He felt and wrote much more; and gave many traits of the gallantry and high spirit of the Sepoys, chiefly Madras men, on that occasion.
Previous to the capture of Arakan, Lawrence had experienced all the difficulties of a march along the sea-coast, with no roads, and countless ravines to be crossed, bordered by jungles which afforded cover for attacks and surprises; and, in approaching Arakan in concentration for the assault, a sharp conflict had occurred in storming the Mahattie stockade, in which Lawrence and his guns had played a prominent part.
No serious operations occupied after this. The Burmese were thoroughly defeated; but peace was not ratified by treaty till the February of 1826. Meanwhile fever, amounting to pestilence, had attacked the British force; and Lawrence, who had been appointed Adjutant of the Artillery Division, and afterwards its Ordnance officer, was seized with the malady. Its severity was so great and its nature so virulent that he was subject to its effects and its recurrence throughout his whole life. A short trip to sea and to Calcutta was found ineffectual to stop it, and he was consequently ordered on long sick-leave by way of China to England.
With this ended his service in Burma and his direct connexion with that country. But the subaltern had sufficiently studied its military circumstances to lead to his addressing suggestions to Government some ten years afterwards, when there appeared to be a prospect of a fresh war with Burma.
