As the camp-duties are always light, the men have abundant leisure for repose, and the officers to enjoy themselves in shooting, hunting, &c.; while a capital mess (in the Queen's regiments) at eight o'clock closes the labours of the day. In short, a march in India, so far from being a toilsome and troublesome duty, is little more than a party of pleasure – a hunting-excursion of ten thousand.
Thus far we have thought it necessary to explain the military system that prevails in our Eastern empire, for the more readily understanding of the narrative upon which we are about to enter of the glorious exploits of our Anglo-Indian Army. It may, however, be desirable also to say a few words about our Indian Navy, which constitutes an essential feature in the great drama of Oriental warfare.
About half a century ago, when the Coromandel and Malabar coasts were visited by pirates and French privateers, and the trade between the Persian and Arabian gulfs and India was interrupted by rovers, who hoisted the black signal of the professional freebooter, or the scarcely less suspicious blood-red flag of the ostensible Arab trader, the East India Company kept up a flotilla of gun-brigs. They were generally called cruisers; and their officers and crew composed a body then known by the name of The Bombay Marine. The men were principally drawn from the merchant-vessels in the harbour; and the officers were sent out by the Court of Directors as midshipmen, whence they rose by gradation to the rank of captains.
The history of our trade in India, and of our political occupation of the country, presents many brilliant proofs of the skill and prowess of the Bombay Marine, whether in conflict with hordes of desperate pirates, or in more organised operations, in conjunction with other sea and land forces, against the strongholds of enemies on the shores of India, Persia, or Burmah.
During the period when his late Majesty William the
