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Salisbury, Rosebery, and the Survival of Siam*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 January 2014

Ira Klein
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Extract

Siam's struggle for survival against imperialism reached its nadir in the crisis of 1893. The beginning of its emergence from danger is generally marked by the Anglo-French guarantee of the integrity of the Menam basin in 1896. A number of questions remain unanswered regarding these critical three years. What was the Siamese role in the precipitation of the crisis and the formulation of the Menam guarantee? Was there a meaningful change in Great Power policy which relieved Siam from its extreme danger and brought it apparent safety? British policy lay very much at the crux of Siam's survival. This study concentrates on the impact of British diplomacy and, particularly, on the conduct of the two principal British Foreign Secretaries, Lord Salisbury and Lord Rosebery, during the crisis and the creation of the Menam guarantee. British endeavors to limit French expansion at Siam's expense significantly reveal the likenesses and differences between the diplomacy of imperialism of Lord Salisbury's Conservative Governments and the policies of the Liberal regimes of W. E. Gladstone and Rosebery.

Lord Salisbury fretted that the diplomatic need for secrecy regarding his maneuvers to achieve the Menam guarantee deprived him of acclaim for a strategic victory over France. “In Siam,” from 1893 to 1895, he wrote privately, “we found France in full process of absorbing the country.” France had taken much territory by a successful war in 1893, and “Rosebery had been unable to prevent her.” Because Britain had “no treaty rights whatever to interfere in behalf of Siam,” it would have been impossible to have “induced the English nation to go to war” over Siamese affairs.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of British Studies , Volume 8 , Issue 1 , November 1968 , pp. 119 - 139
Copyright
Copyright © North American Conference of British Studies 1968

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Footnotes

*

This study was completed while the author held a fellowship from the American Institute of Indian Studies, for which he would like to express his appreciation. I. K.

References

1. Birmingham University Library, Lord Salisbury to Joseph Chamberlain, June 17, 1897, Joseph Chamberlain Papers.

2. India Office Library, Sir Frederick Weld to Lord Derby, Mar. 12, 1885, India Political and Secret Home Correspondence, Vol. 77. I would like to thank Martin Moir of the India Office Records for his erudite help in familiarizing me with the Political and Secret Records.

3. BM, Lord Ripon to Lord Kimberley, Sep. 26, 1884, Ripon Papers.

4. PRO, Weld to Kimberley, June 3, 1882, Sir Hugh Low to Colonial Secretary, Apr. 29, 1882, FO Confidential Series 422, Siam, Vol. 8.

5. I.O.Lib., memo, from Sir Ernest Satow, June 30, 1885, India P.S.H. Corr., Vol. 77.

6. Ibid.

7. PRO, FO to CO, Mar. 29, 1889, Satow to Salisbury, Mar. 19, 1889, FO 422, Vol. 21. See also PRO, Weld-Satow correspondence, 1884-87, Satow Papers.

8. PRO, note by Lord Dufferin, Aug. 7, 1886, FO 422, Vol. 13.

9. Hall, D. G., A History of South East Asia (rev. ed.; London, 1955), p. 603Google Scholar.

10. PRO, Lord Cross to Governor General, Mar. 4, 1892, FO to India Office, May 14, 1892, 10 to FO, May 27, 1892, FO 422, Vol. 34.

11. Thompson, Virginia, Thailand: the New Siam (New York, 1941), p. 161Google Scholar.

12. BM, Arthur Balfour to Eric Barrington, Jan. 28, 1896, Balfour Papers.

13. Ibid.

14. PRO, Lord Rosebery to H. M. Jones, Nov. 18, 1892, FO 422, Vol. 34.

15. Ibid.

16. Ibid.

17. PRO, Robert Morant to FO, Aug. 24, 1894, FO 422, Vol. 46.

18. PRO, Jones to Rosebery, May 24, 1893, ibid., Vol. 35.

19. Ibid.

20. Thompson, Thailand, as quoted by Vinacke, H. M., A History of the Far East in Modern Times (London, 1960), p. 772Google Scholar.

