Chapter IV: The Pirates (2)

After the death of Pangiran Usup it might have been supposed that the Sultan, feeble and irresolute, would have fallen under the influence of his uncles, Hasim and Bedrudin, and would have been led to favour the English alliance, but this was not so. He was angry at the rout of the pirates of Marudu, and sore at being constrained to sign the death warrant of Usup, his favourite and adviser; as also at the shrinkage of the profits derived from the pirates, though at the expense of the lives and persons of his own subjects. He bore towards Hasim and Bedrudin that dislike which a narrow and dull mind feels towards those who are morally and intellectually his superiors, and such as a reigning prince not infrequently entertains towards the man who will succeed him on his throne. Accordingly he surrounded himself with a number of scoundrels, led by one Haji Seman, a man of low birth, the successor of Pangiran Usup as the Sultan's chief adviser, who fawned on and flattered him, and to whom he could pour forth his grievances; and these men, many of them pangirans and chiefs, fanned his animosities, and encouraged him in his evil courses, for they were still favourable to the piratical party, and were desirous of avenging the death of Pangiran Usup and the destruction of Marudu. The princes, especially Hasim, who had recently been publicly declared successor to the throne by the Sultan, with the title of Sultan Muda, and Bedrudin, were well aware that they were regarded with disfavour, and that there was a powerful party against them; they knew they were in danger, though they did not suspect that the danger was so imminent, and had applied for protection or release from their engagements, but, to quote the Rajah, "they were not protected, they were not released, except by a bloody death in their endeavour to carry them out." The Sultan detested them as favouring the English Rajah, and inclined to a pro-British policy, and he resented having these men so near the throne, and that the succession should devolve on Hasim to the prejudice of his own reputed son, so he resolved to sweep them from his path, and to break his engagements with and to defy the English. As a further incentive his avariciousness was played upon, and it was pointed out to him how much he would gain by acquiring the riches of his uncles were he to put them to death. Swayed by his own atrocious motives, this wretched imbecile, "brutal in spite of his imbecility," who had "the head of an idiot and the heart of a pirate," readily yielded to the promptings of his perfidious counsellors, and issued orders for the despatch of all his uncles. So secretly were preparations made to carry out the execution of this mandate that the doomed princes were taken completely by surprise by the well-armed bands that silently and simultaneously surrounded their houses in the darkness of the night. With most of the brothers resistance was impossible, and they were soon butchered, but Bedrudin fought heroically. He could, however, do little against the large body of murderers opposed to him, with only a few followers to assist him. These latter were soon cut down or had fled. His sister and a favourite concubine remained, and fought by his side, as well as a faithful slave, a lad named Japar. Desperately wounded, having had his left wrist broken by a shot, his shoulder and chest cut open so as to disable his right arm, and his head and face slashed, but not before he had cut down several of his assassins, Bedrudin, with the women and the lad, who had also all been wounded, retired into the house and barred the door. He bade the lad bring him a keg of powder, break in the head, and strew some of the contents about himself and his female companions; then he drew off his signet ring, and ordered Japar to escape and bear it to his friend the Rajah, with the message that he should tell the Queen of England of his fate, that he had been true to his engagements, and begging his friend, with whom his last thoughts were, never to forget him. Japar slipped through an aperture in the floor, dropped into the water, and swam to a canoe, in which he escaped. Then, whilst the murderers, awed by his courage and desperation, were hesitating to break into the house, the true-hearted prince applied the match which blew himself and his two noble companions into eternity.[132]

The Sultan Muda Hasim, though wounded, managed to escape from his burning house to the opposite side of the river with several of his brothers, his wife and children, but he was pursued and surrounded by numbers. Most of his brothers had been killed, and others wounded, and no hope remained to him but to throw himself on the mercy of his nephew, the Sultan. He sent messages to him to beg that his life might be spared, but this was peremptorily refused. Death being inevitable, he retreated to a boat that chanced to be moored to the bank, and placing a cask of gunpowder in the cabin called upon his three brothers and his sons who were with him to enter, and immediately firing the train, the whole party was blown up. Hasim, however, was not killed by the explosion, but, determined not to be taken alive, he put a pistol to his head and blew out his brains.

Of the many uncles of the Sultan but four escaped, and many of their relations, as well as other chiefs, were sacrificed. Hasim's full brother, Muhammad, was desperately wounded, and so cowed as to have his spirit broken. He was spared as being harmless. Another brother went permanently mad with terror. Thus the royal family had been nearly exterminated, and the omen of the death of Rajah Api fulfilled.

Japar escaped on board H.M.S. _Hazard_, which had arrived and anchored below Bruni some three months after the tragedy, and was taken in her to Kuching. He was instrumental in saving the life of Commander Egerton by warning him not to land, as a plot had been formed to take his life.

When news of this crime, which took place at the end of December or the beginning of January, 1846, reached the Rajah he was deeply moved. Of Bedrudin, whose loss he considered irreparable, he wrote:—

A nobler, a braver, a more upright prince could not exist. I have
lost a friend—he is gone and I remain; I trust, but in vain, to be
an instrument to bring punishment on the perpetrators of the
atrocious deed.... My suzerain the Sultan!—the villain Sultan!—need
expect no mercy from me, but justice he shall have. I no longer own
his authority, or hold Sarawak under his gift ... he has _murdered
our friends_, the faithful _friends_ of Her Majesty's Government,
_because they were our friends_.

