> '-'■ tQ M ASHE PYEE, THE SUPEEIOE COUNTRY OR, C|t iwat ^Itrattions of ^urnra is ^ritisj BY COLONEL W. F. B. LAURIE, ▲ITTHOB OF " OUR BURMESE WARS AND RELATIONS WITH BURMA, ETC. " Look here upon this picture, and on this." HAMiiET, Act 3, Scene i. It is evident that the country and the people have before them a great future." Sib Abthub Phatee, at the Society of Arts, May 1881. LONDON : W. H. ALLEN & CO., 13 WATEKLOO PLACE, PALL MALL, S.W. 1882. (AU Bijhts Reserved,) \ PBINXEU 1.V W. K. ALLSN & CO., 1^^ ./ATKBLOO Pi.A. t., PKEFACE Eeader, this is a peaceful book. Unlike its far larger and more ambitious predecessor, it does not deal with war. Peace, national security, and com- mercial prosperity are its watch- words ; and if these three can be perpetuated and extended in the ** superior country" here under consideration, without war and without annexation, the greater will be the triumph of British statesmanship. Lord Bipon, wishing to carry out the spirit of Lord Canning's proclamation of 1858, last year declared that the continuation of Native States was an advantage to such states, and to Great Britain. Of course, there must be exceptions to such a wise, general rule. Great Britain, unfortunately, too often finds herself, while endeavouring to civilise mankind, in the position of the Psalmist, who was for peace while his enemies sought for war. Peace m2490o VI PREFACE. on earth is still very far distant. Nowhere seems she to find " rest with men." The Burmese Question, in the humble opinion of the writer, should now occupy the large share of public atten- tion which has been given throughout the past year or more to Afghanistan ; and when the Viceroy has so forcibly remarked that peace and rest are the real wants of India, in order that the country might ** devote itself to the improvement of its agriculture and commerce " — our late military successes and upholding of British prestige in the former region affording suitable opportunity for such a remark — turning from Afghanistan to Burma at this time would seem to be a natural and prudent step. It is just one from financial ruin to financial prosperity, with Commerce beckoning to her enterprising supporters to come on. As a practical subject of the first importance, the Bur- mese comes far nearer to us than many other questions ; for in its settlement a lasting good is sure to follow ; while as regards the solution of other weighty national problems, it must candidly be said, at present — '* The dawn is overcast, the morning lours, And heavily in clouds brings in the day." Is it not pleasing, then, to turn from such gloomy prospects, and give attention to where Hope, on PBEFAOE. Vll practical grounds, pictures the dawn of a pros- perous and tranquil day breaking out in all Burma ; a land in these fast times of education and so-called national enlightenment shamefully unknown to the inteUigent classes of Great Britain. However tribes may be warring against tribes in the East at the present time — however wily European diplo- matists may be looking out for the decline of Albion's influence in Asia — let us be placed on sound and profitable as well as peaceful relations with the people of our next-door neighbour, Upper Burma. With the lower portion of the country under our control, paying for years past a surplus revenue of some millions sterHng to the Indian Imperial Treasury, surely the upper portion demands far more attention than it has yet received ; for, as hereafter will be urged, the real interests of the two are inseparable. But, look on the two pictures — on British and Independent Burma ; what a difference in local progress, happiness, and pros- perity ! And what a tremendous difference between the results of the last Afghan and the Second Burmese Wars. There is something terribly mono- tonous about many of the political questions of the day. '' Fresh woods and pastures new " are urgently required by politicians as well as by the\ public. In the spirit of what Grattan said of Ireland, when Vm PEEFACE. he gave her a free trade by opening all her har- bours, we may yet hope to see the land of the Golden Foot ^* rise from her bed and get nearer to the sun." It may hereafter form the subject of grand debates in Parliament. When the great governing intellects now grappling with a most serious and distressing question at home shall have conquered every difficulty, they may, perhaps, devote some of the working of their comprehensive and practical minds to long-neglected Burma and the Burn:ese Question, which is simply — '^Can we establish sound political and commercial relations with Upper Burma? " Although written or compiled with much peaceful intent, this little book may be deemed a fitting companion to Our Burmese Wars and Relations with Burma ; and in a brief space the writer has endeavoured to entertain as well as instruct. With a special view to this end, the last three or four chapters are submitted to public notice. To the London Press the Author is very thankful for the kind, judicious, and frequently elaborate critiques his former work had the honour to receive from those competent to form an opinion ; while to other would-be censors who were not com- petent — lacking, as they did, the chief requisites for a critic, information and impartiality — he is also obliged, as such amiable litterateurs, taking PBEFACE. IX up a somewhat novel and important Eastern subject, may eventually be led, through careful study, to become kinder or wiser men, and better critics. The Author cannot conclude this Preface without remarking on the strange contrast between the state of affairs at the end of the last and close of the preceding year. In 1879, all was uncertainty and '' toil and trouble " in Afghanistan. Fighting before Cabul ; attacks on General Roberts ; warning to Ayub Khan, as to his holding Herat ; with nume- rous Russian intrigues in Central and Western Asia ; while in Eastern, the Chinese seemed to be going ahead in their usual way. And, also, at the close of 1879, although there appeared to be little chance of our being launched into a serious war with Upper Burma, there was a great dispute between the Chief of Karennee and King Theebau, which might have led to blows. At the end of 1880, things became more settled. A political enchanter seemed to be at work ; success after disaster cheered us on in Afghanistan ; and although a British Resi- dent was sadly wanted at Mandalay, the Burmese capital, to supervise the Golden Foot, and procure valuable information, the spirit of affairs was changed, as if by magic. True enough, China appeared to be more resolute than ever to defy X PREFACE. Eussia in her long course of hereditary aggression ; while the brave and energetic Skobeleff was engaged among the fierce Turkomans. Then China was ordering Austrian ordnance rifles, in preference to the German, thereby showing inde- pendent action and practical knowledge in the selec- tion of arms. On the whole, things were in a far better condition throughout Eastern Asia, than they had been for some time but, during the first half of 1881, affairs again, in certain quarters, be- came somewhat shrouded in mystery. Upper Burma — too long silent for any good — appeared to be resuming, through its capricious and monopolising King, the old ways of error ; while China was about to conclude a remarkable treaty with Eussia — a treaty of the cession of Kuldja (or Hi on the part of the Russians, to be immediately followed up by the opportune annexation of the great Trans-Cas- pian region of the Turkomans — all giving the vast Northern Power, in Central Asia (and, of course, in other parts) an amount of political influence in the East unexampled in our time. If Eussia is ever to be predominant in Central Asia, it would, of course, be suicidal to our Eastern Empire not to keep her clear of approach towards India, S.W. China, and Burma. No doubt, with our usual pluck, we shall always be able to do this, but we must look more to Eastern PEEFACE. XI Asia ; and if only sufficient attention were now paid to Upper Burma, we might check various ambi- tious designs, while a change for the better might be effected by us in that '^ superior country " — so valuable and yet so little known at home to the enlightened English statesman and the keen British merchant — which attention would certainly, ere long, bring us in both wealth and honour. W. F. B. L. London, July 1881. P.S. — It was intended to publish this Httle work about the middle of the year ; but deserted London, and the three grand Questions on the tapis — the Egyptian, the Transvaal, and the Irish — would have precluded many readers from looking into the condition and prospects of Burma. Ad- vantage has been taken of the delay to continue a miscel- laneous record of events, with remarks thereon, from July to October, which, as for the previous months, the writer trusts wiU add to the utility and interest of his volume — probably the conclusion of his pleasant labours on the subject of Ashe Pyee, the Superior Country. October, 1881. CONTENTS CHAPTEE I. PAGE The Burmese Qxjestion. — 1 1 CHAPTEE II. The Burmese Question. — II 29 CHAPTEE III. British and Upper Burma, and Western China : their Concurrent Commercial Interests ... 67 CHAPTEE IV. British and Upper Burma, and Western China — {continued) 83 XIV CONTENTS. CHAPTEE V. PAGE Du Halde on Trade with China : and how Eussia got IN the Wedge lOB CHAPTEE VI. The Forests of Burma 119 CHAPTEE VII. NATioNAii Character 125 CHAPTEE VIII. The Shoe Question. — Court Etiquette in Burma . 133 CHAPTEE IX. Gautama 187 SUPPLEMENTAKY CHAPTEE. Sir Arthur Phayre on British Burma , . .150 CONTENTS. XT MISCELLANEOUS EECOED. PAGE From February to October 1881 . . . .184 ADDENDA TO CHAPTEE IV. Two Provinces of South- West China commercially considered 240 NOTES 262 ASHE PIEE, THE SUPERIOR COUNTRY, CHAPTER I. ., ^'^i, THE BUEMESE QUESTION. 1. Towards the end of J 879, the writer concluded his volume on Our Burmese Wars and Relations with Burma, with a brief account of events before and after the British Resident's departure from Mandalay.* The Envoy having ** stalked a-vay,'' the Burmese Nero and his advisers at the capital were left to the dictates of their own sweet will. Massacres, burying alive, and every other iniquity associated with the cruel " dark places of the earth " might be per- petrated, and humane and generous Great Britain not be one whit the wiser ; for, although the Resident was never told one half of the deeds of dreadful note committed in the Palace, still, while he remained at Mandalay, there was always some information forthcoming to freeze the blood, or make our hairs stand on end " like quills upon the fret- ful porcupine." Speedily an important opinion was entertained at Ran- goon that, in the event of a campaign, it would be rendered ♦ Page 466. 2 ASHt PTEE. easier if, on the declaration of hostilities, Nyoung-Yan (or Nyoungyan) were publicly recognised as the British nominee, and received with royal honours, while a pro- clamation was issued placing him on the Burmese throne. This was considered by some to be preferable to the *' violent act"" of annexation, while others were firmly con- vinced that we must in some fashion or other — to secure .-the pe^acQ &n'ji*.aelvance the prosperity of British Burma — .: reign supreme -at Mandal ay.* ' ' 'Early in December, a Burmese Embassy, which had been for some time detained at Thayetmyo, awaiting per- mission from the Indian authorities to proceed, received a communication from the Viceroy, through the Chief Com- missioner (Mr. Aitchison), recording the Viceroy's serious dissatisfaction with " the position and treatment of our Kesident lately at the Burmese Court." The Embassy had "not come with authority to propose anything likely to be acceptable." A reference to the Court for further instruc- tions was advised ; otherwise the Ambassador could not be received. t The Embassy remained at Thayetmyo awaiting instructions from Mandalay. And so the author concluded a somewhat " eventful liistory," at a most uncertain stage of our relations with Burma. Time went on, and with the disappearance of our Resident from the Burmese Court, the " merry," but cruel and inexperienced monarch, Theebau, and the really valuable land of the Golden Foot, lost much of their interest. Attention in the East was now almost wholly concentred on the wild bleak mountains * Page 47 t I*age 476. THE BURMESE QUESTION. 3 and hills, the exteasive tracts of waste land, and here and there the fertile plains and valleys of Afghanistan, destined to cost England so much blood and so many millions which might have been useful elsewhere. Early in the New Year (18S0) it was expected that papers regarding Theebau and our relations with Burma were to be asked for in the House of Commons. But it was evidently not a convenient season to grant them, for none were forthcoming. The present writer had gladly hoped that the production of such documents would draw attention to the subject of Burmese affairs. In a despairing mood he wrote to the coming Premier, who was soon to ■commence his second brilliant campaign in Midlothian, even from one who with a rare method finds time for everything, hardly expecting an answer. But an answer did come, and very soon ; and the mustnu/i (purport) of it, as we say in Hindustani, was an ardent wish " to under- stand the painful question raised in Burma, on which but little light seems to have been thrown by discussions in the public press."* And again, with a generous solicitude regarding an Anc(lo-IndiaQ author's work:—'' It cannot be otherwise than a work of great interest and value at the present moment^' ; also, it would not prove "insensibility to the importance of the subject if he did not find an early opporcunity of examining it.^'f Kecently, like some far less great, yet able and energetic financiers, having been at war with deficits in Indian and other budgets, of course the Chancellor of the Exchequer could have found * February 6th, 1880. t February 25th, 1880. 1 • 4 ASHfe PYEE. but little time for the study of Burmese affairs ; but it may be hoped that if more deficits are to be discovered, and relief sought for, British economists and calculators will turn their serious attention to the undeveloped resources of Upper, and our own possession of British Burma, where, in proportion to the population, the trade is more than ten times greater than that of magnificent and populous India ! The eastern country, " superior to all others," could expect little attention during the unsettled state of Afghan- istan. The elections naturally made the subject less than a secondary consideration ; and there can be no doubt that the English people are always touched most by what is nearest to them, or, according to Dr. Johnson, we secure the mind's attention to " domestic rather than Imperial tragedies/' It is passing strange, but nevertheless a fact, that, towards the close of the nineteenth century, when education has done so much for our country, there are millions of intelligent people who, for the time, would look with greater concern on the destruction of the Crystal Palace or the Alhambra than they would exhibit if we lost India or British Burma ! It will be long before Great Britain really begins to appreciate the vast political and commercial importance of her splendid Eastern Empire. As time advanced, occasional great events were reported from Mandalay. The King had long surrendered himself to the Nats (spirits), and was more superstitious than ever. Intelligence of Nat propitiation, cruel massncres, burying alive, small-pox, and so forth, came from Rangoon. The THE BUEMESE QUESTION. 6 ■steady^ wise old Woons (ministers) about the Court had changed the King's warlike intentions towards the British. It was necessary, therefore, to find some other kind of excitement at the capital ; for lotteries, general gambling, drinking, and the reported currency of lead for copper, had done their work. April and May (1880) were probably contemplative months at Mandalay ; but at the end of the latter month, action in the shape of a rebelhoa began to ring through the Burmese land. Should the reader have the writer's last volume beside him, at page 387 he will find it recorded that (in February 1879) the Nyoungyan and Nyoungoke Princes, brothers, had found it expedient to flee with their families from the Palace of Mandalay. They first took refuge in the British Residency, but were, after a time, sent down to Rangoon, and thence to Calcutta. The Nyoungyan Prince was the favourite in the succession, and King Mengdon, Theebau's father, had desired his election. However, young Theebau got the throne, and became, with apparent ease, Lord of all the White Elephants, of Golden Umbrellas, and of Earth and Air. The chief hope of the brothers, it may be pre- sumed, was now that Theebau's reign might be a short and a merry one, which, judging from the chapter on the Royal Progress,* seemed a contingency not far distant. Nyoungoke at length proved himself to be more impatient and ambitious than his elder brother, Nyoungyan. With a small force of "raiders" (May 24, 1880) he suddenly appeared near the British frontier, cut the telegraph *^See Paper VI., " A Sketch of King Theebau's Progress," in Our Burme$» Wars and Relations with Burma, page 374, 6 ashI: pyee. between our boundary and Mandalay ; and so began what seemed like a bold and determined endeavour to stir up a rebellion against King Theebau. The insurgents, at first successful, were repulsed at Minhla, some sixty miles from the frontier, defended by Royal troops, guns, and a fort. The Burmese local authorities became speedily alarmed at the insurrection, and the Woon (governor) of Sillaymyo* had (2oth) seized the Yujian^ British steamer, bound from Mandalay to Rangoon. It was said that the silly Woon pretended to believe that the English had invaded his country. However that may be, the steamer was detained for thirty-six hours. A few days after this detention — in some respects as great an insult as that which brought on the second Burmese War — it was announced from Thayetmyo that the insurgents were encamped near the boundary pillar^ and the Burmese Government had addressed a communica- tion to the British Government, through the Burmese Commissioners, who were still at Thayetmyo, to the effect that the insurrection was only a sort of dacoit outbreak,t and had '* no political significance." No notice, it was asserted, had been taken of this despatch, because " all friendly intercourse and show of courtesy" had ceased between the representatives of the two Governments. With reference to the Burmese Embassy — which seemed to "be a political or diplomatic fixture — by the middle of May the Chief Commissioner had written to the Ambassadors * A village on the banks of the Irawadi, about twenty -five miles, above Minhla. f One of plunderers. THE BURMESE QUESTION. / at Thayetmyo that it was " necessary to postpone their business for the present." The Embassy was requested to return to Mandalay, at a time when the telegraph to that station was interrupted. It was further announced from Rangoon that the evidence was complete tliat certain con- templated April sacrifices had been begun, and " were only stopped on the representation of the Ambassadors that the British Government would intervene." There was constant quarrelling and intriguing among the Ministers at Mandalay ; and, " in spite of Mr. Aitchison's letter," the Embassy still remained at Thayetmyo * The Embassy had positively done nothing to improve our relations with Theebau and Upper Burma ; but ** a variety of obviously inadmissible and grotesquely incongruous propositions and pretensions were put forward by the Burmese Government," and the various points already at issue between the two Governments were steadily ignored The Envoy was told that if he was not likely soon to have something more satisfactory to suggest he should return ** as speedily as convenient " He could not be got to specify the questions which he was empowered to discuss ; and, after requesting leave to move forward to Rangoon, he had been " reminded that, according to all diplomatic usages, a substantial basis and the definite points for the negotiation must be settled before a personal discussion can begin."t But it would be easier to square the circle than obtain such desirable hypotheses ; and not even a Talleyrand or a Lord Palmer- ston could have advantageously extracted a substantial • Daily News. f Timet Correspondent. 