Chapter 17: The Pride Of Burma Humbled.
As soon as the victory was completed, the troops piled arms; andwere allowed two hours' rest. Then they marched back, to the pointwhere General Campbell's division had forded the Nawine river inthe morning. From this point, a path led towards the enemy'scentre; this it was determined to attack, at daybreak on thefollowing morning, before the news of the defeat of its left couldreach it.
The day had been a long and fatiguing one, and it was late beforethe troops all reached their halting place. A meal was served out,and then all lay down to rest. A messenger was sent to Prome, toannounce the success that had been gained; and to request thecommander of the flotilla to open fire, in the morning, as soon asthe foe was seen to issue from the jungle in front of the Wongee'smain position at Napadee.
Long before daylight, the troops were in motion. General Campbell'sdivision led the way, along the narrow track leading towards theriver; while General Cotton, who followed, was ordered to break offat any path which led towards the Burmese division, to make his waythrough the forest, and to attack the stockades directly he reachedthem. The main division would attack, as soon as they heard hisguns.
After a two hours' march, the first division came out on openground by the river side, signalled their arrival to the flotilla,and formed up in front of the stockaded heights of Napadee. Theposition was an extremely strong one. The enemy occupied threeranges of hills, rising one behind the other, and each commandingthe one in front of it. One flank of these hills was protected bythe river, the other by the almost impenetrable forest. The hillswere all covered with stockades and, as they moved forward, thetroops were exposed to so heavy a fire from an enemy entrenched atthe edge of the jungle on the right that, before they could advancefurther, it was necessary to first drive them from this position.Six companies of the 87th were sent back into the forest and,making their way through this, came down in the rear of thestockades, speedily cleared them of their defenders, and compelledthe advance force of the enemy to join their main body.
The troops then moved forward to the foot of the first hill, wheretwo strong redoubts had been erected by the enemy. The fleet openedfire; but the column was halted, for a time, awaiting the sound offiring that should tell them General Cotton's column was engaged.No sound, however, was heard, for this force had been unable tomake its way through the dense forest; and General Campbell, atlast, gave the order for the attack.
It was commenced by the 47th and 38th Native Infantry, underColonel Elvington; who pushed through the jungle and forest, untilthey reached some of the flanking outworks on the hill. These theyattacked with such dash and determination that they speedilyobtained possession of them, and thus produced a favourablediversion for the main attack.
This, consisting of the 13th, 38th, and 87th Regiments, advancedsteadily, without returning a shot to the incessant fire from theenemy's various entrenchments; captured the two redoubts at thebottom of the hill; and then pressed upwards, carrying positionafter position at the point of the bayonet, till they arrived atthe summit of the first hill.
The Burmese fugitives, as they fled to the next line of defence,shook the courage of the troops there; and the British, pushingforward hotly on the rear of the flying crowd, carried work afterwork until, in the course of an hour, the whole position, nearlythree miles in extent, was entirely in their possession. Betweenforty and fifty guns were captured, and the enemy's loss in killedand wounded was very great while, by desertion alone, the Wongeelost a third of his army. While the attack had been going on, theflotilla had passed the works protecting the river face of thehills, and had captured all the boats and stores, filled withsupplies for the use of the Burmese army.
Thus, two of the three Burmese divisions had now been completelyrouted; and there remained only that of Sudda Woon, on the otherside of the river. The troops were allowed two days' rest and, onthe morning of the 5th, a force advanced on board the flotilla.Their passage across the river was covered by the fire of a rocketbrigade and a mortar battery--which had on the previous night beenestablished on an island--and they landed at some distance abovethe enemy's stockades. They then marched round and attacked thesein flank and rear, while the batteries and boats of the flotillacannonaded them in front.
The enemy's troops were already disheartened, by the defeat theyhad seen inflicted upon the Wongee's army and, after a feebleresistance, fled to a second line of stockades in the jungle totheir rear. The troops, however, pressed so hotly upon them thatthey were unable to make any effectual opposition here. Numbersfell, while endeavouring to pass through the narrow entrances ofthe work; and the rest fled, in terror, into the woods.
These extensive operations had been carried out with the loss ofsix officers, and some seventy or eighty men, only.
It was known that the enemy had very strongly fortified severalpositions, in and around Meaday; and it was determined to pushforward, at once, on the long march of three hundred miles to Ava,before the enemy could rally from their defeat, and gather for thedefence of these positions. On the 9th the first division, underGeneral Campbell himself, started from Prome. The roads wereextremely bad, and they were able to move but slowly.
Their course was first directed inland; as it was intended to turnthe enemy's position at Meaday, by following a road several milesfrom the river, and thus forcing them to fall back as we advanced.On the next day the force reached the spot where Colonel M'Dowallhad been killed, in the unsuccessful attack upon Maha Nemiow; andit then turned north, and followed the road parallel to the river.
On the 12th tremendous rains, for some hours, converted the roadinto a morass and, although the march was but five miles long, thegreater portion of the column failed to reach its destination.This, however, was not the worst. Cholera broke out at once, andcarried off a large number of victims--two of the British regimentsbeing rendered almost unfit for service by its ravages.
On the 14th the division encamped on dry ground, on a ridge ofwooded hills, and waited for a couple of days to allow the baggagetrain to come up. The change greatly benefited the health of thetroops, and amusement was afforded by the partridges, jungle fowl,and deer which abounded in the neighbourhood of the camp.
Up to this point, no single native had been seen. The villages wereall destroyed, and the country was completely deserted. On the 16tha strong Burmese fortification was taken, it being unoccupied saveby a small picket, which retired on our advance. This had evidentlybeen erected for the purpose of preventing the river fortificationsfrom being turned, and its abandonment proved that the object ofthe land march had been gained; and that the enemy had abandonedthe positions they had, with so much care, prepared for the defenceof the river.
