Burmah and the Burmese

by Kenneth R. H. Mackenzie

Apporaza had about this time returned to Syriam, and assumed the command of the Peguese army. He saw, with sorrow and disgust, that the English were turning to the side of the usurper, and he attempted a diversion in favour of his master by a negotiation with Captain Jackson. This gentleman listened readily to the representations of the general, and he attempted in every way to cause a breach between Alompra and the British. That his endeavours met with some success may be judged by the fact, that when, a short time after, the Peguers made an attack upon Dagon, the English ships maintained a strict neutrality, though they allowed the Peguers to be beaten back. The Burmans became somewhat suspicious, still the assurances of friendship, and the promises of assistance, lulled them to rest again. Alompra quitted the district,—a sufficient guarantee for his trust in the English; and after quelling the insurrection raised by the prince on the Siamese frontier, he does not appear to have returned to Dagon. Meinla-Meingoun was appointed commander of the army.

About this time the English commenced a correspondence with the Peguers, and concerted an attack with them in which they would assist them. Thus were the Peguers to be assisted by both the European fleets! “Confiding in their new allies, and assured of victory, the war-boats of the Peguers during the night dropped down the Pegue river, and, with the French ships, moored in the stream of the Irawadi, waiting the return of tide to carry them to Rangoon. Dawn of day discovered them to the Birmans, whose general immediately sent for the English gentlemen, to consult on the best means of defence. At this interview the Birmans candidly acquainted Mr. Whitehill how ill satisfied they were with the conduct of the English commanders during the late action, and desired a promise of more effective assistance on the present occasion. Mr. Whitehill replied, that without the Company’s orders he was not authorized to commence hostilities on any nation; but if the Peguers fired on the English ships, it would be considered as an act of aggression, and resented accordingly. How much it is to be lamented,” exclaims Symes, “that such prudent and equitable principles were not better observed! the departure from them affixed a stain on the national honour, which the lapse of more than forty years has not been able to expunge.”[217]

The forces of the Peguers were two large French ships, an armed snow, and two hundred teilee, or war-boats. In the afternoon, when within cannon-shot, the French ships came to anchor, and commenced cannonading the Burmese fleet, which, to shelter itself from the fire and the galling musketry from the Peguese boats, had pulled into a creek, under a grove of mango-trees, whence the fire was returned. They had here, too, raised a kind of fortification, with a battery of a few ship cannon, which, from the awkwardness of the gunners, were of little use. “At this juncture,” continues Symes,[218] “the English ships Hunter, Arcot, and Elizabeth commenced a fire on the Birman fleet. Thus assailed by unexpected foes, the Birmans were obliged to abandon their boats, and take shelter in the grove. Had the Peguers improved the critical opportunity, and pursued their advantage with resolution, this action might have retrieved their declining interests, and restored them to the possession of the lower provinces. In vain the Europeans persuaded them to attempt the capture of the Birman fleet; too timid to expose themselves to a close discharge of musketry from the grove, they were contented with the éclat of having compelled the enemy to retreat from their boats, and the rest of the day was spent in distant random firing. During the night the English ships removed out of the reach of small-arms, two men being killed on board the Arcot. The Peguers kept their situation for some days, during which much irregular skirmishing passed; when, having exhausted their ammunition without advancing their cause, the Peguers thought fit to return to Syriam, accompanied by the English and French ships, leaving the Birmans in possession of the fortified grove, and the lines of the newly-projected town.”

