'Great Britain has another little war on hand, this time
in the Malay peninsula. Sultan Ismail, the pretender to the chiefship of Perak, 'who was set aside by Sir A. Clarke in favour of the elected chief, Abdoollah, has organised, it isbelieved, an attack on Europeans At . all events, the Residency was attacked on the 1st or 2nd inst., and 2dr. Birch, the Resident, a Ceylon civilian of much experience, :murdered. On the 3rd inst. the news reached Penang, and on the .61113, Captain Innes, with a party of lier Majesty's 10th Regiment,
...4d..antl some policemen, relieved the Residency. On the following day they ascended the river Perak, we fear without cannon, and attacked a stockade in which the insurgents had entrenched themselves. They were beaten, Captain Innes was killed, Lieu- tenants Elliott, Booth, and eight men of the 10th were wounded, and, we presume, some of the native police were lost. The
Governor, Sir W. D. Jervois, was on the spot, the facts were known on the same day in Hong Kong and Calcutta, and fifteen hundred Europeans were instantly despatched from the latter place to Perak. On their arrival, the insurgents will, of course, be attacked in force, and meanwhile the Governor and the British troops remain at the palace of Sultan Abdoollah. The chief importance of the affair consists in two side-facts, viz., that Europeans must be used to repress Malays, who would beat Sepoys, and that Sultan Ismail may succeed in proclaiming a religious war. The mere order of an obscure chief will not make a war religious, even in his own territory, but religious feeling among the Malays has been greatly excited by the long defence of Acheen, where the Dutch make no headway.
