The latest reports from Acheen are odd. It is said
that the Dutch troops are advancing, and that the Sultan is ready to treat, but it is not said that the capital, Kraton, is taken, or that any important victory has yet been achieved. The Commander-in- Chief telegraphs in very confident style, but there appears to be an undertone of hesitation in all accounts, which is not very intelligible, unless, indeed, very severe sickness has broken out in the Dutch camp. If the Sultan were not a Mussulman we should expect submission, but as he is, and as he has a fortress requiring heavy guns to attack, and as he is the representative of Islam in the far East, he may resist to the last, and fall fighting. The dread of the Dutch system of government in the far East is, we should remark, much greater than the dread of our rule in India.
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