The Express.
London, England, 1853-01-26 00:00:00

BORNEO AND RAJAH BROOKE.

TO Tlll IDITOiI OT TIM NITRICOO.

St=,—There is so much new matter on this sub-
ject since the last Blue Book on this subject was
issued, that an entire case has been made out, and I
send you a copy of my letter to the late Foreign
Secretary on that subject.
In that letter I have considered it my duty to enter
into the proceedings of Sir James Brooke from hie
arrival at Borneo, that the English readers may have
an opportunity of knowing the truth, and then of
judging for themselves how far that officer has de-
served the high honours that have been bestowed on
him by her Majesty, by the Universities of Oxford
and Cambridge, by the City of London, and other
public bodies. A system of misrepresentation of the
acts of Sir James Brooke by his supporters has
conveyed to the British public very extravagant
ideas of his magnanimity and generous philanthropy
in incurring great labour and much expense, solely
with the view to spread the knowledge of Christia-
nity amongst the ignorant and benighted natives of
Borneo.

The public have been by these means so strongly
in his favour, that they have considered the massacre
of 500 human creatures (unresisting men) at one
time, on the night of the 31st of July, 1849, as a ve-
nial offence, and unworthy of notice ; and although
the island of Borneo has been at different times
laid waste by fire and sword, to carry out
the schemes he has had in view, yet the generous
feelings of the British people have passed over these
outrages against the laws of God and man, under the
spell of the word " pirates." These unfortunate abori-
gines of the island of Borneo—some of them living
80 and 100 miles from the sea coast—having had
their villages burned, their trees cut down, their
fields laid waste, their poultry and cattle stolen by
the British forces, assisted by the natives of Sara-
wak, under Sir James Brooke, have not met
with one sigh of sympathy from the charitable and
humane people of this country.
Although 20,7001. sterling was paid out of the
taxes of this country in 1851-2 for the massacre of
500 men, and for the destruction of 2,000 more in the
night, I was unable scarcely to obtain even a hearing
from the British House of Cominons on the 10th of
July, 18.51.
I only demanded inquiry into the sacrifice of so
many fellow creatures to ascertain if they had me-
rited the punishment of death. But so blessed were
the Howie of cz
-rimons under theen oneousand extra-
ordinary speeches of her Majesty's ministers, that
only
.19 voted with me for inquiry, and 230 against
inquiry.
I venture to say that such a vote is not to be
found in the annals of parliament as that decision
against my motion. I received many letters, stating
that they were sorry to see me so wrong in that
cue, and that my persisting to demand inquiry
was persecution to so great and so good a man as Su.
James Brooke.

My simple answer to all these. communications has
been, that when upwards of 100,00 W. of the public
taxes have been paid as head money, or blood money
as some call it, in the years 1850 and 1851 for the
destruction of Dyaks and others alleged to have
been pirates, and when Sir James Brooke's own
depositions, and the reports of public officers com-
manding the naval forces of her Majesty and of the
East India Company, now before parliament, make
the number of natives of Borneo who have been de-
stroyed at different times since 1843 to amount to
nearly 5,000 souls, I really had hoped that, in a Chris-
tian country, an inquiry might have been granted.
I have patiently submitted to the reproaches so
freely cast upon me, and to the abuse which Sir Jas.
Brooke and his partisans have directed against me
since 1851, and have been assiduously employed in
obtaining documents as proofs to establish
either Sir James Brooke's innocence or his
guilt in all these transactions. Her Majesty's
government under Lord John Russell refused the
public des pitches of the naval officers engaged in
these bloody transactions that I demanded; and Sir
James Brooke shrunk from inquiry under the sin-
gular delusion that the refusal of my motion by the
House of Commons for inquiry on the 10th of July,
iiitsl, wee an acquittal
Under the administration of the Earl of Dcrby I was
able to obtain many public papers refused to me by the
former government, and I have taken the trouble to
~ring into short compass the chief points of the long
and mot extraordinary career of Sir James Brooke
in the reports, and addressed on the 10th of Decem-
ber, 1852, to the Earl of Malmesbury, the Minister
for Foreign Affairs. I have confined my statement
almost entirely to the evidence of Sir James Brooke
and his friends, Captains Mundy, i.feppel, and others.
I hope to secure a dispassionate consus.mmtioo of my
statement, and of the extraordinary and most anoma-
lous position of Sir James Brooke at this moment.
I only ask your honest and conscientious opinion
whether I have made out a case for inquiry—that is
all,—in the first instance.

I remain, yours sincerely,
JOSEPH HUM&
Burnley Hall, Jan. 18, 1853.

RAILWAY AND OTHER BILLS ON
STANDING ORDERS.

