The Sun.
London, England, 1855-07-28 00:00:00

THE SIAMESE T WINS !

--.=,,.--

We have got a new ally—not Austria, not Prussia, no,
nor the Shah of Persia, nor the King of Sweden, but
still a veritable ally, who receives us with open arms,
and has entered into the most amicable relations possible
with us. There is no hope, we fear, of making hiro
available for the purposes of the present war, in which
respect he closely resembles the greater number of Eu.
ropean States ; but, on the other hand, he is animated
by the most enlightened principles of commercial free-
dom, in which he is greatly their superior. In other
words, not to keep our readers longer in suspense, we
have just concluded a commercial treaty, through the
agency of Sir John Bowring, with his Majesty the King
of Siam.
This Monarch, with whom our recent conquest of
Pegue has for the first time brought us into contact, is a
very remarkable person, and is, we sincerely b. pe re-
served for a better fate than that which has attended, so
many royal families in the East with whom we have en-
tered into friendly relations, which have only been the
prelude to discord, to war, and to ultimate mediatisation
or absorption. The present King of Siam appears to be
one of those extraordinary men who are placed in com-
manding situations over a people whom they as much
exceed in enlightenment as in power, and who are des-
tined either to r&orm their countrymen or to fall vic-
tims to the opposition which they create. The King of
Siam is about 50 years of age. He has learnt not only
English but Latin from the missionaries, and has also
imbibed from them a laudable ambition to obtain a re-
putation in Europe as the most liberal sovereign of the
East. Matters must surely be much improved since the
time when the King of Siam, having dined himself,
was wont to give permission, by sound of trumpet, to
all the other kings of the world to do the same.
To cultivate these promising dispositions Sir John
Bowring set forth in April last to visit his Siamese Ma-
jesty—a visit which began, continued, and ended in
such perfect harmony that the Plenipotentiary and the
Monarch might fairly revive, as a fitting description cf
their amicable relations, the now almost forgotten title
of the " Siamese Twins." The capital city Of the king-
dom, rejoicing in the name of Banglrok, 'is an exceed.
ingly handsome town, containing 350,000 inhabitants,
well built and well administered, and in every respect
worthy of the enlightened Monarch who has made it
the seat of his empire. The expedition was completely
successful. This result was the more agreeable as our
two former missions—the one under the guidance of
Colonel Burney, the other of Sir James Brooke—had
entirely failed of success. They found the policy of the
kingdom to consist in obstructing commerce as much as
possible by monopolies and every other species of ob-
stacle, and were utterly unable to prevail upon the then
Sovereign to relax in any degree his prohibitory system.
Sir John Bowring must excuse us if we are disposed to
attribute the success of his mission rather to the good
disposition of the King, who has recently succeeded to
the throne, than to any extraordinary fascination which
our Envoy was able to exercise over the mind of his
Royal host. He found the King most gracious and
most favourable, hospitable and kind beyond expectation,
and anxious above all things that the fame of his libe-
rality, hie courtesy, and his accomplishments should
spread abroad into every country in Europe. With such
dispositions on either side, the negotiations proceeded
merrily, and a treaty was concluded after the pattern
of those we are in the habit of making with all Oriental
potentates, abolishing all monopolies, throwing open
the trade of the country, and appointing a consul to
watch over our interests and protect our citizens.
We regard the conclusion of this treaty as a
matter of very real and reasonable congratulation.
Even under the old prohibitive system the trade with
Siam was by no means insignificant, and, now that it is
thrown open, it bids fair to attain very considerable exten-
sion. The country produces very good sugar, rice, and
woods for dying, so that it must have considerable pur-
chasing power, and the accession of 6,000,000 customers
cannot fail to be felt in our centres of industry at home,
and add fresh activity to the busy mart of Singapore.
We hope that peace and harmony may long prevail be-
tween the two nations, and that our new friend and his
successors, content with free commercial intercourse,
will abstain from provoking a power which desires
nothing better than to leave them in undisturbed posses-
sion of their Crown and territory. Nor in a political
point of vi ew is this treaty less agreeable. The King of
Siam has, no doubt, been subjected to numerous solici-
tations from. Russia and the United States of America,
and if he has preferred our friendship to theirs it is
probably because he thought us the most favourable to
his independence, and the least likely to interfere with
his patrimony. This Prince, had he been disposed to be
troublesome, might, had be sided with Burmab, have
afforded us a great deal of annoyance, and has by his
ready acquiescence in our views considerably diminished
the chance of a fresh rupture between us and the Court
of Ava.

