Chapter XIII: Bruni (1)

BRUNI CHANANG OR GONG.]

A good deal has already been said about that blot on the map of Borneo, Bruni, and of its Rulers, and in this chapter shall be given the history of the relations between the Sultans and the present Rajah since his accession, as well as of the policy of the Foreign and Colonial Offices in regard to that "wretched phantom the Bruni Government."[307]

Many chapters might well be devoted to the past and present history of Daru'l Salam, the Haven of Peace, the sublime Arabic title by which, with a characteristic disregard of the fitness of things, the Brunis proudly dignify their unhappy city, as they do their Sultan with the title of Kaadil-an, the Just. But like morning dreams, these go by contraries. The story they would set forth would be a sad one, as may well be judged from what has already been related and from what will be told in this chapter, though a great deal more might be said. It would be interesting, too, as another example of British indifference to Eastern affairs. From the commencement, when nearly seventy years ago the attention of the empire was so strongly drawn to this nest of murderers and robbers, this haven of criminals, by the late Rajah, till the end, when in 1905 the British Government elected to adopt the bankrupt and depopulated remnant of the Sultanate, its policy in regard to that State has been remarkable for neither consistency nor astuteness.

During the last twenty years of his reign (1852-1885) the old Sultan, Abdul Mumin, who has been described as having the soul of a huckster, and who died at the age of over a hundred, devoted his life solely to the pursuit of wealth, and the unscrupulous means he employed to enrich himself produced great oppression and misery. Affairs of State were a secondary matter with him, and the ministers and pangirans went their ways unrestrained. Some of these pangirans, who are related to royalty, a few closely, others more or less remotely, exercise "Tulin" or hereditary feudal rights over districts, the ministers holding, ex-officio, similar rights over other districts; the unhappy people therein were completely in their power, and could be squeezed at their own sweet will. Others, not possessing such rights but armed with authority from the Sultan, easily obtained at a price, enriched themselves by forced trading.

The poorer classes of the Bruni Malays are hard-working and law-abiding; but when no man's property is safe from the rapacious grasp of the chiefs, thrift and hard work cease to have an object, and the country becomes dead to industry and enterprise. The inhabitants of the interior, and the Kadayans, an industrious, agricultural people, suffered under the same disadvantages. Like the Chinese, these people once cultivated pepper, but for the same cause gave up doing so, which is not surprising when even their harvests of rice were not spared to them.

The late Mr. C. A. C. de Crespigny,[308] who had a considerable experience of Bruni and the country around it, writing upon the condition of the place in the seventies, says:

"A Pangiran of high rank, but of small means, went from Bruni to Kalias, and with his own hands murdered a Chinaman, his retainers keeping their hands in by the slaughter of one or more of the man's relations and dependants. The murderer then gutted the shop and returned to Bruni. It was stated that the Pangiran belonged to a Chinese secret society, as young Bruni in general is said to do, and that the head of the society, having a trade grudge against the poor fellow at Kalias actually paid the Pangiran $800 for the deed. Whether this was true or not would be an interesting subject for investigation; but that the man was murdered by the Pangiran's own hand, and his goods and chattels carried away to Bruni, is undoubtedly the case; and further that the Pangiran was not punished except by verbal reproof. Herein is anarchy.

"On another occasion at Kalias mouth, twenty-eight Chinese were killed by a band of marauders from up the river and neighbouring streams. A fine was imposed upon the river, but no murderers were caught. Herein was want of power.

"On another and later occasion, a Chinaman, also living at Kalias, was murdered by a band of ruffians from Padas Damit and other streams, together with his wife, child, and only servant. On this occasion two of the murderers were caught, taken to Bruni, and as they were men of no consequence, summarily executed. Herein is inconsistency.

"Men are enslaved without proper cause, and slaves are torn from their families and pass to other owners and other countries, against their wish."

The Bruni of the old days, the Bruni of yesterday, and the Bruni of to-day, are all one.

Although by treaty and by decree the trade of the coast of Bruni territory was thrown open to all, the Bruni pangirans used their utmost endeavours to retain it, and traders from Sarawak and Labuan were incessantly obstructed and interfered with. Competition, coupled with free trade, was not to the taste of these pangirans, and as the old Sultan was himself too much mixed up in trading transactions to exert himself to see that foreign traders received due protection, the pangirans were left a free hand to deal with them, and their high-handed proceedings were winked at by Sultan Mumin, if not actually encouraged. A Sarawak Nakoda, who had been trading with Bruni for some time, was suddenly attacked when leaving, and fired into by seven boats which had been lying in wait for him. He managed to escape himself, but lost his property to the value of $700. His boat was destroyed, and the Sarawak flag torn to pieces. Orders were sent down the coast closing some of the ports to Sarawak traders, and imposing prohibitive duties in others. One order recommended the people to go out of the country and "live under the white man in Sarawak till they rotted" if they would not pay the exorbitant taxes demanded of them. Sarawak people, collecting produce in the jungle, or even when fishing along the coast, had their goods and boats seized.

