King Chulalongkorn understood that his kingdom could survive only by modernizing its judicial, administrative and military capacity and thus offer the colonial powers sufficient incentives and deterrents to respect its sovereignty. Since 1860, a handful of foreign advisers had been recruited to fill senior positions to guide the modernization process. Following the Paknam Incident their numbers rose within four years to 58 British, 22 Germans, 22 Danes, 9 Belgians, 8 Italians and 20 others. As "General Advisor" Rolin-Jaequemyns had the closest relationship to the king.