and of alternations of conquest and subjection ;
in the course of which, the three most numerous
and civilized tribes have taken the lead, viz. the
Burmans, Peguans, and Siamese; while the secondary
nations, such as those of Aracan, Lao,
and Kamboja, with the less civilized tribes, have
stood neuter when permitted, or followed the
fortunes of the temporary victor.
In drawing the character of the Siamese, it
cannot be denied but that the dark greatly overbalances
the bright side. Judging from those
with whom we held intercourse, I make no hesitation
in confirming what has been often asserted
of the Siamese by European writers, that they
are servile, rapacious, slothful, disingenuous, pusillanimous,
and extravagantly vain.
Servility is of course to be expected as a necessary
consequence of the rigid despotism by which
the Siamese are weighed down. Subordination
of rank is so rigorously marked in Siam, as to
destroy all appearance of equality, and therefore
all true politeness. Towards their superiors, the
conduct of the Siamese is abject in the extreme,
and towards inferiors it is insolent or disdainful.
This character seems indeed impressed even upon
their external deportment. Their gait is not
only never graceful, erect, or manly, like that of
the military tribes of Western Asia, but on the
contrary, always sluggish, ignoble, and crouching,
Perhaps the very attitudes in which sub-
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banish even the graces of external deportment;
and it seems indeed impossible to associate any
elegance of external manners, however, superficial,
with the habitual practice of crawling upon
knees and elbows, knocking the forehead against
the earth, and similar observances.* The universal
disuse of wearing arms in Siam by the
authority of the Government, and the substitution,
if not of law, at least of arbitrary authority,
for the private right of avenging wrongs,
has in all probability a considerable effect upon
the manners of the Siamese, rendering their
demeanour less guarded and delicate than in
conditions of society even less civilized, but
where the habitual use of arms and the consequent
fear of assassination beget a constrained
politeness, and a fastidious impatience of affront
and insult.
All the persons with whom the Mission had
any intercourse displayed a singular share of rapacity,
scarcely attempted to be disguised by
* We had occasion to observe on the knees and elbows
of some of onr acquaintances the effects of this practice, in
the black indelible scars with which they were marked. The
ettects of these repeated prostrations were, particularly obvious
on the limbs of the Phraklang, whose duty led him, at
east twice a day, to perform them at the palace. The Chinese,
I believe, are allowed on such occasions the use of
pads for the protection of their limbs and garments; but
such precaution on the part of the Siamese would be looked
upon as intolerably disrespectful, and deserving of the bamboo.