THE SIAMESE SYSTEM OF SLAVERY.[48]
Under the late king, his Majesty Somdetch P'hra Paramendr Maha Mongkut,
there existed in Siam a mixed system of slavery, in part resembling the
old system of English feudal service, in part the former serfdom of
Russia, and again in part the peonage of Mexico.
Three fourths of the population of Siam are in this condition of
modified slavery, branded with the mark of their owners, or held by
their creditors in a form of qualified servitude to work out a debt.
The royal family, princes, and chief rulers and magistrates of the
country, are the only exceptions to this rule. But even they are
obliged to serve the king in times of war, or to provide a fitting
substitute.
"Slaves," in the minute subdivisions of the law, are classed under
seven different heads: first, prisoners of war; second, slaves by
purchase; third, slaves by birth; fourth, by gifts and legacies; fifth,
those who become slaves from gratitude; sixth, voluntary slaves in
times of famine; seventh, debtors and their children.
But these may all be embraced in three general classes, called Prie,
Baw, and Bâtt, that of slaves by birth and attached to the land, of
slaves by purchase, and of slaves captured in war.
The prisoners of war and their descendants are composed of the
following nations and numbers: Malays, fifty thousand; Cochin-Chinese,
seventy-five thousand; Peguans, one million; Laotians, twenty-five
thousand; and Birmese, fifty thousand. All these, with few exceptions,
belong to the kings of Siam. Some few are given to the principal nobles
and chiefs who have distinguished themselves in the state; but even
these, with their descendants, are held as Baw Chow Chewitt,--the
king's slaves. The Cochin-Chinese captured in war, and all their
numerous descendants, belong exclusively to the second king,--the first
or supreme king having a positive antipathy to that people. They are
formed into an army under the command of the second king, to guard his
person, palaces, harem, etc.
The Malays and Peguans are employed as sailors and soldiers in company
with the native Siamese. These are all branded on the left side a
little below the armpit, and they are bound to serve three months in
every year; the remaining time they may employ in their own private
interests.
The slaves by purchase are divided into two classes, "redeemable" and
"irredeemable." The first class must furnish security that they will
fulfil the legal requirements of their masters. These can always free
themselves by refunding the purchase-money, or can change their masters
on procuring payment of the sum due to the old masters.
The second class are chiefly young girls sold by their parents,
relatives, or owners; with these no security is either given or taken,
because they generally become the wives or concubines of the buyer.
As a natural consequence more than four fifths abscond whenever they
get an opportunity, and the owner has no redress. Women-slaves are not
branded or enrolled as the men-slaves are.
Husbands may sell their wives, parents their children, and masters
their slaves and debtors; but no one can sell an adult man-slave after
he is sixteen, or a woman-slave after she has attained puberty, without
his or her consent.
Prices of slaves vary according to the appearance, color, strength,
physical proportions, and parentage of the person sold, from one
hundred and twenty ticals for men, and sixty to a hundred ticals[49]
for women. But if the woman be fair and pleasing in form and feature,
she will bring as much as a thousand ticals for the harem of a great
noble.
The method of selling one's self is very simple. Every man, on becoming
a slave, signs an agreement, of which I give a copy below. This paper
his master retains, but is obliged to surrender whenever the slave
produces the amount mentioned in it.
"Wednesday, the seventh day of the waning moon of the year 1227 of the
little era Choola Sakarat,[50] I, Khow, sell myself to Nai Dang for
ticals one hundred and twenty, to be refunded by me, Khow, at the time
and hour of being set free."
Such is the bill of sale. But as it generally happens that the parents
have also sold themselves, some other security is required, which is
given in another paper. The value of anything that the slave may break
or destroy is added to the original account.
The masters are bound to furnish their slaves with rice and fish daily,
but not with clothes.
The position of the slaves by birth differs in no respect from that of
slaves by purchase, with the exception that while the prices of the
latter vary, the price of the former is fixed by law for every age,
size, and sex, and the owners cannot demand more for them than that
which is determined by the law.
The severest punishment for slaves is being made to work in chains. If
no improvement takes place from this punishment, the slave is handed
over to the king's judges, and is, provided the crime or misdemeanor is
proven, incarcerated in the Siamese convict prison,--a punishment to
which death itself is preferable.
The principal hardship that the slave suffers is being obliged to marry
at the will of his or her owner, and this with a people who are highly
susceptible of conjugal affection is often the cause of great suffering
to the women.
Then comes the difficulty of lodging a complaint against their masters
for an insufficiency of food, and sometimes for an absolute want
of clothes, for which latter even the law does not hold the master
responsible.
There are four conditions under which a slave is freed from the
obligations of servitude,--slaves voluntarily manumitted by their
masters; slaves admitted to the priesthood; those who are given to
serve the priests; and when the master himself takes the vows of a
priest, he is obliged to free all his slaves, as the ecclesiastical
court will not otherwise receive him into the priesthood, and he can
at no time reclaim them for actual service, unless on quitting the
priesthood he repurchases them.
