602 AN ACCOUNT OF THE ORIGIN AND PROGRESS OF 
tlie island of Pinang. But Captain Light did not decidedly tell 
him that the protection he sought for could not be accorded to him. 
Had he done so, and had the Rajah then drawn back the island of 
Pinang would not, agreeably to the governor general’s instructions 
to the above negociator, have been accepted on the Rajah’s condi¬ 
tions. How it came to pass that the Rajah under these circumstances 
did not prevent the island of Pinang being taken possession of by 
the British—and how it happened that he afterwards signed and 
sealed two consecutive treaties of cession ; neither of which were 
offensive and defensive—has not been fully explained in the records 
of government. There was undoubtedly no coercion or intimida¬ 
tion employed to obtain the cession. The Rajah himself pushed on 
the negotiations ; as he seems, to have been at last impressed with 
a strong belief that when he should have succeeded in forming a 
friendly treaty of alliance with the British, every advantage which 
he had anticipated from a positive offensive and defensive one, 
would necessarily follow. This was more a practical than a 
speculative view of the case, ancTmight easily under more favorable 
times for him have been realized. There was however one disad¬ 
vantage which must have accompanied the cession under any aspect 
——and of which the Rajah was quite aware, a diminution in the 
trade of Keddah. When he represented this to the supreme 
government of British India he was informed in general language 
that care would be taken that he should not be a loser in this 
respect by the cession of Pinang. In the end it turned out that 
this loss had been greatly exaggerated (b) and that, the sum of 
10,000 Spanish dollars which was given yearly to the Rajah as an 
equivalent was a fair and equitable one. In 1780 the whole of the 
Keddah revenue amounted to 111,400 Spanish dollars—and m 
1790, four years after the cession of Pinang, that revenue was 
99,400 Spanish dollars. Subsequently this aggregate revenue was 
almost annihilated by the rebellions and wars which distracted 
Keddah and dispersed its inhabitants. 
The] Rajah’s request then, to be supported against Siam, was not 
entertained, and all that was then granted was that u the English 
(i trovernment would keep an armed vessel stationed to guard the 
a island of Pinang and the adjacent coast of Keddah”—the latter 
“ being then greatly infested by pirates. 
While negotiations were pending instructions from the Board of 
Controul, the Dutch, it appeared, had been intriguing with the 
Keddah ministers in order to obtain the Rajah’s permission to hoist 
their flag in that country. The French too it was believed desired 
also to have a footing in it—while the Burmans looked forward to 
an early period when they should be enabled by the conquest or 
occupation of it to inflict a deep wound on the pride and powei 
of their antient and almost natural enemies the Siamese. Offers 
(b) Government records,—paper or report on the trade of Keddah by the acting 
Resident Councillor at Pinang, Major Low. 
