AN 
 
 
 ACCOUNT 
 
 ORIGIN, PROGRESS, AND CONSEQUENCES, 
 
 OF THS LATE 
 
 DISCONTENTS OF THE ARMY 
 
 ON TH* 
 
 Madras Establishment. 
 
 Who can be wise, amaz'd. temp'rate and furious, 
 
 Loyal and neutral, in a moment ? ....Macbetu. 
 
 ILontrmt : 
 
 PRINTED FOR T. CADELL AND W. DAVIES, 
 IN THE STRAND. 
 
 * 6 8 2 6 
 
 1810.
 
 G. Sidney, Printer, 
 Northumberland-street, Strand.
 
 UB 
 
 en 
 
 > 
 DC 
 C 
 EC 
 
 oe 
 
 TO THE 
 
 HONORABLE THE COURT OF DIRECTORS 
 
 OF THE EAST INDIA COMPANY, 
 
 THE FOLLOWING PAGES ARE RE PECTFULLY INSCRIBED; 
 
 IN THE HOPE 
 
 ^ THAT THE TRUTHS AND OBSERVATIONS 
 
 ^ CONTAINED IN THEM 
 
 < MAY AWAKEN THEIR ATTENTION 
 
 TO THE ALARMING ST ATI OF THEIR INTERESTS IN 
 
 INDIA, 
 
 AND INDUCE A POLICY APPLICABLE TO THE 
 
 Sj CRISIS OF THEIR AFFAIRS. 
 
 3 
 
 JJ0.1 039
 
 AN 
 
 ACCOUNT, &c. 
 
 The whole of theknowledge, which the pub- 
 lic at present possesses, of the late unhappy 
 occurrences on the coast of Coromandel, is 
 derived from a few detached documents, 
 that have been occasionally submitted 
 through the medium of the ordinary news- 
 papers. Some official accounts, in respect 
 to the events themselves, and the causes 
 which produced them, might have been 
 expected from the Court of Directors for 
 the affairs of the East India Company, or 
 the Commissioners of the Board of Con- 
 troul, if it had not been generally known, 
 that authentic information, even on the 
 most important subjects, very rarely finds 
 its way to this country until public interest 
 has abated, or has devised for itself other 
 means of satisfaction. The circumstance is 
 notorious ; the causes of it might be easily 
 developed, if it were our business to inves- 
 tigate them ; but we shall content our- 
 selves, at the present, with barely noticing 
 the fact.
 
 It may be supposed, without any affec- 
 tation of charity, that the constituted 
 authorities, immediately named, have not 
 yet received any details from India, explana- 
 tory of recent transactions. A contrary 
 supposition would involve them in the cen- 
 sure of reserving communications to them- 
 selves, which, if disclosed, might remove 
 the anxiety so universally felt at this 
 moment, directly or relatively, in the 
 bosom of every family in the United King- 
 doms. 
 
 In the absence of official accounts, 
 such private information as may be pro- 
 cured, so that it bear the mark of truth or 
 probability about it, and communicate par- 
 ticulars hitherto unknown, cannot be un- 
 acceptable to those who take an interest in 
 the prosperity of our Indian affairs. It has 
 been our endeavour to select from every 
 accessible source, and to arrange in a con- 
 nected form, the substance of the intelli- 
 gence received by respectable individuals, 
 having relation to the objects under our 
 observation. Whether we have succeeded 
 in our search after materials, or have made 
 a proper use of them, when obtained, must 
 depend on the impression made on the 
 reader by the perusal of the ensuing pages.
 
 LETTER I. 
 
 Madras, \5th June, 1809. 
 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 The great discontents which 
 have prevailed in every class of the commu- 
 nity under the Madras Government, during 
 the last twelve months, have, doubtless, 
 produced numerous complaints from indi- 
 viduals in the various departments of society, 
 and these complaints, passing through the 
 several channels, formed by curiosity or 
 private friendship, will necessarily awaken 
 the attention of, and excite considerable 
 interest among, that part of the community, 
 who are connected, either by political, or 
 personal relations, with the individuals 
 immediately concerned. A detailed nar- 
 rative of the whole events would therefore 
 be, to many, highly interesting. 
 
 When a community are obedient, 
 respectful, and happy, it may be presumed 
 that ability, experience, and virtue, form 
 a part of the characters of those who rule ; 
 but if distrust and dissatisfaction prevail ; 
 if dissensions appear in every branch of the 
 community ; and that the body of Society 
 
 b 2
 
 is unanimous only in the want of respect 
 to those exercising the administration, it 
 will be, by some, imagined that such admi- 
 nistration is weak, ill-advised, and corrupt. 
 When such appearances exist, an investi- 
 gation of the cause of them becomes inte- 
 resting to every w T ell-wisher of his country ; 
 and it is therefore desirable, that some of 
 those, who have witnessed the w r hole scene, 
 should exhibit a faithful account of the 
 transactions to the public ; in order that 
 posterity may benefit by the information ; 
 and that the advisers, the instigators, and 
 the actors, in those transactions, may obtain 
 a due reward of praise, if the measures be 
 justifiable, or of blame, if they shall be 
 found to be in direct violation of every duty 
 to their God, and to their Country. 
 
 Leaving to other hands the history of the 
 persecution of the Madras civil servants, and of 
 the bo?ia fide creditors of theNabobof the Car- 
 natic, together with the details of the interfe- 
 rence with the proceedings in the Supreme 
 Court of Judicature, and the secretmission of a 
 civil servant, to collect evidence ; these 
 notes shall be confined to those occurrences, 
 which have borne directly upon the feelings 
 of the military branch of the service, and
 
 have produced an agitation in the minds of 
 officers, which cannot be contemplated 
 without the most serious alarm. In order 
 to convey an adequate idea of the measures 
 which have progressively led to the present 
 melancholy crisis, it will be necessary to 
 review the subject from a period anterior 
 to the departure of Lieutenant - general 
 Macdowall from Madras. 
 
 About March, 1808, Sir G. H. Barlow, 
 Governor . of Madras, formed the intention 
 of abolishing the allowance for camp-equi- 
 page, which had heretofore been supplied 
 on contract by officers commanding native 
 corps. In the adoption of this measure, 
 the opinion of General Macdowall, the 
 Commander in Chief, was not consulted ; 
 but as he was directed by Government to 
 have the necessary orders prepared, Lieut. 
 Colonel Capper, the Adjutant General, in 
 this way, became acquainted with the cir- 
 cumstance. This officer had various oppor- 
 tunities of being acquainted with the general 
 feeling of the army, and he considered, it 
 to be important, that a measure, which 
 would materially affect the respectability of 
 a large portion of the officers, should be 
 introduced under circumstances as little odious
 
 as possible. With these sentiments, and 
 with the sanction of the Commander in 
 Chief, he waited on Sir G. Barlow, told 
 him that the proposed measure could not 
 fail .to be highly disagreeable, and as the 
 oncers had recently suffered many serious 
 privations, he urged the expediency of 
 modifying the system in any way that might 
 accomplish the views of economy enter- 
 tained by the Government, and at the same 
 time might avoid doing violence to the 
 feelings of the officers. Sir G. Barlow said, 
 that economy was his only object, and that 
 if equal saving could be produced in any 
 other way, he did not see any objection 
 against its adoption. He gave to Colonel 
 Capper the plan as proposed by Lieutenant 
 Colonel Munro, w T ith instructions to return 
 it with his remarks, in a few days. Colonel 
 Capper accordingly delivered in to Sir George 
 Barlow his remarks, with the original plan, 
 in four days : but orders had already been 
 issued, directing that the regulations should 
 fce framed. The remarks, given in by 
 Colonel Capper, stated generally, that the 
 plan of Lieutenant Colonel Munro had not 
 been submitted to the Military Board, or to 
 any of the staff officers of experience, who
 
 might be able to correct any errors that 
 might have crept into the production of an 
 individual. They also noticed, that Lieu- 
 tenant Colonel Munro had insinuated a 
 charge of the most serious nature against 
 the officers who had commanded Native bat- 
 tallions ; for Lieutenant Colonel Munro's 
 plan contains a passage, purporting, that 
 the experience of six years, and an obser- 
 vation of the practical effects of the contract 
 system, suggested the observation, that the 
 contract induced the officers commanding 
 corps to keep back the discipline of their 
 men, in order that they might not be fit 
 for field service ; and that the contract 
 might therefore be more advantageous. 
 The remarks of Lieutenant Colonel Capper 
 further suggested the outline of a plan of 
 reduction, which promised an annual saving 
 of above 1,50,000 pagodas. However, Sir 
 G. Barlow took no notice of the remarks, 
 and the regulations, abolishing the contract, 
 were published. 
 
 In the course of communication among 
 the officers this subject became one of pri- 
 mary importance, as materially affecting 
 the relative situations of officers command- 
 ing corps, and deeply involving the general
 
 s 
 
 respectability of the service. All the dis- 
 tinctions, which separated the commandant 
 from the subordinate officer, had nearly 
 been removed, and the convulsion among 
 the Natives, in 1806, which was marked 
 by the catastrophe of Veil ore, seemed to 
 require that the situation of the European 
 commandant should be maintained rather 
 more distinctly than before. The loss of 
 that consequence, which attached to the 
 supply of camp equipage, was therefore 
 considered in itself to be degrading, and 
 the discussion of the subject produced 
 several circumstances, that tended to throw 
 an additional degree of odium upon the 
 mode that had been adopted for the abolition 
 of the contract. Among those the fol- 
 lowing were the most prominent. 
 
 First. That Lieutenant Colonel Munro, 
 an officer of shorter service, and less expe- 
 rience, than any who had been on the gene- 
 ral staff of the Madras army for several 
 years, had procured the Commander in 
 Chief to recommend to Government a plan 
 respecting the chief object of the equip- 
 ment of troops in the field ; which plan 
 was not submitted to the Military Board, 
 by whom all subjects of that description
 
 9 
 
 were, according to the orders of the Court 
 of Directors, and the usuage of the service, 
 to be discussed and maturely digested, pre- 
 vious to their coming before Government. 
 This plan was proposed by Lieutenant 
 Colonel Munro, the youngest staff officer, 
 and approved by a Commander in Chief, 
 who had never seen the tents of a corps 
 pitched in India for any other purpose than 
 that of muster; and who, consequently, 
 could not form any judgment of his own. 
 
 Secondly. That this plan, thus surrep- 
 titiously forwarded, contained an insinuation 
 against the commanding officers of corps in 
 the service> to which Lieutenant Colonel 
 Munro belonged; implying, that the con- 
 duct of some, or all, who had held the 
 contract during the six years, gave cause 
 for the observation, that they were capable 
 of keeping back the discipline of their 
 men, in order to derive a pecuniary benefit. 
 The most attentive consideration of the 
 subject did not produce any argument to 
 prove, that the insinuation was by any 
 means necessary to produce the conclusion 
 which the plan proposed ; or that the infe- 
 rence intended to be drawn, would be the 
 less direct (as suggested by the Judge
 
 10 
 
 Advocate General) if a compliment instead 
 of an accusation had been conveyed. The 
 argument would have been equally strong, 
 if it had been stated, (as is the case) that, 
 although the experience of six years of the 
 practical effects of the contract afforded a 
 flattering exception, still the general prin- 
 ciples that controul human actions, render 
 it true in abstract, that, " By granting the 
 1 allowance in peace and war, for the equip- 
 ' ment of native corps, while the expen- 
 ' ses, incidental to that charge, are una- 
 ' voidably much greater in war than in 
 ' peace, it places the interest and duty of 
 ' officers, commanding native corps, in 
 ' direct opposition to one another. It 
 ' makes it their interest, &c." But this 
 maxim is brought in as an inference, not 
 from general principles, but from an atten- 
 tive observation of the practical effects of 
 the system of contract, and is expressly 
 stated to be one of those discoveries which 
 gave Lieutenant Colonel Munro means of 
 forming a better judgment on the subject, 
 than could be formed in the year 1801-2 by 
 General Stewart or Colonel Agnew. The 
 insinuation does not appear to have crept 
 in through inadvertence ; it is deliberately
 
 11 
 
 introduced into the body of a memoir, the 
 composition of which is manifestly studied, 
 and the clandestine manner in which it was 
 transmitted to the higher authorities (never 
 having; been laid before the members of the 
 Military Board, and it having been pur- 
 posely omitted from the records of the office 
 of the Commander in Chiefs Secretary) 
 seemed to corroborate the opinion, that tjie 
 obvious meaning of the insinuation was 
 apparent to its author. 
 
 Shortly after the promulgation of the 
 order, abolishing the tent contract, Lieu- 
 tenant General Macdowall received letters, 
 from almost all the officers commanding 
 native corps, representing in terms, adapted 
 to the feelings of each, the stigma which 
 was considered to attach to them indivi- 
 dually, seeing that the contract had been 
 abolished for reasons, as set forth in the 
 plan of Lieutenant Colonel Munro, and 
 appealing to the personal experience of the 
 Commander in Chief, and to his authority, 
 for redress against a charge of so serious a 
 nature. To these letters, Lieutenant Gene- 
 ral Macdowall returned replies, purporting, 
 that the discussion of the subject had taken 
 place before he came to the command that
 
 12 
 
 the orders on the subject had been prepared 
 without his previous opinion respecting them, 
 and that, as the matter was so far advanced, 
 he deemed it inexpedient to agitate it. 
 
 This occurred about July or August, 
 and it was then expected that Lieutenant 
 Colonel Munro, if he did not wish the 
 stigma to remain against the officers of the 
 army, would have addressed the Govern- 
 ment, or the Commander in Chief, dis- 
 avowing the intention imputed to his words, 
 and desiring that such disavowal might be 
 published for the satisfaction of those who 
 felt injured. But, on the contrary, no such 
 public disavowal has ever been made, nor 
 was explanation of any kind given, until 
 after charges had been forwarded against 
 Lieutenant Colonel Munro, and after a 
 sense of mutual danger had united 
 in the same interest, not only those 
 who signed the charges, but all who dis- 
 approved of Lieutenant Colonel Munro' s 
 conduct. His usurpation of the duties of 
 every department had occasioned much 
 complaint, and as the Government gave 
 unqualified support to him, and communi- 
 cated only with him, the army gradually 
 confederated together.
 
 The officers commanding corps, rinding 
 that no steps were taken to remove the 
 obnoxious insinuations, and considering, that 
 while they remained, an indelible disgrace 
 was cast upon their characters, prepared 
 charges against Lieutenant Colonel Munro, 
 hoping, by a public investigation of the 
 merits of the case, to establish a complete 
 refutation of the stigma cast on them. These 
 charges were forwarded to General Mac- 
 dowall, with a letter ; the charges having 
 been previously signed by a large proportion 
 of officers commanding corps, and the letter 
 by three ; viz. Lieutenant Colonels Sentleger, 
 Rumley, and Martin. 
 
 The charges were referred to the 
 Judge Advocate General,* who stated objec- 
 tions against the manner and matter of the 
 charges. These objections were, by order 
 of the Commander in Chief, communicated 
 to the officers who had sent in the charges. 
 
 This opinion of Lieutenant Colonel 
 Leith having been circulated with much 
 industry all over India, it may be proper to 
 examine it. The following remarks will 
 shew, that his assumed principle is perfectly 
 
 # Lieutenant Colonel Leith.
 
 14 
 
 Erroneous, and consequently that his whole 
 argument, both as it regards the law of 
 libel and the impunity of official persons, 
 falls to the ground. The Judge Advocate 
 General states, " the following is under- 
 <( stood to be the offensive passage : 
 " Thirdly, by granting the same allowance 
 " in peace and war, &c." And again he 
 says, " It is to be considered in what capa- 
 " city the words were spoken; they were 
 " given as a general principle for establish- 
 " ing certain laws for the government of a 
 " community." 
 
 If these sentences, as quoted, were 
 expressive of matter of fact, in short, if 
 they were true, the conclusion which 
 Lieutenant Colonel Leith has drawn would 
 be decisive of the question ; but the fact is 
 otherwise. 
 
 The offensive part of Lieutenant Colo- 
 nel Munro's paper should be stated thus : 
 ' Six years experience of the practical 
 ' effects of the existing system of the 
 1 camp equipage equipment of the Native 
 c army, has afforded means of forming a 
 ' judgment relative to its advantages and 
 ' efficiency, which were not possessed by 
 ' the persons who proposed its introduc-
 
 15 
 
 " tion, and an attentive examination of its 
 " operation during that period of time, has 
 " suggested the following observations 
 " regarding it. 
 
 " First, The existing system, &c. 
 " Secondly, That system incurs an ex- 
 " pense, &c. Thirdly, By granting the 
 " same allowance in peace and war for the 
 " equipment of Native corps, while the 
 " expenses, incidental to that charge, are 
 " unavoidably much greater in war than 
 <e in peace ; it places the interest and duty 
 " of officers, commanding Native corps, in 
 " direct opposition to one another : it 
 " makes it their interest that their corps 
 " should not be in a state of efficiency fit 
 " for field service ; and, therefore, fur- 
 " nishes strong inducements to neglect their 
 " most important duties." 
 
 Now, notwithstanding the opinion of 
 the Judge Advocate General, every man, 
 capable of simple apprehension, must per- 
 ceive, that the author of the paragraph 
 above, correctly quoted, intended to express, 
 that the subject of this third observation, 
 as well as of the other observations, (six in 
 number) was discovered by him through 
 means that could not be in the possession of
 
 16 
 
 the persons who proposed the introduction 
 of the contract system in the year 1801-2. 
 The observation is not introduced as a gene- 
 ral maxim ; it is expressed as applicable to 
 some practical illustration of the crimes 
 specified, that had occurred within the six 
 vears to which the introduction alludes. 
 And, indeed, one can hardly suppose, that 
 the imagination of any individual would 
 spontaneously suggest a crime so base, as 
 that of an officer keeping back 1000 soldiers 
 from doing the duty of his country, for 
 the sake of a pecuniary advantage, which, 
 under any system of corruption, could not be 
 great. If Lieut-Colonels Leith and Munro 
 conceive the officers of the army to be 
 capable of a crime, so heinous against their 
 country, against the character of their pro- 
 fession, and against every principle of honor 
 and honesty, it may be considered fortunate 
 for those gentlemen, that their intercourse, 
 with the officers of the army, is very limited. 
 They must, while in their company, be 
 under perpetual apprehension of meeting 
 the comparatively trifling crime of theft. 
 
 This exposition must, in every reason- 
 able mind, remove the impressions which 
 Colonel Leith' s opinion is of itself calcu-
 
 17 
 
 lated to produce. For the palpable error, 
 in the premises which he lays down, renders 
 perfectly inapplicable to the present case all 
 the very able and elaborate argument which 
 he has introduced. This error is considered 
 to be purely unintentional ; for, although 
 Colonel Leith got an addition to his income 
 of* 350 pagodas per month, about this 
 period, it never has, nor can it ever be in- 
 sinuated, that he had any view towards such 
 a reward, while discharging a duty, for 
 which he already received a liberal monthly 
 salary. To impute to every man every crime 
 that it is possible for him to commit, may, 
 in Colonel Leith's opinion, be a good general 
 principle ; but the public must become better 
 versed in the law, than they are at present, 
 before they cease to consider it as a most 
 diabolical one. 
 
 The subject of the charges against 
 Lieutenant Colonel Muhro, at this period, 
 excited an uncommon degree of interest 
 among the officers of the establishment. 
 The Commander in Chief declared his opi- 
 nion, that a court martial appeared to him 
 to be the best mode of bringing it to issue, 
 and even recommended to Lieutenant Colo- 
 nel Munro, that he should not avoid it;
 
 18 
 
 particular!/ as the officers of H. M. service, 
 the engineers, and the artillery, who were 
 all free from any personal interest in the 
 contract, were sufficiently numerous for the 
 purpose. However, Lieutenant Colonel 
 Munro did avoid a court martial; and it 
 was generally believed, that he did so under 
 a perfect assurance, that, upon the departure 
 of General Macdowall for Europe, the Go- 
 vernment w r ould, in a most decided man- 
 ner, evince their marked displeasure against 
 all who had adopted the unfavourable im- 
 pressions that prevailed respecting Lieu- 
 tenant Colonel Munro. That number was 
 evidently very extensive, for the Quarter 
 Master General was now universally shunned. 
 It also was generally believed, that the 
 Judge Advocate General had recommended 
 an immediate attack on Lieutenant Colonels 
 Sentleger, Martin, and Rumley, and had 
 offered to guarantee their dismissal fKm the 
 service, if they were brought to trial upon 
 charges that he would prefer, and if he 
 were to conduct the trial. These reports 
 did not appear as the vague productions of 
 idlers: they were circulated by thobe who 
 wished to intimidate the officers, that had 
 sent in the charges ; and, though subsequent
 
 19 
 
 transactions authorize the belief, that there 
 was foundation for them, whether correct, 
 or not, they produced the effect of uniting 
 in one interest all who imputed blame to 
 Lieutenant Colonel Munro, and this descrip- 
 tion comprised the whole army, with very 
 few exceptions. The union was every day 
 strengthened by a variety of circumstances. 
 The conduct of government towards the 
 Commander in Chief hurt the feelings of 
 all military men, already in a state of irri- 
 tation from a sense of mutual danger. Pru- 
 dence and self-preservation oblige even the 
 most moderate men to make common cause, 
 when they have reason to apprehend perse- 
 cution. The heads of all the departments, 
 except the Quarter Master General's, became 
 cyphers, and the military patronage was 
 thrown into a channel, through which few 
 could hope to benefit, unless at the expense 
 of every feeling of pride and of honor. 
 
 Lieutenant Colonel Martin, who had, 
 a few months before, procured permission 
 to proceed to Europe, came to Madras in 
 December. No particular notice was taken 
 of him by the Government, and he accord- 
 ingly took his passage on board the 
 ship Lady Jane Dundas, with the intention 
 
 c 2
 
 20 
 
 of embarking on the ,29th of January, as 
 the ship was expected to sail on that day. 
 But in the night, between the 28th and 
 29th of January, he received a letter from 
 the Secretary of Government, withdrawing 
 his leave, and prohibiting him from embark- 
 ing. For this extraordinary measure no rea- 
 son was assigned ; neither did Colonel Mar- 
 tin, or his friends, suppose that any existed, 
 except the fulfilment of the report that had 
 formerly been circulated, namely, that the 
 absence of General Macdovvall, who was 
 to sail on the 29th of January, would now 
 leave Colonel Martin, &c. at the disposal 
 of the Judge Advocate General, and that 
 Colonel Martin was detained to become 
 the first victim to the general cause. 
 This opinion seems to be fully justified 
 by circumstances ; but be that as it may, 
 it was circulated through the army with 
 astonishing rapidity, and produced a very 
 strong sensation, as the danger, which 
 awaited Colonel Martin, was, before he 
 came to the Presidency, considered to be 
 common to all, and his detention was 
 viewed as the signal for commencing the 
 punishment of those, who had presumed 
 to dirler from Colonel Munro. The line
 
 21 
 
 was already completely drawn. Colonel 
 Munro, supported by the Judge Advocate 
 General and the government on one side, 
 resolved to overcome the odium that attached 
 to the character of an individual, and to 
 enforce their resolution by the exemplary 
 punishment of those .officers, who, from 
 public motives, had stood forward to check, 
 by constitutional means, what to all appeared 
 to be a great arrogance and presumption. 
 On the other side, the whole of the army, 
 with few exceptions, determined to give 
 every support in their power to those officers, 
 which the circumstances of their situation 
 would admit of. The nearer approach of 
 danger operated to strengthen those bonds 
 of union that had been formed throughout 
 the army ; and from a report, which at this 
 time obtained general currency, and belief, 
 namely, that Colonel Munro's party had 
 expressed their confidence of being able to 
 follow up the most rigorous measures 
 towards the officers of the Company's army, 
 in consequence of a jealousy which had for 
 some time been judiciously promoted 
 between them and the officers of H. M. 
 service. No incident, during the unhappy 
 ferment, had occasioned more irritation than
 
 22 
 
 this. The abominable principle produced 
 an abhorrence towards its supposed authors, 
 that was hardly restrained by the imperious 
 sense of public duty. 
 
 The accounts of Colonel Martin's de- 
 tention, and the two orders of General 
 Macdo wall, dated the 25th and 28th January,* 
 reached the out-stations of the army at the 
 same time, and were received with a degree 
 of solicitude, commensurate to the warmth 
 of the feelings that had already been excited. 
 It was known to every part of the army, 
 that General Macdo wall had experienced 
 the mortification of receiving almost daily 
 insults to his character, as Commander in 
 Chief, and representative of the principal 
 military authority.-}- Instances occurred of 
 troops marching, under orders issued by 
 Gov : -..out. in communication with the 
 Quarter Master General, without the know- 
 ledge of the Commander in Chief, until the 
 monthly returns, or some accidental circum- 
 stances gave him notice of the movements. 
 On one occasion, a party of troops were 
 embarked at Madras for foreign service, 
 and the Commander in Chief was kept in 
 such perfect ignorance of the object, and 
 intention o[ this measure, that the first inti- 
 
 * Appendix B and C. f Appendix E-
 
 23 
 
 mation he received of it was from a visitor, 
 who casually mentioned, that he had in the 
 morning seen the troops embark. This fact 
 is stronger than a volume of metaphysical 
 arguments, which may be set up in excuse 
 for it. Jt was also generally known, that in 
 the month of December a large force was 
 collected, and ordered to march to the fron- 
 tiers of Travancore, without any intimation 
 of the circumstance being communicated, 
 either privately or officially, to the Com- 
 mander in Chief, or to the Adjutant General. 
 This occasion was used, as an opportunity, 
 or so deemed and understood, to fulfil the 
 threat, that had been held out against the 
 Honourable Lieutenant Colonel Sentleger, 
 one of the three officers who had signed 
 the letter, accompanying the charges against 
 Lieutenant Colonel Munro. Colonel Sentle- 
 ger was directed to remain at Trichinopoly 
 with the strength of one troop, (including 
 the sick) and the remainder of his regiment 
 (6th cavalry) was detached along with the 
 other troops from the Southern division 
 ordered to Travancore : the whole placed 
 under the command of an officer, junior 
 to the Honourable Lieutenant Colonel Sentle- 
 ger, who, in consequence, remonstrated
 
 24 
 
 against the very great injustice done to his 
 character, and applied for a court martial. 
 On learning this, the Government appointed 
 Colonel Sentleger to command the force ; 
 thus anticipating the subject of his appli- 
 cation, which necessarily met with some 
 delay by going through the Commander in 
 Chief. Frequent references, from the various 
 divisions of the army to head quarters, 
 discovered also to the Commander in Chief 
 and to the officers of the army, that Lieu- 
 tenant Colonel Munro was in the habit of 
 sending orders,- in his own name, to the 
 subordinate officers in the Quarter Master 
 General's department, and requiring reports, 
 &c. for the information of Government 
 without any reference, or allusion, to the 
 Commander in Chief, as the authority under 
 which all military orders should be issued, 
 or as the channel of communication between 
 the Government and the army. This extraor- 
 dinary proceeding induced General Macdo wall 
 to enter on an examination of the subject, 
 for the purpose of ascertaining the relative 
 situations of himself and his staff, with 
 respect to the Government. He found 
 recorded, in the Adjutant General's office, 
 a letter from Earl Cornwallis, Governor
 
 25 
 
 General and Commander in Chief in India, 
 defining the relative situation of Adjutant 
 General. From this letter, bearing date 
 17&>y, the following are extracts: 
 
 " I have, therefore, no difficulty in 
 " giving a decision on the subject of your 
 " reference, that general orders to the 
 " wjiole of the troops employed under the 
 " Presidency of Fort St. George, should 
 " be distributed from one source only." 
 
 " The regular authority under which 
 " all military orders should be issued, is 
 " either that of the officer who may be 
 " appointed Commander in Chief by the 
 " Court of Directors, or that of the Go- 
 *' vernment itself, if circumstances should 
 " render it expedient for the Board to 
 *' exercise avowedly the functions of that 
 " officer." 
 
 " Before I conclude this letter, I must 
 " express my wish that it should be recol- 
 " lected by the civil and military depart- 
 " ments at Madras, that the Adjutant 
 " General of the Company's troops on 
 " that Establishment, cannot, without the 
 " greatest irregularity, (unless, as I have 
 " already mentioned, the functions of the 
 " Commander in Chief should be exercised
 
 26 
 
 " by the Board) have any direct commu- 
 " nication with the civil government." 
 
 In the year 1800, the Commander m 
 Chief at Madras referred to this letter, in a 
 communication which he made to the Adju- 
 tant General, and stated as follows : 
 
 " By the clear definition, by Marquis 
 " Cornwall is, of the duty of Adjutant 
 " General, he cannot be at liberty to act 
 " officially, but under the immediate orders 
 " of the officer commanding the army in 
 " chief for the time being, who alone is the 
 " instrument by which Government is to 
 " govern and control the army ; much less 
 " can you be at liberty, as Adjutant Gene- 
 " ral, to prepare, or communicate, to any 
 " person, or publish to the army, or any 
 " part of it, any orders, or regulations, for 
 " the better government of the army, &c. 
 " carrying into execution all such intentions 
 " of Government as fall to be attended to, 
 " or executed by officers or soldiers of the 
 " army, which have not been previously 
 " issued to you for such purpose, by the 
 " officer commanding the army in chief." 
 
 General Macdowall, upon perusing 
 these documents, and reflecting upon the 
 knowledge he had of military affairs, applied
 
 27 
 
 the reasoning therein expressed, as equally 
 affecting the situation of Quarter Master 
 General ; he therefore inferred, that Lieu- 
 tenant Colonel Munro's conduct was, in the 
 highest degree, presumptuous and unwar- 
 rantable; but finding that every act of 
 Colonel Munro was supported by the whole 
 authority of the Government, and being 
 desirous, if possible, to avoid any unpleasant 
 crisis, at a period when he expected shortly 
 to take leave of the army, he did not, at 
 the time, resent the misconduct of one of 
 his own staff. This forbearance, on the 
 part of the Commander in Chief, did not 
 prevent the officers of the army from feeling 
 the insults offered to him ; on the contrary, 
 their indignation against the author of those 
 insults was greatly increased. 
 
 The general orders by Government, 
 dated 31st of January,* and the 1st of Febru- 
 ary, proclaiming the suspension of Colonel 
 Capper and Major Boles, because they had 
 complied with the orders of their Com- 
 mander in Chief, developed the principles 
 upon which the persons holding the supreme 
 authority meant to act towards those who 
 had disapproved of Lieutenant Colonel 
 Munro's conduct ; or, in other words, 
 * Appendix D.
 
 28 
 
 towards the principal part of the officers of 
 the Company's army. And, as General 
 Macdowall was gone, the fate of Colonel 
 Martin seemed to be decided ; there being 
 no longer any obstacle to the completion of 
 Colonel Leith's supposed threat. Any 
 injury to Colonel Martin must, under exist- 
 ing circumstances, be considered as an 
 injury to every individual who had con- 
 curred in sentiment with him : and, as 
 might be supposed, this common appre- 
 hension of danger produced a ferment, ex- 
 ceeding any thing that was ever before expe- 
 rienced among the various stations of the 
 army. Indeed, it is rather a matter of 
 surprise, that some act of open violence 
 did not succeed. Few could contemplate 
 the possibility of regular order subsisting, 
 if the same men continued to rule, and 
 the same measures to be pursued. The 
 general orders of Government professed 
 principles that appeared incompatible with 
 the state of discipline that regulated the 
 army. They not only denied the right of 
 trial by their peers to two respectable offi- 
 cers, charged with military crimes, but 
 held forth the protection against trial to 
 another officer, who had been regularly
 
 29 
 
 impeached; thereby interrupting the opera- 
 tion of the articles of war, and leaving the 
 commissions of every officer in the Com- 
 pany's army at the disposal of the Judge 
 Advocate General. How far the authors of 
 an instrument, which thus set at defiance 
 the laws of their country, may be actually 
 criminal, will perhaps be a question for 
 the decision of high authority. As a mea- 
 sure of emergency, its expedience, and 
 its justification, must ultimately rest on the 
 result of an impartial examination of the 
 relative situations and conduct of the par- 
 ties concerned. 
 
 The insinuations conveyed in Govern- 
 ment Orders of 31st January,* against the 
 character of General Macdowall, however 
 serious they may be, do not affect the 
 officers of the army ; neither can they be 
 supposed to have excited any other sentiment 
 than astonishment, accompanied by the hope, 
 that he may be able fully to justify himself, 
 before his King and his Country. But the 
 case of Major Boles, and of Colonel Capper, 
 as stated in the G. O. 1st February, is far 
 different. It may be applicable at some 
 period to every officer in the army, who at 
 all times is amenable to the penalties of 
 
 # Appendix 1).
 
 30 
 
 martial law, for disobedience of any military 
 order, which is not manifestly illegal , and 
 is now declared to be liable to the loss of 
 his commission for obedience, if his imme- 
 diate superior shall chance to be unpopular 
 with power. The only compensation for 
 which is an ex-post-facto opinion, that the 
 order was illegal, in the judgment of Lieu- 
 tenant Colonel Leith, who, as has been fully 
 seen, can, with equal ease, support at the 
 same time a proposition and its inverse, 
 not only by sophistry and argument, but by 
 authorities deduced from the laws of the 
 Romans. 
 
 Lieutenant Colonel Leith has proved 
 the legality, beyond all appeal, of Lieu- 
 tenant Colonel Munro having, under orders- 
 from Sir John Cradock, falsely traduced 
 the character of a considerable number of 
 respectable officers in the service to which 
 Lieutenant Colonel Munro belongs; although 
 Sir J. Cradock was not exercising the func- 
 tion of command, at the time the circum- 
 stance came to the knowledge of those 
 officers. And the same Colonel Leith has 
 also proved the illegality of Colonel Capper, 
 or Major Boles, having, under the orders 
 of Lieutenant General Macdowall, signed
 
 31 
 
 a reprimand to an individual officer, who 
 had insulted his Commander in Chief, 
 although Lieutenant General Macdowall 
 was at that time exercising all the functions 
 of command, and consequently, by the 
 orders of Marquis Cornwallis, (as well as 
 by the law r s of the Romans, quoted by 
 Colonel Leith) neither Colonel Capper, nor 
 Major Boles, could appeal, nor hold any 
 communication with the Civil Government, 
 except through the Commander in Chief; 
 certainly such an undertaking on the part of 
 Colonel Leith merits high reward from those 
 whose purpose it is calculated to answer, 
 but its effect on the officers of the armv is 
 deplorable. It effectually annihilates the 
 idea of right or claim to the possession of 
 a commission, and destroys the foundation 
 of equity and justice, upon which military 
 discipline and subordination depend. 
 
 The offences, with which Colonel 
 Capper and Major Boles are charged, being 
 expressed in definite terms, every reason- 
 able man can form a judgment respecting 
 them. A passage of the Judge Advocate's 
 opinion on the charges against Colonel 
 Munro, tends strongly to corroborate the
 
 32 
 
 sentiments of Earl Cornwallis, respecting 
 the duty of the general staff of a Com- 
 mander in Chief; and as Colonel Leith 
 justly observes, " It is to be considered in 
 " what capacity the words were spoken ; 
 " they were* given as a general principle, 
 " &c." The following are Colonel Leith's 
 words: " The great principle of military 
 " law, as handed dow T n from the most 
 " ancient times, is, let there be no appeal 
 " in military cases ; let the order of the Gene- 
 " ral, who commanded, be taken for just, 
 " and rat fed. Such was the rule of the 
 " Romans, who best understood military 
 " discipline, and this principle we see 
 " adopted in courts of common law." 
 Every person, acquainted with the English 
 language, must, upon reading this quota- 
 tion, form the same opinion of its meaning. 
 There is no equivoque, no abstract reason- 
 ing ; the order of the General, who com- 
 mands, is final, and not liable to appeal 
 by any to whom the execution may be en- 
 trusted. Therefore, the sole responsibility 
 rests with the General, in the Judge Advo- 
 cate General's able opinion. This principle 
 is applied in justification of Lieutenant Colo- 
 nel Munro ; and an inference is drawn*
 
 33 
 
 purporting, that the order of Sir John Cra- 
 dock to prepare a certain report, relieves the 
 person, to whom the order was given, from 
 all responsibility with regard to the matter 
 that may be contained in the report. How- 
 ever inconsistent this may be with justice, 
 it may be presumed that, coming from 
 Colonel Leith, it is good law ; and as the 
 principle upon which it is founded is general, 
 and therefore applicable to other cases, simi- 
 lar in their nature and relations to Colonel 
 Munro's, it will serve as a rule by which 
 to examine the conduct of Major Boles and 
 Colonel Capper. Those officers received 
 from Lieutenant General Macdowall, the 
 Commander in Chief, a general order in his 
 own hand writing, accompanied by a letter, 
 directing that the said general order might 
 be circulated in the usual manner, with as 
 little delay as possible, and assigning the 
 prospect of his early departure as his motive 
 for wishing that expedition should be used. 
 This letter, also, was written and signed 
 by the Commander in Chief. The order 
 of the General who commanded, being, 
 according to Colonel Leith, " just and rati- 
 fied," " and without appeal," Colonel 
 Capper and Major Boles, a fortiori, were
 
 34 
 
 relieved from all responsibility with regard 
 to the matter that was contained in the 
 order ; or, supposing that Major Boles and 
 Colonel Capper had refused a compliance 
 with an order of the Commander in Chief, 
 thus peremptory in its nature, that they had 
 been placed under arrest, and brought to 
 trial for such disobedience, Colonel Leith, 
 being the Judge Advocate, can there be any 
 doubt that in such a case, the Judge Advo- 
 cate would, by the application of the Jus- 
 tinian Code, the articles of war, and the 
 orders of Marquis Cornwallis, have attached 
 to those officers the guilt of one of the 
 highest cnimes an officer can be accosed of ? 
 and that their punishment would have been, 
 perhaps, more severe than that which, at a 
 former stage of this unhappy dissension, was 
 intended for Colonels Sentleger, Martin, and 
 Rumley ? Assuredly not. 
 
 Yet has Colonel Leith, Judge Advocate 
 General, given a professional opinion (ex- 
 post- facto) purporting, that the compliance 
 of Major Boles and Colonel Capper, with 
 the peremptory orders of General Macdo wall, 
 was illegal, although General Macdowall 
 was at the time present, and actually exer- 
 cising all the functions of Commander in
 
 35 
 
 Chief. If this be law, it is probable that 
 the Romans did not practice such, at the 
 period that they decreed, " Let there be no 
 " appeal in military cases; let the order 
 " of the General, ivho comma?ided, be taken 
 " for just, and ratified" It is more likely 
 to have been their practice when they were 
 hurrying rapidly down the stream of cor- 
 ruption. " Facilis descensus averni." To 
 the plain reason of military men the incon- 
 sistency appears great. 
 
 The violent agitation, that prevailed 
 throughout the army, on perceiving, by the 
 Government orders of the 31st January, 
 and 1st February, that Commissions were 
 held merely at the caprice of an individual, 
 could not escape the notice of Government. 
 Every principle, which cherishes the honor- 
 able feelings of an officer, was violated. 
 The impossibility of conducting the ordinary 
 duties of the military profession, without 
 the regular advice of counsel, was pro- 
 claimed ; consequently, the rigid coritroul, 
 which should pervade the progressive ranks 
 in the army, was declared to be at an end. 
 And on what account is all this convulsion 
 produced ? Merely for the purpose of extin- 
 guishing, by force, the just indignation,
 
 36 
 
 which an army of officers felt towards an 
 individual; who had wantonly insulted their 
 pride, and injured their feelings : and who 
 had, during several years, exercised great 
 talents, in order to promote dissension 
 between the civil and military departments 
 of the Government ; having conducted an 
 animated and continued contest against the 
 Government, during the commands of Gene- 
 rals Stewart and Cradock, for the purpose 
 of extending the prerogatives and patronage 
 of the military commander; and on the 
 succession of Lieutenant General Macdowall 
 to the command, having with admirable 
 address altered the course of his conduct, 
 and denied the right of giving orders to his 
 staff, or being acquainted with the move- 
 ment of troops to General Macdowall, who 
 had witnessed the effects of the unlimited 
 influence of an individual over his prede- 
 cessors, and had therefore imprudently 
 resolved to preserve his independence from 
 that influence. 
 
 The patience and submissiveness of the 
 officers of the Madras army has ever been 
 proverbial ; but there is a limit, beyond 
 which ill usage and injury cannot be borne. 
 When every right is invaded, and every
 
 37 
 
 privilege is denied, an insensibility of 
 wrong only serves to prove, that the 
 oppressed are unworthy to possess either 
 rights or privileges. It cannot, therefore, 
 be surprizing that among men of liberal sen- 
 timents, possessed of feelings highly honor- 
 able, indignation and resentment should be 
 awakened by the cruel and unjustifiable 
 punishment of Col. Capper and Major Boles, as 
 announced in the Government orders of the 
 31st January, and 1st February, by a review 
 of the events which had progressively led 
 to those orders, and by the prospect of a 
 relentless persecution, the conductors of 
 which were not to be satiated, while 
 one obnoxious victim remained to be 
 immolated. The detention of Colonel Mar- 
 tin shewed that he was marked for their 
 vengeance in the first instance ; however, 
 the unequivocal indications of the general 
 feeling on the subject, rendered it extremely 
 probable, that any violent or arbitrary pro- 
 ceedings towards him would drive matters 
 to the last extremity. The Government 
 were, therefore, induced to suspend the 
 proposed measures against him, and, accord- 
 ingly, directed that Lieutenant ColoneJ Martin 
 should be reimbursed in the sum of star 
 
 ,'501039
 
 38 
 
 pagodas 1,000, for passage money, &c. and 
 that he should be permitted to proceed to 
 England by the first opportunity. 
 
 Unhappily, however, it was soon per- 
 ceived, that the measure of conciliation, 
 which apparently proceeded from a sense 
 of justice, was not the effect of a dispor 
 sition to tranquillize the ferment that existed, 
 but of a reluctant compliance with necessity. 
 It was accordingly succeeded by rigid pro- 
 ceedings, from which there does not at pre- 
 sent appear to be any immediate prospect of 
 relief; the supreme authority in India having 
 given sanction to them. That this sanction 
 has been obtained through misrepresentation, 
 and misstatement, is evident from a pas- 
 sage in the letter of the supreme Govern- 
 ment, which was circulated on the coast. 
 That passage states, that the officers, who 
 signed the charges against Lieutenant 
 Colonel Munro, had consented to their 
 being withdrawn, than which nothing can 
 be more unfounded. On the contrary, a 
 letter from one of those officers, appealing 
 to the articles of war, against the opinion 
 of the Judge Advocate General, was one of 
 the immediate causes of the arrest of Lieu-
 
 39 
 
 tenant Colonel Munro, on the 21st of 
 January. 
 
 The removal of several officers from 
 their situations at Madras, for which 
 removal no other reason can be assigned, 
 -than their objection to hold any unofficial 
 intercourse with Lieutenant Colonel Munro 
 the removal of battalions from Madras 
 for 'reasons of the same description the 
 means by which Sir John Sinclair procured 
 the situation of Commissary at the Arsenal 
 and various other occurrences which have 
 marked the unhappy interval between the 
 beginning of February and the present 
 eventful period will form subjects for 
 future communications. This one shall be 
 concluded with an earnest prayer, that a 
 consciousness of their own right, and a firm 
 reliance on the justice and equity of their 
 superiors in England, may enable the offi- 
 cers of the Coast army to bear with forti- 
 tude the trial, to which they are exposed, 
 only for a time. Let them reflect, that they 
 have a character already high, and worth 
 preserving by any temporary sacrifice 01 
 their personal feelings; and that whateva 
 may be the extent of their just indignation 
 against the individuals, who are the iinm<
 
 40 
 
 diate instruments of their oppression, duty 
 to their country requires that it should, for 
 the time, be restrained within those limits, 
 beyond which is nothing but crime, anarchy, 
 and confusion. 
 
 Adieu ! 
 
 LETTER II. 
 
 Madras, 2Qth Jane, 1809. 
 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 As the narrative addressed 
 to you is intended to convey a simple and 
 correct view of the whole of the circum- 
 stances which have conduced to bring the 
 public affairs of this Government to the 
 critical predicament that they are now in, 
 it will be proper, not only that the various 
 events should be detailed in the order in 
 which they occurred, but that the connection 
 between them should be distinctly shewn, 
 as well as the effect which they produced on 
 the public mind. 
 
 The transactions of any given period, 
 during this unhappy dissension, cannot^ 
 with propriety, be considered, of . them- 
 selves, to possess any particular character 
 or feature. No correct judgment can be
 
 41 
 
 formed respecting them, unless they be 
 combined with the circumstances in which 
 the parties concerned were placed ; because 
 from those circumstances alone were they 
 produced, and to them alone were they 
 applicable. 
 
 From what has been detailed, in the 
 preceding letter, it will be perceived, that a 
 considerable degree of animosity subsisted 
 in the beginning of February. Lieutenant 
 Colonel Munro either had (or was supposed 
 to have) falsely traduced the characters of 
 the officers commanding Native corps in the 
 honourable Company's service; and, although 
 his insinuations did not immediately affect 
 the other officers, it was well known that 
 an acute sense of injury was felt by almost 
 every officer of every rank. Even supposing 
 the relative situation of the army in the 
 State to be very low, still the profession is 
 deemed honourable, and officers are usually 
 treated as gentlemen. It might, therefore, 
 be reasonably supposed, that some conside- 
 ration would be shewn towards the feelings 
 of those who supposed themselves to be 
 falsely calumniated ; and, as Lieutenant 
 Colonel Munro had not, during six months, 
 disavowed the calumny, that Government 
 would not have interrupted a public inves-
 
 42 
 
 ligation of the subject, without, at the 
 same time, giving some kind of explanation 
 to satisfy the officers of the army, that the 
 insinuation, conveyed in Lieutenant Colonel 
 Munro's paper, was not considered to be 
 applicable to them. No such explanation, 
 however, was given ; and the officers of the 
 army naturally drew the conclusion, that no 
 consideration of the claim on the justice of 
 Government, which they considered them- 
 selves to possess equally with Colonel 
 Munro, would be allowed to interfere with 
 the full execution of the threat, " That 
 " Government would, in the most decided 
 " manner, evince their marked displeasure 
 " against all, who had adopted the unfavour- 
 " able impressions respecting Lieutenant 
 il Colonel Munro." They saw this disposition 
 manifest itself in the extraordinary, and 
 unprecedented, order, which directed the 
 Hon. Lieutenant Colonel Sentleger to remain 
 at Trichinopoly, while his regiment was sent 
 on service, in the detention of Lieutenant 
 Colonel Martin, only a few hours before the 
 sailing of his ship, and in the suspension 
 of Major Boles and Colonel Capper, they 
 saw the complete removal of the only bar- 
 rier which could protect them against the
 
 43 
 
 vengeance of lieutenant Colonel Munro. 
 The possession of a commission became 
 altogether nugatory, if it were liable to be 
 annulled without enquiry, or investigation 
 of any sort ; and if the acts annulling it, 
 could be justified by laws framed, (tw-post- 
 facto) and by subtle arguments, or meta- 
 physical disquisitions, which, however well 
 they may be calculated for the display of the 
 professional talents of a lawyer, cannot be 
 considered as applicable to practical military 
 law ; which most of all requires to be simple 
 and unembarrassed by obscure or ambiguous 
 phraseology. 
 
