century, are now very numerous in the dominions of Ava. They exercise their rights without molestation, and are considered, and have in effect become, of political consequence to the state.

It therefore appears highly expedient to maintain such an intercourse with the Birmese government as may enable us to circumvent the attempt of any other European nation to obtain a permanant settlement in its dominions. The difficulty of regulating our intercourse, with a nation so proud, yet so mean, so ignorant, yet so civilized, is an obstacle still to be surmounted: they agree with the Chinese in pertinaciously denying the claim of sovereign equality to the company's government in India. If they condescend to treat with its representative, they will do so only on the footing of his inferiority, and whatever they concede is considered by them as a boon to a suppliant, rather than a stipulation with an independent state; nor can they be induced, even by their own interests, to send embassadors to Calcutta, although sensible of the important advan tages which individuals, as well as the public revenue of Ava, derive from commerce with the English settlements. If they are impressed with a high opinion of our naval superiority, they are by no means unacquainted with the progress which the French arms have made in Europe, and viewing us in the light of formidable neighbours, they will be the less averse from giving encouragement to a preponderating power. There can be little doubt, that if Buonaparte had an opportunity to send a royal embassy to Ava, his minister would meet as gracious a reception as those sent by Louis the XIV. did,

at the court of Siam. And we may at no very distant day find ourselves embarrassed by a cession from Ava to France, of ports in the bay of Bengal, which, to suffer her to occupy, would be to put to hazard our very existence in India, To the pride, therefore, of the Birmese court, our policy should make some sacrifice. It is true, that an envoy from the government general of India, has, and may again exact, sovereign respect in external forms, but the controversy occasioned by it inevitably produces irritation, and precludes cordiality-consequences which may be avoided by the envoy bearing a commission from his own sovereign. The vanity of thẹ Birmese monarch would thus be gratified, and produce an effect in our favor, instead of operating to our disadvantage, as it does at present; for it is a fact, that the policy of that extraordinary court, is at all times more likely to give way to its pride, than its pride is to its policy.

A question of some delicacy arises out of these considerations, whether it be right that any nation of the east, should be allowed to call in doubt the legitimate sovereignty of the India company, or make a treaty on any other basis. The writer of this memorandum is decidedly of opinion, that within the accustomed sphere of the cempany's political relations in India, and so long as the company's charter remains in force, it ought not to be allowed; but that assertion of the company's sovereignty, should, for various cogent reasons, be restricted to those nations with which, as a sovereign, the company has been accustomed to treat, and by whom their regal rights have already been acknowledged.

Perhaps

Perhaps the eastern frontiers of Persia, and the western of Ava, are the proper limits to this extraordinary power, lodged in an ordinary corporation. China, Siam, and Ava, a prodigious population, form by themselves a body politic, professing the same fundamental principles of religion, nearly the same maxims of political economy, imbued with the same prejudices, the same pride, the same virtues, and the same vices. To such people it will be impossible ever to explain satisfactorily the strange anomaly in government of the sovereignty of the East India company. Was Ava as impervious to the French as China is, and as remote from Bengal as that country, we might acquiesce in an intercourse on terms of inferiority and humiliation; but between Ava and Bengal there does not subsist, even such an authorized connection as there is with China. In the latter place the supercargoes, on a recent occasion, officially interposed, and prevented war. At Rangoon, or at Ava, there is no person vested with any official authority to interfere, either to demand justice, or to offer attonement. Some petty outrage, or act of individual intemperance, may embroil the nation; and our enemies may continue to find shelter, and receive succours in every Birmese port, without any person having a right to remonstrate against the breach of the laws of nations.

It is by no means in the contemplation of the writer of this memorandum to suggest an embassy to Ava, that is to be independent of the government-general of India; on the contrary he is clearly of opinion, that all diplomatic ministers in the east, al

though accredited from home, ought to be under the controul of the supreme, government of India, and perhaps not any one more so, than the officer delegated to Ava. Many circumstances may arise in the interval of communication between India and England, to render it inexpedient to send a minister to Ava,-our relations with that country may be so altered by the time an envoy reaches Calcutta, as to make the mission impracti cable. Of the actual expediency of the measure at the point of time when it is to be carried into effect, the governor-general must be the fittest judge; and although the credentials of the envoy are derived from the highest source, yet he should be implicitly governed by the discretion and authority of the governor-general, who can best determine the precise objects to which his attention should be directed, and modify his instructions according to existing circumstances. In fact, little more can be furnished from home, than the commission under which the envoy is to act, some general rules for his conduct, and a complimentary letter from his majesty's government to the sovereign of Ava, containing a notification of the appointment.

The present is a crisis perhaps more calculated to give effect to such a mission than any other that has hitherto offered. The power of the ruler of France has been represented in the strongest colours to all the native princes of Asia, and to none more a siduously than the king of Ava. This power has received a check, and seems to totter; whatever be the ultimate issue, the present state of things may be turned to our advantage; an adverse tide in the fortune

of

of our enemy will incline the Ava government to accede more readily to a closer union with ours. There is not at this day a potentate in the east, who has not been taught to expect a French standard on the banks of the Ganges.

The measure here suggested is one of pecuniary advantage, as well as political prudence. Three several armaments have within a few years been assembled on the Ava frontiers, because the provincial officers quarreled, and the governments did not understand each other; delinquent refugees fled from one side of the river Naaf* to the other. Menaces were used to produce their surrender, and an armed force was, on more than one occasion, sent to apprehend them, in violation of the rights of the invaded state. These events caused animosity, bloodshed, and a heavy expense, which might have been avoided, had there been an accredited person at Ava or Rangoon,

privileged to ask, or to be asked, why such acts were committed.

By

Many other reasons might, if necessary, be assigned to manifest the propriety of maintaining an authorized intercourse with Ava, and that it will be good policy on our part to make every becoming advance, for so desirable an object cannot be doubted-the jealous pride of the court, and the diligent rivalry of France, are the chief obstacles we have to surmount. not offending that pride, and by convincing that court that we harbour no sinister views of conquest, and by vigilantly counteracting the machinations of the French, we may in a very few years bring the ample naval resources of Ava in aid of our commerce and our wars,-preserve an uninterrupted amity with its government, and acquire such a preponderance in its councils, as will most effectually secure us against the intrigues of any foreign nation.

vince of Bengal.

The