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publication of the latter had lasted only for one year. Unfor­ tunately, no evidence of either periodical at this period is available to tell what the contents were,

Then came Hatchakitciianubeksa, the Royal Gazette, issued irre­ gularly by King Mongkut during 1857-1859* It was the first perio­ dical in the Thai language for Thai people* Its main objective, stated the king in the preface of the first issues, was to certify the legality of laws, bills and decrees so that courtiers, officers and commoners would not be cheated or threatened by illegal docu­ ments claimed to be legal by dishonesty or ignorance of the officers in charge. One of the reasons that underlined the attempt to pub­ lish the Royal Gazette was to get rid of falsehood in laws caused by the existing method of communication.

In the early days, an act, a bill, or a decree was v/ritten in pencil and severally copied in long-hand writing to be sent to rele­ vant departments of administration both in Bangkok and in provincial towns throughout the kingdom. Every now and then mistakes were

made here and there , for example when a copier carelessly dropped or mis-spelled some words; besides, there were rogues who intentio­ nally falsified a bill, an act, or a decree to threaten or to cheat innocent people. nWhat has been going on is unfairM, said the king,

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”It frightens people as well as degrading the honour of the kingTl. And, in order to minimize this kind of corruption, the publication

of the government announcements was taken as one measure. More­ over, having felt the need to develop the kingdom to withstand imperialistic waves from the West, the Icing realized that his sub­ jects had to be better informed of what the king and the admini­ strative bodies were thinking, planning to do, or doing. And, to be better informed means, for one thing, that people had to be provided with more reliable information. In addition, things that should be known to all officers as well as all commoners had to be made known to people in a greater number than before. Thus, came Rat chakit cfhanubeksa in which one may find a summary or the whole body of an act, a bill, or a decree officially certified by the king. There were only nineteen issues of RatcWkitchanubeksa published in the reign of King Monglcut, which covers a period of seventeen years. The publication was put to an end because the Icing had become too busy with other state affairs. But, a year after King Chulalongkorn had become a ruler in his own right, the

1. Thailand, Rat chakit ^hanub eksa < Vol. 1 (5th month, the first day of the waxing moon, &ulasaldcarat 1 2 1 9), p» 1*

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publication of Sat chakitchanubeksa was resumed. Here, unlike its first publication which containedinformation written or dictated only by King Mongkut, there was an editorial staff which consisted of Phraya Sisunthpnwohan (lrak Salak), Phra Sarasatphonlakhan

(Sombun) and Luang Sarapraso’et (Npi A-charayangkun), while Prince Akscpnsatsophan took care of publishing. This time the periodical came out weekly and was for sale. In this period, its content had been modified. Hence, the Hoyal Gazette contained not only government announcements, but also court news. Hat chakit chanubeksa. therefore, resumed its service as a means of communication for the government to the courtiers, officers, as well as the general public. Its publication has been continued until the present time. Although Hat chakit clianubeksa was not a kind of periodical which published

fiction of any sort, for that very reason It brought about the publication of such a periodical. In 1874? a few months after the renewal of the Hoyal Gazette, appeared a weekly magazine, Darunowat, the first magazine in Thai to be edited and published by a Thai.

Having seen that Hat chakit chanubeksa, the Hoyal Gazette, within its scope, could not cover other kinds of literature than the official, a group of young princes and noblemen led by Prince Kasemsansophak issued Darunowat, the name of which means "lessons for young men", which explicitly defines its objective. The magazine

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was trying, with considerable success, to contain ’’political and foreign news, advertisements, proverbs, essays on science and fine arts, poetry, drama (classical as well as modern), fiction

(old and new) for example, fables, general news - local and regional”, as the editor announced in the preface of the first issue which came out on July 7? l87*f#

Under the editorship of Prince Kasemsansophak, then a young man in his late teens, Darunowat had become a new means through which progressive ideas were expressed. Here, prose writing had begun to be used more widely. Not only news, but also essays,

articles, commentaries and fiction were written in prose narrative. The translation from foreign stories not only widened the Thais* world of words and broadened their concept of international affairs, but also brought the use of new literary devices into Thai prose writing, for instance, the use of inverted commas to distinguish conversations from narration. During this time loan-words from English began to mingle with Sanskrit, Pali and Khmer loan-words in Thai literature. The more important role Darunowat played in relation to the development of modern prose fiction is that it brought about a journalistic style - a new style of prose writing which marks a new era in the history of Thai literature.

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Besides general knowledge and current news, the readers of Darunowat had an opportunity to read both old Thai tales, which used to be told orally, and new ones. It is in this magazine

that the Thais had a good chance to disclose their literary talent in new forms. "Nithan Patyubann, whose title means "A Tale of the Present TimeTt is an example of modern prose fiction.

Breaking away from the conventional plot, normally derived from Buddhist literature and/or folktales, the anonymous author of nNithan Patyuban" took up a current social problem instead. In this short piece of prose fiction, the author tells a story of two elderly people whose absurd behaviour is amusingly ridiculed

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by a group of children. Here, to the actual people involved in the social and administrative reforms which took place during

187^*1 9 1 0, or to a student of Thai history of the Chulalongkorn . period, the satirical tone of the "tale11 is quite explicit. But for general readers, it is necessary to look at the political atmosphere in which the tale was written in order to be able to feel such a tone.

After King Chulalongkorn, a young and progressive monarch of

2 1, had his second coronation in 1 8 7 3* social and administrative

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reforms began to take place. The King’s Guards, known as Thahan Mahatlek, originally formed of the king’s close companions in their teens, became more systematized militarily in 1873* This regiment had served as King Chulalongkorn1s private bodyguard, and was outstanding until the king gained full control over the government in the 1 8 8 0’s after the death of the Kegent and of

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Prince Wichaichan of the Pront Palace* In 1874, an anti­ slavery act was passed to abolish slavery in the kingdom. In the same year, two new administrative bodies, the Council of State and the Privy Council, were formed. The consequences of these

social and political upheavals engineered by the younger generation did not favour the old but powerful existing ruling clique that had monopolized the administration of the central government ever since the former reign. The young generation was led by King Chulalongkorn, his brothers and half-brothers. The old one was led by the Hegent and Prince Wichaichan of the Pront Palace, and

conflicts between the two groups became inevitable. The ’’Court

1. Chula Chakrabongse, Prince of Thailand, Lords of Life (London: Alvin Hedman Ltd., 19SQ), pp. 224-225. See also Tej

Bunnag, "The Provincial Administration of Siam from 1892 to 1915* A Study of the Creation, the Growth, the Achievements, and the Implications for Modern Siam, of the Ministry of the Interior under Prince Dararong Kachanuphap" (Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, University of Oxford, 1 9 6 8), pp. 92-94*

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Party*1, a political party led by the young king, attracted the bright young Thais Mto whom King Chulalongkorn symbolised all that was enlightened and progressive** • The Regent and Prince Wichaichan, on the other hand, were to represent **all that was backward and reactionary**2. The incident in 18?5 in which a clash between the young revolutionary king, on the one hand, and

Prince V/ichaichan and the Regent, on the other, became vitally intense , explains clearly the message hinted in ftA Tale of the Present Time*1.

This short piece of satire was published in Darunowat on_{* m urium i n r i i in m m m iiiT T ii i m} August 11, 187^) a few days before the Privy Council took their

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oath of fealty to the king for the first time. Plere, one can see very clearly the generation gap between the angry old soldier and his female acquaintance of his own generation, on the one hand, and the group of ^thirty or forty children who are playing happily like children normally do*1 , on the other. The two elderly people

1. Bunnag, g g ^ . , p. 93.