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The Attempts of Raffles to Establish A British Base in South-East Asia, 1818–1819

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 August 2009

J. S. Tay
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Extract

In the year 1814, Great Britain, recuperating from the effects of the Napoleonic Wars and anxious to protect itself against another outbreak of “Revolutionary Madness”, determined to restore the balance of power in Europe. To this end, it turned its attention towards the problem of rebuilding a strong and united Kingdom of Holland. Because the stability of this new Kingdom depended on the prosperity it could derive from its colonial possessions, Britain restored to it, by the Anglo-Dutch Convention of 1814, all the factories and establishments which Holland had possessed in the Eastern Seas at the commencement of 1803. These were Java and its dependencies, Celebes and the smaller islands situated in the Straits of Macassar, the Moluccas, Malacca on the Malay Peninsula, and various establishments on the island of Sumatra. Great Britain also ceded to the Dutch the island of Banca.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Southeast Asian History , Volume 1 , Issue 2 , September 1960 , pp. 30 - 46
Copyright
Copyright © The National University of Singapore 1960

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References

1. In exchange for the Dutch possessions on the Malabar Coast in India.

2. This proposal was submitted before Raffles left England. It was embodied in a paper addressed to the President of the Board of Control, George Canning, entitled: “Our Interests in the Eastern Archipelago.”

3. Raffles, to the Secret Committee, 04 14, 1818Google Scholar. (Dutch Records ‘A’ No.29 India Office Library).

4. Subsequently he also included Padang and the south-eastern coastal districts of Sumatra.

5. Raffles, to the Secret Committee, 04 14, 1818.Google Scholar

6. Raffles, to the Secret Committee, 04 14th 1818Google Scholar. Bentang is the island on which the port of Rhio stands.

7. Because Padang was to have been restored to the Dutch by the terms of the 1814 Convention. Raffles, however, advocated its retention by the British Government and did his utmost to obstruct its restoration.

8. Raffles, to the Secret Committee, 04 14, 1818.Google Scholar

9. Wurtzburg, in his biography, Raffles of the Eastern Seas, p. 437, incorrectly gives this date as 1811.

This flag was hoisted on September 24, 1801, to mark the drawing up of a treaty between the Chiefs and Pengerans of Samanka and John Campbell, acting on behalf of the English East India Company whereby Samanka and its dependencies were delivered by the former to the British Government. This treaty, however, was not signed and was therefore not acknowledged by the Dutch. For the same reason Raffles did not press this treaty as grounds whereby Britain could claim a footing to the Bay.

10. Krusendum, to Garling, , 15th 08 1817 (Dutch Records ‘A’ No. 29).Google Scholar

11. Mr Jarrett.

12. Raffles addressed his argument to Van der Capellen, in a letter dated 03 27th 1818.Google Scholar

13. Raffles, to Van der Capellen, , 03 23, 1818.Google Scholar

14. Wurtzburg writes that Raffles resorted to direct measures only after learning of the failure of Travers' mission to Batavia. (Raffles of Eastern Seas, p 443). Actually, as the above instructions to Travers show, he had decided to take direct measures to achieve his end before Travers' return.

15. Raffles, to Travers, , 03 27, 1818.Google Scholar

16. Raffles, to Hull, , 03 27, 1818.Google Scholar

17. One of these was the removal of a chieftain and his replacement by another, whom Travers suspected of being a puppet. See Travers, to Raffles, , 06 30, 1818.Google Scholar

18. Raffles, to Van der Capellen, , 06 7, 1818.Google Scholar

19. Van de Capellen, to Raffles, , 07 1, 1818Google Scholar, in Van de Kemp, , Raffles, and the Occupation of the Lampongs, B.T.L.V. Vol. 49. 1898. p. 54.Google Scholar

20. Capt. Travers, to Raffles, , 06 30, 1818.Google Scholar

21. This reply was written on 19 August 1818 but was not despatched to Batavia until after Johnston's settlement at Callambyan. The Dutch at Batavia thus received it on 5th October 1818.

22. Johnston, to Krijgsman, , 25th 11 1818Google Scholar. Quoted in Van der Kemp, , pp 24–25.Google Scholar

23. Bengal to the Secret Committte, 25th November 1818.

24. Quoted in Van der, Kemp, p. 36.Google Scholar

25. To the secret Committee on April 14th, 1818, he wrote: “The footing once obtained in the Straits of Sunda, I apprehend all the rest will follow without difficulty.”

