TAIT'S

EDINBURGH

MAGAZINE

FOR

1849.

VOLUME XVI.

EDINBURGH:

SUTHERLAND & KNOX.

SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, & CO., LONDON.

MDCCCXLIX.

TAIT'S

EDINBURGH MAGAZINE.

JANUARY, 1849.

ENGLISH AND DUTCH IN THE INDIAN ARCHIPELAGO.*

inevitably lead to hostilities, unless some step were taken to check the aggressive policy of the Dutch authorities on the one hand, and the indignant and resentful spirit generated in the old English residents and merchants on the other.

To explain and illustrate the position we at present || consequently took place which it was foreseen would occupy in the Oriental Archipelago, it may be useful to glance over that series of negotiations which arose out of the treaty of 1824, between Great Britain and the Netherlands. In what circumstances the treaty itself originated, most persons will remember. We need scarcely, therefore, recapitulate the historical facts that may be said to fill up the interval between the conquest of the Dutch colonies by the arms of England, and the conclusion of that convention the principal effects and consequences of which it is the object of the present article to describe.

When, on the establishment of the general peace, Holland recovered her possessions in the Indian Archipelago, the merchants of this country flattered themselves that, owing to the generous policy pursued by our Cabinet, they would be suffered to enjoy more than ordinary privileges and respect. Indeed, the development of the resources of the islands, and the general advancement of civilization, depended greatly on their capital and energy. Extraordinary progress had been made by the natives during our occupation of Java, Borneo, Celebes, and the Moluccas; and they still, through inclination and preference, desired the co-operation of our countrymen in all those social undertakings which could be carried on without the intervention of Government.

It was for the accomplishment of this purpose that the two Governments invested their representatives with full powers to negotiate and conclude a treaty which should thenceforward determine the relative situations of the English and Dutch in the Indian Archipelago, regulate their commercial intercourse, and prescribe the limits within which the colonising energies of the contracting parties should be confined. The statesmen entrusted with the framing of this treaty were persons of remarkable abilities. Experienced in diplomacy, and sincerely desirous of putting an end to the differences between the two countries, they, on the completion, congratulated each other on having made everything clear for the future, and, as an expression of this feeling, exchanged notes, half complimentary, half explanatory, which may be regarded as a supplement to the convention.

But, as has long been painfully felt by diplomatists, there is no congeries of articles, no armadillo cuirass of language through which the golden point of interest will not find or make an opening. The bloody PandeJealousies almost necessarily arose out of this state monium of war and conquest is paved with treaties. of things between the new and the old masters of the There may, up to a certain point, be honesty in their country, between those whom an equivocal sense of negotiators-that is, they may be sincere in their enequity had invested with supreme authority, and the deavours to prevent a hostile collision between their too liberal victors who voluntarily consented to re- respective Governments; but because each party seeks linquish the advantageous position they had won for to gain as much, and concede as little, as possible, the themselves by arms. Besides, the unpleasant conscious- spirit of selfishness insensibly infuses itself into the ness was ever present to the minds of the Nether-document, and prevents the real completion of that landers, that they owed the restoration of their colonies structure of amity which is the mark presumed to be entirely to the moderation of an all-powerful State, aimed at. Treaties may consequently be regarded as which, from several positions it had taken up in their the stratagems of peace. To secure advantages for neighbourhood, small, but not insignificant, seemed their own country is the object of diplomatists as well perpetually to watch their proceedings. The treaty as generals; and greater and more solid victories have of 1817, designed to put an end to these jealousies, sometimes been gained by the pen than by the sword. only augmented them, and the accidental establishment Here, however, nearly all men are disciples of Machiaof one settlement at Singapore completed, in the eyesvelli. The Government which has the power to enforce of Holland, the cycle of our delinquencies. Events "its will is distinct and explicit, because it does not fear

I. Coup d'œil Général sur les Possessions Neerlandaise dans l'Inde Archipelagique. Par C. J. Temminck. 1846. II. Le Monition des Indes Orientales et Occidentales. Publier sous les Auspices de S.A.R. Monseigneur Prince Henri dès Tays Bas, avec le co-operation de plusieurs Membres de la Société des Arts et des Sciences à Batavia. Par le Baron Melvill.

VOL. XVI-NO. CLXXXI.

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