8 ashI: pyee. basis or a definite point from a wily Burmese diplomatist. The Burmese idea of diplomacy in Mandalay at the present time is a brief but comprehensive one. It simply amounts to this : " Restore Pegu, with all her fine ports, to the Golden Foot, and we will trade with you as much as you like ; but there are certain time-honoured monopolies which the King must have ; Free Trade must leave these alone," concluding in the style of the old Burmese State papers — This is Burman custom! And so the unchange- able rulers of the Burman race, in an age of progress, strive to obstruct the mighty advancing tide of human thought and civilisation. By the middle of June, it was thought that the rebellion in Upper Burma had entirely collapsed ; but this was a mistake, as followers of the adventurous Prince were spring- ing up in several directions. There can be little doubt, if Nyoungoke had played his cards well, and with some military genius, he might have paid King Theebau a visit at Mandalay during the month of June; and it was said, probably with some truth, that had Nyoungyan appeared on the scene, he " would have commanded a much larger following than his brother." But he wisely remained in Calcutta — like Abdul Rahman for Afghanistan — the *' coming man " for Burma. The Burmese Envoy at Tha- yetmyo had at last left. Strong hints, and, it was said, threatened stoppage of allowances — the best hint of all — at length sent him back to Mandalay, where, doubtless, he was not received in a very gracious manner by his Sove- reign. It was again well said that the future position of the British Resident at Mandalay appeared to be " one THE BURMESE QUESTION. 9 essential preliminary point for determination before the question of diplomatic relations could be effectively entered upon, and on that point lie had no satisfactory proposals to make." After some fruitless efforts on the part of the Prince, the King's troops, headed by the only available Bandoola, the Mingoon Woon, arrived on the frontier by steamer, entirely defeated the insurgents, and gained a practically " blood- less " victory. Prince Nyoungoke's was a rather inglorious end ; he was captured by our police, lodged in the Circuit house of Thayetmyo, and strongly guarded, previous to his being sent back to Calcutta. By the end of June, the rebellion had completely col- lapsed. Nyoungoke was considered to have *' abused the asylum afforded to him by us, in that he made our frontier the base for his attack on Burma." He was sent back under arrest to Calcutta, where he arrived early in July. King Theebau was apparently becoming conciliatory, and had been drilling very small bodies of troops at Man- dalay. It was telegraphed from Calcutta* that Mr. Bernard had taken over the Chief Commissionership from Mr. Aitchison, who had proceeded to Simla to take his seat in Council. At a dinner given by the Rangoon community on the occa- sion, in his speech Mr. Barnard gave no indication as to the poUcy which would be pursued by the British Govern ment regarding Burma ; but it would not be one of annexa- tion. "To be, or not to be," with reference to Upper * Times Correspondent, July 11th. 10 ASHfe PYEE. Burma's independence, then, — or, more directly, in the case of King Theehau, the French translator's rendering Vivre ou mourir,* — was not yet " the question." And it was highly necessary that " Afghan complications " should pass quite away before the necessary amount of public interest could be concentrated on Burmese affairs. As to the present Golden Foot, it has been remarked to the writer, by a learned and zealous Member of Parliament, that he may not be so black as he has been painted ; but at this stage, the remarks of an able and acute military officer, who knows Upper and Lower Burma very well, may be usefully cited : — " Until Upper Burma is blessed with a ruler who will not consider it his only duty to sit in his palace, and listen to accounts of his country, which are only framed with a view to tickle his ear and flatter his vanity, the countr}" will never improve ; and a policy of interference may be forced upon us, however reluctant we may be to enter upon it, for the protection of our trading interests.'^ Thus, the Burmese is, in many respects, essentially a commercial question, as, in fact, nearly all the questions of lasting importance which come forth on Eastern Asia, must invariably be. Of " a very fine country," the highly- intelligent officer already quoted gives a most flourishing description. To use the language of Richard Cobden, in an essay written by him in 1836, upon Russia, Turkey, and England, Upper Burma may be described with regard to- its present backward condition commercially, as follows : — fitre, ou pas 6tre ? THE BUKMESE QUESTION. 11 ** Nothing but a tyrannical despotism, at once sanguinary and lawless, could have had the effect of repelling com- merce from its noble water highways ; but, alas ! the thou- sands of merchants who might have been tempted to embark in profitable commercial speculations, would have sought in vain for the rich freights of silk, cotton, wool, cutch, earth-oil, and precious stones, which ought to have awaited their advent. Such is the character of its rulers, that no native capitalists even have been emboldened to accumulate a store of merchandise to tempt the rapacity of a dissolute set of kings." Regarding the Burmese Embassy, King Theebau and the British Government, the British public are much indebted to a London Correspondent* at Rangoon, who was most zealous in furnishing interesting information. Before the departure of Naingangya Woondouk (in thia case a diplomatic Secretary of State), the chief of the Embassy, from Thayetmyo, it appeared that the Deputy Commissioner (Colonel Davies) had informed that high functionary, by order of the Viceroy, of Lord Lytton's wish to leave his successor perfectly free to take up the subject of a treaty with the King of Burma, or leave it alone. During the settlement of the difficulty in Afghanistan — unless in a case of actual invasion — it was not easy to find leisure for the discussion of Burmese afi'airs ; and as there did not seem to be any intention on the part of the Embassy to come to a settlement, as had been suggested six months before, nothing could be more reasonable than the request, by letter, to leave for Mandalay. The letter ta * Daily News, July 9th, 1880. 12 ASHt PYEE. the Woondouk, wrote the above Correspondent towards the middle of June, "is all the more unexpected, because the general idea among the Burmans was that, with Mr. Glad- stone in power, they would be able to conclude a treaty immediately, and get all they asked for. The Mandalay Gazette exulted over the return of the Liberals to power, and said, * The new Premier, as a Knight of the Tsalw6, will be reasonable, and not persist in the foolish and pre- sumptuous course of his predecessor.'" To have been reasonable where no reason existed, would have puzzled €ven a cleverer and more shrewd statesman than the late Premier. The Correspondent proceeds to give us some interesting particulars regarding " the boast of heraldry, the pomp of power," in Burma, to which I shall add a note, also new : *' It may probably be news to most people in England, that Mr. Gladstone is a Knight of the most elephantine and ancient Burmese Order of Knighthood ; but it is a fact nevertheless. The late King, Mengdon Meng, sent him by the Kinwoon Mingyee the collar of the fifteen strings, the second in rank under that of the princes of the blood, who have twenty- one strings. The King himself has twenty-four. The knights of premier rank glory in eighteen." This badge of the order of nobility among the Burmese consist of six classes.f From the highest autho- rity, I shall now state as follows : — Some Orientalists and others appear to entertain the idea that there is an order styled *' The Golden Sun of Burma"; but there is no such order. However, the King of Burma claims descent from * For an account of the order of the Tsalwe (or Tsalway), see General Fytche's Burma Fast and Present, vol i.p. 232 {note). THE BURMESE QUESTION. IS the Kshatrya Rajas of India of the '* solar race," and con- fers titles, adopting the recipients into the " race of the sun." Perhaps this is what is alluded to by those who bring forward the "Golden Sun of Burma" to enlighten the public. After this brief digression, it may be well to return to the Rangoon Correspondent, who reported at the end of June that King Theebau was " making a great show of being civil to us," giving some interesting particulars regarding the Naingangya Woondouk. From these we may learn the wholesome lesson how great men in the East in office sometimes escape punishment, just as they do occasionally in Russia, Turkey, and other European countries. Such a vast amount of material for future history is now furnished by Correspondents of the London press, that it is folly to neglect what is thus presented to us even in our own time. We have yet to learn that there is more in a Woon or a Woondouk than *' is dreamt of in our philosophy." The Naingangya " on his way up in the ambassadorial steamer, took on board the Woon of Sillay- myo, the official who so unceremoniously detained the mail steamer Yunan. No doubt with a lively sense of what might very possibly be soon his own fate, the Woondouk had the over-energetic governor put in irons, and, on his arrival in Mandalay, forthwith handed him over to the Illot, with a vivid description of the wrath of the British Government at the prisoner's proceedings." The Woon- douk hoped that his own diplomatic failure might possibly be overlooked. *' The Sillaymyo Woon's case occupied all the attention of the Ministers. He was thrown into prison. 14 ashI: pyee. there to await trial by the lUot Dau, the Supreme Court." It was then thought that the Sillaymyo Woon would lie a few weeks or days in confinement, escape, hang about Man dalay for a few months, and finally get " a richer province than that he lately governed."* Such, it was believed, had been hitherto the way of punishing offenders against the British Government ; but on this occasion it was the Irawadi Flotilla Company — doubtless, for their own advan- tage — they earnestly wished to conciliate; and so it was arranged that the captains should not be summoned on shore, but be visited by the governors (with a very small unarmed escort) if thought necessary. Thus was the Court of Mandalay beginning to assume the virtue of civility towards the British, though, as yet, in reality they had it not ; and such behaviour — not of yesterday's date — tends to render the solution of the Burmese question by no means easy. At present, then, the question is hardly one of annexa- tion. It has become —and, perhaps, very properly — a question of conciliation. If anything can be given better than annexation, if any permanent plan can be brought forward to avoid it, let us have it by all means ; and the present writer fearlessly produces the following arguments against the violent and distasteful measure, unless it be strongly forced upon us. "Many men not conversant with Burmese and Chinese frontier affairs have advocated the annexation of Upper Burma, more, perhaps, from a com- mercial standpoint than from sound policy ; but annexa- tion from any point of view must be condemned.''' '* All that is required in Upper Burma is a friendly and capable * Baily News, July 26th, 1880. THE BURMESE QUESTION. 16 Government. Annexation is out of the question" *'We have got quite as much as we want of Indo-Chinese soil." In answer to the sentiments of a " commercial friend," one of the warlike element (who considers annexation *' im- possible ") thus remarks : — " I think Mr. Aitchison (the Chief Commissioner), than whom there is not an abler nor an honester servant of the Empress at present in her Eastern dominions, has * no voice or stomach ' for annexa- tion, but he would desire to see 'good government' intro- duced into the King's dominions, peaceably if possible ; if not, then by means of guns, sniders, and British soldiers to use them." The mercantile gentleman — a gentleman to the backbone — remarks : " The country is full of wealth which only requires tke commonest form of just govern- ment to tap and draw off. Now that all the mischief that can be done to trade has been done, and troops are on the spot, it is to be hoped that Government will make such arrangements — be they in the form of annexation or of a definite treaty with suitable guarantee for fulfilment — as will put trade on a secure basis, and prevent the recurrence of a similar commercial crisis." The stern and able repre- sentative of the " warlike element " replies : " Although, my merchant friend, trade is not everything, there appeared to be no necessity to bring over those troops,* which, as you say, have caused a paralysis of trade. No ; it would have been wiser and more economical to have got them * The present writer does not agree on this point ; he considers that it was absolutely necessary to send over reinforcements at the time (1879). See Omt Burmesrs Wars and Relations with Burnuiy pp. 389, 393. 16 ASHE.PYEE. ready as for employment elsewhere, and if King Thiba (Theebau) showed any desire to fight with a view of reco- vering lost territory, we might have allowed the * Golden Foot' to be caught in the trap. But where divided counsels prevail, then, my friend, many other things besides com- merce become submerged." No wonder that our relations with the King of Burma have recently been the subject of much comment, both in the_English and Indian press; and, in the words of the mercantile friend, "much has been written to which the word misrepresentation might truth- fully be applied." He is also of opinion that, " it is diffi- cult in a few words to take up the subject of the political situation, which, speaking from a commercial point of view, is a very grave one at present." This writer — a member of the Chamber of Commerce at Eangoon, who, in May 1879, sent an article on the "State of Affairs in Burma " to the Glasgow Herald, from which the foregoing extracts are taken — is further of opinion that, "even now, the only causes of depression of trade in the King's terri- tory and Mandalay are imported from British territory, where rumours of annexation are daily promulgated by those whose interests lie in that direction; and with the exception of merchants who have large stakes outstanding in the country, directly and indirectly nearly everybody is included in this category." Again, the shrewd merchant makes the following very pithy remark, which, beyond all question, has considerable truth in it : — " Upper Burma occupies pretty much the relation to British Burma that a lunatic asylum does to a contiguous private residence. It is a constant object of dread to the merchant, and from a THE BUEMESE QUESTION. 17 political point of view, it is a standing menace to British power and prestige in the East." With reference to " rumours of annexation," and the apparent desire of the mercantile community at Eangoon for war, I can bring forward as an undeniable fact, that, when at Rangoon in 1864, I found the feeling to exist in a remarkable degree. And knowing this, when about to re-publish my third paper on Burma, on the progress of trade, and the prospects of Pegu,* I should have considered that the ''Brief Review" bore on the face of it proof that the information had been culled from, if not all written by, one of the '* Merchant Kings " of Rangoon, who, it was said, strove their best to bring on a war in order to " settle their accounts " ; i,e, balance their books as to goods sent on credit to Mandalay and not paid for. Then such sentences in the paper as ** Rangoon is behindhand in facilities for repairing vessels," true in 1864, has not been so for some years past; yet I left the remark without any corrective note. But we must not leave our gifted friend of the " warlike element " without deriving some more benefit from his com- pany, which, it is to be hoped, will cause the British public — above all, rising politicians and statesmen who would seek a new and splendid ground for debate — to take more interest than ever in the Burmese question. This " military man," then, who, in his useful career, resided for some little time under most favourable circum- stances at Mandalay, under two very different Residents, is evidently a man of very decided views. For instance, he * Our Burmese Wars, d^c, p. 346. 18 ASni PYEE. considers annexation as being "worse than the futile attempts on that detestable Afghan frontier of Northern India in this direction have hitherto proved to be." After describing the magnificent valley of the Irawadi, he arrives at the northern boundary line separating this valley or Pegu, from the territory of Upper Burma. It is marked by a line of stone pillars ; and standing on one of these, not far from Meeaday, on the left bank of the river, the great Pro-Consul, Lord Dalhousie, " the father of British Burma," in 1853, declared, before a small yet brilliant assembly of sunburnt men, " that Pegu had passed into the possession of Queen Victoria and her heirs, and he added : — " I have heard some of my friends, whom I see around me, say, ■we now want but roads, canals, and railways, to make this a wealthy, flourishing, populous, and prosperous province ; but I say, gentlemen, for many years to come, no other highways will be required than those already provided by bountiful Nature, to this province, viz. her magnificent water highways, including this noble river, the Irawadi, on whose banks we are now standing."* There is perhaps no picture in British Eastern history 80 strikingly grand, so prophetic of the prosperity of a newly-conquered country, as this. When, in some future day, instead of Lower Burma, after defraying the cost of every branch, furnishing only a million or two to the Indian Imperial Exchequer, Burma shall furnish her ten or more millions, the figure of Lord Dalhousie on the boundary pillar, near Meeaday, as he reaches the spot, will pass before the intelligent and inquiring traveller. The Burmese question, long resolved into a prosperous settle - • See also Our Burmese Wars, (&c., p. 309. THE BURMESE QUESTION. 