Newly Discovered Correspondence (1853-1868) from King Mongkut, Rama IV, and from Phra Pinklao, to Sir John Bowring and his son Edgar Bowring Paul Michael Taylor Abstract—This article presents for the first time transcriptions with illustrations of eleven examples of Thai royal correspondence dated 1853-1868, including six previously unpublished and two published but minimally accessible handwritten letters from King Mongkut and from “Second King” Phra Pinklao to Sir John Bowring and his son Edgar Bowring. The letters, purchased in London in 1985 and now at the Library of Congress (Washington), substantively add to the corpus of primary source material on key historical figures from this period during which the “Bowring Treaty” of 1855, between Siam and the United Kingdom, played a role in transformations within Siam. Prior publications of such correspondence rarely included illustrations of the original letters; here, illustrations show not only the original handwritten missives but also the royal seals placed on them, which are discussed in this article. In addition to these eight letters, transcriptions and illustrations of three little-known other examples of related correspondence from King Mongkut are included. One of the eight letters (from 16 January 1868) consists of King Mongkut’s handwritten note on a two-page pre-printed New Year greeting dated 1 January that year. Finally, though Bowring himself transcribed and published examples of his correspondence with the “Major King” (Mongkut) and “Second King” of Siam in his two-volume The Kingdom and People of Siam (1857), he also included color lithographs of two letters, related to those published here, that he did not transcribe. Transcriptions and illustrations of both those letters are included here, from original 1857 lithographs in the Smithsonian Institution’s Cullman library. Introduction This article presents in detail eleven examples of correspondence from King Mongkut, Rama IV (1804-1868), and from “Second King” Phra Pinklao (1808-1866), to Sir John Bowring (1792-1872) and his fourth son Edgar Alfred Bowring (1826-1911). These include a set of six previously unpublished and two published but minimally accessible examples of handwritten correspondence from King Mongkut and Phra Pinklao. Additionally, three related documents are presented. First, a pre-printed New Year greeting from King Mongkut, dated 1 January 1868, accompanies one of those letters. In addition, transcriptions and illustrations of two related letters are included Journal of the Siam Society, Vol. 106, 2018 61-04-003 001-044 jss106 i_coated.indd 1 4/3/18 8:31 PM 2 Paul Michael Taylor here, from original 1857 lithographs in the Smithsonian Institution’s Cullman library. Sir John Bowring had published these two as lithographs in his two-volume The Kingdom and People of Siam (1857), without transcribing them. The transcriptions given here make these more accessible (including for online word searches), while the inclusion of the two illustrations will confirm similarities to the new documents presented. The Library of Congress’s internal (non-public) records about these letters are scant, noting only that this group of letters to Sir John Bowring and his son from the King of Siam was purchased in London from Winifred Myers in 1985.1 This would surely have been Winifred Alice Myers (1909-1985) of London, who served as President of the Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association (A.B.A.) from 1950 to 1952. A brief biography by Robin Myers (“no relation” to Winifred Myers, as the biography states, despite the same surname), published on the website of the A.B.A. in 2017, describes her lifelong collecting interest in rare books and manuscripts (Myers 2017). This purchase would thus have dated from the year of her death, though it is unclear how she acquired these letters. One could speculate that since the collection includes three letters to Sir John’s fourth son Edgar, among his five sons and four daughters, these might have been among Portraits of King Mongkut, Rama IV (1804-1868) (left) and Sir John Bowring (1792-1872) (right). At left is the color lithograph, possibly from hand-tinted tintype, published by Bowring, 1857, vol. 1, facing title page. (At base of portrait: “SPPM Mongkut Rex Siamensium” – i.e., Latin, “Somdet Phra Poramenthra Maha Mongkut, King of the Siamese”). At right is a detail of the lithograph also published by Bowring, 1857, in vol. 2, facing title page. 1 Email from Jeffrey M. Flannery, Head, Reference & Reader