The Sun.
London, England, 1824-12-25 00:00:00

INDIA.

BIRMAN STOCKADES.
TO TUE EDITOR OF TOE BENGAL. IFORKATIU.

Sin—lt ;appearing to me, that a very erroneous idea has
crept abroad of the construction of 3 Birmese stockade, anti
their mode of warfare; I presume it would not be unaceept-
able to the readers of your Paper, to be informed of their pre.
sent mode of proceeding, which I conceive to be consitlerably
improved in the last 30 or forty years.
The Birmese are equipped with muskets generally, aid
each man carries besides, a dhor, a small knife or two,
similar to our chopping knives, and, perhaps, one or two
artificer's tools, and is obliged, agreeably to standing
army orders, to march with ten small and ten large bamboo
spikes, sharpened at both ends; they invariably stockade
at halting places, and chuse generally the banks of nullahs„
or Posncfniintr natural obstacles against a sur-
prise,a position available, and affording materials for their purpose.
As other Indians, they do not proceed by long and continual
marches, but by easy stages, never omitting to send in advance
their scouts to reconnoitre the surrounding country and levy
contributions of grain and cattle for several days' consumption.
After a march of three days halt for as many, which time is
employed, in strengthening their position and obtaining intbr-
mation, to which end they proceed very for from their ob-
servation. The party in advance, which probably precedes the
Main body a day or tlwo, cover themselves by means of a mina I
stockade, in the real, R' which they construct a large one, the size
of which,, is according to the number intended to be accom-
modated. If their numbers are many, they make a succession
of them, or if their stay is intended to be lung at a place. The
usual form of this fortified camp is an oblong square, having a
parapet wall of mud, 2i feet high in front of a ditch, the same
width and depth. Sometimes when a stand is intended to be
made, the parapet is 4 feet high and six thick, with a propor.
tionately deeper ditch, and a boaquef to fire from, to this is
fixed a strong fence of large bamboo and beetle trees, well
bound together from eight to twelve feet high, matted inside
to screen the garrison from rain, the interior space is excavated
or rather overrun with sunk redoubts, having trenches, com-
municating one with another. The approach to the place all
round for the space of 30 feet, is thickly studded with spikes,
inclining outwards from 4 inches to 50 inches high, these spikes
are as sharp as the sharpest penknife, and their removal in the
face of a sharp fire of musketry would be next to impossible,
and we have no means of keeping their fire under, since the
garrison are completely hid from view: Thus their stockade,
with perhaps only a single entrance, and that completely
masked are more thrmidable by far than a regular fortification,
the only means of taking them being by firing their choppahs,
which can only be done by means of shells, the absence of
which at the late unsuccessful attack on Doodpatlie, is very
much to be regretted. It, is, however, some consolation to
know, that the three guns set up and equipped by IVlajor
Newton did great execution within, much to the credit of the
men of the 10th, who were trained by him to the exercise.
They opened on a place within 100 paces of the strongest face,
which was the one we attempted ta storm. We attacked Booth
patlie on the 21st, and the enemy vacated it on the 22d in tine
night, which is proof of their aversion to artillery.
If the above prove acceptable to you, I shall consider my
labour well bestowed.
Sythet. A SUBSCRIBER.

The Ticket No. 5,301, drawn Thursday,
Dec. 16, a Prise of £2.0,000, was Sold in One
Half and Eight Sixteenth Shares, by IttcHAnn.
SON, GoonLucK, and Co., Stock Brokers, at
their Office, 104, Bank Buildings, Cornhill.
The Holders of the Shares may receive their
Money on demand.

2
2
2
10

STATE OV Tllll WHEEL.
- Prizes of - - X 30,000
1,000
500
200

&c. Ac.

And must be Drawn in ONE DAY, NEXT FRI-
DAY, 31st of this Month.—A great variety of
Numbers (warranted Undrawn) are on Sale at
RICHARDSON, GOODLUCK, and Co's. Office, No.
104, Corner of Bank Buildings, Cornbill.

