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LETTER
TO THE HONOURABLE
The Direitors of the Eaft-India Company,
FROM
ANDREW STUART, Efq;
RESPECTING
The Condua: of Brigadier-general JAMES STUART,
at Madras.
[December, 1778.]
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GENTLEMEN,
T T is now near eighteen months fmce I had the honour of addreffing
X to you any requeft or application in behalf of my Brother,
Colonel Stuart, who for fome time paft has been Brigadier-general in
the fervice of the Honourable Eaft India Company. I have at all times
thought it my duty to abftain from giving you unneceflary trouble,
and though frequently urged to reprefent to you the peculiar hard-
fhips of my Brother's cafe, it appeared to me more fuitable to re-
frain from any remonftrances, until we fhould know here the event of
his trial by a Court-martial, for which orders were fent to India, by
e the Company's general letter of the 4th of July, 1777.
But the difpatches recently received from Madras, which contain
an account of what has palled there, in relation to the propofed Court-
martial, put me under the unavoidable neceffity of immediately foliat-
ing your attention to the peculiarity of my Brother's fituation.
Without partiality or prejudice, I may venture to fay, that the circum-
ftances of his cafe, when deliberately and candidly confidered, will be
found worthy of your mod ferious attention ; and, I truft will call aloud
for fome immediate redrefs, to ftop the further progrefs of the accumu-
lated feverities, hardfhips, and indignities, which appear to me to
have been inflicted on Colonel Stuart, a perfon fucceeding, by your
own appointment, to be Commander in Chief of your army in theCar-
natic.
B Thefe
( 2 )
Thefc fcverities have been inflicted, not only antecedent to any
trial of his conduct, but without any proper evidence of his being
culpable ; and the influence and effects of them ftill continue to
fubfift with full force and rigour againft him, in confequence of the
refufal he has lately met with at Madras, of a Court of Enquiry*
or a trial by a Court-martial.
This enquiry and trial you had, by your orders, fent by the Bcfbo-
rough in July 1777, directed to take place, and in conformity with
that direction, Colonel Stuart, flattering himfelf that the wifhed-
for moment was arrived for vindicating his character and conduct on
the fpot where the tranfactions had happened, and that a period would
foon be put to his fufferings, folicited that public trial in the moil
earneft and fervent manner ; but hitherto in vain ; — for the rcfult
brought by the laft difpatches from Madras, is, that the Governor
and Council there, at the fame time that they refufe the trial fo
earneflly requefted, and even inflflcd upon by Colonel Stuart as his right ;
are pleafed, in confequence of the directions they had received from
home, to continue for an indefinite time that fufpenfion, which, in the
early flages of this bufinefs, had been inflicted during the fpace of
fix months.
The confequence now is, that after having exerted himfelf, while
Commander in Chief of your forces, in the molt indefatigable and
confefledly ufeful manner for the interefts of the Company, by many
new military regulations, and by putting the army and military ports
in the Carnatic on the mod refpcctable footing, of which the Com-
panv, if I am rightly informed, has received undoubted intelligence,
and from which, by the circumftances of the times, they may pro-
bably foon feel material advantages : 1 fay, after thefe exertions, which,
jointly with the baneful influence of the climate on European confti-
tutions, have greatly impaired his health ; he finds himfelf degraded
from the firft military fltuation, with fevere marks of difplcafure,
waiting the return of the difpatches lately brought home ; and fuf-
fciing in this unpleafant interval, all the anxieties and impatience
8 incident
( 3 )
incident to an officer of fpirit, eKpofed to the continuance of the pre-
judices and aiperfions with which his character and conduct had, in
the firft heats of party-rage, been affailed, without any means afforded
him of vindicating his honour, by oppofing, in the courfe of a
public trial, authentic facls and proofs to groundlefs or illiberal imputa-
tions.
To fatisfy you, Gentlemen, that there is nothing exaggerated in this
fhort fketch of his fituation, I muff beg your permiffion, to bring
under your view, fome of the moft ftriking incidents which have hap-
pened fince the period when he received from you his firft commiffion
in the fervice of the Honourable Eaft India Company.
