+10 /// I ■ ■ H LETTER TO THE HONOURABLE The Direitors of the Eaft-India Company, FROM ANDREW STUART, Efq; RESPECTING The Condua: of Brigadier-general JAMES STUART, at Madras. [December, 1778.] •$-$■ -$ • ^•-^H^-*-^-fr'^"§--^-^--4H t ~ ! ^"^~?'"^""fr ■ ■$ •■ 9 •■&••$ • ! t £ --$ -&•••$"$ ■$*$■■$ • $•■$ ^-4"^ ! '"^ •'5 s " DS o c e GENTLEMEN, T T is now near eighteen months fmce I had the honour of addreffing X to you any requeft or application in behalf of my Brother, Colonel Stuart, who for fome time paft has been Brigadier-general in the fervice of the Honourable Eaft India Company. I have at all times thought it my duty to abftain from giving you unneceflary trouble, and though frequently urged to reprefent to you the peculiar hard- fhips of my Brother's cafe, it appeared to me more fuitable to re- frain from any remonftrances, until we fhould know here the event of his trial by a Court-martial, for which orders were fent to India, by e the Company's general letter of the 4th of July, 1777. But the difpatches recently received from Madras, which contain an account of what has palled there, in relation to the propofed Court- martial, put me under the unavoidable neceffity of immediately foliat- ing your attention to the peculiarity of my Brother's fituation. Without partiality or prejudice, I may venture to fay, that the circum- ftances of his cafe, when deliberately and candidly confidered, will be found worthy of your mod ferious attention ; and, I truft will call aloud for fome immediate redrefs, to ftop the further progrefs of the accumu- lated feverities, hardfhips, and indignities, which appear to me to have been inflicted on Colonel Stuart, a perfon fucceeding, by your own appointment, to be Commander in Chief of your army in theCar- natic. B Thefe ( 2 ) Thefc fcverities have been inflicted, not only antecedent to any trial of his conduct, but without any proper evidence of his being culpable ; and the influence and effects of them ftill continue to fubfift with full force and rigour againft him, in confequence of the refufal he has lately met with at Madras, of a Court of Enquiry* or a trial by a Court-martial. This enquiry and trial you had, by your orders, fent by the Bcfbo- rough in July 1777, directed to take place, and in conformity with that direction, Colonel Stuart, flattering himfelf that the wifhed- for moment was arrived for vindicating his character and conduct on the fpot where the tranfactions had happened, and that a period would foon be put to his fufferings, folicited that public trial in the moil earneft and fervent manner ; but hitherto in vain ; — for the rcfult brought by the laft difpatches from Madras, is, that the Governor and Council there, at the fame time that they refufe the trial fo earneflly requefted, and even inflflcd upon by Colonel Stuart as his right ; are pleafed, in confequence of the directions they had received from home, to continue for an indefinite time that fufpenfion, which, in the early flages of this bufinefs, had been inflicted during the fpace of fix months. The confequence now is, that after having exerted himfelf, while Commander in Chief of your forces, in the molt indefatigable and confefledly ufeful manner for the interefts of the Company, by many new military regulations, and by putting the army and military ports in the Carnatic on the mod refpcctable footing, of which the Com- panv, if I am rightly informed, has received undoubted intelligence, and from which, by the circumftances of the times, they may pro- bably foon feel material advantages : 1 fay, after thefe exertions, which, jointly with the baneful influence of the climate on European confti- tutions, have greatly impaired his health ; he finds himfelf degraded from the firft military fltuation, with fevere marks of difplcafure, waiting the return of the difpatches lately brought home ; and fuf- fciing in this unpleafant interval, all the anxieties and impatience 8 incident ( 3 ) incident to an officer of fpirit, eKpofed to the continuance of the pre- judices and aiperfions with which his character and conduct had, in the firft heats of party-rage, been affailed, without any means afforded him of vindicating his honour, by oppofing, in the courfe of a public trial, authentic facls and proofs to groundlefs or illiberal imputa- tions. To fatisfy you, Gentlemen, that there is nothing exaggerated in this fhort fketch of his fituation, I muff beg your permiffion, to bring under your view, fome of the moft ftriking incidents which have hap- pened fince the period when he received from you his firft commiffion in the fervice of the Honourable Eaft India Company. In the year 1775, Colonel Stuart, at that time a Lieutenant-Colonel of many years ftanding in the King's fervice, was, with his Maje fly's permiflion, appointed fecond in command of all the Company's forces upon the coaft of Coromandel, with the rank of Colonel in their fer- vice ; and by the fame appointment, it was fettled and eftablifhed, that upon the death, refignation, or removal of the then Commander in Chief Sir Robert Fletcher, the command in chief, with the fame rank of Brigadier-General, fhould devolve upon and be enjoyed by Colonel Stuart. — Upon the faith of thefe agreements and appointments Colonel Stuart entered into the Honourable Company's fervice, and failed for India. He left England in November 177^, and arrived at Madras in May 1776. Before his arrival, there had been many difputes and diffentions between Lord Pigot the Governor, and the Members of the Council at Madras. The contefl: and animofity between them with regard to their refpedtive powers and privileges, as well as with regard to fome matters of government, was far advanced at the time of Colonel Stuart's arrival, and according to all appearances in away of increafing daily. I have letters in my poffefllon from my Brother foon after his arrival, mentioning thefe diffentions, and his intentions to avoid taking part B 2 with ( 4 ) with cither fide in their difputes, and to apply himfclf entirely to his own bulinefs in the military line. In particular, the diflention between Lord Pigot the Governor, and Sir Robert Fletcher the Commander in Chief, foon increafed to fuch a height, that in the month of July 1776, Lord Pigot iffued an order for putting Sir Robert Fletcher under arreft, and offered the command of the army to Colonel Stuart, then fecond in command. This, though a very inviting offer, Colonel Stuart declined; he accommodated the dif- ferences between the Governor and Commander in Chief; prevailed on Lord Pigot to withdraw the arreft ; and Sir Robert Fletcher was thus- continued in the command of the army. In the month of Auguft 1776, the difputes between Lord Pigot the Prefident, and the Majority of the Members of Council, came to fuch ex- tremities, that it was evident there could be no further hopes of accommo- dation between parties who confidered their powers, and the conftitu- tional government at Madras, in fuch oppofite points of view. — It was the cr'ifis of a conteft in which there was no likelihood of either party voluntarily yielding to the other, — a fituation which almofl unavoidably produces the neceffity of reforting to ftrong and violent meafures for afferting or preventing the annihilation of thofe powers which the contending parties feverally think themfelves entitled to exercife. It was this cri/is and neceffity which probably made Lord Pigot, on rhe one hand, think himfelf entitled to refort to the violent meafures to which he had recourfe on the 22d and 23d of Auguft. 1776; when his tordfhip firft fufpended from their offices two of the Members of the Ma- ioiity of Council, and then fufpended the whole of them, ordering at the fame time Sir R.obert Fletcher the Commander in Chief under arreft, upon a charge of exciting mutiny and fedition among the troops in gamfon, which was inferred from his concurring with the Majority of Council in a protefi: figned and circulated by them on the 23d of Auguft. On the other hand, it was probably the fame crifu and neceffity gave rife to the idea and to the refolution taken by the Ma- 3 j° rit y ( 5 ) jority of Council, and by Sir Robert Fletcher the Commander in Chief, upon the fame 23d of Auguft, when they afTumed the reins of go- vernment, and figned an order to Colonel Stuart the fecond in com- mand, on whom they conferred the temporary command of the army on account of the indifpofition of Sir Robert Fletcher, by which order they required him, Colonel Stuart, to put them, the Majority of Council, in poflefllon of the fort-houfe, fortrefs and garrifon of Fort St. George, and to arreft the perfon of Lord Pigot the Governor. By the fame order, the Majority conferred upon Colonel Stuart the command of the garrifon of Fort St. George, during the prefent danger. Here I think it proper to declare that it is by no means my intention to criminate or exculpate either Lord Pigot, and the Gentlemen who ad- hered to him, or the oppofite party compofed of the Majority of the Mem- bers of Council : I do not wifh to embark myfelf in any part of that con- troverfy relating to the merits of the queftions which firft produced the diflentions, and afterwards the total rupture between Lord Pigot and the Majority of Council; for befides a natural diflike to all manner of con- troverfies where I am not necefTarily and unavoidably called upon to take a parr, I do apprehend that the merits of my Brother's cafe, ftand upon grounds totally feparate and diftinct from thofe which have been contefted between Lord Pigot on the one hand, and the Majority of Council on the other; I have hitherto avoided, both in the India-houfe and in Parliament, taking any fhare in the queftions agitated between thefe parties, and it is my intention to continue to do fo, unlefs points fhould occur where my Brother's honour or intereft might happen to be effentially affeded, and in which I may think him fo much in the right, as to make it an unavoidable duty on me to ftand forward in his behalf. I mean, therefore, here to confine myfelf to the particular circum- ftances under which Colonel Stuart acted, in obedience to orders from Superiors, whom he thought himfelf bound to obey, without taking upon myfelf to fay or infinuate, whether thefe Superiors did right or ( 6 ) or wrong, in i (Tiling thofe orders; neither {hall I prefume to give an opinion, whether the violent ads, either of the one party or the other, were right in themfelves, or juftifiable from reafons of expe- diency or nccelhty. 'The difficult al- The written order of 23d of Auguft 1776, to Colonel Stuart, for tentative to putt j nc: t h e Majority of Council in poiTeffion of the fort, and for arrett- ed Colonel r ° . Stuart was re- ing the perfon of Lord Pigot, was figned by Seven Members of the the or- Council, w hich conftituted an unqueftionable Majority: and it is far- ders received /rem the oppofite ther to be obferved, that one of thole Members who figned that order, T ar: was the Commander in Chief, Sir Robert Fletcher. At the time when Colonel Stuart received this order, he had no feat or vote in Council, no deliberative voice ; his duty was that of obedience only to his lawful fuperiors, civil and military; he thought it therefore indifpenfibly his duty to obey the joint orders of a clear Majority of Council, concurring with the Commander in Chief; convinced, as he has always been, and Mill declares himfelf to be, that the legal conditutional government in the Company's fettlement at Madras is vefted, not in the Governor or Prefident alone, nor in the Gover- nor with a Minority of Council, but in the Majority of the Members of Council. Upon the fame day that the Majority of Council and the Commander in Chief figned the above order to Colonel Stuart, there was an offer to him of the command of the army, from Lord Pigot and his Lordlhip's friends in Council. The general orders iffued by them of that date were in thefe words : " Fort St. George, 23d Aug. 1776. " The Right Honourable the Prefident and Council having been 11 pleated to order Brigadier-general Sir Robert Fletcher in arreft, for be- ( 7 ) *' ing concerned in circulating letters tending to excite and caufe mutiny " and fedition among the troops in this garrifon, Colonel James " Stuart is ordered to take upon him the command of the troops under " this Prefidency, and all reports and returns are to be made to him " accordingly." Here then Colonel Stuart, to whom upon the fame day the tem- porary command of the army was offered by one party, and the abfolute unlimited command by the other, with pofitive requifitions from each to act under their authority, was placed in one of the mod delicate and difficult fituations that ever fell to the fhare of any military man ; — it w r as impoffible for him to be an inactive or an idle fpec- tator. Had he refufed the command of the army, and thus incurred difobedience to the orders of both parties, he was liable to be per- fected by both, at leaft by the party which fhould gain the afcen- dant, by whom he would certainly have been put under arreff, and brought to trial by a Court-martial for difobedience of orders. He was therefore reduced to this alternative, that he mult either give fupport to the government of Lord Pigot, to the prejudice of all the fufpended Members of the Majority, and to the prejudice of his Commander in Chief, then ordered under arreft, and about to be tried for his life ; or he muft obey the joint orders of the Commander in. Chief, and the Majority of Council. The fituation was a very hard and difagreeable one for Colonel Stuart; The confeguemes becaufe, whether he obeyed the orders of one or the other party, he tb f , w f? havt v } ' rejuited from was certain to meet with much blame, outcry, and perfecution, from Colonel Stuart's the oppofite party. We all know how liberally thefe have been be- °*V in S the a , , . . , , . , , , , orders of the flowed upon him, in the event which has happened j but let us fup- Prefident and. pole ***«*&' ( 3 ) pofe the contrary event, that he had difobeyed the orders of the Majo- rity and Commander in Chief, and given his fupport to the government of Lord Pigot and the Minority, what an opening would that have afforded for obloquy and perfecution ? His accepting of the command from the Governor and the Minority would have been afcribed to the bafe ungenerous motive of fupplanting Sir Robert Fletcher, the Commander in Chief; and, fuppofing Lord Pi^ot to have prevailed at that time, and to have proceeded with the fulleft career of fuccefs in eftablifhing his government upon the ruins of the Majority of Council, and even without any further refinance on their part, or any difturbance in the lettlement, there can fcarcely be a doubt that when the news of thefe tranfacYions reached England, they would hare excited a general difapprobation of the violent meafures by which a Majority of Council had been deprived of their functions, and the Commander in Chief of the forces put under arreft, and fuper- ceded in his command. Upon that occafion too, the military officer who had lent his aid for eftablifhing that new government, who had availed himfelf of the op- portunity to fupplant and to get into the place and profits of his Com- mander in Chief, and who had been guilty of difobedience of orders, both with refpect to that Commander and the Majority of Council, would moft probably have felt the fevered effects of the indignation of the Directors and Proprietors of the Honourable Company, and of