NewspaperSG is an online digital archive of over 200 Singapore and Malaya newspapers published since 1831. It has a very useful search option, which I have been using regularly, see for example my post about Menggelumchor.

The 17 April 1878 issue of the Singapore Daily Times contains a long article about Captain Speedy who had left the Malay peninsula a few months earlier. I have marked the article below in red color.

The anonymous writer refers to 4 articles from the Pinang Gazette And Straits Chronicle. The NewspaperSG archive has a few volumes of the Pinang Gazette, but not from 1878, so the writer of the original articles is unfortunately also unknown.

Here is the article, split in parts. When you click on it, you will see that it is just readable but not easy.

That’s why I have converted the text into a more readable form below. Here it is, in blue italic. In between I have added my comments

The Pinang Gazette contains in of some of its recent issues a series of articles, four in number, giving what profess to be authentic details respecting Captain Speedy’s connection with Perak from the date of his taking service with the Mantri of Larut till his resignation on the 31st December last.

In 1953 the orientalist J.M. Gullick published a well-documented monograph about Captain Speedy: Captain Speedy of Larut ,covering the same period (and more). It is available online and very readable.

The object of the writer is to expose what he considers to be the unworthy treatment of Captain Speedy by the Straits Government and the Colonial Office. No startling revelations are made, but some details are given, a brief summary of which may be interesting as a piece of local history relative to the Native States.

The setting is clear, the writer of the articles is critical of the way Captain Speedy has been treated by the Government of the Straits Settlements and the Colonial Office.

Captain Speedy formerly served in H.M. 18th Regiment, and, during the Abyssinian Expedition, in 1867, acted as Interpreter to the forces on the staff of the Commanding General, Sir Robert Napier, now Lord Napier of Magdala. After the war he was appointed guardian or tutor of King Theodore’s son, Prince Alameida, and in 1868 he came out to Penang as Commissioner of Police.

The dates are incorrect. Captain Speedy arrived in Penang in 1871 where he became Superintendent of Police. And he did not resign in July of that year, but in 1873.

In July of that year he resigned that appointment and entered the service of the since notorious Mantri of Larut, upon an arrangement drawn up in due legal form, to the effect that in return for services rendered, Captain Speedy was to receive $500 a month, or £1,200 a year, and a tenth of all the revenues of Larut, for the period of ten years. As the revenues of Larut in 1874 and 1875, averaged about $200,000 a year, Captain Speedy’s tenth would amount to $20,000 or £4,000, which would have given him an income of over £5,000 a year, had his agreement held, and had not Sir Andrew Clarke interfered in the affairs of Perak.

The interference of Sir Andrew Clarke -> the Pangkor Treaty (January 1874)

The service which Captain Speedy undertook to perform was nothing less than to quell the disturbances of the Chinese factions among the tin miners, the See Quans and the Goh Quans, who fought each other for the possession of certain tin mines and the water supply, and had desolated the country as well as put an entire stop to trade. The Mantri himself, having supported the Goh Quans against the See Quans, and the former having been defeated, was obliged by the victorious See Quans to fly the country and take refuge in Penang.

The whole tin producing land of Larut covers a space of about 50 square miles, and the mines in dispute occupied an area of more than four square miles, their annual product being upwards of 2,600 tons. There is no doubt that Captain Speedy would have effected his object had he not been interfered with, and it is possible enough he might have become the virtual ruler of Larut, if not the whole of Perak.

“He might have become the virtual ruler of Larut” The writer is obviously a staunch supporter of Captain Speedy.

But his proceedings are said to have been viewed with disfavour and suspicion by the Penang Government, which gets the credit of doing all in its power to thwart him, and is accused of planning his arrest as an outlaw and on a charge of high treason.

Captain Speedy’s plan for restoring order and the authority of the Mantri of Larut was to enlist a disciplined body of 200 armed Sikhs for service in the country as Policemen. For this purpose, he proceeded to India in August 1873, and with much trouble and difficulty he succeeded, after six weeks of hard work, in securing, principally from the North West Provinces of India, upwards of 200 men, whom he engaged to accompany him to Larut, and whom he brought down to Calcutta.

