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 December 1852. No treaty was obtained or insisted upon,—the British Government being content with the tacit acquiescence of the king of Burmah 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 Pagán-men'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 prince of Mendoon, who had become apprehensive for his own safety, made him prisoner in February 1853, and was himself crowned king of Burmah towards the end of the year. The new monarch, known as Mendoon-men, has shown himself sufficently arrogant in his dealings with the European powers, but has been wise enough to keep free from any approach towards hostility, and, indeed, has latterly displayed a desire to live on peaceful terms with the Indian Government. 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 Arthur Phayre, de facto governor of the new province of Pegu, was appointed envoy to the Burmese court. He was accompanied by Captain (now Colonel) 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. Much interest has been taken of recent years in the restoration of the trade between China and British Burmah by the old routes overland, and various important journeys in elucidation of the problem have been successfully undertaken. In 1863 Dr Clement Williams, at that time resident in the capital, received the king's permission to proceed to Bhamo, and safely accomplished his voyage to the upper defile of the Irawadi beyond that town in the months of January and February. His recall to the capital prevented his further advance.
In 1867 a treaty was signed by which British steamers were permitted to navigate Burmese waters, and the appointment of British agents at Bhamo or other stations for the collection of customs was formally authorized, and in the following year a Government expedition, consisting of Captain Williams as engineer, Dr Anderson as naturalist, and Captain Bowers and Messrs Stewart and Burn as representatives of the commercial interest of Rangoon, was despatched under the leadership of Major Sladen, political resident at Mandalay. The royal steamer Yaynan-Sekia, or “The Honesty,” was placed by the king at the service of the expedition, and letters of recommendation were furnished to the Burmese officials, but in other respects scant courtesy was shown to the party. Escorted by fifty armed police, the explorers advanced in safety about 135 miles north east of Bhamo to Momien or Teng-yue-Chow, a principal town of the Mahometan insurgents, known to the Burmese as Panthés; but beyond this it was considered imprudent to proceed on account of the disturbed condition of the country. In 1869 Captain Storer was appointed first British resident at Bhamo; and about the same time the Irawadi Flotilla Company started a monthly steamer service to that town, which has now become almost fortnightly. The king's interest in the commercial development of his country was shown by his erecting and garrisoning a series of guardhouses through the dangerous parts of the Kakhyen hills. In 1874 Lord Salisbury sent another expedition, consisting of Colonel Horace Browne, Mr Ney Elias, and Dr Anderson, with instructions to proceed, if possible, right across the country to Shanghai in China; and to ensure the success of the undertaking, Mr Margary, a gentleman familiar with the Chinese language and customs, was commissioned to start from Shanghai and meet the party at Momien or the neighbourhood. The king s reception of the new mission, which arrived on December 23, 1874, at Mandalay, was favourable in the extreme. On the 15th of January 1875 the explorers reached Bhamo; and two clays afterwards Mr Margary arrived from Hankow. After the mission had proceeded to the banks of the Nampoung, a river which joins the Tapeng some distance east of Ponline, they heard rumours of hostile preparations in front; and Mr Margary volunteered to proceed to Manwyne to find the truth of the reports. On receiving from him word that the way was clear, his companions advanced; but on the 23d of February their camp was attacked by the Chinese, and they were ultimately compelled to retreat with the sad knowledge that their gallant pioneer had fallen at Manwyne by the hands of cowardly assassins. The Burmese officials stood nobly by the mission, though the enemy assured them that their quarrel was not with them but with the “white devils.” Some fears have been entertained of disagreements between the court of Mandalay and the British authorities, partly in regard to the allegiance of some Karen tribes, and partly in connection with the claim for a right of way for British troops through the Burmese dominions in case of active measures being required to obtain redress from the Chinese Government for the murder of Mr Margary. Happily these fears have been disappointed; the mission of Sir Douglas Forsyth has come to a peaceful if not altogether a successful termination, and a commission has been formed to settle the Karen boundary. While a certain amount of suspicion in regard to British policy still remains in the king's mind, he seems more and more disposed to co-operate with his European allies, and shows himself friendly to the European residents in his capital. His reign has been several times disturbed by internal dissensions, and the general condition of the country can hardly be regarded as one of stability. Personally he is an orthodox and devoted Buddhist, and is largely under the influence of ecclesiastical advisers. In 1874 he was recrowned at Mandalay, in compliance with the requirements of a prophecy, and he attempts to enforce stringent sumptuary laws in accordance with his creed. It is satisfactory to know that while some of his officials are undoubtedly hostile to European interests, the great mass of the people seem genuinely favourable.
See Sangermano, Burmese Empire; Captain Hiram Cox, Journal of a Residence in the Burman Empire, 1821; Syme's Embassy to the Kinqdom of Ava, 1800; Snodgrass, Narrative of the Burmese War, 1827; Wayland, Life of Judson, 1853; Mason, The Natural Productions of Burma, Maulmein, 1850; C. T. Winter's Six Months in British Burmah, 1858; Yule, Narrative of the Mission sent by the Gov.-Gen. of India to the Court of Ava in 1855, 1858; Bastian, Reisen in Birma in den Jahren 1861-1862, 1866; Clement Williams, Through Burmah to Western China, Notes of a Journey in 1863, 1868; Anderson's Expedition to E. Yunan viâ Bhamô, 1871, and Mandalay and Momein, 1876; Trant's Two Years in Ava; A. R. M‘Mahon's The Karens and the Golden Chersonese, 1876.
