Burney Treaty

The powerful Lord who is in possession of every good and every dignity, the God Boodh, who dwells over every head in the City of the Sacred and Great Kingdom of Si-a-yoo-ther-sye [titles of the King of Siam], incomprehensible to the head and brain; the sacred beauty of the Royal Palace, serene and infallible there [titles of the Wangna, or Second King of Siam] have bestowed their commands upon the heads of their Excellencies the Ministers of high rank belonging to the Sacred and Great Kingdom of Si-a-yoo-ther-sye, to assemble and frame a Treaty with Captain Henry Burney, the English Envoy on the part of the English Government, the Honourable East India Company who govern the Countries in India belonging to the English, under the authority of the King and Parliament of Engliand; and the Right Honourable Lord Amherst, Governor of Bengal, and other English Officers of high rank, have deputed Captain Burney, as an Envoy, to represent them, and to frame a Treaty with their Excellencies the Ministers of high rank belonging to the Sacres and Great Kingdom of Si-a-yoo-ther-sye, in view that the Siamese and English nations may become great and true friends, connected in love and affection, with genuine candour and sincerity on both sides. The Siamese and English frame two uniform copies of a Treaty, in order that one copy may be placed in the Kingdom of Siam, and that it may become known throughout every great and small Province subject to Siam; and in order that one copy may be placed in Bengal, and that it may become known throughout every great and small Province subject to the English Government, both copies of the Treaty will be attested by the Royal Seal, by the Seals of their Excellencies the Ministers of high rank in the City of the Sacred and Great Kingdom of Si-a-yoo-ther-sye, and by the Seals of the Right Honourable Lord Amherst, Governor of Bengal, and of the other English Officers of high rank.

The English and Siamese engage in friendship, love and affection, with mutual truth, sincerity, and candour. The Siamese must not meditate or commit evil, so as to molest the English in any manner. The English must not meditate or commit evil, so as to molest the Siamese in any manner. The Siamese must not go and molest, attack, disturb, seize, or take any place, territory, or boundary belonging to the English in any Country subject to the English. The English must not go and molest, attack, disturb, seize, or take any place, territory, or boundary belonging to the Siamese in any Country subject to the Siamese. The Siamese shall settle every matter within the Siamese boundaries, according to their own will and customs.

Should any place or Country subject to the English do anything that may offend the Siamese, the Siamese shall not go and injure such place or Country, but first report the matter to the English, who will examine into it with truth and sincerity; and if the fault lie with the English, the English shall punish according to the fault. Should any place or Country subject to the Siamese do anything that may offend the English, the English shall not go and injure such place or Country, but first report the matter to the Siamese, who will examine into it with truth and sincerity; and if the fault lie with the Siamese, the Siamese shall punish according to the fault. Should any Siamese place or Country that is near an English Country, collect at any time an army, or a fleet of boats, if the Chief of the English inquires the object of such force, the Chief of the Siamese Country must declare it. Should any English place or Country that is near a Siamese Country, collect at any time an army, or a fleet of boats, if the Chief of the Siamese Country inquires the object of such force, the Chief of the English Country must declare it.

In places and Countries belonging to the Siamese and English, lying near their mutual borders, whether to the east, west, north, or south, if the English entertain a doubt as to any boundary that has not been ascertained, the Chief on the side of the English must send a Letter with some men and people from his frontier posts, to go and inquire from the nearest Siamese Chief, who shall depute some of his Officers and people from his frontier posts to go with the men belonging to the English Chief, and point out and settle the mutual boundaries, so that they may be ascertained on both sides in a friendly manner. If a Siamese Chief entertain a doubt as to any boundary that has not been ascertained, the Chief on the side of the Siamese must send a Letter with some men and people from his frontier post, to go an inquire from the nearest English Chief, who shall depute some of his Officers and people from his frontier post, to go with men belonging to the Siamese Chief, and point out and settle the mutual boundaries, so that they may be ascertained on both sides in a friendly manner.

Should any Siamese subject run and go and live within the boundaries of the English, the Siamese must not intrude, enter, seize, or take such person within the English boundaries, but must report and ask for him in a proper manner; and the English shall be at liberty to deliver the party or not. Should any English subject run and go and live within the boundaries of the Siamese, the English must not intrude, enter, seize, or take such person within the Siamese boundaries, but must report and ask for him in a proper manner; and the Siamese shall be at liberty to deliver the party or not.

