PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
LLC.O. 882
2
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
92
No. 69.
Governor Sir A. Clarke, K.C.M.G., to the Earl of Kimberley.—(Received March 2.) (No. 14.) My Lord,
Government House, Singapore, January 26, 1874. YOUR Lordship's attention was called by the despatches named in the margin* to the disturbed state of part of the Malay Peninsula. Riots had occurred in the district of Laroot, piratical outrages interfering with our commerce had been perpetrated on the coast of Perak, and certain measures had been taken in co-operation with Her Majesty's naval forces on this station to quell these lawless proceedings.
2. These measures appear to have had temporarily a satisfactory result, for Sir H. Ord, on the 9th of September last, assured the Legislative Council that all apprehension of danger had been removed, that order was entirely re-established, and that trade had resumed its usual course.
3. This assumption, however, was somewhat premature; for I regret to say that, on the withdrawal of our armed intervention, the country relapsed into even worse than its former state of anarchy and confusion; the outrages previously committed in connection with the disturbances between two Chinese factions in Laroot were repeated in increasing numbers and audacity, and so completely was all respect for constituted authority sub- verted, that a culminating point was reached on the 2nd instant, when an attack was made on one of our police stations in Province Wellesley.
4. Nor was the feeling of insecurity caused by these outrages confined to the imme- diate districts in which the disturbances occurred. Both at Penang and here an uneasy feeling was springing up, and fears were entertained that riots, similar to those of former years, would be repeated, and that the conflict between the two contending Chinese factions, which had been up to this time confined to Laroot, would be reproduced in these Settlements, where both parties are represented in large numbers, with leaders of wealth, and even of social position, who not only had originally invested largely both in trading to, and mining in Laroot, but have also subsequently been affording material aid to their respective clans while fighting in that State.
5. Indeed it is evident that the struggle in Laroot could never have been for so long a time sustained, had not each party been furnished with supplies, both of food and material, from without.
6. It is then, I think, partly due to a demand for further reinforcement of fighting men for the See Kwans (it having been stated that the Go Kwans bad recently received both junks and men from China), that the leading men of both sides have been induced to consider whether there was not some course open to them by which they might determine their differences, and end a ruinous struggle, in which already thousands of lives have been sacrificed, and a country rich in minerals and other resources rendered desolate.
7. A proposal to look to the Malay Rulers of the State of Perak for any settlement, or permanent arrangement, to which each party could trust, was rejected as utterly hopeless.
8. To memorialize the Government of China to interfere by sending them Mandarine and a force to occupy Perak was suggested, and though I cannot believe there could have been any earnestness in such a proposal, or that the Chinese Government would have entertained it for an instant, I only repeat the rumour here as indicating the condition at which affairs had arrived.
9. They hesitated to solicit from this Government any further mediation between them, as it had failed to restore to the field of their labours the security necessary for the enterprize in which they were engaged.
10. Indeed the leaders of one party felt bitterly that, when this Government had interfered, it had allied itself to one faction, and had become the partizan of the Mantri of Laroot, to whose intrigues alternately with each party they mainly attributed the causes that had driven their followers to the desperate courses they had recently adopted.
11. Such were the feelings entertained by the leading Headmen of the Chinese as communicated to me by Captain Dunlop, the Inspector-General of Police, and Mr. Pickering, the Chinese interpreter, both of whom command, in a most remarkable manner, the confidence of the entire Chinese Community.
12. I had sought for this information from these gentlemen, because the stoppage of all local trade, and the disturbed state of the northern coast of the Peninsula, rendered it imperative to end this condition of anarchy and confusion; and as Admiral Sir C. Shadwell, with a considerable addition of force, was shortly expected, I was preparing a
*November 6, 1872, No. 10; July 10, No. 4; July 24, No. 25; August 26, No. 35; September 5, No. 37; September 19, No. 42; and September 27, No. 43, 1873.
