M. Joshua Van Dael a Dutch merchant, and correspondent of M. Rodin, was
born at Batavia, the capital of the island of Java; his parents had sent
him to be educated at Pondicherry, in a celebrated religious house, long
established in that place, and belonging to the “Society of Jesus.”
It was there that he was initiated into the order as “professor of the
three vows,” or lay member, commonly called “temporal coadjutor.”
Joshua was a man of probity that passed for stainless; of strict
accuracy in business, cold, careful, reserved, and remarkably skillful
and sagacious; his financial operations were almost always successful,
for a protecting power gave him ever in time, knowledge of events
which might advantageously influence his commercial transactions. The
religious house of Pondicherry was interested in his affairs, having
charged him with the exportation and exchange of the produce of its
large possessions in this colony.
Speaking little, hearing much, never disputing, polite in the
extreme--giving seldom, but with choice and purpose--Joshua, without
inspiring sympathy, commanded generally that cold respect, which is
always paid to the rigid moralist; for instead of yielding to the
influence of lax and dissolute colonial manners, he appeared to live
with great regularity, and his exterior had something of austerity about
it, which tended to overawe.
The following scene took place at Batavia, while Djalma was on his way
to the ruins of Tchandi in the hope of meeting General Simon.
M. Joshua had just retired into his cabinet, in which were many shelves
filled with paper boxes, and huge ledgers and cash boxes lying open upon
desks. The only window of this apartment, which was on the ground floor,
looked out upon a narrow empty court, and was protected externally by
strong iron bars; instead of glass, it was fitted with a Venetian blind,
because of the extreme heat of the climate.
M. Joshua, having placed upon his desk a taper in a glass globe, looked
at the clock. “Half-past nine,” said he. “Mahal ought soon to be here.”
Saying this, he went out, passing through an antechamber, opened a
second thick door, studded with nail-heads, in the Dutch fashion,
cautiously entered the court (so as not to be heard by the people in
the house), and drew back the secret bolt of a gate six feet high,
formidably garnished with iron spikes. Leaving this gate unfastened, he
regained his cabinet, after he had successively and carefully closed the
two other doors behind him.
M. Joshua next seated himself at his desk, and took from a drawer a long
letter, or rather statement, commenced some time before, and continued
day by day. It is superfluous to observe, that the letter already
mentioned, as addressed to M. Rodin, was anterior to the liberation of
Djalma and his arrival at Batavia.
The present statement was also addressed to M. Rodin, and Van Dael thus
went on with it:
“Fearing the return of General Simon, of which I had been informed by
intercepting his letters--I have already told you, that I had succeeded
in being employed by him as his agent here; having then read his
letters, and sent them on as if untouched to Djalma, I felt myself
obliged, from the pressure of the circumstances, to have recourse
to extreme measures--taking care always to preserve appearances, and
rendering at the same time a signal service to humanity, which last
reason chiefly decided me.
“A new danger imperiously commanded these measures. The steamship
‘Ruyter’ came in yesterday, and sails tomorrow in the course of the day.
She is to make the voyage to Europe via the Arabian Gulf; her passengers
will disembark at Suez, cross the Isthmus, and go on board another
vessel at Alexandria, which will bring them to France. This voyage, as
rapid as it is direct, will not take more than seven or eight weeks. We
are now at the end of October; Prince Djalma might then be in France
by the commencement of the month of January; and according to your
instructions, of which I know not the motive, but which I execute with
zeal and submission, his departure must be prevented at all hazards,
because, you tell me, some of the gravest interests of the Society would
be compromised, by the arrival of this young Indian in Paris before the
13th of February. Now, if I succeed, as I hope, in making him miss this
opportunity of the ‘Ruyter’ it will be materially impossible for him to
arrive in France before the month of April; for the ‘Ruyter’ is the only
vessel which makes the direct passage, the others taking at least four
or five months to reach Europe.
“Before telling you the means which I have thought right to employ,
to detain Prince Djalma--of the success of which means I am yet
uncertain--it is well that you should be acquainted with the following
facts.
“They have just discovered, in British India, a community whose members
call themselves ‘Brothers of the Good Work,’ or ‘Phansegars,’ which
signifies simply ‘Thugs’ or ‘Stranglers;’ these murderers do not shed
blood, but strangle their victims, less for the purpose of robbing
them, than in obedience to a homicidal vocation, and to the laws of an
infernal divinity named by them ‘Bowanee.’
