CHAPTER XV.
SINGAPORE.
Batavia and Singapore—Raffles' arrival in the East— Determines to oppose the Dutch supremacy in the Archipelago—Occupation of Java—Is knighted—Returns from England—Foundation of Singapore—Uncertainty whether the settlement would be maintained—His death—Description of Singapore—Epilogue.
A fortnight after my visit to Tji Wangi I left Java. As the train took us from Batavia to the port, I caught a glimpse of the sea over the palm-trees, and I felt something of the exultation which prompted the remnant of the ten thousand Greeks to exclaim, "The sea! the sea!" I had tired of the steamy atmosphere of Batavia, and that line of blue seemed full of revivifying power. Three days later we reached Singapore. Here everything was bright and new and English—miles of wharfs crowded with shipping, broad streets, the cathedral spire en evidence, tall warehouses, and handsome Government buildings. Watering-carts replaced the bamboo buckets in the streets, and English iron and stone work the quaint lamps and antiquated masonry. There the Dutch lived by themselves; the wide streets, education, Christianity, were for them exclusively. Here it was otherwise. Even the native streets were well drained and lighted; for the Englishman shares his civilization with the native races. The glory of the place is its splendidly turfed and tree-clad esplanade; and in the centre of the broad carriage-road there stands the statue of Sir Stamford Raffles, for five years Lieutenant-Governor of Java and the founder of Singapore.
The British occupation of Singapore arose so directly out of the cession of Java, that a description of the circumstances which led to this event will suitably complete my account of that country.
