PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
C.O.
Reference :-
882
3
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE. LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC. COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
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the people at last feel that in the British flag which floats from the Resident's house, they have that security for life and property which they have so longed for, but never yet known.
I will only say a few words more, Sir, with reference to the large State of Perak, whose resources are as yet almost unknown, and entirely undeveloped. Tin and other minerals exist in large quantities, but such have been the internecine quarrels of the various Chiefs on the river, that no person will venture into the country. The river is a very magnificent one. At least 150 miles from the mouth, it is over 400 feet wide, and as the tidal influence extends a very short distance from its mouth, it may be well imagined what rich and fertile lands are to be found along its valley. The population is a very large one along the whole length of the river, and once you are able, Sir, to establish peace in this district, and a firm rule under the present Sultan, I, for one, have not the smallest doubt that you will see traders, and miners, and capital flowing into it. But the greatest resources of this fine district lie in its soil. If any capitalist can be induced, along the valley of the Perak River, to undertake the cultivation of tobacco, of sugar, or of indigo, he will very soon prove the success with which he can work. The climate is excellent; the water pure and in abundance, and very easily available for irrigation purposes; and the soil remarkably rich, with large herds of cattle at every village, and consequently great facilities for obtaining manure; while on the mountains around, which are very accessible, good coffee land may undoubtedly be found.
You have spoken, Sir, of the amazing rapidity with which Ceylon has progressed of late
years,
you may well remark it, for during the last twenty-five years its revenue and has much more than doubled; and yet, Sir, Ceylon has not in it the wonderful resources in minerals and in land, and the extraordinary facilities for obtaining water, that the States of the Malay Peninsular possess within themselves. But the secret of her prosperity, compared with that of these States, lies, Sir, in her good government--lies in the security that there exists for life and property, in her administration of justice alike to all, and in the peace and order that everywhere prevails. And, Sir, the same thing, I feel sure, will be brought about, and even in our time be seen, as the fruit of the policy which your Excellency has so wisely inaugurated, which I shall be very proud to assist your Excellency to carry out, and which has my most cordial and warm approval and support.
The Attorney-General.-Sir, after the very important, and, I am sure the Honourable Members will agree with me in saying, interesting and luminous statements of your Excellency, I feel considerable hesitation in rising to address the Council, for the subject is so serious that it requires to be well considered, and one is naturally averse to speak on such occasions without having bad time to arrange one's thoughts. Still, as your Excellency has appealed to us for our opinions, I cannot refuse to give mine. I am surrounded by five Honourable Members at this table-all of whom have been upwards of a quarter of a century in this Colony, and they no doubt feel, as I do myself, a strong interest in the native States.
It is impossible for any one to think of these States without feeling pain that so little has been done to secure the prosperity and the happiness of the people who inhabit them. There is a territory there, at our very doors, enormously rich in minerals and in agricultural resources, to an extent rarely to be found in the tropics, and instead of seeing that territory populous and highly cultivated, we find it a desert, the abode of anarchy and confusion, and alunost in a state in which peaceful men cannot live. Now, it has struck me, as it has many who have been long in this Colony, that the duty of this Government has not been done to those States-that the British Government, as protector of all inferior races within its influence, should have penetrated into those States in order to give them assistance in improving the government of their country, should not have left them to wither with the canker of bad Government, or rather want of government, under which they have so long suffered. It is easy to excuse the Indian Government for not having extended their influence in the Malay States, when we consider the disappointment of that Government at the result of their labours in these sens, where such enormous sums have been expended with such small benefit to India; but I do hope that, now that a commencement has been made, and the wants and con- ditions of these States, our near neighbours, have been so prominently brought to notice, that Her Majesty's Government will at last give their authority for this Government affording aid to bring them within the influence of civilization, and thus deliver us from the scandal of leaving the States on our borders in their existing condition.
