174 MEMORIES OF MY LIFE 



originator of the idea of making Singapore a free 

 port, and had trouble in convincing Sir Stamford 

 that it would be wise to do this. He became its first 

 Governor, and the descriptions he gave of his multi- 

 farious occupations in that new post, with a very 

 small staff, were amusing. He established a news- 

 paper and wrote much of it himself. The settlement 

 quickly grew in size and wealth, and had attained much 

 importance by the time he retired. He compiled 

 the first Malay Dictionary and Grammar. Having 

 failed in England to secure a seat in Parliament, he 

 engaged heart and soul in Ethnology and Geography, 

 spoke very frequently at meetings, always with reason, 

 and he wrote many ethnological papers, all good, but 

 perhaps few of first rank. He was a very kind and 

 helpful friend to me. He caught his death illness 

 through handing ladies to their carriage on the 

 occasion of one of his Soirees, on a bitter night. He 

 died believing in his delirium that he was speaking 

 at the Ethnological Society (since merged into the 

 Anthropological), to which he was devoted. 



Mr. George Bentham (i 800-1 884), the botanist, 

 was a great friend of Mr. Crawfurd, and he became a 

 kind friend to myself and to my wife. He was son of 

 General Bentham, who obtained one of the highest 

 positions as constructor of ships in the Russian Navy, 

 and he was nephew to Jeremy Bentham. Mr. George 

 Bentham was the companion in youth of John Stuart 

 Mill, of whom he had much to tell. In his early 

 manhood he took to logic, and wrote an important 

 paper, in which he pointed out that the distinctiveness 

 of a certain. logical operation in common use had been 

 overlooked and never received a name. I myself am 



