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Thailand Mongkut's Opening to the West
Nang Klao died in 1851 and was succeeded by his forty-seven-
year-old half brother, Mongkut (Rama IV, 1851-68). Mongkut's
father, Loet La (Rama II, 1809-24), had placed him in a Buddhist
monastery in 1824 to prevent a bloody succession struggle between
factions loyal to Mongkut and those supporting Nang Klao
(although Nang Klao was older than Mongkut, his mother was a
concubine, whereas Mongkut's mother was a royal queen). As a
Buddhist monk, Mongkut won distinction as an authority on the
Pali Buddhist scriptures and became head of a reformed order of
the Siamese sangha. Thai Buddhism had become heavily
overlain with superstitions through the centuries, and Mongkut
attempted to purge the religion of these accretions and restore
to it the spirit of Buddha's original teachings
(see Religion
, ch. 2).
Mongkut's twenty-seven years as a Buddhist monk not only made
him a religious figure of some consequence but also exposed him
to a wide array of foreign influences. Blessed with an inquiring
mind and great curiosity about the outside world, he cultivated
contacts with French Roman Catholic and United States Protestant
missionaries. He studied Western languages (Latin and English),
science, and mathematics. His lengthy conversations with the
missionaries gave him a broad perspective that greatly influenced
his policies when he became king in 1851. He was more
knowledgeable of, and at ease with, Western ways than any
previous Thai monarch.
Mongkut was convinced that his realm must have full relations
with the Western countries in order to survive as an independent
nation and avoid the humiliations China and Burma had suffered in
wars with Britain. Against the advice of his court, he abolished
the old royal trade monopoly in commodities and in 1855 signed
the Treaty of Friendship and Commerce with Britain. (This treaty,
commonly known as the Bowring Treaty, was signed on Britain's
behalf by Sir John Bowring, governor of Hong Kong.) Under the
terms of the treaty, British merchants were permitted to buy and
sell in Siam without intermediaries, a consulate was established,
and British subjects were granted extraterritorial rights.
Similar treaties were negotiated the next year with the United
States and France, and over the next fifteen years with a number
of other European countries. These agreements not only provided
for free trade but also limited the Siamese government's
authority to tax foreign enterprises. The elimination of these
barriers led to an enormous increase in commerce with the West.
This expansion of trade in turn revolutionized the Thai economy
and connected it to the world monetary system.
The demand for extraterritorial privileges also convinced the
king that unless Siam's legal and administrative systems were
reformed, the country would never be treated as an equal by the
Western powers. Although little in the way of substantive
modernization was accomplished during his reign, Mongkut
eliminated some of the ancient mystique of the monarch's divinity
by allowing commoners to gaze on his face, published a royal
gazette of the country's laws, and hired a number of Western
experts as consultants, teachers, and technicians. Long-standing
institutions such as slavery remained basically untouched,
however, and the political system continued to be dominated by
the great families. Conservatives at court remained strong, and
the king's death from malaria in 1868 postponed pending reform
projects.
Data as of September 1987
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