INTERMEDIATE EVENTS.
Appointment of a British Resident at Bhamô--Increase of native
trade--Action of the king of Burma--Burmese quarrel with the
Seray chief--British relations with the Panthays--Struggle in
Yunnan--Li-sieh-tai--Imperialist successes--European gunners--Siege
of Momien--Fall of Yung-chang--Prince Hassan visits England--Fall
of Tali-fu--Sultan Suleiman’s death--Massacre of Panthays--Capture
of Momien--Escape of Tah-sa-kon--Capture of Woosaw--Suppression
of rebellion--Imperial proclamation--Li-sieh-tai, commissioner
of Shan states--Re-opening of trade routes--Second British
mission--Action of Sir T. Wade--Appointment of Mr. Margary--Members of
mission--Acquiescence of China and Burma.
The first active step taken by the Chief Commissioner of British Burma,
as a result of the expedition of 1868, was to recommend the appointment
of a British Resident at Bhamô. The various Shan and Kakhyen chiefs, as
well as the governor of Momien, had concurred in the opinion that such
an appointment would be beneficial to the future trade.
By the 6th article of the treaty of 1867 it had been provided that
British steamers should be allowed to navigate the Burmese waters, that
British merchants should be permitted to reside at Bhamô, and, lastly,
that British agents might be appointed at all customs stations, such
as Bhamô and Menhla. The government of India, however, while approving
of the appointment of a British Resident at Bhamô, declined to pass
final or definite orders until the king’s sentiments should have
been ascertained, and a distinct assent given by him. His Majesty
had already, when the matter was mooted, declared that he would take
care that his officer, the Woon, should co-operate with the Resident;
but, according to the instructions given, that the plan should be
laid before him as one “requiring a clear understanding, and a full
approval on the part of his Majesty,” it was made the subject of a
special audience. The king expressly declared that the appointment of
a Resident at Bhamô had his full consent and approval; but he hoped
that “obstinate or intractable officers, guided solely by their own
opinion, without regard to advice or reason,” would not be sent. He
further desired that the new official might be presented to himself,
when he would introduce him to the Woon of Bhamô, in order to arrange
their mutual relations. The spirit in which the king entertained and
acquiesced in the proposal may be taken as an illustration of the
manner in which the king of Burma has shown himself disposed to deal
with the formidable power which holds the seaboard of his kingdom.
Fully alive, as he must have been, to the possible embarrassments that
might arise from his relations to England on the one hand, and to his
suzerain, the emperor of China, on the other, it cannot be said that he
has failed to carry out his treaty obligations to our government; and
when the misrepresentation of which he has been the subject is taken
into account, it will appear that the king of Burma has some right to
complain of the treatment he has received at the hands of the British
public.
In March 1869, Captain Strover was gazetted as the first British
Resident at Bhamô, and in due course the British flag was hoisted at
that ancient entrepot of Indo-Chinese trade. It is almost needless
to remark that, as regards direct British commerce, no considerable
results followed. In 1872 it was reported that not a single consignment
belonging to British firms had arrived at Bhamô during the three
previous years. The native trade increased considerably, and the
Chinese merchants of Rangoon and Mandalay had despatched large
quantities of cotton and salt, and other commodities, as well as a
moderate supply of piece goods. In the spring of 1870, the arrivals
at Tsitkaw averaged eight hundred mules a month. During the two
following years caravans of one thousand beasts of burden are recorded
as arriving from the Chinese territories. The river-borne trade
increased so much that the agents for the Irawady Flotilla Company
found that the monthly steamer service to Bhamô was insufficient,
and besides the extra steamers placed on the line by them, the India
General Steam Navigation Company despatched steamers and heavily laden
flats. To quote a correspondent of the _Times_, “in four years the
steam navigation developed itself into an almost regular fortnightly
service, which, during the year ending October 1874, carried cargo to
the value of about £200,000 to and from Bhamô.”
The king of Burma showed his anxiety to restore the trade of the Bhamô
route by erecting and garrisoning a line of guard-houses through the
Kakhyen hills, from the plain to the Nampoung, beyond which river, as
being the boundary line of China, Li-sieh-tai would not permit their
erection.
