monopoly and exclusion arose the policy which will effectually neutralize it. Finding that fair play was not to be expected from the Netherlands authorities in any part of insular Asia, and accident having revived our relations with Borneo, our Cabinet reluctantly consented to take possession of Labuan, ceded to us by the Sultan of Borneo. To what result this step may lead, it would at present be premature to conjecture; but among its consequences must be the establishment of our influence not only over Borneo Proper, but over such other portions of the island as may desire or need our protection.

From certain recent measures of the Netherlands Government, many had been induced to hope that a new and more enlightened policy was about to be adopted throughout the Eastern Archipelago, and that, simultaneously with the abolition of petty restrictions, the petty jealousies of the two great nations would be buried in oblivion. Without reiterating the assertion that these liberal measures have been forced by imperative circumstances upon a reluctant Government, we may observe that, had they been carried out in a truly liberal spirit, they would have rendered Netherlands India one of the most valuable colonial possessions on the globe, and exhibited its administration not only as a pattern to less experienced nations, but a burning and shining light to guide the footsteps of the English East India Company in its internal rule of the Indian continent.

Our readers will not suspect us of a desire unnecessarily to censure any of the proceedings of a friendly State; and, if we recur to the claims advanced by the Netherlands Government to a large portion of the island of Borneo, it is merely to point out how lightly this claim has been made, the ground upon which it must ultimately rest, and, above all, to show that such a claim never has and never can confer a right, but must be regarded solely as the ipse dixit of an inte- || rested party.

justly; and if we have not now claimed enough of our neighbours' property, we will carefully do so when it suits our convenience.

We take no exception, however, to the claims already advanced, for the simplest and best of all reasons, namely, that we are insufficiently acquainted with the geography of the interior of Borneo, and, indeed, are almost as ignorant as the claimants themselves; the only certain fact being that the foot of European has never trodden a large portion of the line which is asserted to be the boundary of the Netherlands territory. One example will suffice. Somewhere between the head of the Batang Lupar river on the one hand, and the course of the Pontiana river on the other; thence between the interior of Sadang and the territory of Lagan somewhere, we repeat, northward of these forests lies the boundary between the Sultanate of Borneo Proper and the territories of the small and more recent native States which are included in the Dutch system of amalgamation, as subject to the Government of Batavia; and we assert, with the utmost confidence, that this boundary line has not been laid down except on paper, and that, for some time to come, no European will venture personally to survey the limits of the rival empires.

Somewhere between the sands of the north-west coast, and the course of the Pontiana, lies this unknown boundary; but nothing can be more improbable than that the boundary should run in straight lines, in defiance of the natural features of the country, the various extent of the streams of the north-west coast, and the tortuous channels of the Pontiana. We dwell no longer on this point, but may briefly state that the only authority for the geography of the Netherlands territory in Kalamantan, is a map constructed by the officers of that nation for the information and edification of the European powers, wherein the boundary claimed is distinctly laid down in divers colours; and, if we may judge the correctness of this map from the Having but lately become aware of the importance known part of the island, we shall not be surprised at of their possessions in Borneo, and urged, probably, its deficiencies in the regions little known, or not known by some vague feeling of jealousy that other nations at all. The position on the map of Tanjoug Datu is might encroach upon its right, the Government of nearly eighty miles from its true position; and we may Netherlands India not long since appointed a Gover-be allowed to ask whether the geography of the interior nor of Netherlands Borneo, and there issued what may be as correct as the geography of the coast? We will be termed a manifesto laying down the limits of terri-not enter more minutely into this subject; and the tory in that island.

Netherlands claims on the one hand are advanced, and This territorial claim defines an exact boundary; our objections on the other hand would be urged, in the line is carried from river to river; it crosses the total ignorance of the main points on which this quesdry land; it jumps from mountain to mountain; it tion rests; but from faulty geography, from no geointersects the primeval forest; and, where landmarks|graphy, from the manifest absurdity of carrying an are wanting, it includes every point of the compass. In one place this territory, situated in the continuous solitudes of this vast and little-known island, runs north to a given latitude; elsewhere it extends castward; and having, by one means or another, enclosed all the territories of Sambas, of Landak, of Banjar, and nobody knows how many States formerly independent, it concludes with the remarkable declaration, that the claim now advanced is not to prejudice any of the claims which may be advanced at any future time; and thus, out of separate territories, held upon various terms, is formed a definite whole of the Nether-in Borneo or America be decided, in spite of all onelands possessions, which may be too extended as well as too contracted. What, however, of that? What we claim, says the manifesto, is ours, justly or un

