A zealot for the religion of his country he showed that he was jealous of the praises showered upon the Bishop of Tabraca, who, was regarded as a heavenly messenger sent to reform their morals. The respect given to the worshipper and minister of a foreign God appeared to the Monarch to be a slight on the national religion. He commanded that European titles only should be used as honorable appellations in his his case, and to suppress all Siamese words by which respect and greatness were indicated. The order was by no means universally obeyed. The nobility and the people never ceased showing forth their regard for the Bishop and continued to load him with titles which he preferred to deserve rather than to receive. This enmity engendered by jealousy would not have been productive of evil results as the Prince was weak rather than evil-minded. It seemed that peace would continue, but soon the State was plunged into a new commotion. The King pronounced sentence of death against a favourite of his brother's who was suspected of having carried on treasonable correspondence with the enemy. This decree was regarded as an abuse of his authority. The people demanded that account should be rendered of the blood shed on slight grounds of suspicion. A general discontent made the King re-enter the priesthood, and he appeared to abdicate the throne with more pleasure than he had ascended it. His elder brother became King, and the position which he thus occupied, showed up his vices and follies to the full light of day. In May 1762 the Prince resigned the crown in favour of the priesthood. A great number of Siamese followed his example. The State was burdened with an excess of useless citizens who kept aloof from those they ought to have served. Sorcery and magic were the principal topics of conversation, everyone had formulae for the compounding of love philters for immoral purposes, and the secret of rendering the person invisible for the purpose of robbery and assassination without fear of punishment, was the universal object of research. The priests who had become more haughty since the King had entered their order, demanded that they should receive divine honours. The ignorant populace wasted their substance in their support, and kept them in idleness. These holy ministers, naturally poor, found abundant means of livelihood in the folly of the vulgar, an inexhaustible ever ready source of supplies for the use of impostors. Not even was their moral character an object of respect. They frequently gave rise to many scandalous scenes and, immune from punishment, they would not even cast a veil over the filthy pleasures to which they were addicted. By greed and cunning they obtained possession of everything that could not be appropriated by force. The reigning King gave precedent for these irregularities by his example.