Van Swieten’s afscheidsrede was the farewell address delivered by generaal van Swieten in the Kraton at K. Radja on 23 April 1874, in which he declared: “Mijne heeren, ik beschouw den oorlog met Atjeh als geëindigd” (Gentlemen, I consider the war with Atjeh ended). Borel treats the speech as the supreme example of the self-deception that allowed the Dutch to depart Atjeh on 26 April 1874 in the belief that the campaign was over, when in fact it had barely begun. The speech “maakte op zijne toehoorders bepaald een pijnlijken indruk”; “Qui veut trop prouver, ne prouve rien”; “niemand believed him.”
The Text of the Speech
In the speech van Swieten first praised the troops’ “dapperheid, ijver en volharding” (bravery, zeal and perseverance). Then came the famous opening: “Mijne heeren, ik beschouw den oorlog met Atjeh als geëindigd.” He supported the declaration with a series of optimistic reasons. The enemy, he said, was “geheel verslagen en ontmoedigd” (completely defeated and discouraged). The bevolking lacked wapens, munitie, kleederen and “zelfs aan de voornaamste levensbehoeften zooals rijst, zout” (even the principal necessities of life such as rice, salt). The trade was vernietigd (destroyed). The vazalstaten had accepted the Dutch flag — a reference to the submission of the radja van Gigieng, who had accepted the Dutch flag in exchange for 10 000 rijksdaalders in klinkende munt. He promised the troops that they would have nothing to do but rest; Kota Radja, he predicted, would become “eene aangename gezellige garnizoensplaats” (a pleasant sociable garrison place). The speech closed with the customary expressions of gratitude and good wishes.
The Reaction
The speech “maakte op zijne toehoorders bepaald een pijnlijken indruk” — made on its hearers a decidedly painful impression. Borel’s commentary is sharp: “Qui veut trop prouver, ne prouve rien” (he who proves too much proves nothing); “niemand believed him” — nobody believed him. The pain of the audience was, in Borel’s reading, the pain of men who knew the speech was false but who could not yet say so. The échec at Lampoe Oek of 16 April 1874 — just one week before — had cost “bijna 100 dooden en gewonden” and had revealed the existence of a strongly fortified enemy stelling near Longbatta of which the Dutch had known nothing. The desecration of Dutch graves at Lampoeloe had not yet occurred, but the coordinated Acehnese massed attack on Penajoeng of 11 April 1874 had already shown the falsity of the claim that the enemy was “geheel verslagen en ontmoedigd.” The speech was, in Borel’s account, a public act of self-deception by a commander who, “te goed soldaat” not to know the truth, chose the comfort of the optimistic formula over the unpalatable reality.
The Consequences
The afscheidsrede had immediate strategic consequences. On 24–25 April 1874 the troops returning to Java were ingescheept. On 25 April van Swieten boarded the stoomschip Prins Alexander der Nederlanden — the same vessel that had carried him thither. On 26 April 1874 a “saluut uit de zware vuurmonden der oorlogschepen” announced his departure. “Met zijn vertrek was het tweede bedrijf van het Atjehsche drama afgespeeld” (with his departure the second act of the Atjeh drama had been played out). The very first night after van Swieten’s departure — the night of 26–27 April 1874 — K. Radja was “bij herhaling door den vijand gealarmeerd”; the entire bezetting came under arms; at the east side of the Kraton, the Atjehneezen approached so close that “de aldaar geplaatste schildwachten hen duidelijk konden hooren spreken.” The desecration of Dutch graves at Lampoeloe followed on the morning of 26 April, and the enemy attack on Marassa the same night. The afscheidsrede thus stands in Borel’s account as the supreme example of the gap between Dutch optimistic proclamation and Atjehnese reality — a gap that would, in the crisis of May–June 1874 that followed, nearly cost the Dutch the entire vestiging.
See Also
- Jan van Swieten
- Departure of Jan van Swieten from Atjeh (April 1874)
- Battle of Lampoe Oek (16 April 1874)
- Crisis at Kota Radja (May–June 1874)
- Desecration of Dutch graves at Lampoeloe (1874)
- Afwachtende houding
- Generaal Pel
- Bezettingskorps in Atjeh
- 1874
Source
Onze vestiging in Atjeh, critisch beschreven, by G. F. W. Borel, Kapitein der Artillerie. ‘s-Gravenhage: D. A. Thieme, 1878. pp. 68–86, 96, 104, 116, 121, 203, 270, 286, 304, 344, 354.