128 



handsome pension which was temporarily sus- 

 pended by Government, on account of- the King 

 of Kedah's having refused implicit corapliatice 

 with its mandates relative to the pendhvg dispute 

 between Siam and Kedab. The Tuankoo was 

 consequently compelled to submit to the trying 

 vicissitudes ofpeiuiry and obscurity, and deem- 

 ed himself happy in being permitted to reside 

 in Province AVeiki^ley, and enjoy a fancied 

 security under the British flag- The Siamese, 

 dreading hi;* coiiragf* and talents, hired some 

 ruffians to assassinate lum: a task Avhich they 

 endeavoureji to effect by blowing up his home 

 in the dead of the night. They so far failed 

 in their object that the Tuankoo was only se- 

 verely scorched, but his wife and three child- 

 ren were killed by the explosion. Exasperated 

 by this dat^tardly attempt upon his hfe which 

 rendered him a widower and childless, Tuankoo 

 Koodeen stirred up the minds of his countrymen, 

 and excited tiiem to assert their independence by 

 an appeal to arms. So successful was his sum- 

 mons that from Province Wellesley alone it is 

 stated that five thousand Malays flocked to his 

 standard, and as many hundred from Palo Pinaug. 

 With this force he retook the furt of Kedah from 

 the Siamese on ttse 24th -April 1831, and would 

 probably have maintained it to this day, had it 

 not been for Article l3th of the Siamese Treaty 

 in which thr English ensjage that they wjU nut 

 " j}«rmit the former Gov ernor of Queda, or any of 

 his followers, to a Hack, disturb, or injure in any 

 manner 1 he territory of Qneda, or any other ter- 

 ritory subject to Siam/' 



Embarrassed by this diticle^ the Government 



