The Express.
London, England, 1852-03-09 00:00:00

THE FIGHTING AT RANGOON.
DZSC/1131D IT AN EYE WITXIIIIII.

The following letter, from a correspondent writing
from Rangoon River on the 13th of January last, fur-
nishes a succinct and graphic account of the chief
events of the recent collision between our naval squad-
ron at Rangoon and tho Burmese, and of the cir-
cumstances which gave rise to the hostilities.
" About sunset on the 9th inst. the Phlegethon re-
turned with Fox's launch in tow, after having con-
veyed some of the merchant ships down past the
stockades, which they were allowed to pass without
the threat of yesterday being put into execution.
There were numbers of men, however, at the stock-
ades, who were seen to be employed mounting guns,
and they nro now being hourly reinforced by very
considerable parties that go down past us in largo
canoes, who carry with them both guns and mus-
ketry. The largest of these boats that 'passed down
displayed a broad red flag, which the Burmese never
use except in defiance.
" The Governor of Rangoon in his communication
with the Governor-General, through the Commodore,
lays the whole blame of the present condition of
affairs on the Commodore in a very specious but
flimsy account,- or resume, of all that has taken
place. lie begins by stating that differences having
arisen between the English and the Governor of
Rangoon, in consequence of the latter's ill treatment
of some of their subjects, representations were made
to tho court of Ava, which weto immediately at-
tended to; and that the request of the Governor-
General, that the Governor of Rangoon should be
removed, was attended to. That he, the Governor
of Promo, was sent down by the King of Ara as
Governor of Rangoon also, in which latter place lie
was to hold his residence; that ho was supplied with
power sufficient to bring affairs to an issue ;
and that on his arrival, ho had every wish
that the issue should be amicable. That the
second day after his arrival at Rangoon it was
his intention to have sent for the Commodore, so as
to settle matters at once, but that on the day in
question a man (Edwards, the interpreter) called to
say that tho Commodore meant to send him a depu-
tation, which was the very thing that ho (the go-
vernor) did not desire, as in consequence of the inter-
ference of a third party he was apprehensive that
misunderstandings might arise, and so the amicable
intentions of the court of Ave be frustrated ; that on
the same day four subordinate officers did arrive at
his house in a state of intoxication, whom he could
not see, and that thus the unhappy malt that he
bad feared had arisen out of tho extremely injudi-
cious conduct of the Commodore. This statement
was accompanied by a message to Commodore Lam-
bert, intimating that if the Royal ships were taken
further down the river, they would be tired on from
the stockades. Aa all the ships were to leave Ran-
goon on the following day, the programme was as
follows :—At i a m.,11.N1.5. Hermes was to take the
Fox in tow down the river, opposite the stockades,
where she was to leave her at anchor, and then re-
turn for the Burmese ship, which she was to tow
right down to nearly the mouth of the river, and
then return for the Fox, that would most likely begin
to move down after the Ilermes had passed with the
prize in tow, so that the Phlegethon with armed
boats from the Fox and Hermes, should remain with
the rest of the merchant shipping until they were
out of danger. From the very great interest which
the captain of the King's ship has excited, it may
be suspected that her recovery is a life and
death affair with the governor, who has
informed his soldiers that unless they recover her,
they will have to account for her loss with their
heads. No doubt the governor feels apprehensive
about tho consequences of her loss, as she constituted
the entire navy of the King of Ave, who may dic-
tate to him the same terms as ho does to his
soldiers.

