1685) between Narai
and Louis XIV, the latter having been led to suppose that the king and
people of Siam were ready to embrace Christianity. But when the French
envoys broached the subject of conversion, the king replied that he
saw no reason to change the religion which his countrymen had
professed for two thousand years, a chronological statement which it
might be hard to substantiate. Still, great facilities were given to
missionaries and further negotiations ensued, in the course of which
the French received almost a monopoly of foreign trade and the right
to maintain garrisons. But the death of Narai was followed by a
reaction. Phaulcon died in prison and the French garrisons were
expelled. Buddhism probably flourished at this period for the
Mahavamsa tells us that the king of Ceylon sent to Ayuthia for
monks in 1750 because religion there was pure and undefiled.

Ayuthia continued to be the capital until 1767 when it was laid in
ruins by the Burmese who, though Buddhists, did not scruple to destroy
or deface the temples and statues with which it was ornamented. But
the collapse of the Siamese was only local and temporary. A leader of
Chinese origin named Phaya Tak Sin rallied their forces, cleared
the Burmese out of the country and made Bangkok, officially described
as the Capital of the Angels, the seat of Government. But he was
deposed in 1782 and one of the reasons for his fall seems to have been
a too zealous reformation of Buddhism. In the troublous times
following the collapse of Ayuthia the Church had become disorganized
and corrupt, but even those who desired improvement would not assent
to the powers which the king claimed over monks. A new dynasty (of
which the sixth monarch is now on the throne) was founded in 1782 by
Chao Phaya Chakkri. One of his first acts was to convoke a council
for the revision of the Tipitaka and to build a special hall in
which the text thus agreed on was preserved. His successor Phra:
Buddha Lot La is considered the best poet that Siam has produced and
it is probably the only country in the world where this
distinction has fallen to the lot of a sovereign. The poet king had
two sons, Phra: Nang: Klao, who ascended the throne after his death,
and Mongkut, who during his brother's reign remained in a monastery
strictly observing the duties of a monk. He then became king and
during his reign (1851-1868) Siam "may be said to have passed from the
middle ages to modern times."[210]