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most of his followers were krissed' or knocked on the head. But ultimately the triumph was complete. A new conference' was summoned, at which divers piratical chiefs were, in name of our ally, the Sultan of Borneo, deposed from their stations, I had the satisfaction of witnessing,' says Captain Keppel, what must have been-from the effect I observed it to have produced--a splendid piece of oratory, delivered by Mr Brooke in the native tongue, with a degree of fluency I had never witnessed before, even in a Malay. The purport of it, as I "understood, was to point out emphatically the horrors of piracy on the one hand, which it was the determination of thẹ British government to suppress; and, on the other hand, the blessings arising from peace and trade, which it and trade, which it was equally our wish to cultivate.'

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Thus terminated the most successful inroad ever made into the haunts of these ferocious Corsairs. But the work was, and is, far from being completed. In May 1845, Mr Brooke was again present when the boats of the Vixen, Nemesis, and Pluto, with five hundred and fifty blue-jackets and marines, carried the fortress of Malludu, fiercely defended by Seriff Houseman;-one of the most persevering and dangerous enemies whom the Rajah of Sarawak had encountered in his civilizing career. Panjeran Usop, another pirate of the highest Malay order, was forced to an unworthy surrender; much to the dissatisfaction of his countrymen. His mouth was brave,' they exclaimed,, but his heart timid. He should have died as other great men have died, and not have received such shame. He should have amoked, (run a-muck,) or delivered himself up for execution." So far well; but Borneon piracy is not like that of the Cilicians of old, to be extirpated in a campaign or two by some victorious Pompey. It is the inveterate habits of the people, Malays and sea-Dyaks alike; and the Bugis of Celebes, and the warriors of the more distant Gilolo, are more formidable than the Borneons. The idea of extirpating whole hordes of pirati'cal states,' says Mr Hunt, were it possible, must, from its cruelty, be incompatible with the liberal principles and humane policy of a British government. The simple burning down of a Malay town can prove no serious impediment to future piratical enterprises. Constructed, as they are, of bamboos, mats, and atap leaves, a town is almost rebuilt in the same period of time as it takes to destroy it. The Dutch, who had centuries ' of dear-bought experience, knew there was no other mode of

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* See Memoir on Borneo, appended to Captain Keppel's work,

prevention and radical cure than building small redoubts at the principal towns, and keeping up an adequate force to check 'piratical enterprises, and to turn their restless minds to exertions of industry; satisfied if, with the attainment of these objects, they covered the expenses of the establishment. This is the true history of the innumerable little forts on Celebes, Borneo, Timor, and all the Eastern isles.'

Much as may be effected by a character and exertions such as those of Mr Brooke, it is evident that it is by time alone, and by a strenuous perseverance in watchful and resolute policy, that we can ultimately attain-as attain we certainly shall the result of making this vast archipelago as secure for the purposes of commerce, as our Indian seas. Mr Hunt, it may be observed, wrote the above Memoir' in 1812. The employment of Steam-Navigation has since that time altered the character of this species of warfare. Floating fortresses, like the Phlegethon, may dispense with the necessity for many an armed post on the land.

Here we must take leave, along with Captain Keppel, of Mr Brooke; not without sharing in his own heartfelt exultation, at finding that his single-hearted zeal and perseverance are already reaping a large reward. By Captain Keppel's last accounts, Sarawak had marvellously increased in population and trade; new houses were daily rising; new vessels constructing; the industrious Chinese had discovered, and were turning to account, this new field of emigration; European settlers were arriving-dangerous but serviceable guests, and safe as yet under the control of Mr Brooke's energy and vigilance; but, above all, the Dyak tribes were flocking in to share the shelter of the flag of the new potentate, and enjoy this narrow but peaceful asylum from surrounding anarchy. Liberated slaves, from the pirate districts, were becoming peaceful cultivators; a long-oppressed race were rising, under his auspices, into the dignity of free and industrious men; and while we can conceive no happiness more exalted than that of the founder of this prosperity, he appears himself to view it in no other light than as a stimulus to further exertion. Captain Keppel informs us also, that Mr Brooke has been lately appointed British Agent in Borneo; and, if this appointment was bestowed at his own request, we trust it may prove an instrument towards the furtherance of his truly philanthropic and magnificent views; though for our own parts, we should have felt some apprehension, we will confess, as to the consequences of his independent action being controlled by the trammels of a connexion with our distant Colonial Office. Government has also adopted another of his suggestions, in taking possession of the island of Labuan, off the

coast of Borneo Proper ;-pointed out by him as a convenient spot for the purposes of commerce between China and Borneo, and a depot for coal for steamers on their way to China, as well as a station against the pirates.

We deeply regret, however, to say, that even since we commenced this article, new and painful intelligence has arrived from this most interesting quarter. It seems that Panjeran Budrudeen, a brave and faithful ally of Mr Brooke, of whom many interesting notices are contained in Captain Keppel's volumes, had been attacked by pirates, and forced to retire into his house. Here he defended himself until he could hold out no longer; when, with the desperate valour of the Malay, when driven to extremity, after sending a ring from his finger to Mr Brooke, he fired the gunpowder in his house, and destroyed himself and his family. This ring had been given to him by Mr Brooke, to be sent to summon his aid in a moment of danger. The villanous Sultan of Borneo, it was added, had ordered the destruction of Mr Brooke by poison, or in any other manner; and Muda Hassim, and several of his friends, had already been treacherously killed. At the date of this intelligence, the Phlegethon and other vessels were hastening to the protection of Mr Brooke. Whatever the exact state of circumstances may have been, it is too plain that he was in the midst of one of those perilous and awful conjunctures to which his daring and noble career is exposed. If he has indeed fallen, as some fear, and met the fate for which many passages of his Journal show him fully prepared, England never lost a worthier son in a more heroic and sacred enterprise.

