56 
THE STRAITS SETTLEMENTS. » 
The Colony of the Straits Setti. rrijnte^ which comprises SingaporCj 
PenaDg (with Province Wellesley and the JHmUngs), and Malacca, now 
contains about 1,500 •squant miles, and neiirly 503^000 inhabitants. The 
Settlements were transferred from tbe eoiitrol of the In iian 0 rvernment 
to that of tlie Secretary uf State for the Colonies on the 1st April. 18!>7, 
by ail Order in Guiiacil is.sued irndtT 29 & ^0 \'ict;,> e. IJo. 
Thti eaijieat Settlfmoiit was Fctiaiig, whieh wa^ foundefl in 1785. 
Its foundation i^ something more than the-eoramencemeut of the Colonv^ 
for it marks the b^-gimiing of tlic cuormons trade, and was iji some sense 
the forenuitier of aH the eoiomsiug enterprise, in tht? parts beyond India— 
Malaya, China and Australia. It may be notieed that, within a few 
months of the time Captain Light first anchored in Penang harbour, the 
earliest expedition to Botatiy Bay 'nrrived at Port Jackson. When in 
1790 Penang became the Penal Station for India, there was sonic snperfirial 
reseniblanee bi-ewfcn thi- two infant riettlemcnrs, ami the enterpriscsi vvhii-b 
have both developed so enormously during the present century. The 
immediate prosperity of Peiiaiig, and its aupi-riurity io tht^ Company's 
trading Station at Beucoolenj attraeted Chinese trarlere, and still more 
Chinese settlers, and gtive an early impulse to the expaumon of its eum- 
merce. The troubled time.^ of tlie groat Europcaii War, which commenced 
seveu yeaiis after the foundation of Penang. brought special opportuni- 
ties; and at the close of a single generation the little Settlement had be- 
come a power in Malaya, under the direct and indirect influence of whirh 
the Dutch monopoly system " had been overthrown. The British posses- 
sion oi: the Straits after 1795. became quite secure; tii^t t hrough nor huulirrg 
.Malacca, and when tliat was given back by the estublishuicnt of Siiignpor<^. 
The Settlements were not formed into one Government till 1820. 
But the Straits have, since 1795, bcen^itf every sense, a British possession, 
our power being paramount on the western or tiuvigable sliore. 
Indujifrits, i^'v, — The Colony lias hitlierto been little more than a 
place of trade ; und though it is now boo'jnning to show some development 
in other direetionsj yet, f^'om its ci renin staneesj tratle nnist idways be its 
principal feature. As a market ah>ne, it ranks, next to Mon*,'kong and 
Malta, not unly above ail other Crown Colonies, but with a gro.sa tutai of 
Imports and Exports winch, ex eluding thow two Tmdc centres only, 
exceeds that of ail othcj- such ealonies put- together, l^or 18S;j its total 
trade wns 15*231 ,80 1,000, or over £4fl,OQl),O0n, giving the extraordinary nite 
of alxjut £85 a bead of the population. This rate exei eds tiiat of either 
the United Kingdmn or its must prosperous Colonics in Australia, and 
probably of any other Country in the world. 
The early prosperity of the Colony's irudo resulted from its central 
position as a port of e;ill for Lnropeau, Indian and Chinese trade. The 
local trade, for which both Singapore and Penang are so well placed, and 
* Fuller particular, especially of the Colony"H liistor^', will be founU in Chaptr-r VI It. 
