The Express.
London, England, 1852-11-22 00:00:00

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L,)NDON, MONDAY. NOVEMBER 22.

Tim two journals—one morning and one evening
—which have recently devoted their columns to the
graceless task of backing-up and beslavering Mr.
Disisteu, tried hard on Saturday to prove that no
real difference exists between the Pre° Trade motion
of Mr. VILLIERS and the ingenious sham of Mr.
Dtsa.tem. But the advocacy, though clever, is not
likely to be successful, since Free T rade is a topic by
this time thoroughly well appreciated throughout
the country, and certainly understood in the
House of Commons. Mr. Viweas's motion—as all
will see —is the substance, and Mr. 1)v-Jun.1's
the shadow ; and surely alter his long labours in the
cause of Free Trade, the honourable member for
Wolverhampton is not at all likely to mock the dog
in the fable by dropping the reality to grasp at the
eh ire. Yet the ingenious Mr. Disteesii, who thought
the House of Commons so ignorant and dull-witted
that he might palm off upon them as original
anything he could get from the French,
now adds to the insult by coolly offering
to cajole the Free Traders into copying the folly of
JF.sor's dog. The CHANCELLOR of the Exalt:ewes
—in all the fulness of self-esteem—thinks himself
quite clever enough to humbug them again as he has
humbugged them before, and now asks them to forget
all that has passed—and to shut their eyes and open
their mouths and swallow what he would give them.
If—as the 'Tories tell us—there is no difference
between the propositions of Mr. FREE-TRADE
ILEUM; and Mr. ANTI-FREE-TRADE Disitaxu,
why do the Ministers propose the amendment
at all ? this one question exposes the hol-
lowness of the counterfeit which is sought to be
palmedoff for reality. The two motions are thoroughly
distinct, fur the one declares the Free Trade policy to
be "seise and !mod," and the other altogether ignores
huh its wisdom and its goodness; the one calls upon
the house to put commercial operations upon a clear
and firm and satisfactory basis, by affirming the
principle which has made us all so prosperous--the
other purposely shirks the question of principle
altogether, merely admitting the fact of existing
prosperity (which nobody can deny), and promising
to bring forward certain unnamed plans which their
author says will not interfere with that prosperity.
Lord DERBY gained what ho wanted in the late
Parliament by giving a promise that the country
should be appealed to for a final decision of that long-
litigated cause—High Rents versus Cheap Bread.
When he had made that promise, he was permitted to
carry on the government of the country with en un-
constitutional minority. This leniency was shown
towards him and his colleagues, because it should
not be said they had not received fair play. The pro-
mise then given has, in the fulness of time, become
due—the Parliament elected specially to decide the
character of our commercial policy now sits ready to
listen to the final pleadings on each side, and to
deliver its solemn verdict. Like any other unscru-
pumas hired advocate, anxious only for individual
success, the CHANCELLOR of the Exclieueea
wants to divert the attention of the court from
the true and real issue. He bangs out a sham to
jurplex the case and bother the less acute of the
rymen, seeking to get a verdict that may be here-
after reopened,in place of such a decision as will place
the whole subject satisfactorily at rest. But the
occasion is too serious, the stake too heavy, the
House of Commons too intelligent to be blinded to
the true issue—and upon that and that only this
week must assuredly see the verdict given.
Rumours are of course abundant, and ampnget them
the loudest is that which tells of serious dissensions
in the Cabinet. It is evident that there is a split
amongst the Ministers, which each step of their
progress can only render wider and wider. Their
private character and public declarations both show
this; and no man can wonder , when the nature
of its components is remembered. Many an honest
Protectionist must indeed blush to be drawn along
ignominiously as one of the tail of a man made up
of broken promises, awkward juggles, and second-
hand speeches, like Mr. DISRAELI. Why should a
man of ancestral honour, noble position, and ample
fortune stoop to be the tool of such a schemer?
How can meraof clear and strongly-expressed views,
like Mr. CHRISTOVIIER or Colonel 811ITHORP,
wheel clean round, like barn-top weather-cocks,
when commanded so to do by a bottle con-
juror? It is quite clear there must be dissension in
any camp made up of such materials as that over
which Lord DERBY now presides. The divisions
are palpably shown the Journals which support
the Tories—onespeaking to those who are willing
to move on, the of er to those who hang back. The
Examiner has nicknamed them " the Two Voices,"
and has selected the following passages in justihca-
tion of the title:

