38
LEIGH R. WRIGHT
In the meantime Brooke's friend St. John, the Consul in Brunei, provided strong evidence to support Sarawak's claim of independence. In correspondence between the Sultan and the Foreign Office, Raja Brooke's relations with Brunei were the subject of discussion. Lord Russell in 1861 asked the consul if it was true that Brunei looked upon Sarawak as an independent state. He had been told that the Sultan honoured the Raja with a twenty-one gun salute whenever he visited Brunei Town. St. John replied that the Sultan did indeed consider Sarawak independent of Brunei. St. John also produced minutes of an interview he had had with the leading chiefs of Sarawak in which they unanimously confirmed that they had chosen the Tuan Besar, James Brooke, to rule over them in place of the harsh and tyrannical chiefs of Brunei, and that they owed no allegiance to the Sultan of Brunei.16
When, then, St. John's tour as Consul in Brunei ended in 1862 Brooke's friends, with a concerted lobbying effort, prevailed upon the Palmerston government to appoint a consul to Sarawak as distinct from Brunei. In August 1863 the Cabinet approved the appointment "as the most direct and least formal method of recognizing it as an independent state". Whatever in the way of reservations Lord Russell may have held concerning Brooke and Sarawak he was aware that the appointment meant recognition. He minuted some time earlier,17
If we appoint a consul I suppose he must be appointed to reside in the territory of the rajah of Sarawak as an independent sovereign.
And later, when Russell was urged to inform Raja Brooke "that the Cabinet had consented to recognize Sarawak by appointing a consul there", the Foreign Secretary instructed his undersecretary, "We may write to Sir James Brooke to say that he has reason to believe it". The Prime Minister, Lord Palmerston, concurred.
However, bureaucratic procedures now took over, and the Consul's instructions directed him to procure his official acceptance from
16 See L. R. Wright, Origins of British Borneo, pp. 75-76; and St. John, "Minutes of an interview with Sarawak Chiefs", 25th October 1855, FO 12/22.
17 Russell minute on a memo, by Brooke, 13 August 1863, in the Layard Papers (British Museum), ADD.MSS. 38989, f. 244,
18 Russell minute, Layard Papers, ADD.MSS. 38989, f. 245.
I
38
LEIGH R. WRIGHT
In the meantime Brooke's friend St. John, the Consul in Brunei, provided strong evidence to support Sarawak's claim of indepen- dence. In correspondence between the Sultan and the Foreign Office, Raja Brooke's relations with Brunei were the subject of discussion. Lord Russell in 1861 asked the consul if it was true that Brunei looked upon Sarawak as an independent state. He had been told that the Sultan honoured the Raja with a twenty-one gun salute whenever he visited Brunei Town. St. John replied that the Sultan did indeed consider Sarawak independent of Brunei. St. John also produced minutes of an interview he had had with the leading chiefs of Sarawak in which they unanimously confirmed that they had chosen the Tuan Besar, James Brooke, to rule over them in place of the harsh and tyrannical chiefs of Brunei, and that they owed no allegiance to the Sultan of Brunei.16
When, then, St. John's tour as Consul in Brunei ended in 1862 Brooke's friends, with a concerted lobbying effort, prevailed upon the Palmerston government to appoint a consul to Sarawak as dis- tinct from Brunei. In August 1863 the Cabinet approved the appoint- ment "as the most direct and least formal method of recognizing it as an independent state". Whatever in the way of reservations Lord Russell may have held concerning Brooke and Sarawak he was aware that the appointment meant recognition. He minuted some time earlier,17
If we appoint a consul I suppose he must be appointed to reside in the territory of the rajah of Sarawak as an indepen- dent sovereign.
And later, when Russell was urged to inform Raja Brooke "that the Cabinet had consented to recognize Sarawak by appointing a consul there", the Foreign Secretary instructed his undersecretary, "We may write to Sir James Brooke to say that he has reason to believe it". The Prime Minister, Lord Palmerston, concurred.
However, bureaucratic procedures now took over, and the Con- sul's instructions directed him to procure his official acceptance from
16 See L. R. Wright, Origins of British Borneo, pp. 75-76; and St. John, "Minutes of an interview with Sarawak Chiefs", 25th October 1855, FO 12/22.
17 Russell minute on a memo, by Brooke, 13 August 1863, in the Layard Papers (British Museum), ADD.MŠS. 38989, f. 244,
18 Russell minute, Layard Papers, ADD.MSS. 38989, f. 245.
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