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 LETTER 
 
 vnORESSEl) TO TIIK 
 
 proprietors of smria ^tocn, 
 
 DEMONSTRATING 
 
 BRITISH JUSTICE IN INDIA. 
 
 BY CAPTAIN W. WHITE, 
 
 LATE OF THE BENGAL ARMY. 
 
 " He who allows oppression shares the crime." 
 
 ^rrcnfcf <£l!i!ton. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 PUBLISHED BY J. MILLER, 69, FLEET STREET, 
 
 AND MAY BE HAD OF THE ROOKSET.LKRS AT THE ROYAL 
 j. EXCHANGE AND PICCADILLY. 
 
 ** 1823. 
 
 Price Four Shillings.
 
 Whytc, Printer, Jolt". Street Kdgivure limn!. 
 
 I V I » I fc 
 
 • • • 
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 I 
 
 .2. "7 6> 
 
 15? 
 
 TO THE 
 
 < proprietors of Sn&w ^tocH* 
 
 Ladies and Gentlemen, 
 
 I must freely confess that it is not 
 
 $ without feelings of great reluctance and sin- 
 
 cere regret, that I have felt the necessity of 
 
 thus publicly introducing myself to you : but 
 
 situated as 1 have been, and now am, were I 
 
 to hesitate any longer, from motives of 
 
 ^ private feeling, to discharge an act of public 
 
 vfc duty — no less due to you, as proprietors of 
 
 r the Indian empire, than to my country and 
 
 ^myself, — an act which justice imperatively 
 
 demands ; I should consider, that after a 
 
 long and conscientious discharge of my duty, 
 
 on
 
 I had shrunk at last from the most important 
 task. Without the least apprehension, I 
 trust to the following pages to demonstrate 
 the necessity of the address ; and to justify 
 me from all appearance of unnecessary in- 
 trusion. 
 
 The contest that I have been called upon 
 sin»lv to maintain, has been attended with 
 trials, vexation, and suffering, sufficient 
 to impress me with some apprehension 
 that the relief I have a claim to expect, may 
 not be altogether attainable ; but, let the 
 result of this unequal contest prove as it may 
 towards myself, it cannot ultimately fail of 
 proving beneficial to many thousands. 
 
 Is it not lamentable, in the extreme, to 
 observe the indifference with which Indian 
 politics are viewed in England — the palpable 
 state of ignorance of the country, with regard 
 to the state of our affairs in the East, and 
 the interests of 100 millions of inhabitants, 
 under the immediate controul and jurisdic- 
 tion of the East India Company ! 
 
 The little that appears about India in the 
 public prints, is supposed to come from 
 Leadenhall Street, from whence, as a matter
 
 3 
 
 of course, the reports are of a favorable cha- 
 racter. 
 
 The public, no doubt, therefore, are too 
 apt to remain under an impression that the 
 natives of India are happy : but, as I have 
 been forced upon the notice of the public, 
 I feel it an imperious duty to demonstrate 
 that such is not the actual condition of India. 
 
 Vast, indeed, is the influence of the Court 
 of Directors in England, from their extensive 
 patronage : and may not this influence be 
 exerted to check enquiry and retard the 
 march of reformation ? On this subject 1 
 will proceed as becomes me 
 
 In 1817, the Provincial Battalion of 
 Moorshedabad, in Bengal, a regiment of 
 about eight hundred men, was under my 
 command. To this battalion 1 had been 
 many years attached as Adjutant; and in 
 consequence of the absence of the command- 
 ing officer, employed on other duty, the 
 command had devolved upon me. 
 
 In October, the serjeant-major of the 
 Moorshedabad Provincial Battalion reported 
 to me that a subedar and two non-commis- 
 sioned officers of the battalion had been 
 wounded by Mr. Wray, an assistant-surgeon,
 
 4 
 
 doing duty with the Honorable Company's 
 European Regiment, and who had been 
 shooting near the huts of the battalion : that 
 they had been thus wounded while sitting 
 in the house of the subedar, and that the 
 person who had committed the outrage, had 
 not only declined to express any concern or 
 contrition for the injury which he had per- 
 petrated, but had used abusive language to 
 the suffering parties. 
 
 The subedar and others wounded ap- 
 peared before me, and confirmed the report 
 of the serjeant-major, and their complaint 
 appeared to me to be so well-founded, and 
 the indifference expressed by Mr. Wray 
 having been corroborated by the serjeant- 
 major, I considered it to b3 my bounden 
 duty to adopt measures to have the com- 
 plaint investigated, and to prevent the 
 occurrence of a similar injury to the men 
 under my command, within the houses and 
 the military lines of the battalion. 
 
 Although the parties complaining were 
 bleeding with the wounds which they had 
 received, it is but justice to them to state, 
 that they then expressed less indignation at
 
 the personal injury which they had received 
 than at the indignity offered to them by Mr. 
 Wray, after it had been ascertained that he 
 had wounded them, and that they were ser- 
 vants of his own Masters. The subedar, a man 
 of high cast, and of great consideration a- 
 mong his brother officers, expressed himself 
 particularly hurt at the language used by 
 Mr. Wray; and all the parties who attended 
 upon me requested me to place their com- 
 plaint in a course of investigation. 
 
 I made every enquiry in my power from 
 the parties complaining, from the serjeant- 
 major, and from several persons who wit- 
 nessed the conduct of Mr. Wray after the 
 accident, and 1 was perfectly convinced, 
 and still most solemnly entertain the convic- 
 tion, that, after Mr. Wray had discovered 
 the injury which he had occasioned, he 
 conducted himself in a cruel and unbe- 
 coming manner to the sufferers ; and that, 
 instead of expressing his concern, or other- 
 wise atoning for what he had occasioned, 
 he treated the wounded officers with threat- 
 ening, abusive, and insulting language. 
 
 It never suggested itself to my mind that 
 
 b3
 
 6 
 
 Mr. Wray had intentionally committed the 
 first act complained of; but that he had, in 
 fact wounded the complainants while they 
 were sitting on a spot which ought to have 
 afforded them protection, was placed be- 
 yond all question. That Mr. Wray had 
 been guilty of gross imprudence in shooting 
 so near to the houses of the battalion, was 
 a matter unfortunately illustrated by the 
 condition of the wounded, and that he 
 ought to have expressed his concern, and to 
 have abstained from irritating and insulting 
 language at such a season, and after such an 
 accident, were matters that appeared too 
 plain to be doubted. 
 
 Though impressed with the belief that the 
 parties wounded had been most improperly 
 treated subsequently to the accident, I did all 
 in my power to sooth their minds ; and assured 
 them that I would adopt proper means to 
 have the conduct of Mr. Wray investigated. 
 And, as I had not then determined what 
 course should be pursued, I desired the 
 serjeant-major, who was conversant with 
 the Hindoostany language, to reduce to 
 writing, in English, the substance of the
 
 complaint, so that I might be enabled to 
 refer to the same, as containing a detail 
 of the injury complained of — while the cir- 
 cumstances were fresh in the recollection of 
 the parties. 
 
 The serjeant-major accordingly committed 
 to writing, in the English language, the 
 complaint of the wounded parties — which 
 was afterwards transmitted to me, together 
 with a number of shot, some of which had 
 been taken from the persons of the parties 
 injured, and others from the cot of the sube- 
 dar, who had been wounded on it. This 
 complaint, as taken down by the serjeant- 
 major and signed by him, is as follows : 
 
 Complaints preferred against Mr. Assistant-Surgeon 
 Wray, of the Honourable Company's European 
 Regiment, by Mayput Sing, subedar,* Ajaib Sing, 
 Havildar-major„f and Roudee Sing, court havil- 
 dar,t of the Moorshedabad provincial battalion." 
 
 The complainants state as follows : — " On the se- 
 venth instant, between the hours of four and five in 
 
 Native Captain, t Native Serjeant-Major, i Pay Serjeant. 
 
 B 4
 
 8 
 
 the evening, they were sitting iu the veranda of the 
 subedar's house, when Mr. Wray came with a dou- 
 ble-barelled fowling-piece, and fired off one of the 
 barrels, which wounded the subedar in two places, 
 while quietly sitting on his couch in his veranda : 
 it also wounded Ajaib Sing, havildar-major : 26 
 shots entering him in different parts — his head, face, 
 body, and arms : Roudee Sing, court-havildar, was. 
 also, wounded in 13 places. The subedar then 
 went out to ask Mr. Wray why he came and shot 
 within the lines people in their own houses. Mr. 
 Wray made no answer, but was going away, when 
 the subedar, asked a native what the gentleman's 
 name was. — The native replied that he did not 
 know — he was not a Servant, but a cooly* from 
 the bazar. Mr. Wrav then turned round and abu- 
 sed the subedar, saying, " Jow,f damn your eyes — 
 Jow, damn your eyes — Jow, damn your eyes." 
 Upon this, the havildar-major went out of the house, 
 with the blood falling from his wounds, and asked 
 Mr. Wray what he meant by coming there to 
 shoot people in their own houses, Mr. Wray then 
 lifted the fowling-piece to his shoulder, and pre- 
 sented it at the havildar-major, saying, ' Hold your 
 tongue, do not speak to me, or I will shoot you.' 
 Seeing the piece levelled, and fearing that he might 
 shoot me, I turned back and reported it to the ser- 
 
 * A Porter. t Jow— go.
 
 9 
 
 jcanl-major, who came and spoke to Mr. Wray. 
 The spot from which Mr. Wray fired the gun was 
 only 29 paces from the subcdar's house and cot." 
 
 Evidence. 
 
 Monorat Sing, Naik. 
 Ilurdial Tewaree, ditto. 
 Bowany Sing, sepoy, 
 Adden Sing, sepoy. 
 Monorat Sing, sepoy. 
 
 A. M'Coy, serjeant-major. 
 
 (True Copy.) 
 
 (Signed) W. White. 
 
 It appears from the foregoing state- 
 ment, that the parties complaining did not 
 at that time impute to Mr. Wray any in- 
 tention of firing at them, and that the griev- 
 ance of which they principally complained, 
 was the insulting language used by Mr. 
 Wray — and the levelling his fowling-piece, 
 when he had been remonstrated with for his 
 former shooting. Whether Mr. Wray had 
 or had not been guilty of this misconduct or 
 violence, I had no means of ascertaining,
 
 10 
 
 except from the testimony of the parties who 
 had been wounded, and of those who were 
 present ; but I had no reason to disbelieve 
 the complaint which had been preferred, and 
 which was circumstantially corroborated by 
 several seapoys who witnessed the conduct 
 of Mr. Wray. 
 
 As the officer then in command of the 
 corps to which the parties complaining be- 
 longed, I considered myself bound in duty 
 to receive their complaint — and to adopt all 
 proper means to cause the circumstances 
 complained of to be investigated : in receiv- 
 ing the complaint, and in forwarding it af- 
 terwards to be investigated by the magistrate 
 of Moorshedabad, I performed my naked 
 duty. I had no concern with the truth or 
 falsehood of that complaint, and did not in- 
 stigate or encourage the parties to prefer it 
 — and by directing the serjeant-major to re- 
 duce it to writing according to the statement 
 of the parties themselves, and in the plain 
 language of the Serjeant, I evinced all be- 
 coming impartiality. 
 
 If Mr. Wray, after he had discovered the 
 mischief which he had occasioned, had been
 
 11 
 
 desirous of allaying the irritation which his 
 conduct had excited, he might have called 
 on me ; but, as Mr. Wray left the scene of 
 injury, without offering any atonement, 
 through what would have been the proper 
 channel, the commanding officer of the par- 
 ties wounded — I was justified in presuming 
 that the account given of Mr. Wray's con- 
 duct, by the complainants, was consistent 
 with the real circumstances of the case. — 
 The evidence given by the serjeant-maj or be- 
 fore the court of enquiry completely confirms 
 the presumption thus entertained, for the ser- 
 jeant-major positively denied that Mr. Wray 
 had expressed any concern for the accident, 
 or that he had sent any message to me. 
 
 Evidence of Serjeant- Major Mc Coy before the Court of 
 
 Inquiry. 
 "On the afternoon of the 7th between the hours of four and 
 five, subedar Mayput Sing, havildar-major Ajaib Sing, 
 and court-havildar Roudee Sing, came and informed 
 me that a gentleman was in the lines, and that they had 
 been struck with shot whilst sitting in Mayput Sing's 
 house. I went out and saw a gentleman distance from 
 the lines 40 or 50 yards. On approaching the gentle- 
 man, he said — ' I believe I have struck one of your men?' 
 — I replied, ' No, Sir, you have not only struck one,
 
 J2 
 
 you have wounded three -a subedar, a havildar-major, 
 and a court-havildar.' On saying this, I turned round 
 and shewed these people to the gentleman : who exam- 
 ined them & said, ' They ivill be no worse than they are V 
 —I was going away, the havildar-major said to the 
 gentleman, * I will complain of you.' The latter then 
 asked me what the havik'.ar said — I explained it to him. 
 He then observed to me, 'Let them complain, my name 
 is Doctor Wray.' " 
 
 Q. by Mr. Wray. when I held the conversation with 
 you, at the time you have now mentioned, did I not ex- 
 press myself to the following effect : viz. "I*am sorry 
 the accident has happened. — I am Doctor Wray, I re- 
 quest of you to inform Lieutenant White of it. The 
 people are very little the worse." 
 
 A. No. you did not, or I should have told the com- 
 manding officer so. 
 
 Q. Did I appear sorry for what happened ? 
 
 A. It did not appear to me so, as Mr. Wray went away 
 fowling immediately after. 
 
 The conduct of Mr. Wray in approaching 
 so close to the lines of a military body, and 
 firing so near to the depositories of ammuni- 
 tion, was in itself highly improper ; and after 
 he had ascertained that he had occasioned 
 such serious mischief, it was the duty of Mr. 
 Wray, who was also a military person, to have 
 waited on me to have explained the nature 
 of the accident, to have offered a reasonable
 
 13 
 
 atonement to the officers who had been 
 wounded. 
 
 But admitting that Mr. Wray in the dis- 
 stress or agitation of the moment, had omit- 
 ted to express his regret for what had hap- 
 pened — surely after he had returned to his 
 house at Berhampore he ought to have written 
 to me and to have requested my interference 
 with the persons who had been wounded. 
 But Mr. Wray would not, and did not con- 
 descend, directly or indirectly, to communi- 
 cate with me on this subject, and I was 
 therefore left to form my conclusions of the 
 transaction, from the complaints of the 
 wounded, and the testimony of those who 
 described the misconduct of Mr. Wray. 1 
 was therefore bound to give credit to the 
 statement, and to forward the complaint fox 
 public investigation. 
 
 Before, however, I adopted any official 
 measure, in the hope that Mr. Wray might 
 be prevailed on to make some atonement 
 to the feelings of the subedar, and the other 
 persons wounded; and unwilling to commu- 
 nicate directly with Mr. Wray on this deli- 
 cate subject, I caused it to be intimated to
 
 n 
 
 that gentleman, that if he would express his 
 concern for what had happened, I would 
 exert myself with the wounded parties, to 
 prevent any further proceeding. This com- 
 munication was actually made to major 
 Broughton, the immediate commanding offi- 
 cer of Mr. Wray ; who when the matter was 
 noticed, laughed at the transaction ; observed 
 that he had heard of it before, and had spo- 
 ken of it to Mr. Wray, u who had declared it 
 to be a falsehood." — The Major added — "It 
 was of no consequence and would blow over 
 like smoke ! " 
 
 From the foregoing facts, the situation in 
 which I was placed cannot be mistaken. A 
 subedar, and two respectable non-commis- 
 sioned officers of the battalion had appeared 
 before me wounded and bleeding, with se- 
 veral shots in their bodies. They complain- 
 ed that they had been wounded by an Euro- 
 pean gentleman, while sitting quietly in their 
 own house, within the lines of the battalion. 
 They declared that when they had remon- 
 strated with him, he had added insulting 
 language to their previous injury, and had 
 actually presented his gun, threatening to
 
 15 
 
 fire again at one of them. The report of the 
 serjeant-major afforded no circumstance or 
 language in the least degree explaining or 
 extenuating Mr. Wray's conduct : When I 
 caused the matter to be communicated to 
 Mr. Wray's commanding officer, and offered 
 to act as a mediator, my offices were repu- 
 diated, and the whole transaction was treat- 
 ed as fabulous, and Mr. Wray's denial of all 
 the circumstances was boldly asserted. Thus 
 situated, if I had neglected to receive and 
 forward a complaint so serious and so ag- 
 gravated, and if such neglect had been af- 
 terwards represented to the Commander in 
 Chief, I must surely have been declared 
 unfit to have any charge of a military body, 
 and incompetent to fulfil the duties with 
 which 1 had been intrusted. 
 
 Having thus failed in my efforts to obtain 
 from Mr. Wray such concessions as were 
 calculated to appease the wounded parties 
 and to induce them to forego their complaint, 
 and being urged by them to obtain an inves- 
 tigation of the outrage, 1 considered it to be 
 my duty to forward the complaint to the ci- 
 vil magistrate of Moorshedabad ; and accord-
 
 16 
 
 ingly I addressed a letter to that officer, ac- 
 companied with the complaint which had 
 been so reduced to writing by the serjeant- 
 major, as already stated. 
 
 W. Loch, Esq. Judgefy Magistrate of Moorshedabad. 
 
 Sir, 
 
 It is with extreme regret I have to trouble 
 you with the accompanying complaint, preferred by 
 Mayput Sing, subedar; Ajaib Sing, Havildar-Major ; 
 and Roudee Sing, Court Havildar, of the battalion 
 under my command, against Mr. Wray, an assistant- 
 surgeon of tbe Honorable Company's European Regi- 
 ment, at Berbampore : with a request that you will 
 take whatever steps you deem necessary to redress the 
 complainants. 
 
 Tbe injury sustained is trifling from the shot : and I 
 am assured by tbe complainants that they would readily 
 have submitted to it as an accident, but for the subse- 
 sequcnt abuse and threats. The subedar has presented 
 me with a paper, which I have the honor to send you, 
 containing 195 shots, which have been picked off his 
 cot. 
 
 I have the honour to be, 
 Sir, 
 Moorshedabad Provincial Your obedient Servant, 
 
 Battalion Office. W. WHITE, 
 
 October 8, 1817. Commanding M. P. B. 
 
 In the letter addressed to the magistrate,
 
 17 
 
 I did not in any manner exaggerate the 
 complaint, or attempt to give the transaction 
 a higher colour than it appeared to deserve; 
 but, on the contrary, I remarked that the com- 
 plainants would have readily submitted to 
 their personal sufferings, considering the 
 wounding to have been the result of an ac- 
 cident, if Mr. Wray had not subsequently 
 resorted to abuse and threats. 
 
 I merely requested the magistrate to take 
 such steps as he might deem expedient to 
 redress the complainants, and left the course 
 of proceeding to his own discretion, trans- 
 mitting at the same time a parcel of shot, 
 which had been delivered to me by the 
 wounded subedar, 
 
 On the same day I received a letter from 
 the magistrate — 
 
 Lieut. White, Commanding M. P. B. 
 
 Sir, 
 
 I have been favored with your letter of this tlate 
 and its enclosures, and beg to inform you that, prior 
 to any steps being taken by me, it is indispensable that 
 the circumstances related in the paper presented to you 
 should be deposed upon oath before me : it would be 
 necessary to examine the evidence and to ascertain the 
 origin and particulars of the case, before I take any de- 
 
 C
 
 18 
 
 cided measures against Mr. Wray, the charges being 
 of a most serious nature ; and I cannot reconcile it to 
 my mind that a gentleman can be capable of such wan- 
 ton outrages. At all events, I feel convinced that some 
 great provocation must have been given to occasion a 
 person to act in a manner so very extraordinary. 
 
 Under these circumstances, I beg you will direct the 
 parties with their evidence to attend to-morrow, or 
 any day you can best dispense with their service : it will 
 also be essential that serjeant M'Coy accompany them. 
 They had better attend early in the morning to avoid 
 the intense heat of the weather. 
 
 I remain, Sir, 
 
 Feudal Bough, Your obedient servant, 
 
 October 8, 1817. W. LOCH, Magistrate. 
 
 By this letter of the magistrate it will be 
 seen that he appeared to have promptly de- 
 cided on the innocence of Mr. Wray, and to 
 have doubted the truth of the statement which 
 had been transmitted by me. 
 
 It is observable, however, that in the let- 
 ter he does not profess to consider the charge 
 to be of a capital nature, although serious ; 
 and it is therefore obvious, that, up to this 
 period, the complaint preferred by the 
 wounded parties, did not convey, even to 
 the mind of the magistrate, any imputation
 
 19 
 
 that Mr. Wray had wilfully or intentionally 
 fired at the officers. 
 
 In compliance with the request of the ma- 
 gistrate, the complaining parties attended 
 him, and were examined on oath ; and, as 
 I was informed, their depositions were re- 
 duced to writing and signed by the parties : 
 but, whether all the witnesses who attended 
 to depose to the conduct of Mr. Wray, after 
 the accident, and who were prepared to 
 confirm the statement of the complainants, 
 were or were not examined by the magis- 
 trate, I had no competent means of ascer- 
 taining. 
 
 While the transaction, before alluded to, 
 was under investigation before the magis- 
 trate — and before I was apprized of any 
 steps that had been, or were meant to be 
 taken, to redress the grievances complained 
 of, it was reported to me that Mr. Wray had 
 again been firing close to the spot where the 
 previous outrage had been committed — and 
 that several of the shot had fallen upon the 
 house of the wounded subedar. — In con- 
 sequence of this, and a subsequent report, 
 1 addressed the magistrate two letters. 
 
 c2
 
 20 
 
 W. Loch, Esq. 
 Sir, 
 
 After the accident reported to you of the 
 7th, it was but reasonable to suppose that Mr. Wray 
 would have avoided a chance of a repetition. 1 am sorry 
 though to say it has been reported to me, that Mr. 
 Wray was yesterday evening firing several shot closer 
 to the house than on the former evening. Further, that 
 Mr. Wray had thought proper to call for the Havildar- 
 Major, and directed people to conduct him to the man's 
 house. 
 
 The impropriety of this line of conduct being too ob- 
 vious, I have for the present simply to beg the favour 
 of your addressing Colonel Pine, the commanding offi- 
 cer of Berhampore, to request that he will prohibit any 
 officers shooting again, or, upon any pretence, visiting 
 the lines of the Moorshedabad Provincial Battalion. 
 October 10, 1817. W. WHITE. 
 
 Sir, 
 
 I did myself the honor on the 10th to address 
 you requesting your writing to Colonel Pine on the sub- 
 ject of officers shooting in the lines. I have this day 
 had another complaint preferred by Mayput Sing, su- 
 bedar, of Mr. Wray having been again shooting last 
 evening in the lines, and that the shot fell upon his 
 house— that he desisted from speaking, as did also the 
 other natives, from a conviction it could only have pro- 
 ceeded from a desire to create words. 
 
 As I consider it to be my duty to preserve the secu- 
 rity of the men in the lines, I beg leave to inform
 
 21 
 
 you that I have posted sentries to preclude the pos- 
 sibility of its again occurring. — I beg leave, further, 
 through you, to intimate the same to Colonel Pine, com- 
 manding at Berhampore, to prevent any unpleasant cir- 
 cumstances occurring, which might take place by an 
 attempt to shoot there again. 
 
 Moorshedabad Provincial W WHITE, 
 
 Battalion Office. Commanding M. P. B. 
 
 Oct. 14, 1817. 
 
