# Max Havelaar, Chapter 5

Max Havelaar · Multatuli · The Novel

Source: https://1732studios.com/books/havelaar/hoofdstuk-5. Data: https://1732studios.com/books/havelaar/hoofdstuk-5.json. Audio: https://audio.1732studios.com/havelaar/<line id>.m4a.


VYFDE HOOFDSTUK  
CHAPTER FIVE
> vyfde — period spelling of 'vijfde': 'VYFDE HOOFDSTUK' = 'Fifth Chapter'. The 'y' stands for 'ij' (vijfde), a constant feature of the 1860 page you will see throughout.

Er was des morgens te tien ure een ongewone beweging op den grooten weg die de afdeeling Pandeglang verbindt met Lebak "Groote weg" is misschien wat veel gezegd voor 't breed voetpad dat men, uit beleefdheid en by-gebrek aan beter, de "weg" noemde. Maar als men met een vierspannig rytuig vertrok van Serang, de hoofdplaats der residentie Bantam, met het voornemen zich te begeven naar Rangkas-Betoeng, de nieuwe hoofdplaats van 't Lebaksche, kon men nagenoeg zeker zyn, te-eeniger-tyd daar aantekomen. 't Was dus een weg.  
At ten in the morning there was an unusual stir on the high road that links the district of Pandeglang with Lebak. "High road" is perhaps saying rather too much for the broad footpath that people, out of courtesy and for want of anything better, called the "road." But if one set out from Serang, the chief town of the Bantam residency, in a carriage and four, meaning to make one's way to Rangkas-Betoeng, the new chief town of the Lebak country, one could be nearly certain of arriving there in due course. So it was a road after all.
> Existential er + genitive 'des morgens': 'Er was ... een ongewone beweging' is the presentative 'er' introducing an indefinite subject. 'des morgens' is a frozen genitive of time ('in the morning'), and 'te tien ure' keeps an old dative ending on 'uur'.
> Reflexive 'zich begeven' + te-infinitive: 'zich begeven' (to betake oneself / make one's way) is reflexive; 'te begeven' is the te-infinitive depending on 'voornemen' (intention). 'der residentie' is a genitive case-remnant ('of the residency').

Wel bleef men gedurig steken in den modder, die in de Bantamsche laaglanden zwaar, kleierig en klevend is, wel was men telkens genoodzaakt de hulp interoepen van de bewoners der naastby gelegen dorpen--ook al waren ze niet zéér naby, want de dorpen zyn niet menigvuldig in die streken--maar als men er dan eindelyk in geslaagd was, een twintigtal landbouwers uit den omtrek by-een te krygen, duurde het gewoonlyk niet zeer lang, voor men paard en wagen weder op vasten grond had gebracht.  
True, one was forever sticking fast in the mud, which in the Bantam lowlands is heavy, clayey, and clinging; true, one was repeatedly obliged to call on the help of the inhabitants of the nearest villages — even when they were not very near, for villages are not plentiful in those parts — but once one had finally managed to gather a score of farmers from round about, it usually did not take very long before horse and carriage were back on firm ground.
> Concessive 'wel ... wel ... maar' + impersonal men: The paired 'wel ... wel ... maar' frames a concession ('true ... true ... but'). Each 'wel' fronts, so the verb inverts ('bleef men', 'was men'). 'men' is the impersonal 'one', steering the whole anecdote.
> Joined te-infinitive + genitive 'der': 'interoepen' is 'in te roepen' (to call in) with the 'te' infixed and spelled as one word — classic 1860 orthography. 'der ... dorpen' is the genitive plural case-remnant ('of the villages').
> Pronominal 'erin' + 'voor' temporal clause: 'er ... in geslaagd' = 'slagen in' (to succeed in), with 'er...in' standing for 'in it'. The long 'als'-clause is answered by inverted 'duurde het', and 'voor men ... had gebracht' is a verb-final temporal clause ('before one had brought').

De koetsier klapte met de zweep, de loopers--in Europa zou men, geloof ik, zeggen "palfreniers" of liever, er bestaat in Europa niets wat met deze loopers overeenkomt--die onvergelykbare loopers dan, met hun korte dikke zweepjes, huppelden weer aan de zyde van het vierspan, kreschen onbeschryfelyke geluiden, en sloegen de paarden ter-aanmoediging onder den buik. Zóó hoste men dan eenigen tyd voort, tot het verdrietig oogenblik weer daar was, dat men tot over de assen wegzonk in den modder.  
The coachman cracked his whip, the runners — in Europe, I believe, one would say "grooms," or rather, there is nothing in Europe that corresponds to these runners — these incomparable runners, then, with their short thick little whips, would skip along again at the side of the team, shrieking out indescribable noises and lashing the horses under the belly to spur them on. In this way one jolted along for a while, until the dispiriting moment came round again when one sank up to the axles in the mud.
> Conditional zou + impersonal men: 'zou men ... zeggen' is the conditional (zou + infinitive 'zeggen'), inverted after the fronted 'in Europa': 'in Europe one would say...'. The infinitive parks at the end.
> Existential er + relative 'wat': 'er bestaat ... niets' uses 'er' with the verb 'bestaan' (to exist). 'wat' is the relative pronoun used after the indefinite 'niets' (nothing that...), and 'overeenkomt' (separable 'overeenkomen', to correspond) is verb-final.
> loopers, huppelen, krijschen: 'loopers' are the running outriders who flank the carriage; 'huppelden' (skipped/hopped) and 'kreschen' (period past of 'krijschen', to shriek) animate them. Multatuli says no European word fits these 'onvergelykbare loopers'.

Dan begon het geroep om hulp op-nieuw. Men wachtte geduldig tot die hulp kwam, en ... sukkelde verder.  
Then the cry for help began afresh. One waited patiently until that help arrived, and ... struggled on.
> Fronted 'Dan' + separable opnieuw beginnen: Opening with 'Dan' (then) inverts to 'begon het geroep' (V2). 'op-nieuw' (modern opnieuw, anew) sits at the end. 'het geroep' is a collective noun built on 'roepen' (the calling/crying) with the ge-...-prefix.

Dikwyls, als ik dien weg langs ging, was 't my als zou ik hier of daar een wagen vinden met reizigers uit de vorige eeuw, die in den modder gezakt, en vergeten waren.  
Often, as I passed along that road, it seemed to me that here or there I might come upon a carriage carrying travellers from the previous century, who had sunk in the mud and been forgotten.
> Impersonal 'het is mij als' + conditional zou: 'was 't my als ...' is an impersonal construction ('it was to me as though...'); the 'als'-clause then inverts to 'zou ik ... vinden' (I would find), the conditional with the infinitive at the end.
> Relative die + shared auxiliary: 'die' (relative, for the de-word 'reizigers') opens a verb-final clause where two participles, 'gezakt' and 'vergeten', share one finite 'waren' (pluperfect with zijn): had sunk and been forgotten.

Maar dit is me nooit voorgekomen.  
But this never once happened to me.
> Perfect of separable voorkomen + negative nooit: 'is ... voorgekomen' is the perfect of the separable 'voorkomen' (to happen/occur), taking 'zijn' as auxiliary. 'nooit' (never) is the single negative — Dutch allows only one per clause.

Ik veronderstel dus dat allen die ooit dezen weg langs kwamen, eindelyk zyn aangeland waar ze wezen wilden.  
So I assume that all who ever came along this road did in the end arrive where they wished to be.
> Nested relative + perfect of aanlanden: Inside the 'dat'-clause a relative 'die ... kwamen' is embedded (verb-final), and the main predicate 'zyn aangeland' (perfect of separable 'aanlanden', to arrive, with zijn) closes the whole. 'dezen weg' is an accusative case-remnant.

Men zou zich zeer vergissen, wanneer men zich van den geheelen grooten weg op Java, een denkbeeld vormde naar den maatstaf van dien weg in 't Lebaksche.  
One would be much mistaken to form an idea of the whole of the great road across Java by the measure of that road in the Lebak country.
> Conditional zou + reflexive + wanneer-clause: 'zou zich ... vergissen' is the conditional of the reflexive 'zich vergissen' (to be mistaken). The condition follows in a verb-final 'wanneer'-clause with a second reflexive 'zich ... vormde' (to form for oneself an idea).

De eigenlyke heirbaan met zyn vele zytakken, die de maarschalk Daendels met groote opoffering van volk deed aanleggen is inderdaad een prachtig stuk werks, en men staat verbaasd over de geestkracht van den man die, ondanks alle bezwaren welke zyn benyders en tegenstanders in 't moederland hem in den weg legden, den onwil der bevolking en de ontevredenheid der hoofden durfde trotsen, om iets tot-stand te brengen, dat thans nog de bewondering van iederen bezoeker opwekt en verdient.  
The high road proper, with its many branches, which Marshal Daendels had laid out at great cost of human life, is indeed a magnificent piece of work, and one stands amazed at the force of will of the man who, despite all the obstacles his enviers and opponents in the mother country put in his way, dared to defy the unwillingness of the population and the discontent of the chiefs in order to bring about something that to this day still rouses and deserves the admiration of every visitor.
> Causative doen + bare infinitive: 'deed aanleggen' is the causative 'doen' + bare infinitive 'aanleggen' (to have laid out) — older and more formal than 'laten'. The relative 'die' makes the clause verb-final.
> Stacked relatives + 'den' + durven + infinitive: 'van den man' keeps the case-remnant 'den'; the relative 'die ... durfde trotsen' ends the clause with 'durven' (to dare) governing the (here bare) infinitive 'trotsen' (to defy).

Geen paardenpostery dan ook in Europa--zelfs niet in Engeland, Rusland of Hongarye--kan met die op Java worden gelyk gesteld.  
No system of post-horses in Europe — not even in England, Russia, or Hungary — can be set on a par with the one on Java.
> Passive with worden + geen-negation: 'kan ... worden gelyk gesteld' is a modal + worden-passive ('can be put on a par'); the worden-passive sends 'gesteld' to the end. 'Geen paardenpostery' negates the indefinite subject — 'geen', not 'niet'.
> paardenpostery — the post-horse relay: 'Paardenpostery' is a system of relay post-horses for fast travel. 'Paarden + postery' is a noun compound (the right element heads it); the whole praises Java's relay system over any in Europe.

Over hooge bergruggen, langs diepten die u doen yzen, vliegt de zwaar bepakte reiswagen in één galop voort.  
Over high mountain ridges, along chasms that make you shudder, the heavily laden travelling-carriage flies onward at a single gallop.
> Fronted adverbials + separable voortvliegen: Two place-phrases are fronted, so the verb 'vliegt' stands second before the subject 'de ... reiswagen'. 'voort' is the separable prefix of 'voortvliegen' (to fly on), landing at the end.
> Relative die + causative doen: 'die ... doen yzen' — the relative subject 'die' (the chasms) plus causative 'doen' + bare infinitive 'yzen' (to make you shudder). 'u' here is the object 'you'.

De koetsier zit als op den bok genageld, uren, ja, gansche dagen achtereen, en zwaait de zware zweep met yzeren arm.  
The coachman sits as though nailed to the box, for hours, indeed whole days on end, and swings the heavy whip with an iron arm.
> Participle 'genageld' as predicate + 'den': 'genageld' (nailed, participle of 'nagelen') works as a predicate adjective after 'als' — 'sits as though nailed to the box'. 'op den bok' shows the case-remnant 'den' (the coach-box).

Hy weet juist te berekenen waar en hoeveel hy de hollende paarden moet inhouden, om na vliegend dalen van een berghelling, ginds aan dien hoek ...  
He knows exactly how to reckon where and by how much he must rein in the racing horses, so that after a headlong descent of a mountain slope, there at that bend ...
> te-infinitive + embedded modal clause: 'weet ... te berekenen' = 'knows how to reckon' (weten + te + infinitive). The indirect question 'waar en hoeveel hy ... moet inhouden' is verb-final, with the modal 'moet' sending the separable infinitive 'inhouden' (to rein in) to the end.

--Myn God, de weg is ... weg! We gaan in een afgrond, gilt de onervaren reiziger, daar is geen weg ... daar is de diepte!  
— My God, the road is ... gone! We are driving into an abyss, cries the inexperienced traveller; there is no road ... there is the chasm!
> Pun: weg (road) vs. weg (gone): A pun lost in English (the homophone exists only in Dutch): 'de weg is ... weg' = 'the road is ... gone'. The noun 'weg' (road) and the adverb 'weg' (gone/away) are spelled and pronounced alike — Multatuli's reader gets a small jolt.
> Quotative inversion + present 'gilt': In the reporting tag 'gilt de ... reiziger' the present-tense verb 'gilt' (cries/shrieks, from 'gillen') precedes its subject — the vivid 'historic present' Multatuli uses for this set-piece.

Ja, zoo schynt het.  
Yes, so it seems.
> Impersonal het with schijnen: 'zoo schynt het' = 'so it seems', the impersonal/dummy 'het' as subject of 'schijnen' (to seem). Fronting 'zoo' (so/thus) inverts the verb before 'het'.

De weg kromt zich, en juist als één galopsprong verder, vasten grond zou doen verliezen aan 't voorspan, wenden zich de paarden, en slingeren het voertuig den hoek om.  
The road bends, and just as one gallop-bound more would lose firm ground beneath the leaders, the horses wheel about and sling the vehicle round the corner.
> Reflexive 'zich kromt' / 'zich wenden': Both 'kromt zich' (the road bends/curves itself) and 'wenden zich de paarden' (the horses turn) use the reflexive 'zich'. In the second, the long 'en juist als...'-clause is fronted, forcing 'wenden zich de paarden' inversion.

Ze vliegen de berghoogte op, die ge een oogenblik vroeger niet zaagt, en ... de afgrond ligt achter u.  
They fly up the mountain height that you did not see a moment before, and ... the abyss lies behind you.
> Archaic 'ge' + relative die, verb-final: 'ge' is the literary/period 2nd-person pronoun (modern 'je/jij'), characteristic of 1860 prose. The relative 'die' (the mountain height) makes the clause verb-final, ending on 'zaagt' (period past of 'zien', you saw).

Er zyn, by zulke gelegenheid, oogenblikken dat de wagen alleen rust op de raderen aan de buitenzyde van den boog dien ge beschryft: de middelpuntvliedende kracht heeft de binnenwielen van den grond geheven.  
On such an occasion there are moments when the carriage rests only on the wheels at the outer side of the curve you are describing: the centrifugal force has lifted the inner wheels off the ground.
> Existential er + relative-like 'dat': 'Er zyn ... oogenblikken' is the existential 'er' ('there are moments'). The following 'dat'-clause specifies them and runs verb-final to 'rust'. 'de raderen' is the older plural of 'rad' (wheels).
> Accusative remnants 'den' and 'dien': 'den boog' (accusative article) and the accusative relative 'dien' ('the curve that/which you describe') are two frozen masculine-accusative forms in a single phrase — peak 1860 case-marking. 'ge' is again the archaic 'you'.

