delicacy and with sound discretion-remonstrance of Colonel Capper, the that it should only be exercised when adjutant-general, and before three days the retrenchment is of real impor- had been given him to substitute his tance-and, above all, that it should own plan, which Sir George Barlow always be accompanied with every had promised to read before the publimark of suavity and conciliation. Sir cation of Colonel Munro's report. Nay, George Barlow, on the contrary, com- this great plan of reduction was never mitted the singular imprudence of stig- even submitted to the Military Board, matising the honour, and wounding the by whom all subjects of that description feelings of the Indian officers. At the were, according to the orders of the same moment that he diminished their Court of Directors, and the usage of emoluments, he tells them, that the the service, to be discussed and diIndian Company take away their allow-gested, previous to their coming before ances for tents, because those allowances Government. have been abused in the meanest, most Shortly after the promulgation of this profligate, and most unsoldier-like very indiscreet paper, the Commandermanner: for this, and more than this. in-chief, General Macdowall, received is conveyed in the report of Colonel letters from almost all the officers comManro, published by order of Sir manding native corps, representing in George Barlow. If it were right, in terms adapted to the feelings of each, the first instance, to diminish the emo- the stigma which was considered to luments of so vast an army, it was cer-attach to them individually, and aptainly indiscreet to give such reasons pealing to the authority of the Comfor it. If any individual had abused mander-in-chief for redress against such the advantages of the tent-contract, he charges, and to his personal experience might have been brought to a court- for their falsehood. To these letters martial; and, if his guilt had been the General replied, that the orders in established, his punishment, we will question had been prepared without any venture to assert, would not have occa-reference to his opinion, and that, as the sioned a moment of complaint or dis- matter was so far advanced, he deemed action in the army; but that a it inexpedient to interfere. The officers civilian, a gentleman accustomed only commanding corps, finding that no steps to the details of commerce, should begin were taken to remove the obnoxious inhis government, over a settlement with sinuations, and considering that, while which he was utterly unacquainted, by they remained, an indelible disgrace teLing one of the bravest set of officers was cast upon their characters, prein the world, that, for six years past, pared charges against Colonel Munro. they had been, in the basest manner, These charges were forwarded sacrificing their duty to their interest, General Macdowall, referred by him does appear to us an instance of indis- to the Judge Advocate General, and cretion which, if frequently repeated, returned with his objections to them, would soon supersede the necessity of to the officers who had preferred the any further discussion upon Indian charges. For two months after this period, General Macdowall appears to The whole transaction, indeed, ap- have remained in a state of uncertainty, pears to have been gone into with a as to whether he would or would not disregard to the common professional bring Colonel Munro to a court-martial feelings of an army, which is to us upon the charges preferred against utterly inexplicable. The opinion of him by the commanders of corps. At the Commander-in-chief, General Mac- last, urged by the discontents of the dowall, was never even asked upon the army, he determined in the affirmative; sabject; not a single witness was exa- and Colonel Munro was put in arrest, mined; the whole seems to have de- preparatory to his trial. Colonel Munro pended upon the report of Colonel then appealed directly to the Governor, Manro, the youngest staff-officer of the Sir George Barlow, and was released army, published in spite of the earnest by a positive order from him. It is VOL. L O

affairs.

to

necessary to state, that all appeals of dignity of Government was attacked

by the proposal of the court-martial, or to what other remedy those who had suffered from his abuse of his power could have had recourse. Colonel Munro had been promised, by General Macdowall, that the court-martial should consist of king's officers: there could not, therefore, have been any rational suspicion that his trial would have been unfair, or his judges unduly influenced.

Soon after Sir George Barlow had shown this reluctance to give the complaining officers an opportunity of reestablishing their injured character, General Macdowall sailed for England, and left behind him, for publication, an order, in which Colonel Munro was reprimanded for a violent breach of military discipline, in appealing to the Governor otherwise than through the customary and prescribed channel of the Commander-in-chief. As this paper is very short, and at the same time very necessary to the right comprehension of this case, we shall lay it before our readers.

