[1] I was, at the moment this letter was written, at Madras, preparing
to proceed on a mission to Persia: not a word even of dissatisfaction
at my conduct was expressed--no explanation of any of my acts required;
and, consequently, no opportunity afforded of defending myself against
the serious charges that were thus secretly transmitted to England. The
letter to the Secret Committee is dated the 10th September, 1809, the
day before that on which Lord Minto arrived at Madras.
[2] Cicero's Letters to his Friends, Vol. I. p. 194. Octavo. London,
1753.
[3] As if an unqualified refusal to forward these Memorials was not
adequate to produce this dangerous effect, the names of all the
officers who had signed the first Memorial were placed on a proscribed
list, and deemed ineligible to any promotion in commands or staff
situations. One fact will show the impression that this act made upon
the most moderate. I wrote to Colonel Aldwell Taylor, an officer of
high rank and respectability, expressing my earnest desire to see him
placed in a command in which I thought his principles and character
would be useful to Government. In his answer, which is dated the 29th
of July, he details the causes of his being in a situation of actual
retirement. When he had applied for a command to which his services
gave him a right to aspire, he observes, that he was informed of the
crime by which he had not only forfeited all hope of that particular
station, but also (he adds), "that for having affixed my signature to a
respectful address to my superiors and employers, I was placed at the
head of a list of names comprising nearly two thirds of the army, and
thereby marked by the extreme displeasure of Government, and thence
deprived of every future hope of situations of honour and emolument.
Whilst smarting under these most serious injuries, I felt it impossible
to resume the command of Masulipatam, and made application to retire."
This case is more marked than others of the same kind, because there
can be little, if any doubt, the violent mutiny that took place at
Masulipatam would never have occurred, if Colonel Taylor had remained
in command of that garrison. The nature of this unavowed punishment
(for though there is, I imagine, no doubt such a resolution was passed
by Government, it was never published in any order,) is very peculiar;
but it is very characteristic of the system of measures pursued. It was
teasing and aggravating in its operation, without efficiency in its end.
[4] Vide the preceding note.
[5] Vide Mr. Pigott's Opinion, printed with the Memorial of Major Boles.
[6] This crude and violent address was never transmitted to the
Governor General. The crime laid to the charge of the officers here
mentioned, was being implicated in framing it and in promoting its
circulation.
[7] There may be some rare exceptions to this rule, which apply to
secret confederacies against a state, where the object is to _deprive
an individual of power, more than to punish as an example_. This
consideration could, on the 1st of May, have hardly applied even as a
fair pretext to any one individual of the many that were punished.
[8] In this officer's case there was no impropriety or disrespect in
the letter, that could have aggravated the offence; and the motive
which made him state what he had done, was assuredly honourable.
[9] It is, of course, meant the most moderate among those who were at
all discontented.
[10] I heard this plan mentioned by an officer high on the staff,
the day before I sailed for Masulipatam, and protested against its
principle, as directly contrary to that on which I had been desired
to act, and indeed to every effort of conciliation. The Governor, to
whom I immediately stated this fact, appeared to me to accord in my
opinion; but, a few days after my departure, he was induced to adopt
this measure, and to provoke disobedience to authority.
[11] The following are the sentiments of Colonel Close upon this
subject, as expressed in his letter to Major Barclay under date the
24th of July, 1809, and published in the correspondence laid before the
House of Commons:
"It is generally admitted as a sound maxim, not to hazard the giving
of an order unless there be a fair ground of presumption that it will
be obeyed. From the apparent circumstances of the time, the orders
sent to Masulipatam were perhaps fairly hazarded; but, after those
orders had been disobeyed, to send orders to Hyderabad for the march
of a battalion, might have been regarded as a measure in some degree
exceptionable. The officers, who have opposed the orders sent for
the purpose, are now more forcibly tied together than before. The
extreme of their proceedings is increased, and their danger and fear
seriously heightened. Their impulse to act is become more violent; and
accordingly the loss to the public cause must be in proportion to all
these augmentations. But this is not all. If the measure of moving the
battalion was meant to be useful, in having an experimental effect,
Hyderabad was assuredly the very place at which the experiment should
not have been made; confusion could not be so hurtful any where else."
Those who know the delicacy of this superior man will judge, from this
extract, what must have been the strength of his feelings upon the
subject.
[12] The trial of Lieutenant-Colonel Innes, and the removal from the
general staff of some officers obnoxious to the malecontents, were
among the demands in this paper.
[13] Lord Minto has, in his letter to the secret committee, noticed
this feeling, as forming a strong and operative principle of action in
the minds of these infatuated men.
[14] Vide Appendix.
[15] The names of the principal of these officers, Colonel Clarke,
Colonel Rumley, Colonel Floyer, Major Russel, and Captain Noble, will
be received by all parties as full evidence of the truth of this
assertion.
[16] July, 1809.
[17] Emissaries of a similar character were at and before this period
sent to all the native corps.
[18] Government could not have supposed men very deep in guilt, upon
whose solemn assurance that they would fulfil the obligation of their
commissions such reliance was to be placed. It was evident, that had
they cherished any serious designs against their country, or any of its
constituted authorities, they would not have hazarded the failure of
their schemes by stickling at the little additional guilt that would
have attended the breach of any test so forced upon their acceptance;
they would have signed, and watched the opportunity of accomplishing
their plans. But of this there was no apprehension: they were
acknowledged, at the moment this pledge was presented, to be men of
honour, and alive to all the obligations that word implies. And can it
be argued that men, with such feelings, were not to be fixed in their
duty, or reclaimed to it, by other means than such as _almost imposed
opposition as a point of honour_, as by it only they could avoid the
reproach of having been trepanned, alarmed, and coerced into a promise
to perform that duty which they owed to the state they served.
