“That Gregory, the Armenian, was the principal instigator, is a fact of which no native of the country, who remembers the transaction, entertains the smallest doubts, as well as that Laveene was the principal agent and instrument of execution. It is said that the former accused Mr. Hope, who commanded after the departure of Lieutenant Newton, of having supplied the Peguers with provisions, and sold to them four or five hundred muskets; that he had taken pains to instil into his majesty’s mind a persuasion, that the English were a designing and dangerous people; who, having acquired Indian territory, first by fraud, and afterwards by violence, meditated the practice of similar treachery upon them; and only waited a fit opportunity to wrest from him his empire, and enslave his subjects, as they had recently done in the instance of the unsuspecting and abused Mogul. He also added, that the governor of Negrais prevented vessels from going up to Bassein, by which the royal revenue was defrauded. These arguments, whether groundless or founded, were sufficiently plausible to produce the desired effect; and there is but too much reason to think that some provocation had been given, though, perhaps, of a trivial nature, and certainly not sufficient to warrant a step unjustifiable by every law, human and divine.”[231] That Alompra had some share in the matter, can hardly be doubted. He had received too many crosses from the English during his conquest of Burmah, to forget. Besides, the heart of the Oriental despot always rankles with envy and pride. He looked for an opportunity to make the English feel his vengeance, and he seized it. Undoubtedly, the Portuguese and Frenchman had not forgotten the massacre of their own nations; and the latter, invested with a little brief authority, did the most that his spiteful heart could do. This event forms the last one of any consequence in the life of Alompra, the liberator and conqueror of Burmah and Pegu. The conquest of Tavoy shed a brief light upon this portion of his career, and feeling certain of success, he determined to let the Siamese feel his strength; and he thought to have vengeance for the assistance that country had given to the Peguese, during his reduction of their power. He therefore sent an expedition against Mergui, and on the taking of that place, the army proceeded against Tenasserim, which soon yielded to the victorious Burmese.