THE SIXTH WAR : IN BORNEO. 1 3 



putting down a revolt of his own subjects, and he thereupon placed his 

 men and guns of the " Royalist " at his disposal. 



His chief exploit was to break down a stockade of bamboo and 

 mud; and thus Brooke and his allies won, as they considered, a 

 great victory ! 



For this brilliant exploit Brooke claimed the cession of the entire 

 province and government of Sarawak to him and his successors for 

 ever ; and, after a little opposition, on 24th Sept., 1841, he was 

 declared Rajah of Sarawak, amidst the roar of his own guns and the 

 blowing of his own trumpets. 



This attempt of Rajah Brooke to establish an European settlement 

 on the coast of Borneo, was again and again disturbed by the furious 

 onslaughts of the natives, or, as they called them, Eastern pirates, who, 

 when successful, burnt the villages and ships in the annexed province, 

 and captured and massacred the inhabitants. 



To put down this revolt, and to support Rajah Brooke, the British 

 Government despatched an expedition to Borneo, consisting of H.M. 

 Vessels of War and a native flotilla under the command of Rajah 

 Brooke. 



At the mouth of the Sareba river the squadron encountered the 

 enemy, and a terrible conflict ensued. Out of 120 Vessels of the 

 enemy 80 were destroyed, and upwards of 1,500 men were slain ; but 

 the English forces escaped with no loss save a few trifling casualties. 



After the war, or rather, massacre, of these 1,500 men, Rajah Brooke 

 and his allies applied to the Admiralty for the " head money," as it 

 was then called — the price of blood which they had earned ; and 

 blush, oh ! Christendom, for shame, ;!£'2o,7oo was paid them, being 

 at the rate of ^20 for each of the enemies' heads. 



Mr. Cobden boldly denounced at the time this gratuitous and cold- 

 blooded butchery, which branded its authors, he said, not only with 

 cruelty but cowardice. 



There is no doubt that this system of "head-money" for the 

 slaughter of pirates (and all enemies of England on the seas were 

 considered as pirates) was founded on a base and false principle, 

 for it was a reward for homicide, it was a temptation to murder. 



It was stated on good authority that it was not an unusual circum- 

 stance for H.M. Ships of War, when the resources of the officers and 

 men were rather low, to project in merry mood a pirate hunting 

 expedition, in order to replenish their exhausted purses. 



Happily, the people of England forty years ago refused any longer to 

 incur the terrible blood-guiltiness by these wanton outrages of cruelty. 



