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the

-'u;

*..>rS^^/c^

../

aV-"J

y^.^ . ■■'■ / v.^lrJtj'"

The last page of tk» Tmaty of 6th February, 1819.

Jill jliKcaotal l>istorp

or Oia Ciitics . .

Ill Singapore . . .

(Witi) Portraits ana Illustrations)

FROM

The Foundation of the Settlement under the Honourable the
East India Company, on February 6th, 1819,

TO THE

Transfer to the Colonial Office as part of the Colonial
Possessions of the Crown on April ist, 1867,

CHARLES BURTON BUCKLEY.

In Two Volumes— Volume 1

L^Sll riqbts rtstrbtb. 1

Singapore :
Printed by Fraser & Neave, Limited.

1902.

" / Twis curious to see how he manufactured his
wares. He tlipped into various inrnks, fluttering
oi*er the teaves of manuscripts, taking a morsel
out of one, a morsel out of another, here a
little, ami there a little. The contents of his
ikiok seemed to be as heterogy*neous as those of
the witches* caldron in Macbeth. After all,
thought I, nuiy not this pilfering disposition
be implanted in authors for wise purposes ; may
it not be the way in which Providence has
take?i care tluit the seeds of knowledge and
wisdom shall be preserved from age to age, in
spite of the inevitable decay of the works in
which they were first produced ? Generation
after generation , both in animal and vegetable
life, passes away, but the vital principle is
transmitted to posterity, and the species continue
to flourish. Thus do authors beget authors, and
in a good old age they sleep with their fathers,
that is to say, with the authors who preceded
them, and from whom tluy had stolen, —
Washington Irving.

PREFACE.

THIS book is in great part a revision with many additions of a
series of articles which appeared under the same title in the
weekly Singapore Free Press newspaper, from the time I re-established
that paper in 1884, until it became a daily paper in 1887, when I
gave it over into other hands. There had been for several years only
one newspaper in Singapore, and it was desirable to have a second.
The papers about the old history of the place were written with a
view to have matter always ready for the paper, to be used in case
of need; but in that respect it turned out unnecessary, because it
was intended that each issue should consist of 8 pages, while the
first number filled 24, and it never was reduced to the size originally
intended. The history papers thus printed only reached to the year
1856.

I had the columns of the history cut out of the newspaper, sewn
into a book, and interleaved. This was sent to Mr. W. H. Read,
who passed it on to Mr. James Guthrie, who died lately at an old age.
Their remarks, additions, and corrections were added to others which
came in from various quarters, owing to the publicity in the newspaper.
The result was that by the kindness and good-nature of many of the
old residents of the place, I had the loan of a great number of papers,
books, documents and pamphlets, of all kinds, age, and descriptions ;
some coming to pieces with usage, some eaten through by white ants,
and all more or less suffering from the mis-directed energy of insect
life. All these papers, with much other material that came to light
after the papers were first written, have been worked into this book.
It has been carried down to the Transfer in 1867, as the principal
mark of an epoch in the story of the place. Occasionally later events
have been added, where they seemed likely to bo useful, as showing
the result at the present time of what was then done.

This work then had been in gradual growth for over twenty
years when the first chapter was put in the hands of the present printers ;
and has been over a year in the press, from various causes, which
may explain some of the allusions to the present day, which vary
from July, 1901 to September, 1902.

It is unnecessary to say that it is only a compilation, but trouble
has not been spared to make it as correct as the existing means of
knowledge would allow. It was intended at one time to note the
various sources from which the statements were derived, but it was
soon found that this would cause such a number of side-notes, and such
a mass of inverted commas^ as to be impracticable, and was therefore
abandoned. The language and even the spelling of Malay names and

ii Preface,

places have not been altered, with any attempt at correction, and if
some may think that the sentences could occasionally be better expressed,
or names spelt diiferently, the only answer is that they are inten-
tionally left as they were found. Square brackets have been used to
explain any allusion in quoted passages by reference to the present
time, as for example on page 57, in paragraph 6 of Raffles's letter of
instructions, words have been put in brackets to explain what part of
the present town his words referred to.

It has long been a matter of regret to me that the writings of
Crawfurd, Logan, Braddell and others, wlio gave so much time to
writinsf about Singapore and the neighbouring countries, should be so
soon forgotten, and the books scarcely to be obtained. When a copy
is found on the bookshelves of some old library here, it is generally
tumbling to pieces. I thought time would be well spent in the attempt
to collect the information of the old days that was contained in them,
and, as they were not likely to be seen much longer, it would be no
literary piracy to reprint their contents just as they were written,
when their length allowed it in a book like this, which soon
showed signs of becoming much larger than was intended.

For the history of the earlier years of the Settlement,
the book is largely indebted to a number of notes made by
Mr. Braddell, probably about fifty years ago, when he contem-
plated writing a book about the Settlements. Other work of a
more useful kind to the community afterwards occupied his time so
fully, that his intention was not carried out ; and it is pleasant to
think that this book is carryifig on the project of one who gave
up so much of his time for many years to enrich the local liter-
ature, and brought to bear upon it a knowledge of the Malay
language and writings which was at that time very rare.

The book is certainly made up largely of scraps, and it was
at one time suggested to collect the various subjects under distinct
heads ; but it was tliought that the chronological way in which it
was begun was better, except in a very few instances ; and the
Index goes far to overcome any difficulty. Still I feel that it reminds
one of the story of the boy who, asking for a book to road, was
given a dictionary by mistake, and being asked how he liked it,
replied that it might be very interesting to grown-up people, but
he thought it changed the subject too frequently.

It is a book that will interest those only who have some
association with Singapore ; and, even to them, many of the details may
well seem of little interest, as matters of no importance, or as
stories of people of whom they have never heard. But I would
suggest to them that such details could never again be found, and,
if not kept now, can never be recorded hereafter ; and that they
may be of interest or possible use to some others for various reasons.
Also that it is such details which help to keep alive the memory of
those who, in the early days of Singapore, helped to make it what it
has become, although at the time they could not have realised what
it was to be. Now that eighty-three years have passed away since
the Settlement was established, such details of the present time should
have much less interest.

Preface. m

It may be that there is no other place, probably no other place
that has attained in so short a time the wonderful prosperity of
Singapore, that has a record of the details, even to unimportant mat-
ters, of its growth from its very birth, and, through babyhood and
boyhood, up to manhood ; and for this reason also it seemed to me
better to en* on the side of including too much, rather than to omit
any information tliat was still to be found. It may be that it is only
Singapore that has the materials still available for such a record, and,
as the place continues to grow, so may the contents of such a book
continue to be of interest.

If this book succeeds in keeping alive the contents of many of
the old papers, though necessarily in a briefer form, it is only due to
the time, thought, trouble, and expense, freely given by the old
writers about Singapore, whom I have named. I came to Singapore in
1864, a time when some of the first residents were alive; a few here
and many more in Europe. I have sat at dinner, in Governor Cavenagh's
time, at Government House in Grange Road, with Mr. Ibbetson,
a very old man, who had been Governor of the Straits in 1829, but
long resided in Penang; and I had known of the place, as a boy, from a
lady in England (mentioned at pages 155 and 297) from whom and
her husband, Mr. Seymour Clarke (both long since dead), my brothers
and sisters and I received much kindness as children ; through whom
and Mr. W. H. Read, Mrs. Clarke's brother, it was that I came to
Singapore, rather than to India, when 1 had to leave the climate of England ;
and it was their children who gave the beautiful peal of bells which hang
in St. Andrew's Cathedral. That lady, as a child, used to play about
in the garden of her father's house on the slope of old Government
Hill, now called Fort Canning, close to where the Freemasons Hall
nowr stands. So I did not undertake the task without some personal
knowledge of older days, and some appreciation of the meaning
and allusions contained in such old papers as were still to be
traced ; while it has been to me a work of gratitude to many
I have known here, to record what they have done, and a labour of
love.

My very warm acknowledgments and those of the readers of the
book, are due to Mr. A. W. Bean, an amateur photographer of
unusual experience, who has taken the photographs of many old
pictures, to be reproduced as illustrations to this book. The result
has been better than was anticipated, as some of the originals were
old and much defaced, but he took infinite pains to produce the
best result possible, which the pictures certainly show.

I wish (solely for my own satisfaction, and on the principle
that he who pays the piper has the right to call the tune) to
close this preface with a passage from the translation of the Hikayat
Abdullah (see page 28), which always makes me laugh. It is
the end of old Munshi Abdullah's preface or introduction to his
work about Singapore and matters connected therewith ? It is as
follows : —

"No doubt there will be found many mistakes, lapses, and things
forgotten, both in style and narrative, as well as in junction of the
letters or in the entanglement of words. Now may I bow my head

iv ProfdCP,

before the Karopoans and native gentlemen who take the troable to
read my story, so as properly to have acquaintance therewith ; and
as thus at the yery beginning of my book I have acknowledged
my deficiencies and ignorance, I all the more heartily and willingly
ask pardon and forgiveness ; and I further state that it has no
claim to the name of being a clever one, but, on the contrary is
full of stupidities and errors in every time and period.*'*

SiXGAPORK, Dectmhvry 1902,

• y. A?.— This has the luime weight as " Your most obcciient, humble servaat " at thp
end of tin Enf^lish letter !

ILLUSTRATIONS,

Pagb.
Photojnraph of the last page of the Oi'igiaal Treaty of 6th Februaiy,

. 1819, fouud among the Records in Johore ... ... ... Frontispiece.

The Bust of Sir Stamford Raffles bj Chantrej ... ... ... 16

Photograph of the Original Agreement of 30th Januaiy, 1819, found

among the Records in Johore ... ... ... ... 36

A. L. Johnston. Photogi-aph from the Engraving mentioned on page 546 62

Sir Jose D*Almeida. Photograph from an old and much cracked oil

painting in the popsession of Mr. Edward D'Almeida ... ... 18t

Admiral of the Fleet Sir Henry Keppel. From a photograph taken

in 1900 ... ... ... ... ... ... Jlo

View of the Court House about 1834. Photograph from an old print of
a drawing by Captain Begbie. The Bauie building now forms pait
of the present Court House, having been extended front and rear 240

St. Andrew's Cathedral and the Statue of Sir Stamford Raffles on the
Esplanade. From a photograph taken by Mr. A. W. Bean for this
book in 1902 ... ... ... ... ... 204

Abraham Solomon ... ... ... ... ... 310

Map of Singapore Town. Photograph from an old print made about

1835 to 1838 ... ... ... ... ... 320

Catchick Moses ... ... ... ... ... ... 344

View of the Town, about 1866, from Govt^rnniont Hill, now called Foil
Cannini;. Photograph fi-oui a coloured lithograph of a painting by
J. T. Thomson ... ... ... ... ... 354

W. H. M. Rciid. From a photogi-aph taken in 1901 ... ... 368

Grovernor W. J. Butterworth ... ... ... ... 384

Volume II.

Sketch Map of the Island about 1828. Photogi'aph from an old print.

Map of the Island in 1898. Photograph from a Map issued by
Government.

Frontispiece
fo Vol. l\

Hursburgh Lighthouse, October, 1851. Photograph from an old litho-
graph ... ... ... ... ... 510

General Orfeur Cavenagh ... ... ... ... ... 676

Thomas Braddell. From a photograph taken about 1888 ... ... 698

CONTENTS.

HAPTBK.

Paoe

sir Stamford HatfloH

ir)ll— 1818

111

1819 ...

2t>

Saturday, 6lli February, 18lJ»

:J5

1819, coutimied

1820 ...

1821 ...

VII

1822 ...

VIII

Ooinmeroial Stiiiare aud the Old Huck ...

lO^M ... ... •• ■ . • ■ ...

1823, ecu tiu lied

... H>*

Th*- Raffles Iu«ti tutiou

122

XII

1823, cont i niKHl

... 144:>

XIII

1824 . .

... 153

XIV

The Two TivH t i«»8 of 1824

... 167

1825 ...

... 180

XVI

182ti

... 193

1827

... 19<>

XVII

1828 ...

. . . 204

1829 ...

... 205

i ooU ...

... 2(^9

XVlll

18:a ...

.. 212

XIX

1832 ...

224

183.S ...

... 226

18*^ ...

... 2;^

XXI

The RouiMU (.'atholic Churcli...

... 242

XXI i

18:<5

... 272

Tlio Armenian (Jlinivli

... 28:?

XXIIl

St. Andrew's Cliun-li

... 286

XXIV

183*i

... 3ul

XXV

1837

... 313

XXVI

18:« ...

... 33()

1839

XXVIl

1840 ...

... ;342

XXVUI

1841 ...

.. 352

XXIX

1842 ...

... 37U

XXX

184:; ...

Volume II.

.. 383

XXXI

1H44 ...

.. 44)7

XXXll

1845 ...

... 423

XXXIll

1S4I) ...

... 44:?

XXXIV

1847

... 4,5s

XXXV

1 O'tT? ... ••• •.. .•• ...

... 470

XXXVI

1849 ...

499

CONTENTS -conid.

ClIAFTKB

XXXVII

The Horsburgh an<

XXXVIII

1850 ...

XXXIX

1851 .

1852 ...

XLI

1853 ...

XLII

1854 ...

XLUI

1855 ...

XLIV

1856 ...

XTiV

1857 ...

XL VI

1858 ...

XLVII

1859 ...

XLVm

I860 ...

XLIX

1861 ...

186*2 ...

1863 ...

LTl

1864 ...

LlII

1865 ...

LIV

1866 ...

RainfHll, Cliuiate,

LVI

The Transfer

LVII

1867 ...

) Raffles LighthouseH

Old Amateur TheatricHls

Page.

510
527
539
560
568
582
612
628
644
665
673
679
684
688
699
709
716
727

754
781

Viii

SOME OF THE STORIES IN THIS BOOK.

Pagk.

The Burning of the JPame ... ... ... ... ^ ... 10

Abduliah*8 Land Speculate »n ... ... ... 89

The first .^rnofc, Resident Faixjuhar stabbed ... ... 97

Gung robbery at Raffles Institution ... ... 213

Tigers in Singapore ... ... ... ... ... 219

JL A A %Mf^j ••• ««• ••• ••• ■•• ••■ flirtf vf

The first steamer, her remai'kable trial trip, and her voyage to Malacca ... 308

Dr. Little's excursion up Gunong Palai, and the rhinoceros ... 348

The loss of the Fwcouni Afc/6ottrne ... ... ... 371

The first Tiger hunt ... ... ... ... ... 393

Discovery of Gutta Percha .. . ... • ... ... ... 402

Volume II.

The first P. & O. Mail, and all the letters left behind ... ... 425

Gang robbery at Mount Elizabeth ... ... ... ... '145

The Tragedy of the Convict Ship Gtmeral Wood ... ... ... 476

The story of Keppel Harbour ... ... ,„ ... 493

The Remarkably Foolish Ma gistrate ... ... ... ... 541

The Collision between the two P. & O. Mail Steamers Pacha and Enn . . . 540

The Tragedy of the Fairii ... ... ... ... ... 551

The Head Scares ... ... ... ... ... 575

The big Riots of 1854 ... ... ... ... ... 585

Another disastrous Steamer Picnic ... ... ... ... 628

Lord Elgin and the Indian Mutiny ... ... ... ... 651

TYie Alabama ... ... ... ... ... ... 706

The Explosion on the steamer Jofcore ... ... ... ... 719

ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS.

Page.

Pai*a.

Line.

last

lliBt

last

111

140

145

146

uttiiu uo uvcr.
»»

17 »»

^/•ier "Chapter IV," add "on page 35."
JPW "ask reinforcements'* read "ask for reinforcements."
For " former years " read " after years. "
For "McSwiney" read "Coleman."
After "related hereafter" add "on page 651."
For " Superintendence " read " superintendence.
For " Journey " read " Journal. "
For " Zero " read " Zeta. "

" Come to Rhio from Tringanu. " Mr. Read writes : " This
must he. a mistake, as it was Sultan Hussein who went
to Pahang not to Tringanu. Abdul Rahman remained
at Peningat and Rhio as usual. " See " Play and Politics,
at page 10.
For " former years " read " after years. "
For "contained is," read "contained in."
After " another chapter " add " at page 242. "
For "power us over," read "power to hand us over.
For " exporation, " read " exportation.
After "fii-st chapter" add "on page 7.
For " when son " read " when his son. "
For "John Spottiswoode," read "William Spottiswoode."
For "masts," read "mast."
For " Crawford, " read " Crawf urd. "
For '• John Price, " read " John Prince. "
For " W. Holloway, " read " Charles Holloway. "
After "Straits," (mW;— He had landed at Penang on his
way, and dismissed nearly the wliole staff the first day.
He landed quite quietly early in the morning, and met
several officials in gorgeous uniform, who did not re-
cognise him. He determined to put down their plumes
and uniforms and otherwise reform the staff.

207 2 — Mr. Head writes: "It was brilliant moonlight the morning

of George's walk. The same thing liappened to Archie
Spottiswoode and John Connolly who went their usual
morning ride, and as they reached the Square, where
they lived, the 5 o'clock gun fired. Ships anchoring used
occasionally to fix e a gun, as a sign they had arrived. "

208 2 5 Mr. Schwabe died in London, not Liverpool.

208 2 16 For " Mr. Bain " read " Mr. Gilbert Bain," and strike out

the words " some years. "
208 2 19 For " James Young " lead " Jasper Young. "

151

157

164

last

175

177

last

187

193

199

200

footnote

201

202

—

205

last

X Additions and Correctiontf.

Page. Para. Line.
208 3 2 Mr. Read wiiteB: *• Surely the statement that pirate

prahns were from six to eight t«ms and sixty to seventy
feet lung i« a mistake H I should have thought them
to be 25 to 30 t*)n8, and some 20 feet shorter." The
statement ^^a8 found in an old pap^^r. but Mr. Read is
much more likely to be correct.
219 1 13 After *-5th Septemlw" add "1832." (The " Magicienue "

came at the time of the second Naning expedition).
219 3 3 1849 (the figures have a bi-oken letter.)

221 2 8 Strike out the words *now Woodsville Cottage." Mr.

Balestier's house was on his plantatiim, near where the
Rifle Butts ai-e now; Woodsville Cottage wa^ Dr.Montgo-
merio*s house, still standing.

For " pi-esent days " read " present day. *'

Add that Mr. William Paterson came t) Siiigapoi-e in 184:^.

After ** the two partners " add ** in Shaw Whitehead & ('o "

Mr. Read writes : ** Sister St. Joseph was from America, a
siRter of Mr. Spooner of Russell & Co. of Canton. "

For " buildings has" read •* buildings have. '*

For ** Marryatt " read *' Marryat."

For " Lncy Julia Beauiont." read ** Lucy Julia Beaumont. '*

For *• five lapt ** read *' four last." Mrs. A. S. Saundei-s is the
dau^rhtiT <»f Mr. W. H. Read.

For ** Lancashire " read '* Lancaster."

For **the Settlement" rend **that Settlt?ment." Captain
C. M. Elliot used to call William Scott the *' Ancient of
Days."
328 2 last Mr. Read writes : " Keppel's band struck in the middle of a

ijuadrille. He addressed the band-master * Eager, what
is thisH' — 'Cannot get anything to drink, Sir.' Mr.
Church said * Nonsense, 1 gave them three bottles of beer.'
The later party was not given by Napier, but at W. W.
Ker's house on Beach Road. It is quite true that the
band played the Rogues March opposite Church's house."
382 end The following paragraph, intendtnl to conclude this Chapter,

was accidentally omitted from the copy sent to the
printers : — Mr. George Henry Brown came to the Strait*j
from Calcutta in or about the year 1840. settling first in
Penang. About 1842 he removed to Singapore, where he
acquired by grant the property on Thomscm Road to which
he gave the name of Mount Pleasant. This was then clothed
with virgin forest, haunted by tigers. He cleared a large
part of it, made roads, built houses, and planted nutmegs.
The nutmeg plantation ultimately failed, like all the
others in Singapore, though more gradually than some.
Mr. Brown was a man of great versatility. He possessed
graat mechanical ability. During some periods of his ea reer
he engaged in caiTi age- making, and constnicted carriages
of much finish and durability. He became an expert in

230

2:i3

last

2:u

last

2»7

269

281

297

3iO

Additions and Corrections, xi

Paj?«*. Para. Lino.

gutta percha, and was very successful in mixing yarious
qualities to render them more workable. He whs one of
the earliest shipowners in Singapore, and had at one time
three sailing vessels ti*ading to China and Japan. Mr.
Brown was an enthusiast in music, and was a fair perfor-
mer on the pianoforte and the violin. For some years he
had meetings at his house for the practice of instrumental
music, which were frequented by the d' Almeida's and
other musical amateurs, and at which public performances
were sometimes prepared. He was for some years
honoi-ary organist of ihe old St. Andrew's Church. When
the Presbyterian congi*egation wivs. formed, in 1858.
Mr. Brown joined it. About the same time, or shortly
afterwards, the old Church had to be removed, and
diiriug the erection, on the same site, of the present St.
Andrew's Cathedral the congregations of both the Eng]i9h
and the Presbyterian Church met (at different hours)
in the old Mission Chapel l>el<mging to the liondon
Missionary Society, at the angle formed by North
Bridge Rosid and Bras Bassa Road. To that Chapel
the old organ wms i-emoved, and when the new St,
Andrew's was opened, Mr. Brown purchased it for the
use of the Presbyterian Church, and from that time, and
for many years, was honorary organist, using the same
organ until a new one was obtained, which he himself
erected in the existing building. (This latter instrument
was afterwards taken into the Cathedi'al of the Good
Shepherd, where it is still in use.)
Tn his latter years Mr. Broun started the growing of
tapioca on his estate, and had works for the manufacture
of the root. In Sopt«^mber, 1881, he had a terrible accident
with the machinery, in whi«h he lost his left arm.
He never regained his strength, and died in October,
1882, in the 65th year of his age, at Penang, where he
had gone in the hope that the air of the hill would
revive him.

419 Manies 7 Read "Cumming, J. B ," and take out the " B" after Crane

T. O.

4:57 7 2 For "Curteis" read "Curties."

477 1 2 For *' Indian Cavaliy " read " Bengal Cavalry, " and for

daughter read " step-daughter," Mrs. Seymour was a
daughter of Mra. Burton, who was one of the daughters
of Colonel Farquhar, and married W. R. George after
Burton's death, who had been in A. L. Johnston & Co.'s
office. Andrew Farquhar was a son of the Andrew
Farquhar mentioned on pages 98 and \(ii> and a grandson
of Colonel Farquhar.

512 1 10 For "all good work done Mr. Thomson" read "all the

good work done by Mr. Thomson."

xii Additions and Corrections.

Page.

Para.

Line.

514

last

557

573

—

602

605

611

last

628

629

631

For "Plumb and Rule" read "Plumb-rule.'

For " Inchi Abdullah " read " Moonsbi Abdullah."

Monk's Hill House was built by C. A. Dyce who lived in it

for some years.
For " and the mance?res " read " and to the manoevres. "
For "of the name" read "if the name."
Mr. Bead writes : " Poor Mauduit fell into ii tiger pit, the
stake ran through him, and he died shortly afterwai'ds.'
For "bowstay" read "bobstay."
For " Ariel " read '* Frolic."

Mr. Bead writes : " Punch said £2,00(>. It was a mis-
print in the Singapore paper."
650 2 — Mr. Bead writ<'S: " Naval charts were funny things in the

forties. In his bonk called * Bajah Br<ioke's Journal *
published in 18(5, Keppel paid that he sailed sixty miles
inland, according to the Admiralty charts, on his first
visit to Borneo in the Dido. I had for a long time in
my office in Singapore a chai*t of the China sea on
which every shoal or island reported by captains for
about 25 years was marked down. I showed it to Baynell
of the Waterwitchf and he would not look at it, saying
that if he did, he ^ould not dare to beat up the China
sea against the monsoon. One half of the dangers did
not exist. Captains thought they were dangers, but did
not verify them."
723 3 3 For •* Sir William Jeilcott " r^ad *• Sir William Norris."

789 1 2 For *-over a quarter'* read "nearly a quai-ter." The last

census gave the population of Singapore as 228.555.
Index — — Under Keppel, for '*4o3 ' read *'405."

INTRODUCTORY.

CHAPTER I.

Sir Stamforb jRaffles.

CHAPTER I.

SIR STAMFORD RAFFLES.

THE very remarkable prosperity and continually increasing progress
of Singapore are so entirely to be traced t-o the great ability
and noble character of Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, that it seems
impossible to commence the story of the place without speaking of
him.

He was born on board-ship off the island of Jamaica on July 5th,
1781. His father was one of the oldest captains in the West India
trade, sailing out of London. The boy was sent to a boarding school
at Hammersmith, near London, but he had been there hardly two years
when he was placed, at the age of fourteen, as a clerk in the large
offices of the Honorable East India Company in Leadenhall Street, in
the City of London, where the vast political and commercial interests of
the East India Company were supervised from England. He never
ceased to regret the necessity which took him so early from school,
and throughout his life seemed to feel as if he considered himself in
some ways deficient in education, though his published correspondence
shews that there was no need for such a feeling, as it is a model of
correct and forcible language.

After leaving school, he gave up his time, before and after office
hours, to the study of languages and science, and taught himself
French so thoroughly that it was of great service to him in after years
in Java. All he earned was carried home to his parents, who were at
that time in difficulties, which no doubt accounts for his being started
so early in life. A little story that is told of his mother complaining
of his extravagance in burning a candle in his room at night m order
to study, after having been in office all day, tells a pathetic tale of the
way the daily wants of the family were supplied. While in his young
days he deprived himself of every indulgence for their sake, he delight-
ed, in the after days of comparative affluence, in surrounding his
mother with every comfort he could give her.

In 1805 the Directors determined to increase their establishment at
Penang, and Raffles, although he was unusually young for such a post,
was sent out as Assistant Secretary. On the voyage he taught himself
the Malay language, and soon after his arrival, Mr. Dundas, the
Grovemor of Penang, received a letter from Mr. Marsden asking some
questions about Malay literature.

2 Anecdotal HiMory of Shiga pore

William Marsden was the son of English parents of good famil}'
who had settled in Ireland in the reign of Queen Anne. He was at
school in Dublin, and when he was sixteen, in 1771, went out to
Bencoolen, where he was for eight years. Three years afterwards he
wrote his " History of Sumatra " which made his reputation. He be-
came Chief Secretary to the Admiralty, where he was for twelve years.
He then returned to his favourite studies, and wrote the Malay
Grammar and Dictionary. He was the first literary and scientific
Englishman, with the advantage of local knowledge, who wrote about
the Malay countries, with laborious care and scrupulous fidelity. He
died in 1836, eighty-two years old, and left his library to King's
College, London, and his Oriental manuscripts, medals, &c., to the
British Museum.

Mr. Marsden's letter was at once handed to Raffles, as the person
best qualified to answer it, and Mr. Marsden, after receiving the
Governor's reply enclosing Raffles' answers to the enquiries in the
letter, wrote to Raffles and a brisk correspondence was kept up be-
tween them, until he returned to England in 1816, when they met and
became warm personal friends. The reply to the letter in question,
written so soon aft<^r his arrival in Penang, shows how complete his
knowledge of the language had become. Three years afterwards.
Raffles sent Mr. Marsden a sketch of a Malay grammar he had drawn
out and wrote to say that he was compiling a dictionary which Mr.
Marsden was welcome to, if it was of any service to him ; and two
years afterwards he wrote " How goes on the dictionary ?" alluding to
Marsden's Malay Dictionary which is still indispensable to students of
Malay here. While Raffles was in Penang, two Governors died, and he
himself was so seriously ill, in the new climate, that little hopes were
entertained of saving his life. In 1808 he went for a short trip to
Malacca and returned to Penang, and it was entirely in consequence of
a long and very able letter he then wrote to the Bengal Government
that the intention was abandoned to destroy all the public buildings in
Malacca, to take all the inhabitants to Penang, and to abandon the
place, in the hope of improving Penang. Tliis had been absolutely
decided on but Raffles' despatch prevented what, it can now be seen,
would have been a very foolish, unnecessary, and discreditable policy.
He afterwards was sent back to Malacca to collect information and to
prepare the way for Lord Minto, and left there on the 18th June,
1811, with him on the expedition to Java.

During the first decade of the nineteenth century much damage
was done to the English trade in the Archipelago by French privateers
which found refuge in the Dutch possessions. The Dutch had been
forced by the French into the European wars and the Dutch Colonies
had passed into the power of the French when Holland became
dependent upon France during the wars of Napoleon ; and Lord Minto,
the Governor-General of India, had determined to attack Java. The
English fleet which numbered ninety vessels, carrying 6,000 P]uropean
and 6,000 native troops, left Malacca on the 11th June, 1811, and the
army landed in Java near Batavia on the 4th August. On the 9th the
troops occupied Batavia unopposed, and on the 26th at the great battle
of Comelis, seven miles from Batavia, (in which the English loss was

Sir Stamford Raffleft 3

500, and the enemy's loss was 4,000 and 5,000 were taken prisoners)
the English rescued Java from the French, and it became British
territory.

Lord Minto remained six weeks in Java, and left Raffles there as
the Lieutenant-Governor. The accounts of his extraordinary energy
and judgment in the government of six millions of people, divided into
thirty residencies, all chafing under former mismanagement, cannot be
mentioned here; but when he left Batavia in March, 1816, the roads
were filled with boats, crowded with people of all nationalities, who
earae to see his departure. The deck of the vessel was quite covered
with fruit and flowers and offerings of every description ; and it was
said that it was impossible to describe the scene which took place
when the vessel weighed anchor; the people declaring that Java had
lost the greatest friend she had ever possessed.

He sailed for England, calling on the way at St. Helenil, and
ha^^ng an interview with Napoleon Buonaparte whom he was anxious
to see. The ex-Emperor refused to see any visitors, but on being told
it was Baffles, late Governor of Java, he immediately consented to
receive him. Raffles was told to address him as General, not Emperor,
and if Buonaparte received him with his hat on, Raffles was not to
continue the conversation uncovered. Buonaparte asked a number of
questions about Java and its trade, with which he seemed to be well
acquainted. Raffles reached England in October, 1816, and was knight-
ed in the following summer.

In October, 1817, he was appointed Lieutenant-Governor of Ben-
coolen, and embarked on board the " Lady Raffles " at Portsmouth,
and reached Bencoolen on the 22nd of March, 1818. It was then a
most wretched place, and the shocks of earthquakes had so damaged
the house he had to live in, that no one else would trust himself in it.
It was while he was there in April, 1818, that we find him writing
about the necessity for such a port as Singapore. He wrote that it was
indispensable that the British government should have regular authority
in the Archipelago to declare and maintain British rights; that these
at that time extended no further south than Malacca; and that the
Dutch wanted to confine Bencoolen to the almost inaccessible and
rocky shores of the west coast of Sumatra; that it would be desirable
to fix a convenient station, which would probably be somewhere in the
neighbourhood of Bintang, or Bentan, (an island opposite Singapore)
known to navigators by its hill. He said that the object was not
territory; it could be confined to a simple commercial station, with a
military guard; and when once formed would soon maintain a success-
ful rivalry with the Dutch, who would be obliged either to adopt a
liberal system of free trade, or see the trade of those seas collected
under the British flag. How true this has proved, the history of
Singapore has amply shown.

This seemed to him a matter of such supreme importance, that he
determined to go to Bengal, and urge it in person ; and having no
choice, and not considering his own comfort, he went with Lady
Raffles in a very small vessel with only one little cabin, where centi-
pedes and scorpions roved about at their pleasure. The vessel lost a
mast in the Bay of Bengal, and to crown her misfortunes a drunken

4 Anecdotal History of Singapore

pilot put her on shore on a bank at the mouth of the Hooglily, where
she literally upset, and Sir Stamford and Lady Raffles were taken up
to Calcutta in a boat.

The result of his interviews with Lord Hastings, then Governor-
General, was that Sir Stamford was appointed Agent to the Governor-
General to occupy some central station within the Archipelago, to the
southward of Malacca, so as to secure free trade with the Archipelago
and China through the Straits of Malacca, and to concede to the
Dutch their pretensions in Sumatra. The effect of this appointment
was to render Raffles quite independent of the government of Penang,
and to place the management of British interests to the South of
Malacca under his government at Bencoolen. Colonel Bannerman was
Governor of Penang, and as will be shewn presently, he tried, from
jealousy, to mar the efforts of Raffles, and behaved (to use the words
of Mr. Boulger) with extraordinary baseness. Colonel Bannerman died
on the 8th August, 1819, at Penang. He had been made Governor of
Penang on 24th November, 1817. In January, 1819, Raffles had arrived
at Penang from Calcutta, and wrote to Mr. Marsden that he was yet
uncertain how far he might be successful in his mission, and said that
Rhio had been lost by the English neglecting to occupy it, and that
there would be difficulty in founding an establishment elsewhere, but
that he should certainly attempt it. He also had a mission to Acheen
(which we do not enter on here), which gave him much anxiety.

In the Singapore Chronicle of 1881, we have found a letter, re-
printed from the Asiatic Journal, written by Colonel William Farquhar
of the East India Company's service, in which he claims to have had
at least a large share in the merit attributed to Sir Stamford Raffles
for founding Singapore. Major Farquhar had been for several years
Resident and Commandant at Malacca, which he had handed over again
to the Dutch in September, 1818. He was on his way home when he
met Raffles on his way from Ponang to the south. Raffles had brought
a complimentary letter from Lord Hastings, the Governor-General, say-
ing that he hoped that circumstances would admit of Major Farquhar
accompanying Sir Stamford Raffles, in order to assume the control of
the new establishment, at least during its infancy. So he turned back
again, and he and Sir Stamford discussed the position of the most advan-
tageous site for the projected settlement.

Major Farquhar says that the Carimon Islands appeared to him to be
the best, as they were in the direct track of all ships passing up and down
the Straits, but that Sir Stamford thought the old Malay Settlement of
Johore, upon the peninsula, was better. On visiting the Carimons on
their way, they were found not to afford the local advantages he had
expected, so he. Major Farquhar, suggested that it might be advis-
able to stop at Singapore on the way to Johore. This appears to be
very improbable, because we find no trace of this in any of Raffles'
writings, and we do find traces of his attention having been attracted,
no doubt in his eager studies of Malay literature, to the old sea-port
of Singapore. Lady Raffles says " before he left England, Sir Stam-
ford contemplated Singapore, a classical spot, as a place favorably
situated to have a British station." And in a letter Raffles wrote on
board-ship off Calcutta on December 12th, 1818, to Mr. Marsden, he said

Sir Stamford Raffles 5

that his attention was principally turned to Johore, and that Marsden
must not be surprised if his next letter was " dated from the site of
the ancient city of Singapura."

The Major goes on to say that on the following day he went to
Rhio for the purpose of endeavouring to obtain permission from the
native viceroy to form a new Settlement in Singapore in place of the Cari-
mons^ and after some difficulty the viceroy so far acceded as to say
that, as far as he was concerned, as governor of the dominions of
Johore, he had no kind of objection, but that he had already been
obliged to sign a treaty with the Dutch by which he was restricted
from granting permission to any European power to have a footing
within any part of the territory of Johore; but as he had, before the
treaty was signed, granted Major Farquhar permission to form a settle-
ment upon the Carimon Islands, he left him and Sir Stamford Raffles
to the use of their own discretion in establishing a settlement at
Singapore.

So the Major returned there, and in conjunction with Sir Stam-
ford concluded a treaty, which was signed by Sir Stamford alone with
both the Native Chiefs who were then present at Singapore. The
treaty was signed on the 6th February, and the British flag was for-
mally hoisted, and the island taken possession of, and Sir Stamford
sailed the very next day on his return to Penang.

Since the above passages were written in 1884, about Colonel
Farquhar^s claim to take the credit of the selection of Singapore, a
Memorial sent by him to the Court of Directors in London, and of
Sir Stamford's reply have came to light in Mr. Boulger's book, but
they only bear out what was said. The letter in the Singapore
Chronicle (which can no longer be found) was probably a reprint of
part of the Memorial. Mr. Boulger's conclusion is that Farquhar had
no pretension even to a minor contributory part in the acquisition of
Singapore.

From Penang in the same month of February, Sir Stamford wrote
to the Duchess of Somerset in England, with whom he kept up a
continual correspondence, and he explained to her how to find Singa-
pore on the map (which directions have had to be given to many
others since, but are yearly becoming less necessary; the English idea
that the place is somewhere in the centre of India being less frequent
than formerly). He says, in the letter, that on the spot — the site of
the ancient maritime capital of the Malays, and within the walls of
those fortifications, raised not less than six centuries ago — he had
planted the British flag, where he trusted it would long triumphantly wave.

On the 10th June he was again writing from Singapore. He
wrote: *'\ shall say nothing of the importance which I attach to the
permanence of the position I have taken up at Singapore ; it is a child
of my own. But for my Malay studies, I should hardly have known
that such a place existed; not only the European, but the Indian
world was also ignorant of it. I am sure you will wish me success ;
and if my plans are confirmed at home, it is my intention to make
this my principal residence, and to devote the remaining years of my
stay in the East to the advancement of a Colony which, in every way
in which it can be viewed, bids fair to be one of the most important,

6 Aiuicdeial Sisiory of Singapore

and at the same time one of the least expeusive and troublesome,
which we possess. Our object is not territory but trade; a great
commercial emporium and a fulcrum, whence we may extend our
influence politically as circumstances may hereafter require. By taking
immediate possession, we put a negative to the Dutch claim of exclusion,
and, at the same time, revive the drooping confidence of our allies
and friends. One free port in these seas must eventually destroy the
spell of Dutch monopoly."

In these passages about the old Malay capital, Sir Stamford
alluded to the Malay history or tradition to be found now at length in
the books of Mr. Marsden and Mr. Crawfurd and in Mr. Braddell's
translations in Mr. Logan^s Journal.

Four months afterwards. Sir Stamford had returned to Singapore,
having only stayed at Acheen and Penang a sufficient time to settle
the troublesome point he had been deputed in Calcutta to take in
hand ; and on the 10th June he wrote from Singapore to another
friend : " Our station completely outflanks the Straits of Malacca, and
secures a passage for our China ships at all times, and under all cir-
cumstances. It has further been my good fortune to discover one of
the most safe and extensive harbours in these seas, with every facility
for protecting shipping in time of war. In short, Singapore is every-
thing we could desire, and I may consider myself most fortunate in the
selection: it will soon rise into importance; and with this single station
alone I would undertake to counteract all the plans of Mynheer; it
breaks the spell; and they are no longer the exclusive sovereigns of
the Eastern Seas.

Five days later he wrote : " Everything is going on well here, it
bids fair to be the next port to Calcutta; all we want now is the cer^
tainty of permatient possettidon, and this, of course, depends upon authori-
ties beyond our control. You may take my word for it, this is by far
the most important station in the East; and as far as naval superiority
and commercial interests are concerned, of much higher value than
whole continents of territory.'*

Certainty of permanent ponHeasion ! It is difficult to state shortly
what difficulties were thrown in his way, and how (as Mr. Earl wrote
in 1838) " Singapore was established, without the concurrence, indeed
with the decided disapprobation of the Home Government.'* A letter
had been sent after him by the Supreme Government from Calcutta,
after he had started for Penang, which fortunately he did not receive
^ till too late, and Singapore had been founded. The letter ordered him
to desist from the attempt to found a station. The Government in Cal-
cutta were afraid of the action of the Dutch. Colonel Bannermaii
heard in Penang that the Dutch were preparing to seize Singapore by
a coup-de-main, and (in his efforts to prevent Raffles carrying out the
project) wrote an abject letter to the Dutch Governor of Malacca en-
treating him to do nothing till he could refer Raffles' action to Cal-
cutta; and a nice letter he wrote to Calcutta! To Major Farquliar in
Singapore he wrote advising him to abandon the place at once as it
was impossible to resist the overpowering armament at the disposal of
Batavia, and saying that defeat would tarniah Britifili honour vutm than
the retreat of the isnuill party at Singapore, He refused to send any

Sir Stamford Raffles 7

assistance. The Dutch did not come^ the few Englishmen did not go^
and here we are still. All that was required was time for Singapore
to show what it was worth. The expense of a whole year, Mr. Egerton
says, was less than that of one month in Bencoolon, and no one talked
any more about "running away."

It was not until Singapore had been established for three years,
and the trade had reached a value of several millions of dollars in
^ the last year, that it was recognised by Great Britain ; and it was
not until April, 1826, and only three months before his death, that
the Court of Directors acknowledged that Sir Stamford had been
a match for the Dutch and that the Company were greatly indebted
to him for establishing the Settlement of Singapore. His view
of responsibility was expressed in his own words, in reference to
another matter altogether, when he said that it was true that, by
incurring responsibility, a man might lose both his fortune and his
fame, but that no man was fit for high station anywhere who was not
prepared to risk even more than fame and fortune at the call of
judgment and his conscience.

Sir Stamford returned to Bencoolen in a vessel with Lady Raffles
and one of their children of four months old, after staying two or
three months in Singapore. The ship struck on a bank in the Straits
of Rhio, it was feared she could not be got off, and a small boat was
got ready to endeavour to take them back to Singapore. Just as they
were leaving the vessel, hopes were entertained that by throwing all
the water overboard to lighten the vessel still more, she might be got
off, and before morning the attempt succeeded. They thought it fortu-
nate it had happened so near Rhio, and stopping there, sent a boat on
shore stating what had happened and requesting a supply of water.
The Dutch Resident refused all intercourse, asserted that Sir Stamford
came as a spy, and would not give the assistance that was urgently
needed by Lady Raffles and the baby. The voyage was continued with
considerable anxiety, when, in the Straits of Banca, the Captain of an
American vessel stopped, at some risk, and, with great difficulty, by
means of ropes, conveyed to them some casks of water. Lady Raffles
adds that his name was forgotten, but his kindness was always remem-
bered.

For years afterwards, the Dutch refused to allow any person of
his name or his family to enter Java unmolested, and when Sir
Stamford was going to Bencoolen in June, 1823, the vessel had
to put into Batavia to land some cargo from Bengal. Lady Raffles
was very unwell, and Sir Stamford asked permission for her to land
for two or three days, and received a reply allowing it in very grudging
terms and expressing the greatest possible surprise at their coming
into the port. Sir Stamford never left the ship but the people were
not to be restrained, and the vessel was the scene of a crowd of
visitors of all ranks flocking to see him. That Sir Stamford was far
above any such ill-natured feelings, on his side, is shown by one
anecdote. Some time after this, the Java Government were in distress
for money (as Lady Raffles and her child had been in distress for
want of water to drink), and it was sought to raise a loan of thirty
lacs of rupees in Bengal. But there was a feverish anxiety in Calcutta

8 Aiuicdotal Uiatory of Sinyapore

as to the security of the Dutch, and the h)an was closed, when the
only subscription to it, actually realized, was that of Thomas Stamford
Raffles.

Another anecdote will show the influence Sir Stamford Raffles was
possessed of in other parts of the world than in this Archipelago,
where he was principally known. In 1880, two boys, born in Singa-
pore, and sent to school in England, were taken to see the Zoological
Gardens in London. The party were in the large new lion house that
had been lately built, and were passing along the front of the cages,
where the boys were interested in noticing that some of the tigers
had been sent from Singapore by the Maharaja of Johore. When
they reached the middle of the hall one of the boys suddenly stopped
and pointed to a bust placed in the most conspicuous part of the
room on the wall over the front of the cages, and said to his brother
that it was like that in Singapore. And so it was, for it is a dupli-
cate of the bust made by Chantrey which is in the Raffles Institution,
where the boys had been at school. Under the bust is an inscription
to the effect that Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles was the Founder and
first President of the Society, which has now a world-wide name and
reputation.

In an article in the London Daily Telegraph of 12th July, 1886,
it speaks of this bust, and says that Sir Francis Chantrey took extreme
interest in the Zoological Gardens and contributed not a little towards
it. It also says that the Gardens were instituted by Sir Stamford
Raffles, Sir Humphrey Davy, Lord Darnley, Sir Everard Home, and
other distinguished naturalists; placing Raffles first. It seems more
than likely that the meeting of Raffles and Cliantrey about the affairs
of the Society led to the making of the bust. The article concludes
by saying, " when the managers of the Zoological Gardens set up the
bust of Sir Stamford Raffles in their new " Lion House," they paid
a just and graceful compliment to one of the first and most dis-
tinguished founders of their Society/'

Sir Stamford returned to Bencoolen in August or September,
and in November, 1820, he considered it indispensable to proceed
again to Calcutta, where he arrived in the same month. He was
received with great enthusiasm by the mercantile community, which,
like the mercantile community of Singapore, recognised, many years
before the Government, the great benefit he had bestowed upon trade.
They gave him a public dinner, and made every possible demonstration
to please him ; and, after he left, sent a representation to Government
supporting what he had done. The old saying, that it is astonishing
.with how little wisdom the world is governed, would never have been
better exemplified than if the Government had given orders to break
up the establishment at Singapore; which would have been given if it
had not been for the steady persistence of Sir Stamford; and the
courage, he so strongly possessed, of his own opinions.

In a letter written in 1820 to his cousin, he said: "Singapore
continues to thrive most wonderfully, it is all and everything I could
wish, and if no untimely fate awaits it, promises to become the empo-
rium and pride of the east. I learn with much regret the prejudice
and malignity by which I am attacked at home, for the desperate

Sir Stamford Raflets 9

struggle I have inaiutaiued against tlie I^iitcli. Instead of being sup-
ported by my own Government, I find them deserting me, and giving
way in every instance to the unscrupulous Dutch. All, however, is sate
so far, and if matters are only allowed to remain as they are, all will
go well. The great blow has been struck, and though I may personally
suffer in the scuflBe, the nation must be benefited; and I should not
be surprised were the Ministers to recall me, though I should, on many
accounts, regret it at the present moment. Were the value of Singapore
'properly appreciated, I am confident that all England would be in its
favour ; it positively takes nothing from the Dutch, and is to us every-
thing."

Then a series of domestic calamities fell upon them in Bencoolen,
of the most distressing kind. In 1850, Dr. Robert Little, of Singapore,
wrote in Logan's Journal some len^rthy papers on the subject of fever,
and in Volume 4, at pages 711 and 715, are remarks upon the reasons
for the unheal thinoss of Bencoolen at that time. In October, Lady
Raffles^ brother died there from the effects of an illness occasioned by
the fatigue and exposure of a campaign. In 1821 their eldest boy
Leopold, named after the Prince, died after a very short illness ; in the
January following two more of their children were buried in Bencoolen.
No one reading Sir Stamford's letters written at that time, interspersed
with long letters on affairs of State and frequent reference to Singapore,
can fail to see how much his life was affected by these trials; and no
wonder that, in their consternation, the parents lost all confidence in
the climate, and after a strugsjle sent away to England, in the very first
vessel, with their old nurse, their only remaining child at that time,
an infant named Ella. One of the boys that died was named Marsden,
after Mr. Marsden his godfather. Lady Raffles' health was in a very
precarious state.

In January, 1822, Sir Stamford wrote : ^' We have, thank God,
recovered very much of late, and Sophia (Lady Raffles) is quite herself
again. I am but a crazy mortal at best, but, on the whole, am quite as
well in health as I have any right to expect in a climate which is any-
thing but congenial to my constitution. We still hold our determination
of quitting India for Europe about the end of next year ; neither of us
can hold out longer. We now pass our time in great retirement/' On
the 15th September, the day they left Bencoolen for Singapore, they
buried another dear and invaluable friend, Dr. Jack, who died on board
a vessel in the harbour, to which he had been taken to sail for the
Cape after a serious illness.

On the loth October, 1822, Sir Stamford again landed, for the
third time, in Singapore. He wrote : ^* It is imposible for any one to
see it, after Bencoolen, without surprise and emotion. And after the
loss of almost everything that was dear to me on that ill-fated coast,
and after all the risks and trials to which Singapore has been exposed,
what must be my feelings to find it grown and advanced beyond
measure^ and even beyond my warmest anticipations and expectations —
in importance, wealth and interest, in everything that can give it value
and permanence. I felt, when I left Bencoolen, that the time had
passed when I could take much active interest in Indian affairs, and I
wished myself safe home ; but I already feel differently. I feel a new

10 Anecdotal History of Singapore

life and vigour about ine; and if it pleatse Grod to grant me healthy the
next six months will, I hope, make some amends for the gloom of
last sixteen."

Sir Stamford remained in Singapore until the 9th June, 1823,
having been there for eight months, and never returned. He went to
Bencoolen, and waited for the arrival of a vessel called the Fame, which
was to take him to England. She did not arrive when expected, and
at last, wearied out by disappointment, and beginning to think (as he
wrote) that they seemed doomed to end their days in Bencoolen, for
Lady Rafl9es had had another severe illness, and another infant, the
last one remaining with them in Bencoolen, had been lost, they decided
to leave in the Borneo, the same small vessel in which they had sent
away their little child Ella, and the nurse, two years before. The
vessel was ready for sea when the Fame arrived, fortunately as they
supposed. The Borneo made a safe passage, the fate of the Fame we
shall give in some of Sir Stamford's own words. It may be added that
the Fame was insured, so the owner suffered no loss ; that the East
India Company had only a few tons of saltpetre on board for ballast,
so they suffered no loss : and all the loss fell, as a last reminiscence of
unhappy Bencoolen, on the man who met with an almost overwhelming
calamity.

Throughout Sir Stamford's life in the East, he had taken a great
interest in science, and had made collections of many different kinds,
which could never be made again ; he carried on a large correspon-
dence with Mr. Marsden and others on scientific subjects, and on this
his last voyage to England, after so many years, he took all his
treasures with him.

The vessel sailed at daylight, and in the evening she was on fire,
which was caused by the steward going with a naked light to draw
some brandy from a cask, which took fire. They had just time to get
clear of her in the boats, without time even to put any clothes over
their sleeping dresses, when the vessel blew up. The first alarm was
given at twenty minutes past eight; at half past eight there was not a
soul on board, and soon after the magazine exploded, leaving them in
open boats at sea, fifty miles from land, at night. There were two
children with them, whose names are not mentioned. Their last child
in Bencoolen had died shortly before. One of the two children was
snatched out of bed when it was already on fire. This, it is thought,
was William Charles Raffles Flint, afterwards Vicar of Sunningdale in
England, and the subsequent heir to Sir Stamford's property, part of which
is known as Flint Street here now. Ella Raffles, the child who was sent
home in the Borneo died in 1841 at St, Leonards-on-Sea of consump-
tion under twenty years of age, and Mr. Flint came into the property.
The other was probably a child of Dr. Jack, who had died shortly
before. The two children were wrapped up in the sailors^ neckcloths,
and everything else was swallowed up in one big ruin, as Sir Stam-
ford expressed it.

After this chapter appeared in the Free Press newspaper in 1884,
a letter was received from old Mr. Thomas Dunman in England, who
is often referred to further on. He wrote " Will you allow me to tell
you a story, told me by my dear late friend Captain William Scott of

Sir Stamford Raffles 11

Singapore. It may interest those who read your papers about old
Singapore. In the Free Press of October 4th, I read this — " The other
was probably a child of Dr. Jack/^ &c. Not so I thiak, for William
Scott told me that on board the Fame, which was burnt to the water's
edge, his son David was rescued from death by Sir Stamford Raffles.
It was thought all hands were safe and in the boats, when it was
discovered the child David was still on board. Raffles rushed back,
found him and took him to the boat; David Scott was afterwards an
officer in the Indian Army, and came to Singapore to see his father,
and I was at his father's house on the last day, and we had a very
pleasant evening together. The next morning he left in a sailing
vessel for Calcutta to join his regiment and she was never heard of."
And old Mr. James Guthrie, since dead, added under Mr, Dunman's
note (which had been sent to him to look at) " Guthrie & Co. had a
small shipment on board, insured with the Commercial Insurance
Company, you might find the name of the ship, which Tom Dunman
forgets, in their books. Besides Lieut. Scott, Mr. Lewis of the Bengal
Civil Service was on board. She must have gone down in a hurricane
in the Bay of Bengal."

They reached Bencoolen in safety after much anxiety and discom-
fort. The description written by Sir Stamford, two days afterwards, of
the fire and of his loss, is too long to be printed here, but it should
be read by every one who can admire a steady mind and quiet
courage in the face of a great calamity. When he reached shore, he
says that he went to bed at three o'clock in the afternoon and never
woke until six the next morning. The only portion of the account
which we reprint is Sir Stamford's remarks upon his loss; he wrote on
the day after he reached the shore : " The loss I have to regret, be-
yond all, is my papers and drawings; all my notes and observations,
with memoirs and collections, sufficient for a full and ample history,
not only of Sumatra, but of Borneo, and almost every other island of
note in these seas ; my intended account of the establishment of
Singapore ; the history of my own administration ; eastern grammars,
dictionaries, and vocabularies; and last, but not least, a grand map of
Samatra, on which I had been employed since my arrival here, and on
which, for the last six months, I had bestowed almost my whole
undivided attention. This, however, was not all; all my collections in
natural history ; all my splendid collection of drawings, upwards of two
thousand in number; with all the valuable papers and notes of my
friends. Dr. Arnold and Dr. Jack ; and, to conclude, I will merely
notice that there was scarcely an unknown animal, bird, beast, or fish,
or an interesting plant, which we had not on board — a living tapir, a
new species of tiger, splendid pheasants, &c., domesticated for the
voyage; we were in this respect a perfect Noah's ark. All — all has
perished; but, thank God, our lives have been spared, and we do not
repine; oar plan is to get another ship as soon as possible. Make
your minds easy about us, even if we should be later than you
expected. No news will be good news."

In the Hakayit Abdulla, of which we shall often have occasion to
speak further on, is a passage in which Abdulla, who was the Malay
writer for Raffles and was much attached to him, wrote of the loss of

12 Anecdotal Huftory of Singapore

the Fame. His words were spoken of, many years ago, as giving *' a
literary photograph of the collection of treasures that were lost." The
following translation was made by Mr. J. T. Thomson: — Abdulla says,
" I learnt from Colonel Farquhar that the ship in which Mr. Raffles
was a passenger, having sailed from Bencoolen, had on the same even-
ing been burnt with all his baggage and collections. When I heard
the news I was breathless, rememl>ering all the Malay books of ancient
date collected from various sources; all these lost with the wonderful
collection. As to his other property I did not care, for, if his life
were spared, he could reinstate this. But the books could not be
recovered, for none of them were printed, but in manuscript ; they
were so i*are that one country might have only two of them. That
is what distressed me. I further remembered his intention of compos-
inor a work on these countries, and his promise to put my name in it.
All this was gone ! When I thought of him I was the more grieved,
because it not only was a great personal loss to him, but to Europe,
as he had materials for several histories ; one on Celebes, one on
Borneo, one on Singapore, besides many other subjects. But the material
of all these was now gone ! My thoughts then turned to the origin
of his taking them, but I consoled myself that he himself was saved.
In this there was praise due to God, who orders to be and not to be,
and acknowledgments are due to his power over his slaves."

It was very characteristic of the wonderful character and indomit-
able energy of Raffles that the next day after the loss of all that he
had been collecting for so many years, he recommenced sketching the
map of Sumatra, set all his draftsmen to work on new drawings of
some of the most interesting specimens of natural history, sent numbers
of people into the jungle to collect more animals, and, instead of any
complaints or lamentations, he returned thanks, on the ensuing Sunday,
for having preserved the lives of all on board, who had at one time
scarcely contemplated escaping death in the open boats so far from
shore.

This was not the end of their troubles, for another vessel was en-
gaged, and when they were prepared to embark, her commander went
quite suddenly and unexpectedly raving mad. At last, two months
after the Fame had started on her short voyage, they left by the
fourth vessel they had engaged, and reached England safely in August.

He reached England on Suuday the 22nd August, 1824, and only
lived for two years, dying suddenly on the stairs from an apoplectic
attack, with no one near him, having risen before five o'clock in the
morning. His two years in Kngland were clouded over with troubles
with the Court of Directors regarding his pecuniary claims on the East
India Company and his administration of Java and the establishment
of Singapore, all of which will be found fully explained in Mr. Boulger's
book. He died at his house, High wood, Middlesex, on the 5th July,
1826, on his forty-fifth birthday, a young age for one who had done
so nmch for the good of all around him, and for his fellow countrymen
after him.

Soon after tlu'se papei*s appeared in the Free Pre^s, Mr. Bicknell,
who is now the (lovemment Auditor at Penang, was going on leave,
and he offered to try to find the grave of Sir Stamford and to copy

Sir Stamford Rafflpfi 13

the inscription. He afterwards wrote the following, which was put in
the Free Press on the 28th November, 1885: — "I found the walls of
the small Parish Church of Hendon covered with tablets, and memorials,
but neither in the Church nor in the Churchyard could I find any re-
cord of Sir Stamford Raffles. The curate, who was a new arrival, and
the old sexton, could give no definite information, but the latter said
he was probably buried at Mill Hill, a village not far from Hendon.
I accordingly made my way to Mill Hill, which is near Highwood,
where the Raffles* family seat was situated. Hero also I was unsuccess-
ful in finding the grave of Raffles, but on a stone which was much
worn, I found the following hardly legible inscription : " Here resteth
the body of Sophia, widow of Sir T. Stamford Raffles, of Highwood, Kt.,
who departed this life December 12th, 1858, aged 72 years." The
sexton of Mill Hill Church, who had been on the place for over 40
years, maintained that Raffles was not buried there, but, as Sir Stam-
ford died even before his time, he may be wrong, especially as the
condition of Lady Raffles* grave would justify one in thinking that all
traces of her husband*s resting place, who died many years before her,
might have passed away. Hearing that there was no Church at all at the
hamlet of Highwood, I was reluctantly compelled to give up my quest."
In Mr. Boulger*s book, written twelve years later, he says, on page
387, that the exact position of the grave at Hendon Church is un-
known ; and that in 1887 the Rev. R. B. Raffles and his brother erected
oat of their slender means a brass tablet on the wall of the Church
with the following inscription : —

|n Sfftmorg of

SIR THOMAS STAMFORD RAFFLES, f.r.s., ll.d.,

Statesman, Administrator, and N^aturai.ist, Founder op the Colony and

City op Singapork, 29th January, 1819;

BoBN 5th July, 1781, Died at Highwood, Middlksex, 5th July, 182(). and

Buried near this Tablet.

Erected in 1887 by Members op the Family.

Sir Stamford was twice married. First on I'Uh March, 1805, at
St. George's, Bloomsbury. His wife died quite suddenly in Java in
November, 1814, and was buried in the cemetery at Batavia, and a
handsome monument was erected in the Government Gardens at Buiten-
zorg. Lord Minto described her as an accomplished and clever lady.
Abdalla in the Hakayit Abdul la spoke very highly of her, saying she
was always busy and a great help to her husband. He married his
second wife, Sophia, before leaving England the second time in 1817,
and had five children, four of whom died in his lifetime. Lady Raffles
died in 1858. Four years after his death the widow published the
Memoir of his Life and Public Service. The book has been useful as
preserving materials that would otherwise have been lost, but it was
written with an unfortunate determination to entirely omit any reference
to any papers or letters which contained any allusion whatever to
the first wife, who is only mentioned in a very short foot-note at page
234, which as Mr. Boulger shows is itself incorrect and misleading. The
omissions detract from the value of the book.

14 Anrrdofal History of SingapmT

Two editions of this Memoir were published. The first by John
Murray in 1830, dedicated to Gilbert, Earl of Minto, the son of the
Governor-General of India at the time Bafl9es went to Java. It is in
one large volume, and has a picture of Chantrey's Bust, a sketch map
of Singapore island, a view taken from Government Hill (now Fort
Canning) a picture of the Rafl9esia Arnoldi flower, some pictures of
Java and Sumatra, and a map of the Eastern Archipelago. The second
edition was published by James Duncan, 37 Paternoster Row, in June,
1835. It was dedicated to Chevalier Bunsen, and is in two smaller
volumes with the same portrait, and a facsimile of a letter of Raffles
written in Java in 1814.

Since 1884, when these papers were first written, two more lives
of Raffles have been published. One by Mr. Boulger in one large
volume by Horace Marshall & Son in 1897, which has eighteen
illustrations and maps. The \news of Singapore town are taken from
modern photographs, a picture of The Raffles Library and Museum
being wrongly called The Raffles Institution, a very different building.
It has also a facsimile of Raffles' hand-writing, and a portrait, sitting
in a room, which is in the National Portrait Gallery at Trafalgar
Square. There are some inaccuracies in the book which should be cor-
rected if it is reprinted. On page 34 it is said that Penang is seven
miles distant from the mainland. On page 339 it speaks of Singapore
being not quite one degree north of the equator.

This book is very complete and interesting and must have been
the result of much labour and research. The author tells us that Sir
Stamford had always been one of his heroes, and the work was cer-
tainly taken up with enthusiasm. When it was intended to republish
those papers it became a question whether it was worth while to re-
print this first chapter, now that Mr, Boulger's book tells the whole
story of Raffles' life so much more fully ; but it was decided to leave it in, as
it is part of the object of this book to show who and what the founder
of Singapore really was, and those who read it may well be led to
read Mr. Boulger's book which contains the account of all Sir Stamford's
life, and not merely that part of it connected with Singapore as this
book does.

Another life of Raffles was published in May, 1900, by T. Fisher
Unwin, in one small volume, in the edition called The Builders of
Greater Britain. It is written by Hugh E. Egerton, and has a picture
of Chantrey's bust and two maps. It has an appendix which reprints
part of the instructions given by Raffles on November 4th, 1822, which
it says were obtained from the Acting Governor in Singapore as they
had not been published before. This was not so. They had been
printed in Volume 8 of Logan's Journal at page 102 in 1854; they
were printed in these papers in the Free Press in 1884; and were
afterwards printed in a pamphlet about the Verandah Question in 1896,
and in the Municipal Report for that year; and have been frequently
referred to for the last fifty years. The paper is again given m this
hook at full length in its proper place.

On the south side of the North Aisle of Westminster Abbey near
the Transept is the large statue of Raffles. Over his head is the tablet
to the Musician Purcell, with the well-known quaint inscription about

Sir Stamford Rafflen 15

hifl having "gone to that blessed place where only his harmony can he
exceeded/' Under the statue of Rafl9es is this inscription: —

To THE MSMOST OF

SIE THOMAS STAMFORD RAFFLES, ll.d., p.b.s.,

LIEUT.-GOVBRNOS OF JaVA

AND First Pbesidsnt of the Zoological Society of London,

BoBN 1781. Died 1826.

Selected at an early aok to conduct the Government
of the British conquests in the Indian Ocean

By Wisdom, Vigour and Philanthropy

He raised Java to Happiness and Prosperity

unknown under former rulers.

After the surrender of that Island to the Dutch
And during his Government in Sumatra,
He founded an Emporium at Singapore
Where in establishing Freedom of Person as the right

OF THE Soil
And Freedom of Trade as the right of the Port

He secured to the British Flag
The Maritime Superiority of the Eastern Seas.

Ardently attached to Science

He laboured successfully to add to the knowledge

And enrich the Museums of his native land.

Promoting the welfare of the people committed

to his charge

He SOUGHT THE GOOD OF HIS COUNTRY

And the Glory of God.

In 1889 the compiler of this book had a photograph taken by the
Photographer to the Queen, with tlie consent of the Dean, of the monu-
ment, and gave it to the RaflBes Library where it is placed. It was
said to be an absolutely permanent photograph, and was of the largest
size, 4 feet by 2 feet, that could then be made, but it is already
beginning to discolour. Might not a replica of the Monument be
placed in the centre of the large domed hall of the Museum, how few
people here know that the name of Singapore is to be found in West-
minster Abbey?

On Jubilee Day, Monday the 27th June, 1887, the day on which
was celebrated the 50th anniversary of Queen Victoria^s reign, the
statue of Sir Stamford Raffles on the Esplanade was unveiled. It is of
bronze, eight feet high, with head a little bent and folded arms as if
in thought, with a map of the Settlement at his feet. On comparing
it with Chantrejr's bust the features seem harder, but it was said that
they represent his expression more truly than the bust, which seems
very unlikely, as Sir Francis Chantrey, b.a., saw Raffles, and Mr. T.
Woolner, e.a., the sculptor of the statue never did. No inscription
has been placed on the pedestal. The sculptor executed the statue of
Lord Lawrence at Calcutta and several statues at Sydney and Christ-
church. The statue was then close to the chains on the Esplanade

16 Anecdotal History of Singapore

enclosure ; the reclamation from the sea made throe years afterwards had
not then been made; it now stands in the centre of the plain. Tlie
total cost of the statue was §20,446.10.

The following particulars of the various portraits of Sir Stamford
Raffles were obtained by Mr. W. H. Read from Mr. S. Raffles Flint in June,
1901. He says that the large portrait was painted by Mr. George Francis
Joseph, A.R.A., in 1817 (when Sir Stamford was in England before
his first visit to Singapore), and was hung in the dining room at Highwood.
At Lady Raffles' death, in 1858, the Rev. W. C. Raffles Flint, finding that
it was a larger picture than he could manage to house, presented it to the
National Portrait Gallery. The reason, Mr. Flint supposes, why Lady
Raffles had the bust engraved for the frontispiece for her book was
that Chantrey's work was a better portrait and gave more of the character
of the man. Mr. Hugh Egerton consulted Mr. Flint as to the portrait he
should reproduce for his book in 1900, and Mr. Flint suggested the en-
graving of the bust for the above reasons. There is another three-quarter
portrait, also by Joseph, which belonged to Captain Travers, who was
A.D.C. to Sir Stamford in Java, which was left to Mr. Flint some years
ago by Mrs. Travers, his daughter-in-law. Mr. Flint has also a miniature
by Chalon taken, he believes, in 1817. All these portraits Mr. Woolner
had when he was at work on his statue.

Singapore, as is well known, was fondly looked to by Raffles as a
fit spot in which to plant a torch that would send its rays into the
depths of native ignorance, idolatry and superstition; and his expecta-
tions, although slowly realized, have not been altogether frustrated or
disappointed ; for the career of improvement has set in with assured
and steady steps from Singapore, as far as Borneo on the one side, to
the Native States in the Malay Peninsula on the other. It is often the
act of one generation merely to strike out principles which it is the
fortune of the next to put in play, and Singapore of the present day
is carrying out her part in what Sir Stamford projected. Sir William
Norris, the Recorder, in his charge to the Grand Jury in 1837, said
that he could not better conclude his address than with some of the
words of Sir Stamford Raffles when he founded the Singapore Institu-
tion in 1823, when he said : " If commerce brings wealth to our shores,
it is the spirit of literature and philanthrophy (and his 'Lordship
added, of religion and justice) which teaches us how to employ it for
the noblest purposes. It is this that has made Britain go forth among
the natives, strong in her native might to dispense blessings to all
around her. Let it still be the boast of Britain to write her name in
characters of light ; let her not be remembered as the tempest whose
course was desolation, but as the gale of spring reviving the slumber-
ing seeds of mind, and calling them to life from the winter of ignor-
ance and oppression. If the time shall come when her empire shall
have passed away, these monuments will endure when her triumphs
shall have become an empty name."

Before the story of Singapore is begun, it is wished to refer
briefly to the names of three persons who afterwards were so very well

Sir I hos. Staufoku Rafflis, Kt., Prksidknt ok thk Zoological

SOCtETT, LL.t>., K.R.S., S.A.L.S., &C.

Sir Stamford Baffle fi 17

known in Singapore, where they met and became very close friends,
and whose names will be so prominently mentioned in our stories of
later years. When the British flag was hoisted here, a boy named
James Brooke had been born sixteen years before, at a place now call-
ed Secrose, a suburb of Benares in India. A boy named Henry Keppel
the third son ot the Earl of Albemarle, was ten years old, and soon
afterwards joined the navy. On 7th February, 1819, the day after the
flag was hoisted here, a boy was bom in London, whose name is
known to all our readers as William Henry Maoleod Read.

Sir Jnmes Brooke, Kajah of Sarawak, first landed at Singapore on
li«th May, 1889; he died in England in 1868; The Hon. Sir Henry
Kep}>el first came here on 5th September, 18*^2, and is now an Admiral
of the Fleet, the highest rank in the British Navy and at the very top
uf the Active List. He came back to Singapore on the 31st December,
1899, when over ninety years of age, to revisit for a short time the
place he liked so well ; and Mr. W. H. Read, who was the
first unofficial member of the Legislative Council when it was estab-
lished in the Colony, is now living in England.

CHAPTER II.

1511—1818

r^Qlt tho purposeB of this book it is not desirable to refer except

Oiipt
in IHHi),

_ ill t]w brief (^8t way to the old history, if it can even properly

bn MO callcMl, of Singapore. It is, as Mr. John Crawfurd wrote in his
Dictionary of tho Indian Islands, published in 1856, "full of obscurity."

( Captain Nowbold in his book on the Straits of Malacca, published
at page 272 of the first volume, speaks of the subject.
MunMhi Abdulla in his book gives a most interesting account of
Nowbold and of the great pains he took in Malacca to enter deeply
ink) th(< history and usages of the Malay countries, so that he pro-
bably I(Mvrned all that could then be ascertained from the old books
and from tho Mahiys themselves on the subject. He tells us that the
Island of Singapore is celebrated in the Malayan history as being the
llrHt place of settlement of the early Malay colonists, who afterwards
foumlod tho Empire of Malacca. It is said in the Malay history, called
tho Sejnra Malay u^ that Sang Nila Utama, supposed by Mohammedan
historians to have lHH>n a descendant of Alexander the Great, settled
on tho island with a colony of Malays from Palembang in Sumatra
and foundtni tho city of Singhapura in A. D. 1160, when they changed
tho original name of Tamasak to Sifitfhapura, the city of the Lion ; from
tho tradition of Sang Nila Utama having: seen a Singha, or Lion, near
tho nunitli of tho river. This lion is described in the Sejara Malayu
as an animal very swift and beautiful, its IkmIv red, head black, and
its bnnist white : vorv active, and in size larger than a he-goat.

Tho derivation of tho name of Singapore has caused a discussion
for many years, Duo month after these papers commenced to appear
in ISS4, Mr, William K. Maxwell, Mr. ^^. H. Read and others were
waking it all up again in tho iH^rresjHmdence columns of the Free Press
\x\ X\*vomlH*r. ll was suggested that it was derived from singgah, to
tvnu*h al^ and /»w/.im, an island, which htvame chansred to pura ;
which derivation one ov^rrt^sjHmdent preferred to Mr. Crawfurd's opinion,
which was tho Sans^^rit wv^rvi i^inQhii^ a lion, and pura^ a city. To
whiv^h Mr. MaxwoU (afterwanls Sir William Maxwells retorted that
*" iVun l\iriarY ** wai^ nv^t derivtHl fn^^m ** Cream of Tartar " nor was
Siug^pura tho Malay sivUing^ deriv^nl frvmi jctnciMA to stop. He said
that it did not fv^Uow Kx^ause tho ^w>^\^ was Sanscrit that the island
>\as calitsl after tho animaU as it was p^xs^jiible that it was named
after a lo^nuUry king, whv> w^s calUvl Raja Sing^. Mr. Maxwell
w;as satistitxi that Mr. John V>awfur\i w;jis right. An intelligent Malay
woW^uu-iu ssiid thai the lr*dituMi am\>i\^ the natives was that a Rajah
or. Uudv.ig here ^w a wxUl animal vm shore and aske\l what it was,
;Mfed w;i^ Kvsi ^(M^pVA^ ;ik iK>tt ; aud he ssud f^ry^^ftKnn which me^kns

1511—1818 19

" ^mmon " ; as it was impossible, in his opinion, there could be such
an animal in the island ; so it was called at first Siriyapura'pura. There
is a somewhat similar tradition in regard to Malacca, where it is said
that a Rajah on landing, saw a pelandok (mouse deer) attack a dog
and drive it into the water, so he said " This is a fine place where
the very pelandoks are full of courage, let us found a city here," and
asking the name of a tree under which he was standing, was told
it was the Malacca tree, Phyllanthus emblica so he called the name of
the place Malacca. In the old books the name is spelt in various
ways, such as Sinkepure, Sincapoor, Sincapura, and Singapoura. The
French official letters to the Post Office are even now addressed to
Sincapour, and Admiral Keppel still addresses his to Sincapore, as Sir
Stamford Raffles himself spelt it at first {nee Boulger page 304).

It is certain that Singapore, though not reclaimed to civilization
for 220 years afterwards, bore in 1598 the same name that it does
now and gave its name to the Straits at the foot of the Peninsula.
This is shown by the inscription on a tombstone in the old ruined
Charch of the Visitation of Onr Lady, afterwards called St. Paul's
Church, on the hill at Malacca. Begbie wrote that it lies in the
centre of the Church opposite the door or principal entrance, and that
the inscription, though much worn, was still (in 1833) legible, as
follows : —

HIC JACET DO
MINVS PETRVS

SOCIETATIS

JESV SECVN
DVS EPISCOPVS

JAPONENSIS
OBIIT AD FRE
TVM SINGAPV
RA MENSE FK

BRVARIO AN
NO 1598.

The principal thing observable, Begbie roinarks, being the studied
division of the words. He gave a translation (for the information of
the fairer .sex) as follows. — Here lies (the body of) Lord (Bishop) Peter,
of the Society of Jesuits, (and) the second Bishop of Japan. He died
at the Straits of Singapore in the month of February in the year
1598." In the Journal of the Straits Asiatic Society, No. 34 for 1900,
is a complete account and plan of the graves and the inscriptions in
the old Church, the above being the oldest of all. It was compiled
by Mr. E. M. Merewether, and contains some very interesting matter,
which would otherwise have been lost.

In a very old book published by a Captain Hamilton called a
" New Account of the East Indies '^ he says " In the year 1708 1
called at Johore on my way to China, and he (the King of Johore)
treated me very kindly and made me a present of the island of
Singapore but I told him it could be of no use to a private person,
though a proper place for a company to settle a colony in, lying

20 Anecdotal History of Singapore

in the centre of trade, and accommodated with fsfood rivers and a
safe harbour, so conveniently situated that all winds served shipping
both to go out and come into these rivers.*' Mr. Crawfurd, in
re-printing this in his Dictionary at page 403, says it is remarkable
that Singapore was so unmistakably pointed out over a century
before, and that this striking recommendation did not occur to
Sir Stamford Raffles when he went to look for a suitable locality ;
but in this Crawfurd may have been mistaken, as Sir St-amford
was so well acquainted with the old histories, and it may have been
one of the passages he alluded to in his letters to Marsden.

The Hjiea of the old city and its defences were still U> he
traced in 1819, according to a passage in a letter of Sir Stamford
Raffles to Mr. Marsden at page 376 of his Memoirs by his widow ;
but Mr. Crawfurd (Dictionary page 402) wrote that the remains
discovered in Singapore were certainly not such as to convey a high
opinion of what De Barros calls " the celebrated city of Singapura,
t<i which resorted all the navigators of the western seas of India,
and of the eastern of Siam, China, Campa and Camboja, as well
as of thousands of islands to the eastward,^' because there was
not a vestige of granite used which abounds in the neighbourhood
and was in Mr. Crawfurd's time so largely employed.

Captain Newbold tells us that in 1252, the Javanese invaded
Singapura, destroyed the city and dispersed its inhabitants over
various parts of the Malay Peninsula, the majority going to Muar
and Malacca where they settled and founded that city. The
Javanese did not remain on the island, and Crawfurd says it
remained submerged (as he terms it) for about five and a half
centuries without being occupied, being only the occasional resort
of pirates. In 1811 the Tumongong of Johore came to Singapore
with about 150 followers, a few months before the British expedition
passed Singapore on the way to conquer Java. Mr. Crawfurd says
that the Tumongong himself told him this in 1823.

In order to understand the necessity which Raffles foresaw for
establishing a settlement at Singapore it is necessary to refer to
the history of Malacca which was again in the hands of the
Dutch in 1818, whose object was to create a monopoly of all rhe
trade to the south of that place.

The Malays having been driven to Malacca in 1252, were attacked by
the Portuguese in 1511. Albuquerque, who was Governor or Viceroy of the
Portuguese possessions in the East, disembarked his troops from Cochin,
consisting of 800 Portuguese and 600 Malabars, or native soldiers, from
nineteen vessels on the 24th July, the eve of Saint James the Apostle
(Begbie.) He did not succeed and had to re-embark with a loss of ten
men from poisoned arrows. A few days afterwards he made another
attack and occupied the town. It is said in one account that Albuquerque
built the fortress and the old Church now in ruins on St. Paul's Hill, and
the Convent of the Visitation of Our Lady close by, and that St. Francis
de Xavier arrived at Malacca in the year 1547. In 1641 the
Dutch, with the help of Johore, after a siege of six months' duration,
took Malacca from the Portuguese, which was a fatal blow to them, and
they never recovered their footing in this quarter of the globe.

1511—1818 21

The Dutch retaiued possession till August 1795, when they surrender-
ed the town to the expedition of the British under Captain Newcome^ R.N.
of H. M. S. Orpheus and Major Brown of the East India Company's
service. Malacca was to have been restored to the Dutch at the peace of
Amiens in 1802, but war recommenced before it was done, and the Dutch
Settlements falling into the power of France it remained under the British
until September, 1818, when it was restored to the Dutch in accordance
with the Treaty of Vienna. The Dutch did not lose a month in obtaining
a footing in Rhio, which is 45 miles to the south from Singapore, with a
view to establish a monopoly from Malacca to the southward, which led to
the disputes which afterwards arose about our occupation of Singapore.
In order to understand the difficulty which Raffles met with, and the
clever way in which he took advantage of the peculiar circumstances of
the case to overcome them, it is necessary to state as briefly as possible
how the Dutch claim over Rhio gave them an excuse to object to what
Raflies did, and even for threats to drive out the British from Singapore
by force of arms. It may be called "The Story of the Two Sultans ;*'
and although events have settled down for many years in such a way as to
prevent any possible good arising from further discussion on the subject,
which created more argument and dispute than probably any occurrence in
Singapore, it should not be passed over here.

The Malay countries are usually ruled by a Rajah, (in the case of
Singapore he was in 1819 called the Tumongont?) in whom the real power
of government rests, and to whom the soil of the country belongs, on the
principle that he holds the country in trust for the people, which is clearly
and emphatically laid down by the Mohamedan law. But in these
countries in the Malay Peninsula there was also a Suzerain or Lord
Paraunount, called the Sultan, whose position and dignity were recognised,
but whose rule was purely nominal. Colonel Low in an article
on the Straits says " The Sultan of Johore was formerly and still
considers himself, perhaps, the nominal superior of the Peninsula states. '^
Captain Begbie says that in 1758 the Rajah of Johore (that is the Sultan)
assigned the nominal authority which he possessed over the states of
Rumbow, Sungei Ujong, Johole, and Nanning, to the Dutch. He further
says, speaking of the Penghulu of Nanning, which lies between Rumbow
and Malacca, adjoining the same countries, '^ Notwithstanding this extent
of authority (on the part of the Chief of Nanning) the whole acknowledge
a superior influence which is vested in an individual named the lang de
Pertuan Besar. This personage may be denominated a titular chief, who
receives his honours from Menangkabow (in Sumatra, whence the Malays
originally came) but derives neither power nor fixed revenue from the
office. " Mr. Cameron says in his book, " It would appear from the first
that the Tumongong had more voice in the government than the Sultan,
especially in all that regarded Singapore, the soil of which appears to
have been his property ; and again on page 187, " With respect to the
island of Singapore, it is beyond doubt that the Tumongong's family had
great claims, both because they so cordially assisted our settlement, and
because, although subject to the seignory of the Sultan, the soil appears
to have been their property .'* See also the remarks in Chapter IV.

There is therefore reason to doubt whether it was necessary to have
tho concurrence of the nominal Sultan in obtaining the settlement of

22 Anecdotal Hutory of Singapore

Singapore. But it was dusirablo for political reasons and the (juestiou
arose as to who was the i)roper individual to assent. The Dutch insisted
that one Abdul Rahman^ their protege, was the proper man ; Raffles said
it was one Hoosain, generally known as Tunku Long ; and the question was
which of these two half-brothers was the Simon Pure.

Sultan Mohamed Shah of Johore and Lingga, under whose authority,
whatever it may have been, the island of Singapore was included^ had m
the year 1809, four wives. The first and fourth of these were of royal
blood, and had no children. The second and third were of low extraction.
The second was the mother of Hoosain or Tunku Long; the third was
the mother of Abdul Rahman. Objections were afterwards made that
neither of the two being of royjil blood, but being of low birth, could
in accordance with the Malay custom succeed their father. But this
was not much insisted on. 'I'he Sultan intended his first born son
Hoosain to succeed him and told him to go to Pahang to marry the
sister of the Bandahara or Chief of that country there. Before he
left the Sultan went with him from Lingga, an island south of Rhio
and 125 miles from Singapore, to one of the islands at Battang opposite
Singapore town, and as a proof of his intention that Hoosain should
succeed him, the Sultan caused him to hoist the royal flag, while he
himself hoisted the white flag which was emblematical of his retirement
from the cares of government. This was surely good ground for Raffles
insisting that huf Sultan was the real man.

Hoosain sailed for Pahang and the Sultan returned to Lingga, where
he almost inmiediately died, not without suspicion of having been poisoned
by Rajah Muda Japhar, who was then in Lingga. He had been
appointed Raja Muda by the deceased Sultan; in effect he was the viceroy
or governor at Rhio ap])ointed by the Sultan to act for him. He had a
quarrel with Hoosain, and was afraid of losing his power if he became
Sultan, while he had great influence over the younger brother Abdul
Rahman.

Hoosain was out of the way, and he only heard of his father^s death a
few days after he landed at Pahang, and then it was only a rumour.
Subsecjuently he got a crafty letter from Rajah Japliar who antedated his
letter and told him nothing about the attempt to instal his brother Abdul
Rahman in his stead. Besides this, Hoosain could not then leave Pahang
on account of the monsoon.

What took place at Lingga on the morning after the Sultanas
death is so well told by Captain Begbie, and is so interesting as to the
ways of the Malays in appointing a sovereign that it is now taken
at length out of his book ; —

" On the morning subsequent to the demise of Sulthaun Mahomed
Shah, the Rajah Moodah assembled such of the chiefs as were either
able or willing to attend, and thus addressed them —

" * Our Sulthaun is no more. He died yesterday evening, but he
hah left us two sons — say which of the two will you choose as your
sovereign ? '

^* Two of the oldest and most influential of the chiefs, named Dattoo
Pengawa Bukka and Dattou Hadgi Poug-Hadgi, thus replied, * Agree-
ably to the constitution of the Empire, the eldest son must ever
be selected to fill the vacant throne. We therefore wish that

1511—1818 23

Tuankoo Houssain may be proclaimed Sulthaun of Johore/ Upon
hearing this speech Rajah Japhar exclaimed in a peevisli and discon-
tented tone, 'Your wishes run exactly counter to my own/ The two
chiefs replied, 'If your highness be desirous of acting contrary to the
custom' established by law, and of subverting the fundamental
principles of the empire, why did you assemble us for the purpose of
learning our sentiments. The desire that we have expressed is in
strict accordance with the law of the state, and if your Highness,
lyang de Pertuan Moodah, persist in your endeavour to set it
aside, we must solemnly protest against it as a violent infraction of the
constitution/

" The firm tone in which this speech was delivered, and the force
of the argument it contained, overpowered the Rajah Moodah, who
quitted the council without reply, the other chiefs following him, so
that the agitating question of the succession was left undecided ; and,
had Rajah Moodah been the only person concerned in the intrigue, it
had probably fallen to the ground. But, although Tuankoo Abdul
Kachman himself was thoroughly destitute of any hankering after
empire, his immediate relatives eagerly thirsted after that reflected
power which they would derive from his exaltation. Accordingly, two
of his uncles, named Ibrahim and Mahomed, alarmed at the indecision
and agitation which Rajah Japhar had displayed, proceeded, directly
the assembly had thus abruptly broken up, to the house of their sister
Inchi Mariam, Tuankoo Abdul Rachman's mother, and carried her
along with them to the step-sister of the Rajah Moodah, Tuankoo
Boontet, both of which ladies possessed great influence with him.
The whole party, accompanied by a chief, named Inchi Kaloo, called
upon Rajah Moodah Japhar that evening, and eventually succeeded
in binding him firmly to the cause of Tuankoo Abdul Rachman, whom
the junto proclaimed as sovereign that evening.

"The following morning the members of the cabal proceeded to
the residence of the newly elected monarch, who, having heard some-
what of the intrigues that were carrying on in his favor, had closely
secluded himself since the death of his father, in the hope that when
not encouraged by him they would die away.

"When the door of his room was opened (Rajah Moodah is
accused of having forced it) this chief thus addressed him : — * The body
of your late father, and our sovereign, lies still unburied. You are
aware that according to our custom, it cannot be committed to the
earth, until the successor to the throne be appointed. Your brother
is still absent, and who can tell when he will arrive ? There is conse-
quently no one but yourself eligible to the crown and the election
has fallen unanimously on you.^

"Tuankoo Abdul Rachman thus replied, — 'My father, the late
sovereign, expressed his earnest desire that my brother Tuankoo
Houssain should succeed him according to custom, as well as that I
should devote myself to the priesthood, and with that view I should
proceed to Mecca on pilgrimage. I dare not consequently, and posi-
tively declare that I will not, disobey his wishes, lest I draw down
a curse from heaven, and not a blessing. I therefore request you.
Rajah Japhar, ta act as Regent until the return of my brother.'

24 Ayuicdotat History of Singapore

" Uajah Japhar MiK)dah, wliose rual roasuiis for wishing U) substi-
tute Tuankoo Abdul Kaclmiaii for liis brother were that there was an
existing feud between his family and that of Tuankoo Iloussain, in
consequence of which he feared a serious diminution of his authority
in the event of that prince^ snccpssion ; while the weakness and vacil-
lation of Tuankoo Abdul Rachman's character held out to him a pros-
pect of great power, especially as he was his own nephew, exclaimed,
in a tone of apparently great surprise, ^ How can I venture to assume
the authority of the Sulthaun, when one of his sons is actually on the
spot V He was joined strongly in his remonstrances by the party, who
accompanied him, and the weak and wavering Abdul Kachman, whose
actions invariably took on the colour imparted to them by his advisers
of the hour, felt his good resolves yield to the impulse of the moment,
and after a few faint struggles consented to his nomination as Sulthaun.

" This advantage gained, the faction was by no means dilatory in
improving it. That very evening, as many of the people of Lingga
as could be assembled together, were apprized of his election
by the zealous Uajah Moodah, who rebelled in the anticipation of un-
limited sway under his imbecile master. This ceremony having been
undergone, the remains of the deceased Sulthaun Mahomed Shah were
committed to the dust with all the pomp becoming his rank. On the
third day subse(|uent to the funeral, the new Sulthaun ascended the
throne of his forefathers with all the solemnities usually observed on
such occasions, and received the homage of his subjects, the fealty of
the Malayan nations going with the stream.

'' As soon as the monsoon changed Hoossain sailed back to Lingga,
but found ho was comparatively friendless. He went to his brother
Abdul Rahman who at first received him very kindly, but Rajah Japbar
had too much influence over Abdul Rahman, and threatening him with
being left without means like his brother was, induced him to treat
Hoossain with coldness and neglect."

The fourth widow of the dead Sultan was a spirited old lady, who
lived where she had been born on the island of Pinigad, opposite Rhio,
and she strongly supported Hoossain, saying, " Who elected Abdul
Rahman as sovereign of Johore ? Was it my brother Rajah Japhar,
or by what law of succession has it happened *t It is owing to this
act of injustice that the ancient empire of Johore is fast falling to
decay." The old Sultan, on his last visit to Pinigad, had left the re-
galia with this wife, who was callenl Tuanku Putri, and the old lady
absolutely refused to give them up to Abdul Rahman, the Malay tradi-
tion being that the possession of the regalia was necessary to constitute
a Sultan.

In the year 1818, Sir Stamford Raflles commenced those negotiations
which ended in Singapore being established. Under ordinary circum-
stances a reference to England would have ])een indispensable, but
Colonel Low remarks that Raffles Foi'evsaw that before any reference
home could be replied to, the Dutch would have perfected their long
cherished scheme of repressing the British name and influence in the
eyes of the Malayan States, and of monopolizing a very disproportionate
r.hare of the Eastern trade. Rafties also justly argued that the Dutch
could not fairly claim Singapore on the plea of prior engagements which

JoU— 1818 25

they uiiglit have entered into with native princes before the transfer
of Malacca to the British in 1795 ; because the Dutch authorities who
transferred Malacca in that year had declared that Rhio^ Johore^
Pahang and Lingga were iiot dependencies of Malacca, while it was
on the ground that Rhio wan a dependency that the claim had now
been set up ; and also that engagements had been entered into by the
English with the Rajah of Rhio, to retract from which would have
been an acknowledgment of inferiority to the Dutch.

Major Farquhar had been sent to Rhio in August, 1818, from
Penaiig, to see what could be done. He found the Rajah Muda Japhar,
who has been spoken of, to be the only person with whom he could
negotiate, and made a Treaty with him at Rhio on the 19th August,
1818, which it is not necessary to print here as it can always be
found in the printed copies of the books relating to Treaties with the
Native States. It was made between the East India Company and
JaflBr, Rajah Muda of Rhio on behalf of Sultan Abdul Rahman, King
of Johore, Pahang and Dependencies. It was not signed by Abdul
Rahman. It provided for mutual liberty of navigation and commerce
in the ports and dominions of Johore, Pahang, Lingga, Rhio and
other places subject to the Sultan. In Mr. Cameron's book he says
that the treaty also secured a right to build a factory on the island
of Singapore, but the name of Singapore is not in the treaty at all.
It was part of Johore, and therefore was impliedly affected, but it
was not mentioned by name.

Sir Stamford Raffles afterwards used this as a second string to
his bow in answer to the Dutch objections, by saying that the English
had obtained the consent of the Dutch protege. Sultan Abdul Rahman,
as well as of his elder brother Hoossain.

It is worth recording as it does not seem to have been men-
tioned in other books, in connection with the scheme of Sir Stamford
Raffles to form a station to cope with the Dutch, that, some time
before, he had said that Bencoolen was far out of the way of the
great trade routes through the Sunda and Malacca Straits and
its position was therefore unfavorable to trade. On this account he
had obtained an anchorage (so it is written) at Simangka Bay in
the Sunda Straits, his idea being to establish a commercial entrepot
to rival BatHvia. The Simangka Bay settlement proved a failure and
then Raffles began afresh to secure some position in the narrow
passage at the foot of the Malay Peninsula between India and China ;
which led to his visit to Calcutta and the eventual settlement at
Singapore.

Colonel Low says (9 Logan's Journal, 313) that the Penang Govern-
ment had attempted to form an establishment on the island of Bentan,
opposite Singapore, but before their measures were taken the Dutch
had occupied Rhio, and Colonel Bannerman retired from any further
attempt^ thinking it useless. Raffles was to succeed where he had
failed.

CHAPTER III.

1819

SIR STAMFORD RAFFLES left Calcutta for Penang about the 10th
December, 1818. His instructions from Lord Hastings^ the Govemor-
(xeneral, as to the establishment of a port at the south end of the
Malacca Straits, at Rhio or elsewhere, are printed at length at page
298 of Mr. Boulger's book. He was told to attend to this after the
conclusion of the negotiations he was to conduct at Acheen. It is said
in the letter that the proceedings of the Dutch left no room for doubt
as to their policy of possessing themselves of all the commanding stations
in the Archipelago, and so completely excluding British shipping
and commanding the only channels for direct trade between China and
Europe.

Raffles arrived at Penang on the 31st December, 1818, and hear-
ing of the proceedings of the Dutch regarding Rhio, he let the
mission to Acheen stand over and went to the south. He was blamed
afterwards for having overruled his instructions by not going to Acheen
first, but in the end the Court of Directors exonerated him from all
blame, and admitted that he had acted wisely. If he had not gone to
Singapore until after he had been to Acheen, there is good reason to
think that Singapore would have fallen under the control of the Dutch
as Rhio had done already.

Sir Stamford Raffles left Penang on the 19th January, 1819. It
was thought to be impossible after this lapse of time to find out the
number of the vessels, or their names, which formed the expedition.
AbduUa mentions four ships and two ketches or schooners, and in some
correspondence the name of a brig Ganges and a ship NearchuSy and
two hired vessels called the Mercury and Entfirprvfe, were mentioned.
The matter has now been ascertained from a very dilapidated Direc-
tory of Penang for 1820. This contains a great deal of interesting and
amusing information which concerns Penang and not Singapore, but it
has a full list of all Arrivals and Departures of vessels at and from
Penang, which is headed "The Naval Register for 1819/' Prom this
can be seen the arrivals and departures of all vessels between Penang
and Singapore in that year, which throws a lot of light upon how
communication was first carried on, and the length of voyages. There
wa« a distinction in the way of naming the East India Company's
ships. Some were styled H.C.S. meaning the Honorable Company's
Ships, and in the column of the commanders, the Captains are always
described as Esquire. For instance H.C.S. Warren Hastings, G. Wels-
tead, Esq., sailed from Penang on 7th September, 1819, for China.
Other ships were described as H.C.C. which meant Honourable Com-
pany's Cruisers, and in their case the commander was always styled

1819 27

Captain or Lieutenant. We know that Raffles left Penang on the 19th
January, and the following is the list of departures from Penang on
that day as it is printed in that Directory —

Name of Vessel.

Commander.

Destination.

larv

19 H.C.C. Nearchus

Captain Maxfield

Sea

Do.

Do. Minto

Lieut. Criddle

do.

Do.

Mercury

J. R. Beaumont

do.

Do.

Indiana

James Pearl

do.

Do.

Ganges

P. J. Barnard

do.

Do.

Enterprise

R, Harris

do.

This shows that Abdul la was right as to the number. Prom the
same Directory it is possible to gather more information about the
ships. The Nearchus and Mifito had arrived at Penang before January,
as they are not in the list for 1819 ; and we know that Raffles arrived
in Penang on 31st December, 1818. In the letter of instructions
given to Raffles in Calcutta on 28th November, it was said that a frigate
would be appointed to convey him to Rhio and eventually to Bencoolen.
Whether the Nearchus or the Minto was a frigate, or what class they
were, is not now known. It is probable that Raffles came from
Calcutta to Penang with these two ships which were to take him to
Acheen from Penang. He did afterwards go from Penang to Acheen
in the Minto accompanied by the Indiana. And the list shows that the
Minto took him from Singapore on 7th P^ebruary, the day after the Treaty
was signed, accompanied by the Indiana^ reaching Penang on the 14th,
a passage of seven days. The Nearchus afterwards made two voyages
between Singapore and Penang, and left Penang for Calcutta on lOth
October, and does not appear again in the list. The Minto left Penang
for Acheen, with Sir Stamford on 8th March; and on 22nd May left
Penang for Singapore. On 23rd September she left Singapore for
Penang and arrived there on 2nd October, a passage of nine days. She
left Penang again on the 10th October for Singapore, so that she was
evidently employed in connection with the place.

The Mercury left Calcutta on 10th December, and reached Penang
on 12th January, a passage of thirty-three days. She left Singapore
on 15th February and reached Penang on the 23rd, in eight days. She
left Penang for Calcutta on 7th March; left Calcutta on 28th May
reaching Penang on 19th June in 22 days, and left there for Singapore
on the 25th June.

The Indiana left Calcutta on 20th December, 1818, and reached
Penang on 1st January, 1819, in eleven days. She left Singapore with the
Minto for Penang and accompanied her to Acheen. The two vessels left
Acheen on the 26th April and reached Penang together on the 29th.
On the 22nd May she left for Singapore, and left there on 15th October
reaching Penang on the 27th. On 16th November she sailed for Calcutta.

It is probable from this knowledge of the voyages of these two
vessels, that they were hired to carry the troops and stores. They were
most likely country ships trading out of Calcutta, and when matters
had iK>mewhat settled down in Singapore they returned to Calcutta.

28 Antfvdutal Hif<tor\j of Singapore

The othor two sliips are to be fouud in the same Directory in a
list headed " Sliips and Vessels belonging to the port of Prince of
Wales Island," that is, Penang. There are twenty-seven vessels. The
iriinijvs was a brig of 180 tons, owned by Bapoo Doory ; and the Enttir-
priftfi was a schooner of 85 tons owned by Alexander John Kerr, who
we see in anotlier place in the Directory was then the Registrar of the
Court of Judicature. 11ie book among many other odd things contains
a list of the Kxecutors, &c., of Kstates in 1819, and it appears that
Ba^KH* died and Mr. Kerr, the owner of the other vessel, was the
Administrator of his estate.

The (rangt'n left Singapore for Penang on the 11th August, making
the passagi* in six days, and in December sailed from Penang to Bombay.
The Enterprise made several trips during the year to Singapore^ and
went once from Penang to Calcutta, and once to Bencoolen.

Si> the expedition consisted of two of the East India Company's
men-<»f-war; two ships engaged in Calcutta; and two local vessels char-
iert»d in Penang.

l>n the way south they met Major Far(}uhar returning to Penang,
and at his nnpiest Raffles went to view the Carimons, where Captain
Rivss of the surveying ship Di^covvry had been sent previously. This
must Ih* the Captain Ri>ss mentioned in Newbold's book as being at
SingajH^n* when Sir Stamford reached there. The Carimons were not
found suitable. It was the place which Farquhar had warmly recom-
monded, a* he did again a year or two afterwards, as a more central
p^xsition than Singapi^re. The rtvsult has shown that Raffles was unques-
tionably right in his judgment. The ships anchored off St. John's Island
on the evening of the 28th January. That island lies about five miles
frv»m the town on the west side of the harbour. It is said in Moore's
Kvk that '* it was called by the Malays Si Kijang or ' the roe ' an
animal to which it had no resemblance, and the name having fallen
up^»n the obtust* ears of some person who did not understand Malay,
h;%5i over since Wen called St. John's by Europeans."

The l>est account of the first landing at Singapore is in Munshi
AWuUa*s Hakayit Abdulla (or Autobiography of Abdulla) but as he
divi not i>nno ti> SinginH>rt» until four months afterwards, he only tells
what he had Ihvu told and is ct^rtainly inci.>rrect in some particulars,
bMt on the whole he pn.»lmbly gives a very good idea of what took

U will Iv well to explain hen* who Munshi Abdullah was, as his
U.^*k ^i\e> >«.» much interi'siiiig intormation about Malacca and Singa-
;vr\* whicli cvndd not In* found elsewhere. It is a book of his personal
-\iuT!v>wnvvs. and is for a native Mohameilan a remarkable work.
t\4rts of the Kn^k have btvn tnuislati^l manv times, that bv ilr. Braddell
V. b'^uV JournaK in IS^-. and that by Mr. J. T. Thomson in
h:> Svk calitnl **Tnuislations tn.»m the Hakayit Abdulla," published in
l>74» *r\* the vnily v»nos likely to K* ik»w obtainable. The whole of the
l>.vk *-".*> u.»: yet Kvn tnui>lattHl. It i> a standard reading book for
-tii'i^-irs ot >lalav. AWulla was an Arab of Yemen of mixed race,
:irtt^ r\v.v»xe> tr\»tn a purx^ Arab, llis father and mother were both
>:m ::i MaLkv*:* , hi> irmndtiilher on the father's side (to which alone
:Ii-' MdhU\> iTive imjK>rtance' wa> the s<ni ot an Arab of Yemen and had

1819 29

been bom at Na^ore, South India, and married a Malay in Malacca.
He was a tall, slightly bent, spare tnan, very energetic as his book
jihows, with a bronze complexion, and an oval face, as Mr. Thomson,
who learned Malay from him, tells us. When he was a boy of 11 or 12
years old he was a Malay writer for KaiHes in Malacca, and was much
attached to him. He did a great deal of work in translating for the
Missionaries at the Anglo-Chinese College in Malacca, and was the
Malay teacher to the Europeans in Singapore in its early days, and
to Mr. Keasberry. Abdulla's father had been Malay teacher to Marsden.
Kaffles wanted him to go to Java with the expedition, but his mother
would not part with him as he was the only son and then only fourteen
years old. In later years he was a master in the Raffles Institution.
He sailed from Singapore in an Arab ship for Jeddah in February,
1854, intending to go to Mecca and then to pay a visit to Europe;
but he died in Mecca on the 27th October in that year. His son
Ibrahim bin Abdullah is now the Dato Bintara Dalam of Johore, an
official of high rank, who accompanied the late Sultan Abubakar to
Europe in 1878. Several passages from his book are quoted further on ;
they are examples of the manner of his writing, and of the thoughts
of a Mohamedan. The stories are told in a very amusing way.

There is one other account by a Malay of what took place when
Raffles landed for the first time. It is to be found in the Journal of
the Straits Asiatic Society, No. 10 for 1882, and was taken down by
Mr. H. T. Haughton of the Straits Settlements Civil Service, who died
to the great regret of all in the Straits, in 1897, while still a young man.
He took it down from an old Malay, said to be then about eighty
years old, which would make him about fifteen in 1819, but as usual
with these people, his age was quite uncertain. In the following num-
ber was a note by Mr. W. H. Read giving his reasons for thinking
that the old man could not be very correct in his recollections. How-
ever that may be, his account in many ways coincides with AbduUa's,
and taking the two together we can arrive at a pretty good idea of
what took place.

Before doing this let us try to form a picture of what the entrance
to the river looked like when Sir Stamford Raffles and Major Farquhar
rowed into its mouth. There are little statements in several of the old
books, besides these two accounts, which help in this. The right bank,
which is the proper name for the side of the river where the Square
is now, was a rising hill covered with jungle, and beyond the hill in
the direction where the Police Courts are now and beyond, was what
Abdulla calls a marsh. There was no one living on that side of the river
then. On the left bank of the river (the Esplanade side as it is now
called) the bank was covered with low jungle. On that bank, most
probably somewhere between the present site of the Court House and
Klgin Bridge, though some have thought as far up as the Ice House at
Hill Street, were a few houses. Abdulla says four or five small huts, with
six or seven cocoanut trees, and one larger house for the Tumongong;
while the old Malay called Wa Hakim told Mr. Haughton that there
were under a hundred small huts with a large one for the Rajah.
It was probably between the two, as the Tumongong four years after-
wards told Mr. Crawfurd that 150 Malays had accompanied him from

30 Aitecdotal History of Singapore

Johore in 1811. AbduUa tells us that the plain (the Esplanade) was
covered with Kamunting and Kadadu plants. The river in fact was
just what may be seen at other places round the island where a great
town such as Singapore is now has never been commenced. Both
AbduUa ai^d Wa Hakim speak of the orang luut (men of the sea) and
AbduUa as a Malay, (and in his own estimation a most superior being
for which he had some reason), speaks of them in a contemptuous
manner, as being like wild beasts. These were the descendants of the
aborigines of Johore before the Malays crossed from Sumatra, and were
born, lived and died in boats, a sort of sea-gipsies. One prow often
contained, besides the head of the family, a grandmother, mother and
several young children, who were left in some place of safety when
the men went out on piratical expeditions. They were radically Malays,
speaking the language and nominally Mohomedans, but really believing
in a sort of fetishism like all untutored peoples. The place where
their boats lay was called, Wa Hakim says, Kampong Tumongong.
Such boats full of these people may still be seen occasionally in the
river; they were very numerous forty years ago round the island at
Telok Blangah and Selitar. AbduUa says. "There were also only two
or three small huts at the extreme end of Campong Glam, belonging to
the Glam tribe or clan who made their living by making kadjangs
and mat sails, hence the name of the place.'' Captain Begbie says,
'* The Malay town is generally called Campong Glam on account of the
Glam trees in its neighbourhood. The Glam is a species of the Kayu
Putih whose leaves yield the well-known medicinal oil commonly con-
tracted into Cajeput. It is called white wood from its bark being
white. The rind peels off in ragged paper like shreds.'' The huts
AbduUa speaks of were probably put up after the English came; he
himself did not come until four months afterwards.

Such was the condition of the place and the people when Raffles
and Parquhar landed in the morning, with one sepoy carrying a
musket, as Wa Hakim says. The orang laut, frightened, all ran
away, and Raffles walked np to the Tumongong's house. AbduUa says
Farquhar sat down under a Kalat tree on the plain, and waited till the
Tumongong came. Wa Hakim says he followed Raffles to the house to
the edge of the verandah, as a Malay boy would do. The Tumongfong
gave them rambutans and other kinds of fruit, and then Raffles went
inside. He explained why they had come and that it would be a good
thing for the Malays in carrying on their traffic. The Tumongong
made a speech of his own unwortliiness (as usual) and said the ques-
tion of the succession to the late Sultan was still unsettled, and that
Tunkii Putri had all the regalia; but lie was the inheritor of the island
by the Malayan law. Colonel Farquhar said '' Sir Stamford Raffles has
well considered, and lie will put all straight." Being asked what was
the name of the hill behind the plain (Fort Canning now) he said it
was called Bukit Larangan, '' Because the Rajah resided there in old
times and erected his palace there, and would allow no one to go up,
so it was called the Forbidden Hill."

They returned on board at 4 o'clock, and afterwards (Wa Hakim
says twelve days which is out of the question, but such a Malay has
very little idea of time) it was no doubt the next morning, the 29tb

1819 31

January^ the tents and baggage were brought ashore, and half of the
Malay sailors commenced to cut down the scrub on the plain while the
other half put up the tents. This took two hours. Then a well was
dug below the Kalat tree, from which they all drank. Thirty Malacca
Malays were landed, and relieved each other in keeping guard near
the tents that night. The people of Singapore were too frightened to
approach at first, and one boy was drowned off Teluk Ayer; for, meet-
ing one of the ship's boats, he became so alarmed that he jumped over-
board, and the tide was running so strong that he was overpowered
and drifted out to sea.

We cannot doubt that Raffles spent the afternoon in talking to the
Tumongong and the Malays, and interesting them in his proposals. It
is a pity that little Abdullah did not come with him from Malacca or
we should have had a most amusing account of the conversation.
Raffles speedily convinced the Tumonj^ong of his friendship and good
intentions and Farquhar went away to Rhio to see about the regalia.
Sir Stamford made the Preliminary Arrangement mentioned in the next
chapter on the following day, and waited for the return of Major
Farquhar. Begbie says that Raffles sent Farquhar to endeavour to persuade
Tunku Putri to give up the regalia but the old lady was inflexible.
She is described as a fine intelligent lady, whose countenance lit up
with great animation, when talking of old days She was rejiiding in
Malacca in 1833. Farquhar returned with Sultan Hoossain on the
evening of 6th February, and the treaty which concluded — what Raffles
had tried to accomplish, in the face of so many difficulties, was made
the next day.

The remainder of this chapter relates to the controversy that has
gone on for many years and still keeps occasionally cropping up, in
the most hopeless way, about the true date of the foundation of the
Settlement. It is not of the least practical importance, and those who
attach no interest to it can turn over to the end of the chapter.

After spending much time in hunting into it, the conclusion seems
to be irresistible that the 6th February, which has always been kept
as the anniversary is beyond any reasonable doubt, the proper date.

Sir Stamford Raffles and Major Farquhar were the only persons
actually present in Singapore at the time, who have left anything in
writing about the date when the British flag was hoisted. If the
diary and all the papers of Raffles had not been burnt in the Fame the
question would never have arisen. Unfortunately in a memorial Raffles
addressed to the Court of Directors, when in England not long before
his death, he had given the date as the 29th February. Lady Raffles
was in Penang at the time and could not speak from her own
recollection, and in her book she copied the same date, which was
repeated in the second edition. The 29th February was impossible,
there could be no such day, as 1819 could not be a leap year, and if
Lady Raffles had turned over two pages of her own book she would
have seen that her husband was back again in Penang writing letters
on the 19th February. We know that he left Singapore on 7th
February and did not return until June. There is one other passage
relating to the matter in the writings of Raffles; a letter he wrote to
Marsden^ which is printed in Lady Raffles^ book, dated 31st January, in

•32 Anecdotal History of Singapore

whicli he said *'Tlie lines of the old city and its defences are still to
l>e traced and within its ramparts the British Union waves unmolested."
This languacfe in a private letter to his friend is certainly somewhat
imaginative when it speaks of ramparts, because in April 1821 it was
written in a despatch that *' the place was covered with jungle with the
exception of a small spot on the eastern side of the river, barely large
enough to pitch the tents on." It may have been Baffles' waj' of
expressing to his friend that there the English were and they were going
to stop. Mr. Egerton tells us in his very recent work that a letter
by a member of the expedition dated 29th January, showed ignorance
still of its exact object, which would have been known to him at
once if he had seen the British flag flying on shore; and that Captain
Butler of the Hope, who passed Singapore on the 81st, saw tents
pitched on shore but made no mention of any flag there.

Now we come to what Major Farquhar wrot<^ on the subject. In
a long memorial which he address(»d to the Board of Directors in 1^24
he said, " On the 5th February I returned to Singapore and on the
morning of the 6th the British flag was formally displayed. On the
following day Sir Stamford Raffles left the Settlement, after having
placed -me in charge as Resident and Commandant with a letter of
general instructions."

The Major had a good reason to remember the date as he had
been to Rhio to fetch Sultan Hoosain. We know, as will be explained
in the next chapter, that Raffles made a provisional agreement (as he
styled it) with the Tumongong alone on the 30th January, and that
the treaty which Sultan Hoosain himself signed together with the
Tumongong, was made on the 6tli February, the day the proclamation
by Raffles was issued which is printed in the next chapter. There
would have been no right (as Mr. Egerton suggests) to hoist the
flag until the treaty was concluded, or to put it at the best, before
the preliminary arrangement was made on the 30th. We know also
that Raffles only arrived at Singapore on the evening of the 28th
January, and then most probably Raffles sent some Malay on shore to
tell the Tumongong who he was, and to prepare him for his visit the
next day ; which would be the usual course on such an occasion. We
are told that he and Major Farquhar landed in the morning, which
would then be the 29th, and if the date so often insisted on, and
again repeated in 1887 in the inscription in Hendon Church is correct,
the flag nuist have been hoisted at once, before the preliminary agree-
ment was made. It seems incredible that the flag should have been
Iiui^red with any pretensions to any right to do so, on the very day
Knffl(»s landed, and while he was discussing the terms of the arrange-
ment that was only signed the next day, and while Sultan Hoosain
was expected from Rhio to support it. It is possible that Sir Stamford
hoisted a flag over a tent as a precaution in case the Dutch should hear of
\i\< arrival and try to hoist a flag themselves under a pretext of authority
from the Raja Muda of Rhio and his protege Sultan Abdul Rahman,
anil the Malays on shore may not have cared whether a flag was put
up or not, but it could not have been hoisted under any claim of right,
or with any proper authority. As well might a foreigner go and
hang up his country's flag in the middle of the Esplanade at this day.

1819 38

On the 6th February the right to do so was given, and Major
Farqohar's statement that the flag was formally hoisted on that day
seems conclusive. Only five years after, on 6th February, 1824, the
Governor, John Crawf urd, gave the first anniversary dinner at Govern-
ment House, and he especially was not likely to make any mistake
about the matter, nor the small European community who dined there,
and the first words were "To-day being the anniversary of hoisting
the British flag on this island,'^ which appears in a diary written
at the time. In Mr Read^s book at page 12, he says " Sultan Houssein
came at once to Singapore and a definite treaty was drawn up, sigfned
and sealed by Bafilea and the two chiefs, on February 6th, 1819,
when the British flag was formally hoisted and saluted ; " and Mr. Read
was one, for reasons that will appear afterwards in this book, with
particular means of being well acquainted with the history of the place.

There seems to have been an actual fatality in the misprints about
the date, which began in Lady Rafiles' book, and continues to this
day. In Moor's book published in 1837, it says the flag was hoisted
on 20th January, which in 1844 was remarked to be a misprint. In
the Glossary by the late Sir Henry Yule, who travelled in Java in
1860, and is spoken of in Mr. Boulger's book, page 306, as " so careful
a writer" it is printed as the 23rd February.

In a little book printed at the Malacca Mission Press in 1823,
about the formation of the Singapore Institution in that year, it
says at page 91, in Rules drawn up for the management, that the
Annual General Meeting shall take place on the 29th day of February
being the Anniversary of the establishment of Singapore. It does not
<^eem improbable that, after- the Fame was burned, a copy of that
pamphlet may have been sent to Sir Stamford and that he copied the
date from it in England.

In John Crawfnrd^s Journal of an Kmbassy to Siam, &c., published
in 1830, he says: — "On 6th February, two days after the arrival of the
expedition, the British flag was hoisted and the Settlement duly
formed/^ In 1834, in Captain Begbio's book, he says, " In February
Sir Stamford Rafiles founded the Settlement of Singapore. " In New-
bold's book, in 1839, he gives no date of the month, but says that
Singapore was ceded in February. Mr. Boulger^s book in 1897, sticks
to the 29th January. Mr. Egerton does not commit himself to any
date, but says it is not clear by what right the flag could have been
hoisted as early as the 29th January. The contention that the proper
date should be the 29th January probably arose from the assumption
that in Lady Raffles' book the word February must have been a mis-
print for January, and that the day of the month was correct because
Raffles was here on that day in the month of January.

After the above was written attention was called to a ^*Note"
printed at page 114 of the number of the Notes and Queries of the
Journal of the Straits Branch of the Asiatic Society No. 4 for 1887,
which had escaped notice when this chapter was written. It throws
light upon the "various errors'' and the way in which they arose.
It is a letter written in 1886 or 1887 (the Gx)vemor gave no date)
by the Rev. R. B. Raffles to the Governor at Singapore, which said
that Mr. Raffles hoped the error as to the date of the foundation of

34 Anecdotal Hialory of Situjaporf

Singapore which had crept into many books (the 29th February)
woold not be reproduced on the pedestal of the statue which was to
be erected in Singapore; in connection with which date he had seen
tforiauf errors; and that Colonel Yule in his glossary ^' Hobson Jobson '^
had giyen the date as 23rd February, but had now accepted *' without
ocmtroTersy '' the correction which Mr. Raffles submitted. This was
only a case of the blind leading the blind, unless Mr. Raffles could
establish his case. His argument was that there could be no 29th
February in 1819, which no one has ever doubted, and then he says
that a letter (which has been quoted above) was dated Singapore,
Slot January, 1819, announcing the occupation of the island. This is
not so, the word occupation, or any similar expression is not used in
the letter. And then he draws this conclusion: ''It is thus plain that
in the sentence in Lady Raffles' Book, giving the 29th February, the
date ' 29th January 1819 ' should be read instead of ' 29th February,
1819/ '' The italics are his own. The only thing that is plain is, that
there is a mistake somewhere in the sentence. It is not plain that it
is in the name of the month. Both Raffles and Farquhar are
at one about that. It is common experience that misprints in figures
are infinitely more likely than misprints in words, because there is no
context to point to the error, and it is solely a question of careful
reading, not correcting. An example of it is in Mr Boulger's book on
page 806, where the date of the Treaty is printed 5th February, and
the correct date, 6th February, is printed on page 313. Sir Stamford
Baffles when he wrote his memorial had lost all his papers, and there
is no reason to suppose Colonel Farquhar was wrong when he wrote
the 6th February. The whole thing is explained if Mr R. B. Raffles'
conjecture that the misprint could only have occurred in the name of
the month has been the cause of all the previous " various errors."
It is to he hoped that the day which has from the first been kept
as a holiday for the anniversary may not be norain questioned. Requiescat
in pace !

CHAPTER IV.

Saturday, 6th February, 1819.

THE Treaty made on the 6tli February states in Article 1 that a
Preliminary Agreement had been made on the 30th January.
There had been no trace of that agreement for many years. Mr. Bradd^l
made a note over fifty years ago that it could not be found ; and in all
the printed copies of the treaty that have been published, there is a
foot-note to that Article in the treaty that "No copy of these Preli-
minary Articles is to be found.'' As will be explained presently the
counterparts of these old documents which had been kept by the
Tnmongong, have, since the preceding chapter of this book was in print,
very unexpectedly come to light in Johore, while the information
obtained has thrown some further light upon matters that have been
already spoken of. This agreement made with the Tumongong alone is
on one side of a large piece of foolscap ; it is in fair preservation
though not as good as that of the treaty signed eight days afterwards.
The thick, heavy sealing-wax of the large seal of the East India Com-
pany having broken and torn away part of the writing. It is in
Malay only ; there is no English counterpart as there is in the treaty :
the Arabic writing is in the same hand as that in the treaty. It is
the writing of a native, and was no doubt written by one who accom-
panied Raffles, as neither the Sultan nor Tumongong could write; and
the old Malays say now that there would not, probably, have been any-
one with the Tumongong who was able to do so. Munshi Abdulla was
not with Raffles, as he lived in Malacca, then in the hands of the
Dutch, for which reason he came to Singapore in June, four months
later, as Raffles had then returned to the place, and the English had
formed the settlement.

It will be seen that Sir Stamford Raffles treated on the 30th
January with the Tumongong alone (the Sultan did not arrive till the
5th February) giving him a yearly sum of $3,000 for the privilege of
establishing a Factory, and the opinion of the Sultan was to be taken
when he arrived. In addition to what has been said on page 21 as to
the practical independence of the Tumongong, Raffles wrote in a letter
(see Lady Raffles' Memoir page 398) *^ As the land was the property
of the Tumongong we did not hesitate to treat for the occupation of
the port." And it will be noticed that in the Treaty the Tumongong
is described as Chief of Singapore and its dependencies, and he, and
not the Sultan, is dealt with as exercising sovereign rights with respect
to a portion of his own "Dominions" (Article 3); and in the last article
it provided that one half of the duties were to be paid to him alone,
the Sultan receiving no share. In 1824 when it was desirable to make
a further treaty for the whole of the island, Mr. Crawfurd in a des-
patch to Bengal, quoted further on, in order to furnish information

36 Anecdotal History of Singapore

regarding the position of the Native authorities, said, "The principal
Officers of the Government of Johore from early times were the Band-
ahara or Treasurer, and the Tumongong or First Minister of Justice.
These offices appear to have been for a long time hereditary in the
families of the present occupants, who were indeed virtually indepen-
dent chiefs; the former of them residing and exercising authority at
Pahang, and the other at Singapore/* In another despatch to Bengal
he spoke of the Tumongong as " Not only exercising his powers of
Grovernment, but being, like other Asiatic sovereigns, de facto the real
proprietor of the soil/' Mr. Crawfurd was a man of great knowledge
regarding the Malay countries, and he expressed in 1824 the same
opinion as Sir Stamford Raffles had done in 1819.

The following is a translation of the agreement, the first few
words have been torn away by the sealing wax : —

[Agreement made by ?] the Dato Tutnmiin^in^ Sree Maharajah, Ruler of Sinfpi-
pore, who governs the country of Singapore and all the islandR which are under the
government of Singapore in hm own name and in tho name of Srne Sultan Hussem
Mahummud Shah, Rajah of Johoi'e. with Sir Thomas Sbimford Raffles, Lieutenant
Governor of Bencoolen and its dependencies on btOialf of thi» Most Noble the
Gk)vemor General of Bengal.

On account of the long existing friendsliip and commen;ial relations between
the English Company and the countries under the authority of Singapore and
Johore it is well to ari'ange these matters on a b(»tter footing never to be broken.

Article 1. The English Company can establish a factory (logi) sitnated at
Singapore or other place in the (lovemment of Siugapore-Johore.

Article 2. On account of that the En^liali Company agree to prot-eet the
Dato Tnmmungung Sree Mahnrajnh.

Article 3. On account of the English Company having the ground on which
to make a factory they will give each year to the Dato Tummiingung Sree Maha-
rajah three thousand aollai*s.

Article 4. The Dato Tummunguug agrees that a^^t long \\& the English Com-
pany remain and afford prottH.*tion according to this Agreement he will not enter
into any ndations with or let any other nation into his country other than the
English.

Article 5. Whenever the Sree Sultan, who is on his way, arrives here, all
matters of this Agreement will be settled, but the English Company can select
a place to land their forces and all materials and hoist the English Com-
pany's flag. On this account we each of us put our hands and chops on this
paper at the time it is written on the 4th day of Rabil Ahkir in the year

SeiU of the East India Company. (Signed) T. S. RAFFLES.
Chop of the Tnmmungung.

The Treaty of Saturday, the 6th February, is written on rough,
thick, white, foolscap paper. The writing on the left side of half
the page bein^ in English and in Mahiy on the right. The following
is a correct copy, with the spelling, capital letters, and all marks of
punctuation exactly followed. The printed copies in use in Singapore
are all incorrect, as was suspected but could not be shown until the

1 f-tf^il'^,yi^vU^v.)^-i>,liu:,^'lj[^ . ^

Saturday, 6th February, 1819 8?

original counterpart kept by the Turaongong was found. Words had
been spelt differently, some omitted, some displaced ; and the Malay
date was wrong, which led to the original being traced.

There are some curious thino^s to be noticed. The East India
Company is throughout styled the Engluh East India Company, in
one place the English Government is mentioned, and the last words
speak of the British Government, These particular words were no
doubt used purposely. The word Johore is spelt throughout with a
final e, as it is spelt in Johore to this day, but Sir Stamford Raffles
after his signature spelt it Johor, which may please some small minds,
but does not prove it is correct. The seal of the East India Com-
pany is two and a half inches in diameter, of thick red sealing wax. The
English ink has somewhat faded, but the Malay in Indian ink is as
black as the day it was written. The signatures are on the sixth

page.

The way in which the original came to light after so many years

was rather curious. It will be seen that the Mohamedan date is the
nth of the month. In the copy made in Mr. BraddelFs notes, the
date was given as the 11th. But in the printed copies of Government
and also in the Book of Treaties, Part III, published by the Straits
Times Press in 1877, the date was given as the 19th, or eight days later.
There was of course no question as to the English date, the 6th
February, and the Malay date would not have signified but for a reason
that will more fully appear in the next chapter. The Malay chiefs
who signed the treaty wrote letters to Rhio dated the 20th day of the
same Malay month, saying that soldiers had been landed at Singapore
without their consent and that they had not acted voluntarily. If the
date given in the Government copy was right those letters were
written on the 7th February, the day after the treaty was signed
and the very day Raffles left for Penang, just as his back was
turned. This seemed unlikely. On the other hand, if Mr. BraddelFs
date was correct, the letters were not written until the 15th February,
eight days later, and there was plenty of time for the Dutch to have
beard of what Raffles had done, and to seek means to found an
objection. Enquiry was first made in Singapore, but not one of these
old documents is in existence. White ants, insects, and a damp clim-
ate account for a good deal, and mistakes or carelessness may account
for more. It was also said that there was no means of ascertaining
with any certainity the equivalent Malay date for any English date so
long back as 1819. It was useless to search further in Singapore^
so enquiry was made at the Government offices at Johore, on the
Bank holiday in August, 1901. There again it was said that the
Mohamedan Calendar was very erratic but it might perhaps be worked
out ; still it would not have been decisive of the question, without
which it was no use. The Dato Bintara Dalam (the only surviving
son of the old Munshi Abdulla) asked why so much trouble need be
taken about it, why not look at the original ? This sounded absurd,
but he said it was in the safe. It has been said that truth lies at
the bottom of a well, and it might be at the bottom of an iron safe.
So a large safe was opened and the papers laid out on a big office
table, and the Malay endorsements looked through. Near the bottom

38. : Anecdotal Hitsiory of Singapore

were some large folded pieces of parchment; the ink had entirely
disappeared to the naked eye, the parchment was discoloured^ and
broken up into pieces like thin glass. One of these seemed to be
about the year 1824, from the remains of a seal hanging to it, and it
was said that it was no use looking any further, because the treaty
of 1819 would be in the same state. But then Raffles may not have
had any parchment with him. Soon after in a bundle of old papers
the treaty was found, together with all the other original documents
of- that time. It seemed almost like a voice from the dead (or, as a
Mali^y said, like unwrapping an Egyptian mummy) to open it out on
the table and see the signature of Raffles and the chops of the chiefs
which had been made in the attap house in the jungle on the bank
of the river on that eventful day, on a site which is now the very centre of
the large town of Singapore. The Dato Dalam was quite right, and also
Mr. Braddell, and the question was at rest. Two counterparts of the treaty
were of course made, one Sir Stamford Raffles or Major Farquhar kept,
and the other was given to the Tumongong. The one copy, in the hands
of English clerks, with secure safes, had not been forthcoming for many

iears and the copies of it were incorrect, while the copy that had been
anded to the Malay chief who had not a table, chair, envelope, or safe,
had been kept carefully wrapped up and preserved, and handed down
through four generations and nearly a century to the hands of his great
grandson, now styled the Sultan of Johore. The document it will be
observed was not kept by the Sultan but by the Tumongong. If the
Sultan had ever had it, it would have been lost without delay. It was the
old story again of misprints of figures, but the result of this instance was
to bring. to notice this very historical document, and the trouble the
misiprint caused was turned to an excellent and most unexpected purpose.

THE TREATY.

Treaty of Friendship and Alliance concluded between the Honorable Sir
Thomas Stamford Raffles Lieutenant Governor of Fort Marlborough and its De-
pendencies, Agent to the Most Noble Francis Marc^uess of Hastings Governor
General of In£a &c., &c., &c., for the Honorable English East India Company on
the one part and their Highnesses Sultan Hussein Mahummud Shah Sultan oi Johore
andDatoo Tummungung Sree Maharaja Abdul Rahman Chief of Singapoora and
its Dependencies; on the other part.

Article 1st.

The Preliminary Articlet* of Agreement entered into on the 30th of January
1819 by the Honorable Sir Stamford Raffles on the part of the English East
India Company; and by Datoo Tummungung Sree Mahai*ajah Abdul Rahman
Chief of Singapoora and its Dependencies, for himself and for Sultan Hussein
Mahummud Shah Sultan of Johore, is hereby entirely approved, ratified and con-
firmed by His Highness the aforesaid Sultan Mahummud Shah.

Article 2nd.

In furtherance of the objects contemplated in the said preliminary agreement;
and in compensation of any and all the advantjiges which may be foregone now
or hereafter by His Highness Sultan Hussein Mahummud Shah Sultan of Johore,
in consequence of the stipulations of this Treaty; the Honorable English East
India Company agi'ee and engage to pay to His aforesaid Highness the sum of
Spanish Dollai's Five Thousand Annually; for and during the time that the said
Company may, by vii-tue of this treaty, maintain a Factory or Factories on any
part of His Highnesses hereditary Dominions, ; and the said company further

Saturday, 6th February, 1819 39

ajpree to afford their protection to His Highness aforesaid as long as he may con-
tinue to reside in the immediate vicinity of the places subject to their authority.
It is however clearly explained to and understood by His Highness that the Eng-
lish Government in entering into this alliance and in thus engaging to afford
protection to His Highness is to be considered in no way bound to interfere with
the internal politics of his States, or engaged to assert or maintain the authority
of His Highness by force of Arms.

Aeticlk 3rd.

His Highness Datoo Tummungung Si*ee Maharajah Abdul Rahman Chief of
Singapoora and its Dependencies having by Preliminary Articles of Agreement
entered into on the 3Uth of January 1819 gi*anted his full permission to the
Honorable English East India Company to establish a Factory or Factories at
Singapoora or on any other part of His Highnesses Dominions ; And. the said
Company having in recompence and in return for the said Grant settled on His
Highness the yearly sum of Spanish Dollars Three Thousand and having received
His Highness into their Alliance and protection, all and every part of the said
Preliminary Ai-ticles is hereby confirmed.

Article 4th.

His Highness the Sultan Hussein Mahummud Shah Sultan of Johore and
His Highness Datoo Tummungung Sree Maharajah Abdul Rahman Chief of
Singapoora engage and agi*ee to aid and assist the Honoi*able English East India
Company against all enemies that may assail the Factory or Factories of the said
Company established or to )>e estiiblished in the Dominions of their said Highnesses
respectively.

Article 5th.

His Higlmess the Sultan Hussein Mahummud Shah Sultan of Johore and
Hifl Highness Datoo Tummungung Sree Maharajah Abdul Rahman Chief of
Singapoora avcree, prtmiise and bind tliom8elv<»8 their heirs and successors, that
for as lonfif time as the Hon'ble the English East India Company shall con-
tinuc to hold a Factory or Factories on any part of the Dominions subject to the
authority of their Highnesses aforesaid, and shall continue to afford to their High-
nesses support and protection, they their said Highnesses will not enter into any
treaty with any other Nation and will not admit or consent to the Settlement
in any part of their Dominions of any other power European or American.

Article 6th.

A 11 persons belonging to the English Factory or Factories or who shall here-
after desire to place themselves under the protection of its flag, shall be duly
registered, and considered as subject to British authority.

Article 7th.

The mode of administering Justice to the native population shall be subject
to future discussion and arrangement between the conti*acting parties, as this will
necessarily in a great measure depend on the Laws and usages of the various
tribes who may be expected to settle in the vicinity of the English Factory.

Article 8th.

The port of Singapoora is to be considered under the immediate protection
and subject to the regulation of the British Authorities.

Article 9th.

With regard to the duties which it may hereafter be deemed necessary to
levy on Goods, Merchandize, Boats or Vessels, His Highness Datoo Tummungung
Sree Maharajali Abdul Rahman is to be entitled to a moiety or full half of aU

40 Anecdotal Hifttory of Singapore

the amount collected from Native Vessels. The expenses of the Port and the
collection of duties to be defrayed by the British Government.

Done and concluded at Singapoora this 6th day of February in the year of
Our Lord 1819, answering to the 11th day of the Month Rubbelakhir and Year
of the Hujira 1234.

Seal of the East T. S. RAFFLES

India Company. Agent to the Most Noble the

Gov, OenL with the States of
Bhio Lingin and Johor,

Seal of the Seal of the

Tummungung. Sultan.

The impression of the native chops on the paper is made by
holding the brass seal in the smoke of a flame until it is covered with
lamp-black, and then pressing it on the paper.

Mr. John Crawfurd, writing in about 1828, spoke of this treaty
as follows: — "In the first agreement with the native chief, the arrange-
ment amounted to little more than a permission for the formation of
a British factory and establishment, along two miles of the northern
shore, and inland to the extent of the point-blank range of a
cannon shot. There was in reality no territorial cession giving a
legal right of legislation. The only law which could have existed
was the Malay code. The native chief was considered to be the pro-
prietor of the land, even within the bounds of the British factory,
and he was to be entitled, in perpetuity, to one-half of such duties
of customs as might hereafter be levied at the port. In the pro-
gress of the settlement, these arrangements were of course found
highly inconvenient and embarrassing, and were annulled by the
subsequent treaty." Mr. Crawfurd in speaking of the subsequent treaty
means that of the 2nd August, 1824, which is printed on page 168,
by which the whole island of Singapore with the adjacent seas, straits,
and islets within ten miles from the Coast of the island, was ceded to
the East India Company for ever.

On the same day the following Proclamation was issued by Raffles : —

PROCLAMATION.

A treaty having been this day concluded between the British Government
and the native authorities, and a British establishment having been in consequence
founded at Sini^apore. the Honourable Sir T. S. Raffles, Lieutenant-Governor of
Bencoolen and its Dependencies, A<^ent to the Governor- General, is pleased to
ceT-tify the appointment by the Supreme Government of Major Wm Jfarqnhai'.
of tlu! Madras Engineers, to be Resident, and to command the troops at Singapore
and its Dependencies ; and all persons are hereby directed to obey Major Farquhar
accordingly.

It is further notified, that the Residency of Singapore has been placed under
the Government of Fort Marlborough [Bencoolen], and is to be considered a
dependency thereof ; of which, all persons concerned are desired to take notice.

Dated at Singapore, this 6th day of February, 1819.

By order of the Agent of the Most Noble
the Governor- General.

(Signed) F. CROPLY,

Secretary,

Saturday, 6th February, 1819 41

On the day this was published, Sir Stamford addressed a letter
to Major Farquhar giving him general instructions as Resident and
Commandant of the station. It is impossible to read the letter with-
out remarking the great foresight and high-minded policy of the
writer. It contained instructions of a political nature, which after-
events proved to have been almost prophetic*; it made all necessary
provisions for finance, and for the appointment of a Master Attendant,
and this in a port which, with the exception of his own vessels
and a few native boats, was then empty; but which, in a short
time> was to become a very busy harbour. He arranged for a
watering place for the shipping that was to come, and established a
European boarding officer with a boat and a crew for it. He said
that Captain Ross having surveyed the coast, and he himself having
inspected the nature of the ground, he had determined upon the site,
and gave authority for the immediate erection of a small fort on the
hill overlooking the Settlement [now Fort Canning] with a barrack for
30 European Artillery, and several batteries on positions he pointed
out. He arranged for a garrison and stores and provisions.

The letter is printed at length, as it is of much interest : —

Singapore, 6^^ February, 1819.
To Major WILLIAM FARQUHAR,

Resident and Commandant^

Singapore.

Sir,

Herewith I have the honor to transmit to you one of the copies of the
treaty this day conchid<»d between the Honorable the East India Company, and
their Highnesses the Sultan of Johoi*e, and the Tummungong of Singapore and
its dependencies.

2- As the object contemplated by the Most Noble the Governor General in
Council, namely the establishment of a station beyond Malacca, and commanding
the sonthem entrance of the Straits, has thereby iJeen substantially accomplished,
I proceed to give you the following general instructions for the regulation of your
conduct in the execution of the duties you will have to perform as Resident and
Commandant of the station which has been established.

3. As you have been present at and assisted in the previous negociations, and
are fully apprized of the political relations existing between the states in the
immediate vicinity of this island, it is only necessary for me to direct your particular
attention to the high importance of avoiding all measures which can be construed
into an interference with any of the states where the authority of His Netherlands
Majesty may be established. Whatever opinion may be formed with regard to
the justice or nature of the proceedings of the Dutoh authorities in these seas,
it is not consistent with the views of His Lordship in Council to agitate the dis-
cussion of them in this country ; and a station having been obtained which is
properly situated for the securing the free passage of the Straits, and for pro-
tecting and extending the commercial enterpnzes both of the British and native
merchant, all questions of this nature will necessarily await the decision of the
higher authorities in Europe.

4. It is impossible, however, that the object of our establishment at Singapore
can be misunderstood or disregarded, either by the Dutch or the native authori-
ties; and while the former may be expected to watch with jealousy the progress
of a settlement which must check the further extention of their influence through-
out these seas : the latter will hail with satisfaction the foundation and the site
of a British establishment, in the central and commanding situation once occupied

* This passage, written in 1884, is quoted in Mr. Boulger's book (1897) at page 313.

42 Anecdotal History of Singapore

hj the capital of the most powerful Malayan empire then existing in the East,
and the prospect which it affords them of the continaance, improyement and
security of the commercial relations by which their interests have been so long
identified with those of the Biitish merchant. It is from the prevalence of this
feeling among the natives and the consequences wbicb might possibly arise from
it, that I am desirous of impressing on your mind the necessity of extreme
caution and delicacy, not only in all communications which you may be obliged
to have with the subjects of any power under the immediate influence of the
Dutch, but also in your intercourse with the free and independent tribes who may
resort to the port, of Singapore either for the purposes of commerce or for protec-
tion and allisuice. The offer which is understood to have been made to the tiultan
by the Bugguese, is a sufficient proof that in all communications regarding the
proceedings of the Netherlands Government we should cai-efully guard a^rainst
the expression of any sentiment of dislike or discontent, however justly those
feelings might be excited, lest our motives be misconstrued, not only by the Dutch
but by the natives themselves.

5. With regard, however, to those states which have not yet fallen under
their authority, it is justifiable and necessary that you exert your influence to
preserve their existing state of independence. If this independence can be main-
tained without the presence of an £nglish authority it would be preferable, as
we are not desirous of extending our stations; but as from the usual march of
the Dutch policy, the occupation of Tringano, and the extension of their views to
Siam, may be reasonably apprehended, a very limited establishment in that quarter
may become ultimately necessary. It is at all events of importance to cultivate
the friendship of these powers, and to establish a friendly intercourse with them ;
and as the recent application from the Sultan of Tringano for a small supply of
arms affords us a favorable opportunity of advancing towards this object, you will
avail yourself of the first opportimity to comply with his request.

6. A similar line of policy in relation to the states of Pahang and of Lingin
will be conducive to the maintenance of the influence and just weight which the
English nation ougbt properly to possess in these seas. As it is my intention to
return to this island after the completion of the arrangements at Acheen, I shall
then be able to avail myself of the information you may have collected in the
intervening period, relative to the political state of Borneo Proper, Indragiri and
Jambi. In the meantime, it is probable that a knowledge of our establishment at
this station will have considerable weight in preventing these powers from falling
under the influence of the Dutch.

7. With reference to the native authoiities residing under our immediate
protecti(m, it is only necessary for me to direct your attention to the conditions
of the treaty concluded with these chiefs ; which it will be incumbent on you to
fulfil, under any circumstances that may arise, in a manner consistent with the
character and dignity of the British Government. In the event of any question
of importance being agitated by the Dutch Government at Batavia, or the authori-
ties subordinate to it, you will refrain from entering into any discussion that can be
properly avoided, and refer them to the authority under which you act.

8. To enable jrou to conduct the civil duties of the station with efficiency, I
have appointed Lieutenant Croply your assistant; and that officer will conduct
the details of the Pay Department, Stores and Commissariat with such other
duties as you may think proper to direct. The allowances for your assistant have
been fixed at Spanish dollars 4(K) per month, subject to the confirmation of the
Supreme Government.

9. As the services of Lieutenant Croply as my acting Secretary, will be for
some time required under my immediate authority, Mr. darling of the Bencooien
Establishment will officiate until his return. In the event of its being necessary
for you to leave the station or of any accident depriving the Company of your
services, your assistant is appointed to succeed to the temporary charge until
f ui-ther orders.

10. Mr. Bernard has also been appointed to take charge provisionally of the
duties of the port as Acting Master Attendant and Marine Storekeeper, and in
consideration of the active duties that may be required in this department, and
the general services which this officer may be required to perform, he is allowed
provisionally to draw a monthly salary of 300 dollars per month.

Saturday, 6th February, 1819 43

11. As the convenience and accommodation of the poi*t is an object of cnn-
fiiderable importance, you will direct your early attention to it, and to the for-
mation of a good watenng place for the shipping. You will also be pleased to
establish a careful and steady European at St. John's with a boat and small crew,
for the purpose of boarding all square sailed vessels passing through the Straits
and of communicating with you either by signals or by a small canoe as you may
find most advisable.

12. It is not neces8ai*y at present to subject the trade of the port to any
duties; it is yet inconsiderable, and it would be impolitic to incur the risk of
obstructing its advancement by any measure of this nature.

13. In determining the extent and nature of the works immediately neces-
sary for the defence of the port, and station, my judgment has been directed in
a great measure by your professional skill and experience. With this advantage
and from a careful survey of the coast by Captain Ross, aided by my own
personal inspection of the nature of the gi'ound in the vicinity of the Settlement,
1 have no hesitation in conveying to you my authority for constructing the
following works with the least delay practicable : —

On the hill overlooking the Settlement, and commanding it and a consider-
able p<>rtion of the anchorage, a small Fort, or a commodious block-house on
the principle which I have already described to you, capable of mounting 8 or
10 pounders and of containing a magazine of brick or stone, together with a
barrack for the permanent residence of 30 European artillery, and for the tem-
porary accommodation of the rest of the garrison in case of emergency.

Along the coast in the vicinity of the Settlement one or two strong batteries
for the protection of the shipping, and at Sandy Point a I'edoubt and to the
east of it a strong battery for the same purpose.

The entrenchment of the Cantonment by lines and a palisade, as soon as
the labor can be spared fi-om works of more immediate importance.

14. These rlefences, together with a Martello tower on Deep Water Point,
which it is my intention to recommend to the Supreme Government, will in my
judgment render the Settlement capable of maintaining a good defence. The
principle on which works were charged for at Malacca, is to be considered as
applicable to this station, and it is unnecessary for me to urge on you the neces-
sity of confining the cost of these works within the naiTowest limits possible.
As the construction of them, however, will necessarily demand a greater portion
of care and superintendence than the performance of your duties will permit
Tou to devote to them, I have appointed Lieutenant Ralfe of the Bengal Artil-
lery to be the assistant Engineer. This officer will likewise have charge of the
ordnance and military stores, and for the duties attendant on both these appoint-
ments conjoined I have fixed his salary at Spanish dollars 200 per mensem, to
commence from the 1st instant, and subject to the confirmation of the Supreme
Government.

15. As you will require the aid of a Staff officer to conduct the duties of
the garrison. I have thought proper to authorize the appointment of a canton-
ment adjutant on the same allowances lately authovi/^ed at Malacca. As this
ofilcer may be considered your personal staff, I shall not make any permanent
arrangement regarding it, but have appointed Lieutenant Dow to the tempoimry
performance of its duties.

16. The indent for ordnance and stores which you have handed to me shall
be transmitted t^^ Bengal without delay, and I request you will lose no time in
the erection of store-houses for their reception. An application for the number
and description of troops which you have recommended to fonn the garrison of
the residency will accompany the indent, together with an application for pro-
visions equal to their supply for 12 or 15 months.

17. I should not think myself justified at the present moment in authoriz-
ing the erection of a house for the accommodation of the chief authority, but I
shall take an early opportunity of recommending the adoption of that measure,
or in the event of the Supreme Government declining to authorize it, the grant
of a monthly allowance siifficient to compensate for the inconveniences to which,
in the infancy of the Settlement, the Resident is necessarily liable. A store-
House for the Commissariat department is at present of indispensible necessity,
md yon will accoi*dingly be pleased to erect a house of this deacvi^t\oxkv oi «vw^
matmals as can be procured, and as soon as you may &nd pYacticsjAe. k TCk.<d»^^<-

44 Anecdotal History of Singapore

zine built of such materialB, for the military stores, would be subject to some
risk ; and I therefore coufide to your professional judgment th«^ adoption of such
measures for their security as you may judge most expedient under the circum-
stances.

