CO882-(3-4) — Page 135

سلسلينا

MY LORD,

44

No. 48.

M. G. S. KNAPP, ESQUIRE, to COLONIAL OFFICE.

Linford Hall, near Newport Pagnell, Bucks,

August 10, 1876.

I BEG to apologise for the liberty I am taking in writing to you, but the fact is that I have been applied to by a Mr. Bruce to bring his name before you, under the following circumstances: he has recently been appointed as Collector of Revenue at Salangore, in the native States of the Malay peninsula, by the Rajah Tunku Oodin, and I believe his wish is to get your Lordship to confirm his appointment, by which means he would stand in a better position, both pecuniarily and otherwise. In making this application to your Lordship, I beg to say, that Mr. Bruce is a gentleman, the son of the late Lieutenant Bruce of the Bengal Horse Artillery, who died in 1872. Your Lordship will, I am sure, be able to have most satisfactory references of Mr. Bruce by applying in Singapore, and to Major Dunlop, Inspector-General of Police there. Ă short time since I applied to Mr. D'Israeli, to whom I am slightly known, for Mr. Bruce, and he wrote to me, that on making inquiries he found that no new Malay appointments were being made at that time. Mr. D'Israeli would, however, I feel sure, give me his

interest on this occasion.

Mr. Bruce's address is: R. R. Bruce, Esq., Care of J. S. Thompson, Esq., Messrs. Scott, Witham, & Co., Singapore.

I have, &c.

(Signed

MATT. G. S. KNAPP.

45

4. I have received your Lordship's telegram of the 25th ultimo, in reply to that which I sent to your Lordship on the 12th ultimo, and by the last mail I have received Despatch, No. 135, of the 1st June, announcing the policy of Her Majesty's Govern- ment with respect to the Native States of the Malay Peninsula.

I now await a report from the Commission of Inquiry before deciding what action should be adopted respecting Sultan Abdullah and his advisers. Further evidence implicating them has, I am informed, been obtained, but I have not as yet received a copy of it. Mr. Justice Phillippo, Acting Judge of Penang, whom I appointed senior member of the Commission, is now in Perak, engaged with the other two Commissioners in proceeding with the inquiry.

3. I enclose copy of the instructions which I caused to be issued to Mr. Phillippo; Enclosure 2 similar instructions have been given to Mr. Plunket and Mr. Paul.

Your Lordship will observe from these instructions, that whilst I especially named ex-Sultan Ismail, the Maharajah Lels, the Datu Sagor, and the Datu Nara as the persons whose complicity in the murder of Mr. Birch and the circumstances connected therewith should be inquired into, I gave the Commissioners discretionary power to extend their investigation to the question of the participation of any other persons in the perpetration or instigation of the late outrages in Perak.

The Commissioners commenced their labours in Lower Perak, where they obtained the important evidence against Abdullah and his advisers, to which I have previously referred. They have consequently only recently commenced their inquiries respecting Ismail and the other chiefs named in the instructions.

I have, &c. (Signed)

The Right Hon. the Earl of Carnarvon,

WM. F. DRUMMOND JERVOIS.

25 March 1876.

No. 49.

&c.

&c. Colonial Office.

&c.

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

C.O. 882

3

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

COLONIAL OFFICE to CAPTAIN SPEEDY.

SIR,

Downing Street, August 11, 1876. In reply to your letter dated the 3rd instant, I am directed by the Earl of Carnarvon to inform you that he will raise no objection to your absence on leave from the Straits Settlements, on the condition that you will be prepared to resune your duties on the 1st of December next.

Captain Speedy.

No. 50.

I am, &c. (Signed)

R. H. MEADE.

GOVERNOR SIR F. W. D. JERVOIS, K.C.M.G., C.B., to the EARL OF

(No. 251.) MY LORD,

CARNARVON.

(Received August 14, 1876.)

Government House, Penang, July 6, 1876. WITH reference to paragraph 3 of your Lordship's Despatch, No. 125, of the 20th May,t requesting to be informed what stage the inquiry, respecting the complicity of the several chiefs in the outrages committed in Perak had now reached, I have the honour to transmit to your Lordship, copy of letter received by me at the commence. May 1876. ment of last month, from Mr. Paul, Acting Assistant Commissioner in Perak, and covering copy of preliminary evidence which had been collected by Mr. C. B. Plunket and himself.

Inclosure I

2. Your Lordship will observe that this evidence goes far to prove that Sultan Abdullah and his principal advisers and followers are implicated in the murder of Mr. Birch, and the statement by Mr. Paul that they are in a state of abject terror, tends to corroborate this evidence.

(C

3. Respecting the proposal made by Mr. Plunket and Mr. Paul, that "the Sultan " and his principal advisers should be removed to Singapore, on suspicion of com- plicity, and kept there under surveillance," I decided, after discussing the question with my Executive Council, that, in the incomplete state of the inquiry, and in the absence of any information with respect to the policy which Her Majesty's Government intended to adopt with respect to the State of Perak, we were not in a position to take

such action.

• No. 44.

† No. 79 of Eastern No. 17a.

SIB,

Enclosure 1.

Mr. PAUL to His Excellency the GOVERNOR, Straits Settlements.

Bandar Bahru, May 30, 1876, let I HAVE the honour to forward the evidence called for in your Excellency's telegram received yesterday, and would draw especial attention to the evidence of Indut," which, if supported by credible witnesses, clearly proves the complicity of Sultan Abdullah and his principal advisers and followers in the murder of Mr. Birch. As it is, the evidence of the sergeant at Kota Stea goes far to prove the statement,

Mr. Plunket and myself have arrived at this opinion not only from the evidence here- with enclosed, but also from the general demeanour of the Sultan and his people since the inquiry commenced, and the state of abject terror to which they have been refluced.

We think that if the Sultan and his principal advisers could be removed to Singapore on suspicion of complicity, and kept there under "surveillance," many witnesses who are now afraid to come forward under the impression that the Sultan is identified with British interests, would be able to give valuable information.

I mention Singapore as the place to convey the Sultan to as in Penang he might probably become an object of interest, and possibly of sympathy, in the eyes of people ignorant of the circumstances,

In conclusion, I would beg your Excellency not to think from this special mention of Abdullah that we are losing night of the main object of the Commission, namely, to find out what grounds there are for bringing Rajah Ismail and others already arrested,

to trial.

His Excellency Sir Wm. F. D. Jervois, C.B., K.C.M.G., R.E.,

Governor and Commander-in-Chief,

Straits Settlements.

No. 1.

3M D

I have, &c.

}

(Signed) W. F. B¡ Pauryu ni

Assistant Commissioner.+?

* T *ig*

aud zulet

Bandar Bahru, May 16, 1876. ''!

Mr. EDWARD BACON states:-Somewhere about June 1874 Mr. Swettenham and Mr. Birch went to Blanja to try and get the regalia, but they did not succeed.

On the 14th October 1374, I left Penang for Perak to demand some

money, about $30,000 from Sultan Abdullah, which I considered due to me for farming out the