In reply to the Rajah's despatches complaining of these outrages, the Sultan expressed friendship for Sarawak and a desire to foster trade, and in one or two cases actually made reparation; but he excused himself in general by his helplessness to enforce his will on the turbulent and headstrong nobles. And, in fact, the difficulties did not lie in lack of a clear understanding and of formal agreements, perhaps not in a languid desire on the part of the Sultan to stand on good terms with the Rajah, but in the arbitrary conduct of the leading pangirans holding authority along the coast. Respect for treaties and for fair dealing formed no part of the mental equipment of these feudal tyrants, and the central power at Bruni was either too weak, or too timid, or too deeply involved to interfere with them.

In January, 1870, the Rajah wrote to Lord Clarendon:

"In regard to matters relating to the interests and welfare of the coast of Borneo to the northward and eastward of the territory under my control, I am led to understand that her Majesty's Government has no desire to direct attention to this part, with a view to bringing about a better system to further the ends of peace and trade, and to relieve the honester and lower classes from the gross and degraded position to which they are now reduced by the oppressive measures of the Bruni Government. H.H. the Sultan permits anarchy and bloodshed throughout his dominions, and there is no exaggeration in saying that this is carried on within sight of the British flag at Labuan."

The authorities at Labuan, which was a fully constituted Crown Colony, the Governor being also Consul-General for Borneo, were either purposely blind to what was going on at Bruni, which was but a few miles off, or were too much hampered in their actions by instructions from home to effect any reforms in the State. But, to quote from the letter of a Naval Officer of high rank, "Mr. J. Pope Hennessy" (afterwards Sir John Pope Hennessy, who was Governor of Labuan from 1867-1871), "had an object in upholding the Sultan and encouraging him in the oppression of his subjects, as that caused many to take refuge in Labuan." A little judicious advice, backed by the immense power which the Sultan and his nobles knew the Governor had behind him, would have effected much towards the amelioration of the lot of the natives, but nothing whatever was done. The Bruni Malays must "stew in their own juice," it was no concern of her Majesty's Government that Sarawak trade should be interfered with, for what was Sarawak to Britain? It was no concern of her Majesty's Government that the Sultan and his pangirans were breaking the heart of the people, killing the incentive to industry. It looked on with a cold eye, and with a callous heart.

As a colony Labuan was a failure. Only a few natives and Chinese had settled there, and there was little trade. Instead of being the medium through which reforms on the coast might be effected, Labuan for long stood in the way, by checking the spread of the influence of Sarawak along the coast. The Foreign Office was guided by the advice of their Consul-General, and was rarely other than ill-advised, though the late Sir Henry Keppel "had pleaded the cause of civilisation that the Rajah of Sarawak should be encouraged and not thwarted in his attempt to advance." And he expressed "a hope that he might live to see the Sarawak territory extended to Bruni itself." Mr. J. Pope Hennessy in his address to the Legislative Council of Labuan in June, 1871, said: "The policy promulgated thirty years ago by some enterprising and benevolent Englishmen that the Dayaks could be civilised, and that Europeans could conduct the details of trade and administration in the rivers of Borneo has proved to be visionary."

It is easy to imagine what would be the nature of advice tendered to the Foreign Office upon Bornean affairs by such a man. At the time when he made this statement Sarawak was in absolute tranquillity, and the trade of 1870 had nearly doubled that of the preceding year.

And, with exceptions, the Governors of Labuan were always more or less hostile to Sarawak, because jealous of it. Labuan was stagnant and Sarawak steadily advancing in vigorous life.

In April, 1872, the Rajah, accompanied by a staff of English and Malay officers, visited Bruni in the Government steamers _Heartsease_ and _Royalist_. It was perhaps not unnatural that this visit was at first regarded with suspicion as being in the form of a demonstration against Bruni, to back unheeded protests against the maltreatment of Sarawak subjects, and the nonfulfilment of treaty engagements. But this impression was soon dispelled, and the Rajah was received by the Sultan, "a fat, kindly-faced old man of some eighty years of age," with cordiality and honour. The Rajah's main object in visiting Bruni was to obtain an effective guarantee that his subjects trading in Bruni territory should not be molested and unwarrantably interfered with. A treaty conceding all that the Rajah asked for was accordingly drawn up and ratified by the Sultan, and was satisfactory enough on paper. The Sultan solemnly undertook the redressing of injuries, guaranteed protection to traders, and the imposition of fair and moderate customs duties only.

But this treaty, owing to the Sultan being powerless to enforce its provisions outside the capital, soon became worse than useless; for, relying on it being observed, Sarawak traders again ventured into the Bruni ports, only to meet with the same treatment as before. The extortion of outrageous customs dues went on as formerly. The Bruni nobles, "the most useless race that ever encumbered the earth,"[309] set themselves deliberately to frustrate every object aimed at in the treaty, and, so that they might keep the trade with its enormous profits to themselves, they plundered, and even killed those who ventured to compete with them. But their day was not to last for ever. The Kayans, driven to exasperation by the heavy fines and other extortions imposed upon them, eventually rose against these tyrants, and drove them out.

THE SULTAN'S PALACE.]

Next to the Rejang, the Baram is the largest river that flows into the sea on that coast. In its basin are congregated large populations of Kayans and Kenyahs.