Er behoort koelbloedigheid toe, de oogen niet te sluiten, en wie voor 't eerst op Java reist, schryft aan zyn familie in Europa, dat hy in levensgevaar verkeerd heeft. Maar wie er te-huis behoort, lacht om dien angst.  
It takes cool blood not to shut one's eyes, and whoever travels on Java for the first time writes to his family in Europe that he has been in mortal danger. But whoever belongs there laughs at such fear.
> Separable 'toebehoren' + te-infinitive: 'Er behoort koelbloedigheid toe' uses the separable 'toebehoren' ('it takes/requires cool blood'), with 'toe' at the end and the 'er' as dummy. The te-infinitive 'de oogen niet te sluiten' (not to shut one's eyes) spells out what it takes.
> Headless relative 'wie' as subject: 'wie ... reist' is a free relative ('whoever travels') with no antecedent, opening a verb-final clause; the main clause then answers with 'schryft' (writes). Multatuli pairs it with 'wie er te-huis behoort, lacht...' for contrast.

Het is myn doel niet, vooral niet in het begin van myn vertelling, den lezer lang bezig te houden met het beschryven van plaatsen, landschappen of gebouwen. Ik vrees te zeer hem afteschrikken door wat zweemen zou naar langdradigheid, en eerst later, als ik gevoel dat hy voor my gewonnen is, als ik uit blik en houding bemerk dat het lot van de heldin die ergens van 't balkon eener vierde verdieping springt, hem belang inboezemt, dan laat ik, met stoute verachting van alle wetten der zwaartekracht, haar zweven tusschen hemel en aarde, tot ik myn hart heb lucht gegeven in de nauwkeurige schets der schoonheden van het landschap, of van 't gebouw dat daar ergens schynt geplaatst te zyn om een voorwendsel aan de hand te doen tot een veelbladzydig vertoog over middeleeuwsche architektuur.  
It is not my aim — least of all at the beginning of my tale — to keep the reader long occupied with the describing of places, landscapes, or buildings. I am too afraid of scaring him off with anything that might smack of long-windedness; and only later, when I feel that he has been won over to me, when I can tell from his look and bearing that the fate of the heroine who springs from a fourth-floor balcony somewhere holds his interest, then I will, with bold contempt for all the laws of gravity, let her hover between heaven and earth until I have unburdened my heart in a meticulous sketch of the beauties of the landscape, or of the building that seems set down there for the sole purpose of furnishing a pretext for a many-paged disquisition on medieval architecture.
> Joined te-infinitive 'afteschrikken': 'afteschrikken' is the separable 'afschrikken' (to scare off) with infixed 'te', written as one word in the 1860 manner (modern 'af te schrikken'). It depends on 'vrees' (I fear to...).
> Passive with zijn (state): 'gewonnen is' is the zijn-passive expressing a resulting state: 'he has been won over / is won'. It sits verb-final inside the 'dat'-clause, itself inside the 'als'-clause — Multatuli's characteristic nesting.
> Causative laten + bare infinitive: 'laat ik ... haar zweven' is causative 'laten' + bare infinitive 'zweven' (to let her hover). The whole long sentence hangs the heroine in mid-air as a deliberate joke on digressive description.

Al die kasteelen gelyken op elkaar.  
All those castles resemble one another.
> Reciprocal 'op elkaar' + fixed preposition: 'gelyken op elkaar' (resemble one another) uses the fixed preposition 'op' with 'gelijken' and the reciprocal 'elkaar'. 'kasteelen' is the period spelling of 'kastelen' (castles), with the doubled vowel.

Onveranderlyk zyn ze van heterogeene bouworde. Het corps de logis dagteekent altyd van eenige regeeringen vroeger dan de aanhechtsels die onder dezen of genen lateren koning daarby zyn gevoegd.  
Invariably they are of heterogeneous construction. The corps de logis always dates from a good few reigns earlier than the additions that some later king or other has tacked on to it.
> Fronted adverb forces inversion: Opening with the adverb 'Onveranderlyk' (invariably) puts the verb 'zyn' second, ahead of 'ze'. A textbook V2 move with an adverbial in first position.
> Pronominal 'daarby' + passive with zijn: 'daarby ... zyn gevoegd' — 'daarby' is a pronominal adverb ('to it'), and 'zyn gevoegd' is the zijn-passive/perfect ('have been added'). The relative 'die' keeps the clause verb-final.

De torens zyn in vervallen staat ... Waarde lezer, er zyn geen torens.  
The towers are in a state of decay ... Worthy reader, there are no towers.
> Existential er + geen-negation: Multatuli sets up 'De torens zyn ...' then deflates it with 'er zyn geen torens' — the existential 'er' plus 'geen' negating the indefinite plural 'torens' ('there are no towers').

Een toren is een denkbeeld, een droom, een ideaal, een verzinsel, onverdragelyke grootspraak!  
A tower is a notion, a dream, an ideal, a fabrication, an intolerable piece of bragging!
> An asyndetic crescendo: Multatuli piles synonyms in mounting scorn — denkbeeld (notion), droom (dream), ideaal, verzinsel (fabrication), grootspraak (bragging) — to demolish the very idea of a 'toren'. 'onverdragelyk' (unbearable) caps the list with characteristic vehemence.

Er zyn halve torens, en ... torentjes.  
There are half-towers, and ... little turrets.
> Existential er + diminutive plural: 'Er zyn ... torentjes' pairs the existential 'er' with 'torentjes', the diminutive plural of 'toren' (little turrets) — the comic anticlimax to the grand 'torens'.

De geestdryvery die torens meende te moeten zetten op de gebouwen die opgericht werden ter-eere van dezen of genen heilige, duurde niet lang genoeg om ze te voleinden, en de spits die de geloovigen naar den hemel moet wyzen, rust, gewoonlyk een paar omgangen te laag, op de massieve bazis, 'tgeen denken doet aan den man zonder dyen op de kermis.  
The zeal that thought it had to set towers upon the buildings raised in honour of some saint or other did not last long enough to bring them to completion, and the spire that is to point the faithful toward heaven usually rests, a few stages too low, on the massive base — which puts one in mind of the man without thighs at the fair.
> Stacked infinitives: meende te moeten zetten: A three-verb cluster: 'meende te moeten zetten' = 'thought it had to set' — 'menen' + te + modal 'moeten' + bare infinitive 'zetten'. The relative 'die' makes the clause verb-final.
> Relative die + modal moeten: 'die ... moet wyzen' — the relative subject 'die' (the spire) with modal 'moeten' sending 'wyzen' (to point) to the end. 'naar den hemel' carries the case-remnant 'den' (toward heaven).
> Archaic relative ''tgeen' + causative doen: ''tgeen' (= hetgeen) is a formal/older relative meaning 'which', referring to the whole preceding idea. 'denken doet aan' is causative 'doen' ('makes one think of'). 'zonder dyen' uses 'dyen', the period plural of 'dij' (thighs).

Alleen torentjes, kleine naaldjes op dorpskerken, zyn afgewerkt.  
Only little turrets, small needles on village churches, are ever finished.
> Passive/perfect of afwerken + diminutive: 'zyn afgewerkt' is the participle of separable 'afwerken' (to finish) with 'zijn', read as a state ('are finished'). The subject 'torentjes' (little turrets) and 'naaldjes' (little needles) are diminutive plurals.

Het is waarlyk niet vleiend voor de westersche beschaving, dat zelden het denkbeeld om een groot werk tot-stand te brengen, zich lang genoeg heeft kunnen staande houden om dat werk voleind te zien.  
It is truly no compliment to Western civilization that the notion of bringing some great work to completion has so seldom been able to hold its ground long enough to see that work carried through.
> Reflexive + modal in perfect (kunnen): 'heeft kunnen staande houden' is a perfect with a modal as infinitive ('kunnen', not a participle) plus 'staande houden' (to hold its ground). The reflexive 'zich' belongs to 'zich staande houden'. The whole clause is verb-final after 'dat'.
> westersche beschaving — Western civilization: 'westersche' shows the period sch- spelling (modern 'westerse'). Multatuli's barb — that the West can seldom finish a great work — sets up his sincere admiration for Cologne Cathedral that follows.

Ik spreek nu niet van ondernemingen welker afwerking noodig was om de kosten te dekken. Wie juist weten wil wat ik bedoel, ga den Dom te Keulen zien.  
I am not speaking now of undertakings whose completion was necessary to cover the costs. Whoever wishes to know exactly what I mean should go and look at the Cathedral of Cologne.
> Formal relative 'welker': 'welker' is a heavy, archaic genitive relative ('whose/of which'), tied to 'ondernemingen' — the kind of formal relative reserved for elevated 1860 prose; modern Dutch would rephrase with 'waarvan'.
> Free relative 'wie' + jussive 'ga': 'Wie ... weten wil' is a headless relative ('whoever wishes to know'); the answer 'ga ... zien' uses a third-person imperative/jussive 'ga' ('let him go and see'). 'den Dom' keeps the accusative case-remnant.

Hy geve zich rekenschap van de grootsche opvatting van dat gebouw, in de ziel des bouwmeesters Gerhard von Riehl ... van 't geloof in de harten des volks, dat hem in-staat stelde dat werk aantevangen en voorttezetten ... van den invloed der denkbeelden die zùlk een kolos noodig hadden om als zichtbare voorstelling te dienen van het ongezien godsdienstig gevoel ... en hy vergelyke deze overspanning met de richting, die eenige eeuwen later het oogenblik deed geboren worden, waarop men 't werk staakte. Er ligt een diepe kloof tusschen Erwin van Steinbach en onze bouwmeesters!  
Let him give himself an account of the grand conception of that building, in the soul of its architect Gerhard von Riehl ... of the faith in the hearts of the people that put him in a position to begin that work and carry it on ... of the influence of the ideas that needed so colossal a thing to serve as a visible representation of the unseen religious feeling ... and let him compare this exaltation with the temper that, some centuries later, gave birth to the moment at which the work was abandoned. There lies a deep gulf between Erwin von Steinbach and our architects!
> Subjunctive/jussive 'geve' and 'vergelyke': 'geve' and 'vergelyke' are old optative/jussive subjunctive forms in -e ('let him give himself an account', 'let him compare') — a solemn, archaic register Multatuli adopts for this meditation. 'zich rekenschap geven' is reflexive.
> Genitive case-remnant 'des': 'des bouwmeesters' and 'des volks' are genitive case-remnants ('of the master-builder', 'of the people'), with the old masculine/neuter genitive 'des' plus the -s on the noun — high formal 1860 grammar.

Ik weet dat men sedert jaren bezig is deze kloof te dempen. Ook te Keulen bouwt men weder aan den Dom.  
I know that for years now men have been at work bridging this gulf. At Cologne too they are building at the Cathedral once more.
> Fronted adverbial + impersonal men: Opening with 'Ook te Keulen' inverts to 'bouwt men' (V2). 'men' is the impersonal 'one/they'; 'weder' is the archaic 'weer' (again). 'aan den Dom' keeps the case-remnant.

Maar zal men den afgebroken draad weer kunnen aanhechten? Zal men terugvinden in onze dagen, wat toen de kracht uitmaakte van kerkvoogd en bouwheer?  
But will the broken thread be joined again? Will we find once more, in our own days, what then made up the strength of churchman and master-builder?
> Future zullen + modal kunnen: 'zal men ... kunnen aanhechten?' stacks the future 'zullen' with the modal 'kunnen' and the separable infinitive 'aanhechten' (to reattach) — a future-of-possibility cluster at the clause end. 'den ... draad' keeps the case-remnant.
> Relative 'wat' + separable uitmaken: 'wat ... uitmaakte' is a free relative ('what made up...') closing verb-final on the separable 'uitmaken' (to constitute). 'toen' (then/at that time) is the temporal adverb.

Ik geloof het niet. Geld zal wel te bekomen zyn, en hiervoor is steen en kalk te-koop.  
I do not believe it. Money will surely be forthcoming, and for that, stone and lime are to be bought.
> Future zullen + passive-like te-infinitive: 'zal ... te bekomen zyn' = 'will surely be obtainable' — future 'zullen' with the modal-passive 'te + infinitive + zijn' (something is to be had/done). 'wel' adds the reassuring 'surely'.

Men kan den kunstenaar betalen, die een plan ontwerpt, en den metselaar die de steenen legt. Maar niet voor geld te-koop is 't verdwaald en toch eerbiedwaardig gevoel dat in een bouwontwerp een dichtstuk zag, een dichtstuk van graniet, dat luid sprak tot het volk, een dichtstuk in marmer, dat dáár stond als een onbewegelyk voortdurend eeuwig gebed.  
One can pay the artist who draws up a plan, and the mason who lays the stones. But not to be had for money is that strayed, yet still venerable, feeling which saw in a building-design a poem — a poem of granite that spoke aloud to the people, a poem in marble that stood there like an unmoving, ever-enduring, eternal prayer.
> Accusative 'den' + relative die: Two accusative case-remnants, 'den kunstenaar' and 'den metselaar' (the objects of 'betalen', to pay), plus the relative 'die ... legt' (who lays the stones), verb-final.
> Fronting a predicate phrase: The predicate 'niet voor geld te-koop' (not for sale for money) is fronted for rhetorical weight, inverting to 'is 't ... gevoel'. The relative 'dat ... zag' (which saw...) is verb-final.

Op de grens tusschen Lebak en Pandeglang dan, was op zekeren morgen een ongewone beweging.  
On the border between Lebak and Pandeglang, then, there was an unusual stir one certain morning.
> Resumption with fronted place + 'dan': After the long digression Multatuli resumes the scene, fronting the place-phrase (so 'was' inverts) and inserting 'dan' ('then/as I was saying') to pick the narrative thread back up. This echoes the chapter's opening sentence almost verbatim.

Honderden gezadelde paarden bedekten den weg, en duizend menschen voor 't minst--wat veel was voor die plek--liepen in bedryvig wachten heen-en-weer.  
Hundreds of saddled horses covered the road, and at least a thousand people — which was a great many for that spot — moved to and fro in busy waiting.
> Separable 'heen-en-weer lopen' + middle field: 'liepen ... heen-en-weer' places the directional element at the end (heen-en-weer = to and fro). The manner phrase 'in bedryvig wachten' (in busy waiting) sits in the middle field before it.

Hier zag men de hoofden der dorpen, en de distriktshoofden uit het Lebaksche, allen met hun gevolg, en te oordeelen naar den schoonen bastert-arabier die in zyn ryk tuig op den zilveren watertrens knabbelde, was ook een hoofd van hoogeren rang op deze plaats aanwezig.  
Here one saw the chiefs of the villages, and the district chiefs from the Lebak country, each with his retinue; and to judge by the handsome half-Arab horse that, in its rich harness, was champing at the silver watering-bit, a chief of higher rank too was present in this place.
> te-infinitive + adjective -e + relative: 'te oordeelen naar' = 'to judge by'. 'den schoonen bastert-arabier' shows both the case-remnant 'den' and the attributive adjective ending -en/-e ('schoonen', handsome). The relative 'die ... knabbelde' is verb-final.

