Chapter IX - THE FIRST BRITISH RESIDENT.

For almost a year they faced one another, those two protagonists at the estuary of the Perak river.

One was an English gentleman with all the virtues and defects of his class period and upbringing, brave, honourable, kind, a lover of thrift and order, a strong confident administrator who worked heartily as unto—Dr. Arnold. He had about as much psychological insight as others of his complacent generation and though he had served for years in Ceylon, never clearly saw the Asiatic ruler against his historic background of Hinduism, harems and monopolies, but only as an anomaly against the very modern background of an English public school. Having no insight he had about as much sense of humour as the average Victorian was allowed to display. He had reached an age when from habitude the East no longer holds illusion and glamour for the European. Years in the tropics had tinged his nordic energy with nervous irritability. Not far from the end of his official career he was a man in a hurry to carry Victorian light to Perak while still he had time; for even long experience had failed to bring home to his unimaginative mind that hurry is futile in the training of childlike chieftains, especially when they are sensitive proud and spoilt. Besides he had a public-schoolboy's loyalty to superiors, who had instructed him: " it only requires that the wishes of government should be made known to native rulers to secure implicit obedience." He was sent to Perak to educate its chiefs in administration on lines entirely new to them but he knew no Malay and could not talk to his pupils. His pliant interpreter from the Colony had no fine public-school " scorn of consequence " but interpreted as far as possible to avoid rebuke and give satisfaction to all parties: " these are not the Kuran," he remarked when posting the notices that caused Birch's murder; " they can be disregarded as soon as the Resident leaves! "

The other protagonist was a young Malay raja with the charming manners of his class and the vices proper to the spoilt darling of a royal harem, sensitive as a woman to slights and shades of manner, fastidious as a woman over dress, an extravagant libertine, vain, timid and adept at intrigue. Duty was a concept entirely foreign to him. Work of a kind was a tiresome necessity for without intelligent effort it was impossible to borrow enough money for his harem, his gambling and his cock-fighting. Unpleasant business, even the avenging of honour, must wait till tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow;; an elementary instinct of self-preservation that European administrators and Chinese creditors seemed strangely and inconveniently to lack. The one principle ever present in his royal mind was the divine right of kings. On the distaff side he was descended from the Laksamanas: the Mantri

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also was related to the Laksamanas by ties of marriage, yet when the Mantri failed to lend 'Abdullah money and took his bought title to the rich tin-fields of Larut seriously, then 'Abdullah had had no scruple about siding with the Mantri's Chinese enemies and trying to diddle him out of Larut. To rajas of that time the ordinary ryot was of little more account than a beast of the field: after the murder of Mr. Birch 'Abdullah said to his chiefs, " Let us appear friendly with the Europeans by going up and getting hold of some of the low class men who actually killed Mr. Birch and handing them over! We can spread a report that Mr. Birch brought it on himself by interfering with the Pasir Salak women'' Quite rightly Thomas Braddell described the Sultan as " more than ordinarily sharp and intelligent," but the Sultan was a frog under a coconut-shell, as ignorant of the ways of civilisation as he was of the size and might of the British empire. Not for more than a year yet was he to learn that this quixotic white race would sacrifice comfort, riches and life to punish the murderers of its servant, to avenge that queer thing its honour. A lonely pathetic figure of an Englishman with narrow rigid ideas as his daily companions! A pathetic spoilt-child Raja, with a crowd of sycophants always round him and only the pernicious ideas he absorbed from them in his mind! These were the protagonists in that long duel, when Mr. Birch landed at Batak Rabit on 5 November 1874 and confronted 'Abdullah as Perak's first Resident, eager to pour new wine into old bottles.

Very soon indeed, Birch adopted his role of mentor. Four days after arrival, he wrote in that full and frank diary, which is at once his own condemnation and excuse, the motto destined to wreck his hopes and his life: " I see that nothing but decision is necessary with these people." Some fifteen days later he added: " Firmness will, I trust, do it all; and with 'Abdu-llah one must be firm and even peremptory. God help a country left to a man like that, unadvised by sound counsellors! I very often despair when I think of him; but he will only be a puppet and, I believe, do all that one advises." Peremptory with a Sultan, with whom even his own father had never been peremptory! Firm with a clever timid youth, who saw in firmness only rudeness and longed to get rid of his tormentor; a polite weak youth whose words, as he said himself " caused him to be much indebted to the English."

