Many of our native allies now left us, as they were loaded with plunder and were not provisioned for so long a voyage; so we proceeded with the Nemesis, the English boats, and our principal Malay war prahus, and as soon as we appeared on the Rejang fresh bodies of natives began to join us, eager to retaliate upon those who had so often attacked them and captured their trading vessels. The Rejang is a splendid river, destined some day to be an important highway of commerce, as its various branches open out a large extent of country, and it penetrates further into the great island of Borneo than any other stream on the north-west coast.
The Nemesis towed many of the boats up to the entrance of the Kanowit branch, and anchored there whilst the expedition pushed up to attack the great pirate chief Buah Ryah, who had established his quarters in the interior of this broad river. We advanced rapidly, and were within one day’s pull of his forts, while Captain Brooke, with the light division of fast-pulling boats had reconnoitred some miles ahead, and found that the pirates were beginning to show in great numbers, which made us feel assured that we should soon be in touch with the main body. We landed to inspect a large village house, which was surrounded by a cotton plantation, and found it well built, and full of baskets of the skulls of the unfortunates who had been surprised by these marauders. I counted three hundred heads in one village. We then fell down the river to join Sir James Brooke and the English force, in great spirits at the prospect of coming in contact with the enemy next day. We were therefore astonished to hear, on our arrival, that it had been decided to give up the object of our expedition and return. As dinner was over, we removed to a short distance from our chiefs to have our meal in quiet, and to express to each other our indignation at the decision to which our naval commander had come. Some others joined us, equally disappointed. Towards the end of the meal, I could not help raising my glass and saying aloud, ‘Oh, for one hour of bonnie Keppel!’ Captain Farquhar sprang up and came over to us to inquire what I meant. We told him why we considered his determination very detrimental to the cause, as we were approaching Buah Ryah’s stronghold. He urged, however, the fatigue of his men, who had been pulling many days in succession against a strong current. We proposed a day’s rest, but on a hint from Sir James I gave up the discussion. He thought as I did, that Buah Ryah would, with some reason, proclaim that we were afraid to attack him, and would be thus encouraged to hold out. This actually happened, and thus the pacification of these districts was delayed for many years. There is no doubt that the English sailors were really tired, and possibly also dissatisfied, as all the skirmishing was done by our native contingent, who forged ahead of the slow-pulling men-of-war’s boats. How we missed the special boats of the Meander! The sailors, however, might have been sure that had there been any real fighting ahead, all would have waited for them.
As we gloomily fell down the river we met thousands of natives who were coming to join our expedition, and who were desperately disappointed that Buah Ryah had not been punished. When near the mouth of the Kanowit we were hailed by the inhabitants of the villages we had destroyed. A conference ensued; they showed their faith in the white man by boldly pulling out to our prahus. They did not attempt to deny their piracies, but promised amendment; and most of these chiefs kept their word.
As we returned towards Sarawak the native chiefs of all the trading towns on the coast came to express their unbounded thanks to the English Rajah and to the Queen’s forces for the punishment they had inflicted on the pirates, and the prospect it held out of trade being carried on free from danger of pillage and death.
CHAPTER V
ATTACKS ON THE RAJAH’S POLICY—VISITS TO LABUAN, SINGAPORE AND PENANG—MISSION TO SIAM—THE RAJAH’S RETURN TO ENGLAND—DINNER TO HIM IN LONDON—HIS REMARKABLE SPEECH—LORD ABERDEEN’S GOVERNMENT APPOINTS A HOSTILE COMMISSION—THE RAJAH’S RETURN TO SARAWAK—COMMISSION AT SINGAPORE—ITS FINDINGS.
We were fairly contented with the results of the recent expedition, and thought that all would be satisfied with our efforts to put down piracy and protect trade. We were therefore greatly surprised on our arrival in Sarawak to find that two English papers had commenced violent attacks on our proceedings, founded at first on some reports of excesses by our native allies during our expedition in the spring, when we punished the pirates at the Kaluka river. At the time we suspected, and it was clearly proved afterwards, that the originator of this campaign against the Rajah was Mr Henry Wise, Sir James’s discarded agent.
I have already mentioned that Mr Wise had been accidentally entrusted with a mass of the Rajah’s private correspondence with his mother and with Mr John Templer; in the former Mr Wise found the expression, ‘A friend was worth a dozen agents’; and in the latter such words as, ‘If Wise does not obey my instructions I will kick him to the devil.’ Mr Wise was by nature vindictive, and it was not surprising that he was somewhat roused by such freedom of expression, though it occurred in confidential letters to the Rajah’s most intimate friends. The reason why these energetic remarks had been made was Sir James’s discovery that Wise was trading on his great name, and (as already stated) endeavouring to form companies with very large capital to develop the resources of Sarawak. The Rajah tried in vain to stem this current by pointing out that there could be no employment for a large capital in a new country, and that everything must advance gradually. This would not have suited Wise’s views, which were to gain for himself a large fortune, careless as to who suffered in the process.
Mr Wise succeeded in floating the Eastern Archipelago Company, with a nominal capital of £100,000, and managed so to mystify the directors that they agreed to accept his own terms, by which he would have monopolised nearly all the profits. But notwithstanding that there were some respectable names among the directors the public did not come forward, and all, or nearly all, of the shares remained in the hands of the company. The City would not help, as it soon became known that capitalists of undoubted strength had been ready to find the money, but were suspicious of Mr Wise’s refusal to state his terms before the company was formed.
Having secured, as he thought, three thousand a year for certain, with other great advantages in prospect, Mr Wise threw off the mask, and now declared to Government that he could no longer associate himself in any way with Sir James’s sanguinary policy. He forgot entirely that his company had been formed to take advantage of the English Rajah’s unique position in Borneo, so as to develop its resources and to work the coal in Labuan, of which colony Sir James Brooke was Governor.