give a shrewd guess at the first promoters. One of them I have already
mentioned to you, who will ere long, I hope, be brought to condign
punishment.
"Remember again to act with the greatest spirit; and if the civilians
entertain the officers, dismiss them the service; and if the latter
behave with insolence, or are refractory, make them all prisoners, and
confine them in the new fort. If you have any thing to apprehend, write
me word, and I will come down instantly, and bring with me the third
brigade, whose officers and men can be depended upon.
"I wish the Board would allow Hare two months longer to settle his
affairs: he is one of the best among the servants of Patna.
"I am, &c.
"Clive.
"P.S. A box of intercepted letters will be sent down to-morrow by
water, under a guard of Sepoys. I would advise the Board to open every
one of them."
* * * * *
Sir Robert Fletcher, of whose guilt, though suspected, no public
proof had as yet been adduced, wrote to Lord Clive, expressing his
willingness to pay the penalty bond into which three officers in whom
he took an interest had entered, in order to remunerate those who might
suffer in consequence of their being prominent as advocates of the
claims of their brother officers. The following answer of Lord Clive is
a valuable document, as it exhibits, in a clear and convincing manner,
the erroneous principles and the baneful results of this part of the
combination; of the total impossibility of its being recognised as
either consistent with law or honour by any constituted authority. It
shows, also, that disposition to forgive the young and inexperienced,
which his Lordship throughout these proceedings entertained:--
"I have this morning received yours without date.[55] Your proposal to
pay the 500_l._ penalty for the two M'Phersons and Ensign Patton is
what I never can approve of. Were they the best officers in the world,
I would not consent to receive them again into the service on such
terms.
"The engagement entered into among themselves is not only mutinous and
absurd, but illegal; and, therefore, the penalty cannot be recoverable
by law. Besides, I consider the paying of it actually raising a
subscription ourselves for the benefit of those who do not retract:
nor is it at all unlikely that, were they to find the penalty money
paid, a collusion would follow, for many of them to retract, in order
to obtain a maintenance, nay, an independency, for the remainder. If
only fifty of them should return on that plan (and I am sure there must
be a much greater number who would be glad to return on any terms), a
fund amounting to no less than 25,000_l._ would be established, which,
at 4 per cent. interest, would produce 1,000_l._ per annum. In short,
the affair will not bear a moment's reflection; and I must insist upon
your dropping all thoughts of it. You will please to communicate my
sentiments to Major Ironside, positively forbidding him to pay the
penalty for his brother.
"If the young man repents of his association, and is desirous to resume
the service, I consent to his being restored, the General and you
having no objection; but I expect that the penalty money, that unjust
debt of false honour, shall not be paid.
"Be assured that the report of my having written, or in any manner
applied for the return of the gentlemen you hint at, is without
foundation.
"Neither Lieutenant Britton, nor any of those who signalised themselves
in the combination, shall have my consent to be restored, however
strongly they may be recommended to my protection.
"Captain Hampton and Kinloch have both resigned. The former, together
with Ensign Pellans, I have ordered from Midnapore to Calcutta."
From Lord Clive's private correspondence with the commandants of
brigades, in the beginning of June, it appears, that the officers,
disheartened and disunited, sought only to save themselves from that
ruin and disgrace which they were now sensible they had brought upon
themselves. No victory was ever more complete than that which he had
gained; and it must have been the more gratifying, as he owed his
success almost exclusively to his personal wisdom, firmness, and prompt
decision. He met every danger, as it arose, with an unshrinking mind.
Satisfied that concessions would only generate further demands, he made
none: but when he had vindicated authority, and restored order, he
displayed a degree of temper and of clemency worthy of his character.
He attended to the petitions of many to be restored to the service
which they had too hastily resigned. From such indulgent consideration
he excluded most of the senior officers, and all those persons whose
character made it desirable to keep them out of the service, with all
those who had been prominent as ringleaders; while officers who had not
actually resigned, however intemperate their threats and conduct had
been, were pardoned on expressing contrition for their past conduct.
After subduing this combination in the military employed in the
provinces, Clive appears to have thought that the bad spirit which
existed at Calcutta required strong measures.
"The spirit of civil as well as military mutiny," he observes[56],
"that has lately appeared in Calcutta deserves so much of our
attention, as to mark the most turbulent, whether Company's servants,
or free merchants, and resolutely send them to Europe; for Bengal never
can be what it ought to be whilst licentiousness is suffered to trample
upon authority."
When Captain Goddard, and some others, came forward to accuse Sir
R. Fletcher of having encouraged the mutinous combination of the
officers of his brigade, Lord Clive placed him under arrest. An appeal
was made by Sir Robert to have his case judged by the Governor in
Council; but this Lord Clive, though disposed to oblige him, declined.
