Letter from the Chaophraya Phrakhlang on behalf of King Borommakot (1733-1758) to the Supreme Government in Batavia, (received) 22 March 1735, and the answer from Batavia, 12 August 1735
DAILY JOURNALS OF BATAVIA, 22 MARCH 1735
This letter from Tjauwpea Siam Darmaraad Detjaa Trjaat Amaad Tria Natjiet Pipit Ratnaraat Saka Taboedie Apaya Peri Borakrama Pakok Tjauwpea Barkalang is being sent out of pure good will to Governor-General Dirk van Cloon and the members of the Council of the Indies, because they are sincerely inclined to render service to His High and Distinguished Majesty Somdaad Boram Prahoepoe Datjouw Tjahoewa, my lord. On Monday the 7th day of the 11th month in the Year of the Tiger a letter and gifts for the king and for me were brought by the skipper of a Dutch ship in Siam. I have had the details translated from Malay into the Siamese language, and consequently from the content and what the skipper said I have understood that the Governor-General and members of the Council of the Indies are espousing the interests of the Company in full calm, peace and concord, which was most pleasant for me.
His Majesty has commanded me to make known the demise of the previous king [1], whereby the realm lapsed into great troubles and we were not able to answer the previous letters. Since then His Majesty has triumphed over all his enemies and is subsequently firmly established on the throne. At present he is ruling in full quietness and peace over the realm. His Majesty will gladly adhere to the ancient friendship and alliance between the kingdom of Siam and the Prince of Orange and the Dutch Company, and by God’s goodness will make these continue to be long-lasting. [...]
In the letter from the Governor-General and members of the Council of the Indies it is said of the sappan-wood that the Company [with the purchase of] that dye-wood suffered great damage and [they] therefore did not wish to be charged for it. And that the payment for merchandise might be made with silver and tin, half of each. I must say that this would be contrary to the existing customs. I am not in a position to make the slightest alteration in this. If I made the least mention of this, that would be rejected by the Khlang, as if I, who have only recently come into the administration, attempted to make changes in matters that have been regulated and established from former times. In earlier times the various Governors-General also repeatedly asked the former Phrakhlang if it was possible to cease payments in sappan wood, or at least to reduce the quantity.
It is not possible to make a change in this, as in no way can the Khlangh be persuaded to do so. And it is not within my power – as I have said – to make even the slightest change in matters that in former times were regulated, contracted and established between the Governor-General and members of the Council of the Indies and the kingdom of Siam. However, I promise that I shall not fail to support the Company in everything that is customary.
In the letter from the Governor-General and members of the Council of the Indies brought in the Year of the Tiger it was not stated that they [wished to receive] 200 loads of rice, 500 pikuls of lead and 30 pikuls of ivory. However, because the Company’s senior head [2] in Siam has informed me orally through the interpreter that he has orders to purchase the above wares, I have given this interpreter permission to buy them. I have also give instructions that no export-tax needs to be paid for them, such as other merchants are subject to. Also the lead will be sold cheaply to the senior head.
On this occasion I had all the written orders and regulations brought to me, both new and old, in order to gain insight into matters of business. In doing so I discovered a sealed document concerning methods of trade. [3] This is kept by the senior head, and due to age is half eaten away [by insects] and has become illegible. And seeing that it is held to be certain that the affairs of the Company in Siam will continue, and the said document will become all the more damaged and unreadable, on the 11th day of the 9th month of the Year of the Tiger I had that document brought to me again. I had it checked by the officials who are under me, and Grohoeang Choemoen [4] on behalf of the syahbandar, and compared with the copy held by the syahbandar. The contents of both documents corresponded with each other, but most of the letters in both were eaten through in such a way that in the course of time they would no longer be readable. Hence I had two new ones made, and after comparing them with the old ones I ratified them with the usual seal and had them issued: one to the Company head, and the other to the syahbandar, both in order to serve as guide and to prevent disputes.
Furthermore, four persons are now being despatched, namely Choempatjee Sintoek [5] and Choenraet Patjee as horse-experts, and Moen Amaraat and Panparoem as horse-doctors. They are sailing in a Company ship in order to buy horses according to the old custom. We therefore request that as usual they be provided with a loan, and that they then may be sent to Java with a letter of recommendation, to go through the towns and look for tall stallions of the required size and age of 4 to 5 years. And moreover that when sending the horses they have bought they may take their transport in Company vessels, distributed over two ships, and well provided with water and grass, so that the animals will neither become thin nor die, due to lack of fodder and space.