 The conduct of Mr. Wvay, in thus ap- 
 proaching the lines of the battalion and firing 
 near to the houses, so soon after the mischief 
 which he had occasioned, was highly inju- 
 dicious, as well as calculated to irritate the 
 feelings of the wounded parties, and to im- 
 press them with the idea, that neither justice 
 nor protection was to be obtained : and the 
 repetition of Mr. Wray's conduct produced 
 a sensation among the officers and men of 
 the battalion which I had great difficulty in 
 appeasing. I cannot refrain from remarking, 
 in this place, that if the depositions of the 
 complaining parties actually contained a ca- 
 pital charge against Mr. Wray, it was highly 
 disgraceful to the magistracy of Moorsheda- 
 bad, that this gentleman should have been 
 left at liberty to pursue his sport on the very 
 
 c 3
 
 22 
 
 spot where he was charged with wilfully 
 shooting at, and wounding, three of the na- 
 tive officers, in the service of his Honorable 
 Employers. 
 
 It subsequently came to my knowledge, 
 from proceedings which will be hereafter 
 stated, that the depositions taken by the ma- 
 gistrate, charged Mr. Wray with wilfully 
 and maliciously shooting at the parties who 
 complained. — Now, although the effect of 
 this statement has been subsequently and 
 positively denied by the complainants, it 
 is manifest that if such a charge was in truth 
 preferred, it was the bounden duty of the ma- 
 gistrate to have issued his warrant to secure 
 the person of Mr. Wray, and to have sent 
 him to Calcutta, to take his trial before the 
 Supreme Court, at the then next sessions of 
 oyer and terminer, instead of permitting him 
 to remain at large, with the liberty of fur- 
 ther irritating and insulting the parties who 
 had appealed to the protection of the law. 
 
 The magistrate, however, instead of adopt- 
 ing the course, which his duty thus plainly 
 prescribed, thought fit to send the proceed- 
 ings which had been instituted before him in 
 his civil capacity, to Colonel Pine, the com-
 
 23 
 
 manding officer of Berhampore; an officer 
 with whom I had unfortunately been engaged 
 in a previous controversy. These proceed- 
 ings were accompanied by a letter: 
 
 To Service. 
 
 COLONEL PINE, 
 
 Commanding at Berhampore. 
 Sir, 
 
 The accompanying papers relate to an affair 
 
 which occurred some days ago, in which Mr. Assistant- 
 Surgeon Wray, of the Honorable Company's European 
 Regiment is chiefly concerned. 
 
 The circumstances stated in these papers have been 
 communicated to Mr. Wray, and it is now at his request 
 I submit them for your consideration, and that a pub- 
 lic enquiry may be made into the matter. 
 
 I have the honor to be, 
 Sir, 
 Your obedient Servant, 
 City of Moorshedabad, W. LOCH, 
 
 16th October, 1817. Magistrate. 
 
 By the perusal of this letter, it will be per- 
 ceived, that after a subedar and two native 
 non-commissioned officers, had duly applied 
 to one of his Majesty's justices of the peace, 
 for redress of a most serious injury, whether 
 the charge was or was not capital is not 
 material, and after their complaint was veri-
 
 24 
 
 lied on oath, the magistrate thought fit to 
 communicate his proceedings to the party 
 charged with the offence — and upon his mere 
 suggestion, suspended the measures, which 
 the magistrate by his oath of office was bound 
 to have adopted — and caused the matter 
 complained of to be investigated by a mili- 
 tary court of inquiry, instead of sending Mr. 
 Wray to take his trial before the only tribu- 
 nal which was competent to try the offence, 
 in the shape which it had then assumed. 
 
 I shall abstain from unnecessary remark 
 on this singular, and as J believe, unprece- 
 dented proceeding, persuaded that it carries 
 its condemnation on its face : but I must ob- 
 serve, that after Mr. Wray had been regu- 
 larly charged, either with a capital offence, 
 or with an aggravated misdemeanor, it was a 
 change of jurisdiction not to be tolerated, that 
 the matter, at the instance of the offender, 
 should be transferred from the grand jury 
 of Calcutta, to a court composed of a cap- 
 tain and two subaltern officers, who hap- 
 pened to be in habits of intimacy with the 
 party accused ! 
 
 A court of enquiry accordingly assembled 
 at Berhampore, when the parties who had
 
 25 
 
 been wounded and their witnesses attended, 
 accompanied by the serjeant-major and se- 
 veral other witnesses, who were prepared to 
 prove the assertions of the complainants, 
 respecting the demeanor of Mr. Wray, after 
 the firing, and the wounded parties had re- 
 monstrated with him. 
 
 The facts stated by the subedar, and by 
 the other parties who complained, were re- 
 corded on the proceeding's ; and Mr. Wray 
 was very properly suffered to be present du- 
 ring the accusation, and to examine the ac- 
 cusing parties. The serjeant-major, whose 
 evidence is very material, was also examined 
 and cross-examined ; and after some fur- 
 ther questions were put to the complaining 
 parties, the court of enquiry determined "that 
 it ivas not necessary to examine any more 
 witnesses on behalf of the complainants ;" 
 — and Mr. Wray was called upon to reply 
 to the charge. 
 
 From this resolution of the court of inquiry, 
 it would naturally be inferred, that the court 
 was fully satisfied of the truth of the accu- 
 sation, by the evidence which had then been 
 received ; if the court had not drawn a con- 
 clusion favorable to the complainants, it was
 
 20 
 
 bound in justice and impartiality, to have ex- 
 amined every tvit?iess that was tendered by 
 by the accusing parties. It will be seen, 
 however, that, notwithstanding the court "did 
 not deem it necessary to examine any more 
 witnesses on behalf of the complainants" it ul- 
 timately appeared to the magistrate, from 
 these proceedings, that their accusation was 
 unfounded, and that they were directed to 
 apologize to Mr. Wray for the falsehood of 
 their imputations, 
 
 I here beg leave to represent that the na- 
 tive doctor who had picked the shotoutof the 
 wounded parts of the complainants' bodies, 
 and several sepoys, who were present during 
 the subsequent altercation between Mr. Wray 
 and the injured parties, were in attendance, 
 ready to give evidence before the court of 
 enquiry, — and were prepared to prove that 
 Mr. Wray used abusive tains in the Hindoos- 
 tany language, fy actually levelled his fowling- 
 piece, accompanied with the threat mentioned 
 by the complainants : at the same time although 
 the court of enquiry was urged by the sube- 
 dar, to receive the evidence of their witness- 
 es, it positively refused to receive their tes- 
 timony.
 
 27 
 
 Another circumstance, very inconsistent 
 with that impartiality which characterizes in- 
 vestigation in British courts, is worthy of no- 
 tice. The parties who had accused Mr. 
 Wray were not suffered to be in court when 
 he read his defence, or when his witnesses 
 were examined, notwithstanding Mr. Wray 
 had been permitted to remain in court and 
 to examine the accusers, and the only wit- 
 ness they were allowed to produce. What 
 was stated or proved by Mr. Wray, was, 
 therefore, a mystery to the complainants. 
 
 It is not necessary for the support of the 
 case, to enquire, very particularly, whether 
 the statements of the accusing parties, before 
 the court of enquiry, did or did not impute 
 to Mr. Wray the intention of firing at them, 
 when they received the injury complained of; 
 but it might be fairly argued, that the amount 
 of their evidence imputed to him positively 
 the act of firing, leaving the question of in- 
 tention to be collected or inferred from his 
 demeanor after the act. If the facts de- 
 tailed by the complainants and their wit- 
 nesses, had been satisfactorily proved in a 
 court of criminal jurisdiction, the opiiiions 
 or belief of the witnesses respecting an act
 
 28 
 
 equivocal in itself, would have bad little, if 
 any weight : but the jury would have been 
 left to infer the guilt or innocence of the ac- 
 tor from his conduct at the time, and his lan- 
 guage and demeanor immediately after- 
 wards. 
 
 If it were clearly proved that a party with 
 a loaded gun, saw human beings in a house, 
 within the reach of his shot, and warned 
 them to retire or depart, but before he ascer- 
 tained that they had withdrawn or depart- 
 ed fired in the direction of the house and 
 wounded the individuals there, previously 
 seen and warned : if it were also demon- 
 strated that the wounded parties ran out of 
 the house to the aggressor, and that, upon 
 remonstrating with him respecting the out- 
 rage, instead of his expressing concern or 
 making atonement, he unfeelingly abused 
 the suffering parties and again levelled his 
 piece at one of them, accompanied by threat- 
 ening expressions : any British judge would 
 leave all these circumstances to the conside- 
 ration of the jury, and to say whether the 
 whole demeanor of the offending party did 
 or did not evince a guilty intention in the 
 previous act of firing.
 
 29 
 
 The suhedar and havildars appear to have 
 drawn a conclusion from similar premises. 
 From every thing that I was enabled to col- 
 lect, as the basis of their opinion, however 
 erroneously it may have been formed, I am 
 convinced that if Mr. Wray had, immediate- 
 ly after the firing, addressed the parties 
 wounded in mild and proper language, they 
 would have considered the affair to have 
 been the mere effect of accident; but inas- 
 much as the injury was followed by insulting 
 expressions, and a threat to fire again at 
 them, they were thereby induced to believe 
 him, what Europeans in India have too 
 frequently been proved to be, regard- 
 less of the value of human life — and they, 
 perhaps, too readily transferred the intention 
 which he avowed in his subsequent threat, 
 to the act from which they were smarting — 
 and which, might have been the effect of 
 accident. 
 
 But admitting the account given of the 
 transaction by Mr. Wray himself to be 
 strictly correct, it will be impossible to acquit 
 him of a culpable degree of negligence. It 
 appears, from his own account of the trans- 
 action, delivered before the court of enquiry,
 
 30 
 
 that he had proceeded to shoot within a 
 short distance of the lines of the battalion : 
 " that he saw some sepoys under a matted 
 house or shed, and called to them to go 
 away, by using the word Jao once or 
 twice." 
 
 It appears, on the perusal of the evidence of 
 Mr. Wray's servant, that the persons thus de- 
 scribed as sepoys, were the subedar and 
 havildars, afterwards wounded; and it is 
 equally clear that Mr. Wray considered 
 them to be so near to him as to be within 
 the reach of his shot ; there can be no other 
 reason therefore for his having warned them 
 to go from the spot where they were sitting. 
 
 Mr. Wray adds, that after his servant had 
 also called to the parties, " he believed they 
 did go away, or appeared to do so, as he did 
 not afterwards see them." This statement is 
 not to be reconciled with the evidence on 
 either side. It is quite established by the 
 complainants that they were wounded in a 
 hut, and many of the shot were picked from 
 the cot on which the subedar was sitting 
 while wounded : and it is difficult to ima- 
 gine how Mr. Wray could state, with accu- 
 racy, " that they appeared to go away" from
 
 31 
 
 the hut in which he had seen them sitting. 
 It is also observable that one of Mr. Wray's 
 servants, in deposing to the same circum- 
 stance, declares, that after his master had 
 fired, the men who had been required to jao 
 or go — " came out of the hut and made a 
 great noise, saying, that a gentleman had 
 wounded them, and was ivalking off." 
 
 Dismissing, however, any further remark 
 on the improbability and inconsistency of 
 Mr. Wray's assertion, that the men had left 
 the hut; and looking at the other parts 
 of the transaction, even in the manner in 
 which it has been represented by Mr. Wray 
 himself, a more careless or improper pro- 
 ceeding can scarcely be contemplated. 
 
 Mr. Wray was fully aware that he was close 
 to the lines of a battalion ; and that sepoys 
 were sitting in a hut so near him as if he fired 
 in that direction, danger was to be apprehend- 
 ed. He might have called out to them, but it 
 was in terms which he had no right to use to the 
 meanest villager or ryot in the country — or- 
 dering them to depart from their own house, 
 but before he had ascertained that they had 
 removed, and before they had actually re-
 
 32 
 
 moved — he fired in the direction of their 
 house, and wounded three of his fellow- 
 soldiers. — Surely if this transaction had oc- 
 curred in England, it never would have 
 been treated as at Berhampore, where it was 
 deemed by Mr. Wray's commanding officer 
 so trifling, " that it ivould blow over like 
 smoke. ' 1 am persuaded that you will 
 be dissatisfied to learn that the lives of the 
 native officers and sepoys, in the service of 
 England, are not entitled to the same de- 
 gree of protection in their military lines, as 
 is afforded to soldiers housed or barracked 
 in Great Britain. 
 
 But admitting that Mr. Wray had not 
 duly reflected on the danger of firing so 
 near to the military huts — or that he had 
 really believed the men whom he had seen 
 had taken their departure on his warning — 
 and admitting, that in the hurry and anxiety 
 of his sporting pursuits, he had fired, with- 
 out anticipating the consequences which ac- 
 tually followed. Mr. Wray's subsequent 
 conduct, according to his own account of it, 
 was most unfeeling and extraordinary. 
 
 Mr. Wray's servant has deposed "that this
 
 .33 
 
 master fired — and that the men then came out 
 of the hut, complaining that they had been 
 wounded." Mr. Wray admits that shortly 
 after he had fired " a -person came out and 
 made a great noise?'' but as he, Mr. Wray, 
 did not understand what this person said, he, 
 Mr. Wray, called out — " Chooprao you sir.""* 
 
 Now, if this circumstance occurred, as it 
 is admitted, immediately after the firing, and 
 if the " men" or the " person' came out of 
 the hut from which Mr. Wray had warned 
 them, it would not have been any great con- 
 descension on the part of Mr. Wray — or any 
 great relaxation from his amusement, if he 
 had enquired ivhy the men or person had 
 been induced to make this great noise — which 
 the servant admits was " a complaint thai 
 they were wounded," — It might have occurred 
 to Mr. Wray's mind, that, his firing had oc- 
 casioned some injury, and to a humane and 
 professional person, it would have been sug- 
 gested to offer some relief to the sufferers. 
 
 The contrary of this conduct appears, 
 however, to have been adopted by Mr. Wray 
 — according to his own account, confirmed 
 
 * Be quiet, sir. 
 
 D
 
 34 
 
 by the testimony of bis servant, be was 
 u walking off" from the scene of injury, and 
 when the wounded party or parties called out 
 to him, complaining of what he had done, 
 they received from this gentleman, who dis- 
 claims all acquaintance with the Hindoostany 
 language, the taunting and unfeeling reply of 
 " C/iooprao you sirf 
 
 If this language had been addressed to the 
 meanest person of the lowest cast in India, 
 at a period when he was suffering from shot 
 then in his body, and while the blood was 
 trickling from his wounds, it could scarcely 
 find any palliation in a humane mind ; — 
 but, when it appears that this was the 
 cruel and almost brutal reply, made by an 
 assistant surgeon, professing himself to be a 
 Christian, to the complaints of a subedar 
 and two havilclars of high cast, and of a de- 
 licate sense of feeling, who had been wound- 
 ed by this gentleman, while they were 
 peaceably enjoying the presumed protection 
 of their own houses in the lines of the batta- 
 lion — I am persuaded that the coarseness 
 and inhumanity of the language, thus ac- 
 knowledged, can admit of no justification. 
 It is unnecessary for me to state that
 
 35 
 
 native officers who have attained rank 
 and distinction in the military service of the 
 Company, however different in habits from 
 Europeans, entertain opinions as strong, of 
 the respect due to their situation, and are 
 as tenacious of insult and injury, as of- 
 ficers of any service in the world. The per- 
 sons wounded were all sinohs and men of 
 high consideration in their sect and in the 
 corps — and each of them would readily have 
 preferred immediate death, rather than sub- 
 mit to abusive language. Under the cir- 
 cumstances described by Mr. Wray himself — ■ 
 no language could have been more offensive, 
 than the expression addressed by him to the 
 complaining party. 
 
 The expression " chooprao you sir," if un- 
 derstood as conveying partly Hindoostany 
 and partly English, is of itself sufficiently ir- 
 ritating and improper; but if uttered as 
 " Chooprao you sooar,"* an expression too 
 frequently in use by Europeans, I must re- 
 mark, that such a term of abuse was the most 
 degrading that could be applied to a person 
 of cast and distinction. 
 
 Be quiet vou hogs — an animal held in universal abhorrence. 
 
 D 2
 
 36 
 
 The gravamen of the complaint, was the 
 improper conduct of Mr. Wray, immediately 
 after the firing. The wounded parties had 
 expressed their disposition to have consider- 
 ed the shooting as accidental, if the wound- 
 ing had not been followed by abuse and 
 threats ; and Mr. Wray was distinctly charg- 
 ed with having levelled his fowling-piece at 
 one of the parties who had remonstrated 
 with him. 
 
 These were surely charges of a most se- 
 rious nature, whether the former firing had 
 been intentional or otherwise. It was these 
 charges which had particularly attracted the 
 notice of the magistrate, when the complaint 
 was forwarded to him, and which the magis- 
 trate professed to disbelieve. These were, in 
 truth, the only facts which demanded investi- 
 gation ; for, whether Mr. Wray had fired at a 
 snipe or at the men in the hut, could only be 
 known to God and his own conscience. If 
 the parties wounded had actually seen Mr. 
 Wray present his fowling-piece, which is not 
 pretended, they could not have known, whe- 
 ther he then did or did not aim at a bird, 
 and all that they could have said, would have 
 been what is not denied ; that he seemed to
 
 37 
 
 lire in the direction where they were then 
 sitting, and that they were wounded. Their 
 conclusion respecting his intention, could 
 have been nothing more than mere opinion 
 and belief, founded from what they had seen, 
 and the wounds which they had received. 
 
 It had never been pretended that Mr. 
 Wray had not fired the fowling-piece, by 
 which the men had been wounded ; and he 
 admitted that he had seen the men in the hut 
 before he had fired. The only question to 
 be ascertained, therefore, was, how Mr. Wray 
 had conducted himself to the wounded par- 
 ties after the firing ? they having alleged that 
 he had grossly abused them, and that he had 
 levelled his piece at one of them accompany- 
 ing the act with a threatening expression. 
 
 In the complaint, transmitted by me, to 
 the magistrate, the names of five witnesses 
 were mentioned. These persons had been 
 present when the wounded parties remon- 
 strated with Mr. Wray, and were part of 
 the crowd described by his servant. These 
 persons were ready to confirm on oath the 
 statements of the subedar and havildars, 
 and to prove that Mr. Wray did use the abu- 
 sive language imputed to him, and did level 
 
 d 3 

 
 38 
 
 his piece and threaten to shoot Ajaib Sing, 
 the drill-havildar. Yet, it does not appear, 
 that the testimony of these witnesses, if 
 taken by the magistrate, produced any effect 
 on his mind. 
 
 But, whether the magistrate did or did not 
 receive their depositions, it is apparent from 
 the proceedings of the court of enquiry, that 
 these and the other witnesses tendered by 
 the complainants were not examined, al- 
 though they were in attendance, and al- 
 though the complainants urged the court to 
 receive the evidence of these persons. 
 
 The court was instituted for the purpose 
 of enquiring into all the circumstances of the 
 complaint. The most aggravating facts, 
 were the abuse and threatening to fire at one 
 of the complainants. The parties abused 
 and threatened were not suffered to call a 
 single witness, although many attended to 
 prove the truth of their complaint.— The 
 party complained of was allowed to tell his 
 own story and to examine as many witnesses, 
 as he thought fit, behind the back of the par- 
 ties complaining, who had therefore, no op- 
 portunity of contradicting or of cross-examin- 
 ing him or his witnesses ; and yet the pro-
 
 39 
 
 ceedings thus conducted and terminated, 
 have been subsequently treated and consi- 
 dered as a fair and impartial investigation 
 of the transaction complained of. 
 
 From the subsequent proceedings to which 
 the court of enquiry gave rise, it appears 
 that the depositions which had been sworn 
 to, before the magistrate, (whether consist- 
 ently or not with the meaning of the com- 
 plainants, it is not necessary here to en- 
 quire,) contained a charge against Mr. Wray 
 of having wilfully and maliciously fired at 
 the deposing parties. The charge had then 
 assumed a capital form, and Mr. Wray ought 
 to have been immediately imprisoned, to an- 
 swer the felony with which he was thus 
 charged. The depositions containing this 
 accusation, were, however, transmitted by 
 the magistrate, to form the grounds of an 
 investigation, by a captain and two subaltern 
 officers ! This will be found a solitary in- 
 stance, in which a civil magistrate has trans- 
 ferred the trial of a capital offence to a tri- 
 bunal thus constituted ; — if the magistrate 
 acted from ignorance of his duty, it is sur- 
 prising that he should have been deemed fit 
 to continue in the exercise of functions, which 
 
 d4
 
 40 
 
 he so little understood ; — but, on the other 
 hand, if he knew his duty, and acted in op- 
 position to the plain and manifest course 
 prescribed to him, the transfer of the investi- 
 gation to the court of enquiry, was intended 
 to withdraw Mr. Wray from the perilous si- 
 tuation in which he had been placed by his 
 temerity and imprudence. 
 
 If the real and substantial object of the 
 enquiry, was to collect and record all the 
 evidence which supported the charge — why 
 were not the witnesses of the complainants, 
 examined to the vital part of the case? If 
 the object of Col. Pine, or of the magistrate, 
 was to ascertain, whether there was a reason- 
 able ground for sending Mr. Wray to be tried 
 before the supreme Court, or a court-mar- 
 tial — why did the court of enquiry reject the 
 only witnesses who could have confirmed or 
 refuted the statements of the accusers? The 
 answers to these questions, are most obvious 
 — the court of enquiry, out of regard to Mr. 
 Wray, were desirous that their proceedings 
 should be transmitted in a favourable form 
 to the Commander in Chief, and therefore 
 they lost sight of that impartiality which 
 ought to have governed their conduct.
 
 41 
 
 The calling on Mr. Wray for his defence, 
 and suffering him to produce witnesses, were 
 also, anomalous ; and this course was cer- 
 tainly dissimilar from the analogous proceed- 
 ing of a grand jury ; but, the refusal to allow 
 the complainants to be present when Mr. 
 Wray read his defence, and examined his 
 witnesses, was a gross perversion of the 
 forms of judicial proceedings. If the court 
 thought fit to extend to Mr. Wray the bene- 
 fit of a trial, and to suffer him to establish 
 his innocence, the prosecutors had an un- 
 doubted right to be present, to hear the de- 
 fence, and the defensive evidence, and to 
 cross-examine the witnesses ; and the refu- 
 sal or denial of this right rendered the whole 
 proceeding a mere mockery of even the forms 
 of justice. 
 
 It was also a most extraordinary feature 
 in this proceeding, that Mr. Wray was suf- 
 fered to give evidence of his character. The 
 court was bound to inquire into facts, and 
 not into opinions or presumptions ; and it is 
 certainly strange, that, any court actuated 
 by impartial motives, should have rejected 
 the proffered testimony of several witnesses, 
 who were ready to depose that Mr. Wray
 
 42 
 
 did use abusive language to the accusing par- 
 ties, and did level his gun and threaten to 
 shoot one of the havildars ; and yet could re- 
 ceive evidence, founded on general charac- 
 ter, which was designed to show, that, the 
 commission of these acts was a " moral im- 
 possibility."* 
 
 If, however, the court had considered it- 
 self competent to receive evidence as to cha- 
 racter — it would have been but fair to have 
 given the accusers an opportunity of offer- 
 ing evidence in support of their characters, 
 respectively : if the testimony of the parties 
 was left in equilibrio, so that character could 
 have effected the balance, the complainants 
 ought to have been invited to adduce similar 
 evidence. 
 
