TROUBLE WITH THE WUNTHO SAWBWA
I left Rangoon on the 30th of November, after arranging the measures
necessary for commencing the disarmament of the province at the
beginning of the new year. There were two districts in Lower Burma
giving trouble at that time--Tharrawaddy in the Pegu Division and
Thayetmyo. Tharrawaddy has always been a sore spot.[25] In the early
part of 1889 it was brought into a more orderly state; but towards the
end of the year, owing in a great measure to the action of the local
officers in issuing licences for firearms to the villagers, the gangs
were able to obtain weapons, and crime increased to such a degree that
strenuous measures had to be adopted.
I went to Thayetmyo, and there met the local officers and heard what
account they had to give. They reported the remaining gangs to be
small. Parties of Mounted Infantry, with active police and civil
officers, were told off to work both sides of the river, and a great
improvement was effected in a few months.
I marched from Thayetmyo to Minhla, about seventy miles, having all
the neighbouring villagers collected to meet me at each halting-place.
They were encouraged to talk freely and tell their grievances. They
complained only of the impressment of carts and such-like matters
inseparable from the constant movement of troops and the disturbed
times. That they had suffered a good deal between the upper and the
nether millstone--the Government and the dacoits--may be easily
believed. But it was in great part their own fault, as they would not
give our officers information.
[Illustration: CONSULTATION OF VILLAGE HEADMEN WITH CHIEF
COMMISSIONER.]
The country through which we marched was mostly dense forest and
jungle, with very few villages. It was only necessary to see it to
understand the difficulty of beating out of such cover small gangs of
active men, unencumbered by anything except their arms, and able to get
food from any hamlet. The wonder is that with a mere handful of Mounted
Infantry at their disposal, our officers were able to run the dacoits
down and exterminate them in so short a time.
Sir Benjamin Simpson, K.C.I.E., Surgeon-General, with the Government
of India, who had been sent over by the Government to advise me about
the medical establishments of the military police and of the province
generally, accompanied me on this march.
From Minhla I went to Minbu and saw the officers there. I then went on
to Pagan. In order to see the country about Popa, I rode from Pagan to
Popa and back by another road. This country is very wild and densely
wooded. It would seem to one riding through it to be uncultivated, but
this is not the case. All the bottoms of the slopes are cultivated, and
there are numerous shallow streams which in the dry weather have no
water in them. The villages were few and poor-looking, mere huts with
palm-leaf thatch. The cattle, however, were numerous and good, carts
stood in all the villages.
Not a man was to be seen anywhere, only women and children. We had
lost our way and wanted a guide, and eventually were fain to ask for
two women to show us the way. It is no wonder that Popa was the home
of dacoits. Most of the people seemed at this time to live by stealing
cattle from the neighbouring and more populous districts. Once they
got the cattle into their villages, they kept them in enclosures,
hidden away in the jungle, until they could drive them off to a distant
market. This country was not brought under control for two years.
From Pagan I crossed to Pakokku and saw the Wunkadaw and her son, and
Mr. Browning the Assistant Commissioner, and then went on to Myingyan.
I had only time to inspect the station and see the officers and talk
to Brigadier-General Low, when a telegram came from Sir George White
asking me to come up to Mandalay at once, as trouble threatened with
the Wuntho Sawbwa.
This man's territory lay in a hilly country lying between the Katha
district and the Chindwin River. He had been from the first year of
our occupation a source of trouble; he refused to come in, and at one
time objected to pay his tribute. Early in '87 the Commissioner of the
Northern Division, Mr. Burgess, went to the town of Wuntho, which is
on the eastern extremity of his country, and is not his real capital
although he takes his title from it, to meet him. Mr. Burgess was
accompanied by a military force. The matter was then arranged by the
Sawbwa paying his tribute, but he refused to see our officers, and
continued to give trouble by harbouring dacoits and insurgents who
raided our territory.
It was the fixed policy of Lord Dufferin to preserve so far as might be
these autonomous States. I have explained elsewhere how it came about
that Shan States existed in this part of Burma, separated as they were
by position and in their politics from the body of States on the Shan
plateau. Every endeavour was made therefore to smooth matters and not
to quarrel with the Wuntho man, whom we believed, and perhaps justly,
to be actuated more by fear than by determined hostility.
