discontents of the officers, and giving an explanation of the origin of
double batta, makes some excellent remarks upon those principles that
should regulate the distribution of rewards to military bodies; which
should, in his opinion, be such as to make men look to service and
advanced rank as the means of attaining these objects of ambition. He
concludes this letter with some strong observations on the advantages
enjoyed by the Company's army, and the determined resolution of the
Committee not to yield to unreasonable demands. "I am very glad," he
observes, "the officers have been so prudent as to lay aside their
intentions of presenting a memorial; and the Company and myself
are much obliged to Sir R. Barker for his soldier-like conduct and
behaviour upon the occasion; although, I can assure you, there has been
no memorial presented from the other brigades on the like subject. It
is true, the Governor and Committee have received a remonstrance from
the officers of Colonel Smith's brigade, setting forth the dearness
of provisions and all other necessaries, at that great distance; and
we have, in consequence of its being only a temporary expense to
the Company, agreed to let things remain on their present footing,
until the brigade be withdrawn from Sujah Dowlah's dominions; but the
officers are at the same time informed, in the most positive terms,
that this indulgence will cease the instant the troops cross the
Carumnapa.
"I need not repeat how positive and absolute the Company's orders from
Europe are, about reducing the military expenses to the proportion
of the establishments on the coast of Coromandel, nay, even to less,
because they imagine the price of provisions is lower; and I believe
you are not unacquainted that the officers, for the first year they
served in Bengal, were all satisfied with single batta: the double
batta was merely an indulgence obtained by me, and came immediately
out of the Nabob's own pocket. It has been continued ever since, by
the authority of the King's officers; and the Governor and Council
have been obliged to acquiesce, in opposition to frequent orders from
the Court of Directors. In short, our military gentlemen (countenanced
and supported by the King's officers, who over-awed the Governor and
Council in such a manner, that, had quadruple batta been demanded, I
doubt whether it would have been refused,) have continued to receive
the indulgence almost as a matter of right. But now that the Company
have appointed so many field officers, who are immediately in their
own service, the salutary effects are visible; and I hope not only to
see the strictest discipline and subordination enforced, but likewise
economy established; for unless luxury and extravagance be abolished,
discipline must fail, and the officers and soldiers be rendered
incapable of doing their duty to their country and the Company. My
grand object, you know, is, that none under the rank of field officers
should have money to throw away. When they arrive at that rank, their
hands are filled with such large advantages, that they may be certain
of acquiring an independency in a few years. This consideration might,
one would imagine, induce the officers to rest satisfied with their
present appointments, since they have a greater advantage in prospect
than they ever enjoyed before. My dear Colonel, let them look at all
other services. Is there such another service in the world as this
is, upon the footing on which it now stands? In the West Indies, in
America, where all European articles and provisions likewise are
full as dear as in Bengal, the officers and soldiers have scarce any
extraordinary allowances at all. Let them reflect for a moment on the
miserable condition of the half-pay officers in England, many of whom
have undergone dangers and fatigues much superior to any in India. How
many of them would be glad to serve the Company on their own terms?
Add to this, that the revenues of Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa belong to
the Company themselves, and not to the Nabob; that what is now paid
comes immediately out of their own pockets; and although the officers
may plead prescription for indulgences from the Nabob, they can plead
no such prescription from the Company. I may indeed assure you, the
Committee are resolutely determined upon carrying the Company's orders
into execution, and enforcing the new regulations. The only indulgence
they could reconcile to their duty to the Company, was the extra
allowance of 40 rupees per diem to each commanding officer of the
brigades when in garrison, in order that his table might be a help to
the other officers, till a moderate way of living had taken place."
Lord Clive, it has been before mentioned, had received a legacy of
five lacs of rupees bequeathed to him by the Nabob Meer Jaffier, which
he had lodged in the Company's treasury, in order that it might be
converted into a fund for the relief of disabled or decayed European
officers and soldiers, and of destitute widows of officers of the
Company's army. Noticing, in a letter to Sir R. Fletcher[43], an absurd
combination which the officers of his brigade had entered into, against
Captain Ducarell and his brothers, he alludes to this munificent act.
