Batavia’s governor justified permitting protest by citing officials’ bleeding father hearts

Evidence

Calming the fearful Van Rees, Rochussen tells him that the gathering will take place. There was simply no other course of action— “their father hearts were bleeding too much” (hun vaderhart te zeer bloedde) to be refused. — Ann Laura Stoler, Along the Archival Grain_ Epistemic…, 472

Categorization

Category: Factual Claims

• SEED: The quoted Dutch phrase anchors an essay on how affective idioms legitimated colonial concessions.