Defence af Lieutenant-
Colonel John Bell of the
First Battalion of Madras
Artillery, on his Trial at
John Bell
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AUTHENTIC COP Y.
THE
DEFENCE
OF
Of the First Battalion of
Lieutenant-Colonel John Bell,
Battalion of
grttllerp,
o*
FITS TRIAL AT BANGALORE,
BEFonr,
A GENERAL COURT-MARTIAL,
AS IT WAS READ IN COURT BY HIS COUNSEL,
CHARLES MARSH, ESQ.
Eoi'rister of the Supreme Court <>/' Judicature, and the Kin^'t Advocate in
the Vice -Admiralty Cvurt ut Madras.
LONDON :
PHJVTKD AND S'JtD T! Y
BLA C K, P A R R Y, <% A I A' G SB TRY,
7,
LKADi; \ HA I.T.-STRE T.T.
1810,
C H A RUE.
LIEUTENANT-COLONEL JOUN HELL, O f
tlie Madras Artillery, and lute commanding the Fort
and Garrison of Seringapatam, charged by the Officer
commanding the .Army icith /taring, in sutrccrsion of all
good Older and military Discipline, and in violation of
the Rides and Articles of liar for the belter government
' J O
of the Company's Forces, joined in and headed a most
dangerous and alarming Mutiny and Sedition., tchicli
took place in the said Garrison betrci.it the ,'30/A Day
of Juh/ laxt and the ( 2"d Day of August fof/ozcing,
during rchich period the Garrison Jired on the Troops
of his Majesty, and those of the Company, and their
Ally the Rajah of Mysore, and seized on the Public
Treasury; ami he, LlEUTENANT-CoLONEL JOHN
BELL, declared his resolution not to deliver up l/ie fort
and Garrison to the proper Authority.
By Order of Major-General Goicdie, Commanding
iff i,
the Army.
(Signed) 7'. //. .S'. CO\1\A\.
FORT ST. GKORC.J.,
Oct. t>, 1809.
SENTENCE.
" GENERAL ORDERS.
" Head-Qua; !ers, Choultry Plain, March 8, 1
" THE following parts of the confirmed proceeding
a General Court-Martial, assembled at Bangalore bv o
of Major- General GOAVDIE, commanding the arm\
chief, on the 1st day of November, 1809, and of \vl
Major-General WARDE is President, are published to
army.
Sentence as passed on the Qth of December, 180 ( J.
" Tiie Court are of opinion, that the Prisoner, Lieutenant-Co
JOHN BELL, is guilty of the Charge preferred against him, w
being ill violation of the Articles of War, and subversive, of good
and military discipline, they do sentence the taid Lieutenaut-Cc
JOHN BELL to be cashiered, and do further declare him uinvovt
ever serving the Hon. Company in any militavy capacity wliatsoevt
(Signed) " I1EMIY WARDE, Majjr-GeneraL and Presi
(Signed) " \\ . ORA1SBY, Deputy Judge Advocate."
Revised Sentence, as passed the '27th of Febrwnj, IBiO.
" The Court, having re-considered the evidence brought before t
adhere to their former opinion.
(Signed) IIEX'RY WARDE, Major-Clew ,-al and Prtsi.
(Signed) " \V. OKMSBY, Deputy Judge Adrorate."
t; I perfectly agree with the Court, that the iViso
Lieutenant-Colonel JOHN BELL, of the corps nf A
lery, is guilty of the crimes charged against him, ai
do therefore confirm the sentence.
(Signed) i'. (iO\\'DIE, Maim'-Ceiier
" Commanding the Anv\ isi Chief."
" Although the Officer commanding the army has (
firmed the sentence of the General Court-Martini, wl
has adjudged ' Lieutenant-Colonel JOHN OKLL to
* cashiered, and declared unworthy of ever serving
' Honourable Company m any miiitr.iy capacity w
' soever,' he feels it a sacrr-d duty IK <iwes to his K
his Country, and the service to which he has i
zealously devoted forty-three years of his hie, to exp
his pointed disapprobation 01' the punishment awar
the Prisoner, whicii, in his opinion, bears no propor
to the atrocity of tiie crimes so clearly proved in
deuce on the face of the proceedings. The Ofricrr c
inanding in Mysore will be pleased to order Mr. ,lc
HELL to proceed to the Presidency immediately, Tor
i'HE
LIEUTENANT-COLONEL JOHN BELL,
Major -GeneralJVarde, and Gentlemen of this
Court-Martial,
1 HAVE looked forward with some impatience,
to the opportunity which is now afforded me, of
making my defence. I pretend not to that
philosophy which sometimes renders a man,
who is conscious of innocence, unmoved under
accusation, I have much at stake upon the
event of this enquiry. My life, my honour,
and all that is dear to a man, who has hitherto
lived without blame or reproach, are involved in
its issue.
Bur there is one circumstance in this pro-
ceeding, which is a matter of public congratu-
lation. I im an the revival of Courts-Martial,
to determine on military accusations ; tor they
afford to the honour and reputation of an officer,
-i better security than those secret enquiries, or
rather that arbitrary discretion, acting without
any enquiry at all, to which the most innocent
and meritorious individual was not long- since
exposed, without the means of confronting his
accuser, or even of knowing his accusation.
The present proceeding brings with it this
al<o of consolation and joy. that whatever soli-
citudes 1 may feel, or whatever difficulties I
mav encounter. 1 am tried bv men on whom the
laws of honour, and the obligations of consci-
ence impose a duty as binding, and guarded by
sanctions equally as sacred, as the solemn oath
which they have taken. A\ hen 1 look around
me, and see who thev are that constitute this
tribunal, 1 know that 1 am safe from that pro-
scription, which, a few months back, overhung
the army, and diffused a gloom over public and
privat*- life; and winch, subverting all the rules
3
or reason and justice, inspired innocence itself
with the terrors of guilt. Before such a court,
therefore, I can feel nothing beyond those anx-
ieties to which every man must be subject, who
has to deliver himself from a charge affecting his
dearest and most important interests.
Referring to that charge, you will perceive,
gentlemen, that it imputes to me the highest
of military offences. Nor will you think me
unreasonable in demanding the ordinary privi-
lege of every accused mail' that, in proportion
to the magnitude of the crime with which he is
O
charged, or of the penalties to which it is sub-
ject, the evidence against him should be clear,
precise, and uncontradictory : that it should
leave no doubt concerning that which is the
essence of every crime ; the guilty intention, as
well as the overt acts by which that intention is
to be inferred.
The common-place, but humane maxim, that
every man is presumed to be innocent till the
contrary is proved, is not more founded in truth
and in equity, than that which flows from it as
a consequence and a corollary ; that the prohn-
bilities of innocence are encreased in proportion
to the atrocity of the offence. In my own in-
stance, this maxim will be allowed perhaps an
additional authority, when you throw into the
scale of these rational and humane pnsmnp-
tions, mv long, laborious, and faithful service ;
a character to this moment unimpeached ; a
rank in the armv ten high ; and an experience
of military duty too deeply impressed, and too
gradually acquired, to render it easy of belief
that at, this late period of my life, I should have
placed mvself at the head of a dangerous and
alarming mutiny against the (lovernment, I had
so long served with fidelity and honour.
It is not, however, upon presumptions that I
will lean. I rest my defence on the evidence,
and the conclusions which that evidence will
force on your enlightened minds; challenging
only the privilege which every upright judi-
cature permits to the accused, of bringing the
evidence adduced against him to the test of a
legitimate, but strict and severe inquisition.
And while you are guided by these rules
towards that inference, on which my i'ate depends.
you will, I am sure, consider the intention with
which the acts imputed to me were committed,
as a question of paramount importance. The
inverse of this proposition would lead to conse-
quences as abhorrent from justice as common
sense. Mutiny without a mutinous intention
is an absurdity in language, as it is in law. To
separate the qualities of the act from the inten-
tions of the agent ; to select for crimination naked
and insulated facts, abstracted from the des'gns
of the heart, or the contemplations of the mind :
torn from their context, and stripped of their
relations, would confound the eternal and im-
mutable distinctions between right and wrong.
But 1 will not insult your understandings by
topics so clear and indisputable. Acquainted
with the world and its affairs, and knowing how
often it happens, that human nature is thrown
into a conflict of duties, and beset by motives
of almost equal, though contradictory impulse,
I need not apprehend, that you will adopt that
narrow and illiberal rule of judgment, which, in
pronouncing upon human actions, excludes all
consideration of the 1 dilh'culties bv which thev
6
were prompted, or the exigencies out of which
they arose.
In this respect, 1 might justly complain ot
the manner in which the /acts stated in the
charge have been ur^ed against me. Not that (
throw any blame on the 1 gentleman to whom the
tin pleasing oilier of public accuser is devolved.
[ can feel lor the difficulties of an arduous
task ; and 1 would not augment them by com-
plaint or reproach. But he is not answerable
for the infirmities of his cause. His cause re-
quired the suppression of all which preceded
and produced the dreadful exigency under which
f acted. In this charge, and in the opening
address he read to you. the- overt acts stand
alone, as if they were unaccompanied by any
circumstances to explain, to palliate, or excuse
them; or, what is of more eonscquence, bv
anv necessities to urge and to authorise them.
i shall hereafter submit to you a few com-
ments on the evidence which IMS been adduced
^uainst me. I shall extract, from that evidence,
fairly, and without sophistrv. the proofs and
presumptions of mv innocence. I shall state.
7
also, the testimony I have to produce in my
defence. But, in order that the whole of my
conduct, connected with the late unhappy
events, may stand before you, I shall, in mere
justice to myself, take it up from a somewhat
earlier stage ; that from the whole series of my
acts, the whole series of my intentions may be
reflected as in a mirror before you. I shall do
this with simplicity, but with truth. If it is
necessary to shew, that measures in which I had
no concern, tended to produce the unfortunate
emergency in which I was placed, I shall advert
to them as far as my defence requires it. I shall
abstain from all further animadversions on them.
I shall not question their wisdom, or their ex-
pedienc}'; but I shall trace them, as constituting
in part the causes which produced the agitation,
errors, and calamities of the late troubled period ;
as having led to a most unexampled crisis in the
affairs of British India, and generating with new
circumstances, new rules of conduct for those
who had the peace and discipline of the arm\
at heart, and were anxious to prevent the effu-
sion of blood in civil and domestic warfare.
