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Multatuli
Multatuli
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Edward Douwes Dekker)
Eduard Douwes Dekker, also known as Multatuli
Eduard Douwes Dekker (2 March 1820 – 19 February 1887), better known by his pen name Multatuli (from Latin multa tuli, "I suffered a lot"), was a Dutch writer famous for his satirical novel, Max Havelaar (1860) in which he denounced the abuses of colonialism in the colony of the Dutch East Indies (today's Indonesia).
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[edit] Biography
Dekker was born in Amsterdam. His father, a ship's captain, intended his son for trade, but this humdrum prospect disgusted him, and in 1838 he went out to Java and obtained a post as a civil servant. He moved from one posting to another, until, in 1851, he became assistant-resident at Ambon, in the Moluccas. In 1857 he was transferred to Lebak, in the Bantam residency of Java (now Banten province). By this time, however, all the secrets of Dutch administration were known to him, and he had begun to openly protest about the abuses of the colonial system. Consequently he was threatened with dismissal from his office for his openness of speech. Dekker resigned his appointment and returned to the Netherlands in a state of fierce indignation.
He was determined to expose in detail the scandals he had witnessed, and he began to do so in newspaper articles and pamphlets. Little notice, however, was taken of his protestations until, in 1860, he published his novel Max Havelaar under the pseudonym of Multatuli. Dekker's new pseudonym, which is derived from Latin, means, "I have suffered much", or, more literally "I have borne much" referring to himself, as well as, it is thought, to the victims of the injustices he saw. An attempt was made to ignore this irregular (for the 1860s) book, but in vain; it was read all over Europe. The exposure of the abuse of free labour in the Dutch Indies was thorough, although colonialist apologists accused Dekker's terrible picture of being overdrawn. Multatuli now began his literary career, and published Love Letters (1861), which, in spite of their mild title, were mordant, unsparing satires.
Although the literary merit of Multatuli's work was widely criticised, he received an unexpected and most valuable ally in Carel Vosmaer who published a book (The Sower 1874) praising him[1]. He continued to write much, and to publish his miscellanies in uniform volumes called Ideas, of which seven appeared between 1862 and 1877 and also contain his novel Woutertje Pieterse.
Dekker left Holland, and went to live in Wiesbaden, where he made several attempts to write for the stage. One of his pieces, The School for Princes (published in 1875 in the fourth volume of Ideas), expresses his non-conformist views on politics, society and religion. He moved his residence to Nieder Ingelheim, on the Rhine, where he died in 1887.
In June 2002, the Dutch Maatschappij der Nederlandse Letterkunde (Society for Dutch Literature) proclaimed Multatuli the most important Dutch writer of all time[2].
Multatuli's brother, Jan Douwes Dekker, is a grandfather of Ernest Douwes Dekker (also known as Danudirja Setiabudi, an Indonesian National hero).
[edit]
Edward Douglass White
Edward Douglass White
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For the U.S. politician (1847-1921), see Edward Douglass White, Sr..
| Edward Douglass White | |
 | |
| | |
| In office December 12, 1910 – May 19, 1921 | |
| Nominated by | William Howard Taft |
|---|---|
| Preceded by | Melville Fuller |
| Succeeded by | William Howard Taft |
| | |
| In office March 12, 1894 – December 18, 1910 | |
| Nominated by | Grover Cleveland |
| Preceded by | Samuel Blatchford |
| Succeeded by | Willis Van Devanter |
| | |
| Born | November 3, 1845 Lafourche Parish, Louisiana |
| Died | May 19, 1921 (aged 75) Washington, D.C. |
| Spouse(s) | Virginia Montgomery Kent |
| Alma mater | Mount Saint Mary's College, Jesuit College, Georgetown University |
| Religion | Roman Catholic |
Edward Douglass White, Jr. (November 3, 1845 – May 19, 1921), American politician and jurist, was a United States senator, Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court and the ninth Chief Justice of the United States. He was best known for formulating the Rule of Reason standard of antitrust law. He also sided with the Supreme Court majority in the 1896 decision of Plessy v. Ferguson, which upheld the legality of segregation in the United States, though he did write for a unanimous court in Guinn v. United States (1915), which struck down many Southern states' grandfather clauses that disfranchised blacks. (However, in practice, the Southern states found other methods to disfranchise blacks that passed Court scrutiny.)
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[edit] Early life and education
White was born on his parents' plantation near the town of Thibodeauxville (now Thibodaux) in Lafourche Parish in south Louisiana. He was the son of Edward Douglass White Sr., a former governor of Louisiana, and grandson of Dr. James White, a U.S. representative, physician, and judge. On his mother's side, he was the grandson of U.S. Marshal Tench Ringgold, and related to the famous Lee family of Virginia. The White family's large plantation cultivated sugar cane and refined it into a finished product.
White's paternal ancestors were of Irish descent, and he was a devout Roman Catholic his entire life. He studied first at the Jesuit College in New Orleans, then at Mount St. Mary’s College, near Emmitsburg, Maryland, and then attended Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. where he was a member of the Philodemic Society.