[19] Captain Moodie, the commanding officer, and almost all the
officers of the first battalion of the 6th regiment, were among this
number, though that corps had, up to this date, been remarkable for
never having joined in any one of the guilty or objectionable measures
of the army. It was a sense of their past conduct that made such
treatment more insufferable.
[20] The senior Company's officer at this meeting was Colonel Clarke,
commanding the artillery, who was known to be exempt even from
suspicion of any share whatever in the violent proceedings of a part
of the army, and had been recently selected on that ground to command
at the Mount. Was it not natural that a sense of his own conduct
should have led this honourable officer to reject with indignation a
proposition made in a mode so insulting to his feelings as a man and an
officer.
[21] To many of this class it must have been an agreeable release from
the rigid obligations of their commission. It offered a temporary
retirement from their duty to the state; and, in doing so, changed in
some degree the _character of that duty_. By signing the test they
became volunteers against men whose guilt they had to a certain extent
shared, and had no longer, to support their minds in so trying a
situation, that plea of indispensable necessity which their commission
imposed.
[22] This was the substance of the order that I recommended to be
issued at this period, the principle of which has been so arraigned by
the Government of Fort St. George. A copy of this order is inserted in
the Appendix.
[23] I might fill a volume if I were to enter into any general
reasoning on the vital wound given to military subordination by this
measure. The relation of the private soldier to the subaltern has been
well termed the key-stone of the arch: an army may survive any other
change; but to disturb that relation, is to dissolve the whole: here
begins the obedience of the many to the few. In civil society, this
problem appears of difficult solution: but there, it is the obedience
of the dispersed and disarmed many; it is rare, and in well regulated
communities almost unfelt. In military bodies it is the hourly
obedience, even to death, of the armed and embodied many. The higher
links which bind subalterns to their superiors, and these to one chief,
are only the obedience of the few to the fewer, and these fewer to one.
These relations are easily intelligible. Honour, and obvious interest,
are sufficient to account for these: and any injury they sustain
can be repaired. But the obedience of the whole body of soldiers to
their immediate officers, is that which forms an army, and cannot be
disturbed without the utmost danger of total destruction. It was upon
this act of the French Assembly that Burke observed, "They have begun
by a most terrible operation; they have touched the central point,
about which particles that compose armies are at repose; they have
destroyed the principle of obedience in the great essential critical
link between the officer and the soldier, just where the chain of
military subordination commences, and on which the whole of that system
depends." Sir George Barlow, it has been forcibly remarked, could
discover no other mode of suppressing a _rebellion_ of officers than by
exciting a _mutiny_ of _soldiers_.
[24] 1794 and 1795.
[25] There can be no doubt of the truth of the observation which a
great and well-informed statesman formerly made upon this question.
"The European character in India" (Lord Melville observes in one of
his letters to the Court of Directors) "cannot be raised too high. If
the natives should be accustomed to look upon persons in the British
service with indifference and contempt, they will rapidly annihilate
our Empire there, and with it the very few Europeans by whom that
country is held in subjection." If this is true of Europeans in
general, and our Indian subjects, with what particular force must it
apply to the relations between the sepoy and his European commander?
[26] The most violent even among the officers were so alarmed at the
evil this impression must produce to their country, that they carefully
avoided, till the last extremity, any mention of it to the natives
under their command: not, I am satisfied, from any fear of failing in
their efforts to debauch them from their duty, but from a deep sense
of the danger of such a communication: and those who believe that the
defeat of this confederacy through the means adopted will for ever
prevent the occurrence of a similar evil, should recollect, that it is
just as likely to have an opposite effect, and to render that evil, if
brought on by similar causes, far more dangerous. The European officers
may, in their next quarrel with their local Government, be taught
by this failure to league with the native officers, and to hold out
advantages to them that will secure their most zealous co-operation;
and such a conspiracy would lose India. It is dangerous even to hold an
opinion that this Empire can be preserved by any means but the action
of a wise, temperate, and just Government, which, though firm and
powerful, must rule its British subjects with the greatest attention to
those habits and principles which are, from the form and character of
the constitution under which they are born, inherent in their nature,
and which can never be disregarded or offended without a danger of
sedition or convulsion.
[27] As a proof of this, the following fact will suffice. At the
period the test was promulgated, a direct correspondence, in the
native language, was opened by the chief civil and military officers
of Government with the native officers. This was equally maintained
with those corps, the European officers of whom remained firm in their
duty, as others; and a respectable Company's officer, who had signed
the test, and was commanding a corps at Madras, (on his senior subahdar
bringing him letters of this description, which he had received,) made
a representation of the circumstance; but was reprimanded for doing so,
and told it was a general rule, from which it was not deemed proper to
make any deviation. If it had been desirable to make any communications
in the native languages to the men, such could assuredly have been
forwarded to the European officer in command, and the principles of
military discipline observed; but an observance of the general rule was
the point to which _importance was attached_, even in a case where the
operation was _admitted_ to be baneful, and consequently where the more
_limited_ that was, the better for the public interests.
[28] Burke.
[29] These are not sentiments formed on a contemplation of the result
of the disturbances. I presented a similar picture of their situation
to the deluded officers at Masulipatam, and circulated a letter
containing all the substance of these reflections to the army previous
to the occurrence of any deliberate opposition to Government. Vide
Appendix: Letter to Lieutenant-Colonel McLeod.
[30] Lord Minto.
[31] Vide Lord Minto's dispatch.
[32] General Maitland, late Governor of Ceylon.
