Page:The Marquess of Dalhousie.djvu/125

Rh bare compensation for the actual losses of the merchants amounting to Rs. 9,000 as at the outset, or a fine of a million of rupees as on the commencement of hostilities, he now demanded a million and a half of rupees, with the cession of the Negrais or Diamond islands, and of the Martaban districts on the sea-board. If these terms were not accepted by the Emperor, Lord Dalhousie plainly warned His Majesty that 'the Burmese forces will be defeated wherever they stand, and the British army will reach the capital.'

The Elder Brother of China, still lulling himself to security amid the flatteries of his women and courtiers, declined to take the chance thus offered. The war had to be carried up the country, at a further outlay in money and at some loss of life from disease. In the autumn of 1852, the city of Prome fell to our arms, and gave us the command of the river approach to the royal capital, Ava. The question then arose whether the hostilities should be carried to the bitter end by advancing on the metropolis. The Court of Directors, as represented by the Secret Committee in London, had declared for this extreme course, in event of the Emperor not having accepted the terms already offered to him. Lord Dalhousie preferred more moderate measures.

'To march to Ava,' he wrote in a private letter. 'will give no peace unless the army remain at