Marshal Daendels, who was recalled from the government of Java only a few months before the British conquest, and who was by far the most active and energetic governor who had for a long time been at the head of the colony, has written an account of his own administration, of the state in which he found the island, of the measures he proposed and executed, of the improvements which he projected or carried into effect, of the revenues that might be expected, and of the expenditure that the public service required. Although he enters into some free and bold strictures on the conduct of the Commissioners, the estimates they formed, and the policy they recommended, he does not seem himself to have avoided many of the faults which rendered their policy objectionable, or to have entertained any hope of establishing a more liberal system. Forced services and contingents, and all the tyranny which they render necessary, still constituted the greatest part of the ways and means of the colonial treasury, and the grand source of profits for the Company.
The difficulties he had to struggle with, and the peculiar habits and character formed by his profession, seem to have determined his proceedings, more than any matured scheme of general administration, or any deliberate principles of government. He thus describes the situation of the colony on his arrival: "A powerful enemy threatened us by sea, and the Javan princes, acquiring audacity in proportion as they saw proofs of our weakness, thought the moment had arrived for prescribing the law to their former superiors. The very existence of our dominions on Java was thus in the greatest danger. Our internal resources of finance were exhausted, while a stagnation of trade, caused by the blockade of our shores, cut off all hopes of procuring assistance from without. In the midst of such disastrous circumstances, and the failure of so many attempts to introduce reform, and to maintain the dignity of government, _I found it necessary to place myself above the usual formalities, and to disregard every law, but that which enjoined the preservation of the colony entrusted to my management_. The verbal order which I received, at my departure from Holland, had this for its object, and the approbation bestowed upon my attempts to carry it into execution, encouraged me in the course of proceeding which I had began."