Colonel E. Lucas was a Dutch naval officer who, as commandant of the man-of-war Irene, conducted the Lucas mission to Telok Semawé in February 1821 on behalf of the Netherlands Indies government. His task was to recover the stolen money and the surviving mutineers of the colonial schooner Wilhelmina, murdered in 1819 — an episode that occupies a central place in P. H. van der Kemp’s 1900 narrative of the paper war between Malacca, Penang, and the pretender Syf ul-Alum at Telok Semawé.
The Dispatch to Penang
On 20 January 1821, by order of Batavia, Governor Thyssen of Malacca wrote a missive to the government of Penang demanding the surrender of the stolen money and of nineteen specifically named mutineers of the Wilhelmina, still believed to be held at Telok Semawé by Syf. The dispatch was carried to Penang by the man-of-war Irene under Lucas’s command. Because the British had heard a rumour that “England had acquired sovereignty over Acheh,” the Dutch, before sending the Irene against Telok Semawé, wished to invoke the interposition of the English authorities at Penang, “in order not to come into collision with vassals of the British government.”
The Investigation at Penang
Bannerman had died on 8 August 1819; the governor at the time of Lucas’s arrival was W. E. Phillips. Phillips judged the affair “too old to expect any benefit from further inquiry,” but summoned Syf to Penang in February 1821. The ex-sultan related how the 800 dollars he had captured had been spent on rewards for his soldiers and on the keep of the prisoners; a gold watch, also mentioned, was held by a servant of his and could be returned. Phillips’s minute, dated 1 February 1821, accepted Syf’s account, observing that “at all events Syf al Allum was in the exercise of sovereign authority at Teloksamoy at the period in question, and can be responsible to no one for whatever disposition he might have made of effects coming to his territories under such circumstances.”
Lucas’s Proposal for Further Inquiry
Lucas, on studying the documents, was of the opinion that Syf “had but talked nonsense” (maar wat praatjes ten beste gegeven). On 9 February he accordingly wrote requesting that Syf be subjected to a further examination — a step he thought all the more fruitful because “a woman from Bouwens’s ship” was still available to give testimony. The Penang government refused. On 12 February the government secretary W. A. Clubley replied on Phillips’s behalf that, given the distracted state of Johor Alum’s country and Britain’s relations with him, “the objects of Captain Lucas’s proposed mission to Teloksamoy could be more consistently and effectually accomplished by means of our interposition,” and that Penang would “make every exertion to apprehend and deliver [any remaining mutineers] to the government of Malacca.”
The Return of the Irene
Lucas’s proposal that he himself proceed to Telok Semawé met with the gravest objections in the Penang council: the appearance of a Dutch man-of-war on that coast was to be prevented by all means, given that Syf had so long contested the authority of sultan Djohor. The British at Penang feared that a Dutch appearance at Telok Semawé would undercut their standing with their Achehnese ally. Phillips therefore answered the Governor of Malacca that his own government would use its best efforts to recover the men, since it had concluded with the sultan of Acheh “a treaty of friendship and defence.” The minutes recorded that “this measure appears in my judgement to call for a special interposition of this Government.” Lucas replied the same day that he felt himself “under the highest obligation” for the information received — and so, Van der Kemp records, “the Dutch ship returned without result.”
Significance
The Lucas mission marks the moment at which the Dutch attempt to assert their authority over the East Coast of Sumatra ran directly into the British claim of a special relationship with the sultan of Acheh under the treaty of Pedir of 1819. It is therefore one of the practical anticipations, in the field, of the diplomatic contest that would be fought out in London between Falck, Fagel, Elout and their British counterparts in the negotiations leading to the treaty of March 1824.
See Also
- Timmerman Thyssen
- Lieutenant Marx Bouwens
- Sultan Saif ul-Alum
- W. E. Phillips
- W. A. Clubley
- Sultan Jauhar Alum
- Wilhelmina mutiny and murder of Bouwens
- Lucas mission to Telok Semawé (February 1821)
- Paper war
- Telok Semawé
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.