[edit] American Civil War service
White's studies at Georgetown were interrupted by the American Civil War. It has been suggested that he returned to Bayou Lafourche, where he supposedly enlisted as an infantryman in the Confederate States Army under General Richard Taylor and eventually attained the rank of lieutenant. This is questionable, as his widowed mother had remarried and was living with the rest of the family in New Orleans at the time. When he returned to Louisiana, it was probably to his home in New Orleans. An apocryphal account states that White was almost captured by General Godfrey Weitzel's Union army when they invaded Bayou Lafourche in October 1862, but that he evaded capture by hiding beneath hay in a barn. It is possible that White enlisted in the Lafourche militia, as its muster rolls are not complete. There is no documentation, however, that White served in any Confederate volunteer unit or militia unit engaged in campaigns in the Lafourche area.
Another account suggests that he was assigned as an aide to Confederate General W. N. R. Beall and accompanied him to Port Hudson. Port Hudson had a garrison of 18,000 Confederate soldiers, but a numerically superior Union force surrounded it. After a siege lasting from May 21 to July 8, 1863 (the longest siege in North American history), the Confederate forces unconditionally surrendered after learning of the fall of Vicksburg. White's presence at Port Hudson is supported by a secondhand account of a postwar dinner conversation he had with Senator Knute Nelson of Minnesota, a Union veteran of Port Hudson, and another with Admiral George Dewey (a Federal naval officer at Port Hudson), in both of which White mentioned his presence during the siege. However, White's name does not appear on any list of prisoners captured at Port Hudson. According to another account of questionable reliability, White was supposedly sent to a Mississippi prisoner of war camp. (As practically all Confederate soldiers of enlisted rank of the Port Hudson garrison were paroled, and officers sent to prison in New Orleans before exchange, this account is probably untrue.) When he was paroled, he supposedly returned to the family plantation, but it was abandoned, the canefields were barren, and most of the former slaves had left.
The only "hard" evidence of White's Confederate service consists of the account of his capture in March 1865 in an action in Morganza in Pointe Coupee Parish contained in the Official Records of the American Civil War, and his service records in the National Archives, documenting his subsequent imprisonment in New Orleans and parole in April 1865. These records confirm his service as a lieutenant in Barrow's Company of a regiment of Louisiana cavalry, for all practical purposes a loosely-organized band of irregulars or guerrillas. One officer in this regiment, sometimes called the "9th Louisiana Cavalry Regiment," was Major Robert Pruyn. Pruyn (a postwar mayor of Baton Rouge, Louisiana) served as courier relaying messages from Port Hudson's commander, General Franklin Gardner, to General Joseph E. Johnston, crossing the Union siege lines by swimming the Mississippi. Pruyn escaped from Port Hudson prior to its surrender in the same manner. It is interesting to speculate that perhaps White accompanied Pruyn during that escape, which would explain White's absence from Port Hudson's prisoner rolls and later service in Pruyn's regiment.
White's Civil War service was a matter of common knowledge at the time of his initial nomination to the United States Supreme Court, and the Confederate Veteran periodical, published for the United Confederate Veterans, congratulated him upon his affirmation. White was one of three ex-Confederate soldiers to serve on the Supreme Court. The others were Associate Justices Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar (II) and Horace Harmon Lurton. The Court's other ex-Confederate, Associate Justice Howell Edmunds Jackson, held a civil position under the Confederate government.)
[edit] Political career
While living on the abandoned plantation, White began his legal studies. He was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in New Orleans in 1868. He briefly served in the Louisiana State Senate in 1874 and as an Associate Justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court from 1879 to 1880. He was politically affiliated with Governor Francis T. Nicholls, a former Confederate general.
He became famous in Louisiana for helping to abolish the Louisiana Lottery, a hotbed of corruption the fate of which was taken before the state's Supreme Court which ordered it discontinued in 1894.
The state's legislature appointed White to the United States Senate in 1891 to succeed James B. Eustis. He served until his resignation on March 12, 1894, when he was nominated by President Grover Cleveland (D) to be an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. In 1896 he sided with the seven justices whose majority opinion in Plessy v. Ferguson approved segregation.
[edit] The White Court, 1910-1921
In 1910, he was elevated by President William Howard Taft to the position of Chief Justice of the United States upon the death of Melville Fuller. At the time, it was a controversial appointment for two reasons. First, White was a Democrat while Taft was a Republican. The media of the day widely expected Taft to name Republican Justice Charles Evans Hughes to the post. Second, White was the first Associate Justice to be appointed Chief Justice since John Rutledge in 1795. Some historians believe[1][dead link] that President Taft appointed White, who was 65 years old at the time and overweight, in the hope that White would not serve all that long and that Taft himself might someday be appointed —- which is just what happened eleven years later.
