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A VISIT TO THE COURT AND PEOPLE OF SIAM. FROM THE JOURNAL OF STAFF-COMMANDER JOHN RICHARDS, R.N., EDITED BY WALTER PURCELL, ESQ., OF THE INNER TEmple. CHAPTER I.

A brief outline of the history of Siam in its relation with the civilisation of Europe.

When the famous Dom Alfonso d'Albuquerque was engaged in the conquest of Malacca, he despatched a messenger to the King of Siam, offering to transfer the government of the principal city to that monarch in return for some military assistance. Instead of the aid required, his Siamese Majesty sent presents and honied words. This was in 1511, the date of the first communication of the Portuguese with the kingdom of Siam. Within six years after that event the Portuguese had alighted upon Siamese territory. So well pleased were the Portuguese with their new habitation, that an embassage soon followed from their Sovereign of Portugal, and Diogo Coelho returned to his master, having viewed the "Terrestrial Paradise"* and glanced at the shadow of the Siamese king. How the Portuguese thrived in Siam, may be learned from the fact, that when an invading army of Peguans menaced the capital, in 1548, the assistance rendered by the foreigners rescued the kingdom from impending danger. This hardy and adventurous people enjoyed for nearly a century exclusive privileges of settlement, trade, and religious propagand; but the time came when they were to be confronted by a race as hardy and adventurous as they, a race before whose superior intelligence the Lusitanian must bow, even though arrogance should outweigh moderation and mendacity exceed truth. The Dutch from the Isle of Java sighted the argosies that

"with portly sail,

Like signiors and rich burghers of the flood," floated from the Siamese coast. The Dutch were fond of enterprise and loved to roam. One fine morning, in the year 1604, the crafty Lusitanian was startled to find the Hollander settled in his neighbourhood, seemingly as complacent as though he felt at home. Notwithstanding some strenuous efforts made to dislodge him, there *The Siamese name for Ayudia, the ancient capital of Siam, was Sijon Thijon which means terrestrial paradise.

U. S. MAG. No. 434, JAN. 1865.

B

the honest Hollander remained. The influence of the Dutch soon impressed the rulers of the country, and in due time a Siamese ambassador found his way to Java and thence to Holland. The Siamese noble was surprised to find that the Dutch actually possessed a country of their own, and were not a nation of pirates as were represented to be by the Portuguese! Commerce, by the law of nations, ought to be common, and not converted to monopoly and to the private gain of a few. Not so, thought the Portuguese, whose jealousy of the Dutch soon impelled them to betray their narrow policy. Not content with embarrassing the trade of the Dutch and treating them with contumely, they proceeded to seize their ships and confiscate their merchandise. This insult to his sovereign power aroused the king from his inactivity. The gilded barge of the Portuguese prime magnate, as it ostentatiously glided on the Menam, was seized by the king's order, and the rapacity of the Portuguese was punished by their forfeiture of the royal favour. Nor was this all. The Portuguese flew to arms and the tocsin of war resounded in the Malaccas, the Philippines,† and the vice-kingdom of Goa. The king invoked the aid of the Dutch which was not withheld; and upon the ruin of the Portuguese rose the Dutch influence.

The Dutch continued to be the favoured nation till the celebrated Greek adventurer, Phaulkon, attained power and leagued with French Jesuits to place the kingdom under the spiritual and temporal dominion of France. The Dutch policy had been progressive; it dissipated some of the dullest prejudices of a court always impenetrable to the unsteady rays of a blinking policy. The first foreigner publicly admitted into the presence of the king was the Dutch East India Company's agent. This distinguished honour was accorded in 1685, the year in which arrived the ambassador of the Grand Monarque to receive the homage of the Lord of the White Elephant.

The most interesting portion of the history of Siam, in respect to its relation with the civilisation of Europe, is connected with the the time of Phaulkon. This extraordinary adventurer was born in Cephalonia, in 1647, of humble parents. Whilst yet a youth he contrived to visit England where he loitered for a time. From England he directed his course towards the East Indies. He was shipwrecked on the coast of Siam. Casting his lot among the Siamese, he adopted their language and their habits, and he soon acquired by his industry the means of purchasing a small coasting vessel. He traded and prospered, but his prosperity did not endure long. The elements conspired to rob him of his vessel and all his valuables, which were on board, and he was thankful that he *Commercium jure gentium commune esse debet, et non in monopolium et privatum paucorum quæstum convertendum. 3 Inst.

