186 A VISIT TO THE INDIAN ARCHIPELAGO. 



to C3rpect, aiiil eloquontly, but not wisely, to descant upon 

 a premature realisation of millennial hopes. 



I have before me a priTate letter from my friend, Sir 

 James Brooke, of which one passage would alone stir me 

 to the task I have undertaken. J will conimence by 

 quoting it^ that an honest man may say a few words ibr 

 liimsclf : — 



" Wo have taught them (the pirates) a lesson in a 

 month, which wiU serve to keep them in check for some 

 years, if not altogether, and wliich has thus sared the 

 innocent and i>eacefiil inhabitants of the coast from a 

 ^stem of depredation, the horrors and the CGnscquences 

 of whicli can only be fully appreciated by those on the 

 spot* 



" For tliis good service I have been greatly ah used and 

 maligned by a party at home, I was surprised when 

 first this attack was made on my reput^ition as a public 

 man, and toy chiiracter as a private one i hut I was 

 neither confounded nor alarmed : on tlic conti*ary, I 

 was inclined to be savage and fierce, and, in my i-agc, 

 to rend friends as well aa foes. As these gross attacks 

 became more gross,^ more vindictive, and more firequentj 

 I became cool and collected, and readily saw tliat my 

 enemies were unwise and o^'er-abusivo. I collected the 

 evidence necessary, which was full and conclusive, to 

 rebut these malicious accusations ] and, at the present 

 time, with such defenders as the cause of truth has 

 foutuL I have no fecUng on the subject, excepting a 



