Perceiving that the country was laid waste, the houses pulled down, the Royal family led into captivity, and the people scattered abroad, husbands separated from their wives and parents from the children; the Europeans, accustomed to regard their rulers as protectors, were plunged into a state of fear.
But the Siamese, who from time immemorial have crouched under the rod of tyranny and have toiled on behalf of merciless extortioners, were pleased in that by a change of masters they might meet a deliverer.
They had no regrets at leaving a land where bonds had been their portion and as they had never tasted the sweets of liberty, were less sensitive to the humiliation of slavery.
Unpatriotic citizens as they were, the sight of their erstwhile insolent tyrant, now condemned to slavery quite made up for their own degradation.
The Christians on the other hand are accustomed to live in countries under the protection of the law. The scourge of war makes no alteration in their fate, and the harshest of conquerors can only keep his self respect while respecting the rights of nations. He can never deprive individuals of their freedom and if a conqueror appropriate their private possessions he is to be considered merely as a bandit.
The Bishop who had been well treated on shipboard, had been able to maintain by his virtuous example, the ascendency that moral worth invariably exercises over the most corrupt natures. He beheld sixty three Christians pass before him whom the Burmese had pressed into their service. Many of them perished from the toils of the voyage and the survivors were marshalled under the banner of the conqueror. The remainder of the converts were entrusted to the care of M. Core a French priest. They were obliged to set out on April 25th without having been able to collect the necessary articles for a long voyage. The party consisted of three hundred, excluding children. Women were ruthlessly torn from their husbands whose troubles they had shared.
They were given an inadequate supply of rice, and their inhuman captors preferred to destroy food for which they had no use rather than to overload their slave galleys.
A Chinese priest frightened at the dangers to which the newly wedded brides were exposed, separated himself from M. Core's party in the hope of finding a Chinese vessel. But hardly had he started out when he was attacked by a gang of Burmese bandits and those who tried to defend themselves were slain promptly. He endeavoured to take shelter in the depths of the forests with four of his disciples but they were pursued and robbed. They were obliged to wander without a guide in the trackless jungle that offered no sustenance, and were forced to eat grass like the beasts of the field. Afterwards they were found by a Christian who offered his services as a guide.
The Burmese captain, who was in charge of the French, sent an interpreter with an armed force to compel them to rejoin, and above all, to bring back the newly married women. They were carried off with violence. This deputy was by no means so gentle as his superior, and in executing the order he had received, he exceeded his powers.
Hardly had they marched a league, when a gang of Siamese dacoits appeared on the bank of the river and captured his spoils.