had also gone over. MIRABEAU. Thousands of spectators | ful clergy," and his "loyal nobility," urging continually thronged the galleries and the aisles them to join the Assembly without further deof the National Assembly, while no one seem-lay. In compliance with this request, the next ed to turn a thought to the two chambers where day, June the 27th, the remaining portion of the few remaining clergy and nobles were sep- the nobility and of the clergy entered the hall arately lingering. and united with the third estate. The next day, June 26th, after a long and exciting debate, in which the overwhelming majority of the nobles resolved to remain firm in opposition to union, forty-seven of their number, led by La Fayette and the Duke of Orleans, and embracing many of the most eminent for talents and virtue, repaired to the Assembly and gave in their adhesion. They were received with hearty demonstrations of joy. One of their number, Clement Tonnere, said: "We yield to our conscience; but it is with pain that we separate from our colleagues. We have come to concur in the public regeneration. Each of us will let you know the degree of activity which his mission allows him." The King now wrote a letter to his "faith It was a grievous mortification to the nobility thus to give up, defeated. But they were assured that troops were coming up, and that in fifteen days the court would be prepared to bid defiance to all opposition and energetically to disperse this body, so determined to introduce constitutional liberty into the despotism of the monarchy.* But the nobles and the dignitaries of the Church had hardly entered the hall of the Assembly ere they regretted the step. The Marquis of Ferrières, one of their number, writes: "Many of the nobles would have quitted the Assembly, but a partial secession would have done nothing. They were assured that the Mémoires of the Marquis of Ferrières. "I could never ascertain," writes Necker, "to what lengths their projects really went. There were secrets upon secrets; and I believe that even the King himself was far from being acquainted with all of them. What was intended was, probably, to draw the monarch on, as circumstances admitted, to measures of which they durst not at first have spoken to him. With me, above all others, a reserve was maintained, and reasonably, for my indisposition to every thing of the kind was decided. At troops were coming up, were praised for the | tlemanly Englishmen; but her crew were Lasresistance they had already made, and were cars with a bull-headed negro, who every month urged that they must dissemble a little longer. had prophetic trances, for "burra-tindal," or And indeed thirty regiments were now march-boatswain's mate, while her cargo was-what do ing upon Paris. The pretext was public tran- you think?-eighty-nine convicts from India on quillity; the real object, the dissolution of the their way to Singapore for life! Most of them Assembly." were murderers, and all were willing to become such, while every tribe from the north of India had its representatives. There were Bengalis, Hindustanis, Sikhs, Thugs, Mahrattas, and a crowd of others. They were all shackled, and at night secured under grated hatches; but in the daytime half the number were allowed to be on deck at once, and such a Babel as there was going on all the time I never before heard. first there would be the low drone of murmuring voices in conversation, then as each one would become interested in what he was saying and forgetful of his situation, he would speak louder and louder, and add the clash of his shackles to the din as he violently gesticulated, until there would arise such an uproar that the captain or one of us, leaping to his feet in a frenzy on the poop, would shout, "Chub-chub!" (silence!) "Chub-chub!" would yell the sergeant, jumping from his recumbent position on the booby-hatch. "Chub-chub!" would fiercely re-echo the sentinels, checking themselves in their talking and laughing with the convicts around, and disdaining the fact that they were as bad as any, they would again harshly cry, "Chub! chub!" and rap over the head any unlucky pariah who happened to be near. Then there would be one delicious pause of quiet only The nobles continued increasingly arrogant and defiant. Openly they declared their intentions to crush the Assembly, and openly boasted that, with an army of fifty thousand men, they would speedily silence all murmurs of the people. Loaded cannon were already placed opposite the hall, and pointed to the doors of the Assembly. This state of menace and peril excited the Parisians to the highest pitch, and united all the citizens, high and low, to defend their rights. They knew that some heavy blow would soon fall upon them, and anxiously they watched to see from what direction it would come. A JAUNT IN JAVA. to be succeeded by the same routine. that is, one built and sailed in the East Indies. Among the crowd there was every tinge of It was an old teak ark, strong as any thing could color, save white, that the human skin is capabe imagined, and with a model like a tub. Her ble of, and almost every style in which the hair windlass, capstans, and all the labor-saving in- of the head could be arranged, cut, or shaved. ventions so thickly scattered about a ship, were There were bald pates, crowned pates, pates of the crudest and most ancient pattern, while with side locks, or with one, two, or three those admirable blocks and the improvements ridges, and then the luxuriant, black, shining in the rig aloft, seen in our modern and model crop of hair with which Nature, if she had been ships, were entirely wanting. She had a big allowed her own way, would have covered the poop-cabin and an equally large top-gallant fore-heads of all. Conspicuous among the rest were castle, and the greater part of her running rigging was of coir rope, the detestation of European weamen. Her captain and officers were very gen THE COUNTRY SHIP. Brahmins of different rank, most of them of a lighter color than the others, but all distinguishable by their mystic three-plied cords falling from their necks over their chests. Most of these Brahmins were sentenced for murder, frequently of the most cruel description, and for other crimes of nearly as black a dye; but among their fellow-convicts