The white devaraja and the black abdi in Penang

During the 18th century, the problem of runaway slaves was so widespread in northern part of the Strait of Melaka that Francis Light (d. 1794) and the Bengal Government found it necessary to include two dedicated clauses (Articles 3 and 4) when they signed the second treaty with Sultan Abdullah Mukaram Shah (d. 1797) to address the issue in 1791.

For instance, in 1788, Light wrote to a certain Dato' Laksamana requesting assistance in locating a missing slave boy.

سورت چيت درفد بيت کورندور فولو فينڠ

معلومکن کفد داتؤ لقسمان يڠامت مليا و بعد درايت

احوال ادله مستر دينيسين تبس بودق سورڠ لاکي جينس سيم

کفد جوتن نام ايتم مک بودق ايت سده لاري فرکي ککده منت

صحبت بيت سوره تمن٢ تولڠ سياست چهاري جکاو بوله بودق ايت

صحبت بيت سرهکن کفد کمندر

مان فاتت بانجاڽ بوله بيت سوره باير

احوالاينله بيت معلومکن عزه برتمبه٢

When romanized, the letter reads: Surat cit daripada beta Gawarnador Pulau Pinang. Maklumkan kepada Dato’ Laksamana yang amat mulia wa ba’du dari itu, ehwal adalah Mr. Dennison tebus budak seorang lagi jenis Siam kepada Jutan nama Itam. Maka budak itu sudah lari pergi ke Kedah. Minta sahabat beta suruh teman-teman tolong siasat cahari jikalau boleh budak itu sahabat beta serahkan kepada Komander. Mana patut belanjanya boleh beta suruh bayar. Ehwal inilah beta maklumkan. ‘Izzah bertambah-tambah.

Light to Dato' Laksamana (1788). Light Letters (MS 40320/9, f. 75, SOAS, University of London). The letter was first romanized by the Centre for Policy Research and International Studies, Universiti Sains Malaysia.

檳榔嶼總督謹致書于尊貴之樂索摩拿公。竊緣丹尼遜先生購得暹羅奴一人，名曰伊淡，然該奴竟脱逃并奔入吉打。是以伏望樂索摩拿公垂憐協助，命人查緝搜捕。如得其人，乞轉交本處指揮官依法處置。若有所費，餘可命人給付。特此奉聞，敬頌尊體日隆。

A letter of message from me, the Governador of Penang, to the noble Dato’ Laksamana, and thereafter. This concerns Mr. Dennison, who has acquired a Siamese slave named Itam. That slave has since run away to Kedah. I request my friend to instruct your companions to help investigate and search. If the slave can be found, I request that my friend hand him over to the proper Commander. As for the expenses, I can arrange for payment. This is the matter I inform you of. May your honour increase ever more.

Francis Light
7 February 1788

Francis Light and Martinha Rozells. We were told by Tuckey that Francis Light married a Kedah princess, making him, in effect, the son-in-law of the Sultan of Kedah. This is unlikely to be true since what was given to Light was only a handmaiden of the Queen of Kedah. The only partner acknowledged by Light in his will is a lady named Martinha (likely Martinha Rozells, a Portuguese Eurasian from Thalang/Phuket), who cohabited with him since 1772. Bonney (1965) even suspected that the Kedah princess story was manufactured by Light himself, probably to elevate his social prestige.

Cornwallis (b. 1738, d. 1805) and Washington (b. 1732, d. 1799). In 1754, a 22-year-old George Washington sparked hostilities that would escalate into the Seven Years' War by ambushing a French scouting party in the Ohio Valley and killing a French officer. The conflict eventually ended with the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1763. That peace left the British East India Company free to consolidate its gains in both the East Indies and the Caribbean. It was against this backdrop that Francis Light began to appear along the Malay coast around 1770. Twenty-two years later, Washington leveraged enduring French hostility toward Britain to gain their support for his independence movement. In 1781, he achieved a decisive victory at the Battle of Yorktown, forcing Cornwallis to surrender. Despite the loss of America, Cornwallis was not blamed by London. In 1786, he was transferred to Bengal and appointed as the new superior of Francis Light, replacing Warren Hastings, who was then facing impeachment. That same year, Light established a British foothold on Penang and began constructing Fort Cornwallis. The fort was originally built using timber and nibong palms. The fort’s more durable brick-and-stone version was only completed in 1810, by which time both Cornwallis and Light had long since died. Interestingly, while George III (r. 1760 - 1820) was vilified by Washington in the Declaration of Independence, he was held in high esteem in the Malay waters, so much so that the first town founded in Penang was named after him. That town remains known to this day as Georgetown.