 No man, educated in the military pro- 
 fession, and looking to its laws alone, as 
 the standard by which his conduct and prin- 
 ciples were to be regulated, could be capable 
 of defending his honor, his life, or his com- 
 mission, against the sophistry which has 
 proved, to the satisfaction of the superior 
 authorities in India, that Lieutenant Colonel 
 Munro, as principal in his office, was not 
 responsible for the matter contained in a 
 paper, drawn up by himself; and which 
 sophistry has, at the same time, proved, 
 that Major Boles, a deputy in office, was 
 responsible for the matter contained in a
 
 44 
 
 paper drawn up by the Commander in Chief, 
 and transmitted to Major Boles through his 
 immediate principal. 
 
 Notwithstanding the pertinacity with 
 which the culpability of Major Boles is 
 maintained in all public edicts of the govern- 
 ment, and of the present Commander in 
 Chief of the army, there is much reason to 
 suppose that the arguments of Lieutenant 
 Colonel Leith, and of those who advised the 
 extreme exercise of power in the case of 
 Major Boles, have not produced that clear 
 conviction which just reasoning usually 
 does. It seems rather probable, that a con- 
 sciousness of the flagrant injusticje of a 
 measure, which had been hastily adopted, 
 through the influence of passion and preju- 
 dice, occasioned to its authors a species of 
 remorse, which, although it did not dictate 
 a magnanimous requital for the injury, 
 would have assented to a sort of compro- 
 mise. It would otherwise be difficult indeed 
 to account for a very extraordinary inter- 
 view, which took place on the 2d of 
 February, at Major Boles' s, between that 
 gentleman and a member of the council, 
 composing the government of Madras. The 
 purport of which may be tolerably well
 
 45 
 
 ascertained from notes, which, on the 3rd of 
 February, passed between the former and 
 a third person. From them it appears, that 
 the writer expressed great concern for the 
 distresses to which Major Boles and his 
 family would be exposed by the loss of his 
 commission ; and lamented, that his utter 
 ruin must follow the representations which 
 the Madras Government would make to 
 Europe, and that, having a great friendship 
 for Major Boles, he was desirous to avert the 
 evil, and would undertake to become a 
 mediator with Sir G. Barlow, having reason 
 to entertain sanguine hopes of being able to 
 effect the restoration of Major Boles to the 
 service, and to his official situation, if he 
 would make an apology for having signed the 
 order of the Commander in Chief; the 
 member of council at the same time posi- 
 tively affirming, that his interference w r as 
 entirely unknown to any member of the 
 Government. Major Boles declined comply- 
 ing with the proposed terms, as Sir G. Bar- 
 low had, without any enquiry whatsoever, 
 punished him for an act, any objection to 
 which on his part would have merited death 
 by the articles of war ; lie considered it to 
 be impossible, as it would be useless, to
 
 46' 
 
 make any appeal to that authority. That, 
 unless the Governor would allow him an 
 opportunity of justifying himself, he could 
 not possibly originate any appeal to him 
 against an act of his own, and it must ever 
 be impossible for him to offer an apology for 
 compliance with a peremptory order of the 
 Commander in Chief. Such an act would 
 be a direct violation of the articles of war, 
 as established by law ; and it would be 
 derogatory to the character of the Honour- 
 able the Court of Directors, to whose 
 equity and justice he confidently looked for 
 relief, against the distresses which his sus- 
 pension had produced to him, already in 
 debt, and having a family to support. 
 
 It may be proper here to mention 
 another manifestation of that species of 
 remorse, which has been mentioned above. 
 On the 29th of January, not many hours 
 after the leave of Lieutenant Colonel Martin 
 had been withdrawn by Government, that 
 officer was called upon by the Judge Advo- 
 cate General, who told him that the Govern- 
 ment w r ere very much incensed at the hostile 
 disposition, which many officers had mani- 
 fested towards Lieutenant Colonel Munro, 
 whom they were determined to support, and
 
 4/ 
 
 to punish those who persisted in their oppo- 
 sition to him. That with this view Colonel 
 Martin had been detained, and he might 
 expect to feel the effects of their high dis- 
 pleasure, unless he would apologize for hav- 
 ing signed and forwarded the charges, and 
 merely say that he was sorry for the part he 
 had taken in the affair. In which case the Judge 
 Advocate General promised him, that the 
 proceedings against him should be quashed, 
 and he should immediately have leave to 
 proceed on the ships which were expected 
 to sail that night. This proposal, as may be 
 supposed, was received by Lieutenant Colo- 
 nel Martin with scorn and contempt ; con- 
 scious that no improper action or motive- 
 could be imputed to him, he despised the 
 malice, and defied the perversion, and abuse. 
 of power, of which he knew the advisers 
 of the Government to be capable, confiding 
 in the equity of trial, and the justice of the 
 laws of his profession and his country. The 
 presence of General M'Dowal and other 
 causes had hitherto imposed considerable 
 restraint upon the disposition which existed, 
 to bear down and utterly annihilate those 
 grand protectors of the rights of everv 
 British soldier and subject.
 
 48 
 
 Incidents, in themselves trifling, at this 
 period acquired great importance, every 
 where under the Madras Government, but 
 particularly at the presidency. The total 
 disregard to all claims, arising from considera- 
 tions of equity or justice, and a cold, unfeel- 
 ing perseverance in measures suggested by a 
 set of men, who were guided only by their 
 own interests, or by prejudice, produced, not 
 only among the Military, but in every depart- 
 ment of the community, a species of sullen 
 discontent, and despair, which refused all* 
 but the outward forms of respect to the 
 person, or character of the governor ; and 
 so universal was this sentiment, that the 
 unhappy state of society became a gene- 
 ral topic. Men, whose pursuits and views in 
 life were totally different, felt a mutual 
 sympathy. The gentlemen in the civil 
 service, and those not in the company's 
 employ, felt their grievances to be without 
 the hope of redress ; as the system which 
 oppressed them had, by violating the rights, 
 and disregarding the laws of the Military 
 profession, removed the barrier which at once 
 restrains and protects that class of men, in 
 whose hands the physical force of the state 
 rests ; and in whom therefore it is most
 
 49 
 
 impolitic to drive into self-preserving 
 unanimity, by affording just cause for com- 
 plaint and discontent among them ; and the 
 Military, seeing that the determined system 
 of the Government, while it annulled the 
 laws of their profession, also deprived their 
 fellow subjects of their civil rights, could 
 no longer hesitate to become unanimous in 
 execrating the injudicious policy from whence 
 it aros'e'. 
 
 The measures which excited alarm and 
 discontent among the persons, who compose 
 the general class of society, do not appear 
 to have any immediate reference to the sub- 
 ject of these remarks, limited as they are to 
 the Military question. But the merits of this 
 cause rests not solely on matters of fact; they 
 are chiefly to be deduced from opinion ; it 
 therefore becomes material to notice the ex- 
 trinsic circumstances which gave an impulse 
 to the imagination of Military men. Had 
 the prevailing system given satisfaction to 
 the other orders of society, it is probable 
 the agitation among the Military would 
 never have become so general, or so violent 
 as it did at this time. The impression pro- 
 duced by the arbitrary exercise of power, 
 however sensibly it might at first be felt, 
 
 E
 
 50 
 
 might have subsided, and perhaps be for-, 
 gotten ; if, in the intercourse of society, any 
 advocates had existed who could approve, or 
 who even could palliate or defend, the mea- 
 sures adopted in any of the various branches 
 of the administration. But, unhappily, 
 this was not the case ; an universal clamour 
 prevailed ; many were injured, all discon- 
 tented, and the only class of men, not violent 
 against the principles of the Government, 
 were those who from poorness of spirit, or 
 motives of self-interest, either suppressed 
 their sentiments altogether, or used peculiar 
 caution in communicating them. From 
 such men have the principal offices been 
 recently filled. Among many instances of 
 this sort, one is particularly striking, and 
 deserves to be remarked, from the example 
 wiiich it affords of the advantage to be de- 
 rived from a perfect lubricity of principles. 
 A person, now holding one of the highest 
 situations under the Government, and who 
 professes to be one of the warmest admirers 
 of the present system, did, on the 26th Jan. 
 last, then being at a distant station, give his 
 sentiments, as they then stood, in the follow- 
 ing words : speaking of some of the mea- 
 sures of Government, he says " the authors
 
 51 
 
 " of this plan of degradation, and useless 
 " expenditure of public money, have not 
 " done the state a service ;" and again " The 
 " system is to degrade Military authority, 
 " and to raise the emblem of a force, that 
 " can bow to civil dictators. The troops 
 " are now instruments of civil law ; and the 
 " Military rank goes no further, than the 
 f Etat Major of a Council of Elders, or in 
 " other words, old women." These being 
 the words of a person, who was relatively 
 an advocate for Government, and having been 
 used on the 26th of January last, any at- 
 tempt to prove that discontent was then 
 partial, or confined only to a few at the 
 Presidency, must appear equally futile and 
 absurd. The whole service, Civil or Military, 
 knew that it was universal ; and that an 
 apprehension of mutual danger, arising from 
 the supposed determination of Government 
 to crush all who would not acknowledge 
 the supremacy of Lieutenant Colonel Munro, 
 had produced an unanimity of sentiment 
 throughout the Army, and a confederacy for 
 the purpose of mutual preservation. 
 
 On the 6th of Feb. the Government of 
 Madras issued a general order, professing to 
 contain a statement of the circumstances 
 
 e 2
 
 52 
 
 connected with the arrest and release of 
 Lieutenant Colonel Munro, and there can be 
 no doubt, that a candid exposition of cir- 
 cumstances, even at this late period, might 
 have been of use, by tending to do away 
 the foundation of the odium that existed 
 against Lieutenant Colonel Munro. The 
 order in question could not however have 
 that effect. For, instead of adverting to the 
 real cause of complaint, it affects to misun- 
 derstand the particular passage in the report 
 which had given offence, and states, that any 
 enquiry regarding the offensive passage must 
 have involved a discussion of the measures of 
 the principal Civil and Military authorities 
 in this country. 
 
 Such an inference is not deducible from 
 any of the premises in the present case. It 
 had already been explicitly declared, that 
 the officers complaining were particularly 
 desirous to avoid any allusion to the general 
 question, regarding Camp-equipage. That 
 any comparison between the former and the 
 present systems of Camp Equipage was un- 
 necessary and entirely irrelevant, in discussing 
 the charges which were laid against Lieute- 
 nant Colonel Munro The discussion of 
 those charges could not, if the president of
 
 53 
 
 the Court Martial knew his duty, extend to 
 any matter that was not requisite in order to 
 substantiate or refute one, or other of the 
 following problems. 
 
 First. Whether the insinuation against 
 the officers commanding Native Corps, as 
 quoted in the former letter, was warranted by 
 their conduct during the period they held 
 the contract. 
 
 If the affirmative of this question was 
 proved, the discussion would be at an end, 
 and the charges against Colonel Munro must 
 be thrown out. 
 
 Second. If the insinuation should ap- 
 pear totally groundless and false ; whether 
 the insertion of it in the Quarter Master 
 General's paper was necessary, in order 
 to place the subject in a clear point of 
 view, or to produce the conclusion, which 
 Lieutenant Colonel Munro might have been 
 directed to draw forth. 
 
 If the affirmative of the second problem 
 were proved, the court martial, or the Com- 
 mander in Chief, might, with a view to the 
 exculpation of Lieutenant Colonel Munro, 
 deliberate whether he was not j ustifiable, or 
 at least excusable, in uttering the falsehood, 
 having for its object a compliance with the
 
 54 
 
 order of the Commander in Chief, which, 
 according to Colonel Leith, was to be con- 
 sidered " just and ratified, and without ap- 
 peal." But if it should appear that the insi- 
 nuation against the officers commanding 
 native corps did not tend, in any way, to 
 corroborate rhe arguments which have been 
 used to recommend the abolition of the con- 
 tract, and that therefore Lieutenant Colonel 
 Munro had wantonly vilified the character 
 of a body of respectable officers, for pur- 
 poses which no man can avow, it is probable 
 that the court martial, being composed of 
 men, influenced by feelings of honourable 
 pride, would have marked their sense of his 
 conuuet in the most decisive manner; and 
 this could have been accomplished, without 
 any allusion whatsoever to the general merits 
 of the report, for which alone any responsi- 
 bility can rest on the authorities who have 
 severally approved the work. It would be, 
 in the highest degree, absurd to suppose, that 
 a superior authority, by approving a treatise, 
 composed by an inferior, became responsible 
 for the substance of any particular passage, 
 although the purport of that passage were 
 totally irrelevant to the main question, and 
 although the total omission of the passage
 
 55 
 
 "would not have weakened the reasoning, or 
 rendered the inference ]ess direct. Yet such 
 hypothesis is necessary, in order to reconcile 
 the position laid down in the G. O. 6th Feb. 
 namely, that an enquiry, respecting a given 
 passage in Colonel Munro's report, would 
 have extended to the measures of the autho- 
 rities, who had approved the general tenor 
 of the report, although this particular pas- 
 sage had not any relation or bearing towards 
 the general result. 
 
 One passage in the order of Government 
 deserves to be particularly noticed, from the 
 illustration which it affords of the avowed 
 principles of Government. The passage is 
 as follows : " In these circumstances, the 
 " Quarter-master General could no longer be 
 " considered responsible for proceedings so 
 " sanctioned ; and it would have been in- 
 " consistent with the evident principles of 
 " justice, that a public officer should have 
 " been liable to the obloquy of a trial for an 
 " act not his, but that of his superiors." 
 The doctrine is certainly praiseworthy; and 
 every one must acknowledge great liberality 
 in the principle, which attaches to the supe- 
 riors all responsibility for the act of an infe- 
 rior ; but which becomes theirs by adoption
 
 56 
 
 even, supposing the operation of the prin- 
 ciple to be general, and equally applicable 
 to all persons similarly situated. But if, on 
 the contrary, the spirit and letter of this doc- 
 trine be directly violated, in the case of 
 Colonel Capper and Major Boles, and that 
 those officers are punished without the oblo-, 
 quy of a court martial, as being responsible 
 for the positive act of their superior, the 
 sincerity of the authors of the above-men- 
 tioned order will appear doubtful, at least; 
 and men of plain understanding will imagine 
 that their principles, as illustrated by their 
 conduct, do not appear so praiseworthy as 
 they do when publicly proclaimed in orders. 
 
 The Order concludes with an injunction, 
 that the question must now be considered as 
 concluded, and the circumstances connected 
 with it consigned to oblivion. It was not, 
 however, possible that a subject, which had 
 engaged the attention of all, and had excited 
 general irritation throughout the army, could 
 be obliterated by the dash of a pen ; and in 
 fact, the G. O. 6th Feb. served to add fuel to 
 the flame already spread. For, without any 
 explanation or discussion of the real causes of 
 complaint, it attempts to identify, with the 
 Government itself, the cause of an individual,
 
 57 
 
 who was shunned by every officer who pos- 
 sessed pride .or feeling for the character of 
 his profession ; while Colonels Capper and 
 Martm ? and Major Boles, officers of great 
 repute, and universally respected, were pu- 
 nished, to the greatest extent that the Govern- 
 ment could accomplish, for acts which are 
 considered to be not only justifiable but 
 praiseworthy. 
 
 On the 8th of February, the public were 
 surprised by the annunciation of a resolution, 
 passed in Council on that day, ordering the 
 removal of Captain Marshall from the situ- 
 ations of Secretary to the Military Board and 
 Secretary to the Military Fund ; the removal 
 of Mr. Roebuck from the situations of the 
 Paymaster General and Mint Master ; and 
 Mr. R. A. Maitland from the situation of 
 Justice of the Petty Court. The two former 
 were directed to quit the Presidency, without 
 delay, and proceed to Yizagapatam, which 
 is about 500 miles distant. This circum- 
 stance, totally unexpected and unaccountable 
 as it at first appeared to be, became more 
 surprising, from the difficulty of forming 
 even a conjecture respecting the cause which 
 might reasonably be assigned for inflicting 
 so severe a punishment, at once, on three
 
 58 
 
 individuals, whose professions, pursuits, and 
 situations were so different ; one being a sub- 
 ordinate military officer, who had not hitherto 
 been conspicuous in any way ; another, one 
 of the oldest Company's civil servants ; and 
 the third, a gentleman not in the service, but 
 residing at Madras, under the protection of 
 the Company ; and his conduct had been uni- 
 formly such, as to gain him universal esteem 
 in the Settlement, as well as constant atten- 
 tion and respect from the members of all 
 preceding Governments. 
 
 A deliberate consideration of the various 
 discussions, then pending at Madras, sug- 
 gested the causes which had rendered these 
 men obnoxious to the rulers of the day. 
 Captain Marshall, though in a subordinate 
 situation, had frequent occasion to meet 
 Colonel Munro on duty. However, no unof- 
 ficial intercourse had, for a long period, taken 
 place between those officers, owing to the 
 incongruity of their dispositions, their prin- 
 ciples, and their conduct. The subjects re- 
 cently agitated at Madras had not tended, in 
 any way, to reconcile the difference of sen- 
 timent that existed ; and, in fact, Captain 
 Marshall adopted the same principles which 
 prevailed amongst the great majority of his
 
 59 
 
 brother officers. It was therefore consistent 
 with the principles upon which the Govern- 
 ment appeared to act, that he, although 
 bearing a good character, should be degraded 
 from his office and removed from the pre- 
 sidency, in order to make way for a person 
 who would probably speak to Colonel Munro. 
 Previous to his departure, however, he made 
 a modest appeal to Government, in which 
 he stated as follows : " I trust, I shall be ex- 
 " eusedforexpressingaconsiderable degree of 
 " anxiety, at the displeasure of Government, 
 " as evinced in my removal from office, 
 " and that a jealousy respecting my cha- 
 " racter as a servant of the company, will 
 " be considered to proceed from motives, 
 " honorable to myself, and consistent with 
 " the relation in which I stand to my honor- 
 " able employers, after passing eighteen 
 " years in their service." 
 
 " The serious reduction of salary must 
 " necessarily produce considerable incon- 
 " venience to me; but the loss of salary 
 " is a secondary consideration; I never 
 " indulged the hope of attaining that exal- 
 " tation which riches give ; I looked only 
 " for the humble honors of a respectable 
 i* character, and I appeal to the justice of
 
 60 
 
 " Government to excuse the earnestness 
 " with which I solicit to be informed, in 
 " what part of my conduct I have given 
 " cause for the severe measure, which, what- 
 " ever he the effect, is evidently calculated 
 " to deprive me of my good name, in the 
 *' absence of which, no wealth could make 
 " me ncn. 
 
 The appeal was however vain; it was 
 treated with contemptuous silence ; and no 
 reason has even yet been assigned for the 
 removal of Captain Marshall from Madras. 
 This event, which, in ordinary times, would 
 not be considered of any general moment, 
 acquired, at this period, great importance, 
 for it tended to confirm the general belief, 
 that Government were resolved to pursue 
 to the utmost, every individual who had 
 become obnoxious to Colonel Munro, with- 
 out regard to general character, length of 
 service, or other qualification, which is 
 usually considered to confer upon individuals 
 a right to the protection of Government. 
 Even the most moderate among the officers, 
 and those who had been desirous to divert 
 the attention of the public from the imme- 
 diate causes of complaint, could no longer 
 discover any chance of preserving the most
 
 61 
 
 respectable part of the army from arbitrary 
 prosecution and cruel punishment, while 
 things continued to be administered accord- 
 ing to a system, which was not to be con- 
 trolled by the laws of the land, or by any 
 appeal to the ordinary dictates of reason,, 
 equity, or justice. Of this disposition an 
 ample illustration is thought to be afforded, 
 in the orders respecting Messrs. Roebuck 
 and Maitland. The whole particulars of 
 this extraordinary transaction would of 
 themselves form an interesting detail. They 
 are, however, only partly connected with 
 the present subject; and it will be sufficient 
 to notice that these gentlemen were acknow- 
 ledged creditors of the Nabob of the Car- 
 natic to a verv larcye amount, and knowing 
 that bonds had been forged to an enormous 
 extent, and that the security of their pro- 
 perty would be injured, in proportion as 
 the forged bonds were admitted, they 
 instituted, in the Supreme Court, at Madras, 
 various suits against persons supposed to 
 be concerned in forging sundry of these 
 bonds. They had already obtained two ver- 
 dicts from the several juries, and although 
 the Advocate and Solicitor of the Com- 
 pany defended the persons who were con-
 
 62 
 
 victed of forging and perjury, the bond fide 
 creditors did nevertheless persist in appealing 
 to the laws of their country for the preser- 
 vation of their property. As no public reason 
 was assigned for the act of their removal 
 from office, the cause was imagined to arise, 
 but erroneously perhaps, out of the part 
 they took in these proceedings. This cir- 
 cumstance, it is true, has no immediate 
 reference to the military question, but it will 
 not be difficult for any to conceive that the 
 punishment of two respectable men, under 
 the prevalent impressions, could not be con- 
 templated with indifference by Britons. It 
 will not require any argument to prove, 
 that such a circumstance was calculated to 
 exasperate feelings already highly irritated, 
 and that, connected as it was with the 
 punishment of Captain Marshall, both hav- 
 ing occurred in the same Council, and both 
 reaching the public at the same time, the 
 officers of the army should have perceived 
 in it a further confirmation of the suspicion, 
 that the common laws of the land could 
 not afford any protection to those whom the 
 advisers of the Government wished to 
 overwhelm. 
 
 The foregoing facts have been intro-
 
 63 
 
 duced merely for the purpose of shewing, 
 that causes existed for universal disgust, 
 though the advisers of Government have 
 continually persisted to deceive the superior 
 authorities, by representing, that the dis- 
 content was partial, and confined only to 
 a few r individuals. It may be proper to 
 notice* certain facts which afford conclusive 
 evidence of the entire falsehood of such 
 assertion. 
 
 On the 13th of February, Lieutenant 
 Colonel Munro signified to the officers of 
 the Institution, (an establishment lately 
 formed for the instruction of young officers) 
 that he heard they had expelled one of the 
 members from their society, " because he 
 had attended at an entertainment given at 
 the Government House," and in such case 
 desired that they would withdraw their pro- 
 ceedings against that gentleman ; in failure 
 of which they would be ordered to quit the 
 Institution, and to join their corps. The 
 gentlemen replied, that the regulations ot 
 the service, Para. 9th, allow " to officers, 
 " in common with other gentlemen, the 
 " privilege of making their own choice of 
 " companions, for their private society," 
 and as they felt averse to hold further
 
 64 
 
 acquaintance with the gentleman in question^ 
 they conceived they were justified in the 
 measures they had taken, in consequence 
 of which they (18 officers) were sent to 
 their corps by the following general orders: 
 
 " Fort St. George, ISth, February, 1809; 
 
 " G. O. by Government : 
 
 " The Commander in Chief 
 " having brought under the attention of 
 " the Honourable the Governor in Council, 
 " the recent irregular conduct of the fol- 
 " lowing officers of the junior class of the 
 " Military Institution, the Governorin Coun- 
 " cil directs that they do join their corps 
 " without delay.*' 
 
 [Here follow the names of 18 officers] 
 
 Although the name of the Commander 
 in Chief appears in the foregoing order, it 
 was in a few days discovered, that he had 
 not even been made acquainted with the 
 circumstances; at least so he declared, on 
 the occasion of a reference that was made 
 to him by some of the young men. Pre- 
 vious to the publication of the foregoing 
 order, a communication was made to the 
 gentlemen of the Institution, by a Field 
 officer, purporting, that if they would pro-
 
 65 
 
 mise to go to the next entertainment at the 
 Government House, the proceedings against 
 them would be discontinued; but, otherwise, 
 that they might expect to be severely 
 punished. They however declined comply- 
 ing with these terms. Trifling as this occur- 
 rence must appear, in the general view of 
 the g'reat events which this period teems 
 with, it deserves particular notice on account 
 of the consequences it produced, and the 
 inferences which may be drawn from it. 
 It affords incontestible proof, that the feeling 
 of discontent and dissatisfac^on towards the 
 Government was not confined to a few. 
 In such a case it is impossible to suppose, 
 that out of nineteen young men, attached 
 to a corps that is under the especial patro- 
 nage of the Governor and the Quarter Master 
 General, only one person would go to a 
 public entertainment given at the Govern- 
 ment House; or that the others, if the feel- 
 ing was not general, should venture to mark 
 their disapprobation in the decided manner 
 they did. This transaction also serves to 
 shew, that the appeal of the officers to the 
 regulations of the service, as established 
 by Earl Cornwallis, was totally disregarded; 
 and that officers in the army were liable to 
 
 F
 
 65 
 
 be punished, if they presumed to exercise 
 their own judgment in the choice of asso- 
 ciates, or private acquaintances. 
 
 It seems scarcely credible, that so 
 preposterous a doctrine should have been 
 publicly avowed and sanctioned by the 
 Government ; but the letters* which passed 
 on the subject are still extant, and have, 
 on many occasions, been produced, in order 
 to overcome the incredulity of persons to 
 whom the circumstances have been related, 
 at almost every station of the army. For 
 those young men, highly irritated as they 
 must have been at the recent transactions 
 which they had witnessed at Madras, and 
 particularly at the treatment they had 
 themselves received, w^ere separated, and 
 sent to the various corps to which they 
 belonged, thus effectually disseminating (if 
 they had not already been general) those 
 opinions which are still said to have been 
 confined to a few individuals. 
 
 It is a matter of great wonder, that the 
 unequivocal proofs of discontent, which 
 the occurrences of every day afforded, did 
 not suggest to those who were the objects 
 of it, the expediency either of removing the 
 causes of it, by revising the unjust and 
 * Vide Appendix H.
 
 67 
 
 unreasonable acts that had produced it, 
 or even of endeavouring to prevent its 
 increase by appearing to consult the feelings 
 and the just rights of men, at least in those 
 matters, where the right of choice cannot 
 reasonably be denied. But, unfortunately, 
 those who ruled, and those who advised, 
 intoxicated by power, blinded by prejudice, 
 and impelled by ambition, were not satis- 
 fied by the forms of respect and obedience 
 which public duty required, and which 
 never were denied. The indignation of the 
 officers of the army appeared now to have 
 reached such a height, that some desperate 
 act of resentment was expected. The 
 resignation of the Company's service was in 
 contemplation among large bodies of offi- 
 cers ; but this measure would have inflicted 
 a severe wound upon their country and 
 their masters, from whom they had received 
 no injury, towards whom their attachment 
 was unabated and firm, and for whose deci- 
 sion they would have waited patiently, had 
 not the continued accumulation of injury 
 and insult exhausted their forbearance. At 
 this period, when a large proportion of the 
 army was carrying on warlike operations in 
 the Travancore country, the resignation of
 
 68 
 
 even a small number of officers must have 
 occasioned great embarrassment to the Go- 
 vernment, and might have produced fatal 
 consequences to the mother country. It is, 
 therefore, fortunate for the State, and cre- 
 ditable to the army, that nothing of the 
 kind has yet taken place. 
 
 Some late acts of the Government 
 appear to have excited great commotion in 
 the minds of the officers of the army, and 
 to have resuscitated, with increased violence, 
 that flame which had in some degree sub* 
 sided. Recent accounts from the army at 
 Hydrabad and Jaulnah, mention that inju- 
 dicious and indelicate allusion in a late 
 G. O. to the conduct observed by the troops 
 at those stations, has given the greatest 
 offence ; in short, the aspect of affairs is 
 now truly awful. A fatal perverseness 
 seems to controul every act of the Govern- 
 ment, and to prevent the dispositions of 
 the most moderate and temperate men from 
 becoming useful towards the restoration 
 of peace and good understanding. Those 
 blessings seem to be receding from us ; and, 
 unless some speedy and decisive measures be 
 adopted, by that authority which alone can 
 now effectually mediate between the Gover-
 
 69 
 
 nor and the Army of Madras, the opportu- 
 nity of conciliating may pass by. 
 
 The particulars of the G. O. and of the 
 measures it has given rise to, should not be 
 anticipated ; for various intervening occur- 
 rences still remain. The next communica- 
 tion shall, therefore, resume the narrative 
 from the period when General Gowdie came 
 to the Presidency. 
 
 Adieu ! 
 
 LETTER III. 
 
 Madras j 2>Qth June, 1809. 
 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 It will be observed that 
 the circumstances noticed in the foregoing 
 letters, and all the measures adopted by the 
 Government of Madras, either affecting the 
 army collectively, or directed more imme- 
 diately against those individuals who were 
 actuated by a desire to vindicate the honor 
 of the profession, proceeded under the au- 
 thority, and directly in the name of the 
 Governor in Council. The name of the 
 Commander in Chief is, indeed, introduced 
 on the occasion when the gentlemen oi the
 
 70 
 
 Institution are rebuked for declining to go 
 to the public entertainment at the Gover- 
 nor's. But it is perfectly well known, that 
 he was altogether innocent of any concern 
 in that extraordinary transaction ; the result 
 of which, however, served to prove, that 
 his services were available by the enemies of 
 General Macdowall, who possessed power, 
 and therefore must be right. General Gow- 
 die arrived at Madras on the 17th February ; 
 and, shortly after his final interview with 
 Sir G. Barlow, he made to Major Boles a 
 proposal, similar in substance, andinefFect, to 
 that w r hich had before been made by a Mem- 
 ber of Council, viz. that Major Boles should 
 be restored to the service, and to his appoint- 
 ment, if he would only say that he was 
 sorry for having obeyed the orders of Gene- 
 ral Macdowall on the 28th January. No 
 circumstance had occurred to alter the state 
 of the case; and, consequently, Major Boles 
 excused himself in the same way that he 
 had done before, adding, that he really 
 could not say he was sorry for any thing 
 that had passed, having done only his duty, 
 and relying on the justice of his superiors, 
 for an ample requital of the injuries that 
 had been done him.
 
 71 
 
 It will be proper to bear in mind the 
 terms used by Major Boles in his reply, and 
 the circumstances under which they were 
 applied ; for it will be seen, in the sequel, 
 that the import of those terms has since 
 been most shamefully misrepresented, in 
 order to attach to Major Boles' an impu- 
 tation which is totally irreconcilable either 
 with his general character, or with the con- 
 duct he has observed since the commence- 
 ment of this discussion. 
 
 It is not likely that, under any circum- 
 stances, Major General Gowdie could have 
 possessed much influence in the army ; he 
 had, indeed, acquired a high character for 
 bravery, on actual service in the field,but certain 
 well-known transactions had not rendered 
 him popular. Independently of this, the 
 relation in which the Major General stood 
 with respect to the Government, and to 
 those nominally his staff, rendered quite 
 nugatory any attempt of his to con- 
 troul or direct the opinion of individuals. 
 However, the unexpected exaltation to the 
 chief command, seems to have drawn a veil 
 over all circumstances anterior to that period; 
 and to have conferred on General Gowdie, 
 in his own opinion, and that of the Gover-
 
 72 
 
 nor, a power to guide the judgments of 
 o.ilcers, not only in matters appertaining 
 to their profession, but also in subjects of 
 general import. The right of a Commander 
 in Chief to direct the actions and words of 
 all under him in military affairs, cannot for 
 a moment be questioned, particularly in 
 the Madras army, famed for its submissive- 
 ness. The suggestion of a doubt regarding the 
 military powers of a Commander in Chief 
 would at any former period have been uni- 
 versally reprehended ; but the fate of Colonel 
 Capper and Major Boles, and the comments 
 which hud appeared in the Government 
 orders, subsequent to the 31st of January, 
 respecting the conduct of those officers, had 
 introduced a certain laxity of principle on 
 this subject, which gave rise to various dis- 
 cussions regarding the legality, the propriety, 
 or even the necessity, which might occasion- 
 ally exist for particular orders. 
 
 A few clays after the arrival of General 
 Gowdie at Madras, an occurrence took place 
 which afforded to Sir G. Barlow, and General 
 Gowdie, an opportunity of ascertaining, in 
 the most unequivocal manner, the sentiments 
 of ofli ;ers towards the person of the Gover- 
 nor ; and at the same time the feeling which
 
 73 
 
 they bore towards the authority delegated 
 by the Governor to the Commander in 
 Chief. 
 
 Sir G. Barlow, unadvisedly relying on 
 that appearance of respect which was mani- 
 fested towards the situations of Governor 
 and Commander in Chief, disregarded, and 
 attempted to treat with indifference, the 
 actual sentiments of a set of men whom 
 habitual subordination renders for the most 
 part passive, and who, therefore, seldom 
 form an unanimous opinion adverse to their 
 superiors, except upon the grounds of self- 
 preservation, either from injury or insult. 
 Fortunate would it have been for his country, 
 for his employers, and for the Madras army, 
 if Sir G. Barlow had taken measures to 
 remove the grounds of discontent which 
 existed in the present instance, or even if he 
 had not acted in such a manner as served 
 gradually to render more than irritable the 
 sense of wrong. Although perfectly aware 
 that no officer except those holding situations 
 at the will of the Government, or Colonel 
 Munro, would voluntarily go to the private 
 dwelling-house of the Governor and his 
 family, where Colonel Munro was frequently 
 to be met, Sir G. Barlow sent cards, invit-
 
 74 
 
 ing the officers of a regiment, in Fort St. 
 George, (about 50 in number) to dinner, on 
 the 1st of March; he, at the same time, 
 invited the officers of a battalion of the 18th 
 regiment to dinner on the 4th of March ; 
 the greatest part of the officers of both 
 corps sent apologies, couched in the usual 
 terms for not accepting the invitation. This 
 circumstance, (particularly as the greatest 
 part of the officers were not in the com- 
 pany's service) affords conclusive evidence, 
 if any were wanting, that the disgust at the 
 measures of Sir G. Barlow, was not confined 
 to a few individuals of the Company's ser- 
 vice ; however, as the consequences of it 
 refer to the present subject, it may be pro- 
 per to notice them. Between men in equal 
 circumstances, an occurrence of this descrip- 
 tion would either be considered in the light 
 of a direct insult, and resented as such, or 
 it would be altogether overlooked; but, con- 
 sidering the relative situations of the parties 
 in the present case, the same reasons appear 
 to point out still more strongly, the propriety 
 of avoiding all discussion, which could tend 
 to depreciate the already-fallen dignity of 
 the person representing the chief authority.
 
 75 
 
 But, unfortunately, the same fatality which 
 had produced several previous blunders, now 
 added a principal one. 
 
 In order to prevail upon the officers 
 who had sent apologies, to consent to dine at 
 the Governor s, various threats and promises 
 were conveyed from the Governor to them, 
 through the medium of Lieutenant Colonel 
 Barclay, who had, through his diligence in 
 offices of this description, acquired a de- 
 gree of confidence, which the appearances 
 for some time after Sir G.'s arrival rendered 
 very improbable. His efforts, however, on 
 this occasion, proving ineffectual, he was 
 directed to apply for the assistance of Major 
 General Gowdie ; and the extraordinary 
 phenomenon was exhibited, of the chief 
 Commander of an army of 80,000 men using 
 the influence which his situation gave him, 
 to induce the officers of two corps to dine at 
 Sir G. Barlow's, after their having signified 
 their disinclination to accept of his invita- 
 tion ; and after their refusal had thus been 
 so public, that it served as a topic through- 
 out the Settlement. The general arguments 
 used by the Commander in Chief were an- 
 swered by an unanimous voice, that if the 
 acceptance of the invitation were considered
 
 76 
 
 as military, or if he, General Gowdie, would 
 give an order that it should be accepted, the 
 whole of the officers would go ; but if it 
 were to be considered optional, and they 
 had the right to decide for themselves, their 
 apologies should not be withdrawn. At 
 last, after two days discussion, General 
 Gowclie told the officers of the corps, in the 
 Fort, that he was himself to dine at the 
 Governor's on the 1st of March, and if they 
 declined going to meet him, he should con- 
 sider not only that they treated him with 
 slight, but that they were abettors of the 
 general discontent, which he stated to pre- 
 vail among the officers of the Company's 
 army. 
 
 Such imputations being totally unfound- 
 ed, and likely to injure the officers in ques- 
 tion, they did not longer hesitate to accept 
 the invitation, and they accordingly per- 
 formed the duty of attending at Sir G. Bar- 
 low's house, at dinner-time, on the 1st of 
 March. 
 
 The officers of the 18th regiment, how- 
 ever, did not go on the 4th. The same 
 arguments were not used to them ; and 
 they had, only a few days before, on their 
 arrival in the garrison, manifested their
 
 77 
 
 respect for the public character of the Gover- 
 nor, by waiting on him, when the Com- 
 mandant, Lieutenant Colonel M'Caully, in- 
 troduced them severally to Sir G. Barlow. 
 They therefore urged, that their declining 
 to go to the Garden-house could not be con- 
 strued into a disposition to treat with dis- 
 respect the public authority. If such an 
 idea existed, they were ready to accept of 
 the invitation, in compliance with any order 
 which General Gowdie might be pleased to 
 give to that effect. No such order was, 
 however, given, and they consequently did 
 not go. But they were required to make 
 an apology, which they did, by stating, in 
 unequivocal terms, that, in declining to 
 accept Sir G. Barlow's invitation, they did 
 not intend any disrespect towards the public 
 character of the Governor ; but, on the 
 contrary, imagined that they were exercising 
 a right which might be exercised with im- 
 punity by all gentlemen in society. This 
 was very unfavourably received ; and it 
 was generally reported, and believed, that 
 General Gowdie had told Colonel M'Caully, 
 that, although he himself had not declined 
 to go to the Governor's, he was censurable 
 for not having prevailed on his officers
 
 78 
 
 to go ; and that the corps should be sent 
 to one of the most distant stations. 
 At a future period it will not be credited 
 that such a seeming abuse of power could 
 be imputable to the character of a British 
 subject to whom it was delegated. But, 
 unhappily, there are too many evidences 
 that irritating measures of this description 
 have been most wantonly resorted to ; and 
 that the pride of the officers, under the 
 Madras Government, has been trifled with 
 and insulted to a degree that will not be 
 credited by their friends and fellow-subjects 
 in Britain. On the 25th of February, Gene- 
 ral Gowdie informed Major Lindsey, that his 
 corps, the 2d of the llth,was ordered to quit 
 the Presidency immediately, as the conduct 
 of the officers was disapproved by the Go- 
 vernor. Major Lindsey, astonished at this 
 communication, requested to be informed 
 how the officers had given offence, for he 
 knew them to be a very reputable set of 
 young men, and was not aware of any 
 impropriety that could be imputed to them. 
 General Gowdie acquainted him, that Sir G. 
 Barlow had learned, that Major Boles had, 
 some days before, dined at the mess of the 
 11th; and that, therefore, the corps must
 
 79 
 
 quit the Presidency, as Sir G. was resolved 
 to shew his disapprobation towards those 
 who gave any countenance to Major Boles. 
 In reply to this, Major Lindsey observed, 
 that the officers of the 11th could not be 
 aware of any impropriety in admitting to 
 their mess an old, and much-respected bro- 
 ther bfficer, more especially as Major Boles 
 had, since his suspension, been invited to, 
 and dined at, the messes of his Majesty's 
 Royal Regiment, and of the Artillery. This 
 remark was totally disregarded, and the 
 corps marched towards Vellore, on the 27th. 
 The universal anxiety that prevailed at 
 this period, rendered every event of this 
 description highly interesting; consequently 
 the reports of them spread quickly, and every 
 circumstance which could render the tyran- 
 nical abuse of power more disgusting, was 
 presented to the imagination in the most 
 lively colours. 
 
 The hardship of Colonel M'Caully's case 
 was contemplated with mixed feelings of 
 horror and indignation. This officer had 
 served the company, faithfully and honor- 
 ably, for 30 years; and now, at an advanced 
 period of life, with a large family to support, 
 and without any other property than his
 
 80 
 
 monthly pay, he was condemned to under- 
 take a long and expensive journey, accom- 
 panied by those most dear to him, to a sta- 
 tion, from whence there is little probability 
 that they will all ever return. Those ac- 
 quainted with military affairs will not per- 
 ceive any particular hardship in an officer 
 being obliged to go, in the routine of his 
 profession, to a station, whether healthy or 
 otherwise, which must be occupied by some 
 portion of troops ; but no perversion of the 
 term can ever justify the circumstances 
 under which Colonel M'Caully was sent to a 
 post, selected, as the Commander in Chief 
 said, because it was very distant, and ren- 
 dered more eligible bv the recent accounts 
 which represented it to be so unhealthy, that 
 many had already died, and general sickness 
 prevailed in such a degree, that the officer 
 then in command requested permission to 
 evacuate it. To the feelings naturally pro- 
 duced by this extraordinary circumstance, 
 there was added the surprise of all who had 
 known the character which General Gowdie 
 had borne ; they did not suppose it possible 
 that he, who had brought up a large 
 family, and who was, perhaps, indebted to 
 that family for the tranquillity with which
 
 81 
 
 he passed some of the stages of his career, 
 could ever be induced to be the organ and 
 instrument of a gross act of injustice towards 
 an old and meritorious officer, whom he had 
 known as a boy in the service, and who 
 now possessed, equally with himself, all 
 those claims on humanity which arise from 
 the dependence of a family. Yet did General 
 Gowdie (as yet) seem to wish it to be un- 
 derstood that these measures originated with 
 himself. The disposition to persecute Major 
 Boles, to drive him even from the society 
 of his brother officers, by punishing those 
 w r ho shewed him any attention, cannot be 
 accounted for by any of the principles which 
 men acknowledge themselves to be actuated 
 by. He had studiously avoided every means 
 of attracting the attention of the public to 
 his peculiarly hard situation; and if the cir- 
 cumstances of it drew from a generous 
 community the tribute of respect, and 
 commiseration, it would have been more 
 seemly in his enemies, powerful as they are, 
 to have avoided, by all means, the appear- 
 ance of that pitiful malignity, which seeks, 
 as its only preservative, the utter destruction 
 of those whom it has injured. But they, 
 judging that the means of appeal were very
 
 82 
 
 distant, and that their own representations, 
 if not refuted by the opposite party, would 
 probably produce a decision which must be 
 favorable to themselves, used every means to 
 oppose such refutation; and relying upon 
 the success which their unlimited power 
 enabled them to command, they wantonly 
 indulged their most rancorous prejudices, 
 and trampled on those rules which, in Eng- 
 land, are indispensable to the most hackneyed 
 politician. 
 
 In the infancy of British India, such 
 measures on the part of the rulers might have 
 been successful, and might have passed with- 
 out remark. The community consisted, for 
 the most part, of adventurers; the leading 
 individuals of whom derived their greatest 
 advantages from certain abuses, the indul- 
 gence of which was to be purchased only 
 by the sacrifice of those feelings, and of 
 that independent pride, which the consti- 
 tution allows every honest Briton to enjoy 
 in his native country ; but at this time they 
 were equally injudicious, as they were ina- 
 dequate to the objects of their authors. For 
 they, whom an Indian Governor now rules, 
 being generally men of education and ac- 
 quirements, who have formed their ideas
 
 83 
 
 of society, at a period which has afforded 
 to all the civilized world most conclusive 
 proofs of the advantages which a compa- 
 ratively small state derives from allowing 
 each individual the enjoyment of those pri- 
 vileges that are necessary to the maintenance 
 of his rank in the community ; such men 
 cannot endure, heyond a very limited extent, 
 the tyrannical, or the corrupt abuse of power, 
 or the wanton indulgence of malignant pre- 
 judice. This unhappy contest does not 
 exhibit the efforts of an upright Govern- 
 ment, opposing the extravagant views of 
 ambitious adventurers; who, goaded by 
 necessity, and desirous to promote a change 
 which may benefit, but cannot deteriorate 
 their situation ; on the contrary, it will be 
 seen, that every individual, who has hitherto 
 suffered by the exercise of the power of the 
 present Government of Madras, was in 
 actual enjoyment of a situation of emolu- 
 ment and advantage, to which the greatest 
 part of them had, under former Governors, 
 been promoted on account of the good repu- 
 tations which they bore, and not through 
 the influence of powerful connexions; the 
 names of Cooke, Kippen, Conway, Sinclair, 
 &c. will, to those who are acquainted with 
 
 g 2
 
 84 
 
 the modern history of Madras, afford a pretty 
 good criterion by which a judgment may be 
 formed respecting the principles which at 
 present regulate the selections for honorable 
 distinction. After the removal of the offi- 
 cers of the Institution, and of the 1st bat- 
 talion of the 18th, for not going to Sir G. 
 Barlow's entertainment, and that of the 2nd 
 battalion, 11th regiment, because Major 
 Boles had dined at their mess, matters con- 
 tinued tolerably quiet, and the community, 
 though under the awful apprehension of the 
 increased effects of the disposition which 
 the Governor had manifested, indulged a 
 hope that the number, and the respectability, 
 of the victims who had been sacrificed on 
 account of favouritism, would be con- 
 sidered sufficient to appease the wrath of 
 its powerful supporter. Had this been the 
 case, it is probable that matters might have 
 gradually settled into tranquillity ; and, 
 although it had become impossible that a 
 good understanding should ever subsist be- 
 tween Sir G. Barlow and the great body of 
 the officers of the army, that the latter 
 would have patiently waited for a decision 
 by the superior authority in India, or by 
 the sovereign authorities in Europe; but the
 
 S5 
 
 fallacious calm of a few days was, about the 
 middle of March, interrupted by an act of 
 the Governor, bearing the same complexion 
 with those that have been already noticed ; 
 and therefore occasioning a general irritation, 
 the more violent as it had been for a time 
 restrained. At this time, Sir G. Barlow 
 signified his intention of immediately remov- 
 ing from the Presidency Major Macdowall, 
 the Deputy Adjutant General of the Army, 
 Lieutenant Stock, Deputy Secretary of the 
 Military Board, and several civilians. Pro- 
 scriptions, had now become so common, that 
 the term Convict was familiarly applied to 
 those who were found too honest to remain 
 in the immediate precincts of the seat of 
 Government. The civil Convicts, on the 
 present occasion, consisted chiefly of gentle- 
 men who had unfortunately been selected 
 as jurors on the famous trials of Mr. Batley 
 and Reddy Row, or who had been so impru- 
 dent as to avow, on that subject, and the 
 military question, opinions suggested by the 
 nature of the case. The cause of Major 
 Macdo wall's removal was not at first so appa- 
 rent; this officer had ever been distinguished 
 for his prudence, and the propriety of his 
 conduct, in every situation that he had hitherto
 
 86 
 
 filled; he had been particularly selected by 
 General Gowdie, to fill the situation vacated 
 by the dismissal of Major Boles; and the 
 nomination had been highly approved by 
 the Governor, at a period only one month 
 prior to that now under discussion; in short, 
 considering Major Macdowall's character, 
 and the circumstances of his present situa- 
 tion, it was supposed that he was one of 
 those least likely to suffer in the general 
 havoc which had been denounced, and was 
 expected to fall upon the officers of the 
 army. However, being informed of the in- 
 tentions of the Government towards him, 
 he, on the 24th March, addressed a letter 
 to the Honourable Sir G. Barlow, in which 
 he states, that, during the time he had held 
 the situation, he had endeavoured, with 
 unwearied assiduity, to afford satisfaction : 
 that General Gowdie had expressed his entire 
 approbation of every part of his conduct, 
 but that he feared some misapprehension 
 existed which gave rise to the intention of 
 removing him ; he therefore requests he may 
 be informed of the cause, in order that 
 enquiry may be instituted, and explanation 
 afforded. To this appeal, Major Macdowall 
 did not receive any answer; for, according
 
 87 
 
 to the phraseology, which had been recently 
 adopted, it was not deemed expedient that 
 any reason should be assigned for the mea- 
 sures of Government. It would have been 
 fortunate if reason had been consulted in 
 forming their measures ; then would expla- 
 nations not have been required, neither would 
 complaints have been necessary. 
 
