Ireland as the adviser of the Catholic Association. He made a wretched
emissary, and there was no limit to his arrogance, noisiness and
indiscretion. The Irish agitators were glad to give him two thousand
guineas and to send him home. The mission is associated with a more
important thing, his father's _Letters to Sir Hercules Langrishe_,
advocating the admission of the Irish Catholics to the franchise. This
short piece abounds richly in maxims of moral and political prudence. And
Burke exhibited considerable courage in writing it; for many of its maxims
seem to involve a contradiction, first, to the principles on which he
withstood the movement in France, and second, to his attitude upon the
subject of parliamentary reform. The contradiction is in fact only
superficial. Burke was not the man to fall unawares into a trap of this
kind. His defence of Catholic relief--and it had been the conviction of a
lifetime--was very properly founded on propositions which were true of
Ireland, and were true neither of France nor of the quality of
parliamentary representation in England. Yet Burke threw such breadth and
generality over all he wrote that even these propositions, relative as they
were, form a short manual of statesmanship.
At the close of the session of 1794 the impeachment of Hastings had come to
an end, and Burke bade farewell to parliament. Richard Burke was elected in
his father's place at Malton. The king was bent on making the champion of
the old order of Europe a peer. His title was to be Lord Beaconsfield, and
it was designed to annex to the title an income for three lives. The patent
was being made ready, when all was arrested by the sudden death of the son
who was to Burke more than life. The old man's grief was agonizing and
inconsolable. "The storm has gone over me," he wrote in words which are
well known, but which can hardly be repeated too often for any who have an
ear for the cadences of noble and pathetic speech,--"The storm has gone
over me, and I lie like one of those old oaks which the late hurricane has
scattered about me. I am stripped of all my honours; I am torn up by the
roots and lie prostrate on the earth.... I am alone. I have none to meet my
enemies in the gate.... I live in an inverted order. They who ought to have
succeeded me have gone before me. They who should have been to me as
posterity are in the place of ancestors."
A pension of £2500 was all that Burke could now be persuaded to accept. The
duke of Bedford and Lord Lauderdale made some remarks in parliament upon
this paltry reward to a man who, in conducting a great trial on the public
behalf, had worked harder for nearly ten years than any minister in any
cabinet of the reign. But it was not yet safe to kick up heels in face of
the dying lion. The vileness of such criticism was punished, as it deserved
to be, in the _Letter to a Noble Lord_ (1796), in which Burke showed the
usual art of all his compositions in shaking aside the insignificances of a
subject. He turned mere personal defence and retaliation into an occasion
for a lofty enforcement of constitutional principles, and this, too, with a
relevancy and pertinence of consummate skilfulness. There was to be one
more great effort before the end.
In the spring of 1796 Pitt's constant anxiety for peace had become more
earnest than ever. He had found out the instability of the coalition and
the power of France. Like the thrifty steward he was, he saw with growing
concern the waste of the national resources and the strain upon commerce,
with a public debt swollen to what then seemed the desperate sum of
£400,000,000. Burke at the notion of negotiation flamed out in the _Letters
on a Regicide Peace_, in some respects the most splendid of all his
compositions. They glow with passion, and yet with all their rapidity is
such steadfastness, the fervour of imagination is so skilfully tempered by
close and plausible reasoning, and the whole is wrought with such strength
and fire, that we hardly know where else to look either in Burke's own
writings or elsewhere for such an exhibition of the rhetorical resources of
our language. We cannot wonder that the whole nation was stirred to the
very depths, or that they strengthened the aversion of the king, of Windham
and other important personages in the government against the plans of Pitt.
The prudence of their drift must be settled by external considerations.
Those who think that the French were likely to show a moderation and
practical reasonableness in success, such as they had never shown in the
hour of imminent ruin, will find Burke's judgment full of error and
mischief. Those, on the contrary, who think that the nation which was on
the very eve of surrendering itself to the Napoleonic absolutism was not in
a hopeful humour for peace and the European order, will believe that
Burke's protests were as perspicacious as they were powerful, and that
anything which chilled the energy of the war was as fatal as he declared it
to be.
When the third and most impressive of these astonishing productions came
into the hands of the public, the writer was no more. Burke died on the 8th
of July 1797. Fox, who with all his faults was never wanting in a fine and
generous sensibility, proposed that there should be a public funeral, and
that the body should lie among the illustrious dead in Westminster Abbey.
Burke, however, had left strict injunctions that his burial should be
private; and he was laid in the little church at Beaconsfield. It was the
year of Campo Formio. So a black whirl and torment of rapine, violence and
fraud was encircling the Western world, as a life went out which,
notwithstanding some eccentricities [v.04 p.0835] and some aberrations, had
made great tides in human destiny very luminous.
(J. MO.)
AUTHORITIES.--Of the _Collected Works_, there are two main editions--the
quarto and the octavo. (1) Quarto, in eight volumes, begun in 1792, under
the editorship of Dr F. Lawrence; vols. i.-iii. were published in 1792;
vols. iv.-viii., edited by Dr Walter King, sometime bishop of Rochester,
were completed in 1827. (2) Octavo in sixteen volumes. This was begun at
Burke's death, also by Drs Lawrence and King; vols. i.-viii. were published
in 1803 and reissued in 1808, when Dr Lawrence died; vols. ix.-xii. were
published in 1813 and the remaining four vols. in 1827. A new edition of
vols. i.-viii. was published in 1823 and the contents of vols. i.-xii. in 2
vols. octavo in 1834. An edition in nine volumes was published in Boston,
Massachusetts, in 1839. This contains the whole of the English edition in
sixteen volumes, with a reprint of the _Account of the European Settlements
in America_ which is not in the English edition.
Among the numerous editions published later may be mentioned that in
_Bohn's British Classics_, published in 1853. This contains the fifth
edition of Sir James Prior's life; also an edition in twelve volumes,
octavo, published by J.C. Nimmo, 1898. There is an edition of the _Select
Works_ of Burke with introduction and notes by E.J. Payne in the Clarendon
Press series, new edition, 3 vols., 1897. _The Correspondence of Edmund
Burke_, edited by Earl Fitzwilliam and Sir R. Bourke, with appendix,
detached papers and notes for speeches, was published in 4 vols., 1844.
_The Speeches of Edmund Burke, in the House of Commons and Westminster
Hall_, were published in 4 vols., 1816. Other editions of the speeches are
those _On Irish Affairs_, collected and arranged by Matthew Arnold, with a
preface (1881), _On American Taxation, On Conciliation with America_,
together with the _Letter to the Sheriff of Bristol_, edited with
introduction and notes by F.G. Selby (1895).
The standard life of Burke is that by Sir James Prior, _Memoir of the Life
and Character of Edmund Burke with Specimens of his Poetry and Letters_
(1824). The lives by C. MacCormick (1798) by R. Bisset (1798, 1800) are of
little value. Other lives are those by the Rev. George Croly (2 vols.,
1847), and by T. MacKnight (3 vols., 1898). Of critical estimates of
Burke's life the _Edmund Burke_ of John Morley, "English Men of Letters"
series (1879), is an elaboration of the above article; see also his _Burke,
a Historical Study_ (1867); "Three Essays on Burke," by Sir James Fitzjames
Stephen in _Horae Sabbaticae_, series iii. (1892); and _Peptographia
Dublinensis, Memorial Discourses preached in the Chapel of Trinity College,
Dublin_, 1895-1902; _Edmund Burke_, by G. Chadwick, bishop of Derry (1902).
BURKE, SIR JOHN BERNARD (1814-1892), British genealogist, was born in
London, on the 5th of January 1814, and was educated in London and in
France. His father, John Burke (1787-1848), was also a genealogist, and in
1826 issued a _Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and
Baronetage of the United Kingdom_. This work, generally known as _Burke's
Peerage_, has been issued annually since 1847. While practising as a
barrister Bernard Burke assisted his father in his genealogical work, and
in 1848 took control of his publications. In 1853 he was appointed Ulster
king-at-arms; in 1854 he was knighted; and in 1855 he became keeper of the
state papers in Ireland. After having devoted his life to genealogical
studies he died in Dublin on the 12th of December 1892. In addition to
editing _Burke's Peerage_ from 1847 to his death, Burke brought out several
editions of a companion volume, _Burke's Landed Gentry_, which was first
published between 1833 and 1838. In 1866 and 1883 he published editions of
his father's _Dictionary of the Peerages of England, Scotland and Ireland,
extinct, dormant and in abeyance_ (earlier editions, 1831, 1840, 1846); in
1855 and 1876 editions of his _Royal Families of England, Scotland and
Wales_ (1st edition, 1847-1851); and in 1878 and 1883 enlarged editions of
his _Encyclopaedia of Heraldry, or General Armoury of England, Scotland and
Ireland_. Burke's own works include _The Roll of Battle Abbey_ (1848); _The
Romance of the Aristocracy_ (1855); _Vicissitudes of Families_ (1883 and
several earlier editions); and _The Rise of Great Families_ (1882). He was
succeeded as editor of _Burke's Peerage_ and _Landed Gentry_ by his fourth
son, Ashworth Peter Burke.
BURKE, ROBERT O'HARA (1820-1861), Australian explorer, was born at St
Cleram, Co. Galway, Ireland, in 1820. Descended from a branch of the family
of Clanricarde, he was educated in Belgium, and at twenty years of age
entered the Austrian army, in which he attained the rank of captain. In
1848 he left the Austrian service, and became a member of the Royal Irish
Constabulary. Five years later he emigrated to Tasmania, and shortly
afterwards crossed to Melbourne, where he became an inspector of police.
When the Crimean War broke out he went to England in the hope of securing a
commission in the army, but peace had meanwhile been signed, and he
returned to Victoria and resumed his police duties. At the end of 1857 the
Philosophical Institute of Victoria took up the question of the exploration
of the interior of the Australian continent, and appointed a committee to
inquire into and report upon the subject. In September 1858, when it became
known that John McDouall Stuart had succeeded in penetrating as far as the
centre of Australia, the sum of £1000 was anonymously offered for the
promotion of an expedition to cross the continent from south to north, on
condition that a further sum of £2000 should be subscribed within a
twelvemonth. The amount having been raised within the time specified, the
Victorian parliament supplemented it by a vote of £6000, and an expedition
was organized under the leadership of Burke, with W.J. Wills as surveyor
and astronomical observer. The story of this expedition, which left
Melbourne on the 21st of August 1860, furnishes perhaps the most painful
episode in Australian annals. Ten Europeans and three Sepoys accompanied
the expedition, which was soon torn by internal dissensions. Near Menindie
on the Darling, Landells, Burke's second in command, became insubordinate
and resigned, his example being followed by the doctor--a German. On the
11th of November Burke, with Wills and five assistants, fifteen horses and
sixteen camels, reached Cooper's Creek in Queensland, where a depot was
formed near good grass and abundance of water. Here Burke proposed waiting
the arrival of his third officer, Wright, whom he had sent back from
Torowoto to Menindie to fetch some camels and supplies. Wright, however,
delayed his departure until the 26th of January 1861. Meantime, weary of
waiting, Burke, with Wills, King and Gray as companions, determined on the
16th of December to push on across the continent, leaving an assistant
named Brahe to take care of the depot until Wright's arrival. On the 4th of
February 1861 Burke and his party, worn down by famine, reached the estuary
of the Flinders river, not far from the present site of Normantown on the
Gulf of Carpentaria. On the 26th of February began their return journey.
The party suffered greatly from famine and exposure, and but for the rainy
season, thirst would have speedily ended their miseries. In vain they
looked for the relief which Wright was to bring them. On the 16th of April
Gray died, and the emaciated survivors halted a day to bury his body. That
day's delay, as it turned out, cost Burke and Wills their lives; they
arrived at Cooper's Creek to find the depot deserted. But a few hours
before Brahe, unrelieved by Wright, and thinking that Burke had died or
changed his plans, had taken his departure for the Darling. With such
assistance as they could get from the natives, Burke, and his two
companions struggled on, until death overtook Burke and Wills at the end of
June. King sought the natives, who cared for him until his relief by a
search party in September. No one can deny the heroism of the men whose
lives were sacrificed in this ill-starred expedition. But it is admitted
that the leaders were not bushmen and had had no experience in exploration.
