A DISCOURSE,
&c. &c.
Gentlemen,
A series of domestic afflictions, alas! but too well known to you all, have followed in such quick succession the melancholy event which it was long since my duty to communicate, that, until the present hour, I have felt myself every way unequal to the trying task of announcing to you the death of our late noble and enlightened patron, the Earl of Minto; an event so unlooked for and so painfully calamitous in its immediate effects, that, to use the energetic language of Mr. Muntinghe, "it obliged us, as it were, to close our lips before the Almighty!"
Strong, and extensive in their operation, were the ties which attached that noble person to this colony—to the whole community of Java—and especially to our society! A tender and parental care for the island of Java was publicly declared on different occasions, and proofs of it were received. The European community was saved by his humanity, and on his responsibility; for the native administration, principles on which the whole of the present structure has been raised, were laid down; and in every instance, the wish was evinced, to employ the successes of war as much in favor of the conquered as of the conqueror.
It would not be proper, on this occasion, to enter into particulars; but who does not gratefully recollect the general tenor of his Lordship's conduct and demeanour while in Java, administering assistance with his own hands to the maimed and wounded among the enemy; setting, in the midst of his victories, an example of