[33] These words have been, in the course of the discussion regarding
the disturbances at Madras, as they were during their existence,
greatly distorted from their simple and plain meaning. _Concession_,
I conceive, is to grant the original and substantial objects of
the demands made by the mutinous army. To have restored the tent
contract, to have promised an effort to obtain an equalization of their
allowances with the officers of Bengal, would have been concessions:
but if the exercise of a generous clemency, in pardoning those who had
offended in a moment of general insanity, and to have held out hope to
others of even deeper guilt, be deemed _concessions_ which a Government
_cannot make_, there can be no such thing as conciliation _in act_: and
as to the profession of kindness and consideration, when the conduct
observed by the ruling power is inflexible and severe in its measures,
it can have no effect but that of aggravating men's feelings into
greater crime.
[34] The whole power was in the commanding officers of the sepoy
battalion, and the native officers had much greater influence than the
European subalterns of the corps: _the latter were not even attached to
companies_. It has been the labour of near twenty years to supersede
the effects of this system, which was deemed bad, and to transfer the
influence formerly enjoyed by the native officers to the European: and
the eagerness with which the native officers grasped at a prospect of
reviving their power, though it might have had a favourable operation
for Government under that desperate expedient to which they had resort,
must have given rise to dangerous feelings, and produced jealousy
and distrust in that important link between the European and native
officers, where complete confidence and cordiality is most essential to
our safety.
[35] Disturbances in Bengal in 1794 and 1795.
[36] Lord Teignmouth.
[37] Lord Melville.
[38] William the Third, and Demosthenes.
[39] See the letters to Lord Wellesley and Sir A. Wellesley, p. 64, 65.
PART II.
A
NARRATIVE
OF THE
CONDUCT OF LIEUT.-COLONEL MALCOLM
DURING THE
_DISTURBANCES IN THE MADRAS ARMY_.
A NARRATIVE, &c.
When the first violent agitation appeared in the coast army I was
at Bombay, in charge of a force destined for service in the Gulf of
Persia. A part of this force was composed of Madras troops; and it
became my peculiar care to prevent, as far as could be effected by the
influence of reason and discipline, any contagion from spreading among
those under my command. That I succeeded in this object is chiefly to
be ascribed to the excellent character of the officers of this force,
and to the distance at which they were from the scene of agitation.
From what I heard before I left Bombay, on the 1st of May 1809, of
the transactions on the coast, and the perfect knowledge I had of the
character of the Governor of Fort St. George, I early apprehended the
most unhappy result; and on the 18th of April 1809, I wrote to Lord
Minto in the following terms:--
"We hear every day the most exaggerated reports from Madras; but
matters are, I fear, in a very bad state. It is said a Memorial has
been sent to your Lordship for the removal of Sir George Barlow. I
can hardly credit this, though stated on very respectable authority.
I know that there is a personal irritation against him, which exceeds
all bounds; and this, however unjust and indefensible, will make it
almost impossible for him to adjust matters by any means short of
coercion: and I trust in God such will not be found necessary; for even
success would not prevent the ruinous effects with which any measure
of violence would be attended. I cannot but think the great majority
are yet to be reclaimed to their duty; and I should think one principal
means of effecting this, would be your Lordship's presence at Madras:
and assuredly there never was an occasion on which the active exertion
of all the great powers lodged in your Lordship's hands was more
necessary to the welfare of the state."
The impressions upon my mind at this moment will be still more forcibly
shown by the following extract from a letter to the Marquis Wellesley,
of the same date as that to Lord Minto, and upon the same subject:--
"Both Lord Minto and the Commander-in-Chief of India should come to
Madras; or, at all events, Lord Minto. Whatever justice may be on
the part of Sir George Barlow, it will be ten times more difficult
for him to settle the question than any other; for the degree of
personal dislike which all ranks and classes have of him, is not to be
described. This may be, and I dare say is, very indefensible: but it
exists, and cannot be changed; and the safety of the state should not
be thrown into hazard, if that hazard can be avoided by the adoption
of any measures that do not compromise its dignity, or permanently
weaken its authority. I am quite satisfied of the purity and rectitude
of Sir George Barlow's character. The public never had a more zealous
or more laborious servant; he is devoted to his duty, and has no
enjoyment beyond that of performing it; but his system is cold and
inflexible, and proceeds in its course without the slightest attention
to the feelings of those on whom it is to operate; and the present
distracted state of affairs at Madras is, I fear, a _comment_, and _a
melancholy one_, upon the result of _such systems_. All the reforms
which Sir George Barlow thought it his duty to make, might have been
made without giving rise to any serious discontent, if he had proceeded
with that caution and that attention to the temper of the men which
the situation in which he found the army required. They were in a state
of great irritation when he arrived; and he was, from his reputation
as a _reformer_ and a _retrencher_, received with prejudices. The
authority which should have controlled the army, acted a contrary part,
and consequently made their ebullitions more to be dreaded. All these
were subjects worthy of consideration; and relaxation from a severe
system, till an insubordinate spirit was somewhat subdued, and the
ruling authority fortified, would have not merely been warranted, but
have been wise. At all events, the means of suppressing a disposition
to violence should have been correctly calculated, before it was
provoked to action. This, I fear, has not been the case; and it is
most difficult to discover any means by which such a general spirit
of discontent, as that which now exists, can be repressed. As it is
unmixed with any thing like disaffection to the country, it will
probably, if met with a firm and dignified spirit of conciliation,
correct itself; and then every plan should be adopted that can prevent
the recurrence of so dangerous an evil."
The following is the concluding paragraph of a long letter, dated the
16th of April 1809, which I wrote to Lord Wellington, on the same
subject.
"I am yet very imperfectly informed of what has occurred. I shall
soon know all. I proceed in a few days to Madras. _Had I been there
at an earlier stage of this affair, I might have done good; but
that expectation is over_: matters are too far gone; and there is
too great irritation on the minds of all parties, to give hopes of
reconciliation. You know Sir George Barlow: he is a highly respectable
public servant. His principles of action are all right and correct;
but his measures are often ill-timed, and consequently unfortunate.
