“ ‘But no, that is not the object. The object of the Government, on the contrary, is to stimulate the opium trade as much as possible, and if ever the now rebellious population is brought under our yoke, the trade will flourish more vigorously than ever. The Dutch nation must be made to believe that Atjeh really produces a revenue, though, from even a financial point of view, this bogus revenue must result in the direst loss.
“ ‘In order to attain that object we have stuck at nothing—we have poisoned and demoralized the civil and military branches of the State—and have degraded men to the level of the beast. And all this merely for the prospect of the rich harvest which the opium trade will yield to the national exchequer as soon as we shall have forced Atjeh to share the blessings of our rule.
“ ‘Under these circumstances, you can readily see that it is difficult—that it is in fact impossible—for me to do what I feel it is my duty to do. That duty is incompatible with the position of a Government official.’ ”
CHAPTER XXXII.
A SCIENTIFIC OPIUM DEN
The reader was here interrupted by a loud voice crying out in the verandah:
“Donnerwetter! what has become of Mr. Grenits?”
“That’s our Pole,” said van Rheijn, folding up the letter he was reading and replacing it in his pocket. “There is nothing specially interesting in the end of William’s letter, and I do not think it advisable to allow a private communication of this kind to spread beyond our own little circle.”
The door opened and Dr. Murowski entered. Having shaken hands with the prisoner and greeted the other gentlemen, he said in a queer lingo of his own, made up of Dutch, German, and Polish, but which we will not attempt to reproduce: