The death of G.A.G.P. van der Capellen, ex-Governor-General of the Netherlands East Indies is shrouded in tragedy. In March 1848 he was afflicted by mental illness, which soon developed into a serious form of insanity. Van der Capellen, however, did not suffer for long, as he died on April 10th of the same year. A fact which, out of consideration, was not revealed at the time. Later still the explanation was offered that Van der Capellen had committed suicide “because his own financial affairs were in a muddle too”. Leaving aside the question of what were actually the circumstances of his insanity and death, it should at any rate be regarded as typical that Van der Capellen was persecuted with the financial mismanagement in the Netherlands East Indies up to the very hour of his death. Apart from the outbreak of the Java War nothing so much marked his ten-year term of office as the large deficit at its conclusion.