 If the general gentleness and humanity of 
 Mr. Wray's character were sufficient to raise 
 a presumption against the truth of the charge, 
 the accusers ought to have had the benefit of 
 similar presumptions, in support of their 
 complaint, which an equally good character 
 was likely to have created. 
 
 * Major Broughton's Evidence at the Court of Enquiry : — " I 
 consider his having been guilty of the crimes he is charged with, 
 as a moral impossibility."
 
 43 
 
 The parties complaining had never seen Mr. 
 Wray before the day of the accident ; they 
 had no enmity to gratify, and could not have 
 been actuated by any feeling of hostility, 
 save that which had been occasioned by the 
 abuse and threats which were the subject of 
 investigation. They had verified by their 
 oaths the truth of their allegations ; and it 
 was not lightly to be presumed, that men 
 who had no motives for preferring an un- 
 founded complaint, would have wantonly 
 and gratuitously committed the crime of 
 perjury. But if such a presumption could 
 have been entertained by the court of en- 
 quiry, they ought to have resorted to evidence 
 of the character of the accusers, in order to 
 ascertain whether persons of their character 
 were likely to prefer charges so serious and 
 groundless. 
 
 The next document to which I beg leave 
 to refer you, is an extract of a letter from 
 Colonel Pine to the magistrate, transmitting 
 the proceedings of the court of enquiry. 
 
 " As it does not appear therefrom that any blame can 
 attach to Mr. Wray, further than having, in the first 
 instance, fired too near the lines of the Provincial Bat- 
 talion, by which the three men who complain were
 
 44 
 
 wounded, which certainly was entirely accidental, 
 although wrong and unguarded, (and for which he ex- 
 pressed his sorrow and concern,) I think that through 
 your kind offices, the parties may be prevailed upon to 
 apologize to Mr. Wray in yours or my presence, for 
 the gross accusations they have alleged against him, of 
 being intoxicated, of levelling his gun at them, and of 
 abusing them ; charges which are positively contra- 
 dicted by his servants, and not at all likely to have hap- 
 pened from a man of his amiable disposition. The 
 matter may be adjusted, as Mr. Wray merely requires, 
 that his character shall be cleared from these asper- 
 sions. 
 
 (Signed) G. H. PINE, 
 
 30//t October, 1817. Col. Commanding" 
 
 By this letter it will be seen, that a perusal 
 of the proceedings did not convey to the 
 mind of Colonel Pine any conviction that 
 Mr. Wray had been blameable, except for 
 firing too near the lines of the battalion. 
 The depositions which this officer had pre- 
 viously read, and which distinctly charged 
 Mr. Wray with outrageous conduct after the 
 firing, appear to have entirely escaped the 
 Colonel's recollection, and it did not occur 
 to him, for he has not noticed as extraordi- 
 nary, that the court had declined to examine 
 the only ivitnesses ivhose evidence was ma- 
 terial.
 
 45 
 
 Colonel Pine was, however, enabled to 
 collect sufficient from the proceedings to re- 
 verse the condition of the parties: he consi- 
 dered the innocence of Mr. Wray, and the 
 guilt of the accusers, to be demonstrated, 
 and he invoked the aid of the magistrate to 
 use his kind offices to prevail on the parties 
 " to apologize to Mr. Wray in the presence 
 of the Colonel, or of the magistrate, for the 
 gross accusations they had alleged against 
 Mr. Wray — of being intoxicated — of levelling 
 his gun at them, and of abusing them," 
 " charges," adds Colonel Pine, " which are 
 positively contradicted by his, Mr. Wrays, 
 servants." 
 
 It cannot but be observed that this deci- 
 sion and sentence of Colonel Pine, is in strict 
 conformity with what might have been ex- 
 pected from the communication of the ma- 
 gistrate, requesting the formation of the court 
 of enquiry in compliance with the ivishes of 
 Mr. Wray, and equally in unison with the 
 tenor of the proceedings of the court itself. 
 If the whole plan had been previously con- 
 cocted between the magistrate, Colonel Pine, 
 and Mr. Wray, the course of proceedings 
 could not have run more naturally in favor
 
 46 
 
 Mr. Wray, and against his accusers. 
 
 It was scarcely to have been anticipated, 
 by any person not acquainted with the mo- 
 tives which actuated the magistrate of Moor- 
 shedabad, that a charge which had been pre- 
 ferred before him in the regular manner, 
 should have been so diverted from its legiti- 
 mate channel, and turned against the parties 
 who stood forward as accusers. It was 
 scarcely to have been expected, that the 
 commanding-officer at Berhampore would 
 have so readily complied with the requisition 
 of the civil magistrate, by directing a court of 
 enquiry to investigate a capital offence. It 
 was scarcely to be presumed, that three 
 officers in the service of the Honorable Com- 
 pany, would so conduct their proceedings, 
 that the evidence of one party should be re- 
 ceived, and that of the other rejected. Yet 
 all these fortunate coincidences occurred, to 
 stay the criminal proceedings against Mr. 
 Wray — to exhibit his innocence, and to de- 
 monstrate the guilt of his accusers! 
 
 Colonel Pine states that Mr. Wray " had 
 expressed his sorrow and concern" for the 
 accident which had occurred. It is very
 
 47 
 
 difficult to collect this fact from any part of 
 the proceeding's of the court of enquiry, on 
 which, it is to be presumed, the Colonel's 
 letter was founded. Mr. Wray, in his state- 
 ment, has averred that he sent a message by 
 the serjeant-major to me, expressing his sor- 
 row; but, when the serjeant-major was in- 
 terrogated by Mr. Wray on this subject, the 
 witness not only failed to support Mr. Wray's 
 allegation, but stated, that, when one of the 
 parties said he would complain, Mr. Wray 
 replied — a let him complain, my name is Dt\ 
 Wray? This will be found a correct state 
 , of the evidence; and yet Colonel Pine was 
 enabled to discover that Mr. Wray had ex- 
 pressed sorrow and concern for the accident* 
 The next document to which I beg leave 
 to refer, is a letter received by me from the 
 magistrate. 
 
 LIEUTENANT WHITE, 
 
 Commanding M. P. B. 
 " Sir, 
 " I beg to inform you that Colonel Pine has favoured 
 me with a perusal of the proceedings of the late court of 
 
 * The regiment which this old woman commanded was ordered 
 to march from Berhampore ; he wrote to the Commander-in-Chief 
 to know u if he was to accompany it !" Incredible as this may ap- 
 pear it is a fact.
 
 48 
 
 enquiry ; and I have no hesitation in giving my decided 
 opinion that Mr. Wray is entirely innocent of any in- 
 tentional act of criminality : he has been very hastily 
 and shamefully accused of crimes, not only derogatory 
 to common humanity, but charged with accusations 
 highly offensive to the character of a British officer. 
 
 " That Mr. Wray was inconsiderate in firing so near 
 the lines there can be no doubt ; the regret and sincere 
 sorrow he has expressed for the accident, which his 
 unguardedaess occasioned, ought surely, however, to 
 to afford every satisfaction, while, on the contrary, I 
 I think the serious, indeed I may say, the vile asper- 
 sions with which Mr. Wray has been charged, imperi- 
 ously demand an apology on the part of the subedar 
 and others concerned. 
 
 •' I conceive it is your particular duty to make them 
 sensible of their error, and that you will point out to them 
 the propriety of complying with this requisition, and in 
 the event of their doing so, you will appoint a day for 
 them to meet at Colonel Pine's, before whom they will 
 offer up their apology to Mr. Wray. 
 
 City of Moorshedabad, W. LOCH, 
 
 Z\st October, 1817. Magistrate." 
 
 1 had not been in any manner informed of 
 the correspondence between the magistrate 
 and Colonel Pine, to which allusion has 
 herein been made; but when the subedar 
 and havildars, who had preferred their com- 
 plaint, were informed that their witnesses 
 would not be examined, and when they
 
 49 
 
 were afterwards prevented from being pre- 
 sent when Mr. Wray stated his defence, and 
 examined his witnesses, they inveighed 
 against the proceedings, which had been 
 thus directed by the magistrate ; and com- 
 plained that in a struggle between natives 
 and an European gentleman, equal justice 
 was not to be obtained. The minds of all 
 the native officers of the corps were greatly 
 irritated, and a general sensation of dissatis- 
 faction prevailed. 
 
 I heard, from several quarters, that the 
 court of enquiry had been resorted to, as the 
 best means of hushing or smothering the 
 complaint : and the parties complaining ap- 
 peared to be convinced that the object of the 
 local investigation was to screen Mr. Wray 
 from justice. They predicted, long before 
 the letter of the magistrate, last mentioned, 
 was sent to me, that their complaint would 
 be dismissed ; and they declared that they 
 would not be satisfied unless the transaction 
 should be referred to the supreme govern- 
 ment, or to the Commander-in-Chief. 
 
 While the parties who had been wounded 
 were in this irritated and irritable state, the 
 
 E
 
 50 
 
 letter last mentioned was received from the 
 magistrate. It was perused by me with 
 stranger feelings than that of surprize ; but 
 deference to the authorities which had thus 
 interfered, and an apprehension of becoming 
 again entangled in a controversy with the 
 magistrate, induced me to communicate the 
 contents of the letter to the parties concerned, 
 accompanied by a recommendation that they 
 would comply with the requisition of the 
 magistrate. 
 
 If there be any part of the transaction 
 which has led to this address, in which my 
 conduct has been blameable, and which can- 
 not be reconciled by me to my own sense of 
 duty ; it was in having thus recommended 
 the subedar and havildars to make the de- 
 grading apology required : but, in truth, at 
 the time I was scarcely capable of acting as 
 a free agent. I had previously been engaged 
 in controversies with the magistrate, on 
 points of public duty, relative to the corps ; 
 and which was under his controul, as judge 
 and magistrate of Moorshedabad. On those 
 occasions I had felt it to be my duty, not- 
 withstanding the vast importance his situation
 
 51 
 
 afforded him, to submit the transactions for 
 the consideration of the supreme govern- 
 ment and the Commander-in-Chief. How- 
 ever, as was expected, and is generally 
 the result when an inferior remonstrates 
 against a superior, the government sup- 
 ported the magistrate : and, in one 
 instance, when I had the express order 
 of the government for my guidance, they 
 actually strongly reprobated the adhe- 
 rence to them. So that I was actually afraid 
 of taking any personal share in the transac- 
 tion, which had already agitated the two 
 principal authorities at Berhampore, each of 
 whom was decidedly hostile to me. I now 
 frankly confess that I considered the conduct 
 of the magistrate to have been grossly irre- 
 gular, and that I believed the representations 
 of the native officers respecting the proceed- 
 ings before the court of enquiry. I also 
 felt a powerful inclination to advise the 
 native officers to refuse compliance with the 
 requisition of the magistrate, which I now 
 believe I ought to have done ; but ac- 
 tuated by the considerations which I have 
 already mentioned, I did recommend a 
 
 e2
 
 52 
 
 compliance with the requisition of the ma- 
 gistrate. 
 
 On reading the letter, however, to the 
 native officers, they one and all positively 
 refused to make the apology required of 
 them, and besought me to adopt the neces- 
 sarv measures to have the whole matter 
 
 is 
 
 submitted to the Commander-in-Chief. 
 
 It will be seen from the letter of the ma- 
 gistrate ; that although he communicated to 
 me his " decided opinion,'" formed from a 
 perusal of the proceedings of the court of 
 enquiry, he neither allowed me to see the 
 proceedings — nor informed me of the senti- 
 ments which had been declared by Col. Pine, 
 respecting the necessity or propriety of 
 exacting the atonement, which the native 
 officers were invited to offer to Mr. Wray. 
 It is scarcely necessary to remark, that if the 
 magistrate had sincerely wished that I should 
 heartily use my influence with the native 
 officers to promote the object professedto be in 
 view, he would have transmitted to me a copy 
 of the letter of Colonel Pine, and of the 
 proceedings by which it was accompanied. 
 
 If these documents had been sent to me,
 
 53 
 
 and if I could have discovered from the pro- 
 ceedings that the case of the complainants 
 had been fairly and impartially investigated 
 — or that they had, before the magistrate or 
 the court, exaggerated the circumstances 
 detailed in their first complaint; or if 1 
 should have ascertained, from the statement 
 and evidence adduced by Mr. Wray, that 
 the native officers had coloured their case 
 too highly — or that the adverse testimony 
 had positively contradicted the representa- 
 tions of the accusing parties, as suggested 
 by Colonel Pine ; in either of these supposed 
 circumstances I should have been supplied 
 with arguments to persuade the native of- 
 ficers to make the apology required — or to 
 combat the reasons which they most readily 
 and reasonably urged for refusing to de- 
 grade and stultify themselves. 
 
 It was, however, not considered expe- 
 dient to send me these documents — nor 
 was it in any manner intimated to me up 
 to the date of the magistrate's last mention- 
 ed requisition, that the native officers had, 
 either in their depositions, or before the 
 court of enquiry, aggravated their first state- 
 ment.
 
 54 
 
 The strong and unjustifiable language 
 employed by the magistrate, in his letter 
 was but little calculated, under the cir- 
 cumstances which had happened, either to 
 induce me to exert what influence I pos- 
 sessed with the native officers — or to per- 
 suade the parties themselves to make the a- 
 tonement demanded : if the magistrate had 
 been desirous of provoking a controversial 
 correspondence with me on the subject, or 
 had felt an anxiety to goad the disappointed 
 complainants to proceed to extremities, he 
 could not have devised means more suitable 
 to attain his ends than by writing the violent 
 letter in question. 
 
 Men of high cast and distinction in their 
 country — one a subedar of twenty eight years 
 standing in the army — two non-commission- 
 ed officers of particular consideration in the 
 corps, had been, as they had sworn, shot at, 
 wounded, abused, and threatened ; the ag- 
 gressor had afterwards been suffered to " pur- 
 sue his sport " on the spot of his former alle- 
 ged outrage; the sufferers had appealed for 
 protection and redress to a British magis- 
 trate — protection had been tardily, and ap- 
 parently with reluctance, afforded ; redress
 
 oo 
 
 had been absolutely denied — they had been 
 compelled to attend a tribunal inferior to 
 that to which they had resorted, in which 
 they had no confidence, and was alike 
 incompetent to investigate their complaint, 
 or to render them justice : the forms of or- 
 dinary judicial proceeding had been vio- 
 lated, and they had been refused the means 
 of establishing their grievances by their wit- 
 nesses. As an appropriate termination to 
 this extraordinary investigation, it was inti- 
 mated to them by the magistrate, who had 
 departed from the plain and prescribed line 
 of his duty, to entangle a simple case in the 
 tortuosities and difficulties of a mysterious 
 and ill-defined jurisdiction, that, in his opi- 
 nion, forsooth! "the accused was innocent 
 of any intentional act of criminality, and 
 that he had been hastily and shamefully ac- 
 cused of crimes, not only derogatory to com- 
 mon humanity, but charged with accusations, 
 highly offensive to the character of a British 
 officer." 
 
 1 will not stop to criticise or to comment on 
 this farrago of magisterial phraseology ; but 
 I will venture to assert, that such an opinion, 
 in such language, and founded on such an
 
 56 
 
 irregular investigation, was never before of- 
 fered by any person, exercising such sacred 
 functions, to men who had fled for redress 
 to a British justice of the peace ! 
 
 After having communicated to the native 
 officers the opinion and requisition of the 
 magistrate, in the manner before described, 
 1 addressed a letter to that officer. 
 
 W. Loch, Esq. 
 
 Judge and Magistrate of Moorshebadad, 
 " Sir, 
 " I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your 
 letter of the 31st ult. in reply, I beg leave to inform 
 you, that having assembled the native officers and others 
 concerned, and read to them your letter, agreeable to 
 the conception you have made on the case, they are so 
 far from being satisfied, where they themselves complain 
 of injury and insult, that they should not only be re- 
 quired to submit without redress, but come forward with 
 an ample apology ; they insist that the complaint preferred 
 against Mr. Wray should be instantly forwarded to his 
 Excellency the Commander in Chief* 
 
 "I am not aware of any regret or sorrow expressed 
 by Mr. Wray; your letter of the 31st ult. contains the 
 first intimation of the sort : — this is very unsatisfactory, 
 as I have not been able to explain at what period this 
 contrition was expressed, or its nature, and the objec- 
 tion they have to any accompanied with such charges 
 and requisitions against them. 
 " Much as I lament the unfortunate affair, and happy
 
 57 
 
 as I should have been had Mr. Wray at first come for- 
 ward with a desire to appease the men, to have left it 
 to themselves, under the present existing circumstances, 
 I have no alternative but to submit the affair to the 
 consideration of his Excellency the Commander in 
 Chief. 
 
 " To admit of his Lordship's obtaining every informa- 
 tion, allow me to beg the favor of your submitting to 
 Colonel Pine, commanding at Berhampore, my particu- 
 cular request of having the goodness to forward the pro- 
 ceedings of the Court of Enquiry to the Adjutant- 
 General of the army. 
 November 2. (Signed) W. WHITE." 
 
 On the 2nd of November I received ano- 
 ther letter from the magistrate, 
 
 EXTRACT. 
 
 " Sir, 
 
 " I beg to acknowledge your letter of this day's date, 
 and lament to find the officers and men of your batta- 
 lion are so much dissatisfied with the proceedings of 
 the court of enquiry, and have decided on the steps you 
 mention : I equally regret to observe you should seem 
 to have had so little influence over their minds, and to 
 have adopted very much their sentiments. 
 
 " The charges against Mr. Wray may be compre- 
 hended under three distinct indictments, viz. 
 
 First. Wilfully and maliciously shooting at a party 
 of soldiers without cause or provocation, by which a 
 commissioned officer and two non-commissioned officers 
 were wounded.
 
 58 
 
 Secondly, For offering reprehensible abuse to the 
 above persons and a second time threatening to fire upon 
 the havildar-major, 
 
 Thirdly. For appearing in a state of drunkenness. 
 
 " Now these are literally the charges preferred by the 
 officers of your battalion against Mr. TVray, and can 
 you possibly believe, that a human being in his senses 
 could be guilty of a crime so atrocious, so heinous, so 
 perfectly wanton as the first charge makes him to be ? 
 You cannot admit it, and when acquainted with Mr. 
 Wray's character, his known benevolence and humanity, 
 his mildness of disposition and goodness of heart, you 
 cannot doubt it for a moment." 
 
 From this letter of the magistrate's I dis- 
 covered the first official intimation that I 
 was about to be identified with the parties 
 who had complained againt Mr. Wray. The 
 magistrate was pleased to express his regret 
 that I had so little influence over the minds of 
 the native officers, and observed " that I had 
 very much adopted their sentiments." This 
 observation of the magistrate, was not to be 
 justified by any part of my previous conduct 
 or correspondence, and the remark could 
 not have been hazarded, unless under the 
 licence of the magistrate's vast authority. 
 
 On the 4th of November, following, 1 ad- 
 dressed a letter to the magistrate.
 
 59- 
 
 EXTRACT. 
 
 Sir, 
 " In conformity with your advice I re-assembled the 
 native officers and men, who adhere, after every explana- 
 tion, to their former resolution ; which renders any fur- 
 ther interference with them impossible. Indeed, by so 
 doing, and endeavouring to persuade them to an act 
 they conceive unjust and the demand unwarrantable ; I 
 I should subject myself to be complained against, and in- 
 evitably fall under the extreme displeasure of His Ex- 
 cellency the Commander in Chief. I have offered no 
 opinion ; and how is it I am accused of adopting very 
 much their sentiments ? I have, as far as my duty war- 
 ranted, as their commanding officer, explained to them 
 the serious consequences of its being out of their power 
 to prove their charge : also the possibility of their be- 
 ing mistaken, yet they arc resolved to trust their com- 
 mission and every thing to the sentence of a court- 
 martial. 
 
 (Signed) W. WHITE." 
 
 The same day I addressed the adjutant- 
 general of the army : 
 
 COLONEL NICOL, 
 
 Adjutant General of the Army, 
 "Sir, Sj-c. Sfc. fyc. 
 
 " It is with a considerable degree of regret I have the 
 honor to transmit the accompanying correspondence 
 with the Magistrate of Moorshedabad, relative to a 
 complaint preferred against Mr. Wray, an assistant- 
 surgeon at Bcrhamporc.
 
 60 
 
 " In compliance with Mr. Loch's orders, the parties 
 and their evidences attended and deposed on oath in his 
 Court. The evidence there taken down, Mr. Loch in- 
 formed me, corresponded precisely with that of the 
 serjeant-major. 
 
 " Although it appeared to me unnecessary that any 
 investigation should take place by a court of enquiry, 
 where no oaths are administered, after the affidavit re- 
 gistered in a public court, I directed the attendance of 
 the men in conformity to Mr. Loch's positive order, 
 contained in his letter of the 19th, and orders issued by 
 Colonel Pine, commanding at Berhampore, for the as- 
 sembly of the court. 
 
 " On communicating to the officers and men the con- 
 tents of Mr. Loch's letters of the 31st ult. and 2d in- 
 stant, the subedar, havildar-major, and court-havildar, 
 expressed to me an ardent wish to appear before a ge- 
 neral court-martial, and requested that I would forward 
 their complaint, and solicit for the same from His Ex- 
 cellency the Most Noble the Commander in Chief. — 
 On my requesting them to assign their reasons, they de- 
 clared, they were dissatisfied with the proceedings of the 
 court of enquiry; that their feelings had been irritated, 
 their honor impeached, no redress offered ; that they 
 would now, neither accept, much less think of offering 
 apologies for insults. The subedar requested me to 
 make known to you, for the information of the Most 
 Noble the Commander in Chief, the due sense of obli- 
 gation and gratitude they would feel, if his Lordship 
 should be pleased to order the assembly of the court at 
 any station distant from the scene ; and he humbly 
 hopes, that no improper motive will be ascribed to their 
 solicitation.
 
 fJI 
 
 " I feel it my duty to mention, that the opinion at 
 present formed from the court of enquiry, has been, 
 without the examination of a single evidence hut the 
 serjeant-major ; who can give none to the point at issue, 
 not being on the spot at the time of the accident. 
 
 " It mav not be superfluous to remark, that on Mr„ 
 Wray's second visit to the lines to shoot, and firing se- 
 veral shot near the subedar's house, I desired the par- 
 ties, who appeared much irritated at his re-appearance, 
 to refrain from entering into any communication with 
 Mr.Wray, or any other gentleman, as the most probable 
 means of preventing any thing further. — This, however, 
 has been wrongly interpreted. 
 
 " To conclude, I cannot but lament an accident which 
 might have been easily settled, should, from subsequeut 
 provocation and neglect, become the subject of a refer- 
 ence to his Lordship. — Indeed, to sueh an extent was it 
 carried, it became an object of ridicule ; and an officer, 
 who, at my particular solicitation, mentioned it to the 
 commanding officer of Mr. Wray's regiment, Major 
 Broughton, was laughed at — who said, he had heard of 
 it before, and had spoken to Mr. Wray, who declared 
 it to be a falsehood ; it was of no consequence, and 
 would blow over like smoke. Thus, unfortunately, de- 
 barring me of the only means left to effect a reconcilia- 
 tion ; an object at all times desirable, but more in par- 
 ticular at the present moment, when the Most No- 
 ble Lord's time is so precious. — Irksome as the task is, 
 and however great the odium that is attached to the per- 
 formance of duties of this nature, even to officers who 
 have obtained high rank in the profession; still more so 
 to so young an officer in the service as myself — no pri-
 
 G2 
 
 vate reproach can ever shake me in the just discharge of 
 my duty ; which has heen my study, and will continue 
 so. — Sincerely trusting his Lordship will view the mea- 
 sures I have pursued to be indispensible with the re- 
 sponsibility attached to the command, I shall feel highly 
 gratified by his Lordship's professing his approval. 
 
