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Governors and other officers in the East Indies, who to a man are obligd to come to him at Batavia to have their accounts past; and if they are found to have been at all negligent or faulty it is a common practise to delay them there 1, 2 or 3 years according to the pleasure of the Governor, for no one can leave the place without his consent and approbation. Next to the general are the Raaden van Indïë‘ or members of the Councel, calld here Edele Heeren and by the corruption of the English Idoleers, in respect to whoom every one who meets them in a carriage is obligd to drive on one side of the Road and stop there till they are past, which distinction is expected by their wives and even children, and commonly paid to them; nor can the coachmen who are hird be restraind from paying this slavish mark of respect by any thing but the threats of instant death, as some of our captains have experiencd, who thought it beneath the dignity of the rank they held under his Britannick majestys service to submit to any such a humiliating Ceremony.
Justice is administerd here by a parcel of gentlemen of the law, who have ranks and dignities
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Voyaging Accounts |  |
© Derived from State Library of NSW Transcription of Banks's Journal page (vol. 2) 507, February 2004
Published by kind permission of the Library
To cite this page use: https://paulturnbull.org/project/southseas/journals/-banks_remarks-433.html