The Resident's task was of immense and novel difficulty. To the half feudal half robber financial system of Perak he had seen no counterpart. But his self-confident nature did not hesitate. After a few days at Batak Rabit he went to Durian Sa-batang, where he at once explained to the Laksamana and Mantri his programme for the future. There was to be only one opium farm and the taxes on all rivers were to be collected by government officers backed by a police force. There was to be one high court

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judge for the whole S.tate, who would sentence unlawful tax-gatherers! Blind to the shattering effect of this programme on his feudal audience he went upriver to Kuala Kangsar and was assured by his interpreter that both Sultan Isma'il and Raja Yusuf would acknowledge 'Abdu'llah and sign the Pangkor treaty. Returning to Bandar, however, Birch got news from Penang that on 16 October, three weeks before his own arrival, Isma'il, Yusuf and the up-country chiefs including the Mantri had met a Penang lawyer at Blanja, and decided that they would fight rather than surrender the regalia to 'Abdu'llah and that the Mantri should pay the lawyer $25,000 to go to England with Raja Yusuf to represent their case. The day after getting this challenge Birch posted the Governor's proclamation of 2 November, holding the signatories of the Pangkor treaty responsible for the observance of its provisions! Openly friendly the chiefs now sent word to Isma'il on no account to surrender the regalia or sign the treaty for fear of strengthening Mr. Birch's eager usurping hands.

For the first half of December Mr. Birch toured Batang Padang and Bidor. At Bidor he burnt to the ground the house of Raja Ngah, Tengku Panglima Besar and cousin of ex-Sultan Isma'il, because the Raja was levying taxes on the local mines. Firmness, he trusted, would do all! Had he not said to Isma'il on his recent visit: " I would tell the chiefs of Perak that. .. .we would not allow any of them to levy taxes in their own names but must have the revenue all collected at proper and stated places and by a fixed method and in the name of the Sultan only; and if they chose to attempt to take taxes, or rather levy blackmail, on their own account, the result would be that we should stop it by force... . On the whole the interview was a very satisfactory one." On 14 December he, the earnest rationalist form-master, wrote his report to the headmaster at Singapore: " it concerns us little what were the old customs of the country nor do I think they are worthy of any consideration.'' He proposed to substitute new custom duties for those levied by the Shahbandar at Kuala Perak; to abolish the tin-duties on the Batang Padang to which the Sultan, the Laksamana and some other chiefs had an ancient right and to replace them by a royalty of $9 a bahar to be collected at Kuala Perak; to introduce taxes on arms, boats and rice; to regularize port duties at Kota Stia and to establish one joint opium, spirit and gambling farm for the whole State. With the headmaster behind him, he seems to have anticipated no recalcitrancy in his feudal pupils at the loss of their age-long pocket-money! His interpreter told him that Sultan 'Abdu'llah was even anxious to give letters of appointment to new and efficient headmen and Mr. Birch never stopped to remember that the Sultan loved to assert his newly won power and that the sale of offices had historical precedent.

Before the year was out, Birch planned a meeting of chiefs at Blanja when Isma'il should surrender the regalia and accept

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'Abdullah as Sultan. Having got an advance of $5,000 for his expenses, 'Abdullah reluctantly agreed to be present. For two Malay partisans of Raja Yusuf who were coming to frustrate the proposals on his agenda Birch issued warrants of arrest! But he could not prevent the Mantri from having a preliminary private interview with 'Abdullah and assuring him that " the Colonial Office would never interfere in the Malay Peninsula " and "if we go before the law, the Pangkor treaty will be void." Nor could he hinder a secret message from 'Abdullah to Isma'il—" I am now ascending the river, not by my own desire but by that of Mr. Birch. If he asks for the regalia or desires to instal me, do not consent. Should you consent to my installation as Sultan, Perak will be given over to the English; for my words have caused me to be much indebted to them. .. . Should I myself ask for the regalia in the presence of Mr. Birch, do not consent to give them up! " Ignorant of these secret plottings the Resident records the meeting of the chiefs in his diary:—

