The Press.
London, England, 1857-03-14 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

deem this satisfactory, and therefore have written to the
Pln-a Kalahom, representing that my position is more
elevated, and that greater respect should be shown to my
credentials; and I have sent a copy of my powers to the
Phra Kalahom.

One important question was raised. The
Siam authorities said it was against all
precedent for strangers to enter the royal
presence with their swords. The King wrote
privately to Sir John to that effect ; but as
Sir John found it " recorded in history that
the French Ambassador in the time of Louis
" XIV. wore his sword," he stood on his
dignity the King with true politeness gave
way, and the envoy was allowed

to appear before the King exactly in the same costume
which I wore at my audience with my own Sovereign on
my departure from her Court.

Before his departure for Hong Kong. we
knew Sir John Bowring well, and always
esteemed him as a humane and goodnatured
man. Ho was one of the brood of bustling
politicians cast up by the Reform Bill, eager
to meddle in every business that came in his
way, and with a tolerable keen eye to his own
advancement. He had much of the busybody
in his disposition, and, like most persons of
that class, had no great discretion or firmness
of mind. He was very likely to be swayed by
a more resolute will than his own ; but all
desire for bloodshed seemed foreign to his
disposition. No doubt Mr. Consul Parkes
exercised great influence over him throughout
the Canton business ; but it is most impro-
bable that he would have sanctioned the
extreme measures resorted to without some
kind of pressure had been put upon him by
the Home Government.

Of the chapters into which the book is
divided, those will be read with the most
interest which relate to the Kings of Siam
(for there are two) and their Court. Persons
who know little of the state of this fine country
will be surprised to learn that the First King
is well versed in the works of Euclid and
Newton ; that he writes and speaks English
with tolerable accuracy ; that he is a proficient
in Latin, and has acquired the Sanscrit, Cin-
galese, and Peguau languages ; that he can
project and calculate eclipses of the sun and
moon, and occultations of the planets ; that he
is fond of all branches of learning and science ;
that he has introduced a printing-press with
Siamese and English types ; and that his
palace and table are supplied with all the
elegancies of European life. He lived twenty-
seven years in retirement before he came to
the throne; and during that time he acquired
the accomplishments which make his reign a
memorable and most beneficial era in Siamese
history. He was born in 1804, and is now con-
sequently fifty-three.
The S..!eond King (his brother) appears to be
equally estimable :
My intercourse with the Second King was in all respects
most agreeable. I found him a gentleman of very culti-
vated underitanding--quiet, even modest in manners—
willing to communicate knowledge, and earnest in the
search of instruction. His table was spread with all the
neatness and order that are found in a well-regulated
English household. A favourite child sat on his knee,
whose mother remained crouched at the door of the
apartment, but took part in the conversation. The
King played to his guests very prettily on the pipes of the
Laos portable organ. He had a variety of music ; and
there was an exhibition of national sports and pastimes,
equestrian feats, elephant combats, and other amusements.
But what seemed most to interest the King, was his
museum of models, nautical and philosophical instruments,
and a variety of scientific and other curiosities.
These Kings reign, each in prescribed limits,
in perfect harmony. This double monarchy is
an old institution of Siam, and is popular
with the people.
The Siamese, by the report of the author,
are an amiable and intelligent race, with a
high degree of civilisation in all that relates
to social institutions. He relates a conversa-
tion which an English gentleman had with the
Minister for Foreign Affairs, in which the
latter showed by far the keenest apnreciation
of the sources of England's greatness :

His Excellency commenced the conversation by asking
" the reasons and object of the present war between the
Engliih and Russians." This I explained at great length,
and his Excellency expressed himself as perfectly satisfied
both as to the propriety and justice of the war.
His Excellency then asked, " How the English, who
inhabit such a small pint of the surface of the earth, have
conquered the whole of India, and have made themselves
feared and respected in every part of the globe ? " I
assigned as the reason—" Ist, their insular position,

