CHAPTER XV
The Last Scene of All
Condemnation of the Amboina prisoners—Reprieve of two of the English—A fateful lottery—The condemned Englishmen refused the Sacrament—They solemnly renew their protestations of innocence—The last night passed in prayer and praise—A touching memorial of the occasion—The day of execution—Meeting between the English and the Japanese prisoners—Bearing of the English in their last moments—The execution—Strange happenings—Effect produced in England by the episode—A belated settlement—What was "the Massacre of Amboina"?—The English withdraw from the Eastern Islands
ON February 25, 1623 (old style), the unfortunate prisoners were assembled in the great hall of the castle of Amboina to receive the inevitable condemnation. None of the gloomy accessories of justice were wanting to lend impressiveness to the occasion. At the head of the chamber sat at a massive table Van Speult and the members of his council in full uniform. The Fiscal, De Bruyne, who had taken such a prominent and sinister part in the examinations, was there also, with the Dutch chaplain, in the severe habiliments of his order. On all sides were armed soldiers in the buff uniforms of Holland's greatest mercantile association. On the fringes of the crowd were probably a few islanders holding menial offices, who looked with curious questioning eyes upon this spectacle of the members of one European race sitting in judgment upon the representatives of another Western nationality.
There was a brevity about the final proceedings consist-
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