"A writer of the _Daily News_ of London, your Majesty."
"Why does he come?"
"To see your Majesty's country, and in the hope of being permitted to
reverence the Golden Feet."
"Whence does he come?"
"From the British army in Afghanistan, engaged in war against the
Prince of Cabul."
"And does the war prosper for my friends the English?"
"He reports that it has done so greatly and that the Prince of Cabul is
a fugitive."
"Where does Cabul lie in relation to Kashmir?"
"Between Kashmir and Persia, in a very mountainous and cold region."
There had been pauses more or less long between each of these
questions; the King obviously reflecting what he should ask next; then
there was a longer, and, indeed, a wearisome pause. Then the King spoke
again.
"Where is the Kingwoon Menghyi?"
"In Court, your Majesty," replied Pio Nono. "It is a Court day."
"It is well. I wish the Ministers to make every day a Court day, and to
labour hard to give prompt justice to suitors, so that there be no
complaint of arrears."
With this laudable injunction, his Majesty rose and walked away, and
the audience was over.
The King of Burmah, when I saw him, was little over twenty, and he had
been barely four months on the throne. He was a tall, well-built,
personable young man, very fair in complexion, with a good forehead,
clear, steady eyes, and a firm but pleasant mouth. His chin was full
and somewhat sensual-looking, but withal he was a manly, frank-faced
young fellow, and was said to have gained self-possession and lost the
early nervous awkwardness of his new position with great rapidity.
Circumstances had even then occurred to prove that he was very far from
destitute of a will of his own, and that he had no favour for any
diminution of the Royal Prerogative. As we passed out of the Palace
after the interview a house in the Palace grounds was pointed out to
me, within which had been imprisoned in squalid misery ever since the
mortal illness of the previous King, a number of the members of the
Burmese blood royal.
_P.S._--A few days after my visit, all these unfortunately were
massacred with fiendish refinements of cruelty.