War In India.
The Times, 1824-07-17T00:00:00

Pseis the Clcutta C:overrnnen~t7 ~zsied. FORT WIL.JLIlAM, FflIDAY, Ina^C 5, 1824. PROCLAMATION, xY rtE RrIoT ROW. THE GoV MRv OJGEMEk,L zI COSUNCrt ". The conduct of the Burmese having compelled the Butitsh Go vernment to have recourse to arms insupportof itsyightsand honour the GovernorOieneral in Council hereby notifiea, that the Goverr ment of Ava is placed in the conditioni of a-ptbVc enemy, and thal all Britdsh subjects, whether European orsiatlve, ateprohibited fror holding any communication with the people of that state, until tht differences sowt unhappily existing shall be terminated. "The Governor.t0eneral In Council deemns it proper to take thit opportunity ofpubliclyseelaring thecausea that have led tothbhosti. lities with a state, between which and the H'on. East India Con3. pany& friendly itntercourse has long subsisted, to thegreae advantagg of both parties, and with which the Britiah Government has invari. ably sought to cultivate and maintain the relations of amity. " During tnany yeara past. the Burmese officers governing the country contiguous to our south.east frontier, have from time to timc been guilty of acts of encroachmernt and aggression, which the Bri. tish Government would l37e been fully justified in repelling by formce " Solicitous, however, to preserve vith all nations the relations of peace, the B3rltish Governmnent has considered it to be, in an espe. cial manner, its duty to make large allowances for the peculiar cir. cumgtances wnd character of the Burmese Government and people. The consciousness of its power to repel sand punish aggregsions has strengthened the motives of forbearance towards a nation removed, by their geographical situation, from the immediate circle of our po- litical relations, and with whom (as we have no opposing interests) the Supreme Govemment rought only to maintain z commercial in- tercourse on terms of equality and freedom, condadve to the welfare and prosperity of both countries " So long, therefore, as the aggression. of which the British Go. vernment had to complain, could be treated as the unauthorized acts of the subordinate officers of the Barman Government, and could be tolerated consistently with the national honour and tlhe security of the British territorieg, the Supreme Government sedulously en. deavoured to preserve unimpaired the existing relations of peace and friendship, notwithstanding ptovocations which vwoald have fully justified, and from a state more formidable in positlon and resources would have imperiously demanded, a resort to arms. "Trusting that the rnotives of Its conciliatory demeanour could not have been misunderstood, the British Government persuaded it. self that the Government of Ava, however extravagant in its pretan. sions, mutt have been no less deeirous than ourselves to maintain a friendly intercoaure so profitable to that country, andcould no, but be sensible that as our moderation was founded on a consclouose of our strength, and on a genera) desire to preserv, the blessintg of peace, so our forbearance would not be carried beyond the litaits where it ceased to be compatible with the safety of oar subjects, the integrity of our doitions, and the honour of our Country. "Unhappily,tbese cxpectations have been disappointed. The Bur. mere Government, tuated by an extravagant spirit ofpride and am. bition, and elated by its conquests over the petty tribes by which it is surrounded, has ventured to violate the British territories, to at- tack and slay a patty of British senoys, to seize and imprison Britieh j subjects, to avow extensive schcmes of rmachievoas aggresion, end to mnake hostile preparations on our frontier, that leave no doubt of its intention to eXecute its insolent and unjustifiable threatt. " In prosecution of a groundless claain to the island of Shapuree, the Bunrese Chiefs of Arracan, in a time of profoxnd peace, and without any previous attempt at negotiation on the part of their Go. vermYent, attached, under cover of night, a small guard of British troops stationed on that island for purposes of police, anddrove tbem from their post with the loss of several lives. No answer has been yeturned to the Court of Amerapoora to the demand of explanation and atonement which it was of course the dutv of the British Go. vernment instantly to prefer; but which was made in the same spirit of conciliation which had alwayt; characterized our colunmunications with the Court of Ava. On the contrary, the Burmete local autho- rities have distisctly declared the determination of their Sovereign to invade the British domniiions ulemss their groundless cla'im to Shapuree is unequivocally