ernment before they can be
carried out. Moreover, the various Government officials scattered
through the Archipelago are responsible to the Secretary for the
Colonies. There are colleges established both in Holland and in Batavia
in which the young men intended for the colonial service can receive a
suitable training.

The physical sanction upon which the Dutch authority rests is an army of
thirty thousand men, composed of Dutch, Germans, Swiss, Italians, and
natives, but officered exclusively by Dutchmen, and a navy of fifty
ships. Of these troops, a large proportion (amounting in 1891 to 16,537)
are native. The head-quarters of the army is fixed at Batavia. There
are barracks at Weltevreden, and at Meester Cornelis in the capital, and
additional accommodation has been recently provided at Buitenzorg. The
fleet is stationed at Soerabaia, a town which possesses the best harbour
in Java, and which is conveniently situated at the other end of the
island. There are, however, a few ships always stationed at Batavia. The
greater proportion of the fleet is composed of the ships of the
Netherlands Indian navy, which is permanently stationed in the
Archipelago; but there are among them some ships belonging to the Dutch
navy, which are relieved every three years.

At the present time, the chief occupation of the colonial forces is the
establishment of the Dutch authority in Sumatra. Since 1874 the natives
of Achin have successfully resisted the Dutch, and the Achin war has
proved so costly and so disastrous, that the Home Government have
ordered the operations of the troops to be confined to such as are
purely defensive. Acting under these instructions, the colonial forces
have retired behind a chain of forts, and all attempts to advance into
the interior have been abandoned. Last year (1891), Baron Mackay, the
Secretary for the Colonies, was able to assure the States General that
"excellent results were expected from the blockade system," now adopted,
and that the Achinese were already beginning to feel the inconvenience
of being cut off from their supplies of necessaries, such as opium and
tobacco. Java is by far the most important of the islands of the Malay
Archipelago. Its population is four times that of the total population
of the remaining Dutch possessions in the East. This population is
divided as follows (1890):--

Europeans. 48,783

Chinese. 237,577

Arabs. 13,943

Other
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