 Major Macdowall also addressed a letter 
 on the same subject to General Gowdie, to 
 which he received the following reply : 
 
 " My dear Sir, 
 
 I have received your letter of the 24th, 
 and can, with the greatest truth, declare, that 
 your conduct, while Deputy Adjutant General 
 under me, has given me the utmost satisfac- 
 tion ; and I must sincerely regret that 
 existing circumstances, of which I am not 
 competent to judge, has deprived me of the 
 services of a man of such sterling ability, 
 for whom I have the strongest personal esteem 
 and regard. 
 
 " I am, my dear Sir, 
 " Your stedfast friend, 
 
 (Signed) " F. Gowdie. 
 
 " Madras t 25th March> 1809. 
 Capt. J. Macdowall."
 
 88 
 
 The foregoing letter is not introduced 
 for the purpose of making any remark on the 
 style, or the orthographical merits which it 
 possesses, but because it affords sufficient 
 proof of the relative situation of a Comman- 
 der in Chief at Madras, at this time ; when a 
 person, holding that high situation, declares 
 himself to be incompetent to judge of the cir- 
 cumstances which had deprived him of the 
 services of an officer whose abilities he con- 
 sidered respectable, and for whom he enter- 
 tained strong personal esteem and regard. It 
 must be inferred either that he was kept in 
 totalignoranceofthosecircumstances,orthat, 
 if communicated to him, he was required to 
 suspend his judgment altogether, even in 
 matters most important to the discharge of 
 the trust reposed in him. The situation of 
 Deputy Adjutant General has always been 
 one of considerable importance; for although, 
 in the presence of his principal, the Deputy 
 bore no immediate responsibility, it frequently 
 occurred that the absence of the principal 
 vested the Deputy with the full and exclusive 
 charge of the office. This was particularly 
 the case with Major M. The Adj utant Gene- 
 ral, Colonel Capper, and the former Deputy, 
 Major Boles, had been removed ; Lieutenant
 
 89 
 
 Colonel Cappage, it is true, had been nomi- 
 nated to the office, but he was in Travancore, 
 far distant from the Presidency ; no accounts 
 had been received from him, and, indeed, 
 there was much reason to suppose, that he 
 would not readily accept, nay, that he would 
 altogether decline, to hold a situation which 
 must be disgraceful, and disreputable, if 
 Colonel Munro, the Quarter Master General, 
 was allowed to continue to meddle with, 
 and derange every department of the office. 
 Thus Major Macdowall was the only person 
 to whom General Gowdie, himself a stranger 
 to detail, could refer on all points relative to 
 recruiting, discipline, courts martial, or 
 clothing of the army, and all other matters 
 belonging to the department of Adjutant 
 General ; yet he was deprived of the services 
 of such a man, at such a time, for reasons 
 that he was either altogether ignorant of, or 
 that he was not competent to judge of. It, 
 however, appeared from some expressions 
 which the General used, w T hen discussing this 
 matter, that the true reason of Major Mac- 
 dowall's removal, was his refusal to hold any 
 communication with Colonel Munro, except 
 on subjects connected with public duty. He 
 had been induced to form this resolution
 
 90 
 
 from an intimate knowledge of the tcent 
 transaction in which Colonel Munro bad 
 borne so conspicuous a part; and, being a man 
 of strict probity and honour, he would not, 
 by threats or promises, be prevailed upon to 
 abandon what he had adopted from principle ; 
 his removal was therefore deemed expedient, 
 in order that a machine of more plastic 
 materials might be placed in his room. The 
 degradation of Lieutenant Stock was equally 
 without excuse; his correctness and assiduity 
 in his public duty, as well as the uprightness 
 and integrity of his private character, had 
 gained this officer the respect and regard of 
 all who knew him ; and he had every pros- 
 pect of rising to distinction on the Staff of 
 the army, had not his situation exposed him 
 to the necessity of making a choice whether 
 to consult his interest at the expense of every 
 feeling of pride and honour, or to follow the 
 dictates of the independent spirit of a gentle- 
 man, equally fearless and careless of the 
 result. Although no admirer of the principles 
 (or more properly) the rules which guided 
 the conduct of Colonel Munro, Lieutenant 
 Stock nevertheless continued to observe the 
 forms of acquaintance with that character, 
 until the period when the interference of the
 
 91 
 
 superior authority shielded him from the 
 impending dangers of public enquiry, and 
 justice ; then, finding that Colonel Munro 
 had eagerly availed himself of the screen, 
 and when concealed behind it, had employed 
 himself in turning against the most respect- 
 able of his brother officers, that power which 
 had saved himself, Lieutenant Stock deemed 
 it unworthy of his character as a gentleman, 
 and an officer, to hold any further intercourse 
 with him. His removal appears to have been 
 resolved on, and his place was filled by a Mr. 
 Maclean, who is looked upon to be one of the 
 most staunch of Colonel Munro' s new 
 friends, as not being likely to decline speaking 
 to him, under any circumstances, so long as 
 the Colonel retains the power either to serve 
 or to injure him. 
 
 Such instances of the abuse of power, 
 and total dereliction of the forms of decency, 
 and of the appearance of justice, which re- 
 pect to the opinion of the world induces 
 even the boldest and most unprincipled rulers 
 to observe, could not fail to increase the 
 odium, and to render more rancorous, the 
 detestation with which the public viewed 
 the authors of these measures. At every 
 station of the army the Convicts, as they
 
 92 
 
 were called, were received with enthusiastic 
 marks of respect and admiration. They were 
 all men of good reputation, and having made 
 willing sacrifice of all their temporal interests, 
 and personal views, in order to preserve 
 their principles and their honor, they were 
 hailed asinnocentandmuchhonoured victims, 
 immolated on the altar of a cabal, who had 
 endeavoured to introduce a system of tyranny 
 and corruption, more base and vile than any 
 that could be found in the records of British 
 India. Such was the language that was im- 
 prudently used in every society; and those who 
 iil led the parts of delators and spies had abun- 
 dant means of manifesting their diligence. But 
 the employment of such people was more 
 likely to increase than correct the evil ; the 
 presence of spies and tale - bearers rather 
 irritate those whom they are intended to 
 restrain ; and their existence, by proving the 
 impurity of the system that maintains them, 
 serves only to increase the want of respect, 
 and the detestation from which their em- 
 ployers seek protection in them. A radical 
 change in the system, or a removal of some 
 of the causes of uneasiness, could alone 
 assuage the discontent, or appease the irrita- 
 tion, that had thus been wantonly cherished^
 
 93 
 
 and gradually matured almost into an open 
 schism. The hope that any reformatioii 
 would originate at Madras, was nearly 
 extinct ; and those who had looked with, 
 sanguine expectations, to the good effects 
 Which might have been produced by the 
 active interference of the supreme Govern- 
 ment, experienced the most serious disap- 
 pointment, from a communication which 
 proved, that the Governor General had been 
 grossly deceived, and that he had adopted 
 opinions which precluded all prospect that 
 he would either institute any enquiry re- 
 specting the causes which had led to the 
 embarrassments, of which Sir George Barlow 
 complained, or that he would, by the exer- 
 cise of his authority, prevent any further 
 discussion on one side, or prosecution on the 
 other. 
 
 It is highly probable, that, at the period 
 to which the narrative is now arrived, the 
 interposition of the immediate authority of 
 the Governor General would have been fully 
 effectual. At all events, the same measures 
 would have had greater weight at that period 
 than at any subsequent one. Indeed, the 
 infatuation on both sides appears already to 
 have proceeded to such length, that it seems
 
 94 
 
 doubtful whether any thing short of the" 
 presence of the Governor General could 
 now restore even moderation. Instead of 
 benefiting by the experience which the 
 effects of his former acts have afforded, Sir 
 George Barlow now appears to have lost the 
 recollection of what has passed, and all 
 sensibility to what is passing around him; he 
 seems to have put his judgment into com- 
 mission, and distrusting his own mental 
 powers, exercised hitherto on foreign subjects, 
 to depend implicitlyon external advice. Much 
 of his attention having been given to the study 
 of the Hindoo and Mohammedan systems 
 of jurisprudence, and to the formation of 
 regulations for the Government of Asiatics, 
 among whom the name of liberty is not 
 understood, neither has the idea existed for 
 ages ; it would seem that this study has 
 obliterated what he mav ever have known 
 of the characters and dispositions of his 
 fellow subjects of Britain, whose ancestors, 
 after they had submitted to the Roman Go- 
 vernment, were described by Tacitus in words 
 to the following effect : " The Britons are 
 " a people who pay their taxes and obey the 
 " laws with pleasure, provided no arbitrary 
 " and illegal demands are made upon them ;
 
 95 
 
 vt but these they cannot bear without the 
 " greatest impatience, for they are only 
 " reduced to the state of subjects, not of 
 " slaves." 
 
 That Britons of the 19th century are 
 equally free, and equally impatient of arbi- 
 trary and illegal impositions, as were their 
 ancestors of the 2nd or 3rd century, is a fact 
 that will not be doubted by any except those, 
 who may have allowed the study of foreign 
 constitutions to eradicate from their minds the 
 knowledge of that of their own country. The 
 sentiments of the Governor General re- 
 specting the state of affairs at Madras, were, 
 in the month of March, communicated to 
 the several stations under the Madras Go- 
 vernment, to each of which an extract of a 
 letter from the supreme Government, dated 
 20th February, 1809, was sent for general 
 information. In this letter the conduct" of 
 General Macdowall is severely reprehended, 
 and it is stated <l that the impropriety of 
 his conduct has been aggravated by his 
 placing Colonel Munro under arrest, after 
 the Judge Advocate General's official decla- 
 ration of the illegality of the charges, and by 
 his refusal to take off the arrest, after the
 
 96 
 
 officers who had so irregularly and discredit- 
 ably preferred the charges against Colonel 
 Munro had, in consequence of the Judge 
 Advocate General's declared sentiments, 
 regarding their illegality, requested the Com- 
 mander in Chief to suspend the prosecution 
 of them." Some further animadversions on 
 the conduct of General Macdowall, and an 
 unequivocal approbation of the steps which 
 the Madras Government adopted towards 
 that officer, compose the whole of the 
 extract. Not a word is mentioned respecting 
 the dismissal from office, and the suspension 
 of Colonel Capper and Major Boles. From 
 this it appeared evident, that, although Lord 
 Minto could not approve of the measures 
 which had been adopted towards those 
 officers, detailed as they were only by the 
 opposite party, and represented no doubt in 
 colours the most favourable to the cause of 
 that party, still he had received, with full 
 force, the impressions which itwasthe interest 
 of the local Government to convey, respect- 
 ing the motives and the conduct of General 
 Macdowall ; and, acting under those impres- 
 sions, had assumed a prejudice on the subject, 
 which must render it every day more diffi- 
 cult for him to view the question with impar-
 
 97 
 
 tiality. This prejudice, or this impression, 
 (or whatever it may be called) appears to 
 have prevented the Governor General from 
 hazarding any remark respecting the cases 
 of Colonel Capper and Major Boles, being 
 desirous not to disapprove, even when he 
 could not applaud. The officers of the 
 Madras Army therefore perceived, that the 
 cause of those much-injured men, which 
 was in effect the cause of every man holding 
 a commission in the Company's Service, was 
 utterly disregarded ; they learned, with the 
 deepest concern and uneasiness, that there 
 were no hopes of redress from that quarter, 
 to which alone they could have looked with 
 any prospect of success. For it were vain to 
 expect consideration from their more imme- 
 diate superiors, at this instant, deceived 
 as they whereby a set of men, whose powers, 
 and whose enormous emoluments, had been 
 derived from, and were supported by, the 
 same causes, that injured and alienated the 
 minds of the most respectable part of the 
 community. 
 
 It is not easy to account for the hardi- 
 hood with which the enemies of General 
 Macdowall endeavoured to crush him, by 
 u ing misrepresentation, the falsehood of 
 
 H
 
 98 
 
 which it must be impossible for them to con- 
 ceal, however they may prevaricate and dis- 
 guise it. From the letter of the supreme 
 Government it appears, that General Mac- 
 dowall was represented as having urged the 
 arrest of Lieutenant Colonel Munro, in 
 defiance of the Judge Advocate General's 
 official declaration of the illegality of the 
 charges, and of a request to the contrary 
 from the officers who had preferred the 
 charges. This assertion, as has been already 
 stated, was altogether false and groundless. 
 The arguments of the Judge Advocate Gene- 
 ral, however specious, were not considered 
 to be conclusive, from the causes that have 
 been before noticed ; and, in fact, the arrest 
 of Colonel Munro w T as immediately caused 
 by an appeal which was made against the 
 Judge Advocate General's opinion to the 
 authority of the Commander in Chief, and 
 to the articles of war. It is probable, that 
 General Macdowall's enemies did not suppose 
 that the detection of this misrepresentation 
 would take place so soon, and imagined, as he 
 was gone from India, that the power which 
 they possessed would enable them to stifle 
 any efforts that might be made to vindicate 
 his cause. At all events, it was pretty certain
 
 99 
 
 that the advantage which they could use of 
 representing the subject in the manner most 
 advantageous to themselves, would establish 
 a prejudice in their favour, which would pro- 
 duce the conclusion they desired, before any 
 discussion could take place regarding the 
 original merits of the question. Moreover, 
 it is not impossible that Sir George Barlow 
 was himself deceived, by those whose inte- 
 rest it was to vilify General Macdowall, and 
 whose chief object it was to retain, even for 
 the present, the ascendant which they had 
 acquired. Wherever the deceit may have ori- 
 ginated, it was manifest that it had the full 
 effect with the Governor General; and, there- 
 fore, that he was strongly prejudiced against 
 any representation which could at this period 
 be made to him, relative to the new predica- 
 ment in which the Company's officers were 
 placed; of being liable to lose their commis- 
 sions at the beck of any time-serving syco- 
 phant about the Government. Such must 
 literally be considered the situation of every 
 officer in the Company's service, if Colonel 
 Leith's ex-post -facto opinion be admitted, to 
 justify the dismissal of Colonel Capper and 
 Major Boles. It is scarcely possible to sup- 
 pose an act less likely to produce the ior- 
 
 n 2
 
 100 
 
 feiture of a military commission, than the 
 performance of a work (not manifestly 
 illegal) under the express and peremptory 
 order of the Commander in Chief in person. 
 But, whatever may be the occasion chosen 
 for the removal and ruin of a person who 
 may become obnoxious to a favourite, the 
 head of a government, possessing great 
 patronage, and great power, will always 
 find an advocate to justify the measure. 
 Deplorable indeed is the condition of persons 
 obliged to live under such a system. It will 
 not excite wonder in the minds of English- 
 men, and particularly of those who consider 
 the military profession to be the soil most 
 congenial to the growth of honourable 
 pride, and liberal principles, if the contem- 
 plation of such a picture occasioned to the 
 officers of the Madras Army, an anxiety and 
 uneasiness approaching to despair. They 
 had, for a commission to be held until they 
 forfeited it by the breach of some known 
 law, (quamdiu bene se gesserintj relin- 
 quished the society, almost the acquaintance, 
 of their dearest relations, the comforts and 
 innumerable pleasures of residing in their 
 native country ; they had devoted themselves 
 to the duties of an arduous and dangerous
 
 101 
 
 profession, in a foreign and unhealthy cli- 
 mate, and they now learned, for the first 
 time, that these commissions could be taken 
 from them without any form of trial, or 
 enquiry whatever; that, after losing the 
 commission, they might be most arbitrarily 
 prevented from proceeding to Europe to lay 
 their case before the Court of Directors ; that 
 their* friends and acquaintances might be 
 punished for associating with them ; and 
 that, under the pressure of these calamities, 
 deprived of a profession, of the means of 
 subsistence, except what charity gave, and 
 even of the consolation to be derived from 
 the condolence of friends, they dared not 
 even entertain the hope of being permitted 
 to appeal to the superior authority in India. 
 Such were the reflections of the officers 
 after they had considered the substance of the 
 letter from the Supreme Government ; and 
 there were few who would not have cheer- 
 fully sacrificed every prospect in life, rather 
 than remain in possession of a doubtful pro- 
 perty. There were not any who doubted the 
 success of a regular appeal to the Honourable 
 the Court of Directors, from whose uniform 
 justice, if the case came fairly before them, 
 it might be reasonably expected that redress
 
 102 
 
 would be given for the injuries that had 
 already been inflicted on many individuals in 
 the army, as well as on the whole body col- 
 lectively ; also, that adequate punishment 
 would fall on the heads of those, whose abuse 
 of the power entrusted to them had estranged 
 the affections of a respectable and numerous 
 body of meritorious and faithful servants. 
 But the means to prevent appeal from reach- 
 ing the Court of Directors had been so rigo- 
 rously used, and thoj-e which could effect 
 the previous arrival of the ex-parte narrative, 
 had been so industriously adopted, one by the 
 misrepresentation to the Supreme Govern- 
 ment, and the detention of Major Boles, and 
 the other by the special mission of Mr. 
 Buchan to England, that little hope existed 
 of redress by representation. The situation of 
 Major Boles appeared, therefore, to be en- 
 titled to the greatest commiseration, and to 
 merit every species of alleviation, which it 
 was in the power of his brother officers to 
 afford, doubtful, as it now was, whether his 
 fate might not be decided on in England, 
 before the representation of his case, or even 
 his memorial, could reach his judges. 
 
 It was therefore proposed, that a sub- 
 scription should be raised, by voluntary con^
 
 103 
 
 tribution from the officers of the army, for 
 the purpose of relieving Major Boles and his 
 family from the imminent distress which 
 awaited them. The propriety of this measure 
 was so self-evident, that it met with univer- 
 sal approbation, and almost every officer who 
 had an opportunity, testified, in the most 
 unequivocal manner, his eagerness to parti- 
 cipate in a work, which, while it gratified 
 the personal feelings of each individual, did 
 not appear likely to incur the open displea- 
 sure of the powerful prosecutors of Major 
 Boles ; as it merely and exclusively implied, 
 that the officers, thus subscribing, had agreed 
 to appropriate a portion of their property to 
 the relief of a much-respected individual, 
 whose distresses had been brought on, not 
 by any act which could detract from the 
 respect which had before attached to his 
 character, as an officer or gentleman, but by 
 a new and extravagant interpretation of the 
 duty of an officer, holding a subordinate 
 situation ; an interpretation so monstrous in 
 itself, that the authors of it deemed it not 
 to be susceptible of justification by any com- 
 mon reasoning, but to require the ambiguous 
 aid of metaphysical sophistry, which has been
 
 104 
 
 so dexterously applied, that every proposition 
 has been positively proved in favour of the side 
 on which it was offered, by arguments which 
 have, however, failed to convince the mind 
 of any one impartial reader. 
 
 The enemies of General Macdowall 
 being determined, while they possessed the 
 power, to subdue every attempt that might be 
 made to favour any of those who were con- 
 cerned with him on the present occasion, 
 immediately took the alarm, when they found 
 the cause of Major Boles so generally popu- 
 lar. Means were therefore immediately used 
 to induce the officers, who had subscribed, to 
 withhold their contributions, and to deter 
 others from subscribing. In consequence of 
 the threats held out in this way, the officers 
 of two regiments, (not in the company's ser- 
 vice) withdrew their names from the list, 
 wherein they had subscribed. However, a 
 great proportion of officers addressed a letter 
 to Major Boles, expressing their concern for 
 the unmerited punishment he had suffered, 
 and their resolution to form a fund for the 
 purpose of relieving him from the distresses 
 with which he was now threatened, for an act 
 which they were bound to approve ; as every 
 individual felt the conviction, that he should
 
 105 
 
 conscientiously have followed the same course, 
 if he had been placed in the same predicament 
 that Major Boles was. 
 
 An avowal thus unequivocal, that the 
 measure of Government was deemed unjust 
 and illegal, was not made without much 
 painful reluctance and regret ; but necessity 
 obliged a body of honourable men to adopt 
 the*only alternative which now remained, to 
 avert their utter degradation. A commission, 
 which could at will be destroyed by the caprice 
 of a prej udiced individual, was not worth hold- 
 ing, and the danger to which all were exposed 
 by arbitrary conduct, had made men bold, 
 because it united them in a common cause. 
 
 The letter having been addressed to 
 Major Boles,* a copy of it was sent for the 
 information of Sir G. Barlow, by an officer 
 belonging to his personal staff, who, con- 
 sistently with the honourable principles that 
 had uniformly distinguished him, disdained 
 to conceal, for a moment, an act which he 
 thought it proper to perform ; or to continue 
 even nominally to hold any situation imme- 
 diately under a person whose public measures 
 he considered to merit reproach. This 
 officer was deservedly held in high estimation. 
 
 * Appendix K.
 
 106 
 
 The reputation of his activity, his zeal for 
 the public service, and his professional 
 abilities, had awakened the notice even of 
 Sir G. Barlow. Accordingly, when the 
 preparations were making for the invasion 
 of Travancore, this officer was, by desire 
 of the Governor, informed, that his assist- 
 ance on the scene of active operations would 
 be very desirable. He therefore, without 
 any prospect of advantage beyond the satis- 
 faction which an officer derives from the 
 faithful discharge of his duty, left the Pre- 
 sidency, and proceeded to Travancore, 
 where he was at the time the letter was 
 addressed to Major Boles ; and it was from 
 thence he transmitted his resignation of the 
 staff- situation he had held ; accompanied by 
 a copy of the letter, which, as he informed 
 Lieutenant Colonel Barclay, the Governor's 
 Secretary, bore his signature, as well as 
 that of several other officers. 
 
 A proceeding so disinterested, so manly, 
 and so strongly indicating an high sense of 
 pure honor, might have been expected to 
 assuage all malignity, even though the mea- 
 sure might not in itself be approved. It was 
 like the crime of Orpheus : 
 
 " Ignoscenda quidem, scirent si ignoscere Manes."
 
 107 
 
 And those who have passed judgment on it 
 have acted as the powers below did with 
 respect to the Musician, whose celebrity has 
 furnished the allusion. 
 
 The receipt of this communication 
 occasioned a considerable degree of com- 
 motion at the Presidency. The party there 
 had, from the first, been desirous to make 
 the 'world believe that the discontent, and 
 disgust at their measures, were confined 
 exclusively to a few individuals, the friends 
 of General Macdowall. They had now 
 introduced a set of men into the principal 
 situations, who would abet the doctrines 
 that were prescribed ; and matters appeared 
 to have got into such a train as would ren- 
 der it practicable to verify, and establish, 
 whatever story might appear most likely to 
 accomplish their ends. The letter to Major 
 Boles, as it had many signatures of persons 
 in all ranks, and at all stations, at once dis- 
 sipated the hopes that had been formed on 
 that score ; and, after some days deliberation, 
 it was resolved, that General Gowdie should 
 be employed to announce to the army a 
 circumstance which it was in vain any 
 longer to affect ignorance of. The Com- 
 mander in Chief accordingly circulated to
 
 108 
 
 officers in command of stations, a letter, 
 which seems to consist of the arguments of 
 Colonel Leith, in the language of General 
 Gowdie. Some parts of it deserve particular 
 notice ; they shall therefore be remarked 
 upon at a future period. 
 
 For some time past, much uneasiness 
 has been felt respecting the state of the 
 garrison of Masulipatam. It appears that 
 the vessel in which Captain Marshall pro- 
 ceeded to Vizagapatam stopped at Masuli- 
 patam for a week, in the course of which 
 Captain Marshall was invited to, and dined 
 at, the mess of the Madras European Regi- 
 ment, on which account Captain Andrews 
 was superseded. Lieutenant Colonel James 
 Innes was sent from the Presidency to take 
 the command, and furnished with instruc- 
 tions to rebuke the officers, and to report 
 any circumstances which he might discover, 
 that could lead to the punishment of any of 
 them. The selection of Colonel lnnes for a 
 duty of this description excited the greatest 
 astonishment in all who knew him ; and 
 his conduct there has confirmed all the 
 alarms which were felt. Several letters, 
 containing accusations and recriminations, 
 have been received from that station ; and 
 
 * Appendix L.
 
 109 
 
 it is much to be feared that some orders, 
 which General Gowdie has given, will pro- 
 duce some desperate outrage. The smallest 
 spark at this time may cause an explosion 
 that will shake, to the foundation, the prin- 
 ciples of the authority which attaches India 
 to Britain. The apprehension, dreadful as 
 it is* cannot now be slighted. The measures 
 pursued have, by gradual operation, raised 
 jn the minds of all the military a most 
 universal hatred, mingied with contempt, 
 which renders them indifferent as to conse- 
 quences ; and in this state of things 
 the same system is followed ; each previous 
 act of injustice seems countenanced by the 
 enormity of that which succeeds it; the 
 disposition to forbearance is nearly worn out 
 on the side of the army, and the com- 
 munity are now under the awful expectation 
 of some dreadful catastrophe. 
 
 Adieu ! 
 
 LETTER IV. 
 
 Madras, \5tb July, 1809. 
 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 The deplorable crisis is at 
 length arrived, and the Governor of Madras
 
 110 
 
 has made the fatal discovery, that there is a 
 limit beyond which oppression will not be 
 borne even by the most submissive. Recent 
 accounts from Masulipatam mention, that 
 an attempt to disperse the officers of the 
 Madras European Regiment, and to draft the 
 men, had produced a disobedienee of the 
 orders of Government, and that Lieutenant 
 Colonel Innes, whose measures do not 
 appear to have been conducted with much 
 judgment, had been superseded in his com- 
 mand by the garrison. Lieutenant Colonel 
 Malcolm has in consequence been sent from 
 the Presidency, with special instructions to 
 adjust the differences which unhappily pre- 
 vail there : all honest men must wish him 
 success, and none can own a contrary sen- 
 timent, but who hope that the after acts of 
 the army may afford a seeming pretext for 
 the system preceding. 
 
 In order that the causes and progress of 
 the principal transactions may be clearly 
 perceived, it will be necessary that the nar- 
 rative should proceed regularly; for these 
 events, so important in themselves, of so 
 much moment to the East India Company, 
 and to the mother country, will be found 
 to have arisen from causes apparently tri^
 
 Ill 
 
 fling, but each forming part of a system of 
 measures unprecedented in any former Go- 
 vernment, unwarranted by the circum- 
 stances of the period, and unjustifiable by 
 any of the principles which ought to regulate 
 the Government of an extensive eommunitv 
 of enlightened men. 
 
 Towards the end of April, the circular 
 letter from General Gowdie, dated the 10th 
 of April, had been received at the principal 
 stations of the army, when certain parts of 
 it excited feelings very different from those 
 which it was intended to produce. The 
 Major General, after stating that " he depre- 
 cates the discussion in general orders, of 
 odious and indelicate questions," proceeds 
 to comment on the particular case of Major 
 Boles, in the following words: " As com- 
 " passion for Major Boles may have drawn 
 " in the officers to the measure, I think it 
 " proper to explain that Major Boles has, 
 " in my opinion, deprived himself of any 
 " particular claim to feelings of that nature. 
 " It had never been, I was persuaded, the 
 " intention of Government to deal severely 
 " with that officer; but only to vindicate 
 " that respect due to their own authority, 
 " which every Government must be anxious
 
 112 
 
 " to maintain. And, accordingly, (but 
 " without any instructions to that effect) 
 " soon after my succeeding to the command, 
 " I took the occasion to signify to Major 
 " Boles, that if he would express any ade- 
 " quate regret for what he had done ; as, that 
 " when he affixed his signature to the order, 
 " he was not aware of the consequence, 
 " and thought he was acting right without 
 " meaning any offence to Government, but 
 " was now sorry for what had happened ; I 
 " would make it my business to get him 
 " reinstated in his rank and official situation ; 
 " but this explanation, so natural to haye 
 " been expected, and which included in it 
 " no personal concession of character, was 
 " rejected, (and not without some warmth) 
 " by his exclaiming, that he was sorry for 
 " nothing that had happened, or words to 
 " that effect." The avowal of modesty, 
 " which deprecated the discussion of odious 
 and delicate questions," did not excite more 
 surprize in the minds of those who had per- 
 sonal knowledge of the timid delicacy which 
 marked the Major General's sentiments and 
 manner, than the malicious attempt to injure 
 Major Boles did indignation in all who read 
 the paragraph above quoted. It is impos-
 
 113 
 
 bible to contemplate, with any degree of 
 gravity, the rhodomontade that is displayed 
 in it. Major General Gowdie who, on the 
 24th of March, publicly declared his incom- 
 petency to judge of the circumstances which 
 deprived him of the services of Major Mac- 
 do wall, whose conduct a6 Deputy Adjutant 
 General he had highly approved, this Gene- 
 ral, on the 10th of April, states, in all the 
 pomp of substantive authority, that he was 
 persuaded theGovernmenthad neverintended 
 to deal severely with Major Boles, and that, 
 upon certain conditions, he, Major General 
 Gowdie, would make it his business to get 
 Major Boles reinstated, &c. Such profes- 
 sions, however well they might appear at 
 first view in an official communication, were 
 calculated to produce a feeling very different 
 from respect among the officers of the army, 
 who were perfectly acquainted with the 
 extent of General Gowdie's influence, as 
 Commander in Chief. But the bitterest 
 indignation of these officers was raised, when 
 they found, that he who had for many years 
 enjoyed the opportunity of associating with 
 men of honourable principles and generous 
 sentiments, had lent his name, and the shadow 
 of authority, which was allowed him, for 
 
 c
 
 114 
 
 the purpose of completing the ruin of an 
 individual, whose greatest imputed crime 
 might, according to the General's acknow- 
 ledgment, have been expiated by his saving, 
 " He was sorry" And when they considered 
 the insidious insinuation, which was intended 
 to prevent them from relieving the wants 
 of Major Boles, by deceiving them into the 
 belief that he had been contumacious, 
 although General Gowdie was perfectly 
 aware that Major Boles could not consis- 
 tently, either with principle, or with duty, 
 originate any apology, or express his con- 
 trition in any other terms than those he had 
 already used, for an act which it would 
 have been criminal in him to have declined. 
 However, the disposition and character of 
 Major Boles were too well known to 
 admit of any credit being given to this insi- 
 nuation, and, upon the whole, the letter of 
 General Gowdie did much mischief. In allu- 
 sion to one of the expressions contained in 
 it, it was called the odious and indelicate 
 production, and served as an object of much 
 ribaldry and jocular mirth. 
 
 About this period, a circumstance 
 occurred, which gave another proof of the 
 relative situation of the head of the military
 
 115 
 
 establishment, and afforded a further eluci- 
 dation of the terms upon which Major 
 General Gowdie was fain to bear the no- 
 minal title of Commander in Chief. At the 
 time he succeeded to the command, his kins- 
 man, Lieutenant John Wilson, held the situa- 
 tion of personal Aid-de-Camp to himself; but 
 as he* hoped soon to be able to procure a more 
 advantageous situation for Lieutenant Wil- 
 son, he gave a positive promise that Lieu- 
 tenant J. Scott, Adjutant of the 1st battalion, 
 22nd Native regiment, should be appointed 
 his Aid-de-Camp ; accordingly, when Lieu- 
 tenant Wilson was appointed Assistant Adju- 
 tant General to the Northern division, Lieu- 
 tenant Scott and his friends expected that 
 he would be called to the Presidency, 
 to the family of Major General Gowdie ; 
 they therefore experienced great surprise 
 and chagrin on finding that General Gow- 
 die's promise could not bejtept, and that 
 Lieutenant Scott could not be appointed. 
 This information was communicated by a 
 letter from General Gowdie, in which he 
 expressed much concern on account of not 
 being able to fulfil his engagement, as the 
 Governor, Sir G. Barlow, had told him that 
 he could not permit Lieutenant Scott to get 
 
 i 2
 
 116 
 
 any appointment, because his name was 
 among the signatures to a certain memorial, 
 which had some months before been addressed 
 to the Court of Directors. The General 
 notices, that he is obliged to take into his 
 family, as Aid -de-Camp, Lieutenant Walker, 
 a man whom he had not seen, and of whom 
 he knew nothing further, than that he was 
 a relation, or dependant, on Lieutenant 
 Colonel Barclay, the Town Major, and 
 Military Secretary to Sir G. Barlow. This 
 explanation fully acquitted General Gowdie 
 to Lieutenant Scott, and his friends, of any 
 intentional breach of his word in failing to 
 fulfil his promise ; but afforded to all the 
 army an opportunity of remarking the strik- 
 ing contrast which existed between the actual 
 power possessed by him, and that which he 
 vaunted forth in the letter respecting Major 
 Boles. He therein professes not only his 
 ability to, reinstate, but intimates, that he 
 was in some sort informed of the intentions 
 of Government, when they suspended that 
 officer, without meaning to deal severely with 
 him. Such a contradiction produced conclu- 
 sions not very favourable to the General. 
 
 The latter events which have been men- 
 tioned, Were not calculated to produce any
 
 117 
 
 convulsion among the officers of the army, 
 although they served to rivet more strongly 
 in their minds the sentiments of detestation 
 and abhorrence with which they viewed the 
 prevailing system, and its authors. Of the 
 same description were the vexatious mea- 
 sures adopted respecting Lieutenant Colonel 
 Sentleger and Captain James Grant : they 
 were* considered merely vexatious towards 
 individuals ; and the horror which was felt 
 at the prospect of the consequences that 
 might result from manifesting resentment 
 so frequently as occasion was given for it, 
 accompanied by the hope that it might yet 
 be possible to prevent an open rupture, and 
 that regular order might subsist, until a 
 decision on the great question might be 
 received from Europe, induced the moderate 
 to inculcate forbearance, and disposed all to 
 practice it. Nearly three months had at 
 this time elapsed, since the departure of 
 General Macdowall ; it might, therefore, 
 reasonably be hoped that he was now well 
 advanced on his way to England; and as 
 Colonel Capper had joined him at Ceylon, 
 that the common superiors of the parties 
 in dissension might, through the means of 
 those officers, obtain a fair statement of
 
 118 
 
 circumstances, or such at least as might 
 enable them to form an equitable judgment 
 on the cases of Colonel Capper and Major 
 Boles : all these considerations operated 
 strongly, and their influence produced a 
 calm which only felt temporary interruption 
 from the occasional acts which Sir G. 
 Barlow exercised towards those individuals, 
 whose principles, or firmness, had rendered 
 them obnoxious to him, or his minions. At 
 the Presidency, it is true, the alarm was with- 
 out intermission. The number of spies, who 
 were interspersed through all ranks of soci- 
 ety, most effectually extirpated general con- 
 fidence, and introduced a suspicious coldness 
 that was much increased by the presence of 
 persons whose conduct and character had 
 hitherto kept them at a distance, but who, 
 availing themselves of the encouragement 
 given to the qualities which they respectively 
 possessed, now found their way into every 
 circle, and effectually contaminated the cur- 
 rent of social intercourse, by the suspicion 
 with which each looked upon his neighbour. 
 All tliis tended to increase that sullen gloom 
 which arose from contemplating the unpre- 
 cedented daily acts that have rendered this 
 period an epoch in the annals of British India.
 
 119 
 
 Yet, while those feelings prevailed at 
 Madras, the societies at out-stations enjoyed 
 a comparative degree of tranquillity ; for, 
 although they were perpetually disturbed 
 by accounts of the transactions of the Pre- 
 sidency, still they experienced that sort of 
 satisfaction and comfort which arises from 
 mutual confidence and good understanding. 
 The * most strict obedience and attention 
 were still paid to every part of public duty, 
 notwithstanding the freedom with which all 
 thought, and spoke, of certain characters in 
 high situations, Indeed, subordination and 
 good conduct prevailed so much, that Sir 
 G. Barlow, and his advisers, affected still to 
 consider the great body of the officers as 
 indifferent, or in some sort reconciled to his 
 measures; and, relying upon the proverbial 
 submissiveness and discipline which had ever 
 distinguished the Coast army, he resolved 
 on a fatal measure, which struck at every 
 principle of feeling and pride, which attached 
 the officers to their profession. There is rea- 
 son to suppose, that Sir G. Barlow might still 
 have avoided the destructive course he took, 
 had he not been betrayed by false misrepre- 
 sentations, and driven blindfold into the 
 snare, by the creatures in whose power he
 
 120 
 
 actually was, without being aware of it. 
 They could not entertain the hope of retain- 
 ing their ill-deserved stations, if matters re* 
 mained quiet, or if those individuals who 
 felt an interest about their profession, and 
 whose judgment could not be bought off, 
 were allowed to represent their situation 
 in any way. 
 
 Such appear to have been the motives 
 and the means by which Sir G. Barlow was 
 led to adopt an act, most injudicious, impoli- 
 tic, and rash. This was the suspension of 
 four officers from the service the removal 
 of two from important commands and 
 that of two others from staff situations as 
 announced in the general order, under date 
 the 1st of May, to which unfortunate pro- 
 duction is to be ascribed every singular pro- 
 ceeding which has since taken place in the 
 army, as well as those which are still to be 
 apprehended, unless some fortunate occur- 
 rence intervene to produce a change in the 
 system. 
 
 No description would be adequate to 
 convey an idea of the agitation which the 
 receipt of this general order produced at all 
 the army stations. From its melancholy 
 effects, however, it will be easy to judge ;
 
 121 
 
 but, previous to mentioning them, it will 
 be proper to advert to the particular passages 
 of the order itself. 
 
 The order commences with a studied 
 eulogium on the long-established zeal and 
 discipline of the Madras army, of which 
 the Governor seems to have formed an idea 
 rather hyperbolical ; for it is stated, that 
 they induced an expectation that the sus- 
 pension of Colonel Capper and Major Boles, 
 would be received with respect and obedience. 
 The natural infirmity of mankind renders 
 it impossible that the persons selected to fill 
 the various departments of Government 
 should be perfect : it therefore becomes 
 necessary to the maintenance of order, and 
 it is a maxim in the constitution of civilized 
 nations, that obedience shall, in the first 
 instance, be paid to all orders proceeding 
 from the authorities regularly constituted, 
 although those orders may in themselves be 
 unjust. But neither law nor reason can 
 pretend to exact from men, possessing any 
 idea of civil liberty, respect towards acts of 
 positive injustice. Such doctrine is calcu- 
 lated only for the nations of India, amongst 
 whom respect consists in gesticulation and 
 outward forms ; and with whom it may
 
 122 
 
 possibly be proper to enforce various laws, 
 that Englishmen could not understand, and 
 certainly would not conform to. 
 
 The general order proceeds to notice, 
 that proceedings of an unjustifiable nature 
 had taken place subsequent to the departure 
 of General Macdowall ; and to state, that 
 the most reprehensible of those proceedings 
 was, the preparation of remonstrances to 
 the Governor General, on the subject of the 
 late proceedings at Madras ; in the prepara- 
 tion and circulation of which paper Captain 
 Marshall and Lieutenant Colonel Martin are 
 stated to have been principally concerned. 
 Lieutenant Colonel Sentleger and Major de 
 Morgan are said to have been active in the 
 circulation of it. 
 
 The general order then notices the ad- 
 dress to Major Boles (which has already 
 been mentioned); and this address is said 
 to have been forced on the attention of the 
 Governor by Captain James Grant. The 
 circulation of this paper, at the Mount, is 
 said to have been promoted by Lieutenant 
 Robert Bell, of Artillerv : and Lieutenant 
 Colonels Chalmers and Cuppage, are men- 
 tioned as having taken no steps to repress,, 
 or to report, the proceedings pursued by
 
 123 
 
 the part of the troops under their orders. 
 Captain J. M. Coombs is also noticed as 
 having been concerned in these reprehensible 
 proceedings. 
 
 Then follows the expression of the dis- 
 pleasure of the Governor in Council, in 
 terms perfectly unequivocal, as they declare 
 the suspension from the service of 
 
 Lieut. Colonel the Hon. A. Sentleger; 
 
 Major J. de Morgan ; 
 
 Captain J. Marshall ; and 
 
 Captain J. Grant ; 
 The removal from military charge and com- 
 mand of Lieutenant Colonels Robert Bell 
 and Chalmers, and the removal from their 
 staff situations of Lieutenant Colonel J. 
 Cuppage, Adjutant General, and Captain 
 J. M. Coombs, Assistant Quarter Master 
 General, in Mysore. 
 
 After a short explanation of the pow- 
 ers of the Governor, Sir G. Barlow expresses 
 his satisfaction in publishing his conviction 
 that the majority of the army had resisted 
 all participation in the proceedings described 
 in the order, and his approbation of the 
 conduct of the troops in his Majesty's ser- 
 vice. 
 
 The concluding paragraph contains a
 
 124 
 
 passage equally pernicious as any part of the 
 order, and which first gave rise to the pro- 
 ceedings that have followed. The passage 
 is as follows : 
 
 " The information before the Govern- 
 " ment, does not enable the Governor in 
 " Council to distinguish, by the expression 
 " of his approbation, all the troops of the 
 " Company's service that have manifested 
 " the same disposition (as those of his Ma- 
 " jesty's service) ; but he deems it to be 
 " proper to notice, on this occasion, the 
 " satisfactory and exemplary conduct of the 
 " part of the army composing the Hydrabad 
 " subsidiary force." 
 
 Such is the order of the 1st of May ; 
 which, whatever be its intrinsic merits, has 
 produced consequences that must ever be 
 regretted by all who feel an interest in the 
 welfare of Britain, but particularly by those 
 who wish well to the establishment of the 
 East India Company. 
 
 The terms of the order are so positive, 
 and the punishment which it announces, is 
 so severe and exemplary, that any disin- 
 terested person, upon the first perusal of the 
 order, will take it for granted, that the facts 
 alleged against each individual, were fully
 
 125 
 
 proved, or at least that they were susceptible 
 of proof. However, it was known to all, 
 that no public inquiry whatever had taken 
 place; that none of the parties had any oppor- 
 tunity of defending themselves against the 
 informations that had been procured through 
 the vilest channels ; and to many it was 
 known, that the allegations were not only 
 without proof, but that they were scanda- 
 lously unfounded and false. 
 
 On recovering from the shock which 
 the publication of the order produced, peo* 
 pie began to consider the circumstances of 
 the case, which were universally known to 
 the following extent: 
 
 On the 11th April, Captain Barlow, 
 Aid-de-Camp to Sir G. Barlow, came to 
 the Military Board office, with a summons 
 for three young men, two of whom were 
 employed in the office, and the third had 
 been in the private employ of Captain Mar- 
 shall, as Secretary to the Military Fund. 
 These being seized by Captain Barlow, 
 were taken to the Council Chamber, and 
 examined, on oath, by Mr. Anstruther, 
 the Company's Advocate, in presence of 
 Sir G. Barlow, Mr. A. Falconar, Lieutenant 
 Colonel Leith, and Captain Barlow. The
 
 126 
 
 result of the examination of these persons 
 was, that a paper addressed to the Governor 
 General had been copied in the office of the 
 Secretary of the Military Board, and two or 
 three were taken from two drafts in the 
 hand-writing of Lieutenant Colonel Martin 
 and Captain J. Marshall, according to the 
 belief of the deponents respectively. Various 
 interrogations were made respecting the per- 
 sons who visited Captain Marshall in the 
 office, and the manner in which he conversed 
 with them, whether in a public or retired 
 part of the office, &c. (for Captain Marshall 
 continued to do duty in the Military Board 
 office until the 10th of March, although he 
 had been officially removed from it by order, 
 dated the 7th of February.) However, no 
 information was obtained that could in any 
 way corroborate, or add, to that which has 
 been noticed. Yet, upon such information, 
 have Lieutenant Colonel Martin and Captain 
 Marshall been publicly vilified and stig- 
 matized, in the public newspapers of Madras, 
 Bengal, and Bombay. Neither of them has 
 been allowed any opportunity of pleading 
 against the accusation ; Lieutenant Colonel 
 Martin having sailed for England on the 1st 
 of March, and Captain Marshall haying
 
 127 
 
 been seized at Vizagapatam, sent on board 
 the Asia Indiaman, for the purpose of being 
 transported to Bengal, and, ultimately, to 
 Europe. However, the hardships to which 
 it was intended that Captain Marshall should 
 be exposed, were increased by the wreck 
 of the Asia in the river Hughlev: on which 
 occasion he lost the greatest part of die 
 property which he had been able to collect 
 at the time he was seized at Vizagapatam. 
 
 At the time that Captain Marshall's writers 
 were seized, Lieutenant Colonel Barclay was 
 employed in a service of the same descrip- 
 tion, which was executed in the following 
 manner : Lieutenant Colonel Barclay pro- 
 ceeded in his curricle to the office of Mr. 
 James Balfour on the beach, at a time of 
 the day when Mr. Balfour was not there, 
 and calling for a native writer, with whose 
 name he had been previously furnished, lie 
 seized him, and carried him, in terror and 
 astonishment as he was, in his curricle, to 
 the Fort. On his arrival there, he delivered 
 the terrified writer at the Council Chamber, 
 which had, before this, acquired the more 
 common title of the Star Chamber. 
 
 The examination of this poor fellow 
 was conducted in the same manner as that
 
 128 
 
 mentioned before ; it produced information 
 that Captain Coombs had procured copies of 
 several documents, relative to the points ol 
 difference between General Macdowall and 
 Sir George Barlow, and that he had also pro- 
 cured a copy of a paper, which was consi- 
 dered to be a summary statement of the vari- 
 ous occurrences that had taken place during 
 the altercation, which was carried on previous 
 to the General's departure. 
 
 In order that the weight and importance 
 of this information may be fully perceived^ 
 it will be proper to notice that Captain 
 Coombs had been Aid-de-Camp to General 
 Macdowall, and lived in his family. No 
 attack had been openly made against the 
 General's character until after his depar- 
 ture from Madras, consequently it was natu- 
 ral to suppose that this officer would arrive 
 in England without the means of defending 
 himself against the very serious charges that 
 had been levelled against him, after his back 
 was turned. Under this impression, Cap- 
 tain Coombs considered that he could not 
 better manifest gratitude to his benefactor, 
 than by supplying him with authentic copies 
 of the correspondence, and other documents, 
 which related to the occasion, that had been
 
 129 
 
 taken to asperse and vilify his character. 
 They were accordingly prepared and arranged 
 by Captain Coombs, who drew out an 
 abstract of the whole proceeding, with 
 reference to the several documents, in the 
 order in which they had originated ; but, as 
 it appeared to be important that this summary 
 should be transmitted, with the least pos- 
 sible delay, Captain Coombs procured from 
 Mr. James Balfour, who was an intimate 
 friend, and a connection of General Mac- 
 do wall, the services of a writer, who was 
 the identical person in the seizure of whom 
 Lieutenant Colonel Barclay acquitted him- 
 self in the manner above described. This 
 is actually the head and front of Captain 
 Coomb's crime, on account of which he has 
 been ignominiously deprived of his staff situ- 
 ation. 
 
