Hoofdstuk 8

Havelaar had asked the controller to invite the chiefs who were present at Rangkas-Betoeng to remain there until the following day, so as to attend the Sebah that he meant to convene.

Such a meeting was ordinarily held once a month; but whether he wished to spare certain chiefs who lived rather far from the chief town — for the District of Lebak is very extensive — the needless journey there and back, or whether he wished, at once and without awaiting the appointed day, to address them in a solemn manner, he had fixed the first Sebah-day for the next morning.

To the left of his residence, but on the same "yard" and facing the house that Mevrouw Slotering occupied, stood a building that partly contained the offices of the assistant-residency — to which the public treasury also belonged — and partly consisted of a fairly spacious open gallery, which offered a very good place for such a meeting.

There, accordingly, the chiefs were assembled early the next morning.

Havelaar stepped in, greeted them, and took his seat.

He received the written monthly reports on agriculture, livestock, police, and justice, and laid them aside for closer examination.

Everyone expected an address like the one the resident had delivered the day before, and it is not altogether certain that Havelaar himself had intended to say anything different; yet one must have heard and seen him on such occasions to picture how he, in addresses like this, worked himself up and, by his peculiar manner of speaking, gave a fresh color to the most familiar matters; how his bearing then drew itself up, how his glance shot fire, how his voice passed from the flatteringly soft into the cuttingly sharp, how the images flowed from his lips as though he were scattering something precious about him that yet cost him nothing — and how, when he fell silent, everyone stared at him open-mouthed, as if to ask: "my God, who are you?"

It is true that he himself, who on such an occasion spoke like an apostle, like a seer, afterward did not quite know how he had spoken, and his eloquence had, in fact, more the property of astonishing and striking than of convincing through soundness of reasoning.

He could have fired the war-spirit of the Athenians to a frenzy once the war against Philip had been resolved upon, but less well, in all likelihood, would he have succeeded had his task been to move them to that war by reasoning.

His address to the chiefs of Lebak was naturally in Malay, and drew from this a peculiarity all its own, since the simplicity of the Eastern tongues lends to many expressions a force that in our own idioms has been lost through literary artifice, while on the other hand the mellifluous quality of Malay is hard to render in any other language.

Let one consider, moreover, that the greater part of his listeners were simple yet by no means stupid men, and likewise that they were Easterners, whose impressions differ greatly from our own.

Havelaar must have spoken more or less as follows:

Mynheer the Radhen Adhipatti, Regent of Bantan-Kidoel, and you, Radhens Dhemang who are chiefs of the districts in this District, and you, Radhen Djaksa who hold justice as your office, and you too, Radhen Kliwon who exercise authority in the chief town, and you, Radhens, Mantries, and all who are chiefs in the district of Bantan-Kidoel, I greet you!

And I tell you that I feel joy in my heart, now that I see you all gathered here, listening to the words of my mouth.

I know that there are among you men who excel in knowledge and in goodness of heart: I hope to increase my knowledge by means of yours, for it is not so great as I could wish. And though I do love goodness, yet often I perceive that there are faults in my soul which overshadow that goodness and rob it of its growth ... you all know how the great tree crowds out the small one and kills it.

Therefore I shall heed those among you who are eminent in virtue, that I may strive to become better than I am.

I greet you all most warmly.

When the Governor-General charged me to go to you, to be assistant-resident in this district, my heart was glad.

It may be known to you that I had never set foot in Bantan-Kidoel. I therefore had documents brought to me that deal with your district, and I have seen that there is much that is good in Bantan-Kidoel.

Your people possess rice-fields in the valleys, and there are rice-fields upon the mountains.

And you wish to live in peace, and you do not desire to dwell in the regions inhabited by others.

Yes, I know that there is much that is good in Bantan-Kidoel!

But not for this reason alone was my heart glad. For in other regions too I should have found much that is good.

Yet I became aware that your population is poor, and over this I was glad in the innermost part of my soul.

For I know that Allah loves the poor, and that He gives riches to whomever He would put to the test. But to the poor He sends those who speak His word, that they may rise up out of their misery.

Does He not give rain where the stalk withers, and a drop of dew in the flower-cup that thirsts?

And is it not a fine thing to be sent out to seek the weary, who stayed behind after the labor and sank down beside the road, because their knees were no longer strong enough to climb up to the place of reward?

Should I not rejoice to be allowed to reach out my hand to him who fell into the pit, and to give a staff to him who climbs the mountains?

Should my heart not leap up when it sees itself chosen out of many, to make a prayer out of lamentation and a thanksgiving out of weeping?

Yes, I am very glad to have been called to Bantan-Kidoel!

I have said to the woman who shares my cares and makes my happiness greater: "rejoice, for I see that Allah gives His blessing upon the head of our child!

He has sent me to a place where not all the labor is finished, and He deemed me worthy to be there before the time of the harvest.

For the joy is not in the reaping of the padi: the joy is in the reaping of the padi that one has planted.

And the soul of man does not grow from the reward, but from the labor that earns the reward.

And I said to her: Allah has given us a child, who will one day say: "do you know that I am his son?" And then there will be those in the land who greet him with love, and who will lay their hand upon his head, and will say: "sit down at our meal, and dwell in our house, and take your share of what we have, for I knew your father."

Chiefs of Lebak, there is much to be labored at in your land!

Tell me, is the husbandman not poor?

Does your padi not often ripen for the feeding of those who have not planted?

Are there not many wrongs in your land?

Is the number of your children not small?

Is there not shame in your souls when the dweller of Bandoeng, which lies there to the east, visits your regions and asks: "where are the villages, and where the husbandmen? And why do I not hear the gamlang, which speaks gladness with its mouth of copper, nor the pounding of the padi by your daughters?"

Is it not bitter to you, to travel from here to the South Coast, and to see the mountains that bear no water on their flanks, or the plains where never a buffalo drew the plow?

Yes, yes, I tell you that your soul and mine are grieved over this! And precisely for this reason are we thankful to Allah that He has given us power to labor here.