THE LONDON JOURNALS.

DAILY

Extracts front the Morning Papers, Dec. 25.

• [mottNING POST.]
The communication between Calais and Dover
were not re-opened till yesterday,and the Speech
of the French Monarch, which we Otpected
early on Friday morning, did not reach us till a
late hour last night. It is a plain and quiet do.
cument, suited to the peaceful spirit of the time
in which it has been spoken, and perfectly con-
sistent with the policy which CharlesX. has pur-
sued since his accession to the throne. It com-
mences with an expression of grief for the death
,of the late King; and a just tribute to his merits
as'the author of institutions which " uniting the
past and the present," have restored tranquillity
and happiness to France. It then gratefully ac-
kooWledges the confidence displayed by the
whole nation towards its new Monarch, and de.
dares that he knows and will fulfil the duties of
Royalty. It states that the disposition of all fo-
reign Governments is most friendly, and that
Charles X. will neglect nothing to maintain the
-happy concord which prevails amongst them. It
is with this view, the Chambers are assured, that
he has consented to protract the stay in Spain
of a part of the troops left in that country by his
son ; but it is,positively announced at, the
.same
time that the measure is merely a temporary one
adopted to conciliate the interests of both Mo-
PnrchieS. The Speech then declares that the
moment is come to execute the plans conceived
by Louis XVIII., and to do a great act of na-
tional justice, meaning the indemnity to be
granted to the Emigrants. This, it says, shall
be supplied without any augmentation of the
taxes, or any " cramping" of the various branches
of the public service, and it ascribes the possi.
tility of so desirable an object being easily at-
tained, to the fortune of the State, and the
peace which it now enjoyed., His Majesty then
tells both Chambers that his Coronation shall
terminate their labours, and invites them to be
present at that ceremony, where, before " Him
who judges nations, he will take the oath to
maintain the institutions granted by his Brother."

[MouNuto iteßALn.]
The press of other matter has prevented our
noticing what passed (or rather, perhaps, what
did not pass) on the expected final examination
of the partners in the late banking-house of
Marsh and Co. It cannot have escaped the re-
collection of our readers, that the late unforlu-
nate Mr. Fauntleroy having on his. trial made
certuin statements, in the course of his defence,
apparZntly impliCating his partners, those gentle-
men inserted a, letter in most of the neWspapers,
requesting the public to suspend their judgment ,
upon the subject till their final examination
before the Commissioners,. on the 18th instant.--.--
It was generally thought, we believe, at the time,
that no such delhY was necessary, and that it
would have been as well had the information been
given at once. However," the ides of March are
come," and have passed by. The main point con.
times in the same degreu of ,obscurity, and Mr.
Fauntleroy's statement remains uncontradiated.
The simple question to answer was, what became
of the proceeds of Mr. Fauntleroy's forgeries and
abstractions of Exchequer bills, &c.? This point
seems to be one in some measure unconnected
with the account due from the bankrupts to their
Creditors ; and seemed rather due to the public
as interested in a crime for which a fellow-crea-
ture was about to sutler the lent extremity of
the law. We with, for the .sake of all parties,
that that explanation had been promptly given.
Delays are dangerous ; and, , where they can be
avoided, should never be incurrecL We are 'fai
from supposing, or wishing to infer, that these
gentlemen, one or all of them, were privy to
all or any of this wretched man's depreda-
tions. But when A has the assurance ;to as-
sert that B has received the fruits of his
plunder, it is surely incumbent upon 13. to refute
such an assertion if he can. Th., great body of
creditors, as well as the public, looked eagerly
for the promised explanation ; and. the formerot,
least, must have felt somewhat mortified, instead
of receiving it, to find each partner with a lawyer
at his elbow, ready, we presume, to advise him
professionally how to act upon the occasion. We
would not deny any man professional assistance,
which, in a matter so intricate as this hank.
ruptcy may be very necessary, but still we ap.
prebend, that the point we allude to is an isolated
one; and one which, were we the advisers of
these gentlemen, we should trongly recommend
them, on every account, to clear up.

