390 jemminck's general view op the dutch 
the fields and superintend the cultivation and gathering; of the dif¬ 
ferent cultures. A discount of per cent upon the receipts served 
to indemnify the responsible chief. The tax-payers had the option of 
paying the tax in money or in produce, according to a fixed rate. 
The native was left the free disposal of his person and his labour; 
but the rights of the regent (Adhipati) had to be sacrificed, and the 
chief of the Tillage (PetinggiJ found himself in direct relation with 
the government.* 
I would depart very much from the conciseness adopted as the basis 
of this work, if I should enter into details upon the different cultures 
which have been successively triedf, and if it was necessary to give 
an account of the difficulties which were raised by the natives against 
the plans and dispositions more in harmony with their well heing and 
liberty which it was proposed to favor. It ought, however, to be men¬ 
tioned, that by the new regulations the Javanese aristocrasy found 
themselves lessened; that the measures taken with liberal views clash¬ 
ed with certain interests; that they were not founded on the ancient 
customs of the country, while they were contrary In certain points to 
the adat, always held in veneration by the natives of all classes; so 
that the Government quickly saw that its new measures did not an¬ 
swer to the ends which it had flattered itself of attaining. 
The fall of the colonial merchandize in the European markets; the 
uncertain state of the finances ; the heavy loans which it was neces¬ 
sary to contract; the war against Dhipo Negoro and many other 
causes, served to increase the debt in a frightful manner; the inter¬ 
est payable amounting to more than three millions of florins. It 
was then, in regard to the state of the finances, as in the time wfie.rt 
the old Company of the Indies were under the necessity of abdicating 
their power. 
The trade although completely free, dragged on painfully and ex¬ 
perienced miscarriage after miscarriage *, many mercantile houses in 
the principal towns liquidated their affairs with losses of 20 and 30 
per cent; some found themselves insolvent. The magazines of Go¬ 
vernment were encumbered with colonial produce; the imports of arti¬ 
cles which India required from Europe were not made regularly; the 
state derived not a single benefit from its possessions, and ship ow- 
* It is said that Java and its dependencies reckons 16,000 of these chiefs 
©f villages; I have not been able to verify this calculation, I judge it below 
the effective number. 
f See Yan Hogendorp, K Coup-d’Ocil stir l’islc de Java, Cap. 6, Of cul¬ 
tures already established, and of those i which could be introduced or ex¬ 
tended in Java* 
