India Under British Rule from the Foundation of the East India Company by James Talboys Wheeler

Author:James Talboys Wheeler [Wheeler, James Talboys]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781375686785
Google: 7xwWtAEACAAJ
Publisher: Creative Media Partners, LLC
Published: 2017-08-20T02:45:15+00:00

§9. In 1852 a second Burmese war was forced upon Lord Dalhousie. A treaty of commerce and friendship had been concluded with the king of Burma at the end of the first war, but of late years it had been grossly violated. Burmese officials had condemned British sea captains to fine and imprisonment on false charges, and British merchants residing at Rangoon were preparing to abandon their property and leave Burmese territory unless they were protected by their own government.

Arrogant officials.

Commodore Lambert was sent to Rangoon to investigate complaints. He was treated by the Burmese officials with such insolence and arrogance that negotiations were impossible. Eventually he seized a Burmese ship by way of reprisal, but engaged to restore it on receipt of something like 1,000l. as nominal compensation for British sufferers. In reply the Burmese fired on the commodore's steamer, and the firing was promptly returned. From that moment war was inevitable.

Annexation of Pegu.

A British expedition under General Godwin reached Rangoon. The Shway Dagohn pagoda, the great cathedral of Buddhism in Burma, was taken by storm; and then all fighting was over. The court of Ava was powerless and paralysed. It could not resist British forces, and simply left the British authorities to do as they pleased. Upper Burma was abandoned to the king, and the rich valley of Pegu, and port of Rangoon, were added to the British empire; and eventually the three divisions of Pegu, Arakan, and Tenasserim were formed into the province of British Burma.

New frontiers of British Empire.

The annexation of the Punjab and Burma are the crowning events of the nineteenth century. Lord Wellesley had delivered India from Tippu, and established the paramount power of the East India Company over the Mogul viceroys and the Mahratta princes. Lord Hastings had converted Nipal into a staunch ally, and stamped out the predatory powers of Central India. Lord Dalhousie annexed the empire of Runjeet Singh, excepting Cashmere, and the empire of the Alompras, excepting Upper Burma, and thus laid down frontiers which remained unchanged for an entire generation.[26]

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.