Page:Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje - The Achehnese - tr. Arthur Warren Swete O'Sullivan (1906).djvu/22

Rh of his submission could not be censured from the point of view of the concentration scheme. With a prudent endeavour to reconcile Uma's private interests with those of peace and order throughout the territories he ruled, there would have been much to gain and nothing to lose. For even if the fickle chief once more had changed his mind, one would still have been as far advanced as before and would have had some chance of increasing one's knowledge of the proper course to pursue in matters concerning the condition of the districts under his influence. But inexcusable it was that a Governor absolutely unacquainted with native affairs should, immediately after Uma's submission, have given his entire confidence to this adventurer and, in defiance of all warnings, should have persisted in strengthening Uma by generous subsidies of Dutch weapons and Dutch money.

Thus assisted, Uma overcame his own enemies—for partizan struggles and civil war raged even after the Dutch power was established in Acheh—and, under the guise of fighting against the foes of the Dutch regime, he dealt out, as his own, plentiful subsidies to his friends in the War-party and tried by all means in his power to acquire the maximum of influence both over the Dutch and their opponents. Of course this could not go on for long; as soon as it ceased to be possible for Uma to continue to combine the satisfaction of the wishes of the War-party with the appearance of advancing the interests of the Government, the barrel would burst—and there was not much doubt on which side Uma would elect to be. From the very first he set himself to winning substantial gains for the War-party and nominal advantages for the Dutch, which last advantages however seriously taken had no real value whatever. A "line" of greater extent than the original "concentrated" line, could effect nothing whatever in the way of terminating an insurrection that had its centres and its granaries outside Great Acheh in the dependencies. Yet this extension of the line was the only apparent gain which Uma, appointed a commander of friendly Achehnese forces and considered by the Governor as a trusty councillor, brought to his protector; and this gain was due to—and continued to depend on—the slender thread of his good-will.

In March, 1896, Uma thought that the time had come to remove the scales from the eyes of the blindly-trusting General He had then sufficient money and arms to play a leading part among