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 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.]
 
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 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 
 <c James Stuart, Lieutenant-colonel James Eidingtoun, and Captain 
 " Barclay, fome orderlies pujhing this Informant behind, to the Council- 
 *' room ; where this Informant found Meffirs. George Stratton, Sir Ro- 
 ** bert Fletcher, Henry Brooke, Charles Floyer, Archdalc Palmer, Francis 
 <c J our dan, and George Mackie, fitting at the Council-table. This informant 
 " iv as detained in the Council-room, until Colonel James Stuart diclated a 
 " narrative of ivhat had pajfed upon the parade, to Mr. Jour dan, who 
 " appeared to acl as fecretaiy.'" 
 
 In another account given by Mr. Ruffel of this fame matter, alfo 
 upon oath, in the month of Anguft 1776, there are the following ad- 
 ditional circumftances: 
 
 " 'That Colonel Stuart, upon feeing fever al of the grenadiers advancing 
 «* from the ranks towards him (Mr. Ruffel), J'eeni'd to be fo ?nuch 
 •' alarm'' d with this, that he quitted his hold of the Deponent (Mr. Ruf- 
 *' fel), and ran back to pnffi the grenadiers into the ranks, with oaths 
 *' and threats ; that, after effecl'mg this, Colonel Stuart returned to affijl 
 ** Colonel Eidington, and Captain Barclay, by laying hold of the Depo- 
 
 D « neat's
 
 ( *8 ) 
 
 " ncnt's i '. and calling for an orderly fdrjeant, to pu/Jj him (Mr. 
 
 The inference I draw from thefe facts is, that when we fee that 
 fuch a fenfation and beginning of difturbance could be produced in 
 the garrifon at a time fo unfavourable for Lord Pigot's friends, 
 when his Lord (hip was in fafe cuftody with the corps of artillery at 
 the Mount; and when there was fo little time or opportunity 
 afforded them to prepare for any plan of re Pittance ; and when 
 we fee that this Gentleman, Mr. Ruflel, though unfupported by 
 the other Members of the Minority, was refolutely bent on refift- 
 ancc, did every thing in his power to excite the guards to it, and 
 had actually made fuch an impreffion, as at one time to m ie of 
 
 the guards ftand to their arms, and afterwards to excite I of the 
 
 grenadiers to ftep out of their ranks to give him fupport, if the further 
 progrefs of thefe firft impreffions had not been checked by Colonel 
 Stuart's violently threatening and pufhnig back thefe grenadiers, and 
 afterwards laying hold of Mr. Ruffcl, and forcibly taking him from 
 the parade ; I fay, when we obferve all thefe things, do they not 
 afford the moft complete conviction, that if Lord Pigot had not been 
 arrefted, but had been with the garrifon, or at liberty, at the time when 
 Colonel Stuart, in obedience to his orders, was to feize the fortrefs, 
 there muft have enfued a very ferious conflict, and the lofs of many lives. 
 
 Without any difparagement to Mr. Ruffel, who I know enjoys a rc- 
 fpectable character, and who {hewed as much zeal and rcfolution as 
 was poffible for any man in his circumflanccs, I may on good grounds 
 prefume, that Lord Pigot himfelf, had he been in a fituation to act, 
 would not have been lels zealous or lefs determined ; and that his 
 perfonal prefence in the garrifon, where, as Governor of the fort, he 
 had a right to command, and accompanied with friends who would have 
 fupported him on the occafion, could not have failed to have produced 
 a very different fpirit and degree of rcfiftance among the troops in the 
 garrifon ; it muft have been of a much more ferious nature, than 
 what was or could be produced by the efforts of any of the Counfellors 
 ©f Lord Pigot's party, who had never acted but in a civil capacity. 
 
 Lord
 
 ( 19 ) 
 
 Lord Pigot's former military actions, his rank, the command he was 
 accuftomed to have of the guards of the garrifon, and his known in- 
 trepidity and warmth of temper, would certainly have difpofed many 
 of the guards to have oheyed him ; and there can hardly he a douht 
 that he would have rifked his own and their lives, rather than yield 
 to the power which required pofTeffion of his garrifon ; and that in all 
 probability he and many of his adherents, overpowered by numbers, 
 would have fallen. 
 
 Let any man fairly eftimate in his own mind thefe events which, 
 in all human probability, would have happened, compare them with 
 thofe which actually did happen, and then declare ingenuoufly, 
 whether he thinks Colonel Stuart is entitled to merit or demerit, with 
 the Eaft India Company,' with Lord Pigot's friends, and with this coun- 
 try in general, for preferring to every other, the plan which was actually 
 purfued. 
 
 The mode of arreting Lord Pigot, and fome of the circumflances at- ^ y, e nicns to 
 tending the accomplishment of it, have been loudly complained of, not the mode of ar* 
 as affecting either the peace of the fettlement, or the interefts of the 
 Company; but on this ground, that the arreft is faid to have been 
 brought about in a manner that was unhandfome, and deceitful, and 
 that I may not feem to avoid ftating it in the ftrongeft terms, even 
 treacherous to Lord Pigot. 
 
 Upon thefe topics every circumftance or commentary that could be 
 collected from the mouths of enemies to Colonel Stuart, has been 
 wrought up with uncommon ingenuity to inflame the minds of the 
 Lafl: India Proprietors, and of the public at large, againft him ; fo 
 much fo, that there could not have been more rage and violence, if, 
 inftead of applying his utmoft attention and management to fave Lord 
 Pigot's life, he had been guilty of his murder j or if, inftead of avoid- 
 
 D 2 ing
 
 ( =0 ) 
 
 ing confufion in the Settlement, he had involved it in tumult and 
 bloodfhed. 
 
 If it were unqucftionabiy afcertained upon an examination of unpre- 
 judiced and impartial perfons, that Colonel Stuart, in the circum- 
 flanccs in which he was placed, had acted improperly and with deceit, 
 harfhnefs, or treachery to Lord Pigot, I may venture to fay that there 
 is no perfon to whom that part of his conduct could give more 
 uneafinefs, and real concern, than to myfelf; or who would be lefs apt 
 to attempt any vindication, evea of a Brother, in fuch particulars. 
 
 I fhould have no hefitation to condemn any harfh or improper beha- 
 viour towards Lord Pigot, on a double account; both becaufe fuch beha- 
 viour would be very unfuitable from one Gentleman to another, and 
 becaufe Lord Pigot was a character entitled to refpect and atten- 
 tion from the world in general, and particularly from thofe connected 
 with the Eaft India Company, to which he had rendered fuch fignal 
 fervices at a former period of his life. 
 
 But when the minds of men are much heated in party conteft, we 
 are not to give implicit faith to the affertions cither of the one party 
 or the other, with regard to the conduct of a perfon, whofe part in the 
 bufinefs allotted to him has rendered him obnoxious, — especially in fo 
 far as thefe aflertions relate not to fubftantial facts, incapable of being 
 miftaken, but relate to expreffions uttered in the courfe of converfation,. 
 and even to the manner, and the tone of voice which accompanied them. 
 
 It happens fo often that fuch expreffions, and the circumftances attend- 
 ing them, are meant, underflood and related in fo very different a 
 manner, by different perfons prefent at the fame inftant, that no folid 
 reliance can be placed on them as articles of accufation. 
 
