512 



BIllMAN EMPIRE. 



ti nrc of death was changed into that of Imprisonment 

 for lite, and his fortune \\as declared confiscated. 

 Together with his family, he was transported in IV 

 uiit, in Siberia, and thrown into a prison, of which 

 Munich himself had furnished the plan. In the fol- 

 lowing year, Elizabeth, daughter ot Peter the Great, 

 being raised to the Russian throne by a new revolu- 

 tion, H. was recalled, Dec. 20, 17-11, and Munich 

 was obliged to occupy his prison. At Kaxm, the 

 sledges met; the travelers recognized ench other, 

 and proceeded on their way without interchanging a 

 word. The family of B. afterwards li\ed in a very 

 respectable c indition at .laroslaw. After a subse- 

 quent exile of twenty-two years, the duke, as well as 

 Munich, w;:s recalled, in 17<>2, by Peter III. When 

 Catharine II. as , n,l, ,1 the tlirone, the duchy of Cour- 

 land was restored to H., in 17l>:*. lie governed with 

 wisdom and lenity, transferred the government to his 

 Idest sou. Peter, 170'9, and closed his restless life, 

 Dec. 28, 1772. 



BIKMAN HMPIRK; an Asiatic state, which, previous 

 to the late war witli the East India company, is said 

 to luive extended from 9 to 26 N. hit., and from 

 l>-*> to 104 E. Ion., its length being thus 1,050 geo- 

 graphical miles, and its breadth GOO. Taken in its 

 iKdst extensive sense, that is, including all the coun- 

 tries subject to its influence, Hamilton supposed that 

 the Birmim dominion, previous to the late war, might 

 contain 194,000 English square miles. Since these 

 authors first wrote, however, the kingdom of Arracan, 

 the province of Tenasserim, and the districts of Ye, 

 Favoy, and Mergui, amounting, it is supposed, to 

 51,000 English square miles, have been wrested from 

 this extensive native government, by the East India 

 company ; and its southern limits have receded from 

 9" to 15 45' N. lat. The Birman empire is bounded 

 on the N. by Assam and Tibet, on the N.E. and E. 

 by China, Laos, and Cambodia, on the S. by Siam, 

 Tavoy, and Arracan, and on the west by part of Ar- 

 racan, Cassay, and Assam, which are now interposed 

 between its frontiers and Bengal. 



The Birman empire is of little note in ancient or 

 general history. In Dalrymple's " Oriental Reper- 

 tory," the Birmans are called Boraghmans. In the 

 Birman alphabet, published at Rome in 1776, the 

 name is written Bomans. They are also called Mran- 

 mas. Their native country is Ava Proper, and they 

 were at one time subject to the king of Pegu ; but in 

 the 16th century tin's numerous and warlike people 

 revolutionized the country, by taking possession of 

 Ava, and then of Martaban. The Birmans continued 

 masters of this country till 1740, when a civil war 

 broke out, in consequence of a revolt in the conquered 

 provinces of Pegu, and was prosecuted on both sides 

 with savage ferocity. In 1750 and 1751, the Pegu- 

 ens, with the aid of arms imported by Europeans, and 

 the active services of some Dutch and Portuguese, 

 beat their rivals, and in 1752, Ava, the capital, sur- 

 rendered to them at discretion, while Dweepdee, the 

 last of a long line of Birman kings, was taken prisoner, 

 with all his family, except two sons who escaped 

 into Siam. Binga Delia, king of Pegu, returned to 

 his hereditary dominions, leaving the government of 

 Ava to his son Apporasa. The conquest had scarcely 

 appeared complete and settled, when a Birman called 

 Alompra, a man of obscure birth, having collected 

 around him 100 picked men, defeated the Peguan 

 detachments in small skirmishes. Improving in ex- 

 perience, and acquiring confidence in his own strength, 

 he attracted more numerous followers ; and in the 

 autumn of 1753, suddenly advanced, and obtained 

 possession of Ava. Defeating the king of Pegu in 

 several subsequent engagements, he invaded his ter- 

 ritories, and in three months took his capital, which 

 he gave up to indiscriminate plunder and carnage. 



