Van der Wijck

Van der Wijck — Jhr. C. H. van der Wijck — was a Dutch colonial official who served successively as Vice-President of the Raad van Indië, as Commissioner of the Koninklijke Pakketvaart Maatschappij (during which capacity he visited Atjèh), and finally as Gouverneur-Generaal returning from the Netherlands to Indië — the office in which he was obliged to declare himself “vleugellam” (wing-lame) with respect to Atjèh, owing to the success of Deijkerhoff and his people in making the minister Baron Van Dedem so afraid of some change in Atjèh-policy that even the Queen-Regent was called upon to make Van der Wijck promise that he would change nothing therein.

The Vice-Presidency of the Raad van Indië

As Vice-President of the Raad van Indië, Van der Wijck had been strengthened in the belief he had received from Snouck Hurgronje regarding the Deijkerhoff-Oema policy — a belief that Snouck Hurgronje had had some success in imparting. As Vice-President, Van der Wijck was in a position to know the inner workings of the Atjèh-policy and to appreciate the warnings of Snouck Hurgronje against the Pahlawan-klucht.

The Commissioner of the Koninklijke Pakketvaart Maatschappij

Later, as Commissioner of the Koninklijke Pakketvaart Maatschappij, Van der Wijck visited Atjèh, and was then strengthened in the belief he had received from Snouck Hurgronje. The visit, in the capacity of a company commissioner rather than a colonial official, gave Van der Wijck a different perspective on the Atjèh-policy than the official one — and one more favourable to Snouck Hurgronje’s warnings.

The Gouverneur-Generaal

But later still, when he returned from the Netherlands to Indië as Gouverneur-Generaal, Van der Wijck had to declare himself “vleugellam” (wing-lame) with respect to Atjèh. Deijkerhoff and his people had succeeded in making the minister of colonies Baron Van Dedem so afraid of some change in Atjèh-policy that even the Queen-Regent was called upon, to make Van der Wijck promise that he would change nothing therein! The promise bound the hands of the governor-general; and the Atjèh-policy of Deijkerhoff was thereby protected from change at the metropolitan centre.

The Consequence

The protection of the Deijkerhoff-Oema policy from change at the metropolitan centre was the immediate institutional cause of the defection of 29 March 1896. With Snouck Hurgronje’s warnings disregarded and the governor-general unable to act, the Oema-policy ran its course to its catastrophic end. The Priok encounter between Snouck Hurgronje and IJzerman in the last days of March 1896 — in which IJzerman learned from Snouck Hurgronje’s reply that Oema had just run off with Dutch rifles, ammunition, and rix-dollars — is the dramatic record of the moment of the collapse.

The 1894 Bekendmaking Interview

Van der Wijck, as Gouverneur-Generaal, also conducted the interview with Snouck Hurgronje over the *Bekendmaking Nederburgh] in 1894 — the formal government declaration that was prefixed to the second volume of De Atjèhers as satisfaction for the criticised gentlemen Van den Berg and Der Kinderen. The landvoogd Van der Wijck summoned the guilty or accused — Snouck Hurgronje — and showed him the minister’s letter; but the delinquent was not penitent: “Ik heb enkel mijn opdracht vervuld” (I have only fulfilled my commission). The governor-general, recognising the substance of Snouck Hurgronje’s position, agreed: “met dit onderhoud is voldaan aan den wensch van den minister; en de regeeringsverklaring, die aan uw boek wordt toegevoegd, die zult gij zelf mogen keuren!” (With this interview the wish of the minister has been satisfied; and the government declaration that will be added to your book, you yourself may approve it!).

