'History of the Indian Navy. (1613-1863).' [‎513] (532/622)

HISTORY OF THE INDIAN NAVY.
513
The whole of the officers of the Indian Navy in port attended
in fall dress at the imposing ceremony of the Proclamation in
front of the Town-Hall at Bombay, amidst an indescribable
scene of enthusiasm on the part of the vast crowd there
assembled, while the ships, gaily decked in flags, from truck
at their house in Leadenhall Street, on Monday, August 30th, 1858 A Pro
prietor, adverting to the face of this being the last occasion of the meeting of the
General Court before the severance of the connection of the East India Company
with the G-overnment of India, and moving the Court, it was resolved unani
mously : ' That the East India Company on surrendering, at the biddino- of
Parliament, those powers connected with the Government of the British tern-
tories in India, which it has long exercised as trustee for the Crown, desires to
return its warmest thanks to its servants and officers of every rank and in every
capacity for the fidelity, zeal, and efficiency with which they have performed
their several duties, and offers to them its best wishes for their future pros
perity.'
" To those who are natives of India, the East India Company has the satis
faction of being able to give the fullest assurance, that in Her Majesty Queen
Victoria they will find a most gracious mistress, not unmindful of their past
services under that authority which has hitherto had the honour of representing
British sovereignty in India, and ever ready to reward loyalty to the British
Crown. The East India Company is convinced that the members of the Home
Department of the Company's G-overnment will maintain the high reputation
which that department now enjoys, and will continue, when enrolled in the
direct service of the Crown, to command the esteem and confidence of their
official chiefs, and of the public. Of its fellow-countrymen employed in India,
under the Company's Grovernment, whether as civilians or soldiers; of those,
especially, whose duty has recently subjected them to trials of unexampled
severity, and who have done their duty so admirably as to win for them the
praise and sympathy of their Sovereign and their country, the East India Com
pany is proud to say, that their past conduct affords the strongest security that
the Crown will possess no servants abler, none more devoted, than those who
have been trained by the Company; and without in any manner arrogating to
itself what is due to men, some of whose names are honoured in every region of
the civilised world, the East India Company trusts that in the page of impartial
history it may be recorded as having presented, in the career which it has
opened, both to the members of its own Civil and Military services, and to the
gallant troops of Her Majesty and her royal predecessors, a field for the exercise
of the highest qualities of the statesman and the soldier. In the humble hope
that the Company's rule will prove to have been in the hand of Divine Pro
vidence, an instrument of good, and even of the highest good to India, the East
India Company earnestly prays that it may please Almighty God to bless the
Queen's Indian reign by the speedy restoration of peace, security, and order, and
so to prosper Her Majesty's efforts for the welfare of her East Indian subjects,
that the millions who will henceforth be placed under Her Majesty's direct, as
well as sovereign, dominion, constantly advancing in all that makes men and
nations great, flourishing, and happy, may reward Her Majesty's cares in their
behalf by their faithful and firm attachment to Her Majesty's person and
Government."
The Supreme Government, in recording the above Resolution, added:—
"The .Right Honourable the G-overnor-General, speaking not only for the
Government of India, but for all of every class who have acted under that
Government, desires to record an assurance of the respectful thankfulness with
which these parting words of goodwill and approval will be received by the vast
community of the Indian Civil and Military Services. The Governor-General is
satisfied, that amongst all, there is but one common feeling of acknowledgment
of the just, considerate, and liberal treatment, which has ever characterised the
great Company which has now ceased to govern the British territories in
India. By order of the Right Honourable the Governor-General."
VOL. II. LL