Having sustained some indignities from the Siamese, 

 he Invaded Siam ; but, during the siege of the me- 

 tropolis of that kingdom, his career ot conquest was 

 suddenly terminated in 17GO, by a fatal disease, in 

 the 50th year of his age, and iith of his reign. 

 Alompra laboured to make his subjects happy by 

 promoting agriculture, by restricting the arbitrary 

 exercise of power on the part of his officers, and im- 

 proving the public morals. Every act of the magis- 

 trates, in the Birman empire, was required to be 

 public, and every decree to be made known: even 

 commercial treaties, and all relations established with 

 foreign countries, were registered among the laws of 

 the state, and open to the inspection of every one. 

 Namdogee, his eldest son and successor, who died in 

 1764, inheriting his father's spirit, adopted from oilier 

 nations whatever was of general utility to his own, 

 and was anxious to do away abuses. Both father 

 and son attended particularly to the administration 

 of the East India company. Shambuan, the emper- 

 or's brother, became regent, as guardian for his ne- 

 phew Mornien ; but he usurped the tlirone himself, 

 and conquered Siam. In 1771, however, this pro- 

 vince recovered its independence, while the principal 

 part of the Birman forces were engaged in a war 

 with China. In this war they were victorious, and 

 compelled the Chinese, whom they took prisoners, 

 to intermarry with the Birman females, and to re- 

 main in their territory. Fortune continued to attend 

 this prince ; and, in 1776, he left his empire, much 

 enlarged, to his son Chengenza. This prince lived 

 in the unrestrained indulgence of every appetite, till, 

 in 1782, he was dethroned and put to death. In 

 consequence of the revolution, Shenibnan Mendera- 

 gan, the fourth son of Alompra, ascended the throne. 

 He ordered his nephew Mornien, who was a state 

 prisoner, to be drowned, and, in 1783, subdued the 

 kingdom of Arracan. He then engaged in a war 

 with Siam, which continued till 1793, and finally 

 compelled it to submission on certain conditions. 

 About this period, some highway robbers fled froir. 

 the Birman empire, and took refuge in the territory 

 of the East India company. Shembuan demanded 

 that they should be delivered up. His demands were 

 not immediately complied with, and he marched, 

 with a strong force, into the offending country. At 

 the same time, he carried on a friendly negotiation 

 with the government in Calcutta, which result( d in 

 the surrender of the criminals, and the conclusion of 

 a treaty of amity and commerce between the two 

 governments, which agreed to afford each other mu- 

 tual aid, in case of an invasion from China. It was 

 negotiated by captain Symes. Shembuan was suc- 

 ceeded, in 1819, by his grandson. 



The last victory of the Birmans was, in 1822, over 

 the northern mountainous province of Assam, at the 

 source of the Burrampooter. The party driven from 

 Assam, together with the Birman rebels, fled to the 

 British territories, whence they intended to invade 

 Birmah. The British government forthwith disarmed 

 the insurgents, but refused to deliver them up or to 

 drive them from the island of Shapuri, which they 

 had occupied. The court at Ummerapoora, there- 

 fore, attempted to set the Mahrattas and all Hindo- 

 stan in arms against the English. At length, the 

 monarch with the golden feet (one of the titles of the 

 sovereign of Birmah) demanded of the government 

 at Calcutta the cession of Northern Bengal, as being 

 a part of Ava ; and, in January, 1824, the Birman 

 forces marched into Kadschar, which had deposed its 

 rulers, and put itself under British protection. Lord 

 Amherst, as governor-general of the British East 

 Indies, now declared war against Birmah, and general 

 Archibald Campbell prosecuted it so successfully, 

 that, after the victory at Prome (Dec. 18, 1825), 



