Raffles’ detour to the Karimon Islands in January 1819 was the unauthorised diversion of Raffles from the Raffles-Coombs Acheh Commission, then preparing at Penang for its mission to Acheh, to inspect the Karimon Islands with Major Farquhar of Malacca. The episode is examined by Van der Kemp because it led, indirectly, to the founding of Singapore and because the high-handed manner in which it was executed typifies the difficulties that plagued the commission from its inception and that would culminate in the Treaty of Pedir (1819) and the paper war between Raffles and Coombs.
Background
The Karimon Islands had long attracted British attention as a possible site for a settlement commanding the southern entrance to the Straits of Malacca. Farquhar had formed a favourable opinion of them during his recent voyages to Pontianak (where he had been rebuffed by Van Boekholz) and to Lingga (where he had concluded a treaty subsequently set aside by Wolterbeek). The Dutch were aware of these British designs: as the Dutch governor Timmerman Thyssen wrote to Wolterbeek on 11 November 1818, after the surrender of Malacca, “the Major still hopes to take possession of the Karimon islands; at Pulo Pinang it seems to be a fixed plan to take possession of them and of the kingdom of Acheen on Sumatra.”
The Detour
On the afternoon of 19 January 1819 Farquhar wrote from Malacca to Raffles, then at Penang preparing for the Acheh mission, to propose a joint inspection of the Karimons. Raffles judged the invitation of such importance that he not only postponed the entire Acheh journey — which, he had insisted, could not be delayed — but actually sailed without taking leave of either Governor Bannerman or his co-commissioner Coombs. Worse, he took with him the artillery detachment that Bannerman believed was destined for the Acheh expedition, and left behind only a written notification for both gentlemen. The Bengal government’s later report to London of 7 October 1820 described the proceeding as “contrary to the spirit of our instructions; and independently of that consideration was obviously improper without previous communication with his colleague.”
The Dispatch of the Minto
Once at sea Raffles reflected (“It occurred to me for the first time”) that the Dutch might profit by his absence to conclude their suspected treaty with Sultan Jauhar Alum at Pedir. Without consulting either Bannerman or Coombs, he therefore ordered the Company’s ship Minto under Lieutenant Criddle to make for Pedir and inform the sultan of the commission’s approach. Criddle dutifully called upon Sultan Jauhar Alum at Pedir, communicated the message that the commission would arrive within three or four weeks, and received the sultan’s reply that the Dutch had made him no overtures. By this device Raffles had his way after all: the commission, though not actually visiting Pedir first, had notified Sultan Jauhar Alum in advance.
Aftermath and the Founding of Singapore
Raffles returned to Penang on 16 February 1819 after an absence of only a fortnight, having — as Van der Kemp concedes — laid the foundation of an important settlement and “an anti-Batavia.” The Dutch at Malacca meanwhile feared he was preparing a new attack on the Karimon Islands. Bannerman and Coombs protested to the Bengal government against his arbitrary interruption of the Acheh commission and his unauthorised dispatch of the Minto; Raffles replied in a lengthy defence addressed to the government secretary at Calcutta on 30 September 1819, included by Van der Kemp as Appendix 5.
The diversion established a pattern that would recur throughout the commission: Raffles acting on his own authority, his colleagues protesting, and the Bengal government ultimately siding — though with reservations — with Raffles. It was the same pattern that would lead to the treaty of 22 April 1819 being concluded with Sultan Jauhar Alum rather than Syf, and the same disposition towards unilateral action that had produced — and would continue to produce — friction with the Dutch throughout the archipelago. The founding of Singapore was, in this sense, an incidental gain from an undertaking whose formal purpose had been quite different.
See Also
- Raffles-Coombs Acheh Commission (1819)
- Dispatch of the Minto to Pedir
- Founding of Singapore
- Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles
- Major William Farquhar
- Colonel John Alexander Bannerman
- Captain Coombs
- Lieutenant Criddle
- Karimon Islands
- Penang
- Singapore
- Malacca
- Timmerman Thyssen
- Schout-bij-nacht Wolterbeek
- Van Boekholz
- Paper war
- Treaty of Pedir (1819)
Source
Raffles’ Atjeh-overeenkomst van 1819, by P. H. van der Kemp, in Bijdragen van het Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde van Nederlandsch-Indië, 6e Volgr., Deel VII (1900), pp. 159-239. Universiteitsbibliotheek Vrije Universiteit, LS.08781.