as related to the government that I represented, it was clearly my duty
My letter was written in the English-and the.Persian languages-:* .the
intervention of holidays prevented the deliveiy^djpit before the 26th, when
Mr. Wood waited on, the .principal Woongee, and presented ife^jg^fqrm;
he afterwards called upon the junior Woonge.es, and acquainted them of
his having laid before the senior an address, which required;their serious
consideration.
I imagine that if this explicit avowal of my sentiments, had been made
previously to our last-mentioned visits to- the members of the royal family,
we should have had less cause to complain of incivility. Such language
I believe was not expected; the court had assured itself that the stat4|$>f
our affairs in Europe and in India was so critical-, that .we^ould tolerate
yet greater arrogance of manner, rather than hazard the interruption of
intercourse, and give our enemies the advantage of an alliance, which the
native vanity of the Birmans, rendered them not unwilling to over-rate. ■
* It afforded me particular satisfaction to know, that the full purport and expression of my
letter could not fail to be conveyed, through the channel of either df these languages, to the
Birman court. The Armenian interpreter of English, who Hadjspentthe greater part of Ms
life in the Birman country, was a man eminently qualified for the task : he ,spoke, read,' and
wrote English, superior to any person I ever knew, who had notbeen. in Great Britain. It
is a singular fact, that the first version of the late Sir-William JonfS’s Translation of the Institutes
of Hindoo Law, should be made in the Birman language. When I arrived at Ijmniera-
poora, the Armenian had just completed the work, by command of his Birman Majesty. This
circumstance offers no mean proof of the liberal and enlightened policy of a prince, who,
superior to general prejudice, was willing to seek for information through a medium, by which
few other nations of the East will condescend to accept of knowledge, however beneficial the
attainment might prove to themselves.
i y j.S'âjrîyeycd tci mî.^J|om a respectai da quarter, that the
fermentation ■^hitfSb^^h^ionstriricp cycltcdjin theucojmcjl of the Lotoo,
was by W
their, o p in fe n s ^ jh e ." jb s y ÿ ^ i^ ^ tvelye^ycjock. onYthe night
o f the g^th, yyhen -thp,result, »f,tl?Lj^c0 ^ ^ tm iTsMas Ifflkbdlo^êjthe* kfn^
‘|f^Jha,tever,might have bçeiB th c i f f ig b 'j l t a tL ^ s tn 'tu ^ e n n c i t e decision
was, temperate.ancL.yis.e.i I was appn/ed, lUto,oil t h e , t h e
28th, by a verbal communicationf^om, the M lywoon o f Pegud^ ihTiuoni
the day appointed for the delivery of the rejîlfe to thc^Roveinor fienci.d’s
letter, I should be formally receiyed aÿjhe pafece of the King, '
grant me-a personal audience.in the character to w;h.ien..P la id ®Ww anÉ:
that the propositions which I hadv suggested^ for the Regulation SuU re ^^®
ragement of commerce, had for the most parkrèceivèd^Ki^Majèsty’s ap-
piobiation^ v;-j
I expressed in answer, the satisfaction I felt from hearing a resolution's«
creditable to themselves, hul added, that aS* the letter I had writtenwgas a
public and solemn declaration, I should,require^ hK>je£ than4 .a’.verbal assurance,
before I could consistently^subject myself, to a repetition of,former
disappointments, and requested that he would take (the- troubfeA% reduce
his obliging message to writing; with this fas readily complied by a,$hort
note written in the Birman language. -
The form of receiving the presents, which were brought to me as..a
return for those that had been given, .occupied at .considerable portion of the
last days. One of the three boxes, that hadsbeen:sent.by the King, con.-""
tained amber in large pieces, ppcorrunonly pure i another, a jpass of stone
of considerable size, in appearance resembling,';the chrysopr(ase ; and the
third, a large and beautiful group, of crystals, ;fisip.g^from a matrix Sspr
^ 3 G