Further, I request that the Company will not be remiss in providing us annually with what is needed, and is needed with the Khlang, namely at present: chimka taas patola cloths, chimaraat cloths, gobars tapak tjatoor, floral of various colours and flowers [6], according to the samples shown by the Khlang and supplied.
To our request for lace garments, the Governor-General and members of the Council of the Indies replied in the Year of the Rooster that they had sent the sample to Holland, in order to have such items made for the Siamese court. But seeing that now many years have passed and we have seen no results of this, we cannot neglect in this Year of the Tiger to write once more, in order to know definitely whether we shall be favoured with these or not. If we are, then we look forward to seeing those garments on the ships expected, and if not, then may it please the Governor-General and members of the Council of the Indies just to send back the cloth that was given as a sample.
At present we need in Siam copper pices from Sulok and Borneo, of which we yearly need 500-1,000 pikuls to be used as ballast in the ships.
For the present the gifts of His High and Distinguished Majesty Prabat Somdat Boeroem Boepit Prahoepoe Detjoe Djoehoewa, my Lord and King, to the Governor-General and members of the Council of the Indies consist of 22 bahar, 2 pikuls, 33 catty, 6 taels and 2 pahas of tin, and 1002 pikul and 10 kati of sappan-wood Chinese weight; and from me 17 bahar, 2 pikul and 43 kati of tin Siamese weight; all of this for the purpose of maintaining the mutual friendship and alliance that exists between His Majesty my king and lord and the Prince of Orange and the Dutch Company [...], so that the mutual friendship may always remain firm, whereby all foreigners might have freedom to come and to go without the least hindrance, for which may it please the Governor-General and members of the Council of the Indies to ordain and manage wisely and prudently from point to point.
Written on Saturday the 1st day of the 2nd month in the Year of the Tiger 1090, end.
Letter from the Supreme Government in Batavia to the Phrakhlang, 12 August 1735.
DAILY JOURNALS OF BATAVIA, 12 AUGUST 1735
Siam, to the King
The Governor-General, Abraham Patras, and members of the Council of the Indies residing in Batavia Castle send this letter from a pure and sincere heart to His Excellency the very wise and prudent Phrakhlang, who is held in high esteem and great power with his lord, the High and Distinguished king Samedaad Boraam Boepit Prahoephoe Dethjoe Tjahoewa, ruler of the realm of Siam. He is wished good fortune and prosperity, a long life and lasting good health, with all that can serve to provide true satisfaction on this earth.
The Governor-General and members of the Council of the Indies inform the Phrakhlang that they have received the letter and very pleasing gift. They are moved to the greatest gladness at the present happy state of affairs in the realm of Siam, in that this has once more been restored to its former calm and peace, since His Majesty has been seated on the glorious throne of his excellent and very renowned forefathers, and now is ruling with fame and wisdom over his subjects. In this fortunate reign the Governor-General and members of the Council of the Indies desire heartily and with confidence that the mutual friendship between the Siamese crown and the Dutch (trading) company may always be long-lasting in the observance of the contracts and bonds that were sealed in the most solemn way with the highly praiseworthy ancestors of His Distinguished Royal Majesty, in particular as they are founded on the free trade of the Dutch company in Siam and Ligor. The Governor-General and members of the Council of the Indies hope that through the Phrakhlang’s wise and prudent policy this will again be raised from its decline.
For this is required not only the favourable protection of His Excellency for the residents of the Company in both places of trade, but also his ability to exempt the Dutch trading company from the obligation to accept such unwanted sappan-wood [as payment] for their valuable and desired merchandise any longer. Otherwise it will be impossible for it to continue the trade and correspondence with the kingdom of Siam. Then, against its wish and inclination, it will find itself wholly unavoidably forced to depart from there and abandon its old friends and allies, in order thereby to prevent any further loss leading to its own collapse. The Phrakhlang is requested that through his mediation with the new king [the Company] may be exempted from the acceptance of that unwanted sappan-wood, because the value of that dye-wood has fallen to such an extent that is can be reckoned as no better than firewood. The Governor-General and members of the Council of the Indies do not doubt that His Majesty will, through the strong collaboration and mediation of the lord Phrakhlang, and also the realization of the loss that would inevitably be inflicted on his own realm and inhabitants if the Company should depart from his lands, easily be persuaded to arrange the necessary rectification without further delay.