Services, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, 22 November 2017. The penciled annotation “[Ac. 19,178]” on several documents is the accession number assigned by the Manuscript Division. Journal of the Siam Society, Vol. 106, 2018 61-04-003 001-044 jss106 i_coated.indd 2 4/3/18 8:31 PM Newly Discovered Correspondence (1853-1868) from King Mongkut 3 family papers possibly inherited then dispersed through Edgar’s descendants. The collection has been stored in the Library of Congress’s Manuscript Division since its purchase. These letters comprise a substantive addition to the corpus of primary data on key historical figures from this period during which the “Bowring Treaty” of 1855 liberalized trade in Siam. That treaty between the United Kingdom and Siam formed the model for subsequent bilateral treaties, including the 1856 “Harris Treaty” between Siam and the United States. There are three letters from King Mongkut (17 July 1855, 4 September 1857, and 27 November 1858) and two from Phra Pinklao (12 February 1853 and 31 August 1857) to Sir John Bowring, as well as two letters from King Mongkut to Edgar Bowring (16 January 1868 and 28 May 1868). The letter of 16 January 1868, was actually a handwritten addition to a two-page pre-printed New Year greeting from the King, made for distribution to foreigners on the occasion of the Gregorian New Year, 1st January. In fact, Sir John Bowring seems to have separately sent another copy of that same printed New Year greeting to the London-based editors of the The London and China Telegraph, who published the printed greeting’s text in their 13 March 1868 newspaper, as will be noted below. Finally, there is the undated fragment of an eighth handwritten letter to Edgar Bowring. Although it is unsigned, we see from its handwriting and especially from its seal that the author was King Mongkut. The compilations of King Mongkut’s English-language correspondence, and that of Phra Pinklao, begin with Bowring’s own two-volume The Kingdom and People of Siam, whose Appendix G (“LETTERS FROM THE KING OF SIAM, ETC.”) (Bowring 1857, v. 2: 422-446) contains nine enumerated letters with associated unnumbered royal letters and other documents.2 This is apparently the same sequence continued by correspondence in this present publication. That Appendix’s last letter, no. 55 (Mongkut to J. Bowring), is dated 23 April 1855; the earliest Mongkut letter published here, also to J. Bowring, is no. 105 dated 17 July 1855 (so presumably 50 enumerated royal letters in this sequence had been written between those dates). In addition to the transcribed royal correspondence Bowring published in his Appendix G, he published in the same book two royal letters as fold-out color lithographs: 27 March 1855 from King Mongkut (Bowring 1857, v. 1: 1); and 4 April 1855 from Phra Pinklao (ibid, v. 2: 1), now reproduced and transcribed here as Documents 10 and 11. The major compiler of King Mongkut’s English-language correspondence, however, was M.L. Manich Jumsai, who published his compilation of then-known correspondence (beyond those already presented by Bowring in 1857) in three parts in the Journal of 2 Bowring’s 1857 Appendix G provides transcriptions of nine letters from King Mongkut within the enumerated sequence (38 to 55). Bowring also published letter no. 37 in facsimile only, without transcription; it is both transcribed and reproduced here (Document 10). Some royal letters published in 1857 include enclosures, perhaps comparable to the enclosed, printed New Year greeting published here. In 1857 Bowring also included some correspondence from himself to King Mongkut, as well as some additional King Mongkut to J. Bowring correspondence that is unnumbered and apparently not part of this sequence (see examples inserted after letter nos. 39 and 55 of Appendix G); these may be comparable to the unnumbered royal correspondence presented alongside numbered examples in the present publication. Journal of the Siam Society, Vol. 106, 2018 61-04-003 001-044 jss106 i_coated.indd 3 4/3/18 8:31 PM 4 Paul Michael Taylor the Siam Society (Jumsai 1927-28). Jumsai’s invaluable works on the history of Anglo- Thai relations (Jumsai 1970) and his story of King Mongkut’s relationship with Queen Victoria and the British (re-issued in several editions, originally Jumsai 1972 and under new title from the 3rd edition, Jumsai 1991) quoted from these and presented additional correspondence by Bowring and his associates. Jumsai’s later important study of “King Mongkut and Sir John Bowring” is largely