THE PIRATES
As we have already mentioned, the second, and by far the most difficult,
task that Rajah Brooke had set before him, and was determined to
accomplish, was the suppression of piracy, which he rightly described as
an evil almost as disgraceful to the European nations who permitted it
as to the native States engaged in it.
The principal piratical peoples at the time were the Illanun, or Lanun,
the Balenini, the Bajaus, and the Sulus, all living to the north or
north-east of Bruni, and consequently far beyond the jurisdiction of the
Rajah. To these must be added the Sea-Dayaks of the Saribas and Sekrang,
who, led by their Malay allies, though less formidable to trade, were
far more destructive of human life.
The Sambas Malays had also been pirates, but at this period had ceased
to be such. Earl, who visited Sambas in 1834, says, that "before the
arrival of the Dutch Sambas was a nest of pirates. In 1812, having
attacked an English vessel, several British men-of-war were sent from
Batavia to attack the town. The inhabitants resisted, but were defeated,
the fort was razed to the ground, and the guns tumbled into the river."
The reoccupation by the Dutch shortly afterwards of this place,
Pontianak, and Banjermasin, put some check upon the piratical habits of
the Malays in the western and southern States,[108] but the Malays of
the eastern shores of Borneo, especially those of Koti, to the north and
north-west, were all pirates; and even the people of Bruni were imbued
with piratical habits, which were generally inherent in the Malay
character, though they were not enterprising enough to be openly
piratical, or to do more than encourage their bolder neighbours, from
whom they could obtain plunder and slaves cheaply; and near Bruni,
within the territory of the Sultan, were several piratical strongholds.
All these were under the control of half-bred Arab sherips, as also were
the Saribas and the Sekrangs.
The Lanuns are natives of the large island of Mindanau, or Magindanau,
the southernmost of the Philippine group. They were known to the
Spaniards as "Los Illanos de la laguna," and, in common with all
Muhammadans, were classed by them as Moros or Moors. On the lagoon, or
bay, of Lanun they live. They were the boldest and most courageous of
the pirates, and the most dangerous to Europeans, whom they never
hesitated to attack, not even the Dutch gunboats, and to whom, unlike
the Balenini pirates, they would never give quarter, owing to a hatred,
born of former injustice and inhumanity, received at the hands of those
whom they could only have regarded as white barbarians. They became
incorrigible and cruel pirates, looking upon piracy as a noble
profession, though Dampier, who spent six months amongst them in 1686-7,
and who was very hospitably treated, says nothing of piracy, and he
gives a full and intelligent account of the island, its inhabitants, and
products. He describes the "Hilanoons" as being a peaceable people, who
bought foreign commodities with the product of their gold mines. The
Spaniards had sometime before occupied the island, but the garrison had
to be suddenly withdrawn to Manila, in consequence of a threatened
invasion of that place by the Chinese. The Sultan then seized their
cannon, demolished their forts, and expelled their friars. Then it was
the Dutch they feared; they wished the English to establish a Factory
there,[109] and subsequently, in 1775, ceded a small island to the
H.E.I. Company for that purpose.
Though the Spanish had a settlement on the western end of the island
they were unable to keep the Lanun pirates in check, and on occasions
were severely handled by them, as were also the Dutch.
With these pirates were associated the Bajaus or sea-gipsies, a roving
people, who lived entirely in their prahus, with their women and
children.
The vessels employed by Lanuns on marauding expeditions were sometimes
of 60 tons burden, built very sharp in the prow and wide in beam, and
over 90 feet in length. A double tier of oars was worked by slaves to
the number of 100, and the fighting men would be from 30 to 40; the
prahus of the smallest size carried from 50 to 80 in all. The bows of
the vessels were solidly built, and fortified with hard wooden baulks
capable of resisting a 6-pounder shot; often they were shod with iron.
Here a narrow embrasure admitted a gun for a 6 to a 24-pound shot. In
addition to this, the armaments consisted of several guns, usually of
brass, of smaller calibre. Sometimes the piratical fleets comprised as
many as 200 prahus, though the Lanuns usually cruised in small fleets of
20 to 30 sail. They would descend on a coast and attack any village,
sack and burn it, kill the defenders, carry away men, women, and
children as slaves, slaughter the cattle, and ravage the plantations. A
cargo of slaves captured on the east coast of Borneo would be sold on
the west coast, and those taken in the south would find a ready market
in the north, in Sulu[110] and the Lanun country. Their cruising grounds
were extensive—around the coasts of the Philippine islands, Borneo, and
Celebes to Sumatra, Java, and the Malay peninsula, through the Moluccas
to New Guinea, and even up the Bay of Bengal as far as Rangoon. In 1834,
a fleet of these Lanuns swept round the coast of a small island in the
Straits of Rhio, opposite Singapore, and killed or carried away all the
inhabitants.[111] In addition to their original home in the bay of
Lanun, they had settlements in Marudu Bay in the north of Borneo, and
towns along the west coast almost as far south as Ambong, and on the
east coast to Tungku, and on to Koti. In Marudu their chief was Sherip
Usman, who was married to a sister of the Sultan Muda of Sulu, and who
was in league with Pangiran Usup, uncle to the Sultan of Bruni, and his
principal adviser. Usman supplied the pirates with powder, shot, and
guns, and they, on returning from a piratical expedition, paid him at
the rate of four captives for every 100 rupees worth of goods with which
he had furnished them. Such captives as had been taken in the vicinity
of Bruni he would sell to Pangiran Usup for 100 rupees each, who would
then demand of their friends and relations Rs. 200 for each. "Thus this
vile Sherip, not reckoning the enormous price he charged for his goods
in the first instance, gained 500 per cent for every slave, and the
Pangiran Usup cleared 100 per cent by the flesh of his own countrymen."