19 ment, will then, like other important questions, in all pro- bability be forgotten. ** This line of pillars," says our military friend, " leaves the Arakan hills at a point called * the ever visible peak,' and running east, passes the Irawadi at fifty miles distant from its commencement, and thence on, still eastwards, forty-three miles, to the Pegu Yoma range of hills; thirty-three miles further on, it crosses the Sittang, and finally the pillars lose themselves in a desert of mountains thirteen miles further east." And now, with the same apparent hatred of extension of fron- tier as he displays towards Afghanistan, he says. This is that misty easterly frontier which may lead us we know not where, unless great caution is exercised. Again, ** Telegraph lines extend over the Pegu province, and it only remains to complete the line of the Irawadi Railway eventually to Mandalay, and perhaps on to Bliamo, when we have a reasonable being on the throne of Upper Burma to deal with." Truly, the " steady increase in the prosperity and pro- gress of British Burma, since it came under our rule, can hardly be equalled, and certainly not surpassed, by any other province or portion of the Empire, in the East." And from Burma British Indian financiers may take an instructive lesson, that " Had India been less extravagantly dealt with, perhaps it might have been financially sound." The comparison of Upper with Lower Burma is very striking in every respect, and should be studied by all who are anxious to understand the Burmese question. In the former we have poverty, starvation, and barbarous 2 • 20 ASHfe PTEE. oppression by the rulers, where the people are taught *' that gambling is a virtue, and life and property of no particular value"; in the latter, there is safety for all under a benefi- cent Government — " peace, contentment, and happiness, and such a steady and ever-increasing development of the resources of the country as might make any wise ruler anxious to imitate a system which has produced such marvellous results." Perhaps the most sanguine friends of British rule throughout the world might do well to take a lesson from the generally peaceful and contented state of Pegu, Lord Dalhousie's pet annexation, over which the British flag should wave as long as the sun shone in the heavens.* In the middle of an eventful year, it was pleasant to read that the subject of Burma was at length brought before the House of Commons. Perilous, profitless Afghanistan, with its " terrible war," to use the words of the Premier, and ever- disturbing Ireland, appeared to have shut out all chance of getting in a word edgeways regarding the Land of the Golden Foot. It was not so always. Twenty-eight years before, Burma had been considered a theme of no small importance. The ablest statesman of both Houses gave attention to the Burmese question. The Earl of Derby, the "Rupert of Debate," and Lord Lansdowne, thought it not unworthy of their eloquence in the House of Lords ; and the greatest soldier of the age — or rather who, like Shakespeare, lived not for an age, but for all time — wrote his last great State paper on the Second Burmese War.f • Our Burmese Wars, ^c, p. 322. f IHd. p. 462. THE BURMESE QUESTION. 21 On the Ist of July 1880— •• Mr. Bryce asked the Secretary of State, for India what was the present state of diplomatic relations between the Government of India and the King of Burma ; and whether having regard to the conciliatory disposition evinced for some months past by the King of Burma, Her Majesty's Government would consider the propriety of directing the British Envoy to return to Mandalay. " The Marquis of Hartington was understood to say that, in consequence of the attitude of the Government of Burma to the British residents, and other causes, the relations of the Indian Government to the Government of Burma last year were extremely strained, our representative was recalled, and Colonel H. Browne was immediately despatched to succeed him. But, in consequence of the difficulty of transacting business, that gentleman was also recalled, and an assistant-resident appointed in his place. The latter found his position at Mandalay so precarious that it was impossible for him to remain any longer without danger to his own life and that of his assistants, and he also was directed to leave. Demands for redress had been addressed to the Government of Burma, but the result was not yet known. The Indian Government would consider the propriety of appointing a British resident as soon as certain stipula- tions, which it was considered right and necessary to insist upon, with regard to the treatment of the mission should be accepted. A special mission had been sent by the King of Burma to the frontier ; but, although it was said to have full powers, it appeared that the Envoy had not power, or had not been able to assent to the preliminary conditions which the Indian Government considered indispensable to the establishment of a British mission at Mandalay. The whole question of our relations with Burma was now under the consideration of the Government of India, and no doubt the Viceroy would be greatly assisted by the advice of a gentleman who had lately been appointed a provisional member of the Council of the Governor-General. ' ' So, then, when we are done with Afghanistan, there is a good chance of Burma's becoming an exciting and, as it must ever be, an interesting theme ; the more so, in the €vent of a war between Russia and China, should the Russian bear be successful against the " heathen Chinee," find take it into his head some day that, as no one seems to 22 ASH^ PYEE. care very much about developing the resources of Western China — particularly south-west Chinese Yunnan and Sze Chuen — he may as well fulfil a portion of the great Peter's universal object, and occupy these most valuable lands. Of course, such a consummation is far from devoutly to be wished; but should, by any chance, Russian territory ever border on Upper Burma, the Golden Foot, whoever he may be, if we have not honourably secured either him or his country before, will certainly have good cause to shake in his shoes. This forces from the writer another question : Should China be eventually successful over all her enemies, were Russia to fall back, would the Flowery Land become a dangerous rival to British supremacy in India ? Material for a tolerable army could be found out of a population of three or four hundred millions. Meanwhile, let us think only of the Burmese question, and the prospects of trade with south-western China. For the speedy settlement of the former, let us now introduce some real friend of Burma who has drawn up some questions on the subject, and wishes the best answers given to them, and in the directest and shortest manner procurable. The most important of them may be the following : — Question, The loss of the sea- ports being so sorely felt by the Golden Foot, is there no way of our extending the benefit of these ports to the King; he, on his part, bind- ing himself to assist us in securing a free right-of-way to western China, and to do all in his power to further the progress of commerce between Upper Burma and Pegu ? And what monopolies of his own could he best give up for THE BUKMESE QUESTION. 23 such benefits ? Could he not be liberal to ug in the way of petroleum, teak, precious stones, &c. ? Answer. When we give up the monopoly of opium, perhaps the King of Burma may give up petroleum, teak, and precious stones. Teak ! why ive make a monopoly of teak.* For the rest, see our existing treaties. Again, what has puzzled many British statesman more than any other aspect of the position : — Question. The Shoe Question being held of such para- mount importance by the high Burmese officials, &c., could no middle course be taken to satisfy Burmese regal or courtly vanity ? Answer. There is no middle course. In the Shoe Questionf we at least have a show of reason in the Burman, who, after all, in such matters, is not so very much unlike ourselves ; and to the Golden Foot Pope might, perhaps, have applied his famous line — " In pride, in reasoning pride, the error lies." As to our giving up the opium monopoly in India, such has been ably proved, in the present crippled state of Indian finance, to be utterly impossible ; and so, in the present state of Burmese civilisation, for a king or his ministers to give in on the Shoe Question, appears to be equally impossible. Thus difficulty after difficulty enters into the question of our relations with Upper Burma. If there is to be a new treaty, and a Resident again at Man- dalay, much of the difficulty will disappear if we strictly * See Note I., "Eoyal Monopolies." t Our Burmese Wars, dtc, pp. 395, 406. 24 ashI: pyee. observe the rule of honesty in all our dealings. And we must never for a moment allow the value of our prestige to go down in British and Upper Burma, but keep up our dignity — even if we cannot settle the Shoe Question — in every possible way. As to keeping up our dignity in the capital, there is a good story told of that highly eminent ^ ' political officer, the present Sir Arthur Phayre. In Burma eight golden umbrellas are carried over the royal or king's s^ letter; and when the Burmese authorities would not i permit the umbrella to be carried over the Governor- General's letter, according to custom. Major Phayre, our A^^ Envoy to Burma in 1855, insisted upon the Union Jack being >J Bzaifid^^^r it on its way from the Residency to the '^ Palace.* Even used in such a novel fashion, the glorious old rag had more dignity about it than a whole kingdom of golden and white umbrellas. It may here be stated that white umbrellas are the emblems of royalty in Upper Burma, and none but royal personages can have these carried before them. Thus, in East and West alike, are kings and grandees to be found, " pleased with a rattle, tickled with a straw ! " Monopoly and vanity, then, may be considered leading features in a Burman monarch's character ; and with regard to the former, but chiefly with reference to our " Concurrent Commercial Interests," * See a very pleasing Note of the Bay, on " Burmese Umbrellas,' * in the Globe, June 18th, 1880. Eight days later, appeared another amusing article on " Tipsy Kings of Burma." It should have been remarked in this paper, at the time, that when Prince Nyoungoke came over, King Theebau, it was reported, commenced a heavy drinking bout in the palace ; this love of the *' liquid ruby," or the white spirit, adding difficulties to the Burmese Question. THE BUBMESE QUESTION. 25 I shall now cite a few valuable remarks as bearing in no small degree on a satisfactory settlement of the Bur- mese question. The difficulties placed in the path of traders from China through Burma to the sea by the late King, Mengdoo Meng, in the shape of ruinous duties, were no doubt of a serious character. *' He probably acted thus through feel- ings of jealousy and dislike of the English and other ' KuUa ' settlers in his own territory, but more especially to those of British Burma, by means of whom his country had been deprived of many of its ablest-bodied sons, who resorted in considerable numbers to British territory. . . . His policy was a very ruinous one, as is proved by the present impoverished state of his country, and this he eventually well knew before the Angel of Death ran him in. General Sir A. Phayre, when Chief Commissioner of British Burma in 1863, wrote on this subject of ruinous duties and the King's monopolies in trade, as follows : — 'This system is no doubt very pernicious, but foreign interference may do more harm than good. We must trust in time to let the King learn the advantage of giving the industry of the people free scope.' Time, however, passed away, and on the 4th October 1878, when Mengdon Meng was officially reported to have passed into the Buddhist future state called Nirbana " (Neibban or Nir- vana is the " eternal city "), " this pernicious system was in as full swing as it was in April 1863. There is really no other exit for the Chinese trade from Sze-Chuen and Yunnan than by the route going through Bhamo, past Mandalay, and so on down to Rangoon, and the countries 26 ash6 pteb. beyond the Indian Ocean. By the stoppage of this route, Bhamo has become a place of but little importance as regards trade, and it is a miserable sight to see those five steamers of the Irawadi Flotilla Company, running to and fro between Kangoon, Mandalay, and Bhamo, almost empty. The trade may yet, however, ere long revive, under happier auspices, and Bhamo (in an extensive wild and beautiful province, governed by a Woon, lit. civil governor) may become, what it undoubtedly can become, a wealthy and prosperous centre of trade." And when we consider that Rangoon, as I have frequently styled it, the future Liverpool or Glasgow of Chin-India, has been brought within about fifty-six hours of Calcutta by steam, and quite next door to it by telegraph, the British mer- chant — should he honour the latter portion of the follow- ing sketch with a perusal — will doubtless appreciate the vast importance of opening up trade with south-western or it may be other parts of China. Unless this be well and amply provided for, there can be no satisfactory solution of the Burmese question. South-western China penetrates into every cranny of it ; and whoever states to the contrary is ignorant of the real facts of the case. We have deprived the Golden Foot of the prosperous tail (the ports) ;* so of course he is naturally more than ever bent on keeping the undeveloped head. If this part of the question be well managed, its entire solution will not be far distant ; if neglected, it will be impossible. In his humble efforts to publish commercial as well as * See also Our Burmese Wars, d^c, pp. 386, 391. THE BUEMESE QUESTION. 27 military information concerning Burma, the writer, in addition to the kind and encouraging remarks of the London press, has been honoured with some observations by a zealous and learned Member of the House of Commons, which may not be out of place here, as they represent a large section of public opinion on the subject : '* So far as I can judge with my limited knowledge, the capabilities of Burma are all that you say, though I am not sure that I can follow you if you desire it (Upper Burma) to be annexed to our already almost too vast Indian dominion. With what you put so clearly and forcibly regarding the desirability of opening up trade with China, I entirely agree ; understanding that you desire to see this effected by peaceful means. What I hear privately regarding the present King of Burma leads me to believe that he is not so black as he has been painted by some of the newspaper correspondents at Rangoon." Strange enough, the latter opinion concerning King Theebau is similar to that entertained by the gallant and able member of the ** warlike element," to whom the present writer is so much indebted for his valuable " Notes " on Upper and Lower Burma. At Mandalay (June 1879), this graphic writer was joined by a German gentleman, who was making a tour of the world, and was very anxious to see King Thibo (Theebau). An order was procured for an interview through the Kinwoon Mengyee, or Prime Minister ; and the " amusing " traveller's curiosity was fully gratified, "One thing observed by my friend was that the young King did not present the slightest appear- ance of having indulged in the debasing habit of intoxica- 28 ASHi PYEE. tion, with which he has been so freely credited. If this was true, surely a youth, who certainly never in his father's lifetime tasted a drop of any intoxicating liquor, suddenly embarking on such a course, drinking as some said nearly a bottle of gin at a sitting, would have shown some signs of its effects. My friend positively asserted that no such signs could be noticed, that he seemed a quiet and rather timid youth, not yet quite accustomed to his exalted position. Mr. Archibald Forbes in February last (1879), said the same thing about Theebau as this travelling German gentleman." Again, " It is of course impossible to say with any certainty whether or not this young king is a drunkard, and is responsible for the cruel deaths of his relatives." Let us, then, be kind and liberal, in a liberal age, under a Liberal Government, and give the Golden Foot, King Theebau, the full benefit of the doubt, on the fair understauding that he gives his powerful aid in settling for Great Britain and Burma this what other- wise promises to be an eternal Burmese question. London, August 2, 1880. 29 CHAPTEE II. THE BURMESE QUESTION. — II. Upwards of three months had elapsed since the writer penned the foregoing remarks, and the idea became forced on him that this is what may he styled an Interrogative Age, as well as an Age of Various Local Interest. Ques- tions and Situations have been so rapidly succeeding each other, even in a quarter of a year, that one is sometimes disposed to doubt if any comparison can be made between the famous ages of the ancient Hindus and Greeks, and those through which we have passed, till, sending the Golden, Silver (the Brazen must be allowed to remain), and Iron ages adrift, we seem to cling, like the former remarkable people, to a present "Evil Age,"*^ waiting for reform everywhere, to be brought about by some Liberal Vishnu in esse, who, as the ninth incarnation (Kalki), seated on his white horse, with a drawn scimitar in his hand, is yet to come and renovate creation with an era of purity. Question so rapidly succeeds question, that it is diflBcult to conceive where this looked-for universal reformer is 30 ASHfe PYEE. likely to appear first; whether in Afghanistan or Burma in Asia, or in Turkey, England, or Ireland in Europe. He will have to be a greater than even Burke, Fox, Earl Eussell, or Mr. Gladstone. The numerous questions and situations whicli have been thrust on our governing states- men and the public during the last three or four months have been perfectly overwhelming, the larger swallowing up the minor — or rather what only seem to be the larger taking the chief place in public interest — till at length we seem to long for the present "Evil Age''' (Kali Yug) to be swept away, to be succeeded by one far happier and better. That many dark places of the earth are almost as full of cruelty as ever is hardly to be denied by close observers of the world's progress ; and, perhaps, there is no corner of the earth where this is more apparent than in the shattered independent kingdom of Upper Burma, to which far too little attention has recently been given, although in com- mercial and military strategic importance — especially in the case of our Eastern Empire — it far transcends many of those regions which, in the shape of questions, have been so lavishly thrust on our notice. It is not enough to simply call attention to the undisputed fact that Burma is a great self- producing country for Great Britain — " a country destined ere long to be more important than any other in Asia" — Ashe Pyee, the Eastern country, or that "superior to all others";* but strong and various argument should be used to teach every true-born Briton what a valuable possession he lias in British Burma, and * Our Burmese Wars, dc, p. 17. THE BURMESE QUESTION. 