and compelled to surrender. He was then formally instituted Rajah of Sarawak, with the usual native ceremonies, and afterwards proceeded to the capital of Borneo, which lies on the coast to the northeast of Sarawak, in order to obtain the ratification by the Sultan of his newly acquired dignity. After some delay, the amount of revenue which was to be paid by Mr. Brooke, as the Rajah of Sarawak, was settled, and the sanction of the Sultan was formally obtained in a written instrument, with which Mr. Brooke returned to the seat of his Government. The fruits of his wise and paternal rule soon appeared, and the people, prosperous and happy, became warmly attached to their new Rajah. He was however, surrounded by pirate neighbours, whose depredations at last aroused the apathy of the British Government, and at the conclusion of the Chinese war, in the month of March 1843, H. M. S. Dido was ordered to cruise in the Straits of Malacca and the adjoining seas, for the purpose of protecting trade and suppressing piracy. The Dido arrived soon after at Sarawak, and Captain Keppel, her commander, accompanied by Mr. Brooke, made several successful attacks upon the strongholds of different pirate tribes, destroying their prahus and fortified stockades, and capturing their guns and ammunition. then sailed to Singapore, intending to return, but was ordered to England. He was succeeded by Sir E. Belcher, in H.M.S. Samarang, who conveyed the ex-Rajah Muda Hassim and his followers to the

He

Bornean capital. In the month of February, 1845, Captain Bethune arrived at Sarawak from England,

and he was the bearer of a despatch from the British Government appointing Mr. Brooke Agent of Her Britannic Majesty in Borneo, and also a letter addressed to the Sultan of Borneo, in reply to a requisition which had been sent by the latter to the British Government, for assistance in the suppression of piracy. In the meantime, the small island of Labuan, which lies to the north of Borneo, a short distance from the capital, had been ceded by the Sultan to the Queen of Great Britain-with the view of being occupied as a convenient naval station, on the high-road from the East Indies to China. Mr. Brooke proceeded to the town of Borneo, and had several interviews with the Sultan, who gave him a friendly reception, and seemed sincere in his desire to put a stop to the piracy of his subjects. There were, however, two parties at the Court, one of which, headed by Muda Hassim, was anxious to conciliate the friendship of the English, and resolutely averse to piracy-the other, to which, as the sequel showed, the weak and imbecile Sultan either inclined or was forced to yield, were our enemies, and false and hollow in their professions. Mr. Brooke then sailed to Singapore, and soon afterwards accompanied Admiral Sir Thomas Cochrane on board H.M.S. Agincourt, together with several other vessels of war, including steamers, back to the capital of Borneo. The object of this visit on the part of Sir T. Cochrane, was to demand reparation for the detention and confinement of two British subjects. This act was disowned by the Sultan, and the residence of the real offender, Pangeran Usop, was destroyed, as he refused to surrender. The Admiral then proceeded

against a strong body of pirates, who occupied a fortified position a few miles up the river, at the head of Maludu Bay. The force detached from the ships on this service consisted of 546 men, under the command of Captain Talbot; and on the 19th of August, 1845, they ascended the river in gunboats and other small craft, and, in the face of a well-sustained fire from eleven guns, cut through a strongly constructed boom, laid across the stream, which prevented the passage of the boats. They then carried and totally destroyed the works and town, the pirates who occupied it having abandoned it and fled into the interior, when they found that the boats had passed the boom. In this gallant action our loss consisted of six killed, and fifteen wounded.