In 1844, Ambong was a flourishing town occupied by an industrious and
peaceable people, subjects of the Sultan of Bruni. In 1846, Captain
Rodney Mundy, R.N., visited it, and the town was represented by a heap
of ruins alone; the inhabitants had been slaughtered, or enslaved to be
passed on to Usup, that he might make what he could out of them, by
holding them to ransom by their relatives.
The Balenini were hand in glove with the Lanuns, and often associated
with them in their expeditions. They issued from a group of islands in
the Sulu sea, and acted in complicity with the Sultan of Sulu, whose
country was the great nucleus of piracy. They equipped annually
considerable fleets to prey upon the commerce with Singapore and the
Straits; they also attacked villages, and carried off alike crews of
vessels and villagers to slavery, to be crowded for months in the bottom
of the pirate vessels, suffering indescribable miseries. Their cruising
grounds were also very extensive; the whole circuit of Borneo was
exposed to their attacks, except only the Lanun settlements, for hawks
do not peck out hawk's een. When pursued and liable to be overtaken,
they cut the throats of their captives and threw them overboard, men,
women, and children alike. Up to 1848, the principal Balenini
strongholds were in Balenini, Tongkil, and Basilan islands, but they
were then driven out of the two former islands by the Spaniards, and
they established themselves on other islands in the Sulu Archipelago;
and Tawi Tawi island, which had always been one of their strongholds,
then became their principal one.
Trade with Borneo and the Sulu Archipelago was rendered almost
impossible, or at least a very dangerous pursuit, and even merchantmen
using the Palawan passage to China, which takes them close along the
coast of Borneo, often fell a prey to these pirates.
Earl, writing a year or two before the advent of the late Rajah to
Sarawak, remarks in connection with Borneo, that it ought to be
considered but "an act of justice to the natives of the Indian
Archipelago, whom we have enticed to visit our settlement of Singapore,
that some exertion should be made towards the suppression of piracy." He
blames the unaccountable indifference and neglect which the British
Government had hitherto displayed, and expresses his sympathy for the
natives. He considered it his duty to point the way—it was left to the
late Rajah to lead in it.
The Natuna, the Anamba, and the Tambilan islands, which stretch across
the entrance of the China sea between Borneo and the Malay peninsula,
were common lurking haunts of the pirates. Amongst these islands they
could find water and shelter; could careen, clean, and repair their
prahus; and they were right in the track of vessels bound to Singapore,
or northward to the Philippines or China. To replenish their stores and
to obtain arms and ammunition they would sail to Singapore in
innocent-looking captured prahus, where they found a ready market for
their booty amongst the Chinese. Muskets of English make and powder from
English factories were found in captured prahus and strongholds. At
Patusan a number of barrels of fine gunpowder from Dartford were
discovered exactly as these had left the factory in England.
Against these the Rajah was powerless to take the offensive. They had to
be left to be reduced or cowed by the spasmodic efforts of British
men-of-war. What he urged, though ineffectually, was that a man-of-war
should patrol the coast and curb the ruffians. What was actually done,
but not until later, was to attack and burn a stronghold or two, and
then retire. The pirates fled into the jungle, but returned when the
British were gone, rebuilt their houses, and supplied themselves with
fresh vessels.
Near at hand were the Saribas and Sekrang Sea-Dayaks occupying the
basins of rivers of these names, the Sekrang being an affluent of the
Batang Lupar.
In each of these rivers was a large Malay community of some 1000
fighting men who lived by piracy, and who trained the numerous Dayaks,
by whom they were surrounded, to the same lawless life that they led
themselves, and guided them on their predatory excursions. Here again
both Dayaks and Malays were under the influence of Sherips, Mular, his
brother Sahap, and others. In course of time these Dayaks became expert
seamen, and, accompanied by the Malays, yearly issued forth with fleets
composed of a hundred or more bangkongs,[112] sweeping the seas and
carrying desolation along the shores of Borneo over a distance of 800
miles.
The Sea-Dayaks soon became aware of their power; and accordingly, both
in their internal government and on their piratical expeditions, their
chiefs attained an authority superior to that of the Malay chiefs, their
titular rulers.
In May, 1843, H.M.S. _Dido_ started on her eventful cruise to Borneo,
having the Rajah on board. After passing Sambas, Captain Keppel
dispatched the pinnace and two cutters under the first lieutenant, with
whom went the Rajah, to cruise along the coast. Lanun pirates were seen,
but, easily outsailing the flotilla, escaped. Off Sirhasan, the largest
of the group of the Natuna islands, whither the boats had been directed
to go, six prahus, some belonging to the Rajah Muda of Rhio (an island
close to Singapore, belonging to the Dutch, and under a Dutch Resident),
and some to the islanders, mistaking the _Dido's_ boats for those of a
shipwrecked vessel, and expecting an easy prey, advanced with boldness
and opened fire upon them. They were quickly undeceived, and in a few
minutes three out of the six prahus were captured, with a loss of over
twelve killed and many wounded. Neither the Rhio Malays nor those of the
islands were pirates, and the former under an envoy were collecting
tribute for the Sultan of Lingin, but the temptation was irresistible to
a people with piracy innate in their character. They protested it was a
mistake, and that with the sun in their eyes they had mistaken the boats
for Lanun pirates! The little English flotilla had suffered no
casualties, and a severe lesson had been administered, which was rightly
considered to be sufficient. The wounded were attended to, and, having
been liberally supplied with fresh provisions, Lieutenant Wilmot Horton
left for Sarawak to rejoin the _Dido_.