White was generally seen as one of the more conservative members of the court. Besides being the originator of the “Rule of Reason," White also wrote the decision upholding the constitutionality of the Adamson Act, which mandated a maximum eight-hour work day for railroad employees, in 1916. White wrote for a unanimous Court in Guinn v. United States (1915), which invalidated the Oklahoma and Maryland grandfather clauses (and, by extension, those in other Southern states) as "repugnant to the Fifteenth Amendment and therefore null and void." However, in practice the Southern states found other methods to disfranchise blacks which withstood Court scrutiny.
As Chief Justice, White swore in Presidents Woodrow Wilson (twice) and Warren G. Harding.
When he left the High Court, he was succeeded by William Howard Taft, making White the only Chief Justice to be followed by the President who appointed him.
Chief Justice White was one of thirteen Catholic justices – out of 111 total through the appointment of Justice Sonia Sotomayor – in the history of the Supreme Court.[2]
He married Leita Montgomery Kent, the widow of Linden Kent, on November 6, 1894, in New York City.
[edit] Death and legacy
White died in office and his remains were buried at the Oak Hill Cemetery in Washington, D.C.[3] The Georgetown graveyard overlooks Rock Creek; also interred there are Associate Justice Noah Swayne and "almost-Justice" Edwin M. Stanton. Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase was also buried there, but his body was transferred after 14 years to Cincinnati, Ohio's Spring Grove Cemetery.[4]
White's statue is one of the two honoring Louisiana natives in the National Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol. Another statue is in front of the Louisiana Supreme Court building in New Orleans. The second statue is a local landmark on the New Orleans scene. "Big Green Ed", as his likeness is often referred to, is a favorite of locals and tourists alike. Visitors are often seen sitting at the base of his likeness, discussing issues of the day. Moreover, local custom holds that those who run around the statue in a counterclockwise direction will not be arrested that night.
Edward Douglas White Catholic High School in Thibodaux, LA bears his name (although dropped the extra "s" at the end of Douglass).
In his honor, the Edward Douglass White Lectures take place annually at the Louisiana State University Law Center. They have featured such distinguished speakers as Chief Justices Warren E. Burger and William H. Rehnquist.
The play "Father Chief Justice: Edward Douglass White and the Constitution" by LSU Law Center professor Paul Baier was based on White's life.
In early January 2009 the state of Louisiana commissioned Rio Concho Restoration of Garland Texas to restore and preserve the memorial statue of Chief Justice Edward Douglass White, Jr. that resides on the front steps of the Louisiana Supreme Court Building at 400 Royal st. New Orleans La. In the heart of the french quarter. Photos of the statue's new look are at Rio Concho Restoration.
In 1995, White was posthumously inducted into the Louisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame in Winnfield.
[edit]
Van der Capellen Scholengemeenschap
Van der Capellen Scholengemeenschap
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Van der Capellen Scholengemeenschap is a Dutch high school with locations in Zwolle, Elburg, Dedemsvaart and Wijhe. The main location, Locatie Lassuslaan, offers bilingual pre-university secondary education.
The school is named after the famous Dutch nobleman Joan van der Capellen tot den Pol.
Contents[hide] |
[edit] Zwolle
In Zwolle is one location of the school: Locatie Lassuslaan.
- Locatie Lassuslaan is the main location. This location was the third school in the Netherlands which offered bilingual pre-university secondary education. A few years ago they started offering bilingual higher general continued education (Dutch: HAVO). Scholars who have completed their education receive an IB Diploma in English at A2 level.
Other levels they offer are the ordinary pre-university secondary education, the higher general continued education and the most theoretical level of the preparatory middle-level vocational education (Dutch: VMBO).
Pupils can choose extra subjects like Information technology, dramaturgy and musicology.
There used to be a location on the Russenweg is Zwolle too, but this part of the school is now a joint VMBO school for pupils from all public schools in Zwolle.
[edit] Elburg
In Elburg is one location of the school.
- Locatie Van Kinsbergen offers the preparatory middle-level vocational education (Dutch: VMBO). Besides this it is possible to do the first two years of the higher general continued education (Dutch: HAVO) and the VWO.
The location in Elburg burnt down during Newyear's night 2008.
[edit] Dedemsvaart
In Dedemsvaart is one location of the school.
- Locatie de Zeven Linden offers VWO, HAVO and VMBO. An extra subjects is dramaturgy.
[edit] Wijhe
In Wijhe is one location of the school.
- Locatie Capellenborg offers VWO, HAVO and VMBO. Extra subjects are musicology, dramaturgy and musical theatre. This school is small, with only 275 pupils.
[edit] Controversy
In March 2007, a former pupil informed the police about a pupil of the Van der Capellen Scholengemeenschap, because of defamation. The school said it was just a bad prank.[1]
The pupil had gained himself access to a file of the school computer with photos of pupils. The photo of the former pupil was spread among other pupils and she was heavily bullied because of it (i.e. got his ass kicked). The parents of the former pupil had a conversation with a representative of the school, but this did not bring a solution. This was the reason that the former pupil went to another school. The principal of the school has denied that it was a crime. The parents of the former pupil feel that the school has been negligent.