 The means by which information was 
 procured against Lieutenant Colonel the 
 Honourable A. Sentleger are not so pub- 
 licly known ; there is only one person in 
 the character of an officer who has on this 
 occasion been suspected of a breach of the 
 ninth commandment of the Christian Deca- 
 logue ; but as the public are not in posses- 
 
 K
 
 130 
 
 sion of the circumstance, and as suspicions 
 at the present period will doubtless arise, 
 on slight grounds, it is considered to be im- 
 proper to inculpate that individual. Certain 
 it is, however, that some person has given a 
 false evidence against his neighbour on this 
 occasion, as it is incontestibly proved, by the 
 declarations which Lieutenant Colonel Sent- 
 Jeger procured from almost every officer who 
 had been under his command in the Travan- 
 core army, and also from Lieutenant Colonel 
 Colin Macaulay, the English resident at the 
 court of Travancore, who has not scrupled 
 to say that Sir G. Barlow had been deceived 
 by some infamous misrepresentation, or vile 
 falsehood. It is to be hoped, for the sake 
 of justice and honour, that the Honourable 
 Lieutenant Colonel Sentleger may arrive safe 
 in England, and that, through the influence 
 of his friends, and the justice of his cause, 
 he may be enabled to vindicate his injured 
 character, and to expose, to the indignation 
 and contempt of his brother officers, and of 
 his country, the vile instruments, and the 
 base acts, which have been employed to con- 
 duct this scene of the tragedy. 
 
 The information respecting Lieu tenant 
 Colonels Chalmer and Cuppage, and Major de
 
 131 
 
 Morgan, is nearly of the same description 
 with that which regards Lieutenant Colonel 
 Sentleger ; and probably the sources of it, 
 and the channels through which it has 
 passed, may hereafter be fully developed, but 
 at present it would be improper, and perhaps 
 unfair, to indulge any speculations regarding 
 it. 
 
 The case of Lieutenant Colonel Robert 
 Bell, of Artillery, who commanded the Mount 
 Cantonments, and held a seat at the Military 
 Board, is, however, very different. Tiie 
 vicinity of his residence to the Presidency 
 afforded the best means of ascertaining the 
 correctness, or otherwise, of the information 
 which had been obtained respecting him, if 
 such had been desired. But this transac- 
 tion may, at a future period, be fully 
 explained to the public; for the present, 
 any further discussion of it is deferred, 
 Colonel Bell having himself made an 
 appeal to that source, whence the Govern- 
 ment of India derive their authority. It 
 may not, however, be irrelevant to notice, 
 that, on the day after the order was re- 
 ceived at the Mount, all the officers who had 
 been stationed there, (one only excepted) 
 drew up an address to Lieutenant Colonel 
 
 k 2
 
 132 
 
 Robert Bell, in which they expressed, in the 
 warmest terms, their regret at the loss which 
 they were about to experience in his removal 
 from the command of the station, and from 
 their society. They also offer the most 
 solemn declaration, that the charge contained 
 in the general order of the 1st of May, 
 against Colonel Bell, was wholly and entirely 
 groundless. The exception amongst the 
 officers to the signing of this paper was Sir 
 John Sinclair, who had just been appointed 
 Commissary of the Arsenid at Madras. 
 
 Colonel Bell conceiving that the Go- 
 vernment might be desirous to beundeceived, 
 in a matter of so much importance, would 
 willingly have transmitted to them a copy of 
 the declaration of the officers, together with 
 an affidavit, or any other asseveration, from 
 himself, purporting that he was wholly and 
 unequivocally innocent, in thought, word, 
 and deed, of the charge specified against 
 him, in the general order of the 1st of May. 
 However, this step was prevented, by his 
 learning, through a third person, a Member 
 of the Council, that the Government would 
 resent, in the most severe manner, any 
 attempt at the justification of himself by 
 the transmission of the paper. And Colo-
 
 133 
 
 nel Bell has been obliged to rest satisfied, 
 with the consciousness of his own innocence, 
 and to wait patiently for a decision from 
 Europe, (which possibly may take place on 
 the ex- parte statement of Sir G. Barlow) 
 or for a change of the Government, before 
 he can hope for even a public investigation of 
 the subject. 
 
 *Such being the motive, and the ground 
 upon which the punishments announced in 
 the general order of the 1st of May had 
 proceeded, it cannot be a matter of surprize, 
 that universal indignation was felt on the 
 occasion. However, such was the general 
 feeling towards the Governor of Madras, 
 that the compliment paid to the Hydrabad 
 force, in the last paragraph of the order, 
 was deemed a greater insult than even the 
 punishment, and the defamation of the re- 
 spectable characters who are vilified in it. 
 
 The receipt of the order at the several 
 stations of the army, produced considerable 
 solicitude and commotion ; but at Hydrabad 
 the ferment was excessive ; one and all felt 
 the keenest sense of injury and insult, from 
 perceiving the paltry attempt to sow dissen- 
 sion among the officers of the army, by sup- 
 posing a difference of feeling, and interest.
 
 131 
 
 between men, whose characters and fortunes 
 were united by the established system of the 
 service, as well as by those ties which are, 
 above all, dear to men of honor and principle. 
 As might naturally be expected, a perfect 
 unanimity prevailed among the officers at 
 Hy drabad ; who, as soon as practicable, 
 after the receipt of the order, addressed to 
 the different divisions of the army, a paper 
 to the following effect ; a copy of the same 
 being also sent to the Governor of Madras, 
 through the officer commanding the force. 
 
 " In the late general order by Govern- 
 ment, under date the 1st of May, 1809, the 
 conduct of the officers of this force, with 
 respect to the late occurrences, is particularly 
 mentioned in terms of approbation. 
 
 " This unexpected compliment may 
 possibly have impressed our brother officers 
 throughout the army, with an idea that we 
 tacitly have approved of the acts of Govern- 
 ment to which the general order refers, and 
 that we are divested of those sentiments and 
 feelings, which have been excited throughout 
 the army. 
 
 " Under this impression, we feel it to be 
 a duty incumbent on us to declare, that we 
 have viewed, with the most lively emotions
 
 135 
 
 of concern, the extreme acts of power, and 
 exertions of authority, by which so many 
 valuable and respectable officers have been 
 displaced from their commands, and sus- 
 pended from the service ; and while we 
 assure you of our resolution to contribute to 
 the support of those officers who have 
 incurred the displeasure of Government, for 
 their exertions in a cause which we must 
 pronounce just, we shall be ready to par- 
 ticipate in any legal measures of temperance, 
 dignity, and iirmness, which may be thought 
 effectual, to remove the cause of the present 
 discontent, and to restore our brother officers 
 to the honourable situations from which they 
 have been removed. 
 
 [Signed by 145 field and other 
 officers of the troops com- 
 posing the Hydrabad Sub- 
 sidiary Force.] 
 
 Hydrabad, Mb May, 1809." 
 
 Were not the above facts susceptible of 
 the most unequivocal proof, by the number 
 of persons to whom the particulars regarding 
 them are fully known, no indifferent person 
 would believe, neither would any venture to 
 assert, that the chief organ of a Government, 
 so extensive as that of Madras, could, after
 
 136 
 
 the errors already discovered, be deluded intq 
 so stupid, so unnecessary, and so irremediable 
 a measure as this, which exposed the Govern- 
 ment to the utmost contempt, by having its 
 praises indignantly rejected, as insulting and 
 injurious to the feelings of a great body of 
 those who were subject to the authority of 
 the Government. This occurrence may be 
 considered to have completely dissolved the 
 relation which should subsist between the 
 rulers and the ruled, and it had its origin, as 
 all the other unfortunate events have had, in 
 the imprudent and injudicious councils which 
 Sir G. H. Barlow unhappily followed. 
 Among those about him, there was not one 
 who possessed the confidence of any part of 
 the officers of the army, or one, who, if 
 acquainted with the actual state of the public 
 mind, would run the risk of displeasing the 
 Governor, and thereby perhaps losing his 
 own situation by telling him the truth, when 
 truth might be unpleasant to him. This, 
 unfortunately, would have been too often 
 the case, during the period that he has been 
 at the head of the government of Madras. 
 
 The officers at Hydrabad, as it appears, 
 acted without delay ; but they did not act 
 without reflection \ and their reflections
 
 137 
 
 informed them, that no situation or circum- 
 stances whatsoever, could give to Sir G. H. 
 Barlow, or to any man, a right to proclaim to 
 the world, in a public newspaper, that they 
 had viewed recent public measures in a light 
 different from that in which they had been 
 viewed by their brother officers, particularly 
 as the assertion was totally unfounded. This 
 general order will, through the Madras news- 
 papers, probably find quick circulation among 
 the friends, the connections, and the enemies 
 of the officers of the Madras army, in the 
 various quarters of the world ; and as it 
 is calculated not only to represent the 
 Hydrabad officers as differing from the 
 rest of the army, but also implies the pos- 
 sibility, that the measures adopted by Sir 
 G. Barlow, could be contemplated by any 
 part of the officers, without exciting the 
 greatest degree of indignation and resent- 
 ment, it must be considered as a defamation 
 of the body of the Madras officers, and as a 
 misrepresentation of the circumstances then 
 existing. 
 
 The general circulation of the famous 
 order of the 1st of May, gave rise to an 
 incident, which had considerable influence 
 on the subsequent events, and therefore
 
 138 
 
 deserves to be noticed. The Bombay troops 
 had, during the last ten years, been much 
 employed with those of the coast army ; and 
 the officers, consequently, had many oppor- 
 tunities of becoming acquainted with the 
 characters of several of the officers of the 
 latter, more especially of those distinguished 
 by command, by staff situations, or other 
 circumstances, which give celebrity to indi- 
 viduals. They could not, therefore, be alto- 
 gether insensible to the details that are set 
 forth in the order of the 1st. Accordingly, 
 when this order was exhibited to the view 
 of the public, at their presidency, they 
 deputed certain individuals from their body 
 to address the officers of the Coast army, 
 and a letter was sent to the principal stations, 
 the substance of which was, " that the 
 publications in the Bombay newspapers, of 
 a general order, issued at Madras on the 
 1st of May, had excited, in the minds of 
 the Bombay officers, the greatest surprise 
 and disgust, as it mentioned the suspension 
 of some of the best and most respectable 
 officers of the Coast arm v." 
 
 11 That, participating in the feelings of 
 .the Madras officers on this occasion, all were 
 unanimous, and there was not a dissenting
 
 139 
 
 voice in announcing the wish of the Bom- 
 bay officers to afford every facility which 
 might lay in their power, towards procuring 
 redress against the tyrannical and oppressive 
 conduct of the Governor of Madras and his 
 advisers." 
 
 To those who may be disposed to form 
 an impartial judgment on the subject, the 
 conduct of the Bombay Officers is worthy 
 of consideration : they were sufficiently near 
 the scene of action to acquire a competent 
 knowledge of the leading circumstances, 
 and they were so totally distinct, as well 
 in distance of situation, as in routine of 
 duty, that they scarcely could be influenced 
 by personal or local prejudices. The opinion 
 which they formed may, therefore, be con-< 
 sidercd to be as free from partiality, or party 
 feeling, as that which any community could 
 form on a subject of this nature. If this 
 conclusion be just, the unequivocal terms, 
 in which the opinion of the Bombay officers 
 is expressed, must have afforded to the 
 officers at Hydrabad a considerable degree 
 of satisfaction ; inasmuch as it appeared fully 
 to justify the decisive conduct which they 
 had adopted, in repelling, with disgust, the 
 praise which was offered to them, under
 
 140 
 
 the presumption, that they had tacitly 
 approved (because they had not publicly 
 resented) the measures of Sir G. Barlow ; 
 measures which have already produced very 
 disagreeable consequences, and which, if 
 pursued, may lead to disasters of the most 
 serious nature to the officers of the Compa- 
 ny 's service, to the Company themselves, 
 and to the vital interests of the mother 
 State. 
 
 It is truly painful to contemplate 
 the crisis to which the affairs of the Madras 
 Government have been brought by this man. 
 The officers of the most efficient part of 
 the military establishment have been com- 
 pelled to vindicate their feelings, by inform- 
 ing the Governor of Madras, that his 
 praise of them was considered an insult, and 
 could not be accepted. 
 
 The officers, with the troops that com- 
 pose the principal garrison in the Northern 
 division, have suspended the functions of 
 their commandant, who had been sent as 
 a sort of avowed spy over their conduct ; 
 and the officers of a separate establishment 
 have publicly 'expressed their surprize and 
 disgust at the oppressive conduct which has 
 produced this phenomenon. Yet, with these
 
 141 
 
 awful warnings, the same system of terror 
 is pursued, and measures seem to be adopted 
 to prevent any communication to the Gover- 
 nor General, which might inform him of 
 the actual state of affairs, and might enable 
 him, by the seasonable interposition of his 
 authority, to prevent the calamities which 
 seem to impend over this presidency. In 
 vain have various occurrences happened, 
 during the present enlightened period of hisT 
 tory, which might have instructed the per- 
 sons in power here, of the wisdom of that 
 maxim obtaining in the politics of free states, 
 that when those vested with authority are 
 conscious of having adopted a bad cause, and 
 w r hen they perceive that the great body of 
 those, whom they rule, will not be recon- 
 ciled to a system that is founded on injustice, 
 and unsupported by reason ; in such a case, 
 it is the practice of those rulers, according 
 to every principle of patriotism and policy, 
 to prevent the horrors of civil discord, to 
 shew a seasonable condescension to the pre- 
 vailing opinions of the great majority of 
 those who are subject to their controul ; but 
 who, if they saw a palpable neglect of their 
 interests, and a relentless perseverance in 
 the system, which at once insults and injures
 
 142 
 
 them, might abandon themselves to the 
 sway of their personal feelings, and become 
 totally indifferent to sentiments of public 
 duty, and to consequences of the greatest 
 general import. 
 
 That Sir G. Barlow, and his minions, 
 were fully conscious of the impropriety of 
 their conduct, with respect to Major Boles, 
 is evident from various expedients to which 
 they resorted from time to time, but chiefly 
 from the overtures that were made to Major 
 Boles through the channels of a member of 
 council, and General Gowdie ; the expedients 
 which those characters adopted of declaring, 
 that they were not instructed to make the 
 proposal, is too shallow to deceive the most 
 ignorant or inexperienced; it, in effect, pro- 
 duced a consequence, quite different from 
 that which was intended ; it was one of 
 those awkward frauds which carry their own 
 antidote along with them ; and may very 
 aptly be compared to the finesse adopted by 
 a certain great character, now high in office, 
 who, having occasion to discuss the subject 
 of an interference on his part, which was 
 highly improper, and highly criminal, com- 
 menced his explanation with, " By the 
 sacred God, Sir, I never got a rupee by it,"
 
 143 
 
 He had not been accused of any sinister 
 motive, neither would the idea of the pos- 
 sibility of his receiving a bribe have occurred, 
 but for his unsolicited defence, which 
 excited suspicion, and led to the positive 
 discovery, that he had actually received a 
 douceur of 5000 rupees. The declaration 
 of the last-mentioned gentlemen, that they 
 were not employed by Sir G. Barlow, appears 
 to have been as unnecessary as the disavowal 
 of the bribe was in the instance mentioned ; 
 and, like it, creates suspicion, and renders 
 it, in fact, probable that Sir G. Barlow felt 
 an emotion of compunction at the retro- 
 spect of the acts he had counselled. 
 
 In short, the blind perseverance in acts 
 of error, and an unqualified support of the 
 doctrines of a set of men, who have wormed 
 themselves into confidence, by the basest. 
 means, have brought the affairs of this Go- 
 vernment to the verge of ruin ; for, although 
 no open act of violence has vet taken place, 
 there can be no doubt that matters may 
 soon proceed to that extremity. Unhappily, 
 their proceedings are so well calculated to 
 produce that end, that it is no longer reason- 
 able to entertain a hope o! their failure, 
 unless the private communications which
 
 144 
 
 may reach Lord Minto, may induce him 
 to interpose his personal authority, and, by 
 his presence at Madras, to restore some 
 degree of confidence to the sincere friends 
 of established Government, administered 
 with justice and equity. 
 
 The transactions at Masulipatam suc- 
 ceeded next in order to those which have 
 been detailed ; they shall accordingly be 
 noticed in the next communication. 
 
 Adieu I 
 LETTER V.* 
 
 Madras, 10^ September, 1809. 
 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 My letters by the last dis- 
 patch will have prepared your mind for the 
 reception of the accounts that I am about to 
 give you. The discontents of the army are 
 no longer expressed in angry declarations 
 and memorials, but have shewn themselves 
 
 * The preceding letters are written, as the Reader 
 must have observed, by the same correspondent. It is 
 to be wished that the series had been complete, but they 
 were originally written, it is necessary to remark, for 
 the information of a gentleman at Calcutta, and have
 
 145 
 
 in deeds, not to be doubted, or denied. As 
 the discontents were general, as has been 
 described to you in my previous correspond- 
 ence, so the effects of them do not appear 
 to have been confined to one station of the 
 armv. 
 
 At Masulipatam, Hydrabad, and Serin- 
 gapatam, many direct acts of insubordina- 
 tion have occurred. The Government have, 
 in consequence, had recourse to summary 
 means, to suppress the prevailing spirit, and 
 to reduce it within its proper boundary. 
 Large forces of his Majesty's troops, joined 
 by a part of the Native army, commanded 
 by King's officers, have been sent to the 
 Southward and Northward ; and a detach- 
 ment, consisting of troops of a like descrip- 
 tion, with the addition of the Mysore 
 cavalry, have been ordered to march to Se- 
 ringapatam. It will be necessary to observe, 
 that before these extreme measures were 
 pursued, the Government had the most un- 
 
 been since forwarded by him to this country. This will 
 account for the series being interrupted at the interesting 
 period, at which it closes. The remaining letter [No. 5. J 
 is written by another hand, and must serve to fill up the 
 chasm in the correspondence, which otherwise it would 
 have been difficult to simply. 
 
 J.
 
 116 
 
 doubted proofs of the disaffection of the 
 army at the principal stations. The first 
 declared symptom of it was manifested at 
 Masulipatam, in the month of June, in the 
 arrest of Lieutenant Colonel Innes, who had 
 been recently placed in the command of the 
 European battalion, in the room of Lieute- 
 nant Colonel A. Taylor, who was supposed 
 not to have been active enough in keeping 
 under the rising spirit of discontent among 
 his officers, which had discovered itself, as 
 reported, on several occasions, at the mess 
 of the regiment, in obnoxious toasts, and 
 allusions to the acts of the Government. 
 The cause of the arrest of Lieutenant Colo- 
 nel Innes was, an attempt on his part to 
 carry an order of the Government of Fort 
 St. George into effect, directing the em- 
 barkation of one or more detachments of 
 the European regiment, on board certain of 
 his Majesty's ships, in the capacity of Ma- 
 rines. In communicating his orders to the 
 regiment, Lieutenant Col. Innes, imprudently 
 published the letter of the Adjutant General, 
 accompanying them, and which was meant, 
 it may be presumed, for his private perusal, 
 as it conveyed a threat in the event of any 
 irregularity on the part of the officers, that
 
 147 
 
 the regiment should be dispersed, and the 
 whole of the officers, with the exception 
 of the general staff, would be placed on 
 half-pay. On this circumstance being made 
 known, a general agitation ensued, which 
 seemed to threaten the personal safety of 
 Lieutenant Colonel Innes, who was then 
 preparing means to resist it by force, when 
 Major Storey, the next officer in command, 
 waited on Colonel Innes, and explained to 
 him the sentiment of the corps, and ex- 
 pressed a wish that he would abandon, 
 through an apprehension of the probable 
 consequences, his meditated opposition, and 
 requested, that he would be so good as to 
 suspend the execution of the orders, until 
 further explanation could be received from 
 the Presidency. Lieutenant Colonel Innes 
 refusing to comply with this request, was, 
 at the recommendation of the officers pre- 
 sent, put under arrest ; not, as it is said, 
 out of personal disrespect, but under an im- 
 pression, as before explained, that his per- 
 son, otherwise, would not have been in 
 safety, from an idea, generally entertained, 
 that he was to be made the instrument of 
 dispersing the corps, in order ultimately to 
 reduce it. Major Storey took immediate 
 
 t- 2
 
 IIS 
 
 means of reporting to Government the ne- 
 cessity, in his mind, for haying acted in the 
 manner described. This original act of in- 
 subordination was followed by others equally 
 strong. The fortress was immediately 
 taken possession of by the European troops 
 and the Native corps in the neighbourhood, 
 and means prepared for defence. Commu- 
 nications, it must be understood, were con- 
 stantly kept up at this time between the 
 garrison and other great stations of the 
 army, through the instrumentality of com- 
 mittees, regularly organised, and empowered 
 to act for the whole. Colonel J. Malcolm, 
 at this juncture, was sent, on a special mis- 
 sion, from the Government, to endeavour to 
 produce submission in this branch of the 
 army ; but he was for some time denied ad- 
 mission into the garrison, and was at length 
 obliged to return to Madras, without effect- 
 ing the object he had in charge. The regi- 
 ments in possession of Masulipatam refused 
 to submit but on the condition of a general 
 amnesty, which Colonel Malcolm was not 
 authorised to grant. The only terms pos- 
 sessed by him were, that none of the mem- 
 bers of the garrison should be punished but 
 by the sentence of a court-martial. As this
 
 149 
 
 would have left all the officers at the 
 mercy of Government, at the moment when 
 it was most offended, it is not strange that 
 the proposal should have been rejected, 
 as it offered nothing but what each of them 
 would have been entitled to, even under the 
 last and most unfavourable circumstances. 
 After the dismissal of Colonel Malcolm, the 
 regiments within the garrison meditated on 
 a removal from Masulipatam to join the 
 corps at Hydrabad. But they were per- 
 suaded to change these intentions, as it is 
 said, by a communication from the officers 
 of the last-mentioned station, or more pro- 
 bably by an order issued by Major General 
 Pater, commanding the Northern division of 
 the army. 
 
 Whilst these matters were passing at 
 Masulipatam, the conduct of the officers of 
 the subsidiary force at Hydrabad, was not 
 less marked with oifence towards the Go- 
 vernment. This was not anticipated by the 
 civil authorities, inasmuch as the officers on 
 this station had refused, as the Government 
 supposed, to join the other officers of the 
 army in the intended memorial to the Go- 
 vernor General of India, which gave occa- 
 sion, as I have before explained to you, to
 
 150 
 
 the publication of the long order of Lord 
 Minto, and on account of such supposed 
 refusal, the Governor of Madras had thought 
 fit to thank this part of the army in public 
 orders. On the 15th of June, however, 
 the officers of the subsidiary force, disdain- 
 ing the compliment paid to them at the ex- 
 pense of their brother officers, forwarded an 
 address to Sir G. Barlow, stating, that they 
 participated in the general sentiments ex- 
 pressed by the officers of the army, in re- 
 spect to the late transactions. It concluded 
 with recommending an abrogation of the 
 orders of the 1st of May. But a more posi- 
 tive act of disobedience was manifested on 
 the 8th of July, in an absolute refusal of 
 these officers to permit a battalion to be 
 moved from the subsidiarv force, thou eh 
 directlv ordered bv the Government. On 
 the 21st of the same month, a further ad- 
 dress was communicated to the Governor, 
 through the officer commanding, repeating 
 the former requisition, and moreover insist- 
 ing on an indemnity to the officers of the 
 garrison of Masulipatam. In this disposi- 
 tion of things, a test Mas framed by the 
 Government, which was tendered to the 
 officers generally of the Hon. Company's
 
 151 
 
 service. This was accompanied by a circu- 
 lar letter, which gave great offence to the 
 feelings of the army, who were required to 
 subscribe the test, and was aggravated still 
 farther by the means which attended the 
 subscription of the paper. In many instan- 
 ces, when officers were sent for to head-quar- 
 ters to subscribe the test, their return to 
 their corps was cut off by troops, drawn up 
 with a view to intercept them. In others, 
 the head-quarters were surrounded by a 
 military force ; and in one place particularly, 
 at Trichinopoly, the officers who were de- 
 sired to subscribe the test were not only 
 hemmed in by the troops, but were after- 
 wards marched to the main guard bv an 
 escort of Europeans ; and, after remaining 
 in confinement for the night, they were 
 marched down in actual custody to Tanjore, 
 whence they were suffered to proceed at 
 liberty to some part of the coast between 
 Sadras and Negapatam. The feelings of the 
 officers, on these degrading acts, may be 
 collected from the inclosed paper,* which is 
 subscribed by the officers of all the corps, 
 and is to be presented to Lord Minto, on his 
 
 * Appendix Q.
 
 153 
 
 arrival at this Presidency ; an event which 
 is hourly expected. 
 
 But to proceed with the account of 
 transactions in this quarter. On the 3d of 
 August, Colonel Close, the late most re- 
 spected Adjutant General of the army, 
 arrived at the Resident's house at Hydrabad, 
 having been ordered to that station by the 
 Government, to take the temporary com- 
 mand of the subsidiary force. This seemed 
 a well-advised measure of the Government, 
 as it promised, through the influence and 
 character of the newly- appointed comman- 
 der, to reconcile the differences that had 
 arisen. But, unfortunately, they were now 
 at such a crisis that men could not recede, 
 without the danger of supreme punishment, 
 unless Colonel Close's mediation had been 
 attended with a proposal of a general obli- 
 vion of what had passed. After an ineffec- 
 tual endeavour to adjust misunderstandings, 
 Colonel Close was obliged to relinquish his 
 command; in which, indeed, to speak pro- 
 perly, he was never fairly inducted. Things 
 were carried to so great a pass before this 
 gentleman was sent to Hydrabad, that it 
 was intended that the whole of this force 
 should proceed to Madras, to seek a redress
 
 1>3 
 
 of grievances by the force, or influence, of 
 their appearance before its walls. A batta- 
 lion was actually sent in advance, and the-^ 
 whole were to be joined in the march, 
 as it is said, by the discontented part of the 
 army at Masulipatam. But this scheme was 
 abandoned, on a representation from the 
 Resident at the court of the Nizam, that a 
 largfe body of Mahratta horse was stationed 
 on the frontier, and ready to rush into the 
 Company's territories, and those of their 
 allies, if the country should be deserted by 
 the British force. This information, even 
 at this juncture, and in the height of the 
 irritation of the army, had more weight 
 than the orders of Government, and deter- 
 mined them instantly to give up their own 
 supposed interests in deference to the more 
 important, and more valuable, interests of 
 their country. 
 
 But the most violent, and the last mea- 
 sure has been resorted to and accomplished, 
 in the vicinity of Seringapatam, where the 
 troops, adhering to the Government, and the 
 disaffected corps, have unhappily come in 
 hostile contact with each other. The 8th 
 and 15th regiment of Native Infantry, sta- 
 tioned at Chittledroog, had seized at the
 
 154 
 
 end of the month of Julv, under the orders- 
 of the committee at Seringapatam, the Com- 
 pany's treasure at the former station ; and, 
 notwithstanding the remonstrances of the 
 resident, and the officer commanding in 
 Mysore, marched with these pecuniary 
 resources towards the latter garrison, and 
 had nearly terminated their march, without 
 opposition. But, on the Cth of August, 
 when they were at a small distance from 
 Seringapatam, they were encountered by a 
 detachment, under the command of Lieu- 
 tenant Colonel Gibbs, consisting of European 
 and Native infantry and cavalry, and a party 
 of the Mysore horse ; and, after a trifling 
 shew of resistance, the battalions from Chit- 
 tledroog were routed. The Government 
 order on the occasion, states these battalions 
 to have been " entirclv defeated and dis- 
 persed, and that nearly the whole of the 
 rebel force was destroyed."* But in a sub* 
 sequent account-^ it is mentioned, that a con- 
 siderable number escaped into the garrison 
 of Seringapatam. It is said, and generally 
 believed, that these regiments would not 
 
 * Appendix R. 
 f Do. Order of Aug. 20th,
 
 155 
 
 have made any resistance, if they had been 
 aware that the force which suddenly opposed 
 their march, belonged to the British army. 
 The attack commenced on the part of the 
 Mysore horse, and was resisted by the 8th 
 and loth battalions, until the European 
 troops came up ; when all resistance ceased, 
 and the whole column endeavoured to gain 
 the 'garrison ; suffering themselves to be 
 cut down by the cavalry, without any 
 opposition. It is described, in the Govern- 
 ment order, lately published, as an act of 
 cowardice, arising out of a consciousness 
 of the badness of the cause, whilst it is 
 painted in other accounts as an act of devo- 
 tion in the officers and men of the battalion 
 of their persons and their lives, to a neces- 
 sity which they could not resist, without 
 wounding the bosoms of their countrymen, 
 and their brethren in arms. On which side 
 the truth exists, I cannot presume to decide. 
 A sally, it appears, was made from the Fort, 
 at the time that the general affair happened 
 between the detachment under Lieutenant 
 Colonel Gibbs and the battalions from 
 Chittledroog ; but which did not succeed ; 
 the assailants were driven back by the 
 Picquct, and a detachment from the oth
 
 156 
 
 regiment of Native cavalry, under the com- 
 mand of Captain Beane, of the 25th dra- 
 goons. This circumstance diverted the 
 attention of Lieutenant Colonel Gibbs, and 
 probably saved the Chittledroog detachment 
 from annihilation. Some officers of the 
 latter are wounded and taken prisoners, but 
 I cannot procure any accurate statement of 
 the casualties. Since these unhappy occur- 
 rences, it is believed, that no other hostile 
 acts have taken place; and, on the 31st 
 ultimo, we are told by a general order of 
 Government, that the officers of Serin- 
 ga patam have surrendered at discretion , and 
 iiave been marched into the interior of 
 Mysore. Some circumstances are said to 
 liave attended this last measure, marked by 
 a severity, which it could scarcely be neces- 
 sary to use, but which, at present, I do not 
 feel myself sufficiently informed to relate. 
 
 Of the Hydrabad, or Masulipatam pro- 
 ceedings., no further accounts have been 
 received, than a general rumour of their 
 having submitted. But on the 7th instant, 
 an order was issued by Government, direct- 
 ing that all corps moving without orders 
 should be considered as in a state of rebellion; 
 which would seem to infer, that at that date.
 
 157 
 
 all was not considered by the Government, 
 to be in a state of tranquillity. 
 
 I have given you a general statement 
 of things as they have occured; and must 
 refer you for more particular accounts of 
 some of the events described to the official 
 papers of government, which I have enclosed 
 in a separate packet. You will have letters 
 written by other hands, more full and circum- 
 stantial than mine, but probably not more 
 
 authentic. 
 
 # * * 
 
 P S. I just open my letter to add, that 
 Lord Minto has arrived, and, in his courteous 
 reception of certain inviduals here, who 
 were somewhat under a cloud, opinions are 
 entertained that his Lordship does not ap- 
 prove so wholly as w^as imagined of the 
 strong acts of our local Government,
 
 158 
 
 LETTER VI. 
 
 Extract of a Letter from Pondicherry> 
 received by the Margaret. 
 
 September 23c/, 1809. 
 
 You must have heard, by more 
 direct communications, that more than four- 
 fifths of the Company's officers, have been 
 removed from their respective battalions, on 
 their refusal to subscribe to a test submitted 
 to them by Government. Their places have 
 been supplied by King's officers. The test 
 merely inferred, " that the officers (required 
 to sign it) should obey the orders and sup- 
 " port the authority of the Governor in 
 " Council of Fort St. George," no more 
 than is expressed or implied in the com- 
 mission of every officer. But the letter 
 inclosing the test, and which was ordered 
 to be read to the individual officers, who 
 were required to receive it, contained insi- 
 nuations, so pointed against the whole body 
 of the army, that a general repugnance to 
 subscribe it was felt and expressed, not only 
 by those who were desired to subscribe the 
 test, but by those appointed to administer 
 it. The consequences you already know.
 
 159 
 
 The recusant officers have been allowed to 
 proceed to different parts of the coast. 
 Many are at this place, and others at Sadras, 
 and other places on the same line. The 
 Sepoys have expressed, universally, a dislike 
 to their new officers, and some even have 
 refused to act until their former officers be 
 
 restored. 
 
 
 
 An order of Government has been pub- 
 lished, signifying to the Native troops, that 
 their former commandants and subaltern 
 officers, had been removed for disobedience 
 or disaffection to the Government, but this 
 did not seem to lessen the dislike of the 
 troops to the measure. It was, however, 
 persisted in, and carried into effect at Trichi- 
 nopoly, Bangalore, Nundydroog, Travancore, 
 and the whole centre division of the army. 
 An attempt was also made to carry it into 
 effect at Seringapatam, but it wholly failed, 
 and terminated in the possession of the for- 
 tress by the officers, who were hostile to 
 that measure. The King's troops were dis- 
 missed from the garrison ; and the place was 
 promptly occupied, and held by the insur- 
 gents. It was shortly afterwards invested by 
 the troops of Mysore, and a detachment of 
 King's troops, and communication of course
 
 166 
 
 impeded with the surrounding country. 
 Two battalions from Chittledroog endea- 
 vored to relieve it in the middle of August; 
 but were in part cut off with the loss of 
 nearly 200 men, and two officers killed and 
 wounded : the rear guard particularly suf- 
 fered from the attack of the European and 
 Mysore cavalry ; they are reported to have 
 made but a slight resistance. 
 
 Early in the last month, Colonel Close 
 was sent to Hydrabad by the orders of 
 Government, to take the command, and 
 introduce the test at that station ; but, after 
 ineffectual attempts to take the charge, 
 and administer the test, was obliged to with- 
 draw. He addressed both officers and the 
 Native troops in their turn, but was equally 
 unsuccessful in both addresses ; he was armed 
 with full powers to negociate with the 
 Native officers and men, to withdraw them, 
 if practicable, from the influence of their 
 officers, by all the temptations in the hands 
 of authority to offer. But all apparently 
 was vain, though it is said that the acts of 
 subordinate agents were afterwards more 
 successful, both here, and in other places. 
 So much alarm, of late, has been excited by 
 these practices, that a renewal of the fatal
 
 161 
 
 scene, which happened at Vellore, has been 
 every where dreaded. This, with other 
 causes, and the expected arrival of Lord 
 Minto, according to the proclamation of his 
 Lordship at the end of July, induced the 
 subsidiary force at Hydrabad, to send their 
 submission to Madras, to be presented to 
 Lord Minto, when he should arrive, and to 
 express a readiness on the part of the officers, 
 to sign the required test. This example 
 operated on the minds of the officers of the 
 garrison of Seringapatam, who have also 
 surrendered at discretion, and are marched 
 into the interior, though the Sepoys had 
 loudly clamoured for revenge for their late 
 suffering, and " demanded to die at their 
 posts in the defence of their officers." The 
 officers at Masulipatam have also submitted, 
 having first prevailed on the men, though 
 the task was not easy, to accept the 
 amnesty proclaimed by Government. 
 
 Since these acts have occurred, there has 
 been an awful pause, and no one can con- 
 jecture what will be the ultimate event. This 
 silence keeps many tender sentiments alive, 
 in respect to the parties involved in these 
 melancholy transactions. It is happy, how- 
 ever, that Lord Minto is at the Presidency 
 
 A I
 
 162, 
 
 of Madras, where lie arrived about a fort- 
 night ago ; and it is hoped, that his presence 
 may be serviceable in healing the wounds, 
 which the unaccountable severity of precedng 
 acts had unfortunately opened. Heaven 
 prosper so charitable an endeavour ! 
 
 Though the preceding letters afford a full 
 and circumstantial account of many impor- 
 tant events, of which the public hitherto were 
 but imperfectly informed, it is a matter of 
 regret that some particulars are yet wanting, 
 to render the detail complete. We are still 
 without accounts of the actual loss of 
 officers and men in the unhappy occurrence 
 at Seringapatam, except the short order, 
 published by Government on the 18th of 
 August, shall be considered in such a light. 
 We are also but slightly advised of the imme- 
 diate means that led to the surrender of the 
 disaffected corps at the last-mentioned sta- 
 tion ; but the fact seems to be indisputable. 
 What is even more to be lamented, we 
 have no other than an accidental rumour of 
 fl general submission and amnesty, with an 
 exception, or extension, to three or four indi- 
 viduals, whose cases, it is said, are reserved
 
 16.3 
 
 for the decision of the proper authorities in 
 this country. We shall he happy to have all 
 these desirable particulars confirmed, and to 
 learn, on credible authority, that the power 
 of the East India Company over their armies, 
 as demi-official ly announced, is increased 
 and established by the close, or consum- 
 mation of the disastrous events that have oc- 
 curred, beyond the reach of human assault, 
 or the hazard of future fortune. 
 
 There may be many who may not 
 chusc to assent to all the propositions and 
 conclusions founded on> or deduced from 
 the facts stated in the preceding letters. 
 The writers of them, being on the spot, 
 where the transactions, of which they speak, 
 were passing immediately under their eyes, 
 and which they describe as fraught with 
 universal interest, might reasonably be deem- 
 ed, in their relations, but more especially in 
 their course df reasoning, to be subject to 
 a bias an involuntary leaning to the one 
 side or the other. They exhibit not, indeed, 
 any ostentation of neutrality. But though 
 this circumstance might lead us to distrust 
 the deductions they should draw from facts, 
 it would seem to dispose us to credit the 
 facts themselves, so far as they arc detailed. 
 
 m 2
 
 loi- 
 
 For who are so well qualified to give us 
 authentic narratives of circumstances, as 
 they who arc themselves eye-witnesses of 
 them ? The marks of the foregoing corres- 
 pondence are the intrinsic marks of authen- 
 ticity and truth apparent on the face of it : 
 the fault, if it be thought that there be anv 
 discoverable about it, is the leaning, or in- 
 clination, of the writers respectively to the 
 claims of the army. If it be not a species 
 of gallantry, it is a sign, at least, of gene- 
 rosity and independence to adhere to an un- 
 successful cause. 
 
 But the sensible and able writers of the 
 foregoing letters, notwithstanding they are 
 influenced by a visible predilection for the 
 success of the army, arc not blind, as it 
 should seem, to the inherent defects of its 
 pretensions, nor of the mode by which the 
 attempt was made to advance them. They 
 record with grief and reluctance but tiny 
 do record the unfortunate and fatal extre- 
 mities, into which an originally well-inten- 
 tioned, and most honorable body of men 
 were gradually provoked, and imperceptibly 
 involved. They express a concern for their 
 errors, but they do not endeavour to throw 
 over them a justification or defence.
 
 165 
 
 Wc arc not ashamed to feel and avow- 
 that we own somewhat of the same senti- 
 ment with these writers, springing, as we 
 confess, from the same cause a long inter- 
 course with the Indian army, and a firm 
 and unshaken conviction of its worth. Sin- 
 cerely and deeply do wc deplore the melan- 
 choly events that have closed their recent 
 struggle. Hut melancholy though they he. 
 and though they may he hastily, and incon- 
 sideratelv condemned by those who have 
 neither interest nor patience to investigate 
 the circumstances attending them, or the 
 causes that gave them birth, there is not a 
 thinking mind, we speak with confidence, 
 or a feeling heart within the kingdom, that 
 can contemplate them without suggesting 
 a palliation of the error which produced 
 them, or returning a responsive sigh for the 
 consequences likely to result from it. 
 
 A general cry has gone forth against 
 the malcontents of the Coast army, sounded 
 in a variety of tones from the whisper of 
 private insinuation, to the fulminating re- 
 port of the Governor General in Council. 
 The public ear has been stunned and wea- 
 ried with never-ceasing accusations. It is 
 now ti:ne that it should be opened to the
 
 16$ 
 
 still voice of truth, which seeks not to pour 
 into it any laboured or varnished story, but 
 whose first and last declaration is, that it 
 aims not at the perversion of justice, through 
 nice subtleties and metaphysical reasonings, 
 but claims an extenuation of the offence, 
 which it candidly admits, from the provoca- 
 tions which promoted it. 
 
 He who shall cast his eye, however 
 negligent and hasty may be the glance, over 
 the first acts that gave rise to the discon- 
 tents of the army, cannot withdraw it with- 
 out an impression, that there was abundant 
 food for complaint. 
 
 Not to dwell on minute and extreme 
 matters, we would ask, Is it no cir- 
 cumstance of bitterness, that established 
 emoluments should be taken from certain 
 members of the army, not only without 
 remuneration, but without the form of 
 a previous and customary enquiry ? 
 that they should be taken from them on 
 grounds which they were not permitted to 
 controvert, and on the assertion of a junior 
 officer, unconfirmed by any external autho- 
 rity whatsoever, whilst they were denied by 
 a respectable part of the staff? Is it no 
 injury to have the door of justice shut in the 
 face of their solicitation, though couched in
 
 167 
 
 the most respectful terms, and urged under 
 the most direct and avowed responsibility ? 
 Is it no injury, whilst their own claims to 
 justice are refused, to see the object of 
 their pursuit walking at his ease, and at full 
 liberty, and in the plenitude of power to 
 molest them still further, in despite of their 
 means to pursue him, and in contempt of 
 the authority which they had been taught to 
 reverence ? Is it no mortification to look 
 for ultimate redress where they have been 
 wont to find it, and to be disappointed in the 
 appeal ? Is it no grievance to have the 
 the source of promotion changed, from one 
 who has an intimate knowledge of military 
 merit and deserving, to another who is unac- 
 quainted even with the names that stand on 
 the army list, and who is not to be ap- 
 proached but through the introduction and 
 condescension of one in the meridian of 
 grace, though in the dawn of service ? Is it 
 of no concern to them, to see officers of dis- 
 tinguished rank flying from their eminent 
 stations, in disgust and loathing, giving 
 the truest test of the sincerity of their sen- 
 timent, in the relinquishment of lucrative 
 place, in the dearer consultation or tneir 
 dignity, and honor? Is it no grievance
 
 168 
 
 that the chief of the army staff are deprived 
 of their offices, and suspended from their 
 station in the army, on the sole and avowed 
 ground of their having paid an unqualified 
 obedience to the orders of their Commander 
 in Chief ? Is it a matter foreign to the 
 feelings of an officer, to perceive his bre- 
 thren arbitrarily put beyond the pale of the 
 army without enquiry, and without a hear- 
 ing ? Is it of no annoyance to them, in 
 holding a commission, rendered insecure, 
 not only by its being subject to be seized on 
 some military impeachment or insinuation, 
 but that it shall be exposed to suspension, 
 at the whim or caprice of power, for alleged 
 reasons, unconnected with military mea- 
 sures? Is it of no importance, that officers, 
 having leave to quit the company's posses- 
 sions, from infirmity or the urgency of their 
 private affairs, should be detained in India 
 against their will, from vain and capricious 
 motives of men in power ; and be dismissed 
 at length, without explanation, to pursue 
 their original destination ; whilst others of 
 high rank and character, should be hurried 
 with ignominy, and almost under the de- 
 grading circumstances of felons, though 
 without a verdict or judgment, beyond the
 
 169 
 
 company's confines, and finally to England, 
 contrary to their declared wishes, and in 
 direct and express violation of their interests? 
 If these things have happened, and none 
 can seriously dispute the facts, have we 
 occasion to look around us for reasons for 
 the irritated feelings of the coast army ? 
 Some of the circumstances, embraced by 
 these questions, may be partially contro- 
 verted or qualified, but the greater part of 
 them are admitted by the official documents 
 of the local Government, though an endea- 
 vour is made to disguise them by a false 
 glare of colouring, or to contravene them by 
 sophisticated argument. A sufficient answer 
 lias been given, we apprehend, to these 
 ingenious artifices, in the correspondence 
 that has foregone. 
 
 The inflamed sensations of parties were 
 further aggravated by matters, which, under 
 other circumstances, would have passed 
 unheeded. We shall not here pause to add 
 any new article to the long catalogue of 
 orFencc, which we have hastily ran over. 
 
 It hardly will be denied that there was 
 not much irritable matter, lurking under the 
 obnoxious acts enumerated, which, if it should 
 at any time find vent, would produce the
 
 ijo 
 
 most mischievous consequences. It was the 
 duty, however, of individuals, it will be 
 said, to smother their inward feelings, in 
 dutiful respect to the constituted authorities 
 above them. But there would appear a sort 
 of correspondent duty on the side of those 
 authorities, not to harass individual feelings 
 unnecessarily, or to put them to trials, which 
 they might not, from human infirmity, be 
 able or sufficient to sustain. Though a 
 'soldier has to exercise and practice himself 
 to submission and obedience, in controul 
 of temper and passion, it is not to be 
 assumed, because he has put on the uniform 
 and the devotedness of his order, that he has 
 therefore cast off the ordinary feelings of 
 his nature. These may be outraged by 
 uncommon incidents or aggravations, so as 
 tu overcome habits that long patience and 
 professional principles have united to confirm. 
 When the condition of the soldier is beheld 
 in a liberal point of view, and in which it 
 ought ever to be beheld, it would infer a spe- 
 cies of cowardice in him, who should wan- 
 tonly assail it. What a soul must that man 
 have, who would irritate him to resentment, 
 when the consequence of resentment, which 
 in an indifferent person would be innocent, 
 in him would be a crime ?
 
 171 
 
 But it is doubtless the business of a 
 wise Government, to compass its strong 
 measures, by means as mild and moderate, 
 as the accomplishment of the ends will 
 admit. The wisdom of such a rule of 
 action has all the authority of a political 
 maxim, established on the practice of legis- 
 lators of all ages and of all countries. On 
 the other hand, it is a sign of mental weak- 
 ness, and depravity of a meaner sort, to 
 enforce a violent act, by violent and orTenesive 
 means. Such a conduct, while it overlooks 
 the nature of man, treats his best sensibilities 
 with contempt, and displays, in the act of 
 authority, all the littleness, and the grovel- 
 ing and the debasing qualities of private and 
 humorous spleen. If there be anything 
 more likely than another to stir men's pas- 
 sions, and to betray them out of their course, 
 it is the wild and unrestrained exercise of 
 power. For, when the humiliating weaknesses 
 of individuals are discovered in the sacred 
 organ of Government, which should be sup- 
 posed free and untouched by such infirmity, 
 it loses the best homage of respect: it approx- 
 imates to the condition of ordinary beings, 
 and it is not to be wondered, it' men, having 
 lost all respect for it, should forget what is
 
 171 
 
 still due, from the essence of which it par- 
 takes. 
 
 But it is no justification, we are aware, 
 of the officers of the coast army, to shew, 
 that the head of the local Government had 
 also his demerits or defects. Their ofFence 
 is not to he done away by any supposed 
 failing of another. It will be sufficient to 
 assert once more, that no defence is attempted. 
 But we may have the benefit of this obser- 
 vation, at least, from the circumstance, that 
 if at this interval, the highest authority of 
 the state could not keep itself aloof from 
 the dominion of passion, that they who had 
 less dignity and place to guard them from 
 yielding to such an influence, may not be 
 too harshly censured from falling into the 
 same excess. 
 