He generally leaves altogether out of the question, that which would
engage the chief attention of an abler ruler,--_men's minds_: and
though his cold system appears excellent in an abstract and general
view, it often proves mischievous in its operation. He has another
great fault, which looks so like an excellence at first glance, as to
deceive most: he is perfectly inflexible with regard to every thing
that he deems a principle or rule. Now this is good on most occasions,
but on some it is the height of folly; for, in the endeavor to do a
little good, are we justified in hazarding a world of mischief?"
Such were my sentiments, and such the view I took of the situation of
affairs on the coast, before I left Bombay, from which I sailed on the
1st of May, and arrived at Madras on the 17th of that month. I was
received by Sir George Barlow with even more than his usual kindness.
He seemed to expect my personal efforts would aid greatly in allaying
any little agitation that remained; for, at this moment, he was
decidedly of opinion that the orders of the 1st of May had completely
settled every thing that was serious, and that what appeared to
remain, was merely the reaction of that seditious spirit which he had
subdued. After a very few days' residence at Madras I became satisfied
of the extent and danger of this error, and I laboured incessantly to
convince Sir George Barlow that he was mistaken, and that a new, more
extensive, and violent confederacy, than that which he had conquered,
was in progress; the object of which was to obtain the repeal of the
orders of the 1st of May. His unwillingness to believe this fact may
be conceived, when I state, that he would not admit the conduct of the
subsidiary force at Hyderabad, who, in a public address, disclaimed the
compliment he had paid their fidelity, to be evidence of its truth.
I was not discouraged by that strong disinclination which I observed
in Sir George Barlow to credit every information I gave him upon this
subject, but continued to press upon him the urgency of the case, and
to entreat him to adopt measures calculated to remedy so desperate and
general an evil, before it had attained that maturity to which it was
fast approaching. The great and generous object was, I said, to save,
not to destroy, a body of brave and meritorious, though infatuated
men, who were rushing upon their own ruin. They had (I not once, but a
hundred times repeated to Sir George Barlow,) a more serious quarrel
than that with Government, they had quarrelled with themselves; and,
unless he could adopt some measure that would restore them to their
own good opinion, every attempt to establish order and subordination
would be vain, as they were goaded on to further guilt by a torturing
sense of that into which they had already plunged. On being, at one
of these conferences, desired by Sir George Barlow to suggest what I
thought would promote this end, I proposed (if the expedient had his
approbation,) to draw up an address to him from the Company's officers
on direct opposite principles to those seditious papers that I knew
were then in circulation; and to give, by this measure, a shape to
that feeling which still existed in the army, but which was scattered,
and, from having no union, was repressed by the combined action of the
discontented and turbulent. This address was as follows:
"We, the undersigned officers of the Madras establishment, trust that
the very extraordinary and unprecedented situation in which we are
placed by some recent occurrences, will plead our excuse for an address
which has no object but that of vindicating ourselves, as a body,
from those serious imputations to which we conceive it possible we
may become liable, from the nature of late proceedings in the army to
which we belong; and to assert our devoted allegiance to our King, our
unalterable attachment to our Country, and our consequent respect and
submission to the laws and acts of that local Government under which we
are placed, and whose commands it is our duty, under all circumstances,
to obey, as those of a legitimate branch of the constitution of our
country.
"It would be painful to retrace all those events which have led to
the present unhappy state of feeling in the army, and have compelled
Government to those measures which it has judged proper to adopt: we
shall therefore content ourselves with expressing our conviction,
that, however far they might have been carried by the warmth of the
moment, none of our brother officers who were concerned in those
proceedings which have been deemed so reprehensible by Government, ever
harboured an idea in their minds that was irreconcileable to their
allegiance as subjects, or their duty as soldiers. Government must be
fully acquainted with the rise and progress of all the proceedings
to which we allude, and can refer to its true cause any apparent
excess, either in expression or act, that may have marked the conduct
of any individuals: and it will, we are assured, separate actions
which have their motive in generous and honourable though mistaken
feeling, from any deliberate design of showing a spirit of contumely
and insubordination to that authority which it is their duty to obey,
and whose orders they could never dispute, without a total sacrifice
of their characters as good soldiers and loyal subjects: and we feel
perfectly satisfied there is not one officer in this army who would
not sooner lose his life than forfeit his claim to such cherished
distinctions.
"We cannot have a doubt but it must have been with extreme reluctance
that Government has adopted the measures it has done, against those
of our brother officers who have more particularly incurred its
displeasure, from the forward share they took, or were supposed to
take, in the proceedings which have met with its disapprobation: and
though we never can presume to question in any shape the acts of
that Government which it is our duty to obey, it is impossible for
us to contemplate the present situation of those officers without
sentiments of the deepest concern: and when we reflect on the general
high reputation, and the well-merited distinction, which some of them
have, by their valour and ability, obtained in the public service, we
should be unjust to the characters of our superiors both in India and
England, if we did not entertain a hope that their case would meet with
a favourable and indulgent consideration. But we feel restrained from
dwelling upon this subject, as we are aware its very mention might be
deemed improper in an address, the great and sole object of which is
to correct misapprehension, and to convey a solemn assurance of our
continued and unalterable adherence to the same principles of loyalty
and attachment to our King and Country, and of respect and obedience to
the Government we serve, that have ever distinguished the army to which
we belong."
The object of this address was to reconcile men to themselves; and
it therefore ceded as much as was possible in its expression to the
predominant feelings of the moment; but its principle was not to
be mistaken: and the unqualified and decided declaration which it
contained, of attachment and of implicit obedience to Government,
must have had the certain effect of separating all those by whom this
address was subscribed, from persons who cherished contrary sentiments.
But the great object of this measure was to concentrate and embody
the good feelings of the army; to hoist a standard to which men could
repair, whose minds revolted at the proceedings then in progress,
but who were deterred by shame, fear of reproach, and want of union,
from expressing an open difference of opinion from the more violent.
