The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1905-06-09
sARAWAK'S sultan


RuIer-England's Delicate Position
Sir Charles Brooke enjoys the
unique distinction of being a subject
Of King Edward, an English citizen,
and at the same time a foreign soyer-
eign. He IL SO recognized by the Brit
ish crown, on the same footing al the
Indian feudatory rulers of the first
class, and therefore is entitled to a sa-
lutte of nineteen guns and TO all sorts
of other royal distinctions when he
visits his native land. He is Sultan Of
Sarawak, that is. the ruler of ali the
northern and western portions of the
great Malay Island Of Boreo. the
throne of which he inherited from his
uncle, Sir James Brooke. Sir James
was intrusted Jointly with the late Sir
Harry Keppel with the command of
I'LL armed expedition, fted out and dis
patched by Lady Burdett- Coutts, to
the Straits of MaIacca for the purpose
of putting an end to the piracy which
fifty years G infested these seas. He
declined to return with Sir Harry to
England when their mission was ac-
complished, and entered the service of
the Sultan of BOrneo, who a little later
on, in gratitude for his assistance,
ceded to him Il portion of his domin-
ions, namely, the Sultanate of Sara
wax, embracing about 100000 square
miles. His nephew and successor
served in the British navy from 1910
to 1851, and then quilted the service
to join his uncle and to become his
heir, succeeding to his throne about
five and thirty years ago. He is mar
ried to the sister of Harry de Windt,
he explorer, who spends S much
tine in this country, and who has at
t1acted attention by his repeated en-
deavOrs to cross from Alaska to the
most nOrtheasterly point of Siberia
dry shod over the ice.
Sir Charles Brooke is ut present in
volved in a dynastic quarrel. Some
years ago he invited his nephew,
brooke Johnson, to join MIN, in Sara
wax, n appointed him governor of
cne OF his provinces, postmaster gen.
eral, chief justice, and, | believe, even
commander of his army. At any rate,
Brooke Johnson directed several mill
tsry expeditions for the suppression
CT instructions and for the reduction
of unruly chiefs to subsection. In
sOme way he seems to have fallen out
with his cousin, Sir James Brooke's
son, and heir to the throne, Charles
Nyner Brooke, who, besides being a
member Of the Travellers Club, in
London, and a graduate of Magdalen
College, Cambridge, is a Rajah under
his fathers sovereignty, and acts AS
regent in the ~latter's absence. The
quarrel resulted in Sir Charles dismiss
ing his nephew from his service and
Vanishing him from his dominions.
Brooke Johnson thereupOn establish
ed himself as a trader in the territory
of Lawas, belonging to the Sultanate
Of Brunei. Recently Sir Charles
Brooke purchased from the Sultan of
Bruno the sovereignty of the province
of Lawas and thereupon called upon
his nephew, Brooke Johnson, to clear
out. Having built up a lucrative trad
ing business in LaWas, Johnson refus-
ed to do so, and, accordingly, Sir
Charles, nov Over seventy years OF
age, is marching at the head of an
army, differed by Englishmen, and
consisting of about 10000 splendidly
trained Malay Dyaks, armed to the
teeth, with the most modern maya
zine rifles and machine guns, into La
was, to drive out his nephew, who
his intention Of defending
himself and property to the last.
Under ordinary circumstances the
english government would probably
feel called upon to interfere in a wal
thus taking place between two Of it's
citizens in the far Orient. But this
would constitute an infractiOn OF the
sovereign rights of Sir Charles Brooke,
which have been guaranteed to him
by the British government, in return
for his acceptance of its suZeralnty,
and then, too, it would prove a sorry
recognition of all the work which Sir
Charles has accomplished in estaD-
lishing law a-S1 order among a people
that. until he and his uncle took old
of Sarawak, were renowned through
out the Orient for their sa~nguinary re-
1ocity. as the dreaded "Dyak head
hunters,' their rank, prestige and
wealth depending upon the number of
human heads which they had been
able to collect as trophies.
The history of b Brookes out IN
Sarawak is most rOmantlc and thrill
ing. Indeed, the very fact that OLD
/. Sir Charles should be exercising auto
cratic sway as an Oriental sultan over
nearly a million of Malays is in it
self Observation-Disclosures de ton-
tenoy in Washington Post.
Our Golden "Cold Waves
We Americans are always talking