 It would be useless, and it certainly 
 would be painful to us, to recapitulate all the 
 acts, succeeding one another in a train of 
 necessary consequence, as described in the 
 narratives, already in the possession and 
 recollection of the reader, and which served 
 to teed and keep alive the embers of dis- 
 content. It must, however, be noticed, 
 that at the moment when the agitation of 
 the army was most general, from the con-
 
 IT* 
 /5 
 
 tinued removal of officers from the service, 
 without any of the forms of trial, the 
 officers at the presidency were invited, in a 
 sort ot mockery of grace, to partake of the 
 banquets at the Government palace. They 
 were bid, and in some instances compelled 
 as it were, to share in these splendid enter- 
 tainments, whilst their hearts were breaking 
 from the deprivations they were condemned 
 to, by the hand which dictated the compli- 
 mentary card of invitation. In insult of 
 their best feelings, they were constrained 
 to sit down with a man, on whom other- 
 wise they would have disdained to look, who 
 was the author, in their apprehension, of all 
 their accumulated wrongs. Thus an in^e- 
 nious contrivance was invented to pierce 
 the heart and soul at the same moment, and 
 to turn the blessings of providence, not 
 into nourishment, but atrophy, or into a 
 pahulam for the passions, that already fevered 
 and consumed the frame. For not attending 
 to this "feast of reason and the flow of soul,*' 
 a promising band of youths were diiven 
 from their military studies, half- prosecuted 
 and half-digested, to spread the liberal doc- 
 trine just communicated to them, far and 
 wide through the army, whilst the veteran
 
 174 
 
 was doomed, as it is related, but we cannot 
 bring ourselves to credit the fact, to proceed 
 over a wide track of country, from the coast 
 of Coramandel to the opposite coast of 
 Malabar, from Madras to Goa, before he 
 had shaken off the fatigue, or had relieved 
 himself of the expenses of a long previous 
 march, and was sent undefended or untented, 
 at the commencement of the Monsoon, 
 against " the pelting of the pitiless storm." 
 Other similar practices are mentioned, but 
 these are sufficient for anv breast not har- 
 dened or callous against human suffering. 
 
 No new contrivances were necessary 
 to draw forth men's opinions, nor were any 
 new means requisite to distend the chasm 
 of disunion between the person at the head 
 of the Government and the individual officers 
 of the army. The measures of Government 
 had the rare operation of turning every 
 heart against it, and had, contrary to common 
 experience, involved the authors and advi- 
 sers of them, personally, in all the odium 
 attached to the acts themselves. It is to be 
 wished that, instead of pushing matters to 
 extremes, and dwelling on the very verge of 
 power, in nice calculation of its extent, a 
 spirit of conciliation had been seasonably
 
 173 
 
 manifested, so far as it might have been 
 discovered, without the compromise of any 
 leading principle of Government. Some 
 may think that such a spirit might h ve 
 been shewn, without prejudice to authority, 
 in allowing the proceedings against the Quar- 
 ter Master General to take their due course; 
 or possibly, that this favourite might have 
 been abandoned, even, at a more advanced 
 period of discontent, when it had been une- 
 quivocally understood, that his ministry was 
 odious, and could not be further continued 
 with advantage to his country. It' the opi- 
 nion of the public should be allowed to have 
 any influence on the administration of civil 
 affairs, it should not be neglected or con- 
 temned, it should seem, in the military state. 
 Popular clamour is sometimes delusive, but 
 popular feeling is seldom agitated to any 
 great degree without real and singular causes^ 
 It is always most desirable, that the love 
 and affection of the subject should go hand 
 in hand with his duty. Our history is not 
 without instances, where Majesty itself has 
 yielded, in the surrender of its immediate 
 Servants, in deferenre to the voice of the 
 people. It could surely have been of little
 
 176 
 
 reproach to a secondary or derivative Govern- 
 ment to have profited by the example. 
 
 At the time to which we now allude, 
 no circumstance of much acerbity had arisen 
 to prevent an early and an easy accommo- 
 dation of differences. The commandants 
 of corps, it will be recollected, did not 
 object, nor could they reasonably have 
 objected, to the act of Government, that 
 deprived them of their tent allowances, nor 
 did they remonstrate on the manner, which. 
 was not very gracious, by which that mea- 
 sure was effected. Their complaint, so 
 far as it had the most distant relation to the 
 tent-contract, was bottomed on a part of the 
 report of Lieutenant Colonel Munro, which 
 was thought to be unfounded and calumnious, 
 and which was regarded and treated as that 
 gentleman's sole and undivided act. It is 
 lit that this fact should be rightly and dis- 
 tinctly understood, as much misconception 
 has been entertained of the origin of the 
 discontents of the army, from want of in- 
 formation on this particular point. Hie 
 abolition of the contract, it may be con- 
 fidently said, formed no ingredient in the 
 causes of the temporary disaffection towards 
 the Government. The report alone was
 
 177 
 
 supposed to be injurious and adverse to the 
 interests of the army, and it was on that 
 account resented. Whether a just or erro- 
 neous opinion was conceived of it, we are 
 not now disposed to enquire. It is to be 
 lamented, that the merits or demerits of 
 this paper, and the matters connected with 
 it, were not submitted to the determination 
 of a forum, peculiarly fitted to decide on 
 the subject; and when such decision, most 
 probably, would have been the means of 
 averting all the unfortunate occurrences that 
 subsequently happened. 
 
 But the complaints of the Commandants 
 of Corps were treated with disregard, and 
 the right of constitutional appeal to the 
 Court of Directors, was denied by the Go- 
 vernment, by a positive refusal to transmit 
 their Memorial, complaining of grievances, 
 through the customary channel. This extra- 
 ordinary proceeding was followed by the 
 orders of the 31st of January and 1st of 
 February. The suspension of the Adjutant 
 and Deputy Adjutant General greatly in- 
 creased the discontent, as the principle, 
 asserted in the act, was not partial but 
 universal, and might be extended, at will, 
 to every component part of the army.
 
 178 
 
 What was the fate of these officers to-day, 
 might be the fate of others on the morrow. 
 It is not to be wondered, therefore, that a 
 common party should be made, in a sense 
 of common danger, with the officers newly 
 suspended from the service. The suspen- 
 sion of an officer at any time, even under 
 the most flagrant appearances, without 
 affording him an opportunity of excusing or 
 explaining his conduct, cannot but be re- 
 garded as a harsh and severe measure. It is 
 an act of extreme Authority, and ought not 
 therefore to be resorted to, but in seasons 
 of peculiar danger, or in instances of rare 
 and extraordinary offence. To condemn, 
 and afterwards to hear, is the practice not 
 of a defined and limited Government, but 
 of unbounded and tyrannic power. But the 
 exercise of such a right, in so remote a 
 quarter of the world, admitting that such 
 a right lawfully exists, as by analogy it is 
 contended, and that it is wisely and politi- 
 cally exercised in the particular instance, 
 is attended with aggravated circumstances, 
 incident to local situation. It leaves the 
 party suspended at a distance from his home, 
 possibly without the means of support, or 
 conveyance thither, or, if his means be small.
 
 179 
 
 there is a chance of their being exhausted 
 on the spot, or of being consumed in the 
 purchase of a passage to Europe, so that 
 he may be set down in a new world, without 
 the power of seeking redress, where alone 
 it is to be found, and where he is to endea- 
 vour to obtain it almost under insuperable 
 disadvantages ; whilst the avenues that 
 approach it are fully in the possession of 
 the enemy. 
 
 The frequent exercise of the assumed 
 right of suspension, not only forced itself 
 as a matter of general interest on the notice 
 of men ; but led them to inquire on what 
 precise ground a power, so sweeping in its 
 nature, and so intolerable in its application, 
 fundamentally stood. It was found, on 
 examination, to depend more on analog}'*, 
 and nice reasoning, than on declared and 
 defined principle. It is not asserted in the 
 act of George the Second, or articles of 
 war, framed for the government of the 
 Company's Indian army, or in any other 
 public instrument whence the Company's 
 authority is derived, and to which the army 
 might look for necessary information. But 
 though it is not to be discovered in these 
 sources, it is supposed, by those who 
 
 N 2
 
 ISO 
 
 exercised the right, to reside in the original 
 power delegated to the Company by the 
 Legislature, to raise and maintain an army ; 
 which would seem of itself to infer, that 
 all the necessary means, calculated to insure 
 the objects of the grant, were at the same 
 time intended, and by implication given. 
 This would have been more clear to common 
 capacities, if there had not been any laws or 
 rules prescribed by the Legislature and his Ma- 
 jesty tothe Company, for the maintenance and 
 discipline of their armies, which appear in 
 some sort to repel the implication, more 
 especially as the signa superioritaiis are 
 reserved to his Majesty, in the privilege 
 declared bv the act, of framing the articles 
 of war, to be established for the govern- 
 ment of the Company's forces. Some jea- 
 lousy might have been reasonably enter- 
 tained as to the grant of so vast a power to 
 a private body of men, and as it might by 
 possibility be abused, and become detri- 
 mental to the King's subjects, this reserva- 
 tion probably was introduced. It is a 
 power, it is to be observed, to be exercised 
 by one description of his Majesty's subjects 
 over another, without any communion with, 
 or reference to, the Executive organ, or the
 
 181 
 
 common laws of the realm. That it should, 
 therefore, be subjected to some controul, or 
 superintendance, and that it was meant to be 
 so subjected, by the act of Geo. II. and the 
 articles of war, is no very irrational suppo- 
 sition. It is true, that in the act and arti- 
 cles there is no provision for the dismissal of 
 an officer, but by the sentence of a court- 
 martial. So often as cashiering is mentioned 
 in the articles of war, as often is it de- 
 clared, that it is to be effected by the sen- 
 tence of a court-martial, which would 
 favour an inference, that so penal an act 
 could not be carried into execution, on 
 whatsoever account, unless under the sanc- 
 tion prescribed by the articles of war, in a 
 like case. Yet cases might occur, where 
 it would be desirable to use more immediate 
 means for the discharge of a most dange- 
 rous individual. Such a prompt and sudden 
 remedy is vested in his Majesty, in relation 
 to his supreme command of the national 
 force ; and it has been therefore argued, by 
 analogy, that the right of dismissal is inse- 
 parable from the supreme command of an 
 army. But is there no difference in the two 
 cases ? The power vested in his Majesty is 
 of the essence of the constitution, whereas 
 that of the Company depends on particular
 
 182 
 
 and peculiar laws, and must therefore be 
 circumscribed and governed by them. The 
 one is used at home, over subjects in alle- 
 giance the other in a distant and foreign 
 country, over fellow-subjects, who owe no 
 allegiance, strictly speaking, but the duty 
 of servants, yet still remain under the pro- 
 tection of the Crown. The course of rea- 
 soning, therefore, in the two instances, 
 cannot be the same. 
 
 But if the right of dismissal is, by fair 
 reasoning and necessary inference, in the 
 executive body of the East India Company ; 
 if the right be contended for, on analogy, 
 and parity of principle, it should be bounded 
 by the same wise and discreet fence, which 
 our most gracious Sovereign has voluntarily 
 placed around it, when carried into practice. 
 His Majesty has never, in our recollection, 
 suffered this kingly prerogative to be exer- 
 cised by other than royal hands ; whence 
 justice, tempered with mercy, is ever ex- 
 pected to emanate. What has been ob- 
 served in respect to the right of dismissal 
 of officers, with equal propriety applies 
 to the act of suspension ; which, as a minor, 
 or moderated, employment of the same 
 power, over the same subject, may be sup-
 
 183 
 
 posed to "be included in the greater autho- 
 rity. We ave not disposed to consider too 
 rigidly the right of the executive body of the 
 East India Company to dismiss their military 
 servants, or to narrow them in any of the neces- 
 sary means for the government of their armies 
 and extensive possessions. But, allowing 
 them the utmost which they could them- 
 selves claim, we cannot bring ourselves to 
 believe, that any right given to them by the 
 Legislature, for public purposes, and to the 
 due exercise of which a responsibility 
 attaches, can by them again be deputed to 
 be exercised by others at a great distance, 
 to whom the penalty of responsibility can 
 scarcely reach, and over whom all present 
 controul is absolutely impracticable. Such 
 a preposterous position cannot, it is thought, 
 be maintained on any common principle, or 
 even on the anomaly of the constitution of 
 the East India Company. 
 
 The suspension of the Adjutant and 
 Deputy Adjutant General of the army 
 afforded an instance of as arbitrary a cha- 
 racter as could possibly arise, and tended, 
 accordingly, to raise a general sympathy and 
 indignation through the army. Under the 
 dominion of this mixed sentiment, the
 
 184: 
 
 officers, at the different stations, proposed 
 a subscription for the support of one of the 
 individuals, whose private fortune was not 
 co-extensive with his Military Desert, and 
 who had fallen, as they considered, a Mar- 
 tyr to a cause, in which all of them were 
 equally interested. The subscription, it is 
 almost unnecessary to state, was instantly 
 filled. The paper, which was to convey 
 the good intentions of the body of the army 
 to the late Deputy Adjutant General, was 
 moulded into the form of a letter, subscribed 
 by a long list of names, and displayed some- 
 what of the feeling, it may be supposed, in 
 which the subscription had been dictated. 
 The proceeding is thus particularly described, 
 as it is stated to have given peculiar offence 
 to the Government. It is certain, that seve- 
 ral officers were afterwards suspended for 
 having subscribed it. 
 
 The great feature of offence, if offence 
 it were, was the combination of parties to 
 supply an individual with pecuniary resour- 
 ces, which, among other purposes, might 
 possibly be applied the recovery of his 
 suspended rights. But the supply of money 
 was an innocent, if not a commendable act, 
 unless attended with some obnoxious txtrin-?
 
 1S5 
 
 sic circumstance. Now the letter announc- 
 ing the subscription was considered of this 
 latter quality. The letter, however, was 
 of a private nature, and was addressed per- 
 sonally to Major Boles, and not intended for 
 general publication. It was not framed, 
 therefore, for any purpose of defiance to 
 Government,, nor was it calculated to that 
 end.' It passed, however, by accident into 
 the hands o;f the Governor, and was con- 
 verted into a fresh reason, as has already 
 been remarked, for the suspension of several 
 other officers. 
 
 But tiie paper, under consideration, 
 was only a consequence, and a remote 
 consequence of the subscription, which 
 must be regarded as the primary offence, 
 if any such can be inferred. Subscriptions 
 of alike character, it may be noticed, were 
 not entire novelties in India. A very memo- 
 rable one must be in the recollection of 
 every military i nan, having many of the 
 distinctive features which are recognisable 
 in this subscrip tion. It was raised on the 
 behalf of an ofr* t cer, who had been dismissed 
 the Company's service, by an order from 
 the Court of J directors, for alleged causes, 
 that had been investigated, previously, by a
 
 186 
 
 Court Martial, and of which the party had 
 been acquitted. It was esteemed, as natu- 
 rally it might, if not an arbitrary, at least 
 a most rigorous proceeding;* and gave rise 
 to a subscription, general throughout the 
 army, to provide the dismissed officer, as in 
 the case of Major Boles, with an annual 
 amount, equal to the pay of which he had 
 been deprived. This was not a private pro- 
 ceeding, but was countenanced by every 
 field officer of the army, and was promoted, 
 with a great deal of zeal, by the Commander 
 in Chief for the time being. So that a pre- 
 cedent was not wanting to justify the measure 
 itself, whatsoever may be objected to the 
 manner in which it was brought about. 
 
 That there are passages in the letter, 
 which might properly have been omitted, 
 cannot be denied. Yet it is impossible that 
 they will admit, without putting a violent 
 and outrageous construction on them, of the 
 harsh interpretation given to them by the 
 Indian governments. If by any possibility it 
 
 * The Reader will be glad to le;irn, that this severe 
 and unpopular act of the Court of Directors was 
 afterwards most judiciously rescinded, when its effect 
 was known, by a voluntary and gracious recommendation 
 of the Court itself, to the body of the Proprietors at 
 large. "Would that the liberal policy of this decision, 
 had been recognised by their servants abroad !
 
 187 
 
 can be supposed, that the last paragraph 
 conveys the sense of a declaration of ad- 
 herence to one another by the subscribing 
 parties, the spirit of it, it must be under- 
 stood, is confined to a particular case, of an 
 officer suspended for obeying the orders of 
 his Commander in Chief, and such could 
 not be expected very often to occur. The 
 adherence cannot be tortured to a greater 
 extent and the guilt of it, if any, must 
 depend on the justice of the Act of Suspension, 
 which is not to be taken as defined by the 
 mere exercise of the act, but is to be declared 
 by the decision it is afterwards to receive. 
 The act is even now sub-judice, and may be 
 affirmed or not by the power to which it 
 is referred, as well by the Government itself, 
 as by the parties suspended. The first blush 
 of the paragraph shews an anxiety in the 
 writer or writers of it, to make the bounty- 
 tendered agreeable to the object of it; by 
 stating, that it is such a relief that ought to 
 be accepted, and that is claimable under like 
 circumstances, by every member of the 
 army of his common brethren. It is scarcely 
 possible to put another construction on it, 
 unless it be taken in a most illiberal sense. It 
 appears to be an effort and expression of 
 delicate and refined benevolence ; it mighf
 
 188 
 
 have been made and uttered, perhaps, in 
 a way less liable to exception. But the 
 intent must be examined, and not merely 
 the deed. It was not resorted to, as has 
 been explained, as a weapon of annoyance 
 to the Government or anv other, but as an 
 instrument of peace and comfort to an indi- 
 vidual ; not meditated as an act of public 
 wrong, but an exertion of private good- will; 
 a manifestation of a kindly attention to a 
 comrade struck off from their society, and 
 thrown helpless, without any acknowledged 
 or investigated crime, on the charity of the 
 wide world ! The intention of rectitude 
 will not be refused here, when it is willingly 
 granted to those, who urge, with a boastful 
 ostentation, daily subscriptions for suspected 
 Patriots, who are smarting, horrible to 
 relate ! under the cruel and overwhelming 
 pressure of the successive and unsparing 
 verdicts of their country. 
 
 At the time that the letter to Major 
 Boles was in circulation, it appears, that a 
 memorial,* stating the aggregate grievances 
 of the army, intended ultimately to be pre- 
 sented to the Supreme Government, was also 
 submitted and proposed for general sig- 
 nature. Whether this paper might have 
 * Appendix I.
 
 189 
 
 received the approbation of the great body 
 of the army, or have been sta\ed in its pro- 
 gress by the expression of dissent on the 
 part of numbers, to whom it might have 
 been afterwards offered for signature, can- 
 not now be ascertained. It was interrupted 
 in its inchoate state, and no place of repen- 
 tance was allowed between the time of the 
 intent, and the proposed point for the exe- 
 cution of it. 
 
 This paper was put into the possession 
 of the local Government in an imperfect 
 form, and without a single subscription 
 appearing at the foot of it ; and was for- 
 warded in that condition to the supreme 
 Government of India. 
 
 These acts, or half-perfected acts, 
 occasioned, as has been intimated, the sus- 
 pension of several officers from the service, 
 and of many more from their staff and 
 army appointments. As these removals, 
 like the former, took place without any 
 formal or known investigation, they served, 
 of course, to swell the breath of discon- 
 tent. The orders, directing these sus- 
 pensions, were published on the 1st of May;* 
 and state the causes, though not very dis- 
 tinctly, why the respective parties, the 
 * Appendix M.
 
 190 
 
 objects of the orders, had been severally 
 marked as examples to the army. But the 
 facts, it will be kept in mind, out of which 
 these causes were asserted to arise, were par- 
 tially assumed by the Government, and 
 which the persons whom they concerned 
 were not permitted to question or deny. 
 
 These orders also, in a kind of gratuitous 
 invective, arraign the conduct of General 
 Macdowall, the late Commander in Chief, 
 who had been deprived of that situation, 
 before any acts to which these orders have 
 reference, had been contemplated by the au* 
 thors of them. Neither this nor other cir- 
 cumstances that occurred about this period, 
 and which have been described, most par- 
 ticularly, in the preceding letters, abated 
 the agitation which seemed to be felt 
 throughout every part of the coast army. 
 While the whole body was thus convulsed, 
 it was not to be expected that any wise and 
 temperate suggestion should proceed from 
 any of its members ; and, unfortunately, 
 the condition of civil society, giving credit 
 to the accounts in the correspondence, was 
 in a state scarcely less irritated. So that, 
 instead of the one being a corrective, from 
 social contact, of the inflamed disposition 
 of the other, through the instrumentality of
 
 191 
 
 advice and example, they administered only 
 countenance to each other, in the descrip- 
 tion and comparison of their supposed 
 wrongs. 
 
 Certain of the suspended officers, and 
 more especially Major Boles and Colonel 
 Martin, were refused, it may not be too 
 much (at this day) to say, on idle pretences, 
 to proceed to Europe, though they had 
 respectfully requested leave to embark. They 
 were afterwards allowed permission ; nay, 
 one of them was actually ordered to go cir- 
 cuitously to Europe, at a time, and in a way, 
 not convenient to him, without any altera- 
 tion in his condition, since the date of his 
 request. It is to be remarked, that in the 
 interval, Mr. Buchan, the Secretary to Go- 
 vernment, had been dispatched to England, 
 for the purpose, as it was generally believed 
 in India, of affording an ex-parte statement 
 of the differences that had arisen between 
 the Government and the Army. 
 
 In this unfortunate posture of affairs, 
 men freely expressed to each other their 
 common injuries, and communed together, 
 whenever they met, on the most advisable 
 means of redressing them. It will create 
 but little surprize, that these accidental
 
 192 
 
 meetings led subsequently to regularly - 
 appointed assemblies, and, as a natural eon- 
 sequence, from the inconvenience of dis- 
 cussing matters in extensive bodies to the 
 formation of committees, entrusted with 
 the direction of the affairs and interests of 
 the body at large. This, however, is not 
 a simple operation, and was not here the 
 work of a single day. The danger of such 
 a confederacy, in such a state of things, 
 must have been foreseen by a Government, 
 that did not entirely shut its eyes to sur- 
 rounding events, or its heart to the effects, 
 which were likely to result from them. The 
 most striking incidents described in the nar- 
 rative, happened between the months of 
 January, 1809, and of July in the same 
 year. Between these intermediate dates, it 
 will be fit to inquire what the local Govern- 
 ment had attempted, with a view to conci- 
 liate the minds of the discontented, or to 
 convince them of their error. It need not 
 be observed, that, it is the duty of every well- 
 constituted Government, to prevent the evil 
 consequences of error, rather than to dis- 
 play its power in punishing it, when it has 
 grown into actual offence. Now what was 
 the preventive caution of the Madras Govern-
 
 193 
 
 ment ? What the means which it employed 
 in this most delicate situation? 
 
 We are concerned to state, that it docs 
 not appear, from any thing that has come 
 to our knowledge, that any shew even of 
 conciliation was affected, or any measures 
 of wisdom adopted, either to eradicate any 
 erroneous opinions entertained, or to guard 
 against the probable effects of them. All 
 the reliance of the Government seemed to 
 be rested on its power. Every act of grace 
 was discarded from its policy. All its busi- 
 ness was the fabrication of orders, expres- 
 sive of its own strength, in the principle of 
 its constitution, or of devising stratagems, 
 indicative of its weakness in reducing the 
 principle into action. Hence proceeded a 
 variety of orders to the army, " full of 
 sound and fury," and of acts, " signifying 
 nothing." 
 
 The brut um Jul men against General 
 Macdow r all, after it was known that he was 
 without the hearing of it, though the 
 orders of the Government were announced 
 under the artillery of the Fort, was not 
 formed to claim the character of vigor, to 
 which it unfortunately pretended, though 
 it was accompanied by a command, at the 
 
 o
 
 W 
 
 same moment, for the dismissal of the Ad- 
 jutant and Deputy Adjutant General of the 
 Army, for obedience to the authority of the 
 repudiated Commander in Chief. The act 
 of suspension of an officer of the latter 
 rank, without the dull, cold, tedious, pro- 
 cess of inquiry, was not considered to be 
 singular enough, without giving him the 
 company of his immediate staff. Cool de- 
 liberation and reflection, sanctioned by 
 public opinion, might afterwards have ad- 
 vised, that the supposed injury of the 
 Government might have been atoned by the 
 punishment of the principal, without any 
 visitation of the accessories, acting under 
 the orders of their legitimate Head, and in 
 a known course. Such counsellors, and 
 such advice, were not likely to intrude on 
 the visions of proud and inflated superiority. 
 It was only necessary, in the prevailing 
 system of action, to issue commands, and 
 to exact and enforce obedience. 
 
 To the orders of the 31st January and 
 1st of February, were added the subsequent 
 ones of the 1st of May.* We purposely 
 pass over the mediate mandates, dismissing 
 and dispersing a variety of officers from the 
 Piesidency, for thp high crime and misde- 
 * Appendix M.
 
 195 
 
 meanour of not privately admiring the so- 
 ciety of the protege of Government Lieu- 
 tenant Colonel Munro ; as if the affections 
 and courtesies of men were to be regulated 
 by the tat of the drum. The last- mentioned 
 orders, like the preceding, laid the defalcation 
 in the, duty of the army at the door of 
 General Macdowall, who had been the 
 cause, as it was insinuated, why any doubt 
 was entertained of the supremacy of the 
 civil Government, in military as well as 
 general affairs ; a doubt that might have 
 been the parent of the succeeding acts of in- 
 subordination, which these orders deprecated 
 and punished. Happy had it been, if even 
 at this date, though it had tardily presented 
 itself, the idea had occurred, that as the 
 guilt had been principally, nay, almost 
 wholly assigned to the agency of the Com- 
 mander in Chief, for the sake of the high 
 example, the punishment might be confined 
 to him. No; it was thought that the dig- 
 nity of place was better consulted by adding 
 a long list of names to the scroll of the 
 proscribed. 
 
 It is difficult to view the conduct of 
 the Government, just at this interval, with- 
 out some compassion for its weakness, 
 o 2
 
 196 
 
 Anxious to make a display of its greatness, 
 it fell, as the correspondence shews, into 
 the meanest arts for impressing it. Loth to 
 discover any symptom of grace, at the com- 
 mencement of the differences, it suspended, 
 without any urgency, the Commander in 
 Chiefs staff; and when it perceived even 
 that this measure produced a general disgust, 
 instead of voluntarily repairing the appa- 
 rent, or imagined injustice of the act, 
 by a gracious restoration of the suspended 
 officers to their former stations, it truckled 
 and bargained with the only remaining gen- 
 tleman on the spot, for the purchase of his 
 restoration, at a price which he would not 
 condescend to pay for it the admission of 
 a fault, of which he was unconscious. The 
 reader will observe, that we are alluding to 
 the coquetry, first of a Member of Council, 
 and then of General Gowdie, in order to 
 induce Major Boles to re-accept the office of 
 Deputy Adjutant General, on the easy 
 terms of an apology ; which that very con- 
 scientious officer, though urged to it by 
 numberless near and tender motives, had 
 the magnanimity to disdain. 
 
 Beyond these orders, and some con- 
 trivances, not very remarkable for the
 
 197 
 
 policy in which they originated, we have 
 heard not of any active measures pursued to 
 quell the rife spirit of discontent, or to 
 obviate the ills that might possibly flow from 
 it. On the devices, adopted on this occasion, 
 we shall be excused from dwelling at any 
 length. Though they were new, they are 
 not very interesting ; and though some of 
 them were successful, the success does not 
 seem to make amends for the sacrifice made 
 of the principle in the means adopted for 
 the attainment of it. The first of these 
 was, the experiment (and how mortifying 
 must have been the issue ?) to ascertain how 
 much the person of the Governor was held 
 in disgust by the individual officers of the 
 army. Hence proceeded the invitations, 
 the rejected invitations, to the Government 
 House, which men, rather than accept, 
 abandoned eligible situations, lucrative em- 
 ployments, advantageous society every 
 thing but honorable sentiment and exposed 
 themselves, we blush to write it, to un- 
 healthy and destructive climates, to com- 
 parative penury, and to the confinement of 
 their own houses. 
 
 The next experiment, though some- 
 what later in point of time, was as complete
 
 193 
 
 in its discovery, as the antecedent one, and 
 perhaps equally as mortifying. This was 
 made, through the medium of the test, 
 directed to be administered to every officer 
 in the arm>', which was the immediate cause 
 of demonstrating, that the Governor, if pos- 
 sible, was as little regarded as the man. 
 About 400 officers are said to have refused 
 their subscription to the test, not so much, 
 it is added, on account of the letter or 
 spirit of the instrument, but the extreme 
 obnoxious instructions with which it was 
 accompanied, and of which every officer was 
 duly informed, before he was desired to 
 subscribe it. If it were the intention to 
 obtain, generally, the signatures of officers 
 to the test, which scarcely can be imagined, 
 the manner of requiring it was the most 
 clumsy, ungracious, and inefficient that 
 could have been counselled. But we have 
 not hitherto had the pleasure to observe one 
 act of the Government blending any sign 
 of grace, with the principle of authority. 
 
 There are one or two measures, indeed, 
 that we shall take the liberty to mention 
 here, which grew out of this unnatural 
 state of things, though not exactly in the 
 order of time in which we have hitherto con-
 
 199 
 
 sidered events, but which must with justice 
 be acknowledged, as having completely 
 answered all the expectations of the head 
 which planned and advised them ; we 
 refer to the stratagem of detaching the 
 King's from the Company's officers, whom 
 they had shewn more than a disposition to 
 espouse, and to the various schemes prac- 
 ticed v\ ith particular corps, and through par- 
 ticular agency, by promises and bribes, to 
 alienate the minds of the native soldiery, for 
 a while at least, from their European officers. 
 Of the prudence and wisdom of this latter 
 act we forbear to speak at present, though 
 it may be shortly adverted to hereafter. 
 
 Besides these remarkable and noticeable, 
 transactions, we are unadvised of any pub- 
 lic measures that were embraced by the 
 Madras Government, at this awful and 
 eventful conjuncture. The supreme Govern- 
 ment communicated, as it seems, during 
 this anxious interval, with the local Govern- 
 ment of Fort St. George, but made no 
 effectual effort to assist it further, than 
 by issuing long and laboured instruments, 
 commending and confirming all the proceed- 
 ings, without a single exception, of the 
 subordinate Government.
 
 200 
 
 It may be expected that some notice 
 should be taken, in this place, of the cele- 
 brated letter of Lord Minto, under date the 
 27th of May, as it has been treated by some 
 persons in India, and even in this country, as 
 a composition of peculiar excellence, and 
 most happily adapted, as it is said, to the 
 time at which it was written. That 
 the high character given to this production 
 may not operate as a species of imposition 
 on plain and incurious judgments, it may 
 not be unseasonable to inquire into the 
 intrinsic merits of it, in order to ascertain 
 whether it be entitled or not to the repu- 
 tation it has acquired. 
 
 The intent of this paper is ostentatiously 
 declared, at the first opening, as the appli- 
 cation of a " Restraint, or Check, to the 
 Progress of Error," by the " Promulgation 
 of sounder principles." It is written with 
 the express design of discountenancing all 
 deliberation in the army, and of rendering 
 it subordinate and subservient to the will 
 of the executive Government. It inculcates 
 on principle s, which we have no inclination 
 to controvert, the most pure doctrine of 
 passive obedience in general military con- 
 tingencies, with certain modifications as 
 applicable to particular cases. In an official
 
 201 
 
 writing of this description, it is to be ex- 
 pected, that any statement of undefined prin- 
 ciples, or any application of them to doubt- 
 ful and questionable premises, should not 
 find a place. 
 
 But it is to be remarked, that throughout 
 this long and laboured paper, there is scarcely 
 a solitary allegation that is not questionable, in 
 point of fact, or any one deduction that is not 
 more than questionable in point of reason- 
 ing. It sets out with a string of truisms, 
 in respect to military combinations, so trite, 
 that the merest military proficient could not 
 be ignorant of them, though they are pro- 
 mulgated in the language of the noble 
 author, for the information of the profession! 
 It then proceeds to examine the acts of the 
 Government of Fort St. George, as con- 
 nected with the preceding transactions. 
 
 The first circumstance noticed in this 
 extraordinary document, is an alleged me- 
 morial* of the officers of the Madras army ; 
 a paper which is every where considered, by 
 Lord Minto, as an authentic and perfect 
 instrument in all that it purports to be ; 
 whereas, at the commencement of the letter, 
 it is described by his lordship, as a proposed 
 memorial to the address of the Governor 
 
 * Appendix I.
 
 202 
 
 General; and might, or might not, accord- 
 ing to subsequent circumstances, have been 
 completed and forwarded to that address. 
 Until, however, it had come into the Gover- 
 nor General's hands, in that ripe form, and 
 in that official way, it was not on any fair 
 principle to be held in the light of a regular 
 and formal document, so as to involve the 
 writers of it in the responsibility attachable 
 to it as an act fully executed. Any other 
 consideration of it cuts oft from those, who 
 may have rashly meditated a deed which 
 prudent council and reflection shews to be 
 erroneous, the desirable opportunity of tra- 
 cing back the first step towards crime. 
 
 Though the intended memorial cannot 
 be a subject of commendation, it does not 
 appear to be so offensively reprehensible, a3 
 it is stated by Lord Minto, nor is it replete 
 with all those flagrant and mischievous prin- 
 ciples, with which it is declared to abound. 
 It is assumed in his Lordship's letter, to be 
 the main aim of the memorial, to assert the 
 right and privilege of the army, to cashier 
 their Governors at will, whilst the whole 
 tendency of the memorial, as it is called, is 
 to endeavour to prevail on the Governor Ge- 
 neral, by the representation of many harsh
 
 20- 
 
 acts of the subordinate Government, to 
 exercise the authority resident in him, and not 
 foolishly supposed or pretended to be in 
 them, to rescue the army from similar occur- 
 rences, injurious to the State, and hurtful, 
 as represented, to the universal feeling. It 
 is intreated that this may be done by re- 
 lieving them from the controul of their pre- 
 sent ruler ; but the memorial presumes not 
 to dictate in what manner it should be 
 executed; whether by suspending the whole 
 authority of the inferior Government, or 
 restraining it within its ordinary bounds, so 
 that it could no longer press on the affairs 
 and general business of the army. It is no 
 where suggested that the armyhad any inclina- 
 tion, much less any right, to redress their own 
 detailed injuries. But, on the contrary, the 
 whole bearing of the memorial tends to 
 seek redresss, we wish to say nothing of the 
 language in which it is sought, atthe hands 
 of the Governor General, and through the 
 medium, for it could not otherwise be at- 
 tained, of the verv Government of Madras. 
 Where, then, are we to look for the dan- 
 gerous doctrine that the Governor General 
 lias conjured up to terrify himself and 
 others ? unless it may be thought to lurk
 
 201 
 
 under the expression, broadly intimated, 
 of an intent of the best part of the army 
 to resign a service, rendered intolerable and 
 disgusting. 
 
 This paper is again misinterpreted, 
 when it is stated, as in the Governor Gene- 
 ral's letter, that it claims a further right and 
 privilege, on the part of the army, of hav- 
 ing a representative in council. But where 
 is such a claim set up? Certainly not in the 
 memorial ; and therefore all the learned 
 argument, built on this assumption, all the 
 illustration of the military condition by 
 many beautiful allusions to maxims bor- 
 rowed from the civil constitution, tumble 
 headlong to the ground. There is a pro- 
 fusion of good writing, and good principle; 
 but it is out of place. 
 
 A general concern is expressed in the 
 memorial but this is all that the army 
 have not a representative, as it is described, 
 perhaps not very accurately, in the Council 
 of Fort St. George, as for some years, 
 previously, they had, to which circum- 
 stance is imputed a great part of the griev- 
 ances of which they complain. If a mili- 
 tary counsellor had been present at the public 
 consultations, it is imagined, from his know-
 
 205 
 
 ledge of military practice and feeling, that 
 many of the grounds of complaint would 
 not have arisen, and which at length had 
 made it necessary, as it is added, for the 
 memorialists to implore the " gracious inter- 
 position of the Governor General in Coun- 
 cil." The appeal is made here, as in the 
 former instance, not to any fanciful right 
 in themselves, as again misrepresented, but 
 to the actual authority of the controlling, 
 or Supreme Government. Why are all 
 these fearful phantoms created, except to 
 show the power of the mighty magic that 
 can lay them ? 
 
 To the secondary grievances, stated in 
 the memorial, the letter next refers, and 
 which are described to have arisen out of the 
 release of Lieutenant Colonel Munro, and 
 the suspension of Colonel Capper and Major 
 Boles. 
 
 The first is alleged to be an " act of 
 grace," and some wonder is expressed that 
 such an act should have occasioned any 
 thing but good will. But if it be an act of 
 grace, it is of a very novel hue, unless the 
 phrase shall be taken to have simple refe- 
 rence to Lieutenant Colonel Munro; there 
 can be no doubt cither of the intent or
 
 206 
 
 operation of the act to that individual. It 
 was but too plain to the army to observe, 
 that this was a studied compliment to him. 
 But what was an act of grace to Colonel 
 Munro, was an insult to the feeling and 
 understanding of the general body of the 
 army. Why scoff them, therefore, with 
 such terms at the very time that the door of 
 justice is rudely closed in their face ? While 
 the fancied wrongs of the one are promptly 
 remedied, the injuries of the other, loudly, 
 but decorously preferred, are dismissed unin- 
 vestigated ? 
 
 That specious distinctions were made in 
 the two cases, is allowed : but, in despite of 
 all subtilties, it is plain, that the question 
 was with Colonel Munro, and the Com- 
 mandants of Corps, and not between the 
 former and General Macdowall, as Com- 
 mander in Chief, to whom it is shifted in 
 the letter of the Governor General. Nor 
 was the matter entangled, as is also ingeni- 
 ously inferred, with any fine-spun niceties 
 respecting the power of a subsequent Com- 
 mander in Chief over the acts of his pre- 
 decessor : nor was any difficulty presented 
 by the circumstance of the report out of 
 which the charges arose, having been
 
 207 
 
 approved by a preceding Commander in 
 Chief or if it had been approved by one 
 hundred like authorities. All these conside- 
 rations are foreign to the purpose, though 
 they are all pressed in the letter, with much 
 anxiety, as if they were strictly in reference 
 to the subject and numberless shewey 
 arguments are drawn, adapted to the peti- 
 tioned premises, but not apposite to fact as 
 they stood. The report, it is fair to con- 
 clude, was taken, when it was originally 
 delivered in, to be true in all its tenour; but 
 if it were not so, in point of fact, it could 
 not become so by any subsequent appro- 
 bation proceeding from any source however 
 high, or howsoever often confirmed. If 
 such report, in any of its statements, 
 worked an injustice to any individual or 
 body, it was his and their right, the moment 
 such injustice was felt, to complain and to 
 be heard, so that the complaint was made 
 through the proper channel. The autho- 
 rities who adopted the report, approved it 
 only in so much as it was conceived to be 
 correct, and as it appeared to hold out a just 
 opportunity for an economical arrangement. 
 They viewed it in no other light than as an 
 ex-partc statement and, as such, liable to
 
 208 
 
 be arraigned, if it interfered with, or in- 
 fringed upon, any private interest. An 
 accredited officer, it may be admitted, and, 
 on the reasoning of Lord Minto's letter, is 
 protected, in all his measures within the 
 scope of his employment ; but it cannot be 
 denied, in the resulting conclusion, that if 
 he exceed, and step out of the boundary of 
 his commission, wantonly to inflict an injury, 
 that he must answer for it to the, offended 
 laws of his country. The authorities, under 
 which he acted, are not disgraced by his 
 responsibility ; for they had no share in his 
 offence. They desired legitimate proceed- 
 ings ; if they be otherwise, it is not their 
 reproach. Nothing is decided here, God 
 forbid ! in respect to the conduct of Colonel 
 Munro but a general principle only is laid 
 down. It is contended that, as certain 
 charges were alleged against that gentleman, 
 by certain avowed prosecutors, preferred in 
 the usual manner, and in prescribed time, 
 and to a competent tribunal, peculiarly 
 appointed by law to take cognizance of the 
 offence embraced by the charges, that no 
 power could lawfully take him without the 
 hands of that tribunal, until he should have 
 been duly delivered of the charges. It was
 
 209 
 
 competent to Colonel Munro, of course, to 
 urge all or any of the matters stated, 
 referring to his official relation, either in 
 justification or excuse ; and it would be 
 injustice to the military court to suppose, 
 that it would deny him the advantage arising 
 from any exculpatory evidence. But it is 
 absurd to conclude, that he should commit 
 a possible offence, without any possible 
 punishment. The constitution knows not 
 but of one, who is superior to all question ; 
 we have never, till this instance, heard of 
 the same exemption having been arrogated 
 by any other. 
 
 All that is insisted on in the memorial, 
 is, that Colonel Munro was not above" the 
 law whether it could reach him in the 
 particular charged, was a mattter to be 
 determined it has never yet been deter- 
 mined. All the argument in the letter of 
 the Governor General will not overturn, 
 in our humble opinion, the simple statement 
 of the fact, to which we have almost wholly 
 confined ourselves. 
 
 Lord Minto, having defended the 
 Government of Madras, for the unprece- 
 dented act of the liberation of Colonel 
 Munro from his arrest, criticises, in the most 
 
 p
 
 210 
 
 free, and, it may also be said, the most inde- 
 cent terms, the conduct of the late Com- 
 mander in Chief, in having dared to censure, 
 in public orders, the minion of the local 
 Government. At the time when his Lord- 
 ship reprobates the act of General Macdowall, 
 he was acquainted but with one of the 
 grounds on which the General's censure was 
 founded the supposed and military appeal 
 of Colonel Munro to the civil power. Nei- 
 ther his Lordship, nor any other party, could 
 have known the particulars of the personal 
 disrespect shewn by the Quarter Master 
 General, to his immediate Commander in 
 Chief, stated in the general orders of the 
 25th of January, as the primary and most 
 striking feature of the offence. To pass, 
 therefore, an indiscriminate sentence on 
 General Macdowall, who had been unheard, 
 and whose conduct had not been sufficiently- 
 understood, gave a practical gloss to the 
 transactions on which his Lordship w r as 
 commenting, and which the army, at least, 
 imagined to be governed by a narrow and 
 party spirit. Of the order itself, little need 
 be said but that it was supposed by Lord 
 Minto, as well as Sir G. Barlow, to have 
 a tendency to implicate, in an indirect course,,
 
 211 
 
 the act of Government, as connected with 
 the release of Colonel Munro. But the 
 General is not to be condemned for aiming at 
 his victim, merely because the shadow of 
 power chanced to rest upon it. Not intend- 
 ing here to enter on the defence of the 
 General, wc shall advert briefly to the effect 
 of the order, when published ; which was, 
 the suspension of the Adjutant, and Deputy 
 Adjutant General, from their respective 
 offices, and from their rank in the service ; 
 and for the avowed and sole cause, of their 
 having given publicity to the order of the 
 Commander in Chief. To the exercise of 
 this power by the Government of Madras, 
 the letter subsequently refers, and considers 
 and approves it in unqualified terms. 
 
 It seems somewhat curious, as the 
 letter of Lord Minto appears to have been 
 written with the direct intent of restraining 
 all deliberative propensities in the army, that 
 the suspension of these officers should be 
 defended on the ground that thev did not 
 deliberate as, it is argued, thev ought. Jt 
 is generously admitted in the letter, that 
 subordinate officers, generally speaking, are 
 obliged to obey the orders of their superiors, 
 without presuming to question them. But 
 
 p2
 
 212 
 
 then the rule is liable to a certain relaxation ; 
 and the ex ion :hat they are not 
 
 obliged to shew obedience to 
 order ; of which description th r under 
 
 consideration is alleged to be. 
 
 But why is the order supposed to be 
 illegal ? Not certainly from the source 
 whence it flowed. It is admitted that 
 General Macdowall, at the instant, was in 
 possession of the office of Commander in 
 Chief. But it is said, that the illegality lay 
 in the body of the orders. It was plain to 
 see, as the letter argues, that Government 
 was tacitly reprimanded in the reprimand 
 overtly given to Colonel Munro. But it 
 requires more sagacity than we are possessed 
 of, to espy this purpose in the order 
 taken by itself. But it seems, if we may 
 credit the letter of the Governor General, 
 that there had been a direful misunderstand- 
 ing between the Government and General 
 Macdowall, and that many sharp retorts had 
 passed between them ; or, in the words of 
 the letter, " that there was a warm and 
 '* vehement discussion between the Com- 
 " mander in Chief and the Government." 
 And it is stated, that it was impossible that 
 these things should have been unknown to
 
 213 
 
 the General's Staff and thence it is con- 
 cluded, that they should have refused the 
 direct order of the Commander in Chief. 
 Now, what is all this but ascribing to men a 
 knowledge of facts, of which they might 
 have been utterly uninformed, and claiming 
 a right to punish them for their ignorance ? 
 Nay, further, if this passage in the letter 
 means' any thing, it would convert the Ad- 
 jutant and Deputy Adjutant General into 
 Judges of the warm discussions of the 
 Government and Commander in Chief, to 
 decide not only who was wrong but to 
 debate on all their public acts, in order to 
 ascertain whether they were tinged or not 
 by the spirit of their private feuds. This 
 would seem rather a novel way of support- 
 ing authority, or of carrying on the con- 
 cerns of an army. But this is seriously 
 insisted on at the time, when obedience and 
 non-resistance is preached to the orders of 
 superiors ! 
 
 Never, we believe, was mixed together 
 such a strange compound, of what is right 
 in principle, and erroneous in application. 
 We subscribe most readily to the recognized 
 doctrine, that men are not obliged to obey an 
 illegal order. But we should be very tender
 
 214 
 
 in carrying this doctrine into the camp ; lest 
 we might involve military men in difficulties, 
 where they have not many, or very ready 
 means of extricating themselves. If the 
 orders in question were to be taken as a pre- 
 cedent, it would require not a little nicety, 
 or special pleading, in the examination of the 
 commands of superiors. The time for 
 action would be consumed in deliberation 
 on the import of the orders received, and all 
 the circumstances related with them. If we 
 have any just conception of the real extent 
 f the rule, we should deem it to be narrow 
 indeed, and it has become fit that it should 
 be defined and well understood. The ille- 
 gality of an order, as we consider it, must 
 be collected not from the letter or phrase- 
 ology of an order, but from the thing com- 
 manded to be done. If that be plainly and 
 manifestly illegal to common capacities and 
 understandings, the order ought not to be 
 complied with. For the sake of illustration 
 if a soldier were ordered by his officer to 
 fire on a quiet, peaceable, and unoffending 
 citizen in the street it would seem to re- 
 quire no great intellect to understand that he 
 ought not to obey the command or, if he 
 Were directed to rob a house, if such a
 
 215 
 
 direction could be supposed to be given In 
 cases like these, disobedience would not 
 only be excusable, but commendable; but 
 we can hardly think, in cases less clear and 
 perspicuous, that any subordinate military 
 agent would be justified in disputing the au- 
 thority of his principal To argue that an 
 inferior officer should look into the construc- 
 tion and recondite meaning of every sentence 
 in an order given to him to execute and con- 
 sider all its bearings, with his knowledge of 
 supposed circumstances having reference to 
 it, seems a bold undertaking, and not 
 hitherto to have occurred to any man in the 
 possession of ordinary sense. 
 
