POSSESSIONS OF THE INDIAN ARCHIPELAGO* 22o 
sensibly by the daily contact which they have, with our Europem ci¬ 
vilization. More than two centuries of a moderate, protecting-, and 
persuasive power, rarely hostile or absolute, have served to make it 
appreciated by the Javanese nation, which in no manner regrets the 
authority of its native despots, under which revolts and murderous 
wars marked, in traces of blood, the epoch of a succession to the 
throne; whilst the jealousy and the hatreds of the princes and the 
nobles of the court, often kindled the torch of discord and impelled 
the population to acts of unheard of cruelty. 
The fate of these large and flourishing possessions depends hence¬ 
forth, more than is thought, on the choice of the men destined to go¬ 
vern and to exercise offices which bring them in contact with the 
natives. In order that our social institutions should there find favor 
and offer useful results, it is our duty as well as our interest, to pre¬ 
sent to this industrious and agricultural people the manners and the 
virtues of civilized nations and to veil from their eyes the vices with 
which this civilization is sullied. 
