The Sun.
London, England, 1851-07-11 00:00:00

much larneetai that the hate Right Hon. Baronet the
Member for Tarnworth was no longer among thew, be:
cause he held a letter in his hand from the late Bieb!
Hon. Baronet, in which he expressed an opinion that
delay would be dingeroue, that an inquiry ought to take
place. He said he had read wib great pain the fact!
which had been :dived, but would suspend his judgeie,,
until a full explanation had been given. It was that le"
explanation which he (Mr. Hume.) sought. It was P°9.
siblo that he might be wrong, but still respect for the
feelings of large bodies of men, for the character of
Oil
country, and ef Sir J. Brooke. himself, ought to indted
the Government to support his motion, and he shoe,
have great eatielactien if the result or the inquiry sh°tiiwu
prove that he was mistaken. He would, therefore, COw
elude by moving the address.
Mr. HE ADLAM said he had listened with great pt•
tendon to the speech of the Hon. Member for e'Sfeletr`le•
on this subject 11154 year, and he never in his life gal%
vote with a more decided conviction of itsproprie ty
when on that occasion he voted in a majority of luee'
which negatived the motion, in opposition Co 1.,„1:4-
(Hear, hear.) The Hon. Met, ber complained of S°,,;
Members not confining themselves to the charges be'crea
the House, but when a high-minded gentleman ischergh•
with something very like murder, those who made
charge must not be surprised if the friends of Sir
Brooke sought to trace these calumnies to their source%
—(Cheers) Lawyers had a maxim that no Kneen wte
had been once acquitted ought to be again tried for IP,
same offence.—(Bear, bear.) This doctrine, shell'',
true is general, he did not wish to carry to any absorl
extent, and be therefore admitted that in mattere 014
great public interest an exception might be made; (111/,‘
had the lion. Member for Montrose LOW brought.. ti.°'„
ward any very important evidence which was not befog
the House on the former occasion, or shown any retdl
for reversing the decision of the House, he ntig'.o
have been justified in main dragging Sir J. Bre;
lorward before the country; but after listening to' id
Hon. Member with the greatest attention, be was le9tl,
to say that he had adduced no material evidep""ol
whatever on this occasion which he might` te
have brought forward last year—(Hear, he'll.) is
and with respect to the new documentary evidence, 0
rondo the case of Sir J. Brooke infinitely stronger tit
before.—(Hear.) The motion asked, in the first 10::
for an inquiry into the proceedings of Sir J. Broo/Isoi
secondly, for en inquiry into the attack of the 30
July, 1849; and, thirdly, asked her Majesty to camel,
that certain questions of state policy might be 0%
'aided to the judges. Now, it was not customary et
confound questions of state policy with indictments 'c/ii
murder.—(Hear, hear.) But he would pass to the re,
charge against Sir J. Brooke, which seemed to be 01,1:
The Hon. Member for Montrose said that these
the Sarebas and Sakarrans, were not pirates, but bet
0,
less unoffending people, and perfectly incapable, We,
want of civilization and development, from doing 81
harm to any one, least of all to Europeans; that tll4lO
had done was to carry on intertribal wars, and
they had never committed piracy; that at all eilel/if
they had not committed any at that time, and 0401,0
they had that an unnecessary degree of cruelty had bell
exercised. What evidence had they on the subject 1 ale
addition to the abundant testimony already before
House, documents had been laid on the table that al
which most completely confirmed that testimony In,
respect to the cruel massacres perpetrated by Wei,/
pirates. Borneo, as the Honourable Member 0
Montrose observed, was a large place; but beip
were references to the very tribes and plaeeit,o
question by their names.—(Hear.) It appeared Pot
though the Dyaks from Sarebas and Sakarran werel3,,
themselves very strong in arms, they were joined aft
Malays and Arabs thereefs. In the rapers laid bet°„„
them that morning, be found a report quoted, dated 70
tuber, 1830, which recommended that these Ole
should be attacked when they had returned to their get
treats. Great stress had been laid upon the fact t°4
there were several vessels from this country which bed,
never seen any pirates; but it should be remetaberr..
that piracies in these seas took place only during a °dee,
Lain period of the year, and it was absurd to say that
tale vessels having seen no pirates, therefore Dove eroi
isted there Why, se far hack as the year 1834, we Iles,
in treaty with the Ku g of the Netherlands for the fro
press purpose of putting' down piracy in the Malg,
Archipelago, and the King of the Netherlands adePn
measures for suppressing it. In addition to this, v.° P(10
a treaty with Borneo to put an end to it. Sir Jam
Brooke had received instructions from the 14°Ile
ie
Lord at the Foreign-office to use his power and 'Ol
fluence with the same object in view, and nureer°
representations had come from the mercantile c°o,„,
munity complaining of piracy. Under these cirel,
stances it was that Sir James Brooke, when .vg
had adopted the very best mode of suppresoll3,
piracy, was denounced in this House and before
country as the murderer of an unoffending race of mania!
(Hear, bear.) The Hon. Member then read a le,t'e
w
which had been written by a naval officer at preseo
the coast guard, and formerly serving on board ,`De
Ariadne ship of war in the Indian Seas, in which I,f
writer bore his personal testimony to the existenee6
pirates on the coast of Borneo, and stated that 00 co
occasion he himself narrowly escaped with his life (gibethem, and that at another time an attack upon (gibe
Ariadne by three prahus filled with men was preeenve
only by firing a 24-pound shot across their bows. ee
writer added that he thought an instance like te',;
where a vessel of war had deen attacked by °mei,
" daring robbers," was sufficient to convince even eh,
Cobden himself of the piratical character of the tribes'
(Laughter, and Hear, hear.) In the year 1844, Car e
Keppell was engaged in similar operations against tO,
De bits of Serebas, and his conduct was then ecke°b,
ledge() and approved by the company at Singspore.l,l
commander-in-chief on the station, and the Lords
the Admiralty. Captain Keppell said that on that oecr
o
seen the pirates were the first to fire, and that in eleee
than a quarter of an hour they were driven from i""
guns.