"On my arrival at Monghyr," (he observes) "I shall consider of some
effectual means to put a stop to such unjust resentment." "I have," (he
adds) "at present, a scheme on foot for the benefit of officers in the
Bengal establishment; but I shall not hesitate to exclude any whom I
may think undeserving, in any respect soever."
On the 28th of April, 1766, Lord Clive intimated to Sir R. Fletcher,
his decided resolution to treat with the utmost severity, all who
proceeded to the extreme of resigning the service; and, on the 29th of
April, 1766, he makes the following observations in a letter to Sir R.
Barker:--
"During your absence upon the Bettoa expedition, the captains,
lieutenants, and ensigns of your brigade have preferred a very
extraordinary remonstrance to the Governor and Council, upon the
subject of batta. This proceeding was, I think, somewhat contemptuous
towards you; and, as the remonstrance was not transmitted through the
channel of the commanding officer, I have given it as my opinion, that
the Board should pay no other attention to it than that of sending it
to you for your information. By the behaviour of our present corps of
officers, one would actually conclude that every true idea of military
discipline was effaced. I have just received authentic intelligence,
that no less than one hundred and thirty officers of the third brigade
have deposited their commissions, and entered into an association not
to serve, unless the double batta be restored. To this, it seems, is
added an agreement to subscribe for the maintenance of the principals
(who they imagine will be the only sufferers), till their arrival
in Europe, and to purchase for them commissions of equal rank in
his Majesty's service. Can any man in his senses imagine that the
Secretary at War, being made acquainted with the names and conduct of
these officers, will ever give his consent to their admission into
the King's regiments? With regard to these who have already served
in Europe, and are now upon the half-pay list, they would do well to
recollect that they will not be entitled to their half-pay, on their
return to England, without producing a certificate of their good
behaviour in the service of the Company; for such is his Majesty's
declared resolution; and if they cannot obtain half-pay, how can they
expect to be admitted upon full pay? The enclosed copy of a letter we
have just despatched to the gentlemen of Council at Fort William, will
inform you of the measure that must take place, if this unmilitary
association be not dissolved. And I will add, for my own part, that any
officer who resigns his commission, from no other cause of disgust than
the Company's orders for the reduction of batta, shall be absolutely
dismissed the service, and never restored. For their own sakes, I hope
they will speedily resolve upon a change of conduct, and I doubt not
you will use your utmost influence to bring them to a right sense of
their duty. If my sentiments have any weight, you are at liberty to
make this as public as you please, as also the copy of the letter to
the Council."
Lord Clive appears, throughout the whole of the violent proceedings of
the officers, to have been convinced that the civil servants of the
Company had instigated and aided the military in their mutinous acts;
and in answer to a letter from Mr. Verelst[44], he observes,--"With
regard to the assistance you say we may have from the civilians on an
emergency, I can never consent to receive it, as I am certain they
were the original cause of this mutinous association." When he learnt
that the combination of officers had taken a formidable shape, he
thus expresses himself, in a letter[45] to the same gentleman:--"I
am determined to leave this place (Moorshedabad) on Tuesday next,
and proceed with all expedition to Monghyr. Our business at this
city, material as it is, must for a little while give way to the
more pressing occasion which requires our presence at the army. If I
find a fair opportunity, my endeavours to get some of the mutinous
ringleaders shot will not be wanting. At all events, most of them shall
be dismissed the service."
Lord Clive, at this period, felt the greatest annoyance from the want
of cordial support from Mr. Sumner, the senior member of the Committee;
and, irritated as he was by the continued opposition of several of the
members of Council, the discontent of the civil, and the violence of
the military, we are not surprised at the first paragraph of a private
letter, written at this period to Mr. Palk, Governor of Madras, under
date the 6th of May, 1766. "Do you think," he asks, "History can
furnish an instance of a man, with 40,000_l._ per annum, a wife and
family, a father and mother, brother and sisters, cousins and relations
in abundance, abandoning his native country, and all the blessings of
life, to take charge of a government so corrupt, so headstrong, so lost
to all principle and sense of honour, as this is?"
