Godert Alexander Gerard Philip, Baron van der Capellen (1778–1848) served as Governor-General of the Netherlands Indies from 1816 to 1826, presiding over the re-establishment of Dutch colonial rule after the Anglo-Dutch Convention of 1814 and the British interregnum associated with Raffles and Lord Minto. Although he is mentioned only briefly in P. H. van der Kemp’s 1900 article, the passage in which he appears is a pointed one: Van der Kemp uses a single letter from Van der Capellen to Wolterbeek to call into question the Governor-General’s own firmness in dealing with the British.
The Buitenzorg Letter of 9 January 1819
The episode Van der Kemp singles out concerns the complaints of Governor Thyssen of Malacca about the conduct of certain officials at that port — most notably the harbourmaster Carnegy, whom Thyssen accused of hypocrisy and of imposing a tariff favourable to Penang traders at Malacca’s expense. Having taken cognisance of Thyssen’s complaints, Van der Capellen wrote privately from Buitenzorg on 9 January 1819 to Wolterbeek at Batavia. “The conduct of some officials at Malacca,” he said, “I have learned with displeasure. T[hissen] must stand firm. Every Government in India in general must do so.” Van der Kemp, having quoted this injunction, adds the laconic question: “Has Mr. Van der Capellen himself always put this into practice?” The implication is that the Governor-General’s own record, in his dealings with the British in the years 1818–1824, hardly answered to the maxim of firmness he had laid down for Thyssen.
The Wider Context
Van der Capellen’s Governor-Generalship coincided with a sequence of humiliations for the Dutch colonial position: the founding of Singapore by Raffles in January 1819, the Acheh treaty of 1819 between Raffles and Sultan Jauhar Alum later the same year, the Wilhelmina mutiny and the resulting paper war with Penang over Syf at Telok Semawé, and finally the treaty of London of 17 March 1824, under which the Netherlands ceded its Indian factories, Malacca, and all claim to Singapore in exchange for a free hand on Sumatra. Van der Kemp’s narrative of these events, while focused on the agents on the spot — Wolterbeek, Thyssen, Falck, Fagel, Elout — repeatedly returns to the question of how firm the central administration at Buitenzorg and Buitenzorg’s superior at The Hague actually were.
Historical Standing
Outside Van der Kemp’s article, Van der Capellen is remembered as a reforming Governor-General whose tenure saw the suppression of regional revolts and the early organisation of the colonial administration on its post-1815 footing. He was the recipient of numerous deputations from the outer possessions and the author of the celebrated Rapport of 1824 on the state of the Indies. His reputation, however, was long shadowed by thecatastrophes of his final years in office — above all the Java War which broke out in 1825 and which he was accused of having done too little to prevent. Van der Kemp’s barbed aside about firmness in 1819 thus aligns him with a longer Dutch historiographical tradition that has measured Van der Capellen’s administration against the standard set by his more assertive successors.
See Also
- Schout-bij-nacht Wolterbeek
- Timmerman Thyssen
- Kraal
- Carnegy
- Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles
- Anglo-Dutch Treaty of London (1814)
- Anglo-Dutch Treaty of London (1824)
- Founding of Singapore
- Treaty of Pedir (1819)
- Java War (1825-1830)
- Netherlands India
Source
Raffles’ Atjeh-overeenkomst van 1819, by P. H. van der Kemp, in Bijdragen van het Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde van Nederlandsch-Indië, 6e Volgr., Deel VII (1900), pp. 159-239. Universiteitsbibliotheek Vrije Universiteit, LS.08781.
Godert Alexander Gerard Philip, Baron van der Capellen (1778–1848) served as Governor-General of the Netherlands Indies from 1816 to 1826, presiding over the re-establishment of Dutch colonial rule after the Anglo-Dutch Convention of 1814 and the British interregnum associated with Raffles and Lord Minto. Although he is mentioned only briefly in P. H. van der Kemp’s 1900 article, the passage in which he appears is a pointed one: Van der Kemp uses a single letter from Van der Capellen to Wolterbeek to call into question the Governor-General’s own firmness in dealing with the British.
The Buitenzorg Letter of 9 January 1819
The episode Van der Kemp singles out concerns the complaints of Governor Thyssen of Malacca about the conduct of certain officials at that port — most notably the harbourmaster Carnegy, whom Thyssen accused of hypocrisy and of imposing a tariff favourable to Penang traders at Malacca’s expense. Having taken cognisance of Thyssen’s complaints, Van der Capellen wrote privately from Buitenzorg on 9 January 1819 to Wolterbeek at Batavia. “The conduct of some officials at Malacca,” he said, “I have learned with displeasure. T[hissen] must stand firm. Every Government in India in general must do so.” Van der Kemp, having quoted this injunction, adds the laconic question: “Has Mr. Van der Capellen himself always put this into practice?” The implication is that the Governor-General’s own record, in his dealings with the British in the years 1818–1824, hardly answered to the maxim of firmness he had laid down for Thyssen.
The Wider Context
Van der Capellen’s Governor-Generalship coincided with a sequence of humiliations for the Dutch colonial position: the founding of Singapore by Raffles in January 1819, the Acheh treaty of 1819 between Raffles and Sultan Jauhar Alum later the same year, the Wilhelmina mutiny and the resulting paper war with Penang over Syf at Telok Semawé, and finally the treaty of London of 17 March 1824, under which the Netherlands ceded its Indian factories, Malacca, and all claim to Singapore in exchange for a free hand on Sumatra. Van der Kemp’s narrative of these events, while focused on the agents on the spot — Wolterbeek, Thyssen, Falck, Fagel, Elout — repeatedly returns to the question of how firm the central administration at Buitenzorg and Buitenzorg’s superior at The Hague actually were.
Historical Standing
Outside Van der Kemp’s article, Van der Capellen is remembered as a reforming Governor-General whose tenure saw the suppression of regional revolts and the early organisation of the colonial administration on its post-1815 footing. He was the recipient of numerous deputations from the outer possessions and the author of the celebrated Rapport of 1824 on the state of the Indies. His reputation, however, was long shadowed by thecatastrophes of his final years in office — above all the Java War which broke out in 1825 and which he was accused of having done too little to prevent. Van der Kemp’s barbed aside about firmness in 1819 thus aligns him with a longer Dutch historiographical tradition that has measured Van der Capellen’s administration against the standard set by his more assertive successors.
See Also
- Schout-bij-nacht Wolterbeek
- Timmerman Thyssen
- Kraal
- Carnegy
- Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles
- Anglo-Dutch Treaty of London (1814)
- Anglo-Dutch Treaty of London (1824)
- Founding of Singapore
- Treaty of Pedir (1819)
- Java War (1825-1830)
- Netherlands India
Source
Raffles’ Atjeh-overeenkomst van 1819, by P. H. van der Kemp, in Bijdragen van het Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde van Nederlandsch-Indië, 6e Volgr., Deel VII (1900), pp. 159-239. Universiteitsbibliotheek Vrije Universiteit, LS.08781.