18. For a very short period it may be necessaiy to retain the brig Ganges
as a store vesse), but I rely on your discharging her the moment her services
can be dispensed with.

19. In the event of yom* adopting this an*angement, you will be pleased
immediately to trannhip to that vessel the public property now on board the
H. C. hired ship Mercury^ whose charter expires on the 24th instant, previously
to which you wdl accordingly be pleased to discharge her from the public ser-
vice. You will inform the commander, that I am entirely satisfied with his con-
duct while he was under my authority, an<i that as tonnage will probably l>c
required to convey troops and stores from P. of W. Island, I shall be happy,
in the event of his early arrival at that port, to consider his request for the
further employment of his ship to l>e entitled to some consideinition.

20. Ton are already apprized that the H. C. ship Nearchua has been put
under your orders, and the Ber>'ices of the schooner Enterprite will be also avail-
able by you, during the remainder of the period of two months for which she
was engaged.

21. The accounts of the residency are those which detail the receipt and
disburHement of the public money. These wi'e principally : —

(i.) An account particulars of military disbursements in which every
military absti*act and disbursement is clearly and correctly enterea.

01 •) A general aet^ount particulars, which will comprize the pai-ticulars of
every disbursement of whatever nature, and containing also, under
the head of '' Military Establishment," a correct copy of No. 1, and,

(iii.) A general treasury account, shewing on the one side the general
amount of the disbursement made on each particular account or
head, with the balance remaining on hand; and on the other, the
balance which remained on the 1st of the month, together with all
the sums which may be received during the course of it.

22. The accounts of the commissariat cannot at present be arranged accord-
ing to the established forms, they can however be kept with correctness by
Mr. Garling, and I shall take care to procure and to forward from Pinang the
necessary forms under which the first assistant will probably be able to aiTangc
them on his taking charge of his appointment. You will of course exercise a
strict superintendence over this department, no disbursements from which are to be
made without your authority; and you will be pleased to examine the accounts
rendered to you previously to transmitting them to Fort Marlborough.

23. A quarterly account of expenditure and remains of military stores will
be transmitted to me. You will also be pleased to forward the usual returns to
the Presidency of Fort William [Bengal] agreeably ti> the regulations of the service.

24. It does not occur to me that there is any other point of importance on
which it is necessary at present to give you any instructions. I shall probably
return to this residency tikSfter a short absence, and if in the meantime any impor-
tant matter should occur, which I have not anticipated in this letter, I have the
satisfaction aiforded me by a perfect reliance on your acknowledged zeal, in the
advancement and prot<H;tion of the honor and interests of our country, moderated
by the prudence and judgement which the infancy of our present establishment
HO particularly demands.

I have, &c.,

^Signed) T. S. RAFFLES.

8ultHU Uusseiu died at Malacca in September, 1S35^ and was
buried at the Tranquera Mosque. Ou his death no steps were taken
as to the succession. The old empire, Mr, Braddell \>Tites, was too
far gone to admit of any hope of regeneration, and ^vithout the aid of
the English Government, the Sultan's son could not attain a position
of authority. The slight degree of influence attained by the late

Saturday, 6th February, 1819 45

Saltan^ throngh the countenance of Sir Stamford Raffles and the East
India Company, died with him. He had benefited by the pension
which gave him means he could not otherwise have hoped to obtain.
The whole influence over the mainland of Johore remained in the
hands of the Tumonsfong, to the exchision of the Sultan, who fell into
indolent habits. Sultan Hussein was living, Mr. Earl says in his book,
in a large, rambling attap habitation at Campong Glam, and could not
attend to his own. affairs, which were administered by several hadjees and
petty chiefs attracted about him by the government pension. He was
succeeded by his son Sultan Allie who was then fifteen years of age,
and died in Malacca in 1877.

Mr. Earl speaks of Sultan Hussein as being so enormously stout
that he appeared constantly on the point of suffocation, and Munshi
Abdnlla in his book described him thus : — " I now must ask pardon
of such gentlemen as read my story, for it is necessary that they
should know the disposition and appearance of Sultan Hussein; for
new comers have not seen him. For this reason I must describe him.
When he first arrived in Singapore from Rhio, he was not stout, but
thin, but when he had become Sultan at Singapore, his body enlarged
with his days and his size became beyond all comparison. He was as
broad as he was long, a shapeless mass. His head was small, and sunk
into his shoulders from fat, just as if he had no neck ,• his face was
square, his nose was moderate, his mouth wide, his breast proportion-
ate ; he was pot-bellied in folds, his legs were thin, without contour ;
his feet were wide, his voice husky, with an awful sound; and it was
his custom to fall asleep wherever he sat down. And when he was
speaking, strangers were startled at the clashing sounds. His com-
plexion was light yellow; but I need not dilate on this, as many know
it, and have seen his appearance ; but as far as my experience has
gone, I have never seen so unwieldy a man, he could not even carry
his own body. And, to my apprehension, in such enormity there can
be no pleasure or ease to the body, but nothing but trouble.''

Tumongong Abdul Rahman died in Singapore on the 8th Decem-
ber, 1825, and was buried in the maknm, or Rajah's burial ground, at
the mosque at Telok Blanga. He was succeeded by his second son
named Ibrahim, because his elder son, AbduUa, did not wish to rule.
Ibrahim was then fifteen years of age. He died in 1862 and was
buried at the same place. He was succeeded by his eldest son Abu-
bakar, who died at the age of 63 in London, while on a short visit to
fingland, on 4th July, 1895, and his body was brought to Johore,
being carried in an English man-of-war from Penang, and buried in
Johore on 7th SeptemlDer with much ceremony. His son, Ibrahim,
succeeded him, being named after his grandfather. He was bom on
17th September, 1873, and is the present Sultan. The ruler of Johore
was styled Tumongong until 1868, when with the approval of the
British Government he was styled Maharajah ; and subsequently, at the
expressed wish of the people, it was agreed by the treaty with the
British Government of 11th December, 1885, that the ruler should in
future be recognised as the Sultan of the State and Territory of
Johore. It was shown in some correspondence with the Secretary of
State for the Colonies in July, 1878, when the question of the assump-

46 Anecdotal History of Singapore

tion of the title of Saltan of Johore by the Maharajah first arose,
that the Tumongongs were lineally descended from the Sultan Abdal
Jaleel (the third of the name) who was killed at the month of the
Pahang river in resisting an invasion from Siak about 1726. Suleiman,
one of his sons succeeded him as Sultan, while another, named Abbas,
was the common progenitor of the lines both of the Bandaharas of
Pahang and the Tumongongs of Johore. The first of the Tumongongs
was named Abdul Jainal, while the second in succession, named
Ibrahim, was the father of Tumongong Abdul Rahman who madb the
treaty with Raffles. There was Bugis blood in the family, as the death
of Sultan Abdul Jaleel, in 1726, was avenged by a Bugis chief called
Jaya Putra, who with his followers drove out the Siak chief, and
restored the government to Suleiman the eldest son of the late Abdul
Jaleel; in reward for this he was made the first Rajah Muda of
Rhio, an office not before known, and married into the Sultan's family.
A long account of the genealogy of the Johore Royal Families, written
by Mr. Braddell, is in 9 Logan's Journal, page 66.

Abdulla's description of Sir Stamford Raffles has been printed
more than once, part of it is in Mr. Boulger's book. As Mr. Thomson
remarks. Raffles probably little thought that the young native boy
writing in his office was so apt a sketcher. This is a part of Mr.
Thomson's translation of AbduUa's chapter upon Sir Stamford : —

"When I first saw Mr. Raffles, he struck me as being of middle
stature, neither too short nor too tall. His brow was broad, the sign
of large heartedness; his head betokened his good understanding;
his hair being fair, betokened courage ; his ears being large,
betokened quick hearing; his eyebrows were thick; his nose was
high; his cheeks a little hollow; his lips narrow, the sign of oratory
and persuasiveness ; his mouth was wide ; his neck was long ; and the
colour of his body was not purely white ; his breast was well formed ;
his waist slender; his legs to proportion, and he walked with a slight
stoop.

''Now I observed his habit was to be always in deep thought.
He was most courteous in his intercourse with all men. He always
had a sweet expression towards European as well as native gentlemen.
He was extremely affable and liberal, always commanding one's best
attention. He spoke in smiles. He also was an earnest enquirer into

East history, and he gave up nothing till he had probed it to the
ottom. He loved most to sit in quietitude, when he did nothing else
but write or read: and it was his usage, when he was either studying
of speaking, that he would see no one till he had finished. He had
a time set apart for each duty, nor would he mingle one with another.
Further, in the evenings, after tea, he would take ink, pen, and paper,
after the candles had been lighted, reclining with closed eyes in a manner
that I often took to be sleep ; but in an instant he would be up, and write
for a while till he went to recline again. Thus he would pass the night,
till twelve or one, before he retired to sleep. This was his daily practice.
On the next morning he would go to what he had written, and read it
while walking backwards and forwards, when out of ten sheets, probably
he would only give three or four to his copying clerk to enter into the
books, and the others he would tear up.

Saturday, 6fh February, 1819 47

" Now, Mr. Baffles took great interest in looking into the origin of
nations, and their manners and customs of olden times, examining what
would elacidate the same. He was especially qaick in the uptake of Malay
with its variations. He delighted to use the proper idioms as the natives
do ; he was active in studying words and their place in phrases ; and not
until we had told him would he state that the English had another mode.
It was his daily labour to order post letters to the various Malay countries
to support their good understanding with his nation, and increase the
bond of friendship ; this with presents and agreeable words. This gained
the good will of the various Rajas, who returned the compliment with
respect and thanks and moreover with presents. There also came a great
many presents of books from various countries.

'* Mr. Raffles's disposition was anything but covetous, for, in what-
ever undertaking or project he had in view, he grudged no expense so
that they were accomplished. Thus his intentions had rapid consumma-
tion. There were numbers of people always watching about his house,
ready to seek for whatever he wanted, to sell to him or take orders ; so
that they might obtain profit. Thus loads of money came out of his chest
daily, in buying various things, or in paying wages. I also perceived that
he hated the habit of the Dutch who lived in Malacca of running down
the Malays. But Mr. Raffles loved always to be on good terms with the
Malays, the poorest could speak to him ; and while all the great folks in
Malacca came to wait on him daily, whether Malays or Europeans, yet
they could not find out his object of coming there — his ulterior intentions.
But it was plain to me that in all his sayings and doings there was the
intelligence of a rising man, together with acuteness. If my experience
be not at fault there was not his superior in this world in skill or largeness
of heart.^'

There is a short, appreciative note of Mr. BraddelPs, at page 602 of 6
Logan's Journal, in which he says that Abdulla's description of Sir
Stamford Raffles contained a portrait of the man, which was said, by those
who knew him, to be as faithful as it was striking.

I .

i\ 48

CHAPTER V.

] 819 — Continued,

THE exact position of Singfapore has been frequently mistated in th<
books that refer to the place. 'J'he little observatory house at th<
point of the river near the Master Attendant's OflBce is accurately ii
Latitude N. I«> : 17'. 13.7" and Longitude E. 103^ : 51' : 15.7', or about 7']
geographical miles north of the Equator, and in time 6 hours 55 min. 25.0*
seconds east of Greenwich.

This book contains no description of its scenery, but Mr
Cameron's book has much on the subject which is charmingly expressed,
He says that he had seen both Ceylon and Java and admired their manj
charms in no grudging measure, but for calm placid loveliness he placed
Singapore high above them both. The view from the top of Bukit Timah
of the panorama of the magnificent tropical forest and jungle, with the
numerous little green islands scattered like gems over the sea surrounding
Singapore, and the large hills of Johore to the North is ample confirmation
of Mr. John Cameron's opinion.

In a letter of 31st January, Sir Stamford mentioned the excellent
harbour, and said that he had six draftsmen employed from eight o'clock to
four, and that he expected to be able to leave, in the course of a few days,
to return to Penang, where he was very anxious to rejoin Lady Raffles. He
said that if he could keep Singapore, he would be quite satisfied, and in a
few years British influence over the Archipelago, as far as regards com-
merce, would be fully established.

Major Farquhar, as has been said, wrote that Sir Stamford Raffles left
Singapore on the day after the flag was formally hoisted and this is now
confirmed by the old Penang Directory. In the list of shipping before
referred to, are the arrivals at Penang on 14th February of H.C.C. Minto
and the Indiana which left Singapore on February 7th. The same torn
paj^es show that the two vessels left again for sea on March 8th, which is
the day other accounts say that Raffles left for Acheen.

At this time the Indian Government and its Presidencies are set out in
the same Directory, as follows: —

Supreme Government of Fort William at Calcutta.

Government of Fort St George at Madras.

Government of Bombay.

Government of St Helena.

Government of Ceylon.

Government of Mauritius.

Government of the Cape of Good Hope.

Island of Sumatra. The Hon. T. S. Raffles, Lieutenant Qt)ver-
nor at Beneoolen.

Government of Fort Cornwallis, Prince of Wales' Island.

1819 4d

Singapore was under Bmicoolen ; aud the only mention of it is under
the heading of " Fort Marlbro^ Bencoolen ^' as " Siny^apore, Major W. Far-
quhar, Resident and Commandant.''

Major Farquhar, being installed as the hrst Resident and left in
charge of Singapore, must have been very much occupied in a manner
that has seldom, if ever, fallen to the lot of another. The fishing village
grew into a town in the most unexampled manner. He sent the news of
the Settlement to Malacca by a sampan, asking the Malays to come, and
urging them to bring fowls, ducks, fruits, and provisions of all kinds, for
which they would obtain a large profit. And others who had gone to
Singapore with the expedition sent letters to the same effect.

Abdulla tells us that the news soon spread over the bazaar there, and
numbers of persons started from Malacca, but pirates cut many boats off
(forty Malacca Malays were all murdered in one boat) and althoufrh
many were stopped, he says, by the Dutch, who did all in their power in
Malacca, and by stationing a gunboat in the Straits, to prevent any person
reaching Singapore, yet many hundreds reached there safely ; and pro-
visions being very dear, a fowl being sold for two rupees and a duck for
a dollar, they made large profits. In the course of a year, the population
had risen from 150 to 5,000, and a large trade was springing up, and that
of Malacca and Rhio sinking fast.

This is Mr. BraddelFs translation of a capital descriptive passage from
the Hakayit Abdulla ; it reads like a passage from the Arabian Nights.
*' At this time no mortal dared to pass throuofh the Straits of Singapore.
Jins and Satans even were afraid, for that was the place the pirates made
use of, to sleep at and divide their booty, after a successful attack on any
ship's boats or prahus. There also they put to death their captives, and
themselves fought and killed each other in their quarrels on the division
of the spoil."

Abdulla tells us of a remarkable conversation about this time between
Sir Stamford and the native chiefs. Raffles had proposed that Mr. Palmer
of Calcutta should send down goods for the Sultan and Tumongong to sell on
commission for him, and that premises should be erected to store the goods
and carry on the business and they might rise to riches. " They laughed
and said that such was not their custom, for the Malay princes to trade
would be a disgrace to thorn. Mr Raffles' countenance altered and became
quite red, but he replied smilingly * I am astonished to hear of such a
foolish and improper custom : so that to trade is a disgrace but to pirate is
not a disgrace.' The Sultan replied that pirating had descended from their
forefathers, and therefore it was not a disgrace; and furthermore
pirating had not its origin with the Malays."

It has been remarked that while Sir Stamford was founding a station
to be second to none in Asia, and while he seemed fully to anticipate the
extraordinary success that afterwards attended it, the first Resident,
Major Farqnhar, seems, from the records of his rule, to have scarcely seen
beyond the prospect of a mere village fitted for the accommodation of a
liinited supply of goods and the temporary residence of traders. There is
no doubt that the presence of Mr. Farquhar, and his influence after having
been fifteen years among the Malacca Malays, induced many of them to
come to Singapore and settle there to supply provisions, but it is added
tkat it may well be doubted whether the irregularities that were admitted

^v» Anecdotal History of Singapore

m \\x . .uliuiiiihtrutioiu which was not a strong one, peculiarly subject to
M.»h\o mlliu'iuv, and largely controlled by native ideas, did not counter-
(iJiUM i> >Ui'h bcnotits.

rhn lt»lh»vving interesting account of Major Farquhar's services is
1 1 mud III ii iiotu made by Mr. Braddell. Farqnhar^ appointed cadet in
|/i»l , uiriviul Madras 19th June, 1791; ensign, 22nd June ; joined Lord
iSiiiiwiilli>»' (h'and Mysore Army, Aujfust, present at storming of Nundy
IhoM^, Savorn Droog, seige of Seringapatam 1792; taking of Pondi-
I hrny IViKJ; l^ioutonant, 16tli August 1793; appointed Chief Engineer,
luly ilS^^i to expedition to proceed to Malacca; surrender of Malacca
liMi Amk**'*^ 1795; appointed to Manila expedition, but that given up
Mir.iilled t(» Madras, 25th April, 1798. Returned to Malacca 29th May,
I Vflh i full ('aptain 1st January, 1803; succeeded Colonel Taylor 12th
July ill Civil and Military authority at Malacca, Brevet Major 25th
June, I^IO; Major in Corps 26th September, 1811. Appointed to join
|Ih{ lupedition to Java under Sir S. Auchmuty. Appointed by him in
rliiMX<5 of intelligence and guides. Landed at Chillinching near Batavia,
#r«m<tMt at Weltevreden ; Cornelis carried by storm 26th August, 1811.
mn'iitUtv of Soerabaya 22nd September. Appointed by Admiral
hh'|itord to chief civil authority at Soerabaya, but did not assume
rlffir|/e. Returned to Batavia, offered British Residency at Joejocarta,
l/iit rel'iiried and returned to Malacca 31st October, 1811.

Alidulla described him as "A man of good parts, slow at fanlt
(inding, treating rich and poor alike, and very patient in listening to
lim roinjilaints of any person who went to him, so that all returned

Alter Raffles had left. Sultan Hoossein and the Tumongong began
lo \n*. a little nervous about their proceedings in allowing him to open
iJiif stjiLJement, and the three following letters were written to
Uhii», trying to throw the responsibility off their own shoulders and
ftUaui'iupr compulsion. Mr. Boulger says there was nothing strange in
ihif., considering the influence and reputation of the Dutch. These
It'.iiiii'H are to be found in Malay with an English translation at page
1 01 of the Notes and Queries of the Straits Asiatic Society's Volume
i'/f iHHl, being considered apparently as something that had not been
piiblihlied before. They were in the original of these papers on 11th
Of^loliiM', 1884, and were then taken from a translation by Mr. Braddell,
which was published in 1855 in the 9th Volume of Logan's Journal at
jmprM 441. The only date is in the second letter as the 20th day of
Uuiiil Akir, which we now know was the 15th February, eight days
uiU'V Raffles had left for Penang and Acheen : —

From the Tumongong Abdulrahman, residing at Singapore- To the lang De
Vt'f Tiiiin Mu(Lih of Rhio. (Tuanku Jaffar, the Ilajah Mudah.)

\fl*:r <jonipliineut8.

" Voiir Hon informs his father that a party of English, having at their head
Mr. lltiflii'M and the Resident of Mahicca, an-ived at Singapore; the latter went on
In HIiIm, tlu» former remaining. Their coming was quite without your son's
kiiow|i*(|g<% and it is by compulsion only that he has been uccessitiited to admit
lUt'in Up n'Midi' at Singapore, for h*^ could not j)revent their landing their men and
ni'ti't'M and prooifMling to ostablish themselves, by constructing (juartor.^, as they
tjftihMlU'ti thfir own inclinations only. At this time your son Tuanku Long
oth<*r»viMo railed Hoossein) arrived from Rhio, havini; been surprised by the
roport^i of the arrival of so many .vessels* and ships at Singapore. As soon as Jie

1819 51

landed he met Mr. Raffles, the latter forcibly laid hold of him, and declai-ed him
Rajah, ^i^iig him the title of Sultan Husnain, and confirming the same by a
written instrument (chop). Your son was thus compelled to a compliance with all
their wishes."

From the lang De Per Tuan of Singapore (Hussain). To the lang De Per
Tuan Besar, Sultan of Lingin (Abdulrahman).

" Your elder brother informs his younger brother that, by the dispensatii>n of
Almighty God towards his slave, things have turned out entirely beyond his
previous conception. Abang Johor, being deputed by the Tumongonij;, came in
the middle of the night, and acquainted him that a great number of vessels liad
lately arrived at Sinjjapore, and, without the Tumongong's consent, had landed a
large party of soldiers. Your brother was thrown into gi'eat agitation and per-
plexity of mind by the suddenness and unexpected nature of the intelligence, and
apprehensive only for the safety of his son (who was at Singapore) without
reflecting, he forthwith quitted Rhio without giving notice to his father and
mother. As soon as your orotlier arrivei at Singapore he was met by Mr. Raffles,
who immediately laid hold of him and declared him Rajah. Your brother h»d no
choice left; indeed, being in the power of Mr. Raffles, what could he doH He was
therefore necessitated to fall in with the views of this gentleman ; had he not com-
plied his ruin must have followed, as my brother will know. Although my brother
may (seem) to comply with their views, never fear, nor entei-tain the least sus-
picion that he inttrnds to do anything that will cause f utui-e ill or animosity. God
avert this! Such is your brother's situation, for being in the hands of the English,
they would not let hiiu go : they even i-efused his request to return for a short
time to fetch his wife and children, desiring him to send for them.''

Written at Singapore, 20th day of the month Rabil Akir, in the year of
Mahomed 1234.

From the Jang De Per Tuan of Singapore (Hussain). To the lang De Per
Tuan Miidah of Rhio (Tuanku Jaffar).

After compliments and formalities.

"Your son informs his father that Abang Johor arrived in the middle of the
night, and acquainted him that several ships had lately arrived at Singapore, and
disembarked soldiers and stores. Being greatly surprised, perplexed, and agitated
by the suddenness of the news, your son quitted Rhio that very night, scarcely
possessing the use of his senses, without giving his father and mother notice of
his departure. On his arrival at Singapore he luet Mr. Raffles, who forcibly de-
tained him and made him Rajah, by the title of Sultun Hussain Mahomed Shah,
giving him a patent or chop to that effect. Your son now begs pardon, assured
that it will be granted, botli as it respects this and the world to come. Your son
will never lay aside his i*espect for his father. With regard to your son's family,
Mr. Raffles requests they may be sent to Singapore, and Rajah Tuah and Inohe
Saban are sent for the purpose of escorting them hither, and further, Inche Saban
will receive charge of all the property inherited from his late father, whether it
consists in duties received from China vessels, or from the China baxaar, or fix)m
the Custom House. These are required to pay your son's debts and defray the
expenses of removing his family. Your son puts his trust in Almighty God and
his Prophet, and then in his father, under all circumstances (meaning the Rajah
Mudah)."

The Dutch had by this time seen the advantage that Sir Stamford
had gained over them, and began to make a stir. On the 1st March
Major Farquhar wrote as follows to Colonel Bannerman, Governor at
Penang, as Raffies had left Singapore in order to proceed to Acheen :
"Having obtained what I conceive to be authentic information that
the Governor of Malacca has addressed a letter to you intimating that
the British Establishment recently formed at Singapore has been effected

52 Anecdotal H'ustory of Svigapore

in a forcible iiiamier without the previous eouseut of the Local
Authorities of the couutry, and having at the same time ascertained
that this information has been grounded on a letter from hence
by his Highness the Tumongong to Mr. Adrian Koek [then senior
Member of the Dutch Council at Malacca] of Malacca^ I beg leave
herewith to transmit an explanatory document, siofiied by
Tankoo Long, Sultan of Johore, and the Tumongong of Singapore,
which will no doubt remove every doubt which may have arisen in
your mind relative to the proceedings which have taken place. I
most also take the liberty to request that in the event of the erroneous
statement the Hon'ble Mr. Timmerman Thysseu [the Dutch Governor
of Malacca] is said to have transmitted having been received and
sabsequently forwarded on to the Supreme Government, you will have
the goodness to transmit a copy of the present despatch for the
information of the Most Noble the Governor-General by the first
opportunity.*'

Enclosure,

*' This is to make known to all whom it may concern, that our
friend Major William Farquhar, British Resident of the Settlement of
Singapore, has called upon me to declare whether or not any letter
or letters have been written by me to the Governor of Malacca, or to
any person under his authority, or to the Rajah Mudah of Rhio, inti-
mating that the factory which the English have recently established
here wa^ forcibly formed entirely a^rainst my will ; I hereby freely acknow-
ledge that I did write a letter to Mr. Adrian Koek of Malacca, and
one to the Rajah Mudali of Rliio, to the above effect, but my motive
for so writing arose solely from the apprehension of briuiring on me
the vengeance of the Dutch at some future period. But I here call
God and His Prophet to witness that the English established them-
selves at Singapore with my free will and consent : and that from the
arrival of the Honorable Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles no troops or
efiFects were landed, or anything executed but with the free accord of
myself and of the Sultan of Johore. In token of the truth whereof
we have hereunto affixed our respective Seals."

At Singapore this first day of March, 1819. A true ti*anslation,
W. Farquhar, Resident, &r."

The Dutch Government at Malacca had written protesting against
the action of Raffles, and Colonel Bannerman sent the letter on to
Calcutta, with a minute of his own, supporting the Dutch complaint, and
afterwards hearing that the Dutch were fitting out an expedition to
attack Singapore, he wrote to the Dutch Government at Malacca asking
him, from moiires of hutnanity, to wait until an answer could be received
to a letter he had sent to the Governor General at Calcutta. Major
Farquhar had written to Penang on the ()th March to ask reinforce-
ments to meet anv hostile attack. Colonel Bannerman, as has been said in
the first chapter, refused to send any help and advised Farquhar to
-end back all the party From Singapore in the Nearchti^ and the Ganges.
All this will be found told with telling effect in Mr. Boulger's book at
pa^r^iS 314 to 318.

1819 53

Sir Stamford^ as soon as he arrived in Penang in February, sent
down tools for building, and provisions to the value of about $5,500.
A plague of rata set in at this time, and they are described as
very large ones, which used to attack cats and get the better of them.
Major Farquhar, as they became qn\te unbearable in his tent, offered
a reward of one anna for each dead rat, and every morning the people
came, some with 50 or 60, and some with 6 or 7. It soon, therefore,
became an expensive matter, and the reward was much reduced; but
they were still brought in, until they ceased to be troublesome; and
so, AbduUa says, *^the rat disturbance or war ceased." After this,
great numbers of centipedes appeared, nnd stung people, so Major
Farquhar paid for them also, and they gradually diminished, until
Abdulla says "the lipan (centipede) disturbance and war also ended,
and people ceased to mourn from the pain of their stings." The rat
nuisance (bandicoots) appeared again in the merchants' houses on
Kampong Glam Beach in 1845.

Shortly afterwards. Major Farquhar wanted to ascend Bnkit Laran-

gan. The tombs of the old Rajahs were there, and it was considered

sacred, as it is to the present day. Malays were frequently seen until

late years crowding up tlie hill and decorating old graves there. This

is the hill now called Fort Canning. As the Tumongong's people

would not go up on account of their fear of ghosts, Mr. Farquhar went

up with his Malacca Malays, and drew up a gun, but not a single

Singapore man went up. There was not much jungle, nor many large

trees on the hill. When the gun was got up, a salute of twelve guns

was fired, and a post set up to hoist the flag. After this, orders were

given to clear the hill and a road was made up it. Government House

was afterwards built on the hill, as will be mentioned further on.

Major Farquhar's temporary house was near the place where the cricket

pavilion is now, near the Town Hall. A house was made for the

Master Attendant, Captain Flint, Sir Stamford's brother-in-law, at the

end of the point near the present Master Attendant's Office. The

houses were built with attap roofs and kajang (mat) walls. The large,

old angsana trees at the river end of the Esplanade, were brought at this

time from Tanjong Kling at Malacca in the boat of one Rajah Hadjee.

The road from Malacca to Tanjong Kling, seven miles from the town,

used to be lined with these beautiful trees, but they all died together

about the same time, some twenty-five years ago. The handsome trees

at the comer of the Esplanade in Singapore were fast decaying in 1882

when the first one was cut away altogether, and those still remaining

will Hoon become things of the past. When they were all in full bloom,

and covering the road with the golden leaves of their flowers they were

very handsome. When the Esplanade was widened about 1890, some

persons were much opposed to trees being planted along the side of the

Esplanade facing the sea, as it was thought they would shut out the

view of the sea. The trees are now well grown up, and the lower branches

are well up from the ground and the view of the sea is open beneath

them. When the trees grow to their full size it will be as handsome a

sight as the famous avenue was in Malacca thirty-five years ago.

On the 5th April the Mary Ann, Webster, master, left Singapore
for Penang and arrived there on the 14th. This was the first vessel,

«:

54 Anecdotal History of Singapore

other than those in the Expedition, to leave Singapore for Penang.
Besides the six vessels of the Expedition, some of which, as has been
said, went to and fro, only six other vessels sailed between Penang and
Singapore during the year. The only other East India Company^s
man-of-war that came to Singapore during the year, had left England
on 23rd April, reached Penang on 30th September, (five months) and
left Penang on 29th October for Singapore. It was H.C.S. Bridge-
water, C. S. Timins, Esq., commander. On 18th November there sailed
from Singapore the Singapore, which reached Penang on 17th December.
Her commander was Inchee Alley, and she must have been the first
ship with that name.

Mr, Francis James Bernard, the son-in-law of Major Farquhar,
was made Assistant to the Resident and put in charge of the Police,
as a Magistrate. He became the first Master Attendant until Captain
Flint arrived. Mr. Bernard had been the master of the Ganges,
but had appeared in the Penang shipping list as F. J. Barnard. The
vessel sailed in August from Singapore to Penang and the commander
was then changed. Several of the first members of the mercantile
community and officials had been sailors, as was most likely to be
the case, as it was the cause of their being so far away from
England.

AbduUa tells us that one of Major Farquhar's dogs was taken
by an alligator one morning when he was at the Rochore river. The
alligator was surrounded and killed. It was eighteen feet long and the
body was hung on the banyan tree at Bras Basah. This referred to
a large and semi-sacred tree at Institution Bridge, which was accidentally
burnt and was taken away about twenty years ago.

On the 29th May, 1819, the Rev. Dr. Milne, of the Anglo-Chinese
College at Malacca applied for ground to build a school. He had
established a Christian Mission at Malacca in the year 1815, when
there were no schools there for the gratuitous instruction of child-
ren. He returned to Malacca in 1823, as Abdulla tells us, with his
wife and children. Abdulla says " I observed the bearing and der
portment of Mr. Milne to be those of a gentleman; his conversation
was polite and refined,^^ and tells a great deal about him. Dr.
Morrison the famous Chinese scholar came to stay with Dr. Milne at
Malacca. Abdulla says that if Dr. Morrison had worn a Chinese dress
no one would have taken him for a European; as he spoke Chinese so
well, and his manner, voice and the pen he wrote with were all like
the Chinese. Dr. Morrison, of the University of Glasgow, was sent out
to Macao in 1807, by a Society of Members of various British Churches
for the purpose of acquiring the Chinese language ; as is stated
in the Deed drawn up at Canton on 21st March, 1820, regarding the
Anglo-Chinese College at Malacca, to which he gave £1,000 which he
had saved. It says that he entrusted the building of the College, the
foundation stone of which was laid in Malacca on 11th November,
1818, to Dr. William Milne, his first associate, he says, in the Chinese
Mission. Dr. Morrison was the first Vice-President of the Raffles
Institution in 1823, and drew up a long paper of suggestions for Sir.
Stamford Raffles respecting it, which is found among some old papers
printed at the Malacca Mission Press in 1823 from which the above

1819 55

particulars about these two prominent Missionaries, the pioneers in the
Straits and China, have been found. Another old Malacca book printed
at the Anglo-Chinese Press in 1819, called the Indo-Chinese Gleaner,
contains a long memoir of Mrs. Milne, who died in Malacca. on 20th
March, 1819, 36 years of age.

The Reverend Robert Morrison, d.d., wrote at Macao his gram-
mar of the Chinese language and his Dictionary, the expense of printing,
£12,000, being paid by the East India Company. It was on his
suggestion that Sir Stamford Raffles called the meeting on 1st April,
1823, to found the Singapore Institution. He was the first European
who prepared documents in Chinese which they would consent to
receive, and the first paper he wrote was supposed to have been the
production of a learned Chinese, so means were taken to try to discover
its author, as it was an act then regarded in China as treason.
Dr. Morrison died at Macao on 1st August, 1834, and a long memoir
appeared in the London Asiatic Journal for March, 1835.

When Raffles was Governor of Java, in a letter written at Bui ton-
zorg in February, 1815, he >vroto to his cousin Thomas: "The Rev.
Mr. Milne is attached to the Mission in China. He is a liberal well-
informed, excellent man. He is now in China, having touched at
Malacca on the way. Such men do good wherever they go, and are
an honour to their country and to the cause they espouse. As you are
a Director of the Missionary Society you may possibly be able to
promote his views, and I am anxious you should do so. Modest,
unassuming, strictly kind and conciliating in everything he does, con-
viction is carried before the head enquires why." And in January
1823, Raffles wrote at Singapore: '^The death of my friend, Dr. Milne
of Malacca, has for a time thrown a damp upon missionary exertions
in this quarter, but I expect Dr. Morrison here from China in March
and I hope to make some satisfactory arrangement with him for future
labours. The two missionaries who are here are not idle; Messrs.
Mijton and Thomson, the former in Chinese and Siamese, the latter in
Malay and English printing." The Rev. J. Milton, who was the first
missionary sent out by the London Missionary Society, established a
school for Chinese and Malay children in this year. He was four
years afterwards one of the Trustees of the Singapore Institution. Sir
Stamford gave him $150 on condition that he would perform the usual
Church Services.

Raffles was back again in Singapore in June as we find from his
letters in the Memoirs. There is a letter to the Duchess of Somerset
written in Penang on the 22nd February, and the next is dated Singa-
pore, June 10th. From the shipping list, which has turned out so
useful, it is seen that the Minto left Penang on 22nd May and as Lady
Raffles says (on page 379) that her husband "was most agreeably
occupied for some time in marking out the future town and giving
instructions for the arrangement and management of the new colony,"
it may be that he remained until the 23rd September, when the Minto
sailed to Penang, but he wrote the letter quoted presently on 25th
June, speaking of his intending to leave. It is uncertain how long he.
remained. When he left he took back with him to Bencoolen a print-
ing press and native type.

5tJ Anecdotal Hutory of Siyiyaporf-

On the 11th June Raffles wrote to the Duchess of Somerset '*My
new colony thrives most rapidly. We have not been established four
months »nd it has received an accession of population exceeding five
thousand^ principally Chinese, and their number is daily increasing. It
is not necessary for me to say how much interested I am in the suc-
cess of the place: it is a child of my own^ and I have made it what
it is."

In laying out the town, six building lots were reserved by
Raffles : — One for Carnegy & Co., one for F, Ferrao, one for T. Macquoid,
one for Captain Flint, and two to be disposed of by Raffles himself. Twelve
lots along the North Beach were only to be sold to Europeans. Six
were disposed of as above, and the other six were to be sold on
application. It is almost certain no leases were ever drawn up, and
no records exist now of any counterparts before 1826.

On the 4th June, the Rajah of Tapamana wrote to the Sultan of
Johore, that the Rajah Mudah of Rhio has gone over to the Dutch,
and was against his countrymen. The Rajah asked the Sultan to join
forces and drive the Rajah Mudah and the Dutch out of the place
and to instal a new Rajah Mudah, and to be careful above all things
not to let him levy heavy duties. On 16th June, the Resident
(Farquhar) wrote to Calcutta to request that some arrangements might
be made at Singapore as otherwise in the event of anything occurring
to him, the settlement would be left in charge of Mr. Montgomerie, a
very young Assistant Surgeon.

Mr. Garling, of the Bencoolen Establishment, had been sent on a
mission to Pahang. He was directed to return, and Mr. D. Napier, who
was then expecting an appointment as writer in the Bencoolen service,
was directed to be sent to Pahang as Resident. On the 6th of July,
Captain Maxfield of the Nearchu^, in a letter to the Resident, pointed
out the existence of a good harbour between Point Romania and the
Island.

On the 25th June, Raffles wrote to Major Farquhar as follows : —

1. Previous to my departure, I think it necessary to call your partioolai*
attention to the 11th para, of my letter of the 6th February, and to the importance
of immediately improving the conveniences of the port for shipping, an object to
which in the present advanced state of the Settlement all others onght to give way.

2. Points of pnmary importanc*? to be attended to, should be the construction
of convenient watering places, and affording to ships the means for watering, bal-
lasting, as well ns loading, with the least possible delay. The want of these con-
veniences has already been felt in several instances which have occurred during my
stay here, and I feel satisfied that yon will concur in the necessity of giving your
early attention to this subject, as well as to the removal of the present temporary
buildings between the stores and the river, and the erection of a convenient shed
or banksliall at which merchants may load their goods. The removal of the bazaar
from its present site is indispensible.

3. With regard to Police and the Administi'ation of Justice, it does not ap-
pear to me necessary in the present state of the Settlement that any precise re-
gulations should yet be laid down. As Resident, you are necessarily vest-ed with
the authority of chi»'f ma^^istrate and will of course exercise that authority, as is
usual in j^laces subject to British control, but where British laws may not have
yet been introduced. As also the larger portion of the population may in a cer-
tain degree be considered as camp followers and consequently subject to your
military authority as commandant, it will be loft to your discretion to act in
either of these capacities according to circumstances, by which, with the

]S\y 57

issistance of the native autborities, you will be fullj competent to provide for an
ffficient police and the settlement of such matters as do not require a more
■egnlar judicial proceedings:. The Chinese, Bugguese and other foreign settlers
ire to be placed under the immediate superintendence of chiefs of their own
jibes to be appointed by you, and those chiefs will ho responsible to you for
he police within their respective jurisdictions.

4. In higher cases of a criminal nature for which the military regulations
)r usage may not provide, the law of the country as it exists must necessarily
« considered in force. The mode in which this law is to be carried into effect,
vill hereafter be defined as experience may dii*ect, and in the meantime the present
node may be observed as far as in your judgment may appear advisable for the
kttainment of substantial justice. In the conduct of these proceedings vou will
»f coui'se exercise a personal superintendence and your sanction and confirmation
s to be considered necessary to all decisions. It is to be hoped that cases of
his nature will be of rare occuiTence, and it is considered of importance that
lisputes between natives should as far as possible be left to be settled among
ihemselves, according to their respective usages and customs.

5. These duties as above directed must in all cases be exercised by yourself
»r yonr assistant, as your reprt^sfiitative, and cannot be delegated to any sf»parate
luthority.

6. The whole space included within the Old Linos and the Singapore river
that was about betwoen where the Cathedral compound and Elgin Bndge are
low] is to bt» considered ai» Cantonments and of course no ground within this space
tan be peniianenUy appropriated to individuals. Whenever you may have plan-
led the lines, parades, ic, for tlu» troops and set apart sufficient accommodation
'or magazine, &c., it will l>e necessary to allot sufficient space in a convenient
md proper situation for officers' bnn<?alow8. The extent of each to be regulated
>y you according to circumstances, and the gi'ound to be occupied by the officers
IS is usual in other Cantonments. The residency of the Tumonggong [this was
»n the river bank somewhere between where the Court House and Hill Street
ure now] is of course t<^) be considered the only exception. The whole of the
lill extending to the fort within th*^ two rivers and the fresh water cut
8 to be reserved for the exclusive accommodation of the Chief Authority and
8 not to be otherwise appropriated except for defences.

7. Beyond these limits, the opposite point of the river, including the whole
>f the lately cleared high ground, and a space of 200 yards from the old lines,
ihonld also be reserved entirely for public purposes Hiid no private building what-
ever for the pi'esent allowed within the same. In the native towns, as they have
jeen and will be marked out, proper measures should be taken for securing to
>ach individual the indisputive possession of the spot he may be permitted to
H5cupy, which should ho regularly registered in your office, certificates of which
may be granted.

8. The European town should be marked without loss of time; this should
?xtend along the beach from the distance of 200 yards from the lines as far east-
ward as practicable, including as much of the ground already cleared by the
Bnggnese as r4in possibly be required in that direction, re-imbursing the parties
he expense they have been at in clearing and appropriating to them other ground
n lieu. For tlie pr<;s<*nt the space lying between the new road and the beach is
(O be reserved by goveriuuent, but on the opposite side of the road, the ground
nay be immediately marktMJ out into twelve separate allotmonts of equal front, to
)e appropriated to the first respectable Eui'opean applicants. To these persons a
jertificate of registry and permission to clear and occupy may be granted, accord-
ng to the following form; — "No. — This is to certify that A. B. has permission to
jlear a spot of gi'ound situated and of the following dimensions

md to occupy the same according to such general regulations as ai-e now or
nay hereafter be established for tho B'actory of Singapore.''

9. Whenever these allotments may be appropriated, others of convenient
limensions may in like manner be marked out in line and streets or roads formed
iccording to regular plan.

10. It would be advisable that a circular carriage road should be cut in each
iiiection from the cantonments during the present dry st^ason.

58 Anocdofal History of Strignporp

11. A bridge across the river so as to connect the cantonments with the
intended Chinese and Malay towns on the opposite side of the river, should be
constructed without delay and as soon as other more immediate works are com-
plete a good bungalow for the residence of the chief authority may be construct-
ed on the hill,

T. S. RAFFLES.
Singapore, 25</t June, 1819.

On the 26th June the following Arrangement was made with the
Sultan and Tumongong. It is in Malay only, the following is a
translation : —

JOflORE 1819.

ARRA.NaEMBNT8 MADE FOR THE GOYBBNMISNT OF SINGAPORE, IN JUNB 1819.

No. 1.

Be it known to all men, that we, the Sultan Hussain Mahomed Shah, Ungko
Tumungong Abdool Rahman, Governor Raffles, and Major William Farquhar,
have hereby entei'ed into the following arrangements and regulations for the
better guidance of the people of this Settlement, pointing out where all the
different castes are severally to reside, with their families, and captains, or heads
of their eampongs.

Article 1.

The boundaries of the lands under the control of the English are as follows:
from Tanjong Malang on the west, to Tanjong Katang on the east, and on the
land side, as far a8 the range of cannon shot, all round from the factory. As
mauy persons as reside within the aforesaid boundary, and not within the
campongs of the Sultan and Tumuugong, are all to be under the control of the
Resident, and with respect to the gardens and plantations that now are. or may
hereafter be made, they are to be at the disposal of the Tumungong, as here-
tofore ; but it is underatood, that he will always acquaint the Resident of the same.

Article 2.

It is directed that all the Chinese move over to the other side of the river,
forming a c«impong from the site of the large bridge down the river, towards the
mouth, and all Mjuays, people belonging to the Tumungong and othera, are also
to remove to the other side of the river, forming their campong from the site of
the large bridge up to the river towards the source.

Article 3.

All cases which may occur, requiring Council in this Settlement, they shall,
in the first instance, be conferred and deliberated upon by the three aforesaid,
and when they shall have been decided upon, they shall oe made known to the
inhabitants, either by beat of gong or by proclamation.

Article 4.

Every Monday morning, at 10 o'clock, the Sultan, the Tumungong, and the
Resident shall meet at the Rooma Bechara; but should either of the two former
be incapable of attending, they may send a Deputy there.

Article 5.

Every Captain, or head of a caste, and all Panghulus of campongs and
villages, shall attend at the Rooma Bechara, and make a report or statement of
such occurrences as niay have taken place in the Settlement ; and i*epresont any-
grievance or complaint that they may have to bring before the Council for its
consideration on each Monday.

1819 59

Article 6.

If the Captains, or headR of castes, or the Panghuliis of campongs, do not
act jasMj towards their constituents, they are permitted to come and state their
grievances themselves to the Resident at the Rooma Bechara, who is hereby
aathorized to examine and decide thereon.

Article 7.

No Duties or Customs can be exacted, or farms established in this Settlement
without the consent of the Sultan, the Tumungong, and Major William Farquhar,
and without the consent of these three nothing can be arranged.

In confirmation of the aforesaid Articles, we, the undersigned, have put our
seals and signatures, at Singapore, the '2nd day of the month of Ram/.an 1234,
answering to 26th June, 1819.

«eal of the Sultan. [L. S.] (Signed) T. S. Raffles.

Seal of the Tumunoono. [L. S.J (Signed) W. Farquhar.

The Arrangement speaks of a lar^e bridge, which must mean the
place where Elgin Bridge is now, and the Chinese campong evidently
became the present Boat Quay as it occupies the position pointed out.
These plans could only be carried out in course of time, as tlie site of
Boat Quay was a swamp which had to be filled up with the earth
taken from the hill where the Square is now.

In August an invoice of civil stores, amounting to §42,968, was
sent from Bencoolen. Many of the articles were stated to stand in the
books at rates far beyond their value, and the Resident was instructed
if possible to sell them for prime cost and charges, if not they were to
be reduced to the level of prices at Penang and Batavia.

Mr. Dunn, a gardener, arrived with letters of recommendation from
Raffles, and with a supply of spice plants, which were planted out on
the Government Hill; near where the S. P. G. Mission House now
stands, a few remained till late years. In this year' 125 trees were
planted. In 1848 the number of nutmeg trees planted in the island
was over 7,000, and about that time nutmeg plantations became a sort
of mania in Singapore, even private gardens close to European dwelling
houses being given up to make room for more trees. The cause of
the death of the trees was never accurately known, but the bad result
and the heavy pecuniary loss is well described in Mr. Cameron's book
at page 168.

A letter from the Supreme Government, dated 15th October, con-
tains the following directions regarding the Government Establish-
ments : — 'i^he Resident's salary to remain as fixed, but his successor to
be Commandant, with Stfiff pay for civil duties. The Assistant to the
Resident to be discontinued. Store-keeper and Master Attendant to
be united on $150 salary. The Resident to take charge of Pa}' Office..
Mr. Read, of the Bencoolen Service, may stay till required at Bencoolen.
Resident's Establishments pay to be $130; Master Attendant's $110.

A subsequent letter, dated 11th January, 1820, directed the Resident
to take the Police and Magistrate's duties; and remarked that Singa.- .
pore was to be considered rather as a military post than as a fixed
settlement, that artificial encouragement was not to be given to the
immigration of natives, that if many people settled a magistracy might

60 Aupcdotal HiMory nf Singaporf^

be formed if necessary, and moderate import dues fixed, taking care to
prevent shackles to trade. Commerce, which formed the chief object of
eastern settlements, not to be lost sight of in local revenue ; but if a
revenue could be had then it ought to be levied. The Resident pro-
posed on 2nd November to appoint an Officer to act as Registrar of
the Court of Justice; and also proposed to put restrictions on the sale
of opium and spirits and on the practice of gaming, to sell the exclu-
sive rights and to apply the proceeds one-third to the Sultan, one-
third to the Tumongong, one-third to Government, the latter one-third
to pay Police, allowances to the Captains of Tribes, &c.

A Bugis prince was summarily put to death by the Dutch at Rhio
for alleged treason. His brother Balana rebelled and when finally
driven out of Rhio took refuge in Singapore with 500 of his followers.
The Malacca authorities demanded the person of the prince, but the
demand was rejected by the Resident, and his refusal was afterwards
approved by the Supreme Government.

The troops stationed in the Straits and Bencoolen in J 819 were
the 2nd Battalion of the 20th Regiment of Bengal Native Infantry.
Colonel T. Shuldham was Commandant at Penang, Major R. Hampton
at Bencoolen, and Captain J. Seppings commanding the detachment at
Singapore with Second Lieutenants W. Bonham and H. D. Coxe, and
Dr. Montgomerie, so well known in Singapore for many years after-
wards, as Assistant Surgeon.

The Governor-General of Java complained to the Governor-General
of India that the Tumongong, with the sanction of the Singapore
authorities, had sent a letter to the Sultan of Sambas exciting him
against the Dutch. The Resident (Colonel Farquhar) denied the
charge. The Governor-General in Calcutta wrote that he was anxious
to prevent any fresh misunderstanding, as commissioners were engaged
at home looking into the differences between the Dutch and English
in the Eastern Seas.

At the beginning of October, Raffles was writing letters at Ben-
coolen. He heard there of the death of Colonel Bannerman, the
Governor of Penang, on 8th August, and he went again to Calcutta to
urge his views about Singapore and the general administration of the
eastern islands. There was only one ship likely to touch at Bencoolen
for some months, which was the vessel that brought the news of
Colonel Bannerman's death, and as she had only one cabin, of which
he could only have part, he was obliged to leave Lady Raffles behind.
On the way, at sea, in the Bay of Bengal on the 9th November he
wrote: "You will be happy to hear that the occupation of Singapore
has been a death-blow to all the Dutch plans, and I trust that our
political and commercial interests will be adequately secured.^^ In
Calcutta in January, 1820, he wrote : " Singapore continues to rise
most rapidly in importance. It is already one of the first ports in
the East. I could write volumes in its favor, but it may suffice to say
that it has in every respect answered beyond my most sanguine
expectations."

The following paper was written in 1819 by the eminent Hydro-
grapher James Horsburgh, p.r.s., after whom the lighthouse on Pedra
Branca is named. It is worth preserving as the opinion, even at that early

1819 61

period, of the estimation in which Singapore was held in England by
those who were able to judge of its value from personal knowledge.
Horsbargh was at this time (as appears from the old Penan g Directory)
in England as Hydrographer to the Court of Directors: —

"' The settlement uf Singapore, lately established by Sir Stamford Raffles
being, in my opinion, of the utmost importance both in a political and com-
mercial point oi view to the British empire, particularly in the event of a
war with France, Holland, or America, the Dutch Government will no doubt
strongly remonstrate against that measure, and endeavour to make us relin-
quish it ; but I think every possible argument, founded on truth and experience.
should be brought forward in order to secui'e to us that valuable settlement.

" The Bugguese prows from Celebes and other parts of the Eastern Islands,
will resort to the settlement of Singapore with tlieir goods, and barter them
for our manufactures, in preference to going to Malacca or Batavia, and it
will soon become a depot for the Eastern tradei-s.

**Thc Straits of Suuda and Malacca are the two gates or 1 tanners leading
into the China Sea for all the c;ommercc of British India, Europe, and the
Eastern coasts of North and South America, which gates the Dutch fully com-
mand, if we do not retain the settlem«»nt of Singapore; for our settlement of
Prince of Wales' Island being situated fai* to the northward and on the coast
of an open sea, it affords no protection to our China trade, nor to ships pass-
ing through Malacca Straits, whereas the possession of Malacca and Ithio by
Uie Dutch, also of Java and Banca, gives taem the rf»mplete command of the
Straits of Sunda, Banca and Malacca.

"If we retain the settlement of Singapore, great security will be afforded
to otur China ti*ade in the event of war; for by possessing a naval station at
the entrance of the China Sea, no enemy's ciniisere will ever dare to wait off
Pulo Oar to intercept our ships from China, which Admiral Linois did with the
Marengo line-of-battle ship and two frigates, when he attacked the valuable
fleet under the command of Captain Dance: and it was fortunate for the Com-
pany and the commerce of British India, that Linois had not a Lirger force.

"I trust you will excuse the liberty I have taken in addressing you on
this subject ; but considering it of great importance, I thought it right £o do
so in case you deem it proper to communicate it to Mr. Canning, or any
others of those concerned. '

J. HORSBURGH.

CHAPTER VI.

1820—1821.
1820.

SIR STAMFORD was strongly opposed to Singapore being placed
under the orders of the Tenang Government, and the Government
at Calcutta in making arrangements at this time for the establishment
of Singapore as a Britisli settlement, and for the proceedings of the
Resident, determined that the administration of affairs should be dis-
tinct from that of Penang, on account of the great difference between
the previous governments and tlie commercial policy of the two islands.

Abdulla tells us : — " Every morning Mr. Farquhar was accustomed
to walk about to examine the country, but it was covered with large
jungle, except the centre of the plain where there were only kurmunt-
ing and sikadudu bushes, with some kalat trees, and the sea beach,
was covered with ambong and malpari and bulangan trees, and branches
of them were strewed about. On the other side of the river nothing
was seen but mangrove trees and jeraja. There was not a spot of
good land, except a place ten fathoms wide, the rest was a mud flat
except the hills. There was a large hill at the end of the mouth of
the Singapore river."

This year found people of all nations coming to Singapore,
Chinese, Arabs, and a few Europeans. Among the earliest of the
Arabs was Syed Omar Bin Ally Al Junied who came from Palembang;
he had been trading at Penang, and settled at Singapore with his
uncle as a partner, named Syed Mahomed Bin Haroun Al Junied.
Syed Omar was the innocent means of the attack upon Major Farquhar
by a man who ran amok in 1828, of which the story is told among
the events of that year. It was during 1820, or more probably in
1819, that Mr. Alexander Laurie Johnston came to Singapore. When
he left Singapore in 1841, lie said, in reply to an address that was
presented to him, that he had been longer in Singapore than any one
he left behind him, and that he had witnessed its rise from little
better than an uninhabited jungle. He was a native of Dumfrieshire in
Scotland, and belonged to a highly respectable family of that country.
He first went out to India in the Merchant Navv of the East India
Company, and when he had risen to the rank of Chief Mate, he left
the service and took the command of a vessel of which he was owner,
lie enjoyed the especial friendship, and was much in the confidence, of
Sir Stamford Raffles, who placed his name, as we shall see, at the head
of the first list of Magistrates who were appointed to administer the
laws ot: the infant Settlement. The letters and notes addressed by Sir
Stamford to Mr. Johnston bear ample testimcmy to the frequency and
benefit with which his advice and assistance were sought in all matters
affecting the interests of the Settlement. In almost every public trans-
action, Mr. Johnston was at the head. He was one of the first
Trustees of the Raffles Institution, he was the first Chairman of the

Alkxander Laurie Ji

1820 68

Chamber of Commerce, and the precedence which was always ac<;orded
to him on all public occasions showed the respect and esteem with
which he was regarded and the kindliness of his manners and disposi-
tion. The natives and Chinese readily sought his advice, and in cases
of dispate his decision was as much respected as a judgment of the
Court, so highly was he appreciated by them. It was said that no
Court was required in his day, as no one thought of going to law
while there was Mr. Johnston to determine the matter, and all disputes
of importance were laid before him as a matter of course. He was
liberal and hospitable in the extreme, and in the earliest cash book
that seems to have been opened when he commenced business here,
the first entry to his personal debit is as follows: — *'A. L. Johnston, —
Paid subscription for release of a female European slave, $10." He
established the house of A. L. Johnston & Co., the pioneer European
mercantile firm in the place. He died in Scotland in 1850, and was
spoken of by the Free Press at that time as one of the most sterling
of the " worthies " of Singapore. Johnston^s Pier was named after him.

One of the objections raised by the dissatisfied authorities in
Calcutta against the settlement at Singapore was that the harbour was
not defensible, and it is fortunate for the place that even up to the
present time, the dispute has never been, in any way, elucidated by
forcible example. Major Farquhar, now promoted to Lieutenant-
Colonel, answered by a denial of the assertion, and said that New
Harbour was capable of containing the largest ships, while smaller vessels
could take refuge in the Singapore river and behind Sandy Point,
which were all easily defensible. It is evident from this that the
Resident in no way contemplated the crowd of vessels which (until
the much later days of steamers at the wharves) filled the open
anchorage. The Penan g merchants objected to the position of Singapore,
and recommended the Carimons, and Colonel Farquhar was sent again
to visit them. Their argument was that, while Singapore only com-
manded one entrance to the Straits of Malacca, the Carimons commanded
four, namely, Sabon, Dryon, the Old Straits round by Johore, and the
New Straits round by St. John^s Island.

In March the Resident proposed establishing Opium and Spirit
farms, but Raffles wrote from Bencoolen to say that he considered it
highly objectionable (although there were such farms at Penang and
Malacca) and inapplicable to the principles on which the establishment
at Singapore was founded. The farms were however sold, and $395
was received monthly for four opium shops, $160 for arrack shops,
and $95 for gaming tables. The money was spent in paying the
Superintendent of Police and Assistant Resident $200 ; twelve constables,
a sergeant and a tailor $100; and $325 was paid to the Sultan and
Tumongong for assisting in Police duties. Colonel Farquhar sent in his
resignation during this year, and Captain Travers, who was Superin-
tendent of Convicts at Bencoolen, was appointed Resident in his place,
but Colonel Farquhar withdrew his resignation in time and continued
in charge.

Complaints had been made about undue restrictions on trade.
The Resident called a committee to enquire into it, and they reported
OB 13th April that there were no grounds for complaint, as the former

64 Anecdotal Uifftory of Sincfapure

practice of the Nakodahs of native vessels making presents to the
Sultan and Tumongong had been discontinued. But a proclamation
in November 1822 showed that the pi^actice was not altogether stopped.
This was the first of the contests by the mercantile community to
maintain entire free trade.

On the 24th April, Captain Flint, Sir Stamford^s brother-in-law,
arrived and took charge of the Master Attendant's Office. He had
married in Malacca in 1811, one of the three sisters of Sir Stamford.
She was the widow of Mr. i?homp8on, an official in Penang, whom she
had married there. His salary was §250, and $181 allowed for the
establishment. Port charges on vessels were collected from the Ist
May from $5 on brigs to §10 on vessels over 400 tons. The gaming
tables were placed under the special supervision of the " Captain
China" and a tax levied on them. The proceeds of the gaming tax
were to be applied to keeping the streets clean. Two of the opium
shops were in Kampong Glam where a sufficiently large native town
had already sprung up by the 1st of May to call for their intro-
duction. The farm revenues were kept as a separate fund and applied
to local purposes until May 1823, when they were ordered to be paid
into the Treasury.

The Bengal Government was always dissatisfied about the ex-
penditure, and on the 20th October the Secretary wrote quarrelling
about the expense of a shrofE and two coolies in the store depart-
ment, and in the next month wrote deprecating expenses on any
public works ** under the present circumstances of the Settlement.''
In September a petition from the Sultan, Tumongong and representa-
tives of all the tribes in Singapore was presented, stating that there
were reports that the place was to be ^iveu up, and earnestly begging
the Government not to abandon it to the Dutch "from whom God de-
fend us." They attributed much evil to the Rajah Muda of Rhio.
They asked Captain Holt M'Kenzie, the Secretary to Government at
Bencoolen, then on his way to Bengal, to take charge of their petition
and present it to the Governor-General.

On the 12th August in this year Raffles issued a proclamation at Fort
Marlborough, as Bencoolen was officially called, giving notice that the
custom duties there, with the exception of that on opium, were abolish-
ed from that date. And regulations about pilotage and boat-hire were
officially made; the latter on pepper was fixed at 16 cwt. to the ton, as
it remains here to this day. Demurrage wavS allowed at the rate of
double boat-hire if the boat was not discharged the first day. Mr.
Thomas Church, afterwards Resident Councillor of Singapore, was
Assistant Judge and Magistrate at this time in Bencoolen, whore there
was a large staff of officials, about thirty- six Europeans in all, includ-
ing a Chaplain, a School-master and a Printer, and three European
Residents in the interior. In the Memoirs will be found a long and
very interesting account of a remarkable expedition Mr. Church made
with Sir Stamford Raffles into the interior of Sumatra from Bencoolen.
Mr. Presgrave was an official in Bencoolen then and also went on
such expeditions.

While Singapore was a free port and attracting the trade of all
the surrounding places, a revised scale of duties on goods imported in

1820 65

Penan^ by private merchants was published there, calculated on the
price which they realised when sold at the Company^s sales, and on
the estimated value when sold by private bargain. The rates varied
on different goods, that on piece-goods being two per cent. The
business at the Penang Post Office nmst have been very small in those
days, as an alphabetical register was kept of all letters that passed
through the office, and a stamped receipt was given for each letter
posted. This practice was carried on in Singapore for many years.

In a private letter Colonel Farquhar wrote to Sir Stamford on 2l8t
March, he said: "Merchants of all descriptions are collecting here so
fast that nothing is heard in the shape of complaint but the want of
more ground to build upon. The swampy ground on the opposite side
of the river is now almost covered with Chinese houses, and the Bugis
village is becoming an extensive town."

The story of the mysterious disappearance of treasure from the
Bencoolen chest, told first in Mr. J. T. Thomson's book at page 152
and afterwards in Mr. Cameron's book at page 13, and the bad
character given to white ants in consequence, is so well known, that it
may be interesting to some persons to learn that in the London (rlohr
of October 22nd, 1828, also in 3 Carrington and Payne's Reports, page
358, is the report of a trial before Lord Tenterden, in the Court of
Kin^s Bench, (luildhall, between the East India Company and Mr.
E. J. Lewis, the Sub-Treasurer at Bencoolen from 1814 to 1818, to
recover the amount of a deficiency in the treasure under his charge.
Mr. Brougham and several very eminent lawyers were engaged in the
cjise. The plaintiffs were non-suited on the ground that the
defendant was a covenanted servant of the Company, which in the
form in which the action was brought, lost them their case, a result
which in these days would not prevail. This shows that the old
story of the Company having sent some files to be used against the
teeth of the white ants, and being satisfied with that explanation,
is not likely to be true. The discovery was made, when there should
have been about $150,000 in the chest, on a surprise survey being held
by Captain T. 0. Travers, the Superintendent of Convicts at Bencoolen,
soon after Raffles' arrival there in 1818. Mr. Lewis died in Paris
about 1874.

It was in the year 1820 that Mr. Alexander Guthrie came to
Singapore. He had been at the Cape of Good Hope. He started in
business in his own name, and on the 1st February, 1823, issued a
circular stating that he had joined Captain T. T. Harrington under the
name of Harrington & Guthrie. Captain Harrington used to sail to
neighbouring places, and from the old letter book of Mr. Guthrie, in
which the letters were copied in his own writing (as were the letters
of A. L. Johnston & Co., by Mr. C. R. Read) it appears that HariMug-
ton had some property in Malacca, and that his family were residing
there. Letters used to be sent in triplicate in those days, all copied
by hand; and an answer from. Europe received in eighteen months
was the usual course of business. Captain Harrington went to Malacca
in November, 1823, and on the 8th of that month Harrington &
Guthrie sent round a circular stating that the firm was dis.solved, and
that the business would be carried on by Mr. Guthrie in his own

66 Anecdotal History of Singapore

name. On the 7th March, 1824, Mr. Harrington who is said to have
always afforded plenty of amusement with his jokes and hearty laugh,
went on board the Fa^sel Kerrim at 9 p.m. after a farewell dinner at
Mr. Johnston's, and the vessel sailed in the morning. He was on his
way to England. In February, 1824, a fresh notice was issued that
Mr. Clark had joined Mr. Guthrie, and it became Guthrie & Clark.
It was Mr. Clark who built the present house at the Esplanade at the
corner next to High Street, now part of the Hotel de PEurope, where
he lived for some time. In January 1833, Mr. Clark left the firm, and
Mr. Guthrie alone continued business as Guthrie & Co., which it is to
this day. Mr. James Scott Clark continuing business in his own name
by himself.

Mr. Guthrie left Singapore on the 8th February, 1847, after having
resided here for twenty-seven years. He was spoken of by the Free
Press when he left, as one of the earliest of the European merchants
who settled in Singapore, and as distinguished for sound judgment and
sterling integrity, and as having always occupied a high standing in
the estimation of the community, whether as a member of society, a
merchant, or a magistrate. He died in London in the year 1865.

Mr. James Guthrie, a nephew of Alexander Guthrie, arrived in
Singapore in 1829, became a partner in Guthrie & Co., in January,
1837, and afterwards was head of the firm, from which he retired in
1876. He died at Tunbridge Wells on 4th September, 1900, in his
eighty-seventh year. He came to Singapore when he was fifteen years
old, having been born on 14th February, 1814. He was twice married,
and was survived by Mrs. Guthrie and two daughters. His only son,
who was for a short time in the business in Singapore, died while a
young man, over twenty years ago. Mr. James Guthrie was buried at
Kensal Green Cemetery, London, where a number of old Singaporeans
attended the funeral.

As a contrast to the quiet state of affairs in Singapore, and the
contentment of the natives wiio were increasing so quickly in number,
may be mentioned a report made by Captain Campbell of H.M.S.
Dauntless, which had come from Ceylon to Penang in December, 1819,
and had afterwards passed through Singapore on her way to Manila.
The Captain reported on 3rd December, 1820, that a massacre had
occurred in Manila, in which the natives had slaughtered all the English,
French, Danes, and Americans whom they could find, and he lamented
to say that twenty-six Europeans, a large proportion of whom were
British, had fallen victims.

The following are interesting passages taken from the private letters
of Sir Stamford written to friends in England in 1820: — "It will be
satisfactory to Your Grace to know that the Dutch authorities in
this country have at length been brought to their senses; and if what
has been done here is supported and followed up with common pru-
dence and decision we may at least save our commercial interests from
the ruin which so lately impended. Singapore continues to rise as
rapidly as the out-stations of the Dutch decline.

"After all, it is not impossible the ministry may be weak enough
to abandon Singapore, and to sacrifice me, honour, and the Eastern
Archipelago to the outrageous pretentions of the Dutch. My settlement

1821 67

continues to thrive most wonderfully; it is all and everything I could
wish. If no untimely fate awaits it, it promises to become the
emporium and pride of the East.

" Were the value of Singapore properiy appreciated, I am con-
fident that all England would be in its favour. It positively takes
nothing from the Dutch, and is to us everything. It gives us the
command of China and Japan, with Siam and Cambodia, to say
nothing of the Islands themselves.

*'We are very anxiously awaiting the decision of the higher
powers on the numerous questions referred to them. It appears to me
impossible that Singapore should be given up, and yet the indecisive
manner in which the ministers express themselves, and the unjust and
harsh terms they use towards me, render it doubtful what course they
will adopt.

:^ "Notwithstanding the uncertainty which must prevail pending the
decision of the higher powers in Europe, and the circumstances of its
being still held solely on my personal responsibility, against all the
efforts of our own government as well as that of the Dutch, the
settlement has advanced in the most rapid manner. From an insignifi-
cant fishing village, the port is now surrounded by an extensive town,
and the population does not fall short of ten or twelve thousand souls,
principally Chinese. The number is daily increasing, and the tf-ade of
the place has already induced the establishment of several mercantile
houses of respectability. Should the decision from home prove favour-
^ able, I hope to go there next year to establish such municipal and
L port regulations as may provide for the increasing population and
trade.

"My health I am sorry to say is not so good as it was. I feel
the effects of climate very seriously and if I had no other inducement
I should hasten home. In a public point of view, all I wish is to
remain long enough to see my settlement at Singapore firmly estab-
lished, and lay something like a substantial foundation for the future
civilization of Sumatra. Two or three years will be sufficient for this,
and then I shall have an object at home in endeavouring to uphold
and further what will have been so far proceeded on. My great
object, the independence of the Eastern Isles, has been attained."

1821.

The public works which had been erected at a cost of about
536,000, were valued at $30,000. This amount must have included one
or two houses, and the erection of the batteries and huts for the
troops. The lines for the troops were at the foot of the hill, between
it and the Esplanade, where the Cathedral, Coleman Street, and other
buildings are now.

In February the first junk arrived from Amoy, and the Merchants
and the Resident fell out. The Sultan's Malays had put the
nakodah of the junk in the stocks because he had refused to wait
upon the Sultan with presents, which was practically a breach of the
free trad© of the port, and the merchants remonstrated. The Resident
wrote to Sir Stamford Raffles at Bencoolen that it was an improper.

t&^ Anpcdofal ff iff lory of Singapore

prpfoatare, and \ery unnecessary interference on the part c»f the
merchants^ to which remark they objected. The Sultan's explanation
was that the nakodah had been impudent.

On the 20th March^ a general meeting was held with Mr. Johnston
in tlie chair, about the police force, and it was decided that subscrip-
tions ahonld be made to provide funds for increasing the strength of
the Police establishment, and that a committee of three Europeans and
three native merchants should be formed to take into consideration all
points connected with the Police, and that a general meeting of the
cabscribers should take place quarterly. At the request of the Resident
on the 13th September, Mr. Johnston, Mr. Alexander Guthrie, Mr.
Charles Scoti and Mr. Claude Queiros, met on the same subject, and the
proceedings of the previous meeting were confirmed, and it was
decided to request the Resident to suggest to the inhabitants of
Kampong Glam and China Town the propriety of entering into the
sabncription to extend the police system to those Kampongs. At that
time Mr. F. J. Bernard was in charge of the Police, with a Malay
writer, a jailor, a jemadar or sergeant, and eight peadas or constables.
The«e were all paid by Government ; and one jemadar and nine peadas
w€-re paid by a mercantile subscription, called the Night Watch Fund,
which amounted in the average to $54 a month. Up to this time
rr.4>bcTieii had not been numerous, only two having occurred of any
con^^nence.

On the 17th April the Resident made a report upon the town and
poMic works. He said that at first the place was covered with jungle,
with the exception of a small spot on the eastern bank of the river
[E»i^planade side] barely large enough to pitch the tents on. Sepoys
were employed to clear a space for cantonments, and a battery was
rau3^ by them. Ground had been cleared for the Chinese and Bugis
Kampongs, and materials had been prepared for a bridge, but it's
ereeti^m as well as the powder magazine and other permanent buildings
had been postponed. Reservoirs had been made for the supply of
water to the ships and town, and Colonel Farquhar said that greater
facilities existed in this respect than in any town in India. He pro-
po«^ Uf levy a tax for the supply of water. He said that the river
iiank on the north side [Esplanade] was the only place eligible for
English merchants, the other side being marshy and unfit for building.
He proposed to set aside a place for the merchants between the
Tumongong's kampong and the sea [where the Public Offices are now]
and, as the space was limited, to remove the Tumongong higher up the
river [to Kampong Malacca now]. Except these lots and one on the
sea side of the road, used for the Police Office [near the end of the
river on Esplanade side] no grants were made on the Singapore
[Esplanade] side, and the squatters were informed they remained at
their own risk. The Bugis had requested that the Rochor River should
be cleared out ; which was done to the great advantage of the
kampong on its banks. In May; 1821, about fifteen miles of road had
been made, of which about half were carriage roads, forty to fifty feet
in >ridth. They extended from the river to Rochor ; round the hill,
afterwards levelled, where Circular Road is now ; and out to Selegie,
which is no doubt what is now called Selegie Road. The cost of the

1821

roads was 96^447 ; of aqueducts (2^500 ; aud 94^980 had been spent on
uiilitary buildings^ $270 on a jail^ 13^000 on fortifications^ (600 on
bridges and 980 on the spice garden bungalow. The following is a
list of the roads that were made from the first establishment to May,
1821. The details as to the length are not without interest as they
show how far they went from the Esplanade. A good deal had been
done in the two years.

Yards.

2,500 in Cantonment

1,800 to Rochor and Cam pong

vjilcHII ••• ••• •«• •>•

2,650 Do. do.

600 Do. do.
1,800 round Singapore Hill . . .
1,200 over top of Singapore Hill
1,176 round Old Lines

800 to Selligie

1 ,380 round Selligie

1,675 from Selligie to farthest

gambier (sic.)
3,100 Circular Koad round west

JXX&1.0 ••• ••• ••• •••

1 ,440 along Rochor River
3,374 Roads and Streets in

China Town

2,396 over Teluk Ayer hills . . .
156 Katong point at Paggar do.
100 Teluk Ayer to Sungei

Kayah

140 Singapore and Selegie

XJ'll

JL J. 1.IL •«• ••• ••• •••

26,475 yards of road at a cost of $6,447.

In May, between the Ttli and 9th, the Governmc^nt Treasury was
robbed of $1,650, which was attributed to the guard being implicated
in it. The Madras Government wrote to enquire whether some con-
victs could not be advantageously introduced at Singapore, as they
escaped so frequently from Penang ; and Colonel Farquhar replied that
a few could be received. A Singapore price current of 1st October,
1821, contains the following quotations: Banca tin $19. Beer $8 a
dozen. Canvas ?fl0 a bolt. Cocoanut oil $8 a picul. Benares Opium
?>1,625 a chest. Pepper $9.50. Rattans $1.50 Hats $8 each. Sago
$28 a koyan. Tobacco, Bengal Cigars |2.50 a thousand. Exchange
on Calcutta Rs. 206 ; on Madras and Bombay 220, on China and
Batavia at par, all at 30 days. No quotations on Europe, for no bills
of exchange existed. Goods from Europe and India were sold and the
nett proceeds remitted by shipments of produce, or specie.

The effect of the trade of Singapore upon that of Malacca and
Rhio was already very marked. The export and import duties and
harbour fees iu Malacca, in 1819, were $50,000; in 1821 they were
only $23,000, and two years later only $7,000, while Singapore was

Yards
in width.

RemarkB.

Carriage road.

Do.

Lined out.

Nearly cut round.

Small drains cut.

Horse road.

Carriage road.

Horse road.

Do.

Carriage road.

Foot path.

Do.

4 •

Horse path.

70 Anecdotal History of Singapore

growing rapidly. Although it was established in 1819, and its trade
during the first four years was considerable, it was found impossible in
1834 to make up any returns of imports and exports from an earlier
period than May, 1823, owing to the records not having been kept.

A Court of Enquiry was held in May at the instance of the
merchants on Captain C. Methven, 20th Bengal Native Infantry, for
improper dealings with Tringanu traders, and after repeated attempts
to get justice at the Civil Court had failed. He had been in the
Bencoolen Detachment in 1819. In July the List of occupiers of lands
was as follows: —

Claude Queiros, J. Morgan, A. Guthrie, G. Mackenzie, Williamson,
Lackersteen, Hay Mackenzie, F. Ferrao, J. Almeida, Baron Jamearil,
F. J. Bernard, Dunn, Captain Flint, Lieutenant Crossley, Captain
Methven, Lieutenant Davis, Colonel Farquhar.

There were frequent reports of robberies, and the Chinese at
Kampong Glam agitated the question as to the propriety of getting up
a night watch similar to that supported by the Europeans. In the
government report of 10th July, credit is taken for the fact that from
July 1820 to July, 1821 only 47 cases of robbery and larceny were
brought to the police, with two cases for attemptinsT to steal slaves.

Circular orders were received to assist the Crown Commission in
England to enquire into the subject of weights and measures, by
sending home models of all in use, with explanations and information.
Besides Singapore, the Resident was to take the Indian Archipelago
and the East Coast of Sumatra. The result of these enquiries was
published in *'Kelly^s Universal Cambist.^'

Measures were taken to prevent competition of foreign or other
opium with that of Bengal. The Bencoolen opium regulations of 9th
September, 1817, were extended to Singapore. Sir Stamford Baffles
was anxious to prevent the regulation from interfering with the trade
in opium.

CHAPTER VII.

1822.

THIS is the first year for which it seems possible to obtain the
number of vessels coming into Singapore harbour, which was 139
square rigged vessels and 1,434 native crafts. This unparalleled rise of
commerce was due to the principle of free trade, which was first tried
at Singapore. The port was open to the vessels of all nations alike, as
it has been ever since ,• in spite, as we shall see in later years, of not
infrequent attempts to levy duties, which the mercantile community
have from time to time opposed tooth and nail, by the most earnest
and consistent means. The proposed evil was first mentioned soon after
the Settlement commenced to attract attention, and we shall see from
time to time how petitions were sent by the merchants in any direction
likely to use influence to prevent it; urging in the strongest terms the
ruin that it would bring upon a port, which was then, and always
will be, practically, a mere warehouse for supplying the surrounding
countries, which would not seek to purchase here if the goods could
reach them direct or from other sources without the enhanced price
caused by the duty which would benefit Singapore alone. The following
report of a speech in the House of Lords on the 14th March, 1826,
shows how soon attention was prominently attracted to the new Settle-
ment, even in England : —

"The Marquis of Lansdowne said, that he had yesterday given
notice of his intention to move for an account of the imports and
exports of Singapore in the East Indies. He had been induced to make
this motion in consequence of understanding that the East India
Company had entertained a design of imposing duties upon that port,
the effect of which would be to stifle the trade of that country, which,
if these papers were produced, would appear from them to be flourishing
with a degree of increasing prosperity since its cession to this country,
that was likely in a short time to render it an acquisition of the
greatest importance. All the advantages anticipated from our possession
of that country had been fully realized by every circumstance which
had since taken place; and he was certain that they would continue
to increase rapidly if Singapore were retained as a free port. Should
their lordships agree to the production of these papers, they would
see from them, that in that part of the world, composed as it was
of various aud numerous tribes and nations, some of them barbarous,
some civilized, such was the quick apprehension which prevailed of
the advantages of a free trade there, and the permission granted
them of frequenting that place, that its trade, which in 1822 had
amounted to 8,468,000 dollars, in 1824 had increased to the enor-
mous sum of 15,773,000 dollars; thus in three years doubling its
amount, which had considerably increased before, since the occasion to

72 Atiecdotal Hiatory of Singapore

which ho had referred. It was impossible to consider this extensive
trade, drawn from so many different quarters, without feeling that it
must have operated a most material effect upon our great empire in
the east, as well as upon that of China by producing a commercial
spirit in that quarter of the world of which this country ought to avail
itself, and turn to its advantage. But if the East India Company
wore to seek to derive a pitiful revenue from that island, it would
have the effect, by cramping and reducing its trade, of at once
closing those prospects upon us, which, connected as we were with
that part of the world, its present state held forth to our view. In the
course of two years and a half 2,889 vessels had entered that port,
only 333 of which were manned by Englishmen, the remaining 2,506
being manned by natives of other nations. Such was the flourishing
state of its commerce, carried on by various nations of different habits
and manners,^who, attracted by the establishment of a mild code of
laws, contrived to live there most happily together, and avail themselves
under the protection of this country, of the advantages of a free
course of trade. He trusted they would bo suffered to continue to do
so, in despite of the short-sighted policy which would sacrifice such
important advantages to the paltry lucre to be derived from the
imposition of duties, which would only have the effect of annihilating
its trade in a short time; under these circumstances he begged leave
to move for the production of an account of the imports and exports
of Singapore in the years 1822, 182-'^ and 1824, together with the
amount of the tonnage and its value in each of these years, distin-
guishing the different countries to which it belonged. — Ordered."

The last time the often vexed question arose between the Govern-
ment and the mercantile community was in the days of (xovernor Ord,
the first (rovernor after the Transfer to the Colonial Office in 1867, who
was probably ignorant of the firebrand he took in his hand when he
s}K)ke of imposing customs duties here. He very soon abandoned the
mere mention of it.

In Noveniber, 1822, in consequence of complaints having been
made to Sir Stamford Rattles at Bencoolen that a Malay in Singapore
named Wan AUee had assumed to establish a monopoly of selling
att^ips for roofing houses, Sir Stamford issued a proclamation giving
notice that, with the exception of the regulations for restricting the
consumption of opium and spirits, and the vice of gambling; and re-
specting the markets, and the sale of pork among the Chinese; which
were all ado]>ted as matters of policy for the general benefit of the
whole comnuinity ; the trade in all articles whatever was in every
n^spect opf'H and free to aU persons without imposition of any kiiid.
And in order that no one should plead ignorance of the entire free
trade of the port, he had the proclamation translated into the nativ^e
languagi^s and explained and published by beat of gong, and placards
atlixcd thn>Uirhout the town.

In this year Colonel Farqulmr proposed to establish a Court of
IvO'iuests, which he tluniirht the advancinir state of the trade rendered
necessary. He al>o referreil the question whether the European mer-
cliauts could be allowed, with propriety, to corre>p<->nd with the Native
States. Sir Stamford, in reply, ^i^d he was surprised at what he

1822. 73

termed an extraordinary enquiry, and that he saw no reason why the
Singapore merchants should not do what every European vessel navi-
gating the seas had the privilege to do. The next time such a ques-
tion was raised was in the time of Sir Harry Ord, tlie first (Governor
appointed by the Colonial Office in 1867, when he said that if the
merchants of Singapore chose to do business in the Native States
they did it at their own risk and could expect no support from the
government. Fortunately more able and thoughtful men succeeded
him, and the result was the commencement of the opening up of the
Native States in 1875, one result alone of which has been that the
value of exported tin from Singapore in 1898 was over two millions
sterling.

Sir Stamford arrived at Singapore from Bencoolen on 1 0th
October. On the 17th October a committee was formed, of three disinter-
ested persons ; Dr. Wallich, of the Gardens, Dr. Lumsdaine and Captain
Salmond, the harbour-master of Bencoolen; to fix on the new site for
the town, rendered necessary by the original plan [to keep the
Esplanade side for government purposes] having been broken through.

In October fifty slaves were imported and sold by the Bugis in
the river close to the Resident's house and some were sent as presents
to Raffles and the Resident. Raffles called the notice of the Resident
to the Act of Parliament which made it felony for any British subject
to be concerned in slave dealing. The Resident replied that he allowed
the practice, under the oft repeated plea of *' the circumstances of the
Port, &c." This was one of the reasons which Raffles afterwards gave
of his want of confidence in Colonel Farquhar.

On 29th October an Advertisement was published, ordering all
builders to discontinue work pending the orders of the town committee.
In November a petition was presented by the Chulias praying that
a headman or Captain should be appointed for the mercantile and
labouring classes. The lower classes of Chulias were prohibited from
living in verandahs of houses or anywhere on the northern side of the
town and a Chulia campong was marked out for them. [This was
probably where Cross Street is now.]

The Chuliahs were afterwards called KUngs in Singapore. In
Crawfurd's Dictionary, page 198, he says it was the name given by the
Malays and Javanese to the Telinga nation of Southern India, and
appeared to be a corruption or abbreviation of the genuine name of the
country of that people, Kalinga. Being the only Indian nation known
to the Malays, the word was used by them both for the people of India
in general and for the country itself. The trade of the Telingas with
the Archipelago was, he says, of great antiquity.

The day after Raffles returned, he wrote a letter in which the
following passage occurs about the action of the Dutch : " You must
be aware that the grounds on which I maintain our right to Sineapore
rested on the following facts, which it has never been in the Dutch
power to disprove.

1. That subsequent to the death of Sultan Mahomed, about twelve
years ago, there has been no regular installation of a successor, nor
has any chief been acknowledged as such, with the essential forms
required by the Malay custom.

74 Anecdotal Hiatory of Singapore

2. That the regalia (the possession of which is considered essen-
tial to sovereignty) still remained in the custody of Tunku Putri,
widow of the deceased Sultan.

3. That the Rajah of Lingin had never exercised the authority
of Sultan of Johore^ and explicitly disclaimed the title, and

4. That the prince whom we supported was the eldest son of the
late Sultan and was intended for the succession. That he was acknow-
ledged by one at least^ if not both^ the constituting authorities of the
empire, and that he himself stood in no way committed to the Dutch,
when I formed the treaty with him.

" The Dutch have allowed nearly four years to pass since our occu-
pation of Singapore, in trying to prove that the Sultan of Lingin was
actually invested with the authority of Johore : but finding our Ministry
more firm than they expected, and their assertions not admitted as
proofs, have at last given up the point and actually proceeded to the
seizure of the regalia from the hands of Tunku Putri.^^

In November a Committee was formed of Captain Flint, the Harbour
Master, Captain Salmond, and Mr. Maxwell, a merchant, with the
Assistant Engineer, to enquire into the state of the bar at the mouth
of the river, and to report on the means to be used to prevent an in-
crease of the bar. To obviate which, steps were not taken until 1884; and
the river wall extended seawards. On a site being fixed for the market
by Colonel Farquhar, who after going round with some of the inhabi-
tants had found a better place than that first proposed by the Com-
mittee, Che Sang, the principal Chinese merchant in the place at that
time, agreed to build it at his own expense, if he was allowed to hold
it free of tax for a certain number of years. This is the same China-
man whose will occupied much of the time of the Court here for
very many years, and only reached a final result after 1880, the
Singapore " Jarndyce v, Jarndyce." Botanical gardens were now estab-
lished, and a Dr. Wallich of the Botanical Gardens at Calcutta was
appointed Superintendent. Raffles gave him forty-eight acres more
land for the gardens, and a bungalow was built on the hill for his
accommodation, as he said the matchless climate had restored him
to health, and he would occupy it on his occasional visits to super-
intend the work. Raffles gave up the Government House Gurden, and told
Dr. Wallich to take as much more as he required to the north-
east, which was the forty-eight acres for which a grant was given
on 20th November, 1822, to the superintendent and his successors in
office. The Gardens were, however, discontinued in 1829.

Sir Stamford found, on his return to Singapore, that several
European merchants had built houses near the river on the Esplanade
side in the space he had reserved for public purposes » so he gave
notice that the Government did not insist upon the immediate re-
moval of the buildings unless the ground became indispensable for
public purposes, but the owners were warned not to spend any more
money upon them. In order to prevent confusion and disputes in
laying out the town and appropriating places for the different classes
of natives. Sir Stamford in October appointed a Committee consisting
of Captain Charles Edward Davis of the Bengal Native Infantry, Samuel
George Bonham (afterwards Governor) who was a Civil Servant^ and

1822 75

Mr. A. L. Johnston^ to act with a representative from each of the
principal classes of Arabs, Malays, Bugis, Javanese, and Chinese; and
he gave notice that while this Committee was sitting all persons were
required to stop building and to attend the Summons of the Com-
mittee and to give all the information and assistance they could.
He wrote a long minute on the subject of the laying out of the
town, which is published at the end of this Chapter.

Raffles^ original plan in laying out the town had been to keep
the ground near the river where the public offices are now, as a
reserve for Grovemment purposes, and to give the European merchants
the land next to it as far as the Rochor river, which would have
included the present Esplanade. After he left Singapore in 1819, and
before his return in October, 1822, the merchants told the Resident,
Colonel Farquhar, that it would be very inconvenient for the shipping
to build along the north beach [where the Esplanade is] as it was
flat and there was generally a surf. So Colonel Farquhar let them
build on the left bank of the river, where the public offices are,
but said they must be prepared to move if required. When Raffles
returned he found houses built, as we have said, on the reserved
ground, and after much consideration he resolved to alter his original
plan, and employed all the coolies he could get to level the small
hill on the south side, which made the site of Commercial Square.
The earth was used to fill up where Boat Quay is, which thus became
suitable for building. In October, the place where Circular Road
and Boat Quay are now was occupied solely by a few native traders
whose roomah rackitSy as somebody called them, or rickety tenements,
or raft houses, were built over the swamp where the tide rose ten
feet and extended to some distance.

Those who had built houses by the Resident's permission on the
north bank were bought out, and had lots given them on the other
side of the river. Some of the houses on the north side were allowed
to remain and one was used for many years for the Land Office,
Import and Export Office, &c., and another as Post Office. The
Brass Bassa Canal, which is spoken of by Raffles as the fresh water
cut (by which he thought boat communication might be made with
the interior) was already made, and Colonel Farquhar finding that Sir
Stamford was giving away land very fast, protested, and desired Raffles
to make a reference to Bengal on his proposition to retain eight
hundred yards on the north beach. Sir Stamford did not forward the
reference, but reserved the ground from Singapore River to the
Brass Bassa Canal, and it should be added, (Mr. Braddell remarks)
that we are indebted, therefore, to Colonel Farquhar for the present
Esplanade.

In later years the Government wanted to place the Church on the
Esplanade, and appropriate the site where the first Church was built
and the Cathedral is now. On that occasion some of the residents explained
to the Bishop how very undesirable and one-sided a project it was,
and as he refused to consecrate the proposed ground, we have the
Esplanade to this day. In former years, on the Queen's birthday, a
review of all the Troops and Volunteers was always held on it. And
in the China war it was covered with tents for the troops. It is the

76 Anecdotal Hitftory of Singapore

best place possible for our local Athletic Clubs, and for the New Year
Sports, but we should not have it now, if it had not been for Colonel
Farquhar and Bishop Wilson, and the mercantile community protesting
against the proposed sale for building purposes, and a deputation telling
the Governor, Mr. Fullerton, that if put up for sale it would be pur-
chased by them and held for the public.

Mr. William Gordon Mackenzie, one of the merchants, received
§2,175 as compensation for his house on the reserved land, and
Mr. Queiros, the agent of l^almer & Co., of Calcutta, the largest mer-
cantile house there in those days, received $3,000. The houses were
pulled down and the materials sold. There was a long correspondence
regarding one house belonging to Captain Methven who was absent,
for whom Mr. Queiros was agent, and it led to a proclamation being
issued directing that the house should be taken possession of by force
if necessary, on which Mr. Queiros protested, and made a public
address to the inhabitants.

Abdulla says : " Every day the quantity of goods for sale increased.
It is impossible to describe the wonderful variety of the goods brought
for sale by the Europeans, such as our fathers had never seen before.
Auctions were held constantly whore the goods were sold wonderfully
cheap. At that time the auctioneer's gongs were not beaten, nor was
notice sent round, the custom was simply to paste up notices at the
several street corners that to-morrow morning at 10 o'clock an auction
would be held at Mr. So and So's house, with a list of the articles
for sale. The houses were all attap, except one built of brick by
Mr. McSweeny who soon afterwards returned to England and it was then
used for the police office. There was not a single house on the other
side of the river. It was a mangrove swamp and all lived on the Plain
side of the river. The Sultan wished to commence building his palace
in Campong Glam, but the place was covered with jungle and there
was no road through it, only round by the beach, as people were
afraid to go through the jungle. The Sultan's family and all his
followers now came over from Rhio. A Malacca man put up the first
fishing stake ofl:' Teluk Ayer. There were continual disturbances between
the Malacca Malays and the Chinese and Klings, and if they had
not been afraid of Mr. Fanjuhar there would have been murders
among them every day."

The population in this year had increased to 10,000 in November.
It was in this year that Mr. Christopher Rideout Read, the partner
of Mr. A. L. Johnston, came to Singapore. He had been to Bencoolen,
and came here on the advice of Sir Stamford Raffles. Mr. John Purvis
also came and established his firm here in this year. He had gone to
China with Mr. Matheson, afterwards Sir James Matheson; and Mr.
Purvis thought Singapore was a better opening than China and returned
here, leaving Mr. Alatheson who commenced business in Canton and
joined Mr. Jardine.

Doctor Montgomerie, who is said to have first introduced Gutta
Percha to the notice of Europeans, stated that ho obtained the name
oF it, at Singapore, in 1822, while making entjuiries relative to caoutchouc,
but he lost sight of the subject, having returned to the Bengal
Residency for a time. Some gutta was taken to England by Dr.

1822. 77

d'Aliiieida in 1842, but. did not attract much attention, and it was
brought into notice practically, at last, by Dr. Oxley and Dr. Little's
discoveries about the year 1845.

The story of what was being done in Singapore town in 1822
was, no doubt, to be best found in the papers of Sir Stamford, which
were burnt in the Fame, the only ones remaining being the letters
written at this time from Singapore to his friends in England. He
wrote in December that there were then 10,000 people, and that the
enterprise and activity which prevailed were wonderful, and the effects
of free trade and liberal principles had operated like magic. He
speaks in the same letter of sending home the skeleton of an enormous
ape, five feet six inches high, lately obtained from Borneo, the first
specimen, probably, of an Orang Outan or Mias. In the last letter we
have found that he wrote in this year, December, 1822, he said that a
few spots of land before considered of no value, and passed over by
Colonel Farquhar, had sold in the course of an hour for $50,000; and
said that he had been cautious in wording the grants of land so as
not to alarm the anti-colonists in England. The few spots of land he
mentioned would of course be considered now very considerable quanti-
ties. He said that at Bencoolen the public expenses were more in one
month than at Singapore in twelve ; and while the capital turned at
Bencoolen did not exceed $400,000 in a year, and nearly the whole of
that was in the Company's bills on Bengal (the only returns that could
be made), at Singapore the capital turned in a year exceeded eight
millions, without any (iovernment bills or Civil establishment whatever.

There were two missionaries in Singapore at this time, one was
the Rev. Mr. Milton who knew Chinese and Siamese, and had brought
a printer with him ; so Mr. Milton took charge of the printing presses
for Chinese type; the other missionary was the Rev. C H. Thompson,
who knew Malay and English printing. He was in connection with
the London Missionary Society, and had a house near the corner of
Brass Bassa Road and North Bridge Road, where the Society's chapel
afterwards stood. He had a class of six boys, one of whom was named
Monteiro, who came from Malacca and afterwards was clerk to the
present Mr. Whampoa's grand-uncle at Teluk Ayer; Monteiro who
remembered the commencement of the building of the Institution in
1823 died in Singapore in 1891. Mrs. Thompson had a class of about
half a dozen girls in a room on the upper floor of the same house.
Tliis was the beginning of schools in Singapore.

At the end of this year Sir Stamford built a small bungalow
where Fort Canning at present is, which afterwards became Govern-
ment House, and he looked after a botanic and experimental garden
on the hill. Mr. Earl wrote of this "The Government House is erected
on the top of a hill at the back of the town, from which there is a
fine prospect of the Straits. As it was completed within a fortnight after
the first arrival of the British, it is not to be expected that it can be
very substantial. The sides are rough planks and Venetian windows, the
roof is attaps. It is withal so unsubstantial that after a Sumatra squall
inquiring glances are cast up to discover whether the house is still there
or in the valley behind it. At the foot is a botanical garden, with
several nutmeg trees planted by the founder of the Settlement."

78 Anecdotal History of Sinqapore.

On 28th November Raffles issued an advertisement establishing a
Pork farm, and called on the Resident to frame rules. The following
are extracts from Sir Stamford's letters written at the end of this
year, and in January, 1823 : — " I am at present engaged in establishing
a constitution for Singapore, the principles of which will I hope ensure
its prosperity. The utmost possible freedom of trade and equal rights
to all, with protection of property and person, are the objects to be
attained. In Java I had to remodel, here the tax is new.

''Here all is life and activity; and it would be difficult to name
a place on the face of the globe with brighter prospects or more
present satisfaction. In little more than three years it has risen from
an insignificant fishing village to a large and prosperous town, containing
at least 10,000 inhabitants, of all nations, actively engaged in commercial
pursuits, which afford to each and all a handsome livelihood and
abundant profit. There are no complaints here of WRnt of employment,
no deficiency of rents, or dissatisfaction at taxes. This may be considered
as the simple, but almost magical result of that perfect freedom of
trade, which it has been my very good fortune to establish.

" I have nearly got over the job of undoing and am steadily going
on with the establishment of something like a constitution for the
place, on the principle of a free port in every sense of the Word.
The active spirit of enterprise among all classes is truly astonishing
and, for its extent, I believe I may safely say that no part of the
world exhibits a busier scene than the town and environs of Singapore.
The Dutch have been obliged to take off their duties at Java and
elsewhere on native prows.

'' I am now busy in allotting the land and laying out the different
towns, defining rights, and establishing powers and rules for their
protection and preservation. The task, though an arduous and serious
one, is not one that I find unpleasant. What I feel most is the want
of good counsel and advice, and of sufficient confidence in my own
experience and judgment to lay down so broad and permanent a
foundation as I could wish. I have already upwards of 10,000 to
legislate for, and this number will, I doubt not, be increased during
the next year. The enterprise and activity which prevail are wonderful,
and the effects of a free trade and liberal principles have operatf^d
like magic. But that the past prosperity of the place may not prove
ephemeral, it requires that I be more careful in what I do for the
future: for if the past, under all our uncertainty of possession, has so
far exceeded my expectations; what may not be calculated on hereafter
when our principles are better understood, when our possession is
considered secure, and when British capital and enterprise come into
full and fair play.

**My time is at present engaged in remodelling and laying out
my new city, and establishing institutions and laws for its future
constitution. A pleasant duty enough in England where you have
books, hard heads, and lawyers to refer to, but here by no means
easy, where all must depend upon my own judgment and foresight.
Nevertheless I hope that though Singapore may be the first capital
established in the nineteenth century, it will not disgrace the brightest
period of it."

1822 79

The total tonnage, importing and exporting in 1822, was 130,689
tons. The total value of imports and exports was $8,568,172. Nearly
the whole of the trade was carried on by borrowed capital, on which
interest was paid from nine to twelve per cent. Not one ship arrived
direct from England, notwithstanding European goods were in constant
demand. All the goods had come by circuitous routes. Four free ships,
that is not the East India Company ^s traders, loaded home during the
year, and Raffles wrote that six more could have been laden if they
had been there.

A detailed account of shipping had been kept during the year,
which Raffles says was accurate. He added that during the two and
a half years since the establishment of Singapore, by which he probably
meant up to the end of 1821, 2889 vessels had entered and cleared,
of which 383 were owned and commanded by Europeans, and 2,506 by
natives, and that their united tonnage was 161,000 tons. This averages
56 tons each, so many were small native crafts. During the same
period the value of merchandise, arrived and cleared, in native vessels
was f5,000,000 and in ships not less than $3,000,000, giving a total
amount of about eight millions as the capital turned, as Sir Stamford
expresses it.

The following papers written by Sir Stamford Raffles himself
regarding the laying out of the Town were collected by Mr. Braddell
and were given in full in his notes, an ample reason for repriuting
them here at length. They contain matter which has been usefully
referred to, many times since, especially regarding the Verandah (juestion,
and they fill up the remainder of this chapter. The last letter is dated
in February, 1823, but they all refer to this matter: —

Land Allotment Committee.

To James Lumsdaine, Esq.

Nathaniel Wallich, Esq. and
Captain Francis Salmond.

Gentlemen,— It havinc^ been determined on the first establishment of this
Settlement that the wbole space included within the old lines and the Singapore
river should be reserved exclusively for public purposes, and His Excellency the
Grovemor General in Council having directed that the land subsequently occupied
by individual settlers on the north bank of the Singapore river should be resumed,
it has become necessary to fix upon another site on which the European merchants
may construct adequate warehouses for the accommodation of the different de-
scriptions of goods collected by them, and no spot has appeared better calculated
for this purpose than the opposite bank of the Singapore river now in part occu-
pied by Chinese.

Having consulted with Mr Coleman, by profession an architect, and with
others and having myself partially examined the ground, I am not aware of any
objection to the plan of building the warehouses on this line, except such as may
arise from the additional expense which will be necessary in raising the ground
and from some moderate compensation which it may be just to make to the
Chinese on account of this removal. HithertiO the European merchants would seeia
to have laboured under an erroneous impression that they would eventually be
allowed to have their warehouses on the side reserved by Government, which on many
accounts was naturally preferred by them, but this delusion being now at an end,
it is to be expected that they will gladly enter into the plan now under consider-
ation and that the activity and ener|jy which is n-w so conspicuous will easily over-
come all minor and comparative disad van friges.

No title whatever can be granted to those individuals who have built store
houses on the groimd reserved for the Company and they will not have the power

HO AnecdofaL Uiftfnry of Singapore

to transfer them as propei'tj. noitlior will any now bnildings whatever l)e allowed
to be erected thereon by individuals, and with the view of plaoinj^ the mercantile
community with regard to advantage for building, on the most equal footing pos-
sible, it is proposed t<» levy by way of ground rent or otherwise such a tax
on the ground temporarily occupied by the existing buildings as shall be
equivalent to the greater expense which may be incurred in laying the found-
ations on the opposite side of the river.

It is proposed that an embankment, which may at the same time serve to
confine the river and di*aiu the adjacent ground and afford the convenience of
a long line of wharf in front of the warehouses, should in the first instance
be constructed along tlie south side of the nver, fi-om the road opposite Feny
point to that which has been marked out for the intended bridge, so as to
form an extensive crescent of about six or seven hundred yai-ds, in the rear
of which the range of the warehouses may be built on one uniform and
appi-oved plan.

In prosecution of the plan above stated, it is further proposed that with
the view of preserving unifoi*mity and ensuring the goodness of the materials and
workmanship, this embankment or line of whai*f should be constinicted under the
immediate superintendence of Government, the expense to be repaid by the
individual, as the lots may be appropriated. Allowing sixty feet for the front of
a WiU*ehouse and a space of 12 feet between each, it is estimated that the projected
site is calculated to afford loom for between 20 and 30 separate and commodious
buildings. The depth proposed to be allotted to the range of buildings is 100 feet
from the wharf for the warehouses and 50 feet in the rear for a yard, at the
back of which will nm a High Street, so as to admit of a back front to the build-
ings on the land side.

Previously, however, to the adoption of a plan involving such important inter-
ests, I am desirous of obtaining the best and most competent advice which circum-
stances admit, and with this view, I have appointed you to be a committee for the
purpose of taking into your most deliberate consideration the plan now proposed,
in all its beanngs, and reporting in how far you deem the same advisable and
advantageous and as preferable to any others which offer.

In selecting you for this important duty, 1 have been influenced no less by a
full contideiice in ^nur peculiar qualifications and ability to form a correct judg-
ment on tlie subject, than by the circumstance of your being wholly uncon-
nected with any of tlie local parties, or conflicting interests which have heretofore
so unfortunately prevailed at this Settlement.

I am, c^c,
(Signed) T. S. Raffles.

Singapore, 17th October. 1822.

Town Committee.

Proclamation by the Hon'ble Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, Lieutenant
Governor of Fort Marll)Oi-ough and its Dependencies.

Whereas several European MtM'chants and others having occupied nnd con-
structed building.-? of Miisonry on portions of ground on the North Bank of the
Singapore River and elsewhere, within the spjice intended to have b<^»n reserved
exclusively iov public purposes, viz.. between the old lines and Singapore River
from the sea inland to the bsick of the hill :

Under the present circumstances of the Settlement it is not the desire of
Government to insist on the immediate removal of siich biiildings as may have
been constructed of Masonry by Europeans and completed before the 10th Apnl
last, unless the same may bec»)me indispensible for the public service, but the
parties interested are warned of what is intended, and the construction by in-
dividuals of all furthtn- buildings whatever, as well as the outlay of all fui-ther
sums of money on those already consti-ucted within the limits aforesaid, after
this date, is most strictly prohibit-ed.

The terms on which the above indulgence will be granted to present occupants
will be hereafter made known.

These orders have applicaticm principally to the ground near the River occu-
pied or intended to be occupied for commereial purposes and have no immediate

1822 81

reference to officers' Bungalows, for which, being a public purpose, an express
provision was made, but it is clearly to be understood that all dwelling houses or
buildings whatever situated within the limits aforesaid, whether the same may be
in the actual occupation of Military Officers or of private individuaU:, are considered
to Ixj on the same footing and alike subject to the cantonment regulations.

That no person may plead ignorance hereof, the Resident will cause this Pi-ocla-
mation to be duly pi*omulgatcd and copies affixed at tlie usual places for general
infoi*mation.

Given under my hand, at ISiugapore, this 'JDth day of October, 18'2*2.

(Signed) T. S. Rafflks.

Notice is hereby given, that in order to afford comfoH and security to the
different descriptions of inhabitants wh«> have resorted to this Settlement, and to
prevent confusion and disputes hereal'tei*, it is the intention of Government forth-
with to appoint a competent Committee, with such advice and assistance as may
be necessary, for api)ix>priating and marking out the quarters or departments of
the several classes of the native population.

This committee will consist of tlirce European Gentlemen and of a Represent-
ative from each of the principal classes of Ai*abs, Malays, Bugis, Javanese, and
Chinese, and it will hold its ni'st sitting on Monday next.

Pending the sitting of this Committee and until further orders all persons ai'e
required to suspend the construction of whatever buildings they may have in hand,
whether of stone, brick or wood.

It is required of all persons to attend the summons of the said committee
and to afford iill possible information and assistance in their power that may be
demanded of them.

That no one may plead ignorance of this advertisement, the same is to be
translated into the native languages, published by beat of gong, and affixed at
the usual places in Campong China. Camp<mg Glam, and elsewhere.

By order. &c.,

(Signed) L. N. Hull,
Acting Secretary.

To Captain C. E. Davis, President.

George Bonhaui, ) ci • vr i

Gentlemen, — The extent of the native population which has already accumu-
lated at Singapore and the rapidity with which it daily increases, render it ex-
pedient that in providing for its accomuiodation a timely attention should be
paid to its future regulation, with reference to the circumstances of the place
and the peculiar character and institutions of the several classes of inhabitants
of which the society will be composed.

1. It has been observed by the Supreme Government **that in the event
of Singapore being permanently retained, there seems every reason to believe that
it will become a place of considerable magnitude and importance, and it is essen-
tial that this circumstance should be constantly kept in mind, in regulating the
appropriation of land. Eveiy day's experience shews the inconvenience and
expense that may arise out of the want of such a forecast" and in this respect
an economical and proper allotment of the ground intended to form the site of
the principal town is an object of the first importance, and one which under the
present circumstances of the Settlement will not admit of delay.

2. In order to provide for this object in the best ana most satisfactory
manner which our present means admit, I have appointed you to be a committee
for the purpose of suggesting and carrying into effect such arrangements on this
head, as may on the whole appear to be most conducive to the comfort and
security of the different classes of inhabitants and the general intei^ests and
welfare of the place, and in the performance of the duty you will be assisted by
the Assistant Engineer and Assistant in tht? Police Department, and guided by
the following instructions.

82 Anecdotal Hutlury of Singapore

Extent of the Town Gene&ally.

3. In considering the extent of gi-ound necessary to be appropriated for the
town generally, refei-ence must be had not only U) the nimil>ei*s of the present
inhabitants and the probability of their future increase, but to the nature and
occupation of the several classes of which it is composed and the demands they
may respectively have to preference in regard to advantageous sites for trade, Ac
and it will be a primary object to secni'e to the mercantile community all the
facilities which the natui*al advantages of the poi*t afford. At pi*esent a consider-
able portion of the sea and river face, which may hereafter become impoilant for
mercantile purposes, is occupied by the lower classes of Chinese, and as might bt!
expected many of the early settlers have occupied positions and extent of ground
wmch ai'e now urgently demanded by a higher and more respectable class. A
line must be di*awn between the classes engaged in mercantile speculation and
those gaining their livelihood by haiidici*afts and personal labour; the former,
and particularly the principal merchants, will require the first attention, and there
does not appear any reason why the latter should in any instance be allowed to
occupy those situations which are likely at any time to be requii'ed by the com-
mercial community. The cultivators form a third and interesting class, particidarly
of the Chinese population, but as no part of the ground intended to be occupied
as the town can be spared for agricultural purposes they will not fall under your
consideration, except m as far as it may become necessary to exclude them.

4. The town may already be considered to occupy an extent of the sea face,
fram Tulloh Ayer to the large inlet formed by Sandy Point, of nearly three miles,
and it may be presumed that if a space is reserved from thence inland in every
direction of from half a mile to a mile, as the ground may admit, it will be suffi-
cient for all the purposes required in a principal town. A second town is
gradually lisin^ near the Salat or Malay Straits, and as soon as the road of
communication is opened it may be expected that a very considerable population
will collect in that quarter, but this does not fall under your immediate con-
sideration.

5. Along this line of sea face it will be expedient to presei've for the public
all the space between the road which runs pardllel to the beach and the sea, and
generally deemed advisable in tluj neighbourhood of the Settlement to reHerve an
open space along the beach, excepting where it may be required by individuals
for special purposes. With this view the Chinese artificers and others who have
settled on the beach near Tulloh Ayer and Campong 61am will be required to
remove from thence without delay.

Ground Reserved bt Government.

H. In the distribution of the ground intended to form the site of the town,
you will most particulai'ly observe that the whole of the space included between
the Singapore river and the old Lines, inland from the sea face to the back of
the hill, including a space of 2<>0 yards East of the old lines, is reserved for the
immediate pui-poses of Government.

7. You will further keep in mind that Government also necessaiily reserves
all such commanding points in the town and its vicinity which may be useful for
the defence of the place, such as the point at the entrance of the river, and the
high grounds to the westward as well as the space between Sandy and Deep
Water Points to the eastward, which it is intended to appropriate as a Marine
Yard. With these exceptions the whole of the space above pointed out may be
allotted to individuals.

European Town and Principal Mercantile Establishments.

8. In fixing the site of the European town to the eastward of the canton-
ments, it was in the fii'st place considered that the north east bank of th*'
Singapore nver hs far as the hill would, with the whole of the space included
within the old lines of Singapore, be indispensible for the public service, when-
ever the pennanence of the settlement might be established; and in the second
it was obvious that if relinquished by Government it*i extent was too limited
to admit of its affording accommodation to all the European and other merchants
who might be expected eventually to settle, and experience has already abim-
dantly verified these prcsumptionb. It is admitted that the N. E. bank of the

1822 88

river and space occupied as canton nieut po86eH8 pectdiai* advantages for the public
in general and for the pailicular use of Government, and it is deeply to be
regretted that any deviation should have been allowed from the original plan;
under existing circumstances, however, some modification is tliought advisable, and
with the view of affording every possible accommodation to the trade of the
portf it is proposed that in addition to the sea face to the eastward of the can-
tonments, toe whole of the S. W. bank of the Singapore river with a circular
road round the hill betwe«^n the point and Tulloh Ayer, shall be appropriated
for the use of European and other merchants.

9. Under this ari'angement and the immediate accommoilation which has
been afforded to the principal part of the European merchants ah*eady settled,
it is concluded that individuals will uo longer feel an inclination to intrude on
what may be considered the peculiar property of Grovemment, but that those
who may have planted themselves within its precincts will Ix; sensible of the
impropriety, and zealous in repairing the inconvenience they have occasioned, by
an early iHjmoval of the materials of whicb their biiildings ai*e composed.

10. The necessity of draining the j^ruund on the south west side of the
river, is no less indispensible for the health of the Settlement than for securing
the foimdations of whatever pei'maneot Viuildiugs may be erected thereon, and
it is intended to proceed on the operation with the least delay practicable. In
the meantime however, and during its progress, it is necessary that the present
temporary buildings along the banks of the river should be removed, a measure
which it will be your duty to ctirry into effect under the advertisement of this
date, in such manner as shall be least inconvenient to the parties concerned.

11. To the Eastward of the Cantonments as far generally as the Sultan's,
and inland to the bank of the Ruchor liver and the foot of the hills, including
the whole of the great Rochor plain, is to be considered as set apart exclusively
for the accommodation of Eui*opean and other piincipal settlers.

Native Divisions oe Camponqs.

1*2. Your attention however is to be more exclusively directed to the proper
allotment of the Native divisions of the town, and the first in importance of
these is beyond doubt the Chinese.

Chinese Campong.

Fi*om the number of Chinese already settled, and the peculiai* attractions of
the place for that industrious i*ace, it may be presumed that they will always form
by far Uie largest portion of the community. The whole therefore of that part
of the town to the south west of the Singapore river (not excepted as above)
is intended to be appropriated for their accommodation. They will be permitted
to occupy the south west bank of the river above the intended bridge on certain
conditions, and the highroad leading from the bridge to the present Chinese
campong, as well as the banks of the small inlet to the southward of it, will offer
many advantageous situatious as yet unoccupied. These will be particularly
pointed out to you by the executive officer and you will proceed to mark out this
division of the town generally inland as far as pi*acticable up the slopes of
hills, as may appear to ue likely to be recjuired, reserving an appropriate place
above the bridge for the accommodation of the lower classes of Chuliahs and
others employed in boats, cooly work, Sm.

13. In establishing the Chinese campong on a proper footing, it will be
necessary to advert to the provincial and other distinctions among this peculiar
people. It is well known that the people of one province are more quarrelsome
than another, and that continued disputes and distui'bances take place between
people of different provinces; it will also be necessary to distinguish between
the fixed residents and itinerants, — between the resident merchants and the traders
who only resort to the port for a time. Of the latter those from Amoi claim
particular attention, and it may perhaps deserve consideration whether on account
of their iroportaaoe it may not be advisable to allot a separate division for their
accommodation even to the westward of the Cantonments, beyond the European
town and the Baltan. The object of Goveniment being to afford the utmost
accommodation to ever^ description of traders, but more particularly to the re-
spectable classes, yet wiD always keep this in view, and while you generall'^ dk^R^

84 Anecdotal Uitstonj of Siiitjapoi'e

your atteution to tbe iiiiportunoe of concentnitiu^ the diifereut classes of the
pojpulatioa iu their separate quarters, you are not to lose sight of the advuntage
which may arise fi*om debating from this rule in special cases where the com-
mercial interests of the Settlement are concerned. Few places offer greater natural
facilities for commeixse than Singapore and it is only desired that the adv^antage
of these facilities be afforded to all who are competent to avail themselves of
them in the proportion to their relative importance and claims to consideration.

14. It being intended to place the Clunese population in a great measure
under the immediate control of their own chiefs, you will fix up such centrical
and commanding sites for the residence of these authorities and ^propriate to
them such larger extent of ground, as may tend to render them em<:ient instru-
ments of police, and at the same time raise them in the consideration of the
lower classes.

15. You will also line out the different streets and highways, which should
as far as practicable run at nght angles and in no iu stance be less than — feet in
breadth. To preserve uniformity and regularity hereafter, you will be pleased to
class the streets according to their relative advantages of situation under the
heads of Ist, 2nd and 3rd class, determining the least space along the street which
shall be occupied by each house and consequently fixing the exact number of
houses which each street will contain. It is proposed to fix a small ground rent
on the spot occupied by each house, of one, two and three dollars for evei'y fathom
of fi-ont, according to the above classes, to be collected annually on the 1st of
January and you will inform the parties that pHor to the Ist of Januai*y next
arrangements will be made for numbering the houses and granting them certifi-
cates of possession. Each street should receive some appropriate name and it
will become the duty of the police to see them regularly numbered. Each stivet
or division should also have a portion set apart for a police station.

lt>. The danger and apprehension of fire is at present so great that the most
respectable of the inhabitants, including all the native merchants, seem desii'ous
of constructing buildings of masonry with tiled roofs, and it will be at any rate
necessary to stipulate for this in the immediate vi«:inity of the allotments 8i»t
apart for the larger commercial store houses

17. The concentration of the diffei-ent dt^scriptioiis of artificers, such as
blacksmiths, carpentera, &c., in particular quarters should alno be attended t<>.

Description of Houses to bb Constructed, bach House to have a
Verandah open at all times as a continued and covered

PASSAGE ON each SIDE OF THE STREET.

18. It will further be advisable that for the sake of uniformity and gaining
as much room as possible a pai'ticular description of fi*ont for all brick or tiled
houses should be attended to, and it is conceived that while the breadth of the
streets is strictly preserved as above directed, a still further accommodation will
be afforded to the public by requiidng that each house should have a verandah of
a certain depth, open at all times as a continued and covered passage on each
side of the street.

19. In fixing a pixjper site for the principal church, theatre, &c , care should
also be taken that it be in a centi*al and open situation and that a considemble
space Ije kept cleai* in the vicinity.

20. Although the object of your appointment does not include the details of
police it will nevei-theless be incumbent on you to suggest any geneiul regulations
which may appear to you as advisable in this i*espect, as fai* as the same may be
connected with the plan of the town and the natm-e of the buildings of which it
will be composed ; under this head may be included draining, lighting, watching,
cleansiug and the like.

BuGis Campong.

21. Next to the Chinese your attention will be directed to the Bugis settlei'H.
They at present occupy the wnole extent from Campong Glam to the mouth of
the Rochor River, but it is conceived that they may l3e more advantageously con-
centrated on the spot beyond the residence of the Sultan. In this case a pai't of
Campong Glam, immediately adjoining the Sultan's residence, may be occupied
by the Aiabs accoi*ding to a plan that will 1^5 submitted by Lieutenant Jackson,
who has instructions to mark out the European town in that direction.

1822 85

22. In th^ allotment of the Bugis town it will be eqnallj necessary to
attend to economy in the distribution of gronnd by laying out regular stretts
inland towardn the river and obliging the inhabitants to conform thereto. At
present the houses are scattered without any attention to oi*der or convenience.
This will become the more necessary in the event of its being determined to
allow a Campong in this directicm to the Amoi Chinese, as alluded to in a
former paragraph.

Arab Gam pong.

23. The Arab population will I'equire every consideration, and their expected
nimibers should not be estimated at less than from 1 to 2000. No situation will
be more appropriate for them than the vicinity of the Sultan's residence, and it
will only be necessary in providing the accommodation they require to keep in
view the convenience of separating them as far as practicable from the European
dwellings, with which they will in such case come nearly in contact.

Mabinb Yard.

24. It being intended to appropriate the space between Sandy and Deep
Water Points as a Marine Yard, permission will be given to Chinese artificers to
settle in the vicinity of the public works on certain conditions, and by this
arrangement it is calculated that accommodation will be afforded for a large
portion of that description of people who will now be required to remove from
the opx>08ite beach. A moderate compensation to such Chmese settlers as may
be required to remove their dwellings, under the arrangement now generally
directed for the native town, will not be objected to, but the same must be deiinecl
and in no case exceed the victual expense to which they may be put to in
n'Oioving.

25. The beach from the extremity of the European town will still continue
open for the repair and building of native vessels as ac present, and it is
proposed that hereafter a public pier should be thrown out in this quarter in the
moHt convenient spot for trade.

Chuliah Campono.

2(). Refei*ence has already been had to the advantage of allotting a separate
division for the town class of Chuliahs up the Singapore river, and this will of
course be done with a due consideration of their expected numbers, and the
necessity of their residence being in the vicinity of the place whei-e their
services are most likely to be called for.

Malays.

27. The Malaj population being principally attached to the Tumongong, of
engaged in fishing, may not require anv very extensive allotment. It is probable
the larger portion of the former will settle near Panglima Prang's and the
upper banks of the river; and the latter will find accommodation for themselves
in the smaller bays and inlets beyond the immediate line of beach reserved for
the town, but yon will of course advert to the same as far as may be necessary.

Markets.

28. As a meajBui-e of police it is proposed to remove the fish market to TuUoli
Ayer without delay and it will be the duty of the committee to consider in how
far the general concentration of the fish, pork, poultry and vegetable markets, in
the vicinity of each other, may not be advautageons for the general convenience
and cleanliness of the place.

29. The importance of early provision for Mohametan and Chinese buiial
grounds, particularly the latter, at a suitabh* distance from town, will necessarily
fall under your consideration.

JJO. You will assemble as early as practicable and as soon Jis you shall haw
decided on some general mode of proceeding for the despatch of Inisiness, you will
be pleased to call upon the heads of the principal classes of natives to be present
at your deliberations, explaining to them the object of your appointment and the
desire of government, in associating them with you. that the interest of all should
be dnly considered in the arrangements adopted.

31. With reference to the extent and nature of the duties reqidred it will
be advisable that you should report your proceedings from time to time for con-

86 Anpcdofnl Hiftfory of Singapnrp

sideration and confirmation, and that whenever you have generally defined the
artangement to be adopted in any particular diviHion, you l*»ave the detail to be
oarti^ into effect by the Executive Officer or Police Department, or some sub-
ordinate committee, who will as occasion requires receive especial instructions for
the purpose from Government, according to your recommendation.

32, In (conclusion, it may be only ntH^^ossary to observe that in imposing such
extensive and varied duties on your committee, I feel fully confident that they
will be performed in the manner most advantageous to the general interests of the
Settlement and most creditable to youi*selves and that you will duly appreciate
their importance and necessity.

I am, &c.,

(Signed) T. S. Raffles.
Singapore, 4th November. 1822.

G. Bonham, Esq., Lieutenant Jackson, and F. Bernard, Esq.
Gentlemen,

1. It being essential that the several an*angementR for the improvement of
the town of Singapore should be carried into effect with the least delay practic-
able, I am directed to inform you that the Lieutenant-Governor has been pleased
t6 appoint you to be a committee for the pui*poRe of superintending these arrange-
ments and carrying them into effect forthwith, conformably to the ^lan laid
down, with such modifications as may from time to time be communicated to
you by the Lieutenant-Governor.

2. The general plan of the town, shewing the allotment of the diff«*rent
Campongs, principal roads and streets, and ground reserved for public purposes,
ifl in possession of the assistant Engineer who will from time to time com muni-
oate with the Lieutenant-Governor personally on any modifications that may
become necessary.

3. The first and most important point to be attended to is the removal of
the native population and buildings from the space on the north bank of the
river between the Tumongong's and the sea, to the opposite side of the river,
and a date should be fixed at which the present buildings, if not removed by
the present occupants, will be pulled down by Goveniment.

4. I enclose for your information the report of the Resident on the value
of these buildings and the progress made by the parties in removing, and it
will be your duty to see that a proper allotment of ground on the opposite
side be made for all persons obliged to remove and who may not already have
provided themselves with lots.

5. In the event of any question arising relative to the amount of valuation
of any particular property, you will give duo consideration to the same and
submit your opinion thereon for the further ordei*s of the Lieutenant-Governor.

6. The principle on which it has been resolved to proceed in granting
remuneration to the parties, is U^ advance them cme half of the estimated valuo
of their present buildings immediately, and to pay the remainder at the expira-
tion of six months if a brick building, or of three months if of plank, to be
calculated from the 1st of February, provid<^<l tho buildings are tlien removed
or transferred to Goveniment.

7. It is probable that to some of the parties advances have been made on
this account, as the Resident was long since authorized to grant to them what-
ever remuneration he deemed the parties entitled to. the particulars of these
you will of course ascertain and attend to.

8. The Resident will now be authonzed to make such further advances on
this account as may be required, on bills from the parties countersigned by the
members of the committee.

9. The removal of the Chinese houses on the sea face at Campong Glam,
the formation of the Chuliah campong there, and the laying out and appropri-
ating of Bugis town will also deserve your early attention.

10. The removal of the Chuliah and Dhoby encampment near the Sepojr
Lines should be immediately effected, in order that the ground may be appropri-
ated for the purposes for which it is intended.

1822

11. Dunng tbb progreflR makin^j^ by your committee tho assistant En^neer
will use every exertion in his department, and on reference to the Sittine Sagis.
trate, you will at all times obtain the most ready and efficient assistance from the
police, and as all parties have long had notice of the intentions and views of Gov-
ernment, there seems no occasion longer to delay the adoption of any measui'c
of general improvement on account of the particular accommodation of individuals.

12. The formation of the new streets with the construction of the markets
are objects deserving your early attention, and as the object of your appointment
is to enable you not only to pi«osecute but complete all the arranQ:ementR for laying
out the town, jrou are authorized to make such appropriation of ground to natives
as may be entitled to consideration, and finally to do all such things in view, (nc)
reporting your proceedings from time to time for the information of the
Lieutenant-Governor.

13. The Lieutenant-Governor feels satisfied that the members of this com-
mittee will both individually and collectively feel the hieh importance of the trust
reposed in them, and execute the same with zeal and aoility.

I am, &c.,

(Signed) L. N. Hull,

Acting Secretar
Sinsrapore, 28th February. 1823.

CHAPTER Vin.

GOMMEKCIAL Sl^UAUK AND THE OlI> KoCK.

IN the Hikayat AbdiiUa it says: — "Mr. RafBos and A[r. Farquhar
consulted together about the town, and Mr. Farquhar thought the
mercantile buildingR and markets ought to be on the Campong Griam
side, while Mr. Raffles thought they ought to be on the other side of
the river. Mr Farquhar said that on that side the traders would meet
many difficulties, as the place was a low swamp, with bad water, and
the expense of raising the levels of the ground would be very great,
besides the difficulty of getting earth for filling up. Mr. Raffles said
that if the Campong Glam side was chosen, the other side of the river
would be deserted, and would not be settled for a liundred years.
They were both full of projects and ideas on the subject, until three
days after, when it struck Mr. Raffles that he could break up the hill
at the end of Singapore point and fill np tliat side of the river [Boat
Quay and up to the Police Court] with the material. The next day
they met and made arrangements, and sent for coolies, greatly to the
surprise of everyone. Two or three hundred coolies, Chinese, Malays
and Klings, were employed at the rate of one rupee a day each man,
chunkoUing and carrying earth. Some were breaking np the rocks,
of which there were very many in the hill. There were many tindals
overlooking them, labour became dearer, although every evening bags
of money were brought and each man got his pa3'ment for the day.
Mr. Raffles came twice a day to give directions about the work.
After about three or four months the hill was completely cut down,
and all the hollows and streams and drains and valleys filled up.
There only remained one rock about tlie height of an elephant but a
great deal larger. The Chinese removed this for nothing, on getting
the stone for their trouble.^'

The rise in Battery Road and the other streets leading up to the
Square show where the hill was, and until late years there was a large
round boulder, probably part of the largo rock Abdulla speaks of,
which kept cropping up through the road metal in Battery Road, very
awkward for horses, which only disappeared when the road was widened
and raised. A part of the rock was built into the front wall of
Maclaine Fraser & Co.'s godown in Battery Road.

Abdulla then tells us : — "After the low marshy land [Boat Quay,
Circular Road, &c.] was filled up, raised and embanked, it was measur-
ed out into lots and sold by auction. If any one wishes to know the
locality of the hill, which was thus removed by Mr. Raffles, to fill up
the ground on this side of the river, it was at the end of Singapore
point, at the place now called Boat Street. [Boat Quay?] It was at
first made into a garden, and all manner of flowers and trees planted.

Commercial Square and the Old Rock 39

I recollect hearing formerly that this spot was chosen as a site to
erect a hnildinof in which to place a portrait of Mr. Raffles, as a
memento that it was he who had formed the Settlement, but for some
reason unknown to mo it was not carried out, and the place now
remains a garden opposite the house of Messrs. Spottiswoode and
Connolly/'

This is the present Commercial Square, an open space of about 200
yards long by 50 wide, with gardens in the centre. At the south
comer of Change Alley ( which might more appropriately have been
called Spottiswoode Alley ) where the building generally known as the
old Oriental Bank now stands, was Mr. Spottiswoode's garden, with the
house and godown standing further back inside the compound.

AbduUa then gives an amusing account of his own want of
enterprise. He tells us that he had bought a piece of ground, on Colonel
Farquhar's advice, at Campong (xlara and built a plank house with attap
roof, but lived there in terror as the place was surrounded Avith jungle.
Afterwards he says : " When they were selling the filled up ground
[near the Square] Mr. Raffles advised me to buy four or five lots, as
afterwards this part of the town would become valuable. I answered
where could 1 get money enough to pay for the land. I saw the lots
selling at auction for $1,200 and §1,150, and there was besides the expense
of building. Mr. Raffles smiled and said, never mind about the money,
take the land first and we can talk about payment hereafter. In my
stupidity and want of judgment, I thought of the difficulty I might
experience if I got into debt, in case I wished to return to Malacca ;
and besides money at that time was not easily earned in Singapore ; in
fact so much so, I made it a rule to go home to Malacca every six months.
If I should buy land and build houses I would not be able to go home.
In fact I really did not think at that time that Singapore would succeed.
Before that I was not aware that the land sales were mere formalities,
and that the price of lands was not paid, and I saw at once the deep
cleverness of the idea. If Mr. Raffles was to give the land for nothing
all manner of paupers would come, and when could he expect to see
piwka houses rising. So he put the lands at such high rates that
only wealthy people bought who could afford to build proper houses.
It was solely on account of my own stupidity and want of judgment
that I lost this opportunity of purchasing land, by following Tuan
Raffles' advice, and I now repent, but what's the use of that. As
the Malays say ' Repent before you do a thing, for it is no use
afterwards.' "

Then Abdulla tells us of the rock at the mouth of the river,
about which much has been said by all the writers about Singapore.
The following is Abdulla's account of the discovery of it.

''At the end of the point there was another rock found among
the brushwood ; it was smooth, of square form, covered with a chiselled
inscription which no one could read, as it had been worn away by
water for how many thousands of years who can tell. As soon as it
was discovered people of all races crowded round it. The Hindoos
said it was Hindoo writing, the Chinese that it was Chinese. I went
among others with Mr. Raffles and the Rev. Mr. Thompson. I thought
from the appearance of the raised parts of the letters that it was

90 Anecdotal History of Singnporp

Arabic, but I could not read it, as the stone had been subject to the
rising and falling tides for such a long time. Many clever people
came, bringing flour and lard, which they put in the hollows and then
lifted out in the hope of getting the shape of the letters. Some again
brought a black fluid which they poured over the stone but without
success. Ingenuity was exhausted in trying to decipher the inscription.
The stone remained there till lately. Mr. Raffles said the inscription
was Hindoo, because the Hindoo race was the earliest that came to
the Archipelago, first to Java and then to Bali and Siam, the inhabitants
of which places are all descended from the Hindoos. But not a soul in
Singapore could say what the inscription was. During the time Mr.
Bonham was Governor of the three settlements this stone was broken
up by the Engineer. This is very much to be regretted, and was in my
opinion highly improper; perhaps the gentleman did it from ignorance
or stupidity, and now, from his conduct, we can never know the
nature of this ancient writing. Did he not think that persons sufficiently
clever might come and disclose the secret so long concealed ? I have
heard that in England there are persons very clever in deciphering
such inscriptions with the aid of all manner of curious devices. Well
may the Malays says ' What you can't make, don't break.' "

From what has been written since on the subject it is clear that
Abdulla was pretty correct in his facts and his deductions; and it
is an example of the general correctness of his recollections of what
he himself saw. The next extract is from Lieut. Begbie's book : — " The
principal curiosity of Singapore is a large stone at the point of the
river, the one face of which has been sloped and smoothed, and upon
which several lines of engraven characters are still visible. The rock
being, however, of a schistose and porous nature, the inscription is
illegible. It is said that Sir Stamford Raffles endeavoured, by the
application of powerful acids, to bring out the characters with the view
of deciphering them, but the result was unsuccessful. Where such
an eminent person has failed, it may be thought presumptuous in me
to hazard a conjecture on the subject of the language in which the
inscription was penned, but I may perhaps bo permitted to make an
attempt to throw some light upon a subject so confessedly obscure.
Resorting to the Malayan Annals, which, clouded as they undoubtedlj-
are by fable and allegory, yet contain many a valuable piece of
information, we find therein mention made of three remarkable stones
at Singhapura. The first that I shall mention is that recorded at page
82 of Leyden's Malay Annals, in which the translator, following his
author, tells us " that there was a man of Pasei, named Tun Jaua Khateb,
who went to Singhapura with two companions, named Tuan de Bongoran,
and Tuan de Salangor. One day Tun Jana Khateb was walking in
the market place of Singhapura, and drew near to the palace of the
Rajah, where one of the Rajah's women observed him. He was looking
at a betel tree, when it suddenly broke. This was observed by the
Rajah, who was enraged at it, conceiving it to have been done solely
for the purpose of attracting the lady's attention, and displaying his
skill. He accordingly ordered him to be put to death. The executioners
seized him, and carried him to the place of execution and stabbed
him near the house of a seller of sweetmeats. His blood flowed on

Commercial Square and the Old Each 91

tlie ground, but his body vanished from their ken, and his blood was
covered up by the sweetmeat seller, and was changed into stone and
still remains at Singhapura.

" The second instance that I shall adduce is also recorded by the same
author, who informs us that, during the reign of Rajah Secander Shah,
the Javanese conquered Singhapura, principally by means of the treachery
of Sang Ran] una Tapa, who invited the enemy to the conquest in
revenge for the Rajah having directed Tapa^s daughter, who was one
of the royal wives, to be impaled on suspicion of infidelity. As a
judgment on his perfidy the historian says that * By the power of God
Almighty, the house of Sang Ran j una Tapa faded, and its pillars were
overturned, and rice ceased to be planted in the land, and Sang
Ranjuna Tapa, both husband and wife, were changed into stone, and
those are the two stones which appear beside the moat of Singhapura.

'*The third, though first in order of record, I have reserved for
the last because I am inclined to think that the evidence is fully
presumptive in favour of its being the stone now visible at Singapore;
it is to be met with at pages 62 and 63 of the Annals. The preceding,
pages inform us that in the reign of Sir Rajah Vicrama, there was a
redoubtable champion of the name of Badang. Several remarkable
feats of strength are recorded of him, but I will merely select the.
one in point. The fame of Badang having reached the land of Kling
(Coromandel) the Rajah of that country despatched a champion, named
Nadi Vijaya Vicrama, to try his strength with him, staking seven ships
on the issue of the contest. After a few trials of their relative powers,
Badang pointed to a huge stone lying before the Rajah^s hall, and
asked his opponent to lift it, and to allow their claims to be decided
by the greatest strength displayed in this feat. The Kling champion
assented, and, after several failures, succeeded in raising it as high as
his knee, after which he immediately let it fall. The story then says
that Badang, having taken up the stone, poised it easily several times,
and then threw it out into the mouth of the river, and this is the
rock which is at this day visible at the point of Singhapura, or
Tanjong Singhapura After some other recitals, the Annals state
that ' after a long time, Badang also died, and was buried at the
point of the straits of Singhapura; and, when the tidings of his
death reached the land of Kling, the Rajah sent two stone pillars, to be
raised over his grave as a monument, and these are the pillars which
are still at the point of the Bay.'

''Now, the fii^t two instances are totally destitute of presumptive
evidence; this last is, on the contrary, full of it. At the mouth of
the river there is a largo rock, which is concealed at high wator, and
on which a post was erected four or five years ago by, I believe,
Captain Jackson of the Bengal Artillery, to warn boats of the danger ;
this is the rock fabled to have been hurled by Badang : He is said to
have been buried at the point of the straits of Singhapura, the scene
of this wonderful exploit ; and thpre, the very spot where this record
is to be still seen, the Rajah of Kling, who had been so serious a
loser by it, ordered his monument to be erected. Fabulous and childish
as the legend is, it brings us directly to the point. Sri Raiah Vicrama,
called by Crawfurd (Indian Archipelago, Vol. 2, p. 482) Sri Rama

92 Anecdotal Hifftory of Singaporp

Wikaram, reigned in the year of the Hegira 620, or A.D. 1223,
and was succeeded in Heg. 634, or A.D. 1236 by Sri Maharaja.
The Annals state, after recording the death of Badang, that this king
reigned a long time ; consequently the occurrence must be placed early
in his reign. The Annals were written in the year of the Hegira
1021, or A.D. 1612, nearly four centuries afterwards, and the original
circumstance thus became obscured by legendary traditions; but I
think that we are fairly warranted in concluding that there was a
remarkable wrestler of the name of Bandang existing at that period,
and that this inscription contained a recital of his feats, &c.

*' This supposition naturally leads me to enquire what is the language
in which these actions, recorded about A.D. 1228, could have been
written. At the period of the transaction, the Malays were destitute
of a written language, as it was not until between forty and fifty
years afterwards, when the Mahommedan religion became the popular
one, that the Arabic character was introduced. It appears to be
probable that the Kling Rajah, aware of this destitution of a written
character, employed a sculptor of his own nation to cut the inscription
on the rock, and that, from the epitaph being in an unknown language,
the original story as therein related, being necessarily handed down
by oral tradition, became corrupted in every thing but its leading
features. This supposition is borne out by the form of the characters,
which more resembles that of the Malabar language than any other
oriental tongue that I am acquainted with. I do not mean to say
that the words are essentially Tamil, but merely to express an opinion
that the inscription is couched in an obsolete dialect of that language.
Language, as a nation progresses to civilization, sustains serious alterations,
which, barely noticed at the time, or viewed as merely slight and
necessary changes in order to meet the influx of new ideas and new
wants, nevertheless, in the lapse of years, almost substitute a different
dialect to that originally used by the community. The Tamil of A.D.
1228 may be easily conceded to be an obsolete tongue in A.D. 1830,
although we are unable to trace the successive changes which it may
have sustained in the revolution of six centuries. As a proof of this
assertion I have merely to imention that the earliest Dutch Records at
Malacca, which could not have been written before A.D. 1596, when
the Dutch amved in Java under Ilautman, are now unintelligible,
even to the best informed of the residents of that nation. Thus, in
the course of less than two centuries and a half, a European language
has boon lost, much more guarded by adventitious circumstances against
corruption than any native tongue could possibly be, in countries
where the constant intercourse and the similarity of dialect would
naturally lead to a fusion of Asiatic languages."

When the above passages appeared in the original of these papers,
Mr. W. E. Maxwell wrote as follows regarding them in the Free Press
of 15th November, 1884:—

"If you have access to a complete set of the Journal of the
Asiatic Society of Bengal, which I have not, you will find some infor-
mation about the inscription which was formerly to be read on the
rock at the mouth of the Singapore river, and about a similar inscrip-
tion- in Province Wellesley. Some of the fragments of the Singapore

Comvmrcial Square and the Old Hock 98

rock were, I thiuk, sent to the Asiatic Society's Museum at Calcutta.
See Journal, Asiatic Society Bengal, VI., 680; XVII., Part I., 154 and
232 ; Id., Part IL, 62, 66. Lastly, as to the legends which connect the
strong man Badang with Singapore and Johore. These are, I fancy,
only a localised version of a popular legend which may be found in
many Malay countries. I have heard the story of how Badang obtain-
ed his strength, told, mutatis mutandvt, of a Perak hero, Toh Kwala
Bidor. There are points of resemblance between the Malay Hercules
and the Scandinavian Odin.''

Sir William Maxwell afterwards collected all the papers he refers
to from the Journal of the Society, and published them in 1886 in the
first volume of Miscellaneous papers in Tribner's Oriental Series, which
were issued in two volumes by the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic
Society. From these papers which are of considerable length and con-
tain two curious pictures of the inscription on the rock, the following
remarks are taken : —

Dr. Montgomerie said that the rock was brought to light by some
Bengal sailors employed by Captain Flint, r.n., the first Master
Attendant. The men were much frightened on seeing the inscription
and could not be induced to go on with the clearing, which bad to be
completed by Chinese. Dr. Montgomerie added that it was a pity that
those who afterwards authorised the destruction of the ancient relic
were not themselves prevented by some such wholesome superstition.

There is also a paper written by Mr. James Prinsep, a famous
antiquarian of Calcutta; who said that several enquiries had been
made about the inscription, and that he had made numerous attempts
to procure a copy from some of the visitors to Singapore either for
amusement or for their health. This paper was published in 1837,
and says that Dr. William Bland of H.M.S. Wolf had at last made
a facsimile of all that remained in any way perceptible on the rocky
fragment. It was a rock, Dr. Bland wrote, of coarse red sandstone
about ten feet high, two to five feet thick and nine or ten feet in
length. The surface was an irregular square, with a space of about
thirty-two square feet with a I'aised edge all round. There had been
about fifty lines of inscription, the greater part illegible. He says he
made frequent pilgrimages to the rock, and describes how he made as
accurate a copy as possible of the marks on the stone. Eleven years
afterwards there is another paper, which says that Dr. Montgomerie
having mentioned that the rock had been blasted, application was
made from Bengal to the Governor to send any legible fragments that
might still exist, and he replied: "The only remaining portion of the
stone you mention, except what Colonel Low may have, I have found
lying in the verandah of the Treasury at Singapore, where it was used
as a seat by the Sepoy guard and persons waiting to transact business.
I lost no time in sending it to my house, but alas, not before the
inscription was nearly erased. Such as the fragment was then however
it is now, for I have preserved the stone with much care, and shall
have pleasure in sending it for your museum, having failed to establish
one, as I hoped to have done, in Singapore."

Governor Butterworth having sent the seat of the Sepoy guard to
Calcutta, a Mr. J. W. Laidlaw writes a paper about it, and also aboMt

94 Anecdotal Utatory of Sitigapore

three other pieces seut by Colonel Low, and he explains what he did
to try to make the characters legible enough to be copied. It shows
from the various accounts that AbduUa^s quaint description of the
various ** curious devices*' was correct. Some tried with "well made
and soft dough "; and by observing the shadows thrown into the
letters when ^*tbe sun was descending into the west*'; others by
painting the stone exactly over with white lead; others by strewing
over the stone finely powdered charcoal (animal being better than
vegetable as being specifically heavier !) and then sweeping it gently
to and fro with a feather. Raffles had tried acid, but this, one
remarked, was quite useless, as it could have no effect on such
stone. As one reads all this, one cannot help remembering the famous
antiquity which Mr. Pickwick discovered at Cobb am.

Colonel Low wrote that he was an unwilling and pained witness
of the demolition of that memorial of long past ages, his petition to
have it spared being met by the reply that it was in the way of some
projected Bungalow. On the explosion taking place he had crossed the
river from his office, and selected such fragments as had letters on
them. The Governor, Mr. Bonham, sent to ask him to preserve a
piece for him, and this was the portion sent by Colonel Butterworth to
Calcutta. As the fragments were very bulky. Low had them, at consider-
able cost, gradually chiselled by Chinese into the shape of slabs, which
were still ponderous. He presented them to the Society in Bengal.
It seemed to him that the inscription might probably date from an
early century of the Christian era. He had consulted Buddhist priests
without success, as he found he knew as much as they did, being, as
he says, a sadly ignorant set. There are drawings of the inscriptions
on the three pieces of stone sent to Calcutta by him, and the conclusion
in Bengal was a conjecture that the inscription was a record of some
Javanese triumph at a period anterior to the conversion of the Malays
to Mohammedanism.

Mr. W. H. Head writes : " I remember a large block of the rock
at the comer of Government House, where Fort Canning is now; but
during the absence of the Governor at Penang on one occasion the
convicts requiring stone to replace the road, chipped up the valuable
relic of antiquity, and thus all trace of our past history was lost. It
was destroyed when the sea-wall was built round Fort FuUerton,
where the Club, Post Office, and Master Attendant's Office now are.
It used to be decorated with flags and offerings when at the entrance
of the Singapore river. The immediate consequence of the removal
of the stone, an act of vandalism, was the silting up of the river.
I have been told that an inscription in similar characters, which I
always understood were '^cuneiform," still exists (1884) in the Carimon
Islands."