On the 18th they joined General Cotton's column and, the next day,entered Meaday. Here a terrible spectacle was met with. The townand the ground within the stockades was strewn with dead and dying;some from wounds, others from cholera--for the ravages of thisplague had been as great, among the Burmese, as in the Britishforce. A number of men were found crucified on gibbets, doubtlessas a punishment for attempting to desert. The air was pestilent;and the force was glad, indeed, to march on the next morning fromthe locality.
They gained something, but not much, from the change. For the nextfifty miles, dead bodies were met with at very short intervals and,each day before camping, many corpses had to be removed before thetents could be fixed.
It was now known that the Burmese army, in its retreat, had beenconcentrated at Melloon, where the reserve of 10,000 men had beenposted. On the 27th, the division encamped within four miles ofthat town. They had now marched a hundred and forty miles, fromProme, without meeting a single inhabitant of the country, or beingenabled to obtain any cattle, whatever, for the supply of thetroops, so effectually had the enemy wasted the country as theyretired.
Melloon stood on the opposite bank of the Irrawaddy; and lettershad arrived from that town saying that a commissioner had arrived,from Ava, with full powers from the king to con
clude a treaty ofpeace. Colonel Adair and Stanley, accordingly, were sent off thenext morning to Melloon, to arrange for an immediate meeting forthe commissioners. However, they could come to no arrangement, theBurmese leaders insisting that so important a business could onlybe carried on when a favourable day arrived; and that no timecould, at present, be stated. Seeing that the principal object ofthe Burmese was to gain time, the colonel informed them throughStanley that, as no arrangements had been made, the troops wouldrecommence their advance as soon as he returned to the camp and,accordingly, the next morning the division moved forward to a townimmediately opposite Melloon.
That place stood on the face of a sloping hill and, as theIrrawaddy was here but 600 yards broad, a good view was obtained ofthe fortifications. The principal stockade was in the form of asquare, about a mile on each face, mounting a considerable numberof guns--especially on the side facing the river; and a successionof stockades extended for a mile farther along the banks. The greatwork was crowded with men. In front of the town lay a large fleetof war boats, and larger craft with stores.
A short time after the troops reached the spot, a great noise ofgongs, drums, and other warlike instruments arose on the otherside, and crowds of boatmen were seen running down to the vessels.These were soon manned, and oars got out, and they began to row upthe river. As, owing to the intricacy of the channel, the steamboatand flotilla had not yet arrived, a few shots were fired at theboats by the field guns. This had the desired effect, many of theboatmen jumping overboard, leaving their craft to drift down theriver; while the great bulk hastily turned their vessels about, andanchored in their former position.
As soon as the steamer with the flotilla came up, two war boatspushed off from shore, saluted the steamer, and rowed alongside ofher until she and the flotilla were safely anchored above the town.This was so evidently a mark of a real desire for the suspension ofhostilities that the two officers were again sent across the river.A truce was agreed upon, and an arrangement made for the meeting ofthe negotiators, upon the following day.
Four meetings were held, between the two commissioners and thoseappointed by the British general, the meetings taking place onboats moored in the centre of the river. At length the treaty wasaccepted and signed, by the Burmese, and fifteen days' truceallowed for the ratification of the treaty by the king. As the endof that period approached, the Burmese protested that they had notyet received an answer, and asked for further time; which wasrefused, unless on the condition that Melloon was evacuated, andthe Burmese army fell back until the ratification of the treatyreached them. As had been for some time strongly suspected, thenegotiations were simply a device to arrest our advance; and thetreaty was afterwards found in the Burmese camp, it never havingbeen forwarded to Ava.
At midnight on the 18th, when the armistice came to a conclusion,the troops began throwing up earthworks, the heavy guns were landedfrom the flotilla and, at ten o'clock the next morning,twenty-eight guns were in position ready to open fire. In spite ofremonstrances that had been made, the Burmese had, night afternight during the armistice, continued to work surreptitiously attheir entrenchments. It was hoped for a moment that, when they sawthe speed with which our batteries had been thrown up and armed,they would offer no farther resistance. As, however, they wereevidently preparing for action, our guns opened fire at eleveno'clock.
This was kept up for two hours. While it was going on, the troopsintended for the assault were embarked in boats, some distance upthe river, so as to ensure their not being carried by the force ofthe stream across the face of the Burmese works, and exposed to theconcentrated fire of the enemy. They were divided into fourbrigades; the first of which--consisting of the 13th and 38thRegiments, under Lieutenant Colonel Sale--were to land below thestockade, and to attack its south-western angle; while the otherthree brigades were to land above it, to carry some outworks there,and to attack the northern face.
A strong northerly wind, and the violent current, prevented theassaults being made simultaneously. The first brigade was carriedtoo far across and, as it passed the stockade, was exposed to thefire of the guns and musketry of the river defences; while thethree other brigades were unable, for some time, to reach theirintended landing places. Colonel Sale was among those wounded bythe Burmese fire but, directly the first brigade reached the shore,they formed up under the partial cover of a shelving bank and, ledby Lieutenant Colonel Frith, moved forward to the assault inadmirable order. When within a short distance there was a forwardrush, in spite of the storm of shot. The ladder party gained thefoot of the stockade and, placing the ladders, climbed up, andleapt down among the surging crowd of the enemy. Others followedand, soon, a firm footing was obtained in the works. Then the menof the two regiments--whose total strength did not exceed fivehundred--advanced steadily, drove before them some 10,000 armedmen, and expelled them from the works that the Burmese had deemedimpregnable.
While this was going on, the other three brigades had landed abovethe stockade and, now falling upon the enemy as they poured outfrom their works, completed their defeat. All the stockades werecarried, and the whole of the artillery and stores fell into ourpossession.
Four days later, the army again began its advance. They were met byfour Englishmen, who had been taken prisoners; and an American, whohad also been held in confinement. These had been sent to assurethe English general that the king was in earnest in his desire forpeace. It was but too evident, however, that no confidence could beplaced in Burmese negotiations; and it was, moreover, known thatanother army was being assembled, in the greatest haste, to bar theadvance.
