The Sun.
London, England, 1850-04-19 00:00:00

"*IV

LONDON,: FRIDAY. APRIL 19, 1850.

Our noblest public benefactors usually find their
reward either in the grossest aspersions or in insinua-
tions of the most dark and dastardly character. Last
evening Sir JAMES BROOKE, the illustrious Raja of
Sarawak, came in for the customary instalment of the
national gratitude. Having dedicated his private
fortune to the service of his fellow-creatures and the
extension of the glory and influence of England, he
is charged with speculating in the affairs of Labuan
with a view to his own pecuniary advantage. Hav-
ing devoted the best years of his manhood to the cause
of our colonial government, he is accused of having
embarked in an expedition detrimental to the interests
of his fellow-countrymen. Having again and again
emperilled his life, and having, moreover, by his
self-sacrificing regard to the welfare of huma-
nity, undermined a naturally robust constitution, he
is designated (we cannot but think somewhat sneer-
ingly), in the British House of Lords, " a gallant
romantic English gentleman." The nobleman who
permitted himself to become the disparaging satirist
of this eminent citizen was no other than the Earl of
ELLENBOROUGH j and the occasion afforded him yes-
terday for the utterance of these melancholy and un-
deserved accusations was the second reading of the
Pirates' Head Money Repeal Bill. We fully and
earnestly sympathise with the emotions of mingled
regret and indignation which the Noble Earl the
Chief Secretary of the Colonial Department evinced
while repelling the attacks levelled against his
Excellency Sir JAMES BROOKE by the ex-Governor-
General of our Asiatic possessions. Few
will withhold their coincidence in the opinions ex-
pressed by Earl GREY in language of deep and elo-
quent admiration. The career of the Raja of SARA-
WAY, in truth, is precisely one of that description
which secures the cordial regard of a race whose
veins are beating with the blood of the Angles and
the Saxons, and whose ancient parentage maintains
among them a passionate devotion for the memory at
once of the chivalric warriors of Normandy and of
the adventurous Vikings of Scandinavia. His cha-
racter is of that hardy and resolute kind which is of
all others dear to the hearts of England. His only
weakness, if such in his instenee it can be desig-
nated, is one arising from the depths cf his
conviction, from the earnestness of his belief, from the
ardour of his moral temperament—we mean
that religious zeal which opportunity some-
times freezes into bigotry, and sometimes in-
flames into fanaticism. Otherwise than in his
austere predilection for his own doctrinal
opinions, or rather fur the doctrinal opinions of the
class with whom he sympathises, to the exclusion
from his regard of all other religionists, the nature of
this distinguished man is one such as extorts respect
and elicits eulogium. Yet it is against this
unselfish and valiant Englishman that a Peer
of the realm has dared to direct the most
shameful and detestable inuendoes

According to the Karl of ELLENDOROUGH, his Ex-
cellency Sir JAMES BROOKE is " a gallant romantic.
English gentleman." IVell, of his gallantry there is
no question, of course, whatever—that being the
groundwork of his reputation. But the Raja e
SARAWAK, saith the Lord of Southam, is " romantic"
In every individual no doubt, whose character is at
all chivalric, there is necessarily a large amount
of what is termed romance. But, assuredly,
if Sir James BaooxH is romantic
,to :any
extravagant degree, his romance is of the
most practicable kind imaginable. Vor example,
it is very romantic to be sure—the creation of an-
other colony hard by the Eastern Archipelago. The
romance of such an act, we opine, is somewhat of a
kind with that of Sir STAMFORD RAFFLES ! Then,
again, it is marvellously romantic of course—tae
establishment of the site of a city already sprouting
into existence on the coast of Labuan. A romance,
this, kindred with the romance out of which have
arisen, at intervals, firstly, the hovele and