sent to England. The French part of the island of St Martins was included in the capitulation. Commodore Fahie took possession of it on the 14th, and the Dutch governor yielded the other part before night. The commodore then sailed for St Eustatius, which surrendered without resistance; and thus the enemy were deprived of their last possession in the Columbian islands. CHAP. VIII. Rise, Progress, and Termination of the Disturbances at Madras. OUR arms were equally successful in the Indian as in the Caribbean seas; but the British conquests in that part of the world were preceded by an unexpected naval loss, and by events of the most alarming nature to our Indian empire. In March 1808, Sir George Barlow, then governor-general of Madras, received orders to carry into effect certain military reforms, for the purpose of reducing the expences of the presidency, which every year greatly exceeded its revenues. One of these retrenchments was the abolition of what is called the Tent Contract. By this contract, which was established in 1802, every officer received a certain monthly allowance to provide himself with camp equipage, and the commanding officers of the native troops received in like manner an allowance for providing the camp equipage of their corps. These allowances were calculated upon the supposition, that what the officers saved in time of peace, would indemnify them for the losses incident in war. In all our Indian wars, there had always been found the most serious difficulty in providing for the draught and carriage of the army; operations of the greatest importance having often been retarded by this cause, to the imminent hazard of their failure. The movements of Hyder and Tip poo were as expeditious as ours were dilatory, because an establishment of public cattle formed part of the military system of the Mysore govern. ment. Upon the conquest of Mysore, the British government continued and extended this important branch of the commissariat. These cattle were only employed in drawing artillery; but it was thought that the same system might advantageously be extended, and the camp equipage conveyed in the same manner; and in 1807, Sir John Craddock, the then commander-in-chief, informed the quarter-master-general, Lieutenant-Colonel Munro, that having long given his attention to the subject, he was convinced that the tent contract was founded upon an erroneous sys- · tem, both as relating to public economy, and also to the equitable indemnification of commanding officers through the vicissitudes of peace and war; he therefore required the quarter-master-general to take the subject into his special consideration, and draw up a plan which should secure the two essential points of efficiency and economy, for unless these points could be secured, he would not disturb the existing arrangements. Colonel Munro accordingly prepared a statement in obedience to this order. His opinion coincided with that of the commander-in-chief. "Six years experience," he said, " of the practical effects of the existing system of the camp-equipage equipment of the native army, had afforded means of forming a judgement relative to its advantages and efficiency, which were not possessed by the persons who proposed its introduction." Among the observations which an attentive examination of its operation during six years had suggested, he remarked, that "it incurred the expence of placing the whole army in a state of complete preparation for field movements, in respect to camp equipage and regimental stores, while a great part of the native army must, from inevitable circumstances, be at all times in garrison, in a situation where those equipments are entirely unnecessary;" that, "by granting the same allow ances in peace and war for the equip, ment of native corps, while the expences incidental to that charge are unavoidably much greater in war than in peace, it placed the interest and duty of officers commanding native corps in direct opposition to one another; made it their interest that their corps should not be in a state of efficiency fit for field service, and therefore furnished strong inducement to neglect their most important duties ;" and that, "by charging them with extensive concerns immediately affecting their private interests, it was calculated, particularly in the field, to divert their attention and their pursuits from the discipline and management of their corps, objects that should furnish them with sufficient employment for the whole of their time." This report Sir J. Craddock laid before the government, expressing his entire concurrence in its sentiments, and saying, that "they were the result of their joint reflection on the subject, and were the issue of that experience which arose from their respective situations." Two other military arrangements were part of the reform. One was the discontinuance of what were called subordinate commands. The officers appointed to these commands possessed a considerable share of civil and political power, but the changes which had taken place in India rendered such appointments no longer necessary, and when they ceased to be necessary, they became injurious; but the officers had always been desirous of obtaining them, and the diminution of them from between 40 or 50 to 5 or 6, was subtracting so many prizes from the lottery in which they had embarked. The other related to the Bazar allowance. A tax had formerly been levied upon articles sold in the Bazars, or markets of military stations, the commanding officers generally regulating the amount, and taking the whole to themselves. This abuse had grown into a custom. In 1796, it was abolished in Bengal, but it continued in Madras till 1802, when it was abolished there also, as "a system not less incompatible with the preservation of military order, than with the rights conferred on the native subjects of the empire under the protection of the civil tribunals." As an act of indulgence, it was then resolved that certain duties should be collected under the civil authorities, and divided in prescribed portions among the officers, who had been ac-, customed to consider the old exactions as their right; but it was now thought proper to withdraw this allowance. These measures were all advised by the commander-in-chief, Sir J. Craddock, and received the entire approbation of the then governor, Lord William Bentinck: they recommended, at the same time, that a certain compensation should be granted for these various reductions. Shortly afterwards a change in the Madras administration took place. The government devolved on Mr