based, as the book’s subtitle makes clear, on “Sir John Bowring’s personal files, kept at the Royal Thai Embassy in London” (Jumsai 1970). The book’s narrative unfolds largely through long quotations from selected examples of original correspondence, including previously published letters but also additional archival material that Jumsai found within the Royal Thai Embassy in London. Jumsai records, in fact, the day when, looking there for something else, he “suddenly came across the most amazing material directly concerning King Mongkut and Sir John Bowring” (1970: iv). (This corresponds to the present author’s story, on a far smaller scale, when he inadvertently found the letters presented here at the Library of Congress, also while looking for something else.) In fact, a file of material associated with John Bowring, consisting of letters, consular papers, newspaper clippings, etc., was published in 2005 as a six-volume set of photographic reproductions of the mostly handwritten documents within that file (Chuanpit et al., 2005). According to the unpaginated prefatory message by the Thai Fine Arts Department’s Nai Arak Singhitkun (before p. 1 of vol. 1), the original file whose contents are photographically reproduced in the six volumes had been found in 1964, in the coal cellar of a building in London being given up by the Thai embassy (31 Ashburn Place, South Kensington). The file was turned over to the Fine Arts Department in 1981, and later published by a publications section of the committee formed to celebrate the 200th anniversary of King Mongkut’s birth (2004-2005). These six volumes, which include additional examples of King Mongkut’s correspondence, were printed in few copies, and are now only minimally accessible for study.3 This publication, however, does include handwritten copies of two of the letters from King Mongkut recently found at the Library of Congress and published here (Documents 4 and 5 below). Thus we may say that these two letters, published and illustrated here, have been “minimally” published previously but not in transcription, only as photographs of that file’s handwritten copies, each labeled “(Copy)” at the top of the page.4 The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) also maintains an online-accessible record (at www.nara.gov) of a few additional archival letters from 3 Per the international WorldCat OCLC library database, these volumes are (in 2017) unavailable in any participating library outside Thailand. 4 These facts suggest a potential source of these documents. Two of the enumerated letters of King Mongkut, whose originals are among these letters recently found at the Library of Congress from the 1985 purchase in London (Documents 4 and 5 below), exist as handwritten copies within this file found in London in 1965 and turned over to the Fine Arts Department in 1981. It is possible that at some point, the original letters from this file in London were removed, and handwritten copies left in that file. The other documents presented here are not in that 6-volume publication, however. The author sincerely thanks Barend Terwiel for calling attention to and kindly checking these volumes for this paper. Journal of the Siam Society, Vol. 106, 2018 61-04-003 001-044 jss106 i_coated.indd 4 4/3/18 8:31 PM Newly Discovered Correspondence (1853-1868) from King Mongkut 5 King Mongkut accompanying royal gifts, within its Record Group 59 (“Ceremonial Letters from Siam”), components of which were also color-illustrated or published in transcription by McQuail (1997) and by Taylor and Smith (2017). Finally, in 2004 Pramin Krueathong published a set of English-language letters from King Mongkut to Anna Leonowens, found in Thailand’s National Archives, in the Thai magazine Sinlapa Watthanatham: issues 25, 3 (January): 77-88; 25, 4 (February): 87-98; 25, 5 (March): 148-158; 25, and 6 (April): 133-140. This article augments the still relatively scarce examples of correspondence among these historic figures. The primary purpose is presentation of the documents themselves, both in illustrations and in transcription. Readers seeking the broader context in which this correspondence occurred would be well advised to begin with Philip Bowring’s (2014) lively and very readable biography of Sir John; and to consult Wyatt’s (1969) historical introduction to the Oxford reprint of Bowring’s The Kingdom and People of Siam (original 1857). In addition, Manich Jumsai’s historical accounts cited above not only introduce the protagonists in this correspondence but