Page 200 - A History of Siam

A HISTORY OF SIAM
190
was wounded in the but to
King back, managed
He was and a few later was
escape. captured, days
executed. 1
The new King was aged about twenty-five at the time
of his accession. The violent deaths of two monarchs
within three months had unsettled the and we
country,
may suppose that King Narai did not feel, at first, very
secure his throne. He not been
upon had, indeed, King
for when two of his brothers were accused
long younger
of his life.
plotting against They were both executed,
and for some time executions of were the order
suspects
of the
day.
In 1659 the Kingdom of Cambodia was disturbed by
civil war between the Keo and his
young King, Fa,
brother, Nak Pratum. The Queen-mother, a Cochin-
Chinese Princess, asked for the intervention of the King
of Cochin-China. A Cochin-Chinese army then overran
and plundered the Kingdom. The King was captured,
and died in Cochin-China, and Nak Pratum became
King. Among the victims of this invasion were several
Englishmen, employed in the East India Company's
in Cambodia. The was and
factory factory looted, they
narrowly escaped with their lives. They fled to Siam,
where Narai treated them with kindness and
King great
generosity. They sent a flowery account of the country
to the Council at and the re-establishment
Batavia, urged
of a at 1661 the East India Com-
factory Ayut'ia. By
pany once more possessed an establishment in Siam.
The them an old still and their
King forgave debt, owing,
"
factors returned once more to ye olde factory house,"
1
According to Turpin, King Sri Sut'ammaraja was stabbed to death by a
Portuguese, of whom there were 1,000 on the side of King Narai. Siamese
history says that King Narai was assisted by his Japanese body-guard, one of
whom shot at and wounded King Sri Sut'ammaraja. The Council of the East
India Company at Batavia, writing only two months after these events, said that
Prince Narai took up arms and deprived his uncle first of the throne, and then,
a few days later, of his life."