A country situated in the S.E. of Asia, in the region beyond the river Brahmapootra. It is possessed by the Burmese, the limits of whose dominions have been greatly contracted by British conquests. On the west, where it is conterminous with the British territories in India, Burmah is bounded by the province of Arracan, surrendered to the British by the treaty concluded with the Burmese in 1826, and by the petty states of Tipperah, Munnepore, and Assam, from which countries it is separated by lofty ridges of mountains; on the south by the newly acquired British province of Pegu; on the north by Assam and Thibet; and on the east by China. Its limits extend from Lat. 19.25. to 28.15.; and from Long. 93.2. to 100.40.; comprising a territory measuring 540 miles in length from north to south, and 420 in breadth, with an area of 96,000 square miles.

That portion of Asia in which Burmah is situated slopes from the central mountains towards the south; and as it approaches the Indian Ocean, it subsides into an extensive campaign country, which is overflowed in the rainy season by the swelling of the rivers. The Burmese territory is watered by three great streams, namely, the Irrawaddy, the Salween, and the Kyen-dwen, a tributary of the Irrawaddy. These rivers have their sources in the northern chain of mountains in the interior, some of which are covered with perpetual snow; and they run in a southerly course to the Indian Ocean. The Irrawaddy and the Salween are large rivers, which overflow the flat country on their banks during the season of the rains. Burmah, having been despoiled of Pegu, contains neither maritime districts nor alluvial plains, but is altogether an upland territory, bounded at its southern extremity by a frontier line at the distance of about 200 miles from the mouths of the Irrawaddy. From this point the country begins to rise, and thence for about 300 miles farther it may be considered hilly and elevated; beyond this it is wild and mountainous. To the W. and N.W. it is divided from Arracan, Munnepore, and Assam, by mountainous ridges often of great elevation.

Though inferior in point of fertility to the low-lying tracts Natural of which Burmah has been stripped, the upland country is far productive from being unproductive. The chief crops are rice, maize, millet, wheat, various pulses, palms, the sugar-cane, tobacco, cotton, and indigo. The sugar-cane appears to have been long known to the Burmese; but though the climate and soil are extremely favourable, it is not generally cultivated, and the art of manufacturing sugar is scarcely known. A cheap and coarse sugar is obtained from the juice of the Palmyra palm, which abounds in the tract south of the capital, where numerous groves of this tree are to be seen. The cocoa and areca palms are not common. The tea plant is cultivated in the hills by some of the mountain tribes at the distance of about five days' journey, and by others in still greater perfection at the distance of about ten days' journey, from Ava. The leaves are elliptical, oblong, and serrated, and there is little doubt of its being the genuine tea plant of China. It is singular, however, that the natives never infuse it as they do the Chinese tea, but eat the leaf prepared with oil and garlic.

Cotton is grown in every part of the kingdom and its dependencies, but chiefly in the dry lands and climate of the upper provinces. Indigo is an indigenous product, and is universally cultivated, but in a very rude manner. It is still more rudely manufactured, and is wholly unfit for exportation.

In the cultivation of fruits the Burmese are careless and unskillful. The most common fruits are the mango, the orange, the pine, the custard apple, the jack, the papaya fig, and the plantain. Most of these fruits grow spontaneously in the congenial soil and climate of the country. In horticulture and gardening the ignorance of the Burmese is remarkable. Though green vegetables and fruits form a great portion of their diet, they are at no pains to cultivate them, but are content with gathering those which grow spontaneously in the forests and marshes, such as the young shoots of the bamboo, wild asparagus, the succulent stems of a variety of aquatic plants, and other shrubs which would not be deemed fit for food in any other country. They are strangers to all the ordinary garden vegetables, such as peas, carrots, cabbages, turnips, mustard, cresses, radishes, &c. Even melons, cucumbers, and the egg-plant, so generally cultivated in India, are here little attended to. The yam and the sweet potato are grown, but not extensively; and the common potato is unknown. Onions are produced; and capsicum, which, after salt, is the most ordinary condiment used by the Burmese, is cultivated everywhere.

The forests of Burmah abound in the finest trees. Among these the teak holds a conspicuous place. The finest teak forest is that of Sarawaddy, but many others exist in the provinces, and Ava the capital is supplied from a place distant fifteen days' journey. Almost every description of timber known in India is produced in the Burmese forests.

Varnish is another useful forest product, which is employed by the Shans and the Burmese in their manufacture of lacquer ware. Stick-lack of an excellent quality is obtained in the woods.