On the 14th of February the British reached Pakang-Yay, havingpassed Sembeughewn on the opposite shore. This was the point wherethe road from Aracan reached the Irrawaddy, and it had beenarranged that the force that had been operating in Aracan should,if possible, effect a junction with Sir Archibald Campbell here. Amessage brought down by a native was, however, received; statingthat the force had suffered very severely from fever and cholera,and that the natural obstacles were found to be too great to beovercome by troops debilitated by disease--that the attempt had,therefore, been abandoned. Fortunately, the English general waswell able to do without this addition to his strength. He hadalready proved that his command was perfectly capable of defeatingany Burmese force that could be brought against him, and anaddition would only have increased the difficulty of transport.
On the 9th of March the British force which, owing to the necessityfor leaving strong bodies to hold Melloon and other points that hadbeen captured, now mustered less than 2,000 fighting men, advancedto attack the enemy, whose numbers were estimated at 16,000.
The new commander of the Burmese adopted other tactics than hispredecessors. His stockaded position was in front of the town ofPagahn, but he occupied the jungle in great force, and attacked ouradvance guard, five miles from the town. As the enemy occupied thehills on both sides of the main road, Sir A. Campbell divided hisforce and led half of it through the jungle on the right, whileGeneral Cotton led the other half through the woods on the left.
The Burmese fought with considerable obstinacy. General Campbelland his staff, with thirty-eight troopers and fifty men of the13th, were somewhat in advance of the column; when the enemy closedin on both flanks, and even got in their rear. These were, however,dispersed by the rest of the 13th and, driving back the Burmese onthe flanks, the advance was continued. Presently, however, as theBritish issued from the jungle, a mass of the enemy's horse chargeddown, drove back the skirmishers and, for a time, the position ofthe general and his staff was one of great peril. His little bodyof troopers, however, dashed boldly at the assailants and held themin check, until the guns that had followed the staff were broughtforward from the jungle. Then the troopers divided and rode rightand left; and the guns, opening fire, checked the assailants untilthe infantry came up.
The Burmese army was now seen, drawn up in the form of asemicircle, in the open. The two British columns were united and,together, moved forwar
d to attack the centre of the crescent,disregarding the fire from its wings. When within chargingdistance, they went forward with a rush and, cheering lustily, fellupon the Burmese; and broke their centre, thus isolating the twowings. The Burmese at once retreated, with the greatest haste, tothe stockaded position in their rear. As usual, the narrowentrances to the stockades caused great delay; and the British wereupon them before they were, in any way, prepared to resist theassault.
Heralding their advance by sweeping volleys, they fell upon theBurmese with the bayonet, and drove them out of their works. Theenemy made an attempt to rally, behind the walls and in the pagodasof the town, but the effort was vain. They were driven out withgreat slaughter, hundreds were drowned in endeavouring to swim theriver, and the army was finally dispersed in all directions.
The effect of this victory was at once apparent. The countrypeople--who had, on the advance of the British force from Prome,been cleared out from the villages along the whole line ofroute--being now freed from the restraint of their troops, cameflocking back in great numbers--some by the roads and some inboats--and it was evident that they regarded the struggle asdefinitely terminated. There was, indeed, no possibility of furtherresistance; as the armies of Burma, raised with immense difficultyand by heavy bounties and the promises of great reward, werehopelessly scattered, and Ava lay open to the British advance.
In other directions their position was equally desperate. Aracanhad been wholly rescued from their grasp. A British force in Peguhad marched up the river Sitang and, after the repulse of a partyof a hundred and fifty men, imprudently sent to attack Sitangitself, captured the place after a sharp fight and, receivingreinforcements from Rangoon, continued their way up the river andcaptured Toungoo; while the northern force had driven the Burmeseout of Manipur, and had reached the river Ningti by the 2nd ofFebruary, and were in a position to advance direct upon Ava.
After a halt of two days, General Campbell advanced on the 12th ofFebruary. Mr. Price, the American who had been sent down after thecapture of Melloon, went forward to Ava with the treaty that hadbeen drawn up before the capture of that place; and the king had nolonger any hesitation in complying with its terms--and was, indeed,delighted to find that the recent victory of the invaders had notincreased their demands. He at once sent down to accept them but,as no official ratification was sent, the march continued; whileMr. Price again returned to Ava. When the force was within fourdays' march of the capital, the latter returned with the Burmesecommissioners and other high functionaries, with the ratifiedtreaty, and the first instalment of the money that was to be paid.
It was a disappointment to the army that, after their long marchand many sufferings, they were not to be allowed to enter theenemy's capital in triumph. Undoubtedly, however, the course takenwas the wisest. Ava was regarded as a sacred city, and it was tosave it from the humiliation of being occupied by the invaders thatthe king had brought himself to accept the terms of the treaty. Hadthe English general insisted upon entering the capital, and signingthe treaty there, he would have found no one to meet him. Thepopulation would have been driven out, the king and court wouldhave retired farther up the country, and the war might havecontinued for an indefinite time.
Already its cost had been enormous, exceeding 5,000,000 poundssterling. During the first eleven months after landing at Rangoon,nearly half of the Europeans died and, from the time they advancedfrom that town with fresh reinforcements from India, to the arrivalnear Ava, a similarly heavy loss was sustained. Four percent of thenumber engaged was killed in action. The climate of Aracan wasstill more deadly, as three-fourths of the white troops employedthere died, and very few of the survivors were ever fit for serviceafterwards. The sepoys suffered less in Aracan, losing only tenpercent of their number, though nearly half the force were inhospital for some time.
