After my letter of yesterday I have little to add. I can only again
implore your most serious consideration to the whole question, and
your instant decision on the line that is to be pursued; not merely
here, but with the whole army. No half measures will at this moment
answer: and unless some effort is made to appease the minds of the
deluded officers of this army, you must make military preparations to
reduce them to order; and these must be directed against every station
under your Presidency: for though success may be various, an effectual
opposition will be made at all; and none are more violent than some
of those nearest the Presidency. If you adopt a measure of the nature
that I recommended yesterday, it should be _quite final_; and therefore
embrace every concession and act of conciliation _that you can make_,
without a substantial sacrifice of the dignity of Government.
I can think of no improvement to this order, except you conceive
the great object of avoiding hostilities would justify the following
addition to it:
"Government received a representation from a number of the officers
of the coast army, in which they solicited the equalization of their
allowances with those of the officers of the Bengal army. This is a
subject, the consideration of which must exclusively rest with the
Court of Directors, under whose notice this application will, _in
course_, be brought, and by whose decision it will be the duty of the
officers of the coast army to abide."
This order, which is only a repetition of facts added to what I
suggested yesterday, would, I think, _if firmly acted upon_, completely
end the present agitation; or, at all events, you would only have a
part to combat instead of the whole. Every man who was not lost to
reason and loyalty would be recovered; and the few that resisted, if
any did, would soon be reduced. This mode of settlement would, it may
be stated, give a triumph to the army, establish a dangerous precedent,
and violate fundamental principles of the Indian Government: but it is
not principles, but an empire, that is in danger: and what other course
can be adopted? No man can calculate the consequences of a contest
between Government and its army. The delusion which prevailed, that the
officers would never proceed to extremes, is now completely dissipated.
I have read papers, from almost every division, calling upon this
garrison to commence opposition; and I, two hours ago, read another
paper from the Hyderabad force, approving of the proceedings of the
garrison at this place in the cases of the marines and Colonel Innes,
declaring it to be the cause of the whole, and promising full support.
I knew papers of the same kind will be received, as fast as the tappals
can bring them, from every station in the army, and that they are all
pledged never to let a man or officer of this garrison be punished for
a proceeding which they consider (and with truth) to have been caused
by the general state of discontent and turbulence in the army. The
garrison here are equally impelled to action by a sense of their danger
from what has passed, and a desire to obtain credit with their brother
officers for being the first to step forward in the common cause. My
authority was at first disputed; and they have subsequently tried, by
every means that men could use, to obtain from me promises of amnesty
and of inaction, in the event of their being forced to move at the call
of their brother officers. Such promises I have, of course, steadily
refused; and I have taken advantage of every moment to diffuse better
sentiments: but I should deceive you if I stated that my success went
further than to keep them quiet. For the moment they are quiet; and,
unless a movement is made by the Hyderabad and Jaulnah force, I think
they will remain so, till some general measures are adopted by the
whole: and I have (I hope not erroneously) considered, that to keep
them, by any means that do not compromise my own authority or that of
Government, from acting at such a moment, is an object of the greatest
importance; for if any one corps begins, there is no remedy but in a
war. If this was only a mutiny of the garrison of Masulipatam, it would
be an easy question, and I should be proud to hazard my life in an
effort to quell it to morrow morning: but one step, of any description,
taken in this affair at the present moment, would undoubtedly cause
a general rise in the army: and it is, I conceive, of ultimate
importance, that you should know and prepare for this great political
danger; and I have consequently laboured incessantly, and I hope with
success, to prevent its breaking out at this most inflammable of all
quarters.
The officers here have written to other stations to know whether they
are to submit to the investigation of the committee. They were greatly
disappointed at my not coming up, as they first expected, with powers
to treat with them. They would, no doubt, have been highly flattered
at such a result to their violence; and I am assured I need not state
to you, that any mode would be less injurious to the interests of
Government, than that of its even entering (as it once did) into a
discussion with the officers of its army upon this great question. If
you think you have not means to reduce the officers of this army, or
if you should not like to resort to them, there is only one mode, that
of issuing an order, conceding all you can, without hazard to your
authority, then coming to issue in a bold and prompt manner. This,
though it may be thought a concession of some points, is still an act
of authority; and that character of the measure will maintain the
dignity of Government, which would be altogether lost in a negotiation
with its own officers.
I am aware that the opinions which I have expressed are very different
from those you have heretofore maintained; but the case is altogether
changed. Steps of too bold a nature have been taken, for the officers
of the army to retreat; and they will immediately proceed, unless some
measure is instantly adopted to arrest them in their infatuated career
of guilt. The question has become entirely a practical one, and must
be tried as such, as much as if the country was suddenly invaded by an
enemy against whom we could use the means most calculated to repel him,
without any reference to general principles or to precedent.
The fact is, that course has been tried and has failed, and another
must be resorted to; and measures must be taken, when the state is
in less danger, to infuse better principles, and to establish a more
efficient control over our Indian armies.
TO LIEUTENANT-COLONEL BARCLAY.
(_Most Private._)
Masulipatam, 7th July.