The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1889-05-18

en- grass, have trod with my patent-leathers
the floors of his holiest temples and have
with unwinking eyes looked at the grand
eur of the little emerald idol. My letters
from Washington gave me access to the
Foreign Minister, and one of the English
speaking mobiles connected with the State
Department bright, copper colored,
black -moustached young fellow in a Cress
half Siamese and half European-acted as
nv guide. He showed me the outside of
the great buildings of the harem, but |
have failed to meet any one of His Majesty 5
one hundred wives, and His Royal High
ness himself had left the capital for a six
weeks trip into the interior of his realm
three days before my arrival. l have been
so fortunate, however, as to meet many
men connected with his court, who are
well posted upon him and his kingdom.
The talks with these and with old residents
of tie country have given me almost as
good a knowledge of his personality as
though | had met him myself, and as |
write this letter his last photograph, taken
by the Court photographer, lies on the
table before me.
It represents bright-eyed, slender young
man of thirty-six dressed in the gorgeous
uniform Of Siamese royalty. Small in
stature, his head is crowned with golden
pyramid of jewels rising in circular tiers,
diminishing as they go upward until they
end in 4 long, pencil-like point, which ex-
tends nearly two feet above the forehead
Of its kingly owner His body is clad in
( Gorgeous coat and vest heavily embroidered
in gold and Jewels, and in place of panta-
+ looms he has the rich brocaded surong of
the Siamcse about his loins and waist 1t
comes down below his knees at the front
and it looks here not unlike pair of fancy
kuickcrhockers Below these a pair of
shapley calves in white silk stockings are
thrust into jcwclled-covcFcd. heeless slip
pers. pointed ike the shoe Of the Turk,
and the whole makes a costume brilliant
and grand His Majesty sits on foreign
armchair aud his sword lies on a table at
his side lie i a pleasan, looking fellow,
aud his olive brown face is plump and un-
wrinklcd He has beautiful liquid black
eyes, broad, high. aud rather full fore
head aud short. straight. black hair. I'm.
der his rather short aud half fat nose there
i a silky black moustache. aud below this
the lips are rather thick, and the chin
plump and well rounded His hands and
teei are well made. and he is, all told Is
good specimen Of Siamesc beauty as |
have seen lie Is the ninth son Of Maha
Mougku, the last King Of Siam, and he
vas picked out Of family Of oighty-tour
children to be placed upon the Siamese
throne He has thirty-iuur halfbrothers
and forty.niue haif.sisters, and be liked
one Of BIZ half-sis,crs - well that he mar
riei her and made her his queen.
Looking at him, it Is hard to imagine
that he j. the sacred ruler of from six to
ten millions Of people, and Il Is hard for
an American Prince to appreciate his ab-
solgtc power and holy dignity. The peo-
Pic Of the country are has slaves. Tie has
the right ta call them into his service
eishcr with or without pay, and all ulcn in
Sam are forced TO give him either the
whole or a part Of their services during the
year His word can throw man 10 chains
OF put him to death; can deprive him Of
bis property or rob aim Of his daughter,
All the women Of Sam are supposed TO
belong to the King. and 10 ono i forbid
d.n to kim except bis mother He Is sup
passed TO take one oi bis SISTERS a. his queen
asd the mobiles og the country offer him
their daughters by the scores, His court
Is one Of intrigue ard plotting, and the
noblss aIc glad TO have their daughters in
the harem IN that they may thus the bet
ter attain the Kings friendship aud power
ful Offices tie taxes the people as be
pleascs and these taxes are 50 heavy that
at tiwcs some mca have to sell :heir wives
and children as slaves 10 enable them to
pay him. Still his vaults are full Of treas
urs Siam has no national debt aud he
has an income of more than ten million
dollars year He can spend tens Of
thousands Of dollars in ercma;ing a dead
wife or 10 establishing a petty navy, which
would be Of no more good than 50 many
boy toy boats against the war ships Of the
great nations.
Still this King of Siam is the most pro-
gressiye the country has ever had He Is
far in advance OF his people, aud he Is
doing a great deal to eiyiize them. Be
fore his second coronation iu ls7a all
natives who approached the King had TO
do 50 on al fours They had to raise their
hands in alteration to him and bump their
heads ON the mats before him. This King
did away with all this, and he has intro
dueed the American handshake into his
reception of foreigners. tie gives Fecep-
tions to Foreigners and speaks the English
tongue. though he never does this when
noted foreign visitors have an audience
with him. He considers il beneath his
dignity At such times to speak in any other
language than the Siamese. and he has an
Interpreter who translates the English
words into SiameSe and the Siamese words
into Erglish. He has brought the tele-
graph aud the telephone into Bangkok.
has established street car line, and lights
his harem with the electric light just at
present he Is considering the subject of
RAILWAYS, and he has given 100000 TO
have a survey made OF railway which
shall run from Bangkok out into his king
dom. aud shall connect with Mandalay and
Burmah The engineers started out to
survey this railroad few days ago, and it
NAV be that decade hence he will be able to
travel all over this country by rail. tie
has established custom house, aud very
polite, dark skinned official met me on my
arrival in Bangkok and asked me if my
trunks contained any contraband goods, |
replied they did not, and he then wanted
to know if | was bringing any diamonds
into the country, or if had any packages
of dynamite about my clothes, | again
, replied no, and he chalk marked my bag
, gage without looking into it,
HIS Liberal, RELIGIOUS VIEWS,
This king of Siam Is Buddhist, ant
! he was for some time a Buddhist priest
! as is the custom with all men in Siam
\ Every one is expected at some time t.
Q enter the priesthood and the royal mon
: arch. with his millions of treasure, hi.
y scores of wives, and his ten millions yeal
once shaved his head and nominally gav'
up his crown and his harem to wear ;
yellow cotton scarf about his waist, and t
20 fasting and praying He is hbera
}, Buddhist now, and he gives, am told, al
s. facilities to his missionaries, and treat
Z them well. One of the missionaries Is a
the head of the royal school here, and th'
Il Il. ,.r.-s.,,