 I therefore fhall not think it neceffary to take much notice of fome of 
 the articles which fall under that defcription ; let it however be remem- 
 bered, that the accounts which were in the beginning circulated by one 
 party, concerning Colonel Stuart's expreffions, or converfations, in 
 the courfe of the tranfadtions of the 24th of Augufl, are exprefsly denied 
 and contradicted by the other party. 
 
 When
 
 f 21 ) 
 
 ft. 
 
 When the accounts of the difturbances at Madras firft reached 
 this country, Colonel Stuart's friends were not fupplied with the 
 proper information for anfvvering the various aflertions or ca- 
 lumnies with which his conduct was attacked; becaufe not having 
 any idea that he was to be traduced in fuch a manner, he had 
 not fupplied his friends with the means of obviating or refuting the 
 imputations. — Colonel Stuart at Madras could not divine the terms of 
 the Letter which Mr. Dalrymple wrote from Alexandria, at the dif- 
 tance of many hundred miles ; — nor could he forefee at Madras, the 
 liberties which, in confequence of that Letter, and of other reports cir- 
 culated at the commencement of this Indian difpute, were taken with 
 him in this country, at the diftance of fome thoufand miles. 
 
 The fir ft time that his attention to certain imputations was more parti- 
 cularly excited, was in the month of April 1777. He was at that time at 
 Tanjore, and received, by means of a friend at Madras, the copy of a 
 pamphlet or cafe drawn up on Lord Pigot's part, which had been 
 printed with great fecrecy in India, to be forwarded to this country. 
 
 By the firft conveyance, after he had feen that pamphlet, I received 
 a letter from my Brother, wherein, amongft other things, he parti- 
 cularly gives an account of what pafled in the Council-room on the 
 evening of the 24th of Auguft, immediately before the arreft took 
 place; and the account there given, exprefsly contradicts the de- 
 clarations, imputed by Lord Pigot's friends to Colonel Stuart, during 
 the courfe of that interview in the Council-room. What he fays to 
 me in his private letter on this fubject, which I am ready to fubmit 
 to your perufal, is in thefe words : 
 
 " As to what \s falfely faid of my having given my honour to obey 
 " the orders of Lord Pigot's faction, I truft, that, independent of my 
 " own affertion being full as good as the aflertion of Mr. Ruftel fo 
 " nearly connected, the evidence of Mr. Sullivan, who was pr< fent, 
 " and then acting as Secretary, will be more than fufEcient to oveiturn 
 *' the calumny; but if I may be believed to have any memory, or to 
 44 be poffefled of corr.moa fenfe, or confiftcncy of conduct, none who 
 
 " know
 
 ( 23 ) 
 
 " know me as fuch can poffibly think, that t!ic man who wrote and dc- 
 " livcred the letter the morning of that memorable day, the 24th of 
 " Auguft (of which you have a copy), could poffibly make fuch a 
 " declaration the fame evening. 
 
 " Very true it is, indeed, that the members of Lord rigot's fa&ion 
 " had fummoned mc to meet them in order to crofs-qucftion, and if 
 " poflible, commit and entrap me in fome fnare; and as I had no pre- 
 " vious notice of their intention, it required the utmoft effort of 
 " caution and prudence in me to elude their intentions. At the 
 " precife time of this fiery ordeal, the fecret was in the power of near 
 " fifty perfons, including the parties at that very moment ported on 
 " the road to the Gardcn-houfe under the Adjutant-general, and Cap- 
 " tain Lyfaught ; the commanding officer of the artillery at the Mount, 
 " had alfo orders to receive him ; the Commandant of the Fort had 
 <( likewife agreed to receive my orders on every emergency ; Lord 
 " Pigot's chaife was at the door; what then was for me to do, at 
 " that moft critical period ? Had I bluntly contradicted their afiertions, 
 " with regard to their legal powers, or in direct terms refufed to obey, 
 " the Settlement muft have been involved, together with myfelf and 
 <c the Gentlemen who obeyed my orders from a fenfe of their duty, in 
 " fcenes of the greateft horror; for Lord Pigot, as was natural to 
 " fuppofe, was refolved to have remained in the Fort, and to have 
 " exerted every authority given him by his military commiffion; and I 
 " was equally refolved to have carried him by force from thence to the 
 " Mount, at the rifk of falling in the. attempt. What other line could 
 " a man of common prudence or humanity follow, than that which I 
 " I did, viz. neither afferting nor denying their proportions, but ap- 
 " pearing, as I really did, paftive on the occafion. It was a trial of 
 " fkill, which lafted at leaft three quarters of an hour. Inrtcad of felf- 
 ** condemnation, the retrofpe& of the part I acted at that time affords 
 w me the greateft fatisfaclion, becaule, under Providence, to that is 
 " owing, what the annals of hirtory will not produce, viz. fo univer- 
 
 a. « fal
 
 ( 2 3 ) 
 
 *' fal a change being brought about fo fuddenly and without any indi- 
 " vidual being hurt in his perfon.'' 
 
 But there is one circumftance, which does not fall within the de- 
 fcription of expreffions or converfations, liable to be miftaken, and it 
 is that which of all others has made the moft noife, and excited the 
 greateft prejudice againft Colonel Stuart in this bufinefs, the circum- 
 ftance of his accompanying Lord Pigot in the chaifc at the time when 
 he was arrefted. 
 
 That Colonel Stuart did accompany Lord Pigot in the chaife from 
 the Fort to the place where he was arrefted, on the 24th of Auguft, 
 which was about 700 paces from the fort of Madras, is certainly true ; 
 and I have no hefitation to fay, that fince Lord Pigot was to be arrefted, 
 I mod fincerely with that it could have been accompliftied without 
 Colonel Stuart's attending him in the chaife, fuppofing that practicable 
 with equal fafety to his Lordfhip's perfon, and to the peace and fecurity 
 of the fettlement : for I do own, that to perfons at a diftance from the 
 fcene of action, this circumftance carries, upon its firft appearance, fome- 
 thing very difagreeable and unfavourable for the perfon who was placed, 
 or placed himfelf, in that fituation. 
 
 I have no right to be furprifed that it fhould have excited, in the 
 early ftages of this bufinefs, a confiderable degree of prejudice againft 
 Colonel Stuart, fince even the relation and friendfhip between him and 
 me did not at that period totally exempt me from the influence of the 
 fame prejudices. 
 
 At the time when thefe prejudices moft prevailed, which was upon the 
 arrival of the firft accounts of the unhappy difturbances at Madras, no 
 perfon in this country was fupplied with proper information as to the 
 motives of Colonel Stuart's conduct in that particular ; nor was there 
 any allowance made for the confiderations of a public nature, which 
 might have induced him to take this ftep of attending Lord Pigot in 
 the chaife, even at the rifque of temporary impreffions to the prejudice 
 of his character as a private man. 
 
 I do
 
 ( N ) 
 
 I do not mean, however, to enter into the difcufiion of any abftract 
 unnecefiary quefiions ; nor fliall I attempt to mark out the precife line 
 to he purfued, where the duties which one owes to the public, are to be 
 put in competition with thofe which a man may fairly be fuppofed 
 to owe to himfclf. 
 
 Thefe are queftions of delicate difcufiion, and whether decided in 
 one way or the other, there are fo many hazards that general maxims 
 upon fuch topics may produce mifchief to fociety rather than utility, 
 that it is perhaps better to avoid, than to embrace any opportunity of 
 abftracT: reafoning upon them. 
 
