592 



NETHERLANDS, THE. 



by the resignation of the ministry, was ter- 

 minated on August 26th by the official appoint- 

 ment of a new ministry, consisting of the 

 following members : Heemskerk, Interior and 

 presidency of the Council ; Van Lynden, Jus- 

 tice ; Van Goltstein, Colonies ; Van der Heim, 

 Finances ; Van der Does de Willebois, Foreign 

 Affairs ; General Wertzel, War ; Taalman Kip, 

 Navy. The Minister of Foreign Affairs is a 

 prominent Catholic, and was formerly Govern- 

 or of the province of Limburg. Heemskerk, 

 Van Heim, and Goltstein, belong to the Con- 

 servative party ; Van Lynden is a champion of 

 Protestant orthodoxy; Wertzel was formerly 

 member of a Liberal ministry. 



A new session of the States-General was 

 opened by the King on September 21st. The 

 King referred to the cordial manner in which 

 the jubilee of his accession was celebrated. He 

 said that relations with foreign powers were 

 very friendly. From a financial point of view 

 the state was prosperous, and he had also to 

 announce that the crops were satisfactory. The 

 King recommended that great public works 

 should be undertaken or prepared, and men- 

 tioned specially the drainage of a portion of 

 the Zuyder Zee. His Majesty stated that a 

 scheme for partial revision of the penal code 

 had been drawn up, and he recommended that 

 serious attention should be given to the educa- 

 tion laws with a view to consider what modi- 

 fications were necessary. The news from 

 Acheen gave reason to anticipate that prudence 

 and perseverance will triumph over the resist- 

 ance of the enemy. In conclusion, his Majesty 

 praised the army and navy in the East Indies, 

 and said that the condition of the colonies was 

 satisfactory. 



At the discussion of the colonial budget for 

 1875, the Colonial Minister announced that im- 

 mediately after entering upon his office he had 

 instructed the Governor-General of British 

 India to prepare for the abolition of slavery in 

 Sumatra and Celebes. In consequence of this 

 announcement, a motion by a Liberal deputy 

 for the abolition of slavery in the two colonies 

 mentioned was withdrawn. The minister de- 

 clared that he would substantially pursue the 

 same policy which had been pursued by his 

 Liberal predecessor; the only difference was, 

 that he intended to advance more slowly. 



The Minister of Finance, in laying the budget 

 estimates for 1875 before the Chambers, said 

 that the total expenditure would be 110,000,000 

 florins, which would be 10,000,000 in excess 

 of that of 1874. The cause of this increase 

 was the augmentation in various items of the 

 national expenditure namely, in foreign mis- 

 sions, great public works at the naval ports, the 

 extension of the state railway system, pilot- 

 age, and the national defense. The total 

 amount of revenue was estimated at about 

 103,000,000 florins; thus the deficit in the 

 budget would probably be about 7,000,000. 

 This deficit, however, judging by the results 

 obtained in the last few years, will be covered 



by the surplus arising from the Indian revenue 

 and the continuous increase of the ordinary 

 receipts. The minister proposes to make no 

 change in the present system of taxation, and 

 he dwelt upon the favorable result of the re- 

 turns from the Dutch Indies and from the 

 ordinary taxes. As a sign of the increasing 

 prosperity of the country, the minister said : 

 " We have been able to provide for all our 

 wants, even the war in Sumatra, without hav- 

 ing recourse to extraordinary measures, which 

 is a good augury for the future." 



The relations of Acheen with the Nether- 

 lands and other European countries are of 

 old date; the dealings of Holland with this 

 state date from 1599, when a part of the 

 crews of two Dutch vessels, attempting to 

 open a trade, were treacherously captured and 

 held in bond, one of the commanders, Freder- 

 ick Houtman, being among the sufferers. They 

 were released, after some negotiation, two 

 years later, about which time English vessels 

 visited the Sultan, and Admiral Sir James Lan- 

 caster was publicly entertained by the reign- 

 ing monarch. The Portuguese were at that 

 period already the owners of the Malacca Pen- 

 insula, and the chief enemies of the Sultan, 

 and for generations afterward it seems to have 

 been the policy of this Mohammedan power to 

 play off one set of infidels against another. It 

 was with Dutch aid that the armies of the 

 Sultan Isane", in 1641, drove the Portuguese out 

 of Malacca altogether, after a series of expe- 

 ditions and counter-expeditions extending over 

 many years. The present internal feud be- 

 tween the sovereign and " the native party," 

 which refuses to submit to the Dutch army, is 

 even more ancient than the foreign policy of 

 the kingdom. The reigning house has always 

 been fanatic in adherence to the faith of Islam, 

 and has supported purity of religion as a proper 

 pendant to the absolute autocracy sought by 

 it ; while the great chiefs have equally claimed 

 support on their side from the mass of the peo- 

 ple on the ground of their leniency toward the 

 old superstitions. This politico-religious schism 

 has in fact been going on ever since Sultan 

 Moghayet set his subjects the example of con- 

 version about the year 1510. 



The special envoy from Acheen to the Sul- 

 tan of Turkey, who was to induce the Porte 

 to recognize the Mussulman state as a vassal 

 state of Turkey, returned early in 1874 from 

 Constantinople, without having attained his 

 object. The Porte did not dare to assume the 

 responsibility involved in assenting to the over- 

 throw of the Achinese, and the envoy was not 

 received at all by the Sultan. 



At the close of the year 1874, it appeared, 

 from official statements relative to the Achi- 

 nese war, that a third campaign was to be en- 

 tered upon (in 1875), with the object of gain- 

 ing the heights surrounding the Kraton. Four 

 battalions and six companies were secretly 

 concentrated by the Indo-Dutch Government 

 on the narrow belt of coast in Acheen which 