Burmah is rich in minerals, and produces gold, silver, copper, tin, lead, antimony, amber, coal, petroleum, nitre, natron, salt, limestone, and marble, noble serpentine, sapphire, and other precious stones. Gold, carried down from the higher grounds by the mountain streams, is found in the sands of different rivers; and is also found towards Lao on the eastern frontier. Silver mines, too, are wrought towards the Chinese frontier, at a place called Bor-twang, about twelve days' journey from Bhamo, which is 250 miles north by east from Ava. The mountainous districts of Lao contain almost all the other metals; but such is the rude state of the people, that they are ignorant of their value; and it is doubtful whether the copper, tin, and lead, which are seen in the market of Ava are produced in the Burmese territories, or are imported from China. Iron is found abundantly in the eastern country of Lao, and it is wrought, though with little advantage. Owing to ignorance and the want of proper machinery, about 30 or 40 per cent. of the metal is lost in the process of forging. The mountains near the capital contain lime in great abundance and of remarkable whiteness; and statuary marble, equal to the best Italian specimens, is found about 40 miles from Ava, on the eastern bank of the Irrawaddy. Mines of amber are wrought, and their produce must be abundant, judging from the price of this article, which at Ava does not exceed four shillings per pound. Nitre, natron, and salt are found in the neighbourhood of the capital, and in the upper provinces. Coal has also been discovered, and there is little doubt that it is extensively diffused. It has not, however, been extracted from the earth by the ignorant and lazy inhabitants, who are content to use in its stead wood, which is scarce and dear. Petroleum, which is used by all ranks among the Burmese for burning in lamps, and also for smearing wood as a preservative against insects, is found near the village of Re-nan-gyaong, on the banks of the Irrawaddy. Here are about eight or ten pits or wells, the general depth of which is from 210 to 240 feet; some of them are deeper, and one is sunk to the depth of 300 feet. The shaft is of a square form, about three feet in diameter, and is formed by sinking a wooden frame. The liquid appears to boil up from the bottom like an abundant spring, and is extracted in buckets, and sent to all quarters of the country. In those parts where its price is raised by a long land-carriage until it comes into competition with Sesamum oil, the latter is preferred.

The precious stones which are produced in the Burmese territories are chiefly of the sapphire species and the spinelle ruby. They are found at two places, about five days' journey in a S.E. direction from the capital, in the beds of rivulets or small brooks, from which they are separated by washing. The varieties of the sapphire found there are, the blue or oriental sapphire, the red or oriental ruby, the purple or oriental amethyst, the yellow or oriental topaz, besides different varieties of chrysoberyl and spinelle. The crown, as in all despotic countries, lays claim to the produce of these rivers; and all the stones that exceed the value of L.10 are accordingly sent to the treasury. No stranger is ever permitted to approach the spots where these precious stones are found. Noble serpentine is exported in considerable quantities to China, where it is used for rings and amulets.

The country of the Burmese, abounding in forests, affords animals extensive shelter to the wild animals. The elephant, and the rhinoceros with a single horn, are found in all the deep forests of the country. The tiger and the leopard are numerous, as are also the wild hog, and several species of deer, such as the Indian roe and the axis. It is remarkable that no species of antelope is seen. It is said there are neither wolves, jackals, foxes, nor hyenas, in any of the tropical countries east of Bengal.

Of birds, the wild cock is common, and is seen in coves in all the forests of the country. There are also peacocks, varieties of pheasants, partridges, and quails.

The domestic animals of the Burmese are the ox, the buffalo, and the horse. Oxen are used for draught in the upper country, and buffaloes in the southern parts of Burmah. They are of a good description, and, ranging in the luxuriant pastures of the plains, they commonly appear in high order. The care of these animals is the only point to which much attention is paid in the rural economy of the Burmese. The buffalo is confined to agricultural labour, and the ox alone is used as a beast of burden or of draught. The Burman horses are rarely more than thirteen hands high; the full-sized horse being unknown in the tropical countries of Asia east of Bengal. Horses are never used but for riding, and only in the upper mountainous districts. Elephants are kept for the pleasure of the king, some of them of fine quality, and of a white colour. The dog, as in most other parts of the East, is neglected, and is seen prowling about the streets a prey to famine and disease. Cats are numerous; and about the capital a few goats and sheep, of a puny race, are kept more for curiosity than for use. A few asses are also seen, which are brought from China. The camel is not known even in the upper country, where it would be found extremely useful.

From their resemblance in features and form, the Burmese appear to be of the same race as the inhabitants of the countries that lie between Hindustan and China. They may be generally described as of a stout, short, active, but well-proportioned form; of a brown but never of an intensely dark complexion, with black, coarse, lank, and abundant hair, and a little more beard than is possessed by the Siamese. The population of the country has been variously estimated and grossly exaggerated by the ignorance of Europeans, who have raised it to 17,000,000, 19,000,000, and even 33,000,000. There is no enumeration of the inhabitants in any part. Mr Craufurd, on the best data that he could procure, rated the inhabitants at 22 to the square mile, which, under the now contracted limits of the empire, would give a total population of 2,112,000.

