covered that he was secretly negotiating a treaty with France, so framed as to give French interests a predominant influence in his country. When remonstrance and warning had proved entirely ineffectual, an ultimatum, backed by the assembling of an army on his frontier, was dispatched to him by the Indian government. The reply was by a proclamation in a tone of hostility, whereupon, in November, 1885, the troops advanced up Mandalay. The Burmese army made no serious resistance, the capital was occupied, the king was captured, and the annexation of Upper Burma was announced by the Queen's government. After nearly two years of internal disorder, for the conquered provinces were infested by marauding bands and disbanded soldiery, the work of pacification was accomplished, and the civil administration organized. Beyond the northeastern districts of Upper Burma the petty chiefships in the wild tracts up to the Mekong river became our tributaries, and the tribes in the scarcely explored hills in the north have partially submitted to our control. The ruler of Siam, a kingdom that lies east of Burma, separating it from the French possessions in Cochin China, had become involved in disputes with the French authorities, and since the situation of Siam renders its independence of substantial concern to India, the British government interfered diplomatically in 1896, to prevent the kingdom's dismemberment, and to obtain recognition of the British protectorate over the Siamese provinces nearest to our own border.
This, the latest, expansion of British dominion by the
