The Sun.
London, England, 1847-10-02 00:00:00

THE INDIAN ARCHIPELAGO.
Mr. Brooke is on the eve of return to his native
country after a nine years' residence in the Indian
Archipelago. It has fallen to the lot of few men by
their own unassisted energy and individual enterprise
to render a service to their country so important as
that performed by Mr. Brooke during the period of
his absence. It will be owing mainly to his exer-
tions if by the possession of Labuan and the exten-
sion of British supremacy over the adjacent coast of
Borneo we attain a commanding position in time of
war, and a refuge for our commerce during peace in
the waters of the Archipelago. The residence of
Mr. Brooke at Sarawak, and the unceasing repre-
sentations made by him to the home Government
have given the death-blow to the exclusive system
of the Netherlands authorities in that portion
of the globe. They had drawn a line of posts,
commencing from Sinkell, in Sumatra, to the
Straits of Morty, which lie to the north-
ward of Gilolo, and within these limits all was
marked as their own in possession or in exrct
a-
tion. The poor loop-hole of the Singapore Straits
was all that was left to Great Britain in exclusived
up
by
the
right, for the great Malacca pass is
Symplegades of Lingin and Sintang, which may in
war be used as naval depots to the detriment
otifmeef
British
intercourse with China by that route.
Not only were the outer passages, as the Straits of
Sunda, thus hermetically sealed, but in the interior of
the Archipelago the Netherlands Government had dis-
played as anxious a care to establish their autocracy
upon a permanent basis. Mr. Brooke himself has
furnished us with a list of the positions. Thus we
find the Gasper Straits under the Dutch authority of
Banca and Billiton. Borneo and Billiton commanded
the Casemate Pass ; Salayer and Bouton, the eastern
ass , age - and Balla and Bema, the routes towards
passage
e'ew South Wales. It is impossible to doubt that if
war had actually broken out, at the cost of much valu-
able life we might have forced these avenues ; but the
policy of the Dutch was to remain at peace, and by
means of the impediments thus thrown in our way to
exclude us from the Archipelago. That they have
not done so is, we repeat it, mainly owing to the
energy and exertions of Mr. Brooke. More than-
this, he has been the means of directing the attention
of the Government to the absolute necessity, for the
credit's sake of the British name, of suppressing
the atrocious system of Malayan piracy which
endangered the progress of our growing commerce
with China, and inflicted the severest suffering upon
thousands annually of our fellow-creatures. As we
have little doubt that but for the attention which has
been directed by the exploits of Mr. Brooke to the
subject, Borneo would have still remained a sealed
book to British enterprise, we may add that he has
been mainly instrumental in opening to the English
merchant the resources of that immense island, teem •
ing as it is with mineral and vegetable wealth, and
inhabited by a population ready to take our manufac-
tures in exchange for the products of their soil.
There has been nothing fortuitous, nothing acci-
dental, in the career of Mr. Brooke in those distant
seas. He did not stumble by chance on a pot of gold
and make it the foundation of his future success.
By strenuous exertion, great inflexibility of purpose,
and the power of influencing his fellow-men, coupled
with the most perfect simplicity and purity of inten-
tion, he has practically and successfully worked out
that which twenty years ago was a foregone conclu-
sion in his own mind. It is told of him that while
still a youth in India the undiscovered secrets of the
Indian Archipelago were to him what the stories of
another continent were to the first American navi-
gators. He did not, however, give way to the
romantic impulse which prompted him to throw
himself at once into the midst of its mysteries.
He returned to England, and deliberately pre-
pared himself for his great enterprise. That
rarest of all combinations, strong judgment
with vivid imagination, appears to have formed the
striking feature of his character. The last impelled
him to action, the first suggested the best mode of
carrying his purpose into effect. Even after he had
fitted out the Royalist, and manned her with the best
crew he could obtain, he was not satisfied that on the
other side of the globe he should find that prompt obe-
dience from hie men on which the safety of all, and the
success of the enterprise, must entirely depend. For
months and months he kept his ship at sea before turning
her prow to her ultimate destination, that his crew might
acquire habits of subordination and implicit reliance
on the word of their chief. When arrived in Borneo
Mr. Brooke did not unduly hurry on results. lie
waited until he had acquired such influence over the
natives as would induce them to look up to him
as their protector, and yield a cheerful acquies-
cence in the measures he might propose for
their benefit. It was not until September, 1841,
:that he received a cession of the territory and
government of Sarawak from the Raja Muda.
