M3: Singapore: Letters from Bengal to the Resident Page 144 of 189
7 According to our conception, the political considerations which suggest the attempt to effect [a restoration] of the [Malay Govt in Kedah and its establishment on an independent, or least an improved footing, resolve themselves into the following. The British Government would unquestionably gain by the measure] in reputation among [the Eastern States. It would remove] from your immediate [vicinity and from a state of] actual contact with your [continental territory, a] most troublesome, unaccommodating [neighbour,] between whom and yourselves disputes are at all times liable to break out. It would restore [to you] those necessary supplies of grain etc, from which you state the Island of Penang now to be [completely] cut off. And, finally, it would put a stop to [the] alarming increase of piracy, which appears to [have] taken place in consequence of the flight of the [Malay] population through dread of the Siamese, and [their] addiction to predatory courses, from wanting the means of subsistence. We are scarcely yet
prepared
[Copy at M003_0047 & 0048]
prepared
[Copy at M003_0047 & 0048]
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