Burmah and the Burmese

by Kenneth R. H. Mackenzie

The first act which is worthy of mention in August is the dislodgment of the Burmese force in Syriam. The matter was rendered necessary, it would appear, for the same reason that had caused the assault and capture of Kemendine, viz., the annoyance to which our vessels were exposed from the fire-rafts that the natives placed such great reliance in, but which, in reality, were rather annoying than dangerous. It was enough that men were obliged to be on duty to arrest their progress, and strand them. The object of Sir Archibald was to spare these men, who, though enfeebled by disease, yet were bravely bearing up against it. Accordingly, six hundred men, drafted from the 41st, the Madras European, and the 12th Madras N.I., under the command of Brigadier Smelt, were embarked for Syriam, Sir Archibald, it must not be forgotten, accompanying them.

The old Portuguese factory, of which mention has been made in a previous chapter, was found to have been converted into a Burmese fortification; the breaches made in former times by the united efforts of Burmese, Peguers, Portuguese, and English, were repaired by teak-wood palisades, and the old guns, rusty and ill cast, were remounted upon the ramparts.

The Anglo-Indian army was received with a brisk fire, but, as usual, the Burmese stayed not to await the results of their exertions, but fled to a pagoda some distance off, whither they were followed by a detachment under Lieutenant-Colonel Kelly. Here, again, although the place was fortified and turned into a battery, the Burmese fled away, after discharging the contents of the guns somewhere in the direction of the British. Enough had been done in previous encounters to show the perseverance of the English, and so, as every one does, they supposed that they were invincible, because they had at first conquered.

It seemed, however, that even the preliminary campaign of the British army was never to come to an end, and that, although the enemy was ever being beaten, the Burmese did not even now despair of wearying out the British, and by keeping them engaged at the threshold of their land, they hoped to have time to secure the key, and lock the door in their faces. Therefore, no sooner had operations been satisfactory concluded at Syriam, than Sir A. Campbell heard of disturbances at Dalla, caused by the orders of the court for a general conscription. Lieutenant-Colonel Kelly, with a detachment of four hundred men, was sent thither to quiet the province. Upon coming near to Dalla creek, they found two stockades, one on either bank, which it was necessary to storm. The mud clogged the movements of the troops to some extent, and entailed, by the delay, some loss upon the British. However, as was ever the case, the intrenchments were in possession of the troops immediately; for the Burmese fled before the English again. Their policy seems all to have been thrown overboard, and it is only on the assumption of each body of the enemy encountering us only once, that I can reconcile the idea of this continual fear to my mind.[297]

“In the impossibility,” says Professor Wilson, “that existed of engaging in any active operations in the direction of Ava, it was judged advisable to employ part of the force in reducing some of the maritime provinces of the Burman kingdom. The district of Tenasserim, comprising the divisions of Tavoy and Mergui, was that selected for attack, as containing a valuable tract of sea-coast, as well as being likely to afford supplies of cattle and grain. Accordingly, an expedition was detached against those places, consisting of details of his Majesty’s 89th and the 7th Madras native infantry, with several cruisers and gun-brigs, under command of Lieutenant-Colonel Miles. They sailed from Rangoon on the 20th of August, and reached the mouth of the river leading to Tavoy on the 1st of September: some difficulty occurred in working up the river, in consequence of which the vessels arrived off the town only on the eighth. A conspiracy amongst the garrison facilitated the capture of the place; the second in command making the Maiwoon and his family prisoners, delivered them to the British officer, and the town was occupied without opposition. At Mergui, whither the armament next proceeded, and where it arrived on the 6th of October, a more effective resistance was offered: a heavy fire was opened from the batteries of the town, which was returned by the cruisers with such effect as to silence it in about an hour. The troops then landed, and after wading through miry ground, between the river and a strong stockade which defended the town, and being exposed to a brisk fire from the enemy, they advanced to the stockade, and escaladed it in the most gallant style. The enemy fled. The town, when first occupied, was deserted; but the people soon returned, and both here and at Tavoy showed themselves perfectly indifferent to the change of authorities. After leaving a sufficient garrison of the native troops, and part of the flotilla, Colonel Miles returned with the European portion of his division to Rangoon, in November, in time to take a part in the more important operations about to recur.”[298]

