132 



NETHERLANDS (HISTORY.) 



50,000,000 guilders (about 20,000,000 dollars), and 

 a general association for the promotion of national 

 industry commenced its operations there. Naviga- 

 tion was advancing. In 1823, 1312 vessels entered 

 the Meuse, and 1323 left it; 2159 vessels entered the 

 port of Amsterdam. A very important thing for the 

 commerce of the country was the completion, in 

 1825, of the canal from Amsterdam to the Helder. 

 This canal, which is 124 feet wide, over twenty feet 

 deep, about fifty miles long, and cost upwards of 

 12,000,000 guilders, is a national undertaking worthy 

 uf the best times of Dutch commerce. (For an 

 account of it, see the end of the article Amsterdam.) 

 In 1823, the king established premiums for the 

 encouragement of naval architecture, and, since 1815, 

 lias endeavoured to join with most of the neighbouring 

 states in establishing the principle of freedom of com- 

 merce. New sources of wealth have been opened to the 

 commercial spirit of the Netherlands by the restoration 

 of the colonial system. For this purpose, the govern- 

 ment maintains, in its East Indian archipelago, a con- 

 siderable navy, and on Java an army of 10,000 men. 

 By means of this force it was able to quell, in 1818, the 

 insurrection on Amboyna and the neighbouring islands 

 (which had been, during the war, under the mild 

 administration of the British, and detested the old 

 yoke of the Dutch), as well as another insurrection 

 in the tributary kingdom of Sheribon, on the western 

 part of Java ; they were, nevertheless, obliged to 

 combat again, in 1827, the rebellious Javanese. 

 Much bloodshed also attended the restoration of 

 their dominion over the sultan of Palembang, on 

 Sumatra, and the recovery of the rich tin island 

 Banca. The income of the spice islands had, indeed, 

 lessened, because, during the British administration, 

 several new spice plantations had been formed on the 

 islands situated near Celebes and the Moluccas; and, 

 in 1821, the cholera morbus swept away multitudes 

 of men in the Dutch East Indies ; on Java alone, 

 more than 150,000 died ; but the India trade, never- 

 theless, revived so rapidly, that the subscription 

 opened by the government, in 1824, for the erection 

 of a Dutch society, instead of 8,000,000 the sum 

 required produced more than 73,000,000. This 

 joint-stock company, founded by the king, March 

 29, 1824, was to last till 1850. Its object is the 

 promotion of national trade, of navigation, of naval 

 architecture, of agriculture, and of manufactures, by 

 the extension of commercial relations, and by the 

 opening of new ways of disposing of Dutch produc- 

 tions. In Batavia, it maintains a factory, and in 

 China an agency. In general, it employs only 

 Dutch vessels, under the Dutch flag, commanded by 

 Dutch masters. It is intended to restore the old 

 relations with China, and to promote the commerce 

 with America and the Levant, as well as the fisheries 

 in the Indian seas. The foreign affairs of the Nether- 

 lands relate mainly to the colonial interests and the 

 slave-trade. By a treaty with Great Britain, of May 4, 

 1818, the king bound himself to make the slave-trade 

 punishable by law. Every Dutch subject who pursued 

 or participated in that nefarious traffic was threat- 

 ened with two years' imprisonment and a fine of 

 5000 guilders, by the law of November, 1818. 

 Eventually, the treaty of Brussels of December 31, 

 1822, gave the British cruisers the right of captur- 

 ing all Dutch vessels loaded with slaves, or only 

 equipped for the purpose of procuring them ; but, to 

 put an efficient check to the slave-trade, it was neces- 

 sary to adopt severer measures, and a subsequent 

 law pronounced sentence of forfeiture against all the 

 vessels concerned in this trade, and threatened the 



Erincipal participators in it with fines tuid hard 

 ibour, and their accomplices with incarceration ; a 

 prohibition was also placed on the importation, 



hitherto allowed, of slaves into the Dutch colonies 

 from other parts (p. g. Brazil), where their direct 

 introduction from Africa is still permitted. While 

 the Netherlandish government yielded in these mat- 

 ters to the request of the British, the differences, pro- 

 duced by the commercial rivalship of the two statts 

 in the East Indies, were amicably adjusted. The 

 Dutch were reinstated in the possession of their 

 colonies, such as they had it in 1803. At that time 

 they held dominion over the sultan of Palembang 

 and Banca. In 1814, the island of Banca, with full 

 sovereignty, was ceded by Britain to the king of the 

 Netherlands, as an indemnification for Cochin ; but, 

 during the British rule on Java, the governor there 

 had acknowledged the independence of the sultan in 

 a treaty made in 1812 ; the British commissioner, in 

 making the transfer, therefore, maintained that this 

 cession to the Netherlands could only take place on 

 condition of acquiescence in the treaties concluded in 

 the mean while. But the Dutch government recov- 

 ered its former supremacy, by deciding, in 1818, the 

 contest of two brothers for the dignity of sultan of 

 Palembang, making the reinstated sultan dependent 

 on itself, and abolishing the code of laws introduced 

 by the British. The British governor in Bencoolen 

 (on Sumatra), Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, immedi- 

 ately despatched troops to Palembang, expelled the 

 Dutch sultan, and established his brother on tlte 

 throne. The new sultan compelled, in July, 1819, 

 the Dutch garrison at Palembang to retire to the 

 island of Banca, and repelled several attacks of the 

 Dutch in 1819 and 1820. Not till July 1, 1821, did 

 the Batavian government, by means of a superior 

 force, succeed in restoring the sultan expelled by his 

 brother, with the aid of the British. They conducted 

 the vanquished sultan to Batavia, where he was held 

 under supervision. But the restored sultan left to 

 the Dutch government at Batavia the whole civil 

 administration of Palembang (judiciary, police, and 

 finances), reserving for himself merely his annual 

 income, his honours, and dignities. But the chief 

 matter of dispute was finally settled at London, by 

 the treaty of March 17, 1824. By this treaty, the 

 king of the Netherlands ceded to Great Britain all 

 his possessions and rights on the main-land of India, 

 especially the city and fortress of Malacca, with its 

 appurtenances ; he promised never to make settle- 

 ments in future on the peninsula of Malacca, nor to 

 conclude any treaty with the native princes ; at the 

 same time, he renounced all intention to prevent the 

 occupation of the island of Sincapore (q. v.) on the 

 part of the British. On the other hand, the king of 

 Great Britain ceded to the Netherlands the factory 

 and fortress of Marlborough, with all the British 

 possessions (presidency of Bencoolen) on the island 

 of Sumatra. He promised never to make any settle- 

 ment on that island, nor enter into any treaty with 

 the native princes. He, moreover, renounced all 

 intention of preventing the occupation of the island 

 of Billeton and its appurtenances on the part of the 

 Dutch, and he promised never to establish British 

 settlements on the Carimon islands, or on the islands of 

 Battam, Bintang, Lingin, or any other south of the 

 straits of Sincapore. Neither party was to resign the 

 above-mentioned territories to any other power, and, 

 in case one party should abandon these territories, the 

 other should immediately have the right to take pos- 

 session of them. The mutual surrender took place 

 March 1, 1825. By this treaty, the Netherlands have 

 remained in exclusive possession of the Sunda islands, 

 and of the most valuable part of the Moluccas, as well 

 as of the spice trade with those parts; and after a short 

 but bloody war, in 1824, they reduced to subjection 

 the prince of Tanete, on the island of Celebes, who 

 attempted to throw off his allegiance. In Europe, 



