Dissertation_A Bick_May 25 - DataSpace at Princeton University

Vlissingen; De Laet and Johan Schuilenborch representing Amsterdam; Nicholaes ten Hove of
Delft, Claude Simonsz. Dolphyn of Hoorn, and the lone representative at the meeting from
Groningen, Thobias Ydekkinge. 96 By early afternoon this committee submitted a preliminary
report calling for the first available ship to be dispatched to Brazil with a cargo of provisions,
gunpowder, and muskets. Ten Hove offered the Swaen, which would sail soon after with an
exceptionally brief letter indicating only that the Hoge Raad's correspondence had been received
and that steps were being taken, in concert with the States General, to organize further relief. 97
But this was only a first step, and the committee immediately returned to its work to
produce a comprehensive plan, not only for short-term reinforcement of the Hoge Raad, but to
ensure the colony's long-term viability. The committee performed this work over the following
morning, while the remaining letters from Brazil and Angola were reviewed and discussed by the
larger meeting. In the afternoon, the committee produced its report. This included two important
elements: first, a rhetorical framework that interpreted the events in Brazil and explained their
relationship to the company's efforts and finances, and, second, a budget of 725,925 guilders to
organize a full military expedition to relieve the colony. 98 Whereas the budget would serve as the
substance of discussions with the States General and the individual provinces, the rhetorical
framework was intended to serve as an agreed template to guide those discussions. There was no
question that the revolt in Brazil was a crisis, but exactly who was responsible—both for the
revolt itself and the steps necessary to crush it—was very much open to debate. It was therefore
crucial for the company to preempt criticism that the revolt had resulted from its own negligence,
96 NA 1.01.07, inv.nr. 12564.17, fol. 2v. As the only representative of Groningen and the Ommelanden, Yddekinge
nominally served on all the sub-committees named at the meeting. On the Groningen chamber, see P. J. van Winter,
De Westindische Compagnie ter Kamer Stad en Lande (’s-Gravenhage: Martinus Nijhoff, 1978).
97 NA 1.05.01.01, inv.nr. 9, letter from the Heren XIX to the Hoge Raad dated September 12, 1645.
98 NA 1.01.07, inv.nr. 12564.17, fols. 3v-4v.
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