In 1825 a royal prince of Siam (his birthright wrested from him, and his
life imperilled) took refuge in a Buddhist monastery and assumed the
yellow garb of a priest. His father, commonly known as Phen-den-Klang,
first or supreme king of Siam, had just died, leaving this prince,
Chowfa Mongkut, at the age of twenty, lawful heir to the crown; for he
was the eldest son of the acknowledged queen, and therefore by courtesy
and honored custom, if not by absolute right, the legitimate successor
to the throne of the P'hra-batts. [Footnote: The Golden-footed.] But he
had an elder half-brother, who, through the intrigues of his mother, had
already obtained control of the royal treasury, and now, with the
connivance, if not by the authority, of the Senabawdee, the Grand
Council of the kingdom, proclaimed himself king. He had the grace,
however, to promise his plundered brother--such royal promises being a
cheap form of propitiation in Siam--to hold the reins of government only
until Chowfa Mongkut should be of years and strength and skill to manage
them. But, once firmly seated on the throne, the usurper saw in his
patient but proud and astute kinsman only a hindrance and a peril in the
path of his own cruder and fiercer aspirations. Hence the forewarning
and the flight, the cloister and the yellow robes. And so the usurper
continued to reign, unchallenged by any claim from the king that should
be, until March, 1851, when, a mortal illness having overtaken him, he
convoked the Grand Council of princes and nobles around his couch, and
proposed his favorite son as his successor. Then the safe asses of the
court kicked the dying lion with seven words of sententious scorn,--"The
crown has already its rightful owner"; whereupon the king literally
cursed himself to death, for it was almost in the convulsion, of his
chagrin and rage that he came to his end, on the 3d of April.
In Siam there is no such personage as an heir-apparent to the throne, in
the definite meaning and positive value which attaches to that phrase in
Europe,--no prince with an absolute and exclusive title, by birth,
adoption, or nomination, to succeed to the crown. And while it is true
that the eldest living son of a Siamese sovereign by his queen or queen
consort is recognized by all custom, ancient and modern, as the
_probable_ successor to the high seat of his royal sire, he cannot be
said to have a clear and indefeasible right to it, because the question
of his accession has yet to be decided by the electing voice of the
Senabawdee, in whose judgment he may be ineligible, by reason of certain
physical, mental, or moral disabilities,--as extreme youth, effeminacy,
imbecility, intemperance, profligacy. Nevertheless, the election is
popularly expected to result in the choice of the eldest son of the
queen, though an interregnum or a regency is a contingency by no means
unusual.
It was in view of this jurisdiction of the Senabawdee, exercised in
deference to a just and honored usage, that the voice of the oracle fell
upon the ear of the dying monarch with a disappointing and offensive
significance; for he well knew who was meant by the "rightful owner" of
the crown. Hardly had he breathed his last when, in spite of the busy
intrigues of his eldest son (whom we find described in the _Bangkok
Recorder_ of July 26, 1866, as "most honorable and promising"), in spite
of the bitter vexation of his lordship Chow Phya Sri Sury Wongse, so
soon to be premier, the prince Chowfa Mongkut doffed his sacerdotal
robes, emerged from his cloister, and was crowned, with the title of
Somdetch Phra Paramendr Maha Mongkut.[Footnote: Duke, and royal bearer
of the great crown.]
For twenty-five years had the true heir to the throne of the
P'hra-batts, patiently biding his time, lain _perdu_ in his monastery,
diligently devoting himself to the study of Sanskrit, Pali, theology,
history, geology, chemistry, and especially astronomy. He had been a
familiar visitor at the houses of the American missionaries, two of whom
(Dr. House and Mr. Mattoon) were, throughout his reign and life,
gratefully revered by him for that pleasant and profitable converse
which helped to unlock to him the secrets of European vigor and
advancement, and to make straight and easy the paths of knowledge he had
started upon. Not even the essential arrogance of his Siamese nature
could prevent him from accepting cordially the happy influences these
good and true men inspired; and doubtless he would have gone more than
half-way to meet them, but for the dazzle of the golden throne in the
distance which arrested him midway between Christianity and Buddhism,
between truth and delusion, between light and darkness, between life and
death.
