On the 3rd of March five ships from Ceylon dropped their anchors in Table Bay, and were followed, 31st of March to 6th of April by six others from Batavia, forming the return fleet of that year, under Admiral Meynderts de Boer. In one of the ships from Batavia was Jan Rotterdam, who returned to South Africa in triumph. Upon the receipt of the complaints from the Cape concerning him and the governor’s comments upon what had occurred, the governor-general and council of India appointed a commission consisting of the ordinary councillor Pieter de Vos and the councillor extraordinary Hendrik Bekker to investigate the matter, and take Rotterdam’s evidence. On the 18th of September 1706 these gentlemen sent in a report, of which there is a copy in the Cape archives. On this the governor-general and council decided, on the 5th of October, to send all the papers to the Netherlands, that the directors might take what action they chose in the matter. On the 31st of August they had decided to give Rotterdam a free passage to Holland, with liberty on his arrival at the Cape to request permission to remain here to attend to his affairs, if he chose to do so.[78] There was no necessity for him to make any request, as before the fleet left Table Bay the tyranny of the governor was at an end.
IV.
Proceedings in the Netherlands regarding Governor Willem Adriaan van der Stel.
Historical Sketches.
While these events were taking place in South Africa, a commission in Amsterdam was actually making inquiries into the conduct of Governor Willem Adriaan van der Stel. He knew nothing of this, nor did the burghers know how information concerning his conduct had reached the Netherlands.[79] By some means, however, which cannot be ascertained now, the directors had obtained an inkling of the state of affairs, and on the 26th of October 1705 they appointed the members of the chamber of Amsterdam a commission to inquire into the matter and report upon it. This commission had the official correspondence from the Cape before it, but no mention could be found in that of either Vergelegen or the governor’s movements. It would seem from it as if everything was going on smoothly and satisfactorily at the Cape, and the governor was doing his duty as an honest man.
Other tidings reached Amsterdam, however, in the course of the next few months which caused the directors to become alarmed. What these reports were exactly it is not now possible to discover, nor can the channels be ascertained by which they were conveyed, but it cannot be far wrong to conclude that they referred to the governor’s frequent visits to Vergelegen and his long sojourns there, when the castle and the garrison were left to take care of themselves. With a governor so faithless, if what they heard was true, they might lose the half way house to India any day, and so on the 8th of March 1706 they appointed a special committee representing all the chambers and including their two advocates to devise measures for the security of the settlement.[80]
Examination into the Governor’s Conduct.
Meantime, on the 15th of February 1706 the chamber of Amsterdam had appointed a committee, consisting of Messrs. Bas, Van Castricum, De Witt, Lestevenon, and Trip, with Advocate Scott, to examine thoroughly into the complaints against the governor and bring up a report on the subject.[81] So there can be no doubt that even if the charges drawn up by Adam Tas and sent to Holland by the return fleet of 1706 had not reached the directors, the circumstances connected with Vergelegen would have become known, and the faithless and rapacious governor have met with his deserts. But as the material upon which to form a judgment was not as perfect in Holland as could be wished, the arrival of the fleet then on its way from India to Europe was looked forward to with some anxiety by both the committees, as it would probably bring despatches from the governor and council of policy that would assist them to come to a decision.
On the 27th of July 1706 that fleet which, as has been recorded, sailed from Table Bay on the 4th of April under Admiral Jan de Wit, reached Texel in safety. There was then no lack of evidence as to what had transpired at the Cape, it was to hand in fact in superabundance. As soon therefore as the directors had read the official despatches from the governor, including the testimonial in his favour which he had caused to be drawn up and which must have excited their contempt for a man who could adopt such a measure in face of his treachery that could no longer be concealed, they sent the whole to the chamber of Amsterdam. Of the four burghers exiled to Europe, one, Jan van Meerland, died on the passage. The others, as soon as they could do so after their arrival in Amsterdam, presented to the directors the memorial that Tas had drawn up, with the various documents attached to it. After being read by them, it also was sent to the chamber of Amsterdam.
Historical Sketches.
But now a great change in the attitude of the East India Company towards the nature of the various offences committed by the governor took place. His defiance of their orders not to cultivate ground or own cattle, his treachery in leaving his duty and residing frequently at Vergelegen, thus exposing the colony to the utmost danger, and his use of their materials and their workpeople at Vergelegen and elsewhere, robbery as it was, was permitted to fall into the background, and his lawless violence towards the burghers who had complained of his misdeeds became the most prominent subject enquired into. The whole of the tyranny displayed by him was not indeed known, but sufficient had transpired before the departure of the fleet from Table Bay to rouse the indignation of the free Netherlanders, and the directors, even if they had not been disposed to do justice themselves, dared not provoke an outcry that one of the most cherished rights of a citizen was being violated in their dependency at the Cape. The opponents of the Company, the men who wanted something in its place in which they should have a personal interest, would certainly make use of such an outcry to attack it in the States-General, and therefore this charge must be attended to before any other.