The right of the strong is that of a footpad who plunders unarmed travellers, and who, having enjoyed a period of immunity, dies under the axe of the headsman. The Ruler who has the greater share in the benefits of the Law does not recognise his advantages, and when unwilling to extend them prefers to see himself surrounded by trembling slaves who murmur in secret, and only await a leader to become rebels. The crude legislation of Siam has been the cause of all the public ills of the nation. It knows neither the extent of authority nor the limits of obedience. This nation, indifferent regarding the choice of its masters, has received fetters from the hands of ambitious men who spurned the nation while coercing it. Invariably unfortunate, the people have no hope save in a future revolution, which will enslave them to a new tyrant insolently bedecked with the imposing title of "Deliverer". What can be the motive that prompts a despot to retain the privilege of laying violent hands on the liberty and welfare of his subjects? A despot who replaces natural rights by arbitrary power! He passes away like a torrent which leaves but the remembrance of its devastation behind it. The Kings of Siam, invisible to their subjects made themselves known merely by acts of authority. Thus they could never instil those tender feelings which are inspired by the presence of a King who is both Father and Citizen. I will not attempt to lift the veil which conceals the beginnings of this Kingdom. This people has never known the art of printing which alone enshrines the virtues and shortcomings of those who preside over the public destinies. Their historical records are founded only on vulgar fables, or on tradition sanctioned by priestly imposture, which gives credence rather to the marvellous than to the simple truth. The Siamese were unknown to us until the discovery of the Indies by the Portuguese, and it is from that period that we ought to reckon their history. Their first King, according to their vague records began to reign in B.C. 1444. He had forty successors up to the King who was reigning in A.D. 1546. All these Kings were of different families, who were in turn driven from the throne which they had seized, because, having become despots, they were punished for the abuse of their power. The proud and jealous spirits of a limited dependency ought, in the degradation to which they have been reduced, to console themselves with the hope that their degradation is but transitory, and that their posterity shall be delivered from the chains which have weighed them down. Rarely does tyranny transmit the fruits of its crimes to its descendants.