After having been cleverly dodged by three Lanun prahus, the _Dido_
anchored off the Muaratebas entrance on May 13th, and proceeded up to
Kuching on the 16th. Keppel described the Rajah's reception by his
people as one of undisguised delight, mingled with gratitude and
respect, on the return of their newly elected ruler to his country.
The temerity of the pirates had become so great that it was deemed
advisable to despatch the little Sarawak gunboat, the _Jolly Bachelor_,
under the charge of Lieutenant Hunt, with a crew of eighteen marines and
seamen, to cruise in the vicinity of Cape Datu, and there to await the
arrival of a small yacht which was expected from Singapore with the
mails, and to escort her to Kuching. Two or three days after they had
left, at about 3 o'clock one morning, writes Captain Keppel:—
The moon being just about to rise, Lieutenant Hunt, happening to
awake, observed a savage brandishing a kris, and performing his
war-dance on the bit of deck in an ecstasy of delight, thinking in
all probability of the ease with which he had got possession of a
fine trading boat, and calculating the cargo of slaves he had to
sell, but little dreaming of the hornets' nest into which he had
fallen. Lieutenant Hunt's round face meeting the light of the rising
moon, without a turban surmounting it, was the first notice the
pirate had of his mistake. He immediately plunged overboard; and
before Lieutenant Hunt had sufficiently recovered his astonishment,
to know whether he was dreaming or not, or to rouse his crew up, a
discharge from three or four cannons within a few yards, and the
cutting through the rigging by the various missiles with which the
guns were loaded, soon convinced him there was no mistake. It was as
well the men were still lying down when this discharge took place,
as not one of them was hurt; but on jumping to their legs, they
found themselves closely pressed by two large war-prahus, one on
each bow. To return the fire, cut the cable, man the oars, and back
astern to gain room, was the work of a minute; but now came the
tug-of-war, it was a case of life and death. Our men fought as
British sailors ought to do; quarter was not expected on either
side; and the quick and deadly aim of the marines prevented the
pirates from reloading their guns. The strong bulwarks or
barricades, grapeshot proof, across the fore part of the Lanun
prahus, through which ports are formed for working the guns, had to
be cut away by round shot before the muskets could bear effectually.
This done the grape and cannister told with fearful execution. In
the meantime, the prahus had been pressing forward to board while
the _Jolly Bachelor_ backed astern; but as soon as this service was
achieved, our men dropped their oars, and seizing their muskets
dashed on: the work was sharp but short, and the slaughter great.
While one pirate boat was sinking, and an effort made to secure her,
the other effected her escape by rounding the point of rocks where a
third and larger prahu, hitherto unseen, came to her assistance, and
putting fresh hands on board and taking her in tow, succeeded in
getting off, although chased by the _Jolly Bachelor_, after setting
fire to the crippled prize, which blew up and sank.[113]
None of the crew of this prahu survived, and so few in the second prahu,
that, when she separated from her consort, the slaves arose and put them
to death. They were the same three prahus that had eluded the _Dido_.
Having satisfied himself as to the character of the Saribas and Sekrang
Dayaks, and how the chiefs governing them encouraged their depredations,
and having received an appeal from the Rajah Muda Hasim[114] to relieve
the cost of the perils it underwent, Captain Keppel resolved to attack
the Saribas first, as being the most formidable of the two piratical
hordes.
Preparations for the expedition were soon commenced. It was to consist
of a native force of 300 Malays, the _Dido's_ three large boats, and the
_Jolly Bachelor_, manned by blue-jackets and marines, all under the
command of Lieutenant Wilmot Horton. The datus were opposed to the Rajah
going—they thought the risk too great, but on his expressing his
determination to do so, and leaving it to them to accompany him or not,
their simple reply was, "What is the use of our remaining? If you die,
we die; and if you live, we live; we will go with you."[115] The Rajah
and Captain Keppel accompanied the expedition in the _Dido's_ gig.
Intelligence of the design was carried far and wide. The Saribas
strengthened their defences, and several of the half-bred Arab sherips
living nearer Sarawak sent in promises of good conduct. Tribes that had
suffered from the depredations of the pirates offered to join in
attacking them, and the force thus augmented by several hundreds of
Dayaks started early in June.
The first skirmish fell to the lot of Datu Patinggi Ali, who, having
been sent on ahead, met a force of seven prahus at the mouth of the
Saribas, which he attacked and drove back, after capturing one. Padi, a
stockaded town some 60 miles up the Saribas river, and the furthest up
of the piratical strongholds, reputed also to be the strongest and most
important, was the first attacked, and though defended by two forts and
two booms of forest trees stretched across the river, and being crowded
with Malay and Dayak warriors, it was carried on the evening of June 11,
and the place committed to the flames. The next day some 800 Balau
Dayaks,[116] under Sherip Japar of Lingga, joined the force, keen to
make reprisals for past injuries.
