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DESCRIPTION OF THE
CONSTITUTION OF THE BURMESE EMPIRE.
CHAP. X.
Of the Emperor, and of his white elephants.
i. I suppose that there is not in the whole world a monarch so despotic as the Burmese Emperor. He is considered, by himself and others, absolute lord of the lives, properties and personal services of his subjects; he exalts and depresses, confers and takes away honour and rank; and, without any process of law, can put to death, not only criminals guilty of capital offences, but any individual who happens to incur his displeasure. It is here a perilous thing for a person to become distinguished for wealth and possessions ; for the day may easily come when he will be charged with some supposed crime, and so put to death, in order that his property may be confiscated. Every subject is the Emperor’s born slave; and when he calls any one his slave he thinks thereby to do him honour. To express their sense of this subjection, all who approach him are obliged to prostrate themselves before him; holding their hands joined above their heads. Hence also he considers himself entitled to employ his subjects in any work or service, without salary or pay, and if he makes them any recompence, it is done, not from a sense of justice, but as an act of bounty. Their goods likewise, and even their persons are reputed his property, and on this ground it is that he selects for his concubine any female that may chance to please his eye. It is however sanctioned by custom that no married woman can be seized for the king, as there has never been an instance of it; and indeed so sacred is this usage, that a son of the present Emperor, having violated a married woman, was apprehended, and condemned to death by his father; and only escaped through the prayers of the queen his mother and of the crown-prince. The Burmese make use of this privilege to save their daughters from the hands of the king’s ministers, by engaging them, while young, in real or fictitious marriages. The possessions of all who die without heirs belong to the king, as do those of foreigners who have not married in the country; for they are not aHowed to dispose of them, not even in favour of their illegitimate children. In
case