8
And here, it is not foreign from the strict
law and condition of my defence, to observe
that acts of mutiny against the state, commit-
ted by a man of my standing in the service,
would, in common probability, have been the
offspring of that spirit of combination and sys-
tematic resistance to the Government, \vhich
the Judge-Advocate stated to have, been preva-
lent in the army antecedently to the dates speci-
fied in the charge. A mutinous insurrection
against the legal authorities would more proba-
bly have been meditated by those, who having
taken an early part in this commotion, had been
tinctured with its passions, than by one who
studiously kept aloof from it : bv one who, on
everv occasion, urged the dutv of submission
to the local Government, wherever his example
or remonstrance could influence, and who was
wholly disconnected with those who resented
what they deemed the wrongs of the army. It
is out of the ordinary course of belief, that such
a man should, on a sudden, belie the whole
tenor of his conduct, and forerun the authors of
this disturbance, 1 , by placing himself at the head
9
of a mutiny, when, in the heats and agitations
which produced it, he never in the slightest
degree sympathized or participated. It is fit-
ting-, therefore, that you should know what was
my deportment, prior to the date of these
charges, that you may the better see the dispo-
sitions and character of the man, who is now
dragged as a Mutineer before you.
i arrived from England late in February last. v
What have generally been considered as the pre-
disposing causes of this dissention, the quarrel
of General Macdowall with Sir G. Barlow, and
the removal of the Adjutant-General and his
deputy, for issuing the orders of their superior
officer, had already taken place. 1 found a
most unhappy altercation had already begun
between Sir G. Barlow and the Company's army.
Of these feelings J did not partake. 1 found
O *
them, indeed, too sfenerallv diffused, and too
O J
deeply impressed, to be within the reach of my
remonstrance. But on every occasion, when
remonstrance could influence, 1 uniformly re-
commended the patient reference of the real, or
imaginary grievance, to the superintending au-
10
thority at home. I was told that if I was seen
at Sir G. Barlow's table, I should be disgraced
in the eyes of the army, and cut off from all in-
tercourse with my brother officers. I dined with
Sir G. Barlow notwithstanding this denuncia-
tion. I was told that if 1 carried on the com-
mon offices of politeness with Lieutenant-Colo-
nel Munro, the Quarter-Master-General, I
should be subject to the same penalties. I
openly renewed my acquaintance with Lieute-
nant-Colonel Munro. These dissentions i con-
sidered wholly foreign to me. If my mature
standing in the army, or habits of antient friend-
ship, and mutual respect, gave any authority to
my opinions, or weight to my admonitions,
they were not suppressed, or languidly urged,
in recommending obedience, peace, and disci-
pline. I signed no address ; no memorial. Such
were the intentions which I cherished. It is
not easy to bring them in regular proof before
you. They are seen only by those eyes, to
which alone the workings of the human heart
are visible. Hut, professing no other purpose
x
but th;it of inculcating by advice, and enforcing
11
by example, the necessity of submission and of
discipline, it is your province to see, whether
in any subsequent passages of my conduct, and
even in those which stand recorded as matters
of crimination against me, 1 have voluntarily
turned aside from the path on which I set out ;
and whether even the worst of those acts, which,
abstracted from my motives, would give some
colour to the accusation, may not be reconciled
upon genuine and legitimate principles of judg-
ment, to the moderation and forbearance, by
which I proposed to govern my conduct, as
soon as I perceived the agitations of the army.
1 dwell the more anxiously on this topic,
because a letter has been put in evidence against
me, which 1 wrote on the 6th of August to
Colonel Davis, in which 1 insisted on the uni-
form moderation of my conduct, and adverted
to the order of the 1st of May as one of the
causes which led to the disorders then prevailing
in the garrison. 1 do not meddle with the ex-
pediency or justice of that order. But it is a
necessary part of my defence, to remind you,
that not only in the garrison of Seringapatam,
12
but through the \vhole army, it had generated,
if not revolt, a sullen disobedience, which gra-
dually ripened into a spirit of resistance ; and
that resistance was carried on l>v means of an
extensive and gigantic combination, animated
with all the. energies of despair. The army
saw their most revered and beloved officers, en-
deared to them bv the participation of common
service, and common peril, sent by the stroke
of a pen into exile and degradation, without trial
or enquiry. At the mercy of informers, whom
they could not confront, they were delivered over
to the often doubtful chance of vindicating their
characters before the Court of Directors, against
the weight, authority, and influence of the
local Government. To many this was a sen-
tence of death : because that is a sentence oi
death, which strips lite of its consolations and
supports. Innocence itself trembled. From the
penitent it cut off' the possibility of return. It
enflamed the. guilty with the violence of despair.
It was considered as a virtual deprivation to tin;
army of their right to trial by Court-Martial ;
a right given to them by an Act oi Parliament.
13
which is yet unrepealed, and of which they
could not be divested without a gross vio-
lation of law. It was considered, with what
justice is hereafter to be determined, that the
sending officers to England, who had not been
judicially cashiered, was a power which was not
sanctioned by any of the acts for the regulation
of our governments in India, and which was
contrary to the spirit of all of them. They saw.
in the fate of others, their own fortunes and re-
putations laid prostrate at the feet ol' spies and
informers, who are always the meanest, the
basest, and most abandoned of (iod's creatures.
If the opposition to the local Government had
been confined to the walls of Seringapatam. and
had manifested itself in no other part of the
army, I should not, perhaps, be entitled to any
benefit from this topic; but if no portion of this
immense establishment was unint'ected, the dif-
ficulties I had to contend with, and the embar-
rassment into which i was thrown, ought not,
and, I trust, will not, be excluded from your
consideration. Let me observe, that the key of
my conduct in every part of this transaction.
14
was the great peril before my eyes, which I was
anxious to avert. I steered myself by this
course. I endeavoured to discharge my duty to
my Sovereign and my honourable employers, by
averting from this part of the empire the, most
portentous evils, by which it was ever threat-
ened.
Whatever discontent was produced by this
order, as i insisted in the letter now in proof, it
received from me, neither an helping hand nor
an encouraging voice. Then, and to the very
. last, 1 felt no anxiety but for the peace and dis-
cipline of the army, it were an endless task to
enumerate the various irritations and discontents
which, diverging, as it were, from different
points, at length terminated in the results which
form the subject of these proceedings. The
memorable business at Masulipatam, which has
been slightly alluded to in the course of the
evidence, is a matter of perfect notoriety.
Whether the measures were wholesome, or
otherwise. I must repeat, is a (juestion with
which I do not interfere. It is sufficient that
they were causes adequate to the production of
15
those unhappy effects, which every wise man
foresaw, and every good man must regret. I am
almost tired of wading in these waters of bitter-
ness. I cannot, however, forbear to touch on
the measure of the 2(>th of July at the Mount; ,
because, by turning to the evidence of Major
Macdowal, you will observe that it connects
itself with the subject of this enquiry. It is
proved that that measure, which was neither
more nor less than that of seizing the officers of
the native corps by surprize, and separating
them from their corps, on their refusal to sign a
test, had contributed to the agitation of the
garrison ; an agitation, as he has distinctly
proved, not confined to the Europeans, but
shared by the native corps of the garrison. I
advert to that measure at present, only as a link
in the chain of causes, which impelled those
dreadful necessities ; for having encountered
which, according to the best of my judgment, 1
stand now charged as a Mutineer before you.
I have thus deemed it a justice which 1 owed
myself on this awful occasion, to impress on
your minds, that, amidst the encreasing agita-
ti ons of the army, I kept uniformly aloof from
all league or combination against the Govern-
ment. By example, by authority, by entreaties,
I endeavoured to appease the minds of those
over whom I had the slightest influence. Not a
single document or fart has been brought for-
ward to shew, that, prior to the dates of these
charges, I shared in the discontents of the army,
or took any part in the expression of them, by
signing any of the various Addresses or Memo-
rials, in which the sentiments of th" army were
circulated.
1 mention these circumstances, to shew the
improbability of that sudden transition of con-
duct, which must be imputed to me, if the alle-
gations of this charge are believed. It is irre-
concilable to the ordinary motives of human
action, that a man. who. down to so late a
period, had abstained from all active participa-
tion in the proceedings of the public hodv to
whi''h he belonged, and \\lio does not appear,
bv anv art or expression, to have caught the
eonta^ion of their passions, should suddenly
larc himself at the head of the mutinv which
17
you are mow investigating. A mutiny against
the Government would have advanced gradu-
ally, according to the ordinary workings of
human passions, and not have jumped suddenly
from the most passive obedience to open re-
sistance.
Having made these preliminary observations,
the length of which will find its apology in the
serious character of these charges, and the ne-
cessity of calling in every topic of rightful vindi-
cation, connected with the subject, I shall
now proceed to shew, that the evidence for the
prosecution, has not only left the charge of
Mutiny unsubstantiated, but that it completely
negatives and contradicts it ; claiming: only that
enlarged and liberal interpretation, which every
candid mind must be disposed to put upon acts,
considered in reference to the necessities by
which they were impelled, and the spirit and
intention from which they proceeded. 1 shall
endeavour to do this, according to the course
the prosecutor has taken, and under the distinct
heads into which the charge is divisible, at
the same time urging those reasonings, and
D
18
those statements, which are material to my
defence.
You will observe, that 1 am charged with
having headed a most dangerous and alarming
mutiny and sedition, which took place within
a specified period. And, during that period,
three specific overt acts are charged to have been
committed, as illustrative of the mutiny which
L had headed and joined: the seizing of the
public treasure ; the firing on the troops ; and
the refusal to deliver up the garrison to the proper
authorities. You will perceive, that, to sub-
stantiate this charge against me, my active par-
ticipation and concurrence in the alleged mutiny
must be established. I am not charged here 1 tor
not having taken prudent measures to quell a
sedition carried on by others, or for not having
prevented acts, in which I did not myself con-
cur. But it is of the essence of the crime im-
puted to me. that my heart and soul were en-
gaged in the mutiny, and in the mutinous acts,
bv which it i^ manifested. In proving, there-
tore, such a charge, the grand and presiding
principle of all criminal jurisprudence, and which
19
1 am sure is present to your minds, will secure
me from the elTect of evidence which is appli-
cable only to others. I have studiously abstained
from interposing objections, when this sort of
testimony was adduced; tori was well aware,
that whilst the Court evinced an honourable and
laudable solicitude to omit no enquiry, how re-
mote soever in its application, that tended to
elucidate these transactions, it would have looked
as if I had been willing, by objections, to sup-
press or shut out important and relevant testi-
mony. The Court will, however, do me the
justice to acknowledge, that 1 have given no
interruption to the enquiry, even where the
proof has not exactly corresponded with the
rules of evidence. 1 have thought it beneath me
to rest my defence on mere detect of proof. I
have neither knowingly withheld, nor hesitated
to admit any document that was necessary to
elucidate the subject ; looking for my refuge,
not in the weakness of the prosecutor's proofs,
but in the strength of my own innocence.