The enemy, reckoned at about 6000 Dayaks and 500 Malays, had retired
up-river, and against them a small force of about 40 blue-jackets and
the same number of Malays, under the Rajah and Lieutenant Horton,
started the next day. During the night they were repeatedly attacked by
the pirates, who, under cover of the darkness, closed in on their
assailants, especially where some marines held a post on a cleared
height overlooking the river. The pirates lost a good many men, and the
next morning, seeing the force again preparing to advance, sent in a
flag of truce and sued for mercy. The Rajah then met their chiefs and
explained to them that it was in consequence of their acts of piracy
that they were now punished; that they had been cautioned two years
previously to abstain from these marauding expeditions, and that they
had disregarded this monition; he assured them that they would be
unmolested if they abstained from molesting others, but that if they
continued to prey on their neighbours and to interfere with trading
vessels they would receive further castigation.
It was proposed to these people that the towns of Paku and Rembas should
be spared, if they would guarantee the future good conduct of the
inhabitants. They coolly replied that those people deserved the same
punishment, which had better be administered, otherwise they would
continue pirating, and would lead the Padi people astray again.
Paku was taken on the 14th, and burnt; here no resistance was met with.
The next day the chiefs submitted. On the 17th, Rembas was attacked and
taken, the Balau Dayaks, under Sherip Japar, having all the fighting to
do. This was the largest and strongest town, and much plunder was
secured. After receiving the submission of the Rembas chiefs the
expedition returned to Kuching, having, in seven days, destroyed the
strongholds of the most powerful and dreaded pirates on the north-west
coast of Borneo, who for years had defied both Bruni and Sarawak. Such
an impression was produced, that the Sekrangs sent messages promising to
abstain from piracy, and offering, if they were spared, to give up a
hundred women and children captives; and Sherips Mular and Sahap,
fearing the punishment they so richly deserved, sent professions of
future good conduct. These were not accepted, but the day of reckoning
had to be deferred, for Keppel had received orders to return to China.
The Saribas had suffered, but not the redoubtable Sekrangs, and the
former not so severely but that in a couple of years all their losses
could be repaired, their stockades be rebuilt, and fresh prahus
constructed, and the old story of blood and rapine continued with little
intermission, not only by them, but by the Lanuns and Sekrangs as well.
A year was to elapse before Keppel's return; and we will now record in
their sequence the few events of interest that happened during this
short period.
About a month after the departure of the _Dido_, the _Samarang_, Captain
Sir Edward Belcher, arrived at Kuching. Sir Edward had been sent,
consequent on Rajah Brooke's actions and recommendations, to inquire
personally into and report officially upon the affairs and capabilities
of north-west Borneo. As Sir Spenser St. John writes—[117]
This visit was as useless as such visits usually are. What can the
most acute naval officer understand of a country during a few days'
or weeks' visit? He can describe more or less accurately its outward
appearance; but to understand its internal politics is not possible
in the time. And yet on such comparatively valueless reports the
British Government relies in a majority of cases. Mr. Brooke
suffered more than any other pioneer of civilisation from the
system.
On getting under way to proceed to Bruni the _Samarang_ grounded on a
rocky ledge off the town, and Sir Edward's brief visit was protracted by
a fortnight. The ship, which lay in an extremely critical position, was
righted and got off the rocks before the _Harlequin_, _Wanderer_,
_Vixen_, and _Diana_ arrived to assist her. Accompanied by the Rajah,
Sir Edward proceeded to Bruni towards the end of August, but the
latter's visit was very short; he saw the Sultan for two hours only, and
then, as small-pox was raging in Bruni, departed for Singapore.[118] The
principal object of the Rajah's visit was obtained, as he was enabled to
bear away a deed granting Sarawak in perpetuity to him and to the heirs
of his appointment.
In December the Rajah left for Singapore, and there the next month he
received the news of his mother's death. To quote the Rajah, after the
first shock, he resolved to seek in activity a relief from the lowness
of spirits which he suffered. This led him to join an expedition to
punish certain pirates on the coast of Sumatra for injuries done to
British ships. The ships employed were the _Harlequin_, Captain the Hon.
G. Hastings; the _Wanderer_, Captain Seymour, with whom the Rajah
sailed, and the East India Company's steamer, the _Diana_. At Achin[119]
they found the once powerful Sultan unable to control or punish his own
subjects, and the ships then proceeded to Batu and Murdu, the
strongholds of the pirates. The former town was burnt without offering
much resistance, but the latter gave them a tough fight of five hours
before it was taken. The pirates lost from fifty to seventy men killed
and wounded, the English two killed, and about a dozen wounded, amongst
whom was the Rajah, who was shot inside the right arm, and had an
eyebrow cut in two by a spear. This was on February 12, 1844.
In Singapore the Rajah purchased a new vessel, the _Julia_, having sold
the _Royalist_; the _Julia_ was fitted as a gunboat. Early in June he
returned to Sarawak in the _Harlequin_.
He found that during his absence, his old enemy, Sherip Sahap, had built
many war-boats, and had made great preparations for offensive
operations. Kuching was supposed to be his object, and it had been put
in a state of defence, but on the Rajah's return Sahap deemed it
advisable to retire to the Batang Lupar, and taking with him a large
force marked his course with bloodshed and rapine. He then fortified
himself at Patusan, below the Sekrang, and the Dayaks were sent out
ravaging in every direction. Eight villages were burnt in the Sadong,
the Samarahan people were attacked, and many women and children were
captured. A party even ventured into Sarawak, and cut off two Singgi
Dayaks on their farm, but they did not get off scot free, for the Rajah,
starting in the middle of the night, intercepted their return and gave
them a sharp lesson.
Patusan,[120] the stronghold of Sherip Sahap, with whom was Pangiran
Makota, was on the left-hand bank of the Batang Lupar, about fifteen
miles below the Undup stream, up which, about seven miles from the
mouth, was the stockaded town of Sahap's brother, Sherip Mular. Besides
numerous Malays, these sherips were supported by the Sekrang Dayaks,
then estimated to number some 10,000 fighting men, and these warriors,
though they might not recognise the power of the sherips over them in
other matters, were always ready to respond to a summons to engage in a
plundering raid.
