reflected in the generale missive of the Hoge Regering to the Heeren XVII, in which
the Hoge Regering presented a kind of short summary on all (trade) matters of
the Company in Asia. In correspondence with the division of the outposts, every
member of the board was responsible for a part of this generale missive.21 To
carry out all the paperwork, large staffs were available, organized in the Generale
Secretarye. Frank Lequin calculated the size of this general secretary at ninety-five
employees on average in the eighteenth century. In the year 1740, a peak number
of 167 men was reached. As impressive as this may seem, this still was only a
fraction of the total staff of the VOC in Asia. For the eighteenth century, Lequin
calculated an average of 18.476 men working for the Company on land (of which
17.292 were European). In Batavia - with an average of 4.588 men - roughly two
percent was working at the Generale Secretarye, in 1740 almost three.22
The calculations of Lequin more or less match a report written by Petrus van
der Parra in 1745. Van der Parra (governor-general between 1761-1775) was
second secretary to the Hoge Regering at the time, and wrote a 'memorandum
of improvements of the Generale Secretarye'. According to Van der Parra, this
document was produced yearly. In the memorandum, Van der Parra suggests to
reduce the number of 'writers' to thirty-six men, consisting of fifteen ordinary
clerks, fifteen extraordinary clerks, and six young assistants. "A considerable
difference", according to Van der Parra, "with the seventy-five or hundred-eleven
men the Company employed in those positions in the last ten years".23 The clerks
probably worked six days per week, from 07:30 to 11:30 and from 14:00 to 17:00.
At the 'common table' at the City Hall, the clerks had their lunch. Probably not
always in an orderly fashion, as the Hoge Regering decided in a resolution of 1746
that it was forbidden to complain about the served food, a fork and knife had
to be used, smoking was not allowed, and silence was prescribed during prayer.
Disorderly behaviour would be fined.24
Next to the thirty-six men, Van der Parra lists some other functions one could
occupy at the Generale Secretarye. Among them are the first and second secretary
to the Hoge Regering, of whom the first was the head of the Generale Secretarye.
He was also present at the meetings of the Hoge Regering and wrote the resoluties,
the decisions of the governor-general and his board. The direct assistants of the
first and second secretary were the gesworen (sworn) clerks, of whom Van der
Parra lists four. He also mentions a dagregisterhouder, a person who wrote the
daily report of the town's Castle. The clerks already wrote these reports in the
seventeenth century, following specific orders of the Heeren XVII. In 1720,
NICO VRIEND AN UNBELIEVABLE AMOUNT OF PAPER: THE INFORMATION SYSTEM AND NETWORK OF
THE DUTCH EAST INDIA COMPANY
19 NA, VOC, 'overgekomen brieven en papieren' (letters and papers from the trading posts), inv. number
1053-4454.
20 To maintain overview, connections between the different trading posts in Asia are excluded.
21 Balk and Van Dijk, Inventaris van het archief van de Hoge Regering, 56. Gaastra, De geschiedenis van de VOC,
66-71.
22 Lequin, Het personeel van de Verenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie, 75-77, 82, 89, and 238-240.
23 Resolution Hoge Regering, 30 March 1745. ANRI, Hoge Regering, inv. number 1001. The original memo
randum can be found in the series bijlagen (annexes) to the resolutions. ANRI, Hoge Regering, inv. number
1310. Indeed, a memorandum can also be found for the year 1746 (resolution Hoge Regering, 12 August
1746). NA, VOC, 'Kopie-resoluties van gouverneur-generaal en raden' (copies of the resolutions of the
Hoge Regering), inv. number 776.
24 Resolution Hoge Regering, 15 November 1746. NA, VOC, Copies of the resolutions of the Hoge Regering,
inv. number 776. The working hours are mentioned by Lequin for the scheepssoldijboekhouders (accountants
of the ships salary administration). Lequin, Het personeel, 77.
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