About this time I was able to carry out an intention I had formed of visiting Fort Stedman and meeting all the Shan chiefs and notables.
The distance from the nearest point in the plains to Fort Stedman was seventy miles, of which fifty-six were through the hills. The road was under construction, but in that state which made it worse travelling than the bullock-path it was meant to supersede.
The journey would take altogether about fourteen days, and it was not easy for me to get away from other business for so long a time. Nor was it possible always to summon the chiefs away from their headquarters.
The ride up through the hills was very beautiful, and the view from the range commanding the great lake of Inle was one of the finest I had seen in Burma.
Fort Stedman lies on the further or eastern shore of the lake, and after a long and hot ride we had to wait for a considerable time for the State boat of the Yawnghwè Sawbwa who was bringing Mr. Hildebrand across.
At the landing-place I found a guard of honour of the Shan levy under Captain Tonnochy, the Commandant, and at the village bazaar higher up all the chiefs had assembled to meet me. On the next day I held an informal reception of all the Sawbwas and other potentates.
A large hall, mostly of bamboo, had been constructed on the parade-ground, and in this, on the 19th of March, I received the chiefs. All the chiefs, with the exception of a few, were present. Many of them met me for the first time, and I learnt that to most of them also it was the first occasion of their meeting with their fellow-chiefs. They were presented to me in turn, and the Sawbwas of Möngnai and Yawnghwè, who it was considered had rendered services of some value to the British Government, received the medal and gold chain of honour given by the Viceroy for local services in Burma.
It was a notable assemblage. It was the first occasion on which all these potentates of various degrees, who had for years previously been fighting amongst themselves or rebelling against Burmese tyranny, had been brought together in peace and harmony under a strong rule. Each of them had made his formal submission to the Queen-Empress. Each had received a patent confirming him in his rights and position as head of his State. Each of them knew that the reign of peace had begun and that he was henceforth secure.
I reminded them that this was the work of the British power, and that it had been carried out without their assistance by the soldiers of the Queen-Empress and at the cost of her Government of India.