SIR JAMES BROOKE ON THE PLATFORM.

The Mayor of Liverpool entertained Sir James Brooke, Rajah of Sara, wak, on Monday, and invited the leading shipowners and magnates to meet him, in order that he might have an opportunity of urging them to impress on the Government the desirability of securing possession of Sa- rawak. This he did in an after-luncheon speech. After describing how he went to Sarawak, and what he did there, how disorder had been repressed, commerce encouraged and protected, and the natives placed in circumstances of prosperity, he set forth the political and commercial ad- vantages which the possession of Sarawak will tend to confer upon the empire.

" The value of the countries of the Eastern Archipelago has been recog-

nized by the people of England, and the cession of the island of Java, with many another rich dependency, has been deplored as a foolish and fatal act of neglect by the Government of the day. A bright jewel was plucked out from the British crown for lack of knowledge to appreciate its value. Do not stand by and see this error repeated in the present day with regard to - Borneo. Do not permit the north-west coast of Borneo to be cast away in order that you may regret its loss hereafter. Guard that possession as a link uniting the British possessions in Australia and India with our vast and growing interest in the empire of China. Sarawak holds a command- ing position on the shore of the China sea, both for commercial purposes and those of protection and defence ; she possesses a fertile soil, valuable tropi- cal products, extensive forests of valuable timber' and is rich in the mineral most needed for the maintenance of our political position and the develop- ment of our commerce ; for the value of the coal-fields of the north-west coast of Borneo can be estimated only by the extension of our commerce and the increase of our steam-marine. It will be well for the statesmen and merchants of England to pause and consider the coming exigencies of the nation. The Chinese treaty has been concluded ; that vast and decrepid empire lies prostrate before British commerce and European diplomacy. It requires no profound sagacity to predict that the nation whose territory borders the China sea, and whose resources are nearest and most valuable, will gain a paramount influence over—nay, more, a political mastery in China ; and for want of precaution it may be that the commerce of England will find itself impeded, and have to struggle against obstacles far worse than any which have yet been experienced. I cannot believe, however, that she will turn sluggard, and that her Government will continue deaf to the claims of national grandeur and commercial extension. The ripening harvest of commerce must be watched and carefully reaped. An European policy is to be developed in the East, and the north-west coast of Borneo is a most im- portant position. Do not, then, throw it away."

He urged them to recommend her Majesty's Government to adopt a policy which would redound to the honour and advantage of England, and confer lasting blessings upon the inhabitants of the north-west coast of Borneo.

In the evening Rajah Brooke addressed a meeting of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel ; the Bishop of Chester in the chair. Sir James expressed his full confidence that India will be evangelized but that it will only be effected in His good time to whom "one day is as a a thousand years." In India we have religions to contend with on which no impression whatever has yet been made, and "that is the truth." "With the Mahomedan you have made no progress ; with the Hindoo you

have made no progress at all ; you are just where you were the very first day that you went to India. And I say again that the object will be effected, but you must wait God's own time to effect it. It is not by any sudden- flood of zeal that you will do it now, more than zealous men have done it before ; but by patience, and wisdom, and the gentle teaching of that love which our religion inculcates, that we must, and may, and will in time lead to the conversion of India."

With this preface be described his own exertions to promote Chris- tianity in Borneo. Having called in missionaries, his first step was to- collect the chiefs, and assure them that he did not intend to interfere with their religion except at their own wish, "for I hold toleration in its widest sense to be the root of Christianity."

"Well, I called the chiefs of Sarawak together. I told them exactly what I had done, and I told them likewise that the gentlemen who had come would endeavour, with all charity, and in all simple and kindly feel- ing, to meet their views and their feelings, and to expound merely the re- ligion of Christ to them, which they might accept or reject as it might please themselves. Upon this, the chief man, a Mahomedan, said to me, Yes, Sir, we quite understand, and we quite believe what you have said.

You will not interfere with our religion, and we have no particular wish to belong to your religion ; but it does appear to me Sir, a very unreasonable thing, in a country where there are many thousands of people, and you are only ten or twelve people. Now, don't you think it would be a much more natural mode of procedure that you ten or twelve Christians should become Mahomedans, and then we can all live very peaceably together ? ' (Laugh- ter.) I declined this proposition ; but, as I said before, from that day to this we have not had any unkindly feeling whatever ; but I must tell you this at the same time, that exactly in the same proportion as the Christian has been earnest, the Mahomedan has been earnest too. When there were only half-a-dozen Christians in the country, when their devotions were necessarily in their own houses and in private, there was no Mahomedan mosque at all. You never saw a Mahomedan say his prayers, which he is bound by his religion to do five times a day, in public ; but directly our church arose, and the bell rang to give warning that service time was come, directly our services were attended upon, up started Ma- homedan mosques : five times a day did the Mahomedans pray, and the large drum, on which they beat at service time, was sounded." So with the llahomedans ; but with the Dyaks it is different. They have no reli-

glen, only some faint tradition. "You ask these men, If you die what will become of you ? ' and they say, Who knows ? " But do you not know ? Have you never heard ? Are there no traditions of your tribes ? ' Well, yes, there are traditions ; but you had better _go and ask some of our old men about it, because we know nothing. That is about the extent of what you can gain from them." He gave an instance. " An old friend of mine, a Dyak chief, whom I knew, for some years, came into my library, and seated himself in an easy chair, and seemed as though he wanted to converse. I took no notice of him for some time, but ultimately miked him what was the matter. He said, 'I have got some- thing very particular to tell you—something very particular indeed.'

