CHAPTER XVIII.
HISTORICAL SKETCH OF SIAM.
Of immense advantage to the Buddhist faith, and equally an obstacle to the development of any other religion, is the fact that Siamese history, on being traced back beyond the middle of the fourteenth century, becomes chaotic and obscure, affording abundant opportunity to the priests to fabricate any ingenious theories which they may desire. By a splendid piece of flattery they have taught the Siamese sovereigns that they are lineal descendants of Buddha, and that the people themselves have sprung from his first disciples. Thus ruler and people are alike interested in the support of a religious system which is identified with their own origin. Through all the early periods of their history the miracles of Buddha are interspersed with a lavish hand. Ancient matrimonial alliances of the Siamese princes with all other leading monarchs of the world, and imposing embassies and fabulous wars with neighboring countries, and no end of marvelous legends of a mythological character, are also woven into the doubtful narrative.
The best historian that the country has had was the late king, father of the present ruler, who, owing to a usurpation of his rightful sovereignty by an elder and illegitimate brother, was led to spend some years in a Buddhist monastery, where he gave himself to study and became, under the circumstances, a rather remarkable scholar. According to his authority, King Tuang as early as A. D. 457 introduced the Siamese alphabet, which he handed over to a conclave of Buddhist priests. His reign was distinguished by the possession of a white elephant with black tusks!—a very important fact from a Siamese point of view.
Authentic history, however, begins with A. D. 1350, from which date the succession of kings is directly traced. The ancient capital of Ayuthia, which was then established, occupied the site of a still more ancient ruined city. There had been frequent wars with the Laos and the princes of Pegu, involving an obscure succession of dynasties.
For about two hundred years the kingdom enjoyed peace, and Ayuthia became a great and wealthy capital. In 1556, however, the king of Pegu again conquered the country, though upon the death of the king the Siamese princes, to whom the throne properly belonged, regained the power.
About the middle of the seventeenth century the country received a great impulse in civilization from a Greek merchant, Constantine Faulkon, who through skill and success in business and his general public spirit, became a great favorite of the king and his court, and who seems to have devoted himself to the introduction of European improvements of every kind. He received from the king the highest titles, with great power and influence. Under his direction forts were built on the banks of the Menam and new palaces were erected. He also built a church, the ruins of which still exist. He greatly improved the canal system, which is almost as important to Bangkok and Lower Siam as that of Holland is to it. Aqueducts were constructed also for supplying the city with water from the neighboring mountains. At length, becoming an object of envy on the part of Siamese officials, he was assassinated.
In 1759 the king of Burmah with an immense army laid siege to Ayuthia, which, after two years, was compelled to surrender. The king was slain, and a long struggle followed, after which, in 1767, the Burmese, having gained complete possession of the country, appointed a king of Peguan origin to hold the sceptre. By this time the country was full of armed bands of outlaws, who, like the Saxons under the Norman Conquest, proved irrepressible, and after the withdrawal of the Burmese army anarchy bore sway.
An Ambitious Chinaman on the Siamese Throne.
Among the leaders of these robber-bands was a shrewd and valiant Chinaman bearing the name of Pin Tat. This man, at the time thirty-three years of age and of unbounded ambition, rose by a series of military and civil promotions to the very highest influence. What his sword could not achieve in battle his finesse and bribery completed. Betraying the high trusts reposed in him, and gathering to his standard all available robbers and pirates, he was enabled to dictate terms to the government until he gained possession of all the northern districts. He then marched with a large force against the Burmese governor of Bangkok, whom he surprised and put to death, availing himself of his treasures as his “sinews of war.”