037 



BROOKE, Sill JAMES. 



RICHARD. 



933 



* BROOKE, SIR JAMES, Rajah of Sarawak, was born ill 1803, at 

 Bandel in Zillah Hooghly, Bengal. His father had beeu in the civil 

 service of the East India Company in Bengal, and having returned to 

 England, resided at Bath. He obtained a cadetship for his son, and 

 sent him out to India. Soon after his arrival there he was despatched 

 to the army, then engaged in the Birmese war. He received a severe 

 wound at Rungpoor, in consequence of which he was obliged to return 

 to England on furlough. When convalescent he made a tour on the 

 continent, and afterwards returned to India; but, owing to the vessel 

 in which he first embarked having been shipwrecked OQ the coast of 

 the Isle of Wight, and the delay arising from his having to procure 

 another passage, the term of his leave of absence had expired before 

 he joined the army. His appointments were thus forfeited, and 

 certain formalities were necessary to reinstate him, rather than under- 

 go which he chose to quit the service of the East India Company. In 

 1 830 he embarked on a voyage to China, and while sailing among the 

 islands of the Indian archipelago seems to have first conceived the 

 project of an expedition to those seas. After his return to England, 

 his father having died and left him a considerable property, he pur- 

 chased a yacht called the ' Royalist,' of 140 tons burden, which, being 

 attached to the Royal Yacht Squadron, was entitled in foreign seas to 

 the same privileges as a ship of war. 



For about three years Mr. Brooke tested his vessel and practised his 

 crew in the eeas of Europe, especially the Mediterranean; he then 

 departed for the eastern seas, leaving the river Thames October 27, 

 1838, in the ' Royalist,' which was then provided with four boats, was 

 armed with six 6-pounders, besides swivels and small arms, and had a 

 crew of twenty men. After some delay at Singapore and elsewhere, 

 he proceeded to Sarawak, a province of Borneo, on the north-westeru 

 coast, fur the ostensible purpose of taking in a cargo of antimony-ore, 

 of witch there are several mines in the island. Muda Hassim, muternal 

 uncle of Omar All, the sultan of Borneo, was then engaged iu a war 

 with some of the native tribes, the Dyaks, subjects of the Sultan of 

 Borneo, who were in a state of insurrection in the vicinity of Sarawak. 

 Mr. Brooke's crew had received an addition of some Javanese seamen, 

 and he undertook to lend the aid of himself and his men to the 

 troops of Muda Hassim. A battle was fought : European fire-arms 

 and skill prevailed, and the insurgents surrendered. For this suc- 

 cessful result, and for other services given or promised, Muda Hassim 

 conferred on Mr. Brooke the title of Rajah and Governor of Sarawak, 

 which, after some show of reluctance and considerable delay, was 

 confirmed by the sultan, September 21, 1841 the previous governor, 

 whose name was Macota, having beeu compelled to resign. 



Rajah Brooke forthwith set about the reform of his government, the 

 formation of a code of laws, and the amelioration of the condition of 

 his people ; and also obtained the co-operation of Captain Keppel, Sir 

 Thomas Cochrane, and other commanders of British ships of war, in 

 certain expeditions for the extirpation of piracy. The results of these 

 expeditions were the destruction of a large number of persons said to 

 be pirates, and the payment by the British government of a large sum 

 of money, more than 20,000i, as 'head-money,* to those who were 

 engaged in the affairs. Also, on the charge of having murdered some 

 of his relations, and perhaps other charges, the capital city of the 

 sultan, called Brun<5, was bombarded and stormed, and his army and 

 himself put to flight. One of the commanders engaged thus speaks 

 of the victory : " The sultan, his boasted army, and all the inhabit- 

 ants had fled ; and as the full moon rose, she threw her rays over a 

 city which, having flourished 500 years under Mohammedan rule, now 

 fell before the arms of a Christian power." After due submission, the 

 sultan was reinstated. 



Rajah Brooke, haviug accomplished these successful operations, 

 returned to England, where he was received with much favour by 

 the government, received the degree of D.C.L. from Oxford hi 1847, 

 and was created a Knight Commander of the Bath by the queen in 

 1843. Thd small island of Labuan, near Sarawak, containing coal, 

 which is now of great value in those seas, was purchased from the 

 Sultan of Borneo. It was constituted a British colony, of which Sir 

 James Brooke was appointed governor and commander-in-cbief, with 

 a salary of 2000Z. a year, and when he returned to Sarawak a British 

 ship of war was appointed to convey him there. 



The late Mr. Hume, and other members of the House, of Commons, 

 brought charges against Sir James Brooke of having, under the pre- 

 tence of extirpating piracy, destroyed a large number of unoffending 

 natives, and expressed their belief that the chief stimulus to those 

 employed in these expeditions was the head-money. Sir James Brooke 

 returned again to England, chiefly for the purpose of rebutting these 

 charges and justifying his own conduct. There was much conflicting 

 evidence, and the matters were finally referred to a Royal Com- 

 mission at Singapore, which has declared the charges to be unsub- 

 stantiated. Meantime, the head-money has been abolished, and Sir 

 James Brooke has been superseded in the governorship of Labuan. 

 He still retains his title and power ag Rajah of Sarawak, is com- 

 missioner and consul-general to the sultan and independent chiefs, and 

 is lessee of the valuable antimony-mines at Itintulu. Portions of his 

 journals have been published by Captain Mundy and Captain Keppel, 

 and also ' The Private Letters of Sir James Brooke, K.C.B., from 

 1838 to the Present Time, Edited by J. C. TempUr, Esq.,' 3 vols. 

 or. 8ro, 1853. 



