AN OLD MINUTE BY SIR STAMFORD RAFFLES. 3 



the Englishman and Chinese, the Bugguese and Hindoo, and 

 the like. On the other hand, to apply the law of Europe 

 direct, with all its accumulated processes and penalties, to a 

 people of whom more than nine-tenths will probably be 

 natives of China and the Malay Archipelago, would be as 

 repugnant to universal and natural justice as it would be 

 inconsistent with the benevolence and liberality which has 

 ever marked the British rule in India. 



Under these circumstances, nothing seems to be left but to 

 have recourse to first principles, to use every precaution against 

 the existence of temptation to crime that is found consistent 

 with the perfect liberty of those who have no evil intentions, 

 and when these precautions fail, to secure redress to the injured 

 party, when possible, and such punishment as will be most 

 likely to prevent a repetition of the crime, either by the party 

 himself offending, or by those who may be inclined to follow 

 his example. Nothing should be endured in the Settlement, 

 however sanctioned by the local usage of particular tribes 

 who resort to it, that has either a direct effect, or notoriously 

 strong tendency to endanger the safety or liberty of person 

 or the security of property, and in the same manner no w r ant 

 of what are considered legal formalities in any country should 

 debar a person from having substantial justice rendered to 

 him, so that legal and moral obligation may never be at 

 variance. 



Taking this as the fundamental principle for the Laws of 

 the Settlement, it may be presumed that no local Regulation 

 would be enacted that the society if left to themselves would 

 not desire to see carried into effect ; no public institution or 

 source of expense would exist of which the benefit was not 

 obvious to the enlightened part at least, if not to the whole 

 body of the community, who would therefore soon feel that 

 the Government was not made to tyrannize over the people, 

 but for their protection and happiness. 



Under such a system of administration, it is not unreason- 

 able to expect that every facility would be afforded by the 

 mass of the population to the Executive in carrying the Laws 

 into effect, for even the midnight robber and swindler have no 



