A Visit to Java Part 13

"The acquisition of Singapore has grown in importance. The stir made here lately for the further enlargement of the Eastern trade fortified that impression. It is now accredited in the India House."[32]

[Footnote 32: "Memoir of Sir Stamford Raffles."]

Undoubtedly the Dutch were making strong endeavours at this time to procure the removal from the East of a man who had shown himself so resolute and capable an opponent of their commercial system. Raffles himself writes from Bencoolen in July, 1820, "After all, it is not impossible the ministry may be weak enough to abandon Singapore, and to sacrifice me, honour, and the Eastern Archipelago to the outrageous pretensions of the Dutch." Fortunately he had powerful friends, and he was not immediately recalled. Meanwhile he continued to hold the settlement on his personal responsibility against the efforts of both the British and Dutch East India Governments. In eighteen months it had grown from an insignificant fishing village to a port with a population of 10,000 inhabitants. During the first two and a half years of its existence Singapore was visited by as many as 2889 vessels, with an aggregate burden of 161,515 tons. The total value of its exports and imports for the year 1822 amounted to no less than 8,568,172 dollars.[33]

[Footnote 33: The Mexican dollar, which varies in value, but is worth about four shillings.]

Raffles returned to Singapore on the 10th of October, 1822, on his way to England. He remained in the settlement for nine months, and during this time employed himself in laying-out the city, and in drawing up rules and regulations for the government of its people. In one of his letters he expresses a hope "that, though Singapore may be the first capital established in the nineteenth century, it will not disgrace the brightest period of it."

The position of Raffles in respect to Singapore was indeed remarkable.

Though a servant of the company for five years, he was personally responsible for the administration of the settlement, and neither the Bengal Government nor the Court of Directors in London would relieve him. In the report which he sent to the Bengal Government before returning to England, he states the main principles upon which he has based the regulations which he framed. At the head of them stands a declaration of the principle of free trade.

"First I have declared that the port of Singapore is a free port, and the trade thereof open to ships and vessels of every nation, free of duty, equally and alike to all." It was a hatred of their monopolist policy which had especially inspired Raffles in his opposition to the Dutch. In respect of the question of the authority of his legislation, he writes that he considered himself justified in thus provisionally legislating for the settlement by reason of the existence of "an actual and urgent necessity for some immediate and provisional arrangements."

He further states that in framing these regulations he has, while giving due weight to local considerations, "adhered as closely as possible to those principles which from immemorial usage have ever been considered the most essential and sacred parts of the British const.i.tution."

Before he left Singapore, Raffles selected twelve merchants and appointed them to act as magistrates for a year. He also provided for a succession of such magistrates, who were to be chosen from a list kept by the Resident.

Raffles' career was cut short by his sudden and premature death, which took place on the 5th of July, 1826. He had lived, however, long enough to see the merit of his public conduct established by the judgment of the Court of Directors, which I have already mentioned, and which was p.r.o.nounced in the preceding April. The fortunes of Singapore were secured two years previously to this event, when the island was formally ceded to the British Government by the Sultan of Joh.o.r.e, in pursuance of the terms of an arrangement then concluded between the Dutch and English Governments. Subsequently it formed part of the consolidated Government of Penang, Singapore, and Malacca. In 1867 these settlements were converted into a Crown colony under the name of the Straits Settlements.

At the present time the colony so const.i.tuted is administered by a Governor, and an Executive Council of eight members, a.s.sisted by a Legislative Council consisting of these eight official, and seven other unofficial, members.

The town of Singapore has fully realized the expectations of its founder. Its rapid and continuous growth is sufficiently indicated by the fact that at the present time it possesses a population of 182,650 inhabitants; while the importance of its trade is demonstrated by the fact that more than three million tons of shipping entered the port in the year 1889. In connection with the growing recognition of the necessity for an organized system of naval defence for the empire, the strategical value of Singapore has of late years been greatly emphasized, and the defences of the port have been strengthened and improved. Batteries have been constructed by the colony at a cost of 100,000, which have been furnished with guns at the expense of the Imperial Government. At the same time a new harbour, including the Tanjong Pagar wharf and docks, has been added three miles to the westward, where the largest ocean-going steamships can find ample s.p.a.ce.

The original "fort" is still conspicuous in the centre of the town, and behind it are the gently rising hills on which the bungalows of the English residents are for the most part built. At evening the blinds are drawn up to welcome the reviving breath of the sea, and from the open windows of these bungalows appears a panoramic scene of singular extent and beauty, and one which forms a fitting background to the Eastern viands and Chinese servants which give a Singapore dinner-party a character of its own.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE CAVANAGH BRIDGE, SINGAPORE. _Page_ 282.]

The ricsha furnishes the streets with an additional element of picturesqueness. These charming vehicles are not used, however, by Europeans during the day. Then the Anglo-Saxon instinct for respectability (or some more subtle reason) prescribes the use of the ghari, which is practically a four-wheeled cab with Venetian blinds subst.i.tuted for windows. The ricsha is especially used by the Chinese, who, as in Java, have contrived to get most of the retail trade into their hands, and many of whom are extremely wealthy and greatly attached to the British connection. In addition to the public offices, the most noticeable buildings are the Government House, which stands on a slight elevation and is surrounded by a park, the cathedral, and the Raffles Museum. Near the Cavanagh Bridge--a handsome iron suspension bridge which spans the river--is the hospitable and commodious Singapore club; and just outside the town there is a fine race-course. The esplanade together with this latter provide the English residents with the means of outdoor recreation which are so essential in the tropics. I have already spoken of the great advantage which Singapore possesses over Batavia in the singular healthiness of its climate. Almost the first sight which I saw on my arrival was that of an English crowd surrounding the tennis courts on the esplanade, where a very considerable tournament was proceeding. It is by such pursuits as these, polo, golf, cricket, and tennis, that the insidious languor of the East can alone be resisted.

There are times when, among the prosaic surroundings of this work-a-day world, our senses are unexpectedly stirred by some undetected stimulus which sets in motion a train of memories. Such memories penetrate even the gloomy recesses of Temple chambers. Sometimes they bring with them a waft of perfume from the warm pine woods that clothe the slopes of Table Mountain; sometimes a vision of gla.s.sy waters walled by the sheer mountain heights of New Zealand Sounds; or it may be a sense of calm swan-like motion over the sunlit reaches of the Hawkesbury. Not least interesting among such memories I count the recollection of a time when life was lived on a verandah, in the twilight of palm leaves, and its needs were served by dusky ministers whose footfall brought no disturbing sound.

It is not so very long ago since Mr. Lucy wrote that a man in search of "pastures new" might do worse than try j.a.pan. I would add that, having tried j.a.pan (and who has not?), he might do worse than take to Java.

Here, in an island where the business of the great world is heard only as the murmur of a neighbouring stream, he will find an ancient and interesting civilization still existing, some vast Hindu ruins, and the gardens of Buitenzorg.