In 1872, the Rajah, accompanied by the Ranee, visited this river to ascertain for himself how far it would be safe for Sarawak subjects to trade there. He steamed a long way up the river, and was everywhere well received by the natives, who had been much depressed by extortion and were eager to be relieved from the thraldom in which they were held by Bruni. There had been no encouragement given to them to work the jungle produce in which their country was rich, except to purchase necessaries, and these could be obtained through their Bruni masters alone, and that at exorbitant prices. There was in consequence little trade at the time. But what this river is capable of producing may be shown by its trade returns at present. The exports, entirely of jungle produce, after the district had been for twenty years under Sarawak, amounted in 1906 to $272,223.

Although the Sultan had no real authority over the Kayans and Kenyahs there still existed among them a certain regard for him, and of this the Bruni Government took advantage. These races had never been subdued by the Sultans by force of arms. They never had voluntarily tendered submission. The restraint exercised over them was due mainly to the fact that the Brunis held the mouths of the rivers and consequently controlled the trade, and that trade was one in the very necessaries of existence. It was inevitable that the rulers of Bruni should resent, and resist to the utmost, the opening of the rivers to Sarawak traders, which would involve, as they well saw, the drying up of the source of their wealth.

The natives on the Baram had an exaggerated opinion of the power of Bruni, but this illusion was dispelled after a feeble attack made on the Kayans in September, 1870, which resulted in ignominious failure. Still, they were prepared to submit to such demands which, though extortionate, custom had taught them to regard as the Sultan's due, and they could not do without the imports, which they were precluded from obtaining elsewhere and from others, than Bruni and the hands of pangirans. But the rapacity of the pangirans became at last intolerable; and we will here give two instances illustrative of the methods adopted by them, which were connived at by the Sultan.

In 1873, a mixed party of Dayaks, Tanjongs, and Bukitans from the Rejang river, working produce in the Baram, were attacked by the Kayans. Six were killed and one escaped. The survivor stated that the party had been treacherously attacked; but on the other hand the Kayans asserted that the behaviour of the strangers had been so suspicious that they had satisfied themselves that they were a head-hunting party. The Rajah complained and demanded redress. The Sultan sent an agent in his small steamer to impose a fine, which in itself was excessive. The agent proceeded to the house of the chief of the lower Baram Kayans, although these people had nothing to do with the killing of the subjects of the Rajah, but it was as far up as he dared to venture, and levied the fine upon them, demanding double the amount he had been instructed to impose, the difference, of course, to go into his own pocket. The Rajah had fixed the fine, but the Sultan had put on his price as well, so that he might have his pickings out of the affair, and now his agent doubled that sum. It was in vain for the chief to protest that neither he nor his people had been concerned in the murders. The Sultan's agent threatened the chief that if he did not pay, the Rajah would send several men-of-war, that others would be despatched from Labuan, and more from Bruni, and that all their country would be laid waste and their villages burned. After a stormy interview, the chief succeeded in beating the agent down to a fine amounting to $8000, just thirty times more than the amount demanded by the Rajah as compensation to the relatives of those killed. And this fine the chief was constrained to pay.

Upon the death of the Sultana, a commissioner was sent to Baram by the Sultan to demand the customary aid towards the obsequies. A meeting of all the chiefs was summoned by the commissioner, a haji, and, as it happened, the late Mr. H. Brooke Low, who was then travelling in the Baram, was present. The Sultan's mandate, requiring so much from each man, was read and left with the chiefs, the haji not for a moment suspecting that any one present could read it. Mr. Low, however, was able to do so, and when it was shown to him he was shocked, though not surprised, to discover that the haji had read into the mandate a requirement for amounts more than double that demanded.

But the rebellion of the Kayans and the expulsion of the Brunis from Baram ensued in the middle of 1874; the river was freed of its oppressors, and the victorious Kayans menaced every settlement along the coast from the Baram to Bintulu. The villages were deserted and the Sultan was in despair, unable to reduce the Kayans, unable even to protect the Malays. Not only could he draw no revenue thence, but he dare not even ask for it. This prepared the way for the transfer of the whole stretch of coast to Sarawak. So far as the Sultan was concerned he was glad to commute the sovereignty of a district, from which little before the revolt, and nothing after, could be squeezed by himself out of the inhabitants, for a certain sum guaranteed to be paid to himself annually.

To escape Bruni oppression, people were constantly migrating to Sarawak, principally from the Semalajau, Niah, and Miri rivers, and in 1876 over 2000 came in. These poor people had to effect their escape by stealth, and consequently had to abandon all their property. Shortly after this upwards of 500 families of Kenyahs moved over into the Bintulu.

In accordance with the treaty with Great Britain of 1847 the Sultan was debarred from ceding any territory to any foreign power without the sanction of her Majesty's Government. This gave the British Government the right, or rather the power, to prevent Sarawak acquiring the Baram, and this it was prepared to do. As usual it proved obstructive, and refused to sanction the transfer; it went so far as to express its unwillingness to allow any territorial change to be made on the coast of Bruni. This was insisted on again in 1876, though the Rajah wrote to the Secretary for Foreign Affairs (March 20) "I may candidly state that a most pernicious system of robbery and oppression is pursued by the hirelings of the Bruni Government. It surely can scarcely be conceived by her Majesty's Government that upholding the authority of the Bruni Government is tantamount to supporting the cause of oppression and misrule."

Her Majesty's Government had refused to interfere in any way with that of Bruni for the amelioration of the condition of the people, and the maintenance of open ports and free trade; had stood aloof as not disposed to interfere in the internal affairs of the Sultanate, and yet now, most inconsistently, it stepped in to forbid the cession to Sarawak of a portion of that miserably misgoverned and depopulated State.

