Page:Lord Amherst and the British Advance Eastwards to Burma.djvu/82

 of Arakan—the Rájá of Ramrí. It came into bad hands, for the Marquess of Hastings was now supremo at Calcutta. The statesman who found means to dethrone the Peshwa, was not disposed to yield to the menace of 'The Golden Foot.' The answer was a simple statement that the British could not and would not deliver up those who had sought and had, some of them for thirty years, enjoyed their protection. Perhaps the news of recent events in Central India co-operated in persuading the king not to commit himself to open hostilities. At any rate he died, in 1819, in peace, his dignity unimpaired, and his realm at the height of its greatness. It was in quite another direction that his successor prepared to enlarge the bounds of his dominion. We have no intention of attempting to elucidate the politics of Assam. It is enough to say that this secluded kingdom enjoyed the blessings of a peculiarly limited monarchy. There was a Rájá, and a council of three ministers. The monarch could do nothing—not even get himself crowned—without the permission of his advisers; but he was able to dismiss any of them in favour of some more agreeable member of the same family. While this was the judicious balance of power in the highest place, the real functions of administration were fulfilled by provincial officers, nominally subordinate. The arrangement, which we believe had long prescription in its favour, broke down in 1809; and the end of an extremely complicated system of court intrigues was the entry of a Burmese