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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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21. I may here state that I had on several occasions invited the Datu Bandar to meet me, but that he had always put me off with some trivial excuse; and though he never absolutely refused to see me, yet his oft repeated pretences could only be interpreted as a refusal; and it was plain, from after events, that he had only intended them as such.

22. At this time, however, I was not quite satisfied that the information I had received from Malacca with regard to the Chief Ruler and customs of Sungie Ujong was correct, and I instructed Mr. Swettenham both to make inquiries of the Sultan of Salangore, and himself to go to Sungie Ujong and see the Datu Bandar.

23. The result of his inquiries went to show that the Datu Klana was the Chief Ruler in Suojie Ujong, yet that it was the custom in that country for the Datu Klana to consult the Datu Bandar on any matter of importance before undertaking it.

Mr. Swet- tenham saw the Datu Bandar, and learned from him that he considered himself slighted by the Datu Klana; but he maintained, that he had not now, and never had, any intention of taking up arins against the Datu Klana, and he denied emphatically that he was sheltering Rajah Mahmood, or that he new anything of him.

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24. Meantime the Lieutenant Governor of Malacca was urging the necessity of giving material aid to the Datu Klana to put down the Datu Bandar, and the Datu Klana himself was constantly writing to the Government that he was in fear of his life, and begged for our assistance.

25. On the 30th October I sent Mr. Pickering again to Sungie Ujong, with a party of police under an European sergeant, and letters to the Datu Bandar, advising him to sign the Agreement of the 21st April, and to come and see me.

26. The Bandar, in his interview with Mr. Pickering, now declared his intention to have nothing to do with the Engagement; that he was very well satisfied with the present state of things; that he did not wish for any change or interference, and still asserted his independence of the Klana.

27. Mr. Pickering now further observed that, since his last visit, the Datu Bandar had been fortifying his Campong, Kapayang, and that, considering himself by reason of his position so far from the sea, safe from active interference on the part of the British Government, he assumed a tone of insolent indifference.

28. In spite of this, Mr. Pickering did not fail to explain to him, in the plainest manner, what would be the consequences of his obstinate and foolish resistance, as the Datu Klana was determined to bring him to reason.

29. The Klana was now resolved, having exhausted all peaceful measures, and conscious of the growing uneasiness of the Chinese factions; to resort to force, and endeavour by that means to bring the Bandar to a sense of his position.

30. The first attack was made on Rasa, which was taken on the night of the 16th of November, and from this point to his return, on the 19th of December, your Lordship will see from Mr. Pickering's Report how the Klana had overrated his own strength, and how thoroughly the Banda had whilst temporizing been organizing means for resistance.

31. For on the 23rd November I received a letter from Mr. Pickering, forwarded by the Lieutenant-Governor of Malacca, which induced me, on the following day, to go to Qualla Lukut in Her Majesty's ship "Charybdis," Her Majesty's ship" Hart" in company, and taking with me a detachment of troops from this garrison.

32. On the 26th November this detachment, with a party of seamen and marines from Her Majesty's ship "Charybdis," under Lieutenant Jones, R.N., and Captain Tatham, R.A., landed at Lukut, and on the following morning commenced their march on Ampangan, the Klana's head-quarters, a distance of some eighteen miles from Lukut; their subsequent proceedings are detailed in the Reports of Mr. Pickering, Captain Dunlop, who in my absence I had nominated Civil Commissioner in charge with the force.

33. Fearing the disturbance might have spread to Langat, in Salangore, where there must still exist, from old piratical association, considerable sympathy, at least with Mahmood, the chief of the Datu Bandar's fighting men, I proceeded in Her Majesty's ship Hart" to Qualla Ingra, and thence to Langat, where I met the Sultan, with whom I had an interview.

34. I am glad to be able to assure your Lordship that I found His Highness not only ready but anxious to follow my advice in every particular, and he at once engaged to give Inaterial assistance to prevent the Bandar or any of his party from finding an asylum in Salangore.

35. Subsequent events proved His Highness' sincerity, and I have every reason to believe that the Sultan is now only anxious to do his best to extricate his country and people from the hopeless state in which they have been for years past, and to show himself a true friend of this Government, as he himself expresses it, "The British and the Sultan of Salangore are one."