" At daylight on the following morning (10th) the
Hermes had her steam up, and had already begun to
tow the Fox down to the first stockades that are on
the left bank, and about four miles below the place
where she had anchored the night before. These
stockades, which lie close to the river, are about
fourteen feet high, and formed of vast piles
of teak driven into the ground, close to
each other, having intervals at their base for
guns, and higher up wide embrasures, with platforms
behind them, for musketry. Ono front runs along
the river for about 500 yards, from the lower end of
which another runs at right angles to it, following
the course .of a deep creek or nullah that serves to
protect it on that side. As the Hermes approached
with the Fox the stockades were seen to be all alive,
and every preparation had evidently been making
for an attack. The ground before them had been
cleared away of all the trees and shrubs that grew
between them and the river, guns were already laid,
numbers of men were seen moving about near them
or looking out from the portholes, while at least a
dozen large canoes, with about 200 men in each, were
at the mouth of the creek, all ready and apparently
eager to dash forward to the rescue of the royal ship
under cover of the guns of the stockade the moment
she appeared. Leaving the Fox at anchor opposite
the stockades at Chokee-point, as these are called,
the Hermes returned for the prize.
" The river at this timepresented a most animated',
appearance. First came a fleet of merchant vessels
of every size ; brigs, barques, schooners, and ships
of larger burden, all crowding down the river under
the covering of the armed boats of the Fox, that
pulled easily on their oars abreast of each other, and
kept in the rear, as well to protect them from inter-
ference as to hurry the laggers on. Above these,
and about two miles up, lay the royal ship at anchor,
under protection of the l'hlegethon steamer, that kept
moving round about her like some beast of prey
round its victim, and as she kept every now and then
puffing and screaming off her spare steam, she ap-
pearedto be either savagely growling over her spoil
or hissing defiance to any enemy that would seek to
rob her of it. By eight o'clock the Hermes had
started with prize in tow, the Phlegethon following,
and no two in any of the ships in the same mind as
to whether the stockades would attack her or not.
Everything was got ready for retuning it if they
did. The drum was heard to beat to quarters,
and the men were all seen to be standing by their
loaded guns ready for action when the word should
be given. About this time two boats were seen to
leave the creek carrying some person of consequence,
as was evident from the two gold umbrellas in
the one that led the way, and it was thought that
seeing the admirable arrangements of the Commo-
dore, those officers had been down with orders for the
palisades not to fire. As the tido was ebbing fast,
and the steamers were at full speed, they were not
long in coming down the river. The first part of the
stockades had been passed by the Hermes and her
prize without any molestation ; the Fox was between
them for a second or two, when it was remarked
that not a sound was heard from her decks, for the
usual stir and bustle of a large ship had been suc-
ceeded by a pause, and through her port-holes the
men could be seen standing with the gun triggers in
their hands. The Hermes had passed her, and was
again in sight of the stockades. Still they were silent.
No sooner, however, did the king's ship open to view
than bang went a gun from the port, and a ball
went whistling between the funnel and mainmast of
the Hermes, and dropped outside of her. They had
not to wait long for a reply ; for the Fox had beaten
to quarters an hour before, and all her starboard
Buns were already laid for the stockades. In an
instant she opened upon them, and the clouds of
dust both within and around the pallisades showed
what execution she was doing. The Hermes,
too, had her share of tho action; for instantly
rounding to with her prize, she let drive with
her tit. pounders at the palisades, within which
some of her shells burst with terrific explosions,
and then, according to orders, proceeded to put her
charge in safety. About a mile further down there
was another stockade occupying De Sylva's Point, on
the side of the river opposite to the last. This one
was of much greater extent, reaching for more than
a quarter of a mile up and down the river ; and no
sooner did the Hermes get abreast of it than it in-
stantly opened fire, forcing the steamer to heave to
a second timo with her prize, which she did, and
Ocean attack of about ten minutes, succeeded in
silencing it, when she proceeded to put the Burmese
ship in charge of her Majesty's steamer Serpent, so
as to enable her to return to the stockades. On her
way up, she stopped to engage the De Bylva's stock-
ades a second time, as they had commenced firing on
some merchant vessels that were dropping down. A
few dozen shells thrown right into the fort again
silenced it, and tho Bermes proceeded to the
first stockade. The iron shower from the Fox that
had been sustained for above twenty minutes, had