Treaty with the King of Queda for an annual quit-rent
of Prince of Wales Island, 1 May 1791

In the Hijri year 1205 of our Prophet, in the year Dal Akhir, on the 26th day of the month of Saʿbān, on the day of Ahad. Whereas, on this date, this writing sheweth, that the Governor of Pulau Pinang, Wakil of of the English Company, concluded peace and friendship with his Highness, Yam Pertuan of Queda, and all his great officers and rakyats of the two countries, to live in peace by sea and land, to continue as long as the sun and moon give light, the articles of agreement are:-

1. The English Company will give to his Highness, Yam Pertuan of Queda, 6,000 Spanish dollars every year, for as long as the English shall continue in possession of Pulau Pinang.
2. His Highness, Yam Pertuan, agrees, that all kind of provisions wanted for Pulau Pinang, the ships of war, and the Company's ships, may be bought at Queda, without impediment or being subject to any duty.
3. All slaves running from Queda to Pulau Pinang, or from Pulau Pinang to Queda, shall be returned to their owners.
4. All persons in debt, running from their creditors from Queda to Pulau Pinang, or from Pulau Pinang to Queda, if they do not pay their debts, their persons shall be delivered up to their creditors.
5. The Yam Pertuan will not allow Europeans of any other nation to settle in any part of this country.
6. The Company shall not receive any persons committing high treason in rebellion to Yam Pertuan.
7. All persons committing murder, running from Queda to Pulau Pinang, or from Pulau Pinang to Queda, shall be apprehended and returned in bonds.
8. All persons stealing chops (forgery) to be given up likewise.
9. All person, enemies to the English Company, Yam Pertuan shall not supply them with provisions.

These nine articles are settled and concluded, and peace is made between Yam Pertuan and the English Company, Queda and Pulau Pinang shall be as one country. This done and completed by Tunku Sharīf Muhammad, and Tunku Alang Ibrahim, and Dato Penggawa Talibon, Wakils on the part Yam Pertuan, and given to the Governor of Pulau Pinang, Wakil for the English Company. In this agreement, whoever departs from any part herein written, God will punish and destroy: to him there shall be no health. The seals of Sharīf Muhammad and Tunku Alang Ibrahim, and Dato' Penggawa Talibon, are put to this writing, with each person's hand writing.

Transcribed by Hakim Bandar Pulau Pinang. Signed, sealed, and executed, in Fort Cornwallis, on Prince of Wales Island, this 1st day of May, in the year of our Lord 1791.

A true translation,

F. LIGHT

1. In 1771, Sultan Muhammad Jiwa Zainal Abidin Mu'adzam Shah sought military assistance from Francis Light to combat the Bugis and offered Kuala Kedah and Penang to Light as a reward. However, when Light relayed the Sultan’s request to Fort St. George, the Madras firm showed little interest in involving itself in Malay politics. In 1772, Light tried Fort William when Warren Hasting was transferred from Madras to Bengal. We know the EIC did not help the father of Sultan Abdullah Mukarram Shah, since Kedah was seeking not just commercial ties and defensive alliance but an offensive alliance against the Selangorians and the Bugis-friendly Kedahans in his own territory. Disappointed by this, Light resigned from the Madras firm and withdrew to Thalang/Phuket as a private trader, where he later met the mother of his children. In 1777, King Thaksin offered Light the possibility of administering Mergui if the Siamese campaign against the Burmese coast succeeded. However, with Thaksin’s replacement by Rama I and the rise of a new dynastic house in 1782, this promise to Light ultimately never materialized.
   
   
   The Malay seal of Francis Light, conferred to him by Sultan Muhammad Jiwa Zainal Abidin Mu'adzam Shah in 1772. The seal reads: Laik, Kapitan Dewaraja di Negeri Dar al-Aman (1185). MS 40320/6, f. 60. When Penang was detached from Kedah, it was given a new name: Dar al-Hasan (the Abode of Beauty). Interestingly, Selangor was not Dar al-Ehsan but Dar al-Khusus (the Abode of Exclusivity). It is not known when or why Dar al-Khusus was later given to Negeri Sembilan. See for example, MS 40320/4, f.23
   
   
2. The Malay transcription of the Portuguese term ‘governador' is کورندور. It is usually incorrectly romanized to gurnador when wāw و is parsed as a vowel (u). Given its Iberian origin, it should be parsed as a consonant (w). The spelling captured by Wilkinson (1901, p. 580) are: (a) gubernador ݢوبرنادر and (b) gubernor ݢوبرير. The full title of Francis Light was actually Dato' Kapitan Dewaraja Gwarnador, see example the letter from Tuan Sayid Hassan to Light, MS 40320/9, f. 72.
   
   It is interesting to note that the English gawanardor once stood on the other side of the moral spectrum, having tolerated slavery themselves. It was only about a hundred years later that they shifted their stance. In 1874 Birch believed that the Malay slave system had to be abolished. However, the Malay chiefs living along the upper and lower reaches of the Perak River felt that the British had no right to interfere in a slave culture they had practiced for hundreds of years. On this point, they remained in a standoff with the British. Eventually, Birch lost his life over the disagreement with the native chiefs. The slave system in Perak was only fully abolished on December 31, 1883, thanks to the efforts of Hugh Low and Raja Idris. It is said that nearly 3,000 debt slaves were freed at that time.
   
