ment such grants, should circumstances make it necessary, demand those cordial acknowledgments which, in Her Majesty's name, I have the pleasure to render.

66

Mr. President and Honourable Gentlemen of the Legislative Council; Mr. Speaker and Gentlemen of the House of Assembly,

"I congratulate you on the enactment of several useful laws to which I have just assented. Among them I regard with especial gratification that by which the various acts affecting the finances of the country are amended and consolidated.

"You will, I am assured, consider it your duty, on returning to your counties, to cherish and encourage in your fellow-subjects those sentiments of loyalty and devotion to your Sovereign by which your own proceedings have been guided, and for which the people of Nova Scotia have heretofore been so honourably distinguished."

BORNEO. The enterprizing spirit of an individual Englishman has aroused public attention, and directed it to this remote region of the earth, where events have recently occurred which demand a brief notice in our pages. In the year 1838, Mr. James Brooke fitted out from his own funds, unassisted by Government or the public, a schooner of 142 tons, for the purpose of visiting the shores of Borneo. He had previously sailed in the Chinese seas, and his benevolent mind had conceived the idea that the magnificent islands which lie to the south-east of the Straits of Malacca, and which have so long been abandoned to the half

savage tribes, whose pirate prahus infest the waters and paralyze commerce, might be reclaimed to the uses of civilized existence; and that the blessings of Christianity might be poured over that dark quarter of the globe. To accomplish this object it was first necessary to obtain more accurate knowledge than we possessed of the geography as well as the condition of those islands: and Mr. Brooke's voyage might be considered as one of discovery, having the specific ends in view of civilizing some portion, if not the whole of Borneo, suppressing piracy, and establishing commercial intercourse between that island and Singapore. He arrived at Sarawak, which is on the north-west coast of Borneo, in the month of August, 1839, and was well received by Rajah Muda Hassim, the uncle of the Sultan of Borneo, and under him the Governor of Sarawak. At that juncture Muda Hassim was engaged in a war with some rebellious subjects in the interior, which he was unable to bring to a satisfactory termination. Mr. Brooke stayed some time at Sarawak, making himself acquainted with the country and its inhabitants, and inspiring the Rajah with feelings of friendly confidence. He afterwards sailed to Singapore, but soon returned to Sarawak, where he found the civil war still raging; and Muda Hassim solicited his assistance, offering to invest him with the government of Sarawak, if he succeeded in putting an end to the rebellion. Mr. Brooke availed himself of this opportunity for carrying out his philanthropic views. He joined the Rajah against the rebels, who were, after a protracted contest, vanquished

and compelled to surrender. He was then formally instituted Rajah of Sarawak, with the usual native ceremonies, and afterwards proceeded to the capital of Borneo, which lies on the coast to the northeast of Sarawak, in order to obtain the ratification by the Sultan of his newly acquired dignity. After some delay, the amount of revenue which was to be paid by Mr. Brooke, as the Rajah of Sarawak, was settled, and the sanction of the Sultan was formaily obtained in a written instrument, with which Mr. Brooke returned to the seat of his Government. The fruits of his wise and paternal rule soon appeared, and the people, prosperous and happy, became warmy attached to their new Bajaa. He was however, surroumici e pirate neighbours, wit Aviacions at ast aroused the spacy of the British GoveER FREIEN, LENS and at the

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Mr. Brooke, made Patacks upon the different pirate cx Vosteying their prahus and Oreavu saades, and capturing He au saty, to Stugapore, intending 10 Celica, dus was ordered to Eng te was succeeded by Sir E. in 1.M.S. Samarang, w20 careyed the ex-Rajah Muda and followers to the '', ཝཏ ཧིཏེ། ། ཀཔི,ཝིསཝིབྷེན