It is at the same time; obvious, that I am
called on not to defend others, but myself. {
20
am uns\v<Tal>le onlv tor inv own acts, or tor those
of others in \vliirh 1 participated, lint, in order
to connect me- with this commotion, as its head
and its origin, a great deal of evidence is gone
into, of which the object was to shew my con-
currence and privity in what was transacted;
but the result of which has been only that of
implicating others ; and, 1 am sorrv to say, of
recording on the proceedings, matters, which
may, in some sort, affect your judgments with
regard to those, over whom similar charges are
depending. But it is with triumph that 1 beg
you to review the evidence, which applies to
that part of the subject ; and first, to that which
has been given by Captain Webster and Lieu-
tenant Beaumont. The prosecutor seemed de-
sirous of extracting from these gentlemen a
variety of circumstances, but, in particular, all
or sonic of the following facts, which were
sought for, I presume, as indications of a mu-
tinous or seditious mind, at that early stage of
tiie transaction : that in not attending at Colonel
Davis's with the other officers, on the ,'JOth, I
disobeyed the orders of that officer; that I or-
21
dered, or was privy to, or concurred in the
forcible restraint laid on his person ; and that I
was a member of a committee, who, it seems,
till the oth of August, exercised the military
power over the garrison, or, at least, checked
and controlled it. See whether any of these
facts have been proved, or rather see whether
they are not absolutely negatived.
With respect to Colonel Davis's orders, con-
tained in Captain Webster's letter of the JOth,
the Court will see that I carried them into ex-
ecution without hesitation. The object of as-
sembling them has been already explained by
what has been stated to have taken place at the
interview itself. It was to admonish the officers
to return to their duty, and not to believe the
report which had agitated the garrison, as to a
meditated seizure of their persons by the aid of
the Mvsore troops.
And hen 1 it is to bo observed, that the osten-
sible and avowed purpose of calling such a
meeting, from the verv nature of it, rendered
my presence unnecessary. Had I attended
there, 1 should have virtually admitted, what i
22
hero solemnly deny, that L myself, with thr
ntlier oiiicer.s of the garrison, was an object of
admonition to a return of duty, which, I think,
it would not he expected th:;t any officer of rank
or character, under such circumstances, would
have willin^lv admitted. It is sufficient for me,
that I carried the order into eil'ect with the
utmost alacrity, and that, in so doing, I \vill-
inglv and a.'tiveiy contiibuted with Colonel
Davis to the restoration of tranquillity in the
garrison ; although 1 considered, and trust 1
shall he pardoned for considering, that, having
transgressed no duty. I needed no admonition
to return to it. Uut it' you attend to the evi-
dence, you will perceive from Captain \\eb-
ster's statement, that, in absenting mvself on
that occasion, I disobeyed no onier whatever;
for no order, or message, that could he inter-
preted into a military order, was L'lven me. It
seems that in consequence of the ojlirial letter
above alluded to. 1 carried ( <>lonel Davis's re-
quisition into immediate effect, hy summoning
the ojh'cers as speedilv as the dispersed distances
at which they lived would permit. Colonel
23
Davis apprehending, lest some agitation might
have been created in their minds concerning the
o
purpose of their being convened, said that he
would dispense with their attendance. 1 re-
plied, that the officers were scattered over the
Fort, and that many of them lived out of it,
as accounting for the delay. Colonel Davis was
satisfied with that reply. lie had the same ap-
prehension a second time, and again dispensed
with their attendance. I strongly urged, how-
ever, the propriety of their waiting on Colonel
Davis, as they had all been assembled, and
were ready to go. Upon that, Captain Web-
ster observed, that he believed Colonel Davis
expected me to wait upon him with the other
officers. 1 replied, " I saw no occasion for it."
Now, it is impossible to infer from this intima-
tion, that Colonel Davis had positively ordered
my attendance. We had both the same object
in view; the restoration of confidence and tran-
quillity in the garrison. I gave my fullest aid
to Colonel Davis in the effecting of that object
by calling them together; and as it appeared to
me that it would have been counteracted bv the
24
alarm and perplexity of mind, which the sudden
revocation of the order \\ould have created, 1
was solicitous that they should wait on Colonel
Davis: and being aware that the meeting was
for the purpose or' (juieimu' their alarms, and
admonishing them to their dutv, mv answer
was the natural observation <n a man who did
not feel the alarm, and had no need of lectures
upon duty, ' : 1 see no occasion tor it. 1 '
But, gentlemen, \\hat will you think of this
as a matter of crimination against me. when 1
observe 1 to you. tint it \\ as from mv own
most anxious communications with Colonel
Davis on that subject, that he became informed
of the alarm and uneasiness of the garrison, and
deemed the adoption of some measure requisite
lo restore its traiHjiulhtv. Hut more particu-
larlv. a letter i wrote on the 'Jith of Julv men-
tioned the agitated state of ihe Damson. I hat
letter, and Colonel Davis's acquiescence in
what I proposed. <\\;\\\ be j)roduced to you. if
n.'cess;arv. in evid< nee. lo that nie;mure I uavr
all the effect I could. I disobeyed no order.
\s tar as vou Imve hillirrttj uone aloni; with inc.
25
>.n the transactions of the :30th, I trust 1 am not
evincing an indecent confidence, when I ask
you what mutinous or seditious disposition is
to be inferred from my acts ? 1 cannot but feel
that 1 begin my defence with no inauspicious
omen, when a circumstance evidently imputed
to me as a disobedience of orders, turns out to
be the most exact and literal execution of them.
Proceed further with me, and enquire whe-
ther there is any particle of evidence by which
you can fairly conclude that i authorized, or
knew of, or concurred in the supposed restraint
of Colonel Davis. You will pardon the impor-
tunity with which I remind you, that J am, in
justice, only responsible for acts, purely and
emphatically my own. Admitting, for the sake of
the argument, that Colonel Davis was actually
under restraint, what testimony fixes it upon
me? Is it that of Captain Webster? 'rum to
his deposition. It amounts only to this: That
he had written an official letter to me, stating
that it had come to Colonel Davis's knowledge,
that orders had been given at the crates that no
person could pass without authority from me.
26
To this, it seems, 1 gave no answer. Hut.
in order to make it my act, the Town-Major
informed Captain Webster that an answer was
preparing-, and till that was received, Colonel
Davis could not he permitted to leave the Fort ;
that the Town-Major was going to repeat those
orders; that Captain Cadell further said to the
witness, that Colonel Hell requested him not to
leave the Compound. The most transient refe-
rence to such testimony sufficiently shews it to
he of that species, which is, of all others, the
most fallacious and douhtful. It is, in strict-
ness, nothing more than that which Captain
Webster heard from the Town-Major. Hut \
do not wish it to be rejected on that narrow
exception. Let me recal your attention to the
state of the garrison ; to the alarm that had gone
forth ; to the assumption of authority by a
Committee, of the existence of which I was ig-
norant; and to the total absorption of my influ-
ence and authoritv. l T nder such circumstances,
you will find little difficulty in absolving me
from all share or participation in the act. You
will consider it not only improbable, that, to
27
stamp with authenticity their own resolutions,
the officers who had erected themselves into the
over-ruling power of the garrison, would use
my name, as a mere matter of course, in fur-
therance of their own designs. It would, there-
fore, be highly dangerous to depart from the
course of legitimate evidence. But, in the
words attributed to the Town-Major, there is
something that seems wholly repugnant to the
supposition, either that I had received the let-
ter, or sent any answer to it, or that I had given
any orders upon the subject of it. Captain
Cadell says, that "an order was preparing."
Is not this more reconcilable to the hypothesis,
that a Committee were taking the letter into
consideration, and were preparing an answer ?
For, if Captain Cadell came with any authority
from me, it is natural to suppose that I should
have delivered him the order at once, either
verbally or in writing, instead of taking any time
to prepare an answer ; a circumstance which
strongly implies that it was undergoing some
consideration from persons who were deliberately
consulting upon it. All question, however.
28
as to the fact, is silenced by Major Mac.dowall's
deposition, from which it may be easily seen,
that I had then no influence over this procedure
whatever. In truth, it should seem the restraint
was rather imaginary than real ; tor Colonel Davis
himself, yielding' to the urgent importunity of the
officers, had acquiesced in their proposal to stay
at Seringapatam ibr a moderate, length of time.
Waving, however, that topic, Major Mae-
dowall expressly shews, that the restraint of
Colonel Davis did not proceed from my order.
He says, that he called on Colonel Davis
on the evening of the :30th, in consequence
of having heard he was under some appre-
hension of being under restraint ; " knowing,
at the same time, it was not intended by the
officers of the garrison that he should consider
himself under the smallest." Does (his consist
with the probability of my having ordered Colo-
nel Davis into restraint ? On the contrary, does
it not render that fact almost impossible ? For
it would be grossly absurd to suppose, that if I
had ffiven such an order, or even been aware of
the circumstance, Major Macdovvall would not
29
have gone directly from me with an order either
to release Colonel Davis, or to quiet his appre-
hension of being in arrest. The words " officers
of the garrison," clearly designate by whose
authority the arrest (if there was any arrest at
nil) was sanctioned.
The same observations will appl\ with equal
force to that passage of Captain Webster's evi-
dence, in which he states, that Lieutenant-Colo-
nel Munro came, as if with an order from me,
stating- that Colonel .Davis need not give himself
the trouble of going out of his house', or getting
into his palanquin. The course which common
sense and reason prescribe as necessary to trace
my agency or participation in this act, is that of
shewing, in the first place, that ! actually issued
the order. The default of that preliminary fact
cannot be aided by the mere declaration of others,
that they acted by my authority. If such evi-
dence, on the most superficial view, did not strike
vou as dangerous in respect of precedent, and
inconclusive 1 in point of fact, I might, in vain, by
my own solemn declaration, which I make in all
sincerity and truth, wholly disavow all privity
30
or concurrence in the restraint of Colonel
Davis.
It may In- said, however, that I \vas a mem-
ber of that Committee of Officers, and there-
fore answerable tor its acts; and that the fact is
implied from Lieutenant Beaumont's statement
of that which Colonel Munro said to him,
namely, that Colonel Bell and the Committee
of Officers had not yet determined whether
Colonel Davis had permission to go to Mysore.
I must ac;'ain deprecate this loose and imperfect
testimony. And yet. that it may not leave the
slightest impression on your minds, refer to the
minutes of this proceeding, and vou will find
abundant proofs that I never was a member of
that Committee, and that in no respect 1 adopted
their acts bv my acquiescence or concurrence.
It is to be collected from Mr. BoswelTs
statement, that I had complained to him of the
extinction of my authority in the garrison. If
by a hai^h and severe rule of reasoning, any man
infers a species of acfpiiescenee in that assump-
tion of authority, from my apparent silence on
the subject, he has formed but an imperfect eon-
31
ception of the difficulties with which I had to
struggle. To subdue the agitation bv menace,
i>
to repress it by power, to read lectures on obe-
dience and submission, might have been effica-
cious in a less fevered and morbid state of mind
than that which I had to deal with. It wa
impossible to escape. The slightest indication
which I might give of such an intention, would
have been the total annihilation of that little in-
fluence which remained to me. By securing
the confidence of the officers, I hoped to exer-
cise that influence (as you will see when you
advert to the sentiments breathed in my letters
about this period) in dissuading them from vio-
lent and intemperate opposition. Even my faint
shadow of authority contributed to the preserva-
tion of quiet. Had I leaped from the walls, or
escaped by stratagem, I should have been liable
to animadversion lor an act of doubtful expedi-
ency, whatever might have been the result. [
believe the very attempt would have failed.