Mr. COBDEN (we understood)—You said just 004
they had no fire-arms.
ebe
Mr. HEADLAM—No. What he had said we'
the Dyaks, taken by themselves, had not many fireder"-,10
but that they were in communication with and seeder e,
influence of the Arab shereefs, and that when the el,
bleed fleet went forth—composed of Dyaks and shames
and Malays—they were armed with fire-arms.—(llesoo
hear.) Captain Keppell then proceeded to say Os! "0
less than 56 guns of various sizes were taken, as well
a vast quantity of ammunition; that a ton and a half
gunpowder tell into the hands of our people, and Irer
besides this 200 piratical boats were destroyed. Aittpo,
having punished the two principal tribes of the pirt",:e
Captain Keppell next determined on attacking the trier,
who furnished the fire-arms, who mustered 10,000 ei‘ee
riors, and could put to sea with a hundred prahus; .4%
he stated in his report that the interests of British cfrof
entree would be greatly advanced by the continuaneell
le
e
be for tee suppression of piracy in those seas• siee
be meant by that was, that after making these email
iitme slight supervision might be exercised, so es ,
prevent the renewed growth of these piratical cornlijd
cities, and their return to their former practices; 9 r
Captain Keppell and Sir J. Brooke seemed both to eoled
lain the opinion that very little force would be necetO,
for that purpose. But this plan was not adopted, and, ',
D 0
result was, that the tribes, forgetting what bad 0110
place, again resorted to their old practices, snared
consequence a similar example of them was requ'eo
to be made in 1849 Willi regard to this quesigli,
of " piracy," he confessed that he was a little °tie.
prised at bearing the doctrine which had been Pe,re-0
pounded by the Hon. Member for Montrose. -';'9
Hon. Member seemed to think that in respect to piritee,
ho roamed about the seas murdering men and w 0 it
and destroying all the vessels that came within !bed
reach, no step was to be token except to capture theta 13n
bring them to trial under the 3d and 4th Victoria,
,
(Hear, fuser, and a laugh)—that when the pirates
returning from a marauding expedition to the river fro
~0
which they had sailed forth, a steamer and one or tr,
boats were then to catch them; that instead of Pr
venting their issue from the river in the first place,
forces were to wait until they had seen the act of pirre
committed, and afterwards proceed to capture and t%
them according to law. Ho (Mr. Headlam) could P°,,
agree that that was the best mode of suppressing pireto,;
He did not thick that such a course bad ever bead
adopted by any
nation in the history of the world, e',"eo
he did not believe that that was the intention of
treaties between this country and the Netherlands, free
Sir James Brooke and the Sultan of Borneo. A gate
ti„ might arise as to what constituted piracy, and
James very properly stated that it appeared clear to who
that the plunder or seizure of a peaceful trader on the
high seas constituted an act of piracy without refereon'
to colour or nation. The good effects of Captain
it
pell'a opt rations against the pirates were stated by eer
James Brooke to consist in the fact that they no lovg„`te
ventured to take the sea in force, and that the loss of '1;0
and injury to commerce had greatly diminished. Thee-6
good Nets, he said, continued for two years ; but in 15'10
he was convinced that the former habits of the people
were too strongly planted in them to be eradicated II
peaceeul means, and that the impression produced te
them had gradually worn off. In that year their dePt-e d
dations at sea became more frequent, though notret
a formidable character, and after his departure Oa
England, in 1847, the pirates threw off all reserve 0111
harassed the trade as much as before. In consequence Pif
James made representations to the Commander-in-Cato
in the Indian seas, who, after satisfying himself of IRe
facts, ordered Commander Parker to make a similar IE
:
tack to that which had been made with so much encases
in 1844. These instructions of Rear-Admiral Collie',,
bad been produced, and they completely justified C 0133;
mender Parker in the course he had pureued—(HWA
—and not a word was contained in them which shoete
that the admiral entertained the slightest doubt of tai
propriety of making such an attack. It was said iba
European vessels bad not been assailed in the ModaYir
Archipelago. But let the House observe the mode 11,
which the trade was carried on in those seas. Vessels
were sent from this country to Singapore, and fr°7,
thence their merchandise was conveyed in small EV'
boats, to the coast of Borneo, and it was against thee(
small boats that the acts of piracy were committed. And t
the pirates put a stop to this transit of European gee)"
from Singapore to the coast of Borneo, surely it vol
practically the same, as far as injury to commerce ev
to particular tribes was concerned, as if European verf
sels themselves had been attacked. But, in point e,
fact, European vessels had been attacked, though he It;
mitted the number was not very great.—(Hear, beard
With regard to the allegation of cruelty which had Veil
brought against Sir James Brooke, the Hon. Member
quoted a passage from a letter of Commander Parker'
to the effect that when a consultation took place t'n
board of one of her Majesty's ships on the Born "
coact, with the view of making arrangements for "Cu
ting off' about 3,000 of the pirates who had escaee'
in the action of the previous day, Sir James Brooke cio'
cidedly rejected the proposal, as one which was calro::
lased to occasion "an unnecessary effusion of biocide,'
The Hon. Gentleman then read a letter from the Blab%
of Calcutta to show that the rule of Olf James Broker'