The Submission of Pasangan (15 August 1878) was the capitulation, on 15 August 1878, of the vassal coastal state of Pasangan — one of the Atjeh-afhankelijk kuststaatjes that had supported the enemy of Groot-Atjeh with hulpbenden, weapons and levensmiddelen — after a bombardment by the Dutch marine, an event which Borel, writing as the news came in, hails as proof of his doctrine that “eerst moet de vijand getuchtigd worden en wel in die mate dat hem geen andere uitweg overblijft dan het hoofd in den schoot te leggen.”
Background
The vassal coastal states — Analaboe, Pedir, Samalangan, Pasangan, Simpang Olim, Edi — had supported the enemy of Groot-Atjeh throughout the war with hulpbenden (auxiliaries), weapons and levensmiddelen (foodstuffs). They had been tuchtiged by the Dutch in succession. The same doctrine — that the coastal vassals must be punished into submission before Groot-Atjeh itself could be reduced — had been applied, in June 1878, to Gedoeng by van der Heijden, and was being applied, by naval bombardment, to Pasangan.
The submission
On 15 August 1878, while Borel was at his desk in ‘s-Gravenhage putting the last touches to his manuscript, the telegraph brought the news: Pasangan, after a bombardment by the Dutch marine, had submitted. The news is recorded in the Naschrift that closes the book.
Borel’s prediction
Borel uses the news to make a prediction. What had been done to Gedoeng and to Pasangan could — and, in his view, should — be done to Groot-Atjeh itself: “eerst moet de vijand getuchtigd worden en wel in die mate dat hem geen andere uitweg overblijft dan het hoofd in den schoot te leggen” — first the enemy must be chastised, and to such a degree that no other course is left him but to lay his head in the lap. The XXII Moekims — “de kern van Atjeh’s weerstandsvermogen,” the densest population, the Sultan’s voorraadschuren, the most hostile chiefs — were, in his view, the proper next target; once they were tamed, the XXVI Moekims would submit without needing force.
Significance
The submission of Pasangan, coming on the heels of the June 1878 crisis in Groot-Atjeh, showed both what the offensive could achieve when properly applied and what the passive stelsel had cost. It closes Borel’s narrative. The book itself was finished at ‘s-Gravenhage on 27 August 1878, twelve days later.
See Also
- Pasangan
- Groot-Atjeh
- Gedoeng
- Karel van der Heijden
- XXII Moekims
- XXVI Moekims
- Indische Brigade (proposed)
- Aanvallende tactiek in Atjeh
- Afwachtende houding
- Enemy breakthrough in the IV, VI and IX Moekims (June 1878)
- 1878
Source
Onze vestiging in Atjeh, critisch beschreven, by G. F. W. Borel, Kapitein der Artillerie. ‘s-Gravenhage: D. A. Thieme, 1878. pp. 339, 365–366.