also directly exemplify the importance of primary documents like these in developing accurate historical narratives. This article also illustrates and examines the seals appearing on the letters, often ignored in prior publications of such correspondence. Some royal seals were used exclusively on royal correspondence to foreign recipients. For example, Samnak Lekhathikan Khana Ratthamontri (SLKR), the standard compendium of Chakri dynasty seals published in 1995 and frequently cited below, illustrates and discusses in detail a Thai seal used only for correspondence conveying royal gifts from Siam to China, from the time of King Rama I up until King Mongkut, Rama IV, decided to halt its use in 1852 (SLKR 1995: 52-53). The rather surprising absence, within this standard compendium, of many seals found within this set of correspondence and published here may be due to their having been sent outside of Thailand where they reside in archives elsewhere, rather than in the Thai archives consulted for the compilation of this standard work. An elegant, visually emphatic example that seems appropriate only for English-speaking recipients of royal correspondence would be King Mongkut’s English-language circular seal, with very European floral decorations but no crown, with the words “Major King of Siam” in English (see Document 4, Figure 4e), which like several other seals reported here is not found in SLKR (1995). Note on transcriptions. The transcriptions here (valuable for ease of reading but also for online topical or word searches) inevitably involve interpretations or “best guesses” from an editor. Occasionally a bracketed question mark (thus: [?]), following a transcribed word of phrase, indicates that the proposed transcription is particularly uncertain. Transcriptions may use “[illeg.]” indicating that the original is so “illegible” that the transcriber dares not proffer any guess. As the illustrations show, the name of a letter’s recipient was often placed at the foot of the first page; this is moved to the top in transcriptions here, with the note “[from footer:]”. In a few cases, this author has placed an editorial clarification or annotation, italicized in brackets (and marked “—Ed.”), immediately following an Journal of the Siam Society, Vol. 106, 2018 61-04-003 001-044 jss106 i_coated.indd 5 4/3/18 8:31 PM 6 Paul Michael Taylor Figure 1a. Letter, Phra Pinklao to John Bowring, 12 February 1853. Journal of the Siam Society, Vol. 106, 2018 61-04-003 001-044 jss106 i_coated.indd 6 4/3/18 8:31 PM Newly Discovered Correspondence (1853-1868) from King Mongkut 7 accurately transcribed word/phrase that was originally misspelled or needs clarification, e.g.: “Bishop Pallegox [Pallegoix —Ed.]” Documents 1 through 9 below are the set of eight handwritten letters recently found in the Library of Congress collections, along with the printed New Year greeting accompanying one of those letters. (An additional loose envelope within that set is discussed below as an Addendum to Document 9.) Documents 10 and 11, as noted previously, here republish illustrations (scans from the originals) of the two related letters published as lithographs by Bowring himself in 1857, along with transcriptions of those previously untranscribed letters. Document 1. Phra Pinklao to Sir John Bowring, 12 February 1853 This one-page letter (blank on reverse side) measures 322 x 202 mm (Figure 1a). This is the only example within this group of documents where two different people placed a seal. The placement of the two seals at the foot of the page follows the standard format in such cases, according to SLKR (1995: 68), with the King’s seal on the left and the other seal on the right. In this case, the remaining portions of the original red wax seal of the second king, Phra Pinklao, can be seen on the left (Figure 1b) (ca. 23 x 45 mm remaining). This partially missing wax seal depicts a jeweled hairpin on a pedestal, decorated at both sides with a tiered umbrella, indicating that this was the seal of Phra Pinklao; appropriate symbols since the term pinklao also means a decorated hairpin (see SLKR 1995: 57 for an illustration and explanation of this same seal; and cf. Figures 3e, 3f). At right is the seal of Prince Yod Ying Yot Baworn Rachorot Ratana Racha-Khumal (Figure 1c), who served as Minister for the “Front Palace” under Phra Pinklao. The seal (54 x 70 mm) depicts Vishnu on a canon. See SLKR 1995: 68-69 for further explanation and an illustration of this seal. Figure 1b. Remaining portions of original wax seal. (ca. 23 Figure 