The Rajah trusted the British Government would take action against the Sultan, but if not, remembering he "was still at war with this murderer and traitor," he would make "one more determined struggle" to punish him and to rescue the survivors of the Sultan Muda's family, and if that failed, then Borneo[133] and all for which he had so long, so earnestly laboured, he considered must be abandoned. But help was drawing near, for Rear-Admiral Sir Thomas Cochrane on hearing of these troubles hastened from India with his squadron to support the Rajah,[134] and to bring the Sultan to account. The fleet arrived off Sarawak at the end of June, and, picking up the Rajah, the Admiral at once proceeded to Bruni, visiting Serikei and Kanowit up the Rejang on the way, to administer a warning to the people there. The Sultan, frightened at what he had done, and expecting reprisals, which, however, he was determined to oppose by force, strengthened the existing defences, threw up new ones, and called together 5000 men for the defence of the capital. He proclaimed that he was determined to have no more dealings with the English, and that he purposed to drive the English Rajah from Sarawak.

On the arrival of the fleet at the mouth of the Bruni river the Sultan made a clumsy attempt, similar to that he had made on Commander Egerton, to get the Admiral into his power. He sent two men, who represented themselves to be pangirans, in a gaily decked prahu to welcome the Admiral, with a letter to the Rajah, expressing hurt surprise at the conduct of Commander Egerton in not having visited him and in having refused his presents, and begging the Rajah to put no faith in Japar's tales. The messengers said that the Sultan would not permit the Admiral to take up more than two boats with him; but these men were detected by the Rajah to be men of no rank, so they were detained on board, and their prahu was secured astern.

On the 8th, having transferred his flag to the steam frigate _Spiteful_, the Admiral proceeded up to Bruni with the _Phlegethon_ leading the way, and the _Royalist_ which was towed by the _Spiteful_. The gunboats of the ships left behind also attended, and the total number of blue-jackets and marines was 600; yet the Brunis, trusting to their superiority in numbers, and to the really efficient steps they had taken to fortify the town and its approaches, felt confident that they could successfully oppose this formidable force, and opened fire on the _Phlegethon_ as she approached the lower batteries. Fortunately the guns were aimed too high to do damage. The fire was at once returned,—guns, rockets, and muskets responding; the blue-jackets and marines dashed ashore, and the enemy, commanded by Haji Seman, not awaiting their onslaught, fled into the jungle, abandoning the guns. The squadron then advanced, silenced battery after battery, seven or eight in number, and captured the cannon in them, consisting of 68, 42, and 32 pounders, which, had they been well laid and served, would have seriously crippled the ships; and the forts were so strongly constructed and so well placed, that they would have been difficult to capture had they been manned by a less despicable foe. As it was, the loss incurred on both sides was but slight.

The Sultan, his army, and the population fled, and as night fell, Bruni was an empty shell. A week was spent by Captain Mundy of the _Iris_, with whom went the Rajah, in a fruitless endeavour to capture the Sultan, but he scampered away beyond reach, and the force, after destroying his inland stronghold, returned to the ships.

The people soon began to return, and a provisional government was formed by the Rajah with Pangiran Mumin, who afterwards became Sultan, and Pangiran Muhammad at its head, and a message was despatched to the Sultan with assurances of safe-conduct, if he would return to Bruni, govern wisely and justly, and observe his engagements with the English to do all in his power to keep the piratical party in check. Sir Thomas Cochrane regretted that he had not the authority, as he had the power, to place the Rajah on the throne, a measure which he was convinced would have been hailed with acclamation by the whole people. After having completely destroyed all the batteries,[135] the Admiral sailed on July 20 to look up the piratical villages to the north-east of Bruni, taking the Rajah, and leaving the _Hazard_ as a guard-ship at Bruni. Off Tempasuk a Lanun prahu was captured, having two Spanish captives on board, who had been taken off Manila; the crew of this prahu were sent in irons to Manila to be dealt with by the Spanish authorities—we may presume they never returned. Tempasuk was burnt on August the 1st, and Pandasan the next day. Both the _Royalist_ and the _Ringdove_ had brushes with pirate vessels, the former destroying two with their crews, and the latter one, but with the loss of her master and a marine.

After visiting the late Sherip Usman's town in Merudu, which it was found had not been occupied since its destruction just a year previously, the Admiral passed on to China, leaving Captain Mundy, whom the Rajah now joined on the _Iris_, to take any further operations against the pirates that might be found necessary. One pirate prahu was met with and destroyed, also another small Lanun stronghold near Pandasan. At Kimanis information was received that Haji Seman, after he had fled from Bruni, had fortified himself at Membakut, near the Kimanis river; he was attacked and driven into the interior. The Lanuns shortly afterwards abandoned the north-west coast, and established themselves at Tungku on the east coast, where they were long left unmolested.

On the return of the Rajah to Bruni in the _Phlegethon_ on August 19, he found the Sultan still absent, so sent him a message that if he returned he would be answerable for his safety, and in reply the Sultan sent a humble letter laying his throne and kingdom at the Rajah's feet. He at once returned and sued for pardon. The Rajah would not see him until the murderers of his uncles had been brought to justice, and until he had given convincing proof of his intention to govern his country uprightly, with the assistance of advisers worthy of trust; pardon he must ask of the Queen, upon whose flag he had fired, and the agreements he had previously made must be re-ratified. All this the Sultan engaged to do. In addition, he paid royal honours at the graves of his murdered relatives; and, taking the most humble tone and position, gave Sarawak to the Rajah unconditionally, and granted him the right of working coal.[136] But even then the Rajah refused to see him.

