The right of possession was from the first disputed by the Dutch. Raffles himself succinctly states in a letter to Marsden the basis upon which this rested. It appears, from his letter, that the Dutch had secured the cession of Rhio from the Sultan of Lingen, whom they recognized as the Sultan of Johore. On his arrival at Singapore, Raffles was visited by one of the two chief hereditary officials of Johore, who represented to him that an elder brother of the Sultan of Lingen was the legal successor to that throne, adding, that as the Dutch had negotiated with an incompetent authority, it was still open to the English to effect a settlement on the territory of Johore. This elder brother was subsequently recognized by the nobles at the court of Johore, and it was with this personage, in his capacity of Sultan of Johore, that Raffles concluded his treaty, and obtained permission to establish his settlement. The Dutch, on the other hand, maintained that the Sultan of Lingen had been legally invested with the sovereignty of Johore at the time of the occupation; and, therefore, that the permission accorded to Raffles was worthless. In a letter bearing date July 19, 1820, a correspondent writes to him from London-- "You are probably aware of the obstacles which have been opposed to the adoption of your measures, and even threatened your position in the service. Your zeal considerably out-stepped your prudence, and the first operations of it became known at an unfavourable juncture. It was thought that the state of affairs in Europe required that they should be discountenanced. "The acquisition of Singapore has grown in importance. The stir made here lately for the further enlargement of the Eastern trade fortified that impression. It is now accredited in the India House."[32] [Footnote 32: "Memoir of Sir Stamford Raffles."] Undoubtedly the Dutch were making strong endeavours at this time to procure the removal from the East of a man who had shown himself so resolute and capable an opponent of their commercial system. Raffles himself writes from Bencoolen in July, 1820, "After all, it is not impossible the ministry may be weak enough to abandon Singapore, and to sacrifice me, honour, and the Eastern Archipelago to the outrageous pretensions of the Dutch." Fortunately he had powerful friends, and he was not immediately recalled. Meanwhile he continued to hold the settlement on his personal responsibility against the efforts of both the British and Dutch East India Governments. In eighteen months it had grown from an insignificant fishing village to a port with a population of 10,000 inhabitants. During the first two and a half years of its existence Singapore was visited by as many as 2889 vessels, with an aggregate burden of 161,515 tons. The total value of its exports and imports for the year 1822 amounted to no less than 8,568,172 dollars.[33]