I'll start by talking about Alexander Hare's fiefdom before comparing it to James Brooke's. The set up is going to be very long. It was a unique and complex set of circumstances that led to Hare’s fiefdom, and it played a major role in how things went pear shaped in the end.

ACQUIRING MOLUKO

Alexander Hare was a merchant who arrived in Malacca in 1801.

In 1807, Thomas Stamford Raffles, employee of the East India Company (EIC), Assistant Secretary to the Governor of Penang, was in Malacca on sick-leave. The two men met and quickly struck up a firm friendship. It has been postulated that the ambitious Raffles was captivated by Hare’s knowledge of the region in general and Malacca in particular, his fluency in Malay, and his widespread contacts acquired as a result of his trading activities. These are skills which Raffles, a recently arrived bureaucrat, would not yet have acquired.

Sensing an opportunity, Raffles pumped Hare for information. On returning to Penang, Raffles used this information to send a lengthy and detailed report on Malacca to his supervisors. It was so lengthy and detailed that it was forwarded to Lord Minto, the Governor-General of India, who was also in charge of Southeast Asia (SEA).

The report so impressed Lord Minto that he struck up direct correspondence with Raffles. In 1809 Raffles travelled to Calcutta to meet him. He spent 4 months there and continued to impress, not just with his acumen but with his attitude towards the Dutch East Indies, which were in an interesting position thanks to the Napoleonic Wars.

In 1795, the Netherlands had been replaced by the Batavian Republic, a French client state. This meant the Dutch were now with the French, which meant that they were against the British, which meant their colonies were fair game. The situation became even graver in 1810, when the Kingdom of Holland was outright annexed by France, so that the Dutch East Indies were now effectively the French East Indies.

Raffles argued that an invasion of the Dutch colony of Java was not only necessary to keep EIC trade routes open, it would cement British power in the region. In this, his views were the same as Minto’s, indeed, Minto had already sent a force to successfully invade the Spice Islands. So enthusiastic was Minto at Raffles’ suggestions that he promised to lead an invasion force himself, then sent Raffles back to Malacca in 1810 as Agent to the Governor-General, tasked with gathering information and planning for an invasion.

The French/Dutch had long anticipated an invasion of their SEA colonies. In 1808, Dutch general Herman Willem Daendels arrived in Java as Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies. His orders were to prepare the colonies to resist a British invasion. As part of these preparations, Daendels took a hard look at Dutch positions in the East Indies and determined that their position in Banjarmasin, in southern Borneo, was difficult to defend. He thus pulled out of the area, on terms that were unfavourable to the Sultan of Banjarmasin.

This upset the Sultan, with whom the Dutch had originally signed a treaty granting them the right to exploit parts of his land. An alliance with the Europeans had been good for his prestige and security, so he now looked around for other Europeans to ally with. And since Dutch withdrawal left a sour taste, he went looking for their archenemies, the British. He wrote about this to his good British friend, Alexander Hare - Hare had been trading with Banjarmasin for some time and had managed to charm the sultan along the way.

Hare sat on this information until 1810, when his good friend Raffles arrived in Malacca with his shiny new title and orders. Hare immediately asked the Sultan to send envoys to meet with Raffles. They did so at the end of 1810 and presented Raffles with a proposal that the British should take over the area that the Dutch had just vacated. The Sultan also felt that there was nobody better suited to run the new colony than his good friend Alexander Hare, so the Sultan would be pleased if Hare were appointed Resident (governor) of the Banjarmasin settlement.

Raffles leapt at the chance. He quickly informed Minto that the EIC could take over a Dutch colony without expending blood or treasure. In May 1811, Minto arrived in Malacca, further envoys from Banjarmasin were sent, and Minto approved the deal.

In 1811, after the successful British invasion of Java, Minto appointed Raffles Lieutenant-Governor of Java. On 11 April, 1812, Raffles formally appointed Hare Resident of Banjarmasin. Raffles had a high opinion of Hare and acknowledged his key role in the British foothold on Borneo. In a letter to Minto, probably written around May 1812, Raffles writes

In occupying this settlement [Banjarmasin] I conceive myself to have been particularly fortunate in commanding the services of Mr. Alexander Hare, a gentleman, whose long residence in the Eastern Islands, intimate acquaintance with the manners of the natives, and superior intelligence, peculiarly qualify him for a charge of so delicate and unpleasant a nature, as such a residence must be in the early periods of an Establishment so detached from civilized society and intercourse. With the exception of this gentleman, I did not possess within the range of my authority, one individual in every respect competent to the undertaking… Independent of other advantages Mr. Hare possesses considerable influence personally with the Sultan, and is peculiarly qualified from his habits of research, and enlarged views of men and things, to obtain and elucidate with fidelity every interesting information concerning the nature and resources of the Island of Borneo in general, hitherto in its interior so entirely neglected by the European World.

Hare now raised the topic of a private concession with the Sultan. The Sultan, like Raffles, acknowledged Hare’s key role in the deal with the EIC. Thus, in October, he signed a treaty that began (translated from Malay)

Considering that for the past four years we have wished our friend ALEXANDER HARE to accept land and establish himself in Banjarmasin and share with us the custom rights and all other dues in the harbour and on the land, and which request we referred to the English Government on the advice of our friend who said it would be to our advantage to do so.

And through the mediation of our friend the English Government have since granted our request:

So it is that we rejoice at this contract entered into with the English Government, over its conclusion we cannot but feel great satisfaction as well as gratitude, and we cede by this act to our friend, to him and his descendants, for all time, in full property and to be administered by him, without our power to place there any other person over the customs or to exercise any other authority;

In other words, Hare fully owned the land in the same way a king or raja might own land, with full administrative rights and in perpetuity. The treaty then continues to describe the boundaries of the land that is to be handed over, slightly over 3,500 square km in all. According to Dutch sources, it was mostly low-lying, marshy ground with lots of grassland and forest. It was, apparently, rather good for stag-hunting, but not developed with any sort of industry.

Hare made his headquarters on high ground near the River Moluko, and decided to name his fiefdom ‘Moluko’.

This was the high point of Hare's adventure in Borneo, for problems presented themselves almost immediately.

HOW NOT TO RUN A SETTLEMENT

The first problem was that Hare was responsible not just for his personal fiefdom of Moluko, but also for the EIC Banjarmasin colony. As Resident, Hare had access to EIC funds to invest in the colony's development. However, the EIC expected to see a rapid return on their investment, so right away Hare was up against the clock.

Hare knew this, and he hoped to develop both the Banjarmasin colony and Moluko by growing export crops, especially rice and pepper. Hare found this impossible, however, because of a shortage of manpower. Hare wrote to the Sultan asking him if he could send people to the settlement, but the Sultan simply didn't have the people.

(Continued in reply)