432 
JOURNAL OF AN EMBASSY 
the Commander of the Guard of Swordsmen 
called twice yesterday with confidential mes¬ 
sages from Kaulen Mengyi. These were of a 
very extraordinary character. The free export 
of gold and silver, these chiefs stated, could 
not be granted, because it was contrary to the 
laws of the empire. The Burman chiefs, 
however, took a new ground, certainly one not 
very easy to defend. They said that the Go¬ 
vernor-General had sent an Envoy to cement 
the bonds of friendship, between the two na¬ 
tions, and they asked by what means he, the 
Envoy, proposed to do this. The Burman 
Government, they said, were prepared, on their 
side, to grant four favours, meaning the four 
articles of the Treaty of Commerce which re¬ 
mained, and they wished to know what the 
Envoy would grant in return. They fully 
expected, they said, in return for the favours 
granted by them, without at all considering 
that the conditions of the treaty were strictly 
reciprocal, that they should receive at least a 
promise not only of restoring the provinces, 
but of remitting the debt of fifty lacs of rupees. 
In regard to the provinces, Kaulen Mengyi in¬ 
structed them to hint that they had not been 
ceded to us in perpetuity. Such an argu¬ 
ment, however, was never afterwards brought 
