NETHERLANDS. 



607 



social conditions. The number of senators is 

 to be increased to 50, and that of deputies 

 to 100. The Minister of Marine, Gericke, re- 

 signed in December because the second cham- 

 ber refused grants for a new armor-clad and 

 three torpedo-boats. The Colonial Minister 

 asked for an advance from the treasury to 

 cover the deficit in the Indian accounts for 

 1887, amounting to 15,000,000 guilders. A 

 parliamentary investigation of the conditions 

 of labor in factories was authorized. 



Riots in Amsterdam. Domela Nieuwenhuis, 

 the leader of the Dutch Socialists, was tried in 

 June on the charge of insulting the King in his 

 newspaper, and condemned to a year's- impris- 

 onment. His conviction and sentence pro- 

 voked the censure of a considerable portion of 

 the Liberal party as well as that of his numer- 

 ous followers. In September, in the appellate 

 court, another man came forward and confessed 

 to having written the article. On July 4 he 

 went to Amsterdam to deliver a speech on the 

 subject of treason. A great crowd that as- 

 sembled at the railroad-station to meet him 

 was dispersed by the police, who used their 

 weapons against the men and women that 

 thronged the streets. In the hall there was a 

 collision between the people and the police, 

 who again made use of their sabers. In the 

 Hague and other places Nieuwenhuis received 

 similar ovations. 



Suspicion and anger rankled in the minds of 

 the working- classes, on account of the sup- 

 posed persecution of their popular leader and 

 the unwonted violence of the authorities in 

 suppressing a street demonstration. Shortly 

 afterward a favorite sport of the people of 

 Amsterdam was forbidden on account of its 

 cruelty. The game consists in standing in a 

 boat that is rowed rapidly, and trying to tear 

 a large eel from a cord on which it is suspended 

 overhead. Many of the competitors fall into 

 the water, while the successful one receives a 

 prize. The annual Kirmiss was also inter- 

 dicted, and a new law was made against 

 drunkenness, which was considered an act of 

 class legislation. The people refused to sub- 

 mit to interference in tbeir amusements, and 

 continued the practice of eel-baiting. On the 

 evening of July 25, in the thickly peopled 

 quarter called the Jordaan, policemen ordered 

 the young men and boys engaged in this pas- 

 time to desist, and, when they refused, one of 

 them cut the cord. He was seized and severe- 

 ly maltreated. The others attacked the crowd 

 with their swords, but were overpowered, 

 disarmed, and put to flight. Reinforcements 

 came up until there were 200 policemen on 

 the ground. They charged several times into 

 the crowd, but were driven back with stones 

 thrown by the mob in the street and the peo- 

 ple in the houses. Many persons were wound- 

 ed on both sides. The rioters had constructed 

 barricades, and, after the paving-stones had 

 been replaced, during the night they were 

 torn up again in preparation for the renewal 



of the conflict, while children broke stones 

 with hammers and carried off the fragments 

 in baskets, in order to have a supply of missiles 

 for the rioters. The following evening, at five 

 o'clock, they built new barricades. Infantry 

 and cavalry advanced against them, instead of 

 the police. When they refused to disperse, 

 the troops marched on the barricades, but 

 were received with a shower of stones. They 

 killed a man that planted a red flag on the 

 barricade, and others, who were seen to throw 

 stones, and when, after being thrice warned, the 

 people remained, they poured a volley into the 

 crowd, killing and wounding several persons. 

 The rioters still held their ground, and did not 

 disperse until several volleys had been fired. 

 After nine o'clock barricades were thrown 

 up in another part of the disturbed quarter. 

 The fighting was continued until one o'clock in 

 the morning. Of the police, 40 were severely 

 wounded. The soldiers killed 25 citizens and 

 inflicted severe wounds on about 50. Some 

 persons were struck by bullets entering their 

 houses. Isolated attacks on the military and 

 the police were continued for several days. 

 Many of the police force resigned their offices. 

 The jails were filled with arrested rioters. 

 The sale of newspapers on the streets was 

 forbidden. The Socialist Fortuyns was ar- 

 rested as the suspected author of a newspaper 

 article praising the people for the lesson they 

 had given to the police. Vanderstart, another 

 leader of the Social-Democratic party, was also 

 placed under arrest. They were tried in Oc- 

 tober, and both sentenced to imprisonment for 

 publishing articles inciting to resistance of the 

 law. In October the ministry brought in a bill 

 restricting the rights of association and assem- 

 bly. All demonstrations or assemblages out- 

 of-doors must have the permission of the local 

 authorities, who may give it conditionally by 

 forbidding the carrying of banners. The Min- 

 ister of the Interior is empowered to inter- 

 dict associations, when circumstances demand, 

 either generally or temporarily, or in certain 

 districts. Incitement to a criminal act, or to 

 resistance of the law, justifies the authorities 

 in breaking up a meeting or a procession, even 

 though the incitement is not specific, but is 

 conveyed in general terms, or is qualified by 

 contingent conditions. 



Colonies* The most important colonies of the 

 Netherlands are the Dutch East Indies, espe- 

 cially the fertile and populous island of Java, 

 which, before the war in Sumatra, yielded a 

 large surplus revenue that was expended on 

 railroads in Holland. The financial and politi- 

 cal difficulties in the East Indies have suggested 

 in Germany the scheme of acquiring those rich 

 islands for the Imperial Government. The area 

 and population of the colonial possessions of 

 the Netherlands are shown in the following 

 table. The populations are from official esti- 

 mates, mostly relating to the year 1883. The 

 native population of Timor and Sumba is not 

 included in enumeration below : 