Governor-General during the 1896–1898 Atjeh campaigns

Van der Wijck’s correspondence with Snouck Hurgronje during the Atjeh campaigns of 1896–1898 reveals the decisive shift in Dutch confidence from Van Vliet to Van Heutsz as the future governor of Atjeh. After the Lhong expedition’s costly failure, Van der Wijck defended Van Vliet in his letter to Snouck of 17 February 1897, writing that Van Vliet “has, in my opinion, shown to conduct a wise policy; the troops had to be spared for health reasons.” Van der Wijck dismissed the criticism of Van Langen and expressed concern about the annual supplement of 2,000 men from Holland, calling it “our weak point — but of course no publicity may be given to it.” He also doubted whether any commander could have driven Oema back toward Leupoeëng while simultaneously attacking through the Glé Moelam-pas, calling such a manoeuvre “an irresponsible gamble.”

Van der Wijck’s letters of 17 May 1897 and 25 September 1897 record the steady growth of his confidence in Van Heutsz. The May letter noted Van Heutsz’s growing credit at Buitenzorg after receiving the Military Willemsorde on 24 May. In September, Van der Wijck still defended Van Vliet’s recognition of Van Heutsz “in his full value,” but acknowledged that Van Heutsz’s personality presented an obstacle to confidential relations, noting that both Van Vliet and general Vetter had refrained from reporting Van Heutsz’s “great character defects,” and hoped that general Swart would judge Van Heutsz favourably.

When asked from the Netherlands how long the Atjeh war would last, Van der Wijck consulted Snouck and Van Heutsz, who gave estimates of twenty-five and one years respectively; Van der Wijck averaged them — (25+1)/2 = 13, polished to 12 — and informed The Hague that Atjeh would require twelve more years. When Van Heutsz came to Batavia as chief of staff, Snouck advised him before his meeting with Van der Wijck at the palace: “Nu niet loven en niet laken! Plaats een wachter voor de lippen!” (“Now neither praise nor blame! Place a guard before your lips!”). Van Heutsz reported that he behaved impeccably, though Van der Wijck accused him of being a preuse optimist, to which Van Heutsz replied: “Ja Excellentie, als U pessimisten wenscht, moet U mij niet hebben; maar die zijn er genoeg te vinden!” (“Yes, Excellency, if you want pessimists, you must not have me; but there are enough of those to be found!”).

Significance

Van der Wijck is the Dutch colonial official who, successively as Vice-President of the Raad van Indië, as Commissioner of the Koninklijke Pakketvaart Maatschappij, and as Gouverneur-Generaal, was the principal institutional supporter of Snouck Hurgronje’s warnings against the Deijkerhoff-Oema policy — but who, as Gouverneur-Generaal, was bound by the promise exacted from him by the Queen-Regent at the instigation of the minister Van Dedem, and so unable to act on those warnings. The protection of the Deijkerhoff-Oema policy from change at the metropolitan centre was the immediate institutional cause of the defection of 29 March 1896. Van der Wijck’s interview with Snouck Hurgronje over the Bekendmaking Nederburgh in 1894 is the other principal episode of his governorgeneralship with respect to Atjèh.

Account in du Croo’s Generaal Swart (1943)

Van der Wijck held the government “in accordance with the intention” until he became army commander in May 1905, when Van Daalen took over as Civil and Military Governor.

Sources

De Buitenbezittingen, Deel II, Aflevering 2: Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden, bewerkt door het Encyclopaedisch Bureau, Mededeelingen van het Bureau voor de Bestuurszaken der Buitenbezittingen (Weltevreden: Landsdrukkerij, 1917), Bijlage I: “Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden, Hoofden van Gewestelijk Bestuur van 1874 tot heden.”

Jhr. J. C. v. d. Wyck was a Dutch colonial administrator who served as Civil and Military Governor of the Gouvernement Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden from 1904 to 1905, the brief interregnum between the powerful governorships of van Heutsz (1898–1904) and van Daalen (1905–1908). The Encyclopaedisch Bureau’s De Buitenbezittingen lists him in its Bijlage I — the chronological list of Hoofden van Gewestelijk Bestuur — as the holder of the Civ. en Mil. Gouverneur title for this transitional period. Nederlanders over de Zeeën: 350 Jaar geschiedenis van Nederland buitengaats, onder redactie van Dr. H. J. de Graaf, met medewerking van Prof. G. Gonggrijp, W. R. Menkman en Prof. Jhr Dr P. J. van Winter, 2e geheel herziene druk (Utrecht: W. de Haan N.V., MCMLV), pp. 217-218.

