THE BRITISH COLONIES IN THE STRAITS OF MALACCA. 616 
eowe, Perak was likewise ceded to the British, as if the unjustifiable 
aggression on and occupation of Perak by the one power conferred 
upon it in right to barter it over to another. 
It is generally well known that the people of Malacca were 
originally descended from a Malayan colony which emigrated from 
Sumatra to Singapore, whence having been expelled by the Javan¬ 
ese they fled to Malacca somewhere about the middle of the 13th 
century. The Portuguese took possession of it in about 1511. 
They held it until 1641 when they were dispossessed by the Dutch 
and the king of Johore. The Dutch held it until 1795 when the 
British took it as above stated for the prince of Orange. It then 
continued in this condition in the hands of the British till 1818 
wdien it was delivered over to the Dutch. In 1825 Malacca was 
finally ceded to the British. In 1795 the Dutch ceded Perak to 
the British. 
In January 1796 Mr J. Beanland became Superintendent and 
on the 3rd of the succeeding April Major F. R. McDonald recei¬ 
ved the appointment. 
1796.—The military force at Pinang was at this time :— 
Artillery 27 rank & file & officers & non-commissioned officers. 
Europeans 50 do do do do 
Sepoys 210 do do do do 
1796.—In this year the French fleets were cruizing in the Indian 
seas. No sooner had the Rajah of Keddah learned their approach 
to the Straits than he again became so eager to gain their assistance in 
expelling the English, that he foolishly shut his ports against Pinang. 
On being calmly expostulated with regard to this breach of a treaty 
which had already existed for five years, he replied that his stipend 
was inadequate to his losses, which were then less than they 
subsequently became, and that he desired a new treaty. The local 
superintendent stigmatised this conduct as villainous, but he should 
have used a less overstrained epithet, and have considered that 
it was nothing beyond what should have been expected in a man 
who had entered into a treaty with a mental proviso to break it 
when he should find it convenient, and who had thought that he 
had made a rather losing bargain, although his eyes were open at 
the time. It is quite plain however that if the British had then 
abandoned Pinang, the Rajah must either have fallen into the wiry 
meshes of Dutch or French diplomacy, or have felt the full exten¬ 
sion of Siamese rule. 
The Rajah still continued to raise his demand, and was backed 
by a faction at Pinang headed by two English merchants, Messrs. 
Roebuck and Young. He sent accordingly his Kling [a] minister 
with a letter to the superintendent which was to be delivered on 
the following conditions only.—The chief servants of the Company 
were to go down to the beach to receive it. It was to be carried 
Men from the coast of Coromandel are called Kiing's. 
II 7 
