92 



- such as the King of Siak. Salengore, Rhio, 

 " Quedah, aad Triogano. With respect to the 

 " desire of the kings of Siam iind Quedah, 

 I cannot consent to it, should war even be tb« 

 " consequence. I must try my stren^ah with 

 " them, for such a custom wV^ neither heard of, or 

 attempted to be imposed on Perak, Now, for 

 the 6rst time, the Rajah uf Quedah demimds 

 a Bunga Mas to be seut to iSiarn, m an unnc- 

 " countable manner. 1 will not comply with 

 this bis desire. Had it been usu^il from times 

 " pa«t with Perak to send a Bunga Mas to 

 Quedah, or Sian>, I should have done so, ac- 

 cording to ancient custom.' in November 

 1816, the king of Quedah's messenger returned 

 " from Siam with a positive order to attack Pe- 

 " rak. The king of Quedah says, ' it greatly 

 afflicts me to execute this order. U is not 

 *^ with my good \vill that I attack Perak, nor at 

 all my wish to become an enemyoftliat Rajah, 

 " but only to avert mischief from my country.*' " 

 Valentyn tells us that Perak^f which formed part 

 of the kingdom of Achin, was subject to Malacca 

 mthe 17th and beginning of the iSth century, 

 and that the Dutch had a factory there, (for the 

 purpose of collecting the tin), which was cut off 

 by the natives A. D. 1651 , Notwithstanding the 

 reluctance of the Rajah of Kedah to go to war 

 with an inoffensive slate on the simple order of an 

 imperious despot who tyrannized alike over either, 

 and notwithstanding that his British Ally wa^ 

 actually forming at the time a commercial treaty 

 with Perak, the king of Quedah was compelled 



• AndersooVctmiideretlofts, Mt. p. p. SD;Br.- 



