18. Light of the Modern Era
Oct 19, 2004
Though on the throne for only 17 years, King Rama IV oversaw the astonishing period when the nation actually migrated into the modern era, being transformed from “Old Siam” into “New Siam”, and ultimately evading the creeping colonialist shadow cast by the West.
Westerners, and particularly the often intrusive American missionaries like Dan Beach Bradley, were enormously appreciative of the new monarch, since Rama III, who died on April 3, 1851, had been no admirer of occidental ways, and repeatedly shunned foreigners’ appeals for broader relationships and more trade.
In his book “Siam Then”, Dr Bradley wrote that Prince Mongkut – in his last days clad in monk’s robes before entering the palace as the new king – called upon a group of American Protestant missionaries. The prince asked for their help in opening a school where young Siamese men could study English and the sciences, a school like those in the West. He also said he intended to try constitutional monarchy, as practised in Great Britain – if not in whole, then at least in part.
Mongkut agreed that it was unfair for the Siamese to be governed by only one man. Moreover, he said, traditional pride in the “Greatest Siam” was no longer sufficient under threat of Western domination.
From his first year on the throne as Rama IV, King Mongkut broke many traditions. He ordered royal officials to wear a garment covering their torso when in his presence, but was the first Siamese monarch to let ordinary people see him when he left the palace and, scoffing at the superstition that the camera stole one’s soul, was the first to allow his photograph to be taken.
In 1855, Hong Kong Governor Sir John Bowring, envoy of Britain’s Queen Victoria, fulfilled Mongkut’s prophecy by offering a treaty of friendship and commerce. Though fully aware that his country would be adversely affected, the king was obliged to acquiesce, lest Siam face the same social and fiscal disasters that had befallen Burma and China.
By this treaty, British subjects enjoyed wide freedom to trade with the Siamese, with import tariffs limited to just 3 per cent.
The following year, similar treaties were signed with American envoy Townsend Harris and France’s M de Montigny. In 1858, trade opened with Denmark and Portugal, in 1860 with the Netherlands and in 1862 with the States of the German Customs Union and the Grand Duchies of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Mecklenburg-Strelitz. There were pacts authorised with Sweden, Norway, Belgium and Italy in 1868 and Japan in 1898, and many more followed, each in turn bringing more and more foreigners to settle in Bangkok.
Rama IV had opened the Kingdom to a rapid influx of foreign commerce – and at the same time opened his people’s minds to modern currents of fashion and philosophy. He maintained the country’s “reasonable traditions”, while remaining open to new concepts.
Among the King’s most internationally celebrated nods to Westernisation was his hiring of Anna Leonowens, a widow from Singapore, to teach his children English. But more importantly, this was a ruler willing to affirm the right to freedom of religion, who encouraged the Christian missionaries in their educational and medical work.
Rama IV reformed the Hinayana Buddhism most widespread in Siam at the time, making it more practical and creditable. He suggested to his still-superstitious people that the Earth was round and revolved around the sun, and that eclipses were purely natural phenomena.
He set up the first Siamese printing house, built roads, and issued the first modern currency to meet the requirements of expanded trade. He reformed the government, installing foreign advisers, and called in European officers to improve the army and organise a police force.
King Rama IV died on October 1, 1868, at the age 64, and remains among the Siamese monarchs most recognised abroad.
Nithinand Yorsaengrat
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