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touching eloquence of the governor-general.

If there be one thing deserving particular notice, it is the motive that is declared, and stated as governing the small selection, as termed by his lordship, and as announced by him in this instrument, from the great mass of delinquency. Here, and it is feared in other places, where his lordship condescends and undertakes to lay down a general principle, he is seen unhappily wandering the very first moment he is called upon to make an application of it to a definite case. His lordship would be believed, at the time of writing this order, and he makes no slender parade of his sentiment, comparing his own notions of benevolence to the enlarged and enlightened mercy of our common sovereign, that he had a most anxious wish, "to limit the number of punishments, since impunity could not be general, and to mitigate their degree, to the utmost extent of lenity." In execution of this principle, he proceeds to state, it has been necessary to make a small selection, using his own expressions, from a great mass of delinquency.

The mind is naturally prepared, after such an exordium, to expect that his lordship's selection will be confined to a narrow number of principals,engaged in the recent unhappy occurrences; when how shocked and disappointed is it to find, that no less than twenty-one officers, of different degrees of imagined guilt, are denounced for prosecution, or, to spare the time of the court and executioner, for quiet dismissal from the service.

Not wishing to rest on some of the capricious and whimsical grounds of selection, that are explained by his lordship, in divisions and subdivisions of offences and offenders, not from a supposed extent of guilt, but from accidental and personal rank and station; it may be shortly observed, that the very distinctions, taken by his lordship, shew the variance of his practice from his principle. If offences were capable of is classification, some of them standing eminently conspicuous from the rest, his lord

hip's idea of tempered justice might have been satisfied, without endangering the lives of more, than are comprehended in the first class, absolutely given up for trial. Would not three er minais, if so it had appeared, steeped, according to his lordship's contem, lion, in the deepest guilt, have been sufficient victims to the offended laws of their profession and their country? or did his lordship look for a further opportunity of displaying his clemency, meditating a mitigated sentence on subordinate offenders? Be this as it may, this extraordinary order, after exempting, on no very explicable, nor, perhaps, creditable reason the greatest body of officers, who had taken the lead in revolt, from all responsibility and enquiry, submits a large portion of others, twenty-one in number, to the peril of a criminal investigation, which cannot but keep alive feelings, to a protracted period, which the order professes a view of tranquillising and setting at rest. It would not seem prac-. ticable that any order could be constructed, more contradictory in effect of its declared principle, and more prevention of its own, or general policy.

The temper of the times would not appear more adapted for the impartial administration of justice, than the condition of the judges, who must, of necessity, be chosen, for the adjudication of the questions between the government and the disaffected members of the army. It would seem impossible that these judges could be nominated from the ranks of those, who had recently shewn themselves in opposition to the government; and if they should be taken from the king's or oompany's officers, who had embraced a contrary side, it may be suspected, that they may have a leaving not advantageous to the prisoners. This is, perhaps, one of the unavoidable consequences of the unfortunate occurrences detailed; which, if it had no other effect, should have induced the governor-general to have made as sparing a reference as practicable to a

tribunal, to be composed of such materials. But, in opposition to this obvious course, numerous trials are ordered to take place, embracing an inquiry not only into the principal transactions of the revolt, but all the most minute particolars relating to it, necessarily involving, in the investigation, the counsels and the acts of the government which led to the late lamentable state of things.

If the result of these trials may not favour the views of the government, it may be supposed to speak, at all events, the sentiment of its own partisans, on its conduct; and in such light it cannot be altogether useless in forming an opinion of the circumstances under review.

The court martial appointed, on this ●ccasion, was assembled at Bangalore, at a distance from the presidency; and was composed of officers of his majesty's and company's service indiscriminately, who had adhered generally to the cause of the government; and the majority of them, so far as we are informed, had lately and distinguishingly participated in the defence of the government. This circumstance is not mentioned, for they are entitled to a different character, to throw the slightest slur on the proceedings of the court; but for the purpose of sustaining the remark, which we are about to make, that a court so formed, could not be suspected of a bias against the constituted authorities. The Court proceeded to the trial of the principal cases towards the end of the year, on direct and express charges of mutiny, worded with exactitude sufficient, and supported, for the most part, by evidence, capable, however, of an answer on the part of the prisoners, that seemed to sustain the letter of the accusation. The general defence of the accused, it will not be requisite to enter into particulars, was grounded on the irritable state of the greater portion of the coast army, produced, as it was insisted, by the arbitrary and oppresive acts of the government,--an excess of authority, provoking opposition and resistance. Yet that in the most acute sense of injury, the parties had never

once consulted on acts of aggression, nor had ever swerved, (perhaps a refined distinction) from their allegiance to their country. All of them further contended, that their particular conduct, during the general disaffection of the army, was influenced by a desire, and with the effect, of restraining a revolt, within the limits which it would admit, since it could not be by any human means, apparent to them, completely and utterly subdued.

It is not for us, at present, to enter on the consideration of the validity of this species of defence, when we propose merely to notice its effect on those, whose exclusive business it was to judge of it. The court, after having maturely weighed what appeared to them in evidence on both sides; decided on the guilt of two of the pri soners, and the acquittal of the third.

