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In short we may conclude these “Sketches of Government” with the remark of the reviewer:[67] “The government is a despotism upon the model of that of China; the fiction of paternity in the person of the ruler being in both countries upheld. The emperor is the father of the state; each mandarin is the father of the province which he governs; and each magistrate, of whatever gradation, father of the subordinate department in which he presides.” We have seen how fatherly is the whole behaviour of the Burman rulers, and we may well agree with the reviewer, in pronouncing the fiction invented for the benefit of the despot, and not for the benefit of the people.

There is no regular Burmese army.[68] When the king requires one, he fixes the number of soldiers necessary for the enterprise, and nominates the general who is to command them. The Lut-d’hau in the capital, and the Ion or Rondai of the provincial town, then send for a certain number more than absolutely mentioned by the king. These are brought together by a forced conscription, and the conduct of the officers who levy them not a little resembles that of the renowned and valiant Falstaff. Such persons as are unable to serve, or are rich enough to buy themselves off, do so, and the consequence is, that a rabble is assembled, without subordination or discipline, and consequently formidable only to the barbarian tribes on the frontiers, but totally unable to cope with the civilised forces of the Company. The money obtained from the Burmans who buy off is applied to the equipment of the army; “for the emperor,” Sangermano observes, “does not furnish anything but the arms, which must be well taken care of; and woe to the soldier who loses them.”[69] The whole male population between the ages of seventeen and sixty serve, and those with wives and families are ever preferred, as these last serve as hostages for their good behaviour. This forcible conscription partly induces unwillingness, and partly the natural cowardice of the peasantry. Crawfurd was informed by several Europeans, who were present at Rangoon when the troops were embarking for Junk Ceylon, and other parts of the Siamese coast, that they were often carried on board tied hands and feet, and this not in a few cases, but repeatedly, and in great numbers. What soldiers for our disciplined army to contend with, and what an insight into their military character this gives us, if it be not an exaggeration! And yet these cowards, forced into the service in this valiant way, caused the retreat of the British force at Ramoo in 1824! Perhaps their conduct is somewhat like that of our own sailors. There is, however, little doubt of their being an utterly despicable foe, though they will undergo the severest privations without a word. In time, however, and under judicious generalship, they might become very passable soldiers.