The Burmans appear to be inferior to the Hindus, and still more to the Chinese, in arts, manufactures, and industry, and in all the institutions of civil life. Their government is a pure despotism, the king dispensing torture, imprisonment, or death, according to his sovereign discretion. One of his customary titles is lord of the life and property of all his subjects; and they frequently find to their cost that this is no vain title. The chief object of government seems to be the personal honour and aggrandizement of the monarch; and the only restraint on the exercise of his prerogative is the fear of an insurrection. He is assisted in his administration by a public and a privy council. All questions, before they are submitted to the public advisers of his majesty, are debated in the privy council, which consists of four, to which are attached deputies, secretaries, and other officers, who carry messages, report from time to time the proceedings of the council to the king, and are in reality privileged spies. The pay-master-general is an officer of high importance; the other officers of distinction are the king's armour-bearer and the master of the elephants, who however have no share in the administration of public affairs. The king may order any of those great officers to be punished at his pleasure; and Mr Craufurd mentions, that during his residence at Ava, the favourite minister, on a complaint from some of the women of the court, was, by an order from the king, seized by the public executioner, and laid at the side of the road for two hours under the burning sun, with a weight upon his breast; and after undergoing this disgraceful punishment, continued to discharge his high functions as before. The country at large is ruled by provincial governors; and is divided into provinces, townships, districts, villages, and hamlets. The civil, military, judicial, and fiscal administration of the province is vested in the governor, who exercises the power of life and death, though in all civil cases an appeal lies from his sentence to the chief council at the capital. In all the townships and villages there are judges with a subordinate jurisdiction. Each of the three towns composing the capital has a governor, and these governors are assisted by a sort of head constables, known to all strangers "as the busy, corrupt, and mischievous agents of the local authorities." But from a mere dry detail of the provincial administration and judicial institutions of the Burmese, their extreme inefficiency can scarcely be known. No Burmese officer ever receives a fixed salary. The higher class is paid by an assignment either of land or of the labour and industry of a given portion of the inhabitants, and the inferior magistrates by fees, perquisites, and other emoluments; and hence the most shameless extortion and bribery prevails amongst all the functionaries of the Burmese government, from the highest to the lowest. Justice is openly exposed for sale; and the exercise of the judicial functions is found to be so lucrative, that the two executive councils have by their encroachments deprived the regular judge of the greater part of his employment. So notoriously corrupt are all the judges among the Burmese, that a lawsuit is considered by all prudent men as a serious calamity.

The criminal code of the Burmese is barbarous and severe, and the punishments inflicted are shocking to humanity. Gang robbery, desertion from the king's service, robbing of temples, and sedition or treason, are considered the most heinous crimes, and are cruelly punished, the criminal being in some cases embowelled, or thrown to wild beasts. In these cases they generally meet death with oriental indifference; and it is related of one woman who was adjudged to the latter punishment, that she deliberately crept into the cage of the tiger, and making an obeisance to the animal, was immediately killed by a single blow of his fore-paw, and dragged into the inner recesses of his den. For minor offences, fines, whipping, and imprisonment are the punishments adjudged. In important cases torture is applied both to principals and witnesses; and the jailors often torture their prisoners in order to extort money from them. The English and Americans who, during the war of 1824, were thrown into prison, were frequently tortured, and were compelled to pay fines to the jailor in order to procure milder treatment. The trial by ordeal is sometimes resorted to, as well as other superstitious modes of procedure, which denote the lowest state of barbarism. But the administration of justice among the Burmese, however vexatious and expensive, is far from efficient; and the police is as bad as can possibly be conceived. Hence the country is overrun with pirates and robbers, and a general laxity, negligence and corruption, pervade every branch of the internal administration.

Among the Burmese, society is distinguished into seven classes, which have each peculiar privileges. These are the royal family, the public officers, the priesthood, the rich men, the cultivators and labourers, slaves and outcasts. There are no hereditary honours under the Burmese government, as all the public functionaries may be dismissed from their offices, and deprived of their rank at the caprice of the sovereign. Any subject, with the exception of a slave or outcast, may, however, aspire to the first offices in the state, to which, in reality, persons of very mean origin do frequently attain. The Burmese are extremely punctilious and strict in maintaining the various orders and distinctions of society. The great officers of government hold the first rank after the king and the princes of the blood, and are distinguished by a chain or badge, which is the order of nobility, and of which there are different degrees, distinguished by the number of strings or small chains which compose the ornament. Three of open chain work mark the lowest rank; three of neatly-twisted wire the next; there are then six, nine, twelve, and finally twenty-four, which the king alone is entitled to wear. But every article possessed by a Burman for use or ornament—his ear-rings, cap of ceremony, horse-furniture, the material of his drinking-cup, if it be of gold or any other metal, the colour and quality of his umbrella (an article in general use, and one of the principal insignia of rank), whether it be of brown varnished paper, red, green, gilded, or plain white, the royal colour, all indicate the rank of the person; and if any of the lower orders usurp the insignia of a higher class, he may be slain with impunity by the first person who meets him; and so exclusive is the aristocratical spirit of the higher orders, that such a usurpation would be sure of punishment.

