INDIA. 



437 



race and are Mohammedans in religion. When 

 a large force of Khyber mountaineers, under 

 Maj. Adam Khan, were sent against the Aka- 

 .nd proved a match for them in guerilla 

 s, they made their submission and paid 

 the fine after their principal villages had been 

 burned. The Hassenzais promised to pay the 

 fine. The Chagarzais remained neutral, but it 

 was decided to compel them to make submis- 

 sion, which they did before the end of Octo- 

 ber. One of the columns advanced to Thakot 

 on the Indus in the extreme north, and from 

 that point invaded the Allaiwal country. The 

 Pararis and the Allaiwals held out till early 

 in November, and when they offered their sub- 

 mission the expedition returned to ludia. 



Burmah. The troops in Upper Burmah num- 

 bered 27.859 in February, 1837. when the ar- 

 my of occupation was larger than at any pre- 

 vious time. It was composed of 6.781 British 

 and 21.078 Indian troops. At the end of 1887 

 the force had been reduced to 3.791 British 

 and 14,275 natives, making a total of 18,066. 

 The extra army charges were 6,050.000 rupees 

 in ISSo-'S'?. 11,600,000 rupees in 1886-'87, 

 and 13.500,000 rupees in 1887-'88, making a 

 total of 31.150,000 rupees up to March 31, 1888. 

 The Indian Government, which formerly drew 

 a large revenue from Bnrmah, but has been 

 compelled to spend still greater sums annually 

 on the pacification of the country since the 

 conquest of Upper Burmah, pursues a policy 

 that is calculated to exterminate the Burmese 

 race, in order that their fertile country may 

 be peopled by servile Indian ryots. The opium 

 vice, which is singularly fatal to The Burmese, 

 was forced upon them for the benefit of the 

 Indian revenue, against the protests of the re- 

 spectable part of the community, and the traffic 

 in strong drink has been encouraged for the 

 same purpose. The hatred that the conquerors 

 provoked by suppressing the Buddhist dynasty 

 was almost as strong in Lower Burmah. where 

 the people had been peaceful and orderly for 

 half a century, as in the newly annexed prov- 

 ince ; yet. instead of trying to allay this feel- 

 ing and winning respect by a just and benefi- 

 cent rule, the British took the course most 

 likely to fan disaffection into rebellion. Raw 

 and ignorant, corrupt and brutal administra- 

 f the Indian civil service, were 

 placed over the country, who attempted to 

 practice on the high-spirited Burmese the in- 

 solent tyranny to which abject Indian races 

 are accustomed to bow their necks. A mili- 

 tary police recruited from the treacherous and 

 bloodthirsty tribes of northern India was let 

 loose on the country. These Indians mutinied 

 against their English officers, who attempted 

 to restrain their depredations, and practiced 

 on the unarmed inhabitants various forms of 

 violence, oppression, and pillage. The policy 

 of disarming the Burmese had left the indus- 

 trious and honest a prey to the robbers. They 

 asked to have a police force raised in the coun- 

 try, and felt it to be the harshest of their ills 



that the English, whom they looked upon as 

 their equals in intelligence and civilization, 

 sent a horde of ferocious savages to trample 

 upon them. The military police, in March, 

 1888. consisted mainly of Punjabees. and num- 

 bered 20.000 men. Dacoity. aa rebellion was 

 officially called, in order that the bold and 

 patriotic who took up arms against the op- 

 rs might be destroyed without quarter, 

 spread from Upper to Lower Burmah. After 

 the effective campaign of 1887 the chief rebel 

 leaders had all been killed or driven out of the 

 valley of the Irra \vaddy into the outlyh.. 

 gions where English rule had not yet been 

 established. Yet oppression drove others to 

 revolt, and new bands sprang up which carried 

 on their guerilla operations secretly, returning 

 to their fields after tearing up the railroad or 

 attacking a police station, or plundering the 

 friends of the invaders. When discovered they 

 took up their abode in the forest, and levied 

 tribute on the villagers for their support. -In 

 order to combat the evil without the expense 

 of hunting the dakoits the Government adopted 

 the punitive police tax, a measure that soon 

 reduced prosperous communities to starvation. 

 Wherever rebellion and disorder existed the 

 villagers, taxed already by the dakoits, are 

 compelled to pay heavy exemplary taxes to 

 the Government, or often to corrupt officials 

 who use the measure as a means of extortion. 

 The English officials have no restraints on 

 their actions but their sense of duty, since the 

 judicial evidence of natives against them is not 

 admitted. An English civil officer named 

 Powell, after two villagers who had committed 

 no legal offense had been killed by his orders 

 and their brother-in-law bound, was shot by 

 the father, and Mr. Hildebrand, superintend"- 

 ent of the Shan states, after a thorough inves- 

 tigation, decided that the man was justified in 

 avenging the butchery of his sons and attempt- 

 ing to rescue his son-in-law. When the In- 

 dian police had scourged the country only to 

 produce disorder, a small Burmese force was 

 tried, on the recommendation of Sir Fred- 

 erick Roberts, with good results. 



The revenue of Lower Burmah for the year 

 1886-'87 was 30,134,790 rupees, an increas'e of 

 4,000,000 rupees over the receipts of the pre- 

 vious year ; and the cost of civil administra- 

 tion was 15.656.940 rupees, leaving a surplus 

 for military expenditures and expenses of the 

 Indian Government of 14.477.850 rupees. The 

 increase of revenue was obtained by raising 

 the salt duty and imposing an income-tax. The 

 province of Upper Burmah yielded a revenue 

 of about 5.200.000 rupees, while the military 

 and police expenditure amounted to 20,000,000 

 rupees. The railroad between Tonnghoo and 

 Mandalay, 220 miles in length, was completed 

 in 1888, and a section of 59 miles, reaching to 

 Pyinmana, was opened in the summer. The 

 creditors of King Thebaw and Queen Soopya- 

 lat, 393 in number, among them three Ameri- 

 cans, presented claims for ninety-eight lakhs. 



