The principal imports are the productions of China, chiefly for the consumption of
the large resident Chinese population. These consist of coarse pottery, paper, fans,
umbrellas, raw and wrought silks, and tea. From Hindustan the staple imports are
cotton fabrics and opium, and from Europe, mostly from British Indian settlements,
cotton and woollen fabrics, glass-ware, cutlery, arms and ammunition.
The government of Siam is as thorough a despotism as can well be conceived. The
sovereign is looked upon as a sort of demigod, who, after many migrations, is on the
high-way towards final absorption into the essence of the Creator. His courtiers dare not
look him straight in the face and so speak to him. They approach him in the crawling
attitude of the lower animals, their knees and elbows being absolutely cicatrised by the
long habit of this practice. When he appears abroad, which is seldom, every one
prostrates himself as he passes, and all persons, even passing the royal palace, make a
reverential obeisance to it. His real name, during his life-time, is never uttered, but he
is alluded to under such titles or epithets as the following,—the most reverent, the
perfect one, the godlike feet, the descendant of ancient kings, the descendant of
angels, and the lord of perfect justice.
Siamese nobility is wholly personal and official, although from the nature of things,
often heritable in families. It consists of five orders. Two persons only belong to
the highest order, the two first ministers of state, one of whom is superintendant of
the northern or interior provinces, and the other of the southern or maritime. In
fact these functionaries constitute two distinct prime ministers, having each a moiety
of the kingdom for his province. To the second class of nobles belong five ministers,
namely, the governor of the palace, the treasurer, the minister of agriculture, the
chief of the royal guards, and the superintendant of the Mon or Peguan resident
inhabitants of Siam. The third order amounts to twenty-five in number, and are
either the deputies of the officers of the two first classes, or holders of subordinate
offices. The nobles of the fourth and fifth class are very numerous, and usually
subordinate to those of the third.
The different provinces have each their own governors, and are named after their chief
towns as in China. According to their importance, they are divided into four orders,
the Siamese capital and the chief towns of the tributary princes, constituting the first.
Muang, in Siamese, is a town or a country, and by affixing to it the numerals we have
the degree to which each belongs. I t may be remarked that the numerals employed
for this purpose are not those of the vernacular language but the Sanscrit ones, or
rather the corruptions of these in the Pali or sacred tongue, namely, ek, tho, tri,
chateva.
A tolerable notion of the character of Siamese government and society may be
formed from the manner in which public services are rewarded. Disbursements for
this purpose are made yearly from the royal treasury in the month of November,
the operation usually lasting about twelve days. The royal princes and the seven
principal ministers receive each a sum equal to 200? a year. Functionaries of the
third class are paid, according to the importance of their charges, at the rate of from
71. 10s. to 120Z. : officers of the fourth class have salaries of from 71. 10s. to 15?., and
inferior officers of from 27. to 157. Common soldiers, police officers, medical practitioners,
artisans, and the like, are paid according to merit, at the rates of from 25s.
to 30s. a year. These rates of remuneration are sufficient provocations to the
extortions, peculations, and evasions, which are known to be generally practised.
The revenue of the kingdom is stated by M. Pallegoix at the sum of 26,964,100
ticals, equivalent to 3,370,512?, probably a great exaggeration. I t consists of poll-
taxes, land-taxes, monopolies, and custom duties, of all of which a brief account will be
satisfactory. With the exception of the Chinese of the pure blood, that is, of emigrants
direct from China, all the inhabitants subject to the direct government of Siam,
excluding, of course, the tributary states, are amenable to the performance of corvée
labour to the crown, commuted when the services are not exacted into a money payment.
This varies for a slave, from two to four ticals, and for a freeman from four to
six ticals. The total amount of the commutation is stated at 12,000,000 of ticals, or
1,500,0007 At the medium rate of 4 ticals a head, the contributors to this tax
would amount to 3,000,000 of persons.
