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100 



tliat the Honorable Company would assist him 

 wiih arms and men, in case an attack from the 

 Sraihese tihotild render it necf^s&ary. Tliis I evad- 

 ed by telling liim, uq treaty which was likely to oc- 

 ca.^ion a dispute between tbe Honorable Company 

 and tbe Siamese could be made witbout tbe ap- 

 probation of the king of Great Britain; at present, 

 as tbere was no reason for his ealeriiig into war 

 with the Siamese, he had no thing to fear ; the 

 Siamese, and all other Country powders, would 

 con*ider the EngH^b as his friends, and lor that 

 reason would not di^^turb him unless provoked 

 thereto by hi* bad policy " From tbe informa- 

 tion I have received, I am pretty well satislied af 

 the king having wrote to Malacca and Batavia to 

 try if the Dutch would give him belter terms, 

 and last year, T hear, be wrote to Pondicherry to 

 try if the French would undertake to defend bis 

 country." 



?*ow it is very evident from the foregoing that 

 protection from the Siames»e was the equivalent 

 all along required by tbe king of Kedah for the 

 cessioo of Pulo Finang, but, if iiirther proof were 

 requisite, the following extract from M r. Anderson, 

 containing a lengthy letter from the king himself, 

 'would be amply gulficient. 



P^either Mr. Light nor any of the Fucceeding 

 ** Superintendents, or Governors, bad it in their 

 " power to assist the king of Qaedah, alihough 

 •* hift app^^als were frequent and his oppres&ion 

 ** intolerable, Availing himself of tbe arrival of the 

 *' Governor General of India, Lord Minto, at Pi- 

 •* mng, when his Lordship proceeded to Java, 

 ** he addressed bim a long letter, dated 24th De- 