 As the address to Major Boles has been 
 noticed in an earlier place, arid the nature of 
 it considered at some length, we shall not 
 resume the subject, though it is one of the 
 leading topics in the Governor General's 
 letter. What we have before said, will be 
 a sufficient answer on this head ; and we are 
 anxious to dismiss the paper before us. 
 
 Whilst the two Governments, instead of 
 pursuing measures suitable to the ends of 
 their avowed policy, and calculated to in- 
 spire a prompt submission to their behests, 
 were busily employed in arguing with the
 
 216 
 
 passions, and writing and beating down, as 
 they supposed, the pretensions of their 
 discontented military servants, the latter 
 were allowed to brood over their original 
 grievances, till they were habituated to the 
 employment, and which derived a fresh 
 interest every day by the occurrence of 
 new incidents. If the mind grew frantic at 
 last, by ruminating without interruption on 
 the accumulation of real or imaginary evils, 
 it v\*i]l not be viewed, we are certain> either 
 by the philosopher or statesman, among the 
 number of supernatural effects.. 
 
 We are constrained to remark, that the 
 conduct of the discontented, at the close of 
 the month of July, underwent a most mate- 
 rial change. It was no longer distinguish- 
 able, as heretofore, for passive obedience, 
 but impatience of all controul. It became 
 offensive to Government, by demanding a 
 revocation of its acts, and at last, in defying 
 its authority. They who know how easy 
 and imperceptibleare the transitions from one 
 extreme of passion to the other, will not be 
 surprized at the quick succession or order of 
 their events, according to the different de- 
 grees of irritation. However we may be 
 grieved in recording the fact, we shall not
 
 217 
 
 attempt to deny that, in the sequel, the 
 majority of the officers on the establishment 
 were involved in a most unquestionable state 
 of mutiny. The unhappy excesses into 
 which they were successively hurried, we 
 should have no pleasure in retracing, nor 
 would the reader take any delight, we are 
 assured, in re-perusing them. We shall be 
 more* readily excused in passing over them 
 as speedily as we can, since they are truly 
 and circumstantially set forth in the fore- 
 going pages, with their immediate causes, 
 and eventual effects. Though a justification 
 cannot be offered for them, they are not, as 
 we must contend, wholly without apology. 
 The provocation, as has been explained, was 
 neither simple nor light ; nor were the ulti- 
 mate steps retorted to, for the redress of 
 their wrongs, though most indefensible in 
 themselves, attended by any ferocious or 
 daring incidents, or directed with any other 
 aspect than the remedy of their supposed 
 injuries. It does not escape us, that the 
 greatest possible offence of a military na- 
 ture, is that which is now under our con- 
 sideration. The framers of the military code, 
 seeing how men, acting generally in a body, 
 may inadvertently fall into this heinous
 
 218 
 
 crime under the impulse of passion, unless 
 restrained by checks always present to them, 
 have exhibited peculiar pains to guard against 
 the completion of the offence, by declaring 
 it to be a crime of no secondary quality, in 
 any officer who does not do his utmost to 
 prevent it. To what moral consideration 
 then is the conduct of those liable, who 
 assume the full exercise of military supre- 
 macy, and consequent responsibility, if they 
 neglect to repress acts having a manifest ten- 
 dency to insubordination, by the seasonable 
 introduction of the strong arm of power, but 
 stimulate to further excesses by paltry and 
 petty provocations ? If the natural checks 
 were wanting here, that were intended ever 
 to be present, and if, from the absence of 
 these, crime has been permitted, which 
 might not otherwise have been consummated, 
 it may amount, by no forced construction, 
 to a partial extenuation of the offence. But 
 if, in addition to this, the temptation to the 
 offence was as strong, as the preventions 
 against the commission of it were weak, the 
 apology for it would become in proportion 
 less difficult and fastidious. 
 
 They who consider the grievances, 
 singly and separately, under which the
 
 219 
 
 coast army conceived itself to labour, may 
 be unable to descry any one grievance of 
 sufficient magnitude to threaten the awful 
 events which have ensued. But a succes- 
 sion of trivial injuries, as they seem to evince 
 a fixed temper of injustice, so they seldom 
 fail to stir up a resentment and resistance, 
 in which the intrinsic merit of every indivi- 
 dual 'act is lust in the sum of the whole 
 accumulative account. If insult, too, ac- 
 company the most insignificant act, it gives 
 to it a distinct feature, and lends a frown to 
 it almost challenging defiance. Thev who 
 have concluded, from what they have yet 
 known of the late transactions on the coast 
 of Coromandcl, that no adequate causes 
 existed for the occurrences that have unfor- 
 tunately taken place, may perchance forego 
 a part at least of their previous opinion, on 
 a re-examination of the events as they 
 arose. 
 
 It is deeply to be lamented, that the 
 reiterated complaints arising out of the de- 
 tailed grievances of the army, were either 
 miserably misunderstood, or the probable 
 consequences of them much underrated or 
 misconceived by the Governor General of 
 India : or it would seem that it should have
 
 220 
 
 l^een among the first measures of his policy, 
 to have introduced the presence of the su- 
 preme authority in the seat of disaffection. 
 The crisis of the times was difficult, import- 
 ant, and sufficiently knotty to demand this 
 extraordinary interposition. There were 
 causes enough of dissatisfaction. The cries 
 of complaint were loud enough to have 
 roused almost the dead. But the Governor 
 General did not awake from his trance until 
 the. flood of discontent had rolled from the 
 coast with a stormy violence into the many 
 mouths of the Ganges. Of the value of a 
 sage, temperate, and respected Mediator, at 
 a tempestuous moment like the present, to 
 compose the swelling surge, no one can form 
 perhaps too high, or too favourable an 
 estimate. 
 
 Ac veluti magno in populo cum saepe coorta est 
 <Seditio, ssevitque animis ignobile vulgus, 
 Jamque faces et saxa volant, furor arma ministrat : 
 Turn pietate gravem ac meritis si forte virum quern 
 Conspexere, silent, arrectisque auribus adstant ; 
 Ille regit dictis animos et pectora mulcet. Virg. 
 
 Alas ! no mediator was here, until the 
 waves had exhausted their fury, and had 
 sunk fatigued into a calm. 
 
 LordMinto left not his courted retreat at
 
 221 
 
 Calcutta, until the 6th of August, and ar- 
 rived at Madras about the 11th of the ensu- 
 ing month ; when the last deed had been per- 
 fected, had been signed in blood, and sealed 
 with the lives of men. His Lordship reached 
 Madras just in season to record, that the 
 w r isdom and energy of the Governor, his 
 compeer, had been able to achieve the pru- 
 dential ends of his policy, by restraining the 
 violence, which his own councils had unhap- 
 pily induced. 
 
 In describing the extremity of these 
 fatal transactions, if any one hereafter 
 shall have full materials, and possession of 
 feelings suitable to the task, he will not 
 forget to note that, however stirred by 
 repeated wrongs, however stimulated by 
 excessive provocations, however depressed 
 into despondency, however raised into 
 frenzy, that the misguided members of the 
 army, though temporarily estranged from 
 the person of their immediate head, never 
 once lost sight oi^ the great interests of their 
 country. That if they had been equally 
 intent on the accomplishment of their own 
 purpose, as they were determined to protect 
 the rights, at all hazards, peculiarly en- 
 trusted to their safeguard, such purpose 
 would have been completely effected. For
 
 222 
 
 what, at this juncture, could have beefi 
 successfully opposed by the Government to 
 the arms of the Hydrabad subsidiary force, 
 aided by the whole of the Company's Euro- 
 pean troops and artillery, if it had marched 
 at the time proposed to the walls of Madras ? 
 and from which course it was alone diverted 
 by the call of the resident, not by the sway of 
 any personal persuasion, but by the solemn 
 representation and assurance of the public 
 danger that would ensue. Forty thousand 
 Mahratta cavalry were at this time hover- 
 ing on the borders, and only waited for the 
 signal, to pour immediately on the antici- 
 pated deserted districts. 
 
 He will not forget, if he shall write at 
 a season when heat and party shall have 
 subsided, to describe in the strain, not of 
 eulogy, for the occasion unfortunately pre j 
 eludes it, but of plain and simple truth, the 
 devotedness of the corps before the fortress 
 of Seringapatam, where they suffered them- 
 selves, in ranks, to be mowed down by the 
 devouring sword, in a spirit of indurance and 
 of suffering, which, in another cause, might 
 have claimed, and ha\e been allowed, the 
 \irtue and the meed of martyrdom. 
 
 In the casual exculpatory observations
 
 2:23 
 
 that we have offered on the behalf of the 
 
 officers ot the army, and the circumstances 
 of extenuation that we have ventured to 
 state, let it not he understood that weare ge- 
 nerally advocating their cause ; that we are 
 attempting to justify acts that cannot admit 
 of justification. 
 
 x Pudet hrec opprobria nobis, 
 
 lit dici potuisse et non potuisse refclli. 
 
 It will not be over-looked, however, 
 that in the prosecution of our subject, 
 we have exhibited a shew, at least, ot 
 care to set some doctrines at rest, which, 
 if received on the high authority promul- 
 gating them, would have a tendency to dis- 
 turb that tranquillity which they proposed 
 to secure. If we have not spoken more 
 decisively of the offences of the orders, 
 which have been admitted even by them- 
 selves, our conduct has been governed by 
 authorities greater than our own. An am- 
 nesty is said to have been thrown over all 
 transactions that arc gone. May they be 
 remembered no more, than as examples for 
 future government though the effects of 
 them may be felt, when the precedents 
 themselves shall be utterly forgotten. 
 
 Of the immediate consequences of these
 
 224 
 
 lamentable events, we shall not be required 
 to speak they are fresh in the mind of the 
 reader. Of more remote ones, it may be 
 thought, that we should take some passing 
 notice. These, however, though they may not 
 lie immediately at hand, are yet at no great 
 distance from us, and are, avowedly, so natu- 
 ral and so obvious, that we cannot be long 
 delayed in our reflections upon them. 
 
 Among the latter may be reckoned, 
 first, the impossibility of dependence, for a 
 time at least, of the Government on the 
 army than which, in local circumstances, 
 perhaps, a more extensive evil could not 
 well be fancied. Next, the disunion, on 
 all occasions, when joint operations may be 
 necessary, between the King's and Com- 
 pany's officers and scarcely in a secondary 
 degree, the separation of one description of 
 officers on the same establishment from ano- 
 ther, between whom a distinctive mark, 
 which is scarcely to be obliterated, is now, 
 for the first time, placed. And not among 
 the last consequences is to be noted, the 
 utter destruction of all tie and ancient reli- 
 ance between the European officers and the 
 Native soldiery and of the latter with its 
 officers. That these things must result,
 
 225 
 
 it were almost impossible for the most 
 bigotted to deny, or the most interested to 
 doubt. 
 
 That events more destructive have not 
 already ensued is more ascribable, we are 
 obliged to say, to the forbearance of the 
 army, than the prudence of the Govern- 
 ment The latter are not to be thanked, if 
 we may give evidence to the accounts 
 received, that the provinces entrusted to 
 their keeping, are yet in their possession. 
 They have been endangered beyond any 
 former example, within our recollection, or 
 reading. Did we say have been endan- 
 gered ? Alas ! the danger has not yet passed. 
 It hangs tremblingly over us even now, and 
 is suspended only by a hair. The wretched 
 device which has been hatched in a fatal 
 hour of policy, or rather of fatuity, to pur- 
 chase the service of the Sepoy, which, if 
 not commanded, was of no substantial 
 worth, in contradistinction to his officer, has 
 not only burst the bond between them 
 asunder, but has made him an object of 
 traffic to be bought and sold for the pur- 
 pose for which he may be required. His 
 own Government has bought him ; now 
 another may wish to purchase him on some 
 
 Q
 
 226 
 
 future occasion and the best bidder will 
 naturally have his services. When we 
 reflect that four-fifths, and more, of our 
 armies are composed of men of this descrip- 
 tion, need we do more than state the fact, 
 to condemn the practice ? 
 
 When it is recollected how many of 
 our frontier garrisons in India are defended 
 only by native troops, with a small, a com- 
 paratively small, proportion of European 
 officers, how slight must be the terms of 
 future tenure how unequal the opposed 
 powers to create a balance in conflicting and 
 adverse contingencies and how inadequate 
 the security resulting from the emanation of 
 the authority of the state through the 
 medium of its officers ? We shudder, as 
 we pass even thus lightly over the possible 
 effects. The task of looking at probable 
 incidents, though in this general way, has 
 become already so distressing, that we turn 
 from it with disgust. 
 
 We have said sufficient, we would 
 hope, to engage the attention of the proper 
 authorities in this country, to the conse- 
 quences that may, nay, that will, result, 
 unless some timely means are used to pre- 
 vent or to avert them. If his Majesty's 
 Ministers, at this moment, are occupied by
 
 22/ 
 
 matters of nearer concern, and of para- 
 mount importance ; and heaven knows, at 
 this most momentous and unprecedented 
 crisis, that they have cares enough around 
 them, without the pressure of distant 
 incumbrances, if they should not be able 
 to lend the benefit of their councils to the 
 crying and urgent necessities of our affairs 
 in the East, it will be doubly incumbent on 
 the Court of Directors, we should pre- 
 sume, to give them the most serious and 
 grave consideration. 
 
 If their possessions be dear to them if 
 they have an interest in their preservation, 
 we conjure them to watch, night and day, 
 with a never-ceasing anxiety, over their trust. 
 Let them take a fair and bold view of the dan- 
 gers that impend, and apply every vigorous 
 and honest mean within their power to repel 
 them. They are a thinking body of men, 
 and, we would conclude, without flattery, 
 that they are also a wise association, when 
 they undertake to think for themselves We 
 trust they will not lend themselves up, un- 
 suspectingly, at the awful moment of their 
 affairs, to the advice of individuals, who, 
 to speak no worse of them, have produced 
 that melancholy crisis, which has filled 
 
 Q2
 
 228 
 
 the whole country with consternation and 
 dismay. Let them examine, comprehen- 
 sively, the events which have happened 
 with their own eyes, and we shall look with 
 confidence to such decision, as the necessity 
 of things requires. 
 
 None of the calamities that have hap- 
 pened can be ascribed, with fairness and 
 with truth, to any mistaken proceeding of 
 their own except the removal of the Com- 
 mander in Chief, from a seat in the council, 
 may be viewed in that relation. But the 
 surest and best amends have already been 
 made for this unfortunate policy, in the 
 revocation of its principle, and in the arrest 
 of its effects. The Court of Directors, 
 therefore, will feel their conduct free and 
 unrestrained, in the full range of the inquiry, 
 which we zealously recommend. Fortunate, 
 indeed, it would have been, if the neces- 
 sity of such an investigation had been obvi- 
 ated, by the exercise of a preventive caution 
 in India, operating upon, and restraining 
 the manifestation of, that early spirit, which, 
 in its full growth, produced so many and 
 such mighty mischiefs. If the shame and 
 the reproach of these deeds could be now 
 done away, what sacrifice too great, what
 
 229 
 
 sum too large, for the. accomplishment of 
 so signal a service. Yet these might have 
 been once purchased, Oh ! that wisdom 
 had intervened ! at an easy and a small 
 price. If an obnoxious, we will not say 
 an offending, member and minister of the 
 army, had been rendered up, not to the 
 clamours of a military public, but to the 
 course of military justice. How sincerely is 
 it to be lamented, that the authority which 
 should have consulted the popular feeling, 
 was alone busied and delighted with the 
 demonstration of extreme power, instead of 
 using its true strength in moderate and tem- 
 perate rule, sweetened by the ministry of 
 grace. 
 
 If we have spoken with more freedom 
 than may be supposed to become us, of 
 great persons, and of dignified offices, 
 our excuse is, that we were desirous that 
 the eminence of station should not dazzle 
 weak eyes, and so conceal the urgency of 
 inquiry. If the times were more smooth, 
 we should have been inclined to be more 
 courteous. 
 
 It may be considered presumptuous and 
 arrogant in us, to point out the line of 
 policy which should be adopted in the diffi-
 
 230 
 
 culty of our Indian affairs. One or two 
 suggestions, however, we shall hazard, 
 though it should chance to expose us to 
 the severity of such a censure. It will be 
 not among the last endeavours of the Court 
 of Directors, to bring back men's minds, so 
 far as it be practicable, to the state in which 
 they stood, before extremities were resorted 
 to. As a primary means of effecting this, 
 we would seriously recommend, that all 
 objects should be removed from the sight, 
 that would be likely to excite a recollection 
 of what has passed. In the first place, it 
 would appear an obvious act of policy, to 
 prevent the collision of the Company's 
 corps, on the Madras establishment, with 
 those of his Majesty, which have taken an 
 active, striking, and, we will add, a merito- 
 rious part, in suppressing the late outrages. 
 Any collision between the two services, 
 under these relative circumstances, could not, 
 we apprehend, be productive of much good, 
 whilst it might keep fresh in the memory of 
 both, what had better be consigned, and 
 as speedily as may be, to the stream of 
 oblivion. We will not bear it to be insinu- 
 ated against us, while we are urging this 
 suggestion, that we are throwing aside
 
 231 
 
 instruments now they are no longer useful, 
 or of creating a field and range for unshack- 
 led discontent. To release such minds, as 
 are capable of these suspicions, from the 
 anxieties consequent upon them, wc must 
 add, that when we advised the removal of 
 these bodies, we intended that their places 
 should be supplied, with an equal number 
 of his Majesty's corps, brought from other 
 parts of India, whence they might be 
 easily forwarded, and not inconveniently 
 interchanged. It would be needless to point 
 out, that such a measure would reduce things 
 as near as possible to their primitive situation, 
 when no distinction, and no cause for it, 
 had existed between the separate branches 
 of the service. 
 
 We sincerely wish that so immediate a 
 reparation could be made of other no less 
 eminent evils. But it will demand more 
 than individual wisdom to devise measures 
 to heal the animosities which exist in the 
 different members of the same body. It 
 will be a work of some time and of much 
 labour, we arc afraid, of studied and of con- 
 tinued policy, to harmonize the distracted 
 feelings of those who favoured separate 
 courses of action in the late disputes ; and
 
 232 
 
 of those who found their safety in a neutrar 
 lized demeanour. But it will be the master 
 difficulty to restore the opinion which has 
 been destroyed, in the division of interests, 
 for the purposes of governing them in their 
 separate conditions, between the native 
 soldier and his European commander. Here 
 is a diversified and perplexed duty, and 
 surely a most imperious one, that cannot 
 be executed but by the hand of Time, and 
 by the concurrence of good fortune. 
 
 But, though no immediate means 
 may be descried for the reconciliation 
 of these jarring interests and passions, 
 some effectual ones might be found for 
 reconciling individuals to themselves. It 
 would not appear any very arduous employ- 
 ment to discover the way for soothing and 
 allaying the irritation of the army. It 
 requires but to call into use the dictates 
 of a natural and liberal policy. It is 
 only to extend the principles of the amnesty, 
 declared in India, to every individual 
 involved in any of the stages or acts 
 growing out of the late discontent. 
 
 It can be no great effort of magnani- 
 mity to restore those again to their rank 
 and to their stations, who have been dis-
 
 233 
 
 missed from them without a hearing, and 
 without investigation, unless it shall have 
 been carried on behind their backs, and 
 have been supported by representations as 
 partial as the proceeding itself. If there 
 can be any reason for a momentary pause, 
 it will arise, we are sure, from the impres- 
 sion, necessarily suggested by every liberal 
 bosom, that some enquirj r is due, as a mat- 
 ter of strict justice, to the injured feelings 
 of those individuals, who have been hur- 
 ried from India to this country ; unheard, 
 though not unjudged ; whose punishment 
 has foreran their trial; and whose injuries 
 will not be redressed by the mere restitu- 
 tion of their offices. But, above all, it will 
 be a wise exercise of discretion in the Court 
 of Directors to reprobate, and to abolish, 
 that baneful and odious practice, which is 
 alone sufficient to account for all the ills 
 that have happened, of disfranchising men 
 of their rights, acquired by patient, and per- 
 haps meritorious service, without allowing 
 them the opportunity of protecting and 
 defending their interests, or the privilege 
 scarcely of complaint. So long as this 
 arbitrary principle shall obtain, it will re- 
 quire not the spirit of divination to foretel,
 
 231 
 
 that so long will subsist, however it may 
 be suppressed and masked for a time, an 
 universal sentiment of disgust and abhor- 
 rence. It arises from a cause so thoroughly 
 ingrafted in our nature, as to exceed the 
 reach of human power to eradicate or cor- 
 rect it. It is against the essence of justice 
 itself, as implanted by the hand of Provi- 
 dence in our hearts, and as evinced in all 
 its ways and dispensations. Let not the 
 pride of State forbid what it is the best inte- 
 rest of the State to grant. Let it not be 
 imagined, because the mutiny itself has 
 been subdued, that the spirit which engen- 
 dered it is dead. Nor let those, to whom 
 we are now addressing ourselves, believe, 
 that a passion which we have described 
 to be universal, has been confined to a local 
 habitation. If the flame of discontent, by 
 accident or other causes, hath only yet 
 burst forth in one place, let them not flatter 
 themselves that it has been quenched and 
 extinguished in all ; but rather fear, for 
 there is but too much cause for such an 
 apprehension, that it is only smothered for 
 awhile, and may blaze forth, unexpectedly, 
 with a fury, redoubled by the circumstances
 
 235 
 
 of its suppression. Let them be wise in 
 season, and from precept, and not wait for 
 the instruction of further calamitous events. 
 But in a disposition of grace and favor, let 
 them lay down imaginary privileges or rights, 
 which are not suited to the condition of 
 things, or cannot be exercised without work- 
 ing extensive practical inconvenience, and, 
 without endangering the very foundation 
 of justice. There are none amongst 
 the warmest advocates of this fanciful 
 right of suspension, who can go the length 
 of supporting it, in its full exercise, as in re- 
 lation to thepresentacts. For, whatever power 
 the legislature may be supposed to have 
 given to the representative body of the East 
 India company, it never could have intended, 
 that it should have been deputed by them 
 to any other, who might disband at its own 
 will, and at its own caprice, without the 
 shew and the form of any judicial proceeding, 
 their best officers from the army, nay the 
 whole extended circle of them, with a single 
 dash of the pen. Let them renounce this 
 suspicious and dangerous practice, and com- 
 fort themselves with this undoubted conso- 
 lation, that what they may lose in power,
 
 236 
 
 they will gain in reverence and respect, 
 This act alone would call back men's duties 
 and affections, were they estranged at a 
 greater distance than they are. Such a wil- 
 ling offering to peace, would do more than 
 a hundred examples of sanction and of 
 vengeance. The hour may come, notwith- 
 standing the present meridian height of out- 
 Eastern splendour, when every heart and 
 hand may be required to secure even a safe 
 possession. Let not any ungracious perti- 
 nacitv dissever one from the other. 
 
 Let not any one represent these plain 
 observations, as adverse to the interests, or 
 disrespectful to the rights of the constituted 
 body, to which they are principally addressed. 
 They are not offered in the feeling of an 
 enemy, but in the sentiment, and with the 
 warning voice of a friend. If the style or 
 manner of the address shall be deemed in 
 some parts to be rude, the intent at all 
 times, and in all places, will be seen, we 
 trust, to be honest. The case in our view 
 of it, appeared to be extreme, and despe- 
 rate, and not to admit of any trifling pallia- 
 tives, or more flattering digestives. It would, 
 in our contemplation, have been an act of
 
 237 
 
 dishonesty, to " skin and film the ulcerous 
 part," and leave the Constitution to be wasted 
 underneath, by secret and lurking corrup- 
 tion. We have boldly applied the bold 
 treatment, which, in our mind, it seemed 
 to demand, though the caustic burn, and the 
 knife should wound. 
 
 POSTSCRIPT. 
 
 Since the preceding pages have been in the 
 press, letters have been received from India 
 of so late a date as the 22d of October, 
 which confirm the previous accounts of the 
 amnesty granted to the parties involved in 
 the late unhappy occurrences on the Coast 
 of Coromandel, and describe the particular 
 exceptions, which are more numerous than 
 hitherto supposed, as well as the grounds 
 on which they had been governed, in the 
 application of the general rule. This act 
 of grace was declared in a General Order 
 t>f the Governor General of the 25th Sep- 
 tember. 
 
 The principle on which it proceeds may 
 be best understood from the language of 
 the order itself, in which Lord Minto thus 
 expresses himself:
 
 23S 
 
 " The principle I have thought myself 
 at liberty to adopt has been to limit the 
 number of punishments, since impunity 
 cannot be general ; and to mitigate their 
 degrees to the utmost extent of lenity, not 
 entirely incompatible with the public 
 good, and the indispensable demands of 
 justice. 
 
 " In the execution of this principle, it 
 has been necessary to make a small selec- 
 tion from a great mass of delinquency, all 
 subject in strictness to the penalties of the 
 law; and that such a choice should nei- 
 ther be capricious nor subject to the sus- 
 picion of partiality, I have adopted general 
 criterion s, the principles of which are 
 manifestly just, and the application of 
 which to particular cases is subject to no 
 difficulty. 
 
 " The first ground of selection is the 
 commission of some overt act of rebellion 
 or mutiny, such as seizing on fortresses, 
 or public treasure ; actual hostility against 
 the troops of his Majesty, the Company, 
 or its allies; quitting the station allotted 
 to troops without orders, or the refusal to 
 obey the orders of Government. 
 
 " This principle of selection would
 
 239 
 
 f< liberate a considerable proportion of the 
 " army; but it would involve a much greater 
 (C number than it enters into my views to 
 <c exclude from pardon. 
 
 " It is necessary therefore to select 
 " from the numerous class already described 
 " a smaller number comprized within a 
 " narrower head of distinction. 
 
 " That selection is to consist of the offi- 
 " cers in command of stations, or bodies of 
 " trocps, commandants of corps and per- 
 " sons peculiarly distinguished for a forward 
 " and violent part in the most criminal acts 
 " or proceedings of the army. 
 
 " The whole of this highly criminal 
 iC arid peculiarly responsible, but not nu- 
 " merous class, will most justly be sub- 
 " mitted to a trial by Court Martial. 
 
 " But as the Courts Martial may of 
 fc necessity be bound to pass sentences of 
 " greater severity than it is in contem- 
 " plation to extend without distinction to 
 <( the whole number of those submitted to 
 " trial, a more minute sub-division will yet 
 " be made, and the oflicers in command of 
 " garrisons, or considerable bodies of troops, 
 " will be separated, on this ground of higher 
 " responsibility, from the commandants of
 
 240 
 
 <: 
 
 corps. The former will be subjected at 
 " all events to trial; the latter will be 
 " allowed the option of a trial, or dismissal 
 " from the service. 
 
 " In order that no anxious uncertainty 
 " may remain concerning the application of 
 *' these rules of selection to individual cases, 
 " the names of all the officers intended for 
 " punishment, are expressed in the following 
 list:" 
 
 Then follows the list of the officers 
 included in the separate classes. 
 
 In the first are described those, who 
 are to be absolutely tried by a Court Martial, 
 and those appear to be 
 
 J. Bell, Lt -col. Artillery, commanding at Seringapatam. 
 
 John Doveton, Lt.-col. 8th reg. N. C. at Jaulna. 
 
 Joseph Storey, Major, 1st bat. 19th reg. N. I. Masulipatam- 
 
 In the second are contained the names 
 of those, who have the option of abiding 
 the event of a Court MartiaLor of dismissal 
 from the service, which are as follow: 
 
 Robert Munro, I^t.-col. 2d bat. 15th reg. Seringapatam^ 
 David C Kenny, Major, 2d bat. 19th reg. Ditto. 
 T. F. De Haviland, Capt. Engineers- Ditto. 
 
 George Cadell, do. 12th bat- N.I. Ditto. 
 
 H. M'Intosh, do. 1st bat. 8th reg. 1 Marched, wt. orders, 
 F- K. Aiskill, do. 1st bat. 15th reg. / from Chittledroog.
 
 241 
 
 A. Andrews, Captain European rcg. Masulipatam. 
 James Paterson, do. 1st. bat. 1 1th reg. Samulcottah. 
 George "Wahab, do. 1st bat. 21st reg. Chicacole. 
 James Sadler, do. 1st bat. 24-th reg Ellore- 
 J. L. Lushington, do. kh Reg. cavalry, Jaulna. 
 A. M'Leod, do. 8th Reg. cavalry, Ditto. 
 G. Hopkinson, Capt.-lt. 1st bat- Art. Sen.Offr. Art. Jaulna. 
 G. W. Poignand, do. H. Art. Sen. Oifr.of the Corps, Jaulna; 
 G-M. Gibson, Capt. 1st bat. lOih reg. Jaulna. 
 Thomas Pollock, do. 1st bat. I2:hreg. Ditto. 
 Mathew Stewart, Major, 2d bat. 17th reg. Ditto 
 John Turner, Capt. 2d bat. J 5th reg. Seringapatam. 
 
 The order then proceeds: 
 
 " It is with corresponding satisfaction 
 " and joy, I have now to perform the more 
 " grateful office of announcing to every 
 " other officer, who lias been involved in 
 " any of the criminal proceedings of the 
 " army, since the 1st of May, a general and 
 " unqualified amnesty ; to the benefit of 
 " which those officers, who have hitherto 
 " declined the test, will be admitted on their 
 " signing that declaration. 
 
 " This amnesty is not granted in the nar- 
 " row spirit of mere pardon. It is tendered 
 " as an act of total and sincere oblivion ; it 
 " oflers on the part of Government a full 
 *' restoration of confidence and esteem; and 
 " it invites from those, who are the object 
 
 R
 
 242 
 
 " of it, not a sullen discharge of constrained 
 
 " duty; but obedience which comes from 
 
 " the heart, and the cheerful, animated ser- 
 
 " vice of cordiality, affection, and zeal." 
 
 The time will not permit us to take 
 any particular notice of this order, or to 
 publish any other part of it, than the fore- 
 going short extract. This, like the former 
 memorable order of Lord Minto, is tediously 
 long and garrulous, though it contains some 
 good and salutary doctrines, strongly inter- 
 woven, as in the prior instance, with many 
 remarks, much out of time and place. 
 Several topics are comprehended in it, which 
 true policy would have left untouched. 
 While the amnesty to the great body of the 
 offenders is announced to be attended with 
 a general oblivion, observations are unfor- 
 tunately introduced in the same breath, 
 tending to awaken and stimulate feelings 
 freshly allayed, and before they had time to 
 cool. Harsh and unnecessary contrasts are 
 made, as if there had been a perverse bias 
 in the pen, to a course foreign to the pious 
 purpose of the writer. There are some 
 distinctions taken in the cases, excepted out 
 of the general amnesty, which it would 
 seem difficult to reconcile with the prin-
 
 243 
 
 ciples on which the act is stated to proceed. 
 On this and other points, if an opportunity 
 be allowed, we may offer some future remark. 
 We cannot at present forbear the obser- 
 vation, that the measure would appear more 
 consonant to our humble notions of what 
 is right, if it had stood on more simple 
 ground, or if, indeed, it had been applied 
 without exception and distinction of any 
 kind, and certainly without any long reason- 
 ing on an act, which if it carried not a plain 
 and perspicuous meaning on the surface of 
 it, could not be improved by argument or 
 oratory, though urged by the ingenuity, or 
 enforced by the eloquence, of the Governor 
 General of India. 
 
 If, in our present uncertainty, we may 
 be indulged in the expression of a hope, it 
 is, that the numbers embraced in the pre- 
 ceding list may be yet lessened, by a fur- 
 ther exertion of mercy, and on the appli- 
 cation of a party, who had no secondary 
 share in the acts, that brought about the 
 extreme events recorded in the foregoing 
 pages. Such a hope springs not onh out 
 of our interests and wishes, but is founded, 
 on a report generally mentioned in the let- 
 ters just received from Madras.
 
 244 
 
 It is with regret that we notice any thing 
 which may disturb the satisfactory conclu- 
 sions drawn in the order of Lord Minto, and 
 adopted by the public, of the entire suppres- 
 sion of the discontents of the Madras army ; 
 but we think it our duty to add, though we 
 hope that the information may prove erro- 
 neous, that private intelligence suggests, 
 that the subsidiary force at Jaulnah, had 
 manifested a disposition to resist the orders 
 of Government, for the arrest of the officers 
 attached to that division of the army. With 
 pain we have also to remark, that a part of 
 the ill effects, anticipated by us in an earlier 
 place, has been already realized, and that 
 two trials by Court Martial had taken place, 
 arising out of the temper, generated among 
 different members of the same service, by 
 the different parts which they took in the 
 late disputes. We fervently wish that these 
 may be the last ! 
 
 March Wh, 1810.
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Memorial from the Officers commanding Native Corps 
 upon the Establishment of Fori St. George, to the 
 Hon. Court of Directors of the Hon. East India 
 Company, c. Sheweth, 
 
 1 . That we, the undersigned memorialists, officers command- 
 ing native corps upon the Madras Establishment, have the 
 honour, with all deference and respect, to solicit the attention 
 of your honourable Court, to the subject of our appeal, which 
 we, with the u'.most duty and submission, otier to your con- 
 sideration. 
 
 2. Your memorialists beg to state, that Captain John Munro, 
 of the European regiment on this establishment, and Quarter- 
 Master-General of the army, delivered some months since to 
 the Commander in Chief at Madras, certain proposals, bearing 
 date 30th June, 1S08, recommending the abolition of the Tent 
 Contract, which, on the the 1st of July last, was taken from 
 officers commanding native corps in your army at Madras. 
 
 3. Whether the Tent Contract, as consistent with the good 
 of the public service, should or should not have continued to 
 exist, is a subject your memorialists will not presume to trouble 
 your honourable Court upon ; but certain articles which the 
 Quarter-Master-Gencral has inserted in his proposals, as motives 
 that prevailed with him for recommending the abolition of the 
 Tent Contract, your memorialists have to observe, no less 
 excited their surprize, than they did the feelings of poignant 
 concern, in peiceiving such dishonourable principles so 
 unjustly attributed to them. 
 
 4. Your memorialists will here furnish the extracts from the 
 Quarter-Master-General's proposals, on which they ground, 
 their complaints to your honourable Court : 
 
 " Six years experience of the practical effects of the existing 
 system of the camp equipage equipment of the native army, 
 has afforded means of forming a judgment rcLtive to its advan- 
 
 s
 
 246 APPENDIX. 
 
 tages and efficiency, which were not possessed by the persons 
 who proposed its introduction ; and an attentive examination 
 of its operations, during that period of time, has suggested the 
 following observations regarding it : By granting the same 
 allowance in peace and war for the equipment of a Native corps, 
 while the expenses incidental to that charge are unavoidably 
 much greater in war than in peace, it places the interest and 
 duty of officers commanding native corps in direct opposition 
 to one another ; it makes it their interest that their corps should 
 not be in a state of efficiency lit for field service ; and therefore 
 furnishes strong inducements to neglect their most important 
 duties. 
 
 By charging Commanding Officers of corps with extensive 
 concerns, immediately affecting their private interests, is calcu- 
 lated, particularly in the field, to divert their attention and then- 
 pursuits from the discipline and management of their corps ; 
 objects that should furnish them with sufficient employment for 
 the whole of their time. 
 
 (Signed) " JOHN MUNRO, 
 
 u Quarter Master General of the Army.' 1 
 
 5. Your memorialists, with the justest sentiments of defe- 
 rence to your honourable Court, beg to state, that these articles 
 unequivocally convey a most cruel and wanton insult, as well 
 as an injurious aspersion (we all feel it) to officers who have 
 faithfully served their country, many for nearly 30 years, some 
 more, in affirming, that upon the experience and observation of 
 six years, formed upon the judgment of practical effect, it. 
 appears, officers commanding Native corps have strong induce- 
 ments, from interest, to neglect their most important duties, in 
 order that their corps should not be in a state of efficiency fit 
 tor field service. 
 
 6. Your memorialists conceive that these assertions, in their 
 application with regard to time, and operation, with respect to 
 effect, are no less than accusing them of having sacrificed the 
 interests and security of the public service for a base purpose, 
 and of having violated that trust which your honourable Court, 
 which Government, and which the Commander in Chief, in 
 certain confidence place in them. Your memorialists perceive 
 in them also an insinuation of an utter dereliction of the pride 
 of military spirit, in their having a wish, from pecuniary 
 motives, not to be prepared to meet the enemies of their 
 country. 
 
 7. Impressed with those painful sensations, which such serious 
 imputations cannot fail to create, your memorialists, in several 
 instances, without delay* and with all possible respect, separately
 
 APPENDIX. 247 
 
 addressed themselves to his Excellency the Commander in 
 Chief, Lieutenant-General Hay Macdowall, upon the subject 
 of the Quarter-Master-General's allegations. His Excellency 
 had the condescension to answer the several applications of 
 appeal ; but in a circular reply, observing in substance, that as 
 he had not been consulted with regard to the abolition of the 
 Tent Contract, he did not feel himself at liberty to interfere in 
 any matter connected with the subject, upon individual appli- 
 cation. 
 
 8. Your memorialists have to state to your honourable Court, 
 that, in consequence of this notification, feeling the injury 
 done them by the insinuations in the Quarter- Master- General's 
 minute, they adopted the means of redress which appeared to 
 them to be most consistent with their ideas of justice, and with 
 the duty they owe to their superiors, submitted to their imme- 
 diate principal, the Commander in Chief, the substance of their 
 complaints, in the form of a military charge ; but finding that 
 this mode was considered by the Judge-Advocate-General to be 
 irregular, or ineffectual towards the vindication of their injured, 
 feelings, they respectfully abide by that opinion for the present, 
 and have solicited a suspension of the direct charge against the 
 individual, while they appealed to the candour and justice of 
 your honourable Court, trusting it may please them to order 
 an investigation of the subject, as from an investigation alone 
 can they hope for a removal of the disgraceful impressions 
 which the insinuations in the Quarter-Master-General's pro- 
 posals are calculated to produce, and which your memorialists 
 in confidence beg to assure your honourable Court ate equally 
 unfounded in fact, as they are injurious to the characters of the 
 officers of the Honourable Company's army. 
 
 9. Your memorialists have further to state to your honourable 
 Court, that had the Quarter-Master-General promulgated his 
 injurious insinuations, serious as they are, in his capacity of 
 Captain in the European regiment, a conscious integrity might, 
 from the repugnance your memorialists feels to complain, have 
 treated them probably with a dignified silence, or with private 
 dissuasive admonition ; but, armed with the authority of the 
 Quarter-Master-General of the army, your memorialists are of 
 opinion, that they obtain a consequence and consideration, which 
 it is apprehended by them, cannot fail to influence the public 
 mind, not only in India, but in Europe; and create a belief, 
 that a Quarter-Master-Gencral could not possibly circulate 
 such serious assertions, against a body of officets of that army 
 of which he is Quarter Master-General, without an existing 
 just cause. 
 
 S 2
 
 248 APPENDIX, 
 
 10. To remove such an impression, and to establish, upon 
 incontrovertible testimony, that the officers commanding Native 
 corps have faithfully fulfilled those duties which the public 
 service expects and requires from them, are the primary objects 
 which gave birth to that solicitude on the part of your memo- 
 rialists, for an investigation. A secondary object is to stamp, 
 with due effect, the nature of that offence in promulgating such 
 serious and erroneous matter, so highly injurious to their cha- 
 racters as officers and gentlemen, as well as to the respectability 
 oi the Honourable Company's service in general. 
 
 1 I. Your memorialists anxiously hope, that when the magni- 
 tude of the subject of which they complain shall be taken into 
 consideration by your honourable Court, it will fully appear to 
 your judgment that they are not actuated in their appeal by any 
 frivolous or unreasonably tenacious principles, or any object 
 not strictly connected with that perfect moderation and tem- 
 perate pursuit of justice, which your honourable Court in its 
 wisdom and consideration, are ever disposed to attend to, with 
 those who, under the feelings and firm persuasion of just com- 
 plaint, claim your protection and support. 
 
 12. Your memorialists, through the medium of their imme- 
 diate superior, his Excellency the Commander in Chief, Lieu- 
 tenant-General Hay Macdowall. transmit their memorial; and 
 in relying upon that distinguished liberality and goodness which 
 have invariably marked his attention to them, to give their cause 
 that support which in his judgment it may deserve; they will, 
 with every sentiment of profound respect and deference, sub- 
 missively wait for, and obediently conform to such decision, 
 as your honourable Court shall, in the justness of your wisdom, 
 determine upon their cause. 
 
 Signed by thirty-two officers, Commanding Native Corps, 
 Mac! ra, December 1808. 
 
 [This was rejected by Sir George Barlow 3 and returned to 
 General Macdowall. 3 
 
 TO THE ADJUTANT-GENERAL OF THE ARMY. 
 Sir, We, the under-mentioned officers, commanding 
 Native corps upon this establishment, have the honour to forward 
 the accompanying memorial, which we request you will lay 
 before his Excellency the Commander in Chief, Lieutenant- 
 Gene; a! Hay Macdowall, and which we have to solicit his 
 Excellency will take such measures as to him may appear most 
 suitable for the transmission of the same to the honourable Court 
 oi Directors.
 
 APPENDIX. 219 
 
 * The Commander in Chief being already so well acquainted 
 with the general and particular circumstances that gave rise to 
 the immediate subject ot appeal, it becomes wholly unnecessary 
 onourpart to enter into any further explanation for his Excel- 
 lency's information. 
 
 The long series of years which the Commander in Chief 
 lias served withjthe coast army, and that benign goodness with 
 which he has invariably, both in public and private character, 
 distinguished many of those who now appeal through his 
 authority, under a period of painful concern, creates every con- 
 fidence and hope that his Excellency will, as our immediate 
 superior, condescend to honourour memorial with such assistance 
 and support, as in his judgment the subject has claim to, and 
 which, we are fully persuaded, cannot fail to give it the most 
 impartial introduction to the attention of the honourable Court 
 ot Directors. 
 
 [Signed by thirty-two officers commanding Native corps.] 
 
 ' Madras Establishment, Dec. 1808." 
 
 [X] 
 
 GENERAL ORDERS BY THE COMMANDER IN 
 CHIEF. 
 
 " Head-quarters, Choultry Plain, Jan. 25, 1809. 
 
 The immediate departure of Lieut. -General Macdowall 
 from Madras, will prevent him from pursuing the design of 
 bringing Lieut. -Colonel Munro, Quarter - Master - General, 
 to trial, for disrespect to the Commander in Chief, for disobe- 
 dience of orders, and for contempt of military authority, in 
 having resorted to the Civil Government, in defiance of the 
 officer at the head of the army, who had placed him under 
 arrest on charges preferred against him by a number of officers 
 commanding Native corps ; in consequence ot which appeal 
 direct to the Hon. the President in Council, Lieut-Gen. 
 Macdowall received a positive order trom the Supreme Go- 
 vernment to liberate Lieut. -Col. Munro from his confinement. 
 Such conduct on the part of Colonel Munro being destructive 
 of subordination, subversive of military discipline, a violation 
 of the sacred rights of the Commander in Chiet, and holding 
 a most dangerous example to the service, Lieut-General 
 Macdowall, in support of the dignity of the profession, and 
 his own station and character, feels it incumbent upon him to 
 express his strong disapprobation of Lieu. -Co). Munro's unex-
 
 250 APPENDIX. 
 
 ampled proceedings, and considers it a solemn duty imposed 
 upon him to reprimand Lieut. -Col. Munro in general orders, 
 and he is hereby reprimanded accordingly. 
 
 F. CAPPER. 
 
 " Adjutant-General ofthc Army." 
 
 [C. ] 
 
 GENERAL ORDERS BY THE COMMANDER IN 
 
 CHIEF. 
 
 The moment is now arrived, when Lieut. -General 
 Macdowall is to take leave of the Company's army, whoseardent 
 courage, consummate discipline, and persevering Frmness, have 
 been displayed in the achievements of those brilliant exploits 
 which have secured its own glory, and added to the British 
 empire extensive fertile regions of incalculable value and impor- 
 tance. May your patriotism, valour, and worth, be acknow- 
 ledged and rewarded by your King and the East India Company, 
 in proportion as they are known and appreciated by your Com- 
 mander in Chief. 
 
 Had Lieut. -General Macdowall succeeded to the high and 
 enviable office with all the advantages enjoyed by his prede- 
 cessors, he would, upon first assuming the command, have 
 promulgated his sentiments on so flattering an event ; but the 
 circumstances of his appointment were so humiliating and 
 unpropitious, that he declined addressing the army, in the 
 anxious hope that the Court of Directors might, on further 
 deliberation, be induced to restore him to his right, by altering 
 the new and extraordinary forms of Government, and have 
 enabled him to exercise the functions of his station, as the 
 representative of the army, with honour to the service, and credit 
 to himself; no prospect of such an occurrence being at all pro- 
 bable, in justice to the army, and to his own character, he has 
 determined to retire. 
 
 On quitting a country where he has passed the greatest 
 part of his life, and where he possesses many dear and respec- 
 table friends, Lieut. -Gen. Macdowall cannot view his separation 
 from a body of men he is sincerely attached to, without suffer- 
 ing the most painful sensations; from the nature of the service 
 he can have little chance of ever meeting with them again, but 
 he is bound to declare, that the whole of their conduct meets 
 with his entire approbation, and he will boldly affirm, without 
 danger ol contradiction, that His Majesty has not, in any part 
 yi his dominions, a more loyal, patriotic, and valiant class of
 
 APPENDIX. 251 
 
 soldiers and subjects, than the officers composing the army of 
 Fort St. George. That success may continue to attend their 
 steps ; that their dearly-bought laurels may never decay ; and 
 that their bravery and discipline may gather additional wreaths 
 in the field of honour, is the sincere prayer of a man who will 
 nevtr forget tl.em. 
 
 (Signed) " F. CAPPER, 
 
 Jan. 28. " Adj.-Gen. of theAimy." 
 
 [D. ] 
 
 GENERAL ORDERS BY GOVERNMENT. 
 
 * Fort St. George, Jan. 31, 1809. 
 
 " It has recently come to the knowledge of the Governor 
 in Council, that Lieut. -General Macdowall did, previously to 
 his embarkation from the Presidency, leave to be published to 
 the army, a General Order, dated 28th instant, in the highest 
 degree disrespectful to the authority of the Government, in 
 which that officer has presumed to found a public censure on 
 an act adopted under the immediate authority of the Governor 
 in Council, and to convey insinuations grossly derogatory to 
 the character of the Government, and subversive of military 
 discipline, and of the foundation of public authority. The 
 resignation of Lieut. -Gen. Macdowall of the command of the 
 army of Fort St. George, not having been yet received it 
 becomes the duty of the Governor in Council, in consideration 
 of the violent and inflammatory proceeding of that officer, in 
 the present and on other recent occasions, and for the purpose 
 of preventing the repetition of further acts of outrage, to anti- 
 cipate the period of his expected resignation, and to annul the 
 appointment of Lieutenant-General Macdowall to the com- 
 mand of the army of this Presidency ; Lieutenant-General 
 Macdowall is accordingly hereby removed from the station of 
 Commander in Chief of the Forces at Fort St. George. 
 
