No. 301.

or killed all the Indians, was brought by us, as soon as possible, after it had been received, to the knowledge of the States General, who were pleased to take regarding it, on the 2d of this month, such an energetic resolution as you shall see from copies thereof which we send you for your information.

Meanwhile we hope that His Majesty the King of Spain will now put an effective stop to all causes for future complaints, and that thus good harmony may again exist and be cultivated between the respective citi

zens.

Wherewith, sir, etc.

Amsterdam, March 16, 1775.

No. 302.

Extract from letter from the Courts of Policy and Justice in Essequibo to West India Company, July 10, 1775.

It were desirable that the remonstrances made by Their High Mightinesses to the Court of Spain concerning the desertion of the soldiers and the running away of the slaves had had better results, because it is impossible to devise or to carry into effect any preventive measures in this river, both on account of the size and the wide extent of the same, as well as by reason of the many embouchures or mouths, so that we fear with reason that this matter may one day be of evil consequence for the colony.

Extract from letter from Paulus Vermeere, Postholder in Moruca, to G. H. Trotz, Director-General in Essequibo, October 11, 1775.

[Reprinted from Blue Book, No. 3, p. 190.]

This serves to inform your Honour that on the 8th of this month the Spanish Captain Mattheo, having with him fifty men, amongst whom there was also Hendrik Rodemeijer, who ran away from the mouth here (have been here), and taken away all the Indians and boats, going as far as a distance of more than two hours below the Post; they have even carried off the Indians who have come hither to lay out plantations, although I told them that the Indians belonged to me and were in my service, but they answered, "We found them on the water."

So that there is no longer an Indian to be found in these parts. The Spanish Captain said that they had come to look for the Indians who had

No. 303.

killed the Spaniards, and that they had come in two large vessels lying at Biejarra at the mouth of the Hittaba, and that he, the Captain, had been sent out from those vessels, and he further said that his lord and master would shortly set a guard in the arm of the Weene called the Barmani, and that the whole of Maroekka belonged to the Spaniards, and I thereupon answered that the rivers Barima, Sweedt, and Weene, as well as Maroekka, belonged to the Dutch, and they said that it was not so.

I therefore feel compelled to inform your Honour of this as speedily as possible, because I do not know what I am to do in this matter-that is to say, with a post without any men or Indians.

Extract from letter from G. H. Trotz, Director-General in Essequibo, to West India Company, October 22, 1775.

I take the liberty of forwarding to your lordships the copy of the letter sent to me by the Postholder of Maroco, from which your lordships will again be made acquainted with the liberties taken by our injurious neighbours the Spaniards. I will submit that letter to the consideration of the combined meeting of the Courts, but it will be impossible to arrive at any useful conclusion in the matter.

Extracts from proceedings of West India Company (Zeeland Chamber), 1776. [Reprinted from U. S. Commission, Report, Vol. 2, pp. 510-512.]

Heard the report in the name of the Committee on Commerce, that upon examination of the inclosures belonging to the letter of Director-General Trotz, dated October 22 of last year and received on January 15 last, they had found a copy of a letter from the Postholder of Moruca, wherein he complains of the outrageous excesses of the Spaniards, of the acts of violence committed by them against the free Indians, and of the claims which the aforesaid Spaniards advance to the districts subject to the river Essequibo; after discussion it was resolved to write to the Presidial Chamber Amsterdam asking whether they did not think it necessary to bring the contents of the aforesaid letter from the Postholder of Moruca under

No. 305.

the eyes of the States General, pointing out all the harmful consequences which might result therefrom; and the letter drawn up to this effect by the Advocate in accordance with the conclusions of the Committee on Commerce having been submitted for approval, it was approved and adopted.

There was read a letter from the Presidial Chamber Amsterdam, written there without statement of date, containing, that from [our] letter of the 5th of this month they had been grieved to learn the excesses committed by the Spaniards against the free Indians in Essequibo, as seen from the letter written by the Postholder of Moruca to Director-General Trotz, and inclosed in a letter from the aforesaid Director dated October 22, 1775, whereof they requested a copy because it had not yet been received by them.

That they were somewhat reluctant to address themselves in this connection to the States General, because the States General had more than once caused representations to be made upon this subject, but without result; that, however, they thought it best to bring the matter unofficially before the Ministry at The Hague and get an expression of its opinion; another point of consideration with the aforesaid Presidial Chamber being, whether it might be advisable to give orders to the Director-General to oppose violence by violence, and to man the post of Moruca better.

There having been heard the report in the name of the Committee on Commerce, who in pursuance of our resolution of February 19 last have examined a letter received on the preceding day from the Presidial Chamber Amsterdam, lacking mention of day or date, containing an answer to two of our letters, to wit, one of the 5th preceding, about the excesses of the Spaniards against the free Indians in Essequibo, and the other, likewise of the 5th of the same month, about sustaining the Company's credit, all more fully set forth in this Chamber's minutes of February 19 aforesaid.

