The mode of acquisition of British North Borneo has been referred to in
former pages; it was by cession for annual money payments to the Sultans
of Brunai and of Sulu, who had conflicting claims to be the paramount
power in the northern portion of Borneo. The actual fact was that
neither of them exercised any real government or authority over by far
the greater portion, the inhabitants of the coast on the various rivers
following any Brunai, Illanun, Bajau, or Sulu Chief who had sufficient
force of character to bring himself to the front. The pagan tribes of
the interior owned allegiance to neither Sultan, and were left to govern
themselves, the Muhammadan coast people considering them fair game for
plunder and oppression whenever opportunity occurred, and using all
their endeavours to prevent Chinese and other foreign traders from
reaching them, acting themselves as middlemen, buying (bartering) at
very cheap rates from the aborigines and selling for the best price they
could obtain to the foreigner.
I believe I am right in saying that the idea of forming a Company,
something after the manner of the East India Company, to take over and
govern North Borneo, originated in the following manner. In 1865 Mr.
MOSES, the unpaid Consul for the United Sates in Brunai, to whom
reference has been made before, acquired with his friends from the
Sultan of Brunai some concessions of territory with the right to govern
and collect revenues, their idea being to introduce Chinese and
establish a Colony. This they attempted to carry out on a small scale in
the Kimanis River, on the West Coast, but not having sufficient capital
the scheme collapsed, but the concession was retained. Mr. MOSES
subsequently lost his life at sea, and a Colonel TORREY became the chief
representative of the American syndicate. He was engaged in business in
China, where he met Baron VON OVERBECK, a merchant of Hongkong and
Austrian Consul-General, and interested him in the scheme. In 1875 the
Baron visited Borneo in company with the Colonel, interviewed the Sultan
of Brunai, and made enquiries as to the validity of the concessions,
with apparently satisfactory results, Mr. ALFRED DENT[16] was also a
China merchant well known in Shanghai, and he in turn was interested in
the idea by Baron OVERBECK. Thinking there might be something in the
scheme, he provided the required capital, chartered a steamer, the
_America_, and authorised Baron OVERBECK to proceed to Brunai to
endeavour, with Colonel TORREY'S assistance, to induce the Sultan and
his Ministers to transfer the American cessions to himself and the
Baron, or rather to cancel the previous ones and make out new ones in
their favour and that of their heirs, associates, successors and assigns
for so long as they should choose or desire to hold them. Baron VON
OVERBECK was accompanied by Colonel TORREY and a staff of three
Europeans, and, on settling some arrears due by the American Company,
succeeded in accomplishing the objects of his mission, after protracted
and tedious negotiations, and obtained a "chop" from the Sultan
nominating and appointing him supreme ruler, "with the title of Maharaja
of Sabah (North Borneo) and Raja of Gaya and Sandakan, with power of
life and death over the inhabitants, with all the absolute rights of
property vested in the Sultan over the soil of the country, and the
right to dispose of the same, as well as of the rights over the
productions of the country, whether mineral, vegetable, or animal, with
the rights of making laws, coining money, creating an army and navy,
levying customs rates on home and foreign trade and shipping, and other
dues and taxes on the inhabitants as to him might seem good or
expedient, together with all other powers and rights usually exercised
by and belonging to sovereign rulers, and which the Sultan thereby
delegated to him of his own free will; and the Sultan called upon all
foreign nations, with whom he had formed friendly treaties and
alliances, to acknowledge the said Maharaja as the Sultan himself in the
said territories and to respect his authority therein; and in the case
of the death or retirement from the said office of the said Maharaja,
then his duly appointed successor in the office of Supreme Ruler and
Governor-in-Chief of the Company's territories in Borneo should likewise
succeed to the office and title of Maharaja of Sabah and Raja of Gaya
and Sandakan, and all the powers above enumerated be vested in him." I
am quoting from the preamble to the Royal Charter. Some explanation of
the term "Sabah" as applied to the territory--a term which appears in
the Prayer Book version of the 72nd Psalm, verse 10, "The kings of
Arabia and Sabah shall bring gifts"--seems called for, but I regret to
say I have not been able to obtain a satisfactory one from the Brunai
people, who use it in connection only with a small portion of the West
Coast of Borneo, North of the Brunai river. Perhaps the following note,
which I take from Mr. W. E. MAXWELL'S "Manual of the Malay Language,"
may have some slight bearing on the point:--"Sawa, Jawa, Saba, Jaba,
Zaba, etc., has evidently in all times been the capital local name in
Indonesia. The whole archipelago was pressed into an island of that name
by the Hindus and Romans. Even in the time of MARCO POLO we have only a
Java Major and a Java Minor. The Bugis apply the name of Jawa, _jawaka_
(comp. the Polynesian _Sawaiki_, Ceramese _Sawai_) to the Moluccas. One
of the principal divisions of Battaland in Sumatra is called _Tanah_
Jawa. PTOLEMY has both Jaba and Saba."--"Logan, Journ. Ind. Arch., iv,
338." In the Brunai use of the term, there is always some idea of a
Northerly direction; for instance, I have heard a Brunai man who was
passing from the South to the Northern side of his river, say he was
going _Saba_. When the Company's Government was first inaugurated, the
territory was, in official documents, mentioned as Sabah, a name which
is still current amongst the natives, to whom the now officially
accepted designation of _North Borneo_ is meaningless and difficult of
pronunciation.
