The Pacification of Burma

by C. H. T. Crosthwaite

Leaving Laikha on the 30th of January, three marches brought the column to Möngkung, a State blessed with very fertile soil and good streams. But here also local dissension and Burman interference had brought ruin. On the death of the chief (designated Myoza), one Hkun Saing was able by bribery or intrigue to procure an order from Mandalay giving him the succession. The people, however, clung to the rightful heir, the son of the deceased Myoza, a boy of ten or twelve. Hkun Sang persuaded the neighbouring State of Möngnawng to take his part. Kehsi Mansam took the boy's side. Nearly every village in both States was burnt, and the able-bodied men were too absorbed in the fight to till the soil. Ruin and famine followed in the track of the fighting, which did not cease until our troops arrived on the Shan plateau. The only villages to which any prosperity remained were those in the hills inhabited by tribes of a Karen origin who held aloof from Shan politics. At Möngkung the minor chief of Möngsang and Mönghsu came to see the Superintendent. Here also news came that Mr. Daly with the Northern Column had reached Hsenwi and had received from San Ton Hon a promise that he would come to Möngyai. This hopeful information regarding San Ton Hon enabled the Superintendent to issue a proclamation in Shan to the monks, headmen, and elders of Hsenwi, assuring them that a settlement of their affairs would certainly be made and ordering them to attend at Möngyai.

From Möngkung to Kehsi Mansam was four marches through a country marked by the ravages of war. Nevertheless the Myoza, "an undersized, insignificant-looking creature, addicted to the use of opium," was not too depressed to come out fifteen miles to meet the column, which he played into the town with a band of local musicians and dancers leading the way.

Matters relating to some minor States were discussed at Kehsi Mansam, and the peaceful settlement of Hsenwi seemed not distant. But it was sanguine to expect that people who had been engaged in petty wars for years would take suddenly to the ways of peace. The lion does not all at once lie down with the lamb, nor it might be said more appropriately does the jackal make peace with the wild dog. Two days after the arrival of the column at Kehsi Mansam it was reported that an attack had been made on Möngyai and San Ton Hon's deputy driven out. The men who headed this adventure were nephews of the Pa-ôk-Chok and gave out that they were acting for that personage with the Superintendent's approval. As the Pa-ôk-Chok and Naw Möng had accompanied the force ever since it marched from Möngnai, it was feared that this story might seem probable to San Ton Hon and might prevent him from coming to Möngyai. Letters, therefore, were sent to reassure him and to explain that the expulsion of his man from Möngyai would not influence the decision of the Superintendent.

From Kehsi Mansam, passing through the Alelet or Central Division of Hsenwi, the column reached Möngyai on the 15th of February, 1888. Mr. Daly, with the Northern Column, joined Mr. Hildebrand on the 1st of March. Kun San Ton Hon came with him. Meanwhile all the headmen of various denominations, uncouth to English ears, Myozas, Heins, Seins, Ta Möngs, and Kin Möngs, had collected in obedience to the Superintendent's summons, and were busy no doubt in discussing the situation and the best methods of settlement and comparing the present condition of the State broken up into petty divisions, none of them powerful enough for self-defence, with the comparative order which had prevailed when it was under its hereditary Sawbwas, who could show an unbroken succession for two hundred years.

On the 1st of March, when San Ton Hon arrived with Mr. Daly, all the Hsenwi claimants were assembled at Möngyai. Naw Möng—representing his father, Naw Hpa, who was a refugee with the Kachins in the north; Sang Aw, the Pa-ôk-Chok, who claimed the Central Division; and San Ton Hon, who claimed the whole State. Naw Hpa was pronounced on all sides to be too old and infirm to rule. Naw Möng claimed as his heir and representative the whole of Hsenwi, excepting some of the southern subdivisions, which had been given independence in the King's time. His attitude was most reasonable. He confessed his obligations to the British Government. Unless they had occupied Mandalay and removed Thebaw, he and his sister would have been lying still in hopeless imprisonment. He was ready to bow to the Superintendent's decision, whatever it might be. The Pa-ôk-Chok was even more accommodating. He was an old worn man whose only title to be considered in the matter was that he had preserved the peace in the Central Division at a critical time. He would be quite content if he were permitted to administer Möngyai. San Ton Hon, who had no rightful title to any part of Hsenwi, not unnaturally laid claim to all the country that was or had been known by that name. On reflection, however, he adopted an attitude of greater humility and declared his willingness to abide by the decision of the Superintendent.