 Moorshedabad (Signed) W. WHITE, 
 
 Provincial Battallion Office, Commanding M. P. B." 
 Nov. 4, 1817. 
 
 The magistrate was informed of the trans- 
 mittal of this letter through the proper chan- 
 nel, and perceiving that I was seriously en- 
 deavouring to obtain redress for the officers 
 under my command, he addressed me : 
 
 " Sir, 
 " I have to desire that Mayput Sing, Ajaib Sing, 
 and Itoudee Sing, be directed to attend me this after- 
 noon. 
 
 City of Moorshedabad, (Signed) W. LOCH, 
 November 5, 1817. Magistrate." 
 
 The mandatory stile of this letter requires 
 no comment. It was complied with, and 
 the parties attended the magistrate in obedi- 
 ence to his commands. 
 
 The language which had been previously 
 used by the magistrate towards these unfor-
 
 63 
 
 lunate and oppressed persons, might have 
 taught them what further they had to expect. 
 What actually passed, 1 had no means of as- 
 certaining, except from the report of the 
 parties after they had returned from the ma- 
 gistrate; and the statement of the subedar 
 was, at his own request, reduced to writing 
 by me, and forwarded to the adjutant-gene- 
 ral of the army, to be submitted, together 
 with the other proceedings, to the Com- 
 mander in Chief. 
 
 " On the 5th instant, I, Mayput Sing, attended upon 
 Judge Loch. — Mr. Loch called me into a room, and or- 
 dered all the attendants and aumlahs out of the room : 
 and after he had done so, and I alone with him, he 
 questioned me concerning the complaint I had lodged 
 against Mr. Wray, and I told him the particulars of it. 
 ' He answered, that it was a false complaint that I had 
 lodged against Dr. Wray, and that if I could prove it 
 with sufficient evidence, the gentleman would get hung ; 
 and if not, I would lose my commission, and have a 
 rope put round my neck.' 
 
 " And also desired me not to go to Col. Pine, but to 
 attend on Dr. Wray, and to put up my hands and ask 
 pardon for lodging a complaint against him, and that I 
 was sorry for it, and was angry when I had done so, 
 but hoped that he would pardon me. Then I told Mr. 
 Loch that I was not in fault, and therefore I won't ask 
 his pardon, but would wish to be tried by a general
 
 04 
 
 court-martial. But, to conclude, I beg leave to state, 
 I have no evidence on this subject, and the reason is 
 above stated. 
 
 Signed in N agree, 
 Moorshedabad, MAYPUT SING." 
 
 6th November, 1817. 
 
 A. McCOY, serjeant-maior. 
 
 It appears from documents with which I 
 have subsequently been furnished, as con- 
 nected with the proceedings of the court of 
 enquiry, that Mr. Loch, on the 5th of No- 
 vember, and on the same day that he had 
 the communication last alluded to with the 
 native officers, addressed a letter to the se- 
 cretary to government. 
 
 On this document I shall briefly remark, 
 that it contains several allusions to my con- 
 duct, which were totally unjustifiable; and 
 that, in particular, the following opinion was 
 without any foundation in fact. The magis- 
 trate, after quoting a passage from my letter 
 of the 2d of November, most unjustly re- 
 marks — " Here, it evidently appears to me, 
 that so far from Mr. White having used his 
 influence with his men, he actually becomes 
 one of the party, and impedes or rather 
 
 THROWS OBSTACLES IN THE WAY TO PRE-
 
 65 
 
 VENT THE AFFAIR BEING SETTLED, but by a 
 
 general court-martial, &c* 
 
 * To differ in opinion, much less to thwart these gentlemen in 
 any of their ways, is well known to prove prejudicial to the indi- 
 vidual, in all probability through life : and many, rather than run 
 the risk will submit to any thing. — In 1814, one of the civilians 
 atMoorshedabad, Mr. Droz, who had a guard from the provin- 
 cial battalion, had given orders to the sentries, to admit no per- 
 sons with arms inside of his gates. A servant from one of this 
 gentleman's Indigo Factories one day entering with a spear and 
 sword, — the sentry stopped him. One of the servants report- 
 ed it to his master. Mr. Droz came out with a heavy hunting 
 whip, and, without requiring any explanation, set to work in 
 a most brutal manner, horse-whipping the unfortunate sepoy. 
 An havildar of the guard ran up to expostulate, but was obliged 
 to run or share the same fate. The subedar of the guard went 
 up to Mr. Droz and said, " what, Sir, are you beating the sepoy 
 for? if he has done wrong, he should be confined and tried ; you 
 should not beat him." This remonstrance invoked his wroth 
 upon the officer, over whom he shook his whip, calling him a " ka- 
 la Banchoot," and threatening to horsewhip him. 
 
 The subedar and sepoy proceeded to the commanding officer, 
 Captain Cooper ; the sepoy with his coat cut to pieces, and de- 
 manded redress. No sooner had they told their story, than in 
 came the aggressor. What followed may be easily concluded. 
 Captain Cooper ordered the officer to his guard, and the sepoy 
 to his corps : acquainting him — " that it had served him right, 
 he had no business to stop the man — that, if Mr. Droz had com- 
 plained against him, instead of punishing him, he would have 
 got five or six hundred lashes." The sepoy replies, "I could not 
 have been flogged without a Court Martial ; and 1,000 lashes at 
 their verdict would not have been half so disgraceful as one from 
 the gentleman with a horsewhip." The sepoy is again ordered 
 to depart, ami threatened to be brought to trial for disrespect and 
 
 F
 
 00' 
 
 This opinion was a cruel and unjust asper- 
 sion on my character, and must have been 
 transmitted by the magistrate to government, 
 for the mischievous purpose of drawing on 
 me the displeasure of that high authority. 
 
 On the 3d of November a gentleman of 
 considerable importance at the station, the 
 Rev. Mr. Eales, called upon me, to intreat 
 that I would not forward the complaint to 
 the Commander in Chief. He stated, that 
 if 1 did I should be ruined ; that the ma- 
 gistrate and officers of Berhampore were 
 determined to save Mr. Wray, at all risks; 
 adding, that was a young officer like Mr. 
 Wray to be ruined for a set of black 
 rascals. I urged, my duty left me no 
 choice. This gentleman, a clergyman of 
 the church of England, then replied, " let 
 them go to the devil — save yourself. He 
 walked out of my house, and never spoke 
 
 disobedience of orders. He replies — " I demand an investiga- 
 tion—I am disgraced— my cast is gone— no otie will associate 
 with me— 1 cannot live— I must destroy myself, and will, if I can- 
 not be cleared." He retires, poor unfortunate man, to his hut, 
 shuts himself up for the remainder of the day, rejects all food, and 
 on the following morning his hut is found empty: his clothes, 
 bed, money, and every article remaining-, and from that time was 
 never heard of!
 
 67 
 
 to me after, notwithstanding we had been on 
 the most intimate terms for upwards of five 
 years. 
 
 After my removal from office, an officer 
 informed me, that at the time Mr. Loch for- 
 warded his dispatch to the Secretary to the 
 Government in Calcutta, he addressed a pri- 
 vate letter to his cousin, Mr. Adam, then 
 principal private secretary to the Comman- 
 der in Chief, and with him in the upper pro- 
 vinces. This letter was sent to Major 
 Broughton, to evidence as to the active mea- 
 sures the magistrate was taking to save Mr. 
 Wray, and ruin his adversaries. 
 
 Extract of a letter addressed by me to the 
 adjutant-general on the 24th of Dec. 1818: 
 
 " I had been told in distinct terras, immediately after 
 I bad complied with the request of the subedar and 
 havildars, in forwarding their complaint against Mr. 
 Wray, that it would have been better for me had I aban- 
 doned them to seek redress where they could find it, for I 
 was totally ruined by a letter the magistrate had written 
 to Mr. Adam, Chief Secretary to the Governor General, 
 for the consideration of His Excellency the Commander 
 in Chief. — The letter had been handed about to the 
 officer commanding the European regiment, to Mr. 
 Wray, and others concerned. My ruin was fully 
 contemplated." 
 
 F 2
 
 68 
 
 The suggestion that / had impeded or 
 thrown obstacles in the way of the settle- 
 ment proposed by the magistrate, was unjust 
 and untrue; inasmuch as I had not been fur- 
 nished with any information or documents, 
 by which I could have exercised any influ- 
 ence with the officers under my command ; 
 but I had, nevertheless, in point of fact, and 
 contrary to my own sense of what was 
 right, said every thing that was practica- 
 ble and consistent in support of the ma- 
 gistrate's requisition, inasmuch, as the harsh 
 and opprobrious language employed by the 
 magistrate against the native officers, was 
 calculated to excite irritation rather than to 
 produce conciliation or conviction. 
 
 But the letter from the magistrate to go- 
 vernment, failed to produce the intended 
 effect, and the secretary addressed him : 
 
 To W. LOCH, Esq. 
 
 «< Sir, 
 
 " I am directed by the Honourable the Vice- Presi- 
 Judicial "} dent in Council to acknowledge the re- 
 Department. ^ ceipt of your letter of the 15th ult. sub- 
 mitting a copy of the proceedings of a court of enquiry 
 at Berhampore, and of your correspondence, connected
 
 69 
 
 with the charge preferred against Mr. Assistant-Surgeon 
 Wray, of having wounded some individuals belonging 
 to the provincial battalion of Moorshedabad." 
 
 " With reference to the nature of the complaint pre- 
 ferred against Mr. Wray, the vice-president in council 
 conceives that the enquiry into it falls properly under 
 your cognizance in the first instance as a justice of the 
 peace. The proceedings of the court cannot be pro- 
 perly considered by the vice-president in council, and 
 the commanding-officer will determine on the steps 
 which he should take with reference to those proceed- 
 ings, under the rules in force in the military depart- 
 ment." 
 
 " The whple of the documents which accompanied 
 your letter are herewith returned." 
 Council Chamber, (Signed) W. B. BAYLEY, 
 
 Dec. 9 t 1817- Secretary to the Government. 
 
 By this letter the magistrate was informed 
 of what he ought previously to have known, 
 namely, that the enquiry into the complaint 
 fell properly under his own cognizance in the 
 Jirst instance, as a justice of the peace: 
 thereby intimating, in the plainest terms, to 
 the magistrate, that, if the charge preferred 
 against Mr. Wray, was properly and formerly 
 constituted, it was his duty, in the second in- 
 stance, to send it to be tried before the regu- 
 lar tribunal, the court of oyer and terminer 
 and general gaol-delivery, at Calcutta. 
 
 The manner in which the magistrate obeyed 
 
 f 3
 
 70 
 
 the constitutional direction of his superiors, 
 will be seen by a letter addressed by him to 
 the commanding officer of Mr. Wray's regi- 
 ment. 
 
 MAJOR T. D. BROUGHTON. 
 " Sir, 
 
 " The papers relative to the late enquiry into the 
 charges preferred against Mr. Assistant-Surgeon Wray 
 by Mayput Sing, subedar, and others of the provincial 
 battalion, having been returned to me by the govern- 
 ment ; I have the pleasure to transmit them to you, 
 with a copy of the letter from Mr. Secretary Bay ley, 
 and also a copy of the letter which I addressed to the 
 government on this subject, for your information. 
 
 '* You will observe, that the Government conceives 
 I ought to act in the affair in my capacity of justice of 
 the peace, which, however, I do not mean to do, and I 
 will explain to the honorable the vice-president in coun- 
 cil, the motives which have induced me to follow the 
 line of conduct I have done." 
 City of Moorshedabad. (Signed) W. LOCH, 
 
 October 20, 1817. Magistrate. 
 
 J s" 
 
 it is to be presumed that the magistrate, 
 afterwards, offered sufficient reasons to the 
 Vice-President in Council for disobeying the 
 direction communicated by Mr. Secretary 
 Bayley : but, as I have not had access to the 
 document which explains the motives of the 
 magistrate in departing from the line of his
 
 71 
 
 duty, and in persisting in his aberration, I am 
 compelled to infer motives from the conduct 
 which the magistrate adopted. 
 
 If the magistrate had returned the deposi- 
 tions to the supreme court, a bill of indict- 
 ment, founded on the facts which they con- 
 tained, would have been preferred against 
 Mr. Wray. It would have been either found 
 or rejected. If rejected, the parties com- 
 plaining might have been prosecuted for a 
 malicious proceeding, or tried by a court- 
 martial. If the bill had been found, Mr. 
 Wray would have been tried by a jury of 
 his countrymen, The prosecutors and all 
 their witnesses would have been examined, 
 and Mr. Wray would have had the most fair 
 and ample means of asserting his innocence. 
 The fact of the firing would have been in- 
 vestigated according to the rules of law, and 
 tried by the established principles of evi- 
 dence. The conduct of Mr. Wray after the 
 firing, and when the wounded parties remon- 
 strated with the aggressor, would have been 
 sifted and ascertained. The testimony of all 
 the parties, making due allowance for their 
 interests and feelings, would have been just- 
 ly weighed and appreciated. The contra- 
 
 f 4
 
 72 
 
 dictions and discrepances of the evidence, 
 and the probabilities and the improbabilities 
 of the facts detailed, would have been duly 
 considered, and pointed out to the jury by 
 upright and intelligent judges. Mr. Wray, 
 if the case had required it, would have de- 
 rived all proper benefit from the excellence 
 of his general character, and then the only 
 tribunal, competent to decide the question 
 between the accusers and the prisoners, 
 would have pronounced his guilt or his 
 
 INNOCENCE. 
 
 If Mr Wray had been acquitted upon the 
 ground that the jury disbelieved his accusers, 
 or if they had committed perjury in the 
 course of the trial, when their testimony was 
 delivered in open court — when the questions 
 put to them were duly explained, and their 
 answers received through the medium of a 
 competent interpreter, they might have been 
 prosecuted in the supreme court for that per- 
 jury, and if convicted, they would have re- 
 ceived the punishment due to their foul 
 offence. 
 
 Such a course of proceeding was that 
 which the law prescribed ; and it was the duty 
 of the magistrate to have suffered the complaint
 
 73 
 
 which was preferred, to have proceeded in its 
 natural and lawful channel. If the magis- 
 trate had not diverted the course of justice, 
 the complainants would have obtained the 
 redress they sought, if their case was just. 
 If the complaint was unfounded they would 
 have failed, and might have been lawfully 
 punished. Mr. W ray's innocence would have 
 been established to the satisfaction of the 
 public, and the desires of his numerous 
 friends at Moorshedabad and Berhampore 
 would have been accomplished. 
 
 From the proceedings which have been 
 adopted, in pursuance of the new course of 
 justice devised by the magistrate, Mr. Wray 
 has triumphed over his accusers. The triumph 
 of Mr. Wray, or the ruin of his adversaries, 
 are not, however, subjects which he ought to 
 regard with complacency ; for notwithstand- 
 ing he has been withdrawn for a season, 
 from the reach of the law ; and notwithstand- 
 ing the parties who complained against him 
 have been virtually prevented from seeking 
 that justice, which ought to have been admi- 
 nistered to them as free as the air of Heaven ; 
 Mr, Wray stands, at this moment, accused, 
 according to the strictest forms of English
 
 74 
 
 law, of having committed a capital offence, 
 for which he has not been brought to trial. 
 
 It will have been observed, that, until the 
 date of the letter last quoted, the proceedings 
 of the court of enquiry had not been dispatch- 
 ed to the Commander in Chief. On the re- 
 ceipt, by the magistrate, of the letter from 
 the secretary to government, the letter 
 was addressed to Major Broughton ; and, 
 on the 22d of December, that officer dis- 
 patched the proceedings of the court of en- 
 quiry to the adjutant- General of the army. 
 
 Before the date of the last letter I received 
 a letter from the adjutant-general, in reply 
 to my letter on the 4th of November : 
 
 LIEUTENANT WHITE. 
 
 " Sir, Commanding M. P. B. 
 
 " I have laid before the Commander in Chief the pa- 
 pers transmitted in your letters of the 4th and 8th inst. ; 
 his Lordship has in consequence directed that the pro- 
 ceedings of the court of enquiry shall be sent to him, 
 that he may thence judge what course to follow. In 
 the mean time I am instructed to say, that the presump- 
 tion arising from the documents already submitted to his 
 Lordship, is by no means favorable for you." 
 
 Head Quarters, (Signed) JAMES NICOL, 
 Camp near Eritch, A djutant- General of the A rmy. 
 
 Nov. 25, 1817.
 
 7-) 
 
 Although it is manifest, from this letter, 
 that the proceedings of the court of enquiry 
 had not then reached the Commander in 
 Chief, I thus early, had the misfortune to 
 learn, that the documents, which had been 
 then submitted, had produced an impression 
 unfavorable to me. 
 
 What "documents" are referred to bv the 
 adjutant-general, I have not been enabled 
 to ascertain ; I confidently submit, that my 
 letter, dated the 4th of November, or the 
 documents by which it was accompanied, 
 were not calculated to produce that unfa- 
 vourable effect which is declared in the 
 letter last referred to. 
 
 When the proceedings of the court of en- 
 quiry reached the Commander in Chief, they 
 unfortunately produced an effect the con- 
 trary of that which I had most confidently 
 anticipated. 
 
 1 was persuaded that nothing which ap- 
 peared in those proceedings could have pos- 
 sibly induced the Commander in Chief to 
 draw conclusions to my prejudice. A firm 
 conviction that I had correctly and consci- 
 entiously discharged my duty towards the
 
 7(3 
 
 officers under my command ; and that 1 had 
 not, in any degree, exceeded the due exer- 
 cise of that duty — a full persuasion that 
 the officers who had been wounded by Mr. 
 Wray, had been, afterwards, grossly ill- 
 treated — and, that the magistrate had not 
 only denied them the justice which they 
 had claimed — but had insisted on their mak- 
 ing a degrading apology, which must have 
 stamped them with indelible infamy — had 
 assured my mind that the very statement of 
 the circumstances of this case would have 
 excited the highest indignation of the Com- 
 mander in Chief — and would have induced 
 him to have directed that the complaint 
 should be forthwith investigated before the 
 tribunal, from which it had been improperly 
 withdrawn ; and it was, therefore, that I 
 was particularly solicitous and urgent that 
 the matter should be submitted at a period 
 when the magistrate seemed desirous of 
 ivith-holding the proceedings from the con- 
 sideration of His Excellency. 
 
 It had never been suggested to my mind, 
 even as a bare possibility, that the part 
 which I had taken, in affording just protec- 
 tion to the officers under my command, and
 
 77 
 
 in forwarding their complaint to the Com- 
 mander in Chief, with such explanations as 
 the circumstances of the case seemed to re- 
 quire, could have subjected me to the dis- 
 pleasure of His Excellency. I humbly, 
 but confidently, demand whether I was not 
 bound to comply with the requisition of my 
 native officers in forwarding their representa- 
 tion to the Commander in Chief — and, whe- 
 ther, if 1 had neglected or refused to trans- 
 mit their complaint, I would have been wor- 
 thy of the commission which I was permitted 
 to hold ! 
 
 I boldly defy the utmost malice and inge- 
 nuity of my enemies to point out any in- 
 stance in which I omitted or exceeded my 
 duty, as an officer, during the proceedings 
 against Mr. Wray. 
 
 When the injured parties claimed my in- 
 terference, I caused their complaint to be 
 prepared in a moderate and impartial man- 
 ner. I privately did all in my power to 
 induce Mr. Wray to make concessions, 
 which, if timely offered, might have satis- 
 fied the parties who had been wounded 
 and insulted. My friendly offices having
 
 78 
 
 been rejected vvhh contempt, I forwarded 
 the complaint, without comment, to the civil 
 
 magistrate. 
 
 I afterwards readily obeyed the instruc- 
 tions of the magistrate, by sending the par- 
 ties and their witnesses before him, and af- 
 terwards, before the court of enquiry. What- 
 ever private opinion I entertained of the ir- 
 regularity and injustice of the subsequent 
 proceedings, that opinion was not avowed 
 to the suffering parties : when the magistrate 
 intimated his opinion of Mr. Wray's inno- 
 cence, and of his accusers' guilt, although 
 I did not adopt that, but the contrary opini- 
 on, I complied with the directions of the ma- 
 gistrate ; and when the native officers refus- 
 ed to make the atonement required, and re- 
 quested me to transmit their complaint to 
 the Commander in Chief I complied with 
 their request. In all these instances, I 
 discharged my duty as a man and an 
 officer; my conduct was open and candid, 
 and my motives, when questioned, were 
 fully explained ; and, although the magis- 
 trate has dared to insinuate that the native 
 officers were influenced and worked upon by
 
 79 
 
 me; I repel the insinuation with indigna- 
 tion, and boldly pronounce it to be un- 
 founded. 
 
 But, notwithstanding these expectations 
 which had been entertained by me, notwith- 
 standing the proceedings of the court of en- 
 quiry do not contain a solitary fact which 
 ought to have prejudiced me, and notwith- 
 standing it must have occurred to the enlight- 
 ened mind of the Commander in Chief that 
 those proceedings were obnoxious to the ob- 
 servations which have been herein before 
 submitted, I had the misfortune to receive 
 from the adjutant-general of the army the 
 following letter : 
 
 To Lieutenant White. 
 Sir, 
 
 " The Commander in Chief has attentively 
 
 perused the proceedings of the court of enquiry which 
 
 investigated the charges against Dr Wray." 
 
 " It appears to His Lordship that you encouraged, in 
 individuals of the Battalion then under your command, 
 the monstrous supposition that a British gentleman 
 had, without provocation, intentionally fired at them." 
 
 " His Lordship would lament to think otherwise of you 
 than, that the imputation must have been incredible to 
 yourself; yet, instead of attempting to do away misap- 
 prehension respecting the accident, as every moral and 
 professional duty demanded, you perseveringly aggra-
 
 80 
 
 vated the irritation, and advised the offended parties 
 to make depositions before the magistrate, which are 
 strongly tainted with a presumption of perjury." 
 
 " The Commander in Chief is pleased to remove you 
 from the adjutancy of the Moorshedabad provincial 
 battalion, and to order that you do immediately repair 
 to resume your duties in the 2d battalion 15th native in- 
 infantry." 
 
 (Signed) JAS. NICOL, 
 
 Head Quarters. Camp Oochar, Adjutant- General 
 
 January 12, 1818. of the Army. 
 
 This letter not only removed me from the 
 Adjutancy and charge of the battalion to 
 which I had been so long attached, but has 
 ruined my prospects : for property which I 
 had unfortunately purchased, and buildings 
 which I had erected, and was then erecting 
 in the neighbourhood of Moorshedabad, were 
 likely to become unproductive as soon as I 
 was withdrawn from their management aud 
 superintendancei 
 
 Mutiny Act, Geo. Hi, cap 35, 
 " Provided always, and be it further en- 
 acted, that if any officer, non-commissioned 
 officer or soldier, shall be accused of any 
 violence or offence against the person, es- 
 tate, or property of any of his Majesty's sub-
 
 81 
 
 jects, which is punishable by the known 
 laws of the land ; the commanding officer 
 and officers of every regiment, troop, or 
 party, is, and are hereby required to use 
 his and their utmost endeavours to deliver 
 over such accused person to the civil magis- 
 trate ; and, in the event of their neglecting 
 to do so, upon being thereof convicted, he 
 shall be deemed and taken to be ipso facto 
 cashiered." 
 
