BRITISH and NATIVE BURMAH.

Kumara Times, Issue 2859, 1 December 1885, Page 2

BRITISH and NATIVE BURMAH.

[Prom the Auckland Herald.] Burmah, which is brought into prominence by the commencement of a third British war, is not the Burmah of old. At one time its boundary extended from the Himalayas to the Gulf of Siam, and from the Bay of Bengal to China. But these fair proportions have been greatly curtailed. Important provinces to the north have passed under British jurisdiction, and also the whole of the seaboard, including the mouths of the Irrawaddy and the important port of Rangoon. The Burmah of to-day is a country 540 miles in length and 420 in breadth, containing an area of 190,520 square miles—or two and a half times the size of Victoria—and with a population variously estimated at from 2,000,000 to 4,000,000 people. The Burmese in person have the Mongoloid characteristics common to the ludio-Chinese races. They are described as stout, active, and well-pro-portioned, of a brown but never very dark complexion. In religion they are votaries of Buddah, and though other religions are now tolerated, the toleration is a very bare one, and attempts at conversion are viewed with the utmost jealousy. The Burmese first came into collision with the English in 1795, when their troops entered British territory, but a peace was then patched up. As, however, the boundaries of British India and Burmah had become contiguous, a permanent peace could uof be expected until the two Powers had measured strength. The tug of war occurred in 1823. The native Government was entirely unacquainted with English resources, and conceived the idea that a march on Calcutta was possible. Their troops crossed the lines, captured British subjects, and stormed forts, and thus their punishment became inevitable. In May, 1824, an armament uuder Commodore Grant and Sir Archibald Campbell entered the Irrawaddy River and captured Rangoon, the foe being completely demoralised by the artillery. But the British army had no equipment for an advance, and was soon besieged in its turn. The year and the following year were spent in severe fighting, with the result that the great array of 60,000 men collected by the Burmese monarch was on several occasions routed, though at one time disea.se had reduced the British forces to 5000 men, and the position, in consequence of a reverse, was one of considerable danger. A treaty was concluded with the King, by which the northern provinces passed into British hands, while Rangoon went back to the Burmese. It was at Rangoon that the next difficulty occurred. The British Government had a Resident there, and British ships began to trade to the port. Ships were seized by the natives, and the Resident was insulted, and in 1856 the second war commenced. Rangoon was again captured, and also the chief towns on Lower Burmah. Lord Dalhousie, who was then Viceroy of India, deemed it unnecessary to conclude a treaty, but annexed such portions of the kingdom as he thought necessary and warned the king that he would be severely dealt with if he did not respect the new bonnds.

It is the possibility of tapping Western China by the Irrawady that makes the possession of Burmah a matter of the first importance. In 1874 Lord Salisbury sent an expedition to proceed up the rivr-r to Mandalay, right on to Shanghai. Mr Margary started from the Chinese coast, and met the expedition on the border, when unhappily the Chinese attacked the camp. Mr Margary was killed, and the expedition fell back upon Mandalay and Rangoon. The Burmese guards and officers who were with the mission behaved bravely and loyally, and it was owing to them that the slaughter was not general. But since the accession of Thebaw there has been a change for the worse. Not only have the provisions of the Commercial Treaty between the British and Burmese Governments been evaded in every possible way, hut existing British interests in Mandalay and elsewhere have been openly defied. All Ministers favourable to the English have been dismissed, and the young king, a prey to savage passions and drunken debaucheries, has long been the tool of an unset upulous entouruge of French and other foreign adven-

hirers. The palace is declared to have been refortified; an army of 20 000 young bravps enlisted and armed with modern rifles of precision ; and forts have been constructed under European supervision at the approaches to Mandalay and the lower defi'e of* the Irrnwaddy. It has been apparent to all observers, therefore, that a'crisis was drawiug near. The succession of the throno goes l»y nomination anions; the b'ood royal, and consequently Thebaw on his accession attempted to slay all his brothers. A number were butchered, with their wives and families, but two escaped, anrl are now living in India, and can be pir forward as claimants if necesaary, as was Thebaw's father in 1853. Thebaw has several daughters, but is reported to have no son livin?. The principal British interests in Burin ih are represented by the Bombay and Burmah Trading Company, which has agencies from Rangoon to Mandalay, and the Irrawaddy Flotilla Company, which has a fl et of sixty vessels, and despatches steamers twice a week from Rangoon to Mandalay. Twice a month the service is continued to Bharno, 1000 miles from the sea. The principal articles carried up the river are Manchester goods, salt, and hardware, and the trade down is in teak, cotton, indiarubber, spices, and oil. The u|> and down trade is valued afc £3,000,000 per annum, and its possibilities, it has been explained, are very great. Such of the Burmah country as is already under English rule, has been easily governed, and the provinces have flourished amazingly. Thus Rangoon has trebled its population since 1853, and now contains 190,000 inhabitants. If Thebaw-is discomfited, there will probably be no difficulty in administering the affairs of Burmah proper from Mandalay, and some such step may be expected.