CHAPTER XIX

THE BEITISH DOMINION IN ASIA AT the present time, therefore, his Majesty the king-emperor surveys all India united under his sovereignty, whether directly administered, or through allied and friendly princes. And since upper Burma came under British rule in 1886, an Indo-Chinese de- pendency, side by side with the Indian empire, has been formed by the incorporation of a wide region that extends along the Irawadi and Salwin Rivers, and touches at certain points the western bank of the upper Mekong, the stream which was taken by the French in 1896 as the present boundary of their advance up- ward from the southeast. But it must always be remembered that in India the political jurisdiction of the English has at no time been commensurate with the districts under their adminis- tration. From the beginning of the nineteenth century, at any rate, the empire has been composed partly of provinces and partly of states under British protection and paramount influence. With this composite forma- tion its position and character have latterly been under- going an extensive and significant development. And 468