His Excellency remarked just now that he found a difficulty because there has been so little information obtainable to enable him to make himself acquainted with the past history and present condition with the Malay Blates. This may be accounted for by the
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fact that there is no Department of Government in the Colony specially charged with the duty of keeping the records of native affairs, to which records one could refer for information as to any state, or the circumstances connected with its history and condition; and therefore on his Excellency's arrival in the Colony, at the end of last year, although there were matters of pressing importance connected with at least two of these States calling for immediate action, no reliable information was available on which any course of policy could with safety be founded.
It is true that vast masses of letters and papers connected with the native States are to be found in the Government Offices, scattered over hundreds of books, but they were not collated, nor had any attempt been made even to collect the different papers connected with any one State. Under these unfavourable circumstances, his Excellency was called upon to act almost immediately on his arrival.
Matters had arrived at such a state in Perak, that the Governor of this Colony could not refrain from interfering, because we had the neighbouring seas, and very close to our Settlement of Penang, taken possession of by freebooters, and piracy so rife, that our own harbour of Penang was insulted, and our trade stopped. It was absolutely necessary, therefore, for the character of Great Britain, that his Excellency should interfere, because it was not possible that we, with three Settlements in the neighbourhood of places where piracy was so openly carried on as it was at Perak, should decline to interfere.
Now, in commencing to exercise his influence in Perak, his Excellency first inquired into the causes and origin of this piracy. It appeared, I believe, to his Excel- lency, that to continue to attempt to deal with this piracy by means of the naval forces, would be ineffectual; and that, under the peculiar circumstances of the case, the evil could be dealt with better by finding out the causes and origin of the piracy, and by removing those causes, the piracy would cease. deal with the piracy, but not having gone to the exciting causes, the attempts did not Before that, attempts had been made to effectually touch the evil, and the piracy continued. His Excellency has told us that Mr. Pickering was of great service on that occasion. I understand that Mr. Pickering, owing to the vast personal influence he had already acquired among our Chinese popula- tion, and the able manner in which he could bring his influence to bear, was enabled, under his Excellency's direction, to enter into such relations with the Chinese at Penang, where the headmen of the contending factions resided, that he succeeded in inducing all the headmen to come in and submit their differences to the arbitration of the Governor; and this was followed up by the perfect fulfilment of a condition precedent, exacted by the Governor, namely, that both sides should disarm-that all fighting should cease. same time it was necessary that preliminary arrangements should be made in Perak, because, in addition to the Chinese disturbances, there was internal dissension arising from a disputed succession to the sovereignty, and also a dispute between Larut and Perak, which added to the difficulties of the position.
At the
His Excellency had first informed himself of the real position of affairs in kerak, as far as the means at his disposal permitted; and having collected all the Malay Chiefs, and Chinese beadmen, arrangements were entered into at Pangkor, in January last, two months after his arrival from Europe. It is a matter of common notoriety that the arrangements there entered into have proved effectual. further disturbed, and already the miners have returned to their mines, and prosperity The peace has been no has been restored to Larut; while as to the affairs of Perak, and the disputed suc- cession, everything has turned out as was anticipated, and our latest news from the Upper Perak is, that all the Chiefs, including the former temporary Sultan Ismail, are satisfied, and are looking forward to a prosperous future under the pro- tection of the British Government, now for the first time effectually extended to them, If there is one of these Chiefs who is not quite satisfied, Rajah Yusuf, it is to be recollected that he was rejected by the Chiefs and people of Perak at the succession preceding the last, as Rajah Muda, and consequently, by Perak customs, lost his right to succeed as Sultan by never having been Rajah Muda. Even in the case of this Chief, however, there is every reason to hope that, before long, arrangements will be made by which a suitable position will be assigned to him with which he will be satisfied."
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Now, gentlemen, if his Excellency's action had been confined to this one operation, it would have deserved the best thanks of the community. The benefit commercially to this Colony arising from the restoration of peace and the recommencement of trade at Laroot and Perak is so great that it can hardly be exaggerated; while, politically speaking, Jour shores have been freed from a state of affairs fast becoming a national disgrace. In effect, however, this was only the commencement of the course which has been attended * On the 16th instant, further news arrived from Upper Perak, fully corroborating the statements above
mada.
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