The Government is carried on as it was in the old days. The Rajah is _de facto_ an irresponsible ruler, though he can summon the Sarawak Council to meet and advise him as to any new law, or any modification to be made in the financial arrangements of the country; and I understand that the Rajah always consults them on such occasions. This Council is composed of the Rajah and two of the senior English officers, and four native chiefs of Sarawak Proper. It was the Earl Grey of 1855 who recommended its establishment to the old Rajah, and it has proved itself exceedingly useful. Its first meetings took place in 1856. There is also a General Council composed of the chiefs of the various districts under the rule of the Rajah, with a due proportion of English officers. They assemble about once a year, to the number of from forty to fifty. Though it is not often that business is submitted to their deliberations, they are addressed by the Rajah on subjects of general interest, and are afterwards invited to dine at the Palace. It is a decided step in advance that this meeting of native and European officers should take place, as it tends to efface local prejudices, and to consolidate the Government. This General Council was not summoned during the lifetime of Sir James Brooke, though he often talked of doing so, and would have carried out his intention had he lived. The country is divided into five chief districts under English Residents: Sarawak Proper, Batang Lupar, Rejang, Baram and Limbang. In each of these there are also several assistants to look after the management of the sub-districts. All these officers hold courts, but there is an appeal from the findings of the junior officers to the Resident of the district, and all very serious sentences are ultimately referred to the capital for the Rajah’s decision or approval. From the reports in the _Gazette_, I gather that very substantial justice is administered. The notions of equity entertained by some of the junior officers may be rather crude; but the power of appeal enables anyone who is dissatisfied with a sentence to refer the matter to the Resident, and the natives often make use of this privilege with results satisfactory to themselves. The Government of Sarawak is a kind of mild despotism, the only government suitable to Asiatics, who look to their chief as the sole depositary of supreme power. The influence of the old Rajah still pervades the whole system, and native and European work together in perfect harmony. Though the head of each district is an Englishman, every effort is made to employ the natives in responsible positions, as collectors of revenue, as judges with the Rajah or the Residents in the superior courts, as sole judges in the native tribunals, which try all cases where their religion or racial customs are affected, and as chiefs of the different tribes and local communities, and, on the whole, the results appear to be satisfactory.