To conclude the story of Sultan Omar Ali, he gave little more trouble after the severe lesson he had been taught, became afflicted with cancer in the mouth, and died in 1852, when Pangiran Mumin succeeded to the throne. He was a brother-in-law to the murdered princes, but only remotely connected with the royal family, being descended from Muhammad Ali the twelfth Sultan of Bruni, in or about 1660, brother of the Sultan Abdul Jalil ul Akbar, the ancestor of Omar Ali, who was seventh in descent from him. The feeble-minded Abdul Mumin died at a great age in 1885, when he was succeeded by Hasim Jalil ul Alam Akmadin, the reputed son of Omar Ali; he died in 1906, over 100 years of age, and was succeeded by his son, the present Sultan, Muhammad Jamal ul Alam.

The Rajah returned to Kuching at the end of August in the _Phlegethon_, with "a perfect menagerie of old women and children," the unhappy survivors of the Sultan Muda's family.[137] Many other families had already fled from Bruni to seek a refuge in the universal haven, Sarawak.

By the deed which the Rajah now bore back with him, the one under which Sarawak Proper is still held, the sovereignty of James Brooke and his heirs in perpetuity over the raj was acknowledged absolutely, and by it the Sultan surrendered his claim to suzerainty. No yearly payment was to be made for the province,[138] and it was left to the Rajah to dispose of as he pleased; hence he was at liberty to hand it over to a foreign government if he so wished.[139] Sarawak now became _de jure_ independent; _de facto_, it had been independent for some years; and the Rajah "held a double claim to its possession—the will of a free people strengthened by the cession made by a sovereign, who was unable to rule his subjects."[140] Such being the position of the Sultan, the Rajah maintained the title _de jure_ to be of small value, whilst the title derived from the election and support of a free people he considered of superior importance. The power of Bruni had become but a shadow, not only in Sarawak but along the coast as far as Oya, and the prerogative of the Sultan to grant their country to any one was disavowed by the people of Sarawak. Their ancestors had been free, and they had but a few years previously voluntarily placed themselves under the Bruni Government, upon certain conditions, but in the decay of the Government of Bruni these had been disregarded, and misrule succeeded. They rebelled and successfully maintained an independent position; they had offered their country to Holland; and had finally surrendered to Mr. Brooke, conditionally upon his becoming their ruler. All possession of territory in Borneo was a question of might, and the Sultan himself looked to the Rajah "to support his throne, and to preserve his government."[141] Though the question of the independence of Sarawak[142] has been placed beyond doubt by its recognition by the British Government in 1863 as an absolutely independent State, yet it has been maintained, and by some who should know better, that the country is still under the suzerainty of Bruni.

To conclude the eventful year of 1846, Captain Mundy returned to Sarawak in December with instructions from the Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Lord Palmerston, conveyed through Sir Thomas Cochrane, to occupy the Island of Labuan, after consulting with the Rajah as to the best mode of carrying out his instructions.[143] He at once proceeded to Bruni, the Rajah going to Singapore. Labuan was ceded on the 18th, and the British flag was hoisted on the island on December 24.

The Dutch Government had viewed the Rajah's elevation and settlement at Sarawak, as well as the past and recent operations of the British on the north-west coast, with unfeigned jealousy, and had, during the last two years, repeatedly remonstrated with the British Government for countenancing these proceedings, which the Dutch Minister, by a stretch of imagination, exaggerated into having been the cause of a general uneasiness arising in Holland "as to the security and integrity of the Netherlands possessions in the Eastern Archipelago," and a suspicion of "the Government having surrendered, or very nearly so, the Eastern Archipelago to England." Further, "the King's Government," extravagantly wrote the Minister, "cannot forget how much it has had to suffer at different epochs in India from the practices of this individual (the Rajah), whom the Netherlands authorities have everywhere found in their way, and constantly in opposition to them." In his position as H.M.'s Political Agent, "combined with his long experience and intimate knowledge of Borneo," with "his desire to annoy, and his ill-will towards the Netherlands," the Minister considered him a very inconvenient and harassing personage to the Netherlanders and their Government. The Netherlands Government alleged that the Rajah's action in Sarawak and the occupation of Labuan were an abandonment of the spirit of the Treaty of 1824, if not of the letter. But by that Treaty the Dutch sphere of influence in Borneo had been limited to the equator, north of the line remaining within the sphere of British influence. As the Minister foresaw, Lord Aberdeen, on these grounds, denied that the recent measures taken in Borneo were in any way a contravention of the treaty or inimical to Dutch interests. Lord Aberdeen, in supporting the Rajah, eulogised him as a gentleman of high character, whose "efforts have been directed to the furtherance of civilization, to the discouragement of piratical pursuits, and to the promotion of the welfare of the native population," and contended that he had obtained his possessions "in the most legitimate manner." He further implied that the Rajah's legitimate objects and pursuits having met with undue interference by the Netherlands authorities, occasion had perhaps been given for disputes arising between him and the Netherlands Government, for he was naturally "not favorably disposed to the extension of Dutch influence in the parts where he had acquired possessions";[144] an influence which the Governor-General of Netherlands India in his rescript of January 1846, mentioned in footnote, p. 93, said his Government did not exercise in the State of the Sultan of Bruni, which extended from cape Datu to the Kimanis river.

