Lieutenant Criddle was a British naval officer in the service of the East India Company who commanded the Honourable Company’s ship Minto. He carried out the secret mission dispatched by Raffles from Penang harbour in January 1819 to warn Sultan Jauhar Alum at Pedir of the impending Acheh commission, a mission that constitutes one of the more controversial episodes in the Raffles-Coombs Acheh Commission and is examined at length by P. H. Van der Kemp (1900).
The Dispatch of the Minto to Pedir
When Raffles, on the point of departing for the Karimon Islands and ultimately for the founding of Singapore, feared that the Dutch might strike their bargain with Sultan Djohar during his absence, he ordered the Minto to put immediately to sea for Pedir without informing either Bannerman or Coombs. The commandant, Lieutenant Criddle, “appears to have had no reason not to follow the order”. He proceeded to Pedir, where he communicated to Sultan Djohar, in accordance with his instructions, that the commission would arrive within three or four weeks and that the king might rely upon the justice and good intentions of the British government. Sultan Djohar replied with characteristic restraint that the Dutch had made him no overtures, but promised to enter into negotiations with them if they did.
Criddle’s mission was therefore the means by which Raffles sought to keep the Acheh business in his own hands during the period of his Karimon detour. The Calcutta government, in its report to London of 7 October 1820, afterwards pronounced the proceeding “contrary to the spirit of our instructions; and independently of that consideration was obviously improper without previous communication with his colleague”. Raffles, in his defence addressed to O. F. Metcalfe as Secretary to Government at Fort William on 30 September 1819, acknowledged the dispatch of the Minto and explained the considerations of time and Dutch interference that had prompted it.
Raffles’s Written Instructions to Criddle
Criddle’s orders were committed to writing, and the letter from Raffles dated “At sea, 20th January 1819” to “Lieutenant Criddle commanding the Honorable Company’s ship Minto” is printed by Van der Kemp in his third appendix. By its terms Criddle was directed to proceed to Pedir and there personally to inform “the Chief who is usually termed Rajah Lama” that “the Honorable Sir Stamford Raffles and Captain Coombs have been appointed to this mission with full power to make all arrangements of a political and commercial nature between the countries of Acheen and Great Britain”. Criddle was further directed to enquire what communications had been received from the Dutch and whether any further attempt at negotiation on their part was expected, and a memorandum was enclosed defining the precise language he was authorised to use. Raffles’s defence of 30 September 1819 stresses that “the very words, in which captain Criddle was alone authorized to express himself, were laid down for his guidance”.
The Plundered Brig
Criddle’s mission also brought back to Penang a piece of intelligence which afterwards excited comment: a report that a vessel under British colours had recently been plundered on the Achehnese coast. Captain Coombs, on learning of this through a private note, considered the matter important enough to bring formally to the attention of the commission. Raffles, however, declined to enter into the subject, on the ground that Criddle’s communication had been general; the lieutenant had stated merely that the King had informed him of a native vessel being recently plundered, and as this did not fall within the limits of his duty, “which has been successively and carefully defined, he merely reported the circumstance personally”. The affair is one of the earliest recorded references to the plunder of the British brig by Tunku Pakih of Pedir, an episode which subsequently became entangled with the fall of Tunku Pakih himself.
Assessment
Van der Kemp treats Criddle as a faithful executor of orders rather than as an independent actor. His historical significance is that of the channel through which Raffles, in defiance of his colleague and of the Penang government, sought to maintain a separate line of communication with Sultan Jauhar Alum. The Minto mission is one of the chief grounds on which the Calcutta government afterwards found that Raffles had shown “an undue bias towards the interests of Jowhar ul Aulum, inconsistent with the impartiality requisite towards obtaining the best security for our interests”.
See Also
- Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles
- Dispatch of the Minto to Pedir
- Raffles-Coombs Acheh Commission (1819)
- Raffles’ detour to Karimon Islands
- O. F. Metcalfe
- Sultan Jauhar Alum
- Pedir
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.
