The Sun.
London, England, 1852-05-29 00:00:00

tY 1 2 jA-1

THE BURMESE WAR.
The capture of Rangoon has opened the Burmese war
with a brilliant feat of arms, and we shall be happy to
learn that the irresistible force of the British squadron
on the coast, and the full-of :the chief port of Buraiab
has at once convinced the Court of Ava of the inexpedi-
ency of prolonging so unequal and so disastrous a contest.
But we cannot confidently entertain any such expects-
' tion. From the time of year at which we are now ar-
rived, it is extremely doubtful whether these operations
can be followed up with effect before the rainy season. It
was not till the 25th of March that dispatches were re.
ceived by the flagship on the East Indian station, then
lying at Penang, to direct the Admiral to proceed to the
scene of action. The Indian Government appears till
then to have relied on some illusory hope of arrange-
ment. On the 28th of March Admiral Austen
sailed for Rangoon in the Rattler screw-steamer,
but, to the great surprise and disappointment of the
officers on the station, the Admiral thought proper to
leave his flagship (the Hastings) at Penang, several hun-
dred miles from the theatre of war. In spite, therefore, of
the laudable diligence displayed by the Indian dock-
yerd.a and especially at Bombay, and the fact that a
large steam rquadron was assembled in the Gulf of
Martaban early in the month of April, we are by no
means sure that there will be time enough to enable
Generel Godwin to make a decisive &donee into the
interior. Rangoon has at once been taken, es was cx-
pected; but, situated as that place is in the low and
marshy delta of the Irrawaddi, the lands about
the city are completely flooded in the rainy
season. On the outbreak of the last war Rangoon
cared no serious resistance; but the Burmese Govern-
meat had contrived to remove the whole po-
pulation into the interior. Their other fortified
positions, at liemendine and Donabcw, had still to be
carried,
not without difficulty, and by separate expedi-
tions; and no effect whatever was produced on tho
Court of Ava until the invading army had penetrated
far into the interior. It is, therelcre, by no means
certain that the capture of Rangoon and the adjacent
forts will now bring the enemy to terms; and, on the
other hand, to hold these places duriegehe rainy season
precisely the most trying and unwhok some position
in which cur army can be placed. At Prome, which is
a considerable distance up the stream, the banks become
higher ar.d the climate more healthy. Sir A. Campbell's
division passed the rainy season there in the former cam-
paign without inconvenience. It easy here be observed that
tthheischannel
Rangoon is situated on the (=tme eastern channel of
Irrawaddi, culled the Panlang or Rangoon River,
and cot on the principal stream. The point
forks eer
poaysesrabitlewfiethr
ourdiffi ceutelat at which
d onkl only be taken --
itat theirjataof
the
exfrom the mainstream is so shallow
or principal stream offers ru
much
ith would,greater therefore,facilities
middle
lot
o tnliao--
vigation, and we have reasont
_ehatioPshelfewvaer. thlathea
bettle ship of the slay of the
was a
unaccountably left by the Admirl if she had not been
channel fora considerable distance,ll wtings might ascend that
sattesinof the squadron
at Penang. The
shallow
wn channel
even
for hthyeßbao
-ganndoefdlB2s was
found to be far too
The most calamitous part of the camp
thbeyChit-
be which
the attempt to march the division comma'
Ge-
neral Morrison into the Burmese territory from
tagong frontier. The passage of the mountains
In;erPcasludditi" cold
separate Arracan from Burmah was believed to
im-
practicable, and the army was compelled to remain .
the pestilential flats until it was disorganized and well
nigh destroyed by disease. Hence an opinion has arisen
that the line of the Irrawaddi is the only practicable mode
of invading the Burman empire. But on this point an im-
portant discovery was made just after the conclusion of
the peace, which left the province of Arrecan in our
hands. It was ascertained that a road of unusual
excellence had been constructed by the Burmese
themselves in 1816 from a place called Sembwgbewn,
situated on the Irrawaddi, acme 300 miles from its
mouth, to Aeng, in Arracan, now a British posses-
sion. Captaint Trent was accordingly sent by Sir A.
Campbell with a battalion of Sepoys and the elephants
of the army to explore this road, which he found in
excellent condition, and much frequented by the natives
for purposes of trade. The whole distance from the
Irrawaddi to Aeng is only 124 miles, and this march
was accomplished by the detachment with the elephants
in eleven days. If General Morrison had known of the
existence of this road his division would have been en-
abled to join the main army on its march up the river,
and he might have arrived to take part in the battle of
Pagahm-mew, which terminated the war.
The present ruling race in Burmah poured down some
eighty years ago from the mountains of Thibet upon
the comparatively feeble and defenceless kingdoms of
Pegu, Arracan, and Martaban, and they continue to
hold the previous inhabitants of the soil in close sub-
jection. Their conquest of this territory was, indeed,
not entirely dissimilar from the Mogul conquest of Hin-
dostae, and on both shores of the Bay of Bengal we
find a people smarting under a foreign yoke which it
seems our own strange destiny to impose on their
masters. But, in truth, the monuments still existing of
the former grandeur of the Pep empire attest the
progressive decline of the country. From the arrogant
tone lately assumed by the Court of Ave there can be
liltle doubt that preparations for this war have been
made on a vast scale. The Burmese are no
longer ignorant, as they were in 1825, of the power of
the enemy they have rashly provoked; though they may
well be unprepared for the enormous increase of the
military and naval power of civilized nations, which has
taken place since that period. The force now brought
against them must prove irresistible, if its operations are
conducted with energy, and adapted to the seasons in
that country. But in spite of the success which has
already crowned our arms by the capture of Rangoon,
it may be well to remember that we have to deal with
a ,crafty enemy and a dangerous country, and that in the
' campaign of 1825 the mistakes occasioned by want of
attention to the peculiar climate of this region were far
more fatal to our troops than all the stockades and gingala
of the Burmese.— Times.

NAVAL INTELLIGENCE.

The Duke of Northumberland's levee of Tuesday next,
June 1, is postponed until Tuesday, June 8, on which
day his Grace will see those officers whose names were
on the list for the Ist—the li.t for the Bth being trans-
ferred to the 15th, and so on through all the subsequent
lists at present filled up.
We regret to bear that Rear-Admiral Sir Phipps
llornby, 1i.C.8., is confined to his official residence,
having undergone an operation for an affection of
the eyes.