" 1875 January 5. A lovely morning. ... I sent round to all the chiefs and saw the Bendahara, and we arranged for 10 a.m. The Sultan and the Bendahara were not awake at 9 a.m., and 1 sent again to them. At last we got them to move about 12. As soon as I saw them move I sent for them to come and wait. I had the place very well arranged under the circumstances: two chairs with yellow damask for the Sultan and Ex-Sultan; Yusuf¹ on one side and Usman² on the other; then myself and Bacon³ ; then Talbot⁴ and Mr. Nanta⁵ ; and then all the Datus sitting on carpets in front. I went in front of 'Abdullah and took him up to Isma'il. The old man came forward with both hands out but 'Abdullah never took them; and he then in a most polite and kind manner pointed to him a chair and begged him to sit down. He then called the Bendahara Usman and put him in the next chair to him, first referring to me as to where he should sit. I then called Yusuf who stood behind Isma'il to sit next to 'Abdullah; and as soon as I did so he came, and Isma'il desired him to sit there. Isma'il then asked me if the Datus should sit down, and we all took our seats. Isma'il said a few nice kind words to 'Abdullah, and he looked at him and just bent his head but nothing more. Isma'il then called the Datu Bandar who knelt and kissed his hand; then Datu Sagor; then Raja Mahkota. The Mantri whom I saw coming up with the Datus across the sand managed to keep out and went away to the Mosque. The Temenggong who had come from Kinta never showed. The Maharaja Lela who had got

¹ Raja Yusuf, a claimant of the Sultanate: afterwards Sultan Yusuf of Perak.  ² The Bendahara.    ³ Mr. Birch's clerk interpreter.  ⁴  Mr. A, P. Talbot of the Straits Settlements service.  ⁵ A Dutch-planter.

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expenses and sworn on my hand that he would sign the treaty, kept away and said he had a boil. Several others who had accompanied 'Abdullah, Rajas and sons of Datus, came and kissed Ismail's hand. Then there was an awful pause. 'Abdullah looked very sulky. Ismail made several attempts at conversation with him but to no effect. I then said that speaking in the Governor's name I would wish to express our congratulations at this meeting in the presence of so many Chiefs—that I noted the absence of three who were here, and of Panglima Kinta whom I had hoped to see, and I regretted the absence also of Sri Maharaja Lela, but he had sent his son to represent him—and in those they must remember I included all the living Chiefs of Perak as far as we could get reliably the names, for we only knew reliably of two out of the Sixteen alive, six out of the Eight, and three out of the Four. That it was many years since such a meeting had taken place—not even at Sultan 'Ali's funeral—and I hoped it was the beginning of good days for the country of Perak—that I should not any longer see the constant quarrels and bickerings that had been now for some years troubling Perak where no justice had reigned and nothing but might had prevailed. I dilated a little on their fine country, and I assured them, once the Chinese and Europeans felt that peace prevailed and protection for their lives and property existed, they would flock in for purposes of mining and of agriculture, that all this would raise the revenue of the country, and that I felt quite sure the Governor would have great pleasure in writing to the Queen's Government that at last the two Sultans had met and that every hope now existed of peace in Perak. To this, Isma'il said 'Yes'; 'Abdullah never spoke. After another long pause in which I made every sign I could to 'Abdullah—and so did Bacon and the Munshi—to speak to Isma'il and to Yusuf, while he would take no notice but smile, the Munshi asked permission to say a few words, which I gave, as did Isma'il, and he prayed for the Queen, the Governor, for me, Sultan Isma'il and Sultan 'Abdullah, and for blessing on the reconciliation and the meeting; and three times all the people gave their Amen in the usual way. Again a pause—which Isma'il broke by getting into conversation with one Datu or the other, and I then carried it on generally for some time on rice-cultivation, in which all joined but 'Abdullah. I brought Yusuf in by addressing him and spoke to him two or three times. Isma'il then sent for 'Abdullah's son who lives with Isma'il but who has been lately with the Bendahara, and he kept it up lively, child as he is, about cocks and cock-fighting principally, and the women who nurse him. Then I tried the effect of cigars, and syrup and water,—improved a little; oranges and

