The Sun.
London, England, 1852-10-04 00:00:00

OVERLAND MAIL

INDIA.
On Friday last we published a telegraphic dispatch,
via 'Trieste, in anticipation of the Overland Mail.
We have now received our letters and papers by the
Marseilles route, dated Bombay, September 1 :
"`The Burrnah reioforcetnents were all on their
ray to Madres and Calcutta for embarkation, and
transports were being hired for their conveyance to
Rangoon and Moulmein.
"Emigration from Bombay to Australia was about
to commence. Upwards of 150 soldiers are said to
have applied for their discharge from her Majesty's
86th to proceed to tile diggings.'
"A riot occurred in the city of Beneres on the
evening of the 2d of August. The magistrate was
pelted with stones and brickbats; as were also the
General and several officers and other Europeans who
had to cross the bridge.
" A couple of companies of the 33d Native In -
fantry and the detachment of the I Ith Irregular
Cavalry were speedily on the spot.
" The affair was a bloodless one.
" The army which will be assembled in Pegu in
the month of November will consist of more than
20,000 men—that is, six regiments of European foot,
twelve regiments of native infantry, and a full corn•
plement of artillery, as well as sappers and miners.
" Ist Bengal Brigade, now at Rangoon, com-
manded by Lieutenant-Colonel Reynolds. 18th
Royal Irish, 40th Native Infantry, 67th Native In-
fantry.
" 2d Bengal Brigade, to consist of her Majesty's
80th Foot, 10th Native Infantry, 4th Siekh Local
Regiment, and to be commanded by Lieutenant-
Colonel Dickenson.
" 3d Bengal Brigade, to consist of Ist European
Bengal Fusiliers, 37th Native Infantry, regiment, of
Loodiana, and to be commanded by Lieutenant-
Colonel finish, C. 13.; and the Light Field Battery
now at Dom-Dum."
The following is the letter of a correspondent at
Bombay, dated September 1 :
"I mentioned in my last that the Commodore had
dispatched a flotilla, consisting of rive light steamers,
under the command of Captain Tarleton, to survey
the Irrawaddy as far as Prome, and to ascertain the
position and proceedings of the enemy. General
Godwin appears to have been opposed to the proceed-
ing. Unfortunately,' says the Friend of India,
'that kind of misunderstanding between the military
and naval commanders, which seems inseparable from
all our expeditions in which they are conjointly em-
ployed, appears to have broken out on the present
occasion at Rangoon. The Commodore was there-
fore obliged to undertake this enterprise, not only
without any co-operation, hut, if we are to judge
from the letters sent round by various correspondents
to various journals, amid much disapprobation.' It
is stated that the Commodore had for some time
urged the advantage of an immediate advance during
the monsoon, and by water, and that he had
guaranteed to land 2,000 men at Prome within
five days ; but it is understood that General
Godwin was desirous of an undivided triumph, and
that he considered the advance should be made
entirely by land, and declined the responsibility
of moving forward at all until the dry weather had
set in, and the force under his command had been
trebled. The Governor-General's visit to Rangoon
is supposed to have bad reference to those differences
of opinion between the two commanders, and from
the circumstance of a portion of the troops which, at
General God win's requisition had been placed in
orders for Burmah, having been countermanded since
Lord Dalhousie'a return, and from the collection of
boats and other preparations at Rangoon, it is surmised
that the Governor-General has adopted the Commo-
dore's views rather than those of General Godwin.
Captain Tarleton's flotilla advanced without opposi-
tion until, at Kenney Gewn, a small battery opened
on them ; the steamers stopped and returned the
compliment, but finding after half an hour's firing
that they were unable to make any impression
they proceeded on their course, having had Lieute-
nant Elliott and one private of Marines wounded.
On the following day the steamers came in sight
of A-kouk-toung, where the Burmese force for
the defence of Promo was posted. The position
was a very strong one, extending for two miles along
a rocky criff rising abruptly 200 or 300 feet above
the water on the right bank of the river. It was de-
fended by...31k heavy guns, which completely corn-
mended the channel, there 400 or 500 yards wide,
The position was held by a force said to have been
originally 40,000 men, under a son of the great Bun-
doola of the former war, but from desertion, caused
by the scarcity of provisions incidental to our com-
mand of the river, the force by the time of the arrival
of the steamers had become very much reduced—the
highest estimates stating it at only 10,000 men, and
the lowest at 2,000.
