THE HISTORY AND PRESENT CONDITION OF MALACCA. 751 
settlements. At Singapore none have yet been erected, and those 
at Penang are worse than useless. Supposing it advisable to establish 
one of the stations as a place of strength and dep6t for troops and 
stores, the local position of Malacca is infinitely more favourable 
than either of the others. Being on the continent it commands an 
interior, and owing to the shoal water no ship can approach so as 
to bring its guns to bear on any works on shore. It possesses more¬ 
over what none of the others can be said to possess—an indigenous 
and attached population f * In a political point of view it is 
conveniently situated for maintaining such a degree of influence 
over all the Malay states as would prevent their falling under Sia¬ 
mese dominion, and it is besides near enough to the south end of the 
Straits, to watch the proceedings of the Netherlands Government” 
(the two Straits bugbears of those days.) 
That there is much force in these arguments none can deny, but 
it has become so much a habit to decry Malacca and to pity the 
state of decay and wretchedness into which she is supposed to have 
fallen, that to suggest such arguments now a days, to propose for 
instance to remove the seat of government from prosperous Singa¬ 
pore to fallen Malacca, would excite but a smile of ridicule or con¬ 
tempt, but it may fairly be asked—suppose that amid the chances 
and changes of this world, some shifts of trade should occur render¬ 
ing it no longer necessary to resort to Singapore. Suppose in fact, 
that to happen to Singapore which has already happened to Malac¬ 
ca, the entire withdrawel of her trade, what would then become of 
her ? In a very few years she would be a perfect ruin, abandoned 
altogether perhaps, while Malacca under similar circumstances, not¬ 
withstanding the neglect and contumely which she has suffered, has, 
since the withdrawel of her trade, doubled her population and pro¬ 
bably more than quintupled her agricultural produce. In 1828, 
according to Newbold, the population of Malacca was 34,000, the 
quantity of grain (paddy) reaped was estimated at 691,000 Gantangs 
and the quantity imported at about 4,500 Coyans. In 1848 the 
population was 60,000 and the import much the same as in 1828. 
Consequently the increase of production during these 20 years has 
been sufficient to support a population of 30,000 souls. It is not 
too much to assert that had Malacca met with a fair share of en¬ 
couragement and attention she would long since have realized Mr, 
Fullarton’s idea of rendering her the granary of the Straits, and in 
all probability the whole extent of her area would have been cover- 
. h 3 