[gEw TtstEs.l
The Irish Government has with great propriety
resolved to arrest the course of. Mr. O'Connell;
and in so doing it has perhaps acted the most
friendly part that it conkd possibly act toward the
Learned Gentleman. A man like him, of aris-
tocratic origin, of much perional talent, in great
practice at the Bar,. and at ease, in his pecuniary
circumstances, can have no real wish to pluoge' his
'country into .the horrors of a civil war ; but in the
eager pursuit of,popplarity he may easily be carried
out of his depth, and be led, like many of his pre-
decesors in that dangerous course, to extremities
alike injurious
,to his country end' fatal to himself.
On the lath instant, at a meeting of the Catholic
Association, Mr. O'Connell made a vehement
sPeerh, part of which, as reported in the News-
papers, is certainly seditious ; and it is for sedi-
tion in uttering. these words that ho has been
held to bail and is to be brought to trial. What-
ever may be thought of the ostensible,objects of
the entholk Aisbeitition, it is clear that those
objects might not to be pursued by'rneans of st—
ditionti and intlanimatory :harangues. By such
niPans Ireland has more than once been urged to
; and pesSibly time, check. which .Me.
O'Connell has now received ma.), have saved hjni
from the commission of offences Which he would
shudder to cootttoptate.

Di ft N NG 6l'liON I C L.E.]
A very silly measure has been resorted to it
Dubliu—the arrest of Mr. O'Connell, for an ex

pression in a speech at a Meeting of the Catho-
lic Assocation. Mr. O'Connell is too skilful
a Lawyer to, hazard any expressions which
would bring him in contest with the law. The
following passage, in• a report of his speech in
Saunderes News-Letter, is said to be the foun-
dation of this proceeding :—" Nations have," he
remarked, " been driven mad by oppression—he
hoped that Ireland would never be driven to re-
sort to the system pursued by the Greeks and
South Americans to obtain their rights—he trust-
ed in God they would never be so driven. He
hoped Ireland would be restored to her rights—
but, if that day should arrive—if she were driven
mad by persecution, he wished that a new Boli-
var may be found—may arise—that the spirit
of the Greeks, and of the South Americans,
may animate the people of Ireland."—That
in a Country ruled over by a King, who owes
his title to a Dutchman, who invaded it with a
powerful army, which enabled an oppressed
people to expel their reigning Monarch, it should
be deemed seditious to declare, that, if oppression
ever justified a recurrence to force, he hoped a
suitable leader might not he wanting, is what we
are utterly unable to comprehend. Why, good
God, what is the burden of Mr. Locke's famous
book on Government, which was long the ma-
nual of the Hanover family, but that nations
may rise against their rulers whenever they are
oppressed ? We all know what this means ; that
those who rise, but do not succeed,are beheaded,
hanged, and shot ; while those who do succeed
have an indisputable title. Mr. Connell, in ex-
pressing this conditional wish, only followed the
example of every popular orator in this country
since the days when the passive obedience and
non-resistance doctrines were first condemned by
authority. •

