CO882-(2-3) — Page 482

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

TILLICO. 882

Wimillim

3 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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position in which he is placed. You know the prosperity that there is now in that State, that there is protection for life and property to all who dwell there, and who go there for agriculture, mining, or trade. I cannot, however, conceal from myself the fact, that even there it is quite possible that, for the great future we have hardly yet received sufficient guarantees to secure the continuance of that prosperity, or the further continuance of what has been already commenced by the able and enlightened Ruler who now governs that State. I only say that we must not augur with too Banguine a mind, or too sanguine thoughts,-viewing as we do, from our own doors what has been done there,--that without higher and stronger influence, in order to secure for all time what has been there commenced,-I say that we cannot at once accept as a fact that enough has been done, and that there may not be more for or our successors to do, to secure that future in those elements of prosperity.

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Passing, then, to where our responsibilities have been directly accepted, in the old Empire of Malacca, there we are surrounded, and have been surrounded ever since it was a Settlement, by States whose history has been, ever since we have had occupation of Malacca, more or less one of confusion and disorder. It is true that, to a certain extent, beyond the effect that they have had in restricting our trade, and in crippling the industry of our own people, we have not been more than once or twice brought into direct collision with them, but still their disorders have been sufficient to necessitate a large expenditure in police, and a large and irritating anxiety on the part of our own people and our own country. I am alluding to the States which formerly formed, I believe, one State, but which are now divided up into several small ones, namely, Sunghi Ujong, Rambow, Johole, and the smaller States of Jellabu, Jellie, and Sri Menanti. They are small, they are apparently insignificant, and from the very fact of their smallness and insignificance they have been really more difficult to deal with than some of the larger States.

The next State, going farther north, is that of Salangor. Salangor, to use the language of my able and talented colleague, who has assisted me since I have been here in preparing and dealing with these matters,-I mean your Attorney-General,-is thus spoken of:-"The pirates of Salangor are distinguished in the Malay seas as the most daring and bloodthirsty of all." Their whole history has been one succession, one series, of internal quarrels, and they have been constantly (as you might observe from the records) the subject of interference from time to time of our own cruizers and our own Government.

In Perak, again, there was a time, apparently, lately in its history, in which there was a hope that, from the successful working of the Chinese who flocked to it in large numbers, there was a time when it was hoped that there were the elements there of success and of good government. Unfortunately, this did not turn out to be so, and, latterly, we have to interfere directly. The history of that interference I will presently give you; and the moderate and, I may say, fair success which I have reason to believe Las attended our interference there, as well as in Salangor, justifies me in presenting myself now to you to ask you to consider this very subject in connection with these States and in relation to the others.

The only other large State to which I shall call your attention is that of Pahang. Pahang has been also more or less, on several occasions, the subject of interference, where the action of this Government has had to be exercised. At this moment it calls again for our interference, and in two or three days I shall have to leave here in order to endeavour to settle upon a permanent basis, as has occurred two or three times before, a difference with respect to the boundary between Pahang and Johore. I may mention here that from this State of Pahang, which at one time, some few years ago, afforded one of the largest fields from which we received gold, tin, and other Straits' produce, the receipts from it now have dwindled down to almost nothing. From what I can learn, that large, most beautiful, rich, and most valuable country is now almost entirely depopulated. It is true the Bandahara of Pahang has recently sent me a very civil letter, in which he expresses a wish for my mediation, and a wish that I should assist him by sending him people, in order to open up his country, and to develop its great and easily accessible wealth.

But, simultaneously with this, it has been reported to me that an attack has been made in the territory of Johore by Pahang men. I do not wish at present to connect the Chief of Pahang with this attack, but I am informed that he has allowed his people in the southern part of his territory to invade the territory of his neighbour, and to commit great atrocities, and is now occupying, with a large force, territory belonging to the Maharajah, and which, in 1862, his predecessor had solemnly engaged by Treaty, for himself and his people, should for all time be sacred, and be the property of his

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neighbour the Maharajab, which Treaty was ratified by an award made by my predecessor in 1869, when differences about this boundary were referred to this Government for settlement in terms of the Treaty.

