crisis was brought on, which decided the guilt of one party, without exculpating the other.

General Macdowall took Jan. 25. leave of the army in fare1809. well orders, which, like the general tenour of his conduct, were calculated to inflame their already irritated minds. But he left behind him a far more offensive paper, which, in the form of general orders, was published on the very day that he put to sea, and when he was already far from land. This paper stated, that the conduct of Colonel Munro, in making a direct appeal to the civil power, being destructive of subordination, subversive of military discipline, a violation of the sacred rights of the commander-inchief, and holding out a most dangerous example to the service; Lieutenant-General Macdowall, in support of the dignity of the profession, and his own station and character, felt it incumbent on him to express his strong disapprobation of Lieut.Col. Munro's unexampled proceedings, and considered it a solemn duty upon him to reprimand Lieut.-Col. Munro in general orders." Macdowall had not yet resigned the command, probably for the purpose of leaving this insult behind him, and it was understood that he meant to send his resignation from Negapatam, where the ships were to touch, or from Ceylon; but as soon as this act of defiance to the civil government was made known to Sir G. Barlow, that governor ordered signal to be made to recal the ships, meaning im mediately to have removed the general from command. The signal was either not perceived, or not obeyed, and the ship, with all on board, having been lost upon the passage, General Macdowall never learned the

General

consequences of his conduct, nor received the censure which he deser

ved.

It cannot be doubted that the spirit of insubordination which infected the army had been encouraged by the public as well as private conduct of this general; this last act might have given to the governor every advantage which he could desire, but Sir G. Barlow immediately put himself in the wrong, and, acting as intemperately towards the military as he had already done towards some of the civil servants of the company, gave them, for the first time, just reason to complain. He suspended the deputy-adju- Jan. 31. tant-general, Major Boles, 1809. who had signed the general order. Upon this the adjutantgeneral, Colonel Capper, informed the governor that he was the responsible person; for the paper would have been issued under his signature, if he had not been engaged in accompanying the commander-in-chief on board ship. Sir G. Barlow then, without removing the suspension from Major Boles, suspended Colonel Capper also. It was intimated to Major Boles, that any expression of apology on his part would be accepted; but he rested his defence upon the ground of military obedience. Any hesita tion, he said, in issuing the general order, would have rendered him, in the opinion of any court-martial, deserving the severest punishment of the highest military crime. What he had done was an act purely of necessity, not of free will. What would be the consequence, he asked, of proclaiming to men with arms in their hands, that they are at liberty to question and discuss the legality or expediency of a peremptory order from a military superior? For himself, he solemnly

declared, that when he signed the order, he considered it his indispensable duty so to do; for, as a soldier, he had no alternative between tacit obedience and mutiny. Sir G. Barlow, on the other hand, maintained, that if officers should once establish the principle that they were bound to obey all orders of the commander-inchief, without reference to their legality, any factious or imprudent commander might, at any time, set the authority of the government at defiance, and even supersede it altogether. The governor's reasoning was just, but it did not apply to the present instance, which was not an extreme case. His next measure was more erroneous, and in every point of view utterly inexcusable. Major Boles, being anxious to bring his own case before the Court of Directors with the least possible delay, applied for leave to go home; his first application remained unnoticed, till, upon making a second, the leave was refused. Major Boles applied a third time; the net pay only, he represented, was allowed to officers under suspension, and this was very insufficient to support him in India for the length of time that must elapse before the decision of the Court of Directors upon his case could be obtained; his other resources were in Europe, and delay must be very distressing to him; he therefore begged leave to repeat his request, that he might be permitted to return by the ship Lushington, and as this permission had been granted to Colonel Capper, his superior, who was in the same predicament with himself, he trusted the governor would see the justice of affording him the same opportunity of appealing in person to the Court of Directors.

