I certainly was most reluctant to believe that this measure had Sir George Barlow's sanction: it seemed to me of a character opposite to all the principles and habits of his life: nor could I forget those grounds which he had assumed when he recently refused to permit me to frame an address of a very opposite tendency, and one that would, in all probability, have prevented those evils which this seemed calculated to inflame. I never was more surprised than when (some days subsequent to my note to Colonel Leith) I was informed by a confidential officer of the Governor's staff, to whom I mentioned what I had done, and the reasons by which I was actuated, that the address, from the first, had the Governor's complete sanction and approbation.
In closing this subject, it may be necessary to state, that this address, after all the unbecoming efforts that were used to obtain signatures, had only fifty-seven names affixed to it; among which, twenty-four only were civilians and inhabitants of Madras: the remainder were officers of his Majesty's service, with a few of the staff of the Company's army. If all those who did not sign it were not actually considered as disaffected, they were deemed by those whom this measure had formed into a party, as lukewarm in the public cause. This species of injustice is too common to such times, to afford any individual a right of complaint; but there should be a difference between the momentary feeling of a violent party during a period of commotion, and the deliberate sentiments of a public ruler. I have already mentioned, that the crime of having presumed, though in the most respectful manner, to act conformably to the dictates of my own judgment on a question which was referred to me as a private individual, subjected me, at the moment, to the loss of those civilities from Sir George Barlow to which I had a right from my public station; and I did not require the evidence I have now obtained, from the publication of the letter from the Government of Madras to the Secret Committee, to satisfy my mind that my character has since had to war with all the weight that belongs to the influence and opinion of Sir George Barlow: but, great as this odds may appear to many, it can excite no apprehension in a mind fortified as mine is by a conscious sense of never having deviated from the path of private rectitude, or public duty.
Though, subsequent to this transaction, all personal intercourse between Sir George Barlow and me had ceased, I could not look with indifference on the events that occurred; and when the mad desperation of the officers of the two corps which marched from Chittledroog to proceed to Seringapatam led to an action, I thought the opportunity favourable to close this horrid scene in a manner every way suited to the dignity of Government. I first communicated my sentiments upon this point to Lieutenant-Colonel Barclay, and afterwards ventured to address the following note to Sir George Barlow, expecting that the importance of the subject, and a consideration of former acquaintance and regard, would at least obtain a pardon for such a liberty.
"Dear Sir,
"I wrote a note to Colonel Barclay some hours ago, which he informed me he sent to you for perusal. I have since received a letter from Masulipatam, at which place they are between hope and despair; but have refrained from further guilt, and mean to refrain, unless called upon by those who have now, thank God! shown them an example of returning to their duty. I am assured you will not blame that extreme anxiety which makes me intrude, unasked, my opinion at a moment like the present. I have, I am satisfied, the fullest information of the real temper of this army at this present period; and, if I am not the most deceived man in the world, there is an opportunity given, by the conduct of the Hyderabad force[66], which enables you to combine the immediate and complete settlement of these afflicting troubles with the advancement of the reputation, power, and dignity, of Government. I am aware of the very deep guilt into which almost all have gone; some in intention, others in act: but the force at Hyderabad, who, since the 1st of May, have been the cause of all the present evils, and who lately insulted Government with demands, are now supplicating clemency: a dreadful[67] example has occurred in Mysore, which will make a lasting impression on both officers and sepoys, of the horrors to which such illegal combinations lead. If it were possible to close the scene here, an impression must be made that will for ever prevent the repetition of such crimes; and the effect of shame and contrition, which the clemency and magnanimity of Government must produce, will have more effect upon the minds of liberal men than twenty examples. Men's minds will be at once reclaimed, and they will be fixed in their attachment by a better motive than fear. But this is not all. The officers at Hyderabad, like those of other stations, act at the present crisis entirely from the impulse of passion and feeling; and they fly, as I have witnessed, from one extreme to another, with a facility that is not to be credited by persons under the influence of calm reason. Such persons can never be depended upon, whatever pledges they make, while any strong causes of agitation remain: and no act, therefore, which does not embrace the whole, can give that complete security and tranquillity which is the object of desire. If a single question of irritation and inflammation be left, it is a spark which may again create a general explosion.
