NETHERLANDS, THE. 



559 



The Dutch, on the other hand, were not dis- 

 posed to allow the English to gain either a 

 commercial or a political footing on the island. 

 The opening of the Acheenese ports to trade 

 was objected to on the ground that it would 

 enable the rebels to supply themselves with 

 arms and ammunition. The Dutch authorities 

 offered a ransom of $150,000 for the release of 

 the prisoners, but the Rajah spurned the sug- 

 gestion of mercenary motives. The British 

 Government seemed disposed to take advan- 

 tage of the situation that the pirate chieftain 

 had created, for the purpose of resuming po- 

 litical power in Sumatra and promoting the 

 Penang and Singapore trade. Lord Granville, 

 on April 29, expressed the conviction that the 

 captive sailors would not be released "unless 

 the differences between the Netherlands and 

 the Acheenese be adjusted on an equitable 

 basis." Great Britain entered into the con- 

 ventions of 1824 and 1871, with the view of 

 securing freedom of trade and the maintenance 

 of peace. England had refused to intervene on 

 behalf of the Rajah of Tenom, but now offered 

 her good offices as a mediator between the 

 Dutch Government and the Malay chiefs, to 

 arrange for the closing of thirteen miserable 

 years of lingering warfare in the interests of 

 peace, justice, and the facilities of commercial 

 intercourse. The answer of the Netherlands, 

 bearing date May 9, declined mediation, plead- 

 ing with their mighty neighbor that if barba- 

 rous potentates can secure British intervention 

 on their behalf, by piracy and kidnapping, such 

 crimes would increase to the general detriment 

 of peace and commerce. The colonial authori- 

 ties found that they could not accomplish any- 

 thing by a land expedition, because the Rajah 

 carried the captives away into the interior, but 

 they expected to bring him to reason by means 

 of a blockade, which would hinder the free 

 movement of commerce, but not less to the 

 prejudice of the Netherlands than of other 

 states. The authorities of the Straits Settle- 

 ments in their dispatches reported that no 

 arrangement was possible unless the English 

 Government intervened to liberate the Acheen- 

 ese trade and protect the Rajah. In a dispatch 

 of May 31, Lord Granville demanded the re- 

 moval of the restrictions on commerce, which 

 confine the general trade to particular ports, 

 and limit the coasting trade to vessels of small 

 tonnage. The fear of the importation of mu- 

 nitions for the Acheenese rebels, he intimated, 

 was no concern of British traders. At about 

 this point the Rajah, who was officially de- 

 scribed in the dispatches from the Straits Set- 

 tlements as "high-minded," "straightfor- 

 ward," and " of high character," and had 

 been addressed by the English negotiators in 

 friendly and courteous language, grew impa- 

 tient at the delay of the expected interposi- 

 tion, threw aside the mask of friendship, and 

 threatened to put the captives to torture and 

 death if the Dutch attacked him, ending his 

 letter with a request that the English, whom 



he declared to be no match for the Dutch in 

 negotiations or anything else, should write him 

 no more, for he knew that their counsels were 

 at an end. This insulting communication de- 

 feated the plans of those who wished to derive 

 political and commercial advantages from the 

 situation, and caused the English Government 

 to confine its demands to considerations af- 

 fecting the fate of the captive crew, and aban- 

 don the role of protector of the Rajah of Te- 

 nom in particular, and Acheenese rebels in gen- 

 eral. The next proposition of the English 

 Government was accepted reluctantly, as pref- 

 erable to the preceding propositions of English 

 mediation and of a joint guarantee to the Ra- 

 jah. In accordance with the agreement reached 

 in July, the Rajah was notified that, if he did 

 not release the prisoners, a joint English and 

 Dutch expedition would compel their release, 

 but in return for their voluntary liberation the 

 Dutch Government would raise the blockade 

 and pay him an indemnity of 100,000 guilders. 

 Baffled in his political schemes, in which he 

 probably acted as the tool of the central 

 Acheenese, the Rajah accepted the offered 

 terms and released the prisoners in Septem- 

 ber. Twenty only of the crew were left, the 

 others having died in captivity from starva- 

 tion and other privations. 



The Saccession to the Throne. The death of 

 the Prince of Orange left the royal line with- 

 out male descendants. (See OBITUARIES, FOR- 

 EIGN.) Under the family laws the duchy of 

 Luxemburg goes, in the event of the death 

 of King William III without male issue, to 

 the deposed Duke of Nassau or his heirs, 

 while the throne of Holland passes to the 

 Princess Wilhelmina, the King's only surviv- 

 ing child, born in 1880. The prospect of a 

 long regency while the question of constitu- 

 tional revision, which has been before the coun- 

 try for a year or two, is still unsettled, impelled 

 the Chambers, in December, to adopt a bill to 

 modify the Constitution in such a manner as to 

 remove the restriction that forbids a revision 

 of the Constitution during a regency, leaving it 

 in force, however, in respect to the clauses 

 regulating the royal succession. 



The Elections. Elections to the Second Cham- 

 ber took place in November, resulting in an 

 accession of anti-Liberals, which rendered the 

 formation of a majority difficult. This re-en- 

 forcement of the ultra-Calvinist element com- 

 pelled the abandonment for tne present of the 

 scheme of constitutional revision. The minis- 

 try determined to seek to re-establish the finan- 

 cial equilibrium, present a bill lowering the 

 parliamentary franchise, and then dissolve the 

 Chambers, in the hope of securing a working 

 majority. 



Financial Policy. In July a syndicate was in- 

 trusted with the floating of a new 4 per cent, 

 loan of 60,000,000 guilders, to cover past defi- 

 cits at about par. Among the measures pro- 

 posed for the prevention of new deficits the 

 ministry introduced a bill to reorganize the 