In 1872, no less than one hundred and fifty thousand viss of royal
cotton were stored at Manwyne under the charge of the king’s agents
there resident, and it is expressly noted that, so far as the Burmese
are concerned, British goods could have been forwarded with perfect
security. The Mandalay Chinese, however, were deterred (1871) from
buying cotton for the Yunnan market by the information that the
imperialist officers had laid an embargo on the caravans, to prevent
them from supplying the Panthays with provisions. The caravans were
not infrequently attacked by dacoits, especially near Nantin, and the
Kakhyen chief of Seray was accused by the Burmese of having intercepted
royal presents on their way to China. The tsare-daw-gyee of Bhamô,
by way of reprisal, seized thirty mules belonging to the Seray chief,
whence arose a feud, which was not forgotten at the period of the
second expedition. At this time, it resulted in the messengers sent by
the Resident to the governor of Momien being warned by the Seray chief
not to travel that road, as it was unsafe for any Burmese.
It was a necessary, but regretable, consequence of the reception given
to the first expedition by the governor of Momien that he maintained
friendly relations with successive Residents. It appeared desirable,
with a view to maintain the security of the trade route, to keep on
friendly, though strictly neutral, terms with the holders of the
commanding position of Momien. It is, doubtless, easy to look back, and
be wise after the event; but, rightly or wrongly, the intercourse once
begun could not be well abandoned; at all events, it was judged prudent
to maintain it. It certainly created in the minds of the Chinese at
Bhamô a distinct impression that the interests of their possible
commercial rivals and of their actual political foes were identified.
The Kakhyen chiefs of the southern route even complained that since
they and the Shans had become friends of the English the Bhamô Chinese
were no longer amicably disposed towards them. The presents sent by
the Residents from time to time were, doubtless, magnified by the
popular imagination, and neither side found it easy to believe that the
sole object was the assurance of safe and commodious transit. Thus at
least it may be conjectured from the study of the course of subsequent
events, as well as from the manifestations of feeling on the part of
both Panthays and Chinese.
The conflicting accounts and reports which were brought in, and
which enable us in some degree to trace the progress of events in
Yunnan, which led to the complete overthrow of the Mahommedan power,
all combined to show that, from the time of our visit to Momien, the
Chinese government would seem to have aroused itself to the necessity
of recovering the almost lost province. Whatever the real strength
of the Mahommedans may have been in 1868, it is certain that they
had gradually lost ground in 1869. The various reports furnished
were too contradictory, and, in truth, both the governor of Momien
and the Chinese were too much given to exaggeration to furnish any
trustworthy data. In 1870, as was well ascertained, Li-sieh-tai was the
acknowledged leader of the imperialist Chinese troops in the Momien
district, and had invested Momien, but had suffered a defeat, and
been obliged to retreat into the Shitee-doung range of hills. He soon
recruited his forces, and levied contributions from the Shans, and also
from the Chinese merchants both of Bhamô and Mandalay. The latter were
not moved by patriotism, but by the national feelings of affection for
their kindred, and respect for their ancestral graves in Yunnan.
Towards the end of that year, Momien had been again invested by the
Chinese, but a Panthay force from the north had succeeded in throwing
reinforcements into the city, notwithstanding which, entrenchments
were subsequently thrown up by the Chinese troops, who, under Li and
Li-quang-fang and another officer, pressed the place hard, but to no
purpose. The imperialists seem to have poured troops into the province,
and a proclamation signed by Li was posted in Bhamô, announcing that
ten thousand troops had surrounded Yung-chang. In the beginning
of 1871, the northern districts, which had been the cradle of the
rebellion, were held firmly by the Mahommedans, and the city of Tali-fu
was reported by two natives of India, who came to Bhamô, to have been
free two months before from the presence of imperialist troops. The
Mahommedan troops then were in great force, and had been despatched to
the relief of the threatened cities of Yung-chang and Shin-tin. The
imperialist troops were then attacking Yeynan-sin, to the north-east
of Tali-fu, and as they had cannon directed by three European gunners,
the Mahommedans, though fighting with their usual bravery, suffered
great losses, and could scarcely make head against them. Thus there
were three lines of attack, one army assailing Yung-chang and the
neighbouring cities south of the line between Momien and Tali; the
main force advancing on the holy city itself, and Li-sieh-tai with
his troops pressing the siege of Momien, where the governor doggedly
held out, though reported to have been severely wounded, and kept up
constant communication with the Residency at Bhamô. By the end of
1871, Yung-chang had been taken by the Chinese, and Tali-fu was said
to be closely invested. Around Momien constant fighting continued
with varied success, one Chinese leader having been killed and his
troops defeated; but the Mahommedans were bravely fighting a hopeless
battle against overwhelming numbers, and the more faint-hearted among
them were advising surrender, or meditating treachery. The Sultan
Suleiman resolved on sending his son and heir, Hassan, to solicit the
aid or interference of the British government, in order to avert the
threatened overthrow of his power, or secure tolerable terms of peace.
