The battles of the British Army

by Robert Melvin Blackwood

Arrived at Rangoon, Captain Tarleton, with other officers, landed to present this letter for the king to the Governor of the port. His reception was insulting in the extreme, and an account of the proceedings having been forwarded to the Indian Government, a further and more emphatic “note” was sent. On receipt of this second letter, amendment was promised to the Indian authorities. “The Great English War-Chiefs” were informed that strict inquiry would be made into affairs, just treatment should be accorded the merchants, and that a fresh Governor would be appointed.

This step was taken, but the incoming Governor “chastised with scorpions,” instead of with the “whips” of his predecessor, and things rapidly went from bad to worse. A climax was reached when Commodore Lambert sent Captain Fishbourne of H.M.S. Hermes with a letter stating the precise claims of the Indian Government. Captain Fishbourne was informed that the Governor was asleep, which was not true, and that they must wait in an open shed until he awoke and could receive them. After remaining for some little time, they returned to the ship without having been admitted to the Governor’s presence.

Commodore Lambert’s reply to this latest insult was short and sharp. He seized a vessel belonging to the King of Ava, declared the river mouth to be in a state of blockade, and invited all persons in Rangoon who claimed British protection to come aboard his ship. Four days later, on the 10th January, 1852, a brisk cannonade was opened on the Fox from a stockade on the adjacent river bank. A few rounds from the British vessel sufficed to silence the battery, and immediately afterwards the Fox returned to Calcutta to report the state of affairs.

The next move in the Burmese situation took the form of a lengthy and formal remonstrance to the King of Ava, once more demanding reparation. Regret was to be expressed for former discourtesies; ten lacs of rupees were demanded in compensation; a respectful reception was solicited for the incoming representative of the British Government; and finally, the removal of the obnoxious were demanded as terms by which alone peace could be maintained.

“If without further delay, negotiation, or correspondence, these conditions shall be consented to, and shall be fulfilled by the 1st April next, hostile operations shall be stayed.” Failing this, war would be declared. “The guilt and consequences of such war will rest upon the head of the ruler of Ava.”

In answer to this ultimatum, no concession was made by the Burmese, and a hostile expedition was at once prepared.

The armament was to consist of troops from the Presidencies of Bengal and Madras, with the 18th Royal Irish, 35th Royal Sussex, the 51st Light Infantry, and the Staffordshire regiment. The whole force, some 4400 of all ranks, was placed under the command of Major-General Godwin, a veteran officer who was engaged in the first Burmese war. The conditions of peace were specified at the outset. Fifteen lacs of rupees were demanded for expenses, with an additional three lacs for every month after the 1st May. Until these payments were made, the British troops were to remain in possession of such places as they might capture.

General Godwin set sail with his forces on the 28th March, and reached Rangoon on the 2nd April, where he found Rear-Admiral Austin, C.B., the naval commander-in-chief, who had come from Penang in H.M.S. Rattler. Martaban, which had a river line of defences about 800 yards in length, was at once selected as the first objective of attack.

Arrangements were made for the attack on daybreak of the 5th April. The Admiral made every disposition possible, “in waters full of shoals and violent currents,” for bombarding the position with his five steamers, and to cover the landing of the troops. “It was the admiration of everyone,” runs General Godwin’s official narrative, “to witness the noble manner in which the Rattler worked her way within 200 yards of the wall and close to the pagoda, doing tremendous execution. I changed from the Rattler at six o’clock, to superintend the landing of the troops, and went on board a smaller vessel, the Proserpine, with my staff. At half-past six the steamer opened fire, and at seven the troops were in the boats, and landed, by the indefatigable exertions of Commander Brooking, under a smart fire of musketry and guns. Soon was the storming party under the walls and over them, with less loss than I thought possible. Lieutenant-Colonel Reignolds immediately ascended to the pagodas on the height, and took possession of them after some skirmishing with the enemy. At eight a.m. Martaban was won, and, considering the enemy’s position and numbers, which report gives at 5000 men, we have got it very cheaply.”

Thus tersely is the account of the first engagement of the war rendered. By the 9th, the expedition lay off Rangoon, the principal port on the eastern branch of the Irrawaddy. Occasional patches of forest and rice flats surround the Burmese capital from the midst of whose wooden houses rose in those days the Great Pagoda, a religious edifice of both literal and figurative high-standing. Three hundred and fifty feet has been given as the height of this edifice, and not only was it surrounded by stockades and cannon, but, if reports were true, its interior was loaded with vast treasure, which would make its capture a profitable as well as honourable enterprise.