The Express.
London, England, 1852-04-12 00:00:00

LONDON, MONDAY, APRIL 12.

NtT a dissentient voice is heard when the new
Burmese war is declared to be an " untoward event."
But neither is a dissentient voice heard when it is
declared that having got into the serape we must
push on and through. This ought to be a warning not
to get into any more Oriental scrapes, at least till
we struggle clear of the one we are entangled in.
One scrape at a time is enough.
This warning is given on account of intimations
that have reached us of an underhand intrigue
fora renewal of the mission to Siam, which, a few
years ago, was within a hair-breadth A involving us
In a war with that country—a war that would in-
evitably have paralysed one of the meet important
brunches of the tride of our settlements in tho far
East, entailed serious expense upon us, and led to no
one useful or honourable result. Too much of diplo-
matic negotiation is • bad thing, even in Europe,
where nations are imbued in the main with identical
vices of morality and international law. In the
east of Asia, where the natives cannat comprehend
our notions on these subjects, it is sure to do
mischief. _ .

Four attempts have been made within the last
thirty years to plax the commercial relations of
Siam with foreigners on a more satisfactory tooting,
by means of diplomacy ; one by the United States,
and three he Great Britain. They have all been
comparative failures; the last the least successful of
any. It was made at the request of the merchants
of Singapore; it terminated in mutual irritation, so
gnat as to frighten the very persons at whose
request the mission was despatched into memorialising
government to allow matters to remain as they were.
The truth is, that there never was a time when
fewer pretexts could be found for sending a tnission
to Siam than at present. A new ruler has recently
ascended the throne, more enlightened than his pre-
decessors. He is free from the jealousy and irrita-
tion inspired into his predecessor by tho late blun-
dering and bungled mission. Under him the mea-
surement duty on ships (equivalent to our tonnage
dues) has been reduced; the exportation of corn,
hitherto prohibited, allowed, with a few trifling
restrictions; the trade in opium (formerly contra-
band) legalised for foreign consumers; and, most im-
portant of all, English and American residents are
allowed to travel through the whole country with
perfect freedom, to erect chapels and inclose ceme-
teries, in short to act as liCellls good in their own eyes
so long as they do not violate the laws of the land.
Under this liberal policy the commercial relations
between Siam and Singapore, the most valuable
part of the British and Siamese trade, has largely
and rapidly extended.
It must be borne in mind that these departures
from the old barbarous policy of Siam are solely and
esclosively.owing to the personal character of the
new sovereign. And that prince was raised to the
throne, and is kept on it, bT the very men whose
prejndites battled the last English mission. The
faction which they head is more powerful than
the Ling. His liberalism is barely tolerated. The Chi-
nese merchants, who hold in their hands by far the
greater part of the trade and navigation of Siam, are
decidedly of opiuion that the haste with which
his Siamese Majesty has urged his reforms has
already given umbrage to the powerful party
to which h.; owes his elevation ; and that any foreign
interferer.re would at this moment be certain, by
adding f:esh fuel to their jealousy, to provoke a
re-action that might end in his deposition and
death.

The Siamese are in respect of civilisation far be-
hind either the C'hincac or Ilindoos. Though un-
warlike they are suspicious and presumptuous. They I
are quite anarc of our Indian supremacy and of the
means by which it has been obtained. The demands
made by the last mission—in particular that of a resi-
dent consul, and that of ground whereon to build a f .c-
-tory —were regarded by them as the first step towards
t he s u bj ugat ion of Siam as India has been subdued; and
incapable of estimating aright the comparative power
and resources of England and Siam they were pre-
pared to have recourse to arms to resist them. Should
those requests be renewed now—should the same
envoy be sent out, even though his proposals were
less extensive—the King would inevitably be sus-
pected of being his accomplice; would share the fate
of his reforming predecessor in the time of Lofts
KIY. ; and all the European residents in the country
would be involved in his fate.

Instead, then, of a costly mission to Siam, which
might derive us of the advantages we have so re•
cently gained, let a more rational and unobtrusive
policy be adopted. A friendly correspondence between
the Siamese authorities and the governors of Singa-
pore and Labuan would excite no jealousy, and would
encourage the former to persevere in their more liberal
dispositions. Perhaps a letter from the QUEEN,
expressing friendly sentiments, and a desire for the
extension of commercial relations, might have a good
effect, inasmuch as the court of Siam is ambitious of
direct communication with the British crown, and
suspicious of the company's government. But this
letter ought simply to be transmitted by a war
steamer, and delivered without any attempt to
institute negotiation.