tion, till a campaign shall again have led us to the gates of the capital.' He realized that any backward movement or momentary retreat would be misinterpreted as a sign of weakness, and he laid down the principle that 'with a nation so ridiculously but mischievously self-conceited and arrogant,' whatever was conquered must be annexed. With this end distinctly in view from the beginning, he organised the expedition on a scale to insure such a success as would convince even the blind arrogance of a Burmese Emperor.
At the same time he determined to make the Emperor contribute to the cost of the war, which had been forced on by His Majesty's refusal of redress. Lord Dalhousie accordingly now requested not the mere punishment of a local officer at Rangoon, and compensation to the Rangoon merchants for their actual losses of Rs. 9,000. He demanded that the Emperor should not only disavow the conduct of his Governor at Rangoon, but should himself apologise, receive a British Resident at Rangoon, and pay a war-fine of one million rupees.
The expeditionary force was made up of separate contingents from Calcutta and Madras, with a squadron from Bombay. In Calcutta and Madras there was a repetition, on a smaller scale and for a shorter period, of the same want of capacity in those responsible for placing the troops on the