I may mention, too, other State with which we are in very friendly relations, that is Quedah, which surrounds us at Penang. There, I believe due to its touching our territory, although that does not carry out the theory, and possibly to the security given to the throne of its ruler by its connection with Siam, there are the elements of good government, and our relations are of the most satisfactory character. There is every promise of Quedah forming part of a federation which will secure to the whole of the Malay Peninsula what it has so long wanted, and that is peace, unbroken by the petty fights of minor Chiefs, and by the absence of anything like a general administration which will keep down the robberies and piracies which we have allowed to disgrace our shores for so many years.

Coming again south, I shall have to call your attention to Perak. When I came to this Colony in November last, on my arrival at Penang, the first thing that I saw there was two of Her Majesty's cruizers which had been in the waters of Larut, the commanders of which admitted to me that the petty warfare which was going on, and the condition of the actual outrages which were being perpetrated by one set of Chinese and Malays on the other set of Chinese and Malays, was one with which they could not cope,-that the organization of the naval force was such that the thing might go on ad infinitum, year after year, and no effectual blow could be struck,—that no means at their disposal were sufficient to cope with the state of things on the coast and in the internal waters of that rich country, Perak. I myself, of course, did not feel perfectly competent to deal with that matter, but when I arrived here, I took time to make myself master, so far as I could, of what had been the past condition not only of the contending Chinese factions, but also the difficulties of the disputed succession, and the contentions arising among the native Chiefs of Perak.

And here I may say, with respect to what was the previous course of dealing with these matters, that I had to grope everywhere in the dark, from the unconnected, and inconsistent, and incongruous character of the policy which had guided us in the Straits, there was no record, no system, no authority to which I could turn; and had it not been for the gentleman I have alluded to before, who had in the earlier period of his life here studied, and has since given himself to studying the Malay customs and traditions,-I mean your Attorney-General,-I do not know how I could have accomplished what has been done with a certain measure of success. I had several conferences with him, and though he had much difficulty in collecting and collating what was necessary, he was enabled to bring out of the chaos which existed as to the affairs and relations of the native States something like a consistent result. For the immediate action which I took in relation to Perak I was much indebted to him, and to the assistance also of a man whom I congratulate this community upon possessing in dealing with the Chinese-that very able and intelligent officer Mr. Pickering. I consulted him and Captain Dunlop on the matter, and it was they who gave me the information which they had been enabled to collect among the Chinese relative to the actual condition of the quarrel between the contending factions which had been the original cause of the fight. I may allude also to your Clerk of the Councils, and to Mr. Irving, the Auditor-General, both of whom prepared most admirable minutes, which I shall lay before you, and which showed considerable research, and gave great assistance by the papers they laid before me; and that enabled me to act, and to take, under the then circumstances, what at first sight might seem a very strong measure.

The immediate occasion-the immediate incident rather-that led me to at once leave this and go to Perak and interfere, was that the quarrel had so spread the dispute had gone to such an extent-that the peace of our own Settlements was not only threatened, but at the very time our own police stations on our border were attacked and fired upon, and our people insulted, by the contending parties from Perak: I may mention that, up to a certain time, one of these contending factions, under the authority of the Muntri or Viceroy of Larut, had received indirectly the support of this Govern- ment. 'That is to say, arms and ammunition, and food, were allowed freely to be given to the one, whilst they were withheld from the other, although that other was nominally fighting under the de facto sovereign and supreme ruler of the country. Whether that policy originally was right or wrong, I do not now propose to consider. There may have been certain reasons which led to it. I, however, thought that, from what I could gather, there were reasons to believe that neither one nor the other of the Chinese factions should receive either support or opposition, but that both parties `should be treated exactly in the same way, and that the same justice, the same recog-