The Company gives new evidence of its helpfulness in the treatment of the king’s delegates sent for the purpose of buying horses. They have been assisted by the Company’s servants in Java, and through our obligingness have been provided with 2,100 rix-dollars for the purchase. Contrary to expectation the Company has been able to give transport for the horses bought with a distribution of those horses over two ships, both direct to Siam and via Ligor, because His Majesty’s grooms this year came back from Java especially early. Seeing that usually they arrive back here in Batavia so late, the ship that sails via Ligor is already so fully laden that it cannot be hampered with horses. Hence the lord Phrakhlang will be able to understand very well that the despatch of horses in two ships can in future not happen again.
Once more the delivery of the desired linens can serve as new evidence of the helpfulness of the Governor-General and members of the Council of the Indies. In view of the short notice we have not been able to collect everything in conformity with the samples, seeing that the samples received were sent to Coromandel, and one still has to await the order. Concerning the lace clothing desired from Holland, to our deep regret we are not yet able to report anything more except that the samples sent there went off to Holland a long time ago.
Nevertheless several gold and silver sashes, which can be offered to His Majesty if it pleases him, have been sent from Holland to Siam, while news from Holland regarding the lace is still awaited.
We are also unable to offer the Phrakhlang the copper pices as they are not to be found in Batavia, neither are they current. However, we can provide a fine sort of minted copper coin of the Company, which has been obtained from Holland, and 144 of which have the value of one Siamese tical. For this price, as was written last year, the Khlang can be supplied, assuming that this copper coin pleases Your Excellency upon viewing it. For this purpose several examples are being sent with the merchant and newly appointed Siam senior head Theodorus Jacobus van den Heuvel [7], who together with the newly selected senior head of Ligor the junior merchant Christoffel Werlitsz is most highly recommended into the favourable protection of the lord Phrakhlang.
The Phrakhlang is thanked for providing a copy of the treaty which had become illegible from age, and has been written out anew and authenticated. He is also thanked for the permission granted for the departure for Batavia of under-helmsman Schepers’ wife who had stayed behind, as it would be a very hard blow for a man to be separated from his spouse and child, as being the most important things he possesses in the world. [8] The Governor-General and members of the Council of the Indies hope that the Phrakhlang will make no further difficulties in order to, as in previous cases, give consent in a matter that, although it might be contrary to the laws of the land, according to the right of nature and peoples, nevertheless is fair and accommodating, all the more because it relates to mutual agreement and assent.
Finally Your Excellency is informed of the decease of the Governor-General Dirk van Cloon, and his succession on 10 March by Governor-General Abraham Patras, who together with members of the Council of the Indies sends as gifts:
- x pieces of assorted broadcloth
- 2 pieces of scarlet camlet
- x pounds of gold thread, green band in strips
- x tholas [9] of attar of roses
- 20 pieces of mori, red Coast
- 20 pieces of salempuri idem
- 20 pieces of fine mallemollen, and
- 40 pounds of assorted spices.
Written in Batavia Castle on the island of Great Java on the 12th of August 1735, [signed by] the Governor-General of the Netherlands Indies, Abraham Patras.
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[1] King Thai Sa died on 13 January 1733.
[2] Willem de Ghij, executive head 1734-1735, 1740-1741.
[3] This will have been the contract of 1683.
[4] Unidentified, though “Choemoen” might again refer to khun muen, a general or collective reference to the king’s officials.
[5] In the list of officials attached to the king’s stables in the Law of the Three Seals, “Phra Aiyakan Tamnaeng Na Phonlaruan” section, there is a Khun Krai Sinthop and also a Muang Si Sinthop Chat. The word sinthop means “a noble horse” or more specifically a horse of fine quality from the Indus valley.
[6] Chimka [kimka, gold brocade] taas patola cloths, chimaraat cloths, gobars tapak tjatoor, floral of various colours and flowers
[7] Theodorus Jacobus van den Heuvel, executive trader 1735-1740.
[8] In Siamese law it was forbidden for a subject of the king who was of Thai, Mon or Lao ethnicity to cohabit with a foreigner of non-Buddhist beliefs; hence the King was here being benevolent in letting both mother and child to join Schepers. In the 1664 Treaty it was agreed that only children of a young age be allowed to leave Siam to join his/her (Dutch/VOC) father.
[9] Tholas, an Indian unit of weight (for gold and silver).