I was assured at the moment that I suggested this measure, of its
partial success, and not without some hopes that it would be general;
but I perfectly knew, that if the senior and more reflecting part
of the officers of the army signed an address that pledged them to
an active discharge of their duty to Government, all danger of the
remainder having recourse to desperate extremes, was at an end; for the
influence of the senior part of the army over the native troops was
decided; and this open declaration would at once have drawn a line
of separation betwixt the moderate and reasonable, and the turbulent,
which would have deprived the leaders of the latter of their chief
source of strength, which obviously lay in their being able to deceive
the multitude they guided, by persuading them that the cause was
general[40], and that many, whom prudence made reserved, would join
them the moment they ventured on a bolder line of action.
In my anxiety to reconcile his mind to the adoption of this measure, I
more than once modified the expression of the address; and softened,
and in some instances struck out, those passages which he seemed to
think were most objectionable. I also took every pains to satisfy
his mind that it should never be known he had been consulted on the
subject. It was my intention to endeavour to obtain the high and
honoured name of Colonel Close at the head of this address; and after
adding those of several other officers of rank and estimation, whose
sentiments I knew would be favourable to such an object, to circulate
it with an appeal to the good sense of the whole army. Sir George
Barlow certainly hesitated regarding this measure, for he kept the
draft of the address two or three days, and then returned it with a
rejection of the expedient, grounded on his dislike to the adoption of
any step that was contrary to the established rules of his Government;
to his fear, that receiving such an address in a favourable manner
might in some degree sacrifice[41] his dignity, and, by doing so,
weaken that authority to which he trusted for the settlement of that
partial spirit of discontent which still existed. It was in vain that
I argued that the common rules of Government were adapted for common
times, and that in emergencies like the present, which presented
nothing but difficulties, those should be chosen which were likeliest
to effect the object at the least hazard to the state. All my reasoning
was ineffectual; and I was most reluctantly compelled to abandon
this project, from which I at that moment expected great success.
Every future event has satisfied my mind I was not too sanguine. I
conscientiously believe, if it had been adopted, though numbers might,
by their obstinacy and violence, have merited and received punishment,
yet the large body of Company's officers on the Madras establishment
would have restored the character of the army to which they belonged.
The extremes which have occurred, with all their baneful, and perhaps
irremediable consequences, would have been avoided; and assuredly the
prospect even of attaining such ends and of averting such evils, was
worth a slight departure from a common rule, and might have justified
some small deviation from the rigid system pursued by the Government of
Madras.
To show in the most convincing light the correct view I took at that
moment of the actual state of affairs, and the very opposite sentiments
entertained by Sir George Barlow, I shall here quote some passages
from the private letters that I wrote from the 3d to the 15th of June,
(which includes the whole of the period of which I am now speaking,)
to Lord Minto and his private secretary. The following is a copy of my
letter to Lord Minto of the 3d of June.
"I have delayed from day to day writing to your Lordship, till I
could inform myself of the real state of affairs at this distracted
Presidency; and I wish I could, in discharging my duty towards you,
confirm those impressions which _I believe you have received_, of the
general good effect produced by the orders of the 1st of May, and of
the return of the officers of this Presidency to the principles of
good order and subordination. The very contrary I believe to be the
fact: and I am satisfied that general spirit of discontent which has
long pervaded this army, had never more danger in it than at this
moment. I differ with Sir George Barlow (who has behaved with the most
flattering kindness to me, and given me his complete[42] confidence,)
upon this point; but I have too good a reason to rely upon my sources
of information. Besides, can there be a greater indication of this
spirit than has been exhibited in the conduct of the subsidiary force
at Hyderabad? They have, in an address to the whole army, disclaimed
all title to the thanks bestowed upon them, and publicly avowed, that
they not only shared the sentiments of the army, as expressed in their
former addresses, but felt deeply for their brother officers, who
had been arbitrarily suspended for just and honourable actions, and
were determined to contribute to their support in a firm, legal, and
moderate manner. These are, as nearly as my memory serves, the words
of this address: but a copy has probably been sent to your Lordship;
as one has, I understand, been received at head-quarters. Nothing can
exceed the present irritation: and it has, I am assured, gone much
greater lengths than Sir George Barlow can bring himself to believe. I
confess I am not without some apprehension of misfortune: and however
reluctant my mind is to believe that men can ever be so desperate
as to forget their duty to their country, I cannot resist evidence;
and I certainly have seen what convinces me that the most dangerous
combinations are formed, and conducted on principles entirely hostile
to order and good government. I have most frequent, and indeed daily,
communications with Sir George Barlow upon this subject; and have not
only given him every information I possess, but every opinion I have
formed; and have the highest reason to be satisfied with the manner
in which my communications are received. He is as satisfied as I am,
that the best reliance which Government has at this moment, is the
remaining good feeling of the army itself. We differ a little as to
the best means of bringing this into action. He is adverse to every
expedient that is _not in consistence with usage_. I think that those
means are best which will most speedily effect the object in a manner
that will be satisfactory to the pride and loyal feelings of the great
majority of the army, and yet not compromise in the slightest degree
the dignity of Government. The irritation that has been caused and kept
up by those acts, which Government has taken from private information
or reports of speeches at table, &c. is not to be conceived. The most
extreme emergency can only justify any public authority opening such
dangerous and suspicious channels, and they should be closed the moment
the danger is past. At present I am satisfied, (and so is Sir George
Barlow,) it is better to incur any hazard than have further resort to
such unpopular and uncertain means of detecting delinquency: and he is
resolved to let military law have its free course, in the conviction,
that his best chance of reclaiming a body of honourable though
misguided men, to their duty, is by showing he has not lost confidence
in them.
