COMMERCIAL TREATY WITH SIAM.

Lyttelton Times, Volume V, Issue 330, 29 December 1855, Page 6

COMMERCIAL TREATY WITH SIAM.

(From the "{Examiner.") Sir John Bowrinjr, <>n the special invitation ot one of these EasU-ru monarch* who «lory in the possession of an alliinu elephant, lately proceeded to the capital city of Slam, eiijJyed a splendid reception, and in a brief fortnight concluded sucb a favourable commercial treaty as his predecessor.*, Crawfurd, Burner, anil Brooke, were 'wb.-lly unable to achieve in ...any ninths But without the least derogation to Uie skill and temper wish which Sir John accomplished his mission, we have to remark that be conducted it under far happier auspices than bis preiieceiwor?. Tl.ey had to ne-otiate wid, conservntjve ra «,n:,rc!is of the ancient school of Asiatic polite, who receive,] o.u-m with di«tmsi repugnance,—almost with cnt-imeiv. .Sir John l.«wrinjr, on the contrary, had to ',j ftl ] wi ,|, B youthful Forerei<rn iin!. (l ,-,i with liheralism an Mmateitr m steam ns«victim.., and like the Gaui of Cse^ar, or that preceding lord of a white elephant who was conieinporarv with Louis the fourteenth, addict , «oVeIiIe S ,-: KW « raw jKrum s.u fiosus.

w According to the conditions of the new treaty as they''are stated in the Indian newspapers, British ships and. merchandise are to be admitted into the ports of Shun on the same conditions as Siamese and Chinese. The existing tonnage duty, or.impost levied according to the burden of the ship, is abolished, and a duty on merchandise of three per cent, on the Siamese market value substituted. All monopolies, that of the vend of opium excepled, arc now done away with. The culture *a:id the trade of all native products of Siam are henceforth to be free on payment of a tax, sometimes in the shape of. it transit and sometimes of an export duty, and for these there is a settled tariff"; bis Siamese Majesty reserving to himself, however, when he apprehends scarcity, the power of laying an embargo on certain articles, all of ihem staples, namely, corn, sail fish, salt, and teak timber. British subjects are to have liberty to cany on the trade of ship-building in the Menain or ** mother of waters,I'provided always that they obtain a license for that purpose, which may be withheld when his Majesty apprehends a scarcity of teak timber; a commodity {which,-, however, abounds in the forests of Siam. British subjects with passports are to enjoy the privilege of travelling over the kingdom, .and of possessing lands and houses within four and twenty hours' reach of the capital ; but a previous residence of ten years,is rendered necessary to the.enjoyment of this privilege, wheii the locality is within a circuit of four miles from die sent of-govern-ment. The treaty finally provides for the establishment of a British consul.

Several of the immunities here named, we should remark, had before .been voluntarily conceded.in an edict published by the Siamese King shortly after his accession to the throne. They have now the further advantage of the sanction of a treaty. Some of the other provisions are great improvements on our previous relations with Siam, but it would be vain to deny thnt a few of them are either defective or nugatory. Perhaps the most valuable are those which admit our trade on the same condition as the native and Chinese, that is of the most favoured of nations, and which substitute a moderate .import duty on the .cargo in lieu of a heavy and uncertain one on the ship. The abolition of monopolies, and the declared freedom of culture ami trade, while there are several material exceptions, arnniinisiniplr to a promise of free trade. Such matters, indeed, trenching as they obviously do on the free action and independence of the native government, are perhaps hardly suitable or discreet subjects for'an international convention. As to the fv'ee export of native commodities more especially, it is plain enough that the provision is nominal, when at any moment of caprice or imaginary necessity an embargo may be kid on no fewer than four •taple products.