In the year 1775, Colonel Stuart, at that time a Lieutenant-Colonel
of many years ftanding in the King's fervice, was, with his Maje fly's
permiflion, appointed fecond in command of all the Company's forces
upon the coaft of Coromandel, with the rank of Colonel in their fer-
vice ; and by the fame appointment, it was fettled and eftablifhed, that
upon the death, refignation, or removal of the then Commander in
Chief Sir Robert Fletcher, the command in chief, with the fame rank
of Brigadier-General, fhould devolve upon and be enjoyed by Colonel
Stuart. — Upon the faith of thefe agreements and appointments Colonel
Stuart entered into the Honourable Company's fervice, and failed for
India.
He left England in November 177^, and arrived at Madras in
May 1776.
Before his arrival, there had been many difputes and diffentions
between Lord Pigot the Governor, and the Members of the Council at
Madras. The contefl: and animofity between them with regard to their
refpedtive powers and privileges, as well as with regard to fome matters
of government, was far advanced at the time of Colonel Stuart's arrival,
and according to all appearances in away of increafing daily.
I have letters in my poffefllon from my Brother foon after his arrival,
mentioning thefe diffentions, and his intentions to avoid taking part
B 2 with
( 4 )
with cither fide in their difputes, and to apply himfclf entirely to his
own bulinefs in the military line.
In particular, the diflention between Lord Pigot the Governor, and
Sir Robert Fletcher the Commander in Chief, foon increafed to fuch a
height, that in the month of July 1776, Lord Pigot iffued an order for
putting Sir Robert Fletcher under arreft, and offered the command of
the army to Colonel Stuart, then fecond in command. This, though a
very inviting offer, Colonel Stuart declined; he accommodated the dif-
ferences between the Governor and Commander in Chief; prevailed
on Lord Pigot to withdraw the arreft ; and Sir Robert Fletcher was thus-
continued in the command of the army.
In the month of Auguft 1776, the difputes between Lord Pigot the
Prefident, and the Majority of the Members of Council, came to fuch ex-
tremities, that it was evident there could be no further hopes of accommo-
dation between parties who confidered their powers, and the conftitu-
tional government at Madras, in fuch oppofite points of view. — It was
the cr'ifis of a conteft in which there was no likelihood of either party
voluntarily yielding to the other, — a fituation which almofl unavoidably
produces the neceffity of reforting to ftrong and violent meafures for
afferting or preventing the annihilation of thofe powers which the
contending parties feverally think themfelves entitled to exercife.
It was this cri/is and neceffity which probably made Lord Pigot, on
rhe one hand, think himfelf entitled to refort to the violent meafures to
which he had recourfe on the 22d and 23d of Auguft. 1776; when his
tordfhip firft fufpended from their offices two of the Members of the Ma-
ioiity of Council, and then fufpended the whole of them, ordering at
the fame time Sir R.obert Fletcher the Commander in Chief under arreft,
upon a charge of exciting mutiny and fedition among the troops in
gamfon, which was inferred from his concurring with the Majority
of Council in a protefi: figned and circulated by them on the 23d of
Auguft.
On the other hand, it was probably the fame crifu and neceffity
gave rife to the idea and to the refolution taken by the Ma-
3 j° rit y
( 5 )
jority of Council, and by Sir Robert Fletcher the Commander in Chief,
upon the fame 23d of Auguft, when they afTumed the reins of go-
vernment, and figned an order to Colonel Stuart the fecond in com-
mand, on whom they conferred the temporary command of the army
on account of the indifpofition of Sir Robert Fletcher, by which order
they required him, Colonel Stuart, to put them, the Majority of Council,
in poflefllon of the fort-houfe, fortrefs and garrifon of Fort St. George,
and to arreft the perfon of Lord Pigot the Governor. By the fame
order, the Majority conferred upon Colonel Stuart the command of the
garrifon of Fort St. George, during the prefent danger.
Here I think it proper to declare that it is by no means my intention
to criminate or exculpate either Lord Pigot, and the Gentlemen who ad-
hered to him, or the oppofite party compofed of the Majority of the Mem-
bers of Council : I do not wifh to embark myfelf in any part of that con-
troverfy relating to the merits of the queftions which firft produced the
diflentions, and afterwards the total rupture between Lord Pigot and the
Majority of Council; for befides a natural diflike to all manner of con-
troverfies where I am not necefTarily and unavoidably called upon to
take a parr, I do apprehend that the merits of my Brother's cafe, ftand
upon grounds totally feparate and diftinct from thofe which have been
contefted between Lord Pigot on the one hand, and the Majority of
Council on the other; I have hitherto avoided, both in the India-houfe
and in Parliament, taking any fhare in the queftions agitated between
thefe parties, and it is my intention to continue to do fo, unlefs points
fhould occur where my Brother's honour or intereft might happen
to be effentially affeded, and in which I may think him fo much
in the right, as to make it an unavoidable duty on me to ftand
forward in his behalf.
