So ended the negotiations in London, not with a bang, nor yet with a whimper. They were not to be resumed for over three years (a significant lapse of time which has awakened little interest in English scholars,l either as to the cause of the lapse or the cause of its ending) although of course to the participants, expecting to reassemble in October, this future could not th en be read. The Dutch plenipotentiaries summarized their views of the proceedings in a dispatch dated 9 August 1820.

more »

... re that Canning's first offer of 22 July (see above pp. 91-92) was to turn out to have been their last chance to remove the English from Singapore, Fagel and Elout expressed satisfaction with the English note. They were pleased with the acknowledgement that Van der Capellen's letter had "made an impression" and observed that the explicit disavowals of Raffles' enterprises at Padang and in the Lampongs "have now placed our right in these parts beyond all question." They would have preferred a more forthright repudiation of English actions at Palembang, but were happy to be able to take the opportunity, in their note of response, to accept this as adequate, pointing out to their govemment that the draft of the English note had initially reserved future discussion conceming the pro-British claimant to Palembang and that they had succeeded in having this reservation struck out. Mention in the British note of abrogation of Raffles' treaties with certain Sumatran