New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1905-03-24

Kingdom OF SIAM" Its chapters are written by
various high officers OF the SiaInese government,
and the work is edited by A Cecil Carter. NJ A,
secretary general OF the Siamese Royal Com
mission TO the ST. Louis Exposition, under whose
auspices the book is published. AS is almost
! neyitable in a work prepared in this manner
/ the information. though valuable. is rather or
the encyclopaedia order. ana necessarily one SIDED
! in its point OF view. One gets little impress
sion OF the picturesqueness of the country and
! its people, except, indeed. from the photographs
with which the volume is illustrated. which are
abundant and excellent The Siamese are a
highly civilized people. the proportion of Tilt
eracy among the men being relatively small,
though one of the writers admits that from a
literary point of view the women are padly eou-
Gated" naTvely adding ''but this is moro than
balanced by their native shrewdness." The King
is a ruler of enlightened views and is rapidly
adopting European methods in the various lines
of national and commercial activity or adapting
them to suit native customs and requirements.
Tea grows wild and is cultivated to a small
extent though IL Is not used as beverage. but
is picked instead. After the leaves have been
plucked and dried they steamed. to remove
the tannin and glucose. and are then thrown
into small pits and weighted down, where they
ferment. This product, known as mieng is
rolled into balls, and of these balls Is held
in the hollow of the cheek until the soluble
sttuents OF the tea have been extracted" the
effect on the observer being that of a nation
uniformly afflicted with the toothache, the ball
of mieng making a huge swelling on one side
OF the face.
The army is organized and drilled on tho
oughy modern lines, the officers receiving a
preliminary education at the Royal Military
College, while three schools are maintained for
the training of non-co1nmssioned officers. Mill
tary service is compulsory. with certain liberal
exemptions M iS inks as
possible by a regional system Of enlistment.
By this means the rank and file enjoy the adj
vantage OF performing their military duties near
their homes and can return to the labor Of the
fields or their customary occupations during the
periods in which their presence is not required
with the colors.
Bangkok, the capital. is the terminus of four
lines of railway. has electric tram service, a
fine racecourse. number of foreign clubs and
European managed hotels, well as many
handsome public buildings.
One of the most striking features of the judi
cial system of the country, according to the
judicial adviser TO the King, is the facility and
cheapness of appeal and the systematic way in
which it is made use of by litigants. He says
When this d,ePartms1t was first establishing ed the
Judges were new and untrfed men and GENERALLY
youthful, appeal should be made as easy as posi-
suit. 1t costs only 2a per cent on the amount in
VolVed, and In criminal cases nothing at all 1t Is
necessary to appear personally before the APP
peal court nor to engage counsel The conse-
qusnce is that the appeal courts are overwhelmed
with work. Last year the two divisions OF the
appeal disposed of 800 cases, Of which Ala
were arrears from the previous year. OF these APP
peals LIE were sent up TO the Supreme Court OF
Appeal.
Sir John George Tollemache Sinclair Scotch
baronet, who owns some 1900 acres of land
about his seat at Thurso Castle, Caithness. and
whose son was married to the daughter of the
late Mahlon Sands. of New-York. has written
the following four lines. which he thinks ought
to embody the present feeling of America to
England:
Americas proud of thee. thought Of thee. looked
TO thee,
When Europe. except thee. for spein's cause da
foam:
The whole world she'd meet with thee, fight with
thee, beat with thee,
Blood's thicker than water, dear England, once
home