FORWARD OR MORNING BACKWARD OR ITISNING
TOICK. TOICR.
" The acceptasee of the "Mr. Vidiem may propose
eeonomieel policy for which a resolution simply laudetory
the tuition has decided ie as of ' free trade.' Very well.
distinct, as unequivocal, and 'Free trade' (we use the
sareservid as say that common mid, without
wean-
party ever obtained or asked mg to be WWI reload to admit
from party, or men from that, in this land of malt-tax,
man. A long-agitated yam. hop-tax, land-tax, tobacco
lion is settled; "mold medal prohibition, &c., &c.,
is at rest; the Frm traders trade isfres)—fres trade'
Aore WON the laid; Lie eye. is the law, sad the lam is to
tees for sehieh they Mee be supported, and its hard•
serrygied is areepled without skips mad 41 AMC SCI to 8r po-
tatter prated; it is mfe, if heal, mortared as ionq as if
so trtimipMeit; their fears TlONdline the tam, AND UNTIL
ewer d, their dindiee or. a rata CHANCI OF BIRPRAL.
their Male is INO IT WITHOUT PUILIC IN.
rat • stark dome. CONTRA/MICR APPIAHI TO
Maid may sow tans to OTTFA. Let Mr. Chilies
the practical hominess which Villiers and his friends,
requires her attentioo if thereforejmagnify free trade
°sly she be permitter; by to their hearts' contest. We
faction Mr.Viibers, then, "'soot why any Conservative
is commoa with all Eogland, members by speech or
knows the basis on which vote interrupt their eulogies
the government's financial or triumph. No doubt, if
policy will henceforth stand ; they attempt In prove the
the detsili of the policy, and jmetiet of their peusryyries by
indeed the policy itself. ex- ategeel facts, the temptation
misting it. feodaniental prin. teal be strong to demonstrate
cipie, he knows not. Iliat the fa'aelsend of their allega-
bandeau ntal principle is the lions; but perhaps it will be
very same for which he con- the better comae to resist
tends. It has been merited ; this temptation, and to leave
is if recognised to thelittlest them to their not very sobs
eatent .... What pad le ob- exultation. Mr. Villiers's
.vet me be gained by the propositim may, liwever, go
obtruded natio. of Mr. Vit. furthor, sad demand from
hers ? The principle of free Parliament a pledge to main-
trade must he meognieed. tans free trade to the end.
Bed recognised if now is • re- 1 his is a move serious matter
emaserie vs lotA alder oiterth for Parliament. and for the
Mum of Parliament. This onintry through Parliament.
ie turning the gravity of Parliament, asked, TOMTA
polka business into open bind iisef by any p 'dye bed
mummery. Mr. Villiers it may elevates it'd., end
would have the skip that is the system of Parliamentary
lineched plied on the stake ymorrainna by attempting to
again, Income it was not bind •riett."—Stoodos4 of
Isunelied under hie direct Tuesday night.
sue ices."—llrrold of Tues.-

day morning.
%%en the enemy are divided, the Liberals and
Free 'readers should be all the more faithful to their
test. 'that same busybody Rumour which has made
free with the Tory cabinet, has not hesitated to in-
sinuate suspicions that certain Whigs might be in-
clined to accept Mr. I/ISRAELI'S counterfeit in place',
of the reality for which he wishes it to bo mistaken.
But inch suspicions must be groundless. The
country wants a perfectly clear and distinct verdict,
and nothing lees will be satisfactory. Sir JAMES
GRAHAM will never consent to be untrue to the
memory of his friend Sir ROBERT PEEL ; will
never swerve from declining the justice of his
great leader's policy. Mr. GLADAWNE is too
completely bound by his character by the
future of his political career by his many
eloquent declarations and elaborate arguments
on Free Trade—to hesitate about affirming its
'ambit; and justice. Lord Jonn RessELL is either a
thorough Free-trader or an fete political mistake.
Mr. VtLet EPA and Mr. Costs s, the champions of the
, can never traitorously stay their hands when
tae rt blow is to be given to the Bread-tax Imposi-
tion they hive hunted to its last den; whilst who could

for an instant doubt the stadrastneee, to the last man,
of Mr. Huns and the Radicals? The CRAN-
CIMLOS of the EXCIIEQVIIR must not reams too
much on the credulity of the House—.-though he
did palm off upon it French tinsel for native gold.
Ilia Oration was found out, and he need not expect,
any better fate for his Amendment.

