oolxxxiv 



on their side except utilitarian ones. The telling and hitherto' conclu- 

 sive reply of their opponents has been that their present system 

 pays and pays enormously. Not only is there no difficulty whatever in 

 establishing an equilibrium in Javanese budgets, but Javanese labour 

 and taxation contribute immediately to the home treasury. Now the 

 new measure not merely introduces the wedge — that was done some time 

 ago, when free labour was admitted on the new railway works, — but 

 drives it home into the very roots of the system ; one or two blows more 

 must follow in local sequence and it will be rent into fragments. The 

 two leading features of the Dutch system are the ownership by the 

 State of all the lands in the island, and forced labour. With regard to 

 the former, the Dutch, on their occupation, found the native princes 

 enjoying all over the soil of their dominions what resembled much 

 more nearly actual ownership than a bai'e feudal superiority. Stepping 

 into their places and rights, they pensioned these local magnates, and 

 governed or oppressed from behind their names. The Dutch Resident 

 drew the lion's share of the gains : the native prince had a handsome 

 commission and the whole unpopularity for his share. If he were slack 

 in turning the screw, he abdicated under pressure in favour of some 

 member of his family, with an hereditary claim equally unimpeach- 

 able with his own. All the island is administered on this footing, 

 with the exception of a couple of quasi-independant states, ruled by 

 puppets under the eyes of a Dutch garrison. The whole population 

 is not only bound down to the soil, but limited rigorously as to the 

 productions to be raised upon it. Over certain districts the cultivator 

 cannot exercise his discretion, but must satisfy Government inspectors 

 on their periodical visits that he grows a certain number of trees of a 

 certain kind. His produce is brought into Government markets, and 

 bought at Government prices, and the margin between the sums it 

 fetches in Java and at Amsterdam is always great and often fabulous. 

 Then, in one form or another, Javanese labour is absolutely at the 

 service of the State, and the marvellous prosperity of the island — 

 regarding the matter from a Dutch, not a Javanese, point of view-p- 

 dates from the impulse given to this principle by General Yanden 

 Bocsh. Be it observed, it is a system highly practical and profitable, 

 but essentially vicious ; and, with this radical defect in it, that if 

 you once subject it to criticism you invite its condemnation in all its 

 parts. Modification can only lead on to annihilation. We presume 

 the party who has canied the measure in the House will have the 

 power and the will to see that it is carried out in the colonies, although 

 we may well imagine the local officials will offer it all the opposition 

 they dare. It is not pleasant seeing nearly absolute power tempered 

 down to constitutional authority, the rich salaries and allowances pass- 

 ing into the crucible of reform. A paradise as the island is, in some 

 ways, it wants strong counter-inducements to the climate to make life 

 in Java an enviable thing ; and if the Dutch residents have had to 

 work and think, and turn night to day, hitherto at least they have 

 lived in the license and luxury of Oriental despots, and enjoyed the 

 sla\'ish reverence of their subjects. Now if the revenues dwindle to or 

 below the point at which they stood before Vanden Bocsh set to work 

 on them with his rough and ready finance system, officials will find 

 themselves the victims of their economical home Government ; and, 