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36. Reassured by the satisfactory interview I had held with the Sultan, I returned to Qualla Lukub, arriving at 4 A.M. on the 27th, intending to follow up the troops, which had already started.

37. I was, however, delayed by two immediate causes, one of them was the arrival of Che Karree, the Bandar's son, suing for peace on any terms. He asserted that he had full powers from his father to offer me any conditions. could not fail to notice that his tone, speaking both for his father and himself, was entirely at variance with that which they had hitherto assumed. Indeed, there is no doubt that the Bandar had thought himself free from all interference on our part until he heard of our arrival, but that now he feared the consequences of his former conduct, and was apparently anxious to be reconciled to the Klana. I of course was not averse to avoiding a collision, but though doubting his power and authority, his character and previous conduct having given me grave grounds for suspecting his integrity, I gave him letters to Captain Dunlop, with instructions to that officer to act as seemed most advisable to him under the circumstances.

38. From Captain Dunlop's report, your Lordship will learn how Che Karree arrived too late to be of any use, his father having already fled.

39. The other cause was the arrival of letters from Malacca, by which I learned that all further anxiety as to the Klana's authority and the restoration of order in Sungie Ujong was at an end,

40. The force that landed at Lukut on the 26th November proceeded straight to the Datu Klana's house at Ampangan, where they found that the Bandar was still occupying a strongly-fortified position, having with him, in addition to his own people, Rajah Mahmood and his followers, the Klana waiting assistance to attack them.

41. Lieutenant Palmer, of the 10th, with a small party, who had gone to Sungie Ujong vid the Lingy river, had already reached Ampangan. At 10 o'clock on the morning of the 30th, there arrived from Langat Shaik Mat Alli, a Headman, who held the Bandar's "Wakil matallak," or "full powers," to act for him.

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Shaik Mat Alli was anxious upon any conditions to bring about a peaceful settlement between the Datu Klana and the Datu Bandar, and as he had brought a blank paper with the Bandar's chop on it, I gave him the conditions which I thought it right to impose, and having signed these in the name of the Bandar, he left for Ampangan.

42. This arrangement, however, came too late, for before Shaik Mat Alli could reach Ampangan, the Bandar and Mahmood had fled, and Kapayang was in the hands of the troops.

43. Captain Dunlop having arrived at Ampangan on the 28th November, went himself with two parties on the same day to make a reconnaissance at Kapayang. Both parties were fired on the moment they were seen, and the fire was returned. Captain Dunlop, as your Lordship will perceive from that officer's report, sent for the whole force, which arrived at Capayang about 5 P.M., and engaged the enemy for upwards of half-an-hour. The fire from Kapayang, though high, was wonderfully regular and determined, and night coming on, it was deemed unwise to assault the position that evening. On retiring, a seaman of the "Charybdis" was struck by a spent ball, and I regret to say that he has since died trom the wound; this was the only casualty in our force.

44. On the 30th November, when Captain Dunlop, as he describes in his report, having again failed, through the agency of Che Karree, to secure the submission of the Bandar and the chiefs, returned to Kapayang with the troops, but found it deserted, and then arrangements were made to destroy the forts and kubus and thoroughly disperse the insurgents, and this was effectually done, enabling the expeditionary force to re-embark, leaving a small detachment of fifty men as a guard, with Captain Tatham, whom I had appointed to aid the Klana in restoring order.

45. The Datu Bandar and Rajah Mahmood, thus driven from Sungie Ujong, sought, as I had anticipated, shelter with the Sultan of Salangore, but His Highness at once stated that he was prepared to deny them all refuge in his country, but added that he thought this an excellent opportunity for obtaining their complete submission, as, should it be now lost, these men driven to desperation, would betake themselves to the jungle, from whence it would be almost impossible to dislodge them, and where they would be able to renew the disturbances which had, previous to our intervention last February, distracted Salangore.

46. Their surrender, more especially that of Rajah Mahmood, would have a beneficial influence, extending beyond the immediate scence of these late quarrels, as throughout the Malay Peninsula, chiefly in the states on the western coasts, where his name has been a word of terror, and his person regarded with superstitious dread for many years.

47. Mr. Swettenham, acting under instructions which I had given him at Lukut, sent word to the Datu Bandar and Rajah Mahmood that they would be received only on condi-

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