1c. Seal of Prince Yod Ying Yot Baworn Rachorot x 45 mm remaining). This partially missing wax seal depicts Ratana Racha-Khumal, who served as Minister for the a jeweled hair pin on a pedestal, decorated at both sides with “Front Palace” under Phra Pinklao. The seal (54 x 70 mm) a tiered umbrella, indicating that this was the seal of Phra depicts Vishnu on a canon. Pinklao; the term pinklao means a decorated hairpin. Journal of the Siam Society, Vol. 106, 2018 61-04-003 001-044 jss106 i_coated.indd 7 4/3/18 8:31 PM 8 Paul Michael Taylor Palace of the Second King Bangkok Siam Feb. 12th 1853 To His Excellency John Bowring L.L.D. H.B.M.’s Plenipotentiary in China & Superintendant of British Trade Dear Sir Your Excellency’s favor with the accompanying Camera lucida you so kindly sent me, came duly to hand, -- for which accept my warmest thanks. I am about to forward in a case addressed to your son J.C. Bowring Esq., a Siamese dress interwoven with gold thread -- which I desire your Excellency to accept as a slight token of my regard. It is of no great excellence in itself but may be a curiosity to some of your English friends. It will be found in the case marked E. With best wishes for your Excellency’s health and happiness, accept the assurance of my high regards P. Pavarentharames, The Second King of Siam &c. &c. Document 2. King Mongkut to Sir John Bowring, 17 July 1855 This letter is a previously unpublished example of King Mongkut’s royal correspondence that seems to be within the same enumerated sequence as previously published examples. For example, the last letter in this sequence published in Appendix G of Bowring’s (1857) book was no. 55 of 23 April 1855; the present letter is no. 105. That sequence may continue within this set of letters; King Mongkut’s 4 September 1857 letter to John Bowring is “No. 266” (Document 4 below). Yet the only other enumerated letter here is his 27 November 1858 letter to J. Bowring given the number at top left “190 manu regia” (Latin, “190 in the King’s hand”), as though it is in a different sequence, though the handwriting appears the same. This letter consists of two separate sheets (placed side-by-side in Figures 2a and 2b); each sheet is is 225 mm x 186 mm; page 1 only has a 5 mm green frame. The letter’s number “105” was written on it after the rectangular red seal had been stamped at its top left. That rectangular seal with Khmer script, according to SLKR (1995: 147-148) has two forms for royal correspondence: one, ong yai or “big seal”, used for granting titles or rank; while the Journal of the Siam Society, Vol. 106, 2018 61-04-003 001-044 jss106 i_coated.indd 8 4/3/18 8:31 PM Newly Discovered Correspondence (1853-1868) from King Mongkut 9 second, seen here on this letter, is the ong lek or “small seal” form used for matters ranging from granting a pardon to foreign trade. All examples of this seal within the letters presented here use the “small” version (Figure 2c), which is distinguished by having the symbol of the Ohm prayer at the top of the inscription (see illus. SLKR 1995: 148) whereas the “big” version uses the word Ohm written out instead (see illus. SLKR 1995: 147). The lettering on this seal is in the Thai language written in Khmer script and says: phraborom ratchongkan, meaning “by royal order.”5 The green upright oval seal to the right of that (at top center) is the same seal we find at top center on the 1857 lithograph of King Mongkut’s letter published by Bowring himself (Document 10 below) (see Figure 2d). Note that both documents also have the same red rectangular seal in Khmer script on the left (Figure 2c).6 This green seal in upright oval form, though first apparently published by Bowring in 1857, does not appear in SLKR (1995), the compendium of Chakri dynasty seals. It displays a traditional Thai crown on a pedestal, from the sides of which rise two very European-looking flags with the monograms “T” and “Y.” Above the Thai crown hovers a thoroughly European crown (in striking contrast to the one below), within again a European-style decorated oval field. Though small in size, this seal visually encapsulates the increasingly global role of the Thai monarch at this time, accompanying his royal letters to the foreign recipient. The composition of this seal is far more visible on this recently found 17 July 1855 letter; we clearly see the “T” and “Y” in a quite distinctive, antique version of these two letters: T Y.7 By contrast, the underlying monograms seem quite obscured by the green cross-hatching of the 1857 lithograph. No