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480 HISTORY OF THE INDIAN NAVY. ;
During tlie year an important discussion took place at the India
House, which sheds a light on the position ot" the Bombay
Marine at that time; this state, which may be said to represent
its normal condition during the two and a-half centuries of its
existence, will be most aptly described as, friendless in
Leadenhall Street, and neglected in India. That the officers
of the Service, under the unfavourable conditions brought into
notice by the chief speaker on this occasion, maintained the
efficiency of their ships and crews, affords the highest possible
testimony to their ef^prit de corps and devotion to duty.
On the 22nd of February, 1827, a requisition to the Directors
for convening a General Court of Proprietors, to inquire into
the condition of the Bombay Marine, was drawn up and signed
by nine Proprietors, among the signatures being such names as
Mr. Joseph Hume, M.P., Dr. J. B. Gilchrist, Colonel Hon.
Leicester Stanhope, General "William Thornton, and Captain
]\laxfield, of the Bombay Marine, an officer distinguished alike
for his scientific attainments and his character, and who, during
his twenty-four years' service, had obtained the recorded thanks
of Government on ten different occasions. In accordance with
this requisition, a Special General Court of Proprietors was
held at the India House in Leadenhall Street, on the 14th of
March, under the presidency of the Chairman, Sir G. A. Robin-
son, Bart. Captain Maxfield introduced the subject in a lengthy
and able speech. He first read a letter from an anonymous writer,
signed "An Anti-Meddler," in which the writer warned him to
desist from "persisting in the course he was now pursuing at
the India Office," adding, " it is said you pique yourself on
being a good shot ; be not too confident, it will not be sufficient to
serve you. You had better reflect in time before it is too late."
After observing that he treated such " silly threats" with
disdain. Captain Maxfield continued his speech, from which we
—
will make some extracts: ''Were he to say that, since the Order
the Court of Directors, in 1798, they were obnoxious to the
charge of neglect with respect to this Corps, he should be
borne out by evidence; but in order to save time he should
commence with a few extracts from a letter of Mr. Money,
Superintendent of the Marine, to the Bombay Government in
answer to some sweeping censures passed on that unprotected
corps, in the letter of the Court of Directors of the 8th of April,
1806. They were to be found on the records of the Court
and, unless something had been done to remedy the evils which
Mr. Money complained of, and brought to the notice of the
Directors in 1807, or twenty years ago, then he must contend
that the charge of neglect was fully proved. In the ninth
paragraph of that letter, Mr. ]\Ioney said, ' Permit me on a
subject so materially interesting to the department committed
to my trust, to state, with all respectful deference to the