The Mentri, The Malay "Governor" Of Larut, Although Aided
By Captain Speedy And A Force Of Well-Drilled Troops Recruited
By him
in India, and possessing four Krupp guns, was powerless to restore
order, and Larut was destroyed, being absolutely
Turned into a
wilderness, in which all but three houses had been burned, and, while
the Malays had fled, the surviving Si Kwans were living behind
stockades, while those of the faction opposed to that with which the
Mentri and his Commander-in-Chief, Captain Speedy, had allied
themselves, were living on the products of orchards from which their
owners had been driven, and on booty, won by a wholesale system of
piracy and murder, practiced not only on the Perak waters but on the
high seas.
The war waged between the two parties threatened to become a war of
extermination; horrible atrocities were perpetrated on both sides; and
it is said and believed that as many as three thousand belligerents
were slain on one day early in the disturbances. If the course of
prohibiting the export of munitions of war had been persevered the
strife would have died a natural death; but the Mentri made
representations which induced the authorities of the Straits to accord
a certain degree of support to himself and the Si Kwans, by limiting
the prohibition to his enemies the Go Kwans. Things at last became so
intolerable in Larut, and as a consequence in Pinang, that the Governor
of the Straits Settlements, Sir A. Clarke, thought it was time to
interfere. During these disturbances in Larut, Lower Perak and the
Malays generally were living peaceably under Ismail, their elected
Sultan. Abdullah, who was regarded as his rival, was a fugitive, with
neither followers, money, nor credit. He had, however, friends in
Singapore, to one of whom, Kim Cheng, a well-known Chinaman, he had
promised a lucrative appointment if he would prevail on the Straits
authorities to recognize him as Sultan. Lord Kimberley had previously
instructed the Governor to consider the expediency of introducing the
"Residential system" into "any of the Malay States," and the occasion
soon presented itself.
An English merchant in Singapore and Kim Cheng drafted a letter to the
Governor, which Abdullah signed, in which this chief expressed his
desire to place Perak under British protection,* and "to have a man of
sufficient abilities to show him a good system of government." Sir A.
Clarke, thus appealed to, went to Pulo Pangkor, off the Perak coast,
summoned the Chinese head men and the Malay chiefs to meet him there,
and so effectively reconciled the former, who were bound over to keep
the peace, that they were not again heard of. The Governor stated to
the Malay chief and Abdullah that it was the duty of England to take
care that the proper person in the line of succession was chosen for
the throne. He inquired if there were any objection to Abdullah, and on
none being made, the chiefs signed a paper dictated by Sir A. Clarke,
since known as the "Pangkor Treaty." Its articles deposed Ismail,
created Abdullah Sultan, ceded two tracts of territory to England, and
provided that the new ruler should receive an English Resident and
Assistant Resident, whose salaries and expenses should be the first
charge on the revenue of the country, whose counsel must be asked and
"acted upon" on all questions other than those of religion and custom,
and under whose advice the collection and control of all revenues and
the general administration should be regulated.
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