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give their joint memorial the denomination of an appeal from the whole army. This narrows the objection to the memorial under consideration to a question of form, rather than of substance. His lordship, forgetting that the paper is not complete, and that it is capable of revision and alteration, considers it as a finished composition, giving to all the parts of it a fixed and determinate meaning, without any reference to the general purport and context of the writing. He excepts, primarily, to its title, as bespeaking it to be a representation of the army at large and this affords an occasion for his reprobation of the supposed end of the paper, which he conceives is "to bring to the council board a clamorous demand, enforced by the combined and united voice of the army." But if the title be exceptionable to the full, as it appeared to his lordship, the exception is only to the title, and might have been explained, and in reality removed by reference to the matter in the body which is the essence of the memorial. This does not show that the persons, whoever they might be, who subscribed the memorial had, or pretended to have any commission or authority, from the army to represent its grievances; and therefore, whatever erroneous title the memorial carried on its front, it could not in fact be considered as any thing more than the joint memorial of the persons subscribing it; and hence all the reasoning of lord Minto, on this score, would seem in fairness to be inapplicable and irrelevant.

The tone and language of the memorial, considering it as having arrived maturely in the hands of the governorgeneral, but in which way it never came thither, is not certainly so respectful, or decorous, as it might or should have been. But this will be more or less excusable from the reality or non-existence, as it shall eventually appear, of the alleged circumstances of complaint

The governor-general, examining singly every one of the imagined grievances, declares them to be without solidity or foundation. These grievances are stated by him to be" the

exclusion of lieut.-general Macdowall from council; the release of colone! Munro, and the removal of the adjutant and deputy-adjutant-general from their offices." But are these the griev ances actually preferred in the memorial, or are they misconceived and misrepresented by lord Minto? and may not a great deal of his argument fail, as proceeding on this misconception of the premises?

In respect to the exclusion of gen. Macdowall from the council, which his lordship places at the head of the represented grievances of the army, it may be observed, and it must be evident to every one who has given the intended memorial to the governor-general a patient and impartial considertion, that it is not set forth as a substantive cause of complaint; nor is it hinted at in any other way than as a reason, by which they account, rightly or not, for the sufferings of the army. They "lament generally that although their claims, their duties, and their privileges are so multifarious, as to require the assistance of practical experience in discussing the merits of them yet they have not a representative in the council of the government, where alone the discussion can be agitated; "to this cause probably" (they say) "may be ascribed the recent measures, which have made it necessary for your memorialists to implore your gracious interposition." And they continue " a succinct notice of those measures will amply develope the principles by which your memorialists estimate the injuries they have already received :- and by the further abuse of authorities, which they have reason to apprehend." They then immediately pass to the enumeration of the government measures, which constitute the sum of their representation. Is there any thing in this, like the assertion of a right in the army to have a representative in council, and a consequent oppression in the exclusion of general Macdowall? Is the circumstance ever stated as a posi tive cause of suffering; or alluded to more than as the possible or probable source of the measures which have borne on the feelings of the army? To

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this cause probably (say they) with moderation and mode ty enough, may be ascribed the recent measures which have made it necessary for the memorialists, not to resist the government, but to "implore the gracious interposition of the governor-general." The allusion might have been more ab-olute without any great excess either in duty or respect

Whatever might be the demerits of the memorial, none certainly are imputable to it for pretending to rights in compatible with the condition of the subscribers to it, but appertaining unquestionably to his Majesty and the directors of the East India company, respecting the degree of political or military power to be possessed by the commander-in-chief. It might have been expected, therefore, of the candour of his lordship, that he should not have attempted to involve the subscribers to the memorial in arrogant, but imaginary pretensions to rights which are constitutionally and wisely vested in other and more fit organs.

