The Activities of S.C. Nederburgh as Commissioner-General (1791–1799)

Abstract

In 1790 the Dutch East India Company was in a bad way. The Fourth Anglo-Dutch war had had disastrous consequences for the Company, and it had not been able to recover from them. At the end of the accounting year 1789–90 debts in the Netherlands amounted already to f 91.1 million. The deficit in that year alone had been f 11.3 million. In Asia the capital was still f 23.5 million, but the losses nevertheless amounted to nearly f 13 million.1 In 1788 the States of Holland had given f 21 million in aid, on the basis of a plan for reform, but it was clear to everyone that this situation could not continue.