According to agreement the Burmese, as soon as peace was concluded,sent down a large number of boats for the conveyance of the troopsdown the river. As they descended it, the garrisons left at Melloonand other places were withdrawn. One of the native regiments, withsome elephants and guns, left the force at Sembeughewn; and marchedthence to Aracan, for the purpose of investigating the country, andproving whether it was practicable for the passage of troops incase another advance upon Ava should ever be necessary. They foundthe road unexpectedly good, and met with no resistance whatever,except in the passage of some passes over the mountains.
At Melloon, Stanley was very glad to meet his cousin again, for the47th had been left in garrison there. Harry had been down again,with a sharp attack of fever, but was now recovering.
"So it is all over, Stanley, and your chances of an earldom havenearly slipped through your fingers."
"I am glad, indeed, that it is so," Stanley laughed, "in the firstplace, because I could only have succeeded to it at your death; andin the second place, because I have no ambition, whatever, for atitle. I am not nineteen yet, and should greatly prefer to make myown way, than to find myself with nothing whatever to do, except tospend money as it dropped into my lap.
"Now that everything is settled, and that Aracan has becomeEnglish, and we have the seaports on the Tenasserim coast, tradewill increase tremendously. You may be sure that the Burmese willbe only too glad to flock into our provinces, and to live under afair rule, to escape the tyranny of their own officials; and myuncle is just the man to take advantage of the new openings. Idon't say that I want to live out here all my life. At any rate, Ihope by the time that I am thirty, to be able to come home for ayear's holiday; and it is just possible that, by then, we may havegrown into such a big firm that we may establish headquarters inLondon, instead of getting all our goods from Calcutta.
"There is certain to be a very big trade here, in teak alone. Theprice in Pegu is a great deal below that in India and, if we had ahouse in London, we should avoid having to pay commissions, andperhaps get better prices for our wood. Of course, my uncle may bythat time think of retiring himself and, in that case, I might haveto stay somewhat longer out here; but I know that he likes theclimate, and I have heard him say that, as he has very fewacquaintances in England, he thinks that he should prefer a life inCalcutta to one in London."
"I should not wonder if I go home, very shortly," Harry said. "Mylast letter told me that my uncle was in failing health, and thathe would like to have me at home with him. If the next letterconfirms that, I am afraid I shall have either to resign mycommission, or exchange into a regiment at home. Of course, at hisdeath I should have to leave the army, anyhow. It would beridiculous for a subaltern to be an earl; besides, there are thingsone would have to do. I suppose there are estates to be lookedafter, and all sorts of nuisances.
"Anyhow, I shall always be glad I have had my share in thisexpedition. I have learned what campaigning is; and I must saythat, under such circumstances as we have gone through, it is notquite so pleasurable as I had expected. Half one's friends are deador invalided home; and one never knows, when one wakes in themorning, whether one may not be down with cholera before night. Thefighting is all well enough but, after all, that takes up but avery small portion of one's time; and marching and, I may say,living generally in this hot, sweltering climate, with its sixmonths of rain, is not enviable work. However, I have gone throughone regular campaign, and that as severe a one as British troopshave ever performed; and above all, old man, I have met you, and wehave come to be great friends, and I have learned what one fellowwill do for another."
"I am sure I am very glad to have gone through it, too. I have beenfortunate, indeed, in never having been laid up for a single day;and there is no doubt that having served on the staff will be ofgreat advantage to me, even as a trader. I own that I should liketo have retired a captain. Of course, promotion has beentremendously fast, owing to the death vacancies, but I have stilltwo lieutenants over me."
"You are sure to get the step, Stanley. You have been in generalorders twice, besides that notice you got for my rescue. Also, thedoctors say that a number of the men who
have been sent down to thecoast are not likely to live many weeks and, as five of yourseniors have been invalided, you may get your step, in the naturalcourse of things, at any moment.
"If I were you, I should ask for three months' leave beforerejoining your regiment. There will be no difficulty about that,after you have been upwards of two years in constant work; and thegeneral will certainly not refuse. Before the end of that time youwill have seen your uncle, and talked matters over. Then, if youchoose to resign your commission, you can of course do so but, asyou are pretty sure to get your step, by death, before the end ofthe three months; and as the general's despatches stronglyrecommend your services, you may get your brevet majority beforeyour resignation reaches England. A man who has been mentioned twoor three times in despatches, and is specially recommended forhonours, is sure to get his brevet majority directly he gets hiscompany."
On reaching Rangoon, Stanley learned that two of the invalids haddied, either on the way down or before they could be put on board aship; and that one of the majors, who had been sent to India forchange, four months before, had also succumbed; so that he hadalready obtained his company--a promotion which would have been, atany other time, extraordinary; but which, in a campaign where halfthose engaged were carried off, was nothing remarkable. Being stillon the headquarter staff, he embarked with Sir Archibald Campbell.
"You still hold firm to your determination to leave the service,Captain Brooke?" the general said, in the course of the passage toCalcutta.
"Yes, sir. I am sure that it is best for me."
"I think it is, Brooke. Of course, you have been exceptionallyfortunate in getting such rapid promotion. Still, a good businessis a great deal better than soldiering. I wrote very strongly inyour favour, when I sent off my despatches the day we came down tothe coast; and you are certain of your brevet. Still, it is just aswell that the news of your resignation should not get home beforethe Gazette comes out, with your name in it. I think the best thingthat I can do is to give you leave, for a time, as soon as we getto Calcutta. I am sure that you deserve a rest, for your work hasbeen terribly heavy."
"Thank you, sir; that was just the favour that I was going to askyou. I shall find out, as soon as I get there, where my uncle is;and join him. My own mind is quite made up, but he has certainly aright to be consulted, before I take any final step."
"Quite right. I feel no doubt that his opinion will agree withyours; and I think that you are showing a good deal more wisdomthan most fellows would do, to give up the service when you havedistinguished yourself, and have a much better chance than falls tothe lot of one man in a hundred. Still, there can be no real doubtthat a man in a good business, out here, can retire early and gohome with a fortune; while in the army you are liable at any time,after you get to the rank of colonel, to be laid on the shelf foryears.