Captain Keppel had been long expected, but the _Dido_ had been detained
in India, and when she arrived on July 30, with the welcome addition of
the H.E.I.C.'s steamer _Phlegethon_, preparations for the coming
expedition against the Batang Lupar were so well forward that it was
enabled to start almost immediately. On board the _Dido_ was the Rajah's
favourite nephew, midshipman Charles Johnson, who eight years later
became the Tuan Muda of Sarawak, and who ultimately succeeded his uncle
as Rajah.
The combined force of blue-jackets, Malays, and Dayaks, headed by the
_Phlegethon_, started from Kuching on August 5th, and on the 7th were
off Patusan. This place was well fortified, sixty-four brass besides
many iron guns were taken there,[121] and its five forts were captured,
with heavy loss to the pirates. The attacking party lost only one man
killed, the captain of the main-top of the _Dido_, who was cut in two by
a cannon-shot whilst loading the bow-gun of the _Jolly Bachelor_; close
to him was the present Rajah, who fortunately escaped unhurt.
So confident had Sherip Sahap and Pangiran Makota been in the
impregnability of their strongholds that they had not taken the usual
precaution of sending their women, children, and property of value, to a
distant place of refuge. On their flight the unfortunate children were
placed in different nooks and corners.
[Illustration:
THE PRESENT RAJAH AS A MIDSHIPMAN.]
After having completely destroyed the town of Patusan, and Makota's town
about a mile above, the expedition moved on upon the 10th. The
_Phlegethon_ was taken up as far as the Sekrang, a very bold proceeding
considering the dangerous nature of the river, and the force was divided
into three divisions, to ascend the Undup, the Sekrang, and the
main-river; but the pirates, chiefly Malays, offered such a stubborn
resistance in the Undup that these divisions had to be reunited to make
a simultaneous attack. The gallant Datu Patinggi Ali here distinguished
himself in a hand-to-hand fight with the enemy; it was witnessed by the
blue-jackets, who hailed him with three hearty British cheers on his
return. It took the force the whole day to cut through the heavy log
barriers that had been placed across the river below Mular's town, which
the enemy deserted during the night, retiring to a Dayak village some
twenty-five miles farther up the river. After an arduous journey of two
days the landing-place of the village was reached; here occurred a brush
with the pirates, who were pushed back, and old Datu Patinggi nearly
covered himself with glory by almost capturing Sherip Mular, who saved
himself by ignominiously jumping into the river and swimming ashore. A
little later, Captain Keppel and Lieutenant Wade with some seven men
surprised a large force of pirates waiting behind a point; these were so
taken by surprise that they were easily routed, but Lieutenant Wade
rushing on in pursuit was struck by two rifle-shots, and fell at his
commander's feet mortally wounded. The Dayak village was then attacked,
and the enemy scattered.
On the 15th, the _Phlegethon_ was reached, and on the 17th, a force
started up the Sekrang to administer a lesson to the notorious Dayak
pirates of that river, who had been making their presence felt in an
unpleasant manner, continuously annoying the force at night time by
hanging about on the river banks and killing and wounding several of the
Malay and Dayak members of the force. The expedition consisted of seven
of the _Dido's_ and _Phlegethon's_ boats, and the _Jolly Bachelor_, with
a division of a few light native boats under Datu Patinggi Ali as a
vanguard, and the rest of the Sarawak contingent behind as a reserve. On
the 19th, the enemy made a determined stand, blocking the advance of
Patinggi Ali's division with a formidable array of war-boats, and with
thousands of men on each bank, who had selected positions where they
could effectively use their javelins and blow-pipes. Instead of falling
back upon the main body, old Ali bravely dashed on, followed by his
little contingent. A desperate encounter against fearful odds ensued,
and before the ships' boats could come to his support the fine old Malay
chief[122] had fallen along with a Mr. Steward,[123] and twenty-nine of
his devoted followers, fifty-six more being wounded. The gun and rocket
fire of the boats soon turned the tables, and the Dayaks retreated from
their position with considerable loss. The same day their town was
destroyed, and the expedition returned. At Patusan, which was reached on
the 22nd, Captain Sir Edward Belcher, with the boats of the _Samarang_,
joined them, but too late to render any service. At Kuching there was
barely time to get the sick and wounded into comfortable quarters before
news arrived that Sherip Sahap had joined Sherip Japar at Lingga, and
was again collecting his followers. With the addition of the
_Samarang's_ boats, the force immediately started for Lingga; Sherip
Sahap hastily retired, and, though closely pursued, escaped over the
border; Sherip Japar was deposed from his governorship of Lingga; and
Pangiran Makota was captured and sent a prisoner on board the
_Phlegethon_. The Rajah then held a meeting of all the Malay chiefs of
the surrounding country, and in an eloquent speech impressed upon them
the determination of the British Government to suppress piracy; dwelt
upon the blessings arising from peace and trade, and concluded by saying
that the measures lately adopted against piracy were taken for the
protection of all the peaceful communities along the coast. "So great
was the attention bestowed during the delivery of his speech that the
dropping of a pin might have been heard."[124] On September 4th, the
force again reached Kuching.