unknown boundary in straight lines, and the doubtful right of forming a connected whole out of varying and incongruous parts, we must conclude that the claim set forth is entirely premature, and indubitably useless. The boundaries of States are not to be settled by one of the interested parties; it is a question to be discussed by both parties interested, which, after a full knowledge of the localities, can be arranged only by mutual concessions and mutual agreement; and, unless an act of spoliation be contemplated upon this ground, and on this ground alone, must a boundary question, whether

sided claims and one-sided declamations. In the case under consideration, so far as we are aware, the solution of the boundary of the Netherlands possessions in

Borneo is readily to be arrived at, always taking for|| granted that the Dutch claims are just to the territories of the numerous native States included in the kingdom of Jamba and Pontiana, &c.

with the example of Sarawak before them, are the Dyaks of Jamba and Pontiana bound in an iron chain of slavery? Why are they left, to the tender mercies of the native princes, bondsmen and serfs, the cattle Every tribe of Dyak knows upon what territory it is of the soil, oppressed and degraded? Why are these located. The influential Malays are acquainted with innocent and unhappy people charged eight hundred the boundary within a short distance, and both Malay or a thousand per cent. for that great necessary of life, and Dyak will point to the flow of the waters as mark- salt, when they can more readily get the same article ing general divisions between separate States. Credi- in Sarawak at one tenth the price? Why is it a crime ble witnesses, prescriptive right, and ancient proceed-to trade with, or even visit Sarawak? In the name of ings, are not wanting whenever the question shall be humanity we ask, are these docile and submissive abobrought before a just tribunal. In the meantime the rigines a free people, or are they, their wives, their Netherlands Government need labour under no appre- children, the slaves of the Hollanders and the Malays? hension of any encroachments on the part of Great We assert that they are treated as slaves; but predict Britain. Never was external influence less called for. with confidence that they cannot continue to be so The question is not difficult of solution; and that the treated. The Dyaks of the Dutch territory look with mere manifesto can establish no right, is so evident, envy on the Dyaks of Sarawak; and every enlightened that we shall dismiss it in a very few words. Did the and humane man in Europe will hail with pleasure the claims of Great Britain settle the Canadian boundary? day when the Government, which makes such bold Did the declaration of the United States decide the claims on the territory, shall attend to the happiness Oregon question? or, did the thousand and one pro- and prosperity of the poor Dyaks-when it shall declare tests issued by the Hague fix the limits of the Nether-them to be what they are, a free race, and release them lands territory on the Belgian frontier? No such from the tyranny of their Malay rulers, to whom they claim advanced by one party can decide a boundary now abandon them. line between two nations. It can neither prejudice nor If the reader recognize the justice of the above obestablish a right. It is to be considered only as the servations, he will, in all likelihood, be prepared to notice of action before the trial of a cause. In any other accompany us in what we are about to say. Finding point of view, the manifesto issued by the Netherlands the Netherlands Government turn a deaf ear to the Government must be considered so much waste paper; appeals made by us on behalf of our merchants, her and the boundaries of the different States throughout Majesty's Ministers at length resolved to form a settlethe Archipelago yet remains to be settled on fair in- ment at Labuan; and, if the experiment prove successquiry and equitable grounds. How paltry do suchful, as there is every reason to expect, similar settlequestions, claims, discussions appear to the proper ments will probably be formed in other parts of the Government, in Borneo and elsewhere, which Providence Archipelago. Relying on notions acquired forty or has placed under the sway of the Netherlands! What || is a handful of miles in a boundary line in the interior of Borneo, compared with the advancement and the happiness of its people? This is the first, the great duty of all States, and of the Dutch in the Archipelago;|| and upon its due discharge will that nation be judged by their fellow men, and by God. It is a moral consideration, before which every other duty ought to give way, to which every other duty ought to be auxiliary. Has the Government of Netherlands India performed this duty? Has it done its best to advance the happiness of the native population? Has it relieved them from the worst oppression of native rule? Has it governed in the East the territory it so boldly claims in the West? Has it permitted wars to be carried on by one portion of its subjects upon other portions, by tribe against tribe, by Malay against Chinese, by Chinese against Dyak? These and other questions ought to be asked; and solemnly let the rulers of these countries answer. We may allude to some slight defects in the Without, however, enlarging on what we may do Netherlands Government, but in no hostile spirit; and hereafter, or exposing the antiquated fallacies of pernone would rejoice more than ourselves to see the sons on this side of the Channel, we shall make two or abuses corrected, to witness a beneficent rule estab- || three remarks in reply to M. Temminck, the semilished, to behold the natives happy and content, and to|| official organ of the Dutch Government. On the occulook forward with hope to their advance in civilization and the arts.