But he has already won his way through more impediments than the dangers with which he was last heard to be environed; and from his indomitable courage and energy we, with considerable confidence, hope for the best. Should he weather this storm, and become firmly seated in his dominions, one more great object lies open to him—the introduction of Christianity among that simple and not unpromising race, for whom he has already effected so much. The great influence which he has acquired, and the purely beneficent character of that influence, would no doubt afford him great facilities for commencing the task. And the disposition of the Dyaks themselves their naturally peaceable and laborious habits their freedom from prejudices of caste, and from powerful and rooted superstition-the very absence of any definite religious system, for which they seem remarkable-all these are favourable circumstances in the case. Nor are precedents wanting among the wide-spread nations of the same region. There seems reason to believe that the Dutch have succeeded in introducing

Christianity, far more extensively than is generally known, among the kindred Polynesian races of the Moluccas and the Arafura islands. So much mystery continues to envelope the condition of their eastern settlements, that information on this point is not easily accessible. But it is certain, that Amboyna has become a kind of nursery of native missionaries-sending out teachers, both European and native, to distant portions of the Malay archipelago. And though we know but little, either of the spread, or the character, of their religious instruction, it may be supposed that, outwardly at least, the success of their obscure labours has been greater than that of the much-vaunted Roman Catholic Missions of the East. In 1838, Mr Earl found that one-fourth of the inhabitants of Kissa (a remote island near Timor which he visited) belonged to the Dutch Reformed Church; and he speaks very highly of the order and civilization of the Community. Captain Stanley, who accompanied Mr Earl, gives some other interesting notices of this scattered and struggling Christianity. In one island, indeed, he found the poor Missionary on the point of banishment. The faith of his flock had not been able to resist a long continuance of dry weather, which the Old Gods had sent in their anger. Whoever is interested in this subject--and who that has the cause of Civilization, and the humanizing influence of true Religion at heart, is not? will be pleased with the Address' lately published by the Rev. Mr Brereton, mentioned at the head of this article, and which we here recommend to the general consideration of the Public. Besides its own immediate and principal objects, announced in its title-page, it is prefaced with a rapid and wellwritten notice of Borneo, strongly inviting attention to it as one of the largest and fairest countries of the world, and as lying on one of the great navigable pathways of the Asiatic Archipelago to China and Japan.' It may, however, be true, that the difficulties in the way of real and satisfactory progress, are greater than his praiseworthy zeal anticipates. Mr Brooke's own opinion is, that the work of civilization must precede that of conversion; for without previous culture," he says, I reckon the labours of the missionary as useless as endeavouring to read off a blank paper.' And as his opinion on such a subject ought to rank as an authority, we hope that his judgment, in this as well as less important matters, will not be rashly interfered with.

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Our readers will perceive, that much of the value of Captain Keppel's work consists in its extracts from Mr Brooke's Journals, and the insight which it gives into his remarkable history. But the Captain's own deeds and proceedings are well and modestly recounted; and his truly generous zeal to make known the achieve

ments of his friend scarcely permits him to do himself sufficient justice. Yet his narrative of the exploits of the Dido will, after all, form the most generally amusing part of the book. Altogether, it well merits that public favour which it has already acquired, and to which we think it yet further entitled.

The opening of so vast an Island to English enterprise, forms an era so new and important, in the history of our connexion with that still half fabulous archipelago, of which it nearly occupies the centre, that it may not be without interest to take a brief review of the principal points on which the standard of Britain is already unfurled.

Penang and Singapore are the two outposts of this vast oceanic region. The latter of these two positions, however, is by far the most valuable. The island was selected by Sir Stamford Raffles for a settlement; a singular instance (except perhaps Odessa) of a great commercial emporium, of which the site has been fixed, not by the natural course of commerce itself, but by the forethought of an individual. Singapore has been for some years the great entrepôt of the trade between China and India; especially that part of it which is carried on in the junks' of the Chinese. This advantage it appears likely to lose, to some extent, in conse-' quence of the opening of the China trade; though we can hardly' agree with Mr Davidson, who draws from hence the conclusion, that the trade of Singapore has reached its maximum. More probably the certain increase of its commerce with Borneo, and the great islands eastward of it, will, in no distant time, far more than compensate for any diminution of that with China.

The great Empire of our neighbours in the Indian archipelago (for such it is) lies to the southward of the Line ;-scattered, from Bencoolen in the west, to Banda in the east, over nearly thirty degrees of longitude. Our transactions with Holland in the Eastern Seas are regulated by a treaty dated in the year 1824. By the twelfth article of that treaty, it is agreed that no British esta'blishment shall be made on the Carimon Isles, or on the Islands ' of Battam, Bintang, Lingin, or any of the other Islands south of the Straits of Singapore. This is one of those oracular clauses, which men of homely understandings are sometimes tempted to suspect Diplomatists of framing in order to insure a perpetuity of employment for the craft. What is meant bysouth of the Straits of Singapore ?' Rumour attributes to the Dutch a disposition to give it a very sweeping interpretation indeed to make it include all Islands

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* Trade and Travel, p. 67.