the public at large. My reafon for laying that there can fcarcely be a doubt that fuch would have been the reception given at home to the violent proceedings in Auguft 1776 in fufpending the Majority of Council, is founded not only on the nature of the incidents themfelves, but on the difapprobation which has been expreffed by the India Company o^ that part of Lord Pigot's conduct, when taken into conlideration in this country at a time, and under circumftauces the moft favourable for his Lordihip, and the lead aufpicious for thofe who had oppofed him. if ( 9 ) If any degree of disapprobation and cenfure of thofe parts of his Lordfliip's conduel could take place at a time when fo much generous and natural fympathy arofe from the hardships and reverfe of fortune which Lord Pigot had experienced, — at a time when the minds of men were in general more filled with animofity and indignation againft thofe who had been the occafion of his fufferings, than attentive to any errors or irre- gularities in his Lordfliip's conduel or principles of government, how different would it have been, if the difpatches from India, inftead of bringing accounts of any hardfliips fuffered by Lord Pigot, or by thofe who adhered to him, had been filled only with the news of the hard- fhips, indignities, and prejudices fuftained by the oppofite party, and of Lord Pigot's having been aflifted and abetted in the eftablifhment of this new government by the fecond in the military command, who by this revolution had attained the command in chief? I am well warranted to fay, that in the cafe here fuppofed, the outcry and indignation both againft Lord Pigot and Colonel Stuart would have been more general, and better founded, though they could not have been more violent than what Colonel Stuart has experienced in the oppofite cafe which has happened. It muft be allowed then, that Colonel Stuart was mo ft unfortunately circumftanced, fince whichever fide of the queftion he efpoufed in thefe unhappy difputes between the Governor and the Council, and to whichfoever of the patties he gave his obedience and Support, he was certain of receiving for his reward much future obloquy and perfe- ction. But the confequences a fie cling himfelf were not the only or the moft material ones which Colonel Stuart at the time of taking his decifive refolution was bound to attend to ; it became proper for him further to confider, what the poflible or probable confequences might be, to the Company's fettlement in that part of the world, in cafe he fbould obey the orders of Lord Pigot and the Minority, in preference to thofe of the Majority of Council and the Commander in Chief. C Is ( lo ) Is it at all probable, that Sir Robert Fletcher, the Commander in Chief, known to bave been of a difpofition neither timid nor indolent, and who was drove to the neceffuy of making fomc exertion for his own fafety, to refcue himfelf from bis impending fate; I fay, is it probable, that he would have tamely and placidly ,acquiefced in tbe cftablilhment of the government of Lord Pigot and the Minority, and in his own fupcrceffion and trial by a Court-martiai, even fuppofing that Colonel Stuart had given his fupport to Lord Pigot ? Or again is it probable, that all the gentlemen of the fufpended Ma? jority would have placidly and tamely acquiefced in that new govern- ment, and in their own fufpenfion, degradation, and difgrace, without making fome efforts to preferve their rights and their confequence in> the important fettlcmcnt of Madras? Is it further to be fuppofed, that theft gentlemen of the Council, many of whom had been long eftablifhed in IndKi, and had extenfive connec- tions there, and who were embarked in a common caufc with the Commander in Chief of the troops, would have had no fupport of friends, civil and military, to efpoufe their interefts ? Thefe things cannot be fuppofed in confiftency with any juft obfervation on the common courfe of events. The probability is, if Colonel Stuart, then fecond in command, had in the month of Auguft 1776 given his obedience and fupport to Lord Pigot and the Minority, in oppofition to the Majority of Council, and Sir Robert Fletcher, the Commander in Chief of the forces, that the confequences would have been much more ferious and alarming to the peace and fecurity of the fettlement, than any which either actually happened, or were likely to happen, from Colonel Stuart's acting in obedience to the orders of the Majority. What a dreadful fcene, and how alarming in its confequences muft it have been, if, while one part of the army fhewed a readinefs to obey the orders of Lord Pigot and Colonel Stuart, another part, either from at- tachment or obligations to Sir Robert Fletcher their Commander in 1 / fa. Chief, ( & ( » ) Chief, or from thinking his life in danger, or from an opinion that the legal Government which they were bound to obey was verted in the Majority of Council had declared themfelves ready to follow his and their fortunes, and to give their aid for fupporting that go- vernment ? Surely no man can maintain, with any degree of certainty, or even with a fuperior weight of probability, that this would not have been the cafe ; perhaps I might venture to exprefs my fentiments more ftrongly on this fubjec~t, becaufe, after having been at considerable pains to in- form myfelf accurately, the information I have received from good au- thority is very pofitive, that fuch would have been the confequences j efpecially too, as the Supreme Council in Bengal had, even before that pe- riod, expreffed their fentiments very ftrongly, in difapprobation of fome parts of Lord Pigot's conduct; and it is well known, that they after- wards had no hefitation to pronounce the Majority of the Council of Madras to be the legal government, and to declare their firm refolu- tion to fupport it *. Thefe particulars have appeared to me neceffary to be ftated at fome length, becaufe, in the courfe of all the difcuflions hitherto in relation to thefe unhappy difturbances at Madras, they feem almoft to have efcaped obfervation ; no juft allowance has been made for the very critical and difficult fituation in which Colonel Stuart was placed, and in the midft of the outcry againft him, a notion feems fomehow or * In the letter from the Supreme Council to Lord Pigot of the ioth of September 1776, they exprefs themfelves thus : " We therefore deem it incumbent on us to declare, that the " rights and powers of the Governor and Council of any of the Company's Prefidencies, are " veiled by their original conlKtution, in the Majority of the Board ; that the violence com- " mitted by your Lord/hip, in excluding two of the Members of the Council of Fort St. " George, from their places, was a violation of that conftitution ; that the meafures taken " by the Majority to recover the actual government, which of right is veiled in them, arofe " from the neceffity of the cafe ; and that we mall acknowledge and fupport the title and au- " thority which they confequently poffefs." At the fame [time, the Supreme Council wrote to Sir Edward Hughes, commanding his Majefly's fquadron in India, " requeftingth.it he would unite with them in affording his aflift- " ance and fupport to the aftual government of Madras, if any change of circumftance (houlJ " render it neceffary for them to defire it." C 2 other ( « ) other to have prevailed, as if he had been officioufly and unneceffarily active, without confidering that he was placed in a fituation, where it was impoflible for him to be an idle fpcctator, and where he was reduced to the alternative of paying obedience and giving active fupport either to Lord Pigot and the Minority, or to the Majority of the Council united with the Commander in Chief. \\ T c all know the total extent of the prejudice and mifchief that has happened in the one cafe; but no perfon can take upon him to fay, of how much greater magnitude the mifchief and confufion in the fet- tlement might have been, if the contrary event had happened, by Colonel Stuart's obeying the orders of the Minority, inftead of thofe of the Majority. It is the bufmefs of the Members of the Majority who iflued the orders, to fhew the neceffity or propriety of thefe orders, for which they alone are refponfible; and the only thing incumbent on Colonel Stuart, is to fhew the neceflity he was under to obey them ; and he perfuades himfelf that he (hall not only be able to give the utmoft fatisfaction on that head, but likewife further to prove, be- yond the poffibility of doubt, that he executed thofe orders in a man- ner, which of all others was the beft calculated to avoid bloodfhed and confufion in the fettlement. Tie mode of exe- * ta ^ c '* *° r S rante( * tnat ^ W >U not Dc difputed by any man, and cuting the orders much lefs by any man of military experience, that it is a material part j e ajoniy Q £- ^ ^ Q f an p; icer c h ar pr e d with fuch an unpleafant and joroOtainingpoJ- ° r feffionoftbefor- hazardous order, to ftudy to execute it in fuch a manner, as may ,andforar- leaft en( ] anger t h e lives either of thofe who are the objects of the • t perfon ° ' J cf Lord Pigot. order, or of thofe by whom it is to be carried into execution, and at ( ij ) at the fame time may be the bed calculated for avoiding tumults in the community. It is admitted on all hands, that all thefe material purpofes were completely anfwered by the mode in which the arreft of Lord Pigot, and the poiTeflion of the fortrefs of Fort St. George, were accom- plished ; for there was not a life loft ; nay, not the fmalleft perfonal hurt received by any one man in the fettlement upon this occafion.— Not only fo, but from the day of Lord Pigot's arreft, on the 24th of Auguft 1776, to the arrival of the new Government at Ma- dras, in the end of Auguft 1777, there had not been any tumult or difturbance in the fettlement, in confequence of the incidents of the month of Auguft 1776, nor any man imprifoned or injured in his per- fon or property ; and further, fo little was there of confufion or anar- chy in the fettlement, that according to my information, the accuracy of which you, Gentlemen, have the beft opportunities of knowing, the inveftments for the Company during that period, from the Madras prefidency, were to a greater amount than they had ever been known during any fimilar fpace of time, and the revenues of the Company on re-letting their home-farms contiguous to Madras were very confider- ably encreafed. From thefe facts, one would be apt to think, that a great commer- cial Company, whofe chief and ultimate objec~l muft be the peace and tranquillity of the fettlements belonging to them, and the profperity of their commercial interefts, would feel fome partiality for an officer in their fervice, who in the execution of fuch orders, which he thought himfelf under a neceffity of obeying, had fo managed, as to avoid every mifchief that might have been fatal to the peace of the fettle- ment, or to the lives and properties of thofe who refided in it. In all the papers or letters from Colonel Stuart, public or private, he has always expreffed the higheft fatisfaction that the arreft of Lord Pigot, and the obtaining pofleffion of the Fort, had been accomplifhed without any ( 14 ) any pcrfonal injury to his Lordfhip or any of his friends, and without on« drop of blood being fpilt upon the occafion : this he at the fame time is very confident could not have happened, if he had purfucd any other plan, than that which was adopted ; and particularly that a very different fcenc, and moft probably much bloodshed and tumult, muft have enfued, if Lord Pigot had been arrefted in the fortrefs of Fort St. George ; or if, from the conduct of Colonel Stuart or others, Lord Pigot had perceived or fufpeclcd that there was an intention of arrefling him. Colonel Stuart is alfo perfuaded, and the nature of the cir- cumftanccs demonftrate, that difagreeablc confequences of the fame • nature muft have happened, if the obtaining poffeflion of the fortrefs and garrifon of Fort St. George had been attempted, without the previous arreft of Lord Pigot, while his Lordfliip, by his pcrfonal prefence, joined to that of his adherents, was at liberty to have infti- gated the whole or part of the garrifon, to declare on his fide, and to refift the orders of the Majority of Council ; which orders, he, Co- lonel Stuart, was bound at all hazards to carry into execution; for the terms of them were very exprefs; they peremptorily required him to put them (the Majority of the Council) in poffeflion of the Fort- houfe, garrifon, and fortrefs of Fort St. George. Colonel Stuart had accordingly formed a plan and taken his arrange- ment for getting poffeflion of the fortrefs at all hazards, and he has no doubt that he could have fuccecded in it; but at the fame time thinks that it might very probably have been attended with the lofs of many lives, and in all likelihood would have been more fatal to Lord Pigot and his adherents, than to thofe who were to carry the orders of the Majority into execution, who knew that they could depend upon the numbers, fidelity, and firmnefs of that part of the troops which they had at their command for the accomplishment of this undertaking. The probability or even the chance of fuch difagreeable events happening, was fuflicient to determine Colonel Stuart to avoid the meafures ( * 5 ) meafures of open force, while there was any poffibility of accom.