When a merchant acquires property he is registered by a royal edict under the name of Thuthie, or "rich man," which gives him a title to the protection of the court, while it exposes him also to regular extortion. The priesthood form a separate order, who are interdicted from all other employment, and are supported by voluntary contributions. They are distinguished by the yellow colours in their dress, which it would be reckoned sacrilege in any other person to wear; and a formal complaint was made, during the conferences with the British previous to peace, because some of their camp followers were seen dressed in yellow clothes. There is also an order of nuns or priestesses, who make a vow of chastity, but may at any time quit their order. The free labouring population consist of proprietors or common labourers; and they are all considered the slaves of the king, who may at all times call for their services as soldiers, artisans, or common labourers. Hence a Burman, being the property of the king, can never quit the country without his especial permission, which is only granted for a limited time, and never to women on any pretence. The British and others who had children by Burmese women during a residence in the country experienced the greatest difficulty, even with the aid of heavy dowers, in taking them along with them. There are two classes of slaves; namely, those who have mortgaged their services for a debt, and who are used as slaves until the debt is paid; and prisoners of war, who are always reduced to slavery. The class of outcasts consists of the slaves of the pagodas, the burners of the dead, the jailers and executioners, who are generally condemned criminals, lepers, and other incurables, who are held in great abhorrence, and treated with singular caprice and cruelty. They are condemned to dwell alone, and in a state of disgrace; and any man who is infected with leprosy, however high his rank, is forced, by continual bribes to the officers of justice, to purchase an exemption from the penalties which attach to him. Prostitutes are also considered as outcasts, but not women of loose character, chastity not being in any repute among the Burmans.

The women in Ava are not shut up as in many other parts of the East, and excluded from the sight of men; on the contrary, they are suffered to appear openly in society as in Europe. In many other respects, however, they are exposed to the most degrading treatment. They are sold for a time to strangers; and the practice is not considered shameful, nor the female in any respect dishonoured. They are seldom unfaithful to their new master; and many of them have proved essentially useful to strangers in the Burmese dominions, being generally of industrious and domestic habits, and not addicted to vice.

The taxes from which the public revenue arises are in general rude and ill-contrived expedients for extortion, and are vexatious to the people at the same time that they are little productive to the state. One of the most common is the impost levied upon the proprietors of the soil by families according to a loose estimate of their supposed means, and rather resembles a property than a land tax. Nearly all the cultivated land of the kingdom is assigned to favourites of the court or to public functionaries in lieu of stipends or salaries, or is appropriated to the expenses of public establishments, such as war-boats, elephants, &c.; and this assignment conveys a right to tax the inhabitants according to the discretion of the assignee. The court favourites who receive these grants generally appoint agents to manage their estates; they pay a certain tax or quit-rent to the crown, and their agents extort from the cultivators as much more as they can by every mode of oppression, often by torture. Besides this stated tax, extraordinary contributions are levied by the council of the state directly from the lords and nobles to whom the lands are assigned, who in their turn levy it from the cultivators, and generally make it a pretence for plunder and extortion. Taxes are also laid on fruit-trees, on the teak forests, on the petroleum springs, on mines of gold and precious stones, on the fishery of ponds, lakes, rivers, and salt-water creeks, on the manufacture of salt, on the eggs of the green turtle, and on esculent swallows' nests. There are no transit duties, nor any duties at fairs or markets; and as the consumption of wines, spirits, opium, and other intoxicating drugs, is forbidden by law, they cannot of course be subject to any tax.

In the useful arts the Burmese have not made any great advances. The whole process of the cotton manufacture is performed by women, who use a very rude species of loom, and are much inferior in dexterity to the Indian artisans. No fine linen is ever made at home; and the home manufacturer, even in the interior of the country, cannot withstand the competition of British cotton goods. Silk cloths are manufactured at different places; the finest at Ava or Amarapura, from raw Chinese silk. The common coarse unglazed earthenware, which is manufactured in Ava, is of an excellent quality; and a better description of pottery is also made. They are entirely ignorant of the art of making porcelain, which is imported from China. Iron ore, as already mentioned, is smelted; but the Burmans cannot manufacture steel, which is brought from Bengal. Coarse articles of cutlery, including swords, spears, knives, also muskets and matchlocks, scissors, and carpenters' tools, are manufactured at Ava. Gold and silver ornaments are produced in every considerable place in the country, but in a decidedly rude and clumsy manner. About 40 miles from Ava, on the eastern bank of the Irrawaddy, is an entire hill of pure white marble. Here are sculptured marble images of Gautama or Buddha. The marble is of the finest quality; but the workmanship is rude, and displays neither taste nor fancy. Since Burmah was deprived of its harbours and maritime districts, its commerce has been extremely limited. The trade of the country centres chiefly in Ava, the capital. The imports are rice, pickled and dried fish, and foreign commodities imported from Bengal, the Asiatic Archipelago, and Europe. Petroleum, which, as already mentioned, is a great article of internal consumption; saltpetre, lime, paper, lacquer ware, cotton and silk fabrics, iron, cutlery, some brass ware, terra japonica, sugar, and tamarinds, are given in exchange. One of the most important branches of the trade of Ava is that carried on with the Chinese province of Yunnan. The principal marts of this trade are Midé, six miles to the N.E. of Ava; and B'hamo, the chief place of a province of the same name, bordering on China. It is carried on at annual fairs. The Chinese caravan, setting out from the western province of Yunnan at the close of the periodical rains, generally reaches Burmah in the beginning of December, after a journey of six weeks over difficult and mountainous roads, on which only horses, mules, and asses can travel. No part of the journey is by water; from which it would appear that the upper streams of the Irrawaddy, near to the Chinese frontier, are not navigable. The principal fair is, however, held at B'hamo, comparatively few traders arriving at Ava. The articles imported from China are wrought copper; orpiment or yellow arsenic from the mines in Yunnan, of a very fine quality, which finds its way into western Asia, and into Europe through Calcutta; quicksilver, vermillion, iron pans, brass wire, tin, lead, alum, silver, gold and gold-leaf; earthenware, paints, carpets, rhubarb, tea, honey, raw silk, velvets and other wrought silks; spirits, musk, verdigris, dry fruits, paper, fans, umbrellas, shoes, and wearing apparel. The metals are chiefly produced in the province of Yunnan, which, though poor, is rich in minerals. The tea, which is coarse and black, is supposed to be from the same province. The articles sent to China consist of raw cotton, by far the most considerable article of export; feathers, chiefly of the blue jay, for ornamenting the dresses of ceremony of the Chinese mandarins; esculent swallows' nests, ivory, rhinoceros' and deers' horns; sapphires, used for buttons to the caps of the Chinese officers of rank; and noble serpentine, with a small quantity of British woollens.

