Occasionally  my  Dutch  friend  remarked  that  I  had
better  not  reply  to  some  of  the  questions  put  to  me,
but  I  answered  that  I  was  perfectly  ready  to  stand
by  the  consequences  of  anything  I  might  say.  Such
has  been  my  practice  through  life — I  might  say,  more
modestly,  my  endeavour — to  do  right  on  all  occasions,
to  avow  whatever  I  have  done,  and  to  take  the  con-
sequences, whatever  they  may  be.  I  do  not  say  that
such  a  mode  of  proceeding  may  not  occasionally  get  a
man  seemingly  into  trouble,  but  I  do  say  that  it  is  the
only  right  course,  and  that  he  is  equally  certain  to  get
out  of  it  again  ;  whereas  an  opposite  course  must  lead
him  into  difficulties,  and  involve  him  more  and  more
as  he  tries  to  extricate  himself  by  prevarication,  sub-


A  Prisoner  of  War.  207

terfuge,  or  falsehood.  I  therefore  told  the  chief  that  I
had  come  on  shore  hoping  to  open  up  a  trade  with
him,  under  the  belief  that  the  country  was  no  longer
either  in  possession  of  the  Dutch  or  French,  but  that
it  was  now  under  the  rule  of  England.  If  I  was
mistaken  I  was  ready  to  undergo  the  penalty,  and
must  run  the  risk  of  being  treated  as  a  prisoner  of
war  should  I  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  French,  but
that  as  the  English  were  the  friends  of  the  rulers  and
people  of  Java,  I  expected  to  be  treated  by  him  as  a
friend.
