120 



BURMAH. 



rience, had the power of life and death placed 

 in their hands. The scandals in the adminis- 

 tration of justice partly ceased after complaints 

 had been raised in the British Parliament. 

 From the 1st of September trials resulting in 

 sentences of death or transportation could be 

 reviewed by the newly appointed commission- 

 ers and sub-commissioners. 



With the re-enforcements that came before 

 the rains flooded the country, and with the 

 native police drawn from the Christian Ka- 

 rens, employes of the Bombay company, and 

 such peasants as would take English pay, the 

 British established many posts away from the 

 river, instead of merely scouring the country 

 with flying columns, shooting at long range 

 every native carrying a dab or a stick. The 

 levies that were brought from the Punjaub to 

 aid in the work of pacification mutinied when 

 their officers tried to restrain their cruel and 

 predatory instincts, and killed, pillaged, and 

 destroyed more ruthlessly than the wor^t of 

 the dakoits. In the height of the rainy season 

 sickness so prevailed among the troops that 

 some of the posts previously occupied were 

 abandoned. On August 16, through the neg- 

 lect of the civil authorities to keep the em- 

 bankment in order, the water broke through 

 at Mandalay, inundating an area five miles 

 long and two wide, embracing the chief com- 

 mercial district of the town, and causing a 

 great loss of life and property, and subsequent 

 sickness and distress. The Burmese officials 

 and the traders had warned the chief commis- 

 sioner of the dangerous condition of the em- 

 bankment, but no attention was given to their 

 admonitions. 



The Rebel Leaders. The first of the princes of 

 the dynasty who was able to collect a rebel 

 array was the Myentzein prince, son of the 

 War Prince, who conducted his operations from 

 the Shan hills, that reach within seven miles of 

 Mandalay, and received aid and protection, 

 when hard pressed, from the Shan prince of 

 Thebaw. The prince himself was a minor, 

 but two of his uncles commanded his forces 

 and conducted his affairs. He was for a long 

 time the most important adversary of the 

 British. All the principal insurgent leaders 

 embraced his cause. From the time that he 

 took the field until the summer rains rendered 

 operations againt him impossible, he occupied 

 the country between Toungo and Mandalay, 

 and was allowed to fly the peacock-flag almost 

 within sight of the capital. His sway extend- 

 ed over the Kyonksei district, reaching from 

 Mandalay to the Sittang river, and down the 

 Sittang valley. The death of the Myentzein 

 prince, which occurred from fever in August, 

 deprived the forces that had raised his banner 

 of their coherence. But a partisan leader had 

 appeared who proved a more formidable ene- 

 my to the invaders. This was a peasant named 

 Boshway, who held the entire country from 

 Irrawaddy westward to the boundary of Aracan. 

 Burmese Woous led the insurgents in the 



Chindwin district. Hla-Oo and Min-Oo, two 

 bandit chieftains who combined patriotism with 

 robbery, ravaged the Sagaing district, farther 

 north." The Moatsobo district, north of Sa- 

 gaing, was disturbed by irregular bands, re-en- 

 forced by Kachyens from the north. The 

 Kachyen country was left alone by the British 

 after the mountaineers had routed a strong 

 column that was sent to punish one of their 

 chiefs about the 1st of June. No attempt was 

 made to conquer the Shan tribes, whose coun- 

 try extends along the eastern bank of the Irra- 

 waddy, from Bhamo to below Mandalay, until 

 after the rainy season. The Shans showed no 

 disposition to accept the favorable offers made 

 to them, but evinced great repugnance to the 

 strangers, and were the most troublesome ene- 

 mies the British had to deal with. They 

 raided the Mandalay plain, carried off officials, 

 and burned villages. To stop these forays the 

 authorities forbade the export of salt and pro- 

 visions to the Shan states, but they retaliated 

 by destroying a considerable town. The My- 

 entzein prince would not have been able to 

 maintain himself so long without the assist- 

 ance of the Shans. They gave succor and 

 shelter also to a later Alaungpra pretender, 

 the Limbiu prince. The country south of 

 Mandalay as far as Myingzan was brought un- 

 der British rule so thoroughly that by Sep- 

 tember the telegraph was again working and 

 the armed police were able to maintain order. 

 The Pagan district, which in the earlier period 

 of the occupation was exceedingly disordered, 

 was gradually cleared of all considerable bodies 

 of insurgents. Between it and the old Brit- 

 ish frontier dakoit bands still made trouble. 

 To the southeast of Mandalay the country 

 that had owned the rule of the Myentzein 

 prince was still held by his now disorganized 

 forces. Farther south, the Yemethen district 

 was occupied by the Kyumendine prince, the 

 most considerable of the Alaungpra pretenders 

 after the death of the Myentzein prince. The 

 country surrounding Ningyan, farther south 

 still, was occupied by a youthful chieftain 

 named Buddha Yaza. 



Contention with China. Before the expedition 

 for the deposition of Thebaw and the conquest 

 of Upper Burmah was undertaken, the British 

 Government had consulted the Government at 

 Pekin, and had given assurances that there was 

 no intention or desire to impair Chinese rights 

 or interests. After the annexation of the king- 

 dom of Ava to the British Empire was pro- 

 claimed the Marquis Tseng presented the claims 

 of China. First, he insisted on the recognition 

 of Chinese suzerainty over Burmah. In the 

 last century a war between China and Burmah 

 terminated in the occupation of Burmah by a 

 Chinese force, but only after the first army 

 that was sent, which numbered 50,000 men, 

 had been totally destroyed by the Burmese. 

 The recognition of the supremacy of China by 

 the payment of tribute was the basis of the 

 peace then concluded. Accordingly, the Bur- 



