OLD SIAM--ITS HISTORY
The date at which any coherent and trustworthy history of Siam must
commence is the founding of the sacred city of Ayuthia (the former
capital of the kingdom), in the year 1350 of the Christian era.
Tradition, more or less obscure and fabulous, does indeed reach back
into the remote past so far as the fifth century, B.C. According to the
carefully arranged chronology of Bishop Pallegoix, gathered from the
Siamese annals, which annals, however, are declared by His Majesty the
late King to be "all full of fable, and are not in satisfaction for
believe," the origin of the nation can be traced back, if not into
indefinite space of time, at least into the vague and uncertain "woods,"
and ran on this wise:
"There were two Brahminical recluses dwelling in the woods, named
Satxanalai and Sîtthiongkon, coeval with Plua Khôdom (the Buddha),
and one hundred and fifty years of age, who having called their numerous
posterity together, counselled them to build a city having seven walls,
and then departed to the woods to pass their lives as hermits.
"But their posterity, under the leadership of Bathamaràt, erected the
city Savanthe valôk, or Sangkhalôk, about the year 300 of the era of
Phra Khôdom (B.C. about 243).
"Bathamaràt founded three other cities, over which he placed his three
sons. The first he appointed ruler in the city of Haripunxai, the second
in Kamphôxa nakhon, the third in Phetxabun. These four sovereignties
enjoyed, for five hundred years or more, the uttermost peace and harmony
under the rule of the monarchs of this dynasty."
The places named in this chronicle are all in the valley of the upper
Meinam, in the "north country," and the fact of most historical value
which the chronicle indicates is that the Siamese came from the north
and from the west, bringing with them the government and the religion
which they still possess. The most conspicuous personage in these
ancient annals is one Phra Ruàng, "whose advent and glorious reign had
been announced by a communication from Gaudama himself, and who
possessed, in consequence of his merits, a white elephant with black
tusks;" he introduced the Thai alphabet, ordained a new era which is
still in vogue, married the daughter of the emperor of China, and
consolidated the petty princedoms of the north country into one
sovereignty. His birth was fabulous and his departure from the world
mysterious. He is the mythic author of the Siamese History. Born of a
queen of the Nakhae (a fabulous race dwelling under the earth), who came
in the way of his father, the King of Haripunxai, one day when the king
had "retired to a mountain for the purpose of meditation, he was
discovered accidentally by a huntsman, and was recognized by the royal
ring which his father had given to the lady from the underworld. When he
had grown up he entered the court of his father, and the palace
trembled. He was acknowledged as the heir, and his great career
proceeded with uninterrupted glory. At last he went one day to the river
and disappeared." It was thought he had rejoined his mother, the Queen
of the Nakhae, and would pass the remainder of his life in the realms
beneath. The date of Phra Ruàng's reign is given as the middle of the
fifth century of the Christian era.
After him there came successive dynasties of kings, ending with Phaja
Uthong, who reigned seven years in Northern Cambodia, but being driven
from his kingdom by a severe pestilence, or having voluntarily abandoned
it (as another account asserts), in consequence of explorations which
had discovered "the southern country," and found it extremely fertile
and abundant in fish, he emigrated with his people and arrived at a
certain island in the Meinam, where he "founded a new city, Krung thèph
mahá nakhon Síajuthaja--a great town impregnable against angels:
Siamese era 711, A.D. 1349."
Here, at last, we touch firm historic ground, although there is still in
the annals a sufficient admixture of what the late king happily
designates as "fable." The foundations of Ayuthia, the new city, were
laid with extraordinary care. The soothsayers were consulted, and
decided that "in the 712th year of the Siamese era, on the sixth day of
the waning moon, the fifth month, at ten minutes before four o'clock,
the foundation should be laid. Three palaces were erected in honor of
the king; and vast countries, among which were Malacca, Tennasserim,
Java, and many others whose position cannot now be defined, were claimed
as tributary states." King Uthong assumed the title Phra-Rama-thi-bodi,
and after a reign of about twenty years in his new capital handed down
to his son and to a long line of successors, a large, opulent, and
consolidated realm. The word Phra, which appears in his title and in
that of almost all his successors to the present day, is said by Sir
John Bowring to be "probably either derived from or of common origin
with the Pharaoh of antiquity." But the resemblance between the words is
simply accidental, and the connection which he seeks to establish is not
for a moment to be admitted.