- plifhing the fame ultimate objecls by any other juftifiable means permitted by the terms of the order he had received. This gave rife to the plan concerted with Colonel Eidington, Captain Lyfaght, and Major Home, for arrefting the perfon of Lord Pigot, when on his road from the Fort to the Company's Garden- houfe, and of conducting his Lordfhip with fafety and without infult of any fort to the Mount, at the diftance of about feven miles from Madras, there to be under the charge of Major Home, the command- ing Officer of the corps of Artillery, who was a perfon well known to. and refpected by Lord Pigot, and whofe general character put him above any fulpicions of improper treatment of his Lordfhip. As foon as the arreft of Lord Pigot was over, Colonel Stuart inftantly returned to Madras, and put the garrifon and fortrefs into the poffeffion of the Majority of Council, from whom he had received his orders ;, and in this manner, by the fecrecy and rapidity with which he car- ried into execution the orders he had received only the preceding day,, every object was accomplished, without the lofs of one life, and with- out any difturbance in the fettlement. But, notwithstanding the rapidity with which thefe decifive fteps were taken, an incident happened on the evening of the 24th, even after it was known that the perfon of Lord Pigot had been arrefted, which, though it has hitherto been little adverted to, is well worthy of atten- tion, becaufe it tends to fhew what alarming confequences might pof- fibly have happened, not only to Lord Pigot himfelf, and his friends,, as well as to thofe that oppofed them, but even to the fettlement in. general, if Colonel Stuart, in the execution of the orders, had followed any other plan than that which he actually adopted for attaining pof- feffion of the fortrefs. The incident I allude to, is what happened on the parade, in the evening of the 24th of Anguft, after Lord Pigot had been arrefted,, and when the fortrefs of Fort St. George had been put into the poffeffion of: . ( i6 ) of the new government. Mr. Claud Ruflel, one of the Civil Counfel- lors of Lord Tigot's party, was found that evening ordering the guards to ftand to their arms, to pay obedience to him, as the commanding officer in the ablence of I igot, and endeavouring, by every means in his power, to excite the guards to refinance and violence, while, at this very time too, Mr. Stratton and Mr. Brooke, both feniors to Mr. Ruffcll in the Council, were actually in Fort St. George, and aflembled upon public builnefs in the Council-chamber at the Fort-houfe. I beg leave to ftate thc'fe incidents precifely in the words of the in- formation, given by Mr. Ruffel himfelf, when examined upon oath before the Coroner's inqueft at Madras, upon the 13th of May 1777 ; in pagfe 29th and 30th of the collection of papers lately published relating to that Inqueft, Mr. Ruffell ftates what paffed upon the parade in the fortrefs of Fort St. George, in the evening of the 24th of Auguft, in thefe words : " Hearing foon after that Lord Pr'got had beeti carried a prifoner to " the Mount, this Informant (Mr. Rujfcl) thought it his duty., as j'c- * l cond in Council^ to repair immediately to the Fcrt. In his ivay thi- " ther, this Informant met with Mr. Stone, who accompanied this In- " formant ; whtn they entered the Fort and came near to the main-guard, " this Informant met the Town-major, Captain Wood, ivho told this In- " formant, that he f Cap tain Wood) had been put under an arrejl for doing " his duty ; this Informant therefore direcled the Town-adjutant, Lieu- " tenant Pcndergait, who happened to be near, to go to the Captain of " the main-guard, and acquaint him, that it -was his orders', in the ab- " fence of Lord Pigot, that the guards fljould f and to their arms. Ob- '• ferving that the Captain rf the main-guard (Captain Adair) heft at ed " to comply ivith thojc orders, this Informant went himfelf to Captain " Adair and repealed his orders, apprifing Captain Adair of tht " of refuftng obedience, as this Informant was the commanding Officer in " the abjence of Lord Pigot, under rehofc orders the guards ivere. " Captain Adair feemed to be much alarmed, and muttered fomething " about the Commander in Chief; upon which this Informant afked Cap- 4 " tain ( '7 ) " lain Adair, if he had received any orders contrary to ivhat this In- " formant then gave him. Captain Adair avfwered in a confufed man- *' ner, that he had received orders from the Commander in Chief. About " this time a crowd of officers affembled round, and as the guard ap- " peared to be flanding to their arms, part having already fallen in, " this Informant ivas advancing towards their front, ivhen Colonel " fames Stuart came up to this Informant, and told him he mufl go to " the Confultation-room. This Informant replied, he ivas not under " the orders of Colonel Stuart, but on the contrary, that he ivas under " the orders of this Informant. Some more ivords to the fame tendency " pa/fed between Colonel Stuart and this Informant, ivhen Colonel Stuart " called out orderlies, ordering them to feize the Informant. Lieutenant " Colonel Eidington and Captain Barclay, each feizing this Informant " by the arm, this Informant called out to the officer of the guard for " cifftfiance, but in vain, although fome of the grenadiers did flep out of " their ranks. In this manner, this Informant was dragged by Colonel the nice delicacy of his feelings upon every point of honour, would have led him to be more forward than any one in his cenfure and difappro- bation. To confirm the weight due to the teftimony of fo refpectable and honourable a man- as Sir John Clavering, I can prove by letters in my pofieffion, that after full information of what had paffed at Madras, and after knowing the outcry raifed againft Colonel Stuart by one party, Sir John Clavering continued his approbation of Colonel Stuart's con- duct, and honoured him with the moft fincere friendship and con- fidential correfpondence till the lateft period of his life. I am fenfible, Gentlemen, that I require many apologies for taking up fo much of your time in the difcuffion of what relates to the mode of arrefting the perfon of Lord Pigot, and the circumftances immedi- ately preceding ; but I truft, that I fhall meet with fome indulgence, when it is confidered how violently my Brother's chara&er and conduct: have been attacked on this point, and when it is alfo con- fidered what feverities and hardships he has experienced, in confe- quence of the imputations againft him, made at a time when, from the diftance of place, there was no opportunity of his being heard in his own defence. All thefe feverities I muft place to the account of the rage and pre- judices raifed againft him on account of the mode of arrejl ; becauie, independent of that, and of the circumftances immediately preceding- it, the propriety of Colonel Stuart's conduct neceffarily depends upon this very narrow point, — Whether he ought or ought not to have obeyed the order of the Majority of Council 3 and whichfoever way men might decide that point in their own minds, a mere error in judgment on Colonel Stuart's part, fuppofing it to have been an error, could not have produced the rage, prejudice, and obloquy, which, have brought upon him fuch grievous feverities and hardihips. 354. 31 Having 33 ) 'be puniflments Having given fo full an account of Colonel Stuart's conduct in con- bips fcquence of the orders he had received from his Superiors, and having olonel St'u / fhewn the motives as well as the confequences of that conduct, I hope in confequence of I may now be permitted to put the queftion, What crime has Colonel at Madras Stuart been guilty of towards you, Gentlemen, his Honourable Em- ployers, or againfl. the lnterefts of the Eaft- India Company ? If the crime is to be judged of from the nature and extent of the punifhments inflicted, it muft have been a crime of great magnitude indeed, and fuch as could not eafily be atoned for. — A fhort review, therefore, of the punifhments and hardfhips he has buffered, becomes abfolutely necefTary, and will clearly evince the truth of this propofition. In confequence of the firft reports brought to England in the year 1777, of the tran factions at Madras in Auguft 1776, Colonel Stuart was fufpended the Company's fefvice for fix months ; the general letter which contained this order of fufpenfion, was carried out by Mr. Whitehill, who arrived at Madras in Auguft 1777; the order of fuf- penfion was immediately intimated to Colonel Stuart, who, by the death of Sir Robert Fetcher, in the month of December preceding, had attained the fituation of Commander in Chief, and the rank of Brigadier-general in the Company's fcrvicc ; to both of which he fucceeded in confequence of an agreement with the Eaft-India Com- pany before his departure for India. Immediate obedience was given on the part of Colonel Stuart, to the will and pleafure of his Honourable Matters, and he was deprived of the command of the army, which, for many months preceding, he had been making every exertion to improve and to put on the moft refpectable footing. 4 Colonel ( 39 ) Colonel Stuart was not only thus fufpendcd without any trial, without any fpecific crime or charge being alleged againft him in the order for fufpenfion, but he was fuperceded in the command, by the appointment of another officer, Colonel Monro, who was fent from England on purpofe to take the command of the army at Madras. The fuperceffion of Colonel Stuart by a younger, though a very deferving officer in his Majefty's fervice, was, according to the mili- tary etiquette, an additional circumftance of mortification, efpecially as the new Commander in Chief, Colonel Monro, obtained at once the rank of Major-general in the Company's fervice. This fuperceffion was not for a limited time; as General Monro's com- miffion was unconditional and abfolute, without reference to the refult of any future inquiries or trials in relation to Colonel Stuart's con- duct ; (o that he had before him the melancholy profpec~t of being certainly punifhed and degraded at all events, whether innocent or guilty : indeed, the only cafe that was at all in contemplation or provided tor, was that of his being guilty and deferring of puniJJj- ment ; but no fort of proviiion was made, no care whatfoever was taken of him, in the event, that, upon inquiry or trial, he mould be found to have been innocent, or to have ailed meritorioujly for the in- terefts of the Company. The general letter of the Company, fent by the Befborough in July 1777, continued Colonel Stuart's fufpenfion, and dire&ed that his conduct mould be examined into by a Court of Inquiry, and that he fhould he tried by a Court-martial ; but in cafe he had been guilty of no military offence that was cognizable by Martial Law, then it was ordered that his fufpenfion from the fervice, inftead of being taken off, as one might reafonably expect, fhould be continued indefinitely, and without limitation of time. Such are the directions which have been fent from this country with refpect to Colonel Stuart j and it may be proper before ftating what ( *o ) what padcd at Madras, in confequence of the lateft of thcfc directions, reflecting the trial by a Court-martial, to mention fomc of the inter- mediate Jiardfhips which he fullered in India, by the means of vexa- tious fuits, both of a Civil and of a Criminal nature, brought againft. him at Madras, in confequence of the tranfactions of the month of Auguft 1776. Upon the 14th of October 1776, a Bill was filed in the Mayor's Court at Madras, by Lord Pigot againft Colonel Stuart, for damages, to the amount of 200,000 1., on account of the arreft of his perfon on the 24th of Auguft: and his Lordfhip's Attorney having appeared and made affidavit, that he believed Colonel Stuart was about to withdraw himfelf from the jurifdiction of the Court, he therefore prayed that a warrant of arreft might be i fitted. Colonel Stuart having appeared by his Attorney, the Court, by a majority of five to four, ordered bail to be found to the extent of 1 5,000 1. which was diffentcd from by fome of the Members as cxccfiivc. At the fame time, in October 1776, a Bill of complaint was filed in the Mayor's Court, by Mr. Ruffcl, againft Colonel Stuart, for damages, to the amount of 40,000 b, founded on his forcibly carrying Mr. Ruffel from the Parade to the Confultation-room, on the 24th of Auguft, in the manner already related. Mr. RufTlTs Attorney having made a fimilar affidavit with Lord Pigot's Attorney, and prayed for a warrant to arreft Colonel Stuart, the Mayor's Court was pleafed to order him to find bail in this action likewife, to the amount of 4000 I. As the Mayor's Court was thought to be very partial in thefe pro- ceedings, and that the amount of the bail thus ordered by them was, in the circumflances of the cafe, judged to be exceffive, Colonel Stuart was advifed to carry the caufe immediately from that Court by appeal to the Governor and Council. In his reafons of appeal he gave anfwers to the various articles con- tained in tbefe Bills of complaint againft him, and maintained that he was in no refpect refponfible for the meaiures which, as acting in obedience ( 4i ) obedience to the orders of his fuperiors, both civil and military, he had carried into execution, that it was therefore highly vexatious and oppreffive to diftrefs him by thefe fuits, or by an order for bail fo exorbitant and exceffive, that it was even greater than what the fame court had obliged the Commander in Chief, Sir Robert Fletcher, to find in a fimilar action brought by Lord Pigot againft him, for the like fum of 200,000 /. damages. Colonel Stuart further averred, that he had no intention of with- drawing himfelf from the jurifdiction of the court ; and that, all circumftances confidered, fo far from being fubje&ed to exce/five bail in both thefe cafes, he ought not to be put to the hardibip and incon- venience of finding any bail in either. With refpect to Mr. RuffePs action, Colonel Stuart gave this additi- onal anfwer, that the fituation in which he, Mr. Ruflel, was found, on the evening of the 24th of Auguft, exciting the troops in the garrii'on to mutiny and fedition, which, if not inftantly checked, might have been of very fatal confequences, had put Colonel Stuart under the abfolute necefTity of forcing Mr. Ruffel from the main-guard. The matter was carried firft from the Mayor's Court by thefe ap- peals to the Governor and Council, who declined taking any cogniz- ance of it, as they had been parties interefted in the bufinefs which gave rife to the actions. Colonel Stuart therefore afterwards appealed to the King and Council in England. But thefe were not the only actions by which he was vexatioufly and unneceffarily haraffed for obeying the orders of his Superiors. He was one of thofe againft whom the proceedings of the Coro- ner's Inqueft, affembled at Madras upon the death of Lord Pigot, were directed. That Inqueft affembled at Madras on the nth of May 1777, the day on which Lord Pigot died, and continued their examina- tions and deliberations from that time till the 7th of Auguft 1777; when, in the fervency of their zeal, they were pleafed to pronounce one of the moft notable and extraordinary verdicts, that in fuch or any other circumftances has appeared in the records of this or of any other country. G Mr. ( 4- ) Mr. Ram, the Coroner, and his Inqucft, pronounced and declared, •' That George Stratton, Henry Brook, Charles Floyer, Archdale " Palmer, : in, and George in the civil fcr- ** vice of the Eaft-India Company at Madras, and Bi '. -general " Sir Robert Fit Colonel James Stuart, Lieut enant-folonel James *' Eiding toun, Adjutant- general, and Captain Arthur LyfaugJbt, in the " faid Company's fervice at Madras, and Major Mattheiv Home, com- " manding the corps of artillery in the hiid Company's fervice, then " ftationed at St. Thomas's Mount, did, in manner and by means '* therein recited, felonioujly, voluntarily, and of their malice fore- " That full " and perfect juftice will be done to him (Colonel Stuart) hereafter, if " his conduct in India refembles the reft of his conduct through life." His Lordfhip was afterwards pleafed to explain the matter further, and to mention to me various inftances, where officers of good repu- tation, who were liable to be tried by a Court-martial, at a time when a general promotion took place, which they would otherwife have been entitled to the benefit of, were denied that promotion until the deciiion of the Court-martial, after which their rank was allowed to. them in the fame manner as if they had not been palled over. Although I was fully pcrfuaded that it was no part of the wiffi or intention of the Eaft-India Company, that the hardfhips which they had inflicted, ftiould be productive of any additional evil to Colonel Stuart, in any other line than their own fervice; yet I have hitherto abftained from giving you any trouble or reprcfentations about thefe confequential unintended hardfhips ; nor fhould I have mentioned them at this time, or prefumed to give you the trouble of reading the cor- refpondence between the Secretary at War and me upon this fubject, if it had not now become unavoidably necellary, for two reafons. One is, that I find falfe reports have been fpread about the manner and occafion of my Brother's being palled over in the promotion of laft year in his Majefty's fervice ; it has been ftated as a proof of his guilt, and ( 5* ) and the turn given to it in many quarters is, that his Majefty's fer- vants, upon being fully apprifed of all the circumftances of Colonel Stuart's conduit in the difturbances at Madras, had formed fuch a decided opinion, that his preferment in the King's fervice was now abfolutely and unconditionally flopped. The other reafon is, that you, Gentlemen, from the perufal of that correfpondence with the Secretary at War, may not only be informed of the true ftate of the cafe, but likewife may perceive the great fuper- venient hardfhips which he has fuffered, though not intentionally, by the late refufal or delay of his trial by a Court-martial. It is not with a view to find fault, nor in the fpirit of complaint or ^ mtivgs aj ill-humour, that I have taken up fo much of your time in flat- objeSls of the ing the various hardfhips that have been heaped upon my Brother ?