| [15] | Return of killed and wounded from the War-office, | July, | 1815. | |||||||
| Killed on the spot, non-commissioned and privates, | .. | .. | 1715 | |||||||
| Died of wounds, | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | 856 | |
| Missing, supposed killed, | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | 353 | ||
| Total, | .. | .. | .. | 2924 | ||||||
| Wounded, | .. | .. | .. | 6831 | ||||||
| Total killed and wounded, | .. | .. | .. | 9755 | ||||||
| French Artillery captured at Waterloo:— | ||
|---|---|---|
| 12-pounder guns, | .. | 35 |
| 6-pounder guns, | .. | 57 |
| 6-inch howitzers, | .. | 13 |
| 24-pounder howitzers, | .. | 17 |
| Total cannons, | .. | 122 |
| 12-pounder waggons, | .. | 74 |
| 6-pounder waggons, | .. | 71 |
| Howitzer waggons, | .. | 50 |
| Total, | .. | 195 |
On the evening of the 29th, Napoleon quitted the capital, never to enter it again. Hostilities ceased immediately, the Bourbons were recalled, and placed upon the throne, and Europe, after years of anarchy and bloodshed, at last obtained repose, while he, “alike its wonder and its scourge,” was removed to a scene far distant from that which had witnessed his triumphs and his reverses, and within the narrow limits of a paltry island that haughty spirit, for whom half Europe was too small, dragged out a gloomy existence, until death loosened the chain and the grave closed upon the Captive of Saint Helena.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
THE BATTLE OF KEMMENDINE.
1824.
In 1824 the British were forced into a war with the kingdom of Burmah. The war, however, was not of our seeking; we were forced into it. The Burmese a few years previously had taken forcible possession of the province of Assam, which was soon followed by parties of these people committing serious devastations within British territory, burning a number of villages, plundering and murdering the inhabitants, or carrying them off as slaves. At the same time an island in the Brahmaputra, on which the British flag had been erected, was invaded, the flag was thrown down, and an armed force collected to maintain the insult.
To meet these difficulties, and to strengthen their eastern frontier, the British Government resolved upon occupying Kachar, with the more important province of Manipur, which had long ago requested the protection of the British against the tyranny of the Burmahs. Active hostilities had by this time broken out at the boundaries.
The British asked for a commission of inquiry and settlement to be appointed. This request was answered by an attack upon, and the capture of, the British post of Shahpuri, an affair that was attended with considerable loss of life; and which was followed by a menacing letter from the Rajah of Arracan, to the effect that unless the British Government submitted quietly it would be followed by the like forcible seizure of the cities of Dacca and Moorshedabad. The British now called upon the court of Ava to disavow the proceedings of its officers in Arracan. This last act of mistaken and temporising policy had no other effect than that of confirming the court of Ava in their confident expectation of annexing the eastern provinces of Bengal—if not of expelling the British from India altogether.
There followed several minor engagements, and in May of 1824 the British forces got possession of Rangoon after a trifling resistance. The troops were posted in the immense pagoda of the town, where many unfortunate prisoners were discovered, forgotten by the Burmahs in the confusion of their retreat.
Rumours of the arrival of Bandoola with the main body of his grand army, reached Rangoon early in November, 1824, and towards the end of the month an intercepted dispatch from Bandoola to the ex-governor of Martaban, announced his having left Prome, at the head of an invincible army, with horses and elephants, and every kind of stores, to capture or expel the British from Rangoon. Every arrangement was then made to give him a warm reception.