In the month of S6, Captain Bethune awak from Bugland,

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and he was the bearer of a despatch from the British Government appointing Mr. Brooke Agent of Her Britannic Majesty in Borneo, and also a letter addressed to the Sultan of Borneo, in reply to a requisition which had been sent by the latter to the British Government, for assistance in the suppression of piracy. In the meantime, the small island of Labuan, which lies to the north of Borneo, a short distance from the capital, had been ceded by the Sultan to the Queen of Great Britain-with the view of being occupied as a convenient naval station, on the high-road from the East Indies to China. Brooke proceeded to the town of Borneo, and had several interviews with the Sultan, who gave him a friendly reception, and seemed sineere in his desire to put a stop to the piracy of his subjects. There were, however, two parties at the Court, one of which, headed by Muda Hassim, was anxious to conciliate the friendship of the English, and resolutely averse to piracy-the other, to which, as the sequel showed, the weak and imbecile Sultan either inclined or was forced to yield, were our enemies, and false and hollow in their professions. Mr. Brooke then sailed to Singapore, and soon afterwards accompanied Admiral Sir Thomas Cochrane on board H.M.S. Agincourt, together with several other vessels of war, including steamers, back to the capital of Borneo. The object of this visit on the part of Sir T. Cochrane, was to demand reparation for the detention and confinement of two British subjects. This act was disowned by the Sultan, and the residence of the real offender, Pangeran Usop, was destroyed, as he refused to surrender. The Admiral then proceeded

against a strong body of pirates, who occupied a fortified position a few miles up the river, at the head of Maludu Bay. The force detached from the ships on this service consisted of 546 men, under the command of Captain Talbot; and on the 19th of August, 1845, they ascended the river in gunboats and other small craft, and, in the face of a well-sustained fire from eleven guns, cut through a strongly constructed boom, laid across the stream, which prevented the passage of the boats. They then carried and totally destroyed the works and town, the pirates who occupied it having abandoned it and fled into the interior, when they found that the boats had passed the boom. In this gallant action our loss consisted of six killed, and fifteen wounded.

This lesson, though a severe one, did not produce any lasting effect; and in the early part of the present year the conduct of the Sultan of Borneo was such as to draw down upon him and his capital signal punishment. Acting under the advice of chiefs who were hostile to Muda Hassim, and those who advocated a peaceful policy, he caused an attack to be treacherously made at night upon both his uncles, Muda Hassim and Bundureen, in their own houses, when they were slain, together with a great number of their families and dependents. He then immediately began to increase the strength of his fortifications; and it was evident that he was influenced by an insane delusion that he might be able to set at defiance any British force which his conduct might provoke to attack him. About this time, Commander Egerton, in H. M. S. Hazard, was sent by Sir Thomas Cochrane VOL. LXXXVIII.

At

to reconnoitre Borneo; and a treacherous attempt was made to induce that officer to enter the capital, where there was every reason to believe it had been resolved to put him to death. On account of these threatening symptoms, Sir Thomas Cochrane determined to ascend the river to the city of Brunè, the capital of Borneo Proper, and demand an explanation from the Sultan of his conduct. He hoisted his flag on board H.M.S. Spiteful, on the 7th of July, accompanied by Mr. Brooke, and taking in tow the Hazard and the Royalist (Mr. Brooke's schooner), and preceded by the steamer Phlegethon, ascended the river. Palo Bungone five forts had been erected to dispute the passage, and these opened a spirited fire upon the vessels; but our gun-boats soon caused it to slacken, and when the crews were landed the garrison abandoned the batteries and fled. These forts were afterwards destroyed. A heavy battery had been erected à fleur d'eau about 800 yards from the river, which pointed towards a bend which it made between the forts and the city. Thomas Cochrane says in his despatch, that “ no sooner did the ships open the point, than the batteries commenced a sharp and extremely well-directed fire, and at the same time a play of musketry from the woods on our right, and to which the Spiteful was obliged to submit without retaliation. The critical situation in which she was placed (with the beach but a few yards beyond her paddle-boxes, the Royalist in tow, and the boats filled with the whole of the landing force) required the utmost silence and attention to prevent the whole been thrown on shore. But the Phlegethon very promptly returned

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