“This Shawlman and his wife.…”
Stop!! miserable spawn of dirty covetousness and blasphemous hypocrisy! I created you:——you have grown into a monster under my pen:——I am disgusted with my own creation … choke yourself with coffee and begone!
Yes, I, Multatuli, “who have suffered much,”——I take the pen. I do not make any excuses for the form of my book,——that form was thought proper to obtain my object. That object has a double end——
In the first place, I would bring forward something which may be preserved as a holy poosaka by “little Max” and his sister, when their parents have died of sheer want.——I would give to these children a testimonial from my own hand. [[408]]
And in the second place, I will be read! Yes, I will be read! I will be read by statesmen, who are obliged to pay attention to the signs of the times; by men of letters, who must also peep into the book of which so many bad things are said; by merchants, who have an interest in the coffee-auctions; by lady’s-maids, who read me for a few farthings; by Governors-General in retirement; by Ministers who have something to do; by the lackeys of these Excellencies; by mutes, who, “more majorum,” will say that I attack God Almighty, where I attack only the god which they made according to their own image; by the members of the Representative Chambers, who must know what happens in the extensive possessions over the sea, which belong to Holland.…
Ay, I shall be read!
When I obtain this I shall be content. For I did not intend to write well.… I wished to write so as to be heard, and, as one who cries “Stop thief!” does not care about the style of his impromptu address to the public, I too am indifferent to criticism of the manner in which I cried my “Stop thief!”——