Hussim. When this gift had been ratified by
the Sultan, instead of turning the acquisition to his
own private ends, and endeavouring to make his
profit of the antimony mines in the district, we find
Mr. Brooke applying to the Home Government, and
only anxious that his country might reap the
fruits of his successful enterprise. " How can
I be otherwise than happy," he writes from
Sarawak in the latter end of 1841, " when I
know that lam of service to a most unhappy race,
and that I am giving an impulse to this fine island
which must soon approximate it to the rest of the
world, instead of leaving it hermetically sealed, with
its millions of inhabitants, as it is at present ? If,
however, we do not take care, the Dutch will have it,
and then farewell hope; for Dutch rule with respect
to natives is a palsy and death to British manufac-
tures. Is the British lion for ever to crouch beneath
the belly of the Dutch frog ?"
The two motives of philanthropy and patriotism
would perhaps have been the only ones sufficiently
strong to have sustained Mr. Brooke in his six years'
struggle to carry his purpose into effect. We do
mot mean to cast any blame on the Administration
of either Sir Robert Peel or Lord John Russell
for having thrown undue delays in the path of the
English Raja of Sarawak. The late and present
Premier, Lords Aberdeen, Haddington, Palmer-
ston, and Grey, took the right measure of the man
with whom they had to deal. The encouragement
given to Mr. Brooke in the prosecution of hie
enterprise is a singular instance of official sagacity—in
exception to the general rule in such cases. It might
be wished that a little more had been done, and that
it had been somewhat quicker done; but Mr. Brooke
may congratulate himself on having accomplished
more wonderful things in Downing street than
on the banks of the Sarawak River. The advan-
tages of such a port as Labuan for the China
trade, and the certainty now established of
the presence of coal in Borneo in large quan-
tities and of excellent quality, was doubtless the
main point that determined the Government in
favour of Mr. Brookes's plans. The position of thin
port is excellent for the purposes of steam navigation
in the Chinese seas, being about 700 miles from
Singapore, and about 1.000 miles from Hong-Kong. It
is situate at a point where British influence is essen-
tial to the security from hostile attack, whether by
pirate or enemy, of our communication with China
and the productive islands of the Indian Archipelago.
.Mr. Brooke has, we believe, just been appointed, as
be most richly merited, to be the first Governor of
Labuan, and to him we look for the future with per.
feet confidence to watch over the interests of Great
Britain in those distant seas.
The account we recently published of the attack of
the Nemesis on the Malay pirates, and the narrative
at the captives, are sufficient to show the fearful
mature of the atrocity it has been one of Mr.
Brooke's most anxious thoughts to suppress. These
ruffians roam about the islands of the Archipelago,
and landing here and there, seize upon and make
captive whomsoever they can find. Men, women,
and children are torn from their homes and consigned
to dreadful and perpetual captivity. Whenthey
were attacked by the steamer, they caused their
prisoners to sit on deck during the action, that they
.might fall the firstctirns to the fire of
those who
would fain have been their liberators. It is im o 3
sibie, of course, to approve the wild. P
justice ofthe.
Sultan and the Pangerit.n loormein when the pirates
were delivered up to them,
mlt is possible, however,
the terror of the example operate to deter
others, and the men richly deservedayv their fate. 'When
Mr. Brooke is installed in his (eleiirstinde.ent at Labuan,
if sufficient means be placed at
will be
be expected that the system of MalayisP3sal, it is to
ohoroughly rooted out from the Archipetracoy
The general interests of Borneo, and of EuR
commerce, are not likely to receive any harm --
Mr. Brooke'f t
Brookes temporary absence. All is quiet ma
Brune and Sarawak. He will be back at his pose
in April or May of next year, and it would not be
possible to carry on proceedings at Labuan in the
interval, on account of the north-east monsoon.
The first notice Mr. Brooke will have of his appoint-
ment as Governor will be on his landing in England.
This, however, will not, we trust, be the only token
lie will carry back to the land of his adoption of the
jidoirati on and respect of his countrymen.—Times.

FIRE AT BOCKlNG.—Chinery's Farm, in Panfield-
lane. doe to the above town, which, within the last
twelve nrwiths, has been on two different occasions the
scene of deft tation from the hauls of incendiaries, was
01 Sunday nic..ht again similarly visited, a tire breaking
out about harf-past ten P.M. A large shed used for
_horses, nearly the whole of a stack containing twenty
Vans of hay, about an acre of oat straw, and a number of
..-.-Liricfarmiug implements, were destroyed. The Braintree
,‘
" 1.• eit wern in attendance, and by the exertions of those
siaaided by Superintendent Malins and a body of
pot,
i*t barn with its contents, which caught fire
was damaged, was saved from entire destruction.—
tY.iniel-nqford Chronicle.
Ladjr Congreve and attendants arrived at Blackwall
yes,•erda:, afternoon by the General Steam Navigation
Comvany .11.44111-ship Triton from Ostend, after ti quick
Pie.
N.
.44