seal in the standard compilation of Chakri dynasty seals (SLKR 1995) bears these monograms, the “T” and florid “Y” (superficially similar to a D). One possibility is that this might abbreviate the Thai phrase (T and Y highlighted): Thun kramom Yai,8 which could be parsed “[respectful address] + [crown of head] + [big].” This is a form of address for high-ranking persons (like “Your Royal Highness”). Yet though King Mongkut might have been addressed in this way earlier in his life, before becoming King, it is unclear if that is the correct meaning of the “T” and “Y” here. At King Mongkut’s signature we find his well-known standard seal at left, on page 4 (see illustration and explanation in SLKR 1995: 56; and discussion below under Document 4, with Figure 4f). At center is a seal with his “SPPMM” monogram with the crown, in a coat of arms format, again not reported in SLKR (1995) but found twice on this letter (at the signature and again at the P.S. on page 4). This same seal is also found twice on King Mongkut’s 4 April 1855 letter to Bowring that Bowring himself had published in 1857 (see Figure 10c), there also at the signature and again at the P.S. 5 Many thanks to Peter Skilling for this transcription and translation. 6 This juxtaposition of this same red rectangular seal with Khmer script, and the same upright green oval seal having the Thai crown below the modern crown, can also been seen on King Mongkut’s 10 June 1856 letter to President Franklin Pierce in the U.S. National Archives, and on its accompanying list of Thai royal gifts, see McQuail 1997: 46 and 51. 7 The font seems very similar to the 21st century “Mariage” font-family, and specifically the subset “Mariage Antique D” illustrated here. 8 Many thanks to Prof. Vigal Phongpanitanon for this suggestion. Journal of the Siam Society, Vol. 106, 2018 61-04-003 001-044 jss106 i_coated.indd 9 4/3/18 8:31 PM 10 Paul Michael Taylor [from footer:] To His Excellency Sir John Bowring Knight LLD &c &c &c No 105 Rajmondirn house grand palace Bangkok Siam 17th July 1855 - which is the 5th of our reign My Most respected friend 1. I have acknowledged the receipt of your Excellencys letters under the dates of 10th & 23rd May together the book of which your Excellency has been author called “John Bowring’s Decimal system” sent me via Singapore through the care of my agent Jan Kim ching on the 24th June. 2. I have informed your arrival at Hong Kong in safety & the content of your Excellency’s letters and the contents of letters addressed to your Excellency by Mr. Logal [?] of Singapore & your Excellency’s answer to him printed in newspapers of China regarding the desire of merchants of Singapore to open the commercial intercourse with Cochin China, and your Excellency’s assurance to do so on future days when opportunity would allow to my royal brother the Second King Krom Hluang Wongsadhirajsnidh9 and His Lordship [page 2] Lordship Somdetch Chau Phya Param Maha Bijuy-niate10 & His Excellency Chau Phya Srisuriy wongse SPK11 who were glad to learn your Excellency letters Subjects & Safe arrived at China & pleasure of all merchants &c [?] of Hong Kong upon the articles of new Treaty &c. 3. The latter has returned from Ayudia for many days where he has decided correctly the matters occurred there in & executed 4 personages convicts on the matter. now whole province was tranqueal so as its governments & people of all classes are now enjoying happiness with out any misunderstanding, mistaking. 4. I have perused some pages of your book with much pleasure & interesting & admire mostly for your great knowledge of various languages, letters characters and System of Numbers I am sorry that I can not follow your Excellency ‘s knowledges in such the hard languages & sciences of various nations. 5. I will endeavor to let your Excellency have more particular of Siamese History & the particular of the present dynasity of royal family here. but I can not yet do on this occasion. the time not very long in which my ship Neptune will be sailed for Hongkong. Then I will sent some things in assistance to your Excellency’s 9 Krom Hluang Wongsāthirātsanit (1808-1871), พระเจา้ บรมวงศเ์ธอ พระองคเ์จา้ นวม กรมหลวงวงศาธริ าชสนทิ . 10 Somdet Chao Phraya Borom Maha Prayurawongse (1788-1855), สมเดจ็ เจา้ พระยาบรมมหาประยรู วงศ.์ 11 Somdet Chaophraya Borom Maha Sri Suriwongse (1808-1883), สมเด็จเจ้าพระยาบรมมหาศรีสุรยิ - วงศ์; SPK indicates the rank “Samuha Phra Khlang”. Journal of the Siam Society, Vol. 106, 2018 61-04-003 001-044 jss106 i_coated.indd 10 4/3/18 8:31 PM