Dit was dan ook het geval.  
And so indeed it was.
> Fronted 'Dit' + confirmatory 'dan ook': The demonstrative 'Dit' (this) is fronted, inverting to 'was ... het geval' (V2). 'dan ook' is a fixed confirming adverbial pair ('and so indeed', 'as expected'), very common in this expository register.

De Regent van Lebak, Radhen Adhipatti Karta Natta Negara had met groot gevolg Rangkas-Betoeng, verlaten, en ondanks zijn hoogen ouderdom de twaalf of veertien palen afgelegd, die zyn woonplaats scheiden van de grenzen der naburige afdeeling Pandeglang.  
The Regent of Lebak, Radhen Adhipatti Karta Natta Negara, had left Rangkas-Betoeng with a great retinue, and despite his advanced age had covered the twelve or fourteen miles that separate his dwelling-place from the borders of the neighbouring district of Pandeglang.
> Pluperfect with two shared participles: One 'had' governs two participles at a distance: 'verlaten' (left) and 'afgelegd' (covered/travelled), the separable 'afleggen'. 'die zyn woonplaats scheiden van...' is a verb-final relative.
> palen — Javanese 'miles': A 'paal' was a colonial-era distance marker on Java, roughly 1.5 km; 'de twaalf of veertien palen' is rendered 'twelve or fourteen miles'. The word literally means 'post/pole', after the roadside markers.

Er werd een nieuwe adsistent-resident verwacht, en het gebruik, dat in Indie meer dan ergens kracht van wet heeft, wil dat de beambte die met het bestuur eener afdeeling belast is, feestelyk worde ingehaald by zyn aankomst.  
A new assistant-resident was expected, and custom — which in the Indies has the force of law more than anywhere else — requires that the official charged with the government of a district be ceremonially received on his arrival.
> Subjunctive 'worde' in a worden-passive: 'worde ingehaald' is a worden-passive in the old subjunctive 'worde' (after 'wil dat', requires that...): 'be ceremonially received'. The separable 'inhalen' (to welcome/receive) supplies the participle 'ingehaald', verb-final.
> Relative die + passive with zijn: 'belast is' is a zijn-passive/state ('is charged with'); the relative 'die' makes the clause verb-final. 'eener afdeeling' carries an old feminine genitive '-er' (of a district).

Ook de kontroleur, een man van middelbaren leeftyd, die sedert eenige maanden na den dood van den vorigen adsistent-resident, als eerstopvolgende in rang het bestuur had waargenomen, was daar tegenwoordig.  
The controller too was present there, a man of middle age who, ever since the death of the previous assistant-resident some months before, had as next in rank been carrying on the administration.
> Relative die + pluperfect of waarnemen: 'had waargenomen' is the pluperfect of the separable 'waarnemen' (to carry out / act in), verb-final inside the relative 'die'-clause. 'sedert eenige maanden na den dood' stacks the time-phrase with the case-remnant 'den dood'.

Zoodra het tydstip der komst van den nieuwen adsistent-resident bekend was, had men in-aller-yl een pendoppo doen oprichten, een tafel en eenige stoelen daarheen gebracht, en eenige ververschingen gereed gezet. In deze pendoppo wachtte de Regent met den kontroleur de aankomst van den nieuwen chef af.  
As soon as the time of the new assistant-resident's coming was known, men had hastily caused a pendoppo to be put up, had brought a table and a few chairs there, and had set out some refreshments. In this pendoppo the Regent, together with the controller, awaited the arrival of the new chief.
> Causative doen in the pluperfect: 'had men ... doen oprichten' is the causative 'doen' + bare infinitive 'oprichten' (to have erected), in the pluperfect — the double-infinitive cluster 'doen oprichten' at the end. Fronting the 'Zoodra'-clause inverts 'had men'.
> zoodra — verb-final temporal clause: 'Zoodra' (as soon as) is subordinating, sending 'was' to the end. 'der komst' and 'des ... adsistent-resident' show genitive case-remnants ('of the coming', 'of the assistant-resident').

Na een hoed met breeden rand, een regenscherm, of een hollen boom, is een pendoppo zeker de eenvoudigste uitdrukking van het denkbeeld: dak.  
After a broad-brimmed hat, an umbrella, or a hollow tree, a pendoppo is surely the simplest expression of the notion: roof.
> Fronted phrase + superlative: The long 'Na...'-phrase is fronted, inverting to 'is een pendoppo'. 'de eenvoudigste' is the superlative (-ste) of 'eenvoudig' (simplest) — Multatuli ranking the pendoppo among the most basic kinds of 'roof'.

Verbeeld u vier of zes bamboezen palen in den grond geslagen, die aan de boveneinden met elkander verbonden zyn door andere bamboes, waarop een deksel is vastgehecht van de lange bladen van den waterpalm, die in deze streken atap heet, en ge zult u dusdanige pendoppo kunnen voorstellen. Het is, zooals ge ziet, zoo eenvoudig mogelyk, en het moest hier dan ook slechts dienen als pied à terre voor de europesche en inlandsche beambten die daar hun nieuw opperhoofd kwamen verwelkomen aan de grenzen.  
Picture to yourself four or six bamboo poles driven into the ground, joined together at their upper ends by other lengths of bamboo, to which is fastened a covering made of the long leaves of the water-palm — which in these parts is called atap — and you will be able to imagine such a pendoppo. It is, as you see, as simple as can be, and here too it was meant to serve only as a pied-à-terre for the European and native officials who had come to that spot to welcome their new superior at the borders.
> Reflexive imperative + future zullen + modal: 'Verbeeld u' is a reflexive imperative ('picture to yourself'). The payoff 'ge zult u ... kunnen voorstellen' stacks future 'zullen' + modal 'kunnen' + reflexive 'zich voorstellen' (be able to imagine), all clustering at the end. 'ge' is the archaic 'you'.
> Passives + pronominal 'waarop': 'verbonden zyn' and 'is vastgehecht' are zijn-passives ('are joined', 'is fastened'). 'waarop' is a pronominal adverb ('to which') opening a verb-final relative. 'door' marks the agent of the passive.

Ik heb me niet volkomen juist uitgedrukt, toen ik den adsistent-resident het opperhoofd, ook van den Regent, noemde.  
I did not express myself altogether precisely when I called the assistant-resident the superior, of the Regent as well.
> Reflexive perfect of uitdrukken: 'heb me ... uitgedrukt' is the perfect of the reflexive separable verb 'zich uitdrukken' (to express oneself); 'me' is the 1st-person reflexive, and 'uitgedrukt' is the participle, verb-final.

Een uitweiding over 't mechanismus van het bestuur in deze landstreken is hier, tot juist begrip van hetgeen volgen zal, noodzakelyk.  
A digression on the mechanism of the government in these regions is here indispensable, for a proper understanding of what is to follow.
> uitweiding, mechanismus van het bestuur: 'uitweiding' is a digression/excursus; 'mechanismus van het bestuur' = the mechanism of government. Multatuli flags that the coming administrative explanation is 'noodzakelyk' (indispensable) for understanding the plot.

Het dusgenaamd Nederlandsch Indie--'t adjektief nederlandsch komt me eenigszins onnauwkeurig voor, doch 't werd officieel aangenomen--is, wat de verhouding van het moederland tot de bevolking aangaat, te splitsen in twee zeer verschillende hoofddeelen.  
What is called the Netherlands Indies — the adjective "Netherlands" strikes me as somewhat inaccurate, though it was officially adopted — is, as regards the relation of the mother country to the population, to be divided into two very different main parts.
> 'is te + infinitive' — modal passive: 'is te splitsen' = 'is to be divided/can be divided', the 'zijn + te + infinitive' construction expressing possibility or necessity in a passive sense. The doubled-vowel 'hoofddeelen' is period spelling.

Een gedeelte bestaat uit stammen welker vorsten en vorstjes de opperheerschappy van Nederland als suzerein erkend hebben, doch waarby nog altyd het rechtstreeksch bestuur, in meer of minder mate gebleven is in handen van de ingeboren Hoofden zelf.  
One part consists of tribes whose princes and petty princes have acknowledged the sovereignty of the Netherlands as suzerain, but where the direct administration has, in greater or lesser degree, nonetheless remained in the hands of the native Chiefs themselves.
> Formal relative 'welker' + perfect: 'welker' is the heavy genitive relative ('whose'), tying 'stammen' to 'vorsten en vorstjes'. 'erkend hebben' is the perfect (participle + hebben), verb-final. 'vorstjes' is the diminutive plural ('petty princes').
> Archaic 'doch' + pronominal 'waarby': 'doch' is the literary/archaic 'but/yet'. 'waarby' is a pronominal adverb ('whereby/in which'), and 'gebleven is' is the perfect of 'blijven' with 'zijn', verb-final.

Een ander gedeelte, waartoe--met een zeer kleine, wellicht maar schynbare, uitzondering--geheel Java behoort, is rechtstreeks onderworpen aan Nederland.  
Another part — to which, with a very small and perhaps only apparent exception, the whole of Java belongs — is directly subject to the Netherlands.
> Archaic pronominal 'waartoe' + passive zijn: 'waartoe' (to which) is a pronominal adverb opening a verb-final relative inside dashes. The main predicate 'is ... onderworpen' is a zijn-passive/state ('is subjected'). 'aan' marks what it is subject to.

Van cyns of schatting of bondgenootschap is hier geen spraak.  
Of tribute or levy or alliance there is no question here.
> Fronted 'van'-phrase + idiom 'geen sprake': The 'van'-phrase is fronted, inverting to 'is hier geen spraak'. 'er is geen sprake van' (there is no question of) is the idiom, here with 'geen' negating the indefinite. 'cyns' (period 'cijns') = tribute/tax.

De Javaan is nederlandsch onderdaan.  
The Javanese is a Netherlands subject.
> Predicate noun without article: Dutch drops the indefinite article before a predicate noun of role/category: 'is nederlandsch onderdaan' = 'is a Netherlands subject'. The adjective 'nederlandsch' is uninflected here; 'onderdaan' is a de-word (common gender: de onderdaan). The levelled form reflects the fixed administrative-legal phrase 'nederlandsch onderdaan', a set colonial-era designation in which inflection is dropped.

De Koning van Nederland is zyn koning.  
The King of the Netherlands is his king.
> Possessive 'zyn' (period spelling): 'zyn koning' is the possessive 'zijn' (his), spelled with 'y' in the 1860 manner. The referent is the Javanese subject of the previous lines — the King of the Netherlands is 'his' king, Multatuli's blunt statement of direct rule.

De afstammelingen zyner vorige vorsten en heeren zyn nederlandsche beambten. Ze worden aangesteld, verplaatst, bevorderd, door den Gouverneur-generaal die in-naam van den Koning regeert.  
The descendants of his former princes and lords are Netherlands officials. They are appointed, transferred, promoted, by the Governor-General who governs in the name of the King.
> Worden-passive with three participles: 'worden aangesteld, verplaatst, bevorderd' is a worden-passive (process) with three participles sharing one 'worden': 'are appointed, transferred, promoted'. 'door den Gouverneur-generaal' is the agent, with case-remnant 'den'.
> Relative die + present 'regeert': 'die ... regeert' (who governs) is a verb-final relative. 'in-naam van den Koning' (in the name of the King) carries the case-remnant 'den'. 'zyner vorige vorsten' shows a genitive possessive '-er' ('of his former princes').

De misdadiger wordt veroordeeld en gevonnisd naar een wet die van 's Gravenhage is uitgegaan.  
The criminal is condemned and sentenced by a law that has issued from The Hague.
> Worden-passive, two participles: 'wordt veroordeeld en gevonnisd' is a worden-passive ('is condemned and sentenced') with two participles on one 'wordt'. 'naar een wet die ... is uitgegaan' adds a verb-final relative with a zijn-perfect.

De belasting die de Javaan opbrengt, vloeit in de schatkist van Nederland.  
The taxes that the Javanese pays flow into the treasury of the Netherlands.
> Relative die + separable opbrengen: 'die de Javaan opbrengt' is a verb-final relative with the separable 'opbrengen' (to yield/pay), here the parts together at the end. The main verb 'vloeit' (flows) follows the relative. The 'belasting → schatkist van Nederland' line states the colonial fiscal flow plainly.

Van dit gedeelte slechts der nederlandsche bezittingen, dat alzoo inderdaad deel uitmaakt van het Koningryk der Nederlanden, zal in deze bladen hoofdzakelyk sprake zyn.  
It is of this part only of the Netherlands possessions — which thus in truth forms a part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands — that these pages will chiefly speak.
> Future zullen + separable uitmaken: 'zal ... sprake zyn' is the future ('will be spoken of'). The earlier relative 'dat ... deel uitmaakt van' uses the separable 'uitmaken' (to constitute), verb-final. Fronting 'Van dit gedeelte' inverts the main clause.

Den Gouverneur-generaal staat een Raad ter-zyde, die echter op zyn besluiten geen beslissenden invloed heeft.  
The Governor-General is assisted by a Council, which, however, has no decisive influence on his decisions.
> Dative-fronted object 'Den Gouverneur-generaal': 'Den Gouverneur-generaal' is a fronted dative ('to the Governor-General'), marked by the case-remnant 'den'; the verb 'staat' then takes second place before the real subject 'een Raad'. 'ter-zyde staan' (to stand by/assist) is a fixed expression.

Te Batavia zyn de onderscheidene bestuurstakken verdeeld in "departementen" aan welker hoofd Direkteuren geplaatst zyn, die den schakel uitmaken tusschen het opperbestuur van den Gouverneur-generaal en de Residenten in de provincien.  
At Batavia the several branches of administration are divided into "departments," at the head of which Directors are placed, who form the link between the supreme government of the Governor-General and the Residents in the provinces.
> Formal relative 'welker' + passive + separable: 'aan welker hoofd' uses the heavy genitive relative 'welker' ('at the head of which'). 'geplaatst zyn' is a zijn-passive ('are placed'), and the following 'die den schakel uitmaken' uses the separable 'uitmaken' (to form the link), verb-final.

By behandeling evenwel der zaken van politieken aard, wenden zich deze beambten rechtstreeks tot den Gouverneur-generaal.  
In the handling, however, of matters of a political nature, these officials apply directly to the Governor-General.
> Fronted phrase + reflexive 'zich wenden': The long 'By behandeling...'-phrase is fronted, inverting to 'wenden zich deze beambten'. 'zich wenden tot' (to apply/turn to) is reflexive. 'der zaken' and 'den Gouverneur-generaal' carry case-remnants.

De benaming Resident is herkomstig uit den tyd toen Nederland nog slechts middelyk als leenheer de bevolking beheerschte, en zich aan de hoven der nog regeerende Vorsten door Residenten liet vertegenwoordigen.  
The title of Resident comes from the time when the Netherlands still governed the population only indirectly, as liege lord, and had itself represented at the courts of the still-reigning Princes by Residents.
> toen-clause + causative laten + reflexive: 'toen' (when, past) opens a verb-final clause ('beheerschte' at the end). The second verb 'zich ... liet vertegenwoordigen' is causative 'laten' + infinitive with the reflexive 'zich' ('had itself represented'). 'den tyd' keeps the case-remnant.

