Page 216 - A History of Siam

A HISTORY OF SIAM
204
to Ayut'ia to make a final attempt to set matters on a
more This mission arrived at
satisfactory footing.
Ayut'ia in September 1685. The first sight that met their
eyes was two French men-of-war, which had just arrived,
conveying the first embassy of Louis XIV to Siam.
The English mission was more or less ignored, and
seems to have been without results.
entirely
The French was on a most
embassy equipped magni-
ficent scale. At its head was the Chevalier de Chaumont,
and he was a numerous suite, in which
accompanied by
the element The
Jesuit largely predominated. principal
task set Louis for the Chevalier de Chaumont
by King
was the conversion of King Narai to Christianity, and
the Abb who was instructed
Choisy, accompanied him,
to remain behind to the in the event of
baptise King
his conversion.
The French embassy obtained, by virtue of a conven-
tion on December VCI
signed I9th, 1685, 7 important
and commercial concessions. The French
religious
East India of com-
Company gained complete liberty
merce, with the exception of import and export duties,
and with the restriction that all had to
important goods
be from the warehouses. The
bought Royal manager
of the was extra-territorial
Company given jurisdiction
over their servants. The Company further obtained a
monopoly of the tin in the island of Puket, and Singora
was ceded to them, with full power to fortify it.
In what did Siam at
return, gain ? Nothing all I
There must, however, have been a tacit understanding
that France was to assist, if necessary, against the Dutch,
whose influence in the Peninsula
steadily increasing
was regarded by King Narai with some misgiving.
The Chevalier de Chaumont, however, failed in what
was regarded as the main object of his mission, namely