'History of the Indian Navy. (1613-1863).' [‎527] (546/622)

HISTORY OF THE INDIAN NAYT.
527
racter for intGgrity was nn t rnpeachablG, attempted to accuse
them of peculation, Captain Haines was of course responsible,
and he was therefore sent under arrest to Bombay, and brought
to trial by Government, but acquitted by two juries.
But they had not yet done with him, and, gaining a
verdict in a civil suit, he was thrown into a debtor's prison,
the Government turning an obdurate answer to the friends of
an old officer whom they had rewarded in happier times, and
there he lingered for six years, notwithstanding that he offered to
make good the deficiency with his private fortune (not accumu
lated savings), and also proposed to sacrifice his pay. But the
Government turned alike a deaf ear to his offers, to the
prayers of friends—who pointed out that he was being slowly
killed by the miserable place in which he was confined—and the
urgent remonstrances and recriminations of the press; and it
was not until the 9th of June, 1860, a few days after the
arrival of Sir G. Clerk, the new Governor of Bombay—whose
first act was this Christianlike deed of charity and justice
—that this old and distinguished officer was released from
prison. But it was too late, and he died on the day week of his
release, a signal instance of ingratitude and criminal harshness.*
* £c Allen's Indian Mail," of tlie 6tli of August, 1860, had the following article
on the career and character of Captain Haines :— u A dark chapter in the history
of the Bombay Grovernment has at length come to a conclusion. A gloomier
page, indeed, will scarcely be found anywhere, except, perchance, in the records
of Neapolitan misrule. A mere debtor—if, indeed, he were that—has been for
nearly six years confined in jail, in a deadly climate, at the suit of the Govern
ment he had served with pre-eminent zeal and ability. What more could have
been done to him had he actually been found guilty of the fraud and embezzle
ment which were so strenuously charged against him ? Compare the measure of
vengeance heaped upon the unfortunate officer whose remarkable talents had for
upwards of thirty years been entirely devoted to the service of his country, with
the mitigated punishment meted out to the fashionable, but fraudulent, banker
whose whole life had been a systematic hypocrisy. The one, twice acquitted of
all criminality by a jury of his countrymen amid the acclamations of an excited
and sympathising audience, is, nevertheless—on a charge of debt, because the
Grovernment had been too careless, or too penurious, to appoint a proper treasurer
and book-keeper—thrown into prison, and, after six years' detention, only
released to die; while the other, convicted, amid universal groans and execra
tions, of robbing the widow and the orphan, is set free after a brief imprisonment,
despised for having been detected, rather than for the crimes he had committed.
But the former was prosecuted by a Grovernment, conscious that it was itself most
to blame ; while the latter was brought to trial in the name of the laws he had
violated, and not to gratify the resentment of those whom he had ruined and
despoiled. It was in the year 1835 that Captain Haines was first employed in
that long series of marine surveys which attracted the favourable notice of his
superiors. Through his unflagging industry and perseverance the entire sea-
coast of Southern Arabia was clearly laid down in the charts, and the value of
Aden as a coaling and naval station demonstrated beyond dispute. At the time
when the overland route was being established, the Arab tribes had been guilty of
great cruelty to the crews of vessels wrecked upon that inhospitable shore, and
their chief was only brought to his senses by the vigorous measures adopted by
Captain Haines. The result was the complete surrender to the East India
Company of the fort of Aden, and so fully aware were the Court of Directors The London-based directors of the East India Company who dealt with the daily conduct of the Company's affairs. of
the nature of the services rendered by that officer that they presented him with a