The fact seems to have been that the Foreign Office had been persistently misinformed as to the position and prospects of Sarawak, and as to the conduct of the Rajah towards the Sultan. The latter had agreed to the cession of Baram to Sarawak; he desired it for monetary reasons, the only reasons that appealed to or swayed him. But when Sir Edward Hertslet informed Mr. H. T. Ussher, C.M.G., who was Governor of Labuan from 1875 to 1879, and who appreciated the motives which guided the Rajah, that he "in common with others at the Foreign Office had fancied that the acquisition of the Baram by Sarawak would lead to the loss of its sago trade with Labuan," the cat was out of the bag. Incidently we may remark that Baram exported no sago, and that there could then have been little or no trade between that river and Labuan, for during the first six months of Sarawak rule the exports amounted in value to $9000 only. It was a dog-in-the-manger policy, what Labuan could not have, that it was resolved Sarawak should not have, and the interests of the people were left out of the question. It is possible enough that this was inspired by jealousy. No man likes to see his own field sterile and that of his neighbour producing luxurious crops. Conceive the feelings of a small mercer in the same street as a Whiteley or Harrod, who finds his own business dwindling, and is oppressed by the extension and success of the great firm a few doors off. Such may have been the feeling of a Governor of Labuan.

The Rajah visited England in 1874, and on July 16 handed in a memorandum to the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, pointing out that the appropriation by foreign powers of north-west and north-east Borneo and the Sulu Archipelago[310] should be guarded against, and recommended to ensure this, and for the benefit of trade and of the native communities, that Great Britain should assume the sovereign power over those territories that remained to the Sultanate of Bruni, that the Sultan and his heirs should be pensioned, as well as the five principal Bruni Rajahs; and that a town should be built at the mouth of the Bruni river, which should become the headquarters of her Majesty's Representative, in place of Labuan. All that the Rajah asked for Sarawak was that Baram should be incorporated with that State, owing to the fact that the inland population of that river and that of the Rejang were greatly intermixed, and should therefore be under one head and government.

A policy somewhat similar to that above indicated was, a year after, inaugurated with great success in the Malay Peninsula, and it would doubtless have met with equal success in Borneo had it found favour with her Majesty's Ministers then, though thirty years afterwards they saw reason to adopt it, but only after Bruni had become a bankrupt State, stripped of most of its territories, and with its small remaining revenue pawned. At the time when the Rajah made his proposal, the whole of what is now the British North Borneo Company's territory, together with Lawas, Trusan, Limbang, and Bruni, might have been acquired, and the Sultan would then have become as powerless to do harm as one of the native princes of the Federated Malay States, thus relieving the people of the intolerable oppression of a government which had reduced the population to a small remnant of what it had been formerly.

The policy adopted in regard to the native States of the Malay Peninsula in 1875, referred to above, is generally known as that of Sir Andrew Clarke, who was Governor of the Straits Settlements from 1873 to 1875. It was the policy, however, that the late Rajah, many years before, had advocated as one which should be introduced into all native States, and he then wrote: "The experiment of developing a country through the residence of a few Europeans and by the assistance of its own native rulers has never been fully tried, and it appears to me, in some respects more desirable than the actual possession of a foreign nation; for if successful, the native prince finds greater advantages, and if a failure, the European government is not committed. Above all it insures the independence of the native princes, and may advance the inhabitants further in the scale of civilisation by means of this very independence, than can be done when the government is a foreign one, and their freedom sacrificed."

Compare this with the remark made by Sir Andrew Clarke in his speech before the Legislative Council of Singapore on the government of the native States: "We should continue a policy not of aggression upon our neighbours, but of exercising our own influence, and by giving them officers to help them."

Had the late Rajah's policy been adopted, Sumatra, or that part of it which had not been relinquished to the Dutch in 1824, might now contain many States as flourishing as those of the Malay Peninsula. On March 3, 1844, the Rajah wrote: "I was glad of the opportunity I had of seeing the political state of Achin, as it fully confirmed my views, which I made known to Sir ——, of the steps necessary to protect and enlarge our commerce. Achin, like Borneo, is now in such a state of distraction that no protection can be found for life or property. To protect our trade we must _make a monarch_, and uphold him; and he would be a British servant _de facto_. We could always raise the better and depress the worse, in other words support those who will benefit ourselves."

A policy that both the Rajahs had advocated should be adopted towards Bruni.

For many years, as we have seen, Sarawak had to contend with the opposing influence of Governors of Labuan adverse to her advancement, but in 1875 Mr. Ussher was appointed Governor, and he was not prepared to take for granted all the stories of Sarawak aggression and intimidation which were poured into his ears. He sought for independent testimony, inquired into matters himself, and was not disposed to gloss over the misdeeds of the Sultan and his pangirans, and to suppress all mention of these in his despatches home.

Towards the end of his term of office Mr. Ussher wrote to the Rajah, "I have had an important interview to-day with Mr. Meade at the Colonial Office. The object in view was to ascertain the advisability of permitting you to acquire Baram. I ascertained that the objections against this step were reduced, firstly, to an idea that undue pressure was put upon the Sultan; secondly, that resident (!) traders, British, in that river would be damaged thereby.

