Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1909-07-28

IN RSeHII colony which controls, 1ndus-
In 4z9l trially and defensively, the
l1SzZ&HlI sea trade routes between the
east and the far east. Singapore is
the chief city and port of the colony,
and from it Great Britain governs the
nations and islands of Malaga, some
of them directly and others indirectly,
and from here England takes toll ana
share of the Industrial profits of the
Dutch East Indies.
Harsh critics of the imperial policy
of England have not hesitated to as
sert that the British appetite for
square miles extends to every foot or
land and sea of whatever description
But it must be admitted that the Brit
ish palate is particularly tickled by q
bit of land which lies hard by a mar
row passage of water connecting Two
large bodies of water" known to the
geographers as a "strait. Take q
map of the world and look 1t over Tor
straits Wherever there Is q strait
nine times in ten there will be Brit
ish possession alongside. Gibraltar,
Malta, Hong Kong, the Bahamas, ia
maica, Trinidad, Ceylon, Falkland
islands. Alden and others of lesser I'M
portance, not to speak of the occu-
pancy of Egypt and control OF the ar
tificial strait of Suez, are links in the
red chain of British empire upon
which the sun never SETS.
Some of these straits settlements
scattered in every quarter of the globe,
are important stations, fortified and
prepared to defend the empire at the
lannon's mouth as we'll as on the quay
and in the counting ROOM others, IKE
the Bahamas, are held only because
they were once important and may
again become so in time. But Wher-
ever there Is a strait through which
considerable commerce flows, or may
be expected to flow, there is the Eng
lishman. China may recall that Hong
Kong was wrested from the middle
kingdom by an unholy war, Argentina
may annually protest to every great
power that England has no legal or
moral right to stay in the Falklands,
even decadent Spain may keep up the
show of a claim to Gibraltar; but the
British Jack still casts a shadow over
every ship that passes through the
narrow straits.
Furthermore the England of Eng
land. the "home" England, keeps
these scattered bits of the great en-
pire under it's sole control No ma
tional independence such as is en-
1oyed by Canada, Australia or South
Africa is their lot. No halfway con-
cessions to native opinion such as are
sometimes granted in India may be
hoped for where John Bull sits to
watch the ships sail through the mar
row sea. These colonies built upon
straits, all of them of any Importance,
are crown colonies, governed absolute
ly by the supreme will of that repre-
sentative of the party in power In Eng
land who for the time being holds the
portfolio of secretary of state for the
colonies.
one of these colonies has the name
1.-THE Straits Settlements" and, now
ever inconvenient for daily use, the
name is full of meaning and suggests
the secret of the dominancy of the
British empire. The Straits settlements
controls in both the military and busi-
ness sense, the Straits of Malacca. The
colony consists Of the island of Pr
nang, off the coast of the Malay pentn-
sula and nearly opposite the northern
end of the Dutch island of Sumatra, or
small section of the mainland just
opposite, of another tiny bit OF the
peninsula further south called the
bindings" of the city and territory or
Malacca and of the island of Singa-
pore, we'll toward the southern end OF
Sumatra. All of the Malay peninsula
is under British control or protection,
and the English ION the spot" look
longingly toward the rich Dutch
islands and bewail the misguided d.
plOmacy Whlcn permitted the NelhSi :
lands to reoccupy those portions OF
lava and Sumatra which the free
hooters of the East India company
once captured.
In the Settlements Singapore over
shadows all else in Importance, al
though Pinang is one of the chief tin
ports of the world and is a very pros
porous city. Malacca sits broodlns
over her departed glory. Here the tide
of Portuguese empire in the east was
at its crest when Malacca was hailed
as an eastern Rome. Here in later
days the Dutch held sway as masters
of the eastern seas. The English came,
in their turn, built other cities, and
Malacca was dead. Neglected by liners
and small steamers. served only by
small coasters, tramps and junks, Ma
lacca keeps its Portuguese fort, It's
Dutch stadthouse and it's ancient MS