ing--Your Lordship has hitherto treated us
with the kindness of a father. Our obligations to you are very great. We
have looked to you for protection from oppression and cruelty. You have
in many instances mitigated the sufferings of those unfortunate, though
innocent beings, committed to your charge. You have promised me
particularly, that you would stand by me to the last, and though you
should receive an order from the king, you would not put Mr. J. to
death. What crime has he committed to deserve such additional
punishment? The old man's hard heart was melted, for he wept like a
child. 'I pity you, Tsa-yar-ga-dau, (a name by which he always called
me) I knew you would make me feel; I therefore forbade your application.
But you must believe me when I say, I do not wish to increase the
sufferings of the prisoners. When I am ordered to execute them, the
least that I can do is, to put them out of sight. I will now tell you
(continued he) what I have never told you before, that three times I
have received intimations from the queen's brother, to assassinate all
the white prisoners privately; but I would not do it. And I now repeat
it, though I execute all the others, I will never execute your husband.
But I cannot release him from his present confinement, and you must not
ask it.' I had never seen him manifest so much feeling, or so resolute
in denying me a favour, which circumstance was an additional reason for
thinking dreadful scenes were before us.
"The situation of the prisoners was now distressing beyond description.
It was at the commencement of the hot season. There were above a hundred
prisoners shut up in one room, without a breath of air excepting from
the cracks in the boards. I sometimes obtained permission to go to the
door for five minutes, when my heart sickened at the wretchedness
exhibited. The white prisoners, from incessant perspiration and loss of
appetite, looked more like the dead than the living. I made daily
applications to the governor, offering him money, which he refused; but
all that I gained, was permission for the foreigners to eat their food
outside, and this continued but a short time.
"It was at this period that the death of Bandoola was announced in the
palace. The king heard it with silent amazement, and the queen, in
eastern style, smote upon her breast, and cried, ama! ama! (alas, alas.)
Who could be found to fill his place? who would venture since the
invincible Bandoola had been
|