 With these laws and penalties before me — 
 was it possible to contemplate such an is- 
 sue ? — In God's name, how are we to obey 
 the laws of the land, — if we are to be dis- 
 graced ; and punished for non-submission ! ! 
 
 The right of a Commander in Chief to re- 
 move an officer from an appointment at plea- 
 sure, cannot be denied ; but who will declare 
 that he has an equal right, at the same time, 
 to deprive an officer of his reputation and ho- 
 nourable name. When the Commander in 
 Chief brought charges of so black and mon- 
 strous a nature forward as the grounds of 
 disgracing me; justice towards me, towards 
 the individuals who were stated to have been 
 led from the path of truth by my evil counsel, 
 justice to the service at large, demanded that 
 
 G
 
 82 
 
 I should have been brought to a general 
 court-martial. The charge would then have 
 been proved or fallen to the ground ; and I 
 should have had, that which no one can deny 
 my claim to, an undoubted right to vindi- 
 cate and justify my conduct. 
 
 General orders were now issued by the 
 Commander in Chief for the trial by a gene- 
 ral court-martial of the three complainants 
 upon the following charges : 
 
 Charge. — Mayput Sing, subedar of the Moorsheda- 
 bad provincial battalion, placed in arrest by order of 
 His Excellency the Most Noble the Commander in 
 Chief, on the following charges : 
 
 First, for having, on or about the 10th of October 
 last, at Moorshedabad, falsely and maliciously charged 
 Mr. Assistant-Surgeon Wray, before a magistrate, 
 with having wilfully and intentionally fired at him. 
 
 
 Sentence. — The Court find the prisoner guilty of 
 the charge preferred against him, and do sentence the 
 prisoner, Mayput Sing, to be suspended from rank and 
 pay for one calendar month. 
 
 LALLOO SING, 
 
 President. 
 
 Second Charge : for perjury — in deposing falsely 
 before a magistrate that Mr. Assistant-Surgeon Wray 
 levelled his piece at Havildar-Major Ajaib Sing, of the 
 Moorshedabad provincial battalion, and threatened to 
 shoot him, such conduct being scandalous and infa-
 
 83 
 
 mous, disgraceful to the character of an officer, and 
 prejudicial to good order and military discipline. 
 By order of the Commander in Chief, 
 
 (Signed) JAMES NICOL, 
 
 Adjutant-General of the Army. 
 Head Quarters, Camp Oochar, 
 14tk January, 1818. 
 
 Sentence. — The Court find the prisoner, Mayput 
 Sing, subedar, not guilty of the charge exhibited 
 against him. 
 
 (Disapproved) LALLOO SING, 
 
 (Signed) Hastings. Subedar and President. 
 
 AjaibSing havildar major was also tried, 
 convicted, and sentenced the same. — But 
 the third complainant, Roudee Sing, after 
 being kept in confinement several days was 
 released, promoted to a higher rank and 
 sent away to an outpost of the regiment 
 about two hundred miles off. 
 
 General orders are issued by the Com- 
 mander in Chief in which he declares his 
 disapprobation of the proceedings of the 
 court-martial. — Sets aside their verdict, and 
 by "virtue of the power and authority vested 
 in him," he dismisses the subedar and ha- 
 vildar from the Honorable Company's ser- 
 vice. 
 
 g2
 
 84 
 
 
 - 
 
 General Orders by the C. C. 
 
 Y Among the grains of shot produced in court, as 
 having fallen on the bed where the prisoners were 
 lying, there are several of a much larger size than the 
 quality of the shot which it was proved assistant-sur- 
 geon Wray was using. Those large shot are flattened, 
 that it may be inferred with what force they struck 
 the bed frame; but those grains are equally flattened 
 on both sides, so that it is evident they were put into 
 that state between two hard substances. This attempt 
 the Commander in Chief considers in an heinous light 
 — still it is not so grossly culpable as the other points. 
 Four witnesses are brought forward by the prisoners, 
 in their defence, against the second charge, and each 
 of these witnesses gives his answers to a series of 
 questions, not only to the same effect, but, as is ob- 
 served by the deputy judge-advocate, precisely in the 
 same phrase, so that their evidence was word for word 
 the same. This is a coincidence which could not have 
 happened but from the witnesses having been severally 
 instructed in their lesson before hand ; and the Com- 
 mander in Chief cannot sufficiently express his asto- 
 nishment that the court did not comment on so gross 
 and palpable a fact. These circumstances greatly ag- 
 gravate the original guilt in the contemplation of the 
 Commander in Chief, and render a rigorous example 
 necessary." 
 
 The authority here exercised by the Com- 
 mander in Chief appears questionable. Ad ye
 
 85 
 
 on court-martials observes, — "court-martials 
 are held by the same authority as the courts 
 of judicature of the country, and the King, 
 (or his generals empowered to appoint them) 
 has the prerogative of mitigating the sen- 
 tence, but he can no more add to it than 
 alter the decree of any other court." 
 
 This court-martial was in violation of civil 
 and military law. The crime it assembled 
 to try was not ivithin its juristliction. 
 
 The articles of war, section the 24th, ar- 
 ticle the 2d, declare, courts-martial alone 
 competent to try ''all crimes not capital, 
 and all disorders and neglects which officers 
 and soldiers may be guilty of to the preju- 
 dice of good order and military discipline." 
 And in the same section, article 4, " Yet in 
 our garrison of Gibraltar, and the island of 
 Malta, or in any place beyond the seas, 
 where our forces now are or may be em- 
 ployed, where there is no form of our civil ju- 
 dicature in force, the general, governor, or 
 other officer commanding in chief for the 
 time being, is to appoint general courts-mar- 
 tial as occasions may require, for the trial of 
 any person under his command, accused of 
 
 g 3
 
 86 
 
 wilful murder, theft, robbery, rape," &c. &c. 
 
 &c. 
 
 From this quotation it is very clear, that 
 the highest authorities cannot legally try by 
 court-martial any capital offence where the 
 " civil forms of judicature are in force." 
 
 It is the first instance of individuals being 
 tried before a court-martial upon a charge 
 of perjury committed before a justice of the 
 peace. The charges were founded upon a 
 complaint of the subedar's, made in strict 
 conformity with the 1st article of the 12th 
 section of the articles of war, under the head 
 of "redressing wrongs:" but which com- 
 plaint had not been enquired into, nor had 
 any of the allegations therein contained been 
 proved, by a competent tribunal, to he false 
 or groundless ; and the only notice taken of 
 the complaint was, the Commander in Chief 
 coming forward as prosecutor, contrary to 
 law, equity, and justice ; such a proceeding 
 doing away with every means of redress for 
 any injury an officer might receive. 
 
 When the general orders of the Com- 
 mander in Chief had been issued regarding 
 the court-martial, I determined to make an
 
 87 
 
 appeal against the resolution which had re- 
 moved me from the Moorshedabad Batta- 
 lion : and, in the anxious hope that the ex- 
 planations I was enabled to offer might pro- 
 duce a favorable change in the sentiments of 
 the Commander in Chief, I addressed an 
 humble and submissive appeal. But, unfor- 
 tunately, it foiled ; and I received in reply 
 the following letter : — 
 
 Commander in Chief's Office, 
 
 Head Quarters, Calcutta, 6th Nov. 1818. 
 
 Sir, 
 
 " The most attentive perusal has not offered to the 
 Commander in Chief, any altered view of the case." 
 
 » An accident distressing to the British officer, 
 
 through whose carelessness it occurred, was perverted 
 
 by a native officer, and non-commissioned officer of 
 
 your Battalion, into a gross, and obviously false charge 
 
 against the individual." 
 
 " It does not appear (not to speak more strongly to 
 the point) that you remonstrated with the subedar and 
 havildar, against the extravagant and black color 
 which they endeavoured to fix upon the transaction. 
 They went before the magistrate to lodge their com- 
 plaint, under that profligate distortion of the occurrence. 
 The magistrate rejected a charge not less absurd than 
 atrocious : directed the complainants to make their 
 excuses to Mr. Wray , for having preferred so groundless 
 and infamous an imputation against him; and warned 
 
 g4
 
 88 
 
 them of the consequences of their not preventing, by 
 that conciliation, the prosecution to which they had 
 exposed themselves." 
 
 " It does not appear that you endeavoured to sway 
 them to obey this salutary counsel : but it does appear 
 that you did endeavor to fix on Mr. Wray some shade 
 of the guilt ascribed to him, by countenancing the 
 subedar and havildar in their perverse maintenance of 
 the ground they had taken," 
 
 (Signed) C. J. DOYLE, 
 
 Military Secretary. 
 
 I next addressed his Lordship direct: — - 
 
 " My Lord, 
 
 " Notwithstanding being charged with a 
 crime of the greatest turpitude, committed in a cool, 
 deliberate, and preconcerted manner, without a passion 
 to incite, without a motive to tempt me, but the blackest 
 that could disgrace human nature, I am neither brought 
 to trial, nor called upon to offer any explanation for such 
 conduct ! When I appeal and solicit for trial, for the 
 documents which may have produced the punishment, 
 I am not permitted the one or furnished with the other. 
 The conclusion is natural, that there are no grounds 
 to substantiate the charge ; if there were, I am entitled, 
 I trust, to presume that they would have been produced 
 against me : the crime, a SUBORNER OF PER- 
 JURY, being too base for admonition, and one that 
 merited the severest penalty the law could inflict." 
 
 " These measures, my Lord, with all due deference, 
 are too much at variance with your Lordship's benevo-
 
 8.0 
 
 lence and philanthropy to gain credit with any one for a 
 moment. It cannot be, my Lord, while foreign powers 
 are stated to be blessing your Lordship's humanity and 
 benevolence, that your own subjects, devoted to the 
 cause of their country, should have reason to complain 
 of injustice and oppression." 
 
 In reply to this appeal to the direct autho- 
 rity of the Commander in Chief, I received 
 another letter from Colonel Doyle, on the 
 8th of February, 1819, by order of the Com- 
 mander in Chief, wherein he informed me, — 
 " you pertinaciously insist that you have 
 been stigmatized as a suborner of perjury ; — 
 no such imputation has been thrown upon 
 you." 
 
 The subedar, who had been dismissed, 
 also appealed to the Commander in Chief. 
 I submit for your information, some extracts 
 from his petition. 
 
 EXTRACTS. 
 
 " That your Petitioner demanded for his 
 evidence, against the first charge upon which 
 he was ordered to be tried, Maturgee Lalla, 
 the police sheristadar,* who had received his 
 
 * Record-keeper in the police office ; a man of high character 
 and integrity. Immediately it was known that this affair would be 
 public, this man, (who was the only material evidence to support 
 the accusations of Mr. Loch) was dismissed from his office by Mr.
 
 90 
 
 complaint at the magistrate's and had caus- 
 ed it to be reduced to writing. Your Peti- 
 tioner repeatedly prayed the attendance of 
 this man, but was as often refused by the 
 judge advocate. The president of the court 
 also demanded his attendance: the judge- 
 advocate got angry, and told the president 
 that he would not summons him. That your 
 Petitioner demanded the native doctor who 
 had extracted the shot from your Petitioner 
 and the other complainants' wounds, as an 
 evidence ; but he was also refused.* 
 
 44 That your Petitioner's evidence at the 
 general court-martial was most shamefully 
 treated by the judge-advocate. Immediately 
 an evidence came into court, prior to exam- 
 ination, the judge-advocate told him to be 
 careful what he was going to say ; that he 
 . 
 
 Loch. The man immediately proceeded to his home, distant about 
 five or six hundred miles off. The reason for discharging the man 
 was obvious. 
 
 * " The general rule that runs through all the doctrine of trials is 
 this, that the best evidence the nature of the case will admit of 
 shall always be required, if possible to be had ; but if not possi- 
 ble, then the best evidence that can be had shall be allowed. For 
 if it be found that there is any better evidence existing than is 
 produced, the very not producing of it is a presumption, that it 
 would have detected some falsehood that at present is concealed,"
 
 91 
 
 knew he had come with a story made up, 
 and prepared to deliver false evidence, but 
 for which he would be punished." 
 
 " That, to the first evidence a string of 
 questions was put, and his answers were ta- 
 ken down. The remaining evidences called 
 into court were asked the same questions, 
 but neither of their answers were taken down 
 at the time, This accounts for the evidences 
 appearing before your Lordship in the same 
 words: the judge-advocate has inserted 
 them so, and commented accordingly, to 
 invalidate your Petitioner's evidence." 
 
 " That, when Mr. Wray's bearer, who for- 
 merly declared himself not to be a servant 
 of that gentleman, but a cooly from the ba- 
 zar, and did not even know the gentleman's 
 name, was giving evidence favorable for 
 your Petitioner, he was stopped by the 
 judge-advocate, who acquainted him he 
 was giving testimony very different from 
 what he had done at the court of enquiry. 
 The judge-advocate then taking up the pro- 
 ceedings of the court of enquiry, read to him 
 his evidence at that court, together with his 
 answers to questions; after doing which three
 
 92 
 
 or four times, the bearer's testimony was 
 taken down." 
 
 " That the judge-advocate on this trial had 
 been present at the court of enquiry. That 
 the interpreter had been a member of the 
 court of enquiry which had so ill used your 
 Petitioner ; that, at the time he sat as inter- 
 preter he commanded the regiment to which 
 the judge-advocate belonged, who was a ju- 
 nior officer of the regiment ; that the pre- 
 sident of the court was an officer of the regi- 
 ment : that the greater part of the members 
 of the court belonged to the regiment. These 
 circumstances your Petitioner submits, were 
 not likely to be favorable to an impartial in- 
 vestigation, but were possible to have an un- 
 due influence over the court." 
 
 " That your Petitioner's regiment was at 
 the station, but not an officer allowed to sit 
 even as a member of the court. Your Peti- 
 tioner, therefore, also submits, that he has 
 been deprived of his rights, by not being al- 
 lowed a portion of his own officers to inves- 
 tigate into his conduct." 
 
 " That your Petitioner was thus illegally 
 and oppressively refused his evidence ; was
 
 93 
 
 unjustifiably treated by the judge- advocate: 
 had no one to plead his cause, while no 
 one attempted to assist him." 
 
 "That the judge-advocate took every me- 
 thod to invalidate the evidence of your Peti- 
 tioner. He declared, putting his hand upon 
 his heart, on a member remarking that the 
 evidence was clear and strong and precisely 
 the same, that he believed from the bottom of 
 his heart, that the whole was false and a 
 made-up story ; and was the same of course, 
 for they had had two months to make it up in." 
 " That your Petitioner most solemnly swears 
 the shot has been changed since its delivery 
 to the commanding officer, Lieutenant White. 
 The native doctor could have proved the 
 shot he had taken out of their wounds ; as 
 also Lieutenant White, whether the shot pro- 
 duced was that they had delivered to him. 
 But all this evidence has been studiously 
 avoided." 
 
 " That your Petitioner made his complaint 
 in Hindoostanee to the police sheristadar, 
 Maturgee Lalla, who caused it to be reduced 
 to writing in the Persian language — which 
 your Petitioner neither reads, writes, nor un- 
 derstands. That the petition thus taken
 
 94 
 
 down, without being read or explained to 
 your Petitioner, was offered for his signature, 
 which your Petitioner did not refuse, not 
 supposing it possible such a gross and infa- 
 mous perversion of his complaint could have 
 been contemplated by a British magistrate." 
 
 " That your Petitioner, however, does not 
 now believe that the original depositions do 
 contain the charge of wilful and malicious : if 
 they do, your Petitioner solemnly swears 
 he never made it. The original depositions 
 bear your Petitioner's signature, while those 
 produced in court did not."* 
 
 " That, while your Petitioner, has been 
 ruined and deprived of bread, after twenty- 
 four years' service, one of the complainants 
 who swore to the same charge, has been re- 
 warded by promotion to a higher rank."J 
 
 " That your Petitioner, having stated the 
 particulars and hardships of his case, ven- 
 
 * The presence of the record-keeper would have identified the 
 document produced, or proved the fabrication. 
 
 % At the time the Commander in Chief dismisses the snbedar 
 and havildar the service, two of the witnesses who had been 
 brought forward by them to prove the conduct of Mr. Wray 
 witnesses whom the Commander in Chief had declared to have 
 perjured themselves— were, by the same officer, promoted to a 
 higher rank, and otie to a staff appointment.
 
 95 
 
 hires to throw himself upon your Lordship's 
 justice for redress. Should, however, these 
 explanations fail of convincing, your Peti- 
 tioner relies, as your Lordship can have but 
 one motive in view, the public good, that your 
 Lordship will cause the whole affair to be 
 brought before the judges of the Supreme 
 Court, where party spirit prevaileth not, and 
 by whose decision your Petitioner is pre- 
 pared to suffer transportation or even death ; 
 but he never can reconcileitto himself to ex- 
 ist disgraced, degraded, and ruined, without 
 an impartial hearing of his wrongs," 
 
 This Petition was delivered into the Mar- 
 quis of Hastings' hand by the subedar, as 
 his Lordship was coming out of Church one 
 sunday. It was shortly after returned to 
 him, and on his informing me of the parti- 
 culars, I transmitted it on the 19th of March 
 to the military secretary of the Commander 
 in Chief, with a letter to that officer, in which 
 I observed : 
 
 " That the subedar had given it to me for the purpose 
 of forwarding it ; and that he had informed me that he 
 put the petition into his Lordship's hands, that it was 
 returned to him by the subedar of his Lordship's body-
 
 96 
 
 guard, with a positive injunction not to make any further 
 appeals, as they would not be received, nor would he be 
 allowed a hearing**" 
 
 o 
 
 No notice was taken of the petition or my 
 letter, until the 30th of April, when I re- 
 ceived the following letter : 
 
 * Subedar Mayput Sing, in 1807, had the command of a guard 
 on duty at the station of Nattore* — The gaol, in which was several 
 hundred convicts, was under his immediate custody. One morn- 
 ing on counting over the convicts, it was discovered that two 
 were missing. — The subedar immediately sent information to the 
 magistrate ; and placed the havildar of the watch into confine- 
 ment: holding him to be responsible. When the judge came, he 
 threw the commanding officer of the guard, Mayput Sing, the 
 second in command, and sixty of the guard into the common 
 gaol, with the felons. The same morning it was discovered that, a 
 serjeant of the guard and two men had deserted. The officers 
 and soldiers were kept in the gaol ten days, the soldiers were 
 then released from this odious confinement. The two officers 
 were sent to Calcutta in confinement : there they remained twelve 
 months, during which time they petitioned upwards of forty 
 times, for trial or liberty ; but neither was to be obtained. At 
 the end of the seventh month the convicts were retaken. They 
 declared the facts, that they had paid the serjeant 1000 rupees, 
 or 125£. to let them out ; that he had bribed over the two sen- 
 tries, who had absconded with him. This evidence did not pro- 
 cure the release of the subedar for five months . when he was 
 liberated, with an injunction, to be more careful for the future, 
 as the governor would dismiss him the next time. The Marquis 
 of Hastings has taken notice of this circumstance, after an elapse 
 of fifteen years, and declared, that it formed an additional reason, 
 why the subedar should have been dismissed.
 
 97 
 
 Adjutant- General's Office, 
 
 Presidency of Fort William, ZQth of April, 1819. 
 
 " Sir, 
 
 " 1 am directed to apprise you, that it is under con- 
 sideration by the law-officers of the company, whether 
 a prosecution shall not be instituted against May put Sing, 
 for a false, infamous, and malignant libel on divers pub- 
 lic functionaries. In the event of such a prosecution 
 being ordered, your presence will be required. The 
 Commander in Chief is, therefore, pleased to cancel the 
 leave of absence granted to you, and forbids your quit- 
 ting Calcutta till further orders." 
 
 (Signed) JAMES NICOL, 
 
 Adjutant-General of the Army. 
 
 Adjutant-General's Office. 
 
 Presidency of Fort William, 2d of May, 1819. 
 
 LIEUTENANT WHITE. 
 " Sir, 
 
 " Though the memorial of Mayput Sing has evidently 
 been framed as a vehicle for profligate calumnies against 
 divers civil and military functionaries, no proof having 
 been forthcoming, that it had been communicated to 
 any one but the Commander in Chief; it is not a subject 
 for public prosecution : however the individuals may 
 institute suits for defamation. The reason for cancelling 
 your leave of absence, of course, no longer exists ; and 
 that leave is hereby renewed. The Commander in 
 Chief, however, desires you to reflect on the strong 
 opinion which you have given as to the truth of Mayput 
 
 H
 
 98 
 
 Sing's assertion against the persons abovementioned. 
 If you have any ground for stating that belief, it is in- 
 cumbent on you to come forward with the charge; 
 otherwise the imputation will be heavy, that you used 
 the memorial as an excuse for conveying injurious in- 
 sinuations, which you could not openly maintain." 
 (Signed) JAMES NICOL. 
 
 Adjutant-general of the army. 
 
 The Commander in Chief, had now been 
 informed, by the company's counsel, of what 
 he might previously have known; viz : that 
 his measures could not be justified or sup- 
 ported by any legal authority ; that the su- 
 bedar would be tried by a JBritish jury ; 
 that the Lord Chief Justice would be com- 
 pelled to commit Mr. Wray to take his trial 
 for felony, with which, by the oath of the 
 magistrate Loch on the court martial of the 
 subedar, Mr. Wray stood charged ; and that 
 the magistrate would be punished for the 
 gross violation of his oath of office. These 
 were the reasons for dropping the prosecu- 
 tion. 
 
 On the fourth of May I replied to the ad- 
 jutant general's letter of the 2nd, and after 
 expressing my regret that the prosecution 
 had been dropped, and my conviction of
 
 99 
 
 what would have been the result; I observed 
 to him : 
 
 " If you will have the goodness to point out the par- 
 ticular opinion, on which the Commander in Chief has 
 recommended me to reflect, I shall with as little delay 
 as possible, explain the ground of any belief that I have 
 formed, in support of such opinion." 
 
 " If His Excellency alludes to the assertion of May- 
 put Sing, respecting the proceedings of the court of 
 enquiry, in which he alleges that I interfered, I am 
 prepared to prove, in the most solemn manner, that the 
 evidence of the serjeant-major of the Moorshedabad 
 battalion, was not taken down in the manner in which 
 it was delivered ; and that several of his answers were 
 not placed on the proceedings. My interference then, 
 and in other instances, was resisted by the court ; and 
 I was informed, that I was a mere spectator." 
 
 " But should His Excellency refer to the assertions 
 of Mayput Sing, respecting the manner in which his 
 court-martial was conducted, it must be manifest, that 
 as I was not present at the trial, I can have no personal 
 knowledge of the matters alleged by Mayput Sing. 
 He has repeatedly informed me, that the man who re- 
 duced his deposition to writing, was not examined be- 
 fore the court-martial ; and that he required the attend- 
 ance of this person, but the judge advocate refused his 
 request. Mayput Sing has also assured me, that his 
 original deposition was not produced in evidence be- 
 fore the court-martial ; and that, in his original deposi- 
 tion, he did not accuse Mr.Wray, of wilfully and mali- 
 ciously firing. — I believe these assertions; and the 
 
 II 2
 
 100 
 
 grounds of my belief are, the information which I re- 
 ceived from Mayput Sing, and the havildar major." 
 
 " If His Excellency had been pleased to allow me a 
 copy of the proceedings of the court-martial, it is pos- 
 sible that I might have been convinced, that Mayput 
 Sing, and the havildar major, had misrepresented what 
 had appeared in evidence before the court ; but igno- 
 rant, as I must be, of what the proceedings contain, I 
 trust, I shall stand excused, for entertaining a belief, 
 that the assertions to which I have last alluded, are 
 founded in fact." 
 