How different is the account which we receive of this
amiable and enli,c,rittened Prince from the pictures, only
too faithful, we fear, which reach us from time to time
of those miserable Sovereigns of India. whom it is our
delight to support under the aegis of our power against
the indignation col their oppressed subjects, and the
punishment which,. but for us, would long ago have
waited on their crimes ! The defence generally urged
for the support of such monstrous iniquities is, that
such things are inseparable from Oriental des-
potism, and that we have no right to apply Euro-
pean notions to A.niatic manners. Therefore it is
that we maintain Ilyderabad and Oude in a state
of chronic civil war, and. tolerate the domestic feuds
of the Court of Cashmere, and wink at the flagrant cor-
ruptions that disgrace the administration of Guicowar.
But, while we tolerate, as we are told, from necessity,
these enormities in comparatively civilized India, we
find in the barbarous and remote regions of Siam kings
just and merciful, hospitable to strangers, and anxious to
introduce among their. subjects the arts of peace and the
blessings of civilization. If such things can be under
the untutored despotism of barbarian States, suraly the
people of England have a right to expect the same en-
lightened Government within the circuit of our own
dominions, and that we should not allow millions of un
fortunate persons to be trampled on by a Power which
only exists by our support, because we choose to think
that every Eastern natitm is condemned by the very
nature of its government to the same outrages. In the
meanwhile we hail the opening of the kingdom of Siam
to European intercourse as a solid step in the march of
improvement, as fraught with high commercial advantages,
as the confirmation of our tenure of the newly-conquered
province of Pegue, and a proof that our political influence
is as yet wholly unscathed by the bloody and desperate
contest now , raging on the confines of Europe and

RAILWAY TRAFFIC RETURN&

TRAFFIC RETURNS FOR THE PAST WEEK.

