Rochussen publicized staged military readiness to intimidate would-be petitioners

Evidence

Upon receiving Van Hoëvell’s letter, Rochussen was more agitated rather than less and let it be widely know that he would hunt down the European ringleaders to make sure those not of “goodwill shook with fear.” To demonstrate his tenacity he also made it known that military forces were readied in the nearby barracks with loaded guns, live cartridges, and pointed cannons. — Ann Laura Stoler, Along the Archival Grain_ Epistemic…, 482