These Chinese were mostly gold miners, and had established themselves at Bau, Bidi, Paku, and Tundong, under one Kongsi, or company, to exploit the mines in the vicinity of these villages. Bau, their principal village, was the headquarters of the Kongsi. Others had settled at Siniawan, and Segobang, but these were agriculturists, and harmless people, though they were reluctantly dragged into rebellion by the machinations of the Secret Society formed by the turbulent mining communities, and became involved in the ruin that followed its attempt to overthrow the Government.
In Kuching there was also a fairly large number of Chinese, consisting mainly of merchants and traders, mostly well-to-do people, whose interests, as well as racial antagonism, placed them, then as now, in opposition to the principles of such secret societies, which aimed at the subversion of all constituted authority, and the substitution of terrorism.
For years past a secret society had been forming in Upper Sarawak, with its headquarters at Bau. It was not the product of any discontent with the Rajah's Government, to which its members had fled for protection from the tyranny to which they had been subjected over the border, but was formed by a few ambitious and unscrupulous men and their adherents to gain power, and these were principally the scattered remains of societies which had been driven out of Dutch territory.
The name of the Society was the Sam-Tiau-Kiau Hueh,[[208]] and it was amalgamated with the great Thien-Ti[[209]] Hueh, or Triad Society of China, which was firmly established in Singapore, and had its ramifications throughout the East. The Thien-Ti Hueh had its rise in the 17th century, and had a political origin. The object was the restoration of the Ming dynasty, which in the person of Tsung-Cheng was cut off by the Manchus in or about 1628. The Society is called "Triad," it being also known by the name of Sam-hap or "three united"—a Triad of Heaven, Earth, and Man; and these forces, where brought into perfect unity, produce peace and harmony. But it has entirely lost its political character, and has become socialistic and anarchical.[[210]] Although the maxim or motto of the Society is "Obey Heaven and work Righteousness," these objects are the very last sought by the members. Both in China and in the Dutch Colonies the League is forbidden by severe laws, and in Sarawak since 1870 the punishment for being the leader of any secret society is death. In China itself, to be found in possession of any books, seals or insignia of the Triad Society would render a person liable to decapitation, or subject him to a persecution to which even death would be preferable. The sure sign of the beginning of activity of a Society for some object it has set before it is a series of murders of those Chinese who have refused to join it, who have incurred its displeasure, or who are mistrusted. His blood is drunk, and an ear sent to the head of the Society, in token that he has been put to death. In Singapore it is now less noxious. There, every Society has to be registered and reported; and no secret society is allowed to meet that has not conformed to regulations, that deprive it of half its secrecy.[[211]]
There is not a shrewder or more industrious man under the sun than the yellow Chinaman. "Il engraisse le sol où il est planté," as Napoleon said of the Englishman. He is an admirable market-gardener, and will get more out of half an acre of land than any man else. He is a diligent planter, miner, and artisan, possesses great ability as a merchant, and is indispensable for the proper development of tropical countries. But in a good many exists an invincible love of belonging to a secret society, and such a society, although nominally a benefit-club, is really a hotbed of anarchy.
As it gathered strength the Sam-Tiau-Kiau Hueh became contumacious and insolent. As early as the close of 1850 it had brought itself conspicuously to the attention of the Rajah, and the principal men were warned to desist in time. This warning was unheeded, and a little later it was discovered that members were being enrolled by persuasion and threats, and that an agent of the Triad Society had come over from Singapore to further its objects. This man, Kah Yun, was arrested and sentenced to death, and others were fined and flogged. In 1852, the Chinese in Upper Sarawak, who had more than once before been turbulent and rebellious, openly resisted a Government officer, and prevented him from arresting a criminal, a member of the Hueh. The Tuan Muda was sent to the spot with a force, but, though well armed, the Chinese did not then feel themselves strong enough to resist, and offered the most humble obeisance, delivering up the culprit. They were then ordered to build a fort at Belidah, below Siniawan, to equip it with arms and ammunition, and to pay the wages of the fortmen. The fort, which was to be a check on the Chinese, was built, and placed in charge of Sherip Matusain, with a small garrison of Malays. The Chinese had been steadily collecting arms and ammunition for some time past, and they were now ordered to deliver up a hundred muskets, but the demand was afterwards relinquished. This was a mistake, as they had no need of firearms for their protection, living as they did amongst the peaceable Land Dayaks, and the Tuan Muda was rightly of opinion that they had not been sufficiently humbled, nor their power sufficiently weakened. To the Hueh, however, the lesson was useful—it showed them the strength of the Government, and taught them that submission would be wise until they were better prepared.
In Sarawak in 1857 there were about 4000 of these yellow men, located mainly in the mining district. There were numerous settlements over the frontier in the territories of the Sultan of Sambas, where also the people were engaged on the gold mines, and the Hueh could rely upon their active aid.
A good deal of smuggling of opium had been in progress, and evidence was obtained that convicted the Kongsi of gold-miners at Bau of having been engaged in this illicit trade; whereupon it was fined £150, a small sum considering the amount that the revenue had been defrauded by their means. This fine was imposed a month only before the outbreak occurred; it was paid, and the Hueh feigned submission.
The Sultan of Sambas had long been jealous of the growing prosperity of Sarawak, and of the contrast afforded to his own misrule by the liberal and good government there. Moreover, numerous Land-Dayaks from Sambas had moved into the Rajah's territories for the sake of the protection there afforded, which they could not obtain under the Sultan. He was accordingly willing to encourage any attempt made to overthrow the government of the Rajah.
In October, 1856, trouble with China began, and Commissioner Yeh, defying Sir John Bowring and Admiral Seymour, publicly offered a reward of thirty dollars for every English head. Rumour of this, greatly magnified into a general slaughter and expulsion of the English, had reached the Chinese in Singapore, where an outbreak took place in 1857, and Sarawak, where signs of unrest among the Chinese became apparent. The Commission of Inquiry into the conduct of the Rajah greatly tended to encourage the Chinese to revolt. They believed that the British Government strongly disapproved of the rule of the Rajah, and would not lift a finger to maintain it. There was but a handful of white men in Sarawak, and the Land-Dayaks were well known to be a timorous people, indisposed to war. It was also thought that there was a body there of disaffected Malays, under the influence of the Rajah's old adversary, the Pangiran Makota, who was now supreme in Bruni, governing the mind of the imbecile Sultan, and watching for every opportunity of upsetting the rule of the English Rajah in the south.