Letter of introduction to Madeira Island?
Cape Colony watermark.

Cape official signed at the bottom; Johan Isaac Rhenius

Johan Isaac Rhenius (1750 – 27 July 1808), Cape official and acting Governor of the Cape Colony between 1791 and 1792.

Rhenius became secunde at the Cape Colony in August 1786 and after the departure of Cornelis Jacob van de Graaff was appointed acting governor on 24 June 1791. On the 2nd of March 1792, Rhenius signed a proclamation that formed the basis of the establishment of a postal service at the Cape Colony. He acted as governor until 3 July 1792, when authority was taken over by Sebastiaan Cornelis Nederburgh and Simon Hendrik Frijkenius, in their capacity as Commissioners-General.

He continued as secunde and when the British occupied the Cape, Rhenius make himself available as an official to serve under the British. In 1795 he was appointed Receiver-General and Treasurer and was also re-appointed as Commissaris-Politiek, a position he had held under the VOC. His task was to represent the government at Church meetings and to ensure that the church did not exceed its powers. In 1803 the Cape Colony was handed over to the Batavian Republic and Rhenius left the Cape for Germany

Sebastiaan Cornelis Nederburgh (1762 – 1811) was a Dutch statesman, first advocate and Commissioner General of the Dutch East India Company.

As a result of the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War, the VOC began to experience serious financial problems. Nederburgh was commissioned to compile a report with the theme of how to save the VOC from collapse. His report led to his appointment with Simon Hendrik Frijkenius as Commissioners General in charge of the Company's possessions, with instructions to rectify matters abroad.

Nederburgh and Frykenius arrived at the Cape on 18 June 1792 when they landed at Simon's Bay (present day Simon's Town). There the party was unloaded, and they had to continue on foot over land and reached Cape Town on 23 June 1792.

From 3 July 1792, Nederburgh and Frijkenius, in their position as Commissioner-General, acted together as governors of the Cape Colony. They did away with certain governmental posts, combated smuggling and imposed new taxes, in an attempt to reduce expenditure and increase income. They granted the free burghers leave to export their products but, owing to lack of cargo space, this was of little benefit to the colonists. On 29 July 1793 Nederburgh wrote a letter to the Netherlands, informing the government that the mood at the Cape had been calmed. On 1 September 1793, he and Frijkenius handed over the administration to Abraham Josias Sluysken, former Director of the VOC in Suratte, who as a pensioner on his way to the Netherlands, had stopped in the Cape Colony. This was done because they did not form a high opinion of the acting governor, Johan Isaac Rhenius, and were of the opinion that he was not a suitable candidate

318mm x 200mm folded

R3,500