what, at this juncture, could have been successfully opposed by the Government to the arms of the Hydrabad subsidiary force, aided by the whole of the Company's European troops and artillery, if it had marched at the time proposed to the walls of Madras ? and from which course it was alone diverted by the call of the resident, not by the sway of any personal persuasion, but by the solemn representation and assurance of the public danger that would ensue. Forty thousand Mahratta cavalry were at this time hovering on the borders, and only waited for the signal, to pour immediately on the anticipated deserted districts.

He will not forget, if he shall write at a season when heat and party shall have subsided, to describe in the strain, not of eulogy, for the occasion unfortunately precludes it, but of plain and simple truth, the devotedness of the corps before the fortress of Seringapatam, where they suffered themselves, in ranks, to be mowed down by the devouring sword, in a spirit of indurance and of suffering, which, in another cause, might have claimed, and have been allowed, the virtue and the meed of martyrdom.

In the casual exculpatory observations

that we have offered on the behalf of the officers of the army, and the circumstances of extenuation that we have ventured to state, let it not be understood that weare generally advocating their cause; that we are attempting to justify acts that cannot admit of justification.

Pudet hæc opprobria nobis,

Et dici potuisse et non potuisse refelli.

It will not be over-looked, however, that in the prosecution of our subject, we have exhibited a shew, at least, of care to set some doctrines at rest, which, if received on the high authority promul gating them, would have a tendency to disturb that tranquillity which they proposed to secure. If we have not spoken more decisively of the offences of the orders, which have been admitted even by themselves, our conduct has been governed by authorities greater than our own. An am

nesty is said to have been thrown over all transactions that are gone. May they be remembered no more, than as examples for future government-though the effects of them may be felt, when the precedents themselves shall be utterly forgotten.

Of the immediate consequences of these

in carrying this doctrine into the camp; lest we might involve military men in difficulties, where they have not many, or very ready means of extricating themselves. If the orders in question were to be taken as a precedent, it would require not a little nicety, or special pleading, in the examination of the commands of superiors. The time for action would be consumed in deliberation on the import of the orders received, and all the circumstances related with them. If we have any just conception of the real extent of the rule, we should deem it to be narrow indeed, and it has become fit that it should be defined and well understood. The illegality of an order, as we consider it, must be collected not from the letter or phraseology of an order, but from the thing commanded to be done. If that be plainly and manifestly illegal to common capacities and understandings, the order ought not to be complied with. For the sake of illustrationif a soldier were ordered by his officer to fire on a quiet, peaceable, and unoffending citizen in the street-it would seem to require no great intellect to understand that he ought not to obey the command-or, if he were directed to rob a house, if such a

direction could be supposed to be given-In cases like these, disobedience would not only be excusable, but commendable; but we can hardly think, in cases less clear and perspicuous, that any subordinate military agent would be justified in disputing the authority of his principal To argue that an inferior officer should look into the construction and recondite meaning of every sentence in an order given to him to execute and consider all its bearings, with his knowledge of supposed circumstances having reference to it, seems a bold undertaking, and not hitherto to have occurred to any man in the passession of ordinary sense.

As the address to Major Boles has been noticed in an earlier place, and the nature of it considered at some length, we shall not resume the subject, though it is one of the leading topics in the Governor General's letter. What we have before said, will be a sufficient answer on this head; and we are anxious to dismiss the paper before us.

Whilst the two Governments, instead of pursuing measures suitable to the ends of their avowed policy, and calculated to inspire a prompt submission to their behests, were busily employed in arguing with the

passions, and writing and beating down, as they supposed, the pretensions of their discontented military servants, the latter were allowed to brood over their original grievances, till they were habituated to the employment, and which derived a fresh interest every day by the occurrence of new incidents. If the mind grew frantic at last, by ruminating without interruption on the accumulation of real or imaginary evils, it will not be viewed, we are certain, either by the philosopher or statesman, among the number of supernatural effects.

We are constrained to remark, that the conduct of the discontented, at the close of the month of July, underwent a most material change. It was no longer distinguishable, as heretofore, for passive obedience, but impatience of all controul. It became offensive to Government, by demanding a revocation of its acts, and at last, in defying its authority. They who know how easy and imperceptible are the transitions from one extreme of passion to the other, will not be surprized at the quick succession or order of their events, according to the different degrees of irritation. However we may be grieved in recording the fact, we shall not