The Pay Accounts must, like the Trade Accounts, be closed on the last day of August every year, in compliance with the orders of the Honourable the Supreme Government of India contained in their letter of August 13, 1695. They must also be audited and examined, according to the Resolution passed in the Council of India on September 6, 1694, so that it may be seen whether all the items entered in the Trade Accounts for payments appear also in the Pay Accounts, while care must be taken that those who are in arrears at the close of the books on account of advance received do not receive such payments too liberally, against which Your Honours will have to guard, so that no difficulties may arise and the displeasure of Their Excellencies may not be incurred. Care must also be taken that the various instructions for the Paybook-keeper are observed, such as those passed by Resolution of Their Excellencies on August 27 and June 29, 1694, with regard to the appraising, selling, and entering in the accounts of estates left by the Company’s servants, the rules for the Curators ad lites, those with regard to the seizure of salaries by private debtors passed by Resolution of August 5, 1696, in the Council of India, and the rules passed by Resolution of March 20, with regard to such sums belonging to the Company’s servants as may be found outstanding on interest after their death, namely, that these must four or six weeks after be transferred from the Trade Accounts into the Pay Accounts to the credit of the deceased. ([33])

The matter of the Secretariate not being conducted as it ought to be, cannot be dealt with in full here. It was said in the letters of November 17 and December 12, 1696, that the new Secretary, Mr. Bout (who was sent here without any previous intimation to the Commandeur), would see that all documents were properly registered, bound, and preserved, but these are the least important duties of a good Secretary. I cannot omit to recommend here especially that a journal should be kept, in which all details are entered, because there are many occurrences with regard to the inhabitants, the country, the trade, elephants, &c., which it will be impossible to find when necessary unless they appear in the letters sent to Colombo, which, however, do not always deal very circumstancially with these matters. It will be best therefore to keep an accurate journal, which I found has been neglected for the last three years, surely much against the intention of the Company. The Secretary must also see that the Scholarchial resolutions and the notes made on them by the Political Council are copied and preserved at the Secretariate, another duty which has not been done for some years. I know on the other hand that a great deal of the time of the Secretary is taken up with the keeping of the Treasury Accounts, while there is no Chief Clerk here to assist him with the Treasury Accounts, or to assist the Commandeur. This was felt also by Mr. Blom, and he proposed in his letters of February 12 and March 29, 1693, to Colombo that the Treasury Accounts should be kept by the Paybook-keeper, which, in my humble opinion, would be the best course, as none of the four Onderkooplieden[39] here could be better employed for this work than the Paybook-keeper. It must be remembered, however, that Their Excellencies do not wish the Regulation of December 29, 1692, to be altered or transgressed, so that these must be still observed. I would propose a means by which the duties of the Cashier, and consequently of the Secretary, could be much decreased, considering that the Cashier can get no other knowledge of the condition of the general revenue than from the Thombo-keeper who makes up the accounts, namely, that the Thombo-keeper should act as General Accountant, as well of the rent for leases as of the poll tax, land rent, tithes, &c., in which case the native collectors could give their accounts to him. This, I expect, would simplify matters, and enable the Secretary to be of more assistance to the Commandeur. In case such arrangement should be made, the General Accountant could keep the accounts of the revenue specified above, which could afterwards be transferred to the accounts of the Treasury; but Your Honours must wait for the authority to do so, as I do not wish to take this responsibility. I must recommend to Your Honours here to see that in future no petitions with regard to fines are written for the inhabitants except by the Secretaries of the Political Council or the Court of Justice, as those officers in India act as Notaries. This has to be done because the petitions from these rebellious people of Jaffnapatam are so numerous that the late Mr. Blom had to forbid some of them writing such communications, because even Toepasses and Mestices take upon themselves to indite such letters, which pass under the name of petitions, but are often so full of impertinent and seditious expressions that they more resemble libels than petitions. Since neither superior nor inferior persons are spared in these documents, it is often impossible to discover the author. Whenever the inhabitants have any complaint to make, I think it will be sufficient if they ask either of the two Secretaries to draw out a petition for them in which their grievances are stated, which may be sent to Colombo if the case cannot be decided here. In this way it will be possible to see that the petitions are written on stamped paper as ordered by the Company, while they will be written with the moderation and discrimination that is necessary in petitions. There are also brought to the Secretariate every year all sorts of native protocols, such as those kept by the schoolmasters at the respective churches, deeds, contracts, ola deeds of sale, and other instruments as may have been circulated among the natives, which it is not possible to attend to at the Dutch Secretariate. But as I have been informed that the schoolmasters do not always observe the Company’s orders, and often issue fraudulent instruments and thus deceive their own countrymen, combining with the Majoraals and the Chiefs of the Aldeas, by whom a great deal of fraud is committed, it will be necessary for the Dessave to hold an inquiry and punish the offenders or deliver them up for punishment. For this purpose he must read and summarize the instructions with regard to this and other matters issued successively by Their Excellencies the Governors of Ceylon and the subaltern Commandeurs of this Commandement, to be found in the placaats and notices published here relating to this Commandement. The most important of these rules must be published in the different churches from time to time, as the people of Jaffnapatam are much inclined to all kinds of evil practices, which has been the reason that so many orders and regulations had to be issued by the placaats, all which laws are the consequence of transgressions committed. Yet it is very difficult to make these people observe the rules so long as they find but the least encouragement given to them by the higher authorities, as stated already. It was decided in the Meeting of Council of October 20, 1696, that a large number of old and useless olas which were kept at the Secretariate and were a great encumbrance should be sorted, and the useless olas burnt in the presence of a committee, while the Mallabaar and Portuguese documents concerning the Thombo or description of lands were to be placed in the custody of the Thombo-keeper. This may be seen in the report of November 8 of the same year. In this way the Secretariate has been cleared, and the documents concerning the Thombo put in their proper place, where they must be kept in future; so that the different departments may be kept separately with a view to avoid confusion. I have also noticed on various occasions that the passports of vessels are lost, either at the Secretariate or elsewhere. Therefore, even so lately as last December, instructions were sent to Kayts and Point Pedro to send all such passports here as soon as possible. These passports, on the departure of the owners, were to be kept at the Secretariate after renovation by endorsement, unless they were more than six months old, in which case a new passport was to be issued. In case Your Honours are not sufficiently acquainted with the form of these passports and how they are to be signed as introduced by His late Excellency Governor van Mydregt, you will find the necessary information in the letters from Negapatam to Jaffnapatam of 1687 and 1688 and another from Colombo to Jaffnapatam bearing date April 11, 1690, in which it is stated to what class of persons passports may be issued. The same rules must be observed in Manaar so far as this district is concerned, in compliance with the orders contained in the letter of November 13, 1696. ([34])