 But this I may venture to affirm, that when the conduct of any 
 man is unfortunately diftractcd by contradictory obligations, and when 
 the duties he owes to the general interefts of the ftate, or to that par- 
 ticular body of men, in whofc fervice he is employed, happen to in- 
 terfere with the attention due to his own private character and repu- 
 tation ; the decifion in fuch an alternative mull be truly diftreffing. 
 A plaufible ground will always remain for cenfure and diiapproba- 
 tion, and, as has happened in Colonel Stuart's cafe, men will impute 
 to the errors of conduct what arofe from the difficulties of fituation. 
 
 Infiead, therefore, of entering into the difcufiion of any general 
 queftion, I fhall only beg leave to ftate the particular fituation in 
 which Colonel Stuart found himfelf, at the time when it appeared to 
 him of effential confequence that he fhould accompany Lord l'igot in the 
 chaife, — to point out the hazards which might have enfucd if this mode 
 had not been adopted, — and to endeavour to correct the errors and mif- 
 reprefentations which attended the firft editions of this ftory; for in 
 the accounts at firft circulated, circumftances of friendship and con- 
 nection between Lord Pigot and Colonel Stuart, and of treacherous 
 deceits pracYiicd upon his Lordfhip, were Superadded to the fact of Co- 
 lonel Stuart's accompanying him in the chaife, and thefe mifrcpre- 
 fentations no doubt contributed greatly to excite the violence that at 
 firft appeared againft Colonel Stuart. 
 
 i After
 
 ( 25 ) 
 
 After performing this propofed tafk, I fhall not prefume to offer any 
 opinion of my own, but leave it to you, Gentlemen, to form your 
 own judgment upon this part of Colonel Stuart's conduct. 
 
 Whatever degree of management or addrefs, Colonel Stuart may have 
 employed in the arrefting Lord Pigot's perfon, and obtaining poffeffion 
 of the fortrefs, I prefume that I may be allowed to take it for granted 
 in the firft place, that no one at all acquainted with Colonel Stuart's 
 character, or the incidents of his life, will fuppofe that his conduct upon 
 this occafion was fuggefted or regulated by the motives of attention 
 to his own perfonal fafety j his military fervices, and even tbe acknow- 
 ledgment of his enemies, leave no room to queftion his perfonal cou- 
 rage and intrepidity. 
 
 There can hardly be a doubt in the mind of any man, that the 
 meafure of arrefting Lord Pigot privately, in preference to the other 
 alternative of fecuring his perfon in an open and violent manner, pro- 
 ceeded from a defire of not occafioning the lofs of lives, and of prevent- 
 ing any tumults andconfufion in the fettlement; and it may notbeaflum- 
 ing too much to add, that it proceeded alfo from a defire to avoid any 
 chance of injury to Lord Pigot's perfon. The only queftion is, whether, 
 in the accompiifhment of thefe purpofes, Colonel Stuart employed more 
 addrefs, than is juftifiable, even for the attaining any great public objects. 
 
 It feems to be generally agreed, that fince Lord Pigot was in all 
 
 events to be arrefted, it was much more proper that his arreft fhould 
 
 beaccomplifhed in a private manner, without noife or difturbance, than 
 
 that the hazard fhould be incurred of any tumult or fcuffle, by an open 
 
 and violent arreft. This preference of a private arreji, includes in it an 
 
 approbation of fome degree of management, fome addrefs or furprife in 
 
 the accompiifhment of the bufinefs recommended to the executive 
 
 officer; for without thefe it ceafes to be of the nature of a private arreft, 
 
 the very object of which is to lay hold of the perfon to be arrefted, when 
 
 unfufpecting any fuch intention againft him, and unprepared for re- 
 
 fiftance. 
 
 E So
 
 ( 26 ) 
 
 So far at leaft then is clear, that it ought not to create any prejudice 
 againft Colonel Stuart, that he fecured Lord Pigot's perfon when un- 
 prepared for refinance, and without any fufpicion of what was in- 
 tended. 
 
 This may afford an anfvver to a confiderablc part of the outcry which 
 was raifed by the undiflinguifhing multitude, who were affected by the 
 contraft drawn, and by the pathetic defcription given of Lord Pigot, 
 unprepared for defence, and free from fufpicion ; while he, Colonel 
 Stuart, had fettled in his own mind the plan which he was to purfue, 
 and (o conducted himfelf, that Lord Pigot could form no fufpicion of 
 the event that awaited him. 
 
 Even if Colonel Stuart had been on terms of great intimacy or 
 friendfhip with Lord Pigot, the very reverfe of which I beg leave to 
 obferve, was the fact, it will probably be allowed by thofe who attend 
 to the circumftances of the refpective fituations of Lord Pigot and 
 Colonel Stuart, at that time, that it would have been a blameable 
 inftead of a praife-worthy action on Colonel Stuart's part, if he had 
 not concealed from his Lordfhip the orders he had received, and the 
 means by which he propofed to carry them into execution ; for in 
 judging fairly upon this point, it muft be taken into confideration 
 that Colonel Stuart was not only convinced of his duty to obey that 
 order with fidelity and fecrecy, but at the fame time convinced that 
 the fafcty of Lord Pigot's perfon, and the prefervation of many 
 lives, depended upon his Lordihip's having no fufpicion of what wa3 
 intended. 
 
 That the merit or demerit of thefe fteps of concealing from Lord 
 Pigot the intended arreft, and of attending him in the chaife, may be 
 fairly appreciated, it is necefiary, that they fhould be feparated from 
 thofe additional circumftances, which were artfully interwoven with the 
 firft accounts of this tranfaction, and having ever fince accompanied the 
 criticifms on Colonel Stuart's conduct, they have been one of the prin- 
 cipal means of carrying to fuch a height the prejudices againft him. 
 
 5 It
 
 ( 2 7 ) 
 
 It was faid, that Colonel Stuart, at the time of thefe tranfa&ions, 
 was in habits of friendfhip and intimacy with Lord Pigot, and even 
 poiTefTed a confiderable fhare of his confidence ; that he was under ob- 
 ligations to Lord Pigot, or at leafi: was courting his favour and con- 
 fidence, that he had invited himfelf to fup with Lord Pigot on the 23d 
 of Auguft, and to breakfaft, and then to dinner and flipper with him on 
 the 24th, the day of the arreft ; and that all this was done folely with 
 a view of betraying his friend. 
 
 This, to be fure, was a very unfavourable reprefentation for Colonel 
 Stuart, and it is not furprifing that it fhould have excited a warm in- 
 dignation againft him ; — it will now, however, appear that not one of 
 the above particulars has the leaft foundation in fact. 
 
 That Colonel Stuart was in no habits of friendfhip or intimacy with 
 Lord Pigot, at or about the time of thefe tranfactions, is a fact not 
 only alTerted by Colonel Stuart, in the various letters received 
 from him, but was known almoft to every perfon at Madras ; and 
 there are feveral Gentlemen from India, now in London, both in the 
 civil and military departments of the Company's fervice, who can at- 
 teft the truth of thefe aflertions. 
 
 But, independent of any other teftimony, the records of the Company 
 afford fatisfactory evidence upon this point. It there appears, that Lord 
 Pigot, for a confiderable time before the incidents of the 23d and 24th 
 of Auguft 1776, had been in a courfe of thwarting and oppofing every 
 plan that had been propofed by Colonel Stuart's friends, with "a view 
 to his being eftablifhed in a particular military command, which from 
 his rank in the fervice, from the importance of the command, and 
 from the opinion of the Commander in Chief, Colonel Stuart was 
 thought to have a good title to expect. 
 