This lesson, though a severe one, did not produce any lasting effect; and in the early part of the present year the conduct of the Sultan of Borneo was such as to draw down upon him and his capital signal punishment. Acting under the advice of chiefs who were hostile to Muda Hassim, and those who advocated a peaceful policy, he caused an attack to be treacherously made at night upon both his uncles, Muda Hassim and Bundureen, in their own houses, when they were slain, together with a great number of their families and dependents. He then immediately began to increase the increase the strength of his fortifications; and it was evident that he was influenced by an insane delusion that he might be able to set at defiance any British force which his conduct might provoke to attack him. About this time, Commander Egerton, in H.M. S. Hazard, sent by Sir Thomas Cochrane VOL. LXXXVIII.

was

to reconnoitre Borneo; and a treacherous attempt was made to induce that officer to enter the capital, where there was every reason to believe it had been resolved to put him to death. On account of these threatening symptoms, Sir Thomas Cochrane determined to ascend the river to the city of Brunè, the capital of Borneo Proper, and demand an explanation from the Sultan of his conduct. He hoisted his flag on board H.M.S. Spiteful, on the 7th of July, accompanied by Mr. Brooke, and taking in tow the Hazard and the Royalist (Mr. Brooke's schooner), and preceded by the steamer Phlegethon, ascended the river. At Palo Bungone five forts had been erected to dispute the passage, and these opened a spirited fire upon the vessels; but our gun-boats soon caused it to slacken, and when the crews were landed the garrison abandoned the batteries and fled. These forts were afterwards destroyed. A heavy battery had been erected à fleur d'eau about 800 yards from the river, which pointed towards a bend which it made between the forts and the city. Thomas Cochrane says in his despatch, that no sooner did the ships open the point, than the batteries commenced a sharp and extremely well-directed fire, and at the same time a play of musketry from the woods on our right, and to which the Spiteful was obliged to submit without retaliation. The critical situation in which she was placed (with the beach but a few yards beyond her paddle boxes, the Royalist in tow, and the boats filled with the whole of the landing force) required the utmost silence and attention to prevent the whole been thrown on shore. But the Phlegethon very promptly returned [20]

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Sir

the fire from her own guns, which, with the battery of field pieces placed round her bows, and the admirable fire from the brigade of rockets planted upon her bridge, (both field-pieces and rockets under the immediate command of Lieut. Paynter,) together with the now rapid progress of the whole force directly up the river, so astonished and dismayed the enemy, that they fled before the steamers could reach their works, or the storming party carry out the service intended for it. As quickly as possible the landing was effected, and the marines, under Capt. Hawkins, immediately took possession of the heights which command the town."

The Sultan and all the inhabit. ants fled when our troops approached the city, so that it was entirely deserted; but in the course of a few days the people returned, and seemed to exhibit the utmost confidence and good will. The Sultan retired into the interior of the country, and an expedition sent up the Borneo river for the purpose of capturing him, under the command of Captain Mundy, was unsuccessful. Sir. J. Cochrane says in another despatch that, "having remained eleven days at the city without any prospect of securing a definite and satisfactory arrangement, it became a matter for consideration as to the next best course to be adopted that would hold out any hope of my leaving the city, and those friendly to the English, even in a temporary state of security; and Mr. Brooke concurred with me in thinking that the effect might be good were I to address a sort of proclamation to the chief persons actually in the place, to be given to the Sultan on his return, detailing the

whole of the proceedings that had taken place between us during the last twelve months, pointing out the unprincipled and dishonest conduct of the Sultan-showing how entirely he and they were at my mercy-yet still holding out the olive branch to him, but declaring my determination to act with the extreme of vigour should he ever again evince hostility to Great Britain."

A document to that effect was accordingly prepared and translated into the Malay language, which was read to the principal inhabitants assembled on board the Spiteful, and after this Sir J. Cochrane sailed away to visit some of the ports to the north of the city of Brunè, and thence to proceed to the coast of China.

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NEW ZEALAND. Before Captain Fitzroy, the late Governor of the Colony, left Auckland upon his recall, as stated in our last volume, he was waited upon with an address from some of the inhabitants, which, although ostensibly professing to be a testimony to the integrity of his principles," seems to have been intended also as a reproach upon his government. In his reply, dated December the 5th, 1845, Captain Fitzroy thus expressed himself upon the fruitful cause of quarrel between himself and the inhabitants of the colony, as well as the New Zealand Company in England, namely, the line of policy he had observed towards the Aborigines:—

"You express fears that, in the fervency of my zeal to promote the interests of the Aborigines, I should have unconsciously injured the objects of my solicitude, by losing sight of the fundamental principles, that indulgence may be

"I am not aware in what manner the Aborigines have been too much indulged by me. I cannot regret any forbearance shown to them by the local Government. Had I not treated them with consideration, and had not the public authorities been very forbearing, the destruction of Auckland and Wellington would have been matters of history before this period. An overpowering multitude have been restrained hitherto by moral influence. Had physical force been tried in earnest when there were but two small detachments of troops in the island, and no places for either refuge or defence, the overthrow and ruin of our settlements must have been the inevitable consequence.

