CAMPBELL ROBERTSON IN ARAKAN, 1825 A.D. By M. S. Corts, In the foregoing papers I have noted that Arakan declined from the period of Thiri-thudhamma untilin 1784 it was easily annexed by the Burmese, who placed it in charge of a Governor. Various historians have detailed at length the ways in which the Burmese provoked the East India Company, and how in 1825 Arakan was invaded by the British, as pait of a wider military operation against the kingdom of Ava, The political officer who accompanied the British forces into Arakan was Campbell Robertson of the Bengal Civil Service, and it may be interesting to follow him in bis march to Mrauk-U and hear his impressions of the country and the people.* What had happened to the Arakanese ina hundred and ninety years? To what had come once Golden Mrauk-U? Robertson was a remarkable man. His is one of the few European names remembered in Arakan. Old men will point toa ridge and tell you—there Robertson encamped. Every rustic will relate to you the traditional story of his marriage with the goddess of Parein. He seems to have made a profound impression on the Arakanese of that date. They liked him because he was sympathetic, because he listened to what they had to say, because he had a genuine warm feeling for them in his heart. He praised them when they did well; he explained them in a favourable light to the less informed higher authorities; and while he conciliated their affection, he knew how to command thcir obedience. Inthe year 1824 large numbers of Asakanese were living in the British territory of Chittagong, where people called them Mugs. They had fled their own country because they could not abide Burmese rule, and because having raised abortive rebellions against it they were pro- scribed: by the Burmese authorities. These émigrés formed large colonies in Chittagong, from whence they made raids of revenge into Burmese territory and were in every way objectionable to the Burmese. Campbell Robertson, who was District Magistrate at Chittagong knew them well. He aptly describes them as standing in the same relay tion to the Burmans as the Portuguese stand to the Spaniards, He notes that their national pride was unabated. They still kept alive memories and traditions of the past, when the kingdom of Arakan was from Dacca to the Salween. Their ambition was to return one day and revive golden glories. Roberison remarks on their hardihood and vitality in comparison with the gentle Bengalees, among whom they were settled. Their living was made chiefly as boatmen on the Megna and the outer creeks, Their business integrity was impeccable, and it was the custom to entrust them with the most valuable merchandize on a mere *Campbell Robertson recarded hia observationa in a book called, ‘Political Incidents of the first Barmese War’, published in 1853 It is now very rare, Copyright® 1998 - Myanmar Book Centre & Book Promotion & Service Ltd, Bangok, Thailand238 CAMPBELL ROBERTSON IN ARAKAN, 1825 A.D, note of hand, Honest and active, they were also well-behaved and were the most law-abiding portion of the population of eastern Bengal. Robertson was thus well acquainted with the characteristics of the Arakanese before the Burmese war was thought of, and when in 1824 events had moved so far as to make that war inevitable, he took an extend. ed tour through their villages on his side, making the acquaintance of their headmen and explaining to. them that the British were about to drive the Burmese out of Arakan. It can be imagined with what enthusiasm they received this information. Their long cherished hope of. regaining their country was to be realised, They were sure that when the English had driven the Burman over the Yomas, Arakan would be given back to them and that the line of their. kings would be revived, So when Robertson suggested. that they should raise a regiment to assist, they agreed with acclamation. This was the origin and raison d'etre of the Mug Levy, which, though undisciplined and touchy, ren- dered valuable services as long.as active operations were in progress. So it was that Robertson began to acquire that standing in Arakane ese opinion for which he became remarkable. While waiting at Cox’s Bazaar for the outbreak of hostilities, he spent his time translating a MS. history of old Arakan. The manuscript had been given him by a Hpongyi and the translation was afterwards published in volume XV of “ Asiatic Researches.” This active interest in a past they were so proud of flattered and pleased the Arakanese, who became the devoted allies of the British. The Mug levy drilled. It donned