4 AN OLD MINUTE BY SIR STAMFORD RAFFLES. 



desire that their own persons or property should be liable to 

 those evils which they inflict on the rest of the community, and 

 will readily join in their suppression when other delinquents 

 are the objects of the terrors of the Law. 



In carrying such a system into effect, it ought to be fully 

 understood and maintained on all occasions, that while indi- 

 viduals are allowed to protect themselves as far as possible 

 against wrongs, the redress of wrongs cannot be left to the 

 resentment or the revenge of the parties conceiving them- 

 selves injured. That must be done solely by Government 

 through the instrumentality of the Judicial and Executive 

 Officers whom it appoints for that purpose. 



No one therefore being allowed to be a judge in his own 

 case, or to revenge his own quarrel, arms or weapons capable 

 of inflicting instant death as habitually worn by the Malays 

 become unnecessary, and, by dispensing with them, the great- 

 est temptation to and power of doing to others the greatest 

 and irremediable wrong in depriving them of life is in a great 

 measure removed. If a man takes another's horse or cow 

 by robbery or theft or under a mistaken idea that he has a 

 right to the property in question, redress can be afforded to 

 him as soon as he is convicted of his crime or discovers his 

 error, but if from revenge or under false impressions a man is 

 suddenly excited to take the life of a fellow creature, it is in 

 vain that he afterwards discovers that he was misled by pas- 

 sion or had been deceived by appearances. It often happens 

 too in these countries that a man who considers himself 

 aggrieved by a particular individual and finding himself in 

 possession of a sharp weapon, attempts the life of every one 

 he meets indiscriminately, and without having any wrong at 

 their hands to complain of. It is impossible to see who may 

 or may not be guilty of such acts of inhuman cruelty, and 

 therefore all should agree to lay aside the use of the weapon 

 that is commonly employed by persons who then transform 

 themselves to wild beasts by giving way to brutal passion. 



On the same principle, it has been found by experience 

 that those who indulge frequently in gaming and cockfight- 

 ing, are not only liable to engage in quarrels with those who 