According to Gullick (page 34) the Straights Government had notified the Government of India that Speedy was allowed to bring sepoys to Larut

Here, however, reports, promulgated it is said by Penang Officials from spite and jealousy, reached the ears of the men that Captain Speedy’s proceedings were illegal and would be opposed by the Government. The consequence was that half of them deserted or refused to fulfill their engagement, and demanded their traveling expenses back to their villages. About one hundred of them however remained staunch, and with these Captain Speedy embarked for Penang on board of one of Apcar’s steamers toward the end of September 1873.

Gullick (page 33-34) writes differently, that Anson, the Lieutenant-Governor of Penang, actually supported Speedy’s mission to India. No mention that half of the men deserted, Gullick calls it a rumour that more than about 100 men were planning to follow

On his arrival in Penang harbour he was warned by Mr, R.C. Woods, the Mantri’s lawyer, not to land, as it was possible a warrant might be issued against him on a charge of waging war against an ally of Her Majesty’s, and accordingly he started at once for Larut with the men in a small steamer belonging to the Mantri, being accompanied by Mrs Speedy and his brother.

Gullick also writes that Soeedy did not land in Penang but continued to Larut. However, there is no mention at all of a possible warrant or arrest, had he landed in Penang.

On arriving in Larut, Captain Speedy advised the Mantri to send a letter to the Chinese faction hostile to him, offering to reinstate them in their mines if they laid down their arms and gave security for their future good behaviour. No reply was received, and, after a delay of two months, active measures were taken,

Gullick doesn’t mention this act of diplomacy by Speedy

Captain Speedy advanced from his head-quarters, at Bukit Gantang, with two-thirds of his force and two six-pounder Krupp guns against a stockade 14 miles distant. This and four others were taken with ease in the course of a fortnight, and there remained only two more in the hands of the enemy. One was at Matang, the port of Larut river, and the other at Simpang, two and a half miles inland, and both were rather formidable from their position.

Captain Speedy was making his preparations for attack, when he was checked by the arrival early in January of Captain Grant, H.M.S. Aron, and Mr. F.A. Swettenham, with Mr. R.C. Woods, from Penang, with a message from Sir Andrew Clarke asking for a ten days’ truce and informing him of the new Government’s intention to take the settlement of affairs in Larut and in Perak in hand himself.

There followed the famous Pangkore Treaty, which altered all Captain Speedy’s arrangements and projects. He was offered the appointment of Resident of Larut, and to act temporarily as Resident of Perak on a salary of £2,000 a year. This he declined until he was requested by the Mantri to take the appointment. He did so, however, very reluctantly, for the appointment was altogether different as regards pay, status and influence to the one he had contemplated in the service of the Mantri.

Gullick (p 38) doesn’t discuss this refusal and reluctant acceptance , but he mentions that the £2,000 a year caused irritation with the government officials in Singapore, as it was much more than they got.

It is claimed for Captain Speedy, however, that he took to the duties of his new post with much zeal, and displayed much judgment and tact in his dealings with the natives, both Chinese and Malays, whose respect and confidence he succeeded in acquiring and keeping to the last from 1874 to December 1877. During the first two years of his administration, and up to the time he left in June 1876, on six months’ leave of absence, Larut flourished to a most surprising and unexpected extent. But it is alleged that he was all along treated in a jealous and unfriendly spirit by Straits Officials from the Governor downwards. One or two instances are given of his treatment by Sir William Jervois, and the following may be quoted:

According to the writer Speedy is doing very well in Larut, but is treated badly by the Straits government and especially by William Jervois (who succeeded Clarke as Straits Governor). Two examples are given. In the first one, Speedy acted professionally but still was reprimanded “in terms of the curtest nature”

–Almost at the commencement of the Perak expedition, before any active measures had been taken, Captain Speedy received a letter from the Ex-Sultan Ismail, asking his advice, as to whether he should attempt opposition to the British troops or offer the Government his services. Seeing at once that a communication of this kind should be forwarded without comment to head quarters, Captain Speedy without replying enclosed the letter to Sir William Jervois and shortly afterwards received an answer cached in terms of the curtest nature to the effect that he was never at any time, to hold communication with the native chiefs but to forward all such despatches direct to the Government.