Tait last faseieuhts of " further correspondent's
respecting piracy on the coast of Borneo" which has
just issued from the parliamentary press is important.
It exhibits in brief space the doings of Sir JAMES
BROOKE at Borneo from the commencement to what
we expect is likely to prove the close of his career.
He began as a trader. lie found the commerce of
European traders at that time unrestricted. Hs
desired to restrict it, and to make it, as he says,
" a monopoly." His motive may have been a
good one ; but we scarcely can believe it. When
a trader in the position of Sir JAMES Bacons
deliberately avows such a purpose, for so he
does in one of the documents before us, expens-
ing his belief that the then meditated demand of
Labuan would facilitate its accomplishment,
and assuring his then partner, that,—far from
refusing the proposed cession, or insisting on
the fulfilment of the condition of tribute an-
nexed to that of Sarawak previously extorted—
"the SULTAN will grant anything which may be re-
quested of him "—when we are told that for two
years at lost " the monopoly of the Borneo coal," as
be terms it, was afterwards enjoyed by himself under
the express cession of the SULTAN—and when WO
find that his first act on occupying Sarawak was
to create another monopoly, that of antimony,
to the great enhancement of the price and dimi-
nution of the supply of the article,. and that
he enjoys to this day the exclusive benefit of the
new monopoly—we cannot refuse to concur in
the opinion of Mr. Hume, kI.P., and to ask
Lord MALMESBURT (Correspondence, p. 3), why
Sir James Baootta one, amongst English traders
in Borneo, "should be considered immaculate and
above suspicion, while the evidence of all others is
rejected as unworthy of credit."
It is, indeed, fit matter for astonishment that one
so obviously amenable to the suspicion of trade rivalry
and self-interest, and occupying, above all, the in-
congruous and ambiguous -character of vassal Rajah
under the Sultan of BOR.NEO, should ever have been
selected by Ministers to fill the double office of com-
mercial and diplomatic agent of Great Britain at the
court of the same potentate, and
.governor of a
Possession of the British Crown within the same
island. Nor is his own account of the cir-
cumstances attending his acquisition of the Rajah
such as to diminish the astonishment. It was
acquired on the 24th of September, 1841, as his
" Diary " (Vol. 1., p. 268) informs the world, by vio-1
lence and intimidation. lie boasts " that the nego-
tiation proceeded to a favourable issue under the
guns of the Royalist yacht," in the presence of his
armed men, and "amidst the roar of cannon." In
the first instance be would have it appear that ho suf-
fered no conditions to be imposed upon him. His pre-
sent story however is, that in 1842 he bound himself
to pay a tribute of 2,000 dollars a year to the SUL-
TAN, in order to obtain his confirmation in the ltuj.
But the tribute, if in fact it were ever paid, was
not destined to have a long duration. In July,
1846, Sir James BROOKE, in his triple capa-
city of Envoy, Governor, and Rajah, "advised,
accompanied, and guided" Sir Titom.is COCII-
RANE (who acted entirely on his information
and advice) in his naval expedition against
the capital of Borneo, captured it, drove the SULTAN
" as far as possible into the jungle," and obtained " a
fresh grant, to himself and his heirs for ever, of the
territory of Sarawak, omitting the yearly tribute."
It is noticeable that neither of the gran:s has been
laid before Parliament, and that Lord PALMERSTON
and Mr. Disn•e4t have repudiated all recognition of
the Raj, in the name of the late and of the present
government. We may add, that it now appears
from the statements and confessions of " tho
!Wan," that pecuniary and other relations have
existed between him and the SULTAN, such as " to
place his conduct and the honour of the British Go-
vernment in an extraordinary point of view ;"—whe-
ther they do or do not in Lord NiALMEABURT'S
judgment, deserve the attention of the Foreign-
office.

