gapore. The Dutch, however, ere this had resumed their former position of Lords Paramount in the Johore Archipelago, and had already exacted a treaty from the Rajah Moodah and his creature Sultan Abdulrahman, restraining them from granting a footing to any European power in Johore. After some management, however, Colonel Farquhar succeeded in obtaining an implied permission with which he returned to Singapore, where Sir Stamford concluded a treaty with the Tumonggong, dated February, 1819. This treaty was to be subject to the approval of Sultan Houssain of Johore. The following day Sir Stamford sailed on his Mission to Acheen, leaving the Colonel in charge of the newly formed Settlement. After a little communication with the Tumonggong, as to Sultan Houssain, it appeared that there was a difference among the Malays as to their Sultan, and that, in consequence of the last Sultan's death having taken place unexpectedly, before suitable arrangements could be made for the succession, the throne at present was irregularly occupied; that Tuanku Abdulrahman was younger brother of Tuanku Houssain, who ought to be Sultan, but was kept out of his rights by the Rajah Moodah Jaffar, who was at enmity with the relatives of his mother, and, finding the weak and complying disposition of Tuanku Abdulrahman suited to his purposes, had patronized the younger prince, in whose name he ruled the country. On enquiring further, Colonel Farquhar was informed that the late Sultan Mahamed, before his death, had arranged that Houssain his eldest son should succeed, and that Abdulrahman, the younger, who had shewn a reserved and timid disposition, should perform the Haj, with a view to the priesthood. Houssain, as Heir presumptive, was sent to Pahang, in order to complete an alliance with the daughter of the Bandahara; his father, the Sultan, accompanied him part of the way, and soon after, on his return to Lingga died, not without suspicion of poison. On his death Jaffir, in order to fulfil one of the requirements of a royal funeral, induced Abdulrahman to allow himself to be installed as Sultan. The north monsoon, at that time in full force, prevented any communication with Houssain at Pahang, and it was not for some months after that he could come down. When he arrived he found the

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NOTES ILLUSTRATIVE OF THE LIFE AND

Rajah Moodah too strong for him, and in consequence he was obliged to succumb.

With this information, which the Colonel transmitted to Sir Stamford, it became a question how far it was advisable to enquire further into the matter as to the superior title of Houssain. As the rights of the English at the new Settlement would entirely depend on the question, Sir Stamford, on his return from Acheen, in June, determined to recognize Houssain. On that Prince being sent for by the Tumonggong, he was installed publicly as Sultan and with the Tumonggong executed a fresh treaty, a copy of which will be found in the Journal of the Indian Archipelago *. This treaty provides shortly as follows:

Firstly. The occupation, by the English, of a tract of land extending from Tanjong Malang, on the west, to Tanjong Katong, on the east, and inland as far as the range of cannon shot from the factory. The jurisdiction within this tract to be subject to the English, excepting the campongs of the Sultan and Tumonggong, and all beyond the line to be subject to the Tumonggong.

Secondly. Justice to be administered jointly by the Sultan, Tumonggong, and English resident.

Thirdly. Captains and heads of tribes to attend and report occurrences every Monday morning, and to adjudicate in minor matters.

Fourthly. An appeal allowed from decision of Captains and heads of tribes.

Fifthly. No customs or duties to be levied, or other important matter to be decided, without the consent of the Sultan, Tumonggong and resident.

Such was the primitive constitution under which Singapore was settled, and under which it rapidly rose to importance.

The question, as to whom is due the credit of fixing on the site of Singapore for the great emporium, has been much discussed, and as it is one of some interest, a few remarks may be here permitted.

Sir Stamford's first idea (see his Life by Lady Raffles, page 294), was to have a port in Sunda Straits, and at page 357, writing in April 1818, he says, "to effect the object contemplated some con• Vol. vil. p. 331.

"venient station within the Archipelago is necessary; both Ben"coolen and Prince of Wales Island are too far removed, and "unless I can succeed in obtaining a position in the Straits of "Sunda, we have no alternative but to fix it in the most advan"tageous situation we can find within the Archipelago: this would "be somewhere in the neighbourhood of Bintang". At page 308, in the same letter, he repeats "another station at Rhio or its "vicinity"; at page 371, writing from Calcutta, 14th November 1818, he says "I have now to inform you that it is determined to "keep the command of the Straits of Malacca by forming establish"ments at Acheen and Rhio", and again, writing to Mr Marsden from the Sand Heads, † under date 12th December 1818, he says, we are now on our way to the eastward, in the hope of doing "something, but I much fear the Dutch have hardly left us an "inch of ground to stand upon. My attention is principally "turned to Johore, and you must not be surprised if my next let"ter to you is dated from the site of the ancient city of Singa"pura". Mr Crawfurd, (see his account of his "Missiom to Siam") states that the Carimons was the original object of Sir Stamford. Lady Raffles says the Carimons were only surveyed out of deference to Colonel Farquhar, who had, while at Malacca, fixed on those islands as a fit situation; and finally, it appears clear, both from native and European authority, that they went into Singapore, casually, at Colonel Farquhar's suggestion, to obtain information from his friend the Tumonggong, whom he had known while employed at Malacca. Whatever doubt may arise as to the question whether the exact locality of Singapore was the birth of accident or of preconceived arrangements, there can be no hesitation in stating that its advance was entirely owing to the energy and influence of Sir Stamford Raffles.