The Rajah wrote:—

The Netherlands Government has made an attack upon me, but it has
failed. I am astonished at the misrepresentations to which it
stoops.... I never had any dispute with the Dutch authorities; and
the only communications which have passed between the Resident of
Sambas and myself have been of a most friendly kind.[145]

But though she failed, it was some years before Holland gave up her pretensions to Sarawak, pretensions which twice before they could have realised—in 1833, when Pangiran Usup offered her the country, and, a few years later, when the Sarawak people asked for her protection; but the one involved a monetary equivalent, and the other military support, and she thought to acquire the country by cheaper methods, which the Rajah knew she still meant to do after his death if she could. Without his influence, and without his influential friends, he did not think that Sarawak could subsist after he was gone, and this it was that made him so urgent to be put under British protection. When, finally, the British Government did recognise Sarawak as an independent State, the Netherlands Minister was asked if he were aware of the recognition. The reply was, "Holland will not recognise Sarawak, as the Government is convinced that Sarawak cannot last beyond the lifetime of Sir James Brooke." He added, "I told you this seven years ago, and I see no reason, from recent events, to alter my opinion."[146] This was in 1863.

The early part of 1847 was spent by the Rajah recruiting his health on Penang hill, where a letter was received from the Sultan notifying that Haji Seman had given himself up at Bruni, and asking for instructions of the Admiral and the Rajah as to his disposal. It was not considered that his execution was now necessary as an example, and the Sultan was informed that the past could be buried in oblivion, but that misconduct in the future would revive its recollection.[147]

In Singapore the Rajah received instructions from the Foreign Office to proceed to Bruni to conclude a treaty with the Sultan for the arrangement of commercial relations, and for the mutual suppression of piracy; to reserve to H.M.'s Government power and jurisdiction over all British subjects residing within the Sultanate, and to bind the Sultan not to alienate any portion of his dominions to any foreign power or to others without the sanction of her Majesty's Government. The Rajah proceeded to Bruni in the _Nemesis_, touching at Kuching on his way, and the treaty was signed on May 27. On the 30th, when leaving the Bruni river, the _Nemesis_ was hailed by a passing canoe, and received the information that a fleet of pirates was in the offing. The steamer immediately started in pursuit, and the pirates, finding escape impossible, came to anchor in a small bay with their bows seaward, and secured their prahus, eleven in all, together with hawsers. The engagement which followed, and which lasted several hours, the pirates fighting desperately, resulted in five of the pirate prahus being destroyed, and six effecting their escape.[148] The _Nemesis_ lost two killed and six wounded, and the pirates about sixty killed. Fifty more, who had escaped inland, were captured by the Sultan's men, and executed in Bruni. About 100 captives, mostly Chinese and Malays, were rescued and sent to Singapore. The pirates, who were Baleninis, were on their return from a year's cruise laden with plunder and captives. They had proposed to attack Kuching, but had thought better of it.[149]

The desire to visit England was now strong upon the Rajah. Besides personal reasons, the wish to see his relations and friends, and to obtain change and rest, he also felt that he could effect more than by correspondence were he personally to interest Ministers in Bornean affairs and urge on them the necessity of a decided course for the suppression of piracy, which could be put down were a steady course pursued instead of mere convulsive efforts, and Sulu he wished to see crushed.[150] Sarawak, where all was peaceful, would be safe under the administration of his connection, Mr. A. C. Crookshank.[151] Labuan was established as a naval station under naval administration. Bruni had been reduced to subjection, and was powerless to give further trouble, and the coast was generally quiet; so, there being nothing requiring attention in the immediate future, he sailed from Singapore in July, and arrived in England early in October.

And now honours rained on him. He was presented with the freedom of the City of London; Oxford University conferred upon him the degree of LL.D.; he was graciously received at Windsor by the Queen and the Prince Consort; was appointed Governor of Labuan, and Commissioner and Consul-General in Borneo, and made a K.C.B.[152] The United Service, the Army and Navy, the Athenæum, Travellers, and other Clubs elected him an honorary member. He was lionised and fêted, and was received with marked distinction by every one, including Ministers.

He sailed from England on February 1, 1848, with his Labuan staff, in the _Mæander_, commanded by his old friend and ally, Captain Keppel, and having the present Rajah on board as sub-lieutenant.[153] After spending a few months in Singapore making preparations for the establishment of his new colony, he arrived at the Muaratebas entrance of the Sarawak river in September; here he left the _Mæander_, and was triumphantly escorted up-river by the whole Kuching population amidst general rejoicings.

He found affairs in his little raj had not been conducted quite so well as he could have wished, and that there were evidences of renewed activity on the part of the pirates. Pangiran Makota was in power at Bruni, and that was a menace to the good conduct of both the external and internal affairs of the Sultanate. The Sultan had been in direct communication with the Sekrang Dayaks, amongst whom both Sherip Mular and Sherip Ahmit were busy intriguing, and collecting the dissatisfied party which had been scattered. Hostile operations on the part of the Saribas were only checked by the arrival of the _Mæander_.

On September 14, the Rajah was joined by his nephew, Captain James Brooke-Johnson,[154] of the Connaught Rangers, as his official A.D.C. He assumed the surname of his uncle, and was given the title of Tuan Besar. Although he was always looked upon as the heir-presumptive, the title of Rajah Muda was only conferred upon him when he was officially and publicly recognised by the Rajah as his heir in 1861.

