A Half Century Among the Siamese and the Lāo: An AutobiographyMcGilvary, Daniel
History
A Half Century Among the Siamese and the Lāo: An Autobiography
McGilvary, Daniel
Lao (Tai people); Missions -- Lao (Tai people); Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. -- Missions
The other matter in which Fonseca was supposed to be able to help his
patron out of difficulties even more pressing, was the Burmese lawsuits
pending before the British Consul. But the British government was the
last party to permit officious meddling with its public business from
such a quarter. It is presumed that there was evidence of his
interference with official correspondence. This much is certain—a
peremptory demand was made on the Siamese government for his recall. The
official order sent up was too emphatic to be neglected. The man was
sent out of the country in quite different style from that in which he
entered it. This man is known to have been present at the consultation
relative to the mission. If the jealousy and suspicion on the part of
the Prince did not originate with him, there is no doubt that he at
least worked on the Prince’s suspicious nature, increasing his jealousy
of the growing popularity of the mission, and leading him to think that
it would be wise to stop it in its incipiency.
Yet even when the blow was about to fall, we could not believe that the
Prince was so treacherous as to plan to drive us out of the country, at
the same time that he continued to treat us so kindly, and would even
come to dine with us. We could not believe that the younger Princess,
who had a predominating influence over her father, could encourage one
of the Christians to put himself under her protection, only that he
might the more surely be sent to his death a day or two later. We could
not believe that an excursion down the river had been planned by the
Prince, only that he might be out of reach when the executions should
take place. We were still incredulous, even after we received reliable
information from the agent of the Borneo Company that he had heard the
Prince and a certain high officer consulting together to stop our work.
The plan which he reported was to expel the converts from the country,
giving their wives and children the option to follow them or to remain.
After all, that would not have been so great a disaster. These men had
no great possessions to lose. Their banishment would only plant the
Gospel in other provinces or other lands.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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