1796
by [BRITISH EAST INDIA COMPANY] - John CANNING (c. 1756-1804) and Capt. Michael HOGAN (1766-1833)
1796. The archive comprises: 1.) Autograph letter signed "John Canning." Bifolium (13 x 8 1/4 inches), 21 lines in fine Malay (Jawi) with Arabic opening formula, docketed "Calcutta 10 Dec 1796"; octagonal red-wax armorial seal of the Canning family. Letter requests that local rulers receive Capt. Hogan "as our agent... to conclude a treaty advantageous to both sides," dated 22 Jumada II 1211 / 10 Dec 1796. 2.) to 5.) [4] Paper wrappers. English addresses in a copperplate hand & parallel Jawi headings, each with intact Canning seal. Addressed to the Sultan of Magindanao, King of Mempawah (Borneo), King of Bali, Sultan of Borneo. 6.) to 8.) [3] Yellow-silk diplomatic covers. Golden satin sleeves with paper address bands in two languages; two remain unopened and sealed. Addressed to the Sultan of Johor (unopened), King of Sambawa (unopened), Sultan of Soloo (wrapper only). An exceptional archive, uniting British, Malay, and Islamic manuscript traditions, that captures the East India Company’s first concerted overtures to the island states of Southeast Asia.
Drafted in the wake of the Dutch East India Company's collapse and the French Revolutionary Wars, this archive documents the East India Company's first concerted diplomatic overtures to the maritime courts of the Malay world. With Dutch control unraveling after the 1795 Batavian Revolution, Britain saw a strategic opportunity to enter the lucrative Spice Island trade. Lacking on-the-ground alliances, the Company turned to private initiative: Captain Michael Hogan, an Irish-American merchant and former convict transport captain, was enlisted as unofficial envoy aboard his ship Marquis Cornwallis. The diplomatic texts were composed by Captain John Goodall Canning, then Harbour-Master of the port, in refined court Malay using Jawi script, the Islamic-inflected lingua franca of diplomacy from Aceh to Sulu. In keeping with regional tradition, the letters open with Islamic invocation and florid honorifics, followed by carefully phrased expressions of friendship and commercial intent. The surviving autograph letter fixes the date of the mission and declares its purpose: "to plant affection and concord, and if Your Highness deem it good, to enter with us into a compact benefitting both realms." After disembarking convicts in Port Jackson (Sydney) in February 1796, the Marquis Cornwallis passed northward through Torres Strait, calling at New Guinea, the Moluccas, and ports across the Java Sea, almost certainly delivering these and parallel documents en route. The silk wrappers signal the elevated diplomatic status of the messages, which were meant to be presented in person by Hogan and opened only in the presence of the addressee. The present archive offers a rare and vivid glimpse into the hybrid ceremonial, linguistic, and political world of early modern Southeast Asia, and into the improvisational diplomacy of the Company at the edge of empire. (Inventory #: 39842)
Drafted in the wake of the Dutch East India Company's collapse and the French Revolutionary Wars, this archive documents the East India Company's first concerted diplomatic overtures to the maritime courts of the Malay world. With Dutch control unraveling after the 1795 Batavian Revolution, Britain saw a strategic opportunity to enter the lucrative Spice Island trade. Lacking on-the-ground alliances, the Company turned to private initiative: Captain Michael Hogan, an Irish-American merchant and former convict transport captain, was enlisted as unofficial envoy aboard his ship Marquis Cornwallis. The diplomatic texts were composed by Captain John Goodall Canning, then Harbour-Master of the port, in refined court Malay using Jawi script, the Islamic-inflected lingua franca of diplomacy from Aceh to Sulu. In keeping with regional tradition, the letters open with Islamic invocation and florid honorifics, followed by carefully phrased expressions of friendship and commercial intent. The surviving autograph letter fixes the date of the mission and declares its purpose: "to plant affection and concord, and if Your Highness deem it good, to enter with us into a compact benefitting both realms." After disembarking convicts in Port Jackson (Sydney) in February 1796, the Marquis Cornwallis passed northward through Torres Strait, calling at New Guinea, the Moluccas, and ports across the Java Sea, almost certainly delivering these and parallel documents en route. The silk wrappers signal the elevated diplomatic status of the messages, which were meant to be presented in person by Hogan and opened only in the presence of the addressee. The present archive offers a rare and vivid glimpse into the hybrid ceremonial, linguistic, and political world of early modern Southeast Asia, and into the improvisational diplomacy of the Company at the edge of empire. (Inventory #: 39842)
(212) 744-3505
