BRITISH BORNEO. 55 
object even to the absolute annexation of North Borneo by 
Great Britain,’ and, moreover, as pointed out by his Lord- 
ship, the British had already a settlement in Borneo, namely 
the island of Labuan, ceded by the Sultan of Brunai in 1845 
and confirmed by him in the Treaty of 1847. The case of 
Raja BROOKE in Sarawak was also practically that of a Brit- 
ish Settlement in Borneo. 
Lord GRANVILLE closed the discussion by stating that the 
grant of the Charter does not in any way imply the assump- 
tion of sovereign rights in North Borneo, z.e., on the part of 
the British Government. 
There the matter rested, but now that the Government is 
proposing® to include British North Borneo, Brunai and Sara- 
wak under a formal ‘‘ British Protectorate,” the Netherlands 
Government is again raising objections, which they must be 
perfectly aware-are groundless. It will be noted that the 
Dutch do not lay any claim to North Borneo themselves, 
having always recognized it as pertaining, with the Sulu 
Archipelago, to the Spanish Crown. It is only to the pre- 
sence of the British Government in North Borneo that any 
objection is raised. Ina “Resolution” of the Minister of 
State, Governor-General of Netherlands India, dated 28th 
February, 1846, occurs the following:—‘‘The parts of Borneo 
on which the Netherlands does not exercise any influence 
are :— 
a. The States of the Sultan of Brunai or Borneo Proper; 
b. The State of the Sultan of the Sulu Islands, having 
for boundaries on the West, the River Kimanis, the 
North and North-East Coasts as far as 3° N.L., 
where it is bounded by the River Atas, forming the 
extreme frontier towards the North with the State 
of Berow dependant on the Netherlands. 
c. All the islands of the Northern Coasts of Borneo.” 
Knowing this, Mr. ALFRED DENT put the limit of his ces- 
sion from Sulu at the Sibuku River, the South bank of which 
is in N. Lat. 4° 5’; but towards the end of 1879, that is, long 
* The Protectorate has since been proclaimed, 
