'History of the Indian Navy. (1613-1863).' [‎432] (451/622)

432
HISTORY OF THE INDIAN NAVY.
the 10th of June, in the following terms, in a private letter
addressed to his lordship 44 We have as enemies three Native
Infantry Regiments and a half, which are the very worst type
we know; one, two, three (for no one knows) thousand armed
men at Garden Reach, or available there at k moment; some
hundred armed men of the Scinde Ameers at Dumdum; half
the Mahomedan population and all the blackguards of all sorts
of a town of six hundred thousand people."
On the 14th of June three Sepoy Term used in English to refer to an Indian infantryman. Carries some derogatory connotations as sometimes used as a means of othering and emphasising race, colour, origins, or rank. Regiments were disarmed
at Barrackpore, and also the detachments at the Presidency The name given to each of the three divisions of the territory of the East India Company, and later the British Raj, on the Indian subcontinent.
and at Dumdum. The Governor-General being convinced of
the complicity in the mutiny of the King of Oude, who theja
resided in a large palace at Garden Reach, and his intriguing
minister, Ali Nuckee Khan,* determined to seize him and his
ministers, and so nip the mischief in the bud. On Sunday, the
14th of June, while at church, Commander Foulerton, of the
'Punjaub,' then senior naval officer, received a note directing
him immediately to wait on Lord Canning. He at once pro
ceeded to Government House, and, on being ushered into the
presence of the Governor-General, found there the Foreign
Secretary, the late Mr. George Edmonstone,t the late Colonel
Powell, 53rd Regiment, commanding the troops, Major-General
(the late Sir) Richard Birch, Military Secretary, Colonel
Cavenagh, Town-Major, and Major Herbert, commanding the
Calcutta Militia, who were alone in the secret. His lordship
explained to Commander Foulerton his object in sending for
him, and directed him to take his ship down to Garden Reach,
at daylight the following morning, and place her off the resi
dence of the King of Oude, when he was to land and assist in
seizing the King, and to allow no one to leave the palace or
grounds. Above all his Lordship enjoined implicit secrecy on
all, as it was of the utmost importance no hint should be
dropped of the projected coup. To this Commander Foulerton
replied, that, unfortunately, the 4 Punjaub' had her floats off,
and could not be got ready in time, but, he added, seeing Lord
Canning's look of discomposure, he would take the 4 Semiramis'
down, also all the 4 Punjaub's ' men in her boats. Lord Canning
consented, and, the other officers having already received their
* Ali Nuckee Khan, tlie tool as well as Minister of the King, with whom he
was connected by marriage, being uncle of the first Begum Courteous or formal title for (usually Muslim) women of elite status, especially of Turko-Mongol lineage. and father of the
second, had held the reins of office since 1848, some years before the British
annexation of Oude under O-eneral Outram, and by his administration had
plunged the country into a state of misery and anarchy.
f Afterwards Sir George Edmonstone, Lieutenant-G-overnor of the North-
West Provinces, of whom the Governor-General wrote in his Minute of the 2nd
July, 1859, that he could "give this valuable servant of the Government no
higher praise than to say that the performance of the duties which fell upon him,
and which were heavily increased by the state of affairs, has been exactly hat
might have been expected from those who knew the character of his former
service—it has been admirable."