The points to which the Superintendent's inquiry should be directed had been laid down by the Chief Commissioner in the instructions given him. Amongst other points, such as the history of the several claimants, their sources of influence and their ability and power to govern, the Chief Commissioner had laid stress on the real wishes of the people of Hsenwi as a whole or of such parts of it as should be separately considered. "You should then," he wrote, "pending a full reference to the Chief Commissioner, make such arrangements for the administration of Theinni [Hsenwi] as you deem most fitting, bearing in mind that the great object to be attained is peace in the country. You must not be guided either in your provisional arrangements or in your recommendations solely by considerations of abstract right or abstract justice. You must give great weight to considerations of expediency and keep prominently before your mind that Theinni [Hsenwi] must have strong permanent Government in order to ensure peace and prosperity; and that the chief or chiefs must be both friendly to the British Government and ready and able to give proof of friendship by prompt and powerful action should such be necessary." The question whether the policy should be to unite the country into one large State, or to recognize the divisions into which it had been broken up, was left to Mr. Hildebrand's discretion, but an inclination in favour of the large State was indicated.

It was decided to hold a conference of all the persons interested in this matter and to ascertain, so far as might be possible, the views and wishes of the people. A large (Mandat or) temporary hall was constructed by the Pa-ôk-Chok for the assemblage. On the date fixed, the 3rd of March, 1888, "about fifty headmen of circles, many superiors of monasteries, monks, sidesmen, almoners, and village elders were assembled, while outside gathered great numbers of the common people from all parts of the country. There were also present beside the claimants, representatives of all the chief Southern States and of Hsipaw." In fact, it was an assemblage of all the estates of the realm in the Shan country—the Lords Temporal, the Lords Spiritual, and the Commons. They had come together to assist in deciding by whom and how the Hsenwi territory should be governed. And they had come at the call of a Government which had taken a visible form in the Shan country only a year before, which only two years previously had displaced the King of Burma to whom the Shans had been subject for centuries, and which was still fighting in Burma proper against the adherents of the King. It was certainly an achievement not easily matched in the history of conquests or annexations, and showed the confidence in our power and our justice which a very short experience had been able to create.

It was not a mere show; the people had not assembled themselves to register a foregone decision. The Superintendent was making an honest attempt to ascertain the wishes of all classes. The machinery was rude. But it was quite as likely to succeed in its object as the elaborate devices of advanced democracies which give free play to the arts of false-tongued demagogues and afford them every opportunity of bamboozling electors, most of whom are more ignorant of the issues than the Shans who assembled at Möngyai.

The method adopted for taking the votes was to call upon each head of a circle to record his opinion, and then to take the opinion of the assembly. The first question put was whether Hsenwi should be reunited or whether it should remain divided, and if divided, into how many parts. The opinion against reunion into one State was manifested unmistakably. On the second point there was much discussion, but the result showed a balance, and a large balance, of opinion in favour of two States, North and South. The great majority, when the question of the rulers to be appointed was put, gave the North to San Ton Hon, and the South to Naw Möng. The Pa-ôk-Chok did not press his claim. "On the whole," the report says, "considerable intelligence and a shrewd appreciation of the novel idea of an open election were displayed, and a member of the outside crowd created some amusement by his vigorous championing of San Ton Hon. This unexpected interlude had a very good effect in putting most of the headmen at their ease and in persuading the entire assemblage that the election was a perfectly open matter, and that any one present might give his opinion and his reasons for holding it." The Shans were evidently a primitive people in election matters at least, and had to learn the art of breaking up meetings and silencing opponents.

After electing the Sawbwas of Northern and Southern Hsenwi, the boundary to be fixed between the two divisions was discussed and settled with the acquiescence of San Ton Hon and Naw Möng, but against the views of some of the latter's people, who thought that Southern Hsenwi was shorn of some territory which ought to belong to it.