26. Raffles, to the Secret Committee, 07 3rd 1818.Google Scholar

27. Ratoo Ahmad Najamoedin was raised to the throne by Raffles in that year. For the circumstances that led to his installation, see Wurtzburg, Raffles and the Palembang Massacre (JMBRAS, Vol XXII, Part I, 03, 1949).Google Scholar

28. By the terms of an Explanatory Treaty drawn in the following year.

29. Raffles, to Dowdeswell, , Vice-President in Council, Fort William, 07 6th 1818.Google Scholar

30. Raffles, to Salmond, , 06 20th 1818.Google Scholar

31. Raffles, to Salmond, , 06 20th 1818.Google Scholar

32. Raffles, to the Secret Committee, 04 14th 1818.Google Scholar

33. Raffles, to Puy, Du, 06 6, 1818Google Scholar. To put Du Puy in a still more difficult position, Raffles in the same letter insisted on the Dutch paying for all the moveable property at Padang, at inflated prices.

34. Puy, Du to Raffles, , 06 6, 1818.Google Scholar

35. Raffles gives a number of conflicting reasons for his visit to Padang. To the Government of Bengal on August 5th, he gave the reason: “with the view of facilitating the transfer of the place”. This is unlikely to be the truth as he had just obstructed its transfer and was even then urging its retention. Some idea of his real motive is revealed in his letter to the Duchess of Somerset written on 11th July, 1818, while off the coast of Padang. “I am now on my way to Padang to see whether I cannot reach Menangkabau before the Dutch arrive, who claim the place under the Convention.”

36. Raffles, to Dowdeswell, , 08 12th 1818.Google Scholar

37. Raffles, to the Secret Committee, 08 5th 1818.Google Scholar

38. A copy of this Protest is included in Dutch Records ‘A’ No. 29.

39. Raffles, to the Secret Committee, 09 1, 1818.Google Scholar

40. The Government of Calcutta to the Government of Batavia, October 10th 1818.

41. Minute of the Marquis of Hastings, October 25th 1818, paragraph 59 (Dutch Records ‘A’ No. 28A).

42. In the late war between Britain and France, the French privateers derived advantages from the privilege of refreshment and refitting in the ports and roadstead of Acheen. Also, following the Anglo-American War of 1812, the establishment of an American station at Acheen or at some adjacent point was also thought to be a definite possibility.

43. At the time of Raffles' visit to Calcutta, Acheen was the scene of a struggle between two chieftains for the throne. The Ex-King in his distress was believed to have made urgent appeal for European aid, and to nave indicated his willingness to throw himself into the hands of the first European power that offered itself. Because the English had previously refused to support him, Hastings feared that he would appeal to the Dutch at Malacca.

44. Instructions to Sir S. T. Raffles and Captain Coombs on their departure to the State of Acheen, 31st October 1818.

45. Ibid, paragraph 86. This despatch written by the Dutch Governor of Malacca to the Commissioners of Batavia in 1793, was captured from the Secret Archives of Batavia.

46. In July 1818, Farquhar was sent by the Penang Government to conclude treaties with Rhio, Lingga, Pontianak and Siak, which would “secure the freedom of commerce with these Countries”.

47. Instructions to Raffles, dated December 5th 1818. The work of drafting this set of Instructions is ascribed to Raffles by most historians.

48. Raffles, to Marsden, , 12 12th 1818Google Scholar. Quoted in Boulger, D. C., The Life of Sir Stamford Raffles, p 303.Google Scholar

49. The Dutch naval commander Rear-Admiral Wolterbeck concluded a treaty with the Raja Muda of Rhio on 26th November 1818. Thereafter the Dutch reasserted their pretensions to Johore, Siak and Lingin claiming these lands to be vassals of Rhio.

50. Bannerman, to Hastings, , 01 1st 1819. (Dutch Records ‘A’ No. 28A).Google Scholar

51. Raffles, to Adams, John, 01 8, 1819.Google Scholar

52. Bannerman, to Raffles, , 01 18th 1818 (Dutch Records ‘A’ No. 28A).Google Scholar

53. Raffles, to Bannerman, , 01 18th 1818 (Dutch Records ‘A’ No. 28A).Google Scholar

54. This was done in deference to William Farquhar's recommendations.