The Sun.
London, England, 1852-05-19 00:00:00

The probability seems to be that his Lordship will either I
seek to represent some other constituency, or take his
seat in the Upper House of Parliament.

TIDE BURMESE EMPIRE AND

THE LAST WAR.
At the present moment, when hostilities with the
Burmese on a large scale have actually commenced,
some account of a country and a people less knowntt
us than probably any part of the glube, if
the interior of China and the empire of Japan,weexcept will
doubtless be interesting and instructive to our readers.
Lying between the great peninsula of Hindostan in India,er
and the Chinese Empire, is another peninsula nearly
innemaroluynetqauasl
in extent, running down from the Himalaya
almost to the equator, for a distance of about 2,000 miles.
The greater part of this peninsula has an average breadth
of 800 miles, but the southern portion ends in a narrow
neck of land, 800 or 900 miles long, the average
width of which does not exceed 150 miles, the
extremity forming the kingdom of Malaya or Ma-
lacca, and terminating at the straits of Sincapore, the
high road from the west to Chins. Of this vast penin-
sula, which has an area of upwards of a million square
miles, the Burmese Empire comprises more than a
fourth. Neither the area nor the geographical limits of
the Burmese Empire have been determined with accu-
racy, bat it is known that a long series of successes had
rendered the King of Ava the hautiest, the most intole-
rant, and the most powerful in Asia. Their power over
the countries east of the Bay of Bengal took its rise
nearly at the same time that the English began to ac-
quire supremacy in India, and the progress of both was
equally rapid.. Conquests on each side brought the two
powers into Bearer contact, until at length the acquisi-
tion by the East India Company ef the provinces of
Assam, Cachar, and Arracan, placed the Burmese as our
neighbours on the north-west frontier.
The inhabitants are evidently of Tartar origin, and
have many peculiarities of character, feature, and phys
sical conformation in common with their Eastern neigh-
bours, the Chinese. They are short and robust, the
face is wide at the cheek-bones, and pointed at the
forehead and chin like a lozenge, with a small nose,
narrow eyes, placed slanting, and black coarse hair—
their colour is lighter than the Hindoos. Their
worship is that of the Buddhu. There is no standing
army, but as the sovereign is lord of the lives and pro-
perties of his subjects, every male adult is obliged to be-
come a soldier, and fight when called upon. The crush-
ing despotism of the Burmese princes had taught the
people to believe that their rulers were irresistible, and
throughout tbo whole of our operations in that country,
no inducements could win them from an allegiance
strengthened by the unchecked conquests on every side of
more than half a century. The chief cities and towns of
the kingdom are situate on either bank of the great
river, the Irrawaddi. Among them is Rangoon, of
which we have already spoken. Amarapoora, the
former capital, is placed about 500 miles up the
stream of the Irrawaddi. In 1819, the chief seat
of the Government was removed to Ave, a few
miles lower down the stream on the opposite bank.
The southern district of Burmuh is called Pegu, and
the capital is a large city of the same name. In the
sixteenth century the Peguans were the rulers of the
Burmese empire, but were ultimately put down by the
Burmans. In the middle of the eighteenth century the
Peguans were again masters, but the Burmese rose and
put them down.
The causes which brought us
,into collision with the
Burmese in the years 1825 and 1826 originated so far
back as the beginning of the present century. In 1798
or 1799 the Minghs, an agricultural race, settled in
Arraean, whO had been for a long period subjected
to the most cruel oppression and tyranny by
their Burmese masters, emigrated, to the number
of several thousand, into the neighbouring district
of Chittagong, having learned to appreciate the
superior mildness and equity of the British rule. Tens
of thousands continued to pour over, declaring that they
would die rather than return to Arracan; and vast
numbers actually perished of want, famine, and fatigue,
the road to the Naaf river, which forms the boundary
between the Burmese province of Arracan and the Bri-
tish district of Chittagong being strewed for miles with
the bodies of the aged and decrepid, and of mothers
with infants at their breasts. Four thousand Burmese
troops were sent after the Minghs, and they entrenched
themselves so firmly with stockades in the dense woods
of Chittagong, that they repulsed a body of Sepoys sent
to drive them away. At this time there were about
40,000 or 50,000 refugees in the province of Chittagong,
and the Burmese monarch sent an ambassador to Cal-
cutta to the Marquis of Wellesley, the then
Governor-General, to remonstrate against the
encouragement given to them. The only result
of this mission was the issuing of a proclamation by the
Governor. General declaring that any subjects of the
Burmese King who should thereafter emigrate would
not be received within the British territories. Towards
the close of 1800 an unconditional surrender of all the
Minghs was again demanded, and Lieutenant-Colonel
Symes was sent in 1802 as ambassador on a friendly '
mission to the Court of Ave, while a conside-
rable detachment, under Lieutenant-Colonel Barnett
was marched to the frontier of Chittagong. Mat-
ters remained in abeyance for some years, but in
1811 some of the Minghs began to make predatory
incursions into the province of Arracan, and the Burmese
troops retaliated by incursions into the company's ter-
ritories. Petty complaints, recriminations, and hostili-
ties continued up to 1815, when the Rajah of Ramer°,
governor of the Burmese frontier province, wrote
in a style of more than ordinary bombast, demanding
a surrender of all the Mingh emigrants, with a plaiu
menace that a refusal to comply with this demand
must produce immediate hostilities. Explanations
were sent in answer. In 1818 another more imperative
demand was made, and a conciliatory answer sent
back, and thus matters went on for some years
further, the tone of the communications, and the
letters of the high officers of the Burmese provinces
becoming every day more arrogant and insolent,
while the desire of the British authorities to avoid
a rupture seemed only to inflame their proneness
to hostilities—they had evidently formed plans of con-
quest, which rendered war at length inevitable.
It will be seen from the foregoing sketch that the
history of the Mingh emigration and its consequences
forms not only in itself an interesting episode in the
anbals of British India, but is also a necessary prelimi-
nary to an account of the Burmese war, the first waged
by the Company beyond the proper limits of India.
In 1823 the Earl of Amherst became Governor-Ge-
neral of India, and in the following year the long
threatening storm burst without any attempt at explana-
tion or negociation. A night attack was made upon a
small island situate in an arm of the sea, which divides