Petrie till Lord William Bentinck's successor should arrive, and Sir J. Craddock was succeeded by LieutenantGeneral Macdowall. But the Court of Directors having passed a resolution, that the commanders-in-chief at the subordinate presidencies should not hold a seat in council, General Macdowall did not succeed to all the privileges of his predecessors. Mr Petrie concurred entirely in the reforms which the preceding government had proposed; and when Sir G. Barlow entered upon his office, he received orders to carry them into effect. At the same time, in pursuance of Sir J. Craddock's advice, a certain compensation was decreed. He had recommended that commanding officers of corps should in time of peace receive the full batta of their rank, and when in the field the full batta of the next superior rank; that the full batta of the next superior rank should be drawn by officers holding government commands; and that officers commanding two or more corps should receive brigadiers allowance both in garrison and camp. The supreme government did not sanction this briga diers allowance during peace; but at Sir G. Barlow's particular recommendation, the Madras government took upon themselves to grant it, subject to the confirmation of the Court of Directors. Upon this occasion General Macdowall expressed his satisfaction at the liberality of the government, and his opinion that the army had cause to be satisfied. But neither the officers nor the general himself were satisfied. The officers were desirous that the coast army should be placed on the same allowances as the army of Bengal ; and with the view of obtaining this, they proposed an address to the governor-general of India, Lord Minto, stating that it was scarcely possible, with the most rigid economy, to make their present pay and allowances suffice; that the Court of Directors had declared they would put them on the same footing as their fellow soldiers in Bengal; and that "having patiently waited in anxious and respectful silence, hoping that a claim founded on impartiality and justice would have attracted the favourable notice of their superiors, they trusted that their long forbearance would give additional weight to a cause, where the interests, future prospects, and welfare of so many were deeply concern ed." This address was circulated for signatures, and privately communicated to General Macdowall, who sent it to Sir G. Barlow, with a letter equally explicit of his disapprobation of the proposed measure, and of his own discontent. "Having no recol. lection," he said, "of any such in. tention being entertained by the court, or of any promise upon the subject, he presumed that the officers were acting under a mistaken notion; but in any event it would demand the most serious deliberation, to effectually check the spirit of remonstrance. Many people," he continued, "are likely to view the present application as a futile and puerile attempt, and unworthy of further notice; but my judgement and experience lead me to believe that the seeds of discontent are very widely disseminated, and almost every individual in the service is more or less dissatisfied. Every man must be sensible of the causes which have led to this position. The abolition of the Bazar fund first, and lastly the degradation of the military character, from the commander-inchief to the youngest ensign; the late reductions, and especially the abrogation of the tent contract, are, among others, prominent features; and I must lament the expediency which occasioned these disgusting measures." His own feelings could not be more clearly expressed. General Macdowall, however, did his duty upon this occasion. He addressed a circular letter to the officers May 26. commanding the principal 1808. divisions of the army, saying," that from whatever quarter the address had arisen, no doubt could be entertained of the propriety of adopting the earliest measures for checking such proceedings. He was not aware of any order or declaration of the Court of Directors, such as the memorial alluded to; on the contrary, that court had in numerous instances rejected claims, both in the civil and military branches of the service, founded on a comparison of the allowances at the different presidencies; and they had repeatedly prohibited the agitation of questions calculated to establish the principle on which the present claim was founded. But the memorial was liable to other serious objections; it was a direct breach of the orders of government, which prohibited under the strongest injunctions the publishing of any address to the army, or to any division of it, without previous sanction. It was therefore incumbent on the commander-in-chief to exert his authority for the suppression of this memorial, and for bringing to punishment those who had been most active in supporting it, if unhappily it should be brought before him in such a form as might render it necessary for him to take the subject into public deliberation." It had been well if General Macdowall's subsequent conduct had been governed by the same principles; but his exclusion from the council was rankling in his breast, though he had accepted the command under that condition, and this disposed him but too much, first to lend an ear to the complaints of the army, and afterwards to make common cause with them. A copy of the quarter-master-general's memorial concerning the tent contract became public; the officers who had enjoyed the benefit of this contract took offence at the reasons which he had alleged, and presented a formal charge against him to the commander-in-chief, accusing him of "conduct unbecoming the character of an officer and a gentleman, for having, in his proposed plan for the abolition of the tent contract, lately held by officers commanding native corps, made use of false and infamous insinuations, thereby (such were the words) tending to injure our characters as officers, and otherwise injurious to our reputations as gentlemen." Fourand-twenty officers signed this charge, and upon these grounds General It is worthy of remark, that one of the warmest advocates of the Madras army, who enters fully into their complaint, that the tent contract was repealed on an im plied distrust of the honour of the army, expressly states that it was founded on the same feeling." Marquis Cornwallis," he says, "supposed that if he could give certain individuals a particular interest in the equipage, and the cattle necessary to convey it, such circumstance would operate more powerfully than the influence of mere duty to the preservation of those objects." |