The Sun.
London, England, 1825-04-25 00:00:00

INDI A.

LONDON GAZETTE EXTRAORDINARY,
PCBLISRED YESTERDAY, SUNDAY, APRIL 24.

India Board, April 23, 1825.

Dispatches have been received at the East India louse from
the GOVERNOR-GENERAL in Council at Fort William, in
Bengt, with inclosures, of which the following are copies :
Copy of a Letter from Brigadier-General Sir Archibald Camp-
bell, K.G.8., to George Swinton, Esq. Secretary to the
Bengal Government, dated_ Head-quarters, Rangoon, 25th
Nov. 1824. _ _ _

Sin—Since I had the honour of announcing the capture of
Blartaban by the troops under the orders of. Lieutenant-00-
,
lonel Godwin, I have received intelligence of the submission of
Tenasserim, and the town and small province of Yeah; these
places of their own accord
.requested our protection ; and the
whole Burmese coast, from Rangoon to the eastward is 'now
subject to the British arms. The enemy's troops whith fled
from the captured ,towns, and assembled at Yeah, embarked
there in forty boats, and 1 tinderstgid have since landed in the
district of Dalla. The reiterated accounts I have lately recqiv-
ed, from all quarters, of a Mtn:barons srmy collecting in the
neighbourhood of Prome, foe tliO4tttrpose. of expelling us
from Rangoon, now fully convince me the effort will be made.
Maha Bundoola is said to have been nominated to the chief
command, and I make no doubt we shall, ere long, have the
whole strength and talent of the empire to contend with in this
neighbourhood. Lieutenant-Colonel Miles, with the European
part of the force detached to•Tavoy and Mergui, has. returned
to head-quarters. _ _

Herewith I have the honour of enclosing a report from Lieu-
tenant Greer, of the Hon. Company's marine, of a gallant
little affair with the enemy's boats on•the 7th instant.
I have the honour to be, &c.
A. CAMPBELL, Brig. Gen.
•

Copy of a Letter from Lieut.: Greer, Commanding the East I
India Company's Cruizer Thetis, to Brigadier-General Sir
A.. Campbell, K.C.8., dated 14th November, 1824.
Sir—l have the honour to report that on Sunday, the 7th
instant, at eleven A.M., I left the ship in a roW-boat, with a
guard of six sepoys of the Bombay marine battalion, for the
purpose of waiting on the senior officer at Rangoon. Abreast
of a small creek, a little below Basseen Creek, six war-boats
pulled out and stood up close_ along till abreast of Basseen
Creek, when eight more boats, of the same description, joined
them ; they then came out and 'endeavoured to cut her off' by
pulling across the river, ahead of the row-boat. I. kept up a
constant fire from the twelve-poutidirind musketry, until two
of the boats came alongside; I immediately jumped on board
of them with the sepoys, an' succeeded in bayoneting every
man. In one of the boats there appeared to be a Chief, whom
I shot in the act of darting a spear at me. The other twelve
boats were coming close up, but seeing the fate of the other
two, Made oft' towards the shore, 'upon which I kept a smart
fire while within range. I am sorry to' state that during the
action, one sepoy and one row-boat man were severely wounded,
the former in two places ; in . each 'of these boats were from 30
to 40 men. -I cannot conclude this report without recOmmend-
ing strongly to your notice the gallant conduct of the sepoys of
the Bombay Marine Battalion in leaping into the enemy's boats,
and for the destructive and well-directed fire they kept up on
the approach of the enemy, whereby groat numbers were either
killed or wounded before they came alongside. The conduct
of the row-boatmen deserves every praise.—l have the honour
.to, &c. • - S. \V.-GREER, Lieut.
Commanding H. C. cruizer Thetis.
•

:opy ofa Letter from Brigadier-General Sir Archibald Camp-
Bell, K.C.B. to, George Swinton, Esq. Secretary to' the
Bengal Government, dated Head-quarters, Rangoon,. 9th
'Deceniber, 1824.
_ _