■ " a ™ ' in confequence of the unfortunate difturbances at Madras, but merely that the nature of his condud and the extent of his fufferings, fhould be brought under your confideration, more precifely, and with lefs mixture of foreign matter than they have ever hitherto been. So far am I from ftating his cafe merely with a view of imputing blame, that I am ready fairly to acknowledge, that when the ac- counts firft came to this country of the difturbances at Madras, with all the circumftances /aid to have attended it ; and when it was not forefeen to how much greater length thefe convulfions might proceed, and what the confequences might be to the peace and fccurity of the Settlement; I fay, upon that occafion, it was extremely | natural, not only to feel a degree of prejudice and difplcafure at what ■ had happened, but to be alarmed for the future confequences, and to endeavour to avert them, by marking a difapprobation of the feemingly I violent and improper conduct of all the actors in the late diflurhances. > H 2 It ( 52 ) It was a difficult tafk for you, Gentlemen, am id ft the rage and ani- mofity which actuated the minds and influenced the reprefentations of theoppofite parties, to difcriminate the guilty from the innocent, or to afcertain the different degrees of offence which had been committed by your fervants in that Settlement; neither was it poffible for you to pronounce any judgment, or to purfue any general mcafurc, that would be iatibiaclory to all parties. Perhaps, indeed, the fteps you did purfue on that difficult occilion were, upon the whole, as little exceptionable, and had as many pro- bable appearances of being well calculated for eftablifhing peace in your Settlement, and to prevent the growth of further evils, as any that could have been devifed in the circumftances in which you were placed ; and there is this ftrong prcfumption in favour of the wifdom and impartiality of your meafures, that countenancing the extremes of neither party, they were in fome degree unacceptable to both. But give me leave, Gentlemen, to obferve, that the very fame conduct, which, with a view and upon a plan of prevention, may properly be adopted at a particular crifis of public confufion, and while there is yet an uncertainty to what iffue that confufion is to lead, may and ought to be very different from thofe meafures which fhould be taken with regard to offences already paft, and where the whole extent of the mifchief has been already afcertained; when the latter is the cafe, there is room for taking into confideration the exact meafure and pro- portion of each man's offence or merit, and it is a matter of juftice to give redrefs to thofe, who, though unavoidably involved in the general hardfhips incident to individuals upon public difturbances, fhall be found, either to have fuffered far beyond the magnitude of their offences, to have been innocent, or perhaps highly meritorious. It is to this confideration, Gentlemen, that, with your pcrmiffion, I wifh to conduct your attention; for the Madras difturbances are now and have been long at an end, the period is arrived, which not only admits but loudly calls for, the difcrimination of every man's con- duct, ( 53 ) duct, and for proportioning the punifhment or redrefs that is due to him. During many months after the arrival of the firft accounts of the Madras difturbances, which reached England in the month of March 1777, there was an exrenfive field opened for men of warm imagina- tions to alarm themfelves and the Public, by painting fcenes of horror, anarchy, and confufion, which were to be the infallible confcquences of the fteps taken by the Majority of Council, and by Colonel Stuart, in tbe month of Auguft 1776. We mud all remember the difmal predictions which were made in the General Courts of Proprietors, and circulated in the Public at large, with a degree of confidence little fhort of certainty. The prophets and orators of thofe times affected to dread the arrival of any fhip, or other means of intelligence, from India, becaufe they feemed perfuaded, that we fhould foon have the melancholy accounts of many lives loft, and of complete anarchy and confufion from one end of the Carnatic to the other. The Princes or Powers of that part of India, either with or without the aififtance of the French, were to take advantage of thofe confu- fions, and to fubdue or expel us from the country ; the Nabob of Arcot, at leaft, after getting rid of Lord Pigot, his moft formidable oppofer, and the controller of his views, would undoubtedly eftablifh his own power and independency upon the overthrow of the Britifh dominion in the Carnatic; and there could be no danger of the Na- bob's being thwarted in his attempts by thofe corrupted and feditious counfellors, whom he had inftigated to fuch violent proceedings againft Lord Pigot, and who were totally at the devotion of this Mahommedan Prince. Above all, it was perfectly clear., according to thofe predictions, that Colonel Stuart, who had taken fo active a part in the arreft of Lord Pigot, by military force, and who had the army totally at his devotion, would find out a better intereft to cultivate, than that 3 of ( 54 ) of his Honourable Employers, the Eaft India Company; and that he meant tofet up for hi/tifc/f in that part of the world, and would either laugh at any orders that mould be fent from the India-Houfe, to de- prive him of his power, or would oppofe force by force. Such were the gloomy predictions, and it was in vain to argue ngainft them in whole or in part; but the period has long been clofed within which thefe prophecies were to have been fulfilled, and what has really happened within that period, is fo totally unlike every thing which difturbed the imaginations of fome too credulous Proprietors, that it will hardly be believed that fuch unfaithful pictures could ever have been drawn of Colonel Stuart, and of the events which were to be produced by his conduct. Inftead of confufiom and civil war, there never was a more fettled ftate of quiet and tranquillity. — Inftead of refiftance on the part of Colonel Stuart, and fetting up for hbnfelf there has been the mod uniform and implicit obedience to the orders of his fuperiors. When Mr. Whitehill arrived at Madras, in the month of Auguft 1777, with the new commiffion of government, and with your directions, by which Mr. Stratton and the other Gentlemen of Council were called home, and by which Colonel Stuart, the Commander in Chief of the army, was fufpended and fuperceded ; he was the firft pcrfon who accom- panied Mr. Whitehill to the parade, was prcfent at reading the new commiffion of government, and of the order for his own fufpenfion. Upon that occafion, he openly and immediately declared his refolu- tion to obey the orders of his Honourable Mafters, however hard they might be on himfelf, and declared that he wifhed, and did not doubt, that every other perfon affected by thefe orders, would be in the fame difpofition. On this fubject there is the following paragraph of a letter from Mr. Whitehill the Governor, and the Council at Madras, to the Su- preme Council at Bengal, extracted from the Minutes of Confultation of the 31ft of Auguft 1777. 2 '« They ( 55 ) " They think it alfo neceffary to obferve, with refpect to Bri- " gadier-general Stuart, whofe fituation in the late tranfactions ivas " peculiar, that he mewed the fame implicit obedience on his part to " the authority of the Company, attended on the parade at the reading " of the Company's commifTion of government to the troops, and was " ftudious, by his whole conduct, to mew to the officers and foldiers, " the proper fenfe which he entertained of the Company's orders." Upon a fubfequent occafion, in September 1777, when Mr. Ram, the Coroner at Madras, in confequence of his extraordinary ver- dict already mentioned, applied to the Governor and Council to be affifted in apprehending Colonel Stuart, and the other perfons who had by that unjuftifiable verdict been accufed of the wilful murder of Lord Pigot ; Colonel Stuart, Mr. Stratton, and the other perfons ac- cufed, voluntarily delivered themfelves up to the cuftody of the She- riffs, and declared they were willing and defirous to undergo every fort of trial that the laws of their country could authorize. Another inftance of the fame fpirit of good order and obe- dience on the part of Colonel Stuart, and the other Gentlemen who concurred with him, appeared in the month of January in this prefent year, and is fet forth in three letters which paffed be- tween them and the Governor and Council, which are printed at the clofe of the Collection of Authentic Papers lately published, relating to the proceedings of the Coroner's Inqueft. As they are too long to be inferted here, I mail only beg leave, in confirmation of what has been mentioned, to infert a part of the letters to you from the Governor and Council of Madras, received by the Houghton in Auguft laft ; it is in thefe words : " It is a juftice, however, that we particularly owe to the Members " of the late government, to obferve to your Honours, that their lead- " ing example in [hewing the mojl implicit Jubmijfton to your orders " for ejlabliJJjing your neiv adminijlration, has been of the greateft ufc w in refloring that harmony and good under/landing we have juji fpoken of. u But ( 5G ) " But bcfides the general tenor of their behaviour as individuals, " of which wc have been cye-witnefTes, we beg leave to refer you to " the letter fignctl by General Stuart, Meffrs. Mackay, Palmer, and " Mover, and to the anfwer which we thought proper to make to thefe " Gentlemen; who, for the peace of the fettlemcnt, and with a view " to the welfare of your affairs, have agreed to wave the agitation of " queftionfl at this time, which mud neceflarily have taken our atten- " tion from the immediate bulincfs of your government." Such has been the conduct of Colonel Stuart, regulated by the moft fincere attachment to good order, and to the profperity of your affairs, and proved by the moft unqueftionable evidence. As it has been fo fully laid before you, it would be nccdlefs, and therefore im- pertinent to make the obvious inferences, by pointing out, and ob- ierving upon the many falfc and injurious reprcfentations, which have been circulated to Colonel Stuart's prejudice. The redrefs due ^ ow tnat tne k' ene is clofed with refpedT: to the courfe of events at Jo Colonel Madras, connecled with, or following the difturbances of the month modes h which °^ Auguft I 77^' wri en you are fatisfied, that none of the many prc- it may be accom- dieted mifchiefs have happened ; on the contrary, that without confu- * ' ' ' fion of any fort, both the temporary government of Mr. Whitehill and his Council, and the completely eftablifhed government of Mr. Rum- bold, and the Council which now manages your affairs at Madras, have taken place, and with the moft complete fubmiffion and obedience to your orders on the part of Colonel Stuart; may I not be permitted, with a degree of confidence, to maintain, that this is the proper time to take into confideration, all the particulars of his cafe, fo very peculiarly circumftanced. If ( 57 ) If it fhall now appear to you, that Colonel Stuart has either not been guilty of any offence, or rather, if it fhall appear, as I flatter myfelf it muff, upon a difpaffionate review of his conduct, that the perfon expofed to fuch a variety of hardships, inftead of meriting them, has rendered material fervices to the Honourable Company; I truft, Gentlemen, that in thefe events, you will direct the remedies and redrefs beft fuited to the circumftances of the cafe. After having given you the trouble of reading fo much on the fubject of Colonel Stuart's condud, and entertaining more than a hope, that the true ftate of his cafe has by this time made fome im- preffion on your minds, it may reafonably be expected 'from me to point out, which I fhall do with great fubmiflion, the objects I have in view by this application. Upon this principle, therefore, I fhall take the liberty of fuggefting to your confideration, the general nature of the redrefs to which Colonel Stuart, or his friends, may think him entitled; and the modes in which, if it fhould meet with your approbation, that redrefs may, without difficulty, be accomplifhed. For this purpofe, it feems neceflary, that one or other of the two following meafures fhould be adopted. The jirfi is by perfevering in the plan which had already occurred to you, and to which Colonel Stuart moft cordially agreed, that of having every circuinftance of his conduct tried by a Court-martial, on the fpot where the tranfactions happened ; but then it is extremely material, in the event of your renewing your order for this trial by a Court-martial, that the order be made peremptory and abfolute, without any difcretion left in India, to refufe that Court-martial ; for it is of the utmoft importance, to avoid the fame uncertainty and hurtful delays which have already happened to Colonel Stuart in con- fequence of the firft order, fuch delays being of themfelves, and efpe- cially when attended with fufpeniion, to any perfon in his fituation, a ftrong degree of punifhment. I • As ( JS ) As the principal difficulty which prevented the Governor and Coun- cil at Madras from granting the Court-martial was, that no fuch trial could be proceeded to with any effect, until it fhould be previoufly de- clared, whether the legal government had been vefted in a Majority of Council ; therefore, it leems cffentially necelTary, if there can Hill be found thofe who think that point not already fufficicntly clear, that when the orders are fent out for Colonel Stuart's trial by a Court- martial, your fentiments with regard to this point, reflecting the legal government, fhould accompany the direction for a trial. If this mode of taking Colonel Stuart's cafe into confideration is adopted, which I beg leave to obicrve would of all others lie the moffc acceptable to him, I fubinit to your confideration, whether, at the fame time that you fend out the orders for his trial by a Court-martial, there fhould not be directions fent to fix and afcertain the particular redrefs he is to receive, in the event of his being honourably acquitted; for what is extremely remarkable, there has never hitherto been any provifion made for the cafe even cf his innocence, and much lefs for the fuppofition of his merit; — the only thing in contemplation has been the cafe of guilt, and it becomes the more neceffary that fuch inftructions fhould accompany the order for trial, on account of the immenfe dif- tance of place, and confequently the material and inevitable lofs of time, if Colonel Stuart fhall again