]Oma lmmUA m!!

%NRCH E0Ce XXIII, 11, 19:

tHe depredations of armed bands of Arhnese who made frequc

raids from Chittagong against their former home. As a result, in t
year 1794 a Burmese force crossed the river Naaf, the boundary betwe
Arakan and Chittagong, and cntered the bmpany's territory in sear
of the Magh marauders.5 Troops were sent to resist this violatiean
tiie frontier, but t h e incident terminated without any conflict; in t
words of the Burmese officer whs was in command of the invadi
force, " The rebellious inhabitalits of Aracan having laid that Count
m t e fled to Chittagong and tcok up their residenae there, on whi~
eccasion Colonel Erskine and I, evho are both great xen, having enquirc
into the business, entered into mutual stipdaticnis9'.fj The stipulatia
were ?hat the Burmese would withdraw peaceably on the surrender of tl
principal dacoits. .
i

Öf the three men surrendered, onc escaped, but the other two an
put to death with cruel tcarturea.7
The action taken by Colonel Erskine on this occasion has been t)
murce of much adverse criricism. Phayre sayi that "The surrender
these patriots must be constmed as an act unw~rthyof a civilised'pow
having an armed force at command"S, an$ the criticism has also bee
made that the idea was inevitably inspired in the minds of the Burme
that the fugitives had been given up through fear, and that any degree (
violence could safely be used on the Indian frontier.9 ~ T h e incider
ccrtainly established a precedent sf which the Burmese uere later to t?li
adwtage.
The mi tions of the Arakanese csntinued, and so did their de re&
tionct in Araf? an, until at last the Company's Govenunent, finding t at ci
rslations with the Government of Ava were becoming strained, forbad
1
f h e r immigration. The political situation in India was absorbin th
eaergies of the Company, and war epn the eastern frontier would a d t
the numerous existing difficulties. I n addition, while the Company'
a
Government was averse to refusing refuge to the Arakanese, it was at th
same time anxious to induce the Burmese King to refuse refuge to m
.French ships which might seek the prstection of his harbours.i@ Bi
though orders prohibiting immigration were issued, they could not i
practice be enforced. When one party of irnmigrants w i s ordere
to return to Arakan their leader repl~ed,'' We will never return to th
Arracan country; if you choose to slaughter us here, we are ready to -die
iP by force to drive us away, we will o and dwell in the jungles of th
B
g e l t mountains, which afford shelter or wild beasts "." The Company'
troops were sent to intercept the refugees, but many evaded the guard
5. B.S.P. Vols. 33, 34, 35, passim
6. B.P.C. 14th August, 1799.
7. Malcolrn : Politicai History of India (l826), I. p. 549.
8. Phayre : Histary of B i i ~p., 221.
9. H. H. Wilson : Narrative 'of the Bunti~leWu,p. 262.
10. B.P.C.2nd March, 1798.
11. Maicoim, I. P. 550.
 by coming by rsea ;and in any case it was impossible to patrol the whole
frontier, lying as it did for malay mibs in wild jungle and inaccwsible
hilb.
By the y m 1798, two-thirds of the inhabitants of Arakan were said
to have deserted their native land. In sne year, 1798, a body of not less
than ten thousand entered Chittagong, Iollowed soon after by mang
more ; and while their cornpatriots who had been longer settled there
endeavoured to assist them, they were nevertheless reduced to a condition
of the direst poverty, many having notliing to eat but reptiles and leaves.12
'l'he Csnrpany's Government ot necessity provided food, and materials
for building huts ; and also sent Captain hlrarn Cox, who had f~rmerly
acted as envoy to +s Court of Ava, to supervise the settlement of these
umfortunate people. Cox, who arrived in Chittagong in July, 1799, re-
p o r t d that twenty or thirty thousand Arakanese had entered Chittagon
in the previous twelve months, and that including those who ha !
previously settled there were a!l told torty or fifty thousand. The distress
ammg the recent arrivals was appdling, and he estimated the mortaaiiy
ammg the children ahne at twenty a day. The fugitives are described
ae " fiying through wilds and deserts without aay preconcerteel plan
nwabew perishing from want, sickneas and fatigue. 'rhe road to the
Naai river (which tsrms the boundary between Arracan and Chittageng)
was strewed. . . .with the bodies oi the aged and decrepit, aad of mathers
with iniants at the breast."13 Cox settled about ten thousand in the large
areas of waste land in Chittagong, but many had aiready dupersed more
widcly among the hilh and jungles. 'rhe chief settlement was madc at
the -piace whch derived from its founder the name sf Cox's Iazaar.
lmmediately before Cox's arrival a Burmese force had entered
Chittagong in pursuit of the latest body of refugees, despite the knowledge
that the Company's troops were still employed on the frontier in the
vain task of trying to stop irnmigraiion. 'rhe Biirmesc repelled a smaU
force of sepoys which was aent against them, but then withdrew.
In this Same year, 1799, Captain Thornas Hill was sent to Arakan
te enter into explanations with the Governor of that province on the
' subject of the retugees,l4 The Governor was informed, in reply to bis
dsmand for the surrender of the fugitives, that any known crimhals
w ~ d dbe given up if definite proof of their p i l t were produced, but
h t any furtiner incursions sf burmcse troops would be treated as an
rct @f war. The Company's Government drew a sharp distinction bet-
ween a peaceful immigrant and a proven dacoit, and would not surrender
the one while it was quite willing to surrender the other. The Burmese
were unable to perceive any distrxiction between the two; and indeed it
was diihcult to estabhh such a distinction, for the great distress which
prevailed among the rocent irrnmigrants had increased the extent of
-
12. Abblm, I. P. 550-1.
13. Mklaohir, I. p. 550-1.
14. B,P,C.24th June, 1799.
 ]Oma lmmUA m!!%NRCH E0Ce XXIII, 11, 19:

