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Cornelis Matelief, Hugo Grotius, and the King of Siam (1605–1616): Agency, initiative, and diplomacy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 July 2019

PETER BORSCHBERG
PETER BORSCHBERG*
Affiliation:
Department of History, National University of Singapore, and Asia-Europe Institute, University of Malaya Email: hispb@nus.edu.sg
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Abstract

This article addresses the proactive agency of the Siamese kings in cementing commercial and diplomatic ties with the Dutch in the first two decades of the seventeenth century. The focus will be on two interrelated developments: one, the first diplomatic mission to the Dutch Republic in 1608–1610 and, two, a scheme hatched by Siamese officials to assist the Dutch in obtaining access to the Chinese market. This was deemed necessary after the Dutch, supported by some overseas Chinese businessmen from Southeast Asia, failed to gain trading access in 1604. On the Dutch side, two men stand in the limelight: Admiral Cornelis Matelief de Jonge, a director of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) and supreme commander of its second fleet to Asia, and Hugo Grotius, who at the time was a rising star in the Dutch government and would later be celebrated as one of the pathfinders of modern international law. Both their published and unpublished manuscripts will be examined to ascertain how Matelief and the VOC directors reacted to these Siamese initiatives and how, in turn, the admiral sought to mobilize and co-opt the Siamese into his own commercial and military agenda, with the help of Grotius.

Type
Research Article
Information
Modern Asian Studies , Volume 54 , Issue 1 , January 2020 , pp. 123 - 156
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Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2019 

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References

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9 Concerning Grotius in general, and specifically his relationship to Matelief, see Nellen, H. J. M., Hugo Grotius. A Lifelong Struggle for Peace in Church and State, 1583–1645 (Leiden: Brill, 2015)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

10 Commelin, I., Begin ende Voortgang Vande Vereenigde Neerlandsche Geoctroyeerde Oost-Indische Compagnie, 4 vols (Amsterdam: Facsimile Uitgaven Nederland, 1969)Google Scholar (facsimile reproduction of the original, printed in Amsterdam in 1646 in two volumes). Matelief's voyage (hereafter referred to as Historische Verahael (‘Historical Narrative’) is contained in volume 3 of the facsimile edition and features a separate page numbering.

11 These are preserved in the National Archives of the Netherlands as well as in Rotterdam's Municipal Archives (Gemeentearchief). Concerning Matelief's memorials, see the short exposé by Bijlsma, R., ‘De discoursen van Cornelis Matelief de Jonge over den Staat van Oost-Indië’, Nederlandsch Archievenblad, vol. 35 (1927–1928), pp. 49–53Google Scholar. Transcripts of these Dutch-language documents have been published in Frederiks, J. G., ‘Cornelis Cornelisz Matelief de Jonge en zijn geslagt’, in Scheffer, H. and Obreen, Fr. D. O. (eds), Rotterdamsche Historiebladen, 3 afd., vol. 1, no. 1 (1871), pp. 204–357Google Scholar.

12 Concerning Matelief's proposed changes and their implementation by the VOC directors, see especially Gaastra, F. S., The Dutch East India Company. Expansion and Decline (Zutphen: Walburg Pers, 2003), pp. 39–40Google Scholar.

13 Baker, C., ‘Ayutthaya Rising: From Land or Sea?’, Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, vol. 34, no. 1 (2003), pp. 41–62Google Scholar, especially p. 55. The portage routes are also discussed in Baker, C. and Phongpaichit, Pasuk, A History of Ayutthaya. Siam in the Early Modern World (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2017)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

14 Lach, D. and Kley, E. van, Asia in the Making of Europe, 3 vols (Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1993), p. 1172Google Scholar; Wyatt, D., Thailand: A Short History (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1982), p. 107Google Scholar. Concerning the activities of the Portuguese at this time, see especially the study by Guedes, M. A. Marques, Interferência e integração dos Portugueses na Birmânia, ca. 1580–1630 (Lisbon: Fundação Oriente, 1994)Google Scholar.

