"His Golden-footed Majesty, Ruler of the Sea and Land, Lord of the Celestial Elephant and Master of many White Elephants, Owner of the Shekyah, or Indra's Weapon, Lord of the Earth and Air, Lord of the Power of Life and Death, and Great Chief of Righteousness.
"It is no wonder that he considers himself of great importance when he has all these titles applied to him, and many more besides. Some of them sound like burlesque, particularly the one that calls him ruler of the sea and land; he has no seaport of any kind whatever, and all his commerce with foreign countries must descend the Irrawaddy through British territory, or be carried overland to China.
"The government is a despotism of the most emphatic sort; the king has the power of life and death over all his subjects, and may order any one beheaded without the slightest reason, and at a moment's notice. It is said that in old times, whenever the court ceremonies were going on, if any person made the least mistake, even so much as taking a short step when he should have taken a long one, or vice versa, the king commanded him to be beheaded, and he was taken outside the building and decapitated instantly. They are not so bad as that in these latter days, though King Theebaw seems to be coming quite near the ancient mark.
"The form of government is about the worst that could be imagined; the king takes the revenue, or so much of it as reaches him, and spends it in any way he pleases, and when his pocket gets empty he makes a fresh collection. Some of the districts up the river are subject to frequent levies; the inhabitants have several times refused to pay, but it seems that they are dependent upon the lower country for their supply of salt, and whenever their taxes do not come promptly, the king prohibits the exportation of salt to them. This is sure to bring them to terms; but it is now rumored that they have found a mountain of salt there, and if so, they will be likely to declare themselves independent.
"My first interview with the king was a more ceremonious affair than subsequent ones, and there were many novel features connected with it. The audience was appointed for ten o'clock in the forenoon, and I was there promptly with my introducer; when we got to the palace we were told that we must wait till eleven o'clock, as his majesty was just then occupied with the royal astrologer, who had made some important discoveries in the positions of the stars. There was no help for it, and we waited; but in the mean time we had interviews with some of the ministers, and other persons attached to the court, so that the period of waiting was not altogether lost.
"Most of the ministers do not receive any salaries, but are supported by bribes and extortions. They try all cases that are appealed to them, and take ten per cent. of the amount involved as their compensation; it often happens that they take the whole money, and the winner of the case is told that he must be satisfied with the honor of defeating his adversary. The king pays his troops and officers in goods that he buys of the merchants, and if they wish to convert them into cash, they must sell at half price, or even less. In fact, the whole government is a system of bribery and corruption, and the wonder is that it has kept up so long.
THE ROYAL PALACE AT MANDALAY.
"The king rarely goes out of his palace, as he is constantly fearful that some ambitious relative will endeavor to supplant him if he leaves home even for a single hour. The royal palace covers about seventy acres of ground, and is surrounded by two walls, the inner wall being thirty feet from the outer one. The palace is a gaudy sort of building, with a great deal of carved woodwork around the eaves of its many roofs and stories, and having poles for bells and flags at every corner and angle. It looks better at a little distance than when close at hand, as it is not always kept in good repair; and since the king stays inside the most of the time, he can hardly be expected to know enough about the roofs and outer walls to give the proper orders concerning them. The gates of the palace are very strong, and made of beams of teak fastened together with iron bolts. They could not offer much resistance to artillery, or even to a keg of powder exploded against them, but could hold out for some time against anything that an ordinary force of Burmese could bring forward.