"Your repairing to Calcutta," his Lordship observed[57], "in order
to be tried by the President and Council, upon an accusation your
exculpation from which depends merely upon military law, is totally
unprecedented, and therefore improper for me to comply with. That you
may not, however, imagine that I intend to take any other part upon
this occasion than my public station requires, be assured that the
court-martial to be held upon your late conduct will be assembled by
an order from the Board, and the sentence confirmed or disapproved by
them."
The junior field officers, who had, by their recent conduct, entitled
themselves to the fullest approbation of Lord Clive, presumed upon
their services so far as to send a memorial, claiming the right of
sharing in the salt revenue; an allowance which, in the military line,
had been limited to their seniors.
This memorial Lord Clive prevented being delivered; pointing out, at
the same time, to the memorialists the injury they would do themselves,
and the impropriety of Government complying with so unreasonable a
request. They attended to his advice, and the memorial was withdrawn;
on which he addressed to them the following flattering letter:--
"Colonel Smith[58] has undoubtedly acquainted you that I declined
presenting your memorial to the Board previous to my receipt of your
application for withdrawing it; and I conclude that the arguments I
urged against the memorial, in my letter to him, have convinced you
of my wish to preserve the enjoyment of the present emoluments to the
field officers upon this establishment. The general good of the whole,
added to the consideration that every supernumerary Major will succeed,
upon vacancies, to a share in the salt trade, will, I hope, prevail
upon you to rest satisfied with the present distribution.
"I cannot omit this opportunity of mentioning how sensible I am of
the service done by you, and the other field officers, on the late
mutinous combination; as without such assistance the resolution of
the President and of the Council must have proved ineffectual. And,
perhaps, you will not be displeased upon my assuring you, that, in my
letters to the Court of Directors, I have represented your conduct,
upon that particular occasion, in the very favourable light it so
justly deserved."
For Sir Robert Barker Lord Clive had the sincerest regard[59]; but he
always regretted the too easy character of that excellent officer. It
appears by a letter from Sir Robert Barker, that some observations
which had been made by the Governor upon Lieutenant Vertue's
court-martial, of which he was President, and upon the subject of
bazars, had reached him; and that he addressed Lord Clive in a tone of
complaint. The following observations, made by the latter in reply,
are interesting, both as they exhibit that frankness with which he
ever explained himself to those whom he regarded, and the opinion he
entertained of those indirect sources of emolument which military
officers in India, who held commands, so long continued to derive from
the sale of liquor and bazars:--
"I have received your letter[60] of the 3d of August, and rejoice to
find that you have recovered your former state of health. Orders are
sent to the commanding officers to appoint a greater number of members
than thirteen, which, I hope, will prevent these delays in future.
"I am sorry you should think yourself obliged to defend your own
conduct, as well as that of the members of the general court-martial
appointed to sit upon the trial of Lieutenant Vertue. When I suggested
to you my opinion at Bankepore, I addressed myself to you alone,
without mentioning the other members. The liberty I then took very
nearly regarded your honour and reputation, as well as the welfare of
the East India Company, in which is included the welfare of the nation.
"I must call to your remembrance some particular expressions I made use
of that morning at breakfast, as others were present, and can prove
the truth of what I assert. I told you, that, where conscience was in
the case, exclusive of the sacredness of an oath, the world should not
bias me to swerve from my opinion; but where that was not so, and I was
convinced in my own mind, a man was guilty, neither apprehensions of
law, or any deficiency in forms, should influence me to act in favour
of those who were not deserving of it. I told you, at the same time,
all the general officers in Great Britain would canvass this general
court-martial, and that their attention would be more particularly
fixed upon you, the President. These were my words, or words to that
purpose; this also is my opinion, which I am not ashamed to declare
to the whole world. If, therefore, any busy, intermeddling person has
represented to you my expressions in another light, he has represented
a falsity.
"With regard to the bazar duties, you may be assured from me, that,
when I mentioned the circumstance of Sir Robert Fletcher's conduct, I
was an utter stranger to any duties whatever being collected by the
commanding officers on the necessaries of life. I never received such
myself, or knowingly suffered others under me to receive them, either
upon the coast or at Bengal; and had Colonel Smith, when he prided
himself upon never having received bazar duties, informed me that he
had allowed Colonel Peach to receive them, it would have been more
consistent with that sincerity which he has always professed.
"No one has shown himself a greater friend to the field officers than
myself; yet they seem already to forget the great advantages they
enjoy. However, I must remark, that, to an officer whose pay and
emoluments amount to 12,000_l._ per annum, the bazar duties can scarce
be an object.
"I am surprised to find myself accused of erecting Colonel Gunge at
Patna. To speak plainly, Barker, I never established a Gunge in my
life, and never will; because I never approved of receiving duties on
the necessaries of life; although I do not think those officers much in
fault who have done the same from prescription only. Colonel Gunge was
created by Colonel Caillaud, and revived by Colonel Cook. The Committee
have forbid this custom in future.