The Court of Justice has of late lost much of its prestige among the inhabitants, because, seeing that the Bellale Mudaly Tamby, to whom previous reference has been made, succeeded on a simple petition sent to Colombo to escape the Court of Justice while his case was still undecided (as may be seen from a letter from Colombo of January 6, 1696, and the reply thereto of the 26th of this month), they have an idea that they cannot be punished here. Even people of the lowest caste threaten that they will follow the same course whenever they think they will not gain their object here, especially since they have seen with what honours Mudaly Tamby was sent back and how the Commissioners did all he desired, although his own affairs were not even sufficiently settled yet. A great deal may be stated and proved on this subject, but as this is not the place to do so, I will only recommend Your Honours to uphold the Court of Justice in its dignity as much as possible, and according to the rules and regulations laid down with regard to it in the Statutes of Batavia and other Instructions. The principal rule must be that every person receives speedy and prompt justice, which for various reasons could not be done in the case of Mudaly Tamby, and the opportunity was given for his being summoned to Colombo.

At present the Court of Justice consists of the following persons:—

But it must be considered that on my departure to Mallabaar, and in case the Dessave be commissioned to the pearl fishery, this College will be without a President; the Onderkooplieden Bolscho and Roos may also be away in the interior for the renovation of the Head Thombo, and it may also happen that Lieut. Claas Isaacsz will be appointed Lieutenant-Dessave, in which case he also would have to go to the interior; in such case there would be only three members left besides the complainant ex-officio and the Secretary, who would have no power to pronounce sentence. The Lieutenant van Hovingen and the Secretary of the Political Council could be appointed for the time, but in that case the Court would be more a Court Martial than a Court of Justice, consisting of three Military men and two Civil Servants, while there would be neither a President nor a Vice-President. I consider it best, therefore, that the sittings of the Court should be suspended until the return of the Dessave from the pearl fishery, unless His Excellency the Governor and the Council should give other instructions, which Your Honours would be bound to obey.