"I also ascertained that the Colonial Secretary here was not at all disposed to carry out the views obstructive of Sarawak advance, which have animated his predecessors; but that, on the contrary, he was disposed to allow you and the Sultan to arrive at your own terms, so long as the Sultan was a perfectly free agent in the matter.

"In the course of a rather lengthy, and, I trust, not ineffective address on my part, I successfully combated these trivial and groundless objections, and exposed the fallacy of Sir Henry Bulwer's[311] and Mr. Pope Hennessy's views with regard to your dealings with the Sultan. I pointed out also the gross injustice and oppression of the Bruni rule in these territories, and expressed my firm conviction of the general desire on the part of the industrious and agricultural classes to pass under your settled and civilised rule. I demonstrated that there were _no_ resident British traders, either in Baram or elsewhere in these parts, whose interests could be imperilled. Further, that so long as you impose no restrictive export duties on native produce from the river, there was nothing whatever to prevent the sago, etc., coming to Labuan or anywhere else.

"I admitted that I had at first been disposed to adopt the Sultan's view with regard to your relations with him generally, but that careful inquiry and matured experience had proved to me, not only the untruth of the accusations of intimidation brought against you, but also the advisability of permitting you to extend your rule by all legitimate means, instead of supporting from quixotic and mistaken motives the effete and immoral rule of Bruni. Mr. Meade finally suggested to me, that the question might be settled by allowing you to make your own terms with the Sultan, with the proviso, that any agreement or treaty made between the two should be subject to the ratification of her Majesty's Government, who would thus have it in their power to nullify any injustice either to Bruni or British interests.

"From Sir M. Beach's views, and from Mr. Meade's proposal, I argue that the matter lies now at last in your own hands, as Lord Salisbury is likely to accept the Colonial Office views in these comparatively small matters, on account of its necessarily more detailed and minute experience of the interests of Borneo generally.

"On the whole I think we may congratulate ourselves on the prospect of a satisfactory solution of this unpleasant affair. You may always, as you know, depend upon me never to allow an opportunity to pass of helping you and Sarawak generally. Apart from our personal friendship, I act on the conviction that Sarawak is the future regenerator of Borneo."

This was in January, 1879, but Government officials move slowly, and in a mysterious way, and it was not till late in 1882 that the Foreign Office sanctioned the annexation of Baram by Sarawak. Thus, at length, after negotiating a transfer with the Sultan in 1874, the obstruction of the British Government was overcome, but it took eight years to do this.

A new spirit had come over the Governors of Labuan, and the somewhat ignoble spite, bred partly of ignorance and partly of jealousy, which had characterised their conduct with regard to Sarawak, and the Rajah in particular, was exchanged at last for generous and honest recognition of the excellence of his rule, and of the injustice of forcing the natives against their will to remain under the cruel oppression of this Old Man of the Sea astride on their shoulders.

The subsequent administrators of Labuan were favourable to Sarawak, but in 1889 the Colony was handed over to the British North Borneo Company. Their officials had no authority outside of Labuan and did not correspond with the Foreign Office, and Consuls were appointed to Bruni.

In June, 1883, the Rajah visited Bruni, and was received by the aged Sultan with special marks of distinction. The Sultan waited at the entrance of the audience chamber, and taking the Rajah by the hand, led him to the throne where he seated him by his side. Negotiations for the cession of Baram and the rivers and districts lying between that river and Bintulu were at once entered upon, and speedily concluded, and on the 13th, the deed of cession was finally sealed and delivered.

The cession of this district gave great satisfaction to the inhabitants, and most of those who had migrated to Sarawak returned by degrees. A fort was erected at Claudetown[312] (Merudi) about sixty miles up the Baram river, and here Chinese and Malay traders soon settled, and a brisk trade rapidly sprang up. Minor stations were also established at Miri and Niah. The turbulent Kayans and Kenyahs speedily became pacified, and existing feuds were settled. Now, this district is one of the most peaceful and prosperous in the State.[313] The entrance to the river is, and has been, a great hindrance to trade, the bar being very shallow and exposed, so that it is unsafe for sailing vessels and screw steamers. The Government accordingly had a special steamer of 200 tons built in England to carry the trade. She is practically flat-bottomed, and is propelled by paddles. Another, larger, was added as the trade increased. In January, 1884, the Rajah was notified by Earl Granville that her Majesty's Government had no objection to the exercise of jurisdiction over British subjects by the judicial authorities of the Government of Sarawak in this newly-acquired territory.

Only one chief in Baram gave any trouble; and he was Aban Jau, chief of the Tinjar Kayans. He persistently interfered, and thwarted the policy of Government as much as he could without bringing himself into open conflict with the authorities. He maintained a position of semi-independence, and flew his own flag. But in May, 1884, he committed an intolerable act, and had to be humbled. As the affair is illustrative of the iniquities allowed at Bruni until quite recently, the particulars may be given. To appease the manes of his daughter-in-law, Aban Jau sent to Pangiran Nipa of Tutong, asking for a slave, so that he might immolate the unhappy wretch. His messengers went to Bruni, where two pangirans, Matusin and Tejudin, handed them a slave, an old and decrepit man, whom they sent as a present to Aban Jau. The Resident at Claudetown, hearing of this, had the party intercepted and arrested, but too late to save the slave. He had been killed and his head taken, as he was too old to walk, and the messengers did not care to trouble themselves to carry him. Aban Jau was severely punished; he submitted, and his power was broken. He was no better than an aged savage, and there was some excuse for him, as he was complying with ancestral customs; but there was none for the Muhammadan Bruni pangirans for despatching a miserable old slave to a death by torture.