Die Vorsten bestaan niet meer, en de residenten zyn, als gewestelijke Gouverneurs of Praefecten, bestuurders van landschappen geworden.  
Those Princes no longer exist, and the residents have become, as provincial Governors or Prefects, administrators of territories.
> Perfect of worden ('zijn ... geworden'): 'zyn ... geworden' is the perfect of 'worden' (to become): 'have become administrators'. Note that 'worden' takes 'zijn' as its perfect auxiliary, and the participle 'geworden' stands at the end.

Hun werkkring is veranderd, doch de naam is gebleven.  
Their sphere of work has changed, but the name has remained.
> State passive/perfect + archaic 'doch': 'is veranderd' and 'is gebleven' are perfects/states with 'zijn' (has changed / has remained). 'doch' is the literary 'but/yet', joining the two as a balanced antithesis.

Het zyn deze residenten, die eigenlyk het nederlandsch gezag tegenover de javaansche bevolking vertegenwoordigen. Het volk kent noch den Gouverneur-generaal, noch de Raden van Indie, noch, de Direkteuren te Batavia.  
It is these residents who actually represent the Netherlands authority to the Javanese population. The people know neither the Governor-General, nor the Councillors of the Indies, nor the Directors at Batavia.
> Correlative 'noch ... noch' negation: 'noch ... noch ... noch' (neither ... nor ... nor) is the single, spread negation of the clause — Dutch allows only one negation, expressed here by the noch-series. 'den Gouverneur-generaal' carries the accusative case-remnant.

Het kent slechts den Resident, en de beambten die onder hem het besturen. Een dusdanige residentie--er zyn er, die byna een millioen zielen bevatten--is verdeeld in drie, vier of vyf afdeelingen of regentschappen, aan welker hoofd Adsistent-Residenten geplaatst zyn.  
They know only the Resident, and the officials who do the governing under him. Such a residency — there are some that contain nearly a million souls — is divided into three, four, or five districts or regencies, at the head of which Assistant-Residents are placed.
> Neuter 'Het' for 'het volk' + 'den': 'Het' here is the pronoun standing for the neuter 'het volk' (the people), so the verb is singular 'kent'. 'den Resident' shows the accusative case-remnant. 'slechts' (only) is a slightly formal 'alleen'.
> Double 'er': existential + quantitative: 'er zyn er' uses 'er' twice: the first is existential ('there are'), the second is the quantitative/partitive 'er' standing for 'of them' ('there are some of them that...'). A compact showcase of the word's versatility.

Onder dezen weder wordt het bestuur uitgeoefend door kontroleurs, opzieners en een tal van andere beambten die noodig zyn voor de inning der belastingen, voor het toezicht over den landbouw, voor het oprichten van gebouwen, voor de waterstaats-werken, voor de policie en voor het rechtswezen.  
Under these in turn the administration is carried on by controllers, overseers, and a number of other officials who are needed for the collecting of the taxes, for the supervision of agriculture, for the erecting of buildings, for the waterworks, for the police, and for the administration of justice.
> Worden-passive + separable uitoefenen: 'wordt ... uitgeoefend' is a worden-passive ('is carried on'), with the separable 'uitoefenen' supplying the participle. 'door kontroleurs ...' names the agent. Fronting 'Onder dezen weder' (under these in turn) inverts the verb.
> Relative die + genitive 'der': 'die noodig zyn' is a verb-final relative ('who are needed'). 'der belastingen' is a genitive case-remnant ('of the taxes'). The long list of 'voor de...'-phrases keeps fixed prepositions with each governmental task.

In elke afdeeling staat een inlandsch hoofd van hoogen rang met den titel van Regent, den adsistent-resident ter-zyde.  
In each district a native chief of high rank, with the title of Regent, stands at the assistant-resident's side.
> Fronted place + dative 'den' + ter-zyde staan: Fronting 'In elke afdeeling' inverts to 'staat een inlandsch hoofd'. 'den adsistent-resident ter-zyde' is again the fixed 'ter-zyde staan' (to stand by) with a dative case-remnant 'den'. 'inlandsch' (native/indigenous) shows the period sch- spelling.

Zoodanig Regent, hoewel zyn verhouding tot het bestuur en zyn werkkring geheel die is van een bezoldigd beambte, behoort altyd tot den hoogen adel des lands, en dikwyls tot de familie der vorsten die vroeger in dat landschap of in de nabuurschap onafhankelyk geregeerd hebben.  
Such a Regent, although his relation to the government and his sphere of work are entirely those of a salaried official, always belongs to the high nobility of the land, and often to the family of the princes who in earlier times ruled independently in that territory or in the neighbourhood.
> Frozen case in den ... des lands: 1860 prose keeps old case endings: dative-accusative den hoogen adel after tot, and the genitive des lands ('of the land'). Modern Dutch would write de hoge adel van het land.
> Genitive der + a relative die: der vorsten is the old genitive plural ('of the princes'), and die opens a relative clause whose verb cluster geregeerd hebben is pushed to the very end.
> Present perfect at clause end: In the relative clause the perfect is built from hebben + the participle geregeerd, both driven to the end because the clause is subordinate.

Zeer staatkundig wordt alzoo gebruik gemaakt van hun alouden feodalen invloed--die in Azie over 't geheel van groot gewicht is, en by de meeste stammen als punt van godsdienst wordt aangemerkt--dewyl door het benoemen dezer hoofden tot beambten, een hierarchie wordt geschapen, aan welker spits het nederlandsch gezag staat, dat door den Gouverneur-generaal wordt uitgeoefend.  
Very statesmanlike use is thus made of their ancient feudal influence — which throughout Asia is of great weight, and is regarded among most tribes as a point of religion — inasmuch as, by appointing these chiefs to be officials, a hierarchy is created, at whose summit stands the Netherlands authority, exercised through the Governor-General.
> Worden-passive with a fronted adverb: The sentence opens with the adverb, so the finite verb wordt comes second (V2) and the participle gemaakt closes the passive: 'use is thus made of...'. The agent is left unnamed, typical of the impersonal passive.
> Formal relative welker: welker is a heavy, archaic genitive relative ('at whose summit'), the kind of formal relative reserved for solemn 1860 prose; modern Dutch would rephrase with waarvan.
> Archaic subordinator dewyl: dewyl ('inasmuch as / because') is an archaic subordinating conjunction that, like all subordinators, sends its verb to the end — here the passive wordt geschapen.

Er is niets nieuws onder de zon.  
There is nothing new under the sun.
> Existential er + niets nieuws: er here is the existential 'there' (Er is = 'There is'). After niets, the adjective takes an -s genitive remnant: niets nieuws, 'nothing new'.

Werden niet de Ryks-, Mark-, Gau-, en Burggraven van het duitsche Ryk evenzoo door den Keizer aangesteld, en meestal gekozen uit de Baronnen?  
Were not the Imperial Counts, the Margraves, the Counts of the Gau, and the Burgraves of the German Empire likewise appointed by the Emperor, and mostly chosen from among the Barons?
> Rhetorical question + worden-passive: A yes/no question fronts the finite verb Werden, and the passive is completed by aangesteld at the end ('were... not appointed'). door den Keizer marks the agent, with den still carrying the old accusative form.

Zonder uitweiding over den oorsprong des adels, die geheel in de natuur ligt, wensch ik toch plaats te geven aan de opmerking hoe in òns werelddeel en ginds in 't verre Indie, dezelfde oorzaken dezelfde gevolgen hadden.  
Without a digression on the origin of the nobility, which lies wholly in nature, I should nonetheless like to make room for the observation of how, in our part of the world and yonder in the far Indies, the same causes had the same effects.
> te + infinitive after wensen: wensen governs a following infinitive with te (plaats te geven, 'to make room'). Because the sentence opens with a long adverbial, V2 puts wensch ahead of the subject ik.
> Genitive des adels: des adels is the old genitive ('of the nobility'), and die opens a relative clause whose verb ligt closes it.
> ginds — 'yonder': ginds is a literary adverb meaning 'over there, yonder', here pointing across the world to the distant Indies. The accent in òns ('our', emphatic) contrasts Europe with the colony.

Een land moet op verren afstand geregeerd worden, en hiertoe zyn beambten noodig, die 't centraaal gezag vertegenwoordigen.  
A country must be governed from a great distance, and for this officials are needed who represent the central authority.
> Modal + passive infinitive: The modal moet sends a whole passive infinitive to the end: geregeerd worden ('be governed'). Stacking a passive under a modal is very common in Dutch.
> Pronominal adverb hiertoe: hiertoe fuses hier + toe ('for this'), a pronominal adverb standing in for 'for this purpose' and fronted to trigger V2 (zyn comes second).

Onder het stelsel van militaire willekeur, kozen de Romeinen hiertoe de Praefecten, in den aanvang gewoonlyk de bevelhebbers der legioenen die 't bedoelde land hadden ten-onder gebracht.  
Under the system of military arbitrariness, the Romans chose for this purpose the Prefects, in the beginning usually the commanders of the legions that had subdued the country in question.
> Subject-verb inversion after a fronted adverbial: The clause opens with Onder het stelsel..., so the strong past verb kozen ('chose') stands second and the subject de Romeinen follows it — textbook V2 inversion.
> Pluperfect in a relative clause: hadden + the participle gebracht form the pluperfect ('had subdued'), all at the end of the relative clause. ten-onder brengen is a fixed separable expression, its parts reunited here at the clause end.

Zulke landstreken bleven dan ook: provincien, dat is: wingewesten.  
Such regions therefore remained: provinces, that is to say: conquered territories.
> Archaic determiner zulk: zulk(e) ('such') belongs to the more formal, literary register; dan ook ('therefore, accordingly') is a fixed adverbial pair.
> wingewest — 'conquered territory': A compound of winnen ('to win/gain') + gewest ('region'): a province held by conquest and exploited for gain. Multatuli equates Roman provincia with this loaded Dutch word to indict the Indies system.

Maar toen later het centraal gezag des duitschen Ryks behoefte voelde, eenig ver gelegen volk aan zich te binden op andere wyze dan door stoffelyk overwicht alleen, zoodra een verwyderde streek werd beschouwd als door gelykheid in afkomst, taal en gewoonten tot het Ryk te behooren, deed zich de noodzakelykheid gevoelen, iemand met de leiding der zaken te belasten, die in dat land te-huis behoorde niet alleen, maar door zyn stand boven zyn medeburgers in die streken verheven was, opdat de gehoorzaamheid aan de bevelen des Keizers, gemakkelyk werde door de samengaande neiging tot onderwerping aan hem die met de uitvoering dezer bevelen belast was. Hierdoor werden dan tevens geheel of gedeeltelyk de uitgaven vermeden, voor een staand leger ten-laste der algemeene staatskas, of, zooals meestal geschiedde, ten-laste van de gewesten zelf, die door zoodanig leger moesten bewaakt worden.  
But when, later, the central authority of the German Empire felt the need to bind some distant people to itself by other means than mere material preponderance — as soon as a remote region came to be regarded as belonging to the Empire by kinship of origin, language, and customs — the necessity made itself felt of charging someone with the conduct of affairs who not only was at home in that country, but who, by his standing, was raised above his fellow citizens in those parts, so that obedience to the Emperor's commands might be made easy through the concurrent inclination to submit to him who was charged with carrying out those commands. By this means the expense was at the same time wholly or partly avoided of a standing army at the charge of the general treasury, or, as most often happened, at the charge of the territories themselves that had to be guarded by such an army.
> toen as temporal subordinator: toen ('when', of a single past event) opens a subordinate clause and drives its verb voelde to the end. The very long sentence stacks several such clauses before the main verb deed ... gevoelen arrives.
> te + infinitive complement: deed zich de noodzakelykheid gevoelen ('the necessity made itself felt') is completed by an extraposed te-infinitive clause iemand ... te belasten. der zaken is again the old genitive.
> Subjunctive werde after opdat: opdat ('so that, in order that') introduces a purpose clause; werde is the old present subjunctive of worden, a solemn form long obsolete in speech but alive in 1860 prose.
> Genitive der after a fixed phrase: der is the frozen genitive feminine/plural article ('of the'); ten-laste van ('at the charge of') still governs it here in the old way.

Zoo werden de eerste Graven gekozen uit de Baronnen des lands, en strikt genomen is dus 't woord graaf geen adellyke titel, doch slechts de benaming van een met zeker ambt belasten persoon.  
So the first Counts were chosen from among the Barons of the land, and strictly speaking the word "count" is therefore no title of nobility, but merely the designation of a person charged with a certain office.
> Worden-passive in the past: werden (past of worden) + the participle gekozen builds the past process-passive ('were chosen'). Fronting Zoo forces the V2 inversion werden ... Graven.
> Archaic doch: doch is an archaic/literary equivalent of maar ('but'), a coordinating conjunction that, unlike subordinators, does NOT send the verb to the end.

Ik geloof dan ook dat in de middeleeuwen de meening gold, dat de duitsche Keizer wel 't recht had, graven, d.i. landschapsbestuurders, en hertogen, d.i. heiraanvoerders, te benoemen, doch dat de Baronnen beweerden, wat hun geboorte aangaat, aan den Keizer gelyk te zyn en alleen van God aftehangen, behoudens de verplichting den Keizer te dienen, voor-zoo-ver deze met hun toestemming, en uit hun midden gekozen was. Een graaf bekleedde een ambt waartoe hem de Keizer had geroepen.  
I believe, then, that in the Middle Ages the opinion held good that the German Emperor did indeed have the right to appoint counts, that is, administrators of territories, and dukes, that is, leaders of armies, but that the Barons maintained that, as regards their birth, they were the Emperor's equals and dependent on God alone, save for the obligation to serve the Emperor in so far as he had been chosen with their consent and from among their own number. A count held an office to which the Emperor had called him.
> Stacked dat-clauses, verb to the end: Each dat ('that') opens a subordinate clause whose verb is pushed back — gold, then aangaat, then aftehangen. Dutch tolerates deep nesting of such verb-final clauses.
> te-infinitives, period spelling aftehangen: Both infinitives are governed by te; in 1860 the te is written joined to the verb (af-te-hangen → aftehangen), one of the era's spelling habits.
> Pronominal-adverb relative waartoe: waartoe ('to which') is waar + toe, a pronominal adverb doing relative duty; the pluperfect had geroepen closes the clause.

Een baron beschouwde zich als baron "door de genade Gods." De graven vertegenwoordigden den Keizer, en voerden als zoodanig diens banier, d.i. den Standaard van het Ryk. Een baron bracht volk op de been onder zyn eigen vaan, als baanderheer.  
A baron regarded himself as baron "by the grace of God." The counts represented the Emperor, and as such carried his banner, that is, the Standard of the Empire. A baron called men to arms under his own colours, as a banneret.
> Genitive demonstrative diens: diens is the old genitive of die ('his / of that one'), pointing back to the Emperor: 'his banner'. It survives mainly in formal written Dutch.
> baanderheer — 'banneret': A banneret: a lord wealthy enough to bring his own contingent to war under his personal banner (vaan), as opposed to a count carrying the Emperor's standard. The doublet vaan / banier ('flag / banner') marks the feudal distinction.

