Observations on the Disturbances in the Madras Army in 1809

by John Malcolm

"On receiving intelligence of the mutiny, we appointed Lieutenant-Colonel Malcolm, in whose zeal and talents we entertained the fullest confidence, to the command of the Madras European regiment, and the garrison of Masulipatam, for the purpose of re-establishing the authority of Government over the troops, inquiring into the causes of the mutiny, and placing the most guilty of the offenders under arrest. Lieutenant-Colonel Malcolm was not furnished with any written instructions: it was left to his discretion to adopt such measures as circumstances might render advisable, with the view to the accomplishment of the objects of his deputation.

"Lieutenant-Colonel Malcolm immediately proceeded by sea to Masulipatam. On his arrival he found that the officers of the garrison had formed themselves into a committee, in which every officer had a voice. The greatest anarchy and confusion prevailed; and it was with difficulty that he prevailed on the officers to acknowledge his authority.

"As it never was in the contemplation of the Government to disband the European regiment, it was expected that Lieutenant-Colonel Malcolm would have taken the earliest opportunity to communicate to the men a distinct and public disavowal of that intention on the part of the Government, and have employed the most strenuous exertions to recall the men to a sense of their duty, by impressing upon their minds the degree of guilt and danger in which their officers, for purposes entirely personal to themselves, had endeavoured to involve them. It was also expected that Lieutenant-Colonel Malcolm, by establishing his influence and authority over the troops composing the garrison, would have secured their obedience, and by that measure have deprived the officers of the power of prosecuting their designs, and brought the leaders to trial for their mutinous conduct.

"Lieutenant-Colonel Malcolm appears, however, to have adopted a course of proceedings entirely different from that which we had in view in deputing him to Masulipatam. He abstained from making any direct communication to the men: and when we authorized him, with the view of detaching the troops from the cause of their officers, to proclaim a pardon to the European and native soldiers for the part which they might have taken in the mutiny, he judged it proper to withhold the promulgation of the pardon, from an apprehension (as stated in his letter to our President, dated the 18th of July) of irritating the minds of the European officers, and driving them to despair.

"To this apparent unreasonable forbearance and attention to the feelings of the officers, who had, by their acts of violence and aggression, forfeited all claims to such consideration, may, we conceive, be ascribed Lieutenant-Colonel Malcolm's failure in the establishment of any efficient control over the garrison: and he appears to have been principally occupied, during the period of his residence at Masulipatam, in negociations with the disorderly committees; calculated, in our opinion, to compromise rather than establish his authority; and in fruitless attempts to induce them, by argument, to return to their duty, and abandon the criminal combination in which they had engaged. Lieutenant-Colonel Malcolm's reasons for pursuing this line of conduct, and for recommending to us the adoption of conciliatory and temporizing measures, are detailed in his letters to our President, dated the 4th, 5th, and 6th of July. In those letters he states, that the officers at Masulipatam had received assurances from most of the military stations of the army, applauding their conduct, and promising them effectual support; that the whole army were united in a resolution to oppose the authority of Government; that there was not a single corps, from Ganjam to Cape Comorin, which was not prepared to break out into open rebellion. The measures recommended by Lieutenant-Colonel Malcolm, as constituting, in his opinion, the only means of averting the most dreadful calamities, consisted of a modified repeal of the orders of the 1st of May; the restoration to the service, and to their appointments, of all the officers whom we had found it necessary to suspend or remove; with an intimation to the army, that their claims to Bengal allowances would be brought to the notice of the Honourable the Court of Directors. Lieutenant-Colonel Malcolm returned to Madras, on the arrival of Major-General Pater at Masulipatam to assume the command of the northern division of the army, having succeeded no further in accomplishing the objects of his mission, than in preventing the officers from adopting any flagrant acts of outrage to authority during his residence at Masulipatam."

