Treaty of Friendship, Commerce and Navigation, between Siam and France (French: Traité d'Amitié de Commerce et de Navigation, entre le Siam et le France, Thai: หนังสือสัญญาทางพระราชไมตรีประเทศสยามแลประเทศฝรั่งเศส) was a treaty between Second French Empire under Emperor Napoleon III and the Siamese Rattanakosin Kingdom under King Mongkut or King Rama IV of Siam, signed on 15 August 1856 as one of many unequal treaties that Siam concluded with Western nations during this period, opening the new stage of Franco–Siamese relations in the era of Western imperialism.
This Franco–Siamese Treaty of 1856 was based on the preceding Anglo–Siamese Bowring Treaty of April 1855, also based on the Sino–French Treaty of Whampoa (1844). This treaty resulted from early stages of French expansion into the Far East in competition with Great Britain, also the result of Siamese efforts to establish relations with France in order to counter-balance other Western powers, namely Britain. In 1855, Emperor Napoleon III of France appointed Charles de Montigny the French Consul at Shanghai as French imperial plenipotentiary to negotiate a new diplomatic and commercial treaty with Siam (now Thailand). This was the first Franco–Siamese official diplomatic engagement since the late seventeenth century during the reigns of King Louis XIV of France and King Narai of Ayutthaya. Montigny arrived in Bangkok, Siam's royal capital, in July 1856. King Mongkut appointed five Siamese plenipotentiaries to discuss the new treaty with Montigny, leading to the conclusion and signing of the treaty on August 15, 1856. This Franco–Siamese treaty, negotiated by Montigny, contained twenty-four articles. The main terms of this treaty were;
Establishment of French consular authority and French extraterritorial jurisdiction in Siam Siamese commercial concessions to France, including the low, fixed-rate import duty of three percent Siamese guarantee of freedom of Christian proselytization in Siam Right of residence and land ownership for French subjects in Siam, only in the area surrounding Bangkok
These treaty terms were mostly the same as the Anglo–Siamese Bowring Treaty, concluded in April 1855 between Siam and Great Britain. Many treaty terms were also introduced from the Sino–French Whampoa Treaty. Clause on the matters concerning Catholic propagation of faith in Siam was of special concern. Another important clause of this treaty was the unrestricted access of French warships to Bangkok, resulting in the French sending warships to Bangkok to impose gunboat diplomacy on Siam in 1865 and 1893.
The Franco–Siamese Treaty of 1856 remained in effect for 68 years. French extraterritorial jurisdiction in Siam was partially curtailed by the Franco-Siamese treaty of 1907, in which Siam ceded Northwestern Cambodia including Battambang, Siemreap and Sisophon to French Indochina. In 1924, Francis Bowes Sayre, an American Harvard Law professor, acting as the representative of Siam, went on a European tour to negotiate new treaties with various European nations on behalf of Siam, leading to the conclusion of the Franco–Siamese Treaty of 1925, which abolished most of the terms of the Franco–Siamese Treaty of 1856, including the low import duties and most of the French consular and extraterritorial jurisdiction in Siam.
History of Franco–Siamese relations
Early relations Alexandre de Rhodes, the French Jesuit missionary, was expelled by both the Trinh Lord of Tonkin (Northern Vietnam) and the Nguyen Lord of Cochinchina (Central Vietnam) in his attempt to spread Catholicism in Vietnam. Alexandre de Rhodes proposed Pope Innocent X to send more missionaries and to train local priests in the Far East in order to effectively make conversions in the region, leading to foundation of Paris Foreign Missions Society (French: Société des Missions Etrangères de Paris, MEP) in 1658. Pierre Lambert de la Motte, a French secular priest and the newly appointed Apostolic Vicar of Cochin, arrived in Ayutthaya the Siamese royal capital in 1663 on his way to Vietnam. However, the general anti-Christian attitude of the Vietnamese lords kept De la Motte in Siam. Even though Siam was not his direct responsibility, De la Motte saw Siam as a tolerant Asian kingdom, where Catholic churches stood and Catholics could practice their religion without being persecuted. Pope Alexander VII established the Apostolic vicariate of Siam in 1663. Meanwhile, the Dutch East India Company was in its apogee of political and commercial influence in Southeast Asia. Dutch naval blockade on Ayutthaya in 1663 led to the conclusion of Dutch–Siamese Treaty of 1664, in which, among many concessions, was the first known partial Western extraterritorial jurisdiction in Siam. If a Dutch merchant committed a grave crime in Siam, the case was to be judged by the Dutch opperhoofd in Ayutthaya not by the Siamese authorities.In 1665, King Narai of Siam granted the land of Bangplahet in Ayutthaya for De la Motte to build a church, the Seminary of Saint Joseph, which would be the main base for French Catholic missionary activities in the region until its destruction in 1767. Advancement of French MEP priests in Siam and Vietnam also served to pioneer French political and commercial interests. De la Motte reported to the French court of King Louis XIV that the Siamese king Narai was interested in Christianity and could possibly be converted. Early Franco–Siamese relations focused on the religious issues. In 1669, Pope Clement IX appointed Louis Laneau as the first Apostolic Vicar of Siam, also assigning François Pallu the Apostolic Vicar of Tonkin to bring the papal letter to the Siamese king Narai. In 1670, the French king Louis XIV, hoping for the Siamese king to convert, also wrote a royal letter to Narai, which François Pallu was to bring to Siam. François Pallu and Louis Laneau reached Siam in 1673. Pallu and De la Motte presented papal and French royal letters to King Narai, who received the letters with solemn ceremonies. Even though his responsible area was in Vietnam, De la Motte spent most of his time in Siam. De la Motte died at Ayutthaya in 1679.
