situation, and to solicit your attention to the detail of the cir cumstances attending it. 66 4. On the 26th of July, we, the officers serving with the troops in camp, and at St. Thomas's Mount, suddenly received orders to repair to lieutenant-colonel Hare's house, (at some distance from our camp) which we immediately obeyed; the piquet, which we had necessarily to pass, being drawn out to preclude our return to our camp. On being assembled, lieutenant-colonel Hare read to us certain parts of a dispatch, addressed to him by government, in which a large portion of the company's officers were represented to be in a seditious, rebellious state, prosecuting measures of hostility against the government, which rendered it necessary to separate the faithful from the seditious; to make which discrimination, the government required, that the officers of the army should sign a pledge, solemnly binding themselves to act up to the tenor of their commissions; and it was directed, that those who might decline to subscribe that test, should be removed from their corps, and suspended from all military employments, till the temper of their minds should allow of their being employed in the service of the state. It was further directed, that they should be detained till their tents could be struck, and they were then to be removed to a súfficient distance to prevent their return to, or communication with, their corps. Your lordship may form some idea of our situation, but it is far beyond the powers of language to convey to your lordship a just or adequate impression of our feelings, on this extraordinary occasion. Amongst us, my lord, were some who have served the honourable company with zeal, and unquestioned fidelity, for nearly thirty years; others for shorter periods, but all with equal ardor and attachment; yet we found ourselves placed in the humiliating situation we have described, betrayed, (if we may use the term) into a snare, surrounded by troops, and called upon to subscribe to a test, which in itself, implied more than a suspicion of our fidelity, and, combined with the circumstances under which it was offered, was deeply injurious to our sensibility, our pride, and our honour. We could not accept it; but, mortified as we were, we left nothing ambiguous, having distinctly explained to lieutenantcolonel Hare our principles and sentiments, by stating to him, that the commissions we held contained every obligation specified in the proposed pledge; that we had never departed from those obligations, or disobeyed any orders of the government; that so long as we retained them, we should fulfil their obligations, and obey the lawful orders of our superiors; and that ' for any disobedience thereto, we knew we were amenable to military law and liable to the penalties of the articles of war, and we could not consent to subscribe a pledge, the object of which might be to oppose us to our brother officers, and the interests of our service.' "5. Such a test, and tendered to us under such circumstances, could not but degrade us in the estimation of our brother officers of his Majesty's army, to whom no similar proposal was made; whose conduct was described in terms of warm and unqualified approbation, while the company's officers were stigmatized by epithets of reproach, censure, and disgrace; yet, my lord, we may appeal to our conduct, on all occasions, for the proofs that we have never been inferior either in loyalty, fidelity, or professional zeal. "6. These are the circumstances under which we have been removed from our employments, and from those troops we have so long commanded, whose discipline we established, whose confidence and attachment we have acquired, whose zeal we have animated, and whose exertions we have directed, in the service of the East India Company. "7. Though we will not presume to suggest the consequences likely to result from this separation of the officers from their men, it is a justice due to ourselves, to declare most solemnly to your lordship, that, however agitated our feelings have been, we have most studiously concealed from the troops, under our orders, any knowledge or communication whatever, of any disagreement between the government and the army. Your lordship's justice will, we trust, therefore, absolve us from any reproach for any evils that may arise; and here, my lord, it is not without the greatest pain that we are compelled to remark, that, before our removal from our corps, we had detected emissaries among our men, endeavouring to seduce them from their obedience to their officers, to weaken their attachment, to infuse suspicion into their minds, and to prejudice them against us while we were in the actual exercise of command. "8. We will no longer trespass on your lordship's time, but we cannot conclude without repeating our earnest and impressive appeal to your lordship, and adjuring you, by your regard for the prosperity of this great empire, committed to your charge, and by the most sacred of all obligations, your love for our parent country, that you will condescend to hear the complaints of a respectable body of British subjects. Do not, my U lord, reject our petition, nor condemn us upon the representations of those, who have already, we fear, endeavoured to impress on your lordship's mind an unfavourab'e opinion of our principles. Let the claims the company's officers have established on their country, be alone present to your lordship's mind, and let us owe to your lordship's justice the relief we implore; this will secure to your lordship our lasting gratitude and affection, and inspire sentiments which no time will erase. "We venture to assure your lordship, that no obstacles will oppose your endeavours to restore tranquillity, and that your lordship may confide in the honour and patriotism of the officers of this army. We come not to you a clamorous multitude, nor are we a licentious body, impatient of controul, and spurning at the restraints of authority; we are not actuated by any false notions of liberty; we do not seek, or desire, any emancipation from the rigid, but just, rules of our order; we are not prosecuting views of professional aggrandizement, and far less any measure of hostility against the government