CHAPTER XI.
AFTER THE REVOLUTION OF 1767.
After the departure of the Burmese army from the kingdom they had just conquered, the Siamese who had been scattered and had been wandering in the forests returned to their capital.
Stirred by thoughts of revenge for what they had suffered, they made ravages every where. Every Burman that they could discover was slain. But the blood of their oppressors was of no avail as a remedy against the famine with which the country was smitten.
The price of rice had risen to such an extent that it had ceased to become a marketable commodity. Wild roots and bamboo shoots were the staple articles of diet, and many were attacked by a peculiar disease. The sufferers lost their memory and power of speech, and became mad with lucid intervals, which augmented the horror of their condition. Necessity that knows no law obliged them to violate all conventions.
They took up arms against their gods whom they accused of having betrayed them. The pagodas were plundered and the images destroyed in order to get at the silver inside them. These acts of sacrilege gave them command of that was useless wealth as they could not purchase anything with it. Five earthenware jars full of gold and silver were taken from one temple alone. The roof of one of the most temples supplied gold, sufficient to fill three boats.
The superstitious Siamese made loud outcries at the scandal of the theft which brought into circulation all the gold and silver that the Burmese their conquerors had taken away. It is not astonishing that so much wealth was forthcoming; since devout persons, in consequence of their belief in transmigration, had buried their treasures in the images of their gods, trusting to discover it in a future state of existence.
The Siamese, although united by desire of revenge, were split into factions for the leadership.
The eyes of the nation were fixed upon Phya Tak, a Siamese officer, born of a Chinese mother. A politician and a warrior, he paved his way to power by affecting its disdain. He was elected to the leadership by the unanimous voice of the whole nation. At first he took the unpretentious title of "Defender of the Nation," and, disguising his ambitions under the cloak of moderation, he wished to appear merely as a citizen in order to be King in reality.
Having attained to the supreme power, it was his policy to contract alliances, as he was sure that the hearts of the nation were apt to pass rapidly from love to hatred. He had learned by experience that the priests, in the abuse of their power over the unlettered mob, were wont to foment sedition and to influence popular feeling. He conceived a violent dislike to them which he took no pains to conceal, and considered that the respect they enjoyed was a slight on his authority. He therefore wished for the extermination of these individuals who, poor by profession, enjoyed the fruits of the labour of others without doing anything in return.
A high-priest who was greatly revered, was accused of incontinence. Phya Tak summoned him before his tribunal and condemned him to trial by fire. The soles of his feet were burned by the glowing charcoal, and that was sufficient proof of his guilt. He would have been sentenced to death had not powerful friends obtained his pardon on the grounds that his death would cause a scandal, and that if their servants were done away with the gods would lose their prestige.
Phya Tak raised all those who had been his partisans to the highest positions in the State.
A foe to the Burmese, he inflicted severe punishment on those who favoured them and who stirred up rebellions in the kingdom.
In 1769 he showed his generous spirit towards his countrymen. The drought had caused a great famine, one of the usual events a war brings in its train. Work was suspended and the farmers could do but little.
Destructive rodents had devoured the rice as soon as it had reached maturity, seeds had been destroyed in the earth. They were unable to procure the "ignam" a species of truffle or potatoe of such size that a single one is sufficient for one man. Swarms of insects, attracted by the corpses, darkened the air and waged a ceaseless war against the living.
Under these unhappy conditions Phya Tak showed his generous spirit. The needy were destitute no longer. The public treasury was opened for the relief. In return for cash, foreigners supplied them with the products that the soil of the country had refused. The Usurper justified his claims by his benevolence. Abuses were reformed, the safety of property and persons was restored, but the greatest severity was shown to malefactors. Legal enactments at which no one complained were substituted for the arbitrary power that sooner or later is the cause of rebellions. By the assurance of public peace he was able to consolidate his position and no one who shared in the general prosperity could lay claim to the throne.
At the end of 1768 a bastard Prince who had been exiled to Ceylon, reassembled his supporters and set up his authority in various parts of the country. Phya Tak led an expedition against him and gained a brilliant victory. The Prince fell into the hands of the conqueror who ordered his execution as, a punishment for having proved the weaker party.
In the same year he led an army against Porcelon and Ligor, two towns which had not fallen under the Burmese rule. The governors of these towns, taking advantage of the troubled state of the country, had set themselves up as independent rulers. Thus it was that the Empire, delivered from a foreign yoke was harassed by domestic tyrants who attempted to destroy all that the enemy had spared; in fact the whole kingdom was in a state of turmoil.
It is not known whether the expedition was successful. It was reported but not confirmed that the two towns were captured.
At the first news of the Siamese revolt the King of Burma sent orders to the governor of Tavoy to overrun the country again, and to press the inhabitants of the town into his army to effect the entire ruin of the country.
These people, outwardly subservient, had disguised their hatred against their recent oppressors. The general took only a few Burmese with him as he had put his trust in the Siamese whom he imagined were reliable. He soon found out his mistake, for, on sending them against the town of Beancham which they captured, they closed the gates against him and swore they had taken up arms only to use them against their oppressors. They opened fire upon those who had regarded them as comrades in arms.
