Lawlessness Increased To Such
An Extent That Murders And Robberies Were Of Continual Occurrence.
Mr.
Swettenham, the Assistant Colonial Secretary, affirms that it is hardly
an exaggeration to say that every man above twenty years old had killed
at least one man, and that even the women were not unaccustomed to use
deadly weapons against each other.
The history of the way in which we gained a footing in Selangor is a
tangled one, as the story is told quite differently by men holding high
positions in the Colonial Government, who unquestionably are "all
honorable men." Our first appearance on the scene was in 1871, when the
Rinaldo destroyed Selangor, for reasons which will be found in the
succeeding letter. In November, 1873, an act of piracy was committed on
the Jugra river near the Sultan's residence. On this Sir A. Clarke,
the Governor of the Straits Settlements, with a portion of H.B.M.'s
China fleet, went to Langat and induced the Sultan to appoint a court
to try the pirates, three of the ships and two Government Commissioners
remaining to watch the trial. The prisoners were executed, the
war-ships patroled the coast for a time, and everything became quiet.
In 1874, however, there were new disturbances and alleged piracies, and
Tunku Dia Udin, the Sultan's son-in-law and viceroy, overmatched by
powerful Rajahs, gladly welcomed an official, who was sent by Sir A.
Clarke, "to remain with the Sultan should he desire it, and, by his
presence and advice give him confidence, and assistance to carry out
the promises which he had made," which were, in brief, to suppress
piracy and keep good order in his dominions; not a difficult task, it
might be supposed, for it is estimated that he had only about two
thousand Malay subjects left, and the Chinese miners were under the
efficient rule of their "Capitan," Ah Loi.
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