"To give a spirit of national pride to the natives," the Rajah now granted the country a flag,[155] and this was hoisted with due ceremony on September 21. Viscount Palmerston, in a despatch dated June 20, 1849, subsequently conveyed the approval of H.M.'s Government of the flag having been hoisted, in order, with the sanction of the British Government, to afford a recognised permanency to the country.

The Rajah then sailed in the _Mæander_ to Labuan, where he was busy for some time arranging and organising the colony, but, falling a victim, with many others, to the insalubrity of the climate, he took a sea voyage in the _Mæander_, visiting several places on the north-west coast and passing on to Sulu, where he established friendly relations with the Sultan, and paved the way to a treaty being effected, by which Sulu would be placed within the sphere of British influence. He returned to Labuan in January, 1849, nearly recovered, and the next month was back in Sarawak again, to face an anxious time, a year of trouble and strife.

The Rajah had done all he could in England to move the British Government to take energetic action effectually to stamp out piracy, especially in regard to the Saribas and Sekrang, amongst whom the peaceable party had now been completely overborne by the piratical faction, and this would have been prevented had the British Government sanctioned the Rajah's scheme of building a fort in the disturbed district. Alone, he was powerless to effect much, if anything. The _Mæander_ had been specially fitted for taking action against these pirates, and her captain specially appointed on account of the experience he had already gained in dealing with them, as it was intended that the frigate should be detailed for this service; but trouble having occurred in China, she was recalled by the Admiral, and the Rajah was left with the H.E.I.C. _Nemesis_ only, a steamer quite inadequate for the purpose; and, being required to keep up communication between Labuan and Singapore, her station being at the latter place, she could be only occasionally placed at his disposal.

The departure of the _Mæander_, and the Rajah's long absence in the north, had emboldened the Saribas and Sekrangs to prepare for fresh atrocities. Their insolence had, moreover, so increased that they went so far as to send the Rajah a message of defiance, daring him to come out against them, taunting him with cowardice, and comparing him to a woman.[156]

On March 2nd, the Rajah received news that a large pirate fleet of one hundred prahus had put to sea, and, after having captured several trading vessels, the crews of which they had put to death, had proceeded up the Sadong river, where they had killed upwards of one hundred or more Malay men, women, and children, and had carried others into slavery. Within the three previous months they had killed three hundred persons, burnt several villages, and captured numerous prahus.[157] This expedition was led by the Laksamana, the Malay chief of the Saribas;[158] it was checked at the town of Gedong, which was well prepared for defence, and too much on the alert to be taken by surprise.

An artifice of these pirates, and they never attempted by force what could be acquired by stratagem, was this: some of the party remained behind and assumed the clothes of their victims, and the umbrella-shaped hats of palm leaf commonly used by those harvesting in the sun, which would completely conceal their features; thus disguised they paddled down stream, and called in Malay to the women to issue from their hiding-places, as they had come to convey them to a place of safety. The poor creatures, supposing that these were of their own tribe, ran down with their children in their arms only to be speared and their heads hacked off by these wolves in sheep's clothing.[159] On the last day of February, a numerous and industrious population was gathering in the harvest, and on March the 1st every house was plundered, and scattered about the fields were the mangled bodies of the reapers, and in the villages lay the headless trunks of men, aged women, and children too young for captivity.

Not a day passed without news reaching Kuching of some village burned or of some trading vessel captured. After the attack on Sadong, while the Saribas hovered along the coast, crowds of refugees arrived in Kuching. From all parts they came; from the river of Matu alone twenty prahus full of men, women, and children, and from Kalaka many hundreds. They said that they could endure life no longer in their own country, continually engaged in resisting these murderous attacks, and losing numbers of their people at the hands of the Sekrangs and Saribas.

"No news except of Dayaks, and rumours of Dayaks. Dayaks here, Dayaks there, and Dayaks everywhere," so wrote the Rajah.

The Kalaka river had also been laid waste. Hunt in 1812 described Kalaka as being one of the principal ports of trade on the north-west coast,[160] and the country as producing large quantities of grain. But this was before the Sea-Dayaks had become pirates. In 1849, the river had been so devastated by piratical attacks that all cultivation had been abandoned, and its once flourishing town and villages deserted, with the exception of two that were small. "Never before had I been so struck with the irreparable mischief done by the piratical tribes, as when I saw this lovely country so completely deserted," so wrote Mr. S. St. John in 1849.

The ravages of these murderous Dayaks had been peculiarly destructive in the delta of the Rejang, once well populated by the quiet and industrious Melanaus, the producers of the Bornean sago brought to the market of Singapore. The pirates not only destroyed the villages and plantations, but captured many richly laden prahus, freighted with the produce of this district on their way to dispose of their lading in the British Settlement of Singapore, and in Sambas and Pontianak. Like the Malays of Kalaka, nearly all the inhabitants had fled, most to Sarawak, some to other places.

During the first six months of 1849, some 600 persons fell victims to these savages; it must be borne in mind that the districts inhabited by these people and those attacked by them were then in Bruni territory, and outside the raj of Sarawak.

In 1849, it was reckoned that the Saribas had 6000 fighting men, the Sekrangs an equal number, and those Sekrangs and Saribas who had moved across to the Kanowit, Katibas, and Poi, affluents of the Rejang river, could muster 8000 warriors,[161] making, with their Malay allies, a total of 25,000 men living on piracy and murder. Secure on their rivers, in their stockades, in their jungles, in their large and well-constructed boats, and in their numbers, they scoffed at warnings, and proceeded from crime to crime until the whole country from Bruni to Sarawak was nearly their own.

