The Pacification of Burma

by C. H. T. Crosthwaite

The ex-Sawbwa of Kalè had a disturbing influence and endeavoured no doubt to persuade them to help him to regain his position. In the open season of 1887-8 a project for opening up the Chin country from the Bengal boundary in the west to the frontier of Burma proper on the east was started in India, prematurely so far as we were concerned. It was proposed that roads should be made through the hills, communications established, and the hill people subjugated. The phrase "from the Salween to the sea" was invented and had some effect.

On the Chin Hills—arranging a plan of attack.
Chin-Liushai Campaign.

In the winter of 1887 Captain Raikes with another officer went up the Myittha River and arranged a meeting with the Tashon chiefs. Sonpek, the principal man of the tribe, came down from the mountains and met Captain Raikes on the 3rd of January, 1888. He was courteous, even friendly in his manner, but guarded in his speech. His fears were excited by the close questioning (concerning the routes through his country eastward) to which he was subjected, so much so that he would hardly accept the presents offered to him by Captain Raikes. The meeting, however, ended in outward friendliness on both sides. No action was taken by the Government towards entering or approaching the Tashon country, and nothing indicated that the Chins had been seriously alarmed.

Other events followed which added to their uneasiness. Captain Raikes had visited Indin in March, 1887, and had found two persons in the ruling Sawbwa's service whose intrigues were causing trouble in the Kalè State. One was Maung Tok San, the other Maung Tha Dun, styled "Chingeh," or "Minister for the Chins." These two men were removed by Captain Raikes from Kalè and confined at Alôn. After some months they were released on security. They made use of their freedom to escape to the Chin Hills, where they joined the old Sawbwa who had preceded them, and helped him to excite the tribes.

It happened at the same time that part of the Pakokku district on the Lower Chindwin was very much disturbed. The guerilla leader, known as the Shwègyobyu Prince, had been able to collect a considerable following and to raise a small revolt (see Chapter VIII., pp. 84, 85). Expelled from the low country, he also sought safety with the Tashons. The arrival of a Burman Prince, whether genuine or pretender, did not matter, a man with a certain amount of prestige, a good deal of energy, and a bitter hatred of the foreigners, gave the Tashons heart, and they determined to take action. On the 4th and 5th of May a body of Sonpek's Tashons, numbering some hundreds, descended on Indin, made the Sawbwa prisoner, and took him to Chingaing (a village near the foot of the hills), where he had interviews with Sonpek and the Shwègyobyu Prince. He promised to join them in their resistance to the British, and on that condition was allowed to return to Indin. The Sawbwa, however, kept faith with us. Getting some men together, he sent them to attack the Shwègyobyu Prince in Chingaing, and despatched urgent messengers to the Deputy Commissioner (Mr. Ross) asking for assistance.

This sudden raid by the Chins on the Kalè State, and their readiness to assist a pretender like the Shwègyobyu Prince, had not been foreseen, and took the authorities by surprise. The messages received at headquarters were alarming. Eleven hundred Tashon Chins were reported to have surrounded Indin and carried off the Sawbwa. Several thousands were said to be on the warpath; five hundred had occupied Indin, three hundred were marching on Taungdwin, three hundred on Kalewa—all these of the Tashon tribe. Of the Siyins, five hundred were making for Kalemyo, six hundred threatening the Kabaw Valley, and so on. The numbers were obviously much exaggerated. Nevertheless, as the men on the spot thought the situation serious, measures of precaution had to be taken. A force under Major Gleig, consisting of 100 rifles, Cheshire Regiment, 250 Madras Infantry (15th) and two guns, were sent up the Chindwin River in steamers to Kalemyo. At the same time 150 Mounted Infantry (100 British, 50 Native), accompanied by Captain Eyre, the Deputy Commissioner of the district, were despatched from Pakokku, viâ Pauk and Gangaw, to take the raiders in the rear. A party of military police from the Kabaw Valley Battalion, with two guns, were moved down to Kalewa.

These dispositions sufficed to restore order for the time. Major Gleig's force disembarked at Indin on the 24th of May; Captain Eyre with the Mounted Infantry was at Chingaing, a few miles from Indin, on the 26th, the rifles and guns from the Kabaw Valley arrived at Kalemyo about the same date. The party, accompanied by Captain Eyre, marched up through the Yaw country without meeting with any opposition. They covered 152 miles in eight days and hoped to surprise the Shwègyobyu, who, with a mixed following of Burmans and Chins, had continued to hold Chingaing; but as soon as the alarm was given by his scouts he fired the village and escaped into the hills. The enemy were encountered only on one occasion. On the 17th of May a police officer making a night march with 60 rifles of the military police (Indians) was attacked by a body of men under Bo Saga, a noted dacoit leader. The men lately enrolled were unsteady and fell back, and the party retired, losing two men wounded. The officer reported that he had found the villages on his march deserted and that the insurgents were collecting men and arms. Several Burman villages had been burnt; men, women, and children had been killed, and many carried off into the hills. The measures taken may seem in the recital out of proportion to the danger. But it was by no means a false alarm.

The rains had now set in, and the Kalè and Yaw country in that season does not tempt the hill-men to raid. They returned to their mountains. The disturbances ceased almost as suddenly as they had begun. The troops returned to their quarters, a guard of military police being left at Indin to protect the Sawbwa.