The Pacification of BurmaCrosthwaite, C. H. T. (Charles Haukes Todd)
History
The Pacification of Burma
Crosthwaite, C. H. T. (Charles Haukes Todd)
Burma -- History -- 1824-1948
From Kehsi Mansam, passing through the Alelet or Central Division of
Hsenwi, the column reached Möngyai on the 15th of February, 1888.
Mr. Daly, with the Northern Column, joined Mr. Hildebrand on the 1st
of March. Kun San Ton Hon came with him. Meanwhile all the headmen
of various denominations, uncouth to English ears, Myozas, Heins,
Seins, Ta Möngs, and Kin Möngs, had collected in obedience to the
Superintendent's summons, and were busy no doubt in discussing the
situation and the best methods of settlement and comparing the present
condition of the State broken up into petty divisions, none of them
powerful enough for self-defence, with the comparative order which had
prevailed when it was under its hereditary Sawbwas, who could show an
unbroken succession for two hundred years.
On the 1st of March, when San Ton Hon arrived with Mr. Daly, all the
Hsenwi claimants were assembled at Möngyai. Naw Möng--representing
his father, Naw Hpa, who was a refugee with the Kachins in the north;
Sang Aw, the Pa-ôk-Chok, who claimed the Central Division; and San
Ton Hon, who claimed the whole State. Naw Hpa was pronounced on all
sides to be too old and infirm to rule. Naw Möng claimed as his heir
and representative the whole of Hsenwi, excepting some of the southern
subdivisions, which had been given independence in the King's time.
His attitude was most reasonable. He confessed his obligations to the
British Government. Unless they had occupied Mandalay and removed
Thebaw, he and his sister would have been lying still in hopeless
imprisonment. He was ready to bow to the Superintendent's decision,
whatever it might be. The Pa-ôk-Chok was even more accommodating. He
was an old worn man whose only title to be considered in the matter was
that he had preserved the peace in the Central Division at a critical
time. He would be quite content if he were permitted to administer
Möngyai. San Ton Hon, who had no rightful title to any part of Hsenwi,
not unnaturally laid claim to all the country that was or had been
known by that name. On reflection, however, he adopted an attitude of
greater humility and declared his willingness to abide by the decision
of the Superintendent.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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