Page:History of the Indian Archipelago Vol 3.djvu/42

 so CLASSIFICATION AND ferior birth who shoukl presume to aiTogate the office or titles of royalty. We have a singular and authentic illustration of the veneration with which the Indian islanders regard the royal blood in the circumstances attending the elevation of the prince called the Susunan Kuning in Java during the Chi- nese war. This person was a lad of twelve or thir- teen years of age, and removed in the third degree from the throne. The Chinese strongly objected to his elevation, but their Javanese coadjutors in- sisted that none but those of the blood royal could by possibility ascend the throne of Java. Marta- pura^ one of the Javanese chiefs, spoke as follows to the chief of the Chinese : *' Father, it is the imme- morial usage of Java, that none should be king save he who is of the blood of those to whom the kingdom as of right belongs ; and the presumptuous man would be short-lived who, without title, should in- trude himself into the throne. He would forfeit his wretched life, and it would be his fate to be beat to death with clubs." * With all this veneration for the royal family, there is nothing attached to it that is hereditary but the throne. The unbounded prerogative of the crown tolerates nothing that can by implication be considered independent of it. The title of Pangercuiy or prince, is, in Java, for example,
 * Javanese manuscript.