 " The governor in Council must lament, with the deepest 
 regret, the necessity of resorting to an extreme measure of this 
 nature; but when a manifest endeavour has been used to bring 
 into degradation the supreme public authority, it is essential 
 that the vindication should not be less signal than the offence ; 
 and that a memorable example should be given, that proceedings 
 subsversive of established order can find no security under 
 the sanction of rank, however high, or of station, however ex- 
 alted. 
 
 " The General Order in question having been circulated
 
 252 APPENDIX. 
 
 under the signature of the Deputy Adjutant General of the 
 Army, it must have been known to that officer, that in giving 
 currency to a paper of this offensive description, he was acting 
 in direct violation of his duty to the Government, as no autho- 
 rity can justify the execution of an illegal act, connected as that 
 act obviously in the present case has been, with views of the 
 most reprehensible nature, the Governor in Council thinks 
 proper to mark his highest displeasure of the conduct of Major 
 Boles, by directing that he shall be suspended from the Com- 
 pany's service. 
 
 The General Order left by the Commander in Chief for 
 publication, under date 2Sth inst. is directed to be expunged 
 from every public record, and the Adjutant-General of the 
 Army will immediately circulate the necessary orders for that 
 purpose. 
 
 By order of the Honourable Governor in Council, 
 
 " GEORGE BUCHAN, 
 
 Secretary to Government." 
 
 [X] 
 
 G. O, BY GOVERNMENT. 
 
 Foit St. George, 1st Feb. 1809. 
 
 " It having been made known to the honourable the gover- 
 nor in council that the adjutant-general of the army wss 
 materially implicated in the measure of giving currency to the 
 offensive general order of the commander in chief, dated the 
 2Sth ultimo, it becomes the duty of the honourable the gover- 
 nor in council to direct that Lieutenant-colonel Capper be 
 suspended from the service of the honourable company, and 
 that officer is hereby suspended accordingly. 
 
 " The governor in council directs that major Robert Barclay 
 will take charge of the duties of the office of adjutant-general, 
 until further orders. 
 
 By order of the Honourable the governor in council. 
 (Signed) " G. BUCHAN, 
 
 " Chief Secretary to Government." 
 
 THE HONOURABLE SIR G. BARLOW, BART. K. B. 
 PRESIDENT IN COUNCIL. 
 
 " Fort St. George, January, 1809. 
 
 " Sir, Impelled by a laudable ambition which had long led 
 me to aspire to the chief command of the respectable army
 
 APPENDIX. 253 
 
 under this establishment, I viewed my appointment to that high 
 office as the happiest event of my life, concluding, that I should 
 succeed to all the rights and privileges enjoyed by mv prede- 
 cessors. The decision, however, of the court of directors, 
 confirmed by the board of controul, has placed me in so extra- 
 ordinary,and unexampled, and so humiliating a predicament, that 
 the most painful emotions are excited, and I, at one glance, 
 perceive that it is impossible to remain with any prospect of 
 performing my duty with credit to the East India company, of 
 acquiring for myself any reputation, or of doing justice to 
 those over whom I am called to preside. Divested of the power 
 of selecting for command, or of requiting the meritorious officer, 
 by the restriction of military patronage; deprived of the re- 
 spectability which in this country attaches to a seat in council, 
 and abridged in the usual emoluments of office ; it is incon- 
 sistent with the character I have ever endeavoured to maintain 
 to hold an appointment of such magnitude and responsibility 
 thus degraded ! I have therefore the honour, honourable sir, 
 to request that I may be permitted to resign my commission of 
 commander in chief, and to proceed to Europe by the present 
 opportunity. Inferring that the plan, fur the exclusion of the 
 commander in chief from council, must have been formed 
 with sufficient deliberation, to preclude the possibility of any 
 arguments of mine producing an alteration of sentiment on 
 the projectors ot it, I decline touching on the subject ; nor 
 will I condescend to make any reference to those, who lave 
 premeditately injured me, and who without a conciliating expres- 
 sion or any explanation whatever, have severely wounded the 
 feelings of an officer who has served them with zeal and fidelity 
 (with a short intermission) fo*r seven and twenty ycais. In 
 adverting once more to patronage, it is not possible to view 
 without the deepest regret, a scheme tor disconnecting the 
 authority to command service, from the power of animating 
 it by reward ; and for allotting to the commander in chief ail 
 the invidious duties of his station without the means of softening 
 them to the army, by acts ot favour and kindness, derived 
 immediately from the fountain head; and I may be allowed to 
 observe that the plea of public utility ought to be clear and 
 urgent, which calls for the extinction or abridgement of any 
 of these rights which the army, through its natural representa- 
 tive, possess, or which can justify me in admitting, that an 
 experiment is necessary to ascertain with how small a portion of 
 power and influence, the military duties undei tins government 
 may be cairied on. 
 
 Notwithstanding these observations, (which have nothing
 
 254 APPENDIX. 
 
 of novelty to recommend them) and my determined resolution 
 to quit India with the spring fleet, should you, honourable sir, 
 be of opinion that the public service will, in any shape, suffer 
 detriment by my departure at the present moment, I shall con- 
 sider it an imperious duty to abandon every personal feeling, 
 and to submit to your judgment, should my exertions be deemed 
 of importance ; at the same time implicitly relying that your 
 honourable board will sanction my embarkation, when the cause 
 of my detention may be removed. 
 
 I beg, however, that it may be distinctly understood, that 
 this is not meant as courting an invitation to stay. I have been 
 offered an indignity, and my pride and sensibility would compel 
 me to retire, even were the sacrifice greater ; for I cannot tamely 
 submit to see the exalted station disgraced in my person, nor 
 can I be answerable to the army if I do not resist so uncommon 
 a deviation, which deprives it of a representative. 
 
 The accompanying copy of a letter from his excellency 
 the commander in chief in India will inform you, honourable 
 sir, of his acquiescence to my application for one year's leave 
 of absence. 
 
 I have the honour to be, &c- 
 
 HAY MACDOWALL." 
 
 [G. ] 
 GENERAL ORDER BY GOVERNMENT. 
 
 " Fort St. George, 6th Feb. 1809. 
 
 The honourable the governor in council having lately 
 adopted the measure of ordering the release of the quartcr-master- 
 general of the army from arrest, and it being desirable that the 
 circumstances connected with that measure should be distinctly 
 and publicly understood, there being reason to believe, that a 
 great degree of misapprehension has hitherto existed, the gover- 
 nor in council thinks it proper to state, that the quarter-master- 
 general was placed under arrest by the late commander in chief, 
 on charges founded on a report which was submitted by the 
 quarter-master-general, in conformity to express orders ; which 
 report having been approved and adopted by the commander in 
 chief, lieutenant-general Sir John Cradock, was by him com- 
 municated to the late right honourable the governor in council 
 of Fort St. George, and finally laid before the supreme govern- 
 ment, under whose approbation and orders, it became the foun- 
 dation ot measures already known to the army. 
 
 In these circumstances the quarter-master-gcneral could
 
 APPENDIX. 255 
 
 be considered no longer responsible for proceedings so sanc- 
 tioned, and it would have been inconsistent with the evident 
 principles of justice, that a public officer should have been 
 liable to the obloquy of a trial, for an aet not his, but that of his 
 superiors the question which in such case would have been 
 submitted to the cognizance of a military tribunal, would not 
 have involved only a discussion of the conduct of the quarter- 
 master- general, but would have extended to the measures of the 
 principal civil and military authorities in this country ; mea- 
 sures which had undergone the maturest consideration, and 
 which had been carried into effect under the most formal sanction 
 it must be apparent, that a discussion involving consequences 
 of this nature, would have been contrary to law, contrary to 
 reason, ruinous of public confidence, and subversive of the 
 foundations of military discipline, and of public authority. 
 
 Impressed with these sentiments, it became the solemn, the 
 bounden duty of the governor in council, on the facts being 
 made known, by a communication from the quarter-master- 
 general, (which, from the nature of the question, it became the 
 light and duty of that officer to submit by direct reference on 
 the communication having been refused by the late commander 
 in chief) to interpose the authority of the government, for the 
 prevention of the most fatal evils it was the wish, it was the 
 earnest endeavour, of the governor in council, to effect this 
 object, by every means of conciliation and explanation ; but 
 such means having been used in vain, and having been even 
 repelled under circumstances highly offensive, no alternative 
 remained, but that of conveying a specific order for the removal 
 of the arrest. 
 
 The governor in council desires, that the officers of this 
 army will be assured that this government would not be less 
 solicitous to vindicate their honour and reputation, by rejecting 
 all injurious imputations, if such could have been supposed, 
 than the officers of the army could have been solicitous in their 
 own vindication. The governor in council has accordingly, 
 under this impression, been led to an attentive consideration 
 of the expressions which are understood tu have been deemed 
 objectionable, and he has no hesitation in declaring, that it 
 appears in his judgment, impossible, under any correct con- 
 struction, to attach an offensive meaning to words, where injury 
 was not meant, and where the intention of offence assuredly did 
 not exist. 
 
 " Having stated this explanation, the honorable the governor 
 in council deems it his further duty to observe, that the question 
 which has been under deliberation, must be now considered
 
 256 APPENDIX. 
 
 as concluded the farther agitation of a subject of this nature 
 eould be availing for no purpose, but that of disturbing the 
 established course of public affairs, and for the excitement of 
 feelings injurious to order and authority, and it will be 
 accordingly of importance to the public welfare, that the 
 circumstances connected with it, should be consigned to 
 oblivion. 
 
 By order of the honourable the governor in Council. 
 (Signed) " G. BUCHAN, 
 
 Chief Sec. to Govt.*' 
 
 [H. ] 
 
 TO THE OFFICER OF THE WEEK OF THE JUNIOR 
 CLASS OF THE MILITARY INSTITUTION. 
 
 Sir, Lieutenant-colonel Munro, quarter-master-general, 
 having heard that the officers of the junior class of the military 
 institution, have come to a resolution of expelling from then- 
 society Mr. Poole, for attending at the late entertainment given 
 at the government-house, I am directed to ascertain if that cir- 
 cumstance had influenced them in their resolution against Mr. 
 Poole, and if this should be the case, to inform the officers that 
 they are to withdraw their proceedings against Mr. Poole, or 
 lieutenant-colonel Munro will judge it proper to apply to 
 government for an order, directing the gentlemen to quit the 
 institution and join their corps. You are therefore requested to 
 state to me what was the fact, and if it is the intention of the 
 gentlemen to comply with the above direction. 
 
 " C.KINSEY, 
 
 Feb. 13th 1809. " Assistant Instructor." 
 
 " TO LIEUTENANT KINSEY. 
 
 Sir, In reply to your letter of yesterday, the officers of 
 the military institution beg leave to state, that they conceive the 
 f)th paragraph regulation code, fully justifies the measures they 
 have deemed fit to adopt against Ensign Poole, and as he is a 
 person whose acquaintance they feel averse to, they have availed 
 themselves of the privilege therein granted, to officers in 
 common with other gentlemen, of making their own choice oi 
 companions for their . private society,' to acquaint Ensign
 
 APPENDIX. 257 
 
 Poole, that his longer continuance in the mess woul J be unplea- 
 sant to all parties. 
 
 I have the honour to be, sir, 
 
 \our most obedient servant, 
 
 " R. MACLEOD, 
 
 ;I Dent's Gardens, Feb. 14, 1S09. ' Ensign." 
 
 " TO THE OFFICER OF THE WEEK OF THE JUNIOR 
 
 CLASS OF THE MILITARY INSTITUTION. 
 
 Sir, I have the honour to transmit to you the copy of a 
 letter I have just received from lieutenant-colonel Munro, qnar- 
 rer-master-general, and Irequestthat yon will be pleased to send 
 me a lis^ of the officers composing the junior class of the mili- 
 tary institution, at the same time making the distinction therein 
 mentioned. 
 
 C. KINSEY, 
 
 " Feb. 17th, 1809. *' Assistant Instructor." 
 
 " LIEUTENANT KINSEY. 
 
 S:i*, You will be pleased to forward to me, without dela*', 
 a list of the names of the officers composing the junior class of 
 the military institution, distinguishing those who subscribed to 
 the sentiments stated in the letter from the officer of the day, which 
 you foi warded tome. You will be pleased to direct the latter 
 officers to hold themselves in readiness to join their corp?. 
 
 " J. MUNRO, 
 
 * Q. Master General's Office, " Quarter Master Gen." 
 
 FoitSt. George, Feb. 17th, 1809." 
 
 " LIEUTENANT KINSEY, 
 " Sir, Agreeable to your request I have the honour to 
 subscribe the names of the officers composing the junior class 
 of the military institution, who^e sentiments were expressed in 
 the letter forwarded to you lor the information ot lieutcn-int- 
 colonel Munro* 
 
 Lieutenant Stopford Enugns Williams 
 
 Ensigns Mark love Hodges 
 
 Spicer W. Taylor 
 
 Heath Clarke 
 
 Low Moles lev
 
 258 APPENDIX. 
 
 Ensigns M f Neil Ensigns Macleod 
 
 Grant Christie 
 
 Budd J.W.Taylor 
 
 Snell Bali 
 
 These are the names of all the officers of the institution, at 
 that time present, with the exception of cornet Raymond 
 Williams. 
 
 " R. MACLEOD, 
 
 " Ensign and officer of the Week.' 
 
 " TO LIEUTENANT KINSEY, ASSISTANT 
 INSTRUCTOR. 
 
 Sir, I have the honour of expressing the desire of the 
 commander in chief, that the officers attached to the junior 
 class of the military institution, whose names are stated in the 
 accompanying list, may be directed to join their corps forth- 
 with. The places of these officers will be supplied at the insti- 
 tution without delay. 
 
 tf j, MUNRO, 
 
 " Quarter Master General." 
 '* Q. M. General's office, 20th February 1809." 
 
 [Here follows a list of the officers mentioned in the preceding 
 
 letter.] 
 
 INTENDED MEMORIAL. 
 " The respectful Memorial of the Madras Army 
 humbly sheweth, 
 
 That your memorialists, deeply impressed with the sense 
 of the duty which they owe to their country, earnestly implore 
 your gracious interference for the purpose of cancelling a 
 system which has occasioned the most serious alarm, lest the 
 rules and ordinances which define their place in the community 
 may be completely subverted. 
 
 Your memorialists are uninfluenced by extravagant notions 
 of freedom, or any idea of independence, inconsistent with the 
 rigid subordination which characterizes the profession, as essen- 
 tial to its existence; they do not expect, nor do they ask, for 
 the relaxation of any tie, or the dissolution of any bond, by 
 which the stupendous fabric of an extensive army is maintained 
 in a state of due subserviency to the supreme power of the
 
 APPENDIX. 259 
 
 constitution, of which it forms a part, being justly sensible that 
 inconsiderate indulgence of immunity, engender habits of 
 licentiousness, necessarily tend to destroy the principles of 
 discipline, and to make that body, which was formed for the 
 protection of the state, subversive of its tranquility. 
 
 Your memorialists, the free children of that country, 
 which, while the rest of Europe is enslaved, boasts a constitution 
 the basis of which is civil liberty, your humble memorialists, 
 not the abject slaves of a country enthralled by despotism, 
 respectfully assert a claim to certain rights and priviledges, the 
 enjoyment of which may be allowed them without impairing or 
 encroaching upon the dignity of government, or in any way 
 interfering with the other departments of the state. 
 
 Yo\ir memorialists have to lament generally, that although 
 their body is now extremely numerous, and the question regard- 
 ing their claims, their duties, and their priveledgcs are so multi- 
 farious as to require the assistance of practical experience in 
 discussing the merits of them, yet they have not a representative 
 in the council of government, where alone the discussion can 
 be agitated ; to this cause, probably, may be ascribed the 
 recent measures which have made it necessary for your memo- 
 riaiists to implore your gracious interposition, as they are 
 .directly subversive of those principles of honour and discipline 
 which harmonize and cement the constitution of a militair 
 body, and are, at the same time, grossly insulting to the general 
 character of the military profession. 
 
 A succinct notice of those measures will amply develope 
 the principles by which your memorialists estimate the injuries 
 they have already received ; and, by the further abuse of autho- 
 rities, which they have reason to apprehend, unless the system, 
 so manifestly hostile to the honourable feelings of a military 
 society, be seasonably checked. 
 
 It may be already known to your lordship that lieutenant- 
 colonel Munro, a member of the body to which your memo- 
 rialists belong, having incurred the suspicion of having acted 
 in a manner that was most generally considered to be criminal. 
 was openly and publicly impeached by a considerable number 
 of respectable officers, who preferred charges against him. 1 his 
 measure was adopted in the hope that a cordial examination 
 before the honourable tribunal of a court-martial might confirm 
 the supposed guilt, and Jead to adequate punishment, or, if gun: 
 dfd not actually exist, that, purified by that ordeal, he might 
 again return to take his place, in a society, in which, as must be 
 well known to your lordships, supicion is considered as equiva- 
 lent to infa/ny.
 
 260 APPENDIX. 
 
 la consequence of those charges, and by virtue of the 
 warrant which gave to the commander in chief, and to him 
 oniy, the judicature of the Madras army, and vested in him 
 alone the jurisdiction, for the time being, lieutenant-general 
 Macdovvall placed lieutenant-colonel Munro under arrest ; he 
 has since reluctantly released that officer, in consequence of the 
 interference of the civil government, who have thus disunited 
 the chain, upon the integrity of which the principles of mili- 
 tary subordination depend ; for, if the source from whence 
 authority and subordination flow to all members of the military 
 body be violated, the subordinate branches, which derive their 
 existence from thence, must lose their virtue. 
 
 Viewing the interference of the civil government to check 
 the prescribed laws of military dependence, as a dangerous 
 violation and infringement of the solemn laws of the army, 
 your memorialists perceive in it the seeds of unlicensed anarchy 
 and confusion; no desultory exercise of arbitrary power, how- 
 ever severe, can be expected to restrain the passions or feelings 
 or enlightened men, although it may mortify or distress indivi- 
 duals ; the doubt regarding the legality and precarious prin- 
 ciple by which it must ever be regulated, deprive it of that 
 authority and respect which attaches to an established system of 
 jurisprudence, sanctioned by the legislature, by prescription, 
 by habits, and by the feelings of those educated under its 
 influence. 
 
 In order to vindicate the character of his profession, and to 
 maintain the integrity of the military authority overthose under 
 hi c command, lieutenant-general Macdowall directed the publi- 
 cation of a general order, conveying a reprimand to lieutenant- 
 colonel Munro, for disrespect to his commander in chief in not 
 abiding by the regular course of enquiry, laid down in similar 
 cases. 
 
 As the former acts of the government had proclaimed to 
 the army that lieutenant-colonel Munro was not amenable to 
 military law, on this occasion that officer was declared to be 
 superior to the controul of the commander in chief, by the 
 publication of an order, in which general Macdowall is stigma- 
 tized with the reproach of having acted in a manner derogatory 
 to the character of government, and subversive of military disci- 
 pline, and tiie foundation of public authority, although the order 
 of gen. Macdowall refers purely tothedisrespect.thedisobedicnc? 
 of orders, and the contempt of military authority, manifested 
 by an officer, who was not only under his general controul, as 
 belonging to the army which he commanded, hut who, attached 
 to u's immediate staff, owed him particular respect and obedience 
 Your memorialists, accustomed to judge of the acts of
 
 APPENDIX. 261 
 
 military men as referable to the standard of right and wrong, 
 which ha^ been established by the legislature for the controul of 
 their body, cannot discover any relation between the orders of 
 government, and the rules of discipline and subordination, 
 equally subversive of the foundation of authority, as that reso- 
 lution of* government, by which the adjutant-general and his 
 deputy are ignominiously suspended from the service, for 
 having obeyed the orders of their commander in chief, which 
 obedience is stated to be a direct violation of the duty of those 
 officers towards the government. 
 
 It must be painful to your lordship, as it is to your memo- 
 rialists, to contemplate the possible consequences of a procedure 
 equally unprecedented as it is unaccountable, by any other 
 rules than those of blind prejudice, or deluded infatuation. 
 
 Your memorialists perceive a commander in chief, who 
 had lived among them, who was personally beloved by many, 
 and who was known by all, to have manifested great forbearance, 
 under circumstances extremely mortifying, from the conduct 
 which government observed towards him, they perceive the 
 character of such a man grossly calumniated, while their regret 
 for his departure was yet fresh ; they perceive two ofTicers of high 
 rank, character, and respectability publicly degraded, deprived 
 of their rank, and suspended from the service, for having obeyed 
 their commander in chief, in signing and publishing an order 
 written by himself, for the purpose of vindicating the dignity 
 of his military authority, which had been flagrantly violated by 
 one of his own staff, who openly defied and disregarded the 
 supreme military commission ; they perceive this officer, who 
 had been publicly impeached, under charges of a serious nature, 
 and who had insulted his commander in chief, sheltered from 
 the natural effect of such misconduct, by the interference of 
 government. Your memorialists cannot avoid declaring, that 
 they see, in this evasion of the fundamental laws of discipline, 
 a most dangerous infringement of the military code ; that bul- 
 wark which protects the state from the licentiousness of an armed 
 rabble, a power subject to no controul, except the cpr!CC or 
 prejudice of an individual; and your memorialists fed a just 
 alarm, lest the repetition of acts, which arc not guided by any 
 rule, may tend to wean their affections, and dispose them to 
 consider as enemies those whose situations should make them 
 their friends. 
 
 " Your memorialists have learned, with indignant regret, that 
 their enemies, and the enemies of their country, have i (-pre- 
 sented a public disaffection the discontent produced by local and 
 partial injuries, arising from the present rupture, but they cjii-
 
 262 APPENDIX. 
 
 fidently appeal to die zeal and ardour with which a large pro- 
 portion of them are now discharging the most arduous duties in 
 the service of the state; they appeal to the moderation with 
 which they have stifled their feelings, that the recent conduct 
 of the Madras government was calculated to inspire ; and while 
 they declare their inviolable attachment to the state under which 
 they serve, and to their profession, as regulated by its own law,, 
 they cannot suppress the expression of their concern, at the 
 manner in which the exclusive rights of the army have recently 
 been violated, and their sanguine hopes and earnest entreaty that. 
 the supreme government may, in its wisdom, be induced to 
 appease their just alarms, and to anticipate the extreme crisis of 
 their agitation, by relieving them from the controu! of a ruler, 
 whose measures, guided by their enemy, are equally detrimental 
 to the interest of the state, as they are injurious to the feelings of 
 a loyal and patriotic army." 
 
 [ K. 1 
 
 ie TO MAJOR BOLES. 
 
 Sir, The officers of the Madras army whose names are 
 hereunto annexed, can no longer abstain from expressing to you 
 their surprize and concern at the severe and unmerited punish- 
 ment inflicted on you, by an act of the civil government of Fort 
 St. George, for no reason that is stated, but that you obeyed the 
 orders of the commander in chief, in a case purely military. 
 
 Feeling the question to involve circumstances essential to 
 their best interests, and fundamental to the character and respec- 
 tability of the army, no less than to the principles of martial 
 law, they consider themselves called upon to signify to you their 
 marked appn bation of your conduct as an officer on the gene- 
 ral staff on that occasion. 
 
 Whilst your brother officers seize this opportunity to ex- 
 press their sense of the propriety of your conduct, they fully 
 appreciate the personal inconvenience to which you arc exposed 
 by suspension from office, and rite service. With these feel- 
 ings they request the honour ol repairing your injuries, in the 
 mean time, as far as lays within their power, by subscribing and 
 paying to your order, monthly, the lull amount ol that pay, and 
 staff allowance, of which you have been in this extraordinary 
 manner deprived. 
 
 As your conduct on the occasion alluded to, is exactly con- 
 formable to what the undersigned, if placed in your situation^
 
 APPENDIX. 263 
 
 would lave pursued, they cannot avoid making your cause their 
 own, and, under existing circumstances, such mutual support 
 must be expected, and accepted by all who, like yourself, have 
 or may become sufferers, tluough any such exceptionable mea- 
 sures on the part of the civil government of Fort St. Geoige, as 
 have rendered necessary the painful step we have now taken. 
 
 t L. ) 
 
 " TO THE OFFICER COMMANDING THE FORCES 
 SERVING IN TRAVANCORE. 
 
 SiR 4 ---It having come to my knowledge that papers of a 
 very improper nature are in circulation among the officers of 
 the army, regarding the suspension ot major Boles from the 
 situation ot deputy-adjutant-general ot the army, in consequence 
 of having applied his signature to the general order of the 2Sth 
 of January last ; as this circumstance has not come before me 
 in any public or authenticated form, I am induced to notice it 
 to you in this way, rather than through the channel of a general 
 order. 
 
 The paper in question, it I am rightly informed, has, for 
 one of its objects, the collection of a subscription for the relief 
 of major Roles, a circumstar.ee which, as commander ot the 
 army, I could take no interest in, as officers may apply their 
 money for the benefit of whom they please, did it not, at the 
 same time, if I am rightly informed, intimate an intention of 
 supporting all others who may, in like manner, tall under the 
 displeasure of government, and imply also a justification ot the 
 principle upon which major Boles acted. 
 
 It is impossible tor the commander of an English army to 
 take a passive part, whilst such things are transacting among 
 those under his command ; as these officers, by placing their 
 principles in direct opposition to that of government, and 
 holding out a security and indemnity, in fact encouraging diso- 
 bedience and revolt, as far as it is possible for them to do. 
 
 It were needless for me to explain, to a person of your 
 experience, that an officer, under an English government, cm 
 only be justifiable in obeying a legal order, and that the older 
 in question was of a nature calculated to excite sedition in ihe 
 army, and, as such, unjustifiable and illegal on the lace of it, 
 and ought accordingly to have been declined by every well- 
 informed officer. Major Boles must, fiorn Ins situation, be 
 supposed to have known, that the governor and council ot Foit
 
 264 APPENDrx. 
 
 St. George arc not only the civil, but, by the express enact- 
 ment of the British legislature, the military government also of 
 the country ; the whole of the civil and military government 
 of the presidency of Fort St. George being vested in a gover- 
 nor and three counsellors, by the act of ]/Q3. 
 
 Although it can never be proper to accustom officers to 
 hesitateasto obeying the usual commands of their superiors, yet 
 this principle, if not limited by law, would, in its operation, 
 tend to the subversion of all government, and put it in the 
 power of any desperate leader, by indemnifying all under him, 
 to issue what orders, and do what act he chose. But, fortu- 
 nately, the principle is sufficiently understood in an English 
 army, that the military state is subordinate to the civil, and that 
 where there is command, there can be no duty but to obey. 
 
 As I depreciate the discussion in public orders of odious 
 and delicate questions, and as I am unwilling to publish any 
 general order on a subject so perfectly understood, (and winch, 
 but for the prejudice of the moment, could never be mistaken) 
 I choose rather to trust to your discretion, that you will exer- 
 cise the influence of your situation in explaining to those under 
 your command, the impropriety of their conduct, in thus gving 
 circulation to sentiments of such unfounded and pernicious 
 tendency, as are said to be found in that paper regarding major 
 Boles, and which. I am much afraid, will be attended with very 
 serious consequences to those who have been so ill advised as to 
 fix their signatures to it ; ior when a paper of this, or any other 
 factious nature, comes before me, I can have no difficulty in 
 advising-government how to dispose of the authors of it. 
 
 As compassion for major Boles may have drawn in the 
 officers to this measure, I think it proper here to explain, that 
 major Boles has, in my opinion, deprived himself of any par- 
 ticular claim to feelings of that nature. It had never been, 
 I was persuaded, the intention of government to deal severely 
 with that officer, but only to vindicate that respect due to their 
 own authority, which every government must be anxious to 
 maintain. And, accordingly, (but without any instructions to 
 that effect) soon after my succeeding to the command, I took 
 the occasion to signify to major Boles, that it he would express 
 any adequate regret for what he had done, as that when he had 
 offered his signature to the order he was not aware of the conse- 
 quence, and thought he was acting right, without meaning any 
 offence to government, but was now sorry for what had hap- 
 pened, I would make it my business to get him reinstated in his 
 rank and official situation. But this explanation, so natural to 
 have been expected,, and which included in it no personal con-
 
 APPENDIX. 265 
 
 cession of character, was rejected, (and not without some 
 warin'U by ins exclaiming that he was sorry for nothing that 
 had happened, or words to that effect. 
 
 I beg to call your attention to the following extract of a 
 general order, by this government, of the 30th of December, 
 1/P0, by which you will perceive the restrictions to which the 
 circulation of addresses to the army has been limited. 
 
 His lordship :n council also prohibits, under the strongest 
 injunctions, the publication in future 01 any addresses to the 
 army, or to any division of it, by any person or persons 
 whatever, without the previous sanction of his lordship, or 
 of the governor general in council.' 
 
 I have to rely on your discretion that you will adopt the 
 means suitable to the occasion for the discouragement and pre- 
 vention of the address above alluded to, or of any other of a 
 similar description, with the division under your command. 
 
 (Signed) " F. GOWDIE, 
 " Fort St. George, " M. G. commanding,'' 
 
 Commander in Chief's Office, 10th April, 1809." 
 
 [ M. ] 
 
 G. O. BY THE HONOURABLE THE GOVERNOR IN 
 COUNCIL. 
 
 " Fort St. George, May 1, 1809. 
 
 '* The zeal and discipline, by which the military establish- 
 ment of Fort St. George had long been distinguished, induced 
 the governor in council to expect that the measures which the 
 violent and intemperate acts of the late commander in chief had 
 imposed on the government, would be received by all the 
 officers of the army with the sentiments of respect and obedi- 
 ence prescribed by the principles of military subordination, and 
 due to the government by which those measures were adopted, 
 as well as to the authorities to which they were ultimately refer- 
 red. The governor in council has, however, learnt, with a 
 degree of surprise proportionate to the confidence which he 
 reposed in the discipline of the army, that soon after the depar- 
 ture of the late commander in chief, proceedings of the most 
 unjustifiable nature, and correspondent to the example which 
 he had afforded, were pursued by certain officers of the army. 
 
 " The most reprehensible of those proceedings consisted in 
 the preparation of a paper, addressed to the right honourable the 
 governor general, purporting to be a remonstrance, in the name
 
 266 
 
 AITEXDIX. 
 
 of the army, against the acts of the government under which it 
 serves. 
 
 That paper is not more hostile to the authority of this 
 government than to the fust principles of all government. It 
 maintains opinions directly adverse to the constitution of the 
 British service, and is calculated to destroy every foundation 
 of discipline, obedience and fidelity. 
 
 The secrecy observed in preparing this seditious paper, 
 prevented for some time the discovery of the persons engaged 
 in that proceeding. But it has now been ascertained that captain 
 Josiah Marshall, late secretary to the militarv board, and lieu- 
 tenant-colonel George Martin, lately permitted to proceed to 
 England, were principally concerned in preparing and circu- 
 lating the memorial in question, and that lieutenant-colonel, the 
 honourable Arthur Sentleger was active in promoting its circu- 
 lation, employing the influence which he derived from the 
 important command confided to him by the government, for the 
 purpose of attempting the subversion of its authority, and 
 spreading disaffection among the troops which it had entrusted 
 to his charge. 
 
 It has also been ascertained that major J. De Morgan 
 lias been active in the circulation of the memorial. 
 
 The governor in council is also under the necessity of 
 noticing another paper, of a most dangerous tendency, lately in 
 circulation at some of the military stations, purporting to be an 
 address from the officers of the army to major Boles, the late 
 deputy-adjutant-general, hi this address a right is assumed to 
 decide on the acts of the government, by condemning in unqua- 
 lified terms, the sentence of suspension passed on major Boles ; 
 and an encouragement is held out to other officers to violate 
 their duty to the government, hv affording a pecuniary indem- 
 nification, not only to major Boles, but to it'll such officers as 
 shall suffer by any act of the government winch the subscribers 
 to the address may deem exceptionable. This paper, so incom- 
 patible with the military character, and so repugnant to the 
 fundamental principles of military discipline and government, 
 was forced on the attention of the governor by captain James 
 Grant, commandant of his body guard, who, while holding that 
 confidential situation, and employed, by order of the governor 
 in council, under the resident at Travancore, tiansmitteda copy 
 of the paper to be laid before the governor, with an avowal, that 
 he had affixed his signature to it, and a defence of the grounds 
 on which he adopted that proceeding. 
 
 It has also been ascertained that a paper of a similar ten- 
 dency ha: been circulated among the officers of the corps of
 
 APPENDIX. 26/ 
 
 atliliery at the Mount, and that its circulation lias been promoted 
 by lieutenant-colonel Robeit Bel!, the officer commanding tbat 
 corps. 
 
 The governor in council regrets that be is obliged to notice 
 also the conduct of licutenant-coione 1 Chalmers (ccmmamb"-ier 
 in Travancore,) and lieutenant-colonel Cuppage (lately com- 
 manding in Malabar, and employed witlj the troops under his 
 ord-Ms at Travancore) who appear to have taken no steps what- 
 ever either to repress or report to the government the improper 
 proceedings pursued by part of the troops under their orders. It 
 is not sufficient lor officers holding commands to avoid a partici- 
 pation m such proceedings; it is their positive and indispensable 
 duty to adopt the most decided measures toi their suppression, 
 and to report them to their superior authorities. 
 
 It has further been ascertained that captain J. M. Coombs, 
 assistant-quarter-master-general in Mysore, has been concerned 
 in these reprehensible proceedings. 
 
 It becomes the painful duty of the governor in council to 
 mark with the displeasure ot the government the conduct of the 
 abovementioned officers, who have been engaged in a course of 
 measures equallv dangerous to the existence of discipline, to the 
 foundations ot legal government, and to the interests of their 
 country. 
 
 The undermentioned officers are accordingly declared to 
 be suspended from the service ot the honourable company, until 
 the pleasure of the honourable the Court of Directors shall br 
 known. 
 
 Lieutenant-colonel the lion. Arthur Sentleger. 
 Major John de Morgan, 
 Captain Josiah Marshal 
 Captain James Grant. 
 
 Lieutenant-colonel commandant Robert Bell, is removed 
 from all military charge and command, until the pleasure of the 
 honourable the Court of Directors shall be known, but he is per- 
 mitted to draw his regimental pay and allowances. 
 
 Lieutenant-colonel commandant J. M. Chalmers is removed 
 from the command ot the subsidiary force in Travancore. 
 
 The under mentioned officers are removed from their staff 
 appointments, and ordered to join the corps to which they stand 
 attached. 
 
 Lieutenant-colonel John Cuppage. 
 Captain J. M. Coombs. 
 " The governor in council considers it to be proper to avail 
 himself of this occasion to correct a misapprehension, hign'y 
 dangerous in its tendency, which has arisen in the minds ot
 
 268 APPENDIX. 
 
 some of the officers of the army, with regard to the nature of 
 the authority of the governor in council. This misapprehen- 
 sion appears to have originated in the genera! order, published by 
 the late commander in chief on the 28th of January last, from 
 which it might be inferred that the authority of the governor in 
 council is only of a civil nature, whereas, bv the express enact- 
 ment ot the legislature, the entire civil and military government 
 of the Presidency of Fort St. George and its dependencies is 
 vested in the governor in council. It is therefore to be dis- 
 tinctly understood that no officer, of whatever rank, while 
 serving under the presidency ot Fort St. George, can without 
 incurring the penalties of disobedience to the legislature of his 
 country, issue any order in violation, or to the derogation, of 
 the authority of the government ; and that every officer com- 
 plying with an order of that description under any prete ce 
 whatever, renders himself liable to the forfeiture of the service, 
 and to such legal penalties as the nature of the case may de- 
 mand. 
 
 While the governor in council deems it to be proper to 
 afford the foregoing explanation, he fee's himself at the same 
 time bound to acknowledge that the principles to which he has 
 adverted, have never been called in question, until the publica- 
 tion oi the above-mentioned order of the late commander in 
 chief. On the contrary, these principles had been invariably 
 acted upon by the government and by the officers of the army 
 of this presidency, who have been no less distinguished for 
 their obedience and discipline, than for their achievements in the 
 field. The governor in council also experiences the most sincere 
 satisfaction, in publishing his conviction that the majority of the 
 army have resisted all participation in the improper and dan- 
 gerous proceedings described in this order ; and it is an act of 
 justice to the troops of his Majesty's service to declare his entire 
 approbation of the order, discipline, and steady adherence to 
 duty, which they have invariably manifested. The information 
 before the government does not enable the governor in council 
 to distinguish, by the expression of his approbation, all the 
 troops of the company's service that have manifested the same 
 dispositions ; but he deems it to be proper to notice, on this 
 occasion, the satisfactory and exemplary conduct ot the part of 
 the army composing the Hyderabad subsidiary force. The 
 honourable the governor in council is also confident that such 
 officers as have inadvertently yielded to the misrepresentations 
 of individuals, who have been engaged in the prosecution of 
 designs equally fatal to the honor and to die interests of the army, 
 will in future manifest, in the service of the government, the
 
 APPENDIX. 269 
 
 obedience, fidelity and zeal which constitute the first principles 
 of their profession, which have hitherto distinguished the army, 
 and which are indispensable to the prosperity of the British 
 empire in India. 
 
 By order of the honourable the governor in council. 
 (Signed) " A. FALCONAR, 
 
 Chief Sec. to Govt." 
 
 GENERAL ORDER BY GOVERNMENT. 
 
 " May 1, 1809. 
 
 The honourable the governor in council has been pleased to 
 make the following appointments : 
 
 Major T. H. S. Conway to be adjutant-general of the 
 army, with the official rank oi lieutenant-colonel, vice Cup- 
 page. 
 
 Captain P. V. Agnew to be deputy-adjutant-general of the 
 army, with the official rank of major, vice Conway. 
 
 Lieutenant-colonel T. Clarke to be commandant of artil- 
 lery, with the staff allowance annexed to that station, and a seat 
 at the military board, vice Bell. 
 
 Major Sir John Sinclair, Baronet, to be commis- 
 sary of stores in charge of the arsenal of Fort St. George, vice 
 Clarke. 
 
 Lieutenant A. E. Patullo, to command the honourable the 
 governor's body guard, vice Grant. 
 
 Captain J. Doveton, of the /th regiment native cavalry, to 
 be paymaster at Vizagapatam, vice Marshall. 
 
 The following officers, who have been suspended from the 
 service of the honourable company, until the pleasure of the 
 Court oi Directors shall be known, are directed to ho'd them- 
 selves in readiness to proceed to England, by such opportuni- 
 ties as the honourable the governor in council may think 
 proper to point out, viz. 
 
 Lieutenant-colonel the honourable Arthur Sentleger, 
 
 Major Thomas Boles, 
 
 Major John De Morgan, 
 
 Captain Josiah Marshall, 
 
 Captain James Grant. 
 
 Lieutenant-colonel Sentleger is further directed to repair to 
 the presidency without delay. 
 
 The honourable the governor having been pleased to appoint 
 Lieutenant-colonel Henry Conran, of his Majesty's royal regi- 
 ment, to command the whole of the troops composing the
 
 270 APPENDIX. 
 
 garrison of Fort St. George, the governor in council directs that 
 col. Conran shall be considered to beentitledtothesameallowances 
 as other officers holding commands under the appointment of 
 the governor in council. 
 
 By order ot the honourable the governor in council. 
 (Signed) '; A. FALCONAR, 
 
 " Chief Secretary to Government." 
 
 By order or major-general Gowdie, commanding the army." 
 
 [N. ] 
 
 " GENERAL ORDERS BY THE RIGHT HONOURABLE 
 THE GOVERNOR GENERAL IN COUNCIL. 
 
 f Fort William, July 20, 1809. 
 
 The right honourable the governor-general in council lias 
 received private but authentic advices, that orders having beer* 
 issued by major-general Gowdie, the officer commanding in 
 chief on the coast, to lieutenant-colonel Innes, commanding at 
 Masulipatam, directing the embarkation ot one or more detach- 
 ments of the Madras European regiments on board his majestv's 
 ships, for the purpose of serving as marines; the officeis of the 
 station were induced to entertain i lie erroneous supposition, that 
 the object of those orders was to separate, and finally to disperse 
 that regiment, (a design which the government of Fort St. 
 George has formally disavowed) and, under the influence ot this 
 misapprehension, declared their resolution to resist the execu- 
 tion of them; that lieutenant-colonel Innes, having manifested a 
 determination to enforce them, the officers ot the garrison pro- 
 ceeded to the barracks, and by personal representation suc- 
 ceeded in seducing the troops from their duty, and in obtaining 
 from them a promise of support ; that major Storey, the next 
 in command, who was then in the cantonments, proceeded to the 
 garrison, and having endeavoured, without success, to induce 
 lieutenant-colonel Innes to depart from the obligation of his 
 public duty, by abandoning his resolution to carry into effect 
 the orders which he had received, adopted the extreme measure 
 of placing that officer in arrest, under the charge ot European 
 centries. 
 
 The governor-general in council has deemed it necessary 
 to apprize the army of Bengal of an event so deeply interesting 
 to the feelings of every loyal subject, and especially of those 
 who have the honour to bear a military commission. The 
 governor-general in council has received, with sentiments of the 
 deepest affliction, the intelligence of the excesses into which
 
 APPENDIX. 2/1 
 
 the officers of the station of Masulipatam have thus been gradu- 
 al !y led by the effects of the late prevailing agitation in the army 
 of the Coast. He trusts, however, that this unhappy event 
 will afford a salutary warning of the clanger to which the com- 
 bined interest of the public and the army must be ever exposed 
 by the first and s'ightest departure from the established princi- 
 ples of military discipline, on the one hand ; and, on the other, 
 of a just subordination to the laws of their country and to the 
 legitimate authority of the state. 
 
 ' The occurrence of this afflicting event, combined with the 
 agitation which unhappily prevails among the officers of the 
 army of Fort St. George, renders it the duty of the governor- 
 general to proceed, without delay, to that presidency, in the 
 hope of beina; enabled successfully to appeal to those sentiments 
 of loyally and attachment to their K\nz and their country, 
 which his lordship in council yet confidently ascribes to the 
 genera] body of the officers of the coast army ; whose zeal, 
 fidelity, and professional achievements have hitherto been the 
 theme of just and unqualified applause : and, bv an accurate 
 knowledge of all the circumstances which have attended the late 
 agitat;on, to devise such means as may best tend to avert the 
 impending dancers of anarchy and insubordination, and re- 
 establish the foundations of public security and national prospe- 
 uty in this important branch of the British empire. 
 
 "" N. B. EDMONSTONE, 
 
 " Chief Secretary to Government.'" 
 
 [O. ] 
 
 " GENERAL ORDERS BY THE HON. THE GOVER- 
 NOR IN COUNCIL. 
 
 " August 3rd. 
 
 Para. l. The honourable the governor in council judges 
 it proper to announce to the native troops, that the very im- 
 proper conduct of some of the European officers of the corn- 
 pain s service} and the refusal of others to acknowledge their 
 allegiance to the government, have rendered it indispensably 
 necessary to remove for a time a considerable number of Euro- 
 pean officers from the exercise of authority. 
 
 2. This measure will not, however, affect, in any respect, 
 the situation of the native troops, who must know, that their 
 first duty is to the government which they serve, and from 
 which all authority is derived. 
 
 3. The governor in council entertains the same solicitude
 
 27^ APPENDIX. 
 
 for the welfare and comforts of the native troops that has inva- 
 riably been manifested by the British government. 
 
 4. He has no intention whatever of making any changes 
 in their situation ; and he expects that the native troops will 
 display on every emergency the unshaken fidelity to government 
 whichconstitutes the iirstdutyof a soldier; that they willobey with 
 zeal the orders of the officers whom the government shall place 
 in authority over them ; that they will refuse a belief to all 
 reports calculated to agitate their minds and diminish their con- 
 fidence in the government ; and that they will not allow them- 
 selves to be involved in measures in any respect adverse to their 
 duty and aliecnance. 
 
 5. The governor in council is pleased to express his appro- 
 bation o{ the good conduct which has been recently manifested 
 by the native troops at the presidency in the camp at the Mount, 
 at Trichinopoly, and at Vellore, and he is confident that 
 their behaviour will be equally correct and loyal at all other 
 stations of the army. 
 
 By order of the honourable the governor in council. 
 
 (Signed) " A. FALCONAR, 
 
 " Chief Sec. to Govt." 
 
 ' August 5th. 
 
 The hon. the governor in council has been pleased to 
 resolve, that all the European officers of the company's ser- 
 vice, who may be removed from the exercise of their military 
 functions, in consequence of their refusing or omitting to sign 
 the declaration, reauhed in the orders of the 26th of July last, 
 shall be permitted to choose a place for their residence until 
 further orders, between Sadras and Negapatam, both places 
 included, from which they are not afterwards to proceed beyond 
 the distance of live miles, without the permission of the gover- 
 nor in council. 
 
 The governor in council is further pleased to direct, that 
 the commanding officers of divisions, stations, or corps, shall 
 take the most effectual measures for obliging the officers who 
 may be suspended from the exercise of their military functions, 
 for the reasons above stated, to quit the stations of their corps 
 without any delay whatever, and to .proceed, with all 
 practicable dispatch, to the places which they may choose for 
 their residence. 
 
 " Commanding officers of divisions, &c. are directed to report 
 to the office of the adjutant-general of the army, the names of
 
 APPENDIX. 273 
 
 the places which may be selected by the officers for their resi- 
 dence under this order. 
 
 " By order of the honourable the governor in council. 
 (Signed) '" A. FALCON A R, 
 
 Chief Sec. to Gov.' 
 
 [P- ] 
 
 " LIEUTENANT COLONEL DAVIS, COMMANDING 
 IN MYSORE. 
 
 Sir, I have this morning received your official letter, 
 giving cover to a copy of a letter trom government, under date 
 26th ul. and have, in reply, to state, that I tendered the paper, 
 in due form, to all the officers present here, who (tmaminously) 
 refused to sign it. I have delivered over the command to 
 Subidar Bohoodling, a most respectable and good soldier, whom 
 I had some trouble to persuade to supersede his European 
 officers in the command of the corps and stations. The enclo- 
 sures will fully explain every thing further. 
 
 I have the honour to be, Sir, 
 
 lour most obedient servant, 
 
 (Signed) " JAMES WELSH, 
 
 " Late major, &c.'* 
 August Cth, 1809." 
 
 " LIEUTENANT COLONEL GIRRS, COMMANDING 
 IN BANGALORE. 
 
 " Sir, I have the honour to forward a paper, which I have 
 to request you will forward to Madras, without delay ; I beg 
 leave, at the same time, to offer apologies for making you the 
 channel of such communication, which proceeds horn the 
 absenceot colonel Davis, and an anxiety to anticipatethe orders 
 of government, that we may share, in common with our brother 
 officers at Bangalore, that temporary disgrace which Sir George 
 Barlow has determined to inflict on them. 
 
 I have the honour to be, Sir, 
 
 Your most obedient servant, 
 
 " JAMES WELSH." 
 