be obliged to wait the returns from this country to India, before he receives any beneficial effects from his innocence, fhould the determination of the Court-martial be in his favour. The Jecond mode of doing juflice to Colonel Stuart, is by your being pleafcd to enter upon the examination of his cafe, and to decide upon it from the ample facts now in your poffeffion, without the interven- tion of any other Court of Enquiry, or of a Court-martial. Any propofition of this kind, at the time when you fent out your former orders, either thofe by Mr. Whitehill, in the month of June, or the fubfequent orders by Mr. Rumbold, in the month of July, *777> ( 59 ) I777» * admit, would have been improper; becaufe, at thefe periods, the knowledge of facts was not fufficicntly attained, nor could you ihen conjecture what confequential mifchiefs had arifen, or might arife in the interval between the time of arresting Lord Pigot in Auguft 1776, and the time at which the new government fhould be eftablifhcd by the orders then fent out; neither could you know, and much lefs judge, what Colonel Stuart's conduct had been, or might be, in that interval. But now that all thefe things are paft, that they are become hiftori- cal facts, not matters of fpeculation, it has occurred to many im- partial and judicious perfons, thatHHf would be highly proper if you, Gentlemen, would now enter into the confideration of this matter, and that the circumftances of Colonel Stuart's cafe, as well as the fituation of affairs in India, do in reality make it requifite and fuitable, that you fhould, from the full materials in your poffeffion, take it upon yourfelves at this time, to decide upon his conduct. In the general letter from your Governor and Council at Madras, dated 14th of March, 1778, brought home by the Duke of King- fton, paragraph 6th, they tell you, " that the queftions involved in " General Stuart's cafe, were fuch as no authority in that country could " properly decide." In the 9th paragraph of the fame letter, where they ftate the inutility of a Court of Enquiry, for afcertaining facts upon evidence, they give the following reafon for being of that opinion, " Becaufe in regard to facts, we apprehended that the records of the " Company were already fufficicntly explicit for all the purpofes re- " quired ; every part of General Stuart's conduct is there fet forth by " his own acknowledgment, or the teftimony of others, and that ap- " parently in the fulleft and mo ft circumftantial manner." In paragraph loth, of the fame letter, after mentioning that Lord Pigot was arretted by an order under the fignature of George Strat'on, lifq; Sir Robert 1 letcher, Henry Brooke, Charles Floyer, Archdale Palmer, Francis Jourdain, and George Mackay, Efqrs. they tell you I 2 exprefsly, ( Co ) cxprcf.ly, " that General Stuart appears to have done nothing in this ° tranfaclion, independent of that authority ivhich gave him the or- " dcr ;" — and in the courfe of the fame paragraph, they clearly ex- prefs to you their opinion, that the merits of General Stuart's cafe mufl. turn upon the legality or illegality of the orders and authority under which he acted; and that this heing a queftion of fo nice and im- portant a nature, they did not think themfelves competent to form a judgment upon it. Are not all thefe very flrong and powerful reafons for you, Gentle- men, in the direction of the Eaft. India Company's affairs, to relieve the Government and Council at Madras from the difficulties which have prevented their acting in this bufinefs, and to take upon yourielves the immediate dccifion of it ? It appears from the opinion of the Governor and Council at Madras, and from the circumftances of the cafe itfelf, that it needs not be a matter of long difcuffion, nor attended with much difficulty to decide •what relates to Colonel Stuart in this bufinefs. If it be true, as flatcd in the letter from the Governor and Council at Madras, that he did nothing independent of the authority under which he acted, then Colonel Stuart mufl; unqueflionably be ti e from blame for his obedience to thefe orders, provided you fhall be of opinion, that the powers of Government were in the Majority of Coun- cil, who i fined them. But even though you fhould be of opinion that the legal Government was vefted in the Majority of Council, I beg leave to obferve it might ftill remain a feparate and very different quefiion, Whether that Majo- rity acted properly or improperly., wifely or impoliticly, in ifluing to Colonel Stuart an order for putting them in pofleffion of the Fort- houfe, garrifon and fortrefs of Fort St. George, and for arrefting Lord Pigot ? But this is a queftion with which Colonel Stuart, who was no Member of Council, who ifiued no order, but obeyed only the orders 4 which ( 6i ) which others had iffued, can have no earthly concern ; the refponfibi- lity for that meafure refting totally with the Majority of Council and the Commander in Chief. It is, therefore, by no means, as has been generally and erroneoufly fnppofed, a common caufe between Colonel Stuart and the Majority of Council ; their cafes ftand upon a different footing, and may be de- cided upon a different principle. This diftin&ion betwixt his cafe and that of the Majority, feems to have occurred to the Governor and Council at Madras, who, in their letter to the Supreme Council in Bengal in Auguft 1777, exprefs themfelves thus : " We think it neceffary to obferve with refpect to " Brigadier-general Stuart, whole fituation in the late tranfactions ivas *' peculiar y &c. In the proceedings at Madras, Colonel Stuart himfelf has very care- fully feparated it ; nor will your deciding upon his cafe, by itfelf, imply your approbation of the policy and difcretion of the Majority of Council who iffued thofe orders under which Colonel Stuart acted. Permit me now, Gentlemen, to take the liberty of reminding you that, befides the more ancient and unrepealed orders and instructions for regulating the conftitution in your Settlement at Madras, you have yourfelves fent out by Mr. Whitehill, in June 1777, frefli orders and inftructions on this fubject, exprefs and unambiguous ; by which you have not hefitated to declare, that the legal Government of Ma- dras is veiled in the Majority of Council, — as the Majority of Council who iffued the orders to Colonel Stuart, contended it was. Before therefore it can be your opinion, that any man acting in obe- dience to the orders of the Majority of Council acted illegally, you, Gentlemen, muff determine that the Government of Madras in its principles, and conftruction, was different in the year 1776, when Colonel Stuart acted, from what you have Jince decided it. to be in the year 1777. BuC But fhould there be any rcafons for your wifhing to avoid, or to delay giving an exprefs opinion upon a point on which it feems already to be fo flrongly implied, there ftill remains a diftincl: and fufficient ground for proceeding to final determinations in Colonel Stuart's cafe, from the circumftances which are peculiar to it, and which are not connected or involved with the cafe of the Majority of Council. Bccaufe. fuppofing the pretenfions of the Majority of Council to the powers of government not to amount to a clear and indifputable right, ftill on the loweft cflimation of thefe pretenfions it rauft be admitted, that it was at leaft a doubtful point, whether the legal government belonged to the Majority, or to the Pre fi dent and Mino- rity of Council at Madras; for certainly no pcrfon acquainted with the nature of the conftitution at Madras, or with the flate of opinions upon this point in your fettlement there, will pretend to fay, that it was a clear and indifputable point, that the Majority of Council was not the legal government. Taking it then as a doubtful point only, whether Colonel Stuart was bound to obey the orders of Lord Pigot and the Minority of Council, or thofe of the Majority ; furcly it could not with juftice be main- tained, that he was culpable, becaufe he obeyed the authority of the latter, in preference to that of the former, efpecially as there was this additional reafon for his doing fo, that his Commander in Chief, Sir Robert Fletcher, was one of the perfons who figned the order which Colonel Stuart obeyed. If it could be fuppofed that the weight of the civil authority was fo equally poized as to produce doubts on which fide it preponderated, can it be matter either of wonder or of blame, that a military man, formed by his education to obey rather than to inveftigate, fhould al- low on fo even a balance, and in a difcuffion of {o much nicety, the concurring commands of his fuperior officer to turn the fcale ? If in this particular point Colonel Stuart flood in need of further juftiheation, it ought to be of no fmall weight that the Supreme Council C 63 ) Council in Bengal unanimoufly declared the legal government at Ma- dras to be vefted in the Majority of Council. — The queftion therefore may, without impropriety, be put by Colonel Stuart, At what period could he poffibly fuppofe that the Majority of Council was not the the legal government? That it was lb in the year 1776, before, and fubfequent to the diflurbances, is clearly declared by the Supreme Council in Bengal, uncontradicted by any declaration or opinion on your part ; and that it was fo in the year 1777, is as clearly declared by the pofitive inftru&ions which the Eaft India Company fent out by Mr. Whitehill. Neither can I prevail upon myfelf, even circumftanced as I am, to throw out of this queftion, the opinion and aftertions of Colonel Stuart himfelf, which have been uniform and ftrong, that the legal govern' v.ent which he was bound to obey, was according to his private judg- ment vefted in the Majority of Council, the fincerity of which opinion I fhall endeavour to prove from his conduit, and by examining whether there was any object of intereft in profpect, or attained by him, by means of the part he took in the convulfions at Madras in Auguft 1776. Colonel Stuart went out to Madras, fecond in command, and with the command in chief afTured to him, and the rank of Brigadier- geneial, upon the death, removal, or refignation of Sir Robert Flet- cher, who, at the time of thefe difturbances, in Auguft 1776, was in fo bad a ftate of health, as to be thought paft recovery ; and he died foon afterwards, in December 1776. The only thing, therefore, that was likely to prevent Colonel Stuart's attaining the Command in Chief, the firft wifh of a military man, and the very object for which he entered into the fervice of the Eaft India Company, was any difturbance or confufion in the government at Madras, that might in its confequences defeat the effect of the ap- pointment which he carried out with him to India. It was eafy to forefee, that the divifion of the Council into two op- pofite parties, each of which, pretending to be the legal government, would ( G 4 ) would of courfe require an implicit obedience from Colonel Stuart, was the thins; in the world mod; likely to produce fuch confufion, and an unfortunate alternative for him perfonally, which might prove fatal to his expectations. — It was a cri/is, which, inflead of promoting, every man of any degree of underftanding, or even of ambition, both of which Colonel Stuart's enemies arc fo obliging as to allow him, would, in his fituation, have been at the utmofi: pains to av Upon the fame day, the 23d of Augufr, each party made an offer to Colonel Stuart of the command of the army ; there was however this material difference, that the command offered to him by the Majority of Council, the party which he obeyed, was only the tempo • ary com- mand during the indilpofition of Sir Robert Fletcher ; whereas the offer by Lord Pigot and his friends, who had put Sir Robert Fletcher under arreft, with a view to his being tried by Court-martial for mu- tiny and 'fedicion, was the complete and immediate command of the army, without any limitation of time. It is evident, therefore, that the part which Colonel Stuart acted in this difagreeable alternative, was that which, according to all the rules of felf intereft, was the leaft likely to be beneficial to him. I go farther, and fay, that to be brought to fuch an alternative at all, was a thing fo evidently unfortunate, for any man placed in Colonel Stuart's fituation, that it excludes the poffibility of fuppofing that he could be a party, or in the fmalleft degree concerned in any fcheme or plan to produce the difturbance and convulfion which happened at that time, unlcfs we fuppofe him to have been void of every degree of common underftanding or attention to his own interefl. Kay, if he had forefeen even the chance of fuch diflurbances, and could have removed himfelf to the remoteft part of India, until either •the one party or the other had got clearly the afcendant, that would have been a much more judicious and beneficial plan than putting himfelf in the way of receiving, or being under the neceffity of obeying, the orders of either. But ( 65 ) But it will even be fald, perhaps, for there have not been wanting thofe who have ventured to infinuate it, that though Colonel Stuart took the part, which to all appearance was the mod againft his intereft, yet there were certain fecret means of counterbalancing to him the dis- advantages and hazards to which he was expofed ; — in fhort, that he either had received, or was promifed by the Nabob of Arcot, or by thofe connected with him, fuch pecuniary prefents as were fufficient to compenfate any lofles and difadvantages he might fuftain in other refpe&s. If thofe who have permitted themfelves to make fuch infinuations, for they have never amounted to open affertions, can fhew to your fatis- faction, Gentlemen, that Colonel Stuart, either directly or indirectly, ever received or was promifed, either by the Nabob of Arcot, or by any other perfon, any fum of money or other reward, for the part which he took in obedience to the orders of the Majority of Council, I fhall admit that he deferves the fevereft indignation of the Company ; for my own part, it would completely put an end to every effort or endea- vour from me, to fupport his caufe, or in thefe fuppofed circumftances to vindicate the character or conduct even of a Brother. But I have fo thoroughly convinced myfelf (and from the ftrongeft reafons) of the falfehood of the imputation, that however humiliating it may be, to enter into the vindication of one's friend upon topics of this fort, I moft readily embrace the opportunity of putting to defiance, even the greateft enemies of Colonel Stuart, and of calling upon them, by every decent method of provocation, to (hew, with any colour of probability, that he ever received or was promifed any reward from any quarter whatfoever, for the part his duty obliged him to take in the difturbances at Madras. When I had the honour of addreffing you in April 1777* there was inferted in my letter, the copy of part of a private confidential letter, which I had then recently received from my Brother, which was in thefe words : K " Before ( ce ) " Before I take my leave of you, my dear Brother, I fhall beg M leave to repeat what I have already declared to my friend, General " Clavering, that as I hope for mercy, 1 never had any promife, nei- " thcr am I in poffefTion or expectation of any private benefit what- " ever, refulting from the change now brought about in this govern- " ment." Such is the language of his mod private and confidential letters to me, on