An Indian ruler can do as he likes, and it is only in gross cases of misrule which are clearly injurious to the people, and the consequences of which extend, or are likely to extend, beyond the boundaries of the State, that the sovereign Government feels compelled to intervene. In the Shan case the local Government has the power by law of interfering and controlling the chief, and it will feel bound to use it. It will be interesting to watch to which side the tendency will be. As the people advance in condition and education, and as the chiefs become more intelligent and trained to affairs, will the control of the executive increase or diminish? Will the tendency be, as in India, for the executive Government to withdraw into the background and leave the chief to govern, or will the chief tend to become an official of the State, exercising his powers under the restrictions and forms, and subject to the appellate and revisional powers of the regular courts? Up to the present time the control has tended to become more close. FOOTNOTES: [30] Mr. Dyson had come to us from the Public Works Department. He had been employed in the Ava subdivision of Sagaing and had shown himself keen and energetic, but he was still very inexperienced in this sort of work. [31] Now Lord MacDonnell, P.C., G.C.S.I. CHAPTER XIV GRADUAL CREATION OF AN EFFICIENT POLICE FORCE Lord Dufferin left India in December, 1888. I went to Calcutta to see him before he left, and had the honour of being introduced by him to the new Viceroy, the Marquis of Lansdowne. I had reason to be very grateful to Lord Dufferin for his confidence and encouragement and unceasing support, and if he could have stayed to see the work finished it would have given me infinite satisfaction. I had no less cause, however, to be thankful to Lord Lansdowne. During the four years I was in Burma, I was in constant communication with the Viceroy; and every week, unless I was absent in distant places, I wrote to him confidentially, keeping him fully informed of events and of my wants and wishes. Lord Dufferin had asked me to write to him in full confidence and regularly, and Lord Lansdowne allowed me to continue the practice. It was an addition, and often not an insignificant addition, to my work. It repaid me, for it established and maintained confidential relations between the Viceroy and his subordinate in Burma. It was a great help to the Chief Commissioner, who had no one on the spot to whom he could open his mind. I have noticed already the change in the province and the diversion of attention from the interior to the frontier districts. This change shows itself very clearly in my correspondence with the Viceroy, which reflected the matters giving me most anxiety from week to week. During the first half of 1889 the affairs of the frontiers occupied the chief place. I have given their history in separate chapters.