21. PRO, Jones to Rosebery, July 17, 1893, FO 422, Vol. 36.

22. PRO, Rosebery to Jones, July 17, 1893, ibid.

23. PRO, Borneo Co. to Rosebery, July 21, 1893, ibid.

24. Hall, , History of South East Asia, p. 603Google Scholar.

25. National Library of Scotland, Rosebery to W. E. Gladstone, July 25, 1893, Rosebery Papers.

26. N.L. of S., Gladstone to Rosebery, Aug. 18, 1893, ibid.

27. PRO, Dufferin to Rosebery, July 22, 1893, FO 422, Vol. 36.

28. N.L. of S., Kimberley to Rosebery, July 25, 1893, Rosebery Papers.

29. PRO, Dufferin to Rosebery, July 27, 1893, FO 422, Vol. 36.

30. Ibid.

31. PRO, Dufferin to Rosebery, July 26, 1893, FO 422, Vol. 36.

32. PRO, Maha Yotha to Rosebery, Aug. 8, 1893, Singapore Chamber of Commerce to Rosebery, Sep. 1, 1893, petition from Bankers and Shipowners to Rosebery, July 24, 1893, memo, from Liverpool Chamber of Commerce, No. 1, 1893, memo, from Assoc. Chamber of Commerce, No. 6, 1893, ibid.

33. N.L. of S., Rosebery to Kimberley, Aug. 24, 1894, Rosebery Papers.

34. PRO, Rosebery to Dufferin, Sep. 7, 1893, FO 422, Vol. 36.

35. PRO, Rosebery to Kimberley, Oct. 21, 1894, ibid.

36. Ibid.

37. PRO, J. George Scotf to Rosebery, Nov. 28, 1893, Scott to Kimberley, Apr. 14, 1894, FO 422, Vol. 39; Scott to Kimberley, July 26, 1894, ibid., Vol. 40.

38. PRO, Satow to Salisbury, Mar. 24, 1897, ibid., Vol. 47.

39. N.L. of S., Kimberley to Rosebery, Nov. 3, 1894, Rosebery Papers.

40. PRO, Scott to Kimberley, Apr. 3, 1894, FO 422, Vol. 39.

41. N.L. of S., Rosebery to Kimerley, Nov. 4, 1894, Rosebery Papers.

42. PRO, Scott to Kimberley, Apr. 3 and 25, 1894, FO 422, Vol. 39.

43. PRO, Report on Political Affairs in the Lao Phuen, ibid., Vol. 43.

44. N.L. of S., Rosebery to Kimberley, Nov. 3, 1894, Rosebery Papers.

45. Ibid.

46. N.L. of S., Rosebery to Kimberley, Aug. 24, 1894, Rosebery Papers.

47. N.L. of S., Rosebery to Kimberley, May 30, 1895, ibid.

48. N.L. of S., Rosebery to Kimberley, Apr. 11, 1895, ibid.

49. N.L. of S., Kimberley to Rosebery, Mar. 25, 1895, ibid.

50. N.L. of S., Kimberley to Rosebery, May 25, 1895, ibid.

51. N.L. of S., Kimberley to Rosebery, June 12, 1895, ibid.

52. N.L. of S., Rosebery to Kimberley, June 12, 1895, ibid.

53. Ibid.

54. PRO, Maurice de Bunsen to Salisbury, Sep. 30, 1895, FO 422, Vol. 43.

55. PRO, Sir Henry Fowler to Viceroy, June 18, 1895, ibid., Vol. 42; Salisbury to de Bunsen, Aug. 13, 1895, Consular and Embassy Archives, Bangkok, FO 628.

56. I.O.Lib., Secretary of State to Viceroy, June 19, 1895, Elgin Papers, Vol. 18; PRO, 10 to FO, June 19, 1895, FO 422, Vol. 42.

57. I.O.Lib., Lord Elgin to F. W. Fryer, May 17, 1895, Elgin Papers, Vol. 66.

58. I.O.Lib., Elgin to Fryer, July 19, 1895, ibid., Vol. 67; Elgin to Fryer, Feb. 11, 1895, ibid., Vol. 66.

59. Italics are mine. PRO, Salisbury to Henry Howard, Nov. 12, 1895, FO 422, Vol. 43.

60. PRO, William Archer to Lord Lansdowne, Sep. 29, 1902, ibid., Vol. 56.

61. I.O. Lib., Lord Curzon to Lord George Hamilton, Mar. 19, 1903, Curzon Papers.

62. PRO, de Bunsen to Salisbury, Feb. 28, 1896, FO 422, Vol. 45.

63. PRO, Salisbury to de Bunsen, Jan. 22, 1896, ibid.

64. N.L. of S., Rosebery to Kimberley, June 12, 1895, Rosebery Papers.

65. I.O.Lib., Hamilton to Elgin, Nov. 7, 1895, Elgin Papers, Vol. 13.

66. I.O.Lib., Hamilton to Elgin, Dec. 26, 1895, ibid.