Meanwhile the land settlement of the North-West Provinces, which had been modified by Lord William Bentinck, was brought to a close under the supervision of Mr. Thomason, the Lieutenant-Governor. It was based on the principle of recognising, defining, and recording all existing rights of proprietors of every kind and sort, from those of hereditary chiefs and landlords, down to village proprietors, joint or otherwise. The settlement included a full record of the rights of all proprietors in every village. Every field was measured and mapped; every house was entered on a list. All shares in the land, and all joint and separate liabilities for revenue, were registered. The customs of the village were recorded, and formed a manual of village law. Finally, details of all lawsuits under the settlement officers were preserved, and formed a history of the village settlement. This system was carried out in the Punjab and other new provinces of British India. In Bengal, however, it is stopped by the zemindari system; whilst in Madras village rights are equal under the ryotwari system. [Sidenote: Second Burmese war, 1852.] §9. In 1852 a second Burmese war was forced upon Lord Dalhousie. A treaty of commerce and friendship had been concluded with the king of Burma at the end of the first war, but of late years it had been grossly violated. Burmese officials had condemned British sea captains to fine and imprisonment on false charges, and British merchants residing at Rangoon were preparing to abandon their property and leave Burmese territory unless they were protected by their own government. [Sidenote: Arrogant officials.] Commodore Lambert was sent to Rangoon to investigate complaints. He was treated by the Burmese officials with such insolence and arrogance that negotiations were impossible. Eventually he seized a Burmese ship by way of reprisal, but engaged to restore it on receipt of something like 1,000_l._ as nominal compensation for British sufferers. In reply the Burmese fired on the commodore's steamer, and the firing was promptly returned. From that moment war was inevitable. [Sidenote: Annexation of Pegu.] A British expedition under General Godwin reached Rangoon. The Shway Dagohn pagoda, the great cathedral of Buddhism in Burma, was taken by storm; and then all fighting was over. The court of Ava was powerless and paralysed. It could not resist British forces, and simply left the British authorities to do as they pleased. Upper Burma was abandoned to the king, and the rich valley of Pegu, and port of Rangoon, were added to the British empire; and eventually the three divisions of Pegu, Arakan, and Tenasserim were formed into the province of British Burma. [Sidenote: New frontiers of British Empire.]