I mean, therefore, here to confine myfelf to the particular circum-
ftances under which Colonel Stuart acted, in obedience to orders from
Superiors, whom he thought himfelf bound to obey, without taking
upon myfelf to fay or infinuate, whether thefe Superiors did right
or
( 6 )
or wrong, in i (Tiling thofe orders; neither {hall I prefume to give
an opinion, whether the violent ads, either of the one party or the
other, were right in themfelves, or juftifiable from reafons of expe-
diency or nccelhty.
'The difficult al- The written order of 23d of Auguft 1776, to Colonel Stuart, for
tentative to putt j nc: t h e Majority of Council in poiTeffion of the fort, and for arrett-
ed Colonel r ° .
Stuart was re- ing the perfon of Lord Pigot, was figned by Seven Members of the
the or- Council, w hich conftituted an unqueftionable Majority: and it is far-
ders received
/rem the oppofite ther to be obferved, that one of thole Members who figned that order,
T ar: was the Commander in Chief, Sir Robert Fletcher.
At the time when Colonel Stuart received this order, he had no feat
or vote in Council, no deliberative voice ; his duty was that of obedience
only to his lawful fuperiors, civil and military; he thought it therefore
indifpenfibly his duty to obey the joint orders of a clear Majority of
Council, concurring with the Commander in Chief; convinced, as he
has always been, and Mill declares himfelf to be, that the legal
conditutional government in the Company's fettlement at Madras is
vefted, not in the Governor or Prefident alone, nor in the Gover-
nor with a Minority of Council, but in the Majority of the Members
of Council.
Upon the fame day that the Majority of Council and the Commander
in Chief figned the above order to Colonel Stuart, there was an offer to
him of the command of the army, from Lord Pigot and his Lordlhip's
friends in Council. The general orders iffued by them of that date
were in thefe words :
" Fort St. George, 23d Aug. 1776.
" The Right Honourable the Prefident and Council having been
11 pleated to order Brigadier-general Sir Robert Fletcher in arreft, for be-
( 7 )
*' ing concerned in circulating letters tending to excite and caufe mutiny
" and fedition among the troops in this garrifon, Colonel James
" Stuart is ordered to take upon him the command of the troops under
" this Prefidency, and all reports and returns are to be made to him
" accordingly."
Here then Colonel Stuart, to whom upon the fame day the tem-
porary command of the army was offered by one party, and the
abfolute unlimited command by the other, with pofitive requifitions
from each to act under their authority, was placed in one of the mod
delicate and difficult fituations that ever fell to the fhare of any military
man ; — it w r as impoffible for him to be an inactive or an idle fpec-
tator.
Had he refufed the command of the army, and thus incurred
difobedience to the orders of both parties, he was liable to be per-
fected by both, at leaft by the party which fhould gain the afcen-
dant, by whom he would certainly have been put under arreff, and
brought to trial by a Court-martial for difobedience of orders.
He was therefore reduced to this alternative, that he mult either
give fupport to the government of Lord Pigot, to the prejudice of
all the fufpended Members of the Majority, and to the prejudice of his
Commander in Chief, then ordered under arreft, and about to be tried
for his life ; or he muft obey the joint orders of the Commander in.
Chief, and the Majority of Council.
The fituation was a very hard and difagreeable one for Colonel Stuart; The confeguemes
becaufe, whether he obeyed the orders of one or the other party, he tb f , w f? havt
v } ' rejuited from
was certain to meet with much blame, outcry, and perfecution, from Colonel Stuart's
the oppofite party. We all know how liberally thefe have been be- °*V in S the
a , , . . , , . , , , , orders of the
flowed upon him, in the event which has happened j but let us fup- Prefident and.
pole ***«*&'
( 3 )
pofe the contrary event, that he had difobeyed the orders of the Majo-
rity and Commander in Chief, and given his fupport to the government
of Lord Pigot and the Minority, what an opening would that have
afforded for obloquy and perfecution ?
