ON MY DEFENCE
Court of inquiry as to my management of Norfolk Island—Major Bunbury
reprimanded by Commander-in-Chief at the Horse Guards for his
unfounded charges
I SHOULD have mentioned sooner that when I left Sydney a dispatch was
received by the major-general commanding from Major Bunbury, reporting a
serious outbreak and mutiny amongst his detachment at Norfolk Island,
and that Sir Maurice O’Connell had determined to relieve the 80th at
once from Norfolk Island by an equal number again of the 50th Regiment.
I was sent for by the governor, and also by the general; and although
they gave me no particulars of Major Bunbury’s dispatch, I was asked
many questions about the soldiers’ gardens, when and why they were given
to the men, and my opinion respecting them. All this I explained, and
said they were established by me with the authority and approval of the
late governor, Sir Richard Bourke, as a means not only of amusement and
employment for the soldiers on the settlement, but also in order to give
them a constant supply of good vegetables. I was then told by the
general that he was determined to relieve Major Bunbury and to send
Major Ryan in command. I was not allowed to know more, but I heard it
whispered that the outbreak was in consequence of Major Bunbury
depriving the soldiers of their gardens and ordering them to be charged
a trifle daily for vegetables from the Government gardens, and that, the
soldiers having resisted, he actually sent gangs of convicts to root up
and destroy the gardens, which at once made the soldiers fly to their
arms and drive the convicts away, in open defiance of Major Bunbury’s
presence and authority. It was also hinted that he blamed me for all
this in having granted these gardens to the soldiers, which he
considered contrary to, and subversive of, good order and discipline.
Having heard these whispers, I called upon the general and requested I
might be informed whether Major Bunbury had attempted to blame me for
the open defiance of his authority by his own men. The general again
said he could not then enter into any further explanation, but that I
should hear all when Major Bunbury returned; I was therefore obliged to
be satisfied so far, and I took my leave. Meantime a ship was chartered
and ready to take Major Ryan and his detachment to Norfolk Island, and
she was to be escorted by H.M.S. _Rattlesnake_, to force a landing if
necessary. In a few days I left Sydney, and did not go back for ten days
after Major Bunbury had returned, and the first news I heard was that he
had not confined nor punished even one man for the mutiny, which
displeased the general very much. Fifteen soldiers were then arrested as
the ringleaders and placed in confinement, and in due course were
brought to trial charged with mutiny. They were all found guilty and
sentenced to transportation for life. I was also informed that Major
Bunbury, in his evidence, did not hesitate to blame me for all these
irregularities, and for the insubordination and mutiny of his own men!
which he stated were the result of “the relaxed order and system and
total absence of military discipline” which I had allowed on the island.
This was the substance of his evidence, and as I was absent from Sydney
during the sitting of the court-martial, my friends took care to tell me
of it on my return.
I went at once to Sir Maurice O’Connell and complained, and I requested
an immediate court of inquiry into my system and the efficiency or
otherwise of my command. The general hesitated, and said he saw no
necessity for any such inquiry, as he was perfectly satisfied; but I
said I was not, and that as every one had heard Major Bunbury’s serious
charges against me, it was no more than justice to me, and to my
reputation and character as an officer, that an immediate inquiry should
take place. He then consented to order a court of inquiry, and next day
Lieut.-Colonel French, Major Cotton, and a major whose name I forget,
were named for this duty, and directed to “inquire into the system and
discipline maintained by Major Anderson during his command at Norfolk
Island.”
I was allowed to make a statement in detail of my system, daily duties,
and discipline. I then called in succession Captains Petit, Fothergill,
and Lieutenants Sheaffe and Needham, who served for years with me on the
island, and each of these officers stated to the court “that no
commanding officer could have been more zealous and attentive to his own
duties and to the efficiency of his detachment; that his parades were
regular every morning and evening; that the conduct of the detachment
was so uniformly good and regular that not more than two or three
soldiers were brought to trial while the 50th was at Norfolk Island;
that the detachment was inspected once a month, and the barracks and
messes were regularly visited by Major Anderson; that if possible he was
too strict rather than too easy with his officers and men.” Major
Bunbury was allowed to cross-examine each of these officers, but could
get nothing from them in support of his unfounded charges. The next
officer called was Colonel Woodhouse, commanding the 50th Regiment, who
informed the court that he “always considered Major Anderson an able and
efficient officer, that he received constant reports of the good conduct
and discipline of his detachment, and that whenever he had any
troublesome officers or soldiers he always sent them to Norfolk Island
to be schooled by Major Anderson.” The next called was Lieutenant and
Adjutant Tudor, who spoke to the same effect. Last of all I called Major
Hunter, the major of brigade in Sydney, and he stated that nothing could
have been more satisfactory than the official reports from Norfolk
Island, and that he had heard from many that the detachment was
considered to be in the highest possible state of good order and
discipline. I here declined calling any more evidence.
Major Bunbury was then requested to state whether he wished to say
anything more, or to call any evidence. He first recalled Captains Petit
and Fothergill, and asked them whether they did not think the giving of
gardens to the soldiers injurious to military discipline and to their
drill and proper appearance as soldiers; they said, “Certainly not.” He
next asked them whether the soldiers did not sell their gardens to their
successors. They answered that they sold their crops, which they
themselves had grown and laboured for, but not their gardens. He then
called in one or two of his own sergeants, but the only thing he could
get out of them was that the soldiers of the 80th Regiment had paid the
soldiers of the 50th for the gardens, and therefore considered them
their private property. Major Bunbury declined to call in any of his own
officers. After some further debate the proceedings were closed. Here we
were all ordered to withdraw, and the court was closed for the recording
of its final opinion.
I was not then allowed to know what that was, but from the clear and
most satisfactory evidence which had been given on my behalf there could
only be one opinion on the subject, and it was certainly a most
gratifying victory. A few days more confirmed this view of the case. I
therefore went to the general and said that I had waited patiently,
expecting he would publicly promulgate the opinion of the court of
inquiry, but to my surprise he said he saw no necessity for doing so. I
told him this did not at all satisfy me, that I felt I had a right to
request he would promulgate the opinion of the court, but all my
endeavours to this effect failed. I then asked him if I was at liberty
to proclaim the substance of my present interview with him. He said,
“Most certainly,” and on the same day I took care to do so. From that
day I had no further intercourse with Major Bunbury.
Many months afterwards, while in India, I received an official
notification from the major of brigade in Sydney that the
Commander-in-Chief at the Horse Guards had approved of the proceedings
of the court of inquiry, and had directed the major-general commanding
in Sydney to convey a severe reprimand to Major Bunbury, and to inform
him that “if he attempted again to insinuate any such charges against
Major Anderson he would be brought before a general court-martial.”
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