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'History of the Indian Navy. (1613-1863).' [‎528] (547/622)

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The record is made up of 1 volume (575 pages). It was created in 1877. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: Printed Collections.

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528
HISTORY OF THE INDIAN NAVY.
Captain Haines was followed to the grave at Colaba by his
numerous friends and brother officers, including Captains Young,
Frushard, and Barker.
In 1860 an Expedition was despatched from the three Presi
dencies to bring to terms the Emperor of China, whose forts on
the Peiho had inflicted terrible loss on a British squadron of
gunboats, which was proceeding up the river in terms of the
treaty concluded at Tientsin. Between the 16th and 19th of
February in that year the following ships of the Indian Navy
sailed from Bombay to China with troops:—The 4 Assaye,' Com
mander Adams; 6 Dalhousie,' Commander Hopkins; 4 Prince
Arthur,'Commander Twy nam; and 'Victoria,'Lieutenant Wood.
The following vessels were also employed in Chinese waters:—
sword of honour, and appointed him Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. . This was in 1839. For
the next fourteen years Captain Haines identified himself with the strange settle
ment entrusted to his control. He was virtually a dictator. His power no one
disputed, for no one denied that it was justly and wisely exercised. Under his
fostering care the trade of the place trebled and quadrupled, while the fierce
barbarians around were not less conciliated by his liberality, than overawed by
his firmness. No man was then more honoured by the Court, not one of their
many able and conscientious servants was held in higher regard. But Captain
Haines, though an excellent administrator, was an indifferent book-keeper. Pro
bably he knew nothing about double entry, and was no better acquainted with
finance than financiers usually are with navigation. As the commerce of the
place, however, increased, so did the necessity of having a properly-trained and
experienced official to superintend the treasury. Repeatedly did the Political
Agent urge his worshipful masters to place the financial department upon a larger
and securer footing. It was all in vain. They were busied about many things
and had no time to spare a thought upon the burning rock of Aden, or its over
worked Government. At last, in the early part of 1854, they suddenly bethought
them that it was time to look into his accounts, and waxed furious on discovering
that they had fallen into arrears, and that a considerable deficiency had arisen.
This Captain Haines at once undertook to make good by the sacrifice of his
private fortune, and by large deductions from his pay. Their anger at their own
shortcomings was not thus to be allayed. Nothing short of extreme measures
could now satisfy them ; if they had hitherto failed in their duty as supervisors,
they would not do so as the detectors and pursuers of delinquents. Their own
error should be expiated, but Captain Haines must be their scapegoat. So that
gallant and distinguished officer was carried off to Bombay with every mark of
indignity, as though his guilt had been already proved ; and being taken before
the senior police magistrate, was finally committed to the sessions on a charge of
embezzlement and malversation. Twice was he placed in the felon's dock on two
separate indictments, and twice was he triumphantly acquitted by two distinct
juries. But the Grovernment was not thus to be baffled. The deficiency
amounted to £28,000, for the recovery of which a civil suit was instituted, and as
Captain Haines was quite unable to pay so large a sum, he was mercilessly com
mitted to prison. For nearly six years did that meritorious officer languish m
a debtors'jail, his spirit broken and his health hopelessly undermined, but his
persecutors never relented or turned a pitying ear to the many applications that
were made in his favour. Once indeed he was removed for a few months, under
strict surveillance, to a private house, to avert the scandal of his death in jail.
But no sooner was he pronounced out of immediate danger, than he was again
incarcerated at Mazagon. Lord Elphinstone lost a noble opportunity of doing a
righteous and merciful deed ; and when Sir George Clerk, obeying the dictates
of his own generous nature, threw open the prison gates, it was already too late,
and he barely anticipated death, the only true friend of the oppressed. Captain
Haines had passed away to 4 where the wicked cease from troubling, and the
weary are at rest;' but the memory of the persecution he endured will not lightly
be forgotten or forgiven."

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Content

History of the Indian Navy. (1613-1863).

Author: Charles Rathbone Low.

Publication Details: London: Richard Bentley and Son, New Burlington Street.

Physical Description: initial Roman numeral pagination (i-vi); octavo.

Extent and format
1 volume (575 pages)
Arrangement

This volume contains a table of contents giving chapter headings and page references. Each chapter heading is followed by a detailed breakdown of the contents of that chapter.

Physical characteristics

Dimensions: 229mm x 140mm

Written in
English in Latin script
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'History of the Indian Navy. (1613-1863).' [‎528] (547/622), British Library: Printed Collections, IOL.1947.a.1844 vol. 2, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100023958181.0x000094> [accessed 28 March 2024]

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