But, had it succeeded, I am sure that conse-
quences would have ensued, which would have-
thrown into comparative insignificance the sen-
ous mischief which \v c all deplore. 1 have dis-
closed t<> you the principle^ of uiv conduct, If
my judgment has erred, the indulgence xvhich
is extended by enlightened minds to human
frailty, in new seasons and new difficulties, \vill
not, perhaps, he withheld from mine.
That 1 was not a member of that Committee,
will appear from that part; of Mr. Casamaijor's
evidence, in which he tells you that -Mr. Mack-
intosh had told him that Colonel Hell had re-
signed the command to a Committee of Officers,
and that he was not even privileged to receive a
letter, lie understood, also, that I was not
even privileged to receive a letter without the
sanction of a ( oimnittee of Officers, and that he
must address them, if he \\ished to communi-
cate xvith the authority of *., garrison. This,
perhaps, presents an adequate idea of mv au-
thority at this moment, and of my disconnec-
tion xvith what was then traiisu'-tin^. '1 he im-
plied resignation of mv command to the Com-
mittee, is not. indeed, accurate-, for resignation
implies volition . 1 had no volition. 1 yielded
to necessities xvith honest and sincere intentions.
33
I advert to this part of Mr. Casamaijor's evidence,
because it illustrates a fact which has been ad-
duced against me : 1 mean, my returning- the
letter enclosing the test, on the . c jlst of July,
with a private intimation to Colonel Davis, that
it was ut the peril of my freedom to receive any
public communication. As for the tearing the
envelope, and the subtraction of any paper it
contained, 1 here seriously disclaim it. Captain
Bishop, Major Macdowall, Major .Freeze, nega-
tive, I think, distinctly, my participation in the
procedures of the Committee. The former,
Captain 13ishop, tells you, that he received or-
ders till about the 4th, signed "Committee."
ft is impossible not to make this observation.
Had 1 been concerned in it, or even privy to its
procedures, in any other manner than by con-
jecture, would not my name, in common pro-
bability, have been signed to their orders, to
give them the shew and semblance of authenti-
city ? For you see that, in other instances, my
name was pretty freely made use of, where it
answered the purpose of the moment. Major
Freeze also states, that the reply to the letter
F
34
addressed to me by Lieutenant-Colonel Davis
and Mr. Cole, was signed by Colonel Munro,
and Major Kenney, and himself. 1 allude to
the letter in which those gentlemen, Colonel
Davis and Mr. Cole, with regret and horror,
conclude that u the officers intended to oppose
Government at all events." It seems, also,
that he understood my reason for not signing it
was, that 1 had already signed the test.
I must beseech you to attend most minutely
to this circumstance. This letter from Mr. Cole
and Colonel Davis of the ;3d of August, is pro-
duced by the prosecutor, obviously for the pur-
pose of affecting me with notice of its contents,
and of shewing that I carried on a resistance to
O
the authority of Government, after I had received
the warnings and denunciations contained in it.
But my knowledge of the letter or its contents,
is a matter to be proved, not to be conjectured.
There is not a syllable of evidence, by which it can
be traced to my hands. The answer to it was
written by the officers ; which, of itself, furnished
a strong ground of conjecture that I had not even
seen it. I had signed the test. 1 had complied
with the only orders of Government or of Colonel
Davis I ever received. The letter, therefore,
did not apply to me. And when Colonel Davis,
in his answer to my letter accompanying- the
test, with my signature to it, observed to me,
on the evening of that day, that " his house and
heart, and those of Mr. Cole, were open to me,"
it is obvious that he did not consider me as one
of the persons whom that letter was written to
admonish or to threaten. He would not have
opened his heart and house to a mutineer. He
must have considered me nearly in a state of
coercion. The reiterated intimations I had given
him of the extinction of my authority, and the
agitation of the place, must have impelled him
to this conclusion. It is evident, therefore, that
down to the 3d of August, he considered that 1
had headed or committed no mutiny. He would
otherwise have disdained to accept my signa-
ture to a pledge of fidelity, which my conduct,
must have so loudly belied.
If it is asked, why, on the receipt of the in-
structions of Government, did you not call the
officers together, and, by your example and re-
36
monstrances, urge them to sign the test? Consi-
de;. I bi -seech vou, what Major Macdowall has
said on that head, lie tells you, that had 1 or-
dered the officers to sis^n the test. I should not
have been obeyed. ]{e. mi^ht, in tnith, have
gone further, lie might have tdd you, as I shall
prove hereafter, that, had 1 given such an order,
I should have been in immediate restraint. If \
am asked, why did you not, on receiving from
Colonel Davis his assurance that his house and
heart were open to you. instantly leave the gar-
rison, and flv thither for an asvlum r My an-
swer to the question, i! it is gravels put to me,
is this: had 't meditated such an escape, i could
not have efiected it. '1 here is, however, ano-
ther aspect in which it might be viewed as a
questioi. of duty. To quit my station without an
order, at such a St. ason, might have been con-
duct reconcilable rather to personal prurience
than public dutv. If, however, in this part of
my defence, I had to combat with a captious and
cavilling tribunal, it miu'lit be said, " J rue. you
had no order to .jiiit your station ; but how can
vvc believe vour own statements of vour uood
3?
intentions, or assent to y<>ur o\vn reasonings,
without proof to support them ?" To such an
objection, what would be said, when I refer you
to one of my letters, written on that very ;}<! of
August, to Colonel Davis, and now in evidence
against me, in the postscript of which I tell that
officer, that ;i 1 am sorry to say what 1 foretold,
as to the officers, has taken place. I shall re-
main here as long as i can do any good, and
till I receive your orders to the contrary."
This, therefore, is the light by which my
conduct, if it has anv thing dubious or proble-
matic in it. ought to be' illustrated. Mv object,
from first to last, was to avert the effusion of
blood; to soften, if J coidd, not heat the irrita-
tion ; and, by acts of a salutary compromise and
moderation, to mitigate the evils that threatened
us. Yet, whilst this was the hope that ani-
mated, and the impulse that urged me, 1 would
instantly, and at anv peril, have obeyed, or
made an effort to obev, any military order to
quit the garrison. The truth is, I received no
order whatsoever.
Try me, however, by my acts, I ^igned thr>
58
. I have already shewn that the attempt to
persuade others to have done it would have been
hopeless. On the ;)d of August, the man who
stands before you lor having, between the 3()th
of. Inly and the i>;jd of August, headed a mutiny
against the Government, gave a solemn pledge
of obedience to that (o\ eminent, against which
he is pretended to have rebelled.
There may, however, bean insinuation lurking
in this very fact, of which it is impossible 1 1 should
be unmindful. It may be whispered, that 1
signed the test as a disguise, and in subservience
to my real intentions. I wear not, gentlemen, any
more than the rest of you. a suit of armour to
repel insinuation. I can only appeal, in confu-
tation of il, to the whole, of my lite, and the
general complexion of my character. 1'ossibly
tin-re are amongst you who may not be ignorant
of either. They can best tell, whether among
mv habits and dispositions are to be numbered
those of hypocrisy, or deceit, or low cunning,
or any of that family of vices. l ; or myself, 1
can soiemnlv appeal to Him, from whom all
truth emanates, that 1 signed that pledge in
39
the genuine spirit of obedience. And you, gen-
tlemen, have one criterion by which you can
estimate the sincerity of this protestation ; for,
antecedently to this third day of August, there
is no act that can be alleged against me, which
does not dery all blame or crimination. If cri-
minal intentions are essential to crime, and if
acts are the interpreters of intentions when
those acts are criminal, it would be a perversion
of justice to deny, that they equally indicate
intentions when they are innocent.
A species of proof has been resorted to in this
case, which the lawyers call accumulative, that
is, the accumulation of little facts and petty cir-
cumstances. A century and a half has glided
away since that doctrine died a natural death. 1
do not, however, complain of its revival on the
present occasion, because there must be a penury
of material proof against me, when so much idle
industry is expended in dragging up forgotten
conversations and straggling expressions, to bear
testimony against me. Of this kind is the very
insignificant fact sworn to by Lieutenant Caden-
o */
ski, that he heard a noise of guns moved about.
40
in a garrison in which the <(iins wore ordinarily
moved cvcrv day ! My expression of" Mysorean
rascals." and the singular and whimsical order,
it seems, that 1 c^ave that officer who was on
uuard at the Bangalore ^ate, to fire not only on
an enemv who mi^ht be passing the Bangalore
bridge, hut on all armed men on the Mysore
road, which is. at least, hah' a mile distant!
lie was asked hy the Court whether any per-
sons were present at this conversation ? None.
This is a kind oi' totimonv which he against
whom it is intended is nccessarilv unable to con-
tradict. 'I here is. however, providentially, a
mixture of absurdity in this statement, that the
mention and refutation of it must be one and
ihe same thiiiLT. 1 impute nothing of discredit
to tne witness. In >.easoiis ot agitation and
alarm the memor. ;.s clouded.
1 must have wearied the attention ot'the Court
!v (K'taiuiiiL;- them so lon^ in what may he deem-
ed onlv the preliminary part of the subject.
( )bser\ in.;, however, that the prosecutor's object
ui overloading the cause with an accumulation
>f iactv. \\ as that of shewing me to have been
41
the first mover of the commotion from its ear-
liest stages, you will excuse the minuteness with
which 1 have remarked on them. There remains
but one further circumstance that requires a
comment, before I proceed to answer the seve-
ral allegations of these charges. 1 mean the
order which I gave Lieutenant Adamson to re-
move the detachment of the 80th.
If you have done me the honour to follow me
in the progressive exposition of my conduct
from the JOth of July to the ;3d of August, you
must do me the justice of admitting it to be
reconcilable to a most earnest anxiety for the
peace and tranquillity of the garrison. You
must also have framed a pretty correct estimate
of the state of things in which, with a crippled
and imperfect authority, 1 had to exercise what
little influence remained to me in averting the
worst of evils. The alarm and consternation in
the garrison had received a dreadful augmentation
from the transactions of Trichinopoly on the
JOth, where Colonel Wilkinson having proposed
a test to the officers of that station, \\hich, from
the manner in which it was proposed, and from
c
other circumstances, they considered as a signal
to cut tht 1 tliroats of their brother-officers, placed
them, on tlu'ir refusal to si^n it, in charge of a
ii a rd of Europeans \\ith fixed bayonets, with
absolute orders to fire upon them if a rescue
was attempted. Amidst terror, suspicion, dark
and mutual distrust, many obscure and indefi-
nite reports \vere wandering about, as Major
Macdowall tells you. that so far back as the
90th of July, the detachment of Ilis Majesty's
SOth had been employed three or lour succes-
sive nights in making up cartridges, as hostile
preparations auainst the garrison. \\ hether this
\vas the tact 1 do not enquire. It is sufficient
for me, that in that distempered state of the gar-
rison it \va< universally believed. I nder such
cn'cumstancc-s, I thought, as everv rational man
would have thought, that a mere handful of
men were no longer safe \vithi.i the walls.