Debtors may be made slaves when they do not pay the interest for money
borrowed, and will not work to make good the failure of payment; and in
case of death the nearest relative becomes a slave till the original
amount, with the interest added, is refunded. The rate of interest
in Siam is about thirty per cent, and the poor are unable, unless by
labor, to pay such an exorbitant rate.
If the bought or rather the redeemable slave should die in his master's
service,--even after a lifetime of labor,--the security must refund the
original sum or become a slave in his stead. If a slave be sick, and is
attended to during his illness in his master's house, the security is
liable for the interest of the slave's purchase-money during the period
of illness. When children are sold under the full value, they must not
be beaten till they bleed.
When a slave volunteers out of affection for his master or mistress to
take his or her place in prison or in torture, one half of his or her
purchase-money must be refunded to the security. But if the slave is
irredeemable, no part is to be refunded.
If a man sell a slave, and after receiving the money refuse to give him
or her up to the purchaser, he shall pay double the sum,--three fourths
to the buyer and one fourth into the government or state treasury.
If a buyer disapprove of a slave before three months have elapsed, he
may recover his money.
If a master strike his slave so that he die, no claim can be made upon
the security, and the master shall be punished according to the law.
Anything that a slave may break can be added, at the will of the owner,
to the purchase-money.
If in herding cattle he be negligent, and they be lost, he shall pay
for them; if more be given into his charge than he can attend to, he
shall pay only half; but if robbers bind him and steal the cattle, he
cannot be held responsible.
Any claim against a slave must be made by the owner before he is sold
to another party.
If a master or mistress force a female slave to marry one man
when she has openly professed a preference for another, half her
redemption-money must be remitted.
If a slave go to war instead of his master, and fight bravely, he
must be set free at the termination of the battle. If he fight only
ordinarily well, half his purchase-money shall be remitted.
If a master repurchase a slave, and he die in his service, he can
demand only half the original amount from his security.
If a slave begin to plant rice, he cannot, even if able, purchase his
freedom until the harvest is over.
If, when rice is dear, a man sell himself to slavery below the standard
value, when rice gets cheap the price must be raised, and the balance
paid over by the purchaser.
If a slave injure himself while at his master's work, compensation must
be made according to the nature of the injury.
If a slave die in the stead or in the defence of his master, nothing
can be demanded from the security.
In all cases of an epidemic, nothing can be claimed from the security.
If a man have several wives, and the lesser sell themselves to the
higher wives, or the poorer to the richer, no interest can be claimed
on the purchase-money, as they are considered sisters in the sight of
the law.
If the slave demand a change of masters, and the master cannot dispose
of him, he must take him to the judges to sell; and if they find no
purchaser within three days, he must return to his master and be
thenceforward Khai-Khat, irredeemable.
If a slave run away, the money expended in apprehending him or her must
be added to his original account.
Slaves having children, the children become slaves, and must be paid
for according to age.
If a master compel a slave to bear a child against her will, both she
and the child are free in the sight of the law, even if irredeemable at
first.
If a slave complain against his master, the judges will not file the
complaint unless he has first paid his purchase-money, except in cases
of murder and treason.
If a slave accuse his master falsely of capital crimes, his tongue and
lips shall be cut off. But if the charge be true, he shall receive his
freedom, even if Khai-Khat irredeemables.
If a slave make money on his or her own private account, at his or her
death it will become the property of the master. But if the money be
left to him, it shall go to the nearest relative.
In all cases of doubt between the slave-woman and her master, the law
shall protect the mother, and the children must be given to her if she
bring the price, under penalty of forfeiting both mother and child.
Two slaves, husband and wife, brother and sister, having their names on
the same bill of sale, if one run away, the other shall be charged with
the entire debt.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 48: For the following statements I am indebted to the late
king, who very kindly furnished me with a copy of the Siamese "Slave
Laws," from which these pages are translated, as if the system still
existed.]
[Footnote 49: A tical may be valued at from fifty to sixty cents of the
Spanish dollar.]
[Footnote 50: The Siamese months are lunar months; each is divided
into two parts, i.e. Khang Khun and Khang Ram, waxing and waning moon.
Six of the months have thirty, and six twenty-nine days. To compensate
for the deficiency of the eleven days which are required to make a
full solar year, they have an intercalary month of thirty days once
in three years, and there being still a loss of about three days in
nineteen years, this is supplied by an arbitrary addition of a day
to the seventh month of such years as may be selected by the Brahmin
astrologers, whose business it is to observe the sun's path in the
heavens, and to announce all variations in the calendar. At the very
moment of the sun's crossing the equator, they make proclamation of the
advent of each new year, accompanied by a burst of music and by the
firing of great guns, both from the palace and the city walls.
The Siamese have two cycles, one within the other; the greater is
twelve, and the lesser ten years in duration. Every year in each cycle
has its own peculiar name. Their sacred era is reckoned from the time
of the death of the Buddha (2415). It is denominated Buddha Sakarat.
Their civil era is called Choola Sakarat, and is reckoned from the time
of its establishment (1233) by P'hra Rooang, a Siamese king of great
celebrity.]