"Besides, you will be your own master, which is more than anyone inthe army can say. You can go home when you like, either for a stayor for a permanency; and you are not liable to have to run the riskof another campaign such as this has been."
"If one was sure of campaigns, I don't think that I could possiblybring myself to leave the service; but it is the probability ofbeing kept, for three or four years at a time, doing nothing atCalcutta or Madras that decided me."
The general nodded.
"You are quite right, Brooke; on active service a soldier's lifeis, indeed, a stirring one; but there is nothing more dull andmonotonous than garrison life, in peace time."
Accordingly, as soon as they landed in Calcutta, Stanley was put inorders for absence on leave, for three months. He learned, from hisuncle's agent, that they had heard from him only a few days before,at Chittagong; and that he was then on the point of leaving forAracan, whither he had ordered a large consignment of goods to beforwarded to him, by the next ship.
Three days later, Stanley started to join him, leaving his addressat Aracan with Sir Archibald Campbell, in case there should be needto recall him before the three months' leave expired. The vessel inwhich he was sailing carried the consignment of goods to his uncle;and he had, therefore, no fear of finding that the latter had leftAracan before his arrival. Meinik was still with him. He had leftthe army after the last battle had been fought, and had travelledto the spot where he had buried his money before embarking withStanley in the canoe and, after an absence of three days, rejoinedthe force. On the way down to Rangoon, Stanley had a long talk withhim as to his future plans.
"I have only one plan, master, and that is to stay with you, aslong as I live."
"But you will have plenty to live comfortably upon now, Meinik.For, after all that you have done for me, of course I shall arrangefor you to have a sum that will keep you in comfort."
Meinik shook his head.
"Burma is a bad country, master. After living with the English, Iwould not go back to live under the king's officers, in any case.Any money that I had would be squeezed out of me, before long. No,master, I will go with you, unless you drive me from you; if youdo, I will go to Chittagong, and live there, but I do not thinkthat you will do that."
"Certainly not, Meinik. As long as you are willing to remain withme, I shall be very glad, indeed, to have you; but if, at any time,you wish to marry and settle down on land of your own, I shall giveyou five hundred pounds--which is only a small portion of the sumthose rubies, which you got your band to give me, brought me in."
"I daresay I shall marry," Meinik said, "but that will make nodifference. As long as I live, I shall stay with you."
Meinik had been astounded at Calcutta; which presented a strongcontrast, indeed, to the city which, as a Burman, he had regardedas the most important place in the world.
"The Burmese are fools, master. They should have sent two or threemen here, before they made up their minds to go to war. If they hadbeen truly told what Calcutta was like, they would never haveventured to make war with the English."
Chapter 18: In Business Again.
When the vessel arrived at the mouth of the Aracan river, a canoewas seen coming out from Akyah--a town situated at the entrance tothe principal of the several channels by which the river makes itsway, through a number of sand banks and islands, into the sea. Asit approached, Stanley recognized his uncle sitting in the stern.
"Well, uncle, how are you?" he called out, as the boat approachedthe side.
"What, is it you, Stanley? I am glad, indeed, to see you. I havewatched the papers anxiously, to see if your name appeared amongthose who have been killed or have died; not seeing it, I hopedthat you were all right. Of course we heard, from the Madrasregiment that came across from Sembeughewn, that it was all over;and that all the troops would be shipped off, as soon as they wentdown to Rangoon; but I have not seen any papers lately, and so havenot had a chance of learning any news of you. I fancied, though,that you would be back at Calcutta by this time; and thought that Imight get a letter from you, by this ship."
By this time he was on deck, and after a hearty shaking of hands,Stanley asked what he was doing here.
"I did not expect to see you until we got to Aracan."
"I have been up there, lad. It is a decaying old place, and thestream is in many places shallow; so that it would be verydifficult to take up a ship of any size. I foresee, therefore, thatthis is going to be the chief port of the province--timber will befloated down here, and rice brought down in native boats--so Ishall make my headquarters here, as far as this district isconcerned, and put Johnson in charge. I doubt whether, for a time,we shall do as much trade as we shall higher up the coast; buteveryone expects a great Burmese immigration, and a large trade islikely to spring up, in time.
"I have not quite determined on my next move, and it is notimprobable that I shall go down in this ship and establish myself,for a time, at Martaban; and open a trade in Tenasserim. If Idecide on that, I shall only get on shore a portion of my goods,and take the rest on with me there.
"Now, what are you going to do, Stanley?"
"Just what you
think best, uncle. I should have thought that, as Ispeak the language, it would be better for me to go on to Martaban;and for you to work Chittagong, and the district up to Assam."
"Then you are going to stay with me, lad!" his uncle exclaimed, ina tone of much satisfaction. "I was afraid that you would have gotso fond of soldiering that you would have thrown this over,altogether."
"Not a bit of it, uncle. I am on three months' leave at presentand, at the end of that time, I shall resign. You know I am acaptain, now--that is to say, that I have got my rank by deathvacancies, though until the Gazette comes out from England, I canhardly be said to be a pucka captain; and, what is more, thegeneral himself assured me that, after being mentioned indespatches two or three times, and at his strong commendation of myservices, I was sure of the brevet rank of major."
His uncle took off his hat, gravely.
"I must apologize to you," he said, "for addressing you as 'lad.' Ihad no idea that you were a full-grown captain, still less that youmight soon be a major."
"I don't care a snap for the title, uncle," Stanley said, laughing,"except that it may be an advantage to me, in places where thereare garrisons; and indeed, generally where there are whiteofficials."
"A very great advantage, Stanley.