 " The fourth paragraph of my last letter to you will 
 best explain, that in order to ascertain the truth of the 
 facts last alluded to, I requested to be furnished with 
 the evidence adduced before the court-martial. In that 
 letter I did not state my belief of the facts ; but that 
 the parties convicted by the court-martial had made 
 declarations and assurances to that effect." 
 
 " The design with which I transmitted the memorial 
 is avowed in the letter which accompanied it. I may 
 perhaps have acted irregularly in transmitting it; but, 
 as it contained allegations, which, if true, plainly excul- 
 pated me from the charges preferred against me by the 
 magistrate of Moorshedabad, I ventured to forward it 
 to the Commander in Chief. The facts of the memorial 
 which applied to my own conduct, were intended to 
 operate as my own defence, and not to convey injuri- 
 ous insinuations against others." 
 
 " I earnestly request that I may be favoured, at 
 your earliest convenience, with a reply to such parts of 
 my application for documents as you have not noticed, 
 in the letter which I have now acknowledged." 
 
 (Signed) W. WHITE.
 
 101 
 
 LIEUTENANT WHITE. 
 
 Adjutant General's Office, Presidency of Fort William, 
 
 5th May, 1819. 
 i Sir, 
 
 " I have to acknowledge the receipt of 
 your letter of yesterday's date, and to request that you 
 will be pleased to give your attendance at this office, 
 to-morrow morning, at eight o'clock." 
 
 (Signed) JAMES NICOL, 
 
 Adjutant General of the army. 
 
 In obedienee to this order, I waited upon 
 Colonel Nicol, when he stated, that he had 
 sent for me by order of the Commander in 
 Chief, who had forbid any written reply be- 
 ing made to my letters ; that the Commander 
 in Chief would not grant the documents 
 applied for, and insisted that I dropped the 
 subject, and that no more should be heard 
 regarding it; that if, however, I persisted, it 
 would bring upon me the severest displea- 
 sure of the government, and be marked in a 
 manner injurious to my future interest. 
 Colonel Nicol added, that my appealing to 
 the court of directors was ridiculous, as they 
 would approve of the proceedings of the 
 government ; besides said he, the government 
 care not a fig about the court. 
 
 h 3
 
 102 
 
 I requested to be informed, a whether I 
 was to consider the latter part of his speech 
 as communicated by order of the Com- 
 mander in Chief?" The colonel replied "Oh 
 no, by no means ; it is only a private opi- 
 nion of my own, which I offer for your 
 consideration, and you must be as well 
 aware of the fact as I am !" 
 
 The sequel has proved, that Colonel Nicol 
 was right, and that I had most egregiously 
 mistaken the principles of my honorable 
 employers. 
 
 The Marquis of Hastings, in his general 
 orders, has declared that, — "four witnesses 
 are brought forward by the prisoners in their 
 defence, who give their testimony word for 
 word the same /" The proceedings of the 
 general court-martial are now at the India- 
 house. 1 do declare that they contain no 
 more than the evidence of one witness on 
 the part of the defence. There are added 
 the names of three other witnesses who are 
 stated, to have been called into court, and 
 who are stated to have u corroborated the 
 testimony of the former tvitness." But it 
 appears from those proceedings, that not an 
 attempt was made, by cross-questioning the
 
 103 
 
 witnesses to get at the truth, as the judge- 
 advocate does not appear to have put a sin- 
 gle question to any. 
 
 There can be no question of the motives 
 for issuing that order — I have no hesitation in 
 pronouncing it to have been resorted to with 
 a view of imposing on the minds of the offi- 
 cers of the army, the profligacy of the 
 complainants, to qualify such severity of pu- 
 nishment. — It became an object of necessity, 
 as the predicament in which the Commander 
 in Chief had placed himself by the violent 
 measure of my removal from office, and the 
 traducing my character, could alone be 
 justified by the most positive proof of the 
 parties having preferred u a false and mali- 
 cious' charge against Mr. Wray. 
 
 The Commander in Chief has also stated, 
 " that, among the grains of shot produced in 
 court as having fallen on the bed where the 
 prisoners were lying, there are several of a 
 much larger size than the quality of the shot 
 which it was proved Assistant-surgeon Wray 
 was using." 
 
 I now most solemnly before my God de- 
 clare, that when the shot were forwarded by 
 me to the magistrate, that they were not in the 
 
 h 4
 
 104 
 
 state as represented by the Commander in 
 Chief. They were all of one quality and 
 irregular shapes. The shot had been in the 
 possession of the magistrate from the 8th of 
 October until the 2nd of November, without 
 his having discovered, that " the shot were 
 flattened on both sides, as though they had 
 been bruised between two bricks!" It was not 
 discovered until after the magistrate had been 
 informed by me, in reply to his mandate of 
 the 30th of October, that the officers refused 
 to stultify themselves. If the shot were in 
 such a state when sent to the magistrate, 
 what motives can be ascribed to his con- 
 duct, when, instead of returning them to me 
 with his observations, he directed, — " that 
 the parties should be sent to him : it was in- 
 dispensably necessary that they should depose 
 upon oath to the circumstances?" When the 
 parties appeared before him, how was it, if 
 he had any private motives for not pointing 
 out the flattened shot to me, that he did not 
 do so to them? Instead of remonstrating 
 with them, how came he to force them to 
 swear to a criminal charge against Mr. 
 Wray ? — Is not the inference clear and obvi- 
 ous, that he was deliberately and maliciously
 
 105 
 
 contemplating my ruin, at the sacrifice of 
 every principle of honor, moral, religious, 
 and professional duty! — Is it not manifest, 
 that, without scruple or remorse, he ruined 
 those men to obtain his object. If the shot 
 do appear as represented by the Commander 
 in Chief, I hesitate not a moment to declare, 
 that they have been altered since / delivered 
 them to the magistrate : it could not have 
 been done without his knowledge, and must 
 have been resorted to to impose upon the 
 credulity of the Commander in Chief. It 
 ought to have been proved that they were 
 sent in such a state to him. I had abun- 
 dance of proof as to the shot delivered to 
 me, and the state they were in when trans- 
 mitted to the magistrate. 
 
 1 have already made mention of my pro- 
 perty that I was removed from. I must now 
 state,* "that at the period of my removal I had 
 laid out several thousand pounds upon a 
 building I was erecting. — No purchaser was 
 to be found in its then state ; it must be 
 finished or the money laid out thrown away. 
 His Highness the Nawab of Bengal^ a parti- 
 
 * Letter to the court of directors— Dec. 24.
 
 106 
 
 pillar friend of mine, proposed to me to 
 extend the building, and lay it out as a coun- 
 try residence for him. There being no pro- 
 bability of any other advantageous offer for 
 the disposal of the property, I embraced it. 
 When the building was nearly finished, the 
 Nawab when breakfasting with me one morn- 
 ing, stated, that Mr. Loch had paid him a 
 visit and had been endeavoring to prevent his 
 purchasing the house — that, upon his High- 
 ness's stating that he was bound to do it, and 
 that he should ; Mr. Loch, with great wrath 
 and anger, informed him, u that he should 
 write to the government to prohibit his living 
 in it, as he," Mr. Loch, " would not have the 
 roads cut up by his carriages and elephants ; 
 and left him in a passion. The Nawab con- 
 cluded by saying, that he felt Mi^. Loch's 
 conduct very insulting; that he had done 
 every thing in his power to accommodate 
 him; that he had formerly harassed him by ill- 
 using his servants, and confining them, with- 
 out his knowledge, upon false complaints, 
 neglecting to reply to his letters on the sub- 
 ject, sending and seizing, without ceremony, 
 his servants as witnesses on various occa- 
 sions : this he attributed to proceed in
 
 107 
 
 consequence of his having refused to give up 
 his principal residence to Mr. Loch : that 
 he had subsequently let him have one, after 
 which he was very polite until now ; and he 
 considered it very hard that he should be so 
 restricted : but that he was determined to 
 have the house as soon as finished. The 
 Nawab did not call again for some time ; he 
 came one morning about eight o'clock and 
 remained until twelve, and he then informed 
 me, that Mr. Loch had communicated to him 
 an order of the government positively prohi- 
 biting his purchasing or residence in it, — that 
 if he purchased, the government would 
 reduce his salary, as it was not their inten- 
 tion to allow him money to fool away. — The 
 purchase was declined, and the result was 
 the total ruin of the property. 
 
 To revert to the proceedings of the Com- 
 mander in Chief. — On the 24th of April 
 orders were issued, granting me permission, 
 according to the regulations of the service, 
 to proceed to Europe on furlough. From 
 the 30th of that month, contrary to the usage 
 of the service I was reduced to one half 
 allowances until the 1st of November, and 
 from that period all allowances were stop-
 
 108 
 
 ped. On the 11th of November I trans- 
 mitted my memorial to the government to 
 forward to the court of directors ; and, not- 
 withstanding my pay had been stopped by 
 order of the government, (of which Mr. 
 Lock's cousin had then become a member 
 of the supreme council), the Commander in 
 Chief, under these circumstances, wanted to 
 detain me in India, by holding forth a regu- 
 lation* of the East India Directors, of fifty 
 years standing, evidently framed for the 
 express purpose of precluding officers pur- 
 suing measures to obtain redress. — This re- 
 
 Letter of the Court of Directors, March, 1772; repeated, 
 SOth June, 1778. 
 * " If any commissioned officer in the company's service in the 
 East Indies, shall repair to England under pretence of obtaining 
 relief of any injury he is apprehensive of labouring under, without 
 first having applied through the governor-general of the presiden- 
 cy under which he acts, to the court of directors, for redress, 
 and who, having made such application does not continue in his 
 employ, and wait the determination of the court of directors ; but 
 shall return to Europe before an answer is given from them on 
 the subject of his complaint, he shall absolutely and entirely to 
 all intents and purposes, stand, and be held to be dismissed from 
 the Honorable Company's service, and not be restored except by 
 order of three fourths of the court of directors and court of pro- 
 prietors, according to the terms prescribed by the late act of par- 
 liament, of which you are to give the most public notice as soon as 
 possible."
 
 109 
 
 filiation forced officers under any, and the 
 most cruel circumstances, to continue in 
 India until their pleasure was known: — 
 which might be at a distance of several 
 years, or never, as most suited the conveni- 
 ence or inclination of the court : — or it at 
 once dismissed the officer their service. 
 
 My memorial of course, was accompanied 
 with a copy of the documents which had 
 passed on this unpleasant occasion ; on the 
 3rd of November, 1820, I received the fol- 
 lowing reply from the India House : 
 
 LIEUTENANT WHITE. 
 
 " Sir, 
 
 " The court having considered the proceed- 
 ings connected with your removal from the adjutancy 
 of the Moorshedahad provincial battalion, and all that 
 you have thought proper to state in your memorial of 
 the 5th of November, 1819, 1 have received their com- 
 mands to make the following communication to you." 
 
 " The court have approved of the proceeding of the 
 Commander in Chief, in removing you from the office 
 you held in the Moorshedahad provincial battalion." 
 
 " The court consider it to be unnecessary to reply 
 to the different points of your memorial of the 5th of 
 November, 1819; but, in regard to that part which 
 prays the court to consider the pecuniary damages your 
 private fortune has sustained, in consequence of your 
 removal from Moorshedahad, they do not hesitate, al-
 
 110 
 
 together, to disapprove of your conduct, in speculating 
 in that description of property (buildings and land) 
 from which the damage is alleged to have been sus- 
 tained. Upon this point the court are also of opinion, 
 that you were fully indulged in the permission given 
 you to continue your residence at Moorshedabad ; a 
 permission, of which you appear to have availed your- 
 self, during a period of fifteen months." 
 
 " The court have also had under their consideration 
 the circumstances attending your departure for Eu- 
 rope." 
 
 " It appears that, upon notifying your intention to 
 address a memorial to the court, before quitting India, 
 on the furlough which had been granted to you, your 
 attention was drawn, by order of the Commander in 
 Chief, to a regulation, which provides, that any officer 
 who, having memorialized the court, praying the re- 
 dress of grievances, does not await in India the deter- 
 mination of the court, but returns to Europe before an 
 answer is given on the subject, shall stand and be held 
 to be dismissed the company's service." 
 
 " It also appears that you were warned a second 
 time, by a letter from the adjutant-general, of the con- 
 sequences which might attend your embarkation for 
 England, with that regulation over you; and that you 
 were also verbally warned to the same effect." 
 
 " You embarked, nevertheless ; and the court are 
 of opinion, that your conduct, in this instance, indi- 
 cated the absence, on your part, of all proper feelings 
 of subordination." 
 
 " Although this opinion would lead the court to en- 
 force the penalty which you have incurred, yet, on a
 
 Ill 
 
 general review of all the circumstances of your case, 
 they have resolved to adopt a middle course." 
 
 " I am commanded then to state, that upon te nder- 
 ing your resignation of the company's service, the 
 court will grant to you a pension of fifty pounds per 
 annum." 
 
 ■* The court are the rather induced to adopt this course, 
 from observing in your letter to the adjutant-general, 
 of the 10th of November, 1818, you stated that you 
 should certainly resign the company's service immedi- 
 ately on your arrival in England." 
 
 (Signed) J. DART, 
 
 Secretary. 
 
 In reply to this letter of the court of direc- 
 tors, I observed : — 
 
 December 24, 1820. 
 " The resolution of your honorable court in ap- 
 proving of the measures of the Commander in Chief, 
 by no means surprised me : — it was rather expected, 
 as may be collected from the second paragraph of my 
 letter to your court, under date the 21st July last. 
 
 ", There is one point that has staggered me not a 
 little. — It is that of having, in vain, thrown myself 
 upon the mercy of your honorable court, " in the event 
 of my memorial not satisfactorily establishing my points, 
 that you would previous to passing sentence, afford me 
 every just opportunity to do so." 
 
 " I do now officially entreat that I may be furnished 
 with a copy of the Marquis of Hastings's dispatch rela- 
 tive to myself, as also the case of Subedar Mayput Sing. 
 Upon that dispatch your honorable court must have 
 come to the determination so unfavorable to me."
 
 112 
 
 " It would appear, that, by your court declaring, 
 that you approved of the proceeding of the Commander 
 in Chief in my removal from the Moorshedabad provincial 
 battalion, and that you considered it to be unnecessary to 
 reply to the different points of my memorial, ,, that you 
 considered the only point of reference to be " my remo- 
 val from office." I certainly have remonstrated against 
 it as an unjust and oppressive measure ; but the princi- 
 pal ground of my appeal was the unjustifiable attack 
 upon my honor, with which the Commander in Chief 
 thought proper to accompany the removal." 
 
 «' I most seriously and urgently call upon your hono- 
 rable court deliberately to reconsider your proceedings, 
 and to annul the erroneous opinion that has been formed, 
 to prevent such measures going forth to the world with 
 your sanction and concurrence. — I call upon you in 
 the behalf of those highly injured individuals and my- 
 self, in the behalf of equity, justice, and humanity, not 
 to countenance those proceedings to the indelible con- 
 viction in the minds of the natives, and more in particular 
 their Indian army, on whose steady allegiance depends 
 the fate of all their possessions, that neither mercy, 
 equity, nor justice is to be obtained !" 
 
 " I am free to confess, that should this, my second 
 and last appeal to the justice and wisdom of your hono- 
 rable court, fail of producing the desired effects, I shall 
 instantly take measures to bring before the House of 
 Commons the whole of the case, including the petition 
 of the subedar." 
 
 " The public must judge of the merits and conduct of 
 public officers. If I am compelled to enter upon the 
 stage, and canvass for public opinion, 1 am free to con-
 
 113 
 
 fess that I shall bring forward to public notice vari- 
 ous additional instances of gross injustice, tyranny, 
 and oppression, to shew that it yet continues." 
 
 "Your honorable court's orders relative to appeals, 
 must certainly be deemed incompatible with the ends 
 of justice, when it excludes an injured individual from 
 appearing in person before his judges, who are to pro- 
 nounce upon charges urged against him by superior 
 powers, and who refuse him the opportunity of re- 
 futing them. At the time that the government called 
 upon me to obey this regulation, I had not only been 
 deprived of all means of redress ; but, also, of my 
 pay. Your court, however, have not only approved of 
 my being thus oppressed and rendered destitute of the 
 means of subsistence in a foreign land, fifteen thousand 
 miles from my home and friends, but censure me for 
 having availed myself of my furlough, which twelve 
 years' service had entitled me to; the only chance of 
 restoring me to health or peace of mind." 
 
 " I am not aware that the regulations of the service 
 authorize an officer of my standing, who may chuse to 
 resign, any pension. — I feel sensible of the motives 
 which have induced your honorable court not to en- 
 force the penalty of the regulations ; but, if I decline 
 the alternative offered to me, I beg that it may not 
 be considered to proceed from ingratitude or disre- 
 S p ec t. — A proper regard for my own reputation, and the 
 sense 1 feel of injuries unmercifully heaped upon me, 
 compel me to declare, tbat if the pension of 50 pounds 
 is offered me as a remuneration for my past services of 
 twelve years' hard duty in India, while 1 hold in my 
 possession a public letter of the Marquis of Hastings, 
 
 I
 
 114 
 
 wherein he declares, in 1817, " his remembrance of my 
 merits as an officer? and the declaration in February, 
 1819, that my removal from office was not intended as a 
 mark of disgrace, — and that there was nothing against 
 me but " a want of temper ;" I must decline it as altoge- 
 ther inadequate. If, on the other hand, it is ten- 
 dered to induce me to flinch from the penalty of the 
 regulations, as the compromise of my honor, I cannot 
 but lament that your court should entertain so degra- 
 ding an opinion of me, as to suppose me capable of 
 thus tacitly registering my own incapacity and dis- 
 honor. — If my services merit any reward, it must 
 surely be allowed that it should be sufficient to enable 
 me to appear like a gentleman ; but, if my conduct 
 has been of such a nature as to render me unworthy 
 of continuing in your service, I do declare, that 
 I must be considered, not only by the regulations of the 
 service, as without claim to any provision, but totally 
 unworthy of the pension offered upon the condition of 
 my resigning. It is true that jour court does generally 
 provide for such of their officers as may, from various 
 causes, have disqualified themselves : — the invalid and 
 pension establishment lists in India, are living monu- 
 ments of your unbounded liberality." 
 
 " If the honorable court thinks it advisable, for 
 the benefit of the service, that I should resign, I trust 
 that they will not look upon it as a matter of in- 
 difference, the sacrifice of fourteen of the best years of 
 my life in their service, and relinquishing all my future 
 prospects, arising therefrom ; nor will they consider 
 me less entitled to their bounty and liberality than 
 those who have done less, and who have not served
 
 115 
 
 half as long; some who have heen found guilty of 
 robbing and plundering those committed to their 
 charge, of false musters, defrauding the government,* 
 and abandoning their post before the enemy."t 
 
 " There is one part of my public conduct, which, I 
 appeal to your honorable court, merits your serious 
 consideration at the present moment ; it ought to have 
 been rewarded before, but, though it has not, I do not 
 conceive my merit can be detached from it in conse- 
 quence. There are others which I could bring forward 
 to shew my zeal,butasl view them in the ordinary course 
 of service I attach no merit to them; but to the transaction 
 of the mutiny of Barrasut I do." My extreme youth — ■ 
 the number in open rebellion, nearly 300 — the example 
 set of subordination, in being the first of the guard 
 that did turn out to the call of authority— and, last of 
 all, the dangers I underwent, and sufferings I bore on 
 that account, were matters not of ordinary occurrence. 
 I cannot but deem this a proper opportunity to intro- 
 duce to the notice of your honorable court the sense 
 entertained by the government upon the occasion, 
 addressed by authority to Major M'Leod ; — 
 
 Fort William, August, 15, 1808. 
 " Sir, 
 
 " In answer to your letter of the 7th instant, 
 
 I am directed by His Excellency the Honorable the 
 Governor General in council, to inform you, that he 
 has been pleased to mark with particular satisfaction, the 
 propriety and good conduct of Mr. S. Kyan, who com- 
 manded the guard, and, in particular, that of Mr. Wil- 
 liam White, one of the gentlemen of that guard on the 
 
 — . ■ » - -■ ' -■ ■ — - .... — ■ - » ■ 
 
 * See Appendix, Major Mathews court-martial. 
 t See Appendix, Capt. L*******. 
 
 I 2
 
 116 
 
 night of the 30th, in manifesting the orders issued by 
 you. In consequence of which, His Excellency has 
 been pleased to order, that those two gentlemen shall 
 now be struck off the cadet establishment, and be 
 allowed to join their corps." 
 
 " I am further directed to inform you, that you will 
 order a copy of this letter to be written in the orderly 
 book of every cadet." 
 
 J. NICHOLLS, 
 (Signed) Acting adjutant general. 
 
 " Whatever merit may have been attached to this 
 zeal, manifested in the service of your honorable court 
 in my youth; although Lord Minto, a month subse- 
 quently, on the occasion of a public dinner given to his 
 Lordship by my regiment, took me aside, and conde- 
 scended to enter fully into detail upon the cause of the 
 mutiny, and to express his approbation, in high terms 
 of applause, upon my conduct throughout; and assured me 
 that when I had served a certain time with my regiment, 
 that he would reward me with an appointment : and 
 notwithstanding Major M'Leod assured me to the same 
 effect, to this hour I have received no mark of approba- 
 tion, beyond mere expression ; while I have seen the 
 ring-leader of the mutiny, and many of the foremost 
 of the mutineers, promoted to honorable and highly lu- 
 crative situations." 
 
 It is an odious thing for a man to sound forth his own 
 praise ; but, as I find I have no one to do it for me, I 
 must, therefore, in justice to myself, undertake the un- 
 pleasant but necessary office." 
 December, 24, 1820, (Signed) W. WHITE.
 
 117 
 
 LIEUTENANT WHITE. 
 
 East India House, March 29, 1821. 
 
 <i 
 
 Sir, 
 
 " The court of directors for the East India 
 company have received the letter which you addressed 
 to them, under date the 24th of December, 1820, and I 
 am commanded to inform you, that they have had again 
 under review the different points connected with the 
 subject, both as they regard yourself personally, and as 
 they relate to otber parties." 
 
 " In their letter to you, which I was directed to write 
 on the 3d of November, 1820, they considered, from 
 your correspondence with the adjutant general of the 
 Bengal army, tbat it was your wish to resign the ser- 
 vice; and thence the proposition was made to you, of 
 which I gave you intimation. Your recent letter to the 
 court seems to convey a different desire; and, there- 
 fore, the court have withdrawn the offer of the provisi- 
 onal grant to you." 
 
 " The decision which has been already passed on the 
 propriety of your removal from the Moorshedabad pro- 
 vincial battalion, and upon all the other personal ques- 
 tions to which your memorial refers, will be communi- 
 cated in the usual course to the Bengal government." 
 
 " I am further directed to inform you, that upon the 
 case of May put Sing, and Ajaib Sing, and upon the 
 conduct of other individuals connected with the trans- 
 action, the sentiments of the court of directors will also 
 be communicated in the usual course to the Bengal 
 Government." 
 
 i 3
 
 118 
 
 " I am directed further to add, that in your letter of 
 the 24th of December, 1820, the court consider that 
 you have made use of many incorrect, intemperate, and 
 improper expressions, which call for the severest re- 
 prehension of the court." 
 
 (Signed) J. DART, 
 
 Secretary. 
 
