It might be interesting to explain, as briefly as possible, the position the Rajahs and their people occupied in that great concern we now know under the name of the British Empire. When the first Rajah Brooke undertook the government of the country, he did so, as he thought, temporarily, imagining that the British Government would in time take the country under its protection. Apparently the British Government was not anxious to increase its responsibilities in the Far East, so that for years the first Rajah struggled on protecting his people unsupported and alone. One important fact to be remembered is that ever since the Brooke dynasty has existed in Sarawak, only in very few instances, have the forces of the British Empire been required to help the two Rajahs and their Government against their external enemies, although these were the enemies of the world at large, for it was only in expeditions against pirates who swept those seas, thus hindering commerce, that British guns came to the assistance of the white Rajahs. If we view the matter dispassionately and, shall we say, from the standpoint of the man in the street, the position was without doubt a difficult one, both for the British Government, and for the Rajahs themselves. Most of us are aware that vast lands of tropical countries--many of them ill-governed by native princes who are only anxious to amass money for themselves, regardless of the welfare of their subjects--have over and over again been exploited for shorter or longer periods by European adventurers. History teaches us that Europeans, from the time of Cortes down to these days, have on different occasions swooped like vultures on almost unknown tropical countries, have gained concessions, the money paid finding its way into the treasuries of the various princes who claimed the soil, and in this way the unfortunate inhabitants, the real owners of the land, have been enslaved and forced by nefarious, cruel, and tyrannical methods to give their very life’s blood so that these land-grabbing aliens might become rich.