Disunion and disobedience to orders, from the highest to the lowest,
brought about the worst results, and all that now remains to tell the story
of the failure of this vast undertaking is a monument to the memory of the
foolhardy heroes, from the chisel of Charles Summers, erected on a
prominent site in Melbourne.
BURKE, WILLIAM (1792-1829), Irish criminal, was born in Ireland in 1792.
After trying his hand at a variety of trades there, he went to Scotland
about 1817 as a navvy, and in 1827 was living in a lodging-house in
Edinburgh kept by William Hare, another Irish labourer. Towards the end of
that year one of Hare's lodgers, an old army pensioner, died. This was the
period of the body-snatchers or Resurrectionists, and Hare and Burke, aware
that money could always be obtained for a corpse, sold the body to Dr
Robert Knox, a leading Edinburgh anatomist, for £7, 10s. The price obtained
and the simplicity of the transaction suggested to Hare an easy method of
making a [v.04 p.0836] profitable livelihood, and Burke at once fell in
with the plan. The two men inveigled obscure travellers to Hare's or some
other lodging-house, made them drunk and then suffocated them, taking care
to leave no marks of violence. The bodies were sold to Dr Knox for prices
averaging from £8 to £14. At least fifteen victims had been disposed of in
this way when the suspicions of the police were aroused, and Burke and Hare
were arrested. The latter turned king's evidence, and Burke was found
guilty and hanged at Edinburgh on the 28th of January 1829. Hare found it
impossible, in view of the strong popular feeling, to remain in Scotland.
He is believed to have died in England under an assumed name. From Burke's
method of killing his victims has come the verb "to burke," meaning to
suffocate, strangle or suppress secretly, or to kill with the object of
selling the body for the purposes of dissection.
See George Macgregor, _History of Burke and Hare and of the Resurrectionist
Times_ (Glasgow, 1884).
BURLAMAQUI, JEAN JACQUES (1694-1748), Swiss publicist, was born at Geneva
on the 24th of June 1694. At the age of twenty-five he was designated
honorary professor of ethics and the law of nature at the university of
Geneva. Before taking up the appointment he travelled through France and
England, and made the acquaintance of the most eminent writers of the
period. On his return he began his lectures, and soon gained a wide
reputation, from the simplicity of his style and the precision of his
views. He continued to lecture for fifteen years, when he was compelled on
account of ill-health to resign. His fellow-citizens at once elected him a
member of the council of state, and he gained as high a reputation for his
practical sagacity as he had for his theoretical knowledge. He died at
Geneva on the 3rd of April 1748. His works were _Principes du droit
naturel_ (1747), and _Principes du droit politique_ (1751). These have
passed through many editions, and were very extensively used as text-books.
Burlamaqui's style is simple and clear, and his arrangement of the material
good. His fundamental principle may be described as rational
utilitarianism, and in many ways it resembles that of Cumberland.
BURLESQUE (Ital. _burlesco_, from _burla_, a joke, fun, playful trick), a
form of the comic in art, consisting broadly in an imitation of a work of
art with the object of exciting laughter, by distortion or exaggeration, by
turning, for example, the highly rhetorical into bombast, the pathetic into
the mock-sentimental, and especially by a ludicrous contrast between the
subject and the style, making gods speak like common men and common men
like gods. While parody (_q.v._), also based on imitation, relies for its
effect more on the close following of the style of its counterpart,
burlesque depends on broader and coarser effects. Burlesque may be applied
to any form of art, and unconsciously, no doubt, may be found even in
architecture. In the graphic arts it takes the form better known as
"caricature" (_q.v._). Its particular sphere is, however, in literature,
and especially in drama. The _Batrachomachia_, or Battle of the Frogs and
Mice, is the earliest example in classical literature, being a travesty of
the Homeric epic. There are many true burlesque parts in the comedies of
Aristophanes, _e.g._ the appearance of Socrates in the _Clouds_. The
Italian word first appears in the _Opere Burlesche_ of Francesco Berni
(1497-1535). In France during part of the reign of Louis XIV., the
burlesque attained to great popularity; burlesque Aeneids, Iliads and
Odysseys were composed, and even the most sacred subjects were not left
untravestied. Of the numerous writers of these, P. Scarron is most
prominent, and his _Virgile Travesti_ (1648-1653) was followed by numerous
imitators. In English literature Chaucer's _Rime of Sir Thopas_ is a
burlesque of the long-winded medieval romances. Among the best-known true
burlesques in English dramatic literature may be mentioned the 2nd duke of
Buckingham's _The Rehearsal_, a burlesque of the heroic drama; Gay's
_Beggar's Opera_, of the Italian opera; and Sheridan's _The Critic_. In the
later 19th century the name "burlesque" was given to a form of musical
dramatic composition in which the true element of burlesque found little or
no place. These musical burlesques, with which the Gaiety theatre, London,
and the names of Edward Terry, Fred Leslie and Nellie Farren are
particularly connected, developed from the earlier extravaganzas of J.R.
Planché, written frequently round fairy tales. The Gaiety type of burlesque
has since given place to the "musical comedy," and its only survival is to
be found in the modern pantomime.
BURLINGAME, ANSON (1820-1870), American legislator and diplomat, was born
in New Berlin, Chenango county, New York, on the 14th of November 1820. In
1823 his parents took him to Ohio, and about ten years afterwards to
Michigan. In 1838-1841 he studied in one of the "branches" of the
university of Michigan, and in 1846 graduated at the Harvard law school. He
practised law in Boston, and won a wide reputation by his speeches for the
Free Soil party in 1848. He was a member of the Massachusetts
constitutional convention in 1853, of the state senate in 1853-1854, and of
the national House of Representatives from 1855 to 1861, being elected for
the first term as a "Know Nothing" and afterwards as a member of the new
Republican party, which he helped to organize in Massachusetts. He was an
effective debater in the House, and for his impassioned denunciation (June
21, 1856) of Preston S. Brooks (1819-1857), for his assault upon Senator
Charles Sumner, was challenged by Brooks. Burlingame accepted the challenge
and specified rifles as the weapons to be used; his second chose Navy
Island, above the Niagara Falls, and in Canada, as the place for the
meeting. Brooks, however, refused these conditions, saying that he could
not reach the place designated "without running the gauntlet of mobs and
assassins, prisons and penitentiaries, bailiffs and constables." To
Burlingame's appointment as minister to Austria (March 22, 1861) the
Austrian authorities objected because in Congress he had advocated the
recognition of Sardinia as a first-class power and had championed Hungarian
independence. President Lincoln thereupon appointed him (June 14, 1861)
minister to China. This office he held until November 1867, when he
resigned and was immediately appointed (November 26) envoy extraordinary
and minister plenipotentiary to head a Chinese diplomatic mission to the
United States and the principal European nations. The embassy, which
included two Chinese ministers, an English and a French secretary, six
students from the Tung-wan Kwang at Peking, and a considerable retinue,
arrived in the United States in March 1868, and concluded at Washington
(28th of July 1868) a series of articles, supplementary to the Reed Treaty
of 1858, and later known as "The Burlingame Treaty." Ratifications of the
treaty were not exchanged at Peking until November 23, 1869. The
"Burlingame Treaty" recognizes China's right of eminent domain over all her
territory, gives China the right to appoint at ports in the United States
consuls, "who shall enjoy the same privileges and immunities as those
enjoyed by the consuls of Great Britain and Russia"; provides that
"citizens of the United States in China of every religious persuasion and
Chinese subjects in the United States shall enjoy entire liberty of
conscience and shall be exempt from all disability or persecution on
account of their religious faith or worship in either country"; and grants
certain privileges to citizens of either country residing in the other, the
privilege of naturalization, however, being specifically withheld. After
leaving the United States, the embassy visited several continental
capitals, but made no definite treaties. Burlingame's speeches did much to
awaken interest in, and a more intelligent appreciation of, China's
attitude toward the outside world. He died suddenly at St Petersburg, on
the 23rd of February 1870.
His son Edward Livermore Burlingame (b. 1848) was educated at Harvard and
at Heidelberg, was a member of the editorial staff of the New York
_Tribune_ in 1871-1872 and of the _American Cyclopaedia_ in 1872-1876, and
in 1886 became the editor of _Scribner's Magazine_.
BURLINGTON, a city and the county-seat of Des Moines county, Iowa, U.S.A.,
on the Mississippi river, in the S.E. part of the state. Pop. (1890)
22,565; (1900) 23,201; (1905, state census) 25,318 (4492 foreign-born);
(1910) 24,324. It is served by the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy (which has
extensive [v.04 p.0837] construction and repair shops here), the Chicago,
Rock Island & Pacific, and the Toledo, Peoria & Western (Pennsylvania
system) railways; and has an extensive river commerce. The river is spanned
here by the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy railway bridge. Many of the
residences are on bluffs commanding beautiful views of river scenery; and
good building material has been obtained from the Burlington limestone
quarries. Crapo Park, of 100 acres, along the river, is one of the
attractions of the city. Among the principal buildings are the county court
house, the free public library, the Tama building, the German-American
savings bank building and the post office. Burlington has three
well-equipped hospitals. Among the city's manufactures are lumber,
furniture, baskets, pearl buttons, cars, carriages and wagons, Corliss
engines, waterworks pumps, metallic burial cases, desks, boxes, crackers,
flour, pickles and beer. The factory product in 1905 was valued at
$5,779,337, or 29.9% more than in 1900. The first white man to visit the
site of Burlington seems to have been Lieutenant Zebulon M. Pike, who came
in 1805 and recommended the erection of a fort. The American Fur Company
established a post here in 1829 or earlier, but settlement really began in
1833, after the Black Hawk War, and the place had a population of 1200 in
1838. It was laid out as a town and named Flint Hills (a translation of the
Indian name, _Shokokon_) in 1834; but the name was soon changed to
Burlington, after the city of that name in Vermont. Burlington was
incorporated as a town in 1837, and was chartered as a city in 1838 by the
territory of Wisconsin, the city charter being amended by the territory of
Iowa in 1839 and 1841. The territorial legislature of Wisconsin met here
from 1836 to 1838 and that of Iowa from 1838 to 1840. In 1837 a newspaper,
the _Wisconsin Territorial Gazette_, now the Burlington _Evening Gazette_,
and in 1839 another, the Burlington _Hawk Eye_, were founded; the latter
became widely known in the years immediately following 1872 from the
humorous sketches contributed to it by Robert Jones Burdette (b. 1844), an
associate editor, known as the "Burlington Hawk Eye Man," who in 1903
entered the Baptist ministry and became pastor of the Temple Baptist church
in Los Angeles, California, and among whose publications are _Hawkeyetems_
(1877), _Hawkeyes_ (1879), and _Smiles Yoked with Sighs_ (1900).
BURLINGTON, a city of Burlington county, New Jersey, U.S.A., on the E. bank
of the Delaware river, 18 m. N.E. of Philadelphia. Pop. (1890) 7264; (1900)
7392, of whom 636 were foreign-born and 590 were of negro descent; (1905)
8038; (1910) 8336. It is served by the Pennsylvania railway, and by
passenger and freight steamboat lines on the Delaware river, connecting
with river and Atlantic coast ports. Burlington is a pleasant residential
city with a number of interesting old mansions long antedating the War of
Independence, some of them the summer homes of old Philadelphia families.