 From the 25th of June 1776, upon which date Sir Robert Fletcher 
 propofed at the Council Roard, that Colonel Stuart fhould be appointed 
 to the command of Tanjore, to the 2 2d of Auguft 1776, when Lord 
 Pigot fufpended two of the counfellors, for figning an order to the Se- 
 
 E 2 cretary,
 
 ( 28 ) 
 
 cretary, directing him to fign the inftruftions to Colonel Stuart, a» 
 Commander of Tanjore ; Lord Pigot was eonftantly in oppofition to 
 the propofed appointment of Colonel Stuart to that command, and it 
 was the difpute between the Majority and his Lordfhip, in relation 
 to thefe inflrucYions to Colonel Stuart, that brought matters to a crifis 
 between them On the lid of Auguft, which, it is material to obferve, 
 was but two days before the arreft of Lord Pigot. 
 
 By attending to this fact, and to thefe dates, every man mud be 
 convinced, that there were no apparent habits of friendship between 
 Lord Pigot and Colonel Stuart at or about the time when the Colonel, 
 in obedience to the orders which he received from the Majority of 
 Council on the 23d of Auguft, concerted and executed the plan for 
 arrefting Lord Pigot's perfon; at leaft, the ftrong and marked oppofi- 
 tion which Lord Pigot, had given during the courfe of many weeks, to 
 Colonel Stuart's obtaining the command at Tanjore, was either a 
 fymptom of their being on bad terms, or a circumftance not likely to 
 produce much cordiality and friendship between them. 
 
 The other imputation of Colonel Stuart's courting Lord Pigot's favour, 
 will be found equally unjuft and injurious. 
 
 Inftead of Colonel Stuart's courting Lord Pigot, for the command of 
 the army, it has already been Shewn that he declined that command in 
 July 1776, when Lord Pigot, wifhing to get rid of Sir Robert Fletcher, 
 offered the command in chief to Colonel Stuart, then fecond in com- 
 mand ; from that time till the 23d of Auguft there was no intercourfe 
 between Lord Pigot and Colonel Stuart, nor were they in any habits 
 of friendship or intimacy. 
 
 With refpectto the tranfactions and conferences between them on the 
 23d and 34th of Auguft, they exhibit an uncommon and Singular fcene, 
 :n which there appears Something very different indeed from Colonel 
 Stuart's attempting to infinuate himfelf into the good graces of Lord 
 Pigot and his friends. Inftead of Colonel Stuart's courting Lord Pigot, 
 
 IE evident that Lord Pigot was courting Colonel Stuart; fenfible of 
 3 th e
 
 ( 2 9 ) 
 
 the importance of gaining him over to their interefts, Lord Pigot and 
 his friends were at that very time not only endeavouring to perfuade 
 him to act as Commander in Chief, but ufing every effort and addrefs 
 to obtain from him fome exprefs or implied acknowledgment that he 
 had accepted of that command ; while he, on the other hand, thus be- 
 fet, was very much puzzled how to avoid this proffered honour, and 
 at the fame time not to divulge the fecret of the orders he had re- 
 ceived from the Majority of Council, which he thought himfelf 
 indifpenfably and confcientioufly bound to obey. 
 
 Colonel Stuart's prefence at the fupper on the evening of the 23d, 
 and at the breakfaft and dinner on the 24th, at Lord Pigot's houfe, 
 
 have alfo been converted into charges againft him. They happened 
 
 merely as the accidental and natural confequences of the intercourfe 
 which was brought on in the courfe of thefe two days, at Lord 
 Pigot's defire, that he might have a more favourable opportunity of 
 ufing every effort to prevail on Colonel Stuart to accept the command 
 in chief. 
 
 Had it not been for this circumftance, Colonel Stuart, who had not 
 dined or fupped with Lord Pigot during feveral weeks, and who, 
 in that interval, had met with no new inducements to increafe his defire 
 of intruding upon his Lordfhip at his convivial hours, would certainly 
 not have partaken of his repafts on the 23d and 24th of Auguft, and 
 it is now well afcertained that he did not intrude himfelf, but "was in- 
 vited; and particularly it appears, that when he accepted of Lord Pigot's 
 invitation to fup with him on the 23d, he (Colonel Stuart) added this 
 condition to the acceptance of the invitation, " that there fhould be 
 " nothing of bufinefs talked of." 
 
 As to the dinner on the 24th, whether Colonel Stuart invited him- 
 felf, or was invited, though the fad is, that he went there by invitation, 
 it is really of little confequence ; for at Madras it is cuftomary for the 
 officers, and in general for every perfon in a certain rank, to dine 
 with the Governor, who keeps an open table; and the partakers of the 
 
 dinner
 
 ( 30 ) 
 
 dinner arc fo very numerous that it is no mark of particular intimacy 
 or friendfhip tor a man either to be invited, or to come uninvited upon 
 fuch occasions. 
 
 With regard to the propofed fupper at the Garden-houfcon the even- 
 ing of the 2 4-th, which did not take place, it was at firft pofitively 
 ailertcd in this country, that Colonel Stuart had invited hirnfelf to 
 that fupper, and much emphafis was put upon that, as well as upon 
 the other fuppoied felfinvitations ; but it has fince appeared from Lord 
 Pigot's own letter to the Directors, dated the 3d of September 1776, 
 that the invitation came from his Lordfhip, whole words in that letter 
 are: " After dinner I invited him to fupper at the Company's Garden- 
 " houl'e, which invitation he accepted." 
 
 That you may perceive the authority I have for contradicting the 
 ailcrtions, not only with retpect to Colonel Stuart's intruding hirnfelf 
 upon Lord Pigot at his convivial hours, but alfo as to his being 
 on terms of intimacy or friendfhip with his Lordlhip about the time 
 of the arreft, I beg leave to infert the paragraph of a letter which 
 I received from Colonel Stuart, of foold a date as 13 th December 1776. 
 It is in thefe words : 
 
 " It has likewife been given out by my enemies, that I was at the 
 " time in the greateft habits of intimacy with him (Lord Pigot), and 
 " approved of his meafures. The fact is directly the contrary ; for 
 " we had not been on fpcaking terms for a very confiderable time be- 
 " fore, and I had not dined at his houfe from the latter end of June 
 " until the 24th of Auguft, that he afked me to dine, as is ufually the 
 " cafe when any one brcakfafts with the Governor, and the occaiion 
 " of my breakfafting was the delivering a letter of which I fent you a 
 " copy." 
 
 It remains now to ftate what relates to the fad of Colonel Stuart's 
 accompanying Lord Pigot in the chaife to the place of arreft; feparated 
 from thofe mifreprefentations concerning his friendfhip and intimacy 
 with Lord Pigot, which have hitherto conftantly attended the men- 
 tion of that fact. 
 
 It
 
 ( 3i ) 
 
 It was on the 23d of Auguft that Colonel Stuart received the or- 
 ders from the Majority of Council, to put them in poffeflion of the 
 fortrefs and garrifon of Fort St. George, and to arreft Lord Pigot. 
 Colonel Stuart accordingly took his meafures for feizing the fortrefs, 
 and for arrefting the perfon of Lord Pigot, even in the Fort, if it could 
 not be otherwife accomplished ; but he forefaw that this might be at- 
 tended with very difagreeable and fatal confequences. 
 
