Johan Gerard van Angelbeek, ordinary councillor of the Dutch Indies, governor and director of the island of Ceylon, together with its dependencies and the council.
To all those who shall see or hear this read, greetings! Be it known:
Since it has come to our attention that among the good inhabitants, in the present circumstances, doubts have arisen regarding the value of the Company's credit notes, particularly due to the uncertain outcome of the siege with which this fortress is threatened. Therefore, we have deemed it necessary, for their reassurance, to make openly known:
That we, in well-founded confidence in the strength of our fortress, in the loyalty of our numerous garrison, and in the ample supply of artillery, ammunition, and provisions, do not in the least doubt that our resolution to maintain a steadfast defense will in due time be crowned with a fortunate outcome.
That according to reports in the English newspapers, which for good reason deserve credit, our State has, to our advantage and to the disadvantage of our enemies, concluded a treaty of peace and alliance with France, by which the independence and sovereignty of our Republic is recognized and guaranteed.
That both republics have bound themselves by an offensive and defensive treaty, so that neither may make peace with Great Britain without the consent of the other. That the superiority of France over England in this war in Europe was already decided before the conclusion of the alliance and, through the accession of our Republic, has gained new weight, and thus one may reasonably expect that England at the forthcoming peace will be compelled to return all captured fortresses, ships, and goods, and to compensate all damages, and finally, as acknowledged by the Lords Majores in their extract missive of 2 January 1794, §282, to the High Indian Government.
That the Company is indebted for the capital of the credit notes circulating among the public and must in due course pay them. The speedy fulfillment of this may now reasonably be expected, since our Republic, with the disastrous discord and division which until now have therein prevailed and which must be regarded as the sole source of all misfortunes our now stilled by the fortunate revolution and reform and unity restored, will take vigorous measures to restore its colonies in the East Indies to their former flourishing state and therefore also to redeem the credit notes. That at the same time it has been considered by us that if the aforementioned doubts among some inhabitants should increase to the point that they refuse to accept credit notes in payment, the Company, and also the community itself, would be brought into extreme difficulty, since then, in the absence of gold and silver and with a scarcity of copper coin, all payments, trade, and commerce would have to come to a halt. Therefore, to prevent the disastrous consequences thereof, we have resolved to ordain as follows:
1. That those who are entitled to payment for goods purchased with silver or gold shall be obliged to accept credit notes in payment, with such a premium as shall be current on the day the payment is offered.
2. That in all further trade and commerce, the credit notes shall be accepted for the value for which they are issued, and those who refuse to accept them in payment shall forfeit their claims, which shall be confiscated for the benefit of the poor fund.
3. That in all trade and commerce no distinction shall be made between copper coin and credit notes, but both shall always be of equal value, and it shall be left to the free choice of the payer or payee whether to discharge debts and accounts with credit notes or with copper coin.
4. That no one shall be permitted to exchange copper coin for credit notes with premium, on penalty of confiscation of both the credit notes and the copper coin so exchanged, to be forfeited half to the fiscal officer and half to the informer.
5. That, considering that the circulating credit notes are too large for small expenses, and that therefore from the prohibition of Article 4 some inconvenience might arise, for the convenience of the community we have resolved to create and issue cash notes or bills of one, two, three, four, five, and ten rixdollars, for the account and at the expense of the Company, to be redeemed by their Lordships in the same manner as the previously created credit notes, and which shall circulate in the same way, but with the difference that they shall not be transferable but given from one to another in payment. These shall therefore be printed in very small format under the signatures of the gentlemen Van Angelbeek and Samlant, with such precautions that they cannot be counterfeited. The following specimens shall be annexed: of one and two rixdollars in Dutch, of three and four in Sinhalese, and of five and ten in Tamil.
6. That these cash notes shall be issued in payment of all posts, especially also for wages, subsistence, and all other allowances less than 25 rixdollars; but for the convenience of the lower ranks earning 30 and under, such as bookkeepers and clerks, sergeants, corporals, and common soldiers and artillerymen (including the natives among them), as well as surgeons and shopkeepers, half their wages and subsistence shall be paid with these notes and half with doodoos, but the 50 percent gratuity on subsistence shall be paid only in doodoos.
7. That those who wish to exchange these cash notes and after six months return them to the Company shall receive in return ordinary credit notes with three percent premium, or bonds of the Company with half a percent monthly interest, beginning 1 January 1796, at their choice, provided that the sums together amount to not less than five hundred rixdollars.
Given in the Castle of Colombo on the island of Ceylon, 18 December 1795.
Johan Gerard van Angelbeek.
By order of His Excellency, their Noble Lordships and the Council,
B. L. van Zitter, Secretary.