(MO AWr.v fui- the Month. [J 



excellent " captain." Dinner was ordered at " eight ;" and the ceremony 

 of laying the cloth instructed the waiters that two table spoons were miss- 

 ing ; but the " captain" did not return. 



Two Ways of looking at a Question. When thanks were voted a few 

 nights since to the British troops in India for their services in the late war, 

 Mr. C. Wynne took occasion, in eulogizing the services of Sir Archibald 

 Campbell, particularly, to speak of the " generosity" of that officer, who, 

 being within two days march of the capital city of the Burmese, at the 

 conclusion of the war, had consented to stop the progress of his arms ; and 

 foregoing all the immense plunder which he would have derived from the 

 sack of Ava, had made a treaty precisely on the same moderate terms as . 

 had been offered at the commencement of the contest. Mr. Hume, in 

 reply, bore full testimony to the services of General Campbell ; but sug- 

 gested, that the praise bestowed by Mr. Wynne, should have been given 

 to the gallant general's " discretion," rather than to his " generosity.'' 

 For, being, at the time specified, left, with only two thousand troops, arid 

 no chance of a reinforcement, opposed to fifty thousand inhabitants, 

 whom he would have found in Ava, exclusive of the large Burmese mili- 

 tary force, it was more than possible, that had tlie general advanced 

 instead of having to enrich himself with the plunder of the capital city 

 in question not a single man of all his host would ever have escaped 

 alive, even from the fury of the washerwomen of it. 



This Burmese reminiscence reminds us of an anecdote in Major Snod- 

 grass's book on the conduct of that war, which is strongly characteristic 

 of the fact, how little the quality we call " wit/' is the result of acquire- 

 ment or education. When the British army was pushing on with great 

 spirit towards the capital of Ava, and beating the Burmese forces at a 

 majority of ten or a dozen to one, the two chiefs in command we forget 

 their names " The Lion Eater" and " The Invulnerable 1 ' or some 

 persons of that portentous sort of denomination demanded an armistice. 

 This request was acceded to by General Campbell ; and terms of treaty 

 were drawn up, which were to be forwarded by the Burmese to the 

 Court of Ava for execution ; but two or three days elapsed, during which 

 no answer arrived from Ava ; and the English commander got an incon- 

 venient suspicion that he was being trifled with. Application being made 

 for dispatch, the Indian chiefs invented a variety of excuses ; protesting, 

 in the most solemn terms, by every tie of honour and religion, that the 

 messengers had been dispatched to their court, and from hour to hour, 

 could not fail to arrive ; but, in the end, Sir A. Campbell, convinced that 

 the Court of Ava at least was negociating only to gain time, charged the 

 Burmese so furiously, that the " lion eater" in person scarcely escaped ; 

 his tent, with a large booty in specie and jewels, was captured; and in it 

 was found the identical treaty drawn between his greatness and Sir A. 

 Campbell, five or six days before which had never been sent to Ava or 

 dreamt of being sent there at all. On the day after this assault, the 

 two armies being, the one in retreat, the other in pursuit, Sir A. Campbell 

 sent a flag to the *' lion eater" with " his compliments," and the treaty 

 " which had been sent" to Ava, that the Indian might be aware that Bis 

 treachery was understood. The latter received the message with the 

 most perfect coolness, and returned for answer " his compliments to Sir 

 A. Campbell, for the paper (the treaty), and he had also, in the hurry of 

 his departure, left in his chest with it a bag, containing rather a con- 

 siderable sum of money which he doubted not the British general would 

 a/so take an early opportunity of returning." 



