Editing Harry Ord (section)

==Governor of Straits Settlements==
[[File:HarryStGeorgeOrd-1867-1873.jpg|thumb|left|150px|The official picture of Sir Harry Ord as the Governor of the Straits Settlements]]

Sir Harry Ord, whom the second [[Colonial Office]] appointed in 1867 as the [[Governor of the Straits Settlements]], was at first given no instructions regarding the Colony's relations with the [[Malay States]]. His appointment did not start well; he would arrive at the Settlements two weeks before his term began, and by the time he was inaugurated, had managed to offend almost everyone in the capital including Chief Justice Designate [[Peter Benson Maxwell]] with his crusty demeanor and insistence on being referred to as 'Excellency'.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Heussler |first=Robert |title=British rule in Malaya: the Malayan civil service and its predecessors, 1867 - 1942 |date=1981 |publisher=Clio Press |isbn=978-0-903450-49-2 |location=Oxford |pages=5-6}}</ref> He was unpopular in the [[Straits Settlements]], but was an ambitious and energetic man, who was ready to do what he could to restore order and promote trade in the Peninsula. Conditions in [[British Malaya|Malaya]] at that time were extremely unsettled. Within months of his arrival, representatives of the leading firms had formed the Straits Settlement Association under the leadership of [[John Crawfurd]], which vigorously opposed any increase in government power and would bombard his administration with numerous petitions to the [[House of Lords]] criticising many of his policies.<ref name=":0" />

More pressing however were the numerous quarrels of the [[Ethnic Malays|Malays]], intensified by feuds between competing groups of Chinese miners, and the links of the Chinese with the [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|British]] settlements threatened to involve these too in the trouble. After some experience of negotiating with Malays and [[Thai people|Siamese]], Ord worked out a policy under which he proposed to share the supervision of the Peninsula between [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|Britain]] and [[Siam]]. This policy was disapproved by the [[Colonial Office]], and Ord was directed to abstain from all interference in the affairs of the [[Malay States]].