If the story of Mr. Badang is true, we see there were sports on
the Esplanade about six hundred and fifty years ago, which is the
time when Badang is said to have lived.

CHAPTER IX.

1828.

ON 2-Srd January, Sir Stamford wrote to tho Duchess of Somerset
and Mr. Marsden about his liouse. He said he had had another
very severe attack in his head in December, which nearly proved
fatal, and the doctors were for hurrying him on board ship for
Europe without much ceremony. However, as he could not reconcile
himself to become food for tishes, he preferred ascending the hill of
Singapore where his bones, if they remained in the East, would have
the honour of mixing with the ashes of the Malayan Kings; and the
result was that he had almost entirely recovered. He went on to say
that he had built a very comfortable liouse, a small bungalow, on the
hill, sufficient to accommodate his sister's family as well as his own,
where, though the height was inconsiderable, he found a great
difference of climate. Nothing could be more interesting and beautiful
than the view, and the tombs of the Malay Kings were* close at
hand. He said the house which was one hundred feet in front and
fifty feet deep was finished in a fortnight from its commencement.

This was the first Government House, and it occupied the site
until 1859, when Fort Canning was made, and Government House
was moved to the large house called Leonie Hill in Grange Road,
rented from Mr. Campbell of Martin Dyce & Co., which was used until
the present Government House was ready for occupation in 1869. In
1826 the cost of the house stood in the books as $916, but there
is a note that Mr. Crawfurd had improved and enlarged it at his
own expense; he having received $150 a month for house allowance
iu 1823, pending reference to Calcutta as to building a suitable house
for the chief authority. In Captain Begbie's book there is a description
of the first house in 1833. He says that it was a neat wooden bungalow
with Venetians and attap roof; and consisted of two parallel halls
with front and back verandahs, terminated by two square wings which
comprised the sleeping apartments. It seems probable that the centre
part he speaks of was the original house of Raffles, more substantially
constructed, which became the drawing and dining rooms, with the long
verandahs at back and front, and that the wings were built on to it
to provide sleeping apartments. It has always been a matter of
tradition that Lord Elgin walked up and down all night on the long
front verandah of the centre building, and decided in the morning to
divert the troops going to China, and to send them to Calcutta on
the rumour of the Mutiny having broken out in India, as will be
related hereafter.

Begbie says that the drive up the hill in those days was exceed-
ingly romantic, a spiral carriage road winding up the hill, and fresh
beauties attracting the eye at each progressive step. Eminences, un-
dulating above each other, displaying broad patches, either cleared for
cultivation or shining in the bright green livery of clove iplawl'aAi'cysi^^

96 Anecdotal Hiatory of ISingajjore

or yielding a prospect of inviting coolness by the forest clumps with
which they were chequered. Standing on the hill at the present time,
in front of the fort and looking towards the sea, the town extends
for some miles on either side at its base and round the back of the
hill, while the hills that Captain Begbie spoke of are cleared and dotted
with houses for several miles in each direction.

In January Raffles wrote to Calcutta requesting to be relieved, aj»
he intended to go to England, and he sui^gested that a Resident should
be appointed and Singapore placed under Bengal.

The European burial ground had been placed just in front of
the Government bungalow, so a better place was looked for, and the
present site of the old burial ground (which was used until 1865
when that in Bukit Timah Road was opened) was selected. Very
few persons ever visit the old Cemetery now, and yet there is a
history to be read in the tomb-stones, which however are fast
decaying and tumbling down. The inscriptions in granite are almost
effaced by time, and those on plaster have all tumbled away. The
names on marble plates have lasted by far the best. One of the
tomb-stones of 1821 must have been moved into this Cemetery from
the former one where the flagstaff is now.

The license fund had been established to pay the police and
other similar local charges. The Sultan and Tumongong were to be
paid partly by allowances and partly by the half of the port dues.
When those duties were foregone they had a claim on other revenues
and were paid one- third of the license fund, but in December, 1822,
these were commuted with them for $500 a month. The sums intended
for public buildings were paid as compensation for the houses im-
properly allowed by Colonel Farquhar to be built on the north bank
of the river, which had been reserved by Raffles for the Residency
house, Church, Police Office and other public buildings; and after
the erection of these buildings the local revenue would have been
sufficient to meet the expenses if the compensation had not been paid,
but now this could not be done during this year. In Mr. Braddell's
Notes is this memorandum of the expenses : —

6th Feb., 1819 to 30 April, 1820 Rs. 188,244

Mav, 1820 to 30 April, 1821 105,954

1821 to 1822 103,343

The following letter was written to the Resident on 4th February
by the Governor's Secretary : —

" I have the directions of the Lieutenant-Governor to request
you will take immediate measures for preventing the Chinese from
continuing the practice of letting off fire works at the Kramat you
have allowed to be erected on the Government hill. He regrets
exceedingly that any such establishment should have been permitted
by you, on a spot so close to the site which has been set apart
for the residence of the chief authority, and he trusts you will see
the propriety of causing the discontinuance of the nuisance. The
Lieutenant-Governor desires mo to state that he was disturbed
during the whole of last night by the nuisance complained of. I am
at the same time directed to request you will cause the removal of

1823 97

tho Chinese moveable temple and lights from the great tree near
the lines and which is included within the space proposed to be
reserved for the Church."

On the 18th February, the Goa Island signal post was directed
to bo removed to St. John\s Island, which was cleared for the
Hagstaff station, and might afterwards bo required for a lighthouse.
Groa Island is to the eastward of St. John's.

The first sale of lands on the Salat road, south of Scott's Hill,
in lots of 50 to 200 acres for cultivation, was made on the 23rd February.

In February, the committee (Messrs. Davis, Bonham and Johnston)
on the subject of the town, spoken of in the last chapter, was dissolved
with the warm thanks of Raffles, and their duties were made over to
the first Magistrates, who were then appointed. Sir Stamford nominated
them under Regulation No. 3 of 1823, by which they had the same
powers as Justices of the Peace in England. The commission ran thus,
after setting out the title of Sir Stamford and the authority under
which it was issued : ** And I do hereby order, require, and command
all persons now resident or who may hereafter come within tho juris-
diction of Singapore to show due respect and obedience to A. L.
Johnston, John Argyle Maxwell [merchants], David S. Napier [Napier
and Scott], A. F. Morgan, John Purvis, Alexander Guthrie, Graham
Mackenzie [merchants], William Montgomerie [the Residency Assistant
Surgeon], Charles Scott [Napier and Scott], John Morgan [merchant],
Christopher Rideout Read [A. L. Johnston & Co.], Andrew Hay [A. L.
Johnston & Co.], in the execution of the duties of their office accordingly."
The explanations in the brackets are, of course, inserted now. These
gentlemen were appointed for the year 1823, and the Resident had
authority to appoint others annually on the 1st of January in each year ;
the commission was to remain in force until the establishment of a
regular Court of Judicature.

Two of these Magistrates were to sit with the Resident in Court,
to decide in civil and criminal cases, and two were to act in rotation
each week for the minor duties of this office. Juries were to consist
either of five Europeans, or four Europeans and three respectable
natives. The Resident's court was to assemble once a week ; the
Magistrate's twice, but their office was to be open daily. Gambling
and cock-fighting were strictly prohibited.

On the 11th March, Colonel Farquhar was severely stabbed by
an Arab named Syed Yassin, who ran amok. On that morning, Syed
Omar, who has been spoken of before, had sued Syed Yassin for the
value of some goods he had sold to him; for Syed Yassin was a
native of Pahang and traded between there and Singapore. Colonel
Farquhar gave judgment for Syed Omar for $1,400, and Syed Yassin
said he had not the money to pay. Syed Omar replied that he had
the money, but would not pay, and Colonel Farquhar said that he
must either pay, or give proper security, or go to jail, for imprison-
ment for debt was, of course, then in force.

The imprisonment of a Syed (or Holy man) was an insult to a
descendant of the Prophet which could not be wiped out, as Syed
Yassin thought, and he planned his revenge, as we shall see, in an
artfal way. He was taken to the jail, which was near the present

08 Anocdnfal Hifffory of Singapore

Piiblic Offices by the river side, near the mouth of the river, .about
two o'clock, and no one thouo^ht of searching him; but he had hidden
his kris inside his coat. About five o'clock he asked Mr. Fred. James
Bernard, the Magistrate, to allow him to see Syed Omar, and try to
prevail on him to give him time to pay. Syed Omar lived in High
Street, on the same side as the present Court House, and Mr. Alexander
Guthrie lived opposite in a house in a compound on the other side of
the road, behind where the Hotel de I'Europe is now. Mr. Bernard
allowed it, and sent a Hindoo peon in charge of him, for which he was
afterwards blamed by Sir iStamford.

It was getting dark when Syed Yassin entered the compound of
Syed Omar's house to kill him. The peon stopped at the outer gate,
and when Syed Omar saw Syed Yassin coming in, he guessed his
intention from his countenance, and ran out of the back door and
along the river to Colonel Farquhar's house, which was near where
the present Cricket Pavilion is, and told him that Syed Yassin had
rushed at him at his house with a drawn kris. Colonel Farquhar,
who was certainly a brave man, took up his stick, and went out to
Syed Oraar*8 house. In the meantime, the peon finding that Syed
Yassin did not come out, called to him to come away, as it was get-
ting dark ; and Syed Yassin ' went to the gate and stabbed the peon,
who fell down dead at his feet. He then went bac^k again into the house
to look for Syed Omar, but did not find him as he had run to the Colonel's.

Just at this time Abdulla, the Moonshi, was on his way to Mr.
John Morgan's house to give him a lesson in Malay, and he met the
Colonel and his son Andrew and Captain Davis who commanded the
Sepoys, who was followed by four of his men with their muskets, and
another Sepoy carrying a pole. The Colonel asked Abdulla where
he was going ; and then said he had better not go to Mr. Morgan's,
as there was a man running amok at Syed Omar's house; so Abdulla
went with the party. They all went into the compound, in the centre
of which, in the front of the house, was the usual square place, where
natives used to sit and talk, called the halei. The Colonel walked
round the compound and into the house several times, but saw no
one ; for the murderer when he saw them approaching, had hidden under
the halei, which was in the dark, being surrounded by mangosteen trees.

Colonel Farquhar walked away from the house for some little
distance (as far as the bridge, where Elgin bridge is now) and then
he went back to the house. When he reached the centre of the lawn
he went up to the halei and pushed about with his stick underneath
it, when Syed Yassin suddenly made a crouching spring at him and
stabbed him in the chest, the blood from the wound quickly covering
his coat and shirt. Abdulla and Andrew Farquhar ran up and
supported him, and the latter having a sword in his hand cut Syed
Yassin's mouth right through to his ear, and the Sepoys seeing this
thrust him through with their bayonets. Captain Davis rushed off to
the Sepoy Lines, near where the Cathedral is now, and soon afterwards
returned with the Sepoys, without uniforms, some with only a cloth on,
but all carrying their arms in their hands, and dragging several
cannon which were loaded and primed and drawn up opposite the
Tumongong's fence which was higher up the river.

1823 99

The Colonel could not walk from Iosr of bloody so his son and
Abdalla^ and the Sepoy who had carried the pole, supported him into
Mr. Gnthrie^s house opposite, and laid him on a sofa. Dr. Montgomerie
soon came running in ; he examined the wound, and told the Colonel's
daughters that it was not very serious, as it was luckily not more
than a bad flesh wound, so he bound it up, and told the people, who
were iu a great consternation, that it was not so serious as had been
thought. A crowd of Europeans and Natives had assembled round Syod
Omar's house. There was no moon that evening, and the occurrence
happening after dark, the natives brought torches and candles, and
very few persons knowing what the cause of the disturbance was,
hastened to the place, numbers from the other side of the river coming
across it. Not a single Mal^y was to be seen, as they had all been
chased away by the Sepoys.

The general impression among the Europeans was that the Tumon-
gong's followers had stabbed the Resident, and in order to understand
what followed, we must remember that the Settlement was only just
four years old, and there was a very small number of Europeans in
the midst of a native community of some ten thousand persons, and
that it occurred, suddenly, after dark. Sir Stamford Raffles came in
his carriage, and in great haste ran into the Colonel's house, and
finding that he was not killed, as he had been told he was, took up a
candle and went to see the body of Syed Yassin.

Just at this time, a person going with a torch into Syed Omar's
componnd, stumbled over the dead body of the Hindoo peon, and then
a fresh hubbub arose. Sir Stamford, who seems to have been (as Mr.
Thomson remarks in his book) the only person who kept his wits
about him, asked who Syed Yassin was, but his body by this time was
so cut about by the infuriated people that it could not be recognised.
Captain Davis had laid the guns on the Tumongong's quarters, but
the Malays had all run away across the river, and he asked Raffles to
let him fire into the kampong, but Sir Stamford told him to wait until
he found out what it was all about. Mr. Bernard came up then, and
when he saw the dead peon's body he remembered that he had sent
him with Syed Yassin; and the other body was recognised as that of
the Syed. It soon became clear that it was Syed Yassin that had
stabbed Colonel Farquhar and not the Tumongong's people, and so
things quieted down. When the people had cleared away, they carried
the Colonel in a carriage to his own house, and Raffles ordered
Captain Davis to take back the cannons and the Sepoys to the
cantonment. Four of the convicts came and tied a rope to Syed
Yassin's feet, and dragged the corpse to the centre of the plain.
Raffles then ordered a blacksmith to be called, and when he came
with three others, he scored on the sand a thing in the shape of a
box, to be made of iron bars like a cage, about the height of a man,
and said it must be made that night and brought by seven in the
morning.

The next morning Sir Stamford went to the Colonel's house, and
the Sultan and Tumongong and their chiefs came, and all the
Europeans. The natives were called, and it was decided that the
corpse should be sent round the town, in a bufFalo cart, and the gong

100 Anmdofal Hisfoi'y of Singapore

beaten to tell the people what ho had done; and after thai: hung up
in the iron cage at Tanjong Malang now known as Teluk Ayer point,
on a mast; which was done, and it remained there for a fortnight.
On the 14th March, Raffles published a proclamation stating that the
Sultan in the name of the Malays had requested pardon of the King
of England and the body was allowed to be removed, but all must
take notice that amokers would be hung in chains and their bodies
given to the winds. The body was then buried at l^anjong Paggar,
where the result of the proceedings was (which Sir Stamford did not
anticipate) that it became a place of pilgrimage, and Syed Yassin was
considered a great saint, because the holy Syed had only killed a Fakir
(the Hindoo) and wounded a Nazarene (Colonel Farquhar).

By one of those coincidences that all experience occasionally, the
following passage was found in a little book that reached Singapore
after the first sheets of this book were in the press. It is a little
book published by Dent & Co., London, in 1901, called Tlie Story of
Penigia, written by Margaret Symons and Lina DufT Gordon, as one
of the guide books to the old towns ol Umbria: — "The street which
runs from the Piazza down into the Via dei Priori is still called the
Via Delia Gabbia because of the large iron cage which used to hang
above it from the upper windows of the palace. In this cage the
Perugians were want to imprison thieves and other malefactors. * * *
In 1442 we read of a sacrilegious robber, ^who was put into a round
cage^ and with a cord he was dragged up into a corner wall of the
Palace of the Podesta, and there he remained for two days, and in the
night he was put into prison ; and in the loggia of that palace twelve
sacks of the stolen goods were stored and round that cage there was a
garland of false keys * * * and on the 28th January the said
Angelo was again put back into the cage at midday, and it was very
cold and there was much snow, and he remained there till the first day
of February, both night and day, and that same day he was brought
out dead and laid upon his bier on the Piazza, and he was buried in
the passage of San Lorenzo which leads into the cloister.' " An inter-
esting story of medieval times in the old-world town of Italy, and if
it was not a custom that was known in other towns, is it possible that
Sir Stamford may have heard of the cage at Perugia ?

This was the first amok we have any record of here. Tliey are
now rare, although in former times, and not very long ago, they were
frequent enough. Mr. Thomson mentions the cases of two of the
Dutch Governors of Bencoolen, and a Dutch Admiral, and of Lord
Mayo at the Andamans, and Chief Justice Norman at Calcutta, a^s
remarkable instances of what we know as amok, but the last two
were rather murders of an individual than amok.

Mr. John Crawfurd says that the word in which the k at the end
is mute and is pronounced by the Malays amo, means a desperate and
furious charge or onset, either of an individual or body of men. The
charge of the English at Waterloo, or the French over the bridge at
Lodi would be considered, he says, by a Malay as illustrious pengamohi.
Dr. Johnson in his Dictionary says he "knows not from what deriva-
tion the word is made to mean to run madly and attack all he meets."
Crawfurd says it is the result of a sudden and violent emotion wholly

1823 101

unpremeditated, and is most frequent among the Bugis (4 Logan's
Journal, 184). There is a paper on the subject (3 Logan's Journal,
532) by Dr. Oxley, who had great experience. He says that there are
instances which require discrimination to prevent irresponsible persons
suffering the penalty of the injured law. And that he had found cases
where the monomaniac was suffering from some gastric disease or trouble-
some ulcer, and these fearful ebullitions broke out on some exacerbation
of the disorder. Their friends said they generally appeared melancholy
a few days before the outbreak; and that monomania among the
Malays almost invariably took this terrible form. He said three-fourths
of the cases he had seen were by Bugis. There is another paper in
the same volume without the writer's name (p. 463) in which the
amok is said to be the act of a monomaniac, and the mental condition
is quite inconsistent with a regard for consequences; the pleasures of
life have no attractions, and its pains no dread ; the man being reduced
to the gloomy despair and inward rago of the pengamok,*

The first step therefore for the suppression of amoks was the
abolition of the habit of carrying weapons by causing the Malays to
trust for protection to the Government, for there was no security that
if subjected to misfortune, insult, or oppression, an amok would not
result. In those days when a Malay of Singapore could not go in his
boat to the back of the island, to Johore or over to Siak, without a risk
of being robbed and killed by pirates, he could not go unarmed; and
of a hundred murders in Singapore in those days very few of the
perpetrators were apprehended. The same article questions whether
justice which seems to closely resemble revenge is advisable, and Mr.
Thomson speaking of the hanging of Syed Yassin's body in the cage,
expresses the same opinion. The case that is often mentioned on this
subject ocenrred in Pen an g, and the judgment has been mentioned
lately in a book on matters connected with the Native States. As
the judgment of Sir William Norris is given in full in the same
volume of Logan's Journal, it may be interesting to reprint it here.
It reads somewhat curiously half-a-century later.

The case occurred on the 8th July, 1846, when a respectable
house-builder in Penang ran amok in Chuliah Street and Penang
Road, and killed an old Hindu woman, a Kling man, a Chinese boy
and a Kling girl of three years old in the arms of her father, and
wounded two Hindus, three Klings, and two Chinese, only two of
whom survived. The witnesses said that after the recent loss of his
wife and child he would not drink or smoke, and they thought he
was mad. He said to the jury that he did not know what he was
about, but as the jury said he had committed so many murders he
supposed it must have been so. The amok took place on the 8th,
the trial on the 13th, and the execution on the 15th July; all within
eight days. It is said that amoks, which had been frequent in Penang,
b^ame almost unknown there afterwards, so that if one of the prin-
cipal objects of punishment is the prevention of crime by others, it
succeeded in its object. Still it seems somewhat pitiful in the light
of Dr. Oxley and Mr. Thomson's remarks and the prisoner's statement.

* Amok; menyanw^ to run amuck; penganio^ the peraun who runs amuck.

102 Anecdotal History of Singapore

It is quite cei'tain, however, that the interpreter could never have

interpreted such a homily, and that the prisoner and the natives in

Court never understood what it was all about*; and if the days for

such a sermon from the Bench have not yet passed away, they are

certain do so in the light of advancing intelligence.

The judgment was as follows : —

" Sunan, you stand convicted on the clearest evidence of the wUf ul murder of
Pakir Sah on Wednesday last and it appeal's that on the same occasion you stab-
bed no less than ten other unfortunate persons, only two of whom ai*e at present
surviving. It now becomes my duty to pass upon you the last sentence of the
law. I can scarcely call it a painful duty, for the blood of your innocent victims
cries aloud for vengeance and ooth justice and humanity would be shocked were
you permitted to escape the infamy of a pubhc execution. Grod Almighty alone,
the great 'searcher of hearts,' can tell precisely what passed in that wretched
heart of yours before and at the time when you committed these atrocious deeds ;
nor is it necessary for the ends of justice that we should perfectly comprehend
the morbid views and turbulent passions by which you must have been actuated.
It is enough for us to know that you, like all other murdei*ers, *had not the
fear of God before your eyes,* and that you acted * of malice afore-thought and by
the instigation of the devil ' himself, who was ' a murderer from the beginning."
But all the atrocities you have committed arc of a peculiar character and such
as are never perpetrated by Christians, Hindoos, Chinese, or any other class than
Mahomedans, especially Malays, among whom they are frightfully common, and
may therefore be jjustly branded by way of infamous distinction, as Mahomedan
Murders, I think it right, therefore, seeing 80 great a concourse of Mahomedans
in and about the CouH, to take this opportunity of endeavouring to disabuse
their minds and your own of any false notions of courage, heroism, or self devo-
tion which Mahomedans possibly, but Mahomedans alone of all mankind, can ever
attach to such base, cowardly and brutal murders ; notions which none but the
devil himself, 'the father of lies,' could ever have inspired. But if such false,
execrable and dangerous delusions really are entertained by any man or body of
men whatever, it may be as well to show from the gloomy workings of your
mind, so far as ciix^umstances have revealed them, that not a particle of nianly
courage or heroism could have animated you, or can ever animate any
man who lifts his cowardly hand against helpless women and children. You
had lately, it se<*ms, been greatly afflicted by the sudden deaths of your
wife and only child, and God forbid that I should needlessly harrow up your
feelings by i"everting to the subject. I do so merely because it serves in some
degree to explain the dreadful tragedy for which you are now about to answer
with your life. Unable or unwilling to submit witu patience to the affliction with
which it had pleased God to visit yon, you abandoned yourself to discontent and
despair, until shortly befoi-e the bloody transaction, when you went to the mosque
to pi*ayl! — to pi'ay to whom or to what? Not to senseless Idols of wood or stone
which Christians and Mahomedans eauaily a1x>minate — but to the one omniscient,
almighty, and all merciful God in whom alone Christians and Mahomedans pro-
fess to believe I But in what sph-it did you pi*ay, if you pi-ayed at all? Did
you pray for resignation or ability to * humble yourself under the mighty hand
of God'P Impossible. You may have gone to cui*se in your heai*t and gnash
with your teeth, but certainly not to pray, whatever unmeaning sentences of the
Koran may have issued from your lips. Doubtless you entered the Mosque with
a heart full of haughty pride, an^er and rebellion against your Maker, and no
wonder that you sauied lorth again overflowing with hatred and malice against
your innocent fellow-creatures; no wonder that, when thus abandoned to the
devil, you stabbed with e(}ual cinielty, cowardice and ferocity, unarmed and help-
less men, women and children, who had never injured, never known, probably
never seen you before.

* There is an old story that in Malacca after a long moral discourse by
the Judge, it was interpreted as *' Suda Salii, (jantontj besok*' (you are guilty,
and will be bung to-monx>w). The Judge asked the interpreter whether he had
explained it all. and being told that it was all right, deemed very much sur-
prised at the brevity of the Malay language.

1823 108

Sucb are the murdera whicli Mahomedans alone have been found capable of
committing. Not that I mean to brand Mahomedans in seneral as worse than
all other men, far from it; I believe there are many good men among them,— -
as good as men can be who are ignorant of the only true religion. I merely state
the fact that such atrocities disgrace no other creed, let the Mahomedans account
for the fact as they may. But whatever may be the true explanation; whether
these fiendish excesses are the result of fanaticism, superstition, overweening
pride or ungovernable i*age, or, which is probable, of all combined, public justice
demands that the perpetrators should be visited with the severest and most dis-
graceful punishment which the law can inflict.

The sentence of the Court therefore is, that you, Sunan, be remanded to
the place from whence you came, and that on the morain^ of Wednesday next
YOU be drawn from thence on a hurdle to the place of execution, and there hanged
by the neck until you are dead. Your body will then be handed over to the sur-

f:eon8 for dissection, and youi* mangled limbs, instead of being restored to your
riends for decent interment, will be cast into the sea, thrown into a ditch, or
scattered on the eai'th at the discretion of the Sheriff. And may God Almighty
have mercy on your miserable soul ! "

Among some very old papers collected by Mr. Braddell is a
translation of the proceedings held in Dutch on the trial for amok at
Malacca in 1803 of a man called Tjin Tjay^ described as a slave. It
is mentioned here to show how the Dutch dealt with the case. The
prisoner said he was despairing, so he took a parang and cut at the
Chinese woman and her children, and appeared very indifferent to
the proceedings. The record shows that the trial was held before
*' De Groot, President, and other members of the College of Justice.'^
The English had been in possession of Malacca since 1795, but the
law of Holland continued to be administered, and was carried on as
usual by the Dutch authorities in the name of their High Mightinesses
(see Newbold p. 126 and 151). In a despatch by Mr. Crawfurd at
Singapore, written on 13th November, 1824, he spoke of this, and
said ''Under our administration at Malacca which lasted upwards of
twenty years matters were kept as much Dutch as possible, Dutch
laws having been strictly administered by the same Court of Justice
of three judges with salaries of 60 to 100 guilders a piece ! " The
note of exclamation is Mr. Crawfurd's.

The record ends, " Wherefore it is resolved that the prisoner be
carried to the place of execution, and there being delivered over to
the executioner he be bound to a cross and suffer until death, and
that afterwards his body be taken down and exposed as a prey to
the birds of the air.'' This was confirmed six days afterwards at an
Extraordinary Meeting of the Court "on the part of their High
Mightinesses the States'' which recommended that the sentence be
addressed to Colonel Taylor, who was the English Resident who was
succeeded by Major Farquhar.

lai

CHAPTER X.

1823 — Contiiined.

ON the 14th March^ a location was given to the Sultan as follows: —
To the east of the European town and lying between Rochore
river and the sea; measuring in front along Beach Road 731 feet; at
back of Chnliah Campong and along Rochore river about 1,200 feet; in
depth from Beach Road to Rochore river 2,100 feet. Estimated to
contain 56 acres. To the Tumongong was allotted a space of 6,000
feet along the Beach from Tanjong Pagar to Teluk Blangah and 1,200
feet deep. Estimated to contain 200 acres.

On the 1st April, a meeting was held about the founding of the
building to be called " The Institution," wliich afterwards was called
the Raffles Institution. The whole subject is dealt with in a subsequent
chapter.

In April, in consequence of the scarcity of labour, the local convicts
were ordered to work on the roads.

On the 1st day of May, Sir Stamford and Colonel Farquhar fell
out, and the former deposed the Resident from his authority. It seems
that the Colonel understood that the accounts were to be sent by him
direct to Bengal, Instead of to Ben cool en as had been the case. To
this Raffles objected, and the Resident finding the control of Raffles
unpleasant, became contumacious, and called upon Raffles, who was
Lieutenant-Governor, to shew his authority for sitting in the Court of
Justice, and refused to obey his orders. Raffles could not stand this,
and took over charge of the civil duties of the station himself. Mr.
Braddell in a pencil note says that Colonel Farquhar was summarily
removed by an official notification intimating that his resignation, sent
in as far back as 23rd October, 1820, had been accepted. In a copy
of a letter in Mr. Guthrie's letter book, addressed to his partner,
Captain Harrington, at Malacca, dated 2nd May, Mr. Guthrie said that
on the previous day Colonel Farquhar had been deposed by Sir Stam-
ford ; he gave no reason, as Harrington was probably aware of what
had been going on. The Resident had a party led by Mr. Queiros,
who was agent for Palmer & Co. of Calcutta, the agents of the Dutch,
against whose authority Raffles' most strenuous opposition had been
carried on for years. On 23rd June, in a despatch to Calcutta, Raffles
said : " It is impossible not to respect Mr. Palmer as an individual, but
it is to be recollected that he is now the avowed agent of the Nether-
lands Government in these seas, and that it is very possible his mercan-
tile interests may frequently be at variance with the principles which
an enlightened government may wish to adopt in its dependencies.^'

On the 1 1 th January Raffles had written to Calcutta that he
requested to be relieved on account of bad health, but that if the two
offices of Resident at Singapore and Governor General's Agent in

182o 105

Eastern Seas were to be united, he would not leave Singapore till lie
could transfer charge to a more competent successor than Lieutenant-
Colonel Farquhar, in whom he had little confidence. On the 27th
January he wrote again, saying that he was anxious to make arrange-
ments for his successor. " I feel myself called upon to state in general
terms that I consider Colonel Farquhar to bo totally unequal to the
charge of so important and peculiar a charge as that of Singapore
has now become. However competent that officer may have been for
the charge in the earlier stage of the Settlement, it is obvious that it
has for some time past grown beyond his management, and that he
neither entertains such general views nor can enter upon those
principles of general government which now mark the character
of the British Indian Administration. Having passed nearly the
whole of his public life in the Dutch Settlement of Malacca his views
are confined to his experience at that place, where the duties were
insignificant, and where, from long neglect of the higher authorities,
little like regular government existed except in the forms of a Dutch
Court and the partial continuance of regulations established in the
plenitude of the Dutch monopoly. The circumstances of Singapore are
perfectly incompatible with these, and the consequence is confusion and
general dissatisfaction. The Malay connection in which Lieut-Col.
Farquhar is involved, and the general weakness of his administration
afford an opening for such an undue combination of peculiar interests,
as not only to impede the progress of order and regularity, but may
lay the foundation of future inconvenience which it may hereafter be
difficult to overcome." The letter then goes on to complain that under
the weak and inconsistent rule of Colonel Farquhar, fjivouritism and
irregularities were daily arising and, now that the Settlement was
growing larger, would be inconvenient if not chocked, and therefore
asked that on his (Raffles) approaching departure a more competent
officer should be appointed to succeed as Resident. He added that he
had formerly said that he might remain in the East till 1822, but
that time had passed and there was still no prospect of any final
arrangement being arrived at in England about Singapore. The result
was that Mr. John Crawfurd was appointed Resident, and Singapore
was placed directly under Bengal.

In a letter written at Bencoolen in November (Memoirs, page 555)
Raffles wrote, " I had only one object in view, the interests of Singa-
pore, and if a brother had been opposed to them I must have acted
as I did towards Colonel Farquhar, for whom I ever had, and still
retain a warm personal affection and regard. I upheld him as long as
I could, and many were the sacrifices I made to prevent a rupture.
In Mr. Bonlger's book at page 357 will be found a long letter by
Raffles to the Court of Directors on the subject.

Captain Davis married one of the daughters of Colonel Farquhar ;
Mr. Bernard married another; and Mr. W. R. George, who was so
very well known in Singapore, and died here in 1873, at the age of
77 years, married another. Major-General Farquhar died in Perth, in
Scotland, on the 13th May, 1839, in his sixty-ninth year.

The system of slavery and slave-debtors prevailed in Singapore
and Malacca to some extent at this time. The former was abuh'&hed

106 Aiiecdotal Hiatory of Singapore

by Haffles in 1823; who carried into effect the provisions of the Act
of Parliament for the abolition of slavery, and considerably modified
the system of slave-debtors. The claim of the creditor was in no case
to be considered to exceed the services of the debtor for a period of
five years, the debt being considered as worked out at the rate of one-
fifth each year. The Magistrates made a presentment against the
whole system of slave-master and slave-debtors on the 7th March,
and Raffles act^d upon it at once, the regulation being dated Ist May,
1823. It may be found at length in the appendix to Sir Stamford^s
Memoirs. The gaming licenses were stopped in May, the Magistrates
having in a memorial of the 9th April strongly objected to their
continuance. On the 17th May, §250 were given to the Rev.
Mr. Thompson from the License Fund towards building a Malay
Chapel.

In May the Java Government renewed its complaints and carried
on a correspondence with the British Indian Government in such a
tone that that authority declined entering further into the matter.
The Dutch complained that Raffles had allowed the British flag to be
hoisted on the mainland at Johore. Sir Stamford had done so on the
requisition of the natives because Tunku Jaffar in the name of Sultan
Abdul Rahman, at the instigation of the Dutch, had sent a party to
take possession of the mainland of Johore. Without the English in-
fluence Sultan Hoossain would have been quite unable to hold the
mainland, and Raffles thought it politic to allow its nominal use. The
Calcutta Goveniment in a letter dated 21st May, 1824, did not approve of
this, but said that the subsequent measures of the Dutch Government
deprived them of all right to apology. With the light of future events it
is evident that Raffles did a very wise thing. The Dutch got possession
of the regalia of Johore when the Governor of Malacca and a Dutch
gentleman of influence went to Pulo Peningat, and after trying persua-
sion in vain, are said to have marched a body of soldiers with loaded
arms into the chamber of Tunku Futri, and to have taken the regalia
by actual force.

In June, Raffles was making preparations for leaving Singapore
for the last time, and he made a fresh agreement with the Sultan and
Tumongoug. The Sultan was to receive $1,500, and the Tumongong
§800, monthly. The whole island of Smgapore (with the exception of
the land appropriated to the chiefs) and the islands immediately
adjacent to be at the entire disposal of the British. The following is
a translation of the arrangement, the Straits Government printed copy
of which says it has no date but was concluded about the beginning
of June. In a despatch from Calcutta of 1 6th August, 1823, it speaks
of the convention of 7th June, 1823, which unquestionably refers to
this document and a letter of Raffles also mentions that date. The
original counterpart has been found in Johore. It is in Malay
only, has no date, and is on one side of a large piece of foolscap
paper : —

Then* Highnesses the Sultan and Tumongong having solicited that the Lieutenant
Governor would, previous to his departm*e, lay down such genei*al rules for their
guidance as may be most conducive to the general interests of Singapoi'e, and
at the isame time servo to deiine the rights of all paitieSi that there may be no

1823 107

diupute hereafter: The followins^ rules ai*e laid down by the Lieutenant-Gover-
nor, and concurred in by their Bighnec^es, to foiou the basis of the good imder-
standing to be maintained in future : —

Ist.^ In order to contribute to the pei'sonal comfoi*t and respectability of
their Highn««8e8, and at the same time to afford them an ample and liberal com-
pensation for any adyantage eitlier expected or forej^oue by them, on account
of port duties, tribute, or prufits on monopolies, which are found to be inconsis-
tent, and at variance with the principles maintained by the British Grovernment,
their Highnesses are, from the 1st instant, to receive a monthly payment, His
Highness the Sultan of 1,500 dollars, and His Highness the Tumongong 800
dollars per month, on the following conditions : —

2nd. Their Highnesses to forego uU right and claim to the monopoly of
Ki*anjee and Baloo wood within Singapoi*e, and the islets immediately adjacent,
as well as all claims to presents and customs upon Chinese junks and GhincBe
generally coming and going.

3rd. With the exception of the land appropriated to their Highnesses for
their respective establishmentti, all land within the island of Singapore, and islands
immediately adjacent, to be at the entire disposal of the British Government.

4th. As a fiu^her accommodation to their Highnesses, the Resident will be
authorized to advance such further sums of money as may be sufficient for the
completion of a respectable mosque near the dwelling of His Highness the Sultan,
and also to assist His Highness the Tumongong in remo^'ing and establishing
himself on the gi'ound recently selected by nim.

5th. Under these aiTangements their Highnesses will be relieved from fuHher
personal attend^mce at the court on every Monday, but they will always be entitled
to a seat on the bench, and to all due respect when they think proper to attend.

6th. In all cases regarding the ceremonies of religion, and marriages, and
the rules of inheritance, the laws and customs of the Malays will be respected,
where they shall not be contraiy to reason, justice, or humanity. In all other
cases the laws of the British authority will be enforced with due consideration
to the tisages and habits of the people.

7th. Tiie British Grovemment do not interfere at present in the local aiTange-
ment of the countries and islands subject to their Highnesses* authority, beyond
Singapore and its adjacent islets, further than to afford them geneiul pi*otection
as heretofore.

Chop of the Sultan. T. S. Raffles.

Chop of the Tumungong.

The expense of the Civil Establishment when Sir Stamford left,
amounted to $3,500 a month; the Resident, Mr. Crawfurd, drawing Jl,400
(being salary ^750, table allowance $500, and allowance for house rent
§150) ; Mr. Bonham, the Assistant Resident, $300; Captain Flint, k.n..
Master Attendant, $300; the Police Department, $450; the acting Chap-
lain, $100; Lieutenant Jackson for the Surveying Department, $200,
which, however, was to include the establishment; ana the Botanical
Gardens $60; the rest was for clerks, boatmen and interpreters. In
June, Raffles applied for a vessel to cruise against pirates, whose
attacks on vessels he described as extremely frequent, and affording
serious obstacles to native trade with Singapore.

During his last visit to Singapore, Sir Stamford had appointed
committees of merchants and officials for various purposes, and had
vjSet the example of entrusting the un-official residents with a degree
of power commensurate with their position in the community. In March,
1823, he wrote to Bengal : '* I am satisfied that nothing has tended
more to the discomfort and constant jarrings which have hitherto
occurred in our remote settlements, than the policy which has dictated
the exclusion of the British merchants from all share, much less credit.

108 Anecdotal Hufiory of Singapore

in tlie domestic regulations of the settlement, of which they are
frequently its most important members/' Words on which much mij^ht
Ijo said, in commenting on the history of later years, and attention
to wliieh by men, not similarly gifted, in later times, might have
saved a good deal of irritation on both sides, and materially advanced
the interests of the place.

On Sir Stamford's departure, the following address was presented-
to him by the entire mercantile community, through Mr. Crawf urd : —

"To Sir T. S. Raffles, Lieutenant-Governor of Fort Marlborough.

" Honourable Sir, The period of your approaching and final depar-
ture is one of peculiar interest to the commercial community of this
place, and we, the undersigned, members of it, gladly seize the op-
portunity which it jiffords us of indulging in the expression of those
feelings towards your person, which the occasion is so well calculated
to excite.

" At such a moment, we cannot be suspected of panegyric, when
we adverb to the distinguished advantages which the commercial in-
terests of our nation at large, and ourselves more specially, have
derived from your personal exertions. To your unwearied zeal, your
vigilance, and your comprehensive views, we owe at once the found-
ation and maintenance of a Settlement unparalleled for the liberality
of the principles on which it has been established ; principles, the
operation of which has converted, in a period short beyond all exam-
ple, a haunt of pirates into the abode of enterprize, security and
opulence.

*' While we acknowledge our own peculiar obligations to you, we
reflect at the same time with pride and satisfaction upon the active
and beneficent means by which you have promoted and patronized
the diffusion of intellectual and moral improvement, and we anticipate,
with confidence, their happy influence in advancing the course of
humanity and civilization.

'' We cannot take leave of the author of so many benefits without
emotion, or without expressing our sorrow for the loss of his pro-
tection and his society. Accept, Sir, we beseech you, without dis-
tinction of tribe or nation, the expression of our sincere respect and
esteem, and be assured of the deep interest wo shall ever take in
your own prosperity, as well as in the happiness of those who are
most tenderly related to you.

*'We remain, with the deepest respect,

''Your most obedient Servants,

(Signed by the European and Native

Merchants of Singapore).

Singapore, June 5tli, 1823.

To which Sir Stamford sent the following reply: —

" Gentlemen, — Mr. Crawf urd has delivered to me the address, which

you have so kindly and delicately drawn up on the occasion of my

departure.

" Under the peculiar circumstances of my personal connection with

the establishment of Singapore, it is impossible to suppose that 1 can

1823 109

be indifferent to any of its interests, far less to its commercial inter-
ests, of which I consider you to be the representatives.

'*It has happily been consistent with the policy of Great Britain,
and accordant with the principles of the East India Company, that
Sinf^pore should be established as a Free Port; that no sinister, no
sordid view, no considerations either of political importance or pecuni-
ary advantage, should interfere with the broad and liberal princii)les
on which the British interests have been established. Monopoly and
exclusive privileges, against which public opinion has long raised its
voice, are here unknown, and while the Free Port of Singapore is
allowed to continue and prosper, as it hitherto has done, the policy
and liberality of the East India Company, by whom the Settlement
was founded, and under whose protection and control it is still ad-
ministered, can never be disputed.

''That Singapore will long and always remain a Free Port, and
that no taxes on trade or industry will be established to check its
future rise and prosperity, I can have no doubt. I am justified in
saying thus much, on the authority of the Supreme Government of
India, and on the authority of those who are most likely to have
weight in the councils of our nation at home.

"For the public and peculiar mark of respect, which you. Gentle-
men, have been desirous of shewing me on the occasion of my departure
from the Settlement, I beg that you will accept my most sincere
thanks. I know the feeling which dictated it, I acknowledge the
delicacy with which it has been conveyed, and I prize most highly
the gratifying terms to me personally in which it has been expressed.

"During my residence among you, it has afforded me the highest
satisfaction to witness the prudence, the regularity, the honourable
character of your proceedings, and when I quit you for other lands,
I shall be proud to bear testimony in your favour, not only as your
due, but as the best proof of the sure and certain result which the
adoption of liberal and enlightened principles on the part of Govern-
ment must always ensure.

"There are some among you. Gentlemen, who had to encounter
difficulties on the first establishment of the freedom of the Port, and
against whom party spirit and its concomitant, partial judgment, was
allowed for a time to operate. In the commanding station in which
my public duty has placed me, I have had an opportunity of, in a
great measure, investigating and determining the merits of the case,
and the result renders it a duty on my part, and which I perform
which much satisfaction, to express my most unqualified approbation of
the honourable principles which actuated the merchants of Singapore
on that occasion.

" I am not aware. Gentlemen, that I have done any of you a favour,
that is to say, that I have done to any man amongst you, that which
I would not have done to his neighbour, or more than what my duty
required of me, acting, as I have done, on the liberal and enlightened
principles authorized by my superiors. My best endeavours have not
been wanting to establish such principles, and to sketch such outlines,
as have appeared to me necessary for the future prosperity of the
Settlement, and in doing this it has been most satisfactory to me to

110 Anecd/)fal Hiftfory of Singaparp.

have found in you that ready concurrence, and at all times that steady
support, which was essential to my government and authority.

"May you. Gentlemen, English and Native, and as the language
of your address expresses it, without class or distinction, long continue
in the honourable and distinguished course which you have so happily
commenced, and may the principles which you respect and act upon,
long distinguish you among the merchants of the East.

"I can never forget that the Singapore Institution could not have
been founded without your aid. The liberal manner in which you
came forward, to spare from your hard earnings so large a portion for
the improvement and civilization of the surrounding tribes, and in the
furtherance of general knowledge and science would at once stamp
the character of the Singapore merchant, even if it did not daily come
forward on more ostensible occasions.

"I am grateful for the kind expression of your personal regards
to me, and those who may be dear to me ; and, in return, beg yon
will accept my most sincere and heartfelt wishes for your health,
comfort, and prosperity.

"I have the honour to be,
"Gentlemen,
"Yours most faithfully,

T. S. Raffles.'^
Singapore, June 9th, 1823.

The following resolutions of the Bengal Government show the
reason for placing Singapore under that government, to which it was
transferred from Bencoolen : —

Fort William, 29th March, 1823.

"The first question for consideration is the nature of the control
to be exercised henceforwsird over the affairs of Singapore, and the
proceedings of the local Resident. The arrangement under which that
trust was vested in the Lieutenant-Governor of Fort Marlborough
originated in the circumstances under which the settlement was founded,
and the temporary convenience resulting from it will cease with
the relinquishment of the charge by Sir Stamford Raffles, under whose
immediate direction the settlement was established, and whose personal
superintendence of it, in its early stage, therefore possessed a peculiar
value.

"It would seem more naturally to fall within the range of the
Government of Penang, hut there are objections of a different kind to
that arrangement. Inhere is a general impression that the prosperity
of Singapore must in a great degree be attended with a proportionate
deterioration of Penang. As far as the information furnished by the
records of the custom house at the latter place affords the means of
judging, it would not appear that this has yet been the case; but
there is no doubt that the feeling prevails among the inhabitants of
])oth settlements generally, and without supposing that it reaches the
Government, or that if it did, it would bias their conduct, there seems
no such advantage to be contemplated in rendering Singapore depen-
dent on Penang, as to justify the risk of injury to the interests of the

1823 / in

rising establishment, from the direct or incidental consequences of such
an arrangement. The system of government and the principles of com-
mercial policy prevailing at the two settlements are moreover radically
different, and it is not reasonable to expect that each could be ad-
ministered under the direction of a subordinate and limited authority
with equal eifect.

J "On the occasion of relieving Sir Stamford Raffles from the
Superintendence of Singapore, the Governor-General in Council deems
it an act of justice to that gentleman, to record his sense of the
activity, zeal, judgment, and attention to the principles prescribed for
the management of the settlement, which has marked his conduct in
the execution of that duty.

"On placing Mr. Crawfurd in charge of the settlement of Singa-
pore, you will be pleased to communicate with him fully on all points,
and furnish him with such instructions as you may deem necessary for
carrying into effect the orders which are now communicated to you, in
reply to your several despatches relative to the affairs of that settlement."

The rest of this chapter consists of the papers referring to the
arrangements Sir Stamford made for establishing the constitution he
spoke of in his letters in November, 1822. The greater part of them
have been preserved in Mr. BraddelFs Notes, but the Proclamation
was sent to the Straits Branch Asiatic Society's Journal for 1891, by
the late Mr. H. A. O'Brien. He was Treasurer of the Colony and
found it among some old documents in the Singapore Treasury. He
was apparently, unaware that it was printed at page 66 of the Appendix
to Lady Raffles' book in 1830.

PROCLAMATION.

Provision having been made by Regulations Nos. III. and VI. of 1823 for
the establishment of an efficient Magistracy at Singapore and for the mode in
which local Regulations having the force of Law should be enacted, and by
whom such Laws should be administered, it now becomes necessary to state
the prineiples and objects which should be kept in view in framing such
Reflations, and, as far as circumstances may admit, to apprize all parties of
their respective rights and duties, in order that i^noi'ance thereof may not hereafter
be pleaded on the part of any individual or class of people.

The Iiieut«*nant-Govemor is, in consequence, induced to give publicity to. the
following Minute containing the leading principles and objects to be attended to : —

Minute by the Lieutenant-Governor.

1. As the population of Singapore will necessarily consist of a mixture, in
various proportions, of strangei*s from all parts of the world having commercial
concerns at this Port, though chiefly of Chinese and Malays, it would be im-
practicable for any Judicial Authority to become perfectly acquainted with the
Laws and Customs having the force of Law which are acknowledged in their
own countries respectively by the varied classes of so mixed a ^pnlation, and
to administer them in such a manner as to preserve them inviolate even in
the mutual intercourse of those classes severally amongst themselves, far moi'e
80 when justice is to be done between the Englishman and Chinese, the
"^ngguese and Hindoo, and the like. On the other hand, to apply tb»> law of
' Europe direct, with all its accumulated processes and penalties, to a people
^of whom more than nine-tenths will probably be natives of China and the
, Malay Archipelago, would be as repugnant to univeraal and natural justice as
; it would be inconsistent with the benevolence and liberality which has ever marked
t^e British rule in India.

112 Anecdotal notary of Singapore

2. Under these circumatanccs, nothing seems to be left but to have re-
course to first principle , to use every precaution against the existence of
temptation to cnuie tnat is found consistent with the perfect liberty of those
who have no evil intentions, and when these precautions fail, to secure i^dress
to the injured party, when possible, and such punishment as will be most
likely to prevent a repetition of the crime, either by the party himself offending,
or by those who may be inclined to follow his example. Nothing should be en-
dured in the Settlement, however sanctioned by the local usage of particular
tribes who resort to it, that has either a direct effect, or notoriously strong
tendency to endanger the safety or liberty of person or the security of property,
and in the same manner no want of what are considered legal foi*malitiea in
any country should debar a person from having substantial justice rendered
to him, 80 that legal atid moral obligation may never he at variance.

«3. Taking tliis as the fundamental principle for the Laws of the Settlement,
it may be presumed that no local Regulation would be enacted that the society
if left to tuemselves would not desire to see carried into effect; no public
institution or source of exptmse would exist of which the benefit was not obvious
to the enlightened part at legist, if not to the whole body of the community, who
would therefore soon feel that the Government w:is not made to t3'rannize over
the people, but for their protection and happiness.

4. Under such a system of administration, it is not unreasonable to expect that
i*very facility would be afforded by the mass of the population to the Executive
in cari-ying the Laws into effect. f«)r even the midnight robber and swindler have
no desire that their own persons or pi*operty should be liable to those evils
which they inflict on the rest of the community, and will readily join in their
suppi<ession when other delinquents are the objects of the terrors of the
Law.

5. In caiTjing such a system into effect, it ought to be fully understood
and maintained on all occasions, that while individuals are allowed to prated
themselves as far as possible against wix>ngs, the redress of wrongs cannot be
left to the i*esentment or the revenge of the parties conceiving themselves injured.
That must be done solely by Government through the instrumentality of the
Judicial and Executive Officei*s whom it appoints for that purpose.

6. No one therefore being allowed to be a judge in his own case, or to
revenge his own quarrel, anns or weapons capable of inflicting instant death
.'IS habitually worn by the Malays become unnecessary, and, by dispensing with
them, the greatest temptation to and power of doing to others the greatest and
invmediable wrong in depriving them of life is in a great measure removed.
If a man takes another's horse or cow by robbery or theft or under a mistaken
idea that he has a right to the property in question, redress can be afforded to him
as so<^m as he is convicted of his crime or discovera his eiTor, but if from revenge
or under false impressions a man is suddenly excited to take the life of a fellow
creatui"e, it is in vain that he afterwards discovers that he was misled by passion
or liad been deceived by appearances. It often happens too in these countries
that a man who considers himself aggrieved by a particular individual and finding
himself in possession of a sharp weapon, attempts the life of every one he meets
indiscriminately, and without having any wrong at their hands to complain of.
It is impossible to see who may or may not be guilty of such acts of inhuman
(U'uelty, and therefoi-e all should agree to lay aside the use of the weapon that is
commonly employed by persons who then transform themselves to wila beasts by
giving way to brutal passion.

7. On the same principle, it has been found by expenence that those who indulge
frtKjuently in gaming and cock-fighting, are not only liable to engage in quarrels
with those who have won their money, but also that they are incited to acts of fraud
and ix)bbery in order to obtain the means of amusement or of attempting to retrieve
their losses; it is therefore the duty of Government to suppi*ess both gaming and
cock-fighting as far as possible without trespassing on the free will of private
conduct. No man should be allowed to I'eceive any money either dii^ectly or in-
directly for ct>nducting a gaming table or cock-pit, and winners of money at such
phices shoiihl be conipclU'd t<» restore the amount to the losers, and should on no
account be permitt«*(l to tnforco payment ivowx those with whom they have
gambled on credit.

1823 113

8. Intorication being a source of personal danger to the commnnity, and the
indulgence in that yice being a frequent cause of betrajring those who are addicted
to it to the commission of acts of dishonesty, it is the duty of a good Magistt*acj
to throw every obstacle in the way. In the first place the Officers of Police
should be required to place in constraint any person seen in public in a state of
intoxication until he becomes sober, and in the next place the vendor of intoxicating
articles who supplied him with the means of inebnety, should be visited with re-
proof and fined, and be liable to make good the amount of any loss which the
person so intoxicated can prove he suffered during his inebriety from being unable
to take care of himself; the extent of this fine must necessarily be discretionary
on the part of the Magisti'ate, depending principally on the degree of inebriety
produced; it should always be of such an amount that the fear of being subject
to it may be sufficient to outweigh in the mind of the vendor the temptation of
profit in the sale of his goods ; of course if it should appear in evidence that the
individual was supplied with the means of intoxication for the purpose of taking
advantage of him in that state, the object converts the simple misdemeanour into a
crime according to the particular purpose contemplated, and further punishment
to the guilty as well as redress to the individual injured must be awarded accord-
ingly. The use of spirituous liquors, though innocent in moderation, becomes
vicious when indulged in to excess : the consumption may be diminished by
the enhancement of price : and in this way the indulgence may be made so
expensive as to be only attainable beyond the bounds of moderation by thosft
whose means give them a station in society that induces them to be guarded
in their conduct for the sake of preserving the respect of those whose eyes are
turned upon them ; thus, while gaming as practis^ed by the Chinese and cock-
fighting by the Malays are absolutely pernicious in every degree in which they
come under public cognizance, the use of opium and spirituous liquors may be
i-epressed by exacting a heavy tax in the w.iy of License from the vendors.

9. There are many important considerations that stand in the way of enacting
laws against prostitution, indeed it would, in a country where concubinage is
not forbidden, be difficult to draw a line between the concubine and the
common prostitute ; it is practicable however in some degree, and highly desirable,
that the temptation to profit should not exist to induce the seduction of women
into this course of life by othei*s of their own sex ; the unfortunate prostitute
should be treated with compassion, but every obstacle should be thrown in the way
of her seinrice being a source of profit to any one but herself. It should there-
fore be declared unlawful for any person whatever to share the hire or wages
of prostitution or to derive any profit or emolument either directly or indirectly
by maintaining or procuring prostitutes, as for any parent or guardian of a
female or any other person to ask or receive directly or indirectly any reward
for bestowing a female in prostitutifm, any custom, law or usage of the country
in which such female or her parents or her guardians were born notwithstanding,
reserving only for a jury to advise what constitutes a legal obligation on the
man to support the woman thus bestowed, or in other words a contract of
marriage by local usage, and what a connection of prostitution; the penalty
must be here also be modified by circumstances. It is much more criminal to
induct a girl into prostitution than to facilitate her pursuit of vice after she
has entered upon it as a profession.

10. It may be necessary to make specific Regulations for the protection of
the community generally against fire, })oth with regard to the construction of
buildings, the stonn^ of gun-powder and combustibles, the manufacture of arrack,
Ac, Ac, the power of infringing on a neighbour's property after a fire has broken
out either for the purpose of access to the means of extinguishing it or to
prevent its spreading to a greater distance.

11. Boatmen and parties offering themselves publicly for hire may also be
subjected to regulation with the view of facilitating the attainment of redress
when they are guilty of fraud and negligence.

12. Weights and measures of the acknowledged standard should be acces-
sible to all, and those used in purchases and sales ought to be in strict con-
formity with such standards. Certain Magisterial Officers, therefore, should be
employed to examine those used by persons who openly keep goods exposed for

114 Anecdotal Hifttory of Singapore

sale. Wlien found defective the person in whose behoof they are used should
be liable to fine proportioned to nis supposed means and the apparent degree
of fraud resorted to.

13. Fraud with respect to the quality of articles is a crime moi*e readily
detected, and may be left to private prosecution. In giving redress to the in-
dividual, punishment ought to be annexed in proportion as the fraud is of an
injurious nature.

14. As a great, check to fraud and falsehood, a general Registry Office for
all written agreements or engagements which are liable to be made the ground
of dispute before a Court of Justice, should be opened for the public. Regulation
should be made for the authenticity of the document in the first instance, and
either party or any party interested should be entitled to a copy, paying for
the same a moderate fee as a compensation for the trouble given to the Regis-
trar and his Establishment. Precaution must of course be taken against the
falsification or abstraction of such documents from the Registrar's Office. All
deeds which may be so registered should have an avowed preference over one
that is not so registered, unless the holder of the latter can shew a dear,
distinct and satisfactory cause why he has not been able to have hi« deed
registered and the onus of establishing this ought decidedly to rest on him.

15. Nuisances generally speaking may be safely left to complaint of in-
dividuals in each particular instance where the caase of nuisance is not obvious
to all, or directly mjurious to particular individuals, as crowding the river with
vessels, &c., when it may be made subject of special regulation.

16. All house- holders should be I'egistered and all houses numbered;
auctioneers and pawnbrokers should be placed under specific regulations, and
none allowed to act as such without giving security for complying with the
same and taking out a license for the purpose.

17. With respect to the employment of informers, it may be observefll
that Magistrates must have information, but no bad passion should be elicited
in the procuring of it. No temptation to lead others to vice for the sake of
reward for informing, no inducement to betray confidence, and the act of giving
information should be treated as a public and honourable duty.

18. Precautionary measures being taken on the above principles for preserving
the peace and good order of society and removing as far as pi-acticable the
immediate temptations to crime and violence, it next becomes necessary to
define what shall be considered Crimes, what lawful punishments, and how in-
juries shall be redressed.

19. By the constitution of England, the absolute rights of the subject
are defined as follows: —

1st. " The right of personal secui'ity ; which consists in a person's legal

uninterrupted enjoyment of his life, his limbs, his body, his health

and his reputation."
2nd. **The right of personal liberty; which consists in the power of

locomotion, of changing situation or removing one's person to whatever

place one's own inclination may direct, without imprisonment or

restraint, unless by due course oi Law."
3rdly. "The right of property; which consists in the use, enjoyment

and disposal of all acquisitions without any control or diminution

save only by the Laws of the Land.'*

20. There seems no reason for denying corresponding rights to all classes
of people residing under the protection of the British Flag at Singapore, the
Laws of the Land being such as are or may be enacted under the provisions of
Regulation No. III. of 1823, dated the 20tb January last, with such others of a
more general nature as may be directed by a higher Authority or which may
necessarily acci-ue under the provisions of the Legislature and the political cir-
cumstances of the Settlement as a Dependence of Great Britain. Admitting these
rights to exist, it follows that all acts by which they are invaded are wrongs, that
is to say, crimes or injuries.

21. In the enactment of Laws for securing these rights, legal obligation must
never supersede or take place of or be inconsistent with or more or fess onerous
than moral obligation. The English practice of teaching prisoners to plead not
guilty, that they may thus have a chance of escaping from punishment, is incon-

1823 115

sistent with this and consequently objectionable. It is indeed right and proper
that the Court should inform itself of all the circumstances of a crime from
witnesses as well as from the declaration of the pnsoner himself. Denial is in
fact an a^srayation of a crime according to everj^ idea of common sense. It dis.
arms punishment of one of its most beneficial objects by casting a shade of doubt
over its justice.

22. The sanctity of oaths should also be more upheld than in the English
Courts. This may he done by never administering them except as a dernier
regort. If they are not frequently administered, not only will their sanction be
more regarded and in this way their breach bo less proportionately frequent,
but of necessity much more absolutely uncommon and ccmsequently much more
certainly visited with due punishment in all cases of evidence given before a
Court of Justice.

23. The imprisonment of an unfortunate debtor at the pleasure of the creditor,
by which the sei*vices of the individual are lost to all parties, seems objectionable
in this Settlement, and it is considered that the rights of property may be
sufficiently protected by giving to the creditor a right to the value of the debtor's
services for a limited period in no case exceeding five years, and that the debtor
should only be liable to imprisonment iu ease of fraud, and as far as may be
necessaiT lor the security of his person in the event of his not being able to
find bail during the process of the Court and for the performance of the decree
after judgment may be passed.

v/ 24. It is well known that the Malay race are sensibly alive to shame, and
that in many instances they would prefer death to ignominy. That is a high and
honourable feeling and ought to be cherished; let great care be taken to avoid
all punishments which are unnecessarily degrading. Both the Malays and Chinese
are a reasoning people, and though each may reason in a way peculiar to them-
selves and different in some respects from our own way of reasoning, this germ
of civilization should not be checked. Let no man be punished without a reason
assigned. Let the principles of British Law be applied not only with mildness
but with a patriachal kindness and indulgent consideration for the prejudices of
each tribe as far as natural justice will allow, but also with reference to their
reasoning powers however weak, and that moi'al principle which, however often
disregarded, still exists in the consciences of all men. Let the native institutions
as far as I'egards religious ceremonies, marriage and inheritance be respected when
they may not be inconsistent with justice and humanity or injurious to the peace
and morals of society.

Let all men be considered equal in the eye of the law.

Let no man^be banished the country without a trial by his peers or by due
course of law.

Let no man be deprived of his liberty without a cause, and no man detained
in confinement beyond 48 hours without a right to demand a hearing and trial
according to due course of law.

Let the people have a voice through the magistracy by which their sen-
timents may at all times be freely expressed.

25. In fixing a scale of punishments, the first principle to be attended to is
that they should be so graduated as to attach to each particular crime its due
and relative punishment according to its enormity, and with regard to the nature
of the punishments they should be as mild and humane as the general security
of person and property will admit. Severity of punishment defeats its own end,
and_the^laws should in all cases be so mild that no one may be deterred from
prosecuting a criminal by considerations of humanity. No feeling interferes with

Sistice in behalf of a murderer, let this crime be punished by death, and no other.
anishment is the next in order. Solitary confinement proportioned to the degree
of the offence or pertinacity of the offender in his criminal course seems the least
objectionable of all sorts of punishment. Disgrace may also be a form of punish-
ment, but much caution is required in this respect lest a too frequent enforcement
of the punishment destroy the feeling which can alone make it a punishment.
-Personal chastisement is only for the lower orders who are incapable of feeline
the shame of disgrace, and may probably be had recourse to in cases of wilful
perjury where the falsehood of the witness is palpable and his object particularly
miachievoaB. In all cases let it be considered as no less an object . of ^tjtie Law

116 Anecdotal History of Singapore

to afford redreH8 to the party injured, than to punish the offender. Compensa-
tion should in all cases, where it is possible, be made to the injured ^rty to
the extent of the means of the offender, as in the case of the Malajr Bangoon
where when the father is murdered, the f:imily are entitled to pecuniaiy com-
p^isation for his loss.

T. S. RAFFLES.

With these views and principles the Lieutenant- G-ovemor has this day ti*an8-
mitted to the Acting Magistrates such a graduated Scale of Crimes and Punish-
ments as appears to him sufficient to meet the existing circumstances of the
Settlement and to answer the end of substantial justice, with instructions that
they will duly deliberate on the subject and after such revision as their local
knowledge and experience may suggest, submit the same to the Chief Local
Authority with their opinion, and in the form of a Code of Laws to be established
for the Settlement and to be in force after publication by the Resident until re-
scinded by a higher Authority, or altered under the provisions laid down for
the enactment of local Laws and Regulations.

The Magistrates have further been required to frame in the form of a Police
Regulation, to be approved and published by Government, such further Regula-
tions as may be advisable in that department.

It is to be hoped that the provisions that will be thus made will be found
sufficient for the public peace and the protection of person and property until
circumstances may admit of the establishment of a more regular Court of Judi-
cature, every arrangement that can be now made being necessarily of a pro-
visional nature.

Dated at Singapore 6th of June, 1823.

By the Lieutenant Grovemor of Foi*t Marlborough and its dependencies.

T. S. RAFFLES.

Letter of Instructions to Mr. Crawfurd on Baffles* departure.
To John Crawfurd, Es<}.,

Resident of Smgapore.
Sir, .

Having communicated so fully with you pei-sonally, on the affairs of Singapore
and our interests to the eastward, and so entirely concurring as we do in all
general questions of policy relating to them, it is only necessary that in titans-
fering to you the future administi*ation of this Settlement, I should advert to
such points of detail as may require to be particularly defined.

Pars. 2-6 Relate only to form of accounts.

7. The Go vemor- General in Council having authorized the appointment of
a responsible assistant to the Resident, Mr. Bonham, of the Bencoolen Civil
Service, has been appointed to that situation, and I trust his conduct will merit
your confidence; as, however, he is a young man and cannot be expected at
present to have that weight in society that so experienced and responsible an
officer as Captain MuiTay must have, it is left to your discretion to make such
temporally provisions to supply your place in case of accident, or c»f your leaving the
settlement, as may be necessai'y for the public service, pending the orders of the
Governor-General on the subject, it being understood that your Civil Assistant
is the proper officer to supply your place when absent, if he is competent to the duty.

8. The peace of small settlements being fi-equently disturbed by disputes
concerning rank, particularly of the ladies, I think it would be advisable for you
to avoid fixing any real rank whatever. Good breeding will always pay due
deference to those who have any particular claims to precedence, at the same
time that it will prevent the latter from claims it may not be agreeable to others
to acknowledge, and as far as the public service is concerned your particular
instructions according to the occasion will define what may be necessary.

9. The proclamation of 1st January, defines the form in which all regulations
of a general nature are to be drawn out, and the sevei-al provisional regulations
of 1823, coutain all such general laws and regulations as are now in force.

10. With regard to the allotment of ground already granted, every detailed
information will be found in the office of the Registrar and Executive Officer. The
last grant issued by me is No. 574.

1823 117

11. The enclosed extract of the resolutions of the Govemor-G^eral in Council,
will place jou in possession of (the opinion of) that authority regarding the principle
on which ground should in future be disposed of, and you will of course paj
particular attention to the same. The advertisement of the Slst ultimo provides
for the cases particularly referred to by the Supreme Grovemment, in which I
have substituted an annual quit-rent for the payment of a capital sum as purchase
money. On a reference to the register of grants it appears that the quit-rents
for pounds in the vicinity of the town, already amount to an annual sum ex-
ceeding 3,000 Spanish dollars, which affords a permanent interest of 5 per cent,
on a capital of 60,000 Spanish dollars, and exceeds by 20,000 dollars, the amount
for whicD these particular lots were disposed of, after deducting for these lots which
were granted in lieu of othera and for which no purchase money was to be exacted.

12. By the accounts of the Town Uommittee, just delivered, you will perceive
that the amount advanced by Grovemment as compensation for removing these
houses to make room for the Commercial establishments, on the opposite side of
the river, will be dollars 10,259 for the China campong and dollars 1,704 for the
Chaliah campong, and enclosure No. 4 contains the plan proposed by the Town
Committee for recovering those amounts for the parties who are now enjojring
the benefit of it. You will adopt this or such other arrangement as you may
deem most just and proper and at the same time calculated to meet the con.
venience of the parties.

13. With regai'd to the ground between the Tumongong's and the sea, you
will also perceive on reference to the same accounts, that the total amount
stipulated for by the Committee is 25,706 i Ct. dollars, and that of this sum
14,756i bas already been paid, and 10,950 remain due to the parties, exclusive of
the compensation gi-anted to Mr. Quieros, Captain Methuen and Mr. Bernard,
regarding which I have addressed you in a separate letter of this date.

14. It will further be seen by the said accounts that a sum of Ct. dollars
6,305 has been stipulated by the Uommittee to Chinese and others removing from
the beach at Campong Glam, &c., and that of this sum there remains still due
dollars 4,133.50.

15. The total amount compensations sanctioned by the Committee therefore amount
in the whole to Ct. dollars 43,974.50, of which sum dollars 24,886 has been already
paid and dollars 19,088.50 still remain due, and for this amount of balance due, you
will be pleased to make such advances from the Treasury to the License fund,
as may oe required from time to time in fulfilment of the engagements entered
into, it being desirable that until the accounts of compensation are finally closed,
the whole should stand as disbursements from the License fund as heretofore.

16. Whenever the License fund shall have satisfied all these demands, and
repaid into the Treasury the amounts from time to time advanced into it, you
will be pleased to receive the amount so falling due as the revenue of Gt>vem-
ment, and carry it to account in the Treasury accordingly.

17. The remaining duties to be performed by the Committee may I conceive
be conducted by your assistant and the executive officer, who are well acquainted
with the details.

18. The ground plan of the town and its vicinity with which you have been
furnished, with the explanations which I have personally given, will have placed
you fully in possession of the arrangements I nave had in view in this respect,
and for all further details and information, I refer you to Lieutenant Jackson,
the executive officer, who fully comprehends them and will be able to give you
every satisfaction.

19. In laying out the town, I particularly recommend to your attention the
advantage of an early attention (not only) to the provision of ample accommo-
dation K)r the public service hereafter whenever it may be required, but to the
beauty, regularity and cleanliness of the settlement; the width of the different
roadbs and streets should be fixed by authority, and as much attention paid to the
general strle of building as circumstances admit.

20. The only public works of importance at present in hand, are the bridges
and Sepoy lines, the former is executed by contract and the latter on estimate
by the executive officer.

2L For your information respecting the form to be observed in the execution
of public works, I enclose copy of a letter from the Secretai-y to the Governor-

118 Anecdotal History of Singapore

General in Council, in the Territorial Depai'tment, under date the 20th January
last. There are other points in this letter which will deserve your attention and
particularly its conclusion, where a principle is laid down of which you should
never lose sight, namely, that advantages in a financial point of view " must chiefly
be looked for in a careful system of economy, avoiding unnecessary expense, rather
than seeking revenue to cover it."

22. Enclosure No. contains the agreement this day entered into with their
Highnesses the Sultan and Tumongong, and which it is trusted will prove satis-
factory to all parties. I have had reason to be much satisfied with the honest
intentions of these chiefs and particularly of their attachment to our Government,
and I recommend them particularly to your personal kindness and attention.
There are not wanting mischievous people, however, to mislead them and you should
be on your guard against these.

23. Their Highnesses the Sultan and Tumongong seem to be under some
apprehension regarding the safety of Johore, Rajah Moodah of Rhio, under the
direction of the Dutch authorities, having made several attempts to enforce his
authority there. You are recommended to take an early opportunity of conferring
with their Highnesses on the subject, and adopting such provisional arrangements
for the security of the place as may be prudent, without involving us in any new
question with the Dutch.

24. You are personally so well acquainted with the politics of Singapore, the
nature of our term and the importance of avoiding all further clashing with the
Dutch authorities, that it is unnecessary for me to give you particular instruc-
tions on this head.

25. I shall make a point of forwarding to you for record in the Resident's
Office at Singapore, copies of all con-espondence which has taken place with the
Supreme Government respecting the settlement, and in the event of my immediate
departure preventing my communicating with the Governor- General in Council
the particulars of the transft^r until your monthly accounts are forwarded, you
will be pleased to transmit with the same to that authority a copy of the in-
structions now given to you, with an intimation, that it is my will to address the
Governor- General in Council more fully on the subject by an early opportunity.

26. Should I have omitted any particular points, I shall hereaSter communi-
cate with you further, and in the meantime I trust the above will be sufficient
for your guidance as far as concerns the immediate management of Singapore.

27. Having given you these instructions as far as re^^^rds your situation as
Resident of Singapore, I am desirous also of calling your attention, on some
points, to the line of policy which it appeal's to uie advisable for you to pursue
moi'e generally in your political capacity in the Archipelago. On this subject
one of the most material points is our political relations with Siam and the
Malayan States alleged to be tributary to it. On this point it is incumbent u^n
me to state with candour that the policy hitherto pursued by us has in my opinion
been founded on erroneous principles. The dependence of the tributary states
in this case is founded on no national relation which connects them with the
Siamese nation. These people are of opposite manners, language, religion and
general interests, and the superiority maintained by the one over the other, is so
remote from protection on the one side or attachment on the other, that it is but
a simple exercise of capncious tyranny by the stronger party, submitted to by the
weaker from the law of necessity. We have ourselves for nearly forty yeai*8
been eye witnesses of the pernicious influence exercised by the Siamese over the
Malayan States. During the i-evolution of the Siamese government these profit
by its weakness, and from cultivating an intimacy with strangers, especially with
ours over other European nations, they are always in a fair train of prosperity.
With the settlement of the Siamese government, on the contrary, it invariably regains
the exercise of its tyranny and th« Malayan States are threatened, intimidated
and plundered. The recent invasion of Quedah is a stnking example in point,
and from the information conveyed to me it would appear that that commercial
seat, governed by a prince of most respectable character, long personally attached
to our nation, has only been saved from a similar fate by a most unlooked for
event. By the independent Malayan States, who may be supposed the best judges
of this matter, it is important to obsei-ve that the connection of the tributary
Malays with Siam is looked upon as a matter of simple compulsion. Fully aware

1823 U9

of oar power and in general deeply impressed with respect for our national charac-
ter, still it cannot be denied that we suffer, at the present moment, in their good
opinion by withholding from them that protection from the oppression of the
Siamese which it would be so easy for us to give; and the case is stronger with
regard to Quedah than the rest, for here a general impression is abroad amongst
them, that we refuse an assistance that we are by treaty virtually bound to give,
since we entered into a treaty with that state, as an independent power, without
regarding the supremacy of Siam or ever alluding to its connection for five and
twenty years, after our firat (establishment at Penang). The prosperity of the
Settlement under your direction is so much connected with that of the Malayan
nations in its neighbourhood, and this again (so much depends) upon their liberty
and security from foreign oppression, that I must seriously recommend to your
attention the contemplation of the probable event of their deliverance from the
yoke of Siam, and your making the Supreme government immediately informed
of every event which may promise to lead to that desirable result.

28. The suppression of piracy in the sea of the Archipelasfo is the second
point to which I would call your attention. It would be extremely desirable that
a general plan having this in view were put in force in conjunction with the govern-
ment of Prince of Wales Island, the Dutch authorities, and the principal native
independent states. Your centrical position at Singapore will afford you superior
means for submitting such a plan to the supreme authorities. It is true that since
the establishment, oi late years, of vigorous and powerful governments in these
seas, on our part and that of the Dutch, piratical attacks on European vessels
have become comparatively rare. They continue however extremely frequent on

^ native vessels, ana afford serious obstacles to that intercourse by which the pro-
ductions of the neighbouring nations are collected at this emporium, and our wares
and manufactures disseminated in return. Piracy for example is so frequent in
the Straits of Malacca, between Malacca and Pinang, that the square-rigged vessels
of the Chuliahs or natives of the Coromandal Coast, a timid oeople, are on this
ac'*ount precluded from coming further than Pinang and Acnin, and thus the
trade of fifty or sixty brigs and ships are in a great measure lost to Singapore,
for an inconsiderable poi*tion of these people, only, tranship themselves and their goods
on British vessels for security and thus find their way to us. This peculiar obstacle
may be remedied by dii'ecting the vessel, for which application is made to the
Supreme government, to afford them convoy once a year from Penang, an employ-
ment which will not materially interfere with the other duties to which it may
be appointed.

29. The most formidable piratical depredations here, are committed by the
hardy and ferocious races which inhabit the Sooloo and other islands lying between
Borneo and the Philippines. These portions of the east insular seas are little
known to us, and the first object will be to obtain some accurate knowledge re-
specting their social and political condition. I especially recommend this subject
to your attention ; valuable information regarding them may be collected from
the numerous native tradera already frequenting Smgapore, and a personal visit to
the countries in question may hereafter be deemed advisable. In the meantime
the maintenance of a friendly and crmciliating correspondence with the chiefs of
the tribe and nations in question, and generally with all independent tribes of the
Eastern islands within the limits of the authority given to you by the Supreme
Grovemment, will strengthen the confidence of tne native inhabitants in general
and promote the important purpose of your appointment.

I am, &c.,

(Signed) T. S. Rapflbs.
Singapore, 7th June, 1823.

Sir T. 8, Baffles^s Letter to the Supreme Government, 1th June, 1823.

Allotment of Ground.

The principle laid down in the Resolution of the Supreme Government in the
Political Department of the 2l8t March last, and transmitted with Mr. Secretary
Swinton's letters of the same date, regarding the manner in which ground should

126 Anecdotal History of Singapore

be disposed of at Singapore, haa been duly make known, and the public have been
apprized that all ground will be considered as let on a pei'petual lease or for a
term of yeai's, that the plan of disposing of the ground to the highest bidders
is approved, and that the biddings for the same in future are to be made in quit-rent,
the lease being granted without any present payment to the parties who may offer
the largest amount of annual rent.

This arrangement had previously occurred as the most convenient, and with
the exception of the pai*ticular lots alluded to, all other allotments made by me
were disposed of for the annual quit-rent offered, so that no inconvenience has
resulted from this modification of the original plan.

With regard to the particular cases referred to, in which the Supreme Govera-
ment has directed that tne amount of purchase money should be commuted for an
annual quit-rent, I have the satisfaction to report that the same has been carried
into effect on the following principle. — The total amount of purchase money,
agreeably to the account already transmitted to the Supreme Grovemment, was
5b,000 Spanish Dollars, but of this amount nearly one-half was purchased by persons
who were compelled to remove from the opposite side of the liver, in favor of
whom it was a condition that purchase money would be foregone.

On reference to the registry of grants already transmitted to the Supreme
Government, it will appear that the quit-rents for ground in the town and its
vicinity already amount to upwards of 3.000 Spanish Dollars, which affords a per-
manent interest of 5 per cent, on a capital of 60,000 Spanish dollars, exceeding
by one-half the amount due on account of purchase money for the particular
lots in question, and which may be consid»^red as by far the most valuable portion.

Under these circumstances, and as I had in the gi'ants pix)vided for either alter-
native by including a fixed quit- rent con-esponding with the particular value of each
lot, I have not found it necessary to do more with regard to allotments for com-
mercial purposes than to declare that government has foregone the purchase money
in consideration of the quit-rents, the ground being considered as let on a perpetual
lease as directed by the Supreme Government.

One of the conditions on which this ground was disposed of, was, that the
purchasers should compensate the occupants of temporally buildings who were
obliged to make room for them, and the removal of these persons having been
conducted by a committee appointed by government, the disbursements on this
account have amounted to current dollars 10,159 ; this amount has been advanced
^y government but it will be re-imbursed by the parties and the resident has
been recommended to adopt such arrangement for this purpose as may be most
convenient for them.

With regard to the compensation to be paid by government to individuals re-
moving from the space between the Tumongong's and the sea, 1 shall have
the honour to address the Supreme Government more fully in a separate letter,
and it may suffice to observe in this place, that notwithstanding the various
difficulties thrown in my way by the local authority, I have eventually had the
satisfaction of completing this important arrangement to the satisfaction of all
pai*ties, and so as to render all further reference or dispute on the subject unnecessary.

Arrangements mith the Sultan and Tumongong.

The advantage which had been taken of the general terms in which, from
political considei'ations, it was deemed most advisable that the treaty with their
Highnesses the Sultan and Tumongong should in the first instance be expressed,
and the extraordinary principle assumed by Lieutenant-Colonel Farquhar, and
maintained by him in opposition to my authority, that the disposal of the land
was vested in the native chiefs, that the government of the country was native
and the poi-t a native port, rendered it indispensable that these points should be
fullv explained and more clearly defined, and as that officer had also permitted
various exactions and privileges to be enjoyed by their Highnesses incompatible
with the freedom of the port, I have availed myself of the opportunity offered in
negociating with their Highnesses for the payment of an equivalent for the port
duties, to stipulate such airaugements as seem essential to form the basis of the
good understanding to be maintained for the future. With reference to the political
discussions which have taken place regarding the Settlement, and the questions
which have arisen regarding its tenure, 1 did not deem it prudent in any way to

1823 121

alter or revise the original treaty, but the conventional agreement now made may
be considered eqnally binding on the parties, and may of course be hereafter
adopted as the basis of any more definite treaty to be entered into, after the
permanency of the Settlement has been established.

The amount stipulated to be paid to their Highnesses is, — to the Sultan 1,500
current dollara and to the Tumongong 800 current dollars per mouth, or in the
whole current dollars 2,300, e<ym\ to Spanish dollars, at 15 per cent, premium
(the present rate) 1,955. This is somewhat in excess of the 500 dollars originally
intended for each, but I found it impi*acticable to effect the aiTangement in a
satisfactory manner for less, the demands of the parties or rather of their advisei's
having been materially influenced by the countenance which the chief local
authority had so injudiciously and improperly given to their claims in opposition
to the essential interests of government. The rapid increase in the value of pro-
perty of every description rendered it however indispeuBable that no time should
be lost in fixing the amount of compensation, and having waited the arrival of
Mr. Grawfurd and conferred with him on the subject, I lost no time in completing
the arrangement which upon the whole seemed most advantageous, and which I
trust will meet the approbation of the Governor- General in Coimcil.

Extract of Letter from Sir T. S, Baffles to the Secretary to the Supreme Goveitimeiit.

The information which must be before tlie Supreme (government from Prince
of Wales Island, as well as in the reports of the late Mission to Siam, renders it
unnecessary that I should enter at any length on the actual condition of the
Malay States on the Peninsula, but I have thought it advisable to direct Mr.
Crawfurd's attention to the subject, with the view of his keeping the Governor-
General in Council regularly advised of the progiess or otherwise of the Siamese
influence among them.

The conduct and character of the Court of Siam offer no opening for fiiendly
negociations on the footing on which European States would treat with each other,
and require that in our future communications we should i-ather dictate what we
consider to be just and right, than sue for their granting it as an indulgence. I
am satisfied that if instead of deferring to them so much as we have done in the
case of Quedah, we had maintained a higher tone and declared the country to be
luider our protection, they would have hesitated to invade that unfortunate teiii-
tory. Having however oeen allowed to indulge theii* rapacity in this instance
with impunity, they are encoui-aged to similar acts t<i wards the other States of the
Peninsula, and if not timely checked may be expected in a similar manner to desti*oy
the truly I'espectable state of Tringanu, on the eastern side of the Peninsula.

The bloctade of the Menaui river, which could at any time be effected with
the cruisers from Singapore, would always biing the Siamese Court to terms as
far as concerns the Malay States, and from the arrogant and offensive tone recently
assumed by the Siamese, some measure of the kind will I fear ere long become
indispensable, unless the possible apprehension of our adopting such a measure
may bring them to terms of more accommodation than they have yet shewn.

The only remaining point to which I have directed Mr. Crawfurd's attention,
has been the consideration of such measures as it may be hereafter advantageouH
to adopt for the more general suppression of piracy in the eastern seas.

I have honor to be, &c.,
Singapore, 7th June, 1823. T. S. Raffles.

Mr. Grawfurd arrived at Singapore on the 27tli May, was received
by a guard of honour and a salute of fifteen guns, and took charge of
the Resident's Office. Colonel Farquhar left Singapore for England, the
natives accompanying him to the ship in the harbour with numbers of
boats decorated with flags and accompanied by music. Abdulla gives
an account of his departure, and in a letter of the Colonel's we find
an allusion by him to the number of addresses he received from the
inhabitants on leaving the Settlement.

12^

CHAPTER XI.

THE RAFFLES INSTITUTION.

ON 12th January, 1823, Sir Stamford Raffles wrote that he had
selected a spot for the College he intended to establish. He
had proposed to the Sultan and Tumongong that their sons should be
sent to Calcutta for education, but they would not consent, so he
decided to establish a school in Singapore. From a pamphlet printed at
the Mission Press at Malacca in 1823 it is seen that a meeting was
held at Raffles' House on Government Hill on 1st April when a very
long and able minute, written by Sir Stamford Raffles, from which
sentences have been often quoted, was read, in which he stated that
there were three objects in view. (1) To educate the sons of the
higher order of natives and others. (2) To afEord means of instruc-
tion in the native languages to such of the Company's servants and
others as may desire it. (3) To collect the scattered literature and
traditions of the country with whatever may illustrate their {sic) laws
and customs, and to publish and circulate in a correct form the most
important of these, with such other works as may be calculated to
raise the character of the institution and to be useful and instructive
to the people.

A long paper written by Dr. Morrison was then read, suggesting
the scheme for removing the Anglo-Chinese College from Malacca and
uniting it with the Institution in Singapore. The Rev. R. S. Hutchings,
who was the Chaplain at Penang, then spoke, and after him Dr.
Morrison. These speeches were all reprinted in a pamphlet in Singa-
pore in 1838, with the annual report of the Institution Free School.
The officers were nominated, including the principal inhabitants, and
among the Patrons was William Wilberforce, m.p. of England.

On 15th April the first meeting of the Trustees was held, Mr, J.
A. Maxwell being the Honorary Secretary and A. L. Johnston & Co.
the Honorary Treasurers. The subscriptions had amounted to $17,495;
being $9,670 for the Institution generally, $1,075 for the Scientific
Department, and $6,750 for the Malayan College. The Anglo-Chinese
College house at Malacca was intended to be sold, and $4,000 was
included in the above amount as its probable proceeds, the East India
Company contributing $4,000, Raffles $2,000, Dr. Morrison $1,200,
Colonel Farquhar $1,000, the Sultan and Tumongong $1,000 each, and
Lady Raffles $400. The other subscribers were Mr. Bonham, F. G.
Bernard, Captain Davis, Captain Flint, D. A. Fraser, G. Gordon,
Thomas Howard, Lieut. L. N. Hull, Rev. R. S. Hutchings, Lieut.
Jackson, A. L. Johnston, the Malay College, J. A. Maxwell, G. Mac-
kenzie, Dr. Montgomerie, D. S. Napier, Charles Scott, and Rev. G. H.
Thomson. A monthly subscription of $300 had been promised by
Government for the schools, and $25 yearly for the library. Lietitenant

The Raffles Institution 123

Jackson made a plan and estimate of the proposed building, which he
said coald be constructed in twelve months, this was approved, and
515,000 was voted for the purpose.

The building was then erected. It was not a well-constructed building,
the roof especially being unskilfully erected, which caused frequent
expense. It was originally built in the form of a cross and a wing was
subsequently added at each arm. The addition and the three-storied
wing at the Brass Bassa Road end were not erected until 1875, at the
entire cost of the Government. Abdullah gives a short account of the
laying of the foundation stone, which was attended by all the Kuro-
peans and the Native Chiefs and Malays; some money (he says a
golden rupee, probably a sovereign) was put by Raffles, and |80 by
the Europeans, under the door; a salute was fired, and Raffles named
the building. Abdullah says that during the progress of its erection
three Chinese fell from the scaffolding and were killed.

On 20th May, 1823, Raffles wrote a long despatch to the Governor-
General at Bengal, calling attention to the advantage and propriety
of educating the natives who came to Singapore. He said that all
were in favour of it, but some wanted it delayed until the question of
the permanency of the Settlement was decided with the Dutch. But
as Dr. Morrison had arrived from China, and there was a question
of moving the Anglo-Chinese College from Malacca now that place
was under the Dutch, quick measures had been necessary to take
advantage of this. After much deliberation with Dr. Morrison and
Mr. Hutchings, the Penang Chaplain, who was in Singapore, he had
decided to remove the College to Singapore and unite it under the
general designation of the Singapore Institution, to be connected with
branch schools in the Chinese and Malay languages, with a library
and museum, as means admitted. He also said that he had appropriated
for the use of the Institution and schools an advantageous allotment
of ground near the town, and had endowed each of the Departments
with 500 acres of uncleared ground on the usual terms. On 6th
November the Governor-General wrote in reply that he did not approve
of haste, and it would have been better if sanction had been asked
before promising the grants of money; because Singapore was not
settled yet. The scheme for removing the Anglo-Chinese College to
Singapore fell through and in the Free Press of 12th December, 1839,
it was spoken of as having proved a total failure, which had dwindled
down into, if indeed it ever rose beyond, a small school, used merely
as a dwelling house for the Principal.

On the 8th April, 1823, a lease of land, which cannot now be
found, was promised by Raffles to the Trustees for the Institution,
described as measuring 600 feet on the sea-side, and 1,140 feet inland
to Rochore Street and bounded on the side (sides?) by College Street
and the Fresh Water Stream; estimated to contain acres 15.2.32^.
If these measurements are compared with the present map of the town, it
will be seen that it was the large block of land now occupied by the
Raffles Institution and the Convent, and now bounded by Beach Road,
Brass Bassa Road, Victoria Street and Stamford Road. What was
called Rochore Road in 1823 is now known as Victoria Street. North
Bridge Bead was not then made, nor was the line of tlia.t yq^.'Sl

124 Anecdotal History of Singapore

reserved for a road iu the lease to the trustees. What was described
in the lease as College Street is now called Brass Bassa Road (it was
always spelt so until quite lately^ now it is written as Bras Basah) ;
in an old lease of 1826 this road was called Cross Road. The name
College Street was probably a suggestion by Raffles which was after-
wards forgotten. What was described in the lease as Fresh Water
Stream was a curious name^ considering the great complaints that
were made subsequently about the foul state of the water that still
runs alongside Stamford Road.

In 1840 being in want of funds the Trustees retained only the large
block between what is now North Bridge Road and the Sea, but only
extends now to Beach Road^ as the Reclamation from the sea was
made many years afterwards. They disposed of the whole of the
other (the Convent) block, at auction on 7th January, 1840, for $3,150 and
a yearly quit-rent of $135, for the residue of the term of 999 years,
in nine lots, each containing about 3,600 square yards, as follows: —
Lot 1 to Syed Omar bin Alley al Junied.

Lots 2, 3, 4 to Joze d'Almeida & Sons.
„ 5 to T. 0. Crane.

„ 6 to Antonio Joze de Vasconcellos.

7 to Antonio d' Almeida.

8, 9 to Joseph Melany.

In 1860 the Rev. J. M. Beurel had acquired nearly the whole of
these for the Convent. There remains in other hands to this day only
a small portion at the corner of Stamford Road and Victoria Street;
the rest is all occupied by the grounds and buildings of the Convent.

In addition to that large block of land, " a hill with the land
adjacent to it to the northward at the back of Government Hill, to
include an area of 100 acres," was also promised to the Trustees, on
8th April, 1823. These two grants it is said were issued as No. 1
dated 20th March, 1823, and No. 419 dated 10th April, 1823, but
if this is correct they were issued before the promise made by Raffles
on April the 8th ; there is probably some mistake, and no copies of
the grant are now to be found to correct it, nor any other record
than the paper from which these particulars are taken.

The grant of the hill (afterwards called Institution Hill at River
Valley Road) was for acres 28.1.31, and not for 100 acres; and the
Trustees, saying that the land had been lying waste and producing
no revenue, decided in December, 1844, to dispose of it. It was
suggested to sell it to Chinese for a burial ground; on which the
Frne Press remarked as follows : — " We think the sale of the Institution
Hill for any such purpose is much to be deprecated, and we trust
the Trustees of the Institution will not dispose of it to any parties
who would allow it to be applied in such a manner. It is too near
the town to have a burial ground upon it, and it would give visitors
a very unfavourable impression as to the unheal thiness of the place
were they, on entering the Roads, to see this conspicuous hill, in
addition to those in the vicinity of the town already appropriated to
such purposes, covered with tombs. We do not think that the
Trustees will lend themselves to this object ; but, perhaps, the best
plan to avert any chance of the thing happening would be for our

Ths Baj^/r TnHfitufion 125

correspondent to buy up the hill. The Trustees would, we think, be
inclined to take a fair and reasonable price from him, rather than
accept the extravagant sum, which the eligibility of the situation for
their purposes would, perhaps, induce the Chinese to offer." Luckily,
the sale was never carried out, and the hill is now covered with
European houses. One of the finest hills in Tanglin is occupied
solely by Chinese graves, and it was fortunate that Prinsep's Hill and
Institution Hill never shared the same fate. In the following January
1845, the Trustees advertised the hill to be let as follows: —

"The Trustees of the Singapore Institution invite offers to rent
the hill belonging to the Institution, which adjoins the River Valley
Uoad, for a term of 10 years at an annual quit-rent of $100 ; upon
expiry of the leases the hill with all buildings and fixtures thereon to
revert to the Institution. Or for the whole terra of the Government
lease (viz., 999 years) at an advanced rent. Tenders will be received
until the first Friday in February, when the one approved of by the
Committee will be accepted. The hill is well adapted for building lots.
A stipulation will be entered in the lease prohibiting the hill being
converted into a burying ground by the Tenant. Tenders to be sent
to T. Oxley, Secretary."

As no offers were made to rent it, it was advertised in the follow-
ing April by Mr. F. Martin for sale for the whole term of the lease at
the highest annual rent. The result of the sale was told in the Free
Press as follows : —

" On Monday, the 7th April, the remainder of the term for which
the Institution Hill is held — about 990 years — was exposed at public
auction, and knocked down for the annual sum of $225. This is a very
high price indeed, and were it to be taken as a criterion of the general
value of land in the island, might be held as bearing out, in a great
degree, the extreme notions of certain parties on this point. We believe,
however, that the high rate obtained was entirely owing to the peculiar
situation of the hill which so completely overlooks the neighbouring
properties, on which there are several houses, so that if the owners of
the latter had allowed the hill to get into other hands, they would have been
constantly exposed to the close oversight of the inhabitants of the hill,
a situation which would have been anything but pleasant. It was this
fact, and to prevent it being used as a situation for., manufactures
which might have made it a very unpleasant neighbourhood, that in-
duced the owner of the adjacent property to secure the hill, which we
suppose he will keep in grass.'^ It was bought by Adam Sykes and
Mungo Johnston Martin, on the 30th December, 1845. Dr. Robert
Little afterwards purchased it and lived on the land for about
thirty-five years in one house, a record probably for Singapore. Thus
the Trustees parted with a considerable quantity of the land con-
tained in these two grants (the block where the Convent stands and
Institution Hill), which is now of very great value, for the small yearly
sum of $360.

Sir Stamford Raffles, however, had given the Institution even more
than this. He had also given orders, and Bengal had approved, to
appropriate 1,500 acres of uncleared ground, on the usual terms, for the
use of the School, which would appear to have been done, though the

126 Anecdotal History of Singapore

posifcion of the land granted as Nos. 499, 500 and 501 referred to
presently, cannot now be traced. It seems that on 9th January, 1827,
a Government Notice was issued that all persons who failed to fulfil
the terms of their contract to clear and build on land would forfeit
their right if they did not comply before the 1st May. On the 27th
February the following letter was sent to the Resident Councillor by
Mr. J. A. Maxwell, the Honorary Secretary to the Singapore
Institution : —

" Sir, on behalf of the Trustees of the Singapore Institution,
[ have the honour to enclose a document under their signature by
which they renounce all claim to the lot of ground referred to in your
favour of the 19th January, and I trust the same may be considered
satisfactory with a view to the object for which it has been framed.
The Grants referred to, viz., 499, 500 and 501 are in my possession
and are ready to be delivered up if necessary."

A great deal has been said since about the Government having
" illegally " resumed the land. At that time the Institution was serving
no purpose ; no classes, as far as can be seen, were held ; the roof was
tumbling in, and it may well be that the Trustees considered it could
only be preventing the use of the land for a useful purpose if they
held on to it when they could not fulfil the conditions under which it
had been granted. It would be interesting to know where that land
was. There is good reason to think that it was at the top of Orchard
Road where Abbotsford, Nassim Hill, and part of the Tanglin Barracks
are now. It was no doubt looked upon then as only jungle of proble-
matical value, and not worth spending money to clear. There is no
doubt that the lands given to the School, if they had remained in the
hands of the Trustees would now be of very great value, beyond any
possible conception at that time, and that the Report of the Trustees in
1845, in congratulating themselves on having secured a permanent
monthly addition to the income of $18.75, by disposing of the lease of
Institution Hill, reads curiously by present lights. But it is useless to
judge of those things solely from the glare of the present day. In
1873 the Trustees wrote to the Government about the resumption of
these lands in 1827, and eventually a fixed yearly grant of $5,940, and
an undertaking to keep the Institution building in repair, were given
by Government as compensation for lands resumed by Government in
1827. This appears in the foot note to the yearly account published in
the annual report of the School, and in a letter of the Colonial Secre-
tary to the Honorary Secretary of the Institution dated 3rd November,
1885, printed in the yearly report of the School.

Having now explained about the lands given to the School, the
story of its progress is resumed. In May, 1825, the Court of Directors
of the East India Company wrote to Singapore that they considered
the establishment of the Institution (however useful in itself) was pre-
mature, as it was uncertain whether Singapore would continue to form
a part of the British Dominions; but they did not disapprove of what
had been done, so far as to stop supplies, and did not refuse
to sanction the grants of land and the subscription promised by
Sir Stamford Raffles, if the Governor considered the amounts
unobjectionable.

The Raffleft Institution 127

The Court of Directors called upon Mr. Orawfurd, the Governor,
for a report, and he sent a long despatch dated 7th February, 1826.
After three years experience of Singapore, he thought the scheme of
the Institution had been on too extensive a scale for the times, and
the means were not sufficient to carry out the object. He recommended
Government to confine the aim to elementary education, in the first
place, since the present inhabitants of Singapore were utter strangers
to European education and methods of instruction. He proposed that
it be confined to reading and writing in Malay and Chinese (the most
numerous and influential classes) and perhaps Arabic; but above all to
reading, writing and arithmetic in English. l%e chief benefit of in-
struction in Asiatic languages was to reconcile the natives to European
education and accustom them to regular habits of subordination and
study. One great obstacle was the fear by the parents of conversion.
The Rev. Mr. Thomson had long tried to get up a school without
interference with religious matters. It would be better to wait until
this feeling was allayed, and to have only laymen as masters. Chinese,
Arabs and Malay teachers could be got; the difficulty was to find
competent and respectable men, as the success would depend upon this.
The originating of the schools would depend upon the patronage of
the Government. The Court had authorised $300 a month; and arrears
from April, 1823 to February, 1826, would amount then to $10,200,
which with private subscriptions would suffice to endow and carry it
on. He also asked for land for the school, and power to invest the
money in buildings upon it; and for permission to occupy a Govern-
ment building at present vacant. And generally he proposed to exclude
the original scheme altogether for the present, as quite beyond any
probable means of carrying it out, and if hereafter there were better
prospects, the schools could then be joined to the Institution. The
present building was too far from the town for the convenience of the
children, so their parents did not send them, and they also objected
to any religious teaching in the school, as in the Anglo-Chinese
College.

There is a short note by Mr. Braddell, no doubt an extract from
some Government correspondence, that on 1 8th August, 1827, the
Trustees tendered the Institution to Government to purchase it or rent
it, which was declined on the 6th September.

At the end of 1832, the Free Press said: — '^The unfinished build-
ing, or rather ruin, so well known as the Singapore Institution, stands
in a conspicuous situation at the head of Kampong Glam, on the
town side fronting the sea-beach. To strangers it is often a matter of
astonishment that a building in such an eligible site, and in the
neighbourhood of so many respectable and new habitations, should be
suffered to remain in its present dilapidated condition, especially when
a comparatively small sum would suffice to put it in repair, and make
it habitable. For several years, it has been an eye-sore to the inhabi-
tants of the Settlement, from the desolate and neglected appearance
of the building and premises ; and latterly it has become a nuisance,
in some degree, as it affords a convenient shelter for thieves, a class
of beings whom the benevolent founders of the Institution never con-
templated should be supported on its foundation. The ground attached

128 Anecdotal History of Singapore

is nearly all covered with stagnant marsh, and jungle, which must in
some wise affect the air in that neighbourhood/'

Mr. Fullerton had proposed buying the ground and converting the
house into a Church. At another time it had been proposed to make
a Public Library and Town Hall of it, and to sell part of the ground
to finish the building. Some of these proposals were referred to Dr.
Morrison in China, and he replied : " I would rather, even if it were
a hundred years hence, have the land and building reserved for the
original purpose of native education, than for the sake of any other
object consent to alienate it."

It was said in an old report of the School that had Sir Stamford
Raffles remained longer in Singapore, or the Institution proceeded on
the plan he laid down, most of the objects he proposed might have
been accomplished, but after his death no influential person was found
able and willing to follow up his views and plans, and nothing but an
unfinished building of eleven years standing remained in 1834 to show
that such a project had been contemplated. The intention had been
to instruct the better class of natives, and there were not sufficient
of them to form classes, and nothing was done beyond framing an ela-
borate scheme, with European teachers for Malay, Siamese and Chinese,
who would have had no scholars to teach. As far as can be traced now,
no classes were actually formed, the masters in the College at Malarcca
not coming to Singapore.

In February, 1834, Mr. Darrah, the Chaplain, began writing about
the subject of the neglected education of the children in the Settle-
ment, and on 3rd May made the proposal to establish elementary
schools in different places with native masters, with a central school at
which the descendants of Europeans could attend, with some of the
more advanced boys from the minor schools. Mr. Darrah circulated
a paper, and $335 were subscribed towards erecting a building, and
$45 was promised in monthly subscriptions. Until the building of
planks and attap, which was estimated to cost $600, should be erected,
the Grovernment gave the use of an unoccupied house near the foot of
Fort Canning, nearly opposite (Mr. James Guthrie wrote) to the top of High
Street. Another account says that the Government only gave the use of
the ground, and a building 70 feet lonsr by 22 feet wide was built for
$600. However this may have been, the school was opened on the Ist
August, 1834, and managed by Mr. J. H. Moor. There were 46 boys,
and before long the number increased to 80. On the 25th September
a meeting was held of the subscribers and it was decided to form an
association called the " Singapore School Society." The schools to be
under the direction of the Chaplain in their religious and literary de-
tails, and the Bible to be used generally as a class book, but not to be
indispensable for children of any sect of religion different from the
Established Church. The Committee consisted of Messrs. Johnston,
Wingrove, Scott, Darrah, Oxley and Napier. Mr. Moor was the first
European Master at $75 a month and there were two native masters
at $12 each. The Governor and the Recorder were Patrons. The school
had 32 boys in the English classes, of whom 12 paid; but the whole
fees only amounted to $3 a month. There were 18 boys in the Tamil
class, 12 in the Malay, and 12 in the Chinese, but the report says

The Baffles Institution 129

" The American Missionaries, the Rev. Tracy and Parker, having opened
a Chinese Free School in a central part of the town, the boys went
there as it was near their homes, and they avoided the real or imagin-
ary danger incidental to crossing the wooden bridge which led to the
Singapore school from the town ! ''

On the 27th August, 1835, a meeting was held at the Court House,
Mr. Alexander Guthrie in the chair, at which it was resolved that the
original scheme of the Institution should be rescinded and another
adopted more consonant to the general sense of the supporters and better
adapted to the object in view. That children of any country should be
taught without regard to any exclusive course of religious instruction.
The salary of the head master not to exceed 1(100, and for native
teachers $15. The Patrons to be the Governor, Recorder and the Resident
Councillor, and a Committee of five was appointed, of Messrs. Win-
grove, W. Napier, G. D. Coleman, Thomas McMicking and Thomas Oxley.
Dr. Oxley became Honorary Secretary. A Government allowance of
j^lOO a month was granted, and the subscription list amounted to $81,
but the Government allowance for the first year was appropriated
towards the completion of the Institution building, which was in such
a bad state. The house that had been lent by the Government in High
Street for the school was in such bad repair, that it was only fit for
another year, and the Committee proposed that the Institution building
should be repaired and used by the " Singapore School Society " as it
was now termed, though the name " Singapore Free School " seems to
have been generally used. On the 1st January, 1836, there was a
public meeting held at the Reading Room, of the subscribers to the
monument that it had been intended to erect to the memory of Sir
Stamford Raffles. It was decided ^' that it is the opinion of this
meeting that they will best perpetuate the remembrance of the eminent
services rendered to this Settlement, and the commercial world generally,
by this distinguished individual, by endeavouring to complete the Insti-
tution founded by him for the purposes of education. That as the
meeting finds the funds already collected for the monument amount to
$1,827, and that there is nearly $1,000 more subscribed, which it is
expected will be paid immediately, it is resolved that as soon as it is
found a sufficient sum can be raised by additional subscriptions for the
purpose of completing the buildings and making them fit for schools on
930. extended scale, they will place at the disposal of the Trustees of
the Institution the whole sum subscribed for the erection of the monu-
ment."

The amount necessary for the purpose was estimated at $5,000, and
Dr. Montgomerie undertook to superintend the repairs and completion.
It was then mentioned that the bust of Raffles by Chantrey, which
Lady Raffles had presented to the Institution, would be placed in a
conspicuous spot in the completed building, with an inscription in
EiUglifih, Latin, Chinese and Malay. The inscription was never made.

On the 5th of the same month, a meeting of the Trustees of the
Singapore Institution was held in the Resident Councillor's Office, and
the following resolutions were passed. " 1st. — ^That the plan proposed
by the subscribers to the monument of Sir T. S. Raffles of giving
their fonda for completing the Institution for Schools be approved of

130 Anecdotal History of Singapore

and thankfully accepted^ and that a Subscription List be opened at
the Reading Room immediately for further donations from the European
and Chinese inhabitants to finish the building on a plan and estimate
already furnished by Mr. Coleman.

"2nd. — ^That the Institution having been founded jointly by Sir
T. S. Raffles and Dr. Morrison, a communication be immediately made of
these proceedings to the son of the latter, Mr. J. R. Morrison, now
Interpreter to H. M. Superintendent in China, requesting that he will
be pleased to name such persons, as he may be desirous should act as
Trustees.

"3rd. — ^That the Hon'ble Kenneth Murchison, Governor, and the
Hon'ble J. E. Gambier, Recorder, be requested to become Patrons of this
Institution, and that the following gentlemen be nominated Trustees
according to the Regulations provided at the founding of the Institution :
Messrs. R. F. Wingrove, W. Montgomerie, Jas. Eraser, W. D. Shaw,
A. Guthrie, G. D. Coleman, T. McMicking, Wm. Napier, and the
Rev. S. Wolfe, and that Thomas Oxley, Esq., be requested to act as
Secretary.^'

At a meeting called by the Trustees of the Raffles Institution in
May, a letter from Dr. Morrison was read, stating that he had already
collected upwards of ?1,000 bj' subscriptions in China, and that he
had received a promise of ?400 additional, whenever the building was
completed, and the education of the natives actually commenced ; also,
a statement of the funds then available and accumulating having been
submitted by the Treasurers, and plans and estimates for finishing
the building with suitable out-offices on a scale adequate to present
resources, and adapted for immediate objects, as well with a view to
its future extension and enlargement in accordance with the original
objects of the Founders, having been laid before the meeting by
Mr. Coleman, who declared himself willing to contract to finish the
whole in two years from this time for the sum of $5,700, and it further
appearing to the meeting that the funds will be sufficient for the
purpose, and the building when completed in every way suitable for
the objects contemplated, — it was unanimously resolved that a com-
mittee, consisting of Alex. L. Johnston, Esq., Wm. Montgomerie, Esq., and
W. D. Shaw, Esq., be empowered to make a contract with Mr. Coleman
for finishing the building and out-offices for the sum specified, and
on the plans submitted. It was further resolved, that every effort
should be made to increase the subscriptions collectively and individually
by the Trustees, and that those already subscribed be immediately
collected.

The paper spoke as follows of the meeting : — " It is proposed to
appropriate one of the upper rooms as a Library and Museum, where
all meetings of the Committee or of the Trustees can be held. Dona-
tions of books should be forthwith solicited, to form the Library and
Museum, as also specimens of the Natural History of the ArchipelagOj
and the countries in our vicinity. If only a little zeal be displayed
in accomplishing these two desirable objects, collections would soon
be made, which would form perhaps some of the principal attractions
of the Institution after its completion. The building which is of
considerable extent, although not nearly approaching in magnitude to

The Baffles Institution 131

the original plan^ will be a handsome and striking object^ constructed
according to scientific principles, in which that part of the building
which had been completed under the original design showed a lament-
able defect. It is also built so as to be capable of receiving such
additions as will bring it to the dimensions of the original plan without
any disfigurement of its parts, or detraction from its symmetry. With
a proper degree of support, there is every reasonable hope that this
establishment, on the scale on which it is at present proposed to be
conducted, will not only effect its more immediate objects, but be the
means, slow perhaps, but sure, of realising and embracing the more
extensive and advanced system of education which its gifted and
lamented founder had so much at heart, and which it is still so im-
portant an object to secure. It is stated that one gentleman at Canton
promised ^^00 on the completion of the building, and we have reason
to believe that there are several others in this Settlement who with-
hold their contributions until they can see that their money is likely
to be well applied. As the workmen have already commenced on the
repairs, we trust not many months will elapse before they will be
able to satisfy themselves on that point.*'

In May, 1837, the Free Press said that the Institution building
was nearly finished, and in December the classes were removed to it
from High Street and the building was first used as a School. The
arrangement being that the building was lent to the School Committee but
that if funds should afterwards be provided to carry out the original
proposal of Sir Stamford Raffles, the Trustees of the Institution should
give one year's notice before resuming the building, and should repay
the money advanced for repairs from the School funds, which had then
amounted to $1,800. The upper school then contained 50 boys, taught
by Mr. Moor and Mr. Fitzpatrick, who came from Calcutta. There
was a Library, the first in Singapore, open free to all, in one part of
the building; but only subscribers to the school fund could borrow the
books. It was proposed to commence a museum, but this was never
done. A large attap shed was put up for play, with a gymnasium,
a small fives court and quoit ground, which the boys and their friends
subscribed to pay for. There were 102 Chinese, 46 Klings and 51
Malays. A Bugis class was started but was unsuccessful. The
Rev. Edward White, Residency Chaplain, gave great assistance and
partly furnished the lower English class at his own expense.

In April, 1838, the Committee sent a Memorial to Lord Auckland,
the Governor-General, asking for Rs. 5,000 to purchase scientific ap-
paratus^ of which they sent a list, including a telescope, microscope,
electrical machine, surveying instruments and many other things. The
only result was that the Government allowance was increased from
193.53 to $187.27 ; the Government accounts being kept in rupees. At
this time a circular letter was drawn up in Malay urging the Malay
Chiefs to send their children for instruction. The Rajahs of Kelantan,
Tringanu and Quedah answered that they approved highly of the
object and system of the school ; but nothing came of it. To leave
nothing untried, another address to Malays in general was drawn up,
and the son of the Sultan and some other influential Malays attended
a meeting at the school on 15th September^ 1838, and signed the paper.

132 Anecdotal History of Singapore

Five hundred copies were printed and placarded over Singapore and
Kampong Glam, and sent to no less than thirty different places round
the coast and Borneo and Celebes by the nakodas of trading vessels,
but it led to no result. ITie following are passages from the address : —
Our friend has undoubtedly heard of the eminent and enlightened
Sir Stamford Raffles and how anxious he was to promote the intellectual
improvement of the Malays, and add to their happiness. To help
the desirable and benevolent object the late Sultan of Johore and the
Tumongong, with Sir Stamford Baffles and other gentlemen, subscribed
a large sum of money to erect a handsome edifice in Singapore to
serve as an Institution for the instruction of Malays and other neigh-
bouring natives. We have to acquaint our friend that the Singapore
Institution is now completed. It is of brick, 120 feet long and 60 feet
broad, two-stories high. Competent masters have been engaged, and
we invite our friend to send his sons, relations, and the sons of some
of his nobles to Singapore to be taught to read and write both the
Malay and English languages, and to acquire much useful knowledge."
It then spoke of the advantages of education, and said that students
could reside in the building, or be boarded with respectable Malays
and attend as day scholars.

In November, 1838, a letter was sent asking the Secretary of the
British and Foreign School Society in London to engage a teacher at
a salary of $100 a month, with a house, and accommodation to take
in boarders ; and £100 was sent for the passage money. In antici-
pation of his arrival it was proposed to erect a bungalow behind the
school, but it was thought better to build one of the wings contained
in the original plan of the building. The foundations had been laid
at first for both the proposed wings. Mr. Coleman estimated the cost
at $2,800, and a memorial was sent to Calcutta asking for $1,000
towards it. The Trustees of the Institution consented that the sum
spent by the Committee should be treated in the same way as the
previous $1,800 for repairs. Bengal did not allow the $1,000, and
subscriptions were asked from Canton, Batavia and Manila. Mr. Thomas
McMicking, who had gone to reside at Manila, collected $170, and
Mr. Oliphant of Canton gave $500. The new wing was finished in
May, 1839.

In August, 1839, it was decided at a meeting held at the Insti-
tution that as considerable inconvenience had arisen from there being
two authorities (the Trustees of the Institution itself and the School
Committee) connected with the Singapore Institution, whose views and
interests were entirely similar in every respect, it was desirable to
vest the whole in the Trustees alone ; and that the School Committee
should deliver all funds and property to the Trustees, which should
appoint a school committee of a certain number from their body
annually. After a long delay it was found that a master had not been
engaged in England, and the Rev. J. T. Dickenson, of the American
Foreign Missions in Singapore, was engaged at $100 a month in April,
1840, and he occupied the upper part of the new wing; one large
room doNvnstairs being used for a Chinese school-room, and the other
for the printing room, where printing was done for the benefit of the
Institution, but did not bring in much. There were then 14 boarders

The Raffles Institution 133

living with Mr. Moor, paying $3 each a month. Mr. Keasberry was
Superintendent of the Malay classes. The Tamil class was closed as
it did not succeed for want of a competent master. There were 208
boys on the list, average attendance 160 to 170, including 38 Roman
Catholic and 25 Protestant Christians.

In December, 1839, some Siamese noblemen sent $194 from Bangkok
towards the expense of erecting a wing to the building, and Prince
Momfanoo said he would send two Siamese youths of respectable
family to be educated at the Institution, but this does not seem to
have been done.

There was a hillock then just behind the school, and in 1840
the Trustees advertised that persons buying land near the school and
desiring to erect substantial buildings could take stones from the
hillock immediately behind the Singapore Institution. It was about
fifty feet high, and an account of the geological formation of it will
be found in the first volume of Logan's efournal at page 88.

The second wing was now built and was finished towards the
close of 1841. The Supreme Court gave $50 a month from the interest
on some funds at its disposal which assisted in paying the expense,
which was about $3,030. School hours were then from nine to two
o'clock, with only five minutes interval at noon, as some parents
objected to their children playing in the sun at mid-day. The wing
(it is called in the Report the right wing, whatever that may mean)
was occupied by one of the masters and his family, and the large
rooms in the main building were exclusively appropriated to the general
purposes of the Institution, one being used as a Committee Room, the
other as a Library.

In May, 1843, Mr. J. H. Moor, the first master died suddenly at
the early age of forty and a subscription was made for his widow
and children, which amounted to $6,700. It was invested in three
mortgages on houses in the town at 12 per cent., and a monthly
allowance was received by the widow until she died in Singapore in
November, 1884.

Mr. Moor was bom in Macao, whence he proceeded at an early
age to Ireland, where he received his education. He was sometime at
Trinity College, Dublin, with the view of qualifying himself for taking
orders, but an unfortunate impediment in his speech ultimately led to
Mr. Moor abandoning his intention. While in Dublin Mr. Moor served
an apprenticeship to a respectable book-seller there and might after-
wards have advantageously followed that business in Britain, but he
preferred returning to the East. He came out to Madras on chance,
and after remaining there a short time proceeded to Malacca, where,
soon after his arrival in 1826, he originated the Free School under the
auspices of Mr. Garling, then Resident Councillor at Malacca. Mr.
Moor continued to conduct that school for four years, and during that
time it was in a flourishing condition, being numerously attended. In
September, 1826, Mr, Moor established the Malacca Observer which he
carried on until October, 1829, when, in consequence of the paper
having incurred the disapprobation of Government from the zeal with
which the editor had exposed the system of slavery which then prevailed
in Malacca, it was discontinued. In 1830, Mr. Moor came to Singapore

1^4 Anecdotal History of Singapore

where he taught a private school until 1834, when he was appointed
Head Master to the Singapore Free School. Shortly after his arrival,
Mr. Moor became editor of the Singapore Chronirle, which he conducted
for four years, and only resigned on the establishment of the Free Pre^s
in October, 1835, the sub-editorship of which he held for about two
years. After that he devoted himself chiefly to the duties of his
situation in the Institution. In the latter end of 1837, Mr. Moor pub-
lished the quarto volume entitled " Notes of the Malayan Archipelago,"
which consisted chiefly of articles which had appeared in the different
Straits papers, of which Mr. Moor had been editor. This work, which
was accompanied by a number of maps, contained much valuable infor-
mation regarding the Native States and places adjacent. In a pecuni-
ary point of view, however, it was very unprofitable work to Mr. Moor,
from the expense incurred in engraving the charts, and the difficulties
attendant on bringing out a work of any size with the limited materials
at command in such a place as Singapore, and also from the slow and
small sale. In the end a considerable loss was sustained, which pre-
vented the appearance of the continuation of the work, which was at
one time contemplated. From his long residence in the Straits Mr.
Moor possessed much knowledge of the history both of the British
possessions and the neighbouring states, which it is a pity he did not
embody in a permanent form, Mr. Moor contributed largely to promote
a taste for reading in the Settlement and adjacent stations by procur-
ing consignments of books from the London publishers, which were
disposed of at the English prices. A large number of books were,
through Mr. Moor^s instrumentality, sold in Singapore, and also in Java
and China, but in this instance also the public were the only party
benefited, as on account of the difficulty of procuring returns from the
different places to which he sent the books, Mr. Moor was considerably
out of pocket by the speculation. The above account of Mr. Moor's
life is taken from the Free Press at the time of his death.

The Rev, J. T. Dickenson took charge of the school for four
months, when he returned to America on account of his health and Mr.
John Colson Smith, master of the Free School in Penang, was made
Head Master of the Institution, and Mr. R. W. Wiber from the
Penang Chinese Mission School was second master from January, 1844.
Mr. Smith was very popular, and was a prominent Freemason. In 1852
he left the school and was Deputy Sheriff and in 1860 was appointed
Magistrate and Commissioner of the Court of Requests, and left Singa-
pore in 1862 for England, and afterwards died in Mauritius.

Mr. Fitzpatrick left in July the same year, and a system of monitors
for teaching the lower classes was established as more useful, and by
reducing expenses it was possible to establish a Girls' School, which
was opened on 4th March, 1844.

The Rev, Alexander Stronach of the London Missionary Society
had given much assistance, and done a great deal of good to the
school. The Resident Chaplain had fallen out with the Committee on
the subject of religious teaching, and nearly filled up the Free Press
newspaper in August, 1844, with a very long correspondence on his
side of the question. The Committee in their report said it was a
matter of great regret that the Chaplain of the station neglected so

The Baffles Inetitution 135

interesting a field of usefulness and benevolence^ having that time to
attend to such an important duty which no other member of the Com-
mittee possessed. The Bishop of Calcutta was appealed to^ and at his
desire the Chaplain again resumed his connection with the school ; but
he contented himself with taking some little interest in the lower native
classes only^ and what was done was due to Mr. Stronach^ who had
worked continuously for nearly six years until he was removed to China
in 1844. At this time there were 195 boys in the school.

In 1852^ the Rev. W. B. Wright became Head Master. He had
been a missionary in Sarawak; his wife was a connection of Governor
Butterworth. Mr, George Kappa had been at the Bishop^s College,
Calcutta, and returning to Singapore with very good testimonials, was
appointed second master, and continued in the school until 1856. Mr.
Wright remained until 1857 when he went to Malacca, to the great
regret of the Committee.

The report for 1 856 says that the Government of India had intimated
the intention to contribute to every educational charity an amount equal
to that subscribed or collected from the scholars in shape of fees, and that
the Tumongong had agreed to give $1,500 annually for the support of
vernacular schools. At the meeting of the subscribers, Mr. J. J. Green-
shields and Dr. R. Little proposed, and it was adopted, that the land in
rear of the Institution (the present play-ground) which belonged to the
school, might be made available towards the support of the schools,
(meaning disposing of the land) and Mr, R. C. Woods and Mr. W. Napier
proposed that the Committee should consider the propriety of disposing of
the existing building and ground to the Government and applying the
proceeds to the establishment of schools in central positions of the town.
Fortunately neither of these schemes came to anything, and the only sale
that was made was never completed and the Girls^ School now stands on
the site. It was a curious fact that in 1855, at the request of the Ladies*
Committee, Mr. Whampoa arranged to provision the Girls' School at an
average charge of $4 a month for each child. On the 20th March^
1857, the new Head Master, Mr. John Barrett Bayley, arrived from
England, and was Head Master until 1870.

The report of 1857 gives a list of the continuing Trustees of the
Singapore Institution as distinct from the Conimittee of the School. They
were William Napier, appointed 5th January, 1836; T. 0. Crane, 6th
February, 1842; M, T. Davidson, 6th February, 1844; W. H. Read, 27th
Jfarch, 1846 ; John Harvey, 31st March, 1842; and Mr. Humphrey, the
Residency Chaplain, 12th February, 1857,

In this year the question of the legal position of the Trustees was
brought before the Supreme Court in a friendly suit between the Governor
and two of the Trustees, W. Napier and T. O. Crane. It hung on for
over four years, and ended by the Recorder on 27th April, 1861,
confirming a long report by Mr. Christian Baumgarten, the Registrar of
the Court, by which the matter was put on a settled footing. It provided
for twelve Trustees, with a quorum of four for ordinary business and seven
for the election of a Trustee or for voting extraordinary disbursements.
An attempt was made to set aside the sale of the land that had been made,
as already described,, but lapse of time, if no other reason, prevented this.
The first Trustees appointed under this order, besides the Resident Coun-

1:36 Anecdotal History of Singapore

cillor, Residency Chaplain and Surpreon, who were appointed ex-officio^
were W. Paterson, W. H. Read, C. H. Harrison, J. J. Greenshields,
T. H. Campbell, C. H. H. Wilsone, N. B. Watson, the Rev. M. Fraser and
Captain C. A. Purvis, Madras Artillery. They took charge of the building
and its afiPairs on 15th June, 1861.

In August, 1863, a second European Master, Mr. George Williams, was
engaged in England through the Queen's Inspector of Schools. In order
to meet financial difficulties the trustees in that year accepted an offer of
$4,000 from Mr. Joseph Joshua for '* one third part of the land in the rear
of and adjoining the Institution." This is the land on which the present
Girls' School is built, and part of the play ground. Very fortunately the
sale was never completed, and in 1875 the land was resumed as it had not
been built on. In 1866 Mr. Bailey went to Europe on leave for two years,
and Mr. George Brown was appointed second master. He had been a
school master in the Navy, and being on board a surveying vessel stationed
here, he left the service in Singapore to join the School. He afterwards
took orders in Singapore, being ordained in St. Andrew's Cathedral, and
went afterwards to Australia, where he was Rural Dean at Penrith and
has now a parish church in the town of Sydney.

Mr. Bayley remained head master of the Institution until October,
1 870. He earned the gratitude of the school boys of Singapore who owed
much to him. He was a practical teacher, and the boys learned to write
and cipher well, which was necessary for earning their living as clerks in
Government and mercantile offices, their principal means of employment.
Prom a comparatively small school, Mr. Bayley during thirteen
years raised it to a large and flourishing one, (to quote the words
of a report of the trustees) and it was ill-health which compelled him
to leave Singapore. He went to Europe, and some years afterwards
he came out for a short time as master of the School in Sarawak.
He died in England on 16th July 1893, the Trustees recording on
their minutes that he had for twelve years discharged the onerous duties
of Head Master with great ability and success, and expressing their
regret at his death.

At various times before 1854 the sum of $4,000 had been subscribed
for a Scholarship Fund, Mr. R. C. Woods giving a yearly sum of $50 for
some time. The interest on this sum is now applied in payment of
the School-fees of some of the scholars, which is probably not what
the subscribers intended to be done with the money.

In 1859 Mr. W. W. Shaw of Boustead & Co., gave $500 as the
foundation of a fund for prizes for European, Eurasian or Portuguese
boys studying Chinese, in order to provide better interpreters in the
Courts. Some Chinese residents added $500, and subsequently Messrs.
Alexander and James Guthrie gave $1,000. The interest on this was
applied for a long time to the Chinese Class, which did not prove
successful. Nor did the Malay Class, towards the support of which
Messrs. Guthrie had also given $1,000. In 1890 the interest on the
whole $3,000 was appropriated with the consent of the donors towards
the expenses of the Girls' School.

In 1872 Mr. Jasper Young, of Boustead & Co., and Mr. Oscar
Mooyer, of Behn, Meyer & Co., gave a sum of $2,000, the interest on
which forms a yearly Prize-Fund.

The Baffles Institution 137

In 1871 the Trustees congratulated themselves that seventeen boys
had been sent to the School by the King of Siam^ and expense was
incnrred to make arrangements to receive them; and to make more
room a house was rented for the Girls^ School which had occupied part
of the building since its commencement, but never afterwards occupied
any part of the Institution building. After six months all the Siamese
boys went back to Siam and never returned to the School, and nothing
came of it.

In 1875 the Government erected the two story extension and the
large three-story wing at the end of the Building at Brass Bassa Road.
The intention was that it should be occupied by the sons of Malay
Chiefs, in accordance with the original scheme of Sir Stamford Raffles.
This was the third time the proposal was brought forward, and for the
third time it failed to succeed, and the building after being used for
some years for the Library and Museum was given over in 1887 to
the Institution for class rooms. Whether the scheme to educate the
better class of Malays and Siamese did not succeed in any of these
instances because it had inherent impossibilities, or whether there was
not sufficient care in arranging the details, or a want of proper super-
vision in the school, the result remained that it failed each time.

As has been seen, the Institution began unsuccessfully, and now,
nearly eighty years afterwards, it is possible to judge of what has been
done, and what advantage has been taken of the opportunities it has
had to promote education in the place, which, after all, was the real
object of Sir Stamford Raffles.

When Mr. Bayley left in 1870 the number of boys was 410. The
Brothers School, St. Joseph^s, of which an account is given in another
chapter, was then much smaller. The Anglo-Chinese School was
commenced in 1886. The following were the numbers of the average
enrolment of these three schools in the following years : —

Batflgs.

St.

Joseph's.

ANaLO-GlIINSSE

1870

410

190

—

1880

613

250

—

1887

» •

1890

400

312

372

1900

431

426

590

This is the last year for which the Annual Report of the Govern-
ment Inspector of Schools is available when this is printed. Notwith-
standing the very large increase in the population during the last thirty
years, and consequently in the number of boys able to attend school, the
Institution has not increased its numbers, while the other schools have
grown largely. With the exception of the addition made at the sole cost
of Government, the buildings have not been enlarged since 1841. The
Anglo-Chinese School has had large additions made to it, and the Brothers
School is again to be enlarged at once with large and airy class rooms
and dormitories. In each case these schools were cramped for land, while
the Institution has very large grounds available for the purpose. The
Institution has the considerable endowment of $500 a month and the
interest on some invested funds; the buildings are kept in repair at
Grovemment expense : it has a splendid situation and a fine play-ground.

138 Anecdotal History of Singapore

while the other two schools have none : it has the scholarship f ands
already described, which the other Schools are without ; and it has the
prestige and position naturally attaching to it. In 1880 there were over
500 boys, and at that time the large school rooms in the addition and the
three-storied wing were occupied by the Library and Museum, now they
are used as class-rooms. It is therefore no question of room for classes.
But it may be said that by teaching smaller numbers the education may
be better, which is undoubtedly very desirable. This can be tested by the
results of the examinations for the Government Scholarships. The Higher
Scholarships were instituted by the Government, in 1885, in order to
encourage education in the Colony, and in 1889 the name was changed to
the Queen^s Scholarship. There tire two each year of the value of £250
each, a year, for not more than five years, a princely scholarship. There
are also Government Local Scholarships which are given with the object of
inducing boys to remain longer in school. Since 1897 the examinations for
all these Scholarships have been conducted by the Cambridge Local Exami^
nation Syndicate by papers sent out from Cambridge and returned there for
examination. The impartial character of the result is unquestionable.
Until 1890 the Enstitution gained the Higher Scholarships. In 1891
the Brothers School took one, and in 1893 and 1894 the Institution
took one, the Anglo-Chinese School one, and the Penang Free School
two* In 1895 and 1896 only one scholarship was given each year on
the score of Government retrenchment, but the two were resumed
in 1897. There were thus twelve Scholarships in the seven years from
1895 to 1901 inclusive, of which the Institution took four, the Penang
Free School having taken five, the Penang Brothers School two, and
-the Anglo-Chinese School, Singapore, one. As to the Local Scholar-
-ehips, the Institution took them until 1892 (they were established
'in 1882) and in the last four years from 1898 to 1901 the Institution
has taken five out of twenty. The annual Government Report pf
the Inspector of Schools . shows that in 1899, the average cost of each
pupil in average attendance at the Institution was $64.05 : at the
Brothers School $31.97 : and at the Anglo-Chinese School $27.42. As
the accounts of that year might have included some unusual expenses,
the average of expenses for the last five years has been taken out,
and it shews the three Schools respectively, $56.12, $25.42, and $24.26.
With its advantages and its larger expenditure it is a question whether
it should not by this time have grown to three or four times its present
size, as well in numbers as in buildings. Where others have done
so much, the Institution has left it to others to shew the way, and
while they have advanced, finds itself just where it was thirty years
ago.

The Raffles Girls^ School was opened on the 4th March, 1844, in
the Institution building with six boarders and five day scholars.

In 1847, the School was removed from the centre of the building
to the wing next to Brass Bassa Road, suitable out^offices were erected,
and the wall, which is still standing, was built across the back part
of the compound to make a separation between the schools and play
grounds of the Boys and Girls. The centre rooms of the building,
which had been used for the Girls, were then used for the Singapore
Library.

The Rfiffles Institution 189

In 1871, to make room for expected boy pupils from Siam, the
Girls' School was moved into a house, rented at l|^55 a month on the
opposite side of Brass Bassa Road, where the Raffles Hotel is now built.
In 1877, as an increased rent was asked for that house, the school
was moved to the last house in Beach Road, the one built by
Dr. d' Almeida in 1825. In 1881 the new Girls* School building on the
Institution land behind the Boys* School was commenced : it cost J12,008,
of which the Government paid §6,000, The School was moved into
the new building on 23rd July, 1883. In 1888 a wing was added
to the end towards the sea : it cost $2,628, of which the Government
paid «1,250.

Sir Stamford Raffles intended the name " The Institution " to be
used. It was afterwards spoken of, and printed in the Annual Report
as "The Singapore Institution" until after 1867, when for some reason
that does not appear, in the Annual Report for that year printed in
1868, it was called "The Raffles Institution." No Annual Reports are
to be found between 1848 and 1854 and probably none were issued.
The previous Reports for the four years 1845 to 1848 were all printed
together in 1849.

140

CHAPTER XII

1823 — Resumed.

MR. CRAWFURD took charge of the Resident's Office, and on the
9th June Raffles gave over to him full charge of the Settlement.
Sir Stamford sailed the same day and reached Bencoolen on 18th July.
He never returned to Singapore. The usual circular letter which had
been sent to inform neighbouring States that he had given over charge
to Mr. Crawfurd was returned unanswered by Van der Gapellan, the
Governor-General of Java,

It may be useful here to note the periods when Sir Stamford
Raffles was actually in Singapore. He arrived in the harbour to
establish a settlement on 28th January, 1819, and left on the 7th
February. He returned in the beginning of June, after having been to
Acheen, and left again either in July or September. He arrived for
the third and last time on the 10th October, 1822, and left on the 9th
June, 1823.

Mr. John Crawfurd had belonged to the Bengal Medical Service.
He passed three years in Penang as a civil surgeon, and the next six
in Java as British Resident at the Court of the Sultan when it was
occupied by the British under Raffles. In 1820 he published his His-
tory of the Indian Archipelago, and in the following year he went as
Envoy from the Indian Government to the Court of Siam and Cochin-
Chin a where his missions were not very successful ; but his visits proved
advantageous afterwards in opening up communication and obtaining
information about those countries which were then very little known.
In Cochin-China the King would not grant him an audience or receive
the letter from the Governor-General, and the only result was that the
British should be allowed to trade on the same terms as the French.
His work on the subject of this Embassy was published in 1830. In
1834 he published the Journey of his Embassy to Ava where he went
as Ambassador in 1827. He was said to be no mean diplomatist. He
also wrote some valuable articles in the Singapore Chronicle on scien-
tific subjects and there are several papers of his in Logan's Journal.
All his books were said to be very useful and extremely laborious
works. A review of his Descriptive Dictionary of the Indian Isles,
published in 1856, is in Logan's Journal for the same year.

Crawfurd was famous both as an administrator and an author, but
he was not a popular man, and succeeded two men of singular popularity.
Raffles especially was a great favourite with all classes of the community,
both European and native ; his easy manners and courteous demeanour
captivating all hearts ; and Farquhar was very much liked. Mr Craw-
furd's manner was against him and obscured the great qualities he
evidently possessed. He was a typical Scotchman, and it was said of
him that frugality, which is virtue in a poor but high spirited people,
is apt to degenerate into parsimoniousness. He was very cautious, but
managed the affairs of the settlement with energy and ability.

1823 141

Abdulla speaks of him thus : " On looking at Mr. Crawf urd^s dis-
position^ he was impatient and of quick temper^ but in what he was
engaged he acted slowly and not immediately. Further, it could be
perceived that he was a man of good parts, clever and profound. Yet
it was equally true that he was much bent down by a love for the
goods of this world. His hand was not an open one, though he had
no small opinion of himself. Further, his impatience prevented him
from listening to long complaints, and he did not care about investigat-
ing the circumstances of the case. As sure as there was a plaint he
would cut it short in the middle. On this account I have heard
that most people murmured and were dissatisfied, feeling that
they could not accept his decision with good will, but by force
only."

Mr. Crawfurd and Raffles (to use Sir Stamford^s own words) ran
too much on the same parallel not to be now and then jostling each
other; and they were not always pulling easily together. There was
much rivalry in authorship, probably, and they criticised each other
pretty freely in the English reviews.

When Baffles came from Bencoolen to Singapore, in 1822, he was
accompanied by an assistant, a civilian of the Bencoolen establishment;
this was Mr. Edward Presgrave who had been the Judge and Magistrate
in Bencoolen. Mr. Presgrave and Mr. Bonham became assistants to
Mr. Crawfurd. Mr. Bonham was a very young man in those days ; he
had come out to Bencoolen when a boy of fifteen, and was afterwards
Police Magistrate here for a long time, and eventually Governor in
1837. Mr. Crawfurd^s portrait is hung in the Town Hall. He is re-
presented in a sitting posture.

Mr. Crawfurd was in charge of the Settlement from 9th June, 1823
to 14th August, 1826, when he was succeeded by Mr. Prince. He then
was appointed Civil Commissioner on the part of the British Govern-
ment at Rangoon and in the following year went to Burmah as Ambassador.
The Glasgow Evening Post of 11th September, 1830, contained a long
account of a dinner given to Mr. John Crawfurd, by tbe Lord Provost
and upwards of one hundred Glasgow merchants and others. It pub-
lished a list of the forty-two toasts, among which one was "The free
port of Singapore, and may its rising prosperity add another proof of
the advantages to commerce which result from freedom." In 1833 he
was a candidate for the new Parliament after the Reform Bill, as the
representative of Glasgow, his principal reasons for obtaining support
being his warm advocacy for the commercial interests of England upon
matters connected with India ; but he was not successful. Mr. Craw-
furd continued te take a warm interest in the affairs of the Settlement
to the very end of his life, and in his last year, on 31st January, 1868,
when the Straits Settlements Association was formed in London, he
was the first President. Mr. William Napier was Chairman, and Mr.
James Guthrie, Deputy-Chairman. A clear proof that the best of the
old Singaporeans did not neglect the interests of the place after they
had left it. He died in 1868 at the age of eighty-five years.

In May, Raffles had asked the opinions of the Magistrates about
the desirability of gambling licenses, and they unanimously represented
their great and growing evils. So the system was abolished^ and

142 Anecdotal History of Singapore

public gaming prohibited. It was alleged, in support of the gambling
farm, that, by putting it under reflations, the quantity of vice was
diminished, but Raffles said that independently of the want of authority
in any Government to countenance evil for the sake of good, he could
not admit that the effects of any regulation whatever, established on
such a principle, could be put in competition with the solid advantages
which must accrue from the administration of a Government acting on
strict moral principles, discountenancing vice, and exercising its best
efforts to repress it. He utterly repudiated the principle that it was
necessary to relax the rules of government and morality in order to
induce the immigration of Chinese and other traders. And Mr. Brad-
dell remarks that Sir Stamford, convinced- of the natural advantages
of Singapore, and foreseeing its future prosperity, anxiously endeavoured
to protect it from the inconvenience which must arise from sacrificing
principle to expediency.

On the other hand Mr. Crawfurd took an entirely different view of
the subject, and addressed the Magistrates asking for their advice and
co-operation for his plan of legalizing gambling. The non-officials unani-
mously protested against the principle of legalizing vice in any shape,
as likely to be detrimental to the best interests of the Settlement.
Mr. Crawfurd, however, persisted, and on the 23rd August he wrote
to thtt Magistrates as follows: —

'^Gentlemen, I have the honour to inform you, that in consequence
of an extensive conspiracy being discovered amongst the native police
to dofeat tlie regulations for the extirpation of gaming, the repeated
and oarnoat representations of the principal Chinese inhabitants in
n»gard to the existing system, and the object itself being found at
proMOut of difficult attainment, it has been deemed necessary, pending
a n»foivnoo to the Supreme Government, to license gaming, under the
HVHtoni of restraint and regulation which is detailed in the advertise-
n\ont, a eopy of which is herewith transmitted. You will have the
fiUMlntms, therefore, to suspend all proceedings in regard to the regu-
ati*»n against gaming, until the pleasure of the Honourable the Gov-
ornt>r-(louoral in Council shall be received."

And on the 18th September he wrote to the Secretary to Govern-
nuMit at Bengal explaining his reasons, as follows; — "Sir, — In a
di^Huatoh of the 15th of July, I had the honour to bring to the notice
of uovornmont the circumstances relating to gaming at this Settlement.
HiiHM* that period, a conspiracy amongst the native police has been
tliKCM>vt»riMl to defeat the regulations for its suppression, and three con-
vit^tiouH have in consequence taken place. The penalties attached to a
hriMU^h of the regulation are at the same time so extremely heavy and
Kovtn'o and, as it appears to me, so much at variance with the habits
and iniinnorH of the inhabitants, that I have felt myself by no means
warrantod in carrying them into effect before they receive the confir-
mation of the Supreme Government.

••2, In the meantime, the principal natives and Chinese made
rt^piMiUMl applications for the suspension of the regulation, stating a
faol, tlu» aoruraoy of which could not be questioned, that many of the
low**»r t'laHHt»H hatl quitted the Settlement on account of being deprived
of a ouitomary amusement.

1823 . 143

" 3. Urged by these reasons, and feeling the impossibility, under
the existing circnmstances of the Settlement^ of suppressing gaming, I
have adopted as a temporary alternative^ the plan of licensing it to a
certain extent and placing it under a system of control and restriction^
on the following conditions : — The number of gaming houses and of the
houses of play are limited; no gaming is permitted but for ready
money; no person gaming is permitted to wear arms; no gaming is
permitted in private houses or in the street, the latter practice hitherto
being very frequent; and finally the gaming licenses are to cease in
forty-eight hours after the receipt of orders to that effect from the
Supreme Government/^

In a paper he wrote two years afterwards, Mr. Crawfurd explained
his views as follows : — " The arguments for restoring the gaming farm
are given at length in the papers submitted to Mr. Fullerton. The
attempts made to put down the practice of gaming appear to me little
better than charlatanerie in such societies as those of our eastern settle-
ments, where the mass of the inhabitants is habitually addicted to play,
and where it is viewed only as a harmless amusement. It is said to be
disgraceful to gain a revenue by gaming. Not surely more so than
making a revenue by drunkenness, for both as far as regards gaming
and the consumption of wine and spirits, it is impracticable to distinguish
between vicious and harmless indulgence. At all events it is consistent
with every principle of wise legislation, that that which cannot be pre-
vented ought to be regulated. The gaming farm of Singapore is divid-
ed into twelve licenses. The houses are all in one street and contiguous
to each other, so as to be under the immediate eye of the police. This
is the farm in which the greatest augmentation of revenue has taken
place, and owing, as I conceive, entirely to the minute subdivision of
it. The increase amounts to very little less than 300 per cent. I ought
to mention that during two years and a half not a single quarrel or
accident has taken place in the gaming houses.^'

On the 1st December, 1823, Raffles wrote from Bencoolen to Cal-
cutta protesting against Mr. Crawfurd's action regarding gambling, and
asking the Governor-General in Council to uphold the principle which
he had felt it his duty to lay down and had beeh concurred in and ap-
proved by high authority. He said it involved no less the character of
the place than the interests of those who resided in it. In a previous
despatch written in Singapore on 22nd April, 1823, the following passage
occurs, it is now copied from a manuscript note made by Mr. Braddell»
in which he had himself copied out the whole passage, no doubt be-
cause it expressed Sir Stamford's views on the subject and so was
sufficiently important to be quoted at length: —

" On the establishment of the Settlement I thought it my duty to
declare that the vice of gaming was strictly prohibited, but licences
having been subsequently granted by the Resident, I regret to say
that they soon degenerated into the farming system as practised in
the Dutch Settlements with all its attendant evils. Under these
circumstances I could not do more on my arrival than attempt
the modification of the existing system, leaving the future consideration
of the subject until the end of the present official year, when my own
experience i^ould be enlarged, and something like an efficient Police

144 Anecdotal History of Singapore

established. That period having now arrived, a decision has become
necessary, and on the representation made by the Magistrates I have
not hesitated to abolish the farm altogether from the 1st May, notwith-
standing the opposition to the measure which I have met with on the
part of the Resident. That to give a license for gaming does give a
countenance to the vice cannot I think be denied ; that it does so ab-
stractedly is evident from no one ever arguing that a license may be
given to robbers and pirates ; and that it is considered a justification
in the apprehension of those who practise the vice is equally evident
from the shameless audacity with which they bring their gambling dis-
putes into open court. It is alleged in support of the Gaming Farm
that by placing it under regulation, the quantity of vice is diminished,
but independent of the want of authority of any human government to
countenance evil for the sake of good, I cannot admit that the effect*
of any regulation whatever established on such a principle are to be
put in competition with the solid advantages which must accrue from
the administration of a government acting on strict moral principles,
discountenancing vice, and exercising its beat effects to suppress it."

