acted. Though they protested vigorously, and the East India Company for a long time hesitated to confirm the action of their servant, reluctant approval was at last given, on the ground that the occupation was then such an old story that the Company did not fed inclined to disturb the arrangement.
There is a peculiar interest in recalling the circumstances under which we acquired Singapore, in view of what it has become. Raffles' object has been attained: Singapore is the market of the Archipelago, and to a greater extent than any Dutch port in the East. Moreover, it is the centre of trade for the Malay States, Siam, French Indo-China, Borneo, Sarawak, and to some extent the Philippines; above all, it is a point of call, a coaling and refitting station, on the highway, from the West and Nearer East, to China and Japan. It is unlikely that Raffles foresaw, or anticipated, the marvellous development of the Far Eastern trade which has resulted from the opening of the Suez Canal; and it is doubtful whether he realized the wealth of the Malay Peninsula which, in the last thirty years, has added so enormously to the importance and prosperity of Singapore. To-day Singapore, counted by the tonnage of the shipping which annually makes use of it as a point of call, stands eighth on the list of the world's great ports. The value of its trade in 1903 was nearly £70,000,000. About 200,000 tons of coal are constantly stored on the wharves; it possesses great facilities for coaling, docking, and repairing ships, and, as a fortress, it is probably capable of defending itself against any attack likely to be made on it by an enemy.
It has hitherto been customary to rank Ceylon as the premier Crown Colony, and, strictly speaking, she has a good claim to that position; but the Federated Malay States, which are not British possessions, have, in the last thirty years, been so administered, under British protection, that, from a roadless, sparsely inhabited, and quite unknown wilderness, they have developed into a dependency which rivals, in almost every particular