The progress and civilization of a country may be generally very accurately measured by the state of its currency; and that used by the Burmese is of the rudest description. For the smaller payments lead is employed; and for the larger payments gold or silver, but principally the latter. These are not coined into pieces of any known weight and fineness; and in every payment of any consequence the metal must be weighed and generally assayed, for which Burma, a premium is paid to the bankers or money-changers of 2½ per cent., besides 1 per cent. which they say is lost in the operation. These bankers are said by Symes to be workers in silver; and every merchant has one with whom he lodges his cash, and who receives on this account a commission of 1 per cent. The want of a more convenient currency must tend greatly to embarrass the operations of trade. The high rate of interest for money—which is 25 per cent., and 60 per cent. when no security is given—is another proof of the low state of commerce among the Burmese.

The Burmese, as may be supposed, are entirely ignorant of literature and science. Their astronomy and astrology they have borrowed from the Hindus. They are ignorant of navigation; and in their voyages to Calcutta, during the fine season, they creep along the coast, never losing sight of it. Morality is at a low ebb among them, and their rulers have no conception of either the excellence or utility of good faith. "They would," says the Rev. Mr. Judson, the American missionary, "consider it nothing less than folly to keep a treaty if they could gain anything by breaking it." The fidelity observed by the British government in fulfilling the stipulations of the late treaty stupified the Burmans. They knew not what to make of it, but some of them have now begun to admire it. "I heard many make use of expressions like the following: 'These Kulas (English), though they drink spirits and slay cattle, and are ambitious and rapacious, have a regard for truth and their word, which is quite extraordinary; whereas in us Burmese there is no truth.' The first circumstance in the conduct of the British which struck them with surprise was the return of Dr Sandford on his parole; and next, Sir A. Campbell's returning six lacs of rupees offered him after the money was in his power."

The Burmese are not votaries of Brahma, but sectaries of Buddha, who is universally considered by the Hindus as the ninth Avatar, or descent of the Deity in his capacity of preserver; and the rites, doctrines, and priesthood are nearly the same as in other countries where Buddhism prevails. Neither Christianity nor Mahommedanism has made any progress. Foreigners enjoy religious toleration, but the Burmese rulers view any attempt to convert the natives to the Christian or any other foreign faith as an interference with their allegiance, and they discourage all such schemes. An American mission was settled in the country under the conduct of Mr Judson before mentioned, who brought to the execution of this perilous service zeal and sound discretion; but it entirely failed of success, not from any bigotry on the part of the natives, but from the opposition of men in power. On the war breaking out with the British, the missionaries were imprisoned, and narrowly escaped with their lives. They are now prosecuting their missionary labours in the British province of Martaban.

