284 STATISTICAL ACCOUNT OF THE 



Mr. Meertens, in 1792, appeared in the municipal cha- 

 racter of fiscal for the colony of Demerary. In this office he 

 was very lenient towards the English smugglers from the West 

 India islands, who, to the great benefit of the colony, used to 

 take the produce into market, when the Dutch shipping in 

 the river dared not leave it. Notwithstanding all the caution 

 which was practised on the part of the Dutch naval force sta- 

 tioned in the river, considerable quantities of produce, espe- 

 cially cotton, went to be imported into Great Britain by this 

 circuitous rout. The fiscal's apparent indifference to what 

 was going on, never went unrewarded ; and if he did not ab- 

 solutely smuggle his own produce out, he used to sell it to 

 those who did. He was a member of council, and signed the 

 capitulation which surrendered the colony to Great Britain in 

 1796. In April 1799, he and his family embarked on board 

 the Grenada, for London, where he remained until the pre- 

 liminaries of peace were signed, when he went to Holland, 

 in expectation of still furthering his advancement. 



Mr. Meertens returned to the colony in 1802, as governor, 

 with a Mr. La Maison, who was appointed vice-president of 

 the courts, and who, after involving his official business in a 

 labyrinth of confusion, and after receiving money and settling 

 accounts for several merchants in England, who had rashly 

 invested him with powers, took to drinking, and finally in- 

 curred the suspicion of insanity. His friends took advantage 



