EUROPEAN NATIONS. 243 king of Siam. The English traders were at this time in great favour in the country, and even ad- mitted to situations of honour and trust under the Siamese government. The East India Company could not hrook their success, and ordered them out of the country. * The French, so remarkable in Europe for their conciliatory manners towards
- Hamilton gives the followinsj account of this transaction :
" In former times a good number of English free mer- chants were settled at Merjee, and drove a good trade, liv- ing under a mild and indulgent government ; but the old East India Company, envying their happiness, by an arbi- trary command, ordered them to leave their industry, and repair to Fort St George, to serve them, and threatened the king of Siam with a sea war, if he did not deliver those English up, or force them out of his country, and, in anno 1687, sent one Captain Weldon, in a small ship called the Curtany, to Merjee with that message. He behaved himself very insolently to the government, and killed some Siamers without any just cause. One night when Weldon was ashore, the Siamers, thinking to do themselves justice on him, got a company together, designing to seize or kill the aggressor ; but Weldon, having notice of their design, made his escape on board his ship, and the Siamers missing him, though very narrowly, vented their rage and revenge on all the English they could find. The poor victims, being only guarded by their innocence, did not so much as arm themselves to with- stand the fury of the enraged mob, so that seventy-six were massacred, and hardly twenty escaped on board of the Cur- tany ; so there was the tragical consequence of one man's insolence.