We'entertain even some doubts of the prudence of the proposed Consulate. The Consul is to have exclusive jurisdiction over all British Mibjecis residing or sojourning in Siam,and this power is to be exercised in very sight of the palace of a pure despot, a mm to whom white elephants are subjects One might say that this was actually bearding such a king and his ministers, if it were not .that they happen to possess no beards. The British subjects resorting1 0 Siain will not be Celts and Saxons only, but Chinese, Hindus, Malays, and Peguans, &c, &c. ; and where will he found the diplomatic phosiiix that is to administer commercial, civil, and criminal law to this motley assemblage ot ihe subjects of Queen Victoria, under circumstances so inauspicious? 'I he provision, to our judgment, is much too like a Turkish capitulation. As, however, the treaty expressly stipulates that there shall be id consul, unless the number of British ships entering ihe ports of Siam from the date of the convention to the Oth of April, 1856, slml! be three times as numerous as tlifjy have been for some years back, which is highly improbable, perhaps we need not speculate at present either on the advantages or disJi'ivjiniHifes of the provision for a Consulate. Ol the country with which Sir John Bowring has so expertly negotiated this commercial treaty, we may at once uive the reader some little notion. It is of vast extent, extending from the seventh to the eighteenth .decrees of north latitude, but its essential portion is the vniiey of the ri/e- Menam, not extensive, but 01 incomparable jVmiiitv,—the fi^vpt of the countries lyin^r between India and China..' The total population of tl^e kingdom has been comjiute4 at four millions', probably not twenty iv-

.habitants to a square mile. This is from onethird to one-fourth part of the population of anyone of the four maritime provinces of China wilh which we hold direct intercourse, Siamese, being, in the social order, even inor« beneath Chinese than Muscovites are below French and English. Indeed the r.iost active, intelligent, and industrious portion of the Siamese population consists of Chinese, mid it is they who have recently bioiii>lit Si.inj under the commercial notice of Europe. We may fmlher add that the staple products of Siain are various and valuable, consisting of rice, pulses, sugar, black pepper, fine bay salt, iron-and tin, leak or Indian oak, with several other useful and fancy woods. The foreign trade is almost exclusively in Chinese bai.ds, whether as to ."hipping, mariners, or cargo. The great bulk of it is with China, and at piesent in a declining state, owing to tiie civil war in that country*;" and of the rest, amounting in import value to neat £200,000, the chief part with the British possessions in the Straits of Malacca, Siam, in short, is a land of much promise, which nftef^ being dormant to Europe for three centuries'* from the Portuguese discoveries, has within the last furiy years made great progress, after an Asiatic fashion. Great credit is due to Sir John Bowsing for having again brought it into more prominent notice, and iixed our relations with it.

We ought not here to omit adverting to a possible risk of reaction which might he incurred by urging precipitate reforms on so rude and so conceited a people as the Siamese, —more especially when they are palpably traceable to the influence of strangers egregious)}- differing1 from themselves in race, manners, religion and language. Of such dangers we hare two striking examples as a warning. In the reign of Louis the Fourteenth, a Siamese royal innovator made-an lonian blunder his prime minister, —a man who had exercisedjthehmnbie functions of cabin steward to an English East Indiaman. The minister, invited embassies, adventurers, and priests from France, and, in due time, ihe reforming king came to he surrounded wholly by foreigners. He died, the minister lost his head, the foreigners wore expelled, and Siam reverted to its pristine semibarbarism, remaining for 150 years almost as isolated from the civilised world as Japan. The second example is more recent. It is that of Badama, the famous reforming King of Madagascar, who. with all his subjects, was supposed to be'on'the eve of a happy and com pleie, conversion from brute heathenism to Christianity, when, dying unexpectedly from excess of cherry brandy, his reforms died with him, all strangers were expelled the kingdom, and the exclusion has been kept up.to this day. It ought to be remembered that when we deal with such countries as Siam and Madagascar, we are not dealing with little communities of South Sea Islanders, and cannot take upon ourselves, with the same amount of safety, to create for them or impose upon them Prime Ministers and Secretaries of Foreign affairs.