[edit]
Stamford Raffles
Stamford Raffles
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Thomas Stamford Raffles)
| Sir Thomas Stamford Bingley Raffles | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 6 July 1781 Off the Coast of Jamaica |
| Died | 5 July 1826 (aged 44) London, England |
| Occupation | British Colonial Official |
| Known for | Founding Singapore |
| Religious beliefs | Anglican |
Sir Thomas Stamford Bingley Raffles (6 July 1781 – 5 July 1826) was a British statesman, best known for his founding of the city of Singapore (now the city-state of the Republic of Singapore). He is known as the "Father of Singapore". He was also heavily involved in the conquest of the Indonesian island of Java from Dutch and French military forces during the Napoleonic Wars and contributed to the expansion of the British Empire.
[edit] Early life
Raffles was born on the ship Ann off the coast of Port Morant, Jamaica to Captain Benjamin Raffles (d. June 1797) and Anne Raffles (nee Lyde). His father was a Yorkshireman who had a burgeoning family and little luck in the West Indies trade during the American Revolution, sending the family into debt. Raffles started working as a clerk in London for the British East India Company, the trading company that shaped many of Britain's overseas conquests, in 1795, at the age of fourteen. In 1805 he was sent to what is now Penang in the country of Malaysia, then called the Prince of Wales Island, starting his long association with Southeast Asia. He started with a post under the Honorable Philip Dundas, the Governor of Penang.
As he was gazetted assistant secretary to the new Governor of Penang in 1805, he married Olivia Mariamne Fancourt (nee Devenish), a widow who was formerly married to Jacob Cassivelaun Fancourt, an assistant surgeon in Madras who had died in 1800. It was also at this time that he made acquaintance with Thomas Otho Travers, who would accompany him for the next twenty years.
[edit] Java
His knowledge of the Malay language as well as his wit and ability, gained him favour with Lord Minto, governor of India, and he was sent to Malacca. Then, in 1811, after the invasion and annexation of the Kingdom of Holland by France during Napoleon's war, Raffles had no choice but to leave the country. He mounted a military expedition against the Dutch and French in Java, Indonesia. The war was swiftly conducted by Admiral Robert Stopford, General Wetherhall, and Colonel Gillespie, who led a well-organized army against an army of mostly French conscripts with little proper leadership. The previous Dutch governor, Herman Willem Daendels, had built a well-defended fortification at Meester Cornelis (now Jatinegara), and at the time, the governor, Jan Willem Janssens (who, coincidentally, surrendered to the British at the Cape Colony), mounted a brave but ultimately futile defense at the fortress. The British, led by Colonel Gillespie, stormed the fort and captured it within three hours. Janssens attempted to escape inland but was captured. The British invasion of Java took a total of forty-five days, during which Raffles was appointed the Lieutenant-Governor by Lord Minto before hostilities formally ceased. He took his residence at Buitenzorg and despite having a small subset of Britons as his senior staff, he kept many of the Dutch civil servants in the governmental structure. He also negotiated peace and mounted some small military expeditions against local princes to subjugate them to British rule, as well as a takeover of Bangka Island to set up a permanent British presence in the area in the case of the return of Java to Dutch rule after the end of the War of the Sixth Coalition in Europe.
During his governorship, Raffles introduced partial self-government, stopped the slave trade, became an early opponent of the Opium trade by placing strict limitations upon its importation, much to the dismay of Calcutta, led an expedition to rediscover and restore Borobudur and other ancient monuments, and replaced the Dutch forced agriculture system with a land tenure system of land management, probably influenced by the earlier writings of Dirk van Hogendorp (1761–1822). He also changed the Dutch colonies to the British system of driving on the left,[citation needed]which is why Indonesia drives on the left today.
Under the harsh conditions of the island, Olivia died on 26 November 1814, an event that devastated Raffles. In 1815, he left again for England after the island of Java was returned to control of the Netherlands following the Napoleonic Wars, under the terms of the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1814, but not before he was officially replaced by John Fendall on account of the poor financial performance of the colony during his administration, as deemed by the successors of Lord Minto in Calcutta. He sailed to England in early 1816 to clear his name, and en route, visited Napoleon, who was in exile at St. Helena, but found him unpleasant and unimpressive.
[edit] Interlude in England
In 1817, Raffles wrote and published a book entitled History of Java, describing the history of the island from ancient times. In 1817 he was knighted by the prince regent, whose daughter, Princess Charlotte, was particularly close to him. At the publication of the book, he also stopped using the name "Thomas", preferring to use his middle name, "Stamford", possibly to avoid confusion amongst his associates with Sir Thomas Sevestre or his cousin who bore the same name. On February 22, he married his second wife, Sophia Hull.
He was appointed as the Governor-General of Bencoolen (now Bengkulu) on 15 October 1817, and set sail to take the post with his new wife.