After discussion it was resolved to write in answer to the aforesaid Presidial Chamber that, while we fully approve of that Chamber's suggestion to send orders to the Director-General in Essequibo to man better the post of Moruca, we nevertheless would be of opinion that the contents of the letter of the Postholder of Moruca should be brought to the knowledge of the States General, in order to obtain the opinion of the States General whether orders should be given to the aforesaid Director-General to oppose violence by violence; and so on, as in the draft of the letter, which, having been submitted for approval, was approved and adopted.

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No. 306.

Extracts from proceedings of West India Company, (the Ten), May 15, 1776. [Reprinted from U. S. Commission, Report, Vol. 2, pp. 513-515.]

That, as regards the petitioners' complaints about the desertion of the slaves, the Representatives and Directors, as well as the officers of the militia, have most seriously weighed the harmful consequences thereof and also of the procedure of the Spaniards, and for that reason they long ago called the attention of the States General to the damage which results therefrom to the colonists and to the further annoying prospects, and repeated this on February 27, 1775, as will be seen from the inclosed copy thereof.

That the Representative and the Directors have also had the satisfaction of seeing these oft-repeated appeals find favor with the States General, who at various times have given the necessary orders to their Minister at the Spanish Court to induce His Majesty the King of Spain to put an end to the complaints made against the Spaniards.

That, the representations made having been fruitless, the States General, upon the aforesaid request made to them on February 27, 1775, by the Representative and the Directors, adopted a very urgent resolution; but that the Representative and the Directors have nevertheless been grieved to learn that all has been fruitless and that the Spaniards on the Orinoco are acting more and more unreasonably and boldly, and consequently the Representative and the Directors, in view of the ill success of the representations made by the States General to the Spanish Court, dare not flatter themselves that they will at present be able to bring about any treaty or compact with the Court of Spain.

That, as concerns the further complaints of the petitioners, about the bad condition of the militia and the fortifications on the one hand, and the heavy taxes on the other, this body could have wished, as regards the first point, that the Director-General and the Councilors had submitted to the Representative and the Directors a plan of the fortifications or posts and the troops needed therefor in order to prevent the desertion of the slaves and protect the colony and its inhabitants against the attacks of the Spaniards; while the Representative and the Directors, as to what has occurred on account of the smallness of the garrison, must remark that now more than twice as many troops have been sent to Essequibo alone as were formerly in both the rivers, and that the Director-General and the Councilors have never submitted a plan of defense for making Essequibo safe against the desertion of the slaves and the attacks of the Spaniards.

That from what precedes the Director-General and the Councilors and also the petitioners will see that of a treaty with the Court of Spain there is as yet no ground for hope, and therefore other means of protection will

No. 306.

have to be resorted to, either by well manning the posts, or by little forts, or by outliers, or all of these, together with the aid of the free Indians, from whom it seems to this body that probably the most advantage is to be expected, and whose friendship therefore must be cultivated by all available means, and all causes for offense avoided, as the Representative and the Directors have repeatedly recommended to the Director-General and the Councilors, and even by a special article in their Instructions.

Extract from Minutes and Order of the West India Company to the Commandeur and Court of Policy in Demerara, February to May, 1776. [Translated from p. 248 of records in office of Secretary of the Government in Georgetown, entitled Orders and Extracts from Minutes of the Dutch West India Company, addressed to the Commandeur and Court of Policy of Demerara, February to May, 1776.]

But the slaves who run away to Orinoco are always those of the better class of a plantation; are active and skillful in everything and are induced to go to the Spaniards only by the hope of obtaining their liberty. By experience it is known that the evil-minded negroes make no effort to run away, except when their masters are sleeping; they have to collect their small belongings and some provisions, so that, the night being then far advanced, they have not sufficient time to get to the western coast of the Essequibo without being arrested in their flight by the post above mentioned and established there to pursue them.

Extract from letter from A. A. Brown, Secretary in Essequibo, to West India Company, June 6, 1777.

Next, I beg leave to inquire of you whether lands which have been granted to some one formerly or long ago, or which have been acquired by purchase or inheritance (some of them once cultivated and others not yet), and are at present not at all under cultivation, can and must revert to the Company.

If so, then the Company has a right to at least three quarters of this extensive colony since there are several planters who hold thousands of acres of land which are not under cultivation. For most of the old planters, as soon as the lower lands were brought under cultivation, transferred their plantations which lay above this fort or Flag Island, brought off all their slaves, mills, cattle, etc., and practically abandoned the old plantations; but, in order nevertheless to retain their right, as they fancy, to