4tr 31ir1ropolio.

SARAWAK AND LORD DERBY.

An important deputation waited upon the Earl of, Derby on Tuesday. It was introduced by Mr. Crawford, one of the city members, and 'it included six other members of Parliament repreaeatativm of commercial towns, and several men of standing in London, Liverpool, Manchester and Glasgow. The object-of this deputation was practically to urge the Government to make Sarawak a British 'possession. Mr. Crawford stated the views of the deputation. The Chinese rebellion in Sarawak had led Sir James Brooke to believe that the Government must take Sarawak under it protection, or else that he must either abandon it, or accept the offers of foreign powers. Sir James is ill and will probably never return to Sarawak again. His nephew governs in his absence.] Now setting aside the private interests of Sir James, Mr. Crawford rested his ease on public grounds. He showed how Sarawak commanded the China seas, and that if a foreign power possess it that may be detri- mental to our immense commerce. Then the telegraph will soon reach Singapore. How is it to be carried to China unless we have posts of in- tercommunieation ? Again, the mineral resources of Borneo are immense. It can supply coal to any extent for steam navigation, and on that ground alone its retention is of paramount importance. If Sarawak falls into the hands of the Dutch they will establish exclusive trade. Those were the principal grounds, taking.. the commercial view of the case ; and he ventured to ask his lordship aeriously to consider, on the part of the Government, the proposals which the deputation now made, which proposals were two—They asked, in the first instance, either to take the State of Sarawak under British protection—that is formally to say to the world that Sarawak is under the protection of the British Crown, who will resent any attack made upon it; or else, if that view should for any reason not be an agreeable view to the Government that they would be prepared to take a cession of the rights to the Crown. Sir James Brooke's views were directed towards a protectorate ; he was in that condition of health which would render it extremely doubtful whether he would be evsr able to retur. to Sarawak. He had a nephew now in charge of the Government of Sara- wak, who was perfectly competent to discharge all the duties of the Govern- ment there with credit to himself, and with the same amount of satisfaction which Sir James Brooke himself had given. He believed that he expressed the sentiments, not only of Sir James Brooke, but of many gentlemen pre- sent, when he said that the public would prefer seeing Sir James Brooke's name still connected with the administration of affairs in Sarawak, and that he should be placed in a situation made secure by the occasional visit of a British ship of war, or by any other means which the word "protectorate' would imply, and that he should be secured from any external attack, or from insurrection among his own people, which would be the consequence, in a great degree, of the English protectorate being granted to him. The deputation would not be, perhaps, unprepared to hear that political con- siderations may suggest themselves to some minds as to the inexpediency of such a step being taken. As to the power the British Government had of adopting Samwak, that question was set at rest by the decided view that was taken by Lord Aberdeen at the time that correspondence was passing between himself and the Dutch Minister. They conceived that the questions as to the position of the Dutch sad English interests were thoroughly con- sidered at the time; the Dutch then stated the utmost of their demands, and those demands were unequivocally set aside by the English Govern- ment; and they were of opinion that the view which Lord Aberdeen then took was not only a right view, but entirely consistent with the policy and interests of this country. Mr. Turner said that the mercantile community of Liverpool SIC? opinion that the maintenance of Sarawak is of vital importance to their trade. In fact its position commands the China trade. The Dutch are extremely anxious to get it into their possession. Mr. Thomas Fairborn' spoke for Manchester, and showed what Sir James Brooke has done for Sarawak. At the time of Sir James Brooke's settlement the town of Sarawak was not worthy of the name. It was a straggling village, with a tribe of about 1000 or 1200; at the present time there is an ordinarj. town of 25,000 habitants, courts of justice, mosques, and other matters indicative of ci zation. In 1847 the trade was very small ; then the export to Singargi did not exceed in value 25,000/. to 30,000/. In 1857, during the loPfe °

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ten years, the value of the exports has increased to 300,0001., and the iiite rests involved are very considerable. There are close upon 100 English sr!' and women living under Sir James Brooke's Government; but theBrno subjects amount to between 300 and 400 people. If Sir James Brooke re: tired from that country it cannot stand alone. The interests involved boo, as regards the UV.* of hundreds of fellow countrymen and the amount 01

of the protection th,rown over Sir James ilrooke

'„aet eaves ear- on hitt is very serious. awing a P° it4itiehree er't ' mr. °ewe*, o n personal knewiedgec described the, coal- fields of Saravehle—imon! the value of which Lord Derby tried to throw ; Jet este:see Lord Oeslefiele. eel& that if the British protectorate were established the °Lanese would return and give the supply of labour necessary to the veering of the'66iintiy. Sir James Brooke has been recognized and re- „ace by the Engliede Gtivernment. Ought he and others to be •dee ore ? If they ,wereeittecked by a foreign power, could they he de- serted: Sir Janaceseliroolee .eanuot hand over the tertrryto feeeign without the consent of the Government, will fey give that cep- power

seat ?

One point *is not touched upon very much, which was, if we really are pseitioflnot lo, take peeemesion :of that colony, we are bound to, give -wee kind of eipport t pue own subjects, who, on the faith of what had been done, have embarkee their capital, and to a certain extent, their lives in that district, and he would venture to impress upon hie Lordship the po- etical importance of a coal-field of that kind.

Lord Derby desired to speak well of Sir James, Brooke, but under-

takings such as his are extremely incouvanient. Sir James Brooke, a emcee private individualr'kelthOitt ceinieulting his government, entered into a treaty by which he obtained Serliwa,k, If "every Euglieh sub- ject ” acted, in this way, and then called upon the 'Government for pro-

lection, it would entail endless difficulties and expenses!