If his Lordship had viewed with an impartial eye the quoted passage in the memorial, he might have avoided half the labour of his letter, and all the pain which must result to an ingenuous mind, on reflection, from ascribing motives to men which they evidently did not feel, and where the imputation might have an injurious tendency, as here, in implicating and embroiling them with those authorities to which alone they could look, from the unhappy event of things, for a fair consideration and just decision on their conduct.

It has been shortly shewn, that the exclusion of the commander in chief from the council, was not alleged as a grievance in itself, but was lamented generally as the probable cause of the evils endured and anticipated by the army. This act was known to be the act of the government at home; while the memorial distinctly complained of the measures of the governtuent abroad, a succinct notice of which, they state, will amply develope the principles by which they estimate the injuries already received; and which, by

VOL. 11.

the further abuse of power, they have reason to apprehend It is the o ject of the memorial, thu explained, nor so much to seek redress for what has passed, as to stay the further progress of injury this is most explicitly declared towards the conclusion of the memorial. It is addressed also to an authority whose particular office it to controul the acts, if they shall seem unwise or injudicious, in the inferior governments. So that the direction of the appeal was peculiarly correct, if the ground of it was substantial and the mode of representation void of of-, fence. The negative of the latter positions, is argued by the governor-gɩneral, who states the subject of the appeal, as has been shown, not altogether as it is, in respect to the leading head, and who denies the justice of it in all that it sets forth.

The measures of the government, noticed in the memorial, and described by lord Minto, may be taken, with the exception particularised, on the statement of his lordship; but with certain allowances. They appear to be, reduced in number and aggravation, the release of lieut.col Munro, and the removal from their offices of the adjutant and deputy-adjutant-general of the army; but each of these heads includes in it several inseparable and oppressive incidents.

The release of colonel Munro does not relate to that individual only--but to the numerous officers of corps who prepared charges against him, and relatively to the whole army, interested in the due administration of the military law. It colaterally concerns the character and the rights of the commander-in-chief.

The removal of the adjutant, and depaty-adjutant-general, is not the sum of the next offensive measure of

the government, as specified in the memorial; for they are suspended not only from their offices, but the service, and the avowed cause of their suspension, and the manner of it, are more pointed at in the representation, than the act itself. These considerations surely are not foreign to the army, for they might be made applicable to *G

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every member of it, in an instant, by a sudden fancy of the executive. But these are very slightly considered, and explained by the governor-general, though the measures themselves are defended in the aggregate, on the footing of the false clamour of the memorialists.

The release of colonel Munro is spoken of as an act of grace; but such a view of the act is confined to the case of the officer released; not extended to the other parties, surely, and they were numerous, who had It would be procured his arrest. trifling to waste a word on so preposterous an assertion. But the release is approved, or rather excused, on graver reasons. It is stated, that colonel Munro was not a fit object of arrest, since he was an agent in the matters imputed to him, by way of charge, in the direct employment of the government, and within the letter of his commission; for that his act, when perfected, had been adopted and approved by his employers. Whether this were true or not, there is no means of forming any accurate notion, unless the quarter - master - general's assertion is to be held, in a point of controversy, as decisive and unexaminable. But taking the act, in any construction, who is to judge of it? It is a military act, and the agent is a military agent. The persons complaining of it are all clothed with a military garb. The organ, cognizant of military offences,and instructed with the means of bringing them to punishment, would seem here, as in ordinary cases, to be the judge of the propriety, or impropriety, of the arrest, and the subsequent release ;-and this organ is the king's commander-in-chief, for the time being, sole and uncontrolled. The arrest must have been preceded by a charge, alleging some breach of military custom or law, of which the commander-in-chief is to form his own judgment, and to award the first process, or not, as he sees occasion; and it must be presumed, in favour of such office, that a fit foundation was laid for the arrest in this instance. The act of the com

