The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1892-09-23
TWENTY YEARS OF WAR.
Long Struggle Still in Progress Betwee
Holland and Acheen.

HoliAnu ana Acneens
For twenty years the war between
Holland and Acheen has dragged alorg
and no one knows when it will ever
end. The last Dutch colonial report
tells of the present condition of this
troubled country in Northern Sumatra-
Fighting is still going on in desultory
way though the aggressiveness of the
Acheens has lost much of its old force,
largely because the natives are finding
it difficult to procure the menas of sub
sistence. Their operations are now
confined chiefly to the destruction of
telegraph wires and means of commu-
nication. The Dutch troops are better
able than formerly to prevent sudden
assaults and surprises, because they
have succeeded, after fighting hard for
it, in clearing the space in front of their
lines. The attacks on baggage trains
are also less numerous than formerly.
The Dutch. however, find it prudent
not to make incursions into the enemys
country. The Acheens try to do little
work in the line of piracy now and
then, but the blockade which the Dutch
still maintain along the coast is effect
i've in preventing damage to shipping.
This long war in Acheen is perhaps the
most remarkable struggle ever waged
by European government in its colo
NAL possessions. The Dutch are among
the best colonizers in the world. They
set an example TO other nations. They
have proved that they can take saw
age islands, reduce them to order, half
civilizc the natives, and make money
out of the enterprise. Hollands pos
sessions in the East Indies comprise a
territorial area that is at least fifty
times as large as that oflliolland herself,
and in all the islands where her enter
prises have been carried on she has met
with determined and unconquerable
oppoSition only in the northern part of
Sumatra where the Acheens never know
when they are beaten.
Acheen is now in it's decadence. The
empire was founded in he thirteenth
century. 1t covered half the big island
and its sultans claimed descent from
Alexander the Great. Now it's people
are cooped up in the extreme northern
part of the island, although they are
1t is probable that the Independent life
of the communes, into which the
doughty little country is divided, eX-
plains the marvellous energy with which
the natives defend their independence
against foreigners Each commune
thoroughly believes in states rights.
In all matters of local interest the viii
layers govern themselves The men of
Il certain advanced age are the law
abiding body. Each commune has two
hereditary chiefs who rule together,
and they with the chiefs of the other
communes, form the council of the ma
ton. In all matters of national import
ance representatives of the communes
help the sultan to govern, but in all
local affairs each little subdivision gov
ems itself.
Holland has spent an immense treas
ure and some thousands of lives have
been sacrificed in this long war upon
the Acheens. She has succeeded only
in driving most of the Acheens into the
interior, and now the Dutch are in con-
troll of Il large part of the coast But the
people in the interior are practically as
independent as they ever We're, and
show no signs that they will ever relin-
quish their right to govern themselves
Great Britain can look on with comfort
ing thought that she made very good
bargain when she traded with Holland,
and for the prize of the Dutch posses
sions along the Gulf of Guinea relin-
quished her claims in Sumatra, and left
to Holland all the trouble and expense
which twenty years of perpetual and
ineffective slirmishing have given her
Y Y Snn