In the Oriental tongues this progressive king was eminently proficient;
and toward priests, preachers, and teachers, of all creeds, sects, and
sciences, an enlightened exemplar of tolerance. It was likewise his
peculiar vanity to pass for an accomplished English scholar, and to this
end he maintained in his palace at Bangkok a private printing
establishment, with fonts of English type, which, as may be perceived
presently, he was at no loss to keep in "copy." Perhaps it was the
printing-office which suggested, quite naturally, an English governess
for the _élite_ of his wives and concubines, and their offspring,--in
number amply adequate to the constitution of a royal school, and in
material most attractively fresh and romantic. Happy thought! Wherefore,
behold me, just after sunset on a pleasant day in April, 1862, on the
threshold of the outer court of the Grand Palace, accompanied by my own
brave little boy, and escorted by a compatriot.
A flood of light sweeping through the spacious Hall of Audience
displayed a throng of noblemen in waiting. None turned a glance, or
seemingly a thought, on us, and, my child being tired and hungry, I
urged Captain B---- to present us without delay. At once we mounted the
marble steps, and entered the brilliant hall unannounced. Ranged on the
carpet were many prostrate, mute, and motionless forms, over whose heads
to step was a temptation as drolly natural as it was dangerous. His
Majesty spied us quickly, and advanced abruptly, petulantly screaming,
"Who? who? who?"
Captain B---- (who, by the by, is a titled nobleman of Siam) introduced
me as the English governess, engaged for the royal family. The king
shook hands with us, and immediately proceeded to march up and down in
quick step, putting one foot before the other with mathematical
precision, as if under drill. "Forewarned, forearmed!" my friend
whispered that I should prepare myself for a sharp cross-questioning as
to my age, my husband, children, and other strictly personal concerns.
Suddenly his Majesty, having cogitated sufficiently in his peculiar
manner, with one long final stride halted in front of us, and pointing
straight at me with his forefinger, asked, "How old shall you be?"
Scarcely able to repress a smile at a proceeding so absurd, and with my
sex's distaste for so serious a question, I demurely replied, "One
hundred and fifty years old."
Had I made myself much younger, he might have ridiculed or assailed me;
but now he stood surprised and embarrassed for a few moments, then
resumed his queer march; and at last, beginning to perceive the jest,
coughed, laughed, coughed again, and in a high, sharp key asked, "In
what year were you borned?"
Instantly I struck a mental balance, and answered, as gravely as I
could, "In 1788."
At this point the expression of his Majesty's face was indescribably
comical. Captain B---- slipped behind a pillar to laugh; but the king
only coughed, with a significant emphasis that startled me, and
addressed a few words to his prostrate courtiers, who smiled at the
carpet,--all except the prime minister, who turned to look at me. But
his Majesty was not to be baffled so: again he marched with vigor, and
then returned to the attack with _élan_.
"How many years shall you be married?"
"For several years, your Majesty."
He fell into a brown study; then, laughing, rushed at me, and demanded
triumphantly:--
"Ha! How many grandchildren shall you now have? Ha, ha! How many? How
many? Ha, ha, ha!"
Of course we all laughed with him; but the general hilarity admitted of
a variety of constructions.
Then suddenly he seized my hand, and dragged me, _nolens volens_, my
little Louis holding fast by my skirt, through several sombre passages,
along which crouched duennas, shrivelled and grotesque, and many
youthful women, covering their faces, as if blinded by the splendor of
the passing Majesty. At length he stopped before one of the
many-curtained recesses, and, drawing aside the hangings, disclosed a
lovely, childlike form. He stooped and took her hand, (she naively
hiding her face), and placing it in mine, said, "This is my wife, the
Lady Tâlâp. She desires to be educated in English. She is as pleasing
for her talents as for her beauty, and it is our pleasure to make her a
good English scholar. You shall educate her for me."