Lieutenant Criddle was a British naval officer in the service of the East India Company who commanded the Honourable Company’s ship Minto. He carried out the secret mission dispatched by Raffles from Penang harbour in January 1819 to warn Sultan Jauhar Alum at Pedir of the impending Acheh commission, a mission that constitutes one of the more controversial episodes in the Raffles-Coombs Acheh Commission and is examined at length by P. H. Van der Kemp (1900).
The Dispatch of the Minto to Pedir
When Raffles, on the point of departing for the Karimon Islands and ultimately for the founding of Singapore, feared that the Dutch might strike their bargain with Sultan Djohar during his absence, he ordered the Minto to put immediately to sea for Pedir without informing either Bannerman or Coombs. The commandant, Lieutenant Criddle, “appears to have had no reason not to follow the order”. He proceeded to Pedir, where he communicated to Sultan Djohar, in accordance with his instructions, that the commission would arrive within three or four weeks and that the king might rely upon the justice and good intentions of the British government. Sultan Djohar replied with characteristic restraint that the Dutch had made him no overtures, but promised to enter into negotiations with them if they did.
Criddle’s mission was therefore the means by which Raffles sought to keep the Acheh business in his own hands during the period of his Karimon detour. The Calcutta government, in its report to London of 7 October 1820, afterwards pronounced the proceeding “contrary to the spirit of our instructions; and independently of that consideration was obviously improper without previous communication with his colleague”. Raffles, in his defence addressed to O. F. Metcalfe as Secretary to Government at Fort William on 30 September 1819, acknowledged the dispatch of the Minto and explained the considerations of time and Dutch interference that had prompted it.
Raffles’s Written Instructions to Criddle
Criddle’s orders were committed to writing, and the letter from Raffles dated “At sea, 20th January 1819” to “Lieutenant Criddle commanding the Honorable Company’s ship Minto” is printed by Van der Kemp in his third appendix. By its terms Criddle was directed to proceed to Pedir and there personally to inform “the Chief who is usually termed Rajah Lama” that “the Honorable Sir Stamford Raffles and Captain Coombs have been appointed to this mission with full power to make all arrangements of a political and commercial nature between the countries of Acheen and Great Britain”. Criddle was further directed to enquire what communications had been received from the Dutch and whether any further attempt at negotiation on their part was expected, and a memorandum was enclosed defining the precise language he was authorised to use. Raffles’s defence of 30 September 1819 stresses that “the very words, in which captain Criddle was alone authorized to express himself, were laid down for his guidance”.
The Plundered Brig
Criddle’s mission also brought back to Penang a piece of intelligence which afterwards excited comment: a report that a vessel under British colours had recently been plundered on the Achehnese coast. Captain Coombs, on learning of this through a private note, considered the matter important enough to bring formally to the attention of the commission. Raffles, however, declined to enter into the subject, on the ground that Criddle’s communication had been general; the lieutenant had stated merely that the King had informed him of a native vessel being recently plundered, and as this did not fall within the limits of his duty, “which has been successively and carefully defined, he merely reported the circumstance personally”. The affair is one of the earliest recorded references to the plunder of the British brig by Tunku Pakih of Pedir, an episode which subsequently became entangled with the fall of Tunku Pakih himself.
Assessment
Van der Kemp treats Criddle as a faithful executor of orders rather than as an independent actor. His historical significance is that of the channel through which Raffles, in defiance of his colleague and of the Penang government, sought to maintain a separate line of communication with Sultan Jauhar Alum. The Minto mission is one of the chief grounds on which the Calcutta government afterwards found that Raffles had shown “an undue bias towards the interests of Jowhar ul Aulum, inconsistent with the impartiality requisite towards obtaining the best security for our interests”.
See Also
- Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles
- Dispatch of the Minto to Pedir
- Raffles-Coombs Acheh Commission (1819)
- Raffles’ detour to Karimon Islands
- O. F. Metcalfe
- Sultan Jauhar Alum
- Pedir
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.