they still asserted their superior sanctity, and it was allowed. These copper-colored Pharisees would take possession of the large tubs in which the daily allowance of water was put, and dipping into them their brazen "lotahs," they would pour, at arm's-length, the sought-for liquid into the vessels of the "common herd," who, reverently crouching, would be careful not to contaminate by their touch even the metal drinking-cups of the holy Brahmin murderers. Had any pariah touched the water, the Brahmins must stay thirsty or lose their caste; so, to preserve their privileges, and at the same time wet their whistles, they became butlers in ordinary to the "ignobile vulgus." They seemed to ignore the fact that they were supplied from the watercasks of the Christian dogs, their masters, which had been filled by polluting Mussulmans! Among the convicts there were some mere youths, one of whom, a boy of only twelve years, had deliberately murdered a smaller child for the sake of its ornaments, worth about twentyfive cents; and there were two lads of fourteen and sixteen, who had murdered their mother by way of pastime. Brahmins they were too! The prisoners were guarded by twenty sepoys of the Calcutta Militia, under the command of a sergeant, whose military appearance was somewhat injured by his generally going about in the simple dress of a mud-colored garment wound round his middle, and an equally dingy cloth tied over his whiskers, which made him look as if he had a perpetual toothache. His whiskers were the sergeant's pride; coal-black, glossy, and enormously bushy, they were cut in military style, and gave him a most ferocious appearance when he got into his regimentals; the protecting cloth was to keep every individual hair in place, and to retain the nourishing oil which was so copiously bestowed upon them. The sepoys were a miserable, lanky, insubordinate set of scarecrows, who laughed at their sergeant, and lounged about the deck playing the gallant to the five women convicts. When on guard, these fellows would stick on their regimental coat and a foraging cap, but the effect of the dignity which this gave them was rather destroyed by their bare spindleshanks and fluttering breech-cloth below. They were armed with old muskets, half of which wouldn't go off at all, and the other half kicked their possessors over, as we tested at sea, when, wishing to see if the arms on board were in order, we had every thing firable on deck popping away at a school of porpoises. After the first attempt at a volley from the sepoys it was thought best not to let them try again, if we wanted the convicts to be kept in awe of their guard. I had my American pride augmented on this occasion, by finding that my little Colt's revolver, a six-inch AT THE WATER-TUB. barrel, would send its ball farther than any weapon on board. If Ulysses on his way home from Troy could have got into the Straits of Malacca, I should have no difficulty in accounting for his long voyage. Baffling winds continually changing, calms, counter-currents, and sands, make this little journey of four hundred miles generally to require as much time for a sailing vessel to accomplish it as crossing the Atlantic. Then the heat! and in our old bark, the flies! nothing, save the plagues of Egypt ever equaled them! We worked through, in course of time, however, and were glad enough when we dropped anchor in Singapore roads. I leaped into a "sampan" and was soon flying to the shore. Singapore has been so often and so well described that I won't attempt a repetition; but will merely here enter my protest and disgust at there being no ice there. In every other part of the East, Bombay, Madras, Calcutta, Batavia, China, and Manilla, the residents have subscribed and imported ice from America; but in Singapore, flourishing place as it is, they don't have it. There was a little steamer which came up from Batavia every month at the time when the Bombay steamer with the mails from Europe touched at Singapore, and in this little craft, commanded by a very pleasant and well-bred Englishman, after a month's stay on shore, I took passage for Batavia. We arrived at night, and after a breakfast the next morning-for we didn't hurry ourselves, as our party, consisting of a young German Prince who was a supernumerary licutenant on board a British man-o'-war in these seas, an English officer of the Bengal army and myself, were all traveling for pleasure-we got into a boat and pulled ashore, or rather part way, for as the Dutch have run their education in shape of a canal a mile out to sea, we pulled to the canal, and then the boatmen, stepping on the wall, "tracked" us the rest of the way. When we landed, our luggage was examined by the Customhouse officials, and we had the pleasure of making the acquaintance of Mynheer Van Hogezand, the worthy Israelitish proprietor of the Hotel der Nederlanden. As we had been recommended to take up our quarters with him, we allowed him to conduct us to where a carriage was in waiting. When we saw the carriage, it required all our powers of gravity and sense of politeness to restrain our risible propensities. Imag ine for driver a little dried-up Javanese who, over the dingy cotton handkerchief worn around the head by all Malays, had perched a hard, shining, glazed leather hat with a painted white cockade, and with the brim curling up just where it shouldn't. The rest of his livery consisted in a blue shirt with a broad white belt, while his whole appearance, and decidedly his mournful, sorry expression resembled strongly that of the monkey in a circus who has to ride the pony. The two quadrupeds in harness-we can't call them horses-were very diminutive frames of small ponies with rough hides stretched over them. However, they proved able to move, and pretty briskly too, so that our drive of three miles to the hotel was not a disagreeable one. In the old town of Batavia no foreigners now reside, unless of the lowest class, and the buildings are all used for merchants' offices and store-houses, for shops, mechanics' work-places, and for Malay, Chinese, and half-breed dwelling-houses. The Governor's palace, the hotels, GOING ASHORE. and the domiciles of the Europeans are situated some three miles farther inland, though in driving to them you do not appear to leave