31 how that value may be increased by forsaking useless and profitless regions, where more blood and treasure have recently been lost, and turning a larger share of attention to one of the fairest and productive regions on earth. Various Governments — especially the direct Govern- ments of India — are by experienced judges considered in some measure to blame for the present wretched state of Upper Burma, and much of the anxiety and rest- lessness in Lower or British adjacent territory. A liberal remedy is now sought ; and this makes the Burmese — although there is much of a seeming inertia hovering around it — not less politically important, and intrinsically far more so, than the Turkish, the Greek, the Montenegrin, the Afghan, or the Persian question. What shall we do for Afghanistan ?— the war in which country Lord Northbrook, in his recent masterly and interesting address on India,^ trusted was at an end ; and where, in the more recent words of our ever- eloquent Premier, *' a more hopeful condition has been restored," f — is now bound to give way to the mighty, sensible, and practical question, What shall we do for our valuable Chin- Indian next-door neighbour. Upper Burma ? At length it has been well and emphatically said of Afghanistan : '* We have had enough of it ; the British nation is sick of the name of that turbulent country." And no wonder. To say nothing of the treachery and bloodshed our ever-brave troops have borne witness to, the late wars in that region have cost us a few millions more than the terribly expen- * October 29tli, as President of the Midland Institute, Birmingham, t Banquet Speech, Lord Mayor's Day, 9th November, 1880. 32 ASHf: PYEB. sive First and the moderately expensive Second Burmese Wars put together.* And what have we gained ? Nothing. Positively worse than nothing ; except further proof of the well-known fact that our forces in the East, European and Native, can heat, if properly commanded, any numher of disciplined or undisciplined troops, under any circum- stances, in any part of Asia. What Mr. Gladstone has styled " the great Indian Empire of the Queen, that large, important, indispensable part of the obligations of the Imperial Government," demands from Great Britain the most earnest and speedy attention to Burma, locally, financially, and commercially, which no other British possession at present has the same right to claim. Musing over the Burmese question in its various bear- ings, my attention was turned to a remarkable pamphlet written in January 1826, a month before the conclusion of the First Burmese War, and the treaty of peace at Yan- daboo. The author is Colonel Stewart, formerly Aide-de- Camp to Earl Minto and Marquis of Hastings, Governors- General of India. The title is Some Consideratio?is on the Policy of the Government of India, more especially with reference to the Invasion of Burmah ; and the well- chosen motto for those who write or debate on Indian affairs, from Tacitus : " Non tamen sine usu fuerit intros- picere ilia primo aspectu levia, ex quis magnarum ssepe rerum motus oriuntur." Alluding to the "monstrous incongruities" united in the government of our East India * See Our Burmese Wars, dtc, pp. 79, 80, 288, and 464. See also Note Y. " Kelative Cost of the Afghan and Burmese Wars." THE BUEMESE QUESTION. 33 provinces, the writer answers the question how they are united : — "hy the only means by which such a union was possible — by the influence of an army of a hundred and ■sixty thousand men." And these incongruities extended not only through the government, but through the whole frame of society. The difficulty — though not impossibility — of effecting a direct and strong union between British and Upper Burma, and say also the iShan States, is almost foreshadowed by Warren Hastings in his famous memoir relative to the state of India. " I fear," says Mr. Hastings, "I fear, I say, that the sovereignty will be found a burden instead of a benefit, a heavy clog rather than a precious gem, to its present possessors. I mean, unless the whole territory in that quarter be rounded and made a uniform compact body by one grand and systematic arrangement, such an arrangement as will do away with all the mischiefs, doubts and inconveniences, both to the governor and to the governed, arising from . . . the inform- ality and invalidity of all engagements in so divided and unsettled a state of society, and from the unavoidable anarchy and confusion of different laws, religions, and pre- judices, civil and political, all jumbled together in one unnatural and discordant mass." So far as India is con- cerned, vast strides of improvement have undoubtedly been made in these and similar matters since the first Governor- General wrote, or during the last century of our rule; but with every conquest we make they re-commence in all their pristine strength, as would be found if we had such turbulent countries as Afghanistan and Upper Burma (with he adjacent territory) entirely at our feet to-morrow. No 3 34 ASHJE PYEE. nation has been a victim to " the force of circumstances,"^ since the world began, like our own. We have launched a strong political school in the East, and it would appear that we must ever go on teaching if we would hope to hold our position. As it might be said, England is the universal schoolmaster, ever ploughing and sowing as she goes or plods along, with the old motto, " Vires acquirit eundo." But during our progress, it is consolatory to know that we are frequently vested with the power of selection. Afghanistan has been weighed in the balances, and sadly found wanting. The Afghan ques- tion should be made at once to give way to the far easier and infinitely more valuable one of the Burman, or, What should we now do for Northern or Upper Burma ? And whatever mode of action may take place — "If 'twere done, Then 'twere well it were done quickly." Standing firmly on the defensive, and dismissing the Russian bugbear for ever, England can very well afford to drop Afghanistan with all the glory it has won us, and the losses and the tears it has caused, and leave the Afghans to make peace among themselves ; and at any time it is possible, to use the words of an able and humorous military writer, "the drama of the Kilkenny cats may have begun in Cabul '* ; but it is very different with Upper Burma. We cannot in any way afford to leave it quite alone. We have cut the apple in half, keeping by far the best half for ourselves; and now the other half seems destined to come into our hands. Colonel Stewart remarks, on the subject of the first THE BURMESE QUESTION. 85 invasion of Burma : " The only event that can be quoted, with any appearance of similarity, as a precedent, is the invasion of Nepaul, during the administration of the Marquis of Hastings. The cases were the same, in so far as little additional revenue was to be loked for from cessions of territory; but in all other respects, the contrast between the circumstances is remarkable.'' The writer compares the two countries with respect to India, but such a com- parison would not hold good at the present time ; for what good as a barrier Nepaul was then, and is now, may be equalled, if not surpassed, by the splendid barrier and strategic base of operations afforded by Lower, and which would be mightily increased if we possessed, or had supreme influence over, Upper Burma. When the Government of India was forced into a war with Nepaul, as we might any day be with the present arrogant and cruel Golden Foot — a plan that promised and deserved complete success was presented ; and here were *' wise and legitimate objects to look to as the fruit of victory." It was never the intention of Lord Hastings to destroy the independence of Nepaul as a separate king- dom. He would not remove such a valuable barrier interposed between the British possessions and the depen- dencies of China ; but sufficient was done to cut the claws of Nepaul, and prevent much future trouble during our great march on the road to Empire. Colonel Stewart writes of the narrow strip of Nepaul, hemmed in along with us by the same impassable rampart, with an immense frontier in its front, and no depth; and of Burma as a country lying beyond the natural limits of India, touching 8 * 36 ASH^ PYEE. on our possessions but for a small portion of its length, and that on a strong natural frontier, and opening behind with vast regions ; *' with great rivers, presenting so many successive lines of defence, and connecting ifself, by neighbourhood, with many powerful kingdoms " When the shrewd and gallant Colonel wrote we did not even possess Arakan and Tenasserim — although we had con- quered them — far less Pegu, our present " princess among the provinces," which Sir Arthur Phayre created and left on the sure road to progress and wealth, after, wizard- like, turning the swamps of Arakan into the granary of the Bay.* Stewart protested against the process of aggrandise- ment — yet acquiring power that we may be safe — strongly advocating the fixed principles held by many able states- men of the present day, against firing a shot beyond the confines of India, except in the pursuit of an aggressor. Surely the story of our whole Eastern Empire is a strange one ; and we still continue to forget that we are creatures of circumstances. We were obliged to fire " a shot,'' and a good mauv, when the terrible Sikh invasion of British India took place (1845-46) ; the annexation of the Punjab (1849) eventually ensued; and he who, through thePunjab, became the " Saviour of India " during the mutiny (1857)1 really founded the policy, now^ again (November 1880) to be adopted — to think not of conquest, but defence only, and, with the great Indian chiefs, concentrate all attention on "internal progress." At the commencement of his • See the Author's Pegu, p. 146. t The annexation of Pegu was also of great use during the Mutiny. See Our Burmese Wars, <&c.. Preface. THE BUEMESE QUESTION. 37 reign, the Marquis of Ripon has declared his intention of ** resuming the policy of Lord Lawrence." More rounding off, however, will yet have to take place before this wise policy can be adopted in extenso. We are not yet even near " the beginning of the end ! " And yet the fact is undeniable, that there is wherewithal in India to satisfy the highest ambition. But there is a secret impelling power which defies such prudence. Upper Burma, then, — and there may be some other " undiscovered country" — is in a strait betwixt two modes of action on our part : one to invade and annex, which is quite repugnant to the new policy ; the other to rectify, aid the right, and check the wrong, which we shall ever find it difficult lo do, especially in some portions of Chin- India. What Colonel Stewart wrote at the beginning of 1826 is as true now as then ; and in an age when military glory is almost considered of secondary importance to financial considerations, it may be well to cite his remark : — "It seems to be admitted on all sides that accessions of territory in that direction" (Burma) "will be unproduc- tive of any proportionate revenue, and they will most infallibly entail expense." And yet fifty years later we find British Burma — to say nothing of revenue furnished to the Imperial Exchequer — with exports and imports amounting to I3j millions sterling, more than four times the population, which proportion, if it existed in India, would make the commerce of our greatest and most splendid dependency ten times greater than it is* The * See Our Burmese Wars, dtc, pp. 352-353. 38 ASHE PYEE. dismemberment hitherto of the fairest portion of the old Burmese Empire, it must be candidly confessed, we have managed admirably. In fact commerce in Burma, even now, lookmg to a bright future, wears her " rostral crown " rejoicing. A peculiarity surrounds the Burmese question which makes it differ entirely from most European and Oriental questions. In its solution England is almost alone interested. As what may be styled an isolated question, therefore, and also possessing a greater right to deal with it than any other powers — from the simple fact of our already possessing the better half of the golden apple — no power is able to compete with us in the variety of argu- ments elicited by — what shall we do for Upper Burma ? We need not at present fear China. Russia will keep her employed in watching that aggressive yet wonderful power for years to come. Strange enough it was recently stated by high authority that the "new peril for India" was China, aided by Nepaul, and not Russia, which would, therefore, in her turn, cause the great northern power to keep strict watch over the erratic doings of China ! What a strange and unexpected event it would be for the future historian to record that the Chinese had threatened English supremacy in India ! The old Russian bugbear of Afghan- istan will then, perhaps, like Islam, have " withered away *' ; King Theebau will have been long gathered to his fathers ; Upper Burma will be entirely ours ; and what was a sad wilderness under his rule will, under ours, rejoice and blossom like the noble Amherstia ''' and the Rose. It may * See Our Burmese Wars, <&c.. p. 309. THE BURMESE QUESTION. 39 also be predicted that, unlike barren and turbulent Afghanistan, should we leave it to its fate, it will, from our strategical position of Pegu, cause us far less anxiety, and always afford the hope of profit, honour and advantage, more than any other Eastern country not actually our own. It may now be well to record briefly, as materials for future history, the principal events which occurred in Upper Burma during a period of three or four months, after the •discomfiture of Prince Nyoungoke, who headed the rebellion, about the middle of the year, against King Theebau, which events may tend to throw some light on the present aspect of the Burmese question. In truth, such events form a strange medley, affording sufficient food for a sensation drama, to which we have too long passively been spectators. There could be no doubt whatever that things had nearly come to the worst in Upper Burma. Our sage. Bacon, almost seemed to have the present state of the land of the Golden Foot in his eye when he wrote : "Time is the greatest innovator; and if time of course alters things to the worst, and wisdom and counsel shall not alter them to the better, what shall be the end ? " * While Lord Hartington was giving his countrymen " an important and satisfactory statement (August 9th) about the evacuation of Cabul," some interesting items of inform- ation, from " Our Correspondent at Eangoon,'' f were published in London. What would England do without the services of such intelligent and ubiquitous Correspon- dents ? Strange, there have been so many new orders of knighthood in late years, and not one to the Knights of the * Essays. t Daily News, August 10th, 1880. 40 ASHfe PYEE. Press ! Only a journalistic K.P. would run the risk of being mistaken for a Knight of St. Patrick ! Anyway^ there should be an Order of Merit especially for them, admitting all who have been distinguished by graphic description and daring adventure.* At Rangoon, the politi-^ cal atmosphere had cleared again, and the ardent Rangoon annexationists were contented to bide their time. Nyoun- goke had been defeated ; and there were no more signs of opposition to Theebau. When the rebellion broke out, the King was becoming more and more unpopular, — a most dangerous state for a Burmese monarch, — and everything^ seemed in Prince Nyoungoke's favour, except that he '* did not bear a good name among the Upper Burmans. They said he hated his brother — ^a very grave sign among the Buddhists; they said he loved money — a very common failing all the world over ; finally, they declared they did not believe he would be any better than Theebau — about as crushing an accusation as could be brought against any- body ; but all the time they allowed that he was brave ; in fact, they said that was the only good quality the Prince had " But what use is bravery in a Burman or any other military commander, without the knack of looking ahead and knowing something at least of strategy? It only makes matters worse ; and in intrinsic value, without the above qualifications, is nearly as bad as running away — which th& Prince certainly did from the Royal troops. There seemed little chance of Nyoungoke raising another rebelHon. The same Correspondent at Rangoon further wrote, about * The far-famed Correspondent at Merv should be among the first to receive the order. (September 1881.) THE BUEMESE QUESTION. 41 this time, regarding the English church at Mandalay^ alluded to in my larger work,* that King Theebau had caused it to be published that since the English priests "were afraid to resume charge of their church in Mandalay, he meditated presenting it to " the Baptists, or the Eoman Catholics, or whatever sect would lake it." Perhaps it entered the writer's mind that such a vacant church would form a fitting temple for the Ritualistic ones who came under the wrath of the Court of Arches; and at Mandalay they might carry out the ceremonies of their ornate religion unmolested, with the chance of a reformed Theebau — after studying " Churchism," and thinking how little of genuine Christianity was in it all — becoming one of the congre- gation ! It should be mentioned that it was not probable that either the Baptists or the Romanists would accept His Majesty's offer ; so the church is likely to remain vacant till we, or the Shans, take Mandalay, or till the appearance of a new British Resident there. Numerous promotions of '* intelligent and progressive men,'' had now taken place at the capital of Upper Burma,^ owing to the rebel defeat. The concluding report on the operations of the Naga Field Force (by General Nation), had also been published ; so we now had, about the same time (middle of July), praise distributed by our Government to the officers and troops engaged against the unruly Nagas,^ and promotions by King Theebau for the repulse of the adventurous Nyoungoke. August 1880, will ever be an important epoch in Burmese annals, especially to Burmese astrologers, for during this * Our Burmese Wars, <^c., p. 471. 