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biscuits carried it on; but Yusuf who must have noticed my signs to 'Abdu'llah to speak to him, at last told me he was going to leave as he was hot and tired, and went out.... After making every effort on my part, Bacon's, and Munshi's and Isma'il's—who gladly and in a very nice manner helped, I saw nothing could be done, and as we had been there three hours I took my leave with civil speeches, and hoped the friendly intercourse now begun would get stronger every day by interchange of visits."

On 31 January 1875 Mr. Birch and the Sultan selected a place above Bandar as a site for the Residency, changing its name of Ayer Mati to Bandar Baharu. On 3 February Birch asked 'Abdullah to sign proclamations authorizing the Resident to collect all taxes at one place. 'Abdu'llah replied that he must consult his Perak chiefs in council. Seven days later the Resident called at Batak Rabit on his way to Penang to let the Perak opium and spirit farms: again he mentioned the proclamations and got a reply that the Resident must first bring from Penang the uniform which the Sultan had ordered from Europe at the cost of $4,000! That Savile Row uniform in which perched on the back of a half-naked retainer His resplendent Highness was to be carried from his house-boat through water and over squelching mudbanks to august interviews in riparian clearings from primaeval forest.

While the cat was away at Penang, the mice were at their old games in Perak. The Sultan took over the Kinta farm from the Bendahara paying him $300 a month for it and he let the opium and gambling farm at Bandar to a Raja Ngah. What were Mr. Birch's proposed proclamations against his royal need for dollars? What were Sir Andrew Clarke's " great yet simple principles of good government" against his practical experience of raising the wind? He asked Mr. Birch on his return when he was to govern Perak without British aid? He felt he could do it. The next day. being March 20, the Laksamana, Shahbandar and Sri Agar diraja waited on Mr. Birch and said that the Sultan had appointed them his delegates for all discussions about administration. The Resident refused to recognise them. On 25 March the Mantri arrived to remove his family and dependents to a place of safety. Mr. Birch attended a meeting of chiefs, at which the Sultan and the Mantri were present and listened once more to his programme for future taxation. In the words of one of the Sultan's servants the chiefs reached the conclusion that Mr. Birch " had nothing to fill his own belly and came to Perak to collect the revenue of others." They listened aghast to proposals that might have come from a high-handed " Dutch sailor," and they refused to accept them. The Maharaja Lela built a formidable stockade round his house at Pasir Salak.

Mr. Birch tried to persuade the Sultan to accompany him to Penang to meet Sir Andrew Clarke but 'Abdullah not without

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reason was shy of encountering Governors. More courageous and level-headed was the Laksamana who feared a customs war at Kuala Perak and the shelling of his coastal district by British gunboats. The Governor was worried by the Mantri's creditors and nothing came of this interview except that on his way back to Singapore the Governor stopped at Pangkor to send a stern letter of reproof to 'Abdu'llah for breaking the Pangkor treaty and not leaving all taxation to the Resident. 'Abdu'llah complained that everybody tried to get him into scrapes, professed penitence and was told he must affix his seal to all revenue measures of which the Governor approved. On 26 April Birch left for Kinta and on 3 May met the ex-Sultan and tried to induce him to visit the Governor at Singapore but Isma'il pleaded that one of his children was very ill.