" To have forced their way past this strong posi-
tion,' writes an officer who was present, the steamers
would have found a difficult undertaking ; from its
height our guns could not have been sufficiently ele-
vated, while, from the strength of the current,
the vessels would have been, for a couple of hours,
exposed to the fire of thirty-five pieces of ordnance.
Fortunately, just as they were entering the pas-
sage, a native came off, and,roffered .to show a
small creek (forming an eastern channel, made by a
long island opposite the Burmese position), through
which they could pass, which offer was gladly ac-
cepted, and the steamers entered the river again far
to the north of, and well clear of A-kouls-toung.
The following morning they were off Prome, and
not an armed man to be seen. Information soon
came off that all the troops had gone to A-kouk-
toung, never dreaming that we could give them the
slip as had been done. Offers were readily made to
show where the guns were. Accordingly, a party,
was landed, who quietly and unmolested) y took pea-
ecssion of 23, consisting of 42, 32, 24, end 12-
pounders. The 20 iron guns were destroyed and
thrown into the river, and the three brass ones sent
down to Rangoon. The following morning the
whole commenced their return, and as they approached
A-kook-toung considerable anxiety was felt to see if
the enemy had moved over to line the creek, but no
such attempt had been made.' On clearing the
creek, Captain Tarleton surprised the rear of Bun-
doola's army, with a large number of war-boats
and state barges, in the act of being transported to
the left bank of the river, evidently with the intention
of marching up to the protection of Prome. His
troops were found in confused masses in boats, and
along each side of the river, and the shot and shell
from the steamers told fearfully on them, and spread
dismay among the Burmese ranks; those in the boats
jumped overboard, and every man hastened to flee.
Between 40 and 50 boats containing warlike stores
were captured, set on fire, and totally destroyed. In
repassing the formidable-looking works of A-kouk-
toung Captain Tarleton observed that they had a de-
serted appearance, and that the guns seemed to have
been cart led away; he therefore landed with a party
to reconnoitre, and found that the troops had all
marched away to defend Prome, but had not carried
away the goes, which woro znoroly withartirvu (rout
the embrasures, and laid down behind the parapet, so as
not to be visible from the river. The guns, 2$ in
number, were immediately taken possession of;
and put on board the steamers; thus making
a total of 56 guns taken at and near Prome, which
it is remarked must be a pretty good drain on the
Burmese Ordnance Department; seventeen war-
boats were also taken found moored to the bank, some
containing gunpowder. Much powder and other
military stores were also destroyed at Prome, the in-
habitants assisting voluntarily in their destruction,
and also in removing the guns. Captain Tarleton
was informed at Prome that there were no Burmese
troops or other preparations for resistance between
that place and Ave, and that, in fact, the Burmese
did not expect the progress of the English to be more
rapid than in the last war, and had, therefore, as yet,
organized no means of resistance in the upper country.
Prome is within five days' steaming of Ava, but
Captain Tarleton had positive orders to advance no
further than the former place. The inhabitants of
Prome stated that the price of rice bad risen at Ava
from lr. to Sr. a basket, in consequence of our com-
mand of the river. The natives continue to assist
us by every means in their power. The entire
body of the people,' says the correspondent of the
Englishman, as one man, long for our rule ; indeed
it is well known, that the Kariens had been
in the habit for some time past of meeting in the
jungles at night, at certain appointed times, and pray-
ing together that the British might come and wrest
their country from the Burmese, their cruel masters,
and impose on them their own mild and just govern-
ment.' The Governor-General left Calcutta on the
21st of July, and returned on the 6th of August.
Numerous councils were held during his visit to
Rangoon. Nothing authentic has oozed out as to
what took place at these meetings' with reference to
an immediate advance. As usual in such cases, there
is no lack of reports on both sides of the question,
some of them very circumstantial. The correspondent
of the Englishman says It is pretty well known
here that the Governor-General intimated to the
General his wish that troops should be sent to retake
and occupy Prome, as soon as arrangements would
admit of it ; to this the latter replied, be would not

(From the Bombay Times.)
