The Commissioners-General of the Dutch East Indies ( as they called themselvesOranje, p. 2) was a commission instituted by the Dutch king William I of the Netherlands in 1815 to implement the provisions of the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1814 and take over the government of the Dutch Indies from the British lieutenant-governor of Java, John Fendall. The commission consisted of the following three members: Godert van der Capellen, Arnold Adriaan Buyskes, and Cornelis Theodorus Elout. One of their tasks was to implement a new for the colony that they carried in draft form with them. But instead, they promulgated a much-amended version of that draft at the end of their mission in 1818. It embodied a transition from the "trade colonialism" of the VOC to an embryonic form of "imperial power colonialism," which would come to full fruition during the 19th century (while retaining aspects of "trade colonialism"). The "constitution" they wrote would remain in force for the Dutch East Indies in the main, though with important amendments, like the institution of the Volksraad, until the end of Dutch colonial rule.
Background
The British East India Company had, with help of the Royal Navy conquered the possessions of her former rival, the VOC (since nationalization, its possessions were claimed by the Batavian Republic and its successor states) in the East Indies in 1810 and 1811. Sir Stamford Raffles had, as lieutenant-governor, made an energetic start with the conversion of the institutions of the colony, but he built on the work of the last Dutch governor of Java, Jan Willem Janssens,Burgers, pp.71-72 who actually acted on the authority of the French Empire, as Napoleon had in 1810 annexed the Kingdom of Holland (the successor state to the Batavian Republic). When the Dutch state was resurrected in 1813 by the victorious allies, the British government deemed it politic to return most of the colonies of the Kingdom of Holland to this new sovereign entity (the Sovereign Principality of the United Netherlands at that moment in time). To that end, the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1814 was concluded with the sovereign prince (as he then was), William I.
William made plans to implement the treaty by sending an expedition to the East Indies, but the project was delayed by the events of the Hundred Days,Oranje. p.42 so the expedition could only depart at the end of October 1815. By then he had become King of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands. He instituted the as the Dutch name reads, on 3 January 1815, and at the same time issued a draft of a (Constitutional Regulation) that was intended to replace the last promulgated by Daendels (and still in place under Raffles, with amendments). He handed this to the three Commissioners, Van der Capellen, Buyskes, and Elout with the intent that they should implement it in the Indies after taking over the government from the British. As it turned out the Commissioners never did this.Oranje, p.1
Work of the Commission The Commissarissen Generaal set sail on 29 October 1815Oranje, p. 7 from Texel aboard a Dutch navy squadron under command of the member of the Commissarissen Generaal, Rear-Admiral Buyskes, consisting of Zr. Ms. Admiraal Evertsen (flagship), Zr. Ms. Admiraal De Ruyter, Zr. Ms. Amsterdam, Zr. Ms. Braband, Zr. Ms. Maria van Reigersbergen, Zr. Ms. Iris, and Zr. Ms. Spion. On board of the De Ruyter were Buyskes and Elout, the botanist Caspar Georg Carl Reinwardt, and about 600 soldiers of the Indies Brigade who had served at the Battle of Waterloo, but now came to fulfill the original task of the brigade: defending the Dutch East Indies, under command of Carl Heinrich Wilhelm Anthing; another 1200 were spread over the remaining ships. The squadron arrived on the roadstead of Batavia on 21 May 1816.Reinwardt and Muller, p. 51Blok and Molhuysen, pp. 22-23
It took until 18 August 1816 before Fendall finally handed over the government of Java to Van der Capellen, pleading a lack of instructions to do so from his superiors. In other parts of the Indies the handover took even longer. The Moluccas were transferred in early 1817; the former VOC possessions in India and on Malacca followed in 1818; and Sumatra in 1819. In this context it is important to point out that the Dutch kingdom acted as the successor of the VOC, and only exercised the rights that company had possessed previously. The VOC did not possess the entire area that now comprises the Republic of Indonesia. The VOC had conquered a large part of the island of Java, and exercised "direct rule" there. But other parts were still autonomous, like the Surakarta Sunanate and the Yogyakarta Sultanate. Elsewhere the Governorate of the Banda Islands was under direct rule, but the Sultanate of Ternate, that comprised other parts of the Moluccas, was a semi-autonomous vassal state. Other parts of the archipel were even more autonomous, though bound to the VOC (and later the Dutch colonial government) by (unequal) treaties, like Celebes. And in 1817 the island of Bali, and large parts of Sumatra, Borneo, and of course New Guinea were still completely independent.Burgers, p. 69 The handover of the government to the Commissarissen Generaal was solemnly proclaimed on 19 August 1816, which at the same time also proclaimed Van der Capellen as the new Governor-General.