Yesterday Mr. Smith and Mr. May, the barristers
appointed by the Home of Commons to inquire into emi-
r planes with the standing( orders, in the case of railway and
other bills in session 1863, met for the first time at eleven
o'clock, in Committee Rooms No. 15 and 16. The various
parliamentary agents, engineers, solicitors, and ether parties
interested, were in attandessoe, and the standing orders were
declared to be complied with in the following cases :
WOODFORD RAILWAY.—For power to incorporate a
;many to make a line from the Nast and West India
and Birmingham lunation Railway, at Hackney, to
Woodford.

RAJ? AND WRIT INDIA focus AND BINMINOIAIt
;UNCTION BAILWAT.—For consolidation, dimolution, and
re-Incorporation of sampan, under • new name, power to
construct new works and raise additional capital, and to
convert debentures into a perpetual preference stock.
BANGOR AND CA/WANTON RAILWAY.—For power to
sell or lease to the Chester and Holyhead Railway, and
erect hotel at Bangor.
LONDONDIANT, COLN/LAIN/ AND BILTAITIIINCTIOW.—
Constrootion aline from Coleraine to Castle Dawson, with
branch to Rmsdalstown._

Beamuur COMMIS RAILWAT.—LiIIe from Longhton
to Woodford.
CRYSTAL Pramm Comsaxr.—For inoorporation and

Hil TI MM ASSOCIATION.—For incor-
wtioa of compass, mud purchase of the lease of Her
Majesty's Theatre.
Gam, ExsaLmoaa. CIMITILLY AaaocLtrorr.

MAILS TO INDIA, CHINA, &c.

The following notice has been issued from the
General Post-oMoi : Her Majesty's government having
concluded a new contract with the Peninsular and Oriental
Steam Navigation Company for the conveyance of mails,
by et Southampton, to Malta, Egypt, Ceylon,
I, and China, twice in every month, instead of once,
as heretofore, mails for the above mentioned places, aa well
as for Gibraltar and the balms Islands, will in future be
despatched from London, by tte route of Southampton, on
the morning of the 4th es well as on the morning of the
20th of each month. Mails for India, &c. (including
China) will also be made up, for transmission, trio Mar-
seilles, on the evenings of the Bth and 24th of every mouth.
When the 4th or 20th of the month falls on Sunday the
mail* via Southampton will be mole up in London on the
previous evening ; and when the Bth or the 24th of the
mouth falls oa Sunday the mails eia Marseilles will be
made up in London on the evening of the following day.
The following table will show the rates of postage charge-
able upon letters for the several places, and also the rego.
lotions, as to route, under which they are forwarded :
Bars of Poeta(' on • Se& I
Letter.

MIMS of I.

!W ( Oam►

I via south
Ws.

a d.

rfft r
=
looks Lim

1 $

1 e
1 10
1 10
1 10

s. d.
1 0

1 0

1 6
1 0
1 0
1 6

1 II

1 •

Letter 'resew by first
packet, the days or
dispatch being Iles
4th, 7th, 17th, ZOth,
117th of each month
Letters ars met by AM
snail, whether British
packet, via Marseilles
or via Southampton,
or Free& packet, via
Marseilles.
Letters for these plates
are sent via Mar-
seilles, unless other-
w.se specially .d-
-dressed.
Letters are sent via Bel-
gium and Prussia
daily, unless specially
addressed via Mar-
seilles or vim South-
moon.

THE LADY JOCELYN, which has just arrived at
Plymouth, brought, in addition to a Cape of Good Hops
and India mail, a mail from Western Australi►, the date of
which is Oct. 18.

HEALTH Oil LONDON.
- -
By the Registrar-General's return we are informed
that the number of deaths registered in the metropolitan
districts in the weak that ended last Saturday is nearly the
same as in the week preceding, being 994. In the ten
corresponding weeks of the years 1843-52 the average
number was 1,084, which, if corrected for increase of popu-
lation during these years, gives a mortality of 1,192 fur the
present time. Last week's return, therefore, exhibits a re-
. duetion of 198 on the estimated amount.
Cases of fever, both typhus and scarlatina, have been
numerous and fatal in particular parts, hut it is satisfactory .
to bud that, taking the whole of Loudon, the mortality of
the epidemic class of diseases shows some diminution when
compared with that of the previous week, and that tt is also
lam than the average of corresponding weeks in former
years. In the last four weeks scarlatina destroyed succes-
sively 67, 66, 63, and 38 livea; typhus, which hes been more
uniform In, its results, was fatal in 51, 43, 52, and 4S cases.
Judging from the mortality, diarrhms shows no disposition
to prevail, and no deaths have been recorded from English
or other cholera during the last three weeks. But hooping-
cough rose from 39 deaths in the previous week to 49 in the
last; bronchitis from 67 to 82; plithisis was fatal in the last
three weeks in 104, 12,5, and 134 cases. In connexion with
this increase in affections of the respiratory organs it may
be noticed that the mean weekly temperature, which at the
beginning of the year was so high as 47'5 deg., and was
atterwards 4.5 deg., fell last week to 41.9 deg.
In the sub-district of Woolwich Dockyard, at 7, Artillery-
place, the son of a tailor, aged 4 years, and the sou of a
gunner and driver, aged 2 years, died, the former of " con-
fluent small-pox (14 days)," the latter of " varlet&
(.5 days)," and at 8, Artillery-place, the son of a gunner and
driver, aged 3 years, died of " variela (8 days)." Two of
these children had not been vaccinated.