His Majesty the late King of Siam, a man of remarkable character and
history, was probably, while he lived, the best-informed authority on
all matters relating to the history of his kingdom. Fortunately, being a
man of scholarly habits and literary tastes, he has left on record a
concise and readable historical sketch, from which we cannot do better
than to make large quotations, supplementing it when necessary with
details gathered from other sources. The narrative begins with the
foundation of the royal city, Ayuthia, of which an account has already
been given on a previous page. The method of writing the proper names is
that adopted by the king himself, who was exact, even to a pedantic
extent, in regard to such matters. The king's English, however, which
was often droll and sometimes unintelligible, has in this instance been
corrected by the missionary under whose auspices the sketch was first
published.[2]
[Illustration: PAGODA AT AYUTHIA]
"Ayuthia when founded was gradually improved and became more and more
populous by natural increase, and the settlement there of families of
Laos, Kambujans, Peguans, people from Yunnán in China, who had been
brought there as captives, and by Chinese and Mussulmans from India, who
came for the purposes of trade. Here reigned fifteen kings of one
dynasty, successors of and belonging to the family of U-T'ong
Rámá-thi-bodi, who, after his death, was honorably designated as Phra
Chetha Bida--i.e., 'Royal Elder Brother Father.' This line was
interrupted by one interloping usurper between the thirteenth and
fourteenth. The last king was Mahíntrá-thi-ràt. During his reign the
renowned king of Pegu, named Chamna-dischop, gathered an immense army,
consisting of Peguans, Birmese, and inhabitants of northern Siam, and
made an attack upon Ayuthia. The ruler of northern Siam was Mahá-thamma
rájá related to the fourteenth king as son-in-law, and to the last as
brother-in-law.
"After a siege of three months the Peguans took Ayuthia, but did not
destroy it or its inhabitants, the Peguan monarch contenting himself
with capturing the king and royal family, to take with him as trophies
to Pegu, and delivered the country over to be governed by Mahá-thamma
rájá, as a dependency. The king of Pegu also took back with him the
oldest son of Mahá-thamma rájá as a hostage; his name was Phra Náret.
This conquest of Ayuthia by the king of Pegu took place A. D. 1556.
"This state of dependence and tribute continued but a few years. The
king of Pegu died, and in the confusion incident to the elevation of his
son as successor Prince Náret escaped with his family, and, attended by
many Peguans of influence, commenced his return to his native land. The
new king on hearing of his escape despatched an army to seize and bring
him back. They followed him till he had crossed the Si-thong (Birman
Sit-thaung) River, where he turned against the Peguan army, shot the
commander, who fell from his elephant dead, and then proceeded in safety
to Ayuthia.
"War with Pegu followed, and Siam again became independent. On the
demise of Mahá-thamma rájá, Prince Náret succeeded to the throne, and
became one of the mightiest and most renowned rulers Siam ever had. In
his wars with Pegu, he was accompanied by his younger brother,
Eká-tassa-rot, who succeeded Náret on the throne, but on account of
mental derangement was soon removed, and Phra-Siri Sin Ni-montham was
called by the nobles from the priesthood to the throne."
With the accession of this last-mentioned sovereign begins a new
dynasty. But before reproducing the chronicles of it we may add a few
words concerning that which preceded.