Account from Vijftig jaren economische staatkunde in Atjeh (1923)

Van der Wijck was the Governor-General of the Netherlands Indies under whom the government of Atjeh was reorganized after the defection of Teukoe Oemar in 1896: he found in the crisis occasion to follow a new line of conduct in Atjeh, closing the era of the Concentration, and after mature deliberation gave effect to the appointment of Colonel J. B. van Heutsz as Governor of Atjeh.

The new line in Atjeh, 1896–1898

After the defection of Teukoe Oemar in March 1896, an extraordinary meeting of the Council of the Indies, called by the Governor-General, resolved that the direction of affairs in Atjeh could no longer remain entrusted to Governor C. Deykerhoff, who was honourably discharged. Army commander J. A. Vetter acted as Government Commissioner; on his return to Batavia on 28 June 1896 effect was given to his insights — an unbroken development of power outside the concentrated line, sustained by three mobile columns, the extension of the tramways to the new encampments, and the application everywhere of the shipping regulation. Langhout counts it one of Governor-General Van der Wijck’s great merits that, at the application of his system, he caused the economic interests of land and people of Atjeh to be cared for as greatly as the military: in 1897 the population of the Sagi of the XXV Moekims was registered; in 1898 the government supported the founding of pasars (markets) in several moekims, revived agriculture and took up road- and bridge-building in the Sagi of the XXVI Moekims, instituted a native court under the civil magistrate, and gave out coffee seed to the several oelèèbalangs for planting on the yards — so that the Colonial Report over 1898 could report the state of the province as favourable.

Appointment of Van Heutsz

In the years 1896–1898 Dr. C. Snouck Hurgronje advised him on the choice of a new governor, recommending Colonel J. B. van Heutsz. Langhout writes that even the superficial reader of colonial history will come to the conviction that Governor-General Van der Wijck took the decision only after ripe deliberation and after accurate study of the advices received; shortly before the beginning of the Pidië expedition Van Heutsz took office as Civil and Military Governor.

Source

Drie Atjeh-mannen: Snouck Hurgronje — Van Heutsz — Van Daalen, door H. T. Damsté (September 1936). OCR-filename: 20260718_105749_DLP-111-Drie_Atjeh_mannen_Nemotron-OCR-v2_OCR.txt, pp. 18–19, 27.

H. T. Damsté, “Drie Atjeh-Mannen: Snouck Hurgronje — Van Heutsz — Van Daalen,” Kolonial Tijdschrift, No. 4, 26e Jaargang (1937), overdruck, pp. 356–375.

Generaal Swart, Pacificator van Atjeh (“General Swart, Pacifier of Atjeh”), by M. H. du Croo, Colonel K.N.I.L. (retired), with the collaboration of H. J. Schmidt, Titular Colonel K.N.I.L. (retired), with a foreword by His Excellency Lieutenant-General K.N.I.L. (retired) G. K. Dijkstra (Maastricht: N.V. Leiter-Nypels, 1943), Chapter VIII.

Vijftig jaren economische staatkunde in Atjeh, by Joh. Langhout (The Hague: N.V. Boekhandel v/h W. P. van Stockum & Zoon, 1923), pp. 73–75, 77–80.

tags	person, dutch, colonial, governor-general, 19th-century, snouck-hurgronje, deijkerhoff, atjeh, van-der-wijck, general, knil, governor, aceh, 20th-century, acheh
aliases	Jhr. Van der Wijck, Jhr. C. H. van der Wijck, Gouverneur-Generaal Van der Wijck, Vice-President Raad van Indië Van der Wijck, C. A. van der Wijck, Governor-General van der Wijck, Landvoogd van der Wijck, Jhr. J. C. v. d. Wyck, J. C. van der Wijck, Van der Wijck (governor-general), C. H. A. van der Wijck, G.-G. Van der Wijck, Van der Wijck

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