NETHERLANDS. 



509 



the king's taxes imposed upon him within the 

 year, he was likewise disqualified. This measure 

 would have increased the aggregate number of 

 voters from 300.000 to 800,000. The educational 

 qualification was vehemently opposed by the or- 

 thodox Protestants and the Catholics, because, 

 while it would admit the Socialist workmen of 

 the towns, it would exclude the workers in the 

 fields who form the mass of their supporters. 

 Many others recoiled from the sweeping reform 

 proposed by Dr. Talc ; and when he found that 

 he could not get the original bill through the 

 States General, he accepted an amendment which 

 excluded dwellers in boats and in hotels and 

 lodging houses, and heads of families whose 

 dwelling consisted of a single room. This cut 

 down the electorate to about 670,000, and when 

 the Second Chamber adopted another amend- 

 ment further restricting it the minister with- 

 drew the bill. Dr. van Thienhoven left the 

 ministry, and a considerable section of the Lib- 

 erals abandoned the lead of the Minister of the 

 Interior, who was all the more earnestly sup- 

 ported in his position by the Radical wing. He 

 decided to appeal to the country. The Second 

 Chamber was dissolved on March 20, and the 

 elections were held on April 10. Dr. Kuyper 

 and Dr. Schaepman, the leaders of the Clerical 

 Protestants and Catholics, declared for Dr. Tak's 

 reform, but they could not carry their parties 

 with them. The voters were dissatisfied with 

 the course that the minister had taken, and many 

 former supporters of the minister refrained from 

 voting. The result was an unexpected victory 

 for the Opposition parties, which won 56 seats to 

 44 for the Government. As soon as the result of 

 the second ballots was known Dr. Tak and his 

 colleagues placed their resignations in the hands 

 of the Queen Regent, April 28. 



A new ministry was formed on May 8, as fol- 

 lows : Premier and Minister of Foreign Affairs, 

 Jonkheer J. Roell ; Minister of the Interior, Dr. 

 S. van Houten; Minister of Justice, Dr. W. 

 van der Kaay ; Minister of Finance, Dr. J. P. 

 Sprenger van Eyk ; Minister of Marine, Jonk- 

 heer H. M. van der Wyck; Minister of War, 

 Lieut.-Gen. C. D. H. Schneider; Minister of 

 Waterstaat, Commerce, and Industry, P. W. van 

 der Sleyden ; Minister of the Colonies, Dr. J. H. 

 Bergsma. 



The new Government made reform of the 

 franchise for elections to the Second Chamber 

 and the provincial and municipal councils the 

 first article of its programme. It proposed also 

 a reform of the personal tax, and a measure regu- 

 lating the financial relations of the State with 

 the communes. When the States General met 

 on Sept. 18 the speech from the throne an- 

 nounced, in addition to these projected measures, 

 a military penal code, the renewal of naval ma- 

 terial, the better armament of the army and the 

 navy, and some other military measures, the or- 

 ganization of labor chambers and various other 

 labor laws, the increase of the import and export 

 duties in the Indies, and proposals for the de- 

 velopment of the colony of Surinam. The dif- 

 ferences with Venezuela that had been pending 

 since 1875 were amicably settled in 1894. 



The Dutch East Indies. The area of the 

 possessions of the Netherlands in Asia is 719,- 

 674 square miles. Java and Madura, with an 



area of 50,848 square miles, had in 1892 a popu- 

 lation of 24,268,092 persons, which is 184 to the 

 square kilometre, a denser population than in 

 Bengal. The other islands subject to the Nether- 

 lands have a population estimated at 8,398 500 

 making a total of 32,666,592. The largest towns 

 are Batavia, the capital, with 114.864 inhabit- 

 ants; Surabaya, with 145,690: and Surakarta. 

 with 101,926. Of the population of Java and 

 Madura, 23,956,962 were natives, 246,307 Chi- 

 nese, 47,140 Europeans, 14,703 Arabs, and 2.982 

 Hindus and others. The revenue is derived 

 from coffee grown on Government lands, the 

 opium monopoly, which is farmed out, tithes, 

 customs, the salt duty, railroads, tin mines, 

 telegraphs, etc. The total receipts for 1894 were 

 estimated at 125,135,594 guilders, and the ex- 

 penditures at 139,079,682 guilders. The imports 

 of merchandise on private account in 1892 were 

 valued at 152,225,000 guilders, 107,004,000 guil- 

 ders for Java and Madura, and 45.221,000 guil- 

 ders for the outposts ; merchandise imports on 

 Government account, 6,633.000 guilders : imports 

 of specie, 12,030,000 guilders : total value of im- 

 ports, 170,888,000 guilders. The exports of mer- 

 chandise on private account were of the value of 

 127,133,000 guilders from Java and Madura, and 

 50,986,000 guilders from the outposts; exports 

 on Government account, 26,298,000 guilders; 

 total exports of specie, 10,537,000 guilders ; total 

 value of exports, 214.954,000 guilders. The mer- 

 chant marine of the East Indies in 1892 consisted 

 of 1,839 vessels, of 237,952 cubic metres tonnage. 

 There were 816 miles of railroads in operation in 

 Java in 1894 and 172 miles in Sumatra, and 254 

 miles more were building in Java. The post 

 office in 1892 delivered 7,898,740 internal and 

 7,909,777 foreign letters. 



Military Disaster. The army of the East 

 Indies, in 1894, consisted of 1,377 officers and 

 33,403 soldiers, of whom 13,593 were Europeans, 

 57 Africans, and 19,753 natives. The hostilities 

 against the rebellious chiefs of Acheen were 

 brought to an end by the fall of Roending in 

 the early part of 1894. Soon afterward the 

 Government undertook to bring into subjection 

 the Rajah of Lombok, who had oppressed Dutch 

 subjects and treated the suzerain power with 

 contempt. No answer having been returned to 

 an ultimatum that was sent to him, an expedi- 

 tion of 2,500 men and 5 war ships was sent out 

 in the middle of June to punish him. The Rajah 

 and chiefs gave in their submission, but Gen. 

 Vetter, the commander of the expedition, thought 

 it expedient to hold several points. One column, 

 under Col. Bylevelt, was sent into the interior of 

 Lombok, which is an island more than 2,000 

 square miles in extent ; another force was posted 

 at Mataram, the principal town ; while a third, 

 under Gen. van Ham, established itself at Tjakra 

 Negara, between Mataram and the seaport of 

 Ampenan, on the northwest coast, nearest to Java. 

 On Aug. 25 the natives surprised Gen. van Ham's 

 column in the dead of night, surrounding the 

 position completely and cutting off all supplies. 

 No course was possible except to force a way 

 through to the capital, which the remnant of the 

 column reached on Aug. 26. Col. Bylevelt's col- 

 umn was also attacked and compelled to retreat 

 to Mataram, where it joined the other. The com- 

 bined force, leaving the guns behind, retreated 



