of the Chittagong district, and separated from it only by a shallow channel, which is continually filling up.

The main stream of the Nââf, upwards of two miles in breadth, the acknowledged Boundary of the two States, flows between the Island and the Eastern, or Burmese bank of that river. Early in the present year the Magistrate of Chittagong reported, in his Correspondence in the Judicial Department, that a Mug boat, laden with grain, in passing near to the Island of Shahporree, was stopped by a party of Burmese, armed with matchlocks, and the manghee, or steersman, shot dead on the spot. The only cause, to which the Magistrate could ascribe this violent proceeding on the part of the Burmese, was the hope entertained by them, that such an act of violence would deter the Company's Ryots from cultivating that Island. Farther enquiry having tended to confirm the Magistrate in the belief that the murder was premeditated, he judged it expedient to detach from the adjoining Thannah of Tek Nââf a guard of Provincials, consisting of a Jemadar and twelve men, to take post on the Island, with the view of preventing further outrage, and, generally, of affording security and protection to the peaceable Inhabitants of that quarter of the District.

Having subsequently reported that the Burmese were assembling in considerable numbers on the opposite bank of the Nââf River, with the intention of occupying the Island of Shapuree, or otherwise with hostile designs, the Magistrate was instructed to lose no time in adopting the necessary measures, in concert with the Commanding Officer at Chittagong, either to deter the Burmese from making such an attempt, or to compel them to abandon the Island, should they have forcibly taken possession of it.

For a detailed statement of the proceedings of the Magistrate of Chittagong, in the investigation of the murder of the Mug boatman, and of his Correspondence with the Burmese Authorities on that subjeet, and regarding their claims to the Island of Shaporee, we beg to refer your Honourable Committee to the annexed extracts from our Proceedings in the Judicial Department.

On the 26th of May last, the Magistrate reported, that he had not deemed it expedient to strengthen the military post on the Nââf, conceiving it might lead to the Burmese assembling a larger force, and be construed into a declaration of hostilities, observing, that if they were determined to attack the Island, it would require the whole force stationed at Chittagong to oppose them, and thus the Town itself would be exposed to the hazard of an incursion of the Burmese, through the passes in the hills to the Northward and Eastward. In the Correspondence which passed on the occasion, between the Magistrate and the Ucherung, or Burmese Officer, at Mungdoo, your Honourable Committee will observe, that the latter asserted the right of the Govern◄

ment of Ava to Shahpooree as part of the province of Arracan, and required the Magistrate to withdraw the British post, and pull down the stockade, declaring that otherwise there would be a great quarrel.

Satisfied as we were of the indisputable title of the British Government to Shahpooree, as well from the position of the Island, as from the records of the Chittagong Collectorship, which shewed that it had invariably been comprehended in the Revenue Settlements, we directed the Magistrate to arrange the information and proofs in a clear and intelligible form, and communicate the substance to the Ucherung of Mungdoo, stating at the same time, that the communication was made in order to put him in possession of the facts of the case, and to shew that any attempt on the part of the Burmese to take forcible possession of the Island, or to attack the Post established there, must be viewed as an hostile and unprovoked act of aggression on their part, for the consequences of which the Local Authorities would be held responsible to their Sovereign. The Magistrate was directed to state further, that the British Government was always disposed to take into consideration the claims of neighbouring Powers, when brought to its notice in a friendly and proper manner, and to decide upon them with due regard to justice and equity, but that, even if our right to the Island was less certain than it undoubtedly was, any attempt on the part of the Uchurung to obtain forcible possession of it would be resisted, and the Aggressors punished.

On the 17th June last, the Magistrate of Chittagong acknowledged the receipt of the instructions, of which the substance has been stated in the preceding paragraph, and took that opportunity of reporting, that the reply which he had received on the preceding day from the Uchurung of Mungdoo, had removed all apprehensions of any immediate attack on Shahpooree. He remarked at the same time, that the Burmese Local Authorities evidently assumed in their correspondence a right to the River Nââf, to the exclusion of British Subjects, and considered the limits of the British Territories to be the Thanah of Tek Nââf, and not to extend beyond the edge of the River. He stated also the fact of the Channel between the Island and Tek Nââf being fordable at low water, while the main channel of the Nââf was entirely on the other side of the Island, with continued deep water, to the Arracan shore.