"Sir George Barlow has hopes this agitation will subside[43] of itself.
I cannot think so. They are maddened with a thousand reflections, and
with none more than the shame and ruin which their rash proceedings
have brought on some of the most popular of their brother officers.
They have, in fact, not only quarrelled with Government, but with
themselves; and such quarrels are difficult to settle. Besides, they
are secretly goaded on by a thousand discontented men, who, defeated in
other objects, wish to throw this Government into confusion."
On the 12th of June I again wrote to his lordship:
"I wish I could say affairs here were in a better state; but I cannot
yet agree with Sir George Barlow that the discontent is subsiding.
Addresses have come from every part of the army to the principal
officers suspended by the orders of the 1st of May, containing
assurances of support, &c. These, fortunately, have not yet been
brought under the eye of Government. I say fortunately; because it
would be impossible for Government, in consistence with its past
proceedings, to pass such addresses unnoticed; and I should regret
to see it obliged to notice them at a moment when the good sense and
good feeling of the army seems lost, and the whole appears under the
influence of blind passion. Sir George Barlow has put an end to all
proceedings grounded on private information, and has resolved to
maintain that dignified line which never stoops to suspicion, and makes
men worthy of confidence by boldly giving it to them. _If this is
persevered in_, it will do great good; for it will excite into action
the remaining good feeling of the army, which, though dormant, must be
considerable; and which forms, at this moment, the great, if not the
only, strength of Government."
And upon the 15th of June I wrote to his Lordship's son and private
secretary, Mr. John Elliott, as follows:
"With regard to this army I have already written to Lord Minto. I am
satisfied he has never had a full idea of the danger to which the
public interests are exposed, or I think he would have come to this
spot. I am far from meaning to state that Sir George Barlow has not
communicated all he knew or thought: but, in the first place, I am
satisfied he has been, generally speaking, badly informed; and, in the
next, he has been endeavouring to persuade himself that there was no
danger, and even now he tries to think every thing will subside; though
he knows (_for I have told him_) that papers of the most objectionable
nature are in circulation, and that the most violent measures have
been, and are, contemplated. It is impossible to convey to men who are
calm and think rationally, any idea of the state of this army. All
the respectable men in it appear to suffer a set of mad-headed boys
to take the lead: and the greatest merit I see any man claim, is that
of being passive; though all confess it is a period at which one step
will involve the country in all the horrors of a civil war: and there
are numbers (such is the insanity that has got head,) that desire to
accelerate that event.
"You may be satisfied I would not even hint at a state of affairs so
shocking to contemplate, if I had not the strongest grounds for what I
state: but I have seen the greater part of their correspondence, _and
know, and have informed Sir George Barlow_, of the extent to which
matters have proceeded, and of the increase of irritation that has
been lately produced: particularly by that ill-judged and unmerited
compliment to the force at Hyderabad, who, from being moderate, have,
with the customary zeal of converts, become the most violent; and
would (but for the timely exercise of Colonel Montresor's personal
influence,) have forced a paper a few days ago upon Government, which
it must have noticed most seriously; and that notice was expected by
some of the maddest to be the signal of some very violent measures.
This remonstrance, as I said before, has been stopt; but there is, I
fear, too much reason to conclude others of the same character will
be forwarded. I know not whether Lord Minto is informed of all these
circumstances; but it is proper he should know them, as they refer
to one of the most serious dangers that can assail the Empire under
his charge. I enjoy Sir George Barlow's fullest confidence upon this
subject; but he has, I believe, _more congenial counsellors_, who
are fonder of maintaining the consistency of Government upon paper,
than of tranquillizing the minds of a meritorious and honourable,
though misguided body of men: but assuredly every means should be
adopted which human wisdom can suggest, to reclaim them to temper and
attachment, provided always such means do not compromise the strength
and dignity of Government. Concessions cannot be made to demand; but
men may, perhaps, by management, be reconciled to themselves and the
state by something short of concession. Sir George Barlow has rather an
exaggerated opinion of my personal influence; and he thinks, I believe,
it will effect what I only expect from the united good feeling of the
army. I have, however, done all I can; and shall continue, under all
circumstances, my most ardent efforts in the cause of good order and
government."
I heard, towards the end of June, of some extraordinary proceedings
that had taken place regarding the European regiment stationed at
Masulipatam, in consequence of a dispute between the Lieutenant-Colonel
commanding and the officers of the corps. The substance of these
proceedings[44] may be given in a few words. Lieutenant-Colonel Innes,
the day after he joined the regiment (the 7th of May), dined at the
mess, where a toast was given, "The friends of the army;" to which
he objected, and proposed it to be changed for one of less equivocal
meaning--"The Madras army." This was not assented to, and he left
the table. Next day he wrote an account of this circumstance to
head-quarters, but _desired it should not be noticed_, as he expected
an apology from those officers whose conduct he considered as most
disrespectful. The moment his letter reached Madras, an order was
transmitted, directing Lieutenant David Forbes, who was said to be the
person who had given the toast, to proceed, at a few hours' warning, to
the Fort of Condapilly, a solitary and far from healthy post, at the
distance of forty miles, and one at which there was not _one_ man of
the corps to which he belonged. Lieutenant Maitland, who was reported
to have seconded the toast, was, by the same order, deprived of his
station of Quarter-Master. These measures, combined with an imprudent
declaration of Colonel Innes, that the corps would be disbanded if a
young officer refused to accept the vacant station of Quarter-Master,
(by which probably it was only meant that that event might be
apprehended, if such a spirit of insubordination continued,) threw the
officers of the regiment into a great ferment, and led to their making
a representation to head-quarters, earnestly soliciting the benefit of
regular military trial, and deprecating the disgrace to which they were
exposed from such punishments being inflicted, without the slightest
opportunity being given to individuals of vindicating themselves from
the private accusations made against them.