The Chinese are also subject to a capitation tax, but at a higher rate. A census of
them is taken every three years, and then every male of the age of 20 and upwards
pays a tax of 5 ticals. The total amount of this tax is stated at 2,000,000 of ticals
or 250,0007 The amount of the tax would make the number of the contributors
400,000, and if these constitute one-third part of the population, the total Chinese
inhabitants of Siam would amount to 1,200,0007
The tax on land is of three different descriptions, namely, an impost on land,
yielding rice by irrigation,—one on such lands as produce such articles as sugar-cane,
pepper, and tobacco, and a third on garden lands. The first of these imposts is a
fixed, tax of one tical for a measure equal to an arpent, and, if we consider this as an
English acre, we have a moderate fixed impost of half a crown the acre. The produce
of this tax is said to be only 2,000,000 of ticals, or 250,0007 The actual extent of
land under water-field cultivation is, according to this estimate, only 2,000,000 of acres,
but this, of course, excludes the lands of all the tributary states. The tax on lands
yielding such products as sugar-cane and tobacco, is said to yield a sum of 500 000
ticals or 62,5007, but the principal on which it is assessed is not stated. The tax on
garden lands and orchards is far more productive than either of the other two, for it
is stated as yielding 5,545,000 ticals, or 692,750? This is a tax on every fruit tree
or other tree, the produce of a garden or orchard, and it includes even the bamboo.
The Durian pays the highest tax, namely, a tical, or 2s. 6d. on each tree, while the
mangostin, the mango, and the jack, pay no more than one-fourth part of that sum.
This impost is assessed at the beginning of each reign, and throughout, it is invariable,
without reference to increase or diminution in the number of trees cultivated. This
is, of course, an excise or a tax on the produce of the land, and not on the land itself.
The other two taxes on the land are, no doubt, of the same nature, for in a country
so under-peopled as Siam, no true land tax, or impost on rent, can correctly speaking
exist.
Many royal monopolies exist in Siam, and the most considerable of these are
farmed, and yield a considerable part of the public revenue. The monopoly of the
retail vend of opium yields 50,0007, of rice-spirit 62,5007, of tobacco 18,888?,
of gaming 62,5007, of the fishery of the Manam 88887, of the public markets
12,5007, and of the floating shops on the Menam 18,8887 The total of these
farmed monopolies amounts to 231,6647 The practice of farming such taxes has been
introduced only of late years, and has evidently been borrowed from that of the
neighbouring European governments.
Inland duties appear to be levied on many articles, exclusive of those imposed on
the land, and of custom duties. Thus, the tax on coco-nut oil, a staple product, is
stated at the sum of 62,5007, that on sapan-wood at 25,0007., that on cane and palm
sugar at 32,5007., and that on black pepper at 50,0007.
The customs, including measurement duty on European and Arabian shipping,
yield only 47,5007. excises and inland duties, having, in fact, anticipated them!
Besides the taxes now enumerated, there are some peculiar ones which deserve notice.
Thus, there is a lottery which produces 25,0007., and a tax on public prostitutes, which
yields 6250?
Some particular articles are monopolised by the government, or received by it as
tribute paid in kind. Thus, esculent swallows’ nests are stated at 12,5007 Tin at
75007.; iron, probably a royalty, at the same sum; gamboge, at 3000?; eagle-wood,
at 56257, and rosewood at 50007 Besides the various sources of revenue now stated, ill SÍIíg °í Siam is a merchant, trading to a considerable extent to China and
the Malay Islands, but the extent of his profits in these unsuitable enterprises, if any
is unknown. The revenue derived by the Siamese government from the tributary
states would appear to be but small, for that of the northern ones, or Lao, is set down
at no more than 62507., while that of the southern, or Malay and Kambojan, amounts
only to 50007.
As to laws, the Siamese possess a written code in forty volumes, divided into three
parts, the first of which contains the titles and attributes of all legal functionaries, the
second the institutes of ancient kings, and the third the modern laws, dating from
king Phra Naret, who ascended the throne in the year of our time, 1564. This last
and most important part of the code consists of the following titles, nam’ely, theft and
robbery, slavery, marriage contracts and debts, inheritance, and finally forms and proceedings.
M. Pallegoix, who states that he read the code, affirms it to be conformable
and wel1 suited to tte genius of the people for whom it was framed.
Ail tbe chief officers charged with the administration of justice are bound by law to
be possessed of a copy of it, and daily to peruse some pages. He adds, however, that
the laws are hardly ever followed, and he gives an example. They ordain that no suit
or trial should exceed in duration three days, notwithstanding which they are frequently
drawn out to the length of two and three years !
• The p ame8®>. m Jhe administration of the laws, make no distinction between judicial
and executive functions, both being in the hands of the Bame parties. There are
three classes of tribunals, the lowest th a t of the governors of provinces, the second