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Arakan: - One Who Preserves and Takes Care of Their Own Nationality. |
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Publication by Arakan Action Association (AAA.) |
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Arakan Past – present – future |
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BY JOHN OGILVY HAY, J.P. |
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Arakan Library was founded by a group of Arakan Action Association (AAA) in exile in Thailand from Burma in 2007 doing to voice for the knowledge, the people democratic and human rights.
Copyright © 2007 Arakan Libray All Rights Reserved. Free counter, Since 2005.
Arakan Action Association (AAA) Chotana Road , Chaing Mai ( 50301 ), Thailand. Email : arakanactionassociation@walla.com , +66—089-637-4383, +66—053-409-577 |
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A SHORT “IN MEMORIAM” OF SIR ARCHIBALD BOGLE, KNIGHT, WHO MAY BE CONSIDERED TO HAVE ESTABLISHED, BY HIS OWN “ INDEFATIGABLE ZEAL ,” THE RICE – TRADE OF BURMAH. -------------------------------------------- From the ‘Arakan News,’ July 7, 1870 A TELEGRAM, dated 20th June, announces the death of Major General Sir Archibald Bogle, Knight, formerly Commissioner of Arakan, and afterwards of Tenasserim. The late General obtained his knighthood on the recommendation of Lord Dalhousie, chiefly for his services during the last Burmese war as aide-de-camp to Major-General Godwin, when, during the assault made on the enemy’s works round the Shoay Dagon Pagoda, he received a flesh – wound in the thigh. He also materially assisted the expedition by his quickness in bringing timber and other materials from Moulmein for the construction of barracks for the troops in camp at Rangoon. But Akyab, and indeed all Arakan, owe a lasting debt of gratitude to “King Archibald,” as he was well malaria, and obtaining the sad renown of being the grave of Europeans. By his wise provision it was laid out, drained, and planted with forest and fruit trees, so that in our time it has become not only healthy, but it yields to very few Indian stations in picturesque beauty. But this is not all; the rice – trade of Arakan, and from it that of all British Burmah, owes its origin to the irdefatigable zeal of Sir Archibald Bogle, who by reports and letters addressed to the leading firms not only in England but in the chief ports of Europe, attracted to our shores this important commerce, which has so greatly tended to the comfort and civilization of the whole province. Many a man not half so great a benefactor to his kind, has had a public monument raised to him; but not only with regard to the reverence in which his memory is still held by the natives after so many years, but also to the vast commerce of Burmah, of which he was the pioneer, it might well be said of him- “Exegi monumentunm aere perennius.”
FIRST CAMPAIGN FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF ARAKAN FIRST CAMPAIGN. ------/------ “FURTHER INDIA.” From the ‘Times,’ October 2, 1875. A MAP, prepared under the direction of Mr John Ogilvy Hay, F.R.G.S., has just been published by Mr Stanford, of Charing Cross, “showing the various routes proposed for connecting China with India and Europe through Burmah, and for developing the trade of Eastern Bengal, Burmah, and China.” It must not be supposed from this description that the area embraced by the map extends from China to Europe. It includes simply Assam, Pegu, Eastern Bengal, and West Yunnan, or that part of the Indo-Chinese countries in which Englishmen are most directly interested. The scale, 30 miles to the inch, has enabled the engraver to use large letters in printing the names of places, and to represent, without crowding or confusion, a considerable number of the routes followed by recent travelers, or suggested as new lines of commercial intercourse. Among the latter are those proposed by the Indian Government within the British territories in Assam, Eastern Bengal, Arakan, and Pegu, and those proposed in the same district and countries further east by Mr Hay, Mr St John, Mr Blakestone, Captain Sprye, and others. The map supplies information, not readily accessible elsewhere, about schemes concerning which much has been recently written in the English newspapers. It would, however, be incomplete without an additional map showing the position of those fertile regions of Siam, Tonquin, and Southern China, to which many of the routes are supposed to lead. From the ‘Times,’ October 9, 1875. J.O.H. writes to us: Referring to and thanking you for your remarks under the above heading in the ‘Times’ of the 2d inst., I think it desirable to state the object in view in the issue of the map alluded to. Believing in the certainty of the opening up of the trade route to Western China, via Mandalay and Bhamo, (Until the annexation of Upper Burmah, when it was seen the route through the Shan States was the proper route to Yunnan. – 1892. I thought it advisable to show clearly the shortest route from Mandalay, the capital of Burmah proper, to the sea-coast, and this is done by the line from Mandalay to Akyab. Not only is this the shortest line, but it terminates in a port not to be surpassed in the Bay of Bengal, and suitable for any amount of shipping. Again, considering the almost insurmountable difficulties in the way of extending the Eastern Bengal Railway across the Delta of the Ganges, as shown by the repeated damage to that line, and latterly the destruction of the station at Goalanda, (Vide p. 20), it appears that there is little prospect of seeing the rich tea districts of Assam and Cachar reached by rail from that side, and that, therefore, endeavours should be made to open up the whole of Eastern Bengal to the eastward of the Brahmapootra by a system of railways also terminating at the port of Akyab.(The raison dere of the Assam Bengal Railway, only just launched in this year, 1892. ) This is shown by the line from Gowhatty in Assam, to Akyab, such being taken as a trunk line, and supplied with feeders as found necessary on either side. These two lines, combined with an extension on to the frontier of China, would bring in Chinese labour, and spread population over over our fertile, but at present unproductive because unoccupied, lands. As stated in a letter addressed to the Marquis of Salisbury, Secretary of State for India, “it may be a long look for the fulfillment of this idea, but it is one which must be followed out, and the sooner steps are taken in the direction indicated, and encouragement given to private enterprise, the sooner will the fruits be reaped – such fruits being increase of revenue, and the spread of what should be the civilizing influences of our rule.” The preceding will explain the reason for what you consider the incompleteness of the map – want of an addition to show Siam, Tonquin, and Southern China – the object being confined to showing the outlet for trade and population westward from Yunnan.
