Since these lines were written, his noble spirit has passed away. But, though by those who knew him not, he may be sneered at as an enthusiast, adventurer, or abused as a hard-headed despot, the universal testimony of every one who came in contact with him in his adopted country, whether European, Malay, or Dayak, will be that Rajah Brooke was a great, a wise, and a good ruler—a true and faithful friend, a man to be admired for his talents, respected for his honour and courage, and loved for his genuine hospitality, his kindness of disposition, and his tenderness of heart.
Writing in 1866, the old Rajah said of his nephew:—
He is looked up to in that country (Sarawak) as the chief of all the Sea-Dayaks, and his intimate knowledge of their language, their customs, their feelings, and their habits far exceed that of any other person. His task has been successfully accomplished of stamping out the last efforts of piratical Malayan chiefs, and their supporters among the Dayaks of Saribas, and of other countries. He first gained over a portion of these Dayaks to the cause of order, and then used them as his instruments in the same cause, to restrain their countrymen. The result is that the coast of Sarawak is as safe to the trader as the coast of England, and that an unarmed man could traverse the country without let or hindrance. It is a great gratification to me to acknowledge my nephew's devotion to the cause to which my own life has been devoted. It is well that his strength has come to supply my weakness, and that his energies and his life (if needed) should be given to establish the governorship, and promote the happiness of the people of Sarawak. My career draws to its close, but I have confidence that no consideration will turn him from the work which I shall leave for his hand to do.
How deserved this trust was, has been made manifest by the present Rajah's own life-long devotion to the interests of the people he was ordained to govern. On his accession, no change was made in the wise and liberal policy of his predecessor. Only such reforms and improvements, administrative or otherwise, consistent with that policy have been made. Up to the time of the first Rajah's death, no great progress commercially and financially had been effected, and it was left to his successor to promote the commercial and industrial advancement of the State. The Sea-Dayaks and tribes of the interior still required a strong hand and a watchful eye to keep them in order, and the subsequent large additions of territory entailed greater responsibility and harder work.
In the gradual establishment of a government suitable to the country and its people, the main principles that have guided the late and the present Rajah are—that the natives should, through their chiefs, have a full though subordinate share in its administration and its councils; that their own laws and customs should be respected, though modified where necessary in accordance with the first principles of justice and humanity. That no sudden and wholesale changes disquieting to the native mind should be made, and that reforms should be very carefully considered from both the white man's and the native's point of view before being introduced, and that if carried out, it should be done gradually. Thus, without giving rise to any opposition or discontent, slavery, which was at one time in a cruel and oppressive form, by a gradual process of ameliorating the condition of the slaves, enlarging their privileges, reducing the powers of owners and increasing their responsibilities, in course of time ceased to be a profitable institution, and died a natural death without any sudden and violent legislation.
How that was done will be shown in the following chapter.
Among the Spartans a drunken helot was produced, staggering and imbecile, to show the young into what a disgraceful condition a man fell who gave way to liquor. And in Borneo, in the Sultanate of Bruni, the people had before their eyes a reminder of what was a bad, irresponsible government.
The old Rajah left behind him one of the noblest records of a life devoted to the cause of humanity, and of a task completed, which has been equalled by few men. His motives, untarnished by any desire for honours or for worldly advancement, were as pure as was his chivalry, which was without reproach. No better man, and few greater, have lived.
That those who vainly sought by the degradation of his position to enrich themselves should have turned round upon him, and have vilified a character whose humane and lofty views were foreign to their own, is not so surprising as that ministers and politicians of the highest repute should have lent ready ears to their libellous and unfounded statements, and have treated with a total absence of a spirit of fair play a man whose policy and methods merited their fullest recognition and support.
Ergo Quintilium perpetuus sopor