Observations on the disturbances in the Madras Army in 1809

Preface

. I have hitherto abstained from controversy regarding the late unhappy proceedings at Madras. The part which I had taken in these proceedings had placed me in possession of much information, and I had given a shape to my sentiments upon the subject; but the knowledge of these was limited to a few intimate friends, and to them only under the strictest injunctions of secrecy. I have been applied to more than once for papers and information upon this subject, but have invariably refused ; as I deemed it improper to give publicity in any mode to communications, whether verbal or in writing, which had been, at the moment at which they were made, considered as private, or confidential. Nothing could have led me to a departure from this principle but a perusal of the dispatch under date the 10th of September, 1809, from the Government of Fort St. George to the Secret Committee of the Court of Directors, printed by order of the House of Commons.

That dispatch contains an implied censure upon my con duct, which nothing but a conviction of its justice could induce me to pass over in silence. Injustice is aggra *ated by the power of the individual or body by whom it is committed, and by the want of ability or opportunity in the person who suffers to repel the attack. Had not this dispatch been printed by order of the House of Commons, my character would have secretly received a deep and incurable wound : for as it is not likely the Honourable the Court of Directors could have ever thought it possible that so deliberate and grave an authority as the Government of Fort St. George, could (without adequate grounds) have pronounced censure on the character of an officer who stood at the moment as high in rank and trust as the local Government of India had power to raise him*, it becomes probable, that most of those who read this dispatch would be satisfied, without a minute examination of the documents by which it was accompanied : and if any readers went into this detail, and were struck with the remarkable difference between the apparent premises and the conclusions drawn from them, it is more likely they would conclude, that grounds, not yet brought before them, existed, which would warrant the assertions made by Government, than that they should ever suppose the latter had committed such an injustice towards any individual in their service.

I cannot, on this occasion, limit myself to an account of my mission to Masulipatam, which is that part of my con duct to which the Government of Fort St. George ex clusively refers : justice to my own character demands that I should give a narrative (accompanied by an Ap pendix of original documents), which will show, in a clear * 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.

V and concise manner, the part I took, and the advice I gave, throughout the whole of those unhappy and guilty proceedings which have lately afflicted our country in India. To render this narrative intelligible to all, I shall prefix a general view of the principal acts of the Govern ment of Fort St. George, from the commencement to the termination of the late violent agitations on the coast. My object in this publication is to vindicate myself, not to attack others. A plain statement of indisputable facts will show, that though my judgmept might on some occasions have been wrong, I was invariably actuated by an inde fatigable zeal, and an undeviating principle of public duty ; that I predicted at the commencement, and at different stages of the proceeding, every event of importance that occurred ; that if any one of the many slighted suggestions which 1 offered had met with attention, the most serious evils would have been averted ; and that my efforts were such as ought to have entitled me to the praise and gratitude of those by whom I now find my conduct misre presented and my character calumniated.

Sir George Barlow has, I observe, from the volume of papers printed by order of the House of Commons, placed upon record a number of my private and confidential communications. This I did not anticipate ; and these letters were written in a less guarded style, and with more warmth, than they would have been, if I had foreseen the public use to be made of them. I do not, however, conceive that I have any right to complain of this act : the letters contain not one sentiment of which I am ashamed : they were all on public subjects : and that alone, when they were addressed to Sir George Barlow or his Secretary, rendered them public. But I must claim to myself an VI equal privilege in bringing forward such private documents as are necessary to prove what I have stated, and to defend myself from those imputations which have been thrown upon my character from a partial, and, I trust I shall prove, a most unfair statement of my conduct when employed at Masulipatam.

I should feel unworthy of that station which I hope I hold in life, if any motive upon earth had such power over my mind as to make me silent under reflections (which I deemed unjust) upon my conduct : and where those have been, from any cause, (however unforeseen,) brought before the public, my reply must of course be submitted to the same tribunal. This is a circumstance which I by no means regret. Publications in England on the affairs of India have been rare, except on some extraordinary epochs, when attention has been forcibly drawn to that quarter ; and a groundless alarm has been spread of the mischiefs which (many conceive) must arise from such free disclosure, and consequent full discussion, of the acts of the Indian Governments. This practice, in my opinion, will have a direct contrary effect.

