to render a voluntary obedience; and by acting on the intelligence and
self-interest of these chiefs, have brought about changes in the manners
and customs of the people, which would have excited ill-feeling and
perhaps revolt, had they been directly enforced by foreigners.
In carrying out such a system, much depends upon the character of the
people; and the system which succeeds admirably in one place could
only be very partially worked out in another. In Minahasa the natural
docility and intelligence of the race have made their progress rapid;
and how important this is, is well illustrated by the fact, that in the
immediate vicinity of the town of Menado are a tribe called Banteks,
of a much less tractable disposition, who have hitherto resisted all
efforts of the Dutch Government to induce them to adopt any systematic
cultivation. These remain in a ruder condition, but engage themselves
willingly as occasional porters and labourers, for which their greater
strength and activity well adapt them.
No doubt the system here sketched seems open to serious objection. It
is to a certain extent despotic, and interferes with free trade, free
labour, and free communication. A native cannot leave his village
without a pass, and cannot engage himself to any merchant or captain
without a Government permit. The coffee has all to be sold to
Government, at less than half the price that the local merchant would
give for it, and he consequently cries out loudly against "monopoly"
and "oppression." He forgets, however, that the coffee plantations were
established by the Government at great outlay of capital and skill; that
it gives free education to the people, and that the monopoly is in lieu
of taxation. He forgets that the product he wants to purchase and make
a profit by, is the creation of the Government, without whom the people
would still be savages. He knows very well that free trade would, as its
first result, lead to the importation of whole cargoes of arrack,
which would be carried over the country and exchanged for coffee. That
drunkenness and poverty would spread over the land; that the public
coffee plantations would not be kept up; that the quality and quantity
of the coffee would soon deteriorate; that traders and merchants would
get rich, but that the people would relapse into poverty and barbarism.
That such is invariably the result of free trade with any savage tribes
who possess a valuable product, native or cultivated, is well known to
those who have visited such people; but we might even anticipate from
general principles that evil results would happen.
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