We, too, must now go back to Rangoon, or we shall miss the sight of some wondrous strange animals, which the Golden Foot sent down from his capital far away, to oppose and strike terror into the unabashed invaders. These were the far-famed Invulnerables, to which corps I have already alluded;[299] and I cannot now do better than introduce themselves and their deeds to the readers, in the spirited narrative of Mr. Macfarlane.[300]

“The Lord of the White Elephant now sent his two brothers, the prince of Tonghoo and the prince of Sarrawaddy, with a whole host of astrologers, and a corps of ‘Invulnerables,’ to join the army, and to direct the future operations of the war. The astrologers were to fix the lucky moments for attacking: the Invulnerables had some points of resemblance to the Turkish Delhis; they were the desperadoes or madmen of the army, and their madness was kept up by enormous doses of opium. The corps of Invulnerables consisted of several thousand men, divided into classes; the most select band of all being called the King’s Invulnerables. The prince of Tonghoo established his head-quarters at Pegu, and the prince of Sarrawaddy took post at Donoopeu, upon the great river, about sixty miles from Rangoon.

“In the beginning of August, the prince of Sarrawaddy sent down a force to occupy a strong post at the mouth of the Pegu river, a few miles below Rangoon, giving his people strict orders to block the channel of the river in our rear, that not one of the ‘wild foreigners,’ or ‘captive strangers,’ might escape the punishment that was about to overtake them. Sir Archibald Campbell presently detached a small corps, under Brigadier Smelt, to dislodge Sarrawaddy’s warriors. Our land-troops were brought to a stand-still, when within musket-shot of the place, by a deep and impassable creek; but a party of sailors from his Majesty’s ship Larne, under Captain Marryat, threw a bridge over the creek; and soon as the column of attack pushed forward, the enemy began to fly, leaving eight guns and a quantity of ammunition in their stockade. A strong pagoda, with a numerous garrison, and with cannons pointing down every approach, was next carried with equal facility. Other ports on the rivers and creeks were successively and successfully attacked. Such of the enemy as had had any experience of our way of fighting seldom stopped to fight in their stockades, but a new set of people from the interior made a good stand in a succession of stockades on one of the rivers, and cost us the loss of a good many brave men. These affairs of posts were very numerous.

“At last the astrologers told the prince of Sarrawaddy that the stars had told them that the moment was come for a decisive action; and on the night of the 30th of August, a body of the King’s Invulnerables promised to attack and carry the Great or Golden Dagon Pagoda, in order that the princes, and the sages and pious men in their train, might celebrate the usual annual festival in the sacred place—a place now crowded, not with Bouges, but with English grenadiers. And, true so far to their promise, the Invulnerables, at the hour of midnight, rushed in a compact body from the jungle under the pagoda, armed with swords and muskets. A small picquet, thrown out in our front, retired in slow and steady order, skirmishing with the Invulnerables until they reached the flight of steps leading from the road up to the pagoda. The moon was gone down, and the night was so dark that the Burmese could be distinguished only by a few glimmering lanterns in the front; but their noise and clamour, their threats and imprecations upon the impious strangers, if they did not immediately evacuate the sacred temple, proved their number to be very great. In a dense column, they rolled along the narrow pathway leading to the northern gate of the pagoda, wherein all seemed as silent as the grave. But, hark! the muskets crash, the cannons roar along the ramparts of the British posts, drowning the tumult of the advancing column; and see—see by the flash of our guns, the column reels back, the Invulnerables fall mortally wounded, and the rest turn their backs on the holy place, and run with frantic speed for the recovery of the jungle. Invulnerables ventured no more near any of our posts. But the dysentery broke out among our troops, killing many of them, and reducing more to a most emaciated and enfeebled state. Scarcely three thousand duty soldiers were left to guard our line. Floating hospitals were established at the mouth of the river; bread was now furnished in sufficient quantities, but nothing, except change of season or of climate, could restore the sufferers to health. Mergui and Tavoy, portions of our recent conquests on the sea-coast, were represented by the medical officers who visited them as admirable convalescent stations; and thither a number of the people were sent, and with the most beneficial result.”

Thus will the personification of plain, blunt valour ever overcome such as have no real courage, and are upheld only by superstition and credulity.