The ancient history of Ava is very imperfectly known; the more early records relating chiefly to dynasties of which little more is given than their names. We learn from the Portuguese navigators that about the middle of the sixteenth century four powerful states ruled over those countries which lie between the S.E. province of British India, Yunnan in China, and the Eastern Sea, namely, Arracan, Ava, Pegu, and Siam. By the help of the Portuguese the Burmans subdued the Peguans, and maintained their supremacy over them throughout the seventeenth and during the first forty years of the eighteenth century, when the Peguans revolted, and a war ensued, in the course of which, by the aid of arms procured from Europeans, they gained several victories over the Burmans, and having taken their capital Ava, and made the king prisoner, they reduced the whole country to submission. Alompra, who had been left by the conqueror in charge of Monchaloo, an inconsiderable village, planned the deliverance of his country. He attacked the usurpers at first with small detachments; but when his forces increased, he suddenly advanced, and took possession of the capital in the autumn of 1753. In 1754 the Peguans, anxious to recover their lost conquests, sent an armament of war-boats against Ava; but after an obstinate and bloody battle they were totally defeated by Alompra. In the districts of Prome, Donabew, Loonzay, &c., the Burmans revolted, and succeeded either in expelling or putting to the sword all the Pegu garrisons in their towns. In 1754 Prome was besieged by the king of Pegu, who was again defeated by Alompra in a severe battle, and the war was transferred from the upper provinces to the mouths of the navigable rivers, and the numerous creeks and canals which intersect the lower country. In 1755 Alompra defeated in a general battle Apporaza the king of Pegu's brother, after which the Peguans were driven from Bassein and the adjacent country, and were forced to withdraw to the fortress of Syriam, distant twelve miles from Rangoon. Here they enjoyed a brief repose, Alompra being called away to quell an insurrection of his own subjects, and to repel an invasion of the Siamese; but returning victorious, he laid siege to the fortress of Syriam and took it by surprise, when the garrison were mostly put to the sword, the Europeans being made prisoners. In these wars the French sided with the Peguans, the English with the Burmans. Duplex, the governor of Pondicherry, had sent two ships to the aid of the former; but the master of the first was decoyed up the river by Alompra, when his vessel was taken, and he, along with his whole crew, was massacred. The other escaped by being accidentally delayed, and carried accounts of this disaster to Pondicherry. Alompra was now master of all the navigable rivers; and the Peguans, being entirely shut out from foreign aid, were finally subdued. In 1757 the conqueror laid siege to the city of Pegu, which finally capitulated, on condition that the king should govern the country, but that he should do homage for his kingdom, and should also surrender his daughter to the victorious monarch. Alompra, with Asiatic perfidy, never contemplated the fulfilment of the earlier of these conditions; and having succeeded in obtaining possession of the town through the imbecility of the king, abandoned it to the fury of his soldiers. In the following year the Peguans endeavoured to throw off the yoke, but they were overthrown in a decisive engagement near Rangoon; and Alompra arriving soon after, quelled the rebellion. He afterwards reduced the town and district of Tavoy, and finally undertook the conquest of the Siamese. His army advanced to Mergui and Tennasserim, both which towns were taken; and he was besieging the capital of Siam when he was taken ill. He immediately ordered his army to retreat, in hopes of reaching his capital alive; but he expired on the way, in 1760, in the fiftieth year of his age, after he had reigned eight years. He was succeeded by his eldest son Namdojee Praw, whose reign was disturbed by the rebellion of his brother Shembuan, and afterwards by one of his father's generals. By his vigour he succeeded in quelling these revolts; and he afterwards turned his arms against the refractory Peguans, whom he reduced to subjection. He died in little more than three years, leaving one son in his infancy. On his decease the throne was seized by his brother Shembuan. He was intent, like his predecessors, on the conquest of the adjacent states; and he accordingly made war in 1765 on the Munnipore Cassayers, and also on the Siamese, with partial success. In the following year he renewed the war with the latter, defeated the Siamese, and, after a long blockade, obtained possession of their capital. But while the Burmans were extending their conquests in this quarter, they were invaded by a Chinese army of 50,000 men from the province of Yunnan. This army was hemmed in by the skill of the Burmans; and being reduced by the want of provisions, it was afterwards attacked and totally destroyed, with the exception of 2500 men, who were sent in fetters to work in the Burmese capital at their several trades. In the meantime the Siamese revolted from the Burmese. Burmah. yoke; and while the Burman army was marching against them, the Peguan soldiers who had been incorporated in it rose against their companions, and commencing an indiscriminate massacre, pursued the Burman army to the gates of Rangoon, which they besieged, but were unable to capture. In 1774 Shembuan was engaged in reducing the marauding tribes. He took the district and fort of Martaban from the revolted Peguans; and in the following year he sailed down the Irrawaddy with an army of 50,000 men, and, arriving at Rangoon, put to death the aged monarch of Pegu along with many of his nobles, who had shared with him in the offence of rebellion. He died in 1776, after a reign of twelve years, during which he had extended the Burmese dominions on every side, having reduced to a state of vassalage the petty states in the neighbourhood, and the uncivilized tribes in the western hills, as well as those in the mountainous tracts to the east of the Irrawaddy. He was succeeded by his son, a youth of eighteen, who proved himself a blood-thirsty despot, and was put to death by his uncle Mindragge Praw in 1782, who ascended the vacant throne, and in 1783 sent a fleet of boats against Arracan, which was conquered, and the rajah and his family were made prisoners. Cheduba, Rannee, and the Broken Isles soon afterwards surrendered.

The Siamese who had revolted in 1771 were never afterwards subdued by the Burmans. They retained their dominion over the sea-coast as far as Mergui; and in the year 1785 they attacked the island of Junkseylon with a fleet of boats and an army. But they were ultimately driven back with loss; and a second attempt by the Burman monarch, who in 1786 invaded Siam with an army of 30,000 men, was attended with no better success. In 1793 peace was concluded between these two powers, the Siamese yielding to the Burmans the entire possession of the coast of Tenasserim on the Indian Ocean, and the two important seaports of Mergui and Tavoy.

In 1795 the Burmese were involved in a dispute with the British in India, in consequence of their troops to the amount of 5000 men entering the district of Chittagong in pursuit of three robbers who had fled from justice across the frontier. Explanations being made, and terms of accommodation offered by General Erskine, the commanding officer, the Burmese commander retired from the British territories, when the fugitives were restored, and all differences for the time amicably arranged.