In June, 1884, by the Sultan's orders, a Dusun village was attacked—the time for the attack being chosen when nearly all the able-bodied men were absent, and over twenty women and children were killed. Oppression became so rife that many refugees crossed the frontier into Sarawak territory, abandoning in so doing their property and plantations. In August of the same year, the people of Limbang broke out into open rebellion.

The Limbang river waters a wide district that is fertile and populous. The people possessed extensive sago plantations, and were comparatively prosperous. On this account they were all the more oppressed by the pangirans. There was no protection for person and property, and women and girls were carried off to fill the harems of Bruni. This was the people that suffered such cruel wrongs at the hands of the Pangiran Makota, and it was in this river that he met his death in 1860.

The trouble began with two of the agents of the Pangiran Temanggong, the then Regent and heir apparent, being killed whilst extorting taxes. The pangiran thereupon went up in his steam-launch with a large following, and proposed that the chiefs should meet him at a certain place and discuss matters. The proposal was made in guile, his real purpose being to seize the opportunity for slaughtering them. But these people had had many years' experience of pangirans and their little ways, and met guile with guile. The proposal was acceded to, but whilst the pangiran was on his way to the appointed rendezvous he himself fell into an ambuscade.

Fire was opened on his party, and he was forced to beat a retreat, his launch damaged, seventeen of his men killed, and more wounded. Bruni was thrown into panic, and stockades were erected to resist an expected invasion. The Limbang people followed up their advantage by raiding the suburbs of the town, and a house was attacked within half a mile of the Sultan's palace.

The Sultan, then in his dotage, was helpless, and appealed to the acting Consul-General, Mr. Treacher (now Sir William Treacher, K.C.M.G.), to help him out of his difficulties. Mr. Treacher knew that the Limbangs had been driven to rebellion by the intolerable exactions to which they had been subjected, and he declined to interfere, unless the Sultan and his wazirs should concede a charter releasing the Limbangs from all arbitrarily imposed taxes, and limiting taxation to a small poll tax, and a 5 per cent _ad valorem_ duty on gutta percha, granting them at the same time immunity for their property and sago-plantations, and engaging that no more tax-collectors should be sent from Bruni to the river, and that a general amnesty should be accorded.

This charter, embodying so many radical reforms, was granted with ill-concealed reluctance, and without the slightest intent of performance.

Armed with this document, Mr. Treacher proceeded to the Limbang. But already the Sultan had sent word to the Muruts to fall on the Limbangs and kill and pillage as they liked.

Whilst Mr. Treacher was negotiating with the chiefs, news arrived that these savages had murdered four Kadayan women and two men, and they were consequently ill-disposed to accept the charter. They knew by experience that they could not rely upon the good faith of the Sultan and his wazirs. However, Mr. Treacher was urgent, and hesitatingly they appended their marks to the document; relying rather on the white man to see that its provisions were carried out, than feeling that any confidence could be placed in the word of the Sultan.

And in fact, no sooner was the agreement signed, than the Sultan sent his emissaries into the Baram district to invite the Kayans to raid the Limbang, but the Sarawak Government got wind of this, and at once took prompt and effective measures to prevent the tribes on the Baram from answering the appeal.

In December, 1884, Mr. Frank R. O. Maxwell,[314] who was administering the Government in the absence of the Rajah, when at Bruni heard that sixteen Sarawak Dayaks and four Malays had been killed while collecting produce in the neighbouring river, Trusan. The Sultan in his impotence to act, suggested to Mr. Maxwell his willingness to cede the Trusan district to Sarawak. The feudal rights over this district were held by the Pangiran Temanggong, and he too consented. Bruni and Sarawak, he said, were the same country, and in transferring his rights to Sarawak he would be incorporating himself in the Sarawak Government. Subject to the approval of the Rajah, Mr. Maxwell accepted this offer of the Trusan.

TRUSAN FORT.]

The Sultan, the Pangiran Temanggong, and other wazirs and pangirans were then all in favour of the cession of the Limbang, as well as the Trusan, to Sarawak. The Chinese and Malay traders and the lower classes strongly advocated the transfer; and the Regent and the wazir next to him in rank gave Mr. Maxwell a written promise with their seals attached that, pending the return of the Rajah, Limbang should not be transferred to any foreign government. On the return of the Rajah early in 1885, Trusan was occupied, and a fort and station established some thirty miles from the mouth, to which English and native officers were appointed. The Muruts up the river were a quarrelsome people, and blood-feuds were common, and gave some trouble at first. The people generally had become miserably poor through a long course of oppression.

Trusan is a good example of what tact and discretion can do in dealing with natives, and the Muruts were the most savage of those in that part. In a very few years they became peaceful, well-to-do, and contented, enjoying the fruits of their labours in security. Trusan has now a fairly flourishing trade, and the rich plains through which the river winds, and which in days gone by had been extensively cultivated with rice, but which had been rendered desolate by extortion, now afford large grazing grounds for herds of water-buffaloes, which are bred for export, and also excellent land for the cultivation of the sago palm.