I was quite satisfied, from what I heard of those proceedings, of which
I have only given the outline, that they were more than severe; and
were calculated, in even ordinary times, to produce much irritation;
and I therefore was not at all surprised at their aggravated effect
at a period of such general agitation. Soon after these events had
occurred, I was informed by Admiral Drury, that he had, in consequence
of an order from the Duke of York, desiring all the men of his
Majesty's regiments employed as marines to be landed, applied to the
Government of Fort St. George for some men; and that a detachment had
been ordered from the regiment at Masulipatam, for which a frigate and
sloop of war were to sail that evening. Many circumstances had made me,
about this period, very reluctant to press the attention of Sir George
Barlow to a danger, the existence of which he _appeared resolved_ not
to believe; but I could not help, upon this occasion, stating to his
private secretary, Lieutenant-Colonel Barclay, all I thought upon the
subject. The following is an extract of my note to that confidential
officer.
"The great object at present, is not to agitate, in any way, (if it
can be avoided,) any of those questions which have disturbed the
temper of the army; and to restore that, by every means short of
concession, to its proper tone. To effect this, we must trust in large
points to the action of the good feeling of the army itself, and small
questions will soon die of neglect. Now it occurs to me, the ordering
a large detachment of the European regiment at this moment on board
his Majesty's ships, is liable to much misrepresentation, and is
calculated to increase discontent. This has not been usual; and, after
the conduct of the officers of the regiment, it will be considered as
a punishment: and if it is so, it will, from its nature, have no good
effect; for it will be referred to a desire to divide a corps, which
men will say never could have arisen, if Government had been confident
in their obedience and attachment. The corps itself will receive this
order as an additional stigma on their character; and, in the heated
state they are in, I should not be surprised if they went to greater
extremities than they already have gone; and, if the accounts I have
heard of their proceedings are correct, they have been bolder in their
expressions of discontent than any corps in the service. All this is
perhaps very improbable; but still no man acquainted with the present
state of affairs can say it is impossible; and why incur the most
distant hazard of aggravating men's feelings by a measure of such
trifling consequence? No man could, at this moment, have recommended,
as a political measure, such a wretched expedient as that of dividing
this corps in the manner proposed; and if it is merely to comply with a
requisition of the Admiral for marines, he might take them, as has been
the usage, from any one of the King's regiments, or might go without,
rather than give cause to misrepresentation at such a moment. If all or
any of the officers of the European regiment merit punishment, let them
be punished in an open manner, agreeable to usage, and my life upon the
consequence: but to think of sending one here, and one there[45], is
only to show weakness, and to give grounds to the wicked to circulate
aggravated reports, and to kindle the flame of discord and discontent.
Pardon this hasty note, and tear it[46]. You will understand what I
mean perfectly. _Depend upon it, it is trifles of this nature which
merit all the attention of Government at this moment._"
I did not receive any answer from Lieutenant-Colonel Barclay till next
morning; when, after stating the hurry that prevented him from writing,
and the causes which had made Government order this detachment, he
states his belief, grounded on his knowledge of Masulipatam as a
station, that there will be a competition between both officers and
men to proceed as marines; and concludes by saying, "I shall only add
further, that there is no guarding against wilful misrepresentations,
and that those who are obliged to act, must, in such cases as the
present, be satisfied with the uprightness of their intentions."
Every thing that I had foreseen occurred. The arrival of the orders
for the marines occasioned an instant mutiny of the garrison of
Masulipatam, and precipitated that crisis which it was of such great
consequence to avoid. Sir George Barlow felt this occurrence as a
serious evil; and, in a long conversation I had with him upon the
subject, he expressed the extremest anxiety to prevent those bad
consequences which were to be expected to result, by the adoption
of every moderate and conciliatory means that he could use, without
a compromise of the authority and dignity of Government. He told me
he had rejected all the violent measures that had been proposed,
of coercing the garrison into submission by the employment of his
Majesty's troops; as such, he was convinced, would cause a general
rupture, which he still hoped would be avoided; and which, at
all events, it was most important to retard. His anxiety on this
occasion was much increased by the receipt, at the same period, of
a highly improper address from the officers of the subsidiary force
at Hyderabad; and he desired my opinion on the best course to be
pursued on so alarming an emergency. I advised a line that appeared
to me likely to arrest the progress of men standing on a precipice of
guilt. Every hour gained gave time for the operation of reason; and if
that should fail, it was still of consequence that Government should
be more prepared than it was at that moment for the occurrence of a
rupture with its army. On these grounds, I recommended that an officer
of rank should be sent to Masulipatam to assume the command, and that
he should be appointed president of a committee to inquire into the
causes of the mutiny, and report their proceedings to Government, _who
would, when the information upon this subject was complete, adopt
measures for the prosecution and punishment of the most guilty_. In
this proceeding there was an appearance of great temper and moderation;
no serious sacrifice of dignity was made; and time (which, for reasons
before stated, appeared the great object,) was gained: and all those
effects which must have attended the detachment of a force against the
garrison, or the equally unwise proceeding of attempting (before either
reason had time to operate, or the means of coercion were prepared) to
arrest or confine any individual, were avoided. On Sir George Barlow's
expressing his assent to my suggestions, I offered, in the warmth of
my zeal, to proceed to Masulipatam. He accepted this offer with great
apparent pleasure; and he evidently thought that the appointment of an
officer who was known to enjoy his confidence, and who had so publicly
professed a conciliatory disposition, proclaimed the character of the
act: and the nomination of Lieutenant-Colonel William Berkley and Major
Evans to aid me, (two officers who are now no more, but who, while
they lived, enjoyed in an eminent degree the love and respect of all
ranks in the army to which they belonged,) was a full confirmation (if
any had been wanted) of the nature of this measure[47]. If it had been
possible for me to have mistaken Sir George Barlow in the conversation
I had with him on the morning he received this intelligence, I was
completely confirmed by what passed in the evening after I had been in
the fort, and, in the office of the commander of the forces, (General
Gowdie,) had a discussion with some of the officers of the general
staff upon the whole of this subject. One of those officers, who was
known to enjoy the chief share of Sir George Barlow's confidence,
stated at this conference, that movements of corps would be immediately
ordered that would place the native troops under the complete check of
his Majesty's regiments; and that the Governor should, in his opinion,
have no hesitation in throwing himself at once upon the King's army.