It must always do great and essential good. The nature of our possessions in India makes it necessary that almost absolute power should be given to those entrusted with governments in that quarter ; and there cannot be a better or more efficient check over these rulers than that which must be established by the full publicity given to their acts, and the frequent discus sion of all their principles of rule. Such a practice will expose imprudence and weakness, however defended by the adherence of powerful friends in England : and it will be more certain to prevent oppression, or injustice, than the general provisions of law, which may be evaded; or the check of superiors, who may, from conceiving the cause of an individual identified with that of authority itself, feel themselves condemned to support proceedings which they cannot approve.

This practice, in short, (restrained, as it always must be, by the laws of our country within moderate bounds,) must have the most salutary effects. Its inconveniences are obvious, but trifling when compared to the great and permanent bene fits which it must produce : and 1 am confident that every effort made to repress such discussion is not merely a sacrifice to personal feeling, and to momentary expedience, of one of the best and most operative principles of the British Constitution; but a direct approximation to the principles of that oriental tyranny, which it is, or ought to be, our chief boast to have destroyed.

Part I. Observations On The Causes And Progress Of The Disturbances In

THE MADRAS ARMY: OBSERVATIONS, &c. Some agitation, though of a trifling nature, had prevailed among the Company's officers on the coast establishment from a period as far back as the publication of the Regu lations of the year 1796, which they conceived to entitle them to a complete equalization of allowances with the officers of the Bengal establishment. These feelings had little time for operation in the course of that active and brilliant service in w hich the Madras army was employed during the administration of Lord Wellesley. The increase of establishment rendered necessary to preserve the great accession of territory acquired by that nobleman, occasioned a promotion, that, for a period, silenced their discontent ; but that spirit was revived in the year 1805 and 1806, when, in addition to their former grievance, they conceived that there was an evident and injurious partiality shown towards his Majesty's officers, who were said to be promoted to commands and staff situations to the injury of the officers of the Company's service.

Addresses to Government and to the Court of Directors were at this period agitated and in circulation ; but none, to my know ledge, were brought forward ; owing, perhaps, to the orders from the Honourable the Court of Directors, who, it would appear, had, on private representation, adopted some measures to redress those grievances of which the army at that moment complained. This spirit of discontent might have died of itself; or, at all events, it would have been more easily repressed, had not the flame of discord burst out in a higher quarter. The quarrel which occurred between the Governor, Sir George Barlow, and the Commander-in-Chief, General McDowall, may, no doubt, (as it led to those measures which Government adopted towards the general staff of the coast army,) be deemed the remote source of all the violent and indefensible acts of the army, and in that view merits a short notice.

The mind of General McDowall was much irritated at his not being appointed to council ; and he gave way, in consequence, to a language of complaint and discontent, of which, it must be concluded, he could never have calculated the effect. Every act of Govern ment that affected the wishes or interests of either an individual or a class of officers naturally caused complaints, which the Commander-in-Chief certainly did not discou rage. He must have thought that the influence and importance of a seat in council would have enabled him more easily to have satisfied or silenced their murmurs ; and he cannot be supposed to have felt much sorrow that Government should have experienced the inconvenience of an exclusion which he considered as so great a personal grievance : and when his mind was further irritated by what he deemed to be slight and neglect, on the part of Sir George Barlow, of his rights in his military character of Commander-in-Chief, these feelings had probably a wider action.

In the temper which I have shown the coast army was in at this moment, it is not surprising, when they saw such an example of discontent, and felt unrepressed by that high authority which was imme diately over them, that they should have been more bold, and that their violence should have taken a more formid able shape towards Government, against which this spirit was, by the proceeding of the Commander-in-Chief, very unadvisedly and inconsiderately, however unintentionally, directed. But if a want of reflection on one part (few will accuse General McDowalI of more than want of reflection) led to such consequences, can we say there was much more wisdom on the other, which, if it did not provoke, nevei made one attempt to prevent, the occurrence of those evils with which it was threatened ?

