THE FIVE CAPTAINS. 



"alleged" pirates might have rcfonned T^-itliin eiglit or 

 ten years. True, Sir James Brooke still maintains that 

 they were, in 1849, quite as %'ilianous as bcrore. So say 

 I : so says Captain Farquhar ; bo say a cloud of 

 witnesses — -whom, however, Mr, Hume's captains are to 

 put to flight* 



Mr. Cobden shall introduce them, in the terms he 

 used, after hearing Mr, Hume's opening speccli : — " My 

 honourable friend has brought forward in evidence Jive 

 liters written by naval commanders' stationed upon the 

 very coast ; and he pledged himself to bring them forward 

 to give evidence, if this inquiry should he granted." 



Five naval commandei'S^ mck the writer of a letter 

 *' from the very coast " of Borneo . 



" There is, fii-gt," continues Mr. Cobden, " Captain 

 Daniel 1, of the Indian Navy : tlien there is Captain 

 Youtig, of the Indian Navy r then there are two ol/iet* 

 letters from captains in the Navy< One of tfiem had 

 been sixteen months stationed on the coast of Borneo : 

 the oiher had been stationed at Itabuan/* 



I conclude tliat the fiftli Captain referred to is my 

 friend, Captaiia Hastings, whose letter to Mr. Hume shall 

 liave its turn* Thm leaves us four to dispose of now. 

 Mr. Hume's accomit of these four letters is substantially 

 the same as Mr, Cobden's : there can be no mistake about 

 what he meant the House of Commons to believe. 



The answer that awaits these vaunted letters is 

 unpleasant. They were not written by /qut officers, but 