Then follows a note of a despatch from the Governor-General to
the Resident dated 11th September, 1823, in which it said : " With respect
to gaming, it has been already intimated to the Lieutenant-Governor
(Raffles) in reply to his letter of 22nd April last, that the sentiments
of the Government coincided with his in regard to the propriety of
abolishing the farm. The decision had been founded on the persuasion
that the sanction of licensing public gaming houses tended to encourage
and increase the vice, and that government seriously injured its re-
spect in the eyes of the people, and brought the reproach of countenanc-
ing vice for sake of profit. Also that Raffles had stated that measures
adopted by him at Bencoolen and Java had been entirely successful
and produced a marked impression on the habits of the people. The
Governor-General was averse to penal enactments for private gaming
where there was no fraud ; and if not mischievous it was probably
nugatory. But he considered it to be proper that public gaming and
the establishment of professed gaming houses should be prevented, and,
consequently, that the farm should not be reinstated. If, however, on
further experience Mr. Crawfurd was satisfied that relinquishing the
gaming farm would not be advantageous and its restoration not
injurious to the morals of the people, or the respect to the British
Government, the Governor-General would be prepared to re-consider the
question."

The following were the annual revenues received from the Opium
and Gambling Farms in the following years : —

Opium.

GAMBLINa.

1820

$ 7,345

$ 5,275

1821

9,420

7,335

1822

14,200

9,600

1823

22,830

15,076

1824

24,000

25,630

1825

24,030

33,657

1826

24,600

30,390

1823 145

When in 1827 the Grand Jury presented the Gambling Farm as
an immoral nuisance the remark was made by the Recorder (as Mr.
W. H. Read thinks) or by Dr. Montgomerie (as Mr. James Guthrie
thought) that " I did not think there were thirteen such idiots in the
Island/^ Sir Stamford Raffles who was taiit soil peu cafard (by no
means a hypocrite) and had to propitiate Sir Robert Inglis, Mr.
Wilber force and others, (Exeter Hall), set his face against the Farm.
Mr. Crawfurd who had a thorough knowledge of tlie Chinese and
Native cliaracters, and had no prejudices to contend with, was strongly
in favour of it. It was finally abolished by the Court of Directors in
1829 when it brought in $2,922 a month, being $100 above the sum
then paid for the opium farm. The consequence was corruption of the
police, and surreptitious gambling worse than ever, even up to the
present day.

The question of the gambling farm was for years a subject of
continual discussion in the newspapers, and a bitter war waged
between those who advocated a farm as a moral dutv and those who
discountenanced it on sentimental scruples. Mr, W. H. Read as Delta
took up the former and Dr. Little as Zero opposed it. The question
was thrashed out at great length in the Free Press from June to
September, 1860; and in March, 1885, when the originals of these
papers appeared in the Anecdotal History in the same paper, Delta
wrote to say that he was still of the same mind, because a farm was
the only way to control what all admitted to be a vice, and Dr. Little
as Zeta replied that he was still alive and kicking, and his opinion
(suppression) remained unchanged.

It will have been seen from Sir Stamford's letter quoted above
that he spoke of an efficient police being established. Gambling
may be controlled through a farm because it is then necessarily con-
ducted in public and the farmers (like the Opium and Spirit farmers)
protect their own interests in preventing private gaming; while it can-
not be suppressed by an inefficient police, who are exposed to unlimited
corruption. Li the Protected Native States now there are gambling
farms, and always have been. The great preponderance ^f opinion among
those who had the means of acquainting themselves with the practical
side of the subject has, probably, always been in favour of Mr. Craw-
furd's view and not of that of Raffles.

In October Mr. Crawfurd wrote to Bengal saying that he was
going to spend $900 on a new gaol, as the old one was only a tempo-
rary building, too small and insecure; it was a wooden building near
the end of the east bunk of the river, close to where the stone landing
steps are now. He also proposed to spend |1,200 on a dredging
machine to clear away the accummulation of sand at the mouth of the
river, which he said had arisen owing to the injudicious manner in
which some of the wharves and warehouses had been built, the effect
of which had been to obstruct the natural course of the stream, and
that if some scheme was not carried out, the navigation would be
entirely obstructed. He also intended to spend $1,000 on a water-course
and reservoir, as the wells and a small reservoir which had been con-
structed had fallen so much into decay that twelve of the East India
Company's vessels which had touched at Singapore in the month of

146 Anecdotal Hinfory of Singapore

September had experienced serious inconvenience for want of proper
arrangements to supply water, and the advantages of the port depended,
he said, very much upon its ability and convenience as a place of
refreshment.

In February the native chiefs had asked permission to hoist the
British flag in Johore to protect them against the risk of an attempt
by their rivals at Rhio to occupy Johore. In August, a confidential
order came from Bengal to strike the flag there, and Mr. Crawfurd
told the native chiefs to do so, and thought it had been done. In
November the Rhio chiefs, assisted by the Dutch authorities at that
place, actually attempted to occupy Johore, and messengers were sent
from there to Mr. Crawfurd, who now learnt that the flag had not
been struck, and the native chiefs refused to do so, in spite of his
remonstrances and explanations that no clause of any treaty bound the
British to maintain the authority of the Sultan and Tumungong beyond
the limits of the island of Singapore, but his directions were at last
complied with. The native chiefs appealed to the Governor-General,
which, of course, came to nothing. The Dutch had offered the most
obstinate resistance to the Settlement at Singapore, and had it not
been for the influence secured at home by Sir Stamford Raffles, who
lost no opportunity of making friends for Singapore in oflicial and
mercantile circles, the place would probably have been soon given up.
The opposition of the Dutch remained unabated until 1824, when the
treaty of London of 17th March, the exchange of Bencoolen for
Malacca, and other arrangements, ended the dispute.

Mr. Braddell made a note that on the 18th November the Resi-
dent was alarmed at the proceedings of the Dutch, and the following
letter written by Mr. Crawfurd to the Secretary of the Government at
Calcutta on that day explains the matter: —

Political Department.

Sir, — The CommissionerR of the Dutch Government, whose arrival at Malacca
I had the honor to report in a former despatch, passed this place about ten
days ago on their way to Rhio.

At Malacca the Commissioners have nearly taken off all port charges and
reduced the duties •on native vessels to one percent., an impost, however, still
sufficient to prove irksome to the native traders and therefore equal to a
direct encouragement to this port. The duty of 25 per cent, imposed on British
woollens and cottons at Batavia is by the present arrangement extended to
Malacca.

The Dutch Commissioners, while at Malacca, invited the rival bi*other of the
Sultan who is connected with us, to come rouud to Rhio from Tringanu, where
he had been residing for several years, and sent a ship of war for his accom-
modation. This invitation was accepted of, and about three weeks ago the native
prince in question arrived at Rhio, where he was put in possession of what are
called the regalia, and raised to the Throne of Johore.

The two native chiefs connected with us sent me a messenger yesterday,
who had arrived from Johore itself, now a fishing village upon a large river
on the Peninsula, 20 miles distant from this place. This person informed
me that the newly created Sultan of Johore, in concert with the Dutch, had
sent over a party of his own people, accompanied by two Europeans, to hoist
his own and the Netherland flag and take possession of Johore as the legitimate
prince.

The natives chiefs in connection with us have upon this occasion come
forward to claim our active assistance, on the faith of promises alleged to have
been made to them. I have declined on the Ipart of Government to interfere

1828 147

in this transaction in any respect whatever, and rocommended t<o the parties to
re«t Matisfied in the meantime with the ample allowance which they d»*rive from
the bounty of the British Government.

The Netherland Government has resolved upon forming an establishment on
the large island of Lingin which is a portion of the Johore territory. .This will
be detrimental to the interests of this place, only in as far as it may obstruct a
growing trade in tin from a small island on the Coast of Lingin and dependent
upon it, called Singkep. When Singapore was taken possession of on our part,
the produce of Singkep in this metal was very inconsiderable, but in consequence
of the high prices given at this port, it has since increased so much as at present
to be estimated at little less than 5,(M)0 piculs aunually.

The activity of the Netherland Government has also been directed to other
quarters in our vicinity. They have within the last 12 months formed a Settle-
ment upon the Island of Billiton, which has claims to be considered as a British
possession in consequence of a cession from the Sultan of Palembang in the year
1812. sanctioned by the silence of the convention of the Netherland Government
of 1814. by which Banca, a cession of the same treaty, was given in exchange
for Cochin. I submit this fact with the more confidence, as it chanced to come
within the range of my own personal knowledge that the Island of Billiton was
actually viewed as a Biitish possession by the British Commissioners who con-
ducted the discussion of the Dutch claims in London, in the year 1820.

The Batavian Government have from all accounts also obtained a cession of
the Carimata Islands, which lie between Billiton and Borneo, and where it is
said tbey contemplate forming a Settlement. Should this be effected they will
be in an attitude in some respects to control every navigable channel leading
from the Straits of Malacca and the China Sea, to the Java and Amboyna Seas
and the Straits of Sunda.

It seems probable that one object at least of the policy in question, is so
far to control the native trade as to give it a direction towards their own ports,
and force it out of its present channels. In furtherance of this principle they
have indeed already imposed heavy and almost prohibitory duties on all native
vessels belonging to their own Settlements which shall trade or even touch at
any foreign European ports.

Well authenticated a^KJOunts have been received at this place, that the Dutch
Government in the month of September last, undertook an expedition for the
conquest of Sangau. This is a Malay State situated on the Island of Borneo,
about 300 miles up the great river of Pontianak, and in the heart of the country
which has of the late years produced so much gold. The expedition consists of
3 gun-boats and 400 troops, principally Europeans, and it will require a voyage of
two months to take it to its destmation, as the ascent of the river is against a
rapid stream and very difficult.

It may be worth remarking that Sangau is but one out of eight Malay
States of considerable size, scarcely known by name to Europeans, all situated
on the same river, which appears to be navigable for native vessels for little less
than 1,000 miles.

I have received accounts from Sangora, tho first Siamese pr<^vince bordering
<m the Malay countries. The person who furnishes me with this information
was in the presence of the Rajah of Sangora, on or about the 20th of October,
and declai'es that although rumours were abroad of an intended invasion of Siam
by the British, he had not heard a word of any meditated attack on Prince of
Wales Island, or even of any preparation making by the Siamese which appeared
to have that object in view.

I have, Ac.

(Signed) J. Crawfurd,

Resident.
Singapore, 18th November, 1823.

The following correspondence found in Mr. Braddell's notes con-
tains a good deal of information on many matters, with Mr. Crawfurd's
reasons for the steps he took. The regulations for the sale of the
yarious farms are all to be found in 8 Logan's Journal pages 339

148 Anecdotal History of Singapore

to 347, but would take up too much room here. They show the condi-
tions under which the licences were issued for the manufacture of
gunpowder, the pawnbrokers' shops, gaming houses and cockpits^ and
the sale of spirits and opium.

Territorial Department.

Holt Mackenzie, Esq.,

Secretaiy to the Government, Fort William.

Sir, — I have the honor to lay before the Honorable the Grovemor-General in
Council a sketch of the available revenue of this Settlement, with a short esti-
mated comparison of onr probable future resources and disbursement.

2. It may b^ necessary to premise that the principal sources of revenue in
the eastern islands are an excise or tax on tlie consumption of opium, spirituous
liquors, pork and fish. To these may be added taxes on gaming, pawnbrokers'
shops, &c., &c.

3. These taxes are commonly rendered a monopoly, and under the name
of Farms disposed of to one person, who again sublets his piivilege, according
as he judges best for his own convenience and advantage. In this manner each
particular branch of the revenue is sold at Prince of Wales Island to one individaa],
and even in the large Island of Java, whore there are several millions of inhabi-
tants, there are not in all above five or six farms for each distinct subject of
revenue.

4. Having been for some y(»ai*8 ai^customed to the considei'ation of queationa
of the nature and viewing th<* vicious principle of establishing monopolies as
equally prejudicial to the Government and the public, I have ventured in the
arrangement of tlie njvenuen of this Settlement upon some considerable changes,
which I trust will meet the approbation of the Supreme Government.

5. Instead of a monopoly in favor of an individual, I have decided upon
establishing a cei*tain number of li(*enRt>8 for each branch of revenue, on an estimate
of the wants and consumption of the phice, and these have been disposcnl of by
public outcry to the highest bidder, suhstantial seciu'ity being taken for prompt
monthly payment. There is nothing new in this arrangement, being the same
with the licenses in England for the retail of wine and spirits, substitutiug the
public sale for the discretion vested in the Magistrates. It will not be necessary
in this place to descnbe the specific conditions of the licenses so disposed of. As
an illustration of the general principle and as an example of the whole I have
the honor to append to this letter the conditions of the arrack licensee.

6. The licenses disposed of on these principles are those for opium, Asiatic
spirits, pawnbrokei*s, luid the manufacture and retail vend of native gunpowder.

7. The advantage of substituting licenses for the former farms or mono-
polies, will I hope appear evident from a comparison of the sale of the two
principal licenses, those of opium and spirituous liquors, at the present and
prec^eding sales, where there is shewn an advantage in fa»^or of the license system
for the first of 83 per cent, and for the second of 125 ]>er cent.

8. The detailed results of the present and preceding sales are as follows : —

The preceding side Present sale.

Opium, Spanish dollars 1,615 S 2,960

Arrack „ 682 „ 1,540

Pork „ 302 „ 302

Gunpowder „ ... „ 217

Pawnbrokers „ ... ,,175

Gaming ., 778 „ ...

Spanish dollars . . . 3,377 8 5,194

9. From this statement it will be observed that two small additional licenses
have been created, that one has been abolished, and that another remains with-
out alteration. The monthly increase upon the whole is $1,817 per mensem,
or exclusive of the abolished farm S778. I may further remark on this point,

1823 149

that on the supposition of the abolished license being restored and its selling upon
termn equally advantageous with other licenses, which was to be reckoned upon, the
actual monthly revenues arising; from these farms woidd have amounted to $6,718.

10- On the subject of the abolished license, viz., that for gaming and the
two new ones established, viz., those for pawnbrokerh and for the manufacture
and vend of native gunpowder, ai^ well as that for the vend of pork, I respect-
fully submit the following explanations.

11. The license for gaming h<>u«<e8 was abolished at the end of April last,
under impressions amd opinions which have already been submitted to the
Supreme Government by the Lieutenant-Grovemor of Fort Marlbro*. Differing
wholly on this question with Sir S. Raffles, it will be the mora necessary that
I offer a full explanation, a matter which I am enabled to accomplish with the
more satisfaction, as I have already fninkly explained my sentiments and dissent
to himself in person.

J 2. The gaming licenses have been abolished by Sir S. Raffles under a belief
that to license gaming was to encourage the vice, and that the revenue which
government received from this source must necessarily be obtained at the expense
of the morals of the people, and therefoi*e unworthy of the chai*acter or the
Government. If the actual circumstances of the case really wariTinted this in-
ference, I should be heartily prepared to join the Lieutenant-Grovemment of Fort
Marlbro* in recommending the permanent abolition of the gaming license, but
after a long and attentive consideration of this question I am mclined to come to
a very different conclusion.

13. The passion for gaming prevades all ranks of the two principal classes
of our population, the Chinese and the Malays, to a most unusual and extraordi-
nary extent, and I am clearly of opinion that in the relation which we stand to
them, and the slender opportunities whicli we possess of reforming their manners
and habits, the propensity, as far as our influence is concerned, is incurable.

14. If our population, even with the habits I have ascribed to it, were of a
stationary nature there might be fair hopes, with time and pains, to improve iU
bat the fact is, that by far the greater proportion of the people who are found
here are not permanent inhabitants of the place, but individuals who make a
temporary convenience of it for a few weeks, for a few months, or at most for a
few years. To attempt the reformation of a people so ciix;umstanced appears to m«
to be utterly hopeless.

15. It is necessary, besides, to observe that the practice of gaming, especially
in reference to the Chinese, is not a vice of the same character which Europeans
are accustomed to contemplate it. It is in fact an amusement and recreation
which the most industrious of them are accustomed to i*esort to.

16. Having few holidays and scarcely any amusements besides, they consider
being debarred from gaming as a privation and a violence in some measure offered
to their habits and manners.

17. It is true, indeed, that gaming is proscribed by their code of laws.
The prohibition in this case however seems a dead letter, and perhaps scarcely
more valid than that interdiction of foreign tiude and emigration, to the dis-
regard of which we owe at this very Settlement one of the principal branches
of our trade and the most numerous and industrious class of our population.

18. The real effect which I aui inclined to believe the pronibition of
gaming must produce, while the propensity to indulge in play is so habitually
strong, will be, that gaming instead of being publicly can'ied on will be pursued
clandestinely, that instead of being subjected to a wholesome control, all
restraint will be removed from it, that the price of conniving at the practice will
always be a source of temptation and corruption to the inferior officers of th<^
police, and that, finally, although perhaps less woHhy of consideration, a large
revenue will be very unnecessarily sacrificed for an imaginary benefit.

19. In support of the opinions now offered I may safely quote the results
of the abolition of the gaming licenses, at Prince of Wales Island, which took
place about 13 years ago on a representation from the Grand Jury, shortly after
the establishment of the King*s Court at that place. The gaming, notwithstanding
the abolition, is admitted to have gone on undiminished, large fines have been
weekly levied on account of illegal gaming, and about three years ago the whole
police, including the European Constables, were discovered in a conspiracy to

160 Anecdotal History of Singapore

defeat the laws against gaming and convicted uf having been concerned for years
in taking large bribes for conniving at illicit play, while in point of revenue a
loss of not less than holf-a-million dollars, has been experienced. A. reference in
•consequence of the discovery of this abuse was made to the Hon'ble Court of
Directors, and, as I understood from the best source, authority has recently been
given to reconsider and re-establish the licenses.

20. If the statements and reasonings which I have now respectfully submitted
be considered of any weight, I trust I shall have the authority of the Hon'ble the
Governor-General in Council for restoring the licenses in question, if only with a
view to objects of police, and so that the gaming may at least be made to defray
a part of the charge of those establishments which the exercise of it. either
openly or clandestinely, must always in a great measure create a necessity for
supporting.

21. On the subject of the two new licenses, those for pawnbrokers and the
manufacture and retail of native gunpowder, not much explanation I hope will be
necessary. They were chietiy instituted as a measure of police. It is evident
that botn are of a nature that would render them serious nuisances if under no
control. The manufacture of gunpowder requires a few more words. It was
found that no Ichs than live manufactories of this article existed and that they
were carried on in the immediate precincts of the town, to the imminent danger
of the place, as they were necessarily without restraint or inspection on the part
of the public authorities.

22. With reference to the farm for the vend of pork, this is a recent branch
of revenue, created as 1 undei*stand for a temporary and specific purpose and
which expires at the end of the year. I trust Goverament will favor me with an
authority not to restore it, viewing it as I do, as an extremely injudicious tax,
affecting one of the principal necessaries of life of the most numerous and
industrious class of our population, and this too under aggravated circumstances,
since the whole of the article is imported and from its nature at a very heavy
expense. The inconsiderable revenue derived from it, it will be observed, is more
than compensated by the two new licenses which are on the present occasion
submitted for approval.

23. The quit-rents of lands disposed of on the principle laid down by the
Supreme Government will constitute another item of revenue, On the first of
January I am in hopes that four thousand Spanish dollars, or thereabout, will be
realized from this scource, giving a monthly revenue of 333 dollars.

24. The rents of houses purchased by the government and of which an
account has been rendered in the correspondence of the Lieutenant-Grovemor
of Fort Marlbro*. foim at least a temporary source of revenue. Both with a view
to re-imburse the Goverament, and as the best means of preserving the buildings
themselves, I have considered it the most eligible plan to let them on short leases
of six months to the highest bidder, as they are from time to time vacated by the
present occupants. When the whole are let in this manner, it is estimated they
will bring a monthly revenue of somewhat more than 1,000 Spanish dollars. At
present two only have been vacated by the occupants and let, and these, besides
affording offices for the Magistrates and Master Attendant, a boat office, and rooni
for the military stores, bring a monthly rent of dollars 300.

25. Should government be pleased to give their sanction to the revenue mea-
sures which I now have had the honor to propose, the actual receipts will amount
to 7,749 Spanish dollars a month. This revenue appears in no respect to press
upon the industry of the place and from the nature of the principal branches of
it may be expected to increase from year to year, to keep pace with the prosperity
of the Settlement, and ultimately to meet our disbursements, of which at present
it falls veiy considerably short.

26. To plaoe this subject in one view before the government, I shall here beg
leave to exhibit a 8hoi*t sketch of the ordinary expenses of the Settlement. They
are us follows : —

Civil estiiblishmeut $3,923

Stipends to native princes 2,000

Militaiy establishment 3,349

Total 9^72

1823 151

27. By this statement it will appear that the actual deficiency is 3,445 doUars
and that with the prospective improvement in the revenue, which I contemplate
will be the result of the measures I have recommended, not more than 1,500 dollars.

1 have, &c.,

(Signed) J. Cbawfurd,

BesidenU
Singapore, 15th July, 1823.

The imports in Singapore in this year were £1,200,000, and the
exports £950,000. The actual revenue of the Farms for the year ending
30th April, 1823, was $25,796, and the population then was 10,683.

The firm of Syme & Co., which continues under the same
name to this day, was established in this year, by Mr. Hugh Syme.
It was in this year also that Seah Eu Chin canie to Singapore
from Swatow. He worked his passage down by keeping the accounts
of the junk he sailed in, and on reaching Singapore he took two
shares in a boat that rowed and sailed to Klang and other places.
After two years he stayed in Singapore as the agent for this and
other boats, in Kling Street and afterwards in Circular Road. He
was, it is said, the first to start gambier and pepper planting in
Singapore. We are told that he tried planting tea, nutmegs and
other things, and not succeeding as he expected, he gave them up
and tried gambier. The price was then so low, that he was going to
discontinue that also, but Mr. Church persuaded him to persevere, and
he made a large fortune by it. At that time gambier was 75 cents,
and pepper $1.50 a picul. In former years, during the time of Sir
Richard McCausland, it was not unusual for the Court to advise
Chinese suitors to refer their cases to Eu Chin. And years ago, when
the Chinese Secret Societies were troublesome, he was the person who
had most control over the headmen of them. In 1850 he headed the
deputation of the Chinese which waited upon the Governor-General,
Lord Dalhousie, on his visit to Singapore, and Governor Butterworth
wrote to him expressing his grateful acknowledgments for the assistance
he had given in welcoming His Lordship. In December, 1853, the
Governor gave him a certificate of naturalization, adding that it gave
him much satisfaction to enrol the name of so talented and highly
respectable a resident, since 1824 in Singapore, among the naturalized
British in the Straits of Malacca. In 1837 he married the eldest sister
of Mr. Tan Seng Poh, whose father was the Captain China of Perak.
His wife died and a year after he married her younger sister, and the
old lady is still alive. Their eldest son, Seah Cho Seah, died in 1885,
at thirty-nine years of age, and his second son, Seah Leang Seah, has
been one of the unofiicial members of the Legislative Council. Yjxx
Chin died in Singapore at the age of 79, in September, 1883. Mr.
James Guthrie made this note to the original of these papers : — " Seah
Eu Chin was book-keeper to Kim Swee, who did a large business on
Boat Quay between Market Street and Bonham Street; and between
1832 and 1834 built the houses that he occupied, at the end of the
Bridge. Eu Chin, if I am not mistaken, then purchased the property.
He was one of the best educated Chinese in Singapore, and was*
always ready to make himself useful.^' In 1 Logan's Journal, page

152 Anecdotal History of Singapore

35 and in Volume 2 page 283, are two papers by Eu Chin upon the
remittances made by the Chinese to their parents, and on their numbers,
tribes, and habits in Singapore.

On 20th November a committee of military officers assembled to
consider the best site for cantonments, the place used near Stamford
Road, on the north bank of the river under Government Hill, being
wamted for other purposes. They were then removed to Rochore, but the
ground was found to be too low. After that they were removed to the
Sepoy Lines, where they continued until the European regiments took the
place of the native troops, and occupied the barracks at Tanglin in 1868.

In December the Rev. Mr. Robinson of Bencoolen having published
a work on Malayan orthography. Raffles sent six copies to the Supreme
Government at Bengal and thirty copies to the Court of Directors in
London.

158

CHAPTER XIII.

1824.

IN January Mr. Frederick James Bernard established a newspaper,
The Singapore Chronicle, He had applied in the preceding July,
to the Governor-General, through the Resident, for leave to do so, and
on the 10th January the first number was sent to Bengal. It was,
probably, published once a fortnight, because in January, 1831, it was
increased in size to a paper of four pages, the whole sheet being 20
inches long by 25 inches wide, and the Editor wrote that the increas-
ing importance of the Settlement (in 1831) as to its commerce, and
the consequent progressive addition to its population, demanded from
the Singapore Press a paper more worthy of the place than the former
one, and published at shorter intervals. The principal contributor to
the paper, for the first two years, was Mr. Crawfurd himself, the
Resident. In 1884 it was not possible to find any copy of the paper
before 1831, and there is not one, probably, in existence. In 1838
there is a note in the Singapore Chron,icle that the Editor had been
unable to make up a complete file of the paper for 1824, 1825 and
1826, so it is not likely that copies are in existence now, nearly eighty
years later.

A short notice of the newspapers of years ago in the Straits may
be of interest here. The Priure of Walex Inland Gazette began in 1805,
and ceased in August 1827, after twenty-two years. On the 22nd
August, 1827, another paper, called The Penang Regiater and Miscellany,
was started, and after a short life, expired in September, 1828; this
had been a weekly publication. On 25th October, 1828, Tlie Oovern-
rmd Gazette of Prince of Walen Inland , Singapore, and Malacca was
starttd in Penang, published weekly, and it ceased in its turn in
July, 18JJ0. On 20th July, 1833, The Prince of Walen Island Gazette
was started; and on the 7th April, 1838, The Penang Gazette and
Straits Chronicle was established; these were both weekly papers.

Malacca had also had its newspapers. The Malacca OhservHt, pub-
lished fortnightly, having connnenced in September, 1826, and stopped
in October, 1829 ; it was a small paper about the size of Punch, of four
pages. After a long interval, The Weekly Register started as a weekly
publication, and two volumes were published in 1839 and 1840.

The Singapore Chronicle continued the only paper in the place
until October, 1835, when the Singapore Free Press started, and
proved too much for the vitality of the Chronicle, which ceased, after
attempting to get support by lowering its subscription, on Saturday, the
30ih September, 1837, and the press and type were shipped to Penang
to start the Penang Gazette arid Straits Chronicle there. The Free Press
^ then the only paper until 1845, when the The Straits Times and
^iT^fore Journal of Commerce published its first number on Tuesday,

154 AtKicdotal Hvftory of Singapore

the loth July, as a weekly paper of eight pages. In 1824 the news-
papers had to be submitted to Government before publication, under
what was called the *' Gaggin*^ Act." As long as Mr. Crawfurd edited
the Chronicle^ this gave no inconvenience, of course; but afterwards the
paper used to have large blank spaces in it, where paragraphs or
articles had been taken out, and their places supplied by a few stars,
to show that it was not a mistake in the printing. That Act was
abolished in 1835, and the new paper was consequently called The Free

Preifn,

In January, 1824, the first census was taken, and the population
then was 10,683, of which there were 74 Europeans, 16 Armenians,
15 Arabs, 4,580 Malays, 3,317 Chinese, 756 Natives of India, and
1,925 Bugis, &c.

In a report Mr. Crawfurd made in January he said that those
natives who lived in boats occupied themselves with fishing and piracy,
and lived on sago brought from Sumatra. The cost of clearing land
for gambier and pepper, for which the soil was good, was $35 an acre.
The Chinese >vere of two classes, Macao and Hokien, the latter the
most respectable and the best settlers ; all the merchants and most of the
good agriculturists were Hokien. The Klings were numerous and
respectable as traders. The Bengalees few, and only as menials. The
Bugis were numerous and distinguished from other islanders by in-
dustry and good conduct, but all traders, not agriculturists. The Malays
of Malacca were useful settlers ; those of Johore and other native
states more a nuisance than a benefit. Except the fishing Malays, all
the natives appreciated the advantage of a good land tenure under a
European Government, and the Chinese particularly.

In Mr. Crawfurd 's opinion the principle to be followed in order
to attract agriculturists, was to give a good and permanent tenure,
simple and with few formalities on transfer ; a good plan either to make
grants, an estate for years, or leases for fifty or sixty years renewable
on fine, or say at once, a thousand years. Title not to convey real
property rights as in England, such as immunity from personal debts,
&c., but to be merely chattels.

As there was no power to lay a tax upon Europeans, Mr. Crawfurd
proposed that power should be given for the East India Company to
assess rates for general municipal purposes, police, roads, lighting,,
cleansing, nuisances, &c.

The Resident asTced permission to forward a gold cup, with a
letter dated 23rd Decembtjr, 1823, presented to Colonel Farquhar, the
late Resident, by the Chinese inhabitants of Singapore.

On the 18th January there was a very high tide, rising two feet
above the usual highest spring tides. It overflowed into the shops of
the Chinese, and into A. L. Johnston & Co.'s godown, which was the
nearest to the sea in Battery Road. Sampans were going along the
streets at Boat Quay, as they were the only means for people to leave
the houses. All Mr. Johnston^s out-houses were thrown down by the
water washing away the foundations. His house was in a compound,
where the building of the Chartered Bank is now. There was a fence
along the front in what is now called Battery Road, and steps on the
river side, where he used to get into his boats.

1824 155

In January the Resident reported the discovery of antimony in
Borneo, to the north of Sambas, and also that it was found at Bulang,
twenty miles from Singapore. In the next year 30 to 40 tons were
imported for trial.

The Resident in a judicial report, of 9th January, stated that he
was engaged in administering Chinese and Malay law. " The case with
respect to Europeans is very different ; there exists no means whatever
in civil cases of affording the natives any redress against them, nor
in criminal cases any remedy short of sending them for trial before
the Supreme Court of Calcutta. It is unnecessary to dwell upon the
great inconvenience of such a state of things, &c."

In a report of land tenures the Resident gave a list of grants
alreadv issued by Raffles from No. 1 to 576, and location tickets from
1 to 158.

On the 6th February Mr. John Crawfurd gave a dinner to all
the Europeans, it being the anniversary of hoisting the flag in the
island. " The dinner was at 7-30 p.m. and there were about fifty
persons present including the ladies. There was plenty to eat but it
was so much later than usual that few felt inclined to partake and
some took nothing at all. There was a double row of tables. It was a
stupid sort of affair altogether. They drank "The Prosperity of Singa-
pore" and of Sir Thomas Raffles, besides all the usual loyal toasts.
They rose from the table a little after ten, the Resident's frugal store
of wine being apparently exhausted.'' This account of the first
"official dinner" of Singapore is quoted from a diary of Mr. Walter
Scott Duncan, which was in the possession of the late Mr. Gilbert
Angus twenty years ago. Duncan was the son of the Sheriff substi-
tute of Shetland, and came out to Singapore in 1823, in a vessel which
brought out the wife and young daughter of Mr. C. R. Read of A. L.
Johnston & Co., and Duncan became a clerk in that firm. He remained
here a few months and then went to Rhio, where the firm had an
agency, and remained there for some time. He afterwards returned
to Singapore where he was a ship-chandler, and finally bought a
plantation at Siglap, next to Dr. Little's, which he called Mount Thule,
near the 7th mile on Changie Road, where he died in 1857.

At this time dinner was at 4 or 4.30 p.m. and people used to go
out for a walk or a drive afterwards, or sometimes danced to the
music of two or three fiddlers. At 9.30 there was a supper, and parties
always broke up about ten o'clock. The streets were lighted for the
first time on the evening of the 1st April, but there were very few
lamps and they had only a single glass in front, so the light was little
use. As if to show this, Mr. Purvis's godown was broken into that
same night and robbed of goods worth $500.

On the 23rd February Mr. Spottiswoode and Mr. and Mrs. Con-
nolly arrived from Padang in the brig Guide. They had left Madras
in July, 1823, and had been selling the cargo at different places along
the West Coast of Sumatra when there was any prospect of doing
business. They had not been very successful and had still 300 pack-
ages of goods they had been unable to get rid of. They had been
expected in Singapore for several months, as it was their intention to
settle here, which they did. Mr. Duncan remarked in his diary that

156 Ancedotal Hiatory of Singapore

" they will add another firm to the already too great number
established/'

In February the Resident intended to stop the natives carrying
their krisses and a peon was sent to proclaim it in Campong Glam.
The man was afraid to do it, and went and told the Sultan, who was
very indignant and told the peon that if he attempted to do it he would
order him to be krissed on the spot. Mr. Crawfurd allowed the matter to
stand over, in which the Europeans thought he showed weakness and
want of decision. The Sultan very strongly insisted that it would be
contrary to the stipulations at the time of our taking possession of the
Island. A few days afterwards Mr. Crawfurd told the Sultan that the
Tumongong had no objection, but the Sultan said he was a silly fellow,
afraid to speak his own mind and did whatever the Resident wished.
An armed guard of Sepoys had accompanied the Resident in case of
any disturbance, and the police peons privately carried pistols. The
regulation was afterwards carried out without difficulty. One necessary
result of the Malays carrying krisses was frequent amoks.

On the 21st February, at three o'clock in the morning, occurred
the first lire there is any notice of. It took place in the Dhobies'
houses, and the Sepoys went with two engines and buckets. It was a
moonlight night, and the fire was put out without any serious damage.
About twenty houses were burnt.

On the 22nd February Syed Mahommed died. " He was a much
respected Arab merchant, whose death is greatly lamented both by
natives and Europeans. He was a man of great honesty, and fair and
open in his transactions with all classes. He is supposed to have left
considerable property."

On the 17th April the American brig Leander arrived from Batavia
and brought the news of the loss of the Fame off Bencoolen, with all
Raffles's collection ; but the story was that she had sunk in Bencoolen
roads only a few hours before the time Sir Stamford had fixed for
embarkation, and so suddenly that the people on board had barely time
to save their lives. The Fame had been of course burned at sea.

On the King's birthday, 23rd April, a salute was fired by the
artillery on the Plain, and another at noon. "There was a dinner on
the Goverment Hill at seven o'clock, which was so ill attended and
stupid it scarce merits notice."

In those days the flagstaff was eagerly watched, and the signal for
a ship to the eastward infused new life into all, as letters from Europe
usually arrived via Batavia. A voyage from England took four or five
months, and an answer within nine months was considered very
punctual. It is worth noting that Duncan paid eighty guineas for his
passage money from London to Singapore by the Cape and Batavia.

In May the farms were let for one year, and fetched $60,672,
against $25,796 in 1828. This year the Opium farm fetched §23,100,
Spirits §10,980, Gaming |26,1J2, and Pawnbrokers $480. By order of
the Supreme Government the fines levied in the Court were to be
applied to the improvement of the town.

The Dutch Resident at Rhio wrote to the Tumongong asking for
a copy of the genealogy of the Royal Family of Johore. The Resident
wrote to Bengal, on 10th May : — " The circumstance of carrying on

1824 157

a secret correspondence witli a stipendiary of tlie British Government,
living under its immediate protection, appearing to be a breach of that
rule of forbearance with respect to the mutual claims of both govern-
ments in the Eastern Archipelago, I recommended the Tumongong not
to reply to the Dutch Resident's letter."

iTie Sultan and Tumongong sent in a long memorial, complaining
of the British flag and protection having been removed from Johore.
The following is the Resident's report to the Supreme Goverment on
the document. It is at full length in Mr. Braddell's Notes, so it is
evident he thought it of enough value to be preserved. It is of consider-
able length, but is of much interest, as it shows how the English
had been treating the Malay chiefs, and how they had risen by degrees
to appreciate the importance of the place in which they had allowed
the " Factory '' to be established. As the place grew, their sense of their
own consequence, and of the advantage they might take of it, increased.
The letter is undoubtedly a very able one, and the future of Singapore
depended upon the question it discussed. It will be seen from the
treaty, set out in the next chapter, and made by Mr. Crawfurd as soon
as he received an answer to this letter from the Supreme Government
in Calcutta, that all his suggestions were carried out. His remark
that Sir Stamford Raffles could probably have bought the whole island
outright for a small sum, was no doubt correct, but on the whole,
as events have turned out, through the gradual concurrence of the
chiefs, and their consequent appreciation of the behaviour of the
English towards them, it was to the advantage of the place that
Raffles acted as he did. This is the letter :

" Sir, — I have had the honor to transmit by this opportunity to the
Persian Secretary, a joint letter from the native chiefs with whom we
are connected at this place, and a separate one from the Tumongong,
with translations of both. On the subject of these communications it
becomes necessary that I should offer some explanation. The first matter
contained is the joint letter — that which refers to the fact of the
British flag having been hoisted at Johore, — is probably not known to
the Government, unless by rumour. The circumstances attending this
transaction are shortly as follows : —

"In the month of February. 182^3, the native chiefs connected with us,
expre!^.sed to the local authority their apprehension that their rivals at
Rhio intended to occupy Johore, and they solicited permission to hoist
the British flag there to secure them against this risk. Their request
was acceded to, and a flag supplied to them, which their own followers
erected. In the month of August I received a confidential order to
strike the Briti.sh flag at Johore, in the possible event of its having
been erected. On the receipt of these instructions, the necessary direc-
tions were communicated to the native chiefs for striking the flag, and
I entertained at the time no doubt but that they had been strictly
complied with, having been assured that they were.

** In the month of November, however, the apprehended occupation
of Johore on the part of the rival chiefs at Rhio, assisted by the
Dutch authorities at the settlement, was actually made. Messengers
were dispatched from Johore to communicate this information to me,
aiid I now not only learnt that the flag had not been struck, but that ^

158 Anecdotal History of Singapore

even a demand was set up for a right to our assistance in driving
away the people of Rhio. It was in vain that I gave the most
peremptory orders to strike the British flag, and that I explained that
no clause of any treaty bound the British Government to maintain the
authority of the Sultan and Tumongong in any place beyond the limits
of the island of Singapore My directions were disregarded, until I
found myself compelled to make a threat of sending a force to remove
the flag, when they were at length complied with.

"The object of the present address of the native chiefs to the
Right Hon'ble the Governor-General, appears to be to complain of our
withdrawing our protection by striking the flag at Johore, and to claim
the fulfilment of some supposed treaty or promise which binds us to
assert and maintain their authority by force of arms. It is scarcely
necessary for me to state that no such engagement exists, but that, on
the contrary, the second article of the treaty made in February, 1819,
expressly provides that we are not bound to interfere in the internal
political concerns of their government, nor to aid them by force of
arms in asserting their authority, while every other engagement with
them is altogether silent on this subject.

" I have been at much pains in explaining this matter to the native
chiefs, but my efforts have not been attended with all the success I
could have desired, for the subject is most repugnant to their wishes,
and to certain ambitious views which they have been led to entertain. It
will, therefore, be extremely desirable and satisfactory that the princi-
ples of the political connexion which subsists between them and our
Government should be made known to them for their guidance from
the highest authority.

"The second matter of the joint letter of the native chiefs refers
to the question of slavery. The claim made here is that the Malayan
law, which admits the existence of slavery, should not be altered or
infrinfjed. I presume to consider this as a demand utterly inadmissable.
Singapore, however anomalous its situation in some respects, exists
only through British protection, and is therefore virtually a British
possession for the time. Slavery, therefore, in any form in which it is
expressly contrary to law cannot be tolerated.

" The only individuals who can be considered as slaves in this island,
according to our laws, are such persons as were in a state of slavery before
the place was made over to the British Government and the British flag
hoisted. This would include several of the slaves of the Tumongong,
as this chief with many of his followers were actually on the island
when we received possession of it. It would, however, perhaps exclude
all the followers of the Sultan, as he was not present at the period in
question, and did not come over with his retainers until some time
thereafter.

"The difficulty is greatly enhanced by the impossibility of deter-
mining who is and who is not a slave. The chiefs insist that every person
belonging to them is a slave, and in no respect master of his own
property or actions, and they by no means confine this monstrous
pretension to their own retainers at Singapore, but make the same
\^ over every native of the numerous islands and straits in our immediate
f yicinity, nominally or otherwise dependent upon them, who comes to

1824 159

sojourn or reside at this aettlemont. The Tumongong at least declares,
at the same time, that he has no slaves in the sense in which we
understand the term — that is, persons who can be bought or sold for
money. It is true, indeed, that these chiefs are not in the practice of
selling their people for money, but it is equally certain that their
retainers cannot rid themselves of their allegiance, or rather of the
condition of villinage in which they exist, without the payment of a
fine, and this too only as a matter of especial favor.

" Prom the circumstances of this settlement, the nature of our
relations with the native chiefs, and the serious although unavoidable
inconvenience of their living amongst us or in our immediate vicinity,
the question of slavery is frequently agitated, and unless settled and
defined from the highest authority is likely to become the subject of
considerable vexations and embarrassment. The temptations to the
followers of the native chiefs to quit them are very great. The reward
of labour and the comfort of the free labouring classes which they see
before them, are all sufficient inducements to the men. The female
portion have the additional one arising from the disproportion of the
sexes which exists among the different classes of the inhabitants.
Ampngst the followers of the Sultan and Tumongong the proportion of
women to men is two to one. Amongst the free settlers of every other
description, this proportion is even more than inversed, the men being
more than double the number of women, and in the case of the Chinese the
disproportion is so great that there are at least eight men to every woman.

"The least degree of ill-treatment, and a considerable share of it
has come to our knowledge, is sufficient under the circumstances I have
stated, to induce the followers of the native chiefs to quit them.
Whenever such an event takes place, their persons are demanded,
remonstrances follow, and some dissatisfaction has been expressed in
many cases where no claim of servitude could be made, and where it
would have been a flagrant injustice to have remanded the parties.

"The easy remedy for the inconvenience now complained of
appears to me to be that the Resident should open a register for the
admission of the names of all persons who are bona fide slaves of the
native chiefs, or who, being of mature age, acknowledge themselves to
be so in the presence of impartial witnesses. In the same register
might be inscribed the names of all the followers of the native chiefs
who are their debtors, a class that from the poverty and improvidence
of this race of people is very numerous. The amount of the debt
should be inserted, and the parties not at liberty to quit the service of
the chiefs until they have either discharged the full amount of the
debt, or served such a reasonable length of time as might justly be
considered equivalent to its liquidation.

" I have often proposed this plan to the native chiefs, and although
they apparently acquiesced at first, they have not failed in the event
to evade it, no doubt receiving it with jealousy as an irksome restraint
upon their authority.

"Should the Right Hon'ble the Governor-General be pleased to
approve of the suggestion now offered of forming a Registry, it might
be carried into effect without any difficulty, by an expression of his
approbation in the reply to the letter of the native chiefs.

160 Anecdotal ffvffory of Singapore

*' The breach of engagement apparently referred to in the concluding
part of the letter of the native chiefs, has reference only to the subject
of slavery. I am not aware of the existence of any treaty or engage-
ment by which the right of perpetuating slavery while they live under
the protection of the British flag is guaranteed to them, and I rest
most fully satisfied that the concession of such a right, or of any other
which implied a violation of the law of the realm, could not have been
in the contemplation of any British authority. By the convention
concluded in June, 1823, the only concessions made to the institutions
of the Malays are in regard to the ceremonies of religion, marriage,
&c., the rules of inheritance, and even these are to be respected where
they shall not be contrary to reason, humanity, &c.

"The subject of the separate letter of the Tumongong, refers to a
general and indefinite engagement to assist him in removing and
establishing himself at his present residence. A similar engagement for
the construction of a mosque was entered into with the Sultan, and a
specific verbal promise of $3,000 made to him by Sir T. S. Raffles in
my presence, during an interview which took place for this and other
purposes. At this interview, however, the Tumongong although invited
did not personally attend, owing to a temporary indisposition. His
confidential advisers, however, attended for him, but made no claim
whatever in my presence, and it was not until a month after the
departure of Sir T. S. Raffles, that this chief urged a claim of similar
amount to that of the Sultan. He has already received on account of
himself or his followers, either for the removal or the construction of
a new dwelling, $3,000. Yet I have most respectfully to recommend
that his present demand, although not extremely reasonable, be also
complied with, that even a possible suspicion of ill-faith may not attach
to the Government from anything which may be supposed to have
taken place, even through misapprehension.

" The demand made by the same chief for a residence in the town
of Singapore has placed me in the same awkward situation as his
pecuniary one. The matter was never hinted to me, either verbally or
in writing, from the source of my instructions on other points, and it
was with a good deal of surprise that I first heard the demand. The
residence of the Tumongong and his numerous and disorderly followers
was a nuisance of the first magnitude. Three thousand dollars had
actually been paid for his removal. Three thousand more are demanded
for the same object, and yet he wished to preserve a temporary
residence in the very same spot, and to occupy all the ground which
he had ever occupied. This would have been to have perpetuated
every nuisance, for abating which so large an expense had been incur-
red. The matter would probably have been aggravated, when the
followers of the Tumongong were living in his enclosure removed from
the control of their chief.

" The inconveniences which arise from the present unsettled nature
of our arrangements with the native chiefs, lead me to suggest for the
consideration of the Right Hon^ble the Governor-General the expediency
of entering into new engagements with them, in which the relations in
which they are henceforth to stand with the European Government
may be laid down with precision, and a termination put to the hopes

1824 .. 161

which they have been led to entertain of aggrandising themselves
abroad at our expense, or embarrassing our local administration.

" I beg for a moment to bring to tho recollection of the Right
Hon'ble the Governor-General the situation of this island and of the-
other conntrios in its neijjhbourhood constituting the nominal principa-.
lity of Johore, when we formed our settlement in the year 1819. This,
principality extends on the continent from Malacca to the extremity of'
the peninsula on both coasts. It had several settlements on the-
island of Sumatra, and embraced all the islands in the mouth of tho
Straits of Malacca with all those in China seas, as far as the Natunas^
in the latitude of 4^ N. and longitude 109^ E. These countries are all
sterile, thinly inhabited here and there on the coast only, and commonly-
by a race of pii-ates or fishermen, whose condition in society, ignorant
of agriculture and without attachment to the soil, rises very little
beyond the savage state ; neither is there any good evidence of there*
ever having existed a better or more improved order of society.

" The condition of the island of Singapore itself may be adduced as
an example of the whole. There was not an acre of its surface culti-J
vated and not a dozen cleared of forest. The inhabitants, amounting to a
few hundreds, commonly lived only in their boats, and finally the place had;
not groundlessly, the reputation of being one of the principal piratical-
stations in these seas. The father of the present Sultan, being a person^
of some strength of mind, addict>ed himself to commercial pursuits and
enjoyed more consideration than his predecessors, and consequently ha-d
a more extensive influence. He had no acknowledged successor, how-
ever, in his government. The individuals recognized both by ourselves
and the Duteh were illegitimate children, and being both of them
destitute of energy, made no attempt to assume his authority. The
principal officers of the Government of Johore from early times were
the Bandahara or treasurer, and Tumongong or first minister of justice.
These offices appear to have been a long time hereditary in the
families of the present occupants, who were indeed I'irtually independent
chiefs, the first of them residing: at and exercising sovereignty at
Pahang, and the other, the individual with whom the British Govern-
ment is now connected, doing the same thing at Singapore.

*'The present Sultan when he connected himself with ns was not
only destitute of all authority but living in a state of complete
indigence* It is unnecessary, therefore, to dwell on the comfort and
respectability which this chief has derived since he placed himself undei*
oar protection. The condition of the Tumongong has not been amelior|^t-
ed to the same extent, but I am not aware of any honest emolument
which he has forfeited by his change of circumstances, and it may be
added, although he is perhaps not entirely convinced of the beneficial
nature of the change, that he has been rescued from a course of life
of not the most respectable description. He is, at all events, unques-
tionably at present living in a greater state of affluence, security, and
comfort than it was possible for him to have enjoyed without' Our
protection.

.^^I have no hesitation in submitting it to the Right Hon'ble the
Sovemor-General as my firm opinion, that men born and eduoated
vith. snch habits and prejudices as belong to men in the state of

1(52 Anfcdittal HiMory of Singapo)>

society which I have just described, ought in no respect to be associated
with us in the Government of a settlement, nine-tenths of the in-
habitants of which it may be fairly asserted have an utter repugnance
and perhaps even contempt for their Government and Institutions. It
appears to me that any participation whatever in the administration
of the place on their part would be the certain source of trouble and
embarrassment, nor am I able to conceive even any contingent
advantage which can be expected to result from such a connexion.

**The principal stipulation of any future engagement with the
native chiefs ought, as it appears to me, to be the unequivocal cession
of the island of Singapore in full sovereignty and property for which
the equivalent will be the payment of a sum of ready money and a
pension for life. The payment in ready money need not be large, and
in it may be included the pecuniary demands at present made by the
native chiefs. The pensions should not exceed the present amount,
which is f 2,000 to both chiefs.

" It should be another stipulation that the British Government
should not afford personal protection to the chiefs, except when they
reside at Singapore; leaving them, however, the unrestrained right,
without forfeiture of their pensions, of residing at whatever other part
of their territory they may think proper, with the sinj^le condition of
their not entering into any political arrangements tending to involve
the British Government or engaging in any enterprise tending to
disturb the public tranquility.

'^The minor arrangements for defining the situation and duties of
the native chiefs when residing in the island, were the point of
sovereignty once established, would evidently be a matter of no
difficulty. They would then be viewed as independent princes occasionally
residing amongst us as visitors, and as such entitled to be treated witli
such marks of respect and such forms of courtesy, as would gratify
their feelings without proving injurious to the good government of the
Settlement.

" However desirable such an arrangement might be, 1 am bound
to state to the Government that I anticipate considerable difficulty in
carrying it into effect. There will not be wanting the persons who
will throw obstacles in the way of the negotiation amongst the re-
tainers and parasites with whom they are surrounded. It is further
necessary to mention that the chiefs themselves have been un-
accountably led to entertain unfounded hopes of aggrandisement and
support through our means. They are at the same time not without
some desire to participate in our authority, although the singular in-
dolence and incapacity both of themselves and of their followers render
them utterly unfit for any useful employment.

'• In the formation of the settlement an opinion seems to have
been prevalent that the support of the native chiefs was indispensable to
its success, although considering their character, their indigence, and their
general destitution of useful influence, it is not easy to trace it to any
substantial foundation. The first treaty with them conceded to them
one-half of the duties on native vessels. The commanders of these
vessels were then ordered to wait upon them, when presents were
expected, and this continued until it was greatly abused. An exclusive

1824 16:^

right to all the lime on the island held valuable for exportation, seems
afterwards to have been yielded to them, and a proposition is on
record for levying a fine on all the Chinese returning to their native
country for their exclusive benefit. These facts are evidences of the
opinion to which I have alluded.

** It does not appear to me that the influence of the native chiefs
has in any respect been necessary or even beneficial in the fornirttion,
maintenance, or progress of this settlement, the prosperity of which has
rested solelv and cxclusivelv on the character and resources of the British
Government. If I may presume to oifer an opinion, the ea^y and obvious
course to have pursued in first forming our establishment, would have been
to have given at once a valuable pecuniary consideration for the complete
sovereignty of the island, a stipulation which would have left us in
every respect free and un(»nciimbered, and conveyed a title of such
validity as would not afterwards have been cancelled by any art of
the native chiefs, wherever residing, or under whatever influence acting.
In this early stage, the sum which w(»uld have suflSced for such an
object would certainly not have equalled one-half of what has already-
been disbursed to the native chiefs, and which has not fallen short of
$60,000. It will perhaps be considered that the sooner we revert to
this principle, the less exceptionable will be our title and the more
easv and unfettered our future r«»lations with the native chiefs.

*' Should the Hight HonM)le the (TOvernor-fTieneral be pleased to
authorize me to negotiate for an eui^agemeiit with the Sultan and
Tumongong of Johore on the principles which I have had the honour
to suggest, or on any oth«r less exceptionable which the wisdom of
Government may be pleased to point out, it will be my endeavour to
smooth ever}' obstacle which may be opposed to its siic(^essfnl termination.

John CRAWPiif^i).
Singapore, 10th January, 1824.

On the 10th August a difficulty in dealing with recalcitrant
Europeans arose, and Mr. Bonham, the assistant to the Resident, wrot^
to one individual as follows: — " Sir, — The Resident directs me to
inform you that he has given the most serious consideration to the
whole line of conduct lately pursued by you, and that considering the
incompetency of the local rules in existence at this Settlement to
afford; security against so marked a spirit of insubordination as you have
displayed, he has determined upon sending you to (''alcutta, by an
early opportunity, with a view of placing you at the disposal of the
Governor-General in Council, and in a situation where you will be
amenable to the authority of regular law. The Resident directs me.
further to state to you that this measure has been most reluctantly*
forced upon him by a consideration of the various outrages committed'
by you on the persons or property of private individualsT— British .^
well as native — the insults and contempts offered by you to the local
rules for the administration of justice and towards the persons whose
duty it is to administer them, your sedulous perseverance in those
proceedings after ample time and opportunity have been afforded you.
for making atonement or offering reparation, and finally by the fact
of your being, contrary to law, in the East Indies, that is, without a

164 AnenJofal Hwtory of Hiivgaport

license from the Court of Diroctors, and without tlio necessary cortiiicate
from the Chief Secretary to Government. The Resident directs me in
conclusion to say that he considers it fair to inform you that he will
strongly recommend to the Government not to permit your return to
Singapore, until a regular administration of justice shall have been,
established within the Settlement/^

This was Mr. J. Morgan, one of the merchants, who put himself in
opposition to all law and control, and fired a morning and evening gun
from his schooner in the river, and put the master of a vessel, consigned
to his housCi in confinement. The merchant was at last ordered to be
put in the main guard and sent to Bengal, but through the intercession
of his friends, he was released on making an apology. Mr. Crawfurd
wrote to Calcutta on the subject in this way : — " In one respect especially
the inadequacy of the jurisdiction of this Court has been most lamentably
felt. This refers to the case of British subjects, who are at present
amenable to no authority at this place, and the ill-disposed among
whom have it always in their power to set the authority of Government
at defiance, and to render themselves a bane to the peaceable inhabitants.
I shall not at present enlarge upon this unpleasant topic, as 1 humbly
trust it will shortly be in the power of Government to put an end
to this very serious evil, equally prejudicial to the national character,
and to the prosperity and respectability of the Settlement."

In July a Portuguese Priest arrived and held Chapel in Dr.
Joze d' Almeida's house. About this time there was a small Roman
Catholic community, and they applied to the Bishop of Siam and a
priest came to Singapore. In 1828 or 1824 a small Chapel was
built, where the St. Joseph's Boys School buildings are now, and the con-*
gregation soon increased by new arrivals of Christians. Chinese were
converted, and in 1832 the Chapel was too small, as there wer(»
some six or seven hundred Chinese. In 1844 the present Church
was commenced ; in 1845 the Church at Bukit Timah ; and in 1852
that at Serangoon. These matters are also referred to at length in
another chapter.

Mr. Crawfurd at this time wrote about the necessity of a proper
judicial system, which was the commencement of the introduction of the
Supreme Court. Part of his letter to Bengal on 23rd August is as follows : —

^* A third difference will arise from the want of a professional
lawyer of high character and respectable qualifications, which can onl}-
be secured under the circumstances of this Settlement in the person
of a judge nominated by the Crown. Independently of the imprac-
ticability of administering English law anywhere without a judge so
qualified, the magnitude and intricacy of the business, which, from
the growing commerce of this Settlement, is likely to be brought
under the cognizance of a Coui-t of Justice, render such a provision
absolutely necessary. The Charter of Justice for Prince of Wales Is-
land has been in operation for 16 years and I am led to believe
has given satisfaction and answered every purpose of substantial
justice. It will therefore afford a safe precedent for any enactment
in respect to this island. The union of the executive and judicial
authority, however, under that Charter, appears decidedly objection-
able, and would be much more so at this place, where the executive

1824 165

admiiii»tration i8 entrusted to a subordinate officer of government.
For this reason, I would respectfully suggest that the judicial
authority should be separate and distinct from the executive, as the
surest means of renderinjf it independent and respectable/'

The Resident then went on to propose that in mercantile cases
the judge should have the assistance of a jury, and, as it would
require two or three years to get a Kinsf's Court, a draft regulation
for establishing a Civil Court and a Court for Small Debts was sent
up for sanction. The first to have a respectable Solicitor as Registrar.
The Court to consist of the Resident, the two Assistants and
two inhabitants. The Small Debts Court to be under the two Assistants
and to proceed summarily. A code of police regulations was also
sent up for revision, nearly as complete as the draft Acts for the
same purpose afterwards prepared. A short time after, the Resident
received the following law opinion on this subject which was written
either by the Recorder of Penang or the Advocate-General of Bengal :
"With respect to the natives he (the Resident) should make them
pay their debts by selling their property and by occasional incarcer-
ation ; with respect to Europeans, and particularly Englishmen, I
should recommend the Resident to assume only the authority of
sending them from the island, when by getting into debt- or general
misconduct they impeded the objects of government."

On the 4th November some riots occurred among the Chinese,
the first heard of, and several were killed and wounded. Ten tons
of copper cents, intended for Bencoolen, were landed at Singapore,
in all $11,840 worth. About this time, the mercantile community
subscribed |;1,255 for a proportion of the expense of draining the
town, to be paid by each person in proportion to the degree of
advantage he derived from it.

It was in this year that the name of Singapore was first heard
in the House of Commons; Mr. Canning stated there that Singapore,
after six years, would produce spices sufficient for the consumption
of Great Britain and her Colonies. The result did not equal his
anticipation, at least in the way he expected.

From a report of the Resident in this year, it appears there were
twelve European firms in Singapore in the beginning of the year, either
agents of, or connected with, good London or Calcutta houses, some with
branches in Batavia, and not one that could be called an adventurer.
He said that the only land that was of any value was that suited for
godowns and dwelling houses, the best nearest the river, vvhere the
value of the best lots, 50 feet frontage and 150 feet deep from river
was §3,000 and $'38 yearly quit rent. Lots of 1,200 square yards,
for dwelling houses, worth $4(X) and $28 quit rent. And he gives
the names of a few of the owners of land at this time, dividing
them into: — (1) Merchants Resident; (2) Merchants Non-Resident ; (3)
Government Officers ; and (4) Missionaries. The names are as follows.
They are here an-anged alphabetically.

1. — Mkrchants Rf.sidknt.

Captain Joze d'Alnidda, VV. G. Mackenzie.

J. Clark. F. Maclaine.

1«6

Ayiecdotal History of Sutyapore

Andrew Farqiiliar.

-^ Fletrlier

Alexander Ciutlirie..

Captain Han'ington.

Alexander Ha v.

Andrew Hay.

Alexander Laune Jolinston.

IV King.

J. A. Maxwell.
Alexander Morgan.

David 8. Napier.

— Pearl.
John Purvis.
ClA^ude Queiros.
Christopher Rideonr. Read.
Charles Scott.

Captain Howard.

2, — Mk.kchanth Xo.n-Rksidknt.

Barretto& <Vk of Calcutta. (5. \). H Larpent «>f Calcutta-

Carnegy of Peiiang. John Palmer of Calcutta.

S. (lOVKKNMKNT OfFICKUS.

Lieut P. J«ckson, Executive JBn-

F. 14. Bernard, Magistrate.
Samuel George Bonham, Assistant
Resident.

kfiueer and Surveyor
Captain Methven.

Captain C. K. Davis, Bengal Native DrMimtgonierie, Assistant Surgeon.

Infantry.
Hon. J, J. Erskine, Member of

Council, Penang.
Colonel Farquhar, late Resident.
Captain W. Flint, k.n.. Master

Attendant.

Captain Murray, Commanding

Otiicer.
Mr Ryan, Store-keeper.
Captain Salmond, Harbour Master

of Bencoolen.

Rev. Robert Morrison, d.d.
ft^v. S. Milton.

4. MiSSTONAKIES.

Rev. G. H. Thomson

i61

CHAPTER XIV.

1824 — Continn**d,

THE TWO TREATIES OF 1824.

A DESPATCH froui Beiif<al of the 16th August contained thd
Advocate-General's opinion upon the convention with the Sultan
and Tumongong of 7th Juue, 1828, saying that it was not an express
declaration but a near approach to it, and that it was desirable to
have a more direct and unequivocal abrogation of the native authority;
probably as much had been done as the circumstances admitted^ and
now Singapore might be considered a British Settlement ; but nothing
could be satisfactory until the attention of the English authorities had
been called to the matter, and an Act of Parliament passed.

On the 5th March the Governor-General wrote in answer to the
despatch from Mr. Cravvfurd of 10th January printed in the preceding
chapter, that he agreed with him that it was desirable to obtain an
immediate cession of Singapore, which ought to have been done
at first, anJ now that it must be done there would be greater difiiculties
every day. The second agreement of Sir Stamford Raffles on 7th
June had improved matters, but still left sovereignty, tenure, and
political rights in a bad state. Authority avhs therefore given to
Crawfurd to negoti«,te as proposed by him on the basis of the form
of treaty sent privately, with authority to oifer most liberal terms
pecuniarily as an equivalent for the desired advantage.

Mr. Braddell says of this, " Ultimately on the 2nd August, 1 824,
Mr. Crawfurd concluded a Treaty by which the chiefs alienated for
ever all right and title to Singapore, and assumed the position of
private individuals while residing within the island. This favorable
result was not arrived at without much trouble and the exhibition
of great talent and patience. Both chiefs finding they had a strong
hold on the English Government, were determined to make the best
use of it. The bad arrangement on this head had been brought
forward against Raffles as showing a want of foresight on his part,
but the real explanation of that, as well as of many other consequences
of an inconvenient nature, will be found in the fact that, pending
the reference to Europe, his hands were tied, and a rapidly advancing
Settlement was confined within the cramping limits of first arrangements^
without having the advantage of improving and extending these
arrangements to meet advancing requirements. " The following is the
form of the Treaty under which Singapore has been held to the
present day. In November, 1861, it was ruled in the Supreme Court
that the right of the British Government over the waters within ten
miles of Singapore must be limited by a distance of three miles
from any coast either of mainland or island within a circle of ten
miles of which Singapore is the centre.

168 Anecdotal History of Singapote

A Treaty of Friendship and Alliance between the Honourable The
English East India Company on the one side, and their Hiohnbssus ihf^
Sultan and Tumongono of Johoke on the other, c/^mduded on the Second
day of August, One Thousand Eight Hundi'ed and Twenty-four (1824), corres-
ponding with the Sixth day of the month of Zidhaji, in the year of the Hejira
One Thousand Two Hundi-ed and Thirty-nine (1239) by the above Sultan of Johore,
His Highness Sultan Hussain Mahomed Shah, and the above Tumongong
of Johore, His Highness Datu Tumongong Abdul Rahman Ski Maharajah
on their own behalf, and by John Grawfurd, Esi^., British Resident of
Singapore, vested with full powers thereto, by the Right Honourable William
Pitt, Lord Amherst, Gtovemor-General of and for Fort William in Bengal, on
behalf of the said Honourable English East India Company.

Article 1.

Peace, friendship, and good understanding shall subsist for ever between
the Honourable the English East India Company and their Highnesses the Sultan
and Tumongong of Johore and their respective heirs and successora.

Article 2.

Their Highnesses the Sultan Hussain Mahomed Shah and Datu Tumongong
Abdul Rahman Sri Maharajah hereby cede in full sovereignty and property to
the Honourable the English East India Company, their heirs and successors
for ever, the Island of Singapore, situated in the Straits of Mala<H?a. together
with the adjacent seas, straits, and islets, to the extent of ten geographical
miles, from the coast of the said main Island of Singapore.

Article 3.

The Honourable the English East India Company hereby engages, in consi-
deration of the cession specified in the last Article, to pay to His Highness the
^ultan Hussain Mahomed Shah, the sum of Spanish Dollars thirty-three
thousand two hundred (33,200), together with a stipend, during his natui-al life,
of one thousand three hundred (1,300) Spanish Dollars per mensem, and to
His Highness the Datu Tumongong Abdul Rahman Sri Maharajah, the sum of
twenty-six thousand eight hundred (26,800) Spanish Dollars, with a monthly
stipend of seven hundred (700) Spanish Dollai's during his natural life.

Article 4.

His Highness the Sultan Hussain Mahomed Shah hereby acknowledges to
have received from the Honourable the English East India Company in
fulfilment of the stipulations of the two last Articles, the sum of thirty- thret>
thousand two hundred (33,200) Spanish Dollars, together with the first monthly
instalment of the above-mentioned stipend, of Spanish Dollars one thousand
fhree hundred ( 1.300 1, and His Highness the Datu Tumongong Abdul Rahman
S.ri 'Mahai-ajah also hereby sicknowledges to have received from tlie Honourable
tlic r JBnglish East India Company, in fulfilment of the stipulations of the t\\o
last Articles, the sum of twenty-six thousand eight hundred Spanish Dolhirs
<*26^,80<J), with one month's instalment of the above stipend of seven hundred
iiipanish Dollars.

Article 5.

The Honourable the English East India Company engages to receive and
treat their Highnesses the Sultan Hussain Mahomed Shah, and Datu Tum-
ongong Abdul Rahman Sri Maharajah, with all the honours, respect, and courtesy
belonging to their rank and station, whenever they may reside at, or visit the
Island of Singapore.

Article 6.

The Honoui'able the English East India Company hereby engages in the
oent of their Highnesses the Sultan and Tumcmgoiig. their heirs or successors,
preferring to reside permanently in jiny portion of their own States, and to
remove for that purpose froia Singapore, to pay unto them, that is to say, to His
Highness the Sultan Hussain Mahomed Shab. his heir or successor, the sum of
twenty thousand (20,0(K)) Spanish Dollars, and to His Highness the Datu Tumon-
gong Abdul Rahman Sir MahiLTiijah. his heir or successor, the sum of fifteen
thousand (15,000) Spanish Dolliu*u.

The Two Treaties of 182 i l6d

Akticlk 7.

Their Highnesses the Siiltnii Hussian Mahomed Sbah and the Da in Tumon-
gong Abdul Rahman Sin Maharajah, in considemtion of the payment specified
in the la«t Article, hereby relinunish for theiuselves, their heirs, and Huceessurs,
to the Hononrable tlie English ^Bast India Coiiipjmy their heii-s and succepsors
for ever, all right and title to eveiy descnption of immoveable property, whether
in lands, houses, gardens, orchai'ds, or timbei* trees, of wbich their said High-
nesses may be possessed within the Island of Singapore or its dependencies at
the time they may think proper to withdraw frcmi the said island for the
purpose of permanently residing within their own States, but it is reciprocally
and clearly understood that the pi-ovisions of this Article shall not extend
to anjr description of property which may be held by any follower or retainer
of their Highnesses beyond the precincts of the gix)und at present allotted for
the actual residence of their said Highnesses.

Abticlk 8.

Their Highnesses the Sultan Hussain Mahomed Shah, and the Datu Tumon-
g«m^ Abdul Rahman Sri Maharajah hereby engage that, as lone as they shall
continue to reside within the Island of Sm^mpore, or to draw their respective
monthly stipends from the Honourable the English East India Company, as
provided for in the present Treaty, they shall enter into no alliance and maintain
no correspondence with any foreign power or potentate wliatsoever, without the
knowledge and consent of the said Honourable the English East India Company,
their heu*8 and successors.

Articlb 9.

The Honourable the English East India Company hereby engages, that, in
the event of their Highnesses the Sultan Hussain Mahomed Shah, and the Datu
Tumongong Abdul Rahman Sn Maharajah removing from the Island of Singa-
pore, as contemplated in the Gth Article, and being disti-essed within their own
territories on such removal, to afford them, either at Singapore or Prince of
Wales* Island, a personal asylum and protection.

Article 10.

The conti'acting parties hereby stipulate and agi'ee, that neither party shall
he bound to interfere in the internal concerns of the other's government, or in
any political dissensions or wars which may ai'ise within their respective t-erri-
tories, nor to support each other by force of arms against any third party
whatever.

Article 11.

The contracting parties hereby engage to use every means within their power
respectively, for the suppression of robbery and piracy within the Straits <»f
Malaeca, as well as the other nanxiw seas, straits, and rivers bordering upon, or
within their respective territories, in as far as the same shall be connected with
the dominions and immediate interests of their said Highnesses.

Article 12.

Their Highnesses the Sultan Hussain Mahomed Shah, and the Datu Tumon-
gong Abdul Rahman Sri Maharajah hereby engage to maintain a free and
unshackled trade everywhere within their dominions, and to admit the trade and
traffic of the British nation into all the ports and harboui*s of the kingdom of
Jobore and its dependencies on the terms of the most favoured nation.

Article 13.

The Honourable the English East India Company hereby engages, as long
as their Highnesses the Sultan Hussain Mahomed Shah and the Datu Tumon-
gong Abdul Rahman Sri Maharajah shall continue to I'eside on the Island of
Singapore, not to pennit any retainer or follower of their said Highnesses who
8ha& desert from their actual service, to dwell or remain in the Island of
Singapore or its dependencies. But it is hereby clearly undei'stood, that all such
retainers and foUowera shall Ije natiu^l born subjects of such pai'ts of their
Highnesses* dominions only in which their authority is at present substantially
established, and that their names, at the period of entering the service of their

170 Afiecdotal Hi^fory of Singapore

Highnesses, shall have l»cHm duly and voluutiiriljr in8onl>€d in a register, to be
kept for that purpose l»y the ehief local authonty for the time being.

Akticlk 14.

It is hereby mutually stipulated for and Ugived. that the conditions of all
former Conventions. Treaties, or Agi'eements entereil into between the Honourable
the English East India Cimipany and their Highnesses the Sultan and Tumon-
gong of Johoi*e, shall be considered as abrogated and annulled by the present
Treaty, and they ai-e hereby abix)gated and annulled accordingly, always, how-
ever, with the exception of such prior conditions as have conferred on the
Honouifible th«* English East India Company any nght or title to the occupa-
tion or possession of the' If»lau<l of Singapore and its dependencies, as aboveraen-
tioned.

Done and concluded at Singapore, the <iay and year as above written.

Sultan Hubhain Mahomkd Shah.

J. Crawfukd.

Datu Tumonhomg Abdul Rahman Ski Maharajah.

By another treaty made with the Tnniongong on 19th December,
1862, Articles 6 an<i 7 of the above treaty were annulled as far as
related to the Tuinongoiig. He gave up the right to the $15,000, and
received a title in fee .simple for lands at Telloh Blangah, while he
gave the Government the piece of land on which Mount Faber tlagstafF
hnd been erected, with a right of way to it, nnd a carriage road along
the shore, and some other pieces of ground.

The- two following despatches to the (government at Calcutta were
written by Mr. Crawfurd : —

SiNGAPORK, 3rrf Awjmi, 1824.

Sir. — In olx?dienc.e to the iustnictions contained in your despatcrh of the 5th of
Maivh, and whi<'h arrived at tliis place on the 11th of May, I beg leave to report
for the infonuation of the Right Hononible the Grovemor- General that I lost no
time in opening a negociation with the Sultan and Tuniongong for the cession
of this island. The i*esiilt has been the ti-eaty which is hei*ewith ti-ansiuitted, and
which 1 i-espectfully submit for the appi-oval and ratitication of the Right Honor-
able the (iovenior-Greneiul.

Upo^ the different provisions of this convention. I Ijeg to lay l»efore the
government the following short couiment. The heading imd first aHicles sc^ircely
demand any paHicular i-enuu'k. The mimes of the native princes ai'e given at
full length and their legitimate titles of Sultan and Tuniongong of Johore, under
which alone they can lx» supposed t-o have power to yield t<.> us the sovei^ignty
oi the isLind. ai'e given to them to the exclusion of moi*e limited designation.

The 2nd. 3rd and 4th ai-ticles of the ti-ejity convey to the Honorable Ea«t
India Company iis complete a cession of the sovei-eignty and property of the
Island of Singapore and jdac^s adjacent to it, as I could find words to expi-ess
it in. In fi*aming these conditions I liave received the Sultun as possessing the
right of pammoiuit dominion, and the Tiuiiongong as not only virtually exerci-
sing the powers of govenimeiit, but Ijeing, like other Asiatic Sovei-eigns, dc fcucio
the real pi*oprietor of the soil, a principle the more satisfactorily established in
the pi-esent instance, since the whole ceded territory when it came into our
occupation wa« uni'eclaimed, in a state of nature and strictly destitute of per-
manent inhabitants. Government will have the goodness to notice that the cession
made is not confined to the main island of Singapoi'e alone, but extends to the
Seji«. Straits and Islets (the latter pn^lmbly not less than .")() in number), within
ten geographical miles of its coasts, not however including any portion of the
continent. Our limitH will in this manner emlnnice the Old Straits of Singapore
and the important passage r>f the Rjibbit and Coney, the m»iin <:hannel through
the Straits of Mahicc^i, and the oidy convenient one from thence into the
China Seas. Tliese «»xt4^n'led Ijoimds appear Uy me to l:»e absolutely necessary
towards the military prnte<'tiou of the Settlement, towards our internal security,
and towards our safoly from the pirati<'al hordes that surround us, against
whose incursions and depi-edations there would l>e no indemnity if we were

The Two Treaties of 1824 171

not in the occupation of the numerous isletn xshich lie ujmiu tlie immediate
coast of the principal .Settlement. Accompanying this despatc/h, 1 l>ej; to lay
before government an outline Chart of the British Settlement as it will eyist
aft<?r the ratification of the present treaty.

The amount value stipulated to l»^ paid hy the Kast In«lia Couipany for
the cession of Singapore and \t» Dependencies, it will h>e seen by the third
article of the treaty, is nominally sixty thousand Spanish dollars, in i*eady money,
with a pension for life to the native princes of two thousand Spanish dollars
per mensem. The real amount of ready money to be paid, however, is con-
siderably short of this sum and is in ftu't only forty thousand, the difference
of twenty thousand being the balance between the sum of eight thousand paid
under the original treaty and the higher salary paid under the convention of Jiuie,
1823. fix)m the period of its signature. This engagement was never ratified, for which
rea«on I have naturally considei*ed the sums hei-etofow paid on account of it as
part and portion of the puivhase money now given for the island. Besides this
sum of 40.000 Spanish dollars, some contingent expences not exceeding .in all 3,500
Spanish dollars and which will l»e pai'ticulanzed in a separate d«.>spatch. will be
incurred.

The monthly stipends to be paid to the two native princes are the same

as under the convention of 1823, vi/... two thousand dollars between them. They

had been accustomed indeed to the injceipt of this lai'ge sum dm'ing the last

twelve months, their expences iind establishments had been measui'ed accordingly

and there was therefore no possibility of i*educing it. Indeed gi*eat effort* were

made to render this pension hereditary and perpetual, and the steady resistance

made to this demand, which had no foundation in any fonuer ti*eaty or promise,

formed for a long time the principal obstacle to the success of the nego<^iation.

The 6th and 7th articles leave to their Highnesses the option of quitting thp

island of Singapore for the purpose of residing permanently within their own

dominions. The simi to be paid to them in this case will amount to 3.5.<X)0

Spanish dollars, and could we disencumber ourselves of them at such a price,

I am of opinion that the advantage would )>e cheaply purchiised. The object

indeed which 1 liad in view in naming so large a sum was to hold out some

inducement to their removal, although, at the same time, considei'injij the repose

and security which they at pi*esent enjoy, and which the dispositions evinced

l^y them in the pixjgress of this negociation show clearly tliat they little wish

to relinquish, I camiot " look to the event as a veiy pix>lmble cme. The benefits

of this article are purposely made to extend to the neirs and successoi-s of the

princes, and with them of course there can V>e no difficulty in caiTjring its

intentions into effect. One evident advantage to our admiiiistrati(m will in the

meanwhile attend this stipulation, thjit it will liave a tendency to abate any

temporary dissatisfactiim which the princes and their followers might otherwisp

M disposed to entertain while living luider our immediate pi*otection, as the

option uf retiring to theii* own states without loss or inconvenience will always he

*ithin their powei*.

While on this particulai* subject I have gi-eat satisfaction in being enabled
to state for the information t»f goveiiuuent. that since the receipt of the letters
addressetl to the Sultan and Tumong(mg by order of the Right Honorable the
Govemor-Greneral, a mai'kcd and very favorable change has taken place in
their conduct. Tliat of the Tumongong in particulai*. the most influential and
intelligent individual of the two, has been highly respec^table and steady thnmghoiit
the whole of the present negociation. and I owe in a great measure to his
nipport such success as I may venture to anticipate as the result of my own
efforta.

The 8th. 9th and 10th articles uiake provision for the political relations whic^h
are henceforth to subsist })etween the native princes aud oureelves. wliile they
reidde within our tennt^^riea and are oiu* pensionaries. The stipulation that they
ifhall hold no ooniespoiiden<^ with any foreign nation without our e8j>ecial consent
iieems equally fair and indispensable. To this article indeed tlit*y were far from
offering any obje(!tion. for tlieir evident desin* throughout was to engage them-
selves in a cloRe allbmce with uk. and t/> render us. if possible, a party
offensive as well a« defensive to their quaj'reis. This was a point to be cautiously
guarded againtt, and I ha\c cndea^oured to make the necessiiry pi*ovision for

1/2 Anecdotal Muiory of Singapore

such a purpose in the 0th and 10th ai'ticles* which secui'e to the native princes,
without putting us to political inconvenience, a pei-sonal asylum in case of need
and effectually protect us, at the same time, from the necessity of interfering in
their unpix>fitable quan'els among themselves or their neighboui-s, as well as from
the more serious evil of being committed with £jUi*opean powers through their
impnidence.

The 11 til ai-tide pi-ovides for suppression of robbery and piiucy. In this
matter it is not nuicn that the native pnnces in coimexion with us have in
their power, but it is always something at least tluit they should be bound down
to the g(K)d conduct of their own immediate dependents, amongst wliom there
are to be found souie depi-edators of considei^able notoriety and the majority
always more disposed to plunder than to laboui* when an opportunity offers.

The 12th article pi-ovides against the pernicious practice on the pai-t of
the native princes of establishing petty monopolies, towards which a strong pro-
pensity always exists. A fi-ee intereom*se with our immediate vicinity, the wnole
of which is imder their sway, is indispensable to a chea]^ supply of <?iiide and
raw pixKluce, and the necessity of this to the pi*osperity of the Settlement
seemed especially to call for the present stipulation, independent of its justice
and propriety on general principles.

In explanation of the 13th article I may observe that possessing the sovereignty
and pixiperty of the island, the followers and retainers of the princes will of
necessity be as completely amenable to such laws as may be established by the
sovereign power as any other class of the inhabitants. This right however
will require to be exercised with delicacy and discretion. Something similar to
the junsdiction which is conceded to Ambassadors over their families in the
international policy of European states, may in general be allowed to the
native princes by coui'tesy, without at the same time permitting their residences
to become a sanotnary for eriminals of any order or description.

The only concession made upon a subject upon which the native princes
w(»re extremely urgent and importunate, the desertion of their retainei's. is cou-
t^iuied in the same article of the treaty. The class of persons compi^hended
in this provision are strictly subjects of the native princes, and aliens with
respect tx) us, so that I am in hopes that the stipulation in regard to it. is
of ji, strictly legal chaiucter.

I have had the honor, in a former despatch, of bringing to the notice of
the Supreme Groveniment the question of slavery as connected with the native
princes. I have not permitted the present treaty to l>e polluted even by the
mention of the subject, I must do the chiefs the justice indeed to say that
they did not lu^ it. Under these favorable circumstances, when the present
convention is ratified, slavery may be said to be banished from the island,
where its illejjality, whether our sovereignty, the conditi(m of our Asiatic Colonist*,
or of the British settlers l)e considered, will bo as complete as on the soil of
(treat Britain itself. I have the more satisfactiim in luakiug tliis report., since
the pnictice of intix>ducing shives had at one time become too cx>mmon and
<;alled for frequent punisliment. I have now respectfully to solicit the penuission
of government to publish a foi-mal denunciation agiiinst the practise in question,
with an explanation of the state of the law as regards the question of slavery
in general.

The I4th and last article aimuls all fonner ti-eaties and conventious, and I
have only thought it prudent, chietly in reference to our connexion with Eiux)-
pean powers, to make an exception for such rights of occupation as were conferred
upon us by the engagements in question.

I have tliroughout the whole negociation, which is now Ijeing brought to a
conclusion, carefully warned the native princes and the individuals who are in their
confidence tliat no stipulation of the present treaty could be binding until the
whf»ie was duly ratified by the Right Honorjible the Governor- Genei-al. The whole,
therefore, is <rouipletely open to alteratifm and amendment, either in substance or
expression, without any compromise of the characrter of the agent employed in
o^rryinvc it into effc<*t. I humbly trunt, however, from the pains which have been
taken both with the English ropy :ind it*> Mnlayiin vei*sion, that no serious revision
H'ill be necessiiry, and that the impui'tant objects contcmpled by the Right Honor-

TIte Two Treath'H of 1824 17:5

able the Govemor^General hi Council, iu opening the negociation, will Ije foiunl
expressed in the convention with adequate precision and comprehensiveness.

J. Crawfurd,

Rvi^ideni.

Sir, — 1 have the honor hei-ewith to transmit a copy in English aind Malav of
the treaty jnst concluded with the Sidtaii and Tumongtmg of Johoi-e, to which
the seals of thes*? chiefs ai'e affixed. Much painn liave ))een ttiken with the Mala-
yan version of the treaty, and I am in hopes it will be found to expn'ss with
accuracy and sufficient propriety the stipulations of the convention.

I have respectfully to propos(>. tliat should the treaty be ratified by thf
Right Honorable the (xOvcmor-General in Council, threti copies of it should Ik;
engrossed upon parchment in half margin, leaving a column for the Malayan
version, in the manner followed with the copy now submitted. Should these be
transmitted with the Governor- General's ratincation, the Malay will be added at
this place, and one copy will be returned by the first opportunity to Bengal to
be deposited among the Records of Government, while the other two will lie
presented as a mark of attention to their Highnesses the Sultan and Tumongong.

Singapore, Ist October. 1824. J. Ceawfurd.

ReniiUiil.

The Treaty with Holland.

This year was also made memorable in the history of the Straits
by the famous treaty between Great Britain and Holland of the
17th March, 1824. It was signed in London by Canning for the
former, and Baron Fagel for the Netherlands. When Java and its
dependencies were delivered over to the Dutch by the British, after
the peace of 1814, and the congress of Vienna, (the English having
defeated the French who had taken possession of Java, in the name
of Napoleon) the first act of the Dutch, who had been thus restored
to their former possessions, was, «vith proverbial ingratitude, to impose
restrictions on British commerce in the Archipelago. The aggressions
of the Dutch on our commerce in the East were very injurious, and
this treaty was the consequence of the equivocal situation of aflfairs.
The spirit of the treaty of 1824 was that the manufactures of each
nation should not be liable to more than double the rate of duty
charged on those of the country to which the port belonged, but
this condition was not fulfilled by the Dutch and led to constant
disputes.

The Dutch ceded to England all their petty establishments
in India, and England gave up Fort Marlborough (Bencoolen) and
all possessions in Sumatra, with an agreement that no British
Settlement should be formed there or treaty concluded with .any
chief in the island. The Dutch ceded Malacca, which the English
took charge of again, having left the Dutch there since 1818; and
the Dutch agreed to abstain in a similar manner from all political
intercourse with the Malay Peninsula. The Dutch also (very generously !)
withdrew the objections which had been made to the occupation of
Singapore by the British. But the British (and this was the part of the
agreement which has led to frequent question and been the cause of loss
not only to ourselves but to native countries) engaged that no British
establishment should bo made on the Carimon Islands, Battam, Bintang,
(opposite Singapore harbour) Lingga, or any of the other islands south
of the Straits of Singapore, nor any treaty concluded by British authority
with the chief of those islands. To read this literally, Australia is an

174 Avprflofnl Uistory of Sitigaporf

island south of Siugapore, but the Dutch endeavoured in the most
futile way to apply the terms of the treaty to Borneo. Sarawak is a
native state under a British subject as native Rajah, appointed by the
people, the North Borneo Company is a corporation of privat-e indivi-
duals, but in each of these instances the Dutch have raised objpctions
founded on this clause of the Treaty, The Dutch received other ad-
vantages under the treaty, and England, no doubt, sacrificed large
interests by her concessions in yielding Sumatra. Bencoolen was, as
Sir Stamford described it, an almost inaccessible and rocky shore, but
other parts of Sumatra afford opportunities for much commerce, and
the success of the pepper and tobacco plantations in the north show-
how much might be done if it was under British rule, and the country
in a tranquil state.

The Treaty contained other provisions regarding the suppression
of piracy, and for license for all the inhabitants of the territories affected
to dispose of their property, as they pleased, for the term of six
years, and for the payment of £100,000 to the Dutch to settle all
accounts and reclamations arisinsr out of the restoration of Java. The
fortifications were all to remain intact, and the actual cession to take
place on the 1st of March, 1825.

To the Treaty was attached a note by the British Plenipoten-
tiary respecting (among other matters) the treaty that had been
concluded in 1819 by Sir Stamford Raffles, in the interval between
his first and second visits to Singapore, with the King of Acheen, and
expressing a hope that no measures hostile to him would be adopted
by the Dutch, or against any other Native Chiefs with whom the
Bencoolen Government had made treaties. The Dutch Plenipotenti-
aries in their note said that the individuals interested in the
existing order of things might cherish the hope that the Dutch would
respect their acquired rights and their welfare. About fifty years
after these words were written followed the present interminable
Acheen War.

A few words more as to the result of the Treaty. The little
sentence " islands south of the Straits of Singapore " politically closed
up to England, as we have said, part of Borneo. But it also
exclurled the tin countries of Banca, the islands of Billiton, Bali,
and nearlv all the Celebes, in addition to Acheen and all Sumatra.
In giving Bencoolen for Malacca, England perhaps has been
in the end the gainer, and the unexampled progress of government,
population and trade in the Malay Peninsula, is in marked com-
parison with the state of Sumatra, but the only advantage to her,
from an impolitic treaty, as it was then thought in the Straits, was
the greater consolidation of India, and the more complete command
of the Straits of Malacca, of which the strate<»:ic importance is now
being fully recognised.

The encroachments by the Dutch on British trade, which this
treaty was intended to prevent, drew to a head in 1887, and on
the 12th of August in that year the matter came before the House
of Commons, on a petition from merchants connected with Singapore.
Lord Palmerston, who on several occasions took up our cause very
warmly, concurred in the statements of grievances alleged in the

rju' Two Tipaties of 18ti4 175

petition, and in effect stated pretty plainly that it was a matter of
national importance, and that unless Holland intended to carry out
the fulfilment of a treaty solemnly confirmed and ratified, it would
have to be ultimately referred to Parliament and the question of
peace or war with Holland would depend upon it.

Colonel Low in 1850 wrote of the treaty as turning the people
of Sumatra and the island unceremoniously over to the Dutch
influence, and saying that the statesmen who originated such an
act of political and mercantile suicide must have been ignorant of
the value of the regions which were to be affected by the treaty,
or quite unmindful of the results of British generosity. It was not
thought enough to perform an act of generosity by restoring Java
to the Dutch in 1816, but also to exhibit an uncalled for liberality
in 1824 at the expense of British trade. And he asked what right
any nation in the 19th century could possibly have to barter away
thus extensive countries, with their independent populations, without
their consent. In which opinion, it may be, some, in this century,
may probably concur.

A curious commentary on Colonel Low's remark is a pas-
sage in the book of G. F. Davidson, spoken of elsewhere.

He was present at Bencoolen when that place was handed over
to the Dutch in 1825, and he says: — "The transfer to the Dutch
was a severe blow and great disappointment to all the natives, both
high and low. At a meeting of chiefs held at the Government House,
at which the English and Dutch authorities were both present for
the purpose of completing the transfer, the Senior Raja rose to address
the assembly. He was an old man with whose power and will for
mischief in former days the British had good cause to be acquainted.
Spoken in Malay his words sounded stronger than when they are
translated. He spoke to the following effect: — ^Against this transfer
of ray country I protest, who is there possessed of authority to hand
me and my countrymen like so many cattle over to the Dutch. If
the English are tired of us let them go away, but I deny their
power us over. When the English first came here they asked for
and got a piece of land to build godowns and dwelling houses on ;
that piece of land is still shown by its stone wall, and is all they
ever got from us. We were never conquered, and I now tell the
English and Dutch gentlemen here assembled that had I the power,
as I have the will, I would resist this transfer to the knife. I am
however a poor man, and have no soldiers to cope with yours, and
must submit."^

No doubt it was considered an advantage that the two powers,
whose system of government are so essentially different, should not
have conterminous boundaries, or exist on the same island. The result
would, it might well be thought, be a comparison in favour of the
English which would bring the natives into their territory, to the
obvious disadvantage of the other nation. And it is probable that
(as in the cession of Java to the Dutch after the short occupation
of the British) it was a point of English policy to uphold Holland,
who without her colonies would have, practically, ceased to exist as
a European power. The story is often told that Java was restored

176 Ajiacdotal Hititory of Hingaporf.

to tlio Dutch because a letter from Sir Stamford Raffles was mislaid,
and never opened in the Foreign Office until some time afterwards,
when the matter was all settled. But it appears more probable that
Lord Castleroa^h looked at the question from the view of an En$;lish
politician, regarding it solely as one of European import^ance, and
the letter in question was taken as not read, for, as Mr. Boulger
says, Lord Castlereagh's administration was a war admimistration, and
he neither knew nor cared about the commerce of the country.

One result of the treaty was that it gave occasion for public
attention being pointedly drawn to the restoration of Java to tho
Dutch in 1816, in an article which appeared in the Monthly Scottish
Magazine of October, 1836, published in Glasgow. It attracted much
attentioQ and was reprinted in full in the Free Press of 80th March,
1837. The writer, after discussing the whole question at length, wound
up by saying that Great Britain could not be cousidered as acting
beyond the necessities of the case, were she even to resort to the
extreme measure of repossessing herself of Java. This, it was known
afterwards, was written by Mr. John Crawfurd, who was then in
Scotland, It refers to the story of Raffles' unopened letter concerning
Java. The following is a short passage from the paper: — "The
Island of Java was captured by the English in 1811, and held by
them till 1816, when it was again ceded to Holland in consequence^
of arrangements entered into at the Congress of Vienna in the
preceding year. It may seem strange that this country should have
consented to give up a possession of so much value, and so capable
of promoting our commercial objects. Some explanation seems indeed
necessary, why settlements of less importance should have been retained,
while that fertile and populous island, the resources of which were
or ought to have been, known to British statesmen was thus heedlessly
gifted away. It has been stated in apology, that in those stirring
times (Anno 1815) and among the military "diplomates" who were
assembled at Vienna, no foreign station was looked upon as valuable,
excepting such as possessed importance as a military position. Twenty
years of war had fairly convinced the assembled leaders of the Holy
Alliance that European nations were willing, in all time to come, to.
play at their bidding the same deadly game which had just been finished.
And under such a delusion what wonder is it if Java, possessing-
no military v^alue, should have been overlooked ? It has also been
s-aid that the then British Secretary for Foreign Affairs amid the
many avocations with which he was occupied, had mislaid or left
unread important documents which had been transmitted by Sir Stamford
Raffles from Batavisi, and which placed the value of the island of
Java in a proper point of view, and that the error which he had
fouimitted was found out when it was too late to remedy it. "

The good work of Sir Stamford Raffles in Java was as remarkable
as his sagacious foresight with regard to Singapore. Many Dutch
writers have spoken of him with admiration and respect. This is not the.
place to enlarge upon it and it is to be found well told in Mr.
Boulger's book.

But it is not altogether foreign to the object of this book to
recapitulate very briefly from that work some of the good he did*.

The. Tiro TreatiP^ of 1824 177

When he took charge of the government under such very excep-
tional circamstances, the natives had been so oppressed that in one
province the population, which had exceeded eighty thousand in 1750,
had been reduced to eight thousand in 1811. Other rich provinces had
been brought to poverty and insurrection by oppression and misrule, and
large cultivated tracts had become wildernesses. The inhabitants of
whole districts had migrated into the native provinces. The forced
cultivation of coffee had produced the most dreadful sufferings. There
had been an insurrection in 1800 caused by oppression. It wa« said
that in a few years the lives of at least ten thousand natives had
been destroyed by forced labour on public roads made for purely
military purposes and useless for agriculture. The Government had no
silver in the Treasury, and the currency was depreciated paper
forced into circulation under severe penalties. The whole situation,
as Mr. Boulger remarks, bristled with difficulties.

Kaffles introduced justice and trial by jury ; and a very radical
reform in the revenue by which means it was raised to nearly four
millions sterling. The land returns in the Eastern districts, as
appears from a paper by Mr. John Crawfurd (then a civil commis-
sioner in Java under Raffles) rose from 818,218 guilders in 1808
nnder Daendels, tlie highest ever reached up to that time, to 5,368,085
in 1814 under Raffles. The transit dues, which made trade almost
impossible, were reduced from the average of 47 per cent, to a
level of 10 per cent. A law was made forbidding slavery ; an end
was put to the practice of compulsory labour, proper wages being
paid for labour on the roads and in the postal service ; the toll-gates
which frequently raised the price of articles sent inland by seventy
per cent, were totally abolished ; the people obtained legal protection
and the right to follow and enjoy the fruits of their own industry
without paying the excessive exactions of an embarrassed Government;
and before Raffles left and Java was restored to the Dutch, uncondi-
tionally and without price to Holland, the exporation of coffee
amounted to an annual output of fifty million pounds, with a free
population, while under the Dutch system it had been limited to ten
million pounds. All this in four years and a half. No wonder
the natives three years afterwards crowded the ships in Batavia
Roads where the Dutch refused to give Raffles leave to land, as has
been said in the first chapter.

Mr. Boulger says that in the native courts of Java there still
survive memories of that Governor Raffles who made himself equally
loved and feared, and that the tradition is not altogether sentimental
or devoid of practical value ; and then Mr. Boulger adds the following,
which we take leave to reprint in full, because it is very interesting
to those in Singapore, many of whom no doubt think that if Java
were in the rapid march of events in these days to fall into the
power of another European nation (as it did into that of England
in 1811) the Dutch might look in vain for such generosity a second
time, and would not have the opportunity to treat their benefactors
with ingratitude : — *' Should events in Europe place the Netherlands
in the possession of a stronger continental power, as was the case
in the beginning of the century, the recollection of Raffles's wise

178 Anecdotal History oj Singapore

and benevolent rule will serve to direct Dutch colonial opinion, so
that it may seek that sure haven of British protection, freedom of
trade and of institutions, which it found in the days of Minto and
Raffles, rather than a^ain become subject to a military despotism.
This is no random or hasty thought. Not so many years a^o there
was a spasm of fear in Holland and throughout her colonies that
they might be absorbed in the German Empire; and I have high
authority for saying that when that apprehension reached the colonies,
the Governor of the Dutch East Indies declared that as soon as the
Black Eagle was hoisted at the Hague he would run up the Union Jack
at Batavia. It is to Raffles that we should owe what I will venture
to call the moral reversion to Java by the free action of its inhabi-
tants, whenever violence or ambition shall snap the link with Holland."

On 1st October, 1824, Mr. Crawfurd wrote the following despatch
to the Secretary to Government at Calcutta on the subject of the treaty: —

Sir, — An authentic copy of the Treaty concluded in London in the month of
March last with the Government of the Netherlands, having been i-eceived at this

Elaco, through the medium of the Dutch Official newspaper, I beg respectfully to
ly before the Right Hon'ble the Governor- General in CJouncil such observations
as are suggested by it, principally in its bearings on the local arrangements
recently made with the native chiefs at this place.

By the 10th article of the treaty with the Netherland Government which
touches the Town and Fort of Malacca, " His Netherland Majesty engages for
himself and his subjects never to form any establishment in any part of the
Peninsula of Malacca or to conclude any treaty with any native Prince, chief,
or state therein." On the authority of this article, the designations of Sultan
and Tumongong of Johore given in the local arrangemeat to the native chiefs
appears to be unquestionable and appropriate.

By the 12th article of that treaty, His Britannic Majesty engages that no
British establishment shall be made on the Carimon Isles, or the islands of Battam,
Bintang, Lingin, or on any of the other islands south of the Straits of Singapore,
nor any treaty concluded, by British authority, with the chiefs of those islands.
The cession made to us by the native Princes of the main island of Singapoi^
and the islets adjacent to it, to the extent of ten geogi*aphical miles from its
coast, is in no respect impugned by the condition in Question, as by the most
libei-al interpretation, the whole cession is strictly north of the southern limits
of the Straits of Singapore.

I beg i-espectfully to state for the information of the Right Hon*ble the
Governor-General in Council, a few doubts which it is probable may arise in the
interpi'etation of the 10th and 12th articles of the treaty with the Netherland
Government. By the former the Town and Foi't of Malacca and its dependencies are
ceded to the British Govoniment. At the period of the conclusion of the treaty,
the Settlement of Rhio, situated upon the island of Bintang, was strictly and
in all respect a dependancy of Malacca as in every period of its connexion
with the Dutch Government. By this article, therefore, it would become a Britisli
possession, but this is again precluded by the 12th article, which provides expressly
against any British Settlement being formed on the island of Bintang or any treaty
concluded by the British authority with its chief. Under these circumstances
the only question is whether the Settlement of Rhio is to be retained or relin-
quished by the Dutch authorities.

It does not upon the whole appear to me that the occupation of Rhio
could be beneficial to the British Government, yet its retention on the part of
the Netherland Government, and our exclusion from entering into political
relations with the chiefs of all the islands lying south to the Straits of Singapore
and between the Peninsula and Sumatra, may prove a matter of some incon-
venience to us, as it in fact virtually amounts to a dismemberment of the
principality of Johore, and must thus be productive of some embarrassment and
confusion. This may be easily illustrated by an example. The Carimon islands

The Two Treaties of 1834 179

and the Malayan Settlement of Bulang are two of the principal posAoBRionR of
the Tumongonf^ of Johore or Sin^pore, and his claim to them is not only
allowed bj the rival chiefs, but more satisfactorilv ascerbiined by the voluntary
and cheerful alliance jrielded to him by the inhabittints. Bv tlie prenent treaty,
however, he must either forego all claimR to these poRsessirms, or removing to
them, renounce his connexitm with the British G()vei*nment.

J. Cbawfurd,

Resident.

180

CHAPTER XV.

1825.

IN February, 1825, it was proposed to bnild a new market to cost
$4,816.60, as the market was too small. In April, 80 Madras convicts
and 120 Bengal convicts arrived from Bencoolen. Lines were built for
600 to 700 at the cost of $13,199, but leaving room for extending the
buildings for 1,200 to 2,000. Lieutenant Chester of the 23rd Bengal
Native Infantry was appointed Superintendent, with $150 staff salary,
and provision was made for an overseer at $50, a native doctor at $12,
a writer at $7, and one peon for every 25 convicts at $6 a month.
There is a note in some statistics regarding Penang that the occupation
of Singapore caused a loss to the revenue at Penang between 1821 and
26th July, 1825, of $152,734.

In the months of March and April in this year Malacca was re-
occupied by the English.

In the Singapore Chronicle there was a paper by Mr. Crawfurd on
Agriculture in Singapore, which is reprinted in 3 Logan's Journal, page
508; experience has since shewn that his condemnation of the soil was
well founded, coffee, cotton, sugar, and nutmegs having all failed to prove
successful, Mr. Crawfurd said that the soil and climate were perfectly
adapted for the cocoanut, orange, mangoe, durian and pineapple, as it
was rather climate than soil that is required for such productions; and
it appeared singular, and yet unexplained in vegetable physiology, that
while the poorest wilds are sufficient for the growth, not only of the
luxuriant plants which afford the rich fruits in question, but also for
that of the most stupendous trees in the forest; the richest are
indispensable to the successful culture of the lowly plants which afford
the principal necessaries of life.

A despatch from the Court of Directors in London of 6th April,
said that they had been much gratified by the information aiforded of
the flourishing condition of the commerce of Singapore, the value of
which in imports and exports had amounted in 1822 to $8,568,172; and
were happy to perceive that the establishments of the Settlement had
been revised with a view to greater efficiency without any additional
expense being entailed on Government.

It has been said before that in 1820 the expenses of Singapore for
one year were less than those of Bencoolen for a month, and one most
remarkable thing about Raffies's management was the extremely small
number of civilians as compared with both Bencoolen and Penang.
The expenditure at Bencoolen was £100,000 a year, and the return in
pepper was altogether inadequate. As to Penang, the Governor and
Council sent out from England to constitute the Presidency there in
1805 consisted of twenty-six Englishmen, whose salaries amounted to an
aggregate of £43,500 a year, from the Governor with £9,000 to the
school-master at £225. In Singapore there were only some three or four

1825 181

ofHcials, whose monthly salaries including the clerks and peons amounted
to a little under $4,000 a month.

In June Mr. Crawfurd sent to Calcutta a general report on the
Eastern Seas from which the following notes are taken: — The Dutch
charge 35 per cent, on all English cotton and woollen goods imported
into Eatavia^ the only port at which Europeans can trade; and all the
native ports over which the Dutch influence extends have the same
regulations. The only effect of the treaty of 1824 had been to raise the
duty on the export of coffee in Dutch ships to 24 guilders^ which made
it half of the foreign duty, instead of reducing it. The trade which
was increasing had been injured by these restrictions. Under English
rule the Javanese had been becoming accustomed to a cheap and regular
supply of English goods. The trade continued ^ood until 1823, when
the imports amounted to 7,000 cases of piece goods, valued at $2,100,000.
The import duties had been then gradually raised from 6 to 12 per
cent, and in 1823 to 25 per cent, from European, and 35 per cent, from
foreign ports. The high duties checked the trade and now in 1825 the im-
ports were only 3,000 cases. The Batavia customs duties rose from 432,109
guilders in 1817, and 996,556 in 1818, to 2,622,241 in 1823. They fell in
1824 to 2,399,943 though duties were raised retrospectively in that year.

The report also said that the Dutch regulations destroyed the trade
from India to the native ports under their influence. Pontianak in 1812
took British goods to the value of $311,275. The place was then under
native rule and the duties levied were 3 per cent. The trade increased
until 1817 when the Dutch interfered with their regulations, and in
1824 the trade was extinct. The treaty of 1824 which stipulated that
the Dutch native ports should not charge more on English than on
Dutch imports was disregarded. The Dutch got over the difiiculty by
boldly calling the ports Dutch, though notoriously governed by native
rulers and having no further power than the presence of a few soldiers.

The report said that the French had great influence in Cochin-China
under the late king, but the present king who ascended in 1819 was
not favourable to them. In 1822 there were eight Frenchmen in the
public service, but now all were gone, the two last, Messrs. Vannier
and Chaigneau, having passed through Singapore in April^ 1825, on
their way home.

Mr. Chaigneau having returned to France from Cochin China in
1821, was sent out again by King Louis XVIII. as Consul for France,
with a number of presents, such as a large gilt clock, pistols^ pictures
of battles, and a very large mirror. The King for whom they had been
intended, and who had treated him and the missionaries very well, died
before Mr. Chaigneau^s arrival. His successor took the presents, but
refused to recognise him, and he was forced to leave the country. The
French missionaries, however, insisted on remaining, and the persecu-
tions then commenced and missionaries and converts were put to death.
This continued until February, 1859, when a priest was beheaded
near where the present Cathedral now stands in the town of Saigon,
the evening before the French Expedition took the citadel.

In the same report the Resident said that the Sultan of Brunei
had offered him Labuan, which place was formerly occupied by the
English^ and that the Dutch within the last two years had made two

182 Aiuicdotal Hintory uf Singapore

uusuccessful attempts to establish themselves at Brunei. They offered
protection, but the Sultan answered that he was able to protect himself,
and if not he would give due notice.

On the 2nd August, exactly one year after the date of the treaty, Mr.
Crawfurd started in the ship Malabar for a trip round the island, to take
formal possession. The Bengal Government had instructed him to do this.

An account of the " voyage,'* as it was then called, was published
in the Singapore Chronicle, and re-printed in Mr. Moor's Notices of
the Indian Archipelago, where it is still to be found, althoagh the
Chronicle is not. The vessel was 380 tons, and they left at 6 a.m.
going round to the eastward, arriving off Johore Hill the next
morning at 10 o'clock. Mr. Crawfurd landed and went up the hill.
While they were on shore, a heavy squall split the vessel's topsails,
and they were unable to get off to the ship, and did not get on
board till after dark, and well drenched. The next morning they
got as far as Pulo Obin, and hoisted the British flacr there, and
lired a salute of 21 gans. The next day they got a little farther,
and went ashore on the mainland. The account says: — *'Bukit
Timah, although not above seven or eight miles from the town has
never been visited by a European, seldom by a native ; and such
is the character of the intervening country, that it would be almost
as easy a task to make a voyage to Calcutta as to travel to it."
Two days afterwards they got out of the Sti*aits to the west, and
it says, "We thus took four days passing through the Straits, and
our voyage upon the whole may be considered as rather expeditious.
This was the only route of the first European navigators, and it
seems singular that the present more obvious, safer and shorter
passage should not have been earlier followed. Pursuing the old
passage, four or five days at least are lost, and although there be
always, except at the western extremity, from five to thirteen fathoms
water, the navigation, from the occasional naiTowness of the Strait,
and the occurrence, now and then, of sunken rocks, is by no means
free from danger. It is certainly never likely to be frequented again
by the general navigator, but might occasionally be made available
in time of . war to avoid a superior enemy in the main channel, a view
of its utility which an Englishman is little disposed to look to."

The account says that no huts were to be seen in the Straits,
except some lately occupied by Singapore wood-cutters on Pulo Obin.
Tht3 vessels then went to the Carimons and they visited the tin
mines. Then they landed on the Rabbit and Coney Islands and
took possession under a salute of 21 guns. They beat into the harbour
at midnight, and landed at day-break after a trip of ten days, which
is done now in a steamer in the course of eight or ten hours.

In September Mr. Crawfurd (who, as has been said, formerly held
high office under Sir Stamford Baffles in Java, as Resident at Soerabaya
and Samarang) reported to Bengal the unsatisfactory state of affairs
in Netherlands India. Insurrections in Java, Borneo, Sumatra and
Celebes. All the troops had been called in to defend Batavia. The
open country as far as Soerabaya was in the hands of the insurtfents.
" I do not hesitate to report that the very existence of the Netherlands
authority in India appears to me to be in iuimineut danger." . .

1825 183

On 23rd September the Resident proposed to employ the Rev.
Mr. ThomHon, a mi'saioimry, to translate a ^ood code of Malay laws.
Raffles had formed a Committee at Bencoolen on 31st October^ 1823,
to report on native laws.

A company was started in. Singapore this year to put on a

steam vessel between Batavia and Penang, calling at Singapore.

The Resident promised to assist and offered to subscribe f2,000 on
the part of Government. It did not come to anything.

In February Sir Stamford Raffles, while in England, wrote a long
letter to the Committee of the British and Foreign Bible Society
on the continuance of its operations which had been under his care
at Bencoolen, and were now changed owing to the return of Sumatra
to the Dutch. He said that much good had been done in Bencoolen,
and advised an agent being appointed to proceed to Singapore. As
soon as Singapore became a settlement, Raffles had connected the
Society with the place, and wrote to his cousin the Rev. Dr. Raffles,
asking him if he knew of any layman who would come to Singapore
as Agent to the Society, on a salary of £100 a year and all travelling
expenses. Soon afterwards an Auxiliary Society was for med,£^ which
continued for many years, the Protestant clergymen generally rming
the most active members of the Committee. The depot was in a
small building of two stories at the corner of Brass Bassa Road and
North Bridge Road where the Raffles Girls' School stands now. The
care taker and books occupied the ground floor, and the upper floor
was used for holding mission services and meetings of the committee.
About 1882, on the suggestion of the local Society, the London Society
established an Agent of their own.

Mr. CrawEurd in his book on the Embassy to Siam (1830) at
page 357, made some remarks on the trade of Singapore and gave some
statistics, as follows : — *^ It appears that in the years 1825 and 1826,
which were so calamitous to the general commerce of the world, the
value of the trade of Singapore, before so rapidly progressive, suffered
some slight diminution ; but on inspecting the returns, however, it
appears that the real quantity of goods had considerably increased, and
that the diminution in amount arose from depreciation.

Imports.

Ezpoi'is.

Total.

1824
1825
1826

... 16,914,436 ..
6,289,396 ..
6,863,581

. $ 6,604,601

5,837,370 ...
6,422,845 ...

% 13,519,037
12,126,766
13,286,426

1822
1823
1824
1825

Pepper exported

2,327,000 lb.
4,672,500 „
3,104,400 „
5,272,850 „

1823
1824
1825
1826

Tin exported

1,100 tons
1,000 „
740 „
1,230 „

•

184 Anecdotal Hutiory of Singapore

He said that the first direct arrival from Singapore to England was
in 1821. In 1822 four ships cleared out with cargoes for Europe; in
1823, nine; 1824, twelve; 1825, fifteen; and in 1826, fourteen ships.
The greater part of these were for London and Liverpool ; some for
Stockholm, Hamburg and Bordeaux.

Among the names of the land-holders in 1824, which is printed
on page 70, was that of J. d' Almeida. Dr. Joze d' Almeida had been a
surgeon on board a Portuguese man-of-war, and, while he was passing
through Singapore, was struck by the advantages of its position and
prospects. It is said that before he decided to settle here he made
some voyages between Macao and Calcutta in a Portuguese barque called
the Andromeda of which he was the super-cargo and generally called the
captain. Whether this was so or not, there is no doubt that he le^ money
with Mr. F. J. Bernard to secure a piece of land and build a house for
him. Mr. Bernard acquired the land at Kampong Glam, now numbered
Lot 207, and the house then built on it was the last compound house
on the Beach towards Kampong Glam, on the next plot but two from
Middle Road. It was at one time from 1878 rented for the use of the
Raffles Girls' School, and was purchased by the King of Siam. When
the house was finished, Mr. Bernard and his family lived in it until
December, 1825, when Dr. d' Almeida and his family came from Macao.
There were some political disturbances there at the time and it was said
that the Doctor had to leave very hurriedly in cnsequence. The same
old house is now used by Chinese stone masons, with a number of sheds
in front of it in the compound.

Dr. d' Almeida's dispensary was then in the Square where the
back of Guthrie & Co/s godowns is now, the rest of the building
was occupied by four or five Chinese shops. The origin of the
commencement of his mercantile business shows how unexpectedly
some of the well established firms began. In consequence of the
north-east monsoon, which vessels in those days did noc try to face,
two large vessels were detained in the harbour ; one was a Portuguese,
the other a Spanish vessel, bound for Macao and Manila, respectively.
As they could not proceed on their voyage for four or five months,
they determined to sell the greater part of their cargoes here to meet
their expenses, and they consulted Dr. d'Almeida about it, and he
consented to act as the agent of the vessels. He helped to sell
the cargoes, mostly at auction, and finding it successful, determined
to start in business, which was the commencement of the firm of
Joze d'Almeida & Sons, as it was afterwards known, which was
established in 182-3, and at the time of his death in Singapore in
1850, was one of the largest and most important firms in the place.
The market was suitable for many articles of Portuguese industry
and production, and during the first China War the firm did a very
large business in raw silk and other Chinese merchandise.

In its day the Doctor's residence in Beach Road was a famous
house in Singapore, the centre of Singapore social life. Very large
parties were given in the old times by Dr. d'Almeida, and,
after him, by Mr. Jose and his wife, whose house was always the
rendezvous of all social amusement. All those who were thrown into
personal contact with the d'Alniuida family were not likely to forget

llCi^^H

■

Dr. Jokb d'Almbida.
\Phstii^Ti:^h from an old oil fainHtf,}

To nm pagt iu.

1825 185

their great kindness and hospitality and what they did to make
Singapore, when it was a very much smaller place than it is now, a
pleasant home for those who were resident here.

Mr. Earl, in his book on " The Eastern Seas and Singapore,"
published in London in 1837, speaks of him in the warmest terms,
and dedicated the book to him. He says in one place, '' Although
the mercantile transactions carried on by Dr. d' Almeida were too
extensive to permit him to devote much time to medical practice,
yet they did not prevent him from employing the experience, which
he had acquired during his service as a Surgeon in the Portuguese
navy, in alleviating the sufferings of his fellow-creatures. Scarcely
a native chief or nakodah, visits the Settlement without at least once
paying his respects to Dr. d' Almeida, who had proved himself to be
their sincere friend and benefactor."

One of Dr. d'Almeida^s great friends was Mr. John Henry Velge.
He was born in Malacca on 19th December, 1796, and lived to a great
age. He remembered the blowing-up of the Malacca fort in 1807. Ho
had been a sailor, and had married in Samarang. He sailed in his own
ship, and, leaving the sea, settled down in Singapore, and towards
the end of his life in Malacca, where he died on the 14th April,
1891, at the age of 95 years. His friends hoped, and half-expected,
that he would see out a century, as he was a wonderfully active
old gentleman. In the old days, he had a large house on the Beach,
one of the biggest houses (years afterwards it was Emme^son^s Hotel)
and at Malacca he built, and lived in, the large house at Banda
Elier which has since been bought by Government, and is now used
as the Library and Rest House. In these two houses, at Singapore
and Malacca, Mr. & Mrs. Velge, like the Doctor and his wife, used
to show great hospitality. Both houses were admirably adapted for
dances, which were quite a feature in the social life of both places.

Dr. d^Almetda and his family were admirable musicians, and his
musical evening concerts were frequented by all who delij^hted in
listening to the rendering of some of the best composers. His name
coupled with that of Doctor Montgomerie, will always be connected
with the discovery of gutta-percha, and he was constantly endeavour-
ing to find out some new products for our markets. As an agri-
culturist he was indefatigable, but more enterprising than suc-
cessful. Sugar, coffee, cocoa-nuts, cotton, all had his attention, and
a great deal of his money. Before roads were opened out into the
interior he began to plant at Tanjong Katong by laying out a
plantation of cotton, and he introduced cotton seeds from the South
Sea Islands, and tried North American, Brazilian, Egyptian, and
Bourbon cotton. But the cotton failed, and the cleared ground was
planted with cocoanuts and is now known as the Confederate Estate.
He had a large plantation called Bandula about 4| miles from town on
the right hand side of Serangoon Road, afterwards owned by Mr. Robert
Jamie. He tried cochineal, vanila, cloves and gamboge trees from Siam.
His experience as a traveller had made him acquainted with various
trees and different kinds of fruit, which he planted here, r..nd
he also introduced teal and quail from India and China. Open-handed,
generous and hospitable, he was a general favourite, whilst his

186 Anecdotal Hintory of Singapore

unostentatious, but extensive, charity and benevolence endeared him
to the lower classes.

On his visit to Europe in 1B42 he was knighted by the Queen
of Portugal and was appointed Consul-General in the Straits, and
received several honorary titles and distinctions ; and shortly before
his death he was made a member of the Queen's Council in Portu-
gal, a dignity with corresponds with that of our Privy Councillors.
iSpain also conferred on him the Order of Knighthood of Charles III.

Dr. d' Almeida was married more than once, and had a very
large family of nineteen or twenty children. His eldest son Joaquim
d' Almeida was married on 5th February, 1838, in the Roman
Catholic Church in Calcutta to Rose Maria, the youngest daughter
of Captain W. Harrington. He died in London about 1870. His
younger brother Jos6 was born in Macao on 19th July, 1812, and came
to Singapore with his brother Joaquim in November, 1825, to
stay with Mr Bernard until his father arrived here on Christmas
Day in that year. Their sister Carlotta came down with her father.
She had been born in Macao in 1819, and never afterwards left
Singapore. She died at 373, Victoria Street, on the 11th September,
1901, at 82 years of age. She was married to Mr. Maximiliano
Miranda, a resident of Singapore, whom she survived nearly sixteen years.

There are still two sons of Dr. d' Almeida alive in Singa-
pore, Mr. Edward and Mr. William d' Almeida, and one daughter,
Mrs. Pereira, who married Mr. Francisco Evaristo Pereira, a well-
known legal practitioner in former years in Singapore. These are
the only surviving children of the Doctor. The eldest daughter,
Marianne, was married to Mr. Thomas Owen Crane, three of whose
daughters, afterwards Mrs. Thomas Dunnian, Mrs. H. W. Wood, and
Mrs. W. W. Shaw, were all very well-known and among the most
highly respected residents in Singapore for many years. Mr. T. O.
Crane had fourteen children, and thirteen are still alive. They were
all born in Singapore, and speak well for the healthiness of the
place. The history of many of the families best known in Singapore
in former days was therefore largely mixed up with the family of >
Dr. d'Almeida.

Dr. d' Almeida died at Singapore and it was written at the time
that nearly every European in the community attended his funeral,
the Governor being one of the pall-bearers, and the attendance of the-
Chinese and native merchants was very large. His tomb which is now
falling into decay, with the inscription almost illegible, is at the top of
the hill in the old cemetery nearly in the centre of the block appro-
priated to the Roman Catholic Community, there are tombs of some
of his children surrounding it, and not far away to the right is
the tomb of Mr. Coleman, who was a Roman Catholic. The inscription
on Dr. Almeida's tombstone is as follows ; it is worth printing as it
was deciphered with some difficulty, and is a record of one of the
most prominent of the old Singapore pioneers: —

"Sacred to the memory of

Sir Joze d' Almeida Carvalho E. Silva,

Knight, Commander of the Portuguese Orders

Of Christ and Conception, and

1825 187

Knight of the Order of Charles the III. of Spain,
Member of the Privy Council of the Most Gracious Majesty

Queen Dona Maria II.,

Portuguese Consul-Geueral in the Straits;

Bom at St. Pedro Do Sul in Portugal

On the XXVII November, 1784, and

After a residence of XXV years in Singapore,

Departed this life on the XVII day of October, 1850,

In the LXVI year of this age.
The Lord is nigh unto all those that call upon him :
To all that call upon him in truth.'' Ps. 145, v. 18.
The firm was afterwards called Joze d' Almeida & Son, when son
Joaquim joined; and in January, 1837, it was Joze d' Almeida &
Sons, as the younger brother joined it, and it continued so until 1865.
It was not unknown for bills in Calcutta to be drawn upon Sir Joze
d'Almeida & Sons after his Spanish decoration, but it was not usually
done. Mr. Joaquim was a very good man of business, but inclined to
be too speculative, while Mr. Jose was said to be too careful, and
the two together, years after the old man's death, brought the old
business to an end. There were many funny stories told of the
way the two brothers used to play at cross purposes. One instance
may be mentioned. Mr. Jose came into town early one morning
and found a letter, just arrived, that told of an earthquake in
Manila. His firm had a large stock of corrugated iron on hand,
and he decided to go out and buy up the stock in other people's
hands so as to made a ** corner" in the article. So he went out
without saying anything about it in the office, putting the letter
carefully in his pocket, and bought up all he could on the quiet.
He was away from office for some time, and while he was out another
smart merchant who had also heard of the earthquake and of Mr.
Jose's proceedings, went round to the office, and finding that Mr.
Joaquim had just come in, asked him if he had a small quantity
of corrugated iron to sell. Joaquim said that they had had a large
stock of it for some time and could not dispose of it, but if he
would make an offer to clear out the whole lot he would be glad
to sell it cheap, which he did. Mr. Jose returned soon afterwards
to find that he had been buying at higher prices than his brother
had sold at, and his " corner " broken up. Mr. Gr. H. Brown was
too many for Mr. Jose on this occasion.

Young Mr. Jose d' Almeida a few years after his arrival here in
1825, went to Bali in a sailing ship (there were no steamers then)
to load rice; and from Bali he proceeded to Whampoa, the port of
Canton^ where Jardine Matheson & Co. sold the cargo of rice, Mr.
d'Almeida acting as super-cargo of the vessel. From Canton he
sailed for Bali, then back again to Canton, after which he set out
for Macao, where he remained for four and a half months. Leaving
Macao in a vessel named the Mermaid, he was caught in the tail
of a typhoon, experiencing very violent weather. The vessel was blown
all the way down to Manila, and when she arrived in harbour, she
had lost all her boats and sails and masts. In fact Mr. d'Almeida
in the coarse of that eventful voyage on more than one occasion

188 Anecdotal History of Singapore

abandoned all hopes of ever reaching land^ and the vessel was so
badly damaged that she took no less than 45 days to repair.
Travelling about in this way on behalf of his firm he finally reached
Singapore, preparatory to a journey to Calcutta, where he resided
for five months. On his return he settled down here for some time,
but in 1843 he went on a voyage to Sydney, Adelaide, Melbourne
and Hobart Town, and it was at Sydney that he met the late Mrs.
d' Almeida. He returned to Singapore to obtain his father's sanction
to the marriage, and was married on the 28th September, 1845, at
Trinity Church, Sydney, by the Lord Bishop of Australia, to Augusta,
the second daughter of the Rev. J. C. Grylls, m.a., the minister of
Trinity Church, and his wife's sister was married at the same time
to the minister of Penrith, as appears from the advertisement in the
Free Press. He took up his abode in Singapore until 1857, when
just before the mutiny he made a voyage to Europe, remaining there
some twelve months, which was said to be the only leave he was
known to have taken.

Mr. and Mrs. Jose, as they were usually known, were most hos-
pitable people. He built the first house on Mount V^ictoria. It had a
ball-room attached to it on one side. The road at the foot of the hill
was called Almeida Road after him. They had many daughters, most
of whom were married in Singapore, and two sons, but all his family
have left the Settlement. After the firm was dissolved, business was
carried on under other names by the two brothers and some others for
a few years, but during the latter years of his life Mr. Jose was a
broker, and in spite of his great age, was most hardworking and per-
severing to the last, until he lost his wife, when he quite broke down.
No one could doubt that they had always been very much attached to
one another. There was a pathetic coincidence in their deaths. Mrs.
d' Almeida died at the age of 70 years on Saturday the 7th January,
1894, and was buried on Sunday afternoon. Exactly one week after-
wards, Mr. Jose died at the age of 81 years, and was laid by her side
at the same hour on the following Sunday. To the older residents it
seemed like the snapping of one of the last links of the chain between
the commencement of Singapore and its far different modern life, and
by them the names of the d' Almeida family will always be held in
affectionate remembrance.

Mr. Thomas Owen Crane came to Singapore in 1824 or 1825. He
had left England on his way to India, but the vessel was wrecked off
the coast of Spain. He managed, with a few others, to swim to a
barren rock, where they remained for over a month, eating shell-fish,
rats, and chewing shoe leather. They were reduced to such straits
that some of the sailors wanted to cast lots, as has been done in simi-
lar extremities, but a vessel sighted them and they were rescued. The
ship was bound to Singapore, and so Mr. Crane remained here, and started
in business as Thomas 0. Crane in 1825. About 1842 his brother William
came up from Australia, and they carried on business together as
Crane Brothers, as auctioneers and land agents. William returned to
England about 1857, and Mr. Crane continued in business as Thomas 0.
Crane it Co. His name is frequently mentioned in the old papers; he
was a Justice of the Peace, a member for many years of the Raffles

1825 189

School Committee ; was one of the Wardens of the first Freemason's
Lodge and assisted in many useful undertakings.

He commenced planting in May, 1836, and at the end of that year
had seventeen acres planted with cotton at Tanjong Katong. The
undertaking was abandoned, because the crops failed, owing, as he
considered, to the want of a regular season, together with the vari-
ableness of the weather, so that the crop instead of coming forward at
one time of the year, continued scantily all the year round, and was
thus damaged by rain, beside cjiusing expense in gathering in small
quantities. He had the soil analysed in Calcutta, and it was reported to
be of the best kind for the plant in its native localities. He then planted
cocoanuts, and had a large plantation at Tanjong Katong in 1850, of
which he gave a number of particulars, as to the method of plantiug,
care of the trees, crops, &c., which are to be found by those interested
in cocoanut plantations, in an article by Mr. J. T. Thomson in 4 Logan's
Journal at page 103. About 1850, Mr. Crane sent some coprah to a
firm at Marseilles, which had asked him to prepare a small quantity as
a trial, which he did. The cost was said to be too high, and nothing
was done in the article for over twenty years, when it began to be a
principal article of export.

Mr. Crane married, as has been said, one of the many daughters
of Dr. d' Almeida, in 1826, and had a family of fourteen children, only
one of whom, the eldest daughter, is dead. The eldest son, William,
went to Japan in 1861 and has resided there continuously up to the
present time. Mr. Crane retired from business about 1864. He had
lived for very many years at his large house at Gaylang, the only
house near there at that time, a little beyond the Police Station on the
right hand side, where the family had been brought up. Ho remained
in Singapore for thirty-five years, when he made a short visit to Eng-
land; and left here for the last time in 1866, dying in London in the
following year. The business was carried on under the name of Crane
Brothers, by sometimes one, sometimes two, of his sons, until July, 1899,
when his son Mr. Charles Crane retired to England and the business was
closed after seventy-four years. Mr. Henry Crane is the only one of his
sons now in Singapore ; his daughters Mrs. Dunman, Mrs. H. W. Wood,
and Mrs. W. W. Shaw have already been referred to.

The following letter of Sir Stamford Raffles to Mr. A. L. Johnston
was printed in the Free Preffs in 1885.

London, January 2nd, 1825.

"My dear Sir, — I have received your kind letters of the 25th of
April last, as well as one from the House of the 16th June. The latter
I have answered in a separate letter. I have also to thank you for the
tripafig, specimen of Carimon tin, &c., which are in course of delivery.

*'The wretched state of my health rendered it necessary that I
should abstain as much as possible from public business for some
months after my arrival, and had it been otherwise, the season of the
year was unfavourable to any progress, London being quite deserted.
I have, therefore, nothing very important to communicate to you as to
what is actually done respecting Singapore. There is, as you may
suppose, a lively interest taken in its future welfare, and you may b(j
assured that I am not lukewarm on the subject.

190 Anecdotal Hifitory of Singapore

"The necessity of a Court of Judicature is universally admitted, and
the only question is the nature of the establishment required for the
purpose. I^he idea of uniting the jurisdiction of Singapore with that
of Pinang was early adopted, and the authorities at home have come
to the conclusion that the civil as well as the judicial jurisdiction of
Pinang might be advantageously extended to Singapore. With this
view, I have reason to believe the (xovernment of l^inang has been
called upon to report on the practicability and advantages of the plan,
and by this time it may probably have become matter of local discus-
sion.

" Nothing, however, has yet been done of a decisive nature, and if I
have done no other good, I believe I may have been the means of post-
poning a decision until the question can be viewed in all its bearings.

" By the Charter for the Recorder's Court at Pinang, a provision is
made for the extension of its jurisdiction to any places in the vicinity of
Pinang, which may hereafter become a Dependency on that Settlement,
and nothing has appeared to the Court of Directors so easy as to make
Singapore a Dependency on Pinang, and thus to provide a judicial
jurisdiction at once. The idea also of making a respectable government
at Pinang by uniting all the Eastern Settlements under one authority,
affords a plea for continuing and extending an establishment of civil
servants in that quarter whereby patronage ensues; and reall^', to a
person resident in this country, and possessing only general information
as to local interests in the East, there seems to be something much more
simple in the plan of one government and jurisdiction for the Settlements
to the eastward, than in the maintenance of several separate jurisdictions.

" My notion, as you must be aware, was to place all our stations t^o
the eastward on the footing of commercial ports, and immediately
dependent on the Supreme Government of India, and in furtherance of
this plan I proposed that instead of Singapore giving way to Pinang,
the latter should rather be placed on the same footing as Singapore and
immediately subordinate to Bengal. Our recent treaty with the Dutch,
whereby we have entirely shut ourselves out of Sumatra, and from the
countries south of the Straits of Singapore, added to the political changes
which may result from the present contest with the Burmans, as it may
affect our Siamese neighbours, in some measure alters the state of the
question, and I confess, when I reflect on the arbitrary proceedings which
a local Resident may adopt, and the little interest which the Bengal
Government is inclined to take in the local concerns of the place, that I
am less tenacious of my former position than I once was, and that if a
due and pp.rmanent provision could be made for the independence of
Singapore as a free port, and for its Municipal regulation as a frer, town,
there miiifht be some advantages in connecting it with Pinang.

" Parliament will meet early in next month, and the subject will, no
doubt, be discussed there, as well as in the Court of Proprietors. No-
thing will be done in a hurry, and, therefore, it is possible letters from
Singapore may arrive in time to assist our judgment. Under this
possibility, I urgently request your opinion by the first conveyance that
offers, and in the meantime, although I have thus given you confiden-
tially the grounds on which I now feel inclined to come round to the
opinion in favour of uniting Pinang and Singapore, I would wish you

1825 191

to understand that, as far as I have yet fsfone in my communications
with the public authorities, I have expressed myself decidedly against
such a measure, declaring that it would be at once to put an extin-
guisher on the rising prosperity of the place.

" If anything is decided upon, before I hear from you on the subject,
I think it will be on the principle of establishing Pinang, Malacca, and
Singapore — all as free ports — and under such regulations for their
internal police as shall secure the rights and liberties of Englishmen
to the population — European as well as Native. These points laid
down by Parliament, it matters little whether the Civil Government is
under one authority or several; an appeal will always lie to Bengal,
and it may be an advantage that the public in Europe are from time to
time informed how you are going on. At present, everything centres
and rests in Bengal, whence but little impartial information is derived.

" On the subject of the clause in the treaty which restricts Americans
from visiting Singapore, nothing can be more ridiculous. I have
conferred with the American Minister and our own authorities on
the subject, and I hope I shall succeed in removing this bar to your
commerce. The treaty will, I understand, expire in two or three years,
when, of course, the objectionable clause, as far us it affects Singapore,
will not be renewed, and the only question is whether it is now worth
while stirring a point which will soon be renewed. There are so
many national jealousies, that the British merchant may possibly
conceive that his interests would be injured by such a concession to
Americans, and this is an argument likely to be used by the East
India Company. Nevertheless, I should think that with the present
Liberal administration, such arguments would not be much attended to,
and that no serious difficulty will exist in obtaining an Order in
favour of the American Trade.

"I am sorry to observe your Resident has had recourse to so
vicious and objectionable a mode of raising a revenue as the establishment
of the Graming Farms. I think it likely the subject will attract public
attention here and beconie matter for discussion in the Court of
Proprietors, if not in a higher Court. My sentiments on the subject
are on record, and I see no reason to alter them, and whenever
the fit time comes I shall be prepared to support them.

''Accept my best thanks for the information you have furnished
respecting the trade, &c., of Singapore ; every particular is interesting
to me, and possibly may be valuable in the discussions which will
take place as to the future management of the Settlement.

'* It is only of late that I have had an opportunity of seeing Dr.
Morrison. His time has been partly taken up in a matrimonial arrange-
ment which he has concluded much to his satisfaction, and he proposes
returning to China by one of the direct ships in April. Before that
time, I hope we ehall be able to do something effectual regarding the
Institution. As yet I have not moved in it.

"With regard to my own affairs and views, I have only to state
that my severe losses by the Fame are likely so far to interfere with
my plans of retirement, which I once fondly indulged, that it is possible
I may, against my inclination, be forced into public life in this country.
My friends assure me that the Direction is open to me, and I have no

192 Anecdotal Hifttory of Singaporf

reason to expect difficulty in getting into Parliament; but the anxiety,
fatigue and responsibility in which such a course would involve me, make me
hesitate at present, and particularly while my health is so precarious.
Were I to consult my personal happiness and comfort alone, 1 think it
would be a wiser course to take a tour to the Continent for a year or
two, and quietly retire into the country, where I might enjoy peace and
tranquillity with the advantage of good society in men and books, and
a visit to London for a few months in the year only. The only arrange-
ment of a permanent nature which I have yet made, has been the
purchase of the lease of a house in Grosvenor Street for thirty years,
which looks a little like the tiding of my mind being to that quarter
as a permanent residence for the rest of my life.

" With regard to the state of our account, I have written to the
House all that appears necessary, and will only add in this place my
earnest desire that you will complete the remittances as soon as yon
can, as I am anxious to invest my little property as early as possible.
Until this is done, I hardly know how to make up my mind whether
I must ag^ain accept employment or not.

"As to general news, it is hardly worth while sending you any in
this form, as you will have abundant and perhaps later intelligence
from the public prints.

"The overflow of capital in this country has occasioned a degree
oE gambling that some steady people think will end in something like
the South Sea Bubble. Independent of the foreign loans, which are to
an enormous extent, there is an association for almost every possible
speculation that can be conceived, and vast sums of money have been
made by the rise in the value of shares. Among those which have been
proved most advantageous are the Mexican mines. At the present
moment, public attention is principally attracted to the LoroinoHve
Steam Engines, which are to propel carriages without horses from one
part of the country to the other at the rate of ten to twelve miles an
hour ! A considerable opposition is expected on the part of the holders
of canal shares.

" I have lately seen an article in what is called the Heifer Skelter
Magazine published at Calcutta, and which is attributed to Crawfurd.
It is written in such bad taste, and with so much ill-humour, that I
can hardly believe it to be his; for the rest it is amusing enough.

" Remember me kindly to all friends, and believe me

Yours very sincerely,

T. S. Raffles.

A note by Mr. Crawfurd said that the annual charge of the Civil
Establishment in 1825 was about $50,000. The Military consisted of
about 150 Sepoys and Native Artillery, with no Europeans except the
Officers; and the expense was less than $35,000 a year.

J93

CHAPTER XVI.
1826—1827.

1826.

IN January Mr. Crawfurd, in imitation of a similar scheme at
Penang, asked leave from Calcutta to establish a lottery, the profits
to be applied to town improvement. He and Lieutenant Jackson had
prepared a chart of the Archipelago in Chinese and Bugis characters.
He asked to have it lithographed at Calcutta and sold to natives,
whom he described as very desirous to have it. He recommended
that three Beacons should be lit up at night ; one at Tree Island,
one at St. John's, and one at Singapore town. Mr. Crawfurd also
asked to be allowed to draw the allowance of Governor-General's
Agent, as he was doing the duty formerly done by Raffles, who was now
in England. The Resident's salary was $750, table allowance $500,
and house rent allowance $loO, total $1,400. The salary of Raffles
as Lieutenant-Governor of Bencoolen had been ftj. 2,73.i, allowances
ft«. 3,841, Govornor-Generars Agent Kx. 1,000, total ««. 7,576 (suy $2,900)
a month.

Upon the expectation that the Recorder's Court at Penang would
be extended to Singapore, the Resident recommended the following
gentlemen, then on the Magistrates' list, to be included in a Com-
mission of the Peace : —

Civil Servanfu.

Samuel George Bon ham John Patullo

Samuel Garling Edward Presgrave

Merchants,

Charles Chester John Argyll Maxwell

Thomas Davis William Paton

James Junes William Scott

Alexander Laurie Johnston John Spottiswoode

Alexander Kyd Lindsny Hugh Syme

William Gordon Mackenzie William Vincent

Medical Officers, Officials,

John Crawfurd (Resident) Captain Edward Da vies, b.m.i

William Montgomerie, m.d. Captain William Flint, r.n.

From 1st February Lieutenant Jackson was appointed Surveyor,
to survey lands, register grants, transfers, &c., on a salary of B», 300.
The fees were $1 each for register and transfer, and 25 cents an
acre for making survey, with a minimum charge of $1 for four acres.

In August the importation of military arms was advertised as
illegal. The imports of arms and ammunition in the four years, 1823
to 1826, amounted to $276,411.

194 Anrcdotal History of Sivgn'porf'

On tlio 14th August Mr. Prince was in orders at Singapore as
a Senior Member of Council and Resident Councillor at Singapore,
and Mr. Crawfurd went to England. Raffles in a letter to Bengal,
speaking of Mr. Prince wrote : —

" After a service of thirty-five years during the largest portion
of which time he maintained himself without any charge to Govern-
ment." This is explained by the fact that Civil Servants at Bencoolen
were allowed to trade. It appears that Mr. Prince had a river there
to himself and no one else was allowed to trade or interfere.
In fact for some, but it does not appear exactly for what services to
the Company, further than keeping up the influence of the name,
Mr. Prince had the monopoly of buying and selling in a district.
The remark is not personal to Mr. Prince, it seems to have been
the custom of the service. Mr Prince only remained a little over
a year, as Mr. Murchison took his place as Resident Councillor on
29th November, 1827, and his name does not appear prominently in
any way. Mr. Presgrave was acting Resident until Mr. Prince took
up the appointment, which he does not seem to have done for some
months after August, 1826.

There was inconvenience at this time from want of suitable public
offices, those in use being in merchjints* godowns not built for offices,
and the Resident, Treasurer and Accountant held office in their own
private houses. When Raffles was in Singapore, he had used the upper
floor of Captain Flint^s house as an office.

In this year the three places, Penang, Malacca and Singapore, were
incorporated as one Settlement consisting of the three Stations under the
Government of Penang; with this difference: that- whereas before the
incorporation the three members of Council resided at Penang, two
of the Councillors were now sent to the other stations, one to
Singapore and one to Malacca under the title of Re.«^ident Councillors.
At the same time Penang, which up to this period had been a customs
port, was declared to be a free port, as was also Malacca, so that all
three places were placed on an equal footing as regards all absence of
customs duties. This form of governmetit remained in operation until
1829, when the Court of Directors sent out positive orders to reduce
the establishment, as the expenses at Penang were not considered
to be ju.stified. Mr. Robert Fullerton was appointed in this year, 1826,
the first Governor of the Incorporated Settlements of Prince of Wales
Island, Singapore, and Malacca, as he was officially styled. He had
been a Madras civilian, and a member of the Council of that Presi-
dency in 1819. His abilities, it has been said, should have placed
him in a much wider field of action than that which the Straits afforded.
He returned to Europe in 1829 and died in London on 6th June, 1831.

Mr. Presgrave, the Acting Resident, in a report on land said
that the tenure was a lease for years subject to a small annual
quit-rent. The Governor-General had proposed 99 years, but this
was objected to by the inhabitants and 999 years had been allowed.
On the 26th August, 1826, the register contained only lists of lands
granted by Raffles. Mr. Crawfurd had disapproved of Raffles's grants
as informal and sent up his own draft to Calcutta. The Advocate-
General objected to Mr. Crawfurd^s form, and made out a draft of his.

1826 195

own, which was sent down. The Governor-General confirmed Raffles's
grants, and directed fresh papers to be issued. The total number was
500, of which the quit-rent amounted to about $3,000. Mr. Crawfurd
liad given numerous location tickets, no list of which was kept, to clear
unreserved lands. All the land was granted under conditions to clear
or cultivate.

There was a minute by Governor FuUerton on 29th August that
the Civil Servants were expected to pass examinations in the
Chinese and Siamese languages.

On the 21st November a Penang Government Notification was
issued abolishing port duties. In December the Penang Government
called on the Resident Councillor at Singapore for his opinion as to
assessing property. The Resident on the 14th January following stated
that houses in Singapore were already assessed .^322.90 monthly, and
he amended it to $400.37. He objected to any tax on lands, as the
produce was of trifling value.

In May the Dutch schooner Anna left Singapore for Batavia. Seven
Malays or Javanese (one of whom was found afterwards to have been
a fisherman in Singapore who left without paying his debts) went on
board as passengers, saying they were pilgrims returning from Mecca.
They rose on the crew after leaving Singapore, nearly killing the
Captain and driving the crew on deck into the rigging, but some
passengers on board and the rest of the crew killed them or drove
them into the sea, where it is supposed they were drowned. This
seems to be the first recorded instance of a piratical attempt on a European
vessel sailing out of Singapore. In the 5th number of the Singapore
Chronicle was an article on Malay piracy which was known to be
written by Mr. John Crawfurd.

By the Letters Patent of 27th November, 1826, the Court of
Judicature of Prince of Wales' Island, Singapore and Malacca was
established. At the end of the year a subscription was raised for
the purpose of erecting a monument to Raflies "as a testimony of
gratitude from the inhabitants for the great and important benefits
he conferred upon Singapore. " Over three thousand dollars were
subscribed, and Messrs. A. L. Johnston & Co. were appointed the
Treasurers, but the scheme was not carried out, and eventually as has
been already explained, the money was spent in repairing Raflles
Institution. The resolutions passed at a meeting on the 30tli January,
1827, were to the effect that a monument should be erected on some
conspicous and suitable spot within the precincts of Singapore, with
an inscription in English, Latin, Chinese and Malay. The plan and
estimate to be prepared by Mr. Coleman, the Architect.

In the Navy League Journal for May, 1901, is a note of what was
thought to be the record voyage of one of the East India Company's ships,
the Thomas Coutts. In this year, she entered Bombay Harbour on June 2nd,
1826, after a passage of eighty-two days from England. Sailed from Bombay
for China, August 2nd. Arrived at Singapore on the 26th. Sailed from
Singapore for Macao, August 28th. Arrived there, September 11th. On her
return voyage she sailed from China, November 23rd. Passed Java Head
on December 10th. Arrived at St. Helena, January 22nd, 1827. Sailed on
January 24th^ and arrived in the Downs on March 2nd, 1827, having made

19G Anecdotal History of Singaport

the quickest voyaore out and home on record — ten days within the
year. She carried fourteen long guns on each side on the main deck
and four on the quarter deck. It is added that the old VindicHve^
a 50-gun frigate, taking Kear-Aflmiral Sir Thomas Cochrane out to
China in 1 842, made the passage from Plymouth to Hongkong in eighty
days; all studding-sail booms being carried away and the main-trysail
mast on the foreyard as a boom. This was considered a fast passage.

1827.

It is in this year that we find the first trace of the subse-
quent Municipalities in the Settlements. A regulation was made,
under Mr. Fullerton, on the 1st January, 1827, which was sane-
tioned by the Court of Directors and Board of Control, for the appoint-
ment of a body designated " The Committee of Assessors,^' framed for
the purpose of providing the means of clearing, watching, and keep-
ing in repair the streets of the town of Penang. The committee
were to be chosen annually from the land-holders and house-holders of
the island.