M\ motives are elucidated in \\\\ letter to
< 'olonel l),i\ ; s ot' that das. intiiuatiii'j' th<
dan'jerous impression which the conduct oj that
detachment i; i,l made on the artiller\ . and th.il 1
<:uuld no loil'a'er be ail^\\ er;ii|e i'or t he s;i|et\' of sc^
43
small a number of kind's troops, who were con-
sidered as occupied in hostile, designs on the rest
of the garrison. And here it is impossible not
to admire the .singular fatality which has made a
meritorious act, suggested by an anxiety tor the
rest of this detachment, an act, of which the
avowed must have been the real object, into a
matter of accusation against me. No ingenuity
can torture this plain and simple procedure into
anv other than its obvious purpose. Will it be
said, that, being at that cime the leader of a
mutiny against the Government, 1 was desirous
to remove the king's soldiers into a place of
safety ; that with such designs, and when in
furtherance of those designs, ;; petty detachment
of an hundred and twenty men miii'ht, in ten
minutes, have been disarmed, and rendered in-
efficient to counteract the mutinous proceedings
which I am said to have bended. 1 requested
them to go out. with all their arms, as a pre-
caution strictlv necessary for their security ?
! shall now proceed to the alleged overt act of
seizing the public treasure. I ani spared the
necessity of a minute or elaborate answer to this
partof the charge, because I have already shewn
my entire disconnection with the proceedings of
the officers, who had taken upon themselves
the military authority, at the time when the
treasures of -Mr. Casamaijor and Mr. Paymaster
Smith are said to have been sei/ed.
In so '.>Tave '<m accusation, it will not be more
the prerogative of an accused man, than the pre-
siding principle of the judicature he tore which
he stands, to require the acts charged against him
to be fr.llv and legitimately proved, and to adhere
O *
to known and recognized rules, lest frail and
fallible presumptions, or loose and unfavourable
conjectures, may take place of that strict and
precise rule of investigation, which leads to ju-
dicial irutli by the most direct and shortest pro-
cess. Turn, therefore, to Mr. Casamaijor's evi-
dence, and examine whether any proof is to
be collected from it, of my having sei/ed the
treasure committed to his charge. Captain
Turner said IK? acted bv Colonel Bell's orders.
If what Captain Turner said to the witness was
adopted as conelusive cvidenee of my having
i:iven the order, of course, the act would be
45
mine, with all its responsibility. But, waving
all exception to the proof, admitting- it, if un-
contradicted by any other fact, to be a fair infe-
rence of my having- given the order, the very
next sentence of Mr. Casamaijor's deposition
brings iorward a circumstance, which plainly
shews that it was not by my order that. Captain
Turner was acting. For, upon Mr. Casamaijor's
beo-inninof the draft of an official letter to Go-
vernment, stating- that it was by my order the
treasure was detained, Captain Turner imme-
diately objects to the mention of my name, re-
marking, that though he had Colonel Bell's
sanction, he had not his permission to say so.
I think this incident must have induced the
Court to draw the conclusion, that my name
was used for the purpose of the moment.
Had 1 given the order, Mr. Casamaijor, as a
matter of course, would Slave stated that i'aet
to the Government, without the slightest ob-
jection on the part of Captain Turner. Subject
to the same observation is that which Captain
Cadell told Mr. Casamaijor, concerning the me-
morandum he said I was making of the reasons
tor securing the treasure. hi a subsequent pas-
sage. Mr. Casamaijor clearly shews the improba-
bditvot ni\ ordering, or even conniving in that
transaction, i ie tills you. that lie loimd I hud
no command ; that I was unauthorized even to
receive a letter without the sanction ot' the Com-
mittee, to v\ 1 1 01 n ail communications with the au-
thority of the garrison must have lieen addressed.
! lere, then, is a complete solution of all doubt on
Hie subject. '! he occupation ot the treasure bv
me. or mv older, remains not. oidv not proved b\
regular and le^ai evidence, but then' is regular
and leLjal evidence which disproves it.
This brings me to the treasure ot Mr. I'av-
t
master Smith. It seems t'nat C'aplain l)e llavi-
l:ml and Captain Cadeii told Mr. Smith, that
ihi'\ wen 1 commissioned by a board ot officers,
to require a staleineiit of the C'lin 111 his ch.iru'c.
"l'o ^vhat exienl tins i.ici is io operate au'amsl
me. i have vet to learn. That Mr. Smith un-
derstood from Captain Cadell that the <_;-uard was
i)|-,if d over his treasurv b\ me. amount^ to no
more. Nor does Captain CadelTs li-tt'-r of tin
list ?o Mr. Smith, in whicli m\ name i. ;i!si.
4?
mentioned, carry it at all further. It does not
even approximate to evidence, i confess, gen-
tlemen, I am astonished at the slender, vague,
and uncertain proofs, on \vhich the* prosecutor-
has attempted to charge me with the seizing of
the public treasure. It is true, Knngapah talks
of the conversation [ had with him, in the course
of which i said 1 would !>e the pavmaster. Hut
this was on or about the (ith. The treasure, if
it can be called a seizure, had been seized before
by persons who, as Mr. Smith himself informs
you. had received their commission from the.
Committee of Officers. And A: r. Smith also
savs, he received no other answers to the letters
i
he wrote to me, but that a verbal message wa>
brought to him, stating that they would be
taken in consideration ; a circumstance clcarlv
indicating that a deliberation was to be held
upon it by the Committee. With tin- sei/usv I
had nothing to do; and when vou advert to that
tact, which almost everv witness conspires to
prove, that on the ;jlst the whole military
power was in the hands of those officers, it wdi
be placed beyond the roach of contradiction
48
The allegation o!' the charge is tlic sei/ure of
the public treasure. It' it appears, therefore, that I
did not sei/e it on the ;K)th of July, 1 am surely
not culpable for taking chartiv of it on the Oth of
August. 1 \vas influenced to that measure by
every motive of dutv and necessity, it \vas to
secure it from depredation during tiie absence of
the j)orson to whom the custedv of it had he-en
committed : to take care, on my own iaith and
responsibility, that it should he disbursed and
applied to the purposes for which it \\as intend-
ed. True. I said to Kungapah. your master has
run away. This is the cause of all this confu-
sion. 1 will he paymaster." 1 am sure, that
when you consider th;s act of seizure as the act
of others, (for it has n,>t been shewn to bo
mine.) you \\;!i not \is;t me with much harsh-
ness ' >i 'animadversion tor takinj; care of it ait'-r
it had i>een sei/ed, and appropriating 1 it to the
ordinary exigences ol tin 1 service. ^ on see that
the treasure \vas administered, in ever\ respect,
!> it had been done before ; the keys kept by
rhe ^ame servants ; the monies disbursed lor the
Kind's : ; nd ( oinoany's ust^. a^ bclorc-. Not the
49
smallest subtraction or misappropriation. I justify
this act as an act of strict duty and inevitable
necessity. The treasure \vas to be taken care
of. or to be lost. The person to whose custody
it had been entrusted, had abdicated his office.
I cannot clearly see what other procedure my
duty to my employers could, under such cir-
cumstances, have suggested. Fay could not have
been prudently withheld from the garrison. Per-
haps it would have been impossible to have put
the fidelity of the sepoys to a more perilous test.
And had I refused to sanction the necessary
payments, after the paymaster had abandoned
his functions, 1 might probably have stood be-
fore you under different charges, accused of
having betrayed the duty of an officer, and the
interests of the Honourable Company, by mea-
sures resulting in the mutiny and insurrection of
their native troops.
If these reasonings are just, 1 can feel but lit-
tle apprehension from the other fact, brought
forward as a seizure of treasure. It was reported.
that treasure, destined to Seringapatam, had
been stopped on its way. By what authority ;
u
.50
Hv persons, who without anv written document
whatsoever, irave verbal orders to lake the trea-
sure, l>v a circuitous route to Mysore. Now,
tliere is DO evidence to shew that I ordered the
detachment out on that occasion ; and you will
not supply tin 1 absence of proof so material, by
conjecture. ^ et, were L to admit that 1 had
^iven the order, I \vou!d rest its vindication on
the strict propnet\ and necessity of securing a
treasure, which had been intercepted without
any authority whatsoever. It would, at anv
time, be a matter of strict dutv to have taken
the necessary steps tor its protection, as soon as
the liamildaar made the report of its bavin;/
been stopped.
Alter all, \\hat docs this sci/ui'e of treasure
amount to. in whatever aspect it is consider d ?
Mr. (_ asainai jor's remained secure ;md untouch-
ed. Mr. Smith's \\as reuul.Jv disbursed for
the exigences of the service, without which the
Honourable Company's troops \\ould ha\e heen
reduced to famine. I he money iron; the ceded
districts was secured from depredation, (lor the
stoppage of it without authorit\ is nothing less,)
51
and safely lodged in the place to which it was
destined. Not the slightest misappropriation of
this treasure, which L am charged with having
seized. If, however, the protection and secu-
rity of the treasure he deemed a criminal seizure
in vour eves, turn to the evidence, and you will
find, that from all share and participation in it
1 arn completely absolved.
You have now travelled with me to an im-
portant date in the .series of these, transactions.
On the (Jth of August it seems that 1 was re-
quested bv the officers to command the garri-
son; a iact which unanswerably shews, that
before that time I had no command whatever.
You will, of course, deem it probable, that
whatever agitations and disorders prevailed be-
fore, ! am not responsible for these ; for mv
interposition would have been useless and im-
potent. 1 have shewn, not by my own uncor-
roborated statements, but bv the evidence actu-
ally recorded against me, that i disobeyed no
orders on the JOth ; that 1 carried the orders I
did receive into speedy and diligent execution ;
that in the real or imaginary restraint of Colonel
Davis I h;t(l no share ; that I had no concern in
the proceedings of {lie Committee ; that I had
no control over others. Ail that my imp< nc-cl.
authority could ciVec! toward:-, ihe restoration ol
tranquillity, you, will perceivr tha!; 1 eUeeted.
'That fearful oi' th.e safety of a small detachment
:>f one <;' 1 i i- Majcsu ' regiments. 1 urued their
removal a* a mere matter of precaution ; that i
diii ,,!! that the Government required ol' me :
that 1 cheerfully nave the proffered pledge
oi ouedienrc : th (l t when ! returned that
pledge, \\ii\\ \\\\- smnature. to C.'oloncl Davis.
