18-i THE INDEPENDENT NATIVE STATES 



which they now hesitate to attempt as the followers of the " Ex- 

 Sultan." 



Jusof, however, has no feeling- of this kind, and, holding the 

 appointment of Eaja Muda, he would have the present control of 

 Perak affairs with a by no means improbable possibility of becom- 

 ing Sultan hereafter, but though he knows that he is utterly 

 unsupported, and that should the supreme authority become vacant 

 to-morrow perhaps not one Chief in Perak would approve of his 

 becoming Sultan, and though he formerly willingly accepted the 

 Eaja Mudaship under Abdullah, yet he is now so occupied by the 

 thought that he is the rightful Sultan and being unjustly deprived 

 of his true position, that he is ready to ally himself with any one 

 who will in any way oppose the present arrangements. 



Some further steps will probably be necessary before these 

 Eajas will be induced to give up their present attitude, for though 

 that is not at present a threatening one, still it does much to pre- 

 vent the complete and speedy settlement of Perak affairs. 



Another point provided for in the Pengkor Engagement was 

 the arrangement of a Civil List, and the fact of this being as yet 

 unsettled, has no doubt contributed, in some degree, to the discon- 

 tent of Ismail's party. This can hardly be decided except at a full 

 assembly of the Chiefs and in the presence of some one whose 

 advice has sufficient weight with them to carry conviction. Could 

 such an assembly be arranged, in such a presence, it is possible 

 that both questions might be settled at one and the same time. 



Neither Ex-Sultan Ismail nor Eaja Jusof would probably have 

 ever taken up the attitudes they have had it not been that certain 

 designing persons, British subjects, with the sole desire of making 

 money, represented that if their services were employed at a suf- 

 ficiently high figure anything might be done, even to the annulling 

 of the Pengkor Engagement and the constituting of Jusof Sultan 

 of Perak. Indeed some of the Chiefs are still of opinion that this 

 Engagement might, by the influence of their advisers in the Straits, 

 be rendered worthless. 



