Advances could be given and family allotments from pay due were permitted when the troops served abroad. There was a commisariat and regular rations were provided. Weapons, clothing and ammunition were provided centrally, in contrast to the soldiers of local kings whose pay was often in arrears. In addition local rulers usually expected their sepoys to arm themselves and to sustain themselves through plunder. This combination of factors led to the development of a sense of shared honour and ethos amongst the well drilled and disciplined Indian soldiery who formed the key to the success of European feats of arms in India and abroad. Following the Indian Rebellion of 1857 the surviving East India Company regiments were merged into a new Indian Army under the direct control of the British Crown. The designation of "sepoy" was retained for Indian soldiers below the rank of lance naik, except in cavalry where the equivalent ranks were "sowar" or "trooper". Following the formation of the French East India Company (') in 1719, companies of Indian sepoys () were raised to augment the French regulars and Swiss mercenary troops available. By 1720 the sepoys in French service numbered about 10,000. Although much reduced in numbers after their decisive defeat in India at the Battle of Wandewash in 1760, France continued to maintain a Military Corps of Indian Sepoys (') in Pondicherry until it was disbanded and replaced by a locally recruited gendarmerie in 1898. The 19th century diplomat Sir Justin Sheil commented about the British East India Company copying the French Indian army in raising an army of Indians: Sepoys were also recruited in Portuguese India. The term ' (sepoy) was also applied by the Portuguese to African soldiers in Angola, Mozambique and Portuguese Guinea, plus African rural police officers. ' from Angola provided part of the garrison of Goa during the final years of Portuguese rule of that Indian territory. The title of "sepoy" is still retained in the modern Nepalese Army, Indian Army and Pakistan Army. In each of these it is designates the rank of private soldier. The same Persian word reached English via another route in the forms of and '. ', the Basque version of the word, is used by leftist Basque nationalists as an insult for members of the Basque Police, implying that they are not a national police of the Basque region due to their connection with the Spanish government. In Hispanic American countries, especially in Argentina, the word "" has historically been used as a pejorative colloquial expression referring to individuals considered as serving foreign interests, as opposed to serving their own country.