Memoir of the life and public services of Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles ... particularly in the government of Java, 1811-1816, and of Bencoolen and its dependencies, 1817-1824; with details of the commerce and resources of the Eastern Archipelago and selections from his correspondence / By his widow.

  • Raffles, Sophia, Lady, 1786-1858.
Date:
1830
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Memoir of the life and public services of Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles ... particularly in the government of Java, 1811-1816, and of Bencoolen and its dependencies, 1817-1824; with details of the commerce and resources of the Eastern Archipelago and selections from his correspondence / By his widow. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    MEMOIR OF SIR THOMAS STAMFORD RAFFLES, F.R.S. CHAPTER I. Early life of Mr. Raffles—Labours and relaxations—First tastes—Appointment under the new Government of Penang—Duties there—Goes to Malacca for his health—Malay literature—Paper on the Malayan nation—Woolly-haired people scattered among them—Game of chess—Orders for the destruction of Ma- lacca—Countermanded on his representation—Native account of the Portuguese arrival at Malacca— The Dutch—Letter from Dr. Leyden. There is a general desire to become acquainted with the early life and habits of those who in maturity have distinguished themselves by the display of superior talents. From that-knowledge we derive a practical benefit, and gain a clue which enables us to trace that most interesting subject, the course and progress of the human mind, amid the moral and the physical influences by which it may have received its bias. It is chiefly in public characters that we have adequate opportunities of engaging in such researches. The retirement of private life conceals the connecting links by which the mind gradually advances, though the same course of self-denial and vigor- ous perseverance may even there produce in the same proportion the same happy results. It is on this account that some brief notices of the private life of Sir Stamford Raffles have been prefixed to what was at first intended merely as a record of the course of his public services. It was at one time proposed to have commenced this work with a general view of the state of politics, in those regions of the East where the subject of this Memoir first became known, and soon afterwards rose to very high station. But when it was considered, that the interest of such remote scenes almost invariably depends upon that of the incidents which are connected with individual persons, it was deemed most advisable to commence from the birth of him who is the immediate subject of the narrative. B