SIR THOMAS STAMFORD RAFFLES. 23 



ing the expedition is attributed to Mr Raffles. The 

 services which he had performed were so highly 

 judged of by Lord Minto, the performance of any 

 trust to be reposed in him was so confidently anti- 

 cipated that he at once appointed Mr Raffles 

 Lieutenant-Governor of Java and its dependencies. 

 " The charge was of the most extensive, arduous, 

 and responsible nature, comprising on the island of 

 Java alone, a population of six millions, divided in- 

 to thirty-six residencies, under powerful chiefs, who 

 had long been desirous of throwing off the European 

 yoke, and who were by no means disposed to sub- 

 mit quietly to the rule of their new governors." 



Lord Minto remained in the island for six weeks 

 superintending the new arrangements, after whicn 

 the whole charges were resigned to the care of Mr 

 Raffles, who now removed to Buitenzorg, the seat 

 of government, distant from Batavia about forty 

 miles. For some time his cares and duties were so 

 heavy, that every moment was required for their 

 fulfilment, but ere long the pursuits of natural history 

 and antiquities began to fill his moments of leisure. 

 In a letter to his first and old friend Mr Ramsay, 

 written in the same year with his establishment in 

 the government, after mentioning the surmounting of 

 several difficulties, he says, " By the next oppor- 

 tunity I shall have the satisfaction of forwarding to 

 the authorities in England, several reports from Dr 

 Horsfield, and other scientific gentlemen, on the 

 natural history of the island ; and as the Batavian 