De omstandigheid nu, dat graven en hertogen gewoonlyk uit de baronnen werden gekozen, bracht te-weeg dat zy het gewicht hunner betrekking in de schaal legden by den invloed dien zy aan hun geboorte ontleenden, en hieruit schynt later, vooral toen men aan de erfelykheid dezer betrekkingen was gewoon geraakt, de voorrang ontstaan te zyn, dien deze titels hadden boven dien van baron.  
Now the circumstance that counts and dukes were usually chosen from among the barons brought it about that they laid the weight of their office in the scale alongside the influence they derived from their birth; and from this there seems later — especially once men had grown accustomed to the heritability of these offices — to have arisen the precedence that these titles held over that of baron.
> Genitive possessive hunner: hunner is the inflected genitive of hun ('of their'): hunner betrekking = 'of their office'. Modern Dutch would say van hun betrekking.
> Accusative relative dien: dien is the old masculine accusative of die ('which / that'), agreeing with masculine voorrang as the object of hadden — a case distinction modern Dutch has dropped.

Nog heden-ten-dage zou menige vryheerlyke familie--zonder keizerlyk of koninklyk patent, dat is een zoodanige familie, die haren adel afleidt van het ontstaan des lands, die altyd van adel was omdat ze van adel was--autochthoon--een verheffing tot den gravenstand, als derogeerend afwyzen.  
Even at the present day many a free-lordly family — without imperial or royal patent, that is, such a family as derives its nobility from the origin of the land itself, which was always noble because it was noble — autochthonous — would reject an elevation to the rank of count as a coming-down.
> Conditional with zou: zou + the infinitive afwyzen ('would reject') expresses a hypothetical; the split between zou and its infinitive spans the whole long subject and dashes.
> Genitive possessive haren: haren is the inflected accusative of haar ('her'), here the family's: haren adel = 'its nobility'. des lands is again the frozen genitive ('of the land').
> autochthoon — 'autochthonous, native-born': A learned borrowing from Greek meaning 'sprung from the soil itself'. Multatuli uses it of nobility that owes its rank to no charter but to immemorial belonging — the very claim he ascribes to the Javanese Regents.

Er zyn voorbeelden van.  
There are instances of it.
> Existential er + stranded van: Er zyn = 'There are'; the dangling van ('of it') is the remnant of a pronominal adverb (ervan), here split for emphasis — 'there are instances of it'.

De personen die met het bestuur van zoodanig graafschap belast waren, trachtten natuurlyk van den Keizer te verkrygen dat hun zoons, of, by-gebreke daarvan, andere bloedverwanten, hen in hun betrekking zouden opvolgen.  
The persons who were charged with the government of such a county naturally strove to obtain from the Emperor that their sons, or, failing these, other blood relations, should succeed them in their office.
> te + infinitive after trachten: trachten ('to strive') governs te verkrygen ('to obtain'), and the object is itself a dat-clause whose verbs zouden opvolgen close it.
> Conditional/future zouden in a dat-clause: zouden + opvolgen expresses a desired future-in-the-past ('should succeed'); inside the dat-clause the whole verb cluster sits at the end.

Dit geschiedde dan ook gewoonlyk, schoon ik niet geloof dat ooit het recht op deze opvolging organisch is erkend geworden, althans wat deze beambten in de Nederlanden aangaat, by-voorbeeld, de graven van Holland, Zeeland, Henegouwen of Vlaanderen, de hertogen van Brabant, Gelderland, enz.  
This too usually came to pass, though I do not believe that the right to this succession was ever organically acknowledged — at least as regards these officials in the Netherlands, for example, the counts of Holland, Zeeland, Hainaut, or Flanders, the dukes of Brabant, Gelderland, and so on.
> Perfect of the passive: is ... geworden: The perfect of a worden-passive uses zijn + participle + geworden: is erkend geworden = 'has been acknowledged'. schoon is an archaic 'though'.

Het was in den beginne een gunst, weldra een gewoonte, en ten-slotte een noodzakelykheid, maar nooit werd deze erfelykheid wet.  
In the beginning it was a favour, soon a custom, and at last a necessity, but never did this heritability become law.
> Negation by nooit triggers inversion: Fronting the negative adverb nooit ('never') forces V2 inversion: the verb werd precedes the subject deze erfelykheid. One negative word suffices — no double negation.
> Fixed phrase in den beginne: in den beginne ('in the beginning') preserves the old dative den, a frozen idiom that outlived general case marking.

Nagenoeg op gelyke wyze--wat de keus der personen aangaat, daar hier geen spraak is van gelykheid in werkkring, hoewel ook in dit opzicht zekere overeenstemming in 't oog valt--staat aan het hoofd eener afdeeling op Java, een inlandsch beambte die den hem door het gouvernement gegeven rang met zijn autochthoonen invloed verbindt, om aan den europeschen ambtenaar die 't nederlandsch gezag vertegenwoordigt, het bestuur gemakkelyk te maken.  
In nearly the same manner — as regards the choice of the persons, for here there is no question of equality in the sphere of work, although in this respect too a certain correspondence catches the eye — there stands at the head of a district on Java a native official who combines the rank given him by the government with his autochthonous influence, in order to make the administration easy for the European official who represents the Netherlands authority.
> Heavy fronting with delayed subject: A long adverbial opens the sentence, so the verb staat comes second and the real subject een inlandsch beambte is held back to the end for weight — extreme but grammatical V2.
> Purpose clause om ... te: om frames a purpose ('in order to'), closing with te maken at the very end: 'to make the administration easy'.
> afdeeling — an administrative 'division/district': In the colonial vocabulary an afdeeling is the administrative district headed by an Assistant-Resident; here the unit over which both he and the native Regent share uneasy authority.

Ook hier is de erfelykheid, zonder door een wet vastgesteld te zyn, tot een gewoonte geworden.  
Here too the heritability, without having been established by a law, has become a custom.
> Present perfect with zijn: worden takes zijn in the perfect, so is ... geworden = 'has become'. The intervening clause zonder ... te zyn ('without having been') uses a te-infinitive of zijn.

Reeds by het leven van den Regent is deze zaak meestal geregeld, en 't geldt als een belooning voor dienstyver en trouw, indien men hem de toezegging geeft dat hy in zijn betrekking door zyn zoon zal worden opgevolgd.  
Even during the Regent's lifetime this matter is usually settled, and it counts as a reward for diligence and loyalty in office if he is given the promise that he shall be succeeded in his post by his son.
> Zijn-passive (state passive): is ... geregeld with zijn names a resulting state ('is settled'), not the act of settling. Fronting the adverbial Reeds... triggers V2.
> Future passive zal worden opgevolgd: zal (future zullen) + the passive infinitive worden opgevolgd = 'will be succeeded', a three-verb cluster at the clause end. indien is a formal 'if'.

Er moeten al zeer gewichtige redenen bestaan, voor er van dezen regel wordt afgeweken, en waar dit het geval wezen mocht, kiest men toch gewoonlyk den opvolger uit de leden van dezelfde familie.  
There must be very weighty reasons indeed before one departs from this rule, and where this should be the case, one still usually chooses the successor from among the members of the same family.
> Existential er with a modal: Er ... bestaan ('there exist') plus the modal moeten: 'there must exist'. er introduces an indefinite subject (zeer gewichtige redenen).
> Archaic subjunctive wezen mocht: wezen is the old infinitive of zijn, and mocht here is a past-subjunctive modal ('should it be the case'), giving a tentative, literary tone.

De verhouding tusschen europesche ambtenaren, en dusdanige hooggeplaatste javaansche grooten, is van zeer kieschen aard.  
The relation between European officials and such high-placed Javanese grandees is of a very delicate nature.
> Adjective inflection kieschen: Even in a predicative-looking phrase, van ... aard governs an inflected adjective: kieschen (the old masculine ending). Modern Dutch writes kiese aard.
> kiesch — 'delicate, tactful': kiesch (modern kies) means 'delicate, requiring tact', not 'choosy'. The whole relation between European and Regent is van kieschen aard — a matter needing careful handling.

De adsistent-resident eener afdeeling is de verantwoordelyke persoon. Hy heeft zyn instruktien, en wordt verondersteld het hoofd der afdeeling te zyn.  
The assistant-resident of a district is the responsible person. He has his instructions, and is supposed to be the head of the district.
> Passive + te-infinitive: wordt verondersteld ('is supposed') is a worden-passive, completed by the te-infinitive te zyn ('to be the head').

Dit belet echter niet dat de Regent, door plaatselyke kennis, door geboorte, door invloed op de bevolking, door geldelyke inkomsten en hiermede overeenstemmende levenswyze, ver boven hem verheven is.  
This does not, however, prevent the Regent — through local knowledge, through birth, through influence over the population, through pecuniary income and the manner of living that goes with it — from being raised far above him.
> dat-clause with verb-final is: belet niet dat ('does not prevent that') opens a subordinate clause; the long string of door-phrases is interrupted, and only at the end does the verb verheven is land.

Bovendien is de Regent, als vertegenwoordiger van 't javaansch element eener landstreek, en verondersteld wordende te spreken uit naam der honderd- of meer duizend zielen, die zyn regentschap bevolken, ook in de oogen van 't Gouvernement een veel belangryker persoon, dan de eenvoudige europesche beambte, wiens ontevredenheid niet behoeft gevreesd te worden, daar men voor hem vele anderen in de plaats bekomen kan, terwyl de minder goede stemming van een Regent wellicht de kiem zou kunnen worden van beroering of opstand. Uit dit alles vloeit dus de vreemde omstandigheid voort, dat eigenlyk de mindere den meerdere beveelt.  
Moreover the Regent, as representative of the Javanese element of a region, and supposed to speak in the name of the hundred or more thousand souls who people his regency, is also in the eyes of the Government a far more important person than the simple European official, whose discontent need not be feared, since many others can be got to take his place, whereas the less good humour of a Regent might perhaps become the seed of unrest or revolt. From all this, then, flows the strange circumstance that in reality the inferior commands the superior.
> Genitive relative wiens: wiens ('whose') is the genitive masculine relative pronoun; behoeft ... te worden combines the verb behoeven with a passive te-infinitive ('need not be feared').
> Stacked conditional: zou kunnen worden: Three verbs pile up: zou (conditional) + kunnen (modal) + worden ('might become'). terwyl ('whereas') subordinates the clause, sending the whole cluster to the end.
> Separable verb voortvloeien: voortvloeien ('to flow / follow from') splits: vloeit ... voort, the prefix voort stranded at the end before the dat-clause. The famous line that the inferior commands the superior follows.

De adsistent-resident gelast den Regent, hem opgaven te doen. Hy gelast hem, volk te zenden tot het arbeiden aan bruggen en wegen.  
The assistant-resident orders the Regent to make returns to him. He orders him to send out men for the labour on bridges and roads.
> te-infinitive object after gelasten: gelasten ('to order') takes a person (den Regent, with old accusative den) plus a te-infinitive complement: 'orders the Regent to make returns'.
> opgaven doen — 'to make returns/reports': An opgave is an official statement or return of figures; opgaven doen is bureaucratic for rendering accounts to a superior.

Hy gelast hem, belastingen te doen innen. Hy roept hem op, zitting te nemen in den landraad, waarin hy adsistent-resident voorzit.  
He orders him to have taxes collected. He calls upon him to take his seat in the district court, over which he, the assistant-resident, presides.
> Causative doen + bare infinitive: doen innen = 'to have collected': doen here is causative, taking a bare infinitive innen. Combined with gelast ... te doen, the layering means 'orders him to have taxes collected'.
> Separable verb oproepen: oproepen ('to call upon') splits: roept ... op. The te-infinitive zitting te nemen ('to take one's seat') follows.

Hy berispt hem, waar hy schuldig is aan plichtverzuim. Deze zeer eigenaardige verhouding wordt alleen mogelyk gemaakt door uiterst beleefde vormen, die evenwel noch hartelykheid, noch, waar 't noodig blyken mocht, strengheid behoeven uittesluiten en ik geloof dat de toon die in deze verhouding heerschen moet, vry wel wordt aangegeven in 't officieel voorschrift dienaangaande: de europesche ambtenaar hebbe den inlandschen beambte die hem ter-zyde staat, te behandelen als zyn jonger broeder.  
He reprimands him where he is guilty of dereliction of duty. This very peculiar relation is made workable only by extremely courteous forms, which nonetheless need exclude neither cordiality nor, where it should prove necessary, severity; and I believe that the tone that must prevail in this relation is fairly well indicated in the official prescription bearing upon it: the European official is to treat the native official who stands at his side as his younger brother.
> Correlative noch ... noch + te-infinitive: noch ... noch ('neither ... nor') is the literary negative correlative; behoeven governs the te-infinitive uittesluiten (uit-te-sluiten, joined in 1860 spelling).
> Hortative subjunctive hebbe: hebbe is the present subjunctive of hebben, used as a solemn prescription ('let the official treat...'); hebben te + infinitive expresses obligation.

Maar hy vergete niet dat deze jonger broeder by de ouders zeer bemind --of gevreesd--is, en dat, by voorkomend geschil, zyn meerdere jaren zouden worden in rekening gebracht als beweegreden om hem euvel te nemen dat hy zyn jonger broeder niet met meer inschikkelykheid of takt behandelde.  
But let him not forget that this younger brother is much beloved — or feared — by the parents, and that, should a dispute arise, his greater years would be reckoned against him as ground for taking it amiss that he had not treated his younger brother with more forbearance or tact.
> Negated subjunctive vergete niet: vergete is the present subjunctive of vergeten ('let him not forget'), an exhortation continuing the elevated register of the official prescription.
> Conditional passive zouden worden ... gebracht: zouden (conditional) + worden + gebracht ('would be reckoned') — a conditional process-passive, with the participle of the separable in rekening brengen split to the end.

De aangeboren hoffelykheid van den javaanschen groote--zelfs de geringe Javaan is veel beleefder dan zyn europesche standgenoot--maakt evenwel deze schynbaar moeielyke verhouding dragelyker dan ze anders wezen zou.  
The inborn courtesy of the Javanese grandee — even the lowly Javanese is far more polite than his European counterpart — nonetheless makes this seemingly difficult relation more bearable than it would otherwise be.
> Comparative + dan: beleefder ('more polite') is the -er comparative, with dan ('than') introducing the standard of comparison.
> Comparative + conditional clause: dragelyker ('more bearable') is compared with a conditional clause dan ze anders wezen zou ('than it would otherwise be'), where wezen zou is the archaic conditional of zijn.