On the 27th February Mr. Prince, the Resident Councillor, sent
round a circular inviting the inhabitants to make drains opposite their
own premises. Great damage had been done by heavy rains, and to
obviate future inconvenience it was proposed that drains should be
made to carry off the water, and, in order to have the levels uniform,
to allow the work to be done by Government officers at a fixed rate of
$27.75 per 100 feet. A committee composed of Messrs. Bonham,
Johnstone, Maxwell, Syme, and Scott was appointed when the work
was completed, to assess the cost among the various proprietors. They
reported in August that 5,088 feet of open, and 113 feet of covered
drains had been completed.

Dr. Montgomerie was now superintending the Botanical Experimen-
tal Garden on the Government Hill, and wrote a report upon its state
on the 1st February, which is at page 62 of Volume 9 of Logan^s
Journal. He had turned his attention solely to spices, nutmegs, and cloves,
which promised well, and he proposed that Government should employ
convicts in clearing ground and cultivating the spices until the trees
began to bear, when the land might be divided up among the industrious
Chinese. Dr. Montgomerie was in hopes, as Bencoolen had been
given up, and Penang could only supply a small part of an article so
much in demand, that it might be made a permanent source of profit
ill Singapore, but it never led to any result as the trees did not
prosper in the island.

In March, the Resident Councillor sent round a circular to all the
Europeans, saying that he was directed by the Governor in Council to
call upon them to state the date of their arrival and their occupation
and the license under which they resided. The circular was signed by
the Europeans, a list of whose names may be found in Mr. BraddelPs
Notes in Mr. Logan's Journal, Vol. 9. The same question had been
raised in Penanj;, and in 1796 the Government there had called upon
all the Europeans to produce their authority for residence, and got
Bome very amusing answers in reply, some of the merchants keeping

1827 197

up a warm correspondence about it, after having purchased land and
property to a considerable extent, and having been encouraged to settle
there. One of them wrote that he had stayed there in the hazardous
attempt to cultivate a vile jungle and in the full assurance that he
had been induced to come and settle, and by that means he and
«»ther8 had formed the most flourishing settlement in the world.
Under the Act of Parliament, of 1813, (53 Geo. 3, c. 155) continu-
ing the East India Company's exclusive privileges, by Sections
XXXIII. to XL., any person desiring to go to or remain in India
had to obtain a certificate or license from the Board of Commis-
siouers in London, the supreme authority for the management of the
affairs of India, under whom was the Board of Directors. There
was power for a Governor to give a special license in particular
instances, the reasons for which had to be entered upon the minutes
of the Council, which held good until the matter had been laid be-
fore the Court of Directors and notice was given to the applicant
that it was revoked. These rules had not been enforced, either in
Penang or Singapore, and nothing at all came of it, as was to be
expected ; and, as far as is known now, no one in Singapore even
answered the circular, but among some old papers is a copy of the
following letter to Mr. W. R. George by John Anderson, the Secretary
to Government, dated Singapore, 10th May, 1827 : " Sir, I am directed
to acquaint you that the Honourable the Governor has been pleased
to permit you to reside at this settlement, pending a reference to
the Honourable Court of Directors, and subject to all the Regula-
tions of Gtjvernment. If the Honourable Court's sanction should
eventually be withheld, you will of course be prepared to return
to Europe on the shortest notice." Two years afterwards on the 30th
September, 1829, the Court of Directors, in a long letter, approved
of the Government having made known to Europeans that they were
here liable to removal at the pleasure of the East India Company ;
but said at the same time that under the peculiar circumstances of
the place, the resort of Europeans to follow creditable occupations
had not been discouraged, and they might be allowed to remain
as long as they conducted themselves, in the opinion of Government,
with propriety.

The Court of Judicature of Prince of Wales Island, Singapore, and
Malacca was opened on the 6th March by a Notification of Govern-
ment, the Resident's Court was closed, and suits for sums above $32
were removed and entered, in H. M. Court. The Resident Councillor
had reported to Government the great inconvenience arising from
the want of a resident Judge at Singapore. Sir John Thomas
Claridge, Kt., took up his office as Recorder in August ; and he and
Lady Claridge arrived at Singapore on the 4th September from
Peuang. This was the first visit of H. M. Court. They left again for
Malacca four days afterwards, where they landed under a salute of J 3 guns,
as the Malacra Observer records. Until the Transfer, and for a short
time afterwainls, the Judges were always received with salutes from the
shore at the various Settlements. Sir John Claridge in tliis year gave
the opinion that the Resident Councillor could sit as Judge at each
place in the absence of the Recorder, and gave a long letter of

198 Anecdotal History of Sitigaporc

instructions to the Resident Councillor as to the way of conducting
business^ but he afterwards withdrew his opinion, and said that it
could not be so as there was only one Court.

Mr. Prince sent round a circular to the natives, pointing out
the great advantages of education, and calling on them to cooperate
in getting up schools. The population in this year was 13,782.

On the 12th March the Supreme Government took exception to
an article which had appeared in the Singapore Chronicle of the
15th February, which they said was written in a very objectionable
style, — "The Governor in Council cannot avoid expressing his regret
that the present editor should have deviated so widely from the
discreet and prudent line of conduct invariably pursued by his
predecessor ; that he should have entered into the petty disputes of
Calcutta editors and making common cause with them, who appear
to have justly incurred the censure of the Supreme Government ;
instead of confining himself to the republication of interesting in-
telligence on passing events and to objects of direct local interest,
calculated to promote the commerce and prosperity of the Settlement
at which he resides, the unceasing attention to which has hitherto
distinguished the Singapore Chronicle and peculiarly entitled it to the
support of the Government."

On the 30th March a gunboat armed with lelahs and muskets
was fitted with native sails and went out to cruise near Singapore
against pirates. On the lOtli April, with a view to assessment, a return
was sent round to be filled up as to carts, carriages and ponies. The
Bengal troops were relieved by troops from Madras in April.

Governor FuUerton landed for the first time at Singapore on the
3rd May, and returned to Penang on the 21st June. The houses of
Captain Flint and Mr. Napier were rented for his accommodation ; the
former at about $190 and the latter at $260 a month (Rupees 500 and
687).

In May a Court of Requests was established, and three Com-
missioners appointed, Messrs. Presgrave, Bonham, and Winofrove.

On the 4th May a immber of spice plants arrived from Penang
on Government account and were offered gratuitously to any persons
who would engage to take care of them and bring them to perfection.

In May the police was re-organised ; 3 constables, 5 jemedars and
24 peons. On the 28th June Mr. Prince visited Bukit Timah prepa-
ratory to having roads made. He went on foot accompanied by the
contractor of the roads. They had a five hours' walk, first W.S.W.
and latterly N. E. [?W. N. W. ]. The distance cut through undul-
ating hills, marshes and rills was fourteen miles ; three fourths in gam-
bier and pepper cultivation. A halei was built on the top of the
hill. A contract could not be got for less than $440 a mile, while the
amount sanctioned by government was only 500 rupees a mile ($190).

On the 6th June Captain (afterwards Major-General) Blundell
sailed from Penang, to which garrison he was then attached, with half
a company of European Artillery to reinforce the garrison at Singapore,
when war with France was threatening on account of Portugal.

On the 11 til June the lease was issued by the Land Office for 999
years of the ground where the Court House now stands. Mr. Maxwell,

1827 199

the merchant, built the house which now forms part of the present
building, and he leased the house to the Government for three years
at 500 rupees a month. On Ist September, 1841, it was put up by public
auction by Guthrie & Co. The house was described in the advertisement as
having been erected during the years 1 826 and 1 827 under the superinten-
dence of Mr. Coleman, the architect, and built of the best materials. It
was contained in Grant No. 243, extending from High Street to the river,
with a frontagfe on the river side of 240 feet, which at the expiry of
the existing lease would afford a very superior situation for the erection
of godowns or shops, as there was sufficient vacant ground without
encroaching on the Court House or its out-offices. It contained 82,080
square feet, with an annual quit-rent of $85;, and was let to the East
India Company on a lease which would expire on 30th April, 1844, and
afforded a most favorable opportunity for investing capital, &c , Ac,
(like Powell & Co.^s tempting notices at the present day). The
Government bought it for $15,600. The original building was
standing until the structure was altogether altered in 1901, but
the large Court had been built on to the back of it, towards the river,
in 1875. In the old days the Court was held in the centre room up-
stairs and the side rooms were used for the Resident Councillor's office
and some of the officials : the land office being downstairs. For many
years the Court was not held in the building, but in the one floor
building at the side, which is now used as a store-room for the Government
Printing Office, at which time the whole of the Court House was used
for public offices. The large clock placed in the facade towards the
Esplanade, and taken down in 1901 when the whole building was
altered, was a gift to the first St Andrew's Church by Mr. Thomas
Church, and when that building was pulled down, being unsafe, it was
put in the Court House and not taken back when the present Cathedral
was built.

A despatch of the Governor-General of the 12th July spoke of the
necessity to endeavour to retrench the expenditure. A list of state
papers was sent to the Court of Directors on 21st October. A lengthy
report was sent by Mr. Presgravo on slavery in the place.

In September the Governor ordered three lots of land on the
Esplanade to be sold for building land, to which the Resident Council-
lor objected, and Mr. Prince (who was spoken of as the general
economical schemer) proposed that the military establishment in Singa-
pore should be reduced to what it had been when under Bengal.

On a Sunday evening there was a severe thunderstorm in the
harbour, and the East India Company's vessel Biickinghavishire was
struck by lightning and her masts shivered and a seaman killed, while
several others scarcely escaped. The storm reached as far as Malacca,
and a large Dutch vessel on her way from Singapore was dismasted.

On the 18th November Mr. Prince left Singapore and Mr. Presgrave
was deputy Resident Councillor in charge until the 29th when Mr.
Murchison, the new Resident Councillor, arrived from Penan g.

An Englishman named Mr. Charles Grey left Malacca on 2nd
January and went across the Peninsula to Pahang. He fell, however,
a sacrifice to his exertions, dying of jungle fever, contracted during
the journey, twenty-five days after his return to Malacca. His account

200 Anecdotal Hwtory of Singapore

of the journey is in Volume 6 of Logan's Journal, page 369. It is
mentioned here because he was probably the first European to penetrate
into the interior of the Peninsula.

In consequence of the great increase in the number of Chinese
vagrants, the Hesident Councillor recommended Government to give them
an allowance of rice for one year and to send them into the interior
to clear jungle.

It was hoped that the labours of the Commissioners in Europe
which resulted in the London Treaty of March, 1824', would end all
disputes with the Dutch, but unfortunately a fresh cause of offence
broke out in connection with Singapore on the subject of the (Jarimou
Islands, and it woke up again the old question of the two rival Sultans.
The result of what had been done in 1819 Was that Johore became
split up into two governments ; one under Sultan Hoosein in Sing^apore,
and tlie other under his younger brother Sultan Abdulrahman in Rhio.
This was not very fair to Johore, but so far as the En<rlish action
went, it undoubtedly resulted in placing the Sultan and Tumongong
of Johore in a much more comfortable and secure position than they had
occupied before. The Tumongong considered the Carimon Islands as part
ot* his territory, as they had undoubtedly belonged to Johore, and had
been (or were still) made use of by the Malays on the mainland of
Johore as convenient stations for piratical purposes, while the islands were
not in any way connected with Bhio. It so happened at this time that
some Chinese had found tin at the Carimons ; it never amounted to
much, for in four years the average output only came to 205 piculs a
year. An Englishman having heard of the mines, obtained permission
from Sultan Hoosein to work them. The Dutch Resident of Bhio look-
ed upon the Carimons as part of the territory of Sultan Abdulrahman,
and still affected to deny the rights of Hoosein, whom he still asserted
was an illegitimate impostor (which was nonsense, as he was of exactly
similar birth to Abdulrahman) and as a dependent on his younsjer
brother Abdulrahman at Lingga for his daily bread (which was also
nonsense, as he was receiving a handsome pension from Singapore).

On the 23rd July news from Rhio reached Sultan Hoosein at
Singapore that Abdulrahman had made over the Carimons to the
Dutch, and that the Dutch Resident wanted Hoosein to withdraw
the Johore people. Sultan Hoosein appealed to the Resident of Sin-
gapore, who said he could not interfere, but wrote to Rhio protesting
against the Dutch taking the Carimons without authority from Europe,
as an infraction of Clause 6 of the Treaty of 1824. On the
17th September Hoosein told the Resident that he- was informed the
Raja Muda of Rhio had gone with twenty sail to take forcible possession
of the Carimons, but that on their arrival Hoosein's followers had
refused to allow them to land, so they went to the south-east of the
island and hoisted a flag and returned to Rhio. Hoosein then wrote
to his brother Abdulrahman remonstrating with him for trying to
exclude him from his rights."*^

I'liere was then correspondence between the Residents of Singapore
and Rhio, in which the Resident of llhio referred to the letters written

♦Crawford had foreseen this, see foot of p. 178

1827 201

by the Singapore Chiefs in February, 1819, which are printed at page
50 of this book, as a proof of their refusal to allow the English Settlement
at Singapore. He said he was bound to interfere, and he would send
two Dutch ships-of-war to reinforce the large fleet sent by the Raja Muda
from Rhio. The Singapore Resident in reply confined himself to saying
that the Singapore Sultan was entirely independent, and the Government
did not interfere with his movements beyond the limits of the
island; a fact which thoiigrh often repeated to the Dutch they would not
credit, not being able to disci'imiiiate in the difference of circumntances
between the English in Hindustan, where the policy of interference was
a necessity, and those in the Straits where such a policy was earnestly
deprecated. To which the Rhio Resident replied that the Dutch had
no idea of establishing a factory at the Carimons. but as Abdulrahman,
the Sultan of Lingga, was a vassal of the Netherlands Government, he
was bound to protest and preserve 1o him all that remained after the
arrangement (Treaty of London) by which he lost so much, and the
Resident added he was much more inclined to view the Singapore
Sultan as a pirate than Sultan Abdulrahman of Lingga!

It is amusing to find the assertion that the Sultan of Lingga (who
had, by means of the Dutch, taken away half of the territory of Johore
from the authority of his elder brother) had been prejudiced by the
treaty of 1824 which secured Rhio to him ; but it is still more amusing
to find in a letter of the Resident of Rhio to Sinyfapore in connection
with this matter, dated r2th October, 1827, the following expression used
by a Dutch official: "After the King of England had magnanimously
restored Java to the Dutch!"

In October an expedition from Rhio, headed by a Dutch schooner,
anchored off the stockade at the Carimons and opened fire. The Dutch
Resident with two officers and fifty Dutch European troops landed and
took the place It was said by them that two pirate boats had joined
the defenders, but soon afterwards a peaceable trading boat returned to
Singapore, which had been on its way from Singapore to Kampar, and
the crew said they had been wantonly fired into by the Dutch and two
of their number shot. The Carimons were thus taken and have remained
in the hands of the Dutch ever since, but have not been turned to
any useful purpose.

In Mr Biaddell's notes there is ii list of Public Servants and
European inhabitants residing at Singapore in March, J 827. There is also
another notification signed by forty-two of the Europeans, which helps
to complete it, and the following is probably an accurate Directory at the
time, as it even includes police constables and " punch-house " keepers :

Hon'ble John Price, Resident Councillor.

Edward Presgrave, Esq , Deputy Resident, Malay Translator.

S. G. Bonham, Esq., Assistant Resident, in Charge of the Police
and Convicts.

Rev. R. Burn, Chaplain.

Captain W. Flint, k.n.. Assistant Master Attendant and Postmaster.

Captain C. E. Davis, Garrison Staff.

Lieut. P. Jackson, Executive Officer.

W. Montjjomerie, m.d.. Residency Assistant Surgeon.

R. G. Perreau, Extra Covenanted Servant from Bencoolen.

202 Atiecdotal Eialo^ry of Singapore

Assistants in Rtside)iVs and Secretary's Office,
J. F. Burrows, W. Hewetson, J. D. Remedio.s.

Assistants in Accountant's arid Pay Office,
R. Winter | T. H. Bell

Asffistants in Police Office and Convicts Department,

W. Campbell ( J. Salmon
W. Holloway.

Constables.

Henry Gilbert | Francis Cox
Robert M acquire.

Overseer of Convicts.
Hilton.

Assistants in Master Attendant's Office.
Edward Coles | John Leyden Siameo

Post Office.
Edward Coles.

Commissioners : Court of Requests.

Edward Presgrave | S. G. Bonham

Clerk — W. Holloway; Bailiff — Francis Cox.

Merchants and Agency Houset^.

Almeida & Co. Maxwell & (.'o.

Armstrong, Crane & Co. Morgans, Hunter & Co.

Dalton, J. Napier, Scott cfc Co.

Farquhar, A. Purvis, J.

Guthrie & Clark Spottiswoode & Connolly

A. L. Johnston & Co. Syme & Co.

Mackenzie & Co. Thomas & Co.

European Inhabitants.

D' Almeida, Joze Almeida & Co.

Armstrong, George Armstrong, Crane & <'o.

Bernard, F. J. Agent to Lloyds, Notary Public.

Brown, J. Employ of Mackenzie & Co.

Bruce, James R. Employ of Armstrong & Co.

Clark. Guthrie & Clark

Coleman, George D. Civil Architect.

Connoly, John Spottiswoode & Connolly

Crane, Thomas Owen Armstrong, Crane & Co.

Dalton, John Merchant.

De Silva, Martinus Employ of Lieut. Jackson.

Douwe, P. E.

Dunman, W.

Ellis, John Employ of A. L. Johnston & Co.

1827

203

Merchant.

Tavern Keeper.

Employ of Maxwell & Co.

Employ of Thomas & Co.

Farquhar, Andrew

Francis, J.

Frazer, J.

Freeze, Fred.

George, W. R.

Gorden, James

Gummer, John (probably John

Gemmill)
Guthrie, Alexander
Hallpike, Stephen
Hansen, H. F.
Hawthorn, Daniel
Hay, Andrew
Holloway, C.
Hunter, iiobert
Johnston Alex. Laurie
Laby, Thomas
Lardner, Thomas
Loch, John
Macdonald, William
Macintosh, J.
Mackenzie, Graham
Maia, F. de Silva Pinto
Martin, A.
Matti, Miguel
Maxwell, J. D.
Merry weather, W.
Milton, Rev. S.
Moore, R.
Napier, W.
Napier R.
Page, W.

Patton, William, P.
Pelling, R E.
Purvis, John

Read, Christopher Rideout
Ryan, C.
Shaw, W. D.
Solomon, J.
Spottiswoode, William
Sweeting, S.
Swiuton.
Syme, Hugh
Temperton, William
Thomas, Charles
Thomas, C. S.
Thomas, Josiah
Thomsen, Rev. C. H.
Westerburg.
Wright, John

Total — ninety -four Europeans.

Guthrie & Clark.
Shipwright.

Ship-carpenter.

A. L. Johnston & Co.

Morgans, Hunter & Co.

A. L Johnston & Co.

Punch-house Keeper.

Employ of Mr. Temperton.

Editor of Singapore Chronicle

Employ of Morgans, Hunter & Co.

Employ of Spottiswoode & Connolly

Mackenzie & Co.

Roman Catholic Priest.

Surgeon.

Watchmaker.

Maxwell & Co.

Employ of Syme & Co.

Missionary.

Employ of Maxwell & Co.

Employ of Morgans, Hunter & Co.

Employ of Guthrie & Clark.

Merchant.

A. L. Johnston & Co.

Employ of Napier, Scott & Co.

Mackenzie & Co.

Spottiswoode Connolly
Employ of Syme & Co.
Shipwntjht.
Syme & Co.
Shipwright.
Thomas & Co.
Thomas & Co.
Thomas & Co.
Missionary.
Punch-house Keeper.

204

CHAPTER XVII

1828— 1829.

1828.

IN June, 1828, the first Criminal Sessions were held in Singapore.
There were twenty-seven indictments, of which six were for murder,
one for manslaughter, ten for burglary and six for assaults. In the
8ix murder cases two prisoners only were convicted, one Kling and one
Chinese, and they were hanged on Monday, the 26th June, the first
executions in Singapore. A Sessions was held in the next month
at Malacca, but there were only three cases, comprising the whole
accumulation of crime during the three years since the re-transfer by
the Dutch in 1825. One Chinese convicted of murder hanged himself
in his cell the niglit after the trial. The Judge had commuted his sentence
to transportation to Bombay, as he had been two years in prison waiting
for a trial, but the prisoner said in the Court that he preferred to
be hanged and carried it out himself.

It was in this year that steamers began to be talked about. In
1826 a proposal was made in Bengal to establish a steam-vessel to run
between India and the Straits, and a subscription list was sent
round Singapore, Penang, and Malacca, but it all came to nothing. In
1828, Mr. \Vaghorn, who was the originator of the Overland Route,
went to Calcutta from England and endeavoured to establish steam
communication between England and India in seventy-two days via
Cairo. The vessels were to carry letters and packages only, but no
passengers, because he said they would incommode the seamen and
retard the vessel's speed. The Siwjapore Chronicle was of opinion that
it might prove not only agreeable but useful to have a steam-vessel in
the Straits, but was of opinion that it would never pay, as the popula-
tion of the Straits was too limited to support such a \essel.

The Malacca Observer and the Siiifjapore Chronicle had an editorial
combat over the question. The 'Observer asserted that a steamer might
have the marvellous effect of increasing or doubling the commerce,
which the Chronicle considered ridiculous. The Observer retaliated by
saying that in 1770 it took more than a fortnight to go from London
to Edinburgh by land, and that the proprietors of the waggon had to
advertise some days before starting in order to obtain passengers ; and
that now (in 1828) not less than 2,000 coaches ran daily to London
from all parts of the kingdom ; and that tug-boats had been established
on the Clyde, and that the increase of commerce in Glasgow was
owing to their assistance ; and communication might be made, in time,
between England and the Straits in eighty days ; besides which
Singapore and Malacca could do a large business in the superabund-
ance and cheapness of firewood. But the Chronicle said that steamers
would lead to the resort of penned-np, bilious individuals to Singapore*.

The Chronicle mentions that the Censor had struck out some
paragraphs from the Penang Register of the 17th September, and the
editor had printed them on a separate slip and sent it out with the

1828 205

paper: which the Chronicle called a very bold step, as it certainly was;
"what the consequences were does not appear.

The population in this year was 15,83"l', exclusive of floating popu-
lation, military and convicts.

On 17th June Mr. Mnrchison reported the great want of an in-
terpreter in French, Spanish, and Portuguese, as so many foreign ships
were constantly coming to Singapore. He said that Doctord Almeida
was willing to accept the office for $100 a month.

In the same month the Governor wrote to China about interpret-
ers, and the matter was referred to the Rev. Dr. Morrison there, who
reported that he was not able to get trustworthy men, and if they
could be got, three or four dialects would be required, and the
Chinese could not speak English. He referred to the Anglo-Chinese
College at Malacca which had been founded ten years before ; the
small result of which (Mr. Brad dell remarks) must have been mortifying
to the Doctor.

On the 3rd September Mr. Murchison pressed the adoption of
the plan of gunboats with native rig being adopted against pirates, as
previously contemplated; he did not recommend steamers as they
were always out of order, and if engineers were shot they could not
be replaced.

Governor Fullertou at this time proposed making Malacca the
capital of the Straits Settlements. He said that it had been the
ancient seat of European Government for more than 200 years, was
a more healthy climate, more centrally situated, within two days sail
of Singapore and Penang, had more resources for supplies to troops,
and although the forts had been destroyed it was a more central
station and depot for whatever force might be collected together for
the defence of the whole. Being on the continent it commanded an interior,
and owing to the shoal .water no ship could approach near enough
to bring its guns to bear on the shore, it had an indigenous and
attached population which the other two stations did not possess,
and in a political point of view it was conveniently situated for
maintaining such influence over all the Malay States as would prevent
their falling under Siamese dominion, and was near enough to the
south end of the Straits to watch the proceedings of the Dutch
[the two Straits bugbears of those days]. It was said in 1848 by
Mr. Blundell, afterwards Governor, that it could not be denied that
there was force in the arguments, but that it had become so much
the habit to decry Malacca and to pity the state into which it
was supposed to have fallen, that the argument would at that time
only excite a smile of ridicule, but that the policy of withdrawal
from all interference with the neighbouring Malay States was extremely
doubtful. A remark which the experience of the present time shows
to have been very true.

1829.

In March, 1829, Lord William Bentinck, the Governor-General,
came to the Straits. He landed at Malacca in the H. E. I. C. Steam-
vessel Enter jyrize, on the 10th March, and left for Singapore the
same evening. He came here to remodel the Government and reduce the

20G AriHCflotal History of Singapore

alleged overgrown civil and military establishments. He went into such
sweeping measures that he proposed to abolish the Governor, but
it was found that it was necessary for the chief authority to have
that title, as the King's Charter of 1807 was so worded that the
Court of Judicature in the Straits could not be held without it.

Mr. FuUerton returned to Europe, and was succeeded by Mr. Ibbetson,
who resided at Penang, and was an energetic Governor. The salary
for the Governor was Sb. 36,000 a year, (about $16,400), and of
the Recorder (Judge) 37,893 sicca rupees, or about 40,419 rupees.
These two salaries were contributed in equal shares by the three
Settlements.

Mr. Murchison, the Resident Councillor, went to Batavia in
anticipation of leave on the 21st April for four or five months, to
reside in the interior of Java. He returned in September, Mr.
Presgrave acting during his absence. On the 30th April the flagstaff
on Goa Island was withdrawn. On the 30th June the establishment for
the Botanical Gardens was discontinued and ten convicts were put
on to keep the grounds in order. The reason for this is not to be
found ; it was probably part of the economical retrenchment mania
that is mentioned elsewhere.

In June we find an account of a piracy, which is only one of a
number that were continually occurring. A man was brought up at the
Police Court charged with having been the commander of one of five
prahus which had attacked a boat bound from Lingga to Singapore, the
throats of twelv^e people on board being cut to prevent anything being
known of it. But there was a young boy on board, whom they sold
as a slave, for the sake of the money, and he recognised the prisoner
five months afterwards. His story was corroborated by one of the
pirate's crew, also a boy, who turned evidence against his master.

On the 1st September the government allowance of $50 a month
to the Singapore Chronicle newspaper was withdrawn. On the 4th
September the Rev. Mr. Thomson reported that there was a Cantonese
school at Kampong Glam of twelve boys. Another at Pekin Street
of eight boys. A Hokien school at Pekin Street of twenty-two boys,
and an English school of 48 boys. The cost of three native masters
was $26, of one English master $60, and rent $100. The English
scholars paid $15, natives $4, and for extra subjects $10. There was
a wooden bridge across the river at this time, near where Elgin
Bridge is now. It was always being patched up, and was described
as having a brokenbacked appearance, with a curious variety of
undulations.

On the 1st of October, 1829, a meeting was held at the house
of Mr. E. Boustead, at seven o'clock in the evening, to consider the
desirability of establishing a Billiard Club. This was the beginning of
Singapore Clubs. Six persons attended, Mr. John Ellis, of A. L.
Johnston & Co., was made Secretary, and a number of rules were
passed. The admission fee was §50, and the subscription $4. No
smoking was allowed in the Billiard Room, which was to be opened
every day except Sunday, from six in the morning till ten at night.
Any member not attending at a meeting was liable to be fined $2,
and any one who was absent three consecutive times without giving

1829 207

an explanation was to cease to be a member of the Club. Soon
after it started, Mr. W. Merryweather, of Syme & Co., having been
absent three times, was turned out; but he was re-admitted at the
next meeting, so it had not much effect, as is generally the case
with such rules. At the close of the year Mr. W. R. George was
elected Secretary, and the subscription was raised to $6, and Mr.
George Armstrong was appointed Treasurer. Soon after this Mr. George
was fined for being absent, and in the minute book he has entered
the remark : " I protest against the resolution condemning me to pay a
fine for non-attendance, upon the plea that the members of the Club
present did not consider sickness a sufficient excuse. Perhaps at the
next meeting some member will produce his diploma, otherwise I must
be permitted to doubt the medical knowledge of the Club in toto."
The minute book, which is in Mr. George's writing, ceases in October,
1830, and what became of the Club afterwards is not known. The last
minute approves of the purchase of one dozen tumblers and two
water-goblets for the use of the members. The book has written on
the cover "Journal of the Singapore Billiard Club.''

Mr George lived in Singapore until his death in 1873. He retired
from business during the later years of his life, but before that had
been book-keeper in Wm. Spottiswoode & Co., for many years. He is
the gentleman spoken of in Mr. Cameron's book at page 292 as "going
out for a walk every morning at five o'clock and coming back to his
tea at half-past six, which he had done during forty years of residence
(in 1863) and had reaped his reward in still robust health, strong nerve,
clear head, and a yet lively enjoyment of the good things of life."
These morning walks were thought in the young days of Singapore to
be a necessity for a healthy life, but there were then some who laughed
at the Imbit, and experience has seemed to agree with them. Active
exercise in the afternoon, at cricket, lawn-tennis, football and golf, has,
probably, been found equally useful. There was a very oft-told story
of Mr. Georg^e, which perhaps shows that it is more convenient. He
was living during the latter years of his life at a boarding-house, the
only one then in Singapore, kept by Mrs. Nugent in River Valley Road,
and always started out for his walk directly he heard the five o'clock
gun. He did so one morning and walked along Bukit Timah Road as
usual. The sun did not get up as it usually did when he had walked
about two miles, and he walked on until he thought something must
have happened to the sun, and gave it up as a bad job and turned
back. When he reached home he found it was half-past three. A gun
had been fired off near the house in the middle of the night, and
he had mistaken it for the five o'clock gun. His son Mr. John
Chadwick Farquhar George, since dead, was for many years in the
old Oriental Bank as Manager in Singapore and Ceylon.

Mr. Boustead's firm at this time was Boustead, Schwabe & Co.,
which was established first, as far as is known now, as Boustead & Co.,
about 1827, and became Boustead, Schwabe & Co., on 1st January
1834. Mr. Boustead had been to China, and returned and established
himself here. Mr. Boustead came to Singapore as the Manager of
a new firm of Robert Wise & Co., and occupied the godown and
house on the river next that which was then occupied by Mr. Johnston

208 Anecdotal History of Singapore

and A. L. Jobnstou & Co., through to Battery Road, and lived there
until he started on his own account as Boustead & Co., and moved
to near Elgin Bridge in what was called the seven-and-twenty pillar
house. Mr. Sykes then managed Kobert Wise & Co. for a few years,
when the firm whs closed in Singapore about 18t57 or 1838, both Mr.
Sykes and Mr. Wise joining Mr. Boustead. Mr. Boustead was editor
of the Singapore Chronicle for some years, and when Mr. Carnegy
(who came from Peiiang,) and Mr. W. S. Lorrain bought that paper,
then Mr. Boustead, Mr. Coleman and Mr. William Napier started the
Singapore Free Press in 1835, as is mentioned further on under that year.

In 1846 there were four partners in Boustead, Schwabe & Co., Mr.
Edward Boustead in China, Benjamin Butler in Manila, Gustav Chris-
tian Schwate in Liverpool, and Adam Sykes in Singapore. Mr. Joseph
Wise, Robert Duff and Abraham A. De Wind were then clerks. In
1848 Mr. Schwabe left the firm, he died in Liverpool at a great age
about 1896. The firm was then styled Boustead & Co., in I8i9, and
for three years Mr. Bon stead was the sole partner. In 1850 he went
home at the time of the Great Exhibition in London and never returned
to Singapore. He died in London on 29th February, 1888, and the
Boustead Institute was built from a charitable legacy under his will,
and also £1,00) was given towards building St Andrew's House in
Armenian Street. In 1852 Joseph Wise and William Wardrop Shaw,
who had been clerks in the house for several years became partners
with Mr. Boustead, but Mr. Wise left in 1853 and Mr. Robert Bain
became a partner. He had been a partner in A. L. Johnston & Co.
for several years. Mr. Bain left in 1855 and some years afterwards
was a partner in Maclaine, Eraser & Co. In 1856 the firm consisted
of Mr. Boustead, W. W. Shaw, and Archibald Buchanan Brown ; Mr.
George Lipscombe, Henry Frolich and James Young were then clerks.
The firm continued so till 1867 when Mr. Brown left, and Messrs.
Lipscombe and Jasper Young became partners, and the firm then con-
sisted of Messrs. Boustead, Shaw, Lipscombe and Young, and continued
so for many years.

There was a remarkable story of piracy in this year. It may be
interesting to say that the Malay piratical prahus were from six to
eight tons burden and from sixty to seventy feet long. They carried
one or two small guns with four swivels or rantakaa on each side,
and a crew of twenty to thirty men. When they attacked ships they
put up a strong bulwark of thick planks. They had, of course, spears
and krisses and as many fire-arms as they could procure. A vessel, the
name of which is not given, but is described as Captain Gravesome's
vessel, left Penang or Malacca on a trading voyage in 1819 and was
not heard of until 1829. In 1827, Mr. John Dalton, the merchant, left
Singapore in a Bugis prahu, and was detained as a prisoner for a
considerable time by the Sultan of Koti. The remains of Captain
Gravesome's vessel were lying in the river Koti, and among the
Sultan's slaves were six persons of her crew. She had carried a
valuable cargo of opium and piece-goods, and two European passengers,
a young lady of twenty and a boy of fifteen years of age. A pirate
of Borneo advised the Captain to go to Koti, where he could get a
good market for his cargo : and offered to pilot the vessel up to Koti.

1829 209

The Captain unfortunately believed him^ and the Sultanas consent being
soon obtained on the promise of half the spoil, the pirate returned to
the ship and commenced the massacre by stabbing Captain Gravesome
in his cabin. The crew were then attacked and all murdered but six,
who leapt overboard and hid themselves in the jangle. The youiig
woman and the boy, who were severely wounded, were taken to the
Saltan, whose mother interposed on their behalf and took care of them.
The Sultan told Mr. Dalton they had died of small-pox, but others
said they had been poisoned, as the Sultan did not feel himself safe
as long as they lived. The six guns belonging to the ship were lying
in front of the Sultan's house. It would be easy to make a very long
chapter of the stories of pirates in the early days of Singapore. It
seems almost incredible now that such practices should have been so
common as to excite only a passing remark, while in these days any
similar occurence would excite universal horror, and speedy retribution.
If Mr. Dalton had not found himself in a tight corner at Koti, and got
back safely to Si»igapore in 1829, this story would, like many others,
never have been known.

1830.

At the Chinese New Year, on a Sunday in tlio beginning of
February, a great fire broke out in a blacksmith's shop in Circular
Road, burned down Philip Street and one side of Market Street, and
nearly got to Commercial Square. Tke loss was said to be $350,000.
It cleared away a lot of badly constructed houses, and led to a great
improvement in the streets. The Magistrates on the 10th February
published an advertisement tendering their warmest thanks to the
Madras Native Infantry and all those who had " come forward so
promptly and rendered efficient aid for three successive nights and
days.'* And a notice appears that "In consequence of the late
calamitous fire there has been a complete suspension of business during
the week, nearly the whole of the commercial community having been
engaged in searching almost every house in town as well as the China
junks and native boats for stolen property .'' A quantity of property
was carried out of the burning godowns and it had, of course, to be
identified by the proper owners after the fire was over. A Chinese
claimed a quantity of various boxes and bundles, which others said
belonged to them ; but the first pointed triumphantly to his chop which
he was able to point out on the packages. At last, in the height of
the discussion, a European said that he remembered seeing the same
Chinaman going about with a chop, very busy among the packages,
during the fire ; and this being corroborated by others, the man
was taken to the police station.

The fire was much extended by an explosion which was caused in
rather a curious way. A Chinaman had some barrels of gunpowder in
his shop, and not being able to carry them away he threw them down
the well, thinking very sensibly that they would be safe there« But
the fire dried up the water there was in the well, and the powder blew
up. No one was hurt at all, but pieces of the burning houses were
blown by the explosion across the road on to the houses opposite, which
were very hot and caught into a blaze immediately. There were J no

H )s

Jnid A. Fi. .Jul.
until li(» stjii-tc.
to near K\^'\u
Iiuu.se. Ml. S\
when tlu» firm
Sykes Hiid Mr
of tlic Si/nftif...
(who caiiic iV. .
tlion Mr. J^Mi-
Siufjapora Fit *

Kdwanl Hoiivi-
tian Scliwaln-
Wise, J^dii'if
1848 Mr. S.j.
about \^W).
for tliriH» yi ;.
home at t In-
to Siiivrnp"!.
BoiLstead In

and also l:.

Ariueniaii S

who had Ik

with Mr. i:

became a ]■

for several

was a pa I

of Mr. W'

Cieorge L:

Tlie firm

liipscomlii

sisted t)f

so for ni:.

iiiterosrii
ei^Jit tn:
OHO or ■
and a vv
put up :
and kri-
name <
vessel,
not he; I
Singaj..
eoiisidf
Gravi*->
Sultan'
valu.'ii-
a voir
of*J$i.

((ood

Mr.
Sir.

• • -'IS by buckets carried

: ::ie ba<*k of Market

- r.iit-e Wrm covered with

-. • . f*: of opium was ca»iied

"ifj, the owner, a Jt-w,

f :j the Chinese liouses

: : :l:o eveniuif, owini^ to

,: 5 . There wa3 a Ciiinese

:-: Tit the time tlie alarm

■ >I:irket Street next the

.. :: :he other side were all

•'••3clain:ition .setting forth

1 !:ail lately been called to

- . i :> under the deiioriiination

y :i cover for slave-dealinuf,

-i,: :=• ^^*J»'^ illciral. It w.is said

- ;^ «. by the aid of the Chinese,

. : ler the name of slave-debtors,

--.•-r.iTof tlietn to the Chinese,

.. .-:'! the alleired debts, and

i considerable number being

H jr. S. Soiithampfo7i and the
. ^ ^ in the Straiis of Malacca for
. .-': piratical prahus, about thirty

:r?-

"'. ." wore the Artilleiy barracks.

-. vo'^'5 ^^ ordnance, called Fort

; ■rain Begbie, s]>e:ikini,^ of about

; were some jjfood shops at this

-.vibcil Bo:il Quav as havintr a

\:i..irant! But Mr. Jamc^ (uitlirie

. .. ..iU shop then, which was kept

.-• end of Market Street, near the

. w ^- downs and was retnoved to the

" '•• Mr. Duncan's diarv in 1824 he

"-5.::^ buy some cuny-dishes and was

^;. .ii<posed of Jiei^bie speaks also

.;. which was the connnencemcnt ot

S'VS that Singapore had a Chaplain,

_-: worship bein^r tho Mission Chapel,

x'.iTipany had liberally contributed.

-jtv^ng & Co. was commenced in 1S22,

-*f have done) a mercantile hous*». At

■ 5 a partner, but from about 1847 the

-rd Annstron^*s widow and one or both

Ka'leigh were the p:iriners, but latterly

; William Armstroiij^ alone for about six

Farlcijrh Armstrong was afterwards a

George Arnistrcng v/as an assistant in

18^0 2|li

Syijxe & Co., from 185(5 to 18(52^ and was a member of the tii*8t Singapore
Volunteer Corps. He was very tall and a remarkable athlete. He
died at Manila on 13th November, 1901, where he had lived for
many years and had been secretary of the Manila Club.

212

CHAPTER . XVIII

1831.

IN January^ 1831, substantial and uniform houses and shops had been
erected where tlie fire had occurred ; and George Armstrong & Co.
opened an Exchange Room, Reading and News Room, and Circulating
Library on the 1st of January; a prospectus was issued, but no copy
of it is now to be had. It was intended principally, apparently, for
the use of Cwp tains and Supercargoes of vessels.

The public complained that, although the town had been much
improved by the new buildings, the Government did nothing to assist,
and that Circular Road, which was then the most public thoroughfare,
was in a shameful and dangerous state, and that South Bridge Road
was overflowed knee-deep at high tides. When the road and wharf
between Circular Road and the Canal were made, the lots were sold at
prices that left a handsome surplus after paying expenses, although the
purchasers were aware of the extraordinary outlay that would be
required to build houses on a marsh which was overflowed in many
places to a depth of seven feet. At Kampong Glam two hundred
convicts in eight months, with an outlay of $500 for covered gutters,
drained twenty-eight acres marsh land and intersected it with roads.
It was sold at good prices, and in January one-fifth of it was covered
with good upper-roomed houses, which were let readily. The writer of
the letter from which these particulars are taken said that Government
sliould have spent the money raised by the sale of the land in essenti-
ally benefiting the town, and especially in building a good substantial
bridge, which he said would be the i^reatest boon that could be confeiTed
upon it.

Ou a Sunday night in January, some thieves took off part of the
roof of Guthrie & Chirk's godown, and stole a quantity of piece-goods.

On the 7th January Doctor Alexander Martin died. He had come
to the Settlement with Raflles. The notice of his death, which occurred
in Singapore, describes him as Sury:eon and Senior Sworn Clerk of the
Court of Judicature; which sounds a curious combination in these days.
He was succeeded by his brother Dr. M. J. Martin, who returned home
in 1836, and was succeeded by his nephew Dr. Robert Little who
retired in 1892 and died at Blackheath on 11th June, 1888.

There were between 400 and oOO acres of land under rice cultiva-
tion at this time, and it was proposed to have roads made by the
convicts from Kampong Glam across the Kallang and Gaylang rivers
(the two bridges bv^ing estimated to cost $500 each) so as to increase
the cultivation. The roads are now main roads, with very substantial
stone and iron bridges, but rice planting is a thing of the past.
Mr. Fullerton had put on a tax or quit rent of one dollar per acre per
month, which the Chronicle said completely prohibited the coolies who

1831 21S

came from China takipg up any agricultural employment^ as they found
it impossible to make the jungle produce sufficient to meet such a
heavy impost^ and the gardens which had been prospering were
neglected.

The place was in a very lawless state at this time, several murders
being reported in one week, and no proper measures being available to
trace the criminals or to secure life and property in the out-lying parts
of the town. Very little was known of Singapore beyond the hills
behind the town ; the rest of the island was covered with jungle with
a few isolated reclaimed spots. Wliile a gang of Chinese convicts were
working on a road, a number of Chinese ran out of the jungle and
rescued ten of the convicts by carrying them off and knocking off their
irons. The whole police force, eighteen strong, was mustered and re«
covered five of the convicts. It was said at the time that a Secret
Society exceeding one thousand men, was established in the jungle, and
that they had actually an armed fort there. There is a note of Mr.
BraddelFs that in July, 1830, there was activity in the Resident Coun-
cHlor s office on the subject of Chinese Hoeys, or Secret Societies, and
that a letter was written with a list of questions to the Supenntendent
of Police. This seems to have been the first mention of the Secret
Societies in Singapore.

In April, on a Sunday morning at two o'clock, a remarkable
robbery, or rather burglary, was perpetrated at the Singapore Institu-
tion. The Raffles Institution was then in an unfinished and decaying
state, and was repaired a few years afterwards, with money that
had been subscribed towards a statue for Sir Stamford Raffles. The
Rev. Mr. Milton with his wife and family were occupying the only
habitable room in the building. The following account was in the
newspaper : — •' The thieves, to the number of between 20 and 30,
came, as usual, armed with spears and axes, and hati their faces
blackened ; we believe some of them carried torches. Finding Mr.
Milton resolutely bent on not opening the door of the room, at their
summons, they broke it open with an axe, but were unable to
effect an entrance, as he had posted himself near the door behind
a chest of drawers, and prevented them from coming in wiih a
long pole (such as is generally used in carrying water) with which
he dealt not a few severe and well-directed blows amongst them.
His only servant, a Chinese cook, who usually slept at the door
inside the room, had posted himself at the other side, and assisted
materially in repelling the gang with an iron spit, but on his re-
ceiving a cut on the forehead from a spear, he retreated. The
thieves at length, betook themselves to throwing fragments of broken
pavement found outside the door, and compelled Mr. Milton also to
retreat. They then came in, and commenced smashing the chest of
drawers and other pieces of furniture in search of money ; but their
principal object of search was an iron chest which lay at
the farthest end of the room, and which it is thought had
been seen by one of them previous to the attack, and he conjee-
taxing, though very erroneously, that there was money in it, had
concerted with others to rid Mr. Milton of it and its supposed
eonients.'

244

Anecdotal History of Singapore

"The gang had just packed up some articles of clothing, and
were carrying away the iron chest, when Mr. R. Winorrpve, the
Assistant Resident, who was living in a bungalow close to the Insti-
tution, having heard the noise, crossed Brass Bassa Road, and came
promptly with his servants and one or two peons, 'i'he thieves on
perceiving him dropped their burdens and betook themselves to flight,
but they did not escape before Mr. Wingrove had fired a shot amongst
them, which from their proximity must have done somo execution ; one
of them, however, in retreating, made a thrust at Mr. Wingrove with
a spear, which might have injured him seriously had not the blow been
warded off by one of his servants. Another servant, with a bludgeon,
knocked one of the thieves off his legs, but before a seizure could be
made, a number of his companions ran up and carried him away.
From the quantity of blood found sprinkled about the hall and in the
room, it is pretty evident that Mr. Milton had done considerable damage
to the thieves; he himself received but a slight injury on the hand
from a stone. Mrs. Milton, who was of course much alarmed «nd had
•hidden herself with her two children, received also some slight injuiry
from a similar missile. To behold the disordered state in which the
dastardly ruffians left the room was truly pitiable for the unfortunate
family. Most of the panes in two bookcnses were broken ; the table,
chest of drawers, and other articles of furniture were broken to pieces,
"while books, glasses, and stones lay scattered about the room."

Shortly after the burglary at the Institution the night watch
was started again. There had been some misunderstanding about it
between the Government and the Merchants, and it had been abolished.
The Magistrates in Quarter Sessions had levied an assessment of five
per cent, to keep it up, for the sweeping reforms that had been
made in the Government had abolished the Court, and some of the
merchants agreed to carry on the subscription voluntarily. A meeting
was called, but owing to some misunderstaiiding it fell through.

The Reverend Samuel Milton was one of the first Missionaries sent
out by the London Missionary Society to the Straits and China. The
following is a list of the first sixteen who were sent out, in the order
of their appointment. It has been found in a long list of Missionaries
-mcluding 65 names, which appeared in the Free Press on 13th March, 1845

- .. Name.

Entebed.

KBTIBliD.

Died.

Station.

■Rpbei't Morrison, d.d.

1807

1834

Canton

William Miliie, d.d.

1813

1831

Malacca

W. H Medhurst, p.d.

1817

Shanghai

■John Slater

1817

1823

—

Batavia

•John] Nice

1818

1825

Penang

Samuel Miltoii

1818

1825

—

Singapore

Robert Fleming

1820

1823

—

Malacca

James Humphrej>

1822

1830

do.

David Collie

1822

1828

do.

Samuel Kidd

1824

1832

_ —

do.

John Smith

1826

1829

—

do.

Jacob Tomlin

1826

1836

—

Singapore

Samuel Dver

1827

—

1848

Penang

Entbbed.

Betibed.

Died.

Station.

1833

1841

Malacca

1835

—

1837

Singapore

1X37

—

do.

n Missionaries sent

WWTa m

to the

Straits^ appears

W8 r^—
]8:«

..^

Singapore

1837

1840

—

do.

1837

18:^8

— .

do.

18:^8

— .

do.

1838

1841

—

do.

1838

m.mmm

do.

1881 2I5

Name.
John Evans
Samuel Wolfe
Alex. Stronach

The list of Ameri<
in the same list as follows ; —
Ira 'IVacy
J. T Dickenson
M. B. Hope^ M D.
GeiJrjre W. Wood
Robert W. On-
John A Mitchell

The Reverend Samuel Milton died in Sinjrapore on 5th September,
I'^'^S. His widow lived in the place till an old age, and also died
here.

At this time there were two signal fla^-staffs. one on Government
Hill as at present, and the other on St. John's Island. There was no
town clock, and a proposal to have one ended in nothing. In 18*{<> ten
janks had arrived in iSinerapore from China. In 1831 eighteen came,
of which two had sailed from Seang Hai, which was de.<!cribed as being
near Ningpo. It is better known now as Slia»»ghai. They were of ^^00
and l7o tonn respectively. The whole IS junks were 3,713 tons, and
the value of their cargoes was $200,*JOO.

In May Mr. Hallpike started a boarding house in High Street.
Mr. Stephen Hallpike had l>ouu:hri about half of the land belonging to
Morgan & Co.'s estate, extendin^r from the corner of High Street near
the I'ourt House to the bridge on the river side. The other half was
bought by Kirn Swee, and has been owned until now by the Eu Chin
family^ Mr. Hallpike continued his business, while his wife conducted
the boarding house. He had a blacksmith^s shop and shipyard at the
back, and repaired carriages by which he niade a good deal of money.
He died at Singapore on tlie 27tli June, 1844. at 61 y^ars of age,
and his widow married Mr. J. B. Gordon (who had been Hallpike's partner)
in Xiondon in 1846.

In February an American vessel was loading pepper in Sumatra,
and the master and four of his crew were on shore when she was
attacked by Malayn, all the officers and crew murdered, the vessel
plundered, and seven or eight thousand dollars carried off. The Captain
got assistance from some other American vessels and remained in the
vessel. An American friufate went a year afterwards and burnt the
houses. killiuiT two hundred of the inhal»ita!its. Pirate nrahus in fleets
of as many as twenty-two boats^ were known to be not many miles from
the outer harbour of Singapore.

On the 8th June Chont^ Long, one of the principal Chinese
merchants of Singapore, gave a great dinner on his 44th birthday, which
all the influential residents attended. There were a number of toasts,
as usual in those days, including the health of Mr. Ibbetson the Resident,
and the memory of Sir Stiiinford Raffles. It reads rather funnily now,
that Chong Long tnade a speech at a late period of the evenil^g proposing
the health of the Duko of Wellington. Chong Long- was the son of the
Captain China of Malacca when it was under the Dutch. He lived in the

216 Anecdotal History of Singapore

Square and sometimes gave eutertainments in European style to the British
inhabitants, and was a very intelligent and wealthy man. He went to
China in 1838, and was murdered in a house in Macao by some ruffians
who broke into it at night, in the middle of December Mr. William
Spottiswoode was his Executor. The Malacca-born Chinese, such as
Ohong Long, held more direct intercourse with Europeans than the
other Chinese. Many were born of Malay mothers, but as they wore
the dress of their fathers they were scarcely to be distinguished from
the actual natives of China, and although less active and energetic
than the latter, they were more enlightened and made better merchants.
They acquired in some degree the general habits of Europeans and their
mode of transacting business, which made thetn more agreeable to the
latter. Many were independent merchants, and others were cashiers and
under-clerks in European godowns. Ohong Long was the most
intelligent and perhaps the most wealthy of this class.

There was another Chinaman, said to be a wealthier man, whose
name was Che Sang. He kept his money, as every one else did in
those days, in iron chests, for there were no banks, and he always
slept among them. He was said to be a great miser, but addicted to
gambling; in fact it is said in Mr. Earl's book that he had acquired a
considerable part of his fortune by it. One day he lost a considerable
sum, which put him out terribly, so he cut off the first joint of one of his
little fingers with an oath not to play anymore, but the remedy was
not effectual, for ho returned to it again.

There was a long account of the funeral of Che Sang, written by
a missionary, in the Friend of India, of Calcutta, on 17th May, 1836.
He was described as a miser, 73 years of age. He was born at Canton,
and had gone to Rhio as a boy of fifteen, then to Penang where he
was for ten years, then to Malacca for some years, and then to
Singapore. He died there on 2nd April, and was buried on the 13th,
the funeral going about through the commercial part of the town on
tlie way to the Hokien burial ground, attended by ten to fifteen
thousand persons. Clie Sang used to boast that he had so much influence
over the Chinese that any day he said the word, he could empty
the place of all the Europeans — but he never tried.

Both Chong Long and Che San built houses at Campong Glam,
but neither of them were ever occupied. The first was purchased and
rebuilt by Mr. Carnie, and the latter by Mr. Ker. Mr. Carnie's was
purchased and occupied by Mr James Eraser of Maclaine, Eraser & Co.,
in 1840, and Mr Ker's by Mr Christian Baumorarten.

The first public entertainment in Singapore was given in this
year by Signer Masoni, a violinist; and in June, the Officers of the
29th Madras Native Infantry, who had just come, allowed their band
to play once a week on the plain, which is now called the Esplanade.
As long as the Native Regiments were stationed here, the band used to
play, latterly twice a week ; the chains were taken down opposite Coleman
Street and the carriages were driven in, and stood in a circle round the band-
stand. Theatricals were proposed as an additional amusement, which led
to much correspondence in the Chronicle, One writer, who objected to
theatrical performances as tom-fooleries which no rational man would
waste hig time in, proposed that a fives court should be built instead.

188r 217

In August the newspapers first mentioned the dispnte with the
Punpralii of Naning at Malacca, which led to the so-called Naning
War, and as it attracted a very great deal of attention in Singapore,
it is mentioned here. The English took possession of ' Malacca from
the Dutch, and with it of Naiiin*^ upon the terms on which the Dutch
had held possession of it, one of the stipulations being for the payment of
a certain duty. By a treaty made by Colonel Taylor, the British Resident
at Malacca, with Pungulu DhoU Syed and the chiefs of Naning, dated
16th July, 1801, it was agreed that the Pungulu should come yearly in
person, or send one of his chiefs, to Malacca to pay homage to the
Company, and, as a token of submission, to present one-half coyan of the
first fruits of the crop of paddy (400 gantangs). These were then
worth about $12. There was a dispute at this time also about the
Pungulu having forcibly seized a piece of land within the Malacca
boundary which belonged to one Inche Sarin. The two things together
led to the quarrel, but in a paper by Colonel Low, and in another by
Mr. Blundell, written in 1848 and 1850, they each ascribe the cause to
the non-payment of the ridiculously petty claim for the pad<ly ; Colonel
Low remarking that the cost of the war was somewhat about twenty
lacs of rupees and that it ended in pensioning the rebel chief on a
hundred rupees a month, a larger sum of money than the man had
ever before possessed at one time. Mr. Blundell had a note that
the original estimate of proposed cost of the expedition was
$1,929 41; and the actual expense from August, 1831, to April, 1833,
was Rupees 89,301.6.7 for local charges alone.

On the 6th August, 1831, the first oxpoditiou started from the
town of Malacca under the command of Captain Wyllie, Madras
Native Infantry. His subalterns were Lieutenant Milnes, Lieutenant
Begbie who commanded the artillery, Ensign Short, and Assistant-
Surgeon Smith. Mr. W. T. Lewis, Assistant Resident of Malacca
went as Commissioner. A detailed account of the expedition was
written by Begbie and published in a pamphlet at the Malacca
Mission Press in the same year, which was much laughed at by the
Madras newspapers. The chief of Rambau joined the Pungulu of
Naning and the expedition met with so much unexpected opposition
that it returned to Malacca, leaving the heavy luggage and two guns
behind them, and throwing Malacca into a tremendous state of alarm
as they thought they were left at the mercy of the Malays, whom,
apparently, they thought a much more courageous people than they
were.

Early in January, 1832, a force of Madras troops was sent to
Malacca, under Lieutenant Colonel Herbert, consisting of a regiment of
native infantry, a company of rifles, two companies of sappers and
miners, and some Europeans and native artillery. They got on very
slowly, as they proceeded to cut what they called a military road,
eighty yards wide, up the country by felling the trees, and at last
accomplished what (it was afterwards said) a hundred of Rajah
Brooke's Dyaks from Borneo would have settled in a week. Lieute-
nant Harding and Ensign Walker of the Madras Native Infantry
were killed and two of the Ensigns were wounded. Mr. Begbie in bis
book, page 284, says, " A handsome monument designed by Lieutenant

2J5^ Anecdotal Eistory of Singapore

Symfche of the Ehsrineers, was erected to the memory and over the
remains of Mr. Walker by his brother officers of the 5th. Visitors to
Malacca often pass the tombs on their way up country. 'J^he troops
were. ten weeks goinir only twelve miles, not including a stoppage of
about a month on the way at Alor Gaja.

The Pungulu ran away; but soon afterwards Mr. J. R. Westerhout
of Malacca was sent np. He was, Mr. Newbold says, eminently qualified
by his perfect knowledge of the Malay character, an 1 hU influence
with the principal persons of the neigh bouriiiif independent states,
to end the dispute satisfactorily. The result was which might have
been arrived at in the first instance, and the 51^12 realized for the
Malacca Treasury) that the ex- Pungulu came down to .Malacca on
the 5th February, 1834, and lived in great comfort in Malacca on the
Government allowance, where his house was the daily resort of health-
seeking followers of Mohamed, as he set iu> as an unqualified medical
practioner and was believed to have a miraculous power in the cure of
diseases. This man, Pungulu Dholl Syed, died at Malacca in August,
18.49, and was buried at Tabu in Naning.

It was the Naning expedition that led to Admiral Keppel coming to
the Straits for the first time. He had joined the Magicienne 24 guns,
as a young lieutenant, at Woolwich, and on reaching Madras sailed for
Mala(!ca in May, as the news had reached Madras of the need for
reinforcements at Naning. They anchored off Malac(*a on 6th June, and
Keppel was sent in charge of a small force to blockade the Lingy river.
It is mentioned in Begbie's book, and he says that while the boats
were blockading the mouth of the Lingy, arms, ammunition and pro-
vision^ were passed round another way and conveyed into the
interior with as little difficulty as if no blockade had existed. In
Admiral KeppeVs book, published in 1899, is an account of his
doings, and a picture of his boats firing a salute opposite the house
of the Raja iu the Muar river up country. He was away on this
duty from 10th June to 23rd August. In that book, also^ '*A
Sailor's Life under Four Sovereigns,'' at page 145, is the follow-
ing:^ — *'The Naning War was now over. I was very loth to part
with my good friend the Hajah. So persuaded was he of my
merits, that he solemnly offered me the hand of his daughter in
marriage, on condition that . I would become his heir and
succeed him on the throne of Moowar (Muar). It was np idle
jest. He wrote officially to the Powers at Penang, and for some
years the document was to be seen in the Government offices. I
have endeavoured to obtain a copy of this flattering proposal ; but
the lapse of time, the changes of administration in the affairs of
the Straits Settlements, to say nothing of the ravages of white ants,
preclude my presenting it to my readers."

The compiler of this book tried, in common with others, in
1888, to find any trace of the paper or the facts, but, as the
Admiral says, it was hopeless after so many years to expect it. One
cannot help wondering what the result would have been if he
had accepted his offer, which was of course quite impracticable,
but it wa^. except for the. daughter, exactly what . afterwards, look
place with Rajah Brooke, who took up the Government of Sarawak

Almiial of thk Fleet, Sik Hrnrv Kkpfkl, i

Fram a ftalOfrafM laiin in igoo.

To Saa jxvt aiB.

1S81 «fi

at the request of the Rajah and his people there, and led to the
great good that resulted from it. It is known in Singapore how annoyed
Sir Henry Keppel was when Governor Sir Harry Ord, about the
year 1868, on some British merchants applying to him about the dis*
turbances in Selancror, which seriously affected the trade of Sinpnpore,
told them that if the British merchant chose to trade in the
Peninsula^ it was his own business, and he must expect no assistance
from Government ; and how Sir Henry Keppel, who was then Admiral
on the station, offered to give all the help the Navy could properly
^ive. And if there had been such a Rajah Brooke of Sarawak, as Lieut.
Keppel would have proved himself in Muar in 1837, the Native
States might have been opened up forty years before they were. 'J'he
Magacienne arrived at Singapore on the 5th September, which was
the first time Admiral Keppel landed there, and went on to Hatavia
at the end of the month, Mr. Bcmham being a guest of the Captain,
as far as that place, and the ship then returned to the Indian Station.
Admiral Keppel tells us in his book that Mr. Bonham could not
do without his smoke, and the Captain of the Magirienne objected
to the smell, and smoking was not. allowed. So Lieutenant Keppel,
when oflScer of the watch, grave orders to close the Captain^s sky-
light as he thought a squall was coming on, and after Mr. Bonham
had his smoke the squall had passed over, and the skylight was
opened again. The ship returned to Singapore for three weeks in
April, 1832, and on reaching Madras at the end of May, Lieutenant
the Hon. Henry Keppel heard he had been promoted to Com-
mander on 30th January.

The first mention of tijrers is in tlie Chronicle of the 8th September,
when a Chinaman was killed by one near the road leading to New Harbour,
not far from the Sepoy Lines. And shortly afterwards a native was
killed in another direction, probably by the same animal. A few
months later (in November) Mr. & Mrs. Armstrong, while taking a
drive on the road leading towards New Harbour, observed a tiger crossin*^
the way, at a short distance in front of them. It is stated in Mr.
Cameron^s book that no tiger was known in the island until 18f:^5, when
one was seen by Mr. Coleman when he was surveying about four miles
from town in the jungle. The tiger had jumped into the middle of
the party and landed on the theodolite, and as soon as Mr. Coleman
came into town, the people went out at once to seethe place, and the
marks of the tiger and the broken theodolite. But Mr. Cameron was
mistaken, as the newspaper of 18-31 contains the account of the cases
that have just been mentioned.

These seem to have been exceptional cases, because it was usual
to say in Singapore that no tigers were known on the island before 1 835.
Dr. Oxley in a paper on the zoology of Singapore, written in 1849, said
that not many years before, the existence of a tiger on the island was
firmly disbelieved. It must be remembered that in 1831 the island was
thick jungle except near the town, and there were, and are to this
day, so many deer and pig that the tigers were not likely to. venture
hear human ' babitatidiis. There" is no reascJri tsrhatever to think that
they wereattracted by human beings ; and-d^s little reason to think that
they had not always been on the islands* swimming across the narrow

220 Anecdotal History of Singapore

Straits from Joborein search of the pig and deer, as there is no doubt
they do to this day. In the Straits there are islands dotted about^ and
it is no long swim to cross over^ with an island as a resting place on
the way. In some notes on Penang and Province Wellesley, written by
Mr. J. D. Vaughan in 1857, ho said that tigers were known to swim
across to Penang from Province Wellesley, an<l the distance there is
very much greater than the narrow Strait between Singapore and the
mainland of Asia. The Penang newspaper of 18th June, 1859, said
that one or two more tigers had obtained a footing in Peuanjr, and
from the distance they had to swim in crossing from the mainland
they were generally pretty well tired when they landed, and had
frequently been killed whenmet with in that condition. Two at least,
however, appeared to have escaped into the jungle and unless they
were at once destroyed they would do much mischief. The passage
was copied into the Free Preifs of 30th June. If true, it is remarkable,
and puts beyond question the great ease with which tigers could cross
into Singapore island from the mainland.

It was when the gainbier and pepper plantations began to extend
beyond the town that tigers commenced to be so dangerous. The Free
Press in May, 1839, said that it had only been within the last year or
two that human life had been taken by tigers in the settlement, and
that during the week two Chinese had been carried off near town in
the neighbourhood of the new road called the l^angong Road [Seran*
gong KoadJ and that the government reward of §20 was not
sufficient, as the number of casualties within the preceding year had
been over twelve. After this the paper contained continual notes of
death from tigers, in all cases close to town, or within two miles, and
the reward was increased to n>50, the paper remarking, that " It was
singular that the settlement should have existed for about eighteen y^ars
before any occasion of death by tigers was heard of, and that fatal
accidents of the kind should happen now (1839) just as the island began
to be cleared of jungle, and roads carried into the interior in various
directions."

'J'his would rather seem to explain the matter than to occasion
surprise. The Chinese coolie working in the jungle on a gambier
plantation is just the chance a tiger will take to pounce upon him
from behind, the way in which they always attack a human being.
The truth of the statement that the loss of life through tigers on the
island reached at one period the extent of one man every day has
often been doubted; but five men in eight days, as early as 1840,
seems to show that it was not improbable. Dr. Oxley says that it
was found on careful enqniry that 3u0 human beings were killed by
tigers in 18o7, of whom only seven were reported to the police; and
in later years, abou^. 1860, over two hundred deaths were reported to
the police in one year; and as the gambier-planters only reported
those which were likely to become known to the police, it is certain
that very many more, and probably double that number, were lost.
The difficulty of obtaining coolies to work on the plantations in the
jungle, as it was then, was a strong inducement to the towkays to
keep the deaths as little known as possible, and in 1860 there were
plantations in all directions over the island, whereas in 1840 the

1881 221

country was only opened for a very few miles, except along Seran-
goon Road, where coffee and sugar were planted.

The government reward was afterwards increased to $100, and
many of the more distant gambier plantations were deserted in con-
sequence of tijorers. Pits were dug and traps set, but on two
oceadions the tigers took the men when they went to see whether
their traps were successful. Mr. Balestier, who had the suprar
plantation three miles from town on Serangoon Road, called Balestier
Plain, said that it was no uncommon thing to see t;he tracks of
tigers about his house (now Woodsville Cottage) in the morning,
and he used to point out the spot where two of his men had
been killed in 1842.

The pits were dug 14 or 15 feet deep, a lot of tree trunks were
thrown over the mouth as soon as a tiger was found inside, and he was shot
at from between them. In later years the tigers were drawn alive into tliick
rattan baskets, made like the baskets in which pigs are carried. The
basket was closed at one end only, and a strong rattan which the
tiger cannot bite through was passed throuy:h it. The basket was
then placed on the ground near the top of the pit, and a running
noose made on the end of the rattan after it had passed through the
basket. The noose was then placed over a long pole, and one end
was pushed down into the pit. Directly the tiger saw the pole it
naturally sprang up, catching it between his fore-paws and biting at
the end. The noose was then allowed to slip down the pole, and
therefore went over the tiger's head and .f()re-[.>aws, and was drawn
tight under its arms. The tiger was then hauled up by main force,
and as the rope passed through the closed end of the basket, the
tiger was dragged into the basket head first, and once inside there
was so little room to move that he was a close prisoner.

From time to time in this book some ot' the best known tiger stories
will be told in their turn, but it may be mentioned here that there
were two men who were very remarkable for their pluck in this
respect. One was a French Canadian, named Carrol, who left his
country during the disturbances in 1838. Ho used to live in the
jungle almost altogether, and he made tiger hunting a business for
the sake of the rewards, which were considerable at one time, about
1860, as the Chamber of Commerce gave a reward as well as the
Grovemment, and the body was also worth money. Carrol died in
the General Hospital. He was an elderly man ; a very fine rifle
shot, and was known because he always wore a gold ring half way
up a long greyish beard, like a necktie ring. The other man was
a Eurasian named Neil Martin Carnie, who was born in Singa[)ore.
He was of a roving frame of mind, and never settled down to a
steady life; for a time he would be the chief clerk in the Municipality,
then he would become an Inspector, and then something else, but
the moment he heard of a tiger his office saw him no more. He
used to roam about the jungle at night with a retired Sergeant-
Major of police, a Malay, who lived down at Serangoon, near the
5th mile. That man had one day shot a tiger, and he found the
r?waVd so much easier earned than his pay, that he left the police
and* started- a CBtttle farm, joined with it tiger hunting, and was very

2122 Anecdotal History of Sinyajfort

successful. Carnie was a man of great pluck, as the story of the
tiger he shot in 1864 shpws, which will be told hereafter. The
tigers are few now in Sirij?apore island, but there are always ^me
tobe. Keard. of, though difficult to. find, as Mr. G. P. Owen and
Mr. D. Maw have found,.' who have shot so many. It is well to
remark that tigrer-shooting in Singapore is a very different thing to
the sport in' India, where the sportsman is up on the back of an
elephant or high' up in a tree. Here it is a much more dangerous
and adventurous matter ; on foot, in a jungle, face-to-face at a moment's
notice with a tiger. Only, bold-spirited men have been successful in
Singapore, and there have not been many of them.

In September, a meeting of the mercantile community was held
to draw up a Petition to Parliament on the subject of the Court of
Justice, as no Court had been in operation in any of the three
Settlements for fifteen months, and the evils arising from this
circumstance had been felt to be of a very serious nature. A copy
of the Petition to the House of Commons was to be found in the
Chronicle of thd 13th October, and of that to the House of Lords
in the paper of 24th November, which gave the list of the signatures,
comprising almost every gentleman in the Settlement acquainted with
English.

In October a burglary was committed in Dr. Oxley's house, and
a convict, a servant of the Doctor, caught the man, a Malay of
Bencoolen, after the Doctor had shot at him with some small shot
just as he was getting out through the window. The burglar wounded
the convict with a kris, and he then jumped out of a window in
the Doctor's room, fifteen feet from the ground. Dr. Oxley was Gov-
ernment Surgeon, and the story was often told that on going to the
hospital the next morning, a man had to have a lot of shot picked
out of his back ; and it is said the doctor, who knew how the shot
got there, was a long time getting out the pellets.

In September, 18-31, the Privy Council (in England) held a
meeting to hear an appeal from Sir John Claridge (the Recorder)
against his removal from the ofiice of Recorder of the Straits at
the instance of the East India Company, who had made six charges of
Wrongful conduct against him, the principal one being on the ground
of his refusal to go circuit in consequence of a dispute between him
and Mr. FuUerton as to certain expenses of the Court. The result was
that Sir John Claridge was removed from the office of Recorder, but
the Privy Council said that no imputation rested on his capacity or
integrity in the exercise of his judicial functions, or to preclude him
from further employment. The effect was the re-establishment of the
Court under the old Charter, and until the arrival of the Recorder,
Sir. Benjamin Malkin, in February, 1833, Mr. Fullerton, Mr. Ibbetsou,
Mr. Bonham, Mr. Murchison and Mr. Garling, held the Courts in
the three Settlements from the 10th April.

Against this paragraph written in 1884, Mr James Guthrie wrote, the
following note: — ''The Recorder misunderstanding, I believe, is correct,
but the Court continued until Mr. Fullerton went home, when to
reduce expenditure, the Governor-General in Calcutta proposed doing awo^'
with the Governorship of the Straits, and the community were indebted

1831 . : 223

• •

to Mr. K. Murchison, then Resident Councillor in Singapore, who
agreed to take the responsibility of opening the Couit, if the
Europeans bound themselves to give their support. Mr. Ibbetson was
then Resident Councillor of Penaug, and after a time he was appointed
the Governor.

224 Anecdotal History of Singaport

CHAPTER XIX.

1832 and 1833.

1832.

IN January, John Francis, who had kept a sort of public house,
opened what he called % Hotel at the north end of the Square,
with a Billiard Room and a Refreshment Hall, as he styled it in the
advertisement. This seems to have been the first of the kind. In
1840 he opened a butcher's shop in Teluk Ayer Street.

Mr, Thomas Owen Crane and his wife were living in the upper
part of the house where the Mercantile Bank now stands, at the centre
end of the south end of the Square. The lower part was occupied by
the offices of Mr, T. 0. Crane and Dr. d'AImeida.

On the 7th May the Criminal Assizes were held by Mr. Ibbetson
and Mr. Bonham. There were in all nearly forty prisoners, including
four murder cases, and the Assizes lasted seven days. The Grand Jury
presented the state of the large bridge, a long standing grievance, and
complained of the Government neglecting to maintain it when they had
sold the land near it on the express undertaking to do so. They also
mentioned the number of Chinese beggars in the streets, and the state
of the Teluk Ayer Market, which was covered with attap, and not
kept clean, also the silting up of the mouth of the river, and lastly
the numerous burglaries that had been committed by gangs of
Chinese in bodies of fifty to one hundred men. They said that the
atrocities of the villains had increased to such an alarming extent
that if some active measures were not taken to put a stop to their
career, there was every probability of their becoming so powerful
that it would not be safe for any one to reside at a distance from
town or to settle as cultivators in the interior.

In May, the paper contained long accounts of the second
Naning Expedition, already spoken of. In June the Chinese in Singa-
pore, with the sanction, but not the aid of Government, subscribed
to fit out four large trading boats with thirty Chinese each, well
armed and carrying several guns, to go out and attack the pirate.s,
which were lurking outside the harbour. This was a grave re-
flection on the vigilance and exertion of Government, which, from
the support it derived from the Chinese trade, ought to have been fore-
most in endeavouring to protect the native ships from pirates who,
emboldened by impunity, continued to attack traders, even close to the
harbour and inside it. The Chinese boats went out, and fell in
with two pirate prahus, one large and one small, and sank one, but
the other escaped. One or two of the Chinese were killed. The
agreement the towkays made was that two hundred dollars were to
be paid for each pirate boat attacked, and two hundred dollars
given to the relations of any man who was killed.

1832 225

In July, at a General Quarter Sessions, the Magistrates levied
a rate of five per cent, on the rent of all houses in the town, for
six months, to repair and cleanse the roads, and for other purposes
mentioned in the Charter. Canton advertisements were published in
the Singapore paper at this time, and in June one is published
stating that on the 15th February, William Jai'dine and James
Matheson had established the firm of Jardine, Matheson & Co., the
former firm of Magniac & Co. having then ceased.

The Government having been shamed, apparently, by the Chinese,
had two boats built at Malacca carrying 12 pounder guns, manned by
nineteen Malays (trustworthy characters, not pirates) to act in Singa-
pore against the pirates.

In September it was suggested to make a further collection to-
wards the monument to Sir Stamford Raffles, and to erect a substantial
stone bridge to be called " Raffles Bridge." The amount of the
previous subscription was still in the hands of the Treasurers. To this
it was objected that Government were bound to build the bridge;
and towards the end of the year orders came from Bengal to do this,
but the engineer had left Singapore before the orders were received.

On the 15th September a Dutch schooner, the Reliance, blew up
in the harbour, the gunpowder kept in the vessel having exploded
in some way that was never explained. The Captain, two European
mates, and five of the native crew were killed, and the rest
seriously injured.

In November, a sampan-pukat belonging to Singapore sailed for
Pahang, having a cargo valued at $10,000 to $12,000, consisting of
opium (of which there were seven chests), raw-silk, piece-goods, rice,
tobacco and sundry other articles. This vessel had thirt3'-three
Chinese sailors on board, and carried seven lelahs or small guns.
About 10 o'clock, when ofF Pulo Tingy, she fell in with a fleet of
pirate boats 15 or 16 in number. An attack was soon made on the
pukat, when after a fight of two hours, four of the Chinese were
killed. Shortly after, by some accident, the small quantity of gun-
powder which remained in the pukat blew up and set fire to the
sails, so that the crew could not fight nor the vessel escape. The
pirates then came near, and attacked the Chinese with spears and darts,
and the latter, being overpowered by numbers, threw themselves into
the water, where most of them met their death, either by drowning,
or from the spears of the pirates.

By this time it was sun -set, and twelve of the crew, including the
nacodah or commander, having contrived to evade the pirates, con-
tinued floating on pieces of wood, during the whole night and until
early the next morning, when they were picked up by some Malay
fishermen who lived on the coast nearly opposite to where the piracy
occurred. The name of this place was stated to be Qualla Soodili.
The Chinese were well treated by the Malays, who would have brought
them round to Singapore by sea, but the pirates, having had inti-
mation that some of the survivors were there, watched for them. The
Malays, however, conducted them overland to Johore, from whence
they were passed to Singapore. The Chinese on arrival rewarded
their preservers with sixty rupees.

226: Anecdotal History of Singapore

In December a reply was received to the Petitions that had been
addressed to the two Houses of Parliament in the preceding year, and
the appointment of the now Recorder was made known.

It was about this time that an alteration in the seat of Govern-
ment took place which was transferred from Penang to Singapore, as
the most important of the three Settlements.

The following statistics are taken from Mr. EarPs book: — ^^The
amount of goods imported from Great Britain into the chief British
Settlements in India in the year 1832, was as follows: —
Bengal, Madras and Bombay ... £2,592,530

Singapore .. ' „ 340,799

Ceylon „ 47,792

^* I cannot readily obtain estimates of the trade of Penang and Malacca
for the same year, but in 1829 the former imported from Great
Britain to the amount of £16,767, and the latter to £10,166. ^'

1833.

In January the Rev. Robert Burn, the Chaplain of Singapore,
died in Dr. Oxley's house. He was said to be a man of unusual attain-
ments. Mr. G. F. Davidson says in his book : — ^' There seems to be some
fatality attaching to clergymen at Singapore, as three following incum-
bents the Revs. Burn, Darrah and White, all died young, and of the
same complaint. My own opinion is they were all too strict adherents to
teetotalism." An opinion formed sixty years ago with which he would
find many now to disagree, after a more lengthy experience of the
climate. There was still no Church in the Settlement.

In the same month a census was taken, but as it was collected
by the two constables who were attached to the Settlement and had
many other duties to do, it was not considered as very correct, as they
could not possibly make minute enquiries at every house and in every
district, especially those situated beyond the limits of the town. The
population was put down at 20,978, of whom 119 were Europeans and
Armenians. This did not include the Military or the Convicts, and
showed an increase of 1,263 over the year 1832. The population
had increased during the proceeding five years about fifty per cent.

It was about this time that two midshipmen of an English Man-
of-War, the Curacoa, had a duel on shore here, from which one of
them died a few days afterwards. The surviving principal, and both
the seconds, were committed for trial afterwards in Bombay, and ac-
quitted.

In February a proposal was made to establish a Singapore Bank,
by subscription, to consist of two thousand shares of two hundred
dollars each (a capital of $400,000) with a first call of $50 a share, in
order to make advances on property, to discount at 12 per cent., with
a commission of J to i per cent, on sums drawn out in current accounts,
to pay the expenses of the establishment. It was considered quite a new
proposition, and nothing was done in the matter. No local bank has been
started in Singapore yet, except a small business called a Bank that we
shall come to a few years later. In April the proposal had reached
Calcutta, and there was a very long article in the papers there headed

1833 227

^* Singfapore Bank," which said that it might bo useful, but not in the
way it was proposed, because a bank of deposit and loan was not
required in Singapore, as there were no capitalists for whom it
could keep accounts, no rich proprietors to offer substantial security,
and no manufacturers requiring long-winded advances. And it suggested
another expedient by which the business of local circulation could
be effected, without any bank at all, by the issue of local paper
on the part, and for the profit, of Government.

In April it was proposed to establish a Singapore Marine Insurance
Society, which came more nearly to a successful issue than the Bank
did. It was estimated that the merchants paid about sixty thousand
dollars annually for premiums of insurance to Societies of Calcutta,
and it was argued that so much money should be retained in the
place. It was suggested to commence with a first subscription of
§10,000. This came also to nothing. In 1883, fifty years later, a
local Insurance Company was started, but it no longer exists.

In May an agreement was made with Mr. Coleman to build a
pauper hospital for $11,402. It does not appear where the site was.

In October after many attempts of Mr. Bonham, Mr. George
Drumgold Coleman was finally appointed Superintendent of Public Works,
Overseer of Convict Labour and Land Surveyor. He first began the
employment of the convicts on large outside works, by reclaiming land
from the sea and marshes. Roads were first made along the sea fronts,
and North and South Bridge Roads, now the main thoroughfare through
the town from north to south, where the names meet at Elgin Bridge.
He designed the first St. Andrew^s Church. Coleman Street at the
south end of the Cathedral compound, and Coleman Bridge, were named
after him.

Mr. Coleman died in Singapore on the 27th March, 1844, and
is buried in the Old Cemetery on Fort Canning where the inscription
on his tomb is still legible. He was born at Drogheda in Ireland,
and was one of the oldest residents in Singapore at the time of his
death. The Free Press spoke of him in the following terms : —
^' Mr. Coleman, for many years, was employed under the Government
as Superintendent of Convicts and Public Works, and to his good
judgment and untiring energy we mainly owe the great extent of
good roads on this island, and to his taste and skill as an architect
we are also indebted for many of the elegant buildings, both public
and private, which adorn Singapore. In June, 1841, he embarked for
his native country, and after visiting all that is interesting in Europe,
he had but recently returned here, with a view to a permanent
residence, when he fell a prey to fever, brought on by exposure to
the sun.'' His widow married Mr. William Napier.

A number of piracies were continually reported. A large trading
schooner was attacked on her way from Malacca, and ten of her
crew killed by five pirate prahus. The pirates were said to belong
to Singapore, Padang and Lukut. The Company's gun-boat Hawk
was attacked near Penan fj^ by upwards of twenty prahus, well armed, with
guns, and she had to retreat, after expending nearly all her ammunition.
An English brig was attacked by three large prahus and the vessel
waited until they came close, and then fired a twelve-pounder at them.

228 Anecdotal History of Singapore

The pirates replied with grape shot, and a breeze springing up, the
brig was enabled to proceed, but they followed her up, jind would
have attacked her again at night, but for a schooner coming up;
the pirates then made oif. The newspaper remarked that it was
certain that many piracies, attended with horrible atrocities, occurred
in the vicinity of Singapore, of which no tidings were ever heard.

The Jail at this time was on the site of the present Central
Police Station, where the Magistrate's Court was afterwards held until
the building was pulled down in 1884 to erect the present station.
It was built, as has been said before, on a swamp, and was inundated
at every high tide, which was very prejudicial to the health of the
persons confined or supposed to be confined in it, for it was a very
insecure place ; the safe custody depending principally upon the
inability of any absconders to avoid being hunted down in the small
Settlement; in fact the Grand Jury *^ presented '' during this year
that the prisoners who liad escaped had done so because they were
permitted to go a considerable distance outside the Jail, without any
guard, to fetch water for their own use. The wall round it was
only a few feet high, and on Sundays those in Jail for debt used to
go out for a walk after stepping over the wall. The floor had sunk
at this time upwards of a foot, and was raised in 1834 when the
building was completed, but it is said that it sank much more afterwards,
and when the surrounding compound was filled up, the prisoners were
put in what had been the upper story of the building.

In March Mr. Bonham, the Resident Councillor, wrote to the
Editor of the Chronicle that the Supreme Government had, on his
recommendation, sanctioned the discontinuance of the censorship of
the Press in Singapore, so that the proof-sheet need not be sent
to him any more. The Editor wrote an article on the subject, in
which he quoted an old remark of Blackstone that to subject the
press to the restrictive power of a licenser was to make all
freedom of sentiment liable to the prejudice of one man and make
him the arbitrary judge of controverted points.

In April appeared the first notice found of stray dogs being
liable to be destroyed, in the streets, for ten days. On the 5th
of this month, Singapore was startled by a Government Notifi-
cation, sent out as a sort of Gazette Extraordinary ^ that all Dutch
vessels were to be seized in the harbour, and that His Majesty *s ships
of war were instructed to detain and bring all Dutch vessels into
port. This was in expectation of war with Holland. But a
postscript stated that the Governor-General had given orders that
it should not be carried into effect until further directions from
England, or unless the Dutch commenced measures, in these seas,
of hostilities or annoyance. In Batavia, notice was given that
Dutch vessels on the coast exposing themselves to the danger of being
captured if war should be declared with England, should proceed
immediately to Soerabaya, as a place of safety. The Dutch fleet
in Java then consisted of two frigates, one of -^2, the other of
23 guns, and two brigs, and some small gun-boats, or cutters.
The frigates were at once sent to Soerabaya to protoct the shipping.
It all came to nothing, and the embargo was taken off in the month of

1833 229

May, and did not reach Singapore until September, but one immediate
effect was the detention in Java of the Dutch rice-carrying vessels,
which caused the price of rice in Singapore to rise considerably within
a few weeks.

There were four of H. M. Ships in the harbour soon after the
notification was received from Calcutta, but only one, the Harrier, when
it arrived. The Alligator came down from Penang, the Wolf from
Madras, and the Magicienne from Calcutta. In March or April, when
the rupture with Holland was expected, a flagstaff was erected on Blakan
Mati island, in order to signal the approach of vessels. Begbie
says that the island was so called because tradition said that a Malay
had been murdered behind the hill, the words meaning literally "behind
dead," but Mr. Haughton in an interesting paper in the Journal of
the Straits Asiatic Society for 1889, No. 20, on the names of places
here, gives the meaning as " dead-back island," so called from the
sterility of the soil on the hills. There is a place with a similar name
in Batavia (2 Logan, 572). The flagstaff was removed in 1845 on account
of the unhealthiness of the site.

On the 25th April, Sir Benjamin Malkin, the new Recorder, and
Lady Malkin, with Mr. A. J. Kerr, the Registrar ob the Court of
Judicature, arrived in Singapore. The Judge was received with a
salute of 15 guns from the ship and from the fort. The Assizes were
opened in May, and lasted a week, there being twenty-four cases. The
Grand Jury made a lonc( presentment as usual, the tumble down bridge
being made a great deal of again, and the increasing bar at the
mouth of the river. It sounds curious to find that the Judge promised
the interference of the Court to have the latter removed as a nuisance.
They also referred to the very great evils of piracy, and its serious
effect upon the trade of Singapore, to which the Recorder replied
(as Sir John Claridge had done before in Malacca) that by an
unfortunate oversight in framing the Charter, the Straits Court had not
the power even to try offences of this nature, but that he was aware
of the urgency and importance of the subject, and would willingly
impress the same upon the attention of Government.

It was the custom at this time in Singapore for the Government to
grant a free license to the Chinese to gramble for fifteen days at the
commencement of every Chinese New Year. It was given under the
impression that it formed part of their religion, or at least was considered
a religious ceremony by them. It was attended by all the pernicious
evils which accompany unrestricted gaming, and on reference to Canton
it was found that it was never sanctioned there at the New Year, any
more than at any other time.

The Chinese made a long petition to the Government on the subject of
piracy, giving numerous instances which were continually occurring, pro-
posinpf certain measures for its suppression. The Government, as usual,
talked, but did not act ; and the Chinese again took measures themselves,
with the sanction of Government, and chartered a vessel to go and cruise
against them, at their own expense. The natives could get no credit for
opium, owing to the great risk of its being taken by pirates on the way to the
neighbouring places. This woke the authorities up, and the H. C, schooner
Zephyr was despatched up the East Coast, but did not meet with success.

2d0 Anecdotal Hiatary of Singapore

There were pirates of another sort, also, in those days, for the
paper contains an account of a vessel from Calcutta being chased for
four hours by a brigantine, evidently filled with armed men. The
English vessel was fully prepared to resist the pirate, if she had
attempted to board, but she did not come up to her.

The new Chaplain, Mr. Darrah, applied to Government for an
allowance to establish a Free School, as there was no school of any
consequence in the place, and he also asked Government for a grant
of a small sum for the purpose of opening a lending library. The
Government replied that there could be but one opinion as to the
utility of the objects he proposed, but, on the score of the economy,
so rigidly enforced by the Government in Calcutta, they could not
assist him, but would request leave from Calcutta.

However, Mr. Darrah started at once by opening a school in the
Mission Chapel, on Sunday afternoons in July from four to six
o'clock, taught by himself and two others, which was the first Sunday
School in Singapore. There was no Church at this time, the only
place of worship being the Mission Chapel.

The house at New Harbour lately known as the Malay College was
built about this time. Begbie says that the Sultan of Singapore (he
meant the Tumongong) had erected a very neat house at New Harbour,
built and furnished after the English style. The artillery barracks
and house of the officer had already been erected at the point of the
river, called Fort FuUerton, where the Marine Office, Post Office and
Club now stand.

The overland route question began again in this year, and a
meeting was held in Bombay at which it was proposed to have three
voyages a year, each way; and one advantage proposed in the
report of the Committee appointed by the meeting is so very original,
looking at it from the light of the present days, that we quote it : — " Of
these sources of profit the principal may be found in the conveyance
of respectable native pilgrims to and from Jedda, and in the numbers
of Civil and Military Officers of this country, who will gladly avail
themselves of a regular and certain communication with the Red Sea
Ports, to visit on furlough the attractive and healthy regions of Egypt
and Syria from November to March. Nowhere else, within the limits
prescribed by the Absentee Regulations, can so extensive and beneficial
a change of climate be attained in so agreeable a manner, or on such
economical terms, after having spent little more money than would
have been required for a passage to the Cape, not to say anything of
the return passage, and the enormous expenses of living there,
contrasted with the difficulty of spending money in Egypt. By
remaining during one intermediate trip of the steamer in Egypt, the
whole country from the borders of Abyssinia to Aleppo, with the splen-
did monuments of antiquity of Syria and E^ypt, Damascus, Palmyra,
Baalbec, Jerusalem, Cairo and the Pyramids, Dendera, Thebes, Phile and
Mount Sinai might be visited for one-tenth part of the expense, with
far less danger, and in nearly the same period that would be necessary
to cross the continent of India from Bombay to Calcutta, and back
again, or for a visit to the Neilgheiries. During the whole of which^
the absentee's Indian term of service will not only be untouched, but

1833 231

he will continue to receive his Indian allowances. When all the
advantages afforded by this communication are taken into considera-
tion, the Committee feel confident that there is scarcely an individual
of the British community on the Indian Continent, who will not
give his mite towards its establishment, and that their present appeal to
the public will meet with the liberality which a measure of such
importance deserves/^

The Singapore paper published this report at the request of
the Bombay Committee, and said that considerable sums had been
subscribed in India, and that Singapore ought not to be behind-hand
in supporting an object so likely to prove of ultimate benefit to
this place, as well as to India in general, especially as the plan
seemed to bid fair for completion. It remarked that there was no
reason why a good steamer could not make four trips from Bombay
to Suez in twelve months. At a meeting held in Calcutta about the
same time for the same object. Bishop Wilson, at the general request,
took the chair and subscribed one thousand rupees to the fund. The
amount of the former subscriptions to Mr. Waghorn's fund was ad-
ded to this one. Similar meetings were held in Ceylon.

In October a London tailor opened a shop, and also a European
hair-dresser, both in Malacca Street, but in different houses. In
November, on a Sunday night, about ten o'clock a shock of an
earthquake lasting for more than a minute was felt in Singapore, and
two slighter shocks were perceptible in the early morning. The pun-
kahs were set moving by the motion. It was the first phenomenon of
the kind that had occurred since the formation of the Settlement, and
it was conjectured the volcano Gunong Berapi, in Sumatra, was in
violent eruption. Similar shocks were felt at Malacca and Penang, at
the same time, allowing for the difference of a few minutes.

On Saturday, 7th December, Mr. Murchison was sworn in as
Governor of the Settlements, as Mr. Ibbetson was going on leave to
England, and Mr. Murchison immediately left for a trip to the Cape;
the late and newly sworn-in Governors both leaving the harbour in the
same vessel on that day, to go to Muntoh to sail in other vessels from
there. The Government devolved on Mr. Garling, the Senior Eesident
Councillor, who was then at Malacca. The European hair-dresser left Singa-
pore in the same vessel as the two Governors, but at whose expense, or
why, does not appear. A European hair-dresser set up a shop in Bat-
tery Road forty years later, and he made no better business of it than
his predecessor seems to have done.

Mr. Ibbetson was one of the first who had set up the example, in
Penang, in 1821, of cultivating on a large scale, which to the great
advantage of that island, was afterwards followed. At that time the
Indian Government encouraged the Straits Officials to invest their savings
in cultivation, but afterwards, following the rules it had laid down in
India itself, the encouragement was succeeded by a positive prohibition,
and a very great loss was sustained by those who held land, for which
the Government gave no compensation, as it should in fairness have
done*

A Government Savings Bank was established in Calcutta in this
yesr^ and it was proposed to open one in Singapore^ as it had been done

282 Anecdotal Sistory of Singapore

in Penang. But nothing came of it, and the first Savings Bank was
established here in the Post Office in 1874. The Bank in Penang had

{*ust been started by the Recorder, Sir Benjamin Malkin, who had
)een one of the active Managers of the Marylebone Savings Bank in
London, and he drew up rules, called a public meeting, and set the
bank going. He was described as one who took a very active interest
in the good of the population.

The Chronicle mentions that in this year, in September, the grove
of trees leading up to the top of the hill at Malacca had been cut down
by a goth. It was, however, the Governor, who suggested they
obstructed the view of the lighthouse to ships entering the harbour,
the fact bein<4 that some of them interfered with an official's view of
the flag-staff. The article said " The trees referred to were rendered
venerable, as they formed a regular and magnificent avenue up the
Government Hill, to the porch of the ancient ruined Church which
stands on the summit. The ruin is famous, as the celebrated St. Francis
Xavier, a zealous Jesuit Missionary, ministered in it for several years.

The European Overseer of Convicts was murdered by one of the
convicts in December, and the murderer refusing to surrender, and
attempting to stab a European Officer, and actually wounding one of
the sepoys, the guard shot him.

On the 29th November, the ship Ann from Macao, eight days
out, arrived in the harbour with the Chief Officer, Carpenter's mate,
a Parsee passenger and three sailors murdered ; and the second mate
and seven others severely wounded. The Manila seamen on board rose
on the ship for the sake of a large quantity of specie on board. They
were detained on board and taken to Bombay for trial, there being
no jurisdiction here to try them. It was remarkable that the father
of the principal offender (who died himself from wounds inflicted upon
him by the Captain with a teak awning stanchion seized in the hurry
of the moment), was the son of a man who was in a Bombay ship which
was nearly cut off some years before by Manila sailors, under very
similar circumstances of time and place. The insurance offices had
refused after that to take risks on vessels on which Manila men were
employed, but the rule fell into disuse.

in November orders arrived from Bombay to make tidal observations,
but it was not done on account of the expense. The orders were
renewed in August, 1834, but the result was defective as the local
authorities refused the necessary expense for an efficient establishment.

About this time there were twenty Kuropean Mercantile houses in
Singapore, seventeen British, one Portuguese, one German, and one
American; and three extensive Armenian firms to whom it was snid
Singapore was indebted for the re-opening of the trade with Borneo.

As to the European firms, in addition to Messrs. A. L. Johnston & Co.,
Guthrie & Co., and Joze d' Almeida and Sons, which have been already

d in 1822. Until 1855 Mr.

spoken of, the following had been established.
The firm of John Purvis & Co., was starto
John Purvis was the sole partner. In 1856 John Murray Purvis
joined as a partner ; Mr. T. S. Thotnson, a first cousin of Mr. J. T.
Thomson, the Government Surveyor, joined as a clerk, in I860. Mr. John
Parvis left the firm 31st March, 1862.

1833 233

The firm of Syme & Co. commenced in Singapore in 1823 and the firm
was appointed Lloyds' Agents in 1828, and are so still. In 1846
there were four partners, Robert Ker in Glasgow, Edward Doering
in Liverpool, Thomas McMicking in Singapore, and Joseph Cheney
Bolton in Manila. In 1851 William Ker, Jan., who had been a clerk
since 1848, and William McMicking became partners, and in 1852 Gilbert
McMicking, who had been a clerk previous to 1846. In 1852 Mr. W.
Mactagirart was a clerk, and ho and Mr. Robert Jardine were partners
on 1st January, 1857. In the previous year the clerks had been W.
Mactaggart, H. W. Wood, James Murray and G. M. Dare. In 1858 the
partners were William Mactaggart, Robert Ker, J. C. Bolton (afterwards
Chairman of the Caledonian Railway and M.P. for Stirlingshire) .
William Ker, G. Scholfield, Gilbert McMicking, Robert Jardine (who is
still a partner) and William Ker, Junior, (Mr. Paton Ker's father).

The firm of Spottiswoode & Connolly was started in 1824. In 1846
the partners were William Spottiswoode in Entrland, and John Connolly
and Charles Spottiswoode in Singapore. In 1848 Mr. William Mactaggart
was a clerk, with John Connolly, Jun., Andrew Connolly and A. J. S.
Spottiswoode. On 13th August, 1849, the name was changed to William
Spottiswoode & Co. The office was where Change Alley is now. In 1854
the partners were William, Charles and Archibald Spottiswoode, Mr.
James Weir becoming a clerk. On 31st December, 1856, William Spot-
tiswoode left the firm and Charles Archibald carried on the business. In
1859 A. J. Spottiswoode was the only partner, and in 1860 he was
joined by Mr. Weir, and in 1863 by Charles Grey McClellend.

In 1827 the firm of Maclaine, Fraser & Co. began. The partners
were James Fraser in London, Lewis Fraser and Gilbert Angus Bain in
Singapore, and John Purss Cumming in England; James B. Gumming
being a clerk. In 1854 Mr. Bain left the firm and Simon F. Cumming
became a clerk; Mr. R. 0. Norris was a clerk for many years from

1848. From 1855 the two Frasers and J. P. and J. B. Cumming were the
partners, Mr. N. B. Watson who was very popular (and always known as
Noia Bane) being a clerk. On 24th September, 1858, Mr. J. P. Cum-
ming died, and Mr. Robert Bain became a partner on 1st January, 1859;
he had been in A. L. Johnston & Co., and afterwards in business on
his own account. In 1860 Mr. N. B. Watson became a partner, and
in 1861 James Bannerman Cumming left. Mr. Charles Dunlop, who had
come out to the firm in 1857, became a partner in 1st January, 1864,
and in the next year Mr. Lewis James Fraser.

In 1828 the firm of Ker, Hawson & Co. was established by
Mr. William Wemys Ker in Singapore, Mr. Thomas Sam Ruwson
in London, and Christopher Empsan in China. Mr. William Pater-
son was a clerk, and Mr. Henry Minchin Simons was a clerk in

1849. In 1853 the firm was composed of Messrs. Ker, Rawson, Paterson,
and Simons, and continued so until the 30th April, 1859. At that
time the old name was dropped and Messrs. W. W. Ker, Paterson,
and Simons continued under the name of Paterson, Simons & Co., which
is the same at this day. Mr. Thomas Shelford and Mr. W. G. Gulland
appear for the first time as clerks in the firm in 1863. Mr. William
Paterson died at Eastbourne in January, 1898, at the age of 75 years.
He had been for over twenty years Chairman in London of the Chartered

234 Anecdotal History of Singapore.

Bank of India, Australia and China. Two of his sons are partners
now in the firm. Mr. Thomas Rhelford, c.m.g., died near Guildford
in January, 1900, sixty one years of age. He was a member of the
Legislative Council of the Straits Settlements for many years. One
of his sons is a partner in the firm. Mr. Henry Minchin Simons died
in London in December, 1901, at the age of seventy seven years, and
his only son is also a partner in the firm.

In 1832 the firm of Hamilton Gray & Co. commenced business. In
184G the partners were Walter and William Hamilton and William
Macdonald in England, and Ellis James Gilraan and George Garden
Nicol in Singapore. Ed. Loze was a clerk. The firm continued so
until 1852, when the partners were Walter Buchanan, William
Hamilton, and G. G. Nicoll ; the next year John Jarvie, who had been a
clerk since 1849, became a partner. In 1854 Reginald Padday and
C. H. H. Wilsone joined as clerks. Mr. Padday became a partner in
1857, and Mr. Wilsone in 1863.

The firm of Shaw Whitehead & Co., was originally called Graham
Mackenzie & Co., and on 31st December, 1834, Mr. Colin Mackenzie left
the firm and it was changed to Shaw Whitehead & Co. with Mr. J.
H. Whitehead as a partner. The tombstone in the old Cemetery shows
that Mr. John Horrocks Whitehead died in Singapore on 21st September,
1846, at the age of 36 years. In 1846, the first date which can be traced, the
partners were J. H. Whitehead and Michie Forbes Davidson in England^
and James Stephen in Singapore. In 1847 J. H. Whitehead had left the
firm. The next year Mr. Davidson left and joined A. L. Johnston &
Co. and the two partners were Stephen and Robert Duff. Garlies Allinson
was then a clerk. In 1852 Mr. Duff was the only partner, and the
name was changed to William Macdonald & Co. on the Ist July of
that year, the partners being Robert Duff and William Macdonald;
the clerks were Garlies Allinson, Farleigh Armstrong and Alexander
Rodger. In 1855 Mr. Allinson became a partner. In 1859 William
Ramsay Scott was a clerk. In 1860 the three partners were Messrs.
Duff, William Macdonald, and J. B. Macdonald.

235

CHAPTER XX.

1834.

ON New Yearns day the first Regatta was held. There were, in the
third race, live boats, the property of European gentle-
men, which composed the " Singapore Yacht Club/' The race
was six and a half miles round the harbour. Their names were Water-
witch, Maggie Lmidtir, Shamrock, Haick^s Hilly and Jenny dang the
Weaver, A salute was fired at day-break by the man-of-war, the
Magicienne^ and also from the battery, which Avas the custom in those
days.

On the 3rd January, Mr. Bonham, the Deputy Resident, was
sworn in as Acting Governor of the Settlements, having been appointed
Resident, and acting for the absent Governor, and Mr. Wingrovo was
appointed acting Resident Councillor of Singapore.

A gang robbery, which excited a great deal of attention, took
place in this month, of which the Chronicle had the following account : —
" A most daring burglary and robbery was committed between two and
three o'clock on Tuesday morning, by a formidable Rang of Chinese
bandits who issued from the jungle, in the house of a dhobie, named
Manook, residing in the Dhobie village at Campong Glam. The gang
consisted of about 50 men, armed with spears and other weapons, some
carrying torches. Having broken open the door with great violence,
they proceeded to plunder, and succeeded in carrying away a chest, a
large bundle of clothes, and a quantity of silver ornaments which they
compelled the women and children residing in the house, to deliver up,
on pain of death. The immediate neighbourhood had been alarmed
early, but although the inhabitants were numerous, they afforded so
little assistance, through fear, that the robbers retreated, with their
booty, towards the jungle, almost ' scathless, and at a slow pace.

Fortunately a gentleman residing in the vicinity of the road they
took, had been apprised of their first approach, and was ready, with
about a dozen natives, hastily collected in the neighbourhood, to meet
them on their return. He was armed with a double-barrelled gun and
a pistol loaded with balls, and two of the party had a blunderbuss and
a musket. The robbers were summoned to stand, but they only
answered with the cry to strike, when the gentleman fired one barrel
at the whole body, and one man was observed to fall. He discharged
the other barrel, and the pistol, the blunderbuss and the musket were
likewise fired; and some of the natives, inhabitants of the Buffalo
village, who were of the party, attacked the robbers with g:reat vigour.
The latter, however, escaped, but left the chest and a bundle of clothes
on the road.

Mr. R. P. Wingrove and Mr. A. J. Kerr, who had left their residence
on the alarm reaching them, shortly after came up with the Constable

236 Anecdotal Hutory of Singapore

and some peons, and dividing themselves into two or three separate par-
ties, they set out in pursuit by different tracks leading into the jungle.
On one track a table cloth, a pair of trousers and a bundle of spears
were found, and there was every indication of the gang being a little
in advance ; but the party (no doubt like the one in Oliver Twist
after Bill Sykes, and for possibly similar reasons) considering themselves
too small and too weak to penetrate further during the dark, without
incurring danger, returned at day-break towards tlie town. The line of
retreat of the robbers was pointed out by the clothes scattered along
the road. A number of European ladies had afterwards to sort out their
wardrobe and take it away.

In February, Mr. Darrah, the Chaplain, began writing on the subject
of the neglected education of the children in the Settlement, and the
necessity of establishing schools, as has been stated on pajje 128.

In April the Governor-General turned the tables round again, and
Mr. Church was appointed to officiate as Governor, and Mr. Bonham
as Resident. Mr. Church had been Deputy Resident Councillor at
Penang and it had been said in Singapore that he had a better right,
from longer service, than Mr. Bonham, who had been appointed in
January. Mr. Murchison, the Governor, was still on leave at the Cape.

In May the first mention of Gambier is found, as being likely to
become a staple article of export from Singapore to England, and the
paper gave an account of it and its properties, describing it as a
valuable astringent in cases of dysentery in doses of twelve grains to
one drachm. And it also spoke of sago as being prepared exclusively
in Singapore, for consumption in Europe and India.

An aggrieved individual wrote to the paper that the centre of the
Square was made a rubbish heap, and that a Chinaman had turned
it into a depot for old timber and rubbish from a building he was
re-erecting, and had broken down the railing, and complaining that
no one seemed to stir in the matter.

In this year, Mr. Bonham, in writing to the Supreme Government,
complained of the expense of a professional Judge, and asserted that
the presence of a Recorder was not necessary. He proposed that ^the
business of the Court should be carried on by the Governor and Resident
Councillors, with an occasional visit from • one of the Calcutta
Judges. And that if the system in force was to be continued, it was
hardly fair that the European inhabitants should not contribute for the
protection they received, and he suggested that a duty on trade should
bo immediately imposed.

Lord William Beutinck, the Governor-General, was of opinion that
some tribunal like a Court of Requests was all that was necessary ; while
Lord Auckland, in a very long minute, was of opinion that the system
then in force ought to be abolished, and considered a proper substitute
would be by employing the Malay language in all the Courts, and
administering the law of England with some modifications on particular
points ; with a paid Magistrate, and an Assistant Magistrate with power
to try petty cases, and a jury of five for small felonies. The Magis-
trates and their assistants to be Commissioners of a Court of Requests,
and one Resident to be placed over the three Settlements, to visit them
alternately, holding civil and criminal Courts, hearing appeals from.

1884 237

Magistrates, and trying civil cases, with a jury when either of the
parties wished it, and to try all criminal cases, except British subjects
charged with capital crimes; and lastly, that a Judge of the Supreme
Court of Calcutta should visit the Straits once a year, or oftener, to
hear appeals, to review the proceedings of the Resident and Magistrates,
and to try all civil and criminal cases that were referred to him.

Sir Benjamin Malkin, the Recorder, also stated his views at
considerable length. He was favourable to the existing system with
some improvements and reduction in the expense. The Court continued
as it was until after the Transfer in 1867, Admiralty jurisdiction being
added in September, 1837 ; but it may be useful to explain how judi-
cial matters had progressed in the Settlement up to this time ; and what
had been proposed in the early days of the Settlement.

Various suggestions for the amendment or alteration of the Straits
Judicial System had been made during the course of the fifteen years.
In 1829, Mr. Fullerton, in a long minute on the subject of the
economical administration of the Straits Settlements, had proposed three
schemes : — the first of which was that the whole duties of the executive
and judicial at each Settlement should be discharged by the Resi-
dents and their assistants. The Residents to be judges and magis-
trates, hearing themselves all causes above 500 rupees ; referring those
under that sum to their assistants, with an appeal to the residents ;
and that all misdemeanours, affrays, petty assaults, &c., the punish-
ment of which would not exceed 30 stripes, imprisonment with hard
labour for two years, or fine as far as 200 rupees, should be cognizable
by the Residents ; offenders of a graver nature committed for trial before the
Court of Circuit. The Governor to proceed on circuit twice a year, whose
duty it should be to try all criminals committed; hear all appeals from
the Resident in causes exceeding 2,000 rupees, with an appeal to the
King in Council in causes above 3,000 rupees. In all cases of import-
ance, where either party wished it, a jury of four or seven to be im-
pannelled; British-born subjects to be amenable to these Courts, but in
cases exceeding 2,000 rupees to have an appeal to the Supreme Court at
Calcutta instead of the Governor.

The second plan was, that the Residents should be assisted by
five merchants, settlers, as assessors; the Governor and Council holding
only Courts of Oyer and Terminer, which should try all the inhabi-
tants, except British-born European subjects, who were to be sent to
Calcutta for trial.

The third plan proposed by Mr. Fullerton was that the Govern-
ment should be constituted like the other Governments of India; to
fix on one of the Settlements (Malacca for example) as the Presidency.
To have there a Governor and two Councillors ; those at the other
two stations to have the rank of Residents only, with powers of
Zillah Judges; to establish the King^s Court on its former scale
(the Governor and Councillors being the Judges) with jurisdiction
at the Presidency, and for four miles round, over natives ; and with
the same power over European British subjects, the Company and their
servants, as was held by the Supreme Courts ; or, if unadvisable to
make the Governor, &c., the Judges, to make a Mayor's Court of it,
as formerly at Madras and Bombay, leaving justice to be administered

238 Anecdotal Hutory of Singapore

at the other two places, and beyond five miles from the Presidency
town, by provincial Courts ; throe Zillah Courts, one Judge of Appeal
and Circuit, and the Governor in Council the Sudder Adawlut.

The necessity of making provision for the administration of justice
in the two Settlements, whose distance from Bengal put them beyond
the sphere of the Courts there, led, in the year 1825, to the pass-
ing of an Act by which His Majesty was empowered to make
provision for the administration of justice in the Settlements of Singapore
and Malacca, and it was also declared lawful for the Court of Directors to
annex Singapore and Malacca to the Settlement of Prince of Wales'
Island, or any of the Presidencies, or to erect them into dependent
Settlements.

In virtue of this power, the Court of Directors on the 1 2th October,
1825, declared that Singapore and Malacca should cease to be Factories
subordinate to Benpfal, and annexed them to Prince of Wales' Island,
uniting the whole into one Government, consisting of a Governor or
President and three Councillors, one of whom was to reside at each of
the three Settlements, with the official designation of Resident Councillor,
and the Governor was appointed to visit the different stations to
assist in the administration of justice, or as other circumstances might
suggest.

On the 27th November, His Majesty, by his Letters Patent, established
the Court of Judicature of Prince of Wales Island, Singapore and
Malacca. This Charter was nearly a transcript of the one constituting
the Court of Judicature of Prince of Wales Island, which Sir Edmond
Stanley had taken with him to Penang, when he, as Recorder, constituted
the Court there in 1807, and only differed from it by attempting to
make some provision for the administration of justice in Singapore
and Malacca, as well as Penang.

To this end, it seems to have been contemplated that the Court
should be held at the three Settlements alternately. Thus, in the
clause specifying who were to be Judges of the Court, it was said that
the Court should consist of and be holden before the Governor or
President and the Resident Councillor for the time being of the station
where the said Court should be held, and before one other Judge to be
called the " Recorder of Prince of Wales Island, Singapore and Malacca, "
who was to be a Barrister of not less than five years standing, to be
appointed by His Majesty and his successors from time to time.

The presence of the Recorder was essential to the holding of a
Court if he should be resident within the Settlement, unless the Gover-
nor authorised the Courts to sit and act in the absence of the Recorder.
This was evidently meant only to be done where the Recorder's absence
proceeded from indisposition or other cause rendering his presence
impossible, but it was soon found that such time as the Recorder could
give to each of the stations was utterly inadequate to the proper dis-
pensation of justice, and that very great inconvenience would arise were
the Court only to be open during the actual residence of the Recorder
there. The proper remedy would, of course, have been a modification
of the Charter by the appointment of an additional Judge, but this does
not seem ever to have been thought of; or, if thought of for a
moment, rejected on account of the expense.

1834 239

It was, therefore, necessary to devise some other means of providing
for the difficulty. A forced interpretation was put upon the last mentioned
provision of the Charter, which had only been intended to be available
in cases of urgent emergency, and advantage was taken of it to keep
Courts open at Singapore and Malacca, at the same time that the Recorder
was actually holding his Courts at Penang. From this it followed that,
though provision had only been made by the Charter for one Court, three
Courts had grown up in the Straits; different Courts to all intents and
purposes, except in so far as they all enjoyed one common name, had
a concurrent jurisdiction in the different stations; and that the Courts
at Singapore and Malacca were occasionally, once or twice in the year,
favoured with a visit from the Recorder, who ordinarily officiated as
Judge in the Court at Penang. They had each their Judge and their
establishment of Registrar (although only the Penang officer was honoured
with that title). Clerks, Interpreter, Sheriff, Coroner, &c.

The new Court of Judicature was opened at Penang in August, 1827,
in presence of the Governor, Mr. FuUerton, the Recorder, Sir John Thomas
Claridge, and the Resident Councillor.

Shortly after the opening of the new Court, disputes to which we
have already referred, arose between the Governor. Mr. Fullerton, and the
Recorder, in regard to the charges of the Court Establishment, the
Recorder's travelling expenses, and other subjects, which led to much un-
pleasant altercation between them, and were detrimental to the public
interest, causing an interruption of the business of the Court, the Recorder
at one time refusing to sit unless his views were adopted. He also
refused to proceed on circuit to Singapore and Malacca, and, in consequence,
after much delay, and its being at one time prosposed to send the
prisoners from these two places to Penang for trial, Mr. Fullerton was
obliged to proceed on circuit alone, and to hold Courts at Singapore and
Malacca.

Sir John Claridge afterwards went on circuit; and in August, 1829,
as he was on his way to Singapore, he received despatches recalling him
to England to answer charges which had been preferred against him by
the Court of Directors. Sir John immediately proceeded home, and the
business of the Court was carried on by the Governor and Resident
Councillors, the former making circuits for the purpose of holding Ses-
sions of Oyer and Terminer at the different stations.

On the 29th June, 1830, the Straits Government was dissolved, and
with it also terminated, for the time, the Court of Judicature, as then
constituted, it being closed in consequence of the opinion entertained that
the members of the Government having lost the official designations by
which they are mentioned in the Charter, they could no longer act under
that instrument.

Great inconvenience was felt from this suspension of the judicial
power, and business transactions were much impeded, it being found that
where goods were sold to the natives on credit, many were disposed to
resist or delay payment knowing that the creditor had no means of enforcing
his demands. At the request of a large proportion of the European
merchants at Singapore, Mr. Murchison, the Resident, opened a Court,
called the "Resident's Court,'' which remained in operation for some
time, and tended much to facilitate business, but, in consequence of

240 Anecdotal Historxf of Singapore

some misunderstanding between the Resident and the inhabitants on
the subject of raising a fund for the payment of a night watch
(which we mentioned as occurring in the year 1830), the Resident
closed his Court, and the inhabitants were left without any mode of
obtaining redress.

The inhabitants both in Penang and Singapore met and petitioned
Parliament on the subject, setting forth the serious efEects produced
on commerce by the want of the Court, as well as the injustice inflicted
in there being no means of bringing to trial persons who had been
committed for offences, many of whom had lain in jail for a long time.
These petitions were sent home, but in the meantime the Court of
Directors havinfif resolved to continue the old Charter, they, in order
to remove all doubts, ordered that the Resident at Singapore should
be designated Governor, and that the Deputy Residents at the different
stations should be called Resident Councillors. The Court was again
re-established, and a Recorder, Sir Benjamin Malkin, arrived in the
beginning t)f 1833.

The following were the subsequent Recorders of the Court of the
incorporated Settlements. Sir Benjamin Heath Malkin, February, 1833,
afterwards Chief Justice at Calcutta. Sir Edward John Gambier, June,

1 835, afterwards Chief Justice at Madras. Sir William Norris, September,

1836. Sir Christopher Rawlinson, August, 1847, who succeeded Sir
E. Gambier as Chief Justice at Madras. Sir William Jeffcott, February,
1850, who died at Penang on 22nd October, 1855. The Court was
then divided into two Recorderships, at Penang and Singapore. Sir
Richard Bolton McCausland was Recorder of Singapore and Malacca
in 1856, and Sir Peter Benson Maxwell, Recorder of Penang in the same
year. Sir R. McCausland retired in 1866 and Sir Benson Maxwell was
Recorder of Singapore and Malacca, Sir William Hackett succeeding
him at Penang.

On the loth May, 1834, Mr. Bonham, the Resident Councillor sug-
gested the re-introduction of the Gambling Farm, he said: — "I need
scarcely remark that I should not venture on this suggestion were I
not thoroughly convinced of the total impracticability of suppressing
the vice. This from many years experience in the police office at this
Settlement, and from a close intercourse with the natives engendered
by a residence among them from nearly the very first formation of
the place, I conscientiously believe impossible.*' Of course it was not
done.

On the 1st September, Mr. Montgomery applied for a piece of
ground at Blakan Mati to form docks, and soon after Mr. W. S.
Lorrain for Messrs. Douglas, Mackenzie & Co., applied for land at
Sandy Point for a similar purpose. That firm had houses at Canton,
Singapore and Batavia, but in 1837 was confined to Batavia alone.
Mr. Lorrain had been the manager in Singapore. He was afterwards
a partner in Brown & Co., Penang.

In the whole week ending 8th May, only one vessel arrived at
Singapore, a Dutch brig from Samarang and Rhio. 'i'his was noticed
in the newspaper at the time, and is a curious comparison with the
present days. The total number of square-rigged vessels entering Singapore
during the year was 517, of 156,513 tons. The total revenue for

1834 241

the year was equivalent to $131^687^ and the expenditure to $112^836.
The total quantity of gambier was entered as piculs 10,549, of the
value of $16,609. In the following year, 1835, it was piculs 13,624
for §16,786, about $1.20 a picul. The population in 1834 was 26,829,
the population having trebled in the preceding ten years.

In June, Mr. Church, who was acting Governor, proposed to
assist the revenue by levying dues on the shipping. It was not carried out.

In October the Governor-General turned the ruling authority back
again, and Mr. Bonham resumed charge as Acting Governor, superseding
Mr. Church. A series of "perplexing changes,'* as they were called
at the time. Mr. Church had been in Malacca, though Acting Gover-
nor of the Straits.

It was in this year that Captain Begbie published his book at
Madras, printed at the Mission Press there. He was an artillery
officer, and accompanied, as has been said, the first expedition to
Naning, of which he wrote an account published in a pamphlet in
Malacca. His book contains an account of the second expedition.
While he was in Malacca he searched into the old Dutch records
there, which filled six large chests, and like Captain Newbold col-
lected a quantity of information about the Malay Peninsula, the
relations of Siam with the Malaj' States, the rulers and government
of the various countries from Kedah to Lingga, the natural history
of the country, and much other matter. The book had several pictures
of views in the Straits and some charts which are of use as showing
the names and position of places which are now called by other nalhes.
The book is now very rare, but is of value as a record of matter that
cannot probably be found elsewhere. The Singapore newspapers for
1835 contained long extracts from the book, but did not consider it
of much value, nor very correct.

242

CHAPTER XXI.

The Eoman Catholic Church.

THE first Roman Catholic Missionary who seems to have visited
Singapore was the Rev. Mr. Imbert, who being on his way to
China in 1821 had been asked by the Bishop of Siam to obtain infor-
mation about the state of religion in the new settlement. He remained
a week, and wrote to Bishop Florens that there were only twelve or
thirteen Catholics in Singapore, who led a wretched life.

M. Laurent Marie Joseph Imbert, of Aix in Provence, of the
Societe des Missions Etrangeres had left France on 20th March, 1820,
the 278th Priest sent out to the Far East since the commencement of
the Society. In 1837 he was made Bishop of Corea, where he was
tortured and beheaded by the Natives on 21st September, 1839, at 42 years
of age.

A Native Priest of Malacca, called Padre Jacob, visited Singapore
about 1822 and obtained a site from Sir Stamford Raffles to build a
Roman Catholic place of worship (see the Gazette of 6th September,
1832), but there is nothing to shew that even a small shed was
erected.

The Bishop of Siam was the Superior of the Mission at Penang
but there were few missionaries there, and one could not be spared
for Singapore. In 1824 the Catholics in Sinq^apore wrote to the
Bishop to send a Priest, but he, fearing he might be said to have no
jurisdiction in the place, applied on 22nd September, 1827, to the
Sacred Congregation of the Propagation of the Faith in Rome,
which had been established by Pope Gregory XV. on 22nd July,
1622, and a decree was sent in the name of Pope Leo XII. giving
him -jurisdiction. The correspondence is, of course, in Latin.

In the meantime a Portuguese Priest named Francisco da Silva
Pinto e Maia had come from Goa, where he had been sent from Macao
for some explanations about his duties. It appears from an advertisement
in the Free Press on 23rd May, 1838, in which he oflPered to give
lessons gratis in Latin, &c., that he had been educated in Portugal ;
and in September, 1845, the Singapore Free Presff stated that he had
resided in Singapore since 1826, and had been made a Knight of the
Order of Christ by the Queen of Portugal. He stopped and established
himself in Singapore as the Catholic Pastor of the place.

In 1831 Bishop Brugui&re, the Coadjutor Bishop of Siam, passed
on his way from Siam to Penang. M. Barthelemy Bruguifere,
of Carcassonne in Languedoc, left France on 5th February, 1826, for
the Mission at Siam. In 1830 he was Bishop of Corea, and died
at Si van g in Tartary, after a very exhausting voyage of three years,
on 20th October, 1835, nt tho n^o of 38 yonrs, before he could take
up the mission.

The Rovian (kfludic Church 2*13

He called on Padre Maia and showed him the Decree of the
Sacred Congregation of 1827, by which spiritual jurisdiction was given
to him in Singapore as the Vicar Apostolic of Siam. Padre Maia
acknowledged the Decree to be authentic, but afterwards declined to
admit that the Bishop had any jurisdiction; which led to what
Singapore looked on as a continually recurring, and, to the Protestants
most amusing, contention between the French and the Portuguese
Clergy in Singapore, which was only ended in 1886. Mr. Earl said
in his book (in 1837} " The head of the Portuguese Church is an
Apostolic Vicar under the diocese of Goa. He is extremely jealous
of the French Jesuits [Mr. Earl was wrong in this, there were not,
and have not been, any Jesuit Clergy in Singapore] who have drawn
from him the greater part of his flock, and he is in the habit of
making protests against their performance of religious rights by
advertisements in the newspapers, which however are perfectly unheeded
by the missionaries. Two only of the latter are established in the town,
but it is occasionally visited by others from Cochin-China, Siam, and
ether parts of Eastern Asia."

The ecclesiatical dispute was by no means confined to Singapore,
it was much more warmly carried on in Ceylon, Bombay, and
other places in India. Similar trouble had occurred in Africa, in
regard to the Spanish priesthood. The Pope by the Bull Inter
Csetera, dated 4th May 1493 (issued between the first and second
voyages of Christopher Columbus) had in the old days given the
Portuguese Church jurisdiction on the eastern side of an imaginary
line drawn from the North to the South pole, and on the western
.side of that line to the Spanish Church, but it was found that the
Portuguese ecclesiastical authorities had not the means to carry out
the work of the Church in India and China, for which purpose the
exclusive authority had been given. Macao, for example, and Goa,
had never risen to the opportunity, and in Singapore there was neither
a Church nor a School.

In the time of Pope Leo XII (1829-31), jurisdiction was given
in Singapore to the Bishop of Siam, the head in that part of the
world of the French Societe des Missions Etrangeres. The Portuguese
Priests demurred to this, as they considered that the Pope could
not derogate from the authority given long before to the Sovereign
of Portugal, and the Portuguese and French Priests each denied the
authority of the other. To make matters still more involved, a Spanish
priest called Padre Yegros came from Groa, asserting that he had the
ecclesiastical jurisdition in Singapore, and the two Churches already on
the spot denied his authority and he in turn denied theirs.

Padre Maia then celebrated Mass in Dr. d' Almeida's house in
Beach Road; the French Bishop in Mr. McSwiney's house opposite the
present Church in Brass Bassa Koad, at the corner of Queen Street ; and
Padre Yegros in some other house.

On the 24th April, 1838, Pope Gregory XVI declared by his
celebrated Bull, Multa Proeclare, (the authenticity of which was
acknowledged at the time by the British authorities and the East
India Company in London and Madras to be beyond question) that
for good reasons the right claimed by the Portuguese did not exist

^44 Aii>tcdtdal Ilistory of Singapore

ii) the Crown, in countries not subject to Portugral. In 1862 Pope
Piiis IX made a Concordat with the King of Portugal by which
the. right of patronage over the Roman Catholic Church in British
India was acknowledged to be in the Cro^vn of Portugal, but the
French Church argued that as it was given on certain conditions
which had not been fulfilled, it had no effect.

The result of this, as Mr. Earl wrote, was the publication of
long advertisements in the Singapore Free Press which died away
for a time, and woke up again at intervals for many years, until 1886
in fact, when the whole matter was finally set at rest by a long
Concordat by Pope Leo XIII., dated Rome, 23rd June, 1886, which
gave ordinary jurisdiction to the French Mission, but exempted from
it the jurisdiction over the Portuguese Congregation only and the pre-
mises actually occupied by the Portuguese Clergy, which was given
to* the Bishop of Macao. That Portugfal should have strenously striven
for her own side was not to be wondered at; and the result has
been that all has since worked with great harmony in Singapore
for the good of both the communities. Besides that Concordat there
was issued a Bull Humanoe Salutis Aiictor dated 1st September, 1886,
u purely ecclesisatical document dealing with the jurisdiction.

Bishop Bruguifere left Singapore for China, leaving the Rev.
Mr. Clemenceau, who had lately arrived from France, in charge of
the Church. The Rev. Pierre Julien Marc Clemenceau, of Poitiers in
Poitou, left Prance on 4th July, 1831, worked 32 years in the Mission of
Siam, and died at Bangkok, at the age of o8 years, on 18th January,
li864, having suffered from leprosy in the latter years of his life.

The Rev. Mr. Boucho (afterwards the Bishop) then came to
Singapore. M. Jean Baptiste Boucho, of Bayonne in Gascony, left
•Prance on 11th January, 1824; he was made Bishop of Atalie in 1845,
and died at Penang on 6th March, 1871, at the age of 75 years, after
working in the Mission in the Straits for 47 years.

He was able to arrive at an understanding with Padre Ycgros to labour
amicably in the Church until matters should be authoritatively settled.
.;. On 18th October, 1832, Mr. Bonham, the Resident Councillor, set
aside the piece of ground in Brass Bassa Road (now occupied by the
Brothers School) for the site of a Catholic place of worship, saying that
no quit-rent would be charged as long as it was used for the purpose
of religious instruction. The letter was addressed to the Rev. J. B.
Boucho and Anselmo Yegros. In November, 1832, Father Boucho and
Padre Yegros signed a Circular, stating the need of a decent place of
worship, the want of means of their own congregations, and asking
for help from the community.

.At this time the Rev. Mr. Courvezy was Vicar. M. Jean Paul
Hilaire Michel Courvezy, of Carcassonne in Languedoc, left France
Cn 12th March, 1832, for the Siam Mission, became Bishop in 1834,
and left the Society in 1845. He died in 1857.

In the newspaper of 11th December appeared the following
notice : — After a lapse of many years, the Catholics of Singapore have
bec*Ome desirous of possessing a Church for the celebration of Divine
Service, and have been grieved for tlip want of such. Divine Providence
has, at length, come to their aid. Through the medium of aji

The Roman Catholic Church 24o

open sabscriptiuii towards this object, the greatest part of the
obstacle has been surmounted. On Sunday last, the 9th inst, we enjoyed
the consolation of solemnizing and laying the first stone of an edifice
which is being erected for the glory of the true God, upon a spot
of ground granted by the bounty of the Government, and which,
according to the contract with the builder, is to be finished on the
oth of May, 1838. That it will not be large, is our only regret ; but
it will suffice. Moreover, the Church of our Lord Jesus Christ usually
consists of small communities. The first desire of our hearts, under
these circumstances, is to express, publicly, our gratitude to those
persons who have, with good will taken a part in the above-mentioned
subscription. May they enjoy in their conscience those delicious senti-
ments which accompany the performance of a good action, and may
God grant them a recompense, by shedding over them the blessings of
His goodness and mercy. This letter will not prevent us from testifying
our acknowledgements to each subscriber individually when we can
have the honour of a visit. We would voluntarily publish their names,
but we fear to offend their modesty and delicacy.

Receive, Mr. Editor, the renewed duty of our respect and regard.

H. Courvezy, Apostolic Missionary,
Canon of Ohartres, and Parish
Minister of Singapore.

A. Yegros, Superior of the Portu-
guese Mission, Judicial Vicar,

and Delegate of the Chapter of

Goa.

The result was a subscription of about $450, largely collected among
the merchants. There are the names of Mr. Bonham, A. L. Johnston,
John Purvis, Connolly, Cunningham, Melany, and Napier. Padre Maia,
to his praise be it said, appears as a subscriber for $20, and $145 was
subscribed by the Chinese.

A little Chapel, sixty feet long and thirty feet wide only, was put
up in the centre of the land. When the new Church was afterwards
built, the Chapel was used for the first Boys School in 1852. It cost
about §700. There is a copy of the contract with a Chinese, for the
labour only, for §250; it was signed by the Vicar, the Eev. H.
Courvezy, Padre Yegros, D. McSwiney, A. F. Francis, J. J. Woodford,
and George Godfrey, on 5th December, 1832. On the 9th June,
1833, the Rev. Mr. Al brand being Vicar at the time, the Church
was blessed and opened, and those who had signed the contract
dined with the Vicar, the accounts were gone through, and it was
found that Mr. McSwiney had paid out of his own pocket about
$50 more than had been collected, which he added to his subscription ;
but some subscriptons not having been paid, it was thought that
he might receive it eventually.

A small Parochial House, which stood at the corner of the
compound at Brass Bassa Road and Queen Street, had also been built, of
wood on brick pillars, at a cost of about $500, but this had been
paid for at the joint expense of Father Albrand and the Missions
Etrangfires in equal shares.

The Rev. Etienne Raymond Albrand, of Gap in Dauphine, left
France on 12th March, 1832. He died a Bishop at the age of 48
years, on 23rd April, 1853, at the capital of Kouy-tcheou, after
having worked 2 1 yoars^ first at Singapore and then at Siam.

246 Anecdotal Miftfory of Singapore

In the begiuning of 1833 the He v. H. Gourvezy went as
Coadjutor to the Bishop at Siam, and Padre Yegros having jio
means at his disposal to live upon, left Sins^apore altogether and went
to Manila. Fatner Albrand succeeded Father Gourvezy as Vicar,
and he really began the mission in Singapore, the little Chapel being
completed a few months after his arrival. The Chinese members of
the congregation rapidly increased, as they had much respect for
him. No sooner was the Chapel approaching completion than Padre
Maia fired o£f long Latin dissertations and lengthy letters of complaint
to the newspaper.

In March, 1835, Father Albrand was moved to 8iam. The Rev.
Mr. Barbe was then appointed Vicar. M. Jean Pierre Barbe,
of Tulle in Limousin, left France on 5th February, 1826, for the Mission of
Siam; be afterwards was sent to Burmah, and died at Rangoon on
27th May, 1861, at the age of 59 years. He collected money to
plaster the ceiling of the Chapel and to build a portico at the
front entrance, which cost $198.50 : this time the subscribers seem
to have been all members of the congi^egation. Father Barbe only
remained until the end of the year, and was succeeded by the Rev.
Mr. Benier.

The Rev. Joseph Florentiu Etieuue Renier, of Chartres in Orleans,
left France on 15th March, 1835, for the mission of Siam. He
died at Moulmein, at the age of 60 years, on the 4th January,
1871, having been in the Straits and Burmah for 36 years. The
name is spelt Regnier in the Register of the Missionaries, but his
signature in the Church baptismal registers is spelt Renier. He
raised a subscription to pave the floor with Malacca tiles, as the
white ants had eaten the plank floor which had been put down
for economy. There was never any spire or tower to this building.

In August, 1837, the Rev. Mr. Galabert was appointed Vicar, and
remained until December, 1839, when he left for Bourbon, because Bishop
Courvezy then came to Singapore intending to remain permanently.

The Rev. Noel Alexandre Galabert, of Carcassonne in Languedoc,
left France on 22nd April, 1833, and quitted the Society (according to
the register of members) in 1835. But this must be a mistake, and
Father BeurePs book must be correct, as the old baptismal register in
the Church has Father Galabert's signatures in the year 1839.

Bishop Courvezy was alone in Singapore till PelDruary, 1839, when
the Rev. Mr. Galy came from Macao.

The Rev. Jean Paul Galy, of Toulouse in Lauguedoc, left France
on loth May, 1838. He was for many years in Tongkincj and Cochin-
China- In 1841 he was beaten, put in a cage and condemned to death, but
after a detention of 22 months, he recovered his liberty by the inter-
vention of the commander of a French man-of-war which visited the
place. He died on 15th October, 1869, at Saigon, 59 years of

In June 1839, a Chinese Catholic Priest named John Tschu came
from Siam. He was born in the Province of Canton of a respectable
Chinese family, his father being a literate Mandarin. He had been
sent when young, by a French Missionary, to the college in Penang,
and after doing mission work there, he was sent to open another

The Roman Catholic Church 247

mission in Siam which became very nourishing, and he was ordained
in Siam in 1838 by Dr. Courvezy, who appointed him head of the
Chinese mission in Singapore. He died on the 13th July, 1848, to
the great loss of the mission, after working nine years in Singapore,
and having formed a flourishing and numerous congregation of
Chinese, who were much attached to him. The Singapore Free Press
contained an account of his life, from which the above particulars
are taken, and said that his loss was much felt by the Roman
Catholic Community. He was buried in the Church at the altar
of St. Joseph, where a granite stone was placed over his tomb.
When the new Church was built, the coffin was opened and the bones
were placed in the St. Joseph Chapel in the new Church, and a marble slab
with an inscription was put on the side wall.

On the 29th October, 1837, two missionaries intended for the
Mission at Siam arrived from France, and Mr. Galy went to Macao,
expecting to penetrate into Cochin-China to which he had been first
destined by the Directors of the Mission in Paris. One of those two
missionaries was the Rev. J. M. Beurel, to whom the Roman Catholic
Community of Singapore owe an incalculable debt of gratitude. Dr.
Courvezy arranged for Father Beurel to remain in Singapore, and
his companion, the Rev. A. Dupond, went on to Siam. In this year,
1839, the compound of the Chapel was surrounded with a wall,
built partly at Bishop Courvezy's expense and partly by subscriptions
he raised among the Catholic Community.

The Rev. Jean Marie Beurel, of St. Brieuc in Brittany, left France
on 28th April, 1839, and was in the Mission at Singapore for 30 years.
He left Singapore on 4tli December, 1868, and went to Paris, ill
with paralysis, and died there, at the age of 60 years, on 3rd
October 1872, after four years illness.

A pastoral letter was addressed on 6th October, 1840, by Dr.
Courvezy to the congregation regarding the feasts and fasts to be
observed in the Mission, having regard to the different conditions
of life in this climate, on which account the Pope had granted
certain modifications. It also provided for the day of observance of
some of the greater feasts to take place on the Sunday following the
day of the feast.

On 3rd January, 1840, the Mission of Siam was sub-divided, owing
to the difficulty of communication with Siam, and the different language
used in the Malay Peninsula. Dr. John Paul Hilary Michael Courvezy was
appointed Vicar Apostolic of the new division of the Malay Peninsula,
and his Coadjutor Dr. Pallegoix became Bishop of Siam alone.

From the first establishment in 1832 to the end of 1839 there
had been in the congregation 130 baptisms, 64 deaths, and 20 marriages.
The whole of the expenses has been met by the collections made
every Sunday at the Parochial Mass, and by subscriptions occasionally cir-
culated in the congregation, chiefly at Christmas, Easter and Corpus Christi.

Bishop Courvezy proposed to enlarge the Chapel by adding transepts
to form a cross, but adopted Father Beurel's proposal to endeavour to raise
funds to build a new Church and to use the Chapel for a school.

An appeal was issued on 23rd April, 1840, drawn up by the
Bishop in French, and translated into English by Lieut. Jcrningham

248 A)Lecdotal Ristonj of Singapore

of H. M. S. Wellealey which was here at the titne^ stating that the
Chapel was much too small, and in bad repair, and asking for sub-
scriptions towards a new building. In the succeeding four years
$5>105.72 was collected, chiefly among the European community, though
belonging (as Father Beurel wrote) to Protestantism. In 1841 Queen
Amelia of France gave 4000 francs, and the Bishop of Manila about
$3000 in 1842, which latter sum was left by the Bishop in the
hands of the Armenian Merchants, Setli Brothers, who failed, and
only $215 was eventually recovered.

The congregation thought the loss was owing to the want of
care by the Bishop, and it unfortunately became the cause of very
considerable trouble in the congregation and of delay in commencing
the building, and also to Father Beurel going away to Burmah, to
work with his friend Bishop Bigandet there, in November J 842, owing
to a misunderstanding with the Bishop on this subject, and not
returning until April, 1843, when he came back at the earnest request
of the congregation who had addressed letters to the ^perior in
Paris, and to Dr. Boucho in Penang, pointing out the great loss
to the Church if Father Beurel did not return.

Before he left he had asked Governor Bonham for land for
the new Church, and Mr. Bonham offered four acres of ground on
the slope of Government Hill between the Cemetery and the Convict
Lines, which would be near where the American Methodist School
and St Andrews House and the Masonic Lodge are now. This would
have been very suitable (as Father Beurel wrote) for all the build-
ings, such as schools and dwelling house, but Bishop Courvezy
rejected it.

An application was them made in writing* for the ground opposite
the row of three houses in Brass Bassa Road between Victoria Street
and Queen Street, then occupied by Messrs. Caldwell at the corner of
Victoria Street, Cunningham in the centre, and McSwiney at the
corner of Queen Street. The application was accompanied by a
commendatory letter signed by many of the leading Protestants, includ-
ing Messrs, George Armstrong, J. Balestier, E. Boustead, W. S. Duncan,
J. Guthrie, J. Purvis, W. Napier, W. and T. Scott, and Maclaine
Fraser & Co. After some trouble, as the Government at first wanted
to give only a small piece of ground, the present site was given on
20th July, 1842, being 211 feet by 313, (which was afterwards added to)
on the condition that it was not to be used as a Burial Ground on
any occasion whatever, and that no buildings should be erected • upon
it except for ecclesijistical purposes connected with the Chapel. The
term was 999 years.

Mr. J. T. Thomson made a plan which was approved by the Gover-
nor, but it was afterwards superseded by one made by Mr. McSwiney,
as being less expensive and easier to keep in repair.

On Sunday, the 18tli Juno, 1843, the foundation stone of the
Church was laid. The following is an account of the ceremony in the
Free Press : — " On Sunday last the Catholic community of Singapore
had the gratification of witnessing the solemn ceremony of blessing and
laying the '' Corner Stone " of their new Church of the " Good Shepherd.''
It began at half past six a.m. The congregation being assembled iu

The Roman Catholic Church 249

the pi*esent chapel^ the Right Kevd. D. D. Hillary Courvezy, robed iu
his Pontificals^ proceeded in procession to the spot, where the Church
is to be raised. The procession was formed by a Cross-bearer, two
acolytes and nine children, all robed in white; by the Wardens and
Trustees of the Church, with their insignia ; by the Architect Mr. D. L.
McSwiney, carrying a Silver Trowel; John Connolly, Esq., the gentle-
man appointed to lay the Corner Stone ; and the Right Revd. Dr. Hillary
Courvezy supported by the Revd. J. M. Beurel and the Chinese Clergy-
man the Revd. John Tschu, followed by the rest of the faithful. His
Lordship the Bishop, being on the spot, addressed the assembly in a
brief but very impressive and edifying discourse, explaining why the
place where a Temple is to be erected to Almighty God ought to be
blessed and sanctified by prayer, and thanking God for the various
donations received from charitable persons, which had enabled the
Catholic community to begin such an undertaking, &c.

"After the discourse, the Right Revd. Doctor performed the pre-
scribed religious ceremony. When the corner stone was blessed, it was
carried by two Chinese Christians from the Altar erected for the
occasion to the left corner of the frontispiece of the proposed edifice.
Then the Revd. J. M. Beurel read in an audible voice* the following
inscription ; —

'Jo the Gi-eater Glory and Honour
Of the Holy and Undivided Trinity,
Jn the year of oxn* Redemption

MDCCCXLIII.

On the Feast of Corpus Chiisti.
The Eighteenth day of Jime;
In the thirteenth yeai* of the Pontificate
Of our Holy Father

Geeooey The Sixteenth ;

In the sixth year of the happy reign
Of Her Most Gracious Majesty

Victoria,

Queen of Great Britain and Ii*eland;

In the thirteenth year of the reign

Of His Chi-istian Majesty

Louis Phillipk.

King of the French;

And during the Governorship of

The Honoui-ablc Samuel Geoboe Bonha31,

In the presence and with the approbation

Of the Kight Revd. D. D. Hilary Courvezy,

Bishop of Bidopolis, and

Vicai* Apostolic, Ac, &c., of the Malay Peninsula.

Of the Revd. John M. Beurel, M. Ap.,

Of the Wai'dens and Trustees of the Chxircli.

And of the Architect Denis McSwiney,

John Connolly. Esq.

Laid the Comer Stone of this Churcli,

Which is to \^e dedicated to

Our Divine Saviour

Under the title of

•The Good Shepherd,"

Complete, O Lord, this undertaking

And when completed, protect it."

250 Anecdotal Hidory of Singapore

'' This iuscriptiou was translated into five other langua^j^es, viz.^ into
Latin ,French, Portuguese, Chinese and Malay and signed by Dr. Gourvezy,
Revd. J. M. Beurel, John Connolly, D. L. McSwiney, by the Wardenis and
Trustees of the Church and some other gentlemen. These documents
together with British, French, Spanish, and various other coins, and a
copy of the Singapore Free PresSj the Straits Messenger^ the Bengal Catholic
Herald, the Madras Catholic ExpoMor, &c., were put into vases which were
deposited in a place beneath the corner stone, prepared for their reception.
Immediately after, the corner stone was laid by John Connolly, with the
approbation of His Lordship the Bishop, that gentleman reciting at the
same time the following prescribed prayer : — - Li the faith of Jesus Christ
we lay this first stone in this foundation in the name of the Father and of
the Son and of the Holy Ghost ; that the true faith and the fear of God
and fraternal charity may flourish here and that this place be dedicated
to prayer and to invoke and praise the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who liveth and reigneth with the Father and the Son and the Holy
Ghost, world without end. Amen.'

" The remainder of the ceremony being performed the procession
returned to. the old Chapel in the same order in which it had first
proceeded to tHe site of the intended Church, when the Bishop ascended
the altar and celebrated a Pontifical High Mass."

On the 21st December, 1843, Bishop Courvezy left for France and
did not return to Singapore, and the Rev. J. B. Boucho, the Pro- vicar
Apostolic, became Superior of the Mission, after he had been twenty
years in the Straits. Father Beurel at this time paid a visit to Malacca,
and made arrangements to have a Chapel established there, on the site
of which the present Church now stands.

In 1844, a further amount of $2,557.80 was raised by subscriptions
in Singapore for the new building, and unexpectedly $1,467 was received
from the Directors of the Seminary of Foreign Missions in Paris who
had heard of the loss of the $3,000, which had caused so much trouble.