In desperation, and with the hope of checking these outrages, the Rajah at once started against the pirates with his own little flotilla of some twenty-four war prahus manned by 800 Malays, but he was driven back by the north-east monsoon, perhaps fortunately, as his force was totally inadequate. Then the _Nemesis_, under Commander Wallage, arrived, and the Rajah, feeling he was now strong enough to effect something, sallied forth again on March 25, with the same native force and four of the boats of the _Nemesis_. The bala[162] was augmented by eighty-four native prahus with over 2000 friendlies, all thirsting for revenge. Both branches of the Kalaka were ascended, and from the left-hand branch the native levies crossed over into the Rembas, a large affluent of the Saribas, and here several strongholds were destroyed, with large quantities of rice and salt; the enemy were, however, absent on an expedition, and but few fighting men were left behind. The Rajah then proceeded up the Saribas, the entrance of which the _Nemesis_ had been sent on to guard, and at the mouth of the Rembas branch met a large force of Saribas Dayaks which hurriedly retreated. These were on their way to effect a junction with the Sekrangs, the Malay town of Banting up the Lingga being the objective. Ten prahus of Sadong friendlies on their way home were met and attacked at night by these Sekrangs, who had a force of 150 bangkongs, but, the Balau Dayaks opportunely coming to the assistance of the former, the Sekrangs were defeated and driven back to their own country. This well-contrived expedition then terminated in a return to Sarawak, and though the pirates had not suffered any great loss, especially in lives, a severe check had been administered, and by preventing a junction between the Saribas and Sekrangs their piratical venture for that occasion had been spoiled.

After his return from this expedition the Rajah took advantage of the lull that was certain to follow, for the Dayaks would lie low for a time fully expecting to be again attacked, and proceeded to visit his little colony at Labuan. From thence he passed on to Sulu, where he concluded a commercial treaty with the Sultan, returning to Kuching at the end of May. In the meantime Admiral Sir Francis Collier had despatched the _Albatross_, Commander Farquhar,[163] to Sarawak, to take the _Mæander's_ place, and she had arrived at Kuching before the Rajah's return in the _Nemesis_, and had there been joined by the _Royalist_, Lieutenant Everest. Preparations were pushed forward to deliver a final blow to the Saribas and Sekrang pirates, who, now the Ramathan, or fast month, had commenced, considered themselves safe, under the firm persuasion that the Rajah would not move against them so long as it lasted, out of regard for the religious scruples of the Malays.

The expedition started on July 24. It comprised the _Nemesis_, the _Royalist_, and the _Ranee_ (the _Mæander's_ little steam tender), seven men-of-war boats, and the Rajah's Malay force of eighteen war prahus manned by 640 Malays. At the mouth detachments of Lundu and Balau Sea-Dayaks, and Malays from Samarahan and Sadong joined, which brought the native force up to a total of seventy prahus with 2500 men. The _Royalist_ was towed by the _Nemesis_ into the Batang Lupar, and left to guard that river off the mouth of the Lingga, and the latter went on to the entrance of the Saribas, where, with the ships' boats, she took up her position. The main force joined her on the 28th, and the same evening information was received that a large piratical bala, under the command of the Datu Patinggi of Saribas and the principal Malays, had left the Saribas two days previously and had gone northwards. The Rajah and Captain Farquhar immediately determined to intercept them on their return. With twelve war prahus and two men-of-war cutters the Rajah took up a position across the mouth of the Kalaka, to prevent the pirates gaining their way home by that river. The _Nemesis_, with the rest of the force, blocked the Saribas, and the only other route open to them _via_ the Batang Lupar was guarded by the _Royalist_. There was an alternative way back, a long one, up the Rejang and Kanowit, but they were not likely to take this. On the evening of the 31st, a rocket sent up from the _Rajah Singha_,[164] the Rajah's war prahu, announced the approach of the enemy. They came on boldly, and, perceiving the force at the entrance of the Kalaka, but not the more formidable one hidden by the long promontory separating the mouths of the two rivers, dashed on for the Saribas with defiant yells, to encounter in the growing darkness greater peril, and thus commenced the most famous fight in the Sarawak annals, which brought a just retribution on these savage pirates and for ever broke their power, the battle of Beting Maru.[165] Met with showers of grape, cannister, rockets, and musketry from the _Nemesis_ and the boats, and the savage onslaughts of the native levies mad for revenge, well led by the Rajah's English and Malay officers, and with their retreat intercepted by the Rajah's division, the pirates were soon thrown into confusion, and thought only of escape. But cut off in all directions, for five hours, in bright moonlight, they had to sustain a series of encounters extending over a distance of ten miles. At midnight all was over. About a dozen bangkongs escaped, whilst over a hundred were destroyed, and the enemy had lost about 300 killed. This loss would have been far heavier had the Rajah allowed his native forces to intercept the retreat of the great numbers who had landed and escaped into the jungle, and this could have easily been effected; as it was, 500 died of wounds, exposure, and starvation, or were cut off before they could reach their homes. Of those who succeeded in escaping up the Saribas that night was the famous Dayak chief Linggir, who, with seventeen war-boats, had made a desperate attack on the _Nemesis_, which resulted in the destruction of all the boats with their crews except his.[166]

