THE WAR AT PERAK.

Globe, Volume V, Issue 521, 18 February 1876, Page 3

THE WAR AT PERAK.

The Singapore correspondent of the Argus, writing on January 10th, says : Since my letter to you of December 13th, the news from the seat of war at Perak is absolutely nothing, if we except the capture of a stockade on that day, and the surprise of a small party of our men on the 4th of this month. The loss on the first occasion was very small, one or two of the police killed, and Dr Randell, the colonial principal medical officer, shot in the thigh. On the second occasion the enemy were beaten off, but Major Hawkins, of the Ghoorkhas, was killed, with two of his men, and Dr Townshend and one or two men wounded. And that is the whole catalogue of what General Colbourne and Brigadier-General Ross, with about 3000 men of all arms, have been able to do during a month. The force has everything it can require to make it efficient—a larg*body of Madras Sappers and Miners, a field telegraph, a rocket brigade, sevenpounder steel guns, Martini-Henry rifles, a good commissariat well supplied, and everything, indeed, that can be wanted—and it has done nothing. On the other hand, the force from Sunghi-lying, having scarcely any of these aids, and a badly supplied commissariat, have made short work of their campaign, which has now closed. I must tell your readers a little of the whereabouts and the wherefore of the last named war, even at the risk of being prolix. Sunghi-lying is a territory on the frontier of the British province of Malacca, and to the southward of Perak, It is inland, and abuts on two independent native states, Sri Menauti and Rumbowe, the Malays in which have always been jealous of anyintcrference by the white men, and always, if possible, kept them out of the country. Knowing the existence of this feeling, the Colonial Government most unaccountably sent a surveyor to run a line of survey across the Sri Menauti territory without as much as saying “ By your leave,” or seeking in any way to gain the sanction of the chiefs or head men to the step. This was some months ago, long before any outbreak was anticipated by the Government in Perak. The surveyor on this occasion was turned back, and the intention of the Government to carry on the survey was supposed to have been dropped, at least for a while. Strange to say, so soon as Mr Birch was murdered at Perak, and all the energies of the Government were strained to avenge his death, and it was of the first necessity to keep the rest of the surrounding Malay states quiet, and above all, not to embroil ourselves with those with whom we have no treaty—no sooner did the rising in Perak assume the importance of a Coomassie war than Mr Daly, the surveyor (a nephew of Sir Dominick Daly, a late Governor of South Australia), starts off to survey the country he had before been turned back from; and this time, also, without first asking permission, The consequence, as may have been expected, was his again being stopped. On this he goes back, and returns with thirty men of the 10th regiment, and a number of police. An action commences between the Malays and our men, and after half an hour’s rifle practice the latter have to retire, and on reaching Rassa, the residency of our province of Sunghi-lying, have to fortify the police stockade there, and send off to Malacca for reinforcements. The latter arrive in the shape of 100 of the Buffs and 200 of the Ghoorkas, with some rocket guns and seven-pounder steel guns, and a score or so of artillerymen, besides about 100 mercenaries—the scum of Singapore—collected together by a Mr De Fontaine, With this force an attack was made on a stockade the Malays had erected*to defend a pass through the hills leading to their country. The stockade, after pretty passable fighting on both sides, was taken, and after that the enemy declined to meet our men again, but fled from village to village into the jungle, day by day, as the troops advanced, and on Christmas Day the '■ campaign” was over, The march of the British was marked by burning villages, and the Arabs are said to have “ enjoyed with infinite relish ” the robbery of the poultry, goats, and household gods of the flying Malays, left behind by the latter in their hurried departure. Whilst destroying everything in front, the farce was enacted of sending Colonel Anson, the LieutenantGovernor of Penang, in the rear, to ask the Malays to return to their homes, under the assurance that they would not be injured. Such an iniquitous affair has hardly ever before disgraced the British power in the East, and Sir William Jervois, the Governor of the Straits, will have a heavy reckoning to pay when full particulars reach home. When the war—a most justifiable one—in Perak will be concluded, goodness knows, but when it is, the next thing to be considered will be what is to be done with the country we shall have then conquered. Common sense would say keep it—in plain words, annex it to this colony. Lord Carnarvon, however, has become suddenly too conscientious to do such a thing. We are to rob and plunder and slay a peaceful people like the Malays of Sri Menauti, but a set of cut-throats and pirates like those of Perak, who, after having sought our assistance to put down 4heir internecine quarrels, assassinate our representative, fire on our flag, and set us at defiance in every way, are only to be required to deliver up the murderers, and then to be left to their own devices. But it is Lord Carnarvon only that says thus. People here won’t have it. The cry is from all hands—Malays, Chinese* and Europeans—to annex the country, and annexed it will be.