_BRITISH INFLUENCE IN THE SHAN STATES._
The previous chapter dealt with the pacification of Upper Burma proper,
that tract of country which England has annexed, and in which we have
assumed the full responsibility of government. In this chapter we have to
consider our relations with certain states and tribes on our frontiers,
which are not British territory, but for whose well-being and good
behaviour we hold ourselves to some extent responsible, in proportion as
our influence among them is more or less direct.
As soon as our first difficulties in the pacification and administration
of Upper Burma were to some extent overcome, our Government had to turn
its attention to the doings of the many barbarous and semi-barbarous
tribes and races in the regions immediately adjacent to Burma.
To the east of Upper Burma, and situated between that country and the
great empire of China, are the Shan States tributary to Burma, with an
area about four-fifths that of England, but with a population no larger
than that of Worcestershire, not one-fourth, it is said, of what it was
fifty years ago. This country is a very fine one, consisting of a great
plateau with a diversified climate and great natural resources, of which
coal is one, though it has not yet been worked, and with every capacity
for development. The Shan States are likely to play no unimportant part
in the commercial development of the next few years, for it is by that
route that the railway will go from Burma to China at no distant date.
At present these states are in a most backward and uncivilised condition,
and as they afford such an interesting illustration of the true frontier
policy of England in the East, and the kind of influence our country
is so well able to exert, in the discharge of her duty as the great
suzerain power amongst many little races and peoples, I make no apology
for describing it with some degree of detail. Such work as England is
attempting to do, and will in the end undoubtedly succeed in doing
there, is so beneficent and meritorious as to be beyond the possibility
of objection; and it would excite remark and applause if it were not
so common—if England were not doing much the same all over her Eastern
dominions.
The relation of the Shan States to the British rule is a feudatory
relation. They paid tribute to the King of Burma, and were supposed to
be subject to him, but although receiving tribute, Burma conferred no
benefits upon them. In fact, the idea that something in the shape of
government was due to the Shans, in return for the tribute they paid,
probably never entered the head of King Theebaw. These states have not
been annexed to British territory, and are not likely to be, unless it
should be found quite impossible to get their chiefs to learn to rule
properly. At present the policy is entirely in the direction of setting
these native rulers on their feet, and strengthening their power as
much as possible. When the English commenced to rule at Mandalay that
feudatory relation to the defunct Burmese Government passed over to the
English.
Politically the Shan States are divided amongst some eighteen chiefs,
each ruling a greater or less extent of territory. In the early part of
1888 two British expeditions were sent to the Northern and Southern Shan
States respectively, and the first steps were taken toward adjusting our
relations with them.
The condition in which the States were found by the British forces was
a very sad one. For want of a controlling power over them there was a
state of disorder amounting almost to anarchy. Might was right, and in
the struggle for mastery the Shans were fast exterminating each other.
Each petty chieftain with his followers was on the look-out to extend the
sphere of his rule by aggression, and dacoit raids and incessant civil
war were the result.
Throughout the reign of King Theebaw the States had suffered, and the
population had so seriously fallen off, by war and perhaps too by
emigration, that land had fallen out of cultivation, and prosperous towns
had been reduced, in some cases, to one-tenth of their former size. Added
to this there had been a season of scarcity, and cattle disease had been
very fatal.
The people cordially welcomed the advent of a strong power that could
enforce peace amongst them; and what was wanting for the temporal
salvation of this distressed country was just that kind of sovereignty
and paternal rule which England was able and willing to give them. It was
necessary for England to assert and maintain her rights as the suzerain
power, and to discharge her duties by taking them under the broad shield
of her protection and guidance.
The British representatives accordingly received the personal submission
of all the principal sawbwas or chiefs, confirmed them in their positions
as tributary rulers, settled their relations with Government and with
each other, fixed the amount of tribute to be paid by each chief, and
succeeded in placing the administration of the states on a satisfactory
footing. Two British officials were appointed as Superintendents of the
two divisions of the Shan States, northern and southern. Tribal disputes
were henceforth to be referred to these officials for arbitration, and
fighting between individual states was strictly forbidden. They were
not to enter into relations with any other foreign power; and they were
gradually to approximate their primitive methods of government to our
standards.
In return for these conditions, to be fulfilled by the Shans, certain
very substantial advantages were bestowed upon them by the British.
Each chieftain is recognised and protected in the exercise of his
chieftainship.
The import duties formerly levied by Burma on goods going from Shanland
into Burma are abolished, to the great advantage and encouragement of
their trade.