Having settled with the Brunai authorities, Baron VON OVERBECK next
proceeded to Sulu, and found the Sultan driven out of his capital, Sugh
or Jolo, by the Spaniards, with whom he was still at war, and residing
at Maibun, in the principal island of the Sulu Archipelago. After brief
negotiations, the Sultan made to Baron VON OVERBECK and Mr. ALFRED DENT
a grant of his rights and powers over the territories and lands
tributary to him on the mainland of the island of Borneo, from the
Pandassan River on the North West Coast to the Sibuko River on the East,
and further invested the Baron, or his duly appointed successor in the
office of supreme ruler of the Company's territories in Borneo, with the
high sounding titles of Datu Bandahara and Raja of Sandakan.
On a company being formed to work the concessions, Baron VON OVERBECK
resigned these titles from the Brunai and Sulu Potentates and they have
not since been made use of, and the Baron himself terminated his
connection with the country.
The grant from the Sultan of Sulu bears date the 22nd January, 1878, and
on the 22nd July of the same year he signed a treaty, or act of
re-submission to Spain. The Spanish Government claimed that, by previous
treaties with Sulu, the suzerainty of Spain over Sulu and its
dependencies in Borneo had been recognised and that consequently the
grant to Mr. DENT was void. The British Government did not, however,
fall in with this view, and in the early part of 1879, being then Acting
Consul-General in Borneo, I was despatched to Sulu and to different
points in North Borneo to publish, on behalf of our Government, a
protest against the claim of Spain to any portion of the country. In
March, 1885, a protocol was signed by which, in return for the
recognition by England and Germany of Spanish sovereignty throughout the
Archipelago of Sulu, Spain renounced all claims of sovereignty over
territories on the Continent of Borneo which had belonged to the Sultan
of Sulu, including the islands of Balambangan, Banguey and Malawali, as
well as all those comprised within a zone of three maritime leagues from
the coast.
Holland also strenuously objected to the cessions and to their
recognition, on the ground that the general tenor of the Treaty of
London of 1824 shews that a mixed occupation by England and the
Netherlands of any island in the Indian Archipelago ought to be avoided.
It is impossible to discover anything in the treaty which bears out this
contention. Borneo itself is not mentioned by name in the document, and
the following clauses are the only ones regulating the future
establishment of new Settlements in the Eastern Seas by either
Power:--"Article 6. It is agreed that orders shall be given by the two
Governments to their Officers and Agents in the East not to form any new
Settlements on any of the islands in the Eastern Seas, without previous
authority from their respective Governments in Europe. Art. 12. His
Britannic Majesty, however, engages, that no British Establishment shall
be made on the Carimon islands or on the islands of Battam, Bintang,
Lingin, or on any of the other islands South of the Straits of
Singapore, nor any treaty concluded by British authority with the chiefs
of those islands." Without doubt, if Holland in 1824 had been desirous
of prohibiting any British Settlement in the island of Borneo, such
prohibition would have been expressed in this treaty. True, perhaps half
of this great island is situated South of the Straits of Singapore, but
the island cannot therefore be correctly said to lie to the South of the
Straits and, at any rate, such a business-like nation as the Dutch would
have noticed a weak point here and have included Borneo in the list with
Battam and the other islands enumerated. Such was the view taken by Mr.
