ÆäÀÌÁö À̹ÌÁö
PDF
ePub

addressed themselves to his Excellency the Commander in Chief, Lieutenant-General Hay Macdowall, upon the subject of the Quarter-Master-General's allegations. His Excellency had the condescension to answer the several applications of appeal; but in a circular reply, observing in substance, that as he had not been consulted with regard to the abolition of the Tent Contract, he did not feel himself at liberty to interfere in any matter connected with the subject, upon individual application.

8. Your memorialists have to state to your honourable Court, that, in consequence of this notification, feeling the injury done them by the insinuations in the Quarter-Master-General's minute, they adopted the means of redress which appeared to them to be most consistent with their ideas of justice, and with the duty they owe to their superiors, submitted to their immediate principal, the Commander in Chief, the substance of their complaints, in the form of a military charge; but finding that this mode was considered by the Judge-Advocate-General to be irregular, or ineffectual towards the vindication of their injured feelings, they respectfully abide by that opinion for the present, and have solicited a suspension of the direct charge against the individual, while they appealed to the candour and justice of your honourable Court, trusting it may please them to order an investigation of the subject, as from an investigation alone can they hope for a removal of the disgraceful impressions which the insinuations in the Quarter-Master-General's proposals are calculated to produce, and which your memorialists in confidence beg to assure your honourable Court are equally unfounded in fact, as they are injurious to the characters of the officers of the Honourable Company's army.

9. Your memorialists have further to state to your honourable Court, that had the Quarter-Master-General promulgated his injurious insinuations, serious as they are, in his capacity of Captain in the European regiment, a conscious integrity might, from the repugnance your memorialists feels to complain, have treated them probably with a dignified silence, or with private dissuasive admonition; but, armed with the authority of the Quarter-Master-General of the army, your memorialists are of opinion, that they obtain a consequence and consideration, which it is apprehended by them, cannot fail to influence the public mind, not only in India, but in Europe; and create a belief, that a Quarter-Master-General could not possibly circulate such serious assertions, against a body of officers of that army of which he is Quarter-Master-General, without an existing just cause.

10. To remove such an impression, and to establish, upon incontrovertible testimony, that the officers commanding Native corps have faithfully fulfilled those duties which the public service expects and requires from them, are the primary objects which gave birth to that solicitude on the part of your memorialists, for an investigation. A secondary object is to stamp, with due effect, the nature of that offence in promulgating such serious and erroneous matter, so highly injurious to their characters as officers and gentlemen, as well as to the respectability of the Honourable Company's service in general.

11. Your memorialists anxiously hope, that when the magnitude of the subject of which they complain shall be taken into consideration by your honourable Court, it will fully appear to your judgment that they are not actuated in their appeal by any frivolous or unreasonably tenacious principles, or any object not strictly connected with that perfect moderation and temperate pursuit of justice, which your honourable Court in its wisdom and consideration, are ever disposed to attend to, with those who, under the feelings and firm persuasion of just complaint, claim your protection and support.

12. Your memorialists, through the medium of their immediate superior, his Excellency the Commander in Chief, Lieutenant-General Hay Macdowall, transmit their memorial; and in relying upon that distinguished liberality and goodness which have invariably marked his attention to them, to give their cause that support which in his judgment it may deserve; they will, with every sentiment of profound respect and deference, submissively wait for, and obediently conform to such decision, as your honourable Court shall, in the justness of your wisdom, determine upon their cause.

Signed by thirty-two officers, Commanding Native Corps.

Madras, December 1808.

[This was rejected by Sir George Barlow, and returned to General Macdowall.]

66

TO THE ADJUTANT-GENERAL OF THE ARMY. SIR,-We, the under-mentioned officers, commanding Native corps upon this establishment, have the honour to forward the accompanying memorial, which we request you will lay before his Excellency the Commander in Chief, LieutenantGeneral Hay Macdowall, and which we have to solicit his Excellency will take such measures as to him may appear most suitable for the transmission of the same to the honourable Court of Directors.

7 "The Commander in Chief being already so well acquainted with the general and particular circumstances that gave rise to the immediate subject of appeal, it becomes wholly unnecessary on our part to enter into any further explanation for his Excellency's information.

66

The long series of years which the Commander in Chief has served with the coast army, and that benign goodness with which he has invariably, both in public and private character, distinguished many of those who now appeal through his authority, under a period of painful concern, creates every confidence and hope that his Excellency will, as our immediate superior, condescend to honour our memorial with such assistance and support, as in his judgment the subject has claim to, and which, we are fully persuaded, cannot fail to give it the most impartial introduction to the attention of the honourable Court of Directors,

[Signed by thirty-two officers commanding Native corps.]

"Madras Establishment, Dec. 1808."

