Chap. I. Commodore R 
of the feven Governments, which are in the Company’s 
Difpofal. This Council affembles regularly twice a W eek, 
and extraordinarily, as often as the Governor-General 
pleafes : They deliberate therein on all Thihgs that concern 
the Intereft of the Company : They likewife fuperintend 
the Government of the Ifle of Java, and whatever depends 
upon it: If the Affair be off very great Importance, the 
Approbation and Confent of the Directors of the Com- 
pany is likewife neceffary. It is alfo from the Council of 
the Indies that Orders iffue, and InftruCtions are lent, to 
other Governments, which are implicitly obeyed. In 
this Council, all Letters directed to the Governor- General, 
or to the Director, are read, debated, and Anfwers agreed 
on by a Plurality of Voices. 
The Council of Juftice is compofed of a Prefident, 
f/ who is ufuaily a Counfellor of the Indies eight Counfellors 
■ of Juftice, a Fifcal, or Attorney-General, for Affairs of 
Government, another Fifcal for maritime Bufinefs, and a 
Secretary. The Prefident is, by his Office, Keeper of the 
Great Seal. All the Counfellors of this College are 
D odors of the Civil Law. The firft Attorney-General 
has a Vote as well as the other Counfellors, and has the 
third of all Fines under an hundred Florins, and a fixth 
Part of the Fines that are above that Sum. The Duty of 
his Office confifts in taking care, that the Laws are ftriCtly 
obferved, and in preferring Informations againft fuch as 
prefume to break through them. The other Attorney- 
General, or Fifcal of the Sea, takes the like Care with 
regard to Frauds committed in Commerce, Ads of Piracy, 
or whatever has a Tendency to difturb the fettled Rules in 
maritime Affairs. There are, befides thefe two fovereign 
Boards, the Council or Tribunal of the City of Batavia , 
compofed of nine Aldermen, including the Prefident, 
who is always a Counfellor of the Indies , and a Vice- Pre- 
fident : The Bailiff of the City, and the Commiffary of the 
Country adjacent, have likewife Seats in that Affembly, 
and, with a Secretary, make up the Board. 
The Governor-General is the Plead of the Empire 
which the Company has eftabliffied in the Eaji Indies \ he 
is, in Fad, the Stadtholder, Captain-General, and Ad- 
miral. He is, by his Office, Prefident of the Council of 
the Indies , in which he has two Votes. He has the Key 
of all the Magazines, and direds every thing relating to 
them, without being accountable to any body. He com- 
mands by his own proper Authority, and every body is 
bound to obey him ; fo that one might fafely fay, his Au- 
thority equalled, and even furpaffed, that of feveral of the 
Kings of Europe , if he was not accountable for his Con- 
dud to, and liable to be removed by, the Diredors of the 
Company at home* In cafe, however, of Treafon, or 
any other enormous Crime, the Council of Juftice have a 
Right to feize his Perfon, and to call him to an Account. 
The Manner of his Election is as follow : As foon as a 
Governor-General is dead, or refigns his Charge, the 
Council of the Indies affemble, and c-hufe another, by a 
Plurality of Voices* As fdon as this is done, they write 
to the Diredors of the Company at home, defiring them 
to confirm and approve of their Choice : They write like- 
wife, for the fame Purpofe, to the States General, their 
High Mightineffes having referved to themfelves this 
Power of confirming or excluding a Governor-General in 
their Charter. It is ufual, however, for the States, and 
for the Diredors, to approve of the Governor-General that 
is chofen, and to fend him his Letters Patent, conformable 
to the Defire, in that refped, of the Council of the Indies. 
Yet fome Inftances there have been, of the Diredors 
rejeding the Governor thus eleded, and fending an- 
other. 
The Company allow their Governor 800 Rixdollars a 
Month, and 500 more for his Table ; and pay, befides, 
the Salaries of fuch as compofe his Houfihold. But thefe 
Appointments make but a very final! Part of his Revenue, 
the legal Emoluments of his Office being fo great, that, in 
the Space of two or three Years, he is able, without op- 
preffing the People, or burdening his Confidence, to raife 
an immenfe Fortune. As he is Head, and, in a manner. 
