วารสารปี-40-ฉบับที่-3-resize

การปกครองของสยามก่อนการปฏิ รูปการปกครอง พ.ศ. ๒๔๓๕ 82 The Journal of the Royal Society of Thailand Vol. 40 No. 3 Jul-Sep 2015 Abstract The Government of Siam before the Government Reform of 1892 Kovith Wongsurawat Associate Fellow of the Academy of Moral and Political Sciences, The Royal Society of Thailand. The study and teaching of Thai history tend to be rather superficial when describing the period before the major government reforms which took place in 1892. Before these reforms, Thai history books commonly explain that the government was managed by the so-called Chatusadom, or Four Pillars system. That is, there were two Prime Ministers, one responsible for military and the other for civilian affairs. And there were four other ministers. One was responsible for the affairs of the capital city. Another looked after the King’s household; a third took charge of the nation’s treasury. The fourth was in charge of agricultural affairs. According to documents of King Chulalongkorn, however, there were, in fact, six other ministers, the so-called Montri Six, who held equal rank with the first four. Upon consideration, it does seem unlikely that the whole country could be managed and governed by only four ministries. That is why we need to reconstruct the history of the Montri Six in order to have a more complete picture of the governing system before the great reforms by King Chulalongkorn. Keywords:  The government reform, Four Pillars system, the Montri Six, King Chulalongkorn.