fifty years ago, a writer who finds himself by mistake among the men of the present generation, contends that there is no longer in the Archipelago place for any further settlements, because all the islands south of the Equator belong to the Dutch, whilst the Spaniards possess all, and more than all, to the north of it. By this figure of speech, borrowed from our Milesian neighbours, an antediluvian politician would persuade the world that the whole Archipelago is already occupied. We can take upon ourselves to assure him that the members of the British Government are not of his way of thinking; and Mons. Temminck, speaking for the statesmen of Holland, points out a vast field which, according to his conceptions, yet remains open to British enterprize. We, therefore, invite our political Rip Van Winkel to reflect more maturely upon what has been accomplished during his protracted slumbers, before he again ventures upon an affair with which he is so ill acquainted.

||pation of Labuan he is at once poetical and polite. He thinks, and not, perhaps, without reason, that the step We must point out, in no hostile spirit, the evil acts taken by the British Government ought to awaken the of the Dutch in Borneo. Why, with the example of inquietude of the Dutch, since its consequences may Sarawak before them, are the Dyaks allowed to war be incalculable, both to England and to those whom he tribe against tribe for the purpose of taking heads?|| terms the masters of the Archipelago. That he exThis hostility, tending to the destruction of their peace-presses in these words the sentiments of the Dutch ful neighbours, is not checked. Is it permitted? Why, Government we will not affirm, because its entertain

ing such a sentiment is not consistent with the lan-|| against, we think we speak quite within bounds when guage of the treaty of 1824, in which it formally dis- we say, that the Dutch never intended, from the first, avows all claim to supremacy in the Archipelago. Tem-to act up to the stipulations of the treaty. They imminck, therefore, though an official personage, and mediately imposed duties which it did not sanction, writing from official information, must be regarded as concluded treaties with native princes equally in defiusing unofficial language, when he talks of the Dutch ance of it, and gradually excluded us from one part as the masters of the Archipelago. He evidently, how- after another of their colonial possessions, to secure us ever, desires it to be understood by the public that he access to which the treaty was framed. Had the Dutch is the interpreter of the designs of his Government; and been an overwhelmingly powerful empire, we should with that affectation of prudence, which is one of the have said that their conduct since the year 1824 was characteristics of would-be-diplomatists, declines lifting merely meant to be an insolent display of force towards the dark veil which conceals the future of Borneo. In a rival too weak to protect itself. But this not being the meanwhile, it is to be presumed that, behind that the case, we can only infer that Holland, having undark veil, Dutch diplomacy will perform many feats bounded faith in the generosity of Great Britain, and which it would not like to do in the face of the world. pushing to its utmost extent the privilege of the weak, It is for its interest, therefore, that the veil should has presumed that Great Britain would not retaliate continue to be dark; though we can comprehend the because of the helplessness of its rival. Nothing could possibility of the mystery being dissipated without the have been easier for us than to expel the Dutch a consent, and contrary to the wishes, of the Dutch Go- second time from all the Eastern possessions. But to vernment. M. Temminck writes with extreme passion, this no reference, even the most tacit, was ever made. which betrays him into statements which not only have We suffered them to plunder our merchants by exact. no foundation in facts, but which stand in direct con- ing exorbitant taxes in direct defiance of the treaty, to tradiction with all the facts of the case. He says our exclude us from Sumatra, from Borneo, from Celebes, occupation of Labuan is an act of brutal force, and en- from the Moluccas, from Bali and Lombock, and even deavours to mystify his readers by a phrase which from the whole of Java itself, with the exception of either has no meaning at all, or one which is untrue. the three ports of Batavia, Samarang, and Sambaya. From the literal interpretation of his language, the Ultimately, that our trade in the Archipelago might proper inference is, that the Dutch have settlements in not be wholly extinguished, our Government deternearly the whole northern coast of Borneo; whereas, in mined to take possession of Labuan, that we might, reality, they have no settlement north of the river without the interference of the Dutch, carry on a trade Kapoeas, which divides Sanubar from Sarawak. Hav- with Northern Borneo, the greater part of which being made this unfortunate assertion, which everybody is longs to us by treaty, and with the other islands of capable of disproving, he goes on to say that our occu- the Archipelago, which we may now do through the pation of Labuan strikes a blow at the independence of instrumentality of native merchants. the native princes of the north. But what does this language signify? What is meant by native princes, is a number of feeble chiefs, whose independence did not suffice to protect them even from a handful of pirates. The very Sultan of Borneo was unable to defend himself against the Balinini, who, he asserts, converted his capital, against his will, into a nest of pirates. Under any circumstances, therefore, we were justified in doing what we did, because no one but ourselves could ensure peace to the Archipelago. The Dutch had tried for a hundred years, and failed. The Sultan professed to have done the same thing during his whole lifetime, with the same result. It only remained, therefore, for us to try our power, which, as the pirates soon found, was not to be resisted. The Sultan's case is soon disposed of either he was an encourager of pirates, or he was their victim. If the former, then we had a right to put him down with the other pirates; if the latter, it was a signal act of humanity to protect him. Therefore, unless the Dutch desire the continuance of piracy, they must rejoice at the step we have taken in repressing it. Were it lawful to draw a general inference from a particular case, we should say that the history of the treaty of 1824 would prove the utter inutility of all such arrangements; for no sooner was it entered into than both parties put a different construction on the language employed, and the Dutch, acting on their false interpretation, inflicted on British commerce injuries so flagrant, that had not the forbearance of Ministers been still greater than the injustice of Holland, they must inevitably have led to a war. Without indulging in rash imputations, which should, of course, be guarded

