O. van Rees was a Dutch colonial minister who served from March to August 1879, a brief but significant period in the Aceh War during Governor-General J.W. van Lansberge’s administration. Born in 1823, he was a senior colonial official with extensive experience in the Dutch East Indies, having served as Vice-President of the Council of the Indies from 1873 to 1878.
Early Career
Van Rees entered colonial service in 1837 and held various positions including Resident of Kedoe, Bagelen, Soerabaia, and member of the Council of the Indies (1864-1872). He was elected to the Second Chamber in 1872 and served as Vice-President of the Council of the Indies from 1873 to 1878. He was appointed Minister of Colonial Affairs in March 1879 following P.P. van Bosse’s death.
Aceh Policy
Van Rees’ brief ministry was dominated by the Aceh question:
-
Support for aggressive action: He supported Van Lansberge’s instructions to General K. van der Heijden to pursue “total submission” of the XXII and XXVI Mukims.
-
Impatience with progress: He grew frustrated with the slow pace of operations, telegraphing: “How is the absence of reports from Aceh to be reconciled with your instruction of 21 March, with which I fully concur?”
-
Questions about the military position: He asked for clarification about the planned concentration of Dutch positions.
-
Civil governance: He supported Van Lansberge’s plans for introducing civil governance, though he did not live to see it implemented.
Financial Policy and Taxation Reform
Van Rees continued the financial reforms initiated by Van Bosse:
- He reduced the fixed contribution to 4 million guilders.
- He brought rents and amortization of loans for the Indies onto the Indian budget.
- He proposed that surpluses should be used to cover previous deficits, provide for Indian needs, and reduce Indian debts.
The Reform of the Taxation System
As Vice-President of the Raad of Nederlandsch-Indië, van Rees was charged, together with the director of finances Sprenger van Eyk, with the submission of proposals for reforms in the taxation system. The charge led on 7 June 1874 to the proposal to introduce the personeele belasting and the patentrecht for Europeans and foreign Orientals. This proposal was brought to the knowledge of the Opperbestuur by letter of 4 July 1874 from the Governor-General Loudon, who agreed with the proposal concerning the patentrecht, but not with that concerning the personeel. The Opperbestuur brought in March 1875 to the knowledge of his successor Van Lansberge “that the correctness had to be acknowledged of the principal idea underlying the drafted plan, namely that there is no reason to maintain a situation in which the Europeans and foreign Orientals established in Netherlands India contribute proportionally much less to the costs of the state household than the native population,” that it further had no objection to the two proposed drafts, and requested that these be elaborated in Indië as soon as possible into regular proposals. These reforms ultimately led to the introduction of the personeele belasting and patentrecht in 1879.
The Restriction on the Vice-President
With January 1875 van Rees was relieved of the membership of the commission for the improvement of the Indian taxes, as the Opperbestuur in accordance with the advice of the Raad van State in November 1874 had decided that art. 36 of the Regeeringsreglement did not allow the vice-president to be charged with the special missions and commissions mentioned therein. The decision restricted the scope of the vice-president’s functions and confirmed the formal separation between the advisory role of the Council of Netherlands India and the executive functions of the government.
Resignation
Van Rees’ ministry ended in August 1879 when the cabinet resigned following King William III’s refusal to agree to a constitutional amendment promoted by J. Kappeyne van de Coppello. His resignation marked the end of a brief period of liberal colonial policy.
Legacy
Van Rees’ role in colonial history is often overshadowed by his more prominent predecessors and successors. However, his brief ministry was significant for:
- His support for aggressive action in Aceh.
- His questioning of the military position, which led to clearer strategic thinking.
- His role in the financial reforms that continued the movement away from the “batig slot” system.
Account from Verstege’s Een beroep op het Nederlandsche volk (1886)
Verstege holds up against the concentration the Governor-General’s proclamation of 19 August 1884 to the indigenous princes and greats and to the population settled in the dependencies of the government of Atjeh — “our new province of 1874” — in which Van Rees declared: “Nog steeds duurt het gewapend verzet in Groot-Atjeh voort, niettegenstaande elke poging daartoe door de Nederlandsche krijgsmacht wordt bedwongen, en telkens dood en verderf gebracht wordt onder de dwaze aanvallers, die, als roovers onze posten en transporten beschieten, doch er nooit in zullen slagen ons een enkelen stap terug te dringen” (“The armed resistance in Groot-Atjeh still continues, although each attempt towards it is suppressed by the Dutch fighting force, and death and destruction are repeatedly brought among the foolish attackers who, like robbers, shoot at our posts and transports, but will never succeed in driving us back a single step”), and which called on the Atjehsche people to give up “den ijdelen waan, dat zij de Nederlanders zouden kunnen verdrijven, wat nooit gebeuren zou” (“the idle illusion that they could drive away the Dutch, which would never happen”). This proclamation, known in the Netherlands in September 1884 — when the preparation of the retreat was already in full swing — was, Verstege remarks, speedily lied against, and is the crowning proof of how systematically the Dutch nation had been misled; he regrets that governor-general Van Rees did not hold back that so-speedily-falsified proclamation (see Concentration decision (16-17 June 1884)).
See Also
- J.W. van Lansberge
- Aceh War
- P.P. van Bosse
- W. van Goltstein
- K. van der Heijden
- J. Loudon
- Council of Netherlands India
- J. P. Sprenger van Eyk
- Personeele belasting
- Patentrecht
- Regeeringsreglement
- Raad van State
- Secret Instruction of 5 June 1855
- 1875
- 1879
- Dutch East Indies Government
- J. L. J. H. Pel
- General Pel’s Campaign in Aceh
- Batavia
Sources
- De geschiedenis van Nederland in onzen tijd, by J. A. de Bruyne, Directeur der Hoogere Burgerschool te Zierikzee. Deel IV. 1872-1883. Nieuwe uitgave. Schiedam: J. F. Dupont, 1912, Hoofdstuk I, pp. 53, 55-58.