99
proposal to submit to him for clearing the waters of the fighting boats of both sides, and the destruction of all stockades accessible by the ships, but I was at the same time thoroughly aware that, even were these operations successful, no real good would be effected if limited to them alone, and that we ought to deal primarily and directly with the first causes of the disturbed state of affairs, viz., the quarrels of the two Chinese factions of miners.
13. I therefore empowered Mr. Pickering to open negotiations with the Headmen of the Chinese, as if acting on his own responsibility, for the purpose of ascertaining if the Chiefs of the two parties could not now be brought to some settlement of their differences, since the quarrel had attained to such an extent, as by previous experience, to justify the hope that an adjustment was now practicable.
14. Mr. Pickering was so successful in his mission that the chief Headmen of both parties agreed to submit all their claims to my arbitration, and an undertaking was entered into to surrender to me all their row-boats, to dismantle their stockades, and to give up their arms.
15. But while endeavouring to restore peace between the contending Chinese factions, I could not but be conscious that the disputed succession to the Sultanship of Perak had an important political bearing on the whole state of affairs in Laroot, and I therefore at once endeavoured to make myself acquainted with all the information available on this important subject.
16. It appeared to me that, though the Raja Muda (Abdullah) was the rightful heir to the throne, suspicion as to his moral character and his capabilities as a ruler had been so rife among his people as to render it very doubtful if he would be received by the Chiefs whose duty it was to recognize and instal him; and, in fact, another Chief (Ismail) had already been declared Sultan, and possessed the Regalia, though it was asserted that such appointment was merely a temporary measure. I, at the same time, formed an opinion that this step had been taken at the instigation or with the connivance of the Mantri of Laroot.
17. Another important element was the claim of the Mantri of Laroot, who, by Malayan custom, was a great officer of the Sultan of Perak, but who had, in some way, apparently made himself master of the district of Laroot, where he now professed a certain independence of the Sultan.
18. I also found that there were several other inferior Chiefs, who possessed, according to Malayan rules, great influence in the affairs of Perak, and especially in the installation of the Sovereign.
19. I therefore came to the conclusion to combine the arbitration of the Chinese differences, with an attempt to settle the disputed succession to the throne of Perak; and with this view I made arrangements, to call all these Perak Chiefs together, and personally to confer with them on the subject, while I at the same time accepted the office of arbi- trator in the Chinese claims, on condition that all boats, stockades, and arms were delivered up to me, and I fixed the 14th instant for the Chiefs of both nations, Malayan and Chinese, meeting me at the Dindings.
20. Anticipating a certain amount of difficulty in collecting the Chiefs, I dispatched Major McNair and Captain Dunlop in the chartered steamer "Johore" to Penang with letters to all the principal Chiefs, while I left to Mr. Pickering the assembling of the Chinese Headmen.
I provided a supply of food as I had every reason to believe very great distress existed in the river, and I also made provision for removing any troublesome or lawless persons, whom it might be necessary to get rid of, to Singapore or Penang.
21. I arrived on the 13th at the Dindings, having with me Mr. Braddell, the Attorney-General, and Mr. A. M. Skinner, of the Civil Service, and through the successful arrangements of Messrs. McNair, Dunlop, and Pickering, I had several interviews with the Malayan Princes both separately and together.
22. It was gratifying to me to find myself disappointed in the opinion I had formed of the Rajah Muda, who, to my surprise, I found a man of considerable intelligence, and possessing perfect confidence that he should be able to maintain his position if he were once placed in Perak as its legitimate Ruler, and I was glad to perceive that all the Chiefs, except the Mantri of Laroot and his party, were prepared at once to receive him as their Sovereign, since I could not but believe that, by such an arrangement, we might probably secure the establishment of permanent peace, and possibly of a firm Government.
23. It was also made perfectly clear to me that the Mantri was not an independent Ruler, but simply the Governor of the territory or district of Laroot, and on his own admission an officer of the Sultan, and owing allegiance to him, for while he held an undoubted appointment as Governor with full powers, from the late Sultan, letter
[133]
2 B