   On Monday, May 19, 1884, during a session in the British Parliament, Edmund Wodehouse, the Member of Parliament for Bath, asked: ‘How is our slave abolition effort in the Malay Peninsula progressing?' To which Evelyn Ashley, Secretary of State for the Colonies, replied: ‘All slave debtors became free in Perak on January 1st of this year, so that slavery of any description is now illegal there, as it already was in Selangor and Sungei Ujong. This emancipation has been accomplished without difficulty and at a small expense to the State, owing to the praiseworthy co-operation of the chief people. Most of the masters refused to accept payment and liberated their slaves voluntarily, following the notable example of His Highness Rajah Idris, Chief Justice of Perak.'
   
   
3. Note that the scribe employed by Light spelt the Kedah incorrectly as KDH کده.
   
   The orthographically correct way to spell the name of the state is QDH قدح. For example, in the Commentaries (1576), the spelling used by Albuquerque was ‘Queda':
   
   . . . Reyno de Malaca de hũa parte confina com o rey de Queda, & da outra cõ o reyno de Pam: & téra de comprido cem légoas de costa, & delargo pela terra dentro até hũa serra por onde parte o reyno de Sião, tera dez légoas . . . & aueria nouẽta annos pouco mais ou menos (quãdo Afonso Dalboquerq̃ ali chegou) q̃ era reyno sobre si, & vieram os Reis deste reyno a ser tam poderosos . . . [The kingdom of Melaka on one side borders the kingdom of Kedah, and on the other the kingdom of Pahang. It has coastal length of about 100 leagues, and a width inland up to a mountain range where it borders the kingdom of Siam . . . And it had been 90 years, more or less, when Afonso D'albuquerque arrived there, that it was a kingdom on its own, and the kings of this kingdom became so powerful . . .]
   
   100 leagues is approximately 500 kilometers (the full coastal perimeter of the Malay peninsula is roughly 800 kilometers). Also, note the lower calendrical bound of the inception of Melaka, as given by Albuquerque, was 1511 minus 90 ≈ 1421, which is about 20 years off relative to the Ming written records.
   
   
4. James H. Tuckey (1815) Maritime geography and statistics or a description of the ocean and its coast, maritime commerce, navigation, etc, etc, etc. Volume III, Black, Parry and Co, London, p. 230. See also R. Bonney (1965) Francis Light and Penang, JMBRAS 38(1), pp. 135 - 158.
   
   
5. The agreement signed in 1786 is given as follows and it does not contains any prescriptions for slave related problems.
   
   This letter wrote with the purest friendship that may last while the Sun and Moon endures from Paduka Sri Sultan Abdullah Mukarram Shah who presides and rules over the Country of Quedah, according to the commands of the God of all Nations unto our Friend the Governor-General King of Bengal first among the Believers in Jesus Christ renowned for wisdom and superior knowledge in the arts of War by Land and Sea and in every science known on Earth. Whereas Captain Light Deva Raja came here and informed us that our friend requested Pulau Pinang we have instantly given to our Wakil and Friend Captain Deva Raja to plant the Honorable Company's English Flag upon Pulau Pinang a place for Trade and to repair Your ships of War, and for refreshments, wood and Water Moreover we have made known to the said Captain all our desires which being come to the knowledge of our Friend and accepted with all possible speed send people to take possession and remain on Pulau Pinang. Whatever necessaries this Island does not afford shall be supplied by us from our Country of Queda.
   
   
   1. That the Honorable Company shall be Guardian of the Seas and whatever Enemy may come to attack the King shall be an enemy of the Honorable Company and the expense shall be borne by the Honorable Company.
   2. All vessels, junks, perahus, small and large coming from either East or West and bound to the Port of Queda shall not be stopped or hindered by the Honorable Company's Agent but left to their own wills either to buy and sell with us or with the Company at Pulau Pinang as they shall think proper.
   3. The articles opium, tin and rattans being part of our revenue are prohibited and Kuala Muda, Perai, Pray and Kerian, places where these articles are produced, being so near to Pinang, that when the Honorable Company's Resident shall remain there this Prohibition will be constantly broke through therefore it should end and the Governor-General allow us our Profits on these Articles, viz. 30,000 Spanish dollars every year.
   4. In case the Honorable Company's Agent gives credit to any of the King's Relations, Ministers, officers or Ryatts the Agent shall make no claim upon the King.
   5. Any man in this country without exception, be it our Son or Brother, who shall become an enemy to us, shall become an Enemy to the Honorable Company, nor shall the Honorable Company's Agent protect them without Breach of this Treaty which is to remain while Sun and Moon endures.
   6. If any enemy come to attack us by land and we require assistance from the Honorable Company of Men, Arms or ammunition the Honorable Company will supply us at our expense.
   
   Curiously, concerning the last clause, Light stated that ‘It will be necessary to grant the King assistance if attacked by his neighbors' which he listed as Perak, Ligor, Trang, and Patani. Light cunningly did not mention Siam or Burma.