chap, xxii FRAUDS BY DUTCH OFFICIALS 357
service,
and that, without having defrauded it, he could not out of his wages
have amassed so large a sum. At this mention of his having defrauded
the Company I was unable to prevent myself from laughing ; this
astonished them, and the President of the Council asked me why I
laughed. I told him that it was seeing his astonishment at the fact
that M. Constant had defrauded the Company of 16,000 rupees, and that
if he had only carried off so much, it would have been a small matter,
adding that there was scarcely a servant of the Company who had held M.
Constant's offices, and had enjoyed the opportunity of trading, as he
had, without fear of the Fiscal, who had not made at least 100,000 ecus.1
Two or three members of the Council, then present, were uneasy at
hearing me talk in this way, as these remarks particularly affected
them For to say the truth, the Commanders and their subordinates in the
factories know well how to appropriate large sums for their own
benefit, to the great detriment of the Company ; and as they cannot do
so without having an understanding with the broker, he does the same on
his own account, those below him also taking what they can. I made an
estimate once of all the money of which the Company is defrauded on the
trade in each factory, and I ascertained that as they annually defraud
it in all the factories taken together to the extent of 1,500,000 or
1,000,000 livres,2 they have abundant opportunity for
consoling themselves. For to speak but of Persia alone, I have known
Commanders who, both by the sale of spices and on the purchase of
silks, have laid apart for themselves in one year more than 100,000
piastres.3 They practice marvellous artifices which it is
difficult for the Company, especially the directors and shareholders
of the Company, who are in Holland, to discover. For, as regards the
Commanders in India, the scandal must become notorious before the
General of Batavia and his council have recourse to law, and most
frequently the commanders shut the mouth of the Avocat Fiscal, by a
present amounting to more than the third part which would be his share
if all were confiscated, another third belongs to the Company, and the
other to the Hospital. Thus all passes 1 £22,500. J £112,500 to £120,000. 3 £22,500.