"Well, lad, I have been coining money, since I saw you at Rangoon.I have been sending a consignment of bullocks down there, everyweek; and have done almost as much with the Manipur force. I havealso got the contract regularly, now, for the supply of the troopsat Calcutta. Other trade has, of course, been at a standstill. Nowthat everything has quieted down, there will be a perfect rush; andI have been sorely troubled, in my mind, whether it would be bestto stay up here and take advantage of it, or to be one of the firstto open trade at these new ports. Of course, if you are ready totake Martaban, that will decide me; and I shall take passage in thefirst ship going up to Chittagong. My own boat and the dhow areboth there, and I shall at once work up all the rivers, and setthings going again.
"I have a capital fellow, a native, who is carrying on the cattlebusiness for me and, at Chittagong, I shall try and get hold ofthree or four more trustworthy fellows, to take charge of depots. Isee a big future before us, and that before long. I did well withthose gems of yours--they fetched 3500 pounds, which I used,besides what you handed over to me--for there was no buying up thecattle without cash and, as I generally have to wait two monthsafter they are shipped, before I get paid, ready money wasinvaluable and, indeed, I could not have gone into the thing onanything like the same scale, if it had not been for your money.The Calcutta people would have helped me, to a certain point; butthey would never have ventured upon such advances as I required.Your 5000 pounds has doubled itself since I met you at Rangoon. Icalculate that our stores at the different depots are worth 4000pounds so that, at the present moment, the firm of Pearson & Brookehave at their command a capital of 14,000 pounds."
A portion of the cargo was landed at Akyah. Stanley went down withthe rest to Martaban, and his uncle sailed for Chittagong. A fewmonths later, a store was opened at Rangoon. Parsee store-keeperswere sent from Calcutta, by Tom Pearson; and these were placed incontrol of the stores there, and at Martaban--Stanley being incharge of these two stations, and Akyah; and having a native craftof his own, and a boat for river work similar to that of his uncle.
A year later he received a letter from Harry, saying that his unclehad died, a month after his return to England; and that he was nowestablished as one of the pillars of the state.
"As I went through London, on my arrival," he said, "I looked upyour mother at the address you gave me, at Dulwich. I found hervery well, and very comfortable. She was full of your praises and,as I was equally so, your ears ought to have tingled while we weretogether. Of course they wanted to hear all about you, and most ofit was new to them; for you had said nothing of your adventure withthat leopard, and only a few lines about the rescue of your humbleservant; though you had told them that I stood in your way of theearldom. Your mother said that she was prouder of you than if youwere an earl, only that she would have liked to have you at home. Itold her that you and your uncle were shaking the pagoda tree, andthat you would come home as yellow as a guinea and as rich as anabob, in the course of a few years.
"Your sisters are older than I expected to find them. Of course,you always spoke of them as when you saw them last. They are bothgrowing into very pretty girls, the elder especially. I made yourmother promise to bring them down to stay with me, for a bit, whenI came into the title; which I knew could not be long, for I hadcalled that morning on my uncle's solicitors, and they told me thathe was not expected to live many weeks. As it is only a month sincehe died, I suppose I ought not to have visitors, just yet; but in afew weeks I shall go up to town, and bring them down with me. Icannot help thinking that it is a little selfish for, when they seethis place, they would not be human if they did not feel that itwould have been yours, if it had not been for your getting me outof the hands of those Burmese.
"I see that you are gazetted captain, this week. I suppose, longbefore this, you have settled down to your old work of going upsluggish streams; and trying to stir up the equally sluggish nativeto a sense of the advantages of British goods. At present, I amquite content to do nothing particular--to ride and drive about,return calls, and so on--but I expect, before very long, I shallget restless, and want to be doing something. However, there is theContinent open to one, and decent hotels to stop at. No feversthere, and no Burmese brigands."
A month later he had a letter from his mother, which had beenwritten before that of Harry, but had been sent to Calcutta andthence to Akyah; and had there lain until his return, two monthslater, from a boat journey up to Pegu. She said how kind it was ofhis cousin to come in, to give them news of him, the very day hearrived in London.
"Of course, we were delighted with all that he told us about you;but it made us anxious to think of your running into so manydangers. We like him very much. We could not help laughing, becausehe seemed quite concerned that you should not have the peerage,instead of him. He seems likely to come into it soon, for he tellsus that the earl is very ill. He says that we must come down andpay him a visit, as soon as he is master there; but I don't knowwhether that can be. Of course it would be a nice change, and Ibelieve that it is a very fine place. I said that it would seemstrange our going there, when there are no ladies, and thatbachelors did not generally entertain; but he said that, in thefirst place he should have his sisters there, who were about thesame age as my girls; and that as we were his nearest relations,and you were at present his heir, it would be quite the right andproper thing for us to come down. He seemed quite in earnest aboutit, and I should not be surprised if we go."
Three months later, Stanley heard that the visit had been paid, andthat they had stayed a fortnight there.
"It feels quite funny, settling down here again after being in thatbig house, with all those servants and grandeur; not that there isany grandeur about Harry. He insists, being relations, that weshall call him by his Christian name. Everything was delightful.Every afternoon we used to go driving and, of a morning, hegenerally rode with the girls. He had a very pretty, gentle horsefor Agnes; and a gray pony, a beauty, for Kate. I have a strongsuspicion that he had bought them both, on purpose. I should not besurprised--but no, I won't say anything about it."
Stanley puzzled over this sentence, which was followed by:
"His sisters are very nice girls."
"It is evidently something about Harry," he said to himself;"possibly she has taken the idea into her head that he may fall inlove with Agnes. That, certainly, would be a very nice thing; but Idon't suppose it is anything more than an idea of mother's."
However, four months later he received a letter from Harry,announcing his engagement.
"I told your mother that she must let me write by the mail, beforeshe did; as it was only right that I should have the pleasure oftelling you the news, myself. It is splendid, old man; upon myword, I don't
know which I ought to feel most grateful to you--forsaving my life, or for getting me to know your sister. It seems tome a regular dispensation of Providence. You did everything youcould to prevent yourself from coming into a title; and now yoursister is going to take it, and me. It is quite right that weshould come to be brothers-in-law, for we are quite like brothers,already.