I could not but treat such sentiments with some warmth, as being
altogether incompatible with that ardent wish which was professed of
reclaiming the Company's officers to their duty. The very knowledge, I
observed to General Gowdie, of such sentiments being held and declared,
was in itself sufficient to drive men to extremes. The General fully
acquiesced in my opinion. Another officer of the staff, who was also
a principal adviser of the Governor, said upon this occasion, that
he understood I was a friend to concessions that would degrade the
Government; that his advice had been, to send a detachment to attack
Masulipatam; and that unless I could, the moment I went there, send
Major Storey and the other ringleaders under a guard to Madras,
evil, instead of good, must result from my mission. I repelled this
gentleman's attack with a warmth that produced interference to prevent
a personal dispute, and concluded by telling him, that I was now aware
of the true character of those sentiments entertained by the persons
who had the chief influence over Sir George Barlow's mind; and that,
with that knowledge, I should certainly not proceed to Masulipatam,
as I saw the probability of measures being adopted, in my absence,
of a directly opposite character to those I was desired to execute;
and the only consequence I should anticipate, was failure and loss
of character. Some explanations were made, but none that dispelled
the alarm I had taken at the sentiments which I had just heard. I
went immediately to the Governor, to whom I mentioned all that had
passed: and I can most solemnly affirm, that Sir George Barlow gave
me, at this second conference, every assurance that could be given to
satisfy my mind. He declared he would not listen to any such violent
counsels[48] as I had heard; that he gave me his entire confidence,
and vested me with the fullest discretion to act in all respects as I
thought proper, in my endeavours to reclaim the deluded men, to whom
I was proceeding, to reflection and duty; and that he was satisfied
the honour of his Government was perfectly safe in my hands. Not one
word was mentioned, at this conference, regarding my commencing my
proceeding by an appeal to the men, or by confining those officers who
had been most active in the mutiny. It was, indeed, evident that the
first of these acts would have caused a desperation in the minds of
the officers, that must have led to that instant rupture which _it was
the object of my mission to avoid_; and, with regard to the second, a
military court of inquiry had been ordered to investigate the whole of
the proceedings at Masulipatam, chiefly, if not exclusively, with the
view of enabling Government to gain time, without loss of reputation;
and any precipitate proceedings against the ringleaders would have been
an obvious sacrifice of that great object.
Such were the sentiments of Sir George Barlow at the moment I was
deputed to Masulipatam: at least such were the impressions which all
his observations made upon my mind. He determined at this moment
to return the address from Hyderabad, and to write a letter to the
commanding officer of that force in terms calculated to show his
forbearance, and indeed to evince to the violent and misguided
officers of that station the same spirit of temperate and conciliatory
disposition as had led him to depute me to Masulipatam. He desired me
to make a memorandum of what I conceived he should write upon this
occasion. I instantly drew out the following.
"Substance of a letter to the commanding officers at Hyderabad and
Jaulnah.
"Expressing the great regret and disapprobation with which Government
has received a Memorial from the officers of the subsidiary force,
soliciting it to rescind the orders of the 1st of May.
"Pointing out in a calm but forcible manner the dangerous tendency of
such addresses, and the total impossibility of complying with such a
request; stating that Government is only fulfilling a sacred duty when
it exhorts the officers who have signed and forwarded these papers
to reflect most seriously upon the consequences which a perseverance
in such measures must produce. It owes this warning and exhortation
to a body of men, who, acting under warm and erroneous impressions,
have for a moment forgot what is due to their own high character, and
to that Government under which they are placed. The motives of this
expostulation with the a officers of the subsidiary force will not be
misunderstood; but it is necessary that they should distinctly know,
that while Government can and does make every allowance for that
momentary delusion and irritation which a variety of circumstances
have been calculated to produce, that it will never either abandon
or compromise its authority; and that it will, if compelled to act,
maintain, under every extreme and at every hazard, those principles of
obedience and subordination, without which, it is satisfied, neither it
nor the army can exist."
With this memorandum Sir George Barlow was perfectly pleased, and
desired me to give it the form of a letter, and deliver it to
Lieutenant-Colonel Barclay, that it might be dispatched next day[49]. I
did so, and carried the copy of the memorandum with me to Masulipatam,
for which place I sailed on the 2d of July 1809, the whole of the
circumstances to which I have alluded having taken place on the day
preceding.
I landed at Masulipatam on the 4th of July; and the journal of my
proceedings at that place, with the extracts of my letters to Sir
George Barlow, General Gowdie, and Lieutenant-Colonel Barclay, and
of the letters I received from the latter officer (all of which form
numbers of the Appendix), will give the clearest and most faithful
account of the manner in which I executed the arduous task that an
imprudent, but I hope not an illaudable, zeal led me to undertake.
During my residence at that place I continued active in my endeavours
to disseminate, by letters to different quarters of the army, such
sentiments as I thought calculated to counteract the poison of those
inflammatory papers that were then in circulation: and the extract from
my letter addressed to a respectable field officer (Lieutenant-Colonel
McLeod), under date the 20th of July 1809, which forms a number of the
Appendix, will show the complete and just view I took at that period of
the result of the violent proceedings of the army.