This dynasty had lasted from the founding of Ayuthia, A.D. 1350, until
A.D. 1602, a period of two hundred years. Its record shows, on the
whole, a remarkable regularity of succession, with perhaps no more
intrigues, illegitimacies, murders, and assassinations than are to be
found in the records of Christian dynasties. Temples and palaces were
built, and among other works a gold image of Buddha is said to have been
cast (in the city of Pichai, in the year A.D. 1380), "which weighed
fifty-three thousand catties, or one hundred and forty-one thousand
pounds, which would represent the almost incredible value (at seventy
shillings per ounce) of nearly six millions sterling. The gold for the
garments weighed two hundred and eighty-six catties." Another great
image of Buddha, in a sitting posture, was cast from gold, silver, and
copper, the height of which was fifty cubits.
One curious tradition is on record, the date of which is at the
beginning of the fifteenth century. On the death of King Intharaxa, the
sixth of the dynasty, his two eldest sons, who were rulers of smaller
provinces, hastened, each one from his home, to seize their father's
vacant throne. Mounted on elephants they hastened to Ayuthia, and by
strange chance arrived at the same moment at a bridge, crossing in
opposite directions. The princes were at no loss to understand the
motive each of his brother's journey. A contest ensued upon the
bridge--a contest so furious and desperate that both fell, killed by
each other's hands. One result of this tragedy was to make easy the way
of the youngest and surviving brother, who, coming by an undisputed
title to the throne, reigned long and prosperously.
During some of the wars between Pegu and Siam, the hostile kings availed
themselves of the services of Portuguese, who had begun, by the middle
of the sixteenth century, to settle in considerable numbers in both
kingdoms. And there are still extant the narratives of several
historians, who describe with characteristic pomposity and extravagance,
the magnificence of the military operations in which they bore a part.
One of these wars seems to have originated in the jealousy of the king
of Pegu, who had learned, to his great disgust, that his neighbor of
Siam was the fortunate possessor of no less than seven white elephants,
and was prospering mightily in consequence. Accordingly he sent an
embassy of five hundred persons to request that two of the seven sacred
beasts might be transferred as a mark of honor to himself. After some
diplomacy the Siamese king declined--not that he loved his neighbor of
Pegu less, but that he loved the elephants more, and that the Peguans
were (as they had themselves acknowledged) uninstructed in the
management of white elephants, and had on a former occasion almost been
the death of two of the animals of which they had been the owners, and
had been obliged to send them to Siam to save their lives. The king of
Pegu, however, was so far from regarding this excuse as satisfactory
that he waged furious and victorious war, and carried off not two but
four of the white elephants which had been the _casus belli_. It seems
to have been in a campaign about this time that, when the king of Siam
was disabled by the ignominious flight of the war elephant on which he
was mounted, his queen, "clad in the royal robes, with manly spirit
fights in her husband's stead, until she expires on her elephant from
the loss of an arm."
It is related of the illustrious Phra Náret, of whom the royal author,
in the passage quoted on a previous page, speaks with so much
admiration, that being greatly offended by the perfidious conduct of his
neighbor, the king of Cambodia, he bound himself by an oath to wash his
feet in the blood of that monarch. "So, immediately on finding himself
freed from other enemies, he assailed Cambodia, and besieged the royal
city of Lavik, having captured which, he ordered the king to be slain,
and his blood having been collected in a golden ewer he washed his feet
therein, in the presence of his courtiers, amid the clang of trumpets."
The founder of the second dynasty is famous in Siamese history as the
king in whose reign was discovered and consecrated the celebrated
footstep of Buddha, Phra Bàt, at the base of a famous mountain to the
eastward of Ayuthia. Concerning him the late king, in his historical
sketch, remarks:
"He had been very popular as a learned and religious teacher, and
commanded the respect of all the public counsellors; but he was not of
the royal family. His coronation took place A.D. 1602. There had
preceded him a race of nineteen kings, excepting one usurper. The new
king submitted all authority in government to a descendant of the former
line of kings, and to him also he intrusted his sons for education,
reposing confidence in him as capable of maintaining the royal authority
over all the tributary provinces. This officer thus became possessed of
the highest dignity and power. His master had been raised to the throne
at an advanced age. During the twenty-six years he was on the throne he
had three sons, born under the royal canopy--_i.e._, the great white
umbrella, one of the insignia of royalty.
