A voyage round the world

by comte Louis-Antoine de Bougainville

The luxury which prevails at Batavia is very striking; the magnificence and taste, with which the interior parts of the houses are decorated, are proofs of the riches of their inhabitants. We have however been told, that Batavia was not near so great as it had been. For some years past, the company have forbid private persons to carry on the commerce between the two Indies, which was to them the source of an immense circulation of riches. I do not censure this new regulation of the company, as I do not know what advantages they may have in view in this prohibition. I only know, that the persons in their service still know the secret of making thirty, forty, an hundred, and up to two hundred thousand livres, of yearly revenues, of their places, to which the salaries of fifteen hundred, three thousand, and at most, six thousand livres are annexed. But almost all the inhabitants of Batavia are employed by the company. However it is certain, that the price of houses, both in the town and country, is more than two thirds below their ancient value; yet Batavia will always remain more or less rich; both by means of the secret I have just spoken of, and because those who make a fortune here, find it difficult to bring it over to Europe. There are no other means of conveying it to Holland than through the hands of the company, who take charge of it at the rate of eight per cent. discount; but they take but a very little at a time from[at a time from] each person. Besides this, it is impossible to send over such cash by stealth; the specie, which is current here, losing twenty-eight per cent. in Europe. The company employs the emperor of Java to strike a particular coin, which is the currency throughout India.

Particulars concerning the administration of the company.

In no place in the world the different classes of people are less confounded together, than at Batavia; every one has his rank assigned to him; this is fixed unalterably by some exterior marks; and the stiff etiquette is more rigidly observed here than it ever was at any congress. The ranks of the different states are the high regency, the court of justice, the clergy, the servants of the company, the officers of the marine, and, last of all, the military.

The high regency consists of the general, who presides there; of the counsellors of the Indies, whose title is Edele-heeren, of the president of the court of justice, and of the Schout-by-Nacht. They meet at the castle twice a week. The counsellors of the Indies are now sixteen in number; but they are not all at Batavia; Some of them have the important governments of the Cape of Good Hope, of Ceylon, of the coast of Coromandel, of the eastern part of Java, of Macassar, and of Amboina, and they reside there. These Edele-heeren have the prerogative of gilding their carriages all over, and having two running-footmen before them; whereas every private person can only keep one. It is further settled, that all coaches must stop, when those of the Edele-heeren pass by; and the people within, either men or women, are obliged to rise up.

The general, besides this distinction, is alone permitted to go with six horses; he is always followed by a guard on horseback, or at least by the officers of that guard, and some of the private men; when he passes by, both men and women must step out of their carriages; and the coaches of none but those of the Edele-heeren can drive to the flight of steps before his door. I have seen some of them, who had good sense enough to laugh with us in private at all these pompous prerogatives.

The court of Justice decides without appeal in all civil and criminal causes. About twenty years ago, they condemned a governor of Ceylon to death. That Edele-heer was convicted of exercising horrible oppressions in his government, and was executed at Batavia, on the place opposite the citadel. The appointment of the general of the Indies, of the Edele-heeren, and of the members of the court of Justice, is made out in Europe. The general, and the high regency of Batavia, propose persons for the other employments, and their choice must always be confirmed in Holland. However, the general has the right of giving away all the military preferments. One of the most considerable and best places, in point of emolument after the governments, is that of commissary of the country. This officer has the inspection over every thing, which forms the company’s demesnes upon the Isle of Java, even over the possessions and conduct of the several sovereigns of the island; he has likewise an absolute jurisdiction over those Javanese, who are the company’s subjects. The regulations of the police concerning them are very severe, and every considerable offence is rigorously punished. The constancy of the Javanese, in suffering the most barbarous torments, is incredible; but when they are executed, they must have white drawers on, and never be beheaded. If the company should refuse to have this complaisance for them, their authority would be in danger, and the Javanese would revolt. The reason of this is obvious: as, according to their tenets, they believe that they would meet in the other world with a bad reception, if they should arrive there without their heads, and without white drawers; they likewise dare to believe, that despotism has a power over them only in this world.

Another employment, which is much sought after, of which the functions are agreeable, and the revenues considerable, is that of Sabandar, or minister for foreigners. There are two of them, the sabander of the Christians, and that of the Pagans. The former is charged with every thing that regards the European foreigners. The latter is vested with the affairs relative to all the divers nations of India, comprising the Chinese. |Order of the places in the service of the company.| These last are the brokers of all the interior commerce of Batavia, where their numbers at present exceeds a hundred thousand. The abundance which has reigned for some years past in the markets of this great city, is likewise owing to their labour and care. In general, the order of employments in the company’s service is as follows: assistant, book-keeper, under-merchant, merchant, great-merchant, governor. All these civil degrees have a uniform, and the military ranks have a kind of correspondence with them. Thus for example; the major ranks as great-merchant, the captain as under-merchant, &c., but the military can never come to any places in the administration, without changing their condition. It is very natural, that in a trading company, the military body should have no influence at all; they are there looked upon merely as a body who are kept in pay; and this idea is here so much the more applicable, as it consists entirely of strangers.

Demesnes of the company upon the isle of Java.

The company possesses, in their own right, a considerable part of the isle of Java. All the north coast, to the eastward of Batavia, belongs to them. They have added, several years ago, to their possessions, the isle of Maduré, of which the sovereign had revolted; and the son is at present the governor of that isle, where his father had been king. The company have likewise profited of the revolt of the king of Balimbuan, in order to appropriate to themselves that fine province, which forms the eastermost point of Java. That prince, who was the brother of the emperor, ashamed of being subject to merchants, and by the advice, as it is said, of the English, (who furnished him with arms and gunpowder, and even built him a fort) attempted to throw off the yoke. The company spent two years, and great sums, in conquering him, and had concluded the war but two months before we came to Batavia. The Dutch had been worsted in the first battle; but in the second, the Indian prince had been taken with all his family, and conducted to the citadel of Batavia, where he died a few days after. His son, and the other persons of that unhappy family, were to be put aboard the first vessels; and brought to the Cape of Good Hope, where they will end their days upon the Isle of Roben.

Number of principalities into which the isle of Java is divided.