Directory_and_Chronicle_1927 — Page 321

TREATIES WITH SIAM

GREAT BRITAIN

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TREATY OF FRIENDSHIP AND COMMERCE

Ratifications Exchanged at Bangkok, 15th April, 1856

Art. I.-There shall henceforward be perpetual peace and friendship between Her Majesty and her successors, and Their Majesties the Kings of Siam and their successors. All British subjects coming to Siam shall receive from the Siamese Government full protection and assistance to enable them to reside in Siam in full security, and trade with every facility, free from oppression or injury on the part of the Siamese, and all Siamese subjects going to an English country shall receive from the British Government the same complete protection and assistance that shall be granted to British subjects by the Government of Siam.

Art. II.-The interests of all British subjects coming to Siam shall be placed under the regulation and control of a Consul, who will be appointed to reside at Bangkok; he will himself conform to, and will enforce the observance by British subjects of, all the provisions of this Treaty, and such portions of the former Treaty negotiated by Cap- tain Burney, in 1826, as shall still remain in operation. He shall also give effect to all rules or regulations that are now or may hereafter be enacted for the government of British subjects in Siam, and conduct of their trade, and for the prevention of viola tions of the laws of Siam. Any disputes arising between British and Siamese subjects shall be heard and determined by the Consul, in conjunction with the proper Siamese officers; and criminal offences will be punished, in the case of English offenders, by their own laws, through the Siamese authorities. But the Consul sball not interfere in any matters referring solely to Siamese, neither will the Siamese authorities interfere in questions which only concern the subjects of Her Britannic Majesty.

It is understood, however, that the arrival of the British Consul at Bangkok shall not take place before the ratification of this Treaty, nor until ten vessels owned by British subjects sailing under British colours and with British papers shall have entered the port of Bangkok for the purposes of trade, subsequent to the signing of this Treaty.

Art. III.-If Siamese in the employ of British subjects offend against the law of their country, or if any Siamese having so offended, or desiring to desert, take refuge with a British subject in Siam, they shall be searched for, and, upon proof of their guilt or desertion, shall be delivered up by the Consul to the Siamese authorities. In like manner any British offenders resident or trading in Siam who may desert, escape to, or hide themselves in, Siamese territory, shall be apprehended and delivered over to the British Consul on his requisition. Chinese not able to prove themselves to be British subjects shall not be considered as such by the British Consul, nor be entitled to his protection.

Art. IV.—British subjects are permitted to trade freely in all the seaports of Siam, but may reside permanently only at Bangkok, or within the limits assigned by this Treaty. British subjects coming to reside at Bangkok may rent land, buy or build