Colonel E. Lucas was a Dutch naval officer who, as commandant of the man-of-war Irene, conducted the Lucas mission to Telok Semawé in February 1821 on behalf of the Netherlands Indies government. His task was to recover the stolen money and the surviving mutineers of the colonial schooner Wilhelmina, murdered in 1819 — an episode that occupies a central place in P. H. van der Kemp’s 1900 narrative of the paper war between Malacca, Penang, and the pretender Syf ul-Alum at Telok Semawé.
The Dispatch to Penang
On 20 January 1821, by order of Batavia, Governor Thyssen of Malacca wrote a missive to the government of Penang demanding the surrender of the stolen money and of nineteen specifically named mutineers of the Wilhelmina, still believed to be held at Telok Semawé by Syf. The dispatch was carried to Penang by the man-of-war Irene under Lucas’s command. Because the British had heard a rumour that “England had acquired sovereignty over Acheh,” the Dutch, before sending the Irene against Telok Semawé, wished to invoke the interposition of the English authorities at Penang, “in order not to come into collision with vassals of the British government.”
The Investigation at Penang
Bannerman had died on 8 August 1819; the governor at the time of Lucas’s arrival was W. E. Phillips. Phillips judged the affair “too old to expect any benefit from further inquiry,” but summoned Syf to Penang in February 1821. The ex-sultan related how the 800 dollars he had captured had been spent on rewards for his soldiers and on the keep of the prisoners; a gold watch, also mentioned, was held by a servant of his and could be returned. Phillips’s minute, dated 1 February 1821, accepted Syf’s account, observing that “at all events Syf al Allum was in the exercise of sovereign authority at Teloksamoy at the period in question, and can be responsible to no one for whatever disposition he might have made of effects coming to his territories under such circumstances.”
Lucas’s Proposal for Further Inquiry
Lucas, on studying the documents, was of the opinion that Syf “had but talked nonsense” (maar wat praatjes ten beste gegeven). On 9 February he accordingly wrote requesting that Syf be subjected to a further examination — a step he thought all the more fruitful because “a woman from Bouwens’s ship” was still available to give testimony. The Penang government refused. On 12 February the government secretary W. A. Clubley replied on Phillips’s behalf that, given the distracted state of Johor Alum’s country and Britain’s relations with him, “the objects of Captain Lucas’s proposed mission to Teloksamoy could be more consistently and effectually accomplished by means of our interposition,” and that Penang would “make every exertion to apprehend and deliver [any remaining mutineers] to the government of Malacca.”
The Return of the Irene
Lucas’s proposal that he himself proceed to Telok Semawé met with the gravest objections in the Penang council: the appearance of a Dutch man-of-war on that coast was to be prevented by all means, given that Syf had so long contested the authority of sultan Djohor. The British at Penang feared that a Dutch appearance at Telok Semawé would undercut their standing with their Achehnese ally. Phillips therefore answered the Governor of Malacca that his own government would use its best efforts to recover the men, since it had concluded with the sultan of Acheh “a treaty of friendship and defence.” The minutes recorded that “this measure appears in my judgement to call for a special interposition of this Government.” Lucas replied the same day that he felt himself “under the highest obligation” for the information received — and so, Van der Kemp records, “the Dutch ship returned without result.”
Significance
The Lucas mission marks the moment at which the Dutch attempt to assert their authority over the East Coast of Sumatra ran directly into the British claim of a special relationship with the sultan of Acheh under the treaty of Pedir of 1819. It is therefore one of the practical anticipations, in the field, of the diplomatic contest that would be fought out in London between Falck, Fagel, Elout and their British counterparts in the negotiations leading to the treaty of March 1824.
See Also
- Timmerman Thyssen
- Lieutenant Marx Bouwens
- Sultan Saif ul-Alum
- W. E. Phillips
- W. A. Clubley
- Sultan Jauhar Alum
- Wilhelmina mutiny and murder of Bouwens
- Lucas mission to Telok Semawé (February 1821)
- Paper war
- Telok Semawé
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.