15 See, for example, van Dam, P., Beschryvinge van de Oostindische Compagnie, 8 vols, Stapel, F. W. (ed.) (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1931–43)Google Scholar, Vol. 1, part 2, p. 309, and Vol. 2, part 1, p. 342.

16 Pelliot, ‘Les Relations du Siam’, pp. 223–229; and Duyvendak, J. J. L., ‘The First Siamese Embassy to Holland’, T'oung Pao, vol. 32 (1936), pp. 285–292CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Cruysse, Siam and the West, pp. 43–50. See also van Dijk, L. C. D., Neêrland's vroegste bretrekkingen met Borneo, den Solo-Archipel, Cambodja, Siam en Cochin-China (Amsterdam: J. H. Scheltema, 1862)Google Scholar; Bhawan, Dutch East India Company Merchants, p. 19.

17 Pelliot, ‘Les Relations du Siam’, p. 223. A partial English translation of this French-language pamphlet is found in Cruysse, Siam and the West, pp. 46–47.

18 His report on Siam ‘Notice on the Situation … Concerning the Kingdom of Siam’ was published as van Schouten, J., Notitie van de situatie … des coninkrijcks Siam (The Hague: Meuris, 1638)Google Scholar. His report on Melaka after its fall to the Dutch in January 1641 was published in English translation in Leupe, P. G., ‘The Siege and Capture of Malacca from the Portuguese in 1640–1641. Extracts from the Archives of the Dutch East India Company’, Hacobian, Mac (trans.), Journal of the Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. 14, no. 1 (1936), pp. 1–178Google Scholar.

19 For the latest edition of the Journael or travelogue, see Akvelt, L. (ed.), Machtsstrijd om Malakka. De reis van VOC-admiraal Cornelis Cornelisz Matelief naar Oost-Azië, 1605–1608 (Zutphen: Walburg Pers, 2013)Google Scholar.

20 The Hague, National Archives [1.04.02] VOC 470. Some of these, together with other gifts, are mentioned in the French language report cited by Pelliot, ‘Les Relations du Siam’, pp. 224–225.

21 Terpstra, H., De factorij der Oostindische Compagnie te Patani, Verhandelingen van het Koninklijk Instituut voor de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde van Nederlandsch-Indië, Vol. 1 (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1938), pp. 33–35Google Scholar.

22 ‘Journael Ende Historische Verhael van de treffelijcke Reyse gedaen naer Oost-Indien, ende China, met elf Schepen, Door den Manhaften Admirael Cornelis Matelief de Jonge’, in Commelin, Begin ende Voortgang, Vol. 3, p. 137.

23 Pelliot, ‘Les Relations du Siam’, p. 224; Duyvendak, ‘The First Siamese Embassy’, p. 286; Cruysse, Siam and the West, p. 48.

24 Duyvendak, ‘First Siamese Embassy’, p. 291.

25 Ibid.; Cruysse, Siam and the West, pp. 49–50.

26 van Rietbergen, P. J. A. N., De eerste Landvoogd Pieter Both (1568–1615). Governeur-Generaal van Nederlandsch Indië (1609–1614), 2 vols (Zutphen: Walburg Pers, 1987)Google Scholar. Also Cruysse, Siam and the West, p. 49; Smith, The Dutch in Seventeenth Century Siam, pp. 12–13.

27 Duyvendak, ‘The First Siamese Embassy’, p. 290; Hutchinson, E. W., Adventurers in Siam in the Seventeenth Century (London: Royal Asiatic Society, 1940), p. 27Google Scholar.

28 Baker, C. and Phongpaichit, Pasuk, The Palace Law of Ayutthaya and the Thammasat. Law and Kingship in Siam (Ithaca and New York: Cornell Southeast Asia Program, 2016)CrossRefGoogle Scholar, especially pp. 57, 95.

