Max Havelaar

“ But economy was a difficult thing to Havelaar. As for himself, he could be content with the bare necessaries of life; yea, even with less; but where others were in want of assistance, to help, to give, was a strong passion with him. He himself was aware of this foible; he considered with all the common-sense he had, how unjustly he acted in succouring any one, when he himself had a better claim to his own assistance, and felt this injustice the more when his Tine and Max, both of whom he loved so dearly, suffered through the consequence of his liberality. ”

“ Max Havelaar himself, though the conception of his character is a subtle one, and is on the whole well brought out — at once dreamy and practical, lavish and self-stinting, indulgent and rigid, irregular in his impulses, and yet bent on enforcing order — is of far less worth artistically than the coffee-broker, and there is a constant tendency to rhetorical self-assertion about him which one fears is characteristic of the writer himself. ”

“ And moreover, although there might sometimes be a disproportion between revenues and expenses, was not Max, “her Max,” destined for a brilliant career?—Ought not he to be soon in a position which would allow a free course to his high-minded passions without exceeding his revenues? Was not her Max destined to become a Governor-General, or a King? Nay, was it not strange that he was not yet a King? If she had any fault at all, it was her deep affection for Havelaar; and here more than ever it should be: that much must be forgiven those who have loved much! ”

“ And he kissed the child with a wildness which frightened it.
“My child, if they tell you that I am a wretch, who had no courage to do justice, that so many mothers have died by my fault; if they tell you that the neglect of your father stole away the bliss of your life. . . . Max, bear witness how I suffered!”
And he burst into tears, which Tine kissed away. Then she put little Max to bed—a mat of straw—and when she returned found Havelaar in conversation with Verbrugge and Duclari, who had just come in. The conversation was about the expected decision of the Government. ”

“ Max was once far, very far from wife and child. He had been compelled to leave her behind in India, and was in Germany. With the mental quickness which I attribute to him, and which I am ready to defend if anyone should wish to assail it, he had mastered the language of the country where he had been some months. Here are the lines, [5] which at the same time paint the devotion that bound him to those belonging to him:—
—“My child, that is the ninth hour striking: hark!
The night wind murmurs, and the air grows cool,
Perhaps too cool for you; your forehead glows! ”

“ The thought of promotion frightens me, and yet on the other side, when I think again that we have debts. . . .”
“All will be right, Max! even if you had to go from here, then you could help Lebak afterwards on being made Governor-General.”
Then came wild lines in Havelaar’s pattern——there was anger in those flowers, . . . those strips were sharp, angular, crossing each other. . . . Tine understood that she had said something wrong.
“Dear Max!” she began kindly.
“A curse on it! . . . Will you have them starve so long? . . . . Can you live on sand?”
“Dear Max! . . .” ”

“ Havelaar, I never served under any one like you;—there’s something very peculiar about you: don’t be offended.”
“Not at all; I know very well that I am not as all men——but what does that matter?”
“You communicate to others conceptions and ideas never heard of before.”
“No! they had fallen asleep in that despicable official stillness, whose style is: ‘I have the honour to be,’ and its feeling ‘the perfect satisfaction of the Government.’ No, Verbrugge! do not trouble yourself about it. ”

“ Havelaar had to say again, as if to swallow the former words. “If you agree to it, Resident, we will make room in the carriage. The ‘baboe’ can remain here; we will send her a tandoo2 from Rankas-Betong. My wife will take Max on her lap——won’t you, Tine? there is room enough.”
“It——is——very——”
“Verbrugge, we will make room for you too; I don’t see——”
“—well,” continued the Resident.
“I don’t see why you should needlessly ride on horseback through the mud; there is room for all of us: we can then make acquaintance with each other——can’t we, Tine?—we will arrange it. ”

“ Here, Max—look here, Verbrugge, is not this a pretty little fellow?—’tis my little boy, Max!”
The Resident had seated himself with the Adhipatti. Havelaar called Verbrugge to ask him who was the owner of that grey horse with red trappings; and when Verbrugge went to the entrance of the ‘pendoppo’ to see what horse he meant, he put his hand on his shoulder and asked—
“Is the Regent always so attentive?”
“He is a strong man for his years, Mr. Havelaar, and you understand that he would like to make a good impression on you.” ”

“ The Resident rose, and read out the order of the Governor-General by which Max Havelaar was appointed Assistant-Resident of the division Bantan-Kedool or South-Bantam, as Lebak is called by the natives. Then he took the Government Gazette containing the oath prescribed for the assumption of offices in general, which states: “that, in order to be nominated or promoted to the office of ———, one has promised or given nothing to anyone, nor will promise or give anything; that one will be loyal and faithful to His Majesty the King of the Netherlands ”

“ In such an uncivilized country no girls wander about the streets late at night, who have a little “honour” to sell for a little food. One meets no stray people there who live by problematic professions. It does not happen there that a family is suddenly ruined by a change of fortune . . . and such, after all, were usually the rocks whereon Havelaar’s good intentions foundered. The number of Europeans in that division was so insignificant that it might be called negligible, and at Lebak the Javanese were too poor to become—by whatever vicissitude—interesting by still greater poverty. ”

“ But distance is a dispassionate arbiter, and looked at from across the sea, the first impression which "Max Havelaar" produces is that of an attempt to blend in one a political pamphlet, a novel, and a collection of thoughts and opinions on things in general, which has spoilt all three. ”

“ But his humanitarianism clashed with the interests of his government, and sacrificing a brilliant career to a principle, he sent in his resignation and returned to Holland in 1856 a poor man. He began to put his experiences on paper, and in 1860 published the book that made him famous. 'Max Havelaar' is a bitter arraignment of the Dutch colonial system, and gives a more excruciating picture of the slavery of the natives of fair "Insulind" than ever existed in the South. ”