His accepting of the command from the Governor and the Minority
would have been afcribed to the bafe ungenerous motive of fupplanting
Sir Robert Fletcher, the Commander in Chief; and, fuppofing Lord
Pi^ot to have prevailed at that time, and to have proceeded with the
fulleft career of fuccefs in eftablifhing his government upon the ruins
of the Majority of Council, and even without any further refinance
on their part, or any difturbance in the lettlement, there can fcarcely be
a doubt that when the news of thefe tranfacYions reached England,
they would hare excited a general difapprobation of the violent meafures
by which a Majority of Council had been deprived of their functions,
and the Commander in Chief of the forces put under arreft, and fuper-
ceded in his command.
Upon that occafion too, the military officer who had lent his aid for
eftablifhing that new government, who had availed himfelf of the op-
portunity to fupplant and to get into the place and profits of his Com-
mander in Chief, and who had been guilty of difobedience of orders,
both with refpect to that Commander and the Majority of Council,
would moft probably have felt the fevered effects of the indignation
of the Directors and Proprietors of the Honourable Company, and of
the public at large.
My reafon for laying that there can fcarcely be a doubt that fuch
would have been the reception given at home to the violent proceedings
in Auguft 1776 in fufpending the Majority of Council, is founded not
only on the nature of the incidents themfelves, but on the difapprobation
which has been expreffed by the India Company o^ that part of Lord
Pigot's conduct, when taken into conlideration in this country at a time,
and under circumftauces the moft favourable for his Lordihip, and
the lead aufpicious for thofe who had oppofed him.
if
( 9 )
If any degree of disapprobation and cenfure of thofe parts of his
Lordfliip's conduel could take place at a time when fo much generous and
natural fympathy arofe from the hardships and reverfe of fortune which
Lord Pigot had experienced, — at a time when the minds of men were in
general more filled with animofity and indignation againft thofe who had
been the occafion of his fufferings, than attentive to any errors or irre-
gularities in his Lordfliip's conduel or principles of government, how
different would it have been, if the difpatches from India, inftead of
bringing accounts of any hardfliips fuffered by Lord Pigot, or by thofe
who adhered to him, had been filled only with the news of the hard-
fhips, indignities, and prejudices fuftained by the oppofite party, and
of Lord Pigot's having been aflifted and abetted in the eftablifhment of
this new government by the fecond in the military command, who by
this revolution had attained the command in chief?
I am well warranted to fay, that in the cafe here fuppofed, the outcry
and indignation both againft Lord Pigot and Colonel Stuart would have
been more general, and better founded, though they could not have been
more violent than what Colonel Stuart has experienced in the oppofite
cafe which has happened.
It muft be allowed then, that Colonel Stuart was mo ft unfortunately
circumftanced, fince whichever fide of the queftion he efpoufed in thefe
unhappy difputes between the Governor and the Council, and to
whichfoever of the patties he gave his obedience and Support, he was
certain of receiving for his reward much future obloquy and perfe-
ction.
But the confequences a fie cling himfelf were not the only or the moft
material ones which Colonel Stuart at the time of taking his decifive
refolution was bound to attend to ; it became proper for him further to
confider, what the poflible or probable confequences might be, to the
Company's fettlement in that part of the world, in cafe he fbould obey
the orders of Lord Pigot and the Minority, in preference to thofe of the
Majority of Council and the Commander in Chief.
C Is
( lo )
Is it at all probable, that Sir Robert Fletcher, the Commander
in Chief, known to bave been of a difpofition neither timid nor
indolent, and who was drove to the neceffuy of making fomc exertion
for his own fafety, to refcue himfelf from bis impending fate; I fay, is
it probable, that he would have tamely and placidly ,acquiefced in tbe
cftablilhment of the government of Lord Pigot and the Minority, and
in his own fupcrceffion and trial by a Court-martiai, even fuppofing
that Colonel Stuart had given his fupport to Lord Pigot ?
Or again is it probable, that all the gentlemen of the fufpended Ma?
jority would have placidly and tamely acquiefced in that new govern-
ment, and in their own fufpenfion, degradation, and difgrace, without
making fome efforts to preferve their rights and their confequence in>
the important fettlcmcnt of Madras?
Is it further to be fuppofed, that theft gentlemen of the Council, many
of whom had been long eftablifhed in IndKi, and had extenfive connec-
tions there, and who were embarked in a common caufc with the
Commander in Chief of the troops, would have had no fupport of
friends, civil and military, to efpoufe their interefts ? Thefe things
cannot be fuppofed in confiftency with any juft obfervation on the
common courfe of events.