This application was also rejected;

the Lushington sailed; and three days after she sailed, Major Boles was told he was at liberty to go to Europe, when there was March 4. no probability that any opportunity of obtaining a passage would occur for many months. Being thus compelled to remain in India against his will, he broke up his little establishment, and sold his effects to enable him to live. No man's conduct could possibly have been more inoffensive; and when he heard that the governor was displeased at his dining at the public mess, he ceased to do so. But though he was far from making himself the rallying point of disaffection, that rallying point he naturally became. The discontented officers took advantage of the flagrant injustice of his case, and drew up an address to him, expressing "their marked approbation of his conduct," and "their surprise and concern at the severe and unmerited punishment inflicted on him, for having obeyed the orders of the commander-in-chief in a case purely military; a question," they said, "which involved circumstances essential to their best interests, and fundamental to the character and respectability of the army." They requested "the honour of repairing his injuries, as far as lay in their power, by subscribing and paying to him monthly the full amount of that pay and staff allowance, of which he had in this extraordinary manner been deprived. And as his conduct," they said, "was exactly conformable to what they would have pursued, if they had been placed in his situation, they could not avoid making his cause their own; and, under existing circumstances, such mutual support must be expected and accepted by all who, like himself, had, or might become

sufferers through any such exceptionable measures on the part of the civil government." That Sir G. Barlow might not remain ignorant, or appear to be ignorant of this address, it was officially communicated to his military secretary.

To Major Boles no farther blame can be imputed, than that he accepted the pecuniary support which was thus offered him; and upon this point it would be more equitable to praise him had he declined it, than to censure him for the acceptance. The act itself, on the part of the officers, would have been honourable to themselves as well as to him, had not both the motive and the manner been so obviously factious. Major Boles had never made his injuries a subject of reference to the army, or to any part of it; never provoked the addresses nor the relief which they offered; and never acknowledged the receipt of them, nor returned his thanks for the voluntary assistance which the army gave him. The offence of the officers, however, was visited upon him, and Sir George Barlow ordered, that is, in fact, banished him from Madras to the more distant settlement of Bengal, entailing on him, as he complained, great and inevitable expence, while his allowances were taken from him, and when he had no immediate means of his own to defray the heavy charges which were thus arbitrarily imposed upon him. In Bengal Major Boles continued the same retired and inoffensive conduct as at Madras: he removed as soon as he could from

Calcutta to the Danish settlement of Serampore, for the purpose of avoiding as much as possible his brother officers, lest he should be suspected of making himself conspicuous; and there he remained till he was finally ordered for England.

The same spirit was displayed towards Lieut.-Col. Martin; that officer, who was deservedly obnoxious to the government, for coming forward as one of the accusers of the quarter-master-general, had obtained leave to return to England in the same fleet with General Macdowall. Accordingly he came to Madras in December, and took his passage in a ship which was expected to sail on the 29th of January; but on the 21st he was desired not to leave the presidency, the judge-advocate-general having requested the governor to detain him, in order that he might appear in support of the charges against Colonel Munro. Nothing can more clearly show the vacillation of the governor's councils. It is said that the judgeadvocate.general called upon Colonel Martin soon after his leave was recalled, and told him that if he would apologize for having signed and forwarded the charges, he should be permitted to proceed on his passage; but the offer was received with scorn and contempt. Whatever truth † there may be in this, it is certain that, a week after the fleet had sailed, Sir George Barlow changed his mind, withdrew the prohibition, and, expressing his regret for the inconvenience to which Colonel Martin had

ment.

been thus subjected, directed that he should be reimbursed for the loss of his passage; and accordingly 1000 star pagodas were paid him by the public treasury.

In this instance the government showed a sense of justice, in which it was wanting toward Major Boles. But the vindictive disposition which it had manifested every day received fresh provocations; for when the discontented officers perceived that in one instance the civil authority had been evidently in the wrong, they were enabled to deceive themselves, and give to the mutinous proceedings in which they had embarked a semblance of just and honourable feelings. Colonel Munro being the chief object of their dislike, they shunned his society with the most studied marks of contempt. Captain Marshal, the secretary of the military board, who had frequent occasion to meet him on duty, shunned him upon all other occasions, as a man with whom it was disgraceful to hold communion: he was dismissed from his situation, and ordered to Vizagapatan, about 500 miles distant. The intentional insult could not be mistaken; but there was an arbitrary character in the punishment, which, though legal upon military principles, made it nevertheless an odious act when it proceeded from the civil government. It was, however, apparent at this time that the army were determined to try their strength against the governor, hoping either to induce the directors to supersede him, or that they themselves by repeated insults should compel him to resign. Their hatred of Colonel Munro had now extended to Sir G. Barlow, and they began, as the phrase is, to send him to Coventry also. His invitations were uniformly refused, and an officer belonging to an institution

