The Conquest of Java, 35 



tion and the pestilential climate of Batavia. '' He came from the 

 other India," as Mr. R. subsequently remarked, " panting after 

 knowledge and busy in the pursuit of science ;" he entertained a 

 '' confident hope of illustrating national migrations from the 

 scenes which he was approaching,. . . . but just as he reached those 

 shores on which he hoped to slake his ardent thirst for knowledge, 

 he fell;" deeply deplored by all, and by none more truly than by 

 the subject of this memoir, who in company with the Governor- 

 General, beheld the last sad offices performed over his mortal 

 remains. 



" His bright and brief career is o'er. 

 And mute his tuneful strains ; 

 Quenched is his lamp of varied lore, 

 That lov'd the light of song to pour ; 

 A distant and a deadly shore 

 Has Leyden's cold remains !" 



Walter Scott. 



But to resume our narrative : General Jansens, the Dutch 

 Governor of Batavia, had withdrawn his forces from the city on 

 the approach of the British troops, and retired to a strong position 

 at Fort Corpelis, about five miles towards the interior of the 

 country. Thither he was soon followed by the invading army, 

 and after a hard fought battle, totally defeated. This conflict 

 determined the fate of the Dutch settlements in the Indian Archi- 

 pelago ; and thus was atchieved the conquest of Java ; an island 

 containing a population of five millions ; and divided into thirty 

 residencies, under povrerful chiefs, all more or less subordinate 

 to the European authorities. The unparalleled ease and celerity 

 with which this object was effected, appears io have been mainly 

 owing to the excellent arrangements made by the Governor- 

 General and his coadjutors in the enterprise ; which were carried 

 into effect with consummate skill and gallantry, by Sir Samuel 

 Auchmuty and the army under his command. The facility with 

 which the new government was established, was also aided in a 

 high degree by another circumstance, noticed by Mr. Rafl^ies, in 

 the preface to his History of Java, in nearly the following terms. 

 The British, with respect to the colonists and the inhabitants, 



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