30 BRITISH BORNEO. 
considered, and it is to be hoped, will be carried into effect.* 
The personel of the Government is purely British, most of 
the merchants and traders are of British nationality, and the 
whole trade of the country finds its way to the British Colony 
of the Straits Settlements. 
We can scarely let a country such as this, with its local and 
other resources, so close to Singapore and on the route to 
China, fall into the hands of any other European Power, and 
the only means of preventing such a catastrophe is by the pro- 
clamation of a Protectorate over it—a Protectorate which, so 
long as the successors of Raja BROOKE prove their compe- 
tence to govern, should be worked so as to interfere as little 
as possible in the internal affairs of the State. The virulently 
hostile and ignorant criticisms to which Sir JAMES BROOKE was 
subjected in England, and the financial difficulties of this little 
kingdom, coupled with a serious dispute with a nephew whom 
he had appointed his successor, but whom he was compelled 
to depose, embittered the last years of his life] | lo trerend 
he fought his foes in his old, plucky, honest, vigorous and 
straightforward style. He died in June, 1868, from a paraly- 
tic stroke, and was succeeded by his nephew, the present 
Raja. What Sir JAMES BROOKE might have accomplished 
had he not been hampered by an opposition based on ignor- 
ance and imperfect knowledge at home, we cannot say ; what 
he did achieve, I have endeavoured briefly to sketch, and un- 
prejudiced minds cannot but deem the founding of a pros- 
perous State and the total extirpation of piracy, slavery and 
head-hunting, a monument worthy of a high, noble and un- 
selfish nature. 
In addition to that of the Church of England) tineneshias, 
within the last few years, been established a Roman Catholic 
Mission, under the auspices of the St. Joseph’s College, Mill Hill. 
The Muhammadans, including all the true Malay inhabitants, 
do not make any concerted effort to disseminate the doctrines 
of their faith. 
The following information relative to the Church of Eng- 
* This has since been formally proclaimed. 
