Page 217 - A History of Siam

A HISTORY OF SIAM 205

the conversion of the King. Poor King Narai must have
had a time of for not was he
very trying it, only being
pestered by de Chaumont and the Jesuits to become a
Catholic, but there was at the same time a Persian
ambassador at his Court, who lost no opportunity of

impressing upon His Majesty the virtues of the Koran.
In the end, de Chaumont asked for a definite reply,
and the King is then supposed to have made a speech
which has since become famous, in the course of which
"
he said : It is natural to believe that the True God
takes as much in in different
pleasure being worshipped
ways as by being glorified by a vast number of creatures
who Him after one fashion. We admire the
praise
beauty and variety of natural things. Are that beauty
and that less to be admired in the
variety supernatural
or are less of God's wisdom ?
sphere, they worthy
However, as we know that God is the supreme Ruler
of the world, and believe that nothing can be done
His I and realm to
against will, resign my person my
His mercy and His Divine Providence, and I implore
Him, in His eternal wisdom, so to dispose of them as
shall seem best to Him." 1
While the French embassy was being feted at Lopburi,
relations between Siam and the East India Company
were becoming less and less friendly. The King of
Siam had a claim the of Golconda, and
against King
an Englishman in the Siamese service, Captain John
Coates, was sent, in command of a Siamese ship called
the to enforce a settlement. Coates seized
Prosperous,
several to the of Golconda, captured
ships belonging King
a fort, and committed other hostile acts. There was a
Turpin says that the arguments between the King and de Chaumont never
1
really got beyond Phaulkon, who acted as interpreter. It is just possible that the
King never knew that he was being asked to change his religion, and that his
eloquent speech was an invention of Phaulkon's.