Afghan); of preventing Afghanistan falling under the control of Russia; and lastly, of preventing the Amir from causing mischief to British and Indian interests. We have seen that in pursuance of this policy the brilliant step of occupying Quetta had been taken. Two years later, the Amir having received with great honour a Russian envoy and turned back at Ali Musjid Sir Neville Chamberlain, the British envoy, refusing him a passage through the Khyber Pass, the second Afghan War broke out. Simultaneous advances were made through the Khyber (Browne), Kurram Valley (Roberts) and Quetta (Biddulph). The expedition was brilliantly successful and the Amir fled into Russian territory, where he died the following year. The treaty with Yakub Khan, the new Amir, involving the occupation of the passes and the control of the foreign affairs of Afghanistan by the Government of India; and the treachery which resulted in the massacre at Kabul of the British envoy, Sir Louis Cavagnari, are well known. Kabul was eventually occupied by Roberts. The business was not over, however. The dreadful day of Maiwand (July 27th, 1880) saw the defeat of Barrows, the remnant of his brigade retreating to Kandahar. To relieve the latter place Roberts made his great march from Kabul to Kandahar, covering a distance of 318 miles of difficult country in twenty-three days. His small force consisted of 2800 Europeans, 7000 Indian soldiers and about 8000 followers. Eventually Abdur Rahman was recognised as Amir, Kandahar restored to him and the Kurram Valley was given up-Lytton's far-sighted policy of breaking up Afghanistan into separate States being disallowed. It is conceivable that great and serious difficulties in the future would have been obviated had it been given effect to. The Government of India undertook to support the Amir against foreign enemies. Thus the refusal of 1873 was accorded seven years later, after the expenditure of much blood and treasure. In 1880 a Gladstone Ministry came in at home (pledged to reverse the policy of its predecessors) and Lytton resigned, the Marquess of Ripon being appointed Viceroy.

In the interests of this history of the forests it is necessary to deal briefly with these frontier events although space restricts a more detailed review. It will be remembered that there had been the closest connection between Afghanistan and the regions extending to the Hindu Kush and India throughout many centuries. Abul Fazl, the famous and erudite Secretary of State and historian of Akbar, made the following statement

in this connection, and it is as well worth remembering now as it ever was in the past:

"The wise of ancient times" (he was writing about the year 1595 or a little later) "considered Kabul and Kandahar as the twin gates of Hindustan, the one leading to Turkestan and the other to Persia. The custody of those highways secured India from foreign invaders, and they are likewise the appropriate portals to foreign travel."

It is at least open to doubt whether this ruling coming down the ages is not as true to-day. Certain forestry aspects are also to some extent bound up with this question, as will be shown in later parts.

In some measure Lord Ripon's viceroyalty was one of reversing the policy of his predecessor. The vernacular Press Bill was withdrawn, and the ill-fated Ilbert Bill did not pass into law owing to the opposition it aroused from the nonofficial European community. Of domestic interest was the first General Census (1881) of all India, except Nepal and Kashmir. The statistics collected disclosed an enormous mass of important and novel information of use to every branch of the Government Service in India.

It will be remembered that the Mysore State had been ruled by the Government of India since 1831. In 1867, during the viceroyalty of Sir John Lawrence, it had been decided by the Secretary of State and the Government of India that the State should be restored to the Maharajah when he came of age. The latter event took place in 1881, and the Maharajah was installed with full power over his State. During the half-century of direct British management the State had been admirably managed and a succession of efficient officials had arisen. This promised well for the future. The forests had been managed under the supervision and advice of the Conservator of Forests, Madras Presidency. These were now returned to the Maharajah and unfortunately for some years to come were to suffer to some extent from the change, efficient native management or knowledge of forestry science not having been acquired at this period.

Perhaps Lord Ripon's administration will be chiefly remembered by the series of Acts passed in 1883-5 introducing a scheme of so-called local self-government, based on the inauguration of District Boards and subordinate bodies modelled on the English system of County Councils and Rural District

Boards. The powers of municipal boards were extended and the Government of India intimated that the chairman of a municipality should, whenever possible, be a non-official. Of course the principles of this scheme were drawn up on broad general lines only, the Local Administration being allowed a wide discretion as to the manner in which they brought it in. And it may be said that the degree to which the election principle was introduced or made use of varied widely in different parts of India. Anyone acquainted alike with some of the denser populated areas and the wilder parts of the continent will readily understand that this was inevitable; there were other reasons connected with religion, caste, traditions and so forth which introduced formidable obstacles against the rapid spread or recognition of the Western institutions. The District Boards were those known best to all district officials, the officers in charge of the various branches of the Service being represented on the Board. They were principally concerned with district roads, sanitation, education, famine relief and so forth. For many years it remained an open question as to how far these Boards justified the hopes Lord Ripon had formed of them. Those of us who, as district officials, have worked upon them in the past must have a very checquered and kaleidoscopic experience to look back upon. In the main there is little doubt that the greatest amount of talking was done by the Indian members, whilst usually (not always) when a decision had to be come to it was put up by one of the British official members in concrete form and then usually adopted. It is probable that, speaking generally, this was the position to the end of the period now dealt with.

