Around the World with a King by William N. Armstrong

Author:William N. Armstrong
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-4629-1150-9
Publisher: Tuttle Publishing

CHAPTER XVI

Arrival at Singapore — The King Tired of Royal Etiquette — Visits and Receives the Governor — Drive over the Island — Importance of the Place — A Colossal Missionary Station — The King and the Tiger — A State Banquet — Effect of the "Climate" on Englishmen in the Tropics — Visit to the Maharajah of Johore — His Grand Palace — The Sword of State and the Great Umbrella — The Valet and the Feathered Cloak — Tiffin with the Maharajah — The Sovereigns Discover Each Other's "Strawberry — Marks" — A State Banquet — Dreams of Residence in Marble Halls — Moonlight and Native Music — A Morning Scene — Farewell to Singapore — More Trouble for the Valet — Loss of the Feather Cloak — Embarkation for Calcutta.

WE rounded the southeastern point of the Malay peninsula, drew close to the shore, passed many islands covered with dense vegetation, and anchored off Singapore, another prominent free port of Great Britain. Fort Canning and some Russian warships fired a royal salute; and an aide of Sir Frederick Weld, the colonial Governor, with the King's Consul, boarded our steamer with an invitation from the Governor asking the King to become his guest. But the weather was hot, and the King preferred the freedom and informality of hotel life. The invitation to reside in the Government House was "graciously" declined. The poet who dreamed that he "dwelt in marble halls" was never a king, or the minister of a king. It is said in every court that "the king does as he pleases," but the fact is that he is like a chained animal, which has large freedom within the limits of his chain. The Grand Lama of Thibet has absolute power and does as he pleases within limits, but his life of sacred splendour is a chain which keeps him in a narrow circle of perpetual ceremonies, and binds him to many monotonous and irksome sittings upon a golden throne. Though his legs become weary and his back aches, he cannot relieve his fatigue by a game of leap-frog. Stronger than the will of a sovereign is the etiquette which traditions and customs make for him. Those who know the inner history of courts know the efforts of princes and kings themselves to escape at times from their monotonous environments.

We therefore, in this place, took lodgings in a hotel, where we were entirely free from the strain of ceremonies and attendants. This disposition, however, may have been due to our fresh and wild natures, which had not been sufficiently subdued by contact with civilisation.

The Governor's carriage, however, took us in the afternoon to the Government House, where troops in white uniforms and white helmets lined the courtyard. The Governor received the King at the entrance and led us up a very wide stairway, on the steps of which guards were standing with muskets, and into the drawing-room, which was decorated with flowers. There we met the Governor's wife and daughter.

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