1 intimated to him. that, although dtsirous of
<t;.viiiU' in the garrison as |(.-n^ as I could do anv
l;ood, I \\ould ohev any orders he would tj'ivr
me ; th;it. in truth, I recc'i\'cd no order at ail,
or oven a suL^'e^tion suHieient to impose upon
me a clear and definite rule ot' conduct. ^. our
o\vn conceptions will supply much of what must
he left imperi't-ct in this picture, "i on mav con-
cei\e (some of vou may. m part. ha\'c experi-
enced^ the emharrassmeiits v,i?!i v, hich I \vas
l:-'s: 't. tin' jealoit^x \\ith \\hieh 1 \\-;;s watclied,
tne eonllict of fet line's into wh'cli ! \\';}^ throxyn.
by the very solicitude 1 felt to discharge 111
diitv. You may imagine a state of tilings.
wnere the lines that divide duty from disobedi-
ence are so faint and shadowy, that from human
candour will be demanded its most benignant
allowance to human error. If, in such a season,
the feet iaiter, or break and snap asunder some
of the nice and minute threads and filaments
which entangle them, who is there that will
pronounce a severe condemnation : It is then
you will look to the intention, a^ the index and
criterion of the action. It is then, also, that,
weighing the difficulties and the perils to be en-
countered, you will not, when you discern the
honour and the rectitude of the heart, withhold
rhat enlarged and liberal discretion, \\hich con-
sists in the prudent choice of evils; in bending,
as it were, beneath the storm ; in the teii p;>rary
submission to necessities: in the adaptation of
conduct to times and circumstances.
1 shall now consider the only remaining heads
of accusation the ; ring on the troops, and the
refusal to deliver up the 1'Vrt to the proper au-
thorities . See whether the intentions which
54
have hitherto animated me, will he found, in
this maturer state of the transaction, to have
departed from me ? Another question will per-
haps present itself. Whether, in the ne\v and
extraordinary combination of eireiimstanees
\vhieli had arisen, a sound discretion was not
conferred upon me, of a-vcniiiL; a bloody con-
flict between fellow-soldiers and follow -citizens,
by everv means in mv power?
I '"rom what you have already collected con-
cerning the fevered state of the garrison, the
feeling's which prevailed, and the passions by
which the officers were animated, you will be
enabled to form a faint idea of the difficulties
with which 1 had to stru^le. Could 1 escape?
That was impossible. Had it been possible,
could 1 have deserted my post ? It was my
maxim of duty, that 1 was bound to stay so long
as 1 could be ot anv use, so lon-^ as 1 could pre-
serve (jiiiet by mv remonstrances, uiv intreaties.
and v\ hat little of authority remained to me.
Had 1 received anv order to (put the garrison?
None. I lad I received anv 1 would have mark 1
the attempt, though it must have been iinnie-
diately defeated. 1 had given an intimation to
Colonel Davis, in the letter above alluded to,
that 1 would stay as long 1 as I could do any
good, or till I had his orders. Uis silence im-
plied an acquiescence, lie -ave no orders to
the contrary. The letter in which lie observes
" the garrison were determined, at all events, to
oppose the Government," was neither received,
nor replied to by me. Could my influence in-
duce the officers to deliver up the Fort? in
the first place, no orders to that effect were ever
given. In the second, the very attempt would
have been ridiculous. Under such circum-
stances, 1 resolved, by every expedient within
my power, to restore discipline and obedience,
and to quiet the exasperations, which might
otherwise break out into the most fatal and per-
nicious measures, it is for this that I have been
dragged hither as a criminal.
With these views I reassumed the command.
1 thought that in the hands of a man anxiously
bent on peace, and order, and subordination,
the control would b<j exercised with b.-ttn
chance for the public inten sts th;ui in the. hands
of seventy or eighty. Am ! a criminal tor having
thus thought and thus acted : i lad I declined
it, I should have remained \\itliin tin- \valls of
Serinuapatam a mere prisoner, stripped of all
influence to eontrol, to check, or admonish.
F.verv thinking man must tremble, when he
conjectures what might have resulted from such
an anarchy.
That these motives animated me, is not. my
own unsupported assertion. They are to he
traced in the uniform language, and sentiments
of m\ letters to Colonel Davis, \\hen the mili-
tarv power was exercised hv the Committee.
Those letters have; been produced, no doubt,
to shew th.it my intentions were criminal. Re-
view them, and \ou wili iind that thev warrant
no such conclusion. Hut. amongst those letters.
I was not a little astonished tluri. one to Colonel
Davis, so late as the .)th or' August, did not
make its appearance. It would have been an
important document ; because it would have
clrarlv demonstrated what intentions I cherished.
and with what motives I was influenced on that
dav. It was written the dav before the revival
57
ot my authority. All communications between
Colonel Davis and the garrison had ceased on
the third. Large bodies of Mysore troops had
appeared in movement. They had cut off the
supplies of the garrison, and had committed
other acts of irregularity, bv seizing and detain-
O *-'*, O
ing persons on their way from or to the Fort,
In the total cessation of all intercourse between
the garrison and Mysore, and the suppression of
all intelligence from every quarter whatsoever,
this circumstance had excited sensations the
more vehement, as it was mysterious and ob-
scure. No man could believe that it had entered
into the head or heart of any British subject, to
let loose the troops of a native power upon an
English garrison, to teach a dangerous theory,
which might hereafter be practised to the de-
struction of our empire. It never was imagined
that such a procedure was authorized by the
Government. In the midst of the agitation oc-
casioned by this most mysterious circumstance,
I rejoiced that the officers who had then the
control of the garrison had determined upon the
most pacific conduct. Under that impression. 1
\\rote the following letter to Colonel Davis,
which the Judge-Advocate has not yet pro-
duced.
ic Seringapatam. .ith August. 1S()>.
kt SIR.
' It has been communicated to me,
that the officers of the garrison have come to a
determination not to he the first to commence
hostilities. 1 have, then-fore, to hope, that
thev will come round in a few (lavs, and follow
the steps of their brother-officers, rather than
risk the loss of British India."
^ J. JJK1J., Lt. Col. Sen. Officer."
" To Col. Davis. "
Such, on the .'>th of August, were the ex-
pressions of the man who, from the JOtli ol'.Jnlv,
is said to have been at the head of a dangerous
and alarming mutiny. > i on \\ ill therefore per-
eeive, if this letter speaks an unambiguous lan-
guage, that, so late as the >;th. 1 indulged the
hope that thr officers would follow the steps of
their brother-officers, bv signing the test, and
that, instead of meditating revolt and coiispi-
59
racy, my heart was occupied with the .solici-
tudes of a man loyal to his king and his country.
With this hope, I rejoiced that my authority
returned to me. How could 1 predict that, di-
recting iiiV efforts to these ends, and feeling
these solicitudes, I could have been considered
as heading a mutiny ? And here I cannot but
lament that Lieutenant-Colonel Davis should
have disdained all consultation with me on the
measures to be adopted. 'To the best of my
humble talents, and with a loyalty as sincere
and unaffected as his own, I would have ren-
dered him rny assistance towards the restoration
of peace and discipline. But other counsels
prevailed. I will boldly assert, that the want of
confidence, which was warranted by nothing
either in my character or conduct, lias been the
source of the unfortunate train of events which
you are now investigating.
There was still, however, another powerful
inducement to soothe and conciliate 1 the agita-
tions of the garrison, which was actively alive
in my mind. 1 mean, the expected arrival of
Lord Minto. This, combined with other cir-
60
cumstances, will explain many of my letters
The British empire was endangered by the con-
flict boi \veen the army and Sir (looi^e Barlow.
The open opposition of the Hvdrabad force,
(who. being the leaders and agitators of these
tumults, have been the first objects of amnesty,)
made the danger, in my eves, almost gigantic.
Cut oft' from all communication and intelligence,
probably it loomed, as it were, larger than it
was. irom the darkness in which it was kept.
It was a time when a man. bent on the restora-
tion of discipline, iniuiit be pardoned much
wider deviations irom dutv than can be linked
airaii.st me. The magnitude of the stake might
well excuse some errors in the i;ame. ( ontem-
platinu- the extent and sixe of the 1 }enl ; the
m or(.' than dubious policy of employing against
British troops, a native allv. naturally jealous
of our dominion, and disposer! to avail himselt
ofeverv discord amongst ourselves, which might
weaken or undermine our authority : the con-
viction that such a measure would receive no
countenance from any ( iovernment which was
watchful over the interests of our Indian
61
the assurance that such a measure, if adopted
by the local Government, would draw down
from their country the most tremendous respon-
sibility for the awful fusts thev had <) ; > si-d ;
but above all, the certainty that whatever were
mv sentiments, the garrison would be defended
to the last drop of blood within its w;,l!s. a^rvst
the assaults of the Mysoreans ; all these consi-
derations rendered me solicitous, by a temporis-
ing policy, to avert the conflict ; to prevent ' e
shedding 1 of civil blood ; and to evade a sin:;,i;ie
with a native power, in a cause in which vic-
tory would have been the worst of (U t'rats. and
success the most fatal of calamities. For this
reason, as I told Colonel Davis, I considered
the Fort confided to my charge ; and referred to
the supreme authority the decision oi' a question
so wholly new and unprecedented.
lint you will not be at a loss to discover the
reasons and the motives by w! ich [ was influ-
enced. A mere delay was all that I sol. cited.
I knew the en flamed spirit with v, hieh an at-
tempt to take the garrison would be repelled. I
knew that any order I might be inclined to give
62
for its surrender would be unavailing. I had.
tin retore, before my eyes, the dreadful horrors
of' a civil war: of' which, it' the sword was once
drawn. ( foresaw that my authority could not
assuage or restrain the lurv. As a man, I felt
torthe sufferings of man in such a contest. As
a British officer. I felt for mv fellow-soldiers and
countryman, whose Mood would have been
poured out in an ignominious quarrel, l>v a na-
tive soldiery. I was desirous, therefore, that
the sword miulit remain in its scabbard, not, as
I considered, for an indefinite period, hut for a
slight and inconsiderable interval, till the arrival
of Lord Minto, who was then hourly expected.
1*111 yourselves into my situation, and ask
\vhe4her. acting under the influence of such
feeling. I am to he condemned as a Mutineer?