mander-in-chief, it has been shewn in
a preceding place, is not controllable
within the sphere of his authority,
and who, in the course of the admi-
nistration of justice throughout the
army, is as free from the constraint
of the civil power, as the courts esta-
blished by his majesty for the dis-
pensation of the civil law to the
community, not professing a military
Any interference with this au-
life.
thority, within its proper bounds, must
be deemed unlawful, and when affect-
ing the rights of other parties, as much
a resulting grievance to them as the
more direct and open infringement of
"that the war-
the rights of the commander-in-chief.
Lord Minto admits,
rant to hold courts martial is addressed
to the commander-in-chief, and he
considers his authority exclusive in that
branch of the public administration;
but the abuse, he adds, of a legal
power is illegal, and the supreme mi-
litary controul of the governor in coun-
cil extends, in his judgment, and be
yond all doubt, to the prevention of
such abuses." This may be granted
to the fullest latitude; but it will be
asked, where the abuse of the com-
mander-in-chief's authority is appa-
rent?-Has he brought a party within
his power not subject to military com-
mand? The act is admitted to have:
been done by a military officer, and in
the course of his duty. In what is it
suggested that the general has trans-
gressed his legal province, so as to call
for the controlling hand of the civil
government? It is said, that he has
exercised a jurisdiction over an act,
which may, or must, involve the go-
vernment in the inquiry. But, if so,
the common measure of justice must
be meted out here, as in other in-
stances, without attention to remote
consequences, without any squeamish-
ness or overstrained delicacy about the
conduct. or character of the govern-
ment, supposed to be implicated in
that enquiry. The law shows no cour-
tesy to persons or to place; but if
what it constitutes a crime be apparent,
it will not be less so in its eye, that
the thing has been done by the com-
maud, or with the approbation of any

I

authority, however exalted. If the sanction of the government could excuse an act, otherwise a crime, it must, at all times, be in the power of the government to draw the consideration of such act, whether it concerned the civil or the military agent, within its cognizance, and to oust the king's courts of law of all their jurisdiction over it. The absurdity of such a position is too manifest to require more than a simple statement: but if such a sanction could cover the agent from the legal consequences of the act, it must be necessary for him to plead, and to shew such circumstance in evidence, in justification or excuse; of the sufficiency of which, the civil or the martial courts, and those who are ultimately to approve the decision, must judge. It is not for he government to judge of the lawfulness of its own acts, to erect itself into a tribunal, to sit in judgment on its own conduct, to the mockery of the very idea of justice, and to the contempt of the established courts of the crown and the country.

But the supposition, seriously insisted on by lord Minto, that the character of government could be affected, in an injurious manner, by the trial, or even the conviction, of lieut.colonel Munro, would seem to do more credit to his lordship's fancy and ingenuity, than to his judgment.-How is the thing supposed possible? by this complicated process

that the

tent contract was abolished by the advice of colonel Munro, that his ad vice was suggested in the form of a report, and that the advice, as well as project, the abolition of the tent contract, had not merely been approved, but applauded by Sir J. Cradock, commander-in-chief at Fort St. George, the government in council at the same place, by the commander-in-chief in İndia, and by the governor-general in council. He then concludes, "to charge either the measure which had been adopted under these authorities, or the reasons upon which it was recommended, and which had been sanctioned and approved by the same authorities, as base and infamous

crimes, was a studied insult offered by those officers (the panies preferring the charges against colonel Munro,) and by lieut.-general M'Dowall who supported and co-operated with them, to every authority, which it was their duts to respect."

