BORNEO.
Sir James Brooke, the Rajah of Sarawak, whose heroic efforts to suppress piracy in the Indian Seas have been noticed on a former page, continued his exertions in clearing those seas of the pirates, and in building up settlements on the coasts of Borneo. July was generally the expeditionary season for the pirate chiefs, and Sir James resolved this year to prepare for their severe chastisement, and, if possible, for their extirpation. Accordingly, Commander Farquhar, in command of her majesty’s brigs Albatross and Royalist, the celebrated steamer Nemesis, belonging to the East India Company, and the steam-tender Ranee, were joined by the rajah himself in command of a native flotilla. The squadron entered the mouth of the Sarrebas river, as the rajah had certain information that the pirates intended to inflict pillage and massacre upon the people of that neighbourhood. On the evening of the 30th, tidings reached Sir James that the pirates were attacking a place called Palo. The next day one of the look-out boats brought in tidings that the pirates were advancing in full force. The Nemesis first put to sea; and being seen by the pirates, they made for the Kaluka river. The boats under the command of Lieutenants Wilmshurst and Everest, with the native boats under Sir James, intercepted the pirate flotilla, the men-of-war’s boats opening a sure and destructive fire upon them. The night had already fallen, and the naval officers were anxious lest they should fire into the rajah’s boats instead of those of the enemy. A pass-word had been agreed upon to avert this danger—the word “rajah;” but the occupants of the native boats never ceased screaming this word, rendering it difficult for the naval officers to determine in what quarter there was an enemy, in which a friend also was not in danger of their fire. This state of hesitation favoured an effort to escape on the part of the piratical prahus, two of which made sail seaward. The steam-tender pursued, but the larger prahu made again for the river, was run down by the Nemesis, and her crew, sixty in number, were destroyed. The other prahu kept seaward, pursued by the tender, who fired into her a large congreve-rocket, by which she was destroyed. The boats of the squadron then rowed up the Sarrebas river, and destroyed a few prahus, some pirate villages, and a town which seemed to be the head-quarters of the pirates in that direction. The flotilla next proceeded up the Rejanz river, and severely handled the natives indiscriminately; for it was known that such as were not pirates themselves aided them in every practicable way. Several hostages and prisoners were taken; among others a little child, very fair, and apparently having belonged to European parents who were murdered by the Dyaks. It was found that, during the night conflict, a very extensive destruction had been inflicted upon the prahus and their crews. Dead bodies lay in great numbers washed upon the shores, with shattered boats, presenting a scene of wreck and slaughter terrible to contemplate. Of one hundred and twenty prahus which constituted the force of the piratical expedition, eighty were destroyed; about twelve hundred men of their crews perished. Most painful scenes were presented to the British in the course of their proceedings, horribly verifying all that had been heard of the cruelty of the natives of these regions. They had taken many captives, and before putting to sea decapitated them, and gashed their bodies with knives: many who had been thus treated were women. When the news of these proceedings reached England, there was a great public outcry; Mr. Hume, Mr. Cobden, and many members of the Peace Society, alleging that Rajah Brooke had instigated these measures for his personal interests; that the inhabitants of these coasts were not pirates; that their armed prahus were their fleets, by which they desired to protect themselves from the rajah’s aggressions; and that England was dishonoured by the sanguinary destruction of harmless and unoffending natives. Evidence was adduced, on the other hand, to show that the persons destroyed were not inoffensive seafarers, but bloodthirsty barbarians and pirates. This evidence failed to convince those who raised and sustained the outcry, and ultimately the rajah had to return to England and defend, himself. He satisfied the government and the general public; but the party which had attacked him conceded little or nothing, and continued to denounce the proceedings of Sir James, in Borneo, as unjust and aggressive, with the ostensible object of abolishing the piracy alleged to be so prevalent on those coasts.