Page 177 - A History of Siam

A HISTORT OF SIAM 169
From this time until the end of his reign King
whole was directed towards
Songt'am's foreign policy
aid for a further invasion of Cambodia.
obtaining foreign
Neither the nor the to
English Dutch, however, appear
have entertained towards the
very friendly feelings King.
A good deal of polite correspondence was exchanged,
were sent to His but no materia
presents Majesty,
"
assistance was As for the
forthcoming. Portugals,"
Siam was at this time on bad terms with their
very country,
and the last few of
during years King Songt'am's reign
most of them were in Siamese
languishing prisons.
In the end Cambodia was left alone.
In the year 1626 the arrangement, made in 1617,
whereby Chiengmai was not to be interfered with by
Burma, was infringed by the Burmese. The two
brothers of King Maha T'ammaraja of Burma were
engaged in an expedition destined to subdue Kengrung
and and took the
Luang P'rabang, they opportunity,
while to
passing through Chiengmai territory, impose
once more the Burmese yoke upon the sorely tried
Laos.
intercourse with the
King Songt'am kept up friendly
Shogun of Japan during his whole reign. It is curious
"
to find that he was extremely anxious to obtain noble
"
steeds from Japan. The modern breed of Japanese
is not much admired. One remark made
ponies very by
the Shogun, in a letter dated September 1623, is
of After
worthy preservation. telling King Songt'am
not to hesitate for a moment if he desired to exterminate
merchants in Cambodia who venture
any Japanese might
to assist the Cambodians in resisting Siam, he says :
"
Merchants are fond of and to and
gain given up greed,
abominable fellows of this kind ought not to escape
punishment."