"To conclude, the style and diction of this last letter is so contrary
to Sir Robert Barker's natural disposition, that I am persuaded some
evil-minded persons, who have their own interests more than your
reputation at heart, have been the occasion, through misrepresentation.
However, since my friendship for you is mistrusted, and the regard and
attention which I have shown for your welfare, from the day of your
embarkation to this hour, forgotten, I can only lament your misfortune
and mine, that there should be men in the world who can make these
impressions. For my own part, I am almost weary of the burden. I have
found the pride, ambition, resentment, and self-interestedness of
individuals so incompatible with the public good, that I should have
given up the contest long ago, if I had not set the greatest value
upon my own reputation, which is all I must expect to preserve upon my
return to England, after so odious and disagreeable an undertaking."
In a second letter[61] upon the same subject, Lord Clive observes,--
"With regard to bazars, the vindication of yourself amounted so near
to an accusation of me, that I could not avoid replying as I did. You
must, however, have been by my letter convinced of your mistake in
supposing that I either established, or enjoyed any advantages from,
the Gunge at Patna; and I hope you are no less convinced that my
arguments against the practice of levying duties upon the necessaries
of life were urged with as much tenderness as the nature of the subject
would admit. I wished to prevent your doing in future what I was of
opinion would affect your reputation, but I did not suppose that what
had passed was from the motive of extortion or avarice.
"Be assured, Barker, upon the whole, that all I said and wrote was
dictated by a sincere regard to your honour, and by a desire to see
you act with propriety and dignity in matters which I judged were of no
small importance to your own character."
The officers concerned in the combination, who were brought to a
court-martial, were all cashiered except Captain Parker, and he was
dismissed by an order of Government. That more severe sentences were
not awarded to several who were guilty of mutiny, appears to have been
occasioned by some doubts on the part of the Court by which they were
tried as to an expression in the Mutiny Act, which subjected those
to martial law who have contracted to serve the Company; and it was
conceived that the acceptance of a commission formed no contract. This
interpretation was erroneous; and had it been otherwise, it would have
been as illegal to have deprived an officer of his commission as of
his life. But we cannot be surprised that, where a doubt was raised,
a body of officers unskilled in law, though they might have deemed it
essential to maintain subordination, were disposed to as much lenity as
was compatible with that object.
Lieutenant Stainforth, and another officer, were accused, among other
crimes, of a declared intention of assassinating the Governor. Such
assertions were certainly made, but no overt act warranted the belief
of the intention; and it was never credited by Lord Clive, who alluded
to it on his addressing the officers and men at Monghyr. He was
speaking, he said, he was assured, to Englishmen, not assassins. To
Lieutenant Stainforth, when ordered to England with the other officers
who were dismissed, his secretary addressed, by his desire, a letter
pointing out in kind but decided terms the impossibility of compliance
with his request to be restored to the service; and that, even if he
were restored, the officers, after what had passed, would refuse to
do duty with him. Towards this officer, and others, who had shown in
their language and acts the extreme of personal hostility to him,
Clive, neither at the moment nor afterwards, cherished any resentment.
His efforts to establish discipline, and repress an insubordinate and
mutinous spirit, were strong and uncompromising; but, that object
gained, he appears to have shown as much lenity and consideration for
individuals as was compatible with the maintenance of that authority
which had been so violently assailed.
The circumstances under which Lord Clive had to act, and the
difficulties he had to overcome, are well stated by his successor, Mr.
Verelst, in a work which he subsequently published in defence of his
own conduct.
"The impolitic arrangement of affairs[62] was among the least evils
of the Company's situation, antecedent to Lord Clive's arrival. The
dissolution of government in Calcutta kept pace with that of the
country. A general contempt of superiors, a habit of equality among all
orders of men, had obliterated every idea of subjection. To reclaim men
from dissipation, to revive a general spirit of industry, to lead the
minds of all from gaudy dreams of sudden-acquired wealth to a patient
expectation of growing fortunes, were no less difficult in execution
than necessary to the existence of the Company. Large sums of money,
obtained by various means, had enabled many gentlemen to return to
Europe. This cause, superadded to the massacre of Patna, occasioned
a very quick succession in the service, which encouraged a forward
spirit of independency, and produced a total contempt of public orders,
whenever obedience was found incompatible with private interest. To
check such impatient hopes, where youths aspired to the government of
countries at an age scarcely adequate to the management of private
affairs, four gentlemen, being called from Madras, were admitted into
Council.
"The universal discontent among the civil servants which had arisen
from the late measures, restraining the power of individuals, was
hereby greatly increased; and, united with the mutinous spirit of the
military officers, broke forth, the following year, into a flame, which
threatened destruction to the English empire in Bengal.
