Hello everyone, if u guys don't know me yet; My name is Zenia and I research Daendels for fun in my free time ^^ To give a context; Herman Willem Daendels played parts in his country history, Napoleonic era and even in Dutch East Indies (Present Indonesia). Also I decided to sort some of my series out here so incase anyone are interested in Daendels, it will be easier to navigate through 🫡 I will try to update the list once every week (UPDATED ON 10 OCTOBER 2025)

Daendels Analysis series

Combinations of many mentions of Daendels from different documents that I found interesting. I sort them based on which parts of Daendels life they discussed.

-Patriot Era:

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Seven

Eight

Nine

Ten

Eleven

Twelve

-In the Indies:

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Seven

Eight

Nine

Ten

Eleven

Twelve

Thirteen

Fourteen

Fifteen

Sixteen

Seventeen

Eighteen

Nineteen

Twenty

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

29

-After the Indies:

One

Two

Three

-Others (Miscellaneous)

One [Comparison between Daendels and Robespierre]

Two [Daendels in Malaysian Literature]

Three [About Marriage]

Four [Daendels and Joubert]

Five [Bataviasche Koloniale Courant]

Six [Daendels and De Kock]

Seven [Daendels and Davout]

Eight [Daendels and Van Heutsz]

Nine [Personality]

Ten [Wellington and Daendels]

Eleven [Lotje]

Twelve [Behaviour]

Thirteen [Daendels Height and Accent]

Fourteen [Bataviasche Koloniale Courant Part 2]

Daendels Moments

Basically Daendels aura farming/being badass. Just a reminder, I do NOT support his bad actions. Fyi, some of stuff that I share here can be quite controversial (at least I think so)

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Seven

Eight

Nine

Ten

Eleven

Twelve

Thirteen

Fourteen

Fifteen

Sixteen

Seventeen

Eighteen

Nineteen

Twenty

21

22

23

24

Daendels Missing Remains

Yes u guys heard it right, it's gone. Still a mystery until now sadly.

One

Two

Three

Four

Bataviasche Koloniale Courant Highlights (Hiatus)

Newspaper released by Daendels in the Indies. This series is very packed with many economical stuff so it might not be for everyone.

One

Russian Campaign Letter Series (Hiatus)

Almost forgot this series. Basically letters that have Daendels in it or written for Daendels or maybe written by Daendels. Very Military stuff so it might not be for everyone.

One (Marshal Victor to Rapp and Daendels)

Two (Marshal Victor to Marshal Berthier)

Three (Victor Movement Orders in Russian Campaign 1812)

Four (Marshal Victor to General Fournier)

Five (Marshal Victor to Daendels)

Six (Marshal Victor to Daendels)

Seven (Marshal Victor to Daendels)

Eight (Marshal Victor to Daendels)

Nine (Marshal Victor to Saint-Cyr)

Also in 1809, Governor-General Daendels introduced equal treatment for prisoners, including equal and proper food and clean drinking water, while everyone was allowed to spend the same amount on board, regardless of nationality and religion. The prisons were also improved. This decree clearly reflects the drive for humanity, even if the Governor's original idea was not his.

the regulations in Daendels's subsequent Regulations were also caring and conducive to the general well-being of the subjects and the livestock in the villages leased to various industrial enterprises, with mandatory labor provision. (...)

General Daendels paid no attention to the sugar industry. He even loathed it. To prevent the sugar factories from completely collapsing, the government was obligated for years to advance funds to the owners or tenants of these expensive factories and to assist them with rice. Although General Daendels continued this advance, other factors adversely affected it, such as the shortage of workers, as everything that had been alive in the regencies was used for road construction and other services. (...)

Daendels: "The sugar needs no encouragement." (...) General Daendels is perhaps the only Governor-General who took no interest in it whatsoever. (...) As a result, Daendels liberalized the entire sugar trade in 1810 (...)

Mr. Engelhard, in his fierce argument, which purported to contradict Daendels's Memorandum, was influenced by bias (...)

The governorship of G.-G. Daendels would have lasted only 1.5 years if his first application for discharge, submitted as early as 1809 presumably a result of the desire to resume his European military life had been granted earlier. (...)