"You will, I am assured, pardon this communication. Nothing could have induced me to the freedom, but a conviction that this is one of those happy moments when all the dangers that threaten us may be dissipated. If you can, on the grounds of your granting that clemency to supplication, which you never would to demand; of military justice being satisfied, and the army lessoned, in the dreadful example that has been made in Mysore; and of your thinking it not derogatory, at such a moment, to grant a general amnesty, and to bury the past in oblivion: desiring all those who mean to perform their duty to join their corps, and those who do not, to consider themselves out of the service; and proclaiming every man a traitor, and liable to immediate military execution, who opposes legal authority one hour after the receipt of this order, I will answer with my life for the immediate re-establishment of the public authority on more secure grounds than it perhaps ever rested. Such an act as this will, I am assured, while it advances the fame and dignity of Government, raise your own reputation in the highest degree; and you will receive, as you will merit, the blessings of thousands, with the applause of your country.
"I have perhaps already said too much upon this subject; and I could adduce many more equally forcible reasons to those I have urged; but I shall not trouble you further. If you think the suggestions I have offered worthy of any attention, I shall attend you, and state them. With regard to the success of this measure I cannot have a doubt. If all did not immediately submit, they would be completely disunited: and those that ventured to oppose (if there were any such), would be the proper objects for example.
"I am, with great respect,
"Your obedient servant,
(Signed) "JOHN MALCOLM."
The receipt of this note was not even acknowledged; and it was, of course, the last communication I made to Sir George Barlow. When Lord Minto arrived at Madras, I laid every part of my conduct before him. I gave him every information I could regarding the actual state of affairs; and submitted with freedom my sentiments of those principles which should govern his final judgment on the important points that remained for his decision. He expressed no dissatisfaction at my conduct; he thanked me for my information; and though he differed with me in many of the opinions I stated, he did not condemn me for that difference: on the contrary, he appeared pleased with the liberty I took in offering my advice with such boldness and freedom. The whole of the manner, as well as the substance of the conduct, which this able and virtuous nobleman observed towards me on this occasion, had the effect of reconciling my mind to further exertions in the public service; from which, I confess, it was, before his arrival, much, if not wholly alienated. I had been employed, as I have shown, in a confidential manner, without being trusted. I had been deputed on a delicate and arduous mission, and recommended to pursue a system which mixed firmness with conciliation, while it proposed to reclaim by reason more than by terror; and before any time was given for the operation of the measures I had taken, a new course was adopted, grounded on coercion alone: and because I had not by inspiration divined that such would be the ultimate result, I now discover that I have been most unjustly censured, as disappointing the expectations of the Government: and it has been insinuated (a direct charge would have been too bold) that I acted contrary to orders. I trust I have refuted every charge of this nature: and if some should continue to think I have committed errors; none, I am assured, can accuse me of crimes. Let it be recollected that I was placed, throughout all the transactions I have described, in a most painful and difficult situation. I had no prescribed or distinct duty to perform; I was called upon by Sir G. Barlow to exert, in the manner I thought best adapted to the end, all the influence of my character to reclaim men with whom he thought I had great weight; and he appeared for a period to give me his confidence, and to trust implicitly to my discretion and judgment. I was all along sensible to the full danger of the situation in which I placed myself; but was too earnest in the cause to attend to prudence: and I may conscientiously add, that I never was more assured of meeting approbation from Sir George Barlow than at that moment when I found myself estranged from all share in his confidence, and treated with the most pointed neglect. But I had myself to reproach. I should certainly have foreseen that my efforts would have been useless, when combined with a system of measures to which they bore little or no affinity; and I was (I must confess it,) wrong in supposing, for a moment, that my advice, or any arguments I could adduce, could, under any circumstances, permanently divert the Governor of Fort St. George into a course that mixed feeling, and consideration for human failings, with the established maxims of his ordinary rule. I should have known better; and in fact I did, as my letters[68] before I went to Madras prove: but, when on the spot, my heart conquered my head, and I tried an impossibility: but I never shall regret the attempt, nor blush for having recommended principles of action that are congenial to the best feelings of human nature, that are calculated to make Government an object of rational attachment, and to give the mind a generous pride in submission and obedience; and which, so far from being of dangerous example, and subversive of order, are familiar in the practice to every free state, and have never been rejected in the most despotic, when such have been governed by great and wise rules.