42 ASHE PYEE. month took place a serious revolt of the Shan States, and a daring attempt on the life of King Theehau. From what has been said elsewhere, of course such striking events were to be expected at any time ; and had success crowned both endeavours, there is no saying what might have hap- pened in Upper Burma. A glorious future for a fine yet undeveloped country would probably have now begun, and the reign of uncertainty and terror would have been closed for ever. In the united (if such be possible) action of the Shan States, lies an important key to the whole Burmese question. And this is a fact that Indian statesmen would do well to bear in mind. With the numerous Shan tribes well disposed towards us, and say the Nyoungyan Prince as our steady ally on the throne of the Golden Foot, what a splendid barrier we could have to our possessions in Eastern Asia ! But it would be useless to maintain a good monarch on the throne, or even to annex, if we did not conciliate the Shans. They are, I repeat, the sine qua non of our policy in Chin-India. I have frequently referred to this remarkable people in my other work, and too much at- tention cannot be paid to their doings and progress. They may yet form the nucleus of a mighty commerce, which will make the English merchant's heart rejoice, and all of us to wonder how we had so long and foolishly neglected them.* Were thorough rebellion at any time to break out in Upper Burma, we could not " shunt " the Shan question. They must be either for us or against us ; and two or three * See Our Burmese Wars, dc, pp. 364, 366, 394,— Tribes, Shan Producing Countries, &c. Also Lord Dalhousie on the Shans and HiU People, pp. 289-290. THE BURMESE QUESTION. 43 millions of such a brave people might give us some trouble, especially — which in these days is too likely — if our hands were tied in other quarters. It is the tribes inhabiting in and around the old Burman Empire which make the Burmese question a difficult problem to solve to the satis- faction of all parties. Some of the Shan tribes, then, rose against King Theebau nearly two months after Prince Nyoungoke's failure. It was reported in Rangoon, and, of course, fully believed in the bazaar, that the Shans had surrounded and besieged Mandalay, and that Theebau's last days had come. But three only of the Tsawbw'as (as tlie chiefs are called), had risen — two of them, the heads of theTheinnee and Thonhsay clans, the most powerful of all. The Shan chiefs, as was to be expected, acted quite independently of each other. They seem in the present case to have simply raised their standards, and commenced marching on Mandalay, burning and slaughtering all along their route. The King's troops missed them at first, and, falling upon the Thonhsay chief's village, sacked and burned it. *' The enraged Tsawbwa, however, exacted summary vengeance. Within a day or two he fell upon the Royalists, cut them up at the first onslaught, and spent the rest of the day hunting them down. The hot- tempered old Tswabwa of Theinnee, whose daughter was married to one of the princes, and massacred along with her husband last year," * now also fully enjoyed the intense sweetness of revenge. * Correspondent of the Daily News. See also Our Burmese Wars, (&c. pp. 397-398, " King Theebau's Progress." 44 ASH^ PYEE. But, after all, there was no actual beleaguering of Mandalay. If, however, the town outside the walls had been taken, Theebau would almost certainly have been put to death. The able correspondent remarks significantly on this occasion : — " 'j'he Burmese have an ancient custom that way with their Sovereigns, and it will not be difficult to find plenty of men ready to put an end to the blood- stained life.'"' At the end of August 1880, it was com- municated from Eangoon that there might be more political meaning in the revolt of the Shans than was at first sup- posed. The Shan Tsawbwa — probably the old and naturally irate Theinnee — with some knowledge of the art of war, had come to the conclusion that it was better not yet to attack the royal city ; " for they forthwith spread themselves all over the country to the north of Mandalay, burning and plundering wherever they came upon a village." But the daring achievement of attempting the King's life was now on the cards, and was about to be put into effect. A man, dressed as a Phongyee, by some means or other got into King Theebau's private apartments in the palace. On being questioned as to his business he became flustered, was seized and searched. A dha (Burmese sword) was found " beneath his koyone, the yellow upper-garment of the monk " ; and his Order being forbidden to carry arms of any kind, there was strong evidence against the intruder. The actor of " the Ascetic," might have been killed on the spot, * had it not been suggested that he might have * It is death for anyone to bear arms inside the Palace. THE BURMESE QUESTION. 45 accomplices. After inquiry, it was found that " the intended legicide had come from the Shan camp with ten followers, who were immediately seized. The leader and one of the ten — said to be his nephew — were " tortured to death forthwith " ; and the remaining nine were thrown into prison. It was said that the palace authorities did their best to keep the attempt on King Theebau's life a secret; and it has not yet transpired who the would-be regicide really was. It will henceforth be difficult for strangers of any kind to enter the palace ; probably no one— not even the British Resident in esse — will be allowed to enter without being searched. The lively Corre- spondent at Rangoon then concludes : — " The young monster Theebau, therefore, continues to be fortunate. If, however, the w^ould-be assassin was really a Shan, the incident is muc?i more significant than a mere independent attempt on the King's life would be." It is highly probable that, in addition to the Shans' hatred, Theebau's subjects are tired of him already ; and, were the former successful at any time, others in and around Upper Burma would at once join in. It is most desirable that we should steadily bear in mind the fact of the Shans, as it has been well expressed, sur- rounding Burma "like a fringe, and without gaining a footing anywhere, forming an important and respected, or detested, part of the population everywhere round the kingdom." Again, with reference to the revolt of the Shans, the same authority, writing from Rangoon, at the end of August, forcibly remarks, after speculating on the chance the badly-armed yet brave and sturdy Shans would 46 ASHi PYEB. have in a war against the comparatively well-armed "vaunted invincibles" of Theebau : — "If, however, the Kinwoon Mengyee (the former Prime Minister) were to see in the present a favourable opportunity for wiping out hi& disgrace" (these Burmese Woons — especially the Prime and War Ministers — are ever getting into and getting out of disgrace ! ), *' and rising again to supreme power, the matter would be very different, and the Shan rebellion might be the salvation of Burma. . . . The sudden end of Theebau might prove rather awkward to us. There is no legitimate heir anywhere near Maudalay. Claimants would immediately spring up in Kangoon and Calcutta, and possibly even in Upper Burma ; but what the Burmese Ministers might do in the interval no one knows — probably they themselves least of all." With regard to heirs apparent in the Burmese Royal Family, it may alleviate the Englishman's surprise when he hears of the murder of a prince, or even of a batch of princes — their extinction '* at one fell swoop " — if I remark that there are no rules in favour of primogeniture among the Burmese. The King may appoint whom he pleases as his successor ; and murders of the Royal Family are con- sidered — especially by King Theebau and his ndvisers — like revolutions, as belonging to the national hiock of Burmese customs.* It was recently announced that the Hindus at Benares — the city of Siva, the Destroyer — were led to believe that the British Government proposed to make human sacrifices * See also General Albert Fytche's Burma, Past and Present, vol. i. pp. 211, 234. THE BUBMESE QUESTION. 47 on the opening of a railway bridge across the Ganges. It is to be hoped they did not take the idea from King Theebau's real or projected sacrificial antics of some months ago, thinking that the British, like the Golden Foot, might thus abjure or propitiate misfortune, and court prosperity. The Brahmans must now be convinced that the splendid march from Cabul to Candahar by our victorious General, has placed Afghanistan in a fair way of being settled — at least so far as we are concerned — while the Lord of the White Elephant is still surrounded by the implacable Shans, waiting their opportunity. Later accounts of the attempt on the King's life, made it appear extraordinary that he should have escaped. The so-called Phongyee was seized when within " easy striking distance," and there seemed to be no doubt that he belonged to '* one of the bands of Shans plundering about the capital." We have material for a good tragedy in the fact of the old Theinnee Tsawbwa having sworn to revenge the murder of his daughter by Theebau. There may be fresh attempts *' to kill a King" ; but the process here- after will be far more difficult, on account of the guards being threatened with death should a stranger be found ■within the inner court of the palace. In September, it was announced at Rangoon that the ** Hpoung Woon, destined to take the place of the Kinwoon- gyee, had returned to Mandalay, laden with treasure, screwed out of the unfortunate river township, for which he had been created a Mingyee, the highest titular rank under thnt of the blood -royal."* It was now supposed that if • Kangoon Correspondent in Daily Newt, October let, 1880. 48 ASHE PYEE. this important Burmese official got into power, that all hope of an amicable arrangement between Theebau and our Government would be at an end. But another Woon might at any time appear on the scene, and quickly drive out the ambitious Hpoung. And so runs the world away at head-quarters in Upper Burma. There is a distinguished actor, mentioned at the com- mencement of the firstjportion of this paper, whom I have neglected on account of the interest attached to the Shan revolt : and that is our old friend the Naingangya Woondouk. It had been affirmed early in August that he was poisoned by the King's orders. Be this true or not, it is tolerably certain that the unfortunate Burmese diplo- matist, who could not come to terms with us, has not since appeared in the Burmese drama at Mandalay. It is just possible he may have gone off to the Shans, or may appear some day as a " pretender," which would produce a new phase of the Burmese question. No one could tell what had become of Oo Myeh, the Secretary to the Embassy. It was now said that Theebau, having got rid of the outward signs of his so-called rebuff by us, and having got news of our latest disaster in Afghanistan, was inclined to " bluster." It was also hinted that the King would not have " a new treaty with us, even if we were to come and beg for it." It may aid the future historian to record that, about this time, the Mandalay Government Gazette gave — ** a list of all the chief civil officials of Burma, including two or three new and important appointments. The four principal grades of civil authority are :— (1) Menggyior Chief Minister, (2) Atwengwung THE BURMESE QUESTION. 49 or Minister of the Interior, (3) Myo-wun or City Magistrate, (4) Wundauk or Sub-Minister. The highest military of&ce is that of * Weng-do-hmu,' or Commander of the Palace Guard, who ranks next to a Chief Minister. Ordinarily there are four Meng-gyis, four Atweng-wuns, two Myo-wuns, four Wundauks, and three Weng- do-hmus, viz. those of the Right, the Left, the Eastern, and Western quarters. The prescribed number of chief ministers, city magistrates, and commanders is rarely, if ever, exceeded ; the other two grades are filled with more irregularity. During the reign of the last King there were five Atweng-wuns, one, being stationed as a special revenue superintendent at Bhamo, and no fewer than seven sub-ministers. A brief summary is given of the services of each of the new functionaries. The Taung Khweng, chief minister, has passed through the grades of herald, governor, sub-minister, and minister of the interior. The Pauk Myaing Atweng-wun has been envoy to the courts of France, Italy, and England, and has acted as herald and sub-minister. The achieve- ments of the Hletheng Atweng-wun are given more in detail. He has been in the palace employ from a very early age, and during the late monarch's reign was promoted successively, through the ranks of slipper-bearer, tea-server, and betel-box-holder, to that of the Governor of the Royal Barges. For his loyalty and energy (which signifies the active share he took in the late massacres), the present Lord of Existence created him city magistrate, and has now exalted him to the dignity of minister of interior. His special charge, till recently, was the supervision of the Shan country and the middle territory. A notification in the same Gazette now appoints him Supreme Governor of all the lower fluviatile provinces. He is placed in command of a large military force, and is to take immediate measures to prevent disturbances in the skirts of the country, and the access of robbers and bad characters, who are causing terror and insecurity to the traders and cultivators of the Golden Kingdom." We must not here leave the Shans and their coun try- without thinking well over the very important part the Shans may be destined to play in any present or future Burmese political military drama. Here there is a people, as before remarked, two or three millions of them, with vast trading capabilities, and inhabiting some of the fairest and most producitve countries of the earth, apparently seeking 4 50 ashIj pyee. to wheel into the ranks of civilisation if we only gave the word of command. I persist in the assertion, and defy contradiction, that the tide in their affairs has almost come ; and when it does come will surely lead us and them on to fortune if we take prudent advantage of it. The picture must be kept before our eye till something is done for the people — that of the rather Chinese-looking Shan, with his fair wife and still fairer daughter, in their pictu- resque broad-brimmed straw hats and pleasing costume, the rare Shan ruby setting off their charms ; the Shan pony, with merchandise on his back, and the Shan children in rear of their four-footed friend, — all marching onward through the rugged defile as if bent on a nearer approach to civilisation. The same mail which brought to London detailed news of the Shan revolt, brought also some important intelli- gence from China. First, Chung-How (famous in the Kuldja question) had been released; Eussia was said to have announced her intention to send a high officer to Pekin to settle the differences between the two countries ; and, most important of all. Colonel Gordon, who had quitted Lord Eipon's Staff towards the middle of the year for the flowery land, had just left China. He had not been able to do much for the Chinese ; but his advice should be written in letters of gold on the walls of Pekin and Canton. He had told them that the Kussians could take the coast ports all of a heap, and Pekin, v/ithin six weeks if they so desired ; he had told them it would be simple madness for China to go to war with such a power as Russia. He had suggested the capital of the Empire THE BUEMESE QUESTION. 61 being removed " from Pekin to the centre of the country." Still, everything seemed decidedly warlike in China. It was said that the elder Empress and Prince Ch*un had thoroughly determined upon war. And Eussia now appeared determined to bring one on if she possibly could. The result of the questions pending between the Russian and Chinese Governments seemed to have ended in an irritating demand of a heavy indemnity from the Chinese, which they certainly would refuse to pay, as they conceived there should have been no naval demon- stration in their waters; and so, through the winter, China and Russia, with swords drawn, would be longing to attack each other, like the famous Sir Richard Strachan and Earl of Chatham. Of course, Burma all this time was watching the ag- gressive policy of Russia towards her old master, China. Some of the old Woons probably thought that Russia was going too far. It would be useless to enforce on King Theebau Colonel Gordon's advice to the Celestials, not to think of going to war with a superior power ; but, doubt- less, it came to the Golden Ears, bringing a wholesome lesson and probably dread of British power. But Theebau, like most of his predecessors, is a thoroughly impractic- able monarch. He knows we have all his ports already ; but he never seems aware of our long-suffering or patience, and that ** doing the thing" at any moment would be as easy as lying. Being young, there is yet time for him to become " every inch " a useful king, identifying the true interests of his country with ours. We do not wish to fetter him at all if it can possibly be avoided. What shall 4 • 62 ASHfe PYEE. be done, then, to give life and prosperity to an unfortunate country so highly blessed by Nature ? On England depends entirely the answer to this question. Resuming very briefly the thread of this sketch ; news at length arrived from Mandalay that Theebau*s queen (one of the four head) had presented the Golden Foot with a son and heir; and the circumstance, it was thought, could " simplify matters very much " if the King were assas- sinated. There would be some one to rally round in case of rebellion. But the report soon after was announced to be false, for the expected "son and heir" turned out to be a daughter, after all ! Lt was now reported from Upper India that Prince Mingoondeing Mintha was dead. He and his brother, the Mingoon Prince, were the leaders in the Eebellion of 1866 *; and, after various mis- demeanours, they were eventually exiled to Benares. With reference to Mingoon's claim to the throne, it was well remarked : — ** If we interfere to put anyone on the Burmese throne, it should most certainly be the Nyoungyan, who is the eldest living prince of the pure blood royal, is popular with the Burmese, and, moreover, is a pious and kindly man; while the best we know of the Mingoon Mintha is, that he tried to kill his father, and to burn the people who saved his life."! Truly, we have hard material to deal with in some princes of the royal blood of Burma. * See Our Burmese Wars and Belations with Burma, pp. 380-381. " These princes actually concocted a plot to sack and burn Kangoon." t Daily Newt Correspondent at Rangoon. THE BUBMESE QUESTION. 53 "While at home we were speculating on the probability of another era of commercial prosperity being before us, provided that Turkey, Afghanistan, South Africa, Burma, and even Ireland, did not lead us into " extraordinary and ruinous expenditure," and while affairs were dull, and tranquillity seemed to prevail, for the time, in Upper Burma, the British station of Thayetmyo, on the Irawadi, suddenly assumed a warlike aspect. For some time little news had been received from Mandalay, and it was sup- posed that, " although diplomatic relations had not been resumed," things were likely to continue in a state of inertia. But now the most exaggerated rumours flew about everywhere, and the ever busy and watchful Special Correspondent flashed by telegraph to London,* that the King, rendered arrogant by the easy suppression of Prince Nyoungoke's rebelHon, was preparing for war with us. Two detachments of the King's regular troops, it was said, had arrived at the frontier, and taken up their posts on the banks of the river, facing each other. They were one thousand strong, and their tone was '* insolent and arrogant in the extreme." They gave out that they were about to attack our territory, ** in retaliation for Prince Nyoungoke's attempt to incite insurrection in Burma." They were in daily expectation of reinforcements under a General, with instructions from the King to demaud from the British Government an indemnity "for the losses sufi'ered by Burmese subjects from the expedition of Prince * Standard, October 12th, 1880. 