With regard to the opinion that seemed to be entertained as to the tieizure of Sarawak by the Dutch hrthe event of its not being eiLken into the pos- session of the British etowneheetther thought thaVthenegetiation to evhich Mr. Crawford referred between Lord Aberdeen and the Duteirgovertunent some yeah ago; and the treaty whieh had been concluded with tho Sultan . agonies), did eway-with all apprehension of any exclusive jurisdiction being exercieed bee Holland ; and, whatever the importance of :different .poiseseions might be, impoLeV9f feet that country which had theetommand of the sea would always have the command of the trade and commerce of those districts. Lord Derby did not deny. the merits of Sir James Brooke, and he did not deny the advantages whicii he had confence -on Sarawak ; but he very greatly doubted Sir James Brooke's patter to make over—certainly not Co the Dutch, but to mahe over to the British Government an absolute, entire, and unconditional severeignty of that territory which he had been permitted to govern. Moreover, the question was one of very great difficulty and doubt whether, apart from the personal influence of Sir James Brooke, the settlement of Sarawak was one of the importance which the gentlemen pre- sent seemed to attribute to it, and of coarse that very much shook his opinion upon the subject. Bute certainly, hitherto it had not been a thriving settle- ment. It had not oonferred very great eeinmercial advantages, although tberebati been souse -increase in the exports. tinder the present Mecum- • stances it seemed to him very doubtful whether the settlement was one which it evoeld ha furt.lie iutereat of the Government to take into their hands, multiplying and increasing the colonial dependencies of the country, which were already too numerous; every addition to which caused fresh expenditure, an expenditure required both for the local government, and for military and naval forces to protect it. So that he looked with very great jealousy on increasing the number of our dependencies or new settlements. They were not additions of strength but of weakness, and all these consider- ations had been very carefully inquired into by the Queen's Government. They did not think there was any apprehension whatever with regard to the ease of the Dutch. lie must say that.at preseat they were not fully satis- fied with regard to the commercial advantages of Labuan and Sarawak, and the various propositions put before them by Sir Sautes Brooke appeared to them to involve a choice of difficulty, inconvenience, and embarrasament. Of all the proposals which had been made, that which was the least objectionable would be the absolute surrender of Sarawak to the British crown as it colo- nial possession ; but, then there must be taken into consideration whether the acceptance of that as a colonial possession was worth the price to be paid for it in the first instance and the expense of maintaining it afterwards, because they must bear in mind, although it was very true that Sir James Brooke, by his personal influence, might have been enabled to improve that settlement, and keep up good relations with the native tribes, it did not follow that the same consequences would ensue if the settlement were made over to the British crown, and thrown open to British enterprise and colo- noization. And all experience showed them, and Sir James Brooke would be the first to admit it himself, although he had been able to make the revenue of the settlement pay for the government—the revenue bring about 15,000/. a year,—that, if it were handed over to the British Government, twice that sum would not maintain the local Government. If they pressed Inns (Lord Derby) for an immediate answer' the Government would take into consideration any suggestions that came from gentlemen of experience and knowledge, such as themselves but he must say his own opinion and that of his colleagues had been, and was up to that moment, adverse to the adoption of any propositions which had been made to them by Sir James Brooke. He would not say that decision had been taken finally, but cer- tainly at the present moment he was not in condition to eay that the Government were prepared to accept any of those propositions, nor did he think it likely any of those propositions would be accepted. With regard to Sir James Brooke, he did not conceive he had a claim upon the Govern- ment in respect of what he had done for his own perpescs and objects; his was a half political and half commercial speculation. Lord Derby did not thine he had a claim Upon the country in consequence of the steps he had taken ; it must be a matter of pure balance of the advantages or disadvan- tages of taking or not taking this as a settlement, even supposing, under the terms of his engagement, Sir James Brooke had the power, without the consent of the Sultan of Borneo, to make over a sovereignty which he did not, he thought, at the present moment possess. It was manifest, unless he bad entire authority to hand it over, it was not in the power of the Crown to accept a feudal tenure, and he believed Sir James Brooke bad.nothing more than that description of feudal tenure. At the present time the views of the Government were not favourable to the adoption of any of the pro- positions laid before them.

Lord Goderioh—" I did not mean to lay it down that any British sub- ject can rest a claim upon the rewards given him."

Mr. Fairbairn said he should be sway to leave the room without con- firming the remarks of Lord Goderieh and endeavouring to remove the erroneous impression on his Lordship's mind. Sir James Brooke never asked the protection of England nor sought her interference in his come- trY, until as a Consequence of the honoura which were showered upon ehhe, and of the shield of apparent protection which was thrown over him uy the English Government of the day, British subjects were induced to embark their lives and their money in Sarawak, and thus placed upon eem responsibilities too heavy for a private gentleman to bear. Mr. 'puller said the English government did recognise the authority of the ;aniwak courts of law over British subjects. There was that kind of ormal acknowledgment of his position. - Lord Derliyesaid he etipposed there evaa, over any British jf,LIbit 'settling there. They consented that he should exeteme the stiene

an- thôrity over the British stibjeete 'at he exercised orer the native Po_pie- theism, which authority he derived from the powers conferred upon hint by We Sultan of Borneo._ , The-Sultan gave him authority, and-they, QZ1 their. pare 80,41 if Beitisli subjects went to Sarawek eheymest isoneeder themselves under Sir Dunes Brooke and subject eo the laws of the place. They could not hear causes of complaint on the part of British- siibjetts if they chose to go there.

Sir Dalrymple Elphinstone thought . We main point was the geetsia- ethical position. The whole ceunperee that paseed through the Straits of Singapore must of neeeesity pans along the coast of Borneo ; and if there should 'be a wae, atid miveteers 'were to.getieto that sea, and these coal-mines were in the possession of any other power, then our owe- movie would be cut up. , . _•

The Earl of Derhy--" That ilepeede IVO our naval superiority."