Lord Moira (Francis Rawdon-Hastings, Earl of Moira and, from 1817, Marquess of Hastings; 1754–1826) served as Governor-General of Bengal from 1813 to 1823. In the Achehnese record he is significant as the Governor-General who, in late 1818 and early 1819, dispatched the joint Raffles-Coombs commission to Acheh and so set in motion the train of events that produced the treaty of 22 April 1819 and, indirectly, the founding of Singapore.
Background to the Acheh Commission
By 1818 the Dutch restoration in the archipelago, formalised by the Convention of 24 January 1817, had begun to produce friction with British interests. Schout-bij-nacht Wolterbeek’s destruction of Major Farquhar’s Lingga treaty and Van Boekholz’s exclusion of Farquhar from Pontianak were reported to Calcutta in late 1818. Lord Moira — referred to throughout Van der Kemp’s text as «Lord Moira», though he had by this time been created Marquess of Hastings — was «warm for the unimpeded China trade», and considered an Acheh commission «very necessary» on that account.
Dispatch of the Raffles-Coombs Commission
Raffles, travelling from Bencoolen to Calcutta in late 1818, laid before Moira the alleged danger that the Netherlands India government would come to monopolise the China route, and pressed the case for British intervention at Acheh. He was supported by the news of Farquhar’s rejection on Borneo’s west coast. The Calcutta government wrote to London on 14 January 1819 expressing the hope that «we may yet be in time to establish our political influence at Acheh, to the exclusion of that of the Dutch or of other foreign nations». Moira’s council, which at the time consisted of «Moira, Stuart, Adam and Fendall», decided that a commission should be sent.
The Governor-General did not, however, venture to decide between the conflicting recommendations of Raffles (who favoured Jauhar Alum) and Captain Coombs (who favoured Syf ul-Alum). Trusting that «the integrity and judgement of the Commissioners would prevent any improper bias», the government determined that the two should proceed jointly to Acheh and conclude a treaty with whichever sultan should be found actually in power; and, «in order to avoid, as far as possible», the difficulty of a divided commission, Raffles, as the senior, was given a deciding vote. The instructions are summarised in the Calcutta report to London of 7 October 1820 and are set out at length in John Anderson’s Acheen (1840).
Ratification of the Pedir Treaty
The commission eventually signed the treaty of Pedir with Jauhar Alum on 22 April 1819. Although «Lord Moira and his council disapproved, in many words, the treaty», the Bengal government ratified it, because «all the advantages which Jauhar Alum had stipulated for had already been placed in his hands by the commission». The Bengal report of 7 October 1820 observed that the commissioners had been authorised to grant pecuniary assistance only where there was «well-grounded hope that such aid would have a decisive influence»; in fact «a considerable part of the money did not come into the hands of the King but was disposed of in a manner not sufficiently explained at Prince of Wales’ Island».
Raffles’s Reliance on Personal Communications with Moira
A subsidiary but interesting feature of the Acheh episode is Raffles’s reliance, in his quarrel with Governor Bannerman, on alleged personal communications with Lord Moira. In his letter to the Calcutta Government Secretary of 31 December 1819 (printed as Appendix 2 of Van der Kemp’s article), Raffles acknowledged that the written instructions had said nothing about taking the artillery detachment round to Bencoolen, but explained that he had «personally suggested to Lord Hastings the advantage of taking the party round with me, and that no written communication had taken place on the subject». Bannerman, who had died on 8 August 1819, was not alive to rebut the assertion.
See Also
- Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles
- Captain Coombs
- Colonel John Alexander Bannerman
- Major William Farquhar
- Schout-bij-nacht Wolterbeek
- Van Boekholz
- Raffles-Coombs Acheh Commission (1819)
- Treaty of Pedir (1819)
- Acheh treaty of 1819
- Convention of 24 January 1817
- Bengal
- Calcutta
- Bencoolen
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.
Lord Moira (Francis Rawdon-Hastings, Earl of Moira and, from 1817, Marquess of Hastings; 1754–1826) served as Governor-General of Bengal from 1813 to 1823. In the Achehnese record he is significant as the Governor-General who, in late 1818 and early 1819, dispatched the joint Raffles-Coombs commission to Acheh and so set in motion the train of events that produced the treaty of 22 April 1819 and, indirectly, the founding of Singapore.
Background to the Acheh Commission
By 1818 the Dutch restoration in the archipelago, formalised by the Convention of 24 January 1817, had begun to produce friction with British interests. Schout-bij-nacht Wolterbeek’s destruction of Major Farquhar’s Lingga treaty and Van Boekholz’s exclusion of Farquhar from Pontianak were reported to Calcutta in late 1818. Lord Moira — referred to throughout Van der Kemp’s text as «Lord Moira», though he had by this time been created Marquess of Hastings — was «warm for the unimpeded China trade», and considered an Acheh commission «very necessary» on that account.
Dispatch of the Raffles-Coombs Commission
Raffles, travelling from Bencoolen to Calcutta in late 1818, laid before Moira the alleged danger that the Netherlands India government would come to monopolise the China route, and pressed the case for British intervention at Acheh. He was supported by the news of Farquhar’s rejection on Borneo’s west coast. The Calcutta government wrote to London on 14 January 1819 expressing the hope that «we may yet be in time to establish our political influence at Acheh, to the exclusion of that of the Dutch or of other foreign nations». Moira’s council, which at the time consisted of «Moira, Stuart, Adam and Fendall», decided that a commission should be sent.
The Governor-General did not, however, venture to decide between the conflicting recommendations of Raffles (who favoured Jauhar Alum) and Captain Coombs (who favoured Syf ul-Alum). Trusting that «the integrity and judgement of the Commissioners would prevent any improper bias», the government determined that the two should proceed jointly to Acheh and conclude a treaty with whichever sultan should be found actually in power; and, «in order to avoid, as far as possible», the difficulty of a divided commission, Raffles, as the senior, was given a deciding vote. The instructions are summarised in the Calcutta report to London of 7 October 1820 and are set out at length in John Anderson’s Acheen (1840).
Ratification of the Pedir Treaty
The commission eventually signed the treaty of Pedir with Jauhar Alum on 22 April 1819. Although «Lord Moira and his council disapproved, in many words, the treaty», the Bengal government ratified it, because «all the advantages which Jauhar Alum had stipulated for had already been placed in his hands by the commission». The Bengal report of 7 October 1820 observed that the commissioners had been authorised to grant pecuniary assistance only where there was «well-grounded hope that such aid would have a decisive influence»; in fact «a considerable part of the money did not come into the hands of the King but was disposed of in a manner not sufficiently explained at Prince of Wales’ Island».
Raffles’s Reliance on Personal Communications with Moira
A subsidiary but interesting feature of the Acheh episode is Raffles’s reliance, in his quarrel with Governor Bannerman, on alleged personal communications with Lord Moira. In his letter to the Calcutta Government Secretary of 31 December 1819 (printed as Appendix 2 of Van der Kemp’s article), Raffles acknowledged that the written instructions had said nothing about taking the artillery detachment round to Bencoolen, but explained that he had «personally suggested to Lord Hastings the advantage of taking the party round with me, and that no written communication had taken place on the subject». Bannerman, who had died on 8 August 1819, was not alive to rebut the assertion.
See Also
- Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles
- Captain Coombs
- Colonel John Alexander Bannerman
- Major William Farquhar
- Schout-bij-nacht Wolterbeek
- Van Boekholz
- Raffles-Coombs Acheh Commission (1819)
- Treaty of Pedir (1819)
- Acheh treaty of 1819
- Convention of 24 January 1817
- Bengal
- Calcutta
- Bencoolen
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.