except in the inferior grades, that we are in a very different position to the Dutch, whose most influential and high-born subjects have never lost the habit nor the desire of serving the powers that be, while ours would have to learn what they have not practised for generations.
The Dutch for their part have been content to govern their subjects in accordance with native ideas, and in making their Oriental conquests have talked very little about the duty of a great Christian nation to convert and civilize ignorant barbarians. They have made no attempt to introduce a national system of education, they even discourage the study of Dutch and other European languages, and they do not profess to regard a native as in any way a political equal. But if their ideal of government is not very exalted, they have fairly fulfilled it, such as it is. They have given to Java peace, prosperity, and religious toleration, with security of person and property; and after paying for the maintenance of all these blessings they consider themselves entitled to appropriate to their own uses the surplus revenue. They do not pretend to govern Java for the benefit of the Javanese alone, and they claim for their own people a portion of the wealth which they have there created. But it may be doubted whether the trade monopoly and the batig slot, or favorable balance paid by Java to Holland, do not inflict a greater injury on the enterprise and energy of the home country than on those of the colony itself.
After all, the worst fault of the Dutch government in Java seems to be a habit of putting an unduly favorable aspect upon affairs, of saying peace when there is no peace, and of making optimistic reports to the home authorities. In the words of Max Havelaar: "The government of Netherlands India likes to write to its masters in the mother country that everything is going on as well as can be wished. The residents like to make the same announcement to the government. The assistant residents, who themselves receive hardly any other than favorable reports from the kontroleurs, send in their turn no disagreeable tidings to the residents." According to the same author it is well understood that the government regard with special favor those officials who never trouble them with complaints or vexatious reports as to the conduct of the native functionaries, and he says it has become proverbial that the government will dismiss ten European residents rather than one native regent, and that reasons of state are always to be found for sparing a chief who may have acted oppressively towards the people under his jurisdiction. If such be really the policy of the government it may be expected that subordinates will prove either unable or unwilling to do otherwise than carry it out, and that there will be no effectual appeal for the Javanese against the rapacity and tyranny of their chiefs.
It is laid down in the constitution and regulations of Netherlands India that the special duty of European officials is the protection of the natives, and from the governor-general downwards all are bound by oath to "protect the native population against oppression, ill-treatment, and extortion." This oath is probably not kept by all to the very best of their ability, but at least the charge of pecuniary corruption is not brought against the Dutch Civil Service; this distinguished and honorable body of men being blamed only for lack of energy and courage in denouncing injustice in which they themselves have no share. Still it is the condemnation of the judge when the guilty are absolved, and an omnipotent governor-general must be held responsible for the shortcomings of his subordinates as well as his own.
The antiquities of Java are of the highest interest, they belong principally to an early period in the history of the island, if not to a prehistoric period, and none of any importance exist that are not of a date prior to the Mahometan conquest. Buddhism as a religion has now no votaries in Java, except strangers from distant China, while Brahmanism has been expelled from the great island where it once reigned supreme, although still holding its own in the little island of Bali, eastward of Java. Mahometanism is the religion professed for three centuries by ninety-nine per cent. of the Javanese, but these centuries have not produced a single edifice or work of art to tell their tale to posterity. Mosques, palaces, and tombs in other lands are the enduring monuments of Mahometan wealth, energy, and architectural skill, but in Java these are wanting alike in beauty of form, richness of material, and solidity of structure. This is especially remarkable in the case of imperial and royal tombs, which are in Hindostan the most magnificent and permanent of all Mussulman edifices, and in Java are mere wooden booths, without painting, carving, or any other decoration. Very different are the massive temples and colossal statues of