The Commissioners decided to leave the British amendments to Daendel's Regeringsreglement in force for the time being. The old Council of the Indies was restored in its powers as a check on the Governor-General, though the Governor-General would be empowered to override the Council under certain circumstances. The Commissioners further decided to leave Raffles' cash-based land tenure system (known as the landrenteBurgers, p. 73) in place, as well as the monopolies from the time of the VOC, and the obligations for the population to plant and produce certain agricultural commodities. But they wished to study the possibility of lifting the spice monopoly in the Moluccas. The restrictions on commerce and shipping from the days of the VOC were lifted, opening up the Indies to commerce from other countries, except in the Moluccas. All European residents would enjoy freedom to set up a business. Finally, the Commissioners decided to study the introduction of educational reforms, opening up the schools for Europeans to the indigenous population.Burgers, pp. 74-75
But these were just provisional decisions. The Commissarissen Generaal subsequently began their principal work on the formulation of a new Regeringsreglement that would be completed in 1818.
Interlude: the suppression of the insurrection of Pattimura
However, the work of the Commissarissen Generaal especially of its member Buyskes, was interrupted in May 1817 by the insurrection on the island of Saparua in the Moluccas, led by the Christian Saparuan sergeant Thomas Matulessy, who had adopted the pseudonym Pattimura. The British had during their occupation of Saparua raised a regiment of mercenary soldiers, in which Matulessy had reached the rank of sergeant. When the Moluccas were handed over to the Dutch commissioners sent out by the Commissarissen Generaal in early 1817, they had disbanded this regiment, causing great distress to Matulessy and his colleagues. The new Resident for Sapurua, Johannes Rudolph van den Berg had instituted a few other tactless and unpopular policies. This caused Matulessi/Pattimura and his followers to storm Fort Duurstede on Saparua and massacre the garrison and the Resident and his family.*
The subsequent punitive expedition sent out by the Dutch commissioners in the Moluccas had led to a disastrous result, and large loss of Dutch life. Only then saw these commissioners fit to inform the Commissarissen Generaal. Van der Capellen decided that the Dutch Indies government had no option but to react severely. He realized the mistakes of the Moluccan commissioners, and sacked them forthwith. He appointed Buyskes in their place and charged him with the command of a military expedition to restore "law and order" in the Moluccas and punish the insurgents.Kemp (2), pp.3-6 Buyskes left on 27 June 1817 with about 250 soldiers aboard the Zr. Ms. Prins Frederik to Surabaya, where he joined the Zr. Ms. Amsterdam, and another 250 soldiers came aboard the Prins Fredrik and two transports. The expedition left for Celebes on 27 July. They reached Ternate on 1 September. There the Sultan was persuaded to supply twenty so-called "kora koras" (indigenous armed proas) with a considerable number of impressed Ternatean soldiers. This flotilla arrived at the roadstead of Ambon, where it was joined by Zr. Ms. Nassau and Zr. Ms. Admiraal Evertsen. The kora koras had each about 100 native soldiers aboard (both those from Ternate and from Tidore under the command of the princes Toessan and Doekim;the most impressively martial looked the Alfoers), bringing the total to 2000 troops for the entire expedition.Kemp (2), pp. 7-16
In the meantime the insurrection had spread to a number of neighboring islands, among which Haruku, Nusa Laut, the south coast of Ceram, and the northern (Hitu) and western parts of Ambon and a number of individual villages on that island.Kemp (2), p. 17 Buyskes decided to first stabilize the situation on Ambon, his base of operations. He started out by on 3 October 1817 sacking the incompetent commissioners for the Moluccas, Van Middelkoop (governor) and Engelhard, and assumed the governorship himself. He delegated the governing of Ambon to a new Resident, Neijs. As to the military organisation, he formed three "divisions", named after the three warships: Evertsen, Nassau and Prins Frederik, each consisting of 46 armed sailors, complemented by a battalion of soldiers. For the leaders he formulated an instruction about what tactics to follow (with an emphasis on attempted encirclement and attacks on multiple fronts, as he deemed such tactics most effective against an enemy with low morale).Kemp (2), pp. 20-21
Hitu was the first target of operations. An expedition under command of major Meijer soon brought the area under control (end of October).Kemp (2), ch, 4 Next it was Haruku's turn. Begin November a landing took place there, near Kailolo, again led by major Meijer. The next target was to be Pelauw, which fell without opposition. The inhabitants, who had fled into the bush were convinced to return. But then things got out of hand. The Alfoer auxiliaries burned down a number of surrounding hamlets and started looting. Although there had been no resistance at Pelauw, major Meijer decided to "set an example" and selected 23 notables, from the 300 people he had taken prisoner, who were put in irons. He next had them summarily shot (he released the others, after they had sworn allegiance to the local Radja). Buyskes approved this conduct as he later reported.Kemp (2), p. 40
What next happened is not entirely clear according to Kemp. The reports about the matter differ. But it seems that Meijer in the next few days decided to repeat the punitive action, this time on a beach near Pelauw, and in front of around a 1000 shocked witnesses. Again the number of victims was about 20, selected from about 400 suspected insurgents, who had surrendered on the promise of ampun (pardon). Again the others were let go after swearing allegiance to the Radja (whose own son appears to have been among the victims). Kemp condemns Meijer's conduct in strong terms, pointing out that because the promise of a pardon was broken the insurgents no longer trusted such promises, which made the pacification work more difficult.Kemp (2), pp. 41-45