The date of the occurrence was 1624, when the successor of Philip the Second reigned over Spain and Portugal, before the House of Braganza had emerged from obscurity.

escaped with life. The time that a weak man would lose in repining, Phaulkon employed in laying the foundation of a new fortune. Time, indeed, was to him a valuable which no catastrophe could remove.* The superstructure arose, but the waves again lashed the base with fury, and Phaulkon a third time was spurned by the angry sea. It happened that an ambassador of the King of Siam, who was returning from the Court of Pekin, whither he had been with the glittering tribute-tree,† was involved in the same fate that befel Phauikon. Both were shipwrecked at the same spot on the coast of Malabar. The young Greek was less unfortunate than the Siamese noble. Whilst the one was bereft of everything, the other had rescued a thousand crowns from the devouring waves. Phaulkon generously offered to expend the remnant of his fortune in conveying the ambassador to his country. The offer was gladly accepted. When the pair arrived in Ayudia, the ambassador was not unmindful of his obligation. The young Greek was introduced to the Phra Kalohom who received him kindly, the ambassador having exhausted in his behalf the terms of commendation. Phaulkon's great natural ability, expanding with his European reminiscences, soon recommended him to the Phra Kalohom's highest favour. The Court breathed no religious intolerance, and Phaulkon hesitated not to perform the customary prostrations before the monarch; his Christian faith and foreign birth were therefore no bar to his advancement. By degrees the rude seaman became an accomplished courtier, and by degrees the courtier supplanted his patron in the exercise of real power. When Phaulkon had succeeded in gaining the ear of the king, there was instituted in this corner of Asia a condition of things similar to that which arose in England eighty years afterwards. Phaulkon was like the "Groom of the Stole," the dispenser of patronage, whilst the Phra was the ostensible head of the Government, whose courtyard was no longer thronged with hungry expectants. But the Greek was more wary than the Scotsman, and the mistake committed by Lord Bute was avoided. The exemplar of the fallen duke was suffered to retain the semblance of power, and had no occasion to conceal his shame in the sylvan shades of a Claremont.

Among the suitors that thronged around the favourite, none were more importunate than the Fathers of the French Propaganda. They verily believed in M. Constance, § affirming that his mission was adjuvant to their own. The heathen must be converted, the French name glorified, an instrument to their hand is this

* Dante says somewhere, "All our misfortunes, if we come properly to examine their origin, arise from our not understanding the use of time."

A small tree of gold or silver and a few products of the country constitute the tribute which the king of Siam continues to send tri-nially to the Emperor of China.

Prime minister.

§ The name by which Phaulkon (whose christian name was Constantine), is known among French writers.

adventurous Greek! so thought the propagandists who remembered that they were the subjects of Louis, as well as the disciples of Ignatius. What unpolished man unversed in the casuistry of the schools like Phaulkon, although gifted with great natural talent, could long withstand the blandishments of such refined and wily zealots! In time, the Jesuits' persuasive tongue induced Phaulkon to think that, with the aid of the French uation and through the kind offices of the Church, he might obtain for himself a kingdom here, and a kingdom hereafter.

The most active of the missionary fathers was M. de Berithe. Through the instrumentality of a certain Brame who, by reason of his pleasantries, had ready access to the king, the good father contrived to impress his majesty with ideas of the greatness of France, and of the wisdom of M. de Berithe.* The missionary at length wriggled himself into the king's presence. He endeavoured to prepare the mind of the monarch for the reception of the subversive doctrines that Constance was one day to announce.

In 1682, Phaulkon abjured Protestantism. This circumstance brought joy to the Vatican, joy to Versailles, and Innocent and Louis congratulated each other, and boasted in the face of Europe of the success of the machinations that would give to the one spiritual dominion, and to the other temporal sovereignty over a new nation.

The advent of the ambassador of Louis, in 1685, was hailed with delight, not only by the missionaries and Phaulkon, but by the king himself. Never was representative treated with more flattering distinction than M. de. Chaumont. Whenever he moved upon the water, as he himself tells us, he was enthroned in a gilded barge and was escorted by the highest nobles of the Court. Whenever he journied on land he was mounted upon a richly-caparisoned elephant and surrounded with the trappings of almost regal state. Whenever he condescended to repose ashore, he was lodged within a palace painted red, red being the peculiar colour that indicates the abode of royalty. In the Hall of Audience he was suffered to read his harangue-so he styles the letter from his master to the Siamese monarch-whilst he was seated and wearing his hat, four score courtiers being, at the same time, prostrate before the throne of the despotic prince.

Notwithstanding all this blazon and show of favour M. de Chaumont was foiled in his endeavours. The king declined to change his religion. His majesty, with provoking coolness, reasoned with the ambassador, saying: "I am surprised that my friend, the King of France, should interest himself about a matter that lies betwixt God and my conscience. Buddhism has been long established in this kingdom, and in other kingdoms other religions flourish. If the Divine Being who created us willed that we should all profess one religion-the religion of the King of

* Relation de l'Ambassade de M. de Chaumout à la cour du Roy de Siam. Amsterdam 1686.