Governor Butterworth, on Mr. Beurel's application explaining
that the land given for the Church was smaller than was necessary
to provide against buildings being erected close to the Church,
and so occasioning disturbance to the services, increased the land
by making it a square of 313 feet.

In 1845 the Rev. P. Galy went to Bourbon to collect subscrip-
tions for the church building, and brought back nearly $1,000 after
paying the expenses of the voyage. In August about $800 was
collected in the congregation to build the steeple, and in the same
month Mr. Boucho was appointed Bishop, which greatly pleased the
congregation. The ceiling of the old Chapel fell in immediately
after service on the feast of the Epiphany and several persons were
hurt, but not seriously. There were only a few persons remaining
in the Church, or the accident would have been very serious.

The Rev. John Baptist Boucho went to Calcutta by the steamer Fire
Queen in September, 1845, and was consecrated there as Bishop of Athalia
and Vicar Apostolic of the Malayan Peninsula, and arrived at Singapore
on 25th May, 1846.

In June Father Beurel wrote to the Government asking for the
lease to be issued for the Church compound in the name of Bishop

The Roman Catholic Church 251

Boucho and himself, sayiug that it was called the Church of the Good
Shepherd, at Father Beurel^s wish. In 1846, Father Beurol went to
Manila and China to collect money for the Church building, as all the
funds were exhausted and the Church was not finished. He collected
about ?J,800.

In this year the Chapel was built at Bukit Timah for the
Chinese congregation, and was called St Joseph at Father BoureFs
wish. The Rev. Mr. Manduit was the priest, and he went to live
permanently among the Chinese when the building was completed
about the end of the year. The Rev. Anatole Manduit, of Coutances
in Normandy, left France ou 26th December, 1843, and died, 41 years
of age, in Singapore, after fifteen years work among the Chinese,
on 1st April, 1858. He was buried in the Church at Bukit Timah where
there is a lengthy inscription on the granite stone over his grave.

The Free Press of 23rd April, 1846, contained the following :— " The
Rev. Gentlemen of the Catholic Mission, to whose care we are indebted
for the conversion of so many Chinese, are trying to raise beyond
Bukit Timah a small Chapel, ou a spot liberally granted to them by
the local Authorities, from whom they have always experienced kindness,
particularly from his Honor the Governor. This chapel is to be solely
used for the Chinese Converts. They would like to request the kind
assistance of all the friends of civilisation here to enable them to
carry out their intention properly ; but they feel rather backward in
introducing the subject as they have already called once or twice on
the charity of the public for their New Church. Yet they would
feel very thankful, if some charitable persons would enable them to
raise a substantial and respectable building, instead of one of planks
and attaps, which they are compelled to do now from want of means. ''

In April, 1847, the Rev. Mr. Issaly came to Singapore and took
the place of Father Manduit at Bukit Timah.

The Rev. Marie Francois Adolphe Issaly, of St Brieuc in Brittany,
left France on 21st October, 1846, and died in the Procure House
in Hongkong, where he had gone because he was ill, on 27th May,
1874, at the age of 52 years, after 28 years work in the Straits. He
was first buried in Hongkong. In March, 1879, his remains were exhumed
and were buried in the Church of SS. Peter and Paul in Singapore.

In June, 1846, the new Church was nearly completed and Bishop Boucho
being unable to come to Singapore from Penang, the ceremony of
opening the Church fell on Father Beurel, who was accompanied by
the Revs. Manduit, Issaly and John Tschu. It took place at 7 a.m. on
Sunday the 6th June. The corner stone had been blessed by Bishop
Courvezy ; the Cross on the top of the steeple by Bishop Pallegoix ;
and the whole building was now blessed by him who had, through his
unceasing efforts, caused it to be erected. There was a procession
outside and inside the new Church, where Psalms were sung, followed by a
procession to the old Chapel for removing the Holy Sacrament from
there to the new Church ; and a sermon by Father Beurel.

The accounts kept, in the most methodical method possible, by
Father Beurel, show that the total expense of the building, from the
making of the plan and laying the foundations to the completion of
the building and tho furniture, was §17,128.76, and $1,206.46 was

252 Anecdotal Uisiory of Singapore

rtjinitted to Paris for all the caudlescicks, some vestineuts, the statue
of the Virgin, and numerous ornaments for the service of the Church.
The total payments amounting to §18,835.22, which left a debt on the
building of $4,434.50.

The total receipts were $13,900,72, which was all collected in
Singapore including the interest received upon it, except the
following sums; from Bourbon, $1/200; Calcutta, $412.83; Manila,
$2,310 60 (which included the $1,467 that had been received from
the Mission in Paris on account of the loss by Seth Brothers) and
from Siam $100.

Mr. Connolly advanced $1,800 to complete the urgent payments
for the construction, and it was decided to repay this and the balance
(for which Father Beurel became the only person responsible) out of
the pew rents and collections; and he wrote to Queen Amelia and the
ministry in France, asking for money to help to pay the debt, but
owing to the political revolution, the only answer received was from
the Minister of the Interior to say that he would, if possible, obtain
a picture of the Good Shepherd for the Church, which Father Beurel
had asked for, but this never came. Mr. McSwiney, the Architect,
left Singapore in October, 1847. Soon after this Messrs. Cunningham
and Connolly built the two gates of the compound in Victoria Street
at their own expense and a subscription was made to complete the
large front steps and drains round the Church. The Steeple had
been erected from a design by Mr. Charles Dyce, and a subscription
amounting to $700 had been made towards it.

In 1845 the Chinese Cong^regation made a subscription to erect a
house in the School compound where religious instruction might be
given to the Chinese- The cost was $700.

In the beginning of 1858 Father Beurel established canonically
the Way of the Cross in the Church. The pictures were oil paintings,
and cost about §250; Mr. Benjamin De Souza promised to pay for
them. The statues of the Good Shepherd, St. Joseph, St. Peter,
and St. Paul were also received from Paris at the same time as
the pictures. The first cost $40, and was given by Mr. Cunningham ;
and that of St. Peter, §35, by Mr. Blanco. In August Mr. L. Cateaux,
of Messrs. Hinnekindt's firm, gave the picture of the Martyrdom of
St. Sebastian, which had been painted by Mr. Jules Pecher of Antwerp,
who had gained a gold medal for it at the Brussels Exhibition. Mr.
Cateaux gave it on the condition that if the Church should at any
time pass to any other body than that of the Mission, the priests
should remove it and place it in one of their own Churches.

In 1859 the Parochial House was completed, which was considered
a great event in the Roman Catholic Community. Father Beurel had
made a contract with a Chinaman to build it for $2,500, which the
Congregation undertook to subscribe. The result was that it nearly
ruined Father Beurel, as he writes, for he had the not unusual experience
in Singapore of finding that it cost very much more before he could
get it finished, for it cost $8,100.55 when it was done: and it is
amusing to read in Father BeurePs Annals, that he ** had a great deal
to suffer from this Chinaman, who acted the part of a first rate hypo-
crite and rogue.^*

The Roman Gatholie Church 253

In 1860 the Church was paved with marble, got from Antwerp
through Mr. L. Gateaux. Some of it turned out to be very inferior,
and some of the congregation said it was mere trash and not fit to
be seen in the Church, which caused more trouble to Father Beurel,
as some of the congregation declined to subscribe. The cost of the
marble, and the Font and other things came to $1,986.17 which was
raised by subscription ; three Chinese members of the Congregation,
Pedro No Kea and two others, giving §200 each, Mr. J. Woodford
?300, and others subscribing handsomely.

In 1888 the building, now made the Cathedral, was considerably
enlarged, being extended at the west end.

When Bishop Boucho died he was succeeded by Bishop Michel
Esther Le Terdu, of St. Brieuc in Brittany. He had left France for
the Straits on 10th April, 1850. He resided at Penang. He died in
the Seminary at Paris, a few weeks after he arrived in France, having
gone home ill, after 27 years work in the Straits, on 10th May, 1877,
at 51 years of age. He wrote a Catechism and several books of
devotion. He had been Parish Priest at Pulo Tikus at Penang, and
was consecrated in the church there by Bishop Bigandet. He came
to Singapore on 8rd July, 1871, and resided there.

He was succeeded by Mgr. Edward Gasnier, of Angers in Anjou.
He had left France on 19th July, 1857, to the mission at Mayssour
(Bangalore) in Southern India and came to the Straits as Bishop
in 1878. He died in Sinofapore, after several years illness and a
voyage to France in search of health, on 8tli April, 1896, and was
buried in front of the High Altar in the Cathedral of the Good
Shepherd. By an Ordinance of 15 November, 1885, the Bishop was
then designated "The Titular Roman Catholic Bishop of Malacca
resident in the Straits Settlements."

Bishop Gasnier, to whom the Congregation were very much attached,
had a thorough knowledge of English which was a great advantage
to the community. He was succeeded by Mjrr. Michel Marie Foe, of
Laval in Maine, who left France on 16th April, 1879.

Mention should be made here of Bishop Bigandet, as he was well known
in the Straits, though he was never Bishop in the diocese. Paul Ambroise
Bigandet of Besancon in Franche Comte, left France on 12th June, 1837,
and was in Siam until 1842 when he came to the Straits, being principally
at Penang, and remained until 1856, when he went to Burmah as
Apostolic Administrator and in 1870 was made Bishop of Burmah.

In Volumes, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 11 of Logan's Journal are many lengthy
papers by Mr. Bigandet on the subject of the Budhist Monks or
Talapoins, the Legend of Budha, and the dialects of Siam and
Burmah.

When Father Beurel died he was succeeded as Vicar by the Rev.
Louis Armand Daguin, of Seez in Normandy, who left France on 15th
July, 1860, and was 26 years in the Straits. He died at Paris on 5th
June, 1886, at the age of 50 years, having gone home <»n account of
illness.

He was succeeded by the Rev. Jean Pierre Rt^mes, of Bayonne
in Gascony, who left France on the same day with Father Daguin in
1860. He returned to France on account of illness in 1888, and is

254 Anecdotal History of Singapoi'c

now the Superior of the S.anatorium of the Mission at Mombeton in
Tarn and Garonne in Prance, which had been installed there in 1886.

The next Vicar was Father Elysee Ferdinand Delouette, of Rheims
in Champagne, who left France on 3rd July, 1872. He died in Singa-
pore on the 29th March, 1897, and was buried in the Church of St.
Joseph at Bukit Timah.

He was followed by the Rev. Christophe Mazery, of Nantes in
Brittany, who left France on loth March, 1868. He died in Singapore
on 12th February, 1900, and was buried in the same Church at Bukit
Timah. His successor, the present Vicar is the Rev. Henri Pierre Rivet,
of Nantes in Brittany, who left France on 2nd August, 1882, and was
appointed Vicar in February, 1900.

A remarkable character in Singapore was the Rev. Pierre Paris, who
was born on 19th January, 1822, at Fontenis, Haute-Saone, and was a
peasant boy workini; in the fields, which was no doubt a good prepar-
ation for the work he afterwards did in Singapore, where he spent
long hours trudging about in the jungle between the different huts
of his congregation. He went into the priesthood, commencing to learn
Latin at eighteen years of age, and after being a vicar in a country
parish for four years joined the Society of Foreign Missions in 1854. On
27th June, 1 855, he left Antwerp for the Straits. After a short time in
Penang he went to Malacca, where he learnt the patois spoken by
the Portuguese there, and Tamil and Chinese. He was a good linguist,
speaking several dialects of Chinese. As an example of the way he used
ta move about, ho might be seen on Sunday morning walking into
town along Serangoon Road, for there were no jinrikishas then,
with his Chinese umbrella in one hand and a stick in the other. He
had said mass and preached in Chinese at Serangoon, and was walking
seven miles into town to hold the service in Tamil at eleven o'clock.
After that he would hold a service in the jail; at 2 o'clock he had
Catechism for the Chinese children, and at 3 o'clock evening service in
the Chinese Church of S.S. Peter and Paul. It had been through
his exertions that this fine Church had been built in the town in
1871, to which Pedro No Kia had subscribed very liberally.

On Monday he rested in the Parochial House and read the papers,
&c., and saw Chinese who came to consult him about their affairs.
Tuesday he spent in trudging about the jungle, resting from time
to time in the huts of the Chinese whom he went to visit. Wed-
nesday he spent among the Chinese in the town. Thursday he
remained at home at Serangoon teaching the Catechumens, who used to
come long distances to him, having three rooms in which were large
pictures sent by Chinese from Shanijhai. In each room there was a
catechist speaking one of the three Chinese dialects which Father Piris
knew. The last two days of the week were given to confessions, &c.,
and he was sometimes so engaged from the morning until late at night,
for there was a very large Chinese congregation. Everyone knew Father
P^ris with his stick and his Chinese umbrella. From 1874 he was Pro-vicar
of the Mission. He died at the age of 61 years, on 23rd May, 1883, in
the Parochial House, Singapore, after six months illness, having been
very feeble for some time. Ho was buried in the Church of S.S.
Peter and Paul, having worked in the Straits for 28 years.

The Roman OathoHr Church 255

- On the 23rd April, 1860, being St. George's Day, tlio Rev. J. M.
Beurel held a Meeting with the object of establishing a Society to be
called the St. George Singapore Catholic Young Men's Society. He
was the President, the Rev. A. L. Daguin and Mr. F. B. Pereira the
lawyer, who had a large practice at that time, were Vice-Presidents,
and the Committee consisted of Messrs. Paul Brasier; J. J. Woodford,
W. Lecerf, L. C. Masfen, J. F. Hansen, W. J. Valberg, L. J. Scheerder
H. D. Chopard, A. Pilliet, J. Cazalas, J. Bade, and G. Reutens. Twenty
eight members joined on the first occasion. Monthly Meetings were
held in the Parochial House. There was a Library for which papers
and books were ordered from England. Papers used to be read on
various subjects. Mr. J. J. Woodford gave three lectures with experi-
ments on the Atmosphere. Mr. A. Mclntyre read two papers, one on
Perseverance. Mr. H. B. Woodford held forth on Intemperance, Mr.
C. De Menzies on Education, and Father Beurel and Mr. F. E. Pereira
each gave four addresses on various subjects. The minute book ends
abruptly in June of the following year. It remained for Father Rivet,
in 1900, to found a similar Club, in very good premises, and with many
more members, now the Congregation has increased so much, with
billiard tables and other amusements for the young men in the evenings,
which are much more likely to continue to call them together than
reading very long and scientific papers-

On 1st January, 1897, Monseigneur Zale§ki, the Archbishop of
Thebes, arrived in Singapore. It was the first time a visit of a Papal
Delegate to Singapore took place, and he was received ^vith great cere-
mony by the members of all the Romen Catholic Churches in Singapore.
A joint address was presented to him by all the Churches including
the Portuguese Church of St. Joseph. On 14th February, 1897, the
Cathedral was consecrated by Bishop Fee. There is a rule that Churches
cannot be consecrated as long as any debt remains on the building, and
on 31st December, 1897, there was still a balance of $2,000 due after
paying for the extension, which was paid by special subscriptions. In
order to consecrate the Church some repairs and painting were necessary,
costing $1,345.18 for which a further subscription was made, and the
debt which had existed since the commencement of the building was
finally paid off.

Thk Procure.

On the 17th March, 1857, the Procure House was established in
Singapore. Father Beurel had, until that time, done the work of
Procureur as well as that of Missionary, but the administration
of the Mission had become too large to admit of this being done
satisfactorily.

The word Procureur in French means one who has power to act for
another, as an agent or manager; and in the Religious Societies the
word means one who has charge of their temporal concerns. In the large
English Missionary Societies the clergy who do such work are usually
called the Secretaries. The Procure Houses are also used as stopping places
for the clergy passing from one diocese to another, or as resting places
for invalids; and the money matters and general business affairs of the
mission are transacted through the Procureur.

25(5 Anccdoinl History of Singaport

The Society had established a Procure House in Macao in 1732,
which had been transferred in 1847 to Hongkong. Father Libois,
of Seez in Normandy, who had left France in 1837, being the first Procureur
in Hongkong. He was Director in Paris in 1866, and died at Rome,
as Procureur there, on 6th April, 1872, at the age of 67 years,
having been 35 years in the Mission.

In 1857 he came to Singapore to establish the Procure House, and
brought with him from Hongkong Father Osouf, of Coutances in
Normandy, who had come o^it from France the year before. The\'
built the present House at the corner of River Valley Road and Oxley
Road, and in October Father Libois returned to Hongkong, leaving
Father Osouf as Procureur, who in 1863 went as Sous-Procureur at
Hongkong and was afterwards Procureur there from 1866 to 1875,
when he laecame Director at Paris, and in 1877 was a Bishop in
Japan and is now Archbishop of Tokyo.

He was succeeded by Father Cazenavo, of Bayonne in Gascony, who
left France in 1858 to go to Tongking, and was Procureur in Singapore
from 1863 to 1864 and was then Procureur at Shanghai. Father
Patriat, of Dijon in Burgundy, succeeded him. He left France in
1862, and was Sous-Procureur in Singapore, and Procureur from 1864
to 1874, when he went as Superior to the Sanatorium at Hongkong,
and died at the Sanatorium at Monbeton in France on 21st November, 1887,
after 25 years service.

In 1874 he was 'succeeded by Father Martinet, of Verdun in
Lorraine, who left France in 1870, and had been Sous-Procureur in
Hongkong until 1872, when he came to Singapore as Sous-Procureuv,
and was Procureur from 1874 to 1876 when he wont as Procureur
to Shanghai, and in 1891 to Hongkong.

In 1876 Father Holhann, of A^erdun, who left France in
1874, camo from Hongkong, where ho had been Sous-Procureur, to
Singapore, and was Procureur from 1876 to 1881, when ho went to
Penang as Director of the College there.

Father Nicolas Justin Couvreur, of Langros in Champagne, who
had left France on 16th October, 1878, and had been Sous-Procureur
in Hongkong for three years, was appointed Procureur in Singaport'
in 1881, and is so to this time.

It may be of interest here to give some particulars about this
Society of Foreign Missions. The " Societe des Missions Rtrangeres''
was begun in 1659 at Paris, in the Rue du Bac, where it still has
its large establishment- It was in the Chapel there, which is still
standing, that Fenelon preached his famous sermon, which is said to
have been a model for all missionary sermons afterwards. It seems
to have been difficult to find out the exact date of the beginning
of the Society, but it is certain that the two first priests
left France on 18th June, 1660. The first of these, Pierre de la
Mothe Lambert, was then 35 years of age, and he died at luthia,
the then capital of Siam, as Bishop, on 15th June, 1679, at the
ago of 54 years. Ho came from Lisieux in Normandy.
: King Louis XIV. issued his Letter of Patents, equivalent to a Charter
of Incorporation, in July, 1663. The Seminary, or College for the training
of missionaries, was formally opened on 27th October in that year.

The Roman Catholic Church 257

During the first ten years 23 Missionaries went from France; by
the end of that Century there had been 96 ; by the end of 1800,
264; and in 1892 the total had amounted to 1968. Between 1840
and 1888^ 64 had been sent to the Straits; 13 had died in Singa->
pore, 3 in Malacca, and 20 at Penang. Before 1840 the names of
the Clergy in the Straits were included in the Mission of Siam, and
the names are not tabulated separately.

For 240 years the Society has carried on the mission in the Faj»
East, and has establishments now in Japan, Tongking, Cochin-Chiiia,
China, Siam, Corea, Thibet, Pondicherry, the Malay Peninsula and
Bnrmah. The report of the Society for 1900 shows that there are
at present in these missions 35 Bishops and 1,117 European
missionaries, of which one Bishop and 32 clergy are in the Straits.

In consequence of the French revolution, the Church in France
had been despoiled of its funds, and a Society called the Propaga-
tion of the Faith was established in Lyons. Collections were made
throughout France, and in less than fifty years, largely from the
constant collection of a few sous among the poor throughout the
Churches, a fund was established even larger than that which had
been at disposal for the foreign Missionaries in the previous century.

The Association was started in Lyons in 1821 by Mademoiselle
Jaricot, and gradually developed into what it is at the present day.
The annual funds now amount roughly to 6,000,000 francs, distributed
among the Roman Catholic Missions throughout the world. Accounts
are published yearly in French, English, and some other languages.

From this fund each Missionary of the Society of Foreign Missions
receives 660 francs (£26.8.0, or say at the present exchange about
f22 a month) the Bishops receiving 1,320 francs, or twice that
amount. On this the Clergy have to depend for their support. The
only addition is what they may receive for stipends for masses, and
for marriage, baptism, and other fees.

The following memorandum relating to the Roman Catholic clergy
in the Straits, written over half a century ago, and headed "Bigandet,
Malacca,'^ is found among the rough manuscript notes of Mr. Braddell,
and fits in curiously in the present place : — " Priests, nearly all French
secular clergy, belonging to the Society or Congregation des Missions
Etrangdres. Sole object religious, no earthly motives. No political
intercourse with their country, no interference in political service.
They are priests, and profess to belong to no party, no political
ereed, no ambition but propasfation of Christian religion, and with it
edocalion and civilization. For maintenance they receive $120 a
year. There are twenty in the Straits with a Bishop. Admission -to
ffieCSbciety a great favour. Small pay, no pension. When coming
e&t, expected that they entertain no idea of ever quitting it, and
that they are prepared to die in the scene of their labours.'' One
hundred and twenty dollars was then the value of the six hundred
and sixty francs already mentioned.

The object of referring to the matter is, that the extent of the
work that is to be seen in Singapore is often thought io have heefn
d^e to other sources, such as funds from the Society of Foreign Missipji^
in Paris, and not to the energy and devotion of the clergy and'

258 Anecdotal History of Singapore

the generosity of the community of the place. The following sentence,
in^a foot note at page 35 of the second volume of a book "La
Cochinchine Religieuse^' published in Paris in 1885, and sent to the
Singapore newspaper for review, goes some way to explain the
matter. "Gr&ce a Toeuvre de la Propagation de la foi, les simples
nussionnaires recoivent six cent soixante francs, et les vicaires apostoliqoes
treize cents francs par an. C^est pen, mais c'est suffisant pour des hommes
quin'envient ni les riches traitements, ni le confortable des clergjinans
protestants.'^*"

It can be seen from the history of the Society published in Paris
in 1894, in three volumes (Vol II. page 417), that the members are secular
priests making no vows of poverty or of obedience, but making a promise
before leaving Prance that they will, as far as they are able, follow the
rules of the Society touching their manner of living, dress and other similar
matters. They are therefore free to give up their work, as has been shewn
to have been the case with some of those who have been mentioned in
this chapter, much in the same way as some of the Missionaries of
the London Missionary and American Societies are shewn on page
214 of this book to have retired.

The principles upon which the Society is conducted seem to be
that each Priest must be satisfied vrith his yearly allowance for his
support, and with the assurance that in case of extreme old age or
illness he will not be neglected. It is an inherent obligation that no
Missionary can possess landed property of his own, in the Mission to
which he is appointed, unless with the consent of the Bishop, and that
after his death it must pass to the Mission, or to a Church or School,
or some work of the Mission. It is a principle of the Society that a
Mission should be self-supporting as far as it can become so ; therefore
whenever a Mission is able to support itself without the aid of the Society,
the Missionaries will willingly leave all behind them, and begin new work
where such aid is more required. It has been said that it is to these
principles that the Society has owed its success, and Sina^apore has shown
how well, in one instance, it has been deserved.

The Diocese of Malacca receives yearly at the present timf», 1901,
the following amounts from France: —

From the Propagation of the Faith —

For the Bishop and Clergy ... . . Frcs. 24,475.00

For the Catechists, School-masters and
~ • grants to open new Schools, &c. .. ... „ 11,643.95

Total Fes. 36,118.95

From the Sainte Enfance for children not in the Convents „ 12,000.00
From;, the. Sainte Enfance for all tbo Convents „ 21,000.00

Total . Fc^. 09,118.95

. # »« Thanks to the work of the Propagation of the Faith the plain Missionaries
receire 660 francs and the Bishops 1,300 (? 1,320) francs a year. It is little,
but it is enough for men who do not seek tlie costly living, nor the comfort
of Protestant wergymen.*'

The RoDuiu Catholic Church 2b9

The allotment of the sam for Catechists^ &c., is entirely under
the control of the Bishop in Council with his Clergy. The grants
from the Sainte Enfance (the Holy Childhood) are given for the
support of orphans.

These amounts vary very little from year to year. There is
now a slight tendency to decrease, owing to the fact that the
annual increase in the funds of the Societies for the Propagation of
the Faith and of the Sainte Enfance is less than the increase in the
number of calls upon the Societies.

Both these Associations receive help from other nations. France
contributes about two-thirds of the funds of the Propagation^ and
about one-third of those of the Sainte Enfance. Germany and Belgium
take the lead in the subscription to the Sainte Enfance.

In addition to these funds the Clergy have^ as has been said, the
Stipendia Missarura^ and any money they may possess as family
inheritance, besides contributions, if any, from their friends or benefactors
in Europe. The local contributions provide the rest.

Some of this matter does not fall strictly within the intention
of this book ; but the facts came to the surface in hunting into the
history of the older buildings, and the interest that must attach to it
among the congregation of the Church, is a ready excuse for it, and
must give them cause for grateful appreciation of the work that is
carried on in their midst, in a way that seems, to the Protestant compiler
of this book, to hold out a great example to others.

The Brothers School.

The establishment of this school was entirely due to the Rev.
J. M. Beurel. He had originally wished to be admitted into the
Society of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, but was refused
because ho Avas in sacred orders. In 1841 he wrote to the Rev. J.
B. Boucho, Penang, to consult him on the subject, but he was told
that there were very great difficulties which seemed insurmountable;
that it would require a large outlay of money which Father Beurel would
not have at his disposal; and it was not likely the Superior General
in Paris would send his subjects to this extremity of the world ;
besides how would the masters bear the climate under the severity of
their rules; and it was suggested that laymen as school masters would
be better than a body of men under a Religious Order.

The proposal had to drop for the time, but when the ground
was given by the Government for the new Church, Mr. Beurel arranged
that the old chapel and compound should remain for the future
school, and informed Governor Bonham that it was his earnest desire
to establish schools for the boys and girls of Catholic parents and
the public in general, and that the chapel and buildings would
perfectly answer for the purpose.

At this time, 1843 to 1845, attention could only be given to
procuring means for building the new Church; but in February,
1846, seeing this on the way to completion, Mr. Beurel wrote to the
Superior of the Brothers of the Christian Schools in Paris sajring
that he dreamed day and night of establishing schools at this furthest
extremity of the East Indies, under their direction, and that he

200 Anecdotal History of Singapore

hoped to see it realised, and that as soon as the new Church was
finished he would apply again for help. The Superior General replied
that they would willingly assist, but they could not hold out much
hope of doing so, because the number of masters was small, especi-
ally of those who were thoroughly acquainted with English.

„. On Sunday, the 6th June, 1847, when the Church was finished
and. blessed, Father Beurel, after the Gospel, announced to the.
Congregation that ho had the positive intention to establish sclioola
under the direction of the Christian Brothers, and of some nuns or
sisters. That he took the great Patriarch Saint Joseph for the Patron
^f the undertaking, and would set his hand to the work. In July
he wrote to the Queen of France asking for help, and to the Minister
of the Interior and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, but the revolution
of 1848, which had just taken place and had driven King Louis
Philippe out of France, prevented any replies. The Bishop also objected
to any Brothers being brought from Europe unless Father Beurel could
show that he had sufficient means to maintain the establishment.

The Singapore Free Press of the 22nd June, 1848, contained the
following — " Below we publish a paper which has been handed to us by
the Reverend Mr. Beurel, and contains the prospectus of a school whiish,
if properly carried out, will be productive of much usefulness not only
in Singapore, but in the neighbouring native states. It is intended
not only to educate such children as may be sent to the school by.
their parents and guardians in Singapore, but to procure children to.
be sent from the various native states, who will receive at the
hands of the instructors such tuition as will introduce them to a higher
state of civilization, and fit them for being the instruments of spreading it
amongst their countrymen. This school, as the plan has been explained
to us, will in a great measure afford the means of accomplishing the
purposes which Sir T. S. Raffles had in view in founding the Singapore
Iiistitution, but which none since his departure have possessed suffi-
cient zeal and influence to carry out. The indefatigable energy and
perseverance of the Missionaries of the Society for the Propagation of
the Faith will probably enable them to undertake this successfully.
R$gg,rding it as of the greatest importance to a proper civilization and
cojivjer^ion of natives, that a sound education should be the fore-runner,
oy'a^ompanier of such, we cordially recommend Mr. Beurel's prospectus
to the most favorable consideration of our readers: —

;.: /VThe Revd. J. M. Beurel having, through God's blessing, completed
hisrQhurcb, purposes now establishing in this Settlement a BoysVSchool
to:.i)P placed under the direction of the ^ Christian Brothers.^ These
T^^hers are well known in many parts of Europe to be thoroughly
qualified to instruct youth, as they are specially brought up for the
purppse, and bind themselve by vow to devote their lives to the fur-
therance of this most eminently Christian and civilizing call, asking no
TQinuneration for their labours beyond what may be necessary for their
food »ttd dress.

• ^^'They have many flourishing Schools not only in Europe but also
in the.. United State.s. of America. Tn the East Indies they are but.
littlet; known, though their services are much required. The Revd. .J.:
M. . Beurel has then full hope and confidence that the public at large

The Roman Catholic Church 261

and especially his liberal friends who have so kindly lent him assistance
in the building of his Church, will promote and patronise by some
pecuniary assistance his views of introducing these enlightened and
disinterested teachers of youth into this part of the world, where
Christianity and civilization are yet so little diffused among the natives;
What he requires at present is sufficient funds for the necessary
expenses of their passage to this place.

'^The Central School, which is to be established at Singapore, will
be at first opened by three of these European Masters in the old Roman-
Catholic Chapel, which is in every respect well adapted for a School-
Room. English, French, Chinese and the Malay languages, together
with the various branches of mathematics, book-keeping, drawing, &c.,
&c., &c., will be taught in the school. The principles upon which it is
to be conducted will be as liberal as possibly can be : thus it will be
open to every one, whatever his creed may be; and should, for
instance, a boy of a persuasion different from that of Roman Catholics
attend it, no interference whatever will take place with his religion,
unless his parents or guardians express their wishes to have him
instructed in the Catholic religion. Public religious instruction will
be given to Roman Catholic boys either before or after the hours for
School : but at all times the Masters will most carefully watch over the
morals of the whole, whatever their religious persuasion may be.^*'

The result was a sum of $1,352.50, and looking through the
list of subscribers it is seen that there is scarcely a member of the
commercial community left out. E. Boustead, J. Guthrie, W. H. Rea.d,
M. F. Davidson, G. G. Nicol, D. Fraser, J. Steel, J. Connolly, C. Carnie,
Raja Brooke, W. Mactaggart, W. Napier^ A. Logan, J. Armstrong,
and many other well-known names, heading the list.

In 1849 there seemed no chance of ^ettin^ Brothers from France
owing to the revolutionary upheaval, but on the 2nd July the Bishop
being in Singapore from Pcnang, on his third visit, gave Father
Beurel written permission to establish the School under the Christian
Brothers ^' on condition that the said Reverend Gentleman will defray
all expenses of establishing and keeping up such a School out of his own
resources without entailing any burden either upon the Bishop or his
successors." There is a note of Father Beurel, '^ I accepted it with
joy, in the hope that, through God's blessing, it would Ijecome light,,
but however the event has proved it to have been rather heavyv'*'

In 1850 nothing could be arranged in Singapore, and it
was decided in September that Father Beurel should go to France
to try to carry out this important undertaking. He sailed on the
2oth October in a French vessel, UArtilleur, and reached Havre on
14th March. He returned with six Brothers, four sisters, a lay
sister, and two young missionaries. They all went to Antwerp to
join a vessel there on 3rd December, and reached Singapore on 28th
March, 1852. Three of the Brothers were for Penang; the three for
Singapore were Brothers Liefroy the Director, Gregory the Sub-
Director, and Lothaire. Brother Antoine Liefroy was born at Auch in
France on 9th August, 1809. He left Singapore in 1862 for Mangalore.
He was the Brother Director and Visitor of Singapore, Pcnang, and
Colombo. He died at Cairo in 1867.

262 Ariecdotai History of Singapore

Brother Gregory was born in Ireland in 1820, was in Singapore
until 1863, when he went to India, and died there of Cholera in 1865.

Louis Antoine Combes, Brother Lothaire, was born in Loire in France
in 1827. He returned from Singapore to France in 1872, and was in
Singapore for a short time in 1875 and in 1877, having been in Hongkong.
PrcHn 1880 to 1884 he was Director of the School in Liverpool, and
then for a short time Director in London. Between 1881 and 1884 the
Brothers School in Singapore was conducted by lay teachers under the
direction of the Missions Etrang^res. The Brothers came back again in
1885 under Brother Lothaire as Superior and the secular teachers left.
Brother Lothaire died at the Sanatorium of the Mission at Fleury Meudon,
near Paris, in 1899. He is remembered with much affection by his pupils.

The Christian Brothers School had been founded about 1680 at Rheims
in France by John Baptist de La Salle. He was born there on 30th April,
1651, the son of the Chancellor of State to the King and President of the
High Court of Rheims. The schools spread rapidly in France, exten-
ding.to Paris, Chartres, Calais and Avignon, and to Rome before tho close
of the century.

On 2nd July, 1725, King Loius XV. issued the Letters Patent con-
stituting the Institute, and on 26th September in the same year Pope
Benedict XIII. approved by a Bull the " Institute and Rule of the
Brothers of the Christian Schools.*' It was one of the strict rules
of the Founder that no priest was received into the community; he
thought that the mixing of Priests and Brothers might be a cause of
division, and that the Brothers would be aspiring to be priests and
prefer preaching to the humble but useful work of the Schools and the
community might die out for want of teachers.

In 1886 in France alone there were 308,000 boys and 8,859 teachers.
In Paris there were then 96 Schools, some of the buildings being very
extensive, with gymnasiums and large military bands formed by the
boys.

The founder now known as Saint De La Salle, as he was canonized

on 24th May, 1900, died at Rouen on 7th April, 1719, 68 years old, on

the night between Good Friday and Saturday, the large history of the

Institute remarking that he went to celebrate the Paschal Feast in

Parage. He was buried on the Saturday, and iu 1734 the body

was exhumed and re-interred in the chapel of the Brothers, and in

1881 the remains were again removed to the chapel in the Boarding

School. On Sunday, 1 9th February, 1888, the first ceremony ot

canonization took place at St. Peter's at Rome, and the following is

a translation of one of the four Inscriptions, in Latin, which

decorated the building on that day : —

To John Baptist De La Salle
Founder and Father
Of the Brothers of the Christian Schools
Haised to the honours op the Blessed
The whole Catholic World
Sends up prayer and supplication
Mingled with tears
That the Education of Youth
Placed in great peril by impiety

May not Deviate
From the Holy Laws of Religion.

The Roman Catholic Church 263

The Schools spread over the continent and reached Ireland in 1804^
Reunion in 1816^ and Montreal in Canada in 1838. As far as can be
gathered from the history, it was Father Beurel who first led to their'
coming farther abroad, because in a map of the Schools in India
and China printed on page 602 of the large and very handsome life of
the founder, pablished in Paris in 1888, it says that the communities
there were founded from 1852, and that is the year that Father Beurel
brought out the first Brothers for Singapore. Algiers was not begun
until 1853, and Saigon in 1866. So that Singapore seems to have been the
commencement of the Schools which have now so largely spread in the
East. Bishop Bouchers remark, already mentioned, that it was not likely
the Superior (General in Paris would send the teachers so far, seems to
bear this out.

Father Beurel used to remark that it was on 6th June, 1847,
the feast of Corpus Christi, at High Mass, that he first spoke about
the Schools, and began to say a public prayer for their success at
the High Mass on every Sunday ; and that it was on the same day of
the year in 1851 that the Superior General in Paris gave his consent,
against almost all expectation.

On the 22nd July, 1852, a Prospectus was issued of the school.
It said that it was to be a free school, to be held in the large
and airy premises, lately used as the Catholic Church, No, 3, Brass
Bassa Koad, and as the teachers received no more than their support
for their pious labours it was hoped the generous and enlightened public
would support it according to their means. Every care would be
taken to form the Catholic children in the solid maxims of Christian
piety, but there would be no interference with the religious tenets
of other creeds. This had been headed "St. John^s School,'^ the
reason for which does not appear. The Director objected to the
name as he wanted it called the Christian Brothers School. Messrs.
G. W. Lecerf, James Isaiah Woodford, and Patrick J. Cunningham,
were the first Committee, but the Director objected to a Committee,
and the school was practically left under the management of the
Brothers.

The School was opened on 1st May, there were three European,
masters. One French Brother Lief roy, and two Irish Brothers, Gregory
and Swedbert. The latter died in Singapore on 1st April, 1855. Brother
Lothaire had stayed at Penang. In 1860 two more masters had
been added. The number of pupils at the end of the first year was
110.

The grant of land where the Boys' School now stands was-
dated 28th May, 1863, of the area of acre 1.3.5, and is given in
trust for the Roman Catholic Community of Singapore so long as
the Christian Brothers shall maintain a school.

In 1853 the French Government gave a grant of 1,000 francs
a year, and the Tumongong having won a bet of $100 from the
Sultan of Lingga, it was given to Father Beurel for the school.
The French Government allowance gave $151.80, the Masonic Lodge
gave $25, other subscriptions $792, and the Church Mission in Singa-
pore $60. The school was in debt at the end of the year to Father
Beurel for $1,528.52. In 1855 he bought the large piece of ground

264 Anecdotal History of Singapore

at the north-east coraer of the compound beloiigiug to the Society
of Foreign Missions. It had been intended to build the Procure Hous6
there, but after the arrival of the Brothers it was found necessary, to
Ijuy it for their use or there would have been no compound behind
the school.

At the end of 1861 the school owed Father Beurel $2,977.57. He
had given $900 in donations to the School during these first ten years ;
$1,260 had been collected in France; $7,862 subscribed in Singapore
including subscriptions for the new house; and §160 received in dona-
tions from the Masonic Lodge.

From 1854 Father Beurel received a few boarders in his house
who went to the school as day scholars. In the beginning of 1855 he
received 26 or 27 Boarders from Manila and Macao. Father Beurel
had lived in a house in the School enclosure, and he removed in 1857
to the house at the east corner of Brass Bassa Road and Queen Street
where the Catholic Club is now. At Easter the Brothers wished to
take the boarders into their house. It was done, but the boys did
not like the change and it led to a good deal of trouble, which Father
Beurel had anticipated as there was not sufficient room to accommodate
them^ and the boys twice walked off in a body, and eventually the
greater number returned as boarders to Father Beurel.

On Monday the 19th March, 1855, on a beautiful evening at
6 o'clock after Vespers, the comer stone of the intended new school
was laid. The Sisters with all the girls from the Convent and a
number of other persons were present. In a bottle laid in a granite
stone in the foundation was the following paper: — '^ In the year of
of Our Lord 1855 on the 19th of March, the feast of St Joseph,
the Glorious Patron of this Mission and especially of all the under-
takings of the Rev. J. M. Beurel, for the Propagation of the Catholic
Faith, the first stone of tliis building to be erected for the use of the
venerated and pious Brethren of the Christian Schools established in
the town of Singapore in the year 1852, has been laid by the Rev.
Father Hypolito Huerta, of the Order of the Hermits of St. Augustin,
under the patronage of and with the blessing of the Right Rev.
Dr. J. B. Boucho, Bishop of Italia, the Venerable Vicar Apostolic
of this Mission. Complete, Lord, this work which is undertaken
for: Thy Glory and the salvation of souls in this place, under the

Srotection of the Blessed Virgin Mary and her glorious spouse St,
oseph. Amen. ''

The subscription had amounted to $842 and the expense of laying
the foundations for the large house was about $700. The Bishop,
however, afterwards thought that it was better to delay the actual
building, as Father Beurel had already undertaken much pecuniary re-
sponsibility for the Convent building, and the expense of building the
Brothers' School might be more than he was able to meet for the
present. The Bishop wrote that he thought there should be a little
breathing time, and that it should stand over for two or three years.
The result was that the building was not proceeded with until the end
of 1866.

In the beginning of 1865 the Brother Director, Brother Lothaire,
determined to set to work to provide a new schoolhouse, to be

The Roman Catholic Church 265

used as a school and a dwelling house for Ihe Brothers. In February,
1865, he wrote to the Government that he had been promised ^i^.'iOO
for the purpose, and sent a plan of the proposed building. He
asked Government for assistance, but the only result was the grant
of Government bricks at the cost price to Government, and even this
was not fully carried out, as the building of the new Government
House required so many bricks that the promise to the School was
set aside before the building was finished.

On 8th November, 1866, Brother Lothaire made a contract with
a Chinese for the construction of the building, by which the contractor
was to pull down the then existing class rooms, the old residence
occupied by Father Paris, and the house formerly occupied by Father
Beurel, and to erect a building 149 feet long, 61 feet wide, and 32
feet high, to be finished on 15th August, 1867. The contract price was
§83600, but the tiles of the old buildings and the materials for the
chapel, which was to be fitted like the one in the Convent, were
to be supplied by the Brothers. While the building was being erected
the classes were held in Father BeureFs house, and in attap buildings,
as circumstances allowed.

The Convent.

On the 7th July, 1849, Mr. Beurel wrote to Governor Butterworth
that it was intended, now the Boys' School was in a fair way to
be established, to found another charitable institution "on behalf of
the females of all classes and conditions in the Island, including a
school for respectable ladies, an orphanage, and an asylum for destitute
widows, the whole to be placed under the care and direction of the
Sisters of Charity.^' He asked for the ground next the Church in
Victoria Street. The Governor in reply wrott* that a large piece
of land has already been given for the Church i in addition to the
land on the other side of Brass Bassa Road, which was now to be
used for the Boys' School ; and that the ground Mr. Beurel now applied
for appeared to be the only eligible spot for a new Court House,
should one be erected.

On 15th July, 1852, Father Beurel again applied for the same land,
ta Governor Blundell, urging that the intention to build a new Court
House had been abandoned, and that the land was being only used
by the convicts to store firewood and cut up timber, which disturbed
people in the Church. The Governor replied that the land could
not be parted with.

On 18th August, 1852, Father Beurel bought with his own money,
for $4,000, the house at the corner of Victoria Street and Brass
Bassa Road. It is the large house that is still standing next the
main entrance, and was built by Mr. Coleman for Mr. Caldwell. This
was the beginning of the Convent buildings, which now cover so large a
space, being much larger than those of any other ecclesiastical body in
Singapore, and having a large open space with grass and trees in the centre.

Father Beurel afterwards bought, with his own monies, four of
the lots of land which were sold by the Trustees of the Raffles
Institution as already stated on page 124. These comprised 14,200
square yards or 127,800 square feet ; and on 27th December, 1863,

266 Ariecdotal History of Singapore

he conveyed it. as a gift of his own, to 'Hhe Reverend Mother St.
Mathilde and her successors in oflSce as Superior of the Convent, in
order to establish a Convent and charitable Institution for the Sisters
of the Charitable Institution of the Holy Infant Jesus/'

On 20th December, 1853, Father Beurel bought an adjoining house
for ^3,000, which was to become the Orphanage. This has long been
pulled down.

The Society to which Father Beurel applied in France for help
in finding Sisters for the Convent, is called the Institute of the
Charitable Schools of the Holy Infant Jesus of St. Maur. [L'Institut
des Ecoles Charitables du Saint Enfant Jesus de Saint Maur.] It was
founded by the Kev. Father Nicolas Barre, «it Rouen in 1666, and
in 1673 he founded the Seminary at Paris in the Rue St. Maur,
where it still stands ; but the street is now called Rue de I'Abbe
Gr^goire. Abbe Tiberge in 1670 purchased the land, and nine years
afterwards bought adjoining properties which he left by his will to
the Sisters for the instruction of poor children. He had been the
Director in Paris of the Missions Etrang&res, and was one of its great
benefactors, and a well-known author. He died on 9th October, 1730,
at the age of 79 years, and was buried with much ceremony in their
Chapel.

It seems to have been due to Father Beurel that the Society
of St. Maur sent the first Sisters away from France. It is certain
that the first Mission founded at a distance was that of the Straits.
On 17th November, 1851, the first four sisters left Paris, the Mother
of the Society going with them from the Rue de FAbbe Gregoire
to Antwerp to see them off under care of Father Beurel. This is stated
at length in the History of the Society, which says in a footnote,
that the foundation proposed for Singapore was first begun at Penang,
and that the work in Singapore started a little later in 1854. It also
says that between 1851 and 1877, twelve departures of sisters for
the East succeeded each other at intervals ; the Superior, Mother de
Faudoas, in religion. Sister St. Francois de Sales, always accom-
panying them to the ship. She died on 27th August, 1877, at the
age of 70 years, having been 56 years in the Society, and its head
for forty years. The history attributes chiefly to her the founding
of the convents at Penang, Singapore, Malacca, Yokohama, Tokio,
and the first arrangements for that at Bangkok,

It has been said on page 261 that when Father Beurel returned
from France in 1852 he was accompanied from Antwerp by four
sisters. Among these was Mother St. Paulin, the Superior, who died
and was buried at sea about fifteen days before the vessel arrived
at Singapore. On their arrival in Singapore the Bishop, to the great
disappointment of Father Beurel, sent the Sisters to Penang after
they had only been about eight days in Singapore, and suggested
to Father Beurel to write to Calcutta to try and get some Irish
Sisters, who were at Dacca and wished to leave there. Father
Beurel did not like the proposal, which was not carried out, and he
wrote to France to try to induce others to come.

Very soon a second party left France, starting from Southampton
and crossing the desert in caravans. On their way they met Father

The itovian Catholic Church 267

Bigandet in the desert who was very much astonished to see them,
and was not pleased because they could not all speak English. In
this party there were Mother St. Mathilde, who came as Superior
to take the place of Mother St. Paulin who had died at sea; Sister
St. Apollinaire, Sister St. Damien^ and Sister St. Gregoire. It has
been thought in Singapore that Mother St. Mathilde (to whom^ as
will be shewn presently, the Convent and Singapore owe so much)
came out with Father Beurel, but it was not the case. She was the first
Superior who arrived in Singapore for the Convent, as her predecessor
had died on the voyage, which has probably led to the mistake.

Mother St. Mathilde stayed first at Penang, as Superior, with all the
Sisters, and after a year she came to Singapore, on 6th February, 1854,
with Sisters St. Gaetan, Apollinaire, and Gregoire. Mother St. Damien
remained at Penang as the Superior there.

The third party left France in 1853, and arrived in Singapore
in February 1854. There were three Sisters, of whom two, Sisters
St. Patrick and St. Leonard remained in Penang, and the other was
Sister St. Gaetan, who came to Singapore, and was, for twenty years.
Mother Superior of the Convent.

Mother St. Mathilde remained in Singapore, until 20th June, 1874,
when she went to Yokohama and there founded the two Convents
at Yokohama and Tokio which have since increased so largely She
has since made two short visits to Singapore, and is at the present
time living in the Convent at Yokohama, at the very advanced age
of eighty-eight years, after being half a century in the East. So it
seems likely that, like Father Beurel, she will die far away from
the place where she laid the solid foundations for the good work
of the Convent in Singapore, which owes as much to her as the
other institutions of the Church do to Father Beurel.

When Mother St. Mathilde went to Japan, with Sister St. Gregoire,
in 1874, Mother St. Gaetan became Superior. In 1858 an English Lady,
called in religion Sister St. Joseph, had come out to the Convent.
She had been a Protestant, and two of her sisters, who came to
Singapore on two occasions to see her, used to go to St. Andrew's
5iurch. She died of consumption, on 31st May, 1883, after many
years illness, during which she persistently strove to carry on her
work in the class-rooms with the pupils who were very much attached
to her. These two ladies, working together, (the French lady with
her musical ability and very refined manners, and the English lady
with her experience of life outside a convent^s walls, having been
brought up in a Protestant family), made the Convent a perfect home
for the large number of pupils and orphans who lived in it. After
Sister St. Joseph's death. Mother St. Gaetan used to say that she
seemed to have lost half of herself, and she certainly felt her loss
very much. Mother St. Gaetan herself went to Europe in ill-health,
and died in London in 1892, where she had gone to found the
first Convent of the Society there.

During these years the buildings had grown. In 1855 a small
house was built for boarders. Afterwards it was pulled down and the
long building behind Mr. Caldwell^s house was put up. Then the
Chapel and the schoolrooms were built, as money could be collected

268 Anecdotal History of Singapore

to pay for them. At last, in 1891 and 1892, the lon^, large building
at the southern boundary of the laud was put up. It cost $30,000,
of which the Government gave $10,000, as it was then the rule
for the Government to aid towards school buildings. The rest of the
money was raised by subscriptions. Cheang Hong Lim, a rich Chinese,
since dead, gave $'^,000 ; considerable sums were added by the liberality
df Protestants in Singapore ; the Congregation of the Church, which
is far from as well off as the Protestant community, gave little by little,
but constantly, of their means, and the required sum was eventually
raised.

There is a Religious Society in France called La Sainte £nfance,
the published accounts of which, issued each year, can be seen by all.
The funds, collected in many cases in very small weekly or monthly
subscriptions of a few sous, are devoted to paying for the keep of
children of heathen parents ; a certain sum being allowed per head
to the Convent which provides for them. The amount allowed in 1900,
and it varies very little, was 21,000 francs for all the Convents
in the Straits, at Singapore, Malacca, Kuala Lumpor, Taipeng and
Penang. It is in this way only that the Convent in Singapore receives
any money help from France, and a very small sum it is, compared
with the necessary expense of keeping up such an establishment as
the Convent, which at the time when this is given to the printer at
the end of 1901 has within its walls from 300 to 320 inmates.

Where then, it may be asked, does the rest of the money come
from day by day to provide for so many ? Consider the money spent
on salaries in the other charitable institutions and schools in the Straits,
and then seek to know, which there is no difficulty in ascertaining, what is
the corresponding expense in the Convent of those who devote their lives
to their work for the work's sake ; and there is half the answer. There
is the Government Grant, as in the Schools of other denominations:
and, for the rest, it is sometimes said that the Roman Catholic
communities are ^ood begirars, and given a certain proportion of
paying pupils (but a great number of orphans and children for
whom nothing can be expected to be paid, but are willingly gathered
in.) and day by day the needful food is found. The work may be carried
on under difficulties, but it never fails, and continues
to grow. It requires little discrimination on the part of children
or their parents to appreciate the advantage of being under the
instruction of refined and well-educated ladies whose only aim, it is
apparent, is the good that they are doing, and who are without any
motive of self-interest or self -ad vantage, for where can this find
place in their dependent lives ; and when for such good reasons, some
Protestant parents are glad to send their children as day scholars
to learn their lessons or their music there, they know that the school
fees go to help to feed and clothe another class of children who
badly need it.

This Chapter would seem very imperfect if it did not emphasize
the long and arduous work of Father Beurel in the interest of the
Roman Catholic Church and of the Congregation during thirty-fire

The Roman Catholic Church 269

•

years. He carried out the work of the Parish as regards its pecuniary
affairs in the most business-like way, and left behind him most
accurate accounts and details in writing of all that took place, which
have all been placed at the disposal of the compiler of this book while
writing this chapter. At the beginning of the first book, a lar^e volume,
he has written in French *'The Annals of the Catholic Mission at
Singapore, written by the undersigned in his moments of leisure.
J, M. Beurel, M. Ap.''

In reading the books one is struck with the difficulties he met
with, and the way he surmounted them. We find the Bishop objecting
to his going on with buildings because he was, not at all unreasonably,
afraid of the responsibility of Father Beurel incurring liabilities which
he would not have the means to meet, and quoting the text in LukQ
xiv., about a man building a tower without counting the cost and not having
wherewith to complete it, at which those that behold him, mock.

It has sometimes been thought in Singapore that all these buildings
and the schools, and the work of the Church, had been very large!}',
due ibo pecuniary help from France, without which they would not
have existed, nor the work of the clergy carried on. The documents
and accounts show exactly the opposite, and it is for this reason
that so many details of the expense and the source of the money
for the buildings has been given in this chapter The local Govern-
ment gave the land free, as it has done to all charitable bodies
for churches and schools, but the church received no money ai^I^
from Government, like the Raffles Institution and the Church of England/:
We have seen how on one occasion Father Beurel found so many,
difficulties in his way that he went to Burmah to join Father Bigandet,
not intending to return, but doing so, at the earnest request of the
Congregation, to continue the work he had taken in hand, which he.
lived to see completed.

The third volume of the History of the Society, at page 247,.
contains a special account of Father Beurel, as he was considered to have
done remarkable work for the Mission. The following is a translation
of one passage; " of an unalterable calm, a combination of human philosophy
and saintly resignation, of perseverance that nothing could deter,
neither blind opposition nor active hostility ; neither the anger of the
great nor the menaces of the small ; he was one of those who know that
in the affairs of this life a direct line is not necessarily the shortest
road from one point to another ; when an obstacle stood in his path
and he could not clear it in a single bound, he would go round it
gently and quietly, with a smile which bore witness to his confidence
in the future. "

He spent the whole of his private means, which were not inoon--
siderable, in Church buildings, and he was not the only instance 5f the^-
kind among the Roman Catholic clergy in the Straits. • -' •

Bishop Bigandet, then Bishop of Burmah, was in Singapore fo^biie-'
week in October, 1884, on his way to Rangoon; and on Sfthday th'^^-
I2th^ at High Mass in the Church of. the Good Shepherd, wheii'thereS
was. a largo congrjegation, for he was very mtich respected, he said ofi'
going up into the pulpit and turning to the congregation, that beft>re
commencing his sermon, he wished to recall to the minds of them all,

270 Anecdotal History of Singapore

the memory of Father Beurel, and of all he had done for the congregation.
And then, after a pause, he commenced his sermon.

Father Beurel was ill in Paris for abont three years before
he died. He was buried there^ and not^ as all the congregation
would have wished, in the Church he had built. There is a portrait
of him in the Parochial House, but the best remembrance of him
is the large Church, the Convent and the Brothers' School close by.

Some of the older members of the congregation at this time
were boys taken by him into his house and brought up by him for
useful work in the place. Among them an old Chinese resident, while this
chapter was in the printer's hands, has given the names of Mr. John
Scheerder, Mr. Martia, Buan Seng the shipping clerk of a large European
firm, and Tan Hay Seng, the son of Pedro No Kia, a wealthy Chinese
member of the congregation in the older days.

There is an old and true story of how Governor Butter worth thought
Father Beurel had outwitted him by building the Parochial House
on the ground that had been given only for the Church ; but Father
Beurel always said that it was an ecclesiastical building connected
with the Church and therefore was within the meaning, if not the
letter, of the lease. It used therefore to be thought by some in
Singapore that Father Beurel was rather too clever a man of
business ; but this was only one side of the matter. When one looks
at the large buildings just spoken of, and then at the Churches at Buldt
Timah, Serangoon and Johore, the large Church of S.S. Peter and Paul
for the Chinese behind the Brothers' School, and the Church of St.
Mary of Lourdes for the Tamils at a short distance from it, the
work that has been done is as striking as the small remuneration for
which their Clergy do such willing work, giving their own private
means, as well as their whole lives, to the calling they follow.
When remembering the number of those who have ended their lives in
Singapore, and looking at the long rows of tombs of Sisters of the Convent
at the Cemetery in Bukit Timah Road, there are many (not of their
communion alone) who will echo the words which are put at the end of
''The Obituary " at the close of the yearly report of the Societe des Missions
Etrang^res for 1900, "Sit Memnria iUornin hi heuedicfione."

THE PORTUGUESE MISSION.

The Rev. Francisco de Silva Pinto e Maia of Porto, who has already
been spoken of in this chapter, is shown by the records of the Portuguese
Church to have arrived at Singapore on 7th April, 1825, and commenced
the Mission which still exists under the patronage of the Portuguese
Crown. He built a parochial house with a small chapel attached to it,
and worked indefatigably for twenty-five years. Father Maia died in
Singapore on 17th February, 1850. He was buried at the old cemetery,
and his remains were transferred to the Church of St. Jose after
that Church was built. He left all he had, including some land he
had bought, for the erection of the Church.

The Roman Catholic Chnrch 271

The Rev. Vincente de Santo Catharina succeeded Father Maia,
and he erected the main building of the present Church of St.
Jose in Victoria Street, which cost about §15,000. The greater part
of the money was derived from tlie gifts of Father Maia, supple-
mented by a sum of $2,000 from the King of Portugal and by local
subscriptions. The foundation stone was laid on the 1 4th December,
1851, the following inscription being made upon it : —

"The first stone of this Portuguese Roman Catholic Church at
Singapore, consecrated to the service of the Almighty God, in honour
of the Holy Virgin and St. Joseph, was laid by the Vicar Vicente De
Santa Catharina on the 14th day of December, A. D. 1851, and the
Church erected by contribution from the fund of the Mission of St.
Joseph of Macao and those of the inhabitants of Macao and of this
island, raised through the instrumentality and noble zeal of Joaquim
d' Almeida, Esq., and the aforesaid Vicar, in the 5th year of the
Pontificate of Pius IX., the 25th year of the reign of Dona Maria II.
Queen of Portugal, the 14th year of the reign of Her Britannic Majesty
Queen Victoria, and the 9th year of the administration of Colonel
William John Butterworth, c.b., Governor of Prince of Wales' Island,
Singapore and Malacca.^'

In 1868 the Church was enlarged by the addition of two wings,
and the Parochial House was repaired and extended. The Portuguese
Government gave $9,000, and a subscription was raised among the
community.

A School for children was established by Father Jose Pedro Sta
Anna de Cunha in June, 1 879, in a shop-house in Middle Road opposite
the Parochial House. In 1880 it was moved into a compound house
in Victoria Street, near the Church, and in 1886 to the new building
specially erected for the purpose in the Church compound, towards
the expense of which the local government contributed $4,000, as it
had done to other schools. In 1893 the Girls* School was separated
from the boys, the ground floor of the Parochial House being fitted as a
school for boys, and in 1894 the Society of the Conosianas Sisters in
Italy took charge of the Girls* School.

The Portuguese Mission was under the Archbishop of Goa until
1887, when the jurisdiction was transferred to the Bishop of Macao.

272 Anecdotal HiMory of Singaporr

CHAPTER XXII

1835.

IN February the flag-staff at Blakan Mati was given up. In Aug^st^
1834, orders had been received from Bengal for Mr, Coleman to
prepare plans and estimates for an iron suspension bridge, and on the
•Jbth February, 1835, the bridge arrived from Calcutta on board the
mil Watch. The estimate was SlO,680.

.7 In May, petitions were signed by all the European Mercantile
Community addressed to the King and to the Grovernor-General ol
India on the subject of piracy, which was very bad at this time, even
at a short distance outside the limits of the harbour, some Europeans
being attacked in sampans when going out to board vessels; also as
to the want of Admiralty Jurisdiction; and also regarding the restric-
tion against American vessels being allowed to trade with Singapore.

The latter had been a vexed question for several years. Soon
after the termination of the American War, a convention was made
at London in July, 1815, by which the trade by American vessels were
restricted to the principal settlements of the East Indies, viz., Calcutta,
Madras, Bombay, and Prince of Wales' Island, which latter was, at the
time, the only British Settlement in the Straits of Malacca. Singapore
was not established and Malacca was about to be restored to the Dutch.
The Americans, under this convention, resumed their trade with the
British possessions in India, which had been interrupted by the war of
1812, and, after the expiration of tho time to which the convention
>vas limited, they still followed their trade with these countries as usual.

In 1819 Singapore was added to the British Possessions in India,
with the avowed purpose of making it a Free Port, and a general
depot of British trade in the Far East. Moreover, it became a princi-
pal Settlement under a Governor of its own, subject only to the
authorities at home and to the Supreme Government of Bengal. The
Americans came to trade at Singapore, and their merchant ships added
to the number of foreigners who habitually frequented the port, and
as they most commonly brought specie to invest in eastern commodities
brought to the Settlement, they were among its most valuable
customers.

They believed and so did the inhabitants of the place, that a fair
construction of former treaties and past practice (although after the
expiration of the term for which such treaties were made), allowed for their
trading still to the possessions of the East India Company, and they
accordingly came here under the same security as they went to other
principal places in the East Indies.

Things remained in this harmonious state till the Commander of
H. il. S. Lame, in 1825, taking a different view of the subject, thought

1835. 273

proper to detain the American ship Oovemor EndteoU, found in the
neitrlibourhood and avowedly bound to this place. She was sent to
Calcutta, and there put under trial ; but as she had not traded in this
port, that important question did not come up, and the Court had no
opportunity of giving an opinion. The ship having committed no
allesfed breach of law, was acquitted, and damages were adjudged
against the C/Ommander of the Lame,

The detention of the Governor Endicott had the effect of deterring
the Americans from trading with this place as formerly, under an
apprehension of being seized and sent to a distant port to undergo
a long and expensive trial, and perhaps not realize one shilling of
any damages which might be adjudged to them by the Court, as in the
case of the Oovemor Endicott, the owners of which were said never
to have received any part of the amount of damages recovered
against the Captain of the Lame. To avoid, therefore, any su(ih
difficulty, they had resorted to the indirect practice of effecting their
purpose through the neighbouring Dutch Port of Rhio, or other
adjacent places.

The American vessels used to anchor in a bay called Boolang
on the island of Battam, opposite Singapore, about fourteen miles E.
S. E. from the roads, and beyond British jurisdiction. The cargo was
sent out in boats from Singapore, and the only result of a foolish
system was the delay and expense of conveying the produce by
boats to Boolang. In 1880, Mr. C. R. Read had been to England
to try to get the trade allowed, and there was only one opinion as
to the inconsistency of the regulation.

Mr. Balestier, who was the American Consul, lived in Singapore,
but ostensibly had his office at Rhio, styling himself Consul for the
port of Rhio, in the Island of Bintang and such other ports as
were nearer thereto than to the residence of any other Consul for
the United States. In November, 1836, he was recognised by the
Court of Directors in London, and became Consul at Singapore in
June, 1837, and American ships were allowed to trade on the same
footing as those of other nations. The result was a large increase in
the trade with America, nearly 8,000 tons of shipping visiting the port
in the year ending 30th June, 1837.

In this year Captain Newbold says it was proposed by an
American Missionary that Colonies of young men and women should
come to the Straits to spread science and civilisation ! Each Colony of
these philanthropists was to comprise five to fifteen families, or thirty
to ninety individuals, to include agriculturists, carpenters, goldsmiths,
shoemakers and a religious pastor. They were to rely on their own
resources, and have a sort of common stock. It was thought that
such colonies would be highly serviceable to the Straits, This
remarkable scheme to found families who were to remain in this
country, and their descendants after them, did not come to a practical
trial. The result in such a climate could easily have been foreseen.

In June Governor Murchison returned from leave and resumed
charge of his office. Mr. Bonham and Mr. Wingrove being the Resi-
dent Councillor and Assistant Resident at Singapore.

274 Anecdotal History of Singapore

In July the garden in Commercial Square was enclosed with a
dwarf wall with wooden railing, and the ground levelled, planted with
ornamental trees, and laid out with paths.

In August a prospectus was published of a Bank, proposed to be
established in Singapore, to be called the Singapore and Ceylon Bank,
with a Board of Directors in London, with a Capital of £200,000 divided
into five thousand shares of £40 each. The responsibility of the
shareholders to be limited by the Charter. It came to nothing.

On the 26th September, a very daring burglary, long remembered
in Singapore, took place at Mr. McMicking^s house at Duxton, near
Spottiswoode Park. A numerous gang of Chinese broke into the
bed-room of Mr. McMicking, and inflicted such severe wounds on him
that he was unable to offer any resistance, and the gang plundered
the room of everything they could lay their hands on, and decamped.
There were two other gentlemen in the house, but they were not in
the room in time to be of service either in the apprehension or iden-
tification of the robbers. Several Chinese were arrested, among others
the water-carrier, who was recognised by the syce, and was arrested
the next morning ; he was hiding in the jungle, instead of being at
his usual occupation.

A fire took place in the same week near Cross Street and seventy-
seven native houses were burnt, and property destroyed, estimated in
value at five thousand dollars.

In October a gang of fifty or sixty armed Chinese attacked the
house of a Bengalee named Sarawan, at the new kampong, called
Buffalo Village, now called Kandang Kerbau. The inmates were
awakened by the barking of their dogs, and were prepared with loaded
fire-arms, as after the attack on Mr. McMicking's house, people were
on the alert. The robbers attempted to break in, when one of the
Bengalis fired a musket from an upper window and killed one of the
gang, who was carried off by his companions. The inmates then sallied
out, accompanied by several neighbours, who had caught the alarm,
and gave chase. They succeeded in capturing one of the gang, and
found the one that had been shot lying dead on the road. The one
they caught tried to fight, and was so severely beaten with clubs by the
Bengalis that he died in the hospital two hours after, and two others
of the gang were shot by some Javanese, who had gathered close by.

A Coroner's Inquest brought in a verdict of justifiable homicide;
and the authorities rewarded the most active of the men who had been
concerned in it. The police thought that a further attack would be
made the following night, and a body of peons were concealed in the
jungle. They apprehended three Chinese who were lurking about
with arras. Those engaged in the burglary were supposed to be the
same as those who were concerned in the attack on Duxton, and the
leader of the gang was a man formerly employed as a gardener there.
It was generally thought that the very low and unrerannerative wages
for agricultural labour at the time were the cause of the existence
of such organised bands of Chinese, but others said that they were
men who came to Singapore purposely to plunder. The effects of
these attacks was to prevent the extension of the town, as life and
property were not considered safe beyond its immediate precincts.

1835. 275

In October the Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser
issued its first number. It was started by Mr. William Napier, the
lawyer, Mr. Lorrain, Mr. Boustead and Mr. Coleman. Mr. Boustead,
in addition to his mercantile work, had been helping to edit the
Singapore Chronicle for some time, and when Mr. Carnegy came from
Penang and purchased the paper, it was agreed to start the new paper
to advance the interests of the place. It was a weekly paper of four
pages, published on Thursdays, the last page containing a price current,
shipping reports, and mercantile information. The first number con-
tained a curious advertisement by a priest of the Portuguese Mission
in Malacca, protesting against certain acts of the Vicar of St. Peter's
Church in Malacca for having rashly arrogated to himself an un-
limited power in selling a garden (which cost ^200) and a gold crown
(which cost $80) the property of the Church; contrary to the laws,
statutes, and determinations of the Holy Canons and the Sacred Council,
and to the injury of the rights of the Bishop of Goa. It also con-
tained the prospectus of a work to be called "Notices of the Indian
Archipelago," afterwards published by Mr. Moor. The first numbers
contained a series of letters on the subject of the cultivation of land
in Singapore, which the writer considered would be fertile if a few
of the largest trees were left to prevent the soil being parched up
by the sun and to attract moisture from the clouds. He recommended
sugar-cane as likely to yield an abundant crop, but it was tried on
a large scale afterwards at Balestier Plain, and resulted in great loss.

On St. Andrew's day, a large dinner was given by the Scotchmen
of Singapore; Dr. Montgomerie and Mr. William Napier presided, and
Messrs. Spottiswoode, Lorrain, Carnie and Stephen were stewards. It
was given in the upper rooms of the Court House, and the hour was
half-past six. The Malacca Band had been learning some appropriate
airs for the respective toasts, which the Straits Chronicle said were
an ineffable treat to all admirers of music ! There were about seventy
subscribers. On the following evening a ball was given by them, and
the ladies wore tartan scarves, and several gentlemen appeared in the
garb of old Gaul, and the party did not break up till daylight. This
(said the paper) was the first celebration of the Feast of St. Andrew
at Singapore.

In November the Canton authorities affected to be alarmed at the
appearance of the first steamer, the Jardine, in China, and the Hoppo
issued orders to her to spread her sails and return to her own country,
which however, was not complied with, but in the following January
the owners were obliged to send her away, and she came down to
Singapore. The following is the concluding passage in the edict issued
at Canton on the 7th January, 1836 : — " Further, the Acting Governor
and myself have corresponded (on the subject) ; and if the said for-
eigner's smohi-ship arrives (at the Bogue) immediately open and attack
her hull with a thundering fire, and those who succeed in knocking
her to pieces shall certainly be promoted (over others). If the orders
are disobeyed and she enters, the least guilty shall be reported to the
Emperor, degraded from office and wear the wooden collar; the most
guilty shall be punished according to military law (i.e., exiled to the
frontiers as slaves to the army). No indulgence will be shown to

276 Anecdotal History of Singapore

any through the whole affair. Now, at this time, the Imperial orders
are sternly severe; she (the steamer) cannot be allowed to linger
about untir some disturbance happens. Besides replying to and order-
ing the said Macao Custom House Weiyuen strictly to enjoin the pilots,
morning and night, to be on the look out, and on no account to be
negligent in their guard ; it is proper to proceed to drive her out.
When these orders reach the said hong merchants, let them respect-
fully obey, and send them immediately to the foreigners, who manage
the affairs of the said nation, to issue urgent orders to the said ship
to fix a day for spreading her sails and returning to her own country;
she is not allowed to make pretexts, linger about, and cause a dis-
turbance. — A Special Edict."

The smoke-ship afterwards came to Singapore, and her singular
adventures are related in a future chapter.

Towards the end of this year, it was known that the Local Govern-
ment had received orders from Calcutta to frame a schedule of duties
to be levied on trade, to provide means to put down piracy. It was
said that such a scale of duties might be made as would answer that
object, and yet, at the same time, preserve native trade from the
vexatious interference of a Custom House, and this double object was
to be attained by imposing a duty on a certain class of shipping only.
It was said, on the other side, that the imposition of duties threatened
more serious injury to trade than piracy itself, and that the increasing
trade of Singapore, which was the resort of numbers of natives who
had been formerly traders with Dutch ports, was due to the facility
with which they were allowed to trade here.

In November it was advertised that Mr. Thomas McMicking had
been admitted a partner in Syme & Co.'s firm at Singapore, Batavia
and Manila, and that Andrew Hav and Walter Scott Duncan com-
menced the firm of Hay and Duncan. In December the Church services
were held in the Court House instead of in the Mission Chapel, as
before, as the Rev. Samuel Wolfe, of the London Missionary Society,
held services in that Chapel on Sunday evenings at seven o'clock.

On Tuesday, 22nd December, an attempt was made to set fire to
the town. In Market Street there were a number of wooden houses
belonging to Chong Long, all tenanted except one, in which some
persons had piled up a quantity of dammar and other combustible
materials. The peons in going their rounds at night noticed smoke
coming from the vacant house, and knowing it to be unoccupied they
broke in and extinguished the fire, which in a few minutes, as there
was a strong wind blowing, would have consumed, the paper said, a
great part of the town. The Magistrates issued a notice offering a
reward for information regarding the incendiaries.

PIRACY.

It was about this time that serious efforts were made to stop
piracy. The numerous islands and little rivers afforded a hundred
shelters, and the natives on the coasts were barbarous, rapacious, and
poor, which tended strongly to beo^et a piractical character, and it was
not surprising (Mr. Crawfurd remarked in an article he wrot-e on the
subject) that the Malays should have been notorious for their depre-

1835. 277

dations. They formed large fleets, as in September, 1880, the boats
of H. M. S. Southampton and the East India Co/s Schooner Diamond
had an engagement in the Straits of Malacca with a fleet of about
thirty piratical prahus which lasted for several hours, as has been said
on page 210. Mr. Earl says in his book that in 1835 the Malay
pirates absolutely swarmed in the neighbourhood of Singapore, and
carried it on in a perfectly systematic manner.

On the 23rd April, 1835, a public meeting was held in Singapore
and a memorial was sent to the Governor-General and to the King
in Council on the subject.

The result of the complaints was that H. M. Sloop Wolf, which
had been commissioned in England in May, 1834, arrived in Singapore
from Madras and Penang on the 22nd March, 1836. She was com-
manded by Captain Edward Stanley, and the first Lieutenant was Mr.
Henry James, who died, a retired Commander, in his ninety-ninth year,
in 1898. His son Mr. H. G. James, is now in Singapore. In 1899 Captain
James's life entitled " A Midshipman in Search of Promotion " was
published in London, and it gives an account, taken from his logs and
letters, of the services of the Wolf at Singapore at this time.

She went twice to Calcutta to take pirates from Singapore to be
tried there, as the Court in Singapore had no jurisdiction to try them
until, by Letters Patent of 25th February, 1837, Admiralty Jurisdic-
tion was given to the local Court for the purpose. On one of these
occasions, the 29th May, 1837, just as the vessel was leaving Singapore
for Calcutta, eleven Malay prisoners, who had been captured at Pulo
Tinggi, taking advantage of the carelessness of the sentry, jumped
overboard in the harbour and swam away. Five of them were caught
by the ship's boats, but the rest escaped. On the morning of Wednes-
day, 4th October, 1836, two pirates, who had been convicted at Calcutta,
wore hung on the sea beach in Singapore.

The newspaper in 1836 contained numerous accounts of pirates,
and remarked that, if fully detailed, their frequency would furnish
matter for a paper to be exclusively devoted to their notice. The
Opium brig Lady Grant, carrying four hundred chests, was attacked
off the Sambilang Islands in the Straits of Malacca by five large
prahus, and followed for some distance until it fell calm at midnight.
The brig tired broadsides of grape and canister, and disabled the boats,
one of which was of very large size carrying a black flag, and full
of men. Native traders and even fishing boats coming into Singapore
were continually attacked.

The pirates had a regular station at the Bindings whore the}'
went to refit, and kept their stores, plunder and captives. At one
time, there were eighty men, women and children kept captive there,
when H. M. S. Rosa went and attacked them.

The day the Wolf arrived at Singapore a bad case of piracy had
occurred off Point Romania, the entrance to the China Sea, and the
ship, accompanied by the East India Co.'s Schooner Zephyr, Captain
Congalton, went off at once on a cruise to the eastward, and chased
three large pirate prahus which were attacking a native vessel under
Dutch colours at Point Romania, but the pirates escaped. The next
day thirteen large prahus were attacked^ and musketry fire was briskly

278 Anecdotal History of Singapore

exchanged between the ship's boats and the pirates. As there was
no wind the vessels could not follow the boats up, and five more
prahus came out of a river near Point Romania, and joined the thirteen.
They all escaped, as the ammunition in the boats was exhausted,
and the men-of-war were too far away to give assistance. Some of
the prahus were of considerable size, with cloth sails, and were rigged
as three-masted schooners.

The following is an account that appeared in the Free Press of one of
the pirate boats captured by the Wolf, on one of these occasions : — ** The
prahu captured was 54 feet in length and fifteen feet beam, but their
general length was 56 feet. They were strongly built, with a round stern,
and the stern post, having a considerable curve, on which the rudder,
made to fit, was hung on a pintle and gudgeon. The decks, after the same
fashion as the Malay prahus, were made of split neebong, being cut into
convenient lengths, so that any part of the deck could be rolled up. The
depth of hold was about six feet. From the upper edge of the prahus a
projection of bamboo, nearly two feet broad, was made all round the
vessel, from the stockade near the bow to the stern, on the outer edge of
which was raised, of the same material, a breastwork about three feet high,
and outside this their rattan plaited cables were placed around, one coil
above another, an excellent protection against shot.

" These vessels were double-banked, pulling 36 oars, 18 on each side,
nine of which rested on the edge of the prahu, passing through the pro-
jecting raised work already alluded to ; the upper tier of nine oars, being
worked over all the lower tier, were pulled by men sitting on the
deck inside the boat itself, the upper by others sitting on the project-
ing bamboo work, whose heads could barely be seen above it. The
oars were worked diagonally in the style, as has been supposed by
some authors, of the ancient war galleys, by which contrivance con-
siderable room was saved. Indeed this work projecting from the side
of the vessel favoured in some measure the ingenious theory of the late
General Melville in his essay on the galleys of the Greeks and Romans.

"The rowers among these pirates were of the lower castes, or
slaves captured in their cruizes; hence a strong Chinese became a
valuable acquisition to them; and the oars could admit of two men
pulling at each if necessary. Their rigging was of the most simple kind,
a large sail forward and a smaller sail abaft, made of light mats
sewed together, stretclied on bamboos above and below, having cross
pieces at intervals from top to bottom in the foresail only, which was
hoisted on a triangle of stout bamboos forming the fore-mast. This
was done exactly like the Bugis boats, a bamboo lashed close to the
outer edge of the vessel on each side ; and a third, fastened to the
deck amidships immediately behind the stockade, is brought up to
meet the two upright pieces, and all are lashed together at the top, form-
ing a very efiicient support to the sail, and excellently adapted for
resisting shot; in fact it was found very difficult to shoot them away,
for when struck by shot they were only split and still stood as well as
before. The small mast behind was a spar.

'' The working of their sails was likewise very simple, for when
the prahu went about, the tacks and braces were let go, the bow
pulled somewhat round, and the sail turned round to the other side of

1835. 279

the mast^ fore the tacks^ boused down; and the braces^ which led aft^
made fast, and so the vessel was on the other tack.

" Each prahu had a stockade, not far from the bow, through which
was pointed an iron four- pounder ; another stockade abaft, on which
was stuck two swivels, and around the sides were from three to six
guns of the same description, all brass, stuck upon upright pieces of
wood ; they had likewise muskets, spears, &c., and many of the pirates
wore very large bamboo shields covering all the upper part of the
body. The fighting men wore long hair which they let loose in the
battle, to give them a savage appearance. It may be mentioned that
the orang kayaks prahu was armed with brass guns, according to the
report of his son, who was one of the captives.*'

In May, 1836, H. M. S. Andromache came from Trincomalee. She
was commanded by Captain Chads, a very distinguished man; he died
JSir Henry Ducie Chads, g.c.b., near the top of the Admiral's Hat.
On the 29th December, 1812, he had been first lieutenant of the
frigate Java of 36 guns, 18 pounders. Captain Henry Lambert, which
was burnt and sunk in action with the American ship Constitution
in the war with America. The Captain was killed, and there is a
monument to him in St. Paul's Cathedral. The command then devolved on
Lieutenant Chads, who was promoted in consequence. A great number
of officers, sailors and marines were killed and wounded in the action.

Captain Chads afterwards commanded the Cambrian in Singapore
and China, and Mr. W. H. Read says that he was on board her in
the harbour in Singapore when the Conatitution, years afterwards, came
round St. John's Island. The old Captain ^ot quite excited and
exclaimed "What would I give to have twenty minutes with her
now /" His son Henry Chads, still alive, is now Sir Henry Chads, k.c.b.,
an Admiral on the retired list. He was afterwards first lieutenant of
the Harlequin, and was desperately wounded, losing his left arm, in
an attack on Acheen pirates. Sir James Brooke was wounded at the
same time. This was in 1 844. Mr. R. Norris writes " I remember
Lieutenant Chads, because Padre White used to give lectures in Cole-
man Street, which the boys from the Institution and the girls from
Miss Whittle's School attended. Probably Miss Coleman, Miss Ryan, and
myself are the only ones now in Singapore who remember Lieutenant
Chads, who came to the lectures. We boys noticed that he had
lost his left arm, and thought him a hero." Mr. Earl says in his book,
page 383, that the Andromache made some very formidable attacks on
the pirates, and adopted a very successful ruse by disguising the vessel
so that it was mistaken for a native merchant ship. She had passed
through the harbour to the west, and came back the next day through
the harbour disguised as a Dutch trader, came across pirates outside,
and gave them a lesson as they ranged alongside his ship. The Malays
then fancied that every square-rigged vessel which they met was a
man-of-war.

The Andromache went to attack a noted stronghold on the island
of Gallang, in the Rhio Archipelago. A great quantity of things, the
result of piracy, were found, and a junk of 300 tons which had been
captured on her way from Cochin-China. About thirty large boats
and fifty smaller ones were destroyed, and a very large quantity of

•280 Anecdotal History of Singapore

ammunition was found. The boats were fitted with large guns and all
sorts of piratical contrivances^ and there was not the least trace on
the island of any cultivation or industry, although there were large
villages sufiicient to contain several thousand inhabitants.

An old Singapore paper speaks of a midshipman then on board
the Andromache, named Henry Chads. This was the present Sir Henry
Chads, just spoken of.

The Free Press, in connection with piracy, spoke of the slave
traffic that was then carried on; one writing from personal knowledge
saying that the island of Nias, Sumatra, in particular, the largest and
most populous opposite that coast, was the place where the curse
seemed to exist most ; that on board any of the numerous small prahus
going in the direct route from that island to the North West Coast,
young boys and girls would be found, either kidnapped by the dealers,
or purchased by them for the numerous petty Rajahs. And at any of
the settlements in Sumatra, these unhappy victims were exposed for
sale in the ships like any other goods. The writer said that he had
happened in 1835 to see four young women, just imported for sale in
this way, their owner answering enquiries from intending purchasers
with the same indifference as he answered those of another customer
who was buying a piece of cloth.

The third man-of-war which was in Singapore for the same
purpose, was the Raleigh, Captain Michael Quin, a famous character,
who also was on the Admirals list when he died, as was also Captain
Stanley of the Wolf.

On the 7th September, 1837, a public dinner was given to Captain
Stanley and the Officers of the Wolf by the Chamber of Commerce at
Calcutta, for their services against pirates in the Straits.

At the Assizes which were held in June, 1838, the jury were
mostly occupied with piracy cases, and on the last day, which was a
Saturday, eighteen Malays were tried and convicted, three others were
so ill of their wounds that their trial was postponed. Some of the
men were executed on the following Monday.

On Thursday, 14th June, a public dinner was given by the mer-
cantile community to Captain Stanley and the officers of the Wolf,
in testimony of the sense entertained of their services in the suppres-
sion of piracy. Mr. Spottiswoode gave his house, and it was said to
be the largest party that had been assembled in Singapore. The
Governor and Resident Councillor were present, and Mr. Shaw was
Chairman. Captain Congalton of the Diana, was away, but his health
was druuk also with much enthusiasm.

The Chamber of Commerce presented an address to Captain
Stanley, and a sword with the following inscription: — ''Presented to
Captain Edward Stanley, by the European and Chinese Mercantile
Community of Singapore, in testimony ot* the grateful sense entertain-
ed by them of his unwearied and successful exertions for the suppres-
sion of piracy in the Straits of Malacca and adjacent seas, during the
years 183(5, 1837 and 1838, while commanding Her Majesty's Sloop
WolfV^ The value of the sword was one hundred guineas.

It was the first occasion that any similar mark of public appro-
bation had been bestowed by the community on any of the vessels

1835 281

employed in the suppression of piracy, but the Wolf with the assis-
tance of Captain Congalton, had adopted systematic and energetic
measures.

The encounter of the first steamer, the East India Company's
Diaiui, with the pirates in 1837, is worth telling. H. M. S Wolf was
a sailing vessel, of course, so Captain Congalton in the little steamer
Diana went ahead, and the pirates in six large prahus, seeing the
smoke, thought it was a sailing ship on fire, so they left the Chinese
Junk which they were attacking, and bore down on the steamer, firing
on her as she approached. To their horror, the vessel came close up
against the wind, and then suddenly stopped opposite each prahu, and
poured in a destructive fire, turning and backing quite against the
wind, stretching the pirates in numbers on their decks. A vessel that
was independent of the wind was, of course, a miracle to them.

In 1811, in a letter to Lord Minto, Sir Stamford Raffles had
made numerous allusions to piracy and slavery. He described piracy
as *'An evil of ancient date, which had struck deep in the Malay
habits, '' and said the old Malay romances and fragments of traditional
history constantly referred to piratical cruises. He said that piracy
was a source of slavery, and that the practice was an evil too extensive
and formidable to be cured by reasoning and must be put down by
a strong hand. There were a number of very able and long articles
in the third, fourth, and fifth volumes of Logan's Journal. The author
is not named, but they are full of details of old piracy stories from
the earliest days.

The account of the commencement of the suppression of piracy in
Singapore would be very incomplete without special reference to Captain
Samuel Congalton, whose portrait is in the Singapore Library.

Captain Congalton was born in Leith on 23rd March, 1796. He
ran away to sea in a collier when a young boy, but his eldest brother
found him and brought him back. He again ran away to sea, and
eventually got a place as gunner on a ship bound to Calcutta. The
vessel was sold there, and joining a country ship he arrived at Penang in
1821. Captain Poynton of the East India Co.'s armed Schooner Jesay
wanted a mate, and he joined her and remained in the Straits until his
death in 1850.

While he was in the Jessy, Captain Marryatt, the famous novelist,
of H. M. S. Larne, gave him great praise for his services in the Rangoon
War.

In March, 1826, Captain Poynton was made Harbour Master at
Malacca, and Congalton took command of the sailing schooner Zephyr, on
a salary of §100 a month, and was blockading the Lingy river, with H. M.
S. Afagicienne, and Lieutenant the Hon. Henry Keppel, in the Naning
War.

At the end of 1836 the Government determined to sell the Zephyr^
and in the beginning of 1837 the East India Co.'s steamer Diana was sent
to the Straits and Congalton was appointed C^aptain at a salary of Rs. 350.
The Diana was the first steamer constructed in India, she was 160 tons
and 40 horse-power and attained the great speed [at thai time) of ^vg
knots an hour. She carried the Captain, two European officers, and
thirty Malays.

282 Anecdotal History of Singapore

The Nemesis came out round the Cape of Good Hope soon after-
wards, and the Captain of her was very proud of having brought her
out.

On 2nd January, 1846, the East India Company's steamer Hooghly
arrived at Singapore to relieve the Diana. Captain Congalton declined
the command of one of the larger steamers, and preferred to remAin
in the Straits, and his salary was advanced to Rs. 500 a month.
His services in the employ comprised a period of twenty-eight and a
half years, and he said in a report that he had never been absent
from his duties, either on sick leave or on account of private affairs,
for a single day, until a few months before his death, when attacked
by a dangerous illness.

He was frequently employed in political missions to the Native
States, and in conjunction with Mr. J. T. Thomson he made a chart
of the Singapore Straits. A handsome silver jug was given him by
Captain Stanley and the Officers of the Wolf, another by Sir William
Norris, the Recorder, and a third by Governor Butter worth. Mr. J.
T. Thomson in his book speaks very highly of him. His memory was
cherished by many friends in the Straits, as a very brave and generous-
minded sailor. Mr. Read writes of him as " a fine old fellow and a
great favorite with everybody " and old Admiral Keppel who returned
to Singapore in November, 1901, when this chapter was ready for the
printer, spoke of him as " a rough and ready old fellow, a thorough
sailor, and a great character in the Straits.'^

His thorough knowledge of the Malays and their haunts
made him invaluable in attacking the pirates, but he often did the
hard work, and others in the Men-of-war got the credit and the
rewards.

The Diana was the first steamer that ever appeared in Borneo,
and was an object of great curiosity to the Natives. Crowds visited
her, and when a number of chiefs were down below, the machinery
was set in motion, to their great horror. They flew on deck crying
out dya bergrak ! dia bergrak ! (it stirs, it stirs) thinking it was a living
monster, fed in the hold to move the vessel as it was ordered.

Captain Congalton was a short man, but compact and active. He was
a man of high principles, blunt and honest. The copy of his portrait
which is now in the Raffles Library was purchased after his death by his
friends in Singapore and was intended to be hung in the public hall.
It was painted by a Mr. Berghaus about 1847, and was engraved. In
the first volume of Logan's Journal is an article by Captain Congalton
on a search for Coal deposits on the coasts of the Peninsula.

The Newspaper remarked afterwards that Captain Congalton'^
many actions against pirates did not rival the deeds of Sir James
Brooke and Sir Henry Keppel, in after years ; yet there was no doubt
that the first check was due to him and that he initiated a new state
of things. It was he who first met them with an energy that para-
lyzed them, and it was difficult perhaps to realize what they meant in
those days to the trade of Singapore and to the safety of human life
in the locality. On Captain Congalton's death at Penang in April,
1850, everyone attended his funeral and all flags were hoisted at half-
mast.

1885. 283

THE ARMENIAN CHURCH.

The beginning of the Armenian Church services in Singapore was
in the year 1821. There was then three Armenian firms here, Aris-
tarchus Sarkies, Arratoon Sarkies of Malacca, and another; they were
trading with Malacca at the time. The priest, the Revd. Eleazar
Ingergolie, died in Singapore in the year 1826, after having been
several years here.

The old minute book of the Armenian Church shows that on 8th
January, 1825, a meeting was held and a letter was written to one of
the Archbishops in Persia asking that a priest might be sent to Singa-
pore. The letter was signed by Johannes Simeon, Carapiet Phanos,
Gregory acd Isaiah Zechariah, Mackertich M. Moses, and Paul Stephens.
On June 23rd, 1826, there was further correspondence with the Arch-
bishop. On 23rd September, 1827, there was a meeting to decide
about a place to hold the services when the priest should arrive ; and
subscriptions were collected. In July, 1827, the Rev. Gregory ter
Johannes, the priest, had arrived, and a meeting was held to provide
for the ecclesiastical vessels and ornaments that were required. The
services were first held in a room behind where John Little & Co. are
now. Soon afterwards the Archbishop Gregory came on a visit to
Singapore. In September a small room was rented for the services in
what was spoken of as " the Merchant's Square," where Powell & Co.
are at present. A minute says that the expenses for rent, servants,
and the salary of the Priest amounted to §63 a month. The minutes
until 1833 contain many records of subscriptions received in Singapore
and from Calcutta and Java for the fund for building a Church. In
March, 1833, an appeal was made to their friends in the European
community, and on 29th March a letter was written to Mr. Bonham,
the Resident Councillor, asking for the grant of a piece of land for the
Church, facing the Esplanade or at the foot of the Government Hill.
This was not successful, and on 23rd April another letter was sent
asking for another piece of ground "lying at the Botanical Gardens
facing the public road called ''the Hill Street." This was granted,
and the Church now standing was built there. In January, 1835, the
Church was finished and ready to be consecrated. The total cost was
§5,058.30, which was made up by the contract price to a Kliug con-
tractor, $3,500; Mr. Coleman, the Architect and Engineer, $400; sundry
expenses for materials, &c., $708.36 ; and vestments, ornaments, &c.,
$449.94. The amount subscribed was $3,224.52 of which $466 was by
European residents in Singapore; $573.22 from Calcutta; $402.88 from
Java, and $173 from Armenians passing through Singapore. The rest
was from the Armenian community in the place.

The Church was originally built with a high dome, but it became
unsafe and was altered into the present roof. Mr. Catchick Moses
at his own expense built the wall round the compound, except the
railing in Hill Street; and he also enlarged the Priest's house, and
built the back porch. The minutes shew that considerable sums were
collected at various times and sent to Persia for schools there.

The building of the Church had been commenced on the 1st
January^ 1835, and was consecrated on the 26th March, 1836^ being the

284 Anecdotal History of /Singapore

annivorHary of St. Gregory, the Illuminator and first monk of the
Armenian Church, to whom it was dedicated. The Free Presn spK>ke
an follows of the building : — " This small, but elegant, building does
great credit to the public spirit and religious feeling of the Armenians
of this Settlement ; for we believe that few instances could be shewn
where so small a community have contributed funds sufficient for the
erection of a similar edifice. The interior of this Church is a complete
circle of thirty-six feet diameter, with a semi-circular chancel of eighteen
feet wide on the east front ; four small chambers, two of which are
intended for staircases, and two for vestries, are designed, so that the
body of the ("hurch forms an equilateral square ; from these project three
porticos of six columns each, which shade the windows and entrances,
and afford convenient shelter for carriages in rainy weather. The
principal order is Doric, surmounted by a balustrade, the top of which
18 twenty-three feet high ; the roofs of the porticos, vestries, and
chancel are flat, and that of the body of the Church a truncated cone
rising ten feet with a flat space of twelve feet diameter on which
is erected a Bell-turret, with eight arches, and as many Ionic pilasters ;
the heiyrht of these pilasters, with their entablature, is eleven, and that
of the dome which they support six feet, the whole being surmounted
by a ball and cross, the top of which is fifty feet above the floor
of the Church. The above are the general measurements of the build-
ing, and we regret the absence of mechanical means to enable us to
present our distant readers with a drawing which might convey a
correct idea of its appearance. The design was by Mr. G. D. Coleman,
and whether owing to the abilities of the workmen, or the vigilance
with which that gentleman superintended them, we know not ; but
it Hj)poars to us that the Armenian Church is one of the most ornate
and best finished pieces of architecture that this gentleman can boast
of. One only regret attends a survey of this building, which is that
a rigid compliance with the old custom that directs the chancel
to face the Kast, has caused the principal front to be placed in a
totally opposite direction to that which the architect intended, and
which would have presented it in a more conspicous and desirable
point of views.**

The ceremony of consecration was attended by a lar^e number of
the Knglish community, and the paper ^ves a long account of it, from
which we take the following: — ** The Rev. Johannes Catehick, accom-
panied by the officiating deacons and clerks, one of them carrying
the dresses and the foundation stone (emblematical) of the altar, on a
silver trav, and all «lres<ed aecordinsr to the ranks of the Armenian
l^hurch, walked frv>m a vestry to a table, placed for the parp«>!?e, in the
north portico ^the main entrance) where the 119th to the 122nd Psalms
weiv read, verse by verse, by a deacon and clerk, followed bj a prayer
by tht* clerijyman. The d«>jrs of the portico were then closed, while
the 117th Psuhn was read, and a hymn suntr ; and after another orayer
by the clergyman, tne d«X)rs were re -opened for the admis^ioa '>t the
cv>ngivg;itiou.

*' rhe curtain or veil of the chancel haWng been drawn ap. cbe altar
was exivsed to view, having 'jver it a picture of rhe Lord's Suoper
vmen^ly as an altar-piece and an ornament). The i-47i:h P^^&InL

1835. 285

then read, and a hymn snng, followed by the reading of several chap-
ters from the Book of Kings, relative to the building of the Temple at
Jerusalem, also from the Prophesies of Isaiah, Micah and Jeremiah,
with parts of the 1st Chapter of St. PauVs Epistle to the Philippians,
and 16th Chapter of St. Matthew's Gospel. Then followed the 25th
Psalm, and, while reading this, some of the clerks proceeded to wash,
first by water, then by wine, the sides of the altar, the. wall of the
two small alcoves in the chancel, in one of which the sacrament of the
Lord's Supper is prepared, then the four sides of the body of the Church
and head of the vestry door; after which the clergyman, accompanied
by the senior deacon and clerk, went round to the spots so washed,
and anointed them with Holy Oil from a silver cup making the Sig^n
of the Cross ; the clerks chaunting at the time. The four sides of the
Church were then blessed by the clergyman with a golden cross, held
in his hand, who dedicated the Church to Saint Grej^ory the Illumina-
tor, and first monk of the Church of Armenia.

" The 92nd Psalm was then read, and a hymn sung, while the
assistants were clothing the altar with the usual dresses. The curtain
was afterwards let down for a few minutes to enable the clergyman to
prepare himself for addressing the congregation, • which he. did from
the steps of the altar. The service of the consecration having thus
ended, the usual performance of the Mass took place (which is certainly
quite distinct from that of the Roman Catholic Church) being inter-
spersed with singing of hymns, reading of portions of the Prophets,
Epistles, and Gospels, and the recital of the Apostles' Creed. The service
was in the Armenian lan*^uage and occupied about three hours and a
half. "

286 Anecdotal History of Singapore

CHAPTER XXIII.

St. ANDREW'S CHURCH.

THE following is a translation of a passage from the Hikayat
Abdiilla: — ^* The place where the Church stands was the centre
of a plain. When I first saw the ground the jungle had been cleared
off and. only small bushes remained. When cleared by Mr. Farquhar
the plain was occupied for Sepoy Lines and for the residence oi the
principal Europeans, and continued to be so used until Mr. Crawfurd's
time, when the Sepoys were removed along the road to Teluk Blanga,
where lines and fine pucka houses were built for the men and officers.
The plain then continued vacant, and was used as a place for exercis-
ing horses, and an evening lounge for Europeans to take the air
After a short time, houses were built, one by one, till six or seven
were finished for the Europeans. In the year of the Hejira 1234
(1838) when Mr. Bonham was Resident, and Mr. Wingrove was at the
head of the police office, it became known that the Europeans intended
to erect a large Church. Previous to this time they had been in the
habit of attending at the small Chapel built by the Rev. Mr. Thompson.
When everything was arranged subscriptions were collected from the
residents, the Government, and strangers; and the work was finished as
it now stands, by Mr. Coleman, the Architect,**

In July, 1834, a meeting, which was well attended, was called in
the vestry of the Mission Chapel by Mr. Darrah, the Chaplain, to
consider a proposal to erect a suitable Church on the land given ten
years before by Government for the purpose. A committee was
appointed, and in October the Bishop of Calcutta arrived in Singapore,
having called at Penang on his way. Bishop Wilson was the fifth
Bishop of Calcutta, and first Metropolitan of India. He left England
to take up the Bishopric in 1882, and was succeeded by Bishop Cotton
in 1858. The Church services were at that time held in the Mission
Chapel, and two days after his arrival, Bishop Wilson presided at a
meeting", of which the following report was published at the time: —

" On Monday, the 6th October, a meeting of the European inhabi-
tants of Siriurapore, the most numerous ever yet witnessed here, was
held at the Court House, at 10 o'clock, for the purpose of taking into
consideration the best means of erectintif a suitable and commodious
place of worship, for the use of the Protestant community of the Settle-
ment. On the proposal of the Hon'ble S. G. Bonham, who was the
Acting Governor, the Bishop of Calcutta took the chair. His Lordship
stated that he understood the inhabitants had been desirous, from the
commencement of the Settlement, to devise measures for the erection
of a Church for their beautiful country, and he could not but feel
anxiety that their wishes should be accomplished. He had had an
opportunity of seeing the building which was used temporarily for
divine worship, which was not at all suitable for the purpose. It
would require very considerable alterations and a large outlay even if
it could assume an ecclesiastical appearance; and supposing these were

St. Andrew's Church 287

managed^ the stracture itself was of so slight a nature^ that it could
not be expected to last for any length of time, and thus their money
and trouble would be wasted.

"The plan he would suggest, would be something like the follow-
ing: — The structure must be neat, convenient, commodious and elegant;
such as would adorn the neighbourhood, and be suitable for that very
admirable site which had already been allotted, and was long ago
intended for the purpose. The difficulty was as to means. Now, he
would suggest, first of all, that from the letting of the seats when the
Church was built and opened for divine worship, a certain income
would arise. This might be appropriated to the payment of the
interest of whatever money it might be necessary to borrow, and to
the gradual liquidation of the principal itself. This was one source.
Then, what might the Government be expected to do ? In former
times, when measures of strict economy were less essential, he should
have said they would have built a Church; but now, he* hoped he
might still say that they would willingly assist in building it. Already
$20 a month were paid by them for the rent of the missionary place
of worship to which he had referred ; and, he thought that Government
would j^ladly make such a grant for the new Church as would redeem
this monthly payment. Then he himself was the depository of a sum
of money from the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. It was
but small, but he felt authorised in offering £100 or $500, on their
behalf. His Chaplain also was Secretary to the Church Building Fund
for India, and he thought a small grant of Rs. 500 might be made
from that fund. He (the Bishop) was encouraged, last of all, to hope
that, from the appearance and high respectability of the Meeting, some-
thing might be done to give the plan a start, and to show that the
inhabitants were in earnest. If this should be the case ; and he would leave
it to the Governor and themselves to propose and carry it into effect; a
beautiful structure would soon be erected to ornament their town, daily
increasing in importance, and their noble harbour; as also, above all, to
promote the glory of God on the very confines of the civilized world.

The Governor next addressed the meeting by saying that, as far as
laid in his power, he would strongly urge the Supreme Government to
give a capital sum in lieu of the $20 a month which was now
allowed. But the meeting should not be too sanguine in expecting
that the recommendation would be complied with. It rested with the
Supreme Government. At the same time, the question was entirely of
a local nature, and he thought the inhabitants themselves should come
forward, and, in a more tangible manner than by mere words, prove
the desire they had for the construction of a proper place of worship,
befitting the Settlement, now rapidly rising in importance.

The result of the appeal for the building fund for the Church was
an instant and most liberal subscription amounting to §3,460.

The following are the names of the first subscribers: — The
S. P. C. K. £100, Church Building Fund for India $2oO, Bishop
Wilson £25, Mr. Bonham $250, Mr Wingrove and the Rev. F. J.
Darrah, the Chaplain, $100 each, Messrs. Douglas Mackenzie & Co.,
Hamilton Gray & Co., Holdsworth Smithson & Co., Graham Mackenzie
& Co., A. L. Johnston & Co., Maclaine Fraser & Co., Spottiswoode &

288 AwcAotnl Hiifory of Singaporr

Connolly, and Syme & Co., subscribed tlOO eivch firm, and Messrs. J.
& Q. Zechariah (Armenians) subscribed $50. The other subBcribera
were Messrs. J. Armstrong, R. Bruce, H. Caldwell, J. S. Clark, G. D.
Coleman, T. 0. Crane, G. P. Davidson, W. S Duncan, W. R. George,
S Hallpike, Andrew Hay, W. Hewetson, W. S. Lorrain, M, J. Martin,
J. H. Moor, M. Moses, William Napier, Thomas Oriey, John Poynton,
John Purvis, J. Rappa, Thoa. Scott, G. (J. Swaabe, 0. 8pottiswoode,
C, Thomas and J. Whit-ehead. There being so many Scotchmen
amon^ the subscribers, the Church was to be called after St. Andrew.

On the following morning, the 6th October, the Bishop consecrated
the Burial Ground on the hill [near Fort Canning], and in the evening
fourteen persons were confirmed, the first service of the kind, it ii
supposed, in Singapore. The Bishop left for Malacca two dayB after-
wards, and did not return to Singapore until 1838 when he conse-
crated the first St. Andrew's Church.

On Friday the 16th October, 1835, a meeting was held at the
CoQrt House, to consider the erection of the Church, and several
plans obtained from Calcutta were examined, and set aside, becaose
they were not designed with verandahs or any other contrivance*
for shading the body of the Church from the glare and heat.
A design by Mr. G. D. Coleman was approved, and it was determined to
commence building at once. The body of the Church was forty-seven
feet between the pedestals of the interior columns, and was semi-
circular at the end next the middle entrance, which was fifty feet
from the front of the chancel. The staircases, which led to the
galleries, were placed in the an>;le3 cut off by the semi-circle. The
chancel was twenty feet wide by sixteen feet from back to front,
with a room on each side, like in the present Cathedral, of thirteen
feet by ten. I'he whole was shaded by porticos, twenty feet wide,
extending the full length of the building on each side, and making
the extreme measurement one hundred and two feet by ninety-five.
The porticos enclosed carriage roads, and over them on three sides
were galleries. The one opposite the chancel was to be occupied by
the organ and school children. The whole was to coat ten thousand
dollars. The following engraving was drawn by Mr. .lames Miller, of
Messt-s. Gilfillau Wi>oJ it Co., from an oM pictnre by Mr. Carpenter,
an artist who visited SiuLjapore about 185+, anil included it in one
of his views of the placf.

8t. Andrew's Church 289

On Monday the 9fch November, 1835, a large number of persons
assembled on the plain, on the site where the present Cathedral stands,
to witness the laying of the foundation stone. There was no masonic
or other ceremonial observed (the newspaper remarked) with the
exception of a short service by the Residency Chaplain, preceded
by a short address.

On Thursday, 8th June, 1837, a distribution of the sittings in the
new Church was made by the Church Committee, and it was under-
stood that Mr. White was to hold the first service on Sunday, the
llth ; but at the last moment the Chaplain said that he could not
officiate until he had been called upon by the community, by letter,
to procure its consecration as soon as a fit opportunity offered. As soon
as the condition became known, the Committee addressed the following
letter on the 10th June, to the Resident Councillor, Mr. Church : —
" Sir, the new Church being completed and ready for performing
Divine Service, we the undersigned, members of the Committee,
request the Government to take charge of the same for the space of
one year, it being understood, that the Church is not to be conse-
crated during that period, without the sanction of a majority of the
subscribers to the building.

A. L. Johnston, R. F. Wingrove, J. H. Whitehead."

Mr. White, thereupon, commenced to officiate under an order from
the Resident Councillor, the community not having consented to the
conditions Mr. White had tried to impose about consecration, as it was
said that in cases of there being no Chaplain, (as had been the case
for seventeen months at that time) no other form of worship could be
used in the building. Under these circumstances the first service took
place on Sunday, the 18th June.

In August, 1838, Bishop Daniel Wilson came again to the Straits,
visiting Penang and Malacca on his way to Singapore. He arrived in
Singapore on Saturday, the 1st September, and conducted the service
the next day. On Wednesday, a meeting was held to resume the pro-
ceedings commenced at the meeting in 1834, and after a very lengthy
address and explanation by the Bishop, a petition for the consecration
of the Church was signed by a good many of those present, and on
Monday, the 10th September, the Church was consecrated. The paper
contained no account of the ceremony.

Bishop Wilson of Calcutta, returned for the third time to the
Straits in October, 1842. At his first visit subscriptions had been
raised to build the Church ; at his second visit, ho consecrated it ; and
on this his third visit he sent out the following circular, on 31 st
October, 1842.

" The Bishop of Calcutta takes the liberty of circulating this paper
with the view of ascertaining how far it may be agreeable to the
gentry of this station to complete the beautiful and commodious body
of their Church by the addition of a small but appropriate tower and
spire, such as shall distinguish the sacred edifice from secular buildings
in a manner usual in all parts of India, as well as at home. At pre-
sent the Church may be mistaken for a Town Hall, a College or an
Assembly Room. The strangers resorting to this great emporium of
commerce have no means of knowing for what it is destined. By the

290 Anecdotal History of Singapf/re

erection of a tower and spire, rising aboul 50 feet above the balus-
trade of the roof, its sacred design will be manifested, and the
surrounding heathen will see the honour we put upon our religion, and the
care we take to mark the reverence for the solemn worship of Almighty
God by the appropriate distinctions of its outward appearance. The
only four Churches in India built originally without the ecclesiastical
decoration of a spire or tower, were those of Kuruaul, Agra, Ghazee-
pore and Dinapore. Three of these have now the needful additions,
raised by the subscriptions of the several stations, and the fourth,
Dinapore, has its fund ready for the same purpose. The new Cathe-
dral at Calcutta will have a tower and spire 200 feet high. The Scotch
Churches at Calcutta, Madras and Bombay have noble spires. Nor is
there any station in the territories of the East India Company so likely
to rise into distinguished importance as Singapore ; the vicinity of which
to China and the accessions of commerce which may be expected from
the blessing of peace, just established in that Empire, render such an
Act of piety as the due completion of their Church peculiarly appro-
priate. National mercy calls for expressions and acts of gratitude to
the Giver of all good, and none is more suitable than this. The Bishop
is indeed persuaded that he is only anticipating the almost universal
wishes of the Community of Singapore in circulating this paper.
And, though the sum to be raised is large, in consequence of the
high price of labour and materials in this place, yet he feels confident
that the united and hearty and generous subscriptions of all classes of
persons will overcome the difficulties of completing the Sacred Edifice
now, as the difficulties in the commencement and progress of the work
were overcome before. One unanimous final effort will now crown the
preceding labours and give to Singapore a Church scarcely inferior
to any in the Eastern world/'

Mrs. Balestier, the wife of the American Consul, gave a Bell to the
Church, which was afterwards used in the present Cathedral until the
peal of bells was given. It was cast by Revere at Boston, and was
given on condition that the curfew should be rung for five minutes
every evening at eight o'clock, which was done until 1874. It is a
large and heavy bell, 32 inches in diameter and 26 inches high. The
following \^ords are cast on it. "Revere Boston 1843. Presented to
St. Andrew's Church, Singapore, by Mrs. Maria Revere Balestier of
Boston, United States of America." Mrs. Balestier, who had been Miss
Revere, died in Singapore on 22nd August, 1847, having been thirteen
years in the place. Mr. Thomas Church, the Resident Councillor,
gave a Clock, which was put up on the facade of the Court House, as
a temporary resting place, when the Church was pulled down.

When the Court House was bein<f enlarged in 1901, the clock was
taken down, and the opportunity was taken to find out what kind of
clock it was that Mr. Church had given. It has on it the name of
the makers, Barraud & Lund, Cornhill, London, very eminent clock
makers, so that it is evident Mr. Church bought the best clock he
could obtain. The dial is 4 feet 6 inches in diameter, the figures are
6J inches lonor^ and the long hand is 25 inches. The bell is 20 inches
diameter, and weighs probably about on^ and a half hundred weight.
It has the date 1839 cast on it. It is a very well made clock, and it

St. Andrew's Church 291

is still in very good condition after over sixty years work, and seems
never to have been taken to pieces since it was put up. It ought to
be replaced in the Cathedral tower, for which Mr. Church gave it.

The bell and the clock were both costly gifts to the Church, and
intended to remain in the building or its successors. If they had been
given to the Roman Catholic Church they would have been taken care
of, and would have been put up, long since, in one of the steeples of their
four other Churches, if they could not have been kept, as the donors
intended, in the Cathedral. The clock could easily be set up now in
the Cathedral tower, facing the Esplanade, where it would be very
useful; the dial could be made larger and the hands longer without
difficulty. The bell is in a shed in the Public Works Store at Kandang
Kerbau, and may be forgotten there till it is broken up for old metal.

Mr. Richard 0. Norris, who was then a boy attending Raffles
School, sent the following amusing account of his recollections of
the old Church to the Free Press in 1885 : —

"Talking about the Church which I see mentioned in your History,
I can give you some old recollectons of mine, which must soon lapse
into the past. In the old days we had a barrel organ, and old
Anchant, as he was called, was organ turner and singer. The organ
was described in the paper as having a handsome Gothic oak base,
twelve feet high, six wide and four deep ; forty-two keys ; with two
ranks of pipes in the base, and three in the treble; and four barrels
of twelve tunes each. We, Institution boys, used to sing. Then
Anchant died, and one of the boys was the organ man, and the rest
of us used to sing without any leader as best we could. I remember
at the time of the China War, Sir Hugh Gough and all his staff
attending (^Jhurch in full uniform, and sitting in the Governor's and
Resident Councillor's seats. The transports came pouring in, all in one
day, and the harbour was full. But to return to the organ; the old
machine got very wheezy and went to Malacca, and a subscription
was collected for a new or»^an, which Bishop Wilson announced in
his sermon on the last Sunday in October, 1842, and the money was sent
home in 1843, and an organ made by Holditch of London came out,
which cost £260. This passed in course of time to the Scotch Church,
and eventually in extreme old age, it was bought by Mr. G. H. Brown
for old acquaintance sake, and it expired at his house on Mount
Pleasant. It had one row of keys and pedals. On the opening morn-
ing, and for some time, Mr. Keasberry played it, and some ladies made
a choir. Then Mr. Charles A. Dyce came from Calcutta, and was
amateur organist, and eventually married one of the young ladies who
sang. Then Mr. G. H. Brown came from Penan jj, and he initiated a
choir of boys from Raffles School, and girls from the School in North
Bridge Road kept by Mrs. Whittle, whose husband was a surveyor.
This did not last very lonir. Mr. Tom Church used to sing loud, and
we boys in the gallery did hear him well. Church-going in the old
days was better regulated than now, as all lived within a short dis-
tance from the Church. Both services were well attended, and Christen-
ings always took place in the middle of the evening service. The
Church was lit by candles in iron stands, which were used in the
new Church until gas came out in 1864. The Communion Service

292 Anecdotal History of Singapore

was quarterly at first, and afterwards once a month, until about 1860.
The notices of it, when once a quarter, used to be gummed on the
walls. The pulpit was on one side, the reading desk, a little shorter, on
the other, and the clerk's desk was close to the reading desk.
After evening service the people walked home, and if it was a dark
night, a lantern used to head the procession. I should like to men-
tion that there were many prayer books and Bibles marked '^ Fort
Marlborough, Bencoolen " a reminiscence of Sir Stamford Raffles, relics
of the good old days, not one left now, no doubt. There were two
tablets with the ten Commandments on them in gold letters, with
two doves over them, at the sides of the Communion Table. They
were made by man-of-war sailors during Padre White's time ; they
worked at them in the gallery behind the old hand-organ, but the
tablets were not very artistic, especially the doves, though they were
good enough for the old days. From the organ gallery we looked out
upon the two pairs of gates at Mr. Coleman's two buildings, after-
wards the Hotels in Coleman Street ; part of the out-buildings were
first covered with slates, a novelty here at the time.''

In August, 1845, the steeple was struck by lightning, which
splintered one of the tablets next to the Communion Table; and agfain
on the 4th April, 1849, at about 2 o'clock in the afternoon, the spire
was struck. The electric fluid descended the tower, and then took
a playful direction, part proceeding to the earth down the inside
front of the Church, but the greater portion took a two-fold lateral
direction, then passed down the punkah rods, distant from each other
about 20 feet, and destroyed the punkahs. Both currents again took
a lateral direction, tearing off the mortar on the walls; that to
right passed along the floor of one of the pews, and that to the
left of the Communion Table escaped through and greatly injured
the vestry door. The steeple, roofs and walls, down which the electric
fluid passed perpendicularly, appeared as if riddled by swan shot.
Fortunately the accident did not happen during Divine Service, or it is
highly probable several lives would have been lost. There was no
conductor fixed until after this occurence. In 1852 the Church ceased to
be used, as it was in a dangerous state, and the Mission Chapel at the
corner of Brass Bassa Road was used for the services. In 1854 the Grand
Jury " presented " the ruinous state of the Church as a disgrace
to the Settlement, and this led to the erection of the present Cathedral.
A discussion was raised in 1856 regarding the duties of the
Trustees of St. Andrew's Church, and it was remarked in the news-
paper that they had been spoken of as Churchwardens, which it
said was as novel in Singapore as it would have been in India ;
that it was not sanctioned by the East India Company's charter ; and
was contrary to the letter and spirit of the rules laid down by the
Government for the guidance of Chaplains in India. The rules made
by the Governor in Council for Madras were printed at length. They
provided for two lay trustees, who formed a committee of management
with the Chaplain. One of them was to be the Senior Civil Servant, or
the Ofiicer Commanding the Garrison if a purely military station, provided
the person appointed was a communicant of the Church of England and
had no objection to hold the office. The other lay trustee was to be a

St. Andrew* s Church 293

gentleman in the service of the Queen or the E. I. Company, nomina-
ted by the Chaplain with the approval of the Bishop. The following
were their duties, printed in full from the newspaper : —

"Duties of the Lay Trustees.

1. It shall be the duty of the Lay Trustees to present to the
Bishop, or his Archdeacon, at their Visitation, or immediately by letter,
and at any time on the requisition of the Lord Bishop or his commissary,
any irregularity or scandal on the part of the Chaplain, or in connection
with the Chaplaincy, which may have occurred within the District.

2. To aid and assist the chaplain in the performance of his duties.

Duties of thk Standing Committee of Management.

The Conmiittee of Management shall take charge of the School
and Charity Funds connected with the Chaplaincy ; see that the Church
Yard and Burial Ground are kept in becoming order: take charge of
the Plate, and the care of the goods, repairs and ornaments of the
Church, or other building appropriated to the performance of Divine
Service, and represent to Government, through the Ecclesiastical
Head, any deficiency in these particulars, which they may think
necessary or desirable to supply.

The Chaplain, as President, will report to Government any vacancy
in the office of Lay Trustee."

In May, 1855, the Bengal Government approved of the proposal
to build a new Church, and sanctioned an expenditure of Rs. 47,000 in
cash for the purpose.

The newspaper of March, 1856, contained the following : —

" On Tuesday evening the 4th March, the Lord Bishop of Calcutta
laid the foundation stone of a Church intended to replace St. Andrew^s
Church, which was sometime ago taken down on account of its insecure
condition. The ceremony took place in presence of the Civil and
Military authorities and a considerable number of the community. The
following is a copy of the inscription placed below the stone : —

The first English Church of Singapore, commenced A. D. 1834
and consecrated A. D. 1838, having become dilapidated, this first stone
of a new and more commodious edifiee, dedicated to the worship of
Almighty God according to the rites and discipline of the Church of
England, under the name of St. Andrew, was laid by the Right
Rev. Daniel Wilson, n.D., Lord Bishop of Calcutta and Metropolitan,
on the 4th day of March, 1856, in the 24th year of his Episcopate.

The Hon'ble Edmund Augustus Blundell, being the Governor of
the Straits Settlements,

The Hon'ble Thomas Church, being Resident Councillor of Singapore,

Lieut.-Col. Charles Pooley, of the Madras Army, Commanding the
Troops,

The Reverend William Topley Humphrey being Chaplain,

And Captain Ronald Macpherson, of the Madras Artillery, being
Architect.

The building to be erected at the charge of the Hon'ble East
India Company.

Full estimate of cost, Co.'s Rupees 120,932 or with use of convict
labour 47,916 Rupees. '*

294 Anecdotal B.i4story of Singapore

An account of the building of the present Cathedral is to be found
in Major McNair's latest book published in 1897, " Prisonei'S tlieir
Own Warders," ^vritten in conjunction with Mr. W. D. Bayliss, who was
Superintendent of Works and Surveys and Superintendent of Convicts.
He says that it was designed by Colonel Macpherson, who was
Executive Engineer at the time, and reproduced to some extent the
character of old Netley Abbey in Hampshire. Mr. John Bennett, a civil
and mechanical engineer, who had come out to Singapore to seek
employment as a young man on Mr. A. L. Johnston's recommendation,
of whom he was some connection, was largely concerned in the erec-
tion, and did most of the detail work of the building. He had been
for a time a partner with Thomas Tivendale and James Baxter as
shipwrights on the River near the Court House, as appears from an
advertisement in 1852. He afterwards went to Burmah and the Anda-
mans and occupied an important position there.

The building is 225 feet long, by 115 feet wide, with a nave and
side aisles, and a north and south porch, having somewhat the appear-
ance of transepts, which can'iages can enter. The roof is of teak and
slates. There is a gallery at the west end, approached by a circular
iron staircase which was entirely made by the convicts, by whom the
whole Church was erected, and it was said by Dr. Mouatt, the
Inspector-General of Jails, Bengal, in a paper read by him before the
Statistical Society, that the Cathedral built by Major McNair, entirely
by convict labour, struck him as one of the finest specimens of eccles-
iastical architecture which he had seen in the East, and a most remark-
able example of the successful industrial training of convicts. The
interior walls and columns were coated with a composition which has
kept its colour, and has set so very hard that it is almost impossible
to drive a nail into it. Major McNair's book gives the particulars of
it, which we reprint, as an engineer in Singapore was very pleased
when it was pointed out to him in the Major's book, and said he had
often wished to know how it had been made: —

" It is Madras chunam made from shell lime without sand ; but
with this lime we had whites of eggs and coarse sugar, or "jaggery"
beaten together to form a sort of paste, and mixed with water in
which the husks of coconuts had been steeped. The walls were
plastered with this composition, and after a certain period for drying,
were rubbed with rock crystal or rounded stone until they took a
beautiful polish, being occasionally dusted with fine soapstone powder,
and so leaving a remarkably smooth and glossy surface. " The
Major does not give the height of tlie spire, nor does he relate what
was said at the time, that he was on the top when the large iron
cross was put in place, and slipped, or one of the lashings gave way,
and he might have fallen, but he shut his eyes and held on for a
few seconds where he was, and then quietly got into a safe place and
came down.

It was originally intended to carry up the tower, but the founda-
tions (which gave a good deal of trouble and are very deep, on account
of the swampy nature of the ground) were found insuflScient, and it
was decided to put a light spire from a certain height. Search has
been made among the old plans in the Government Office to try to

> V

St Andrew's Church 295

find the original plan and the proposed height of the tower, but with-
out success. Before erecting the spire the same weight was piled up
on the top of the tower to test the strain, and as it was found to
stand, the spire was constructed of hollow bricks. A few years after-
^VH^ds the foundations of the tower settled down further, and a crack
gradually formed in the side walls of the aisles a few feet from the
tower. The walls were then, about 1865, cut through and separated
from the tower. The crack so made was filled in, and iron bands or ties
inserted, and no further settlement has taken place. The height to
the top of the cross has been given as 125 feet in one book and as 225
in another book about Singapore, and other measurements of the
building have been stated equally incorrectly. The following details
have now been carefully taken by the Public Works Department, and
are correct.

The building is 181 feet 4 inches long, internal measurement
from the west door, when closed, to the wall behind the Communion
Table. Including the tower it is 226 feet 3 inches from the exterior
points of the building. The nave and side aisles are 55 feet 4 inches
wide. Including the two porches the building is 114 feet wide,
internal measurement. The spire to the centre of the iron cross is
207 feet 6 inches from the ground. The tower is 38 feet 9 inches
square at the base. The handsome chancel arch is 55 feet 6 inches
from the floor-level to the apex, and 20 feet 4 inches wide at the
foot. The interior height of the nave from floor to the under side of
ridge is 74 feet. The enclosure or compound is about 660 feet by
540. A monument to Colonel Macpherson stands on the side towards
the sea. He was buried at the cemetery at Bukit Timah Road.

Mr. John Cameron in his book speaks of it as a noble pile and
one of the largest Cathedrals in India; and Major MacNair remarks
that owing to the simplicity of its tracery and mouldings it really
appears much larger than it actually is, and being built upon an open
space, its proportions at once strike the eye of every visitor to the
Colony. In another book it is spoken of as the most striking and
beautiful Church east of the Cape of Good Hope.

In December, 1860, the building was ready to be used, and there
was some correspondence in the paper about the delay in opening it.
It appears from this, that the Mission Chapel which had been used for
the Church services after the old Church was unsafe, was too small to
hold the congregation, and two services were held, one after the other
to make room for all, and it was also suggested to hold two evening
services on Sunday. The reason for the delay was said to be owing
to the windows and lamps not having arrived from England, which
some of the congregation thought was a bad excuse, and offered to
pay for temporary screens until the stained glass windows arrived.
There was such a great demand for seats that a ballot was held at the
Masonic Lodge for their disposal, and there was an advertisement in
the Free Press in September, 1861, signed by Mr. John Colson Smith,
as Treasurer, in which it was said that applications could be made for seats
at $1 or 50 cents a month, according to their position. The seating
at present with broad, wide seats, accommodates about 300 ; but on the
occasion of the Memorial Service on the day of Queen Victoria's

296 Aiuicdotal History of Singapore

funeral, on 2nd February, 1901, when chairs were as far as possible
substituted for the large seats, and a J vantage was taken of every
inch of floor space, and over 300 persons occupied the gallery, there
were about 1,400 persons in the congregation.

The Church was opened for service on Ist October, 1861, and was
consecrated by Bishop Cotton of Calcutta, on Saturday, 25th January,
1862. The seats were first placed facinjjf the east, as at present, but
at one time, about 1871, they were placed towards the centre facing
each other, and the pulpit was put at the pillar nearest the central
gangway on the north side. In a few months it was found unsatis-
factory, aud the seats were replaced as at first. The Goveruoi'^s seat
properly speaking is on the south side of the centre passage, and was
always so used until Sir Cecil Smith became Governor and preferred
to remain in the seat he had occupied while Colonial Secretary, which
is the corresponding seat on the opposite side. It really arose in
consequence of the Chief Justice having been accustomed to sit at
that time in the Governor's seats, as the Governor was a Roman
Catholic, and Sir Cecil did not like to ask him to move, as he had
become accustomed to the place. Consequently the alteration has been
perpetuated, which is a mistake, as strangers properly expect to see
the Governor in the right position, on the south side, as in other places.

The organ, which is an unusually good instrument, was built by
John Walker of London, a first class maker, and was paid for by
subscription at a cost of £600. It had the following specification : —

Swell Organ. Great Okgan.

Clarion Trumpet

Oboe Mixture, 4 and 5 ranks

Cornopean Fifteenth

Mixture, 3 ranks Twelfth

Fifteenth Principal

Principal Flute

Stopped Diapason Stopped Diapason

Open do. Dulciana

Double do. Open Diapason

Couplers Bourdon
Swell to Great Pedal Organ

Pedals to Swell Violoncello

Pedals to Great Open Diapason 16 feet,

Mr. Terry, a very accomplished organist, who is now a manager
in a very large Music establishment in Bond Street, London, came out
with the organ, and first put it up between two of the pillars next
the northern porch. Soon afterwards it was moved up into the gallery.
In a few years it was decided that the small choir was too far away
from the Congregation, so a subscription was made and a smaller organ
was ordered from Bryceson Brothers, London, which cost £252.9.0 It
had one manual, with seven sets of pipes and open 16-feet pedals. It
was placed in what is now the northern vestry, with a reversed key-
board, so that the player sat facing the choir in the chancel. It was
sold to the Penang Church when the large organ was again moved,

8t Andrew'b Church 297

and is the foundation of the organ now in use there^ having been
considerably enlarged. The money received for it was spent in repairing
the large organ. In 1888 Walker's organ was again moved down-
stairs, and placed where it is now at the east end of the north aisle.
At the same time the floor level of the chancel was extended to the
end of the organ case.

In 1889 a peal of eight bells, cast by the famous makers, Taylors
of Loughborough, who founded "Big Ben" of St. Paul's Cathedral,
London, was given to the Cathedral. The bells are of large size, the
tenor, the largest, being as big as the No. 8 in the peal at St. Paul's.
A clergyman of Oxford, an authority on the subject, said that they
were in remarkably good tune and an excellent peal. The names of
the donors are recorded on a brass near the west door as follows : —

t To the glory of (xod

The Peal of Bells

lu this Cathedral Churcb

Of S. Andrew was dedicated

In Memory of

John Small Henry Eraser,

Captain h.e.i.c.s.

By His Heirs

William Henry McLeod Read,

E.C.N. L., c.M.a.

Amelia Sophia Saunders

Arthur Frederic Clarke

Lucy Julia Beamont

Denison Leslie Clarke

Anna McLeod Luttman Johnson

On the Seventieth Anniversary

Of the Foundation of the Settlement

6th February, 1889.

A special form of prayer was used on the afternoon of Wednes-,

day, 6th February, at the dedication of the Peal of Bells and the Pulpit,

which is inentioned further on.

In the earliest days of the Settlement Captain Fraser commanded
one of the large sailing vessels of the East India Company, the Marque^st
of Huntly, and about 1826 and 1827 owned land in various parts of
the town, in KUng Street, Boat Quay, High Street, and the whole of
the piece of land on which the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank now
stands. In course of years it passed to those whose names are men-
tioned on the tablet, the five last being the children of Mr. and Mrs.
Seymour Clarke. Mrs. Clarke was the daughter of Mr. C. B. Read,
and came out with her mother in 1824, as has been mentioned on
page 155. Mr. Clarke was the first Manager of the Great Western
Railway, the pioneer of railways, and afterwards of the Great Northern
Railway, and had a great deal of influence, which ho used in pro-
moting the Transfer of the Settlements in 1867. Queen Victoria never
liked to make a railway journey unless Mr. Clarke went with the
train, and the watch he always wore had been given to him by her.
The Rev. Arthur Clarke is now Archdeacon of Lancashire. When the
property was sold, the value had then advanced very largely, and
those who had benefited by it presented the Bells.

There are three fine stained glass windows in the Apse, which
were erected at the same time as the Church, and cost a large sum of

208 Anecdotal Huftory of Singapore

money. That in the centre has at the foot the following inscription : —
"To the Memory of Sir Stamford Raffles, Kt., the illastrions founder
of Singapore, A. D. 1861.''

The window on the north or left hand side of that one has the
following : — " 'J*o the Honour and Glory of God, and as a testimonial
to John Crawfurd, Ksq., (lovemor of Singapore from 1823 to 1826,
whose sound principles of administration during the infancy of the
Settlement formed a basis for that uninterrupted prosperity which the
Colony thus gratefully records." Mr. Crawfurd was then alive.

The third window, that on the other (the right hand) side has
the following words: — "To Major-General William Butterworth, C.B.,
who successfully governed these settlements from 1843 to 1845, this window
is dedicated by the citizens of Singapore." There is an unfortunate
mistake in the secontl date, which should have been 1855, not 1845,
as pointed out by Major McNair in his book. The tablet close by
on the wall of the Sacrarium on its South side prevents any misunder-
standing. It has the inscription : — " Sacred to the Memory of Major-
General William John Butterworth, c.b., of the Madras Army, for
nearly twelve years Governor of Prince of Wales Island, Singapore
and Malac(ra, who departed this life on the 4th November, 1856, at
Millhead Hou^^e, Guildford, in the County of Surrey, England, in the
56tli year of his sgo, distinguished alike in his civil and military
career for courage, zeal and integrity."

Opposite this tablet on the north side is one with the following
words: — ** Sacred to the Memory of the Reverend Edward White, M.A.,
of the liengal Establishment. His unwearied devotion to His Master's
service, during the eight years he was chaplain at this station, mingled
with his singular personnl humility, won the deepest respect and
affection of his flock. Forgetful of self in zeal for their good, and
unmindful of the frailty of a constitution exhausted by previous
attacks and long residence in India, he sank under a brief illness and
in simple trust in Him who is the Resurrection and the Life. He
breathed his last in perfect peace on the 7tli April, 1845, at Singapore,
in the 52nd year of his age. In sympathy with the bereaved widow
and fatherless children, and as a token of respect for their own loss, this
tablet is placed here by those who were allowed the benefit of his
ministry and the advantage of his example/' He was buried with
military honours, and Mr. Church read the service. Over the door at
the west end of the building is a window, the subject of which is
the Four Evangelists, put up in 1872 in memory of Colonel Macpherson
who designed the Church.

At the west end of the north aisle there is a window with the
inscri])tion : '* In Menioriani David Rodger, obiit October 11th, 1867, cetat
37. " He was a partner in the firm of Martin, Dyce & Go. Two tablets
to Naval Otticers were removed from the old(Uiurch and placed in the walls
near the east end of the aisles; one was erected by the Commander and
Officers of H. M Sloop Harlequin in Memory of George Samuel Berens, an
Officer who died at sea, on 11th September, 1843, aged 25 years, and was
buried off Tanjong Dattoo, Borneo ; and another tablet to the Memory of
Commander William Maitland of H. M. steamer Spiteful, who died in
the Roads of Singapore on 10th August, 1846, aged 40 years. There are

8t. Andrew's Church 299

a few other tablets of modern date, but the construction of the building",
with so many openings for windows, does not lend itself conveniently
for the purpose, and they detract from the appearance of the building.

The handsome brass lectern was the gift of Mr. Thomas Shelf or d
in 1873, in memory of his first wife, and the brass rails in front of the
Communion Table were given by his family after his death in 1900.
The pulpit was given by Sir C. C. Smith, when he was Governor, on
8th February, 1889. It was made in Ceylon. The set of choir stalls
was given by Mr. J. J. Macbean in 1900. A handsome Communion
Service was given by Mr. Arnold Otto Meyer and his son Edward
Lorenz Meyer to the congregation. And an illuminated paper, hung
in the vestry, says that it was "a thank offering Jind in remembrance
of the goodwill and prosperity experienced by the House of Behn,
Meyer & Company, during fifty years, on November 1st, 1890.'^ Mr.
Norris says that when he was a choir boy and Mr. G. H. Brown was
organist, Mr. A. 0. Meyer used to sing in the choir.

Until 1869 the Straits Settlements had been in the diocese of
Calcutta, and on the consecration of the Ven. W. Chambers, Arch-
deacon of Sarawak, as Bishop of Labuan and Sarawak in that year,
the Settlements were transferred to that diocese.

The Rev. F. T. McDougall, m.a., of Magdalen Hall, Oxford, and
a Fellow of the College of Surgeons was, in 1847, appointed by
the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of London to be the
head of a new Mission to Sarawak. He was afterwards consecrated
Bishop at Calcutta in 1855, which was the first consecration of a
Bishop of the Church of England, out of England. He was styled
Bishop of Labuan and Sarawak. He resigned in 1868, the year of
the death of Rajah Sir James Brooke, and was succeeded by Archdeacon
Chambers, advantage being taken, as has been said, of the vacancy
of the See, to withdraw the Straits Settlements from the Diocese
of Calcutta and include them in that of Labuan and Sarawak.
St. Andrew's Church was then formally declared the Cathedral of the
See, on 20th December, 1870. Bishop Chambers retired in 1879, and
was succeeded in 1881 by the Ven. G. F. Hose, of St. John's College,
Cambridge, who had been Colonial Chaplain and Archdeacon in Singapore.
The style of the Diocese was then changed to Singapore, Labuan and
Sarawak, being intended to give prominence to the position of Singa-
pore, as the head-quarters of the work.

The St. Andrew's Church Mission was begun with one catechist
at Whitsuntide, 1856. Bishop McDougall of Sarawak had joined with
Mr. Humphrey, the Chaplain, in its establishment, and it was carried
on by a committee. The Bishop, when in England, recommended
the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel to assist the local
mission by sending out an ordained missionary, and about the begin-
ing of 1862 the Rev. E. S. Venn was sent by the Society to Singapore.
On 11th May, 1863, at a meeting of the subscribers to the mission
held at the Raffles Institution, at which the Governor, Colonel Cavenagh,
presided, and Bishop McDougall was present, it was decided that
it would be desirable to join the local mission with that of the S. P. G.
to bear the name of the St. Andrew's Church Mission to the Heathen
in connection with the S. P. G. ; the united mission to be under the

300 Antcdotal Uustury of Singapore

management of the S. P. G. in communication with the Be:ddencj
Chaplain. Mr. Venu^ of Wadham College, Oxford, was the first
mibsionary of the Society to the Straits. He died in Singapore on
19th September, 1866. After his death there was no resident missionary
until 1872, when the Uev. William Henry Gromes was appointed. He
was born in Ceylon in 1827, was educated at the Bishop's College,
Calcutta, and went to the S. P. 6. mission at Sarawak in 1852. He
left Sarawak in 1H67, and was appointed Acting Colonial Chaplain of
Malacca. In 1868 he returned to Ceylon, and after working among
the coffee planters there, he came back to the Straits in 1871 as acting
Chaplain of Penang. In June, 1872, he became S. P. G. missionary at
Singapore. In 1878 the Archbishop of Canterbury bestowed upon Mr.
Gt)mes the decree of a Bachelor of Divinity of Lambeth, in recognition
of his missionary and literary services. He translated the Prayer Book
and a number of Hymns into native languages, Chinese, Dyak, and Malay,
which were printed in Singapore at his own expense, aided by contribu-
tions from the congregations. The last edition of the Chinese Prayer
Book was published with the sanction of the Archbishop of Canterbury
under the auspices of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.
Mr. Gomes died on the morning of Sunday, 2nd March, 1902, 75 years
of age, from failure of the heart, after being ill for a year. He
was very much respected in Singapore, and his loss was much felt.
The Chapel in Stamford Road was built in 1875, the house for
the missionary in 1877, and the school house in 1900. They all stand
on the ground on the side of Fort Canning Hill, given by the Govern-
ment to the Society for the purpose. In 1882 Mr. Gt>mes opened a
branch mission for the Chinese living at Jurong, and a Church was
built there. It is about fourteen miles by road from Singapore on the
west side of the island.

1836. 301

CHAPTER XXIV.

1836.

ON New Tear's Day, there was a regatta in the harbour, in which
six yachts took part, and there were a number of boat races.
An Artillery man, in firing a gun at sunrise, shot away his right arm.
On Monday, the 25th January, a private meeting was held, at the
Reading Room, of the Mercantile community to consider the question
of the imposition of duties, about which the following correspondence
had taken place: —

^'To

The Hon'ble Krnnkth Murchison, Esquire,

Governor of Prince of Wales' Island,

Singapore and Malacca,

&c., &c., &c.

" Sir, — We the undersigned. Merchants of Singapore, having heard
that the Supreme Government has it in contemplation to levy duties
at this port, and being of opinion that such a measure will materially
affect the trade of the Settlement, respectfully request that you will
inform us if such be the case ; and if so, that you will be pleased to
favour us with the particulars of such instructions as you may have
received on the subject, in so far as you feel yourself at liberty to
communicate the same.

W^e are, &c.

Joaquim d' Almeida. A. Guthrie. S. A. Seth.

Jose d' Almeida. J. Hamilton. W. D. Shaw.

E. Boustead. A. Hay. W. Spottiswoode.

C. Carnie. R. C. Healey. J. Stephen.

T. 0. Crane. A. L. Johnston. S. Stephens.

J. S. Clark. W.'S. Lorrain. J. H. Whitehead.

W. S. Duncan. T. McMicking. J. Wise.

J. Fraser. G. Martin. G. Zechariah.

W. R. George. T. Scott. I. Zechariah.

Singapore f llth January, 1836."

" To Messrs. A. L. Johnston & Co., and the other Merchants of Singapore.

"Gentlemen, — In reply to your letter to my address, dated the llth
instant, I have the honour to apprize you that the Supreme Government
has directed me to submit the draft of an Act and Schedule for levying
a duty on the Sea Exports and Imports of the three Settlements, to
meet the expense of effectually protecting the trade from Piracy.

The above comprises the directions of the Supreme Government ;
the rate of the duties will be regulated by the estimated expenses of
a Flotilla and a Custom House, on neither of which points can I, at
present, give yon any precise information. I may, however, state, that

302 Anecdotal Hiftfory of Singapore

on the best procurable information, I am of opinion that a duty of 2J
per cent, on the articles enumerated in the annexed List (square-rigged
vessels under foreign colours being liable to double duties) will raise
a sufficient fund to meet the object in view. In framing the Schedule
now laid before you, it has been my endeavour to render the system
of duties as little obnoxious as possible to the local peculiarities of the
Trade, and I shall be happy to pay every respect to any observations
your experience may suggest upon points in which alteration or modifi-
cation may be advantageously applied.

I have the honour to be, &c.,

K. MnRCHrsoN,
Singapore, 13th January, 1836." Oovernor.

A public meeting was then called on the 4th February, b}' the
Sheriff, Mr. Wingrove, as was the custom in those days, and the
following is an account of what took place : —

"A. L. Johnston, Esq., having been unanimously called to the
Chair, briefly stated the object of the meeting, when the following
Resolutions were unanimously agreed to : —

1st. — Proposed by Mr. J. Hamilton, and seconded by Mr. J
Fraser — That it is the opinion of this Meeting that this Settlement
owes the commercial eminence it now enjoys to its having been
established and continued a Free Port.

2nd. — Proposed by Mr. W. D. Shaw, and seconded by Mr. K.
Boustead — That it is the opinion of this Meeting that the Imposition of
Duties will be productive of serious injury to the Trade of this Settlement.

3rd. — Proposed by Mr. A. Guthrie, and seconded by Mr. R. C.
Healey — That having been informed that the Supreme Government
have it in contemplation to levy Duties here, it is the opinion of tins
Meeting that means should be taken for the purpose of obviating the
purposed measure.

4th. — Proposed by Mr. T. McMicking, and seconded by Mr. R. C.
Healey — That it is the opinion of this Meeting that the best means
that can be adopted for the end, would be to petition both Houses of
Parliament and the Supreme Government on the subject.

5th. — Proposed by Mr. J. Stephen, and seconded by Mr. E. J.
Gilman — That Messrs. Johnston, Boustead, Hamilton, Guthrie and
Shaw be appointed a Committee to draw up Petitions in conformity
with the resolution now passed.

(The Petition having been previously prepared was read by the
Chairman.)

6th. — Proposed by Mr. W. S. Lorrain, and seconded by Mr. Jose
d' Almeida — That these Petitions having been adopted shall lie for
signature ten days in the Singapore Reading Room, and that the one
to the House of Lords be forwarded to Lord Glenelg, that to the
House of Commons to the Members for Manchester and Glasgow, and
that to the Supreme Government, direct.

7th. — Proposed by Mr. J. Fraser, and seconded by Mr. A. Guthrie —
That a copy of the Petition to the Supreme Government be transmitted
to the Local Government, with a request that, if they concur in the
views of the Petitioners, they will second the prayer of the Petition.

1836. 303

The following was the text of the Petition : —

'* That your Petitioners having learnt with great rejg^ret that it is
the intention of the Supreme Government to establish a Custom House
and levy duties at this place to provide means for the suppression of
Piracy in these seas ; a measure, in the opinion of your Petitioners, that
will have a most injurious effect on the commercial prosperity of the place.

"That your Petitioners are confidently of opinion that the present
commercial importance of Singapore is entirely owing to its having
been continued a Free Port, without any obnoxious restrictions on its
Trade ; that most of the Native Traders have been induced to this Port,
in preference to others on the Island of Java and elsewhere, solely on
that account.

"That your Petitioners humbly beg to bring to your notice the
advantages of Singapore as a commercial depot, both to Great Britain
and British India ; the imports being composed to a large extent of the
Produce and Manufactures of these two Countries; and considerably
promote the national industry of both in various branches. The return
exports are composed of articles which pay a large amount of duties
and thus add considerably to the revenue of both countries.

" That your Petitioners further beg to represent that a considerable
branch of the Trade here is the transhipment of goods sent solely for
the purpose of being forwarded to their ultimate destination ; which
branch would be completely destroyed by the imposition of any duties
whatsoever.

"That the Dutch Port of Rhio is but one day's sail from Singapore,
and is a Free Port. Your Petitioners, therefore, humbly submit that
the levying any duties on the trade of this place would have the
effect of transferring a considerable portion of the native trade to
that port. For, though by the schedule furnished by the Honourable
the Governor to your Petitioners, the native boats are freed from
paying duties, it would be necessary, to prevent smuggling, to subject
them to the forms of a Custom House establishment, which would be
nearly as obnoxious to them as the payment of duties.