As would naturally be expected, by the course of his administrative work during the four years of his viceroyalty, Ripon was extraordinarily popular with the people, who lamented his resignation. He was followed by a totally different type-an extraordinarily gifted man who possessed many qualities fitting him for the post, to wit, the Earl of Dufferin. When it is mentioned that before coming to India he had held posts in Syria, Turkey, St. Petersburg and Egypt it will be recognised that in his day he brought to the task of governing the country knowledge which enabled a later successor, Lord Curzon, to so eminently fill the post. From the political point of view (if we except the Panjdeh incident between the Russians and Afghans, which Dufferin's diplomatic skill enabled him to satisfactorily settle), as well as from the

forestry one, the outstanding event in the new Viceroy's administration was the outbreak of the third Burmese War, which resulted in the whole of Burma coming under the sway of the British.

The annexation of Tenasserim and Martaban in 1827 and of Pegu in 1852 as the outcome of the first and second Burmese Wars have been already alluded to in Volume I, Chapters VIII and XIV. The third Burmese War became almost inevitable soon after King Theebaw's accession to the throne in 1878. He was a man of ungovernable temper and of a revolting cruelty, and fully acted up to the part he conceived himself to be playing, to wit, the Ruler of the World. Encouraged by the British difficulties in Afghanistan and South Africa in 1879 and 1880 he started on a course of deliberate provocation. We withdrew our Resident from Mandalay in 1879, but with our hands full elsewhere still endeavoured to bring King Theebaw to reason and maintain the peace.

The cause of the final outbreak and declaration of war in 1885 is usually assigned to a dispute between the King and the Bombay-Burma Trading Company over teak timber. As will be shown, this was a contributory cause, but there was a political one which at the time it was obviously not advisable to make public. Early in 1885 the Governor-General received information that King Theebaw had concluded a treaty with the French Government, under which France was granted certain undesirable consular and commercial privileges. Lord Dufferin, a trained and skilful diplomatist, saw at once the impossibility of allowing a foreign power to intrude into the affairs of Burma, which had for a long period been regarded as the concern of India and the Indian Government only. Shortly afterwards, puffed up with pride and the belief in his own omnipotence, and it is believed acting under the suggestion of the clever but rather unscrupulous French Agent, Monsieur Haas, the King made an attack on the Bombay-Burma Trading Company. The Company was accused of illicit felling and other acts in the teak forests, charges which were never proved, and Theebaw imposed a fine of 23 lakhs of rupees upon them and ordered the arrest of some of their employés. If this action was really taken on the advice of the French Agent it was a most unwise move. The Indian Government, with the sanction of the Home Ministry, had no option but to despatch an ultimatum to the Burmese Court, demanding an immediate and final settlement to the various matters in dispute. King

Theebaw endeavoured to treat the difficulty in the Oriental fashion by sending an evasive reply to the ultimatum, whilst at the same time ordering his army to resist any attempted British advance. There was no real fight when the British crossed the frontier on November 14th. They advanced to Mandalay without meeting any serious opposition, and on the 27th Theebaw surrendered to the British General in a small summer-house in the grounds of the Palace at Mandalay, his capital. The King and his family were deported to India and settled at Ratnagiri in the Bombay Presidency. Upper Burma was then annexed by the British, a formal proclamation being issued on January 1st, 1886, just sixty years after the annexation of Tenasserim. From the first Lord Dufferin had made up his mind to annexation as soon as it became obvious that war would have to be declared on Theebaw. Although as a skilful diplomatist he made the timber quarrel the basis of his ultimatum to the King, his real reason and fears at this period are contained in the following extract from a letter written to the Chief Commissioner of Lower Burma: "If, however, the French proceedings should eventuate in any serious attempt to frustrate us in Upper Burma, I should not hesitate to annex the country; and, as at present advised, I think that this mode of procedure would be preferable to setting up a doubtful prince.'

It was the threat of French interference from the side of Siam, coupled with Theebaw's own folly and callous cruelty, which finally settled the question of annexing Upper Burma and brought the whole of the Indian and Burmese Provinces under British dominance and government. There was now nothing left of any considerable size to annex. As is well known, the proclamation of annexation of the country did not mean peace. The regular war, which had been little more than a march, was followed by five years of guerilla resistance which necessitated a large number of troops, at one time as many as 30,000, being employed.

But civil government was gradually introduced into the country and the forests were brought under the Department, and finally matters settled down and the people enjoyed what they had never before experienced, an orderly rule, which rapidly resulted in an increased prosperity in the country. The magnificent forests which formed so large a portion of its wealth will be discussed later on in this history.

It was not till 1897 that Upper and Lower Burma were