the town, as the whole way is thickly settled. This part of Batavia forms one of the handsomest places I have ever seen, as the roads are wide, wellkept, and shaded by fine trees, while the houses, large and well-built, are inclosed in "campongs" filled with trees and shrubbery. By each street, however, runs a canal, giving a Dutch appearance to the scene rather inconsistent with the Oriental luxuriance of foliage, the dusky natives, and the lofty mountains in the background. These canals are by no means disagreeable in the season when I was there; but when the rains come, I was told that they overflow, and cause a great deal of sickness. At each crossing of the streets there is a bridge, and between the bridges there are flights of steps down the banks, where, at almost all hours of the day, may be seen groups of Javanese naiads, bathing, splashing, combing out their long black hair, and laugh ing and chattering like a flock of blackbirds. These damsels are by no means disconcerted at the observation of strangers of the other sex; but, at the same time, they are quite modest, wearing a long sárong wrapped around the breasts and reaching below the knee, and they cover this wet one with a dry garment before removing it, when they have finished their bath. The Javanese are like the Malays, of good figure but with precious ugly faces, and to our eyes they don't heighten their beauty by a fashion they have of carrying an enormous quid of tobacco and betel between the lips. But it is high time that we reach the Hotel der Ne derlanden; so, passing the ing of the hotel is not a very large one, of only two stories, and with the customary broad veranda running the width of the house. Entering the front door, we find a spacious hall, with a suite of rooms on each side and the large dining-saloon at the back. Above are several suites of rooms; but the majority of chambers are in the bungalows at the back, which stretch out on each side at right angles from the house, to an indefinite extent, forming a sort of street, which looks still longer by the kitchens and stables being beyond the bungalows; and that these latter are not small, may be imagined from the fact that there were forty carriages and one hundred and eighty ponies there housed. The eaves of these bungalows, projecting and supported by wooden pillars, form verandas along which the inhabitants of the chambers saunter and sit. When we arrived all was still and quiet, and no one was seen moving but occasionally a bare-footed servant, who stole along gently and softly. We 327 Governor's palace, we trot on a short distance another half hour doors began to open, and the and draw up at the side of it. The main build-inhabitants to appear, while our eyes opened still wider to find that all were in their "sleepclothes." stop the progress of things, and people still came Our astonishment, however, didn't out, with their hair all frowzy, rubbing their eyes and stretching their limbs. tea, all took schnapps, and all the men smoked. Most of them took The ladies wandered about with their bare feet thrust into straw slippers, their hair hanging down their backs, and with no covering but a petticoat and a thin cabeiyo (a sort of josey), through which, when they would pass through the indiscreet rays of the sunlight, the contour of their forms was plainly discernible. They didn't mind it, however, but gracefully moved about, paying calls on their neighbors, coquetting with gentlemen as lightly clad as themselves, and accepting their escort to the bathingroom doors. These verandas and buildings, which seemed We sat down and looked around. deserted but a little while before, were now swarming with life; women talking, men smoking, and children running about. Pretty soon the ladies had disappeared, and the men gradually retired into their rooms, whence they emerged in about twenty minutes, dressed for dinner. We noticed that each of them hastened to swell a little crowd congregated on the back veranda, and thither we went too. nucleus, we discovered, was the table on which The the schnapps bottle rested-when it did rest at all. OUR HOTEL. didn't know the customs of the country, and, consequently, were by no means so silent; and I'm afraid that we must have been mentally consigned to all kinds of bad places by our neighbors, for after our chambers were designated and our luggage located therein, we, in ignorance that we were not alone in these solitudes, laughed, whistled, shouted to each other from our several apartments, and finally yawned till our jaws cracked. To a stranger it seems as if a Dutchman in Java went through the following routine, and I believe it is nearly correct. When he gets up, he takes a glass of schnapps and smokes; before his "little breakfast" at eight o'clock he has another drop of schnapps, and after it he smokes; all the forenoon he smokes, and mayhap wets his whistle as well; and before the breakfast at noon he takes his schnapps again. Again he smokes and then turns in for his siesta; that concluded, he takes tea and schnapps and smokes; and when he is dressed takes schnapps and bitters to give him an appetite for his dinner. He bolts this meal to get at his cigar, and after smoking all the time he is taking his digestive drive or lounge, he sits all the va, with a glance of water in it, and consumes evening drinking his "grock" (grog) of Genehis weed the while. and then the turn-out is much better than the After dinner it is customary to take a drive, one I have before described. nice one, the ponies are in good condition, and The carriage is a though the attempts at livery are rather ridiculous, the whole affair makes a very creditable appearance. By this time the sun is nearly At about half-past three in the afternoon phaton lowered, and, if it be the proper day, down, so that you can ride with the top of the waiters began to fly round with cups on trays, you drive to the King's Square to hear the muand, heading one off, we discovered to our sic of the band. There you will find all the amazement that it was tea they were carrying."beauty and fashion" of Batavia congregated; "Rum time to take tea, this!" said the English- the private equipages very handsome and in man; "why, we have not had dinner yet!" In good taste, while their fair occupants are almost |