RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1969 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9g553n20d KING MONGKUT AND THE KINGDOM OF SIAM 99 sources the bestness and most curiosity of the new breach-loading cannon invented by Sir William Armstrong I was eagerly desirous of obtaining one small gun for my own enjoyment or play to see the power and curiosity and usefulness etc. thereof....."6 He was too fond of women but he is said to have treated his wives well and to have loved all his enormous nursery of children. If his harem may be regarded as a mark of eastern backwardness in a changing world his social and economic reforms vastly outweighed this defect. Mongkut was the pioneer in the modernisation of Siam. He had vision for the future of his country. Harry Parkes writing on the negotiations records this impression of the man: "I was fortunate in securing and maintaining the friendship of the First King who listened to several of my propositions even against the will of his Ministers. He is really an enlightened man.... It is scarcely a matter of surprise that he should be capricious and at times not easily guided but he entered into the treaty well aware of its force and meaning and is determined, I believe, as far as in him lies, to execute faithfully all his engagements which are certainly of the most liberal nature." The "force and meaning" of the Treaty was the opening of Siam to western commerce and ideas, social and economic reform and her continued independence. Balanced between competing empires, Siam accepted reform and western influence and by yielding, averted domination. The circumstances of Mongkut's death were typical of the King. He predicted an eclipse of the sun in 1868 and made elaborate arrangements to observe the event. He chose a place far to the south, near the Malay States, and invited Sir Harry Ord, Governor of the Straits Settlements, his officials and their ladies to attend. Invitations had gone to Paris to send French scientists. A palace and residences for the distinguished visitors were built, and quantities of European food and wine were brought to this remote spot. The King with his suite of nobles and their wives sailed south for the occasion. Mongkut's prediction was right, and at the last moment the clouds cleared to reveal the eclipse. The foreign visitors were much impressed and Mongkut Page 105 Page 106 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2001 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g Appendix Activities for 2001/2002 Date Lectures 2001 Royal Asiatic Society, Hong Kong Branch Fri 20th April: Dr Janet Lee Scott on The Fung Chew of Hong Kong May 4th: Harry Harum on The Last Emperor's Garden Restored after 75 Years. May 18th: Pauline Poon Pui-ting on Domestic Servant Girls: the Po Leung Kuk Fri 1st June: Drs Gillian and Verner Bickley on "How Hong Kong History entered the Space Age”. Fri 3rd Aug: Hugh Phillipson on 150 years of Hong Kong's Water Supply Fri 31st Aug: William Shang on Imagination and Reality in the Drawings of William Alexander. Fri Oct 19th: Kim Salkeld on Life in Government House. Fri October 26th: Cesar Guillen Nunes on "Macau's St Paul Façade: a Re-table-Façade?". Fri 16th Nov: Dr James Hayes on Village Culture in South China. Fri Dec 7th: Dr Dan Waters on Hong Kong in the 50s and 60s Sat Dec 8th: Tim Ko and Jason Wordie on 60th Anniversary of the Fall of Hong Kong 2002 Fri Jan 18th: Dr Paul Van Dyke on Daily life in the Pearl River Delta during the era of the Canton Trade. Fri 1st Feb: Susannah Hoe on Lady Macdonald and the Empress Dowager. Summer 1900. Fri 8th Feb: Prof Paul Cohen on Humanizing the Boxers. Fri 15th March: Jonathan Wattis on South China and the Pearl River Delta in Western Maps. Xxvii Page 30 Page 31 ================================================================================