The Pearl of Asia/Chapter 36
XXXVI.
The Press of Siam.
This is no land for newspapers, the history of the press of Siam is a novel one. There are now two English printed papers published there, the Times, simi-weekly, at $20 per annum, and the Advertiser⟨,⟩ weekly, at $24 per annum. They represent the two extremes, one favorable to the Siamese, the other in decided opposition. Tor a half century the missionaries have endeavored to keep pace with the times by publishing an annual calendar and newspapers. By their efforts several papers have been started, but they somehow have always been brought up in the consular courts charged with libel, on the most frivolous pretexts, and suspended. In 1864 a Mr. Chandler, an American, started the Siam Times, but General Partridge, our consul, not liking his style, the Times soon ceased to circulate. Dr. Bradley then started the Bangkok Recorder, but the American consul, who it appears did not like newspapers, at the conclusion of a libel suit brought by the French consul against the Doctor decided that he was libelous and must be fined because he had published a report current in the palace that the French consul had demanded the removal of the Prime Minister. As the paper was not paying and the Doctor had to settle the bill, he concluded that running a paper was not a part of his mission, and the Recorder slept the sleep that knows no awakening, not even issuing another number to record its demise. The Siam Monitor then sprung up, but the American consul having come to the conclusion that Bangkok was an unhealthy city for newspaper enterprise the Monitor went out with the mango showers. Rev. Sam J. Smith then stepped to the front and started the Siam Weekly Advertiser, which he continued to publish for seventeen years, more as an advertising sheet than a disseminator of news, but supposing that the era of libel had passed he was startled when he was brought up by a round turn and met the fate of his predecessors, for when he was called on to pay $1,500 by the English consul for publishing a communication that he had not written or even endorsed, not libelous in a general sense, he shut up shop and said the paper could go to a warmer place than Siam, that the proud privilege of running a paper was exhausting his exchequer and he would have no more of it, in fact it had never paid. This ended the efforts of the missionaries to keep up a paper.
Appreciating the power of the press, if properly handled, the Siamese officials endeavored to keep the Advertiser afloat by offering to subscribe for one hundred and fifty copies, provided that they would be allowed to exercise a censorship over its columns, but the proprietor had had enough of glory and the paper still remains with the honored dead. Then an eccentric genius, a cosmopolitan, as much at home in Paris as at Singapore, who had had some experience on the Hong Kong papers, drifted into Bangkok, stood in with the Siamese officials and now publishes, in fact, the first newspaper that has ever been published in the city. During its existence it has published more libelous articles than any of its predecessors, but it still lives. To counteract its influence a German, who had a grievance with the Siamese government, started the Mercantile Gazette; he made things hot all along the line, made his paper readable, but he was soon arrested for libeling the Siamese by publishing an article clipped from an English paper and other assaults on the King. He was tried before the German consul, fined and imprisoned; the Gazette then shortly followed the others, his speculation proved a failure, but another paper has been started with the same material, possibly to share the same fate.
The Siamese have, strictly speaking, no regular newspaper, only a Government Gazette, printed in Siamese, which contains court proceedings, proclamations, ceremonies, promotions, etc., containing no political or other news of importance, and has but a limited circulation. A native journal was started by Noi Plang, a well educated Siamese, who had passed a very creditable examination at the English bar and who acts as one of the advisors of the government. His paper was rapidly becoming popular, but his remarks were trenching on dangerous grounds, in fact he had commenced to advocate that the Chinese were becoming too numerous in Siam, which was something that His Majesty thought should be let alone, so his paper venture was ripped in the bud just as it was blossoming out into usefulness. Mr. Smith, the editor of the defunct Advertiser, edits and publishes a Siamese paper from his office which is interesting from the native correspondence appearing in its columns. It has no life in it and is but little read. A monthly journal is published under the auspices of one of the leading nobles, which aims at Western ideas in its endeavors to give the current news, but it receives but a meager support, having a very small circulation. The Siamese are great readers, but it is the most trashy stuff, strictly oriental and frequently of the most obscene nature, the native novels abounding in the filthiest stories told in the grossest manner; in fact all oriental literature is of that nature, but highly poetical. This they read and it is in great demand. Thousands of novels of this character are printed in Bangkok which find ready sale at good prices. A collection of Siamese novels, histories and other works would form quite a library, especially their religious works. They are not far enough advanced to appreciate newspapers, caring but little for the news of the outside world.