BROTHERS, RICHARD. The birth and early yeais of Brothers 

 are not well known; nor indeed would the events of his after life 

 deserve to be remembered, if his ravings had not exercised a consider- 

 able influence on his contemporaries, and thus connected his history 

 with that of the superstition of his day. 



Richard Brothers held for several years the rank of lieutenant in 

 the British navy, which he quitted iu 1789. A controversy with the 

 Lords of the Admiralty about his half-pay first developed that character 

 of his mind which ultimately ripened into a complete delusion. With 

 respect to taking a certain oath in order to qualify himself to receive 

 his pay, he sent a well-written letter to Richard Stevens, Esq., of the 

 Admiralty, dated September 9th, 1790, which appeared iu the 'Public 

 Advertiser ' at the time. In this letter he exposes the dishonesty of 

 compelling a man to swear that he takes a certain oath voluntarily, to 

 which he may have an unconquerable objection. The absurdity of 

 this practice he made so apparent that the Earl of Chatham had the 

 word voluntarily erased from the form of oath. This however did not 

 satisfy Brothers, who wished to be relieved from taking the oath 

 altogether, an indulgence which he failed in obtaining. 



In consequence of declining to take the oath, he was very near dying 

 of hunger, and was ultimately taken to a workhouse. These privations, 

 as well as many others which he afterwards endured, prove that the 

 man was no impostor, but that he deceived others no more than he 

 did himself, being firmly persuaded that his mission was from Heaven. 

 He affirms, in a book which he published in two parts, entitled ' A 

 Revealed Knowledge of the Prophecies and Times, &c. London, 

 printed iu the year of Christ 1794 ' (which was eagerly bought by all 

 classes, both iu town and country) "It is from visions and revelations, 

 and through the Holy Ghost, that I write this book for the benefit of 

 all men ; therefore to say it is false, that I am mad, am an impostor, 

 have a devil, or am out of my senses, constitutes the daugerous sin of 

 blasphemy." He published a second part of this strange production 

 in the course of the same year. He also published iu 1795 an 

 'Exposition of the Trinity.' 



From the year 1790 Brothers dates his first call. On May 12, 1792 

 he sent letters to the king, ministers of state, and speaker of the 

 House of Commons, stating that he was commanded by God to go to 

 the parliament house on the 17th of that month, and inform the 

 members, for their safety, that the time was come for the fulfilment 

 of the 7th chapter of DanieL Accordingly, on the day named, he pre- 

 sented himself at the door of the House of Commons, and, according 

 to his own account, met with a very scurvy reception. 



Having some time after prophesied the death of the king, the 

 destruction of the monarchy, and that the crown should be delivered 

 up to him, he was committed to Newgate, where, if his statement be 

 true, he was treated with great cruelty. But imprisonment did not 

 damp his ardour. On his liberation, he continued what he denominated 

 his ministry with renewed energy, and obtained many followers. 

 While the more rational part of the community were laughing at the 

 prophet, there were some persons of liberal education, and of good 

 ability, who maintained the divinity of his mission. Among these, 

 Nathaniel Brassey Halhed, Esq., M.P. for Lymington, and Mr. Sharp, 

 an eminent engraver, were the most zealous : they published numerous 

 pamphlets and testimonials in his favour ; and others to the same 

 effect appeared by Bryan, Wright, Mr. Weatherall, an apothecary, and 

 a Mrs. Green. Among other things, Halhed bore testimony to his 

 prophesying correctly the death of the three emperors of Germany. 

 Among other strange letters which Brothers published was one 

 entitled, 'A Letter from Mr. Brothers to Miss Cott, the recorded 

 daughter of King David, and future Queen of the Hebrews : with an 

 Address to the Members of his Britannic Majesty's Council," 1798. 



Such an effect had these and other similar writings on people of 

 weak understanding, that many persons sold their goods, and prepaied 

 themselves to accompany the prophet to his New Jerusalem, which 

 was to be built on both sides of the River Jordan, and where he was 

 to arrive in the year 1795. Jerusalem was then to become the capital 

 of the world; and in the year 1798, when the complete restoration 

 of the Jews was to take place, he was to be revealed as the prince and 

 ruler of the Jews, and the governor of all nations, for which office 

 he appears to have had a greater predilection than for that of president 

 of the council, or chancellor of the exchequer, which he said God 

 offered for his acceptance. 



Taken altogether, the writings of Brothers are a curious jumble of 

 reason and insanity, with no small number of contradictions, as we 

 might readily suppose. The following are some of the prophecies of 

 Brothers, stated in the order in which they were published. Many of 

 them have been either totally or partially fulfilled, a circumstance 

 not at all surprising when we consider that they chiefly refer to the 

 eventful period immediately subsequent to the French Revolution. 

 As Brothers also gave himself considerable latitude iu his prophecies, 

 and prophesied very largely, the real wonder would be if none of them 

 had beeu realised. 



About July 1792, in letters to the king, queen, and ministers of 

 state, he prophesied the violent death of Louis XVI., and at different 

 times that the then Empress of Russia should die by the hands of 

 man; the French -Republic would be established for ever ; the King 

 of England's power was to cease, and his crown to be delivered up to 

 the prophet. Rome acd Venice were to fall under the power of the 