Letter to the Most Honourable the Marquis of Salisbury, Secretary of State for India. London, 18th August 1874. My Lord, - Knowing that the subject of the opening up of communication with Western China through British Burmah has on various occasions been brought to your notice, and that you have shown your interest in it, and desire to further the views of the many memorialists who have represented its importance to Government, it would be supererogatory on my part to state it to you as a pressing necessity. Believing, however, that the prosecution of the route proposed by Captain Sprye, supported by several of the mercantile bodies who have interested themselves in it, and the completion of the survey of which has been lately urged on your Lordship, must be a matter of time, and that, as viewed by the Governor-General, Lord Lawrence, and his Council, it is, looking to the many other wants, in advance of the immediate requirements of the country, I take the liberty of asking respectfully your consideration of the views expressed in letters I have addressed to the President of the Association of Chambers of the United Kingdom, and the Chamber of Commerce of Liverpool, copies of which I beg to hand herewith. There is no question as to the impetus that would be given to the manufacturing industries of such districts as Halifax and Huddersfield were there easy means of distributing their productions through the vast population of China by a shorter route than now open by the eastern seaboard, and I will not here further allude to that part of the subject, which has been otherwise ably advocated. I would confine myself at present to pointing out the benefit that would be derived by our own provinces. In almost all the eastern provinces of our Indian empire – i.e., to the east of the Brahmapootra, viz., Assam, Cachar, Arakan, and the other divisions of British Burmah – thousands of acres of land lie unproductive for want of labour. Many schemes have been put forward for supplying this want; but there is no means that would stimulate the introduction of population so much, or tend so much to civilize and develop the countries in question, as the construction of railways, connecting them with the teeming provinces of Western China. ( This letter was written under circumstances which have been completely changed by the taking of Upper Burmah, as it is now seen that our own teeming population of Bengal should be sent to Burmah, and for this purpose the shortest land route should be selected for railway. This route must be the connection it goes on above to suggest, extended via Chittagong to the river Megna. Lord Salisbury’s attention was called to this letter in one dated 17th September 1888, at the commencement of the “Second Campaign.” Also to Lord Cross, to whom it was again sent on 31st December 1890.) As you are aware, the local Government of British Burmah have for some years urged the construction of a railways from Rangoon northward to the frontier, and it is believed that the King of Burmah would continue the line on to his capital. Hereafter it would doubtless be advanced on towards the borders of China, to take up the trade which is now returning to its old channel via Bhamo, and is being daily developed by the steam companies now running on the Irrawaddy to that frontier town. I further advocate a connection between our province of Arakan and the Kingdom of Burmah; such would ultimately be necessary to connect British Burmah with the rest of our Indian dominions, and, extended northwards towards Assam, (this is being done by the “Assam – Bengal Railway” just launched. Had this been carried out at an earlier date, we might not have had to deplore the Munneepore massacre; and several of the previous and subsequent Lushai raids (raids at this moment in full swing), and consequent expenditure of life and treasure, might have been prevented, and there would have been no neccssity for the action of the Bengal Chamber of Commerce as reported in the ‘ Times’ telegram of 15th May 1892 (vide p.210). Calcutta influence has prevented the earlier execution of this work, and the metropolis is now ruing the effects of its own selfishness, both governmental and mercantile.) would be a great means of developing the resources of all the intermediate countries, and spreading population over their fertile but at present unproductive lands. It may be a long look for the fulfillment of this idea, but it is one which must be followed out; and the sooner steps are taken in the direction indicated, and encouragement given to private enterprise, the sooner will the fruits be reaped – “such fruits being the increase of revenue, and the spread of what should be the civilizing influences of our rule over the savage tribeson our borders.” My attention has been given to the subject principally from a desire to further the improvement of the province of Arakan, which has long been a very paying dependency of the empire, but on which little or nothing has been spent beyond the cost of its administration. (See remarks of “Settlement Officer,” p. 8.) It has been under our Government for about fifty years, has an area of 18,529 square miles, over which it has not twenty miles (A telegram in the ‘Times’ of 2d February 1891 confirms this.) of common road; its boundaries, not a hundred miles from the headquarters of the Commissioner, unknown, and altogether one of the most neglected, though promising, districts under the Crown.