the fubject of the part he took, and though his afTertions do not with me ftand in need of additional confirmation, yet from a va- riety of concurring circumftances, I have every reafon to place complete reliance on the fincerity and truth of what he has fo folemnly aflerted. Another charge, of an injurious nature, has alio been very induftrioufiy circulated againft Colonel Stuart, that he was fo clofely linked with the Majority of the Council, as to have embarked in the indifcriminate fupport of all their meafures. But I can undertake to demonftrate, that Colonel Stuart, fo far from being a man of faction or of party, has condu&cd himfelf in fuch a manner as to belong to no party or par- ticular defcription of men in India. He has endeavoured, according to the bed of his judgment, to promote the general interefts of the Company, both in their civil and military affairs, and, making that the rule of his conduct, his fupport either to one party or another, has been regulated by the notions he entertained of the tendency of their meafures to the public utility. Senfible that this aflertion ought to be fupported by ftrong and un- ambiguous proofs, Colonel Stuart appeals to the confultations and re- cords of the Madras Prefidency, in your pofTefiion ; and he has re- peatedly prefixed upon me, to requcft your particular attention to thefe authentic proofs of the impartiality and independency of his conduct, and of his acting from his own judgment, unconnected with any parti- cular party, and frequently differing from all parties. Colonel Stuart's opinions, inferted in thefe confultations and records, fince the time that he had a feat and voice in Council, will likewife {how ( 6 7 ) Ihow that he held this condudl, equally with refpett to the European, and the Afiatic difputes; not only when they related to queftions agi- tated amongft your own fervants, but to the meafures proper to be purfued, in what refpeded the oppofite or rival interefts of the Nabob of Arcot, and the Raja of Tanjore. If then I have cleared Colonel Stuart's conduct from the fufpicion of either producing or fomenting the difturbances at Madras, or of acting from interefted motives on that occafion ; if I have fhewn that he merely gave obedience to orders which his fenfe of duty compelled him to obey, though contrary both to his real and apparent intereft ; — if it has been made evident, that no fhare of refponfibility for the meafures which he carried into execution could juftly be allotted to him, and that he executed thofe meafures in the manner of all' others the beft calculated for the peace and fecurity of the Settlement, as well as for the prefervation of Lord Pigot, and the lives of other individuals; What obftacle can there poffibly be to prevent the enter- ing upon an immediate confideration of Colonel Stuart's cafe, either connected with, or diftinct from, that of the Majority of Council, as you fhall prefer? — And is there not fufficient ground to juftify me in concluding, that the very peculiar circumftances of the cafe muft dif- pofe you, Gentlemen, to adopt the mode beft fuited for giving the moft fpeedy and effectual redrefs to Colonel Stuart, who being an officer of no inconfiderable rank in your fervice, is therefore particularly en- titled to your protection, and who confiders himfelf as authorifed to complain that he has been injured and mifreprefented ? After having trefpaffed fo long upon your time, it is but too evident CONCLUSIC how much I ftand in need of your indulgence; the various topics neceffary, not only to be touched, but enlarged upon, in this addrefs, K 2 have ( 63 ) have imperceptibly encreafed it to a length beyond what I was at fir ft aware of, and far beyond what I intended. To ftate facts, upon which no opinions have been formed, is not, perhaps, a very difficult tafk, nor does it require much detail; but to ftate them, fo as not merely to convey information, but to re- move the prejudices which have been already conceived, and taken root, demands a much greater degree of particularity and minutenefs, and is a very different undertaking. That prejudices mould have arifen in confequence of the firfl accounts brought to this country, of the convulfions at Madras, I have no right to be furprifed ; the firfl accounts of any, and efpecially of any diflant tranfaction, are feldom the molt correct; but befides this, every man, whofe fate it is to act upon critical and important occa- fions, muft not only fubmit to have his conduct freely canvaffed and criticifed, but when the various interefts of many different perfons have been affected, muft further expect to undergo a great degree of prejudice and calumny. From the firft moment that the accounts reached this country, of the events which had happened at Madras, I have ever fincerely lamented them ; an apprehenfion that the public intereft might be affected, would of itfelf have been fufficient to make me regret them. To this, however, has been added a particular concern on account of the animofity which it was eafy to forefee would be excited againft my Brother, from the part which had been allotted to him at that difficult crifis of your affairs. It was obvious, that whether blameable, innocent, or meritorious, Colonel Stuart would inevitably be involved in many difagreeable con- tefts, that he would be expofed to the refentments of at leaft one party, and to a variety of attacks and afperfions upon his character and conduct. It has therefore fallen to my lot to anfwer thofe attacks, and to endeavour to remove the prejudices occafioned by thofe afperfions 2 which ( 69 ) which have been thus thrown out againft an abfent Brother, who, it muft be confeffed by every one, has at leaft been unfortunate ; and perhaps thofe who have attentively perufed this narrative, may by this time be of opinion that he has been feverely and unreafonably perfecuted. In performing the painful talk which has fallen to my fhare, I am apprehenfive that an over anxiety, left fome fact fhould be omitted, or fome reafoning too flightly enforced, may imperceptibly have led me into the repetition of what had been already faid, or the addition of what was unneceffary. For the imputations againft Colonel Stuart have afTumed fo many different forms, and been extended to fo great a variety of par- ticulars, that I have neceffarily been obliged to inveftigate every ground upon which the attacks againft my Brother had been founded, though many of them were fuch as in ordinary cafes might have been thought of too trivial a nature to demand attention, and much lefs to require a ferious refutation. 1 am fenfible of this difadvantage, and of having been led by Colonel Stuart's adverfaries into the difcuffion of fo many and fuch minute particulars, the exact recollection of which I fear will be thought to require too great and painful an effort of the attention. For the affiftance therefore of thofe who from duty or from curiofity may be led to perufe this narrative, if it were not adding to the length of it, already too long, I fhould be inclined fhortly to refume all the material fads and propofitions eftablifhed in the courfe of the preceding enquiry ; — without, however, engaging in that extenfive plan, I (hall beg leave only to recal to your memory fome of thofe facts and propofitions which are the moft effential, and the leaft incumbered with uninterefting and minute circumftances. It is a fact, which will not be difputed, that the moft uninterrupted peace and fecurity have prevailed in your fettlcment at Madras, not- withstanding; ( 70 y withftanding the temporary diflentions in the month of Auguft ijj6; and it is admitted, that while thefe diflentions were at their grcateft height, even at that very critical period, not one life was loft, nor the leaft pcrfonal injury fuftained by any individual in the Settlement, whether that individual was a favourer of Lord Pigot, or took part with the Majority of Council. Jt has always been thought a ground of merit for an officer charged with the execution of an order of a very hazardous and difficult nature, that he had accomplifhed the objects of that order without the lofs of lives; without any man being injured in his perfon or property ; and without any tumult or confufion in the community. This merit has been univerfally allowed to Colonel Stuart, and it has been uniformly the firm conviction of his mind, not only be- fore, but fince the arreft of Lord Pigot, that, if he had either fupported his Lordfhip in oppofition to the Majority of Council, united with the Commander in Chief, — or if in confequence of the orders received from that majority, he had attempted to feize the fort and garrifon of Fort St. George, without the previous arreft: of Lord Pigot; — or, finally, if that arreft had been attempted in a more public, or in any other man- ner than that in which it was accomplifhed ; — the almoft inevitable confequence muft have been, the lofs of lives, and involving the Settlement in all the horrors of a civil war. Can it therefore, in the mind of any man, be longer a matter of doubt, whether Colonel Stuart has acted the part of a meritorious and faithful fervant to the Eaft-India Company? If indeed there is any one who can be of opinion, that the orders which Colonel Stuart received from his fuperiors, civil as well as mili- tary, could have been carried into execution with lefs perfonal injury to Lord Pigot or his friends, or with lefs prejudice to the peace and fecurity of the Settlement, fuch a perfon may have a right to think, that Colonel Stuart's interference was unfortunate, and that he was unfkilful ( 7i ) nnfkilful in the execution of the orders he had received; but (till it would by no means follow that the obeying them was illegal, or a breach of duty on his part. There is really, allow me, Gentlemen, to fay it, fomething very fingular and aftonifhing in the reception Colonel Stuart's conduct has hitherto met with. — Any man unacquainted with the circumftances of his cafe, and informed only of the outcry which had been raifed againft him, muft have concluded, that the man perfecuted with fo much rage and violence had certainly involved fome of your Settle- ments in civil war; — at leaft that he was accountable for many lives loft by the indifcretion of his conduct; — or, at the loweft eftimation of his offences, that he had been guilty of difobedience of orders, both to the military and civil part of the legal and eftablifhed government of Madras. But the real facts have been precifely the reverfe of all thefe atro- cious and fuppofed delinquencies ; and therefore, fo far as relates to the material and folid interefts of his Honourable Employers, it may now, I hope, without prefumption, be aflumed as a thing not to be controverted, that Colonel Stuart has acted the part of an obedient and faithful fervant, attentive to the intereft of his Employers; and that he is entitled to no fmall fliare of praife for the difcretion of his conduct at that moft critical period, in addition to his many acknowledged fervices in the military eftablifhment, which his friends and enemies have equally admitted. In fuch circumftances it almoft exceeds belief, that he fhould have met with fuch an accumulation of misfortunes, hardfhips, and indig- nities ; the mere enumeration of which has confumed many pages, and from the perufal of thofe parts of this narrative one obvious and very material reflection muft arife ; — that if he had been actually guilty of a crime of very confiderable magnitude, he has already fuffered more than would have been fufficient to expiate and atone for it. Sufpended fuperceded degraded from the firft military com- mand with fevere marks of cenfure and difpleafure, before any trial or enquiry t 72 ) enquiry Into his conduct. Thefc are feveritics which affect boih the honour and the intereft: of a military man, and are proportioned only to offences of great magnitude and clearly afcertained. Afterwards when his trial by a Court-martial is ordered, no idea is entertained even of the pojfibility of his innocence, or of merit ; contrary to all the ufual maxims of juftice and fuppofitions of humanity, which confider a man as innocent until he is actually proved to have been guilty. No provifion is made for redrefs to his honour or intereft in the cafe of an honourable acquittal ; — nothing feems to have been in con- templation but his guilt and the certainty of punifhment. Effectual care was indeed taken, that in all events, guilty or inno- cent, he fhould be puniihed by being deprived of that command, upon the faith of which he went to the other fide of the globe ; for the fuperceffion of Colonel Stuart was not made temporary and de- pendant upon his acquittal, but whether tried or not, and whether ac- quitted or not, his command was given to another purpofely fent from England, and in whom it was vefted without any limitation of time. Upon the whole, the treatment Colonel Stuart has met with amounts to this, that whether guilty., innocent, or meritorious, he is turned out of your fervice with marks of difpleafure and difgrace, and the feverity of his fate is increafed by the height of the lituation from which he is degraded ; and is ftill further aggravated, by all this being inflicted upon him independant of any trial or enquiry into his conduct ; when at length an order is fent to India for his trial, fo earneftly folicited by him and by his friends, that trial which might have been the means of vindicating his honour, though care had been taken that it mould not reftore him to the command of the army, is exprefsly, and very unfortunately for Colonel Stuart, refufed. It would furely, Gentlemen, be trifling with the calamities of any man to fay to him, We are bound, till you are tried, to act upon the prefump- tion of your being guilty, and at the fame time to refufe him that trial by ( 73 ) by which alone he can prove that he is innocent. —But it would be a mockery ftill more cruel to fay, — We will grant you a trial • you fhall have the opportunity you want of proving your innocence ; — but having proved it, you mall continue to be punilhed as you was be- fore the trial, or even as if you had been proved to be guilty. Though I profefs the reafons of fome of thefe fteps taken with regard to Colonel Stuart do not appear to me perfectly obvious, 1 wifn moft ansioufly to have it underftood, that nothing here faid is intended to carry with it an imputation of blame upon paft proceedings ; but I mean only to urge what Colonel Stuart has fmTered, from the tantalizing hopes of a trial, and the long delay of juftice, as a foundation and inducement for your future favour to him. The misfortunes which he has met with in your fervice have like- wife occasioned other misfortunes, and produced a temporary difappoint- ment of his well-founded expectations in his Majefty's fervice. As you had before trial fufpended Colonel Stuart, and, from enter- taining fome degree of doubt as to the propriety of his conduct;, had directed that he mould be tried by a Court-martial, therefore his pre- ferment was put a flop to in the King's fervice in the general promotion of officers which took place laft year, and though he was near the head of the lift of the Lieutenant-colonels entitled to the benefit of that promotion, thirty-two Lieutenant- colonels, younger in the fervice, ob- tained the rank of Colonel, which was withheld from him. This very mortifying difappointment happened to an officer whofe merits in his Majefty's fervice are