I also found that no law books are kept at the Court, and it would be well, therefore, if Your Honours applied to His Excellency the Governor and the Council to provide you with such books as they deem most useful, because only a minority of the members possess these books privately, and, as a rule, the Company’s servants are poor lawyers. Justice may therefore be either too severely or too leniently administered. There are also many native customs according to which civil matters have to be settled, as the inhabitants would consider themselves wronged if the European laws be applied to them, and it would be the cause of disturbances in the country. As, however, a knowledge of these matters cannot be obtained without careful study and experience, which not every one will take the trouble to acquire, it would be well if a concise digest be compiled according to information supplied by the chiefs and most impartial natives. No one could have a better opportunity to do this than the Dessave, and such a work might serve for the instruction of the members of the Court of Justice as well as for new rulers arriving here, for no one is born with this knowledge. I am surprised that no one has as yet undertaken this work.

The advice of Mr. Laurens Pyl in his Memoir of November 7, 1679, with regard to the Court of Justice, namely, that the greatest precautions must be used in dealing with this false, cunning, and deceitful race, who think little of taking a false oath when they see any advantage for themselves in doing so, must be followed. This is perhaps the reason that the Mudaliyars Don Philip Willewaderayen and Don Anthony Naryna were ordered in a letter from Colombo of March 22, 1696, to take their oath at the request of the said Mudaly Tamby only in the heathen fashion, although this seemed out of keeping with the principles of the Christian religion (Salva Reverentio), as these people are recognized as baptized Christians, and therefore the taking of this oath is not practised here. The natives are also known to be very malicious and contentious among themselves, and do not hesitate to bring false charges against each other, sometimes for the sole purpose of being able to say that they gained a triumph over their opponents before the Court of Justice. They are so obstinate in their pretended rights that they will revive cases which had been decided during the time of the Portuguese, and insist on these being dealt with again. I have been informed that some rules have been laid down with regard to such cases by other Commandeurs some 6, 8, 10, and 20 years previous, which it would be well to look up with a view to restrain these people. They also always revive cases decided by the Commandeurs or Dessaves whenever these are succeeded by others, and for this reason I never consented to alter any decision by a former Commandeur, as the party not satisfied can always appeal to the higher court at Colombo. His Excellency the Governor and the Council desired very properly in their letter of November 15, 1694, that no processes decided civilly by a Commandeur as regent should be brought in appeal before the Court of Justice here, because the same Commandeur acts in that College as President. Such cases must therefore be referred to Colombo, which is the proper course. Care must also be taken that all documents concerning each case are preserved, registered, and submitted by the Secretary. I say this because I found that this was shamefully neglected during my residence here in the years 1691 and 1692, when several cases had been decided and sentences pronounced, of which not a single document was preserved, still less the notes or copies made.

Another matter to be observed is that contained in the Resolutions of the Council of India of June 14, 1694, where the amounts paid to the soldiers and sailors are ordered not to exceed the balance due to them above what is paid for them monthly in the Fatherland. I also noticed that at present 6 Lascoreens and 7 Caffirs are paid as being employed by the Fiscaal, while formerly during the time of the late Fiscaal Joan de Ridder, who was of the rank of Koopman, not more than 5 Lascoreens and 6 Caffirs were ever paid for. I do not know why the number has been increased, and this greater expense is imposed upon the Company. No more than the former number are to be employed in future. This number has sufficed for so many years under the former Fiscaal, and as the Fiscaal has no authority to arrest any natives without the knowledge of the Commandeur or the Dessave, it will still suffice. It was during the time of the late Onderkoopman Lengele, when the word “independent” carried much weight, that the staff of native servants was increased, although for the service of the whole College of the Political Council not more than 4 Lascoreens are employed, although its duties are far more numerous than those of the Fiscaal. I consider that the number of native servants should be limited to that strictly necessary, so that it may not be said that they are kept for show or for private purposes. ([35])