 It therefore became a moft natural and meritorious wifh, on Colonel 
 Stuart's part, that the moft effectual means fliould be ufed to avoid thefe 
 confequences; there was little time left for deliberation, nor could the 
 matter be allowed to hang over in fufpence, in expectation of any ac- 
 cidental opportunities of arrefting Lord Pigot's perfon in a private man- 
 ner, for the fecret of the orders figned by the feven Members of the 
 Majority was already in many hands. 
 
 On the 24th of Auguft, Colonel Stuart having learnt that 
 Lord Pigot intended to fup that evening at the Company's Garden- 
 houfe, it occurred, that this was an opportunity not to be negle&ed ; 
 and that it afforded the beft, if not the only chance of arrefting Lord 
 Pigot in a private manner, without tumult or bloodfhed. It was there- 
 fore refolved, that Lord Pigot's carriage mould be flopped, and his 
 perfon fecured, when on the road from Madras to the Garden- 
 houfe. 
 
 The execution of the plan was intruded to three officers of diftin- 
 guilhed rank and merit in the Company's fervice, Colonel Eidington, 
 the Adjutant-General, Captain Lyfaght, commanding officer of a bat- 
 talion of Sepoys, and Major Home, who commanded the artillery 
 at the Mount; and their inftruclions were, to conduct Lord Pigot to 
 Major Home's houfe at the Mount, there to be under the charge of 
 that officer, and to be treated with every poffible mark of perfonal at- 
 tention and refpecl. 
 
 The place where Lord Pigot was to be arrefted was very near both 
 to the Fort and town of Madras, and to the Sepoy guard at the 
 Garden-houfe. The total diftance from the Fort to the Garden-houfe 
 
 is
 
 ( 32 ) 
 
 is fomewhat lefs than a mile, and the place chofen for the arrefl was 
 not three quarters of a mile from the Fort, and not 200 yards diflant 
 from the barracks of the Governor's guard at the Garden-houfe, which 
 is the place of his refidence, and where there is always a confiderable 
 part of a battalion of Sepoys for the Governor's guard. In thefe cir- 
 cumflances it was not cafy to forefee what incidents might poffibly 
 arife to obftrucl or prevent the arrefl in the event of Lord Pigot's making 
 refiftance, nor was it eafy to guard againft the fatal confequences that 
 might be produced by a feufHe enfuing, where an alarm might fo 
 fpeedily be fpread. 
 
 Colonel Stuart having given pofnive orders to Colonel Eidington 
 and Captain Lyfaught, to arrefl Lord Pigot that evening, thefe officers 
 would have thought themfelves peremptorily bound in all events to have 
 obeyed thefe orders; nor could they have taken it upon them, if their 
 commanding officer was not prefent, to vary the orders, or the execu- 
 tion of them, as circumflances might require. — This was one ftrong 
 inducement to Colonel Stuart to be prefent, and for that purpofe to 
 accompany Lord Pigot in the chaife that evening; — Colonel Stuart 
 being the commanding officer, who had given the orders, he was the 
 only pcrfon who could adapt the execution of them to the exigency 
 of fuch circumflances as might occur; for, in critical affairs of this 
 nature, it often happens that unexpected circumflances beyond the 
 reach of human forefight arife in a moment, fufficient to baffle the 
 befl concerted plan, unlefs the remedy be as inftantly applied. 
 
 It occurred alfo to Colonel Stuart, that his being in the fame chaife 
 with Lord Pigot, would more eafily prevent the confufion which 
 would probably take place from his Lordfhip's attempting to drive his 
 horfes paft the officers who were ordered to arrefl him, and who were 
 on foot, and in the event of a fcuffle might very probably have fired into 
 the chaife. 
 
 No fituation can be imagined in which more reafons could concur, 
 for fludying every precaution that could poffibly tend to prevent any 
 alarm, flruggle, or confufion; for if the plan of arrefl had failed 
 
 in
 
 ( 33 ) 
 
 in the execution that night, the very attempt, whether defeated by rc- 
 fiftance and the lofs of lives, or by Lord Pigot's efcaping from thofe 
 who had been ordered to arreft him, muft have been productive of the 
 greater!: confufion, and have involved the fettlement in all the horrors 
 of a civil war. 
 
 In fhort, it appeared to Colonel Stuart at that time, and he (till con- 
 tinues of the fame opinion, that it would have been unpardonable in 
 him in his fituation to fuffer the apprehenfion of the commentaries 
 which malice, or miftake, might fuggeft, to have outweighei 
 the importance of the various objects and motives of a pub- 
 lic nature, as well as the confiderations of humanity for Lord Pigot 
 himfelf, and for others, which concurred to excite him to this ftep of 
 attending his Lordlhip in the chaife to the place of arreft. 
 
 If the events fubfequent to the arreft had (hewn that Lord Pigot, by 
 Colonel Stuart's attending him in the chaife, had been brought into a 
 fnare which would not otherwife have happened ; — if the object of it 
 had been to affect his life, or even to expofe him to more perfonal in- 
 jury; — or if it had appeared that Colonel Stuart could have been actuated 
 to this particular mode by finifter views or motives of felf- inter eft, 
 and was to receive any perfonal benefits from accompliihing the arreft 
 in this manner ; in all or either of thefe cafes, Colonel Stuart admits 
 that the circumftance of his attending Lord Pigot in the chaife ought 
 to be viewed in a very exceptionable light, and to receive every unfa- 
 vourable interpretation which either has been, or can be bellowed upon 
 it. 
 
 But he apprehends that the reverfe of all thefe injurious fuppofitions 
 have been eftablifhed beyond the poffibility of doubt. 
 
 I fhall here beg leave to tranferibe the paragraph of a letter dated 
 the 14th of September 1777, which I received a confiderable time 
 ago from my Brother, the original of which is at your command ; and 
 what I am now to tranferibe, will ferve alfo for the purpofe of 
 refuting the very unjuft imputation endeavoured to be fixed upon Co- 
 
 F loncl
 
 ( 34 ) 
 
 lonel Stuart's character, by thofc who pretended to believe, or attempted 
 to perfuade others, that in the moment of the arreft, Colonel Stuart, 
 by his expreffions and manner, had behaved harfhly and even brutally 
 to Lord Pigot. 
 
 The paragraph is in thefe words : 
 
 M I again and again repeat, that no other way than what I followed, 
 *' fuggefted from the moft tender regard to humanity, and to the 
 " fafety of Lord Pigot's own life, could have effected this arreft with* 
 *' out confufion or bloodfhed. In the letter I wrote feveral weeks ago, 
 *' I have entered particularly into the mode of my feizing Lord Pigot, 
 " in anfwer to the paper printed here ; I fhall here add, and declare the 
 ** fame before God, that not an uncivil or improper word fell from my 
 " mouth on that occafion. When the Adjutant-general ftopped the chaife, 
 u in which I was along with Lord Pigot, he (Lord Pigot) made a fhort 
 " paufe, and was looking about him ; we were then in the middle of 
 ** the road, at a very fmall diftance from the Sepoy-guard at his Gar- 
 " den-houfe, and many fervants round the chaife, and many people 
 " patting in the road. — The moment was critical, not only becaufe the 
 " leaft noife extraordinary would have alarmed, but what is particular, 
 l< as the reins were in his hands, and the horfes very fpirited, he might 
 " have forced them on, in fpite of me, and the certain confequence 
 ** would have been his getting home ; and myfelf, with all the officers or 
 " others, who, with me, thought it our duty, to obey the Majority as ther 
 " legal government, muft have been difmiiTed the fervice, or tried for our 
 " lives. This led me, on obferving a kind of hefitation to obey on 
 " the part of Lord Pigot, forthwith to feize the reins with one hand, 
 M and put my other hand to his arm : to the beft of my recollection, < 
 " the precife words I made ufe of were, " My Lord, you mujl go out.'* 
 " They were uttered, not in a brutal or contemptuous tone of voice, 
 " but with the tone of refpect as well as anxiety. — Lord Pigot then 
 " inftantly went out, without my faying one word more, or his making 
 M any anfwer." 
 