A cold, even, mechanic course of action, which gave great attention to the ordinary rules of public business dignified with the name of public principles, but none to human nature, was opposed at this period to the proceedings of the Commander-in-Chief and the army ; and had the effect, which was to be expected, of accelerating that crisis which it was so important to avoid. It may be here necessary to explain what was meant by the term public principle. It was constantly used at Madras (with some deviation, I conceive, from its highest and most dignified sense) to denote the rules of public business founded either in precedent or in written law, and certainly well adapted for order and convenience in the common course of affairs. But if such rules were sufficient, no talents would be necessary to govern man kind.

A copying clerk, or even the regulation-book which he copies, might rule a state. Success in this endeavour (the object of which is to render the task of Government simple and easy) will be always agreeable to the character of the Government. The more despotic that is, the more easily may we preserve inviolate such rules or principles. For though great commotions will occui in the most despotic states, and force their rulers to an occasional deviation from such principles, these deviations will be uufrequent to what must arise in more free and liberal governments, in which that constant attention which it is necessary to pay to men's tempers, and to those pre tensions and rights upon which such an order of things is grounded, must produce a much more frequent departure from the exact letter (and sometimes from the spirit) of those unbending rules.

It is this fact which renders tlie task of government so much more difficult in those states than in any others. Any man (who has obsequious slaves to govern) can, if he has memory to recollect the principles of rule, be a despot, or a despot's deputy ; but far different qualities are required where the minds of those under authority are of a freer and bolder stamp : over such a society those alone are fit to rule, who, fully in formed of all its component parts, can judge the periods when the temporary departure from an established prin ciple will effect more in the cause of authority than its rigid observance ; when lenity is more powerful than severity, and mildness and moderation tend more to restore order and to maintain tranquillity, than all the force of a violent government. The intelligent reader will perceive, that, in contrasting free and despotic governments, I refer exclusively to rules of administration.

Laws are, no doubt, more inflexible in free states than in others. But even respecting laws it may be observed, that the general principle prevails : for the legislative power in free states shows a disposition to repeal or modify laws in reference to the interests, the opinions, sometimes even to the prejudices, of great bodies of the people ; while the despot has no maxim, but that all must be subject to the authority of Govern ment. There is, no doubt, a great distinction in every community between civil and military bodies : the laws for the government of the latter are, of course, more arbitrary and unbending ; but, even in these bodies there is a national character that will compel attention. The same principles cannot be applied to an English as a Russian army : and it is when such bodies are in an agitated and convulsed state, that these characteristic distinctions are most prominent and discernible.

It is on such emergencies that a statesman will succeed in averting a danger, which will only be increased by every measure of the mere rote follower of public rules. Cicero* has observed, that " it appears to be the dictate of sound " policy, to act in accommodation to particular conjunc- * Cicero's Letters to his Friends, Vol. I. p. 194. Octavo. London, 1753, " tures, and not obstinately pefsevere in one invariable " scheme, when the public circumstances, together with " the sentiments of the best and wisest members of the " community, are evidently changed. In conformity to " this notion, the most judicious reasoners on the art of " government have universally condemned an inflexible " perseverance in one uniform tenor of measures. The " skill of the pilot is shown in weathering the storm at " least, though he should not gain his port."

Public merit (agreeable to the extended view of that great orator and statesman, as expressed afterwards) consists in " having " been inflexible in our intentions for the public welfare, " and not by a positive perseverance in certain favourite *' modes of obtaining it." It will be unnecessary to trace the petty differences which took place between the Commander-in-Chief and the Governor : the general character and evil effect of these differences have been described. The first act which led to serious discussions, was the former placing the Quarter-Master-General, Lieutenant-Colonel Munro, in arrest. The nature of this case is well known : and few, I imagine, can doubt that Government had a right to command his release : but it will remain a question with many, how far a knowledge of the character and actual temper of the Commander-in-Chief, the state of the army, and other circumstances, would have warranted Govern ment in forbearing to use this right.