[edit] Bencoolen (Bengkulu) and Malaya
Raffles arrived in Bencoolen (Bengkulu) on 19 March 1818. Despite the prestige connected with the title, Bencoolen was a colonial backwater whose only real export was pepper and only the murder of a previous Resident, Thomas Parr, gained it any attention back home in Britain. Raffles found the place wrecked, and set about reforms immediately, mostly similar to what he had done in Java - abolishing slavery and limiting cockfighting and such games. To replace the slaves, he used a contingent of convicts, already sent to him from India. It is at this point when he realized the importance of a British presence that both challenged the Dutch hegemony in the area and could remain consistently profitable, unlike Bencoolen or Batavia. However, the strategic importance of poorly-maintained but well-positioned British possessions such as Penang or Bencoolen made it impossible for the British to abandon such unprofitable colonies in such close proximity to the Dutch in Java. The competition in the area, between Raffles and the aggressive Dutch de jure Governor, Elout, certainly led at least in part to the later Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824. Raffles looked into alternatives in the area - namely Bangka, which had been ceded to the Dutch after its conquest by the British during its occupation of Java.
Bintan was also under consideration. Despite the fact that Warren Hastings overlooked the island before settling upon Penang in 1786, the Riau Archipelago was an attractive choice just to the south of the Malay Peninsula, for its proximity to Malacca. In his correspondences with Calcutta, Raffles also emphasized the need to establish a certain amount of influence with the native chiefs, which had greatly waned since the return of the Dutch. Raffles sent Thomas Travers as an ambassador to the Dutch, to possibly negotiate an expansion of British economic interests. When this failed, and when Raffles' own expeditions into his new dominion found only treacherous terrain and few exportable goods, his desire to establish a better British presence was cemented.
However, the Anglo-Dutch Convention of 1814 was not completely clear, especially on the issue of certain possessions such as Padang. The Convention of 1814 only returned Dutch territory that was held before 1803, which did not include Padang. Raffles asserted the British claim personally, leading a small expedition to the Sultanate of Minangkabau. Yet, as Raffles confirmed with the sultan regarding the absolute British influence of the area, he realized that the local rulers had only limited power over the well-cultivated and civilized country, and the treaty was largely symbolic and had little actual force.
[edit] Founding of Singapore
Meanwhile, Major William Farquhar, the British Resident of Malacca, had been attempting to negotiate commercial treaties with the local chiefs of the Riau Archipelago, especially with the heads of the Sultanate of Johore. Due to the death and subsequent turmoil of the sultanate at the time of Farquhar's arrival, Farquhar was compelled to sign the treaty not with the official head of the sultanate, but rather, the Raja Muda (Regent or Crown Prince) of Riau. Noting it as a success and reporting it as such back to Raffles, Raffles sailed to Malacca in late 1818 to personally secure a British presence in the Riau area, especially Singapura, which was favored by him both through the readings of Malayan histories and by Farquhar's explorations.
Despite Lord Hastings' less-than-stellar opinion of Raffles before (which had necessitated his trip to England to clear his name at the end of his tenure as Governor-General of Java), the now well-connected and successful Raffles was able to secure the permission to set up a settlement where in Malaysian history the name Lion City was applied and was in a strategically advantageous position. However, he was not to provoke the Dutch, and his actions were officially disavowed. Despite the best efforts in London by authorities such as the Viscount Castlereagh to quell Dutch fears and the continuing efforts to reach an agreement between the nations that eventually became the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of London of 1824, as well as to send instructions to Raffles to undertake far less intrusive actions, the distance between the Far East and Europe had meant that the orders had no chance of reaching Raffles in time for his venture to begin.
[edit] Singapore
[edit] Establishment
After a brief survey of the Karimun Islands, on 29 January 1819, he established a post at the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula. It was established that there was no Dutch presence on the island of Singapore. Johore also no longer had any control of the area, so contact was made with the local Temenggong, or Raja. The contacts were friendly and Raffles, knowledgeable about the muddled political situation, took advantage to provide a rudimentary treaty between the nominal chiefs of the area that called for the exclusivity of trade and the British protection of the area. Members of Raffles' party surveyed the island and proceeded to request the presence of the sultan, or whoever at the time had supreme nominal power, to sign a formal treaty, while Major Farquhar was ordered to do the same in Rhio. A few days later, the formal treaty signed by a man who claimed to be the "lawful sovereign of the whole of territories extending from Lingga and Johor to Mount Muar". This man was Hussein Shah of Johor, who, although having had no previous contact with the British, had certainly heard of the might of the British navy and was in no position to argue against the terms. However, Raffles was able to charm the man and to reassure him that the Dutch posed no threat in the area. Hussein Shah had been the crown Prince of Johor, but while he was away in Pahang to get married, his father died and his younger brother was made sultan, supported by some of the court officials and the Dutch. To circumvent the situation of having to negotiate with a sultan influenced by the Dutch, Raffles decided to recognise, on behalf of the British Crown, Hussien Shah as being the rightful ruler of Johor. Farquhar's attempt to establish a more favorable treaty in Rhio was met with greater challenge, as the Dutch were present and made for a rather awkward position. The Dutch were alarmed and sent a small contingent to the island. Despite a covert offer of subterfuge against the Dutch offered by the Raja of Rhio, Farquhar returned and an official protest was sent by the Raja to Java regarding the matter.
