The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1824-10-02 00:00:00

HATMARKET THEATRE.

A meat absurd afterpiece was brought out at this theatre
last night, •ealled Birds withosre Feathers. We conceive
it to be hardly necessary to give any outline of the plot, as
it suTered strangulation at its birth. Philip (Younger).
act old misog-,.mtist, has reared his son Hotly (Mrs. Hill),
in such ignorance, that at the at;: of nineteen be does not
know that there is such a thing in the world as a woman.
In the neighbourhood there residva a friend of Philip's,
Rinaldo (Williams), who has a daughter Eliza (Madame
Vkinris), brought up without haying seen any other man
than her father. She is kept closely confirm!. under the
superintendence of an old Gouccrnaec (Mrs. C. Jones), who
takes every opportunity of reviling the lords of the creation,
said setting Ler fair charge against having anything to say
to them, alvonkl she ever by chance meat with any. By mere
accident, Henry gets a glimpse of Eliza, and is seised
its eanaequnice with very extraordinary excitements ; and
dpon his soliciting his father to explain to him what the
anin.al is, be tills himjhat it is a bird. (This monstrosity
tletannined the fate of the farce.) Henry and Elise meet,
through the manoeuvres of the latter, snit, as is natural, fall
in Lve, and their union is assented to by their fathers. The
absurdity of this plot is not atoned for either by the dia-
brew, the musk, or -the songs. It is but in on.; act, but
that was much too longfor the audience to tolerate quietly,
and at its'conclusion it was, we believe, consigned to the
tomb of all the Capulets. We remember something of
this kind fining produced at the Survey Theatre, about
seven ycars ago, under the name of Sicken rears' La.',nur
Lust. The giber smteriainmints were, Tie Clandestine
, and the farce of S.Y. Z. The excellence with
whtzh the whole comedy is supported completely &ties
certsure. We do not think that there is, in the whole
range of the drama, a more highly-finished comic scene
than that wherein I,grd Oglrby a being wound IT for the
fatigues orthe day Vr Brash and Oahe. V. e would
'suggest to Mr. Sergeant Flower, to amend his pnmusicia-
jinn of ce.rrente calanau' as be will bring the wit into dis-
credit if he contbutestocall it carruat ralarnil. The house
was very full. and the anther of the new farce had evi-
dently a great many friends there.

.4SSAIIL

THE PRESENT SEAT OF WAR ON THE NORTH-
EAsTER.N FRONTIER OF OUR INDIAN POSSES-
SIONS. _

[From the Asirtic J01N1141.1

The seat of war on the Burmese frontier being now re-
moved from Cachar to Amman, a short sketch of the latter

country will doubtless be interesting: in furnishing it,
however, we shall carefully avcid all dry detail, and
strictly confine our observations to such particulars as may
serve to *hew the character of the couutr;•, and thermions

ditEculties anJ encouragements that are likely to be expo
rienced by our troops.
Assam is, for the most part, a long etll^y. through
which the Boorampooter passes from the Blittsli frontier
town of Govalpara, to the farthest extent of the province,
being a distance of about 700 miles. A range of lofty
mountains ser &rates it from Bcotam on the north-west,
and another range somewhat less elevated divides it on the
south-east from Jynteeah, Cachar, and the Burman em-
pire. Its average breadth is estimated at about seventy
miles and its whole area at 60,000 square miles.
The eAttitry is intersected by a vast number of inferior
ranges of hills, separated by the most fertile Tallies, and
watered by rivers tributary to the Boorampooter.
The great fertility of the vallies arises front annual in-
undations, which commence with the smeller rivers, and
soon place under water the greater portion of the valley of
the Boorampooter.° These inundations are usna:ly at their
height in Mar. As seen 33 the waters sttbside, the most
luxutiant vegetation springs forth, so that greater popula-
tion is all that is wanting to render this interesting country
one of the most productive in the world.
Glaergong, the capital of Assam, is descrik.d by a
lfo-
hammedan wrier (Mohammed Casini) as situated in a

lutly cultivated eauntry—to quote his own words, as
" lied with such an uninterrurted range of gardens, plen-
tifully stocked with fruit trees, that it appears as one
garden. Within them are the houses of the peasants, anti
-a beautiful assemblage of coloured and fragrant herbs, and
of garden and wild flowers growing together.
The bulk of the population is, of course, on the banks
of the rivers, ese.pting during the rainy seasons. The
l: uses, being constructed of bamboos, are quickly restored
after the inundations. _

The same causc lynch gives the country this extreme
fertility, retult.vs its climate, however, mast unhealthy.
The exhalations which arise when the waters begin to sub-
side are meat pernicious. This evil would, doubtless, be
lersened if there was a sufficient number of inhabitants to
clear the country, which is nearly covered with impene-
trable jungles, not more than one-eighth of it being cul-
tivated.

