228 FUTURE PROSPECTS. 



with the Malay character will agree with me when 

 I declare that it is just from those Malay nations, 

 who are now most dreaded as pirates and robbers, 

 that, under proper treatment, the largest results 

 may be expected in commerce and civilization. 



One of the great defects of the Malay character 

 in general, as among the Javanese for instance, is a 

 want of enterprise and hardihood. Where those 

 qualities exist, however they may have been mis- 

 directed hitherto, we have far more valuable mate- 

 rials to work upon, than where they are absent. 

 What European nations were of old the greatest 

 pirates and freebooters ? Those, our own included, 

 who have afterwards attained the highest pitch of 

 civilization. 



Europe has hitherto brought little but ruin and 

 rapine, and commercial restriction, into this, the 

 fairest and most fertile region of the earth. Surely, 

 she owes it a tardy reparation. For any nation 

 wishing to diffuse among these people the blessings 

 of commerce, of enlightenment and civilization, I do 

 not think territorial acquisitions advisable, beyond a 

 few small posts or stations, for its naval and mercantile 

 marine. A strong feeling exists on the part of 

 many of the inhabitants of the Archipelago in favour 

 of England, which our manufacturing and commer- 

 cial necessities would urge us to foster and take ad- 

 vantage of. Our policy, I believe, would be to keep 

 the seas free from outrage, to make them everywhere 

 safe for all those " passing upon them on their law- 