"We are to be married in the spring. How I wish you could be withus. Your absence will be the only thing wanting, to make everythingperfect. I do hope you don't mean to stay, grilling out there, manyyears. It seems to me monstrous that I should be having estates anda big income, and all that sort of thing, when I have done nothingto deserve it; and that you should be toiling in that beastlyclimate. If I thought that there was the least chance of yourrushing home, when you get this letter, I declare that I would putoff the marriage for a month or so, so that you should be here intime; but as I feel sure that you won't do anything of the sort, itwill be of no use for me to make such a noble sacrifice."
Stanley had received the news that he was gazetted brevet-major, amonth after he was promoted to the rank of captain, and two monthsbefore his name appeared as having retired from the army. Hederived, as he expected, much benefit from his connection with thearmy in his position at his three receiving ports, as it placed himon a very pleasant footing with the military and civil officials;and it rendered his occasional visits to Calcutta and Madrasexceedingly pleasant, for in both towns he found many officerswhose acquaintance he had made, during the expedition. He wasalways made an honorary member of the messes and clubs, during hisstays there.
The business grew rapidly. The work of the earlier years had sowell paved the way for larger operations that they were able tomore than hold their own against other traders who, after thetroubles were at an end, sought to establish themselves at variouspoints on the western coast of the peninsula; and after six moreyears of hard and continuous work, the business came to be a verylarge and important one.
"I think it more than probable," Stanley wrote to his mother, "thatbefore very long I shall be returning home. My uncle spoke aboutit, the last time that I saw him; and said that we were outgrowingCalcutta, and ought to establish ourselves in London.
"'We can hold on a bit longer,' he said, 'but we must come to that,sooner or later and, when it does, you must be the one to go toEngland and take charge. I may go home before that for a fewmonths, but I have no wish or desire to stop there. We have now gota good staff; and I shall probably fix myself, permanently, atCalcutta.'"
Two years later Tom Pearson, on his return from England, broughtback a wife with him, and established himself at Calcutta. Stanleyjoined him there, three weeks after his return. They had a longtalk together, that evening.
"I see, Stanley," his uncle said, "that things have gone onimproving, since I have been away; and that our turnover last yearwas 150,000 pounds, and the profits close upon 15,000 pounds. Ithink, now, that it is high time we opened a place in London. Wehave almost a monopoly of the teak trade, in Burma; and it would bemuch more advantageous for us to make our purchases in England,instead of here. We should save in carriage and in trans-shipment,besides the profits that the people here make out of their sales tous. I have made a great many inquiries, at home, as to the pricesfor cash in Manchester and Birmingham; and find that we should getgoods there some fifteen percent cheaper than we pay at Calcutta,even after putting on the freights. So you see, it is an importantmatter. Besides, there would be a better choice of goods, and youknow exactly the sort of thing that we require, and the quantitiesthat we can get rid of; and would be able, therefore, to sendconsignments each month, without waiting for advices from me; andso we should get the things just as readily as we do now, fromhere.
"I will give you the names of some of the firms that I havevisited, and with whom I have already paved the way for openingextensive transactions. During the eighteen months that I have beenaway, you have learned all about the banking business; and willfind no more difficulty in managing, in London, than here. Yourbrother-in-law Netherly went with me to the Bank of England, andintroduced me to one of the directors. I told him that we intendedto open a house in London, and that as soon as we did so, we shouldopen an account with them by paying in 30,000 pounds; and that weshould, of course, require some facilities, but probably not to alarge extent, as our payments for teak there would fairly balanceour exports from England; and that I reckoned our trade to be, as aminimum, 50,000 pounds, each way.
"The matter was made extremely easy by Netherly saying, to myastonishment:
"'You can let them draw what they like, Mr. Townshend, for I willgive my personal guarantee, up to 50,000 pounds.'
"I remonstrated, but he would not hear anything said.
"'Ridiculous,' he exclaimed, hotly; 'Stanley is my brother-in-law.He risked his life for me, and you don't suppose that I should mindrisking 50,000 pounds for him.
"'Not,' he went on, turning to the director, 'that there is anyrisk in the matter. I know all about the business they do in India,and that there is not a shadow of risk in it. I know that myguarantee will be a mere form but, as it may put them on a betterfooting with you, to begin with, I shall be very pleased to do it.'
"Of course, we know that there will be no risk in it. The greaterportion of our business is a ready-money one and although, of late,we have been dealing more with native local firms instead ofselling direct from our own stores, the amounts are never largeand, so far, we have never lost a penny. Of course, I shall let youknow, by every mail, how things are going on at all our depots; andyou will then be able to form an estimate as to the amount of goodsyou will have to despatch to each--sending them direct, of course,if there happens to be a ship going.
"But all these things, of course, we shall go into, at length,before you start for England."
"Did you go down to Harry's place?"
"Yes, I stopped there a week. Your sister seems perfectly happy,and plays the part of queen of the county admirably. The fouryoungsters are jolly little things. As to your mother, you willfind very little change in her. I really don't think that she looksa day older than when we saw her off, at Calcutta, something liketen years ago. Of course, then she was cut up with her loss; butquiet and comfort have agreed with her, and the climate is a gooddeal less trying than it is out here. At any rate, I should nottake her for a day over forty, and she is something like five yearsolder than that."
Three months later, Stanley sailed for England. There was the sameargument between him and Meinik that there had been when Stanleyfirst left Rangoon, but this time it terminated differently.
"You would be out of your element in England, Meinik. Of course, mylife there will be very different from what it is here. I shall goaway from home to business, every morning, and not get back untilperhaps seven o' clock in the evening. As a consequence, therewould be nothing for you to do for me, and we should see verylittle of each other. You know I should like to have you with me,and would do all that I could to make you comfortable; but I amsure that you would not like the life. Here you have always been onthe move, and there is always something for you to do, and thinkof.