But even in the relatively short span of almost 3.5 years, a brief interval in his eventful career, which he embarked on in complete ignorance of the Indies, G-G. Daendels managed to accomplish so much that the support of competent advice seems self-evident and indeed proved true, without, however, supplanting the governor's initiative and strong independent judgment.

Despite his many offices and adventures, Daendels still found the time to compile the four-volume (...) in which he explained and justified his administrative actions, including all the ordinances, etc., he had issued. In 1816, this Memorie withstood a fierce attack from Mr. Nicolas Engelhard, holder of high office in the Dutch East Indies.

New police troops were also equipped at the expense of the regents, organized into a corps of Djaijang Sekars, or so-called "strikruiters," whose task was to maintain peace and security. This small army initially numbered approximately 1,000 men for all of Java, soon increasing to 1,450. The troops were recruited from prominent native families and held the rank of mantri. As a reward for their services to the country, they were preferably offered the temporary positions of demangs and mantris. Their uniforms and armaments were similar to those of the cavalry (...)

"We owe the restoration of security in Java largely to this," Daendels later wrote (...)

(...) reaffirmed on May 23, 1809 (...) Among other things, it prohibited all Chinese, natives, and Slaves from walking along the highways of the city at night without lights or armed; and it prohibited native officials of the Justice Department from entering the Chinese camp armed after sunset, unless properly dressed in their uniforms or provided with letters of permission from their officers; furthermore, everyone was given the freedom to arrest all unknown and suspicious persons to keep out, not only by force, persons, whether free or serfs, from within the hedges or paddocks of their properties from half past six in the evening until half past five in the morning, but even, if necessary, to set fire to them or otherwise kill them; "by which measures, combined with vigilant supervision, the city of Batavia has also been restored to a state of complete safety."

Decree of March 1, 1809, according to which all criminal sentences had to be presented to the Governor-General for approval before execution.

(...) However, his [Daendels] measures to improve the prison system aimed to bring uniformity to the treatment of prisoners, while maintaining the existing system, by raising the meager wages of the prison guards to a higher level, by assigning greater responsibility to these servants of the law, and by ensuring more effective oversight of their duties by the judicial and sentencing bodies. (...)

Furthermore, it was a thorn in his side that the prisoners of the Council of Justice and those of the Aldermen were not treated equally and that no consideration seemed to have been given to putting them on an equal footing, despite this unanimity resting convincingly on the fairness that the prisoners (must) enjoy equal treatment. (...) but the main thing for the time being was to indicate an equal basis for the physical care of the prisoners.

In this way, Daendels hoped to better serve the judicial system's purpose, to improve prisons' conditions of occupation, where the fate of the inmate would at least be alleviated compared to the dire situation during the 17th and 18th centuries. He already had a soft spot for reinstatement in society and thus more or less consciously contributed to shaping the current probationary philosophy. Therefore, he [Daendels] also opposed gruesome mutilation punishments such as the judicial cutting off of hands.

While it must undoubtedly be admitted that the center of Daendels's thought and work was the glory of Marshal Daendels, it cannot be denied that within him lived the striving for better and equal justice for all, an idea he was passionate about, perhaps decreeing too much like his idol Napoleon, but implementing too little.

However, through his [Daendels] reform of criminal justice and the prison system in our colonies, he certainly built on what official individuals and commissions had accomplished before him. In this respect, both the Netherlands and the Indies owe him gratitude; after all, he who intends and desires good, already acts well.

Wow this is long af n packed 😭 But I di love the fact that Daendels decided to include the natives people by allowing them to become police js like in point 1 🫡 He even rewarded them n thanked them in point 2, from that I can say that abt him paying the workers or not regarding the road, he def does.

Both the instructions and the act of appointment of the members of the new High Council date from August 15, 1809, according to which the composition of the council became as follows: President; Mr. H. W. Muntinghe

Vice-President; Mr. W. F. van Panhuijs

Ordinary members or Councillors;

-W. M. Keuchenius -M. T. Knibbe -G. N. de Witt -A. H. Smissaert -J. H. van IJsseldijk

Extraordinary members or extraordinary Councillors; -J. van Sevenhoven -K. Lakke

Attorney-General for Taxation; L. Heukevlugt

He [Daendels], indeed guided and assisted by Mr. W. Muntinghe, was the one who, at the beginning of the last century, even before the introduction of Napoleonic legislation, first attempted to administer "short and undue justice" to those subject to justice, partially within the framework of existing native legislation, and urged that regents and lower officials "to eliminate as much as possible the opportunity for abuses to be committed" (...)

