The
Dutch Have Shown Much Good Policy In The Means By Which They Have
Done This.
They have in most cases upheld and strengthened the
authority of the native chiefs, to whom the people have
Been
accustomed to render a voluntary obedience; and by acting on the
intelligence and self-interest of these chiefs, have brought
about changes in the manners and customs of the people, which
would have excited ill-feeling and perhaps revolt, had they been
directly enforced by foreigners.
In carrying out such a system, much depends upon the character
of the people; and the system which succeeds admirably in one
place could only be very partially worked out in another. In
Minahasa the natural docility and intelligence of the race have
made their progress rapid; and how important this is, is well
illustrated by the fact, that in the immediate vicinity of the
town of Menado are a tribe called Banteks, of a much less
tractable disposition, who have hitherto resisted all efforts of
the Dutch Government to induce them to adopt any systematic
cultivation. These remain in a ruder condition, but engage
themselves willingly as occasional porters and labourers, for
which their greater strength and activity well adapt them.
No doubt the system here sketched seems open to serious
objection. It is to a certain extent despotic, and interferes
with free trade, free labour, and free communication. A native
cannot leave his village without a pass, and cannot engage
himself to any merchant or captain without a Government permit.
The coffee has all to be sold to Government, at less than half
the price that the local merchant would give for it, and he
consequently cries out loudly against "monopoly" and "oppression."
He forgets, how ever, that the coffee plantations were established
by the Government at great outlay of capital and skill; that it
gives free education to the people, and that the monopoly is in lieu
of taxation. He forgets that the product he wants to purchase and
make a profit by, is the creation of the Government, without whom
the people would still be savages. He knows very well that free
trade would, as its first result, lead to the importation of whole
cargoes of arrack, which would be carried over the country and
exchanged for coffee. That drunkenness and poverty would spread over
the land; that the public coffee plantations would not be kept up;
that the quality and quantity of the coffee would soon deteriorate;
that traders and merchants would get rich, but that the people would
relapse into poverty and barbarism. That such is invariably is the
result of free trade with any savage tribes who possess a valuable
product, native or cultivated, is well known to those who have
visited such people; but we might even anticipate from general
principles that evil results would happen.
If there is one thing rather than another to which the grand law
of continuity or development will apply, it is to human progress.
There are certain stages through which society must pass in its
onward march from barbarism to civilization.
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