De Europeaan zy wel-opgevoed en kiesch, hy gedrage zich met vriendelyke waardigheid, en kan dan zeker zyn dat de Regent van zyn kant hem 't bestuur gemakkelyk maken zal.  
Let the European be well-bred and refined, let him conduct himself with friendly dignity, and he may then be sure that the Regent, for his part, will make the administration easy for him.
> Subjunctive zy / gedrage zich: zy (subjunctive of zijn, 'let the European be') and gedrage zich (reflexive subjunctive, 'let him conduct himself') give a solemn hortative tone; zich is the third-person reflexive.
> Future zal at clause end: Inside the dat-clause the future zullen surfaces as zal, but verb-final order drags it to the very end after the infinitive: maken zal.

Het stuitend bevelen, in verzoekenden vorm geuit, wordt met stiptheid nagekomen. Het verschil in stand, geboorte, rykdom, wordt uitgewischt door den Regent zelf, die den Europeaan, als vertegenwoordiger des Konings van Nederland, tot zich opheft, en ten-slotte is een verhouding die, oppervlakkig beschouwd, botsing moest te weeg brengen, zeer dikwyls de bron van een aangenaam verkeer.  
The grating command, uttered in the form of a request, is complied with to the letter. The difference in standing, birth, and wealth is effaced by the Regent himself, who raises the European, as representative of the King of the Netherlands, up to his own level; and in the end a relation which, viewed superficially, ought to have produced collision becomes very often the source of an agreeable association.
> Present participles as modifiers: stuitend ('grating') and verzoekenden ('requesting') are present participles (-end) used attributively; the main verb is the worden-passive wordt ... nagekomen ('is complied with').
> Worden-passive with named agent: wordt uitgewischt ('is effaced') is a process-passive; door den Regent zelf names the agent, and the relative die ... opheft adds a verb-final clause.

Ik zeide dat dusdanige Regenten ook door rykdom den voorrang hadden boven den europeschen ambtenaar, en dit is natuurlyk.  
I said that such Regents also held precedence over the European official by reason of wealth, and this is natural.
> Weak past zeide: zeide is the older weak past of zeggen ('said'), formed with the dental suffix -de, now contracted to zei. The dat-clause that follows puts its verb hadden at the end.

De Europeaan, als hy geroepen wordt tot het besturen eener provincie die in oppervlakte met vele duitsche hertogdommen gelyk staat, is gewoonlyk iemand van middelbaren of meer dan middelbaren leeftyd, gehuwd en vader. Hy bekleedt een ambt om den broode.  
The European, when he is called to govern a province whose area equals that of many German duchies, is usually a man of middle age or more than middle age, married and a father. He holds an office for his bread.
> Nominalised infinitive het besturen: het besturen ('the governing') is an infinitive used as a neuter noun; eener provincie carries the old genitive ending, and gelyk staan ('to equal') is a separable verb closing the relative clause.
> om den broode — 'for one's bread': A fixed idiom om den broode ('for the sake of bread', i.e. to earn a living), preserving the dative den and the old dative -e on brood. The European serves for pay, not for love of empire.

Zyn inkomsten zyn juist voldoende, en zelfs vaak niet voldoende, om aan de zynen het noodige te verschaffen.  
His income is just sufficient, and often not even sufficient, to provide his own people with what is needful.
> Substantivised de zynen / het noodige: de zynen ('his own people') and het noodige ('what is needful') are possessive and adjective forms turned into nouns; the purpose clause closes with te verschaffen.

De Regent is: Tommongong, Adhipatti, ja zelfs Pangerang, d.i. javaansch prins. De vraag is voor hem niet dat hy leve, hy moet zóó leven als 't volk gewoon is dit te zien van zyn aristokratie.  
The Regent is: Tommongong, Adhipatti, indeed even Pangerang, that is, a Javanese prince. The question for him is not that he should merely live; he must live as the people are accustomed to seeing his aristocracy live.
> Subjunctive leve: leve is the present subjunctive of leven ('that he should merely live'); the same form survives in toasts like 'Lang leve...'.
> Modal moet + zóó ... als: The modal moet sends leven to the end; zóó ... als ('thus ... as') sets up a manner comparison, and the als-clause is verb-final.

Waar de Europeaan een huis bewoont, is dikwyls zyn verblyf een Kratoon, met vele huizen en dorpen daarin.  
Where the European occupies one house, the Regent's dwelling is often a Kratoon, with many houses and villages within it.
> Concessive Waar ... + inversion: Waar ('where, whereas') opens a subordinate clause (bewoont at the end); the main clause then inverts is ... verblyf because the subordinate clause fills the first slot. The next sentences echo this Waar ... structure as anaphora.

Waar de Europeaan ééne vrouw heeft met drie, vier kinderen, onderhoudt hy een tal van vrouwen met wat daarby behoort.  
Where the European has one wife with three or four children, the Regent maintains a number of women along with all that goes with them.
> Pronominal adverb daarby: daarby ('therewith, along with that') fuses daar + by, standing in for 'with all that goes with it'. Inversion onderhoudt hy follows the fronted Waar-clause.

Waar de Europeaan uitrydt, gevolgd door eenige beambten, niet meer dan er by zyn inspektiereis noodig zyn tot het geven van inlichtingen onder-weg, wordt de Regent vergezeld door de honderden die tot het gevolg behooren, dat in de oogen des volks onafscheidelyk is van zyn hoogen rang.  
Where the European rides out followed by a few officials — no more than are needed on his tour of inspection to give information along the way — the Regent is attended by the hundreds who belong to the retinue that, in the eyes of the people, is inseparable from his high rank.
> Worden-passive with door-agent: wordt ... vergezeld ('is accompanied') is a process-passive; door de honderden marks the agent, and the relative die ... behooren is verb-final.
> Genitive des volks: des volks ('of the people') is the frozen genitive after the fixed phrase in de oogen van — 'in the eyes of the people'.

De Europeaan leeft burgerlyk, de Regent leeft --of wordt verondersteld te leven--als een vorst.  
The European lives as a citizen; the Regent lives — or is supposed to live — as a prince.
> Contrast active vs passive: leeft (active 'lives') is set against wordt verondersteld te leven ('is supposed to live'), the irony hinging on the worden-passive plus te-infinitive.

Doch dit alles moet betaald worden.  
But all this must be paid for.

Het nederlandsch bestuur dat zich op den invloed van die Regenten gegrondvest heeft, weet dit, en niets is dus natuurlyker dan dat het hun inkomsten heeft opgevoerd tot een hoogte die den niet-Indier overdreven zou voorkomen, maar inderdaad zelden voldoende is ter bestryding van de uitgaven welke aan de levenswyze van zoodanig inlandsch Hoofd verbonden zyn.  
The Netherlands government, which has founded itself upon the influence of these Regents, knows this, and nothing is therefore more natural than that it has raised their incomes to a height that would seem exaggerated to the non-Indian, but which in truth is seldom sufficient to meet the expenses bound up with the manner of living of such a native Chief.
> Reflexive perfect zich ... gegrondvest heeft: zich grondvesten ('to found itself') is reflexive; in the perfect the reflexive zich and the cluster gegrondvest heeft sit in the verb-final relative clause.
> Conditional zou voorkomen: zou + voorkomen ('would seem'), with den niet-Indier ('to the non-Indian') as an old dative object. The relative die opens the clause.

Het is niet ongewoon, Regenten die twee-ja driemaal honderd duizend gulden 's jaars inkomen hebben, in geldverlegenheid te zien verkeeren.  
It is not unusual to see Regents who have an income of two — yes, three — hundred thousand guilders a year in financial straits.
> Impersonal het + perception infinitive: Het is the dummy subject ('It is not unusual'); zien ('to see') is a perception verb taking the bare infinitive verkeeren, so the object Regenten is 'seen to be in straits'.
> 's jaars — 'per year': 's jaars is a contracted genitive (des jaars), the frozen 's appearing in adverbs of time like 's morgens, 's avonds. Here: 'a year', an income figure.

Hiertoe draagt veel by de, als 't ware vorstelyke, onverschiligheid waarmee zy hun inkomsten verspillen, hun nalatigheid in 't bewaken hunner ondergeschikten, hun koopziekte, en vooral het misbruik--dat dikwyls van deze hoedanigheden gemaakt wordt door Europeanen.  
Much contributes to this: the all but princely indifference with which they squander their incomes, their negligence in keeping watch over their subordinates, their passion for buying, and above all the abuse — often made of these qualities by Europeans.
> Separable bijdragen + heavy subject: bijdragen ('to contribute') splits as draagt ... by; the long subject (de onverschiligheid ... het misbruik) is held to the end after the prefix. Hiertoe is a pronominal adverb.
> koopziekte — 'mania for buying': A compound koop ('buying') + ziekte ('sickness'): a 'buying-sickness', i.e. compulsive spending. Dutch readily welds two nouns into one vivid word.

De inkomsten der javaansche Hoofden zou men in vier deelen kunnen splitsen. Vooreerst, het bepaald maandgeld.  
The incomes of the Javanese Chiefs might be divided into four parts. First of all, the fixed monthly salary.
> Conditional zou ... kunnen splitsen: Object-fronting puts De inkomsten first, then zou (conditional) + men + kunnen splitsen ('one could divide'), a two-verb cluster at the end. der Hoofden is the genitive plural.

Vervolgens, een vaste som als schadeloosstelling voor afgekochte rechten die overgegaan zyn op 't nederlandsch bestuur. Ten-derde, een belooning in evenredigheid met de hoeveelheid der in hun regentschap voortgebrachte produkten, als koffi, suiker, indigo, kaneel, enz.  
Next, a fixed sum as compensation for purchased-out rights that have passed to the Netherlands government. Third, a reward in proportion to the quantity of the produce raised in their regency, such as coffee, sugar, indigo, cinnamon, and so on.
> Perfect with zijn: overgegaan zyn: overgaan ('to pass over') is a motion verb, so its perfect takes zijn: overgegaan zyn ('have passed'). afgekochte is a past participle used attributively with -e.
> Cash crops of the Cultivation System: Coffee (period spelling koffi), sugar, indigo, and cinnamon were the export crops the Javanese were forced to grow under the Cultuurstelsel — the system whose human cost is Multatuli's subject.

En eindelyk, de willekeurige beschikking over den arbeid en de eigendommen hunner onderhoorigen. De beide laatste bronnen van inkomsten vorderen eenige opheldering.  
And lastly, the arbitrary disposal of the labour and the property of their dependents. The two last sources of income call for some explanation.

De Javaan is uit den aard der zaak landbouwer. De grond waarop hy geboren werd, die veel belooft voor weinig arbeids, lokt hem hiertoe uit, en vooral is hy met hart en ziel overgegeven aan het bebouwen zyner rystvelden, waarin hy dan ook zeer bedreven is.  
The Javanese is by the very nature of the case a farmer. The soil on which he was born, which promises much for little labour, draws him to this; and above all he is given over heart and soul to the cultivating of his rice-fields, in which indeed he is very skilled.
> Genitive possessive zyner: zyner is the inflected genitive of zijn ('his'): zyner rystvelden = 'of his rice-fields'. het bebouwen is a nominalised infinitive ('the cultivating').
> Pronominal-adverb relative waarop: waarop ('on which') is waar + op, a pronominal adverb introducing the relative clause; geboren werd is the passive past ('was born').

Hy groeit op te-midden zyner sawah's en gagah's en tipar's vergezelt reeds op zeer jeugdigen leeftyd zyn vader naar 't veld, waar hy hem behulpzaam is in den arbeid met ploeg en spade, aan dammen en aan waterleidingen tot het bevochtigen zyner akkers. Hy telt zyn jaren by oogsten, hy rekent den tyd naar de kleur zyner te veld staande halmen, hy voelt zich te-huis onder de makkers die met hem padie sneden hy zoekt zyn vrouw onder de meisjes der dessah die 's avends onder vroolyk gezang de ryst stampen om ze te ontdoen van den bolster ... het bezit van een paar buffels die zyn ploeg zullen trekken, is 't ideaal dat hem aanlacht ... kortom, de rystbouw is voor den Javaan, wat in de Rynstreken en in het zuiden van Frankryk, de wynoogst is.  
He grows up amid his sawahs and gagahs and tipars, accompanies his father to the field from a very tender age, where he helps him in the labour with plough and spade, at the dams and at the watercourses for the irrigating of his fields. He counts his years by harvests, he reckons time by the colour of the standing stalks in his field, he feels at home among the comrades who cut the rice with him, he seeks his wife among the girls of the dessah who in the evening, to merry song, stamp the rice to free it of its husk ... the possession of a pair of buffaloes to draw his plough is the ideal that beckons to him ... in short, rice-growing is for the Javanese what, in the Rhineland and in the south of France, the vintage is.
> Time-adverb 's avends in the middle field: 's avends ('in the evening', a frozen genitive) sits first among the middle-field adverbials, ahead of the manner phrase onder vroolyk gezang ('to merry song') — the Time–Manner ordering of Dutch.
> Purpose om ... te + clitic ze: om ... te ontdoen ('in order to free') is a purpose clause; ze is the unstressed object pronoun for the rice, with the separable ontdoen reunited under te.

Doch daar kwamen vreemdelingen uit het Westen, die zich heer maakten van het land.  
But there came strangers from the West, who made themselves masters of the land.
> Archaic Doch + reflexive zich heer maken: Doch ('but', literary) opens; daar kwamen inverts after the fronted adverb; zich ... heer maken ('to make oneself master') is the reflexive in the relative clause.

Ze wenschten voordeel te doen met de vruchtbaarheid van den bodem, en gelastten den bewoner een gedeelte van zyn arbeid en van zyn tyd toetewyden aan het voortbrengen van andere zaken, die meer winst zouden afwerpen op de markten van Europa.  
They wished to profit by the fertility of the soil, and ordered the inhabitant to devote a part of his labour and of his time to the producing of other things that would yield more gain on the markets of Europe.
> gelasten + te-infinitive (joined spelling): gelasten governs the te-infinitive toetewyden (toe-te-wijden, 'to devote'), written as one word in 1860. den bewoner keeps the old accusative.
> Conditional zouden afwerpen: zouden + afwerpen ('would yield'); afwerpen is separable but stays whole at the end of the relative clause under the conditional.

Om den geringen man hiertoe te bewegen, was niet meer dan een zeer eenvoudige staatkunde noodig.  
To induce the lowly man to do this, no more than a very simple statecraft was needed.
> Fronted om ... te clause triggers inversion: The purpose clause Om ... te bewegen fills the first position, so the main verb was comes next, before the subject staatkunde. hiertoe is a pronominal adverb ('to this').

Hy gehoorzaamt zyn hoofden, men had dus slechts deze hoofden te winnen door hun een gedeelte van de winst toetezeggen, en ... het gelukte volkomen.  
He obeys his chiefs; one had therefore only to win over these chiefs by promising them a share of the profit, and ... it succeeded completely.
> hebben te + infinitive (obligation/sufficiency): had ... te winnen ('had only to win over') expresses what suffices; the means is a door ... + te-infinitive phrase toetezeggen ('by promising'), again joined in period spelling.