"After the demise of the king, at an extreme old age, the personage whom
he had appointed as regent, in full council of the nobles, raised his
eldest son, then sixteen years old, to the throne. A short time after,
the regent caused the second son to be slain, under the pretext of a
rebellion against his elder brother. Those who were envious of the
regent excited the king to revenge his brother's death as causeless, and
plan the regent's assassination; but he, being seasonably apprised of
it, called a council of the nobles and dethroned him after one year's
reign, and then raised his youngest brother, the third son, to the
throne.
"He was only eleven years old. His extreme youth and fondness for play,
rather than politics or government, soon created discontent. Men of
office saw that it was exposing their country to contempt, and sought
for some one who might fill the place with dignity. The regent was long
accustomed to all the duties of the government, and had enjoyed the
confidence of their late venerable king; so, with one voice, the child
was dethroned and the regent exalted under the title of Phra Chan Pra
Sath-thong. This event occurred A.D. 1630," and forms the commencement
of the third dynasty.
"The king was said to have been connected with the former dynasty, both
paternally and maternally; but the connection must have been quite
remote and obscure. Under the reign of the priest-king he bore the title
Raja Suriwong, as indicating a remote connection with the royal family.
From him descended a line of ten kings, who reigned at Ayuthia and
Lopha-buri--Louvô of French writers. This line was once interrupted by
an usurper between the fourth and fifth reigns. This usurper was the
foster-father of an unacknowledged though real son of the fourth king,
Chau Nárái. During his reign many European merchants established
themselves and their trade in the country, among whom was Constantine
Phaulkon (Faulkon). He became a great favorite through his skill in
business, his suggestions and superintendence of public works after
European models, and by his presents of many articles regarded by the
people of those days as great curiosities, such as telescopes, etc.
"King Nárái, the most distinguished of all Siamese rulers, before or
since, being highly pleased with the services of Constantine, conferred
on him the title of Chau Phyá Wicha-yentrá-thé-bodi, under which title
there devolved on him the management of the government in all the
northern provinces of the country. He suggested to the king the plan of
erecting a fort on European principles as a protection to the capital.
This was so acceptable a proposal, that at the king's direction he was
authorized to select the location and construct the fort.
"He selected a territory which was then employed as garden-ground, but
is now the territory of Bangkok. On the west bank, near the mouth of a
canal, now called Báng-luang, he constructed a fort, which bears the
name of Wichayeiw Fort to this day. It is close to the residence of his
Royal Highness Chau-fà-noi Kromma Khun Isaret rangsan. This fort and
circumjacent territory was called Thana-buri. A wall was erected,
enclosing a space of about one hundred yards square. Another fort was
built on the east side of the river, where the walled city of Bangkok
now stands. The ancient name Bángkok was in use when the whole region
was a garden.[3] The above-mentioned fort was erected about the year
A.D. 1675.
"This extraordinary European also induced his grateful sovereign King
Nárái to repair the old city of Lopha-buri (Louvô), and construct there
an extensive royal palace on the principles of European architecture. On
the north of this palace Constantine erected an extensive and beautiful
collection of buildings for his own residence. Here also he built a
Romish church. The ruins of these edifices and their walls are still to
be seen, and are said to be a great curiosity. It is moreover stated
that he planned the construction of canals, with reservoirs at intervals
for bringing water from the mountains on the northeast to the city
Lopha-buri, and conveying it through earthen and copper pipes and
siphons, so as to supply the city in the dry season on the same
principle as that adopted in Europe. He commenced also a canal, with
embankments, to the holy place called Phra-Bat, about twenty-five miles
southwest from the city. He made an artificial pond on the summit of
Phra-Bat Mountain, and thence, by means of copper tubes and stop-cocks,
conveyed abundance of water to the kitchen and bath-rooms of the royal
residence at the foot of the mountain. His works were not completed when
misfortune overtook him.