Now if Sir J Cradock and the govenuent of Fort St. George, are to be presumed to have known any thing of the truth of the facts stated in the report, it is clear that the commanderin-chief in India, and the governorgeneral, could, from their remote situation, have no knowledge whatever of the facts stated, so as to imagine themselves pledged for the truth of them, nor, in the common course of things, could the local commander-inchief, or the local government. The official .eport of the quarter-mastergeneral, like the communication of any other officer, was received and acted on by the authorities enumerated, as a statement, primâ facie, to be credited, but without the force of binding the government, by their adoption of it, to the authenticity of the matters contained in that statement; but leaving them a full opportunity to withdraw their approbation at a posterior period, if they should discover that the facts, which the report assumes, be not as they are related. The approbation of all the authorities mentioned, is founded on the supposed veracity of the quarter-master-general's report: it implies not, however, any stipulation for its truth, nor could it make that true which is not so in point of fact. The imprimatur of the government might go a great way; but it could not alter the very essence of things. It would, too, be doing the greatest injustice to the character of the Indian authorities, to give a countenance to the supposition of lord Minto, that they would not be rady to retract their own act, if it should be requisite, and give up the guilty adviser of it, if it should, at any time, be discovered, that it was bottomed, in injustice and falsehood, und r the imposition of an accredited agent. The character of the government would only be involved in sustaining

the act with the conviction of its injustice or impropriety. But what is the charge against colonel Munro not for framing the report in question, not for the general reasoning, nor for the ultimate advice given in it, but for the allegation, in that paper, of particular facts, which are stated to be unfounded, and libellous of the reputation of the parties preferring the charges. Now, whether the matters of charge were true or otherwise, it would seem as much for the honour of government, as the prosecutors, that they should be investigated. To arrest such an investigation in its first stage, and under any pretence, would lead men to think, either that there was great injustice in the measures of the government, or, which admits the truth of the charge, that the adviser of it was so conspicuous a favourite, that it was resolved to throw the shield of power over him, at all events, and all consequences.

After the justification of the release of lieut.-colonel Munro, the governor-general mentions, incidentally, the order of reprimand on that officer, published by general M'Dowall, on the 28th of January, as an induction to the suspension of colonel Capper and major Boles, the next supposed grievance of the army. Here, also, his lordship discovers no small degree of earnestness, to make the government and its protegé inseparable from one another. This order, says his lordship, " purports to be a reprimand to lieut.-colonel Muuro; but substantially, it conveys, in every line, a reprimand to the government of Fort St. George. And if, on examination, it should appear, as his lordship states it, it will, of course, take away a great part of the weight of the representation of grievance, touching the suspension of the staff officers for giving currency to the o der.

It is conceded by lord Minto, that the order has the outward appearance of a lawful instrument; but, it is said, that an illegal intent was hidden under it. It censures, as his lordship asserts, the act of government in releasing the quarter-master-gene

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ral; but this intent cannot be collected, it may be confidently said, from the face of the order itself, nor can it be inferred, even in his lordship's judgment, without reference to numberless transactions, not to be learnt from the letter of the order, and with which he fancies the adjutant and deputy-adjutant-general to be respectively conversant.

The external view of the order shews, that lieut.-colonel Munro had been guilty, in the commander-inchief's opinion, of a new offence, altogether foreign to the original charge on which he was arrested; which latter is only alluded to in the order as descriptive of the cause of the arrest. The General states, that he is prevented in his design of bringing lieutcolonel Munro to trial for this new offence, by his immediate departure, and he, therefore, contents himself with reprimanding him. This fresh offence is stated to have arisen out of a direct appeal, by lieut.-colonel Munro, to the civil government, in contempt of the military authority of the commander-in-chief, and which produced his release. then proceeds to the reprehension of that officer.

He

Now, if the quarter-master-general had been guilty of the offence, here stated, for the first time, which may be clearly and satisfactory shewn, it is plain that general M'Dowall was armed with a power suitable to the occasion, to reprimand that officer; and it was not possible for the government, except in an unnatural, and, it may be said, an absurd conclusion, to attach the least particle of the reprehension to itself.

It is observed, by lord Minto, and his whole argument is built on that supposed fact, "that colone! Munro had exhausted all the means he had, of obtaining relief from the commander-in-chief himself: this it was his duty to do in the first instance; but that, when justice was denied in that quarter, &c. &c. he bad a right to claim the protection of the supreme military authority, which

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