[fuman conduct is to he tried, not hv its dead
letter, hut by its living and active spirit. ll
was to span- the inevitable effusion of blood,
that I wrote the letter of the 'ith of' \umist to
Colonel Davis, to incline him to forego the at-
tempt to direct the Mysore force against the
place, (an attempt of which the success and the
63
failure were equally to be deprecated,) to leave
us, as it were, in a harmless tranquillity for a
few days, till the determination of Lord Alinto
was pronounced. From the style of my letters
it will be seen, that the arrival of the (lovernor-
deneral was hourly expected. Cut off from all
public intelligence. I knew nothing of the un-
fortunate delay that had retarded it. 1 requested
Colonel Davis to forward my letter to his lord-
ship, expecting that it would find him at Ma-
dras. Is this a mutinous refusal to deliver up
the Fort to the proper authority r
Under the assurance that scarcely a day
could intervene before Lord Aiinto's arrival, and
almost convinced that he was then at the Presi-
dency, I considered, ii'l could ward off the evil
for a few hours, or, at most, a few davs, 1
should act according to the strictest obligations
of policy and duty. The proclamation 01 Lord
Min to, dated the 20th of .Inly, had announced
his determination of coining to the coast ; and
no other construction could be put on his resolu-
tion, but that he was coming to present the
consequences of civil warfare, to mediate, to
heal, to hear, to conciliate, to redress, Jh\
proclamation inspired these hopes ; and every
eonntenaiice on which gloom and despondence
had so long sat, beamed with expectation.
These expectations received strength and confi-
dence from the known character and disposition
of his lordship. The eyes of all were turned to
a man, who had not learnt the art of government
at his office, or surveyed mankind from his desk,
but to a man whose knowledge of human affairs
had been enlarged by a British education, and
whose mind had been liberalized by British
habits of thinking and feeling.
From such a man, it was not to be supposed
that, coming professedly for the purpose of en-
<|iiirv and redress, he would sutler himself to be
misled bv those, whose interest it was to de-
ceive bun. or surrender himself into their hands,
the instrument of their passions and resent-
ments. Adverting to the avowed object for
which the Governor-General announced his in-
tention of repairing hither, I considered that by
delaying a conflict, which every good man must
have deprecated, I should be acting in literal
subservience to his \ie\\s and inclinations.
But you will observe, that to my letter to
65
Colonel Davis I received no answer. I had no
order to deliver up the garrison. And surely,
gentlemen, when the intentions with which 1
acted in an emergency totally new, are taken
into consideration, some doubts might remain
whether an order, an attempt to execute which
would infallibly have led to the sanguinary con-
flict i hoped to avert, would not have furnished
that new modification of military duty,* which
has been applied by high authority to cases of
infinitely less moment than that in which I was
obliged to act. If there is a time in which a
military man may pause and deliberate concern-
ing the execution of an order ; if he is ever ab-
solved from the ordinary obligations of obedience.
it is when in the total absence of a rational
utility, or an over-ruling necessity, he is called
on to deliver up his fellow-creatures to slaughter
and destruction. Mad I been convinced that
no other purpose was in the contemplation of
those who urged the garrison to extremities, but
that of obtainin for themselves a sort of excuse
* Lord Minto's Letter to Sir G. Barlow. May -27,
K
in the violent and irregular conduct of the arm}'.
even liic-n the duty I owed. i>oth to tind and
man. would have well excust d a reluctance to
become tin- instrnincnt of so detestable a policy.
l!a||)ilv. however. 1 do not require the aid
of such reasoning. I '.lave no refusal to deliver
up the Fort to the proper authorities. 1 received
no order to do so, lint it is heside the purpose
to talk of refusal, when I knew that the officers
of the garrison were determined to defend the
Fort against the expected assault ot' the Mv-
soreans. to the la>t drop o! blood, and that mv
authoritv would have been whollv incompetent
to restrain the conflict, had it once commenced.
\\hat then was to he done? I endeavoured,
hv inv letter to Colonel l)a\:s and to I'ooniah,
in the true spirit of a man anxious to avoid a
most dreadful evil, to dissuade them from the
attempt of taking the ^arri^o '. \\inch \\onld
iii"\ltahl\ ha\e he-'ll opposen! \\ith the HK^St
detenuiiied spirit, and have' terminated \\itli
mutual loss and bloodshed. This will be the
true commentarv of mv iettcTs to ( olone! !)a\is
-uid i'oomali. as \v.'ll as o) those, to J .ord Mmto,
67
from which it will ho plainly perceived, that,
conceiving there was already a suspension of
the local Government by his lordship's arrival.
I referred myself to the supreme Government
for the line of conduct 1 was to pursue, and
stated the measures into which I had been com-
pelled hv the preparations to assault the place,
which had excited a determined spirit of resist-
ance in the officers under my command. This
is my offence. A reference, not a resistance,
f.o the proper authority. Whatever may be my
fate, I' shall turn to this passage of my lite, and
review the motives which influenced it with a
satisfaction which no external circumstances can
impair or diminish.
I had vainly hoped that thus temporizing with
a most portentous evil, I should have warded
off the evil I dreaded. SOUK.' allowances are
due to my situation. From the first to the last
I was ready to obey legal orders, as [ professed
in my letter to Lord Aliuto. Colonel Davis
treated my communications with the most sullen
disdain. I received no order. Had any orders been
given me, 1 should have done what little was in
68
im power. I shoukl have made tin- effort to
obey them. In the mean rune, entrusted \vitli
th' satety of a British garrison. I was anxious
onlv to preserve it from the horrors which
threatened it. This was all that I could do.
Mv authority was circumscribed within these
hounds. I have beiore said tiial it \\ as wholly
incompetent to oiler a surrender 01' the garrison.
Mv hopis. however, \\ere frustrated, l>v the
events of the llth of August. Of the nature
of niv authority, in sueh a state ot things, \ou
mav easiiv form an estimate: and how far I am
criminally responsible for having done that
which would inevitably ha\e been done by
others. it' it be said, why did vou retain the
shadow ot' an authority which you could not
ellectu'iliv exerciser Mv answer is. that I
retained it from the conviction that the estima-
tion in which 1 was belli lr, ilic army in ucneral
(ai: f.-itimaticn \\liieh it is mv pride to have
obiniu.-t! and merited) woi'id give some \\cjght
to my ojjinion and remonstrances, and that, it
1 could not whoilv subdue the exasperation, J
miuht, at least, soften and militate it. I will
69
now proceed concisely to state the event of the
llth. ami. in the simplest statement, I trust
you will find my fullest vindication.
You will have already o' /served, that, anxious
only for delay, till my reference to the supreme
Government was answered, and intent on the
prevention of bloodshed, some preparations were
made against the threatened attack of the Myso-
reans. When it was found that European troops
were in siu'ht, my solicitude to avoid a conflict
was redoubled. 1 could conceive, in imagination,
the dreadful carnage v. hid; must have ensued, if,
by a surprize on the garrison, or an attempt to
pass the bridge, hostilities had once commenced.
I knew that the attempt \vonld have been ob-
stinatelv resisted. I war, anxious, therefore, to
evade the evil.
fn the mean time, a camp was formed in a
position which not a little perplexed me. [f the
movement of the European force was hostile, it
was difficult to reconcile it to any vulgar notion
of military operations, that it should have been
planted within range <>f the ^uns. On the other
hand, it is equally difficult to conjecture, that a
70
garrison in a state ot' hostile insurrection against
the civil and military authorities, should have
suffered thf encampment to remain v, ithout mo-
lestation, under the verv month of their artillery.
In the morning of the. llth. two officers were
sent to the camp to enquire concerning the in-
tentions with which the force had been marched,
to intimate the references that had been made
to Lord Minto. the imprudent situation in
which tliev were; encamped, ami to assure 1 them
that the garrison was in the utmost tranquillity,
and had determined most religiously to abstain
from any act which mi-^ht result in bloodshed.
till an answer was received to their application
to the supreme Government. This deputation,
after making an ineffectual attempt to be heard,
returned to the garrison. Mad tliis fieputatiou
been received, the fatal events of that (lav would
have been averted.
It was about ten o'clock that a considerable
bodv of sepovs were discovered to the north-
ward, advancing towards the l-ort. \\liat bat-
talions thev were I did not know. As tlie\
were approaching the l\rt. \\ e perceived that
71
they were harassed, and pressed upon, in all
directions, by the .Mysore horse. The safety
of so large a body of the Honourable Company's
native troops could not but be a matter of con-
siderable anxiety. By what orders they marched,
or whether they marched without any. I was
wholly ignorant. We observed, however, shortly
afterwards, that a detachment of Kind's troops
had left the camp, and were advancing, with
impetuosity, towards the sepoys. A scene of
massacre followed, which it is painful to call
to remembrance. The dragoons and Pooniah's
horse began to cut up the almost-defenceless
battalions, who seemed straggling in disorder.
and apparently exhausted with the fatigues of
their march. 'I' hey had still a considerable
distance to traverse before they could reach the
I'ort. In the mean time, there seemed every
probability that the whole would have been cut
up before they could come within its protection.
The massacre of so numerous a body of troops,
every suggestion of humanity, reason, and
policy called on me to prevent. No other
motive- was present to niy mind. l\>r this pur-
72
posr, and animated solely by this impulse, a
very lew shots were fired from the garrison,
which, although from the distance to which they
were sent they could have effected no mischief,
by their direction, might induce the d. unions
and tin 1 .Mysore troops to desist from the pur-
suit and slaughter of the Company's battalions.
Happily, this effect was produced. Two bat-
talions of sepoys were almost entirely saved from
destruction by a firing, of which the object was
merely to intimidate those who were pursuing
them with carnage.
I cannot see with what plausibility this can
be linked as a matter of crimination. 1 cannot
imagine that any man in cold blood would have
issued from the seat of Government, one of
whose high and most sacred trusts is the pater-
nal protection of the native subjects of India,
an order to extirpate so many of God's crea-
tures, before it could have been known whether
their movement towards the garrison was crimi-
nal or innocent. But I am relieved from all
doubt on this head. By the public declaration
>t'. Sir George Barlow himself, in a general order
73
of the JOth of August, these very battalions are
exempted from blame, and their innocence
publicly proclaimed. What then is the infer-
ence ? If my statement is true, and is proved
in evidence, he, who is charged with having
fired on the troops of his Majesty and the Rajah,
in furtherance of a dangerous and alarming
mutiny, discharged a few harmless shots, which
had the effect of saving from destruction two
innocent battalions of the Company's army.
This is a fact, which will appeal, with resistless
force, to the consciences of all who know the
nature of our Eastern dominion. Such persons
need not be told, that it is an empire, not of
physical force, but of moral ascendancy ; and
that among the mysterious chains by which it is
preserved, the strongest and most binding is,
that which is grappled round the heart and the
affections of those whom we govern.
Hut if proof is required to attest how remote
the intention of rescuing those battalions was,
from that of hostile ae-o-ression on the Mysore or
o o *
the King's troops, it is worth while to observe.
that the part of the garrison who went out to
L
74
cover the retreat of the sepoys, were repeatedly
fired on l>v the troops remaining in the camp;
that they did not fire a single shot, although the
camp was under the guns of the Fort, and might,
without any difficulty, haye been destroyed.