:

Monsieur Temminck is compelled to confess that the occupation of Labuan does not directly violate the treaty of 1824; though, separating the letter from the spirit, after the established fashion of Dutch diplomacy, he asserts that it runs counter to the manifest aim of that treaty. But to make such affirmations is easy. We invite Monsieur Temminck, or any other Dutch author, to explain clearly to the world what the aim of that treaty was, and then to show how the occupation of Labuan works against it. We have already, we fancy, demonstrated that all the treaties and proceedings of the Dutch, since the year 1824, have been inconsistent with their engagements to England; whereas nothing we have done in Borneo can by any degree of ingenuity be shewn to be contrary to the stipulations of that convention. Consequently, M. Temminck shoots altogether beside the mark when he insists on the occupation of Labuan as an action inconsistent with the spirit of the treaty of 1824. It would betray us into the use of language harsh and indecorous to characterize Mons. Temminck's representations as they deserve. He writes as though all the world were in perfect ignorance of the proceedings of Holland since the year 1834, and then affects to draw, from the course of British policy, which he has been endeavouring to characterize, a proof that Great Britain acts on the odious maxim that powerful States need only preserve their faith with weaker so long as they have no interest in violating it. If these views and feelings were confined to inefficient writers like Mons. Temminck and the journalists of Rotterdam and the Hague, though we might condemn them se

verely, we should never think of converting them [] cealed his head in a thicket, therefore he and his purinto matter of accusation against Dutch Ministers; pose remain unseen. There is, unfortunately, no misbut when we find Baron de Zeiler and Baron de Von take possible. He is angry with England, and loses Vustolk holding pretty nearly the same language, no opportunity of sneering at her morals and her pauthough a little modified by the decorum of office, perism, which, he says, without much regret we fear, we are forced to the conclusion that throughout are undermining her social system, and urging her to the whole of diplomatic society in Holland there pre-search for outlets for her manufactures without much vails an obliquity of vision which prevents persons regard to justice or right. Probably they who examine from seeing the gross and grievous faults they them-attentively the history of the relations between Great selves commit, while it renders them lynx-eyed towards the faults of others, and occasionally enables them to discover blemishes where none exist.

