants trading to Africa<br />
had feared they would during the negoti<strong>at</strong>ions to cre<strong>at</strong>e the WIC in the first two decades of the<br />
seventeenth century. We have been taught to think of Africa as a source of labor, but this is only<br />
part of the story. During the 1620s and early 1630s, the company derived considerable profits<br />
from gold, ivory, and pepper; after 1636 the focus shifted to the trade in slaves. The slave trade<br />
was initially conceived of as a means to popul<strong>at</strong>e Brazil and to offset the financial burdens of<br />
expanding and defending the colony. But after the revolt in Pernambuco, the slave trade became<br />
266
an activity in its own right, oriented both towards profit and towards new markets throughout the<br />
Atlantic. Slave labor was perceived as “necessary” to the new system of plant<strong>at</strong>ion agriculture.<br />
But Africa was also a source of wealth and profit, whether those profits were invested in st<strong>at</strong>ely<br />
houses in cities like Middelburg or used to fund New World expansion.<br />
The third substantive conclusion is th<strong>at</strong> noblemen played a central role in the WIC. At<br />
home they were investors, advoc<strong>at</strong>es, and facilit<strong>at</strong>ors, while abroad they served as colonial<br />
administr<strong>at</strong>ors and military officers. The figure of Johan Maurits is well known, but behind him<br />
there were others, such as Johan van Goch, Gerard van Arnhem, and Hendrik and Alexander van<br />
der Capellen. These individuals set the tone for the meetings of the Heren XIX and, along with<br />
Prince Maurits and Frederik Hendrik, helped to medi<strong>at</strong>e otherwise debilit<strong>at</strong>ing disputes among<br />
the company's five chambers. Merchants controlled decision-making in the chambers themselves<br />
and made up the vast majority of the deleg<strong>at</strong>es to the Heren XIX, but in the l<strong>at</strong>ter body noblemen<br />
often cast the deciding vote. In the mid-seventeenth century the nobility were present not only as<br />
an aspir<strong>at</strong>ion for second- and third-gener<strong>at</strong>ion merchants; they were present in the flesh—<strong>at</strong><br />
court, in the corridors and meeting chambers of the provincial assemblies and the St<strong>at</strong>es General,<br />
and in the boardroom of the WIC. This offers an important corrective, especially for English<br />
language scholarship in which the nobility is often invisible, and serves as a basis for a fuller<br />
compar<strong>at</strong>ive tre<strong>at</strong>ment of European overseas expansion.<br />
Together, these three findings permit an altern<strong>at</strong>ive interpret<strong>at</strong>ion for the collapse of<br />
Dutch Brazil. As the dissert<strong>at</strong>ion has demonstr<strong>at</strong>ed, up to and including 1645, Brazil enjoyed<br />
broad political support within the Dutch elite and, despite serious challenges, plans were being<br />
set into motion to integr<strong>at</strong>e the colony with other conquests and to revive a profitable sugar<br />
industry. Wh<strong>at</strong> stopped these developments was the Portuguese revolt, an event th<strong>at</strong> Johan<br />
267
Maurits predicted and which was not launched until more than a year after his departure. At a<br />
structural level, conflicts between central authority and the nobility, on the one hand, and<br />
merchant interests, on the other, were a recurrent theme in the history of the WIC, stretching<br />
back to the discussions over a Raedt van Indien in the l<strong>at</strong>e-1610s. Merchants were interested in<br />
overseas conquest, but not in ceding authority to noblemen who might restrict their independence<br />
or neg<strong>at</strong>ively impact the profitability of their trade. Noblemen, in turn, were unwilling to subject<br />
themselves to management by people they perceived to be their social inferiors.<br />
Although the b<strong>at</strong>tle between Holland and the Prince of Orange began to tilt in Holland's<br />
favor during the early 1640s, in 1645 neither side was powerful enough to impose its own vision<br />
for imperial management on the other. This balance of forces cre<strong>at</strong>ed a space in which contingent<br />
factors played an important role: the effort to replace Johan Maurits, whose success derived <strong>at</strong><br />
least in part from his courtly display and military leadership, took more than two years as<br />
merchants and noblemen could not reach agreement and suitable candid<strong>at</strong>es politely declined the<br />
position. We can only guess wh<strong>at</strong> would have happened had Maurits been permitted to stay in<br />
Brazil after 1644, as he indic<strong>at</strong>ed he wanted to do, or if either Jacques Specx or Alexander van<br />
der Capellen had accepted the office of President and arrived in time either to discourage the<br />
plotters of the revolt or to effectively crush it. This was evidently beyond Wolter Schonenborch,<br />
who equivoc<strong>at</strong>ed <strong>at</strong> a crucial time, delaying the new council's departure by almost six months,<br />
and in any case proved ineffective once he arrived in Brazil. The WIC famously struggled to<br />
recruit settlers to this and its other colonies, but it also struggled to recruit qualified leadership,<br />
and in the summer and fall of 1645 it was the l<strong>at</strong>ter, as much as the former, th<strong>at</strong> doomed Dutch<br />
Brazil. It was this failure th<strong>at</strong> is ultim<strong>at</strong>ely responsible for the familiar image of the sober Dutch<br />
merchant, and for the new world he helped to cre<strong>at</strong>e.<br />
268
Manuscript Sources<br />
Bibliography<br />
N<strong>at</strong>ionaal Archief, Den Haag 1.01.02 St<strong>at</strong>en Generaal Lopende Liassen<br />
1.01.03 St<strong>at</strong>en Generaal Resoluties OWIC<br />
1.01.04 St<strong>at</strong>en Generaal Liassen OWIC<br />
1.01.05 St<strong>at</strong>en General Loketkas<br />
1.01.07 St<strong>at</strong>en Generaal Secrete Loketkas<br />
1.10.69 Collectie Radermacher<br />
1.10.78 Collectie Specx<br />
1.05.01.01 Oude Westindische Compagnie<br />
Geldersarchief, Arnhem 467 Familie van der Capellen<br />
Groningerarchief, Groningen 1 Sta<strong>at</strong>sresoluties<br />
590 Familie Verrutius-Emmen<br />
1605 Stadsbestuur van Groningen<br />
Koninklijke Bibliotheek, Den Haag Historisch Kranten<br />
Koninklijk Huisarchief, Den Haag A4 Brasiliansche Sachen<br />
A14 Archief van Frederik Hendrik<br />
Regionaal Archieve, Leiden 501A Stadsarchief van Leiden<br />
Stadsarchief, Amsterdam 50<strong>25</strong> Archief van de Vroedschap<br />
5029 Gedeputeerden ter Dagvaart<br />
Stadsarchief, Dordrecht 3 Gemeente Dordrecht<br />
Universiteitsbibliotheek, Leiden PAP Brieven<br />
Westfries Archief, Hoorn 120 Oude Archief Enkhuizen<br />
348 Oude Archief Hoorn<br />
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