History

Ambon's Place In Western Pacific

Link Between Dutch and British Extends Over Four Centuries

By A. G. Miller

THE trial and punishment of Japanese war criminals at Ambon recalls a curious footnote to history.

It is a far cry from London to the Moluccas, still farther from James I to Hirohito. But the infamous “Amboina Massacre” embittered Anglo-Dutch rela tions for half a century, while the minor role played by Japanese is a startling reminder of infiltration into the Indies 300 years ago.

The English were late-comers to the fabulous Spice Islands. A Portuguese squadron reached Ternate, a tinv vol canic island off the west coast of Halma hera in 1514. Forts and “factories” were built at various points in the Moluccas.

Spices—pepper, nutmeg, and cloves— brought enormous profits to daring ad venturers. The survivors of Magellan’s expedition, for instance, sold their cargo of cloves to Seville merchants at a profit of 2,500 per cent.!

Naturally, Europeans did not care to share this El Dorado with all-comers.

The Dutch drove the Portuguese from Ternate in 1574, five years before Francis Drake’s “Golden Hind” anchored there.

However, the Portuguese retained foot holds on Tidore, a few miles from Ter nate, and on Ambon until 1605. English and Spanish traders still threatened the Dutch monopoly. The latter seized the abandoned Portuguese fort at Tidore, while the East India Company opened a factory at Cambello (Ambon) in 1615.

BITTER rivalry led to distrust and intrigue. Eight years passed before an open breach developed on Am bon, an island three times the size of Malta. The English staff, about a dozen in all, were arrested by Dutch soldiers.

They were charged with conspiring with Japanese soldiers to attack the Dutch fort, and also with storing up revolts on Ceram and Run. It is not quite clear what the Japs were doing in the Moluccas, but they appear to have escaped punishment.

Hollanders were ruthless where trade was concerned, and their Ambon agents were no exception to this rule. Evidence against the unlucky factors and clerks was flimsy, so the prisoners were put to the torture. Some were given the “water treatment”: water was poured down their throats until they choked.

Others merely had lighted candles held under their armpits. The rack, that reliable aid to justice, does not seem to have been available.

No wonder the unfortunate prisoners “confessed.” Ten were promptly executed —and the spice trade saved for the shareholders of the Netherlands East Indies Company.

NEWS of this atrocity caused great in dignation in England. Had a Tudor sat on the throne, prompt action might have been taken. But James I and Charles I both failed to take action against the Dutch.

The “massacre” rankled in English memories for 30 years. After the Civil War, Oliver Cromwell’s strong hands beat the dust from the yellowed files. In December, 1653, the Lord Protector for mally demanded satisfaction from Hol land’s all-powerful Eastern monopoly.

No longer wracked by internal strife, England was in a position to pursue a vigorous foreign policy, with the back

ing of the New Model Army and a powerful Navy.

Victories over the Dutch Fleet in June and July had raised the Commonwealth’s prestige to a high level. Yet Cromwell did not rely on the threat of force: he was perfectly willing to allow Swiss arbi trators to decide the issues should a joint panel of Anglo-Dutch experts disagree.

For once, intervention by a third party proved quite unnecessary. Relatives of the murdered men received compensation to the tune of £3,615, while the English company accepted £85,000, which included damages for the loss of Pularoon, its last remaining post in the Spice Islands. As for the officials responsible for this out rage, the records are silent—it is pos sible that they were no longer alive.

Despite Cromwell’s action, the ghosts of these poor fellows continued to haunt London’s counting-houses and taverns.

In 1673. with another Stuart on the British throne. John Dryden, famous playwright and poet, produced his tragedy, “Amboyna, or the Cruelties of the Dutch to the English Merchants.”

Another war had been fought with Hol land since the Restoration, and the dramatist may have felt he was on solid ground as regards box-office receipts.

“ JOHN COMPANY” never recovered J the lost factories in the Spice Islands, yet strategic Ambon has been twice under the Union Jack. A French invasion of the Low Countries, following on the Terror, obliged the Royal Navy to seize ports in the Nether lands East Indies. French warships and privateers could not be permitted to re fit in Dutch colonial harbours, so Admiral Rainier’s squadron captured Ambon in 1796.

Six years later, all occupied territory was handed back to Holland under the terms of the Peace of Amiens. This un easy truce did not last long; Napoleon merely wanted a breathing space before turning armies loose on Europe. Despite Nelson’s victory at Trafalgar, the block

ade of Occupied Europe was the Navy’s primary job.

Not until February, 1810, did three British frigates capture the island of Ambon, a step which added to the security of the young colony of New South Wales.

WITH the collapse of Napoleon’s bayonet-built empire, Stamford Raffles’ wise rule of the East Indies came to an end. Once again the Eng lish redcoats withdrew to their transports, turning their backs on an empire as rich as India. British headstones and memorial tablets remained behind to keep company with relics of the first occupation of Ambon.

The gallant stand at Ambon of Aus tralia’s small, poorly-equipped “Gull force” in January-February, 1942, en sures the island a lasting place in Aus tralian history. After Japan’s surrender, it was fitting that Australian troops should be the first to land, marking the fourth occasion on which British Forces have aided both Dutch and Ambonese in a time of dire peril.

Perhaps some sentry, on a still and moonless night, has heard faint whisper ings from the ancient fort, and ghostly voices muttering, not of forgotten wrongs by forgotten men, but of Japanese bar barity enacted on a scale that makes the original “Amboina Massacre” a tiny foot note to history.

Mademoiselle Simone Legras, daughter of Monsieur and Madame Legras, of Noumea, New Caledonia, was married on January 5 at the Noumea Cathedral, to Mr. Ronald Loubert, of Maine, USA. The bride’s father is the owner-editor of Noumea’s newspaper.