admitted. ' Subsequently to the attack on the island of Shapuree, the coni. manding officer atdi severa of the crew of the Honourable Coin. pany's schooner Soplia were insidiously entied on shore, and car. ried into the interior by the order of commissionera specially deputed to Arranca 'y the Burnese Court, and al'though subsequently re. leased, they have been sent back without any explaaation or apology for the insulting outrage. "The Burmes cGenerals rn the nornh-east have at the same mo- ment advanced their troops Into the country of Cachar, anat occupied a poert within only five mies of the frontier of Sylhet, notwith- standing that they were distinctly watned by the British autboritica in that quarter that the petty state of Cachar was under the protaec tion of. he British Government, and that the movement of their troops must be regarded, as an act of hostility to ba Tepelled by force. In both quarters the Burmcse Chiefs have publidy declared their de. termination to enter the British territories in Dursuit of aLUeged of. fenders agalnst the Govetnntent of Ava, and have avowed intentiens of open hostility as the altemative of our refusing to comply with :beir unjust aRd utterly inadmissible pretensions. ", Whilst occugying their threatening position on the British fron. hier, the Burnese Generals planned moreover the conquest o1 Jynteea, another chicfship si uste similarly with Cachar, in regard to the district of Svlhct, and whlth having formerly been restored by the British authorities to the tamily of the reigning Rajah, after a temporary convulsion, had been nmre distinctly recognized as a dependency of BengaL They called on the Rajah to acknowledge submicsion and allegiance to the Xing of Ava, and z demonstration was actually made to enter his territory, when the advance of the British troops frustrated the execution of their hostle design. " The deliberate silence of the Court of Amerapoora, as well as the combination and extent of the operations undertaken by its of. ficers, leave it no longer doubtful that the acts and dedcrations of the subordinate authoritics arc fully sanctioned by their Sovereign, and that that haughty and barbarous Court is not only determined to withhold all explanation and atonement for mast injuries, but me. ditates projects of the most extravagant and unjustifisble aggression against the British Government. " The Goveraor.General in Council, therefore, for the safety of the subjects, and the security of our distsicts, already seriously alarmed and injured by the approach of the Burmese armies, has felt himself imperatively called on to anticipate the threatenod in. vasion. The national honour no less obviously requeires that atone. mieat should be had for wrongs FO wantonly inflicted and so intow lently maintained, ard the national interests equally demand that we should seek by an appeal to arms, thlat security again.st future insult and aggression which the arrogance and gasping spirit of the Burmese Government have denied to friendly expostulation and re. monstrance. " With these views and purposes, the Governor General in Couacil has deemcd it an act of indispensable duty to adopt such tmeasures as are necessary to vindicate thehoneurof the British Government, ts bring the Burmese to a just sense of its character and rights, to obtain an advantageous adjustment of our eastern boundary, end to preclude the recurrence of similar insult and aggression in fiture. " Still aniiiated by a sincere desire for peace, and utterly averse from ail purposes of aggrandizement. the Governor-General in Council will rejoice if the objects above-mentioned can be accom. plished without carrying the war to extremities. But to whatever length the Burmese Government may render it necessary to prose- cute hostilities, his Lordship in Council relics with c-onfidcnee on the justice of our cause, on the resources of the Government, and on the appmved valour of our troops, for the early and sucesful termi. nation of the contest. "' By commnand of the Right Ronoarable the GoerwnorrGeneral in Council.' n CGEORGE SWINTONr, Sec. to Government." SYLIEr stoRr TrER.-The latest reports from the troops in the field enable ut to add, that the Burmese lot in killed and wounded between four and five hundred men in the attack on the Stockade at Daoodputlee, nnd that they evacuated it a few days after, and were retreating on Alunnipore, The Hill Chiefs, we understand, have given assu-ances of their disposition to harass and annoy them in their flight. Lieutenant'Colonel innes, who arrived atJuttraporeon the evenin of the 27th ultsimo, and took conminand of the troops, was to proceed in pursuit of the Burmese on the 28tl. PV4R IN LPDAI.