"Published despatches show that additional effective forces were repeatedly refused to the reiterated application of successive Governors of New Zealand; and that even a resolution of the Parliamentary Committee, in July 1844, was rendered nugatory by the Secretary of State's subsequent declaration, that the military forces in New Zealand must still continue limited in amount, and must, as far as possible, be concentrated at the principal settlements.'

"My object always was to avoid bringing on a trial of physical strength with those who, in that respect, were overwhelmingly our superiors; but gradually to gain the necessary influence and authority by a course of scrupulous justice, truth, and benevolence.

Whatever may have been the intentions of Captain Fitzroy-and we have no reason to doubt that they were pure and disinterestedhe was most unfortunate in alienating all confidence in his judg

necessary for the welfare of this important colony to entrust its government in abler hands. The appointment of Captain Grey gave general satisfaction, and his arrival at New Zealand was hailed as the advent of a new era in the politics, as well as in the financial and commercial prosperity of the settlement. He lost no time in summoning the Legislative Council, and when they were assembled, on the 12th of December last year, he addressed them in the following speech :

"Gentlemen of the Legislative Council,

"I have assembled you at this early period after my arrival in the colony, for the purpose of introducing into the Council a Bill for placing restrictions upon the importation and sale of arms, gunpowder, and other warlike stores.

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It is not my intention to submit at present any other legislative measures for your consideration; indeed, nothing but the extreme urgency and necessity of the case could have induced me SO shortly after my arrival in the colony to have proposed any law for your adoption. I should have preferred, before I had assembled the Legislative Council for the despatch of business, to have visited each portion of the colony, and to have made myself acquainted with the state and requirements of each settlement. With the experience which I should thus have gained of the wants and resources of New Zealand, and of the present condition and necessities of that portion of the Queen's subjects whose happiness and welfare the Queen has confided to my care, I should have [2 C 2]

felt greater confidence in recommending for your adoption laws which I might have considered applicable to the present circumstances of the colony.

"I hope yet to be able to pursue this course before submitting to you any other measure than the Bill which I am about to lay on the table.

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I feel it to be due alike to the interests of both races of her Ma

jesty's subjects within this colony, to take this, the first public opportunity that has been afforded me, of stating, in the most explicit terms, that I have been instructed most honourably and scrupulously to fulfil the conditions of the treaty of Waitangi; by which the full, exclusive, and undisturbed posses sion of their lands and estates, forests, fisheries, and other properties which the chiefs and tribes of New Zealand, and the respective families and individuals thereof, may collectively or individually possess, was confirmed and guaranteed to them, so long as it may be their wish and desire to retain the

consistent with the peace and welfare of the colonists of European descent, and from which it would be impossible rudely and abruptly to divorce them, I am instructed, both in the structure and administration of the law, to respect as far as possible these opinions and feelings.

Subject, however, to these general rules, it will be my duty to require from this people an implicit subjection to the laws, and to enforce that submission by the use of all powers, civil and military, which have been placed at my command.

"The financial condition of the colony has necessarily already engaged my anxious attention, and I have felt it to be proper to lose no time in affording you the most complete information in my power upon a subject of great importance to yourselves and to all who have an interest in New Zealand.

"You will perceive, from the returns which I have directed to be presented to you, that a debt of considerable amount is already due by the Local Government, and that the expenditure at present very largely exceeds the total income which is derived from the colony, the parliamentary grant, and every other source- -that a large addition is constantly being made to that debt, and must continue to be so, until I can determine upon the measures which it will be absolutely requisite should be taken to equalize in some degree the income and expenditure of the colony.