It is nonsense to say, that it would, by so forbearing and moderate a proceeding, have abandoned an officer entitled to protection. This language, if it means any thing, implies that Government did not conceive there were at that moment thirteen officers, either in the King's or Company's service, on the coast, upon whose honesty and honour it could rely. This is a proposition which appears too extravagant for notice : but, even if this point be conceded, will it be said, if Colonel Munro had suffered an additional injustice by the sentence of a violent and partial court martial, that the Government was, in that extreme case, deprived of the right to protect that officer ? On the contrary, would not the necessity for the exercise of that right have been, under such an event, much more apparent and unobjec tionable.

It may be asked, If any circumstances could justify Government in so pusillanimous a conduct, as that of forbearing to exercise an admitted right, and of allow ing a court martial to judge upon a public act which it had recognised and approved? It is to be replied, that such conduct might, on many occasions, be the result of prudence and of fortitude. It is weakness, not firmness, that takes an early alarm at danger, and by showing a want of confidence in all the subordinate aids as its power, creates, by its suspicion, that defection which it appre hends. In the recent case of Sir Francis Burdett, the House of Commons did not abandon its exclusive right, but it forbore the exercise of that right, and, with a confidence and wisdom worthy of so enlightened and august an assembly, allowed a question, which involved its rights and authority, to be discussed in a court of law.

There can, I should conceive, be no doubt whatever, that had Colonel Munro been tried on the charges preferred against him, he would have been honourably acquitted ; and the influence and reputation of his accusers would have been in no slight degree lessened : an object which, in itself, was of consequence at that period to Government. It is a remarkable fact, that the officers who had signed the charges against Colonel Munro, were, on reflection, and from learning the sentiments of the Judge-Advocate- General, so convinced that the charges they had made were either groundless or illegal, that they wrote to the Commander-in-Chief to suspend the prosecution of them. This certainly proves (if any proof was wanting) that there could have been no doubt of the result of a court martial, grounded on the state of general feelings, as far as that regarded the charges against Lieutenant-Colonel Munro ; for if the accusers themselves had shown they distrusted the cause they had so rashly adopted, there could, assuredly, be no apprehension of the judgment of thirteen officers of rank (all of whom, if it had been thought neces sary, might have been chosen from his Majesty's service) giving a biassed or unjust sentence.

The Government of Madras, in their dispatch to the Court of Directors upon this subject, draw a directly opposite conclusion from this fact, which, they say, " proves in itself the inexpediency " of their having had recourse to such a proceeding;'* but they state no grounds for this conclusion. In the whole course of this affair they appear to have been much, if not solely, guided by the opinion of their law officers : and no man can peruse the letter of Lieutenant- Colonel Leith upon this subject, without a just respect for the talents and extensive legal knowledge of that public officer. But those that think great, numerous, and obvious evils resulted from the decision of Government on the case of Lieutenant-Colonel Munro, will not immediately per ceive the necessity of its having been governed by rules of law in its decision on a question which clearly involved the most serious considerations of state policy.

They will think, and with justice, this was a question not for lawyers, but statesmen ; who, in the exercise of their legitimate discretion, are in the situation in which Mr. Burke has so well described legislators ; and therefore, like them, " ought to do what lawyers cannot, for they have no " rules to bind them but the great principles of reason " and equity and the general sense of mankind ; these " they are bound to obey and follow : and rather to " enlarge and enlighten law by the liberality of legislative " reason, than to fetter and bind their high capacity by " 'the narrow constructions of subordinate artificial jus « tice." Several months previous to General McDowall's departure for England, that officer had been called upon by the Governor to repress a Memorial to the Governor General, on the subject of late reductions, which was stated to be in agitation at the principal stations of the army.

General McDowall had written circular letters to forbid such pro ceedings ; and nothing further appeared upon this subject till that officer, on the 23d of January 1809, forwarded and strongly recommended to notice a Memorial to the Honourable the Court of Directors signed by a number of the officers of the army, and containing, in moderate and not disrespectful language, a statement of what they deemed their grievances, which chiefly referred to the equalization of their allowances with the Bengal establishment, the hardship of the several reductions of emolument which they had lately sustained, and the partiality in appointment to commands which they conceived was still shown to his Majesty's officers. General McDowall for warded, at the same time, another Memorial, which was also addressed to the Court of Directors, and signed by a number of officers commanding native corps, regarding the injury they conceived they had sustained by the abolition of the tent contract.