The probability is, if Colonel Stuart, then fecond in command, had
in the month of Auguft 1776 given his obedience and fupport to Lord
Pigot and the Minority, in oppofition to the Majority of Council, and
Sir Robert Fletcher, the Commander in Chief of the forces, that the
confequences would have been much more ferious and alarming to the
peace and fecurity of the fettlement, than any which either actually
happened, or were likely to happen, from Colonel Stuart's acting in
obedience to the orders of the Majority.
What a dreadful fcene, and how alarming in its confequences muft it
have been, if, while one part of the army fhewed a readinefs to obey the
orders of Lord Pigot and Colonel Stuart, another part, either from at-
tachment or obligations to Sir Robert Fletcher their Commander in
1 / fa. Chief,
( &
( » )
Chief, or from thinking his life in danger, or from an opinion that
the legal Government which they were bound to obey was verted in
the Majority of Council had declared themfelves ready to follow his
and their fortunes, and to give their aid for fupporting that go-
vernment ?
Surely no man can maintain, with any degree of certainty, or even
with a fuperior weight of probability, that this would not have been the
cafe ; perhaps I might venture to exprefs my fentiments more ftrongly
on this fubjec~t, becaufe, after having been at considerable pains to in-
form myfelf accurately, the information I have received from good au-
thority is very pofitive, that fuch would have been the confequences j
efpecially too, as the Supreme Council in Bengal had, even before that pe-
riod, expreffed their fentiments very ftrongly, in difapprobation of fome
parts of Lord Pigot's conduct; and it is well known, that they after-
wards had no hefitation to pronounce the Majority of the Council of
Madras to be the legal government, and to declare their firm refolu-
tion to fupport it *.
Thefe particulars have appeared to me neceffary to be ftated at fome
length, becaufe, in the courfe of all the difcuflions hitherto in relation
to thefe unhappy difturbances at Madras, they feem almoft to have
efcaped obfervation ; no juft allowance has been made for the very
critical and difficult fituation in which Colonel Stuart was placed, and
in the midft of the outcry againft him, a notion feems fomehow or
* In the letter from the Supreme Council to Lord Pigot of the ioth of September 1776,
they exprefs themfelves thus : " We therefore deem it incumbent on us to declare, that the
" rights and powers of the Governor and Council of any of the Company's Prefidencies, are
" veiled by their original conlKtution, in the Majority of the Board ; that the violence com-
" mitted by your Lord/hip, in excluding two of the Members of the Council of Fort St.
" George, from their places, was a violation of that conftitution ; that the meafures taken
" by the Majority to recover the actual government, which of right is veiled in them, arofe
" from the neceffity of the cafe ; and that we mall acknowledge and fupport the title and au-
" thority which they confequently poffefs."
At the fame [time, the Supreme Council wrote to Sir Edward Hughes, commanding his
Majefly's fquadron in India, " requeftingth.it he would unite with them in affording his aflift-
" ance and fupport to the aftual government of Madras, if any change of circumftance (houlJ
" render it neceffary for them to defire it."
C 2 other
( « )
other to have prevailed, as if he had been officioufly and unneceffarily
active, without confidering that he was placed in a fituation, where
it was impoflible for him to be an idle fpcctator, and where he
was reduced to the alternative of paying obedience and giving active
fupport either to Lord Pigot and the Minority, or to the Majority of
the Council united with the Commander in Chief.
\\ T c all know the total extent of the prejudice and mifchief that has
happened in the one cafe; but no perfon can take upon him to fay, of
how much greater magnitude the mifchief and confufion in the fet-
tlement might have been, if the contrary event had happened, by
Colonel Stuart's obeying the orders of the Minority, inftead of thofe of
the Majority.
It is the bufmefs of the Members of the Majority who iflued
the orders, to fhew the neceffity or propriety of thefe orders,
for which they alone are refponfible; and the only thing incumbent
on Colonel Stuart, is to fhew the neceflity he was under to obey
them ; and he perfuades himfelf that he (hall not only be able to give
the utmoft fatisfaction on that head, but likewife further to prove, be-
yond the poffibility of doubt, that he executed thofe orders in a man-
ner, which of all others was the beft calculated to avoid bloodfhed and
confufion in the fettlement.
Tie mode of exe- * ta ^ c '* *° r S rante( * tnat ^ W >U not Dc difputed by any man, and