 Subsequent to the receipt of this letter se- 
 veral applications were made to the court of 
 directors ; to be indemnified for my law ex- 
 pences : upon the grounds, that a man im- 
 peached while in execution of a public of- 
 fice, upon public grounds, by his employers, 
 or their agent, his cause is as much their 
 own as it is hie, provided his measures prove 
 to have been legal ; and their purse should 
 indemnify him. If he has violated the law, 
 his person and fortune alike suffer. The 
 court reply, " your application to be indem- 
 nified for the amount of law charges, said to 
 have been expended by you, in defending 
 yourself against those imputations, which 
 have formed the subject of appeal to the 
 court is inadmissible." I applied for the 
 allowances that had been cut while I re- 
 mained in India ; and supported my claim,
 
 119 
 
 by producing the orders of the government, 
 in the case of a general officer, who was 
 eighteen months in India, after obtaining 
 leave to proceed on furlough, enjoying his 
 full allowances. This application was also 
 refused. I then applied to be furnished 
 with a copy of the orders sent to India, on 
 my case ; or to be allowed a perusal of them. 
 This request was also denied, as was every 
 other. 
 
 BREVET CAPTAIN WHITE. 
 
 East India House, 1th October, 1822. 
 Sir, 
 
 " I have laid before the Court of Directors of the 
 East India Company, your letter, requesting permission 
 to remain in this country until the sailing of the last 
 ships of next season, your furlough expiring on the 28th 
 of February next ; and in reply, I am commanded to 
 acquaint you, that the Court decline to comply with 
 your request. 
 
 (Signed) P. AUBER, 
 
 Assistant Secretary. 
 
 To The Honorable the Court of Directors for the 
 affairs of India. 
 
 " Honorable Sirs, 
 
 " I have received Mr. Assistant Secretary Au- 
 ber's letter of the 4th instant, informing me, that your 
 
 i4
 
 120 
 
 Honorable Court has declined complying with my re- 
 quest, to be allowed to remain in England until the 
 sailing of the last ships of this season." 
 
 " I must now inform your Honorable Court of the 
 causes which have occasioned my delay in England, as 
 well as that of my wish to remain.'' 
 
 " The laconic and unsatisfactory reply that was given 
 to my memorial, by your HonorableCourt, together with 
 the mystery as to the orders sent to India, and the po- 
 sitive refusal to allow me a copy of your dispatch on 
 my own case, induced me to await the arrival from In- 
 dia, of information as to their tenor. Some short time 
 since I heard that no redress had been afforded to those 
 highly injured officers, who were connected with my 
 appeal, and that severe censure had been passed, by the 
 Honorable Court, upon my conduct, for discharging 
 my duty as the law directed, together with strictures on 
 other points." 
 
 " As I had been promised an early remittance of a 
 detailed account, I wished to have awaited the arrival, 
 that I might thence have judged of the line of conduct 
 most desirable to pursue." 
 
 " I lament that your Honorable Court has forced 
 me to revert to these transactions. I must now be ex- 
 cused, notwithstanding you have refused, again en- 
 treating, that I may be furnished with a copy of your 
 dispatch to India, so far as regards myself, that I may 
 thence know what I have to expect at the hands of 
 the government there; that I may save myself the 
 trouble and expence of going out to India, provided it 
 should appear to me, that my situation in your army 
 is not, in every respect, as respectable and honorable as
 
 121 
 
 it was, previous to its being' stigmatized by the Governor 
 
 General, the Marquis of Hastings." 
 
 " I implore you to consider the equity of this request, as, 
 
 upon your declining it, I am free to confess, I shall be 
 
 compelled, in justice to myself, to resign your service. 
 
 (Signed) W. WHITE. 
 October, 11, 1822. 
 
 LIEUTENANT W. WHITE. 
 
 East India House, 17 th October, 1822, 
 
 " Sir, 
 
 " Having laid before the Court of Directors 
 
 of the East India Company, your letter of the 1 1th inst., I 
 have received their commands to acquaint you in reply 
 that, they cannot depart from the decision, passed on your 
 former application, to be furnished with a copy of their 
 despatch to the government of Bengal, on the circum- 
 stances of your case ; and which was communicated to 
 you in my letter of the 22d November, 1821." 
 
 (Signed) J. DART, 
 
 Secretary. 
 
 On the receipt of this letter, my resigna- 
 tion of the Honorable Company's service was 
 transmitted to the Court of Directors. 
 
 By the Adjutant-General's letter of the 
 12th of January, 1818, it will have been 
 observed, that my removal from the Moor- 
 shedabad Provincial Battalion, and the insults
 
 122 
 
 and injuries with which I was loaded, was 
 in consequence of evidence which appeared 
 on the proceedings of the Court of Enquiry. 
 I have, therefore, submitted an official copy 
 of that document, as furnished to me, some 
 months afterwards, by the Adjutant-General 
 of the army. 
 
 I would entreat the reader to a most at- 
 tentive perusal of that extraordinary court's 
 proceedings, to a confirmation of all that I 
 have said regarding the manner in which it 
 was conducted ; and to be convinced, that 
 the object of the court was not to investigate 
 into the truth or falsehood of the complaint 
 so much as, to enquire into my conduct and 
 to endeavour to fix a charge upon me. 
 However, in that they failed ; and have com- 
 mitted their honor, as British officers, to the 
 judgment and decision of the British nation 
 at large. 
 
 I am free to confess, that I cheerfully, and 
 without apprehension, trust to the proceed- 
 ings of the Court of Enquiry, and the letters 
 which I have submitted, to vindicate me 
 from the charges which the Marquis of 
 Hastings so inconsiderately pronounced those 
 proceedings to contain. I do hereby, in the
 
 L23 
 
 presence of my God — and before my country, 
 most solemnly deny, that it appears, either 
 from the correspondence between me and the 
 magistrate of Mooshedabad, or from any 
 other document, or evidence, of which I 
 have been informed ; or that it is true in 
 point of fact, — that 1 either directly, or indi- 
 rectly, " encouraged in individuals of the 
 battalion under my command, the monst> ous 
 supposition, that a British gentleman had, 
 'without provocation, intentionally jlred at 
 them" 
 
 Secondly, I similarly, and solemnly, deny 
 that I did, directly or indirectly, perseve- 
 ringly or otherwise, "aggravate the irritation 
 of the native officers,''' or that, in any manner, 
 / neglected or violated my moral and profes- 
 sional duly ;" and 1 also deny, that any evi- 
 dence that can justify these conclusions, has 
 been adduced. 
 
 Thirdly, I deny that I " advised the native 
 officers to make depositions before the magis- 
 trate, which are strongly tainted with a pre- 
 sumption of perjury;" as it is evident from 
 the complaint, and letter addressed by me to 
 Mr. Loch, that 1 was not aware the magistrate 
 required the complaint should be upon oath.
 
 124 
 
 That from a perusal of the complaint, trans- 
 mitted by me to the magistrate, it does not 
 appear that the complainants charged Mr, 
 Wray with having " intentionally fired at 
 them without provocation ;" and that I was 
 not at any time, before the termination of the 
 proceedings of the court of enquiry, informed 
 that the depositions contained a charge of 
 " ivilful shooting T 
 
 Lastly, I most solemnly deny, that, under 
 the circumstances which have been explained, 
 it was my duty to endeavour to sway the 
 native officers to follow the " salutary counsel" 
 of the magistrate, and avow their own in- 
 famy : and [ maintain, that, in commu- 
 nicating: to the native officers the letter 
 and requisition of the magistrate, as herein 
 before stated, 1 exceeded, what, in strictness 
 and in conformity with correct principle, was 
 my duty. 
 
 Had I acted a different part to what I 
 have done, when the wounded officers ap- 
 pealed to me, as their commanding officer, 
 for redress ; had I neglected their complaint, 
 and shown a disposition regardless of their 
 sufferings, and united with the party who 
 were so studiously and deliberately medi-
 
 125 
 
 tating upon their utter destruction for daring 
 to appeal for redress upon a most wanton 
 and aggravating assault ; so enraged and 
 exasperated were the officers, that, I solemnly 
 believe, they would not have hesitated one 
 moment in taking my life, That such in- 
 stances have occurred with the native troops, 
 is unhappily upon record.* 
 
 When the order of the Commander in 
 Chief arrived, directing my removal from the 
 corps, they were thrown into a state of 
 the utmost confusion : discontent and insu- 
 bordination prevailed in the countenance 
 
 * Madras Gazette for November, 1817. 
 " On the 30th of October, Major O'Donnell, commanding the 
 8th regiment of Madras Native Cavalry, in camp at Hurdah, 
 was murdered by a trooper of that corps. It appears that Major 
 O'Donnell was walking before his tent, when the trooper came 
 up, armed with two loaded pistols ; on the first pistol being dis- 
 charged, the major felt without sign of life. The ball pene- 
 trated between the shoulders, and so near had the pistol been 
 carried, that his clothes were set on fire. The assassin imme- 
 diately made for his lines ; but fortunately was observed return- 
 ing his pistols to the holsters of his saddle, which led to the 
 discovery of his being the perpetrator. So callous and remorse- 
 less was this wretch, that he is said to have avowed that he 
 went armed with the deliberate intention of murdering his com- 
 manding officer ; and, as appears, the spirit of revenge was 
 inspired by the most trivial cause. It is said he had gone to 
 Major O'Donnell, with some frivolous complaint, who, after 
 hearing him, viewing it as such, desired him to retire."
 
 126 
 
 and conduct of officers and men : they were 
 then engaged in cooking their meals, which 
 they, without exception of a man, threw 
 away. The officers and men hastened to my 
 quarters, many of them exclaiming, and en- 
 treating that I would permit them to draw 
 up an appeal to the Commander in Chief, 
 praying against the removal ; the officers 
 who had complained, declaring before the 
 multitude, " if there is any fault, it is ours : 
 let us be punished ; but let us have a fair trial ! " 
 To narrate all that passed on the occasion 
 would be tedious and useless ; I will, there- 
 fore, only observe, that, for two days and a 
 half, and for three nights, not an individual 
 cooked any food : the serjeant-major of the 
 regiment was up for two nights to prevent 
 meetings of the officers and men consulting 
 together. The first night, at about one 
 o'clock, he had been called up by his servant, 
 when, to his astonishment, he found several 
 hundreds assembled. That when I delivered 
 over the command of the corps to the officer 
 appointed, he was much alarmed at the ap- 
 pearance of the men. To such an extent 
 was the corps agitated, that I felt it a duty I 
 owed to myself, as well as to the govern-
 
 \% 
 
 ment, to communicate it privately lo Mr. 
 Dowdsvvell, then vice-president in council. 
 
 1 now come to a conclusion : and the 
 sequel is, that after a period of sixteen Years 
 service, in the employment of the East India 
 company, I have been compelled to resign, 
 and lose so many years of the prime of my 
 life ; or return, and be subjected to a repeti- 
 tion of what I have already suffered. 
 
 A suspicion (to say the most) entertained 
 by the Commander in Chief of India, was 
 sufficient to cancel all my claims of twelve 
 years' service, — to deprive me of an honor- 
 able employment, and also to brand my 
 character as a suborner of perjury. The 
 personal influence of the same officer has been 
 so great, in England, as not only to obtain an 
 approval of his measures, but to induce the 
 Honorable the Court of Directors further to 
 add insult to injury — by offering me a con- 
 temptible pension of fifty pounds a year, 
 provided that I would resign their service, 
 and tacitly register my own incapacity, im- 
 propriety of conduct, and consequent dis- 
 grace ;— this peace-offering is held in one 
 hand, with a threat of dismissal from the 
 service in the other, if I did not accede.
 
 128 
 
 1 hope, however, the East India Directors 
 will be convinced, that they have some officers, 
 however incapable they may be of procuring 
 redress, who will not, under any viscissitude 
 of fortune, voluntarily become instrumental 
 in their own ruin and disgrace. I hope it 
 may also convince them, that an impartial 
 administration of justice is the only bond to 
 secure the submission of their officers, or to 
 engage the affections of the people of India. 
 Every appearance of oppression, whether 
 perpetrated by the government, or masked 
 under the mockery of judicial proceedings, 
 rouse the feelings of individuals : — and when 
 the administration of justice becomes odious 
 and suspected, their servants must live in 
 dismay and despair. 
 
 W. WHITE. 
 
 London, 
 April 4th, 1823.
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 PROCEEDINGS OF A COURT OF ENQUIRY, 
 
 Assembled at Berhampore, this 20th day of October, 
 
 1817, by order of Colonel Pine, commanding the station: 
 
 President — Captain Wood, European Regiment. 
 
 Lieut. Stewart, 14th N. I. },, , 
 
 t • a , tlt t l Members. 
 
 Lieut. Anderson, 14th N. I. > 
 
 Lieutenant Swinhoe, interpreter and quarter-master, 2d 
 battalion 14th regiment N. I., attending the Court as 
 interpreter. 
 
 The Court assembled at 10 o'clock, pursuant to station 
 orders, and perused the annexed letter from the Canton- 
 ment Adjutant, dated the 18th instant, and the several 
 letters therein referred to, from which it appears that the 
 court is to investigate the circumstances of a complaint, 
 preferred by certain native commissioned and non-com- 
 missioned officers of the Moorshedabad provincial battalion, 
 against Mr. Assistant Surgeon Wray, of the honorable 
 Company's European regiment. 
 
 Mr. Wray called into Court, and also,
 
 ii APPENDIX. 
 
 FIRST EVIDENCE, 
 
 Mayput Sing, subedar, Moorshedabad provincial bat- 
 talion, who states as follows : — On the 7th instant, a 
 little after 4 o'clock, I was sitting in my hut, in the lines, 
 accompanied by Ajaib Sing, drill havildar of the battalion, 
 and Roudy Sing, havildar, and others. Whilst convers- 
 ing, I saw a gentleman (who is now in court,) level his 
 srun and fire into the hut. I was hit on the face with 
 two small shot, and Ajaib Sing with many, on various 
 parts of the body, and Roudy Sing also. I went out 
 alone to the gentleman, and said, " Do you come to my 
 hut shooting ? I am a subedar of the Moorshedabad pro- 
 vincial battalion, and have been wounded : what is your 
 name ?" The gentleman called out, " Jao, you damn 
 rais." The gentleman not mentioning his name, I asked 
 a native who accompanied him ; who replied, he was a 
 ccoly merely hired for the day, and did not know his 
 name. Ajaib Sing then stepped forward, and said, " Sir, 
 you are giving abuse to a subedar, and have wounded 
 him with shot." On this, the gentleman levelled his gun 
 at him, and cried out, " Jao, nai hum toom ko maringha."* 
 We then went and reported the business to the serjeant- 
 major, who went and spoke to the gentleman ; but I do 
 not know what conversation took place between them. The 
 gentleman then looked at our wounds. I told him there 
 would be an inquiry into the affair. He replied, in plain 
 Hindoostanee, " I am Doctor Wray : go and report it to 
 your officer." The serjeant-major was by at the time, and 
 
 * If you do not go, I will fire upon you.
 
 APPENDIX. ill 
 
 Mr. Wray was close to me when he spoke : his face was 
 a good deal flushed ; smelt of liquor, and appeared to 
 me intoxicated. Mr. Wray then went away shooting. 
 On going back to my hut, I picked up several small shot, 
 which were lying scattered over the bed, which, however, 
 had not been pierced by the shot. I took the shot to my 
 commanding officer, Lieutenant White. I saw Mr. Wray 
 again on the 9th, about 4 o'clock, with a gun in his hand, 
 standing near my hut : I was at that time returning from 
 the hospital. I observed Mr. Wray, soon afterwards, 
 walk away, and commence shooting at some distance. 
 On the 13th, about 4 in the afternoon, I was sitting in 
 my hut, with others of the battalion, and saw Mr. Wray, 
 about thirty-four paces off, level his gun towards the 
 hut, and discharge it : several of the shot struck the 
 chopper. I reported the circumstance to the ha vildar major. 
 
 Question by Mr. Wray. In what state were the 
 shot, when picked up off your bed, and delivered to 
 Lieutenant White ? 
 
 Answer. They were flattened. 
 
 The shot, which were sent to the Court along with the 
 papers received with the Cantonment Adjutant's letter, 
 were here produced, and the subedar says they are those 
 mentioned by him. There are also some others, which 
 were picked out of his body, and the bodies of the 
 havildars. 
 
 Question by Mr. Wray. The first time you saw 
 me near your hut, you said I fired my fowling-piece. 
 Did I actually fire into the hut, — or at a bird near it : 
 or, do you mean to say, I fired at you, or any body else?
 
 IV APPENDIX. 
 
 Answer. I saw no bird. Observing the piece level- 
 led at me, I conceived Mr. Wray meant to fire at me. 
 
 Question by the Court. What reason had you to 
 suppose that any British officer would intentionally fire 
 his fowling-piece at you? 
 
 Answer. I could only account for such a circum- 
 stance, by supposing the gentleman to be intoxicated, and 
 not to know what he was about. 
 
 Question by the Court. Did you see" Mr. Wray 
 before he fired into your hut : and did you hear the 
 report of any gun previously to that period 1 
 
 Answer. I neither heard the report of a musquet, at 
 the period described, nor saw Mr. Wray, until he dis- 
 charged his gun, as I have before mentioned. 
 
 Question by Mr. Wray. At the time you went out 
 to speak to me, before you went to the serjeant-major, 
 was there any other person, besides the cooly, in company 
 with me ? 
 
 Answer. I saw no one else. 
 
 Question by the Court. During the whole of your 
 conversation with Mr. Wray, did you observe any other 
 gentleman with or near him ? 
 
 Answer. I saw another gentleman, but he was afar 
 off — not within call. 
 
 Question by Mr. Wray. Did you hear me call out 
 " Jao," to you, or any one else, before I came near to 
 your hut, on the 7th ? 
 
 Answer. No. I did not. 
 
 Question by the Court. When you went to the 
 serjeant-major, did you desire him to report to your
 
 APPENDIX. V 
 
 commanding officer that Mr. Wray had find upon 
 you ? 
 
 Answer. No. Not at that time ; but after the ser- 
 jeant-major had spoken to Mr. Wray, we requested he 
 would do so. 
 
 Question by Mr. Wray. Do you know whether the 
 serjeant-major saw me fire at your hut ; or heard the 
 report ; and where was the serjeant-major at the time ? 
 
 Answer. I do not know. I found the serjeant-major 
 in his bungalow. 
 
 second evidence. 
 
 Ajaib Sing, drill-havildar, Moorshedabad provincial 
 battalion, called into court : says he was sitting in the 
 verandah of the hut of Mayput Sing, subedar of the same 
 corps, with others of the corps in company, when he 
 heard the report of a gun, and immediately felt himself 
 hit by small shot ; Mayput Sing and Roudy Sing, havil- 
 dars, were also struck. On turning round, he saw a 
 gentleman taking a gun from his shoulder, — he cannot 
 say whether the gentleman fired intentionally at them, or 
 at a bird. Mayput Sing went immediately and spoke to 
 the gentleman, who gave him abuse in English. I then 
 went out and spoke to the gentleman, who apparently 
 got into a violent passion, and levelled his piece at me, 
 and said something in English, which I did not under- 
 stand ; but he made no use of Ilindoostanee words. From 
 the gentleman acting in this manner, I conceived that he 
 was intoxicated. I then went and complained to the 
 serjeant-major, that a gentleman had come out shooting, 
 and that I and some others had been struck with his shot.
 
 Vi APPENDIX. 
 
 I found the serjeant-major standing' in his bungalow; he 
 returned with me to the gentleman, and some conversa- 
 sation, in English, ensued between them. I then said to 
 the gentleman, that I would complain against him. The 
 gentleman not understanding me, the serjeant-major 
 explained what I had said ; upon which, the gentleman 
 said to me in Hindoostanee, " I am Doctor Wray — go 
 and make your complaint against me." I then sent 
 Manorut Sing to report the circumstance to the com- 
 manding officer, Lieut. White. 
 
 On the 9th, in the afternoon, Mr. Wray came into the 
 lines to enquire for me and the subedar. Mr. Wray 
 looked at me, and asked if I was well ; I made no reply. 
 Mr. Wray then went away shooting. Two days after- 
 wards, on the 11th, I saw Mr. Wray shooting on the left 
 of the lines, where he was holding conversation with the 
 serjeant-major. On that day, Mr. Wray did not go near 
 my hut, nor did I hear that he went to Mayput Sing's : 
 from that day I have never seen Mr. Wray in the lines. 
 
 Question by the Court. How far was Mr. Wray 
 from the hut when he fired ; and how many shot struck you ? 
 
 Answer. About 29 paces ; and 26 shot struck me, 
 14 of which entered skin deep, and were taken out by 
 the native doctor and myself. 
 
 Question by the Court. Do you know of any shot 
 being taken to Lieut. White, from whence procured, 
 and in what state found ? 
 
 Answer. Yes. I assisted in taking them off the sube- 
 dar's cot, and the ground ; they were flattened. 
 
 Question by Mr. Wray. Did you pick any out of 
 the cot-frame, or were they found lying on the bedding?
 
 APPENDIX. Ml 
 
 Answer. There were none taken out of the cot-frame ; 
 they were found on the bedding, on the lloor, and some 
 in the wall : there was a cloth suspended close to the 
 wall, — the shot must have struck the cloth and wall, and 
 have fallen on the bed. 
 
 Question by Mr. Wray. Was there any person 
 near me at the time I fired, on the 7th ? 
 
 Answer. Yes ; there was a native near Mr. Wray, 
 and a syce, with a horse, on the road, and another 
 gentleman shooting some distance off. 
 
 Question by Mr. Wray. Did you hear me call 
 out " Jao,"* to you, or any one, before I came near the 
 hut, on the 7th ? 
 
 Answer. No. I did not. 
 
 Question by the Court. Do you know whether Mr? 
 Wray was firing near the lines any day after the 7th ; 
 and did you hear that his shot had struck any chopper ? 
 
 Answer. Yes. The day I saw the serjeant-major 
 conversing with Mr. Wray, to the left of the lines, May- 
 put Sing mentioned to me that Mr. Wray had been 
 shooting again near the lines, and that some of the shot 
 had struck the chopper of his hut. 
 
 Question by Mr. Wray. Was there any other 
 gentleman shooting on the same ground, on the day I 
 spoke to the serjeant-major (not on the 7th)? 
 
 Answer. There was another gentleman shooting, but 
 not very near the lines. 
 
 Question by the Court. Do other gentlemen fre- 
 cpjent the ground, near your lines, to shoot ? 
 
 Go.
 
 Vlll APPENDIX. 
 
 Answer. No. I have never seen any. 
 It being past three o'clock, the court adjourns till 10 
 o'clock to-morrow morning. 
 
 21st October, 1817. 
 
 The court having met this day, at 10 o'clock, pursu- 
 ant to adjournment, the under-mentioned evidences are 
 called in, viz. 
 
 THIRD EVIDENCE, 
 
 Archibald M'Koy, serjeant-major of the Moorshedabad 
 provincial battalion ; he states as follows : 
 
 On the afternoon of the 7th inst. between the hours of 
 four and five, subedar Mayput Sing, Ajaib Sing, havil- 
 dar-major, and Roudy Sing, havildar, came and informed 
 me that a gentleman was fowling in the lines, and that 
 they had been struck with shot, while sitting in Mayput 
 Sing's house. I went out, and saw a gentleman at a 
 distance from the lines— 30, 40, or 50 yards. On ap- 
 proaching the gentleman, he said, " I believe I have 
 struck one of your men." I replied, " No, Sir, you have 
 not only struck one, but you have wounded three, — a 
 subedar, a havildar-major, and a kote havildar." On 
 saying this, I turned round and shewed these people to 
 the gentleman : who examined them, and said, "they will 
 be no worse than they are." He then looked towards 
 the lines, and said, " that is a great distance, I did not 
 think these small shot could have carried so far." I was
 
 APPENDIX. IX 
 
 going away, when the havildar-major said to the gen- 
 tleman, " I will complain of you :" the latter then 
 asked me what the havildar said ; I explained it to him. 
 He then observed to me, " Let him complain — my name 
 is Doctor Wray." He also spoke to the same effect in 
 Hindoostanee, to the havildar-major ; but I do not recol- 
 lect the precise words. At the desire of the native officers 
 concerned, I had the business reported to the commanding 
 officer. 
 