SUMMARY.—The intelligence from Burma!, dis,
patched. by the present mail from Bombay, though
auspicious, is antiquated ; all of importance we have
to tell will have reached home already, and we only
now revert to the capture of Prome, in which we must
have been anticipated by contemporaries, to keep the
thread of our narrative unbroken through our files.
The month of August has, in consequence of the
monsoon, been without a single direct dispatch from
Bombay. Our last Summary bore date 24th July,
and gave tidings from Rangoon to the 22d of June.
At the date referred to the Governor-General was
on the eve of visiting Burmab. He left Calcutta on
the 21st of July, and returned on the 6th of August;
and General Godwin had sent in a requisition, now
in process of being complied with, for an addition
of 12,000 men to the force under his com-
mand. Promo was occupied on the 9th of July.
Twenty-two guns, many of large calibre, were
taken from the enemy by the steam flotilla in the
Irrawaddy under the command of J. V. Tarleton,
R.N. Flotilla attacked on the 7th by a strong force
of the enemy at Konongee. Silenced enemy's fire in
an hour, and the steamers proceeded. On the 10th
fell in with the rear of General Bandola's army, and
after an exchange of shots the enemy fled in great
confusion, leaving the General's state barge, standard,
two gold umbrellas, several large war canoes, and 20
prisoners in our possession. Casualties—Lieut. I.
Elliott, Royal Marines; Mr. I. Morgan, assistant sur-
geon, her Majesty's steamer Fox, Mr. Hunter, 1.N.,
wounded severely ; Mr. Brayer, mate, 1.N., slightly.
Twenty-eight guns were taken. The London jour-
nals still speak of the risks and delays attending or
likely to attend our operations, while we see a little
body of sailors sent out to survey the river, taking a
town or so, and taking away with them a dozen or
two of cannons, just as it were by way of Pi!3*.
time, and to show the Burmese the irresis-
tibility of our flotilla and contemptibleness
a Prome
of their defences against steam. Pegu and
have thus both been taken without resistence by
bodies of men too small to keep them, and whose
oc-
cupation of outposts so remote &ruled LIU part of the
plan of the campaign; and so far as it appears, Capt.
Tarleton might have presented himself before the
palace gates of Ave, and sbown the sovereign the
senselessness of resistance, in half the time he took in
ascending
from Rangoon to Promo. A force, consist-
ing—according to the Calcutta Morning Chronicle's
correspondent—of the 18th Royal Irish and the 40th
Native Infantry, is to leave Rangoon shortly for the
purpose of retaking and garrisoning the city of
Prome. The troops continued as healthy as could be
expected, though a considerable number of -the Eu-
ropeans were laid up with dysentery. The 18th and
wing of the 80th Foot had moved into the new bar-
racks prepared for them. After an interval of dry
weather, heavy rain had fallen on the 31st July; the
surrounding country was a perfect swamp. There had
been a grand display on the landing of the Governor-
General on the morning of the '2Bth July. During
his Lordship's stay at Rangoon several consultations
had been held, the last having taken place with the
heads of departments on the 31st, just beforeproceed-
ing on board the Fox to hold council with Comic
modore Lambert ; but nothing had oozed
.out as o
what took place at these meetings. The dispatch of
the troops, above referred to, is believed to have re-
suited
from one of them. It is said that no advance
is to be made from Prome till the reinforcements
from Madras and Calcutta have reached Rangoon.
The markets were well supplied with provisions of 011
kinds at moderate rates, and everything continued
quiet at Rangoon and in the surrounding country.
Several attempts had been made tosurprise Martaban ;
the Burmese fled on the discharge of the first round
of Artillery with which they were greeted. Com-
modore Lambert, accompanied by Captain Randall, of
the Madras Engineers, were shortly to proceed in
the Phlegethon towards Prome, the greater portion of
which town was reported to have been destroyed by
fire by the Burmese. A like fate had befallen the
large town of Donabew. The enemy had taken up a
position on the hill commanding the former city, but
were reported to have only two guns to defend it. By
the Ist October it was expected the town would be
garrisoned by 6,000 British soldiers : the people were
anxiously looking out for us to advance and take
possession of their country. The wing of her
Majesty's 8041, from Calcutta, had landed from the