Not Without Blood

Not many monarchs can take a revolution with the bland aplomb of Siam's spunky little King Prajadhipok who, hav-ng been through three in the past two years, last week faced his fourth.

When the shooting started His Majesty asked with interest who was leading the rebels. "Sire," he was told, "they are led by Prince Bavaradej. He has captured the Royal Airdrome and is marching on Bangkok." "What? Prince Bavaradej!" cried King Prajadhipok. "Inform the populace at once of my deep regret that a member of the Royal Family should be leading a revolt against the Government." Not the cynical wisecrack of a dissolute sovereign, this pronouncement reflected King Prajadhipok's knowledge that his people regard him as their deliverer from the rest of the Royal Family, a horde of princes entrenched in hundreds of offices, whose constant meddling jeopardized the business of the State. The princes were swept out of their sinecures by the "revolt" of 1932, believed by many Siamese to have been hatched with at least the tacit consent of His Majesty who bobbed up smiling, no longer an Absolute Monarch but a Constitutional King. Before that revolt Prince Bavaradej served as Defense Minister in the Siamese Cabinet.

As in previous revolutions, Their Majesties were out of Bangkok at a seaside resort last week when the trouble began. "This will not be another bloodless revolution!" proclaimed the Cabinet of Premier Phya Bahol at Bangkok, soon made good their threat by shooting down two rebel planes, one of which crashed in the Me Nam River hard by the Royal Palace. When the rebel Army reached Bangkok's gates, Premier Phya Bahol defiantly announced, "You have until 3 p. m. to depart." After that the Government's artillery opened fire and censorship shut down tight. Europeans who fled from Bangkok to the Straits Settlements reported that the Siamese Navy had joined the revolt and seized the National Arsenal but that the Army was still supporting the Government.

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