496 
BORNEO. 
who have been appointed to assist him in establishing the new colo¬ 
ny. In the mean time we have thought that some account of the 
traffic between Singapore and Borneo Proper might prove useful, 
by conveying a knowledge of the nature and extent of the actual 
commercial resources of the country. This we shall give in our next 
number. In the present we offer a few notices which may in some 
measure serve as an introduction, as they relate to subjects connect¬ 
ed with it, and which the late works on Borneo have only slightly 
touched upon. The first of them will also assist in forming a just es¬ 
timate of some of the views respecting the tendency of European in¬ 
tercourse with the natives of the Archipelago at the present day which 
occur in Sir James Brooke’s Journals.* With the feelings which 
lie at the bottom of these views we entirely sympathise, but we would 
earnestly deprecate any attempt to enforce that seclusion from pro¬ 
miscuous contact with Europeans which Sir J. Brooke evidently 
deems it desirable to carry out to a certain extent, if practicable. 
We think it is so impracticable that we might as well attempt to op¬ 
pose a law of nature.f Besides it seems somewhat in consistent to 
* Those recently published under Captain Rodny Mundy’s care far sur¬ 
pass the previous volumes in interest. But their great value consists in 
the unreserved manner in which Sir J Brooke’s policy and proceedings 
with reference to his own principality are laid bare. Captain Keppel’s vo¬ 
lumes in creased, instead of satisfying, the desire which prevailed in Singa¬ 
pore to know how far the personal interests of the owner of Sarawak, w ere 
concerned in the invasions of the neighbouring rivers by British men of 
war, and how r far their presence had, in other respects, subserved these in¬ 
terests. We believe the Journals edited by Captain Mundy have put Sir 
James Brooke right with the publ ic of Singapore, and we are glad of this, 
because we believe the opinions formed by a body of intelligent Europeans, 
placed so near to the scene of his operations, must, sooner or later, tell on 
public opinion in England. It is not in the nature of a highly wrought en¬ 
thusiasm, such as that which prevails at present, or lately prevailed, on 
the subject of Borneo, to last, ami when the somewhat jealous feelings with 
which Englishmen in general watch their governments have taken its place, 
the good opinion of the public of Singapore will be found to be not without 
its value to the government ofLabuan. 
f We made some remarks on this subject in a previous paper (The Pre¬ 
sent Condition of the Indian Archipelago , ante , vol. I. p. 20} and will dis¬ 
cuss Sir J. Brooke’s views more at length on a future occasion. The ques¬ 
tion demands anxious reflection, but the utter impracticability at this time 
of day of building, by any local policy whatever, a Chinese Great Wall bc- 
ween races, would alone determine us against a wasting of humanity and 
energy in a wrong direction, even if we were not satisfied, on wider consi¬ 
derations, that this contact of races, despite its frequent collisions and the 
suffering involved in them, is necessary for the advancement of man¬ 
kind. 
