An unexpected result of these lectures was that a bond of mutual
interest was established between Dr. House and this group of
progressive nobles, the very party which in a few years dominated
the new government of Siam. It would be interesting for one who
knew the official entourage of King Mongkut to note how many of his
supporters were included in this number who made Dr. House their
friend because of his interest in science. Since Siamese noblemen
were known by titles rather than by family names and since these
titles change through elevation to higher rank only one acquainted
with a person at a particular rank could identify these men with
accuracy.
However the following are frequently mentioned in Dr. House’s
journal as showing a friendly attitude to him, and most of them
interested in Western science. In the régime which began in 1851
his friends were: the king, the vice-king, the prime minister, the
commander-in-chief, the minister of foreign affairs, the minister
of home affairs, the treasurer of the kingdom. In the régime of
Chulalongkorn, which began 1868, his special friends were: The
second king, the regent, the minister of foreign affairs, the
master of the mint, the commander-in-chief, and the court chaplain.
Besides these were several princes and nobles who did not occupy
particular offices. Several of these men had primitive laboratories
or workshops for experiments.
The series of lectures started such a revival of interest in
scientific matters among them that Dr. House soon found himself the
frequent host of several princes and nobles, seeking instruction
in all sorts of subjects; and he was on various occasions invited
to their shops to inspect their work or elucidate some obscure
difficulty, as though he were a peripatetic professor. He was even
seriously troubled by the borrowing of books and instruments which
they were not all punctilious to return. Moreover, he found himself
an agent of some of these men, ordering machinery and supplies and
tools from America for their use.
Chao Fah Noi said to him confidentially that any one who wanted
to do something new in those days must do it in secret, for if
the king learned of their activities he would call upon them to
work for him so as to keep them from pursuing investigations. This
prince, however, was not altogether secret in his experiments, for
under date of July 4, 1848, Dr. House writes:
“This a. m., we saw something new on the river—a little model
steamboat, not twenty feet long, with smoke-pipe, paddle
wheel, all complete, steaming bravely against the tide, with
H. R. H. Chao Fah Noi sitting at the helm. It was the first
native steamer on the Meinam, entirely his own construction.”
But not for one moment did Dr. House lose sight of his prime
objective. The favour of princes was no reward in itself; he was
always concerned for the influence he might exercise through his
contact with men of power:
“How taken with the new science is the Prince (Chao Fah Noi).
Oh, that acquaintance and opportunity given me with him may
be improved to win and turn him from his trust in false gods
and rites! He has a good mind.”
Not a lecture, scarcely a conversation, on science but Dr. House
sought to point out the unanswerable argument from “design in
nature” as a proof of a Creator and of the truth of Christianity.
To some, the revelations of nature through science became also the
revelations of a Divinity.
“Brother Chandler spoke of a person (Godata) who after
attending the chemical lectures last year, seeing evidence of
wisdom and goodness in the composition of air and water, said
‘There must be a God—there must be.’”
This same Godata it was who became chaplain to the army under King
Chulalongkorn.
A study of Dr. House’s journal seems to justify the assertion that
his most far-reaching influence upon the mission work was through
his relations with these progressive members of the nobility. It is
even within a margin of safety to affirm that his influence was not
exceeded by that of any other man up to the time of his retirement.
This opinion does not underestimate such men as Rev. Jesse Caswell,
Rev. Daniel B. Bradley, M.D., and Rev. Stephen Mattoon, whose
labours also were pivotal in the development of missions in Siam.
It only so happened that the association of Dr. House with the
officials of the new government was more continuous in its bearing
upon the work. Having gained their sympathy through his practise
of medicine, and enlarged their interest through his knowledge
of science, he won their complete confidence by his sterling
character. When later these men, having obtained chief power in
the government, turned to him for counsel in international affairs
or when he went to them in behalf of the mission they knew that
his judgment was fair and free from ulterior motive. During nearly
the entire period of his service he was a valuable friend of the
Siamese government and a wise advocate of the mission at court.
V