Page:History of the Indian Archipelago Vol 2.djvu/459

OF THE ARCHIPELAGO. 415 princesof the Archipelago, that these guests, whom, on their professions of amity and moderation, they had so hospitably entertained, were not less dan- gerous than their first visitors the Portuguese. The princes of Java, too weak to remove them by open force, began secretly to conspire to rrd themselves of them. The Dutch, whom they observed to be the most powerful, were the principal objects of their hatred and alarm ; and they thought, if they got rid of them, the weaker invaders might readily be disposed of. Of this conspiracy, as the Dutcli are pleased to call it, the movers were, the Regent of Bantam, the Kings of Jacatra and Cheribon, and the Sultan of Mataram. These princes had the dex- terity to dupe the English, whose animosity towards the Dutch led them to become the tools of the native princes. Conspiracies were at the same time form- ed in Sumatra, in Celebes, and the Moluccas, to expel the Dutch, but their good fortune, and a cou- rage and perseverance worthy of a better cause, saved them from all these impending dangers. The jealousies and animosities of the native princes, and that weakness and oscillation of conduct common to them with all barbarians, broke and defeated in Java the combination against them. The Dutch fort was on the point of surrendering to the king of Jacatra, but the regent of Bantam, forgetting the primary object of the war, and becoming jea- lous of the rich booty which would in this manneu