[ B. ]

GENERAL ORDERS-BY THE COMMANDER IN

CHIEF.

"Head-quarters, Choultry Plain, Jan. 25, 1809.

66 The immediate departure of Lieut.-General Macdowall from Madras, will prevent him from pursuing the design of 'bringing Lieut.-Colonel Munro, Quarter - Master - General, to trial, for disrespect to the Commander in Chief, for disobedience of orders, and for contempt of military authority, in having resorted to the Civil Government, in defiance of the officer at the head of the army, who had placed him under arrest on charges preferred against him by a number of officers commanding Native corps; in consequence of which appeal direct to the Hon. the President in Council, Lieut-Gen. Macdowall received a positive order from the Supreme Government to liberate Lieut.-Col. Munro from his confinement. Such conduct on the part of Colonel Munro being destructive of subordination, subversive of military discipline, a violation of the sacred rights of the Commander in Chief, and holding a most dangerous example to the service, Lieut.-General Macdowall, in support of the dignity of the profession, and his own station and character, feels it incumbent upon him to express his strong disapprobation of Lieu..Col. Munro's unex

ampled proceedings, and considers it a solemn duty imposed upon him to reprimand Lieut.-Col. Munro in general orders, and he is hereby reprimanded accordingly.

[ C. ]

F. CAPPER. "Adjutant-General of the Army."

GENERAL ORDERS-BY THE COMMANDER IN

46

CHIEF.

The moment is now arrived, when Lieut.-General Macdowall is to take leave of the Company's army, whose ardent courage, consummate discipline, and persevering firmness, have been displayed in the achievements of those brilliant exploits which have secured its own glory, and added to the British empire extensive fertile regions of incalculable value and importance. May your patriotism, valour, and worth, be acknowledged and rewarded by your King and the East India Company, in proportion as they are known and appreciated by your Commander in Chief.

66

Had Lieut.-General Macdowall succeeded to the high and enviable office with all the advantages enjoyed by his predecessors, he would, upon first assuming the command, have promulgated his sentiments on so flattering an event; but the circumstances of his appointment were so humiliating and unpropitious, that he declined addressing the army, in the anxious hope that the Court of Directors might, on further deliberation, be induced to restore him to his right, by altering the new and extraordinary forms of Government, and have enabled him to exercise the functions of his station, as the representative of the army, with honour to the service, and credit to himself; no prospect of such an occurrence being at all probable, in justice to the army, and to his own character, he has determined to retire.

66

On quitting a country where he has passed the greatest part of his life, and where he possesses many dear and respectable friends, Lieut.-Gen. Macdowall cannot view his separation from a body of men he is sincerely attached to, without suffering the most painful sensations; from the nature of the service he can have little chance of ever meeting with them again, but he is bound to declare, that the whole of their conduct meets with his entire approbation, and he will boldly affirm, without danger of contradiction, that His Majesty has not, in any part of his dominions, a more loyal, patriotic, and valiant class of

soldiers and subjects, than the officers composing the army of Fort St. George. That success may continue to attend their steps; that their dearly-bought laurels may never decay; and that their bravery and discipline may gather additional wreaths in the field of honour, is the sincere prayer of a man who will never forget them.

"Jan. 28.

(Signed)

[ D. ]

"F. CAPPER, "Adj.-Gen. of the Army."

GENERAL ORDERS-BY GOVERNMENT,

"Fort St. George, Jan. 31, 1809.

66 It has recently come to the knowledge of the Governor in Council, that Lieut.-General Macdowall did, previously to his embarkation from the Presidency, leave to be published to the army, a General Order, dated 28th instant, in the highest degree disrespectful to the authority of the Government, in which that officer has presumed to found a public censure on an act adopted under the immediate authority of the Governor in Council, and to convey insinuations grossly derogatory to the character of the Government, and subversive of military discipline, and of the foundation of public authority. The resignation of Lieut.-Gen. Macdowall of the command of the army of Fort St. George, not having been yet received it becomes the duty of the Governor in Council, in consideration of the violent and inflammatory proceeding of that officer, in the present and on other recent occasions, and for the purpose of preventing the repetition of further acts of outrage, to anticipate the period of his expected resignation, and to annul the appointment of Lieutenant-General Macdowall to the command of the army of this Presidency; Lieutenant-General Macdowall is accordingly hereby removed from the station of Commander in Chief of the Forces at Fort St. George.

66

The governor in Council must lament, with the deepest regret, the necessity of resorting to an extreme measure of this nature; but when a manifest endeavour has been used to bring into degradation the supreme public authority, it is essential that the vindication should not be less signal than the offence; and that a memorable example should be given, that proceedings subsversive of established order can find no security under the sanction of rank, however high, or of station, however exalted.

"The General Order in question having been circulated

« ÀÌÀü°è¼Ó »