118 



BURMAH. 



time was not given for deliberation over such 

 important matters. Now, for the sake of peace 

 and the maintenance of friendly intercourse 

 between the two countries, he was willing to 

 grant all the demands contained in the ulti- 

 matum. Gen. Prendergast replied, demanding 

 the unconditional surrender of the King, with 

 his capital and flotilla, and the disbandment of 

 his army. The steamer that brought the barge 

 was captured. 



No reply having been received, the squadron 

 prepared to attack the Ava forts, and steamed 

 up the river on the 27th. The channel was 

 blocked below the forts by a sunken steamer 

 and a line of boats. These obstacles could be 

 passed, but at Ava the channel was effectually 

 obstructed. They were about to open fire on 

 the lower redoubt when the envoys returned 

 with the King's answer acceding to all de- 

 mands. The Burmese commander refused to 

 surrender the forts until he received orders 

 from the King by telegraph. The position was 

 very strong. It could not have been taken 

 without heavy losses, and could not have been 

 carried at all by the plan of attack decided 

 upon, through ignorance of the country. When 

 the British landed, the troops, 2,000 in num- 

 ber, were laying down their arms. Many were 

 armed with Martini rifles. The rifles and 28 

 guns were placed on board the fleet, the forts 

 and batteries dismantled, and 46 guns de- 

 stroyed. After having found a passage through 

 the obstructions in the river, the flotilla as- 

 cended to Mandalay. 



Col. Sladen, the civil officer of the expedi- 

 tion, sent a letter to Kinwoon Mengyee, calling 

 on the King to come on board the flag-ship, ac- 

 cording to the terms of the surrender ; but he 

 would not venture to leave the palace, fearing 

 assassination. No answer being received, the 

 troops landed on the 28th and marched in three 

 columns to the city. Col. Sladen entered the 

 palace, and to him the King surrendered, but 

 obtained a promise that he should not be dis- 

 turbed in his palace that night, and that the 

 women might go in and out. A strong guard 

 of British soldiers was placed around the in- 

 closure; but, as orders had been given that 

 women shoi^ld pass freely through the Queen's 

 gate, several hundred women from the town 

 entered and carried off a large part of the valu- 

 able property. Col. Sladn interfered to save 

 the crown-jewels. 



The King was subjected to much indignity 

 in his removal to the steamer, being obliged 

 with his invalid Queen to walk some distance, 

 and then paraded through the town in a cart 

 drawn by oxen. This scene was productive of 

 demoralization and anarchy, and during the 

 following night, no precautions being taken to 

 guard the town, there were serious riots, the 

 sepoys were attacked, many people were killed, 

 and amid the disorder people were robbed, 

 among them the royal princesses, and houses 

 were pillaged. These acts were all attributed 

 to Burmese rioters and dakoits. The next day 



five regiments and a battery of artillery were 

 garrisoned in the town. 



The King was deserted by his ministers at 

 the approach of the British. They had already 

 made up their minds to a British occupation, 

 and were willing to accept a new King under 

 a British protectorate as a relief from the 

 weakness of Thebaw and the tyranny and ex- 

 travagance of the Queen. If the high officials 

 had not conspired to frustrate the arrange*- 

 ments for the defetfse of the river, the British 

 could never have conquered the country with- 

 out the simultaneous advance of an army by 

 the land route. The ministers now welcomed 

 the invaders and placed their services at their 

 disposal. 



The King, with his two queens and the 

 queen-mother, were conveyed on a steamer, 

 guarded by the naval brigade, down to Ran- 

 goon, and thence to Calcutta. He was accom- 

 panied by 73 officials, among them Kinwoon, 

 the senior minister, whose departure took 

 place without the knowledge of Gen. Prender- 

 gast, and was exceedingly inconvenient, as he 

 was the man best qualified to aid the British 

 authorities in establishing order. 



The Civil Administration. The task of reor- 

 ganizing the machinery of civil government 

 devolved upon the chief political officer, Col. 

 Sladen. Because the military expedition had 

 met with so little opposition from the inhabit- 

 ants, it was supposed that the country would 

 settle down quietly under British rule, if the 

 officials were retained in office, and carried on 

 their functions the same as before. It was 

 decided to continue the Hlootdaw in power, 

 composed of the same members as before, 

 with the addition of Col. Sladen, who took the 

 presidency. The chief place in the actual ad- 

 ministration was given to Tinedah, because he 

 had exercised the same powers under Thebaw, 

 and because he had been the most powerful 

 and inveterate enemy of the British, and there- 

 fore the most important man to be propitiated. 

 So long as they expected that the native sys- 

 tem of government would be preserved, and 

 that another prince of the Alaungpra dynasty 

 would be set on the throne, they served the 

 English loyally. The merchants of Rangoon 

 and the official class in India raised an inter- 

 ested clamor against a simple protectorate, and 

 objected especially to Tinedah, and induced 

 Mr. Bernard, on his arrival, to remove him, 

 although he effectively held in check the ele- 

 ments of rebellion and disorder. When the 

 officials saw that the national institutions were 

 to be subverted, they secretly encouraged and 

 aided the general revolt. Village feuds have 

 always been common among the Burmese, and 

 unusually so after the demoralization and dis- 

 organization of society resulting from- the 

 British annexation of Pegu. The prevalence 

 of bribery under the last two kings enabled 

 the leaders of bands of village raiders to pur- 

 chase immunity. They thus became habituated 

 to lawlessness, and their reprisals degenerated 