On the 2d August the Magistrate transmitted a Copy of a Report, dated 26th July, from the Darogah of Tek Nââf, together with a statement given by a person named Yakoob, who had been sent to Arracan to obtain information of any preparations making by the Burmese for an attack on Shahpooree. Yakoob reported, that one hundred war boats, and two thousand men were collected at the fort of Arracan, a statement which we believed to be much exaggerated, and entitled to little credit.

On the 6th August, the Magistrate transmitted the deposition

by Yakoob taken before him on oath, the substance of which was as above stated. In reply to a question from the Magistrate, Yakoob expressed his opinion, that the Burmese would attack the Island in the months of September and October.

About the same time as the date of the Magistrate's Letter, last referred to, a Vakeel, dispatched by the Rajah of Arracan, arrived at the Presidency, with a Letter for the Governor-General, in which the Rajah claimed the Island of Shahporee, as having always been annexed to the Arracan Province, and requested that the British post might be removed from it, as the maintenance of a guard there might lead to dispute, and eventually cause a rupture of the friendship and harmony subsisting between the two States. To this Letter an answer was returned, stating the undoubted title of the British Government to Shahporee, and the Governor-General's persuasion, that the passage in the Rajah's Letter, expressing an apprehension as to the possibility of a rupture, arising out of the circumstance of our maintaining a small post on an Island of our own, must have been written incautiously and without due reflection. It was added, that it did not appear from the contents of the Rajah's Letter, that his communication had been made with the knowledge or authority of the King of Ava, and that our respect for His Majesty's wisdom and discernment satisfied us, that on his learning the particulars, he would not fail to recognize the justice of the title by which the British Government held, and would continue to hold, the Island in question.

Farther we stated, that, should the arguments which demonstrated our right to the disputed position, fail to produce conviction on the Rajah's mind, it would afford us much satisfaction to depute an Officer of rank, during the ensuing cold season, to meet a Commissioner from Arracan, and to settle all such questions on the spot.

In our instructions to the Magistrate, in reply to his Letter of the 6th August, above adverted to, we apprized him of our receipt of the Letter from the Rajah of Arracan, and our reply, as substantially stated in the preceding paragraph, and expressed our confident expectation, that the explicit declaration of our right to the Island, coupled with the consideration of the incontrovertible proofs and arguments by which it was supported, and of our determination to maintain possession, would satisfy the Burmese Authorities of the futility of urging any farther claims or demands on the subject. We could not, we remarked to the Magistrate, bring ourselves to believe that the Government of Ava so incorrectly appreciated the actual state of the British Power in India, as to permit any of its Provincial Governors wantonly to provoke hostilities, in the prosecution of an unjustifiable attempt to encroach on the Territories of the Honourable Company.

On the 22d September last, the Magistrate reported that he had forwarded the Letter from the Governor-General to the Rajah of Arra

can, stating at the same time, that the general impression among the Mugs to the Southward was, that the Burmese would certainly attack the Island of Shahporee when the season would admit of it, and expressing his own opinion, that every thing indicated symptoms of a hostile intention on their part.

On the 28th of the same month, Mr. Warner reported to us by an express, that a Burmese force of about 1,000 men had actually attacked and taken the Island on the 24th, killing three Sepoys, and wounding three others. In his despatch of the following day, the 29th, Mr. Warner reported such particulars of the attack as had come to his knowledge, stating that, as far as he could learn, the attack was made by the Rajah of Rynberry (or Ramré) under orders said to have come direct from the King of Ava; that the Rajahs of Arracan, Myoon, (or Cheduba) and Candoo, were also collecting their troops, and that the whole force those four Rajahs would assemble, was rumoured to be 15,000 men. Mr. Warner further stated, that a general opinion prevailed that they would enter the British territories in force, and chiefly by night attacks, plunder and destroy the villages, especially Coxe's bazar and the adjacent Mug villages.

