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

AMERICAN DIPLOi\IATS IN SOUTHEAST ASIA 57
By January 1861 Chandler bad been promoted from vice-consul to
consul and returned to Bangkok.5 4 Upon bearing the news of the 1860
election Chandler wrote to the incoming (yet unknown) Secretary of
State, "The new administration will receive my cordial support. "55
Chandler's appointment resulted in a letter from a group of
Americans in Bangkok calling him "obnoxious to the whole community"
and asking his reca!l.56 In September of 1861 Chandler learned that
the Senate had failed to act and his commission bad expired. 5 7 Chandler
wrote to Secretary of State William Seward damning his detractors as
drunks, loafers, and knaves, and adding, "Do not infer from the above
that I wish to run down others to save myself."58 In subsequent
despatches Chandler described himself as "one republican friend" and
an ex.Democrat who bad been Republican since the Kansas Act,59
In the meantime another anti-Chandler petition bad been received
by the Department of State, and Aaron J. Westervelt had been appointed
to succeed Chandler.
Despite his removal from office, Chandler
continued for a number of years to send intermittant despatches to
Washington, a considerable part of which were devoted to criticism of
his successors. His last communication appears to have been sent in
1878, several years after his incarceration in the consular jail : 6 0
My opinion is, that if no better men can be found for consul
and vice consul than those who now fill those positions in the
U.S. Consulate_ at this port, the sooner the consulate is
abolished the better.
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54) It is uncertain whether Mattoon's proper title was consul or vice-consul. He
usually signed himself as "Consul," but the Department of State seems to have
considered this unjustified presumption. Martin, "A History," p. I 09, and
Bangkok Despatches, August 21, 1856 (margin notation).
55) BangkokDespatches,January 18,1861.
56) Bangkok Despatches, February 6, 1861.
57) Bangkok Despatches, September 16, 1861. See also Bradley's .Journal, Septemberl3,1861.
58) BanglwkDespatches, September 16, 1861.
59) BangkokDespatches, December 25, 1861, and February 18, 1862. Cf. his
despatch to Cass cited in note 51 •
60) Banglwk Despatches, June 24, 1878.