“ The book proves that what was formerly written in Uncle Tom’s Cabin of the cruelties perpetrated upon the [vii] slaves in America, is nothing in comparison to what happens every day in the Dutch Indies.
“Max Havelaar” is the name under which the author chooses to describe his experiences in the East; in the first chapters of the book he has just returned from India, and he meets an old school-companion, at that time a coffee-broker, a Mr. Drystubble. This Mr. ”

“ Was it coquetry of Havelaar, when at Natal he jumped into the estuary after a dog (the animal’s name was Sappho) , because he feared that the young creature could not swim [271] well enough to escape the sharks that are so numerous there? I find such a coquetting with good-nature more difficult to believe than good-nature itself.
I call you to witness that have known Havelaar—if you are not stiffened by the cold of winter, and dead or dried up and withered by the heat yonder, under the Equator!—I summon you to testify of his heart, all of you who have known him! ”

“ But he did not like to write poetry; it was, as he said, “like putting on a stiff corset,” and when he was induced to read anything of what he had written, he took pleasure in abusing his own work, either by reading in a ridiculous tone, or by stopping short at a most solemn place, and throwing in a pun which shocked his hearers. This was nothing more than a satire upon the disproportion between his soul and the corset which confined it.
Havelaar had ordered by a sign the customary tea and sweetmeats; but few of the chiefs partook of the refreshments. ”

“ For whereas a writer who deals with European conditions can take many things as known, he that places his drama in India must constantly ask himself whether the non-Indian reader will correctly understand this or that circumstance. If the European reader should imagine Mrs. Slotering as “staying” with the Havelaars, as might be the case in Europe, he would think it incomprehensible that she was not present in the company which was taking coffee in the front veranda. ”

“ And it was from this cause that little Max could not play in the garden, and that Tine had not so much pleasure from the flowers as she had anticipated on the day of her arrival at Rankas-Betong. Of course, this and suchlike small misfortunes had no influence on the minds of a family that possessed so much material to procure itself a happy domestic life; and it was not to be ascribed to these trifles when Havelaar sometimes entered with a clouded brow, after his return from an excursion ”

“ He, at any rate, retraced his steps and went outside.
“I am sorry,” said Tine. “It may have been a man who had fowls for sale, or vegetables. I haven’t anything in the house yet.”
“Well, then you can send out someone,” replied Havelaar. “You know that native ladies are fond of exercising authority. Her husband was formerly the principal person here, and however little an Assistant-Resident may in reality count, in his Division he is a little king: she isn’t accustomed yet to her dethronement. Don’t let us rob the poor woman of this little pleasure. ”

“ As no bread was baked at the place, they ate no bread. They might have ordered it from Serang, but the cost of carriage would have been too high. Max knew as well as anyone that there were various means of having bread brought to Rangkas-Betoong without paying for it, but unpaid labour, that cancer of India, was an abomination to him. There were many things like this which, at Lebak, were obtainable by the undue exercise of authority, but not for sale at a reasonable price, and under such conditions Havelaar and his Tine submitted willingly to the absence of them. ”

“ Duclari now went on in Dutch—either because he was more familiar with that language, and considered that he had done enough to satisfy the requirements of courtesy, or because he wished to be understood by Verbrugge alone—“this may be true in general, but with regard to Havelaar one certainly doesn’t require a personal acquaintance . . . he is a fool!”
“I never said that, Duclari!”
“No, you did not say it, but I do, after all you have told me about him. I call a man who jumps into the water to save a dog from sharks, a fool.” ”

“ True, this lady, who understood no Dutch, need not have apprehended any harm from the narratives of Max, as Tine had said; but she understood that more was required than not to harm the Slotering family, and the scanty kitchen, in connexion with the intended economy, made her consider the intention of Madam Slotering very wise. It is also doubtful whether, had the circumstances been otherwise, the intercourse with a person who spoke only one language, wherein nothing is printed that civilizes the mind, would have conduced to mutual pleasure. ”

“ A heavy jolt of the carriage, just got out of the mud, put a point of exclamation after the declaration that to travel was an impossibility for Madam Slotering. Every one had said the usual “Oh!” which follows such a jolt; Max had recovered in his mother’s lap the ‘pisang’ which he lost by the shock, and we were already pretty near to the next mud-hole before the Resident could resolve to finish his phrase, by adding—
“a——native——woman.”
“Oh, that makes no difference,” explained Madam Havelaar. ”

“ Be it acknowledged that Havelaar was in truth a poet. Anyone must feel that, as he spoke of the rice-fields on the mountains, his glances wandered up to them through the open end of the hall, and that he really saw those fields. One realizes that, when he made the tree ask where the man was who as a child had played at its foot, that tree was actually there and, to the imagination of Havelaar’s audience, gazed around in truth inquiring about the departed dwellers of Lebak. ”

“ Am not I allowed to go to Driebergen as soon as Fred is a broker? And who speaks of dysentery in the company of mothers and daughters? It is a fixed principle with me always to remain quiet, for I think it useful in business; but I must confess, that it has often cost me a great deal to listen to all the nonsense that Stern reads. What does he mean? What must be the end of all this? When shall we hear anything substantial? Of what interest is it for me whether Havelaar keeps his garden clean or not, and whether those people enter in front of the house or at the back? ”

“ Havelaar said; “papa has something to say to these gentlemen,” and the little boy ran away, kissing his hands to them.
“Chiefs of Lebak! we are all of us in the service of the King of Holland. But he, who is just, and desires that we should perform our duty, is far from here. Thirty times a thousand thousand souls, nay more, are under his rule, but he cannot be near all of those who are dependent on his will. ”