64 ASHfe PYEE. Nyoungoke," and that, failing to obtain the indemnity, they would at once cross our frontier and attack us. It was also said that the Burmese intended to blockade the channel of the river, to prevent the upward passage of our gun-boats. This is all so very like the stereotyped fashion of "coming events'' from Upper Burma, that we have now got quite accustomed to it, and so the only way is to be always prepared for it. The very frequency of its repetition may lull us into a dangerous security, and, therefore, I have thought it necessary to refer to it before concluding my remarks on the Burmese question It was actually thought, by fair judges, that we should now have trouble with ** the tyrant of Burma," and that the long-expected crisis was at hand, which would have brought about an easy solution of the Question. But neither the time had yet come, nor the man I Telegrams, of the 18th and 17th October, from the Viceroy, were published by the India Office, that it had been announced by the Chief Commissioner, Rangoon : — " In case exaggerated accounts reach you, I beg to report as follows : ♦' On Sunday, the 10th, Deputy-Commissioner Thayetmyo reported that Upper Burmans were collecting on frontier and intended to attack British territory. On Wednesday he arranged with commanding officer for increasing the Allanmyo * garrison by one company of Native Infantry. Yesterday (Monday) Deputy-Com- missioner telegraphed that possibly native informants had been misled, and there was no cause for alarm now. The cause for dissatisfaction was said to be our refusal to pay indemnity for losses caused by Nyoungoke Prince's incursion last May. I do not antici- pate trouble, but have directed Deputy-Commissioner to take steps * Allanmyo, on the left bank of the Irawadi, nearly opposite Thayetmyo, which is about 250 miles up the Irawadi from Kangoon. THE BURMESE QUESTION. 56 to improve his sourcea of information, as alarms of this kind harass the troops and disturb the public ; such rumours will have effect on trade ; and already Flotilla Company's agent Thayetmyo has tele- graphed alarming rumour to his Rangoon principal. Latest news from Mandalay gave no sign of probable troubles." Again, the Chief Commissioner telegraphed to the Vice- roy from Moulmein * : — •• Nothing has occurred on the Thayetmyo frontier, and no fresh rumours are reported thence. Origin of previous jrumours not as- certained. I have no grounds for anticipating unusual events on frontier." Anxiety, however, prevailed at Rangoon and up the river (Irawadi) ; and two companies of Native Infantry were ordered up to protect the villages which might be exposed to attack, and support the detachment at AUanmyo, And now came the rumour that the Nyoungyan Prince had escaped from Calcutta, and the crown of Theebau was about to pass away for ever. The transition from Nyoungoke to Nyoungyan was simple and natural; so Englishmen, as well as Burmese, believed the story of the escape in Rangoon ; and no wonder it was believed in London. But there was really no cause for alarm. Nyoungyan — wisely biding his time — had only absented himself for a night or so from his house in or near Calcutta ; and as nothing could be done without the "King" in esse, and intelligence was received from Mandalay that there was no probability of a disturbance on our frontier, all things flew into their places again very speedily; of course, just to wait till the next time. The assembly of royal troops on the frontier was also ascribed * Moulmein (Maulmain) is about ninety or 100 miles nearly east irom Rangoon, across the G-ulf of Martaban. 56 ASHfe PYEE. to the number of dacoities (robberies) in the adjacent districts ; but, of course, this was as absurd as the reported escape of Nyoungyan — or rather the departure of the favourite Prince for Ashe Pyee — asKingTheebau was quite shrewd enough to know that his troops, unless under a very superior and ho7iest General, were very likely, accord- ing to Peachum's view of a lawyer, to " encourage rogues " that they might " live by them ! " The whole play was thought to be got up by the King,, as part of the political game which has been so long played at Mandalay, to see if we were on our guard ; what effect, false rumours of would be great events might have on the people of Burma ; or to give the idea of ubiquity and readiness for service being attributes of the Ava soldiery. Theebau had this time missed his mark, and done something to facilitate the solution of the Burmese question. Each irritating movement made by the Goldea Foot compels the Government of India to ask " how long this kind of thing is to be permitted to last ? how long are British subjects to be subjected to periodical fits- of excitement ? how long is their trade to be upset and inj iired ? "* The same writer continues: — ** However averse the English public may be to a policy of annexation, each successful demonstration made by men like Theebau inevitably forces upon the Government of India the con- sideration whether it would not be better for all parties in * See a capital article in Allen's Indian Mail, October 14tli, 1880' — »' The Mandalay Menace." THE BUEMESE QUESTION. 67 Burma, if the British frontier line were extended to Mandalay, or even to Bhamo." And again, " A great deal has been said and done about the rectification of the frontier on the north-west of India; but there are politicians who are of opinion that a little rectification of the north-eastern frontier would not do any harm." The political and commercial advantages of annexation, he says, " are obvious. The produce of the fairly rich country lying between Assam and the Irawadi would find a natural outlet in the emporium of Bhamo, whence it could be sent to China or to Rangoon, as happened to suit the interests of the merchant." Free trade on the Irawadi, from Bhamo to the sea — the noble river bearing on its ample bosom the wealth and produce of Upper Burma and south-western China — would create the grandest com- mercial revolution in Eastern Asia ever known by man ! It is impossible for any one who knows Burma not to agree in some measure with the following remarks, which the present writer found much in accordance with his own : — ** At present the commerce of Upper Burma finds a pre- carious market just as the ruler of Mandalay or his officials- may choose to interfere with it ; but under British Govern- ment rich argosies would be borne along in one constant, stream on the bosom of the great river, instead of the sparse and precarious fleet of boats which is at present th& result of misrule at Mandalay. The advantages of annexa- tion would be as great to the people as to trade. The Shans, who are in a perpetual state of rebellion against the Government of Independent Burma, would be brought 58 ASHf; PYEE. into the ways of peace and industry." Pegu and Arakan would be rid of dacoits from Upper Burma, who can €nter through well-known passes, and *' the resources of a splendid country would have a fair chance of proper development." Such probable advantages as these (and a hundred others) surely cannot be ignored. These are the ends to be brought about ; and if they can be consummated without annexation, so much the better for the thorough Bon- annexation argument. The question, then, comes to he, as matters at present exist. Is it possible to break up all the old worthless pieces, and to crystallize the mineral anew, without the political chemist, Great Britain, taking entire charge? If such be possible with Upper Burma, then farewell to annexation for ever : it will never more be required in our Eastern Empire. Anyway, as annexation is far from the policy of a wise and Liberal Government, the apparently more conciliatory mode will be sure to have a fair trial. The question then comes to be, Has not Upper Burma had a fair trial already ? When Dr. John- son said to bis toady friend, Boswell, "You do not see your way through the question. Sir ! " he remarked what might be applied to far greater men at the present day than the eminent biographer — to statesmen and others who take a one-sided view of a question, and are as difficult to move as the heavy siege-trains in a campaign of bygone days. It is a species of political creed which makes no progress whatever ; and it too often proceeds — as is very probable in the present — from sheer ignorance of the position or the question at issue. Then we have those who halt between two opinions, who are not able to come boldly THE BUEMESE QUESTION. 59 forth and say, " It would be utter madness to think of annexing useless and barren Afghanistan ; it would be an act of wisdom and humanity to annex fertile and wealthy Upper Burma." "But it is useless to hamper our already overgrown Eastern Empire with countries that won't pay !" Is pai/, then, to be made the grand sole criterion of success in our onward march of civilisation ? Would it pay ? It is sad to think that many well-educated men are incap- able, when arguing on political and other subjects, of asking any better question. It might not pay all at once ; but, as Pegu has done, it would eventually, and then greatly assist the impoverished finances of India. If nothing d cided should be done now, it is quite possible that the inhabitants of Upper Burma, aided by the Shans and other tribes, may come forward at no distant date — yes, come boldly forward to the Viceroy, and declare, " We shall no longer have a Golden Foot to reign over us. Our country has, from bad government, become ruined and desolate, wliich once was flourishing and ' full of people/ As you have taken care of Pegu, so take care of us/' This would, in fact, be making all Burma one, which, in every sense, it seems destined to be. Even Afghanistan may soon come forward and ofi'er herself up to us, when the brave Afghans (so lately eulogised by the gallant and energetic Sir F. Roberts) find their country going from bad to worse ; may come forward with " the keys of the Khyber " in their pocket, and, perhaps, with wuld and chaotic Heratees, " the key of India " round their chiefs neck ; and it may be, also, various wild tribes in that quarter may come, all asking us to open up the lock of peace and prosperity which has so 60 ashI: pyeb. long been closed to them. They must be quite aware of what advantages the Punjab has gained by our rule, in the same manner as the people, even '* the disaffected," of Upper Burma must often turn a longing eye towards Pegu and the beneficence of our local government. The difference, of course, in the two cases is simply that we require either possession of, or strict control over, the one country, to make an harmonious whole ; but we do not at all, at present, require the other. We can wait for Afghanistan, if it is ever to be ours, meanwhile fortify- ing ourselves against all chance of attack ; but we cannot wait for something to be done with Upper Burma without damaging Lower or British Burma. The old and profit- less regime has gone on too long in Chin-India ; so, in public interest, for years to come, if we would be wise in time, it should be Burma versus Afghanistan ! And, by chief control or possession in Chin-India, what a check- mate we give to Russia in Eastern Asia ! Strange it is that the '* bugbear" should so long have excited a sen- sation in the West, and that the East should have been almost ignored. Even after the first disastrous Afghan war, or after forty years,* it is surely time to look more eastward, * Look on this picture of eighty-two years ago, and compare with the present time : — India in a far from settled and comfortable state. Zemaun Shah, the King of the Afghans, and the remaining head of the Mahomedan power in the East, was with a powerful army at Lahore, hanging over our frontier. Among various well- known salient-points is then mentioned " a general ferment in the minds of the Mussulman princes and nobles, many of whom had been Tery recently deprived of power. 'When one looks back,' says a very distinguished Indian governor, ' on those times, one can hardly believe in the panic (Afghanistan) lately felt in India, which led to so THE BURMESE QUESTION, 61 especially as troubles may be on the card between Russia and China. How Russia first got in the wedge — in south- west China at least— will be briefly told hereafter. But here, with a Russian fleet in the Pacific, or in Chinese waters, it may be well to remark, with reference to Professor Marten's brochure, Le Coirflit entre la Russie et la Chine : ** In regard to the question actually pending between Russia and China, the restitution of Kuldja, the Pro- fessor assumes that China wants war, and justifies Russia's detention of territory on the supposition that the return of the Celestials would be followed by a general massacre of the inhabitants." And when the flame spread, the power of England in Burma would chime in well with the steady " conciliatory attitude of China,'' displayed while resisting "the ever increasing demands of her antagonist."* Although the recent apparent "Menace " from Mandalay came to nothing, still it educed certain points which seemed to put fresh diflBculties in the way of solving the Burmese question. At any moment it might now be believed by the Burmese that Nyoungyan had escaped from Calcutta, and gone off to the Shan States to organize an insurrection against King Theebau ; while the Royal troops continued their usual boasting, that they will double-up, crush, or crucify any English or Burmese troops who may support many real dangers and evils I ' " — " Yizier All Khan; or, the Massacre at Benares. A chapter in British Indian History." By Sir John Davis (1844). * See Special Correspondent (St. Petersburg) of Standard, November 17th, 1880. 62 ashI: pyee. Nyoungyan's claim. Again, there is not so much fear on the frontier line as at Rangoon. The place was said to swarm with Theebau's subjects, those who for months past had been spreading sedition throughout the district in the smaller towns. Of course, there are still Burmans who talk about *' the glories of the old days," the triumphs of the Peacock flag, and " the fear of the Burman name extending far into India and China." So there is a certain amount of natural national vanity to be dealt with in considering the ques- tion. It is here worthy of remark that the excitement on the frontier and at the commercial capital having occurred during the Buddhist Lent (the end), it was wonderful how well the peace was kept at Rangoon — a result which would be greatly in our favour should any similar and more im- portant •' panic " or " scare " ever occur. The alarm, then, wore off, and Theebau became in " a quiet mood." He even sent down one of his steamers for merchandise to Rangoon. The captain announced his readiness to take goods back with him ; but he did not get any. Some Chinese and other merchants, however, had offered to pay the King a subsidy for the use of his steamers. Regarding these vessels, it was remarked at the end of October: — "If they were properly worked, and kept decent time, they might make large profits ; but under the present management no traders will have anything to do with them."* It is presumed that some idea will now have been formed, * Bangoon CorreBpondent of Daily Newt, October 29th. THE BUEMESE QUESTION. 63 especially by those hitherto unacquainted with the subject, of the complicated nature of the Burmese question. It stands forth, like Satan, " proudly eminent," in apparently inextricable confusion, above all other Oriental questions. It seems like a question with a mysterious beginning and a doubtful end. Here, in Burma, for the greater part of two years, the next-door neighbour of our flourishing Pro- yince has been on his trial, continually letting, so far as we are concerned, " I dare not, wait upon I would " ; neglecting our advice, laughing at our treaties, and won- dering at our magnanimity and forbearance ; ruining the concurrent commercial interests which must ever naturally exist between British and Upper Burma, and keeping Pegu locally, politically, and commercially in a continual state of anxiety. What is to be done with King Theebau ? Is there any chance of amendment ? It has before been remarked that this pertinacious Golden Foot may not be so black as he is painted ; but still, taking the most charitable view, so far as we are interested, black enough in all con science, as if a throne had been given by the evil genii to designed " obstructive " to progress and civilisation in Chin- India. What is to be done with him ? On the answer would appear to rest at present the solution of the entire Burmese question. While remarking elsewhere* on " Annexation and Non- Annexation," I endeavoured briefly to enumerate a few of the difficulties we labour under in our endeavours to reform Upper Burma, and make this grand region a worthy * Our Burmese Wars and Belations with Burma, p. 416. 64 ASHfe PYEE. brother to his prosperous sister, Pegu. It is just possible that some strange mental revolution for the better may yet take place in King Theebau ; but all will admit that is a long time in coming. As the King is said to be very well disposed towards the Liberals, he surely should make a fair start in the game of reform during the Liberal Government. This would, at least, prevent his crown from being taken away from him and given to another ; the probable result, failing annexation, if he continues in the error of his ways. It was lately rumoured that an English Commission was inquiring ** into the legitimacy of the Mingoon (before alluded to) being Theebau's successor" ; but to the writer, the Nyoungyan Prince being alive, the story seemed incredible. Any way, however, Theebau's crown, without the desired reformation, is " a crown of tinsel."* Mr. Bryce, lately discoursing with his usual earnest- ness on Eastern affairs, declared that it was not a new question " whether the grievances of oppressed populations made it worth while to interfere with the Government of Turkey But things had got beyond the point when the alternations of movement and rest were before us. The existing condition of Turkey could not be maintained. There was nothing solid to preserve." For "Turkey" let us read the Kingdom of Ava, or Upper Burma, and state, as is the case with the former, that there, under the present rule, all things seem in a * Lord Dalhousie. See Our Burmese Wars, &c., p. 289. " Touching on Afghanistan, and the uselessness of making a treaty with the Golden Foot," see also pp. 287, 291. THE BUEMESE QUESTION. 