1898.] on Sir Stamford Raffles and the Malay States. 765 



that ambiguous instruction has perhaps grown the administration of 

 symj)athy, consideration and mutual respect which obtains between 

 the Malay people and the British officers in the services of the native 

 State Governments. I do not for a moment desire to minimise the 

 great work accomplished in Egypt ; but I claim for the achievements 

 in the Malay Peninsula the praise which is due to greater success 

 under more difficult circumstances. 



Not by wars involving the slaughter of native races, not by 

 drafts upon the imperial exchequer, not by the agency of chartered 

 companies, which necessarily seek first their own interests, has the 

 development of the Malay States been attained. Their present 

 peace and marvellous advance in prosperity have been due to a 

 sympathetic administration, which has dealt tenderly with native 

 prejudices, and sought to lead upwards a free people instead of 

 forcibly driving a subject race. 



The example and success of Stamford Eaffles should encourage 

 us at the present juncture. He showed us what could be done by 

 courage, confidence and a clear mind. The progress of our commer- 

 cial and political power in the East brought us into collision with 

 two formidable European rivals, the French and the Dutch. The 

 former were vanquished by Clive on the mainland of India, the latter 

 were finally crushed after an incessant struggle of two centuries by 

 the founding of Singapore. The credit for the latter achievement is 

 as clearly due to Eaffles alone as the victory of Plassey was to Clive, 

 and I myself hold the opinion, to which I may add I gave expression 

 before the publication of Mr. Boulger's biography, that of these two 

 great Englishmen Stamford Eaffles was the greater. 



Eaffles died a poor man. No thought of accumulating a vast 

 fortune, or of seeking money as a means to power and patronage, 

 appealed to his mind. His ambitions were satisfied with work done 

 for the future of the empire. This was the true imperialist. 



I have said enough to draw your attention to the varied, arduous 

 and ill-appreciated career of Stamford Eaffles. I have touched on 

 the magnitude of his work and the difficulties under which it was 

 accomplished. Injured and traduced during his life, he has been 

 neglected by later generations. But his work will endure as long 

 as the British Empire. It was achieved at a moment of depression 

 such as the present. The game seemed lost, the Government was in- 

 different and short-sighted, the enemy was up and doing, the margin 

 of opportunity was narrowed to the smallest compass, cowardice or 

 hesitation controlled our action, yet one man was able to turn the 

 bitter draught of defeat into the ambrosia of victory. So will it be 

 again if our public servants keep before them the inspiring example 

 of Stamford Eaffles. 



The life of Stamford Eaffles is full of great lessons of vital 

 import to all those to whom the British Empire is alike an object of 

 national pride and of grave responsibility. That Empire was not built 

 up by the genius of statesmen, but by the patient labours, the fore- 



