S282 STATISTICAL ACCOUNT OF THE 



colony. These arbitrary measures could not fail of being 

 disagreeable to the individuals who composed the militia. The 

 conduct of the governor and of the court of police, ought to 

 have been protested against by the inhabitants en masse, which 

 would have made them personally answerable for the con- 

 sequences which followed. 



That no private pique for inconvenience personally suffered 

 from Governor Meertens, may be thought to influence my 

 pen, I wish it to be known, that during the time the Dutch 

 had possession, after the restoration of the colonies to Holland 

 in 1802, I was a resident in the country, removed five miles 

 beyond the reach of the burgher regulations for the town, and 

 therefore experienced none of those grievances of which I 

 have complained. Having witnessed them ; having visited 

 my friends and acquaintances when confined by sickness 

 thence occasioned ; and having followed some of them to 

 their graves, how can I refrain from animadverting on such 

 unjustifiable proceedings ? 



Anthony Meertens is the son of an advocate of Amster- 

 dam, and at the age of maturity made his debut as a lawyer 

 of Demerary. Versed in every professional art, he owed 

 his first advancement to several attorney and executorships, 

 which gave him the management and direction of a number 

 of estates. His affairs of this sort were not confined to Deme- 



