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Show J I A SMALL KEALM. UNIQUE KINGDOM IN rtEMOTE COnNEn OP ASIA. Bnm.nlle n. .l,nlnron Carrrmr In rimmler. Il.l.l. lltook.-j,p,B,ic. Itrratnlf. I If Tht.. lrt lonm, Am.rlnt, IUIj, rutland. (Special Letter.) Thcro Is a unique kingdom hidden away la a corner of Asia of which nion people know nothing or at mott the bare outline. It was founded by an I.ngllahman, nnd Is ruled by nn English Eng-lish klnc as absolutely as all the Hus-Mai Hus-Mai are ruled by the. cur, and yet l.ngland has no right, even of supervision, super-vision, In Iti Internal government, and tho warship of nt least threw great power Mluto It line when they anchor an-chor within Its territorial waters Its name. Is Harawnk, and Its present king If air Charles Johnson Ilrooko. Ho succeeded tho first klnc. his undo. Sir James Ilrooke, whoso llfo story reads Ilka a romance. Tho son of a civil rcrrant of t.o Honorable East India company. James Ilrooko was born In India In 1S03 and. after attending tho Norwich grammar school, received an ensign's commission commis-sion In the Slith Natlvo Infantry of the Ilcngal army, nnd Joined his corpn at the age of 10. lie wai seriously wounded In an engagement In the first Ilurmese war, In which ha commanded a body of volunteer nallvo calvary, and on returning from England whither ho had been on furlough sultercd shipwreck, nnd wag thus delayed In rejoining his rcglnunt, to which ho had been recalled As It afterward proved, this was n lucky accident, for It ultimately led to his resigning his commission nnd severing sev-ering his connection with the East India company. In tho voyngo which he subsequently made to China he first saw tho Isles of tho Malay archipelago, nnd come Inner volco then whispered that his destiny nwalted him In thoio long-neglected Hardens of tho East The possibilities of ndventuro and discovery which IJornco held were sufficient suf-ficient attraction for an adventurous man; but aboa and beyond this roto an ambition to extirpate, piracy nnd slat cry, to reform a distracted country by methods of his own, to stand as a shield between oppressor an'd oppressed; op-pressed; and It was an ambition to which he remained consistent to his last breath. In the fa co of great difficulties a. yacht was procured and inanncu, nna In this Mr. Ilrooke set sail for Ilruncl In tho yoar 183S. The sultan of Ilruncl was little better than an Imbecile, and all stats functions wero practically In J it. j i w m TTIfi PRESENT KINO 01' SATIAWAIC ' tho hands of his undo, Hnjah Muda Hasslm, who gao Ilrooke a warm wcl-) wcl-) come, and at onco enlisted his services for tho suppression of tho rebellion w-ich had broken out In the state In gratitude, for this assistance, and In order to retain the sen Ices of nn ally whose valuo he was quick to recognize, rec-ognize, Muda Hasslm handed ocr tho then small province somo 3.000 mllos In extent of Sarawak and Its depend encies to Mr. Ilrooke, ono cogent reason rea-son for this generosity being that ho was unablo to control It himself. Of this territory Mr. Ilrooko was formally proclaimed rajah on Sept 21. 1841; but in the preceding two years during which he had administered Its affairs, ho lud completely won the i hearts of all (ho better disposed na tives. In plto of tho fascinations a throno exercises over most Imaginations, Imagina-tions, few kingdoms could hao seemed less doslrnblo than Itajah Ilrooke's, for tho condition of the country was any-thing any-thing but peaceful. Thero was practically no exchequer nnd absolutely no revenue; his peaceful peace-ful subjects wcro harassed to death, and ho never know how much ho could depend on ou'uldo assistance to right them. Yet his Inllucnco was dally on the Inrrcnse, for by a man clous Intuition In-tuition ho at onco understood tho character char-acter nnd tho natlvo point of vlow of U ngs Ilrooko succeeded In enlisting tho sympathies of the British naval autlur.r-ItlM autlur.r-ItlM on the China stitlon, and his great friend, Capt. Ilenry Keppel, wh. vtth sword, pen and voice did muro for Ilorneo than any other man, tre Ilrooke excepted, was sent In command com-mand of the frigate Dido to aid blm In suppressing tho pirates of the Saro-bus Saro-bus nnd Sakarran rivers, and more particularly the formidable bands who followed the flag of the tcrrlblo Serlff Bahlb. Those pirates had never been conquered, con-quered, nnd wero regarded by Mr. Ilrooke's people as Invincible Vet whoa ho told them he should go, but gave them the opportunity to accompany him or not, as they thought best, they merely replied: "What Is the ueo of our romalnlngT If yon die, we die; and If you live, wo live. Wo will gj I vlth you" Bo expeditions -consisting of tho Dl- do's boats roamed by bluejackets. s,pl native craft conveying a Urge forct of Drake, under the command of Captain Ktppel and Mr Brooke proceeded pro-ceeded "0 or 80 mllos up the great rivers riv-ers and thslr tributaries, and attacked tho strongholds of Sen-bus and Sa karran. so that for tht first tlms la natlte experience these plratm wn bearded In their dtns The fighting was of the mrxt Inter estlng description, nnd was attended by quite a respectable number of casualties casu-alties on the winning. side Ilrooke's beat fighting man. Paling! All; Mr Seward, one of his whtto stnrf: Lieutenant Wado of the Dido, nnd many another brao Englishman and Dyak met their deaths In theso battles, but In attaining their object tho expeditions wero entirely successful. success-ful. The once drcoded chief. Serlff Sahib, was dm en ncros tho mountains moun-tains single and unattended, beyond the reach of doing further harm In 1817 Itnjth Sir James Ilrooke visited England nnd met with an enthusiastic en-thusiastic reception from those who could understand and npproclatu his work Ho was bIJden to Windsor, where the queen not only msdo him i knight of the Hvth, but conferred on him tho appointments of governor of Labuan and consul general of Ilorneo. Two jcars before his death, In July, 1SC3, the Independence of Sarawak was recognized by Amerlci, Italy and England, and the great man died with tho knowledge that It had enter ed on the path of prosperity, with Increasing population, trade and revenue Sir Charles Ilrooke, his successor, was born In 18:9. and hating spent 10 years In tho royal navy, served filler his uncle for SO years In Sarawak I In married tho llanee, Margaret, only daughter of Mr do Wlndt of Ilium-don Ilium-don Abbcry, Wiltshire, England, In 1605. who Is now queen of Sarawak. Ily concessions and purchase of territory, ter-ritory, Including coal mines, harbors and splendid r'vera nwny to the north chiefly from the declining sultanato of Ilruncl, Sarawak has Increased in 13 times Its original area. It now comprise f.0.000 mllos five times tho size of Ilctglum with 400 mllos ol coast line, and has a population of 300,-000 300,-000 Notwithstanding, the cost of Its efficient administration Is less than that of any Asiatic country presided over by Europeans. Its expendttura Is about 1500,000 annually. |