officers in command of stations, a letter, which seems to consist of the arguments of Colonel Leith, in the language of General Gowdie. Some parts of it deserve particular notice; they shall therefore be remarked upon at a future period.

For some time past, much uneasiness has been felt respecting the state of the garrison of Masulipatam. It appears that the vessel in which Captain Marshall proceeded to Vizagapatam stopped at Masulipatam for a week, in the course of which Captain Marshall was invited to, and dined at, the mess of the Madras European Regiment, on which account Captain Andrews was superseded. Lieutenant Colonel James Innes was sent from the Presidency to take the command, and furnished with instructions to rebuke the officers, and to report any circumstances which he might discover, that could lead to the punishment of any of them. The selection of Colonel Innes for a duty of this description excited the greatest astonishment in all who knew him; and his conduct there has confirmed all the alarms which were felt. Several letters, containing accusations and recriminations, have been received from that station; and * Appendix L.

it is much to be feared that some orders, which General Gowdie has given, will produce some desperate outrage. The smallest spark at this time may cause an explosion that will shake, to the foundation, the principles of the authority which attaches India to Britain. The apprehension, dreadful as it is, cannot now be slighted. The measures pursued have, by gradual operation, raised in the minds of all the military a most universal hatred, mingled with contempt, which renders them indifferent as to consequences; and in this state of things the same system is followed; each previous act of injustice seems countenanced by the enormity of that which succeeds it; the disposition to forbearance is nearly worn out on the side of the army, and the community are now under the awful expectation of some dreadful catastrophe.

LETTER IV.

DEAR SIR,

ADIEU !

Madras, 15th July, 1809.

THE deplorable crisis is at

length arrived, and the Governor of Madras

has made the fatal discovery, that there is a limit beyond which oppression will not be borne even by the most submissive. Recent accounts from Masulipatam mention, that an attempt to disperse the officers of the Madras European Regiment, and to draft the men, had produced a disobedienee of the orders of Government, and that Lieutenant Colonel Innes, whose measures do not appear to have been conducted with much judgment, had been superseded in his command by the garrison. Lieutenant Colonel Malcolm has in consequence been sent from the Presidency, with special instructions to adjust the differences which unhappily prevail there all honest men must wish him success, and none can own a contrary sentiment, but who hope that the after acts of the army may afford a seeming pretext for the system preceding.

In order that the causes and progress of the principal transactions may be clearly perceived, it will be necessary that the narrative should proceed regularly; for these events, so important in themselves, of so much moment to the East India Company, and to the mother country, will be found to have arisen from causes apparently tri

fling, but each forming part of a system of measures unprecedented in any former Government, unwarranted by the circumstances of the period, and unjustifiable by any of the principles which ought to regulate the Government of an extensive community of enlightened men.

Towards the end of April, the circular letter from General Gowdie, dated the 10th of April, had been received at the principal stations of the army, when certain parts of it excited feelings very different from those' which it was intended to produce. The Major General, after stating that "he deprecates the discussion in general orders, of odious and indelicate questions," proceeds to comment on the particular case of Major Boles, in the following words: "As com

passion for Major Boles may have drawn. "in the officers to the measure, I think it

proper to explain that Major Boles has, "in my opinion, deprived himself of any "particular claim to feelings of that nature. "It had never been, I was persuaded, the "intention of Government to deal severely "with that officer; but only to vindicate "that respect due to their own authority, " which every Government must be anxious

"to maintain. And, accordingly, (but "without any instructions to that effect)

soon after my succeeding to the command, "I took the occasion to signify to Major "Boles, that if he would express any ade"quate regret for what he had done; as, that "when he affixed his signature to the order, "he was not aware of the consequence, "and thought he was acting right without

66

66

meaning any offence to Government, but "was now sorry for what had happened; I "would make it my business to get him "reinstated in his rank and official situation; "but this explanation, so natural to have "been expected, and which included in it no personal concession of character, was rejected, (and not without some warmth) by his exclaiming, that he was sorry for "nothing that had happened, or words to "that effect." The avowal of modesty, "which deprecated the discussion of odious and delicate questions," did not excite more surprize in the minds of those who had personal knowledge of the timid delicacy which marked the Major General's sentiments and manner, than the malicious attempt to injure Major Boles did indignation in all who read the paragraph above quoted. It is impos