CHAPTER 11: A Prisoner.
The next day the Governor himself came off to the brig, and was received with the usual honours.
"The council are quite of my opinion," he said to Harry, "as to the extreme difficulty and cost that an effort to put down piracy among the islands would involve.

Our ships on the station would not be at all sufficient for such work and, at any rate, it is a step that we should not venture to engage in, without the assent of the home government.

We shall, of course, write home fully upon the matter, and shall leave the final decision to them; at the same time expressing our own views, and giving some idea as to the force that would have to be employed, the expenditure involved, and the time required for the operation.
"This letter contains a reply, as far as we can give it, to the Governor General's proposals." "His lordship will, I am sure, be sorry to hear your views, sir; but I imagine that he will not hesitate to undertake the work of punishing, at least, the people of some of the islands where outrages have taken place, as soon as affairs are sufficiently settled in India for him to dispense, for a time, with the services of some of the Company's ships of war." As Harry expected, the face of the Dutch Governor showed that this statement, when translated, was evidently most unpalatable to him.
After a moment's hesitation, however, he said: "If Lord Mornington waits until everything is quiet in India, it will probably be a very long time before he will be able to carry out the operation you speak of." "That may be, sir.

I do not know whether you have heard that Seringapatam has been captured, and that Tippoo, himself, fell in its defence ?" A look of amazement, and even of consternation, on the part of the Dutch officials showed that the news was as unwelcome as it was unexpected.

The loss of their hold in India, by the wonderful spread of the British power, was an extremely sore point with them.
Nothing would have pleased them better than to have heard that the power of the latter had been shattered.
"It is certainly news to us," the Governor said, shortly.