29 These figures are broadly in line, but somewhat larger, than the estimates given some decades later by Jeremias van Vliet. See Baker, C., na Pombejra, Dhiravat, Kraan, A. van der and Wyatt, D. K. (eds), Van Vliet's Siam (Chiang Mai: Silkworm Books, 2008), pp. 122–123Google Scholar.

30 Duyvendak, ‘The First Siamese Embassy’, pp. 286–287; see also the translation of the resolution reproduced in Hutchinson, Adventurers in Siam, p. 27.

31 Ibid.

32 For additional background on this episode, see also Smith, The Dutch in Seventeenth Century Thailand, p. 11; Terpstra, De factorij, pp. 21–22; Tiele, P. A., ‘De Europeërs in den Maleischen Archipel’, part VI, Bijdragen en Mededelingen van het Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- und Volkenkunde (hereafter BKI), vol. 30 (1882), pp. 141–242CrossRefGoogle Scholar, especially p. 221.

33 Terpstra, De factorij, p. 22; Duyvendak, ‘The First Siamese Embassy’, p. 288; Groeneveldt, W. P., ‘De Nederlanders in China. De eerste bemoeiingen om den handel in China en de vestiging in de Pescadores (1601–1624)’, BKI, vol. 48 (1898), p. 16Google Scholar. The gifts presented to the Siamese monarch by the Dutch included two field pieces weighing 600–650 kilograms each.

34 The emissary in question was most probably Phra Ratchaphakdi Si Ratana Ratchasombat. This is the official title of the head of the khlang mahasombat, the ‘storehouse of great wealth’, that is the royal Siamese warehouse for storing trading goods. See also Commelin, Begin ende Voortgang, Vol. 2, ‘Oost-Indische Reyse’, pp. 73–74. The name of the ambassador in the original Dutch text is ‘Opra Rad'zia Phackdy Sry Swasdy’.

35 Read: Brunei.

36 Lit. ‘youngest brother’. There is no evidence at hand that Warwijck and Specx were siblings or close relatives and the expression should therefore be understood metaphorically.

37 Commelin, Begin ende Voortgang, Vol. 2, ‘Oost-Indische Reyse’, pp. 73–74.

38 A transcript of the original Dutch text is found in Appendix 1.

39 Commelin, Begin ende Voortgang, Vol. 2, ‘Oost-Indische Reyse’, p. 73.

40 Ibid., pp. 80, 84–85.

41 Promboon, Subsaeng, Sino-Siamese Tributary Relations, 1282–1853 (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1971)Google Scholar. Another useful work on Sino-Siamese tributary relations (focusing on a later period, however) is the study by Viraphol, Sarasin, Tribute and Profit: Sino-Siamese Trade, 1652–1853 (Chiang Mai: Silkworm Books, 2014)Google Scholar. In the seventeenth century, Jeremias van Vliet had also commented on the tributary missions to China and their irregularity, which he blamed on the arrogance of the Siamese merchants. See Baker et al., Van Vliet's Siam, pp. 138–139.

42 Pelliot, ‘Les Relations du Siam’, pp. 224–225; Duyvendak, ‘The First Siamese Embassy’, pp. 288–289.

43 Cruysse, Siam and the West, p. 45.

44 Baker, ‘Ayutthaya Rising’, pp. 41–62.

45 Ibid., pp. 54, 62.

46 Ibid., p. 53.

47 Cushman, R. D. (trans.) and Wyatt, D. K. (ed.), The Royal Chronicles of Ayutthaya (Bangkok: Siam Society, 2000)Google Scholar; Baker et al., Van Vliet's Siam.

48 Smith, The Dutch in Seventeenth Century Siam, pp. 8, 10; Baker, ‘Ayutthaya Rising’, p. 53.

49 Cushman and Wyatt, Royal Chronicles of Ayutthaya, p. 209. Here it is reported that the Burmese had surrounded Tenasserim and the city had requested an army for its relief.