Britain and Holland, subsequent to the treaty of 1824, will rather be of opinion that, instead of overstepping the bounds of justice and equity, our Government has Temminck admits the value of Labuan, and indeed submitted patiently to injuries and affronts from Holenlarges upon its importance in order the more effec-land, which it would not have endured from a more tually to exalt the regret of his countrymen at its hav-powerful competitor.

ing fallen into other hands. But then, when we come In giving us advice respecting the direction in to consider the duties which this possession must im- which we ought to pursue our conquests, the Dutch pose upon us, viz., those of extirpating piracy, civi-writer adopts the policy of the lapwing, which, by a lizing the natives, and extending the empire of com- thousand manœuvres, seeks to allure the intruder from merce, he seems suddenly to desist from his hostility, her own nest. So Mons. Temminck says we shall be and observes, we fear somewhat ironically, that the performing a meritorious act of philanthropy by conNetherlands will certainly not envy us the advantages quering the Sulu Archipelago, and all the other great we may thus have acquired. And the reason he as-islands (including Palawan and Celebes, we presume), signs is an odd one. The Dutch navy is not in a con- which lie between Borneo and the Philippines, and dition, he says, to contest with us the conquests we thus subjecting to the sway of civilization counmay make in those regions, and therefore it is that tries which have hitherto obstinately refused to put on Holland does not envy us. If it be so, this is perhaps its yoke. In time this wish of Holland may possibly the first time that weakness has extinguished envy. be realized, not so much perhaps through the spirit of Looking at the laws which usually govern human na- self-aggrandizement as in the interest of humanity. ture, we should probably have come to a different con- But we shall commence with Borneo itself, or at least clusion. But M. Temminck is positive, and must, include it in our system, because there we have a letherefore, we suppose, be right. Of course, M. Tem-gitimate claim to exercise influence-first, because we minck's eloquence and sophistry are inspired by patriotism, and should, therefore, be regarded with some degree of respect. He must not, however, delude himself into the belief that, because he seems to have con

inherit the rights of the Sulus in that island, and next, because the natives desire our protection both against the piratical hordes who infest the Archipelago, and the Europeans, who are little less destructive.

THE YEARLY THANKSGIVING.

THE stars are glittering o'er the fells
In myriads grand and bright,
Like young unfading immortelles

Hung on the tomb of night;
On every mount and misty height
Sparkles a wreath of crystal light.

And hark! above the sleeping graves
Sound calling unto sound,
Hurriedly, like deep-mouthed waves
Surging up a rough ground;
And see light after light let go
Its lucent stream, like stars below.
And wandering shadows without feet
Come creeping down the lanes,
And glide away, in transience fleet,

By the twinkling window panes ;
And still small voices hush the air
To the calm that is the birth of prayer.

Labour hath left his rustic shed

And lain his bundle down,
And come to join with reverent head
His brother of the town;
And for the full and plentious ears
Praise the great Father of the years.

The Father whose soft, dewy night,
And orient, azure morn,
With gracious showers of sunny light,

Lured forth the young, green corn;
Whose rocking winds and ripening rain,
And broad-orbed moons, gold-hued the grain,

Low as an upland April breeze,

From earth the wing'd hymn floats
Heavily towards the skies,

Down-prest with wet cold thoughts
Of withered leaves, and wan, brief day,
And buried flowers, and life's decay.

Then, like a hurricane, it shakes

Damp fear away, and doubt,
And 'gainst the lowering future breaks,
And sobs its glad voice out;
Scattering, with hope's far-flashing levin,
The glooms that hide the sweet blue heaven.

Till all is clear, to your warm homes
Go-lay you down and rest;
See, stars are gathering o'er the tombs,
And on the mountain's breast;
As erst round Dotham's leaguer'd height
Lie watching bands of white-plumed light.
THOMAS BLACKBURNE,

9

THE CHANGING YEARS.

LINES

SUGGESTED BY THE FOLLOWING SINGULAR CIRCUMSTANCE :—

"Our readers," says a London journal, "remember the melancholy wreck of the splendid steamer the Atlantic, when forty souls perished. At that time a piece of the wreck, with the steamer's bell attached to it, became, and continues still fastened between two rocks. During every swell of the waves the bell tones forth its melancholy note over the spot where the vessel's living cargo was engulphed."