Dissertation_A Bick_May 25 - DataSpace at Princeton University
Dissertation_A Bick_May 25 - DataSpace at Princeton University Dissertation_A Bick_May 25 - DataSpace at Princeton University
involved in privateering or which aimed to discover new sea routes or establish settler colonies. 19 Indeed, Rabb argues that gentry investors differed in important ways from their merchant counterparts: whereas merchants were, in general, more consistent and diligent in applying themselves to the business at hand, and more focused on profits, members of the gentry appeared more willing to sustain losses for the sake of enterprises that might enhance national (and thus also their personal) power and prestige. 20 Their significant contributions up to 1630 were critical, Rabb concludes, to pushing past the difficult and risky early phases of colonization and thus helped lay the groundwork for England's subsequent imperial expansion. 21 The involvement of the gentry, and the leading role played by the royal family itself, in colonial ventures after the Restoration is well known, and suggests that the basic contours of Rabb's analysis carry well into the seventeenth century. Although scholars have identified similarly important contributions by noblemen in Portugal, France, Italy, Germany, Sweden, and elsewhere, the United Provinces always appear as an exception. As Fritz Redlich put it in a special issue of Explorations in Entrepreneurial History dedicated to this subject a half-century ago, “there was no European country which did not experience at one time or another the phenomenon of aristocratic business leadership, except Holland and Switzerland, countries in which feudal institutions had never found fertile ground.” 22 In light of Van Nierop's study of the Dutch nobility this conclusion needs to be re- examined. The previous chapter examined the role of the nobility in discussions over the composition of the WIC's board of directors. This chapter considers the conspicuous role that 19 Theodore K. Rabb, Enterprise and Empire: Merchant and Gentry Investment in the Expansion of England, 1575- 1630 (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1967). 20 Ibid., 38-41. 21 Ibid., 69. 22 Fritz Redlich, “European Aristocracy and Economic Development,” Explorations in Entrepreneurial History 6, no. 2 (December 1953): 78-91. The quotation is taken from page 78. 137
noblemen played in overseas administration—not only in the person of Johan Maurits, but in the original list of candidates that was drawn up to replace him. In taking this approach my purpose is not to substitute one lop-sided position with another: the Dutch Republic was dominated by merchant interests, and merchants made up the bulk of WIC investors and directors. But no understanding of company politics in the mid-1640s is possible if one ignores the small group of noblemen who stood at the center of the company's negotiations over how to govern Dutch Brazil. The negotiations themselves are but one instance in the long history of opaque, highly- secretive processes employed by governments and other institutions to select and anoint new political leadership. Our knowledge of this particular episode is made possible by an unusually rich collection of documents, both secret and ordinary, kept by the States General, whose delegates were deeply involved. An important complement to these are two contemporary documents—a diary and a formal memoire—composed by two of the candidates for office in Brazil: respectively, the Amsterdam merchant Hendrik Haecxs and the nobleman Alexander van der Capellen (ca. 1590-1656). 23 Based on a close reading of these and other sources, this chapter attempts to excavate the process by which the new colonial government for Brazil was chosen. By following the negotiations from beginning to end, it exposes and explores the rituals employed by the WIC to display authority, maintain secrecy, reach consensus, and bind the political allegiance of company servants abroad. The chapter thus provides both a new analysis 23 The secret minutes of the negotiations, along with a number of memoranda prepared by representatives of the States General to the meetings of the Heren XIX, can be found in NA 1.01.07 inv.nr. 12564.17. Alexander van der Capellen's memoires were published in the eighteenth century as the Gedenkschriften van Jonkeer Alexander van der Capellen (Utrecht: J. van Schoonhoven, 1777). Hendrik Haecxs' diary was edited and published in the early twentieth century: L’Honoré Naber, “Het Dagboek van Hendrik Haecxs, Lid van den Hoogen Raad van Brazilië (1645-1654),” Bijdragen en Mededeelingen van het Historisch Genootschap (1925): 126-163. 138
- Page 97 and 98: that, even at the beginning, De Lae
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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
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