The Burlington Society library, established in 1757 and still conducted
under its original charter granted by George II., is one of the oldest
public libraries in America. At Burlington are St Mary's Hall (1837;
Protestant Episcopal), founded by Bishop G.W. Doane, one of the first
schools for girls to be established in the country, Van Rensselaer Seminary
and the New Jersey State Masonic home. In the old St Mary's church
(Protestant Episcopal), which was built in 1703 and has been called St
Anne's as well as St Mary's, Daniel Coxe (1674-1739), first provincial
grand master of the lodge of Masons in America, was buried; a commemorative
bronze tablet was erected in 1907. Burlington College, founded by Bishop
Doane in 1864, was closed as a college in 1877, but continued as a church
school until 1900; the buildings subsequently passed into the hands of an
iron manufacturer. Burlington's principal industries are the manufacture of
shoes and cast-iron water and gas pipes. Burlington was settled in 1677 by
a colony of English Quakers. The settlement was first known as New Beverly,
but was soon renamed after Bridlington (Burlington), the Yorkshire home of
many of the settlers. In 1682 the assembly of West Jersey gave to
Burlington "Matinicunk Island," above the town, "for the maintaining of a
school for the education of youth"; revenues from a part of the island are
still used for the support of the public schools, and the trust fund is one
of the oldest for educational purposes in the United States. Burlington was
incorporated as a town in 1693 (re-incorporated, 1733), and became the seat
of government of West Jersey. On the union of East and West Jersey in 1702,
it became one of the two seats of government of the new royal province, the
meetings of the legislature generally alternating between Burlington and
Perth Amboy, under both the colonial and the state government, until 1790.
In 1777 the _New Jersey Gazette_, the first newspaper in New Jersey, was
established here; it was published (here and later in Trenton) until 1786,
and was an influential paper, especially during the War of Independence.
Burlington was chartered as a city in 1784.
See Henry Armitt Brown, _The Settlement of Burlington_ (Burlington, 1878);
George M. Hills, _History of the Church in Burlington_ (Trenton, 1885); and
Mrs A.M. Gummère, _Friends in Burlington_ (Philadelphia, 1884).
BURLINGTON, a city, port of entry and the county-seat of Chittenden county,
Vermont, U.S.A., on the E. shore of Lake Champlain, in the N.W. part of the
state, 90 m. S.E. of Montreal, and 300 m. N. of New York. It is the largest
city in the state. Pop. (1880) 11,365; (1890) 14,590; (1900) 18,640, of
whom 3726 were foreign-born; (1910, census) 20,468. It is served by the
Central Vermont and the Rutland railways, and by lines of passenger and
freight steamboats on Lake Champlain. The city is attractively situated on
an arm of Lake Champlain, being built on a strip of land extending about 6
m. south from the mouth of the Winooski river along the lake shore and
gradually rising from the water's edge to a height of 275 ft.; its
situation and its cool and equable summer climate have given it a wide
reputation as a summer resort, and it is a centre for yachting, canoeing
and other aquatic sports. During the winter months it has ice-boat
regattas. Burlington is the seat of the university of Vermont (1791;
non-sectarian and co-educational), whose official title in 1865 became "The
University of Vermont and State Agricultural College." The university is
finely situated on a hill (280 ft. above the lake) commanding a charming
view of the city, lake, the Adirondacks and the Green Mountains. It has
departments of arts, sciences and medicine, and a library of 74,800 volumes
and 32,936 pamphlets housed in the Billings Library, designed by H.H.
Richardson. The university received the Federal grants under the Morrill
acts of 1862 and 1890, and in connexion with it the Vermont agricultural
experiment station is maintained. At Burlington are also the Mt St Mary's
academy (1889, Roman Catholic), conducted by the Sisters of Mercy; and two
business colleges. Among the principal buildings are the city hall, the
Chittenden county court house, the Federal and the Y.M.C.A. buildings, the
Masonic temple, the Roman Catholic cathedral and the Edmunds high school.
Burlington's charitable institutions include the Mary Fletcher hospital,
the Adams mission home, the Lousia Howard mission, the Providence orphan
asylum, and homes for aged women, friendless women and destitute children.
The Fletcher free public library (47,000 volumes in 1908) is housed in a
Carnegie building. In the city are two sanitariums. The city has two parks
(one, Ethan Allen Park, is on a bluff in the north-west part of the city,
and commands a fine view) and four cemeteries; in Green Mount Cemetery,
which overlooks the Winooski valley, is a monument over the grave of Ethan
Allen, who lived in Burlington from 1778 until his death. Fort Ethan Allen,
a United States military post, is about 3 m. east of the city, with which
it is connected by an electric line. Burlington is the most important
manufacturing centre in the state; among its manufactures are sashes, doors
and blinds, boxes, furniture and wooden-ware, cotton and woollen goods,
patent medicines, refrigerators, house furnishings, paper and machinery. In
1905 the city's factory products were valued at $6,355,754, three-tenths of
which was the value of lumber and planing mill products, including sashes,
doors and blinds. The Winooski river, which forms the boundary between
Burlington and the township of Colchester and which enters Lake Champlain
N.W. of the city, [v.04 p.0838] furnishes valuable water-power, but most of
the manufactories are operated by steam. Quantities of marble were formerly
taken from quarries in the vicinity. The city is a wholesale distributing
centre for all northern Vermont and New Hampshire, and is one of the
principal lumber markets in the east, most of the lumber being imported
from Canada. It is the port of entry for the Vermont customs district,
whose exports and imports were valued respectively in 1907 at $8,333,024
and $5,721,034. A charter for a town to be founded here was granted by the
province of New Hampshire in 1763, but no settlement was made until 1774.
Burlington was chartered as a city in 1865.
BURMA, a province of British India, including the former kingdom of
independent Burma, as well as British Burma, acquired by the British Indian
government in the two wars of 1826 and 1852. It is divided into Upper and
Lower Burma, the former being the territory annexed on 1st January 1886.
The province lies to the east of the Bay of Bengal, and covers a range of
country extending from the Pakchan river in 9° 55' north latitude to the
Naga and Chingpaw, or Kachin hills, lying roughly between the 27th and 28th
degrees of north latitude; and from the Bay of Bengal on the west to the
Mekong river, the boundary of the dependent Shan States on the east, that
is to say, roughly, between the 92nd and 100th degrees of east longitude.
The extreme length from north to south is almost 1200 m., and the broadest
part, which is in about latitude 21° north, is 575 m. from east to west. On
the N. it is bounded by the dependent state of Manipur, by the Mishmi
hills, and by portions of Chinese territory; on the E. by the Chinese Shan
States, portions of the province of Yunnan, the French province of
Indo-China, and the Siamese Shan, or Lao States and Siam; on the S. by the
Siamese Malay States and the Bay of Bengal; and on the W. by the Bay of
Bengal and Chittagong. The coast-line from Taknaf, the mouth of the Naaf,
in the Akyab district on the north, to the estuary of the Pakchan at
Maliwun on the south, is about 1200 m. The total area of the province is
estimated at 238,738 sq.m., of which Burma proper occupies 168,573 sq.m.,
the Chin hills 10,250 sq.m., and the Shan States, which comprise the whole
of the eastern portion of the province, some 59,915 sq.m.
_Natural Divisions._--The province falls into three natural divisions:
Arakan with the Chin hills, the Irrawaddy basin, and the old province of
Tenasserim, together with the portion of the Shan and Karen-ni states in
the basin of the Salween, and part of Kengtung in the western basin of the
Mekong. Of these Arakan is a strip of country lying on the seaward slopes
of the range of hills known as the Arakan Yomas. It stretches from Cape
Negrais on the south to the Naaf estuary, which divides it from the
Chittagong division of Eastern Bengal and Assam on the north, and includes
the districts of Sandoway, Kyaukpyu, Akyab and northern Arakan, an area of
some 18,540 sq.m. The northern part of this tract is barren hilly country,
but in the west and south are rich alluvial plains containing some of the
most fertile lands of the province. Northwards lie the Chin and some part
of the Kachin hills. To the east of the Arakan division, and separated from
it by the Arakan Yornas, lies the main body of Burma in the basin of the
Irrawaddy. This tract falls into four subdivisions. First, there is the
highland tract including the hilly country at the sources of the Chindwin
and the upper waters of the Irrawaddy, the Upper Chindwin, Katha, Bhamo,
Myitkyina and Ruby Mines districts, with the Kachin hills and a great part
of the Northern Shan states. In the Shan States there are a few open
plateaus, fertile and well populated, and Maymyo in the Mandalay district,
the hill-station to which in the hot weather the government of Burma
migrates, stands in the Pyin-u-lwin plateau, some 3500 ft. above the sea.
But the greater part of this country is a mass of rugged hills cut deep
with narrow gorges, within which even the biggest rivers are confined. The
second tract is that known as the dry zone of Burma, and includes the whole
of the lowlands lying between the Arakan Yomas and the western fringe of
the Southern Shan States. It stretches along both sides of the Irrawaddy
from the north of Mandalay to Thayetmyo, and embraces the Lower Chindwin,
Shwebo, Sagaing, Mandalay, Kyauksè, Meiktila, Yamèthin, Myingyan, Magwe,
Pakôkku and Minbu districts. This tract consists mostly of undulating
lowlands, but it is broken towards the south by the Pegu Yomas, a
considerable range of hills which divides the two remaining tracts of the
Irrawaddy basin. On the west, between the Pegu and the Arakan Yomas,
stretches the Irrawaddy delta, a vast expanse of level plain 12,000 sq.m.
in area falling in a gradual unbroken slope from its apex not far south of
Prome down to the sea. This delta, which includes the districts of Bassein,
Myaungmya, Thôngwa, Henzada, Hanthawaddy, Tharrawaddy, Pegu and Rangoon
town, consists almost entirely of a rich alluvial deposit, and the whole
area, which between Cape Negrais and Elephant Point is 137 m. wide, is
fertile in the highest degree. To the east lies a tract of country which,
though geographically a part of the Irrawaddy basin, is cut off from it by
the Yomas, and forms a separate system draining into the Sittang river. The
northern portion of this tract, which on the east touches the basin of the
Salween river, is hilly; the remainder towards the confluence of the
Salween, Gyaing and Attaran rivers consists of broad fertile plains. The
whole is comprised in the districts of Toungoo and Thaton, part of the
Karen-ni hills, with the Salween hill tract and the northern parts of
Amherst, which form the northern portion of the Tenasserim administrative
division. The third natural division of Burma is the old province of
Tenasserim, which, constituted in 1826 with Moulmein as its capital, formed
the nucleus from which the British supremacy throughout Burma has grown. It
is a narrow strip of country lying between the Bay of Bengal and the high
range of hills which form the eastern boundary of the province towards
Siam. It comprises the districts of Mergui and Tavoy and a part of Amherst,
and includes also the Mergui Archipelago. The surface of this part of the
country is mountainous and much intersected with streams. Northward from
this lies the major portion of the Southern Shan States and Karen-ni and a
narrowing strip along the Salween of the Northern Shan States.
_Mountains._--Burma proper is encircled on three sides by a wall of
mountain ranges. The Arakan Yomas starting from Cape Negrais extend
northwards more or less parallel with the coast till they join the Chin and
Naga hills. They then form part of a system of ranges which curve north of
the sources of the Chindwin river, and with the Kumon range and the hills
of the Jade and Amber mines, make up a highland tract separated from the
great Northern Shan plateau by the gorges of the Irrawaddy river. On the
east the Kachin, Shan and Karen hills, extending from the valley of the
Irrawaddy into China far beyond the Salween gorge, form a continuous
barrier and boundary, and tail off into a narrow range which forms the
eastern watershed of the Salween and separates Tenasserim from Siam. The
highest peak of the Arakan Yomas, Liklang, rises nearly 10,000 ft. above
the sea, and in the eastern Kachin hills, which run northwards from the
state of Möng Mit to join the high range dividing the basins of the
Irrawaddy and the Salween, are two peaks, Sabu and Worang, which rise to a
height of 11,200 ft. above the sea. The Kumon range running down from the
Hkamti country east of Assam to near Mogaung ends in a peak known as
Shwedaunggyi, which reaches some 5750 ft. There are several peaks in the
Ruby Mines district which rise beyond 7000 ft. and Loi Ling in the Northern
Shan States reaches 9000 ft. Compared with these ranges the Pegu Yomas
assume the proportions of mere hills. Popa, a detached peak in the Myingyan
district, belongs to this system and rises to a height of nearly 5000 ft.,
but it is interesting mainly as an extinct volcano, a landmark and an
object of superstitious folklore, throughout the whole of Central Burma.
