“You know,” Havelaar began, “how the Dutch possessions on the west coast of Sumatra border on the independent realms in the northern part, of which Atchin is the most important. It is said that a secret article in the treaty of 1824 places on us the obligation towards the English not to cross the River Singkel. General Vandamme, who with a faux air Napoléon was anxious to extend his government as far as possible, met, therefore, in that direction an insuperable obstacle. I am forced to believe in the existence of that secret article, as it would otherwise seem strange to me that the Rajahs of Troomon and Analaboo, whose provinces are of some importance on account of the pepper trade there, have not long since been brought under Dutch sovereignty. You know how easy it is to find a pretext for making war on such little states, and so annexing them. To steal a country will always be easier than to steal a mill. I believe of General Vandamme that he would even have stolen a mill if he had felt tempted to it, and should not therefore understand him sparing those domains in the north, if no more solid reasons had existed for it than right and justice.
“However this may be, he did not turn his conqueror’s glances northward, but eastward. The dominions Mandhéling and Ankola—this was the name of the assistant-residency formed out of the just ‘pacified’ Battahlands—were, it is true, not yet purged of Atchinese influence—for when fanaticism once takes root, it is not easily extirpated—but at any rate the Atchinese themselves were no longer there. This, though, was not enough for the Governor. He extended his authority to the east coast, and Dutch officials and Dutch garrisons were sent to Bila and Pertibie, which posts, however, as you know, Verbrugge, were again evacuated afterwards.
183