I proceed, however, in the melancholy nar-
rative of the llth of August. The sepoys, \\h<>
proved to he part of the 1st battalion of the Sth
regiment, and the 1st battalion of the loth
regiment, of Light Infantry, for nearly the whole
of that day, continued to come into the Fort
stripped, plundered, and bleeding. It was
found that about 171 were dreadfully wounded :
that about .30 lives had been lost; and, amongst
these, many of the unhappy followers. 1 would
deseribe the wretched spectacles who present-
ed themselves in the Fort one after another
during the whole of that day ; but I find myself
unable to convey to you the faintest picture of
its horrors. I duel! upon it only as it consti-
tuted the necessity on which it was deemed
requisite, for the safety of the garrison, by firing
on the encampment on that niirht, to remove it
from a position which augmented the commo-
75
tion occasioned by the cutting up of the
sepoys.
On this occasion, as it became me, I did all
that I could to restore the confidence of the
native troops in the garrison. The feelings,
excited by the events of the day, had been
rouzed by the dreadful spectacles before their
eyes, into a most alarming insubordination.
The sepoys of the battalions who had suffered,
cried out that they had been betrayed by their
officers, who had given them strict orders not.
ro fire a musket.
But the agitation was not confined to these
battalions. It had extended itself through the
whole native force of the garrison. The cry was
for revenge. They called out, in a phrenzy of
indignation, to be led out against the camp. In
the mean time, reports were circulated that
basket-boats were constructing to pass the river,
and scaling ladders to mount the walls. Such an
attempt, from the dispositions of the officers,
and the inflamed temper of the troops, would
have ended in a dreadful slaughter. I knew
that, mv authority could not restrain the furv
76
of feelings, which so many unhappy events had
conspired to produce. With the same motives,
which, in every stage ot' these transactions,
continued to influence me, anxious to avert so
melancholy a contest, and doubly anxious, from
the occurrences of the day, to preserve the lives
of the garrison, and of those who were acting
against it. 1 deemed it expedient to remove the
encampment from the singular position it had
taken. A lew small shells were therefore thrown
at night, so directed as to fall on the skirts of
the camp, and warn them of their danger.
That there was no other object in firing, is
evident, from the simple fact itself, that, had
other feelings influenced me, the whole camp
might, with little difficulty, have been destroyed.
This firing, therefore, like the former, was to
intimidate, not to destroy; to avert the horrors
of a general rising of the sepoys in the garrison,
and to save the lives of those who, it seems,
were acting against it. If the question he here
^c:ain interposed, why did you, by remaining
as the nominal and ostensible head of the gar-
nson. incur the responsibility nf these transac-
tions ? My answer is, again, I could not escape.
By remaining there, 1 was enabled to ward off,
by delay, the most fatal of conflicts. I vindi-
cate this act with confidence, f have saved the
effusion of innocent blood. I stopped an insur-
rection in the garrison, the probable conse-
O 7 1
fj nonces of which can be best conjectured by
those who remember the. fatal incidents at
Vellore. The natives of Hindostan are meek
and submissive beyond any other example in
national character. But they are not dead to
the ordinary impulses of humanity. " If you
prick them, they will bleed:" if you insult
them, they will revenge. They hold their
existence by that charter on which nature has
written her unalterable and eternal laws.
The witnesses will best speak to the pertur-
bations of the garrison at this alarming period.
Women and children did not escape the undis-
tinguishing attack. All that could awaken the
feelings of men. and stir them to retaliation,
every minute presented to their eyes. Some
faint conception may be formed of the agitations
occasioned on the very spot, where the poor
78
miserable and mariirled victims had suffered, 1>\
those which were produced when the Govern-
ment account of thisdav was received in treneral
t
orders at Hyderabad. They had nearly proved
fatal to the country, and every European in it.
l'Y>r it is a solemn fact, capable of easy proof',
that when those orders were read, in which it
was stated, that the whole 1 of the " rebel force"
had been destroyed, the sepoys of that station,
instigated by their wives and women in the
camp, turned out armed to cut every Kuropean
throat, and. amongst the rest, those of their
own officers. This perturbation was quieted
only by the presence of mind of an officer at that
station, who assured them that the detail pub-
lished by the Government was unfounded.
It is with satisfaction that 1 leave this part of
the subject. \\ hatever may be the event of this
trial, the remembrance of that which is thus
imputed to me as a crime, shall never depart
from me but with life itself. When the recent
transactions of India are- reviewed by minds un-
tinetured bv local prejudices, and unbiassed by
local animosities, whatever becomes of me, the
79
transaction itself will reflect no shame on my
memory.
1 have scarcely time to advert to the evidence
or' Lieutenant Grove, as to the conversation in
which he savs, that 1 used the violent and ab-
surd expressions he puts into my mouth on that
occasion. If the utter improbability of it be not
a sufficient refutation of it, there are persons
who were present at the time, who will give it
a peremptory contradiction. Little observation
also is required, as to what Colonel Munro is
stated to have said in the conference of the 14th,
in which it would seem that 1 had expressed a
determination to bury myself in the ruins of the
Fort, rather than surrender it. In truth, I used
no such expression, nor did I authorize him to
use it in my name. From the first to the last,
I was unable to surrender the garrison. 1 had
no choice. Compelled to stay there, I thought
I was bound to do all the good in my power.
I have abstained, as far as justice to myself
would permit, from all animadversion on the
late members of the local tiovernment, which
has terminated in these disseritions. Hut it is
80
due ti> the charaeter <i' a loyal, high-spirited.
and honourable army. to remark, that no fan-
cied oj|)n 'ssion, nor trivial grievance, would
have driven them into resistance. 1 am IK; apo-
logist for revolt. 1 sympathize with their for-
tunes. I honour their \irlurs, hut I will not
vindicate their excesses. On all occasions I
have recommended, with an hone.st zeal tor their
welfare, the most submissive patience. But it
is. at the same time, not impossible to conceive
a state of things, occasioned hv the systematic
irritation of a public, body, \\hich may raise
reelings too strong to be- restrained by the laws
and obligations <_>f public discipline. When
these transactions are reviewed, as; they most
assuredly will be. bv ihe supreme authority of
the British nation, it will be a <|ue->liou worthy
their most awful attention, whether the disease
ini'4'ht not have been cured by temperance and
mddmss, \\ithout the loss ol one lite, and with-
out anv real diminution of po\\er on the part of
the (io\ eminent; and whether, instead ot being
stru tlv a contest between the army and C.io-
v eminent, it is not to be characterized rather as
81
;i contest with an individual, who has over-
stepped the legal limits of the authority with
which he was entrusted ?
But I shall shew, that as soon as the moment
arrived in which my influence could be effec-
tually exerted to procure a return of obedience
arid duty, it was not exerted in vain. I shall
shew, that, had it not been for my example and
remonstrance, the Fort would not, to this day,
in all probability, have been surrendered.
I have thus ^one through the whole of this
O O
long transaction. If I have wearied you by the
length of my defence, my excuse must be sug-
gested by the variety of minute facts, conver-
sations, and expressions, which have been hud-
dled together in support of this accusation. I
have shewn, from the first beginnings of it, with
what spirit I was influenced ; that in the pro-
ceedings of others I had no participation ; that
those for which I am responsible, were not only
urged by an imperative necessity, and dictated
by the most honourable intentions, but they
have averted the most serious calamities.
But even if errors are imputable to me in such
M
a state of things, arc they to be visited on inv
head as Brinies ? Is no regard to he had to a
situation, in which the best of jus nu ( j,ht well
tremble to l)r placed : To the embarrassing con-
flict of opposing duties; to agitation, suspense,
hope, tear, and the whole tumult of feelings,
which, in such circumstances, mi^lit hurl the
reason ot'inan i'roiu its se.it. ami deliver his mind
to chaos and distraction : 1 may surely -ask
yon to consider the whole of my conduct, and
not in detached and broken passages. 1 ry me
hv its intentions and its spirit. That is the
course of divine justice; which, as far as the
frailty of our nature will admit, human judica-
tures ouirht to imitate.
In inv defence, [ shall establish, by evidence,
the following points. I shall shew, by those
who took a part in these proceedings, that till
the oth of August, the military authority was
exercised by the ollicers of the garrison, and that
my authority as senior officer in tact ceased during
that time 1 to exist; that had I been disposed,
or even attempted to leave the garrison, within
the dates ^pecilicd in the charges, it would have
been wholly impracticable ; that had I attempt-
ed to surrender the garrison at any time within
those dates, the attempt would have been
equally unavailing-; that the firing upon the
11 tli was urged as a matter or' strict necessity,
by the conduct of the native troops on that day,
and the inflamed state of the garrison ; that there
would have been a rising among the troops in
the garrison, had not that measure been adopted
to (juiet their feelings ; that when the detach-
ment went out to cover the Chitteldroog bat-
talions, they abstained from all retaliation, in
pursuance of their strict instructions to avoid
any thing that might lead to bloodshed, though
they had it in their power to destrov the camp ;
that the Chitteldroog battalions, whom Sir
(icorge Barlow, in public orders, exempts from
all blame, were saved by the firing on the llth,
and brought within the protection of the Fort;
that on the ^.5th of August, when the Hydera-
bad letter arrived, \ gladly availed myself of that
opportunity of surrendering the garrison : and
that, had it not been for my example and influ-
ence, the Fort would not have been delivered up.
I shall call no witnesses to my character. I
trust that I need none. I will not even refer to
the public recorded thanks, which 1 have
more than once received for my services, from
different Governments. The testimonies of my
conduct are to he found in the whole of a life
dedicated to the service of my country. I shall
not remind you of the long, and, I hope, not
inglorious career in the service through which I
have passed. I might here advert to the length
of my confinement, which has been embittered
by many needless severities. This might be
well considered as a punishment more than
equal to any error, or even any offence I have
committed. I forbear, however, from dwelling
on the subject.
If, however, as I have been day after day ig-
nominiously marched across this very spot, from
the place of my confinement to that of my
trial, and called on to defend myself against the
worst of charges, many of those recollections
awaken themselves in my mind, which some-
times embitter the present by recalling the past,
they will not appear unnatural ; for it cannot
85
but have occurred to me, as no light visitation
of that Providence who humbles us with un-
foreseen vicissitudes, that on this very spot, in
which I have more than once exposed my life
for the preservation of the British power in India,
it should now be endangered by an accusation
of having attempted to destroy it.
But I repose with confidence on your justice.
You are emphatically a court of honour. I am
convinced, that neither the awe of power, nor
the blandishments of hope, nor the allurements
of interest, will divert you from the severest
rectitude of judgment, on this awful occasion.
I know that, disdaining those prejudices, and
subduing those animosities, which sometimes
bring a man to his trial with anticipated convic-
tion, you will fee], amongst the other obliga-
tions of your duty, that of redeeming an inno-
cent man from unjust accusation. With this
cheering reflection I shall close my defence, and
thank you for the patience with which you have
heard it.
Printed hi/ Black, Parry, and Kingshunj,
Leadcnhnll Street, London.
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