Burmese Sketches - Khamkoo

134
BURMESE SR&TCIiEB.
Nan Daw to preside over his Privy Council, so long as he
had Mingyl U Gaung, that great master of diplomacy, as his
Foreign Secretary, and so long as the British Government
did not pester him through its residents and envoys ? The
Government of British Burma might send him ultimatum on
ultimatum, but what cared he so long as they were mere
threats and remonstrances on paper not backed up by British
guns and British bayonets ?
THE KINWUN MINGYI, C.S.I.
U Gaung, ^^-Kinwun Mingyi, who was the Prime Minister
of the late Burmese Government, passed away quietly, in his
eighty-seventh year, at his residence in Fort Dufferin on the
30th June 1908. His end was not unexpected as he had been,
through paralysis, confined to his bed during the last 18
months. He was born in 1 821, at Madaingbin village in the
Lower Chindwin district. His father was a soldier in the
Natshinywe Infantry Regiment, and, in accordance with the
laws of the country, he, too, was destined to follow the heredi-
tary profession of arms. But he escaped from conscription
by entering the cloisters and applying himself assiduously to
theological studies. He was ordained a Buddhist monk under
the name of *' U Alawka," his laic name being Maung Chin,
and migrated to Amarapura, the then capital of the Kingdom
of Ava, where he joined a college, whose Master, U Yan We,
eventually became the Prime Minister of King Mindon under
the title of '* Pakan Mingyi."
Pagan Min was then King. He had his boon companions,
and passed his days in frivolous amusements, like bull-baiting
and cock-fighting. The administration of the country was left
to inexperienced and irresponsible persons, like the notorious
Maung Kyauk L6n and Maung Bai Zat, and corruption
became rife and disorder rampant. The revenue could not be
collected regularly and the Princes of the Blood had to support
themselves by sharing ill-gotten spoil with thieves and brigands.
The Mindon Prince and his brother the Kanaung Mintha, who
were the half-brothers of the Kmg, and who were noted for
their influence and ability, became marked men for having become
the centre of an intrigue for political supremacy. A
charge was laid against them, under royal command, of habouring
the dacoits, who had plundered the Chinese quarter of
Amarapura, and they were peremptorily ordered to produce the
delinquents.