The History of Java, v. 1-2

by Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles

[36] The Javan mode of taking account of population is by the number of chácha, or "families," as it is usually rendered, though the word strictly means "enumeration." When the sovereign assigns lands, it is not usual for him to express the extent of land, but the number of chácha attached to it. But as the population of the land so granted varies, the original expression becomes inaccurate. In the native provinces, the number of cháchas reckoned is almost invariably less than the number actually existing, a clear proof, if the original census was correct, that in those provinces population has increased. An account of the number of cháchas was taken some few years back by the Sultan of Yúgya-kérta, with a view to a new distribution of the lands; but the measure was very unpopular, and no accurate results were obtained. The Dutch relied entirely upon this loose system of enumeration.

[37] This includes the Population of Pachítan, under the European government, amounting to about 22,000.

[38] This does not include the dependent islands, on which a considerable portion of the population is scattered.

[39] Colquhoun's Statistical Account of Great Britain.

[40] Valentyn.

[41] The grandfather of the present Prince Prang Wedóno.

[42] It is remarked in the text, that the condition of the slaves on Java is very different from that of the same class in the West Indies. The former are employed rather as administering to the luxuries than the necessities of their proprietors; and, with few exceptions, exclusively for domestic purposes. There are some who having taught their slaves when young to embroider, or exercise some useful handicraft or trade, obtain a livelihood by means of their services, and some few employ their slaves on their estates, or let them out to hire; but the general condition of the slaves is that of domestic servants.

The regulations and colonial statutes respecting slavery seem to have been framed on the principles of humanity, and with attention to the genius of the Christian religion; yet, in consequence of the supplementary force of the Roman law in the Dutch system of legislature, there appeared to be one capital defect in the code, viz. that a slave was considered as a real property, incapable of personal rights, from which consideration the ill-treatment of a master towards his slave was not so much estimated on the principle of personal injury, as that of a proprietor abusing his own property; and although a slave, under such a system, might obtain a portion of property for himself with the consent of his master, his possession was always precarious, and depended on the discretion of his proprietor (in the same manner as a peculium adventitium with the Romans), becoming only the unlimited property of the slave, if the master allowed him to keep it after his emancipation.

It was conceived, that considering the civil law only as a supplement to the positive law, continued in force on Java under the proclamation of the Earl of Minto of 11th September 1811, the code respecting slavery might, together with the other parts of legislation, be amended and established, on principles more consistent with humanity and good sense, by a declaration, that slaves in future should not be considered as objects of real property, but as objects possessing personal rights, and bound only to unlimited service; and that, in consequence thereof, slaves should never be transferred from one master to another, without their own consent given before witnesses or a notary. That a master should possess no other power over his slave, than to exact service in an equitable manner; that he should inflict no corporal chastisement on him after he had attained a certain age, nor beyond such a degree as would be given to his children or common apprentices; that all personal wrongs done to a slave, either by his master or by others, should be estimated by the common rules of personal injuries, and not by the principle of a proprietor abusing his own property; that the punishment for murder committed by a master on his slave, should be the same as that of murder committed on a free person; that every slave should have a right to acquire property of his own, by his private industry or labour, or by the bounty of others; that this property should never be removeable at the discretion of the master; that by this property the slave should always have a right to redeem his liberty, after having continued with his master for the term of seven years, and on paying the sum which, on estimation, subject to the approval of the magistrate, should at the time be thought an adequate equivalent for his personal services.

These fundamental alterations in the code were submitted by the local government to a higher authority, at a period when the principal proprietors evinced a concurrence in the measure; but the provisional tenure of the government, and the expectation of the early transfer of the island to the crown, induced a delay, until the re-establishment of Holland as a kingdom precluded the adoption of so essential a change.