Borneo produces all the valuable articles of commerce common to other islands of the Eastern Archipelago. Its mineral productions are equally rich, and include gold dust, diamonds, pearls, tin, copper, antimony, and coal. The interior is quite unknown. It is three times larger than Great Britain, and is supposed to contain about 3,000,000 of people.
I have purposely avoided speaking of the trade and commerce of the islands of the Eastern Archipelago, as they are subjects which do not fall within the sphere of our enquiries, in a review like the present; although the productions, the trade and commerce of nations are properly a branch of ethnological enquiry, in a more enlarged view. An interesting pamphlet, embodying much valuable information on the commerce of the East, has been lately published by our townsman, Mr. Aaron H. Palmer. This gentleman is desirous that the United States government should send a special mission to the East Indies, as well as to other countries of Asia, with a view to extend our commercial relations. The plan is one that deserves the attention of our people and government, and I am happy to state that it has met with favor from many of our merchants engaged in the commerce of the East, as well as from some distinguished functionaries of the government.[46] England, France, Prussia, Denmark, and Holland, have at the present moment, expeditions in various parts of the East Indies and Oceanica, planned for the pursuit of various scientific enquiries and the extension of their commerce. With the exception of Prussia, these nations seem to be desirous to establish colonies; and they have, within a few years, taken up valuable positions for the purpose.
Is it not then the duty of our government to be represented in this new and wide field? Our dominions now extend from ocean to ocean, and we talk of the great advantages we shall possess in carrying on an eastern trade; but how greatly would our advantages be increased by having a depot or colony on one of the fertile islands contiguous to China, Java, Borneo, Japan, the Philippines, &c. An extended commerce demands it, and we hope the day is not distant when our government may see its importance.
England, France, Spain, Portugal and Holland have possessions in the East. The former, always awake to her commercial interests, now has three prominent stations in the China Sea,—Singapore, Borneo, and Hongkong. But even these important points do not satisfy her, and she looks with a longing eye towards Chusan, a point of great importance, commanding the trade of the northern provinces of China, and contiguous to Corea and Japan. The "Friend of India," a leading paper, "is possessed with a most vehement desire," says the editor of the "China Mail," "that the British, without infringing their 'political morality,' could contrive some means of obtaining the cession of Chusan, which, in their hands, he believes, could be converted into a second Singapore, and become one of the largest mercantile marts of the East."[47]
It is evident from what has been stated, and from the opinions expressed in foreign journals, that the attention of the civilized world has been suddenly attracted to the Eastern Archipelago, and it is only surprising, considering the knowledge possessed by the European nations, of the rich productions of these islands, and the miserable state in which a large portion of their inhabitants live, that efforts have not before been made to colonize them, and bring them under European rule.
The Spaniards contented themselves with the Philippines, but the Dutch, more enterprising, as well as more ambitious, extended their conquests to Sumatra, Java, the Moluccas, and recently to Bali, Sumbawa, Timor and Celebes. But these are not all, for wherever our ships push their way through these innumerable islands, they find scattered, far and wide, their unobtrusive commercial stations, generally protected by a fort and a cruiser.
It is said that the natives feel no attachment for their Dutch rulers, which, as they possess so wide spread a dominion in the Archipelago, is much to be regretted; for this feeling of animosity against them, may effect the relations that may be hereafter formed between the aboriginal races and other Christian people. Attempts will doubtless be made to prejudice the natives against the English, but the popularity of Mr. Brooke at Sarawak, in Borneo, his kindness to the natives, and the destruction of the pirates by the British, will no doubt gain for them throughout the Archipelago, a name and an influence which the jealousies of other nations cannot counteract. The natives of these islands except those of the interior, are strictly a trading and commercial people. Addicted to a seafaring life, and tempted by a love of gain, they traverse these seas in search of the various articles of commerce which are eagerly sought after by traders for the European, India, and Chinese markets. Piracy, which abounds in this region, grows out of this love of trade—this desire for the accumulation of wealth—and we believe that nothing would tend to suppress crime so effectually as the establishment of commercial ports throughout the Archipelago.
It is said that the population embraced in the twelve thousand islands of which Polynesia consists, amounts to about forty millions. No part of the world equals it in the great variety and value of its products. There is scarcely an island but is accessible in every direction, abounding in spacious bays and harbors, and the larger ones in navigable rivers. The people are generally intelligent, and susceptible of a higher degree of cultivation than the natives of Africa, or of many parts of the adjacent continent.
To obtain a station or an island in this vast Archipelago, we should require neither the outlay of a large sum of money, nor the loss of human life; no governments would be subjected, or kings overthrown. Civilization and its attendant blessings would take the place of barbarism, idolatry would be supplanted by christianity, and the poor natives, now bowed down by cruelty and oppression, would, under the care of an enlightened government, become elevated in the scale of social existence.
The cultivation of spices in the Archipelago, and the acts by which the monopoly is secured by the Dutch in the Moluccas, reflect little credit on human nature. "No where in the world have the aboriginal tribes been treated with greater cruelty; and in some cases literal extermination has overtaken them. Their tribe has been extinguished, they have been cut off to a man, and that merely lest, in order to obtain a humble subsistence, they should presume to trade on their own account in those costly spices, the sale of which, without right or reason, Holland has hitherto thought proper to appropriate to herself. No form of servitude, moreover, equals the slavery of those who are engaged in the culture of the nutmeg-tree. They toil without hope. No change ever diversifies their drudgery; no holiday gladdens them; no reward, however trifling, repays extra exertion, or acts as a stimulus for the future. The wretched slave's life is one monotonous round, a mere alternation of toil and sleep, to be terminated only by death."[48] The northern portions of New Guinea, as well as other islands, are in the same latitude as Banda and Amboyna, and produce the nutmeg and other spices. They might be extensively cultivated by the natives, if encouragement was given them; and a sufficient supply obtained for all the markets of Europe and America.