SIR: I have the honor to transmit herewith, for the information of your Department, a copy of dispatch No. 150, dated March 18, 1880, from the consul at Bangkok, Siam, in relation to the system of education lately introduced into Siam.
I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant,
WM. M. EVARTS.
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Mr. Sickels to Mr. Payson.
No. 150.] CONSULATE OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Bangkok, Siam, March 18, 1880.
SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of Department dispatches Nos. 57, 58, and 59, dated respectively December 1 and 6, 1879, and January 6, 1880, all at hand by the same mail.
In regard to the information required by the Department of the Interior, referred to in No. 57, I have the honor to inclose a private letter on the subject from Rev. Dr. McFarland, the principal of the King's College and the originator and founder of the new system of education lately introduced into the kingdom. This letter contains all the information procurable on the subject. Dr. McFarland was for many years in charge of the American Presbyterian mission schools in Petchaburi, and is well qualified for the position to which he has been transferred.
Although too modest to claim any merit for himself in this new work, I am satisfied from my own observation and the reports of the committees who have the matter in charge, that our countryman's success in the conduct of this new school has been fully up to the expectations formed, has met with His Majesty's approval and given him full satisfaction. I do not, however, think that this success, or indeed any, if much greater, will induce the government to extend the area of operation and establish at present any general school system throughout the kingdom, or even at the prominent points.
The Siamese are vast projectors and their ideas in the beginning are large, but their plans taper very much and very abruptly as the charm of novelty passes away and demands on the purse increase. There is, besides, a strong party of the old régime who do not approve of education in any form, particularly in foreign languages and studies, who believe implicitly in the wisdom of their ancestors, and obstinately oppose themselves to any attempt at removing the ancient landmarks wherever posted.