officers to the Government in India always pass through the hands of the Commander-in-chief; and this appeal, therefore, of Colonel Munro, directed to the Government, was considered by General Macdowall as a great infringement of military discipline. We have very great doubts whether Sir George Barlow was not guilty of another great mistake in preventing this court-martial from taking place. It is undoubtedly true, that no servant of the public is amenable to justice for doing what the Government order him to do; but he is not entitled to protection under the pretence of that order, if he have done something which it evidently did not require of him. If Colonel Munro had been ordered to report upon the conduct of an individual officer, and it could be proved that, in gratification of private malice, he had taken that opportunity of stating the most infamous and malicious falsehoods, could it be urged that his conduct might not be fairly scrutinised in a court of justice, or a court-martial? If this were other"G. O. by the Commander-in-chief. wise, any duty delegated by Govern"The immediate departure of Lieutenantment to an individual would become General Macdowall from Madras will prethe most intolerable source of oppres- vent his pursuing the design of bringing sion he might gratify every enmity Lieutenant-Colonel Munro, Quarter-Masand antipathy indulge in every act ter-General, to trial, for disrespect to the of malice- vilify and traduce every Commander-in-chief, for disobedience of one whom he hated- and then shelter orders, and for contempt of military auhimself under the plea of the public thority, in having resorted to the power of service. Everybody has a right to do judgment of the officer at the head of the what the supreme power orders him to army, who had placed him under arrest, on do; but he does not thereby acquire a charges preferred against him by a number right to do what he has not been or- of officers commanding native corps, in dered to do. Colonel Munro was consequence of which appeal direct to the directed to make a report upon the Honourable the President in Council, state of the army: the officers whom Lieutenant-General Macdowall has received he has traduced, accuse him of report-liberate Lieutenant-Colonel Munro from positive orders from the Chief Secretary to ing something utterly different from the state of the army-something "Such conduct, on the part of Lieutenantwhich he and everybody else knew Colonel Munro, being destructive of subto be different and this for the mali-ordination, subversive of military discicious purpose of calumniating their re- pline, a violation of the sacred rights of putation. If this were true, Colonel the Commander-in-chief, and holding out Munro could not plead the authority Lieutenant-General Macdowall, in support a most dangerous example to the service. of Government; for the authority of of the dignity of the profession, and his own Government was afforded to him for a station and character, feels it incumbent on very different purpose. In this view him to express his strong disapprobation of the case, we cannot see how the of Lieutenant-Colonel Munro's unexampled

the Civil Government, in defiance of the

arrest.

daty imposed upon him to reprimand Lieutenant-Colonel Munro in general orders; and he is hereby reprimanded accordingly

(Signed) T. BOLES, D. a. G.”— Accurate and Authentic Narrative, pp. 68, 69.

We

proceedings, and considers it a solemn for transgressing a well-known and important rule of the service. have great doubts if he was not quite right in giving this reprimand. But at all events, if he were wrong-it Colonel Munro were not guilty of the Sir George Barlow, in consequence offence imputed, still the erroneous of this paper, immediately deprived punishment which the General had inGeneral Macdowall of his situation flicted, merited no such severe retribuof commander-in-chief, which he had tion as that resorted to by Sir George not yet resigned, though he had Barlow. There are no reflections in quitted the settlement; and as the the paper on the conduct of the Goverofficial signature of the deputy adju- nor or the Government. The reprimand tant-general appeared at the paper, is grounded entirely upon the breach that officer also was suspended from of that military discipline which it was his situation. Colonel Capper, the undoubtedly the business of General adjutant-general, in the most honour- Macdowall to maintain in the most she manner informed Sir George Bar-perfect purity and vigour. Nor has low, that he was the culpable and the paper any one expression in it responsible person; and that the name foreign to this purpose. We were inof his deputy only appeared to the deed, not a little astonished at reading paper in consequence of his positive it. We had imagined that a paper, order, and because he himself happened which drew after it such a long train to be absent on shipboard with General of dismissals and suspensions, must Macdowall. This generous conduct have contained a declaration of war on the part of Colonel Capper involved against the Madras Government-an himself in punishment without extri- exhortation to the troops to throw off cating the innocent person whom he their allegiance, or an advice to the intended to protect. The Madras natives to drive their intrusive masters Government, always swift to condemn, away, and become as free as their foredoomed him to the same punishment fathers had left them. Instead of this, as Major Boles; and he was suspended we find nothing more than a common from his office. reprimand from a Commander-in-chief to a subordinate officer, for transgressing the bounds of his duty. If Sir George Barlow had governed kingdoms six months longer, we cannot help thinking he would have been a little more moderate.