The first charge is hardly less than a direct accusation of disobedience of orders. It is stated, that as it never was in the contemplation of Government to disband the European regiment, it was expected I would have taken the earliest opportunity to communicate to the men a distinct and public disavowal of that intention. In the succeeding paragraph I am accused of having adopted a course of proceeding entirely different from what Government had in view in deputing me; and I am positively charged with "having abstained from making any direct communication to the men." My letter to Lieutenant-Colonel Barclay, of the 18th July, is a number of this dispatch, and has been printed with it. This letter contains the following passage: "You will satisfy Sir George Barlow, that one of the first things that I did, after I came on shore, was to satisfy the minds of the officers, and, through them, of the men, of the intentions of Government in ordering a party of marines from the corps; and you will see, by the enclosed extract from my Journal, that I took the first good opportunity that offered of STATING THIS FACT in the most public and impressive manner to the whole regiment." I may ask, with great surprise and some indignation, Why the extract alluded to in this letter was not transmitted to the Honourable the Court of Directors? This extract was a copy of my speech made to the European regiment under arms on the 15th of July. The whole of this speech is in my Journal[52]. The following is a part of it.

"I consider it my duty to declare to you at this moment, that it never was in the contemplation of Government to disband or disperse this corps; and that it never meant to employ any officer or man of the regiment in any manner, or upon any service, but such as was suited to the character of British soldiers; and which it, of course, conceived both officers and men would be forward to proceed upon."

Is it possible that any disavowal could be more distinct, or made in a more proper and military manner? Yet I am directly charged with having abstained from making any such communication to the men! It is possible a charge so completely unfounded may have originated in mistake or neglect: but where there exists, as on the present occasion, an evident desire to criminate; where the secret nature of the blow afforded no opportunity of defence; such mistake, even if proved, neither can nor ought to disarm honest resentment. It is too much to have a character, that has been obtained by the struggle of a whole life, assailed in such a manner. But the knowledge which the Governor of Fort St. George had of my proceeding, upon this point, was not limited to this communication through Lieutenant-Colonel Barclay. The day after my return to Madras, I read to him the whole of my Journal. It is true he did not pay much attention to it: and the little value he attached to the detail of my proceedings was the cause of my not loading my public report with a copy of its contents. I had neither received at that moment, nor at any subsequent period, the slightest official notice of even dissatisfaction; and the probability of my conduct being misrepresented to my superiors in England in the manner it has been, never once entered into my imagination.

In answer to the charge, "That I did not employ my strenuous exertions to recall the men to a sense of their duty, by impressing upon their minds the degree of guilt and danger in which their officers, for purposes entirely personal to themselves, had endeavoured to involve them," I must reply in the most solemn manner, that I was not withheld from acting in the manner the Government here state they expected I would, merely because I had no orders to do so, but because I considered that such a proceeding would have had an operation directly opposite to all Sir George Barlow's intentions, as expressed when I left Madras. His desire then was, (as has already been shown,) to conciliate and reclaim the officers of the Company's army, not to render them desperate. I was particularly instructed to point their views to England, to persuade them by every effort to await the decision of the Honourable the Court of Directors, and to prevent their precipitating themselves into a guilt from which they could never retreat. Sir George Barlow appeared satisfied I could effect this through the influence of my general character, and the power of reason, aided by the justice of the cause I had to support: and I most solemnly affirm, that if the Government of Madras desire to insinuate (as the substance of these passages in their letter would imply) that I acted contrary to the instructions of Sir George Barlow, communicated to me in private, that the charge is not founded in fact: and it is fortunate for me that the subsequent communications made by Sir George Barlow's Secretary, and all the circumstances of this case, completely corroborate and establish the truth of that unqualified assertion, which I have deemed it due to my character to make on this point. A letter from Lieutenant-Colonel Barclay[53], dated the 12th of July, and written by the Governor's order, in reply to my communications from Masulipatam of the 4th, 5th, and 6th of July, in which I had required further orders, repeats nearly the same sentiments in the same language Sir George Barlow had used before I left Madras. "You cannot," he observes, "render a more acceptable service to the public interests, than by the exertion of your influence and ability in keeping the garrison of Masulipatam firm to their duty, and satisfying the officers that it is not less for their interests than it is consistent with their duty, to await the decision of the authorities in England on the several questions which have occasioned so much agitation in the minds of a considerable portion of the army of this establishment."