Four years in Upper Burma

by W. R. Winston

“Complaints against the Burmese Government meanwhile multiplied, British subjects suffered insult and violence at the hands of local officials, and no redress could be obtained. Trade monopolies were created in defiance of the express terms of the Treaty of 1867. The disorganisation of Upper Burma infected with disorder the adjacent districts of the British province. Negotiations were carried on by the Burmese Government for the purpose of contracting close alliances with other European countries, to the studied neglect of England. These causes had contributed to make the situation very unsatisfactory to the British Government, but were not such as to demand active interference. A casus belli arose, however, out of a specific act of the Burmese Government, who raised a large claim, amounting to several lakhs of rupees, against the Bombay-Burma Trading Corporation, a company of merchants, mainly British subjects, who had a large business in Upper Burma. In view of the magnitude of the claim, and of the interests of British subjects involved, mediation was attempted by the British authorities in order to ensure an impartial investigation. The mediation was ignored; and the company, without being allowed reasonable opportunity for defending themselves, were condemned by the Burmese Council to be mulcted to the amount of 2,300,000 rupees. The British Government protested against this arbitrary act; and their demand to have the proceedings stayed until the matter had been referred to an arbitrator was peremptorily refused. It was on this refusal that the British Government decided to send to the King of Burma an ultimatum, which should be designed to adjust once for all the relations between the two countries. The ultimatum required the king not only to suspend proceedings against the corporation, and to receive an envoy with a view to the settlement of the matter at issue, but also for the future to permit the residence at Mandalay of a British agent, who should be treated with due respect. It was added, too, that the external relations of Burma should in future be regulated in accordance with the advice of the British Government, and that facilities should be given for opening up trade with China. This ultimatum was dispatched on October 22nd, 1885, and a satisfactory reply was demanded by November 10th. On November 9th the reply was received, containing an absolute refusal of the proposed terms. Moreover, on November 7th a proclamation had been issued by the King of Burma, calling on his subjects to rally round him, that he might annihilate these heretic foreigners, and conquer and annex their country. The ultimatum had thus led to war. The expeditionary force, already prepared, crossed the frontier on November 14th, and within a fortnight from that day Mandalay had been occupied by General Prendergast and his troops, and the king was a prisoner. The only serious resistance met with had been at Minhla.”

Such were the events leading up to the war. The demands of the British Government seem not unreasonable, but the stubborn folly of the King of Burma refused them. One cannot but regret that the resources of modern civilisation have as yet established no alternative in such a case of a petty Oriental monarch and a great power like England but an ultimatum and war. King Theebaw was such a ruler that it was in vain to think of reinstating him; no other likely ruler was to be found; annexation was the only way to meet the case. The king was removed to India with his family, his retinue, and his chief astrologer, and there he has been in gilded seclusion ever since. On January 1st, 1886, the proclamation was made that Upper Burma was annexed to our Eastern possessions, and the fact came home to the British mind that a large, valuable, interesting country was now open to British enterprise and incorporated with our Indian Empire.

To the Christian public of England the announcement of the annexation came as a call to duty in regard to the spread of the Gospel amongst a people who had long been suffering from a cruel and tyrannical ruler. From time immemorial the palace of the Burman rulers, chiefly owing to the general practice of polygamy on the part of the kings, and the consequent troops of queens and princes and princesses, has been the scene of much intrigue and corruption, and occasional bloodshed and revolution. Absolute monarchy is almost inseparable from occasional acts of cruelty and tyranny, even if just and kind in the main. But a weak ruler with an insecure title, like the last of the Burmese kings, cannot afford to be lenient, and is more likely to be cruel than a stronger man would be. The disorders of the reign of King Theebaw had made a deep impression on the English mind. He had gained the throne by a court intrigue, for he was not the rightful heir, so that he had to keep by force what he had got by fraud. The result was the massacre of about seventy of the royal family, who were put to death as possible rivals of the new king. That was in 1879, but a greater massacre occurred in 1884, when, owing to the intrigues of certain Burman officials, an attack was made upon the jails of Mandalay, and over three hundred persons were put to death, including some inoffensive princes.

As a very striking proof of the fact that the country was in a most wretched state, bordering on anarchy, by reason of misgovernment, extortion, bad trade and dacoity, it may be mentioned that in a few years no less than ten thousand people of Upper Burma had crossed the border and taken up their abode in British Burma, in order to escape oppression, and live in security under a more beneficent rule. The tide of population has since the annexation been flowing back to Upper Burma.

Naturally much interest was felt in England over the altered condition of things, and thousands of Englishmen, on seeing the news of the annexation, felt that no time should be lost in securing to the Upper Burmans the liberty of British subjects, and that security to person and property enjoyed by all who are under British rule; and many felt, above all things, that it was a call to give them the Gospel.

CHAPTER II.
THE JOURNEY TO MANDALAY.

It was in the month of January 1887 that I left Calcutta, in company with my old friend and former colleague, the Rev. J. Brown, of Calcutta, for Burma. We were on a prospecting expedition with a view to the establishment of a Mission in Upper Burma. On reaching Rangoon we were cordially received by the members of the American Baptist Mission, and spent a few days there. Rangoon is one of the most remarkable cities in the East for rapid growth and commercial prosperity. It was only after the second Burmese war in 1852-53 that it became British territory. Since then it has grown to be a city of 180,324 inhabitants. This population is by no means all Burman, but is largely English and Eurasian, Indian and Chinese. Its railways, steam tramways, public buildings, sawmills, ricemills, the shipping at anchor in the river, its banks, warehouses, public buildings and shops, at once proclaim it the busy capital of Burma, and in all probability a place destined to see a still greater and more prosperous future as the resources of the country develop.

After a day or two spent in Rangoon and a visit to Toungoo, we proceeded by rail to Prome, which is some 150 miles from Rangoon, and there we embarked on the Irrawaddy by one of the Irrawaddy Flotilla Company’s splendid river steamers for Mandalay. It was then a time of great demand for transport, on account of the military operations for the pacification of Upper Burma, so that there were, in addition to a large number of Burman and Indian passengers, many military men coming and going. On that occasion we had over a thousand passengers on board. Not long after leaving Prome we passed what was formerly the British frontier station and port of Thayetmyo. Henceforth the contrast between the trim neatness of the towns under British rule and those of the Upper country was sufficiently apparent; and for many a long day after, the frequent sound of the bugle, and after dark the challenge of the sentries, together with the very warlike state of the news, and the constant sight of soldiers and police, always fully armed, and of gangs of dacoits being brought in manacled, kept us in mind of the fact that we had come to a land where the security of life and property we were accustomed to was only in course of being established.