VISIONS OF THE REGIONS BEYOND
During this systematic visitation, Dr. House obtained glimpses of “the regions beyond.” Medical work had already brought him into contact with the aliens in Bangkok. As he became acquainted with these groups by his travels throughout the city he became deeply interested in their home lands. Small as the mission force in Bangkok was, he began to meditate whether their efforts should be confined to the Siamese to the exclusion of all these other peoples.
At that time it was estimated that the strangers within the gates were equal to the native population of Bangkok. Chief among these immigrants were the Chinese. The Chinese held nearly all the trading in Bangkok. The semi-annual trade winds brought numerous junks from China laded with Chinese products; and each of these junks had its cargo of human freight also. Sometimes a single junk would bring as many as three hundred; and the average annual immigration was estimated at one thousand. These people came largely from the Island of Hainan, and nine-tenths of those who sent their boys to the mission school were from this province.
There were but few Burmese in Bangkok; but of their old enemies, the Peguans, there was a large village on the west bank of the river. These people had originally sought refuge from the Burmese by taking service under the king of Siam, but in time had practically become his serfs. It was in their village that Mrs. Mattoon began her class of children which later was transferred to the mission compound. The Malays, few in number, could not be reached for want of acquaintance with their language. Dr. House records an anecdote which had come to his ears showing the shrewdness of these people in their native country:
“The chiefs obtained some Christian tracts. Whenever a trading vessel arrived, they showed these tracts to the captain. If the captain swore at the tracts, they concluded that he was not a Christian, and would have nothing to do with him. But if he displayed an interest and inquired about the tracts, they judged that he was sympathetic with religion and that they could trust him.”
During the cholera epidemic Dr. House was called to see the servant of a Cambodian prince living in Bangkok, and the visit resulted in an enduring friendship. The prince, the son of the king of Cambodia, was living in a grand palace provided by the king of Siam; and Dr. House was led to suspect that he was held as hostage for the good behaviour of his father, over whom Siam claimed suzerainty. The prince urged the doctor to go to Cambodia, assuring him that he would be welcomed with open arms by the king; and that the people did not approve of the worship of images, for the Cambodians held that “God made man, and man cannot make God.” The information gained from the prince prompted Dr. House and Mr. Mattoon to plan a trip into that country. They entered upon the study of the language for that purpose, but the death of the old king of Siam arrested these plans. However, the interest awakened in Dr. House led eventually to his notable trip to Korat.
But perhaps the most important of these chance relations was with the Lao. The doctor had early learned of the frequent trips of boatmen from the Lao land. With ears open for useful information, he gathered from a Siamo-Portuguese doctor, who had accompanied a Catholic priest to Chieng Mai, information concerning the route, knowledge of the receptive character of the people and of the deceptive nature of the reigning prince. His interest in the Lao grew until he felt prompted to leave the Siamese to his fellow missionaries and betake himself to the Lao country. A particular day of indifference to his message in the streets of Bangkok sent him to bed with a heavy heart:
“But ere midnight,” he writes, “my sorrow was turned into joy as the privilege was presented to my view of yet going a messenger of the glad tidings to the tribes of the Laos to the north. To them shall my thoughts be given and my future life, if Providence but opens the way.”
And again when he was depressed by the fruitlessness of the early labours he meditates:
“I believe all the past of my strange history has been for a purpose—yet all unrevealed—and I will not trouble myself about it. May I ever be ready to serve my Master, anywhere at all times. But should I be permitted in his Providence to carry his blessed gospel to the Laos some future day, then I can read and understand the why of some things. To be thus privileged were better than to visit the home of my childhood, my aged parents, my brother, again—’twere better than to be blessed with houses or lands or wife or children of my own.”
To him the mission in Bangkok at that time was like a candle in a starless night, very faint to be sure, but making more dense the surrounding darkness that seemed to confine its light. His eyes strained to look into the regions beyond and his heart beat with passionate desire to evangelise the unknown peoples.
