628 Political and Commercial Relations with the [Oct. 



By Major Burney's treaty with Siam, 1826, the British are bound 

 not to allow the State of Salangdre to attack and disturb that of Pe'rak. 

 The Siamese are likewise bound by the same treaty not to go and 

 attack or disturb Salangdre. In 1786 the Dutch dictated a treaty to 

 the then Raja (Ibrahim), by which the latter was compelled to 

 acknowledge the sovereignty of the Dutch, who were then in posses- 

 sion of Malacca, and to hold his kingdom from them as a fief. In 

 1818 the Dutch wished to renew this treaty, but the Salang6re chief 

 refused, relying on his newly acquired relations* with the British. 



Johdre for the occupation of the island of Singapore. — In 1818 a 

 commercial treaty was entered into, by the then Resident at Malacca, 

 Major Farquhar, with the monarch of Johdre, who was acknowledg- 

 ed by the Dutch ; viz. Sri Sultan Abdurrahman Shah. Since that 

 time, however, the elder brother of this prince was set up and acknow- 

 ledged by British policy as being the rightful successor, and in order 

 to obtain a legal title to the island of Singapore, which, as will be 

 shewn, was ceded to the Company by the latter. By Major Farquhar's 

 treaty with Ardurrahma'n Sha'h, mutual liberty of navigation and 

 commerce in the ports and dominions of Johdre, Pahdng, Lingin, Rhio, 

 &c. was secured to British subjects, or persons under the protection 

 of the Company, on the footing of subjects of the most favored na- 

 tions ; the subjects of Johdre enjoying similar advantages and pri- 

 vileges in the harbour of Fort Cornwallis, and in all other places 

 dependent on the British Government of Pinang. 



Sir Stamford Raffles, in a letter to Sir Robert H. Inglis, states 

 that the Dutch no sooner obtained possession of Malacca, (in Sep- 

 tember, 1818, the month after Major Farquhar's treaty with 

 Abdurrahman Sha'h had been concluded,) than, notwithstanding our 

 treaties, which had been publicly communicated for their information 

 on the cession of Malacca, tbey sent an overpowering force to Rhio, 

 where Abdurrahman resided ; declared the chief to be their vassal, 

 treated our negotiations with him contemptuously, and dictated a 

 treaty which excluded the British trade from the port, &c. 



In consequence partly of the delivering up of a place, so advan- 

 tageously situated as Malacca, to Holland, it was deemed politic by 

 the Marquis of Hastings, in order to protect the British trade, and 

 to secure one of the two passages to the Eastern Archipelago and 

 China, to attempt the improvement of our relations with A chin at the 



* Salangdre, formerly renowned for its warlike and enterprizing colony of 

 Buffis, has dwindled into a weak, piratical state. They were apprehending and 

 preparing for an attack from Siac in the middle of last year. The present chief 

 is not remarkable for talent or enterprise. His name is Sultan Mahomed. 



