erpetually seeking
pretexts for war in order to get new territories, and the general or
universal impression will be dangerous.

When the public press of England abuse those who have to conduct the
present war for delay, they do not sufficiently consider our
ignorance of the state of the rivers and of the military resources of
the country in which it was to be carried on when we entered upon it.
We did not know that the rivers were navigable, nor did we know how
they were defended; nor did we know what forces Burmah could muster,
nor how they were distributed. It was not intended to commence the
war till after the rains, when it would be safe to move troops over
the country; for it was not reasonable to suppose that the Government
of the country could be so haughty and insolent without military
force to support its pretensions, and we have often had sad
experience of the danger of underrating the power of an enemy. The
object of the earlier movement was merely to secure some points of
support, at which to concentrate our forces as they came up, and not
to advance at once on the capital or into the country at a season
when no troops could move by land.

Our strong arm was, no doubt, the steam flotilla; but it would have
been madness in us, with our ignorance of the rivers and resources of
the country, to have calculated upon conquering Ava by steamers
alone. With what we now know, people may safely say that General
Godwin has failed to make all the use he might of the flotilla, as
Lord Gough failed to make all the use he might of his "strong arm,"
the artillery, in the battles of the Punjaub; but Lord Gough was not
ignorant of the country in which he had to operate, nor of the
resources of the country he had to contend with. According to
previous calculations, the war ought not to have begun till this
month. The earlier movement has, however, been of great advantage--it
has taught us what the rivers and resources of the country are; and,
what is of still more importance, what the people and their feelings
towards their Government and ours are. It is manifest that they fully
appreciate the value of the protection which the people, under our
rule, enjoy; and that they have neither religious nor political
feelings of hostility towards us; and that the people of Pegu, at
least, would hail the establishment of our rule as a blessing.

You were so kind as to express a wish to see my son. He is now with
his regiment, the 16