The young prince, as he may be called, made his way in disguise, with
a few attendants, to Rangoon, and thence proceeded to London, where he
arrived in the spring of 1872. It is needless to say that his errand
was bootless; but he was treated as a private guest of the government,
and remained for some time in this country. On his return he was
accompanied by Mr. Cooper, who was appointed in England to conduct him
to the frontier of our territory. The prince had himself proposed that
thence this well-known traveller should proceed with him to Tali-fu,
and thus accomplish the object of his former venturous journey. _En
route_ they visited Constantinople, where the Sultan received the
prince as a distinguished guest, and finally arrived at Rangoon. Here
they received the intelligence of the capture of Tali-fu, the death
of Suleiman, and the utter destruction of the Mahommedan power. This
necessarily put a stop to their further journey, and the unhappy Hassan
set out on a pilgrimage to Mecca.
During his absence in Europe, the Chinese generals had put forth all
their power to capture the head-quarters of the rebels. For some
months the natural strength of the position of Tali-fu, to which all
the Mahommedans of the surrounding country had retired before the
advancing Chinese armies, defied its assailants. Abundant provisions
were stored in the granaries; and the garrison, said to number thirty
or forty thousand Mahommedans, were determined to resist to the last.
The chief minister of the Sultan was entrusted with the command of
Shagwan, as the Burmese call the fort of Hia-kwang or Hsia-kwan, and
he was bribed to admit the Chinese forces and surrender to them the
granaries. The artillery of the Chinese, directed, as already stated,
by European gunners, rendered it impossible for the sultan to cope with
them in the field; but he held out within the walls of the city till
provisions failed, and approaching famine compelled him to enter into
negotiations. He was led to believe that, if he surrendered himself,
his people would be spared, and willingly agreed to sacrifice his own
life to save those of his followers. Knowing the fate which awaited
himself and his family, he administered poison to his three wives and
five children, and, having taken a fatal dose himself, proceeded in his
chair to the Chinese general’s quarters, but died on the road. His head
was cut off, and, preserved in honey, was forwarded to Pekin, and it is
said that his three youngest sons were sent as prisoners. The Chinese
general then demanded that the Mahommedans should surrender all their
arms and ammunition, which was done. The officers were then required
to repair to the Chinese head-quarters to pay their respects to the
general. Forty-one obeyed the summons, and on entering his presence
were at once seized and beheaded. Orders were then issued for a general
massacre of the disarmed and leaderless garrison, and an indiscriminate
slaughter of thousands of men, women, and children, completed the
conquest of Tali-fu. Thence the army marched to Chun-ning-fu and
Yin-chaw, which towns were successively captured, no quarter being
given to any of the Mahommedans.
Another version of the fall of Tali-fu narrates that the Mahommedans
invited the Chinese to a conference at one of the gates, having
previously mined the ground. The Chinese came in force, but, struck
with a sudden suspicion of doubt, retreated just before the explosion
of the mine, which destroyed the gate and part of the wall. The
Chinese then returned and stormed the city, but the citadel was too
strong for them, and held out till surrendered as above described. The
Mahommedans claimed in their version to have been successful in their
stratagem, and to have destroyed great numbers of the enemy, of whom
many panic-stricken rushed into the lake, and perished there. The fort
or position of Hsia-kwan was stated by the Chinese to have been stormed
by a night attack, headed by the Tartar general in person, who led the
way over rocky heights supposed to be inaccessible. At all events, it
is certain that Tali-fu fell in August 1872, and on the New Year of
1873 the governor-general of Yunnan sent forward letters to the king
of Burma announcing the fact, and requesting the king to assist in the
reopening of trade, as the rebellion was at an end; but, to use the
words of Sir Thomas Wade, “the rebellion died hard,” for Momien and
Woosaw still held out.
