Page:Max Havelaar Or The Coffee Sales of the Netherlands Trading Company Siebenhaar.djvu/302

 “Owing to my precaution it was known to you that I had tried by repeated exhortation and threat to save the old Regent from misfortune and ignominy, and myself from the deep sorrow of being the cause—although only the immediately preceding cause—of it.

“But I saw on the other hand the population,, I thought of the urgent necessity of an example—for I shall have to report to you , at least if the reaction of  affair does not put a stop to them—and, I repeat,  I did what I took to be my duty.

“At this moment I have just received your courteous and esteemed private letter, informing me that you will be here to-morrow, and at the same time hinting that I should have done better first to deal with this matter privately.

“To-morrow, therefore, I shall have the honour of seeing you, and it is exactly for this reason that I take the liberty to send this letter in time to reach you on the road, so that before our meeting I may place in your hands the following statement:

“All that I have inquired into concerning the actions of the Regent has been done in profound secrecy. Only and the Patteh knew of it, for I had loyally warned him. Even the Controller so far knows the result of my investigations only partly. This secrecy had a twofold object. First, when I still hoped to be able to turn the Regent from his path, I wished, successful, not to compromise him. The Patteh, on his behalf, on the 12th instant, thanked me expressly for my discretion. But afterwards, when I began to despair of the success of my efforts, or rather, when the measure of my indignation ran over, when further silence would have become , then this secrecy had to be observed on account, for to myself also, and those belonging to me, I have duties to fulfil.

“Should I not, after my letter of yesterday, if its contents were idle, baseless, or a figment of the imagination, be unworthy to serve the Government? And should, or shall, I be able to prove