The English and Siamese having concluded a Treaty, establishing a sincere friendship between them, merchants, subject to the English, and their ships, junks, and boats, may have intercourse and trade with any Siamese Country which has much merchandize; and the Siamese will aid and protect them, and permit them to buy and sell with facility. Merchants, subject to the Siamese, and their boats, junks, and ships, may have intercourse and trade with any English Country; and the English will aid and protect them, and permit them to buy and sell with facility. The Siamese desiring to go to an English Country, or the English desiring to go to a Siamese Country, must conform to the customs of the place or Country, on either side; should they be ignorant of the customs, the Siamese or English Officers must explain them. Siamese subjects who visit an English Country, must conduct themselves according to the established Laws of the English Country, in every particular. The English subjects who visit a Siamese Country, must conduct themselves according to the established Laws of the Siamese Country, in every particular.

Merchants subject to the Siamese or English, going to trade either in Bengal, or any other Country subject to the English, or at Bangkok, or in any Country subject to the Siamese, must pay the duties upon commerce according to the customs of the place or Country, on either side; and such merchants and the inhabitants of the Country shall be allowed to buy and sell without the intervention of other persons in such Countries. Should a Siamese or English merchant have any complaint or suit, he must complain to the Officers and Governors, on either side; and they will examine and settle the same, according to the established Laws of the place or Country, on either side. If a Siamese or English merchant buy or sell, without inquiring or ascertaining whether the seller or buy be of a bad or good character and if he meet with a bad man, who takes the property and absconds, the Rulers and Officers must make search and produce the person of the absconder, and investigate the matter with sincerity. If the party possesses money or property, he can be made to pay; but if he does not possess any, or if he cannot be apprehended, it will be the merchant's own fault.

A merchant subject to the Siamese or English, going to trade in any English or Siamese Country, and applying to build godowns or houses, or to buy or hire shops or houses, in which to place his merchandize, the Siamese or English Officers and Rulers shall be at liberty to deny him permission to stay. If they permit him to stay, he shall land and take up his residence according to such terms as may be mutually agreed on; and the Siamese or English Officers and Rulers will assist and take proper care of him, preventing the inhabitants of the Country from oppressing him, and preventing him from oppressing the inhabitants of the Country. Whenever a Siamese or English merchant or subject, who has nothing to detain him, requests permission to leave the Country, and to embark with his property on board of any vessel, he shall be allowed to do so with facility.

If a merchant desire to go and trade in any place or Country belonging to the English or Siamese, and his ship, boat, or junk, meet with any injury whatever, the English or Siamese Officers shall afford adequate assistance and protection. Should any vessel belonging to the Siamese or English be wrecked in any place or Country where the English or Siamese may collect any of the property belonging to such vessel, the English or Siamese Officers shall make proper inquiry, and cause the property to be restored to its owner, or in case of his death, to his heir, and the owner or heir will give a proper remuneration to the persons who may have collected the property. If any Siamese or English subject die in an English or Siamese Country, whatever property he may leave shall be delivered to his heir; if the heir be not living in the same Country, and unable to come, appoint a person by Letter to receive the property, the whole of it shall be delivered to such person.

Merchants subject to the English, desiring to come and trade in any Siamese Country, with which it has not been the custom to have trade and intercourse, must first go and inquire of the Governor of the Country. Should any Country have no merchandize, the Governor shall inform the ship that has come to trade that there is none. Should any Country have merchandize sufficient for a ship, the Governor shall allow her to come and trade.

The English and Siamese mutually agree, that there shall be an unrestricted trade between them in the English Countries of Prince of Wales' Island, Malacca, and Singapore, and the Siamese Countries of Ligore, Merdilony, Singora, Patam, Junkceylon, Queda, and other Siamese Provinces. Asiatic merchants of the English Countries, not being Burmese, Peguers, or descendants of Europeans, shall be allowed to trade freely overland, and by means of the rivers. Asiatic merchants, not being Burmese, Peguers, or descendants of Europeans, desiring to enter into and trade with the Siamese Dominions, from the Countries of Mergni, Tavoy, Tenasserim, and Ye, which are now subject to the English, will be allowed to do so freely, overland and by water, upon the English furnishing them with proper certificates; but merchants are forbidden to bring opium, which is positively a contraband article in the Territories of Siam; and should a merchant introduce any, the Governor shall seize, burn, and destroy the whole of it.