While Birch was away, the Laksamana hoping against hope persuaded 'Abdu'llah to send a deputation to the Governor at Singapore. The head of the deputation, which included the Laksamana, was Raja (afterwards Sultan) Idris. There were minor grievances over the headstrong way in which the Resident, heedless of local evidence, had wrongly fixed the Krian and Dinding boundaries. But the Malay chiefs were statesmanlike and decided to represent to the Governor only major grievances. They wanted His Excellency's sympathetic intervention to prevent the Resident from interfering with religion and custom, from acting without consulting Sultan and chiefs, from depriving them of the feudal dues that were the only source of their income and from harbouring refugee slaves their property. The deputation reached Singapore at an inopportune moment. Sir Andrew Clarke was handing over his office to Sir William Jervois. Displeased at the Sultan's action he warned the delegates never to bring letters to the Governor that had not been seen by Mr. Birch and wrote (17 May) to 'Abdu'llah to obey the new Governor, describing himself as " the Governor who lifted you out of your misery and sorrow, giving you position and honour "—and Mr. Birch! Raja Idris then tried to get Kim Ching to come and collect the revenues of Larut under the document 'Abdu'llah had formerly given him: a wealthy Chinese merchant from Singapore accustomed to Europeans might be some check on the Resident. But Kim Ching also failed them: he had surrendered the document to the Governor and depended on the British to collect the money 'Abdu'llah owed him.

On May 10 Mr. Birch had returned to the Residency from Kinta and while Raja Idris and the other delegates were on their way to the Governor, he made another telltale entry in his diary:—

" If the plebiscite were taken and the chiefs consulted, all would go with Isma'il; and Isma'il would, I am sure, beforehand pledge himself to go with the Resident and act by the advice of the British Resident I have waited as patiently as any man could wait for signs of improvement but none come.'' Two days later

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he was told by one of Ismail's supporters of the secret deputation to Singapore. Undeterred he asked 'Abdullah to affix his seal to notices introducing new taxes: 'Abdu'llah said that the Laksamana and Raja Idris were away and he must await their return, but he signed a land grant on receipt of $500, grumbling the while that he was paid only when the Resident wanted him to seal papers.

On 28 May Mr. Birch said a grateful good-bye at Penang to Sir Andrew Clarke, the chief whose selection of him had signed his death-warrant and whose recent rejection of the Malay deputation had robbed him of all chance of reprieve. Te saluto moriturus! This was irony of the gods. And the gods mingling tears with laughter, provided comic relief for the catastrophe. Raja Idris and his delegates had travelled from Singapore on the same steamer as the retiring Governor: Sir Andrew said nothing about the representations of the Malay Chiefs but the Laksamana and Raja Dris told Mr. Birch that they were " now in hopes 'Abdullah will behave properly and take your advice." Mr. Birch a child in the ways of Malay diplomacy or indeed of any diplomacy accepted this as " the correct version " of their errand. On his way back to the Residency he met the Shahbandar at Kota Stia and threatened him with banishment if he continued to collect taxes in defiance of the Pangkor treaty: the Shahbandar " evidently frightened " still had enough courage to opine that the Resident could take no action without the sealed concurrence of the Sultan. On 8 June he made another entry in that diary which was the Olympians' cruellest and best joke, their victim's own admission of divine justice and the sole monument time should leave of his fame. " I told the Sultan a good deal of wholesome truth and that if he did not take care he would soon be put off the throne by the British Government. . . .that he would take no advice and would do nothing; that we could not and would not stand this much longer; that a revenue must be raised for the country and that he and the Shahbandar and Dato' Mata-Mata could not be allowed to go on squeezing as they were doing, levying the only taxes of the country."

The Resident saw that toll-stations at intervals of every few miles along the Perak river must limit the output of tin and damage trade. But his proposals for a state revenue made a clean sweep of feudal dues and, ignorant of what revenue his proposals would bring, he made the chiefs no firm offer of compensation: in his eyes, they were robbers from the Sultan downwards. His actions might appear arbitrary but the event would justify the means. Month after month he had asked 'Abdu'llah to sign notices to regulate taxation; in June he grew desperate and threatened him with banishment if he did not sign before the end of the month; on 'Abdullah's entreaty the time was extended until 20 July. During the interval the Resident toured Larut and Kuala

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Kangsar: at Kota Lama armed Malays refused to allow him to land, saying that they obeyed only their local chief and cared nothing for the Sultan.

