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

46 Benjamin A. Batson
century Western attitudes toward Asia and of the fact that many of the
various treaties with Asian states were negotiated by the same men.
Townsend Harris, who made the American treaty with Siam,
subsequently established the treaty system in Japan, and his work in
Siam was based largely on the earlier negotiations of the Englishmen
John Bowring and Harry Parkes, both of whom also represented their
country in China and, in tbe case of Parkes, in Japan as well. In the
nineteenth century America was wont to follow the British lead and the
British fleet (and occasionally the French) in Asia, and American
diplomacy of the period has sometimes been labeled "jackal diplomacy."
In fact the United States often went it alone, without or in opposition
to the European powers, but it is true that the treaty systems were
largely the result of British initiative and power, and that a substantial
community of interests with the European powers, and especially Great
Britain, was recognized. The first American Consul in Bangkok wrote
that, "American interests here are so intimately connected with those of
the other Treaty Powers and especially with the interests of England
that it is of no little importance who is the [British] representative
here."l6
The main privileges enjoyed by the Treaty Powers were
extraterritoriality, limitations on import and export duties, and the
most-favored-nation clause, under which any concession made to one
Western power was automatically claimed by all. Even though the
United States rights were acquired second hand, as it were, the United
States could be even more tenacious than the British in defending its
perogatives. When the Thai Government asked permission to levy a
small tax on shipping in order to pay for a much needed lighthouse, all
of the European powers and even the .American Consul in Bangkok were
willing, but Washington refused to agree on the grounds that even the
slightest concession of treaty rights might bring down the whole treaty
structure,17
16) BangkollDespatches, November 10, 1856.
17) Martin, "A History," pp, 143-46. Noting what he considered an unjustified
British claim of treaty privileges, the first American Consul wrote, "If i6s
yielded to the English, we shall of course claim it without regard to the
meaning of the treaty." Bangkok Despatches, October 3, 18 56.