The Pinang government, after the failure of their own endeavour to form a subordinate station to the south, were not well pleased that one of their own servants should be permitted to attempt what they had themselves failed in and had declared to be impossible. They had always watched the proceedings of Sir Stamford with

Rhio is a small island separated by a narrow strait from the Island of Bintang, or properly "Bentan." + Mouth of Calcutta River.

disquietude and when the principles on which his new Settlement was to be conducted became known, they felt bound to offer every opposition in their power, as they readily foresaw the decline and ruin of their government in the prosperity of a neighbouring Settlement conducted on such opposite principles. Their protests to Bengal and to the Home authoritics had the effect of cooling the support with which Sir Stamford's proceedings had been favoured by both these high authorities; but another, and a more formidable adversary, had to be met, and on a scene where Indian influence had less weight.

The Dutch had seen with indignation and dismay the efforts of the English to encroach on their territories at the South of the Peninsula. In former times they had the exclusive jurisdiction over the whole Peninsula from Perak downwards. On Malacca being restored to them in 1818, they considered that all their former rights and immunities accompanied that restoration, and in consequence that any attempt of the English, or any other European nation, on the Malay Peninsula would be an infringement of their exclusive rights. The proceedings of Sir Stamford Raffles, who had already distinguished himself by opposition to their interests, were looked on as past all endurance and the strongest remonstrances were made to the Indian government as well as to the Foreign Office in England.

Dutch Indian affairs have long been under the Imperial government, and the case now brought before the King's ministers of the improper conduct of the English Company and their servants in the Indian Archipelago, was urged against the feeble efforts of the corporation with all the weight and authority of the Dutch Imperial Ambassador. It is obvious that with the lukewarm, and almost powerless, authority at home and in India, Sir Stamford Raffles and his Settlement, if not otherwise protected, must have been at once offered up as a peace offering to the Dutch, and it is here that credit is due to Sir Stamford in having carried his project to a successful termination. He had early foreseen the battle which must be fought at home, and had provided friends to support his Settlement. The long struggle from 1819 till 1824, when the question was finally settled, was only kept up by the aid of

powerful connexions whom Sir Stamford had secured by his pictures of the incalculable benefits which his Settlement, if properly supported, would confer on British trade. To this influence, supplying to the Foreign Secretary a sufficient motive to resist the Dutch demands, must be attributed the long resistance made to those demands in a question in which the Company's Home and Bengal Governments were indifferent and the Pinang government decidedly hostile.

After remaining a few weeks at Singapore, giving instructions as to laying out the town, and forming provisional arrangements for the government of the new Settlement, Sir Stamford returned to Bencoolen, where he occupied himself, as before, in endeavours to improve the condition of the people, as well as to elevate the tone of society at that residency, till the month of October, when news arrived of the death of Colonel Bannerman, Governor at Pinang. In his last visit to Bengal Sir Stamford had proposed to consolidate the eastern possessions under one governor to reside at Singapore, with Residents at each of the stations of Bencoolen, Pinang &c. The plan was favourably received, under the influence of the almost expiring interest concerning eastern affairs which had guided Lord Minto's policy in that direction. A difficulty however existed in the disposal of the Governor of Pinang, as of course Sir Stamford would himself have been head, under the proposed arrangement. This difficulty now overcome, Sir Stamford proceeded to Bengal again to urge his plan on the notice of the Supreme Government, but by this time, other matters of more pressing interest occupied the government, and in consequence, impediments, one of the chief of which was the difficulty of breaking up the Pinang Government, were allowed to interfere to prevent an arrangement which would most probably have placed British interests in the Archipelago, and the surrounding countries, on a respectable footing, and have obviated the disadvantages now felt in the exclusion of British commerce with three-fourths of the Archipelago which the Dutch have been permitted virtually to monopolize.

Another scheme of Sir Stamford may be here properly introduced. He conceived the design of reducing and colonizing the