The massacre on the ever memorable night of the
31st July, 1849, is now a tale ; and yet justice is
still unsatisfied. The destruction of from 1,000 to
2,000 poor creatures in a single night, without fire.
arms, and opposing no resistance, and for every ono
of whom the head money of 20/. was at that time
claimable , is surely an important incident; too im-
portant to be passed over upon a mere suggestion or
suspicion of piracy which rats moreover upon the sole
assertion of Sir JAMES BaooKe, the promoter of the
massacre, and is contradicted by the strong memorial
of not less than fifty. three merchants of Singapore,
well instructed of the circumstances, and the evi-
dence of his own partner, Mr. Wise, and of
nearly every man who has ever traded or navi-
gated in the Archipelago. The utter want
of testimony corroborative of the RAJAn's own ac-
count of this dark transaction is indeed remarkable :
—end the more so, singe we observe, from the cor-
rupendenee now before us (pp. 371-43), that there
exists at Sarawak and eke at lAbuan, a practice very
similar to that of the "ea officio oaths" of the STUART
time, whereby when the ruler would find out the
authors or promoters of scandalous rumours to his
prejudice, his lieges shall come forward to clear them-
selves of the suspicion, or to east it upon others
by " volnutary affidavit." We have also be-
fore us the zealous but unsuccessful attempts
of Sir JAMes Bitoole, to obtaic from • naval
court of inquiry the dismissal of Mr. MILLER, sur-
geon of the Nemesis, and from the judges of Singa-
pore that of Mr.Woone, the deputy sheriff of the co-
lony, for having made public the horrid murders
done in eo'd blood by the crew of Sir JAMES
BitooKe's spy-boat, such u that of the "four Dyak
men coming peaceably down the riser with a cargo,"
and " the old toothless man on a small raft paddling
towards them;" and the consignment of a Dyak wo-
man to slavery (pp. 48-9); and other atrocities of a
revolting nature. From these attempts of his we may
pretty plainly understand the condition of public
opinion at Laboan and Sarawak, whore the !Luse
reigns without controL
To Mr. If the country owes this thorough ex-
posure of these deplorable transactions, and Sir J.
BaooKs this last opportunity of exculpation, so fre-
quently offered him in vain. In his letter of March 5,
1830, indeed, written from Singapore, he seemed to
present himself at the bar, and to demand of
Lord PALMERSTON "an inquiry,_ conducted by
competent and impartial persons." But the pur-
pose, if seriously formed, was soon abandoned ;
and inquiry is refused—by Lord MALMESBURT
as by Lord PAurrasrom—out of deference to
the feelings of Sir JAMES BROOKE (Correspondence,
p. 20). 11'e notice • similar change of purpose
in his proceedings before the Naval Court of Inquiry.
It was summoned to try Mr. MILLER " for commu-
nicating the details (there specified) to the editor of
the Straits Times newspaper." Had Sir JAMES
Baooee persisted in that form of accusation, Mr.
Mittea was prepared, he says, " with sufficient proof
of the coldblooded slaughter,' to hive justified the
fact, " as his boat's crew and officers in the expedi-
tion there were most anxious to have his (Sir James's)i
doings made known to the government." But at
the court of inquiry this charge was carefully avoided
by the prosecutor, and in its stead that of " giving
information to the editor, detrimental to her
MAJESTY'S Government," was dexterously substi-
tuted ; and on that charge Mr. MILLER war of
course acquitted without further investigation.
Again, when the Judges of Singapore refused to
obey the Itsiait's behest, and dismiss their Deputy
Sheriff, Mr. Wooos, without a trial, they intimated
to " His Excellency " that his proper course would
he to sue Mr. Wools in their court for the alleged
libeL Ho shrunk from doing so. (Pp. 37.8.)

But, although Sir JAMES BROOK !ibi unwilling, yet
must the inquiry proceed. It is due to the honour of our
Government—to the interests of our colonies—to the
happiness of the human race,—that one man's impu-
nity shall not be left to become a precedent here-
after. Nor should it be forgotten that, at the very
time we are writing, the powers which he received
from his Sovereign, and which he is said to have
abused, are still vested in his hands ; nor are they
likely to rust for want of exercise. It was but tho
other day that our commerce in the Archipelago
was saved, by the sharp and timely protest of the
Singapore merchants, from a foolish war with
Siam threatened by Sir Long Baooux in revenge

of the failure of his diplomacy there to I
obtain a Welty of commerce. What othir enter-
Wass of the same kind this potleenan of many
functions ma), have in view we know not bat sore
we an that it is high time to step them. The Rajah
of sagawAic ought not to be allowed to represent
her Manua' In any capacity, mail Mr. Rumr's
gill unanswered appeal of the 22nd June last to
Lord MALIIYABOIT has been replied to, and an in-
quiry has bees Instituted end brought to a termina-
tion such as shall satisfy the cells of national
character, and content the ends of justice.