"I have spoken to my uncle about you, and he will be glad toappoint you to the position of purchaser, for our house, of teakand other native products in these provinces. Besides being buyer,you would go up the country, and see to the felling and getting thetimber down to the coast, as you have often done before. He knowshow absolutely I trust you, and how much you have done for me, andhe said that he should be very glad to have you in charge of thebuying side of the work, here. Besides, you know you have now awife and children and, even if you could make yourself comfortablein England, they would never be able to do so; and the bitter coldthat we sometimes have, in winter, would try them terribly, andmight even carry them all off."
To these arguments Meinik had reluctantly yielded. He was somewhatproud of the position that he occupied, as one of some authority inthe establishment of the principal merchants on the coast. He wasfond o
f his wife and little children; and felt that to beestablished among strangers, of different habits and race, would bevery terrible for them. Stanley bought him a nice house at Rangoonand, as his rate of pay, which had been gradually increased, wasnow sufficient to cause him to rank high among the nativepopulation, he himself came to feel that he had done wisely inaccepting Stanley's advice.
The voyage to England was an uneventful one; and to Stanley, afterthe active life he had had for ten years, the five months spent atsea seemed almost interminable.
"I should not have known you, in the least," his mother said, afterthe first joyful greetings were over. "How much you have gonethrough, since we parted at Calcutta."
"I had a pretty rough time of it for two years, mother, during thewar but, with that exception, my life has been a very pleasant one;and I have had nothing, whatever, to grumble about.
"This is a pretty house that you have chosen, mother, and thegarden is charming. How I have longed, sometimes, for the sight ofan English garden. Of course I have never seen one before, but Ihave heard you talk of them, and thought how delightful the greengrass must be. Of course we had flowers in Burma--plenty ofthem--and shrubs; but it was not green, like this. It is charming."
"Yes, it is a pretty house, Stanley. We moved in here five yearsago--thanks to you, dear boy--and it has been a very quiet, happytime. We have a good many friends now, among our neighbours; andhave quite as much society as I care for.
"I suppose you have not yet decided whether you will live here,with us," she said, a little anxiously, "or set up an establishmentof your own."
"Of course I shall stay here, mother. I never thought of anythingelse. I see that you have some stables. I shall get a couple ofhorses, and drive into town, in the mornings. I have got out of theway of walking, altogether.
"And where is Kate?"
"You will see her presently. She will be here to dinner, with Agnesand Harry. I sent her off, because I wanted to have you all tomyself, for the first hour. The others came up to town, three daysago, on purpose to be here when you arrived. Of course, we heardwhen your ship called at Plymouth. We had been looking for her, foryour last letter told us the name of the vessel that you werecoming by; so I wrote to them, and they came up at once. Theywanted us to go and dine with them, but I would not hear of it. Iwas sure that you would much rather dine quietly, here, than instate in Portman Square, with three or four footmen behind ourchairs."
"Ever so much better, mother. I suppose I shall hardly know Agnes,but Harry cannot have altered much; besides, I have seen him fouryears later than her."
Harry's greeting was of the heartiest kind. Stanley's sisters felt,at first, a little strange with this brother of whom they had but afaint remembrance.
"It does not seem to me, Harry, that your dignities have tamed youdown much."
"No, indeed," Harry laughed. "I find it, sometimes, very difficultto act up to my position. I never quite feel that I am an earl,except on the rare occasions when I go to the House of Lords--whichI only do when my vote is wanted, on an important division.
"The gloom of that place is enough to sober anyone. I can assureyou that, when I heard of the fire, I felt absolutely pleased. Ofcourse, they will build another one, perhaps grander than the last,and as gloomy but, thank goodness, it must be years before it canbe finished and, until then, we shall have to put up with temporarypremises.
"Your chances of an earldom are getting more and more remote,Stanley. There are three boys barring the way, already. I hadproposed to myself not to marry--in which case you or a son ofyours would have followed me--but your sister overpersuaded me."
Agnes tossed her head, as she said:
"At any rate, Harry, if you made that resolution, it was not worthmuch, as you gave it up at the first opportunity. I was the firstgirl you met, when you arrived in England; and I doubt whether youhad seen another, before we came down to stay at Netherly. I hadnot been there two days before you began to make love to me."
"The temptation would excuse anything, my dear," Harry laughed."Besides, you see, I saw at once that it was but fair and right toStanley that, if he could not get the peerage himself, he mightsome day have the satisfaction of being uncle to an earl.
"And so you are home for good, old fellow?"
"Yes, and just at present I feel very much at sea as to how to getto work, as Tom Pearson arranged nothing except as to the bankingaccount. Everything else he has left to me. I know nothing ofLondon, and have no idea of the situation where I should look foroffices."
"I will put you up to all that, Stanley. I don't know anythingabout it myself, as you may suppose; but if you will go with me tomy solicitors, tomorrow, they will be able to tell you. But I doknow that Leadenhall Street is the centre of the Indian trade, andit's somewhere about there that you will have to fix yourself.
"Of course, when you have taken a place, you will have to get holdof some clerks. If you put an advertisement in the paper, you willget any number of applicants; or possibly my men may, through theirconnection with merchants, be able to hear of some to suit you.Anyhow, I am sure that you will find no difficulty."
Thanks to Harry's introductions, Stanley was established in ahandsome suite of offices, with three clerks, with much greaterease than he had anticipated. Being thoroughly versed in business,he was not long before he was at home in his new life.
Three years after his return, he married Harry's youngest sister.The firm flourished greatly, and became one of the leading housesin the Eastern trade. At the age of sixty, Stanley retired frombusiness with a large fortune. He could do this comfortably, as hiseldest son and a nephew had become active partners in the firm. Hestill lives, at the age of eighty-six, in a noble mansion nearStaines; and retains all the faculties, even at advanced age.
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