The Pacification of Burma

by C. H. T. Crosthwaite

Bargaining with Haka Chins.

Instructions were given to the Sawbwas of Tawnpeng and North Hsenwi to take measures to stop the passage of fugitives through their States. There was a reasonable hope that these measures, although they might not effect the capture of the leaders, would establish the authority of the British Government and bring home to the people of this difficult tract the inconvenience of resistance.

The Bhamo column, commanded by Major Blundell, accompanied by Mr. G. W. Shaw, the Deputy Commissioner, left Bhamo on the 15th of December, 1889, for Sikaw. The tribes began to take in the situation. Twelve hills or groups of the Lakun tribe came to Sikaw to make formal submission, and one of their leading men volunteered to guide the force against Lwèseng. This was a good beginning. Major Blundell, sending forward a detachment to Si-u to keep the road open, left Sikaw on the 20th of December and marched on Lwèseng. A party of Gurkhas under Captain O'Donnell was ordered to take up a position at the ferries in the rear of the Lwèseng Range, which were said to be the only places where the Shwèli River could be crossed. Several other such points, however, were found, and at one of them were signs that the fugitives had already crossed over. While making this reconnaissance Captain O'Donnell's men were exposed to Kachin fire from the hills, and a very distinguished Gurkha officer (Kala Thapa Sing) fell.

The main body reached Lwèseng on the 22nd of December. A stockade across the road a mile from the village was defended by Kachins, and in taking it a native officer was killed and five men wounded. The village was found deserted, and was occupied by our men. There was some sniping from the hill-slope afterwards, and two were wounded. Next day the force advanced to Ton Hon. Two stockades erected across the road were defended, but were turned, with the loss of two men wounded, and Ton Hon was occupied without further fighting. But again the Kachins fired from the hills into the village, and one Gurkha was killed and another wounded. A halt was made at Ton Hon for some days in order to open communications with the Kachins, in the hope of bringing them to terms. The elders of Lwèseng and Ton Hon and other neighbouring villages came in. The Deputy Commissioner selected seven villages which had opposed the troops and harboured rebels, and imposed on them a fine of money (Rs. 2,500) and guns (50). By the 30th of December all the villages belonging to these tribes had submitted and part of the fine had been paid. The chiefs, however, still held aloof.

On the 3rd of January, 1890, the column left for Manton, leaving a Burmese civil officer, supported by a detachment of the 17th Bengal Infantry, to collect the balance of the fine. Manton was reached without any fighting on the 11th of January; and the column from Möng Mit marched in on the same day. The village was found deserted, and Saw Yan Naing had fled. He made his escape, it was said, into the Chinese territory of Chefan. On his road through Northern Hsenwi he just missed falling into the hands of Mr. Daly, who arrived at Manton on the 16th of January. Thus the three parties met and were able to exchange information. After a few days' halt Mr. Daly continued his tour through Hsenwi territory, while the Möng Mit and Bhamo columns waited at Manton for supplies. Some villages which had been hostile were visited; and as a large body of Kachins and Palaungs was reported to have gathered at Lanchein, a few miles south of Manton, where Saw Yan Naing had stayed on his flight, two detachments were sent out to disperse them. Stockades had been built across the road and were stubbornly defended by the enemy. Here Major Forrest, in leading one of the detachments, was severely wounded. The village was taken and destroyed, while the troops returned to Manton.

It was now decided that the Möng Mit party under Major Greenaway, with Mr. Daniell as civil officer, should move south to Manpun, while the Bhamo column remained at Manton. On the way Mr. Daniell was met by the headmen of the villages between Manton and Manpun who had come to tender their submission to the British Government. They were told that if Saw Yan Naing was with them he must be given up, and fines were imposed on those groups or circles of villages which were known to have given the rebel leaders active help.

By the 25th of January all the headmen of the five hills or circles comprised in the south-western quarter of the Möng Mit State had made formal submission. On the 26th of January Mr. Hertz, who had marched from the south-east through Möng Löng with his military police, arrived in Manton. The rough country along the Taungbaing border had been entrusted to him to search—a duty he performed well, while as a by-work he constructed a very useful map of the ground. The Möng Mit column moved to Yabon, a village nearer to Möng Mit, and from its position a better base for operations. News was now received that Hkam Leng was in hiding in Sumput, a village north of the Shwèli. Major Greenaway, accompanied by Mr. Shaw, marched with a part of his force for Sumput by way of Molo, which ferry was reached on the 1st of February. Hkam Leng, however, had left Sumput, and Major Greenaway moved across the Shwèli to Kyungyaung.

Convinced by the experience of these operations that the mere movement of troops through the country was ineffectual, the Chief Commissioner decided to take rougher measures to bring home to the people of this tract the power of the Government, and to convince them that they could not support these disturbers of the peace with impunity. Orders were issued, therefore, to arrest and deport the headmen of the villages which aided and sheltered the two leaders. These orders reached Mr. Shaw at Kyungyaung and were executed at once. The headmen of twelve villages who had been most active were arrested and sent into Bhamo, and at the same time monthly fines were imposed on their villages. Similar measures were adopted under Mr. Daniell and Mr. Hertz's supervision in the circles which had befriended Saw Yan Naing. But in spite of the efforts of the civil and military officers, who spared neither themselves nor their men, the capture of Saw Yan Naing and Hkam Leng was not effected.