acknowledged who in the courfe of laft war filled fome not unimportant fituations who acted as Quarter-Majler- General at the reduction of Bcllcijle commanded a regiment at the taking of MarUnko and at the Havannah was felected to command the party which ftormed the Moro Fort. , All thefe duties he is well known to have difcharged, to the fatis- faction of the feveral refpectable commanders under whom he acted ; with reputation to himfelf, and utility to the public. L • If ( 74 ) If I am rightly informed, there have been few in fiances of officers, who when they ftrft entered into the fervice of the L'aft India Company, were as high in the King's fervice as Colonel Stuart, and who had the advantage of fo much experience in military matters; — while thefe advantages were doubtlefs an inducement to you, Gentlemen, to adopt Colonel Stuart into your fervice; they like wife afforded him the flat- tering profped that he fhould be capable of rendering fuch effential ferviccs in your military eftablifhment, as would infallibly fecure to him both your approbation and the permanency of his fituation in India, and with that view he incurred a very large cxpence in fitting himfelf out in a manner ihited to the rank he expected to hold there. Upon a full and fair review of what has happened to Colonel Stuart fince entering into your fervice, it would be difficult, I believe, to pro- duce an inflance of any man's having met with filch a hidden ch n :e of fituation, luch a cruel difappointment of his hopes, and who has been involved in fuch a continued fecne of difagreeable druggies and cou- tefls, as have fallen to Colonel Stuart's lot. If I have been fuccefsful in fhewing, that he never has deferved the imputations laid to his charge, and that on the contrary he has not only been innocent but meritorious; it furely mull be an interefting reflection, that all thefe various hardfhips and feverities have been inflicted upon an officer and fervant of the Company, who has pro- moted the interefts of his Honourable Employers, and of the State in general, not only by the part he acted during the time he had a feat and voice in Council, but like wife by his material improvements of your army in the Carnatic, and by a variety of the mofr. beneficial regulations in his military department. It is not for me to ftate at large and to expatiate upon his merits in thefe refpedts, but it may be permitted, efpecially when called upon in the defence of a Brother fo injured and mifreprefented, to appeal to your own records and informations from India, as well as to the teftimony C 15 ) teflimony of many officers and other gentlemen lately come from that part of the world and now in England, for the truth of what I aflert. — From thefe various fources of the beft and moft authentic information it will appear, that Colonel Stuart, has, ever fince his arrival in India, applied himfelf to the bufinefs of his military department there, with a degree of zeal, activity, and attention to ceconomy, of which there are few examples ; and that by his great vigilance and many improve- ments on the Mate of the army and garrifons in that part of India, he bas put them on a mod: refpectable footing, and fortunately at that period of time, when the Honourable Company and the State in general may probably derive the greateft advantages from his labours. It is well known to have been a very favourite opinion of Lord Clive's, founded upon reafon and a perfect knowledge of the fubjecT:, that in India, where the continuance of life and of health is much more precarious than in Europe, it was incumbent on the Eaft India Company, always to be provided with more than one or two officers of experience fit for command, who, by having been refident on the fpot, fhould not only have acquired a proper degree of local know- ledge, but have overcome the inconveniencies which conftantly attend Europeans upon their firft arrival in that climate. As the wifdom of this opinion of Lord Clive's, both from the reafon ©f the thing itfelf, and from the great authority by whom it was re- commended, will, I believe, be univerfally admitted, there may perhaps, after confidering the opportunities Colonel Stuart has had of acquiring knowledge by feveral years refidence in India, and after knowing what he has done, and was in the courfe of doing, in the military departments in the Carnatic, be fome degree of regret on a future day, at the Company's having deprived themfelves of his military talents and affirmance, at a time when we are likely to be engaged in war both with the French, and with fome of the country powers in that part of India. L 2 It ( 16 ) It is however a juflice I owe to my Brother's fentiments, contained in his private letters to me, to communicate to you, that he has aflurcd me in the moft folemn manner, and I believe he has made the fame de- claration at Madras, that although no earthly confidcration will ever induce him (o far to degrade himfelf as to act in peaceable times in any ftation inferior to that which he has already filled, or to accept of any fituation inconfiftent with what he owes to himfeif, and to his rank and fervices ; yet, in the event of actual invaiion of the country, by the French or other enemies, that lie will, even during his fufpcnfion, oiler his fervices in any way, however fubordinate, in which they can be deemed ufeful to the intercfts of the Company. In the courfe of the preceding narrative there is one thing, Gentle- men, which, independent of the propriety or impropriety of Colonel Stuart's conduct in other refpects, cannot poffibly have efcaped ob- fervation, that upon all occafions and whenever an opportunity has occurred of teflifying his refpect for the orders and authority of his Honourable Employers, he has afforded the ftrongeft proofs of that proper fenfe of duty which has influenced the whole of his conduct. Inftead of acting the part allotted to him by the injurious predictions of his adverfaries, he has diftinguifhed himfelf by his zealous endea- vours to promote the eftablifliment of good order in your Settlement, and by the moft implicit obedience to the will and pleafure of the Honourable Company, even in thofc inftances where that obedience muft have been extremely mortifying to him; and I take it for granted that it is unnccefl'ary to obferve to you, that his conduct in thefe refpects has both merited and actually obtained particular approba- tion from the Government at Madras, which fucceeded to that of the Majority of Council. You have alfo had occafion to obferve, that the whole of his conduct, during the critical and important fituation of affairs at Madras in the month of Auguft 1776, had received the ftrongeft marks of approba- tion from the Supreme Council in Bengal, to whom a fuperintendency q over ( 77 ) over your affairs in India v\ authority of I liament. Thus the Coun. »al, who had authority to judge r.rt's cc [f been ho had fuch c pete: ty; at moft it has only been d: ad even thefe doubts have not « 1 to the whole of i: ; for there are \ few indeed who fcruple to allow him merit for preventing- the m have attended his executing in a violent manner the or he had it : I, and it is gen: rreed that I s in no d:. refponfibie for thefe ordc Permit me . Ge : raw myreqt your adopting fuch : and effectual meafures, as may fpeedily decide upon my Brother's con: 3 :d regu [t is in er to give the wi.~ - . :fs, by one or other . :tto modes which have been already pointed vt is by peremptorily order:-:- his tri by a Court-martial, without any difcretion_ left to your :. te in Indu to grantor refufe it; ar. that mode is adopted, I truff, :z: . \ alreac order i trial will be accompanied not c :na- tion up' it M aft :~- ernor and ladras ^ in the event of an . . :af. Or his conduct may to me vrith (till greater pro- -, be . n frcrr. which have : e u, Ge sr upon the c a of at 1 . t' . to com . : If : _~ence 2: sd, it • . ( 78 ) jufiice can be obtained either for or againfl him; be can neither be punifhed nor rewarded properly. If he iball he found to have tranfgreffed his duty, 1 fhaH certainly have no right to complain of his punifhment. If he (hall be found only to have performed it, the moft zealous of thofe friends of Lord Pigot, whom I am lorry to confider as in any degree adver- faries to Colonel Stuart, — even the Brothers of Lord Pigot, I am per- fuaded, not from any actual communication with them, but from the known liberality of their characters, would be the firfl to wifli that Colonel Stuart was acquitted. Though thefe unhappy difputcs at Madras have unfortunately rendered us oppofite in this conteft, there is one predicament in which our fituations are the fame ; — we have in common the feelings of a Brother, and of courfe the fame anxiety and folicitude where a Brother's character and eftimation are at flake. It has been the fincere and fervent wifh of Colonel Stuart, fince the moment that he heard of doubts being entertained as to the propriety of his conduct, that a trial by a Court-martial fhould take place.' ■ In all the different ftages of this bufinefs he has been uniform in that wifh. When firfl a Court-martial was held out to him zs a threat, he defied it ; — when afterwards he had reafon to expcc~l it, he declared the higher! fatisfadion ; — and ever fi nee it has been denied him, he has been inceffant in his expreffions of the ftrongeft regret. His preference of this to .any other fpecies of trial, is becaufe he efteems it to be the moft effectual and fuitable mode for a military man to wipe off every ill founded afperfion. It is without any authority from my Brother, that I have ventured to propofe the other mode of redreffing his grievances, by taking his cafe into your own immediate confideration. This idea has been fuggefted to me principally from the perufalof the rcafons given by your Governor and Council at Madras, for refilling the trial by a Court-martial. They have faid diftinclly, that Colonel Stuart ( 79 ) Stuart has done nothing independent of the authority under which he acted,— have intimated that the legality or illegality of that authority mutt be declared before any trial can proceed, — and have informed you, that the circumftances of his conduct are fufficienfly afcertained by the records in your poffeffion. It further became evident to me, that to a perfon in Colonel Stuart's fituation, any additional fufpenoe and delay, is in reality a very folic! and a fevere degree of punifhment, — and a trial by a Court-martial, upon the fpot where the tranfactions happened, and there I maintain it can alone be held with juftice to Colonel Stuart, — or a trial either by a Court-martial, or by the Courts of Law in England, which would require evidence to be brought from India, muft certainly be attended with the greater! delay, befides many other unavoidable incon- veniencies. Having mentioned a trial by the Courts of Law in England, I beg leave once more to recur to an obfervation that can never be too often repeated, or too ftrongly inculcated, that the only thing for which Colonel Stuart can be refponfible, is the Execution of the orders he received from the Majority of Council ; and indeed, inde- pendent of the intereft which Colonel Stuart mull always take in the profperity of the Eaft India Company, it is immaterial to him whether the orders were right or "wrong ; in either cafe he thinks himfelf equally entitled to fome degree of merit: — if they were beneficial, he thinks that he has encreafed thefe benefits; if they were mijehievous, that he has diminifhed thufe mi/chiefs by his difcretion and temper in the execution of them. In thecourltilikewife of my collecting and arranging the particulars of Colonel Stuart'a conduct, in anfwer to the charges thrown out againft him, the practicability as well as the propriety and fuperior utility of his cafe being judged of and decided by you, Gentlemen, have become ftill more apparent. 4 ImpreiTed ( *a ) Jmprefied (o flrongly as I now am with this opinion, I cannot help taking blame to myfelf in a confiderable degree, for not having fooner colle&ed and fubmittcd to your confidcration, the anfwers on the part of my Brother, to the imputations thrown out againft him, — and I take this opportunity of alluring you, that notwithftanding the various reports, and fome illiberal publications circulated to his prejudice, I have ever abftaincd not only from ftating his cafe to his Honour- able Employers, but from having any concern directly or indirectly in any of the publications relating to thefc Madras difputes; excepting only that I gave my afliftance in collecting and arranging the mate- rials lately published in relation to the proceedings of the Coroner's Inqueft, which is merely a collection of authentic papers for the infor- mation of the public, upon theie ftrange proceedings, without any reafoning upon them. As I was fully perfuaded that my Brother's trial by a Court-martial was to take place, in confequence of the orders you fent out by the Befborough, I therefore thought it my duty not only to avoid giving you unnecefTary trouble, but that it became me to abftain from any reprefentation or difcufhon of his cafe, while there was fo much reafon to expect that it was in the courfe of being judicially afcer- taincd, and reported to you in the moft authentic manner by the Court martial. fides the various concurring motives which I have already men- tioned, and which induce me, though unauthorifed by my Brother, to wifh that the fecond mode, I have ventured to propofe, fhould take place. — Befides the impartiality and candour with which I am confi- dent, Gentlemen, you will difcufs and decide upon Colonel Stuart's conduct and future expectations, there is this ftrong additional induce- ment for the preference to the fecond mode, that the delays which I ftated above, as inevitable in every other method of proceeding, will by this be avoided. It ( 3x ) It is alfo a confideration which every body will admit, is extremely interefting both to Colonel Stuart and his friends, that befides the weight, which your Authority in the decifion will carry with it in the world, it is in the Directors and Proprietors of the Eaft-India Com- pany alone that the Paver refides, of giving redrefs to an injured officer and fervant of the Company. If, however, contrary to what I have taken the liberty of repre- fenting, it mould appear to you, Gentlemen, that a Court-martial is the preferable method of proceeding, permit me moft earneftly to requeft that the orders for that trial may be fent to India by the firft difpatches. The anxious wifh of Colonel Stuart and his friends is, and ever has been, that every Meafure (hould be adopted which may be the beft calculated, for a thorough examination of his conduct, as well as for throwing light upon the motives and the confequences of it, and that this mould take place with the leaft poffible delay; — what is moft dreaded on his behalf is the continuance of his prefent fituation, without either Trial or Examination. And furely, Gentlemen, this anxiety for a fpeedy determination of Colonel Stuart's fate and future profpeds cannot appear to you either unnatural or unreafonable. If misfortunes like thofe which he has experienced would have been diftreffing to any man, it is not to be wondered at if they have been more peculiarly fo to a military man, in whom a more than ordinary degree of fenfibility is not only allowable but even commendable, upon every point that may affect his military rank, character, and