 Question by Mr. Wray. When I held the conver- 
 sation with you, at the time you have now mentioned, did 
 I not express myself to the following effect? viz. : ~ 
 " I am sorry the accident has happened. I am Dr. 
 Wray. I request of you to inform Lieut. White of it. 
 The people are very little the worse." 
 
 Answer. Mr. Wray only spoke as I have before 
 stated. 
 
 Question by Mr. Wray. Did } r ou not tell me, that 
 the native officers had mentioned to you, they would have 
 said nothing about it, if I had not turned round and abused 
 them? 
 
 Answer. I told Mr. Wray, that the subedar had 
 mentioned to me, he would have said nothing about it, 
 if the gentleman had not abused him. 
 
 Question by Mr. Wray. Did I appear drunk at 
 the time ? 
 
 Answer. No : I did not think Mr. Wray drunk. He 
 appeared flushed ; but whether from the heat of the sun, 
 or from what had happened, I cannot say.
 
 X APPENDIX. 
 
 Question by Mr. Wray. Did I appear sorry for 
 what had happened ? 
 
 Answer. It did not appear to me so, as Mr. Wray 
 went away fowling immediately after. 
 
 Question by the Court. There appears, among the 
 papers sent to the Court by the cantonment adjutant, one 
 which contains the complaint of the native officers, drawn 
 U P by you. Were you ordered to draw up that 
 complaint ? 
 
 Answer. I was ordered by my commanding officer, 
 Lieut. White, to take down the complaint on paper. 
 
 Question by the Court. Did the subedar, or any 
 other person of the corps, make any further complaint 
 against Mr. Wray ? 
 
 Answer. On the 9th instant, the havildar major 
 reported to me, that the gentleman who had fired into the 
 lines on the 7th, had come to his hut, and enquired if he 
 were better : the havildar major said he had told the 
 gentleman he was better, and that he had complained of 
 him : the gentleman made answer, " Very well." That 
 the gentleman had again fired off his gun close to the 
 subedar's hut, but in a contrary direction to it. On the 
 13th, in the evening, I saw Mr. Wray shooting near the 
 magazine, which is situated on the left of the lines, about 
 150 paces from the subedar's hut; it may be more. I 
 went to Mr. Wray, and told him, that if I saw any 
 gentleman shooting within the limits of the lines, I had 
 received orders to give Lieut. White's compliments, that 
 there was an order against it. Mr. Wray then said,
 
 APPENDIX. XI 
 
 " Very well ; shew me the limits." I then pointed them 
 out, and he went away. Soon after I returned home, 
 the havildar major came, and reported, that the same 
 gentleman, who had lately fired into the lines, had again 
 done so ; and that some shot had fallen on the chopper 
 of the subedar Mayput Sing's hut, and some on the 
 ground ; and that the subedar had just made that report 
 to him. 
 
 Question by Mr. Wray. Are gentlemen accustomed 
 to shoot near your lines ? 
 
 Answer. Sometimes gentlemen come ; but I never 
 saw any so near as Mr. Wray was on the 7th. I have 
 seen them often on our side the Kutcha road. This road 
 may be from 250 to 300 yards from the subedar's hut, as 
 far as I can judge. The hut is in the rear of the 3d or 
 4th company. 
 
 Mayput Sing, subedar, again called into Court, and 
 the following questions put to him : — 
 
 Question by Mr. Wray. When you went to your 
 commanding officer, did you request to be sent to Mr. 
 Loch, the magistrate ; or what did you request to be done 
 on this occasion ? 
 
 Answer. I requested that the matter might be 
 enquired into. I was ordered, by Lieut. White, to 
 attend before Mr. Loch. 
 
 Question by the Court. Would you have been 
 satisfied with your commanding officer procuring you 
 satisfaction for the injury of which you complain, in any 
 other manner, than that of sending you to make oath 
 before the adawlut ?
 
 XU APPENDIX. 
 
 Answer. I had no wish to be taken before Mr. Loch, 
 the magistrate. I wished a proper investigation should 
 take place. I wished an enquiry before a court martial. 
 
 Ajaib Sing, havildar major, again called into Court, 
 and the following questions put to him : — 
 
 Question by Mr. Wray. When you went to your 
 commanding officer, did you request to be sent to Mr. 
 Loch, the magistrate; or what did you request to be 
 done on this occasion ? 
 
 Answer. I requested that the matter might be 
 enquired into. I was ordered, by Lieut White, to attend 
 before Mr. Loch. 
 
 Question by the Court. Would you have been 
 satisfied with your commanding officer procuring you 
 satisfaction for the injury of which you complain, in any 
 other manner, than that of making oath before the 
 adawlut? 
 
 Answer. I wished the matter to be investigated by 
 Mr. Loch, as cases in the corps are sometimes sent before 
 him. 
 
 The Court does not deem it necessary to examine any 
 more witnesses on behalf of the complainants.* Mr. Wray, 
 on being called upon for his reply, expressed a wish to 
 defer it till the 23d instant : the Court, therefore, adjourns 
 till that day. 
 
 * Evidence in attendance : the native Doctor ; Manorut Sing, 
 Naik, or Corporal; Htirdial Tewaree, Naik ; Bowany Sing, 
 Sepoy ; Manorut Sing, Sepoy.
 
 APPENDIX. Xlll 
 
 23d October, 1817. 
 
 The Court having re-assemb!ed at 10 o'clock, pursuant 
 to adjournment, Mr. Wray replies to the complaint pre- 
 ferred against him, as follows : — 
 
 That I should be wilfully guilty of deliberately firing 
 my fowling piece, at men whom I had never before seen, 
 or from whom I had never received the slightest provoca- 
 tion, I trust there is no one in this Court will for a moment 
 believe : yet, on perusal of the papers before the Court, 
 and from the evidence of the native officers, given before 
 Mr. Loch, the magistrate, and before this Court, it would 
 appear that those native officers considered me capable of 
 so heinous an offence. Why those officers (knowing, as 
 they unavoidably must, that the shot which were fired 
 from my gun struck them by mere accident,) should 
 swear that I took aim, and fired at them, I am unable to 
 conceive. It could hardly be for the purpose of extorting 
 money from me; or, when I went to see them, two 
 evenings after the accident, they would have given me a 
 hint to that effect. 
 
 That any person could be so insidious and evil-minded, 
 as to invite those officers to give such evidence as to 
 endanger the life of a fellow being, I can scarcely suppose. 
 However, as evidence to that effect has been given against 
 me by those officers, I will, without further comment, 
 endeavour to state to the Court the circumstances as they 
 occurred, before and after the accident, to the best of my 
 recollection ; and will also bring forward such evidences in 
 support of my statement, as were present on the occasion.
 
 XIV APPENDIX. 
 
 On the afternoon of the 7th instant, Lieut. Ledlie and 
 I went out snipe shooting-, between Mr. Travers's house 
 and the lines of the Moorshedabad Provincial Battalion : 
 in passing- them, I was a short distance to the right of 
 Lieut. Ledlie, and somewhat nearer them. When we had 
 arrived within a short distance of the lines, I saw some 
 sepoys under a matted house, or shed, and called to them 
 to go away. I made use of the word " Jao" once or 
 twice. One of the servants who was along with me also 
 called out to them ; and I believe they did go away, or 
 appeared to do so. On proceeding a little further, one 
 or two snipes rose up, and was flying nearly parallel to 
 the lines, when I fired, and the bird fell a short distance 
 from the huts. When the bird fell, there were two or 
 three other birds flying; and Lieut. Ledlie called out, 
 " You have killed two." I replied, " No; only one." 
 I took up the bird, and turned back from the lines; and, 
 when I had gone about 150 paces, a person came out, and 
 made a great noise ; but, as I did not understand what he 
 said, I called out, " Chooprao — you, sir;"* but he still 
 continued to make a noise. I then went towards Mr. 
 Travers's house ; but not finding any snipes, I returned 
 towards Lieut. Ledlie, who was at some distance from the 
 lines. On my way, I saw the serjeant-major and some 
 men advancing towards me. I went up to them, and 
 asked the serjeant-major what was the matter ? He said 
 that I had shot three men, and two of them officers. I 
 answered, "Two officers! Wliat officers? Are they 
 
 * Bo quiet, Sir.
 
 U'PENDIX. XV 
 
 European officers?" He replied, " No; two native 
 officers." I asked to see them; and he pointed to three 
 natives : upon which I went and examined them, and 
 found one had received a grain of shot in his forehead, 
 which had just penetrated the skin, and, I believe, one in 
 the lip. Another of them had received a grain of shot 
 in the ear, and a few on the breast, which had only just 
 penetrated the skin. The third man had received a few 
 grains in his arm. After having examined the people 
 carefully, I said to the serjeant-major, that there were 
 none of them seriously hurt, or that they were very little 
 the worse. They afterwards said something, which I did 
 not understand ; and, upon asking the serjeant-major, he 
 told me, that they said they would tell their commanding 
 officer. I replied, " By all means ;" and asked who was 
 their commanding officer? He said, Lieut. White. I then 
 told him to inform Mr. White that my name was Wray, — 
 Doctor Wray, and that I was sorry such a thing should 
 have happened ; but that it was entirely accidental. He 
 told me the sepoys would not have said any thing about 
 it, had I not abused one of them, when they came to tell 
 me of it ; but with which circumstance I am totally unac- 
 quainted, more than that I said, " Chooprao, sir, jao." 
 In short, I cannot conceive how I could have abused them, 
 not being at all conversant in the Hindoostanee language, 
 having been but a short time in India, and not knowing 
 the meaning of many more words than those I have already 
 mentioned. I afterwards went to Lieut. Ledlie, and told 
 him the circumstance, and that the people were not 
 severely hurt.
 
 XVI APPENDIX. 
 
 Two nights after the accident happened, I went out 
 shooting with Lieut. Davies, of the 20th regiment N. I.; 
 and, when near the lines of the provincial battalion, I left 
 my fowling piece with my servant, and proceeded to the 
 house where the people had been wounded, to enquire for 
 them. On my arrival there, a sepoy (as far as I could 
 understand by his signs) induced me to suppose that none 
 of the people were within. He afterwards came out, and 
 beckoned me to follow him ; and, on going a short 
 distance, we met one of the people who had been hurt, 
 who shewed me his arm, on which I could hardly perceive 
 (except by slight black marks) where the shots had struck. 
 I said to him, " Uch ha :" he replied, " Buhoot uch ha," 
 and appeared quite satisfied, and not to bear me the 
 slightest ill will, as far as I could judge from his counte- 
 nance. It appears, from the papers adduced, that this 
 visit to the lines has been construed into another offence. 
 If it was one, I can only say, I was actuated by the best 
 of motives, viz. that of seeing if the people were quite 
 recovered ; and, if they were not, to see whether I could 
 be of any assistance to them. I shall now beg leave to 
 call Lieut. Ledlie, who will prove, that, at the time we 
 suppose the sepoys were wounded, he saw me fire at a 
 snipe, and that he called out, " You have killed two of 
 them;" as, at the time I fired, two or three birds were 
 flying aAvay. He will also prove, that I had frequently 
 fired so near the lines, as, in his opinion, to be heard by 
 the men there. I also beg leave to call two natives, who, 
 having been present with me all the time I was out 
 shooting, will prove that I fired at a snipe, at the time
 
 APPENDIX. XV11 
 
 they supposed the natives were wounded ; but they say 
 the bird was not killed. As I had killed lour or five 
 before I fired at this, (which my servants, if necessary, 
 will prove,) it is possible they may not now recollect- 
 however, this is immaterial. I trust it will be sufficient, 
 if they prove that I fired at the snipe ; and that they did 
 not know I had wounded any person, till informed by a 
 sepoy some time afterwards ; and that I did not wilfully 
 fire at any one, during the time I was out shooting. The 
 servants, and Lieut. Ledlie will also prove that I was not 
 drunk, as has been vilely alleged against me by the native 
 officers. I beg leave, also, to remind the Court, that the 
 serjeant-major corroborates their testimony in this 
 respect. 
 
 The Court, without any remarks from me, must be 
 aware, that many of the grains of shot produced in Court 
 could not have been fired out of my fowling piece, 
 because they are flattened on both sides, as if they had 
 been battered between two flat stones ; which could not 
 have been the case, had they struck against a coarse 
 cloth, or mud wall, as is stated by the native complainants. 
 Neither could the number produced here possibly have 
 been collected, except the fowling piece had been fired 
 within a very few paces of some hard substance, from 
 which they might have been extracted ; but as it has 
 been stated, that the shot had scarcely force sufficient to 
 penetrate through a coarse cloth, or more than the outer 
 skin of a man, it will be quite unnecessary to state, that 
 a single charge of shot, and that snipe shot, fired at such 
 a distance, as to produce no greater effect than what is
 
 XV111 APTENDIX. 
 
 mentioned, must have spread so considerabty, as to 
 prevent the possibility of collecting the quantity produced 
 in Court. 
 
 Adverting to the additional complaint, preferred by 
 the subedar, viz. my having levelled my gun towards his 
 hut, at a distance of 34 paces, and discharged it, when 
 several of the shot struck his chopper, I cannot help 
 observing to the Court, that it gives me additional reason 
 for being convinced, that the whole of the circumstances 
 of this unfortunate accident have been most maliciously 
 misrepresented; for I declare, after the 7th instant, I 
 never was shooting within 150 yards of the subedar's hut, 
 (which I hope to prove to the satisfaction of the Court,) 
 having purposely avoided doing so. 
 
 Near the lines, the ground is marshy, and more snipes 
 to be found there, than at any other place near canton- 
 ments ; consequently, I had greater inducement to shoot 
 there. Lieut. Ledlie, who was also in the habit of shooting 
 there, can substantiate my assertion. Having now, to the 
 best of my recollection, stated the whole of the facts as 
 they occurred, I shall now produce my evidences. I am 
 sure the Court will do me the justice to believe, that it is 
 with sensations of the deepest regret, I appear before it, 
 with my character branded with the foul stigma of 
 drunkenness and inhumanity. Although my conscience 
 acquits me of crimes like these, yet, in justice to myself, 
 I think it expedient to call on Major Broughton, my 
 commanding officer, (who has known me since my arrival 
 in India,) and Dr. Keys, and Mr. Surgeon Browne, under 
 whom I attend daily, at the regimental hospital, to state,
 
 API* END IX. XIX 
 
 if they ever heard of my being, at any time, intoxicated, 
 and to speak to my general character and disposition ; 
 which testimony, with what I have already brought 
 forward, will, I trust, be sufficient to exculpate me in 
 the opinion of this Court, and of his Excellency the Most 
 Noble the Commander-in-Chief, for whose perusal, I hope 
 and solicit that these proceedings may be transmitted. 
 
 EVIDENCE FOR MR. WRAY. 
 
 Lieut. Ledlie, European regiment, called into Court, 
 states as follows : — 
 
 Mr. Wray and I went out snipe shooting, on the after- 
 noon of the 7th instant, in the rear of the lines of the 
 provincial battalion, where we had been before. I saw 
 Mr. Wray fire several shots : one in particular, when 
 he was near the huts, I thought killed a brace ; and I 
 called out to him, to that effect. I then went on shooting. 
 About ten minutes afterwards, I saw a sepoy, with five 
 or six natives, proceeding towards Mr. Wray. It struck 
 me, that there must have been some accident, and was 
 thinking of turning back, to assist Mr. Wray in speaking 
 to the natives ; but, on observing the serjeant-major still 
 there, I went on. A short time afterwards, Mr. Wray 
 joined me, and mentioned, that he had wounded some 
 men, and seemed much distressed. I told him not to be 
 so, as I had often .seen trifling accidents, of a similar 
 nature, without any bad effects attending them. We then 
 went home.
 
 XX APPENDIX. 
 
 Question by the Court. How far off from the 
 nearest hut was Mr. Wray, when he fired the shot, which 
 you suppose occasioned the accident ? 
 
 Answer. To the best of my recollection, about 70 or 
 80 yards. 
 
 Question by Mr. Wray. You know the shot used 
 by me : do you think those now before the Court, 
 and produced by the native officers, are the same kind ? 
 
 Answer. Certainly not : yours are patent, and those 
 do not appear so. On inspecting them, I observe many 
 are flattened on both sides, which appears to me unaccount- 
 able, as I do not believe they could be so flattened, when 
 fired against a mud wall, or indeed any substance. 
 
 Question by Mr. Wray. Have you ever seen any 
 person shoot on the same ground we were on, on the 7th, 
 when the accident took place ? 
 
 Answer. Yes; that very evening I observed an 
 European, in a white jacket, with a fowling piece in his 
 hand, walk over the ground where the serjeant-major was 
 speaking to you. I have also heard people speak of the 
 spot, as being snipe ground ; and there is no doubt, but 
 it must have been frequented. 
 
 Question by Mr. Wray. Was I at all intoxicated 
 that evening ? 
 
 Answer. No; certainly not: nor did I ever see you 
 in that state ; and I can safely say, that you are particu- 
 larly abstemious; — an assertion, I am sure, will be 
 supported by every officer in the corps. 
 
 Question by the Court. As you reside in the same 
 house with Mr. Wray, do you know of his being out
 
 APPENDIX. XXI 
 
 shooting, near the lines of the provincial battalion, since 
 the 7th. 
 
 Answer. I do not know what direction he might have 
 taken, but he went out once after that, I believe on the 
 9th, with Lieut. Davies. I do not think he could have 
 gone out since, without my knowing it, as he almost 
 always asks me to accompany him. I have not been out 
 with him since the 7th. 
 
 SECOND EVIDENCE. 
 
 Lala Kungaly, servant to Mr. Wray, called into Court, 
 says, that he accompanied his master out shooting, on the 
 afternoon of the 7th. Mr. Wray went to a spot near the 
 lines of the provincial battalion. When about 100 paces 
 from a hut, where some men were sitting, Mr. Wray 
 called out, " Jao, jao." Two snipes got up soon after- 
 wards : his master fired at them. The men then came 
 out of the hut, and made a great noise, saying, that a 
 gentleman had wounded them, and was walking off. A 
 crowd collected, and some one called out, " Mar, mar? 1 ' 
 who is that? " Beetee choot," who won't give his name. 
 His master not understanding Hindoostanee, did not 
 know what the men sakl, but called out to them to 
 " Chooprao." The crowd approaching, his master sent 
 for Mr. Ledlie. Soon afterwards, ihe serjeant-major 
 came up, with the subedar and others. Mr. Wray and 
 the scrjeant-major held some conversation in English. 
 Mr. Wray then examined the native officers, who had 
 been struck by shot. The subedar said he should com- 
 plain to his commanding officer, which his master not
 
 XX11 APPENDIX. 
 
 understanding, the serjeant-major explained to him. 
 Some conversation then ensued in English ; and the 
 serjeant-major said to the native officers, " The gentleman 
 says his name is Dr. Wray, and that you may go and 
 complain." Mr. Wray did not say any thing to the 
 native officers. 
 
 Two or three days afterwards, in the afternoon, he 
 accompanied his master to the lines of the provincial 
 battalion, shooting. Mr. Wray left his gun with the 
 evidence, and went to the hut where the accident had 
 happened. Mr. Wray soon returned, and continued 
 shooting, at a distance of 200 yards from the lines : he is 
 sure not nearer. 
 
 Two or three days after this, the evidence accompanied 
 his master close to Lieut. White's new house — about 200 
 yards on the left of the lines. The serjeant-major came 
 up and spoke to Mr. Wray ; who immediately went away 
 from the lines. 
 
 Question by Mr- Wray. Did you see me put my 
 gun to my shoulder, and level at any of the men who 
 came out of the hut, or at any person, on the 7th, or at 
 any other time ? 
 
 Answer. No. 
 
 Question by Mr. Wray. Did you hear me, either 
 in Hindoostanee or in English, abuse any of the party ? 
 
 Answer. No. You did not. 
 
 Question by the Court.- Was Mr. Wray at all in- 
 toxicated at the time? 
 
 Answer. Certainly not ; he was just in the same 
 state he is now.
 
 appendix. xxiii 
 
 THIRD EVIDENCE. 
 
 Dussain Bearer, in Mr. Wray's service, called into 
 court; says he always accompanies his master in his 
 shooting excursions ; corroborates the evidence given by 
 the former witness, except that part which relates to Mr. 
 Wray's conver ^tion with the serjeant-major, as he had 
 then been sent by his master to Mr. Ledlie. 
 
 Question by Mr. Wray. Did you see me put my 
 gun to my shoulder and level at any of the natives who 
 came out of the hut, on the 7th, or any other time ? 
 
 Answer. No. I did not. 
 
 Question by Mr. Wray. Did you hear me, either 
 in Hindoostanee or English, abuse any of the party ? 
 
 Answer. No. My master never said any thing but 
 " Jao, Jao." 
 
 Question by the Court. Was Mr. Wray at all 
 intoxicated at the time ? 
 
 Answer. Not in the least. 
 
 Doctor Keys, superintending surgeon, on being called 
 upon by Mr. Wray, states as follows : 
 
 " I have had daily intercourse with Mr. Assistant Sur- 
 geon Wray since my arrival at this station, and the best 
 opportunities of judging of his conduct, which enables 
 me to afford to the court the most unequivocal testimony 
 in favor of his correct, benevolent, and gentleman-like 
 demeanor on all occasions of public duty, or private asso- 
 ciation ; and which pleasing traits of character, united 
 to manners uncommonly mild and conciliatory, and of 
 habits strictly temperate, he is one of the last persons 
 whom I should think capable of committing any offensive
 
 XXIV APPENDIX. 
 
 or wanton act of aggression whatever; and certainly not 
 of the nature of that with which he is at present charged." 
 
 Major Broughton, commanding the Honorable Com- 
 pany's European regiment, being called upon by Mr. 
 Wray, states as follows : 
 
 " Mr Wray has been under my immediate command 
 near a twelvemonth, during which time I have had daily 
 opportunities of observing him, in the discharge of the 
 duties of his profession, as well as all those of social life ; 
 and I have no hesitation in saying, that, throughout the 
 whole circle of my acquaintance, I do not know a young 
 man more distinguished by gentleness of his manners, 
 the humanity of his disposition, or the temperance of his 
 habits. I consider his having been guilty of the crimes 
 he is charged with as a moral impossibility." 
 
 Mr. Surgeon Browne, European regiment, states to 
 the court, in behalf of Mr. Wray, as follows : 
 
 " Since Mr. Wray joined the regiment I have had 
 daily intercourse with him, both public and private ; and 
 from his humanity to all under his care, on the bed of sick- 
 ness, as well as his conciliatory conduct on all occasions, I 
 consider him incapable of the acts with which he is 
 charged." 
 
 Mr. Wray begs to state, that there are many other 
 gentlemen in attendance, ready to offer similar testimony ; 
 but he does not conceive there is any necessity for call- 
 ing upon them. 
 
 The Court therefore closes its proceedings. 
 (Signed) W. H. Wood, Captain and President. 
 A TRUE COPY. 
 
 J as. Nicol, Adjutant- General. 
 
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