When a communication from Sir Robert Barker led him to believe that
the officers would proceed to the last extreme, he wrote[46], as we
have already seen, in terms that strongly expressed his sense of their
conduct, and the resolution to which he had come in respect to his own.
The heavy rains made Lord Clive's progress to Monghyr slow, but he
directed every act of the officers commanding brigades, and to each of
them he wrote private letters daily. He gave to Sir R. Fletcher and
Sir R. Barker powers to promise forgiveness to subalterns, but not
the captains, whom it was his fixed resolution to bring to condign
punishment, on the just ground that their better experience rendered
them less excusable than the young men to whom they gave so evil
an example. To Colonel Smith a greater latitude was given. He was
authorised, as has been stated, in the event of the Mahrattas invading
the country, but in no other case whatever, to make terms with his
insubordinate officers, if they tendered their commissions.
On reaching Monghyr, he wrote to Colonel Smith[47] what had occurred,
explaining the riotous conduct of the officers on his sending off some
of the ringleaders to Calcutta, and the apprehended mutiny of the
soldiers, which occurred from their expecting that their commanders
were to head them. With respect to the native troops, he observes,
"The black Sepoy officers, as well as men, have given great proofs of
fidelity and steadiness upon this occasion; and, so long as they remain
so, nothing is to be apprehended from the European soldiery, even if
they should be mutinously inclined." In the conclusion of this letter,
he desired Colonel Smith to inform his brigade, of his having recently
vested 70,000_l._, the legacy left him by Meer Jaffier, for the purpose
of its interest being applied for the relief of disabled, worn-out
officers and men of the Indian army.
In a letter dated the 4th of May, in which Lord Clive announced his
positive intention to Sir R. Fletcher of proceeding to Monghyr as
speedily as possible, he informs that officer that he is determined
"those who have been most active shall be dismissed the service."
Immediately on his arrival at Monghyr, he assembled the troops,
and harangued them with the best effect, as far as the men were
concerned. "I have this morning," he observes in a letter to Colonel
Smith[48], "had all the troops under arms, and made them a speech on
the occasion. The sepoys are very firmly attached to their duty; and I
am now confident that the Europeans likewise will give us no cause of
complaint or apprehension. In short, every thing here is as quiet and
as well regulated as could be wished."
From a letter to Mr. Verelst, Lord Clive appears to have learnt, in
two days after his arrival at Monghyr, of the encouragement given
to the officers by Sir R. Fletcher; a circumstance at the discovery
of which he expresses great astonishment. From considerations of
prudence, to which we have before alluded, he was, however, withheld
from acting in an affair of so delicate a nature, without complete
information. But his chief anxiety at this moment was the situation of
Colonel Smith, who occupied an advanced position on the frontier, and
had to apprehend an attack from the Mahrattas, at the very moment his
officers were threatening to leave him. Though Lord Clive expressed
great indignation at the conduct of these officers, he appears to have
contemplated forgiveness to those who had been led by the influence of
bad example, or by fears, weakness, and inexperience, into a guilty
association. In answer to a letter from Colonel Smith[49], he observes,
"The very infamous behaviour of so many officers will be an everlasting
reproach upon the English nation, and cast a stain upon the Company's
service, which all the water of the Ganges can never wash away. The
Court of Directors will have before them a very convincing proof of the
fatal effects of donation money, and extravagant allowances, and will
be reduced to the necessity of taking some very extraordinary measures,
to prevent such dangerous steps being taken by the officers in future."
"When the officers were turned out of Monghyr, and obliged to embark,
many of them went away with tears in their eyes, and saw their crime
in the proper light. Some were first frightened into the measure, and
then threatened with death if they retracted; others were inveigled,
and there is not the least doubt but we shall soon have it in our
option to choose from among the whole the most moderate and deserving
of those who have resigned the service. It will shock you much to hear
that there is great reason to imagine that a very principal person at
Monghyr has been the chief instigator of this mutinous behaviour; and
you will be still more surprised to learn that the civilians have been
very active in promoting the association. All the officers at Monghyr
affirm there has been a subscription of 160,000 rupees made for that
purpose. This last circumstance I can scarce credit."
