Page 282 - INDIANNAVYV1

250 HISTORY OF THE INDIAN NAVY.

following- day, the troops having embarked, the latter took
possession of the palace.
Sultan Nazir-oo-deeii ceded to tlie British Government the
island of Banca, which was formally taken possession of by
Colonel Gillespie on the 20th of May, and named Duke of
York's Island, though it is now agam known by its old native
name.*
Colonel Gillespie reported in most favourable terms of the
conduct of the officers and men of the 'Teignmouth' and
' ]\Iercnry,' and Mr. Raffles spoke of them as follows in General
Orders, \lated the 27th of May, 1812 :—" Colonel Gillespie is
also requested to inform the Honourable Company's cruisers,
that the Lieutenant-Governor will have ratich pleasure in com-
municating to the Supreme Government, the favourable senti-
ments which are entertained of the conduct of this branch
of the Naval Service."!
* Banca soon ceased to be held by a British force, owing to the great mortality
that prevailed among the garrison. The ruins of Fort Nugent, so called in
honoiu' of the Commander-in-chief in India, a few miles from Miuto, the capital,
are, however, still discernible amid the brushwood ; and at this point the transport
' Transit,' having on board seven hundred troops for China, including tln-ee hundred
men of the 90th Regiment, with Captain (now Sir Garnet) Wolseley, was wrecked
in the summer of 1857. Banca was surrendered to the Dutch by the terms of
the treaty, making over to them Java and its dependencies, and, in December,
1816, the island was delivered over to a Commissioner appointed by the Nether-
lands Grovei'nment,
t The subsequent expeditious of the Dutch against Palimbang, and the defeats
they sustained, showed that the success attained by the small British force under
Colonel Gillespie, was due entirely to the skill of the Commander and the disci-
pline and gallantry of the men. On the departm-e of Colonel Gillespie a military
force was left to secure the tranquillity of Palimbang. The old Sultan Bedr-oo-
deen remained in the interior until 1814, when, by an unibrtamate and extraordi-
nary act of the British officer in charge, he was again brought down to Palim-
bang, and temporarily placed on the throne, on paying the sum of 200,000 dollars
as a fine. The arrangement was disavowed and annulled by Mr. Raffles, who,
in August, 1814, sent a commission to Palimbang to inquire into the afi'air,
including among its members. Captain Macdouald, of the 'Aurora,' and
Nazir-oo-deen was again placed on the throne, and the money returned to
the old Sultan. The treaty which stipulated the restoration of Java to Holland,
included also the transfer of the island of Banca, which had never been in pos-
session of the Dutch, but had been ceded by the old Sultan to Great Britain, in
consideration of the expenses incuri-ed in the expedition. The Dutch claimed to stand
on their former footing at Palimbang, by virtue of their ancient treaties with that
State, but both Sultans protested against their return on any terms ; and Nazir-
oo-deen, who had been raised by us, and whose authority had long been undis-
puted, urged in the strongest manner that we should not desert him. For the
sake of peace, our Government contented themselves witli a protest, which it is said
the First Commissioner, Elhout, put in his pocket with a contemptuous smile
;
and Palimbang being thus left to its fate, the Dutch soon turned their attention
to make the most of it. The treasures of the old Sultan were very inviting
to the Dutch, who have ever been sordid in their Colonial relations, and their
Commissioner at Banca opened a negotiation with the deposed Sultan, giving
hopes that in consideration of certain payments of cash and other sacrifices, he
might again expect to be reinstated. These negotiations were not so secretly
conducted as to escape the knowledge of the reigning Sultan, who, becoming
aware of the danger, and being perfectly unprepared for resistance, dispatched
an embassy across the country to our Government at Bencooleu, declaring the