65 State of " hopeless confusion^' ; and it is only a question of time, or "how soon the inevitable collapse will come." And, again, by carrying out the principle of leaving things alone too far, we simply invite a war ! The true greatness of a once famous kingdom depends on our early treatment of the Burmese question. Peace, commercial prosperity, the development of hidden resources, and how to make, like Themistocles, '' a small town a great city," have been the author's watchwords in writing these few remarks. The misfortune with Theebau is that, unlike the great Athenian, he can "fiddle," but he cannot do anything for his kingdom. There is at present absolutely nothing going on in Upper Burma " to the weal and advancement of the State." To take the very mildest view of the whole matter, especially of one whose strange progress occupied some space in his larger work, perhaps the writer is warranted in supposing there may be " counsellors and governors " around Theebau, " which may be held sufficient, negoiiis pares, able to manage affairs, and to keep them from precipices and manifest inconveniences ; which, nevertheless, are far from the ability to raise and amplify an estate " — like Lord Lawrence or Sir Arthur Phayre — " in power, means, and fortune ";* by doing which, if Orientals would only emerge from their selfishness and seclusion, and learn the easy lesson, there must ever be mutual benefit in sharing these inestimable blessings with others. When this reciprocal philosophy is fairly understood in the East, European and Indian states- * Bacon's Essays. 66 ASHf: PYBE. men will no longer have to puzzle their hrains with intricate, tedious Oriental questions. Then the political millenial day will be ushered in, the joy -bells ringing forth " Peace on earth — good -will towards men ! " December, 1880. 67 CHAPTER III. BEITISH AND UPPER BURMA, AND WESTERN CHINA I THEIR CONCURRENT COMMERCIAL INTERESTS. "Commerce wore a rostral-crown upon her head, and kept her eyes fixed upon a compass." — Tatler. [To the June (1880) number of the Journal of the Society of Arts, p. 644, the present writer contributed the greater portion of the following paper. In the same number of the journal will also be found some interesting statistics on the " Opium Trade in India," the production and sale of opium being a Government monopoly (casually alluded to in "The Burmese Question"), yielding eight and a half to nine millions sterling. The writer had then nothing to say about the consumption of opium in British Burma. Mr. Pease, in the House of Commons on the 8th of July, asked the Secretary of State for India whether he had received a copy of a memorandum forwarded in the spring of the year (1880) by Mr. Aitchison, Chief Commissioner, on the subject. The Marquis of Hartington replied that the paper in question had not been received by the India Office. It is difficult to see, in the opinion of not a few 5 * 68 ASHil PYEE. observers, why Great Britain should interfere with the opium eaters of China, Burma, and India. Like alcohol in England, the moderate use of the valuable drug has many virtues and great healing power, especially in Eastern countries ; and the Oriental has therefore as much right to his opium as the Englishman has to his pipe, beer, and spirits, which, if used, and not abused, solace him after his daily toil. We have much to do in the East before inter- fering with the time-honoured custom of opium eating. There it is everywhere a case of " Local Option." What gin, whisky, and ale are to the Briton, opium is to the Oriental, with this difference, that if the Asiatic can enjoy " an elysium on earth " with a small piece of opium in his cheek, he can easily forego the spirit which so much more speedily renders a man useless, or " drunk and incapable." Commerce being essentially a sober game, perhaps this view of the question may be kept in mind in any future discussion of Concurrent Commercial Interests in the East.] The concurrent or mutual commercial interests of foreign countries must ever engage the attention of the merchant and the politician : of the merchant, because the very life and soul of his calling depend on them ; and of the politician, because it will be invariably found — especially in the East — that commerce is the secret or unseen guiding star of all political conduct. Politically speaking, British and Upper Burma should be one, to make matters entirely safe in Eastern Asia. Commercially speaking, the unity of these two countries, in the vast interests of a comparatively new and rapidly rising commerce, as well as of civilisation, cannot BEITISH AND UPPER BUEMA, AND W. CHINA. 69 be too much insisted on. It is simply a natural state of things — a sort of holy alliance designed by a far greater than Indra, and brought about chiefly by the mighty Irawadi — the grand artery or highway of Burma — which it were idle not to recognize. Ireland is not more necessary to the power and prosperity of England than Upper Burma is to Pegu. Alompra, the hunter, founder of the present dynasty, knew well the value of what I have styled else- where a *' Princess among the Provinces " ; and it did not require any very great genius to know that a kingdom, such as Upper Burma, entirely cut off from all communi- cation with the sea, or from the advantages of many fine ports, was sheer mockery — a crown of tinsel, as Lord Dalhousie remarked ; and this was the cause, in the Treaty of 1855, of the late King of Burma's persistently yet naturally refusing to sign away Pegu, the glorious conquest and inheritance of his ancestor, notwithstanding the well- arranged existence of " friendly relations " between us.* Without any desire to advocate annexation, I believe there is a deeply felt yearning for British rule or British protection throughout Upper Burma; for the people of the lower country are a thousand times safer and happier than ever before, as would be immediately seen by treading " the long extent of backward time *' in the histories of Pegu and the former kingdom of Ava.f * Our Burmese Wars, <&c., pp. 379-330. See also pp. 418-419. t Some slight idea of former Burmese and Peguese misery, under a cruel despotism, will be gained by the perusal of a paper on. *'■ Sparseness of Population," commencing at p. 328, especially of pp. 335-336, Our Burmese Wars, &o. 70 ASHt PTEE. In some way or other. Humanity, and Civilisation, and Commerce all cry aloud for our assistance in the present crisis ; and shall we deny it to one of the fairest and most productive countries of God's earth ? For the sake of those who have not heen ahle to give much time or attention to Burma, before turning to com- mercial matter, I shall beg leave to state very briefly that Pegu, Arakan, and the long line of sea-coast named Tenas- serim — the three maritime provinces of Chin- India or India beyond the Ganges — were united under one adminis- tration in January 1862, and called British Burma. Arakan and Tenasserim were acquired by treaty after the first Burmese war of 1824-25-26 ; and Pegu was occupied and retained consequent on the second war of 1852-53. The entire length of the country is upwards of 900 miles, and the area about 90,000 square miles,* or half the size of Spain. The country lies between 20° 50' on the north, and on the south in about 10° 50' north latitude.. British Burma is bounded on the west by the Bay of Bengal ; Arakan on the north by Chittagong, and some independent states, and on the east by the Yoma mountains; Pegu is separated from Upper Burma on the north by a line corresponding to the 19° 30' parallel of north latitude, and is bounded on the east by the Salween river ; Tenasserim is bounded on the east by a long line of mountains separating it from Siam, and varying from 3,000 to 5,000 feet above the sea. The physical aspect of the country is thus described : — Arakan is separated from * Arakan contains 18,000 ; Pegu, 34,000 ; and Tenasserim, 38,000 square miles. i BEITISH AND UPPER BURMA, AND W. CHINA. 71 Pegu and Upper Burma on the east by a range of moun- tains, which attains at its greatest elevation a height of 7,000 feet. The range runs nearly parallel with the line of sea-coast, and gradually lowers towards the south. The northern portion of the country has a large extent of alluvial soil. In the lower course of the river Kuladan (which rises in the mountains to the east of Arakan) and its numerous affluents, the breadth of the land from the shore to the water-shed mountains is from 80 to 90 miles. The water- shed range separating Arakan from Pegu extends southerly, and between that range and the. sea-shore for a length of nearly 200 miles, as far as a point near Cape Negrais, the country is a mere narrow strip of land Pegu and Martaban lie in the valleys of the Irawadi and Sittang rivers. These valleys, bounded east and west by mountain ranges, are narrow in their upper portions, but expand at the delta of the Irawadi into " a magnificent alluvial region, penetrated by a vast number of tidal creeks, and extending over 10,000 square miles."* Unlike India, drought is unknown in Burma, and, conse- quently, famine, that occasional scourge of our Imperial dependency, is there quite unknown. To give a more general idea of the country, I shall cite a few extracts from a valuable work f which has recently appeared at Kangoon, the capital of British Burma. Rangoon is described as " a district in the Pegu division, * See George Duncan's Geography oj India, d'c, pp. 59-60. t The British Burma Gazetteer, in two volumes. Vol. II., compiled by authority. Rangoon : Printed at the Government Press, 1879. Of course, these extracts were omitted in the paper for the Society of Arts^ journal. 72 ASnfe PYEE. occupying the sea- board from the mouth of the Tsit-Toung ■westward to that mouth of the great Irawadi river -which is generally known as the China Bakir, but is more correctly called the To, and extending inland up the valleys of the Irawadi and the Tsit-Toung rivers to the Henzada and Tharawadi districts on the west of the Pegu Roma, and to the Shwe-gyeen district of Tenasserim on the east." " The general aspect of the district is that of a vast plain extending along the sea-coast, and, slowly rising, stretching north for some twenty-five miles, when, in about the centre, it is met and, as it were, checked by the lower slopes of the Pegu Roma, and, struggling up amongst these mountains in the valleys of the Poo-zwon-doung (Puzen- doun) and the Pegu, it folds round them east and west, and rolls on, forming portions of the valleys of the Tsit-toung and of the Hlaing. South of the Pegu and in the greater part of the valley of the Hlaing or Rangoon, for some distance above the latitude of the town of the same name, the country is everywhere highly intersected by tidal creeks ; the water, a few feet below the surface, is brackish and undrinkable and wells are useless, but further north are streams tidal for some distance and fresh higher up/' ** The only mountains in the district are the Pegu Roma, which enter in the extreme north, where they attain an estimated height of 2,000 feet, the highest elevation of the range, and a few miles lower down fork out into two main branches with several subsidiary spurs. The western branch (which has a general S.S.W. direction) and its off- BEITISH AND UPPER BURMA, AND W. CHINA. 73 shoots divide the valleys of the Hlaing and Puzendoim rivers, and, after rising once more in the irregularly shaped lime-stone hill called Toung-goyo, a little to the south of the seventeenth parallel, terminate as a hilly range some thirty miles north of Rangoon. The range is continued as an elevated ridge past that town, vrhere it appears in the Literite hills round the great pagoda and, beyond the Pegu river, in the Syriam Koondan, finally disappearing beneath the alluvial plains of the delta, being last seen in the rocks which crop up in the Hmaw-won stream. The southern portion of this ridge lying between the Pegu river and the Hmaw-won runs in a direction nearly parallel to and iibout three miles east of the Rangoon river, and, nowhere more than five miles broad, is locally known as the Thau- lyeng (Syriam) Koondan or 'rising ground.' The eastern branch continues from the point of bifurcation towards the S.8.E. and, intersected by the Pegu valley, sinks near the town of Pegu, and finally disappears south of the Pegu river, where it is represented by an undulating wooded tract of no great extent. The sides of the main range are, as a rule, steep, and the valleys sharply excavated, but the upper portion of the Pegu valley has more the character of a table-land with a hilly surface, intersected by deep ravines." **The principal river is the Hlaing, which rises near Prome as the Zay, and entering this district in about 17° 30', flows S.S.E., at first through high sandy banks, past Rangoon, falling into the sea in about 16° 30' as the Rangoon river. It is navigable by the largest sea-going vessels as far as Rangoon at all seasons, and during spring tides ships of considerable burden can ascend for thirty 74 ASnk PYEE. miles further ; but just below Rangoon the Hastings shoal stretches across the river, and bars the approach of ships of heavy draught except at springs. During the north- west monsoon river steamers can ascend to beyond the northern boundary of the district, and boats of from 200 to 300 baskets burden can navigate the upper portion at all seasons. The tide is felt beyond the northern boundary, and the water is brackish and undrinkable as high as the village of Kywai-Koo, about twenty miles below Hlaing." *' The Puzendoun rises in the eastern slopes of the southern spurs of the Pegu Eoma, and falls into the Pegu river at its mouth at the town of Rangoon, after a south-easterly course of some fifty-three miles through a valley at first narrow but suddenly widening out eastwards. At its mouth it is 440 yards broad, and large ships could formerly ascend for a short distance to the numerous rice-cleaning mills erected in the Puzendoun quarter of Rangoon and on the opposite bank. It is now silting up, owing to the vast quantities of rice husk discharged from the mills. Small boats can, during the rains, go to within twenty miles of its source, wheie the water is sweet and the banks and bed rocky. The valley through which this river flows is rich in valuable timber in the north, and in the south is well cultivated with rice. The Pegu river rises in the eastern slopes of the Pegu Roma, and falls into the Rangoon, or Hlaing river, at Rangoon. For some distance from its source it traverses a narrow rocky valley, and is fed by numerous mountain torrents ; but below the old town of Pegu it enters a flat and fertile country, well cultivated with rice. During the rains it is navigable by river BEITISH AND UPPEE BUKMA, AND W. CHINA. 75 Steamers and by the largest boats as far as Pegu, but during the cold and hot seasons large boats can ascend that dis- tance during spring-tides only. At all seasons sea-going vessels can pass up for a few miles. ... A new locked canal forms a portion of the eastern boundary of the dis- trict. West of the Hlaing the whole country is divided and sub-divided by tidal creeks, many navigable by large boats, which unite the Hlaing and the numerous mouths of the Irawadi." " The FORESTS include tracts of all classes.'' "The LOCAL ACCOUNTS and the Telugoo and Tamil traditions seem to show that, probably some thousand years B.C., the inhabitants of Tulingana visited and colonised the coast of Burma, finding there a Mon population. . . . and the country of the colonists appears in the word Talaiftg, known to surrounding nations and to Europeans. The palm-leaf histories allude to a city called Aramana, on the site of tJie present Rangoon, and assert that during the lifetime of Gautama, that is before 543 B c, the Shw6 Dagon Pagoda in Rangoon was founded by two brothers. Poo {dove) and Ta-paw {plenty), sons of the King of Ook- ka-la-ba, west of Rangoon, and near the modern Twan-te, who had visited India, and had met and conversed with Gautama, from whom they had received several of his hairs ; but the first notice of the country which can be considered as historical is given in the Sinhalese Mahaw- anso, which speaks of the mission of Sono and Uttaro, sent by the third Buddhist Council (held in 241 B c.) to Savarna-bhoo-mee to spread the Buddhist faith in its purity. It seems clear that the delta of the Irawadi was 76 ashI: pyee. not exempt from the almost 'religious war* which pre- vailed between the followers of the Brahmanic and Buddhistic faiths, the victory eventually passing to the one body in India and to the other in Burma. Here the differences lasted for several hundreds of years, until about the eud of the eighth century, the Buddhists being recruited in the meanwhile by the arrival of their co- religionists expelled from India. One of the results of these religious differences was the foundation of the city of Pegu in 573 a.d. by Tha-ma-la and Nee-ma-la, sons of the King of Tha-htoon by a mother of Naga descent, who were excluded from the throne of their father." It is said that Martaban was now founded. *' The country was unsuccessfully invaded in 590 a.d. by the King of Bij-ja-na-ga-ran {Vizianagram'^). Thirteen kings fol- lowed between this period and 746 a.d., and by this time the kingdom had been much extended (from the Arakan mountains on the west to the Salweenon the east)." ** The Buddhist religion was not generally accepted in the country, and the tenth King of Pegu, Poon-na-ree-ka {Brahman heart), and more especially his son and successor Tek-tha, appears to have been at least inclined towards Hindu traditions." There is a great hiatus in the history of Pegu between the death of Tek-tha and the year 1060 A.D., "when Anaw-ra-hta, the King of Pagan, con- quered the country, and it remained subject to the Burmans for some two centuries." For more information regarding early Pegu, the readers of the new British Burma Gazetteer are referred to that highly distinguished and " learned and patient investigator," Sir Arthur Phayre, whose history of BRITISH AND UPPER BURMA, AND W. CHINA. 77 Pegu, published in the Journal of the Bengal Asiatic Society, is considered " by far the most trustworthy work on the subject."* It is curious to think that in British Burma's first Chief Commissioner, a greater than any of the early Pegu kings should arise in our time — one of our ow^n countrymen, destined to create the Pegu province ; or, we may say, when all its parts were scattered by disorder and anarchy and tyranny of the direst kind, to bring all together again into an harmonious whole by crystallizing the mineral anew, and consolidating British Burma.t Rangoon (as has already been said), the capital of the Pegu Province, and consequently of British Burma, some twenty or twenty-five miles from the sea — the future Liverpool or Glasgow of Chin-India — before uttering a word about its commerce, may be considered worthy of brief mention as to the origin of the name. In the early Talaing histories it has the name of Dagon, originally that of the Shwe Dagon Pagoda, erected on the summit of the laterite formation before mentioned after the burial therein, by Poo and Ta-paw, of " some of Gautama's hairs from the Buddha himself" Afterwards, we read, in the wars which took place between the kings of Pegu and of Burma, Dagon often changed hands ; and when at last, in 1763, *' the Burman Aloung-bhoora (Alompra) drove out the Talaing garrison of Ava, then the Burman capital, and eventually conquered the Talaing kingdom, he came down to Dagon, repaired — and thus, to a certain extent, to Peguan feelings desecrated — the great Shw6 Dagon * British Burma Gazetteer, pp. 637-538 (note). t Our Burmese Wars, dtc, p. 351. 