tHe depredations of armed bands of Arhnese who made frequc

raids from Chittagong against their former home. As a result, in t
year 1794 a Burmese force crossed the river Naaf, the boundary betwe
Arakan and Chittagong, and cntered the bmpany's territory in sear
of the Magh marauders.5 Troops were sent to resist this violatiean
tiie frontier, but t h e incident terminated without any conflict; in t
words of the Burmese officer whs was in command of the invadi
force, " The rebellious inhabitalits of Aracan having laid that Count
m t e fled to Chittagong and tcok up their residenae there, on whi~
eccasion Colonel Erskine and I, evho are both great xen, having enquirc
into the business, entered into mutual stipdaticnis9'.fj The stipulatia
were ?hat the Burmese would withdraw peaceably on the surrender of tl
principal dacoits. .
i

Öf the three men surrendered, onc escaped, but the other two an
put to death with cruel tcarturea.7
The action taken by Colonel Erskine on this occasion has been t)
murce of much adverse criricism. Phayre sayi that "The surrender
these patriots must be constmed as an act unw~rthyof a civilised'pow
having an armed force at command"S, an$ the criticism has also bee
made that the idea was inevitably inspired in the minds of the Burme
that the fugitives had been given up through fear, and that any degree (
violence could safely be used on the Indian frontier.9 ~ T h e incider
ccrtainly established a precedent sf which the Burmese uere later to t?li
adwtage.
The mi tions of the Arakanese csntinued, and so did their de re&
tionct in Araf? an, until at last the Company's Govenunent, finding t at ci
rslations with the Government of Ava were becoming strained, forbad
1
f h e r immigration. The political situation in India was absorbin th
eaergies of the Company, and war epn the eastern frontier would a d t
the numerous existing difficulties. I n addition, while the Company'
a
Government was averse to refusing refuge to the Arakanese, it was at th
same time anxious to induce the Burmese King to refuse refuge to m
.French ships which might seek the prstection of his harbours.i@ Bi
though orders prohibiting immigration were issued, they could not i
practice be enforced. When one party of irnmigrants w i s ordere
to return to Arakan their leader repl~ed,'' We will never return to th
Arracan country; if you choose to slaughter us here, we are ready to -die
iP by force to drive us away, we will o and dwell in the jungles of th
B
g e l t mountains, which afford shelter or wild beasts "." The Company'
troops were sent to intercept the refugees, but many evaded the guard
5. B.S.P. Vols. 33, 34, 35, passim
6. B.P.C. 14th August, 1799.
7. Malcolrn : Politicai History of India (l826), I. p. 549.
8. Phayre : Histary of B i i ~p., 221.
9. H. H. Wilson : Narrative 'of the Bunti~leWu,p. 262.
10. B.P.C.2nd March, 1798.
11. Maicoim, I. P. 550.
 s d traders and hhermen. There was little intercouise betsrbui
t k c two classes, the former refusing to leave their hiUs m d -the
htter regarding proximity to the sea as an essential of life. ,Thus
W classes consisted largely of people of an unsettled and re&ss
Mature. 1he last census showed the Magh population as bei
than twenty-thousand ; 6,223 men, 6,200 women, 3,319 male ch' dren,
and 2,292 female children; giving a total ef 18,064. The numhr
lep, 7
of houses wie iven as 5,962, and the total value of their property zis
Rs. 24,!397.20 Ffhile these figures are uscful as indicating the poverty
of the people enumerated in the cemus, they are obviously of bttle
value as an estimate of population in view of the figures of imrnigration
Bven by Cox in the ear 1799. Probably the census failed to touch the
Y
lnkabitants of the h' 1s.
It appears Strange that the Maghs should have been settled in this
pdcular area, southern Chittagong, in sight almost of their old homs.
It was aduiowledged by Cox himself that " it will be an eternal cause of
. .
jalsuay t~ their former masters, and . . .. . . their predatory incuisions
uito Arracan may provoke an inextinguishable rupture with the Bunnah
Governmea" $1 and the danger should h ave been equally apparent to
thc Company's Government. Yet this settlement was made without,
it appears, any regard fer the probable consequences.
For ten years, it is true, there was peace on the frontier, owing,
no doubt, to the fact that the immigrant Maghs had to some extent settlcd
down and no longer needed to indulge in acoities for their living; but
in the ytur 1811 the troubles rccommenced on a bigger scale than ever.
Thirteen years before, at the time ef the Magh migrations of 1798,
an Arakanese chief who was known to the EnglYh as Moorusugeeree"
had fled into Chittag~ng,followed by many adherents, for he had been
popular with hiß people. It was he who had invited King Budawpoya
to seke the crswn of Arakan ; but he had quarrelled with the Burmese
and had settled, with the permissign of the Company's officeis, at
Harbang. The English knew him as " Mosrusugeeree," which they
thought was his name, whereas it is evidently the title Myothugyi."~~
His real name was N a Than De.23 He had a son named Chin Pym,
g.
whs was c d l d by t e English " King-bering " or " King-buring."24
Chin Pyan's own account of bis father and ef himself is as foilom:25
" In 1146 Mugg the country of Araccan was overrun with plunderers. In
coniequence my father addressed a letter to the King of Ava who sent
an arrny suid took possession ef Arracan. The King, looking on my
20. B.S.P. 20th Irecember, 181;
21. MaloQlm, I. p. 551.
22. B.R.S. Journal, XII, p. 127 : Prof. Pe Maung Tin, " Bhonctics iri a Passport'i.
23. B.R.S. J o d , XV, p. 46 : Cellis & San Shwe Bu, " Arakan's Place in the
. Cidisatien ef the Bay".
34. 'I His proper appehtion was Khyen-Qran,being born after hie Mer's re(iatn
( k m )b a r vUit te tlie mountoin uibe namd Kkym
25. B.$.P. 25th Neveobr, 1812.
".Wilaon, p. 202,
 448
J-, BURMA RESEARCH SOC.

