THIRTY-TWO YEARS IN BURMA.* WHEN, some thirty-six years ago, young
Mr. Thirkell White was appointed to the Civil Service in " Upper Bengal," but on arriving in India found himself ordered to Rangoon. he probably felt some not unnatural regret at being posted to a remote and expensive province, possessing few social or other compensations for distant exile. Only twenty-six years had elapsed since the annexation of the Irrawaddy Delta after the second Burmese War, and English men and women (the author was newly married) had to endure many discomforts. But each Indian province has its own charm, and as the young couple sailed up the turbid stream of the Rangoon river their eyes caught the golden gleam of the incomparable spire of the great Shway Dagen pagoda, rising with a strange suggestion of Eastern magic from the wooded slopes of the hill above the shops and houses of busy commercial Rangoon. From the first the future Lieutenant-Governor loved the land and its people, perhaps all the better because during the thirty- two busy years of his service he had the solace and support of the wife to whom his book is gratefully dedicated.
It was Thirkell White's fortune to take a leading part in events which for importance and interest fall little short of the Sepoy Mutiny itself, and he tells the tale of his career with admirable modesty, humour, and, withal, with the sup- pressed enthusiasm which supported him through many toilsome and anxious days and nights. After an unusually brief period of subordinate duties, he was summoned to headquarters. In 1879 he was personal assistant to Mr. (afterwards Sir Charles) Aitckeson, then Chief Commissioner of Upper Burma. It was at this time that King Mindon of Ave, a wise and kindly ruler, died and was succeeded by Thibaw, whose accession was disgraced by the brutal murder of many members of the Royal Family. It was an ill beginning, though Sir H. Thirkell White assures us that the slaughter was not the work of Thibaw himself or of his "much-maligned Queen." An injudicious Minister, filled with vague ambitions, began intriguing with foreign Powers, and displayed open hostility to the British government of adjacent Pegu. Events led rapidly to the third Burmese War of 1885, and in the following year the whole of Burma became part of the Indian. Empire. The conquest was wrought with little effort or loss of life, so skilfully and swiftly was the march to Mandalay effected. But the subsequent pacification was a work of much difficulty and peril, in which many scattered officials, often with the scantiest supporting, did gallant service for their country. It was during this period that Robert Phayre, of the Civil Service (to mention one only), fell in action at Mimbu, in "Upper Burma. It is pleasant to note that Sir H. Thirkell White has no doubt whatever that the annexation was not only inevitable, but was of the greatest advantage to the people of a harassed and badly governed country.
In 1885 Thirkell White was at Mandalay with Sir Charles Bernard, second only to Sir Arthur Phayre as a strong yet sympathetic ruler of Burma. Till 1888 he was secretary to the temporarily separate Administration of Upper Burma. In that year he became Chief Secretary for the whole united province. It was an exciting and a busy time, the work was ceaseless, the responsibility crushing. But the duties were such as any man, whatever his abilities and distinction, might be proud to perform, and Sir H. Thirkell White writes of them with a modest pride which in itself shows that he was wisely chosen for the responsibilities of that troubled time. Later years brought peace and prosperity to Burma and fitting rewards to Sir Charles Bernard's trusted assistant, until in 1890 he succeeded Sir Hugh Barnes as Lieutenant- Governor of the province in which he had spent the whole of his official career.
Probably no one living could tell the tale of the annexation of Ava with more knowledge and authority than Sir H. Thirkell White. His book is a substantial contribution to the history of a most important period of British rule
• A' Ciml Servant in Burma. By Sir Herbert Thirkell White, H.C,I.E. London : E. Arnold. 112s. 6d. act.] in India. But it is also a record, frank, full, and sympa- thetic, of the humours and incidents of an official's career in the East, interspersed with reminiscences of many friends, great and little, English and Burmese, often hit off with an admirable knack of literary portraiture. The tale is far too full of interesting matter to be summarized here. Sir H. Thirkell White's book should be read, not only by those who are interested in one of the most promising and attractive of Indian provinces, but by those who would learn how administrative responsibilities in the East draw out the highest qualities of our race. If that first appointment to Rangoon caused some regret, it was soon forgotten in the exhilarating sense of novel and useful labour among a fascinating race. At the end of it all the author records his great regret at leaving " Burma, fairest and brightest of Eastern lands, the memory of whose happy people will always be enshrined in our hearts." That kind nostalgia is the best reward for Indian exile, a reward shared by many less fortu- nate in their opportunities than the author. If any young probationer for the Indian services regrets that he has been posted to some unpopular or little-known province, let him console himself with the assurance that good and faithful service will certainly bring with it a sincere regard for the land and people to whose service he will be proud to have devoted his moat active years. That is the spirit in which Sir H. Thirkell White's book is written, and that, we doubt not, was the spirit he strove to impart to his subordinates while- he had charge of the province he loved.
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