The great want of means of communication through the country is being
met by the construction of roads by the British Government, at its own
expense.
A preliminary survey has been made of the different routes for a railway
to run through the country, and a more accurate and detailed survey of
the one chosen is to be made shortly.
The navigation of the upper parts of the Salween River, which flows
through the Shan States, is receiving attention with the view of
utilising it for purposes of trade, if it be found practicable.
Experiments are being made under the auspices of the British in the Shan
country, in order to introduce the cultivation of new cereals and other
products amongst them, and to improve their breed of cattle and sheep.
In short, England is trying to do her duty by this naturally magnificent
but very backward country, and it may be confidently stated that if any
Government could help them on their feet it is the one they now have. The
most recent information from the Chief Superintendent of the Shan States,
the responsible British officer appointed to look after them, shows that
he finds them in a most benighted and backward condition socially and
politically, and there will be need for lengthened intervention and much
patience and perseverance on the part of the British Government. It is
found that there has been no such thing as law in the country, written
or unwritten. Everybody does what is right in his own eyes, if he can.
The hold which these chiefs have on the territories they are supposed to
rule is of the feeblest description; and it will require time for the
people to get out of that state of turbulence, unrest and distraction,
and for the rulers to acquire power and experience for civil rule. Like
incompetent rulers, they try at present to maintain their authority by
inflicting most barbarous punishments for the most trivial offences.
The Sawbwa of Thibaw is reported to be the only chief among them who
exercises any real and active control throughout his state, and he
endeavours to enforce the rule that the power of awarding capital
punishment shall be restricted to the chiefs. In all the other states
the people are fleeced by the minor officials, and criminal justice is
administered in a cruel and haphazard fashion. An English traveller
recently found the fresh head of a so-called thief posted up in the
Mangko bazaar; and in another place through which he travelled a boy of
sixteen was summarily killed and barbarously mutilated, on the ground
that he had been seen entering a buffalo shed, and was therefore supposed
to be attempting cattle-stealing.
As a beginning in the way of much-needed reform, our paternal Government
has framed for their guidance a few simple rules for the administration
of criminal justice, and supplied them to each chieftain, as a sort
of alphabet of government for them to learn. I wonder what they think
of our notions of justice. They must appear to them unaccountably and
unnecessarily lenient towards the prisoner. How it must puzzle them,
for instance, to be told that an accused person must be presumed to be
innocent until he is proved to be guilty!
As a lesson in revenue and finance, each chief is now required to
frame a simple form of budget for his state, subject to the approval
of the Superintendent, fixing the amount to be devoted to the private
expenditure of the ruling family, and making reasonable provision for the
administration of civil and criminal justice, police, and public works.
It puts one in mind of a class of boys coming up with their lessons
written out for the teacher to see; but it is evidently needed work, and
it will not do to despise the day of small things. It will of course be
a new idea to them that anybody else but the sawbwa himself has anything
to do with the expenditure of the revenue of the state, which they have
always been accustomed to consider as his private property. But Orientals
take kindly to this tutelage, and will scarcely think of resenting it,
though they might be tempted to neglect it if they could. And it must not
be supposed that this case of the Shan States is any rarity, for this
kind of inspection, instruction and guidance is only what we are called
upon to do in a greater or less degree in all the protected states which
are feudatory to our Indian Empire, and in other parts of the world.
The Chief Commissioner of Burma, to whom all the chiefs are amenable,
commenting on the above rules, endorses the opinion expressed by one of
the Superintendents, that it will probably be found impossible to effect
any real reforms until a trained Dewan (Prime Minister) is appointed for
each state to teach the rulers how to rule. As England is very resolute
in all she takes in hand in this way, perhaps in course of time some
faint sense of the responsibility of ruling may find its way into the
minds of these benighted Shan sawbwas. But if it be not so, and if in the
end England should find herself compelled, in the interests of humanity,
to take a still larger share of the responsibility of ruling in that
country, of which however there is at present no sign or mention, the
foregoing information clearly shows that it will not be for want of an
honest effort to get them to do it themselves.
All this explains incidentally how it is that Empire with its
responsibilities grows on our hands. In human affairs, when a man does
his work well, you promote him by giving him more work to do. When the
sudden emergency arises men naturally saddle the willing horse. It is so
throughout the divine economy also. “Whatsoever _thy hand findeth to do_,
do it with thy might.” “For unto every one that hath shall be given, and
he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not, even that which he
hath shall be taken away.”