Barely a month had elapsed since the peace had been patched up with the Limbang people by the acting Consul-General, before the people were again in revolt, and many Bruni Malays, men and women, were killed, large numbers of buffaloes were mutilated, and again the capital, Bruni, was menaced. Nothing further was done by the British Government, and nothing could be done, except to establish a firm government in the disaffected region, and the Foreign Office was not prepared to do this. As for the authorities in Bruni, they were incapable of doing anything. Their only idea of keeping rebellious subjects under control was to invoke the aid of wild interior tribes, and invite them to butcher and plunder all who resisted their exactions, and this they could no longer do.

On May 30, 1885, the old Sultan Mumin departed this life, at the venerable age of over one hundred years, and the Pangiran Temanggong Hasim, reputed son of the late Sultan Omar Ali,[315] the predecessor of Sultan Mumin, was elevated to the throne. Sultan Hasim, who was past middle age when he succeeded, was a shrewd man, though hard and vindictive. His antecedents had not been exemplary, but hopes were entertained that, being a man of strength of mind and of advanced ideas, an improvement would be effected in the administration of Bruni, which would lead to the establishment of good order and bring the place and State out of absolute decay into comparative prosperity, but these hopes, strong man as he was, he was powerless to fulfil.

In order to appreciate much that occurred during the reign of Sultan Hasim it is necessary to understand the conditions under which he became Sultan, and the effect that these conditions had upon his power and position.

His predecessor, Mumin, had an only son, the Pangiran Muda Muhammad Tejudin, a semi-imbecile, nicknamed Binjai, literally the son of misfortune, signifying an idiot. Much as Sultan Mumin would have liked to have proclaimed his son heir to the throne, it was quite impossible for him to do so in opposition to the natural objections of the nobles, upheld, as these were, by the laws of Bruni, which preclude the accession of any prince afflicted with mental or bodily infirmity. The succession would therefore fall upon either of the Sultan's nephews, the Pangiran Bandahara, or the Pangiran di Gadong, and both claimed it. These two powerful princes and wazirs, with their feudal and official territorial rights, and the many nobles and chiefs who owed them allegiance, represented the most powerful factions in the country, and the accession of either to the throne would have plunged the country into bloodshed. To avert this, the British Government persuaded Sultan Mumin, but not without bringing considerable pressure to bear upon him, to nominate the Pangiran Temanggong Hasim, the senior wazir, as his successor, and to appoint him Regent, the old Sultan being too feeble-minded to govern.

Hasim's elevation to the throne gave profound offence to the Pangirans Bandahara and di Gadong, and to the majority of the people, who believed the story of his mean birth, and that he had no just title to the rank he held as a prince of blood royal. That his accession was not disputed was due only to its implied support of the British Government, though that support would probably have failed him had he been forced to fall back upon it. The Bandahara and di Gadong, though they retained their offices, for many years refused him their support, and would neither attend his Council nor maintain any kind of relation with him, notwithstanding the fact that they were his two principal Ministers of State; and he was powerless to force them to do so, or to deprive them of their offices.

Moreover, his predecessor had left him in sore straits for the means necessary for the support of his government, and even of his household. None of the late Sultan's property came to him, and the whole of the crown-lands in Bruni territory had been illegally granted to others, and these, though his rightful appurtenances, he had no power to recover.

Sultan Hasim thus came to the throne practically shorn of everything that goes to the support of a crown. Abandoned by his ministers, and the loyalty of his people denied him, deprived of his revenues, and with but a few followers, there was nothing left him but the sovereign rights, shadowy in nature since he had not the means fully to exert them. A pathetic picture; but in spite of his faults it says much for his personal ability and strength of character that he was able, not only to maintain his position, but gradually to gain sufficient power to exert his authority, and to make his will felt. It must not be overlooked that many of his worst acts were the direct outcome of his necessitous condition, and the constant intriguing against him by his own ministers.

Owing to lack of power to chastise the rebels, though not of will, Limbang had been let alone by the Sultan, and for some time there were no aggressive acts committed by either side, but in November, 1885, the people of Limbang were again in open rebellion and had killed two more Bruni subjects. The Sultan thereupon sent the Rajah two pressing messages asking him to visit Bruni, and this the Rajah did. The Sultan laid the state of affairs before him, and declared that he saw no hope of peace unless the Rajah would consent to attack the Limbang, and reduce the people to order for him. Limbang was sufficiently near to be a menace to the capital. Twice it had been threatened by them, and the suburbs raided. The third time might be more disastrous. The town might fall into their hands.

The Rajah, however, declined to interfere. The Limbang people were at peace with Sarawak, and numbers of his subjects were working produce in that river, and met with friendliness there. To reduce these people to submission, and then to hand them over to oppression, after having deprived them of the power to protect themselves, was what the Rajah would never consent to do. That something must be done, and done at once, he felt, but the question of what should be done was for the representative of her Majesty's Government to decide.

