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THE DUTCH Meantime the Balinese had completed the conquest of Lombok (1740) . There the Dutch tried to influence the Balinese Governors to become independent of Bali and join the " Honourable East India Company." After two centuries of ruthless opera tion the company, already bankrupt and decayed, attracted such un favourable criticism that the Dutch Government was forced to assume control, and in 1798 the Dutch East India Company went into inglorious collapse. In the following years trouble started for the Balinese; the sultan of Surakarta, in Java, ceded to the Dutch " rights " he did not have over Bali, but they took no steps to claim them. The Balinese princes recognized Dutch supremacy, but retained their local autonomy. In 1846 the question of the ancient right of the Balinese to confiscate the cargo of wrecked ships brought the first Dutch military expedition against North Bali, which, after a series of battles, ended in Dutch control over the northern states of Buleleng and Djimbrana in 1882. The Balinese princes were made to sign a treaty in which piracy, slavery, and the exercise of shore rights were forbidden and in which they promised not to permit the establishment of any other European power in Bali. In 1885 there was a rebellion of Sasaks, the vassals of the Balinese in Lombok, while in Bali internal wars broke out among the various Radjas. Sasaks were brought to Bali and forced to fight. During these wars the united states of Badung and Klungkung annexed Mengwi and they all turned against the troublesome Radja of Gianjar. The Sasak chiefs complained to the Dutch, asking to be freed from the tyranny of the Balinese princes.
The Dutch were becoming alarmed at the friendly advances of the Balinese
towards the English, and officials were sent to negotiate a peace. They
were unsuccessful and even apologies demanded for insults to the envoys
were refused.
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