If an Englishman desire to transmit a letter to any person in a Siamese or other Country, such person only, and no other, shall open and look into the letter. If a Siamese desire to transmit a letter to any person in an English or other Country, such person only, and no other, shall open and look into the letter.

Siam shall not go and obstruct or interrupt commerce in the States of Tringano and Calantan. English merchants and subjects shall have trade and intercourse in future with the same facility and freedom as they have heretofore had, and the English shall not go and molest, attack or disturb those States, upon any pretence whatever.

The Siamese engage to the English that the Siamese shall remain in Queda, and take proper care of that Country and of its people; the inhabitants of Prince of Wales' Island and of Queda shall have trade and intercourse as heretofore; the Siamese shall levy no duty upon stock and provisions, such as cattle, buffaloes, poultry, fish, paddy, and rice, which the inhabitants of Prince of Wales' Island, or ships there, may have occasion to purchase in Queda; and the Siamese shall not farm the mouths of rivers or any stream in Queda, but shall levy fair and proper import and export duties. The Siamese further engage, that when Chao Phaya of Ligore returns from Bangkok, he shall release the slaves, personal servants, family and kindred belonging to the former Governor of Queda, and permit them to go and live whatever they please. The English engage to the Siamese, that the English do not desire to take possession of Queda, that they will not attack nor disturb it, nor permit the former Governor of Queda, or any of his followers, to attack, disturb, or injure in any manner, the Territory of Queda, or any other Territory subject to Siam. The English engage that they will make arrangements for the former Governor of Queda to go and live in some other Country, and not at Prince of Wales' Island or Prye, or in Perak, Salengore, or any Burmese Country. If the English do not let the former Governor of Queda go and live in some other Country, as here engaged, the Siamese may continue to levy an export duty upon paddy and rice in Queda. The English will not prevent any Siamese, Chinese, or other Asiatic, at Prince of Wales' Island, from going to reside to in Queda, if they desire it.

The Siamese and English mutually engage, that the Rajah of Perak shall govern his Country according to his own will. Should he desire to send the Gold and Silver Flowers to Siam and heretofore, the English will not prevent his doing as he may desire. If Chao Phya of Ligore desire to send down to Perak, with friendly intentions, 40 or 50 men, whether desires to send any of his Ministers or Officers to seek Chao Phya of Ligore, the English shall not forbid them. The Siamese or English shall not send any force to go and molest, attack, or disturb Perak. The English will not allow the State of Salengore to attack or disturb Perak; and the Siamese shall not go and attack or disturb Salengore. The arrangements stipulated in these two last Articles respecting Perak and Queda, Chao Phya of Ligore shall execute as soon as he returns home from Bangkok.

The 14 Articles of this Treaty, let the great and subordinate Siamese and English Officers, together with every great and small Province, hear, receive, and obey without fail.

Their Excellencies the Ministers of high rank at Bangkok, and Captain Henry Burney, whom the Right Honourable Lord Amherst, Governor of Bengal, deputed as an Envoy to represent his Lordship, framed his Treaty together, in the presence of Prince Krom Meun Soorin Thirakser, in the City of the Sacred and Great Kingdom of Si-a-yoo-ther-sye. The Treaty, written in the Siamese, Malayan, and English languages, was concluded on Tuesday, on the 1st day of the 7th decreasing moon, 1188 year, dog 8, according to the Siamese era, corresponding with the 20th of June, 1826, of the European era. Both copies of the Treaty are sealed and attested by their Excellencies the Ministers and by Captain Henry Burney. One copy Captain Burney will take for the ratification of the Governor of Bengal; and one copy, bearing the Royal Seal, Chao Phya of Ligore, will take and place at Queda. Captain Burney appoints to return to Prince of Wales' Island in seven months, in the 2nd moon of the year 118, dog 8, and to exchange the Ratification of this Treaty with Phra Phakdi Bori-rak, at Queda.

The Siamese and English will form a friendship that be perpetuated, that shall know no end or interruptions as long as heaven and earth appear.

A literal translation from the Siamese.

, Captain, Envoy to the Court of Siam.

Ratified by the Right Honourable the Governor-General, in Camp, at Agra, this 17th day of January, 1827.

(L.S.) By Command of the Governor-General,

, Secy. to Govt., in attendance on the Govr.-Gen.

Captain, Envoy to the Court of Siam from the Right Honourable the Governor-General of British India.

By Command of the Vice-President in Council,

, Secretary to Govt.

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