 In
 
 ( 35 ) 
 
 In another letter, wrote by my Brother to me from Tanjore, in 
 May 1777, there are the following paragraphs on the fubject of Lord 
 Pigot's arreft : 
 
 " I chofe to obey, what I judged from common fenfe, and what the 
 <c Governor-general and Council has fince eftablilhed to be, the only Ic- 
 *'• gal government. I have faid that it was at a great rifque that I did this ; 
 " becaufe every thing that has happened to me would have come to me 
 " in courfe, and by the Company's orders, without any rifque at all, had 
 " I feigned ficknefs, or remained an unconcerned fpeclator; but in 
 " truth, I loft my health, and gained nothing in other refpects by the 
 " change, except the fatisfadion of having done my duty ; and there- 
 " by, 1 hope, deterred others from innovating or overturning the efta- 
 " blifhed law or constitution of Government. 
 
 " 1 know the perfonal reflections of my enemies upon the occafion ; 
 ** but as it can never be faid that perfonal fear or apprehenfion in- 
 " duced me (under the appearance of going to his, Lord Pigot's, 
 '.' country-houfe) to have a place in the chaife with him, and to make 
 " that an effential part of my plan; I obferve, that as that cannot be 
 *' afferted with refpecl to me, who had the army under my abfolute 
 " command, and who had actually given my orders to take him by 
 * c force from the Fort, or wherever he was, had no opportunity 
 " offered of my going in the chaife with him, the unprejudiced Public, 
 " in judging of this act, will, I hope, therefore, do 'me the juftice to 
 " infer, that it was from motives of humanity, to prevent bloodshed 
 *' and public difafter, and for the perfonal fafety of Lord Pigot." 
 
 I fhall conclude what relates to this fubject, by barely mentioning the 
 ftrong and marked approbation, which the whole of Colonel Stuart's 
 conduct, at that difficult crifis, received from the Governor-general, 
 the Commander in Chief, and Supreme Council in Bengal, to whom 
 a fuperintending power over all the Company's fettlements in India, 
 both in matters civil and military, was delegated by the authority of 
 Parliament. 
 
 F 2 That
 
 ( 3G ) 
 
 That Supreme Council had the beft opportunities of being parti- 
 cularly and impartially informed of all the fads, and circumltances, 
 which gave occalion to, which preceded and accompanied the arreft 
 of Lord Pigot, and after receiving the fulleft information from both 
 parties, and from Lord Pigot himfelf, they gave their complete ap- 
 probation, not only of the refolution taken by the Majority of Coun- 
 cil at Madras, of aflerting their rights, and alfuming the govern- 
 ment, but of the mode in which that refolution had been executed. 
 
 The letters of Sir John Clavering, of the 15th, and of Governor 
 Haftings, of the 1 8th of September 1776, which were publifhed when 
 thefe difputes were recent in this country, prove that, befules a ge- 
 neral approbation in Council, they both gave great credit to Colonel 
 Stuart, for the mode in which the orders of the Majority of Council 
 had been carried into execution, without bloodjhed, "without tumult ', 
 and "without the violation of one legal form. Thefe are the words of 
 Governor Hangings' letter to Mr. Stratton, wherein he expreffes himfelf 
 in the ftrongeft terms, confidcring it as a thing almofl without example; 
 and in the letter from Sir John Clavering to Colonel Stuart, of the 
 15th of September, there is not only an approbation of his conduct, 
 but, in terms the mod: flattering, Sir John Clavering gives him ap- 
 plaufe for the honour of conducing fo difficult and dangerous a bufnefs^ 
 and for the fpirit and magnanimity with which he had executed it. 
 
 It is well known, that no man could poffibly poflefs a higher 
 fenfe of honour, as well as of propriety and delicacy of conduct, 
 than the late Sir John Clavering ; and when we fee that fuch dif- 
 tinguifhed marks of approbation were beftowed by him upon Colonel 
 Stuart, for the whole of his conduct, it ought at leaft to go a great 
 way in counteracting the prejudices which have been fo induftrioufly 
 fpread, and to fatisfy the world, that, in the mode of arrefting Lord 
 Pigot, and of carrying the orders of Council into execution, there 
 had been nothing done that was in any degree improper or unbe- 
 coming the character of an officer and a gentleman; becaufe, had it 
 been otherwife, the (Iriclntfs of Sir John Covering's fentiments, and 
 
 the
 
 ( 37 > 
 
 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- 
 <c thought, kill and murder the faid George Lord Pigot ; and that a • 
 " ferjeant andfepoys therein defcribed, and certain officers and foldiers 
 " belonging to the eorps of artillery, and another ferjeant and other fe- 
 " poys ftationed at the Garden-houfe, all of whom were to the Jurors 
 *' as yet unknown, were at divers times prefent, aiding, abetting, af- 
 " fifting, and maintaining the faid George Stratton, Sir Robert 
 t( Fletcher, and the other perfons before named, to do and commit 
 " the felony and murder aforefaid.'' 
 
 What makes this verdic~l the more remarkable is, that it was not alleged, 
 nor was there the moft diftant fufpicion of any fort in India, that Lord 
 Pigot had died an unnatural death, or that any means had been uled 
 with a view of occafioning his death; on the contrary, the phyficians 
 who attended his Lordfhip during his illnefs, declared upon oath, that 
 difeafe was the immediate caufe of Lord Pigot's death, and that the 
 difeafe was a. putrid bilious fever, originating in a diibrdered liver. 
 
 In the courfe of the evidence it alfo came out, that, to all outward ap- 
 pearance, Lord Pigot enjoyed an uninterrupted ftate of good health, I 
 the day of his arrival at the Mount, after his arreft on the 24th Auguft 
 1776, until the beginning of March 1777, about which time the ap- 
 pearance of his bilious fever fir ft began, of which firit illnefs, with the 
 afliftance of Do&or Paflcy, his Lordfhip recovered in a great degree; 
 but not having afterwards taken fufficient care of himfelf, he had a re- 
 lapfe, which carried him off on the I ith of May 1777. 
 
 Here
 
 ( 43 ) 
 
 Mere it is well worth obferving, that during the whole period of 
 Lord Pigot's illnefs, and at the time of his death, Colonel Stuart was 
 abfent from the Prefidency of Madras, at the diftance of fome hundred 
 miles from his Lordfhip; as he went to Tanjore, on the nth of Fe- 
 bruary 1777, at which time Lord Pigot was known to have been in 
 perfect health, and did not return to Madras until the end of June 
 that year. 
 
 Neverthelefs Mr. Ram, and his Inqueft, thought proper to pro- 
 nounce a verdict of wilful murder, againft Colonel Stuart, and the 
 other Gentlemen, founded on artificial and metaphyfical reafonings 
 (delivered upon oath), from which they wifhed to eftablifh a belief, 
 that the arreft of Lord Pigot, on the 24th of Auguft 1776, and the agi- 
 tation of his mind on that and fubfequent occafions, had, by the im- 
 perceptible influences of the mind upon the body, generated the difeafe 
 of which his Lordfhip died in the month of May 1777. 
 
