From the inquiries of a commission appointed by the government of Holland, in the year 1780, to ascertain the real state of the Company's finances, and to report how far the nation would be warranted in giving its further support to the credit of an institution which had so rapidly declined, it appeared that in 1789, the arrears of the Company amounted to seventy-four millions of florins, and that this amount had since increased to eighty-four or eighty-five millions, of which sum no less than 67,707,583 florins had been advanced by the nation. The Commissioners, however, being of opinion, that the affairs of the Company were not irretrievable, recommended a further loan of seven millions of florins. A meritorious servant of the Company, Mr. C. Tetsingh, had offered to the Commissioners a memorial, in which he proposed that the Company should abandon the trade to private merchants under certain restrictions; but on this proposal the Commissioners stated that they were not then prepared to offer an opinion. This Commission, in reporting upon the manner in which the Company's affairs had been managed in India, declared that "they could not conceal the deep impression which the same had made upon their minds, and that they could not fix their thoughts upon it, without being affected with sentiments of horror and detestation...." "When," said they, "we take a view of our chief possession and establishment, and when we attend to the real situation of the internal trade of India, the still increasing and exorbitant rate of the expenses, the incessant want of cash, the mass of paper money in circulation, the unrestrained peculations and faithlessness of many of the Company's servants, the consequent clandestine trade of foreign nations, the perfidy of the native princes, the weakness and connivance of the Indian government, the excessive expenses in the military department and for the public defence; in a word, when we take a view of all this collectively, we should almost despair of being able to fulfil our task, if some persons of great talents and ability among the directors had not stepped forward to devise means by which, if not to eradicate, at least to stop the further progress of corruption, and to prevent the total ruin of the Company." The improvements proposed by the directors extended to every branch of the administration abroad. They proposed, first, with regard to the Cape of Good Hope, the yearly arrears of which settlement had latterly amounted to a million and a half of florins, that the same should be reduced to one half of that sum. With regard to the further eastern possessions, the measures proposed for consideration were chiefly the following.