Raffles declared the foundation of what was to become modern Singapore on 6 February, securing the transfer of control of the island to the East India Company. Much pomp and ceremony was done, and the official treaty was read aloud in languages representing all nations present, as well as the Malay and Chinese inhabitants. Hussien Shah was paid $5,000 a year while the local Temenggong received $3,000 a year, both massive sums at the time, equivalent to several hundred thousand dollars now[citation needed]. Farquhar was officially named the Resident of Singapore as Raffles was named as "Agent to the Most Noble the Governor-General with the States of Rhio, Lingin and Johor". Although ownership of the post was to be exclusively British, explicit orders were given to Farquhar to maintain free passage of ships through the Strait of Singapore and a small military presence was established alongside the trading post. After issuing orders to Farquhar and the remaining Europeans, Raffles left the next day, 7 February 1819.
[edit] Achin, and the early conflict/crisis with the Dutch
Raffles also planned to start a British presence in Achin, at the northern tip of Sumatra. As soon as he left, the Raja of Rhio sent letters to the Dutch, claiming innocence and a British encroachment. The Dutch in Malacca acted at once, and ordered that no Malays could go to Singapore. Raffles' bold claim of Singapore created a curious geographic situation where although Penang was clearly closer distance-wise to Singapore, Raffles, in his capacity as the Governor-General of Bencoolen, was in control. This undoubtedly irked the authorities in Penang to the point where they refused to send any sepoys to Singapore to complete the garrison. Official Dutch complaints came before the end of the month, and Raffles attempted to appease the situation by instructing Farquhar to not interfere with the politics of surrounding islands. Despite numerous threats and serious considerations by the Dutch Governor-General in Java, the Dutch did not take any military action.
The muddled political situation in Johore and Rhio also created a certain uneasiness and instability for the two nations.Tengku Long was claimed to be a pretender to the throne, and since the succession laws in the Malay sultanates were not as clear cut as, for example, the Salic laws of Europe, the treaties signed between native rulers and the European powers always seemed to be on the verge of being invalidated, especially if a sultan is deposed by one of his siblings or other pretenders.
Nevertheless, amidst the uncertainty and intrigue, Raffles landed in Achin on 14 March 1819, with the begrudging help of Penang. Once again, it seems that multiple people were in power, but none wanted to formally deal with the British. The hostile atmosphere created allowed for Raffles to cancel the only meeting he was able to arrange, with Panglima Polim, a powerful divisional chief, fearing treachery. As the influential merchant John Palmer, Raffles, and fellow commissioner John Monckton Coombs of Penang sat offshore, waiting for a response, Calcutta debated whether to reinforce Singapore or not. Evacuation plans were made, but the Dutch never acted and finally Lord Hastings prompted Colonel Bannerman, the Governor of Penang, to send funds to reinforce Singapore.
Raffles finally was able to convince his fellow commissioners to sign a treaty with Jauhar al-Alam Shah, the ruler of Achin, which placed a British resident as well as the exclusivity of trade. By the time Raffles returned to Singapore, on 31 May, much of the immediate crisis that the establishment of the colony had caused in both Penang and Calcutta had passed. By then, the initial five-hundred villagers had grown to become five-thousand merchants, soldiers, and administrators on the island. Raffles was determined to both destroy the Dutch monopoly in the area, and create a gateway to the trade with China and Japan, the latter of which he attempted and failed to reach while governing Java.
[edit] First year of Singapore
While in Singapore, Raffles established schools and churches in the native languages. He allowed missionaries and local businesses to flourish. Certain colonial aspects remained: a European town was quickly built to segregate the population, separated by a river; carriage roads were built and cantonments constructed for the soldiers. Otherwise, however, no duties were imposed and confident that Farquhar would follow his instructions well, he sailed for Bencoolen once again on 28 June.
[edit] Bencoolen, once again
Raffles was still the Governor-General of Bencoolen and having returned to it after the settling of Singapore, Raffles started more reforms that were, by now, almost trademarks of his reign upon colonies. Forced labor was abolished when he first arrived, and he declared Bencoolen a free port as well. Currency was regulated and as he had an excess of out-of-work civil servants, formed committees to advise him in the running of the colony. However, Bencoolen was not as self-sufficient as Singapore. The area was poor and disease-ridden, and the first reports from the committees reflected very poorly upon the condition of the colony. Unlike the salutary neglect Raffles granted upon Singapore, he slowed the European-inspired reforms and emphasized on the cultivation of whatever land that was available. Native authorities were given power in their respective districts and were answerable only to the Governor-General. The slave-debtor system was brought in in exchange instead of the old slavery system that Raffles abolished in Java, Borneo, and initially in Bencoolen. Slave-debtors were registered, and educational reforms started to focus on the children instead of the entire population. Raffles was looking into a long-term plan for a slow reform of Bencoolen.