The preceding accounts from the Magistrate, were followed by further reports, dated 30th September, and 1st ultimo, detailing the proceedings of the Burmese since their occupation of Shahpooree, and the consternation of the Mug population to the Southward, and stating that the Darogha, at Tek Nââf, had reported that sixty boats were collected on the opposite banks of the Nââf, for transporting the Burmese army across that river into the British territories.

Having taken the contents of the Despatches above referred to, into consideration, our first view of the case was, that the gross and deliberate outrage committed by the Burmese, and their reported collection of a large body of troops, which had assumed a menacing attitude on our frontier, called for the immediate adoption of the most decisive measures, not only for their expulsion from the Island and the protection of our territories from further aggression, but for the signal and exemplary chastisement of the Aggressors.

We accordingly resolved, that an adequate military force should be forthwith prepared to proceed to the Southern part of the Chittagong coast, with instructions to adopt the most prompt and effectual measures for attacking and expelling the Burmese from the Island of Shahpooree, or any other portion of the British territory of which they might have taken possession, and for capturing and destroying their war boats and military posts and equipments in the Nââf river, and along its shores, as a just measure of retribution, and a decisive check to all further violation and assault of the British Possessions. In the probable event of the Burmese having retired from Shahpooree, and from the Nââf river, before the arrival of the expedition and

commencement of operations against them, and even otherwise, if feasible, and if too great a risk should not be involved, we resolved that the Officer commanding the detachment should be directed to pursue the Aggressors to the river of Arracan, from whence the Burmese expedition appeared to have issued, and capture and destroy all the war-boats which might be found in that river, carefully avoiding injury to private property, and strictly prohibiting plunder of every kind. It appearing also from information communicated by the Magistrate of Chittagong, that the troops and war-boats employed to invade Shahpooree, were assembled at the fort of Arracan, we resolved to authorize the Officer commanding the expedition to exercise his discretion, as to attacking and carrying the fort of Arracan itself, after duly adverting to the information which he would receive in the immediate neighbour hood, both as to the navigation of the river, and as to the probable effect of the climate on the health of Europeans.

Having nevertheless determined to treat the outrage at Shahpooree as the act of the Local Burmese Authorities alone, unauthorized by their Sovereign, we proposed at the same time to address a Letter of remonstrance to the King of Ava, notifying the measures which the British Government had been compelled to adopt for the vindication of its authority, and the immediate chastisement of the authors of so flagrant an attempt to disturb the relations of Amity and Peace subsisting between the two Governments, assuring His Majesty, that it was our most sincere and cordial desire to maintain those relations unimpaired, and calling upon the Government of Ava, to disavow the hostile acts of its Subordinate Authorities, and to mark its displeasure at their conduct by removing them from, their respective governments, and inflicting on them public and exemplary punishment, as an atonement due to the British Power for the insult sustained by the violation of its Territories..

We judged it advisable to require the presence of two of the Honourable Company's Cruizers from Bombay, to be stationed on the Chittagong coast, and to be available also for the conveyance of an Agent to the Burmese Dominions, should the course of events render such a measure expedient.

While the necessary arrangements to give effect to our resolutions were making in the Military Department, the Reports received from the Magistrate of Chittagong, dated the 3d, 4th, 5th, 6th, and 8th ultimo, considerably altered the appearance of affairs, and satisfied us that the strength and menacing attitude of the Burmese force had been much exaggerated. Whatever the determination of the Court of Ava might be on our forcible re-occupation of Shahpooree, it appeared to us that their original object was exclusively confined to the seizure of that Island, which they affected to treat as theirs of right, and that no immediate danger existed of an attack from them on any other quarter of our Territories.