these restraints were removed, the sequel of their
history plainly showed, that that moderation was
only the result of expediency and necessity. It
may perhaps be admitted, that, in the measures they
pursued, there was a less insolent, daring, and open
violation of justice than in those of the Portuguese j
but they were attended by results still more pernicious,
because the power which confirmed the thraldom
of the natives was greater than that of their
predecessors, and therefore embraced a larger field
of desolation.
I shall take a view of their conduct in the principal
seats of their authority, viz. in Java, in the
Moluccas, and other neighbouring islands, and in
Malacca, and the other seats of their power in the
'west, illustrating each subject by a rapid narrative
of some of the most prominent events of their administration.
The eminent fertility of Java, the greatness of
its resources, and the commodiousness of the port
of Batavia, soon pointed it out as the fit seat of an
extensive and commercial empire ; and as early as
1 6 1 1 , just a century after the establishment of the
parallel authority of the Portuguese at Malacca,
the first Dutch governor-general laid the foundations
of the future capital in Jacatra.
By the year 1618, the ambition, rapacity, and
abilities of the Dutch, French, and English, the
new adventurers from Europe, had convinced the
princes of the Archipelago, that these guests, whom,
on their professions of amity and moderation, they
had so hospitably entertained, were not less dangerous
than their first visitors the Portuguese. The
princes of Java, too weak to remove them by open
force, began secretly to conspire to rid themselves
of them. The Dutch, whom they observed to be
the most powerful, were the principal objects of
their hatred and alarm ; and they thought, if they
got rid of them, the weaker invaders might readily
be disposed of. Of this conspiracy, as the Dutch
are pleased to call it, the movers were, the Regent
of Bantam, the Kings of Jacatra and Cheribon, and
the Sultan of Mataram. These princes had the dexterity
to dupe the English, whose animosity towards
the Dutch led them to become the tools of the native
princes. Conspiracies were at the same time formed
in Sumatra, in Celebes, and the Moluccas, to
expel the Dutch, but their good fortune, and a courage
and perseverance worthy of a better cause,
saved them from all these impending dangers. The
jealousies and animosities of the native princes, and
that weakness and oscillation of conduct common
to them with all barbarians, broke and defeated in
Java the combination against them. The Dutch
fort was on the point of surrendering to the king
of Jacatra, but the regent of Bantam, forgetting
the primary object of the war, and becoming jear
lous 01 the rich booty which would in this manner