255

which, rendering them less liable to invasion at home,
permitted them to undertake greater enterprises abroad ;
2ndly, that the English are descendants of Saxons,
Drinans, and Celts ; and that while we have inherited
many of their bad qualities, we have also inherited and
amalgamated the various styles of valour for which those
nations were so famous—viz., the Norman impetuosity,
thl Celtic enthusiasm, and the Saxon solidity."
Having, as I thought, given a very sufficient reason, I
was much surprised to hear his Excellency burst out in-
dignantly, and with a fluency that gave me the greatest
difficulty in following him; and although, in general,
neither his form nor features appear calculated to express
much feeling, yet, as he warmed with the subject, he
really seemed to become another man. I gi►e his general
meaning, as far as either Mr. Hunter or myself can recol-
lect :—" No ; it is neither their position, advantageous as
it doubtless is, nor the men, through brave as lions, that
has raised them to;their present position. Other nations
have had the same opportunities in situation, and have
hail brave soldiers; yet they never held their ground like
the English. It is their government—that admirable
form of administration which is held in equal balance by
the king, by the nobles, by the people--that government
in which every man feels that lie has a certain share—that
country in which he feels that his interest is cared for:
these are the things that enable a man to fight—the man
with a free spirit will dare things that would appal a slave.
C'an it be good that a few should legislate for all ? Look
at the Laos country : there, each district chooses one man
to become a member of the Council of Six. These are
the advisers of the King, and without their sanction the
King can do nothing ; but still he is entitled to dissent.
Consider the consequences. The King and council vote
for war : every man hastens to be the first to show his
faith in the opinions of the council. There you can sleep
without thinking of shutting or barring a door; whilst
here you must watch everything with the greatest care,
and even then you are not safe. We have hitherto given
all the power to the nobles, and what are we? Let us
give a little to the people, and try whether we shall not
improve. Let us not have our Ministers appointed fur
life ; let them be elected for a term of years, and let their
election depend upon the voice of the people. The more
we mix with the English, the sooner will our people feel
that they have a right to have some voice in the framing
of laws by which they are to be governed. And if they do
assert that right, who will oppose them? We have no
regular army ; a few slaves of the King take that name,
but they would not fight against their fellows."

The people profess the faith of Buddha,
and seem affectionately, though not bigotedly,
attached to it. They are willing to engage in
controversy with our missionaries, and show
much acuteness in their arguments The au•
thor relates
found no indisposition among the Siamese to discuss
religious questions; and the general result of the discus-
sions was—" Your religion is excellent for you, and ours is
excellent for us. All countries do not produce the same
fruits and flowers, and we find various religions suited to
various nations." The present King is so tolerant, that
he gave three thousand slaves (prisoners of war) to be
taught religion by the Catholic missionaries, saying, "You
may make Christians of these people."
Pallegoix reports several conversations with the First
King, which do honour to his liberal spirit. " Persecution
is hateful," he said; "every man ought to be free to pro-
fess the religion he prefers :" and he added—" If you
convert a certain number of people anywhere, let me know
yon have done so; and I will give them a Christian
governor, and they shall not be annoyed by Siamese
authorities." I have a letter from the King, in which he
says that in the inquiries into the abstruse subject of the
Godhead. " we cannot tell who is right and who is wrong ;
but I will pray my God to give you his blessing, and you
must pray to your God to bless me ; and so, blessings may
descend upon both."
The free distribution of bibles is allowed,
and facilities are given to the efforts of Chris-
tian missionaries, but the author doubts
whether a single sincere convert ills ever been
made among the Siamese. Their faith rigidly
enjoins the practice of virtue, and its teaching
is in some respects remarkable for high moral
purpose and spiritual conception. Of their
amiable disposition, it is remarked :
We were led to expect that we should find rapacity in-
trusive, insatiable, and extortionate—every art employed to
obtain much, and to give little in return. Far different
was my experience. It seemed as if nothing was expected
from me, while upon me and around me every kindness
was profusely and prodigally showered. Even the children
brought their garlands, which they hung on our arms ;
coronals of fragrant flowers, fresh roses, were every morn-
ing upon my table. In great things as well as small, I
found a hospitality that was almost oppressive, and of
which I retain the most grateful memory.
They are pleasing in person :

The Siamese, aro a small, well-proportioned race; their
skip► is of an olive hue; they have black hair, of which
they keep a coarse tuft (which has somewhat the appear-
ance
of a brush) on the top of the head, all around being
closely shaven. Women adopt the same practice of
cherishing a tuft of hair, which, however, they carefully
oil and comb. The preservation of the tuft, and the
changes it undergoes under different circumstances, are
objects of greet interest and attention in Siam.

