Captain Brooke, thinking that he could settle these difficulties by negotiation, went with a small force to Muka to interview Pangeran Dipa, determined to try every method of conciliation, but no sooner did his vessels enter the Muka than the guns of the fort opened fire on them. Captain Brooke thereupon retired to the entrance of the river, built a stockade, and sent for reinforcements. These soon came pouring in, a brisk attack was opened upon the enemy, and success would soon have crowned their efforts, had not Governor Edwardes appeared in his steamer and commanded Captain Brooke on his allegiance to suspend his operations. He naturally protested against such interference, but prudently withdrew his forces, and retired to Sarawak. The Governor had brought down with him Sherif Musahor, the murderer of his fellow-countrymen.
Captain Brooke now appealed for justice to the British Government, and Lord John Russell, who was at the Foreign Office, thanked him for his conciliatory and prudent conduct, and then took Mr Edwardes in hand.
When I left Brunei early in 1860, I had requested Mr Edwardes to accept the acting appointment of Consul-General, which had enabled him to interfere on the coasts of the Sultan’s dominions. But as soon as I heard of his violent proceedings I could not but offer to sacrifice my leave and return to Borneo to resume my official duties.
Sir James Brooke decided to go back to the East by the same mail in which I had taken my passage. From Singapore the Rajah went over to Sarawak in his own steamer, the Rainbow, and I followed in H.M.S. Nimrod, Captain Arthur. I called in at Kuching, and there addressed a letter to the Council of Sarawak, stating that Her Majesty’s Government disapproved of Mr Edwardes’s interference. I then went on to Labuan, relieved my substitute of his position as Consul-General, and proceeded to my post in Brunei. I found the Sultan very reserved, and rumours were rife that the Governor of Labuan had promised not only to interfere in Muka, but to remove all the English from Sarawak, and restore that country to the Sultan. This, I imagine, was but an invention of the Oriental mind, which jumped too hastily to conclusions. At all events the Sultan and all his high officers of State were still very angry, and naturally so, at the original armed interference of Sarawak within their territory. But when they found that the Rajah himself had arrived at Kuching, that he would pay over all the fines his nephews had raised within the Sultan’s frontiers, and that he was prepared to make advantageous proposals to the Brunei Government, their brows cleared, and I found myself once more a welcome visitor in their Halls of Audience.
The Rajah arrived, and matters were soon explained and arranged. The Brunei Government decided to banish Sherif Musahor from their dominions, and to send for the Governor of Muka to explain his conduct. I was requested by both parties to act as mediator, and I went as soon as possible to Muka in Her Majesty’s corvette Charybdis, Captain Keane. We entered the river with all the boats of the ship, and were soon behind the fortifications with two hundred marines and blue-jackets. This judicious display of force awed these turbulent chiefs. No show of resistance was made, and both Sherif Musahor and Pangeran Dipa decided to obey the Sultan’s mandate.
Little, therefore, remained to be done. The Rajah went up to Muka with a large squadron, and all the chiefs there kept their word and submitted. Dipa went off to Brunei, and Musahor was exiled to the Straits Settlements. With all his faults, nay, crimes, I could not but pity him. He had been such a good fellow in former years, and he had been so injudiciously treated by the local Sarawak officers with whom he had come in contact, men very inferior to him in every way, and totally unfitted to deal with a man of rank, a supposed descendant of the prophet Mahomed. He lived for many years in Singapore, but I do not know whether he is still alive.
The Rajah took up his residence for some weeks in the fort at Muka to endeavour to restore order in what might be called a regular chaos of misgovernment, and succeeded to a great extent. It was regretted by all that his stay was so short, as his magnetic influence over the natives was so remarkable that they all were ready to carry out his views and submit to his superior judgment. No one only accustomed to European countries could imagine the confused state of affairs, for no man among the lower classes appeared to know whether he was a free man or a slave, and if the latter, who was his master, as he had probably been sold half-a-dozen times by people who had no authority over him. However, in most cases, these sales were more nominal than real, as the self-created masters, unless chiefs, seldom attempted to enforce their fictitious rights.
We soon went to Brunei again, and then the Rajah gladdened the heart of the Sultan by taking over the Sago districts on a yearly payment of four thousand five hundred dollars, and giving him a year’s revenue in advance. Past complaints were now put on one side, and all was peace.
I had been promoted to be Chargé d’Affaires in Hayti, so that as soon as I had introduced my successor to the Sultan, I prepared to proceed home; but as the Rajah had decided to leave for England also, we returned together to Sarawak, where he wished to arrange some affairs before bidding adieu to Borneo.
At his nephew, Captain Brooke’s, request he publicly installed him as Rajah Muda or heir apparent, and left him in charge of the Government. To this ceremony Sir James Brooke summoned all the principal men of the country, and introducing Captain Brooke as the Rajah Muda, bade them all farewell; adding, however, that should his presence ever be necessary, he would return to resume the Government and to aid them in their difficulties. I never heard a better speech; many of the audience burst into tears, and all were deeply moved.