432 DUTCH HISTORY ing which, the countries under its influence wer^ exhausted, the natives estranged or driven to re- volt, and the most interested advocates of the sys- tem convinced, though their reasoning respecting the causes of failure may not have been accurate, <that all the establishments of the Dutch in that quarter of the Archipelago at least were burthen- some and useless. Malacca, from the strength of its fortifica- tions, resisted the Dutch power long after it had been established in the other countries of the Archipelago, and it was not until the year 1 641, after a siege and blockade of five months, and a gallant defence, worthy of the best days of Por- tuguese heroism, that it was taken. The kings of Achin and Jehor joined in the league against the Portuguese, but the former receded on thje dis- covery that his interests were not the object of his European allies, and the reward of the king of Je- hor, who contributed in an eminent degree to the success of the enterprise, was to be laid under the severest restrictions of the commercial monopoly. All the other princes of the Peninsula, whose sim- plicity could be intimidated by a display of the Dutch power, or cajoled and deceived by the artifice of European intrigue, were treated in the same manner. From the cause already describ- ed, no territorial conquest was made, no inter- nal improvement was any where effected, and. t«*;