under which we serve; we explicitly disclaim every such idea, and any wish, incompatible with the strictest subordination to legitimate authority, and to the laws of our country. Our respect for the authority of government, as by law established, continues undiminished, and, under that authority, as heretofore administered, we have lived happily, and performed our duty cheerfully; we feel bound to convey to your lordship this explicit and solemn assurance, that our loyalty and allegiance to our King is unimpaired, our zeal and fidelity for our employers undiminished, and that our attachment to our country is unabated, and we are ready to shed the last drop of our blood in defence of the British power in India. "We have the honour to be, my lord, "Your lordship's most faithful, devoted servants, "Pondicherry, 8th August, 1809." [ R. ] "BY GOVERNMENT. "Fort St. George, August 9, 1809. "The governor in council having taken into consideration the whole of the transactions that have occurred to the garrison of Masulipatam, and being satisfied that the part borne by the men in those transactions is to be entirely imputed to the misepresentations and seduction of their European officers, is pleased to proclaim a full pardon to the European non-commissioned officers and privates, and to the Native commissioned officers and non-commissioned officers of the garrison of Masulipatam, who were concerned in these improper proceedings. The governor in council entertains a confident persuasion, that this act of lenity will produce a proper effect in the minds of these men, and induce them to manifest in future that fidelity to the government, which constitutes the first duty and highest praise of every soldier. "The governor in council prohibits the march of any body of troops from the garrison of Masulipatam, without the orders of Major General Pater, commanding the northern division; and directs, that any troops who may have marched from Masu.. lipatam without due authority, shall return forthwith to that statio, on pain of being considered to be in a state of rebellion to the government. "A. FALCONAR, "GENERAL ORDERS BY THE HONOURABLE THE GOVERNOR IN COUNCIL. "Fort St. George, Aug. 12, 1809. "The course of proceeding followed for some time past by the officers of the honourable company's army at this presidency, has obliged the government to adopt the most decided measures for the preservation of the important interests committed to its charge. These proceedings may be stated to have commenced with the transmission to the government by the late cominander in chief of a memorial addressed to the honourable the court of directors, dated January, 1809, and signed by a large proportion of the company's officers. Although that paper exhibits claims of an ungrounded nature, and contains observations equally improper and unjust on the orders of the honourable the court of directors and the government, the governor in council was induced to permit it to pass without the serious notice which it appeared to demand, by a confidence in the discipline of the army, and a persuasion that the objectionable passages in the memorial were inadvertently and unintentionally introduced. "The subsequent conduct of the commander in chief forced the government to vindicate its authority, by a signal example of punishment. It was well known to the company's officers, that the whole of this proceeding was referred to the supreme govern, ment, and the authorities in Europe; that it would receive from their wisdom a decision conformable to the soundest principles of reason and justice; and that its discussion could not belong to the cognizance of the army, who are precluded from becoming a deliberative body. Notwithstanding these considerations, the governor in council, anxious to remove every cause of misunderstanding relative to a measure of so important a nature, published an order, dated the 31st January, explaining to the army the grounds on which it was adopted. The governor in council had a right to expect, on the most obvious grounds of discipline and respect for the laws, that the question would have been permitted to rest here, and receive its final reward from the only powers competent to decide on it; and it was with feelings of equal surprize and concern he learned, that a memorial to the supreme government, of the most intemperate description, was circulated in the company's army. "The governor in council, desirous to avoid a recurrence to measures of severity, and persuaded that it was sufficient to apprize the company's officers of the improper nature of the proceedings, to induce them to desist from their prosecution, authorized the commander in chief to issue a circular letter, dated the 5th March, 1809, explaining to those officers the impropriety of their conduct, and calling upon them, by the most powerful motives of duty, allegiance, and honour, to abstain from such unjustifiable measures. A letter from the right honourable the governor in council, dated the 20th Feb. 1809, approving of the steps adopted by the governor of Fort St. George, with respect to the late commander in chief, was also circulated to the army, in the expectation that the sentiments of the supreme government would have suppressed the spirit of faction and insubordination which prevailed. These letters appear to have produced no effect; the memorial to the supreme government made further progress; and an address to Major Boles, an officer under sentence of suspension, written in language of determined sedition, was circulated in the army, and forced upon the notice of the governor in council, by a company's officer, holding a confidential situation on his staff-the governor in council was still induced to pursue a system of forbearance, by the sentiments of affection and respect which he was disposed to entertain towards the company's officers; and by a conviction that the principles of zeal, discipline, and national attachment, by which he supposed they were actuated, would lead them to relinquish the reprehensible measures in which they were engaged, on being made fully acquainted with their impropriety and danger. The commander in chief, accordingly, under the sanction of the government, issued a |