"Your Petitioners also represent the large expense that would be
incurred by having a Custom House with an efficient establishment to
prevent smuggling, and submit that from local causes the facility of
smuggling would be so great, that a very large proportion of the
amount of Duties collected would have to be expended in the Custom
House establishment.

" Your Petitioners submit that this settlement has, since its establish-
ment, been rapidly increasing in Population and Revenue; that the
former has doubled itself within the last seven years, and the latter
for the official year ending 1834-35, shews an excess of Rs. 40,000
over the preceding year.

" That many of your Petitioners have been induced on the faith of
this Settlement being continued a Free Port, to invest large sums of
money on buildings for commercial and other purposes, the value of
which will, in their opinion, be much deteriorated by the falling off of
the trade consequent on the imposition of duties.

" Your Petitioners are of opinion that a Steam Boat would be most
efficacious in suppressing Piracy, and might also be employed occasionally

•:^04 Anecdotal History of Singapore

in the conveyance of the Court on Circuit and other Government
purposes, thereby saving the Government a considerable amount
annually expended for these purposes.

" Your Petitioners, therefore, humbly pray that the valuable Trade
of Singapore may not be endangered by any duties being imposed
thereon; but that it may be allowed to remain in the same free sjiate
it has hitherto done/'

In this year the Fives Court was established, owing to the exer-
tions of Dr. Montgomerie, who was a very popular man in Singapore.
The Fives' Players gave him a dinner in February, in testimony, as
they said, of the obligation they owed him for the introduction of such
a wholesome and exciting sport. At that time they used to play fives
in the early morning, instead of going for the usual constitutional
walk. The Court was where part of the building of the Government
Offices now stands, and in later years, and down to the year 1866, or
thereabouts, there used to be always a dozen players in the Court
between five and half-past six o'clock in the afternoon, and there were
some very good players. In the course of time, the Court was palled
down to make room for the new buildings, and a Court was built in
Armenian Street by the Government to replace it, but it was the
death-blow to the history of Fives, and was pulled down in 1886 to
make room for St. Andrew's House.

In March two strangers arrived from Borneo, being a pair of
Orang Ontans, brought from the interior, which excited a good deal of
curiosity. The paper this year contained accounts of what Lieutenant
Waghorn was doing to establish the Overland Routa, which was called
a very visionary scheme. He had persuaded an English woman to
open an inn in Cairo, and steam-packets were started between Malta
and Alexandria. He proposed to charge $60 for each passenger, with-
out wine, for going from Alexandria to Suez, and he appointed
Agents at Jedda, Cairo and Alexandria, and proposed to reside at
Suez himself. The charge then for the postage of a letter from
Plymouth to Alexandria was three shillings and sixpence, and a letter
through Egypt to Bombay cost, in some instances, as much as £4.
The paper does not mention what the weight of the letters was, but
does not say anything to show that they were unusually heavy.

In May there was a fire at Kampong Glam, which burnt down a number
of attap-roofed houses, occupied by Chinese shop keepers. The Convicts
were quickly on the spot, and prevented the fire from spreading ; without
their help it was thought several streots would have been destroyed.

The Singapore Free Presft on 12th May, said: — "The Supreme
Government have authorised pensions to the family of the late Sultan
of Johore. The family consists of two sons and two daughters, and
the pension is $70 each, a sufficiently liberal allowance, but merely a
gratuity to which no claim could be made with any shew of right.
The Company, however, having lately granted pensions, $4,200 yearly,
to the family of the late Tumongong, that of the Sultan is of course
entitled to the benefit of the precedent. To the families of these two
princes the Company is now paying $8,160 per annum/*

On the 24th May, a public meeting was held at the Reading
Room to form the Singapore Agricnltural and Horticultural Society,

1836. 305

with a subscription of f2 quarterly, to meet at seven o'clock in the
evening of the first Saturday of every month. A Committee was
appointed with the Governor as President, and Messrs. Balestier,
Montgoraerie, Almeida, Brennand and T. 0. Crane, as members. The
meetings were held regularly at the houses of the Members of Committee
in turn, for some time, papers being read upon various subjects, one,
the first, being by Dr. Oxley on the objects of the Society, and one
by Dr. Montgomerie on the expense of clearing and draining the
jungle to increase the cultivation in the island.

The paper of 2nd June, contained a very long article by Mr. J.
Clunies Ross of the Cocos Islands on the formation of the Oceanic Islands,
which were spoken of as ''his very remote and isolated abode."

In June, Mr. Bonham, the Resident Councillor, was joined in a
Commission with Captain Henry Ducie Chads, of H. M. S. Andromache,
to arrange measures with a view to the suppression of piracy in the
neighbouring seas.

In July, Boustead, Schwabe <fe Co., were advertising in the news-
papers, bills on London or Manchester at 8 or 6 months' sight; and
the Government advertised Bills on Bengal for sale at exchange 219.

A notice was inserted in the newspaper on 16th July, by the
creditors of Mr. Mackertich Moses, signed by most of the principal
Europeans firms in the place, saying that reports had been circulated
that Mr. Moses was kept in the jail for the purpose of oppressing him,
which was not the case. He had made no offer to compromise or
settle with the creditors, but had shut himself up in his house and
held them at defiance. He was entitled to no indulgence, but if he
would do as many Chinese merchants had done, and give a proper
statement of his affairs with a fair offer of a composition, and security
that he would not go away until his affairs were arranged, the
creditors would let him out of jail. He was no relation of Mr. Catchick
Moses.

Soda water was first advertised for sale, made at the Singapore
Dispensary, on 31st August, the price was $1.50 a dozen, without
the bottles.

In August, Lord Gleuelg wrote to say that he was much gratified
in presenting the petition already referred to, and that he was happy
to say the measure which it deprecated would find no countenance
from the home authorities ; and in November, the East India and
(/hina Association in London, which had taken the matter up on behalf
of Singapore, wrote to Messrs. C. R. Read, T. Fox, and E. Boustead
that they had learned from the India Board that despatches were
being forwarded to India directing the Government to suspend, if not
already enacted, and to repeal, if enacted, the proposed impost.

On the 15th September, Dr. M. J. Martin was married to Miss
Bell, of Westmoreland, by Mr. Bonham, the Resident Councillor. There
was, presumably, no Chaplain in Singapore.

In October, Mr. Gilman published an account of the adulteration
he had found in a parcel of tin he had purchased direct from a boat
from Pahang. It had been usual to cut the slabs in half, but he
happened to have two split open at the sides, and found the centres
of all the slabs filled with dross, dirt, and a great number of Tringanu

306 Aftecdotal History of Singapore

pico, wliicli woro raado of Hpelter or Itmd. Tin was then worth $20,
and h'Jid $0. Another lot in another boat was found by the purchasers
of it to be just the same, and it was taken to the Police Office and
melted down to get the tin separated.

I'here were very many complaints about the defective state of the
regulations regarding the disposal of Government land, and the Agri-
cultural Society drew up a petition to the Governor-General, which
was brought forward by Mr. Balestier and Mr. Boustead, and was sent
to Calcutta through the local authorities. It was as follows : — " That
your Petitioners lately formed themselves into a Society for the purpose
of promoting and encouraging undertakings of an Agricultural and
Horticultural nature generally in this Island.

"Tiiat your Petitioners humbly represent that their efforts in the
above object are checked by reason that waste and vacant lands on
this Ishmd cannot l)e obtained either by purchase or on long leases.

^'That your Petitioners are satisfied, from recent experiments, that
the soil of this Island is generally adequate to the successful cultivation
of cotton, sugar, j)epper, nutmegs, the finer spices, and other articles
of tropical produce, of which the increased production would eminently
contribute to the general interest of the Settlement.

''That your Petitioners bog to represent that a great portion of the
Island is likely to remain, as at present, an impervious jungle, unless
a more liberal system as respects the sale or leasing of lands be
adopted, which, in the opinion of your Petitioners, is essentially necessary,
if the operations of agriculture are ever to be considered as of any
importance in promoting its general welfare.

" Your Petitioners, therefore, humbly pray that your Lordship in
Council will be ])leased to take the premises into consideration,
and to authorize the sale or leasing of lands at this Settlement or the
leasing thereof for a term not less than ninety-nine years/'

On St. Andrew's Day a public dinner was given, and tlic company
finally broke up at sunrise after having partaken of a third supper.

It wjis towards the end of this year that the new Recorder, Sir
William Norris, came into the Straits, and in his first charge to the
Grand Jury, he took the opportunity of expressing his preference for
the system of a ])ublic prosecutor instead of a Grand Jury, as was the
case in the Colonies which had formerly been in the possession of the
Dutch or French. There was no regular Bar in those days, none of
the law agents having Ijeen professionally educated, and the Magistrates
did all manner of work besides their own. The Recorder said that no
permanent good could be expected until the interests of the stipendiary
Magistrates were limited to, and their energies ccmcentrated on, the
discharge of their duties. The usual sitting Magistrate was a civil
servant, who by the occasional absence of his superiors, acted sometimes
as Judge, and always as Commissioner of the Court of Requests; and
the remaining Justices of the Peace were mercantile men, who attended
occasionally when the presence of two Justices was required by law.
The Prisoner's Counsel was not allowed to speak on behalf of his
client, nor was the prisoner .allowed even to have copies of the
depositions made by the witnesses against him ; he had to rely upon
his own memory.

1836. 307

It was at this time that gambier and pepper plantations be^an to
be of importance in Singapore, the yearly production of gambier being
about 22,000 piculs, and of pepper about 10,000. The largest gardens
producing about 200 piculs of gambier, and 100 of pepper. On a plan-
tation producing from 100 to 110 piculs, the average size of the gardens,
six coolies were employed, at wages of |4 to $4.50 each. The price
of gambier was then about $3 a picul. Complaint was already being
made about the jungle being all cufe down for firewood, and about
plantations being deserted and allowed to run to lalang grass, while a
fresh plantation was made in the nearest favourable site, and further
devastation commenced.

Mr. John Palmer who was called ^' The Father of the Indian
Mercantile Community ,'' and whose name has been mentioned in the
earliest days of the Settlement, died at Calcutta in 1836, seventy years
old.

On the 17th November, Mr. Murchison, Governor of the Incorpo-
rated Settlements, left Penang for Calcutta on his final departure for
England. Mr. Bonham acted in his stead, and Mr. Wingrove was
sworn in as Resident Councillor of Singapore.

On 22nd November Captain John Poynton, the Harbour Master,
died, aged 35 years. He had been in the Navy, and then joined the
East India Company's service, and served with distinction. In 1822 he
was Deputy Harbour Master in Penang, and was in the war at Rangoon
in 1824, when Captain Marryat (the novel writer) of H. M. S. Lame
gave him great credit. In 1832 he was appointed Harbour Master
of Malacca, when William Scott was the same in Singapore, and being
friends, as everyone was with William Scott, they exchanged places
with each other. He left a widow and several children, and W. S.
Lorrain and James Stephen settled up his affairs.

On New Year's Day in this year, at Canton, a party of gentle-
men had made an attempt to proceed to Whampoa in the steamer
Jardine, ostensibly for the purpose of having her measured and
examined by the Chinese. The whole of the Europeans had tried to
obtain permission from the Chinese authorities for the steamer to
ply with passengers between Canton, Whampoa, Macao and Lintin.
They went up the entrance of the Canton River, and one of the forts
at the Bogue commenced firing upon her, but it was supposed the
guns were not shotted. Three of the gentlemen got into a boat with
four lascars and pulled to the fort, where there was a formidable turn
out of the war-boats and junks. They were taken to the Admiral, and
asked him to send up for orders that the steamer might be examined
there, instead of at Whampoa, but he said his orders were express
and he could not do it. He was invited on board, and came with
about one hundred attendants, and the curiosity of all was unbounded.
He was towed to and fro in his own vessel in the presence of
thousands of spectators, and said he was quite satisfied it was only
a passenger vessel, and unarmed, but he could not disregard his orders.
As soon as the Chinese had left the vessel, she returned to Lintin,
and the passengers proceeded to Canton in sailing boats. At night
the forts at the Bogue were still firing, and the war junks exchanging
signals and rockets and making much ado about nothing.

308 Anecdotal History of Singapore

So tho steamer was sent to Sinpfapore for sale and arrived here
on tlie 28tli Pe])ruary, 1836, and was described in the shipping report
for the day as a British schooner. They had not had a steamer to
notify before this, as far as is known, as the Diana did not come
until 1837. She was advertised for sale b}' A. L. Johnston & Co,
The Jardiuv was 115 tons, builder's, or 56 tons steam, measurement, and 48
horse power, and was *' considered to be the finest steam vessel hitherto
built." Her speed w^as somethinpf over seven knots. The paper spoke of
her as being a nine days' wonder, and every voice was raised against
her, nothing but denunciations being expressed against her qualities.
The reason of this was her misadventures on a trial trip slie made,
which was the first steam picnic in Singapore. 'I^he following pa.ssages
from a letter written at the time contain an account of what had
happened : —

*' You must know we got under half steam (for the kettle did not
boil) at about 6 a.m., ou Friday (ominous day) and steered (lop-sided)
direct for Goa Island [this is near St. John's Island]. Pound the wood
fuel too heavy, so threw a great part of it overboard; this eased
her much, and we afterwards steamed away (for the kettle now boiled)
very merrily; when, I suppose, the Captain wanted to make a short
cut, and consequently stuck us in the mud. All hands were immediately
employed in getting out an anchor and heaving oif, which, after some
trouble, was accomplished, and away we steamed again ; but whether
the tide was against us, or what else was the matter I know not,
but certain it is, we did not got on so fast as some of us expected,
and there were consequently a few black looks and a little growling ;
when, behold, as if to punish us for our impatience, snap went the
newly repaired lovor, and there we were, helpless. Misfortune never
comes alone, for, besides the fracture to the lever, one of the iron
boat davits broke and let. the only boat we had into the sea (that
is, only part of her, as she held on by the other davit). There was
now nothing for it, but to get sails bent, when we discovered that
lots of ropes were wantinij, we had no clue-lines, an«i no many other
thins^s. Nevertheless amidst all our misfortunes, we did not forget
good living, and beer, champagne, claret, &c., were in great request ;
our larder, too, was well supplied, so that we did pretty well in that
particular. We got back to our homes in the Snipe and Miafi Maggie
[two yachts] which came out from the harbour to our rescue."

In March a circular was issued proposing to parchfise the Jardinf
by a company in shares of $100 each and to run her between Singapore
and Penang, and in May the paper contained an account of a trip
to Malacca. The Company was not formed apparently. The paper
contained the following account: — ''The steamer Jardinp hn^ frequently
been under steam for a few hours during the week, and we learn
with much satisfaction that her engine is found to work admirably,
which reflects great credit on Mr. Hallpike, who, with very inadequate
means, has succeeded in putting the engine in the best of order. The
Jardine starts this evening for Malacca with a party of gentlemen, and
is expected to he back here on Monday morning. The Isabella
Robertson has arrived since our last, but without bringing the now levers.
They may, however, be expected very shortly."

1836. 309

And the account of the second voyage of this wonderful steamer,
on a trip to Malacca, on Thursday, 26th May, is contained in a letter
from which we make the following extracts : —

"We did not get off till nearly six. At half past seven, the
moon rising, we struck hard, and ran, I should say a dozen yards,
on a coral reef, I think oflf Pulo Sala; Mohamet said he went down to
change his baju, and while off deck the course was altered. Captain
Greig went out in the boat to sound, and found deep water ou each
side and behind us, backed her off with the paddles ; this detained
us twenty minutes. We had supper about nine, and shortly afterwards
all of our party lay down to sleep, some below and others on deck ;
but Greig, Hallpike, and I remained up. About half past three on
Friday morning, the 27th, Hallpike and I talking, the boat stopped,
I said, ' Whatever is the matter now.' We ran to the engine and
found the men below just rousing from sleep. They had let the fires
get so low that the steam was off. We soon got on as well as ever.
About half past six we were abreast Formosa. At a little after eight,
most of us were dressed, and talking about breakfast in high spirits,
and some said we should be in by 10, others 11, others 12. By this
time Moar was before us, probably distant eight miles. We observed
smoke coming out of the fore-hatch, from the engine room and the
deck on each side of the main hatch, a little forward ; it looked like
steam at first, but it was soon found that the vessel had caught fire.

" All the passengers and servants ran aft and assisted to lower
the boat into the water, the only boat we had. It was a common ship's
boat, and I think would not have floated with more than about half
our number. We pumped an immense deal of water into the engine
room. I tried, and saw others try, to go forward at first, but the smoke
was so suffocating that I was driven back, the deck forward was very
hot. We got the awning down with very great difficulty, and covered
the main hatch with it and soaked the water on it ; wo also kept the
fore hatch to the engcine room, a skylight, and the companion to
cabin, covered with sails and tarpaulins. We had about seven buckets.
McMicking and some of us went into the cabin (he first) and we stood
by to haul him up, thinking it would be full of smoke if the flames
had not yet reached it, but to our surprise and delight there was no
smoke, and the bulkhead was quite cool. Before this, the deck was
burst in on each side of the main hatch with the long heavy iron
lever which sets the engine going, and wo threw water down. I think
the tire was out by half past nine to ten o'clock. Hallpike went down
at the beginning, and got several bottles of gunpowder which were
thrown overboard; he also secured some dollars that he had, saying
that they spoke a language understood all the world over. The Captain
tried to stop the engine and could not; she stopped of herself, from
what cause I know not.

"When the fire was out, I saw what was the means of saving us
aft of the boiler ; a strong bulkhead, thick planking lined with tin on
both sides, and with a space in the middle, and the fire had no strength
to get through this, as there was no draught for it. What time we
sat down to eat, I cannot tell, but we did, and then set to work and
lighted the fires to get steam up as soon as the water was pumped

310 Anecdotal History of Singapore

out. I think about half past three or four the steam was {^rot up;
h\w went for sovtMi minutes, then stopped. Water was pumped in,
tht* tires made tierce, and the steam pot up again, and then slic went
for tive to seven minutes; we went on this way, probably 10 to 15 times,
until we got to win<lward of the outer Water Island, and the tin**
were raked out to my great delight at about half past seven m
eight o'clock. We supped and sang, and all went to sleep. AVe
anchored a long way out, I think in 6J fathoms, at four o'clock. The
report b()at came and I went in her, to my great joy, and got on
shore by a (juarter to seven.'' The paddles and paddle boxes were
afterwards nnshipi)ed in Malacca and the steamer came back to
Singapore under sail.

In this vear the (h^scendants of a male and female Jackall, that an
in<livi<lual had brought from Bengal, became very noisy and trouble-
some animals, and killed fowls in people's compounds, and were said
to be the progenitors of mongrel dogs here in the jungle.

Ca})tain William .Scott, the harbour master who has been spoken
of in this chajiter, was one of the most respected residents here, whose
worth, gentleness, charity, and disinterested benevolence were widely
known over the Far KnM. He was a first cousin of Sir Walter Scott
the Novelist, and was the son of Mr. James Scott, the pioneer settler
of IVnang, who was the close friend and adviser of the first Governor
and founder of the Settlement, lie was born on 3rd May, 1786, and
died l^^tli December, lt^61, in Singapore and is buried in the old
cemet(»ry on Fort Canning. He was a very benevolent, hospitable, kind-
hearted man, and all Singapore were his friends. As a boy he was
in the Edinburgh High School, and, as a young man, was in the
Volunteer Cavalrv and I^)val Archers of that city. Misfortunes came
Upon his father's house, wliose estates passed into other hands, and
he came out to the East. He was the Hfirbour Master and Post
MaNler and was verv re<rnlar at his c»fhce work. The best time to
see him was in the early morning, cutting, planting and gardening in
his ])lantjition, at the (M)rner of wliat is still known as Scott's Koad,
at the corner of Orchard Koad opposite the Police Station and extend-
ing up to the I'anglin Clnl». He lived in a small attap house called
Hurricane Cottage, close to where Huriicane House is now. He grew
there all kinds of fruits, native and exotic, the purple cocoa, the grace-
ful l)(»tel-nut, a maze of ramhuians, dukus, niangO(»steens and durians,
l)esides sea-cotton, arrowroot, and many nuMv. His garden afforded
one of tho most picturesque, shady, pleasing retreats that could be
imagined, illuminated as it was by the old man's lustrous blue eyes,
silver hair, and warm hearty welcome. In the times of Sir (ieorge
Bonham he was a constant guest at Government House, who had the
training and experience to ajipreciafce the value of such a man, and
felt that his hos])itality was graced by tlu* presence of the cousin of
Sir Walter. Hut times altered, and a new (iovernor "who knew not
Joseph " a son of a shop-keeper, spoken of as '* a compound (»f
ignorance and pomposity," could not appreciate these things. It sounds
paltry to speak of it, but the fact remains that Captain Scott one day,
in 1847, walked into the (lovernor's Office, which was next to his own,
in his usual every day suit of plain white clothes. This was considered

1836. 311

a mortal affront ; and the old faithful servant was ousted, and a young
man, with peculiar interest, put in his place, and the older man's
means of livelihood swept from under his feet. These sentences are
abridged, but without alteration of words, from an old account by one
of his friends, who were legion, and he added that Captain Scott felt
the injustice most acutely '^ for he had a great deal of Sir Walter in
him." The plantation is now sold for building purposes, but some of
the old cocoa plants which Captain Scott introduced arc still there.
Scott's Road was named after him, and he was the uncle of Mr.
William Ramsay Scott, who left Singapore to reside in England many
years ago. The Free Press remarked at the time of Captain Scott's
death, after speaking of his great kindness of disposition, that his long
residence in the Straits made him an authority on all matters connected
with its history, while he possessed a fund of anecdote regarding its
earlier annals which rendered his conversation at once instructive and
entertaining. And it said that his features bore a great likeness to his
celebrated cousin, Sir Walter Scott. His portrait is in the Freemason's
Lodge.

It was about this time that an Oriental Merchant, Abraham
Solomon, came to the place. He was born in Bagdad, and after being
about five years in Calcutta he came to reside permanently in Singapore.
He lived on the river side, about the middle of Boat Quay, and died
on 19th May, 1884, at 86 years of age, and was buried in the Jewish
Cemetery in Orchard Road. It was said of him by Mr. Th(mison, that
he might have sat to a sculptor for a model of the father of the faith-
ful. He dressed in the long flowing robes of the East, with a large
turban ; and his beard, as large and long as is seldom seen, flowed
down over his breast. He was a man of large stature, and a notable
person in the place. He was a leading man among his tribe and had
much to do with the synagogue, and took an enthusiastic interest in
the manners, customs, and literature of the East. He used sometimes
to entertain Europeans, but was careful to remark that he could not
dine with a Christian, so it was not a frequent occurrence. He did
not speak English and conversation was carried on in Malay, which
would not be the case at the present time. His children were educated
at English teaching schools here, an advantage Bagdad did not offer
to Abraham Solomon.

The European vessels in these days always engaged Malay
sampans to wait on the ship, to avoid making the European crews
row backward and forwards in the sun. The Malays learned to build
very perfect boats, about twenty feet long and four feet in width,
very unlike the tubs they had used before the Europeans came, and
they were able to hold their own against European boats, which it was
said never beat them. They had a crew of three to five men, and
the charge was sixty cents a day. For $30 they would convey letters
to Pen an g, nearly four hundred miles.

In Mr. Earl's book is a description of a Sumatra Squall, which
is well worth reproducing. He said " The Sumatra squalls which were
formerly, and are still in some degree, the terror of those who navigate
the Straits of Malacca, are caused by the South-west Monsoon being
obstructed in its course by the mountains of Sumatra. The appearance

312 Anecdotal History of Singapore

(if tile squall is betokened by a dense black clond which rises from
behind the oppo;iite island of Battam and soon overspreads the sky,
casting a dark shadow over the Strait, within which the sea is lashed
to foam. Its effect is first felt by the ships in the roads, which
heel over and swing to their anchors. There is always as much bustle
on the river as on shore, for the cargo boats manned with noisy
Klings come flying into the river before the squall, and putting up
kadjan>^ mats before the descent of the rain. The squalls seldom last
more than half an hour, when, after a smart shower, the sun again
breaks out and the wind subsides to a pleasant sea-breeze, leaving an
agreeable freshness in the atmosphere."

These squalls prevail during the south-west monsoon between the
beginning of April and the end of October. The north-east monsoon,
Dr. Little remarks (2 Logan*s Journal, 451) blow more steadily and
with more force than the south-west, which he attributes to less high
land intervening being the China Sea and Singfapore, while the south-
west Monsoon has to pass over Sumatra. He says the temperature
of Singapore is lower by one or two degrees durinsT the north-east
monsoon (October to March) than during the south-west (April to
September) and that more rain falls between October and March for
the same reason-

1837. 313

CHAPTER XXV.

1837.

THE first paper for tliis year contained a long account of the New
Year Sports. A meeting was held in the vestry of the Mission
Chapel to open a branch of the British and Foreign Bible Society to
be called '' The Singapore Bible Auxiliary." The Resident Councillor,
Mr. Wingrove, was President, and Dr. Oxley and many others joined
the Society. In the number for October, 1884, of the Monthly Reporter
of the Society, it says that the Rev. F. B. Ashley of Wooburn, in
England, joined the Association in Singapore, when he was commanding
the Artillery here, and the first contribution of £100 was sent to London
in 1838.

The following paragraph about Chinese crackers at the New Year
appeared in the Free Press in February : it shows how much worse
matters were then than they are now, in this respect. '^ It has been
brought to our notice that the firing of noisy crackers by the Chinese,
with or without the permission of the Police, in the streets of the town
during this season of their New Year's festivals, occasions so much
alarm to the owners of carriages, that they are compelled to forego
their use, unless they prefer to risk their necks. The burning of large
heaps of gilded Joss-paper in the middle of the street may be a very
harmless amusement and no wise dangerous to pedestrians, but firing
crackers which resemble and equal in report a fen do pelorin is rather
a more serious matter, and may very easily lead to damage of limb, if
not to loss of life, especially as the little Chinese urchins, like little
boys everywhere else who are allowed to have their own way, think it
a very fine piece of fun to plant one right in the track of your passing
or advancing vehicle. This ought not to be permitted, or if it does
seem meet to shew respect for the ' customs of the natives,' they should
be restricted at least to particular hours and places."

On the 8th February, at a meeting of the merchants, agents, and
others interested in the trade of Singapore, convened by circular and
held at the Reading Room for the purpose of taking into consideration the
propriety of establishing a Chamber of Commerce at this Settlement,
A. L. Johnston in the Chair, it was proposed by KlHs James Grilman,
seconded by R. C. Healey and unanimously resolved : —

(1) That an Association be formed under the designation

of " The Singapore Chamber of Commerce " for the
purpose of watching over the commercial interests of the
Settlement.
Proposed by E. Boustead, seconded by W. S. Lorrain, and unani-
mously resolved : —

(2) That all Merchants, Aijents, Ship-owners, and other in-

terested in the trade of the place, be eligible to become
Members of this Ajssociation.

314 Anecdotal History of Singapore

Proposed by Thos. Scott, seconded by J. S. Clark and unanimously
resolved : —

(3) That a Provisional Committee be now appointed to

draw up Rules and Regulations for the government
of the Chamber, and to report thereon to a General
Meeting to be convened as soon as the same are
prepared.
Proposed by W. S. Duncan, seconded by Lewis Fraser and unani-
mously resolved : —

(4) That the said Provisional Committee consist of the following

five gentlemen : — Messrs. Edward Boustead, Thomas
McMicking, Alexander Guthrie, Ellis James Gilman, and
William Renshaw George.

On the 20th February a set of regulations was drawn up. Mr.
Johnston was the first President, and the Committee were T. McMicking,
R. C. Iloaley, E. J. Gilman, Syed Abubakar, Kim Guan, I. Zechariah, E.
Boustead, J. Balestier, Gwan Chuan and A. Guthrie. The regulations
may be found printed at length in Mr. Newbold's book. One of
the first acts of the Committee was to take up the question of the
infringement by the Dutch of the treaty of 1824 by a prohibition of the
introduction of British manufactured goods into Java, and a petition
was forwarded to England on the subject. The papers were full of the
question for some months. At a meeting of the Library Committee in
the News-room it was decided, in consequence of the reduction in the
price of newspapers in England, to reduce the rate of subscription
to $24 a year.

In March, Mr. Bonham (afterwards Sir Samuel George Bonham) was
appointed Governor to date from 25th December, 1836, when Mr.
Murchison left for Europe ; and Mr. Church was appointed Resident
Councillor of Singapore from 4th March.

In the same month some Europeans played cricket on a Sunday after-
noon on the Esplanade, which was objected to.

The rainfall in 1836 had been only 59.7 inches for the year. The
following remarks upon the rainfall were written in April. — '^ The oldest
European resident in the Settlement does not recollect any year, the first
quarter of which can be compared with the last three months, so very
unusual has the season been. Instead of heavy and continued rains,
which might have been expected, particularly during January and
February, the drought has been unprecedented even for our least rainy
months : and we understand that a similar deficiencv of rain has been
experienced both at Penang and Malacca, these Settlements being even
worse off than ourselves. The total fall of rain here from the 1st January
to the 31st March amounted only to 6 inches and nine-tenths, whereas
the table for the first quarter of 1835 exhibited a fall of 31 inches :
and that of 1836 something less than 18 inches. During the past
month dense fogs covered the face of the country almost every
morning until two or three hours after sunrise, a rather unusual appear-
ance with us.^'

In May, the Reverend Edward White, newly appointed Chaplain to
the Settlement, arrived from Bengal. The Rev. F. J. Darrah died in
Madras on the 29th September following.

1837. 315

In the same week, the first Annual Meeting of the Agricultural and
Horticultural Society was held, Dr. Oxley in the chair, and it was decided
to keep only the horticultural garden, under his management. The
•Society had held regular monthly meetings during the year, and had
obtained cotton seeds for distribution to planters, and issued a letter to
the Chinese containing suggestions and advice regarding planting other
produce besides gambier and pepper. Dr. Oxley, Dr. Montgomerie, and
Mr. T. 0. Crane, the Secretary, were the prominent members of the
Society.

In July, two Chinese, members of the Chamber of Commerce,
were expelled from it, for having sold to a Jew four cases of opium,
after putting in spurious contents of an inferior quality and weight.

A Memorial was sent by the Merchants and Mariners to the
Governor-General asking that lighthouses mis^ht be erected near
Romania Point and the Coney Island. On 30th July the Rajah of
Selangor came to Singapore in his own brig, and was received with
a salute of 15 guns. The Sultan of Lingga paid a visit to Singapore
at the same time, so the Free Press remarked there were '^ two crowned
heads '^ in the place : but both more than suspected of giving coun-
tenance to piracy.

The following is an account of a visit, probably the first of its
kind, to Rhio, in the steamer Diaiia, Captain Congalton. "1 was
one of the party that went a steaming to Rhio on Monday last.
It was a very rainy morning when those who had slept on board
the steamer during the night were awoke by the arrival of those who
had slept on shore. It was a very wet morning but we got under
steam, notwithstanding, at a little before five o'clock, there being no
less than nineteen of us altogether. We now proceeded gaily along,
each step of our progress bringing us in sight of some piece of
scenery worthy of notice, and most beautiful certainly was our sail
through the Straits, where the eye wantoned over the glories of a
smooth blue sea washintif the sides of islets which sparkled in all the
green and luxuriant verdure with which the imagination of a poet may be
supposed to array the dwellings of the Fairies. We anchored at one
o'clock. The place looks pretty, and H. N. M. Frigate Ajax lying
at anchor in the roads did not, of course, detract from the beauty
of the scene. The party were not long in landin<jr, some of us pro-
ceeding to pay our respects to the Resident, some to take a look
at the fort, and we were everywhere met with civility and polite
attention from all the gentlemen of the station whom we met, and
I believe we saw them all, for there is no great number of them.
We then, all in a body, made our way to the house of the China
Captain, accompanied by several of the Dutch military Officers, where
a splendid tiffin awaited us, to which every one shewed his readiness to
do honour. But the recall gun from the steamer broke in upon the
harmony of the entertainment and compelled us to retrace our steps
on board, leaving our worthy host. Ban Hok, filled with regret at
our departure. I ought not to forget that on our visit to the fort
the troops were turned out in honour of the visitors, and put through
sundry well-executed manoeuvres, and also that a salute of nine guns
was fired. We were also shewn the Government School, where, among

:MG Anecdotal HUtory of Singapore

dtluT things, the chiMreii are taught mnsicy and g^ve a proof
of tlicir proficiency by singing with great sweetness, an accomplish-
UK'iit of which, by the way, I would recommend the acquisition in
the schools here, if the thing in possible, as besides having an
('xccllent moral effect upon the children, we might have a little
tleccnt singing in Church of a Sunday. We returned to the steamer,
ami got under way for Singapore at four o'clock."

(.)n Monday, 2(ith Au^^ust, the first meeting was held of the
Singapore Temperance Society, which began very successful!}', with
Lieut. Ashley of the Artillery as Secretary, and the Hon. T. Church
as I Resident, and the clergy and Dr. Oxley on the Committee. Three
months afterwards Mr. John Gemmill. who was then a store-keeper
and tlie first auctioneer in Singapore, published the following" amusing

advertisement : —

CIRCULAR.

The Teni[)enini*e Society is nuiking Huch rapid 8t rides in this Settlement that
it iH unelpHH to a<lvei'ti8e Bnmdy for side, adthon^h I have got some very good of
an old stock, which I wihIi to get rid of, and leave off selling the article, there
l>pi]iK little, or no <:onHninption of it since the above society has commenced
operations, and ho effect iially ho that the spirit trade is very unprofit«ibIe. at least
so I find it, and if all liei-e tell the truth they will confess the same. Nevcrthe-
IcHH, may the Teiupi'nmce Society i^ on, and prosper, say 1, although it hnrtb
my trade. I have, however, just received a superior lot of very old Mabnsej
Madeira, that 1 can confidently recommend, also a fresh Ivitch of genuine old Port
Wine for sale by

JOHN GEMMILL

A Malacca Temperance Society was formed about the bame
time, with the Resident Conncillor as President. There was an advertise-
ment in the Frt^*' Pnsis in Autrust by Syme & Co., that they were
prcjjjircd to advance in cash to the extent of nine-tenths of the vahie
of Produce consiu^ned to their Agents in Loudon or Liverpool.

A n(»w Cattle dis(^;iso, which wiis very fatal, was first noticed at
tills time, and it was thought to be caused by the animals swallowing
a small poisonous insect when eating grass, which produced violent
irritation of the stomach. It caused great distress among the cattle-
owners.

On Saturday, the 16tli September, news was received by H. M.
Sloop Zf'hra from Penang, of the death of King William the Fourth j
and on Sunday, at 1 p.m. seventy-two nn'nute p:uns, the year of his
age, were fired from the battery on shore and from the Zebra in the roads.
On Mcmday, at noon, a Koyal salute was fired in honour of the
accession of the Princess Victoria to the throne. The foUoAving was
the proclamation, which is interesting to those who have not seen it
before, from its quaint legal language. The form was followed on the
death of Queen Victoria in 1901, being found printed in the original
of these papers.

" WhereiiH it has pleased Almighty God to call to His Mercy our late Sovereign
Lord Kinjj William the Foui'th, of Blessed and Gh»riou8 Memory, hy whose deeeiuse
the Imnenal Cruwn of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland is solely
and rightfully come U) the High and Mighty Princess Alexandrina Victoria, saving
the Riglit« of any issue of his late Majesty King "William the Fourth which may bo
bora of his late Majesty's Consoi*t : therefore, the Governor and Membera of Council

1837. 317

of Fort St. Greorge in Council assemhled, do now hereby, with one Voice and
Consent of Tongue and Heart, publish and proclaim that the High and Mighty
Princess Alexandrina Victoria, is now, by the death of our lat^e Sovereign of Happy
Memory, become our only lawful and rightful Liege Lady Victoria by the Grace of
God, Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and of the British
Territorries in the East Indies, Defender of the Faith, saving as aforesaid: to whom,
saving as aforesaid, we do acknowledge all Faith and constant Obedience, with all
hearty and humble affection : beseeching God, by whom Kings and Queens do reign,
to bless tlie Royal Princess Victoria, with long and happy Years to reign over us.

Given at Fort St. George this twenty-fifth day of August, in the year of Our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty-seven.

God SA.VE The Queen.

All the pajj^es of the Free Press were put into mourning borders
for three weeks, and a notification was issued that the Governor in
Conncil requested that mourning should be worn by all British subjects
residing in the Presidency.

On Saturday, i^Oth September, the Sinyapore Chronicle issued its
last number.

A Government notification appeared on 18th October, giving the
reasons for passing the Indian Act No. 20 of 1837, regarding the
transmission of land. It said that land could only be lawfully
bequeathed and inherited according to English law, but in practice
that had been little regarded. Freeholds had been equally divided
between the members of a family instead of descending to the heir-
at-law ; and also bequeathed by will not executed with the formalities
of a devise; and immigrants from different countries had introduced
their own natural usages. If the English law were enforced under
these circumstances great confusion, distress, and insecurity would
result. It was desirable therefore to secure the present holders of
land in their possession ; all land in the Eastern Settlements (the
Straits) would be treated as being, and as having always been, of
the nature of personal property. At this time all the lands in
Singapore were of a leasehold tenure [Free Prens, 19th October,
1837) and the irregularities mentioned in the notification or preamble
to the Act, had no existence here, it was only then applicable to
Penang and Malacca.

Gambling was rampiint at this time, and two cases of suicide by
women in consequence occurred. It was remarked by the newspaper
that the police peons were looked upon and generally found to be
the most substantial people of any of their walk of life in Singapore,
and were as inefficient as they could be; which was all that was got
in exchange for the abolition of the gambling farm.

Prince William Hendrick Frederick, son of the Prince of Orange,
a lieutenant on board H. N. M. frigate Bellona, came to Singapore
in October, the first Royal Visitor, and after a complimentary recep-
tion, he visited Penang and Malacca on his way to Calcutta.

The Chamber of Commerce held a meeting on the 24th October,
to protest against a proposal of the Supreme Government at Bengal
to introduce a Rupee circulation. The following resolutions were
passed : —

Ist. That it is the opinion of this meeting, that the plan proposed
by the Right Hou^ble the Governox'-General in Council in a letter to

318 Anecdotal History of Singapore

the Hon'ble the Governor of the Straits Settlements, dated 16th August
last, of substituting Company's Rupees as the only legal currency of
these Settlements, in place of Spanish dollars and Dutch guilders —
the present currency — would be highly injurious to the commerce of
the said Settlements, besides entailing considerable expense on the
Government.

2nd. That it is the opinion of this meeting, that the present
currency is better adapted for the trade carried on at this place than
any which can be substituted; Dollars and Guilders being almost the
only coins which pass current in the neighbouring native states.

3rd. That should the Government carry into effect the proposed
measure of making Company's Rupees the only legal tender, it is the
opinion of this meeting that they would still not become current, nor
remain in the Settlement, but be shipped to Calcutta, Madras, and
Bombay as remittances, when the Government Treasury is shut, or
when open at an unfavourable rate of exchange.

4th. That should the measure be adopted, this Meeting is of opinion
that it would cause numerous difficulties to the Merchants in their inter-
course with the native traders bringing produce to the place, who will
receive payment in dollars and guilders only, and it would thus be
productive of endless disputes and litigation.

5th. That it is the opinion of this meeting, that Government might
issue a copper currency for the Straits, consisting of cent, half-cent and
quarter-cent pieces (the Bengal copper coins not being adapted) with
advantage to these Settlements ; the present copper currency, either
from short supplies or from the monopoly of the native shroffs, being
subject to great fluctuation, which is severely felt by the labouring and
poorer classes of the community who are usually paid in copper.

Gth. That should Government issue a now copper currency for the
Straits, it is the opinion of this meeting, that it would be necessary, in
order to prevent, as far as possible, any fluctuation in the value of the
coin, to have a considerable stock at each Settlement to enable the local
Government to keep the market steadily supplied.

7th. That this meeting is of opinion that no means should be taken
to prohibit the importation of copper tokens as an article of commerce,
for the supply of the neighbouring native states, but that the CvOmpany's
coin only should be permitted to pass current in these Settlements.

At this time the local Government officially recognised for copper
coin, only the old coin struck for Bencoolen, and cents made for Penang,
and all sorts of spurious and worthless coins were used for small change.

At tlie end of October, the number of cattle carried off by the disease
we have mentioned, rose to considerably over five hundred, and a sub-
scription was made for the natives who owned them, as they were reduced
to destitution.

The Government having given way as to the imposition of duties,
turned from the miscarriage of that plan to injure the trade of Singapore,
to the formation of another. The second scheme of taxation was a tonn-
age duty on all square-rigged vessels coming to the port, whether with
cargo or as a port of call. It was supposed that it would produce an
annual revenue of Rs. 50,000. It came to nothing, but it was allowed by
the mercantile community at the time that if it were suggested for the

1837. 319

purpose of maintaining a light-house in the Straits for the security of
navigation, they would not hesitate to recognise the propriety of it, but
there was no light-house then, and no pilots, and no dock establishment
in any of the three Settlements, nor any establishment maintained to
carry on surveys in the neighbourhood, which the occurrence of frequent
accidents proved to be necessary, and nothing had been done for the
benefit of the class of shipping it was proposed to tax.

Sir Benjamin Malkin who had been promoted to the Calcutta Bench
as Chief Justice died there in October. Ho had left the Straits on 29th
June, 1835. The Englishmaii spoke of him as a man of extensive learning,
and ever ready to open his purse-strings for useful and charitable objects.

From time to time various suggestions were made about steam
communication, and in November a proposal was originated in Singapore
to establish a lino between Calcutta and the Straits, and the following
outline of the scheme was published : —

'* It is proposed to establish a monthly communication by Steam
between this Port and Calcutta, and thus to extend to the Straits, and in
some degree also to China, the benefits of the communication opened
between England and India by the Red Sea. To effect this desirable
object, a plan is now in circulation to form a Joint-Stock Association. It
is intended to purchase a steam vessel fitted up chiefly for the accommoda-
tion of passeni^ers, but to carry also a small quantity of freight. The
time occupied in the voyage between Calcutta and Singapore, allowing
her to touch for a few hours at Penang and Malacca, would not much
exceed eight days, and would certainly not be more than ten. She would
then have five days to remain here and fifteen days for her return voyage
(touching, of course at Malacca and Penang) and for her stay at Calcutta
before the month was finished. The time of her departure from Calcutta
would be regulated by the arrival of the Mails by the Red Sea. If time
permitted it, and freights or a suflScient number of passengers offered, she
might touch occasionally at any of the ports on the eastern side of the
Bay of Bengal, or her voyage might be extended to Java, but
such deviations would only be permitted, if they could be made without fear
of their interrupting the regular monthly communication between Calcutta
and the Straits.

"The benefit which the scheme, if it succeeds, will confer on the
settlers in the Straits, are too obvious to require to be pointed out;
to the residents in Bengal they would be also great, but of a different
nature. It is believed that if the advantages which the climate of
the Straits and the voyage hold out to the Indian invalids were more
generally known, and a regular monthly communication once established,
the nuinbers who now resort here would soon be greatly increased.
The certainty of being able to get back within the month would induce
numbers to visit the Straits in search of health, who now remain in
India, until a voyage to the Cape or Europe, and an absence of many
months, or even of some years, is rendered necessary. Besides, there
are many who, for recreation, would gladly absent themselves from
Calcutta for a month, but who now cannot do so, on account of the
uncertainty of getting back again within a reasonable time.

" No hopes are hold out to subscribers that much profit will at
first result from the undertakings though it may reasonable be expected

820 Atiecdotal History of Singapore

that after the first year, the increased number of passengers would
enable it to pay pretty well. It is hoped that the Government of
India will pass an Act limiting the liability of the subscribers to the
amount of the sum subscribed, as is to be done for the Association
in Calcutta for building the Bonded Warehouses. If such an Act
cannot be obtained, it is proposed to make it one of the fundamental
rules of the Association, that should the debts ever exceed a certain
portion of the Joint-Stock funds, the Association should be at once
dissolved, and its affairs wound up. It would be made incumbent
on the directors to publish quarterly a statement of the accounts. The
amount of the shares is fixed at 600 Rupees each, and would be called
for in three or four instalments, with intervals of two or three months
between the payment of each instalment."

This was followed in March, 1838, by Messrs. Syme & Co., being
appointed Agents of the New Bengal Steam Fund, and up to that
time 2,475 shares had been subscribed for in England and India by
700 individuals and firms, and it was proposed to put on a small
steamer between Bombay and Socotra to complete a regular mail
every fortnight between England and India. The end of this
was that, in ISl-l, the Committee of the New Bengal Steam Fund
made an agreement with the East India and Peninsular and Oriental
Steam Navigation Ccmipanies, and the Shareholders took a transfer of
their shares to the P. & 0. Company, and that important undertaking
arrived at a definite point, and lield its first half-yearly meeting in that
year.

A buffalo started uff in a furious state one Saturday evening, and
afttM* injuring a number of persons and tossing Mr. Catchick, the
Armenian Priest, and goring him severely, it attacked a pony and
gharry iu St. Andrew's Church compound and killed the pony, and
was shot bv the police the next day in the jungle, a mile from the
town. On St. Andrew's Day, Dr. Montgomerie was Chairman of the
Scotch dinner, the Stewards being Messrs. Carnie, Fraser, Charles
Spottiswoodo (i)artner in John Purvis & Co.) and Davidson.

Up to this time, no Chinese woman had ever come to Singapore
from China, and the newspapers said that, in fact, only two genuine
Chinese women were, or at any time had been, in the place, and they
wert* two small-footed ladies who had been, some years before, exhibited
in Kngland. The Hu^is trade in the season for this year, which lasted
fron) July to November, was 109 boats from Bali and the Celebes, in
equal proportion ; tlie total tonnage was nearly 5,000 tons, and the
number of men 5,038.

Mr. Tliomas Scott and Mr. Charles Spottiswoode joined Mr. John
Purvis in December and the firm was then called John Purvis & Co.

In this year Mrs. Whittle had a Boarding and Day School in
North Hridiife Koad, the charges for Boarders were §12 and for day
Scholars S5 a month.

In this year Mr. Benjamin Peach Keasberry came to Singapore,
lie was the youngest of the three sons of Colonel Keasberry, whd was
.appointed Resident of 'IVgal, in Java, durin tr the British occupation.
.\lr. Keasberry was born at Hyderabad in India 181 1. His father died
when he was a few years old, and the widow married a merchant in

1837. 321

Soerabaya named Mr. Davidson. The three boys were sent to school
at Mauritius and afterwards to Madras. When they p:rew up the
elder brothers went to Soerabaya, and the youngest stayed in Singapore
and opened a store. As it did not do much good, he went to Batavia,
and was a clerk in a firm there, but making the acquaintance of Dr.
Medhurst, of the London Missionary Society, he went to live with
him, and joined him in his work, learning printing, bookbinding and
lithoi^raphy, which he found very useful afterwards in Singapore,
About 1834' he received some money from his father's estate and he
went to Ameri(ra, where he studied at College for three years, and in
1837 married Miss Charlotte Parker of Boston. He came to Singapore
with his wife as Missionaries to Malays under the American Board
of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. He remained in Singapore
until his death.

The two brothers John and Alexander Stronach of the London
Missionary Society were in Singapore then, and also Messrs. North,
Dickenson, Tracy and Travelli of the American Board. In 1839 the
American Board removed their men to China, and Mr. Keasberry joined
the London Missionary Society, and learned Malay from Munshi Abdulla.
He then started a small school at Rochore, where a few boys were
taught printing, &c., under agreement to remain for a certain period.
French ing in Malay was carried on in an attap building in North
Bridge Road nearly opposite where the Chinese Gospel House is now.
Mr. Keasberry lived in the house still standing on the plot in Brass
Bassa Road behind the present Raffles Hotel.

In 1843 by his exertions in collecting subscriptions in Singapore
the Malay Chapel in Prinsep Street was built and opened. The open-
ing sermon was preached by the Rev. Samuel Dyer of Penang, and
the second by Dr. Legge, afterwards well-known at Oxford, both of
the London Missionary Society, at that time on their way to China.
The jubilee of the Chapel was held on the 7th February, 1893, when
it was associated with the memory of Mr. Keasberry, as one of the
earliest, most respected, and most well-known pioneers in mission
work in the Peninsula Although it was eighteen years after his
death, the Chapel was crowded with those who had known him in
Singapore.

In 1846 Mr. Keasberry, being a widower, married Miss Ellen
Scott, a niece of Captain William Scott, and when, in 1847, the
London Missionary Society ordered all their men to China, Mr.
Keasberry would not leave Singapore, as he had some boys bound to
him for several years, and was doing so much useful work in the
place. So he severed his connection with the Society and remained
from 1847 as a self-supporting missionary, occupying himself with his
school, his preaching, and the printing establishment by which he
supported the school. He held regular services in the Chapel and
visited the neighbouring islands and the Carimons in his sailing boat.

There is a letter among the papers in the Raffles Institution
which he wrote on 2nd July, 1847, to the School Committee of the
Singapore Institution, in which he asked the patronage of the Com-
mittee for his boarding school for Malay boys which he had estab-
lished eighteen months before, in connection, he said, with the Miasvow

322 Anecdotal History of Singapore

of the London ilissionary Society. He had expected that Society to
support his School, hut tht*y declined, owine to the state of the funds,
and he was oblitred to rely upon local resources. He said that he had
not room for more than the thirteen lx)vs he had, which caused an
expense of 8250 a year, some of the boys paying 82 a month, and the
printing establishment partly supporting the School. This was the
beginning of the house at Mount Zion at River Valley Road. It was
a plank and tile-roofed house, which was pulled down and rebuilt in
1851 with some money left to Mr. Keasberry by his step-father
Mr. Davidson. In the original bungalow were several Malay youths
of good birth. Governor Butterworth sent the two eldest sons of
Tumons^ong Ibrahim to school with Mr. Keasberry, and the elder,
the late Sultan Abubakar of Johore, always spoke with the highest
respect and gratitude of '*Tuan Keasberry *' and erected the monument
over his grave. In 1858 there was a Malay girls' school taught by
Mrs. Keasborrv, at Mount Zion. About 1862 Mr. Keasberrv
opened a Mission station at Bukit Timah, and a chapel was
erected there, which was supported by the members of the Malay
Mission until his death when the Presbvterian Church was asked to

take charge of it.

Mr. Keasberry wrote a number of books in Malay, and printed
the Bible in Malay. His press was always resorted to by the
European merchants to print their bills of lading, policies, &c., and
Mr. Keasberry was always at work in tiie Square in the printing
office, which was called the Mission Press. ft eventually passed to
to Mr. Neave and afterwards became Fraser and Neave, Limited. Mr.
Keasberry^s name had bocoine a household >vord in Singapore. He
died quite suddenly while preaching in the Malay Chapel on 6th
September, 1875, after a residence in Singapore of 33 years, at the
age of 64 years.

Mr. George AVindsor Earl's book, ''The Eastern Seas in 1832-34''
was published in Ijondon in this year. He had been a sailor, in
command of vessels, and in 1832 he came from Western Australia to
Java. The greater part of his book contains descriptions of Batavia,
Soerabaya, Borneo and Siani. The last three chapters relate to Singa-
pore where he arrived for the first time from Batavia on 6th February,
1833, and after a short voyage elsewhere, remained in Singapore from
June in that year to February, 1834, when he sailed for England.
The reviews remarked that his statements were not always accurate,
especially regardinof the amount of trade. The height of Bukit Timah
was stated at 1500 feet (it is really about 500) and the paper pointed
out other mistakes of fact regarding the dates of building the Roman
Catholic and Mr. Keasberry's Chapels. Mr. Earl said in the book
that it was the custom on the morning of Christmas Day before
the merchants came into town (they did not apparently keep a
holiday) for the boatmen to deck the entrances of their town houses
with plantain stems and green boughs, which was not done with a
view to a Christmas Box, as the residents rarely knew by whom it
was done, and the godowns of those who were in the habit of
treating them with rudeness were sometimes neglected. Mr. Earl
returned to Singapore in 1856 and practised in High Street as

1837. 323

an Advocate and Law Agent. On Ist June, 1857, he was appointed
Police Magistrate in Singapore. In 1859 he was Assistant Resident
Councillor aiul exchanged offices with Mr. Willans at Province Wellesley ;
he then acted for Mr. Braddell in Penang and returned to Province
Wellesley in 18G0, and was Resident Councillor there and in Penang
until 1865, when he died, two days after leaving Penang, on his way home.

Mr. Moor's Notices of the Indian Archipelago and adjacent
countries, a book of about 300 pages with charts and maps, printed in
Singapore, was published in December. It was a compilation from
papers in the Singapore newspapers, and contains a great deal of
information which (as the Free Frens remarked in reviewing the book)
would have been entirely lost but for the industry of Mr. Moor. It
contains very little that relates to Singapore, but contains much infor-
mation about the states in the Malay Peninsula and neighbouring
countries.

The commercial activity of the Chinese was always greatly excited
on the arrival of the junks from China. The first junk generallj'
arrived a little before Christmas, and the vessels remained in the
harbour from December until June. Boats were always going to and
fro among the shipping, giving the roads, Mr. Earl says, the appear-
ance of a floating fair. As a largo junk came in, the boats used to
go out when a long way off and as she neared the town she gained
an accession of bulk at every fathom, until at last the un wieldly mass
slowly trailed into the roads surrounded by a dense mass of boats.
The (/hinese master strutted about on the top of the thatched habita-
tion on the quarter deck, with all the importance of a mandarin. For
a day or two little business was done, as the time was spent in build-
ing roofs over the vessels to shelter the goods which were to be
exposed for sale on the decks.

The arrival of the first junk was a time of great excitement. It
was most anxiously looked for, and when a Malay sampan, which had
been on the look out to the eastward, brought the news that a junk
had been seen, there was a tremendous bustle among the Chinese
community, running in all directions to tell their friends, so that they
might hasten off to the vessel to learn the news from China. Some of
these junks wore very large vessels, up to seven hundred tons or more,
manned and navigated entirely by Chinese.

Some of the small junks, varying from one hundred and fifty to
three hundred tons, were fast sailing craft and came down expressly
for opium, for which they paid in silver. They used to leave early in
May, and smuargle the opium into Canton by bribing the Mandarins.
All the larjre junks sailed on their return voyage by the end of June.
In 1841 a few of them waited till the middle of July, hoping to get
opium cheaper when the others had left, but they got into the
monsoon, and one or two were lost with valuable cargoes, and the
lesson was not lost on their successors. The Chinese in Singapore
sent remittances by them to their families in China, usually of money,
but sometimes rice and various useful articles. The servants used to
want an advance for this purpose, and it was said that the masters of
the junks, who received a percentage on the sum transmitted, were
extremely honest in the transactions.

324 Anecdotal Hiatory of Singapore

The Bufjfis Traders used to arrive in October and November, with
coffee, tortoise shell, or gold dust, which they sold to the Chinese.
About two hundred of these boats used to come annually, each manned
by about thirty men. They use<l to walk all round about the place
before making a bargain and buying the return cargo of opium, iron,
piece goods, gold thread, &c. ; they seldom, if ever, took money away
with them.

Native vessels also used to come down fi'oui Siam and Cochin
China. The rajahs there fitted out square-rigged vessels and loaded-
them on their own account. They brought principally sugar and rice,
and gamboge which was shipped to Ijondon, and cocoanut oil for
Singapore use.

A large number of Arab vessels under the Dutch flag came from
all parts of Java, fitted out and owned by Arabs residing in Java.
They were credited with notorious smuggling, for which the numerous
small rivers in Java gave many facilities. They were built of teak,
ranging from 150 to 5()0 tons, and were fine vessels.

From May to October used to come boats from Sambas and
Pontianak and Borneo, bringing pepper, camphor, rattans, Ac, but
they were greatly hampered by piracy until Sir James Brooke and
Captain Keppel in the Dido gave them a check they could not get
over, as Mr. G. F. Davidson remarks in his book, from which many
of the above statements are taken.

There was an extensive trade also between Calcutta and Singapore
throughout the year. Vessels brought raw-cotton and cotton goods,
opium and wheat, and carried back tin, pepper, sago, gambier, and
especially treasure ; dollars wore often very scarce after two or three
of the clippers had left.

Mention has just been made of the junks in 1841 having tried to
beat up to China against the mcmsoon. Mr. W. H. Read says in his
book that it was in 1832 that the opium clipper Rt^d Rover first
accomplished this. The story is as follows: — "In January, 1832,
a vessel called the Red Rover, commanded by Captain Clifton,
started from Calcutta, and, touching at Singapore, plunged into
the unknown terrors of a strong north-east monsoon, in the hope
of reaching Whampoa in due time. Bets were heavy as to
whether she would reach her destination or not. One morning, about
a month after her departure from Singapore, the mercantile comnmnity
was thrown into a state of considerable excitement by the appearance
of a crippled vessel, flying a St. Andrew's white cross on a blue field —
' Jardine's private flag.' Her main-top-gallant mast was gone ; the
fore top-mast, evidently a jury one, had a royal sot for the top-sail.
The mizen mast looked all askew, and, in fact, the 'bonnie barkie'
was a wreck. Of course, the ' I told you so ' were triumphant. ' Im-
possible, we knew it.' Their opponents were as dejected as the others
were jubilant. Meanwhile, Captain Clifton came on shore to breakfast
with his agent. The worthy skipper's face was a picture of melan-
choly. He was limp with fatigue. He threw his hat on a table,
tumbled into a chair, and seemed as if about to burst into tears. His
host and others tried to cheer the mortified mariner, who refused to
be comforted; but, like many others on similar occasions, he rather

1837. 325

overdid his part. A suspicion was raised in the mind of one of those
present, who, quietly rising from his seat, went into the verandah and
examined the cast-away hat. withdrawing from it a Macao newspaper
only a week old. The ' gaff was blown,' as the vulgar expression is ;
the secret was out, and the wily captain burst into a hearty laugh.
He had beat up against the monsoon in eighteen days without losing a
spar ; all the ravaged look of his vessel was a comedy, and the ' I
told you so ' party, frightfully ' sold,' suddenly collapsed. The end
of the Rud RovHT was sad. After many adventurous but successful
voyages, she disappeared in the Bay of Bengal.''

Mr. Thomas Ciiurch who had been appointed Resident Councillor
in this year, had been, in 1819, a young assistant Magistrate at
Bencoolen under Mr. E. Presgrave. On the abolition of the Bencoolen
Government he was transferred to Penang, and in 1828 he was at
Malacca as Deputy Resident, and went up to the Penghulu of Naning
to try to settle the dispute which afterwards led to the so-called
war in 1831.

He had been Police Magistrate and Assistant Resident in Penang
and Malacca for five years, and was higher in rank than Mr. Bonham.
He had retired from the service in 1835 and gone home, but he soon
got tired of it, being a very active man, repented of his resignation,
and petitioned the Company to be allowed to rejoin, which was done
on condition of his being placed at the bottom of the list for promotion.
He went to Calcutta, on his way to the Straits, and waited on Sir
Charles Metcalfe, then acting Grovernor-General, who asked him for
a record of his previous services. Mr. Church, unfortunately for
himself, was, to say the least, reticent about his previous resignation,
and Sir C. Metcalfe, supposing that he was older in the service than
Mr. Bonham, sent him on to the Straits to relieve that gentleman of
the actintr Governorship. He did so and administered the Govern-
ment in Singapore for a few months. But then matters were cleared
up and positions reversed, which led, naturally, to a great deal of talk
in the place. Mr. Bonham was confirmed as Governor in 1837 and
Mr. Church received the appointment under him of Resident
Councillor, and Singapore was, for the first time (Cameron, page 21)
made the permanent residence of the Governor. Mr. Bonham was
Governor until 1843, when Mr. Church according to practice, should
have succeeded him, but the story went that it was known in Calcutta
that he did not give good dinners (so it is written) and the difficulty
was felt to be insurmountable. At any rate Governor Butterworth
was appointed.

Mr. Church was in charge of Singapore while Colonel Butterworth
was absent on leave from 1851 to 1853, when Mr. Blundell acted for
the Governor, but remained at Penang. Mr. Church wrote to the
Governor-General stating his claims to act for Governor Butterworth,
but Lord Dalhousie on 9th January, 1852, replied that the Government
of India fully appreciated his ability, energy, the success of his services
in Singapore, and the value of his long experience and intimate
acquaintance with the Settlement; and would have reposed the charge
in his hands with perfect confidence. But as Mr. Blundell had once
before been Governor of the Straits^ and when he was removed^ it

826 Ajiecdotal Huftory of Sitigapore

became the 8ubject of a dcHpatcli from the Court of Directors, the
terms of that despatch were such that the Government could not have
declined to appoint him to act again^ witliout obvious disregard of the
views of the Honorable Court and consequent injustice to Mr. Blundell.
Lord Dalhousie added that though his letter might not remove Mr.
Church's disappointment, yet it would satisfy him that Mr. BlundelPs
appointment arose from no other cause than his peculiar claims, which
gave liim the preference ; while the Government highly and justly
appreciated Mr. Church's long, able, and valuable services in the
same sphere.

Mr. Church was distinguished by a most assiduous discharge of
his public duties, giving up his whole time and attention to them for
many years. In addition to his other labours, he disposed of the greater
part of the civil business of the Court at Singapore, the visits of the
professional judges being rare and hurried. Mr. Church was a very
useful public servant, thoroughly familiar witli the duties of his office,
punctual and laborious in their discharge, and unaffectedly anxious
for the w(»lfare and advancement of Singapore, which owed a great
deal to him. fn August, 1856, he sent in his resignation, having
been Kesident Councillor for nineteen years, at the time whtru such
an energetic, prnctical, and unassuming head of affairs was peculiarly
valuable.

The follo>\'ing address was presented to him by the Chamber of
Commerce, and was very much more than a mere formal compliment.
"Sir, — The Sinofapore Chamber of Commerce, having learnt that 3 our
official connection with Singapore is about to terminate, desire respectfully
to express the high sense they entertain of the zeal and assiduity
with which yon hiive dischari^^ed your public duties during the
many years you have tilled the office of Resident Councillor at this
station.

'*The Cluimber hnve fully appreciated the ready attention you have
at all times given to the representations of the mercantile community;
and your conciliatory behaviour to all classes, and particularly to those
native traders <>n whose ])res(mce so much of the prosperity of the trade
of Singapore depends.

" 'J'he o;reat facilities which vou have afforded for the transaction
ol business by a liberal interpretation of official rules and re([uirements,
and tiie <lispusition you have ever shewn to dispense with unnecessary
formalities which might give rise to vexations, obstacles, and delays,
deserve tiie Fullest acknowledgment (m the part of the mercantile
community. JUit, in a more sj)ocial maimer, their gratefid thanks are
due lo yon for the imj)ortant assistance rendered not only to them but
to the whole couujuimty, by your voluntarily taking upon yourself the
punctual and labcn-ions discharge of judicial duties for so many years,
when the absence of a resident professional judge would otherwise
have been very detrimental to their interests.

" Although differences of opinion may at times have existed between
you and the mercantile connnunity on particular subjects, the Chamber
full}' believe that you have at all times been actuated by a con:^cien-
tiou? sense of duty and have ever had the sincercst desire to promote
the commential interests of this place.

1837. 327

" The Chamber regret that failing health should have been the
immediate cause of your leaving this Settlement, in the prosperity of
which they doubt not you will still continue to take much interest,
and, in conclusion, the Chamber beg to offer their best wishes for
your future welfare and that your health may be benefited by a return
to your native land.

Signed in name, and by authority,

of the Singapore Chamber of Commerce,

C. H. Harrison,

Chairman'
A. Logan,

Secretary,

A Malay letter written to him by the Tumongong expressed his
earnest thanks in eastern phrases for the help and advice Mr. Church
had given to him, which had converted his country "into a populous
country again." And the law agents of that time, Messrs. W. Napier,
A. Logan, R. C. Woods and A. M. Aitken, addressed Mr. Church
with warm acknowledgments of the great labour and responsibility he
had undertaken on the Bench, outside his own proper duties, and the
high opinion they had entertained of his impartiality and judgment.
The letter was of more value as it was written in October, 1855, on the
occasion of his having stated in Court that he found it would only
be possible to take peculiarly urgent cases, as he found it caused too
serious an interruption to the discharge of his other work. And yet
(in spite of a very careful turn of mind that will be spoken of presently)
nothing is heard of any suggestion of extra salary, or of any other
desire than to do all the good he could in his station.

Mr. Churches reply, dated 12th October, 1855, is worth recording: —
" Gentlemen : —

" I have had the honor to receive your obliging communication of
the 8th instant. The anomalous constitution of Her Majesty^s Court of
Judicature in the Straits combined with the peculiar position of this
Station induced me to undertake duties involving weighty responsibility
necessarily attendant on the administration of justice.

" In the infancy of the Settlement the judicial business was com-
paratively light and simple, and no material interruption in the per-
fonnance of the executive duties was experienced for some years.
Singapore has, however, annually assumed a greater degree of impor-
tance. Commerce and population have vastly increased, and conse-
quently the judicial business also; it is a source of satisfaction to find
the Home Authorities have at length determined to nominate a pro-
fessional Judge to this important Station, a measure calculated to prove
advantageous to the public and a great relief to the Executive.

" The testimony borne by gentlemen who, from professional posi-
tion, are the most competent to form an opinion of the benefit which
has resulted to the Community by my holding Civil Sittings, is par-
ticularly welcome and gratifying, and more than a compensation for the
additional labour and mental anxiety which I have occasionally under-
gone in my earnest desire to impart substantial justice, and come to
a right judgment.

328 Atieedotal Hutiory of Singapore

*' To you, (Jontlemeii, individually and collectively, I request to
tender my cordial thanks for tho valuable assistance aflForded during
the protracted period I have presided in Court and for the kind
expressions towards nie recr»rded in yowr letter under acknowledgment."

The social side of Mr. and Mrs. Church's life was a source of
never failinj^ amusetnent to the community, in a very amiable spirit.
It is related that Mr. Honham, when (governor, was found in his
office one day with a large bottle of fluid magnesia on his table.
''Not sick, I hope" said a friend. "Oh, dear no," said the Governor,
" but I am goini^ to dine with 1'om Church to-night." Mr. Church
always lived at the house, now standing, at the corner of Coleman
Street and the Esphunule, opposite the Cathedral. It was afterwards
the Masonic Lod^e until the present Lodge was built in Coleman
Street; then it become part of the Hotel de PEurope, and is now
part of the land that was bought for offices for the Municipality in
1899. In 1814 Mr. Church jjave a dance and the Hon. Captain Keppel
sent his band from tlie Dido, He was always famed for the band
on his vessels. The bran<ly supplied to the band was not to their
taste, and the Captain's Diary (we know now from the Admiral's last
book) remarked at the time " Band got drunk." A. few days after
Mr. Napier gave a dance, and after it was over the band (who got
good drink and enough of it, or more) marched away to Tom Church's,
a trifle out of their waV, an<l played the Kogues' March in the
Compound, and then walked down to their boat on the beach (there
was no sea-wall then) an<l went off to the Dido, which sailed at
daybreak homeward bound.

Another well-worn anecdote was this. One forenoon in the office,
a Kling tatnby catne and offered Mr. Church a very nice looking
fowl pie, which Mr. Church bought as a great bargain, as h** thought,
to please Mrs. Church, for a dollar. But on reaching home, it was
not a success, for he foutid Mrs. Church had sold it to the tamby for
fifty cents, as it luid !iot hiMMi cut at a ])arty at their house the previ-
ous evenin<r. It was further related that on one occasion when a verv
high official functionary cann* h'ou\ Calcutta, he was placed in a small
I'ooni on the lower floor, and the wash-hand stand was a cracked
basin on an empty case >t«>od on end.

One day tliere was a fire in town, at which some sailors rendered
valuable assistance, and one of the old residents, a Magistrate, highly
respected, took upon himseU' to give them some refreshments which
they had well-earned. The bill, wliich amounted to some §0 or $7,
was sent in the next day to (jlovernment, but the Resident Councillor,
who was more than economical, refused to pay a cent; "it was absurd
to throw away such a heap of nioni\v for nothing." So the worthy
J. P. sent round a circular, asking for subscriptions, of not more than
five cents each. Jle, of course, obtained the money at once, and sent
the receipted bill and subscription list to Mr. Church to be kept
among the Governnu'nt records. An old Singaporean writes "Poor
Mr. Church was a good-hearted, and in some things generous man,
but liberalitv was not his forte." His handsome gift of a dock to the Church
has been descriljcd on page 290. Mr. Church's eldest son Major Robert
Church, of the Madras Army, now a retired Lieutenant Colonel, was

1837. 329

Private Secretary and A. DC. to Governor Butterworth. His second son,
now Major General Thomas Ross Church, c.i.K., was married to Miss
Florence Marryat, daughter of Captain Marryjit, the famous sea-novelist,
in whose steps she followed as a novel-writer, but of a very different
type. Hie notice of the marriage appeared in the Sinyapore Free Press
of 23rd June. 1854, as follows: — "At Penang", on the 13th June, by
the Kevd. E. R. Maddock, T. Ross Church, Esq., 12th Regt. M. N. I.,
to Florence, the Fourth Daughter of the late Captain Frederick
Marryat, k.n., c.b." Captain Marryat had died in 1848 ; he had been
promoted and made a c.b. for his services in the Burmese War, but
when H. M. S. Larue, was here in 1840, Captain Blake was in command
of hei-, and not Captain Marryat. It has been said that Captain
Marryat was known in Singapore, and some circumstances seem to
point to it. He was certainly in command of H. M. S. Lame, when
she was on the station in the Burmah War, as has been said on
page 281 ; and it used to be said that some of the stories in his novels,
particularly O'Brien's famous duel in ^' Peter Simple " were founded on
occurrences in Singapore, as a very similar duel took place many years
ago in North Bridge Road, where a billiard room and public house
stood, long since pulled down to build shop houses. This is however,
quite uncertain, as no confirmation has been obtained up to the time
this chapter is written. It is also thought that the children of Mr.
Church and Captain Marryat were brought up, or at school together,
in England.

Mr. Church died in London at 2 Hamilton Place, St. John's Wood,
on loth August, 1860. Singapore may well wish to see his
like again. Mrs. Elizabeth Church returned to Singapore, and
though possessed of large means, lived in the most frugal manner
possible, and kept all her money, a very large sum indeed, in deposit
notes in the Oriental Bank, on the failure of which the amount was
necessarily somewhat decreased. She died here on 31st October, 1884,
in Killiney Road, at the age of eijjhty years. She was only known to
people in general, because she used to drive out in the evening in a
very old pony gharry : and turning over the newspaper of that time,
it is found that no notice whatever was taken of the occurrence,
though she was certainly a part of the history of the place, for her
husband was one of the most hardworking, conscientious men that ever
came to Singapore.

330 Ayiecdotal HUtory of Singapore

CHAPTER XXVI.

1838—1839

1838.

IN January a number of small lots of ground on the northern side of
Brass Bassa Koad were sold by the Government at auction under
the New Laud Regulations, the term of 999 years having been aban-
doned. The longest term for any of these leases was 99 years, with
a proviso that substantial buihlings sliould be erected; or for 00 3*ears
when the nature of the building was left to the option of the pur-
cliaser. The result of reducing the term was that only one-third was
realized of tlu^ price for which such land had been sold six or seven
years before under a system of permanent leases, as they were called,
for 999 years. In couiecjuence of the defective state of the communi-
cation between the locality of the lots that were sold and the mercan-
tile part of the town, the newspaper urged that the money received from
the sale should be a})plied to local improvement.

This change in the regulations had been made by Mr. W. R. Young,
the Land Commissioner who \vas sent from India. There were mauv
complaints about the great expense to the Settlement, Mr. Young's
salary alom^ being Rs. -"5,000 a month ; and about the futile result of
his proceedings. The Bengal (lOvernnuMit had b(^en asked to allow
waste jungle hmd to be cleared and planted, and at a great expense
sent the ( Commissioner to say that it would be allowed on payment of
an annual (piit-rent for 20 years, and the land would then be resumed
by (lovernment, which created mucii dissatisfaction. Mr. John Craw-
furd wrote a very long letter on the subject to the East India and China
Association which was reprinted in the tW.e. Pnss on 11th October.

The old (piestion of a gambling farm was raised again in this year
a!id was advocated by the press, one of the principal grou\ids being the
connivance of the police ; for the paper said that if it was otherwise the
whole force must have beeti blind, as a short walk in town would show
twenty shops where gatnbling was carried on almost openly every night.

Snuill-])ox was very bad in the middle of the year, over three
hundred persons dying within three months, and it was proposed to
establish a Vacciiuition Societv, which the Recorder sufrj^ested in his
charge to the (irand Jury, referring to the benefit vaccination had
conferred on the poj)ulation of Ceylon.

In June, the Chamber of Connnerce petitioned the House of Parlia-
ment against the heavy duty on tin imported into (Jreat Britain from
the Straits. The quantity of tin exported to London and Liverpool
in 1837, had been 10,088 cwt.

In July, the steamer Diana left for Malacca and Penang, and it
is a curious sign of the times that complaints were made by some of

1838. 331

the merchants that they had not heard of her intended departure and
had missed the opportunity to write. So it was sugp^ested that it
would be a good plan to circuhite a notice among the merchants when
a steamer was intended to leave. The Diana was the first steamer
employed in the Straits; and besides gfoino: after pirates, for which
Captain Congalton became very famous, she took the Recorder on
circuit; so the views of Singapore became quite changed about the
utility of steam-vessels, the paper remarking that " the pse of the
Diana afforded signal example of the advantageous and useful purposes
for which steam-vessels could be employed in the Straits and that it
was desirous that it should be extended and its powers more variously
employed in every direction round Singapore. By means of steam-
vessels the influence round the Peninsula might be strengthened, so as
to be used at all times with benefit and effect; while commerce would
increase under the security which it would afford ; and steam naviga-
tion appeared to the writer to open up prospects, both political and
commercial, embracing the most happy results. "

In August the Government authorised the building of a new bridge
to supersede the old bridge which had been so troublesome; it was to
be placed further up the river, near where the Powder Magazine was
then standing, the road at the foot of Government Hill (now called
Hill Street) being intended to lead across it. It was expected to be
completed in eighteen months.

In September the Chamber of Commerce succeeded after some
delay in getting the Government to allow letters for England to be re-
ceived at the Post Office for transmission by the overland Mails via
India. The postage through India was paid hero and the steam post-
age was collected in England.

The following are some passages from a letter written by Mr.
Waghorn to the merchants here and in China about his proposed
scheme for the overland route and mails to China: — "The time then
is come for you to establish a chain of steam communication between
Canton and Galle, and thus identify and connect China with the
Calcutta line at that place. There are many advantages attendant
upon such an establishment, not only to your own commercial pursuits
but also to every other relation connected between Europe and China,
all so evident to the politician, merchant, and individual, that it would
be loss of time my dilating or dwelling upon them. I therefore will
at once go to the outline of a plan, in my opinion, best adapted for
the outset of steam navigation between China and England. One vessel
is sufficient to begin with, making quarterly trips between Galle and
Canton, in dates suited to meet the Calcutta steamer at Galle. Such
a vessel should be about 800 tons, with engines of 220 horse power,
and space for 100 tons of valuable freight, touching both ways at
Singapore for fuel, letters, passengers, &c., &c. Raise 1^50,000 in shares,
to pay for this first vessel, and for a year's coal at Galle, Singapore
and Canton. Let this vessel be built by first rate builders and fitted
by a first rate engineer; let any future vessels that you may be
disposed to put upon the line be exactly upon the same principal and
size, &c., &c., so that what is serviceable for one of your steam-vessels
may always be applied to the others.

332 Anecdotal History of Singapore

" Of course, the Calcutta line cannot long remain with one solitary
steam-vessel between there and Suez. Another and another will soon
be put on, and after they are, it will be for yourselves to put on a
second vessel, and have more frequent trips between you and Galle.
Java, as a matter of course, will connect herself with your line at
Singapore, so will New Holland, and by-and-bye Australia, and
mnny other places in the East. Steam navigjition has already
added as much, perhaps more, to England^s greatness, than any
other science, except education, that God has given to man. Its
advantages to our Chinese connections are yet to be practically deve-
loped; in my opinion the sociality it will bring about, will, ere some
thirty years hence, induce a British Viceroy of India to pay a visit
of friendship by steam to His Celestial Majesty in China.

" When the writer began his advocacy of steam navigation between
England and India, he found the JJiroctors of the East India Company
opposed to anything of that nature with India. He found Her
Majesty's Postal Department averse to steam-vessels as packets. He
found the Admiralty of opinion that the Government thought of doing
away with theirs, because they were not safe in bad weather. He
found himself deemed a visionary, nay, a madman, by the Government
Officials, for maintaining that steamers could go easily in 50 days
between India and England, via the Red Sea. It must not be surpris-
ing if some little egotism has crept into his own opinions, now that he
has lived to see the matter compassed with ease in 40 days, and
speedily it will be reduced three days more in Egypt, when the Govern-
ment and Company do the needful in that Country.

" The above statement is made to give you an earnest of his future
labours, to assist and devote himself to such an object with China,
as in like manner he devoted hitnself to get it to India. Having seen
it d(me to India, he now looks onwards to China, and hopes to see you
all " doing " towards its being done, between Canton and London in 55
days, via Galle. My wish is to be entrusted with placing a first
steam- vessel between Galle and Canton ( as I would call at Galle on
the way out) to bring you the first mail by the Red Sea. All this
would be gratifying to me, and I particularly wish to be instrumental
in doing it.^'

The Singapore Community continued to bestir themselves on the
subject of steam communication, and the following is a report of a
public meeting that was held on the subject : — " At a public meeting
of the inhabitants of Singapore held at the Reading Room on Monday,
the 17th December, 1838, for the purpose of taking into consideration
the suggestion of the Madras Committee for establishing a steamer
between Ceylon, the Straits, and China, in connection with steamers
to be established between India and Suez, in the event of the
comprehensive scheme not being carried into effect, Mr. W. D. Shaw
having been called to the Chair, the following Resolutions were unani-
mously carried : —

First. — That this meeting views with feelings of satisfaction the
disposition on the part of the Bengal and Madras Committees to co-
operate cordially on the subject of steam communication between
India and England.

1838. 333

Second. — That in the event of the comprehensive scheme (namely,
an unbroken communication by steam between Calcutta and London,
via Suez ) not being carried into effect, the Madras plan for forming
a Company to perfect the communication on this side of the Isthmus,
is the best that could, under the circumstances, be adopted.

Third. — That this meeting, from such a view of existing circutn-
stances as they are enabled to take, are of opinion that the establishment
of a branch steamer between Galle, the Straits, and China, would
eventually succeed.

Fourth. — That a Committee be formed for the purpose of procuring
every information relative to the establishment of steam communication
between Point de Galle, the Straits, and China, with a view to
ascertain how far the undertaking would be likely to succeed with
reference to the outlay and probable returns, and for the purpose of
corresponding generally with the Committees of Bengal and Madras.

Fifth. — That the said Committee consist of the following seven
gentlemen, three to form a quorum : —

Dr. Montgomerie, Messrs. Balestier, Napier, Connolly, Boustead,
Brennand and Mac Donald.

In August a waterspout passed over the harbour and town,
dismasting one ship and sinking another and carrying off the corner of
the roof of a house in its passage landward It is referred to in 3
Logan's Journal, page 628.

1839.

In this year, we find the first account of the complete New Year's
Day Sports on shore slnd on the water, which did not differ much
from those of the present day, except that it was then a day set
apart by the mercantile community to amuse the natives only.

The following was the account of the Sports in the Free Press. *' The
European Gentlemen of the Settlement have for some time back
observed the laudable practice of ushering in the New Year with sports
and pastimes among the native population, in which suitable rewards
are appropriated to those who compete. Boat-racing is the most
favourite and most attractive of these diversions. Indeed it is remarked
how very few games or exercises of an active and athletic nature
the Malays have ; even boat-racing, as a sport, is an exotic : and the
only games peculiar to them appear to be a sort of foot-ball and
kite-flying, the latter being an exercise practised in various ways in
many parts of tho civilized world, in a manner of which the poor
Malays have not the smallest idea. In their sampans, however,
whether pulling or sailing, they beat in their own waters every com-
petitor. Tlie first race was a pulling match, the reward for the winner
was $15. The next was a sailing match between Malay sampans,
about ten of them mustering for the race. They made a beautiful
start of it : their long light, sharp hulls, cutting through the water
under a fresh breeze in the best style —

^ So shoots through the morning sky the lark,

Or the swan through the summer sea.'

331- Aufcdoinl Uii*fory of. Sinynpnrf

"Till.* run was about four miles, which was accomplished in a very
sliort >j)aiM' of time, the first boat bt»in>f n^warded witli a prize of
twciitv. smd the second with ono of ten dollars. A race of common
Malay sampans, manned with Klin*; boatmen, was then well contested
and excited a e(nisiderable dcfj^ree of interest.

** After tliese were over, the Sports on ^liore commenced with a
])ony race mount in «r native riders. A very j^rotesqiie congregation of
mi*n an<l horses assembled at tlie starting post, very few of whom
rea<'hed the winnin*^ p(»st. Sonu* wrestling then ensued, in which the
only eompetitt>rs were K lings, wlu> made far better work of it than
we ever saw done bv tlie more lustv Chinamen, whom we have some-
times seen vying with each other in the same contest. A great deal
of foot-racing, &c., &c., tluMi became the order of the jiay, and
continue<l until lour oVlock, when the ground began to get clear of
its various multitudi»s, all of whom seemed equally delighted with the
Sports, not, the li»ast interesting or important of which were the
scrambles for copper ])ice which some lively young gentlemen were
t^ver and anon proji'cting into the air. The weather was delightful,
cloud V and breozv."

In January a fac(»tious individual put an advertisement in the
paper ofTi'ring 81,000 reward to any person who could succeed in making
a safe and easy conveyanct* to travel over (or rather througli) the
road leading to th(» S<»]>(>y Lines in particular, and the Singapore
roads in general ; iron ami wood having been found too weak, and
s])rinjrs and wheels impracticable.

'i'he beginning of lianks in Singapore was an adventure of John
(ieniniiirs, who issued in January the following origitial advertise-
in(.*nt : —

" The undersigned will cash good Bills, the drawers and acceptors
being residents of Singa]H)re, or will advance money on Goods
dep()sited with him, at such rate and terms as may bo agreed
u])on.

** Deposits in monc^v in sums of not loss than §100 will be received
by tli(» und(.'rsigno<l, bearing interest at six per cent, per annum, if
allowed to remain at h^ast (mic mi>nth, whoii, after three davs' notice, the
])rinci))al and interest will bt» paid if demanded, but if withdrawn in
less time, no interr^st to be allowtul but the principal only b(» repaid
at three davs' notice*.

** John (iemmill trusts that the merchants an«l t)ther gentlemen of
the St^tleuierit will facilitate his views in thus publicly circulating
capitnl, although on a small scale, as they may tend to shew the
necessity of a Singapore Bank, of the expediency of which he has
had even a little exp(»rience himself.

" As ho does not presume to cash all the Bills, &c., that may be
required, a Journal will bo kept to shew what extent of specie
transactions might be done.''

The twentieth anniversary of the foundation of the Settlement was
commemorated by a public ball on the evening of the oth February,
and a dinner on the Gth February. The Free Pr^ss remarked: — "It
was curious to find in Lad}' Raffles' Memoirs that the 29th February
was given as the day on which the British flag was first hoisted at

1839. 335

Singapore, au error probably of the printer's devil, as there was
no doubt as to the 6tli beincr the day, having often been commeinorated
here by gentlemen who themselves witnessed the ceremony of hoisting
the flag by Sir Stamford Raffles." Several United States ships were in
harbour, with a Commodore, and there were several public entertainments
given; ending with the flag-ship, the United States frigate Columbia,
giving a large dinner and dance on board the frigate.

The planting of gambier and pepper was increasing very much,
and the following article, which shows how it was then carried on,
was published in March: — "The increase which has taken place in
the cultivation of gambier and pepper by the Chinese settled in the
interior, retjuires that we should give some account of the extent to
which it. has now advanced, as it is the only cultivation on the island
which has yet assumed any degree of commercial importance ; and the
following particulars have been obtained as well from parties who are
themselves owners of plantations, as from those whose course of business
engages them in extensive transactions with the planters. It is well
known to our local readers that the cultivation of pepper and gambier
is always carried on in conjunction, the support which they mutually
afford each other being, it seems, indispensable to the existence of either
of these plantations, commonly termed hangnails. There are now alto-
gether about 350 in the island, which we may divide into plantations
of the first, second, and third class.

" A plantation, or hangsall, of the first class, occupies an area equal to
about 350 fathoms square for its gambier, and generally employs from
ten to eleven men, the proprietor included. Its average monthly
produce is equal to between 17 to 18 piculs a month, or about 210
piculs annually. To supply firewood for the boiling-house it is neces-
sary to have a tract of jungle in the immediate vicinity; and it is a
serious objection to any locality for gambier-growing if it has not, at
the commencement, an available extent of jungle for fuel equal to
the area which is occupied by the plant, and which it is computed
will supply firewood for a term of 25 years. Thus, a plantation of this
size will consume in that space all the fuel which can be supplied by
an extent of jungle 350 fathoms square. The annual produce of
pepper on a plantation of this description is about 125 to 150 piculs.
It seems that there are at present rather under than above thirty
bangsalls, which severally yield these quantities.

" Plantations of the second class average about 150 piculs of gambier
annually, and about 80 piculs of pepper, employing eight or nine
men ; while those of the third class, about 100 to 120 piculs of gambier,
and about 50 piculs of pepper, there being seldom more than seven
men to the latter. The same remarks regarding fuel apply, of course,
to these as to the larger bangsalls.

" The aggregate produce of the whole 350 bangsalls in gambier and
pepper is stated at fully 4,000 piculs a month, or 48,000 piculs annually,
of the former, and 15,000 piculs a year of the latter. This is more
than double the quantity of gambier produced in 1836, durinsr which
year it began t<> experience the effect of favourable prices in England,
and is fifty per cent, in advance of the quantity of pepper stated to have
been produced during the same year.

336 AneeAotal HUhtry of Singapore

" Xoai'ly all these planfcntions were commmenced by individiiah
without ca[)ital of their own, who bewail on small advances from the
Chinese shopkeepers in town, on the security of a niortiraiJfe of their
ground : and out of every three of them it is probable there are two
which are subject to encumbrances of this description, the advances
sometimes runnino^ on at a very high rate of interest, and often made
in clothes and provisions at higher than tlie market rates: and the
conse(|uence is tliat instances are of daily occurence in which plantations
are changing hands, and the original settlers often absconding, leaving
considerable debts behind them. ^fotwithstanding all this, however,
the (.'liinese in town who support the planters, and the better class
of planters themselves, affirm that a plantation is almost sure to clear
off the original advances, and finally yield a fair profit, if the planter
is steady and industrious, and abstains from gaming and opium-smoking,
both of which are the besetting sins of that class of Chinese who
settle in the interior of the island, every third man of whom, it is
admitted by themselves, is an opium-smoker, while the infatuation of
gaming often produces the most ruinous consequences. In the interior,
too, the practice of gambling on credit is common, and the unfortunate
sufferer in those blind games of chance, to which they are so strongly
addicted, is often indiiced to grant his promissory note for what he
lias lost, whicli, in due course, will assiime the form of a mortgage over
his plantation, after which an action at law, and a sale by the Sheriff,
very soon l(»aves him altogether minus. On such occasions, the planta-
tions generally pass into better hands, and are bought by men who
have so!ne little capital of their own ; and it is astonishing how far a
small sum of a man\s c)wn money will go towards making him become
a (M»m])arativoly extensive^ })r()prictnr. ft was only the other day that
thn baiiixsall (►! ono of those ituprovidetit characters above referred to
wns sold by auction for Sl/MK), and was purchased by a party who
had only S2()() of his owti money, obtaining the additional requisite
advatu'e by at^rtH*ing to mortgage his now accpiisiton for the accommo-
dation.

" Ma!iy of the old gambier plantations, and theve art? some, it
seems, \H years old in the island, have, it is stated, considerably
(liminished \u valu(» of late years, as well from the soil being partly
exhausted, as from the watit of firewood, all the jungle in the
!ieighbourhood having been cleared away, and retpiiring thetn to
proce(»d to a. considei-able distance to bring it. This is the great
drawback, nud in consefjuence of it alone, matiy plantations have
(ItH'liiu'd one third from their original value: and from the same cause
several bangsalls luive b(»en given up altogether, and the ground
abandoned to that inveterate enemy of all cultivation, the lallan^t
i^rass. {)u these occasions, the })()iling of gambier is altogether
discontinued, and tlu» p<'pper vities are allowed to drag on, until,
deprived of the aid the soil receives from the boiled leaves of the
gambier, they die away entirely. According to the Chinese, the leaves
of the gambier, whicli are tnerely strewn over tJie ground in which
the pepper vines are planted, rather protect than enrich the soil, and
the ram, they say, washes a substance off it into the earth which
prevents the growth of any noxious weed to interfere with tlie vines.

1839. 337

*' Whether or not pepper would succeed here with tlie aid of
some other manure besides pambier, is an experiment which has not,
we believe, been tried, but it is manifest that gambier would never
pay, if grown by itself, at present prices. The gross value of the
annual produce (210 piculs ) of the most extensive plantation of
gambier on the island at the market rate of $2 per picul is only $420
which would barely suffice to pay the mere wages of the ten men
engaged on it, if taken even at $8.50 a month, although the proper
average is perhaps $4 per month for each man. Even joined together,
gambier and pepper are certainly not an enriching cultivation, and if
it requires little outlay of capital, taken all in all, it brings little in.
Thus, taking tlie price realised for 48,000 piculs gambier at

$2 per picul we have ... ... §96,000

for 15,000 piculs pepper at $5 per picul 75,000

valuo of the total annual produce of both . . . §171,000

which, if we allow altogether 3,000 Chinese, and it is probable there
is fully that number, to find work on the plantations, gives exactly
S57 a year to each individual engaged. Rating the wages of each
at ,^4, this would amount to $144,000 a year, which deducted from
the above sum of §171,000 leaves §27,000 to be divided among 850
proprietors, giving an averiige of profit for each plantation of only
§77 and a fraction annually, without making any deduction for
interest of capital laid out, materials used, carriage, and a variety of
p.t ceteras, Accordinuf bo the statements of the Chinese themselves,
the best of these plantations, when clear of all encumbrances, yield the
proprietor an annual profit of about §400, while the lowest barely
pay their way. There seems not the least doubt, however, that
the cultivation of gambier and pepper will go on increasing from
year to year, until the island is bare of fuel to boil the former,
unless some decline in the price of the article should take place, which
now seems unlikely, or unless Grovernment should interpose with
what some would account an injudicious, and some a judicious, measure
to check its progress. There is, in the meantime, one beneficial
result accruing from the activity with which the cultivation of jrambier
is now prosecuted in the interior, that it finds employment for numbers
who, in a different state of affairs, were formerly found leaguing
themselves together in bands for the purposes of midnight robbery and
depredation, often causing the greatest alarm even in the immediate
suburbs of the town."

In April, first originated the strange notion that has been heard of
several times since in Singapore. The Chinese community imagined
that the blood of thirty-six men was required for the sanctification of
the new Church, and that the Government had actually set on foot a
system of Thuggee for the secret apprehension and sacrifice of the
required number of victims. Respectable and intelligent Chinese made
enquiries about it, and believed that nine heads had been already
secured. It was thought at the time that the report had arisen from
the church-yard having been enclosed, but we know now that the
same singular notion has occurred several times since, and also in

338 Anecdotal History of Singajtore

Calcutta, and in Honijkong in 1886 when 500 children were said to
have been buried to secure the completion of the Taitam Wat^r Works,
80 that reason was not the true one. The neighbourhood of the Church
g<jt an extremely bad character among the lower class of the natives,
and all manners of stories were in circulation about people being
carried off on the road by the side of the Brass Bassa Canal, so that
none of the natives would venture out after dark. There is an
account of this to be found in Mr. Thomson's translations from the
Hakayit Abdulla. There is an amusing account of another scare, and
of a circular issued by the head Chinese related in the record of the
year 1853. In 1885 it occurred again, and natives in the town,
especially children, were afraid to go out at night. The Malays said
that heads were required for the New ilarket at Teluk Ayer, as the
Government could not build it without one hundred heads. A very
well known Arab gentleman said that it had sprunj^ from two murders,
lately committed, in one of which a woman's head had been cut off.

On the 28th May, in the Shipping Report appears the arrival at
Singapore of the British Schooner Royalwt, Captain Brooke, 142 tons,
from the Cape and England. The paper took no notice of it, and no
one anticipated what was to spring from the first visit of Mr. James
Brooke to Singapore. On the 28th July, the Royaliat sailed on a
cruise to Borneo. She returned to Singapore in October, and the
Free Press of the 24th of that month contained a long letter from
Mr. Brooke describing his voyage to Borneo.

In July the Government proclaimed a reward of $50 for every
tiger brought into the town, it had been previously §20. Four men
had been carried off within two miles of the town in three months, in
the neighbourhood of Serangong Road, which induced the Government
to increase the reward. A few days after the reward was offered,
several more lives were lost. One was that of a woman killed near
Sandy Point; the other a Chinaman who was carried off at three
o'clock iu thu afternoon wliile working in his giimbier plantation. The
other coolies immediately raised a great clamour, beating gongs, &c.,
to alarm the tiger, and on going a little way into the jungle the dead
body was found, very tnuch mangled.

The month of August was the most rainy month then on record
in the plficc, there were 26 rainy days during which 28 inches of rain
fell, although the average for a whole year was only about 84 inches.
In the first fifteen days, twenty -one inches fell, and sometimes more than
four inches in the day. In one heavy thunderstorm the raingauge, which
held only two and a half inches, overflowed in the course of an hour.

An analysis was made in Calcutta of water brought to Singapore
from the famous hot springs at Ayer Panas, in Malacca, with the fol-
lowing result : — It was found to contain a small portion of sulphuretted
hydrogen, with traces of carbolic acid and azote: 500 grains of the
water, evaporated to dryness, left only 1.09 grains of dry residuum,
which contained the organic matter called Glairine, sulphate of lime,
muriate of soda, with traces of silicate and iron. It was said to be
only valuable for its thornuil, and not for its medicinal qualities. At
the springs, the temporatnn* was about 130 degrees of Fahrenheit,
When cold it is very palatable drinking water.

1839. 339

In the Free Press for this year, a largo part of the first page of
the paper was taken up at a various times by the publication, in native
characters, of translations of proclamations, and of some of the newly
enacted Indian Acts.

Much attention had been given during the preceding five years to
coffee planting, and the following account, showing how history repeats
itself, of the formation of a company sixty years ago, was of interest
about 1884, when similar projects were frequently started, but did not
succeed.

In October, the Singapore Joint Stock Coffee Company was
started, the author of which was a M. Le Dieu, a French resident in
Sinjrapore, and the prospectus was published at full length in the
paper, but is too long to reprint. After a long preamble about the
prospects of agriculture in Singapore, it went on as follows : — '* These
reflexions proceed from the consideration of a proposal to establish a
joint stock ctunpany in this place for the cultivation of coffee, which
cannot fail to have the most auspicious influence on the prosperity of
the Settlement. Agriculture is yet in its infancy in Singapore; but
the results already obtained have been sufficiently advantageous to
induce several families to invest considerable property in the soil.
Coffee seems to be one of the productions most calculated to succeed,
as it is estimated to make a return of the full capital expended in
four years. To what a pitch of agricultural and commercial prosperity
would not then Singapore attain if we saw the half of the island
covered with plantations of Coffee ? In limiting the produce of each
plant to only one pound in the year, and ten dollars per picul
as the price of the coffee, this would yield an annual revenue of
§2,488,320.

" It is proposed to establish a Society for the cultivation of Coffee
in Singapore, under the authority of Government, to be called the
(National) Agricultural Society of Singapore. The Capital to consist of
one hundred shares of dollars 100 each.''

During the next year, several calls were made, and a good deal
was written to the paper about it by the shareholders and also by the
promoter. The end of it was that some of the Committee sent the
following address to the paper, and in October, 1841, the plantation
was sold at auction : — " An Advertisement in the last number of the
Free Press calls on us to pay up the third instalment of shares pur-
suant to the resolution passed at a Meeting held on the 25th January,
but it being generally known that had there been a fuller meeting
(twelve persons only being then present, including M. Le Dieu with
his three votes) and had proxies been allowed, there would have been
a great majority against any further payment towards the coffee plan-
tation, and even as it was, strong dissatisfaction regarding the excessive
expense already incurred was manifested by those who have had ample
experience in planting, and are well capable of judging what ought
to have been effected with the sum already expended.'' At the same
meeting a Committee of five persons was appointed to superintend
further operations, which were to be conducted with the greatest
economy. This Committee met by appointment four days after the
general meeting at the house of the new Secretary, Bishop Courvezy,

340 Anecdotal History of Singapore

and after various separate calculations submitted by two or three of
the members, a resolution was passed that the whole concern should be
disposed of to the best advantage.

The paper in noticing the sale said that the result did not speak
well for the agricultural capabilities of Singapore, but that it would
soon publish some remarks by an old Straits hand on the subject, and
the writer referred to, in alluding to coffee planting in the island,
wrote as follows : — " The Coffee plant thrives well here when judiciously
shaded from the sun. But this essential application, it is to be feared,
has been neglected by the planters. The cultivation hitherto has been a
failure. The coffee tree, if properly shaded, thrives in the Penang Settle-
ment even on the poorest soils, and on soils of every description, but fails
on the hills where it is not sheltered from the sun. The chief objec-
tion taken to the cultivation here, at Singapore, lies, as in the case
of cotton, in the irregularity of the crops. In the satne plantation the
trees will be found in every stage, from budding to fruiting. When I
say that the attempt has failed, it is wth these reservations. By
selecting appropriate soil and by judicious shading, the trees may
perhaps be brought to a fair average condition. The soil here, which
seems best adapted to the tree, is that where the peat and sand are
minified in due proportions : next to this description of soil, the most
preferable would seem to be the slightly undulatin*; lands and the
slopes at the base of the hills, and the hollows, not the swampy
hollows, and especially the spots admitting of this description where
the soil is reddish. But after all it will depend on the quantity of
such soils, whether the speculation will not be a losing one. To culti-
vate coffee successfully a large expanse of land is required.

'^ The coffee plants on the tops and upper slopes of the hills do not
give much promise of success. Like those wliicli were planted on the
Penang hills, which for two or three years throve better, owing to the
superior elevation and shelter, than they have done on the hills here,
they manifest a strong tendency to overgrow themselves in ilie centre
shoot, and to decay prematurely. Topping is, under such circum-
stances, the only chance they have of surviving, and where the tree is
luxuriant it is a measure both of convenience and necessity at all
times and in all situations. If Coffee is destined to thrive on the
higher lands, it will probably be shewn by the spirited example of
Dr. d' Almeida, who has selected a gently undulating and broad ridge
for his plantation, with a soil of a friable texture and which may
prove also available for cloves. The late Coffee Company had also a
plantation on the same description of soil. This soil contains from 65
to 70 per cent, of silex. The plants in both of these localities are not
old enough to permit a decided opinion to be t^iven as to their chance
of success. There may be, perhaps, about five hundred acres under
coffee cultivation, but not exclusively so, as the plants are intermixed
in some estates with other cultivated trees. The Coffee produced is
all of fair average quality : I have not obtained any estimate of the
quantity of coffee now produced .''

The Coffee Company's plantation was on the left hand side of
Serangoon Road, about five miles from town. It was never success-
ful.

1839. 341

The first vessel built at Singapore was lauuclied by Mr. Melany
at his yard in May. It was a schooner of about 100 tons, called the
Sree Singapura, built for a European firm called Shaw & Stephens.

Gaston Dutronquoy, a painter, arrived in March and advertised
that he would paint miniatures, portraits, &c. In May he opened a
hotel called the London Hotel which was first in High Street and
afterwards where the Hotel de I'Europe is now at the corner of High
Street and the Esplanade.

The Free Press said that on 12th October the Right Reverend
Father in God, Paul, the Armenian Bishop, with Mr. Deacon Martirus,
embarked under a salute from the shore of eleven guns, on board a
Dutch brig, which also saluted him with eleven guns, on his way to
Batavia. This is mentioned on account of the salute to an Armenian
Bishop.

A native advertised that he had been curing horses in Singapore
for upwards of thirteen years, and that he would undertake the cure
of all diseases. This may have been the man who sent in a bill many
years afterwards, ** for curing your horse till he died.''

On Monday the 25th November, Sir William Norris, the Recorder,
opened the Assizes in the New Court House which was then used for
the first time, on which he congratulated the Grand Jury, and also on
the prospect of a proper house of correction being built soon.

This New Court was part of the present Court House. It had
been built by John Argyll Maxwell, the merchant, in 1826 and 1827,
under the superintendence of Mr. Coleman, the Architect, and was
sold by him on 1st September, 1829, to John Cockerell and George
Gerard Larpent. On 1st September, 1841, it was advertised for sale by
auction by Guthrie & Co., and was bought on behalf of Government
by Mr. Church. It was transfered to him on 26th October, 1841, for
|1 5,600, and on 10th October, 1842, by him to Governor Bonham, on
account of the East India Company. The boundaries on two sides
were High Street and the Singapore River, the area was 82,080
square feet, and had a river frontage of 240 feet.

3i2 Aiucdotal Hidnnj of ISintjdpor

CHAPTER XXVII.

1840.

THP] first Chiua junk of the season arrived on the 9th January,
and the junks in the first fortnight brought down ten thousand
chests of tea. The junks took back produce to China in exchange.

In January, the assessment on houses in town was fixed at eight
and a half per cent, and on property of a like nature situated outside
the limits at five per cent. The tax on horses and carriages was tlien
imposed for the first time, at which there was a good deal of remons-
trance, but as the roads were very bad, and continual complaints were
being made about them, it was hoped the money so raised might be
all applied in repairing them.

On the 14th January, the British brig Brigand which had come
in from Calcutta two days before, sailed for China. On the following
night, while off Pedra Branca, Captain McGill, her master, who was
well known and esteemed in Singapore, was murdered by two of the
crew, John Williams, a European sailor, and Florentine de la Cruz, a
Manilaman. Tlioy threw the body of the Captain overboard and
asserted that the second mate, who was missing, had been lost over-
board by accident in the disturbance. The body of the Captain was
never found, and nothing could be proved of the fact beyond some
remarks made by Williams when the Captain and second mate were
found missing, and the poop, where the Captain was asleep, covered
with blood. Williams confessed his guilt before he was hung. The
trial was held on Wednesday, the 4th March, from 10 a.m. to 8.30
p.m. and both men were executed on Friday the 6th.

Each month an account appears in the paper of deaths by tigers,
and in April the first hunt took place, of which the following account
was published in the Free Presn : — '^ A Singapore Tiger Hunt. — A
friend of ours, when out snipe-shooting a day or two ago, in that
jungly locality behind Buffalo Village [this would be about where the
Race Course is now], rather unexpectedly came upon what was nothing
more nor less than a tiger, very harmlessly employed in taking his
morning siesta beneath the shade of some bushy imderwood with which
the ground is there completely overgrown. Finding himself unper-
ceived, and feeling no disposition to intrude further upon the privacy
of the dangerous slumberer, as his gun only contained a charge of
snipe shot, our sportsman made as hasty and noiseless a retreat as he
could. Heturninir into town, the rencontre was fortliAvith made known
to several of his i'riuuds, who very iiK)K)n became convinced that a

1840. 343

crusade agaiust the tiger was the best employment in which they
could be engaged for the day, and the Man tons and Mortimers of
four doughty sportsmen, who felt certain of demolishing their grim
antagonist, were in immediate requisition. A detachment of some five
and twenty convicts, variously armed, was also procured, and although
a considerable time was expended in all this preparation, not a doubt
was entertained but that the tiger would be found snug in the same
berth in which he had been seen in the morning. As they approached
the spot, the hopes of the party were considerably raised by meeting
with a grass cutter, breathless with exhaustion, who said he had been,
but a few minutes before, within an ace of scraping acquaintance with
the gentleman they were in search of. But unfortunately, the tiger
was not found, although most diligent search was made for him.^^

In May, the first vessels of the China expedition for the "Opium
War " began to arrive, and the troops disembarked and encamped on
the plain where the esplanade is now, until the whole expedition was
ready to proceed up the China Sea. The plain was covered with tents,
and various temporary structures were put up. The following is an
article in the newspaper of the 21st May : —

"There have been various rumours within the last few days regard-
ing the intended departure of the force assembled here; and there is
no doubt of an early movement, although it may be judged necessary
to wait for the arrival of the Marion with the Staff on board, before
anything is definitely arranged on the subject. Eighteen troop and
store transports are already in the roads: but detachments of H. M.
18th Regiment and of the Volunteer Corps have still to arrive, and
may be expected in the course of a few days, which will then com-
plete the whole of the land forces, with the exception of the small
addition expected from home, to be employed in the expedition. The
full extent of the naval armament is not exactly ascertained, but from
all accounts, the more formidable portion of it is still on its way from
home, and the Cape Station; although we have already in China, the
Druid, 44, Volage, 28, Alligator, 28 (on the way up), and Hyacinth, 18;
and here the Wellesley, 72, Lame, 28, Gruizer, 18, and AlgerinCy
10, besides the Conway, 28, and Favorite, 28, still to join. There
still remains however, the Melville, 74, from the Cape carrying the flag
of Admiral Elliot, and several corvettes from the same station : with
the Blenheim, 72, the Blonde y 44, Pique, 42, Andromache, 28, Nimrod,
18, from home. In this estimate, we do not include the steam vessels,
which it seems will be supplied entirely from the steam flotilla in India,
to consist of the Atulanta and Madagascar, already in the roads, and
the new steamers Queen and Sesoatris, the former of which is daily
expected from Calcutta."

On the 4th June, the Free Fresa wrote as follows:- — "On Saturday
forenoon the 30th instant, H. M. ships-of-war Wellesley, Gruizer, and
Algerine, troop-ship Rattlesnake, and H. C. Steamer Atalanta, with
sixteen sail of transport vessels, got under weigh for China presenting
a fine and animating spectacle as they steered out of the roads in
three divisions, with one of Her Majesty's ships at the head of each.
They were followed next day by the steamers Queen and Madagascar,
into the former of which the staff from the Marion had been trans-

344 Anecdotal History of Singapore

ferred ; and of the two ships-of-war remaining in the roads, the
Conicay will, we understand, move forward in the course of to-day :
the Lame waiting to take on the April mail, which may now be
expected almost daily to arrive from Calcutta by the steamer Enterpn^p.
We are not aware whether any day has been specified for the depar-
ture of the other transports, now in the harbour, but the Marion must,
of course, remain until she repairs the damages sustained in her masts
and rit^oi-ing during the voyage from Calcutta. It has been very
generally surmised that the preliminary operation of the expedition
will be to batter down the Boyfue forts: and we believe there is no
doubt that such are the instructions of Sir Gordon Bremer. But we
understand the campaign is to be opened by also taking possession of
Macao at the same time, we presume under some arrangement effected
at home between the British and Portuguese Governments."

On Tuesday forenoon, the 16th June, H. M. Sloop-of-war Pylades^
anchored in the roads from the Cape on the 27th April, announcing
the approach of the Mflvillp., 74, bearing the flag of Rear-Admiral the
Hon'ble G. Elliot, Captain the Hon'ble R. Dundas, which entered the
harbour in the course of the same day, followed by H. M. Frigate
Blonde, 42, Captain Thomas Bourchier, both having left the Cape on
the 30th April.

On the following day, the Admiral landed under the salute due to
his rank, as Commander-in-chief of Her Majesty's Naval Forces to the
eastward of the Cape. It was stated that Admiral Elliot received
notification of his appointment to succeed Sir Frederick Maitland, who
died, only three days before he left the Cape, during which interval the
Melville made up her full war complement of men, made every requisite
addition to her animiniition, &c., and took in the necessary supply of
stores and provisions.

'Jlie paper also referred to the seizure of some (Chinese junks in
the following article: — ''Almost immediately after the appearance in
harbour of the Squadron that has just arrived from the Cape, a China
junk that had got under weigh on her return homeward, was followed
and overtaken by H. M. Frigate Blonde, and taken possession of by a
party sent from on board that vessel, a proceeding which was shortly
after followed by the seizure of three other Chinese Junks (being all
that were then in the roads) much to the surprise of the European
community of the Settlement, and greatly to the consternation of the
Chinese, as well on board the iunks as on shore, manv of the latter
being interested to a large extent in their cargoes. Yesterday, however,
Admiral Elliot directed the release of the junks, and they are now at
liberty to proceed on their voyay^e, at least if their apprehensions as
to what may befall them on the coast of China, will permit them.
According to the information we have been able to obtain (m the sub-
ject, there is no doubt that Admiral Elliot was acting merely in pursu-
ance of his orders in taking possession of the junks. But, as the
Chinese here had sometime ago received something like an assurance
fro»n the local Government that their junks would not be molested, we
may infer that on being made ac(inainted with the fact. Admiral Elliot
assumed the responsibility of setting them again at liberty, in preference
to detaining them under such circumstances/^

Catch ICK MosBs.

1840. 345

On the 2nd March, the firm of Sarkies & Moses was established
by Aristarchus Sarkies. He had come to Singapore in 1820, and began
business on his own account on Ist August, 1828. Mr. Catchick Moses,
his nephew, came from Calcutta in that year and was in the office of
Bonstead, Schwabe & Co., as an apprentice, for five years. Then he
made some trading voyages to Calcutta and back on his own account,
and in 1840 he joined his uncle in the firm of Sarkies & Moses.
Mr. Sarkies died when 65 years old on 8th March, 1841, at his house
in Armenian Street, which is still standing and now called Zetland
House, opposite St. Andrew's House. Mr. Catchick Moses died at his
house the Pavillion on Oxley Hill, when 80 years old, on 2nd October,
1892; his widow died on the I7th September, 1895. The family now
consists of tliree sons, two of whom carry on the firm of Sarkies & Moses,
the name of which has never been changed, and two daughters one of whom
is married to Mr. Jacob Carapiet. Mr. Catchick Moses was a man of a very
kind disposition, and was much respected in iSingapore. The natives in
former days used often to go to his house in the early mornings for advice, and
to settle their differences. He was a good billiard-player, using his left
hand, and he had the curious habit of shaving himself with his left hand,
while walking up and down the verandah of the house, without a glass. He
made his will about seven years before his death, and gave it to his
children to read, so that they could ask him about it if they did not
understand it, so as to avoid any discussion after his death. During
the later years of his life he did not conduct the business, but he used
to come down to town and sit in the office, and go back home at
four o'clock in a small palanquin which had been built for him by Mr.
G. H. Brown some generations before. He was one of the three local
residents who alone wore tall black beaver hats. The other two were
Mr. Christian Baumgarten, the Registrar of the Court and afterwards a
practising lawyer, and Mr. M. J. Carapiet, an opium merchant. The joke
used to be that Mr. H. M. Simons used to present the last with his
hats, and that they passed round among the three until they were
altogether past wear. It was in Zetland House that Mr. R. C. Woods
lived when he started the Strait Times newspaper. Mr. Moses was one
of the last of the old residents of the place.

The following is the first account we have met with of a Chinese pro-
cession in the town : it was published in April : — *^ For some days past, the
town has been resounding with the clangour of Chinese gongs, and the
streets crowded with processions of this noisy race, in honour of a goddess,
or the statue of one, that has been recently imported from the Celestial
Kingdom, but the procession which took place on Monday was really
something worth looking at. It extended nearly the third of a mile, to
the usual accompaniment of gongs, and gaudy banners of every colour,
form, and dimension. But what particularly engaged the attention ot
spectators, and was the chief feature of the procession, were the little girls
from five to eight years age, carried aloft in groups on gaily ornamented
platforms, and dressed in every variety of Tartar and Chinese costumes.
The little creatures were supported in their places by iron rods, which
were concealed under their clothes, and their infant charms were shewn
off to the greatest advantage by the rich and peculiar dresses in which
they were arrayed, every care being taken to shield them with umbrellas

346 Anecdotal Hiatory of Singapore

from the effects of the sun's rays, which shone out in full brightness
during the whole time the procession lasted. The divinity herself was
conveyed in a very elegant canopy chair, or palanquin, of yellow silk and
crape, and was surrounded with a body guard of celestials, wearing tunics
of the same colour. We have not been able to ascertain the various attri-
butes of the goddess, but it seems she is highly venerated : and a very
elegant temple, according to Chinese taste, has been built in the town for
her reception. She is called by the Chinese Tien-Seang-Sing-Bok, which,
we believe, may be translated Holy Mother of the Gods, being the deity
who is commonly tenned the Queen of Heaven. She is supposed to be the
especial protectress of those who navigate the deep ; at least, it is to her
slirine that the Chinese sailors pay the most fervent adoration, there being
an altar dedicated to her in every junk that goes to sea. The procession,
we are informed, is regarded as a formal announcement to the Chinese of
her advent in this Settlement, and the exhibition, with the feasting atten-
dant thereon, is stated to cost more than six thousand dollars."

The Singapore Institution School was growing larger, and a Mr.
Dickenson of the American Mission was engaged as second Master. There
was an American Mission School for Chinese and Malay boys on what was
known as Ryan's Hill, the expense of which was met by the Board of
Foreign Missions in America. There were a few Malays and some Chinese,
who had to be bound to the Manager to remain at school for a certain
period. Ryan's Hill was on the way from the then Jail, now the site of
the Central Police Station, towards Tanjong Pagar, it was afterwards
called Dickenson's Hill, then Bukit Padre, and is now known as Bukit
Passoh.

The Free Press of the 11th June contains a long letter from Mr. James
Brooke about his voyage in the Royalist to the Bugis countries and the
Celebes. At this time, C. Goymour, who came out with Mr. Brooke in
the Royalist as steward, opened a public house in the Square which he
called the Royalist Hotel. Afterwards he took the house in High
Street, which the Guthrie^?, and at that time Mr. and Mrs. Jame^
Guthrie, had occupied, and opened it as the Adelphi Hotel. Goymour
used to ride in the races, ponies in those days, and so obtained a certain
notoriety, but lie was an illiterate man, not much appreciated.

The tigers were continually becoming more bold, and in July,
five men were killed, all within two miles of the town, in the course
of eight days, and in Nov^ember, the first one was caught alive in a
pit of which the following v/as an account: — r"The news of the capture
and death of a tiger, last Saturday night, on a Chinaman's plantation
close to that of Mr. Balestier, the American Consul, gave general
satisfaction, being the first of these destructive animals which they had
succeeded in catching alive. A pit was dug, where his track had
been observed, the mouth of which was lightly covered over, and two
or three dogs tied as bait; the ruse luckily took, and when advancing
to his imagined prey he was himself precipitated into the pitfall,
where he was very soon despatched, being pounded to death with
stones. He was a large animal, measuring 9 feet 2 inches from the
nose to the tip of the tail, which was only 35 inches long : the
circumference round the fore arm being 26 inches. The captors have
claimed and obtained from the local authorities the promised reward

1840. 347

of a hundred dollars, besides having sold the flesh of the animal itself
to the Chinese, Klings, &c., (among whom its virtues are much cele-
brated) for six fanams a catty, by which they realised about seventy
dollars more."

In June new regulations were issued as to the occupation of
Agricultural land. Leases were offered for twenty years, renewable
for thirty years at the option of the lessee, but free for two years,
then three years at four annas an acre, five years at eight annas, and
afterwards at one rupee an acre a year. It was said that such short
leases did not give any encouragement to agricultural undertakings.

Mr. Balestier's godown on the river bank was robbed by a sailor,
presumably an American, who secreted himself in the godown after he
had been shipped before the Consul in the office on that day by the
Master of an American Vessel in the Roads. He robbed a drawer of
about §100, and was trying to open the iron chest (primitive safe)
when he was heard. It was about nine o'clock and bright moonlight.
He made his escape over the roof and dropped into the mangroves on
the river side, when all trace of him was lost. Two days afterwards
his corpse, fully dressed except his shoes, which he had left on the
roof, was found among the piles of the new bridge which was being
built. He proved to be a notorious fellow who had been discharged
from jail some time before.

On the 30th Octobei', the H. C. S. vessel Ntmesis arrived, being
the first steamer round the Cape, She was 168 feet long, 29 feet
beam, 650 tons and 120 horse power. She carried two 32 pdr. guns,
and a crew of fifty seamen. She was nearly flat bottomed, and could
be lightened to four feet, but had two wooden false keels of six feet
depth, one aft and one forward, which could bo let down through
the bottom of the vessel. The paddle floats could be unshipped for
sailing. She had left Portsmouth on 8th March, and was a show
vessel at the ports she had called at, the Governor of the Cape and
a large party having visited her there. She was the first of her
construction which had rounded the Cape, being of iron, and greatly
astonished the natives of Singapore. She was a famous vessel against
llie pirates in Singapore afterwards.

In December in this year, cholera broke, out in Malacca, and soon
reached Singapore, At Malacca, the Revd. Josiah Hughes, the Resi-
dency Chaplain, and the Revd. John Evans, the Principal of the
Anglo-Chinese College, died of it within three days of each other.

There was no jollification at all on St. Andrew's Day this year,
which caused some remarks in the newspaper. There is an advertise-
ment in the paper, in December, by Boustead, Schwabe & Co., that
the letter bagr of a sailinjr vessel for London was to be closed at their
office at 4 p.m. on a Saturday afternoon, and another that the books
of the Singapore Reading Room were to be sold by auction. But
it was proposed to start it again subsequently. The paper for this
year contains many references to the advances of Russia towards India,
and to their proposed expedition to Khiva.

In December, 1840, the total population of the Island and its
dependencies amounted to 39,681, including both the floating popu-
lation and the military force of the Station, and the body of Convicts

348 Anecdotal History of Singapore

from India. The previous Census published had been for 1836, when
the total inhabitants amounted to 29,984, exclusive of the floating
population, military force and convicts : and as without these, the
new Census numbered only 33,969, the increase in the fixed population
during the four years that had elapsed since the former was taken,
amounted to little above 4,000, of which fully three-fourths were
Chinese, but it was believed the Census was rather under than above
the mark. There were in the interior of the island 477 gambier and
pepper plantations, while in 1836 there were only 250. There were in
use on the island, during the year, 170 four-wheeled and 44 two-
wheeled carriages : 266 ponies, and 77 carts. The total amount of
taxation paid to Government, which consisted solely of the Farms and
the Assessment, amounted to $106,125. and the total rental of the
island, estimated according to the rate levied as assessment, amounted
to $136,129, of which $7,600 was the proportion of what was termed
the country.

Dr. Kobert Little, m.d. {Editi,)^ arrived in Singapore on the 11 th
August in this year in the vessel Gulnare, He lived at first in the
Dispensary in the Square, and Dr. M. J. Martin lived in the adjoining
building which still forms part of John Little & Co.'s premises. From
1843 to 1846 Dr. Martin lived at Annanbank in River Valley Road,
and Dr. Little, his partner, afterwards lived at Bonnygrass House,
and did so for nearly forty years. It was originally built by Mr. Adam
Sykes, of Robert Wise & Co., who lived close by with his wife. In
1846 Dr. Little was one of those who took steps to form a Presbyterian
Congregation here. In 1848 he wrote a long paper in the second
volume of Logan^s Journal on the use of opium in Singapore : and
in the same volume and in the fourth, his long papers on fever being
caused by coral reefs, which led to much animated discussion ; and in the
third volume he wrote a treatise on the diseases of the nutmeg tree
in Singapore. In October, 1848, the Free Pre.ss said: — "On Friday
last a special Court was held by the lay Judges, for the purpose of
swearing in Mr. R. Little, Surgeon, as Coroner. Tlie appointment of
Mr. Little to the office cannot be looked upon but as a very judicious
one, and it is to be hoped that the Government will, in their appoint-
ments generally, seek to carry out the principle which seems to have
guided them in this instance, namely, to nominate those possessing
the best qualification for office, instead of allowing other considerations,
not connected with fitness for the required duties, to have a paramount
influence.''

In June, 1855, Dr. Little issued a circular and advertisement asking
the European community to meet at the News Rooms at 2.15 on the
30th June, to take the necessary steps to establish a sanitarium on
Gunong Pulai, but nothing came of it, and it has been proposed
several times since with the same result.

It is the highest land within thirty miles of Singapore, and Dr.
Little coveted the top, and wanted the East India Company to make
a road to it. In those days the Bengal Civilians thought Singapore
to be the very place to come to for health, and the Doctor pictured to
himself villas, hotels, billiard tables, and soda water manufactories on
the very top of his elysium, with mail-coaches to arrive there. A

1840. 349

party of six was got up, of which J. T. Thomson, the surveyor, was
one, and he has left us an amusing account of it. They went up the
river Skudai as far as possible in a boat and then walked all day
through the jungle, sighting a tiger on the hill, and just at dusk
reached a small hut made by the convicts who had gone on ahead.
After a meal of hot rice and jam (and whisky) they sang to a violin
which an Irishman had brought with him. They did not sleep much,
and in the morning they toiled up to the summit, only to find that
they had gone to the wrong place and the highest point was on
another much higher hill, and there was a great gulf fixed between.
On arriving at the summit they had a clear view of the coast of
Sumatra and of Bukit Timah. The thermometer was only five degrees
below that on the plain, and their provisions were run out, so they
all came down again.

Near the foot of the hill a large animal was heard close to them,
and ten minutes afterwards, in winding round the ravine, at the bottom
of which was a clear flowing rivulet, Mr. Robert McEwen (of W. R.
Paterson & Co., afterwards of McEwen & Co., and then of the Borneo
Co.), espied a large animal and near it another of a similar kind.
Immediately the gun was cocked, every breath hushed, bang went the
piece, and a roar was heard. Another ball followed, and the animal
tried to mount the hill, but another brace of balls from the same hand
turned him, and he made for the other side; by this time one of the
convicts came up, but his gun was not loaded, which, however, was
soon done, and, with a Malay servant who had seized a Chinaman's
parang, followed the animal. The convict hit him again, still he rushed,
crushing all before him, but his fore leg being broken by the first shot,
he made but little progress; at last, he stood near a tree, and the
Malay boy with his parang only, rushing on him to have the first stroke,
he turned round and charged him, the boy jumped behind the tree,
and in an agony of pain the mighty beast, blind from his fury, struck
his horn against the trunk, snapped the end oif, and receiving a ball
from the convict, who had again loaded, he fell.

Having cut ofF his ear, the Malay boy rushed through the wood,
and having found the party, who were trying to find him, he pro-
claimed with a shout of exultation that it was a rhinoceros. It was
the female, the male havinjr escaped, and it may be worthy of note
that the bullets were made of tin and lead, and fired from a
smooth bore. As soon as the parang could do it, she was decapitated,
then shorn of her feet and ears, and lastly of her tail. The interior
was examined, and the contents of the stomach found to consist of
partially digested grass and leaves; the examination, however, was but
a brief one from fear that the male would return, and there being
only two balls remaining; nor was this fear an ideal one, as he made
his appearance next day to the Chinamen who went to skin the body,
and routed them out. Loaded with the skull, which was carried by the
convicts, they made the best of their way to the Punguloo's house,
which they reached in three hours, so that they had come from the
top of the hill in four and a half hours, excluding stoppages, having
taken a whole day to find their way up. At 2 p.m., they got into
their boat, twenty souls and luggage to boot^ and rowed down the river,

350 Anerdofnl ITiJi^ory of Singapore

much assisted by a rapid current which, however, owing to the tortuous
nature of the stream, and the sunken and projecting trees, endangered
their safety frequently, for had it not been for the strength of the
boat, the alertness of the steersman, and the dexterity of the gun-boat
men, six or seven times they would have been upset. Two of the
party, Mr. Thomson and Dr. Little, had arranged to ride across the
island from Kranji by the road then just newly finished (1855). Their
horses were expected to be at the first gambier hangsaU to which they
found their way in the dark through thick, high scrub. The Chinese
had lately been attacked by some Malays, and had just built a stockade
round their house, and thinking the two travellers were Malays,
they came out, in a fright, with spears and swords, and the Doctor
(who Mr. Thomson says was a brave man) got nearly stuck with a
spear. Then the Chinese saw his white dress and recognised him as an
orang puteh, and welcomed them with great joy. They got into town
by early morning and thus ended Doctor Little's inroad upon the
jungle of the Malay Peninsula, and the first ride across the island by
Bukit Timah Road. The excursion had taken four days; the head of
the rhinoceros was to be seen for many years at the Borneo Co.'s
offices at the corner of Malacca Street.

Dr. Little was one of the first unofficial members of the Legislative
Council in 1867, and did a great deal of public work in Singapore. Until
1847 he was a partner with Dr. M. J. Martin, as Martin and Little,
Surgeons, in the Square. In 1847 Dr. Martin left Singapore and Dr.
Little continued the practice alone. In 1859 he was joined by Dr.
Robertson, and it was called Little and Robertson. Dr. Little died at
Blackhcath, London, on 11th June, 1888.

Dr. Little was the eldest of three brothers who all spent the
greater part of their lives in Singapore. Their grandfather was the
minister of the village of Applegarth in Scotland, as his fathers had
been for some generations before him. Their father was a lawyer in
Edinburgh.

The second son, John Martin Little, and his younger brother,
Matthew Little, eventually were the partners in John Little and Co.,
which arose out of the establishment of their cousin or uncle, Mr.
Francis 8. Martin, as a store-keeper and auctioneer in 1842. On 30th
August, 1845, he made over his business to Mr. John Martin Little
and Mr. Cursetjee Frommurzee, who carried it on as Little, Cursetjee
& Co., on the same premises as those occupied by Mr. Martin, where
John Little & Co., Limited, still are. Cursetjee was the son of From-
murzjee Sorabjee, a Parsee merchant who established his firm in
Singapore in 1840, and died on the 17tli February, 1849. Cursetjee
afterwards did business on his own account, and was very popular in
Singapore. He had an English wife. He died here in 1881. On 1st
July, 1853, the partnership of Little and Cursetjee was dissolved, and Mr.
J. M. Little was joined as a partner by Mr. Matthew Little, and the
business was continued under the name of John Little & Co. In July,
1900, it was converted into a limited company, solely for the conveni-
enco of the transmission of interests in the business, but retained
in tlio same hands. Mr. J. M. Little died at Blackheath in 1894.
Mr, M. Little left Singapore in 1877 to reside permanently at

i is a reproduction of a small print of 1854, showinR a portio
with John Little &Co,'s premises as Ihej- were Ihcii. The buil
the site of the preseni Di-pen-ary, where [Jr. M. J. Martin,
is partner Dr. Ruberl Little, at one time lived.

III

1840. 351

).stead. The three brothers had a large part in the social and
al life of Singapore in its early days, and some of their children
low in the Straits and in Borneo.

n the Free Press of November is a notice stating that Mr.
st lielin and Mr. V. Lorenz Meyer had commenced business on
st November, under the firm of Behn, Meyer & Co. They con-
i as the partners until 1850, when Mr. F. A. Schreiber, who had
I as a clerk in 1847, became a partner. In 1852, Messrs.
, Schreiber and Arnold Otto Meyer were the partners, the latter
g been a clerk since 1850. In 1857 the partners were Schreiber,

Meyer and Johannes Mooyer, who had been a clerk since 1852.
ily, 1863, Mr. Ferdinand Von der Heyde became a partner,
n November, Mr. A. Gr. Paterson, the agent, came to open a
ipore branch of the Union Bank of Calcutta, the first Bank in
ipore. It was open for business on the 1st of December, and the
; were from 9.30 to 3. Advances were made on goods to three-
hs of the value, and ninety per cent, on bullion, &c., with interest
per cent, on the former, and seven on the latter. Discount varied
8 to 10 percent. In 1842 the Bank appointed a Committee of

merchants to assist the Singapore Agent in managing its affairs,
I was strenuously objected to on the ground that they might use
nowledge they gained to the prejudice of the business of their
ibours.

352 Anfrdofnl Hi^iory of Singafxtre

CHAPTER XXVIII.

1841

THE New Year's Sports took place as usual, a silver cup being
given for a well contested pony race on the Esplanade.

The paper of the 14th January contained the first published
accounts of the assessment, which look very small if compared with
the present day. The total collection for the year was §14,196 and
disbursements $12,258. The new carriage and horse tax had realised
nearly 83,000. On Twelfth Night there was a Fancy Dress Ball.

In February the paper first mentions the island of Hongkong as
likely to be ceded to the British. There were a few villages on it,
and in the official notification Captain Charles Elliot, the British
Plenipotentiary, in a circular dated in Macao on the 20th January,
stated that the British Government sought for no privilege for the
exclusive advantages of British ships and merchants, but offered the
protection of the British flag to the subjects and ships of all foreign
])o\ver.s that might resort to the British Possession.

In March the paper contains the first reference to Mr. James
Bl•ooke^s visit to Sarawak in the Royalist, and stated that he had been
assisting the Rajah there in restoring order in the country, as it had
been thrown into a state of rebellion, which had prevented the inhabi-
tants from following their ordinary pursuits. Mr. Brooke had come
over to Singapore, but intended to return to Sarawak.

The Opium Farm was let for the year 1840-41 for §6,250 a month,
and the spirit farm for $-3,750, being v>l,-375 over the preceding year.
In 1880 when the population was 30,000 the revenue for the farms
was iU, 259,885, and in 1841, with a population of 40,000, it was
■Hx. 324',244'. The total revenue for 1841 was estimated at about
fU. 360,000 which was thought fully adequate to meet all the charges
of administration, including the expenses of the troops.

On the 30th March a tiger carried off a Chinaman from the public
road within two miles from town, in the view of several persons,
and dragged him into the jungle. There were a good many cases of a
serious form of cholera in the town, particularly in Teluk Ayer, in April.

In November, Mr. J. T. Thomson, the Government Surveyor, came
to Singapore, and the Government called upon all holders or occupiers
of land to point out their boundaries preparatory to the issue of leases.
The paper mentioned the matter in the following article: — '*tt is now,
we believe, a considerable time since the Bpugal Government authorised
the appointment of Surveying Ofiicer for this Settlement: and we are

1841 358

glad to find a competent individual has recently been placed at the
head of the Survey Department for the island, and is about to enter
upon the discharge of his arduous and important duties, 'i^he object,
we presume, to which the labours of the surveying officer will be
directed, with as little delay as possible, will be the measurement of
the lands in the interior occupied by Chinese squatters, and laying
down, as far as circu in stances at present will permit, the boundaries
of the various lots. Under the system which has hitherto prevailed,
every Chinese, who had a mind to become a planter, selected the spot
of ground which he thought would suit best his purpose, and forth-
with began felling the jungle and clearing as he pleased, without
being called on to contribute anything in the shape of rent to the
Government. At first, this very simple and primitive mode of proceed-
ing went on very smoothly ; but, as the plantations multiplied and
began to approximate each other^s limits, disputes about boundaries
commenced, and of later years have been the constantly recurring
cause of strife and contention among the Chinese occupants; and, in
particular, the right to reserve a certain extent of forest in the neigh-
bourhood of each plantation, to supply their gambier-fu maces with
fuel, has been the fertile source of disputes, and sometimes of blood-
shod. When such quarrels occurred between parties of the same tribe,
or belonging to the same brotherhood, they were generally settled
b}^ the intervention of friends on both sides, but, as the matter now
stands, there is not a single week passes without applications being
made by squatters for the assistance of the authorities to protect them
from the alleofed encroachments oE some neiorhbonrs enofaored in the
same kind of cultivation as themselves.

"The lands here particularly referred to consist entirely of the
pepper and gambior plantations of the Chinese, of which, it is computed
there are now, large and small, throughout the island about five
hundred, and of which the aggregate produce is estimated at piculs
60,000 of gambier, and piculs 15,000 ot* pepper, and, from what we
learn, the majority of the planters are desirous to hold their grounds
under a grant, and become regularly authorised tenants of Government
under the rent they will be required to pay, in preference to going on
under the existing arrangements, which must ultimately produce a
degree of confusion that it will not be easy to remedy.''

Mr. John TurnbuU Thomson (the name has been often wrongly
spelt, in books on the Straits, as Thompson) did a gi'eat deal of work
in the place. In particular he was the architect and builder of the
Horsburgh Light-house, of which an account is given in a special
chapter in this book. He was apjiointed Government Surveyor and
left Singapore in 1856, as is related in that year. Ho called upon
occupiers of land to point out their boundaries, and went to Malacca
and Penang in the course of his work. He designed. Major McMair
tells us, the European hospital and Tan Tock Seng's hospital at Pearl's
Hill which were afterwards taken for military purposes, and the
European hospital was then first placed on the swampy spot at Bukit
Timah Road, and Tan Tock Seng's hospital was built on a still
worse swamp in Serangoon Road, a piece of mischief which has been
the cause of continual complaint and is not remedied yet, Mr. Thomson

3»>i JjieedijCiil HLttary 9f Singapcr^

will be reniembereii bv zhe bijoka Fie wrote about the Straits, with
considerable painj ani c^r'-aislj ao prospect of any pecaniarj return
for hia time and triabi-r, like ockers wbo had done the same. In 1865
he wrote hU "Glinipse* of Life in the Far East*' and in the same year
the second vilarne of tae <acie work, entitled a Sequel to it. The
bxjkii cotLvLsi of ahor: ohApcer?. written in an amniring war, aboat the
ways and the inhabitants ■:£ Sin^ptjre. In IS74, while in New Zealand,
he pablished in Ljad^n a bo«jk of 3o<) pages being translations made
bv him for he was a verr ar"»i Valav Scholar) of i>arts of the
Hakayit Ab«lalla, which are made more interesting by Mr. Thomson's
remarks ap«3n the Mnnshi's st'jfies. at the end of the varioos chapters.
He was a pnpil of Abdal!a*s. who wanted him to translate his Hakayit,
but Mr. Thonason said he had no leisore for such a work, which would
have filled two ianre-size*! volumes. He says Abdulla was known among
the Natives as Abdulla P;i.ire. because he was so much associated with
the protestant missionaries in Malacca, and rendered them the principal
assistance in translating the Scriptures for printing, but that he never
changed his own views of the Koran which he was convinced were
sufficient for him.

There are a number of papers by Mr. Thomson in Logan's
Journal : —

PAGE.

Vol. 1. A trip to Rhio 68

Remarks on the Sletar (Malays) tribes ... 341

„ 3. Remarks on Singapore, Geological and Agricultural

Statistics, 4c. 618, 744

„ 4. Continuation of same 27, 102, 134, 206

A trip to PqIo Aur 191

„ 5. Description of Johore, Pabang, &c. 85, 135

,, 6. Essay on Lighthouse lights ... . . 94

Long article on Horsburgh Lighthouse . . ... 376

The newspaper contained an account of the installation of the
new Tumungong, Dain Kechil, on the 19th August at New Harbour in
the presence of the Governor and the Bandahara of Pahang who had
come to Singapore. There was a banquet afterwards at which the
Governor, the Resident Councillor, and others were present.

The following statements of the revenues and disbursements of the
thr(;(5 settlements in the years 1835, 1836 and 1837 were published in
the Frep, Press. The figures which were in rupees have here been
turned into dollars, as being more convenient, at exchange 218 rupees
per 100 dollars, the exchange at that time: —

Revenue,

Siiif^aporo
Malacca

1835.

80,312
122,600 .,
29,000

. §231,912 ..

1836.

S
83,944
119,265 ..
29,816 .

. §233,025 ..

1837.

$
86,237
114,219
24,530

Total . .

. § 224,986

1841. 355

Expenditwi-e.

1835.

1836.

1837.

Penang

122,936 ...

101,834 ...

136,238

Sint^apore

131,195 ...

113,302 ...

111,009

Malacca

38,073

51,375 ...

51,834

Total ... §292,204 ... $266,511 ... $299,081

The paper remarked that the charges for the troops were not
included, and tliat the expenses were unequally distributed between
the three places, but that the revenue was correct.

In November the Government issued a notification that fifty feet
on the north side of the Canal from the Bridge near Buffalo Village
to tlie base of Bukit Timah had been reserved and marked out for a
public road. This is the reserve upon which the railway is now being
built. The road was afterwards made on the other side of the Canal.

The following account of Singapore, with many interesting details,
is taken from a Journal kept by Major Low during 1840 and 1841.
The Journal is of great length, and we take the following extracts
from it, as they are interesting when compared with the present
time : —

"There are not many of what are commonly called sights at
Singapore, but if there be no lions, there are unfortunately many
tigers, as the facility with which these disturbers of the peace can cross
the narrow channel which separates the island from the continent, will
always prevent the nuisance from being entirely abated, although if
the people continue on the alert they may be kept at a distance from
the town.

*'The absorbing sight here to a well-wisher to his native country,
must be the forest of masts which graces the spacious and secure harbour,
the flatr-staff constantly decked with flags, and the ever busy crowds in
the streets of the town and suburbs. At such a small island as this is,
everything else in it becomes almost insignificant when compared with
it as a prominent, although small part, in the system of Britain^s
widely extended maritime influence. Upwards of fifty square-rigged
vessels may be seen lying in the harbour, forming the outer line of
shipping. Inside these, in shallower water, may be counted, from
seveTity to a hundred vessels (under the denominations of Junks and
Prahus), from China, Siam, Cochin-China, Borneo, and other places.
The throng of boats plying in the river, to and from the shipping,
scarcely ceases at ni<j:ht; and large passage boats are constantly pass-
ing to and from Rhio, and to and from Malacca. There are also brigs
commanded by Chinese and others which keep up a constant inter-
course and traffic between Penang and Singapore, touching generally
at Malacca on the way. The voyage either way may average from
eight to ten days. Direct, the passage is often made in five or six
days.

"The merchants' warehouses are conveniently situated close to the
bank of the river or creek, and a large space remains still to be
similarly occupied on the branches of the creek, which are now being
brought into the form of canals. The town is quite unfortified and a

.%0 Atif^^'lofnl History of Singapon

few guns only aro ilrawn oat on the beach. It woald necessitate a
very large expenditure to fortify the place in such a manner as to
protect the town in any useful degree. Xo works could fully protect
it against the fire of ships-of-war. and the strongest would only expose
it, by encouraging resistance, to surer destruction from shot or shells.
Like Penang and Malacca (for the Fort of Penang is indefensible
against European tactics, and that of Malacca was long ago destroyed
when it was restored to the Dutch), Singapore must depend for safety
in time of war upon those wooden walls which are in truth the only
Colonial bulwarks which can in the long run be depended on, where
the vulnerable points are sea-ports. The harbour is so large and free
from dangers, that vessels can at once without the aid of a pilot take
up a convenient position.

'^'Ilie only English buildings of note are the church and the build-
ing in which the Government Offices and Court-houjse are combined.
The Armenian Church is a neat, classic edifice, but unavoidably small.
There is a Hindu Temple and a Mosque or two, holding out no great
attractions to travellers. The Chinese Temple, which has been lately
erected, will quite satisfy those who have it not in their power to visit
China. It is of elaborate workmanship and very curious in its way,
although the taste displayed is quite in keeping with the other tastes
of the Chinese. The granite pillars and much of the stone ornamental
work have been brought from China, and the latter is exceedingly
grotesque. The building will, when (piite fini.shed, have cost, I am
informed, $30,000. The outlay already has been §23,600. A large
portion of this sum has been defrayed by the owners of Chinese Junks
from Amoy, and other Chinese ports, and from Siam and Java. The
interior and the cornices are adorned with elaborate carving in wood.
Outside are painted tiles and edging of flowers, fruits, &c., formed out
of variegated pottery, whicli is broken to pieces, and then cut with
scissors.

" Singapore cannot yet boast of either a Theatre or Assembly-
Uooms. These, it may be presumed, will lio preceded by, if not
combined with, an exchange.

"The Garden houses are in a handsome style of architecture and
are almost invariably of two stories. But old Indians are apt to
prefer the bungalow style on the score of superior coolness. The
climate, however, is hero so mild and equable, that any little deviation
to the Venetian mode is not attended with tlie inconveniences it is
accompanied by in India. The Chinese build their houses with brick
and mortar when they can afford it, the Malays seldom or never. The
streets of the town are spacious and they arc crowded with native
shops. A stranger may ^vell amuse himself for a couple of hours in
threading the piazas in front of the shops, whicli he can do unmolested
by the sun, at any hour of the day. Europe shops, as they are
termed, aro not numerous, nor, although respectable, are they in keep-
ing with such a mart, but the frequent investments of all sorts of
supplies which are sent out to, and exhibited in, the merchants'
warehouses prevents this deficiency from being felt. There are three
hotels here which are well conducted and conveniently situated. A
Frenchman; Mr. Dutronquoy, has opened the most spacious one of the

1841. 357

three. It has now become fashionable for travellers to resort to these,
instead of being, as formerly, liable to be cast away, as it were, unless
provided with a passport to hospitality. There are table d'hotes at
these hotels and conveyances are provided.

" House-rent is not perhaps high, considering the style of building.
A comfortable two-storied house with dining-room, drawing-room, and
from four to six bed-rooms may be had at from 35 to 60 dollars a
month, the rent varying with the site. Some have been rented at 100
dollars. But these are of the largest description and cost about
§10,000 each in building, an ordinary one can be built at from 3,000
to 5,000 dollars. Singapore is rather an expensive place to reside at,
everything, with the exception of English supplies, being much dearer
than in India.