- J.W. van Lansberge en de praktijk van art. 4 van de Geheime Instructie van 5 Juni 1855, by M. Boon, Academisch Proefschrift ter verkrijging van den graad van doctor in de letteren en wijsbegeerte aan de Rijksuniversiteit te Utrecht, 1943, Utrecht: N.V. A. Oosthoek’s Uitgevers-Maatschappij, pp. 44-46, 210-214
O. van Rees was a Dutch colonial minister who served from March to August 1879, a brief but significant period in the Aceh War during Governor-General J.W. van Lansberge’s administration. Born in 1823, he was a senior colonial official with extensive experience in the Dutch East Indies, having served as Vice-President of the Council of the Indies from 1873 to 1878. Atjeh gedurende de tweede expeditie en later, Een Oud Officier, Batavia: Ogilvie & Co., 1876, pp. 11-15, 45-50.
Early Career
Van Rees entered colonial service in 1837 and held various positions including Resident of Kedoe, Bagelen, Soerabaia, and member of the Council of the Indies (1864-1872). He was elected to the Second Chamber in 1872 and served as Vice-President of the Council of the Indies from 1873 to 1878. He was appointed Minister of Colonial Affairs in March 1879 following P.P. van Bosse’s death.
Aceh Policy
Van Rees’ brief ministry was dominated by the Aceh question:
-
Support for aggressive action: He supported Van Lansberge’s instructions to General K. van der Heijden to pursue “total submission” of the XXII and XXVI Mukims.
-
Impatience with progress: He grew frustrated with the slow pace of operations, telegraphing: “How is the absence of reports from Aceh to be reconciled with your instruction of 21 March, with which I fully concur?”
-
Questions about the military position: He asked for clarification about the planned concentration of Dutch positions.
-
Civil governance: He supported Van Lansberge’s plans for introducing civil governance, though he did not live to see it implemented.
Financial Policy and Taxation Reform
Van Rees continued the financial reforms initiated by Van Bosse:
- He reduced the fixed contribution to 4 million guilders.
- He brought rents and amortization of loans for the Indies onto the Indian budget.
- He proposed that surpluses should be used to cover previous deficits, provide for Indian needs, and reduce Indian debts.
The Reform of the Taxation System
As Vice-President of the Raad of Nederlandsch-Indië, van Rees was charged, together with the director of finances Sprenger van Eyk, with the submission of proposals for reforms in the taxation system. The charge led on 7 June 1874 to the proposal to introduce the personeele belasting and the patentrecht for Europeans and foreign Orientals. This proposal was brought to the knowledge of the Opperbestuur by letter of 4 July 1874 from the Governor-General Loudon, who agreed with the proposal concerning the patentrecht, but not with that concerning the personeel. The Opperbestuur brought in March 1875 to the knowledge of his successor Van Lansberge “that the correctness had to be acknowledged of the principal idea underlying the drafted plan, namely that there is no reason to maintain a situation in which the Europeans and foreign Orientals established in Netherlands India contribute proportionally much less to the costs of the state household than the native population,” that it further had no objection to the two proposed drafts, and requested that these be elaborated in Indië as soon as possible into regular proposals. These reforms ultimately led to the introduction of the personeele belasting and patentrecht in 1879.
The Restriction on the Vice-President
With January 1875 van Rees was relieved of the membership of the commission for the improvement of the Indian taxes, as the Opperbestuur in accordance with the advice of the Raad van State in November 1874 had decided that art. 36 of the Regeeringsreglement did not allow the vice-president to be charged with the special missions and commissions mentioned therein. The decision restricted the scope of the vice-president’s functions and confirmed the formal separation between the advisory role of the Council of Netherlands India and the executive functions of the government.
Resignation
Van Rees’ ministry ended in August 1879 when the cabinet resigned following King William III’s refusal to agree to a constitutional amendment promoted by J. Kappeyne van de Coppello. His resignation marked the end of a brief period of liberal colonial policy.
Legacy
Van Rees’ role in colonial history is often overshadowed by his more prominent predecessors and successors. However, his brief ministry was significant for:
- His support for aggressive action in Aceh.
- His questioning of the military position, which led to clearer strategic thinking.
- His role in the financial reforms that continued the movement away from the “batig slot” system.
See Also
- J.W. van Lansberge
- Aceh War
- P.P. van Bosse
- W. van Goltstein
- K. van der Heijden
- J. Loudon
- Council of Netherlands India
- J. P. Sprenger van Eyk
- Personeele belasting
- Patentrecht
- Regeeringsreglement
- Raad van State
- Secret Instruction of 5 June 1855
- 1875
- 1879
Sources
- De geschiedenis van Nederland in onzen tijd, by J. A. de Bruyne, Directeur der Hoogere Burgerschool te Zierikzee. Deel IV. 1872-1883. Nieuwe uitgave. Schiedam: J. F. Dupont, 1912, Hoofdstuk I, pp. 53, 55-58.
- J.W. van Lansberge en de praktijk van art. 4 van de Geheime Instructie van 5 Juni 1855, by M. Boon, Academisch Proefschrift ter verkrijging van den graad van doctor in de letteren en wijsbegeerte aan de Rijksuniversiteit te Utrecht, 1943, Utrecht: N.V. A. Oosthoek’s Uitgevers-Maatschappij, pp. 44-46, 210-214.
Een beroep op het Nederlandsche volk in zake het Atjeh-vraagstuk, door J. J. W. E. Verstege (Amsterdam: J. H. de Bussy, 1886), pp. 57 note, 74-75, 80. OCR: DLP-158.