William Hole, an Englishman, was loud in his denunciation of the Yankee concessions in Muar' in the clubs of Singapore, and repeatedly stated that neither the Maharajah nor the British Government would ever recognise their validity.' These informal statements of the Maharajah's secretary were in themselves highly prejudicial to the interests of the concessionaires in that coming from such a source, they were naturally looked upon as more or less inspired."* The passages in Major Studer's Memorial to the Department of State on which the above statement is founded are so violent that they carry their own condemnation with them. Two letters from Mr. Hole to Major Studer, printed at page 211 of the Memorial, show that these gentlemen were on friendly terms. In 1868 and 1869 Mr. Hole was acting United States Vice-Consul at Singapore. His Majesty's Government do not wish to believe that the United States Consul would be on friendly terms with any person capable of such ungentlemanly behaviour, or that the United States would tolerate as their acting Vice-Consul any person who was capable of such foolish behaviour, as that detailed in Major Studer's Memorial to the Department of State.t His Majesty's Government decline to believe the story. If the United States Consul had been the object of such offensive language from the private secretary of a ruling prince in the Malay Peninsula, he would have been bound to report it forthwith to his Government. (c.) The next complaint is that during Major Studer's absence in the United States he had received very discouraging reports from Mr. Burlingham as to the course of events after Sultan Ali's death, and on his return he found these reports confirmed. "In fact the hostility of the Maharajah's officials and their interference with the work † Memorial, page 109. * Memorial, page 26. "of the plantation had been such that Burlingham deter"mined to abandon his concession." Whether this alleged interference with the work was on the plantation on Major Studer's concession or on that on Mr. Burlingham's does not appear. If there had really been anything to complain of, Mr. Burlingham would have brought the matter to the notice of the British authorities at Singapore or of the Sultan and his officers at Johore, but there is no trace of his having done so. It is quite obvious that what really happened was that Burlingham saw no prospect of a successful financial outcome of the venture into which Major Studer had led him, and during the absence in the United States of his enthusiastic friend made up his mind to abandon it. The idea that Mr. Burlingham "had heard of so many threats "to his life that he kept away from Muar" is absurd. What had this Canadian dentist done to be in fear of his life in Muar? If any such threats had really been made, is it likely that the Straits Government would not have been informed and have taken steps to secure him proper protection? The only reasonable deduction is that Mr. Burlingham thought the produce of his clearing of so little value, that it was not worth the time and trouble of a journey to Muar to fetch it away. (d.) The next complaint relates to the period when Major Studer had induced a merchant in Rotterdam to venture some money in tobacco planting on his land, and when a man named Browne had been engaged "for planting tobacco on the said concession for account of a "tobacco factor residing at Rotterdam."† "From the very outset," says the Memorial "Browne encountered "constant annoyance and interference from the Maharajah's officials. This condition was at its worst through the "winter of 1878-9. The Malays whom Browne employed "to clear jungle were constantly induced to desert by * Memorial, page 100, line 34. † Memorial, page 215. Memorial, page 28, line 1. "threats and enticement by the Sultan's agents, being furnished with guides through the jungle to Malacca." There is a marked difference between the portion of Browne's affidavit on which this complaint is founded and the corresponding portions of Major Studer's two documents of 1894. Browne does not allege that the desertions were due to any actions by the Maharajah's agents. That item is supplied by Major Studer. In the latter's first version he says that secret agents were sent to scare thein, causing them to run off. In the Memorial to the State Department the story grew a little. 'Persons were sent secretly among them to encourage them to desert in the depth of night, and these agents helped them off and "secreted them"‡ The Maharajah could have had no possible object in enticing the labourers to desert from Major Studer's plantation. His one object was to get the land developed so that it might produce an income. These men were engaged in an attempt to cultivate tobacco in Muar, an experiment which, if it had succeeded, would have been of the greatest value to the territory. The hollowness of the whole story may be realised from the suggestion that the deserters were furnished with guides through the jungle to Malacca. What possible object could the Maharajah have in causing the deserters to be taken to a British colony in precisely the opposite direction to the Maharajah's own dominions! Any desertions among the coolies whom Browne had engaged were undoubtedly the acts of the individuals themselves and in no way due to the action of the Maharajah. Browne's own account of it may well be true: "the Malays on the Johore side of the river often enticed "them to run off, and even showing them the way through "the jungle to Malacca for a small fee."§ * Memorial, page 216. † Memorial, page 183. § Memorial, page 216. (e.) The next interference with Major Studer's property alleged in the Memorial is the erection of a Government police station. "One of the Maharajah's agents even "invaded Major Studer's clearing and commenced the "erection of a building, claiming that he had orders to establish a police station there; Browne, however, finally compelled him to desist." There is very little material in the Memorial to justify the above allegations. Browne (perhaps wisely) says nothing about the incident unless the sentence on page 216 is meant to refer to it. "I . . . . had on one occasion 66 been obliged to use force for the Malay hailing from "Johore persistently refused to remove a building he "erected on our clearing during my absence, though he was several times notified to do so." The story rests wholly on Major Studer's letter to Mr. Maxwell. "One "of the Maharaja's agents (a Johore Malay) made so bold as to commence building a bangsal on my clearing claiming he had orders to establish a police station, but "Mr. Browne had it pulled down and drove him off at "the muzzle of his shot gun."† Some further details are given in a footnote which Major Studer has added to his Memorial to the State Department.‡ If the story is true, Browne was fortunate not to have been arrested and put on trial before the Maharajah's courts of justice, for there can be no doubt as to the right of the local sovereign to erect a police station for the protection of the land. Probably the whole story was an invention, for Browne's complaint was that he did not get sufficient help from the police of Muar. "If I "had every assistance from the police of Muar to have "the coolies apprehended and punished, I would have "had a far better crop of tobacco."§ * A bangsal is a temporary shelter of rough timber and palm thatch. † Memorial, page 182, line 35. Memorial, page 105, footnote ‡. [788-18] § Memorial, page 216. D (f.) The next allegation of trespass and interference with Major Studer's concession is the arrest in 1879 of Andak Rassim, who had been engaged by Browne to put up some buildings on Major Studer's clearing. Andak Rassim was mixed up in Tunku Allum's attempted rebellion in 1879. Tunku Allum was the eldest son of Sultan Ali, and considered that he was entitled to succeed him. On the 11th January, 1879, he assumed the title of Sultan at Singapore, and at midnight of the same day there sailed from Singapore for Muar a leader appointed by Tunku Allum as his Viceroy, one Tunku Omar, with the object of exciting a rebellion against the authority of the Maharajah. Tunku Omar went straight to Kampong Gersek or Gressik, a village within the limits of Major Studer's grant. One of the letters which Tunku Omar wrote to Tunku Allum from there informs him that unless Andak Rassim is allowed to go to the people at Kwala Ring they will all run away. This is the Andak Rassim who was employed by Browne to erect buildings on the clearing. He was arrested on the concession, in spite (according to Major Studer himself) of Browne's opposition, and sent to Johore Bahru on a charge of treason felony, and died in gaol while awaiting trial. It is not quite clear from the wording of the Memorial whether the alleged invasion of Major Studer's rights was the arrest of this rebel, or the fact that his arrest so frightened the coolies at work there that they all ran away. In either case the arrest gives no just cause for complaint. If Andak Rassim was a rebel, the police officers were perfectly justified in arresting him, either on or off any land to which Major Studer laid claim; and if the arrest frightened other natives, and they broke their contracts with Browne, it is not a consequence for which the Maharajah is responsible. (g.) The next complaint made in the Memorial is that * Memorial, page 28, line 17. |