Had this expedition started but a few days earlier, the mischief that had been done would have been prevented, though that mischief was far less than it would have been had not the pirates been forced to beat a hasty retreat on receiving news that so powerful a force was out against them. They had attacked Matu, but that town was found to be too well prepared to be carried without considerable loss, and, their aim being not glory but to procure heads, captives, and plunder, with the least possible risk to themselves, they retreated in search of easier prey after sustaining a loss of ten killed, but not before they had taken a detached house in which they obtained seven heads and captured four girls. Palo they had plundered, and had there seized three girls;[167] they spared the place as being the main source of their salt supply. Two vessels trading to Singapore were captured, and the crew of one were all killed. Serikei proved too strong for them. A detachment had gone westward, and off Sambas they killed some Chinese fishermen and took their heads. At Sirhasan, one of the Natuna islands, they captured a trading vessel, and on their way back to join the main fleet attacked the Malays living at the mouth of Muaratebas, but were repulsed after a desperate fight. A trading prahu was there seized, the owner and five of the crew being killed. Coming across Abang Husin, a nephew of the Datu Temanggong, they killed him and his boat's crew of six, after a gallant defence.

A couple of days having been spent in destroying the captured bangkongs and securing prisoners, the expedition proceeded up the Saribas river. After some exciting episodes and hard work in cutting their way through innumerable trees, which had been felled across the river to impede their progress, the force reached Paku, which was taken and burnt for the second time. The expedition then proceeded up the Rejang, to punish the Sekrang Dayaks living in the Kanowit. Eighteen villages were destroyed, and the country laid waste for a hundred miles. This done, the Rajah returned to Kuching with the whole force, arriving there on August the 24th. With him came many Serikei people, who wished to escape from the tyranny of Sherip Masahor,[168] an infamous and intriguing half-bred Arab chief, who appears to have but lately settled in the Rejang as the Bruni governor, and who in the near future was to cause the Sarawak Government considerable trouble.

After the battle of Beting Maru, the well-inclined Malay and Dayak chiefs of the Sekrang were once more raised to power, and the Rajah built a fort at Sekrang, of which Sherip Matusain, who has been before mentioned as having taken a prominent part on the side of the Sarawak Malays in the rebellion against Bruni, was placed in charge. The fort was built to uphold the friendly and non-piratical party against the interior piratical tribes, to prevent the latter passing down to the sea, and as a position for the advancement of commerce. It was built entirely by Sekrang Malays and Dayaks under the supervision of Mr. Crookshank, and when Mr. Brereton[169] went there shortly afterwards to take charge, at the request of the natives that a European might be placed over them, he was entirely dependent on their goodwill, having no force of any sort, to support his authority.

The Saribas and the Sekrangs now submitted, the former too utterly broken to do further mischief by sea, and the latter frightened by the lesson that had been administered to their allies and themselves,[170] and by the establishment of a Government station in their district. Such was the effect of this chastisement that piracy was almost completely put an end to in these turbulent tribes; then had the land rest to recover, the waste places to revive, the towns to be rebuilt, and the population to increase. In but a very few years the bulk of these very tribes which had been the scourge of the country were reduced to peaceable and industrious citizens.

But trouble far-reaching, on which he had not calculated, was in store for the Rajah through this expedition. It came at a time when he was weakened in health from continuous exposure and the severe strain he had undergone, which had brought him near death's door, and it came from a quarter the least expected. He "had risked life, given money, and sacrificed health to effect a great object;"[171] and had made the coast from cape Datu to Marudu bay as safe as the English Channel to vessels of all flags and all sizes, and now he had to bear with the malicious tongues and persecutions of the humanity-mongers of England, who were first prompted to attack the Rajah by his discarded agent, Mr. Wise. This man was embittered against the Rajah for his refusal to sell Sarawak to a company; by being called to account for a loss he had caused the Rajah of some thousands of pounds; and by some unfavourable comments the Rajah had made on his actions, which had come to his knowledge owing to certain private letters of the Rajah not intended for his eyes having fallen into his hands. Wise had offered to make the Rajah "one of the richest commoners in England," and presumedly saw his way to becoming one too, but the Rajah preferred "the real interests of Sarawak and the plain dictates of duty to the golden baited hook."[172]

Cobden, Hume, Sidney Herbert, and afterwards Gladstone, as well as others of that faction, took up the cause of the pirates, and the Rajah and the naval officers who had been engaged since 1843 in suppressing the Saribas and Sekrangs were attacked with acrimony as butchers of peaceful and harmless natives—and all for the sake of extending the Sarawak raj. The _Spectator_ and the _Daily News_ bitterly assailed the Rajah, relying upon information supplied through the medium of a Singapore newspaper; and the Peace Society and the Aborigines Protection Society, laid on a false scent by those whom they should not have trusted, became scurrilous in their advocacy of cold-blooded murderers and pirates.

After having brought the "_cruel butchery_" of Beting Maru to the attention of the House of Commons on three occasions, Joseph Hume, on July 12, 1850, moved an address to her Majesty, bringing to the notice of the House "one of the most atrocious massacres that had ever taken place in his time." He supported the motion with glaring and wilful mis-statements, and brought disgraceful charges against the Rajah, whom he branded as "the promoter of deeds of bloodshed and cruelty." The Navy he charged with wholesale murder, and the poor victims of the massacre he described as a harmless and timid people.[173]

Cobden, who supported the motion, called the battle of Beting Maru a human battue, than which there was never anything more unprovoked. He could not do homage to the Rajah as a great philanthropist seeing that he had no other argument for the savages than extermination.

