Sir Spenser St. John says, in his Rajah Brooke:—
"In the autumn of 1866 he (the Rajah) received a severe shock. His nephew, the Tuan Muda, wrote that he had sold the steamer Rainbow to pay off a debt due to their Singapore agent—a debt incurred through careless extravagance in carrying out his many public works at a time when funds were scarce. For a moment it almost stupefied him, as this steamer had not yet been paid for," and "Sarawak without a steamer, he felt assured, would sink back into its old state of insecurity; and therefore another steamer must be had. By great exertion, he succeeded in raising the necessary funds, and purchased a vessel which was christened the Royalist."
Sir Spenser must have trusted to his memory, which played him false. The Sarawak Government had then another and a larger steamer, the Heartsease,[[293]] and the Rajah was having the Royalist[[294]] built in England to carry mails and merchandise to and from Singapore. He was consulted about the sale of the Rainbow and sanctioned it, for he wrote to the Tuan Muda on March 6, 1865, "We are quite agreed as to the advisability of selling the Rainbow," the purchase money to go towards paying for the new vessel he was having built. The Singapore agents were instructed to remit the money home, but, without the knowledge of the Tuan Muda, kept it to cover an over-draft. This over-draft was not incurred to pay expenses of public works, but for absolute necessaries. The Rajah had but little trouble to raise the balance due on the Royalist; and even this was not necessary, for a Singapore Bank at once advanced an amount equivalent to the balance due on the Rainbow, which was remitted to England.
At Burrator, his little out-of-the-world Devonshire seat, on the edge of the moors, the Rajah was perfectly happy so long as not troubled with bad news from Sarawak. He devoted himself to the country-side folk, who were greatly attached to him. His life was one simple and contented; he enjoyed the exceeding quietude, and he was happy in trying to make others happy. Riding and shooting, so long as his health permitted, were his amusements, parish affairs, and the improvement of his little property, his chief interests.
The longing to return to his people was strong upon him. But, as time advanced and his strength diminished, he foresaw that what had become the desire of his life would be denied him. Some three years before his death he wrote to the Tuan Muda, "Farewell, think of me as well content, free from anxiety, and watching your progress with pride and pleasure."
Largely assisted by the late Sir Massey Lopes, who owned the land in the parish, he "restored" the Parish Church, and was instrumental in a new school being provided. The church contained a magnificent rood-screen, richly carved and gilt, extending across the nave and aisle; indeed it was the finest specimen in that part of the county. Unhappily neither the Rajah nor Sir Massey could appreciate its artistic and antiquarian value, and it was ruthlessly swept away. No architect was employed, only a local builder, and the new work done in the church is as bad as can be conceived, such as was likely to proceed from the designs of a common ignorant builder.
On June 11, 1868, Sir James Brooke died at Burrator, leaving the succession of the raj to his nephew Charles Brooke, and his male issue, failing such to his nephew H. Stuart Johnson and his male issue. In default of such issue, the Rajah devised his said sovereignty, "The rights, privileges, and power thereto belonging, unto her Majesty the Queen of England, her heirs and assigns for ever."
He was buried in the churchyard at Sheepstor, and a memorial window to him has been placed in the church.
Dr. A. Russel Wallace, in The Malay Archipelago, 1869, says:—
That his Government still continues after twenty years, notwithstanding frequent absences from ill health, notwithstanding conspiracies of Malay chiefs, and insurrections of Chinese gold-diggers, all of which have been overcome by the support of the native population, and notwithstanding financial, political, and domestic troubles—is due, I believe, solely to many admirable qualities which Sir James Brooke possessed, and especially to his having convinced the native population, by every action of his life, that he ruled them, not for his own advantage, but for their good.