100 



BUEMAH. 



and the King was notified that they would be 

 received in England at court, but that he must 

 apply to Calcutta if he wanted any new treaty. 

 The embassy visited Rome, as the year before 

 an Italian naval officer had concluded in 

 Mandalay a commercial treaty between Italy 

 and Burraah. In England they visited all the 

 centers of trade and manufactures. On Jan- 

 uary 24, 1873, a commercial treaty was con- 

 cluded at Paris between Burmah and France, 

 which if literally carried out would have se- 

 cured to France a commercial ascendancy in 

 Burmah, at which it had aimed since 1857. It 

 was however found out that the ambassador 

 who had signed the treaty as first plenipoten- 

 tiary held in Burmah only the rank of secre- 

 tary, and the whole treaty turned out to be 

 valueless. Other embassies were sent in 1874 

 to France and Italy, in 1875 to Calcutta, in 

 1876 to Spain, and in 1877 to Persia. Thus 

 Burmah became better known in Europe, but 

 its internal progress was not promoted. The 

 King did not try, like the ruler of Japan, to 

 secure with the aid of the ambassadors of for- 

 eign powers the services of distinguished for- 

 eigners; but the foreigners who were appoint- 

 ed were mostly adventurers. 



The relations between the English and Bur- 

 mese Governments began more than a hundred 

 years ago. At that time Burmah extended to 

 the sea ; Assam and the valley of the middle 

 Brahmapootra were subjected to its rule, and 

 even from the Ganges tribute was sometimes 

 offered. In 1757 Burmah allowed the estab- 

 lishment of an English factory on the coast ; 

 but, though it yielded on this and several other 

 occasions, as a general rule it insulted and 

 even plotted against the life of the ambassa- 

 dors of British India. Not even the cam- 

 paign of 1823 to 1826, by which Burmah lost 

 two coast provinces, Aracan in the north and 

 Tenasserim in the south, led to the establishment 

 of regular diplomatic intercourse; and at times 

 the life of the English Resident at Mandalay 

 was endangered to such a degree that the po- 

 sition remained unfilled for years. The cam- 

 paign of 1852, which was made necessary by 

 continued provocations on the part of Burmah,' 

 proved again the superior power of England, 

 cost Burmah its last coast province, Pegu, and 

 led to a change of rulers. The new King, 

 Mendone Meng, continued however to exhibit 

 the same overbearing arrogance toward the 

 British, and even the annexation of Pegu to 

 British India has not been recognized by Bur- 

 mah up to the present day. The first treaty 

 of commerce and amity between Burmah and 

 Great Britain was concluded in November, 

 1862. On October 25, 1867, permission was 

 given to Great Britain to appoint a diplomatic 

 agent at Bhamo. It was agreed to appoint, 

 1 for conflicts between English and Burmese 

 subjects, a mixed court in which English agents 

 were to preside. The capital of the country, 

 Mandalay, was connected by electric telegraph 

 with British India. On the other hand, the 



traditional mistrust against foreigners contin- 

 ued to manifest itself on many occasions. The 

 Indian steamers were at first altogether for- 

 bidden to go up the Irrawaddy beyond Manda- 

 lay, and even now a steamer is allowed to as- 

 cend as far as Bhamo only once a month. No 

 permission is given to establish a telegraph 

 bureau outside of the royal palace. No con- 

 cession was made in the " shoe question," or 

 in the demand that an English ambassador 

 shall approach the King barefooted. In 1875 

 Sir D. Forsyth was reluctantly allowed to step 

 on a carpet instead of the bare floor. Subse- 

 quently the late King intended to draw a gauze 

 curtain between himself and the foreigners, in 

 case the latter should insist on not putting otf 

 their shoes. In August, 1878, the King is re- 

 ported to have received the new British Resi- 

 dent, Mr. Shaw, in shoes, but no definite ar- 

 rangement was made with regard to the sub- 

 ject. 



In the last days of his final illness (1878) 

 King Mendone named as his successor one of 

 his oldest sons, the Nyoung Yan Prince, a 

 great favorite in the palace, and much liked 

 by all the British visitors in Mandalay. The 

 daughter of the chief Queen, however, was en- 

 gaged to be married to Thebaw, the youngest 

 son, about twenty-one years old, and the 

 " Queen of the South " forthwith resolved 

 that her future son-in-law should succeed. 

 She bought over the ministers. The Men- 

 done's death was kept a secret until the plans 

 were matured, and a strong following secured 

 for Thebaw. The Nyoung Yan and his bro- 

 ther, the Nyoung Oke, got wind of what was 

 going on, and, to escape assassination, took 

 refuge at the British Residency. This settled 

 the matter, and Thebaw ascended the throne 

 without bloodshed, a thing unknown in the 

 previous history of Burmah. But all his bro- 

 thers were thrown into prison, with their 

 wives and children, as a precautionary meas- 

 ure. The young King, with the assistance of 

 the Kin-woon-Mingyee, or Prime Minister, 

 who has twice been to Europe on embassies, 

 then formed a ministry. At first all seemed 

 to be going well. All the monopolies institut- 

 ed by the late King were abolished ; the strict 

 observance of the treaty with the British Gov- 

 ernment was promised, and hopes of a solution 

 of the " shoe question " were held out. Un- 

 fortunately, however, the presence of the 

 Nyoung Yan at the British Residency unset- 

 tled the King's mind. The constant suspense 

 in which he had been kept, coupled with the 

 sudden release from the monastic restraint to 

 which he had been accustomed, drove the 

 young King to drink ; and he very soon 

 showed sighs of the hereditary madness of his 

 family. His fears continued to gain upon him 

 as one after another of the princes pined away 

 and died in the frightful underground prisons 

 of the palace, loathsome with the filth never 

 removed since these dens were constructed 

 years ago. Fear of British intervention alone 



