CO882-(3-4) — Page 22

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

C.O.

Reference :-

882

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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

The disturbing element was peculiar to the State of Perak, and it is, therefore, I sbmit, unfair to make a comparison of the working of the Residential system in this State with the working of the system in Salangore and Sungie Ujong, where success has een due to the amenability of the central authority, as previously explained (para- graph 21).

⚫nsue.

49 In the paragraph to which I have just referred. I have endeavoured to explain to Your Lordship, in general terms, that when the relations of the Resident and the Ruler were not distinguished by perfect harmony, failure, either total or partial, was certain to In order to show the fatal effects of the division of central authority in Perak, I have presumed that the Sultan, as elected at Pangkore, was amenable to the decisions the Resident; but upon descending from hypothesis to facts, your Lordship will recognise that this second disturbing element of want of harmony between the Resident and the Ruler, combined with that of the division of parties, was certain to bring about a complete collapse of the Residential system in Perak."

Extremely difficult as it would have been to have brought this system to a successful issue in this State, even had Abdullah been perfectly amenable, the difficulty became an impossibility when Abdullah adopted a position antagonistic to the counsels of the Resident.

50. The difficulty of conducting public business was not, therefore, confined to the Ulu; it was well nigh impossible to effect progress or to establish reforms, even in the Hilir, on account of the duplicity and folly of Abdullab), who, instead of uniting with the Resident for the public good, took every opportunity to thwart him in his endeavours. The schemes matured by Mr. Birch for the improvement of the country, and to which I have referred in paragraph 46, required Abdullah's signature, or chop," in order that the Resident might be vested with the necessary powers for carrying them into effect. But Abdullah, with the intractability which has distinguished him throughout, would not ratify these schemes, but postponed doing so, upon the most frivolous excuses, and showed a general desire to break all the engagements into which he had entered at Pangkore.

51. These and many other matters, which I found existing in Perak on my arrival here, in May last, I reported to your Lordship in detail in my previous Despatch, No. 291, of the 16th October last."

In my Despatch No. 298, of 21st October, transmitted by the same mail as the Despatch to which I have just referred, I stated the difference that existed in the working of the residential system in the States of Salangore and Sungie Ujong, as distinguished from Perak, and I based my Despatch No. 291, 16th October, upon the unsatisfactory condition of affairs which I found existing in Perak, and therein stated the measures which I had adopted with a view of obviating the difficulties experienced in carrying out the resi- dential system in that State.

52. As mentioned in paragraph 9, I certainly thought that the relations which existed between Resident and Ruler in the States to which the residential system had been applied were understood at the Colonial Office, and met with general approval. It was not until I received your Lordship's Despatch No. 218, of 10th December, that I perceived that your Lordship had misconceived the position which the Residents have occupied, and I have, have been obliged to occupy, in the Native States of the Malayan Peninsula. therefore, endeavoured to make your Lordship acquainted with these relations, and with the difficulties by which the working of the Residential system in Perak was surrounded. 53. And here I beg leave to take exception to your Lordship's remark in paragraph 2 of your Lordship's Despatch under acknowledgment, that the policy, as inaugurated in 1874 in the Malay States, was of "the nature of an experiment.'

My Lord, British intervention once entered upon, there could, I submit, be no with- drawal until, yielding in course of time to British influence, these States, like that of Johore, possessed a Government founded on just and enlightened principles. As the leading European nation in these waters and in the East generally, I conceive we could not experiment with these States. Adjacent as they are to our own Settlements, the interests of civilization and the safety of our own possessions demanded that we should release them from the anarchy and confusion into which they had fallen, and restore order and good government, But we could not possibly intervene for this purpose only to retire upon the appearance of any difficulty. I submit that such a course would be unjust to the States, dangerous to our own Settlements, and prejudicial to our interests in this part of the world. We could not leave to their fate those who had been induced to give us their support in introducing a new order of things, nor abandon the country to a state of confusion which, after our withdrawal, would become more distracted than

• No. 48 of Confidential Paper, " Eastern, No. 17." ↑ No. 52 of same Paper. ‡ No. 73 of same Paper.