eftimation. Is it therefore to be wondered at, if, after poffefling the diftinguifhed rank of Commander in Chief of your great army in the Carnatic, he mould feel himfelf hurt and mortified at being degraded from that M command, ( S2 ) command, in a time perhaps of the greateft exertion and activity; — and that, fufpended as he ftill continues to be from your fervicc, he fhould be waiting in India with the mod anxious folicitude, your final refolutior.s concerning him. This unexpected reverie, affecting to any officer, mud be more deeply fo to him, whofe pride it was to have beflowed fuch indefatigable pains in putting not only your army, but your military ports in that part of India, on the moil refpectable footing; and to have introduced by his attention and example the ftricteft difcipline into the fervicc, while he at the fame time acquired the confidence and attachment both of the Officers and foldiers. He vainly flattered himfelf, that if, duriug his flay in India, the fituation of public affairs fhould call for any mili- tary exertions, he could not have failed to acquire fome degree of credit by the conduct of that army w r hich he had difciplined and im- proved, and by the utility of the many military plans which he had formed. But the fituation in which he is now placed has put an end to all thefe hopes ; he finds himfelf, untried and unheard, deprived of the opportunity of rendering fervices to the public, and inftead of acquiring any additional credit to himfelf, left, from a train of unfortunate events, ftruggling againft a torrent of calumny, to preferve that reputation and good name, which, till thefe unhappy difturbances, had upon no occafion been difputed. Thefe, Gentlemen, are the calamities, and this is the heavy load of injury under which he has fo long laboured, and under which, even though you fhould enter into an immediate difcuffion of his cafe, he muft ftill continue to labour, till the arrival of your dif- patches in India ; uncertain whether thofe difpatches will bring his acquittal, — a continuance of his punifhment, — or a refufal to hear him. It ( 83 ) It depends, therefore, upon your juftice and humanity, Gentlemen, to put a period to a fituation fo feverely mortifying to an officer, con- fcious of having exerted his beft endeavours for the interefts of his Honourable Employers. I have the honour to be with great truth, GENTLEMEN, Your moft faithful and obedient humble Servant* Berkley Square, AND W . STUART, 22d December, 1778, S7^S APPENDIX. CORRESPONDENCE between Lord Barrington, Secretary at War, and Mr. Stuart, in relation to his Brother i Colonel James Stuart. [Referred to in page 50 of the preceding Letter.] From Lord Barrington to Mr. Stuart. SIR, Cavendifh Square, gd September 1777. "V7'OUR excellent knowledge of men and things will prevent your beinw furprifed, or offended, that your Brother is not included in the promotion of Lieutenant-Colonels, advanced to the rank of Colonel, juft made. This letter therefore is not intended as an apology, but as an affurance, that full and perfect juftice will be done to him hereafter, if his condutl in India refembles the reft of his condutl through life. I depend on your giving him this affurance in my name ; and am, with great truth and regard, SIR, Your mod humble, and mofl obedient fervant, AdrdefTed thus : To Jndretu Stuart, Efq; Berkley-Square, London. (Signed) Barrington. From ( u ) From Mr. Stuart to Lord Barrington. My Lord, Edinburgh, October 3d, 1777. T Have received in this country the letter which your Lordfhip did me the honour to write to me lately. It was addreffed to me in Berkley Square, but 1 had left London two or three weeks before that timej and by my moving from place to place, fince my arrival in Scotland, it was a long time after the date before it reached me. I cannot but feel myfelf under great obligations to your Lordfhip, for the kind attention which gave rite to that Letter. The intelligence of my Brother's being paffed over in the late promotion would have been doubly diftrefling, if it had not been alleviated by the obliging manner in which you have been pleafed to communicate to me this event •, and by the affurances which you authorife me to impart to my Brother, of the full and perfect juftice which is intended to be done to him hereafter. Convinced, as I am mod fincerely, of your Lordfhip's kind intentions towards my Brother, and having reafon to be perfuaded of your good opinion of him as an officer, and as a man, it would be mod unreafonable in me to entertain any doubt, that whatever the appearances may be, no real hardfhip or injury is intended him. Still, I cannot help regretting exceedingly, thofe unfortunate incidents in India, which have made it appear neceffary thatfuch a marked exception fhould take place with regard to Colonel Stuart at this time. The intereft I take in what relates to my Brother, does not prevent my per- ceiving the reafons which might prefent themfelves agJnft his being included in the late promotion ; it might occur, that as the propriety of his conduct, during the late convulfions at Madras, remains as yet undecided, and as he is to be tried by a Court-martial 'in that country, no mark of his Majefty's favour ou<*ht to be beftowed upon an officer in that predicament. But I cannot dived myfelf of an apprehenfion, that this ftep, which from the bed motives has been taken, for avoiding the appearance of partiality, appro- bation, or favour on the one hand, may be productive of very hard and fevere confequences with regard to Colonel Stuart, from the appearance it holds out to the world, on the other hand, that his conduct in the Indian tranfactrons has, 5 even ■ ( iii ) . even before his trial in India, been judged of, and difapproved at home; and that in the eftimation of his Sovereign, and his Majefty's Minifters, he ftands already condemned. The marked exception of Colonel Stuart from fuch a general promotion, as that which has now taken place, feems to me to authorife inferences to his pre- judice, infinitely ftronger, than any that could be made in favour of his con- duct, from allowing his promotion in the King's fervice to take place according to the date of his commiffion, and as a matter of courfe, which would not have implied any mark of fpecial favour towards him perlbnally. As the circumftances of this cafe are very peculiar, I beg your Lordfhip's indulgence for fubmitting them to your confideration. Colonel Stuart has been for many years an Officer in his Majefty's fervice, and within thefe two years he entered, with the King's permifiion, into the fervice of the Eafi India Company •, it was his fate to arrive in India, in the Summer of laft year, at a time when the diflentions between the Governor and Council at Madras had rifen to a great height; and though the command of the army was repeatedly offered him by the Governor, it appeared to him to be his duty, as executive officer, and fecond in the military command, to obey the orders of the Majority of the Council, efpecially as his immediate commanding officer, Sir Robert Fletcher, was one of that Majority, who figned the orders given to him. Whether Colonel Stuart acted right or wrong, or whether he was guilty of error in judgment, in the obedience he thus gave, and in the other fteps of his conduct in India, is a matter which yet remains to be tried, and the cog- nizance of it belongs to the Eaft India Company. "While thefe affairs are in dependence, and while the opinions of the pnblic are much divided concerning the conduct of the principal actors on both fides, in thefe disturbances at Madras; it feems to be more equitable, that the conduct of an officer of many years (landing in the King's fervice, fhould be favourably judged of, on account of his character and behaviour while in that fervice, if thefe were unexceptionable, than that the uncertain reports or reprefentations of either party, during the heat of faction in the Indian civil commotions, fhould deprive him of the character fo acquired, and of the rights accruing to him in his Majefty's fervice. With regard to Colonel Stuart's character and conduct, during the many years he ferved, and in the various ftations he has filled in the King's fer- vice, they are certainly not liable to any objection. L 2 On ( iv ) On the contrary, the ftations in which he was employed, and the manner in which he acquitted hfmfelf of the confidence repofcd in him during the laft war, afford fubftantial proofs of his being confidered as an officer of diltinguifhed merit, particularly his fervices as Quarter Matter General, at the reduction of Bellcrjle, — his behaviour at the taking of Martinico, where he commanded a regiment; — and at the taking of the Havannab, where he had the command, during the campaign, of a detached corps, and was afterwards {elected to command the party which ftormed the Moro Fort. The inference made in many places from the exclufion of Colonel Stuart in the promotion now made is, that fince his former fervices, military rank, and behaviour, have availed him nothing upon this occafion, the circumftances of his conduct in India muft have been afcertaincd, and have appeared in the mod unfavourable light to his Majefty's miniflers, or to thofe in the management of military affairs ; the confequence of which is, that while he fuffers greatly in the opinion of the world in general, by this mark of difplea- fure and difapprobation, he goes to his trial in India, and to the trial of the other incidental quefcions connected with thefe Indian occurrences, under the difadvantage of a heavy weight of prejudices againft him, — prejudices of the mod dangerous nature, on account of the high authority by which they have the appearance of being eftablifhed. No perfon can be more thoroughly convinced than I am, that there was no intention on your Lordfhip's part, or in any other quarter, to inflict hardfhips of this nature upon Colonel Stuart; on the contrary I am perfuaded, that the true motive of the late meafure with regard to him was, that his trial might proceed free from prejudices, either for, or againlt him. But as the prevailing opinion of many judicious and impartial perfons, with whom I have converfed on this fubjecl:, is, that the tendency of the late remarkable exception of Colonel Stuart, from the recent promotion, muft, in the circumftances of his cafe, be fuch as I have taken the liberty to mention, I thought it my duty to fubmit thefe things to your Lordfhip's confideration. I fhall only beg leave to add, that for my own part, I have the molt com- pleat reliance upon your Lordfhip's good intentions towards my Brother, and have no doubt that, agreeably to the afiurances given, full and perfect juftice is intended, and will be done to him ; my principal anxiety at prefent is, that during the period which precedes the examination and trial of his conduct in India, there may be no prejudices hurtful to him, nor any appearance of his caufe being prejudged. From ( v ) From the beginning of thefe Indian difputes, all I have contended for has been, that my Brother mould have a fair and impartial trial, and fhat while it was uncertain, whether he had acted a part that deferved cenfure or punifh- ment, or on the contrary, had rendered meritorious fervice to the Eaft India Company, and to the British government, no fteps mould be taken hurtful to his honour or htereft. His trial by Court-martial was my earned requeft to the Directors of the Eaft India Company, becaufe when the conduct of an officer is attacked, his honour requires this mode of trial ; but there is perhaps fome reafon to confi- der it as an unufual degree of hardfhip that the following fteps fhould precede that trial. First. The fufpenfion of Colonel Stuart during fix months in confequence of the orders of the Directors of the Eaft India Company, which by many people is efteemed of itfelf a degree of punilhment before trial, and at the fame time likely to create prejudices againft the perfon to be tried. And secondly. That now he has further to contend with the prejudices arifing from the marked exception that has been made of him in his Majefty's fervice, where, though almoft at the head of the lift of thofe Lieutenant Colonels who could receive benefit from the late promotion, thirty two younger Lieutenant- colonels have received that rank which has been denied to him. It is not in the difpofition of complaint, or in any degree of bad humour, that I have prefumed to ftate thefe things; but from a defire to fubmit them to your Lordlhip's ferious confideration, and in the full perfuafion, that your can- dour and equity will difcover the beft remedies for thefe hardfhips, if they ffiall appear to you to have any real foundation. And I beg leave to aflure yourLordftiip, that I fhould not have troubled you with them, if I were not in my own mind thoroughly convinced that promot- ing Colonel Stuart in common with others of his rank, at a time when fuch a general meafure was taken, could not be confidered, either as an inftance of partiality or approbation of his conduct: in India, but as a natural confequence of his rank and behaviour in the King's fervice, to which alone fuch promotions are applicable. The withholding this preferment, which is confidered as a matter of courfe where there is no criminality, is liable to be interpreted as what I am fure it was not meant, a decifion againft Colonel Stuart's conduct in India ; and that deci- sion will be fuppofed to proceed upon proofs that have not reached the public, becaufe it will not be fuppofed, that without fuch proofs an officer of tried and approved merit in the line of his profeffion, fhould be fet afide for a mo- 2 ment, V ( vi ) ment, againft the jufl: and eftabliihed preemption, which makes innocence pre- fumed rather than guilt, until legal conviction puts an end to that prefump- tion. I beg your Lordfhip's excufe for giving you the trouble of reading fo long a letter ; but the duty which I owe to an abfent brother, who, at the date of the lad advices from him, was flattering himfclf with the hopes of public marks of approbation inftead of punifhments or marks of difpleafure, made it appear to me unavoidable, and 1 hope will obtain for me your Lordfhip's pardon for trefpaffing To much upon your time. I have the honour to be, with great truth and efteem, Your Lordfhip's mod faithful and obedient fervant, (Signed) Andrew Stuart. From Lord Barrington to Mr. Stuart. SIR, Beckett, 16th October, 1777. T Am to acknowledge the honour of your letter, dated the 3d inftant. The polite candour with which it is written claims, and has my beft thanks. The matter it contains, I think, may be difcuffed in converfation better than by letter-, I will therefore, with your permifllon, defer entering into it till we meet. In the mean time you are at liberty to make any life which your prudence and brotherly affection can fuggeft of the letter I firft wrote to you, after the ge- neral promotion of Lieutenant-colonels by Brevet. I am, with great truth and regard, SIR, Your mod obedient humble fervant, (Signed) Barrington. Addreffed thus : To Andrew Stuart, Efq- t Berkley Square, Loudon. VfiZi! \ .9129 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT LOS ANGELES THE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY This book is DUE on the last date stamped below HTC'D JUL Form Uf ■ )NIVEH CALIFORNIA DS 470 Stuart - -S9S9& — A l e t ter-. DS 470 S9S9b ill'illlllll'l| T |||ll»Iim. E | GI0NAL Umm ACUITY A A 000 107 031 fvl