Of one thing there is no doubt, the states now enjoy tranquillity and
the beginnings of prosperity such as they have not enjoyed for many
years. Not long ago, meeting a Shan who had just come to Mandalay several
days’ journey on foot through the Shan States, I asked him what was the
present condition of the country. His reply was, “So quiet, that even an
unprotected female could walk through it.”
The chieftain mentioned above with approval as an exceptional prince, and
more enlightened than his fellows, is the Sawbwa of Thibaw. He once had a
curious experience, that appears to have considerably opened his mind and
enlarged his ideas. Some years ago, before the annexation of Upper Burma
was even thought of, he paid a visit to the great city of Rangoon. Like
the Queen of Sheba, who had heard of the wisdom and glory of Solomon, he
had received tidings of the great transformation that had taken place
in that city, and wished to see the British power for himself. Possibly,
as the Shans are Buddhists, he might be inclined also to pay a visit to
the world-renowned Buddhist shrine at Rangoon, the Shwê Dagohn pagoda.
To venture so far away from his remote inland state among the mountains
shows him to be a man of some natural force of character, for most
sawbwas would have been afraid to leave their states for so long. Whilst
in Rangoon one of his retainers displeased him, and in a burst of anger
he killed him on the spot. But, unfortunately for him, this had happened
in British territory, where they call such actions, no matter who does
them, by the name of murder; and he was accordingly arrested and put in
jail to stand his trial for that crime. His plea was of course that he
was a king, and that he had the power of life and death; and seeing that
such was the case in his own territories, and that he had no idea he was
exceeding his prerogative in doing as he did, he was released, and some
good advice was given him for future use. It is gratifying to find that
this experience has borne fruit, and that years after, when in course of
things the Shan States have become tributary to Britain, and an attempt
is being made to bring them somewhat into line with more enlightened
nations, he is officially named as the most progressive and reliable of
the Shan rulers.
Other operations for the pacification of our Burmese frontiers may be
mentioned here. Amongst the barbarous and unlettered tribes on the
mountains in the north there has been a continuance of the kind of
lawlessness prevalent in the days before our rule in Upper Burma. The
tribes of wild Kachins there have given considerable trouble from time to
time. They are warlike and predatory, and in their mountains and jungles
able to offer considerable resistance.
Occasionally, too, in the north, large numbers of disbanded Chinese
soldiers have turned dacoits, and crossed the frontier into the Bhamo
district to plunder. They have, however, suffered severely whenever they
have tried conclusions with the British columns sent out against them.
Attention is being given to the delimitation of the Chinese frontier,
which will lead the way to a better protection of it on both sides. In
the east the Red Karens gave trouble, while on the west the wild Chins
of the Arakan Yoma mountains continued their former practice of raiding
into Burma and carrying off loot and captives.
[Illustration: THE GOLDEN PAGODA AT MANDALAY, COMPLETELY COVERED WITH
GOLD LEAF.]
All this had to be brought to an end, and these lawless marauders given
clearly to understand that it would no longer be permitted, but that a
power now ruled in Burma that was able to keep them in check, and would
protect the interests of its subjects against their acts of rapine and
violence. Several expeditions were undertaken for this purpose to the
different mountain tribes, and much hard, rough work had to be done;
but beyond keeping these tribes in order in relation to Burma, it is
uncertain yet what measures England will initiate for their internal
government.
In connection with these different expeditions much valuable exploration
and surveying work have been done on our frontiers, in what was formerly
an unknown country.
On the whole, it will be seen that to restore order and establish good
government, in a country like this, and under such circumstances, was
a work of gigantic difficulty, requiring much activity and vigilance,
much firmness and courage, readiness of resource, and withal a long
purse. What has been spent, however, may be regarded as capital well
laid out, that has already begun to be productive. Seldom, perhaps, has
England undertaken a heavier task so far away from home; never has she
accomplished it with more credit. Gradually, but surely, the British
talent for organising and ruling has asserted itself, and the great
resources at our command, despite the smallness of our numbers on the
spot, have materially helped to win the victory. One cannot but admire
that splendid courage, and that administrative ability, whereby our
countrymen have taken over a country of vast extent, in a condition
bordering on anarchy, and in five years, with the aid that India has
been able to give in men and means, they have made it safer and more
prosperous to live in than at any previous period of its history in
modern times.
The more extended notice of the progress made in the material development
of Upper Burma is reserved for another chapter.