Sherip Sahap, after residing for a short time in the Kapuas, in Dutch
Borneo, died of a broken heart at Pontianak. Sherip Mular, who also
escaped over the border, subsequently sued for forgiveness, but this was
then refused.[125] Sherip Japar, who the previous year had rendered good
service against the Saribas pirates, was removed to Ensingai in the
Sadong. Pangiran Makota, who so richly deserved death, and who as a
matter of policy alone, as well as in the interests of humanity, should
have been executed, was spared by the Rajah, and allowed to retire to
Bruni, with what results we have already noted.
Early the next year the Saribas and Sekrang Dayaks visited the Rajah at
Kuching and formally tendered their submission. The promises then made
of future good behaviour would probably have been observed, and those,
of which there was now a large party, in favour of peace have been
upheld, had the British Government afforded the Rajah continuous support
for a short time, even in the shape of a small brig-of-war. "We must
progress or retrograde" was the Rajah's timely, though unheeded warning.
But the desired support was denied, and gradually the piratical party
again became dominant, and in less than two years found themselves in a
position once more to defy the Rajah, and to spread terror along the
coast. But with this, and their final, though tardy punishment, we shall
deal later.
The Rajah seeing how precarious his position was, had offered the
cession of Sarawak to the British Crown without remuneration, though he
had now laid out £10,000 upon its development. He showed how by
developing the trade and the natural wealth of the land through British
influence, river after river might be opened up to commerce. He
entreated that steady and unremitting efforts should be made for the
suppression of piracy. But the Government shrank from the extension of
its Colonies, it was afraid of being dragged into a second New Zealand
scheme, and it consented, reluctantly, to afford him help, and that but
inadequate, against the pirates.
"It is easy," wrote the Rajah at the close of the previous year,
"for men to perform fine feats with the pen; it is easy for the rich
man to give yearly thousands in charity; it is easy to preach
against the slave trade, or to roar against piracy; it is easy to
bustle about London, and get up associations for all kinds of
objects—all this is easy, but it is not easy to stand alone—to be
exiled—to lay out a small fortune—to expend life and health and
money—to risk life itself, when the loss would be without glory and
without gain.... I am enabled to dispense happiness and peace to
many thousand persons. I stand alone; I appeal for assistance and
gain none; I have struggled for four years bearing my life in my
hand. I hold a commanding position and influence over the natives; I
feel it my paramount duty to gain protection and some power. I state
it in so many plain words, and if, after all, I am left to my own
resources the fault of failure is not with me. This negotiation with
Government is nearly at an end, or if protracted, if I perceive any
intention of delay, or any coolness, I will myself break it off and
trust to God and my own wits.... If they act cordially they will
either give me a plain negative or some power to act, in order that
I may carry out my views. If they haggle and bargain any further I
will none of them, or if they bother me with their suspicions, or
send any more gentlemen for the purpose of espionage, I will assert
the independence I feel, and send them all to the devil."
This, it must be remembered, was in a private letter. His position was
precarious. He, with less than half-a-dozen Englishmen, had established
himself as reigning prince over Sarawak; its population consisted mainly
of timid Land-Dayaks, useless in warfare, and there were only a few
hundred Malays and Sea-Dayaks upon whom he could rely to protect the
little State against its powerful and actively hostile neighbours. Even
his own people were in a condition of tension and hesitation, not
knowing whether the arm of England would be extended in his support, or
be withdrawn, leaving him to succumb under the krises of assassins.
It is perhaps as well that the British Government did leave the Rajah so
much alone; that he was able to exercise a free hand to carry out his
own ideas, and that he was not crossed or hampered by the changing
policies of the different Cabinets that came into power—some ready to
extend the limits of the Empire, others shrinking from responsibilities,
and seeking to contract the sphere of British influence within the
narrowest limits, but all timid and nervous of opposition from the
adverse party. The little State has thus had the advantage of having
been governed for just seventy years _directly_ by two of the ablest
rulers of Orientals, having an intimate knowledge of their subjects and
their requirements, and governing with their people, instead of having
been subject to the capricious and often stupid government of the
Colonial Office, and of ever-changing governors. Unfortunately the late
Rajah was subsequently "crossed and hampered" from home, notably by the
little England party at whose head stood Mr. Gladstone, and the greatest
evil was done to Sarawak by his own countrymen supported by a timorous
Government. Happily, the English rajahs, the second as well as the
first, by their honesty of purpose and their inflexibility of resolution
gathered about them a host of native adherents; these they inspired with
self-respect, and confidence in their rulers, and thus formed a mass of
public opinion that went far towards making their rule permanent, and
enabled it to withstand checks from within and from without.
The Dutch at this time had been making praiseworthy efforts to check the
Lanuns; they had destroyed several piratical fleets, and were preparing
on a large scale to drive them off the seas; in this, however, they
failed.
For some time the Rajah was free from his troublesome neighbours, and he
devoted his time to the affairs of his little State, the population of
which had just received an addition of 5000 families of Malays from the
disturbed districts along the coast.