[BRITISH PRESS.]
It was with some surprise that we found the
Irish Journals announce the prosecution of Mr.
O'Connell, upon a charge of, uttering seditious
Words in a late speech at the Catholic Associa-
tion. Whether true policy required this measure
of hostility on the part of the Attorney-General,
we must be permitted to doubt. We have always
reprobated the tone of Mr. O'Connell's oratory,
as unadvised and intemperate ; but we recol-
lected at the same time, that it was the fault of
Irish eloquence to partake too much of that
sudden and excessive warmth, which it catches
from the lively and fervent imagination of the
speaker, and which, on this account, must
be heard and received with many grains of
allowance. Much, we think, must be par-
doned at all times to the enthusiastic indiscre-
tion of an Irish orator. They know very little
of public speakers, who do not know how likely
the best-intentioned patriot ,is, when warmed by
his subject, to be betrayed into
.expressions,
•which, though they escape him on the fervour
and animation of the moment, he would be, him-
self, the first to smile at, and, on the return of
his own more deliberate reason, would be the
most forward to disapprove. We blame the
Catholic leaders heartily for their injudicious
and ill-timed forwardness; we blame them for
displaying a turbulent activity of complaint and
remonstrance, at a moment when it was least,
called for, and therefore least to be justified.
Rut, on the other band, it appears to us, no
crisis ever less invited she making any ex-
periment upon the temper of a nation, than
does that of Ireland at the present moment.—
This legal proceetling against Mr. O'Connel
cannot fail, to excite a strong commotion, and
to increase considerably that ferment which al-
ready agitates the Catholic population. Six mil-
lions of subjects, full of uneasiness and ill-hu-
mour, and having—as in candour we must ad-
mit,--but too ntch.reason for both, do no doubt
present a mass pf physical force, which if brought
into activity, would threaten the security of the
Government. But this very condition of things
demands that every step likely to irritate should
be an act of the last necessity, and called for by
the greatness and urgency of the occasion. Whe-
ther the present was an occasion of this kind, re-
mains to be 'seen. We have the utmost confidence
in the justice and moderation of Lord. Wellesley;
we rely on his known ability and foresight, and
we therefore wait the event of its further elu-
cidation.

[THE PUBLIC LEDGER.]
It will be been by our extracts from the Dublin
Papers, that Mr. O'Connell was arrested in that
city on Monday lust, and bound overto answer
a charge at the Sessions fOr seditious words ut-
tered at a meeting of the Catholic Association.
We have examined the obnoxious expressions as
carefully and dispassionately as possible, and
cannot find out their seditious import.—Language
of a similar tendency has been long familiar in
and out of Parliament, on this side of the
Channel ; and it has neither produced practical
inconvenience at the time, nor have its general
effects been very prejudicial to Government.
Notwithstanding the rreedom, with which Eng-
lishmen are in the habit of maintaining their
constitutional rights, the Keier of the Crown`,
it is well known, has suffertiVuo decrease in con-

,equence since the Revolution; but where would
be the rights of the people:now, if.tiles, had not
intrepid, and, where the emergency retwred
even impassioned, advocates ? %We dhitke
fiammatori language, as much as any one' b,.
cause it injures the interests which it pretends
to serve ; and therefore it may be, said to Contain 1
its own antidote. in defending popular interegs
in particular, its use its mischievous to those in-
terests, as some of our ruling politicians may
'know -front experience ; and, so: true is this,
that If ' they had any apprehensions that a
cause was likely to run counter to their wishes, all
they would have to do in order to prevent it would
be t° get some mintineipled demagogues to bawl
on the popular Atte. We are not very partial,
therefore, as may be supposed, to the high and
angry tune in political discussions ; and, if we
find fault with the arrest of Mr. O'Connell, it is
not from an,"
j love towards the intemperance,
which constitutes the charge against that Gentle-
man. We blame it, because it strikes us us
politic ; certain to produce irritation* ,withmt
striking terror; and likely, to embarrass the Go.
vernment, without even a chance of immediate or

remote good. *Will it intimidate the individual,l
against whom the measure is directed ? Cer-
tainly not. will it sink him in the estimation
of the large Body, whose fearless, able and
incorruptible advocate he has shewn himself so
long, or will it render the Catholics more remissin
the prosecution of their claims? Neither of these
effects will be produced ; and therefore, as a
measure of salutary terror, it will prove wholly
unavailing. But it will increase the animosities
that have so long distracted Ireland ; and may
compel the Government, contrary to its inclina-
tions, to have recourse to coercive measures of
the harshest character. Thus all interests may
be endangered by this imprudent act—those of
the People, by being subjected to a system of
terror ; and those of their Rulers, by the trouble,
insecurity, and expellee, that would necessarily
accompany such a system.