GLADSTONE'S Cabinet, and Lord GRANVILLE informed the Dutch Minister in
1882 that the XIIth Article of the Treaty could not be taken to apply to
Borneo, and "that as a a matter of international right they would have
no ground to object even to the absolute annexation of North Borneo by
Great Britain," and, moreover, as pointed out by his Lordship, the
British had already a settlement in Borneo, namely the island of Labuan,
ceded by the Sultan of Brunai in 1845 and confirmed by him in the Treaty
of 1847. The case of Raja BROOKE in Sarawak was also practically that of
a British Settlement in Borneo.
Lord GRANVILLE closed the discussion by stating that the grant of the
Charter does not in any way imply the assumption of sovereign rights in
North Borneo, _i.e._, on the part of the British Government.
There the matter rested, but now that the Government is proposing[17] to
include British North Borneo, Brunai and Sarawak under a formal "British
Protectorate," the Netherlands Government is again raising objections,
which they must be perfectly aware are groundless. It will be noted that
the Dutch do not lay any claim to North Borneo themselves, having always
recognized it as pertaining, with the Sulu Archipelago, to the Spanish
Crown. It is only to the presence of the British Government in North
Borneo that any objection is raised. In a "Resolution" of the Minister
of State, Governor-General of Netherlands India, dated 28th February,
1846, occurs the following:--"The parts of Borneo on which the
Netherlands does not exercise any influence are:--
_a._ The States of the Sultan of Brunai or Borneo Proper;
* * * * * *
_b._ The State of the Sultan of the Sulu Islands, having for
boundaries on the West, the River Kimanis, the North and
North-East Coasts as far as 3° N.L., where it is bounded by the
River Atas, forming the extreme frontier towards the North with
the State of Berow dependant on the Netherlands.
_c._ All the islands of the Northern Coasts of Borneo."
Knowing this, Mr. ALFRED DENT put the limit of his cession from Sulu at
the Sibuku River, the South bank of which is in N. Lat. 4° 5'; but
towards the end of 1879, that is, long after the date of the cession,
the Dutch hoisted their flag at Batu Tinagat in N. Lat. 4° 19', thereby
claiming the Sibuko and other rivers ceded by the Sultan of Sulu to the
British Company. The dispute is still under consideration by our Foreign
Office, but in September, 1883, in order to practically assert the
Company's claims, I, as their Governor, had a very pleasant trip in a
very small steam launch and steaming at full speed past two Dutch
gun-boats at anchor, landed at the South bank of the Sibuko, temporarily
hoisted the North Borneo flag, fired a _feu-de-joie_, blazed a tree, and
returning, exchanged visits with the Dutch gun-boats, and entertained
the Dutch Controlleur at dinner. Having carefully given the Commander of
one of the gun-boats the exact bearings of the blazed tree, he proceeded
in hot haste to the spot, and, I believe, exterminated the said tree.
The Dutch Government complained of our having violated Netherlands
territory, and matters then resumed their usual course, the Dutch
station at Batu Tinagat, or rather at the Tawas River, being maintained
unto this day.
As is hereafter explained, the cession of coast line from the Sultan of
Brunai was not a continuous one, there being breaks on the West Coast in
the case of a few rivers which were not included. The annual tribute to
be paid to the Sultan was fixed at $12,000, and to the Pangeran
Tumonggong $3,000--extravagantly large sums when it is considered that
His Highness' revenue per annum from the larger portion of the territory
ceded was _nil_. In March, 1881, through negotiations conducted by Mr.
A. H. EVERETT, these sums were reduced to more reasonable proportions,
namely, $5,000 in the case of the Sultan, and $2,500 in that of the
Tumonggong.
