It was a notable assemblage. It was the first occasion on which all these potentates of various degrees, who had for years previously been fighting amongst themselves or rebelling against Burmese tyranny, had been brought together in peace and harmony under a strong rule. Each of them had made his formal submission to the Queen-Empress. Each had received a patent confirming him in his rights and position as head of his State. Each of them knew that the reign of peace had begun and that he was henceforth secure. I reminded them that this was the work of the British power, and that it had been carried out without their assistance by the soldiers of the Queen-Empress and at the cost of her Government of India. I pointed out to them that they, the Shan chiefs, had duties and obligations on their side: primarily the good government of their peoples, the impartial administration of justice, the development of their territories by roads, and the improvement of agriculture and trade. "I do not want you," I said, "to imitate or adopt the forms or methods of British government; but I think you can do much by a careful choice of your subordinates, by the judicious curtailment of the right to carry arms, by suppressing the extravagant and public gambling which, experience shows, invariably leads first to ruin and then to crime." Lastly, I explained to them that they could not be excused from paying tribute, the amount of which would be adjusted to their ability. The British Government was maintaining garrisons for their benefit, and had undertaken costly expeditions for their defence. It was necessary to ask them to remember their obligations. The first assessment of the Shan States to tribute was made in 1887-8, on the basis of the sums paid to the King of Burma, so far as they could be ascertained. The country had, however, suffered very greatly from the prevailing anarchy, and many of the States were depopulated and the land was lying waste. Much of the nominal demand had to be remitted. Even now (in 1911) the tribute received by the Government (which may be taken to be at most not more than one-third of the revenue collected from the people by their chiefs) hardly covers the expense of administration, including the garrison of fifteen hundred military police who maintain internal order and guard the frontiers. The vast sums expended on the Mandalay-Lashio railway in the Northern States and on the road connecting the Southern States with the Toungoo-Mandalay railway have not been repaid, except by the increased prosperity of the country.