The Radja of Troemon’s Letter was a correspondence from the Raja of Troemon (Trumon) to Lieutenant-General Van Swieten during the Second Expedition, acknowledging receipt of Van Swieten’s letter and reporting on his efforts to persuade neighbouring statelets to submit to Dutch authority. Van Swieten’s reply — preserved as Bijlage A in his account — commended the Radja’s efforts, explained the advantages of the Dutch flag, and urged him to persuade even reluctant chiefs such as Toekoe Thmink Toewa of Malaboe to accept Dutch protection. The exchange is notable for Van Swieten’s detailed explanation of why small states without warships needed the protection of a great power’s flag, and for the historical note that the Radja of Troemon was of part European descent through his grandmother, a Padangsche christin named Kaatje Stolte.
Van Swieten’s Reply
Van Swieten’s letter opened with an acknowledgment of the Radja’s efforts: “I give my friend notice that I have received the letters he has sent me from the radjas of MALABOE, LABOEAN-HADJI, KALOEAT and SOESOE and that I have understood them well. I have seen with pleasure that my friend TOEANKO RADJA MOEDA has been occupied since the beginning of this campaign in inducing the above-mentioned states to recognize the Netherlands Government as their Overlord and to refrain from hostilities.”
He then addressed the specific case of Toekoe Thmink Toewa of Malaboe, who had written to the commander of {{HMS Metalen Kruis}} asking to be allowed to continue flying the flag of Malaboe at sea, on the grounds that the numerousness of his people would make it difficult to compel all vessels to adopt the Dutch flag. Van Swieten’s response was firm and instructive:
“I see therefrom that TOEKOE THMINK TOEWA does not understand the great advantage obtained by the flying of the Netherlands flag on land and at sea, for when a state has no warships to protect its vessels against piracy, what use is it to fly its own flag?”
He then列举ed historical precedents: Kwala Batoe had been bombarded by an American warship in 1832 and again in 1844; Kwala Merdoe by two English warships in 1844; and Mukki by an Italian warship in 1854 — all because the inhabitants had plundered trading vessels of those powers. “But this bombarding and punishing by those warships could not have happened,” Van Swieten wrote, “if those harbours had stood under the Netherlands flag, for without a declaration of war foreign warships may not bombard a harbour flying this flag nor take ships under that flag.”
He concluded by urging the Radja of Troemon to follow the example of the other states and sign an act of submission: “It will do him no harm and can protect his successors from difficulties with neighbouring states.”
The Radja’s European Ancestry
Van Swieten’s letter contained a remarkable historical note: the Radja of Troemon was the grandson of a Padangsche christin (Christian woman from Padang) named Kaatje Stolte (or Stolting), whose father had been a physician in the service of the VOC. When in 1793 the French privateer Le Mesme, with de Ville de Bordeaux, arrived at Padang and levied a contribution on the town, Kaatje Stolte fled — fearing worse — to an Atjehnese prauw lying in the river. The nachoda brought her, whether forced or voluntarily is not known, to Troemon, where Radja Boedjong apparently bought her and married her after she had been converted to Islam. The grandmother of the present Radja of Troemon and her father were thus Europeans.
Outcome
Within a few months of receiving this letter, the Radja of Troemon recognized Netherlands sovereignty and accepted the Dutch flag.
See Also
Source
De waarheid over onze vestiging in Atjeh, door den Luitenant-Generaal J. van Swieten, Zalt-Bommel, Joh. Noman en Zoon, [1879], Bijlage A, pp. 465–466.