SIR THOMAS STAMFORD RAFFLES. 25 



ed with the history of its natural productions, may 

 not here be misplaced, particularly as we are obliged 

 for it to the address of its President upon his first 

 instalment in office after its re-establishment. u Pre- 

 vious to the establishment of the Batavian Society, 

 Mr Kadermacher, a gentleman of distinguished ta- 

 lents, and a zealous promoter of the Christian reli- 

 gion and of science, with a few friends of Batavia, 

 conceived the idea of assembling together a number 

 of persons of consideration and ability, with the view 

 of encouraging the arts and sciences in this capital, 

 and the other Indian establishments then dependent 

 on Holland. They considered that in India, as in 

 Europe, where for two centuries the reformation in 

 letters preceded that in religion, a taste for the arts 

 and sciences must be introduced previously to the 

 general adoption of the Christian religion in the East ; 

 but they were aware of the difficulties to be en- 

 countered, under the circumstances in which the 

 colonies of Holland were then placed, and a con- 

 siderable period elapsed before the design was car- 

 ried into effect. 



<c At length, in the year 1777, when Mr Kader- 

 macher and his father-in-law, the Governor-General 

 de Klerk, were newly elected directors of the Haer- 

 lem Society, a programme appeared, which contained 

 the plan of extending the branches of that Society 

 to the Indies. The distance and extent of the 

 Dutch colonial possessions in the East did not, how- 

 ever, admit of this plan being realized ; but the idea 



