Daily public ledger. [volume] (Maysville, Ky.) 1892-191?, 1896-09-05
King NoRopoM.s couRr.
A Curious Country In the East and Its
Queer Old Potentate.

VutoE Olu EotehAhbts
The night after my arrival in Prom.
PENN there was reception in state al
the French residency. 1t was known
that the king was to be present, and %
of his loyal subjects crouched in the
shade opposite the resdency to wit
ness his reception. A body Of native
militia, the Millicens Cambodians. kept
untidy guard in the street, and when
the king drove up in a victoria, escorted
by II Cambodians on ponies and fol
lowed by the victorias of n selection of
his sons, there was considerable enthu-
sasm. His majesty was received with
present arms!" and the fanfare of
cornet that was not in tune. Music was
played during the reception 10y the
royal band of Manila-men who would
have played, perhaps, with more spirit
had their wages been less in arrears.
King Norodom is quite curiosity,
lie is a little wizened-up man with gray
hair and a stoop. and with that peculiar
expression of feature which is usually
I write with spect-assOciated with
the higher anthropoid apes.
All the royal family live in Prom
PENN, in kind of mock palace--a ram
bling pile of disiointed buildings Of diff
ferent shapes, scattered over a large in
closure, surrounded by a wall of brick
and plaster. Where there is plaster il
is falling off i'm flakes; where there is
wood it is wOrm-eaten and rotten;
where there is any iron it is rusting and
useless. 1t is a palace fl for such a
king. At the main entrance TO the pal
ace two Cambodian militiameD keep
guard, with their hats awry, their
khaki coats in rags, their rifles held like
brooms. On the river bank i'm front of
the palace there is an old flagstaff. while
drawn above the water line there is
royal state barge, with dragon head
and seven-forked tail; but the paint has
peeled off and the craft is 10 longer sea-
worthy.
King Norodom has regned in his own
peculiar way in Cambodia since 1860
but since 1867 he has had the advantage
of being directed and protected by the
French. 1t was in 1867 that France en-
tered into treaty with Siam. by which
she agreed that the two provinces of
Angkor and Batambang should remain
in Siamese possession, and by the same
treaty Siam formally recognized the
French protectorate in Cambodia. Since
1SG7, then. we are always told that
Siamcse influence was withdrawn from
the councils of CambCdia. As an actual
fact, however Siamese influence still
counts for something, though the
French will not allow that II is so in the
Cambodian court. Norodom passed his
early years in Bangkok, and spoke ST.
amese before he spoke Cambodian. II
was Siam that gave the crown of Cam.
bodia TO his father, Ang-Duong. and il
was Siam which elected him king on
the death of his father. The king is not
n prince of high moral character; he
has probably never attempted to es-
cape from the trammels of his environ
ments; he win even on occasions mock
nj Buddha; but none the less he cannot
forget that for him the highest living
object of religious veneration must be
the king of Siam. In Pnom-Penh there
are nearly 40 Siamesc employed by the
king in positions of more or less conf
dence and have il on authority which
is beyond cavil that the most intimate
personal friends of the king and his
only confidant"s are Siamese, and that
Siamese is the language which the royal
lips speak from choice.
King Norodom is a very much-mar-
ried man. his establishment comprising
at least 800 wives and concubines. He
has Sc sons and daughters who arc rec
ognized by the French as his lawful
progeny Of this number more than
half are sons. so that the succession, If
ever the French permit him TO have
successor, is well assured. King Moro
dom came To the throne in 1cGG, and the
same year statue in his honor was
erected in rnom-Penh. 1t is an eQues-
trian statue, and is the only public
monument in the city. 1t was, OF
course. made in France, and represents
the king dressed as a French general,
mounted on a charger and saluting the
armed hosts of Cambodia. Rarely have
seen more impressive work of art;
and it is unfortunate that. left neg.
lected IN some waste land, il has become
overgrown with jungle. On the pedestal
there is an inscription which testites
that the statue was erected 10 Norodom
by his "gInteful mandarins and sub
iects." The statue, we are told, was the
spontaneous offering Of grateful peo-
pie, and one can well believe it, though
it surely has not often happened that
indigenous tribes in Asia have ordered
from Paris equestrian etiigies of their
newly-crowned king. Cor. London
Times.
Chimneys Are Tickle.
"The hardest problem the builder has