“I cannot better give you an idea of this horrible sect, than by
transcribing here some lines from the introduction of a report
by Colonel Sleeman, who has hunted out this dark association with
indefatigable zeal. The report in question was published about two
months ago. Here is the extract; it is the colonel who speaks:
“‘From 1822 to 1824, when I was charged with the magistracy and civil
administration of the district of Nersingpore, not a murder, not the
least robbery was committed by an ordinary criminal, without my being
immediately informed of it; but if any one had come and told me at this
period, that a band of hereditary assassins by profession lived in the
village of Kundelie, within about four hundred yards of my court of
justice--that the beautiful groves of the village of Mundesoor, within
a day’s march of my residence, formed one of the most frightful marts of
assassination in all India--that numerous bands of ‘Brothers of the Good
Work,’ coming from Hindostan and the Deccan, met annually beneath these
shades, as at a solemn festival, to exercise their dreadful vocation
upon all the roads which cross each other in this locality--I should
have taken such a person for a madman, or one who had been imposed upon
by idle tales. And yet nothing could be truer; hundreds of travellers
had been buried every year in the groves of Mundesoor; a whole tribe
of assassins lived close to my door, at the very time I was supreme
magistrate of the province, and extended their devastations to the
cities of Poonah and Hyderabad. I shall never forget, when, to convince
me of the fact, one of the chiefs of the Stranglers, who had turned
informer against them, caused thirteen bodies to be dug up from the
ground beneath my tent, and offered to produce any number from the soil
in the immediate vicinity.’(5)
“These few words of Colonel Sleeman will give some idea of this dread
society, which has its laws, duties, customs, opposed to all other
laws, human and divine. Devoted to each other, even to heroism,
blindly obedient to their chiefs, who profess themselves the immediate
representatives of their dark divinity, regarding as enemies all who do
not belong to them, gaining recruits everywhere by a frightful system of
proselytising--these apostles of a religion of murder go preaching their
abominable doctrines in the shade, and spreading their immense net over
the whole of India.
“Three of their principal chiefs, and one of their adepts, flying from
the determined pursuit of the English governor-general, having succeeded
in making their escape, had arrived at the Straits of Malacca, at no
great distance from our island; a smuggler, who is also something of a
pirate, attached to their association, and by name Mahal, took them on
board his coasting vessel, and brought them hither, where they think
themselves for some time in safety--as, following the advice of the
smuggler, they lie concealed in a thick forest, in which are many ruined
temples and numerous subterranean retreats.
“Amongst these chiefs, all three remarkably intelligent, there is one
in particular, named Faringhea, whose extraordinary energy and eminent
qualities make him every way redoubtable. He is of the mixed race,
half white and Hindoo, has long inhabited towns in which are European
factories and speaks English and French very well. The other two chiefs
are a Negro and a Hindoo; the adept is a Malay.
“The smuggler, Mahal, considering that he could obtain a large reward
by giving up these three chiefs and their adept, came to me, knowing, as
all the world knows, my intimate relations with a person who has great
influence with our governor. Two days ago, he offered me, on certain
conditions, to deliver up the Negro, the half-caste, the Hindoo, and
the Malay. These conditions are--a considerable sum of money, and a free
passage on board a vessel sailing for Europe or America, in order to
escape the implacable vengeance of the Thugs.
“I joyfully seized the occasion to hand over three such murderers to
human justice, and I promised Mahal to arrange matters for him with the
governor, but also on certain conditions, innocent in themselves, and
which concerned Djalma. Should my project succeed, I will explain myself
more at length; I shall soon know the result, for I expect Mahal every
minute.
“But before I close these despatches, which are to go tomorrow by the
‘Ruyter’--in which vessel I have also engaged a passage for Mahal the
Smuggler, in the event of the success of my plans--I must include in
parentheses a subject of some importance.
“In my last letter, in which I announced to you the death of Djalma’s
father, and his own imprisonment by the English, I asked for
some information as to the solvency of Baron Tripeaud, banker and
manufacturer at Paris, who has also an agency at Calcutta. This
information will now be useless, if what I have just learned should,
unfortunately, turn out to be correct, and it will be for you to act
according to circumstances.
