The Lieut.-Governor, Sir Herbert Maddox, also invited the officers to a splendid banquet at the Government House on the 1st of August.
The officers were also hospitably entertained by the officers of the Bengal artillery stationed at Dum-Dum, the head-quarters of that corps.
The entertainment given by the military officers at Calcutta to the officers of the sixteenth lancers and THIRTY-FIRST regiment is thus noticed in the public paper called the “Star,” of the 1st of August, 1846:—
“The ball given by the military to Her Majesty’s sixteenth lancers and Her Majesty’s THIRTY-FIRST regiment, came off with great brilliancy last night at the Town Hall; there were probably from 400 to 500 persons present. The hall was decorated with remarkable taste, and the honored Peninsular colours of the THIRTY-FIRST regiment hung in tatters under the principal canopy, blood-stained in the recent engagements, in all of which the gallant regiment was present. At the opposite end of the table was a large transparency of the battle of Sobraon. Colonel Warren presided at the supper-table; and Colonel Burlton, in an excellent speech, reviewing the services of the regiments from the commencement of the present century, gave the toast of the evening, which was acknowledged by Lieut.-Colonel MacDowell and Lieut.-Colonel Spence.”
Previous to the departure of the regiment from India, the following General Order was issued by General Lord Gough, the Commander-in-Chief:—
“Head-Quarters, Simla, 23rd May, 1846.
“Those distinguished regiments, the sixteenth lancers and the THIRTY-FIRST foot, are about to return to their native country after a service in India, the former of twenty-four, the latter of twenty-one years; and although the Commander-in-Chief has recently, and so frequently, had occasion to laud the gallant conduct of these corps before an intrepid enemy, he cannot permit them to embark without again expressing his admiration of their continued and conspicuous bravery in all the battles they have been engaged in during the long and eventful period of their Indian service, whether in Affghanistan, or at the more sanguinary conflicts of 1845 and 1846.
“These brave regiments may be assured they will be received in their native land with every demonstration of that patriotic feeling which gallant exploits ensure from their countrymen.
“The sixteenth lancers have added to their standards ‘Bhurtpore, Affghanistan, Ghuznee, Maharajpore, Aliwal, and Sobraon;’ and the THIRTY-FIRST regiment will have recorded on their already highly decorated colours—‘Cabool, Moodkee, Ferozeshah, Aliwal, and Sobraon.’