fm A VISIT TO THE INDIAK ARCHIPELAGO. 



the part t^iken by Sii' James, in order more dearlj to 

 show tliafc oiilj a wilfiil blindness to tbc truth could select 

 kirn for tliQ odium, ivlncli Mr. Hume would fix upon 

 opcratioBS not onlj Eeeessary but merciful " That these 

 operations had become necessary/' says Sir James Brooke, 

 in a despatch to Lord Palmerston, " is a matter of regret ; 

 and it is to be regretted that, in consequencej an uuav^oid- 

 ablo loss of life occurred. The inevitable results of 

 %vaifare, savage or civilised, are in tlieory to bo deplored ; 

 but there is no reason t<j doubt that tlie active measures 

 pursued, saved many innocent lives, and tliat in point of 

 true hmnaiuty, it vva^i far preferable to attack the people of 

 Serehas than to allow them to continue their career of 

 iiidiscrimmate slaughter/' 



No reasonable person will question the soundness of 

 such a conclusion generally, from such promises r and the 

 premises have been proved in this particular case. 



And now, if the history is to tell itself, it must be 

 slightly retrospective : I will, however^ only go back to the 

 year 1824. 



By a treaty signed in that year — twenti^-eight ^/cars ago 

 — between Great Britain and Holland, the sovereigns of 

 the respective countries engage themselves to concur 

 iiffedaaUi^ in repressing piracy in the Eastern Seas— the 

 evil having then long had a most baneful effect on 

 commerce. That the said Sovereigns never did concur 

 effectually fco crush a confessed scourge is manifest. It 

 Tvould be foreign to my purpose to examine the complaints 