This deficiency of population is partly owing to continual
dissentious between the petty chiefs, a circumstance com-
mon to all mountainous tracts. The numerous tribes in-
habiting Astern are aa various in character as the face of
the country itself. These which reside in the most elevated
districts are as bold and rough as their native rocks, while
the develleis in the principal valley have been occasionally
branded with cowardice. The hourly collision, however,
which has always prevailed between the various races, has
given a hardy and ferocious charade: to the general mass of
the inhabitents.
Many attempts bare been made to conquer the Assa-
mese, but they were never fairly subjugated until about
two years teio, when the Burmese obtained complete pos-
session of the country. 11-lienever their territories have
been invaded, they have always deserted the valley and
fled to the mountains, from whence, on the setting in of
the rains, they have descended and cut off the armies of
their enemies. Assam was once invaded by Hossein Shah,
Nabob of Bengal, with a considerable force. The Assn-
mese immediately abandoned the plains to the temporary
rule of the Meslems ; Hossein returned, therefore, to Ben-
gal, leaving his son with the whole army to complete the
conquest of the country. As soon as the inundatiors com-
menced, the roads became impassable, atal the course of
the river could no longer be traced ; the Assainese, there-
fore, descended from the mountains, hemmed up their
enemies, and intercepted all their supplies of provisions.
The whole army of the invaders was soon annihilated by
lists jtastieions stile of warfare.
It is likewise stated by native historians, that at a sub-
sequent period :Mohammed Shah, Emperor of Hindoostan.
attempted the conquest of Assam with an army of 100,000
cavalry, which entered the country, and was never heard of
more. Another army was sent soon after for the same pur-
pose, but the troops became so panic-struck, on their
arrival in Bengal, that they refused to proceed any further.
The great Emperor Aurttegzebe was equally unsuccess-
ful. According to Hamilton, a force was dispatched against
Assam during the reign of this monarch, under the coin-
mand of Mir Jumleb ; his army, however, " was so
roughly handled by the enterprising and warlike Assamese,
that he not only was compelled to make a precipitate re-
treat, but to yield up a large part of the lands which bad
belonged to the Moslems before the invasion took place."t
The late success of the Burmese iu completing the con-
quest of Assam may be attributed to two causes. In the
first place, it is most likely that they invaded the country
at a period when it was greatly depopulated by internal
disscetion. Secondly, the Burmese appear to have learnt,
by a long course of dear-bought experience, the best mode
of conducting military operations in mountainous regions.
We have now given a brief description of the country
which our troops were about to enter when the latest intel-
ligence arrived front India. The country on the Assamese
border is probably the very worst sample, doubtless it is a
very bad one. A thick reedy jungle on the banks of the
lßoorampooter, in some places thirty feet high, through
which there are no roads but only the treks of buffitlots
and wild elephants, is the country through which our
troops must pass, unless they ascend the river in boats.
The distance from Goyalpara to Coiled, which is the
strongest post in the western division of Assam, and is
occupied by the Burmese in considerable force, is described
as about severity miles. Allowing, however, for the wind-
ings of the river, we conceive it must be considerably
greater.
We are not informed as to the exact amount of force
under the command of Brigadier-General Mac Morino,
but we know it to he considerable, and are assured that it
will not commence operations without being well provided
with all the requisite Mate?iel for a lengthened campaign
in a difficult country. We have likewise the satisfaction
of reflecting that the experience derived from Captain
Welsh's eapedi:ion in 1793, will serve as a valuable guide
to direct the operations of the approaching campaign.
That expedition was undertaken under favourable circum-
stances, the object of it being the restoration of a deposed
Rajah, who had fled into our territories for protection from
the fury of a rebellious faction ; the commander was sure
of the support of a very considerable betty of the adherents
of the exiled prince, he experienced, therefore, none of the
reverses, anti scarcely any of the obstacles which fonner
invaders had encountered. He remained also in the
country sufficiently ton:; to make a fair experiment:. The
present invasion of Assam, if such it may be called, is un-
dertaken under auspices of a yet more favourable nature.
The whole country is decidedly hoetile to its present rulers,
it submits by hard compulsion: we leave not to fear, there-
fore, that the great body of the inhabitants will suddenly
forsake the plains, and shelter themselves in the mountains,
until a fair opportunity offers of cutting off the supple s
of our troops, and pouring down upon them when dis-
tressed by famine. The converse of such a picture may
be fairly . ioked for. Whatever resources the Burmese may
have obtained from the country in which they are stationed,
whatever supplies of provisions, and whatever CSlltillgelltS
of troops, we know that the first will soon be exhausted,
and that the second are but forced auxiliaries. The best
resources of the country, including the active aid of a bold
and fearless population, will henceforth be transferred to
• Several gigantic causeways have been constructed by. the
natives, for the convenience of passengers during the inundatioes„
which were inexistence when the Mobauonataas first invaded the
country.
t )lain Stewart. on the authority of minus Mohammedan
writers, him stated, in his History ef firegid, that the result of
this campaign was sucm4sfaL His account of its ritgress, how.
ever, is eenainly not promising as to such result. Ferishta, who,
as a Mohammedan historian, is anxious, of course, to draw a fa-
vourable picture, informs us that the campaign of the succeeding
year was 112Mlilate.i by the death of the commander, who fell
a victim to the 11.111:e pestilence that visited his troops.
• The best information we possess respecting Assam is derived
from the raids' surveys and inquiries that we:: mail: by TatiOlti
ladiTillll4llthaing this opportunity'.