In general the natives wear only a girdle round
their waists. They are excessively submissive to
their superiors, the kings receiving universal

25G

adoration. Slavery prevails extensively
throughout Sinai, but in its mildest form.
Their jurisprudence shows great mental culti-
vation and subtlety. . .

.------ -
The First lung is favourable to the extension
of commerce in his dominions. Peter
Plymley could not have better illustrated the
advantages of commerce than did his Majesty
in a few pithy sentences :
He illustrated his views by the following allegoiy:—
Two men start from the jungle loaded with the coarse
articles it produces—the fibres of the hemp, for txample :
they move onwards, and come to a place where there is
more valuable material, as cotton. The foolish and un-
improveable man persists in carrying his coarse and un-
profitable burden of hemp ; his wiser campanion exchanges
his hemp for the finer and more valuable material. They
still move on, and conic to a silk district. The fool sticks
to his hemp, the wise barters his cotton for silk : and thus
they reach the end of their journey, one exhausted with
carrying an almost worthless and heavy load, the other
having brought with ease a profitable and valuable in-
vestment.

The people are passionately attached to
music, and in this art the people of Laos, an
extensive province of Siam, seem to have
attained great proficiency.
The author admits the evils of the opium
traffic, but supposes that they are fewer when
it is legalised than when it is prohibited, as
in the latter case, through the impossibility
of suppression, it becomes practically illimit-
able :

The use of opium has greatly extended in Siam during
the last thirty years. Its consumption among the Siamese
has been prohibited b-j a severe edict of the King, im-
posing heavy fines and degrading punishments on those
who indulge in so pernicious a practice. It is farmed by
a Chinese of great opulence, who has been raised to the
rank of nobility; and the annual importation is now about
twelve hundred chests, most of which is smoked by the
Chinese settlers. The fatal consequences of the habitual
use of this drug is a frequent subject of representation
from the Siamese priests, and the Catholic and Protestant
missionaries; but to prevent its introduction and its
consumption would seem to be beyond the powers of
legislation, and perhaps the legislation of its import is a
lesser evil than to allow an unlawful and irrepressible
trade to extend itself, as it has done in China, where the
native cultivation of the poppy must be allowed to afford
strong evidence that the repeated injunctions against the
dealers in and smokers of opium are not to be attributed
wholly to a desire to prevent its use. The strong argu-
ment against the abolition of the opium farm is, that it is
better that the trade should be under than beyond the
control of the Government.

The chapters on the natural history of Siam
are engaging. The elephant is invaluable for
transport an d travelling :

Without the aid of the elephant, it would scarcely be
possible to traverse the woods and jungles of Siam. He
makes his way as he goes, crushing with his trunk all that
resists his progress ; over deep morasses or sloughs lie
drags himself on his knees and belly. When he has to
cross a stream, he ascertains the depth by his proboscis,
advances slowly, and when lie is out of his depth he swims,
breathing through his trunk, which is visible when the
whole of his body is submersed. He descends into ravines
impassable by man, and by the aid of his trunk ascends
steep mountains. His ordinary pace is about four to five
miles an hour, and he will journey day and night if pro.
perly fed. When weary, he strikes the ground with his
trunk, making a sound resembling a horn, which announces
to his driver that lie desires repose. In Siam the howdah
is a great roofed basket, in which the traveller, with the
aid of his cushions, comfortably ensconces himself. The
motion is disagreeable at first, but ceases to be so after a
little practice.

The homage paid to white'elephants when
they are caught is a singular feature in the
customs of so intelligent a people as the
Siamese. Royal honours are paid to these
rare beasts ; they are waited on by bands of
attendants, and are served with vessels of gold
and silver.

From the representations of this work, the
Siamese appear to rank among the most intel-
ligent and amiable of all the Eastern races. No.
thing could possibly be more gratifying than
the reception given to the Embassy. Let us
hope that a commercial intercourse so happily
begun may be amicably continued, and that
the consul who is permitted to reside in the
capital may keep his mind clear from all
thoughts of aggression, and from a too par-
ticular reference to the precedents established
by the special embassy sent by Louis XIV.
two hundred years ago.