The circumstances which led Sir George White to call me to Mandalay
were these. A regiment of Gurkhas was coming across from India to
relieve another which had been some time in Burma. It was convenient to
bring the relieving regiment down by the Kabaw Valley to the Chindwin,
where they would meet the other. A road had been selected through the
Wuntho territory by which both regiments should march. They were to
meet on the Chindwin and exchange transport trains, thus saving expense
and trouble.
This was a natural arrangement. The route did not pass through the
Sawbwa's capital. The military authorities had satisfied themselves
that it was practicable for troops. I agreed to the proposal, caused
the matter to be carefully explained to the Sawbwa, and directed him to
collect supplies and to clear the roads.
The Sawbwa replied, objecting to our troops passing through, and
proposing an alternative route to which he had no objection. He based
his opposition on the ground of personal fear, and referred to our
assurance that Wuntho should not be occupied. I considered that we
could not allow the Sawbwa to close his territory to us, and after
consulting the Major-General, I told the Sawbwa through the Deputy
Commissioner of Katha that the regiments must march by the road we
had chosen. Rumours had been heard for some time that the Sawbwa
was blocking his roads and preparing to oppose us in force. General
White wished me to come up at once as the regiment leaving Burma had
reached Kawlin, which is on the verge of Wuntho territory, and it was
necessary to decide on the action to be taken in case its march was
opposed. I decided to let it wait at Kawlin for ten days in order to
give the Sawbwa time to reply to my order, utilising the delay by
making arrangements to support and strengthen the Gurkhas in case we
should have to fight. Soon after this decision had been reached, Sir
George White sent me a telegram from the Colonel commanding the 43rd,
dated from Kawlin, to the effect that the route by which he had been
ordered to march was impracticable, and that the attempt to march
along it would be opposed. General White advised the acceptance of the
Sawbwa's alternative route, which was reported to have been prepared
and supplied with provisions.
As my order sent through the Deputy Commissioner had been couched in
very peremptory terms, I felt it inadvisable to withdraw. The Sawbwa
was reported to be making preparations for opposing us by force,
and if we drew back now our action would be certainly attributed to
fear. There was telegraphic communication with Katha, but letters to
Wuntho had to go on by messenger. It occurred to me that the Deputy
Commissioner's messenger might still be stopped, and I telegraphed to
Katha to recall him. Fortunately the letter was stopped at Kawlin.
Under these circumstances Sir George White and I agreed to send the
Gurkhas by the road which the Sawbwa had prepared. Any other course
would have laid us open to the charge of having picked a quarrel with
the Sawbwa.
There was every reason at the time for avoiding a step which would
have increased our direct responsibilities. The civil staff of the
province was weak, not only in numbers but in experience. I was forced
to trust men with districts who had no training and did not know
Burmese. The annexation of Upper Burma was more difficult in some ways
than the annexation of the Punjab. In the latter case there was in the
army and in the adjacent provinces a supply of officers acquainted
if not with the language of the Punjab, yet with a kindred speech.
The whole _cadre_ of Lower Burma was only threescore men, and it was
impossible to take many men fit for service in Upper Burma from its
ranks without leaving the Lower Province very much undermanned. For
these reasons I did my best as long as I was in Burma to avoid a breach
with the Wuntho Sawbwa, and latterly, when he sent in his wife to
Mandalay to see the Commissioner, I was in hopes that we had overcome
his suspicions, but I felt certain that sooner or later we should be
obliged to get rid of him. I do not regret having waited as long as
possible. When he broke out in 1891 the whole of the adjacent country
was under control, the military police were organized and trained,
and his revolt was put down with very little trouble or disturbance.
No one can say that he was treated otherwise than with the greatest
forbearance. I shall not have to refer to him again.
FOOTNOTE:
[25] "Long notorious for the ill-repute of its inhabitants." See Burma
_Gazetteer_, vol. i., p. 258.