VII
PROVIDENCE CHANGES PERIL INTO PRIVILEGE
In 1850 the United States sent Honourable James Ballestier, with a small suite including Rev. William Dean, a former missionary, as his secretary, to seek a more generous commercial treaty with Siam. After three months of bickering with officials he was constrained to withdraw from the fruitless effort. The king refused to give a personal audience to the envoy, whereas the envoy refused to deliver the letter from the President to any but the king. This point of etiquette was of vital importance. By refusing to give audience to the representative of another nation, the oriental monarch was signifying that he did not regard the other nation on an equality with Siam. It will be recalled that Commodore Perry, in seeking a treaty with Japan, met this same presumption. Even as late as 1868 China would not admit the equality of other nations by allowing their envoys to personal interview with the emperor. Acknowledging himself vanquished in this point of procedure, Mr. Ballestier withdrew.
Scarcely had the Americans departed when news was received that a British squadron was on its way, bringing an embassy to request a new treaty. The belligerent character of Great Britain at that time was known in Siam, so that this report sent a tremor of fear through the body politic. With a large suite and a great display of naval force the British envoy Sir James Brookes met no greater success than the American. He left in high indignation at the treatment accorded him, threatening vengeance for the discourtesy shown to Her Majesty’s communication. Upon his withdrawal the fear which preceded his arrival increased to a panic among the officials, who were terrified at the prospects of war as a result of the king’s stubborn adherence to custom.
Hand-in-hand with the crisis in the international relations the affairs of the missions were fast drifting towards probable extinction. As the intercourse between the Siamese and Sir James Brookes became strained, the Siamese began to cut off communications with the foreign residents. This was only the shadow of what was to come. As soon as the British fleet left, a sudden wave of arrests gathered in all who were employed as teachers at the missions. Upon inquiry as to the reason, the missionaries were informed that the teachers were to be punished for breaking the law in teaching the sacred language Pali to foreigners. The only plausible ground for this charge was that the Baptist press had, at the request of a high official, undertaken to print the laws of Siam which were in that language. Next the house servants withdrew from the homes of the foreigners.
Another mark of increased hostility was in connection with negotiations for a piece of land for the Presbyterian Mission. Attempts had been made several times, but the transaction had been adroitly blocked. Since permission must be obtained for tenure of land by foreigners, applications were met with procrastination which meant denial, or alternative locations were offered which were totally unfit for the needs. Just before the arrival of the two embassies, a friendly Siamese was found who was willing to lease a desirable piece of land; official permission was secured, the money paid over and the Mattoon family had actually caused their floating house to be towed to the new location preliminary to the erection of a building. Just at this juncture occurred the abortive negotiations for a revision of treaties. Without explanation or warning, a peremptory order came from a higher official, revoking the permit and requiring the missionary to return to the old location.
Under these circumstances Dr. House wrote home (Sept., 1850):
“It becomes a serious question what, as a mission, is our duty—it now being settled that no change for the better is to be hoped for. Three and-a-half years we have been seeking for a place where we could locate our mission, and in our own way aid in bringing this heathen people to Christ. But a separate home among them has been denied and we baffled in every attempt to secure premises on which we might build houses, gather a school and lay foundations for those that come after us. Thus far we have had no local habitation or name of our own—being merged in other societies, living by suffrance on their premises.... And now our teachers are taken from us; no one daring (with imprisonment hanging over them) to become teacher of the proscribed foreigner.”
The status of the mission was deemed so critical that Dr. House was authorised to report the situation to the mission office in New York and to ask permission for the missionaries to quit Siam as the last resort and to attach themselves to missions in other lands. The reply, received nine months later, gave full authority to the missionaries in the matter, and provisionally assigned Dr. House as assistant to Dr. Happer in China. This assignment had been suggested by Dr. House in his letter to the Board because Dr. Happer, knowing of the crisis in Siam, had written him to come to China, adding that he “always thought Siam an unpromising field; and that after the Board gets out of it they might as well keep clear of it.” While waiting for the desired authority to quit the field the missionaries kept an eye open for a favourable chance to get away in safety, deeming themselves warranted in escaping with their lives in any vessel that could be found to take them away. Thus did the Mission come very close to an untimely end.