ACHEEN APPEALS TO AMERICA

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UNCONQUERABLE OPPOSITION TO THE DUTCH – LIBERAL OFFER TO THE UNITED STATES FOR PROTECTION

WASHINGTON, Aug. 19.--It has been ascertained from a naval officer just returned from the East that all the tribes of the northern portion of Sumatra, heretofore tributary to the Dutch, have joined the Sultan of Acheen. From one tribe alone 14,000 men have left their pepper plantations and gone to the assistance of the Sultan. The pepper trade is temporarily suspended by the war. Great fears are entertained by the Dutch as to the success of their contemplated second attack. The Dutch had at Pedang their base of operations, and on the way 18,000 men, reinforcements from Holland. It was designed to attack the Acheenese about the middle of September.

The Sultan, in response to an overture by the Dutch to make a treaty, said that before he would do so every man in arms under him should perish. A general Malay insurrection among the Dutch subjects of the Netherland Strait Settlements is apprehended.

The Sultan of Acheen expressed his desire to an American Consul for close relations with the United States, saying that if this country would give him protection he would grant in return extensive commercial priveleges, allow the erection of naval storehouses and the use of the best timber for ship-building. The Sultan was informed that the better way to present his proposition was to send a special envoy to the United States Government.

Published: August 20, 1873
Copyright © The New York Times

The Dutch Anxious to Settle with the Acheenes Amicably—Turkey Supporting the Sultan

PENANG, June 26.—Its is reported here that the Government of Holland is willing to enter into negotiations with the Sultan of Acheen for the peaceful settlement of the differences between the two countries.

It is also rumored that twelve Turkish vessels are on their way to Acheen to support the Sultan’s forces in their war against the Dutch troops.

Published : June 27 1873
Copyright © The New York Times

THE WAR IN SUMATRA.

Impression of the Defeat of the Dutch Forces – Its Significance.

The correspondent of the Pall Mall Gazeth at The Hague, writing on April 22, says that the defeat of the Dutch forces in Sumatra is regarded as a crushing calamity. The leading Opposition paper asserts that Dutch prestige and influence in the East are at an end. The general conviction in that the local authorities in the East acted too precipitately in declaring war against Acheen, while in utter ignorance of the conditions under which the war would have to be conducted. This is proved by the face that hostilities began only a few weeks before the bad season, when, as every one in India knows, military operations are impossible.

The India Government, as well as the military authorities, evidently expected to meet an enemy who would easily be overcome by a handful of well-trained troops, and they found that the Acheenese were a brave people, well armed, provided with excellent artillery, and commanded by skillful leaders. From the fact that the Dutch Commander-in-Chief was killed so early in the fight, it is supposed that the Dutch troops were discouraged by the unexpected resistance they met with, so that Gen.Köhler was obliged to encourage his men by his personal example, and thus lest his valuable life. But, of course, this is only a supposition. Up to this moment nothing is known except what the telegrams have stated, and it is feared that these do not tell the whole truth. The opposition papers content that the effective resistance of the Acheenese is due to English influence. The breech-loaders with which the Acheenese were armed, the guns of the newest fashion, and the men who served them must, it is thought, have been imported from Penang and Singapore. The English diplomatists, these papers say, knew when they concluded with us a treaty which, in exchange for the transfer of our settlements on the West coast of Africa, laid us under the obligation to protect the foreign trade in Acheen, that within a short delay this protecture would lead to a war between Holland and Acheen. Acheen, about which the Dutch knew nothing, and about which they cared little, was in due time to be armed, in order that the first blow should be given to the prestige of the Dutch in India. This is the exaggerated reasoning of the Opposition papers, while the Liberal ones say nothing except soothing words, and point out the fact that the Acheen ports remain blockaded.

To-day the members of the Second Chamber meet, and the opinion is that the Ministry will at once be questioned it M. Fransen van de Putte does not give ample information. It is unneceasary to add that if the Minister cannot defend himself against the accusation of having acted imprudently by undertaking a war with a native State just before the rainy season, there will soon be a Ministerial crisis, which will lead to recall of the Governor-General of the Dutch possessions in the East Indies.

Published: May 10, 1873
Copyright © The New York Times

SULTAN’S FAMILY CAPTIVES.

LONDON TIMES – NEW YORK TIMES
Special Cablegram.

LONDON, Dec. 29. – The Brussels correspondent of The London Times says the Dutch Government has received a telegram from Batavia announcing the capture of the family of the Sultan in the mountains of Achin, where they had taken refuge.

The colonial troops of The Netherlands have been at war with the Achins for almost thirty years. The trouble arose from the fact that recognize the suzerainty ot The Netherlands. The Sultan recently was reported as being killed. Achin is in the northen part of Sumatra.

