With regard to the Seminary or training school for native children founded in the year 1690 by His late Excellency van Mydregt, as another evidence of the anxiety of the Company to propagate the True and Holy Gospel among this blind nation for the salvation of their souls, I will state here chiefly that Your Honours may follow the rules and regulations compiled by His Excellency, as also those sent to Jaffnapatam on the 16th of the same month. Twice a year the pupils must be examined in the presence of the Scholarchen (those of the Seminary as well as of the other churches) and of the clergy and the rector. In this college the Commandeur is to act as President, but, as I am to depart to Mallabaar, this office must be filled by the Dessave, in compliance with the orders contained in the letters from Colombo of April 4, 1696. The reports of these examinations must be entered in the minute book kept by the Scriba, Jan de Crouse. These minutes must be signed by the President and the other curators, while Your Honours will be able to give further instructions and directions as to how they are to be kept. During my absence the examination must be held in the presence of the Dessave, and the Administrateur Michiels Biermans and the Thombo-keeper Pieter Bolscho as Scholarchen of the Seminary, the Lieutenant Claas Isaacsz and the Onderkoopman Joan Roos as Scholarchen of the native churches, the reverend Adrianus Henricus de Mey, acting Rector, and three other clergymen.
It must be remembered, however, that this is only with regard to examinations and not with regard to the framing of resolutions, which so far has been left to the two Scholarchen and the President of the Seminary. These, as special curators and directors, have received higher authority from His Excellency the Governor and the Council, with the understanding, however, that they observe the rules given by His Excellency and the Council both with regard to the rector and the children, in their letters of April 4 and June 13, 1696, and the Resolutions framed by the curators of June 27 and October 21, 1695, which were approved in Colombo. Whereas the school had been so far maintained out of a fund set apart for this purpose, in compliance with the orders of His Excellency, special accounts being kept of the expenditure, it has now pleased the Council of India to decide by Resolution of October 4, 1694, that only the cost of erection of this magnificent building, which amounted to Rds. 5,274, should be paid out of the said fund. This debt having been paid, orders were received in a letter from Their Excellencies of June 3, 1696, that the institution is to be maintained out of the Company’s funds, special accounts of the expenditure being kept and sent yearly, both to the Fatherland and to Batavia. At the closing of the accounts last August the accounts of the Seminary as well as the amount due to it were transferred to the Company’s accounts. The capital then was still Rds. 17,141, made up as follows:—
| Rds. 10,341 | entered at the Chief Counting-house in Colombo. |
| Rds. 1,200 | cash paid by the Treasurer of the Seminary into the Company’s Treasury, December 1, 1696. |
| Rds. 5,600 | on account of church fines. |
The latter was on December 1, 1690, on the foundation of the Seminary, granted to that institution, and must now again, as before, be placed by the Cashier on interest and a special account kept thereof; because out of this fund the repairs to the churches and schools and the expenses incurred in the visits of the clergy and the Scholarchen have to be paid. Other items of revenue which had been appropriated for the foundation of the Seminary, such as the farming out of the fishery, &c., must be entered again in the Company’s accounts, as well as the revenue derived from the sale of lands, and that of the two elephants allowed yearly to the Seminary. The fines levied occasionally by the Dessave on the natives for offences committed must be entered in the accounts of the Deaconate or of that of the church fines, for whichever purpose they are most required.