In the south sub-district of St. Giles, at 17, Little Wild-
street, the son of a printer, aged 2 years, died of scarlatina,
and in the workhouse a girl, aged 2 years, died of the same
disease. Mr. Faulkner, the registrar, states that "searU-
tioa is still very prevalent in his cub-district; the informant
of the death in Little Wild street had five other children
suffering from this complaint."
In the Church sub-district of Bethnal-green, at s,Gartlen-
place, on 20th January, the son of a hawker, aged 2 years,
died of fever; an inquest was held, and the following ver-
dict returned:—" Natural death from typhus lever, caused
by a nuisance from a cesspool on the premises, and the coro-
ner is requested to write to her Majesty'. Commissioners of
Sewers to direct their immediate attention to the erection
of a sewer to relieve the place from future danger." Mr.
Briggs, the registrar, adds The want of sewerage is
severely felt in this part of my district. Another thud lies
ill of the Isms complaint at the above-mentioned house,
and is not expected to live."
In the Amwell sub-district of Clerkenwell, at 8, Red
Lion-yard, Great Warner-street, on 14th January, the son
of a farrier (deceased), aged 14 years, died of " typhus (3
weeks)." Mr. Squire, the registrar, was informed by the
mother of deceased that " she has four other children who
have lately suffered from the Same disease ; that the room
• h .
us WtUA
uve . u
ilt over si.rtle id which several
pigs are kept; also that the effluvia from the drains nit
most offensive, and in her opinion the CAW. of till Wilts, of
her family."
la the sub-district of Kentish Town, at 6, Sussex-place,
Prince of Wales'-road, on the 111th January, the sou of a
plasterer, aged 3 years, died of "typhus (6 days)." Mr.
Hacker was informed that " the drains of this house wars
very offensive." Three deaths occurred from scarlatina,
and one from remittent fever, at Plumetead.
In Hoiton Old Town' at 3, North-port-street, on 16th
January, the wife of a banker's clerk, aged 66 years, died
of "chronic bronchitis (3 or 4 years)." Mr. l'earce, the
Registrar, Says:—"'Thu street, and a main street adjoiniug
called Mintern-street, have been in a neglected and un-
healthy state fur a lung period. The mud and elush are in
some parts twelve inches deep, occasioning stagnant water,
which I believe to be an accelerating cause of bronchial
affections, and other disease/ now in the neighbourhood. I
hear:that the authorities of the parish are waitiug tar sewer
gulleys."
At 2, York-place, City-road, on 11th January, the widow
of • dyer died of " influeusa (one week)" at the age (as
reported) of 101 years. She was in possession of ail her
faculties to the last, and was out of doors 14 days before her
decease. The son of a labourer, aged 2 years, died of " sea
sickness with continual vomiting (6 nays), convulsions
(8 hours)." At St. George's Hospital, on 14th January, a
man cook, aged 39 years, died of "carbuncular abscess of
thigh (one month)."
Last week the births of 790 boys and 787 girl', in all 1,577
children, were registered in Loudon. In the eight corre-
sponding weeks of the years 1846.62 the average number
was 1,427.

At .the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, the mean height
of the barometer in the week was 99.468 in. The mean
temperature was on every day above the average of 38 years,
but it allowed much variation, having fallen on Tuesday tq
37'6 deg., or only 1.1 deg. above the average, and Ikon.
after having risen ow Thursday to 49t vihidi 12.0
m deg. above the see: of MO. t:Ay On Saturday it bill
again to SS 9 deg., and the mean of the week was 41.9 deg.,
which is 6.4 deg. above the average. On Monday, Tues-
d_a_yt end Saturday the wind blew from the north-west; on
Wednesday from the south; at other times from he south-
west. The mean dew point temperature was 3.5.4 deg.