Meanwhile the Sultan despatched letters to all the great chiefs inviting them to a consultation " as the British wanted to govern the country and upset the old customs." At Senggang Raja Yusuf showed the letter to the Resident, adding that the British had much better govern Perak than leave that puppet 'Abdullah on the throne. On 20 July the meeting of chiefs was held at Durian Sa-Batang. Raja Dris and his cousin Raja Musa, the Laksamana, Sri Agar 'diraja, Shahbandar, Maharaja Lela, To' Muda 'Abdu'l-ghafur soon to be Panglima Bukit Gantang, the Raja Mahkota, with representatives of the Bendahara, the Sri Maharaja Lela, the Mantri and the Temenggong, all were present. Birch had made 'Abdullah the leader of his people and did not know it. The Sultan read a letter from Isma'il agreeing to any plan for the removal of Mr. Birch. The Laksamana lamented that their mission to the Governor had failed and suggested poison, but the meeting favoured acceptance of an offer by the Maharaja Lela to stab the Resident, if there were no other mode of quietus, and all agreed to invite the co-operation of Isma'il and the upriver chiefs for driving the British out of Perak. Were the Laksamana and the Maharaja Lela serious? A wish that a man may die need not mean instigation to murder: in one place in his diary Mr. Birth had written: " the best thing that could happen to the country would be Sultan's death." But the nerves of the Perak chiefs were frayed, their appeal to the Governor had failed and they were desperate men.

Immediately after this meeting the Sultan had to hurry down to Batak Rabit to meet the Resident and his exigent creditor, Kim Ching. Kim Ching, his stomach upset by the bad drinking water, rated the Sultan so soundly that the royal debtor signed papers appointing the Resident and Raja Idris judges, surrendering the collection of revenue to the Resident and Shahbandar and acknowledging indebtedness to Kim Ching in the sum $16,000. But the royal seal was broken and could not be affixed! Birch was angry. The Sultan, furious at an alliance between the Resident and his insulting creditor, is said to have then ordered an attack on Kota Stia as soon as Mr. Birch was killed. In spite of this with the inconsistency of a weak harassed man he briefed a Penang lawyer to discover if Birch could not be removed by legal means and at the same time sent to Penang $2,000 to buy muskets and ammunition. In spite of his troubles and his resentment against the British he tried to borrow $5,000 from Colonel Anson, the Lieutenant-Governor of Penang, in order to buy himself a diamond star for the Governor's impending visit!

Meantime the Laksamana came to Batak Rabit angry and humiliated because excise officers had searched his wife's boat for

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contraband opium. He found Sultan 'Abdu'llah fuming because a clerk at the Residency had, in the absence of his master, refused to surrender two refugee slave women and one free-women betrothed without the royal sanction to Birch's Cingalese servant. On 10 August, returning from Singapore, the Resident had an interview with Raja Dris at Batak Rabit but did not visit the Sultan. " Formerly" grumbled 'Abdu'llah, " the Resident always stopped and spoke to me: now I have given him full powers, he disregards me." The Maharaja Lela and his brother-in-law, Pandak Indut, now visited Batak Rabit and 'Abdullah gave the Maharaja Lela a document authorising him to govern independently the district from Pasir Salak to Sungai Dedap and to collect taxes on the Sungai Dedap. To it was affixed the " broken " seal.