"This event, though among the transactions of a later period, may, not
improperly, be here explained. The military in Bengal had for several
years enjoyed an indulgence beyond those in the other settlements of
the Company, which first arose from the bounty of the Subahdar, when
they were employed in his service. By the advice of an officer who had
long commanded the Company's troops upon the coast of Coromandel, with
great reputation to himself and honour to the nation, representing this
extraordinary allowance as destructive of discipline, the Directors,
in their public letters, had frequently ordered the double batta to
be withdrawn.[63] Such directions, in a settlement where all idea of
subordination was lost, and where the conduct of the superior servants
respecting their own interests could ill be reconciled with a rigid
exaction of obedience to the Company's commands in others, produced
little effect. One feeble effort was made; but a remonstrance from the
military induced a ready submission on the part of the Governor and
Council. The Select Committee, very justly conceiving, that a regard
to private interest would not justify a disobedience to the positive
injunction of their superiors[64], resolved to carry the measure into
immediate execution."
A historian little disposed to take a favourable view of Lord Clive's
motives or actions, commenting upon his conduct on this trying
occasion, observes[65]; "It was one of these scenes, however, in which
he was admirably calculated to act with success. Resolute and daring,
fear never turned him aside from his purpose, or deprived him of the
most collected exertions of his mind in the greatest emergencies. To
submit to the violent demands of a body of armed men, was to resign the
government."
This praise, reserved as it is, has value coming from such a quarter;
but it is fair to state, that the historian formed his judgment on
this and other acts of Lord Clive solely from public records. He
has not, like the writer of these pages, had access to that private
correspondence, by which he has been enabled to examine every letter
or note which Clive received or wrote daily to persons of all ranks
and classes; nor could he trace his feelings, as the writer has done,
at every hour of this great crisis, during which, it appears from the
most authentic documents, that his mind was not only cool and unshaken,
but that, though often ruffled with honest indignation at proofs of
cowardice, treachery, and guilt, he was never betrayed into one act
unworthy of his private or his public character. He not only warned all
of the dangers into which they were rushing headlong, but personally
entreated them to remain in the path of duty; or, when they had left
it, to return. In the prosecution of the most guilty he never mingled
his own name; on the contrary, we find him extending to all such as
had attacked him personally, as much clemency and consideration as
was compatible with the public interests; and this kindness not only
reached those who deceived him most grossly, but was extended to an
unfortunate individual who, in a moment of rage, had threatened to
become his assassin. On the other hand, when warmth of temper and
impatience led him, as it sometimes did, to express himself with
unkindness, if not harshness, to those whose efforts and zeal did not
keep pace with his own, we find him treating their remonstrances in
a manner which, from its frankness and tone of friendship, was alike
calculated to establish his own superiority, and to gain their respect,
if not their attachment.
There is no event of his life in which Lord Clive showed more knowledge
of human nature, and a more intimate acquaintance with all the elements
which compose military bodies, than on this occasion. While he visited
with severity of punishment bold offenders, he gave the most delicate
attention to the high feelings of honour, which had kept others free
from guilty associations. When, under an impression that there was
a defect in the articles of war, he would restore none of those who
had joined the combination, until they signed a contract to serve a
certain period, he made no such call upon those who had been true to
their duty. The contract might be necessary, he said; but men who had
undergone such a trial ought not to be insulted with a suspicion that
any further tie was required to bind their allegiance. They repaid this
confidence by voluntarily insisting upon signing the contract, into
which officers with whom they continued to serve had been compelled to
enter.
Lord Clive appears, from both his public and private letters, to have
estimated the complete victory he had obtained on this occasion beyond
any he ever gained in the field: and, in fact, it was with reason
that he did so. Considering that upwards of two hundred officers had
not only combined, but had pledged themselves by every tie that could
bind men, to oppose authority, Clive had solid ground for exultation
in the success of measures, planned and executed by himself, the
result of which was to restore subordination, to vindicate an insulted
Government, and to save the country from ruin. And this achievement
was the more gratifying, from being attended with comparatively few
consequences that were ultimately injurious to any great body of
individuals. It must, moreover, have been satisfactory to Lord Clive,
to know that this combination had not its source in any of those
evil designs by which such mutinous proceedings are often marked. It
originated in the too long continuance of a temporary grant, of an
extra allowance, to which young officers (and almost all concerned were
such) soon adapted their expenditure; and when luxuries, recommended by
the climate and character of the service, became necessaries, they were
not likely to recognise the justice of the distinction, which had been
made by the Directors, between the boon of a Nabob (which the double
batta first was), and a direct payment from the treasury of Government,
which it became after the Company had obtained the grant of the
Dewannee.