 The whole proceedings of that Inqueft, and the evidence laid before 
 them, together with Colonel Stuart's defence, drawn up by hiinfelf, 
 in anfwer to the accufations brought againft him, have been lately 
 printed and publifhed ; and I believe I may venture to fay, that every 
 impartial man of found judgment, who reads that publication, will be 
 of opinion, that nothing could be more unjuftifiable, and reprehenfible, 
 than the conduct of that Coroner and his Inqueft ; the abfurdity of 
 it would deferve only to be laught at, if fuch an attempt againft 
 the lives and reputations of a number of perfons of rank and character 
 could be viewed without abhorrence and indignation. 
 
 Vexatious, contemptible, and ill-founded as thefe proceedings were, 
 they had however the unavoidable effect of haraffing Colonel Stuart 
 exceedingly; they fuujedted him to a degree of public affront and op- 
 probrium, from his being expofed to the imputation of ■ nuf- 
 der, by the verdict of twelve men upon oath, fix of whom how- 
 ever, at one time, voted that it was only man/laughter, while the other 
 fix declared it murder; upon which the Coroner was pleafed to remark, 
 That the matter muft be re-ccniftderej, and he afterwards prevailed on 
 a Majority of them to agree in opinion that it was wilful murder. 
 
 G 2 This
 
 ( 44 ) 
 
 This verdict was, upon the 24th September 1777, font by the Coro- 
 ner to the Governor and Council of Madras, with a requeft from the 
 Coroner, to be aftifted in apprehending the perfons therein accufed ; 
 upon which the Governor thought it regular for him at that time to 
 fign a warrant of commitment againft Colonel Stuart, and the other 
 perfons accufed, directed to the Sheriff of Madras. 
 
 Colonel Stuart and the other Gentlemen were accordingly in the 
 cuftody of the Sheriff until fome time in October following, when 
 the Juftices, after having examined Sir Edward Hughes and fome 
 other refpcctable witneffes, judged it proper to admit the prifoners to 
 bail, in the fum of io,oool. each. 
 
 The proceedings and the examinations before the Juftices were con- 
 tinued until the end of November 1777, when the Juftices received 
 from Bengal the opinions of the Judges of the Supreme Court of Judi- 
 cature there, by which thefc Judges, upon confideration of the fads, and 
 of the proofs ftated in Mr. Ram's inquifition, declared their unanimous 
 opinion, that there were not materials fufficient for an indictment cither 
 of murder or man/laughter, and they alfo, from other defects and irre- 
 gularities in that inquifition, gave their opinion, that it might be 
 quafhed or fet afide. 
 
 In conformity with this opinion received from the Judges of the Su- 
 preme Court of Judicature in Bengal, the Juftices at Madras, upon the 
 26th of November 1777, declared, " That the faid proceedings were 
 " irregular, and contrary to law. And refolved, that the whole be 
 " quafhed and fet afide, and that the perfons accufed be difcharged 
 " by proclamation." 
 
 Thus ended the malevolent and irregular proceedings of the Coro- 
 ner's Inqueft ; from the fhort ftate of which it muft appear, that 
 Colonel Stuart, was for many months (during which time too he was 
 in a bad ftate of health from the confequences of a bilious fever), 
 very unjuftifiably haraffed by the charge brought and verdict given 
 againft him, and by having his name and character expofed as guilty 
 of fo heinous a crime. 
 
 Amidft
 
 ( 45 ) 
 
 Amidft all thefe diftreffes, however, one confolation ftill remained, 
 Colonel Stuart comforted himfelf with the profpect that he mould foon 
 have an opportunity of vindicating his character and conduct in the 
 courfe of a regular trial; when not only the orders under which he acted, 
 but when likewife all the facts and circumftances would be afcertained 
 by unqueftionable evidence, and then he flattered himfelf, that the pre- 
 judices which bad been raifed againft him would take an oppofite direc- 
 tion, and that he mould meet with the redrefs due to an injured officer. 
 
 In this expectation, of a fpeedy trial, and confequent redrefs, he has 
 alfo been difappointed ; for the orders which were carried out by the 
 Befborough for his trial by a Court-martial have not hitherto produced 
 any effect. That trial, which he fo ardently wifhed for the vindica- 
 tion of his honour and character, has been denied him, by the Com- 
 mander in Chief, and by the Prefident and Council of Madras ; at 
 the fame time his fufpenfion has been continued, and he remains in 
 that country waiting with impatience the return of the difpatches fent 
 from Madras in the month of March laft. 
 
 It is not my intention to impute blame either to the Commander in 
 Chief or to the Prefident and Council of Madras, for the part they took 
 in refufing to Colonel Stuart his trial by a Court-martial ; they have 
 acted, no doubt, upon grounds which afforded conviction to their minds, 
 and it is well worth obferving that this refufal was founded on opinions 
 which were very far from containing any thing unfavourable to Colonel 
 Stuart's conduct, but the very reverfe, for as far as they go they may 
 be confidered as prefumptive proofs of his innocence, at leaft of his 
 having committed no offence that was cognizable by martial law. 
 
 Their General Letter to the Court of Directors, dated the 14th of 
 March laft, fhews how anxioufly Colonel Stuart courted the opportu- 
 nity of vindicating his conduct by a public trial. Paragraph 14th of 
 that letter is in thefe words : 
 
 " General Stuart, as foon as he was furnifhed with a copy of 
 
 " your Orders, and before we came to any refolution concerning 
 
 3 " him,
 
 ( 46 ) 
 
 " him, addreffcd three letters to us, all of them preffmg upon 
 " us, in the mod anxious manner, his deli re to be tried by a Court- 
 " martial ; and fearing left any doubts or difficukics ihould occur to 
 " us on the fubje<fl, he introduced fevcral arguments to fliew his right 
 " to demand a Court-martial, and pointed out different articles in the 
 " Articles of War by which he thought he might be tried. Although 
 " his letters did not contain any reafons of firfficient ftrength to in— 
 " duce us to alter our opinions upon his cafe, yet the uneafinefs of 
 " mind expreffed in them was fuch, that we felt much concern for 
 " the peculiar circumftances of his fituation." 
 