Alluding, in a subsequent letter to Colonel Smith[50], to the conduct
of the officers of his brigade, Lord Clive observes, "The behaviour
of those officers who were serving under you in the lines, and who
resigned their commissions almost in the face of an enemy, is so very
infamous, that no consideration on earth shall induce me to restore
one of them to the service." "I wish," he goes on to observe, "with
all my heart, your letter to the officers at Allahabad may persuade
some of them to return to their duty; though, from the behaviour of
the officers of the other brigades, I much doubt it. If any thing can
have effect, it will be the fate of the other officers, all of whom
I have sent down to Calcutta. Captain Stainforth and Ensign Hoggan
having expressed a proper sense of their late misbehaviour, I have
permitted them both to return to their duty; and I have no doubt,
from the surprise shown, and distress felt, at my accepting all their
commissions, as many of them will offer to return to the service as we
shall choose to accept of."
At the same time that these communications were made to Colonel Smith,
a number of the best officers of the army, who were unassociated with
the others, and had been called from different quarters, were sent to
Allahabad to render his field brigade efficient for service; and those
measures, added to the decided conduct of the Colonel, made Clive deem
his own presence at Allahabad unnecessary; and he therefore determined
to proceed no further than Chuprah. He had received information that
the officers in garrison at Allahabad had left that place, after
writing an impertinent letter to Colonel Smith. Orders were immediately
given to send detachments of sepoys to make them prisoners, when they
were directed to be sent to Calcutta; and Mr. Sumner and the Committee
were requested[51] to keep them confined till vessels were ready to
sail for England, when he desired that they should be sent home. Orders
were given, upon this occasion, that the private letters by the post
from Allahabad should be stopped, and sent in a separate bag to the
post-master at Calcutta.
It would appear from the contents of several of his private letters of
the same date, that Clive did not apprehend the slightest danger to
the public interests from the defection of the officers at Allahabad.
Major Smith, who commanded that fortress, had exhibited much spirit
and firmness. His influence with the native troops gave him great
strength; and none of the officers in command of the sepoy corps had
joined the combination. Their situation was, at this period, one of
consequence and emolument; their influence with their men great; and to
this circumstance is, in a great degree, to be ascribed the unshaken
fidelity of the sepoys, on a confidence in whom, it may be pronounced,
the measures taken by Lord Clive, as well as those of the officers
commanding brigades, were chiefly grounded.
Anxiety of mind, fatigue of body, and the extreme heat of the weather,
affected Lord Clive's health; and, for one or two days, some letters
were written to various quarters, by his secretary, Mr. Henry Strachey.
And it is here to be remarked, as illustrative of the character of
this extraordinary man, that from the day he received intimation of
the discontent of the officers of the army, there are entered in his
letter-books never less than three, and sometimes five, six, and
seven letters, written daily by himself on the subject; and the same
books fully show that, during this period of great mental and bodily
exertion, he gave personally the most minute attention to every other
branch of public affairs. At the same time, he does not appear to have
neglected any private correspondents, either in India or England.
On the 29th of May, Mr. Strachey informed Mr. Verelst, by Lord Clive's
desire, that a considerable number of officers had returned to their
duty, and desired to have their commissions restored; but that, while
Lord Clive was disposed to act with much lenity and indulgence, it was
far from his intention to accept the services of all those by whom they
had been proffered. Some of these his Lordship (Mr. Strachey writes) is
resolved to bring to justice.
"The only observation," he writes[52], "Lord Clive directs me to make
upon Mrs. W.'s intelligence about the rage of the civilians, and more
than madness of the military, is, that they have mutually encouraged
each other to such a degree of licentiousness, in defiance of civil and
martial law, that he hardly expects to see a change of sentiments till
the severity of example shall have convinced the settlement of his
resolution to save it from destruction."
