1898.] on Sir Stamford Baffles and the Malay States. 755 



of a strong man, struggling, under a weight of difficulties not of his 

 own making, and of wrongs that he had never merited, to the goal of 

 triumphant achievement, appeals to you who may have never seen the 

 roadstead of Singapore, with the great ocean steamers passing east- 

 wards and westwards at pistol-shot from our batteries, you will 

 understand how much greater is the hold this theme has estab- 

 lished on the mind of one who had the honour to hold practically 

 the same post as that which Eafifies filled, and who was privileged 

 to carry out in the Malay States the wise and permanent prin- 

 ciples of his liberal and large-minded policy. It is that association 

 of place, principle and policy that has induced me to accede to the 

 request to address you on the subject of Stamford Raffles and his 

 work. 



Before I draw your attention to the public side of Sir Stamford 

 Raffles' career I will sketch for you, as briefly as may be, that part of 

 his private life which preceded his attainment of official prominence 

 in the capacity of Lieutenant-Governor of the temporarily subjected 

 island of Java. Born in the year 1781, with every reason to believe 

 that his family was of gentle origin although its fortunes had for 

 some generations been obscure, young Stamford Raffles was compelled 

 by the necessities of his parents to accept temporary employment in 

 the Secretary's office of the India House. Here he did so well that 

 be gained the approbation of his chief, Mr. William Ramsay, long 

 Secretary to the East India Company, who at the earliest opportunity 

 brought him on to the establishment. During these years young 

 Raffles, after the long hours of his office, did everything in his power 

 to supply the defects of an imperfect education, burning the midnight 

 oil, or to be more exact the midnight candle, in pursuit of knowledge, 

 despite his mother's protest against his extravagance. He had his 

 reward, for early in the year 1805, before he reached his twenty- fourth 

 birthday, he was appointed Assistant- Secretary at Penang with 

 a large salary. He owed this sudden rise to the good opinion 

 Mr. Ramsay had formed of him, and to the general belief in the office 

 as to his exceptional ability, of which opinion the Chairman, Sir Hugh 

 Inglis, made himself the spokesman. It has now been clearly shown 

 that Mr. Ramsay had no other motive in securing this appointment 

 for his young friend than the desire to advance a deserving man, and 

 that when he said the departure of his assistant was " like losing a 

 limb " he intended no exaggeration and spoke from his heart. When 

 Raffles got this appointment he naturally bethought himself of getting 

 married and of securing a partner during his exile. Many years must 

 elapse before he could again set foot in England, and it was only 

 natural, as he said, to secure one " bosom friend, one companion to 

 soothe the adverse blasts of misfortune and gladden the sunshine of 

 prosperity." He found this lady in Olivia Fancourt, the widow of an 

 Assistant-Surgeon in the Madras Establishment. Her maiden name 

 was Devenish ; she had resided in India when her first husband had 

 died, and during the nine years of her second married life in the East 



