I hope you will be able to find the able article in the
"Daily News" to which I refer, and consent to give it a prominent
place in the "Englishman." It was sent to me by a friend in London,
but I have, unfortunately, mislaid it. This note will, of course, be
considered as confidential.
Yours sincerely,
W. H. SLEEMAN.
To W. C. Harry, Esq.
__________________________
Lucknow, 5th June, 1853.
My Lord,
I have read with great interest in the English journals your
Lordship's able Minute on the Burmese war, and am glad that it has
been published, as it cannot fail to disabuse the public mind at
home, and bring about a reaction in the feeling of the people excited
by some very unfair articles in the London "Times." I attributed
these articles to the Napiers, who, however talented, are almost
always wrong-headed.
I am persuaded that the new Sovereign will acquiesce in your
possession of Pegu, and that he would not have ceded it by treaty
under any circumstances. The old Sovereign might have done it, though
at great risk, but the new Sovereign could not dare to do it.
Our own history affords us instances enough of powerful ministers
anxious, for the public good, to get rid of conquered, but expensive
and useless possessions, but deterred from proposing the measure by
the dread of popular odium, which ambitious and factious rivals are
always ready to excite.
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