BURMAH. 



93 



King did all that was in his power to aid it. Major 

 Sladen, in return, took several chieftains of Kachyens 

 and Shans with him to Kangoon, and tried to per- 

 suade them to place themselves under English rule. 

 But recently the commanders of the English steam- 

 ers which ply between Bangpon and Mandalay were 

 instructed to promise to subjects of the King of Bur- 

 mah favorable settlements in British Burmah, and 

 a gratuitous transport. The King believes that the 

 Queen of England is ignorant of this and of other 

 unjust measures taken by the Indian Government. 



The Anglo-Indian Government made all the 

 preparations necessary for carrying on a de- 

 cisive war. Troops already in British Burmah 

 were pushed forward to the frontier, and other 

 troops from India took their places. A com- 

 missariat officer went to look after the victu- 

 aling department ; doctors and apothecaries 

 were " called in" to Madras; heavy guns and 

 warlike stores were shipped, transport ordered, 

 and the men ready ; even the " general orders " 

 were supposed to be in print. All ranks were 

 strictly forbidden, under heavy penalties, to buy 

 or eat anything, especially fruit, from the Bur- 

 mese, except under medical supervision ; coun- 

 try liquors were on no account to be dealt in, 

 and for that reason the commissariat supply 

 would be largely increased if not unlimited, 

 etc. The commander-in-chief, Lord Napier, 

 was summoned to Simlah, to consult with Lord 

 Northbrook on the military measures advisa- 

 ble in the event of war being declared. 



The King of Burmah, on the other hand, 

 was also diligently arming, laying in warlike 

 stores, and collecting a force of about 40,000 

 undrilled and undisciplined men. He mounted 

 guns on his river steamers, and was building 

 forts to guard the approaches to Mandalay.' 

 The King, notwithstanding his being so shut 

 up within his palace, and being unable to mix 

 with the outer world, is believed to possess a 

 large amount of knowledge, and to be one of 

 the astutest princes of the East. 



On May nth the following telegraphic dis- 

 patch was sent to Indian, English, and Ameri- 

 can* newspapers: 



I had a long interview with his Majesty the King 

 of Burmah, yesterday. He is most anxious to settle 

 matters with the British and Chinese Governments 

 amicably. Lesetahee, the Chinese general, who is 

 supposed to have arrested Colonel Browne's ad- 

 vance on his march for territorial exploration, ar- 

 rived here three days ago, the bearer of dispatches 

 from the court of Peking. The King denies all com- 

 plicity in the failure of Colonel Browne's expedition, 

 a position which is confirmed by careful private in- 

 quiry. No serious difficulty is anticipated regarding 

 the Karennee question. The opinion which pre- 

 vails in the public mind with regard to the King's 

 ill-treatment of foreigners is quite unfounded. The 

 rumors regarding a concentration of troops toward 

 the frontiers are incorrect. Trade is depressed and 

 almost at a stand-still, pending a settlement of the 

 question in dispute. 



It was subsequently ascertained that the au- 

 thor of this dispatch was the American Colonel 

 "Wyndham, who, after living for several years 

 in British, India, and being for some time edi- 



* In the New York Herald the telegram is dated, " Man- 

 dalay, May 22d." 



tor of the Indian Charivari, went, in March, 

 1875, to Mandalay to offer his strategic ser- 

 vices to the King of Burmah. 



In May, Lieutenant Adamson was sent to 

 Mandalay, the capital of Burmah, to carry to 

 the Burmese court the official announcement 

 of the approach of the British envoy, Sir 

 Douglas Forsyth, who was charged with pre- 

 senting to the King of Burmah the British 

 ultimatum. Sir Douglas Forsyth arrived on 

 Burmese territory, at Menhla, on July 3d, and 

 was received with due honors by a deputation 

 of Burmese officials. On July 10th he reached 

 the capital. The first messages which were 

 exchanged between the British envoy and the 

 royal Government had particular reference to 

 the course of procedure to be adopted by the 

 mission when attending their first audience. 

 A member of the mission published the follow- 

 ing account of the first audience : 



Sir Douglas Forsyth had been expressly forbidden 

 to raise the question of taking off' the shoes on being 

 admitted to the palacej but he felt himself free to 

 insist upon some modification of the plan which 

 necessitates a barefooted promenade through dirt. 

 The route to the audience-hall lies up a flight of 

 steps, and through a colonnade which is not suffi- 

 ciently protected from the weather. At the time of 

 Colonel Yule's visit, the carpet in the palace was 

 sacred, and the mission had to seat themselves on 

 matting outside the sacred limits, after having walked 

 over the dirty fioor of the surface. After two days' 

 hard fighting and rejection of any attempt at com- 

 promise, Sir Douglas carried the point of having a 

 carpet laid down from the very foot of. the steps 

 where he took off his boots to the spot where he was 

 to sit. The first audience was given by the King 

 yesterday. It was entirely ceremonial. The envoy 

 and party, accompanied by an escort of Burmese 

 cavalry and infantry, left the residency at 7.30 A. M., 

 riding on elephants. A few minutes' ride trokthem 

 to the city gate, but they_ had to pursue a circuitous 

 course through the principal streets before they were 

 allowed at 8.50 to dismount at the outer gate of the 

 palace. The city is about a mile square, surrounded 

 by a brick wall about twenty feet in height, and 

 backed by an earth embankment, the most external 

 means of defense being a moat forty yards wide and 

 12 feet deep. The whole of the city, which is of re- 

 cent construction, is laid out in squares, and the 

 streets are of considerable breadth. The route by 

 which the envoy proceeded was lined with troops, 

 and swept and garnished, so that the sight was much 

 pleasanter than one expected. The troops were 

 little better than an armed rabble in fact the man 

 who drills them was a French sailor, and soldiering 

 is by no means their only vocation. They are called 

 upon to work in saw-mills, cotton-mills, iron-foun- 

 deries, or wherever else the King may require work 

 done. They sat at ease on the ground, resting their 

 muskets on forked sticks, in front of and behind the 

 procession itself, but standing up while it was in the 

 act of passing. 



The palace is surrounded in the first instance by 

 a high wooden palisading, in which are two or three 

 gates. The procession halted at the principal en- 

 trance, and while the British troops remained out- 

 side, Sir Douglas and the members of the mission, 

 accompanied by the officers of the escort, entered 

 the palace through two other gates. There is a col- 

 onnade of some twenty feet high, with pillars and 

 ceiling covered with gold-leaf. In the centre of 

 this, and facing the throne, which was at the end of 

 a hall leading out of the colonnade, were seated Sir 

 Douglas and his party, while the rest of the colon- 