Published : December 29, 1902
Copyright © The New York Times

WHY THE DUTCH SLAY WOMEN.; Sumatrans Place Them in Front Lines for Battle Shields.

Col. H.F.C. Van Blyevelt, a retired officer of the Dutch East Indian Army, who has had thirty years of active service in the Dutch East Indies and comes to America to place his son in college, arrived here yesterday. In explaining the large numbers of women and children killed by the Dutch troops, he said:

“These fights did not occur at Atjeh, org Achin, but an expedition of about 200 men under Lieut. Col. Van Daalen was sent to Gajoe and the Alaslands, parts of North Sumatra. The Alas natives are well armed, but their rifles do not carry as far as those of our troops. To overcome this disadvantage their leaders, being well aware of the disinclination of our men to harm women and children, placed them in front of their fighting line as a living screen. The women and children are sometimes armed, and have often fired at out troops.

“Sheltered by this screen the natives often allow our men to approach within point blank range of their positions. Then they discharge an overwhelming fire. In almost all engagements they have followed the same tactics, though repeatedly warned by our officers. As a rule our troops withhold their fire as long as possible, but they dare not run the risk of being overwhelmed by a sudden rush of the natives from behind their living wall, and are often forced to fire regardless of the women and children.

“It should be borne in mind that our expeditions have nearly always had to fight against ten times their number, and also that they cannot risk being defeated, being far distant from the main army and unable to properly care for their wounded.”

Published : August 12, 1904
Copyright © The New York Times

THIRTY YEARS' WAR IS ABOUT TO END;

Chief Leaders of the Achinese In- surgents to Submit. The War in Sumatra Has Cost the Dutch Over $200,000,000 and the Lives of Thousands of Soldiers.

LONDON TIMES -- NEW YORK TIMES

Special Cablegram.
August 24, 1903, Monday

LONDON, Aug. 24 -- Private news from Achin, says the Brussels correspondent of The Times, is to the effect that Panglima Polem and Rajah Keumala, who have been for many years the two chief rebel leaders, will formally submit to the Dutch in the course of the next few days.
This, adds the correspondent, means the end of the war.

The colonial troops of the Netherlands have been at war with the Achins (also called the Atchins or Acheens, but more properly the At the Atjehers) almost continuously since the year 1873.

The cause of the war was the refusal of the Sultan of the Achins to recognize the suzerainty of the Netherlands, over which long negotiations took place. The Sultan sent a secret embassy to the United States diplomatic agent at Singapore to appeal for the military aid of this country, and at the same time he dispatched Commissioners to treat with the Dutch Government.

Encouraged by the hope of aid from Great Britain and the Unidet States, the Sultan rejected the terms offered by The Netherlands. In the meantime he had obtained from British and American merchants great stores of arms and ammunition. His treachery led to the declaration of war against him by the Governor General of the Dutch East Indies.

The war thus begun has cost the Dutch over $200,000,000 and the lives of several thousand soldiers. One expedition after another has been sent to Sumatra, but as soon as the revolt has been apparently crushed it has broken out again. The Dutch have tried by every means to end the war, which has crippled the finances of the Dutch Indies.

They sent a Weyler out to Sumatra, a man who had the blood of the Malays in his veins and who understood their treachery and vindictive cruelty. He was Gen. Karl van der Heyden, who was born and grew up in the East Indies, and who rose from the ranks to be Commander in Chief there. He succeede in imposing an iron rule over the Achinese, but he retired in 1881, and then the revolt broke out afresh and has continued ever since.

The Dutch at last, desperation, retired to small triangular district, with a coast line from the Port of Oleh Le to the fortified poast of Kota Pohama. A military dead line was marked by a rallroad on an embankment, and if a Malay rebel was found inside this line he was shot on sight. Outside the line no Dutch soldiers could go without danger of annihilation.

The Achins number about 2,000,000. They are a dark-skinned race, of small stature, and almost as intelligent as the Filipinos. Before the war began the Sultan lived in typical Eastern state. He had a fleet of 200 vessels and 1,000 elephants. His palace was full a gold and silver objects, and he possessed a remarkable collection of jewels.

His capital was captured by the Dutch, but the Achins then began the guerrilla tactics which they have kept up since. They were, of course, helped by the great enemies of European troops, sunstroke and disease. The pecullar construction of the native villages was also in favor of the insurgents. Owing to the rapid rise of the rivers in Sumatra and the resulting heavy floods the dwelling places of a great number of the natives are moored to piles.

On may an occasion, after some diabolical, treacherous outrage, the Dutch troops would set off on a punitive expedition against some village, only to find, when they arrived at their objective, that the villagers had drifted their dwellings to another quarter, and that it would be impossible to identify them.

CREDIT TO THE NEW YORK TIMES
Published: August 24, 1903