DEATH OF MRS. JULIA BROOKE

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go off for a three months' cruise on the coast, is now gone, and Frank went with him in the steamer for the first ten days, as far as Bintulu, for there were only youths with him, and he seemed to want Frank so much.' She speaks of the infant, of which she had undertaken the charge; 'of her having assisted to lay the dead mother in her last resting-place, and of the perfect peace apparent on her countenance, which had returned to its natural beauty, so different from the poor wandering looks during the paroxysms of fever to which she had succumbed ;' of Brooke, 'who was very patient and brave, but said that he must give up all hopes of domestic happiness and work hard at his public duties; but for whom she could only hope and trust that he would not join those who had passed away.' She speaks of the house across the water as already dismantled and the servants dismissed, and of her own manifold occupations. I am just now nurse and housekeeper; the fine arts are quite set aside. Brooke has sent me poor Julia's piano, a beautiful new one of Broadwood's, but I really don't know when I can play upon it, or rather sing to it, for play I do not. Old Don stands in the stall, and I have no time to ride him, but I shall soon-when baby is over a month old I shall not be so occupied with her.' And then follows a very important postscript: 'I have only time to add a line to tell you that the steamer returned on Sunday morning (May 25), decked with Illanun flags, which she had taken from a fleet of six pirate vessels. They met them three at a time returning home to their islands, crammed full of captives and booty. They ran over them one by one, sustaining and giving a heavy fire all the time. Frank fought, as you may imagine, till he had his hands full of wounded to dress. There were forty pirate fighting-men in cach boat, and from sixty to seventy slaves or captives which they had picked up in a seven months' cruise. It was a glorious victory, and through God's mercy none of the eight Englishmen on board were wounded,

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although many Malays were, and the hospital is full. The pirates are a dreadful people; the tortures that they inflicted on their captives are sickening to write, and the women were all vilely treated. Frank has sent a full account to the "Times," where I hope you will see it. What a blessing it was that he went; it saved many lives!'

ENCOUNTER WITH ILLANUNS

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CHAPTER IX.

THE ILLANUN PIRATES AND HOSTILE CRITICISMS.

THIS letter to the Times' mentioned by Mrs. McDougall was published on July 16, immediately upon its arrival in London. It was written at the request of Captain Brooke, and read by him, and therefore carried his authority for the accuracy of its narrative. It described in animated language the encounter with the pirates. The Bishop never doubted the righteousness of the part that he bore in it; but in his eagerness to enlist the sympathies of his fellow-countrymen, and to persuade the Government to put a stop to a system far worse than the African slave-trade, he forgot to take fully into account the feelings of the religious public at home. In his excess of honesty he made no concealment of his own action, and committed the extreme imprudence of speaking of the shooting of his rifle, and gave the name of the manufacturer, although he did not actually mention the hand that wielded it.

The letter created a widespread interest. On July 26 it was referred to in kindly terms in Parliament, but it found severe critics in the representatives of both the religious parties in the Church. There were those who thought that nothing could justify a bishop in being anything but a passive witness in a mortal combat, whose lives and surroundings had been so different that they could not realise either the position in which he was placed or the duties that it entailed; others who were honestly offended or pained at the military

spirit called forth in him, but which was so natural from the whole history of his life; again, there were lovers of seeming rather than doing, who thought little of the facts but much of the manner of relating them; and lastly, there were those who, ever ready for the fray, rushed at the opportunity to attack by hostile comment the religious party to which he presumably belonged.

The author is far from wishing to impute any particular set of motives to any of the Bishop's assailants. They have most of them, if not all, departed to the far-distant land, where men's past motives and actions are alone their own concernment, and his task is that of narrator only. A storm was, however, called forth. Newspaper comments were to be expected; but in October, Bishop Baring, then of Durham, wrote in severe terms to the Gospel Propagation Society on what he termed 'the extraordinary proceedings of the Bishop of Labuan with regard to his shooting the poor heathen instead of converting them;' hoping 'that some resolution might be adopted, which might free the Society from any share in the blood so thoughtlessly shed.' A correspondence then ensued which was eventually laid before the Archbishop of Canterbury, together with the original letter and an explanatory statement headed 'Borneo Pirates,' which is now given, as it contained the case made by the Bishop's friends on his behalf, and should be read to understand the grounds on which his Grace came to his conclusion.

THE BORNEO PIRATES.

As a false impression appears very generally to prevail respecting the part taken by the Bishop of Labuan, during an engagement in the month of May last, between the 'Rainbow,' Sarawak Government steamer, and a piratical fleet off the coast of Borneo, it has been thought desirable to ascertain and make some statement of the facts of the case for the satisfaction of the friends of the Bishop.

'The following particulars are taken from an official letter dated May 27, and written by Mr. Helms, the principal agent at Sarawak of the Borneo Company, to Mr. Harvey, the managing director of that Company.

'On May 9, Captain Brooke, the Rajah Mudah, or ActingGovernor of Sarawak, had the misfortune to lose his wife very suddenly, and after a few days it was thought by his friends that he might find some mental relief in change of scene and work. Accordingly he was persuaded to undertake a voyage to Bintulu, a recent acquisition of his Government, on the north-west coast of Borneo, and the Bishop accompanied him, solely with the view of comforting and supporting him, as one friend might another in a time of severe affliction. Mr. Helms joined the party and was dropped at Muka, where the Borneo Company has an establishment. On the second day after his arrival a piratical fleet of Lanun pirates, consisting of six large and as many smaller vessels, appeared upon the coast and blockaded the place. For two days they remained off Muka, capturing there and upon the coast southwards not fewer than thirty-two persons. In the meantime Mr. Helms was not idle, but persuaded a party of natives to start in a fast boat for the steamer, which they reached at the mouth of the river off Bintulu, although chased by the Lanuns. The "Rainbow " at once returned towards Muka, and soon dispersed the first detachment of the pirates, consisting of three prahus, two of which were sunk;2 and, learning from the captives the direction taken by the remainder of the fleet, stood out to sea and engaged them. "The pirates," says Mr. Helms, opened a very heavy fire upon the steamer," and "were quite sure they could take her;" but after a desperate contest were run down and sunk. The number of Lanuns killed or

The Rainbow' is a small screw steamer of 80 tons register and 35-horse power engines, and carries two 9-pounder guns.

2 The Rainbow' here parted company with the 'Jolly Bachelor,' a small sailing vessel belonging to Sarawak, which remained behind to look after the crew of the remaining vessel, who had escaped into the jungle.