(...) The thoroughly revolutionized man of authority now demanded strict obedience from his subordinates in his [Daendels] new territory, which entailed a new judicial system, in which, as a born autocrat, he personally intervened if necessary to even imperiously impose or prescribe to the judges what verdict they were to render. In this too, he was both the predecessor and counterpart of Napoleon, whom he so greatly admired. (...)

(...) for the first time, legal proceedings were now conducted entirely in accordance with native custom, which, for some parts of the judiciary and the indigenous system even then the most extensive meant a complete revolution and a major improvement.

In all of this, he [Daendels] primarily strove for a judicial system for the many millions of natives in accordance with native laws and customs, for the tens of thousands of Europeans and Orientals, according to the system in force in the mother country.

And then the prison system (...) to which Daendels, in his own way and according to his best feelings of humanity, also worked vigorously and contributed.

His [Daendels] aversion to all narrow-mindedness had thus far earned him countless enemies on all sides. Enemies who eagerly exploited his shortcomings, which consisted of exaggerating his many good qualities. In a certain respect, Daendels was exceptional. (...)

The draft decree for Daendels' appointment includes these words: "we rely on the bravery, honesty, and loyalty of Mr. Daendels."

England later followed Daendels's policy here as well, stripping the Javanese princes of all power. The VOC's trade policy had been replaced by Napoleonic. And it was Daendels who introduced it to Java. (...) Daendels's administration consisted, in fact, of nothing more than a series of reforms.

Another innovation was the publication of the Coloniale Courant, in which Daendels provided primarily financial disclosure to a public that had always been kept in the dark about this matter.

The criticism from Daendels' enemies has been sharp and bitter! But that criticism, while not entirely unfair, is so much a matter of personality that it carries little weight. For it comes primarily from personal enemies. Enemies in the Indies who either refused to submit to Daendels' views or held diametrically opposed views.

The overall verdict might be that Daendels, though here and there uprooting something that should have remained, sailed like a hurricane through a world of self-interest, dullness, and self-satisfaction. That he brought new life where everything was on the verge of collapse. (...)

To justify himself, Daendels lived in too unfavorable a political time for that. Only fifty years after him did the idea and possibility of a parliamentary inquiry begin to gain traction in the Netherlands. (...)

I rlly love point 4 🫡 I kinda wish we had that now lol, it will def be very useful. When I was skimming through the newspaper that Daendels created, it is true that most of them are abt economical stuff 😶‍🌫️ But I did pick up some interesting things, I thought of making it into a series that now ended up being stopped haha 😭 Mostly bcs it's very packed n I'm not sure if anyone will be interested in. Maybe one day I will continue it.

(...) In Daendels's last letters to the Sultan, the use of capital letters decreases: speaking of himself, Daendels always writes "His Excellency," but speaking of the Sultan, he now almost always writes "his highness" (without a single capital letter). Perhaps a coincidence, but otherwise: how narrow-minded!

While the governors of Java were accustomed to receiving the Sultan in Demangan, Daendels had him come to Bantulan, further from the capital. But there was no way to avoid the humiliation. Between the time when Sultan Sepoeh had dared to oppose the Governor-General's visit and today, a series of events had occurred that no native could recall without trembling in mind the man who now held the highest Dutch authority. Like a violent thunderstorm, it seemed it would sweep across all of Java. He [Daendels] had dethroned Bantam's Sultan, subsequently annexing part of his territory to the Dutch (...) Therefore, Sultan Sepoeh consoled himself with the journey to Bantulan.