50 Smith, The Dutch in Seventeenth Century Thailand, p. 13.

51 For Ayutthaya's links to China and the Chinese tributary trade, see especially Kasetsiri, Charnvit, ‘Ayudhya capital-port of Siam and its Chinese connection in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries’, Journal of the Siam Society, vol. 80, no. 1 (1992), pp. 75–79Google Scholar; for Japan, see Yoko, N., ‘Ayutthaya and Japan: Embassies and Trade in the Seventeenth Century’, in Breazeale, K. (ed.), From Japan to Arabia: Ayutthaya's Maritime Relations with Asia (Bangkok: The Foundation for the Promotion of Social Sciences and Humanities Textbook Project, 1999), pp. 89–103Google Scholar.

52 Charnvit Kasetsiri, ‘Origins of a Capital and Seaport: The Early Settlement of Ayutthaya and its East Asian Trade’, in Breazeale (ed.), From Japan to Arabia, p. 71; Baker et al., Van Vliet's Siam, p. 121.

53 Drafts of these letters are found among the working papers of Grotius preserved in the manuscript bundle Collectie Hugo de Groot, Supplement, The Hague, National Archives [1.10.35, no. 40]. See also the explanation in Appendix 2.

54 At first, Grotius wrote the word: ‘opportunity’, then deleted it and replaced it with ‘occasion’.

55 For the original Dutch text, see Appendix 2 below.

56 This comment can be taken to mean that the letter to the king of Johor was part of a series written by Grotius at around the same time. See the explanation in Appendix 2.

57 In the original manuscript, the dots indicate missing words that disappear into the abbreviation ‘etc.’.

58 A transcript of the original Dutch text is found in Appendix 3.

59 Groeneveldt, ‘Nederlanders in China’, p. 24.

60 Ibid.; separately also Duyvendak, ‘The First Siamese Embassy’, p. 287.

61 Groeneveldt, ‘Nederlanders in China’, p. 24.

62 There is ample secondary literature in Chinese that touches on the early contact of the Dutch with China. Their existence is acknowledged, but the sources are not listed here as they are not accessible to the overwhelming majority of readers. For the relevant episode in the Ming Annals, see Wade, G. (ed.), Southeast Asia in the Ming Shilu, an Open-Access Resource (Singapore: Asia Research Institute and the Singapore E-Press, National University of Singapore, 2005)Google Scholar, http://www.epress.nus.edu.sg/msl/introduction, [accessed 7 February 2019].

63 I am grateful to Dr Weichung Cheng, Academia Sinica, Taipei, for helping me with the Chinese sources that touch on Warwijck's stay on the Pescadores and his dealings with the Chinese authorities on the mainland.

64 Tiele, ‘De Europeërs in den Maleischen Archipel’, p. 222; Groeneveldt, ‘Nederlanders in China’.

65 Commelin, Begin ende Voortgang, Vol. 2, ‘Oost-Indische Reyse’, p. 74; also Terpstra, De factorij, p. 22.

66 For the identity of Roussel, see Terpstra, De factorij, pp. 9n4, 23; concerning Yippong (Empo), see p. 22.

67 Commelin, Begin ende Voortgang, Vol. 2, ‘Oost-Indische Reyse’, pp. 74, 78; Groeneveldt, ‘Nederlanders in China’, p. 15.

68 Commelin, Begin ende Voortgang, Vol. 2, ‘Oost-Indische Reyse’, pp. 74, 76.

69 Weststeijn, T. and Gesterkamp, L., ‘A new identity for Ruben's “Korean man”. Portrait of the Chinese merchant Yppong’, Netherlands Yearbook for History of Art, vol. 66, no. 1 (2016), pp. 143–169Google Scholar, especially p. 155; Blussé, L., ‘Inpo 恩浦, Chinese merchant in Pattani. A study in early Dutch-Chinese relations’, in Sawanagul, K. (ed.), Proceedings of the Seventh IAHA Conference, held in Bangkok, 22–26 August 1977 (Bangkok: Chulalongkorn University Press, 1977), pp. 294–309Google Scholar; Blussé, L., ‘Het ware gezicht van de eerste Chinees in Vlissingen’, Zeeuws Tijdschrift, vol. 72, no. 1 (2016), p. 74Google Scholar.

