CO882-(2-3) — Page 529

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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On the Sultan's sincere friendship to the British Government I do not think there can be a doubt; indeed, he has given proofs of it both by his letter of October last to his Excellency the Governor stating his desire that all the revenues of Salangore might be collected and the country governed under his Excellency's directions, and his late conduct towards Raja Mahmood and the Datu Bandar of Sungie Ujong. His Highness' Proclamation of the same date shows his own wish for the improvement of his country, and his intention, as far as in him lies, to protect both his own subjects and foreigners.

I believe I may venture to say that the Sultan's relations with his Viceroy Tunku Kudin are highly satisfactory. Although I many times sounded the Sultan on his feelings towards Tunku Kudin, His Highness never showed anything but good feeling towards him; and, however anomalous their relative positions may be, I think no future difficulties can arise between them like those which have occurred.

In November I took Tunku Kudin to Langat to meet the Sultan and escort his own wife back to Klang, and not only was the Sultan perfectly friendly, but the Langat people generally treated him with the utmost civility and respect, and the Tunku now wishes to come and stay with me for some days at Langat, though he says before I came here he dare not have come without one or two hundred men.

The Sultan thoroughly understands that the poverty of his country is owing to the endless disturbances to which it has been subjected for the last seven or eight years. The result may easily be imagined, and up to the time I went to Langat scarcely a week had passed, sometimes scarcely a day, without one or more murders, which he tells me he never had the power to put down; but now he declares, that with the help of Govern- ment he will permit no more of those quarrels amongst bis Chiefs which have depopulated Salangore, nor piracies which have intimidated honest men from even approaching its shores and rivers, and he trusts that when the traders of the Straits see the change in the Administration, and that the Government believes in his desire to protect the good and punish evil-doers, they may gain confidence, and taking advantage of His Highness's liberal offers, settle or trade in the country, and that in time Salangore, instead of being renowned as the head-quarters of piracy and discord, may be known as one of the most peaceful and prosperous of the native States.

The internal resources of Salangore, whether minerals, gutta, rattans or fertile soil are second, I believe, to no country in the Peninsula, and only want a liberal Govern- ment and a sufficient labouring population, with safety to life and property and equal justice to raja and ryot, to make the future of Salangore as bright as its past has been gloomy.

The Sultan has promised that he will visit Klang with me, and indeed he talks of going round all his Provinces once a year; and as a beginning, I had prevailed on him to consent to visit the interior of Langat, and everything was in readiness, when the Sungie Ujong disturbances and subsequent events compelled me to postpone the expedition.

My police occupy the largest stockade in Langat, the other near Rajah Kahar's house has been pulled down and the stockade round the Sultan's house is to be destroyed and the road taken past his door.

The Sultan lives really at Parcelar Hill now, and only uses his Langat house for any length of time in the Bulan Puasa or Fasting Month, saying he feels no anxiety about his Langat house now that I am living there, and he very much prefers his house and garden at the Hill,

I have been thus long in writing officially, because I have been always hoping to induce Rajah Mahmood to come in, as I felt that unless this could be accomplished, the end for which I was sent would be but partially gained. I have now the satisfaction of informing you that he has come in and made an unconditional surrender of himself.

Rajah Mahmood's father, the Tunku Panglima Rajah, also came in to me, and we have been on very good terms ever since. Rajah Mahdi went to Singapore on my first arrival here, and the only other great disturbers of the peace, i.e., Syed Mahsor and Rajah Asul, are in Perak, and by this time have probably met the Resident there.

Thus at last Salangore seems to be in a fair way to obtain a peaceful future, and though small quarrels may occasionally occur, I think there is no danger as long as there is a Government Officer in Salangore, of a return to these disturbances which have hitherto distracted the country and prostrated all legitimate enterprise,

Last month Tunku Kudin asked me to go to Klang and put the Government accounts in order. This I did, after going over the accounts for the last six months, and finding they had been kept on no system, and in the loosest manner, receipts and payments having been made by the same person and only occasionally recorded, I audited the accounts up to date, and established them on a footing that I trust will

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secure their future accuracy. I was able at the same time to induce Tunku Kudin to put a stop to several abuses in the collection of revenue in Klang, notably in the case of Gutta.

I have been a considerable distance up the Langat river and up the Labu river from its embouchure to Labu village, and thence into Sungie Ujong, visiting Ampangan, Kapayang, Rassa, and Seramban. I have also been to Lukut and thence through the jungle to within a mile or so of Rassa. To Klang I have been several times and up the Klang river, and all about the Straits and its mouth. I visited Damansara, Pataling, the tin mines at Qualla Lumpor, and the interior of Klang, with the river, forts, and town of Salangore some years ago, and propose a second journey to these places and a visit to Bernam and the interior of Salangore and Langat at an early date.

I have kept a journal of my daily doings since my first arrival here, and this I forward, and though there may be found in much that is more personal than official, still I trust it may be considered as the official record of my proceedings in Salangore, thus

far.

I think the presence of an English officer in Langat is agreeable to all, except the very worst characters, the followers of one or two Rajahs, and perhaps even these Rajabs themselves, who have hitherto lived by plunder alone, and who, of course, look with no favouring eye upon the advent of one whose presence (simply as an officer of the Govern- ment) puts an end to their former means of livelihood, whom they fear openly to resist, and against whom they can neither enlist the sympathies of the Sultan, the other Chiefs, nor even a majority of the ryots, who now find in the hitherto unexperienced blessing of even partial order, a safety to their lives and property which they have never before experienced.

I cannot conclude without saying how earnestly, and I believe sincerely, the Sultan has ever declared his friendship for the Government, and myself as its officer, how he has invariably followed my advice and suggestions, and treated me with the greatest kindness and consideration. His intentions, I believe, to be of the best and his promises sincere, but he has hitherto been, and would still be, without the assistance of the Government, powerless to perform them, surrounded as he has been, and would again be, were he left

to himself, by unscrupulous Chiefs, who would not only tacitly oppose him, but by open threats would prevent him from making good his promises.

That such a state of things can ever occur again as long as there remains a British officer in Salangore holding the Sultan's confidence I cannot imagine.

That the Sultan is grateful for the assistance he has received from the British Govern- ment no one would deny, and I have often remarked his pride in his personal knowledge of and friendship with his Excellency the Governor, a fact which he never fails to enlarge upon, and which appears to give him the utmost confidence when there seems a possibility of any difficulty, personal or national.

To the Hon. T. Braddell,

Secretary for Native States.

I have, &c. (Signed) FRANK A. SWETTENHAM.

No. 28.

Governor Sir A. Clarke, K.C.M.G., C.B., to the Earl of Carnarvon.—(Received May 10.)

My Lord,

Government House, Singapore, April 6, 1875. I HAVE the honour to transmit herewith a report made on Larut by Her Majesty's Assistant Acting Resident of Perak, for the period dating from the signing of the Treaty of Pangkor until the 31st December, 1874, from which your Lordship will perceive that considerable success has so far attended British intervention in the affairs of this State.

Sir,

Inclosure in No. 28.

I have, &c. (Signed)

A. CLARKE.

I HAVE the honour to forward, for the information of his Excellency Sir Andrew Clarke, this my Report on Larut for the year ending 31st December, 1874.

Before proceeding to the details which this Report will furnish, I beg with due reference to be allowed to say that it is with most sincere pleasure that I am able to assure

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