The Journal of the Siam Society Vol. LXIV, Part 1-2, 1976 - Khamkoo

42 Benjamin A. Batson
received only fees, but by 1871 the salary was greater than that of
Singapore, and Bangkok remained the highest paid post in Southeast
Asia.6 The official status increased correspondingly, from Consul (1856),
to Consul-General (1881 ), to Minister Resident and Consul-General
(1882), to Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary ( 1903).
In 1879 ex-President Grant visited Siam on his round-the-world tour.
One of his party was the journalist John Russell Young, who wrote a
book on the trip and et1ded his section on Siam with an appeal to
Americans, especially "officers of the army and navy-going to seed at
some Indian fort," to take service with the governments of Siam and
other Asian countries. He concluded :7
I do not think there are any appointments in the gift
of the President more important, so far as the well-being of the
country is concerned, than our appointments in the East, and
especially in a_country like Siam. .
The first American Consul in Siam reported that, "The other Treaty
powers are giving much attention to this region, and American interests
here are too important not to receive the best attentions of the
government."s
But despite such hopes, and despite the relative
importance of Siam in the region, an American historian is undoubtedly
right in concluding that in the overall context of American foreign
6) Official Register of the United States, 1857 et seq. Salary was only an approximate
measure of importance, for those posts which might expect higher income
from consular fees were generally given lower salaries.
7) John Russell Young, Around the fVorld with General Grant, vol. II, part I
(New York, 1879), pp, 259-60. Young himself was subsequently appointed
American Minister in Peking. The phenomenon of army and navy officers
unable to find rewarding careers in service at home as the military was drastically
cut back after the Civil War was to have a profound effect on American
foreign relations for at least a generation. The plethora of military titles
among the Bangkok appointees will be noted below.
8) Bangkok Despatches, December 29, 1857.