On 12 August Birch was warned of a plot to send a woman to the Residency in the guise of a runaway slave to poison his food. A trader was fined $250 by the Sultan for refusing to pay duty at the old Malay toll-house at Kuala Kinta: when he showed a copy of the Governor's proclamation about taxes, the collector had advised him to tear it up and throw into the river when all the pieces would stick to the jakes down-stream! On 17 August 'Abdullah called on Birch on a vain errand to borrow $5,000 to entertain the Governor on his visit. Birch told him that the Governor would not call on him and seized the occasion to insist on arresting one of 'Abdu'llah's boatmen for past rowdyism in a native theatre. The Sultan tried to laugh about it but declared later that he had never been so insulted in his life, and sent off a boat to Pasir Panjang to fetch the state wizard Raja Kechil Muda to hold a seance and enquire if the guardian genies of Perak would destroy Mr. Birch. Before the seance began, the Sultan said, "If there be any spirits left in Perak, let us look into the future and see if there is any means by which he may die and his steamer be wrecked on the Perak bar." The Sultan himself was one of the mediums and declared that Mr. Birch would die within a month. He stabbed a flour mannikin repeatedly and said, " See! in a month Mr. Birch will be dead." He paid another medium, Raja Ahmat, $100 to produce Birch's spirit of life in the form of a butterfly, which was killed with a knife. The excuse for the ceremony was the Sultan's illness but the Sultan was walking about quite well and threatened death to any one who should speak of the seance to the English.

Mr. Birch had gone upriver to inform ex-Sultan Isma'il of the Governor's coming and invite him to sign a letter accepting British administration if he were recognised as Sultan. On the way the Resident snatched a spear out of the hands of the Sri Agar 'diraja who met him at Kampong Gajah, and he told that great chief that it was disrespectful to come into his presence armed! From Kinta Sultan Isma'il not only sent excuses for not signing the letter but at the prompting of his chiefs he secretly

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promised them to give the Maharaja Lela authority to carry out " the plan agreed on at Durian Sa-Batang." While Mr. Birch joined the Governor on his yacht at the Dindings, two of the Sultan's female slaves ran away to the Residency where the care-taker, Mr. Keyt, refused to surrender them.

Travelling overland from Larut the Governor, Sir William Jervois, went to Senggang, where Raja (afterwards Sultan) Yusuf wished the British would take over the entire management of affairs. On 11 September Sir William reached Blanja, where the ex-Sultan was waiting with all his chiefs, and asked if Ismail would hand over the administration of Perak to the Governor of the Straits Settlements: neither Ismail nor his chiefs were ready with a definite answer. The Governor passed on downstream, received 'Abdu'llah (complete with Star) at Bandar Baharu and surrendered to His Highness two fugitive slaves with a lecture on debt-slavery and a proposal that the Perak chiefs should accept allowances and hand over the government to the British. 'Abdullah asked for a fortnight to consult his chiefs. The Governor embarked on the Pluto and returned to Singapore. Again Mr. Birch was alone. He heard on all sides that 'Abdu'llah's people wanted to kill him but he was a brave man.

On 18 September Mr. Birch told five women slaves who had escaped to Kota Stia that they could go where they liked, and he sent them to Pangkor. The air was thick with rumours. Yusuf and Idris (both of them destined to be Sultans) accepted the Governor's proposals and drew their allowances. Mr. Birch telegraphed to Singapore: " Arrangement between Ismail and 'Abdu'llah appears impossible. Ismail has sent a useless and very impertinent letter to you.... A small body of troops placed here, as soon as you can conveniently, and a gun-boat with sepoys at Kuala Kangsar will keep order easily and prevent any attempts at disturbances. There is a strong hope among the majority of Perak that you will carry out your promise. Many good men have collected here and offered themselves to government; amongst them Ismail's brothers and Yusuf's sons. 'Abdu'llah is impracticable." The same day Birch wrote in his diary, " We have heard nothing from 'Abduilah or of him except that he and the Shahbandar are very desirous of polishing me off." On 24 September, however, 'Abdu'llah, Raja Dris and the Shahbandar came to the Residency and 'Abdu'llah promised to write a letter similar to that written to the Governor by Raja Yusuf and Raja Dris, but the next day he sent to ask for $1,500, which was refused pending receipt of the letter. On 29 September the Resident warned the Sultan to write the promised letter or abide by the consequences. On 30 September the Pluto brought a letter from the Governor reproving the Sultan for his attitude and offering him recognition as Sultan and a large allowance if he would authorize the British to govern Perak in his name. Mr. Birch also got a letter from Sir William

