were intrusted to him. On the annexation of this important island to our East Indian dominions, Stamford Raffles was appointed lieutenant-governor of the new territory. He immediately took measures to effect a thorough reform in the departments of revenue, commerce, and judicature, in all of which the greatest abuses existed; and so judiciously were the changes made by him introduced that they were joyfully hailed by all classes of people, and the consequent amelioration in the condition of the natives "will make his memory adored on the island of Java for ages to come." He abolished slavery, instituted schools for the natives, freed the agricultural population from forced deliveries of produce, and bestowed on them the privilege of bringing it to a free and open market. By these judicious measures he not only conferred an inestimable boon upon the people, but increased the public revenue to nearly eight times the amount it had ever attained under the Dutch. Mr. Raffles held the office of governor of Java for four years, and was recalled in 1816, shortly before the ill-advised and disastrous restoration of the island to its former masters, whose conduct was marked by the deepest ingratitude to this country, and injustice and tyranny to the natives. On his arrival in England, Mr. Raffles soon discovered that much ignorance prevailed respecting the value of Java and the Dutch possessions; he therefore wrote and published in 1817 a history of that splendid island in 2 vols , 4to, a work full of valuable information. About this time, also, he married an amiable and accomplished lady, and received the honour of knighthood from the prince regent. In October, 1817, Sir Stamford embarked for Sumatra, the court of directors having conferred upon him the office of lieutenant-governor of Bencoolen, in the south-west of that island. He arrived at his destination in March, 1818, and found the establishment in the most miserable condition. He immediately set to work to abolish slavery, to reform and gradually to liberate the convicts who had been sent hither, to promote the cultivation of the country, to educate the natives, and to gain the confidence and co-operation of the chiefs. His wise and beneficent measures were seriously hampered by the interference of the directors, much to their discredit. But Sir Stamford, undiscouraged, toiled on with indomitable perseverance. Anxious to counteract as far as possible the avaricious and grasping policy of the Dutch, who most ungratefully strove to exclude the British entirely from these seas, he recommended that a new settlement should be made to afford protection to British shipping. Singapore, at the mouth of the straits of Malacca, was selected for this purpose, and there accordingly he hoisted the British flag in February, 1819. The arrangements which he made for the government of this new settlement were characterized by great sagacity and equity; and under his fostering care its progress in population, commerce, intelligence, and prosperity was most rapid and satisfactory. Meanwhile, such incessant activity of body and mind had seriously impaired Sir Stamford's health. Lady Raffles, too, had suffered much from illness, and three of their four children had fallen victims to the climate. Broken down by sickness and affliction. Sir Stamford embarked for England on board the sloop Fame, in February, 1824. When about fifty miles from land the vessel suddenly took fire. The crew and passengers were with difficulty saved. But all Sir Stamford's papers, including materials for a history of Sumatra, Borneo, and the other islands of the Archipelago, eastern grammars, dictionaries, and vocabularies, a grand map of Sumatra, which had cost him many months' toil, all his collections in natural history, and upwards of two thousand splendid drawings, were completely destroyed. His pecuniary loss was estimated at £20,000. He bore this great calamity with unshaken fortitude and resignation. He ultimately reached England in August, 1824, and died suddenly of apoplexy in 1826, in the forty-fifth year of his age. Sir Stamford Raffles was a model governor, sagacious, indefatigable, disinterested, and upright in all his transactions, generous, and kind-hearted, and most exemplary in his domestic relations. He was an accomplished naturalist, and was the founder and first president of the English Zoological Society.—(Memoir of the Life and Public Services of Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, &c., by his widow; London, 1830.)—J. T.
