The Sun.
London, England, 1826-11-21 00:00:00

VIEWS OF THE COURT OF AVA: RESPECTING THE

LATE WAR.

•
The following article, quoted from the Calcutta Govern-
ment Gazette of the bth June, tends to show. that such
were the views of the Court of AVAIL, and such the opinions
.generally prevalent in the country of our inability to cope
with the Jiurinatt armies, that a war was inevitable. 'We.
he tea tmelleisl ut s
ofta itn heedir a
prisoners defeat and is e
by th have not copied the whole of the article, but the portion
we have quoted begins front the, affair at Remo°, (where,
intersi
most
twill
s ung. Tb.
erecollected,r w
Bur-
mans appears to have been invariably unfeeling and brutal.
The result of the affair of %moo served, of course, only to
confirm the Court of Ava, is the iMpreations .whicii they Is ad so
long eutertained, and these were not In rise least impaired by otly
occupation of Rangoon. They toissidered it sopa mere maraudiog
incursion, and was equally surprised and delighted. When they
found, that instead of plunsleriug and destroylog the town, and
then re •embarking, the British forces remained—tlatituglish, it
was asserted, had fallen into a snare laid by theruselves...-they were
caught in a net, which their own hands had wove: snit
sic-
crity to move svgainat them, and the only apprehension edruisted,
was, that they would discover their mistake, and decamp before%
the Burman troopacould reach Rangoon. The King hinisa/1
reported to have said, that he hoped the Kolas would not run
away, before the arrival of his army, as their fire arms Would ha-
of great service towards the conquest of Siam—whets the Bandula
was at Dinsabew, on his way to join the army, he gay: ' out, that
in eight days he would take his dinner' in the public hall, at Rats•
goon, and afterwards returned thanks at the Shoodegon Pagoda.
The protracted operations before Rangoon, were Insufficient to
open the eyes of the Goverzunent, and the delay was ascribed to
the dilatory measures of the Ki •woongee—he was, accordingly,
displarssl, and Thongba-Woungev, o brave but rash officer, sent to
supersede Liar: the attack upon the Stockade in whicls he cam-
mended, by a small body of Europeans, under COlotiel Maereagb.
sod Major Sale—the capture tithe Stockade, and the flight, and
death of the Chief, first led the C4'ssirt to suspect, they had uuder-
rated the prowess of their opponents—the nest cireumstatace that
tended to effect arevolution su their sentiuttnte, was the defeat of
Bandula, in, his lines before Rangoon; and 'hie flight:-4 general
panic now took place at Court, and it was expected, that the .Euro-
peans Would immediately be at Ava--the cheek we. sus-
tained at Donahew, allayed the alarm, in • seine degree,
hut the Burmese no 'oilier felt, sanguine of tosses, soul con•
fideuee gave .place to anxiety and apprehension. In all their
subsequent operations, the Coverowont, and the King espe-
cially, anticipated &Uwe, and they would gladly have negotiated,
had they comprehended the nature of such a termination of lanai-
litiee—but it never occurred to them, that the victorious party
would rest satisfied with less' than the Ithschate subjugation of the
country, and they were exceedingly at a loss to elloereanui the
preposal to heat, which was made by Sir A. Campbell, from
Prome. The only certain conclusion was, that, if not a trick, it
was an act of necessity, imposed by the sickness of the troops, by
disturbances its Upper Hindustan, or by the King of England's
disapproving of the war ; the prevailing opinion, however, was,
that the King of Coehin-China had sent a fleet of 50 ships to the
aid of Burma, and a boat was actually despatched from Ave, to
corn:muds:ate with the Admiral.

The continued advance of the British forces filled the Court
with despair, and they anticipated, as an inevitable result, the
entire occupation of the conntry—the policy as well as moral
beauty of public faith, are unknown in the Burman sods, and
their reluctance to aci.ede to our terms, chiefly arose from their
conviction, that we had to intention of adhering to them ourselves
—the instance of•the regard for verbal pledge, which occurred in
the case of Dr. Sauford's return, held out some encouragement,
but the payment of the stipulated contribution Was a desperate
experiment, and the majority of the Court were positive that the
Euglish would take the money sod still march on to time capi-
tal. The restoration of the six Lacs, by Sir A. Campbell, wait a
circumstauce that subverted all their ideas of policy, sod our strict
adherence to the stipulations of the treaty, a matter of us much
surprise as delight.