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Jervois offering the Sultanate to Raja Yusuf, if 'Abdullah refused to submit. Unaware of these letters, 'Abdullah accepted an allowance of $2,000 a month and British administration in his royal name, with a promise that until debt-salary had been investigated the Resident would return fugitive slaves. The Resident had won. Now was the time to show this naughty princeling that he was a firm master. The next morning he spent in drafting for 'Abdullah's signature a completely different letter from that forwarded by the Governor and he redrafted in a more stringent form the proclamations he had presented so often for 'Abdullah's seal. 'Abdullah protested that Malay judges should try cases concerned with the Muslim religion and with Malay custom. Mr. Birch granted only the point concerning religion and told the Sultan that unless the drafts were signed and sealed that evening, he would send Yusuf the Governor's letter offering him the throne. 'Abdullah yielded.

A second time the Sultan's two slave girls ran away accompanied by a slave concubine of the Shahbandar. The Sultan, the Laksamana and the Shahbandar paddled down to Bandar Baharu where with the Resident's permission the distracted Shahbandar made a frantic but futile search for the runaways. At the same time Mr. Birch informed the Malay chiefs that in view of the fresh powers 'Abdullah had now given him, he would not surrender the Sultan's women should they complain of ill-treatment! Moreover Mr. Birch seized the occasion of their visit to Bandar Baharu to urge the Laksamana and the exasperated Shahbandar to sign a letter similar to that signed by Rajas Yusuf and Idris! The Sultan now told his clerk to write a letter authorizing the Maharaja Lela to kill this incomprehensible white man.

On 12 October the Resident took the fugitive slave girls to Pangkor in his own yacht and disguised as boatmen. On 18 October Mr. Birch sent copies of the proclamations about the new system of taxation for the approval of Raja Yusuf. Yusuf replied that he and Dris heartily approved but advised that troops should be summoned before the proclamations were issued and he was certain that an example must be made of the Laksamana, Shahbandar and Maharaja Lela or of one of them and a village or two must be burnt. But on 26 October Mr. Swettenham, just returned from Singapore, found his chief still sanguine that all would go well. The next day the Resident posted the new proclamations at the Residency to a salute of twenty-one guns and left for Kuala Kinta where he pulled down the Bendahara's toll-house! Queen deus vult perdere—.In secret session the Sultan and his chiefs agreed that when the Resident went up to Pasir Salak the Maharaja Lela should fulfil his promise and kill him. The Sultan sent supplies and ammunition and a valuable creese to the Maharaja Lela.

Page 114 A History of Perak.

At 11 p.m. on 1 November accompanied by a small Sepoy guard Mr. Birch arrived at Pasir Salak, moored close by the Maharaja Lela's house and slept in his boat. It was now three days since his assassins had been appointed. Unsuspecting he allowed his companion Mr. Abbott, a naval lieutenant, to cross the river at dawn to shoot. The sepoys and boatmen went ashore to cook their rice. Mr. Birch who was recovering from a sprained ankle sat in his boat smoking a cigar. The Dato' Sagor came aboard and talked for half an hour. The Resident sought an interview with the Maharaja Lela but his request was refused. The Maharaja Lela seated in his open hall of audience declared that he would submit to no one but the Sultan, and he sat waiting to hear if the Resident would post those proclamations about taxation which boded the end of feudal rights and feudal rule; he had ordered his men to tear them down and, if they were posted again, to run amuck and kill. The Resident directed his clerk, Mat Arshad, to stick the notices on the wooden walls of the Chinese shop-house ten yards away, and himself entered the floating bath-house to which his boat was tied. A sepoy sentry armed with a revolver guarded the door. Mat Arshad shouted to his master that the Malays were tearing down the proclamations, at which Mr. Birch called back to him to post them again. Mat Arshad set about the job, pushing one of the crowd aside. The Malays stabbed the elderly whiskered clerk and leaping on to the bath-house speared the Resident through the flimsy palm-leaf walls: as he lay half in the stream, one man Seputum hacked him with a sword; the body fell into the river and disappeared. The sentry jumped into the water without having fired a shot: no one had given the order! The Dato' Sagor stood a silent accomplice.

As so often in tragedy, the end was squalid butchery.