Mud volcanoes occur at Minbu, but they are not in any sense mountains,
resembling rather the hot springs which are found in many parts of Burma.
They are merely craters raised above the level of the surrounding country
by the gradual accretion of the soft oily mud, which overflows at frequent
intervals whenever a discharge of gas occurs. Spurs of the Chin hills run
down the whole length of the Lower Chindwin district, almost to Sagaing,
and one hill, Powindaung, is particularly noted on account of its
innumerable cave temples, which are said to hold no fewer than 446,444
images of Buddha. Huge caves, of which the most noted are the Farm Caves,
occur in the hills near Moulmein, and they too are full of relics of their
ancient use as temples, though now they are chiefly visited in connexion
with the bats, whose flight viewed from a distance, as they issue from the
caves, resembles a cloud of smoke.
_Rivers._--Of the rivers of Burma the Irrawaddy is the most important. It
rises possibly beyond the confines of Burma in the unexplored regions,
where India, Tibet and China meet, and seems to be formed by the junction
of a number of considerable streams of no great length. Two rivers, the
Mali and the N'mai, meeting about latitude 25° 45' some 150 m. north of
Bhamo, contribute chiefly to its volume, and during the dry weather it is
navigable for steamers up to their confluence. Up to Bhamo, a distance of
900 m. from the sea, it is navigable throughout the year, and its chief
tributary in Burma, the Chindwin, is also navigable for steamers for 300 m.
from its junction with the Irrawaddy at Pakôkku. The Chindwin, called in
its upper reaches the Tanai, rises in the hills south-west of Thama, and
flows due north till it enters the south-east corner of the Hukawng valley,
where it turns north-west and continues in that direction cutting the
valley into two almost equal parts until it reaches its north-west range,
when it turns almost due south and takes the name of the Chindwin. It is a
swift clear river, fed in its upper reaches by numerous mountain streams.
The Mogaung river, rising in the watershed which divides the Irrawaddy and
the Chindwin drainages, flows south and south-east for 180 m. before it
joins the Irrawaddy, and is navigable for steamers as far as Kamaing for
about four months in the year. South of Thayetmyo, where arms of the Arakan
Yomas approach the river and almost meet that spur of the Pegu Yomas which
formed till 1886 the [v.04 p.0839] northern boundary of British Burma, the
valley of the Irrawaddy opens out again, and at Yegin Mingyi near Myanaung
the influence of the tide is first felt, and the delta may be said to
begin. The so-called rivers of the delta, the Ngawun, Pyamalaw, Panmawaddy,
Pyinzalu and Pantanaw, are simply the larger mouths of the Irrawaddy, and
the whole country towards the sea is a close network of creeks where there
are few or no roads and boats take the place of carts for every purpose.
There is, however, one true river of some size, the Hlaing, which rises
near Prome, flows southwards and meets the Pegu river and the Pazundaung
creek near Rangoon, and thus forms the estuary which is known as the
Rangoon river and constitutes the harbour of Rangoon. East of the Rangoon
river and still within the deltaic area, though cut off from the main delta
by the southern end of the Pegu Yomas, lies the mouth of the Sittang. This
river, rising in the Sham-Karen hills, flows first due north and then
southward through the Kyauksè, Yamèthin and Toungoo districts, its line
being followed by the Mandalay-Rangoon railway as far south as Nyaunglèbin
in the Pegu district. At Toungoo it is narrow, but below Shwegyin it
widens, and at Sittang it is half a mile broad. It flows into the Gulf of
Martaban, and near its mouth its course is constantly changing owing to
erosion and corresponding accretions. The second river in the province in
point of size is the Salween, a huge river, believed from the volume of its
waters to rise in the Tibetan mountains to the north of Lhasa. It is in all
probability actually longer than the Irrawaddy, but it is not to be
compared to that river in importance. It is, in fact, walled in on either
side, with banks varying in British territory from 3000 to 6000 ft. high
and at present unnavigable owing to serious rapids in Lower Burma and at
one or two places in the Shan States, but quite open to traffic for
considerable reaches in its middle course. The Gyaing and the Attaran
rivers meet the Salween at its mouth, and the three rivers form the harbour
of Moulmein, the second seaport of Burma.
_Lakes._--The largest lake in the province is Indawgyi in the Myitkyina
district. It has an area of nearly 100 sq. m. and is surrounded on three
sides by ranges of hills, but is open to the north where it has an outlet
in the Indaw river. In the highlands of the Shan hills there are the Inle
lakes near Yawnghwe, and in the Katha district also there is another Indaw
which covers some 60 sq. m. Other lakes are the Paunglin lake in Minbu
district, the Inma lake in Prome, the Tu and Duya in Henzada, the Shahkègyi
and the Inyègyi in Bassein, the sacred lake at Ye in Tenasserim, and the
Nagamauk, Panzemyaung and Walonbyan in Arakan. The Meiktila lake covers an
area of some 5 sq. m., but it is to some extent at least an artificial
reservoir. In the heart of the delta numerous large lakes or marshes
abounding in fish are formed by the overflow of the Irrawaddy river during
the rainy season, but these either assume very diminutive proportions or
disappear altogether in the dry season.
_Climate._--The climate of the delta is cooler and more temperate than in
Upper Burma, and this is shown in the fairer complexion and stouter
physique of the people of the lower province as compared with the
inhabitants of the drier and hotter upper districts as far as Bhamo, where
there is a great infusion of other types of the Tibeto-Burman family. North
of the apex of the delta and the boundary between the deltaic and inland
tracts, the rainfall gradually lessens as far as Minbu, where what was
formerly called the rainless zone commences and extends as far as Katha.
The rainfall in the coast districts varies from about 200 in. in the Arakan
and Tenasserim divisions to an average of 90 in Rangoon and the adjoining
portion of the Irrawaddy delta. In the extreme north of Upper Burma the
rainfall is rather less than in the country adjoining Rangoon, and in the
dry zone the annual average falls as low as 20 and 30 in.
The temperature varies almost as much as the rainfall. It is highest in the
central zone, the mean of the maximum readings in such districts as Magwe,
Myingyan, Kyauksè, Mandalay and Shwebo in the month of May being close on
100° F., while in the littoral and sub-montane districts it is nearly ten
degrees less. The mean of the minimum readings in December in the central
zone districts is a few degrees under 60° F. and in the littoral districts
a few degrees over that figure. In the hilly district of Mogôk (Ruby Mines)
the December mean minimum is 36.8° and the mean maximum 79°. The climate of
the Chin and Kachin hills and also of the Shan States is temperate. In the
shade and off the ground the thermometer rarely rises above 80° F. or falls
below 25° F. In the hot season and in the sun as much as 150° F. is
registered, and on the grass in the cold weather ten degrees of frost are
not uncommon. Snow is seldom seen either in the Chin or Shan hills, but
there are snow-clad ranges in the extreme north of the Kachin country. In
the narrow valleys of the Shan hills, and especially in the Salween valley,
the shade maximum reaches 100° F. regularly for several weeks in April. The
rainfall in the hills varies very considerably, but seems to range from
about 60 in. in the broader valleys to about 300 in. on the higher
forest-clad ranges.
_Geology._--Geologically, British Burma consists of two divisions, an
eastern and a western. The dividing line runs from the mouth of the Sittang
river along the railway to Mandalay, and thence continues northward, with
the same general direction but curving slightly towards the east. West of
this line the rocks are chiefly Tertiary and Quaternary; east of it they
are mostly Palaeozoic or gneissic. In the western mountain ranges the beds
are thrown into a series of folds which form a gentle curve running from
south to north with its convexity facing westward. There is an axial zone
of Cretaceous and Lower Eocene, and this is flanked on each side by the
Upper Eocene and the Miocene, while the valley of the Irrawaddy is occupied
chiefly by the Pliocene. Along the southern part of the Arakan coast the
sea spreads over the western Miocene zone. The Cretaceous beds have not yet
been separated from the overlying Eocene, and the identification of the
system rests on the discovery of a single Cenomanian ammonite. The Eocene
beds are marine and contain nummulites. The Miocene beds are also marine
and are characterized by an abundant molluscan fauna. The Pliocene, on the
other hand, is of freshwater origin, and contains silicified wood and
numerous remains of Mammalia. Flint chips, which appear to have been
fashioned by hand, are said to have been found in the Miocene beds, but to
prove the existence of man at so early a period would require stronger
evidence than has yet been brought forward.
The older rocks of eastern Burma are very imperfectly known. Gneiss and
granite occur; Ordovician fossils have been found in the Upper Shan States,
and Carboniferous fossils in Tenasserim and near Moulmein. Volcanic rocks
are not common in any part of Burma, but about 50 m. north-north-east of
Yenangyaung the extinct volcano of Popa rises to a height of 3000 ft. above
the surrounding Pliocene plain. Intrusions of a serpentine-like rock break
through the Miocene strata north of Bhamo, and similar intrusions occur in
the western ranges. Whether the mud "volcanoes" of the Irrawaddy valley
have any connexion with volcanic activity may be doubted. The petroleum of
Burma occurs in the Miocene beds, one of the best-known fields being that
of Yenangyaung. Coal is found in the Tertiary deposits in the valley of the
Irrawaddy and in Tenasserim. Tin is abundant in Tenasserim, and lead and
silver have been worked extensively in the Shan States. The famous ruby
mines of Upper Burma are in metamorphic rock, while the jadeite of the
Bhamo neighbourhood is associated with the Tertiary intrusions of
serpentine-like rock already noticed.[1]
_Population._--The total population of Burma in 1901 was 10,490,624 as
against 7,722,053 in 1891; but a considerable portion of this large
increase was due to the inclusion of the Shan States and the Chin hills in
the census area. Even in Burma proper, however, there was an increase
during the decade of 1,530,822, or 19.8%. The density of population per
square mile is 44 as compared with 167 for the whole of India and 552 for
the Bengal Delta. England and Wales have a population more than twelve
times as dense as that of Burma, so there is still room for expansion. The
chief races of Burma are Burmese (6,508,682), Arakanese (405,143), Karens
(717,859), Shans (787,087), Chins (179,292), Kachins (64,405) and Talaings
(321,898); but these totals do not include the Shan States and Chin hills.
The Burmese in person have the Mongoloid characteristics common to the
Indo-Chinese races, the Tibetans and tribes of the Eastern Himalaya. They
may be generally described as of a stout, active, well-proportioned form;
of a brown but never of an intensely dark complexion, with black, coarse,
lank and abundant hair, and a little more beard than is possessed by the
Siamese. Owing to their gay and lively disposition the Burmese have been
called "the Irish of the East," and like the Irish they are somewhat
inclined to laziness. Since the advent of the British power, the
immigration of Hindus with a lower standard of comfort and of Chinamen with
a keener business instinct has threatened the economic independence of the
Burmese in their own country. As compared with the Hindu, the Burmese wear
silk instead of cotton, and eat rice instead of the cheaper grains; they
are of an altogether freer and less servile, but also of a less practical
character. The Burmese women have a keener business instinct than the men,
and serve in some degree to redress the balance. The Burmese children are
adored by their parents, and are said to be the happiest and merriest
children in the world.
_Language and Literature._--The Burmese are supposed by modern philologists
to have come, as joint members of a vast Indo-Chinese immigration swarm,
from western China to the head waters of the Irrawaddy and then separated,
some to people Tibet and Assam, the others to press southwards into the
[v.04 p.0840] plains of Burma. The indigenous tongues of Burma are divided
into the following groups:--
A. Indo-Chinese (1) Tibet-Burman (a) The Burmese group.
family sub-family (b) The Kachin group.
(c) The Kuki-Chin group.
(2) Siamese-Chinese (d) The Tai group.
sub-family (e) The Karen group.
(3) Môn-Annam (f) The Upper Middle
sub-family Mekong or Wa Palaung
group.
(g) The North Cambodian
group.
