Dissertation_A Bick_May 25 - DataSpace at Princeton University

as colonial governors and military commanders. 110 The first of these is apparent in the figure of
Hendrick van der Capellen, who chaired the meetings of the Heren XIX, administered the oath of
secrecy during the selection of candidates, and more generally advocated the company's interests
with the Prince of Orange and at the States General. His brother, Alexander van der Capellen,
played no formal role beyond that of investor, but his nomination as a candidate for the office of
President shows the directors' continuing interest in finding a senior nobleman to serve in the
company's most important colonial post. In this sense, the towering figure of Maurits, whose
tenure in Brazil had been so successful, still exercised considerable influence over questions of
how to govern the colony, even after his fateful recall.
If conflicts over government were bad, those over trade were even worse.
110 Fritz Redlich, “European Aristocracy and Economic Development,” 86.
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