The Gospel of St. John. A Series of Dis-
courses. By Frederick Denison Maurice,
M.A. Cambridge : Macmillan and Co.
Truss discourses of Mr. Maurice contain so
many passages of great value and excellence
-t we regret to fiud them marred by so

THE PRESS.

many peculiarities of matter and manner
which it is impossible not to condemn. In
many parts of his work Mr. Maurice appears
to have before him the cavils and objections of
a peculiar class of hearers—to be writing, in
fact, for sceptics, rather than believers in the
creed to which he himself belongs, and either
to be afraid of speaking out, or else anxious to
make strange admissions. The tendency of
his sermons is to unsettle men's faith in the
received interpretations of Scripture, without
supplying anything better in their place—we
might say, anything intelligible. For, whether
it be the fault of his audience or himself, his
language is constantly drifting into wellnigh
fathomless obscurity.
He has on the present occasion selected
that Gospel in which the great truths of
Christianity are especially revealed ; yet he
shrinks from grappling with or expounding
them. His language on the Atonement we
are sure will be found most unsatisfactory.
We fix our minds earnestly on the mist of
words, hoping against hope that they willfat
length assume a definite meaning, as nebulae
resolve themselves into stars before the stead-
fast gaze of the astronomer. But our patience
is in vain; and soon we begin to suspect that
the vagueness was not unintentional. When
Mr. Maurice has said of these words, " Behold
" the Lamb of God, which taketh away the
" sins of the world," that " this wonderful
" sentence has exercised more power over
" eightaen centuries than perhaps any which
" was ever spoken or written," ho seems to
think he has paid his tribute to the impor-
tance of the sub,ject, and that he may leave
who will to decipher it for himself. Is this
the office of a Christian priest?
Mr. Maurice maintains that the first five
verses of the Gospel of St. John could only
have been written by the " most earnest of Jews
" and the most simple of Christian apostles ";
and to make this good he asserts that St.
John at Ephesus "was essentially a Jew," and
that he still preserved in that city the charac-
teristics of his childhood and his education ;
and if ho were not a Jew, he seems to say, he
should believe these verses to have proceeded
from some one else. But Mr. Alford, in his
Commentary, has sufficiently proved that the
term and idea of the Aoy6c, as the creative,
declarative, conjunctive word of God, and as
a distinct person called the Word was really
made fel. St. John in the Old Testament, the
wisdom of Solomon, and the writings of Philo.
Gnostic and other views had now begun to
appear which necessitated its earnest exposi-
tion. Why then should we seek for any other
account of these verses than in the ordinary
belief that St. John was divinely prompted to
write as he did in order to counteract those
heresies? It is painful to see a man like Mr.
Maurice so unwilling to ascribe any effect to
the Divine agency when by any shift he can
avoid it. Has not St. John been always repre-
sented by the emblem of the eagle, as being
endowed with greater insight into divine
things than the other Apostles? And are we
now to be told that, so far from this, he would
not have written this Gospel if he had risen
out of the influences of his early Jewish feel-
ings and education ? Was the effect of the
Pentecostal gift so imperfect that St. John
was still left to draw upon the stores of his
Jewish teachers? Such modes of explaining
fancied difficulties are monstrous.

We now come to Mr. Maurice's remarks
upon the Miracles. He would like to see the
present English version of the Bible revised
in order to translate enirui'm " signs" instead
of "miracles." And what is his reason?
Does he seriously mean to say that when
people use the word " miracle " in the Bible
they think that "to produce astonishment is
" the immediate objeet of him who works it ?"
(p. 57.) Really Mr. Maurice must have a very
oddly-constituted class of minds to teach, or
entertain very unworthy opinions of his
hearers. Indeed, it seems one peculiarity of
his mind to attribute very monstrous opinions
to everybody but himself, and at times to deny
them common sense. Vide especially p. 180,
239, and 245. To recur to the point, Mr. Maurice
must have read Mr. Trench's able " Notes on
the Miracles." That book would tell him that
miracles are taught by the Church to fulfil
two ends. First, to bo the supernatural