B. Malay family (h) The Selung language.
Burmese, which was spoken by 7,006,495 people in the province in 1901, is a
monosyllabic language, with, according to some authorities, three different
tones; so that any given syllable may have three entirely different
meanings only distinguishable by the intonation when spoken, or by accents
or diacritical marks when written. There are, however, very many weighty
authorities who deny the existence of tones in the language. The Burmese
alphabet is borrowed from the Aryan Sanskrit through the P[=a]li of Upper
India. The language is written from left to right in what appears to be an
unbroken line. Thus Burma possesses two kinds of literature, P[=a]li and
Burmese. The P[=a]li is by far the more ancient, including as it does the
Buddhist scriptures that originally found their way to Burma from Ceylon
and southern India. The Burmese literature is for the most part metrical,
and consists of religious romances, chronological histories and songs. The
_Maha Yazawin_ or "Royal Chronicle," forms the great historical work of
Burma. This is an authorized history, in which everything unflattering to
the Burmese monarchs was rigidly suppressed. After the Second Burmese War
no record was ever made in the _Yazawin_ that Pegu had been torn away from
Burma by the British. The folk songs are the truest and most interesting
national literature. The Burmese are fond of stage-plays in which great
licence of language is permitted, and great liberty to "gag" is left to the
wit or intelligence of the actors.
_Government._--The province as a division of the Indian empire is
administered by a lieutenant-governor, first appointed 1st May 1897, with a
legislative council of nine members, five of whom are officials. There are,
besides, a chief secretary, revenue secretary, secretary and two
under-secretaries, a public works department secretary with two assistants.
The revenue administration of the province is superintended by a financial
commissioner, assisted by two secretaries, and a director of land records
and agriculture, with a land records departmental staff. There is a chief
court for the province with a chief justice and three justices, established
in May 1900. Other purely judicial officers are the judicial commissioner
for Upper Burma, and the civil judges of Mandalay and Moulmein. There are
four commissioners of revenue and circuit, and nineteen deputy
commissioners in Lower Burma, and four commissioners and seventeen deputy
commissioners in Upper Burma. There are two superintendents of the Shan
States, one for the northern and one for the southern Shan States, and an
assistant superintendent in the latter; a superintendent of the Arakan hill
tracts and of the Chin hills, and a Chinese political adviser taken from
the Chinese consular service. The police are under the control of an
inspector-general, with deputy inspector-general for civil and military
police, and for supply and clothing. The education department is under a
director of public instruction, and there are three circles--eastern,
western and Upper Burma, each under an inspector of schools.
The Burma forests are divided into three circles each under a conservator,
with twenty-one deputy conservators. There are also a deputy
postmaster-general, chief superintendent and four superintendents of
telegraphs, a chief collector of customs, three collectors and four port
officers, and an inspector-general of jails. At the principal towns benches
of honorary magistrates, exercising powers of various degrees, have been
constituted. There are forty-one municipal towns, fourteen of which are in
Upper Burma. The commissioners of division are _ex officio_ sessions judges
in their several divisions, and also have civil powers, and powers as
revenue officers. They are responsible to the lieutenant-governor, each in
his own division, for the working of every department of the public
service, except the military department, and the branches of the
administration directly under the control of the supreme government. The
deputy commissioners perform the functions of district magistrates,
district judges, collectors and registrars, besides the miscellaneous
duties which fall to the principal district officer as representative of
government. Subordinate to the deputy commissioners are assistant
commissioners, extra-assistant commissioners and myoôks, who are invested
with various magisterial, civil and revenue powers, and hold charge of the
townships, as the units of regular civil and revenue jurisdiction are
called, and the sub-divisions of districts, into which most of these
townships are grouped. Among the salaried staff of officials, the townships
officers are the ultimate representatives of government who come into most
direct contact with the people. Finally, there are the village headmen,
assisted in Upper Burma by elders, variously designated according to old
custom. Similarly in the towns, there are headmen of wards and elders of
blocks. In Upper Burma these headmen have always been revenue collectors.
The system under which in towns headmen of wards and elders of blocks are
appointed is of comparatively recent origin, and is modelled on the village
system.
The Shan States were declared to be a part of British India by notification
in 1886. The Shan States Act of 1888 vests the civil, [Sidenote: The Shan
States.] criminal and revenue administration in the chief of the state,
subject to the restrictions specified in the _sanad_ or patent granted to
him. The law to be administered in each state is the customary law of the
state, so far as it is in accordance with the justice, equity and good
conscience, and not opposed to the spirit of the law in the rest of British
India. The superintendents exercise general control over the administration
of criminal justice, and have power to call for cases, and to exercise wide
revisionary powers. Criminal jurisdiction in cases in which either the
complainant or the defendant is a European, or American, or a government
servant, or a British subject not a native of a Shan State, is withdrawn
from the chiefs and vested in the superintendents and assistant
superintendents. Neither the superintendents nor the assistant
superintendents have power to try civil suits, whether the parties are
Shans or not. In the Myelat division of the southern Shan States, however,
the criminal law is practically the same as the in force in Upper Burma,
and the ngwegunhmus, or petty chiefs, have been appointed magistrates of
the second class. The chiefs of the Shan States are of three classes:--(1)
sawbwas; (2) myosas; (3) ngwegunhmus. The last are found only in the
_Myelat_, or border country between the southern Shan States and Burma.
There are fifteen sawbwas, sixteen myosas and thirteen ngwegunhmus in the
Shan States proper. Two sawbwas are under the supervision of the
commissioner of the Mandalay division, and two under the commissioner of
the Sagaing division. The states vary enormously in size, from the 12,000
sq. m. of the Trans-Salween State of Kêng Tung, to the 3.95 sq. m. of Nam
Hkôm in the Myelat. The latter contained only 41 houses with 210
inhabitants in 1897 and has since been merged in the adjoining state. There
are five states, all sawbwaships, under the supervision of the
superintendent of the northern Shan States, besides an indeterminate number
of Wa States and communities of other races beyond the Salween river. The
superintendent of the southern Shan States supervises thirty-nine, of which
ten are sawbwaships. The headquarters of the northern Shan States are at
Lashio, of the southern Shan States at Taung-gyi.
The states included in eastern and western Karen-ni are not part of British
India, and are not subject to any of the laws in force in the Shan States,
but they are under the supervision of the superintendent of the southern
Shan States.
[Illustration]
The northern portion of the Karen hills is at present dealt with on the
principle of political as distinguished from administrative control. The
tribes are not interfered with as long as they keep the peace. What is
specifically known as the Kachin hills, the country taken under
administration in the Bhamo and Myitkyina districts, is divided into forty
tracts. Beyond these tracts there are many Kachins in Katha, Möng-Mit, and
the northern Shan States, but though they are often the preponderating,
they are not the exclusive population. The country within the forty tracts
may be considered the Kachin hills proper, and it lies between 23° 30' and
26° 30' N. lat. and 96° and 98° E. long. Within this area the petty chiefs
have appointment orders, the people are disarmed, and the rate of tribute
per household is fixed in each case. Government is regulated by the [v.04
p.0841] Kachin hills regulation. Since 1894 the country has been
practically undisturbed, and large numbers of Kachins are enlisted, and
ready to enlist in the military police, and seem likely to form as good
troops as the Gurkhas of Nepal.
The Chin hills were not declared an integral part of Burma until 1895, but
they now form a scheduled district. The chiefs, however, are allowed to
administer their own affairs, as far as may be, in accordance with their
own customs, subject to the supervision of the superintendent of the Chin
hills.
_Religion._--Buddhists make up more than 88.6%; Mussulmans 3.28;
spirit-worshippers 3.85; Hindus 2.76, and Christians 1.42 of the total
population of the province. The large nominal proportion of Buddhists is
deceptive. The Burmese are really as devoted to demonolatry as the
hill-tribes who are labelled plain spirit-worshippers. The actual figures
of the various religions, according to the census of 1901, are as
follows:--
Buddhists 9,184,121
Spirit-worshippers 399,390
Hindus 285,484
Mussulmans 339,446
Christians 147,525
Sikhs 6,596
Jews 685
Parsees 245
Others 28
The chief religious principle of the Burmese is to acquire merit for their
next incarnation by good works done in this life. The bestowal of alms,
offerings of rice to priests, the founding of a monastery, erection of
pagodas, with which the country is crowded, the building of a bridge or
rest-house for the convenience of travellers are all works of religious
merit, prompted, not by love of one's fellow-creatures, but simply and
solely for one's own future advantage.
An analysis shows that not quite two in every thousand Burmese profess
Christianity, and there are about the same number of Mahommedans among
them. It is admitted by the missionaries themselves that Christianity has
progressed very slowly among the Burmese in comparison with the rapid
progress made amongst the Karens. It is amongst the Sgaw Karens that the
greatest progress in Christianity has been made, and the number of
spirit-worshippers among them is very much smaller. The number of Burmese
Christians is considerably increased by the inclusion among them of the
Christian descendants of the Portuguese settlers of Syriam deported to the
old Burmese Tabayin, a village now included in the Ye-u subdivision of
Shwebo. These Christians returned themselves as Burmese. The forms of
Christianity which make most converts in Burma are the Baptist and Roman
Catholic faiths. Of recent years many conversions to Christianity have been
made by the American Baptist missionaries amongst the Lahu or Muhsö hill
tribesmen.
_Education._--Compared with other Indian provinces, and even with some of
the countries of Europe, Burma takes a very high place in the returns of
those able to both read and write. Taking the sexes apart, though women
fall far behind men in the matter of education, still women are better
educated in Burma than in the rest of India. The average number of each sex
in Burma per thousand is:--literates, male 378; female, 45; illiterates,
male, 622; female, 955. The number of literates per thousand in Bengal
is:--male, 104; female, 5. The proportion was greatly reduced in the 1901
census by the inclusion of the Shan States and the Chin hills, which mostly
consist of illiterates.
The fact that in Upper Burma the proportion of literates is nearly as high
as, and the proportion of those under instruction even higher than, that of
the corresponding classes in Lower Burma, is a clear proof that in primary
education, at least, the credit for the superiority of the Burman over the
native of India is due to indigenous schools. In almost every village in
the province there is a monastery, where the most regular occupation of one
or more of the resident _pongyis_, or Buddhist monks, is the instruction
free of charge of the children of the village. The standard of instruction,
however, is very low, consisting only of reading and writing, though this
is gradually being improved in very many monasteries. The absence of all
prejudice in favour of the seclusion of women also is one of the main
reasons why in this province the proportion who can read and write is
higher than in any other part of India, Cochin alone excepted. It was not
till 1890 that the education department took action in Upper Burma. It was
then ascertained that there were 684 public schools with 14,133 pupils, and
1664 private schools with 8685 pupils. It is worthy of remark that of these
schools 29 were Mahommedan, and that there were 176 schools for girls in
which upwards of 2000 pupils were taught. There are three circles--Eastern,
Central and Upper Burma. For the special supervision and encouragement of
indigenous primary education in monastic and in lay schools, each circle of
inspection is divided into sub-circles corresponding with one or more of
the civil districts, and each sub-circle is placed under a deputy-inspector
or a sub-inspector of schools. There are nine standards of instruction, and
the classes in schools correspond with these standards. In Upper Burma all
educational grants are paid from imperial funds; there is no cess as in
Lower Burma. Grants-in-aid are given according to results. There is only
one college, at Rangoon, which is affiliated to the Calcutta University.
There are missionary schools amongst the Chins, Kachins and Shans, and a
school for the sons of Shan chiefs at Taung-gyi in the southern Shan
States. A _Patamabyan_ examination for marks in the P[=a]li language was
first instituted in 1896 and is held annually.
_Finance._--The gross revenue of Lower Burma from all sources in 1871-1872
was Rs.1,36,34,520, of which Rs.1,21,70,530 was from imperial taxation,
Rs.3,73,200 from provincial services, and Rs.10,90,790 from local funds.
