The court historiographer of the Burmese, has recorded in the national
chronicle his account of the war with the English to the following purport:
--"In the years 1186 and 87, the Kula-pyu, or white strangers of the west,
fastened a quarrel upon the Lord of the Golden Palace. They landed at
Rangoon, took that place and Prome, and were permitted to advance as far
as Yandabo; for the king, from motives of piety and regard to life, made
no effort whatever to oppose them. The strangers had spent vast sums of
money in their enterprise; and by the time they reached Yandabo, their
resources were exhausted, and they were in great distress. They petitioned
the king, who, in his clemency and generosity, sent them large sums of
money to pay their expenses back, and ordered them out of the country."--
_Crawfurd's Embassy to Ava._
To quote a vulgar proverb, this is making the best of a bad job.
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