The Voorwoord of Eene schoone bladzijde uit Atjeh’s geschiedenis was the dedicatory foreword-letter written by Generaal K. van der Heijden — the former civil and military Governor of Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden — from Bronbeek in June 1889, addressed to “Waarde heeren Cool en Hooijer,” for publication at the head of W. Cool and G. B. Hooijer’s Eene schoone bladzijde uit Atjeh’s geschiedenis (‘s-Gravenhage: Martinus Nijhoff, 1889). Signed “Uw Oud-Kameraad, K. van der Heijden,” the letter at once commends the book, corrects one identification in it, and assesses the value of its accompanying sketch map.
Commendation of the work
Van der Heijden noted that the book was composed by the two officers who had served under him at Atjeh “in dit tijdperk” and had shared in the memorable tochts “die de kroon zetten op onze overwinningen in de XXII en XXVI Moekims” — that set the crown upon the victories in the XXII and XXVI Moekims. He welcomed the work not because it led back to the days of his own administration of Groot-Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden, but first out of sympathy with an endeavour on behalf of the Indisch leger “dat zoozeer steun behoeft en verdient”; secondly because the work contained important data on the interior of Groot-Atjeh “die men elders te vergeefs zoekt” — which one seeks elsewhere in vain; and finally to thank both officers for the esteem in which they held him.
The correction concerning Toekoe Moeda Daud
The foreword’s most consequential passage concerns the identity of the principal Achehnese personage of the book. “Spreekt van zelf,” the General wrote, that the Toekoe Moeda Daud named in the work, head of Selimoen, “een der pretendenten voor den Sultanstroon” — one of the pretenders to the Sultan’s throne — who submitted to him on 20 August 1879, was not to be understood as the then-current Sultan-pretendant: the latter’s coming had indeed been announced, on the same date, by the likewise newly submitted Toekoe Ajer-Alang, but he had excused himself “uithoofde der naderende poeasa” — by reason of the approaching fasting month. The remark distinguishes two royal figures that later accounts risked conflating — the Selimoen chief Toekoe Moeda Daud and the pretendant watched over by Toewankoe Haschim — and dates the formal act of submission to 20 August 1879.
The judgement on the schetskaart
Of the accompanying sketch map Van der Heijden wrote that it was of weight because, in his opinion, it answered the hitherto unsolved question: “waar en hoe eindigt de Atjeh-rivier vallei?” — where and how does the Atjeh river valley end? He observed that the newest official map of Groot-Atjeh, issued in January 1884 by the Topografisch Bureau at Batavia, did not show this boundary, the precision of the official data and of the available material for the upper Atjeh-valley having differed too much. From the sketch, by contrast, appeared how little of the inhabited and habitable terrain had not been entered by the Dutch troops, how nearly inaccessible — except towards Segli — the valley was enclosed on the south, east and north by heavy mountain chains, and with how much right the Netherlander could then say: “de Atjeh-vallei is ons” — the Atjeh valley is ours.
Closing wish
The General closed with the wish that the work, written so as to be comprehensible also to the non-military reader, might serve “tot opwekking van meerder belangstelling voor het Indische leger en tot vermeerdering onzer kennis van Atjeh, de toekomst tot nut” — for the awakening of greater interest in the Indies army and for the increase of our knowledge of Atjeh, to the profit of the future.
See Also
- General van der Heijden
- K. van der Heyden
- Eene schoone bladzijde uit Atjeh’s geschiedenis (Cool & Hooijer, 1889)
- Schetskaart van het boven-stroomgebied der Atjeh-rivier (1889)
- Toekoe Moeda Daoed
- Toekoe Tjoet Hadjet
- Selimoen
- XXII Moekims
- XXVI Moekims
- 1889
Source
Eene schoone bladzijde uit Atjeh’s geschiedenis, door W. Cool en G. B. Hooijer, met een voorwoord van Generaal K. van der Heijden (‘s-Gravenhage: Martinus Nijhoff, 1889), Voorwoord pp. V–VII (Bronbeek, Juni 1889). OCR-filename: 20260720_115822_DLP-135-Eene_schoone_bladzijde_uit_Atjeh_s_geschiedenis_Nemotron_OCR_v2_OCR.txt.