'History of the Indian Navy. (1613-1863).' [‎251] (292/590)

HISTORY OF THE INDIAN NAVY.
251
From Palimbang the troops of the Expedition, with the
exception of the necessary garrison for Fort Nugent, in Banca,
predicament in whicli lie stood, and earnestly praying for protection and snpport
on the grounds that to the British authority he was indebted for his elevation,
which had been for years acquiesced in by the people of Palimbang, that he con
sidered the treaty still binding, and that he was willing to make such further
arrangements with us as would secure him a positive right to our exclusive pro
tection under the impending danger. In reply to this appeal, Captain Salmond,
of the Bombay Marine The navy of the East India Company. , Master-Attendant at Bencoolen, was sent overland to
Palimbang. On his arrival, he went immediately to the Sultan, and, having
effected the object of his mission, had retired to rest when, in the darkness of
night, a force from the Dutch garrison surrounded the palace, and, having seized
him, sent him a prisoner to Batavia. The next act of the Dutch Commissioner
was to send Sultan Nazir-oo-deen as a close prisoner to Batavia; his property was
also seized and publicly sold in order that, according to the expression of the
Dutch Commissioner, " not a trace should be left of his former existence." A
treaty was concluded with Sultan Bedr-oo-deen, who found himself once more at
the head of affairs in Palimbang, stripped, however, of his treasure, and
burthened with a heavy debt. The conduct of the Dutch authorities was marked
with various instances of oppressive violence ; and the Commissioner accused the
Sultan of participating in the alleged hostility of the people. He was,
accordingly, peremptorily ordered to pay the residue of his debt to the Dutch
Grovernment, and to surrender his sons, as hostages for his good behaviour. In
spite of his protestations of innocence, the Dutch Commissioner ordered a party
of soldiers to proceed into the palace, and secure the person of the Sultan and
his family. The attempt roused the opposition of the populace, and after three
days' hard fighting, the remnant of the Dutch force, which originally consisted of
five^ hundred well-appointed soldiers, was obliged to fly to their ships leaving
behind their followers, who were indiscriminately murdered. The Sultan now
set seriously about providing for the defence of the place. He caused the guns
of H.M.'s ship ' Alceste,' wrecked in 1817, to be weighed from the wreck, and
planted in favourable and commanding situations ; the navigation of the river
was intercepted, and the whole resources of the country were put in requisition
to meet the impending danger. On the arrival of the Commissioner at Batavia,
with the account of the disaster at Palimbang, orders were immediately issued
for the equipment of a military force, which consisted of one thousand five hundred
men from Batavia, and the same number from the Samarang division, under
the command of Colonel BischofF, whose brother had fallen in the late conflict.
The unfortunate Sultan-Nazir-oo-deen was dragged from his confinement for the
purpose of proceeding with the Expedition, in the hope that his presence might
distract the measures or weaken the efforts of the Palimbang people. The Expe
dition, which included a seventy-four-gun ship, and a frigate, cast anchor at the
mouth of the Palimbang river on the 9th of October, 1820, and proceeded up the
river on the following day; but on the 2l6t of October, the Dutch were beaten
back with severe loss, stated by advices from Batavia to have amounted to two
hundred and fifty men and six officers killed and wounded. This loss was ex
perienced at an island, the batteries of which riddled the ' Wilhelmina' frigate,
which received one hundred and eighty shot. The Expedition returned to Batavia,
and Admial Wolterbeck, Commanding-in-Chief, compared the defences of the
island to a second Gibraltar.
A second and more powerful expedition, including five thousand Europeans,
was sent against Palimbang, and,, having succeeded in forcing the w^orks on the
river, the Sultan Bedr-oo-deen, on the 26th of June, 1821, surrendered himself,
and was succeeded by his brother; the Dutch losses were seventy-three killed
and two hundred and thirty-seven wounded.
Owing to their want of energy, the Dutch had suffered the pirates in these
1° ma ^ e 80 muc ^ 1 head that they attacked their ships and settlements, and
8 >i ^ an( ^ e( i Banca, and drove the troops there into the fort. On the
oth of June, 1821, the Dutch armed ship ' Samarang,' mounting six guns, and
amply supplied with swivels and muskets, was attacked by a proa on the north
coast of Java, and lost thirteen killed and wounded in defending herself.