The Sicos[40] money must again be expended in the fortifications, as it used to be done before the building of the Training School. The income of the Seminary consisted of these six items, besides the interest paid on the capital. This, I think, is all I need say on the subject for Your Honours’ information. I will only add that I hope and pray that the Lord may more and more bless this Christian design and the religious zeal of the Company. ([37])
The Scholarchen Commission is a college of civil and ecclesiastical officers, which for good reasons was introduced into this part of the country from the very beginning of our rule. Their meetings are usually held on the first Tuesday of every month, and at these is decided what is necessary to be done for the advantage of the church, such as the discharge and appointment of schoolmasters and merinhos,[41] &c. It is here also that the periodical visits of the brethren of the clergy to the different parishes are arranged. The applications of natives who wish to enter into matrimony are also addressed to this college. All the decisions are entered monthly in the resolutions, which are submitted to the Political Council. This is done as I had an idea that things were not as they ought to be with regard to the visitation of churches and inspection of schools, and that the rules made to that effect had come to be disregarded. This was a bad example, and it may be seen from the Scholarchial Resolution Book of 1695 and of the beginning of 1696, what difficulty I had in reintroducing these rules. I succeeded at last so far in this matter that the visits of the brethren of the clergy were properly divided and the time for them appointed. This may be seen from the replies of the Political Council to the Scholarchial Resolutions of January 14 and February 2, 1696.
On my return from Ceylon I found inserted in the Scholarchial Resolution Book a petition from two of the clergymen which had been clandestinely sent to Colombo, in which they did not hesitate to complain of the orders issued with regard to the visits referred to, and, although these orders had been approved by His Excellency the Governor and the Council, as stated above, the request made in this clandestine petition was granted on March 6, 1696, and the petition returned to Jaffnapatam with a letter signed on behalf of the Company on March 14 following. It is true I also found an order from Colombo, bearing date April 4 following, to the effect that no petitions should be sent in future except through the Government here, which is in accordance with the rules observed all over India, but the letter from Colombo of November 17, received here, and the letter sent from here to Colombo on December 12, prove that the rule was disregarded almost as soon as it was made. On this account I could not reply to the resolutions of the Scholarchen, as the petition, contrary to those rules, was inserted among them. I think that the respect due to a ruler in the service of the Company should not be sacrificed to the private opposition of persons who consider that the orders issued are to their disadvantage, and who rely on the success of private petitions sent clandestinely which are publicly granted. In order not to expose myself to such an indignity for the second time I left the resolutions unanswered, and it will be necessary for Your Honours to call a meeting of the Political Council to consider these resolutions, to prevent the work among the natives being neglected. The College of the Scholarchen consists at present of the following persons:—
- The Dessave de Bitter, President.
- The Lieutenant Claas Isaacsz, Scholarch.
- The Onderkoopman P. Chr. Bolscho, Scholarch.
- The Onderkoopman Joan Roos, Scholarch.
- Adrianus Henricus de Mey, Clergyman.
- Joannes Roman, Clergyman.
- Philippus de Vriest, Clergyman.
- Thomas van Symey, Clergyman.
- The Assistant Godfried Abraham, Scriba.
I am obliged to mention here also for Your Honours’ information that I have noticed that the brethren of the clergy, after having succeeded by means of their petition to get the visits arranged according to their wish, usually apply for assistance, such as attendants, coolies, cayoppen, &c., as soon as the time for their visits arrive, that is to say, when it is their turn to go to such places as have the reputation of furnishing good mutton, fowls, butter, &c.; but when they have to visit the poorer districts, such as Patchelepalle, the boundaries of the Wanny, Trincomalee, and Batticaloa, they seldom give notice of the arrival of the time, and some even go to the length of refusing to go until they are commanded to depart. From this an idea may be formed of the nature of their love for the work of propagating religion. Some also take their wives with them on their visits of inspection to the churches and schools, which is certainly not right as regards the natives, because they have to bear the expense. With regard to the regulations concerning the churches and schools, I think these are so well known to Your Honours that it would be superfluous for me to quote any documents here. I will therefore only recommend the strict observation of all these rules, and also of those made by His Excellency Mr. van Mydregt of November 29, 1690, and those of Mr. Blom of October 20, with regard to the visits of the clergy to the churches and the instructions for the Scholarchen in Ceylon generally by His Excellency the Governor and the Council of December 25, 1663, and approved by the Council of India with a few alterations in March, 1667.
The Consistory consists at present of the four ministers mentioned above, besides:—