As we have before pointed out, in the Sultanate of Bruni, there are various rights claimed. The Sultan has his rights, some districts revert to the holders of certain offices, and others are under the hereditary feudal rule of the pangirans. Limbang pertained to this last category. The Sultan was sovereign, but his sovereign rights consisted in this alone, namely, to send his agents into the country and squeeze it. The feudal lords were the pangirans, and as they could not oppress the exasperated and revolted people any more, they were ready to surrender their rights to the Rajah, but could not do this without the Sultan's confirmation and seal. What the Sultan wanted was that the Rajah should crush the rebellion, so that he might work his vengeance on the Limbang people, and turn the screw on them till nothing more could be extracted from them. This the Rajah perfectly understood, and he declined to do the dirty work for the Sultan. The refusal of assistance by the Rajah produced a coolness on the part of the Sultan. He would not, however, receive this refusal as final, and he repeated his request to the Rajah in an altered form; he requested him to place the gunboat _Aline_ with a strong force of Sarawak Dayaks, also a large sum of money, at his (the Sultan's) disposal, for the purpose of enabling him to reduce the Limbang people under his own officers, if the Rajah himself would not head the expedition.

The Rajah's refusal aroused an angry feeling in the breast of Hasim, and this was fanned to bitter hostility, when the Consul-General informed him and the Limbang people simultaneously, in reply to a petition of the latter that they might be placed under the rule of white men, that her Majesty's Government was prepared to consent to the transfer of Limbang to Sarawak. The Sultan's hostile attitude was not shared by his ministers, or by the Bruni people generally, or even by the hereditary owners or rulers of the Limbang. These latter, as has been shown, unable to extract more taxes from the people, hoped to receive from the Sarawak Government an annual stipulated income in lieu of precarious and uncertain exactions. They accordingly begged the Rajah to take over the river. But the Sultan refused to consent, and his refusal was probably actuated even then by motives other than those of revenge and resentment as the sequel will show.

In September, 1886, two cold-blooded murders were committed in the Tutong, within a day's journey overland from Bruni. Two young pangirans, a man and a woman, had been living together without the sanction of their respective parents. The girl, after a while, was ordered by her father, Pangiran Nipa, to return to him. She did so, and he then put her to death with his own hands. The young man, Pangiran Japar, was brother to Pangiran Mat, who had been placed in charge of Tutong by the Pangiran di Gadong, the ex-officio holder of feudal rights in that district. Japar and Mat were both subjects of Sarawak. A short time after the murder of the girl, Nipa's brother, the Pangiran Tejudin, son-in-law of the Sultan, and uncle of the unfortunate girl, sent an armed party to Pangiran Mat, to inform him that a mandate had been issued by the Sultan for the execution of Japar. Pangiran Mat did not ask to be shown this mandate, and in fact Tejudin had none, but was intimidated into allowing his brother to be killed.

The Rajah was at the time at Bruni, and he at once demanded of the Sultan that a fair trial of Pangiran Tejudin should be held. There was very little doubt that the Sultan's name had been misused, and Japar was a Sarawak subject. As no justice was likely to be obtained in Bruni, the Rajah further demanded that the murderer should be handcuffed and sent to Labuan for trial, when the truth would come out. But this was refused. The Sultan naturally was determined to screen his son-in-law, who had instigated the murder, and who was then in the palace enjoying his protection. The Rajah indignantly declined to meet the Sultan so long as the murderer was sheltered under his roof. So the matter ended, but it widened the rift between the Rajah and the Sultan.

In June, 1887, Sir Frederick Weld, Governor of Singapore, went to Bruni to settle a dispute between the North Borneo Company and the Sultan over a debateable strip of land. Sultan Hasim seized the occasion to pour into the ear of Sir Frederick a tissue of accusations against Sarawak, and no Sarawak official was allowed to be present to refute them. The Government of the Rajah was charged with disturbing the peace, and with sending its emissaries into the Limbang to foster discontent, and to keep the rebellion simmering, in the hopes of being able to find an excuse for annexing the district. Sir Frederick listened, but apparently believed little he heard, for he recommended the Sultan to hand over the Limbang to the Rajah. He further strongly urged the Sultan to accept a British Protectorate over his remaining dominions, and to receive a Resident, who might act as adviser in the administration of the State. The Sultan consented to this latter recommendation; his intention, however, to accept a British Resident at Bruni, to prevent his misrule, and to curb the tyranny of his adherents, was only pretence. Sir Frederick Weld was perhaps acting beyond his instructions in proposing the appointment of a Resident, but the proposal was sound. In September, 1888, the late Sir Hugh Low, then Resident of Perak, was despatched to Bruni to conclude an agreement with the Sultan by which Bruni became a Protectorate.

In the Federated Malay States, as in the Indian Protectorates, British Residents are placed who can advise as to the conduct of government, and it is perfectly understood by the native rulers that their advice must be followed. Now, a British Protectorate had been extended over Bruni, and as a consequence a Resident should have been placed there to control the Sultan and check the misdoings of his chiefs. But nothing of the sort was done. The Limbang was left in a condition of disorder, and a menace to its neighbours, and the Brunis to the arbitrary injustice and cruelty of their rulers. Trusan now offered a near haven of refuge to which many fled, both slaves and free-born people, the latter chiefly to save their daughters from a fate worse than slavery—a short period in a harem, and then domestic drudgery for life. The British Government would do nothing, and looked very much as if it were not disposed to allow any one else to do anything. Sir Hugh Low,[316] who had an exceptional experience of Bruni and the people, had urged the Sultan to place the Limbang under the Rajah, tendering the same advice as had Sir Frederick Weld; but to this, also, Hasim turned a deaf ear.