In September, 1886, two cold-blooded murders were committed in the Tutong, within a day's journey overland from Bruni. Two young pangirans, a man and a woman, had been living together without the sanction of their respective parents. The girl, after a while, was ordered by her father, Pangiran Nipa, to return to him. She did so, and he then put her to death with his own hands. The young man, Pangiran Japar, was brother to Pangiran Mat, who had been placed in charge of Tutong by the Pangiran di Gadong, the ex-officio holder of feudal rights in that district. Japar and Mat were both subjects of Sarawak. A short time after the murder of the girl, Nipa's brother, the Pangiran Tejudin, son-in-law of the Sultan, and uncle of the unfortunate girl, sent an armed party to Pangiran Mat, to inform him that a mandate had been issued by the Sultan for the execution of Japar. Pangiran Mat did not ask to be shown this mandate, and in fact Tejudin had none, but was intimidated into allowing his brother to be killed.
The Rajah was at the time at Bruni, and he at once demanded of the Sultan that a fair trial of Pangiran Tejudin should be held. There was very little doubt that the Sultan's name had been misused, and Japar was a Sarawak subject. As no justice was likely to be obtained in Bruni, the Rajah further demanded that the murderer should be handcuffed and sent to Labuan for trial, when the truth would come out. But this was refused. The Sultan naturally was determined to screen his son-in-law, who had instigated the murder, and who was then in the palace enjoying his protection. The Rajah indignantly declined to meet the Sultan so long as the murderer was sheltered under his roof. So the matter ended, but it widened the rift between the Rajah and the Sultan.
In June, 1887, Sir Frederick Weld, Governor of Singapore, went to Bruni to settle a dispute between the North Borneo Company and the Sultan over a debateable strip of land. Sultan Hasim seized the occasion to pour into the ear of Sir Frederick a tissue of accusations against Sarawak, and no Sarawak official was allowed to be present to refute them. The Government of the Rajah was charged with disturbing the peace, and with sending its emissaries into the Limbang to foster discontent, and to keep the rebellion simmering, in the hopes of being able to find an excuse for annexing the district. Sir Frederick listened, but apparently believed little he heard, for he recommended the Sultan to hand over the Limbang to the Rajah. He further strongly urged the Sultan to accept a British Protectorate over his remaining dominions, and to receive a Resident, who might act as adviser in the administration of the State. The Sultan consented to this latter recommendation; his intention, however, to accept a British Resident at Bruni, to prevent his misrule, and to curb the tyranny of his adherents, was only pretence. Sir Frederick Weld was perhaps acting beyond his instructions in proposing the appointment of a Resident, but the proposal was sound. In September, 1888, the late Sir Hugh Low, then Resident of Perak, was despatched to Bruni to conclude an agreement with the Sultan by which Bruni became a Protectorate.
In the Federated Malay States, as in the Indian Protectorates, British Residents are placed who can advise as to the conduct of government, and it is perfectly understood by the native rulers that their advice must be followed. Now, a British Protectorate had been extended over Bruni, and as a consequence a Resident should have been placed there to control the Sultan and check the misdoings of his chiefs. But nothing of the sort was done. The Limbang was left in a condition of disorder, and a menace to its neighbours, and the Brunis to the arbitrary injustice and cruelty of their rulers. Trusan now offered a near haven of refuge to which many fled, both slaves and free-born people, the latter chiefly to save their daughters from a fate worse than slavery—a short period in a harem, and then domestic drudgery for life. The British Government would do nothing, and looked very much as if it were not disposed to allow any one else to do anything. Sir Hugh Low,[[316]] who had an exceptional experience of Bruni and the people, had urged the Sultan to place the Limbang under the Rajah, tendering the same advice as had Sir Frederick Weld; but to this, also, Hasim turned a deaf ear.