The land revenue of the province was Rs.34,45,230. In Burma the cultivators
themselves continue to hold the land from government, and the extent of
their holdings averages about five acres. The land tax is supplemented by a
poll tax on the male population from 18 to 60 years of age, with the
exception of immigrants during the first five years of their residence,
religious teachers, schoolmasters, government servants and those unable to
obtain their own livelihood. In 1890-1891 the revenue of Lower Burma has
risen to Rs.2,08,38,872 from imperial taxation, Rs.1,55,51,897 for
provincial services, and Rs.12,14,596 from incorporated local funds. The
expenditure on the administration of Lower Burma in 1870-1871 was
Rs.49,70,020. In 1890-1891 it was Rs.1,58,48,041. In Upper Burma the chief
source of revenue is the _thathameda_, a tithe or income tax which was
instituted by King Mindon, and was adopted by the British very much as they
found it. For the purpose of the assessment every district and town is
classified according to its general wealth and prosperity. As a rule the
basis of calculation was 100 rupees from every ten houses, with a 10%
deduction for those exempted by custom. When the total amount payable by
the village was thus determined, the village itself settled the amount to
be paid by each individual householder. This was done by _thamadis_,
assessors, usually appointed by the villagers themselves. Other important
sources of revenue are the rents from state lands, forests, and
miscellaneous items such as fishery, revenue and irrigation taxes. In
1886-1887, the year after the annexation, the amount collected in Upper
Burma from all sources was twenty-two lakhs of rupees. In the following
year it had risen to fifty lakhs. Much of Upper Burma, however, remained
disturbed until 1890. The figures for 1890-1891, therefore, show the first
really regular collection. The amount then collected was Rs.87,47,020.
The total revenue of Burma in the year ending March 31, 1900 was
Rs.7,04,36,240 and in 1905, Rs.9,65,62,298. The total expenditure in the
same years respectively was Rs.4,30,81,000 and Rs.5,66,60,047. The
principal items of revenue in the budget are the land revenue, railways,
customs, forests and excise.
_Defence._--Burma is garrisoned by a division of the Indian army,
consisting of two brigades, under a lieutenant-general. Of the native
regiments seven battalions are Burma regiments specially raised for
permanent service in Burma by transformation from military police. These
regiments, consisting of Gurkhas, Sikhs and Pathans, are distributed
throughout the Shan States and the northern part of Burma. In addition to
these there are about 13,500 civil police and 15,000 military police. The
military police are in reality a regular military force with only two
European officers in command of each battalion; and they are recruited
entirely from among the warlike races of northern India. A small battalion
of Karens enlisted as sappers and miners proved a failure and had to be
disbanded. Experiments have also been made with the Kachin hillmen and with
the Shans; but the Burmese character is so averse to discipline and control
in petty matters that it is impossible to get really suitable men to enlist
even in the civil police. The volunteer forces consist of the Rangoon Port
Defence Volunteers, comprising artillery, naval, and engineer corps, the
Moulmein artillery, the Moulmein, Rangoon, Railway and Upper Burma rifles.
_Minerals and Mining._--In its three chief mineral products, earth-oil,
coal and gold, Burma offers a fair field for enterprise and nothing more.
Without yielding fortunes for speculators, like South Africa or Australia,
it returns a fair percentage upon genuine hard work. Coal is found in the
Thayetmyo, Upper Chindwin and Shwebo districts, and in the Shan States; it
also occurs in Mergui, but the deposits which have been so far discovered
have been either of inferior quality or too far from their market to be
worked to advantage. The tin mines in Lower Burma are worked by natives,
but a company at one time worked mines in the Maliwun township of Mergui by
European methods. The chief mines and minerals are in Upper Burma. The jade
mines of Upper Burma are now practically the only source of supply of that
mineral, which is in great demand over all China. The mines are situated
beyond Kamaing, north of Mogaung in the Myitkyina district. The miners are
all Kachins, and the right to collect the jade duty of 33-1/3 is farmed out
by government to a lessee, who has hitherto always been a Chinaman. The
amount obtained has varied considerably. In 1887-1888 the rent was
Rs.50,000. This dwindled to Rs.36,000 in 1892-1893, but the system was then
adopted of letting for a term of three years and a higher rent was
obtained. The value varies enormously according to colour, which should be
a particular shade of dark green. Semi-transparency, brilliancy and
hardness are, however, also essentials. The old river mines produced the
best quality. The quarry mines on the top of the hill near Tawmaw produce
enormous quantities, but the quality is not so good.
The most important ruby-bearing area is the Mogôk stone tract, in the hills
about 60 m. east of the Irrawaddy and 90 m. north-north-west of Mandalay.
The right to mine for rubies by European methods and to levy royalties from
persons working by native methods was leased to the Burma Ruby Mines
Company, Limited, in 1889, and the lease was renewed in 1896 for 14 years
at a rent of Rs.3,15,000 a year plus a share of the profits. The rent was
[v.04 p.0842] reduced permanently in 1898 to Rs.2,00,000 a year, but the
share of the profits taken by government was increased from 20 to 30%.
There are other ruby mines at Nanyaseik in the Myitkyina district and at
Sagyin in the Mandalay district, where the mining is by native methods
under licence-fees of Rs.5 and Rs.10 a month. They are, however, only
moderately successful. Gold is found in most of the rivers in Upper Burma,
but the gold-washing industry is for the most part spasmodic in the
intervals of agriculture. There is a gold mine at Kyaukpazat in the
Mawnaing circle of the Kathra district, where the quartz is crushed by
machinery and treated by chemical processes. Work was begun in 1895, and
the yield of gold in that year was 274 oz., which increased to 893 oz. in
1896-1897. This, however, proved to be merely a pocket, and the mine is now
shut down. Dredging for gold, however, seems likely to prove very
profitable and gold dust is found in practically every river in the hills.
The principal seats of the petroleum industry are Yenangyaung in the Magwe,
and Yenangyat in the Pakôkku districts. The wells have been worked for a
little over a century by the natives of the country. The Burma Oil Company
since 1889 has worked by drilled wells on the American or cable system, and
the amount produced is yearly becoming more and more important.
Amber is extracted by Kachins in the Hukawng valley beyond the
administrative border, but the quality of the fossil resin is not very
good. The amount exported varies considerably. Tourmaline or rubellite is
found on the borders of the Ruby Mines district and in the Shan State of
Möng Löng. Steatite is extracted from the Arakan hill quarries. Salt is
manufactured at various places in Upper Burma, notably in the lower
Chindwin, Sagaing, Shwebo, Myingyan and Yamethin districts, as well as at
Mawhkio in the Shan State of Thibaw. Iron is found in many parts of the
hills, and is worked by inhabitants of the country. A good deal is
extracted and manufactured into native implements at Pang Lông in the
L[=e]gya (Laihka) Shan State. Lead is extracted by a Chinese lessee from
the mines at Bawzaing (Maw-s[=o]n) in the Myelat, southern Shan States. The
ore is rich in silver as well as in lead.
_Agriculture._--The cultivation of the land is by far the most important
industry in Burma. Only 9.4% of the people were classed as urban in the
census of 1901, and a considerable proportion of this number were natives
of India and not Burmese. Nearly two-thirds of the total population are
directly or indirectly engaged in agriculture and kindred occupations.
Throughout most of the villages in the rural tracts men, women and children
all take part in the agricultural operations, although in riverine villages
whole families often support themselves from the sale of petty commodities
and eatables. The food of the people consists as a rule of boiled rice with
salted fresh or dried fish, salt, sessamum-oil, chillies, onions, turmeric,
boiled vegetables, and occasionally meat of some sort from elephant flesh
down to smaller animals, fowls and almost everything except snakes, by way
of condiment.
The staple crop of the province in both Upper and Lower Burma is rice. In
Lower Burma it is overwhelmingly the largest crop; in Upper Burma it is
grown wherever practicable. Throughout the whole of the moister parts of
the province the agricultural season is the wet period of the south-west
monsoon, lasting from the middle of May until November. In some parts of
Lower Burma and in the dry districts of Upper Burma a hot season crop is
also grown with the assistance of irrigation during the spring months. Oxen
are used for ploughing the higher lands with light soil, and the heavier
and stronger buffaloes for ploughing wet tracts and marshy lands. As rice
has to be transplanted as well as sown and irrigated, it needs a
considerable amount of labour expended on it; and the Burman has the
reputation of being a somewhat indolent cultivator. The Karens and Shans
who settle in the plains expend much more care in ploughing and weeding
their crops. Other crops which are grown in the province, especially in
Upper Burma, comprise maize, tilseed, sugar-cane, cotton, tobacco, wheat,
millet, other food grains including pulse, condiments and spices, tea,
barley, sago, linseed and other oil-seeds, various fibres, indigo and other
dye crops, besides orchards and garden produce. At the time of the British
annexation of Burma there were some old irrigation systems in the Kyauksè
and Minbu districts, which had been allowed to fall into disrepair, and
these have now been renewed and extended. In addition to this the Mandalay
Canal, 40 m. in length, with fourteen distributaries was opened in 1902;
the Shwebo canal, 27 m. long, was opened in 1906, and a beginning had been
made of two branches 29 and 20 m. in length, and of the Môn canal, begun in
1904, 53 m. in length. In all upwards of 300,000 acres are subject to
irrigation under these schemes. On the whole the people of Burma are
prosperous and contented. Taxes and land revenue are light; markets for the
disposal of produce are constant and prices good; while fresh land is still
available in most districts. Compared with the congested districts in the
other provinces of India, with the exception of Assam, the lot of the
Burman is decidedly enviable.
_Forests._---The forests of Burma are the finest in British India and one
of the chief assets of the wealth of the country; it is from Burma that the
world draws its main supply of teak for shipbuilding, and indeed it was the
demand for teak that largely led to the annexation of Burma. At the close
of the First Burmese War in 1826 Tenasserim was annexed because it was
supposed to contain large supplies of this valuable timber; and it was
trouble with a British forest company that directly led to the Third
Burmese War of 1885. Since the introduction of iron ships teak has
supplanted oak, because it contains an essential oil which preserves iron
and steel, instead of corroding them like the tannic acid contained in oak.
The forests of Burma, therefore, are now strictly preserved by the
government, and there is a regular forest department for the conservation
and cutting of timber, the planting of young trees for future generations,
the prevention of forest fires, and for generally supervising their
treatment by the natives. In the reserves the trees of commercial value can
only be cut under a licence returning a revenue to the state, while
unreserved trees can be cut by the natives for home consumption. There are
naturally very many trees in these forests besides the teak. In Lower Burma
alone the enumeration of the trees made by Sulpiz Kurz in his _Forest Flora
of British Burma_ (1877) includes some 1500 species, and the unknown
species of Upper Burma and the Shan States would probably increase this
total very considerably. In addition to teak, which provides the bulk of
the revenue, the most valuable woods are _sha_ or cutch, india rubber,
_pyingado_, or ironwood for railway sleepers, and _padauk_. Outside these
reserves enormous tracts of forest and jungle still remain for clearance
and cultivation, reservation being mostly confined to forest land
unsuitable for crops. In 1870-1871 the state reserved forests covered only
133 sq.m., in all the Rangoon division. The total receipts from the forests
then amounted to Rs.7,72,400. In 1889-1890 the total area of reserved
forests in Lower Burma was 5574 sq.m., and the gross revenue was
Rs.31,34,720, and the expenditure was Rs.13,31,930. The work of the forest
department did not begin in Upper Burma till 1891. At the end of 1892 the
reserved forests in Upper Burma amounted to 1059 sq.m. On 30th June 1896
the reserved area amounted to 5438 sq.m. At the close of 1899 the area of
the reserved forests in the whole province amounted to 15,669 sq.m., and in
1903-1904 to 20,038 sq.m. with a revenue of Rs.85,19,404 and expenditure
amounting to Rs.35,00,311. In 1905-1906 there were 20,545 sq.m. of reserved
forest, and it is probable that when the work of reservation is complete
there will be 25,000 sq.m. of preserves or 12% of the total area.
