The Dutch expedition to the North-East Coast of Sumatra of 1865 was the Netherlands Indian answer to the Atjehnese utterances of hostility that followed the contract with the Sultan of Siak of 1858 and the renewal of the Atjehnese pretensions upon that realm — an expedition which, in author Joh. Langhout’s sober judgement, “wel orde, doch geen verbetering van de gezindheid der bewoners van de Atjehsche randstaten met zich bracht” (“brought order indeed, but no improvement of the disposition of the inhabitants of the Atjehnese border states”).
Context and effect
The Sultan of Atjeh’s sudden assertion of lapsed claims upon Siak and Dependencies — rejected by the Dutch side — had as consequence several utterances of a less good understanding, among them the Atjehnese firing upon Batoe Baroe; “een expeditie in 1865 naar de N. O. kust onzerzijds” followed. Its meagre diplomatic harvest left the troubles of the Atjehnese border states smouldering: in 1868 the Atjehnese chiefs offered the sovereignty of their country to the Sultan of Turkey, while the chiefs of several coast states, weary of the anarchy in the realm, asked to be placed under Dutch authority — requests which the Government, bound still by the London treaty, declined.
See Also
- Dutch treaty with the Sultan of Siak (1858)
- Atjehnese offer of sovereignty to the Sultan of Turkey (1868)
- Acheh War
- Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824
Source
Vijftig jaren economische staatkunde in Atjeh, by Joh. Langhout (The Hague: N.V. Boekhandel v/h W. P. van Stockum & Zoon, 1923), pp. 17–18.