BURMAH. 



119 



into brigandage. Gen. Prendergast took his 

 forces, except those that were posted at Man- 

 dalay and in the garrisoned stations below, up 

 to Bhamo to overcome any military resistance 

 he might encounter there, and complete the 

 conquest of the country. Scarcely had he left 

 Mandalay, when plundering and incendiarism 

 became rife in the immediate neighborhood of 

 the capital. The King's soldiers, scattered 

 about the country, most of whom had been 

 allowed to take their arms away with them, 

 had no means of living except by robbery. A 

 decree was issued that no one should be per- 

 mitted to keep arms, the effect of which order 

 was to deprive the peaceful population of their 

 means of defense against robbers, while the 

 robbers themselves kept out of the way. 



Changes in the Administrative Arrangements. 

 Annexation was not definitely decided upon 

 until Lord Dufferin visited Mandalay, and 

 telegraphed to the home Government on Feb. 

 13, 1886, recommending that course. He ap- 

 pointed a commission to draw up a code of 

 laws for the new province, embodying such 

 parts of the India acts as were applicable to 

 Burmah. The penal and civil codes went into 

 force there on Feb. 26, 1886, the date of the 

 proclamation of the Queen-Empress, declaring 

 Upper Burmah, with the exception of the Shan 

 states, to be a part of British India. The ad- 

 ministration was taken out of 'the hands of the 

 Hlootdaw and intrusted to British officers in 

 the middle of February. Col. Sladen, who was 

 identified with the transitional policy of re- 

 taining the Burmese officials, was discharged 

 from his post when the complete incorpora- 

 tion of Burmah in the British Empire was de- 

 cided upon. He left on the 1st of April, and 

 Sir Charles Bernard assumed the direction of 

 the administration. A force of 4,000 Sikhs 

 and Goorkhas was brought from India to act 

 as a military police. Sir Charles Bernard at- 

 tempted to administer the country with Euro- 

 pean officials, but the civil administration was 

 a failure, because, having undertaken to defray 

 the expenses out of the revenue of the coun- 

 try, he employed inexperienced persons, whose 

 only recommendation was that they could 

 speak Burmese. In July four commissioners, 

 who were civil officers of large experience, 

 with a considerable number of subordinate 

 officials, were brought from India, enough to 

 constitute a full civil staff. The country was 

 divided into fourteen districts. 



The Subjugation of Bnrmah. In the early part 

 of January there were about 10,000 insurgents 

 in the vicinity of Mandalay. Flying columns 

 that were sent out from Thayetmyo and from 

 the occupied posts along the river were fired 

 upon from ambuscades in the jungle, and en- 

 countered bands of 1,000 or more in stockaded 

 villages, which were usually carried with 

 heavy losses among the defenders and but 

 slight losses on the British side, because the 

 European ammunition of the Burmese was 

 soon expended, and they were reduced to 



scanty supplies of the coarse gunpowder of 

 the country and slugs made from chopped-up 

 telegraph wire and similar material. The 

 Shans on the Siamese frontier raided the south- 

 eastern part of British Burmah under the lead 

 of a Buddhist priest. The British early adopt- 

 ed rigorous measures against guerrillas, shoot- 

 ing all who were taken prisoners. A colonel 

 made a practice of photographing the death- 

 agony in the faces of insurgents who fell into 

 his hands, but was afterward tried and con- 

 demned to military punishment for his inhu- 

 manity. The military authorities made ar- 

 rangements, after the conclusion of the expe- 

 dition, to send a large part of the forces back to 

 India; but, instead of reducing the army of 

 occupation, they soon sent for cavalry re- en- 

 forcements. The rebels were so determined 

 in the national cause that, even when without 

 ammunition, they still attacked British posts 

 within a few miles of Mandalay with only their 

 dahs, or short swords. By July there were 

 30,000 troops and military police in Upper 

 Burmah, yet in most districts British authority 

 did not extend beyond rifle-shot from their 

 fortified posts. In the occupied cities anarchy 

 and confusion prevailed, and secret hostility 

 to the conquerors made itself felt in many 

 ways. The forces in British Burmah were 

 likewise re-enforced ; but that country was 

 also a prey to anarchy and rebellion. The 

 lower province, which had been under British 

 administration for forty and some parts of it 

 for sixty years, was ravaged by bands of guerril- 

 las, who burned villages, murdered Europeans, 

 and attacked the forces that were sent against 

 them. A rebellion in the province of Tenas- 

 serim was suppressed by the aid of American 

 missionaries who led the Christian Karens to 

 battle against the insurgents. The indiscrimi- 

 nate executions that the British resorted to 

 for the purpose of intimidation only rendered 

 the resistance of the people more general and 

 more determined. The summary trials before 

 officers who were not legally qualified to act 

 as judges, the denial of the right of appeal in 

 criminal cases, and other arbitrary treatment 

 to which all classes were subjected, in Manda- 

 lay as well as in more disordered places, en- 

 gendered a universal feeling of discontent. 



Lord Dufferin issued a proclamation of am- 

 nesty. Many of the insurgents availed them- 

 selves of its terms. Among these was the 

 brother of Boshway, yet after his surrender he 

 was tried and condemned to penal servitude 

 for life. Boshway himself offered to give him- 

 self up if his life were spared, but his offer 

 was refused. He then gathered a much larger 

 force and for months a whole brigade was en- 

 gaged in keeping him in check. Lord Dufferin 

 was strongly opposed to the slaughter of the 

 inhabitants by scouting parties and the inces- 

 sant executions ordered by the civil magis- 

 trates. But his orders on the subject were 

 disregarded by the inexperienced officers and 

 youthful magistrates, who, without legal expe- 