The governor of the former place had been visited by a high Panthay
official, who was secretly a traitor to the cause, and advised
surrender; whereupon the governor invited him into his Yamen, and
promptly beheaded him. In February three officers arrived from Momien
at Bhamô with letters addressed to the Chief Commissioner of Burma,
and were forwarded to Rangoon. The town was finally captured in May,
the strong south-western gate described in page 192 having been
successfully mined; but the victors found no one in the city. The
governor had succeeded in bribing the officer in command of the troops
to the north of the town, who had been a former adherent of his own,
and suffered his few remaining co-religionists to escape by night,
much to the disappointment of the Chinese, who could not consider the
country tranquillised while so brave and able a leader was at large. In
June a proclamation was posted throughout the Shan valleys, announcing
the marriage of the emperor and the fall of Momien, and inviting all
the people to return to their homes and cultivate their lands.
The ex-governor was heard of from time to time as lurking in the
mountains with a few faithful followers, and orders were issued
from the king of Burma that he should be seized if found on Burmese
territory, and surrendered to the Chinese. This order was issued in
compliance with a request sent by an envoy from the viceroy of Yunnan
to the king; but he managed to elude both Chinese and Burmese, and
succeeded in entering Hoothaw or Woosaw, the last remaining stronghold
of his party.
This place, three days’ march north-west of Momien, is described as
a town of one thousand houses, surrounded by a stone wall twenty
feet high, and defended on one side by a deep stream, and altogether
stronger and more flourishing than Momien. Its position must be at
a high elevation, as in winter the swamps are frozen hard enough to
bear men on the ice. Communication is carried on between this place
and Lay-myo, one hundred miles north of Bhamô, on the Namthabet, an
affluent of the Irawady, by which route the officers from Momien
reached Bhamô.
Woosaw was captured at the end of May 1874, but the ex-tah-sa-kon and
the principal officers succeeded in escaping to Chang-see, a town
south-west of Woosaw, and eight days distant from Talo, on the Irawady,
while his sons were at Tseedai assisting the tsawbwa in a fight with
the Wacheoon chief.
The Panthays, in their turn, had become dacoits, as they had formerly
termed Li-sieh-tai’s troops, and from their lurking-places on the hills
near Nantin attacked the caravans going to Momien; while the last news
of the ex-tah-sa-kon, who for a time was supposed to be dead, were
that he had joined the Shan rebel Tsan-hai, who was committing acts of
brigandage in the Burmese Shan state of Namkan, on the left bank of the
Shuaylee.
Thus in the middle of 1874 the Chinese authority had been thoroughly
re-established. As early as August 1873, an imperial proclamation had
been issued in the _Pekin Gazette_, in which the emperor congratulated
himself on the termination of the war, which had lasted eighteen years,
and in which the half of the prefectural and district cities had been
taken by the rebels. All arrears of taxes due up to 1872 were remitted,
and the _le-kin_, or special war tax, was declared to be no longer
required. Li-sieh-tai was appointed commissioner of the Koshanpyi or
Shan states; and Sie-ta-lin, the newly invested Chinese governor of
Momien, and the officials of the other strong towns, set themselves
to restore trade and resettle the country, which had been deserted
and left desolate for years. It can be well imagined that no little
hatred of the Panthays, not unmixed with fear, animated all the border
Chinese, and the constant rumours that the rebels were collecting for a
new attack combined with the actual robberies committed to keep all the
Chinese officials on the _qui vive_.
It has been already mentioned how the trade between Burma and China
increased from 1872, as soon as the head of the Mahommedan revolt was
crushed at Tali-fu. It is a significant fact that in 1873 the Chinese
governor of Muanglong, situated to the south-west of Momien, sent
orders to his feudatory, the tsawbwa of Sehfan, to open trade to Bhamô
at any risk; and the chief, in announcing the intended departure of a
large caravan, requested the Resident at Bhamô to send a deputy to meet
him at Hotha.