On the arrival of the English, Apporaza, who seems to have been well aware of the utility of such allies, received them with every mark of kindness, and wrote to Mr. Brooke at Negrais, offering him various advantages if he would enter into a compact with them. Mr. Brooke, disguising the feelings of vexation that he must have felt at the conduct of his officers, returned a courteous and friendly answer, but required the presence of Mr. Whitehill and the English vessels. Accordingly, that gentleman, escorted by twenty war-boats, quitted Syriam, and arrived at Negrais on the 26th of August. He was followed by the Hunter schooner, and the Arcot only remained behind, as it had to undergo some repairs before being seaworthy. All this time Mr. Brooke was continuing his negotiations with Alompra, and he despatched Captain Baker and Lieutenant North to the king. These gentlemen proceeded up the river but slowly, the torrent being swollen and rapid. Above Prome they met a detachment of Burman troops proceeding to Dagon and the newly-founded city of Rangoon. Captain Baker had an interview with the chief, who was sanguine as to the result of the war. The meeting was embarrassing on both sides; on the part of Captain Baker, because he had the strange occurrences connected with the English vessels to account for; and on the part of the Burman general, as he was certain of the power and influence of the English, and totally ignorant of their intentions. Captain Baker had the farther misfortune to lose his colleague, Lieutenant North, who died of dysentery a day or two after continuing his journey. On the 8th of September, however, he reached Ava, the former metropolis, where he was civilly received by the governor. On the 16th he was summoned to Moutzoboo, to attend on the Golden Foot, for Alompra had now assumed the titles of the empire, as well as the emoluments.

The interview was a characteristic one on both sides. The king, with all the pride of an Eastern potentate elevated to the throne by his own endeavours, swelled with arrogance and vaunted of his successes. He justly censured the duplicity, real or apparent, of the English at Dagon, reminding the envoy that he had treated them kindly during his stay; he said that it was far from grateful thus to break all the promises that had been made.

Captain Baker replied with expressions of regret; he solemnly declared that Mr. Brooke knew nothing of the affair, had been very angry at its occurrence, and that the hostile movement was utterly unauthorized by the English resident. Alompra listened with attention and seeming satisfaction. So ended the first audience.

At a subsequent meeting, permission was granted by the king for the erection of factories at Dagon and Bassein; but the English never are satisfied, and therefore Captain Baker pressed his majesty to cede the island of Negrais. Strange it is, that, when, but a few days previously, the Burman cause had been totally deserted by the English, yet, upon the strength of a few paltry professions, the Burmese were supposed to have had sufficient confidence in them, as to lead to the surrender of an island of some little extent, commanding the finest port in the dominions of Alompra. However, the king showed policy, too; for he neither granted nor denied their request, but left it for future decision. Baker was then dismissed, and re-embarked for Negrais on the 29th of September.

During this time, the Peguers had attempted the capture of the Burman post at Dagon, with the assistance of the Arcot, and two other English ships. Ten thousand Peguers marched round by land, and three hundred war-boats, together with a French vessel, accompanied the English ships. They were again repulsed by the Burmans, who, probably under European direction, constructed fire-rafts, by which the French ship was placed in great peril. The land-forces, weakened by their own numbers, and deprived of the co-operation of the fleet, retreated, and “never dared to hazard another enterprise.”[219]

But the Peguers were to suffer more. The Devoted to Buddha was coming, and who could stand against his bands? He attacked the fort of Syriam by land and water, and choosing the time of ebb-tide, when the French ship was aground, he attacked it with gun-boats. Upon this, Bourno desired to change sides again, and sent a letter to Alompra, offering fresh terms of accommodation. But the Peguers suspected him of treachery, and removed him and his adherents into the fort of Syriam, leaving the factory and vessel deserted. These Alompra immediately seized, and he now let famine and disease do its work in the over-crowded place, and never quitted his position until the month of July, 1756. The Peguers were gradually lulled into security, and Alompra seized a favourable opportunity, made a vigorous assault upon the place, and, though most of the garrison escaped, he made all the Europeans prisoners.

“It has already appeared to have been the determined policy of the French to espouse the cause of the Peguers; and had succours from Pondicherry arrived before the state of things became too desperate, affairs would probably have worn a different aspect, and the Peguers obtained such an addition to their strength, as would have enabled them to conclude a peace on advantageous terms. But assistance in war, to be effectual, must be timely; unless applied while the scales hang nearly even, it often comes too late, and is found not only to be useless, but even productive of deeper disappointment. In the present case, the French brought those supplies of which the Peguers had long buoyed themselves with hopes, at the unfortunate moment when the communication was cut off, when no relief could be conveyed to them, and all prospect of retrieving their disastrous fortunes had completely vanished.