I had certainly no intention of writing a book when I commenced to put together the information contained in these pages. All I purposed to do was to prepare a short report of work done. But I found that the interesting material at hand was too abundant to be compressed within the limits I had originally intended.
The need for a better knowledge, on the part of our English people generally, of the distant dependencies of the British Empire is undeniable, if they are to discharge at all intelligently the duty of governing the many races, which the circumstances of an ever-widening empire, and the extension of the parliamentary franchise, have placed in their hands. The story is told of a member of Parliament who did not know Burma from Bermuda; and as I have myself found the very same confusion of the two places, in three separate instances, by gentlemen that might have been thought fairly well educated, to say nothing of a respectable alderman who asked whether Burma was an island, and frankly admitted he was very ignorant about it, I can quite believe the story to be true.
Not only is there a need for more knowledge of the countries and races we govern, there is also a demand for it. The events of recent years, especially those resulting from the annexation of King Theebaw’s country, have drawn Burma into much closer touch with England; and many people, by no means ignorant of Burma before, now feel a much deeper interest than formerly in all that pertains to that interesting country, whose destinies are henceforth so intimately bound up with our own.
I have endeavoured to draw as faithful and accurate a picture as possible of the country and people, and I have tried to show, from the standpoint of a sympathetic but impartial witness, what the annexation of an Oriental country like Burma really means, what are its immediate results, and what are the many strong points and the few weak points in our rule.
In seeking to raise the condition of a heathen people no remedy can be regarded as a substitute for the Gospel. We value civilisation very highly, with all that it implies in our case—in the way of good government, material prosperity, the amelioration of the conditions of life amongst the people, the progress of knowledge, and the introduction of the arts and conveniences of life—but the only true basis for the highest type of civilisation is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The best instances of a civilisation without the Gospel are in the East, but even the civilisation of the East is, at its best, an arrested civilisation. Those races are “civilised but not enlightened”; they always stop short of that capacity for constant progress which characterises only the nations that have embraced the Gospel; and they achieve that capacity when they have embraced it. Hence the carrying on of evangelistic work in Burma is a matter of great importance, and my earnest desire is that this little work may do its humble part in deepening that prayerful interest upon which missionary effort depends for its support and continuance.
