236 TlMEHRI. 
colonies and settlements of the Dutch in foreign coun- 
tries under her administration. Financially she was not 
progressing. Dividends to shareholders were on the 
decrease and her liabilities increasing. She soon dis- 
covered that her means were not adequate to cope with 
the requirements and wants of the colony and to lead 
her to prosperity. It was thus that the Company, only 
a few months after being put in possession of the 
colony, on the 21st of May 1683, entered into a compa6t 
by which one-third of the colony was ceded to the city 
of Amsterdam, one-third to Baron VAN Sommelsdyk for 
himself and heirs, and one-third was retained. It then 
became the Societeit van Suriname. Each of the two 
first parties had to refund to the Company a third of the 
$100,000 paid to the Province of Zeeland, became liable 
each for his share in the expenditure and losses of 
the company, and entitled to a third of the profits. This 
compact or agreement was later ratified, and by resolu- 
tion of the States-General of the 5th October 1686, the 
West India Company was, for Surinam, superseded by 
the Society of Surinam. In accordance with the com- 
pact Baron van Sommelsdyk proceeded to Surinam as 
Governor, holding a commission from the States-General. 
His heirs afterwards sold their share in the colony, by 
agreement of the 15th March 1770, to the City of 
Amsterdam, for $280,000 (y*70o,ooo Dutch florins). 
The octroy of 1682 remained the fundamental law of 
the colony, unaltered. The States-General remained 
vested with sovereign power. The conduct of the local 
government of this colony was, in accordance with the 
octroy, under the supervision of the West India Company, 
represented as a body at home, by her directors and 