European accoutre- ments. It was armed: with the best weapons of the date. And what it lacked in military polish, it provided in enthusiasm. Then, as now, the Arakanese were pleasant people, and one can observe how Robertson became increasingly attached to them. In January 1825 the British invasion of Arakan, as part of the Burmese dominions, was begun. Since it was the fair season, the army had not to take the mountain road followed by Brother Manrique in 1630. It marched down the coast and with the assistance of the boats, intelligence and provisions provided by the Mug levy, was -before Mahati, a few miles south of Mrauk-U, by the end of March. No resis- tance had so far been offered by the Burmese garrison, while the Arakanese of the villages, through which the army passsed, greeted them as deliverers. The British crossed the river at Mahati and debouched upon the * plain of Parein, not far from the east gate of the city. It was after the first abortive attack on that gate that the marriage between Robertson and the guardian goddess of Parein is supposed to have taken place. He himself whispers not a word of this ceremony. He published, of coursé, his book ‘thirty years later, in the heart of the Victorian epoch. Perhaps he may have thought an account of so pagan a sacrament, in which he played the feading part of bridegroom, would cause adverse Copvriaht© 1998 - Mvanmar Book Centre & Book Promotion & Service Ltd, Banaok, Thailand.CAMPBELL ROB’ RTSON IN ARAKAN, 1825 A.D. 259 comment ata time when the sanctilies could not be flouted without rebuke. Perhaps he thought that he would never hear the last of it from his friends. Perhaps for thirty years it had been a standing joke against him and having lived it down, he had no desire to revive it in his old age. Suffice it to say that not a word about this famous mare riage escapes him, but for all that the yokels of Mahati to-day will tead you tothe statue of the goddess and steadily declare that the wedding took place. It had the placating eflect expected by the Arakanese and next day Mrauk-U was taken by storm and sacked. Remembering what the city was like two hundred years before, it is interesting to record the impression, which Robertson received, as he stood on the height and watched the troops stream in. ‘‘The town of Arracan (as he calls Mrauk-U') was nota cheerful-looking place, even then in the brightest part of the year."’ ‘‘It stood at the bottom of a sort of cup" he explains, ‘‘of perhaps about a mile in diameter.’ This shows it to haye shrunk down tothe dimensions of a small country town. ‘Upon a somewhat elevated platform of rock stood the citadel or inner town of an oblong form, enclosed within walls constructed with stones of almost cyclopean massiveness.’’ This was the old palace site, where now the Burmese Governor lived. Robertson goes on to describe the hills which surround the city, and how they had been linked up and fortified by mounds of earth, faced with stone. These he calls “gigantic works of an earlier age.’’ And he describes the Burmese defences as puny entrenchments in comparison. Mrauk-U must have been as far from its former grandeur in 1825 as it is now. But Robertson was impressed and felt that the stories he had heard of a great past were true. The city itsclf was not only shrunken; the houses were mere hovels. There were none of: the fine carved mansions of the aristocracy described by Brother Manrique. There was not a building in which troops could be lodged. This was serious because it was now April; the rains were approaching; and to withdraw or advance over the Yomas, was equally impossible. ‘The wet season had to be spent at Mrauk-U, though it was notoriously unhealthy for newcomers. In 1825 the prevention and cure of malaria was undreamed of. Robertson gives a dreadful description of that monsoon,—the men housed in bamboo barracks, the roar of the rain, the increasing sickness, the funerals which passed his door every day. But the Arakanese stood by him. Provisions and materials were forthcoming; and though there was disorder in the villages, when the exiled Arakanese returned to their old estates, some attempt at an administration was begun in collaboration with the Chiefs and Head- men. In August Robertson went south to Kyaukpyu and Sandoway. In the last glir pse we get of him he is entrusting his safety entirely to the Arakanese. “I was accompanied by several Mug Chiefs. The boat Ulived in was manned by Mugs, and a detachment of Mugs formed my escort,” Copyright® 1998 - Myanmar Book Centre & Book Promotion & Service Ltd, Bangok, Thailand