Page:Siam in 1688 - Frankfurter - 1908.pdf/6
9
A NARRATIVE OF THE REVOLUTIONS
which took place
IN
Siam
in the year 1688.
People will no doubt be surprised to hear of the strange Revolutions which have taken place in the Kingdom of Siam, and to learn that the Frenchmen have left it a year after their arrival, notwithstanding the promises given by the Court regarding the stability and safety of their establishment.
Experience has clearly shown us, that it was not possible to depend on the goodwill of a King, whom a mortal illness was bringing to the grave; nor on the good intentions of his successor, who was very unstable; nor on the precarious fortune of Sieur Constance, who moreover had not all the credit and authority which he was believed to have; nor yet on the good disposition, respect and love of the people towards the French. Indeed have we not seen them, on the contrary, full of hatred and fury in order to ruin us? I thought it my duty to write an account of what has happened myself, as no one better than myself could know why I adopted the course I have taken; and it was not feasible to communicate it to many people, who however will not abstain from writing what they think about it.
One will find, as this narrative proceeds, crowns overthrown, two Princes[1] and an adopted son of the King[2] assassinated, the loss of the house and the life of Sieur Constance,[3] several great Mandarins in chains, a Siamese cleverly mounting the throne, finally the whole Kingdom with a great number of foreigners taking up arms against us to kill us by open force, after having tried in vain to do so by all