Unlike many other European colonizers, Raffles did not impose upon the colonized the language, culture, or other aspects of the colonizer. In addition to preserving the artifacts, fauna, and flora of his colonies, he also allowed religious freedom in his colonies, especially important as the Malay states were largely Muslim. However, Christian schools were started by missionaries in all of his colonies.
[edit] Consolidation of the Eastern Isles
The death of Colonel Bannerman of Penang in October 1819 brought upon a new opportunity for Raffles to expand his power to also include the other minor British factories and outposts from Sumatra to Cochin China. He sailed to Calcutta and as Lord Hastings sought to consolidate all of the small British possessions in the East Indies. During his sojourn, he had the opportunity to argue for free trade and the protection of the private enterprise. Education and the retention of small British outposts were also discussed.
The Dutch claim on the Sultanate of Johore and hence, Rhio, and the diplomatic exchanges between Baron Godert van der Capellen and Calcutta continued throughout this time. The legitimacy of the British treaties were also questioned once again, but finally, as Singapore grew at an exponential rate, the Dutch gave up their claim on the island, allowing the colony to continue as a British possession. However, the pressures put upon Calcutta ensured that no single governor of all British possessions in the Strait or on Sumatra was appointed, and Raffles, whose health was slowly ailing, returned to Bencoolen.
[edit] Administration of Bencoolen, 1820–1822
Raffles returned to Bencoolen in ill-health, but as his health improved, he continued on his quest to learn about the island which he now called home. He studied the Batak cannibals of Tappanooly and their rituals and laws regarding the consumption of human flesh, writing in detail about the transgressions that warranted such an act as well as their methods. He also noted the rise of the Sikh religion in certain parts of Sumatra.
By early 1820, Tunku Long had firmly established himself as the Sultan of Johore to the British, but the political situation in the area remains a befuddled mess, with the old sultan dying and many new ones attempting to gain either the crown or regency. As Farquhar was involving himself poorly in local politics, Raffles appointed Travers as the Resident of Singapore, replacing Farquhar. Upon his arrival, Travers found the colony a delightful smörgåsbord of different races and cultures, numbering over six thousand, and the Singapore trade was slowly overtaking the Java trade.
As in Java, Raffles collected samples of local species of plants and animals, as well as described them in his journals. He also described other local tribes and their customs, especially their religions and laws. He brought the island of Nias under British rule as well, noting its more civilized state and production of rice.
Yet, the production of food remained somewhat of a problem in Bencoolen. Raffles paid special attention to the agricultural methods of the Chinese, and wrote an introduction to the only issue of Proceedings of the Agricultural Society, in order to remedy this. His employer, the East India Company, however, had no other concerns outside of profit, and even as Raffles lived like a country gentleman and ran his colony as an estate, his expenditures in natural preservation was frowned upon. His removal was discussed in both Calcutta and London, while Castlereagh continued negotiations with the Dutch regarding the ongoing diplomatic conflicts.
Luckily, the Singapore issue had its supporters in the House, so as negotiations went on in Europe, Raffles remained largely idle in Bencoolen. The only major issue, outside of the politics of local sultans, involved the replacement of Farquhar, who decided that he had no intention of leaving his post voluntarily, causing a moment of tension between him and Travers. Raffles' request for Travers to deliver dispatches to India nullified the issue late in the year, and Farquhar remained in charge in Singapore, with its survival still in doubt for many in both India and London, who believed that it would either be handed over to the Dutch or taken violently by the Dutch at the end of Castlereagh's negotiations.
Farquhar, however, stirred up more trouble, conflicting especially with local English merchants over trivial matters of self-importance and overreaction over small infractions of white traders, for some of which he was reprimanded by Calcutta officially. Public works, commissioned by Raffles but undertaken by Farquhar, was becoming overwhelmingly expensive.
Personal tragedies also started for Raffles. His eldest son, Leopold, died during an epidemic on 4 July 1821. The oldest daughter, Charlotte, was also sick with dysentery by the end of the year, but it would be his youngest son, Stamford Marsden, who would perish first with the disease, 3 January 1822, with Charlotte to follow ten days later. For the good part of four month the couple remained devastated. The year would be eventful with the suicide of Castlereagh and the appointment of Lord Amherst as the Governor-General of India, replacing Hastings. As Raffles grew restless and depressed, he decided to visit Singapore, before heading home to England. Accompanying him would be his wife Sophia and only surviving child, Ella.
[edit] Singapore (1822–1823)
Raffles was pleased at the fact that Singapore had grown exponentially in such short years. The colony was a bustling hub of trade and activity. However, Farquhar's development work was deemed unsatisfactory and Raffles drew up what is now known as the Jackson Plan, and replanned the city according to recommendations of a committee headed by the colony's engineer, Phillip Jackson.