The second example is a long, detailed report about the so-called battle of Kota Lama on 4 January 1876. Captain Speedy is against the attack on this village. They may be bad people but were not involved in the killing of BIrch.

– Again during the so called “war” — when it was determined by the Commissioners appointed for the time being, to attack the village of Kota Lama, on the Perak river, Captain Speedy’s advice that this attack should not take place was wholly disregarded, though he felt and represented strongly the extreme unjustice of the proceeding. He represented that the Kota Lama men were neutral, — that they had taken no part in the death of Mr. Birch, and that an attack on their village was quite uncalled for. The unblushing reply of the Commissioners was, that they were freebooters and turbulent, – that they had formerly been cattle stealers, and that it was desirable to give them a lesson.

The Kota Lama men had doubtless a reputation not undeserved, for a character, which as regarded their neighbours, was none of the most peaceable; but of any participation in the murder of Mr. Birch they were wholly blameless; and as the express object with which our troops were sent into the country, was to punish those murderers, and proclamations had been issued by the Government to the effect that the inhabitants who remained quiet had nothing to fear, by what right the Commissioners reconciled it to their conscience to attack Kota Lama can perhaps be only explained by themselves.

“… by what right the Commissioners reconciled it to their conscience to attack Kota Lama can perhaps be only explained by themselves”. It is clear that the writer agrees with Captain Speedy.

The following paragraph casts a rather negative light on the character of W.E. Maxwell, who succeeded Speedy as Assistant Resident of Larut.

A circumstance had, moreover, shortly before occurred, which was but calculated to inspire feelings the reverse of conciliatory toward the British in the eyes of these men. The Assistant Queen’s Commissioner, Mr. W.E. Maxwell, had, some days previous, gone up the river to a village a few miles north of Kota Lama, in search of a man named Rajah Abbas, who had about 4 years previously broken jail from Penang, and who Mr. Maxwell had reason to believe was living at the house of a Malay named Anjong. On reaching Anjong’s house, however, he found that Abbas had left a few days before. He then enquired of Anjong if he had given him any shelter and the man replied in the affirmative, saying that Abbas had come to his house and remained there for a few days. Hearing this Mr. Maxwell at once decreed Anjong to be worthy of death, and ordered him to be executed. Accordingly he was hanged then and there! to the nearest tree by the men of the Naval Brigade who acted as Mr. Maxwell’s escort.

Here is the description of the battle. It is so different from the “official” narrative, for example Gullick (page 71) that I have written a separate post about the Battle of Kota Lama. This “novel point of view” I have given a different color.

The attack on Kota Lama and Captain Speedy’s proceedings thereat are described as follows, and the description presents that ill-managed affair from a novel point of view.

Captain Speedy, not being one of the Commissioners, and having been telegraphed for the previous evening from Larut to participate in the proceedings, saw no alternative before him but to submit; and was desired by the Brigadier General to accompany the party who were to advance along the right bank of the river. The troops who proceeded to the village on the left bank, were commanded by Colonel Cox, accompanied by Mr. W.E. Maxwell, Asst. Queen’s Commissioner, and the course which was pursued was as follows.

On our troops landing and advancing through the village, the Malays fled into the jungle, taking their arms with them, and it was then deemed advisable to put an end to the settlement by burning the village. Accordingly one or more of the houses were set fire to. Almost at the same time the General and his party landed, and one of the houses being soon after entered, it was discovered to be filled with the women of the village. These women being naturally alarmed began to scream, when the men who had been lying in ambush in the jungle, thinking their women were being insulted rushed in, and fired a volley upon our men, following this up by charging with their spears. In this skirmish the Brigade Major Hawkins, two Goorkhas, and some others met their deaths and one of the Queen’s Commissioners was carried of the field hors de combat although unwounded.