the province of Chittagong from Arracan, and the small
body of sepoys by whom it was defended were either killed
or compelled to retreat. Hostilities were also com-
menced further to the north on the frontiers of Assam and
Minipore, and the few Sepoys brought against the in-
vaders defeated, and at length increasing in confi-
dence, the Burmese advanced into the province of
Sylhet, nearly 100 miles from their own fron-
tier, and only 226 from Calcutta. Hero they
attacked by Colonel Brown with a very inadequate
force, when the British were repulsed with the loss of
four officers and upwards of 100 men. Great alarm was
excited at this intelligence, and a proclamation an-
nouncing war against the Burmese was issued by
the Governor-General. Up to this time the most
extraordinary want of information prevailed among
the authorities of Calcutta regarding the Burmese
nation and people. The Government wavered as to
whether the war should be commenced by sea or by
land. At one time it was intended to have marched
upon Ave, the capital, through Arracan, while a sub-
sidiary force, acting simultaneously, was to cross the
frontier more to the north at Culler, but further in-
quiries showed that Arracan would be too unhealthy,
and the expedition was abandoned.
The plan of campaign finally arranger), and somewhat
hastily adopted, was to send an army, under the convoy
of a considerable squadron, to take possession of
Rangoon, the chief sea port of the Burmese empire,
under the impression that the seizure of this great
emporium would terrify the King of Ave, and induce
him to sue for peace. In case of refusal, it was
resolved to make Rangoon a depot for ammunition and
military stores, seize the boats by which the navigation
was carried on, and ascend to the capital of the empire.
six hundred miles up the river. A second army was to
co-operate by an overland march in the same direction.
The sea and land forces destined for Rangoon
were placed under the command of Sir Archibald
Campbell. On the 10th of May the squadrons and
transports arrived at the mouth of the Irrawaddi, and
its arrival being wholly unexpected, the Burmese au-
thorities were thrown into the greatest alarm and con-
sternation. It was hoped that by pushing on at once, the ,
town would surrender in terms of protection, and that
cattle, boats, boatmen, and drivers, with all of
which the expedition was totally unprovided,
would have been placed at their disposal.
The Burmese authorities. however, adopted a
much more tyrannical and relentless policy as regarded
their own subjects, and a much more harassing and se-
riously embarrassing policy as regarded the invaders.
Knowing the town could not be defended, the authori-
tiesd assembled the whole of the inhabitants, an t
compelled them to proceed in a mass into th.e in nmtohse
s
recesses of the jungle, o that nex days
a when
squadron arrived opposite the town, t after e few shots
were exchanged, they landed and found
inhabitants
t
sorted. The pit
by the British for thl
expelled from their homes during the kilo ee
enty
season soon gave way to anxiety for their
theo wn
oposition
ountry,
—they were deserted by the people of
from whom alone they could expect
rusuuprpinliges7-the
either
were unprovided with the means le
found in the
by land or water—nothing was to
" or ric
surrounding district but some "pa d
tdhy'
Burmese
in the husk, the policy of e
rulers being to remove beyond reach everything
likely to prove useful to an invading army; and through-
out- the entire history of the war the followehdouopowidithhatheee
greatest vigilance the only system whic
renderedrusly the situation and pros i
P
io ects of tho nvaders se-
embarrassing, and afford themselves any reason.
able hope of success. The evacuation of Rangoon was
only the commencement of ae
system of well-conin cefrontrted
operations for laying wast the country
of tie British army, in the hope that famine would
drive them
from the shores. To this conduct the Bur-
mese adhered long and steadily. In furtherance of their
policy they endeavoured to avoid a pitched battle, and
merely blockade the British by forming with their troops
a cordon round the camp calculated to harrass and wear
out the enemy. The first operation of Sir Archibald
Campbell was to take the possession of the Golden Dagen
pagoda--a vast and maguificent structure adorned with
statues and decorated with gilding—about two and a
pagoda, which was
half miles from Rangoon. This
capable of being strongly fortified and defended, was
during the whole of the time the British remained in
the neighbourhood of Rangoon; the key of their position,
and was the object of frequent and furious assaults from
the 13tuniese. gat the hope of finding native boats tQ