The principle of both these Memo rials was strongly condemned by the Government. The former, they informed the Commander-in-Chief, would be sent to the Governor General in Council ; and the latter was returned, as relating to a subject which had already been decided. There were many circumstances connected with these addresses, which confirm the truth of those sentiments I before expressed regarding the feelings by which General McDowall allowed himself to be governed at this moment : but the state of his mind, and the operation that was likely to have upon the officers of the army, was a subject that merited the serious consideration of Government ; which, unless satisfied that there was no danger from the progress of such a spirit of discontent as then existed, should either have adopted at that moment some decided measures to repress that evil, or have carefully avoided every act of aggravation.

If both of these Memorials had been merely permitted to go as numbers of the dispatch to England, those by whom they were signed would have thought nothing more of their grievances till an answer was received from the Directors : and that, if contrary to their wishes, would have been deemed final, and the Directors would assuredly not have censured Govern ment for a slight departure from established rules at a period when, from extraordinary events, of a nature never likely to happen again, the army was not only in a state of great agitation, but the civil power had lost the aid of that high military authority on which it Avould in common times have relied to subdue so dangerous a spirit. Few will contend that there would have been any loss of either dignity or of strength in such a proceeding : and how com pletely, had it been adopted, would the turbulent and seditious be deprived of one of their chief means of increasing irritation*.

But this question appears to have been decided, * 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, anc! 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 cliaracter would be useful to Govern ment. 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 (lie adds), " that for having affixed " my signature to a respectful address to my superiors aud 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 Govern " mept, 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 uuavowed punishment (for though there is, I imagine, no doubt such a like every other, upon an abstract consideration of its own merits as a single and insulated question ; and in that light the decision was undoubtedly right .- but if it had been viewed, as it certainly should, in its relation to the actual state of the army, it was as certainly wrong. It had an evident and malignant action throughout all the troubles that ensued.

And this absolute, and, as they deemed it, unnecessary and ungracious refusal to allow their grievances to be even heard by the Court of Directors, combined with the punishment* with which it was accompanied, rankled to the last in the minds of the discontented, and indeed appeared to be one of the few subjects, on the hardship and injustice of which the most moderate of those con cerned agreed with the most violent. The next event of consequence, was the publication of a general order, under date the 28th January, by the Commander-in-Chief, censuring Lieutenant-Colonel Munro for his appeal to the civil Government against his decision ; an act which General McDowall deemed destructive of subordination, subversive of discipline, and a violation of (what he termed) the sacred rights of the Commander-in- Chief.

There can, I should conceive, be little doubt regarding the character of this order. It is" certainly indefensible. It in substance arraigned the exercise of an act of authority, the legality of which General McDowalI had recognised by his obedience a few days before, and in this view was highly disrespectful to Government, who were justly incensed at the proceedings; and who, in an order under date the 31st of January, removed Ge neral McDowall from the command of the army, which it appeared he had not then resigned, though on his way to resolution was passed by Government, it was never published in any order ) is very peculiar j but it is very characteristic of the system of measures pursued. It was teasing and aggravating in its operation, without effi ciency in its end. * Vide the preceding note.

Ceylon for the purpose of proceeding to England. The links that bound the cause of General McDowall to that of the officers of the Company's army on the coast, were nei ther strong nor durable : a common feeling of discontent against Government had united them for a moment, but there was no cohesion either from similar objects or interests ; and the Government order, as far as related to General McDowall, could have given rise to no serious consequences : but the suspension from the service, in the same order, of Major Boles, the Deputy- Adjutant-General, on the ground of his having given currency to the obnoxious order of the Commander-in-Chief, had an immediate and electric effect over the whole army. There was hardly an officer in either the King's or Company's service that did not doubt the justice of this measure, or that did not feel that it inflicted a vital wound on the first princi ples of military discipline ; and the universal clamour and indignation that it excited, was no doubt the proximate and direct cause of the rebellion that ensued.