NI-:THKR LANDS. 



509 



exports of the Government. 1 7.022.000 guilders; 

 total exports of merchandise. f'.i!i.2or>.noo Builder?-, 

 -pecie wen- '.i.H-Jti.nuo guilders; 

 8, -;'.i.U'>o guilders. 



The shipping arriving in 1M'4 comprised :: 

 stean "i.niMi cubic metres, and 1,471 



saili: f 668,000 cubic meti 



The army of the Dutch East Indies on Jan. 1. 

 l-!it;. had a'total strength of 1.360 officers and 88,- 

 611 men. comprising oSQ staff officers and 3.60S men 

 attached to the general stalf. l>84 infantry officers 

 and 30.150 soldiers. 34 officers and 881 men in the 

 cavalry, 121 officers and 3.308 men in the artillery, 

 and 61 officers and 6G4 men in tlie engineers. The 

 army consisted of 16,35? Europeans, 56 Africans, 

 and 22,198 natives. 



The fleet consists of the protected corvette 

 'Sumatra." of 1.720 tuns, the ironclad " Koning 

 der Nederlanden," 12 gunboats. 3 steamers, and a 

 torpedo boat. 



War in Acheen. The Dutch have maintained 

 their sway over the larger external islands since 

 these were restored to their possession by the peace 

 of 1814 with but little friction or opposition on the 

 part of the peaceably disposed inhabitants, mixed 

 populations of Malay. Hindu. Arabic. Mongolian. 

 and Papuan blood, except over the fierce Moham- 

 medan Malays of northern Sumatra, descendants of 

 pirates who subjugated the indigenous race in former 

 centuries. These people are a small fraction of the 

 population of the island, yet they have successfully 

 resisted Dutch rule since they were deprived of 

 their autonomy in 1874. and the warfare that they 

 have since waged to maintain their independence 

 has crippled the finances of Netherlands India and 

 drained the national treasury of its gold and the 

 country of its stalwart youth. The Sultan of Acheen 

 was stripped of his possessions on the other islands 

 by the Dutch in the last century, and in 1824 Great 

 Britain, which for political and commercial reasons 

 had upheld the independence of Acheen. acquiesced 

 in a Dutch protectorate, in consequence of which 

 the Netherlands assumed full responsibility for the 

 security of trade and navigation on these ( 

 In 1871 the treaty with England was modified so as 

 to enable the Dutch to establish their authority 

 over Acheen. The Sultan sent a secret embassy to 

 the American diplomatic agent at Singapore to 

 appeal for the military aid of the United States at 

 the same time that he dispatched commissioners to 

 treat with the Netherlands Government. Encour- 

 aged by the hope of support from the United States 

 and England, the merchants of which countries 

 actually supplied him later with weapons and am- 

 munition, the Sultan rejected the terms proposed 

 by the Government of Netherlands India. His con- 

 tumacious and treacherous conduct led to the send- 

 ing of an expedition in April, 1873. to bring him to 

 terms and establish Dutch rule in Acheen. This 

 expedition met with disaster, but a second one suc- 

 ceeded in capturing the capital. Kotaradja. in Jan- 

 uary, 1874, hut not in subjugating the Acheenese, 

 against whom a desultory warfare has been waged 

 ever since. Gen. Karl van der Heyden. who was 

 born and grew up in the East Indies" and rose from 

 the ranks to be commander-in-chief. understood the 

 treachery, hypocrisy, and vindictive cruelty of the 

 Malays, whose blood he had in his veins, and he 

 succeeded in imposing an iron rule over them, but 

 after he retired, in 1881. the revolt broke out afresh. 

 Since then the Dutch have held only a small tri- 

 angular district with a coast line from the port of 

 Oleh Leh to the fortified post of Kota Pohama ami 

 a military dead line drawn in the interior, marked 

 by an embankment surmounted by a railroad, inside 

 of which a Malay rebel is shot on sight. Outside of 

 this line no Dutch force can march without danger 



of being caught in an ambush and annihilated. for 

 a rebel, and all an- provided with 

 repeating rifles, which they keep in concealment. 

 Tin - <iv brought in from Sin_ 



the swift native />/Y/H.S that take out 

 per in spite of the vigilant blockade of the < 

 The most formidable military leader of the r. 

 i- Toekoe Oemar, who has repeatedly made i- 

 with the Dutch and treacherously attacked them 

 later when opportunity occurred. Alter making 

 peace with the authorities, he ma-acivd the 

 of a boat that was conveying him to his country. 

 and followed up this deed by murdering the crew 

 of a Danish merchant ship. The Dutch proclaimed 

 him a pirate and an outlaw, but when he p! 

 himself in 1893 at the head of the Holoebalangs or 

 peace party among the Acheenese and made war 

 upon the Moslemin. who under the preaching of 

 the mollahs declared a holy war of extermination 

 against the Europeans, he delivered up to'the Dutch 

 the posts that he captured from the fanatical fac- 

 tion and consummated an alliance with them in 

 pursuance of which he thoroughly subdued the 

 Moslemin and formally acknowledged the rule of 

 the Dutch. Thus peace was secured in the early 

 part of 1894, and the Dutch authorities rested for 

 two years in the fancied security that the exhau.-t- 

 ing and costly struggle was finally over. When. 

 therefore, a Dutch detachment was attacked and 

 badly beaten at Anak Bate in March, 1896. the 

 colonial authorities were taken by surprise. They 

 quickly awoke to the impending danger, and when 

 it became clear that another general movement was 

 being planned by the Acheenese immediate steps 

 were taken to meet the emergency. They sent for 

 their ally Toekoe Oemar, now a powerful and 

 wealthy ruler under Dutch supremacy, and with 

 him they drew up a plan of campaign against the 

 rebellious chieftains on both sides of the Atjeh 

 river. His share in the operations was to consist in 

 a flanking march to the south of Lamkrak through 

 the center of the rebel Toekoe Baid's district. After 

 he had executed this movement and broken down 

 whatever resistance he encountered, he was to join 

 the Dutch forces at Anakgaloeng. To enable him 

 to equip and maintain his native troops, he received 

 1,000 rifles of different patterns, with an ample 

 supply of ammunition and a cash payment of $18,- 

 000, By the end of March everything stood in 

 readiness for the campaign. The military head- 

 quarters were transferred from Kotaradja to Lam- 

 baroe, at the apex of the cordon and close to the 

 seat of the rebellion. Just as orders were about to 

 be issued for the general advance. Gen. Deykerhoff 

 received indisputable proof of the intended treason 

 of Toekoe Oemar. He intended to attempt the ex- 

 termination of the Dutch by seizing Kotaradja and 

 the port of Oleh Leh when the colonial forces were 

 concentrated in the interior, and. when all com- 

 munications were thus cut off. falling upon them 

 in conjunction with the revolted chiefs. His favor- 

 ite wife had persuaded him that the moment had 

 arrived when he could achieve the independence of 

 his country by one decisive blow. A personal mo- 

 tive led her to exert all her influence over her hus- 

 band to this end. for the moflafis had prophesied 

 that her child, yet unborn, would be sultan over 

 Acheen. 



A.a ->on as he knew of this fresh danger the 

 Dutch general called in his advance posts and sent 

 strong detachments to Lamdjamoe and Lampernoet 

 to guard against an attack on his rear. Almost 

 simultaneously a concerted movement was ob- 

 served in the ranks of the enemy, and fighting 

 took place along the whole line. In a hotly con- 

 tested engagement on March 30 at the Atjeh river, 

 between Senelop and Lambirih, the Dutch lost 



