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JOURNAL OF AN EMBASSY 
part, of gold in the second article, was care¬ 
fully noted down, but no answer whatever was 
given to it. They were in fact not prepared 
for the subject, and had no authority to speak. 
They saw, however, that there was some con¬ 
cession in it, and seized upon it from the first 
moment, as if it were a point actually stipula¬ 
ted for, and not contingent upon concessions 
to be made on their side. In accordance with 
this, when the subject of exporting the pre¬ 
cious metals was alluded to in the conversation 
which ensued, silver alone was mentioned, and 
gold carefully excluded. I was induced to make 
the proposition of confining the free export of 
money to silver, on the following grounds:— 
gold is in steady demand among the Burmans 
for gilding and plate, and, from what I can 
understand, is generally higher priced in the 
Bur man dominions than in our own territories. 
It is also easily smuggled, and has always been 
so to a considerable extent by the Burman 
traders themselves. Under these circumstan¬ 
ces, the prohibition to export it would be no 
great detriment or restraint to British com¬ 
merce ; while it might be a considerable in¬ 
ducement to the Borman Government to con¬ 
cede the main point, the exportation of silver. 
Nov. 21 — I received information yesterday 