Sovereign, of the Countries belonging to the Company, it 
has been found requifite, in Compliance with the Mode of 
O G G E W E I K. 28 j 
the Eaftern Countries, to allow him a Court, and moft of 
thofe Honours which are paid to Crown’d Heads. When- 
ever he ftirs out of his Palace, in order to go to his 
Country-feat, he is preceded by the Mafter of his Houf- 
hold, at the Head of fix Gentlemen on Horfeback, with 
a Trumpet \ two Halbardiers on Horfeback go immedi- 
ately before his Coach ; on the Right, he has his Mafter of 
the Horfe, at the Head of fix Halbardiers, on Horfeback % 
then follow the other Coaches, which carry his Friends 
and Retinue ; and the Whole is clofed by a Troop of Horfe, 
confifting of forty-eight Men, commanded by a Captain, 
and three Quarter-mailers, and preceded by a Trumpet 
richly clothed. 
If this Office be extremely confiderable by its Revenues, 
its Power, and the Honours annexed thereto, it is likewife 
extremely fatiguing. The Governor-General is employed, 
from Morning till Night, in giving Audience to fuch as 
have Bufinefs with him, in reading of Letters, and in giv- 
ing Orders for the Company’s Service •, fo that he fpares 
but one Half-hour for Dinner ; and, even at Table, dif- 
patches fuch Affairs as are extremely prefling. He alfo 
receives all the Indian Princes, and their Embaffadors, who 
come to Batavia , and of whom there are many that arrive 
every Yean 
After the Governor, the Di reCto r-General has the greateft 
Authority, and is the fecond Perfon in the Council of the 
Indies. This Employment demands likewife a great deal 
of Care and Attention ; he who is invefted with it, has 
the Buying and Selling all the Commodities that enter into, 
or go out of, the Company’s Magazines : He it is, who 
orders what Sorts, and what Quantity of each Sorts of Goods 
lhall be fent to Holland , or elfewhere •, he has the Key of 
all the Magazines ; and every Officer in the Company’s 
Service makes a daily Report to him of the State of every 
thing under his Charge. In a Word, he has the fupreme 
Direction of whatever relates to the Company’s Commerce, 
as well at Batavia as at other Places *, and the Members of 
all the Factories belonging to the Company are accountable 
to him for their Conduct in their refpeftive Stations. 
The third Perfon in the Government is the Major-General, 
who, under the Governor, has the Command of all the 
Forces. TheNumberof regular Troops in the Service of the 
Eafi India Company throughout the Indies may be about 
12000, exclufive of the Militia, who are alfo very well 
difciplined, conftantly arrayed in Time of Danger, and who 
are about 100,000 Men. In fine, the military Strength of the 
Company by Land and Sea, Officers, Soldiers, and Seamen, 
included, may be about 25,000 Men. For the Support of 
its Commerce, the Company keeps in conftant Pay 180 
Ships, from thirty to fixty Pieces of Cannon ; and, in cafe 
of Extremity, are able, at any time, to fit out forty of a 
larger Size. 
Some Months before the Arrival of our Author at Ba- 
tavia , a very extraordinary Affair happened there ; that is 
to fay, a Plot was difcovered, and exemplary Juftice done 
on the Traitors. This Affair deferves to be the more 
taken notice of, becaufe it has been fince found no more 
than a Branch of a great and general Confpiracy, for the 
intire Subverfion of the Dutch Government, which was 
with Difficulty prevented, fome Years ago, by the general 
Maffacre of all the Chinefe at Batavia. The Fact with 
which we are at prefent concerned, happened in the fol- 
lowing Manner : There was one Peter Erberfeld, who had 
framed a Defign, in Conjunction with a great many Ja~ 
vanefe , and other Indian Chiefs, to furprife the Citadel and 
Forts of Batavia , to maffacre the Governor, and all the 
Counfellors, together with fuch as were in the Service of 
the Company, and, finally, all the Chriftians in the Ifle of 
Java, in order lor ever to extirpate the Colony, . and put 
an End to the Power of the EaJl India Company in thefe 
Parts. This deteftable Defign was difcovered on the very 
Eve of its Execution •, Peter Erberfeld , and the chief of his 
Accomplices, made Prifoners, put to the Torture, and, 
on their own Confeffion, received Sentence, as appears 
from the following Record of their Conviction, which is 
drawn up in the cleared: and moft fignificant Terms. 
Sentence 