Allies tt ecelpts.
opened, NAME OF RAILWAY.
1854. 1855.
1855.
- ---
BRITISH. £ £
721{ Aberdeen .. ..
37% Belfast and Ballymena • • ............ 651 840
17 Belfast a•ad County Down• • .• • • • • • • •• - -
32 Birkenhead, Lancashire, and Cheshire 2,526 2,537
261! Bolton, Bl ackburn,and West York _ _ - -
103% Bristol and Exeter •... - • • .......... 6,301 6,443
189% Caledonian..... •••.• • • • •••••• • • • • • • 12,405 13,069
9414 Chester and Holyhead... --__ - .• 5,810 5,568
VA Cork, Blacks ock, and Passage .....• 2)3 225
20 Cork and Bandon .. ••...•_• • •• .. • • 174 267
56 Dublin and tlelfast Junction • ....... 963 1,072
63 Dublin and Wogheda.. •• . . ......... 1,399 I,tC 0
7% Dublin and Kingstown .. ••.• _ •• 1,883 1,187
16% Dundee and. Arbroath ..............638 637
31 Dundee, Perth, and Aberdeen Junction 914 1,074
25 Dundalk an 2 Enniskillen • ... ........ 280 418
68 East Anglian .... • • • • • • . . - _ _ _ • . • • 81.0 809
811! East Lancashire ••--_.• _ _ •• _ • . 5,507 6,3'05
417 Eastern Coup tie:, and Norfolk ...... "9 23,956 24,607
Eastern Unio.a •.•• • • .• ___ _ /
142 Edinburgh and Glasgow ..........„, 6,105 5,619
78 Edinburgh, Perth, and Dundee .• •• •• 3,208 3,433
6 Exeter and Credlton .......... ...... - -
22 Furness Railway ... .•,•_• • _ •• _ 1,163 1,024
183 Glasgow, and So uth-Western• •••• • • • 6,32 i 6,708
293 Great Northern and E. L..... •..... 18,489 19,622
188 Great Southern and Western (Ireland) 5.481 6,19
342 Great Western •••••••• • • - . . - _ _ 24,809 27,677
25 Irish South Eastern ................ - -
90 Lancaster and Cs r1i51e...... - •...., 6,161 6 117
260 Lancashire and Yorkshire.... -.. 20,557 21,901
- Leeds Northern ...• .. • • - • • • • •• •• • • - -
16 k Liverpool, Crosb v, and Southport.... 539 336
5538 London and North Western ......... 59,855 57,646
5% London and 81ackwa11.............. 2,072 , 1,709
174 London, Brighton, and South Coast_ 17,123 16,038
267 London and South Western. ........ 16,214 17,339
60 Londonderry and Enniskillen ........ 501 778
- i Manchester, Buxton, and Matlock, &c. - -
171% Manchester, Sheffield,and Lincolnshire 10,217 8,791
9% Manchester and South Junction •. - - 841 854
28 Maryport and Carlisle -.• ......... 943 ' 951
498% Midland ..... ....... ..... ........ 29.861 28,276
1261 Midland Great Western (Irish) ...... 2,642 2,984
37 Monklands - - . . .. - - . . .. .. - - • • - -
78% Newcastle and Carlisle ............ • • - -
149 North British ...................... 5,106 5,376
- North Staffordshire ••••-•• • • • • • • • - -
46i North-Western .... •.• • - - ........ 1,047 1,041
82% Scottish Central .... -• • ...... .... .. 2,6.88 3,129
32 Scottish Midland .• •••• • • • • ..... - 888 1,061
29% Shrewsbury and Birmingham ••• • .. 92.3 1,384
48 Shrewsbury and Chester ••• • • • •..... 2,260 2,788
30 Shropshire Union ..................856 854
:57% South Devon ................ • • .... . 2,475 2.587
284 South Eastern .• ••••• • • • .• .......... 21,175 21,867
162% South Wales .. ••..• • - - .......... 5.376 5,816
97 South York., Doncaster, and Goole .. 1,649 1.157
38 Taff Vale ••.••••--••••• • • • .. .. .• 3,456 3,639
36 Ulster. •.- -
77•
•
Waterford and Limerick • • ...... _• • 7,3 1,104
25 West Cornwall ••••••••• • • • • • • • .. 194 6'86
12 V3'hitehaven Junction ..• • • • • • • .• • • • • 362 353
682 York and Newcastle, and Tier tvick &
Yar lt and North Midland & Leeds.. - -
FOREIGN.
571,4 Dutch Rhenish •-•••••••• • . •• •• •• •• 1,696 2,235
262 Lyons and Mediterranean •••••• • • • • - -
f 3 Montereau and T.••oyes ...... • . _ • • • , _ -
65 Namur and Liege .. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • - -
445 Northern of France .. ••••••• • • • • • • • 32,200 40,742
6)7 Orleans and Central* .. - -
240 pa.ris and Lyor.s ................., --
82 pari's and Rouen. .• • ...............
392 Paris and Strasbargh • • .........• • •
---
59 Rouen bud Havre •••• _ _ • • ~,, •• .
..
._ -
157 Western of France •• ... •• •• •• _ -

HYDROPHOBIA.—ne following remedy for the bite of
a mad dog is reported to h.lve been used by a person who
was bitten by a rabid anima,' six times, and never used
any other remedy : —Dissolve a pound of common salt
in a quart of spring water, and wash and squeeze the
bitten part immediately after the ;aliction of the wound
for an hour, and then bind some salt upon it for 12
hours. This will neither counteract tor supersede any
othermenns that may be deemed necOssarY• The per-
son bitten should keep as quiet as pos.lible before the
ablution, that exertion may not promote the absorption
of the virus. In Germany when such alt occurrence
takes place some dila, or any dry article, is directly
thrown on the bitten part, which absorbs the froth or
saliva, and thereby tends to diminish infection by im-
bibing the infectious matter. When so many eminent
practitioners have failed in their endeavours to cure this
'dreadful malady, so simple an expedient is worth the
trial ; for, if it does not effectually cure the disorder, it
will doubtless mitigate its direful effects.