The intermediate rivers which were not included in the Sultan's cession
belonged to Chiefs of the blood royal, and the Sultan was unwilling to
order them to be ceded, but in 1883 Resident DAVIES procured the cession
from one of these Chiefs of the Pangalat River for an annual payment of
$300, and subsequently the Putalan River was acquired for $1,000 per
annum, and the Kawang River and the Mantanani Islands for lump sums of
$1,300 and $350 respectively. In 1884, after prolonged negotiations, I
was also enabled to obtain the cession of an important Province on the
West Coast, to the South of the original boundary, to which the name of
Dent Province has been given, and which includes the Padas and Kalias
Rivers, and in the same deed of cession were also included two rivers
which had been excepted in the first grant--the Tawaran and the
Bangawan. The annual tribute under this cession is $3,100. The principal
rivers within the Company's boundaries still unleased are the Kwala
Lama, Membakut, Inanam and Menkabong. For fiscal reasons, and for the
better prevention of the smuggling of arms and ammunition for sale to
head-hunting tribes, it is very desirable that the Government of these
remaining independent rivers should be acquired by the Company.
On the completion of the negotiations with the two Sultans, Baron VON
OVERBECK, who was shortly afterwards joined by Mr. DENT, hoisted his
flag--the house flag of Mr. DENT'S firm--at Sandakan, on the East Coast,
and at Tampassuk and Pappar on the West, leaving at each a European,
with a few so-called Police to represent the new Government, agents from
the Sultans of Sulu and Brunai accompanying him to notify to the people
that the supreme power had been transferred to Europeans. The common
people heard the announcement with their usual apathy, but the officer
left in charge had a difficult part to play with the headmen who, in the
absence of any strong central Government, had practically usurped the
functions of Government in many of the rivers. These Chiefs feared, and
with reason, that not only would their importance vanish, but that trade
with the inland tribes would be thrown open to all, and slave dealing be
put a stop to under the new regime. At Sandakan, the Sultan's former
Governor refused to recognise the changed position of affairs, but he
had a resolute man to deal with in Mr. W. B. PRYER, and before he could
do much harm, he lost his life by the capsizing of his prahu while on a
trading voyage.
At Tampassuk, Mr. PRETYMAN, the Resident, had a very uncomfortable post,
being in the midst of lawless, cattle-lifting and slave-dealing Bajaus
and Illanuns. He, with the able assistance of Mr. F. X. WITTI, an
ex-Naval officer of the Austrian Service, who subsequently lost his
life while exploring in the interior, and by balancing one tribe against
another, managed to retain his position without coming to blows, and, on
his relinquishing the service a few months afterwards, the arduous task
of representing the Government without the command of any force to back
up his authority developed on Mr. WITTI. In the case of the Pappar
River, the former Chief, Datu BAHAR, declined to relinquish his
position, and assumed a very defiant attitude. I was at that time in the
Labuan service, and I remember proceeding to Pappar in an English
man-of-war, in consequence of the disquieting rumours which had reached
us, and finding the Resident, Mr. A. H. EVERETT, on one side of the
small river with his house strongly blockaded and guns mounted in all
available positions, and the Datu on the other side of the stream,
immediately opposite to him, similarly armed to the teeth. But not a
shot was fired, and Datu BAHAR is now a peaceable subject of the
Company.
The most difficult problem, however, which these officers had to solve
was that of keeping order, or trying to do so, amongst a lawless people,
with whom for years past might had been right, and who considered
kidnapping and cattle-lifting the occupations of honourable and high
spirited gentlemen. That they effected what they did, that they kept the
new flag flying and prepared the way for the Government of the Company,
reflects the highest credit upon their pluck and diplomatic ingenuity,
for they had neither police nor steam launches, nor the prestige which
would have attached to them had they been representatives of the British
Government, and under the well known British flag. They commenced their
work with none of the _éclat_ which surrounded Sir JAMES BROOKE in
Sarawak, where he found the people in successful rebellion against the
Sultan of Brunai, and was himself recognised as an agent of the British
Government, so powerful that he could get the Queen's ships to attack
the head hunting pirates, killing such numbers of them that, as I have
said, the Head money claimed and awarded by the British Government
reached the sum of £20,000. On the other hand, it is but fair to add
that the fame of Sir JAMES' exploits and the action taken by Her
Majesty's vessels, on his advice, in North-West Borneo years before, had
inspired the natives with a feeling of respect for Englishmen which must
have been a powerful factor in favour of the newly appointed officers.
