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grandees of the Kingdom, wrote to the one and went to visit the others in secret. He showed them all the contempt in which the King held their religion, and addressing all those of whom he knew that they had been badly treated by M. Constance, he made them see how dangerous it would be if the true successor to the Crown should be elevated to the Throne, because M. Constance would become only more powerful.
All these measures having been taken, and the illness of the King getting worse, so that there was no doubt about his death, this Opra at the head of 15,000 men whom his own devices and those of his son had attracted within a short time, occupied all entrances to the palace of the King, in which the nobles were kept. He kept them besieged for several days under the pretext that according to custom, while the King was on the point of dying, it was necessary to secure the principal mandarins, so that they could not act against the true successor.
M. Constance, knowing perfectly well the secret ambition of this Opra, neglected nothing to be in a position to scatter these rebels by force and to arrest this chief of the rebels. For that purpose he assembled all Catholics and sent an express to M. des Farges, Governor of Bangkok, commanding him to come at once to his assistance with the troops of his garrison: but M. des Farges, seeing well from the rumours he heard of a general rebellion, that he would only expose the few people he had without being able to dispel this uprising, and that the Christians had no Asylum to which to escape in case of prosecution, resolved to keep the place and sent a messenger to M. Constance asking him to take refuge himself with his family and all Catholics in Bangkok, as he believed the evil was too great. Indeed the messenger had not yet arrived in Siam, when the Usurper believed he was strong enough and, seeing that M. Constance had not sufficient forces to resist him, he lost no time and openly declared himself Sovereign. He himself had already arrested the adopted son of the King, whom he had cut into pieces with a cruelty without
