pro

mentioned before; it produced information that Captain Coombs had procured copies of several documents, relative to the points of difference between General Macdowall and Sir George Barlow, and that he had also cured a copy of a paper, which was considered to be a summary statement of the various occurrences that had taken place during the altercation, which was carried on previous to the General's departure.

In order that the weight and importance this information may be fully perceived, it will be proper to notice that Captain Coombs had been Aid-de-Camp to General Macdowall, and lived in his family. No attack had been openly made against the General's character until after his departure from Madras, consequently it was natural to suppose that this officer would arrive in England without the means of defending himself against the very serious charges that had been levelled against him, after his back was turned. Under this impression, Captain Coombs considered that he could not better manifest gratitude to his benefactor, than by supplying him with authentic copies of the correspondence, and other documents, which related to the occasion, that had been

taken to asperse and vilify his character. They were accordingly prepared and arranged by Captain Coombs, who drew out an abstract of the whole proceeding, with reference to the several documents, in the order in which they had originated; but, as it appeared to be important that this summary should be transmitted, with the least possible delay, Captain Coombs procured from Mr. James Balfour, who was an intimate friend, and a connection of General Macdowall, the services of a writer, who was the identical person in the seizure of whom Lieutenant Colonel Barclay acquitted himself in the manner above described. This is actually the head and front of Captain Coomb's crime, on account of which he has been ignominiously deprived of his staff situ

ation.

The means by which information was procured against Lieutenant Colonel the Honourable A. Sentleger are not so publicly known; there is only one person in the character of an officer who has on this occasion been suspected of a breach of the ninth commandment of the Christian Decalogue; but as the public are not in posses

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sion of the circumstance, and as suspicions at the present period will doubtless arise, on slight grounds, it is considered to be improper to inculpate that individual. Certain it is, however, that some person has given a false evidence against his neighbour on this occasion, as it is incontestibly proved, by the declarations which Lieutenant Colonel Sentleger procured from almost every officer who had been under his command in the Travancore army, and also from Lieutenant Colonel Colin Macaulay, the English resident at the court of Travancore, who has not scrupled to say that Sir G. Barlow had been deceived by some infamous misrepresentation, or vile falsehood. It is to be hoped, for the sake of justice and honour, that the Honourable Lieutenant Colonel Sentleger may arrive safe in England, and that, through the influence of his friends, and the justice of his cause, he may be enabled to vindicate his injured character, and to expose, to the indignation and contempt of his brother officers, and of his country, the vile instruments, and the base acts, which have been employed to conduct this scene of the tragedy.

The information respecting Lieutenant Colonels Chalmer and Cuppage, and Major de

Morgan, is nearly of the same description with that which regards Lieutenant Colonel Sentleger; and probably the sources of it, and the channels through which it has passed, may hereafter be fully developed, but at present it would be improper, and perhaps unfair, to indulge any speculations regarding

it.

The

The case of Lieutenant Colonel Robert Bell, of Artillery, who commanded the Mount Cantonments, and held a seat at the Military Board, is, however, very different. vicinity of his residence to the Presidency afforded the best means of ascertaining the correctness, or otherwise, of the information which had been obtained respecting him, if such had been desired. But this transaction may, at a future period, be fully explained to the public; for the present, any further discussion of it is deferred, Colonel Bell having himself made an appeal to that source, whence the Government of India derive their authority. It may not, however, be irrelevant to notice, that, on the day after the order was received at the Mount, all the officers who had been stationed there, (one only excepted) drew up an address to Lieutenant Colonel

Robert Bell, in which they expressed, in the warmest terms, their regret at the loss which they were about to experience in his removal from the command of the station, and from their society. They also offer the most solemn declaration, that the charge contained in the general order of the 1st of May, against Colonel Bell, was wholly and entirely groundless. The exception amongst the officers to the signing of this paper was Sir John Sinclair, who had just been appointed Commissary of the Arsenal at Madras.

Colonel Bell conceiving that the Government might be desirous to be undeceived, in a matter of so much importance, would willingly have transmitted to them a copy of the declaration of the officers, together with an affidavit, or any other asseveration, from himself, purporting that he was wholly and unequivocally innocent, in thought, word, and deed, of the charge specified against him, in the general order of the 1st of May. However, this step was prevented, by his learning, through a third person, a Member of the Council, that the Government would resent, in the most severe manner, any attempt at the justification of himself by the transmission of the paper. And Colo