_Fisheries._--Fisheries and fish-curing exist both along the sea-coast of
Burma and in inland tracts, and afforded employment to 126,651 persons in
1907. The chief seat of the industry is in the Thongwa and Bassein
districts, where the income from the leased fisheries on individual streams
sometimes amounts to between £6000 and £7000 a year. Net fisheries, worked
by licence-holders in the principal rivers and along the sea-shore, are not
nearly so profitable as the closed fisheries--called _In_--which are from
time to time sold by auction for fixed periods of years. Salted fish forms,
along with boiled rice, one of the chief articles of food among the
Burmese; and as the price of salted fish is gradually rising along with the
prosperity and purchasing power of the population, this industry is on a
very sound basis. There are in addition some pearling grounds in the Mergui
Archipelago, which have a very recent history; they were practically
unknown before 1890; in the early 'nineties they were worked by Australian
adventurers, most of whom have since departed; and now they are leased in
blocks to a syndicate of Chinamen, who grant sub-leases to individual
adventurers at the rate of £25 a pump for the pearling year. The chief
harvest is of mother of pearl, which suffices to pay the working expenses;
and there is over and above the chance of finding a pearl of price. Some
pearls worth £1000 and upwards have recently been discovered.
_Manufactures and Art._--The staple industry of Burma is agriculture, but
many cultivators are also artisans in the by-season. In addition to
rice-growing and the felling and extraction of timber, and the fisheries,
the chief occupations are rice-husking, silk-weaving and dyeing. The
introduction of cheap cottons and silk fabrics has dealt a blow to
hand-weaving, while aniline dyes are driving out the native vegetable
product; but both industries still linger in the rural tracts. The best
silk-weavers are to be found at Amarapura. There large numbers of people
follow this occupation as their sole means of livelihood, whereas silk and
cotton weaving throughout the province generally is carried on by girls and
women while unoccupied by other domestic duties. The Burmese are fond of
bright colours, and pink and yellow harmonize well with their dark olive
complexion, but even here the influence of western civilization is being
felt, and in the towns the tendency now is towards maroon, brown, olive and
dark green for the women's skirts. The total number of persons engaged in
the production of textile fabrics in Burma according to the census of 1901
was 419,007. The chief dye-product of Burma is cutch, a brown dye obtained
from the wood [v.04 p.0843] of the _sha_ tree. Cutch-boiling forms the
chief means of livelihood of a large number of the poorer classes in the
Prome and Thayetmyo districts of Lower Burma, and a subsidiary means of
subsistence elsewhere. Cheroot making and smoking is universal among both
sexes. The chief arts of Burma are wood-carving and silver work. The floral
wood-carving is remarkable for its freedom and spontaneity. The carving is
done in teak wood when it is meant for fixtures, but teak has a coarse
grain, and otherwise _yamane_ clogwood, said to be a species of gmelina, is
preferred. The tools employed are chisel, gouge and mallet. The design is
traced on the wood with charcoal, gouged out in the rough, and finished
with sharp fine tools, using the mallet for every stroke. The great bulk of
the silver work is in the form of bowls of different sizes, in shape
something like the lower half of a barrel, only more convex, of betel
boxes, cups and small boxes for lime. Both in the wood-carving and silver
work the Burmese character displays itself, giving boldness, breadth and
freedom of design, but a general want of careful finish. Unfortunately the
national art is losing its distinctive type through contact with western
civilization.
_Commerce._--The chief articles of export from Burma are rice and timber.
In 1805 the quantity of rice exported in the foreign and coastal trade
amounted to 1,419,173 tons valued at Rs.9,77,66,132, and in 1905 the
figures were 2,187,764 tons, value Rs.15,67,28,288. England takes by far
the greatest share of Burma's rice, though large quantities are also
consumed in Germany, while France, Italy, Belgium and Holland also consume
a considerable amount. The regular course of trade is apt to be deflected
by famines in India or Japan. In 1900 over one million tons of rice were
shipped to India during the famine there. The rice-mills, almost all
situated at the various seaports, secure the harvest from the cultivator
through middlemen. The value of teak exported in 1895 was Rs.1,34,64,303,
and in 1905, Rs.1,31,03,401. Subordinate products for exports include cutch
dye, caoutchouc or india-rubber, cotton, petroleum and jade. By far the
largest of the imports are cotton, silk and woollen piece-goods, while
subordinate imports include hardware, gunny bags, sugar, tobacco and
liquors.
The following table shows the progressive value of the trade of Burma since
1871-1872:--
+-----------+--------------+--------------+--------------+
| Year. | Imports. | Exports. | Total. |
+-----------+--------------+--------------+--------------+
| | Rs. | Rs. | Rs. |
| 1871-1872 | 3,15,79,860 | 3,78,02,170 | 6,93,82,030 |
| 1881-1882 | 6,38,49,840 | 8,05,71,410 | 14,44,21,250 |
| 1801-1892 | 10,50,06,247 | 12,67,21,878 | 23,17,28,125 |
| 1901-1902 | 12,78,46,636 | 18,74,47,200 | 31,52,93,836 |
| 1904-1905 | 17,06,20,796 | 23,94,69,114 | 41,00,89,910 |
+-----------+--------------+--------------+--------------+
_Internal Communications._--In 1871-1872 there were 814 m. of road in Lower
Burma, but the chief means of internal communication was by water. Steamers
plied on the Irrawaddy as far as Thayetmyo. The vessels of the Irrawaddy
Flotilla Company now ply to Bassein and to all points on the Irrawaddy as
far north as Bhamo, and in the dry weather to Myitkyina, and also on the
Chindwin as far north as Kindat, and to Homalin during the rains. The
Arakan Flotilla Company has also helped to open up the Arakan division. The
length of roads has not greatly increased in Lower Burma, but there has
been a great deal of road construction in Upper Burma. At the end of the
year 1904-1905 there were in the whole province 7486 m. of road, 1516 m. of
which were metalled and 3170 unmetalled, with 2799 m. of other tracks. But
the chief advance in communications has been in railway construction. The
first railway from Rangoon to Prome, 161 m., was opened in 1877, and that
from Rangoon to Toungoo, 166 m., was opened in 1884. Since the annexation
of Upper Burma this has been extended to Mandalay, and the Mu Valley
railway has been constructed from Sagaing to Myitkyina, a distance of 752
m. from Rangoon. The Mandalay-Lashio railway has been completed, and trains
run from Mandalay to Lashio, a distance of 178 m. The Sagaing-Mônywa-Alôn
branch and the Meiktila-Myingyan branch were opened to traffic during 1900.
In 1902 a railway from Henzada to Bassein was formed and a connecting link
with the Prome line from Henzada to Letpadan was opened in 1903. Railways
were also constructed from Pegu to Martaban, 121 m. in length, and from
Henzada to Kyang-in, 66 m. in length; and construction was contemplated of
a railway from Thazi towards Taung-gyi, the headquarters of the southern
Shan States. The total length of lines open in 1904-1905 was 1340 m., but
railway communication in Burma is still very incomplete. Five of the eight
commissionerships and Lashio, the capital of the northern Shan States, have
communication with each other by railway, but Taung-gyi and the southern
Shan States can still only be reached by a hill-road through difficult
country for cart traffic, and the headquarters of three commissionerships,
Moulmein, Akyab and Minbu, have no railway communication with Rangoon.
Arakan is in the worst position of all, for it is connected with Burma by
neither railway nor river, nor even by a metalled road, and the only way to
reach Akyab from Rangoon is once a week by sea.
_Law._--The British government has administered the law in Burma on
principles identical with those which have been adopted elsewhere in the
British dominions in India. That portion of the law which is usually
described as Anglo-Indian law (see INDIAN LAW) is generally applicable to
Burma, though there are certain districts inhabited by tribes in a backward
state of civilization which are excepted from its operation. Acts of the
British parliament relating to India generally would be applicable to
Burma, whether passed before or after its annexation, these acts being
considered applicable to all the dominions of the crown in India. As
regards the acts of the governor-general in council passed for India
generally--they, too, were from the first applicable to Lower Burma; and
they have all been declared applicable to Upper Burma also by the Burma
Laws Act of 1898. That portion of the English law which has been introduced
into India without legislation, and all the rules of law resting upon the
authority of the courts, are made applicable to Burma by the same act. But
consistently with the practice which has always prevailed in India, there
is a large field of law in Burma which the British government has not
attempted to disturb. It is expressly directed by the act of 1898 above
referred to, that in regard to succession, inheritance, marriage, caste or
any religious usage or institution, the law to be administered in Burma is
(_a_) the Buddhist law in cases where the parties are Buddhists, (_b_) the
Mahommedan law in cases where the parties are Mahommedans, (_c_) the Hindu
law in cases where the parties are Hindus, except so far as the same may
have been modified by the legislature. The reservation thus made in favour
of the native laws is precisely analogous to the similar reservation made
in India (see INDIAN LAW, where the Hindu law and the Mahommedan Law are
described). The Buddhist law is contained in certain sacred books called
_Dhammathats_. The laws themselves are derived from one of the collections
which Hindus attribute to Manu, but in some respects they now widely differ
from the ancient Hindu law so far as it is known to us. There is no
certainty as to the date or method of their introduction. The whole of the
law administered now in Burma rests ultimately upon statutory authority;
and all the Indian acts relating to Burma, whether of the governor-general
or the lieutenant-governor of Burma in council, will be found in the Burma
Code (Calcutta, 1899), and in the supplements to that volume which are
published from time to time at Rangoon. There is no complete translation of
the _Dhammathats_, but a good many of them have been translated. An account
of these translations will be found in _The Principles of Buddhist Law_ by
Chan Toon (Rangoon, 1894), which is the first attempt to present those
principles in something approaching to a systematic form.
_History._--It is probable that Burma is the _Chryse Regio_ of Ptolemy, a
name parallel in meaning to _Sonaparanta_, the classic P[=a]li title
assigned to the country round the capital in Burmese documents. The royal
history traces the lineage of the kings to the ancient Buddhist monarchs of
India. This no doubt is fabulous, but it is hard to say how early
communication with Gangetic India began. From the 11th to the 13th century
the old Burman empire was at the height of its power, and to this period
belong the splendid remains of architecture at Pagan. The city and the
dynasty were destroyed by a Chinese (or rather Mongol) invasion (1284 A.D.)
in the reign of Kublai Khan. After that the empire fell to a low ebb, and
Central Burma was often subject to Shan dynasties. In the early part of the
16th century the Burmese princes of Toungoo, in the north-east of Pegu,
began to rise to power, and established a dynasty which at one time held
possession of Pegu, Ava and Arakan. They made their capital at Pegu, and to
this dynasty belong the gorgeous [v.04 p.0844] descriptions of some of the
travellers of the 16th century. Their wars exhausted the country, and
before the end of the century it was in the greatest decay. A new dynasty
arose in Ava, which subdued Pegu, and maintained their supremacy throughout
the 17th and during the first forty years of the 18th century. The Peguans
or Talaings then revolted, and having taken the capital Ava, and made the
king prisoner, reduced the whole country to submission. Alompra, left by
the conqueror in charge of the village of Môtshobo, planned the deliverance
of his country. He attacked the Peguans at first with small detachments;
but when his forces increased, he suddenly advanced, and took possession of
the capital in the autumn of 1753.