Memo, April 1892. – Eighteen years have passed since the above was written, and the province of Arakan remains much as it was, without roads and connection with any of the adjoining districts, and quite undeveloped. Letter to the Same. London, 27th August 1874. In continuation of the letter I had the honour to address to your Lordship dated the 18th inst., I now beg to wait on you with copy of a letter I have this day sent to Sampson S.Lloyd, Esq., M.P., Chairman of the Association of Chambers of Commerce of the United Kingdom, showing the increasing trade going on between our province of British Burmah and Upper Burmah, and extending on to China via Bhamo. The Administration Report from which these particulars have been taken, has doubtless reached the India Office, and I need not further allude to it than by respectfully asking your attention to the interesting statistics it gives of the onward progress of our province. Letter to the Same. London, 3d October, 1874. I take the liberty of handing for your consideration copy of a letter, under date 18th September, addressed to the President of the Association of Chambers of Commerce of the United Kingdom. Also memorandum concerning some discrepancies between the original text of letters from General Fytche, Chief Commissioner of British Burmah, as published in Parliamentary Paper 28, 1st December 1867, and the same as reproduced in an appendix attached to a memorial addressed to the First Lord of her Majesty’s Treasury, published in Parliamentary Paper 258, 19th June 1873. Further, a memorandum regarding a proposed Association for a survey (this has not yet been surveyed, and is still being pressed on the attention of the Indian Government through the Secretary of State for India – 1892.) of a line of country from the port of Akyab to the frontier of Burmah; and I would respectfully ask an expression of your Lordship’s opinion of the same, and whether such an association would meet with your countenance.
To J. Ogilvy Hay, Esq., London. India Office, October 10, 1874. Sir, - I am directed by Lord Salisbury to acknowledge, with an expression of his thanks, the receipt of your letter of the 3d instant. – Faithfully yours, Horace Walpole. Extract from the ‘Indian Statesman,’ September 12, 1873. It is evident that the great object of railway extension to the eastward is to link together India and China, and to bring the commerce of the latter country as near as possible to the centre of Indian trade. (Or to the nearest and best outlet for Europe.) Proximity to Calcutta and to the trunk lines of our Indian railway system ought to be the leading consideration in determining the point from which an Indo-Chinese Railway should start. The Eastern Bengal Railway is already open to Goalundo, (Which still remains the terminus.) and although the engineering difficulties in the way do not think they can be insurmountable. (Eighteen years of endeavors have not shown a way to overcome them.) The mountainous country lying between Eastern Bengal and Upper Burmah presents obstacles that; we fear, would deter either the Government or private capitalists from entertaining any project for throwing a line across it into Upper Burmah. But, if we go further south, we find two points, each possessing advantages for being chosen as the starting – point of a line to the eastward. Chittagong is 280 miles from Mandalay as the crow flies, and Akyab only 240. As a port Akyab is to be preferred to Chittagong, but either of them is near enough to Calcutta to serve the interests of British Indian trade. (Calcutta interests would prefer Chittagong, but for Europe trade Akyab is decidedly the best and most commodious.) There is, of course, a range of mountains to be crossed, and as no survey (No survey has yet been made, but a reconnaissance was made twelve months ago (February to May 1891) by Lieutenant Walker of the Intelligence Department of the Aeng Pass and the Tsawbwas route, by either of which it is believed a railway would be practicable at a comparatively moderate cost.) has been made of the passes leading from Arakan to Burmah, it would not be safe to dogmatically assert that the line would be practicable. We have, however, before us the opinions of those who are best acquainted with the Arakan side of the Yoma-Toung chain – officers who have served in the hill tracts – and they evidently are not aware of any difficulties that would surpass the skill of our railway engineers. Our readers may remember a most flattering account of the mineral resources of the Yau district by Captain Strover, which we epitomized in our columns some months ago. The Yau district lies just behind the Yoma-Toung mountains, and a direct line from Akyab would tap its mineral wealth at once, whereas it would be cut off from the Irrawaddy line by a long strectch of country. For one argument that can be put for the in favour of the line from Rangoon to Mandalay, ten better ones can be advanced on behalf of a line from an Arakan port, always supposing that the Yoma-Toung rauge is passable; and that, we submit, it is the duty of Government to determine before committing itself to other projects. If we ask for the old trade-routes between India and China – the routes by which we know that a considerable commerce was once carried on between the two countries – (The route by which the enormous cannon said to be now in front of the king’s palace, and the gigantic image of Gaudama, were transferred to Ava from Arakan when it was conquered by the Burmese, supposed to be the Tsawbwas route.) we shall find that they lay through Upper Burmah to Assam or the Chittagong country.
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