Not till Hasim and his train of obstructive and rapacious hangers-on had
departed from Sarawak could the benefits of the Rajah's administration
take complete effect. So long as these men remained, with their
traditions of misrule, and their distorted ideas of the relation between
the governor and the governed, a thousand difficulties were interposed,
thwarting the Rajah's efforts, and these had to be circumvented or
overcome. The pangirans, great and small, great in their
self-confidence, proud of the mischief they had wrought, small and mean
in their selfish aims, viewed the introduction of reform with
ill-disguised hostility; and the Rajah Muda Hasim in their midst formed
a nucleus about whom disaffection and intrigue must inevitably gather
and grow to a head. Only Bedrudin was heart and soul with the Rajah, so
far as his lights went. He was a man of intelligence and generous
spirit, who had taken the lesson to heart that by good government, the
encouragement of commerce and the peaceful arts, the country would
thrive and the revenue in consequence largely increase, and that his
brother pangirans were blindly and stupidly killing the goose that laid
golden eggs. To him the Rajah was sincerely attached, and the attachment
was reciprocated. Personally, the Rajah was sorry when Bedrudin had to
return with his brothers to Bruni; but the Sultan's recall was
imperative, and it obviated all risk of the prince being made,
unwillingly, a gathering point of faction. It was advisable, moreover,
that there should be near the Sultan's ear a man like Bedrudin, who
would give wise counsel; and Hasim, weak and vacillating as he was,
could show his nephew by his own experience that advantage would accrue
to him by adopting a policy favourable to British enterprise, and by
warning him that disaster, though approaching with lagging feet, must
overtake him inevitably if he attempted to thwart it. Furthermore, the
Sultan had been loud in his professions of affection for his dear absent
uncles, and of his desire to have them about his person.
Early in October, H.M.S. _Samarang_, Captain Sir Edward Belcher, and the
H.E.I.C.'s steamer _Phlegethon_, arrived to convey to Bruni, Rajah Muda
Hasim, his brothers, and their numerous families, retainers, slaves, and
hangers-on. The Rajah himself went up in the _Samarang_. On approaching
Bruni there were signs of hostility from four forts on Pulo Cheremin,
which Pangiran Usup had frightened the Sultan into building, but the
flag of Hasim reassured the Brunis. The exiles were well received. The
Sultan declared he would listen to no other adviser than Hasim, and the
people were in favour of him. Though Pangiran Usup had gained great
influence over the Sultan he deemed it prudent to dissemble, and
declared himself ready implicitly to obey Hasim, and as a proof of good
faith at once dismantled the new forts on Hasim ordering him to do so.
The poorer classes, who had heard of the peace and security enjoyed by
the inhabitants of Sarawak, openly expressed their desire that the Rajah
should remain and govern conjointly with Pangiran Muda Hasim. Labuan
island, which the Sultan now offered the Rajah, was examined, and the
Rajah considered it superior to Kuching for a settlement, as being in a
more central and more commanding position.[126]
In February, 1845, Captain Bethune of H.M.S. _Driver_, anchored in the
Sarawak river, and brought a despatch from Lord Aberdeen appointing the
Rajah confidential agent in Borneo to her Majesty, an appointment made
mainly upon the Rajah's own suggestion that official recognition would
go far to help him. He at once proceeded to Bruni in the _Driver_,
bearing a letter from the Foreign Office to the Sultan in reply to his
letters requesting assistance to suppress piracy; and Captain Bethune
had been directed to select a suitable locality on the N.W. coast for
the formation of a British settlement, whence the sea along the north
and west coasts might be watched, and where there was coal suitable for
a coaling station.
The letter was received by the Sultan and his pangirans with due
honours, and the Rajah told them that he "was deputed by her Majesty the
Queen to express her feelings of goodwill, and to offer every assistance
in repressing piracy in these seas." The Sultan stared. Muda Hasim said,
"We are greatly indebted; it is good, very good."[127] And the Sultan
had reason to stare. Pangiran Usup, who was also present, was no doubt
likewise too much taken aback to do anything else, ready as he was with
his tongue, for such a proffer was as unexpected as it was unwelcome.
Hitherto they had imagined, and with some reason, that owing to its
slowness and inaction, the British Government was lukewarm in its
intentions to suppress piracy; that outward professions would not be
taken seriously, and were all that was needed of them to cover their
secret encouragement of their piratical neighbours. The Sultan, however,
was a clever dissembler; he joined with Hasim in expressing a hope that
with the Rajah's assistance the government of Bruni might be settled,
piracy suppressed, and trade fostered.
The Rajah then went to Singapore to meet the Admiral, Sir Thomas
Cochrane, and to endeavour to interest him in Bornean affairs, to gain
his assistance against the pirates, and in support of the party in Bruni
that was in favour of reform. He was successful as the sequel will show,
and in May returned to Bruni in the _Phlegethon_. He then discovered to
his no little concern that the Princes Hasim and Bedrudin were in such
danger that their brothers begged to be allowed to return to Sarawak.
They were exposed to the intrigues of Pangiran Usup, who had not only
poisoned the mind of the Sultan against his uncles of legitimate blood,
but who was also bitterly hostile to English interference with piracy,
which was the main source of his revenue. The imbecile Sultan, vicious
at heart, and himself a participator in the spoils of piracy, was of too
contracted a mind to be able to conceive the advantages that could be
obtained were his capital converted from a nest of brigands and slaves
into an emporium of commerce; and he was totally indifferent to the
welfare of the greater portion of his subjects, who being pagans, were
created by Allah to be preyed upon by the true believers.[128] He was
accordingly induced to listen to Usup, of whom he was really frightened,
and to mistrust Hasim and Bedrudin. To add to Hasim's troubles, the
pirate chief of Marudu, Sherip Usman, had sent a defiant message
threatening to attack him for favouring the English. If unsupported, the
Rajah foresaw that Hasim would be dragged into a civil war which might
end in his downfall. His life was in peril owing to his leaning towards
the British Government, and the Rajah was determined to uphold him; if
necessary, by bringing a force from Sarawak to carry Bruni. If too late
to save him and Bedrudin, he resolved to burn Bruni from end to end, and
take care it should remain afterwards in desolation.