This paper we have read over with great attention; and we really cannot see wherein its criminality consists, or on what account it could have drawn down upon General Macdowall so severe a punishment as the privation of the high and dignified office which But whatever difference of opinion be held. The censure upon Colonel there may be respecting the punishment Munro was for a violation of the regular of General Macdowall, we can scarcely etiquette of the army, in appealing to the think there can be any with regard to Governor otherwise than through the the conduct observed towards the adjuchannel of the Commander-in-chief. tant-general and his deputy. They This was an entirely new offence on the were the subordinates of the Compart of Colonel Munro. Sir George Bar-mander-in-chief, and were peremptorily low had given no opinion upon it; it had not been discussed between him and the Commander-in-chief; and the Commander-in-chief was clearly at liberty to act in this point as he pleased. He does not reprimand Colonel Munro for obeying Sir George Barlow's orders, for Sir George had given no orders upon the subject; but he blames him

bound to publish any general orders which he might command them to publish. They would have been liable to very severe punishment if they had not; and it appears to us the most flagrant outrage against all justice, to convert their obedience into a fault. It is true, no subordinate officer is bound to obey any order which is plainly, and

to any common apprehension, illegal; | for the ordinary transmission of an order

but then the illegality must be quite manifest the order must imply such a contradiction to common sense, and such a violation of duties superior to the duty of military obedience, that there can be scarcely two opinions on the subject. Wherever any fair doubt can be raised, the obedience of the inferior officer is to be considered as proper and meritorious. Upon any other principle, his situation is the most cruel imaginable: he is liable to the severest punishment, even to instant death, if he refuses to obey; and if he does obey, he is exposed to the animadversion of the civil power, which teaches him that he ought to have canvassed the order, to have remonstrated against it, and, in case this opposition proved ineffectual, to have disobeyed it. We have no hesitation in pronouncing the imprisonment of Colonel Capper and Major Boles to have been an act of great severity and great indiscretion, and such as might very fairly give great offence to an army, who saw themselves exposed to the same punishments, for the same adherence to their duties.

to the army, was universally condemned as do infinite mischief, but could not accoman act of inapplicable severity, which might plish any good or beneficial purpose. It was to court unpopularity, and adding fuel to the flame, which was ready to burst forth in every division of the army; that to vindicate the measure on the assumed illegality of the order, is to resort to a principle of a most dangerous tendency, capable poses subversive of the foundations of all of being extended in its application to purauthority, civil as well as military. If subordinate officers are encouraged to judge of the legality of the orders of their superiors, we introduce a precedent of incalculable mischief, neither justified by the spirit or practice of the laws. Is it not better to have the responsibility on the head of the

authority which issues the order, except in cases so plain, that the most common

capacity can judge of their being direct violations of the established and acknowledged laws? Is the intemperance of the expressions, the indiscretion of the opinions, the inflammatory tendency of the order, so eminently dangerous, so evidently calculated to excite to mutiny and disobedience, so strongly marked with features of criminality, as not to be mistaken? Was the order, I beg leave to ask, of this description, of such a nature as to justify the adjutantgeneral and his deputy in their refusal to "The measure of removing Lieutenant-publish it, to disobey the order of the ComColonel Capper and Major Boles," says Mr. mander-in-chief, to revolt from his authoPetrie, "was universally condemned by the rity, and to complain of him to the Governmost respectable officers in the army, and ment? Such were the views I took of that not more so by the officers in the Company's unhappy transaction: and, as I foresaw service, than by those of his Majesty's regi- serious mischief from the measure, not only ments. It was felt by all as the introduction to the discipline of the army, but even to of a most dangerous principle, and setting the security of the civil Government, it was a pernicious example of disobedience and my duty to state my opinion to Sir G. Barinsubordination to all the gradations of low, and to use every argument which my military rank and authority; teaching in- reason suggested, to prevent the publication ferior officers to question the legality of the of the order. In this I completely failed: orders of their superiors, and bringing into the suspension took effect; and the match discussion questions which may endanger was laid that has communicated the flame the very existence of Government. Our to almost every military mind in India. I proceedings at this time operated like an recorded no dissent; for, as a formal oppoelectric shock, and gave rise to combina-sition could only tend to exonerate myself tions, associations, and discussions, preg- from a certain degree of responsibility, nant with danger to every constituted without effecting any good public purpose, authority in India. It was observed that and might probably be misconstrued or the removal of General Macdowall (admit- misconceived by those to whom our proceedting the expediency of that measure) suffi-ings were made known, it was a more honciently vindicated the authority of Government, and exhibited to the army a memorable proof that the supreme power is vested in the civil authority.

