Page:Lord Amherst and the British Advance Eastwards to Burma.djvu/84

 been concluded between the Rájá of Manipur and the English Governor of Fort William in Bengal. A small force of Sepoys was even sent with the object of helping the Rájá to expel the Burmese who were then, after strange vicissitudes of conquest, in occupation. The attempt was abandoned. Passing over more than a half century we find the Burmese advancing into Cachar, with the intention of dealing with certain Manipuri princes who, driven out of their own country, had taken up their quarters there. But they had been anticipated by the extension to the region of British protection. Again the demand for the surrender of fugitives was preferred, and again it was met with a decisive refusal; and so, when the year 1823 closed, a Burmese host was hanging menacingly on the Sylhet frontier. The three tracts, which were soon to be the scene of hostilities, are now among the most valuable of our Indian possessions. The tea-gardens of Assam have attracted from other parts of the continent a coolie emigration so considerable that the control of it is a most important feature in executive action, while the growth of trade at Akyab on the Arakanese coast is one of the stock marvels of industrial annals. But, in 1823, cultivation was the exception, and commerce was of the most primitive description. We have still, from time to time, to send a force into the hills to chastise one of the tribes, Abors or Lusháis or Nágás, who descend from their mountain retreats to raid upon the peaceful settlers in the valley. The obstacles which