Meanwhile on the right bank of the river the scene presented an aspect of rather a different nature. Captain Speedy had requested to form a cordon with this men round the village. This being done, Captain Speedy, accompanied by a few men, entered the village and advance to the houses of the head men, and told them that the British Government demanded that they should deliver up their arms. To this they demurred, but Captain Speedy represented that as their village was surrounded, submission would be their wisest course, and he guaranteed that no harm should be done them were they to yield, and the men eventually submitted. Not a shot was fired, not a threat used, and no ill feeling whatever had been displayed on the part of the Malays; on the contrary a friendly feeling was at once established, and while waiting for the party on the other side of the river to complete their proceedings, Captain Speedy occupied his Kota Lama allies in getting them to show him how they had trained their monkeys to climb, and gather the fruit from the coconut palms.

Here is the conclusion of the writer. Speedy did not get any words of gracious acknowledgment and in the official reports his successful actions were suppressed or downplayed

Yet for this successful policy he from first to last received no word of approbation, or gracious acknowledgment; on the contrary, the unsuccessful leaders of the other party, evidently stung by jealousy and dissatisfaction, persistently declared on any reference to the event that the men on the right bank of the river were of a peaceable disposition, and not hostile to the Government, and that no difficulty was to have been expected with them. Captain Speedy’s name was, moreover, invariably suppressed in all letters regarding the Kota Lama attack, a fact in itself sufficiently significant of the petty feeling which prevented a fair statement of the facts.

But neither time nor space would allow us here to enumerate the repeated instances in which the same spirit of narrow minded jealousy was allowed to militate against him.

A few more examples of the way Captain Speedy was badly treated:

Upon the appointment of Mr. Birch as Resident of Perak towards the close of 1874, Captain Speedy was definitely appointed ” H.B.M Assistant Resident of Perak attached to the district of Larut” with a salary of £1500 a year, and Lord Carnarvon promised to confirm the appointment but this promise was not fulfilled.

In July 1876, Lord Carnarvon recommended him for the appointment of Resident of Perak in succession to Mr, Birch, and asked for Sir William Jervois’ advice on the subject, but Sir William merely replied that he did not think him qualified.

In October 1876, when in England and on the point of returning from leave, Captain Speedy received a letter from the Colonial Office stating that his salary was to be reduced from £1,500 to £750 per annum, and he was told to judge whether it would be worth his while to return. This was a plain hint not to return to the East, but Captain Speedy returned nevertheless.

The Straits Governor William Jervois was the most negative in his opinion about Captain Speedy. That is also Gullick’s conclusion

On his arrival in Penang he received a message from Sir William Jervois to go to Singapore and the first thing said to him by Sir William was “Why he had returned, because he had telegraphed home to stop him”. He was then told that the appointment of Assistant Resident at Laroot was to be abolished, as Mr Paul held the title of Assistant Resident of Perak, having been appointed in the beginning of 1876, and that the only feasible plan was to send him to Durian Saba tang as Superintendent and Magistrate.

Ultimately, Captain Speedy returned to Larut on a salary of £1.000 a year, but in the course of two months and a half he was officially informed that his salary was again to be reduced to £850,and that he was to proceed from Larut to the swamp of Durian Sabatang.

Durian Sebatang is now Teluk Intan.

It is alleged that this last measure was adopted in pursuance of the settled policy of the Government Officials in the Straits Settlements since the departure of Sir Andrew Clarke, to drive him out of the service, in the hope that it would be finally successful.

And it was so eventually, Captain Speedy obeyed the order, but, after ten months’ residence at Durian Sabatang, he determined to resign, and at the end of 1877, he left Perak probably for ever.

Such is a condensed account of the authentic facts relating to Captain Speedy’s connection with the sate of Perak published in the Penang Gazette. The story is not a pretty one but we can offer no opinion upon it without having heard the other side

Is this the conclusion of the Singapore writer or the Penang one? Really a pity that the relevant records of the Pinang Gazette have not been preserved.