That the war had heroine unpopular with the nation at large,
used excite but little wonder : the Dormer* sank from one ea.
treme to the other, and from holding the British in contempt,
citify afraid to encounter them. Towards the elm of the cameo
no soldier* were to be protiatted, except from the lowest vagabonds
of the capital, who having received the bounty, 100 to 100 tikals,
expended it in *inert clothes, genie, and opium hut when led
into the field, took to their heels the moment the Europeans ad-
vanced against them. Although unusual for the Court of Atli to
give any public intimation at all of its purposes, a royal *diet was
published on several occasions at Ave announcing the King's in-
tention of taking the field against the Hebei Strangers, at the Lead
of 1 00,000 tioriwinv, end the same number of Shan.. There
'was en doubt, that the King never entertained any stair design,
sod the object or the proclamation was to encourage the labia* and
people to offer their services tOr the wer.
Various reports were circulated in Calentto, regard to ow
treatmeot of their prisoners by the Burman*, end it was 4'064'
uncertain, whether they were the 'objects erf inhumanity or imz
dulgence. We are now able to Weer ttp this point, and hare
ascertained, dist, although the King and the principal Utlicere
of the Court were disposed to have the prisoners' ironed
leniently, yet a few Chief! exhibited toward, them great bar-
barity, and the underlings were invariably unfeeling and
brutal—their venality was the only counterpoise to their
frrdvity, and the , payment of a few tikals was of some efficacy
iu relaxing their rigour. When first confined, the phoutore
were put in a sort of stocks, and shut up..in is close prison t
they were not allowed a mat to sleep on, zinc any intercourse with
their friend' or each other, end they were obliged to pay for per-
mission to their servants to bring them food; for the first nine
mouths they were secured with three pair of irons Otl, and for the
last two months with five—they were nut allowed food or cloth-
ing by the Government—thew article. being always supplied
by the friends of the prisoners, and if destitute of friends they
were suffered to starve : an exception in this case was made in
favour of the Native Officers taken in action, and they were
allowed a basket of rice a MOOdt by order of the King, but
they never received half, and that so irregularly,, that they
were often without food for several days . together, and the.
alternate extreme of inanition and repletion brought on cora,
plaints of which all but one died. The Sepoy prisonws,
are said to have displayed throughout, the molt Inishakeu
tachtuent to their own Government, anti to all the interrogatories
put to them, to have replied with a Annum and spirit, that equally'
baffled and incensed the Burmau authorities. Shortly before the
close of the war, the Sepoys were sent to Wuxi, a place in the
cot eitry of the Shane, about VOtrinilea from Ma, lett they *hold
timid means of liberating themselves upon the rulvanee of the British
Army. The English and American prisoners also were removed
previous to the action at Pagliam-mew, to A.ang-ben-le, Iti matte
from Ava, for the purpose, it was reported, of beingng thpeuttitool
jd.c.thilaitta
e, before the liakan
aetCirriollitetuergfeio%Joasit hire,awecoarn:s doubtful, if hr really fii
idered the reek *t ::tate::rar'ssat4bttili eit the (luitoirrtLl,ia'w'nud al-
ich
~bllee respecttwiiloi utalodp atoneriwavnesolf hifteinuie).well pleased to r
Jli~e career, ih7:elveme:etteiyel'wis.sers4st:kilieo't7wnainttli
after being about a month or six weeks in power, he fell itirm
ddraisgtlir at''anw"houcir'fsignelotlit7e,itlb'etimng";jrnodal:lieenpauttrancddteicr:fou:htai
rn.til:ywatilsteroplipPertiwtasr.
On the march to Aung-ben-le, the prisoners were stripped of all
their clothes, except pair of trowsers
ey
anti
to
: eachktoineteddtpheerapair:riwiiti.soi:lid::itehilli:e,n4,:it.livtra'
carts
teoi
ssft:
toe: ulavtl:al
w) or tt4bhi nlk ftewtoul fathomsiv tt
farther,hh hve Piatrtuh:oyi
sfl the
areuetal t gth 11
pest 11.0
,17:iboreso;
t'outed, Ainerapura ; there, their feet being bilateral and cut,
thei
ns
e
ion.
of
phorisoners,
"up bo yn 71; id e dr ea°pta'Grttrliletereek haien
ther viputii;souillifilittrill!csu'd;4"l:::ll4.l‘4Vtal :04":1411:*:411::
bau
enzeitiallte: twotal:,veatliake, wpaiteadser
tat gteld for seTadie
itistYvt'inngit, hut
when
iwhreottneswootinsensible, and at 1"44 tie "Pired, 44114-
vants of
several
the party reached Amerapura, awes tour 44 t, lie latitTrBo4o,ll,
(f repeatedly'teetouis:prt ulotilitow,t4'uoruji:frearteitt "'them..
slitne:ktsi,yttroccehl bollswituhlti tie adi ai:4dear
d with
11.11.1gZiloid of their Masters' confine-
een .eve,
behaved throughout the , .
t devotion anti hdelits 4 sepeciaity the Indians;
rwheetylt,ett„hll4°Plti"iliecouraged by ill-treannent from. teuderiug
were nun
I:lol4:terth such services us they were permitted to
Vae'rac,;itiovile instance, particularly, tlis servant not only brought
°""*"- food, but earned it for biro by her OWA 4100-
his antis wee " Y
havet the teitimotty of those who witnessed this mutes
tiooa;
embiet, that it was above all praise. The petty traders and poor
people were always ready to pity and alleviate the earring* of the
when an o iportunity occurred, The Court,: if, not
owners,
cruel, were inditlerent, end nlditlerence in such casts is in bunianity.
It is to be hoped that an noprovetnent iu thicrespert.sety be mit
orate consequences of the war, to some of Which we roust delay
adverting till our next.