Foundation of the Settlement of Singa'pore. 139 



Sir Stamford, having previously examined several other 

 localities, ultimately selected Singapore, and on 6th February, 

 1819, the English flag was hoisted on this solitary island, 

 thus unsuspectedly inaugm^ating the beginning of a new era 

 for the sea-faring world ! At last, in 1824, came the Treaty 

 of Cerum, by which Holland withdrew her pretensions in 

 favour of England, and Singapore became an inalienable 

 possession of the British Crown for a sum of 60,000 Spanish 

 dollars paid over to its previous owner the Sultan of Djohore, 

 together with a life-rent of 24,000 dollars annually payable 

 to the same Malay chief. The slaves on the island were set 

 at liberty, slavery was entirely abolished, and Singapore pro- 

 claimed a Free Port. The importance of Singapore as a site 

 for a colony had already been pointed out and justified a 

 century since by Captain Alexander Hamilton, who visited 

 these seas at the beginning of the 18th century, and in a work 

 entitled " A New Account of the East Indies," describes most 

 circumstantially his stay at Djohore in 1703 on his voyage to 

 China. In that work Hamilton narrates how the Sultan of 

 Djohore wished to make him a present of the island, and how 

 he declined this proposal with the remark that this island 

 could be of no use to a private man, but would be eminently 

 suitable for a colony and an emporium of trade,* because the 

 winds were at all seasons favourable for egress from and 

 entrance into these waters on every side. A hundred years 



* Captain Alexander Hamilton's " New Account of the East Indies, 1688 — 

 1723." Edinburgh, 1727. 8vo, Vol. II., p. 63. 