It was still a segregated plan, giving the best land to the Europeans, yet it was considered remarkably scientific for the time. It was also during the replanning and reconstruction of the town that allowed Farquhar to clash dramatically with Raffles, who now considered Farquhar unfit for the position of Resident. Raffles took direct control with a heavy hand. In 1823, Raffles instituted a code of settlement for the populace, and soon followed with laws regarding the freedom of trade. He also quickly instituted a registration system for all land, regardless of ownership, and the repossession of the land by the government if land remained unregistered. This act greatly asserted the power of the British government as it covered land previously owned by the Sultan as well. A police force and magistrate was then set up, under British principles. In a very short period of time, Raffles had turned a semi-anarchic trading post into a proper city with at least a semblance of order.
Repeated efforts by Raffles for Calcutta to send a replacement for Farquhar remained unanswered. As Raffles started to hint at his impending retirement, he made Johore a British protectorate, causing a protest from van der Capellen. Finally, Calcutta appointed John Crawfurd, who had followed Raffles for over twenty years, as the Resident of Singapore. Captain William Gordon MacKenzie took over Bencoolen from Raffles. In March 1823, and coincidentally, on the same day he was replaced, he received an official reprimand from London for the takeover of Nias.
With politics against him, Raffles finally turned back to the natural sciences. He gave a speech regarding the opening of a Malay college in Singapore that heavily involved his observations of his years in Southeast Asia and the importance of both the local and the European languages. Raffles personally gave $2,000 towards the effort, as the East India Company gave $4,000.
In 1823, Raffles drafted the first constitution for Singapore, which followed a fairly moralistic stance, outlawing gaming and slavery. A specific regulation in the constitution called for the multiethnic population of Singapore to remain as is, and there shall be no crimes based on being a race. He then went to work drafting laws, defining on exactly "what" constituted a crime. Finally, on 9 July 1823, feeling that his work on establishing Singapore was finished, he boarded a ship for home, but not before a stop in Batavia to visit his old home and adversary, van der Capellen. A final stop in Bencoolen ensued, and finally, a voyage home, interrupted by a harrowing experience when one of the ships caught fire off Rat Island, which claimed many of his drawings and papers.
The Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824 finally settled the score in the East Indies. The British gained dominance in the north, while the entirety of Sumatra became Dutch. The Malay Peninsula and the Indian subcontinent were both free of Dutch interference.
Raffles finally returned to England 22 August 1824, over a year after he left Singapore. His longest tenure in Singapore was only eight months, but he was considered the founder of Singapore nevertheless.
[edit] England and death
Upon arrival in England in poor health, both Sir Stamford and Lady Raffles convalesced in Cheltenham until September, after which he entertained distinguished guests in both London and his home. He also made considerations to run for parliament during this time, but this ambition was never realized. He moved to London at the end of November, just in time to have a war of words in front of the Court of Directors of the EIC regarding Singapore with Farquhar, who had also arrived in London. Despite several severe charges put upon Raffles, Farquhar was ultimately unable to discredit him and was denied a chance to be restored to Singapore, but he was given a military promotion instead.
With the Singapore matter settled, Raffles turned to his other great hobby - botany. Raffles was a founder (in 1825) and first president (elected April 1826) of the Zoological Society of London and the London Zoo. Meanwhile, he was not only not granted a pension, but was called to pay over twenty-two thousand pounds sterling for the losses incurred during his administrations. Raffles replied and clarified his actions, and moved to his country estate, Highwood, but before the issue was resolved, he was already much too ill.
He died in London, England, a day before his forty-fifth birthday, on 5 July 1826, of apoplexy. His estate amounted around ten thousand pounds sterling, which was paid to the Company to cover his outstanding debt. Because of his anti-slavery stance, he was refused burial inside his local parish church (St. Mary's, Hendon) by the vicar, whose family had made its money in the slave trade. A brass tablet was finally placed in 1887 and the actual whereabouts of his body was not known until 1914 when it was found in a vault. When the church was extended in the 1920s his tomb was incorporated into the body of the building.
[edit] Coat of Arms
The Blazon of Raffles' Armorial Ensigns reads:
- "Or a double headed Eagle displayed Gules charged on the breast with an Eastern Crown on the first, on a Chief Vert pendent from a chain two oval Medallions in Pale the one bearing Arabic characters and the other a dagger in fess the blade wavy the point towards the dexter in relief Or, the said medallions and chain being a representation of a personal decoration called the Order of the Golden Sword conferred upon by him by the Chief or King of Atcheen in Sumatra as a mark of the high regard of the said King and in testimony of the good understanding which had been happily established between that Prince and the British Government; and for a crest out of an Eastern Crown Or a Gryphon's Head Purpure gorged with a collar gemel Gold."
The Coat of Arms has been adapted into the school arms of Raffles Institution (Secondary and Junior College). It can also be found as part of a stained-glass window in St. Andrew's Cathedral, Singapore. The motto of the Raffles family is in cruce triumphans, meaning triumphing in the cross.
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