"After the demise of Nárái, his unacknowledged son, born of a princess
of Yunnan or Chiang-Mai, and intrusted for training to the care of Phya
Petcha raja, slew Nárái's son and heir, and constituted his
foster-father king, himself acting as prime-minister till the death of
his foster-father, fifteen years after; he then assumed the royal state
himself. He is ordinarily spoken of as Nai Dua. Two of his sons and two
of his grandsons subsequently reigned at Ayuthia. The youngest of these
grandsons reigned only a short time, and then surrendered the royal
authority to his brother and entered the priesthood. While this brother
reigned, in the year 1759, the Birman king, Meng-luang Alaung Barah-gyi,
came with an immense army, marching in three divisions on as many
distinct routes, and combined at last in the siege of Aynthia.
"The Siamese king, Chaufa Ekadwat Anurak Moutri, made no resolute effort
of resistance. His great officers disagreed in their measures. The
inhabitants of all the smaller towns were indeed called behind the
walls of the city, and ordered to defend it to their utmost ability; but
jealousy and dissension rendered all their bravery useless. Sallies and
skirmishes were frequent, in which the Birmese were generally the
victorious party. The siege was continued for two years. The Birmese
commander-in-chief, Mahá Noratha, died, but his principal officers
elected another in his place. At the end of the two years the Birmese,
favored by the dry season, when the waters were shallow, crossed in
safety, battered the walls, broke down the gates, and entered without
resistance. The provisions of the Siamese were exhausted, confusion
reigned, and the Birmese fired the city and public buildings. The king,
badly wounded, escaped with his flying subjects, but soon died alone of
his wounds and his sorrows. He was subsequently discovered and buried.
"His brother, who was in the priesthood, and now the most important
personage in the country, was captured by the Birmans, to be conveyed in
triumph to Birmah. They perceived that the country was too remote from
their own to be governed by them; they therefore freely plundered the
inhabitants, beating, wounding, and even killing many families, to
induce them to disclose treasures which they supposed were hidden by
them. By these measures the Birmese officers enriched themselves with
most of the wealth of the country. After two or three months spent in
plunder they appointed a person of Mon or Peguan origin as ruler over
Siam, and withdrew with numerous captives, leaving this Peguan officer
to gather fugitives and property to convey to Birmah at some
subsequent opportunity. This officer was named Phrá Nái Kong, and made
his headquarters about three miles north of the city, at a place called
Pho Sam-ton, _i.e._, 'the three Sacred Fig-trees.' One account relates
that the last king mentioned above, when he fled from the city, wounded,
was apprehended by a party of travellers and brought into the presence
of Phyá Nái Kong in a state of great exhaustion and illness; that he was
kindly received and respectfully treated, as though he was still the
sovereign, and that Phyá Nái Kong promised to confirm him again as a
ruler of Siam, but his strength failed and he died a few days after his
apprehension.
[Illustration: VIEW TAKEN FROM THE CANAL AT AYUTHIA.]
"The conquest by Birmah, the destruction of Ayuthia, and appointment of
Phyá Nái Kong took place in March, A.D. 1767. This date is
unquestionable. The period between the foundation of Ayuthia and its
overthrow by the Birmans embraces four hundred and seventeen years,
during which there were thirty-three kings of three distinct dynasties,
of which the first dynasty had nineteen kings with one usurper; the
second had three kings, and the third had nine kings and one usurper.
"When Ayuthia was conquered by the Birmese, in March, 1767, there
remained in the country many bands of robbers associated under brave men
as their leaders. These parties had continued their depredations since
the first appearance of the Birman army, and during about two years had
lived by plundering the quiet inhabitants, having no government to
fear.
On the return of the Birman troops to their own country, these parties
of robbers had various skirmishes with each other during the year 1767.
"The first king established at Bangkok was an extraordinary man, of
Chinese origin, named Pin Tat. He was called by the Chinese, Tia Sin
Tat, or Tuat. He was born at a village called Bánták, in Northern Siam,
in latitude 16° N. The date of his birth was in March, 1734. At the
capture of Ayuthia he was thirty-three years old. Previous to that time
he had obtained the office of second governor of his own township, Tak,
and he next obtained the office of governor of his own town, under the
dignified title of Phyá Ták, which name he bears to the present day.
