Milford chronicle. [volume] (Milford, Del.) 1878-1974, 1896-09-25
KING NoRopoM.s COURT.


A Curious Country In the East and Its
Queer Old POtentate.
The night after my arrival in Prom
PENN there was a reception in state at
the French resldency. It was known
that the king was to be present, and %
of his loyal subjects crouched in the
shade opposite the residency to wit
ness his reception. A body Of native
militia. the Milliciens Cambodians. kept
untidy guard in the street, and when
the king drove up in n victoria, escorted
by II Cambodians on ponies and fol-
lowed by the victo-ihs of a selection OF
his sons, there was considerable enthu-
siasm. His majesty was received with
sPresent armsl" and the fanfare of
cornet that was not in tune. Music was
played during the reception by the
roval band of Manila-men who would
have played, perhaps, with more spirit
had their vases been less in arrears.
King Norodom is quite curiosity.
He is q little, wizeDed-up mar, with gray
hair and a stoop, and with that peculiar
expression Of feature which is usually
Il write with respect-associated with
the higher anthropoid apes.
All the royal family live in Prom
PENN. in a kind of mock palace-a ram
bling pile of disjointed buildings of diff
ferent shapes, scattered over large in
closure, surrounded by a wall of brick
and plaster. Where there is plaster it
is falling off in flakes; where there is
wood it is worm-eaten ard rotten;
where there is any iron it is rusting and
uselecs. 1t is q palace fit for such
king. At the main entrance to the pal
nee two Cambodian militiamen keep
guard, with their hats awry, their
khaki coats in rags, their rifles held like
brooms. On the river bank in front OF
the palace there is an odd 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 no longer sea-
worthy.
King Norodom has reigned In his own
peculiar way in Cambodia since 1850,
but since 1867 he has had the advantage
of being directed and protected by the
French. It was in 1867 that France en-
tered into a 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
1867, then, we are always told that
Siamese influence was withdrawn from
the councils of Cambodia. As an actual
fact, however, Siamese influence still
counts for something, though the
French will not allow that 1t is so in the
Cambodian court. Norodom passed his
early years in Bangkok, and spoke 81
amese before he spoke Cambodian. 1t
was Siam that gave the crown of Cam
bodia to his father, Ang-Duong, and it
was Slam which elected him king on
the death of his father. The king is not
a prince of high moral character; he
has probably never attempted to es-
cane from the trammels of his environ
ments; he will even on occasions mock
at 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 Siamese employed by the
king IN positions of more or less conh-
dence, and have it on authority which
is beyond cavil that the most intimate
personal friends of the king and his
only conhdantes are Siamese, and that
Siamese is the language which the royal
lips speak from choice.
King Norodom is very much-mar-
ried man, his establishment comprising
at least 300 wives and concubines. He
has So sons and daughters who are 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 q
successor, is well assured. King Moro
dom came to the throne in 1860, and the
same year a statue in his honor was
erected in Pnom-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 Frepch general,
mounted on a charger and saluting the
armed hosts of CambOdia. Rarely have
1 seen n more impressive work of arts
and it is unfortunate that, left neg
lected in some waste land, it has become
overgrown with jungle. On the pedestal
there Is an inscription which testifies
that the statue was erected to Norodom
by his grateful mandarlns and sub
jeets." The statue, we are told, was the
spontaneous offering Of a 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 efigies of their
newly-crowned king. - Cor. London
Times.