Well, and pray what may it be ? Is there any apprehension ? Has any oppression been visited upon you ? Have the laws been broken ? " No, no not that; but it is something very particular. I want to ask you a question. I know that you have got a book (meaning the Bible) and I want to ask you a question. Now, the question is, when the ])yaks die will they be turned into firewood ? ' I tell you to-night the exact words the man used to me. I explained to him that, in my opinion, most certainly not ; that if they were good men, doing the law of God, according to their own light, I do not believe that God would punish them. He told me he said that be- cause some Malays had told him that they had got a book, and that, accord- ing to it, every one who did not believe in it, and do what was right, especially the Dyaks, would be turned into firewood, after death, and burnt. etsghter.) There was reason in that man, and he asked, What sort of a God have those Malays got? I have always done my duty. I have always taken care of the strangers who came to my house ; never man came to my house but what I lodged and fed him. I have always done my duty, and paid taxes to the Government, but we have been inurdered—our wives and children have been taken away ; we have been ill-used and driven into the jungle, and yet we are to be burned, and the Malay, who has murdered our wives and our children, and carried them into slavery, is to be saved !' I thought the poor heathen without his book had the best of the argument, but I deemed it best, seeing some impression had been made on his mind, to recommend him to go to a dear friend of mine, the Bishop of Lahore, who was then resident at Sarawak, to open the subject to him. He went, and that man, after a month, together with thirty other families, was converted to Christianity." These things show-the difficult nature of the work to be per- formed. How to perform it ? "To live with the native, to know his every- day life, even his everyday associations, to know his family, his children ; to show the births, the deaths, and the marriages in the country—this was the way to effect good. When we mix ourselves in the social relations of the natives so intimately as this, then we are in a fair way, and then only, for effecting the conversion of the people. But so long as you are divided, so long as there is this barrier of white and black, the ' coloured,' as people are pleased to call it, and the discoloured '—which, I sup- pose, we are—(Laughter)—so long as these prejudices remain, so long as we give cause for these feelings by a mere difference of colour, a mere dif- ference of language, a mere difference of civilization, it cannot be that we are in a way to convert the natives. As long as this separation lasts, as long as there are barriers of black and white raised up, the work is but begun."

This interesting speech was heard with great attention, and loud ap- plause broke forth at its close.

Alderman Salomons addressed the electors of Greenwich on Monday, in support of his claim to represent them. The promised Reform Bill formed the theme of great part of his discourse. Ho declared for an ex- tension of the suffrage—retaining a property qualification for voting, but placing it so low that every man could reach it ; and the ballot. Church-rates he desired to see abolished, and the maintenance of ecclesi- astical fabrics made dependent upon a voluntary rate which, he is sure, Dissenters would pay as as well as Churchmen. On foreign affairs he seemed to be of opinion that the French are more likely to be our rivals in commerce and manufactures than in war ; but we should take defen- sive naval precautions.

The next night Mr. Angerstein addressed the electors. He will sup- port a wide extension of the suffrage, but is opposed to the ballot and the unconditional abolition of church-rates. Ile will vote for a measure to relieve the Dissenters, but considers that the fabric of the church should be supported. He is a friend to education, and entirely opposed to the taxes on knowledge : will support good measures by whomsoever proposed.

The Earl of Shaftesbury has adopted, in the parishes on his Dorset estates, the Norfolk system of regulated harvest homes. One of these fes- tivities took place on Saturday. Lord Shaftesbury dined with his pea- sant guests. After dinner he made them a speech, exhorting the men to beware of drink, and eloquently impressing on the women the duty of making home comfortable as a counterpoise to the pothouse, and of teaching their children to do and believe. To the women he said-

" Let me remind you that there sits on the throne of these realms one who is a bright example to every one, even the poorest in her dominions. There can be nothing more beautiful or more simple than her domestic life—no- thing more respectful to her husband—nothing more tender to her children ; but of this I am sure, that nothing would give her more delight than that we might be able to say—' After all, good as you are, happy and honour- able as your life may be, your Majesty is no better than the rest of your subjects.' Would to God we might be able to say it."

The corporation of Sunderland are at present erecting public drinking fountains in their borough, in the principal thoroughfares, at the railway stations, and in the public park. Those which are fixed against the walls are made of cast iron enamelled on the inside, in shape somewhat similar to those at Liverpool ; the design is exceedingly neat, and is sur- mounted by the borough arms. Eight fountains are at present in course of erection, but the number will shortly be increased. The cost of each fountain is about 51. This is an example deserving of imitation.

A woman and her brother-in-law are in custody in Gloucestershire on a charge of murdering the husband of the former, Thomas Taylor, by the use of poison. Taylor had an illegitimate child living in his house and it was a source of eontant bickering. Then Charles Taylor, his brother, returned from the hulks, resided at his brother's cottage, and captivated his brother's wife. He died in great. agony, and as poison—lead chiefly—was found in the body, it is assumed that the wife and her paramour poisoned him. A Jury have found a verdict of wilful murder against them.

Three soldiers have been flogged this week at Chatham for violently as- saulting non-commissioned officers. All were "bad characters " ; one had been discharged with disgrace from two regiments. What is the use of forcibly keeping such men in the army ?

A woman picked up in the streets of Birmingham has died there from fever the result of want of nourishment. She wore parish clothes, but whence she came has not yet been discovered.

Lord Redesdale, riding through a toll-gate, tendered a sixpence, to pay a penny toll. The gate-keeper took the sixpence, saying he had no change Lord Itedesdale summoned him for charging more than the legal toll. Th9. case was heard before the Shipaton Magistrates and the summons dismissed. The Peer asked for the fivepence, but the pikeman aaid he had no change ; and so he kept the fivepence ! Surely this Is "Justices' justice."