The Rajah was ably defended by Mr. Henry Drummond, who exposed Wise's conduct; and the motion was lost by a majority of 140 in a House of 198.

At Birmingham, Cobden asserted that the Rajah, "who had gone out to the Eastern Archipelago as a private adventurer, had seized upon a territory as large as Yorkshire, and then drove out the natives; and who, under the pretence that they were pirates, subsequently sent for our fleet and men to massacre them ... the atrocities perpetrated by Sir James Brooke in Borneo had been continually quoted in the Austrian newspapers as something which threw into the shade the horrible atrocities of Haynau himself."

The following year, on July 10, Hume moved for a Royal Commission to enquire into the proceedings of Sir James Brooke, but this was negatived by 230 votes to 19. He went a little further this time, and drew harrowing pictures of "cruel butcheries, and brutal murders of the helpless and defenceless." Sir James Brooke, he said, attacked none but the poor Dayaks, and even their wives and children were destroyed. He even went so far as to deny that the Saribas were head-hunters.

Gladstone bore high testimony to the Rajah's character and motives. His entire confidence in the Rajah's honour and integrity led him to accept his statements with unqualified and unreserved belief. He adjudged the Dayaks of being addicted to barbarous warfare and piracy, and maintained that there were not sufficient grounds for the motion, against which he voted. He, however, contended that most of the pirates were killed when not resisting, and had been deliberately sacrificed in the act of fleeing. This unhappily gave rise to doubts, which subsequently caused him to entirely change his opinions, and to completely veer round to the other side.

Lord Palmerston denounced the charges against the Rajah "as malignant and persevering persecution of an honourable man," and Mr. Drummond rightly denied "that, from beginning to end, this motion had any other foundation than a personal determination to ruin Sir James Brooke." "The whole of this transaction from first to last was a very discreditable affair," he said. "The gentlemen of England echoed him,"[174] and the nation too, judging by the tone of the press, which (with the exception of one or two papers), from _The Times_ downwards, supported the Rajah.[175]

Her Majesty's Government had notified the Rajah of their approval of all he had done, and he was instructed to follow the same course should a similar necessity arise.

But Wise, Hume, Cobden, and their adherents were only checked, and, huffed by their defeats, continued their efforts to ruin the Rajah's character and administration with increased bitterness, unfortunately in the end to obtain a partial success; but we will leave this subject for a while, to turn briefly to events in Sarawak.

As a commentary on Mr. Cobden's assertion that the natives were being driven out of Sarawak, the population of the raj in 1850 had increased to 50,000 from 8000 in 1840, and this increase was due to immigration from the neighbouring countries, where the people had been the constant prey of pirates, head-hunters, and their own oppressive rulers, and for these over-burdened people the Rajah had supplied a haven. The Chinese colony in upper Sarawak was augmented by the arrival of five thousand Chinese refugees from Pemangkat in Dutch territory, who had come to Sarawak to escape the tyranny of their more powerful neighbours and rivals, the Chinese of Montrado. These latter had successfully rebelled against the authority of the Dutch, and were now oppressing their weaker neighbours, both Chinese and Dayak. The Kayan and Kenyahs of the Baram, who had been in rebellion against the Sultan, had sent messages offering to accept the Rajah as their chief, and those of the Rejang assisted in building the new fort at the mouth of the Kanowit. This fort was erected by the Rajah to protect the inhabitants of the Rejang delta, and of Oya and Muka, by blocking the egress by the Kanowit river to the Sekrang and Saribas Dayaks. All these countries, including the Sekrang, where a station had already been established, were under the _de jure_ rule of the Sultan, but the inhabitants now looked upon the Rajah as their ruler. The Sultan had long been helpless to govern the disturbed districts; his authority was not recognised by the population, and the chiefs appointed by him acted to gain their own ends, the enriching of themselves at the expense of the people. The Sultan had placed himself in the Rajah's hands, and was well pleased that he should pacify and introduce order into these districts, more perhaps in his own interests than in those of his own people, for whose welfare he cared little; they paid him no revenue, and that he hoped the Rajah would secure for him.

Bandar Kasim, in spite of warnings, was again oppressing his people in the Sadong. The Rajah had deposed him in 1848, and had appointed his brother, Abang Leman,[176] in his place, but the change brought no benefit to the people, it gave them but an additional tyrant, for both were now behaving badly, and the Bandar had to be removed.

After visiting Labuan, the Rajah went to Penang for a much-needed change, and there received instructions from the Foreign Office to proceed to Siam on a diplomatic mission. He left for Bangkok in August. To quote his own words: "The mission was a dead failure, as the Siamese are as hostile and opposed to Europeans as any people can well be. I had a very trying time of it, and altogether got rid of an unpleasant and critical position without loss of national and individual credit." A short time before an American mission had also been similarly repulsed.

During the Rajah's absence, an envoy from the United States had arrived at Kuching bearing a letter from the President addressed to him as Sovereign Prince of Sarawak, and expressing a desire to enter into friendly relations. The envoy informed the Rajah by letter that having been entrusted with full powers he was ready to sign a treaty with Sarawak, and that he was to thank the Rajah "in the name of the American nation for his exertions in the suppression of piracy," and to compliment him on his noble and "humane endeavours to bring his subjects and the neighbouring tribes of Malays into a condition of civilisation." Lord Palmerston saw no objection to the Rajah entering into diplomatic relations as Rajah of Sarawak with the United States.[177]