The Company has endeavoured at great expense, from the time it took possession of this Island, to introduce the religion of the True Reformed Christian Church among this perverse nation. For this purpose there have been maintained during the last 38 years 35 churches and 3 or 4 clergymen, but how far this has been accepted by the people of Jaffnapatam I will leave for my successors to judge, rather than express my opinion on the subject here. It is a well-known fact that in the year 1693 nearly all the churches in this part of the country were found stocked with heathen books, besides the catechisms and Christian prayer books. It is remarkable that this should have occurred after His late Excellency Governor van Mydregt in 1689 had caused all Roman Catholic churches and secret convents to be dismantled and abolished, and instead of them founded a Seminary or Training School for the propagation of the true religion, incurring great expenses for this purpose. I heard only lately that, while I was in Colombo and the Dessave in Negapatam, a certain Lascoreen, with the knowledge of the schoolmasters of the church in Warrany, had been teaching the children the most wicked fables one could think of, and that these schoolmasters had been summoned before the Court of Justice here and caned and the books burnt. But on my return I found to my surprise that these schoolmasters had not been dismissed, and that neither at the Political Council nor at the Court of Justice had any notes been made of this occurrence, and still less a record made as to how the case had been decided. The masters were therefore on my orders summoned again before the meeting of the Scholarchen, by which they were suspended until such time as the Lascoreen should be arrested. I have not succeeded in laying hands on this Lascoreen, but Your Honours must make every endeavour, after my departure, to trace him out; because he may perhaps imagine that the matter has been forgotten. Such occurrences as these are not new in Warrany; because the idolatry committed there in 1679 will be known to some of you. On that occasion the authors were arrested by the Company through the assistance of the Brahmin Timmersa Nayk, notwithstanding he himself was a heathen, as may be seen from the public acknowledgment granted to him by His Excellency Laurens Pyl, November 7, 1679. I therefore think that the Wannias are at the bottom of all this idolatry, not only because they have alliances with the Bellales all over the country, but especially because their adherents are to be found in Warrany and also in the whole Province of Patchelepalle, where half the inhabitants are dependent on them. This was seen at the time the Wannias marched about here in Jaffnapatam in triumph, and almost posed as rulers here. We may be assured that they are the greatest devil-worshippers that could be found, for they have never yet admitted a European into their houses, for fear of their idolatry being discovered, while for the sake of appearance they allow themselves to be married and baptized by our ministers. For instance, it is a well-known fact that Don Philip Nellamapane applied to His late Excellency van Mydregt that one of his sons might be admitted into the Seminary, with a view of getting into his good graces; while no sooner had His Excellency left this than the son was recalled under some false pretext. In 1696, when this boy was in Negapatam with the Dessave de Bitter, he was caught making offerings in the temples, wearing disguise at the time. It could not be expected that such a boy, of no more than ten or twelve years old, should do this if he had not been taught or ordered by his parents to do so or had seen them doing the same, especially as he was being taught another religion in the Seminary. I could relate many such instances, but as this is not the place to do so, this may serve as an example to put you on your guard. It is only known to God, who searches the hearts and minds of men, what the reason is that our religion is not more readily accepted by this nation: whether it is because the time for their conversion has not yet arrived, or whether for any other reason, I will leave to the Omniscient Lord. You might read what has been written by His Excellency van Mydregt in his proposal to the reverend brethren the clergy and the Consistory here on January 11, 1690, with regard to the promotion of religion and the building of a Seminary. I could refer to many other documents bearing on this subject, but I will only quote here the lessons contained in the Instructions of the late Commandeur Paviljoen of December 19, 1665, where he urges that the reverend brethren the clergy must be upheld and supported by the Political Council in the performance of their august duties, and that they must be provided with all necessary comforts; so that they may not lose their zeal, but may carry out their work with pleasure and diligence. On the other hand care must be taken that no infringement of the jurisdiction of the Political Council takes place, and on this subject it would be well for Your Honours to read the last letter from Batavia of July 3,1696, with regard to the words Sjuttan Peria Padrie and other such matters concerning the Political Council as well as the clergy. ([36])