long threatened, and on. my part no less anxiously
wished 1-nr, event has at length taken place ; Maha liundoula,.
said to be accompanied by the Princes of Tonghoo and tiara--
wtuldy,•.appeared in front of my position on the morninr• orthe
Ist instant, at the head of the whole united force of the Bur-
Man Empire, amounting upon the most moderate calculation,
.6) from fifty to sixty thousand men, apparently ..well armed,
with a numerous artillery, and a body of Cassy Horse. Their
haughty Leader had insolently declared his intention of leading
us in captive chains to grace the triumph of the Golden Mo-
narch ; but it has pleased God to,expose the. vanity of his. idle
threats, and crown the heroic efforts; of my gallant little army
with a most complete and signal victory:
The enemy had assenibled his, forces in the heavy jungle in
our front during the night of the 30th -ultimo, and being well
aware of his near approach, I had previously madeevery neces.:
sary arrangement for'his reception, in whatever way he might
think proper to leave his impervious camp, The absence of
Lieutenant-Colonel Godwin, at Alataban, and of a strong de-
tachment, under Lieutenant-Colonel Mallet, which. I had sent
to display the British flag in the ancient capital of Pe" ffue, had
much weakened my lines, hut I had -been too long familiar
with the resolute courage of British troops to have, felt any re-
gret that fortune had given me an opportunity of contending
with Bundoola 'and his formidable' legions, even under circum-
stances of temporary disadvantage. • . -
Early in the morning of the Ist instant the enemy commenced
his operations by a smart attack upon our post at Eernmendine,
commanded by Major Yates, and garrisoned by the 26th Ma-
dras Native Infantry, with detachment of' the Madras Euro-
fean regiment, supported on the river by as strong a naval
orce us could be spared. As the day became light it discovered
numerous, and apparently
ejtuhr noegr
withoutpt
elui,
Rangoondr
apainobndslteeßen
yfojua sevpsriitsii:erogsurno,
;aootnflce,sctiaoluitvitie:iigin:ceigticli:vsiu,aiisslinlt,aocholinicuicgyierl
upon
laleenemylownarrow
ei boths issuing;
ohinuermchannel flanks,rmtomeofitfectohtr
rear.

Bundoola had now fully exposed to me his plan of opera-
tions, and my own resolution was instantly adopted of allow-
ing, and even encouraging him to bring forth his means and
resources from the jungle to the more open country on his left,
where I knew 1 could at any time attack him to advantage. •
The right corps of the Burmese army had crossed to the
Dalla side of the Rangoon river, and in the course of the
morning was observed in several divisions crossing the plain
towards the site of the ruined village of Dalla, where it took
post in the neighbouring jungle, sending on a division to
occupy the almost inaccessible ground on the bank of the
river, and from which they soon opened a distant fire upon
the ;hipping. Another division immediately broke ground
in front of Kemmendine, and for six successive days tried
in vain every effort that hope of success and dread of failure
could call forth to drive the brave 26th and a handful of
Europear.s from this post, while tremendous fire-rafts and
crowds of war-boats were every day employed in the equally
vain endeavour to drive- the shipping from their station off the
place.
The enemy's right wing and centre occupied a range of hills
immediately in front 'of the great Dagon pagoda' covered
with so thick a forest as to be impenetrable to all but Bur-
man troops, and their left extended nearly two Miles fur-
ther, along a lower and more open ridge to the village of
Puzendoon, where their extreme left rested. There were no
sooner thus placed in position than muskets and spears were
laid aside for the pick-axe anti shovel, and in an incredibly
short space of time every part of their line out of the jungle,
was strongly and judiciously intrenched.
In the afternoon•of the Ist, I observed an opportunity of at-
tackingthe enemy's left to advantage, and ordered Major Sale
with 0 men from the 13th Light Infantry and Huth Madras
Native 4
Ross, of the latter corps, move forward to the point I had se-
lected, and I never witnessed a more dashing charge titan was
made on this occasion by his Majesty's 13th,
Infantry, under. Major Dennie, of the former, and Capt.
while the 111th
Native Infantry followed their example with a spirit that did
them honour, carrying all opposition befliere theth.
They burst
through the intrenchments, carrying dismay and - terror into
the
enemy's ranks, great numbers of whom were slain, and the
party returned loaded with arms, standards,and other trophies.
Having correctly ascertained every thing.
giving any
I now,
35
I originally determined, abstained from any serious o
in-
terruption to the indefiitigable labour of the iposinarmy, pa-
tiently waiting until I saw the whole of their
About brought for Ward and within my reach.l. sun-set in the
evening a cloud of skirmishers were pu.lwrllo otrlrd close under
the north-cast angle .of the pagoda,
_I , ak and
advantage
pagodas and strong ground on our front, of the many
upon the works
com-
menced a harrassing and galling fire
.I at once
not*
saw we should suffer from their fire, _ dislodged, and there-
fore ordered two companies of the 36th Regiment, under Cap%
had Piper (an Officer I have often occasion to mention), to ad-
vance
Were it permitted on such an vanee and drive them back.
oc-
casion to dwell upon the enthusiastic spirit of my troo.ps,-