I replied that the office would give me much pleasure; for nothing could
be more eloquently winning than the modest, timid bearing of that tender
young creature in the presence of her lord. She laughed low and
pleasantly as he translated my sympathetic words to her, and seemed so
enraptured with the graciousness of his act that I took my leave of her
with a sentiment of profound pity.
He led me back by the way we had come; and now we met many children, who
put my patient boy to much childish torture for the gratification of
their startled curiosity.
"I have sixty-seven children," said his Majesty, when we had returned to
the Audience Hall. "You shall educate them, and as many of my wives,
likewise, as may wish to learn English. And I have much correspondence
in which you must assist me. And, moreover, I have much difficulty for
reading and translating French letters; for French are fond of using
gloomily deceiving terms. You must undertake; and you shall make all
their murky sentences and gloomily deceiving propositions clear to me.
And, furthermore, I have by every mail foreign letters whose writing is
not easily read by me. You shall copy on round hand, for my readily
perusal thereof."
_Nil desperandum_; but I began by despairing of my ability to accomplish
tasks so multifarious. I simply bowed, however, and so dismissed myself
for that evening.
One tempting morning, when the air was cool, my boy and I ventured some
distance beyond the bounds of our usual cautious promenade, close to the
palace of the premier. Some forty or fifty carpenters, building boats
under a long low shed, attracted the child's attention. We tarried
awhile, watching their work, and then strolled to a stone bridge hard
by, where we found a gang of repulsive wretches, all men, coupled by
means of iron collars and short but heavy fetters, in which they moved
with difficulty, if not with positive pain. They were carrying stone
from the canal to the bridge, and as they stopped to deposit their
burdens, I observed that most of them had hard, defiant faces, though
here and there were sad and gentle eyes that bespoke sympathy. One of
them approached us, holding out his hand, into which Boy dropped the few
coins he had. Instantly, with a greedy shout, the whole gang were upon
us, crowding us on all sides, wrangling, yelling. I was exceedingly
alarmed, and having no more money there, knew not what to do, except to
take my child in my arms, and strive again and again to break through
the press; but still I fell back baffled, and sickened by the
insufferable odors that emanated from their disgusting persons; and
still they pressed and scrambled and screamed, and clanked their horrid
chains. But behold! suddenly, as if struck by lightning, every man of
them fell on his face, and officers flew among them pell-mell, swingeing
with hard, heavy thongs the naked wincing backs.
It was with a sense of infinite relief that we found ourselves safe in
our rooms at last; but the breakfast tasted earthy and the atmosphere
was choking, and our very hearts were parched. At night Boy lay burning
on his little bed, moaning for _aiyer sujok_ (cold water), while I
fainted for a breath of fresh, sweet air. But God blesses these Eastern
prison-houses not at all; the air that visits them is no better than the
life within,--heavy, stifling, stupefying. For relief I betook me to the
study of the Siamese language, an occupation I had found very pleasant
and inspiring. As for Boy, who spoke Malay fluently, it was wonderful
with what aptness he acquired it.
When next I "interviewed" the king, I was accompanied by the premier's
sister, a fair and friendly woman, whose whole stock of English was,
"Good morning, sir"; and with this somewhat irrelevant greeting, a dozen
times in an hour, though the hour were night, she relieved her pent-up
feelings, and gave expression to her sympathy and regard for me.