The native tribes, too, inhabiting North Borneo were more sub-divided,
less warlike, and less powerful than those of Sarawak.
The promoters of the scheme were fortunate in obtaining the services,
for the time being, as their chief representative in the East of Mr. W.
H. READ, C.M.G., an old friend of Sir JAMES BROOKE, and who, as a Member
of the Legislative Council of Singapore, and Consul-General for the
Netherlands, had acquired an intimate knowledge of the Malay character
and of the resources, capabilities and needs of Malayan countries.
On his return to England, Mr. DENT found that, owing to the opposition
of the Dutch and Spanish Governments, and to the time required for a
full consideration of the subject by Her Majesty's Ministers, there
would be a considerable delay before a Royal Charter could be issued,
meanwhile, the expenditure of the embryo Government in Borneo was not
inconsiderable, and it was determined to form a "Provisional
Association" to carry on till a Chartered Company could be formed.
Mr. DENT found an able supporter in Sir RUTHERFORD ALCOCK, K.C.B., who
energetically advocated the scheme from patriotic motives, recognising
the strategic and commercial advantages of the splendid harbours of
North Borneo and the probability of the country becoming in the near
future a not unimportant outlet for English commerce, now so heavily
weighted by prohibitive tariffs in Europe and America.
The British North Borneo Provisional Association Limited, was formed in
1881, with a capital of £300,000, the Directors being Sir RUTHERFORD
ALCOCK, Mr. A. DENT, Mr. R. B. MARTIN, Admiral MAYNE, and Mr. W. H.
READ. The Association acquired from the original lessees the grants and
commissions from the Sultans, with the object of disposing of these
territories, lands and property to a Company to be incorporated by Royal
Charter. This Charter passed the Great Seal on the 1st November, 1881,
and constituted and incorporated the gentlemen above-mentioned as "The
British North Borneo Company."
The Provisional Association was dissolved, and the Chartered Company
started on its career in May, 1882. The nominal capital was two million
pounds, in £20 shares, but the number of shares issued, including 4,500
fully paid ones representing £90,000 to the vendors, was only 33,030,
equal to £660,600, but on 23,449 of these shares only £12 have so far
been called up. The actual cash, therefore, which the Company has had to
work with and to carry on the development of the country from the point
at which the original concessionaires and the Provisional Association
had left it, is, including some £1,000 received for shares forfeited,
about £384,000, and they have a right of call for £187,592 more. The
Charter gave official recognition to the concessions from the Native
Princes, conferred extensive powers on the Company as a corporate body,
provided for the just government of the natives and for the gradual
abolition of slavery, and reserved to the Crown the right of
disapproving of the person selected by the Company to be their Governor
in the East, and of controlling the Company's dealings with any Foreign
Power.
The Charter also authorised the Company to use a distinctive flag,
indicating the British character of the undertaking, and the one
adopted, following the example of the English Colonies, is the British
flag, "defaced," as it is termed, with the Company's badge--a lion. I
have little doubt that this selection of the British flag, in lieu of
the one originally made use of, had a considerable effect in imbuing the
natives with an idea of the stability and permanence of the Company's
Government.
Mr. DENT'S house flag was unknown to them before and, on the West Coast,
many thought that the Company's presence in the country might be only a
brief one, like that of its predecessor, the American syndicate, and,
consequently, were afraid to tender their allegiance, since, on the
Company's withdrawal, they would be left to the tender mercies of their
former Chiefs. But the British flag was well-known to those of them who
were traders, and they had seen it flying for many a year in the Colony
of Labuan and on board the vessels which had punished their piratical
acts in former days.
Then, too, I was soon able to organise a Police Force mainly composed of
Sikhs, and was provided with a couple of steam-launches. Owing doubtless
to that and other causes, the refractory chiefs, soon after the
Company's formation, appeared to recognize that the game of opposition
to the new order of things was a hopeless one.
Footnotes:
[Footnote 16: Now Sir ALFRED DENT, K.C.M.G.]
[Footnote 17: The Protectorate has since been proclaimed.]