Als men let op de ontzettende massa javasche produkten die in Nederland worden te-koop geveild, kan men zich overtuigen van het doeltreffende dezer staatkunde, al vindt men ze niet edel. Want, mocht iemand vragen of de landbouwer zelf eene met deze uitkomst evenredige belooning geniet, dan moet ik hierop een ontkennend antwoord geven.  
Anyone who considers the staggering mass of Javanese produce that is put up for sale in the Netherlands may convince himself of how effective this statecraft is, even if he does not find it noble. For should anyone ask whether the cultivator himself enjoys a reward proportionate to this yield, I must give him a negative answer.
> Reflexive zich overtuigen after a conditional als: The als-clause is verb-final (let op ... veild); the main clause inverts kan men, and zich overtuigen ('convince oneself') is reflexive.
> Conditional inversion mocht iemand vragen: Dropping 'if', the clause inverts to mocht iemand vragen ('should anyone ask'); the resumptive dan ('then') opens the main clause. Want is the coordinator 'for'.

De Regeering verplicht hem op zyn grond aantekweeken wat haar behaagt, ze straft hem wanneer hy het aldus voortgebrachte verkoopt aan wien het ook zy buiten háár, en zyzelf bepaalt den prys dien ze hem daarvoor uitbetaalt.  
The Government obliges him to grow on his own ground whatever pleases it; it punishes him if he sells what he has thus produced to anyone but itself; and it alone fixes the price it pays him for it.
> verplichten + te-infinitive aantekweeken: verplichten ('to oblige') takes a te-infinitive, here aantekweeken (aan-te-kweken, 'to grow'), joined in 1860 spelling; wat is a free relative ('whatever').
> Free relative wien + subjunctive zy: aan wien ... het ook zy ('to whomever it may be') uses the dative wien and the subjunctive zy of zijn — a stiff, legalistic turn fitting the indictment.
> Accusative relative dien: dien is the old masculine accusative relative agreeing with prys; the emphatic zyzelf ('it itself') and the pronominal adverb daarvoor ('for it') intensify the Government's sole control.

De kosten op den overvoer naar Europa, door bemiddeling van een bevoorrecht handelslichaam, zyn hoog. De aan de Hoofden toegelegde aanmoedigingsgelden bezwaren daarentegen den inkoopprys, en ... daar toch ten-slotte de geheele zaak winst afwerpen moet, kan deze winst niet anders worden gevonden dan door juist zóóveel aan den javaan uittebetalen, dat hy niet sterve van honger, hetgeen de voortbrengende kracht der natie verminderen zou.  
The costs of shipment to Europe, handled through a privileged trading body, are high. The bounties allotted to the Chiefs, on the other hand, burden the purchase price; and ... since after all the whole business must yield a profit, that profit can be found in no other way than by paying the Javanese just enough that he does not die of hunger, which would diminish the productive strength of the nation.
> Causal daar + modal-final moet: daar ('since, because') subordinates the clause, driving the modal moet to the very end after the separable infinitive afwerpen ('must yield a profit').
> Result dat + subjunctive sterve: uittebetalen (uit-te-betalen, period spelling) is the means; the dat-clause of result uses the chilling subjunctive sterve ('that he not die of hunger').

Ook aan de europesche beambten wordt een belooning uitbetaald in evenredigheid met de opbrengst.  
To the European officials, too, a reward is paid in proportion to the yield.
> Worden-passive with fronted dative: Fronting the dative phrase Ook aan de ... beambten triggers V2 (wordt second); the participle uitbetaald (separable uitbetalen) closes the process-passive.

Wel wordt dus de arme Javaan voorgezweept door dubbel gezag, wel wordt hy dikwyls afgetrokken van zyn rystvelden, wel is hongersnood vaak 't gevolg van deze maatregelen, doch ... vroolyk wapperen te Batavia, te Samarang, te Soerabaja, te Passaroean, te Bezoeki, te Probolingo, te Patjitan, te Tjilatjap, de vlaggen aan boord der schepen, die beladen worden met de oogsten die Nederland ryk maken. Hongersnood?  
Thus the poor Javanese is indeed driven on by a double authority; he is indeed often torn away from his rice fields; famine is indeed often the consequence of these measures; and yet ... gaily, at Batavia, at Samarang, at Soerabaja, at Passaroean, at Bezoeki, at Probolingo, at Patjitan, at Tjilatjap, flutter the flags aboard the ships being loaded with the harvests that make the Netherlands rich. Famine?
> Anaphoric Wel ... + worden-passives: Each clause opens with concessive Wel ('indeed'), forcing inversion wordt ... and stacking process-passives (voorgezweept, afgetrokken) whose separable participles land at the end. The doch ... turns to the bitterly gay flags.

Op het ryke vruchtbare gezegende Java, hongersnood? Ja, lezer.  
On rich, fertile, blessed Java, famine? Yes, reader.
> Stacked attributive adjectives in -e: After het, all three attributive adjectives take -e: ryke, vruchtbare, gezegende. The bare apostrophe to the lezer ('reader') breaks the syntax for rhetorical force.

Voor weinige jaren zyn geheele distrikten uitgestorven van honger. Moeders boden hun kinderen te-koop voor spyze.  
A few years ago whole districts died out from hunger. Mothers offered their children for sale in exchange for food.
> Perfect of motion verb with zijn: uitsterven ('to die out') takes zijn in the perfect: zyn ... uitgestorven. Fronting Voor weinige jaren ('a few years ago') gives the V2 inversion zyn ... distrikten.
> Strong past boden: boden is the strong plural past of bieden ('offered'). The blunt simple past suits the documentary horror of the sentence.

Moeders hebben hun kinderen gegeten ... Maar toen heeft zich 't moederland met die zaak bemoeid.  
Mothers have eaten their children ... But then the mother country took the matter in hand.
> Present perfect hebben ... gegeten: hebben + the strong participle gegeten ('have eaten') — the perfect chosen over the simple past to make the act feel present and irrefutable.
> Reflexive zich bemoeien, perfect: zich bemoeien met ('to concern oneself with') is reflexive; in the perfect heeft zich ... bemoeid, fronting toen inverts heeft before the subject.

In de raadzalen der volksvertegenwoordiging is men daarover ontevreden geweest, en de toenmalige Landvoogd heeft bevelen moeten geven, dat men de uitbreiding der dusgenaamde europesche-marktprodukten voortaan niet weder zou voortzetten tot hongersnood toe ...  
In the council chambers of the people's representatives there was discontent over it, and the Governor-General of the time had to issue orders that the expansion of the so-called European-market produce should henceforth no longer be carried so far as to bring on famine ...
> Modal in the perfect: moeten geven: When a modal governs an infinitive in the perfect, the modal appears as a bare infinitive too (the 'Infinitivus pro Participio'): heeft ... moeten geven, not 'gemoeten'.
> Conditional zou voortzetten in a dat-clause: zou + voortzetten ('should no longer carry on'); the separable voortzetten stays whole under the conditional at the clause end. weder is archaic for 'again'.

Ik ben daar bitter geworden. Wat zoudt ge denken van iemand die zulke zaken kon neerschryven zonder bitterheid?  
I have grown bitter over this. What would you think of a man who could set down such things without bitterness?
> Archaic ge + conditional zoudt: ge is the literary second person of 1860, and zoudt its old conditional form ('what would you think'). Multatuli buttonholes his reader in solemn register.
> Perfect with zijn + pronominal daar: worden takes zijn: ben ... geworden ('have grown'); daar is a pronominal adverb ('over that') pointing back to the famine.

My blyft over te spreken van de laatste en voornaamste soort der inkomsten van inlandsche hoofden: het willekeurig beschikken over personen en eigendommen hunner onderhoorigen.  
It remains for me to speak of the last and chief sort of income belonging to the native chiefs: the arbitrary disposal of the persons and property of their subjects.
> Separable overblijven + dative My: overblijven ('to remain') splits as blyft ... over; My is the old dative ('to me'), fronted: 'It remains for me to speak'. The te-infinitive te spreken completes it.

Volgens het algemeen begrip in byna geheel Azie, behoort de onderdaan met al wat hy bezit, aan den vorst.  
According to the general notion throughout almost the whole of Asia, the subject, with all that he possesses, belongs to the prince.
> Fronted phrase + inversion; dative aan den vorst: Volgens het algemeen begrip ... fronted forces inversion behoort de onderdaan; behoren aan ('to belong to') governs the dative den vorst. wat hy bezit is a free relative.

Dit is ook op Java het geval, en de afstammelingen of verwanten der vroegere vorsten maken gaarne gebruik van de onkunde der bevolking, die niet recht begrypt dat haar Tommongong of Adhipatti of Pangerang thans een bezoldigd ambtenaar is die zyn eigen en hare rechten voor een bepaald inkomen verkocht heeft, en dat dus de schraal beloonde arbeid in koffituin of suikerveld, in de plaats getreden is van de belastingen die vroeger door de heeren des lands van de opgezetenen gevorderd werden.  
This is the case on Java as well, and the descendants or kinsmen of the former princes gladly make use of the ignorance of the population, which does not rightly grasp that its Tommongong or Adhipatti or Pangerang is now a salaried official who has sold his own rights and theirs for a fixed income, and that the scantily paid labor in coffee garden or sugar field has therefore taken the place of the taxes that the lords of the land formerly exacted from the inhabitants.
> Relative die + embedded dat-clause: die opens the relative clause (verb begrypt), which embeds a dat-clause whose verb is lands at the end — and a further dat-clause with getreden is.
> Worden-passive past gevorderd werden: werden + gevorderd ('were exacted') is the past process-passive; door de heeren des lands names the agent, with the genitive des lands ('of the land').
> koffituin / suikerveld — forced-crop compounds: Right-headed compounds: koffi + tuin ('coffee garden') and suiker + veld ('sugar field'). They name the very plantations of the Cultivation System that replaced the old tax in the Javanese peasant's life.

Niets is dus gewoner dan dat honderde huisgezinnen van verren afstand worden opgeroepen om zonder betaling velden te bewerken, die den Regent toebehooren.  
Nothing, then, is more common than that hundreds of households are summoned from a great distance to work, without payment, fields that belong to the Regent.
> Comparative gewoner dan + dat-clause: gewoner ... dan ('more common than') compares against a whole dat-clause; inside it the worden-passive worden opgeroepen ('are summoned') is verb-final.
> Purpose om ... te + dative toebehooren: om ... te bewerken ('to work') is a purpose clause; toebehooren ('to belong to') governs the dative den Regent in the relative clause.

Niets is gewoner dan het onbetaald verstrekken van levensmiddelen ten-behoeve der hofhouding van den Regent. En wanneer die Regent een gevallig oog mocht slaan op het paard, den buffel, de dochter, de vrouw, van den geringen man, zou men 't ongehoord vinden, als deze den onvoorwaardelyken afstand van het begeerd voorwerp weigerde.  
Nothing is more common than the unpaid supplying of provisions for the upkeep of the Regent's household. And should that Regent cast a covetous eye upon the horse, the buffalo, the daughter, the wife of the humble man, it would be thought unheard-of were the latter to refuse the unconditional surrender of the coveted object.
> wanneer + tentative modal mocht slaan: wanneer ('whenever, should') subordinates; mocht slaan ('should cast') is the past-subjunctive modal giving a hypothetical, with the verb cluster at the end.
> Conditional zou ... vinden + als-clause: zou ... vinden ('would find it'); als ('if') opens the verb-final condition weigerde ('refused'). The whole sentence enacts an unreal scenario.

Er zyn Regenten, die van zoodanige willekeurige beschikkingen een matig gebruik maken, en niet meer van den geringen man vorderen, dan tot het ophouden van hun rang volstrekt noodig is.  
There are Regents who make a moderate use of such arbitrary dispositions, and demand no more of the humble man than is strictly necessary to maintain their rank.
> Existential er + relative die: Er zyn Regenten ('There are Regents') introduces an indefinite plural with er, then qualifies them with a verb-final relative clause.

Anderen gaan iets verder, en geheel-en-al ontbreekt deze onwettigheid nergens.  
Others go somewhat further, and nowhere is this unlawfulness wholly absent.
> Single negation nergens with inversion: Fronting geheel-en-al inverts ontbreekt deze onwettigheid; nergens ('nowhere') is the lone negative — Dutch allows only one per clause, so 'nowhere is it absent' means it is everywhere.

Het is dan ook moeielyk ja onmogelyk, zoodanig misbruik geheel uitteroeien, daar het diep geworteld is in den aard der bevolking zelf die er onder lydt.  
It is therefore difficult, indeed impossible, to root out such abuse entirely, since it is deeply rooted in the very nature of the population that suffers under it.
> Extraposed te-infinitive uitteroeien: uitteroeien (uit-te-roeien, 'to root out', joined 1860 spelling) is an extraposed te-infinitive standing as the real subject of is ... moeielyk.
> Causal daar + zijn-passive geworteld is: daar ('since') subordinates; geworteld is is a state-passive ('is rooted'). der bevolking is the genitive ('of the population').

De Javaan is gul, vooral waar het te doen is om een bewys te geven van gehechtheid aan zyn Hoofd, aan den afstammeling van hen wien zyn vaderen gehoorzaamden.  
The Javanese is openhanded, above all where it is a matter of giving proof of his attachment to his Chief, to the descendant of those whom his fathers obeyed.
> Dative relative wien: wien is the dative relative ('to whom'); gehoorzamen ('to obey') governs the dative, so 'those whom his fathers obeyed'.

Ja, hy zou meenen te-kort te doen aan den eerbied dien hy aan zyn erfelyken heer verschuldigd is, wanneer hy zonder geschenken diens kratoon betrad.  
Indeed, he would feel that he fell short of the reverence he owes his hereditary lord were he to set foot in his kraton without gifts.
> Conditional zou meenen + genitive diens: zou meenen ('would feel'); the te-infinitive te-kort te doen ('to fall short'); and the genitive demonstrative diens ('his', i.e. the lord's) in the wanneer-clause betrad ('set foot in').

Zulke geschenken zyn dan ook dikwyls van zoo weinig waarde, dat het afwyzen iets vernederends zou in zich sluiten, en vaak is alzoo deze gewoonte eerder te vergelyken met de hulde van een kind dat zyn liefde tot den vader tracht te uiten door 't aanbieden van een klein geschenk, dan optevatten als schatting aan dwingelandsche willekeur.  
Such gifts are then often of so little value that to refuse them would carry something humiliating in itself, and thus this custom is often more to be likened to the homage of a child who seeks to express his love for his father by offering a small present, than to be construed as tribute paid to tyrannical caprice.
> Nominalised infinitive het afwyzen: het afwyzen ('the refusing') is an infinitive used as the neuter subject noun; iets vernederends ('something humiliating') takes the -s after iets, and zou ... sluiten is conditional.
> Comparison eerder ... dan + te-infinitives: eerder te vergelyken ... dan optevatten ('rather to be likened ... than to be construed') pairs two te-infinitives (optevatten = op-te-vatten) across a dan comparison.

