'History of the Indian Navy. (1613-1863).' [‎494] (513/622)

494 HISTORY OP THE INDIAN NAVY.
from Bombay and elsewhere, assisted in saving from possible
massacre and rapine the public of Calcutta, whom it is very
easy for writers after the event, sitting in judgment in their
arm-chairs, to accuse of needless panic, but who, with the deeds
of Meerut and Delhi ringing in their ears, followed by the
sudden seizure of the King of Oude and his powerful minister,
liom amidst a warlike and excited had some excuse
tor tear; and the more so when they saw around them a vast
and hostile population who openly gloried in the deeds of their
compatriots up-country. In this time of doubt and expectation,
the frowning batteries of the ships of the Indian Navy, in the
river oft Government House, the Mint, and other menaced
points, and the welcome presence of the crews on shore, as they
marched with that easy swagger assumed by "Jack" on
Jirma, which appeared to ridicule the very possibility of danger
restored confidence among the Europeans, and struck terror into
ne hearts of the plotters and hudmashes of the community.
it was felt in those months of June and July, and the
thought reassured the timid, and nerved the hearts of the
brave, that, in the last extremity, the wooden walls of England
would afford shelter to their families, and the cannon teach her
treacherous enemies that, though driven to their ships, the
countrymen ol Cliye and Coote were determined to reassert
their ascendency, and reconquer the empire added to Britain by
the prowess of their forefathers. Absolutely even the name
ot the Indian Navy cannot be found in the pages of the
History of the Sepoy Term used in English to refer to an Indian infantryman. Carries some derogatory connotations as sometimes used as a means of othering and emphasising race, colour, origins, or rank. War," by Sir John Kaye, though
i will not be denied that good service was rendered by
inany of the Detachments—notably by those of Lieutenants
l>uval and Carew in Fort William and at Barrackpore, of
.Lieutenant Lewis at Dacca and in Assam, of Lieutenant
Wnidus in Chota Nagpore, of Commander Batt at Buxar, of
Lieutenant Davies in Assam, of Lieutenant Carew at Judges-
pore, of Lieutenant Duval at Gya, of Lieutenants Barron and
Ootgrave at Moozufferpore and Mooteeharee, and other officers
at various distant points. From first to last the Indian Nava
Brigade, numbering over eighteen hundred officers and men, with
forty guns, served on shore nearly a period of three years, and yet
what was the treatment they received ? On their embarkation
on board their ships, the crews of the 4 Shannon ? and 'Pearl'
were feted by the inhabitants of Calcutta, and received from
the Governor-General in Council the honour of a General Order,
thanking them for their services, a distinction which was also
conferred upon all regiments on their return to England or
their Presidencies, and even on the Bengal Yeomanry Cavalry
on their abolition. But the Indian Navy received no such
recognition from Her Majesty's Viceroy, and, on being broken
up, were suffered to return to their ships, or disperse, as if they