The general, betrayed by his untrustworthy allies, if it is possible to apply this appellation to the avengers of their country's wrongs, found himself surrounded by enemies.
The very countryside turned against him and refused to supply his wants as the Burmese had destroyed all the fruit trees. The beasts of burden, finding no fodder in the plains, had strayed to find pasturage elsewhere.
At length the army was reduced to rations sufficient for three days only. It would have been folly rather than heroism to advance further. The general considered that his duty lay in the preservation of the lives of those committed to his care. A retreat was made, which was by no means a disgrace, as it was caused by dire necessity.
On his arrival at Tavoy he informed his master that his expedition had been a failure owing to the defection of his troops.
The King of Ava, smarting under the humiliation of defeat in a land that had been the scene of his triumphs, determined on taking vengeance with the utmost severity. But while preparations were being made for another expedition that he had intended to lead in person, his plans were altered owing to complications with China which had arisen as follows.
After the Burmese had laid waste the kingdoms of Pegu, Siam and Aracan, they had invaded Laos and Cassaye, (the latter being part of Bengal), rather as dacoits than as conquerors. They changed these happy and populous lands into arid deserts and gloried in the spoliation of what might have been preserved. The ease with which their early conquests had been effected had caused them to turn their arms against China, which offered a richer prey to their greed. They had no grounds for hostilities whatever, but those whose creed is 'Might makes Right,' are always ready to transgress all laws to obtain their desires. The Burmese declared war on the Chinese on the pretext of taking vengeance on a small nation whom they called barbarians and who were less powerful than they. This obscure race was perfectly contented to live as best it might in the forests that lay between Ava and China. This savage tribe whose sole asset was its independence, seemed never, owing to the fact of its poverty, to have been a prize for the ambition of a conqueror.
The Kings of Ava had always stood as its protectors and in return exacted a small tribute. But the Cassians, poor and proud, seeing all the neighbouring kingdoms agitated by home and foreign wars, wished to dispense with having to pay a tribute which was more humiliating than burdensome as it was an indication of their dependent position. In 1749 they had declared that they no longer needed protection, that their forest, were their ramparts and that their courage had taught them daring to fear nothing. For some time they enjoyed their independence, but when the Kingdom of Ava regained its pristine glories, they found that the Burmese harassed them without intermission, and their lands, that hardly gave them a bare means of livelihood, were laid waste by repeated frays. To escape the domination of Burma, they besought help from their neighbour, the Emperor of China, who alone could protect them, and to whom their defence was a matter of importance as they formed the only barrier between his territories and the barbarians.
While the hosts of the Burmese were overrunning the Kingdom of Siam, another swarm of these savages was let loose in the Chinese provinces. They captured several important positions without meeting any serious opposition and the inhabitants were put to the sword. It is not a matter for surprise that their conquests were so readily accomplished. The Chinese are wont to conquer their neighbours by diplomacy rather than by the force of arms. They make use of their superior skill to subdue them by artful promises. The art of war is yet in its infancy among the Chinese who are cunning diplomats, but cowardly soldiers. They are skilful in the art of smelting metals and have plenty of artillery, but they are hopelessly ignorant of its proper use in warfare. Their chief weapons are but swords, lances and arrows, and their knowledge of military tactics is lamentably weak.
The Burmese captured a vast booty. They disposed of the wealth of a country whose inhabitants are renowned for their ability in agriculture and commerce.
Their manufactures and products have attracted the trade of all nations. The natural fertility of the soil of the country has been greatly increased by the toil of the cultivators.
The mountains, which in most countries of the world appear to be barren, produce abundant harvests in this favoured land. The Burmese invasion was a cause of other troubles to the country. Many of the Chinese adopted the customs of the barbarians and became brigands. The roads were infested with thieves and murderers both of home and foreign origin who fearlessly plundered unwary travellers.
At the reports of these disasters, the governor of Canton raised a force for the deliverance of the country from so terrible a scourge. But on receipt of the news of his march, the Burmese returned home to dispose of their plunder and to seek for reinforcements.
Shortly after this, the Chinese gained a slight success near the river, but the victory was followed by a crushing defeat, their land force was cut to pieces and 100,000 men were taken prisoners to Ava whence they were apportioned to hard labour in the various provinces. The Chinese force must have been very considerable, as the bulk of the men fled. It is surprising that the Viceroy of a single province could have raised so large a host, but it is no longer a matter of wonder when we remember that the country has a higher birthrate than any other, and that perhaps the Chinese are the only nation where a system of absolute government is not an obstacle to the increase of the population.
The defeat of the Chinese was easy to repair; the Emperor assembled an army of 500,000 men who were to overrun the country of their foes. The King of Ava, too weak to oppose any resistance, mustered all the available troops from every province to the capital.
The inhabitants of the lands bordering on Chinese territory abandoned their possessions and the country became a desert, laid waste by its inhabitants who wished to deprive the enemy of all means of sustenance. In the beginning of 1769 we had no reliable information of the movements of the enemy who were unable to march on Ava owing to fatigue and scarcity, and we have only had news up to October of this year 1771.