78 ASHi PYEE. Pagoda, almost refounded the town, and re-named it Ran- Koon (* the end of the war,' from Ran war, and Koon or Goon, * finished, exhausted ') or Rangoon, the name it has ever since home, and made it the seat of the Viceroyalty which he established." In the last decade of the eighteenth century, the English obtained leave to establish a factory in Rangoon, surrounding it by a brick wall, and hoisting the British colours. Next, the etymology of Dagon, which word we read is derived from the Taking " Takoon," which signifies " a tree or log lying athwart " — alluded to in a legend connected with the foundation — " and which has been corrupted into Dagon,* or Dagun in Burmese. The word ' Shwe,* or * golden,' is a Burmese translation of the original Talaing word prefixed to Takoon. It is now used generally as a term indicative of excellence." It is especially used with all connected with the Golden Foot, or Majesty of Ava, as I have explained elsewhere. From this point we may pass on to the Irawadi the grand artery of Burma, and the constant feeder of Rangoon with the commerce and wealth of the upper country, south-west China, and the various States around and to the northward of Mandalay, the Burman capital, now so well-known to the British merchants of Rangoon, and made famous by deeds of dreadful note. With such a magnificent highway as the Irawadi, with its many mouths, aided by the other main rivers, the Hlaing or Rangoon, the Pegu, the Sittang, and the Beling, it may be said that there is no limit to the progress of commerce * The place was called in the Moon (or Mon) language "Dagon." BRITISH AND UPPER BURMA, AND W. CHINA. 79 in Burma. The Irawadi flows for about 800 miles before reaching the British possessions, through which it runs for 240 miles more. " It is navigable for river steamers as far as Bhamo, 600 miles beyond the British frontier." The velocity of its waters, when the river is full, is said to be five miles an hour. General Fytche informs us that " Colonel Yule, from facts collected by him, assumes that the Irawadi takes its rise in the lofty Langtam range of the Himalayas, whose peaks, covered with perpetual snow, separate the valleys inhabited by the Shan race of Khamtis from the head waters of the sacred Brahmaputra."* But the sources of this principal river in Upper and British Burma, which traverses the Pegu division from north to south, have never been explored, though several praiseworthy attempts have been made. The most reliable information I have seen on the subject is with reference to the attempt made in 1827 by Lieutenants Wilcox and Burlton, and more recent explorers, that it has been shown, '^ as conclusively as can be shown, until the river is traced to its source, that it rises in the southern slopes of the Pat Koi mountains, one branch in 28° N. latitude, and 97° 30' E. longitude, and another in the same mountains a few days journey further eastward ; the two, that to the west called by the Burmese Myit-gyee, or * Large river,' and that to the east Myit-nge or * Small river,' uniting to form the Irawadi in about 26° N. latitude."t * Burma, Past and Present, vol. i. p. 268. t Captain Hannay fixed the junction in 26°. See also British Burma Gazetteer, p. 207, vol. ii. 80 ashI; pyee. It is interesting to note, with reference to Henzada, a large district in the Pegu division, covering an area of upwards of 4,000 square miles, " in the valley of the Irawadi, at the head of the delta, and lying on both hanks of that river," that nearly all the large towns are on the right bank of the Irawadi, though many important places are in Tharawadi, that is the country east of the nver. Here, however, "the great extent of the annual inundations and the smaller extent of country fitted for the cultivation of rice, the great staple produce of the province, though perhaps favourable to the existence of numerous small villages, retard the formation of the large trading towns, and nearly all large towns in this district owe their magni- tude, if not their very existence, to the trade in the products of the surrounding country." Again, "the large number of the Henzada villages and hamlets are along the banks of the Irawadi, and on the banks of the tributary streams to the west of that river. It may safely be asserted that the embankments along the Irawadi, which protect such an extensive tract of fertile rice country from the inundations to which it was annually subject, will not only produce a steady increase in the size of villages now existing and occupied by cultivators of the neighbouring plains, but will cause the establishment of many new ones in spots hitherto waste, and waiting only for relief from the superabundant waters of the river, and for labour to become valuable and fruitful fields " The breadth of the Irawadi varies from one to two, three, and even four or five miles ; and of this noble river, which intersects the Burman dominions, it has been well said — " Like the Nile BEITISH AND UPPEB BUEMA, AND W. CHINA. 81 and the Ganges, inundating the plains, it dispenseiS fertility and abundance, while it affords an exteifsive inland navigation quite through the country to the border of China."^ Surely it is worth while knowing the etymology of such a river as the Irawadi. On this point nothing whatever was attempted regarding it in Our Burmese Wars and Relations with Burma, although the Arabic wddif — a river or stream — was cited, to show what seemed the more correct spelling, or with one d only. A learned critic, however, was down upon me for want of etymological knowledge, informing the public at the same time, in the most praiseworthy manner, that the author, in his **' want of philological training," had " evidently do suspicion that the whole word is a slight corruption of the Sanskrit Airdvati, the feminine of the god Indra's elephant." He was also kind enough to inform me of vati meaning " like"; and that in the Punjab, the Ravee is also a corruption of aira (moisture) vati—thQ t omitted for the soft V. The critic, I found, was perfectly right. It is the name given to Indra's elephant, and signifies " great moisture " or water. Indra, in fact, answers to Zeus (Jupiter), the heaven or sky, including the atmosphere, the immediate source of rain; hence appropriate for a river. As to Zeus, a distinguished Orientalist believes that the original Greek word really referred to the material sky, including the atmosphere; and Indra, in the Hindu mythology, occupied the same position. Hindu etymology * Account of the Burmese Empire. t Our Burmese Wars^ d^c, p. 17. 82 ASHfe PYEB. in a Buddhist country is easily explained, as, in addition to facts already mentioned, the Buddhists and Hindus, of course, had " the same original national beginning," and the same mythology, just as Catholics and Protestants equally acknowledge the Apostles and early Fathers of the Church. So much, then, for the name of Burma's noble river, and for Indra, the Indian god of the *' invisible heavens," who dwells in his celestial city, Amaravati, and who is considered also the " governor of the Eastern portion of the world."* * The character of Indra in itself is a wonderful mythological study ; and strange it is that students in England give it so little attention. In their great Indian Empire they have a mythology quite equal to the Greek — in fact, the parent of nearly all others — in which, as said elsewhere, are embedded " the fossilized skeletons of the faith." Brahma and Sarasvati (like Abraham and Sara) ; Vishnui Lakshmi (the Apollo and Venus) ; Siva and Parvati (or Kali) Pluto and Proserpine — present a field in themselves for the most i t cresting analogical investigation. And when their researches are fini hed in the land of the Veda, they can step with advantage int uore " silent land " of Buddha — ^in China or Burma. 83 CHAPTER IV. BBITISH AND UPPER BURMA AND WESTERN CHINA. {Continued.) Let us now return to Eangoon, the grand emporium of commerce in British Burma, where " the quick pulse of gain " is ever on the alert, and where fortunes have been made and lost — and doubtless are still — with amazing rapidity. Eice being the grand export of the Pegu province, it may first be of interest to note the remarkable increase of rice land under cultivation from 1868 to 1876, in spite of occasional excessive inundation (very frequent before the increase of embankments in 1862), in the Henzada district, the township of which is on the right bank of the Irawadi. In 1868 the cultivated area was 204,495 acres, and in 1876, 320,300 acres; or since the annexation of Pegu (1853), there has been an increase in the total cultivated area of nearly 250,000 acres, *' greater than the most sanguine could have hoped for." It may also be remarked that the cotton grown in this CHenzada) district is inferior to that grown in the north, the produce being locally consumed. 6 • 84 ASH^ PTEE. But rice, as already stated, is the chief commodity of the Henzada district, which, situated at the head of the delta of the Irawadi, and containing much fertile land for the cultivation of this most useful grain, affords a ready market for Kangoon and Bassein, " communication with both being easy from the numerous creeks which intersect the country." In a country like Pegu, where there is a great sparseness of population (accounted for elsewhere),* but which has risen from a little more than a million, in a quarter of a century, to about 3,000,000, it may be noted that, out of the total (176,404) males in the Kangoon district in 1872 (the paucity of the Talaings being especially noticeable), there were nearly 4,000 Christians, 600 Hindus, 300 Mahomedans, and 171,500 Buddhists. In 1878, the capital had 91,600 inhabitants. The population of the town of Kangoon for variety is, perhaps, unsurpassed in the world — Burmans, Talaings (the Mon race), Karens, Shans, Arakanese, Hindus, Mahomedans, Chinese, Europeans, Eurasians, Americans, and others — in the census year of 1872 giving a total of 98,700. The population is now (1880} over 100,000; for, like the river traflfic between Mandalay and Kangoon, since 1862, it may be said to have gone on steadily increasing till 1878-79. The principal articles manufactured in the Kangoon district are salt, pottery, fish-paste (nga-pee), mats, and silk, and cotton cloths ; all for local consumption, except the pottery and nga-pee, which are exported, the latter to * See Our Burmese Wars, cf c, p. 332. BEITISH AND UPPEE BUEMA, AND W. CHINA. 85 Upper Burma. The salt is made during the hot weather, along the sea-coast, and elsewhere by solar evaporation, or by " boiling in iron or earthen pots, the iron yielding the greater out-turn." It is interesting to look back on the state of commerce with the British settlements in India from 1802 to 1806. Then the exportation of rice and of the precious metals was strictly prohibited, and the total impoits exceeded the total exports by Ks. 1,856,638. The imported articles in the year of Trafalgar (1805), were tin, wine, woollens, piece-goods, opium, grain, rum, tin and plated ware, iron- mongery, canvas, &c., giving a total value, including treasure (Ks. 19,579), of Ks. 245,232. The articles of export were timber, pepper, orpiment, coir-rope, ponies, cardamoms, stick-lac, wax, sundries, and treasure. From 1813-14 to 1820-21, the returns of trade between Rangoon and Calcutta give the principal imports as piece- goods, raw silk, cotton, indigo, saltpetre, sugar, rice, pepper, and opium. At the .close of the first war (1826), Arakan became a rice-granary of immense importance, in a great measure obviating the import of rice from Calcutta. After the second Burmese war (1862-53), Pegu became British territory. From 1826 to 1852, among the annual number of arrivals and departures, there were only twenty English vessels from 100 to 1,000 tons. In 1855, the total tonnage of all vessels, import and export, amounted to upwards of 270,000 tons, which in nine years (1863-64), became doubled,* and has been increasing in an astonishing propor- * See Our Burmese Wars, dec, p. 346. — In 1875-76, vessels cleared at the ports of the province amounted to 2,551, of 1,164,616 tons burthen. 86 ASHfe PYEE. tion ever since. No wonder it has been said that *'when Pegu passed to the^English trade began to improve, and has proceeded with vast strides." When we come to con- sider that the value of the export and import trade, ex- cluding treasure, in 1877-78 amounted to Ks. 81,920,257, as compared with Es. 21,310,561 in 1858-59,* we must unhesitatingly declare that such a steady prosperity as this is unparalled in the history of British connection with the East. These facts alone are well worthy of attention from the lords of British Commerce, and show what might be done were there no monopolizing obstructiveness of a Bur- mese Golden-Footed monarch to be encountered. If Free Trade, wandering up and down the world, should ever seek a fitting temple to dwell in, perhaps avoiding her *' mutual friend *^ Eeciprocity, and attended by the honoured shade of Richard Cobden — all regal obstructives being swept aside — she will not be able to do better, while waiting for the golden edifice, than to pitch her tent in Chin-India Upper Burma would afford her triumphs which she could not gain elsewhere, and certainly in no other portion of our Eastern Empire. The commerce of British Burma is carried on chiefly with Great Britain, the three Presidencies of India, the Straits, Ceylon, and the Nicobars. The ports are Rangoon, Maulmain> Akyab, Tavoy, Mergui, Bassein, Kyook Phyoo, and Cheduba, — certainly no want of fine harbours for trade. The articles of import and export before the Burmese wars, have already been mentioned. The * In 1868-69, the figures were :— Imports, Es. 23,464,602; and exports Es.;19,540,651, giving a total of Es. 43,005,153. BRITISH AND UPPER BURMA, AND W. CHINA. 87 former, after the second war, consisted chiefly of cotton goods, hardware, machinery, coal, books, provisions, wool- len goods, silks, canvas, wines, drugs, dyes, spices, fruits, sugar, arms, and carriages. The exports have principally been rice, timber, petroleum, hides, ivory, cotton, grain, and ponies. To this may be added jewellery and precious stones, also a goodly list of useful sundries. In trade with Burma, as a rule, the imports have generally exceeded the exports, although such was very far from being the case in 1877-78,* and in a few other years. In a year of famine in India, or elsewhere, the exports from Eangoon would probably exceed the imports. General Fytche, in his Burma Past and Present, remarks, after the astonishing but truthful statement that " if the commerce of India bore the same proportion to population" (as British Burma) "it would be ten times greater than it is — that is to say, it "would be about nine hundred and fifty millions, instead of ninety-five," that British Burma also contrasts favourably with India, in the value of the imports being much nearer to that of the exports.f It is useful to bear in mind that, some fifteen years ago, the annual value of the imports was rather more than i62,000,000, and of the exports than ^£3,000,000. In 1875-76, the value of the sea-borne and inland exports was £7,208,896, and imports £6.159,925, "with a population a little over three millions, and a gross rever^ue over two millions sterling. On Pegu passing to the English, the whole Burmese ♦ In this year the imports were Rs. 37,777,242 ; and the exports 44,143,015 ; and in 1864-65, the annual value of the exports wa s ;£3,000,000, against only £2,000,000 of imports. t Vol. i. pp. 320-21. 88 • ASHfe PYEE. customs system changed, and restrictions on importation and exportation were removed, and the interior of the country gradually developed. Rangoon soon became the third port in India. *' Cotton piece-goods, salt, and various other articles have poured in, whilst rice has more than taken the place of timber, and cutch, hides, horns, and petroleum have added to the export trade." It may also be remarked, with reference to the various imports and exports, that some of the articles merely *' pass through the country ; candles, cotton-twist, cotton piece- goods, earthenware and porcelain, glass, glass-ware, &c., find their way direct into Upper Burma, whilst caoutchouc, raw cotton, gums and resins, hides, horn, ivory, lac, mineral oils, spices, tobacco, and wood, are partly, and jade is entirely, drawn from that country." The duty levied, of course, depends upon the tariff.* A great season in Rangoon — perhaps the greatest — is the rice season, which commences in January and ends in May ; but there are sales all the year round. The *' prices of rice in the husk at the mills in Rangoon " during seven years, varied, per 100 baskets, from 1872 to 1878, from January to October, from 55 to 100 and 200 rupees; and if any of us should think of doing a rice business at Rangoon, it may be stated that *' each firm has its one or more brokers, and several buyers; the former, as a rule, residing on the mill premises t In its strictest • For King Theebau's Tariff, see Our Burmese Wars, dtc, p. 414. t In the present year (1880) the Burma rice trade is in a most flourishing state. In August the exports exceeded over a lakh (£10,000) those of 1879. Akyab, Bassein, and Kangoon, supply large quantities of rice to foreign coimtries. BEITISH AND UPPEE BUEMA, AND W. CHINA. 89 sense, Nunquam Vormio may be considered a most appro- priate motto for Bangoon, destined, as I have already said, to be the Liverpool or Glasgow of Chin-India. I shall now make a few remarks on the trade in esse with south-western China, which I shall preface with a few words on the treaties we concluded with Upper Burma in 1862 and in 1867. By the treaty of 1862, concluded by Sir Arthur (then Colonel) Phayre, trade in and through Upper Burma was *' freely thrown open to British enter- prise ; " and again, the Bhamo trade route (to Yunnan, in south-western China), was to be explored, " under the treaty of 1862.* ^ The King of Burma would not consent to a "joint mission,'"' as desired by the Indian Government. Perhaps the vassal, Golden-Foot, — although "Lord of Earth and Air," — thought he might offend his Chinese Lord, the *' Vicegerent of all under Heaven," by so doing ; but if any man could have obtained the wishes of our Government at this time, beyond all question that man was the First Chief Commissioner of British Burma. And this leads me to remark that I committed an error, or rather inadvertence, in my review of Dr. Anderson's interesting work. From Mandalay to Momien,\ where I say that " there was evidently something wrong in the framing of the treaty of 1862." I should have written that there was evidently considerable difficulty about the "joint mission,'' as re- garding trade with south-western China, through Upper Burma, in the endeavour to bring the treaty of 1862 to the successful issue desired by the Indian Government. * See Dr. Anderson's I