332 



BATAV1 A. 



pressors. A conspiracy of a most daring and dan- 

 gerous nature had been for four years forming in the 

 very heart of the settlement. It had been carried on 

 with such determined perseverance, and managed with 

 such amazing secrcsy, and so great was the number 

 concerned in it,'that its authors had reason to expect 

 the most complete success. Catadia, a Javanese, and 

 Peter Erberfeldt, a burgess of Batavia, were the ori- 

 ginal contrivers of this diabolical design, which was 

 to surprise the city, and to put every European ami 

 Christian to the sword. The execution of their pur- 

 pose was fixed for the first morning of 1722. The 

 order of attack was prepared and delivered to the 

 chiefs of the conspiracy ; 17,000 men were engaged 

 to insure its accomplishment ; and they waited only 

 the signal for striking the final blow, when on the 

 day preceding this intended massacre the conspiracy 

 was divulged, just in time to prevent the dreadful 

 catastrophe. Twenty of the principal conspirators 

 were seized without any noise, and all necessary pre- 

 cautions taken in case of any .commotion in the city ; 

 but the confederates were so thunderstruck at the 

 discovery, that not the least attempt was made for 

 their rescue. The Batavian government, that they 

 might not drive these people to desperation, prudently 

 declined proceeding against the other accomplices, 

 but were contented with the traitors, whom they had 

 already in their power. Upon these, however, they 

 took the most exemplary vengeance, and inflicted such 

 a punishment as should deter all others from imitat- 

 ing their crimes. Erberfeldt and Catadia were con- 

 demned, " to be extended and bound each of them 

 upon a cross, to have their right hands cut off, and 

 their arms, leg?, and breasts pinched with red hot 

 pincers, till pieces of the flesh should be torn away. 

 Their bellies were then to be ripped from bottom to 

 top, and their hearts thrown in their faces ; after 

 which their heads were to be cut off, and fixed upon 

 a post ; and their bodies, torn in pieces, were to be 

 exposed to the fowls of the air without the city, in 

 whatever place the government should please to di- 

 rect." Sentence contre Pierre Erberfeldt, e.t sescompli- 

 tes, prononccc a Balaxia en 1722. 



This terrible sentence, which scarcely the imminence 

 and extent of the danger could justify, was executed 

 without the least mitigation. Its severity, however, 

 had not the desired effect. The growth of the treason 

 was stopped, but the roots still remained ; and eighteen 

 years after the conspiracy of Erberfeldt, the Dutch 

 proceeding upon mere supposition, committed one of 

 the most inhuman massacres that has ever disgraced 

 the annals of any nation. On the memorable morning of 

 the 9th of October 17-MJ, an order was issued by the 

 governor and council, for immediately putting to the 

 sword all the Chinese that could be found in the city. 

 The garrison, and the sailors who were brought from 

 the vessels in the roads, were tempted by the promise 

 of plunder to execute the bloody edict. The houses 

 were broken open, and the sleeping victims were torn 

 from their beds and killed without distinction. In a 

 short time the streets, rivers, and canals, were cover- 

 ed with dead bodies, and in some places the blood 

 ran over the shoes of the murderers. A more shock- 

 ing and horrible spectacle was never exhibited to 

 iortal sight ; and in this dismal tragedy there fell, 



according to the acknowledgment of the Dutch, no - E*' 

 fewer than 12.000 Chinese ; but according to other v ' "~ ~ y 

 accounts, 30,000 men, women, and children. Of 

 this transaction our limits will not admit of a more 

 detailed account. Indeed no certain information can 

 be obtained on the subject. The Dutch, it is true, 

 have framed a story full of rebellion, insurrcctic 

 massacres, and fire. They have told us, that the 

 Chinese had entered into a conspiracy to raise their 

 chief to the government of Batavia, and to ir 

 acre all the Europeans in the colony except the go- 

 vernor and director-general, whom they intended to 

 preserve for carrying umbrellas over the heads of the 

 new governor and his lady ! that the evening before 

 the massacre 50,000 Chinese had attacked the city, 

 set tire to the suburbs, and endeavoured to excite 

 their countrymen within the walls to rise against the 

 Dutch ; and consequently that they were compelled, 

 by the urgency of the danger, and as the only means 

 left for securing the public safety, to have recou 

 to this most expeditious and effectual remedy. But 

 though they have been openly charged witli false- 

 hood and exaggeration, and have even confessed that 

 in their narrative many particulars were omitted, and 

 promised a more full and distinct relation ; yet tie 

 charges were never answered, nor has the promised 

 relation ever appeared. All the accounts which have 

 been received of this dismal scene, instead of explain- 

 ing, have served only to clcaid a transaction, dark and 

 ambiguous, and which we doubt will never be brought 

 to the public view in its true colours. From the sub- 

 sequent conduct of the colony, however, we are war- 

 ranted by pretty strong evidence to conclude, thatthey 

 were actuated in this measure by very different mo- 

 tives than what they avowed to the world ; and 

 throughout the whole of this transaction we can 

 easily trace the same grovelling spirit and detestable 

 thirst for wealth, which dictated the horrid outrage 

 against our countrymen at Amboyna. But the mas- 

 sacre, as soon as it was known in Europe, was also 

 openly ascribed to the avarice of the governor, 

 supported by such as were deeply indebted to the 

 Chinese, who thought that cutting their throats was 

 the easiest and most expeditious method of settling 

 accounts ; and the Dutch, so far from attempting to # 

 discredit the rumour, rather seemed willing to free 

 themselves, by throwing the odium upon the gover- 

 nor. He was seized on his way home with all his 

 effects, amounting to half a million sterling, and car- 

 ried back to Batavia to abide a trial for the shameful 

 abuse of his authority, and where he remained a pri- 

 soner until his death. The 50,000 Chinese who, it 

 is said, continued to waste with fire and sword what- 

 ever they met with on the mountains, so far from be- 

 ing objects of terror and alarm to the Batavians, were 

 invited by a general amnesty to return to the settle- 

 ment, and in a short time they became as numerous 

 as ever. Order and tranquillity having been restored 

 to the distracted colony by the firm and wise admi- 

 nistration of the new governor, the inhabitants soon 

 lost all apprehensions of any future disturbance. The 

 niment., however, were afraid lest the perpetra- 

 tion of this outrage should excite the indignation of 

 the emperor of China, and interrupt the amicable 

 correspondence which had long subsisted between 