RAFFLES, Thomas, D.D., LL.D., F.Z.S., &c., was born in London on the 17th of May, 1788. His father was a solicitor, and carried on business as member of a firm which enjoyed an extensive practice; his grandfather held for many years a responsible post in the prerogative court, Doctors' Commons. Having resolved to devote himself to the ministry of the gospel in connection with the congregational dissenters, Mr. Raffles entered the Old college at Homerton, where he studied theology under the excellent and thrice-learned Dr. Pye Smith. On the completion of his preparatory studies, he was ordained in 1809 pastor of the congregational church at Hammersmith, near London, where he remained for about three years. Though still very young, his abilities as a preacher soon made him conspicuous, not only in the south, but also in Scotland, where he for some weeks officiated in one of the places of worship opened in Edinburgh in connection with the movement of the Messrs. Haldane. On the death of the singularly-gifted Spencer, he was invited to succeed to the charge thus vacated in Liverpool; and here he entered on the sphere which till his death he so nobly occupied, in the spring of 1812. Besides ministering statedly in his own place, his services from the commencement of his public career were constantly in request in all parts of the United Kingdom, on all occasions of public religious interest; and never were such services more freely rendered or more universally appreciated. The name of the preacher was as "a household word" in most congregations of his own denomination throughout the kingdom; and few names were better known among religious people generally, not only in Britain, but on the continent and throughout America. With the latter country Dr. Raffles' relations had always been intimate. To an American college also he owed his degree of D.D., that of LL.D. having been conferred on him by the university of Aberdeen; in both cases without solicitation on his part, and without his previous knowledge that such an honour was intended. The almost constant demand upon his time and energies in the discharge of official duty left Dr. Raffles little opportunity of addressing himself to the labours of the press. A small volume of poems, the joint production of himself, his brother-in-law, the late Dr. James Baldwin Brown, and Mr. Wiffen the translator of Tasso; a memoir of the Rev. T. Spencer; letters written during a tour through some parts of France, Savoy, Germany, and the Netherlands—a tour which he performed in 1817 in company with his distinguished cousin, the late Sir Stamford Raffles, to whom the book is dedicated; "Lectures on Religious Faith and Practice," in 2 vols.; and a multitude of single sermons, together with contributions in prose and verse to the pages of periodicals—comprise his published literary efforts. All of these have been well received by the public, and most have passed through several editions. In 1858, having completed his seventieth year, a congratulatory address was presented to him by his ministerial brethren; when—lest the cause should suffer aught from his advancing years, and after occupying his laborious post as minister of Great George Street chapel unassisted for nearly fifty years—he retired in February, 1861. Since his resignation Dr. Raffles' health had not been robust; but his readiness to serve every good cause frequently led to his appearing in the pulpit in various parts of the country, where with almost all his early fervour, eloquence, and force he proclaimed those great truths of revealed religion which it was the joy of his life to publish and enforce. He died surrounded by his family, and retaining consciousness almost to the last, on the 16th August, 1863.—W. L. A.
RAGLAN, James Henry Fitzroy Somerset, first baron, Field-marshal, eighth son of the fifth duke of Beaufort, was born on the 30th September, 1788. Educated at Westminster, he entered the army in June, 1804, as a cornet in the 4th light dragoons, and in 1808 was transferred to the line as captain in the 43rd foot. In the same year, according to the interesting notice of him in the Quarterly Review for January, 1857 (article "Lord Raglan"), Lord Fitzroy Somerset, as he was called until he became a peer, was appointed by Sir Arthur Wellesley, then preparing for his first expedition to Portugal, a member of his staff. He had been previously unknown to the future duke of Wellington, but rose rapidly in the good graces of the chief, of whom he remained for many years the inseparable companion and coadjutor. Assistant-secretary till January, 1811, he was then appointed military secretary, the most confidential position in the army, and in that capacity was with the duke in all his Peninsular battles. He distinguished himself not only by his cool bravery, but by his talent for organization, establishing a system which allowed commanders of battalions to keep up with the general-in-chief a direct communication, independently of the reports of superiors. Sent home with the despatch announcing the victory of Talavera, he was wounded at Busaco, and foremost in the breach at the storming of Badajoz. In May, 1814,