SATURDAY,

Icredentials of a messenger from Heaven ;
and, secondly, to serve as a mode of teaching.
In order to fulfil the first end of a miracle it
must be the exercise of a power above the
ordinary laws of nature. We know as well as
Mr. Maurice can teach us that to produce a
field of wheat from a few grains of corn, or the
juice lot' the grape from a small plant, are
miracles of wisdom, goodness, and power.
But, besides this, the Bible expressly asserts
that the miracles of Christ denoted the
presence of that Higher Power which made all
things, and the assertion of his power over
them. Christ himself appealed to these works
as evidences of his divine mission. And to
understand such miracles as the turning of
water into wine rather as evidence of his
humanity than of his divinity seems both
contradictory to our Saviour's own words and
conducive to no useful purpose among men.
In his remarks upon the miracle of Christ
walking on the waves we do not understand
what Mr. Maurice means by saying it was not
" a violation of the laws of nature." Does he
mean laws of nature such as we ourselves are
conversant with? Words have long been used
in certain received significations, and no man,
whatever his position in literature, is entitled
to handle them in this fantastic fashion.
That it was a sign of something else which is
not regulated by laws known to us no
Christian would deny. But Christ as a human
being walking over the water as if it were dry
land was a violation of the laws of nature,
unless our language and ideas are all to
be turned topsyturvey. Why cannot Mr.
Maurice say what he means in simple,
straightforward English? Such bewildering
phrases may titillate tl►e exhausted curiosity
of languid se,epties ; but it is idle to suppose
they will stir up religion in the hearts of
earnest men.
There is furthermore a tone of bitterness
discernible in these discourses which had
been better away. At p. 189 he speaks of res•
cuing something from "the fangs of contro-
versialists ;" in another place, p. 238, of the
" dark and malignant orthodoxy," which does
not rwree with himself on the subject of future
punishment. We know not to what particular
controversialists Mr. Maurice may be alluding,
but he shows us that his own fangs are not
deficient in sharpness. He loves to sneer at
doctors, divines, and saints, but he forgets that
all this sort of thing must inevitably recoil on
himself. Is not lie too a " controversialist "?
Is rot he too a " divine"? If he would only
permit us, we have that respect for Mr.
Maurice's private life that we would even ask
if he too merits not the still nobler appella-
tion ?

Before concluding our notice we must direct
the attention of our readers to certain passages
of great beauty and power, in which Mr.
Maurice shows himself in his best colours,
natural, eloquent, and pathetic. Such as at p.
107, the voice of Christ still speaking and heard
in the Church ; at p. 132-3, the true character
of a Christian's reward ; and at p. 111 and
4"i2, speculations upon angels, which remind
us very much of a beautiful sermon of New-
man's on St. Michael's-day entitled " The
Powers of Nature." At p. 162, the woman of
Samaria ; and at p. 319, the recognition of
friends in a future world founded on the story
of Lazarus. The latter we subjoin :
I cannot read this story without feeling that, among
those things in heaven and earth that are so to be restored,
the sympathies and affections of the family are some of the
chief. 1 know not why St. John should have dwelt so
much upon the sorrow of the sisters of Lazarus, and upon
Christ's feeling for them, if he had not meant us to un-
derstand this. Martha, I suppose, thought before she
came to Jesus, that her brother would ascend some time
or other on angels wings into a place somewhere above
the stars ; but that all the threads which, from their child-
hood upwards, had been winding round them and binding
them to each other, should be broken; that the associa-
tions of home should cease for ever. lam sure she learnt a
different lesson after she had seen her brother again, and had
understood the declaration, " I am the resurrection and the
life." Then she will have known that if, in the resurrec-
tion, " they neither man, nor are given in marriage,"—ff
no fresh ties are formed like those which bind us together
on earth,—yet that the old relationships, the old affections,
are to have a new and higher life. What is sown in cor-
ruption is raised in incorruption ; what is sown in weak-
ness is raised in strength ; m hat is sown a natural relation-
ship is raised a spiritual. lint in this ease, as in every
other, the change does not alter the substance of that which
has boon, only brings it forth in its might and purity.