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

76 Benjamin A. Batson
uously to 1923), wrote to Halderman expressing the king's pleasure and
hinting broadly that the king would be even more pleased if the United
States would raise its representative to Minister,I 45 Later the same year
Halderman again gratified the Thai when he refused to go along with an
otherwise unanimous protest of the treaty power consuls over an alleged
slight at a government reception.t 46
Late in 1881 Halderman returned to the United States on leave,
leaving the consulate in the care of the faithful McDonald.147 Jil
Washington Halderman reported that he had been awarded the Order
of the White Elephant, "valueless" but prized in "the oriental world."
One of the reasons he had been honored thus by the Thai Government,
he believed, was because of his adherence to the traditional American
policy of "nonintervention in the affairs of foreign states."l4 8
He also
asked Secretary of State Frelinghuysen that his title be raised to Minister
Resident and Consul-General. Halderman pointed out that Haiti,
Bolivia, Liberia, and even small Hawaii had American representatives of
this rank, while China and Japan had Envoys Extraordinary and Ministers
Plenipotentiary. But Siam, "a sister Kingdom" located on the same
Pacific Ocean "which in time may become our Mediterranean," had only
a Consul-General: 149
It would seem that the time had come, when we should lead,
and not follow, in the diplomacy of the East.
These arguments proved convincing, and in July Halderman was named
Minister Resident and Consul-General, the first diplomat accredited to
Siam to bearso high a rank.
145) Bangkok Despatches, June 29, 1881, and July 2, 1881.
146) Bangkok Despatches, October 4, 1881.
147) Halderman's request for leave cited his children in Paris and the need tore·
store !;tis health. (Bangkok Despatches, July 3, 1881). In a note on the
unsalubrious climate of Bangkok, Halderman reported that the French Consul
had died, the German representative was leaving, the British representative
was usually away, and the Portuguese had left "swearing he would ,never
return except under guard." CBaugkok Despatches, September 13, 1881).
148) Bangkok Despatches, FebruarY. 11, 1882.
149) Bangkok Despatches, May 25, 1882. In the margin is the notation ''Can this
be done without legislation?" "No."