PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference:
TTC.O. 882
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
2PUBLIC RECORD
OFFICE.
LONDON
110
Andrew Clarke, his Lordship can give you no assurances with regard to the future political relations of that district with the Straits Government.
I am further to state that in. any case, Lord Carnarvon would not feel at liberty to authorize his official opinion to be used in connection with the business proceedings of your Company.
(No. 14.) Sir,
I am, &c.
(Signed)
ROBERT G. W. HERBERT.
No. 74.
The Earl of Carnarvon to Governor Sir Andrew Clarke, K.C.M.G.
Downing Street, March 6, 1874. I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your despatches 14 and 15 of the 26th of January* last reporting your proceedings at Laroot and Perak.
2. On the receipt of the further despatches you promise, I will not fail to give my fullest consideration to the various questions which are raised in those now before me.
3. As far as your explanations enable me to judge, I am disposed to hope that, without unduly compromising Her Majesty's Government in the internal affairs of these States, your proceedings may have the effect of allaying disorders and promoting peaceful
trade.
4. I have formed no opinion as to the salaries which should be received by the Resident and Assistant-Resident, if Her Majesty's Government should determine to sanction those appointments, and it must be distinctly understood that Captain Speedy has no claim to be continued in the receipt of the salary of 2,0001, nor to any compen- sation if his tenure of the office is terminated.
I have, &c.
My Lord,
(Signed)
No. 75.
The Straits Settlements Association to Colonial Office.
CARNARVON.
Straits Settlement Association, 34, Leadenhall Street, London, E.C., March 6, 1874.
I have the honour to inform your Lordship that the Association have within these few days received the printed copy of an engagement, under date 20th January, which has been entered into by the ruling powers of the Malay States of Perak, on the western coast of the Malayan Peninsula, with the British Government, represented by Sir Andrew Clarke, the Governor of the Straits Settlements, coupled with a stringent obligation on the part of the Chinese Headmen of Perak, obtained through the same instrumentality; and both of which documents are understood to be before your Lordship.
The Association regard with such entire satisfaction the proceedings which have resulted in the arrangements embodied in these documents, that they feel desirous to communicate their impressions on the subject to your Lordship without delay; the more, as these feelings are in unison with those entertained by the mercantile communities in the Straits. They consider that the negotiations of Sir Andrew Clarke with the authorities of Perak, so long a prey to anarchical confusion, constitute the most important step that has for many years been taken by the British Government in the Straits of Malacca, to intro- duce order and security for life and property into the native States of the Peninsula. Your Lordship is fully aware that, without these indispensable guarantees the important resources of that extensive region cannot be developed; and they therefore confidently appeal to your Lordship for a confirmatory approval of Sir A. Clarke's proceedings in the establishment of new relations with the State of Perak, as not only valuable in them- selves, but as involving principles capable of a wide and beneficial extension in the neigh- bouring territories.
I have, &c.
(Signed) W. NAPIER, Chairman.
• No. 69 and 70.
Sir,
111
Inclosure in No. 75.
Extract from the "Times" of March 11, 1874.
THE STRAITS OF MALACCA.
To the Editor of the "Times."
WHILE Mr. Disraeli and Mr. Gladstone were familiarizing us with the Dutch or Sumatran side of the Straits of Malacca, Sir Andrew Clarke, the new Governor of our Settlements in those distant waters, was taking an important step on what may be called our side of them. If it should prove successful, as there is every reason to expect, he will be entitled to the merit of beginning the conversion of what has been since the memory of man a wilderness into a flourishing and wealthy territory.
The lower extremity of the Malay peninsula, which forms the eastern shore of the Straits of Malacca, and extends for more than 300 miles from opposite the island of Penang to that of Singapore, is divided into several independent little principalities, under Malay Sultans, Rajahs, and other Chiefs. The northernmost of these is Perak, whose northern district, called Laroot, adjoins our Province Wellesley. The Sultan of Perak died nearly three years ago, and Abdullah, the Raja Muda, was, beyond all question, entitled by Malay law and usage to succeed him. By some intrigue, however, among the Malay Chiefs, his title was ignored, and the Governor of Laroot, or Orang Kayah Muntri, as he is styled, seems to have recognized another Chief, the Rajah Bindaharalı, as Sultan, and civil war between him and the Raja Muda was the consequence. If it had been confined to these Perak Malays it would have been of no material importance to us; but Laroot is full of tin, which has for many years attracted Chinese miners and Chinese capital from Penang, and both miners and capitalists, who had a quarrel among themselves of some years' standing, were quickly involved in the Perak war of succession. One tribe of them espoused the cause of the Raja Muda, another that of the Mantri. Captain Speedy, formerly at the head of the Penang police, took service under the latter, and raised for him a body of some 300 Sepoys in India. Junks were fitted out in Penang, and men and arms were dispatched from it to the scene of war. It is even said that the wounded were brought back to our Settlement and treated in the Government hospitals. Thus, not only was Perak in a blaze, but the fire threatened to break out at any moment on our own soil among the inflammable materials collected on it. The war had become rather a struggle between two factions of Penang Chinamen than one between two Malay Chieftains, and the former actually threatened to fight it out in the streets of Penang, instead of going to the rivers and jungles of the mainland for the purpose.
Our Colonial authorities at first maintained a strict neutrality, and to enforce it the Governor, Sir H. Ord, prohibited all exportation of military stores to Perak, as he had power to do, under a local enactment. But, in the course of last year, he announced that he recognized the Muntri as the Ruler of Laroot, and he modified his prohibition by making an exception in the Muntri's favour. This measure, of questionable legality, had not the effect apparently expected from it; on the contrary, it made matters worse, for it called in the aid of smuggling and piracy to redress the balance which it had disturbed. The Chinese allies of the Raja Muda found little difficulty in sending to Perak the means of main- taining the contest. Large boats, manned with sixty rowers and twenty-five riflemen, made their appearance in the Perak waters, and carried terror along the coast. They did not even shrink from firing on the boats of Her Majesty's ships "Midge" and "Thalia;" for it was another result of opening our markets to the Muntri, while shutting them to the other side, that the latter regarded the English as the allies of their enemy, and their visits up their rivers and creeks as threatening and hostile.
4
Such was the state of things when Sir A. Clarke arrived in the Straits of Malacca last November, and he seems to have lost no time in forming a simple but effectual plan for putting an end to a nuisance and danger which not only affected the trade but threatened the peace of our Colony. Proceeding to the little island of Pangkor (or Dinding, as the Datch used to call it), off the coast of Perak, he assembled the Raja Muda, the Muntri, and several of the principal Chiefs of the country, as well as some of the leading Chinamen who were concerned in the war, and proposed an arrangement, which was accepted. The Raja Muda was acknowledged the rightful Sovereign of Perak; the Muntri was confirmed in his governorship of Laroot, but he was charged with the cost of our intervention; and in order to guard against a relapse into anarchy, both the Raja and the Muntri engaged