Daendels, however, was still not satisfied. The stubborn Sultan, he believed, had held his head too high during the tribute; a new exercise in humility was deemed necessary, and the opportunity offered by a second reception at the residence was not wasted. When the Sultan arrived at the residence, he found no one but two delegates to escort him from the carriage inside, and when he approached the Marshal, the latter did not move a step toward him, indeed, he did not even rise from his seat. Seated on his throne, the Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies received the Sultan of Yogyakarta. But Daendels also seemed to consider the rebuke to be over, and the Sultan, initially very angry, parted from him with numerous expressions of friendship and affection, and assured the then Minister Wiese, to whose efforts he attributed Daendels' "goodwill", more than once of his gratitude (...)

One should above all see him [Daendels] as the head of the government, who had to achieve much with small resources and who did achieve much. An entire corps of civil servants had to be brought to their duty, and even this difficult work was accomplished (...)

(...) He [Daendels] created the legal system on Java. The forced coffee cultivation was established in such a way that its organization, which did not fit into the Raffles and Elout system, was revived under Van der Capellen, so that Van den Bosch had little left to do to become the "benefactor" of the Netherlands. He [Daendels] established an administration that has remained essentially the same to this day.

Much of what Daendels accomplished happened spontaneously, according to the impulse of the moment. But in the main matters, action was taken according to a well-considered plan, and what emerged in addition to the main matters testifies to great organizational talent. Daendels was, unlike many of his predecessors, a man of the act. (...)

(...) That he [Daendels] was reckless, mad, almost ferocious, and sometimes repulsive in his decisions or judgments will surely be admitted even by those who see Daendels as a great man (...)

(...) If anything, D. was imbued with the realization that, above all, the ingrained flaws, extortion, and abuse of power had to be eradicated by all means. (...)

And it must never be overlooked that D. lived in extremely difficult circumstances: almost completely cut off from the mother country, without supplies of the most essential supplies, facing a constant threat of attack from the English, facing an uncooperative and corrupted staff, assisted by only a few competent (...) Daendels largely fulfilled this task; despite his major shortcomings, we see great qualities in him.

(...) Daendels is the great man, the great reformer, the only man, too, who would have been capable of retaining Java for France. (...)

It certainly makes a strange impression that, as early as April 23, 1808, Daendels, who had acquired unreserved possession of Buitenzorg on March 29, 1808, always with the King's approval, sold a portion of that land to the commissioner for and over the affairs of the native Pieter Tency for 70,000 rupees. This is certainly proof of how much D. needed money, but also how recklessly he anticipated royal approval and how profit-seeking was not foreign to him.

(...) he [Daendels] was certainly not wealthy when he returned to Europe; his resumption of a rather unspectacular military position and his later acceptance of his appointment as Governor of the Coast of Guinea certainly indicate that he was far from independent. (...)

Daendels was in power for only three years, from 1808 to 1811, but it left deep scars on Java. One can compare it to a violent storm, devastating in its immediate consequences, but beneficial in its aftermath. It is not surprising that the Marshal's unyielding will and despotic actions filled contemporaries with resentment and fear; but posterity has recognized that in the then-current situation of Java, a strong hand like his was a blessing, provided it did not misstep, and that he only rarely did so (...)

Daendels, who was actually three-quarters French and cannot be considered a representative of the Netherlands or a Dutch system of government.

In a decree by Daendels dated 25 August 1808, it is stated regarding a certain captain that the alleged captain had been guilty of several excruciating abuses against his non-commissioned officers and other subordinates, both on and off duty, particularly hitting them in the face during exercises, had sold and withheld their competing supplies of rice for his own benefit, and had also used the men of his company for domestic duties (...)

The culprit confessed to his offenses, whereupon Daendels, considering that the aforementioned malpractice, for the good of the service, should be rigorously punished, following the example of others, has decided to suspend the aforementioned captain, as he is hereby suspended, and to further allow him to serve as a native soldier for a period of six years in the company he commanded as captain. (...)

The Palembang servants report that the absolute assistant, J. Vonck, dressed like a common Palembanger, led a band of rebels and traitors and helped plunder and rob the Chinese camp under our jurisdiction; and for what reasons they, residents, in the interest of good order, were forced into the unavoidable obligation to send the suspected Johannes Vonck back to the capital as a most wicked and dangerous subject. It is also noteworthy that Daendels ordered his decision regarding Vonck to be read aloud in the Penitentiary, as a warning to the Penitentiaries to behave dutifully.