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before we undertook the settlement of affairs, without incurring, throughout the East, a charge of injustice and vacillation; the result, moreover, being that we should only have again to undertake the settlement of affairs in the States, but with the difficulties and expense of intervention enormously increased.

54. And, as regards the State of Perak, I did not for a moment imagine that it could ever be contemplated on our part to break the Pangkore Treaty, and to ourselves refuse to carry out engagements which Her Majesty's Government decided should be strictly fulfilled by the Sultan and Chiefs of that State. I conceived that in affairs of this solemn character (paragraph 8 of your Lordship's Despatch of September 4th, 1874*) we were equally bound by our engagements as they, and that there was no withdrawal from the position we had assumed in relation to Perak. I well understood that Residents and Assistant Residents at the so-called Native Courts" held their appointments provisionally, and that, so far, they were being tried experimentally, but, as regards the policy itself being of "the nature of an experiment," I submit that, taking the facts into consideration, this expression can only mean that, if the system as introduced did not succeed recourse must be bad to some other plan to secure the object in view.

55. I venture to say, my Lord, that the proper course for any one who desired loyally to carry out the engagements which Her Majesty's Government desired should be held inviolate was to endeavour, as far as possible, to put into working order the system they had approved. Upon reviewing the question with the additional acquaint- ance of facts which, as stated in paragraph 52, I have endeavoured to bring to your Lordship's notice, your Lordship will readily perceive that there were considerations which weighed with me when adopting the course I did in Perak other than those which I have fully discussed in my Despatch No. 291 of the 16th October last, to which I must beg your Lordship to give further consideration.

56. Upon my arrival here, I made it my duty to investigate Native States affairs, and I soon perceived that in Perak there was a dead lock, and that I should have to cope with a double difficulty before any progress could be effected, viz., the want of amenability in the Ruler, and the absence of a central authority, both of which con- flicting causes I have demonstrated to be fatal to the success of the residential system.

So serious were these difficulties, that when I viewed them in connexion with the other circumstances, enumerated in paragraph 26 of the Despatch just referred to (and to which your Lordship alludes in paragraph 16 of your Lordship's Despatch under acknowledgement), I can only repeat that I at first inclined to the opinion that the best course to adopt would be to declare Perak British territory and govern it accordingly, though such a step, of course, could not have been taken without the authority of Her Majesty's Government.

57. I believed that this step would have removed the jealousies which existed between Ismail and Abdullah and their respective adherents; that the former would prefer the Government of the country being in the hands of the British, whilst the latter having broken through all his engagements, and powerless in himself, could have made no opposition; and that such a step would meet with favour from the Ryots who would be benefited by the change, especially from the Chinese who would have sure protection for life and property, and upon the immigration of whom the country depends for further development.

58. But I was anxious, if possible, not to reverse the policy as approved by Her Majesty's Government, but rather to endeavour to bring it to a successful issue, by over- coming the difficulties with which its working was surrounded. To do so, two points required to be kept in view, both of which had to be satisfied, namely; firstly to endeavour to conciliate Ismail and his party, and thus to unite the present divided authority; and secondly, to adopt such a plan as would prevent the measures proposed by the Resident from being rendered of no effect, on account of the intractability of Abdullah. 59. It was after much consideration, therefore, that I thought I should be able to secure this double end, by adopting the course which I proposed, instead of that of annexation, and I still think that this course of administering the affairs of the country in the name of the Sultan, with the assistance of a Malay Council, was, at the time, the wisest one which could have been adopted. I was prepared to deal liberally with those whose pecuniary interests would be affected by the change, and I considered that by getting the Chiefs on both sides to accept seats in the Council I should be able to bring them together on friendly terms, and, by giving then a share in the Government of the country, break down the jealousy which existed from the idea that Abdullah only was consulted by the Resident.

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