1696.] OFFICIAL ARROGANCE. 193 



should be held, where every one might make their Com- 

 plaint at liberty ; but he found means to prevent that, and 

 we were sent on board without any Bodies speaking to us, 

 and without having any part of our Effects restor'd. This 

 occasion'd us to present a Petition to the Officers of the 

 Vessel, informing tliem of the ill Treatment we had had from 

 our Persecutor, who yet continu'd to exercise towards us 

 the same Tyranny and Injustice. This made him come 

 a-board, where having seen our Petition, he call'd one of us 

 cursed Dog,^ and ask'd him why he presented such sort of 



or town hall. All civil and criminal causes are decided here, but in the 

 former an appeal can be made to the Council of Justice at Batavia. . . . 

 Although by an express command of the supreme government, the 

 government here may not intermeddle in any matters which come 

 under the cognizance of the Council of Justice, further than to approve 

 or suspend their sentences in criminal cases, yet some of them arrogate 

 to themselves so much power in this respect that in the same manner as 

 in the council of polity they force a conformation to their will, or bid 

 open defiance to justice and honesty, if the members of the Council 

 refuse to abet their iniquity." Stavorinus then adduces an instance of 

 rank abuse of authority remaining unnoticed and unpunished. It may 

 be added here that Roelof Diodati does not appear to have been re- 

 primanded even for his conduct towards Leguat and the French refugees, 

 being subsequently promoted to Japan ; but in some respects he suffered 

 a kind of retributive justice in Mauritius, for, before leaving that island, 

 in 1701, a piratical ship, the Ami/j was wrec kedclose by the fort, when 

 200 armed buccaneers got to shore, forcing the colonists to take 

 refuge in the fort, and Diodati, in order to get rid of them, sold them 

 the Company's packet at half-price. (See Stavorinus, /. c., ii, p. 384 ; 

 Theal, S. Africa, I. c, p. 51.) 



1 In orig. : " qu'il traita de maudit coquin." " An Englishman", 

 writes Admiral Stavorinus, " would never brook the insupportable 

 arrogance with which the Dutch East India Company's servants are 

 treated by their superiors, as well at Batavia as at the out-factories. 

 It would be well if this conduct remained solely confined to the 

 Asiatic regions, which gave birth to it : but, unfortunately, we see 

 it continued by purse-proud individuals when they return to a country 

 where, from the most ancient times, it is known to be in perfect 

 contradiction to the genius and temper of the inhabitants. It is 

 certain that this is one reason why there are so few to be met with 

 who serve the Company with fidelity or a sense of honour. Everyone 