But it was evident that the gradual extension of the British and Burmese territories would in time bring the two powers into close contact along a more extended line of frontier, and in all probability lead to a war between them. It happened, accordingly, that the Burmese, carrying their arms into Assam and Munnapore, penetrated to the British border near Sylhet, on the N.E. frontier of Bengal, beyond which were the possessions of the chiefs of Cachar, under the protection of the British government. The Burmese leaders, arrested in this manner in their career of conquest, and flushed with past success, were impatient to measure their strength with their new neighbours. It appears from the evidence of Europeans who resided in Ava, that they were entirely unacquainted with the discipline and great military resources of the Europeans. They imagined that, like the other nations in the East, they would fall before their superior tactics and valour; and their cupidity was inflamed by the prospect of marching to Calcutta and of plundering the country. With such dispositions, it was not to be supposed that causes of quarrel would long be wanting. Petty acts of aggression were first committed. At length their chiefs, throwing off the mask, ventured on the open violation of the British territories. They attacked a party of sepoys within the frontier, seized and carried off British subjects, and at all points their troops, moving in large bodies, assumed the most menacing positions. In the south encroachments were made upon the British frontier of Chitagong. The island of Shaparee, at the mouth of the Naaf river, had been occupied by a small guard of British troops. These were attacked on the 23rd September 1823, during the night, by the Burmese, and driven from their post with the loss of several lives; and to the repeated demands of the British for redress no answer was returned. Other outrages ensued; and at length, in February 1824, war was declared by the British government.

Hostilities having commenced, the British rulers in India, with their usual boldness and energy, resolved to carry the war into the enemy's country; and with this view an armament was fitted out under the orders of Commodore Grant and Sir Archibald Campbell, which entered the Irrawaddy river, and anchored off Rangoon on the 10th May 1824. After a feeble resistance this great seaport of the Burmese surrendered, and the troops were landed. The place was entirely deserted by its inhabitants, the provisions were carried off or destroyed, and the invading force took possession of a complete solitude. On the 28th May, Sir A. Campbell ordered an attack to be made on some of the nearest posts of the enemy, which were all carried after a feeble defence. Another attack was made on the 10th June on the stoccades at the village of Kemmendine. Some of these, being too strong to be attacked by escalade, were battered by artillery; and the shot and shells struck such terror into the Burmese that they fled from their works in the utmost precipitation. It soon, however, became apparent, that the expedition had been undertaken with very imperfect knowledge of the country, and without adequate provision for securing supplies. The devastation of the country, which was part of the defensive system of the Burmese, was carried into execution with unrelenting rigour, and the invaders were soon reduced to great difficulties. The health of the men rapidly declined, and their ranks were fearfully thinned by disease. Enraged by the defeats hitherto sustained, the monarch of Ava sent large reinforcements to his dispirited and beaten army; and early in July an attack was commenced on the British line, but proved unsuccessful. On the 8th, the British general directed an assault to be made on the enemy's entrenched positions, in which the armament on the river co-operated with the land force. The enemy were beaten as formerly at all points; and their strongest stoccaded works, battered to pieces by a powerful artillery, were in general abandoned by their defenders. Towards the end of August an attack was made on the British position by the prince of Sarawaddy, which was quickly repelled. But with this exception, the enemy having learned by fatal experience the necessity of caution, had allowed the British to remain unmolested in their quarters during the months of July and August. This interval of leisure was employed by Sir A. Campbell in subduing the maritime provinces of the Burmese to the east, namely, Tavoy, Mergui, and the whole coast of Tenasserim, which quickly submitted to the British arms. This was an important conquest, as the country proved to be salubrious, and afforded convalescent stations to the sick, who were now so numerous in the British army, owing to severe duty, and to the incessant rains and privations of every kind to which they were exposed, that scarcely 3000 soldiers fit for duty could be mustered in the lines. The climate of Mergui proved to be so healthy that the sick who had been languishing for months at Rangoon rapidly recovered. An expedition was about this time sent against the old Portuguese fort and factory of Syriem, at the mouth of the Pegu river, which was taken; and in October the province of Martaban was reduced under the authority of the British.

1 Narrative of the Burmese War, by Major Snodgrass. The rainy season terminated about the end of October; and the court of Ava, alarmed by the discomfiture of its numerous armies, resolved on recalling the veteran legions which were employed in Arracan, under their renowned leader Maha Bandoola, in vain attempts to penetrate the British frontier. Relinquishing his plans of offensive war, Bandoola, with his army, hastened by forced marches to the defence of his country; and by the end of November an army of 60,000 men had surrounded the British position at Rangoon and Kemmendine, for the defence of which Sir Archibald Campbell had only 5000 efficient troops. On the 1st December the enemy in great force made repeated attacks on the post of Kemmendine, nowise daunted by the heavy broadsides which were poured from the shipping in the river. These attacks were invariably repulsed by the steadiness of the troops—the last, which was made after dusk, with great loss; and the fire rafts which had been set afloat for the destruction of the shipping, were towed by the sailors to the shore, where they occasioned no injury. Several encounters took place with the enemy on the succeeding days; and on the 7th the army of Bandoola was completely routed in a general attack by Sir A. Campbell. The fugitives retired to a strong position on the river, which they again entrenched; and here they were attacked by the British on the 15th, who, surmounting every obstacle, carried the stoccaded ramparts at the point of the bayonet, and drove the enemy in complete confusion from the field. After this defeat the remnant of the Burmese army retreated to Donabew.