The Rajah again proceeded to Singapore, and sufficiently interested the
Admiral in Bruni affairs to induce him to call at that place with his
squadron on his way to China. A fresh outrage by Sherip Usman in
plundering and burning a brig decided the Admiral to take measures
against him, and by his detention in slavery of two British subjects
Pangiran Usup himself gave sufficient cause to call for punishment;
these captives he had placed in confinement whenever a man-of-war
appeared.
On August 9, Sir Thomas Cochrane had an interview with the Sultan, and
the following morning called upon him for the restoration of the
captives held by Usup, and for his punishment. The Sultan replied that
Usup refused obedience to him, and that he was powerless to enforce it,
and, as the offence was committed against the British, he requested the
Admiral himself to take Usup in hand. Though the Admiral had brought a
line-of-battle ship, two frigates, two brigs, and three steamers, Usup,
"strong in the idea of his strength," was foolhardy enough to defy him,
and prepare for resistance. A shot was fired over his house from the
_Vixen_, which was replied to by the guns of his fortified house,
thereupon the steamer poured in a broadside and knocked the house to
shivers. Usup fled with the few retainers he had with him—he had taken
the precaution to send away his women and treasure the day before. We
will return to him shortly.
The fleet then sailed to call Sherip Usman to account. His stronghold in
Marudu Bay was attacked by a force of 550 men in twenty-four boats, and
after a stout resistance was taken with a loss of some twenty killed and
wounded. Amongst the former was Lieutenant Gibbard, and near him, when
he fell, was the present Rajah, then a midshipman on the _Wolverine_.
The pirates suffered heavily. Many sherips and chiefs were killed, and
Sherip Usman was himself mortally wounded—he was carried away to die in
the jungle. As in the Batang Lupar the year previously, several proofs
of piracies committed upon European vessels here came to light in the
shape of articles taken from ships; and such articles would probably
have been more numerous had there not been a market in Singapore for the
more valuable commodities.
The Rajah now returned to Sarawak in the _Cruiser_, visiting Bruni on
his way. Here he learnt that two days after he had left the town,
Pangiran Usup, full of rage and resentment, had gathered a force to
attack Bruni and take and kill Pangiran Muda Hasim, and his brother
Pangiran Bedrudin, but the latter met him, inflicted on him a signal
defeat, and Usup was constrained to fly to Kimanis, some seventy-five
miles to the north-east of the capital, over which district he was
feudary lord. Then the two uncles insisted upon their nephew the Sultan
issuing a decree for his execution. This was done, and the order
transmitted to the headman at Kimanis. It was carried out by him with
characteristic perfidy. Pretending to entertain a lively friendship for
the refugee, he seized an opportunity, when Usup had laid aside his
weapons in order to bathe, to fall upon him and strangle him. His
brother, Pangiran Yakub, was executed at the same time.
At the close of 1845, Sarawak was at peace within and without. Trade was
flourishing, and by immigration the population had increased fourfold,
and what had been but a few years before a most miserably oppressed
country was now the happiest and most prosperous in Borneo.
The Rajah felt more secure, but he still wished for a man-of-war to
guard the coast, and, above all, for British protection, and a flag with
the Union cantoned in it.
In October, Sherip Mular, with Sherip Ahmit,[129] was again amongst the
Sekrang Dayaks, and had induced them to go on a piratical expedition
with Sherips Amal, Long, and their father Sherip Abu Bakar, but this
rising the Rajah was easily able to suppress with his own Malays aided
by the Balau Dayaks. The marauders were met and defeated by the Balaus,
who captured their eighteen boats, arms and ammunition, and slew the
Sekrang Dayak chief, Apai Beragai, but the three sherips unfortunately
escaped into the jungle, and fled to Saribas. Timely warning of Sherip
Mular's conduct had been sent the Rajah by the well-disposed Malay and
Dayak chiefs of the Sekrang, of whom there were now many. But the
sherips returned, and again gaining confidence and ascendency over the
well disposed, in February, 1846, the Sekrang Dayaks once more burst
out, and with a force of some 1200 men laid waste the coast, burning
villages, killing men, and carrying women and children into slavery.
They had fortified themselves up the Sekrang, and felt themselves to be
in a position to repel the attack of any force that might be sent
against them.
In the Sadong, on the Rajah's recommendation, a Malay chief named Abang
Kasim had been appointed governor by the Bruni Government in succession
to Sherip Sahap, with the title of Datu Bandar;[130] he was a man weak
in character, but with brains enough to be mischievous and get himself
into trouble; and the Land-Dayaks there were again being so oppressed by
the Malays that the Rajah found it necessary to warn the latter that
they would be punished and turned out of the river if they did not
desist.
The Sea-Dayaks of the Kanowit river, a large affluent of the Rejang
running towards the head of the Sekrang, by reason of their raids on the
Melanaus of Muka, Oya, Matu, and the Rejang delta, now came under the
Rajah's notice. The Datu Patinggi Abdul Rahman,[131] who was the nominal
Bruni governor of this large river, had sent letters to the Rajah
stating his desire to put down piracy; these were accepted as an
expression of good faith, though he was suspected of conniving in these
raids, and the Rajah promised him assistance. The Kanowit Dayaks were
from the Sekrang, and were joined in their expeditions by the Saribas
and Sekrang Dayaks, who marched overland to join them, so as to obtain a
safer outlet to the sea than was now afforded by the mouths of their own
rivers. They had lately destroyed Palo, in the delta, killed the men,
and had carried the women and children into captivity.
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]