68 



BORNEO, NORTH. 



land demonstration he was accused of plotting 

 it, and after the June insurrection the charge 

 was revived, and the Assembly voted to pro- 

 scribe him. He fled to England, where he 

 lived in exile until 1870. He corresponded 

 with French newspapers, and continued his 

 " History of the French Revolution," the first 

 volumes of which had appeared before the 

 February Revolution, during his long banish- 

 ment. In 1865 he married Christina Groh, an 

 accomplished Englishwoman. His " Letters on 

 England " were collected and published. He 

 wrote "Historical Revelations" to correct 

 Lord Normanby's account of the Revolution 

 of 1848. After his return to France, Louis 

 Blanc was no longer the extremist who pro- 

 posed to reform society in 1848. He was elect- 

 ed a member of the National Assembly in Feb- 

 ruary, 1871. The socialists looked to him for 

 a leader, but when he became a follower of 

 Thiers his political influence was gone, but not 

 the reverence with which the radicals regard- 

 ed their teacher. 



Louis Blanc was an unimpressive orator, 

 being a small man of juvenile appearance and 

 a thin voice. In conversation he was enter- 

 taining, and mild and agreeable in manners. 

 It is reported that when his attempted assas- 

 sination occurred, on August 15, 1839, his 

 younger brother, who became distinguished as 

 an art critic (see OBITUARIES), had a vivid pre- 

 sentiment of the scene, an incident on which 

 Dumas founded the play of "The Corsican 

 Brothers." 



BORNEO, NORTH. Borneo, the largest isl- 

 and in the world after Australia, is one of the 

 Malay Archipelago, and lies under the equator, 

 with the 114th meridian of eastern longitude 

 passing through its center. The northeast cor- 

 ner of the island, a tract about 18,000 square 

 miles in area, with a coast-line of about 500 

 miles, and containing two natural harbors 

 equal to any in the world, has been brought 

 practically under the dominion of the British 

 crown by the intermediation of a commercial 

 company called the British North Borneo Com- 

 pany. 



Spain has long laid claim to the sovereignty of 

 this portion of Borneo, together with the islands 

 of the Sooloo Archipelago. In 1836 the Sul- 

 tan of Sooloo made his submission to the Span- 

 ish crown by a treaty. By another act, signed 

 in 1851, he acknowledged all his territories to 

 be integral parts of the Spanish dominions. In 

 1849 Sir James Brooke attempted to conclude 

 a treaty with the Sultan, but in deference to 

 the Spanish protests it was never ratified. In 

 1870 the Sultan of Sooloo rebelled, and a des- 

 ultory war was carded on until 1877, during 

 which Spain declared a blockade and stopped 

 some German and British vessels. A diplo- 

 matic dispute ensued, which ended in the sig- 

 nature of a protocol waiving the right to ob- 

 struct commerce. The mooted question of 

 sovereignty was purposely left unmentioned. 

 In 1878 Spain reduced the rebellious vassal, 



and exacted a new declaration of allegiance, 

 recognizing her sovereignty over the Sooloo 

 Archipelago and its dependencies. This time 

 the British Government saw fit to enter a pro- 

 test against the Spanish protectorate. 



In the mean time, while the Sultan of Sooloo 

 was in rebellion against his sovereign, Baron 

 Overbeck, an Austrian, with financial means 



Provided by Alfred Dent, a tea-merchant of 

 hanghai, had obtained from this potentate 

 and the Sultan of Brunei a formal cession of 

 sovereign and proprietary rights over all North 

 Borneo. The agent of the adventurous British 

 merchant had first bought out an American 

 company which held a commercial concession 

 from the Sultan of Brunei. He then acquired 

 from the latter all his rights in the territory 

 for the sum of $5,000. The ruler de facto, and, 

 in virtue of grants from the Sultan of Brunei, 

 de jure, was the Sultan of Sooloo. Overbeck 

 went to him and received, six months before 

 he capitulated to the Spaniards, the cession of 

 all his domains in Borneo, in consideration of 

 an annual payment of a few thousand dollars. 

 The bestowal of exclusive privileges would be 

 in violation of treaty rights secured to citizens 

 of the United States. Accordingly, the Sultan 

 of Brunei was called to account by the Ameri- 

 can Government, and replied that Dent and 

 Overbeck's cession was subject to the treaty 

 stipulations. 



Dent applied to the British Government for 

 a charter of incorporation in 1878. Lord Salis- 

 bury, in objecting to the assertion of sover- 

 eign rights in North Borneo by Spain, dis- 

 claimed any intention to establish British rule 

 in Borneo. The Government of the Nether- 

 lands protested against the adoption of the acts 

 of the company by the British Government, 

 because a good portion of the territory lay 

 within the boundaries of the Dutch dominions, 

 and because a treaty, made in 1824, precluded 

 England from assuming sovereign powers in 

 these regions. 



The charter was granted by the succeeding 

 Government in November, 1881. By the terms 

 of the charter the company can not transfer the 

 benefits of their grants without the sanction 

 of the British Government. They are bound 

 to discourage and, if practicable, abolish by de- 

 grees the institution of slavery. The appoint- 

 ment of the chief officer of the company in the 

 island is made subject to the approval of the 

 crown authorities. The cultivation and sale 

 of opium are subjected to certain limitations. 



The authority transferred by the two Sultans 

 to Dent and his associate, and vested by them 

 in the joint-stock company, is of the most ab- 

 solute and unlimited character. They were 

 constituted the rulers of these wide domains, 

 and proprietors of the soil, with the power of 

 life and death over the 150,000 inhabitants, the 

 rights to coin money, to levy an army, and to 

 impose taxes and customs. They possess these 

 sovereign rights under the titles of Maharajah 

 of Sabah, or North Borneo, Rajah of Gaya 