Mr. Hunter, private secretary to the premier, had informed me, speaking
for his Excellency, that I should prepare to enter upon my duties at the
royal palace without delay. Accordingly, next morning, the elder sister
of the Kralahome came for us. She led the way to the river, followed by
slave-girls bearing a gold teapot, a pretty gold tray containing two
tiny porcelain cups with covers, her betel-box, also of gold, and two
large fans. When we were seated in the closely covered basket-boat, she
took up one of the books I had brought with me, and, turning over the
leaves, came upon the alphabet; whereat, with a look of pleased
surprise, she began repeating the letters. I helped her, and for a while
she seemed amused and gratified; but presently, growing weary of it, she
abruptly closed the book, and, offering me her hand, said, "Good
morning, sir!" I replied with equal cordiality, and I think we bade each
other good morning at least a dozen times before we reached the palace.
We landed at a showy pavilion, and after traversing several covered
passages came to a barrier guarded by Amazons, to whom the old lady was
evidently well known, for they threw open the gate for us, and
"squatted" till we passed. A hot walk of twenty minutes brought us to a
curious oval door of polished brass, which opened and shut noiselessly
in a highly ornate frame. This admitted us to a cool retreat, on one
side of which were several temples or chapels in antique styles, and on
the other a long dim gallery. On the marble floor of this pavilion a
number of interesting children sat or sprawled, and quaint babies slept
or frolicked in their nurses' arms. It was, indeed, a grateful change
from the oppressive, irritating heat and glare through which we had just
passed.
The loungers started up to greet our motherly guide, who humbly
prostrated herself before them; and then refreshments were brought in on
large silver trays, with covers of scarlet silk in the form of a
bee-hive. As no knife or fork or spoon was visible, Boy and I were fain
to content ourselves with oranges, wherewith we made ourselves an
unexpected but cheerful show for the entertainment and edification of
those juvenile spectators of the royal family of Siam. I smiled and held
out my hand to them, for they were, almost without exception, attractive
children; but they shyly shrank from me.
Meanwhile the "child-wife," to whom his Majesty had presented me at my
first audience, appeared, and after saluting profoundly the sister of
the Kralahome, and conversing with her for some minutes, lay down on the
cool floor, and, using her betel-box for a pillow, beckoned to me. As I
approached, and seated myself beside her, she said: "I am very glad to
see you. It is long time I not see. Why you come so late?" to all of
which she evidently expected no reply. I tried baby-talk, in the hope of
making my amiable sentiments intelligible to so infantile a creature,
but in vain. Seeing me disappointed and embarrassed, she oddly sang a
scrap of the Sunday-school hymn, "There is a Happy Land, far, far away";
and then said, "I think of you very often. In the beginning, God created
the heavens and the earth."
This meritorious but disjointed performance was followed by a protracted
and trying silence, I sitting patient, and Boy wondering in my lap. At
last she half rose, and, looking around, cautiously whispered, "Dear Mam
Mattoon! I love you. I think of you. Your boy dead, you come to palace;
you cry--I love you"; and laying her finger on her lips, and her head on
the betel-box again, again she sang, "There is a Happy Land, far, far
away!"
Mrs. Mattoon is the wife of that good and true American apostle who has
nobly served the cause of missions in Siam as a co-laborer with the
excellent Dr. Samuel House. While the wife of the latter devoted herself
indefatigably to the improvement of schools for the native children whom
the mission had gathered round it, Mrs. Mattoon shared her labors by
occasionally teaching in the palace, which was for some time thrown open
to the ladies of her faithful sisterhood. Here, as elsewhere, the
blended force and gentleness of her character wrought marvels in the
impressible and grateful minds to which she had access.
So spontaneous and ingenuous a tribute of reverence and affection from a
pagan to a Christian lady was inexpressibly charming to me.
Thus the better part of the day passed. The longer I rested dreaming
there, the more enchanted seemed the world within those walls. I was
aroused by a slight noise proceeding from the covered gallery, whence an
old lady appeared bearing a candlestick of gold, with branches
supporting four lighted candles. I afterward learned that these were
daily offerings, which the king, on awakening from his forenoon slumber,
sent to the Watt P'hra Këau. This apparition was the signal for much
stir. The Lady Tâlâp started to her feet and fled, and we were left
alone with the premier's sister and the slaves in waiting. The entire
household seemed to awake on the instant, as in the "Sleeping Palace" of
Tennyson, at the kiss of the Fairy Prince,--
"The maid and page renewed their strife;
The palace banged, and buzzed, and clackt;
And all the long-pent stream of life
Dashed downward in a cataract."