Maar ... aldus wordt door een lief gebruik, de afschaffing van misbruik belemmerd.  
But ... in this way a dear custom hinders the abolition of abuse.
> Worden-passive, fronted adverb: Fronting aldus ('in this way') inverts wordt; the agent door een lief gebruik ('by a dear custom') sits inside, and the participle belemmerd ('hindered') closes the process-passive.

Indien de aloen-aloen voor de woning van den Regent in verwilderden staat lag, zou de nabywonende bevolking hierover beschaamd wezen, en er ware veel gezags noodig om haar te beletten dat plein van onkruid te reinigen, en het te brengen in een staat die met den rang des Regents overeenstemt.  
If the aloen-aloen before the Regent's dwelling lay in a neglected state, the population living nearby would be ashamed of it, and much authority would be needed to keep them from clearing that square of weeds and bringing it into a state befitting the Regent's rank.
> Indien-conditional, verb-final: Indien ('if', formal) opens a verb-final condition (lag at the end); the main clause then carries the conditional zou ... beschaamd wezen ('would be ashamed').
> Subjunctive ware + genitive veel gezags: ware is the past subjunctive of zijn ('there would be'); veel gezags keeps the old partitive genitive -s ('much authority'). The om ... te-clause states the purpose.

Hiervoor eenige betaling te geven, zou algemeen als een beleediging worden aangemerkt.  
To give any payment for this would generally be regarded as an insult.

Maar naast dien aloen-aloen, of elders, liggen Sawah's die op den ploeg wachten, of op een leiding die het water daarheen moet voeren, dikwyls van mylen ver ... deze Sawah's behooren den Regent.  
But beside that aloen-aloen, or elsewhere, lie sawahs awaiting the plough, or awaiting a channel to carry water to them, often from miles away ... these sawahs belong to the Regent.
> Fronted-adverb inversion + relatives: naast dien aloen-aloen fronted inverts liggen Sawah's; two relative clauses (die ... wachten, die ... voeren) trail, each verb-final. dien is the old accusative of die.

Hy roept, om zyn velden te bewerken of te besproeien, de bevolking van gansche dorpen op, wier eigen Sawah's evenzeer behoefte hebben aan bearbeiding ... ziedaar het misbruik.  
To work or irrigate his fields, he summons the population of whole villages, whose own sawahs are equally in need of tending ... and there is the abuse.
> Fronted om...te + separable oproepen: The purpose clause om ... te bewerken comes first, inverting roept; the separable oproepen splits widely, the prefix op landing far at the end after the heavy object.
> Genitive relative wier: wier ('whose', for de-words/plurals) is the genitive relative pointing back to the villages; the clause is verb-final (hebben at the end).

Dit is aan de Regeering bekend, en wie de staatsbladen leest, waarin de wetten, instruktien en handleidingen voor de ambtenaren bevat zyn, juicht de menschlievendheid toe, die by het ontwerpen daarvan schynt te hebben voorgezeten.  
This is known to the Government, and whoever reads the official gazettes, which contain the laws, instructions, and guidelines for the officials, applauds the humanity that seems to have presided over their drafting.
> Free relative wie + separable toejuichen: wie ('whoever') without antecedent opens a verb-final clause (leest); the main clause inverts juicht ... toe, the separable toejuichen ('applauds') split around the object.
> schijnen + perfect te-infinitive: schynt te hebben voorgezeten ('seems to have presided') stacks schijnen with a perfect te-infinitive. daarvan ('thereof') is a pronominal adverb.

Alom wordt den Europeaan, met gezag in de binnenlanden bekleed, als een zyner duurste verplichtingen op 't hart gedrukt, de bevolking te beschermen tegen haar eigen onderworpenheid en de hebzucht der Hoofden. En, als ware het niet genoeg, deze verplichting voorteschryven in 't algemeen, er wordt nog van de adsistent-residenten, by de aanvaarding van 't bestuur eener afdeeling, een afzonderlyke eed gevorderd, dat zy deze vaderlyke zorg voor de bevolking zullen beschouwen als een eersten plicht.  
Everywhere it is impressed upon the European, vested with authority in the interior, as one of his most sacred obligations, to protect the population against its own submissiveness and against the rapacity of the Chiefs. And, as though it were not enough to prescribe this obligation in general terms, a separate oath is further required of the assistant residents, on taking charge of the administration of a division, that they will regard this fatherly care for the population as a first duty.
> Worden-passive with dative + extraposed te-infinitive: wordt ... op 't hart gedrukt ('is impressed upon') is a process-passive; den Europeaan is the old dative recipient, and the real content is the extraposed te-infinitive de bevolking te beschermen.
> Concessive subjunctive als ware het: als ware het ('as though it were') is a subjunctive concessive; voorteschryven (voor-te-schrijven, 'to prescribe') is a joined-spelling te-infinitive.
> Impersonal er + worden-passive: er wordt ... gevorderd ('a separate oath is required') is an impersonal process-passive introduced by er; the dat-clause's future zullen beschouwen sits at the end.

Dit is voorzeker een schoone roeping.  
This is assuredly a noble calling.

Rechtvaardigheid voortestaan, den geringe te beschermen tegen den machtige, den zwakke te beschutten tegen de overmacht van den sterke, het ooilam van den arme terug te vorderen uit de stallen des vorstelyken roovers ... zie, 't is om 't hart te doen gloeien van genot, by 't denkbeeld dat men geroepen is tot iets zóó schoons! En wie in de javasche binnenlanden soms ontevreden moge zyn met standplaats of belooning, hy sla het oog op den verheven plicht die op hem rust, op 't heerlyk genoegen dat de vervulling van zulk een plicht met zich brengt, en hy zal geen andere belooning begeeren.  
To uphold justice, to protect the humble against the powerful, to shield the weak against the overwhelming force of the strong, to reclaim the poor man's ewe lamb from the stalls of the princely robber ... see, it is enough to set the heart aglow with delight at the thought that one is called to something so fine! And whoever, in the Javanese interior, may sometimes be discontented with his post or his pay, let him cast his eye upon the lofty duty that rests on him, upon the glorious satisfaction that the fulfillment of such a duty brings with it, and he will crave no other reward.
> Chain of te-infinitives as subject: A series of te-infinitives (voortestaan = voor-te-staan, te beschermen, te beschutten, terug te vorderen) forms the heaped subject of 't is ... — a rhetorical crescendo.
> Hortative subjunctive sla: sla is the present subjunctive of slaan ('let him cast his eye'), the high prophetic register; geen ... begeeren uses geen to negate an indefinite object.

Maar ... gemakkelyk is deze plicht niet.  
But ... this duty is not easy.

Vooreerst hebbe men juist te beoordeelen, waar het gebruik heeft opgehouden om voor misbruik plaats te maken? En ... waar het misbruik bestaat, waar inderdaad roof of willekeur gepleegd is, zyn veelal de slachtoffers zelf hieraan medeplichtig, hetzy uit te ver gedreven onderwerping, hetzy uit vrees, hetzy uit wantrouwen op den wil of de macht der persoon die hen beschermen moet.  
First of all, one must judge precisely where use has left off to make room for abuse. And ... where the abuse exists, where robbery or caprice has indeed been committed, the victims themselves are very often accomplices in it, whether out of submission carried too far, or out of fear, or out of distrust of the will or the power of the person who is supposed to protect them.
> Subjunctive hebbe + hebben te + infinitive: hebbe men ('let one') is subjunctive; hebben te beoordeelen expresses duty. The indirect question waar ... is verb-final (heeft opgehouden, perfect of separable ophouden).
> Correlative hetzy ... hetzy: hetzy ... hetzy ('whether ... or') is a literary disjunctive correlative listing the motives of the complicit victims.

Ieder weet dat de europesche beambte elk oogenblik kan geroepen worden tot een andere betrekking, en dat de Regent, de machtige Regent, dáár blyft.  
Everyone knows that the European official may at any moment be called to another post, and that the Regent, the powerful Regent, stays put.
> Modal + passive infinitive in a dat-clause: kan + geroepen worden ('can be called') stacks a modal over a passive infinitive, all driven to the end of the dat-clause.
> dáár blyft — 'stays put': The accented dáár ('there') stresses the asymmetry: the European is transient, while the Regent permanently remains — the structural reason witnesses dare not testify.

Voorts zyn er zoo véél manieren om zich het eigendom van een arm onnoozel mensch toeteëigenen!  
Then again, there are so very many ways of appropriating the property of a poor, simple soul!
> Existential er + reflexive om...te: zyn er ... manieren ('there are ... ways') uses existential er; the purpose clause om zich ... toeteëigenen (toe-te-eigenen, 'to appropriate to oneself') is reflexive with zich.

Als een mantrie hem zegt dat de Regent zyn paard begeert, met dit gevolg dat het begeerde dier weldra plaats heeft gekregen in de stallen van den Regent, bewyst zulks nog volstrekt niet dat deze niet van voornemen was--o, zeker!--daarvoor een hoogen prys te betalen ... te-eeniger-tyd.  
If a mantrie tells him that the Regent covets his horse, with the result that the coveted animal soon finds a place in the Regent's stables, this still proves by no means that the latter did not intend--oh, certainly!--to pay a high price for it ... at some time or other.
> Long als-clause then inversion: The als-condition (with an embedded dat-clause begeert and a relative dat ... gekregen) fills the front field, so the main verb bewyst inverts before its subject zulks ('such a thing').
> te-infinitive after van voornemen zyn: van voornemen zyn ('to intend') governs a te-infinitive te betalen; the irony rides on the inserted o, zeker! and the trailing te-eeniger-tyd ('at some time or other').

Als honderden arbeiden op de velden van een Hoofd, zonder daarvoor betaling te ontvangen, volgt hieruit geenszins dat hy dit liet geschieden ten zynen behoeve.  
If hundreds labor on a Chief's fields without receiving payment for it, it in no way follows that he let this happen for his own benefit.
> Single negation geenszins + pronominal hieruit: geenszins ('by no means') is the lone literary negative; hieruit ('from this') is a pronominal adverb. Fronting the als-clause inverts volgt.
> Causative laten + bare infinitive: liet geschieden ('let happen') is the causative laten with a bare infinitive; ten zynen behoeve ('to his own benefit') keeps the old dative ten ... -e and possessive zynen.

Had niet zyn bedoeling kunnen zyn, hun den oogst overtelaten uit de menschlievende berekening dat zyn grond beter gelegen was, vruchtbaarder dan de hunne, en dus hun arbeid milder beloonen zou?  
Might it not have been his intention to leave them the harvest, out of the humane calculation that his ground lay better, was more fertile than theirs, and would therefore reward their labor more generously?
> Rhetorical question, modal in perfect: Fronting the finite verb Had makes a yes/no question; kunnen zyn ('could have been') is a modal stacked under the perfect, completed by the extraposed te-infinitive overtelaten (over-te-laten).
> Comparatives + possessive de hunne: beter and vruchtbaarder are comparatives; de hunne ('theirs') is the substantivised possessive standing for 'their ground'.

Bovendien, vanwaar haalt de europesche beambte de getuigen die den moed hebben een verklaring te doen tegen hun heer, den gevreesden Regent?  
Besides, where is the European official to find the witnesses who would have the courage to make a deposition against their lord, the dreaded Regent?
> Question word vanwaar + inversion: vanwaar ('whence, from where') fronts the question, inverting haalt ... beambte; the relative die ... hebben is verb-final, completed by a te-infinitive te doen.

En, waagde hy een beschuldiging, zonder die te kunnen bewyzen, waar blyft dan de verhouding van ouder broeder, die in zulk geval zyn jongeren broeder zonder grond zou hebben gekrenkt in zyn eer?  
And, were he to venture an accusation without being able to prove it, what then becomes of the relation of elder brother, who in such a case would have wounded his younger brother's honor without cause?
> Conditional inversion waagde hy: Dropping 'if', the clause inverts to waagde hy ('were he to venture'); dan resumes the main clause. die ... zou ... gekrenkt ('who would have wounded') carries a conditional perfect.

Waar blyft de gunst van de Regeering, die hem brood geeft voor dienst, maar hem dat brood opzegt, hem ontslaan zou als onbekwaam, wanneer hy een zoo hooggeplaatst persoon als een Tommongong, Adhipatti of Pangerang had verdacht of aangeklaagd met ligtvaardigheid?  
What becomes of the favor of the Government, which gives him bread for service, but withdraws that bread from him, would dismiss him as incompetent, were he to have suspected or accused with frivolity so high-placed a person as a Tommongong, Adhipatti, or Pangerang?
> Coordinated relatives with separable opzegt: Within the relative clause, geeft and opzegt are coordinated by maar; opzeggen ('to withdraw') is separable, here with the prefix already prefixed in finite position. brood ('bread') stands metonymically for livelihood.
> Pluperfect under wanneer: wanneer subordinates; had verdacht of aangeklaagd ('had suspected or accused') is the pluperfect, verb-final in the conditional clause.

Neen, neen, gemakkelyk is die plicht niet!  
No, no, that duty is not easy!
> Fronted predicate + niet: Fronting the adjective gemakkelyk inverts is die plicht, and niet negates the predicate at the end — an emphatic 'easy, that duty is not!'.

Dit blykt reeds hieruit, dat de neiging der inlandsche Hoofden om de grens van 't geoorloofd beschikken over arbeid en eigendom hunner onderhoorigen te overschryden, overal volmondig erkend wordt ... dat alle adsistent-residenten den eed doen die misdadige hebbelykheid te-keer te gaan, en ... dat toch slechts zeer zelden een Regent wordt aangeklaagd wegens willekeur of misbruik van gezag.  
This is plain already from the fact that the inclination of the native Chiefs to overstep the bounds of permissible disposal over the labor and property of their subjects is everywhere unreservedly acknowledged ... that all assistant residents take the oath to combat this culpable habit ... and ... that yet only very rarely is a Regent accused of caprice or abuse of authority.
> Worden-passive with embedded om...te: The subject carries an om ... te overschryden clause ('to overstep'); the main predicate is the verb-final worden-passive erkend wordt ('is acknowledged').
> te-infinitive te-keer te gaan: den eed doen om/te ('take the oath to') governs te-keer te gaan ('to combat'), an archaic idiom (from 'keer' = turn/check) meaning 'to combat, check, oppose', distinct from 'tegengaan'.

Er schynt dus wel een byna-onoverkomelyke moeielykheid te bestaan, om gevolg te geven aan den eed: "de inlandsche bevolking te beschermen tegen uitzuiging, en knevelary."  
There seems, then, to be an almost insurmountable difficulty in giving effect to the oath: "to protect the native population against extortion and oppression."
> Existential er + schijnen te + infinitive: Er ... te bestaan with schijnen ('there seems to exist'); er introduces the indefinite subject, and schijnen governs the te-infinitive te bestaan.
---

Source text: public domain (Multatuli / Eduard Douwes Dekker, d. 1887; Dutch 1860, Project Gutenberg #11024). English translation: original, © 1732 Studios (2026); rendered freshly from the public-domain Dutch, not derived from any prior English translation. Sentence-aligned by 1732 Studios.