BURMAH. 



113 



solute monarchy. The King is advised by a 

 public council and by a privy council, the 

 members of both of which are appointed by 

 him. The capital, Mandalay, is a place of 

 about 60,000 inhabitants. Bhamo, at the 

 head of navigation on the Irrawaddy, has 

 about 2,500 inhabitants. Amarapoora has a 

 population of nearly 90,000. Though less fer- 

 tile than British Burinah, the country produces 

 rice, maize, wheat, pulse, indigo, cotton, and 

 tobacco, and many fruits, while the forests 

 yield a great variety of valuable timber. Iron 

 is found in large quantities, besides tin, copper, 

 plumbago, gold, silver, nitre, bismuth, jade, 

 and other minerals. The only mineral that is 

 worked to a large extent is petroleum. The 

 wells are a strict monopoly. The chief ex- 

 ports are petroleum, nitre, lacquer-ware, hides, 

 cutch, sesame seed and oil, cotton, sugar, grain, 



establish a rival route for British trade. The 

 more deeply France became involved by her 

 exertions and sacrifices in Indo-China, the 

 more the idea gained ground that it was neces- 

 sary to have a " cushion " between French and 

 British possessions in Asia. This idea was not 

 based on the supposition of danger to British 

 rule in India, as in the Afghan question, but 

 on the ground that the French and English 

 commercial systems differ so greatly that too 

 close a neighborhood would lead to friction 

 and disputes. Such a cushion would be formed 

 by a union of Siam and the Shan states, lying 

 between the French colonies and protectorates 

 and British Burmah united with Upper Bur- 

 mah. 



A treaty between Great Britain and Burmah 

 expired in 1877. The principal grievance of 

 the English against the King was that monopo- 



8TATE BARGE OP BURMAH, PROM A NATIVE DRAWING. 



jade, and tamarinds. The river-trade is mostly 

 in British hands. Oppression and heavy taxa- 

 tion cause a steady emigration into British 

 Burmah, which has received an accession of 

 340,000 inhabitants from Upper Burmah in 

 spite of the efforts of the Burmese Government 

 to stop the tide of emigration. 



The British Resident at Mandalay was with- 

 drawn in 1882 in consequence of a quarrel 

 with the Burmese Government. The King is 

 Thebaw, born in 1858, who, in order to render 

 his tenure secure, attempted to assassinate his 

 male relatives upon his accession in 1878. The 

 British in India desired to make of the in- 

 ternal disorders of Upper Burmah and the 

 vices and cruelties of the young King a pre- 

 text for annexing the territory in order to de- 

 velop a trade-route to southwestern China ex- 

 plored by Mr. Oolquhoun. There were four 

 claimants for the throne living in India, The- 

 baw's two brothers, the Nyoungyan and 

 Nyoungoke princes, and the Mingoon and 

 Mingoon Mi nth a princes. The efforts of the 

 French to open the Songkoi route to Yunnan 

 prompted the Indian authorities to seek to 

 VOL. xxv. 8 A 



lies of internal trade were granted to Chinese, 

 Parsees, and other foreigners, not Englishmen. 

 The steamboat traffic, the forest industry, and 

 other important monopolies of foreign com- 

 merce were in the possession of English com- 

 panies. The chief hindrance in the way of 

 concluding a new treaty with Thebaw after his 

 accession was the refusal of the Indian Gov- 

 ernment to allow the importation of arms into 

 Burmah. The new Mandalay Government re- 

 sisted the imperious demands of the English 

 Resident, and objected to his interference in 

 various internal concerns of the kingdom. He 

 finally took his departure on the ground that 

 the King refused to receive him in his boots, 

 as an equal, but expected him to put on slip- 

 pers in the antechamber. The rupture did not 

 lead to armed intervention and annexation, as 

 was desired by the local British authorities. 

 The English Government became involved in 

 difficulties elsewhere, and so was the less likely 

 to yield to pressure from Rangoon and Bom- 

 bay and begin another "little war." The 

 scheme of a railroad into China was discussed 

 before the public, and every fresh sign of weak- 



