Page 519 - INDIANNAVYV1

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HISTORY OF THE INDIAN NAVY. 487
was not then worth one slulling, nor did he believe that he was
at this moment. His disinterestedness and gaUantry, of which
their records possessed abundant proof, would, in an}' other
service but their Marine, have obtained for him honour and
distinction. The two officers to whom the order to release the
junks was addressed, submitted a memorial, which he believed
shared the usual fate of Marine memorials. But if the feelings
of the Marine officers, their character and efficiency, were of no
value in the Company's estimation, it was worth while to esti-
mate its consequences by another test : let them therefore try
it by pounds, shillings and pence. In 1812, the presence of a
single cruiser of twenty guns, although badly manned, pre-
vented a war with the Burmese, and obtained ample reparation
for an insult offered to the Company. At that time there was
as good occasion for a war as since: but Lord ]\Iinto sent the
' Malabar,' of twenty guns, which was lying at Calcutta, to
support the arguments of the British Envoy at Rangoon.
" Now, the want of a respectable cruiser in Bengal in 1823,
previous to our rupture with the Burmese, compelled the
Bengal Government to equip and send a pilot-schooner* into
the river Naaf, as a measure of naval defence, when its feeble
and unwarlike appearance encouraged rather than repressed the
aggression of the Burmese, who seized the commander and
carried him off; and they augmented the grounds ot a dispute,
which precipitated us into a war that had entailed an expense
of upwards of twenty millions sterling, and the loss of
thousands of our brave and valuable troops. On their present
Superintendent of Marine, Mr. Buchauan, he should offer but
one remark ; he had just given the connnand of the ' Hastings'
frigate, and the 'Ernaad.'t the largest ships in the Service, to
two mates of the country service, which was no less an act of
injustice to the Marine officers than of disregard for the Com-
])any's interests." Captain Maxfield concluded by moving for
a series of papers, sixteen in nmnber, tending to bear out the
different statements he had made.
Colonel Hon Leicester Stanhojx', of the Royal Army, who
had served with the Bombay Marine at the capture of Dwarka
in 1820, and elsewhere, and was, therefore, a good judge ot"
their value, seconded the motion, and said in the course of
his remarks :
•'His gallant friend was no factious character—he was no
disappointed individual, coming into that ('oiM't for the purpose
of opposing the conduct of the (\)nrt of Directors; no, he was
one of their oldest and best officers, who iiad received the
thanks of the Company nine or ten times in public Orders.

* Tliis was the ' rhfrtoii,' wliicli was recovered at Martaban when thul place
was captured by Colonel Godwin on tlic 3Utli of Sc])t ember, IH'Jii.
t The ' Kniaad' was a transport, not a ship of war.