Lord Clive wrote to Monsieur Law[53], the French Governor of
Chandernagore, and Monsieur Vernet, the Dutch Chief at Chinsurat, on
the subject of the officers who had deserted their duty; and, while he
informed them of the dishonourable course of action these officers had
pursued, he requested they should not receive or give protection to
men who had so dishonoured themselves. These respectable individuals,
to whom, both personally, and as representatives of their country,
Lord Clive always paid the greatest attention and respect, acted on
this, and on all occasions during the time he was in India, in a manner
suited to their own high characters.
A short letter from Lord Clive to Mr. Sykes, resident at Moorshedabad,
of the 28th of May, in which he states the grounds on which alone he
would allow those officers who were repentant to remain with their
corps, and his steady resolution to admit of no compromise, shows that
he viewed the combination to be, at this date, completely broken and
subdued. "I have received," he observes, "your favours of the 19th
and 20th. Captains Cummings and Mackenzie, having not yet absolutely
declared their resolution to keep or resign their commissions, I desire
you will send for these gentlemen, and oblige them to be explicit upon
the occasion. If they intend to continue in the service (I do not
mean as volunteers for a time of their own limiting), it is well; if
not, you will be pleased to inform them you have my orders to dismiss
them the service, and insist on their departing, and immediately,
for Calcutta. Lieutenants Padman and Clirchue have, by their answers
to Mr. Strachey's letters, sufficiently expressed their assent to
the combination. You will, therefore, order them down without delay,
acquainting them that they are no longer in the service. I shall
consider of a proper officer to send you for the command of the troops:
in the mean time, as every thing is quiet in the city, you will have no
difficulty in preserving discipline.
"Matters are very well regulated in the 1st and 3rd Brigades. The
officers of the 2d do not intend to resign till the 1st of June, by
which time Colonel Smith will have received a good supply; and I doubt
not, with the assistance of the coast, that we shall, ere long, have
the satisfaction of seeing our army in a better condition than ever."
The following letter from Lord Clive to Mr. Verelst at Calcutta[54]
is too important to have one word omitted; for, while it shows the
nature and extent of the combination formed against all authority, it
exhibits the master mind by which the danger was foreseen and overcome,
and it explains the mode in which it was deemed best to prevent the
possibility of its recurrence:--
"Enclosed you will receive two letters, one from Mr. Martin, the other,
although not signed, I know to be Higginson's handwriting; so that you
see we are betrayed even by our own sub-secretary; and I make no doubt
but the assistant-secretary is still deeper in the plot.
"You will observe, in the last general letter, the Directors order us
to dismiss, not suspend; and I think near all the Company's servants
concerned in exciting this mutiny might not only be dismissed, but
sent home in the first ship. Such a behaviour in England would be high
treason to the state, and every man of them would be hanged.
"I hope the Council will not hesitate one moment about turning out
of the office both Stephenson and Higginson, and dismissing them the
service, if concerned in fomenting the late mutinous combination.
Indeed, very few are to be trusted; and, in my opinion, the Council
should immediately require the assistance of twelve or fourteen junior
servants from Madras and Bombay; for, I am fully persuaded, this
settlement can never be restored to order, or the honour of the nation
or the Company retrieved, until there be a total change in the morals
of individuals: and that can only be effected by turning out the most
rich and factious, and transplanting others. I have some hopes the
Directors will empower me to take such a step in their answer by the
Admiral Stevens.
"How shocked must Sulivan and those Directors be, who opposed this
appointment of field officers! Certain it is that, without their
assistance, we must have given way to the mutiny amongst the officers;
and it is equally certain, if we had, Bengal must have been lost, or a
civil war carried on to restore to the Company their lost authority,
rights, and possessions; for it is beyond a doubt, that men capable
of committing such actions as they have lately done would soon have
gone such lengths as to have made it impossible ever to return to their
native country.
"There was a committee to each brigade, sworn to secrecy; and I have it
from undoubted authority, that the officers thought themselves so sure
of carrying their point, that a motion was made and agreed to, that
the Governor and Council should be directed to release them from their
covenants. The next step would, I suppose, have been the turning me and
the Committee out of the service. In short, I tremble with horror when
I think how near the Company were to the brink of destruction.