Chapter 9 - Fall of a Fortress

Summary

It was 25 July when the English Major Anjou, on the frigate l’Heroine, first brought the credentials of the Prince of Orange to the Ceylonese Governor Van Angelbeek. These stated that the Ceylonese Government should, without positing the least problems, act as the English ministers at the Government of Madras should choose to write. The writer of this professes not to have seen either the letters of the Prince or the Government of Madras, but credible sources who did argue that none of the letters required more than to let some English troops stay on at Trincomalee, to assuage fears that it would be taken by the French.

Carel Francken, February 1797

With this explanation, Carel Francken started his explanation of the events that led to the fall of Ceylon to British forces in 1795-1796 for Governor-General Van Overstraten in February 1797. Ever since the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War of 1780-1784, plans had been made for the improvement of the fortifications in anticipation of the next European war. The position of Ceylon and the importance of Trincomalee meant that the VOC could not hope to remain neutral in the next war. When war came, however, it came in a completely unexpected form. The Republic itself would fall before the colonies did: invaded by French revolutionary forces in 1794-1795, a new or “Batavian” Republic was declared in July 1795. This new Republic allied itself to France and war with Britain was promptly declared, with the stadholder fleeing to Britain. But the Batavian Republic would not be a mere French puppet. Jonathan Israel has argued that many traits of the “old” Republic were continued in the new and political leadership would be held by Dutchmen, not Frenchmen, often former Patriots from the movement of the 1780s. Though the new state would be a centralized republic, there were still many proponents of federalism in the new national assembly.

This transition would have dramatic consequences for the position of the VOC in Asia. When the old Republic was forced into war with revolutionary France in 1793 in alliance with Britain, the VOC's Asian possessions were safe, as the British Royal Navy ruled the waves. The most important concerns were providing convoys for outgoing Indiamen and guarding against French privateers in Asian waters. This even provided a stimulus for technical innovation as the VOC finally introduced copper sheathing on its ships on a large scale.