The Limbang chiefs, after having maintained their independence for six years, early in 1890 decided to settle the question of their future for themselves. They assembled, and of their own free will and accord placed their country under the protection of Sarawak, and themselves under the authority of its Government; in token of which they hoisted the Sarawak flag. In justice to the claims of the inhabitants, and in conformity with a promise he had made to them to tender such assistance as lay in his power, the Rajah accepted the responsibility thus placed upon him, and annexed the country on March 17, subject to the approval of her Majesty's Government.
The Rajah had already frequently approached the Sultan on behalf of these unfortunate people to urge that justice should be done to them, and that they should not be given over to be preyed upon by rapacious pangirans. The Pangiran Muda, son of the late Rajah Muda Hasim, who by birth was the nearest to the throne, and who possessed feudal rights over a part of the Limbang, having abandoned all hope of being able to exercise those rights and draw any revenue from the district, ascended the river and openly proclaimed to his people that he had handed over all his rights to the Rajah. The other hereditary holders of feudal authority in the district had again approached the Rajah, and had entreated him to annex Limbang, which had become not only unprofitable to them, but a menace to Bruni. The Rajah would have been untrue to his word passed to the Limbang chiefs had he left them to their fate, after the failure of his negotiations and repeated attempts to intercede for them with the Sultan. Although he was averse to taking this step, yet he felt that it was not possible for him to refuse the appeals that came to him from all sides to interfere, and it was the only solution of the difficulty, failing the appointment of a British Resident, for the people could not be expected to again place themselves under the power of a Sultan who would keep no promises, and who intended no mercy.
The Sultan, however, mortified in his pride, and being thus prevented from giving vent to his vindictive feeling, had remained obdurate. For some time he had been accumulating arms and ammunition at Bruni for a great attempt upon the Limbang, whilst through his minister, the di Gadong, he was keeping up a pretence of peace. If he succeeded, the horrors that would have ensued in the Limbang may well be conceived; but if he failed, he would draw on Bruni hordes of desperate savages, infuriated by years of ill-treatment, and the Brunis feared that the capture of their town and a general massacre would be the result.
These were the reasons that led the Rajah to act promptly, and to appeal to her Majesty's Government to sanction such action. The Foreign Office approved, after having kept the Rajah in anxious suspense for a year, and fixed the annual sum to be paid by the Sarawak Government for the Limbang at $6000, but failing the Sultan's acceptance of this for three consecutive years, this indemnity would be forfeited.
The Sultan declined to receive this compensation, not, however, so much as a protest against the action of the Rajah,—a purpose with which he has generally been accredited, with not a little misplaced sympathy,—but mainly to punish his recalcitrant ministers, the Pangirans Bandahara and di Gadong. Hitherto he had been quite powerless to do this, but an opportunity was now afforded him, and he did not hesitate to avail himself of it. The two pangirans were the principal holders of the feudal rights over the Limbang, which of late years had yielded them nothing, and they naturally desired, badly off as they were, that the Sultan should sanction the acceptance of the indemnity, the greater part of which would have reverted to them, and would have afforded them a fixed and ensured revenue, even more than they had ever been able to extort from the people. The remainder would have gone to the Pangiran Muda, and not a cent of it would have gone to the Sultan. But by the laws of Bruni, feudal rights cannot be alienated without the sanction of the Sultan; and he subsequently informed the British Consul that he had withheld his sanction, and would do so as long as he lived, a determination to which he vindictively adhered, solely that he might deprive his two ministers of the revenues to which they were entitled. He went so far as to tell the Consul that he had no real grievance against the Rajah, but it being necessary to find some plausible pretext for his decision he had invented one, which no one in Bruni could call into question.
Sir Spenser St. John, writing privately to the Rajah at this time said, "If the Foreign Office could understand how the Bruni Rajahs govern Limbang, they would make no objection to your taking it over. It is a most interesting river, and when no longer harassed by Kayan raids[[317]] and plundered by Bruni Rajahs, it will be one of the richest on the coast. Sago can be planted to any extent, and it used to be famous for its pepper gardens. In fact Chinese were working there nearly to the foot of Mulu mountain"—over one hundred miles from the coast.