“This house at Calcutta owes considerable sums both to me and our
colleague at Pondicherry, and it is said that M. Tripeaud has involved
himself to a dangerous extent in attempting to ruin, by opposition, a
very flourishing establishment, founded some time ago by M. Francois
Hardy, an eminent manufacturer. I am assured that M. Tripeaud has
already sunk and lost a large capital in this enterprise: he has no
doubt done a great deal of harm to M. Francois Hardy; but he has also,
they say, seriously compromised his own fortune--and, were he to fail,
the effects of his disaster would be very fatal to us, seeing that he
owes a large sum of money to me and to us.
“In this state of things it would be very desirable if, by the
employment of the powerful means of every kind at our disposal, we could
completely discredit and break down the house of M. Francois Hardy,
already shaken by M. Tripeaud’s violent opposition. In that case, the
latter would soon regain all he has lost; the ruin of his rival would
insure his prosperity, and our demands would be securely covered.
“Doubtless, it is painful, it is sad, to be obliged to have recourse to
these extreme measures, only to get back our own; but, in these days,
are we not surely justified in sometimes using the arms that are
incessantly turned against us? If we are reduced to such steps by the
injustice and wickedness of men, we may console ourselves with the
reflection that we only seek to preserve our worldly possessions, in
order to devote them to the greater glory of God; whilst, in the hands
of our enemies, those very goods are the dangerous instruments of
perdition and scandal.
“After all it is merely a humble proposition that I submit to you. Were
it in my power to take an active part in the matter, I should do nothing
of myself. My will is not my own. It belongs, with all I possess, to
those whom I have sworn absolute obedience.”
Here a slight noise interrupted M. Joshua, and drew his attention from
his work. He rose abruptly, and went straight to the window. Three
gentle taps were given on the outside of one of the slats of the blind.
“Is it you, Mahal?” asked M. Joshua, in a low voice.
“It is I,” was answered from without, also in a low tone.
“And the Malay?”
“He has succeeded.”
“Really!” cried M. Joshua, with an expression of great satisfaction;
“are you sure of it?”
“Quite sure: there is no devil more clever and intrepid.”
“And Djalma?”
“The parts of the letter, which I quoted, convinced him that I came from
General Simon, and that he would find him at the ruins of Tchandi.”
“Therefore, at this moment--”
“Djalma goes to the ruins, where he will encounter the black, the half
blood, and the Indian. It is there they have appointed to meet the
Malay, who tattooed the prince during his sleep.”
“Have you been to examine the subterraneous passage?”
“I went there yesterday. One of the stones of the pedestal of the statue
turns upon itself; the stairs are large; it will do.”
“And the three chiefs have no suspicion?”
“None--I saw them in the morning--and this evening the Malay came to
tell me all, before he went to join them at the ruins of Tchandi--for
he had remained hidden amongst the bushes, not daring to go there in the
daytime.”
“Mahal--if you have told the truth, and if all succeed--your pardon and
ample reward are assured to you. Your berth has been taken on board the
‘Ruyter;’ you will sail to-morrow; you will thus be safe from the malice
of the Stranglers, who would follow you hither to revenge the death of
their chiefs, Providence having chosen you to deliver those three great
criminals to justice. Heaven will bless you!--Go and wait for me at the
door of the governor’s house; I will introduce you. The matter is so
important that I do not hesitate to disturb him thus late in the night.
Go quickly!--I will follow on my side.”
The steps of Mahal were distinctly audible, as he withdrew
precipitately, and then silence reigned once more in the house. Joshua
returned to his desk, and hastily added these words to the despatch,
which he had before commenced:
“Whatever may now happen, it will be impossible for Djalma to leave
Batavia at present. You may rest quite satisfied; he will not be at
Paris by the 13th of next February. As I foresaw, I shall have to be up
all night.--I am just going to the governor’s. To-morrow I will add
a few lines to this long statement, which the steamship ‘Ruyter’ will
convey to Europe.”
Having locked up his papers, Joshua rang the bell loudly, and, to the
great astonishment of his servants, not accustomed to see him leave home
in the middle of the night, went in all haste to the residence of the
governor of the island.
We now conduct the reader to the ruins of Tchandi.
(5) This report is extracted from Count Edward de Warren’s excellent
work, “British India in 1831.”--E. S.