70 Blussé, ‘Het ware gezicht’, p. 74.

71 Commelin, Begin ende Voortgang, Vol. 2, ‘Oost-Indische Reyse’, p. 75. Blussé, ‘Het ware gezicht’, p. 74, transliterates the eunuch's name as ‘Gao Cai’. See also Groeneveldt, ‘Nederlanders in China’, pp. 19–22, for a summary of the developments from the Chinese perspective.

72 Xie, Zhang, Dongxiyang kao, Xie Fang (ed.) (Beijing: Zhonghua Shuju, 2000), p. 127Google Scholar. Details of Warwijck's dealings in China, including with the emissaries of the imperial eunuch, can be found in Groeneveldt, ‘Nederlanders in China’, especially pp. 17–19.

73 Commelin, Begin ende Voortgang, Vol. 2, ‘Oost-Indische Reyse’, p. 76; Tiele, ‘De Europeërs in den Maleischen Archipel’, pp. 222–223; Davidson, W., The Island of Formosa Past and Present (London and New York: Macmillan, 1903), p. 10CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Lach and van Kley, Asia in the Making of Europe, Vol. 3, p. 466.

74 See de Jonge, C. Matelief, Journal, Memorials and Letters of Cornelis Matelieff de Jonge. Security, Diplomacy and Commerce in 17th-century Southeast Asia, Borschberg, P. (ed.) (Singapore: NUS Press, 2015), p. 293Google Scholar.

75 Ibid., pp. 253–275.

76 Ibid., p. 273.

77 Ibid., p. 274.

78 Rijperman, H. P. (ed.), Resolutiën der Staten-Generaal van 1576 tot 1609, Vol. 14, 1607–1609 (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1970), p. 658Google Scholar. Translated from the original Dutch.

79 Smithies, M. (ed.), Five Hundred Years of Thai-Portuguese Relations: A Festschrift (Bangkok: Siam Society, 2011)Google Scholar.

80 Breazeale, K., ‘Whirligig of Diplomacy: A Tale of Thai-Portuguese Relations, 1613–9’, Journal of the Siam Society, vol. 94 (2006), pp. 51–110Google Scholar.

81 Baker et al., Van Vliet's Siam, p. 21; Breazeale, ‘Whirligig of Diplomacy’, p. 67; Bhawan, Dutch East India Company Merchants, p. 26; Smith, The Dutch in Seventeenth Century Thailand.

82 Terpstra, De factorij, p. 59.

83 Ibid, p. 89.

84 Matelief, Journal, Memorials and Letters, p. 259.

85 For an approximate idea of the size of Siam, its cities, and tributary rulers in the first half of the seventeenth century, see also Baker et al., Van Vliet's Siam, pp. 108–109; Smithies, M., ‘Seventeenth Century Siam: Its Extent and Urban Centres according to Dutch and French Observers’, in his Seventeenth Century Explorations (Bangkok: Siam Society, 2012), pp. 1–15Google Scholar.

86 Writing in the early eighteenth century, the Dutch cleric François Valentijn described the ‘Malay Coast’ as the western coast of the Isthmus of Kra and the Malay Peninsula between Tenasserim and Tanjong Bulus. See Valentijn, F., Oud en Nieuw Oost-Indiën, Vervattende Een Naauwkeurige en Uitvoerige Verhandelinge van Nederlands Mogentheyd in de Gewesten, etc., 5 parts in 8 vols (Dordrecht and Amsterdam: Johannes van Braam and Gerard onder de Linden, 1724–26), Vol. 5, p. 317Google Scholar.

87 Matelief, Journal, Memorials and Letters, p. 337.

88 Breazeale, ‘Whirligig of Diplomacy’, pp. 51–110.