During the reign of the last king of Ayuthia, he was promoted to the
office and dignity of governor of the city Kam-Cheng-philet, which from
times of antiquity was called the capital of the western province of
Northern Siam. He obtained this office by bribing the high minister of
the king, Chaufá Ekadwat Anurak Moutri; and being a brave warrior he was
called to Ayuthia on the arrival of the Birman troops as a member of the
council. But when sent to resist the Birman troops, who were harassing
the eastern side of the city, perceiving that the Ayuthian government
was unable to resist the enemy, he, with his followers, fled to
Chantaburi (Chantaboun), a town on the eastern shore of the Gulf of
Siam, in latitude 12-1/2° N. and longitude 102° 10' E. There he united
with many brave men, who were robbers and pirates, and subsisted by
robbing the villages and merchant-vessels. In this way he became the
great military leader of the district and had a force of more than ten
thousand men. He soon formed a treaty of peace with the headman of
Bángplásoi, a district on the north, and with Kambuja and Annam (or
Cochin China) on the southeast."
With the fall of Ayuthia and the disasters inflicted by the Burman army
ended the third dynasty in the year 1767. So complete was the victory of
the Burmese, and so utter the overthrow of the kingdom of Siam, that it
was only after some years of disorder and partial lawlessness that the
realm became reorganized under strong centralized authority. The great
military leader, to whom the royal chronicle from which we have been
quoting refers, seems to have been pre-eminently the man for the hour.
By his patient sagacity, joined with bravery and qualities of leadership
which are not often found in the annals of Oriental warfare, he
succeeded in expelling the Burmese from the capital, and in reconquering
the provinces which, during the period of anarchy consequent on the
Burmese invasion, had asserted separate sovereignty and independence.
The war which about this time broke out between Burmah and China made
this task of throwing off the foreign yoke more easy. And his own good
sense and judicious admixture of mildness with severity conciliated and
settled the disturbed and disorganized provinces. Notably was this the
case in the province of Ligor, on the peninsula, where an alliance with
the beautiful daughter of the captive king, and presently the birth of a
son from the princess, made it easy to attach the government of that
province (and incidentally of the adjoining provinces), by ties of the
strongest allegiance to the new dynasty.
Joined with Phyá Ták, in his adventures and successes as his
confidential friend and helper, was a man of noble birth and vigorous
character, who was, indeed, scarcely the inferior of the great general
in ability. This man, closely associated with Phyá Ták, became at last
his successor. For, at the close of his career, and after his great work
of reconstructing the kingdom was fully accomplished, Phyá Ták became
insane. The bonzes (or priests of Buddha), notwithstanding all that he
had done to enrich the temples of the new capital (especially in
bringing from Laos "the emerald Buddha which is the pride and glory of
Bangkok at the present day"), turned against him, declaring that he
aspired to the divine honor of Buddha himself. His exactions of money
from his rich subjects and his deeds of cruelty and arbitrary power
toward all classes became so intolerable, that a revolt took place in
the city, and the king fled for safety to a neighboring pagoda and
declared himself a member of the priesthood. For a while his refuge in
the monastery availed to save his life. But presently his favorite
general, either in response to an invitation from the nobles or else
prompted by his own ambition, assumed the sovereignty and put his friend
and predecessor to a violent death. The accession of the new king (who
seems to have shared the dignity and responsibility of government with
his brother), was the commencement of the present dynasty, to the
history of which a new chapter may properly be devoted. But before
proceeding with the history we interrupt the narrative to give sketches
of two European adventurers whose exploits in Siam are among the most
romantic and suggestive in her annals.
FOOTNOTES:
[2] No attempt at uniformity in this respect has been made by the editor
of this volume; but, in passages quoted from different authors, the
proper names are written and accented according to the various methods
of those authors.
[3] Such names abound now, as Bang-cha, Bang-phra, Bang-pla-soi, etc.;
_Bang_ signifying a small stream or canal, such as is seen in gardens.