"The offence came from the General, and he was punished for it; but to suspend from the service the mere instruments of office,

ourable discharge of my duty to relinquish this advantage, than to comply with the mere letter of the order respecting dissents. I explained this motive of my conduct to Sir G. Barlow."-Statement of Facts, pp. 20-23.

After these proceedings on the part

is at all times an unpopular species of inquisition; and at a period when men were hesitating whether they should obey or not, was certainly a very dangerous and rash measure. It could be no security; for men who would otherwise rebel against their Government, certainly would not be restrained by any verbal barriers of this kind; and, at the same time that it promised no effectual security, it appeared to increase the danger of irritated combination. This very rash measure immediately produced the strongest representations and remonstrances from king's officers of the most unquestionable loyalty.

"Lieutenant-Colonel Vesey, commanding at Palamcotah, apprehends the most fatal southern provinces, if Colonel Wilkinson consequences to the tranquillity of the makes any hostile movements from Trichinopoly. In different letters he states, that such a step must inevitably throw the Company's troops into open revolt. He has ventured to write in the strongest terms to march against the southern troops, and Colonel Wilkinson, entreating him not to pointing out the ruinous consequences which may be expected from such a measure.

of the Madras Government, the dis- | natural and probable effect of uniting affection of the troops rapidly increased; them all in opposition to Government. absurd and violent manifestoes were To impose a test, or trial of opinions, published by the general officers; Government was insulted; and the army soon broke out into open mutiny. When the mutiny was fairly begun, the conduct of the Madras Government in quelling it, seems nearly as objectionable as that by which it had been excited. The Governor, in attempting to be dignified, perpetually fell into the most puerile irritability; and, wishing to be firm, was guilty of injustice and violence. Invitations to dinner were made an affair of state. Long negotiations appear, respecting whole corps of officers who refused to dine with Sir George Barlow; and the first persons in the settlement were employed to persuade them to eat the repast which his Excellency had prepared for them. A whole school of military lads were sent away, for some trifling display of partiality to the cause of the army; and every unfortunate measure recurred to, which a weak understanding and a taptious temper could employ to bring a Government into contempt. Officers were dismissed; but dismissed without trial, and even without accusation. The object seemed to be to punish Somebody; whether it was the right or the wrong person was less material. core, and Colonel Forbes in Malabar, have Sometimes the subordinate was selected, written, that they are under no apprewhere the principal was guilty; some- vinces, or for the fidelity of the Company's hension for the tranquillity of those protimes the superior was sacrificed for troops, if Government does not insist on the ungovernable conduct of those who enforcing the orders for the signature of were under his charge. The blows the test; but that, if this is attempted, the were strong enough; but they came security of the country will be imminently from a man who shut his eyes, and endangered. These orders are to be enstruck at random ;-conscious that he forced; and I tremble for the consemast do something to repel the danger, quences."-Statement of Facts, pp. 53, 54. -but so agitated by its proximity that he could not look at it, or take a proper nourable Colonel Stuart, commanding The following letter from the HoAmong other absurd measures received by Sir George Barlow:a king's regiment, was soon after reserted to by this new Eastern Emperor, Was the notable expedient of imposing "The late measures of Government, as a test upon the officers of the army, carried into effect at the Fresidency and expressive of their loyalty and attach-Trichinopoly, have created a most violent ment to the Government; and as this places where the European force was so far ferment among the corps here. At those was done at a time when some officers superior in number to the native, the were in open rebellion, others fluc-measure probably was executed without tuating, and many almost resolved to difficulty; but here, where there are seven adhere to their duty, it had the very battalions of sepoys, and a company and a

sim.

"Lieutenant-Colonel Stuart in Travan