 The reafons which induced the Frcfidcnt and Council and Com- 
 mander in Chief at Madras to refufe the trial by a Court-martial ap- 
 pear to have been founded upon prudential grounds, and upon a doubt 
 whether a Court-martial were competent to decide upon a cafe which 
 involved queftions of nice difcuffion relative to the Company's confti- 
 tutional government. This is expreffed very clearly in the ioth para- 
 graph of their General Letter above mentioned, which is in thefe words : 
 
 " The acts of arrefling and imprifoning the perfon of the late L ord 
 «' Pigot were fufficiently clear ; your difapprobation of thofe ads is 
 " ftrongly expreffed in your late orders ; but that difapprobation does 
 " not make them offeniive in the eye of martial law, and no charge 
 " could be grounded upon it. In order to determine whether General 
 " Stuart's conduct be criminal in that view, and before any charge 
 " could be prepared, it became requifite to confider the nature of the 
 " orders and authority under which he acted, with other particular 
 " circumftances attending the arreft of Lord Pigot. The Company's 
 " records, and General Stuart's own Narrative of the tranfaction, clear- 
 " ly fhew, that his Lordlhip was arrefted by an order under the fig- 
 " nature of George Stratton Efquire, Sir Robert Fletcher, Henry 
 " Brooke, Charles Floyer, Archdale Palmer, Francis Jourdain, and 
 " George Mackie. I fquires; which order General Stuart in the Narra- 
 " tive declares he confidered as legal, and the Gentlemen who iffued 
 •' it the legal Representatives of the Company. General Stuart appears 
 
 A " to
 
 ( 47 ) 
 
 u to have done noth'ng in this tranfaelion independent of that authority 
 " which gave him the order. If that authority were clearly illegal, 
 " or the order illegal, the arreft and imprifonment of Lord Pigot by 
 " military force, may be deemed an ad of mutiny, and the perfons con- 
 ?' cerned liable to be tried by an exprefs article of war ; but we own to 
 " you, thefe qucftions appear to us to be of fo nice and important a nature, 
 " that we did not think ourfelves competent to form a judgment upon 
 " them, with that precifion which was neceffary to conftitute and 
 " maintain a charge againft an officer for a crime deemed capital by 
 " Martial Law. It is true, indeed, that in the firft paragraph of 
 " your Letter, dated the nth of June laft, you were pleafed to ex- 
 " prefs yourfelves in very ftrong terms of the arreft and imprifonment 
 " of the late Lord Pigot; calling it " a total fubverfion of your legal 
 " government." Yet, when we confider the doubts exprefTed in the 
 " 53d paragraph of your Letter of the 4th of July, we could not but 
 " be of opinion, that they mult in fome degree have arifen from doubts 
 c « concerning the legal authority and orders by which the arreft was 
 " executed; and under the influence of this opinion, we thought it 
 " would not only be prcfumptuous but imprudent, and even danger- 
 " ous, for us, upon the authority of our own judgment, to found a 
 " crime which might touch the life, character, or fortune of any 
 «' man ; and that even if we had gone fo far as to have prepared a 
 " charge and delivered it to a Court-martial, it might admit of great 
 " doubt, whether a Court of that nature were competent to decide 
 " upon a cafe, which involved queftions relatiye to the Company's 
 " conftitutional government, fo nice and intricate as thole which have 
 " been before mentioned." 
 
 I cannot help obferving here, that the whole tenor of the above para- 
 graph indicates the opinion of the Governor and Council of Madras to 
 be, that Colonel Stuart's innocence or guilt depends totally on the lega- 
 lity or illegality of the orders he received ; an opinion which I can- 
 not entirely acquiefce in, — but which neverthelels makes it fufficiently 
 evident that, when upon the fpot, they did not fee his conduct, as to the 
 
 " mode
 
 ( 43 ) 
 
 mode of the arreji and the circumftanccs preceding it, in the light they 
 have been reprefented in this country; for they fay exprefsly, that Co- 
 lonel Stuart appears to done nothing in this tranfaclion independent 
 of that authority which gave him the orders ; they doubtlcfs would have 
 exprefTed themfelves in another manner, if they had found any mifcon- 
 duift in the execution. 
 
 The correfpondence and papers which palled upon this occafion be- 
 tween the Governor and Council of Madras and Colonel Stuart, in the 
 months of February and March laft, have, as I underftand, been all 
 fent home to you ; I fhall therefore beg leave to refer to them as con- 
 taining his reafons, dated at great length, why he thought that, 
 notwithstanding the difficulties pointed out by the Governor and Coun- 
 cil, and by General Monro the Commander in Chief, ftill he was en- 
 titled to expect, and even had a right to demand, that, in the peculiar 
 circumftances of his cafe, the door of trial by a Court-martial mould 
 be thrown open to him, and every pofhble indulgence granted for faci- 
 litatingto him the means of redrefs. 
 
 At the time when Colonel Stuart gave in to the Board at Madras, 
 the papers wherein he fo earneftly contended for his trial, he was 
 ignorant of one additional misfortune, of a very ferious nature, brought 
 upon him in confequence of the order from the Directors of the Ho- 
 nourable Company appointing him to be tried by a Court-martial ; had 
 he known it, that confequential misfortune would have added greatly 
 to the weight of thofe which preceded, and if pofhble have increafed 
 the zeal of his remonftrances upon the hardfhip of refufmg or de- 
 laying that trial. 
 
 The difappointment which Colonel Stuart, in the courfe of laft year, 
 met with, in relation to his preferment in his Majcfty's fervice, is what 
 I allude to. 
 
 Subfequent to the orders for a Court-martial, which you were pleafcd 
 to fend out to Madras by the Befborough, in July 1777, a very cx- 
 
 tenfive
 
 ( 49 ) 
 
 tenfive promotion of officers in his Majefty's fervice took place in the 
 month of September of that year; by which a great number of Lieu- 
 tenant-colonels attained the rank of Colonel in the King's fervice. 
 
 Colonel Stuart, who had been a Lieutenant-colonel in his Majefty's 
 fervice fince the year 1762, was very near the head of the lift of thole 
 Lieutenant-colonels who were to acquire rank from this promotion ; 
 but it is a rule with his Majefty's fervants in that department, that an 
 officer under orders for trial by a Court-martial is not to be promoted 
 till the event of fuch trial is known. It was thought therefore that 
 Colonel Stuart could not, with propriety, be included in the general 
 promotion which at that time took place, until the iflue of that trial, 
 ordered by the Directors, was known : the confequence was, that he 
 was panned over in that promotion, and thirty-two Lieutenant-colo- 
 nels, younger in the fervice than Colonel Stuart, obtained the rank of 
 Colonel, notwithftanding that Colonel Stuart's merit and fervices were 
 univerfally allowed to entitle him to that preferment. 
 
 Thus, by a complication of peculiar hard fate and misfortunes, the 
 obedience which Colonel Stuart had given in the month of Auguft 
 1776, to the orders of his Superiors both civil and military, produced — 
 firft his fufpenfion from the Honourable Company's fervice for fix 
 months, — then his fuperceffion in the command of the army in the Car- 
 natic, — then an order for his trial by a Court-martial, — which order pro- 
 duced the meafure of denying to him the rank of Colonel in the King's 
 fervice, at a time of general promotion; — and laftly, he meets with a 
 refufal of that trial, which if it had taken place, Colonel Stuart is con- 
 fident, would have remedied not only this hardihip in the King's fer- 
 vice, but likewife the other evils of which he has fo much reafon to 
 complain. 
 
 That you may perceive, Gentlemen, that there is nothing exaggerated 
 in the account I have here given of the fevere difappointment my 
 Brother and his friends met with at the time of the general promotion 
 of Officers in his Majefty's fervice laft year; and that this difappoint- 
 ment was occafioned by the order you had given for his trial by a 
 
 H Court-
 
 ( 50 ) 
 
 Court-manlal, I beg leave to annex the whole of the correspondence on 
 this fubject, which palled between Lord Harrington, the Secretary at 
 War, and me, in the months of September and October 1777. 
 
 In that correfpondence you will obiervc, that it is not on account of 
 any opinion, formed by his Majefty's fervants of Colonel Stuart's 
 having acted improperly in India, that he was paffed over in the King's 
 fervice; but that it was occalioned from etiquette, by the orders for 
 bis trial, and which was to be afterwards remedied, if the remit 
 of the trial mould be in his favour. The expreffions in Lord Bar- 
 rington's letter to me of the 3d of September 1777, are > " 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! 
 
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