" Servants are a heavy item. Thus, for a moderate family, there is
a butler at from 7 to 8 dollars a month, two under-servants at 5
dollars each, a maid (or Ayah) or nurse 5 to 6 dollars, tailor 7 to 8
dollars, cook 7 to 8, with an assistant, perhaps, at 5 dollars, washer-
man 5 to 6 dollars, two grooms at 5 dollars each, grass-cutter 2
dollars, lamp-lighter and sweeper 4 dollars, scavenger 1 dollar, water-
man 4 dollars. All of these wages can hardly be less than from 66
to 70 Spanish dollars a month. But it must not be imagined that
comfort is ensured by the keeping of so many servants (for excepting
the ladies' maid and nurses there are no women-servants) ; on the con-
trary, a family is worse served by those than it would be in* England
with one-thii'd, perhaps one-fourth of the number. Warehouses have
estimated rentals of 100 dollars down to 30 or less.

"After breakfast, most of the servants walk off to the bazaars
for their own pleasure, and as there are no knockers to, or names
engraved on, the outer doors or gates of the houses here, and as few
people sit in the lower story during the forenoon, but use it chiefly
for dinner, a stranger has some difficulty, while paying morning visits,
in avoiding intrusions at wrong houses, for there is often no one to
announce him, and unless he makes a disagreeable use of his lungs,
he must be the porter of his own card upstairs, and perhaps have half
an hour^s leisure to admire the prints and articles of bijouterie with
which most parlour tables are plentifully garnished, before the inmates
of the house become aware of his presence.

"Residents generally dine at four or five o'clock. But the hour
for a large party is seven. Perhaps the former hours are the most
conducive to health. The punkah cannot, on such occasions, be dis-
pensed with, more than in India, and American ice would be a very
luxurious addition.

"The Native festivals here are, of course, numerous. If every
class was to have its own way, the town would be in a continual
clamour by noisy and riotous processions. When the Chinese run riot,
it is generally in the streets during processions. They have a whole-
some antipathy to coming to very close quarters, and therefore prefer
long poles to shilelahs. With these they contrive to break a few
bones, and poke out some eyes, but it is amusing to see how soon the
most furious onset either of Chinese or Klings can be turned aside,
and the parties put to flight, by the appearance of a constable and a

358 Anecdotal History of Singapore

few police peons. Whenever a Chinese is assaulted, those of his clan
who are at hand haste to his assistance, and in five minutes a pitched
battle will be got up, and bricks, stones and poles will be in full play.

'• I believe the abomination of swinging on tenter hooks passed
throufjh the tendons of the back, as practised by Hindoos in India, is
still practised once a year in this Settlement, as also the walking
through fire. But it is to be hoped that these barbarities will be done
away with ere long, as positive nuisances.

"The climate of Singapore is warm but undoubtedly salubrious.
Fahrenheit's thermometer seldom rises above 82 during the hotest
time of the day, in the months when rain falls copiously. February,
March and April are perhaps the hottest and driest months, yet
showers frequently fall during these. Indeed, a drought of six months
duration would probably not only render the place very unhealthy,
but destroy the whole cultivation of the island. A six weeks drought
is of rare occurrence, and even during the severest drought the dews
fall heavily, and the valleys at sunrise are shrouded in mist. About
90 inches of rain fall upon an average in a year, and the average
number of wet days is about 170. In those two instances, the climate
here agrees closely with that of the Penang station. But at the latter
the rains are less dispersed throughout the year than they are generally
at Sinsjapore, and fall also more copiously within certain months,
especially in April, May, August, September and October.

"The showers at Singapore are commonly very short, few endur-
in<^ beyond a quarter of an hour. But they are generally heavy, which
might not have been expected when the deficiency of high hills is
considered. A completely rainy day seldom occurs. Thunder and
lightning happen likewise much less frequently than they do at
Penang, where they are often of daily occurrence for a month and
longer, and happen during about one- third of the days in the year.
This frequency of electric change in the atmosphere is owing, at
Penang, to the mountainous nature of the island and of the adjacent
coast. But although Singapore is perhaps on the whole a moister
climate than that of Penang or Malacca, it is yet subject to periodical
droughts: one happened this year (1841) during the months of February,
March and April, which was only relieved by a few partial showers.
The wells which supply the town with water to drink, and which range
along the base of the hills close to it, became nearly dry, because they
were wholly sustained by the filterings of these hills, or slopes. Yet
the streams which drain the central parts of the island continued to
yield a plentiful supply.

" The soil of Singapore may be thus classified : — First the clays :
then the sandy soil : thirdly the soils composed of both these : and
lastly the peaty soil covering either clay or sea mud. The hills and
slopes are composed of the first and third classes, although the clay is
in excess, while the valleys and plains embrace the second and fourth
descriptions, and occasionally the clays, as an upper stratum. Were the
peaty covering to be left out of consideration, the flat lands in the
valleys would be brought within the class of clays. There is no soil
in the island (sufficiently extensive to be really useful) which can be
called favourable, or which exhibits a due admixture of earthy and

1841. 359

decomposed vegetable matter. The earthy matter is either in excess,
as in the clays and sands, or the vegetable superabundant, as in the
peats, and as a whole the soil of the island is of a very inferior de-
scription.

"The nucleus of the island is granite, but this circumstance is of
little importance to the aj^riculturist, because the granite is, except at
Bukit Timah, overlaid by the clays of the sandy strata : and, as at this
last locality, it is not sufficiently micaceous or porphyritic to yield a
good soil by decomposition. It would appear, after such an exami-
nation as the cleared portions of the island have allowed me to make,
that the soil deteriorates as we advance to the interior, where, although
it is more uniform than along the sea shore near the town, yet derives
little benefit from the circumstance. The ridges in the neighbourhood
of the bay, which forms the spacious harbour, exhibit the highest
patches of the red soil, although but a few of these only are mode-
rately fertile. The ridge, which stretches some miles from the North
extremity of the Singapore plain to the Sirangoon riyer, has generally
a light soil, with from 66 to 70 per cent, of silica or sand.

"The s6il of the island graduates from the deep and iron clay, to
the gritty gravelly iron soil, containing rounded and broken masses of
scoreous or lateritic iron stone, either embedded in it or loosely scattered
on the surface: next comes a clayey soil tinged by the oxides of iron
with shades of red and yellow: and lastly there is a white and
hard clay : and all of these varieties are to be found within the
compass of three or four acres: owing, as before noticed, to the high
inclination of the sandstone strata. Although the hills and ridges
have doubtless for ages been clothed in tall forest with a close
underwood, yet there is hardly any vegetable soil beyond a few
inches in depth to be found on any of them. Where such has been
formed, the heavy rains have doubtless washed it down to the
swamps.

"The quantity of rice produced on the island is extremely small,
since there is but a very small extent of rice land available, which will
always prevent any large number of Malayan agriculturists from settling
here. The island is supplied with rice chiefly from Siam, Java, Manila,
Rhio, &c. The Malayan population has been gathered from almost
eve^ shore and island to the eastward. The greatest number find
employment in fishing, petty traffic, and day-labour, and the remainder
cultivate, as squatters, scattered patches of land, on which they grow
sweet potatoes, plantains, Indian corn, and tropical fruits. Sugar has
of late years begun to attract the attention of Singapore capitalists;
and whatever may be the result, still the spirited pioneering of the
new path exhibited by two members of the settlement deserves applause
and success. The former, Mr. Balestier, has erected a steam-eno:ine
(besides distilling apparatus), and the latter, Dr. Montgomerie, has
water-power for the machinery.

"The rate of wages for agricultural labour is not exorbitant, but
ranges from three and a half to four dollars a month. But it would
require perhaps more labourers to combat the clay soil of Singapore
than to work the friable volcanic soil of Java or the alluvial deposits
of the other countries above alluded to. Notwithstanding the numerous

360 Anecdotal Hiaiory of Sifigaporr

attempts which have been made to decry the cultivation of the
cocoanut trees on the ishuid, it bids fair for success. No tree of this
kind can be more flourishing than those in the plantations which
stretch along the sea shore to the N. K. of the to^^^l, and which arc
growing on the island called Blakang Mati, or Dead Back by the
Malays (with reference to some nmrders committed there as some
people say, but most likely from the sterility of the southern slopes
of the island, where there is no cultivation) and if they can be kept
as free as they now are from that pest the elephant beetle, they vntt
become perhaps the most valuable of any species of agriculture pro-
perty on the islaud, because most lasting, and the least liable to
suffer from the fluctuatious of crmnnerce.

"The locality first described is very sandy, and the soil is occa-
sionally intermixed with a dark half-peaty, half sea-mud soil. The
tree is also growing with vigour at the base of the hills, in clay
and even in the peaty soil. The sea beach is, however, undoubtedly
to be preferred. There arc perhaps about 50,000 trees now plantod
out and occupying about 600 acres of land. Many expedients have
been tried in the Straits to get rid of the beetles. Such as salt,
. lime, and tine sand, &c., all of which are poured in amongst the
upper shoots and branches. But as those destructive insects fly at
night and come from any distance and in any numbers, >vithout
being observed, nothing has succeeded perfectly except the manual
process of picking them out of the trees with a long iron skewer
having a barbed end. The baker here depends entirely on the
cocoanut tree for toddy or yeast.

*' Cotton has been tried, but although the plant thrives luxuri-
antly, and bears a sufficiency of pods, the climate is thought too
wet for its profitable cultivation. As the pods thus ripen duriug
every month in the year there is no regular season for plucking.
So that it would be necessary to keep labourers employed all the
year foi* thi^ purpuac. The frequent rain:<, too, it is said, greatly
injure the cotton when the pods burst. It is not likely that it
would be, even under more favourable aspects, a very profitable specu-
lation here.

''There are now planted out in Singapore, as nearly as can be
discovered and estimated, about twenty-five thousand nutmeg trees.
In this number, there are about four or five hundred which have
been bearing for considerable terms of years, including about two
hundred or so from 18 to 21 years of age. The remainder consist of
trees of all ages downwards, from about eight or ten years of age
to one. The land occupied by these trees may be from about 550
to 600 acres. In the whole collective area there is only a very
limited proportion of the best, but a large proportion of the worst
soil.

'* It has become fashionable in these Eastern Isles where the
imagination, like the jungle, is so apt to luxuriate, to pitch upon
some trees of uncommon growth, and situated in the most favoured
spots, as standards of comparison, and as sure indices of prospective
wealth, in a species of cultivation which, beyond all others, demands
the soberest exercise of the judgment, and the most liberal sacrifice

1841. . 361

of preconceived opinions and exaggerated expectations, before we can
venture on a computation of the probable (certainly always more or
less uncertain) results. Like most fruit trees, some nutmeg trees
will bear large and others scanty corps. The annual rent will always
vary considerably, for a full crop can hardly be expected beyond
once in three years.

^'The betel-nut tree deserves consideration for although it would
not bo worth the while for a capitalist to speculate upon it, still,
as the nut is exportable, it is of more value than produce which
must, from its perishable nature, be consumed on the spot. It is a
hardy tree, and only requires to be kept free from the lalang grass
and jungle for two or three years, after which it will afford suffi-
cient shade to prevent that grass growing strongly.

" I have already noticed that Straits fruit trees promise well
generally. The base of the hills and gentle slopes and undulations
are well suited to them. The mangosteen seems to thrive on the flat
clayey laud, while orange trees, the pummelo, jacks, durians and others,
will be best planted on other sites. Some of these trees, the jack for
instance, thrive well on the stony red iron soil. The Cinnamon tree
may yet come to the aid of the planter. It has been introduced on
the island, and thrives very well, but a very small number of trees
only have as yet been planted out.

"The Cocoa, or tree yielding the chocolate bean, may be advan-
tageously cultivated here. It has been long acclimatised in Penang,
and chocolate of a fair quality is manufactured for the use of the
Roman Catholic Mission by its padres. It is a hardy tree, and
seems to grow wherever it has been planted there, both on the hills
and plains.

** The teak tree thrives at Singapore, and might be usefully
employed along with the cocoa tree to line the boundaries of estates.

**The piue-appies of Singapore and the islets in the vicinity,
arc of a superior equality. They are large, sweet and well-flavoured,
and they are cultivated in such abundance up the steep sides of
these hilly islands, that they are sold in the market at three for
one of a cent of a dollar, and are thus eagerly consumed by the
loAver classes. But it is not a wholesome fruit, and, doubtless, it
assisted the cholera in the ravages it made here last spring, when
it is believed from six to seven hundred natives died of that dire
disease, and several Europeans seamen died on board vessels in the
harbour. The pine-apple grows best on the arid rocky slopes, on the
worst red soil, and it partakes outwardly of this red colour. If the
pine-apple fibre comes into repute in England, which it is likely to
do, then there will be a wide field here for its manufacture.

" The Agricultural Society has not effected anything as yet in the
horticultural department, which, I believe, it was intended that it
should embrace. The Chinese and Malays raise in their own way all
the vegetables which are brought to market. These are sweet
potatoes, bad yams, kaladie, or the arum colocasia (of R) which is
cultivated in swampy places. The root is single, oblong and bulbous,
and it is eaten as a substitute for the potato. The stalks and leaves
are sold as fodder for pigs. The native vegetables arc rather small,

362 Anecdotal History of Singapore

yet they are of good quality^ and for a garden of a modenie
extent, a soil can readily be made to suit every species which the
climate will permit to grow. From all that has been stated, it would
appear that the cultivation of this island is still in its probationary period.

"The Chinese have been the chief cultivators of gambier and
pepper but then they have no attachment to the soil. Tbeir
solo object is to scourge the land for a given time, and when
worn out to leave it a desert. And what, we may enoaire, is to
become of the thus empoverished land covered with the jangle they
leave in the rear on their onward progress over the island. A fifty
years' fallow would barely return it to it^ pristine condition; and what
agriculturist would be so rash as to embark on a large scale in the
attempt to renovate it? In short, it seems clear that, if no genenl
cultivation of a more permanent nature than pepper and gambier can
be advantageously established, the forest must ultimately re-assnme its
dorninirjii. 1'he only remaining chance therefore would seem to be the
planting of cocoa-nut, areca, and other indigenous fruit trees and in-
corporating th(*Tn gradually with sugar cane and trees yielding an
exportable; pr(Ml^ci^ As the case stands, it is clear that if there
should bo any <*onHi(lerable prolonged fall in the prices of pepper and
gambier, the cultivation of these articles, and consequently of the
greatest cultivat(jd portion of the island would cease. The area of
the island Iiuh Imm^ii stated at about 120,000 acres. But as far as
the above two products are concerned, the quantity of land available
for them might not Ix* reckoned at above one-fourth of the whole,
su))posing that pepper and gambier must continue to be cultivated
together and cannot prove profitable separately, because the propor-
tion of jx'ppcr land is much smaller than that suited to gambier.
Thvu a very large deduction would bo required for the jungle land
which nni.st be attached to each plantation for the supply of fuel;
and these j)lunts or trees cannot, until a long period of years has
^•lapsed, bo successfully raised a second time on the same soil.

" Buiraloes and oxen are chiefly used for draft, but are very
expensive, as they are subject to frequent murrains and are not reared
on the island, but are brought from Malacca, Penang, and other
ccaintries. Some black cattle have been brought from the Island of
hali near Java. They are of brown colour. The horns are sharp
and diverging. The head and muzzle are shaped like those of the
r\k. Ponies with small carts have lately been introduced; and the
Chinese, in order to evade the tax on carts drawn by cattle or horses,
have started a three-man cart or truck, which is propelled by theiu,
oiu^ man guidini^ it by the polo, and one pushing at each hind comer
ol" the cart.

*'The conveyances used for pleasure or convenience on the
irtiaiHl are Palankeen carri.ages drawn by one pony, and led, not
iill-en driven, by a groom, with an occasional out-rider behind. Four-
wlhM'li'd open carriages drawn by horses or ponies are also common,
a^ uie gigs. Very good palankeen carriages are made on the island.
Tliu other carriages are brought from India. With the exception
1. 1 a iew Arabs, the residents content themselves with ponies. They
uiu I'hieily obtained from Java. But they are not so smart and

1841. 363

powerful as those from Sumatra. A good pony may be got in
Singapore at from 60 to 100 dollars.

*^ A draftsman at Singapore will always have employment for
his pencil in the specimens of his kind, from almost every corner
of the globe, which he will find grouped in the bazaars. He may
portray the species in most of its phrases, from the highest state
of civilization to which it has attained, down to that one where
matter seems almost divested of mind.

"The two chief roads are those leading to Bukit Timah, the
highest hill on the island, and Serangoon, which is the name of a
creek and also of a district. Each of them is about seven miles
long, and without any material deviations from the right line.
There are three other good roads, besides cross ones, leading into
the country, of from two or three miles in length. When proceed-
ing at sunrise, along any one of the roads leading directly towards
the interior, the difference of the temperature of the air there and
on the beach is very perceptible. On the latter it is warmer by
several degrees. A fog floats along the valleys during some months,
and at the early period of the day is dense as any Calcutta one, but
it rarely lasts beyond seven o^clock. These roads are either bordered
by canals, in which flow free streams of fresh water, or by dry
ditches, so that some foresight and nerve are required in driving
the generally badly broken-in ponies. Although the early morning
is the most delightful period of the day in this climate, still one
meets but a sprinkling then of seekers of health of either sex.
The fashionable time for exercise is betwixt five and half past six
o^clock in the evening, or till it becomes nearly dark. The ride or
drive is finished off by a few turns on the Course [now called the
Esplanade]. This last is an oblong square of about five hundred
by seventy yards, and is bounded by the sea or harbour on one
side, on the opposite side by splendid garden houses, at the southern
extremity by the Court House and Public Offices, and at the
northern by the Institution, in which direction the garden houses
stretch away for about half a mile in a single line open to the
sea. The tars from the shipping frequent also this gay square, to
display their equestrian tactics on the foresaid hard-mouthed ponies;
while two select bodies of local politicians frequent a convenient
old battery, the low walls of which serve for benches, although our
researches cannot precisely enable us to tell which are the opposi-
tion ones. [This was in the centre of the sea front and was known
as Scandal Point.] The old battery beyond this one, is now a
green mound, which the Institution boys use as a play ground.

'^ As the streets would soon be encumbered and rendered impass-
able were the markets not confined to one spot, a very commodious
one has been erected by Government, which is subject to due regu-
lations. It is an octagonal building of 120 feet diameter, and is
let out to the highest bidder [this was at Teluk Ayer]. It is
probable, however, that a second will be required ere long to meet
the increasing population, for the present one is already too crowded.
As it is, it requires the constant vigilance of the police to prevent
the streets being blocked up by vendors of pork, fruits, vegetables.

364 Anecdotal History of Singapore

&c. Chiue.'se coukb with portable kitchens perambulate the streets
at all hours, and distribute viands, which, however tempting to
their own class, could hardly be adventured on by others, since the
materials of which they are composed may, for ought anybody knows
to the contrary, be the flesh of dogs, lizards, and rats, all of which
come within the scope of the Chinese cook^s oracle. The fish market
is indifferently supplied, and perhaps this is partly owing to the
luxurious habits of the wealthier Chinese, who as the fishermen are
chiefly composed of their own people, can easily obtain the best
fish liefore they go to market.

"The shipping is supplied with water by boats kept by five
private individuals, or rather companies, pro\nded with force pumps.
The charge is from 50 cents to one dollar a ton, according to the
place from which water is to be brought. Each boat costs originally
from 500 to 1,000 dollars. The water is obtained partly from a Govern-
ment aqueduct and party from wells; which last are sunk to the
depth of about ten or twelve feet. These are for the most part
private property. The water is good, being filtered through the sanJ
stone and clay of the rising grounds. But after heavy rain it is
turbid for a day or two. It is of a quality betwixt hard and soft.

"Singapore, Malacca, Penang and Moulmein are the Sydney,
convict settlements, of India. There are upon an average about
1,100 to 1,200 native convicts from India constantly at Singapore.
These are employed, in making roads and digging canals; and
undoubtedly without them fhe towu, as far as comfort in locomotion
is concerned, would have been now but a sorry residence. The
convict whose period is short contrives to save something out of his
lallowaiicc, and on the expiration of his time, he generally sets up
as Ji keeper of cattle, or a letter-out of bullock carts, carriages and
horses : and, undoubtedly, some of these men are as well, if not
hotter, behaved than many of their native neighbours of higher
pretun5.IoIl^^. There are re«;ulations by which the convict is encouraged
by certain rewards, or remissions short of emancipation, to orderly
conduct.

"Game is scarce, it' we except snipe. Some quail and gi^ey
plover are found in the cleared islands. There are no extensive
lakes, or tanks, and therefore few water-fowl. Wild hog is abundant
in the jungle, where are also found, as before noticed, tigers ; also
elk, small deer, the plandok, or deer about the size of a bear,
monkeys, wild cats (beiiutifully striped), civet cats, lemurs, flying
foxes, small squirrels, &c. Happily the jackals imported from Bengal
have become extinct. Flocks of i)aroquets of a greenish colour are
occasionally found in the interior, but they keep to the highest
trees, and rarely come within shot. The dial bird, or morei is the
nijrhtinsrale of the Straits. It is about the size of a lark, has a
black body with some white feathers in the wings, and the half of
the lower part of the body is also white It has a rather long and
sliarj) beak and long tail. It is a very lively bird, and it may be
tamed s(» as to reciuire no cai^^e, unl^^ss to protect it fi'om the cats,
and from the large rats which infest the Straits. The male bird
appears to be the songster, and he serenades the hen while she is

1841. 365

ongagcd in domestic cares. Tie may sometimes l)o heard an hour
before dawn wjiking the grove with his pleasing notes, and he is
so little afraid of man that he wall sing for hours close to, or even
on the top of a house ; it is the most common bird to the eastward.
There are one or two smaller birds whose rather plaintive notes
may be occasionally heard. Iliere are no crows on the island, nor
are birds of prey numerous.

" When the Bugis vessels arrive, they hold a sort of fair on
tlie beach, where they display for sale their sarongs, or pretty
coloured plaids or peticoats, for they answer for both purposes — the
chief manufacture of that country. These cloths are famed amongst
the Malays for their strength of texture, but English trade has
here too wrought a change ; instead of using the thread wove in
their own country they carry English thread back with them. The
value of the plaid lias thereby decreased, those made from En<;lish
thread being thought less durable. These vessels also bring
numbers of the parrot tribe, lories, &c., and for about a month the
streets resound with the discordant screams of these beautiful birds;
the usual price of an untaught bird is from six to eight dollars, but if
accomplished in the unknown tongues, their price is unlimited.

" Singapore is not much afflicted with insects. Mosquitoes are rather
numerous at times, but they can 1)0 kept off by gauze curtains at night,
when they are most troublesome. The white ant is here, as every-
where in the East, the most destructive insect, although never
personally annoying. Common ants of various kinds find their way
into hou.se.«?, but they may be got rid of by pouring boiling water
into their nests on the ground floor. A very slim species of hornet
constructs its clay nest on the walls and beams and behind pictures,
and having deposited an egg, and laid up in it a supply for the
future caterpillar, of a sort of greenish spider, which it contrives to
reduce to a lialf torpid state, it closes the nest and leaves the spot.
Scorpions and centipedes occasionally intrude themselves into the
houses, but they are seldom large. The nuisance .so prevalent in
India of swarms of flying ants, beetles, and other insects covering
the table cloth and falling into the dishes and gla.«?ses at an evening
dinner is little known here.

*'One of the greatest nuisances in the Settlement is the legion
of dogs of most anomalous breeds which infests the streets both day
and night. An annual edict goes forth against them, yet their
numbers are never perceptibly thinned. Next in order come crackers
and firework.s, which, in defiance of policemen, are let off without
regard to place or time, to the great danger of bad riders and
people in carriages with unruly horses.

" As no one thinks of shutting the door of his house during
the day, and, perhaps, often not at night, ho ought not to wonder if
h© is robbed now and then. Hawkers, coolies or porter-distributers of
advertisements, and others, of various and equally erratic habits, scruple
not to perambulate a house till they find some one to attend to them.

"The Cliinese uphold here, as they do in other places where
they have settled out of China, the Kongsis or Secret Societies of
which the Emperor of China is so much afraid. The chief one here

366 Anecdotal History of Singapore

is the Tean Tay Hueh, which boasts, it is believed, about from five to
six thousand members, who are bound by oath to support each other
on all occasions, and to screen their brethren from public justice : but
reserving to their secret tribunal the power to punish offences committed
within the society, by its own members, but not by others against it —
all such being given up to English law. I have not learned what the
badge of this lodge is, for everything regarding it is about as
mysterious as Freemasonry, of which it is a perTerted type. The
meetings of this Society are held at a Temple in the outskirts of the
suburbs at Kampong Glam. The Society is governed by a Council of
four officers, each of whom represents a tribe. The tribes are the Amoy
the Kheh, the Teouchoo, and the Macao. Some of these societies are
avowedly for good purposes, such as relieving distress within the
limits of the Chinese population, and this is more required now than
it was when pork was taxed for the same purpose, and it is a tax
which was and w^ould be more willingly paid by the Chinese than
any other, so long as the proceeds, as before stated, should be, as
formerly, appropriated for the benefit of their poor. The Klings,
Chinese and Bengalees are the most quarrelsome sections of the
population, but the largest jDroportion of charges of felony is found
on the side of the Chinese: who, in the main, at this island, are
little better than the refuse population of China.

" Gambling is carried by the Chinese to a great height. The
Police force of the island consists of the Sitting Magistrate as
Superintendent, three European Constables and an Assistant Native
Constable, 14 Officers and 110 Policemen. It would be reckoning
very wide indeed of the mark were any one to believe for a moment
that any native police can resist temptation, even when that is of
a niiieli weaker kind than it is under any circumstances here exposed
to Inhere are now about a hundred gaining establishments in the
t<»wn in full play, besides many more in the Country districts. The
Chinese show in China i>y their secret opposition to the arbitrary rule
under which they groan, how strong the arm of that law must be
which can check their deeply rooted vices. As the English law rests,
it would be a liopeless task to attempt putting down gambling or
gaming amongst the Chinese, for in the Eastern Settlements the vice
presents to the jurisconsult a problem which neither European codes,
nor the experience of Europeans who have been on the spot, have
as yet satisfactorily solved. It is the aim of the law to check an
evil or a crime, or if it cannot be checked, to modify, abate, and
neutralize it by legislative expedients. But the law, as it here exists
is inadequate in this instance to accomplish eitlier.^^

Major, afterwards Lieut.-Colonel James Low, of the Madras Army,
was for many years employed in the Civil Service in the Straits,
as Magistrate, head of the police, etc., and in political missions,
principally in Pcnang, from where ho finally quitted the Straits for
Europe in March, 1850. He wrote numerous articles on the agri-
culture, geology, antiquities, and history of the Straits and the Malay
Peninsula and Siam, which shewed his great perseverance and zeal
in the pursuit of knowledge. The first five volumes of Logan's
Journal contain no less than thirteen of his papers, and he published

1841. 367

several pamphlets which are now unobtainable. He left Singapore
in March^ 1844^ and it seems to have been thought for the last time^
as the Free Press of 4th July contained the following account
(shortened) of a farewell dinner that was given to him: — "It was
not the intention of the community to allow Major Low to leave
the Settlement, without carrying with him some suitable manifesta-
tion of their sentiments and feelings in his favour; and it was decided
to give him a public dinner on his retirement from his present duties,
in consideration of his long and useful career in the Straits and of
the good feelings entertained towards him by the country. The dinner
took place on Saturday last, at the house of the Recorder, and a
numerous assemblage, including nearly every one of the principal
gentlemen of the Settlement and many military oflScers of the station,
sat down to table, J. Balestier, Esq., being in the Chair, and Lieut.
Elliot, of the Madras Engineers, officiating as Croupier. The health of
Major Low was proposed from the Chair with appropriate remarks,
and was received with cheers which could not fail to have been highly
gratifying to the worthy Major, who returned thanks. The toasts and
speeches usual on such occasions followed, and the evening wore on
amidst the uninterrupted enjoyment of all present, until the company
broke up about three o'clock.''

It was in this year that Mr. William Henry Macleod Bead came
to Singapore. He left England in the sailing vessel General Kyd
on 18th March, and arrived in Singapore on the 12th September.
Mr. Johnston left Singapore in December, and never returned.
On the 1st January, 1842, the Free Press contained a notice that
his father Mr. C. R. Read ceased to be a partner in A. L.
Johnston & Co., and that Mr. W. H. Read was admitted in his
stead. He was then living in Battery Road, on the side nearest
the river. In 1848 the house which had been built by Mr. A.
L. Johnston was pulled down, as it was becoming rotten and
riddled by white ants. It stood between Fort Pullerton and a
little above the present site of Flint Street, and faced Battery
Road, standing in a compound. The back gave on to the river, and
it was called Tanjong Tanghap, because the jealous brother merchants
said it was a trap to catch shipmasters on their first arrival as
they came into the river. In 1848 A. L. Johnston & Co.'s godown
was built on the opposite side of Battery Road, where the Hong-
kong and Shanghai Bank is now, and Mr. Read, on his marriage
at that time, went to live at Beach Road, generally called Campong
Glam in those days, in Mr. Gilman's old house. Soon after his
arrival he began to interest himself in the social life of the place,
as he did all the years he was in Singapore, and at the first
races in February, 1843, he rode the winner of the first race, of
which the Free Press said ''The excellent jockeyism of the young
amateur who rode the Colonel excited general admiration," and he
was one of the stewards of the Race Ball. In March on the same
year Mr. Read (W. H. as he was usually called) got up the first
Regatta in the harbour, of which Admiral Keppel speaks in bis
book. In 1844 the paper mentioned that he was Treasurer of the
first public Library in Singapore. In 1845 the first Masonic Lodge

;308 Aupcdnfal History of Singapore

was opened, and Mr. Read wa.«^ the second to be initiated, Mr. William
Napier being first ; and Mr. Read was the first Provincial Grand
Master. In April, 1851, a public Meeting was held to establitsh the
Sailors' Home, and Mr. Read was appointed Honorary Secretary.
In 1859, at a Meeting in the News Rooms to consider the proposal
to start a Volunteer cor])s, Mr. Read's name was the first to be
signed on the roll. He had a thorough knowledege of French,
speaking and writing it fluently (having been for some time at
school in France) which was not usual in those days, and it was
probably partly for this reason that he became Consul for Holland
in Singapore in 1857, at a time when there were no Dutchmen in
the place. It was necessarily a somewhat diflScult post to fill, under
the circumstances, as the strained relations between the Dutch and the
English in these seas, and especially so close to Rhio and Java, have
always left some trace behind them, and it speaks well for the Consul's
diplomatic, as well as for his undoubted patriotic, character, that both
sides were satisfied with his conduct of the public affairs of the country
he represented. He was made a Knight of the Netherlands Lion, by
the King of Holland and was received with great courtesy at the
Hague ; while he was in February, 1886, made a C. M. G. by Queen
Victorin. Ho was the first unoflScial member of the Legislative Council
at the Transfer in 1867, which was largely due to his exertions, and to
the influence he had in England. He had very great influence with the
native rajahs in the surrounding states, who often came to him in
their troubles; and especially with the old King of Siam. It was
partly owing to him that the Native States in the Peninsula came
under English protection. In the report in the Singapore Free
Press ill March, 1866, of the speeches at a public dinner in the Town
Hail, tin* Recorder, Sir Richard McCanslaud, in proposing Mr. Read's
lioalth, spoke of him as follows: — it summed up, in Sir Richard's genial
Irish manner, the many sides of Mr. Head's doings in Singapore: — '^ 1
shall not venture or attempt to enumerate all the public services which
Mr. Read has rendered ; for the omission of any one might be fatal to
the task. But whether it bo Free trade, or Freemasonry; Gas works,
or a Gambling Farm; a Secret Society which has just started up or
a Grand Jury presentment to put it down; a Screwpile Pier, or a
Railway; Patent slips and Docks; the Suez Canal, or any other
diggings of The Delta ! and lastly, but by no means least, the
total and absolute transfer of the entire of the Straits Settlements
and its Government from the cold embraces of poor old John Co.,
(now alas no more) to the fostering care of a Colonial Secretary,
and the tender mercies of a Chancellor of the Exchequer, — for each
and all these services the inhabitants of Singapore, and I myself
among the number, feel deeply indebted to our worthy Chairman,
William Henry Read." For nearly fifty years, his signature A or
Delta was constantly to be seen in the correspondence columns of
the newspapers. When he resigned the post of Consul-General for
the Netherlands, in 1885 the Singapore paper published a trans-
lation of a passage from the Batavia newspaper as follows : —

*'It is with great regret that we have read the announcement
that our Consul-General at Singapore, Mr. W. H. Read, intends to

^fe

Urn

^.\W

'•A

W. H. M. RlAU, C.M.G., X.N.L.
From afiOofrt^ laitil in 1901.

1841 369

resign that post on 1st March next. Never has the care of our
interests abroad been confided to a mo'^e able, more honest, more dis-
interested and more vigilant agent, than, during nearly a quarter of
a century, to Mr. Read in the Straits. We believe that we are the
exponents of the wish of every or^e who means well with the Netherlands
and this Colony, when we recommend the Government to take it into
consideration to do their utmost to dissuade Mr. Read from his
intention "

In 1901, Wells Gardner & Co. published a small book in Loudon,
entitled ''Piny and Politics, Recollections of Malaya by an Old
Resident," which it was known whs written by Mr. Read. It was
dedicated to Sir Andrew Clarke, formerly Governor of the Straits.
It was a reprint of some papers written to amuse sotne young
members of the families of his nephews and nieces, nnd contains
amusing stories of old days here.

Certainly no one hero ever worked more unselfishly or unspar-
ingly for the good of the place, and how much it owed to him
there are few now to remember. Public men work for various
reasons, and often for somwhat selfish objects, but Mr. Read gave
his time and his unsparing energy for the good of the place, even
to the detriment of his own personal and i)ecuniary interests, solely
from a wish to help the place with which he, his father and his
family, had been so hmg connected. The history of Singapore for
forty-six years was also the history of himself, and it was curious
that the information of the Queen having been pleased to create hitn
a C. M. G. reached him on the eve of the anniversary of the
foundation of this Settlement and close to his own birthday ; for
he was born, on the 7ih February, 18 1 i^ within a very few hours
of the time when Sir Stamford l^affles hoisted the flay here. Mr.
Read visited England eleven times between 1841 and the 28th
February, 1887, when ho finally left. 'J he first time he remained
seven years in Singapore, and was then away for two years and a
half, and that was his longest ahsenco at one time. Read Road and
Read Bridge were named after him, and the Freemason's Lod^e at
Kuala Lumpur was called after him. His portrait, painted by his
friend and connection, Mr. James Sant, R.A., hangs in the Town Hall, and
the community, European as well as Native, who always looked to him,
as their predecessors had done to Mr. Johnston, gave tokens in many
ways of their appreciation of his charactei-.

370

Anecdotal History of Singapore

CHAPTER XXIX

1842.

HE usual sports were held on New Years Day, and a pony
race, for a silver cup of 8100, had the following entries : —

Mr. W. Napier's Runnymede

„ C. Carnie's Hardmouth

„ M. T. Apcar's Snipe

Mr. T. Dunman's Bellotcs-to-mend.
Seth's Jftdcey,

Santos' Doctor.

During the sports, a tiger was brought in from one of the
gambler plantations, and made an excitement during the races^

Mr. James Brooke was then at Sarawak, and the Free Prp^s of
the I'ich January spoke of his proceedings there as follows, in an
article on the future of Borneo : — "It may be said that an opening
has already been made for us in Borneo by our enlightened and enter-
prising countryman Mr. Brooke, of whose undertakings the pages of
this journal have from time to time furnished some account. That
prentleman has lately entered into an engagement with the Bajah
Moodah Hassim of ^Sarawak, a Borneo prince of amiable character and
most favourably disposed towards the HiUi^lish, which has placed him
in authority over that territory, and he is nc»NV devoting his talents,
energy, and fortune, to develop its resources, promote its trade, and
extend some of the blessings of a civilized life to its population. This,
however, is an enterprise which, to be carried ont to the successful
issue it, promises, requires means that a private gentleman can scarcely
be supposed to command foi- such a purpose, and calls for personal
privations and personal sncrifices which few possess the resolution to
make; least of all, those who enjoy the means of living in luxury and
ease in their own country, and it is light that the attention of the
British public at home, as well as in India, should be drawn to the
exertions Mr. Brooke is making to extend the name and character of
his countrymen, and open new markets for their manufactures, as well
as new scenes for the exercise of more generons principles than are
always comprised in the mere extension of commerce. That his eflForts
will be appreciated as they deserve, wo will not permit ourselves to
doubt; but they will also require to be seconded in order to produce
results worthy of the generous and important views under the influence
of which he has commenced his undertaking/'

On the J 3th January, occurred the heaviest fall of rain that had
then been recorded on the island; it l^etjan at midnight and rained
without stoppinir for twenty hours, 9'M inches of rain falling. The
Brass Bassa Canal overflowed its banks, owing to the obstruction
caused at the convict Jail, and the whole of Kampong Bencoolen

1842. 371

was flooded, the space between the Jail and Rocliore Canal being one
sheet of water about two feet deep, and all the roads got into a
most wretched state. An experience which continues at intervals to
the present time.

On the 25th December, 1841, the ship Vucou7it Melbourne had
left Singapore for Macao, and on the 17tli January a boat was
seen coming into Singapore River to Mr. Johnston's landing steps
at Tanjong Tangkap. Dr. Little and Mr. Read saw the boat coming up
to the steps, and the former helped a lady on shore, with a little
boy of two years old and a baby of only a few weeks. They had
been thirteen days in the open boat at sea. The elder of these
children, Mr. George Dare, was not cured of a taste for the sea by the
experience, and the baby was Mr. Julius Dare, who for many years
was a very prominent player in amateur theatricals here, but was
afterwards resident in Yokohama, whore he died suddenly of cholera
in 1879, and his mother died there five days after him. The vessel
had been wrecked on the Luconia Shoal in the China Sea, and the
passengers and crew left her in five boats. There wore fourteen
Europeans and thirteen natives and servants in the boat in which
the children came. One of the European sailors died in the boat,
and water and biscuits, which were all the crew had, were very short
On Sunday morning, four days after they left the ship, the boats
saw a proa bearing down on them, and the following account of the
adventure was written by a very young officer, an apprentice who
was in one of the boats, as he explains: — "About six a.m., as we
were all assembled in the launch, hearing the captain read prayers,
we saw a proa bearing down towfirds us. The captain ordered us
to take the serang (boatswain over the lascars), along with us and
speak to them, to learn if they were friendly; for we much feared
they were pirates. If there was danger, we were to hoist a signal,
and they would come to our assistance. We accordingly started
to meet them ; we waved a white cloth in token of amity,
and they did the same. When we got alongside of them we spoke,
the serang acting as interpreter; they said that they came to
conduct us safely in-shore, and that (me boat was there already.
So by this we suspected that they had taken them prisoners,
and wished to entice the rest of us to the same fate. They now
said that they wished to see the captain ; so we pulled back, and
they soon came up with the launch, where all were ready, cutlass in
hand, to receive them, in case of treachery. They tried all they could
to persuade us to go with them, and finally began to make fast to the
launch with a rattan rope. Wlien they found that we would not go
with them, they assumed a very threatening aspect; so, there being so
few of us who could fight, and our fire-arms being useless on account
of the preceding rain, the captain gave orders to cut and run. The
cook with one blow of his cutlass severed their rope, and wo all made
sail. ' When they saw this, they made sail in chase of us. We gained
upon them at first, when, to our surprise, they opened fire upon us,
first from their rifles, and finally from a swivel, the last shot passing
through a blanket that was rigged as a screen from the sun at the
back of the captain and passengers. It passed betwixt the captain

372 Anecdotal History of Singapore

and Mrs. Dare, and then scraping a piece off the skull of one of the
lascars, who sat in the bow of the boat, it buried itself in the water.
Another shot, cut away the leech of the second cutter's lug. They
gained rapidly on our boat, wo not being so well manned or skilful
as the rest. When within a few fathoms they made signs for us
to desist pulling, at the same time taking aim at us. Mr. Park-
house, who was pulling the next oar to me, when he saw the rifle
pointed' towards us, dropped his oar, exclaiming, ' Good God ! there
is one of us gone.' It was of no use persisting further, so they
ran alongside. The proa was about the size of a sloop, neatly
built of teak, but cleverly covered with matting and bark, to make
her appearance as lubberly and clumsy as possible. She had two
long straight poles for masts, and a large lug made of matting to
each. Besides this, they pulled fifteen sweeps a side. When they
first ran alongside the launch, there appeared to be only five or
six half-naked fellows, who were fishing; but now her decks were
crowded with Malays, armed and dressed in fancy costumes.
Krises, very dangerous, crooked, poisoned swords, clubs, spears and
guns, altogether made them have a very ferocious appearance. They
jumped into our boat; seized upon us; and would, 1 think, have
despatched us at once, had it not been for the interference of one
who seemed to be their chief, who, dashing away the swords of
the most forward, ordered all but two to get into their own craft
and to proceed in chase of our other boats, which by this time
had got pretty far in advance. They accordingly set their sails,
and stood for the other boats, whilst we were obliged to steer for
the land. Our preserver, a gentlemanly thief, was still with us,
and he now began to lay his hands upon all our things, tying
them all up in a blanket. But when those in the proa saw this,
they, thinking, I suppose, that they were sent after a shadow, whilst
he was making sure of the substance, turned back, and running along-
side, began to clear the boat of everything — clothes, provisions, and
even our drop of water, about two gallons, for the sake of the keg.
As they took our muskets, pistols, and other arms, they repeatedly,
jumped for joy, exclaiming, 'bagus' (very good). When they came to
our sextant, they seemed much puzzled to know what it was, and
made signs to me to show them the use of it, which I did. We repeatedly
made signs to the chief to let us go after the boats, which by this
time were nearly out of sight ; to which he nodded his head assentingly,
and shook us by the hand. Mr. Parkhouse now very foolishly pulled a
small bag from his pocket, containing a fifty rupee note and some silver,
which he gave to the chief, at the same time pointing to our other boats.
Directly he got this, the rest began to strip us for more. They took his
watch, Mr. Dainty's watch and ring, but on me they only found a Dutch
silver piece. .There was a case of herring-paste, which they made me
taste before they would take it. They also threw our bag of biscuit
into the water. When having taken everything, they now, to our
great delight, told us we might go. They gave us a small basket of
sago, and about three pints of water. The chief politely shook hands
with us all ; then stepping on board the proa they made sail towards
tlio shore. Luckily for us, one of our boats was just in sights that

1842. 373

containing Mr. Penfold, who had oifered the captain, if he would give
him six Englishmen, he would rescue us, or share our fate, for they
never thought we should return. Guess then our joy, when we saw
him lying-to, though a great way off. We made sail, and stood
towards him, pulling at the same time with all our might, uncertain
for some time whether we gained upon them or not. Had it been
night, we should have missed them, and must, unprovided as we were,
liave died a miserable death; worse, indeed, than the one from which
we had escaped. We came up with him fast, and in two hours after
leaving the proa, ran alongside of them, and pleased enough they were
to see us. Just as we reached them, away went our mast, and the
cutter took us in tow. We soon came up with the launch, when the
captain welcomed us heartily. Our boat not being worth repairing
was condemned. Half of our crew went in the second cutter. Mr.
Dainty and myself into the launch. The sails and oars being taken
out of her, she was scuttled, and cast adrift. We arrived at Singapore
at about three p.m., after being twelve days in our boats. The second
cutter had got in early in the morning. The first cutter did not get
into Singapore until a fortnight after we left, having been to Sambas.
The lascars, who deserted us, had been taken as slaves, and did not
regain their liberty until twelve months after."

The Government chartered a vessel, the Royalist, and the
American Commodore, as there was no English man-of-war in the harbour,
offered to send two vessels under his command in search of the
missing boats. One boat arrived at Singapore from Sambas a few
days afterwards, and the remaining boat reached Sarawak, and the
crew were well treated by the Rajah; the Free Press remarking that
this might be taken in extenuation of his ill treatment of shipwrecked
people on former occasions. This was before the days of Rajah Brooke's
rule there, of course. Captain George Julius Dare was a well known
Singaporean. He had been a navigating officer, in those days called
the master, in the Navy, and married at the Cape when on that
Station. His grandfather, Mr. Julius, then helped him to build a
vessel of his own, and he afterwards built others, trading out to China
with three different vessels of his own. In this year he was passing
through Singapore, on his way from Bombay to China, and left his
wife on shore at a boarding house kept by Mrs. Clark at the south
west corner of North Bridge Road and Middle Road, where the baby
Julius, who has been mentioned, was born. About two months after-
wards Mrs. Dare left in the unfortunate Viscount Melbourne for
Macao, with the two children, to join her husband there. Captain
Dare sold his vessel for a very handsome price, remitting home the
money at the exchange of about six shillings to a dollar! In 1845 he
went home, and returned and settled down in Singapore in February,
1848. These particulars are found in the evidence he gave in favour of
Sir James Brooke, on the famous enquiry related under the year 1854.
He commenced business in Singapore as a shipchandler and commission
agent in the Square. There were then four shipchandlers* firms,
namely, W. S. Duncan, John Steel & Co., Whampoa & Co., and
Mr. Dare. His first clerk, and until 1857, . was Mr. Franz
N. H. Kustermann, afterwards of Rautenberg, Schmidt & Co., and

374 Anecdotal Hiifiory of ISinyapore

head partner uf it in 1874. In 1855 Mr. Dare went to England, leaving
a man in charge, whoso name there is no necessity to mention. He
was a very plausible man, with a particularly pleasant manner, but he
turned out untrust worth v and ruined the business, as well as his
employer. Mr. Dare died in London, 50 years of age, in 1856. He
had a family of nine children, one of his daughters married Mr.
William Ramsay Scott ; another. Captain C. J. Bolton, very well known
and a great favourite in Singapore, who commanded Jardine Matheson
& Co.'s crack opium schooner, and when steam came, the Glenartney,
He is living now in Essex. Another daughter was married to
Mr. Whitworth Allen, who was in Singapore and Penang for many years,
now retired from business. Another to Mr. Jackson, now Sir Thomas
Jackson, k.c.m.g., of the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank; and another
daughter to Dr. William Hartigan of Hongkong.

During the rule of the Dutch in Malacca and only a few weeks
before the English flag was last hoisted, human beings were treated
as mere goods and chattels and set up at public sale like horses and
cattle. At a 'public meeting in 1829, it had been decided by the
inhabitants to abolish all slavery in 1842, so the following notice was
issued bv Governor Bonham : —

GOVERNMENT NOTIFICATION.

The period having arrived for carrying into execution the huinaue, disinterested
and noble pledge of the Slave-holders at Malacca, the Governor deems it right
to repubhsh for general information, and in order to remove from the minds
of the few slaves who may yet be in existence, all apprehension or doubt of
their right henceforth to be considered as free and no longer subject to K»
treated as slaves under any denomination, colour, or pretence whatever. An
authentic copy is aul^joiued of the resolutions passed at the public meeting of
the inhabitants of Malacca held on the 2yth Noveniher, 1821), and at their request
conveyed to the Governor thruiigh Mr. W. T. Lewis, who presided on the
occasion.

The Governor takes tiie opportunity of congratulating the European and
(jthcr inhabitants of Malacca on the completion of their generous purpose and
the satisfaction which they cannot but feel in having thus of their own free
will come forward and emancipated their fellowmeu from the degraded condition
<jf slavery. He is aware that the slaves in question were generally speaking
born and l.>red up under their master's roof, and having for a senes of years
been supported with kind and considerate tieatment and that they came into
the poasession of their t)\vners at a period and under a Government when
slavery was tolerated by Law. The spontaneous emancipation, therefore, of
their slaves hy the inhabitants of Malacca, under such circumstances, cannot
fail to be highly gratifying to, and warmly appreciated by, the British
Authorities, as well as the Supreme Government of British India, to which
latter authority the Governor will have great satisfiicti(m in reporting that the
last r(»umaut of slavery which existed in the British Settlements in the Straits
of Malacca has been for ever abolished by the unanimous accord of the in-
habitants theuisolvoH.

• Signed) S. G. BONHAM,

(iovernor of P. W. Island,
Shigaiiore and Malacca.

Gang robberies began to become fre([ueiit again in this year.
Ill March^ a gang of between thirty and forty Chinese, part of them
armed, and with lighted torches, attacked and lilundered the store
of a money-changer, who had established his quarters in the verandah

1842. 375

of the extensive buildingB belonging to Mr. Boustead [next to where

Elgin Bridge is now] on the river side, broke open his chests, and

carried off every farthing he possessed ; amounting according to his own

account to 1,500 dollars, but believed to be more accurately stated at

about half that sum. They were seen by one of the night-watchmen,

who said he was driven off by a shower of stones when he attempted

to check them, and that he gave the alarm; but the robbers

accomplished their purpose and effected their retreat without further

molestation or interruption, leaving the owner of the property with

several wounds on his head and other parts of his person in addition

to his loss. And in May, in a house close to the Jail [the site of

the present Central Police Station] at about three o'clock in the morning,

a gang consisting of about fifty men, all well armed with broad

hatchets, Ac, broke into a native dwelling house. As soon as the

entrance was gained, the robbers prevailed upon the men by threats,

to keep quiet and offer no resistance at the peril of their lives, whilst

they commenced breaking open seven chests that were in the house, and

contrived to get possession of 700 dollars in money, and goods, and

copper utensils to the value of about 500 dollars more. Whilst the

thieves were in the act of walking away with their booty, the police

peons, whose station was not far off, got the alarm, and immediately

rushed to the spot to afford assistance. The major part of the robbers

succeeded in getting off, leaving only five of their companions behind

in the hands of the peons who, with difficulty, succeeded in capturing

them. These men were supposed to have come from the back of the

Government Hill, landing at the New Bridge in boats, and to have

gone up by one of the new roads to avoid the Police.

The following remarks in the Free Press of this year give some
details of the value of land at this time: — "A Government sale that
took place in March proves the high rates paid for ground. The
ground we allude to consists of lots in Upper Circular Road, com-
prising an area of two acres which realised no less a sum than $12,746.
And in July, two and a half acres of land, divided into sixty-four lots,
realised Cs. fi« 22,172 besides a quit rent of nearly fi« 300, the leases
being for ninety-nine years like all the other town lots sold at that
time.^'

In April, the Governor advertised for tenders to convey 350 tons
of coal to the new Settlement of Hongkong at a rate not exceeding
six dollars a ton.

In May, the Government refused to allow the Klings to have a
procession and to carry ^ their taboot about the town, and on the
following day all the Klings, men of every trade and profession at
Singapore, struck work, and even the petty shop-keepers amongst
them closed their shops, refusing to engage in buying or selling with
the European portion of the community; in short, there was a strong
feeling of dissatisfaction manifested by this class of the population,
which finding vent in the way above described, caused a temporary
inconvenience, especially among the merchants, from their being
deprived of the services of their boat-men and boats. After a day or
two, the Chinese turned to and did some of the boat-work, which had the
effect of opening the eyes of the refractory Klings. In June, a

376 Anecdotal Hliftury uf Siuyajfore

Singapore merchant wrote to the paper complaining of the inefficiency
of the Police, as there had been four gang robberies and eight
murders in ten days.

The following appeared in the Free Press in May : —

Prospectus for a Theatre.

Tho deiirth of all amusement iu Singapore has induced several j»entleiiien to
.sugj^est thft efttablishment of theatrical performances by subscription; it has
therefore been deemed advisable to circulate this payer, with the view of
ascei-taining the sentiments of the Gentry and Community in general, as to
the desii*ableness of a scheme of this description.

It is therefore respectfully requested, that those gentlemen who are desirous
of patroniziujc; the Drama will signify the same by subscribing their naroes
to a List lying at the shop of Messrs. Rappa & Co., and the amount they
may wish to subscribe.

It may be expedient to state, that so soon as a suflficiency of funds have
Ijeen subscribed, an intimation will be given to the subscribers, and Messrs.
Rappa & Co., have kindly offered to collect the subscriptions; whilst a Committee
of Gentlemen will l)e nominated to superintend the disbursements and erection
of a building.

The list of subscribers included Dr. Martin, Dr. Little, Mr. Camie,
Dr. d' Almeida, Messrs. Gilman, James Fraser, John Connolly, W. Napier,
W. U. George, J. Guthrie, T. O. Crane and A. Sykes.

About this time, in 1811-42, the principal European inliabitants
lived at Kampong Glam, now called Beach Road, where the old houses
(the first built in the Settlement) began disappearing about 1880 to
make way for Chinese shop-houses and one large Chinese temple. On
the Esplanade, in the same house which is now the main building of
the Hotel de I'Europe at the corner of the High Street, Mr. Boustead
lived ; Dr. W. Montgomerie, the Residency Surgeon, occupied the next,
and Mr. Church, the Resident Councillor, lived in the third. Mr.
Church's house was afterwards the Freemasons' Lodge, and the build-
ing where the ladies used to go, and tiffin was laid at the time of the
New Year's Sports. These last two buildings are now the Municipal
Offices. The Raffles Institution, a small school then, was inhabited
by Mr. Moor and his family, Mr. Dickinson, the second master, and
Padre Milton, the Chaplain. Then came Mr. and Mrs. W. K.
George, where the Raffle.s Hotel has been built, and then came a
bungalow built and inhabited by Dr. Alexander Martin, who died
here. He was also Senior Sworn Clerk of the Supreme Court, in
those days when there were more appointments than competent
persons to till them, and " one man in his time played many
pai'ts." This house was subsequently occnpied by Captain Stephens,
who coniHianded the Elhaheth, the first sea-going vessel that was
built here. He afterwards became a merchant, and joined Mr.
Clark, who liad been iu Guthrie and Clark, but they each started
a separate business not long afterwards. Then came Mr. and Mrs.
John Purvis, who lived in the next large house, which was after-
wards occupied by ^Ir. and Mrs. D. S. Napier, and afterwards as a
hotel by Mr. Chevalier. In after years it was occupied for some
time as the quarters for the Telegraph Company's clerks, when the
line from Europe was first opened. Miss Grant occupied a house
as a missionary school, and Mr. and Mrs. J. H. Whitehead's house
(or Shaw, Whitehead & Co.) was next Middle Road. After that

1842. 377

were Mr. and Mrs. McMickin«j (of Syuio & Co.), aud Ur. d^Alraeida
and his family, which is the only house of the row that is still
standing, in a dilapidated state. In the same row were Mr. and
Mrs. E. J. Gilraau, Mr. and Mrs. James Fraser, Mr. and Mrs.
Bernard, and the last house belonged to Mr. Ker, and Mr. M. F.
Davidson lived in it. The houses on Beach Road had nearly all a
separate building for billiard tables. Mr. C. Carnie lived in Rochorc
Road, off where Carnie Street now is. Dr. d'Almeida had a large piece
of building land between Middle Road and where Bugis Street is
now, and between Victoria Street and North Bridge Road ; he had
a small orchard and fish-pond there.

In Battery Road, lived Mr. A. L. Johnston, Mr. J. C. Drysdale,
Mr. Robert Bain, and Mr. Read (all of A. L. Johnston & Co.). Dr.
Little lived at the Dispensary, and Dr. M. J. Martin lived in the
building which now forms part of John Little & Co.^s premises. Mr.
McEwen, Gr. Stewart and T. Dunman lived at the corner of Malacca
Street, where the Borneo Co.'s office was for very many years in the
Square. Mr. Moses lived in the premises which is still occupied by
the firm of Sarkies & Moses, as an office. The building had first
been Dr. d' Almeida's dispensary, and afterwards was occupied by Mr.
and Mrs. Wingrove. Mr. Simous Stephens (of the firm of Apcar and
Stephens) lived with his family at the corner of the Square, next
Battery Road. Messrs. Spottiswoode and Connolly's office was where
the building erected for the Oriental Bank now is, and had a small
compound facing the Square. Mr. F. S. Martin had his store where
Little's is. Where the Mercantile Bank is now, Mr. and Mrs. T. 0. Crane
lived. In High Street, Mr. J. Guthrie, Mr. and Mrs. Armstrong, and
Mr. Napier, the lawyer, lived. In Coleman Street, Mr. Coleman, and
Mr. Dutronquoy's Hotel. Major and Miss Low lived in the Pavilion
in North Bridge Road, and Mr. G. F. Davidson and Padre Beurel
in Brass Bassa Road.

In the country, Dr. Martin lived at Annanbank in River Valley
Road, from 1848 to 1846, and Dr. Little, who was his ])artner,
then lived in Bonnygrass House, Mr. and Mrs. Adam Sykes (of
Robert Wise & Co.) were his neighbours. Dr. Oxley lived on his hill,
where the Pavilion, No. 2, now is. Mr. Carnie lived on Cairn Hill,
and had plantod the two beautiful waringa trees which grew to such
a great size, and were cut down in 1884 only, to make room for the
large house which was built then, and has been occupied by the
Chartered Bank Managers. Mr. Thomas Hewetson lived at Mount
Elizabeth, the furthest house in Tanglin. Mr. Behn, V. L. Meyer,
and Schreiber (of Behn, Meyer & Co.) at Mount Sophia. Lieutenant
Charles Morgan Elliot, of the Madras Engineers, who was sent here
to make the magnetic surveys of the surrounding waters, lived at
Kallang, on the right bank of the river next to the long iron bridge
on the south side. Mr. Ker lived at Bukit Chermin at New Harbour,
in the house he built on the hill, which has since been re-built.

Horses were then very rare, ponies and carriages in fair proportion
to the upper classes, but a lot of walking was done in those days.
People dined at half ])ast four, and sauntered afterwards to the
Saluting Battery, better known as Scandal Point, where a sharp eye

378 AiitcdotaL History of Singayore

was kept on Tanjoiig Taiigkop where Mr. Johnston's hospitable house
was situated. A lives court was the only athletic sport then existing,
and cards, chiefly loo and vlajt-id-un, were tlie usual evenings' refuge.
The Governor, Mr. Bonhara, kept open house at the present Fort
Canning, and the Navy House was at the foot of the hill, next to the
present Masonic Lodge, where tlie oflSce of the Government Analyst is
now, at the corner of Coleman Street ; it has been discontinued for very
many years. In those days it was a point of policy to show attention
to Naval Officers, and provide for their convenience when on shore.

The following passage appeared in the Free Press of 1842, in an
article describing the general appearance of the town: —

''A stranger visiting Singapore cannot fail to be struck by the
signs everywhere exhibited of the Settlement being in a high state of
prosperity and progressive improvement. He lands on the side next
the town, he beholds the pathway in front of the merchants* godowns
cumbered with packages, and if he glances into one of these godowns
he will see it piled with packages and bales of goods from all parts
of the world. If he goes amongst the native shops, he finds them
filled with clamourous Klings and long-tailed Chinese, all busily
engaged in driving bargains. Passing on, he comes to where, near *
the Jail [present Central Police Station], the swamp is being filled up
and covered with shops, which are seen in every stage of erection,
some with the foundations merely laid, and others nearly completed.
If he wishes to leave the town, he crosses the Singapore river by a
new bridge which was built two years ago, but the construction of
which does not reflect much credit on the Architect, it being exceed-
ingly high, and shaking a vehicle in crossing in a very unpleasant
manner. The scene now undergoes a change : in place of the narrow
and crowded streets of the town, the stranger finds himself amongst
rows of neat villas each standing in its own enclosure. The Governor's
residence is to the left, upon a small hill commanding a fine view of
the town and harbour, the flag-staff is also placed there, and at all
hours of the day may be seen covered with flags announcing the
approach of ships from every quarter of the globe. Many villas are
also in the course of being built, betokening, by the demand for
comfortable houses, the rapid increase of population and wealth. If he
should go into the country, the many thriving plantations of spices
and other tropical products, among which are to be noted one or two
sugar estates, present an equally pleasing sight, and give promise of a
long continuance to the well being of the Settlement,"

In this year appears the first advertisement that has been met
with of Mr. Francis S. Martin, who was a store-keeper and auctioneer,
and was afterwards joined by Mr. John M. Little, and resulted in John
Little & Co.'s firm eventually. The P. & 0. Company were creeping
on towards Singapore, though they did not reach here until 1845, and
the Free Press contained a copy of their half-yearly Report, in which
a dividend was declared of three and half per cent, for the six
months.

The criminal assizes in August lasted a whole fortnight, there
being 77 prisoners. There had been no assizes held for six months.
One case was a murder case against fifteen Chinese, for a row in a

1842. 379

junk in the harbour, in which the police were attacked and six peons
were killed ; the identification failed and the prisoners were discharged.
There was one other case of murder, and the man was transported to
Bombay for fourteen years.

On the 13th September, Mr. Abraham Logan advertised that he
had commenced practice in Singapore as a Law Agent and Notary
Public. He afterwards was one of the leading lawyers of the place,
and for a long time proprietor and editor of the Free Frees. He was
born at Hatton Hall, Berwickshire, on 31st August, 1816. He practised
in Singapore for many years, first with his younger brother, James
Richardson Logan, who was born at the same place on 10th April,
1819, and arrived in the Straits in February, 1839. In 1853, J. R.
Logan went to Ponang, and Abraham practised alone for some years,
and in 1862 was joined by Mr. Thomas Braddell. Mr. Logan went to
Penang in 1869, and died there on 20th December, 1873. In
Singapore he lived for many years at Mount Pleasant, Thomson's Road.
His brother was the founder and editor of the Journal of the
Indian Archipelago. He died in Penang on 20th October, 1869,
and a monument was erected to his memory, by the people of the
Straits Settlements, in front of the Supreme Court in Penang, the
lengthy inscription on which speaks of his death, in the prime of
his manhood, as a public calamity, and of his having always been
first, and sometimes standing alone, in promoting the welfare of the
Settlements; and also of his having founded the journal of the Indian
Archipelago.

On the 1 9th September, appeared an extraordinary edition of the
Fre*s PresSy announcing the conclusion of the China war, the cession
of Hongkong in perpetuity, the opening of the ports of Canton,
Amoy, Foochow, Ningpo and Shanghai, and payment of twenty-one
millions of dollars indemnity. The news was carried from Nankin to
Calcutta by the Tttna^serivi steamer, which called in at Singapore,
carrying Sir Henry Pottinger's despatches; Mr. J. D. Vaughan was
a midshipman on board her; she had been engaged in all the naval
actions up to the end of this war.

The accounts of the Straits at this time, after deducting the
expenses for troops and convicts, which were not then considered to
form a proper charge against the revenue, showed a surplus of about
ft*. 57,000. At Penang there was a deficiency of &. 56,000, at
Malacca of fU. 90,000, and at Singapore a surplus of Ife. 203,000.
The expenses for troops however amounted in the Straits to Rs. 633,000
and for convicts to Rjb. 89,000, so the total deficiency for the year
1841-42, in the official returns, was R». 665,000.

It was in this year that the first Consul for France, Mr.
Eugene Chaigneau, was appointed in Singapore. The wall along the
river side at Boat Quay was built at this time, replacing piles and
little private piers in front of the godowns. In Vol. 4 of Logan's
Journal, in a paper by Colonel Low, it says that about this period
cholera prevailed for a short time in Singapore, proving very fatal
in several confined localities, where the houses were mean and
filthy, and the people living in them dirty in their habits. From
two to three hundred persons died.

380 Anecdotal Huttory of Singapore

On tbo 16th April, a weekly newspaper was started, called the
Straits Mesnenger, published on Saturdays. It was eight pages of
small size, and consisted almost entirely of cuttings from English and
foreign papers. It had only a brief existence, and for this reasou
was not mentioned on page 153. There were several such papers
at various times. The Singapore Local Reporter ran a short time in
1852-53, but tliere are few, if any copies of the papers to be found.
The Messenger was conducted by Mr. Edwards, who had formerly had
a small newspaper in Malacca, and much amusement was caused in
Court by his method of defending himself in a case for libel, heard
before Mr. Bonham, Mr. Church, and a jury. The result was a fine
of ttj. 200. The subject of the libel was a statement that had been
made in the paper regarding Lieut. Maidman, of the Madras Native
Infantry, in regard to his behaviour in the Roman Catholic Church.
Mr. Edwards, who was a native of Africa, died at the age of 34
years, in March, 1843, which stopped the paper. He had been an
entirely self-taught man, and was said at the time to have been a
striking instance of natural ability overcoming difficulties.

In December appeared the notice of th(j first races, and the
Stewards announced that the course and stand being almost finished,
they had fixed the 19th February, being the anniversary of the
foundation of the Settlement (!) for the first meeting. The Secretary
signed as Templeton, which was the noni-de-plume of Mr. Charles Dyce.

Two Bugis men had a row in the town, one stabbed the other
with his kris, and he died in the hospital. The other man ran into
the jungle pursued by a mob of two or three hundred people, who
attacked him with spears and anything they could lay their hands
on, and killed him. Some police peons were on the spot, but the
mob were in such an excited state that they could not restrain them.
A coroner's inquest was held on his body and the verdict was justifiable
homicide.

The total imports iuto Singapore in 1841-42 were $14,000,000,
and the exports $11,500,000, being an increase of about one million
in each case over the preceding year. The examination of the Insti-
tution School was held in December, by Mr. Church and the Chaplain,
Mr. Panting. The average attendance at the school was about 125
boys. The Chinese boys were taught English for two hours a day,
and their own language during the remainder.

The firm of W. R. Paterson & Co., which led on to McEwen & Co.,
and so to the Borneo Company, Limited, commenced in this year. In
1846 (the year when the first Directory of Singapore was published),
the five partners were W. R. Paterson and William Morgan in
Glasgow, Francis Richardson in Manila, Henry Vcrnede in Batavia, and
Robert McEwen in Singapore. Mr. John Harvey was then a clerk. In
1841), Mr. Paterson left the firm; in 1850, John Black, William Martin,
and V. L. Helms were among the clerks; and in 1852, John Martin
and Robert Harvey.

In 1852 the firm of McEwen & Co., was established, the first
])artnors were Wm. Morgan and Robert McEwen at Glasgow, Vernede
anil Richardson at Batavia, and Charles Bannatyne Findlay and John
Ilurvoy at Singapore. The clerks were William Martin and Robert

1842. 381

Harvey. In 1854 the firm was composed of Morgan, Richardson, Findlay
and Harvey, and Mr. Samuel Gilfillan and George Armstrong were among
the clerks. In 1857 Mr. William Adamson was one of the clerks.

On Slst July, 1857, the Borneo Company, Limited, was established
in Singapore. Mr. John Harvey was Managing Director in the East,
Mr. John Black was Manager at Batavia, and Mr. Samuel Gilfillan at
Bangkok, the firm of McEwen & Co., having been dissolved on 20th
April. Messrs. H. W. Wood and Auchincloss were clerks. In 1859,
Messrs. S. Gilfillan and H. W. Wood were Managers, and Mr. C. E.
Crane was a clerk. In 1860, Messrs. Gilfillan and Auchincloss were
managing; in 1862, Mr. W. Adamson, and the clerks were Messrs.
Tidman, Mulholland and Crum. In 1803, Messrs. Gilfillan and Adamson
were in Singapore.

The firm of Paterson & Co., was dissolved on 30th April, 1842,
and the new finn of Martin Dyce & Co., was established. I^ho partners
in Paterson & Co., had been William Richard Paterson, Charles Carnie,
George Martin and Alexander Dyce, with houses at Singapore, Batavia,
and Manila, and the house of Paterson, Martin & Co., at Glasgow.
On 30th April, George Martin, Charles Carnie, and Alexander Dyce
advertised in the Free Press that Mr. John Campbell had joined them
as a partner, and the new firms were called Dyce Martin & Co., at
Singapore, Batavia and Manila, and Martin Dyce & Co., at Glasgow,
but the latter name was soon afterwards used for the eastern firms.
Martin was in Glasgow, Carnie at Singapore, Dyce at Manila, and
Campbell at Batavia. Charles Andrew Dyce and Andrew Farqnhar
were then clerks. In 1858, Mr. Carnie loft the firm, and Thomas
H. Campbell, who had been a clerk since 1847, became a partner.
David Rodger, to whom there is a window in the Cathedral, was a clerk
in 1858, and W. C. Hannay in 1859, and were both afterwards partners.

In this year Mr. William Willans Willans, who was a nephew of
Mr. Thomas Church, was appointed clerk in the fjand Office. He held
at different times almost every official office. In September, 1849, the
Free Press said: "Mr Little, the Surgeon, having resigned the coroner-
ship, Mr, Willans, nephew to the Resident Councillor, chief clerk in
the Treasury, Ofiicial Assignee, &c., &c., has been sworn in as coroner.
He is a young gentleman of great activity, but how he will be able to
do all the duties of his multifarious employments, we are (^uite at a
loss to conceive.^' Ho was in the service for forty years, and there never
was a more hard-working, punctual, accurate official in the place. Ho
had the respect of all. He was an excellent magistrate, and a very
competent and careful treasurer. Ho was a member from the first of
the executive and legislative councils after the Transfer. He married
one of the daughters of Governor Bhindell; and Mr. Adolf Emil Schmidt
of Rautenberg, Schmidt & Co.; Mr. K. B. S. Robertson of the Police
under Mr Dunman; Captain George Tod Wright, Marine Magistrate
and in the Master Attendant's Office; and Mr. J. M. Moniot, the
Government Surveyor; all married daughters of Mr. Blundell. Mr.
Willans retired in May, 1882, on a pension of $3,600 a year, and is
now living in England.

In the year 1842 Mr. Samuel Bateman, who had been land agent
in England to the Earl of Dudley, and was a land surveyor by

382 Anecdotal History of Singaporp

profession^ had left England for Australia^ but did not stay tliere^ and
came up to Singapore in 1843 and remained until his death. In August^
1843, with the authority of the Board of Trade in England, he
established a Shipping Office for seamen, which was largely availed of.
In 1850 Governor Buttorworth wrote to him that in the event of a
Government Shipping Office being established, his claim to consider-
ation to be appointed Registrar would not be lost sight of. In 1858,
when Gt)vemor Blnndell had succeeded Colonel Butterworth, the
Legislative Council at Calcutta introduced a Bill similar to the English
Merchant Shipping Act of 1854, and Mr. Bateman, haWng again
applied to the Governor, Mr. Blundell replied that his application would be
given every consideration. All the European firms had signed a letter
recommending him to Government for the post of Registrar of Seamen.
The appointment was not made until Colonel Cavonagh had succeeded
Mr. Blundell, and, to the general dissatisfaction, he appointed Mr. W.
Wilkinson who had been Master's Mate of H. M. S. Royalist, Mr.
Bateman then became an Auctioneer and Land Agent. He had a
printing office and stationery shop connected with his shipping office,
when ho first came to Singapore, and did a great deal of surveying
in the town, for which reason he had refused the appointment of
Postmaster in Hongkong which had been offered to him by Sir
Henry Pottinger, He died in Singapore in 1806 at the age of
sixty-six years, a well known Singaporean.

1843 388

CHAPTER XXX.

1843

A MERCHANT wrote to the paper on New Year's day that 200 barrels
of ganpowder were stored ia a godown in the Square^ and
wanted the Insurance offices to take up the mntter. Another com-
plained that when the guard was relieved at the Court House, a
swarm of pariah dogs came with the soldiers, and attacked the
natives passing by, and threw them down and tore their clothes,
which seemed to amuse the sepoys, who did not try to stop them till
the fun became too serious. So he proposed, as the only effectual
way to reduce the super-abundance of dogs, that a tax of $2 per
annum should be put upon each ; which has often been suggested
since.

The advertisements contained notices that Mr. John Purss Cumming
and Mr. Gilbert Angus Bain were admitted partners in Maclaine,
Fraser & Co., and Mr. John Myrtle in Geo. Armstrong^ & Co., in
January. H. E Sir Hugh Gough, who had been commanding the
Force in China, embarked on board H. M. S. Endymion in January,
for Calcutta, with his staff ; the troops had been returning from China
since September on the conclusion of the war. At the same time,
Mr. Bonham, the Governor, left in the Company's steamer Diana for
Penang, in order to go to Calcutta from there in the steamer Queen.
He went to Europe on leave, and did not return. He carried with
him the best wishes of the people. He had tried in every way to
advance the interests of Singapore, and during twelve years as Resident
Councillor and Governor, had seen Singapore increase in importance
every year until it was among the first of the commercial ports of
India. He was distinguished by liberal hospitality, and especially
during the continual passage of troops and men-of-war on their way
to China on the expeditions.

Mr. Bonham, afterwards Sir George Bonham, was very popular
among the Europeans and natives. He commenced life in the East
in the Civil Service in Bencoolen, and had a considerable knowledge
of mankind, and, like a sensible man, exerted himself to keep things
in easy train and make them pleasant when he could. He had b^en
a quarter of a century in the East, and had made many friends and
supporters. He was described as honest, upright, just and generous.
He had fine grey hair, a snub nose, and spoke with a stutter and a
lisp, but his upright carriage, amiable jocularity, and high sense of
honour, sunk them under his gentlemanly qualities. In March, 1848,
he pased through Singapore on his way from Encrland, to take up
his appointment of Governor of Hongkong and Plenipotentiary ana
Superintendent of trade in China. He was greeted very warmly in

384 Anecdotal Hintory of Singapurt*

Singapore, the natives no lesB thnii the Europeans coming forward
to express the respect and esteem tliey bore towards him, and their
conLnatulations on his new appointment. He was created a baronet
for liis services in China, liaving been Governor of Hongkong from
[848 to 1854.

It was in this year that the Cliarter was given to Hongkong.
The place was ceded to England in January, 1841, and the ces^^ion
was confirmed by the Treaty of Nankin, in Auofust, 1842. Unlike
Singapore, the place was carried on at considerable cost until 1854,
Parliament in 1843 voting 150,000 in addition to the military expenses.
If Sir Stamford Haffles had con^menced the establishment at Singapore
in a similar way, it would have been stopped at once.

Mr. E. A. Blundell was appointed by the Govcrnor-Goneral to act
until further orders, and Mr. Samuel Garling acted as Governor until
Mr. Blundell came, who did not arrive in Singapore until the 23rd
July, and on the following day the public were surprised by a report that
he had received the intelligence that his appointment was cancelled, and
another Governor was being sent in his place He left on the 27th in the
Diana for Penang, on his way to Calcutta. The Indian Government,
on the 14th June, had appointed Colonel Butterworth, c.B., of the 2nd
Madras European Regiment as Governor. The Frer. Fress made the
following remarks upon this : — '^The new Governor of the Straits is C«»l.
Butterworth of the Madras Army. This sudden turning of Mr Blundell
to the right about is, we suppose, the winding up of Lord EUenborough's
conduct to that gentleman, and is upon a par with the other ex-
traordinaiy behaviour of his Lordship, who seems to place his special
delight in depressing and mortifying the civil service, and bestowing
all the lucrative and honourable })osts on the military. The unceremonious
and arbitrary manner in wliich he has presumed to treat Mr. Blundell,
is only a continuation oi" that cours^e of ])roceeding which he has
pursued towards the Civil Sci'vants. Mr. Blundell, we doubt not, will
receive that justice at the hands oi the Directors which such an old
and valuable servant is justly entitled to, and there are many ways iii
whi(-h the injustice he has suffered can be repaired ; but the Straiits
Settlements are also entitled to complain, and the injustice inflicted ou
them does not stand such a good chance of being remedied. These
Settlements may justly protest against their being deprived of the
services of Mr. Blundell, who of all men in the service out of the
Straits, was the person best fitted to fill the office of Governor with
advantage to all parties. From his previous residence in the Straits.
Mr. Blundell is familiar with the language and customs of the people.
Kver since he left the Stiaits he has been resident in the Tenasserim
Provinces, and there the whole object of his long Government has
been directed to the fostering and promoting their trade and agricul-
ture, and his exertions have been eminently successful.

'^That the same (jualities which had proved so highly beneiiciai
elsewhere would have been e(jually serviceable in the Straits is very
manifest. In Penang the decaying trade requires to be watched over,
and where opportunity occurs, to be reinvigorated by the judicious
interference of the local Authorities with the Supreme Governmont or
with the neighbouring states. The agriculture of Penang, which must

William John Buttekwortji, c

1848. 885

constitute the main prop anrl stay of the prosperity of that place, is
virtually dependent on the views wiiich are adopted by the Governor, and
the help he may he inclined to yive.

"In Singapore, Mr. Blundell in like manner mis^ht have been
lii<irhly useful in applying his practical knowledge in carrying the recent
measure regarding the sale of land into effect, in opening up new
districts, and in encouraging cnlrivation. At the pr(».sonr time such a
peraon would have been of eminent service in warchinyf the effect
which the changed nature of our reflations with China will no doubt
produce upon the commerce of Singap(»n»; and repres^'iitaliona cominiif
from one in his situatiiin, who was evidently so well acquainted with
his subject, would have been more favouralily rej^^ajded tinin liad
they been merely by the merchants themselves, whose demands,
however ]U!<t and reasonable, are apt to be looked upon with
suspicion an<l grudgingly acceded to For all these reasons, we esteem
Mr. Blundell as the fieison best fitted for the Government of iho
Straits, that could have been picked <»ut" of the whoh? service. If
the Supreme Government is determine<l to m;ike room for
military gentlemen wherever they c:in find or effect an opening, we
think those wlmse local experientu^ mii/ht bo immediarely sub-iervient
to the onblic ^ood should have the preference. Instead of removing
Ijieut -Colonel Mutchinson, Jifter beintr three y(»ars in the Straits, to
the command of the 2ud Kuropenn Regiment (Lieut. -t'olonel flutter-
worth's) why was he not detained here in the capacity of Governor?
M ijor Low, whose civil exp^^rience in the Straits has been most ext(»nsivo,
nn'ght well put in his claim wlien Military Governors are the order
of the dav."

The Municipal accounts were published in tlu> paper in January.
The assessment on houses in town was then eight pe»* cent., and four
per cent, on those in the country. The expcMise of Police for the year
was 25l2,OoO^ and S1,'J00 was spent uoon the roads. The coolies
employed on the work were convicts, atrd were paid Ks 4 a month for
able-bodied men and 11. 1 for feeble men. A sum of $18.62 was spent
to enclose the Esplanade I

They was a loui^ series of robberies, and attacks by numbers of
armed iMiinese about this time, and a public meeting was called, of
which the following are the minutes: —

**At a Public Meeting of the Inhabitants of Singapore, held at the
office of Messrs. Hamilton, Gray & Co. on the 10th February, 1843,
Thomas Oxley, Sheriff, in the Chair, tho following Resolutions were
reail from the Chair, and unanimously adopted : —

1«\ Refolced. — That h()Use-breaking and robbery by gangs of
Chinese have become so frequent a.nd dai-ing as to create general alarm
for the security of property in the Town and Suburbs.

2nd. Resolved. — That the impunity wiih which these outrages are
committed is the m:iiu c;iuse of their frequency and audacity, and that
it is chiefly attributiblo to the very inefficient state of the Police
department that offenders of this description esca^ie apprehension or
deteciion.

3rd. litftnlved, — That it is the opinion of this Meeting that the
improved efficiency of the Police, uud a more energetic mauagemeut of

386^ Anecdotal History of Singapore

that department are absolutely necessary towards effecting a remedy
for the grievances under consideration.

Asth, Resolved, — That it is the opinion of this Meeting that as one
necessary step towards securing greater efficiency in the Police, an
addition ought to be made to the number of European Constables and
P-eons, that the utmost vigilance and activity are necessary on the part
of these officers in the discharge of their duty, and that their personal
attendance at the Police during the day ought to be dispensed with,
except on occasions of positive necessity.

dth. Resolved. — That it appears to this Meeting also highly
necessary to establish a Harbour or Water Police to prevent escape
seaward, in which direction it is known offenders often fly with their
plunder, and that to render effectual this means of preventing escape,
the Chinese junks should be required to anchor at a greater distance
from the shore, moored in regular divisions, and marked each with a
number so as to be readily identified, an arrangement which would be
attended with .salutary effects in other respects.

6th, Resolved. — That the existence of organized associations of
Chinese in this settlement under the designation of Huey or Brother-
hood is notorious; that the members of these societies often league
together for unlawful purposes, the execution of which is facilitated
by this system of combination, and that there is no doubt whatever
the gang robberies in question are chiefly committed by individuals
enrolled in fraternities of this description.

7th. Resolved, — That it is an understood fact that many of the
Chinese Shop-keepers and Traders in the Town, particularly the native
born subjects of China, pay regular sums to these Associations, as
protection money for their own property, or as a contribution in the
nature of hlack-mail, and that it rarely or never happens that the
Chinese are themselves sufferers from the depredations complained of.

Sth. Resolved. — That it is highly expedient a law should be passed
having for its object the suppression of those lirotherhoods so far as
the same may be effected or influenced by legal enactments, and in
particular that it should be made penal for any person or persons
to pay or receive any sum of money as protection money of the
nature specified in the preceding Resolution.

9th. Resolved, — That the Kesolutions now passed be transmitted
to the Ilon'ble Samuel Garling, Acting Governor, through the
Committee of the Chamber of Commerce, accompanied with a letter
from that Body in support of the firm conviction of this Meeting
(inadequately conveyed in these Resplutions), that the grievances in
question demand immediate and energetic measures on the part of the
local Government.

The Chamber of Commerce recommended that the Police Force
should consist of one Deputy Superintendent of Police, six European
Constables, seven Jemadars or Sergeants, eleven Dnffadars or Corporals,
and one hundred and fifty Peons, which it was thought would neces-
sitate the highest rate of assessment (ten per cent.) being put into
operation.

Tiger stories were very numerous, there being five cases reported
in. the paper as having occurred in six days, in the jungle, chiefly

1843. 887

among the Malay wood-cutters. A tiger and tigress were killed on
a plantation on Bukit Tiinali Koad one mile from town. Tlie following
grumble appeared in the paper in February : — " Why are the Verandahs
in Kling. Street, and in fact in almost all the streets, aHowed to be
choked up '^vith the wares of Klinofs and Chinese, thereby preventing
people from walking under them ? 1 wish to ask if they have any
right to do so? Proprietors of godowns in the Square are not allowed
to use tlie Verandah to pnt goods under. Certainly it is rather
surprising that this nuisance should be suiTered. We believe that
the meaning of the clause which is inserted in all the building leases,
obliging parties to make a Verandah in front of their houses six feet
wide, is or was intended to provide for the accommodation of the
public by furnishing them with a walk where they might be in some
degree free from the sun and dust, and be in no danger of sudden
death from the numerous Palankeens that arc always careering along
the middle of the way. But this seems to have been forgotten,
and the natives have very coolly appropriated the verandahs to tlieir
own special use by erecting their stalls in it and making it a place for
stowing their goods."

The following advertisement appeared in the Frer Prt^ss in
February : —

A Rack Ball

Will be held on the evening of Monday, the 27th instant, at the
residence of the Hou^ble the Recorder.

Dancing to commence at 8 o'clock.

StKWA1M)S,

Lieut. Hoseason.
Lewis Fraser, Esq.
Chas. Spottis woode, Esq.
W. H. Read. Esq.

William Napier, Esq.
James Guthrie, Esq.
Charles Dyce, Hs(|.
Dr. Moorhead.

F\dl Dress,

and the Free Press gave a long account of the First Races in Singapore
which were held on Thursday and Saturday the 23rd and 2r)th
February. The first race was at 11 a.m., and called The Singapore
Cup, of 5150. Mr. W. H. Read rode the winner. There were four
races the first day, and three the second; followed by some matches to
fill up the time. The races were held on the same course as at
present, but the stand was on the opposite side, near Serangoon Road.

The ship Edward Boustaad, 484 tons, left Liverpool on 14th
August, 1842, and arrived at Singapore on 14th December, consigned
to JBoustead, Schwabo & Co.; she sailed again for London on 11th
March, 1843.

H.MJ3. Dido had left England in January, and passed through
Singapore in May, 1842, on her way to China in the war. She
returiied : to Singapore on 30tli December, and was in the Straits or
Borneo until 30th June, 1843, when she went again to China. She
returned to Singapore in February, 184i, and was again in the Straits
and Borneo until October, when she sailed for I]ngland, and was paid
off. It was during this commission of the Dido, and her expeditions
to Borneo against the pirates, and assistance rendered to Rajah
Bcooke^ whose doings Singapore looked upqn as almost a part of.itn

888 Anecdotal History of Singapore

own liiHt^ry, tliat Captain Keppel made so many friends in the place,
lie had previously been in Singapore a few days only on two occa-
sions, when lie was a Lieutenant of the Mayicientie, as ssiid on page
218, in September, 1832, an. I April, 1833, but his book "A Sailor's
Life under Ft)ur Sovereigns" gives from his diary many occurrences
while ho was here in the DiVo, and mention is made of Mr. Church,
Wm. Napier, \Vm. Scott. R ijah Brooke, Captain C. M. Elliot,
W. H. Head, Bulestier, and many others whose names are mentioned
in this l)or»k.

1'he Duio was a beautiful corvette of 734 tons, 18 guns. Admiral
Keppel often u<el to remark, h ilf a century later, that he could never
leave her without rowing twic^ round her in his boat to have a look
at her. The present Rajah of Sarawak, Sir Charles Johnson Br«K)ke,
mentions in his book about Sarawak, that he first went there ''a
small midshipman'* in tiie Dllo with Captain Keppel.

In one week in Marrh, the paper contained an account of four
Kling men liavinsr been murdered in a boat at 'J anali Merah ; they
were found with their liamls tied beliind their backs and sti^angled.
The Powder Magazine of Tock Seng on Kallani; Hiver was broken
open by a la ge gani^" of Ciiine.^e rol)bers, and large quantities of
powder carried off. And tlio same night a gang of armed rhinese
lantled from a b »at at New Har'»<^ur and attacked several houses, but
tlie Tumonirong turned out with his followers and beat them off in
gallant style and captured eight«»en men. On the same idght, a
qnant'ty of coal stored at Sandy Point was set on fire by an
incendiai-y.

There was a regatta held in March, with ten entries of yachts,
of which the Vl fon'a and Maytjin Ltudr came in at the head.
CiptJiiu Keppel, of the D'ulo, was unipin*, and Mr. W. H. Rea«l,
Secretary. There is an account of it in Admiral Kepptd's last bo(»k.
The I'rt-ti press said tlni^" tlie community were much in«lebted to the
(>aptain of the Dido for sendin;^ his ban 1 to p'ay for two or three
hours ev(M'y evening on the Esplanade, which attracted all the
Sinfcraporeaiis. 'Die paper contained a huiy acconnt of the Dido's
attacks on pirates; her boats used to be sent away round the island
whenever a native hoat. bnaiglit in any suspicious intelliy^ence, and on
one occasion Captain Konpol f)ut a inimber of the crew into Chinese
topees as a blind In May tlio Dido sailed for Borneo with Mr. James
Brooke on board. Captain Keppel and the officers and crew of the
Dido were the life of the place whenever she came into port. Regattas
nnd picnics were held, and from tlie Captain downwards they Seemed
to vie wirh each other in making their stay as jolly as possible, and
til'* arrival of the vessel in the harbour was an event in those days
of no teicLTams

Major C E. Davis, who had been the principal assistant to Colonel
Farqnhar, and married <»ne of his daujhrers, died in Calcutta in hia
58r<l j'ear on the 8th March in this year. The EuyUahmnn spuke of
him as a sterlinif and very amiable man.

1'lie foilowiii'j' aiticles appeared in ihe paper of 20th April: —

" We have much pleasure in announcing to our l«»cal readers that
it id the inientiuu of the Agents of the bteam bhip Victoria to des-

1843. 889

fatrh her on Wednesdny, the 26th instnn^, on a trip to Malacca nnd
*enan^ sind back. Ilie fullowing are the rates piopcsed to be
charged : —

* al»in passengers to Penang and bnck .. ... Drs. 100

If to Pennng only

If to Malacca only

Steerage passengers with berths

Deck

Provisions for this cImss not included.

"We understand this trip is intended as an experiment, and if it is
found that the expenditure so incurred is noi so ^rent as at present
anticipated, a m > liSitat.ion of the above rates will be mule in future.
It is proposed than the Victnria shall leave here on WidnesHay, the
26th in.^^tant., at 2 o'chick p.m., start the next day from Mnhicca at
2 o'clock p.m. when she will l)e at PonanLT on the fdlowinpf morninp*,
where she will remain until Tuesday morning, when she will retutn on
the BHme plan. This is the fir>t experiment ever tried here, and wo
trust that sufficient encouni^ement will be given to induce the owners
of the Vi fcri'i to continue her in the Stiaits. Many of the communiry
who have never visited the other Settlements in tho Straits will, we
are assured, gladly avail themselves of so desirable an opportunity ''

"We have lately been much gratified by seeing the tnanly game
of Cricket resume*! in this Setilennnt. A verv interesting nnitch is
n«»w being played between the officers of II. M. S. Dido and Singa-
poreans. We observed amono" the players several excellent b »wlers. ''

'J'he following is taken from a. paf)er that appeared at this time: — " To an
old inhabitant of Singapore who knew it only a few years back in its primi-
tive Malayan state of jungle and maish, it is a source of gratiHcati* n
to observe the many improvements whiih are now in prcgre.'-s, not
only in tho extension of the town, but in the construction and repair
of useful roads which run in various directions over the country. It
is pleasing to observe with what rapidity little gardens and large i)lan-
tations spring up on each side of these roads, to the extent of several
miles, and we have no doubt that were the whole island judici-nsly
intersected with roads, it would soon be cleared of jungle and become
a highly productive settlement. Commercial prosperity has given an
impetus to agricultural enterprise for some time past, and the Govern-
ment ought to foster and encoura<»e it by every means within its power.
Can it be said to do so at present? We kiiow that most of the planters
Would cry out against us were we to state that it does. 'J'hey would
exclaim that they commenced their phmtations under very great
discouragements and hold them, even now, only by a sort of tacit per-
mission. Sueli a state of thintrs ou>fht not to be allowed to continue
any longer, the Government ought speedily and openly to declare the
terms on which planters are to have their possessions, and the more
liberal these terms aro tho sooner will the whole island come within
the reach of the present march of improvement.

*' A large portion of the island is covered with plantations of gam-
bler and pepper, owned by Chinese sqmitters, and as these two products
have become important articles of commerce, every encouragement
ought to be held out to contiuue and extend their cultivatiuu, by

300 Anecdotal Hiirt(fry of Singapore

granting these industrious people peiinanent leases and by opening inor^
roads into the districts occupied by tliem. The Chinese are not slow
in taking advantage of the facilities afforded by the new ronds as far
as tliey go, as we observe them now conveying their produce into
town by carts, whereas formerly files of them might be seen trudging
over rough, steep and circuitous paths leading to the towil, each man
loaded with a couple of baskets slung on a pole and carried over the
shoulder. The extension of water communication inland will also, we
trust, be attended to in time, not only on account of the drainage of waste
lands, but as affording a cheap means of conveying produce to town."
The following is the statement of the Excise Farm, from 1826 to
18i3-44. It includes the Opium and Spirit Farms, and small amounts
for Serih (about $100 a month) Pawn-brokers (about 530 a month)
the two markets at Teluk Ayer and Kampong Glam (about $80 a
month) and Toddy and Ganja (about §20 a month).

1826-27

Excise Fai-ms,

per month,

Drs.

3,540

1827-28

Do.

do.

3,668

1828 29

Do.

do.

4,613

1829-30

Do.

do.

3,718

1830-31

Do.

do.

7,042

1831-32

Do.

do.

6.672

1832-33

Do.

do.

7,113

1833-^

Do.

do.

7,470

1834.35

Do.

do.

8,970

1835-36

Do.

do.

9,031

1836-37

Do.

do.

8,556

1837-38

Do.

do.

8,298

1838-39

Do.

do.

8,429

1839-40

Do.

do.

7,908

1840.41

Do.

do.

10,356

1841.42

Do.

do.

12,034

1842-43

Do.

do.

12,100

1843.44

Do.

do.

15,050

In June, a fire of a serious nature occurred, which at one time it
was feared would have laid a considerable part of the town in ashes.
It broke out in Lorong Teluk in the early part of the day, and there
was fortunately little wind at the time. A great deal was said about
the necessity for a fire brigade of some kind, or rules and regulations
for similar occasions, and the paper made the following remarks: — "It
is really wonderful that fires of a most destructive and extensive nature
do not more frequently happen in Singapore. There are such a
number of old wooden houses in Singapore, and the habits of the
natives in their use of fire are so extremely careless, that it is very
surprising that we have not a weekly conflagration. The streets
and houses are crowded and connected with each other in such a
manner that were a fire to reach any height, the whole town would
be almost sure to go. The immense quantities of goods stored in the
godowns of both European and Native merchants would cause the loss
in such an event to be immense, and the consideration of these things,
and also of the loss of life which would very probably ensue amongst the
crowded population, seem to call for some measures being adopted for
preventing them as far as possible."

Another fire, which destroyed eighteen shops, occurred in Teluk
Ayer in September. ,

1843. 391

There were long advertisements in the paper this year of lotteries
in Calcutta, for which the tickets were B«. 50, and the highest prize
was 1S». 20,000. Another was for ftj. 100,000 with tickets of fe. 100.

The total number of square-rigged vessels coming into Singapore
in 1842-43 was 870, being 286,351 tons, and 2,490 native vessels of the
tonnage of 69,268 tons — a considerable increase in each case over the
preceding year.

In July, a man was killed by a tiger about a mile behind the
Sepoy lines. The body of his dog was first found, then one of his
bangles which had dropped from his arm, and, lastly, the remains of
the man, partly devoured. At the same place bones and other remains
of human bodies were fouml, from which it was judged that no less than ten
persons must have been destroyed at that spot by the tiger. A num-
ber of Convicts, under the direction of Captain Stevenson, went on the
look out for the brute, and it was confidently expected that they Avould
be able to destroy him, but they did not meet it.

The paper in August spoke of the loss of life by tigers, . and
its consequent eflfects, as follows : —

"The head and shoulders of a man who had been killed by a
tiger were brought to the Police Office on Monday last. They were
found in Bukit Timah road, about three miles from town. A tiger
is at present prowliug about in the cocoa-nut plantations in Siglap
District to the no small apprehension of the owners. We are
concerned to learn that the destruction of human life by tigers has
been fearfully on the increase lately, so much so indeed that the
gambier and pepper planters who have hitherto thought it for their
interest to affect to discredit the accounts of the ravages, and did
all they could to conceal the deaths from this source, have at last
been forced to admit the existence of this evil in its fullest extent,
and to take steps to bring the subject to the notice of Government.
We are informed that a deputation of Chinese planters Avaited upon
the Resident Councillor on Saturday. We have conversed with a
Chinese who is largely concerned in the gambier and pepper trade, and
ho states that to so great a height has the dread caused by the
increased destruction of the coolies by tigers risen, that a number of
plantations have been abandoned solely on account of the numerous
aeaths therein from tigers. Formerly the Chinese in town who make
advances to the cultivators used to visit the plantations occasionally, for
tlie purpose of looking after their interest, but now they shudder at the
thought of venturing into the jungle, and are forced to trust al-
together to the honesty of their debtors. The value of these plantations
Las naturally decreased, in one case from $300 to $25; the reason is
to fee found in the circumstance that a number of coolies had been taken
oft by tigers, and that in consequence the plantation had got a bad name,
and it would have been extremely difficult for the purchaser to procure
labourers to live upon it. The rapid increase of the tigers is ascribed
to the reduction of the Government reward v/hich formerly used to be
paid for every tiger brought in, and without the prospect of which the
men are unwilling to take the trouble and risk of entrapping them. The
trouble is not iso slight as might be supposed, as the construction
o{ a pit, in the proper manner, fully occupies a mati for a month.

392 Anecdotal Uistory of Singapore

There .ire usaally so mmy persons en^raged in the capture and
♦lesitruftion of a ti/er that, wlieii tht» present reward of fifty d'Jlara
is divided amonir>t rli^m, the share of each is exceed! iijr'y small.
The one hundred dollars, which u?>ed to be j:iven, lalthough even
it was inadequate) yet, of course, formed au object of more im|K>rtance
in their eyes and held out some incentive lo exertion. The lt>w
price of gambier and pepper has, together with a dread cans€»d by
the timers, produced a great despondency on the part of the planter?,
and should any but the most favourable and liberal measures in
connection with the sale of the lands under the lae regulations be
pur>ued towards them, we may expect to see them throw up the
cultivation altOiretlier, and it is impossilile to coniem|»l«te without most
serious apprehension the res^ults which this would produ<'e. The many
thonsanris of Chinese ci»olies who are at present employed in these
plantations would be d^^prived of work, and most undoubtedly would
endeavour to ^ain a dishonest livelihood by sallying forth at iii^ht from
their coverts in the jungle, and robbing in the nei>rhlK)urhood of the town
Against an irruption of this kind, the police would be powerless, and
even thouj^h the military were to be availed of, the disparity in
numbers and other circumstances would render the issue extremely
doubtful. The rew:ird oujrht to be raised to its former rate or even
higher, and the vcambier planters ought to be encouraged to make
traps in the vicinity of their plantations sis numerously as possible.
It h:is been su>^g(*sted to us that ain3ti<rst the convicts there are a
number of expert tiger hunters, who wouhl be induced to hunt them,
if they were promised a tick(*t of leave on p olucing a certnin number
of heads; and other rewards might be held out to them which would
probably induct; tliem to eng-iLTt^ in the pursuit with alacrity.''

And in October the p:ip»*r a^raiii wrote: — ''The Chinese who live
in the jungle, it is known, never think of giving information of the
ravages connnitted by tigers, so that it is only by enquiry that
the facts become known. Their feelings of superstition in regard
to tiireis may ])erhaps be one cause of this, for we have been
informed that they believe that when a person is kitled by a tiger,
his lianfic f>r gliosr. bi^c«»nies a slave to the beast, and attends
upon it; tliat the spirit acts the part of a jackal as it were, and
leads the tiirer to his prev, and so thoronohly subservient does the
poor glnjst become to his tiirerish master, that he often britigs the
tiger to the presence of liis wife and children, and calmly sees
them devoured before his ghostly face. The old jyayoiigs or utubrellas
which may oFten be seen stuck on the tops of newly made graves are
intended to mark the spot where a tiger-slain body is deposited,
but I rem what motive they are placed there we have not been able
to learn. That, the general belief as to the extent of the deaths
caused by tig(MS and their prevalence on the island is not based on
false grounds, we can attest, having mule considerable enquiry on
the subject. We are informed on the best authority that in one
district l)Ctwecii Bukit 'J'imah and the old Strait?, six persons on au
average are evei\v month carried off from the gambier plantations, and
that not one of these cases is ever made known to the authorities.
Lately in the Kaliaug district a cow, which was grazing at no great

1843. 303

distance from a house on one of tho Inrgro plantntions. was attacked by
a tiger wliich carried it off. On Monday morning the body of a China-
man was broiiirlit to the Police Oflii^e hnving been found at a sliort
distance beyond the Sepoy lines near the road leading to New Haibour;
the body was quite fresh and apparently newly killed, the companion
of this man who had gone with him into the jungle has not since
appeared, so that it may be eonchided that the tiger had also
killed him, and carried away the body to his lair. ''

In November what was called the first ti'jer hnnt took place.
There were three letters written to the ^^^e Press abont it, at different
times, and the following account is a mixture <»f the three, consisting
of Rentences from the various lett«*rs, the names of the persons alluded to
being now added in brackets, one of tin* three writers, who is still alive,
havine made a memorandum of tht»ir names. Informiuion was receivinl
in town that a ti^er had been caught in a ti-ap in the jungle <»n the
left of Bukit Timah R<»ad near the thin! tnilo stone, not far from tho
present Botanical Gard«Mis. Jn a few minutes vehicles of every
description went conveying Europeans from town. The tiger was
in a pit, ascertained afterwards to be 24 feet deep. 'J'he mouth
was closed with heavy logs, through whii-li tho tiger was seen
jyiiijr at the bottom in about two feet of water. He had evidently
made several attempts to spring out of the pit ** 'J'liere was con>idor-
nble excitement, and our chief police Magistrate ( Maj(»r Low) forg<»t
to cap his gun; and our chief surveyor (Mr. J. T. 'i'homson ) fired
away his ramrod. Tho tiger received the first fire with soverei»jn
contempt, the second produced a L'rowl, and after allowing the smoke
to de ir, he was seen from the marks of blood to bo evident^v badly
wounde*!. As he did not move, a dapper-little man (Mr. W. II. R»-ad )
thought it mi>rht be dead, and jrot a loni; bamboo, which was lying
near, and gave hitu a prod 'inhere was a teiiihlo roar, and a great
stampede c»f nearly all the sp<»rtsmen, heller-skelter throu^'h the brush-
wood ill all directions, 'i'he tiger ma<le a. double spring at the side,
and then at the mouth of the pit, and its fore-claws reached to
within a foot and a half of the top, wh»n iJr. Oxiey, who with Mr.
Head and on^ or two others had stood his L^'round, tired both barrels
down its throat and it fell back dead, never moviuir «gain." Mr.
Charles Dj'ce wrote that he had been accustomed to tiger hunting in
India, bat the same modo cou'd not be adopted in Singapore, the
jungle being of a different character; indeed the only plan likely to be
successful was by traps lie said it was to be regretted that the
local government had not taken some pains to prove this to the cidti-
vators. as many lives might have been spared. As soon as all was over,
Mr. W. R. George offered to act as guide by a near cut to the l^ukit
'Jlmah Road, where the carria-jes had been left. After following him
for several miles, up hill and down dale, ihey found themselves at
Tauiflin Koad with two miles to walk home, under a very hot sun.
'J'hey consoled themselves by saying that they had seen more of tho
interior of the island than any of thetn had ever seen before. Their
oidy re^et was the discovery that their guide had left before the
termination of the walk, several of them being anxious to thank him
for his exertions.

■SOi Anecdotal History of Singapore

In the same week the paper said: — *'Oii Tuesday eveniDg, a
Chinaman^ while engaged in constructing a tiger pit at the back
of Mr. Bullestier'rt susrar plantation, was pounced upon by a tiger,
who, after killing him and sucking the blood, walked into the jungle
leaving the body behind. We suppose the tiger knowing the
object of the Chinaman's labours took this opportunity of giving
a striking manifestation of his profound disapproval of all such
latent and unfair methods of taking an enemy at disadvantage/'

The same paper contains an account of the stranding of H. M. S.
Samarang in Sarawak river, and her being raised, after she had
fallen over and filled, by Captain Belcher. The manner in which
this was done is to be found in English works on seamanship to
this day.

It was proposed to start a public library by subscriptions, as
the want of it was much felt^ and a prospectus, printed at length
in the paper of the 24th August, Avas circulated.

In September, Mr. Thomas Dunman first entered the Police Force,
and the paper mentioned it in these terms : — " The Government
have appointed Mr. T. Dunman to the Office of Deputy Magistrate
and Superintendent of Police. From Mr. Dunman's activity and
intimate acquaintance with the manners and habits of the natives,
wo anticipate that he will be able to introduce a more efficient
system of Police, especially if he is allowed, as we hope he will be,
to devote his time exclusively to this office. Although we cannot
expect to see crime put an end to, yet we have no doubt that
with an improved police, and an able and active Deputy Magistrate,
much will be done."

Mr. Dunman, afterwards one of the most widely known residents
of Singapore, was a clerk in Martin Dyce & Co., and was not
one of the covenanted service. It turned out to be a most fortu-
nate choice, and the police, which had been a very inefficient body,
Avas, by his exertions, made efficient, and it has never been the same
again since Mr. Dunman resigned in 1871. The office w^as a very respon-
sible one, involving hard work and active attention by day and night.
There had been no proper police, and gang robberies had been very
prevalent, so the European Mercantile community had sent strong
remonstrances to Calcutta, and the Government there was forced to
pay attention to the matter, and consented to the appointment^
but in a very grudging way. Mr. Dunman soon put the police
into a state of discipline, gang robbery was put down, ana the
country roads became safe. He was a man of much delicacy of feeling and
benevolent disposition. Mr. Thomson in his book *^ Sequel to Life in the
Far East" in speaking of the uncovenanted officers of the East India
Company's service, says *' It was Congalton who swept the Malay waters
of pirates; it was Dunman Avho first gave security to households
in Singapore by raising and training an efficient police force ; and
it was Coleman who laid out the city of Singapore in the ex-
pansive and Avell arranged plan admired by strangers." And in
other books Mr. Dunman's Avork is spoken of in a similar way.

In the early days of Singapore, and before then, no English-
man had a right to land in India, without an authority from the Coui:t

1843. 805

ui Directors in the India House at Leadeuhall Street. All those in
the service of the CiJinpany for Civil or Military employment Avent
out under a bond or covenant for a term of service, and were called
covenanted sei'vants. So that Europeans in India became divided
into two classes — covenanted, and free. A free trader meant the
ship of a private merchant, such as London, Liverpool, or Glasgow.
A free merchant meant a private European settled in India; and a
free settler meant a private planter. Thus all Europeans were bond
or free, and the •* bond " had all the good things for themselves.
A good deal on this subject, and the disadvantages it caused to the
general good are to be found in Mr. Thomson's books. The amusing
letters referred to in page 107 of this book, have been found,
after that page was printed, set out at length at pages 22 to 28 of
the "Sequel to Glimpses at Life in the Far East/' including that
of Mr. William Scott, afterwards Scott, of Uaeburn and of Lessurden in
Roxburghshire, and of James Scott, the uncle of the novelist.

The appointment of Mr. Dunman was therefore unusual, takiMi
as lie was from a mercantile ofKce into the service. One secret of
his success, no doubt, arose from this, as he was known and liked in
the place among all classes of the community, European and native,
who were willing to give him information and assistance They
looked upon him as a friend, and not as a military martinet. They
never saw him in a uniform and spurs. His time was not spent in
sitting in an ofHce under a punkah, answering frivolous enquiries
and minutes about petty police details, as in the present day, but
in going about the town and country. A good deal of his time
%vas however, taken up by sitting as a Police Magistrate, which he
was made in 18-44; but it was afterwards stopped, as it engaged
too much of his time. One morning a gentleman went to him, and
complained that he had met him driving up Orchard Koad late at
night without lights, and Tom Dunman admitted that it was not
the right thing, but he took can* to drive carefully, and his object
was to see whether the police at the station were looking out, and
that if he had lights it defeated his object. He did not spend all
day in office and all night in bed, and it was no unusual thing,
especially if there was any feeling of insecurity about, to meet him
the same night in widely different directions. He was not nnfre-
quently out at four in the morning, and home at midnight.

If anything occurred that required consideration or explanation, he
would drive over to the public office where the Court is now, and
walk into the room of the Resident Councillor, Mr. Church or Colonel
Macpherson, and talk it over. No time wasted on argumentative
minutes. He was thoroughly trusted by the heads of the Chinese, and
of the secret societies, who knew they could trust him not to divulge
the sources of his information. One of his successors did so on one
occasion, and it Avas fatal ever afterwards to one source of doing
good police work. All through the place there was the feeling that
the police were the friends of orderly people, and therefore had
their ready support and countenance. A police force, especially in
the Straits, that tries to assert its own importance and hectors and
worries the people, may be able to make a fine show on a parade>

896 Anecdotal History of Singapore

but" misses one of its firsfc Hntios, and is a liindrance and nnnoyanoe
to the community. Mr. Dunmaii's police 8liowe«l th^it ic is possible
to be on good terms with the l)ulk of tlie people, and to do the work
in a way that enlists the syinp;ithy of those wlmse iuter^-srs they
are emph)yed to protect. Tht»re was an esprlf-dp'rorps in the force
that hjis not continued under military oflBceis, and the men wc»rked
to please Mr J)uuman, because they knew he took nn mrere>t in
them and their belouLings. He might be seen in the eveninus in
the stations, where he had a ni>rl>t class for learning to read and
write, as a man could not be promtited to corporal until lie could
write. The Malay sergeant-majors in Mr. Dunman's time occupied
a very good position among their own people, and were respected,
and respected thetiiselves in consequence. Men of good class joined
tlie police under such system, it; is not so now. The secret seems to
be that to make a good working police in such a cosmopolitan place,
it is desirable to appoint a man who has had the opportunity to learn
the manners and habits of the natives, and who is Known to them,
not as a government offi(;ial, but as one who has an interest in the
place. A tnilitary oflBcer from some distant place, or a police officer from
some other c<niiitry where rircumstances are very different, does not
readily appreciate the nature of the work; and does not gain the
co-operation of those around him, in obtaining information which
others desire to conceal.

For raatiy years Mr. Dunman pracHcally controlled the police,
but the Resident Councillor was, ex-officio, Commissioner. In 1^58
strong opinions were expressed that the duties of Ccmimissioner of
police should not be hampered with Magistrate's work and duty in the
Resident Councillor's office, as tliey were incotnpatible with each other.
Governor Blundell held the same view and sanction was given by
the Governoi-General in Council from Calcutta to make the office
of Commissioner of Police a separate and distinct appointment, and it
was conferred on Mr. I)unman whose long experience in police niattei-s
peculiarly qualified him for the situation ; and it was said by the paper
at the time to be a rare example at that time of the right man in
the riglit place.

On 1st Juno, 1^57, the Resident Councillor ceased to hold the office,
and Mr. Dunman was ma<lo Commissioner on a salary of Rs 1,000
a month, and Mr. George VV. liarl, who was practising as a lawyer
in High Street, was made Magistrate. Mr. Dunman then gave his
whole time to the Poii<!e, and the Freti Prps.i remarked that this
speedily made another marked improvement in the force. On 2<»th
January, 1851, ho received his final appointment as Superintendent
of Police for Singapore, which the paper remarked was a very tardy
act of justice which Inid been repeatedly demanded by the conmiunity.

Mr Duntnan had a lar^^o cocosi-nut plantation, so:ne 4'i0 acres, at
Tanjong Katong, where he built las own house, and three bungalows on
the seashore, tlie first of the Tanjong Katong water-ide houses for
honeymoons and holidays, and they were not added to for many
years. Now the whole beach is overrun with them, and the land
divi(le<l and sub-divided to such an extent and built over tliat the
enjoyment is gone. References to his planting coffee and cocoBruuts

1843. 897

are to be found in volnme 4 of Logan's Journal at papres 1^4 and 141.
He had a piece of l>in<I at tlie north east comer of Brass Hassa Uoml
and Victoria Street, known as Diinman's Corner, and a road in Karnpong
Kapor was named after him, while the large open space behind the
pi-esent .Maeiatrsites' Courts was calUnl Duntnan's Green, as he j^ot it
filled up when it was a disngreeahlo swamp opposite the Polict* SiHtion
and Magistrate's C<»urt, tlien on tlio c»ppusite side of the road, wliere the
present Central Poliro Sfsition now is. In Mr. Read's hook at page
165 is an account of "A Practical Joke/' wliich was onlv one of
nianv of Mr. Duninan's little amiisemeuts in that wav. He is well
described in it as a very popular personsigo and a general favourite.

Mr Diitiniaii received the comiiHMidiition of the (Jovernor-Geiieral
in Council for his services diiriii>r the Ciiiuese riots in May, 1854,
and Governor Bntterw(n-th gave him a sword for the same reason.
He resigned in 1871, and after remiinin^ four years in Sinirapore,
looking after his plantation ut Tanjong Katon<r. retired to Kngland,
and died at Itournemonth on <>th October, 1887, 7'i years of nge.
He had maiTied, as has i)een said on page l>^d, ouh of the
daughters uf Mr. T. 0. Cratie, a ^rand-dauyhter of Dr. d'Almeida;
and had a number of ciiildren who were some of the most popular
young people of Singapore.

The following notice was advertised by Government in September.
It %vas no d«'Ubt. one of the first examples of Mr. Dunman's good
sen.se, as there had been numerous gang robberies near the town, by
bodies of fifty and sixty men.

The idea of fright«'nini: away robWers by firing blank cartii'lije after
snn^tet is as futile as it U absurd, and calculated to ;iuuo>' the community.

The police i>ecome in<li£fereut t«> alarms thus ^ivca. or their attention is
di^itrai'ted thereby, from the general duti« s of thrir atarion.

The practice tli«'r«*f» in' of ilidcharging lire arms, lettlug off crackers, and
beating of gongs during th'^ ui<;ht. is hei'eby Btiict'y probibitel.

Au pei*80n8 who shall hereafter be found tr.iusgressiu^ this Order shall be
prosecuted.

W. J. BUTTERWORTH.

Governor.

In October, it was proposed to abolish the Grand Jnry, its
abolition was condemned by the coniinunity then as it was afterwards
in l8"3, when it was abolished.

The first mention wh have found of fortifying Sintrapore occurs
in tho Free PresH of the 9th November in tiiis vear, and is as
follows : —

''In an article which we extract from tho Calcutta EngUfthynan,
wo observe c»ur contemporary cleprecates the idea of fortifying
Hongkong, as calcnlated to inspire alarm and dread into the niinds
of the Chinese, and he rec mmends than, in.ste:i<l. Singapore should be
fortified, wliich^ he observes, conlJ give no y\st. offonce to nny Power,
and would niuke Singapore what it on^j'hc t(» be in time of war,
the kev of the Kastern S^'as, and tho rend zvous of fleets and con-
T'\ys. He aids thar at prt>sent it could i>or. resist a single frigate.
Wirhout encering upon the point inojtevl by tli(« Kaili^hman, as to the
poliry of fortifying Hongk<ing» we are stnTy to inform him tint the
measure he proposes iu lieu of ic^ is^ uufortunatelyi impracticable.

398 Auecdotal History of Singapore

"The town is so placed that no amount of expenditur(5 would
make it even tolerably secure, much less afford any shelter or pro-
tection to the shipping. A single ship of war could with ease and
safety lay the town in ruins, and no fortifications can be constructed
so as to completely prevent this. The only effectual method of
preserving the town of Singapore in the event of its being threatened
by a hostile force Avould be by stationing a sufficient number
of men-of-war for its protection. We sincerely hope, however, that
no occasion may ever arise to make it necessary to take any such
precautions, but that Singapore may continue to be, as heiretofore,
a place devoted to commerce and the medium of diffusing the
manufactures of civilised and peaceful Europe amongst the surround-
ing nations, and that, as she has hitherto been only the scene of
peaceable and unwarlike commerce, so she may long remain unvisited
by the horrors and miseries of wars."

The bridges and roads were in very bad condition at this time,
and the paper was full of complaints, so the Sheriff called a public
meeting of the inhabitants to express a general opinion upon the
subject and to memorialize the Government.

The paper spoke of the state of affairs as follows: — '*The roads
are daily becoming more impassable, so that in the course of another
fortnight, especially if the present rainy weather continues they will
bo quite useless. Bridges are giving way in all directions, and on
several roads all passage is prevented. Meanwhile the Superinten-
dent of Roads pursues liis operations on the Government hill heedless
alike of the complaints and sufferings of the public, and regardless of
all suggestions that ho should mend his ways. It would seem, too,
as if the works on the hill were destined to bo of some duration,
as we observed on Sunday that the mound, on the construction of
wliich the convicts have been employed for several weeks past, had
given way in one place, and they have ever since been employed
in filling up the gap. If the country roads are not repaired speedily
Ave would advise the assessment payers to stop the supplie.s, as really
we cannot suppose that Government would attempt to enforce the
collection of funds for a purpose to which they are not applied."

In November, Messrs. Boustead, Schwabe & Co. issued a notice
that they had opened a house in China in connection with Messrs.
Butler, Sykes & Co., in Manila, and Messrs. Sykes, Schwabe & Co.,
in Liverpool. The partners in their several establishments continuing
as before: — Mr. Edward Boustead, managing in China, Mr. Benjamin
Butler at Manila, Mr. Gustav Christian Schwabe at Liverpool, and
Mr. Adam Sykes at Singapore.

St. Andrew^s Day was celebrated by a dinner, of which the
following was an account : — *' On Thursday, tlie 30th November, the
sons of St. Andrew assembled in great force at Dutronquoy^is to.
drink punch in honour of their patron Saint. We counted some 75
gentlemen at table, wliich is not so bad for Singapore, and we should
decidedly say from the circumstance tliat old 'Andrew' was looking
uj^—Dr. Montgomerie was in the chair, and Mr. William Napier,
Croupier. Dr. Montgomerie in his usual able manner proposed the
foUoAviug. toasts:— rTho .Queen, the Pious Memory , of . St. Andrew, the:

1843. 399.

Navy (acknowledged by the Hon'ble Captain Hastings), the Governor
and the land wo live in, our guests, tlie President of tlio United
States (acknowledged by Mr. Balestier). Mr. William Napier, Avith
an appropriate speech — the *' Land o' Cakes," the Army (acknow-
ledged by Captain Phil pot), Memory of Burns and Scott, King of
the French (acknowledged by Mr. Ohaigneau). Memory of Raffles,
&c. Mr. M. F. Davidson, — ifemory of Wallace and Bruce. Mr. G.
G. Nicol, — The Kirk of Scotland. !Mr. Charles Dyce, — Mrs. Butter-
worth and the ladies. Many excellent songs were sung. We left
tho company busy brewing the mountain dew into punch, .and listen-
ing to the enlivening strains of the beautiful band of tho 4th Regi-
ment which was kindly allowed to attend the party.'^

The following curious account of a discovery of old cannon balls
in Johore appeared in the newspaper : —

"A number of iron and stone cannon balls to the amount of 240
were, a few days since, discovered at Johore buried abont eight feet
in the ground. We have seen two of these balls, and to judge from
the appearance of the iron one, it must have been laid a long time in
the ground, being much corroded ; this ball is about 13 i inches or
thereby in circumference, the stone one about IGJ inches. How these
bulls found their way to Johore is a matter of considerable uncertainty,
but the most probable conjecture seems to be that they had been
brought there by some foreign invader. We find that in 1608 the
town of Johore was attacked a^id burnt by the Portuguese, who indeed
had long before visited Johore in a hostile manner, as about the year
1538, Paul de Gama attacked it but Avas defeated and slain by the
Lacsaniana, and shortly afterwards Dt)n Estevan de Gama took and
plundered the town. Between the years 1588 and 1000, the Dutch
visited Johore, and entered into a friendly treaty with the Rajah. It is
very likely that the Dutch on this occasion presented tho Malays with
cannons and ammunition, which the latter no doubt would be eager to
acquire, considering that they were in a constant state of warfare with tho
Portuguese, who had driven them from Malacca. An old iron cannon
which, we believe, has lon«^ been an oV)ject of great reverence amongst
the Malays, and which was lying on a hill near the former capital of
Johore, has been within thestj few days sent by his Highness the
Tomungong to the authorities here. It is of very ancient appearance
and much broken at the mouth, so that it may have very likely burst
at some, period in its history. On it are the letters E. R. with a large
rose between them. This would seem to prove that it was of English
manufacture, probably of tho time of Queen Elizabeth, but how it
found its way to Johore, unless through the agency of the Portuguese
or Dutch, we cannot conjecture. The iron ball above alluded to fits
this gun, and they may have both been brought at the same time.''

Bukit Timah was first made accessible at the end of this vear,
and the following was written about it at the time: — '^The other day
we paid a visit to Bukit Timah, which, thanks to tho labours of the
Superintendent of Roads, is now accessible by a good carriage-way
reaching to the top of the hill, where Captain Stevenson has likewise,
constructed a small hut, provided with table and benches for the
acfipnuDod^iion. of visitors. We were quite delighted with^ the . yie\y.

400 Anecdotal History of Singmpore

which is obtained from this place. Th^ hill would afford capifal sites
for two <»r three bungalows, and would, we tliink^ be an excellent
sanirariiim^ there being a decided chan<^e of temperature from the
town. It is, of course, not so cold as the great hill in Penang, but
that is almost too violent and Kudden a rhanze from the excessive heat
of the pLiin, while the climate of Bukit Timali, thoug'h not sufficient
to make the invalid shiver and seek refuiro beneath a couple of blankets
like the Penang Hill, is percepiildy cooler and fre^^ller than the plain,
producing an agreeable exhiliration of spirits. The prospect, t«>o.
regarding which nothing appears ever to have been said, is nearly if
not quite equ:d to Pen:m.r, though differing considembly in its features.
Instead oF the large extent of cultivation whicii composes the fore-
ground of the Penang view with its trim rows of nutnieirs and other
fruit trees, dark masses oF primeval forest stretch away from Uukit
Timah on every side. But the landscape is altogether very varied and
presents a rare collection of grand and pleasing forms. To the south
we have at our feet a considerable part oF the island of SiniraporA
composed oF small hills mostly covered with dense juuifle, thoui^rh
near the t<»wn cultivation usurps its place. In the middle distance, the
town of Singapore stretches itself along the bay, which is crowded
with shippiuv^, while in the far distanci*, are seen the blue hills of Bat-
tarn, and the cloud-crested peak of Biniang. On the west, numerous
islands are scattere<l over the still waters of the Straits, the Carimons
are visible at a greater distance, and further still we have a faint
view of the coast of Sumatra. Tiie view to the North is composed
of one continuous mass of dark forest reaching to the distant hills
of Johore. So narrow is the channel which separates the island
from the mainl '.nd in this direction, that nowhere is it distin^^u^shablo
save at one i)lace wli*re a small part of its water is seen jrlitrering
amid th»» surronn*ling wo«jd^, like some small inland lake. Tne
entrance to the sea of Uiiina is visible to the E ist Such are S'»m9
of the most noticeable views, an I tnken tosi-ether they are well
worthy of almiration, au«l could not fail of renderiui^' Bukit Timah
a most desirable and a^^reeible i»lace of ri»sidence for the invalids
of Singapore, w^n-e it n )C that the dwi'llers on the hill would be
exf»osed to the visitations of tij^ers, wliicli abouiid in the neigh»Miur-
hood, and are occasionally seen or heard on the hill itself. One thing
that strikes a pcMson very forci'^Iy in surveyin^.^ the inland from this
height is the sunill amount of cleared and cultivated ground compared
with that stiil in jnngle. It is only in the immediate vicinity of
the town that there appears any prop 'r clearins>", and this shows
but a very insignificant part of the whole island. Judging from wUat
h:is hitherto been done, we should say that m.any years must el ipse
before the i.sland will be cleared, and wo should much doubt wiiether
the whole oF it will ever be so."

At this titUH, phoiogriiphy first found its way to Sint^-apore, as
appears from the folU^^xing advertisetnent ; which reads quaintly now: —
Mr. G. Dutronqiioy roipectfuUy informs the laiios and i^entlemen at
Sing.'iporo, that he? ia complete ma-ter of the ue vly invented an I late importel
Dag iei*re» type. La lies anl ^lentlemcn who m ly lioiioir Mr. Ditr.mqniy with
a sitting cin have tiuur likenesses ti^ea in tbo astonis'iing abort spife of t vo
minutes. The portraits ai*e free from all blemish and are iu every respect

1843. 401

perfect likeneflKS. A Lady and ^ntleman con Ik* placed t/>geth«>r in one
picture and both are taken at tho ssiiiio timo entin^ly shaded frt>ni thtt ofFi'CtR
of the tun. The price of one portniit in ten dollars, both taken iu one
IHctnre is fifteen dollara. One day's notice will Ih» requii-ed.
London Hoiel, 4lh December, Iff 13.

The Rev. . Samuel Dyer of the London Missionary Society died at
Macao on the 24th Noveuiber. He left Kn^land and came to the
Straits in 1827, where he was for sixteen years at Penang", Malacca,
and Singapore. He compiled voeabiiiaries of Chinene, and made
pnnchea and matrices for easting two founts of Chinese type. A
great proportion of the Chinese characters usually uiet with in the
generally used Chinese w(»rks iu later years were cast from them.

The Free Prfstt contained a notice of the death of Mr. f\ G.
Bernard "formerly of Sinj^apore" at Batavia on the 19th December.

Two of the Comj)any*s small gun-boats were lost iu August. The
-Rparf was wrecked near Malacca, and the Dinmttud went to try to
"^ave her stores, Ac. On her return to Singapore off Pulo Michiu, in
* ftqaall, the mainsail could not be lowered as the I'opes jammed,
*nd the boat went down. After being iu the water for twelve hours,
holding on to floating wreck, a Malacca boat picked up sixteen of
the crew, and another boat suven more, but the gunner, seraiig, and
nine sailors of the Diamond were drowned.

The first bri<ige across the river was of wood joining North and South

BridjBre Road where Klgin Hridgo is now. This was built about 1822. 'l^he

't^cond was built in 1810 by Afr. Coleman, cf brick work, jdiniuy; Hill

Street and New Bridife Road, and was called after him. The first bri«lge

'became dilapidated and was removed in 184J3. The Government having

^and to sell near Coleman J^ridge objected to rebuilding the lower bridge,

*nd on a deputation going to see (rovernor ]^utti»rwortli about it lie

•**aid, in his usual inflated style, that they unght make up their minds that

the bridge would not be made, as he was a determined man. The

Community who went chiefly on foot iu those days objected to having

^ walk round such an unnecessarv distance to cross the river, and

U led to public meetings and correspondence. SSonu^ time afterwards it

Was found that iu grants of land in that part of the town it had

l)een agreed by Government to maintain a bridge. So it was built

and was called KIgiu Bridge after the (lOvernor-General of India. The

story of the dispute is told in Mr. Read's book.

At this time, the firm of Middletons, Hlundell and Co., commenced
business. The four partners were Charles, James, and Alfred Middle-
ton in Liverpool, and William Blundell in Singapore. Charles Hercules
HaiTison was then a clerk, and iu 1850 became a partner. In 1851
the name was changed to Middletons and Co., the partners being
the same as before. In 1852 the clerks were William Graham Kerr,
and John Haffenden. In 1854 Charles Middleton left the firm. In
1860 the name was changed to ^Fiddleton, Harrison and Co., the
partners then being Alfred Middleton and C. H. Harrison.

It was in this year that Dr, Montgomery left Singapore. It has
been mentioned on page 60 that he belonged to the Bengal establish-
mentj and came to Singapore as Assistant Surgeon with the Bengal
Native Infantry in 1819, and, on page 56, that he was then spoken
of by Colonel Farquhar as a very young man who would be left

402 Anecdotal Hhtnry of Siiigapory

in charge of the Settlement if anything occurred to himself. He was
one of the first Magistrates appointed by Raffles, and his name has
been very frequently mentioned in this book. In a paper by
Dr. T. Oxley, at page 22 of Volume 1 of Logan's Journal, he says
that the first notice of gutta perch a seems to have been by Dr.
Montgomerie in a letter to the Bengal Medical Board in 18 i3, in
which he recommended it as likely to prove useful for surgical
purposes. Dr. d'Almeida took some in that year to London, and gave
it to the Roval Societv of Arts, but no notice was taken of it,
beyond acknowledging the receipt. During his long residence in
Singapore, from 1819 to 1843, Dr. Montgomerie entered extensively
and zealously into agricultural pursuits, which did not prove re-
munerative. The river, 2J miles from town, divided his estate, uomt
known as Woodsville, from Mr. Balestier, and he had a large water-
wheel and mill a few hundred yards up the stream frotn the bridge
in Serangoon Road, which was called Montgomerie's Bridge. He built
the small house now called Woodsville Cottage, and lived there. Mr.
R. C. Woods afterwards purchased the plantation and called it after
himself. Dr. Montgomerie had 510 nutmeg trees in 1848, but the
principal cultivation was sugar, which he pursued very energetically,
and engaged in the manufacture on a considerable scale for a
number of years, but had to relinquish it with great loss. He
was a brother of Major-General Sir P. Montgomerie, k.c.b., of the
Madras Artillery, who highly distinguished himself in the China
Expedition. In a Scotch newspaper in 1845, there is an account of a
meeting of the Provost, Magistrates and Town Council of Irvine, when
an address was presented to the two brothers, in which it was said
that Dr. Montgomerie, who had been long nbrond, had ac(|uirod an
erjual celebrity in the medical profession, as his brother, the colonel,
had in a military capacity. After being some years at home on
furlough, Dr. Montgomerie went to Bengal, where he v»as appoint-
ed Garrison Surgeon at Fort William. In the war with Hnrmah he
accompanied the troops as Su])erintendent Surgeon, and received the
marked approval of (Foyerninent. He died from an attack of cholera
at Barrackpore, in India, on 21st March, 1856.

At the time of his death the Fr^p ZVf's.v. in answer to some
remarks as to the discovery of gutta percha in the London Mnruinif
Htarld gave the correct yer?sion of it as follows: —

'^^riie long and meritorious services of Dr. Montgomerie would
alone have entitled his son to a place in the list of nominations to
the military service of the Honourable Company, and the friend who
thus asserts his title to a discovery which probably the doctor
himself does not claim, can scarcely be considered as having acted
wisely. The facts of the case, as they appear to us after close ex-
amination, are as follows : — The first discoverers of the properties of
the gutta wer(», undoubtedly, the Jaknns, or iidand tribes of the
Malay Peninsula, who have l)(»en in the habit of moulding it into
handles for their chopping-knives, swords, and krisses from time
immemorial ; and the first to introduce it to the notice of Europeans
was a Malay of Singapore, who, in the year 1^42, commenced manu-
facturing riding-whips of gutta, which had all the tough and

1843. 403

lastic properties for which the shamboks or rhinoceros-hide whips of
louth Africa are so celebrated. These were made up in bundles
f twenty each^ and sold in considerable number, chiefly to comman-
ers of ships going home, and it is stated that some of them were
diibited in a shop-window in Oxford Street, London, as early as
343. Of course, under these circumstances, the material could scarcely
lil of coming 'under the notice of European residents here, and
I the early part of 1843, Dr. Montgomerie noticed it as likely to
rove useful for surgical purposes in a letter to the Bengal Medical
oard; anc^ in July, 184S, the Calcutta Eiiglv<hvian contained an
:count of a remarkable variety of caoutchouc, sent from Singapore
f Dr. W. Montgomerie, the Senior Surijeon, with a detail of its
roperties and probable uses, which was known as gutta percha or
atta tuban. It excited a great deal of attention. But the first to
itroduce it to the notice of scientific men at home was Dr.
hneida, also an old resident in this Settlement, who took with him
»me specimens, both raw and manufactured, when leaving for Eng-
nd in the latter part of 1842. A portion of this was presented
> the Royal Asiatic Society of London in April of the foUowinj^
?ar, and it was submitted to the inspection of Dr. Royle, a high
ithority on raw produce, but with no other result than a letter of
lanka from the Secretary of the Society to the donor. Subsc-
nently, in 1845, Dr. Montgomerie sent some specimens to the London
ociety of Arts. These were taken in hand by Mr. Solly (also a
>ading member of the Asiatic Society), by whom its singular and
aluable properties Avere ascertained and developed, and the natural
jsult was that the gold medal of the Society was given to Dr.
[ontgomerie, who had presented it. It is singular that the proper-
es for which the gutta was most admired by the aborigines of this
eninsula, namely its applicability for handles to cutting instruments,
•om the firm grip that its solid yet slightly elastic principal gives to
18 holder, seems never to have been developed in Europe, although
ivalry sabres and other Aveapons of the kind, would be much improv-
i by its use." The insulation of submarine cables was an unknoAvn
oantity when that was written. A few years afterwards Logan's
oumal, published in 1847, continued an article on G^utta Percha^
8 botanical description and economic uses, by Dr. Oxley, who
aimed to be the discoverer of one of its most important applications,
hich led to a controversy that has existed ever since. The Free
*ress remarked about it: — '^Our opinion is that both Dr. Little
ad Dr. Oxley are discoverers, and the only advantage on Dr. Oxley's
de consists in his having first promulgated the discovery to the world.
b is probable, however, that if he has been the first to announce
, the merit of the application will generally be given to him. This
Qght to incite Dr. Little, and all other discoverers, not to lose
ny time in future in publishing their discoveries, else they may find
lemselves anticipated by others equally ingenious and more prompt in
iving them publicity.

"It was very surprising that such a useful substance as gutta
hould have remained so long unnoticed, as it appeared that it had
ang been in some limited use by the natives in these parts. Doctor

404 Anecdotal Hiatary of Singapore

Montgomerie, who first introduced it to the notice of Europeans, stated
that so far back as 1822, he had obtained the name of it, at Singapore,
while making inquiries relative to caoutchouc. He had some specimens
brought to him, particularly one called gntta girek, arid was told that
there was another variety called gufta ptircha and sometimes gutta tuhauy
which was said to be harder than the gntta girek ; but none was brought
to him at that time, and he lost sight of the subject, having returned
to the Bengal presidency. On his return to the Straits, he observed at
Singapore, in 1842, the handle of a parang in the hands of a Malay
wood-cutter made of a substance which appeared quite new to him.
This he found was gutta perclta, and it could be easily moulded into
any form by simply dipping it in hot water, while on cooling it re-
gained unchanged its original hardness and rigidity. Dr. Montgomerie
made several experiments which sufficed to convince him of the exceed-
ing value of the substance, but he was prevented by bad health from
prosecuting the enquiry as he wished. He, however, sent some of it to
the Bengal Medical Board strongly recommending its adoption for the
formation of many surgical instruments, and it seemed to have m*^*
the approval of the Board, though whether they made any exper!
ments on it did not appear. Dr. Montgomerie also sent some to
the Society of Arts, London, for investigation and analysis, foi
which he was awarded the Society's gold medal. The Doctor like-
wise ascertained from Bugis traders that it grew at Coti on the
South-eastern coast of the island of Borneo, and Mr. Brooke informed
him that ' the tree is called Naito by the Sarawak people, but that
they were not acquainted with the properties of the sap ; it attains
a considerable size, even as largo as six feet diameter; and was
plentiful in Sarawak and Borneo.' Dr. Montoromerie suggested that
it might be applied in printing for tlie blind, and also in the for-
mation of embossed maps for that unfortunate class, little thinking of
the multitudinous uses to which it was to be applied in a few years."
It is very curious that the same number of the paper which
mentioned it, said also in a small paragraph to fill up a column,
that a proposal had been made to connect the Channel Islands and
Southampton by a submarine telegraph, consisting of one wire by
which a bell could be run by the electric current. In 1851, IVo-
fessor Wheatstone made the first cable with gutta-percha.

The article just mentioned on gutta percha was republished in
many periodicals both in India and Europe, and was acknowledged
to be the best and most complete description that had then been
given. It was then called (hitta Tahan in Malay. The exportation
began in a very small way, but increased very largely in a re-
markably short time, as the Malays found there was a demand for
it, and it began to come in from Sumatra and Borneo as well a
from Johore, Malacca and Pahang. In 1844, one picul and 68 catties on.
were exported. In 1845, 1G9 piculs ; in 1846, 5,364; in 1847, 9,29(
piculs ; and in the first seven months of 1848, 6,768 piculs. The
whole export, with the exception of 1,000 piculs to the United
States, waB 21,600 piculs, valued at §274,190. The price bc^an at
$8 a picul, rose to §24, and in 1848 was §13. In September, 1853, the
Free Frees said that gutta percha had reached the " enormous price ''

1843. 405

of 960 a picul. The "enormous price'' in 1901 was $700 a picul, but
in 1853 snb-marine telegraph cables and bicycle tyres were not in use.
Dr. Montgouierie was succeeded as Senior Surgeon, Straits Settle-
ments in 1846 by a very well known Singaporean, Dr. Thomas Oxley.
He had been for about four years in Malacca where he performed tlie
manifold duties of Police Magistrate, Superintendent of Police, Col-
lector of Assessment and Commissioner of the Court of Requests, for
which as the Frt*" Press remarked, he received the salary of
fit. 20U a month in addition to his allowance as Assistant Surgeon, and
in order to take up the duties had left a remunerative practice in
Singapore, and a great deal of useful work, especially that of
Honorary Secretary of the Kaffles Institution. He wrote many scientific
papers, some of what are in Logan's Journal; namely. On Gutta
Percha (Vol. 1, page 22); On Nutmegs (Vol. 2, page 641 and N. S.
Vol. 1, page 127); On Amoks (Vol. 3, page 532); On Zoology (Vol.
3, page 594); and on Botany (Vol. 4, page 436).

' Dr. Oxley's name is still well known owing to the land which he
Vpfifht from Government being known as Oxley 's Estate. It was then
-I little value, and in the jungle ; and is now one of the most densely
:uilt-on districts near the town. He purchased it on 18th March,
•ftom the East India Company for tts. 2,342-0-3. The area was acres
i73.3.18, for ever. It was bounded by Kiver Valley Road, Tank Road,
Orchard Road and Grange Road ; but it extended along River Valley
Road beyond Grange Road so as to include what is now called Moss
Bank, which contained about 28 acres. The square now contained in
the four roads, and usually called Oxley 's Estate, bounded by Grange
Boad, contains tlierofore about 145 acres. On the top of the hill
itood the house called the Pavilion, still standing, which was built
by Mr. George Gorden Nicol, who lived there until he built Chats-
worth. Dr. Oxley lived there for numy years. Admiral Keppel tells
the story of being there at breakfast one morning Avlien they heard
the children calling out in a side room in an excited way. On
gobgr in to see what it was, the children were seen dancing in
great glee backwards and forwards towards a cobra, which was standing
erect in the corner spitting at them, which they thought great fun, as
they had no idea what it was. Snakes were very common in those
days, now they are very rarely seen. Dr. and Mrs. Oxley left Singa-
\i pore finally for Kngland with five children in the P. and 0. Mail on
^ed 2%d February, 1857, and he died in England in March, 1886.
eet Dr, Oxley had a largo nutmeg plantation on all the high ground

jVc on Oxley Estate, and Mr. G. F. J^avidson in his book said : " Dr.
rf Oxley^s is by far the finest nutmeg garden on the island. He has
^vT ■'•red neither trouble nor expense in bringing his plants forward
i I id has five thousand of the finest nutmeg trees I ever saw.
jthing can be finer than their beautiful position, tasteful outlay
ad luxuriant foliage."

: The cultivation of nutmegs was thought at that time to be a sure

oad to a speedy fortune, and their failure caused very serious loss and

u i(reat discomfiture in Singapore. The trees prospered well and paid very

5? largely^ when a sudden calamity fell upon them which was ascribed

to several Avidely-dilfering reasons. As the matter was of very serious

406

Anecthttal Hiatory of Shiynpnre

consequence to most of the Europcjni rt'sidcnt.s, ini atten
made to collect some detuils of tlie cultivatiun, mid wIum
tions were, and of the reasons to which the total failure \a
In Anji;ust, 1819, Raffles sent from Hun c( mien tn Cult
125 nutmeg plants, 1,000 nutmeg seeds, and 150 clov*
seeds which were planted on Fort Canninu:. The? nut nit
and became the means of extending the cultivation in tl
hood. The ch)ves never caine to much, as in tho tlin
18'to to 1847 only three ])iculs wero produced. In \SiS ilie
twenty nutmeg plantations helojiging to Kuropeans, o
following 18 an account. '^Fhe Natives were sai«l lo hii\
in various places.

Pkoprietors.

A. Guthrie

Dr. Montgoiiieno

Joan, d' Almeida

Dr. Oxley

C. R. Piinsej) -

T. Hewetuon -
C. Caraie
Jo8(; d*Aliaoi(1a
Dr. M. J. Martin
W. W. Wilhins
Dr. Montj^tiiorie
Sir J. d* Almeida
T. Dunman
G. G. Nicoll -

J. I. \Voodford
W. Cuppa^e -

W. Scott

No. <»f
Tkkks.

l.S<M)

1 1,700

1,515
4,:i70
1.02.S
1,5: Jo
l,t>(M»
510

•UN)0
1,<MM)
8,000

i/jno

5,:2oo

Situation

Evert on. m*ar Spi»ttiswou<
Duxtoii, do.

R.ieburn, do.

Oxley Est^ite
Prinsej/is Kstate wlior

House and Mount .Sopii
Mount Klizjiheth
Cairn Hill, Orchard Roa<l
Mount Victoria, Sieplieu':
Institution Hill. River V;
Grange Rt^ad near Tautjl
Sei*antj:()on Road. tliir<l ni
Baudulia.fivc miles. Sera'
Near Bandulia
Sri Mi'uanti. Grau'^e R
• Imilt (' hats worth
ihikit Tiinah Ri>ad, six in
Orchard Road, rii^lit ham

Hill, Railway Bridire ii
Scott's Koa<l. Claymore i

As to the cause of the siTUultJUioous deiitli of the 1
H. Road writes in 1902, referring to this subject; *' N
ished till (ieorgo Windsor Earl (I think it was) went ii
vessel to the Moluccas to bring a select quantity of plant
They were carefully placed in the hold of the Ye>sel, ai
to the various planters on arrival of tlu^ ship in Sing
a short stay in the nurseries, they wen^ planted out anioi
which were already giving ningnificent results, and a
later a disease spread among the ])lantations. Pri
d' Almeida and others were the sufferers and the nutmeg ^
in the Straits. Prinsep's plantation uscmI to yield 22,()UU ni
in six months went down to 2,500, and others in propor
supposed that the rot had been propagated in the g
n(m-aired liold of tlie ship, and our own small plantatit
was wiped out at once. An attempt with sound see
succeed." Mr. George Rappa's opinion is that the ti
because tlie soil did not extend deep enough, and the
away in the hard clay underneath it. Mr. Jl. A. Cri
after a certain time, when the trees had reached a certai
25 to 30 years, white ants attacked the roots and the
trees, and destroyed them.

Ejhh of VoLL'y.i: I.

r
>

7193

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