father as a person of royal blood, put him in poaseosien 9f the G o v a -

ment of Arracan, retaining only the name of sovereign to himself. i n
1160 (Mug) the said King demanded from my father r queta of 20,000
muskets and 40,000 men to make war on Siam. My father consented
aar fumisli the halt' ef this demand. The King was q r y at not getting
the whde, and seized rny brother and killed km. On this account rny
f&er with his relatives and friends, and all his adherents, c~nsistingaf
mimt of the inhabitants of that country, emigrated. My father died.
We sought refuge in the English territory, and I concealed myself at
Nurvung. Mr. Cox at this time came to Ramoo by order ~f the Govern-
ment, q d distnbuted food and implements for cutting the jungler to all
the Mugs. They cultivated the ground and thus earnedsa subsistenct.
MP.Cox made every search for me, but throtigh tke aperati~nsof my
wjl destiny,. he did not find me. After the death of my father, my
m o t k took everything he. possessed. I got nothing.' '
Chin Pyan's-fathei had.apparently before he fle2 to Harbang owned
an slrea 0f land near the bmks sf the Naaf river, which formed the boundary
between Indian and Burmese territory. This land derived from its
owner the m e of " Moorusugeeree ". When he fled frorn Arakan,
Nga Than De had abandoned bis property ; but early in the y w 1811
Chui Pyan lefc Harbang and took pbssession of it, profaring to act o
agerst for a Moharnniedan, " Saddodeen Chaudry,' who had i n d u d
the CoUector of Chittagong to give him documen recognition of lais
Y"
c + w n d p ,iilthough, it would appear, the Coliecter id not irnow exactly
where the lmd was.2Vhin Pyan's explanation ~f his action was t h t
he was distresoed for Want of food, and desired to live by cultivating t h i ~
property. The land, however, had been sccupied after Nga Than De'r
tligfit by a local Burmese officer, who commanded a police ~ satt Mau--
2
daw, and his men had Seen cultivating it. The Burmese o Cer ccsmphid
to the Governor of .,rlrakan that Chin Pyan and a number of followm
arnned with spears, guns, mirnon, gunpowder, and bows and arrewa,
had " placed themselves in battle array " On the Western side of the N d ,
and then, having seized boats, had occupied this land and iil-trcated the
eaccupanta of it. The Governor of Arakan protested against this en-
cxoachment s n his territory, and Mr. P. W. Pechell, Mapstrate of Ckt-
tagona;, was called upon by tke Company's Government to explain tdie
situation. His first reply, written before actual investigatisn, wu to the
&ect t h t he thought the land in questicpn was on an ishnd in the N d
river, lind that it had never been actualiy occupied by the Csmpany er
by the B ~ ~ n i 6 9; ebut that it was locally considcred to bclong to the h m .
M e r rnaking enquiriw, hswever, he reperted that the land was on the
side of the frentier, and that ia occupation by the B u p e s e o h
at Maungdaw was thercfore irnproper. This officer, he addtd,
qprewive tyrant, who used to extort money even from British sub*
--
% F#* ci;rarradfinow ef CIin 3rn)r ewuptbw of tblr land rrd f.t m~),
i m n n d i q kp.usI rw B. PdC. CiikMgoag ~ p d m e U,11,