Now, The Cathedral Which
Crowns The Hill, Roofless And Ruinous, Is Only Imposing From A
Distance, And A Part Of It Is Used For The Storage Of Marine Or
Lighthouse Stores Under Our Prosaic And Irreverent Rule.
Xavier
preached frequently in it and loved it well, yet the walls are
overgrown with parasites, and the floor, under which many prelates and
priests lie, is hideous with matted weeds, which are the haunt of
snakes and lizards.
Thus, in the city which was so dear to Xavier that
he desired to return to it to die (and actually did die on his way
thither), the only memento of him is the dishonored ruin of the
splendid church in which his body was buried, with all the population
of Malacca following it from the yellow strand up the grass-crowned
hill, bearing tapers. This wretched ruin is a contrast to the splendid
mausoleum at Goa, where his bones now lie, worthily guarded, in coffins
of silver and gold.
If the Portuguese were little better than buccaneers, the Dutch, who
drove them out, were little better than hucksters - mean, mercenary
traders, without redeeming qualities; content to suck the blood of
their provinces and give nothing in return. I should think that the
colony is glad to be finally rid of them. The English took possession
of it in 1795, but restored it to the Dutch in 1818, regaining it again
by treaty in 1824, giving Bencoolen, in Sumatra, in exchange for it,
stipulating at the same time that the Dutch were not to meddle with
Malayan affairs, or have any settlement on the Malay Peninsula.
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