Page 265 - A History of Siam

A HISTORT OF SIAM 249

terms but unconditional surrender would be considered.
Filled with the courage of despair, the Siamese managed
to hold out for another three months. At on
length,
a tremendous effort was made
Tuesday, April 7th, 1767,
by the besiegers. Fires were kindled against the walls,
and cannon were fired from side*
simultaneously every
At last a breach was made, the Burmese their
fought
and the fell into their after a
way in, city hands, siege
of fourteen months.
The victors behaved like Vandals. The the
palace,
and thousands of houses
principal buildings, private
were soon a and their lust
prey to flames, sacrilegious
for destruction did not the victors to even
permit spare
the dedicated to the cult of their own faith.
temples
All the and most beautiful of Buddha
largest images
were hacked in and of them were burnt
pieces, many
for the sake of the gold leaf with which they were coated.
Plunder, and still more plunder, was the watchword.
Men, women and children were flogged and tortured
to make them reveal the where their few
hiding-places
treasures or were concealed.
savings
King Ekat'at fled from his palace in a small boat.
The exact manner of his final fate is uncertain. Some
say that he wandered about in the jungle until he died of
hunger and exposure. The Burmese historian relates how
a brother of the his remains
King recognised mangled
among a heap of the slain at one of the city gates. In
either case, a miserable end for the successor of so many
great Kings, unworthy though he undoubtedly was.
The ex-King Ut'ump'on was torn from the shelter
of his temple and taken away to Burma, where he ended
his days in captivity in 1796. His fellow-captives were
most of the members of the
numerous, including Royal
hundreds of officials, and ofsoldiers and
Family, peasantry