 We, the undersigned officers of the garrison of Nundy 
 droog, understanding that our brother officers at Bangalore 
 have been called upon to sign a paper, promising implicit obedi- 
 ence to '" - *ders ot the honourable Sir George Barluw,
 
 274 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 governor of Fort St. George, and threatened with suspension 
 in case of refusal, conceive it our duty, unasked, to step for- 
 ward and declare, that, under existing circumstances, we shall 
 decline signing any such paper, if tendered to us ; at the same 
 time, we think it incumbent on us to assign our reasons for this 
 act of disobedience to the mandate of our immediate supe- 
 riors. 
 
 It is not, at this late period j necessary to state all those grie- 
 vances under which the company's officers alone labour, (for the 
 officers of his Majesty's service have been entirely exempted 
 from a participation of them) it is sufficient for us to declare, 
 that we are, from principles, embarked in one common cause, 
 and that we have voluntarily pledged ourselves to co-operate 
 with our brother officers, in all legal means to obtain redre s. It 
 will, therefore, clearly appear that signing such papers as the one 
 in circulation, would be an abandonment of those sacred prin- 
 ciples of honour by which we are actuated* and a breach of 
 faith towards our suffering brother officers, and a tacit acquies- 
 cence in those measures which we conceive to be of the most 
 pernicious nature to the interests of the honourable company, 
 (our masters) and of the most degrading tendency to our whole 
 body, and the service in general. We further have reason to 
 suspect, that were we base enough to sign such a promise, though 
 through fear of losing ourcommissions, (now no longer valuable/ 
 if we cannot hold them with honour, that our swords, hitherto 
 only used against the enemies of our country, would be directed 
 against the bosoms of our brother officers, and our energies 
 employed in overturning that empire which our honourable 
 masters have acquired by our unremitting exertions, and pur- 
 chased at the expense of our blood. The right honourable 
 Lord Minto lias admitted the right of soldiers, on some occa- 
 sions, to consider the nature and tendency of orders ; under 
 this sanction, we solemnly protest against measures which, if 
 persisted in, cannot fail to ruin our honourable masters. We 
 sec the evil far advanced ; we behold the probable consequences 
 of the present system ; and we shudder for the fall of British 
 India. We declare ourselves true to the service of our ho- 
 nourable masters, and ready to expose our lives in defence of 
 their rights and territories, but, at the same time, resolved never 
 to compromise our own honour. 
 
 (Signed) " J. WELSH, 
 
 P. STEVENSON, 
 J. WALKER, 
 J. TEGG, 
 J. M, WATSON. 
 
 J; Nundydraog, 5th of August, 1809."
 
 APPENDIX. 2J3 
 
 [ Q. ] 
 
 " TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE LORD MINTO, 
 GOVERNOR GENERAL OF INDIA. 
 My Lord, We, the undersigned fficers of the Madras 
 establishment, congratulate ourselves and out brother officers, 
 on your Lordship's arrival at this Presidency, and, impressed 
 with sentiments of high respect for your lordship s character 
 and station, as well as urged by every motive of ardent loyalty 
 and allegiance to our king, undiminished attachment to our 
 country, and unshaken fidelity to our employers, hasten to 
 address your lordship. We do, therefore, most respectfully, 
 but most earnestly, implore your lordship, to grant a patient 
 and indulgent consideration to the circumstances we have to 
 submit. We entreat you to suspend your judgmeut, to banish 
 from your mind any unfavourable impressions you may have 
 received of our national attachment, or obedience and respect 
 for the local administration of India; and not to admit those 
 suggestions, which would impute to the officers of the Madras 
 army any thing like disaffection to the state, or any premeditated 
 disposition to insult the authority, or injure the interests of the 
 British government in India ; for we do most solemnly and 
 explicitly disavow any such sentiments or intentions. 
 
 2. Your lordship is too well aware of the unhappy and 
 general agitation prevailing throughout the army of this presi- 
 dency. We, my lord, most sincerely deplore its existence, 
 and lament, with unfeigned regret, the extremes to which it 
 has led, and the awful crisis it has produced ; we, therefore, hail 
 your lordship's arrival as an auspicious event, which will dispel 
 the impending gloom, avert the threatened calamities, esfore to 
 the army of this presidency its former happiness and tran- 
 quility ; we repose unbounded confidence in your lordsjiip s 
 wisdom, justice, and liberality, and cherish a sanguine 
 hope, that you will not deem it unworthy of your high station 
 to investigate those causes, that have combined to place a large 
 portion of the company's officers in the painful and distressing 
 situation in which we now stand. May we not further hope, 
 that your lordship's magnanimity will extend to shew some 
 attention to the feelings of a large respectable body of officers, 
 whose minds have been agitated beyond the power of our nature 
 to controul. 
 
 3. It would be unbecoming in us, at this moment, and 
 inconsistent with the high respect we feel for your lordship, to 
 obtrude a statement of those particular grievances, which the 
 coast army so keenlv fee!, and so bitterly complain of ; it is for 
 us to represent die recent measures which has placed us, and a 
 large body of our brother oncers, in our present unexampled
 
 276 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 situation, and to solicit your attention to the detail of the cir- 
 cumstances attending it. 
 
 4. On the 26th of July, we, the officers serving with the 
 troops in camp, and at St. Thomas's Mount, suddenly received 
 orders to repair to lieutenant-colonel Hare's house, (at some 
 distance from our camp) which we immediately obeyed ; th 
 piquet, which we had necessarily to pass, being drawn out to 
 preclude our return to our camp. On being assembled, lieu- 
 tenant-colonel Hare read to us certain pans of a dispatch, 
 addressed to him by government, in which a large portion of 
 the company's officers were represented to be in a seditious, 
 rebellious state, prosecuting measures of hostility against the 
 government, which rendered it necessary to separate the faith- 
 ful from the seditious ; to make which discrimination, the 
 government required, that the olficers of the army should sign a 
 pledge, solemnly binding themselves to act up to the tenor of 
 their commissions ; and it was directed, that those who might 
 decline to subscribe that test, should be removed from their 
 corps, and suspended from all military employments, till the 
 temper of their minds should allow of their being employed 
 in the service of the state. It was further directed, that they 
 should be detained till their tents could be struck, and they were 
 then to be removed to a sufficient distance to prevent their 
 return to, or communication with, their corps. Your lordship 
 may form some idea of our situation, but it is far beyond the 
 powers of language to convey to your lordship a just or ade- 
 quate impression of our feelings, on this extraordinary occasion. 
 Amongst us, my lord, were some who have served the ho- 
 nourable company with zeal, and unquestioned fidelity, for 
 nearly thirty years; others for shorter periods, but all with equal 
 ardor and attachment ; yet we found ourselves placed in the 
 humiliating situation we have described, betrayed, (if we may 
 use the term) into a snare, surrounded by troops, and called upon 
 to subscribe to a test, which in itself, implied more than a suspi- 
 cion of our fidelity, and, combined with the circumstances under, 
 which it was offeie;l,was deeply injtuious to our sensibility, 
 our pride, and our honour. 
 
 We could not accept it ; but, mortified as we were, we left 
 nothing ambiguous, having distinctly explained to lieutenant- 
 colonel Hare our principles and sentiments, by stating to him, 
 that the commissions we held contained every obligation speci- 
 fied in tbe proposed pledge ; that ' we had never departed from 
 those obligations, or disobeyed any orders of the government ; 
 that so long as we retained them, we should fulfil their obliga- 
 tions, and obey the lawful orders of our superiors : and that
 
 APPENDIX. 277 
 
 e for any disobedience thereto, we knew we were amenable 
 ' to military law and liable to the penalties of the articles of 
 ' war, and we could not consent to subscribe a pledge, the 
 ' object of which might be to oppose us to our brother officers, 
 ' and the interests of our service.' 
 
 " 5. Such a test, and tendered to us under such circumstances, 
 could not but degrade us in the estimation of our brother officers 
 of his Majesty's army, to whom no similar proposal was made ; 
 whose conduct was described in terms of warm and unqualified 
 approbation, while the company's officers were stigmatized by 
 epithets of reproach, censure, and disgrace ; yet, my lord, we 
 may appeal to our conduct, on all occasions, for the proofs that 
 we have never been inferior either in loyalty, fidelity, or pro- 
 fessional zeal. 
 
 " 6. These are the circumstances under which we have been 
 removed from our employments, and from those troops we have 
 so long commanded, whose discipline we established, whose 
 confidence and attachment we have acquired, whose zeal we 
 have animated, and whose exertions we have directed, in the 
 service of the East India Company. 
 
 " 7. Though we will not presume to suggest the conse- 
 quences likely to result from this separation of the officers from 
 their men, it is a justice due to ourselves, to declare most 
 solemnly to your lordship, that, however agitated our feelings 
 have been, we have most studiously concealed from the troops, 
 under our orders, any knowledge or communication whatever, 
 of any disagreement between the government and the army. 
 Your lordship's justice will, we trust, therefore, absolve us from 
 any reproach for any evils that may arise ; and here, my lord, 
 it is not without the greatest pain that we are compelled to 
 remark, that, before our removal from our corps, we had 
 detected emissaries among our men, endeavouring to seduce 
 them from their obedience to their officers, to weaken their 
 attachment, to infuse suspicion into their minds, and to prejudice 
 them against us while we were in the actual exercise of com- 
 mand. 
 
 " 8. We will no longer trespass on your lordship's time, but 
 we cannot conclude without repeating our earnest and impres- 
 sive appeal to your lordship, and adjuring you, by your regard 
 for the prosperity of this great empire, committed to your 
 charge, and by the most sacred of all obligations, your love for 
 our parent country, that you will condescend to hear the com- 
 plaints of a respectable body of British subjects. Do not, my 
 
 u
 
 , O APPENDIX. 
 
 I .-d, reject our petition, nor condemn us upon the rcpresen- 
 ions of those, who have already, we fear, endeavoured to 
 :".;;] ess on your lordship's mind an unfavourite opinion of 
 ;r principles. Let the claims the company's olficers have 
 . tablished on their country, be alone present to your lordship's 
 ind, and let us owe to your lordship's justice t he relief we 
 . .1 pi ore ; this will secure to your lordship our lasting gratitude 
 a- id affection, and inspire sentiments which no time will erase. 
 " "We venture to assure your lordship, that no obstacles will 
 pose your endeavours to restore tranquillity, and that your 
 rdship may confide in the honour and patriotism of the officers 
 7 this army. We come not to you a clamorous multitude, nor 
 e we a licentious body, impatient of controul, and spurning at 
 e restraints of authority-, we are not actuated by any false 
 Lions of liberty; we do not seek, or desire, any emancipation 
 om the rigid, but just, rules of our order; we are not prose- 
 it ing views of professional aggrandizement, and far less any 
 .easiire of hostility against the government under which we 
 rve ; we explicitly disclaim every such idea, and any wish, 
 compatible with the strictest subordination to legitimate autho- 
 rs, and to the laws of our country. Our respect for the 
 thority of government, as by law established, continues undi- 
 hushed, and, under that authority, as heretofore administered, 
 e have lived happily, and performed our duty cheerfully : we 
 el bound to convey to your lordship this explicit and solemn 
 -urance, that our loyalty and allegiance to our King is unim- 
 ired, our zeal and fidelity for our employers undiminished, and 
 ..it our attachment to our country is unabated, and we are ready- 
 shed the last drop of our blood in defence of the British power 
 India. 
 
 4i We have the honour tone, mv lord, 
 
 '' Your lordship's most faithful, devoted servants, 
 
 | Signed by the officers of all the corps.} 
 Pondicheiry, 8th August, 1805)." 
 
 [R. ] 
 
 BY GOVERNMENT. 
 
 ' I'ort St. Geoi^e, /ni^u't 9, IR"D. 
 *'' The governor in council having taken into consideration 
 e whole of the transactions that have occurred to the garrison 
 ! Masulipatam, anc! being satisf)p J t^at the part borne by the 
 ten in those transections is to he entiie\ iii. c ii'r:l to the mis- 
 :: presentations iuid seduciioj. ot their European oarers, is
 
 APPENDIX. 279 
 
 pleased to proclaim a full pardon to the European non-commis- 
 sioned officers and privates, and to the Native commissioned 
 officers and non-commissioned officers of the garrison of Masu- 
 lipatam, who were concerned in these improper proceedings. 
 The governor in council entertains a confident persuasion, that 
 this act of lenity will produce a proper effect in the minds of 
 these men, and induce them to manifest in future that fidelity to 
 the government, which constitutes the first duty and highest 
 praise of every soldier. 
 
 '* The governor in council prohibits the march of any body 
 of tr>ops 'rom the garrison of Masulipatam, without the orders 
 of Major General Pater, commanding the northern division ; 
 and directs, that any troops who may have marched from Masu- 
 lipatam without due authority, shall return forthwith to that 
 statio ;, on pain of being considered to be in a state of rebellion 
 to the government. 
 
 A. FALCON AR, 
 
 " Chief Secretary.'' 
 
 " GENERAL ORDERS BY THE HONOURABLE THE 
 GOVERNOR IN COUNCIL. 
 
 ' Furt St. George, Aug. 12, 1S09. 
 
 w The course of proceeding followed for some time past by 
 the officers of the honourable company's army at this presi- 
 dency, has obliged the government to adopt the most decided 
 measures for the preservation of the important interests com- 
 mitted to its charge. These proceedings may be stated to have 
 commenced with the transmission to the government by the late 
 commander in chief of a memorial addressed to the honourable 
 the court of directors, dated January, 1809, and signed by a 
 large proportion of the company's officers. Although that paper 
 exhibits claims of an ungrounded nature, and contains observa- 
 tions equally improper and unjust on the orders of the honour- 
 able the court of directors and the government, the governor in 
 council was induced to permit it to pass without the serious 
 norice which it appeared to demand, by a confidence in the dis- 
 cipline of the army, and a persuasion that the objectionable 
 passages in the memorial were inadvertently and unintentionally 
 introduced. 
 
 " The subsequent conduct of the commander in chief forced 
 the government to vindicate its authority, by a signal example of 
 punishment. It was well known to the company's officers, that 
 the whole of this proceeding was referred to the supreme govern- 
 ment, and the authorities in Europe; that it would receive 
 
 v 2
 
 2 SO APPENDIX. 
 
 from their wisdom a decision conformable to the soundest 
 principles of reason and justice : and that its discussion could 
 not belong to the cognizance of the army, who are precluded 
 from becoming a deliberative body. Notwithstanding these 
 considerations, the governor in council, anxious to remove every 
 cause of misunderstanding relative to a measure of so important 
 a nature, published an order, dated the 31st January, explaining 
 to the army the grounds on which it was adopted. The gover- 
 nor in council had a right to expect, on the most obvious grounds 
 of discipline and respect for the laws, that the question would 
 have been permitted to rest here, and receive its final reward 
 from the only powers competent to decide on it : and it was with 
 feelings of equal surprize and concern he learned, that a memo- 
 rial to the supreme government, of the most intemperate de- 
 scription, vvascirculated in the company's army. 
 
 " The governor in council, desirous to avoid a recurrence to 
 measures of severity, and persuaded that it was sufficient to 
 apprize the company's officers of the improper nature of the 
 proceedings, to induce them to desist from their prosecution, 
 authorized the commander in chief to issue a circular letter, 
 dated the 5th March, 1809, explaining to those officers the 
 impropriety of their conduct, and calling upon them, by the 
 most powerful motives of duty, allegiance, and honour, to 
 abstain from such unjustifiable measures. A letter from the 
 right honourable the governor in council, dated the 20th Feb. 
 1S09, approving of the steps adopted by the governor of Fort 
 St. George, with respect to the late commander in chief, was 
 also circulated to the army, in the expectation that the senti- 
 ments of the supreme government would have suppressed the 
 spirit of faction and insubordination which prevailed. These 
 letters appear to have produced no effect ; the memorial to the 
 supreme government made further progress ; and an address to 
 Major Boles, an officer under sentence of suspension, written in 
 language of determined sedirion, was circulated in the army, 
 and forced upon the notice of the governor in council, by a com- 
 pany's officer, holding a confidential situation on his staff the 
 governor in council was still induced to pursue a system of for- 
 bearance, by the sentiments of affection and respect which he 
 was disposed to entertain towards the company's officers ; and 
 by a cpnviction that the principles cf zeal, discipline, and 
 national attachment, by which he supposed they were actuated, 
 won: i lead them to relinquish the reprehensible measures in 
 which ihey were engaged, on being made fully acquainted with 
 their impropriety and danger. The comman ' in chief, 
 accordininv, under the sanction of the eove: issued a
 
 APPENDIX. 281 
 
 second -circular letter, dated 10th April, 1S09, again calling upon 
 the officers of the company's army to adhere to their duty, cor- 
 recting. the erroneous opinions which they had received, regard- 
 ing the powers of government, and describing the unjustifiable 
 nature and dangerous consequences of their proceedings. The 
 governor in council learned, with deep regret, that these mea- 
 sures of moderation, these repeated and urgent appeals to the 
 discipline, duty, national attachment, and professional honour of 
 the company's officers were entirely nugatory; that the memo- 
 rials continued to be circulated, and that sentiments of sedition 
 were openly declared in many parts of the army ; the further 
 forbearance of the government would have encouraged the 
 progress of those evils ; a course of explanation and exhortation 
 had been pursued in vain, and it became imperiously necessary to 
 check, by a salutary example of punishment, a spirit of insubor- 
 dination that threatened the most dangerous consequences to 
 the prosperity of the empire. The general orders of the 1st of 
 May last were accordingly passed. The governor in council is 
 concerned to state, that this example, which was confined to the 
 persons who were principally instrumental in promoting sedition, 
 and of whose delinquency the most ample proofs existed, and 
 which was intended to obviate the necessity of more extensive 
 punishments, failed to produce the beneficial effects anticipated 
 from its adoption, and that principles of insubordination and 
 sedition continued to prevail among the company's officers, if 
 possible with aggravated violence : the company's officers of 
 the Hydrabad subsidiary force, whose good conduct in refusing 
 to affix their signatures to the seditious addresses, had received 
 the approbation of the government, intimated to the rest 
 of the army, in an address dated in May last, scarcely less repre- 
 hensible than the papers that had incurred the animadversion of 
 the government, their participation in the disaffection which 
 prevailed so extensively in the company's army. 
 
 " The officers at Hydrabad followed up this act, by threat- 
 ening, in an address, dated 15th June, transmitted direct to the 
 governor in council, to separate themselves from the authority 
 of the government, established ever them by their country, 
 unless a submission should be yielded to their menaces, by 
 abrogating the general orders of the 1st of May, and the com- 
 pany's officers at Masulipatam imprisoned their commanding 
 officer, and made preparations to desert the post entrusted to 
 their charge, and to join the Hydrabad subsidiary force, thereby 
 involving, on account of views personal to themselves, the men 
 under their command in the guilt of rebellion, and furnishing 
 to the Native troops a dangerous example of resistance to autho- 
 rity. The governor in council, still anxious to impress on the
 
 282- APPEXDIX. 
 
 minds of the company's officers a sense of the impropriety of 
 their conduct, published to the army the dispatch from the 
 supreme government, dated the 21st of May last, which con- 
 tained an entire approval ot the measures of the government of 
 Fort St. Georpe, and stated the most forcible and conclusive 
 arguments against the system of faction and illegal combination 
 which had been introduced into the coast army. This solemn 
 decision of the supreme authority in India, has also proved to 
 be ineffectual ; the officers at Hydrabad, although they knew 
 the sentiments of the supreme government, refused, in a body, 
 in a letter to their commanding officer, dated the 8th of July, 
 obedience to the orders of government, for the march of a 
 battalion from Hydrabad, adding, as a threat, that its services 
 might soon be useful to their cause ; and have since forwarded 
 to the government, in a paper, dated the 21st of July, the con- 
 ditions on which they are willing to return to their duty, and 
 which they require the government to accept, in order to avert 
 the impending awful evils ; evils that can result only from their 
 own criminal determination to place themselves in the situation 
 of enemies to their country. The conditions on which those 
 officers presume to state that they will yield obedience to the 
 national authorities, afford further proofs of the nature oi their 
 designs, for they demand the public revocation of the general 
 orders of the 1st May ; the restoration to their rank and 
 appointments of all officers removed by this government, how- 
 ever obnoxious and criminal the conduct of those offices may 
 have been ; the dismission from office of the officers of the 
 general staff, who may be supposed to have advised the govern- 
 ment to the trial by a general court martial of the officer com- 
 manding Masulipatam, who was arrested by his own disobedient 
 officers ; and, finally, an amnesty for the conduct of the com- 
 pany's army. The garrison of Masulipatam have placed them- 
 selves in a state of rebellion, the troops of Seringapatam and 
 Hydrabad, have followed their example, and it has been ascer- 
 tained that the military authority entrusted to commanding offi- 
 cers has been usurped by self-constituted committees : and that 
 an organized system of combination, for the purpose of sub- 
 verting the authority of the government, has been established 
 throughout the greatest part of the army of this establishment. 
 "The governor in council perceives, in the foregoing course 
 of proceedings on the part of European officers of the com- 
 pany's army, which has equally resisted measures of forbearance 
 and punishment, a determined spirit of revolt that must, unless 
 speedily repressed, produce the most fata) consequences to the 
 constitution and authority of the government and the interests 
 of the nation. No means compatible with the honour and
 
 APPENDIX. 2t 
 
 authority of the government hive been omitted to rccal t: 
 company's officers to a sense of their duty as soldiers, and c 
 their allegiance as British subjects. The forbearance display. 
 by the government, under circumstances oi aggravated indignir 
 demonstrate the satisfaction with which it would have regard-.' 
 anv disposition on the part of the company's officers to mar 
 fesc the usual obedience required from all soldiers. No disp. 
 sition, however, of that nature has appeared ; on the contrar 
 those officers, by a systematic course of aggression and insubo: 
 duration, have forced the government to adopt measures of tl. 
 most decided nature for the support of its authority. 
 
 " The governor in councl would be guilty of a most crhr.' 
 nal desertion of his duty and the cause of his country, if K 
 were capable of compromising the evils of sedition and mutiny 1 
 a subntission to the menaces of a body of men, placed by tl. 
 law under his government. Such a course of proceeding wou: 
 prostrate the authority of the state before a disaffected ai: 
 seditious faction ; it would effectually incapacitate this and ever- 
 succeeding government from executing the functions of admi 
 nistration, and would be fatal to the prosperity of the empire i. 
 India, by affording an example of successful opposition to authc 
 ricy, and bv weakening the power and dignity of thegovernmcrr 
 which, in this country, are peculiarly essential to its existence 
 Influenced by these considerations, the governor in council h. 
 considered it to be his sacred duty to resist every appearance i 
 concession to the threats of insubordination and faction, and t 
 emplov the power and means at the disposal of the governmer. i 
 for the restoration- of its discipline and the maintenance of i 
 honour and authority. 
 
 " In this state of affairs, it is a source of the most gratifvi: 
 reflection, that zeal, loyalty, and discipline of his Majesty 
 troops, :uid of many of the most respectable officers oft!. 
 company's army, combined with the fidelity generally man. 
 fested by the native troops, will enable the government t 
 accomplish the important object of re-establishing public orde; 
 The good conduct of his Majesty's troops during the dissensio: 
 that have occurred, their zealous adherence to duty, the prefe- 
 rence which they have manifested to the principles of honor- r 
 virtue, and patriotism, over the personal views arm disorde: ! 
 passions which prevailed around them, reflect the greatest crou 
 on their character, and demonstrate that they re animated I. 
 the same ardent love of their country, which has distinguish 
 their brother soldiers in Europe. 1 lis \I : sty s troops under ;1. . 
 government will possess the gratifying .-..'flection of hiving di 
 served the approbation and gratitude of their country, and t : 
 having eminently contributed to the preservation of an impor- 
 tant branch of tke empire.
 
 284 APPENDIX. 
 
 " The governor in council entertains a hope that the com- 
 pany's officers, who have threatened the government of their 
 country with the most serious evils, who have demanded, as the 
 condition of being faithful to their duty, the execution of mea- 
 sures degrading to the character, and fatal to the interests of 
 the State, will pause before they attempt to proceed further in 
 the course of sedition and guilt which they have pursued. It 
 has been the earnest wish and anxious desire of the go\ .- ncr in 
 council to avoid measures of extremity, to re-establish order by 
 the course of the law, and to give up to military trial the authors 
 of the present seditious proceedings. In prosecution of measures 
 so consonant to justice, so necessary for restoration of discipline, 
 end so conformable to the ordinary course of military govern- 
 ment, the governor in council is persuaded that he shall have the 
 concurrence of all persons in the civil and military services,, who 
 have not banished from their minds every sentiment of national 
 feeling; and he exhorts the officers of the company's service, 
 by submitting to that cou r se of measures, to avert the evils 
 which they are precipitating upon themselves. Such a result, 
 gratifying at any period, would, at the present moment of 
 national difficulty, be peculiarly acceptable to the view and 
 feelings of the governor in council; and, adverting to the zeal 
 and patriotism by which the officers of the company's army have 
 been distinguished, he still encourages a hope, that by manifest- 
 ing obedience to the government, they will obviate the adoption 
 of measures of extremity, arrest the certain consequences of 
 their past conduct, and promote the restoration of general confi- 
 dence, order, and discipline* 
 
 " By order of the honorable the governor in council, 
 
 (Signed) A. FALCON AR." 
 
 BY GOVERNMENT. GENERAL ORDERS. 
 
 " Fort c t. George, August 18. 
 
 " The governor in council has received intelligence that the 
 troops at Chittledroog, consisting of the first battalion of the 
 6th and 5th regiments of Native infantry, seized, in the latter 
 end of July, the public treasure at that station, deserted the post 
 entrusted to their care, and, in obedience to orders which they 
 received from a committee who have usurped the public autho- 
 rity at Seringapatam, marched on the 6th instant to join the dis- 
 affected troops in that garrison, plundering the villages on their 
 route. 
 
 " The British resident, and the officer commanding in 
 Mysore, prohibited, in the most positive terms, the advance of
 
 APPENDIX. 2S5 
 
 the troops from Chittledroog, and demanded from tlieir Euro- 
 pean officers a compliance with the resolution of the governor 
 in council of the '26th ult. by cither declaring that they would 
 obev the orders of government according to the tenor of their 
 commissions, or withdrawing/for the present, from the exercise 
 of authority. 
 
 " The officers having refused to comply with his requisition, 
 and having persisted in advancing towards Seringapatam, it 
 became unavoidably necessary to prevent by force their entrance 
 into that garrison. 
 
 " In the contest which ensued, a detachment from the Bri- 
 tish force, under the command of lieutenant- col. Gibbs, aided 
 by a body of Mysore horse, and one battalion of the 3rd regi- 
 ment -of Native infantry, entirely defeated and dispersed the 
 corps from Chittledroog. 
 
 " During 'his affair a sally was made by the garrison of Serin- 
 gapatam on lieutenant-col. Gibbs's camp, but was instantly 
 driven back by the piquet and the 5th regiment of cavalry, 
 under the, command of Capt. Bean, of his Majesty's 25th dra- 
 goons, in charge of that regiment. 
 
 " Nearly the whole of the rebel force was destroyed, while 
 one casualty alone was sustained by the British troops, lieutenant 
 Jefferies, ot his Majesty's 25th regiment of light dragoons, 
 having zealously offered his services to carry a .'lag of truce, 
 which lieutenant-col. Gibbs, anxious to prevent the effusion of 
 blood, was desirous of dispatching to the rebel troops, was 
 slightly wounded in the execution of that duty by a volley 
 fired under the express command of an European officer. 
 
 " While the governor in council participates in the feelings 
 of sorrow that must have been experienced by the British 
 forces, in acting against the rebel troops, and deeply laments the 
 unfortunate but imperious necessity which existed for that pro- 
 ceeding, he considers it to be due to the conduct of the British 
 forces to express his high admiration and applause of the zeal, 
 firmness, and patriotism which they displayed on that most 
 interesting occasion. 
 
 " Their conduct affords a further proof of the superior 
 influence in their minds of the principles of virtue, honour, and 
 loyalty, over every other consideration, and eminently entitles 
 thern to public approbation. Lieut. -col. Gibbs, lieut. -colonel 
 Adam, major Garden, capt. Bean, and lieut. Jefferies, availed 
 themselves of the opportunities offered to them, on this occasion, 
 of serving their country. 
 
 " The governor in council is also happy to distinguish the 
 zeal and loyalty displayed by the 5th regiment of Native cavalry,
 
 2SG 
 
 ArPESDIX. 
 
 the 1st battalion of the 3rd regiment of Native infantry, and 
 the Mysore troops, who all manifested an eager desire to per- 
 forin their duty. The Mysore horse, on one occasion, put the 
 column of the Chittiedroog troops to flight, and took two guns 
 and both the colours from one of the battalions ; a memorable 
 proof of the weakness ol men acting in the worst of causes. 
 
 " That a body of British officers should deliberately disobey 
 the orders ot their government seize the public treasure under 
 their protect ion abandon the post entrusted to their charge 
 march to join a party of men in open opposition to authority 
 plunder the dominions of a British ally, and finally bear arms 
 against their country, must excite grief and astonishment; but 
 the conduct of these officers in urging the innocent men under 
 their command, who had the most powerful claims on their 
 humanity and care, into the guilt and danger ot rebellion, con- 
 stitutes an aggravation of their offence that cannot be contem- 
 plated without feelings of the deepest indignation and borrow. 
 
 " The governor in council is very far from wishing to aggra- 
 vate the misconduct of these deluded and unhappy men; but 
 he earnestly hopes, that the example of their crimes and their 
 fate will still impress on the minds of the officers who have 
 joined in their plans a -ense of the danger of their situation, 
 ana the propriety of endeavouring, by their early obedience and 
 future zca:, to efface the deep stain which lias been cast on the 
 honour of the Madras army. 
 
 " In announcing to the native troops the distressing event, 
 described in this order, the governor in council must express his 
 concern, that any part of the native army should be so far delu- 
 ded bv misrepresentation, and so lost to a sense of the obligation 
 of fidelity, h 'nour, and religion, as to act against the government 
 which has so long supported them. 
 
 " The general order of the Srd instant, and the conduct that 
 lias been observed towards the native troops at the Presidency, 
 the Mount, Vellore, Trichinopoly, Bella'ry, Gooty, and Banga- 
 lore, must convince the whole Native army of the anxiety of 
 government to promote their welfare, and save them from the 
 dangers into which they were likely to be plunged. The go- 
 vernor in c )uncil still places the greatest confidence in the fidelity 
 and zeal of the Native troops, and 's convinced that they will not 
 'willingly sully the high reputation which they have so long 
 enjoyed, by joining in the execution of plans that must end in 
 their disgrace avd ruin. 
 
 " The governor in council trusts the unhappy fate of the 
 Chittiedroog battalions, who allowed themselves to be engaged
 
 APPENDIX. 2&7 
 
 in opposition to their government, will have the effect of pre- 
 vailing on any other part of the Native army from suffering 
 themselves, under any circumstances, to be placed in a situation 
 adverse to their duty and allegiance. 
 
 " The governor in council avails himself cf this occasion 
 to express, in the most public manner, his high sense of the 
 zeal, moderation, energy, and ability displayed by the govern- 
 ment of Mysore, and by the British resident and commanding 
 officer, during the transactions that have recently occurred in 
 that country. The British resident and the commanding 
 officer in Mysore did not permit the adoption of coercive 
 measures until every means of expostulation and forbearance 
 had been exhausted, and until they were compelled to embrace 
 the alternative of employing force, in order to prevent the most 
 fatal evtls to the cause of their country. 
 
 " The governor in council requests, that the honourable 
 Mr. Cole and lieutenant-colonel Davies will be pleased to 
 accept the expression of his highest approbation and thanks, 
 for the moderation, firmness, and ability, which they mani- 
 fested on this unprecedented and distressing occasion. 
 
 " A. FALCON AR, 
 
 " Chief Secretary to Government." 
 
 " GENERAL ORDERS, BY THE IION.THE GOVERNOR 
 IN COUNCIL. 
 
 " Fort St. George, Aug. 50. 
 
 " A report has been received by the governor in council 
 from the officer commanding in Mysore, stating, that the 
 troops which composed the garrison of Seringapatam surren- 
 dered at discretion, on the 23d instant, delivered up their arms, 
 and proceeded to the stations in Mysore allotted for their 
 residence. 
 
 *' It has been ascertained that the Native troops which pro- 
 ceeded from Chittledroog were entirely ignorant of the real 
 design of their officers, and marched under an impression, 
 produced by their officers, that his highness the rajah cf 
 Mysore had commenced hostility against the British govern- 
 ment, and attacked the Fort of Seringapatam. The appear- 
 ance of the Mysore horse confirmed this opinion in the mind* 
 of those troops, and when they found in the contest beforg 
 Seringapatam, which was begun by the Mysore horse, tha$ 
 the British force acted against them, they abandoned their
 
 288 APPENDIX. 
 
 arms, and endeavoured to save their lives by flight. It appears 
 that a considerable number escaped into the Fort of Seringa- 
 patam. 
 
 " This explanation is due to the general conduct of the 
 native troops under this government, who, under circumstances 
 of peculiar difficulty, manifested a fidelity and attachment to 
 the state that reflects great honour on their character. 
 
 " The governor in council was persuaded, that it was only 
 by deceiving the native troops that they could be misled from 
 their duty, and their conduct, in every situation where they 
 had an opportunity of being more acquainted with the true 
 situation of affairs, justifies the high opinion which he enter- 
 tained of their zeal and fidelity, and entitles them to the appro- 
 bation and thanks of the government. 
 
 " The governor in council greatly ascribes the early termi- 
 nation of the disturbances in Mysore to the vigilance, energy, 
 and talents of the acting resident, the honourable Arthur Cole, 
 and the commanding officer in Mysore, lieut.-colonel Davies, 
 and he judges it proper again to express his high sense of the 
 important services which they have rendered to the interests 
 of their country in India. 
 
 " Bv order of the honourable the governor in council, 
 (Signed) " A. FALCONAR, 
 
 " Chief Secretary to Government. 
 
 " By order of major-general Govvdie, commanding the armv. 
 
 J. H. PEELE, 
 
 '* Secretary to Government.'* 
 
 [S. ] 
 
 TO THE HON. SIR GEORGE BARLOW, BART, K.B. 
 
 " Sir, We should be wanting in the first principles of duty 
 to our country and ourselves, both as subjects and soldiers ; 
 and we should be insensible to the just feelings of honour, 
 patriotism, and loyalty, were we longer to remain silent, or 
 abstain from addressing you : indeed, the moment has arrived, 
 when it has become a bounden and a sacred duty for us to 
 come forward, and with one voice, deny those unjust impu- 
 tations upon the character of the company's officers which 
 have been industriously disseminated through the channel of 
 the public prints; and to convey to you, Sir, such an explicit 
 declaration of our principles, that, on a future day, when 
 the Circumstances of this awful and eventful crisis shall
 
 APPENDIX. 289 
 
 be submitted to the solemn investigation of our country, we 
 may appeal to a faithful record, and challenge the testimony 
 of this address. 
 
 " It would be vain for us to attempt to describe the sensations 
 of honest indignation with which we have perused the docu- 
 ments circulated in the public Gazette, or the sentiments of 
 regret, with which we perceive, that some of our countrymen, 
 an I fellow subjects, have received an impression, that the 
 officers of the company's service entertain designs repugnant 
 to their first duties as subjects and servants of the state ; and 
 that, under such impression, they have been induced to express 
 a sentence of unqualified condemnation. But, that you, Sir, 
 should avow such a belief, and ascribe to the officers of the 
 honourable company's army a deliberate, premeditated design 
 to subvert the government, to claim the surrender of its autho- 
 rity, and throw off their allegiance to their King and country, 
 is what we cannot read without sentiments cf indescribable 
 horror and surprize. 
 
 " With emotions of equal horror have we rend that these 
 sentiments, and a more extensive charge of positive rebellion 
 have been promulgated from the awful bench' of justice ; such a 
 charge, and armed with such authority, demands the most 
 solemn and most public vindication. 
 
 We have not forgotten, Sir, that we are British subjects, the 
 children of the happiest country, and the most g'orious con- 
 stitution in the world ; cor have we ever entertained a thought 
 at variance with the purest and most sacred principles of loy- 
 alty, allegiance, and fidelity. Our bosoms still glow, Sir, 
 with enthusiastic attachment to our beloved King and country, 
 in whose service and for whose interests, we are ready to shed 
 every drop of our blood ; not less, is our fidelity to the East India 
 Company, nor our respect and obedience to their governments 
 in India. We have never claimed the surrender of the autho- 
 rity of the government, or aimed at trampling down those first 
 principles of duty and obedience, which we know to be 
 solemn and primary obligations. We appeal to our services 
 and character. Is it probable that the officers of the company's 
 army, many of whom have passed the best portion of their 
 lives in the service, should entertain the mad project of sub- 
 verting that power they huvc shed their blood to establish and 
 secure. 
 
 tl No, Sir, such a thought never occurred ! The company's 
 officers have sought no immunities, we have asked from you 
 enly thost rights ivhicb t us Brititis } ive derive from our birth,
 
 2<}0 APPENDIX. 
 
 the protection of the laics of our country, and the impartial admi- 
 nistration of British justice ! These are the privileges we have 
 hitherto enjoyed, these are the claims ive have made upon you, 
 and which the government has denied to us ; and it is this denial 
 of those sacred unalienable rights, secured to us by our con- 
 stitution, that has agitated the minds of the company's officers, 
 and driven them to despair. You, Sir, have justly stated, 
 that there is a principle of national feeling and attachment 
 inherent in Britons, which cannot be eradicated. We feel 
 the truth of this observation, and it is that ardent attachment 
 to the laws and liberties of our native country, which warms 
 our hearts, and which has raised the voice of every one amongst 
 us, to call upon you to secure to us their uninterrupted enjoy- 
 ment and protection. 
 
 " Had we not been bereft of those our dearest privileges, had 
 not those sacred rights, for which our ancestors bled, been torn 
 from us, not a murmur of discontent would have been heard 
 in the company's army ; not an expression discordant with the 
 strictest rules of respect and obedience. If you will revert 
 to the period, Sir, when you assumed charge of the govern- 
 ment of this presidency, your candour will acknowledge, that 
 you found the army in a state of perfect obedience and tran- 
 quillity, and in such a state it cont nued till the moment, 
 when the constitutional rules of our order were infringed, 
 the ordinary and established tribunals subverted, and sum- 
 mary severe punishments inflicted, without trial or inves- 
 gation- 
 
 " Far be it from us, to remark on the conduct of government: 
 but it is not inconsistent with just and proper respect, in our 
 present extraordinary situation, to shew the effects which 
 "Vvere produced, and which gradually led to that insupportable 
 irritation that has, at length, unhappily terminated in extremes, 
 which we deplore equally with every member of the govern- 
 ment. 
 
 " We wish not to trespass on your attention, but, at this 
 awful moment, when a general unqualified calumny is gone 
 abroad ; when our loyalty, our allegiance, and our national 
 attachment is called in question, and becomes the theme 
 of public reproach ; when the newspapers of the day proclaims 
 our misfortunes, and our degradations, it would not become 
 us to be silent. 
 
 " We hesitate not to say, that misrepresentations have been 
 too successfully employed, and that prejudices hare been adopted 
 unfavourable to our principles and conduct.
 
 APPENDIX. 291 
 
 " It will be unnecessary to enter into a detail of our serious 
 wrongs at present ; but we cannot pass over the deepest wound 
 inuicted on the army : tbs order of the 1st of May , the effects 
 of which may be lamented to the last hour that the British influ- 
 ence exists in fndia In this order many of the most respected 
 :.: i most valuable officers were disgraced, punished, and 
 suspended from the service, not only without trial or inves- 
 tigation, without hearing or defence, but without knowing 
 their accuser, or even their crime. In vain did these officers 
 seek and 1 nplore a trial This indulgence was not only- 
 denied to tiit n : but the vindication they offered was either 
 rejected, neglected, cr suppressed. It was known to the army 
 that many of these <. tricers were absolutely innocent of the 
 rL.rges for which they had been punished, and had it in their 
 power to substantiate their exculpation upon the clearest and 
 most unequivocal testimony. Yet, not only redress, but even 
 hearing was denied to al! their entreaties, and the serious 
 imputations against them, the' sentence of their punishment, 
 and a general impeachment against the coast army, was circu- 
 it J to the world in tne public journals of the day. Can 
 it, then, be wondered, that general discontent should follow, 
 that ahum should bi 1 excited, and that every individual should 
 consider himself in danger of falling a victim to secret calumny 
 or suspicion ? It appeared to the army, that a deliberate 
 s\ -". - n existed to subvert the right of trial, and it was feared 
 th : it would ultimately tend to degrade an honorable profession 
 into in abject and disreputable servitude 
 
 4t How well founded those apprehensions were, wewil! not 
 enquire. As subjects of Great Britain we can never forget 
 the rights to which we are born, and which we do not forfeit, 
 because we are soldiers. But we cannot more forcibly describe 
 oir feelings, than by referring to the just and emphatic decla- 
 ration of our most gracious sovereign, on a recent occasion, 
 when lie says, ' And I must remind you, that it is inconsistent 
 
 * with the principles of British justice, to pronounce judgment 
 
 * without previous investigation.' And if we needed a further 
 illustration of the grand fundamental maxims of our constitution, 
 we shall hud them elegantly stated, in the following words ot 
 an exalte! and learned character, who says, ' He called upon 
 
 * them for whet every British subject had a right to, and 
 
 * which no British man could refuse; he called upon 
 
 * .'urn to uspend proceedings which might have the cfi'cf 
 
 * >' cj.'idemnins, without a (rial , and, before judgment, to heai 
 ' such evidence as was required for the ends of justice, by
 
 292- APPENDIX. 
 
 ' the laws of the land. It was not to prevent impeachment, 
 
 * but to claim the privilege of every British subject, from the 
 
 * highest to the lowest, and the lowest to the highest, to have 
 ' his trial before condemnation, in a cause which affected his 
 ' character, integrity, and honor.' 
 
 " It has been asserted, that it is our duty to await patiently 
 the result of a reference to Europe ; and impatience of this appeal 
 is imputed to us, and reprobated in strong and angry terms. 
 We acknowledge it to be our duty, but have we ever been told, 
 or had the satisfaction of knowing, that our petitions, and our 
 grievances, have been appealed to the authorities at home-, 
 have not our petitions, our humble memorials of our complaints 
 been received with reproaches, and rejected with derision and 
 disdain ? When we ventured to express our complaints to our 
 superiors, were we not branded with mutiny and sedition ? 
 Even the individuals, who have been punished, who vainly 
 supplicated trial, have they received even the poor consolation 
 of knowing, their defence and vindication had been, or 
 should be submitted to those ulterior authorities who were 
 to pass a final judgment upon their case, and whose decision 
 was to confirm their condemnation, or restore them to their 
 rar.k and situation ? These, Sir, are amongst those most serious 
 injuries, which tie officers of the company's service loudly 
 complain of, and which, had you condescended to redress, or 
 even to investigate, would have secured to you the gratitude 
 and attachment of the coast army, and averted those calamities 
 which have ensued. May we not, Sir, also notice, without 
 invidious comparisons, the endeavours to promote discord, 
 jcalr.usy ; and a separation of interests between the officers 
 of his majesty's service and those of the company's army, our 
 brothers in arms and fellow subjects? 
 
 " They have n<-'t and cannot suffer our wrongs , the con- 
 stitution of their service affords them that protection which 
 we do not enjoy, and they have not had grievances to complain 
 of; unbounded encomiums have been lavished on them, while 
 indiscriminate and harsh reproaches have been bestowed on the 
 
 * company's officers,' and aspersions upon our loyalty, honor, 
 and fidelity, promulgated to the world. 
 
 " We have not merited this, Sir, from your hands, nor from 
 your government ; we have quitted our native country, 
 our relations, and friends ; and we have sacrificed the dearest 
 ties of nature, to devote cur lives, and our service, for the 
 interest of the East India company, and the good of our
 
 APPENDIX. 293 
 
 country, in a distant and unwholesome climate, where too many 
 of us fall victims to our zeal. 
 
 * But we will now not further complain, nor dwell on 
 that last act which, attended with circumstances of peculiar 
 humiliation, has placed us in an extraordinary predicament, 
 and subjected us to be treated with such public indignity and 
 contempt. We look to the justice of our country for redress, 
 and to rescue a numerous body of loyal, faithful, merito- 
 rious subjects from the unmerited obloquy cast upon us, in 
 consequence of the publication circulated in the newspapers. 
 
 " Pondicherry, August, 1809.'' 
 
 [T. ] 
 
 GENERAL ORDERS, BY THE HON. THE GOVERNOR 
 IN COUNCIL OF MADRAS. 
 
 " All civil and military officers, exercising the authority 
 under the government of Fort St. George, having been directed 
 to consider all corps moving without orders as in a state of. 
 rebellion to the government, and to offer every practicable 
 obstruction to their progress, the honourable the governor in 
 council is pleased to direct, that timely notice shall be given 
 by officers commanding divisions to the different collectors 
 and magistrates, through whose districts any troops under their 
 orders may have to march, in order that such collectors and 
 magistrates may be prepared to afford the supplies and assistance 
 to those corps which they would, without such notice, consider 
 themselves bound to withhold. 
 
 " The governor in council is further pleased to direct, that 
 the notice to the civil officers shall distinctly specify the 
 strength and description of the corps or party moving, and the 
 name of the officer in charge of the same, who must produce 
 a written order, with a translation on the back of it, in the 
 common language of the district, signed by the officers com- 
 manding the division, wihout which, the native servants of 
 the civil officers will withhold all supplies, and oppose every 
 impediment to the march of the corps. 
 
 " By order of the honourable the governor in council, 
 (Signed) "A. FALCONAR, 
 
 v Madra*, 7th September.' 1 
 
 " Chief Secretary to Government.
 
 29* APPENDIX. 
 
 GENERAL ORDERS, BY THE HON. THE GOVERNOR 
 IN COUNCIL. 
 
 August 26, 1809. 
 " Circumstances having occurred, which induced colonel 
 Close to relinquish the command of the Hyderabad subsidiary 
 force on his arrival there, on the 3d instant, when it was 
 resumed by lieut.-col. Montressor, the honourable the go- 
 vernor in council is pleased to re-appoint colonel Close to the 
 command of that force, and also to the command of the field 
 force assembled in the ceded districts. 
 
 " By order of the honorable the governor in council, 
 
 (Signed) " A. FALCONAR, 
 
 " Chief Secretary to Government.'' 
 
 GENERAL ORDERS. 
 
 " The declaration required from the European commis- 
 sioned officers of the honourable company's service, by the 
 order of the 26th July last, having been tendered to the medi- 
 cal officers at several stations of the army, and refused by some 
 of them, in consequence of which they have been removed 
 from the exercise of their functions. The governor in council 
 is pleased to publish, that it never was intended that the medical 
 officers should be called upon to sign the declaration in question, 
 which is in no wise applicable to them, and to direct, that all 
 those who may have been removed from their duties, do imme- 
 diately return to their stations, and resume the duties of them. 
 Madras Gazette, August 19." 
 
 G. Sidney, Printer, 
 Northumberland Street, Strand. ft O 2
 
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