The first, lieut.-colonel J. Bell, who had commanded the garrison of Seringapatam, and who had been convicted on all the branches of the charges preferred against him, was sentenced to be cashiered; the minor punishment, which lord Minto had left to the option of an inferior class of offenders, instead of the hazard of a decision by a court martial.

The second, major J. Storey, who had the temporary command of Masulipatam, and who, in addition to the general matter of excuse, set up by the other defendant, pleaded, but was not allowed the benefit of the plea, the amnesty of general Pater, was sentenced to the like extent with colonel Bell; but was recommended strongly to mercy.

And the third, lieut-colonel Doveton commandant of the force at Jaulna, was bonourably acquitted.

The leniency of these sentences, in a charge so grave, and so serious in a military point of view, would, of itself, speak volumes, as to the opinion of the court, having all the evidence fresh in its memory, of the conduct of the prosecutors But the circumstance receives an additional authority from the subsequent demeanour of the government, so far as it may be thought to be idenufied with the act of the

commander-in-chief; or may be illustrated by its concurrence in it.

The sentences of the court martial, after they had been judicially pronounced, and forwarded to head-quarters, were transmitted to the court for revision, accompanied by a letter from the judge-advocate-general, under the sanction of the cominander-in-chief, arguing, contrary, as it should seem, to the duties of such office, certainly contrary to the dictates of natural justice, against the subject matter of the defence, and insisting on its incompetency as a legal excuse. It will be only necessary to remark, that this address to the court is made behind the back of the prisoner, and after the prosecutor, the ordinary judge-advocate, had previously had the benefit of a reply. There is, moreover, this extraordinary, and, we will add, this ourrageous and unprecedented character about it, considering it, as we do, and as it must be considered by every one else, as the act of the commander-inchief, that it is an address from the highest source of authority in the army, and from whom all military promotion must flow, to a military court appointed by himself, calling upon it, scarcely in an indirect way, to reject exculpatory matter, and to increase the pains of its sentence. That it is the grateful duty of such high military officer, to soften and abate the excessive rigour of a military sentence, the law and practice of the army has abundantly shewn us; but this is the first instance that has come within our knowledge, and we pray it may be the last, where he has borrowed the judge-advocate's professional skill, to instruct the ordinary court to increase the penalties awarded by it.

To the credit of the court martial be it spoken, that it adhered, notwithstanding the influence of this appeal, to the original letter of its solemn adjudications; even though, in the instance of major Storey, the commander-in-chief had notified, that if the sentence had been extreme, he might, in that event, have attended to the court's recommendation.

VOL. 11.

It remains only to be noticed, in respect to the decision of the military court, that lieutenant-colonel Doveton, though he had been acquitted fully of all the charges preferred against him, was immediately and publicly removed from the command of his regiment, and suspended from all military employment, until the pleasure of the court of directors should be known.

The acts of the government itself deliver us from the necessity of commenting on these proceedings; since they unequivocally shew the sense that it entertained of the result of these trials, which declares, through the medium of the different sentences, the innocence, or mitigated guilt, and consequent punishment of the parties, in the provocation which moved or urged to it.

In this way, not less remarkable in itself than in its origin and progress, did this extraordinary contest end.

To times more remote we must look for a calm and temperate consideration of events, that have created a general and an anxious interest. Some opinion may at present, however, be hinted, and possibly expected, from the extent of the existing information, on the principal occurrences that have been cursorily examined in their places, and in proper order of time.

In viewing the actual evil that has passed---and the consequences that remain behind, the late revolt may be consider d as one of the most perilous events that have attended the company's affairs, since the first establishment of their power in India. It will not appear, either vain or impertinent, therefore, in us, if we endeavour to recapitulate, though in a very summary way, the causes that, in our estimation, induced the complicated mischief described.

The great moving cause may be discovered, in our apprehension, but too plainly, in the arbitrary conduct, and obstinacy, too often, and too inconsidera'ely dignified by the name of consistency, of Sir George Barlow, which first leads him, as has been shewn, to commit an oppression, naturally ex

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citing irritation and excess, and after wards intemperately administering to the strength of the public feeling, by repeated agression, in re-assertion of the principle exercised in the obnoxious act. It will be seen that we are adverting to the right of suspension, so frequently contended for, and used by Sir G. Barlow, from the very commencement of his administration;-a power so lavishly used, from the moment it was drawn forth, that it pervaded, in a few weeks, every department of the civil and military service.