formed for the instruction of young officers, was expelled from the society of his fellows, because he had attended at an entertainment given at the Government House. An outrage like this could not be passed over; they were informed, that if they did not immediately amend their conduct, they would be ordered to quit the institu tion and join their corps. They replied, that the regulations of the service allowed to officers, in common with other gentlemen, the privilege of making their own choice of companions for their private society, and as they did not chuse to hold any farther acquaintance with the gentleman in question, they held themselves justified in the measures which they had taken. In consequence of this, they were ordered, without delay, to join their corps, because of their irregular conduct. One corps was ordered to Vellore, because Major Boles had dined at their mess, before he knew that his appearance there was considered offensive. Another, it is said, was threatened by General Gowdie, the new commander-in-chief, that they should be sent to one of the most distant stations, because the officers refused to dine with Sir George Barlow. These facts may have received their colouring from the heat or the malice of party; but the impression which results from a dispassionate perusal of the statements of both parties is, that there was a mutinous disposition on the one side, and an arbitrary one on the other.

Matters were precipitated by a me. morial which the officers drew up, addressed to the governor-general, exhibiting their grievances, and expressing" their sanguine hope and entreaty, that the supreme government might in its wisdom be induced to appease their just claims, and to

anticipate the extreme crisis of their agitation, by releasing them from the controul of a ruler, whose measures, guided by the counsel of their implacable enemies," they said, "are equal. ly detrimental to the interests of the state, as they are repulsive to the feelings of a loyal and patriotic army." This memorial was circulated with great secrecy through the different military stations for the purpose of obtaining signatures, so that some weeks elapsed before the government could distinctly establish the fact. As soon as that was done, the memorial was censured in general orders, as calculated to destroy every foundation of discipline, obedience, and fidelity; and several May 1. officers, who were supposed to have been most active in preparing and circulating it, were suspended from the service, and others removed from the command and staff appointments which they held. In these orders the governor expressed his satisfaction that the majority of the army had resisted all participation in these improper and dangerous proceedings. It was an act of justice," he said, "to the king's troops, to declare his entire approbation of the order, discipline, and steady adherence to duty which they had invariably manifested. His present information did not enable him to distinguish all the troops of the company's service who had manifested the same dispositions, but he deemed it proper to notice the exem plary conduct of the Hyderabad subsidiary force." This portion of the army was thus mentioned because the officers on that station had not sign ed the inflammatory papers which were in circulation; but no sooner did the general orders reach Hydera bad, than they resented the compli

ment as an insult, and drew up a circular letter to the other officers of the company's service, assuring them that they were not divested of those feelings which had been excited throughout the army; that they would assist in supporting those officers who had incurred the displeasure of government for their exertions in a just cause; and that they were ready to contribute in any legal measures of temperance, dignity, and firmness, which might be thought effectual to remove the cause of the present discontent, and to restore their brother officers to the honourable situations from which they had been removed. At the same time they addressed a memorial to the governor, remonstrating against the late acts of govern ment, and particularly the order of the 1st of May. "This order, sir," they said, "removing from their situations and involving in disgrace so many valuable and respectable officers, for their zeal and exertions in a cause which their acts have rendered sacred to the army, has excited such great and general irritation, that we have strong reasons to fear the most fatal and disastrous consequences. Under these impressions we feel compelled to make some efforts to avert the evils we see impending, or what may be the possible and probable consequences, the separation of the civil and military authorities, the destruction of all discipline and subordination among the native troops, the ultimate loss of so large a portion of the British possessions in India, and the dreadful blow it will inflict on the mother country." An hundred and fifty-eight officers of the Jaulnah and Hyderabad forces signed this memorial: "the possible and probable conséquences" they thus distinctly perceived, and ha ving this distinct perception of the