In 1754 the Peguans sent an armament of war-boats against Ava, but they
were totally defeated by Alompra; while in the districts of Prome, Donubyu,
&c., the Burmans revolted, and expelled all the Pegu garrisons in their
towns. In 1754 Prome was besieged by the king of Pegu, who was again
defeated by Alompra, and the war was transferred from the upper provinces
to the mouths of the navigable rivers, and the numerous creeks and canals
which intersect the lower country. In 1755 the yuva raja, the king of
Pegu's brother, was equally unsuccessful, after which the Peguans were
driven from Bassein and the adjacent country, and were forced to withdraw
to the fortress of Syriam, distant 12 m. from Rangoon. Here they enjoyed a
brief repose, Alompra being called away to quell an insurrection of his own
subjects, and to repel an invasion of the Siamese; but returning
victorious, he laid siege to the fortress of Syriam and took it by
surprise. In these wars the French sided with the Peguans, the English with
the Burmans. Dupleix, the governor of Pondicherry, had sent two ships to
the aid of the former; but the master of the first was decoyed up the river
by Alompra, where he was massacred along with his whole crew. The other
escaped to Pondicherry. Alompra was now master of all the navigable rivers;
and the Peguans, shut out from foreign aid, were finally subdued. In 1757
the conqueror laid siege to the city of Pegu, which capitulated, on
condition that their own king should govern the country, but that he should
do homage for his kingdom, and should also surrender his daughter to the
victorious monarch. Alompra never contemplated the fulfilment of the
condition; and having obtained possession of the town, abandoned it to the
fury of his soldiers. In the following year the Peguans vainly endeavoured
to throw off the yoke. Alompra afterwards reduced the town and district of
Tavoy, and finally undertook the conquest of the Siamese. His army advanced
to Mergui and Tenasserim, both of which towns were taken; and he was
besieging the capital of Siam when he was taken ill. He immediately ordered
his army to retreat, in hopes of reaching his capital alive; but he expired
on the way, in 1760, in the fiftieth year of his age, after he had reigned
eight years. In the previous year he had massacred the English of the
establishment of Negrais, whom he suspected of assisting the Peguans. He
was succeeded by his eldest son Noungdaugyi, whose reign was disturbed by
the rebellion of his brother Sin-byu-shin, and afterwards by one of his
father's generals. He died in little more than three years, leaving one son
in his infancy; and on his decease the throne was seized by his brother
Sin-byu-shin. The new king was intent, like his predecessors, on the
conquest of the adjacent states, and accordingly made war in 1765 on the
Manipur kingdom, and also on the Siamese, with partial success. In the
following year he defeated the Siamese, and, after a long blockade,
obtained possession of their capital. But while the Burmans were extending
their conquests in this quarter, they were invaded by a Chinese army of
50,000 men from the province of Yunnan. This army was hemmed in by the
skill of the Burmans; and, being reduced by the want of provisions, it was
afterwards attacked and totally destroyed, with the exception of 2500 men,
who were sent in fetters to work in the Burmese capital at their several
trades. In the meantime the Siamese revolted, and while the Burman army was
marching against them, the Peguan soldiers who had been incorporated in it
rose against their companions, and commencing an indiscriminate massacre,
pursued the Burman army to the gates of Rangoon, which they besieged, but
were unable to capture. In 1774 Sin-byu-shin was engaged in reducing the
marauding tribes. He took the district and fort of Martaban from the
revolted Peguans; and in the following year he sailed down the Irrawaddy
with an army of 50,000 men, and, arriving at Rangoon, put to death the aged
monarch of Pegu, along with many of his nobles, who had shared with him in
the offence of rebellion. He died in 1776, after a reign of twelve years,
during which he had extended the Burmese dominions on every side. He was
succeeded by his son, a youth of eighteen, called Singumin (Chenguza of
Symes), who proved himself a bloodthirsty despot, and was put to death by
his uncle, Bodawpaya or Mentaragyi, in 1781, who ascended the vacant
throne. In 1783 the new king effected the conquest of Arakan. In the same
year he removed his residence from Ava, which, with brief interruptions,
had been the capital for four centuries, to the new city of Amarapura, "the
City of the Immortals."
The Siamese who had revolted in 1771 were never afterwards subdued by the
Burmans; but the latter retained their dominion over the sea-coast as far
as Mergui. In the year 1785 they attacked the island of Junkseylon with a
fleet of boats and an army, but were ultimately driven back with loss; and
a second attempt by the Burman monarch, who in 1786 invaded Siam with an
army of 30,000 men, was attended with no better success. In 1793 peace was
concluded between these two powers, the Siamese yielding to the Burmans the
entire possession of the coast of Tenasserim on the Indian Ocean, and the
two important seaports of Mergui and Tavoy.
In 1795 the Burmese were involved in a dispute with the British in India,
in consequence of their troops, to the amount of 5000 men, entering the
district of Chittagong in pursuit of three robbers who had fled from
justice across the frontier. Explanations being made and terms of
accommodation offered by General Erskine, the commanding officer, the
Burmese commander retired from the British territories, when the fugitives
were restored, and all differences for the time amicably arranged.
But it was evident that the gradual extension of the British and Burmese
territories would in time bring the two powers into close contact along a
more extended line of frontier, and in all probability lead to a war
between them. It happened, accordingly, that the Burmese, carrying their
arms into Assam and Manipur, penetrated to the British border near Sylhet,
on the north-east frontier of Bengal, beyond which were the possessions of
the chiefs of Cachar, under the protection of the British government. The
Burmese leaders, arrested in their career of conquest, were impatient to
measure their strength with their new neighbours. It appears from the
evidence of Europeans who resided in Ava, that they were entirely
unacquainted with the discipline and resources of the Europeans. They
imagined that, like other nations, they would fall before their superior
tactics and valour; and their cupidity was inflamed by the prospect of
marching to Calcutta and plundering the country. At length their chiefs
ventured on the open violation of the British territories. They attacked a
party of sepoys within the frontier, and seized and carried off British
subjects, while at all points their troops, moving in large bodies, assumed
the most menacing positions. In the south encroachments were made upon the
British frontier of Chittagong. The island of Shahpura, at the mouth of the
Naaf river, had been occupied by a small guard of British troops. These
were attacked on the 23rd of September 1823 by the Burmese, and driven from
their post with the loss of several lives; and to the repeated demands of
the British for redress no answer was returned. Other outrages ensued; and
at length, on March 5th, 1824, war was declared by the British government.
The military operations, which will be found described under BURMESE WARS,
ended in the treaty of Yandaboo on the 24th of February 1826, which
conceded the British terms and enabled their army to be withdrawn.
For some years the relations of peace continued undisturbed. Probably the
feeling of amity on the part of the Burmese government was not very strong;
but so long as the prince by whom the treaty was concluded continued in
power, no attempt was [v.04 p.0845] made to depart from its main
stipulations. That monarch, Ba-ggi-daw, however, was obliged in 1837 to
yield the throne to a usurper who appeared in the person of his brother,
Tharrawaddi (Tharawadi). The latter, at an early period, manifested not
only that hatred of British connexion which was almost universal at the
Burmese court, but also the extremest contempt. For several years it had
become apparent that the period was approaching when war between the
British and the Burmese governments would again become inevitable. The
British resident, Major Burney, who had been appointed in 1830, finding his
presence at Ava agreeable neither to the king nor to himself, removed in
1837 to Rangoon, and shortly afterwards retired from the country.
Ultimately it became necessary to forego even the pretence of maintaining
relations of friendship, and the British functionary at that time, Captain
Macleod, was withdrawn in 1840 altogether from a country where his
continuance would have been but a mockery. The state of sullen dislike
which followed was after a while succeeded by more active evidences of
hostility. Acts of violence were committed on British ships and British
seamen. Remonstrance was consequently made by the British government, and
its envoys were supported by a small naval force. The officers on whom
devolved the duty of representing the wrongs of their fellow-countrymen and
demanding redress, proceeded to Rangoon, the governor of which place had
been a chief actor in the outrages complained of; but so far were they from
meeting with any signs of regret, that they were treated with indignity and
contempt, and compelled to retire without accomplishing anything beyond
blockading the ports. A series of negotiations followed; nothing was
demanded of the Burmese beyond a very moderate compensation for the
injuries inflicted on the masters of two British vessels, an apology for
the insults offered by the governor of Rangoon to the representatives of
the British government, and the re-establishment of at least the appearance
of friendly relations by the reception of a British agent by the Burmese
government. But the obduracy of King Pagan, who had succeeded his father in
1846, led to the refusal alike of atonement for past wrongs, of any
expression of regret for the display of gratuitous insolence, and of any
indication of a desire to maintain friendship for the future. Another
Burmese war was the result, the first shot being fired in January 1852. As
in the former, though success was varying, the British finally triumphed,
and the chief towns in the lower part of the Burmese kingdom fell to them
in succession. The city of Pegu, the capital of that portion which, after
having been captured, had again passed into the hands of the enemy, was
recaptured and retained, and the whole province of Pegu was, by
proclamation of the governor-general, Lord Dalhousie, declared to be
annexed to the British dominions on the 20th of December 1852. No treaty
was obtained or insisted upon,--the British government being content with
the tacit acquiescence of the king of Burma without such documents; but its
resolution was declared, that any active demonstration of hostility by him
would be followed by retribution.
About the same time a revolution broke out which resulted in King Pagan's
dethronement. His tyrannical and barbarous conduct had made him obnoxious
at home as well as abroad, and indeed many of his actions recall the worst
passages of the history of the later Roman emperors. The Mindôn prince, who
had become apprehensive for his own safety, made him prisoner in February
1853, and was himself crowned king of Burma towards the end of the year.
The new monarch, known as King Mindôn, showed himself sufficiently arrogant
in his dealings with the European powers, but was wise enough to keep free
from any approach towards hostility. The loss of Pegu was long a matter of
bitter regret, and he absolutely refused to acknowledge it by a formal
treaty. In the beginning of 1855 he sent a mission of compliment to Lord
Dalhousie, the governor-general; and in the summer of the same year Major
(afterwards Sir Arthur) Phayre, _de facto_ governor of the new province of
Pegu, was appointed envoy to the Burmese court. He was accompanied by
Captain (afterwards Sir Henry) Yule as secretary, and Mr Oldham as
geologist, and his mission added largely to our knowledge of the state of
the country; but in its main object of obtaining a treaty it was
unsuccessful. It was not till 1862 that the king at length yielded, and his
relations with Britain were placed on a definite diplomatic basis.
In that year the province of British Burma, the present Lower Burma, was
formed, with Sir Arthur Phayre as chief commissioner. In 1867 a treaty was
concluded at Mandalay providing for the free intercourse of trade and the
establishment of regular diplomatic relations. King Mindôn died in 1878,
and was succeeded by his son King Thibaw. Early in 1879 he excited much
horror by executing a number of the members of the Burmese royal family,
and relations became much strained. The British resident was withdrawn in
October 1879. The government of the country rapidly became bad. Control
over many of the outlying districts was lost, and the elements of disorder
on the British frontier were a standing menace to the peace of the country.
The Burmese court, in contravention of the express terms of the treaty of
1869, created monopolies to the detriment of the trade of both England and
Burma; and while the Indian government was unrepresented at Mandalay,
representatives of Italy and France were welcomed, and two separate
embassies were sent to Europe for the purpose of contracting new and, if
possible, close alliances with sundry European powers. Matters were brought
to a crisis towards the close of 1885, when the Burmese government imposed
a fine of £230,000 on the Bombay-Burma Trading Corporation, and refused to
comply with a suggestion of the Indian government that the cause of
complaint should be investigated by an impartial arbitrator. An ultimatum
was therefore despatched on the 22nd of October 1885. On the 9th of
November a reply was received in Rangoon amounting to an unconditional
refusal. The king on the 7th of November issued a proclamation calling upon
his subjects to drive the British into the sea. On the 14th of November
1885 the British field force crossed the frontier, and advanced to Mandalay
without incurring any serious resistance (see BURMESE WARS). It reached Ava
on the 26th of November, and an envoy from the king signified his
submission. On the 28th of November the British occupied Mandalay, and next
day King Thibaw was sent down the river to Rangoon, whence he was
afterwards transferred to Ratnagiri on the Bombay coast. Upper Burma was
formally annexed on the 1st of January 1886, and the work of restoring the
country to order and introducing settled government commenced. This was a
more serious task than the overthrow of the Burmese government, and
occupied four years. This was in part due to the character of the country,
which was characterized as one vast military obstacle, and in part to the
disorganization which had been steadily growing during the six years of
King Thibaw's reign. By the close of 1889 all the larger bands of marauders
were broken up, and since 1890 the country has enjoyed greater freedom from
violent crime than the province formerly known as British Burma. By the
Upper Burma Village Regulations and the Lower Burma Village Act, the
villagers themselves were made responsible for maintaining order in every
village, and the system has worked with the greatest success. During the
decade 1891-1901 the population increased by 19.8% and cultivation by 53%.
With good harvests and good markets the standard of living in Burma has
much improved. Large areas of cultivable waste have been brought under
cultivation, and the general result has been a contented people. The
boundary with Siam was demarcated in 1893, and that with China was
completed in 1900.