The routes were regularly open, and large quantities of cotton, &c.,
exported, both by Bhamô and Theinnee, although disorders still existed,
and straggling dacoits and lawless Kakhyens frequently attacked the
caravans. Under these circumstances, the Chief Commissioner of British
Burma, the Hon. Ashley Eden, conceived that the time had come for
renewing, under more favourable conditions, the opening of the overland
trade route to British commerce. In this he was strongly seconded by
the commercial community at Rangoon. The question of the establishment
of a British Consul at Tali-fu was also discussed. The first point to
be attained was to secure a safe transit from Burma into China. The
passage of a peaceful British expedition, which would on its journey
thoroughly examine the capabilities of the country beyond Momien, and
perhaps discover an easier and better route from Bhamô to Yunnan, was
still regarded as the direct method of preparing the way.
In 1874, Lord Salisbury, the Secretary of State for India, decided
to send a second expedition to penetrate China from Burma, and
pass through, if practicable, to Shanghai. To avoid possible
misunderstandings, and to make it plain to the Western Chinese
mandarins that the foreign visitors were of the same nation as the
English who lived and traded in the treaty ports, her Majesty’s
Minister at Pekin was instructed to send a consular official, duly
furnished with imperial passports, to meet the mission on the frontiers
of China. Having secured the full permission of the Pekin government,
Sir T. Wade selected Mr. Margary, a young but most promising member
of the consular service, thoroughly versed in Chinese language and
etiquette, to proceed from Shanghai to Momien. A plan had been at first
proposed of despatching a party by way of the Theinnee route from
Mandalay, but had been negatived by the king of Burma, on the ground
of a rebellion then existing in a Burmese Shan state on the road.
Consequently there was no other alternative but to proceed by one or
other of the routes from Bhamô. The consent of the king was secured
to this measure, although at first his Majesty objected to an armed
escort, as he was quite willing to send a sufficient force to convoy
the mission to the Chinese frontier; but when he understood that the
armed escort would only consist of fifteen Sikhs, he withdrew his
objection, and promised his full support and assistance. A considerable
quantity of valuable presents were prepared for distribution among the
chiefs and officials _en route_. These included a supply of edible
birds’ nests, jewellery, binoculars, musical-boxes, and silver-mounted
revolvers. Two valuable horses, one a magnificent Australian or Waler,
and the other an Arab, were destined as presents to the viceroy of
Yunnan, and a pair of large Australian kangaroo dogs were added to the
convoy.
The command of the expedition was entrusted to Colonel Horace Browne,
of the Burmese Commission; the post of geographer was filled by Mr.
Ney Elias, whose successful and intrepid journey through Mongolia and
survey of the Yellow River had won for him the Gold Medal of the Royal
Geographical Society of London; and the remaining scientific duties of
medical officer and naturalist were entrusted to myself.
In November 1874, Mr. Elias, who was then Assistant Resident at
Mandalay, was commissioned to proceed to Bhamô, there to concert with
the Resident measures for providing carriage so as to avoid delay. He
accordingly visited the Kakhyens holding the route selected, and made a
contract with their chiefs for the conveyance and convoy of the mission.
The expedition was appointed to leave Burma in January 1875, in order
to accomplish the passage of the hill country before the setting in
of the rainy season. As it was possible that Mr. Margary, who left
Shanghai on September 4th, might not be able to reach Momien in time,
Mr. Allan, of the Chinese consular service, was sent by sea to Rangoon
to accompany the mission, and facilitate our intercourse with the
Chinese authorities. The preparations for ensuring the success of the
mission were thus rendered as complete as foresight could make them.
The respective governments of Burma and China had been fully informed
of the nature and purposes of the expedition, and had both given to
our diplomatic representatives their full consent and promises of safe
conduct. The personal goodwill of the border chiefs and mandarins
was expected to be conciliated, in the same degree as their official
co-operation had been secured by the passports furnished from Pekin;
and although there was an element of uncertainty arising from the
possible jealousy of the border Chinese and the plundering habits of
lawless factions among the Kakhyens, the precautions taken might be
well considered as enough to ensure success.