Definite explanations were exchanged between the uncle and his nephew, which gave the Rajah a free hand in all negotiations in England, and these arrangements were reduced to writing. I also had a distinct explanation with Captain Brooke as to his views, so that I might advance them as far as I could agree with them.
We started for Singapore in the Rainbow, and, as we were detained there by an accident to the mail steamer, the inhabitants of the settlement, to show that no unkind feeling remained in any section of society, gave the Rajah a ball. At supper his health was drunk with all the honours; some good speeches were made, and most of his friends then said farewell to him, thinking they should see his face no more. Though rejoiced at my removal from Brunei, I could not leave the Further East without regret, as I had spent many happy years there.
Among Sir James Brooke’s most active friends and supporters was Mr John Abel Smith, who was very intimate with Lord John Russell, our Foreign Minister, and, in 1862, he opened negotiations with him and other Ministers for the recognition of Sarawak as an independent State. At first there was a proposal to make it a Crown Colony, but that was prudently discarded. Then a Protectorate was proposed, and at last all the negotiations centred on one point, the recognition of Sarawak. There was little or no opposition in the Ministry, when someone unfortunately suggested that Lord Elgin, the Governor-General of India, should send over an official to report on the actual condition of Sarawak. The Governor of the Straits Settlements, Colonel Cavanagh, was chosen to prosecute this enquiry. Instead of simply carrying out his instructions, he showed Captain Brooke the secret and confidential papers which had been entrusted to him. The latter thought that his rights were being tampered with, whereas, had he been fully informed, he would have found that recognition was the only question then under the consideration of the Ministry. But Captain Brooke was not quite himself at that time. He had just lost his second wife and his eldest son, and the inquisitiveness of the Governor probably chafed him. Whatever may have been the cause, he wrote to Lord John Russell to say that the country could not be handed over to England without his and the people’s consent, and then sent a defiant letter to his uncle announcing that he had assumed the government of the country and would defend his rights by force.
The Rajah could not accept such a defiance. He returned to Sarawak, met his repentant nephew at Singapore, and sent him home on leave. Bad advisers in England induced him to withdraw his submission, and it ended in a complete estrangement between the uncle and nephew. He was deposed from his position as heir apparent, and thenceforth he ceased to have any interest in Sarawak. He had been my most intimate friend, and I regretted his action exceedingly, particularly as it was one of my own confidential memoranda to our Government which had incited his ire. This memorandum related to a different question from that which was before the Government, and had he been more patient he would have learnt that Lord John Russell fully recognised the inhabitants of Sarawak as a free people, whose consent would have been necessary to any transfer.
When the news reached England that the Rajah’s authority was uncontested in Sarawak, and that Captain Brooke had retired from the scene, Lord John Russell determined to acknowledge its independence, and appointed a consul, who had to ask for his exequatur from the Sarawak Government. Thus this much vexed question closed to the satisfaction of all those who loved and admired the Rajah, but not to that of a group of false friends who had been working against him in all kinds of underhand ways. But as these are now turned to dust I will not refer to them again. It was a triumph for the Rajah, and was the reward of his constancy, of his high principle, his irreproachable character and devotion to his people. The evilly-disposed were now silenced, and left him at peace for the remainder of his life.
I was at that time in Hayti and did not see the Rajah during the years 1863, 1864 and 1865, but we kept up a constant correspondence. I could not rise superior to injuries as he did, and in one of my letters I slightly reproached him with appearing to forgive a person who had deeply injured him, and remained impenitent. His answer shows the kindly nature of the man. ‘True it is he injured me, and deeply, and perhaps what you say is true, he will injure me again, but in Sarawak I cannot quarrel or feel resentment against anyone, however great the evil done to myself.’
Mr Ricketts was named consul at Sarawak, and he soon sent home highly interesting reports about the country. He stayed there two years, but as there was really nothing for a consul to do, a vice-consul succeeded him. At present Great Britain has a vice-consul at Brunei, who is accredited to the Rajah of Sarawak as well as to the Sultan.
The Rajah, during these years, really enjoyed life. His anxieties had almost ceased. The revenues of Sarawak were improving, thus ensuring increased stability. There was both peace and contentment there, and trade was rapidly extending throughout all its dependencies. His own health was remarkably good, and he could enjoy visits to country houses, and occasionally indulge in partridge shooting. He could now write, ‘In spite of trials and anxieties, calumny and misrepresentation, I have been a happy man, and can pillow my head with the consciousness of a well-spent life of sacrifice and devotion to a good cause.’
I never knew a man so ready to help when he saw the strong oppress the weak. As an instance of this, he boldly threw the weight of his influence on the side of Bishop Colenso, when he saw the great Church dignitaries ready to condemn him.
The Rajah spent much of his time during the remaining years of his life at Burrator, and became as popular and as beloved among the small farmers and cottagers as ever he had been in the Far East during the height of his prosperity. He often took me to visit these rough but kindly people, and it was a pleasure to see how they all greeted him. I particularly noticed how the children would run out of the cottages to touch his hand, as if his gentle smile fascinated them. He did all he could for the parish, helped to restore the ruined church, and, in 1865, was cheered by the arrival of a clergyman and his wife, Mr and Mrs Dakyn, who remained his kind and tender friends to the day of his death.