I am, with great respect,
Your obedient servant,
(Signed) JOHN MALCOLM.
TO SIR GEORGE BARLOW.
Masulipatam, 5th July, 1809.
Dear Sir,
I wrote you a hurried letter last night. I have since come to the knowledge of many additional facts, and have had some time to reflect on what I have seen and heard; and I should be as wanting in my duty to you as to my country, if I was withheld, by any motive whatever, in stating my sentiments in the most undisguised manner on the present state of affairs: and whether you coincide in my opinion or not, you can have no doubt regarding those motives that lead me to express, in that sacred confidence, which your knowledge of my character authorizes me to use, the conviction of my judgment on the steps necessary to be taken upon the present unfortunate crisis.
I have now seen the concerted plans of almost the whole of the army against the authority of Government; and can say, with almost an assurance that I am correct, that there is not one Company's corps, from Cape Comorin to Ganjam, that is not implicated in the general guilt, and that is not pledged to rise against Government, unless what they deem their grievances are redressed. Be assured, that no commanding officer, whatever they may write, has any real authority over their corps[70]: and though in some places (where there are King's regiments) they are more guarded, their resolution is the same; and they mean to act, the moment the example is shown by those parts of the army whom they consider as most likely to be successful in their first efforts. The Hyderabad and Jaulnah force are chiefly looked to, and the northern division of the army; and the European regiment has, from what they style its regimental grievances, become the corps from which they expect the first act of opposition. Its late proceedings are applauded and confirmed by the force at Hyderabad: and I know it was intended, if there had been the slightest indication of any coercive measures, or even had the Commander-in-Chief arrived, to have marched this corps and the two sepoy battalions in the division to effect a junction with the Hyderabad force, in order to organize an army to commence hostilities with Government. Their march was to have taken place as to-day; and it was, for five hours after my arrival, a subject of warm discussion, whether I should be recognised or not as their commanding officer? And, after stating every thing a man could state to reclaim them to better feeling, I was obliged to give them the choice of the extreme, of either immediately submitting to the order of Government, or of opposing it. They chose at last the former; but placed it on the grounds of that general respect which was paid by them, and all their brother officers, to my character. I did not think it necessary to fight regarding the grounds of their obedience on this point, being satisfied with the substance, and particularly as I had received this proof after they were informed of my sentiments and intentions. Though an immediate open rebellion against Government has been prevented by my arrival at Masulipatam, the danger is not past; and we must not deceive ourselves, or any longer evade this serious question. The officers of the Company's army on the coast are no doubt at this moment in a state of actual insurrection against the Government; and this combination against authority is every moment maturing and spreading wider. I have seen the letter[71] from the Bombay army to that of the coast, and it is unqualified in its condemnation of the orders of the 1st of May, and its promise of support. Several private letters have been received from Bengal. An address from that army, to the same effect as that of Bombay, is expected: at all events they appear certain that no human power will lead the Bengal troops to act against them. They calculate upon opposition from the King's army, and their plans are concerted to meet it. These deluded men are aware of the ruin they are bringing upon themselves; but their infatuation is so great, that they are reconciled to their ruin, in the expectation that it will equally involve that Government against which their rage has been so industriously and so successfully excited. All attempts to reason with men in the state of mind they are in, appears vain. Even the circulation of the able letter from Bengal is, as I apprehended, likely to inflame, instead of appeasing their passions. It is so true, that when men's minds have gone completely wrong, that which ought to put them right has, in general, a direct contrary effect: and the fact is, that all those correct principles and loyal feelings, which are so eloquently expressed in the letter from the supreme Government, but serve to impress them more forcibly with a sense of that guilt into which they have so precipitately rushed, and to render them more desperate in their proceedings, as they can (after what has passed, and particularly late events at this place,) only see individual safety in all being equally involved in the deepest guilt. I entreat you to be persuaded that these sentiments are quite general; or, at least, that the few who do not entertain them have neither the means nor the courage to oppose their progress; and allow themselves, with an indefensible passiveness, to be borne along with the tide. Under such a state of circumstances, all hopes of this spirit of insurrection subsiding must be at an end. Some steps must instantly be taken; and no good can result from the application of any partial remedy. The disease is general, and the remedy must be so also. It remains with you to decide on the measures that are to be adopted. The first and most military, though not, perhaps, the most political, that suggests itself, is the employment of actual force. In such a contest, however, not only the means must be calculated, but the result; and, as far as I can judge, success, even in this extreme, would not save us from the most baneful consequences. It seems therefore not wise to have resort to such a measure, till every other that it is possible for Government to take, without the annihilation of its own power and dignity, has been tried and failed. Unqualified concession to the demands of the army, either in dismissing public servants of Government, or in rescinding its orders, would be a virtual resignation of its power, and cannot therefore be made. It would, indeed, be better and more honourable, if matters were at the worst, that Government should fall by any hands than its own. Should Government not resolve on having immediate resort to force, one line only remains that could at the present moment afford a rational hope of the necessity of having recourse to that extreme being avoided, or at least of its being resorted to with advantage; which is, to meet the crisis at once, by a general order to something of the following purport:
"Government finds, with concern, that it can no longer indulge that sanguine hope which it once entertained, that the irritation which a variety of causes have combined to produce in the minds of the Company's army on the coast would subside; and as it is satisfied that the evils which must result from the existence of those combinations against its authority, that are now formed in almost every station, will, if suffered to continue, be as injurious to the public interests, as if those by whom these proceedings are carried on were in a state of open hostility to Government; it feels compelled to anticipate every extreme that can occur, and to publish to the army at large the final resolutions which it has adopted under this extraordinary and unparalleled situation of affairs: and these resolutions will, it is satisfied, be found to combine as much attention to the feelings of the army as it is possible to show without a sacrifice of the public interest, and an abandonment of the authority and dignity of Government. The Governor and Council can and does make every possible allowance for feeling so strongly excited as those of the officers of the coast army have been, and is disposed to refer that great agitation of mind into which they have been thrown by a concurrence of causes which must greatly mitigate, if they do not altogether extenuate, that degree of criminality which must always attach to such proceedings: and, under such impressions, he can view their extreme solicitude regarding those of their brother officers whom he has thought it his duty to suspend the service, with that consideration which is due to a highly meritorious body of officers, acting under the strong impulse of warm and honourable, but mistaken feelings. And with such sentiments he cannot deem it derogatory to Government to state, that he intends, in the full confidence that the officers of the coast army will abandon their present dangerous course of proceeding, to recommend to the Honourable the Court of Directors the restoration to the service of those officers, whose suspension, and the reasons which led to it, have been reported to them, and who are consequently the only authority by which that act can be repealed: and he can have no doubt, but the earnest desire of their brother officers, combined with the high character which most of the officers under suspension formerly held, will induce the Honourable Court to overlook their late conduct, and comply with this recommendation. Acting upon the same principle, Government is pleased to appoint Colonel Bell to the charge of the battalion of artillery at the Mount, and Colonel Chalmers to the command of the subsidiary force in Travancore. Lieutenant Maitland is appointed quarter-master of the European regiment of infantry.