British nationality, and the whole
trade of the country finds its way to the British Colony of the Straits
Settlements.

We can scarcely let a country such as this, with its local and other
resources, so close to Singapore and on the route to China, fall into
the hands of any other European Power, and the only means of preventing
such a catastrophe is by the proclamation of a Protectorate over it--a
Protectorate which, so long as the successors of Raja BROOKE prove their
competence to govern, should be worked so as to interfere as little as
possible in the internal affairs of the State. The virulently hostile
and ignorant criticisms to which Sir JAMES BROOKE was subjected in
England, and the financial difficulties of this little kingdom, coupled
with a serious dispute with a nephew whom he had appointed his
successor, but whom he was compelled to depose, embittered the last
years of his life. To the end he fought his foes in his old, plucky,
honest, vigorous and straightforward style. He died in June, 1868, from
a paralytic stroke, and was succeeded by his nephew, the present Raja.
What Sir JAMES BROOKE might have accomplished had he not been hampered
by an opposition based on ignorance and imperfect knowledge at home, we
cannot say; what he did achieve, I have endeavoured briefly to sketch,
and unprejudiced minds cannot but deem the founding of a prosperous
State and the total extirpation of piracy, slavery and head-hunting, a
monument worthy of a high, noble and unselfish nature.

In addition to that of the Church of England, there has, within the last
few years, been established a Roman Catholic Mission, under the auspices
of the St. Joseph's College, Mill Hill.

The Muhammadans, including all the true Malay inhabitants, do not make
any concerted effort to disseminate the doctrines of their faith.

The following information relative to the Church of England Mission has
been kindly furnished me by the Right Reverend Dr. HOSE, the present
Bishop of "Singapore, Labuan and Sarawak," which is the official title
of his extensive See which includes the Colony of the Straits
Settlements--Penang, Province Wellesley, Malacca and Singapore and--its
Dependencies, the Protected States of the Malay Peninsula, the State of
Sarawak, the Crown Colony of Labuan, the Territories of the British
North Borneo Company and the Congregation of English people scattered
over Malaya.

The Mission was, in the first instance, set on foot by