A various procession of women and children--some pale and downcast,
others bright and blooming, more moody and hardened--moved in the one
direction; none tarried to chat, none loitered or looked back; the lord
was awake.
"And last with these the king awoke,
And in his chair himself upreared,
And yawned, and rubbed his face, and spoke."
Presently the child-wife reappeared,--arrayed now in dark blue silk,
which contrasted well with the soft olive of her complexion,--and
quickly followed the others, with a certain anxious alacrity expressed
in her baby face. I readily guessed that his Majesty was the awful cause
of all this careful bustle, and began to feel uneasy myself, as my
ordeal approached. For an hour I stood on thorns. Then there was a
general frantic rush. Attendants, nurses, slaves, vanished through
doors, around corners, behind pillars, under stairways; and at last,
preceded by a sharp, "cross" cough, behold the king!
We found his Majesty in a less genial mood than at my first reception.
He approached us coughing loudly and repeatedly, a sufficiently ominous
fashion of announcing himself, which greatly discouraged my darling boy,
who clung to me anxiously. He was followed by a numerous "tail" of women
and children, who formally prostrated themselves around him. Shaking
hands with me coldly, but remarking upon the beauty of the child's hair,
half buried in the folds of my dress, he turned to the premier's sister,
and conversed at some length with her, she apparently acquiescing in all
that he had to say. He then approached me, and said, in a loud and
domineering tone:--
"It is our pleasure that you shall reside within this palace with our
family."
I replied that it would be quite impossible for me to do so; that, being
as yet unable to speak the language, and the gates being shut every
evening, I should feel like an unhappy prisoner in the palace.
"Where do you go every evening?" he demanded.
"Not anywhere, your Majesty. I am a stranger here."
"Then why you shall object to the gates being shut?"
"I do not clearly know," I replied, with a secret shudder at the idea of
sleeping within those walls; "but I am afraid I could not do it. I beg
your Majesty will remember that in your gracious letter you promised me
'a residence adjoining the royal palace,' not within it."
He turned and looked at me, his face growing almost purple with rage. "I
do not know I have promised. I do not know former condition. I do not
know anything but you are our servant; and it is our pleasure that you
must live in this palace, and--_you shall obey_." Those last three words
he fairly screamed.
I trembled in every limb, and for some time knew not how to reply. At
length I ventured to say, "I am prepared to obey all your Majesty's
commands within the obligation of my duty to your family, but beyond
that I can promise no obedience."
"You _shall_ live in palace," he roared,--"you _shall _live in palace! I
will give woman slaves to wait on you. You shall commence royal school
in this pavilion on Thursday next. That is the best day for such
undertaking, in the estimation of our astrologers."
With that, he addressed, in a frantic manner, commands, unintelligible
to me, to some of the old women about the pavilion. My boy began to cry;
tears filled my own eyes; and the premier's sister, so kind but an hour
before, cast fierce glances at us both. I turned and led my child toward
the oval brass door. We heard voices behind us crying. "Mam! Mam!" I
turned again, and saw the king beckoning and calling to me. I bowed to
him profoundly, but passed on through the brass door. The prime
minister's sister bounced after us in a distraction of excitement,
tugging at my cloak, shaking her finger in my face, and crying, "_My di!
my di!_" [Footnote: "Bad, bad!"] All the way back, in the boat, and on
the street, to the very door of my apartments, instead of her jocund
"Good morning, sir," I had nothing but _my di_.
But kings, who are not mad, have their sober second-thoughts like other
rational people. His Golden-footed Majesty presently repented him of his
arbitrary "cantankerousness," and in due time my ultimatum was accepted.