Sir Archibald Campbell, thus victorious in every encounter, now resolved to advance on Prome, about 100 miles higher up the Irrawaddy river. Having provided the means of transport, and having succeeded in acquiring the confidence of the inhabitants, many of whom had returned to their homes, and were found extremely useful to the army, he moved with his force on the 13th February in two divisions, one proceeding by land, and the other, under General Cotton, destined for the reduction of Donabew, being embarked on the flotilla. Sir Archibald Campbell, taking the command of the land force, continued his advance till the 11th March, when intelligence reached him of the failure of the attack upon Donabew. He instantly commenced a retrograde march; on the 27th he effected a junction with General Cotton's force, and on the 2d April carried the entrenchments at Donabew with little resistance, the enemy being panic struck by the death of the general-in-chief, Maha Bandoola, who was killed by the explosion of a bomb. Sir A. Campbell, resuming his march to Prome, entered that place on the 25th, the Burmese flying at his approach, after setting fire to the town. Here he remained during the rainy season to refresh his troops, exhausted by privations and severe service. On the 17th September an armistice was concluded between the contending armies for one month. In the course of the summer General Morrison had conquered the province of Arracan; in the north the Burmese were expelled from Assam; and the British had made some progress in Cachar, though their advance was finally impeded by the thick forests and jungle with which the country was covered.

The armistice between the Burmese and Sir A. Campbell having expired on the 17th October, the army of Ava, amounting to 60,000 men, advanced in three divisions against the British position at Prome, which was defended by 3000 Europeans and 2000 native troops. But the science, courage, superior equipment, and high discipline of the British still triumphed over the undisciplined hordes of the Burmese army, who being hastily brought together, and inexperienced in war, were unable to withstand the close encounter of their veteran adversaries. After several actions, in which the Burmese were the assailants and were partially successful, Sir A. Campbell, on the 1st December, attacked the different divisions of their army, which were imprudently separated from each other, and which, notwithstanding the entrenchments by which they were protected, were, in the course of four days, successively driven from all their positions and dispersed in every direction. The Burmese retired on Meaday and afterwards on Mellone, along the course of the Irrawaddy, where they occupied, with 10,000 or 12,000 men, a series of strongly fortified heights and a formidable stoccade. On the 26th they sent a flag of truce to the British camp; and a negotiation having commenced, peace was proposed to them on the following conditions: 1st, The cession of Arracan, together with the provinces of Mergui, Tavoy, and Yea; 2d, The renunciation by the Burmese sovereign of all claims upon Assam, and its contiguous petty states; 3d, The company to be paid a crore of rupees as an indemnification for the expenses of the war; 4th, Residents from each court to be allowed, with an escort of fifty men. It was also stipulated that British ships should no longer be obliged to unship their rudders and land their guns as formerly in the Burmese ports. This treaty was agreed to and signed, but the ratification of the king was still wanting; and it was soon apparent that the Burmese had no intention to send it, but were preparing to renew the contest. On the 19th January, accordingly, Sir A. Campbell attacked the enemy's position at Mellone and carried it, the Burmese troops abandoning their defences in complete disorder. Another offer of peace was here made, which was found to be insincere; and the fugitive army resolved to make at Pagahin-Mew a final stand in defence of the capital. They were attacked and overthrown on the 9th February 1826; and the invading force being now within four days' march of Ava, Dr Price, an American missionary, who with other Europeans had been thrown into prison when the war commenced, was sent to the British camp with the treaty ratified, the prisoners of war released, and an instalment of 25 lacs of rupees. The war was thus brought to a successful termination, and the British army evacuated the country.

For some years the relations of peace continued undisturbed. Probably the feeling of amity on the part of the Burmese government was not very strong; but so long as the prince by whom the treaty was concluded continued to hold the reins of power, no attempt was made to depart from its main stipulations. That monarch, however, was obliged in 1837 to yield the throne to a usurper who appeared in the person of his brother. This latter personage, at an early period, manifested that hatred of British connection which was almost universal at the Burmese court, and which probably had been shared by the deposed ruler, though he had the prudence to conceal it. For several years it had become apparent, that the period was approaching when war between the British and the Burmese governments would again become inevitable. The British Resident finding his presence at Ava agreeable neither to the king nor to himself, removed in the first instance, under instructions from his government, to Rangoon. Ultimately it became necessary to forego even the pretence of maintaining relations of friendship, and the British functionary was properly withdrawn altogether from a country where his continuance would have been but a mockery. The state of sullen dislike which followed was after a while succeeded by more active evidences of hostility. Acts of violence were committed on British ships and on British seamen, who had proceeded to Burmese ports in the exercise of their lawful calling, and in a friendly spirit; their only purpose being the prosecution of their trade. As the tame submission of the British government to such treatment would have been utterly incompatible with either the national interest or the national honour, remonstrance was made, backed in the only way by which remonstrance could, under such circumstances, be rendered effectual, by a small naval force. The officers