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If it may be said, that the power was not new, or that others had used it without creating the same general discontent, that shewed itself against Sir G. Barlow; it may be answered with safety, and with truth, that it was never before exercised either in the degree, or in the circumstances, in which it was unhappily used by him; or from the nature of the power itself ever could be used at all, with the patience and forbearance of the objects suffering under it, but with the greatest delicacy and circumspection. Now it cannot be said, by the warmest of the governor's partisans, that it was so directed by him, or that it was regarded by him in any other light, but as an incident of his office, to be resorted to on all occasions which, in his judgment, should seem convenient, and without any communication with the parties, whom the supposed right more immediately affected, and consequently without any but a partial enquiry or information, into the circumstances, that are to warrant the exercise of it. The inconsiderate use of such a power, if there were no question about its legality, could not be deemed but as an intolerable grievance, under any times, and under any circumstances. But the constant resort to it, at all seasons, when ordinary remedies are at hand, and carrying it, at once, to the utmost possible stretch of which it is capable, and far beyond the limits, which the authority, whence the power is supposed to be derived, has, apparently, thought fit to prescribe to it, is so wanton and flagrant a use of it,

that, though we shall not attempt a jus. tification of the opposition that it is too manifestly calculated to promote, we do not feel, and therefore express not, a surprise, from the known workings of human passions, at the provocation of it, even to the unfortunate extent to which it has been carried.

But the exercise of the power, grinding as it is in itself, is rendered even more grievous by the manner in which it is applied. Civil and military officers, without discrimination of their relations, the conditions, or the circumstances, under which they stand, are suspended alike from their functions, and from the means of support, and placed, unquestioned and unheard, and on pretences always indefinitely stated, and often wholly unexplained, without the protection, as well as benefit, of the company's service, and sent as vagiants, at a great expense, and without the means of redressing the injury under which they suffer, if they survive such unparalleled treatment, to the distant shores of Britain.

They who require a patient and easy submission, under evils so accumu lated, and the possible extension of them, by unrestrained use, to the whole body of the civil and military ser vice, cannot have formed any very accurate notion of the evils themselves, or of the boundary of human forbearance. The philosopher and the moralist may preach over cases foreign to himself, the sublime virtue of resig nation; but deprive him of the fruits of his long labour; banish him from his adopted country; take from him the usual means of his subsistence; deny him the justice, ordained by the nature and law of his service, the right of a. present hearing, and the means of a future appeal; brand him with disloyalty; denounce him far and wide, by the publications of the press; send him forth almost into a new world, condemned and punished for crimes, from which all men naturally fly; subject him to all these real, not imaginary ills, and if he shall miracu lously preserve his own serenity, he

will find some difficulty in suppressing their respective offices and employthe sympathy of his fellows.

These acts of suspension alone, multiplied as they were, and executed in the way explained, contrary to the common dictates of justice, and the plain and repeated orders of the power to whom the government, as well as its officers, is immediately responsible (without the examination of witnesses, or the hearing of the parties ;) were, from the nature of the acts, as well as from the frequent repetition of them, sufficient of themselves to stir the ill-will that manifested itself; unless, of which there is no proof, they should be afterwards renounced, or moderated, on more mature reflection, or some merciful suggestion in the bosom of the mover of them. On the contrary, Sir George Barlow's conduct is marked by the character of unremitting severity, which he fancies to be suited, and alone suited, to the state of things around him; and the principle owned and acted upon, is extended as well to his private acts, as his public proceedings. Whether men shall choose not to accept his personal invitations, or to favour his state policy, they are equally visited by the signal displeasure of the governor, removed from situations of profit or of honour, and unfeelingly sent on harassing marches, or on perilous and unhealthy employ

ments.

What is the imagined power of the governor? what the abject condition of the governed, what the blunted state of public feeling, when it is expected that these things can be endured? What, too, it may be asked, is the danger of the crisis, when this extreme authority is resorted to, and applied in so general and so profuse a manner ?

Nothing less, it should seem, than an universal mutiny or rebellion, could sanction so summary and so severe a remedy. But is it pretended even, by Sir G. Barlow, that any civil commotion existed, or any mutinous or rebellious spirit had shewn itself in the military body; when civilians and soldiers, with a like merciless hand, are driven in shoals from

ments?

It has been insinuated, but not proved, in the defence of Sir G. Barlow, that some trifling discontent had been spread throughout the army, by the abolition of the tent contract, and by the release of the quarter-master-general from his arrest, in ubversion of the course of military justice; and that such discontent required to be put down by a strong arm. But it would become those, who insist on this species of defence, to show the acts, prejudicial to the cause of good government, or contumacious even of its authority, that had preceded the indiscriminate, and indiscriminating, suspensions, in the civil and military departments. It may be fairly said, that the sense of supposed injury, felt by the commanding officers of corps, on the abolition of the tent contract, had been suffered to subside, and to rest on the appeal made by them to the court of directors; and that the new arrangement of Sir G. Barlow, had been allowed to supersede the old contract, without the least shew of opposition, and had been acted upon for months, previous to any military suspension, without a murmur, on the part of the army, save that which had been expressed to the executive authority in England, through the memorial described.

This assertion will not admit, it is presumed, of denial; but in respect to the other object of discontent, the release of the quarter-master-general, it might have passed, it is believed, like the first, from the mind of the army, if it had not been unwisely and closely mixed with another more stinging suffering. stinging suffering. But it was not permitted so to escape; being engrafted, as it were, with the first military suspensions of the commander-in-chief and the deputy-adjutant-general of the army.

To the time of the last-mentioned events, all the public orders of the government declare not only the obedience, but commend the discipline of the army. If this praise be to be retracted, it must be done in as

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