766 Lieut. -General The Hon. Sir Andrew Clarice [May 27, 



sight, and the vigorous initiative of men like Baffles. The directors 

 of the Honourable East India Company in London, anxious only for 

 immediate pecuniary returns, and Lord Hastings, absorbed in the 

 local affairs of India, failed absolutely to perceive the eventual 

 necessity for a British high road to the Far East. That Malacca was 

 occupied and tenaciously held, and that Singapore became a British 

 possession, was mainly, if not wholly, due to Stamford Raffles.* 



The enormous importance of the Straits Settlements to-day, as 

 the key to the great ocean highway which stretches up to the Gulf 

 of Pe-chi-li, is abundantly recognised. But for the possession of 

 this key, what would now be our position in the China seas ? Yet 

 the man who saw into the dim future and who strove, as some strive 

 for personal distinction or for wealth, to gain and to keep this 

 priceless j)ossession, received scant recognition and few honours from 

 the nation to whose interests he gave his life. Almost may he be 

 said to have died of a broken heart. It is only now, when the 

 splendid fabric of the Empire is beginning for the first time to be 

 understood, that tardy reparation is accorded to the memory of one 

 of its great founders. 



All important as was the work which Eaffles accomplished, his 

 aspirations were realised only in part. The surrender of the Dutch 

 islands was an act which no other nation in the world would have 

 countenanced. Those foreign critics who aifcct to regard the growth 

 of the Empire as the result of a policv of unexampled rapacity, have not 

 taken the trouble to read history. The total extent of territory which 

 we have abandoned is enormous, and the Dutch colonies have been 

 twice handed back to Holland. The action was magnanimous, but 

 the progress of the world has certainly not benefited. The restora- 

 tion of Java, against which Raffles strove in vain, gave back the 

 natives to a rule in which little consideration of their interests or 

 their rights found place. Sumatra, which, in British hands, would 

 long ago have been a thriving colony populated by a contented 

 race, has been the scene of continuous warfare. Raffles suggested 

 an alliance with Siam, which, if then carried out, would have 

 saved this interesting country from partial dismemberment, and 

 from the menace which still hangs darkly over it. His idea of a 

 confederacy of Malay States has been partially, at least, realised 

 in the Malay Peninsula, where it is my greatest pride to have 

 inaugurated the system which has led to jjrosperity and unexampled 

 development of commerce. 



The great guiding principle of Raffles' policy was to understand 

 the native character, and to govern as far as possible by the agency 

 of native institutions. This is a golden rule, occasionally forgotten, 

 but essential to dealing with Eastern races. 



The period covered by the official life of Sir Stamford Raffles was 



* In tliis sketch I have purposely omitted to mention other names than that 

 of Raffles, in order to avoid undue lengtheninc; of the narrative. 



