, 1879-04-05
the KING OF the BURMESE.
Il Description Of His Royal yibs and d
Land He Gorernx

Ldnd He GOreras.
His great and glorious and most excel.
lent majesty over land and water, lord Of
the celestial elephant, master of manv
white elephants, possessor of MANY de-
scrlptiOns Of arms and the fifth founder
of religion-otherwise Thee Baw, king of
Burmah, has, as the cable informs, been
getting into trouble by numbering all the
royal princes and their families, turning
out the new ministers to effect reforms,
and reverting generally to the despotic
ways of his great, glorious and most ex-
cellent predecessors. His father died on
the 11th. OF September last, though the
fact of his death was kept secre. for some
time until Thee Baw could establish him.
self az the capital, Mandalay. The situa-
ton was by no means assuring, SO many
pretenders We're there to the crown,
among them the ex king, overthrown in
1888, the elder sons Of the dead monarch
his nephews, children of his brother and
heir, who was assassinated in 1867, and
two rebel princes Sinolad fed to India,
but awaited occasion to return and renew
their rebellion. Two Of Thee Baw
brothers, dreading assassination, fcd to
the British residency 1t Mandalay, thence
made thor way to Rangcon, and finally
with their suite We're taken to Calcutta,
where they are now living, pensioners In
a modest way Oh the India government
The other royal princes, less fortunate,
to the number of twenty five, were heavily
ironed hand and foot aud placed in prison,
being only released only for a few hours
when, under strong guard, they were
taken to the palac. where the d. ad king
lay in state, to make obeisance to the
corpse and furnish each with lock of
hair with which before burial its hands
and legs were to be tied.
The new kings accession was regarded
with pleasure and hope ty the foreigners.
He had for some years been the pupil
of an English missionary; he selected as
his premier a Burmese noble who had
visited Paris and London; he signalized
h:s assumption OF power lay abolishing
the custom which comEelled all, even
European representatives, to remove
Their shoes on entering the royal presence,
and it was reported that he intended
! visltin. Europe to sec for himself the
wonders of Occidental civilization.
: Though Thee Baw conformed 10 custom
in marrying his own half-sister. rumor
credited him with the intention of do
ing away, once for all, with the oonnec
ton hetWee:l the CROWN and the priest
hood although Rang"on paper a:tri-
buted this Unexpected zeal or disestab
lishmcnt not to the teachings of Mir.
Gladstone but to rage at the discovery
that for i: long time past the priests had
been stealing two fat pigs day from tl,c
royal sly
Burmese history is rather dull reading,
though IFS people have not thor, fore been
poci!!iary happy There are plenty of
BOOKS on palm leaf fibrc in the temples,
bu; they throw oaly dim light ou the
real history of the nation, being mostly
annals of the temple, its revenues and
priests TIE real history is about CEN
tury old, beginning with Aslompra, il
general, administrator, AMI iaw-giver who
failed to reduce reDelions SiaI ard Pe99a;
His SUCCESSORS, Wit, hardly an exception,
have been mcn of enterprise, ability, and
force of cI,ara, ter In 1924 England and
Hu.n,ah went to war, and the English
annexed the whole available seahoard of
the Burmese Kingdom, acquiring the
wealthy maritime PROVINCES of Arracan,
Pee.u and Tennaserim Since 1862 both
powers have been IA peace. Burn.ah has
established close commercial relations
with England, and popular opinion, ex-
cept perhaps among the priestly class, Is
; decidedly favorable To the British, who
soon or later may be expected to COM
plete the work of absorption
! The Burmese are people of few vices
and many virtues, and as quick to catch
new ideas and as apt to asslmiiate as the
Japanese. Their civilization, though I'M
perfect, is in many respects high, IN
boldQess and breadth of design, perfection
oi structure and nlagnifcence of decora-
ton, some of their temples, and palaces
need hardly fear comparison with Euro
! pean piles, Their carving Is exquisite,
and shows a vein of hu.aor almost Gothic
in its grotesqueness. A recent writer
saws: "A war canoe built for a hundred
paddlcs will be covered from stem to
stern with carving as inmate as that on
an ordinary Chinese workbox, but tar
more delicate in design and minute in fin
ish. They work admirably in gold and
silver end their lacquered goods are equal
to those OF Japan, while they are wonder
ful founders Of bells, of bells up to eish-
ty tons weight and sixteen feet across.
OF porcelain making they know nothing,
however, nor do they use paper. For
money they use Jumps Of gold, silver and
lead, weighed and assayed whenever they
change hands at cost OF 5s per cent. ,
surely sufficient tax on commerce, even
leaving out the interest rate, which is
twenty-five per cent. on mortgage and GO
on personal security, the exports are
almost entirely raw, consistin.. chiefly OF