Page:Lord Amherst and the British Advance Eastwards to Burma.djvu/113

 {{c|

CHAPTER VI
}} The advance on Prome is the next act of the Burmese drama; we may almost trace the incidents in the notes made by the interested annalist at Government House. On March 11, 1825, 'accounts arrive of the vanguard of the army at Rangoon having marched on the 5th. On the 16th, Brigadier-General Cotton sailed with his division to meet Sir Archibald Campbell at Donbayú and to proceed to Prome, the capital of the Prince of Ava.'

The arrangement was, we may explain, that one force should go by water under General Cotton, while another advanced by land (which was now free from flood) under the Commander-in-Chief. Brigadier M'Creagh remains at Rangoon in command, waiting for the necessary transports to arrive. The town is fortifying briskly. Rockets, which never before had a fair opportunity of being tried, astonish the enemy so much that immediately on their beginning to play the Burmese fly precipitately. As the King's armies retreat, the peaceable inhabitants of the country come back to their homes.