Part 21 (1/2)
”on 5441th day of reign.
”the writer here of beg to place his confidence on you alway.”
As a true friend to his Majesty, I deplore the weakness which betrayed him into so transparent a sham of virtuous indignation. The ”princess of the highest rank,” whom the writer of the article plainly meant, was the Princess of Chiengmai; but from lack of accurate information he was misled into confounding her with the Princess Tui Duang Prabha, his Majesty's niece. The king could honestly deny any such intention on his part with regard to his niece; but, at the same time, he well knew that the writer erred only as to the individual, and not as to the main fact of the case. The Princess of Chiengmai was the wife, and the Princess Tui Duang the daughter, of his full brother, the Second King, lately deceased.
Much more agreeable is it--to the reader, I doubt not, not less than to the writer--to turn from the king, in the exercise of his slavish function of training honest words to play the hypocrite for ign.o.ble thoughts, to the gentleman, the friend, the father, giving his heart a holiday in the relaxations of simple kindness and free affection,--as in the following note:--
”Dated RANCHAUPURY 34th February 1865.
”To LADY L---- & HER SON LUISE, _Bangkok_.
”We having very pleasant journey ... to be here which is a towns.h.i.+p called as above named by men of republick affairs in Siam, & called by common people as 'Parkphrieck' where we have our stay a few days & will take our departure from hence at dawn of next day. We thinking of you both regardfully & beg to send here with some wild aples & barries which are delicate for tasting & some tobacco which were and are princ.i.p.al product of this region for your kind acceptance hoping this wild present will be acceptable to you both.
”We will be arrived at our home Bangkok on early part of March.
”We beg to remain
”Your faithful
”S. P. P. M. MONGKUT E. S.
”in 5035th day of reign.
”And your affectionate pupils
”YING YULACKS.
MANEABHADAHORN.
SOMDETCH CHOWFA CHULALONKORK [Footnote: The present king.]
KRITAHINIHAR.
PRABHa.s.sOR.
SOMAWATI.”
XXVII. MY RETIREMENT FROM THE PALACE.
In 1864 I found that my labors had greatly increased; I had often to work till ten o'clock at night to accomplish the endless translations required of me. I also began to perceive how continually and closely I was watched, but how and by whom it seemed impossible to discover. Among the inducements to me to accept the position of teacher to the royal family was his Majesty's a.s.surance, that, if I gave satisfaction, he would increase my salary after a year's trial. Nearly three years had pa.s.sed when I first ventured to remind the king of this promise. To my astonishment he bluntly informed me that I had not given satisfaction, that I was ”difficult” and unmanageable, ”more careful about what was right and what was wrong than for the obedience and submission.” And as to salary, he continued: ”Why you should be poor? You come into my presence every day with some pet.i.tion, some case of hards.h.i.+p or injustice, and you demand 'your Majesty shall most kindly investigate, and cause redress to be made'; and I have granted to you because you are important to me for translations, and so forth. And now you declare you must have increase of salary! Must you have everything in this world?
Why you do not make _them_ pay you? If I grant you all your pet.i.tion for the poor, you ought to be rich, or you have no wisdom.”
At a loss what answer to make to this very unsympathetic view of my conduct, I quietly returned to my duties, which, grew daily in variety and responsibility. What with translating, correcting, copying, dictating, reading, I had hardly a moment I could call my own; and if at any time I rebelled, I brought down swift vengeance on the head of the helpless native secretary.
But it was my consolation to know that I could befriend the women and children of the palace, who, when they saw that I was not afraid to oppose the king in his more outrageous caprices of tyranny, imagined me endued with supernatural powers, and secretly came to me with their grievances, in full a.s.surance that sooner or later I would see them redressed. And so, with no intention on my part, and almost without my own consent, I suffered myself to be set up between the oppressor and the oppressed. From that time I had no peace. Day after day I was called upon to resist the wanton cruelty of judges and magistrates, till at last I found myself at feud with the whole ”San Luang.” In cases of torture, imprisonment, extortion, I tried again and again to excuse myself from interfering, but still the mothers or sisters prevailed, and I had no choice left but to try to help them. Sometimes I sent Boy with my clients, sometimes I went myself; and in no single instance was justice granted from a sense of right, but always through fear of my supposed influence with the king. My Siamese and European friends said I was ama.s.sing a fortune. It seemed not worth my while to contradict them, though the inference was painful to me, for in truth my champions.h.i.+p was not purely disinterested; I suffered from continual contact with the sufferings of others, and came to the rescue in self-defence and in pity for myself not less than for them.
A Chinaman had been cruelly murdered and robbed by a favorite slave in the household of the prime minister's brother, leaving the brother, wife, and children of the victim in helpless poverty and terror. The murderer had screened himself and his accomplices by sharing the plunder with his master. The widow cried for redress in vain. The ears of magistrates were stopped against her, and she was too poor to pay her way; but still she went from one court to another, until her importunity irritated the judges, who, to intimidate her, seized her eldest son, on some monstrous pretext, and cast him into prison. This double cruelty completed the despair of the unhappy mother. She came to me fairly frenzied, and ”commanded” me to go at once into the presence of the king and demand her stolen child; and then, in a sudden paroxysm of grief, she embraced my knees, wailing, and praying to me to help her. It was not in human nature to reject that maternal claim. With no little trouble I procured the liberation of her son; but to keep him out of harm's way I had to take him into my own home and change his name. I called him Timothy, which by a Chinese abbreviation became Ti.
When I went with this woman and the brother of the murdered man to the palace of the premier, we found that distinguished personage half naked and playing chess. Seeing me enter, he ordered one of his slaves to bring him a jacket, into which he thrust his arms, and went on with the game; and not until that was finished did he attend to me. When I explained my errand he seemed vexed, but sent for his brother, had a long talk with him, and concluded by warning my unhappy _proteges_ that if he heard any more complaints from them they should be flogged. Then turning to me with a grim smile, he said: ”Chinee too much bother. Good by, sir!”