Franco–Siamese relations then entered the political and commercial sphere. In 1680, François Martin the Governor-General of French India at Pondicherry sent André Deslandes-Boureau in the ship Vautour as the delegate of French East India Company (French: Compagnie des Indes Orientales, CIO) to establish commercial relation with Siam. This was the first official diplomatic contact between France and Siam. The French arrived just in time King Narai needed another Western nation to counter the Dutch influence. Next year, in 1681, King Narai sent a Siamese diplomatic mission to France under the Siamese envoy Okya Phiphatkosa the deputy Minister of Trade, boarding on the French ship Soleil d'Orient. However, the Soleil d'Orient shipwrecked off the coast of Madagascar and the whole crew was lost, including the Siamese envoys, presumed dead. In 1684, Deslandes-Boureau the French delegate in Ayutthaya concluded the Franco–Siamese Treaty of 1684, the first known Franco–Siamese treaty, with the Siamese court, in which French East India Company was granted free trade in Siam and monopoly over pepper export from Siam.
Advent of Franco–Siamese relations coincided with the rise of Constantine Phaulkon, a Greek adventurer and former employee of English East India Company. By 1684, Phaulkon had become de facto Chief Minister of Siam with title Okya Wichaiyen (Thai: ออกญาวิไชเยนทร์). In his plan to put himself in power, Phaulkon conspired with the French to convert the Siamese king Narai to Catholicism. In 1684, the French MEP priest Bénigne Vachet brought the Siamese mission led by two Siamese envoys Okkhun Phichaiwathit and Okkhun Phichit Maitri to France. These two Siamese envoys were the first Siamese delegates to successfully reach France and they were granted audience with the French king Louis XIV in the Palace of Versailles. Vachet told King Louis XIV in private audience that there was a man named Phaulkon in Siam who would collaborate with the French to convert King Narai to Christianity. King Louis XIV then sent the first French diplomatic mission to Siam led by Chevalier de Chaumont, reaching Ayutthaya in 1685 with the ship Oiseau. French mission to Siam had two goals; the religious goal that was to convert the Siamese king to Catholicism and the commercial goal that was to procure trade concessions from Siam. Even though King Narai did not convert, the Franco–Siamese Treaty of 1685 did secure trade benefits for CIO. The treaty was composed of a religious treaty and a commercial treaty. The religious treaty granted freedom of Christian proselytization in Siam. The commercial treaty exempted French East India Company from all kinds of duties (but could only trade with Phra Khlang Sinkha or Royal Warehouse), granted tin export monopoly from Phuket to the French Company and permitted the French to settle in Songkhla in Southern Siam. The treaty also granted French extraterritorial jurisdiction in Siam, in which any legal cases involving French subjects as defendants, in both civil and criminal cases, the case was to be judged by the French delegate in Ayutthaya not subjected to traditional Siamese judicial system.
Constantine Phaulkon then conspired with the French Jesuit priest Guy Tachard to bring the French to conquer Siam. In 1686, King Narai sent another diplomatic mission under Okphra Wisut Sunthorn to France. Guy Tachard, who accompanied the Siamese to France, secretly informed the French royal court about Phaulkon's plan. The French saw that Songkhla, which Siam allowed the French to settle, was too far from Ayutthaya and they demanded Bangkok and Mergui instead. King Louis XIV sent the second French diplomatic mission to Siam led by Simon de la Loubère to convert King Narai and Claude Céberet du Boullay to negotiate for commercial concessions, along with General Desfarges who brought 636 French soldiers to Siam. The French diplomatic mission reached Siam in 1687 as King Narai allowed French soldiers to garrison in Bangkok and Mergui at the discontent of native Siamese mandarins. To La Loubère's disappointment, Narai still did not convert. Franco–Siamese Treaty of 1687, signed by La Loubère and Okya Phrasadet the Phrakhlang or Minister of Trade and Foreign Affairs, was similar to the previous 1685 treaty but French extraterritorial jurisdiction in Siam was expanded as Véret the head of French trade factory in Siam would govern over French subjects in Siam. All employees of the French East India Company, regardless of nationalities, would be considered French subjects. In legal cases that French subjects were defendants, Véret the French headman in Siam would jointly judge the case with Siamese officials and Véret would have a definitive voice (voix définitive).
Siamese Revolution of 1688