our pension list. It was with this individual and
the inferior chief already named, that a treaty for
the cession of the island was concluded in August
1824. They received for the sovereignty and'
fee-simple of the island, as well as of all the seas,
straits, and islands lying within ten miles of its
coasts, the sum of 60,000 Spanish dollars, with an
annuity of 24,000 Spanish dollars during their natural
lives; and it was farther guaranteed that
they or their successors should receive a donation
of 35,000 Spanish dollars, should they be desirous
at any time of quitting the British territory and
retiring into their own dominions. Other articles
of the treaty provided that neither party should
interfere in the domestic quarrels of the other;
that their Highnesses should receive at all times
an asylum and a hospitable reception at Singapore,
should they be distressed in their own dominions
; and that slavery, under whatever name
or modification, should have no existence within
the British territories. This last subject had been
a source of great annoyance, both to the native
chiefs and to the local administration. Their
Highnesses claimed as slaves, not only their own
retainers, but every Malay coming from whatever
part of the state of Jehore. Their followers,
where every one else was free and labour well rewarded,
were naturally impatient of this assumption
; and the disputes which arose were the frequent
cause of serious difficulties, both in maintaining
the peace of the settlement, and in the
administration of justice. A t present, slavery is
totally unknown in the island, for the treaty emancipated
even the retainers of the native chiefs.
This account of Singapore, I fear, may appear
to some of my readers tedious ; but there are
others who, I am convinced, will read with interest
a history of the rise and progress of the first
settlement, in which the principle of free trade
and unshackled intercourse has been fully and
fairly acted upon in India.