The Pacification of Burma

by C. H. T. Crosthwaite

The ministers of Möng Mit, on the other hand, were loyal and helpful. To the extent of their power—not much, it is true—they gave active assistance to the British force which occupied the Ruby Mines in 1886-7. In April, 1887, the Chief Commissioner being at Mogok, the headquarters of the Ruby Mines district, received the ministers of Möng Mit there and inquired into the facts. Finding that the title of the young Sawbwa was good, he confirmed him in his position. It was decided to appoint a regent, assisted by the ministers, to govern the State until the young chief should come of age. The boundaries of Möng Mit territory were defined, and Hkam Leng was formally warned against overstepping them, while at the same time he was assured that if he came in and made submission to the Government he should be recognized as chief of Möng Leng. In despite of this he attacked villages in Möng Mit and endeavoured to establish himself by force of arms.

During 1887 he continued in open hostility. Several small expeditions had to be made against him; and the southern border of the Bhamo district, as well as the Möng Leng country and the Kachins in all the hills about, were kept in a restless state. As it was found impossible to reconcile him, Hkam Leng was outlawed and the Möng Leng country partitioned. The northern part was added to the Bhamo district as the Upper Sinkan township; the remainder was made over to Möng Mit, to which it had at one time been subject.

Hkam Leng, however, was by no means disposed of. He lurked for the most part in the Kachin Hills to the east of the Möng Leng country, and was frequently in the villages along the upper reaches of the Sinkan. To him another restless spirit was soon allied. In 1886 the two sons of the Hmethaya Prince, one of King Mindon's numerous progeny, had made themselves prominent in resisting the British Government. Their cause was taken up by a notable guerilla leader, Shwè Yan, who raised their standard in the Ava district. Driven out of Ava at the end of 1886, they took hiding in Mandalay, where a plot was hatched for supporting their claims. The conspiracy was discovered and the leaders arrested. The younger Prince was captured and sent to school in Rangoon. The elder, Saw Yan Naing, escaped to Hsenwi, and failing to get help there retired to the mountainous and very difficult country on the borders of Tawnpeng and Möng Mit. There he made his quarters in a strong position not easy to approach, and gathered round him a band of discontented and desperate characters. No attempt was made during 1887-8 to dislodge him, and he contented himself with threatening Möng Mit. He was invited to surrender, and favourable terms were offered to him. The only wish was to relieve the country from his presence. But he would have no truck with us.

Early in 1889 reports came in from Bhamo and other sources that Saw Yan Naing and Hkam Leng had agreed to unite forces and make simultaneous attacks on various points in the north. They were reported to be enlisting the aid of Kachin tribesmen, Chinese bandits from across the border, and Burmese outlaws. Risings were to be organized in the Upper Sinkan township and a descent made on Möng Mit. Even the date for the rising was fixed. Whether there was any systematic concert or not was never ascertained, but a good many outbreaks occurred without any visible connection and of no great magnitude, but enough, taken all together, to harass both soldiers and police, as well as those responsible for the administration. From the Ruby Mines district as early as the last week in December had come reports of a gathering, headed by Saw Yan Naing, at Manpun, in the hills, three marches from the town of Möng Mit. A detachment from the Hampshire Regiment was sent from Bernard Myo, the Cantonment of the Ruby Mines, to Möng Mit, to garrison the town, while the State levies went out to act against the body of rebels at Manpun.

Meanwhile Lieutenant Nugent, who was in command at Möng Mit, hearing that there were some dacoits a few miles off, went with sixteen men of the Hampshires to attack them. The dacoits were strongly posted. Lieutenant Nugent and one private were killed and six men wounded. The remaining nine men, encumbered with the wounded, had to retire. This disaster happened on the 14th of January. Lieutenant Nugent was a young officer without experience of the country, and he ought not to have been left without some one capable of advising him.

It was promptly retrieved. The Deputy Commissioner, Mr. Archibald Colquhoun, getting together troops and police, renewed the attack on the enemy's position and drove them out with much loss. On the 20th of January the village or town of Twingé, on the Irrawaddy, was taken and burnt by one of Hkam Leng's adherents. No attempt was made on Möng Mit after that date, and no formidable bands were encountered, although the Ruby Mines districts and the adjacent parts of Möng Mit were harassed by small gangs of robbers. A feeling of anxiety, however, prevailed and begat alarming rumours. The imagination of Shans, Burmans, and perhaps of other nervous persons, is fertile in the matter of numbers, and loves to deal in large figures. At the end of January hostile gatherings at different points, amounting to nearly two thousand men—a quite impossible number—were reported from Mogok, the headquarters of the Ruby Mines district. With a view to allaying these apprehensions the garrisons there and at Möng Mit were strengthened.

The Chief Commissioner thought it best, under the circumstances, to place the control in the hands of one man, and at his request Sir George White appointed Colonel Cockran, of the Hampshires, to command all the troops and military police in the disturbed area, with orders to take the measures necessary for the peace of the country and for the destruction of such gangs as might be found. Up to the end of March, however, no important action was taken, as no large body of the enemy had been located.

On the 30th of March a column under Major Garfit, of the Hampshire Regiment, was dispatched against Saw Yan Naing, who was still at Binbong, near Manpun. Four stockades were taken without loss on our side, and Saw Yan Naing and his following fell back for the time. The Chief Commissioner intended, and had arranged with the Major-General commanding, that this column should remain in Binbong and the neighbourhood at least till the middle of April, in order to make our influence felt in these wild parts and to co-operate with a police force which had been sent through Mönglong, a sub-State of Hsipaw, lying south-west of Möng Mit, and also to join hands with Lieutenant Daly, the Superintendent of the Northern Shan States, who was ordered to come with military police through Tawnpeng. Unfortunately the officer commanding misunderstood his instructions, and leaving Binbong on the 6th of April returned to Möng Mit. The expedition consequently was not very fruitful of results, and Saw Yan Naing returned to the neighbourhood and took up his quarters at Manton a little farther north.

Unluckily, Lieutenant Daly was unable to leave his headquarters at Lashio until the 7th of April. He then proceeded to Tawnpeng in accordance with the orders he had received from the Chief Commissioner, directing him to co-operate if possible with the force acting against Saw Yan Naing. Lieutenant Daly had been instructed also to get into communication with the Prince, and to renew the offer of terms if he would surrender.