uwes Dekker, born in 1820 in Amsterdam, went as a youth of
seventeen to the Dutch colonies. There for nearly twenty years he was in
the employ of the government, obtaining at last the post of Assistant
Resident of Lebak, a province of Java. In this responsible position he
used his influence to stem the abuses and extortions practiced by the
native chiefs against the defenseless populace. But his humanitarianism
clashed with the interests of his government, and sacrificing a
brilliant career to a principle, he sent in his resignation and returned
to Holland in 1856 a poor man. He began to put his experiences on paper,
and in 1860 published the book that made him famous. 'Max Havelaar' is a
bitter arraignment of the Dutch colonial system, and gives a more
excruciating picture of the slavery of the natives of fair "Insulind"
than ever existed in the South. For nearly three hundred years Dutch
burghers on the Scheldt, the Maas, and the Amstel, have waxed fat on the
labors of the Malays of the far East. In these islands of the
East-Indian Archipelago the relations between the Europeans and the
Dutch are peculiar, based on the policy of the government of getting the
largest possible revenues out of these fertile possessions. Practically
the native is a Dutch subject, and the product of his labor goes
directly to Holland; nominally he is still ruled by his tribal chief, to
whom he is blindly and superstitiously devoted. Playing on this feudal
attachment, the Dutch, while theoretically pledging themselves to
protect the defenseless populace against rapacity, have yet so arranged
the administration that the chiefs have unlimited opportunities of
extortion. They are paid premiums on whatever their provinces furnish
for the foreign market, and as they have practically full control over
the persons and property of their subjects, they force these poor
wretches to contribute whatever they may demand in unpaid labor and
provisions, besides the land taxes.

And there is yet another hardship. Rice is the staple product of Java,
but as that does not pay so well as coffee, sugar, indigo, or spices,
the Javanese is driven away from the rice fields he loves, and famine is
often the result.

"Famine? in Java, the rich and fertile, famine? Yes, reader, a few
years ago whole districts were depopulated by famine; mothers
offered to sell their children for food; mothers ate their own
children. But then the mother country interf