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482 HISTORY OF THE INDIAN NAVY.
rcspoct and attention the orders of 1798 were calculated to
produce, has been completely extingnished by the regulations
of comparative rank of 1804. By them, an officer who has
served the Honourable Company in a profession strictly confined
to arms, and from which the advantage of trade of any
description are rigidly excluded, who has arrived at a rank
corresponding with that of a lieutenant-colonel in the army,
which he has held for a period of fourteen or fifteen years, finds
himself compelled to yield precedence to the commander of a
regular ship, ranking below a major in the army, who perhaps
has not been ten years at sea, wdio but a short time before may
have been (and I believe it has been the case) a mate of a ship
at this very port, and whose ship at present the captain of
Marine may be destined to convoy. These circumstances,
combined with the want of a code of laws, precludes the mind
from aspiring to a respectable rank in society, they tend to
depress every feeling of laudable ambition, and blight, by their
natural operation on the character of men, all that esprit de
corps which is so much to the public advantage to encourage
and cherish, and which has led to the aggrandisement of all
other military services.'
" Mr. Money's letter," continued Captain Maxfield, " then
entered into a comparative statement of the pay and pension
of the Marine with the Company's Army, illustrative of the
neglected and depressed state of the Marine. But knowing
that mere pay was not all to which an officer attached value,
he did not think it necessary to quote farther. Perhaps it would
be said, that the Court of Directors were anxious to obtain a code
of laws for the Government of the Marine, but that they wanted
power to effect that object. He was willing in charity to
suppose that such was the case ; but then came the question, if
they were really disposed to render the Marine efficient and
respectable, why had they^avoided doing that which was unques-
tionably in their power? Did they frame any regulations for
its better management ? Did they issue any orders to construct
vessels adapted to accommodate the unfortunate crews who
were crammed into them ? Did they repeal or explain their
inconsistent orders of 18041 Or did they adopt an}^ measures
whatever to remedy the palpable evils pointed out in the Super-
intendent's letter? No! The pay of their Marine officers did
not admit of a comparison with the other branches of the
Company's service. The pay and allowance of a Marine captain
,
was only 360 rupees per month, while that of a branch pilot at
Calcutta, was 700 rupees per month, or 850, when sent beyond
the Sandheads. But even this pittance was not secured to the
captains of the Company's Marine ; for by the orders of the
Marine Board at Calcutta, of March 30, 1814, the captains of
the Marine were rendered accountable for all advances n)ade to