Showing posts with label Sir John Malcolm. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sir John Malcolm. Show all posts

Saturday, June 27, 2020

THE MADRAS ARMY IN REVOLT: THE 1809 REVOLT AND ITS SUPPRESSION PART III

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books

PART III

The "collective memorial"signed by the 28 Officers was in direct violation of Company rules of business and ought to have been ignored. But the Commander-in-Chief of the Army, General Hay Macdowall who was smarting under the humiliation of being excluded from the "Cabinet" of the Madras Governor, the Council decided to act on the Petition thereby triggering a chain of events that brought the Company rule alomost to an ignomious end. Unfortunately none of the Indian states or rulers had the sagacity to take advantge of the situation and Wellsly's Subsidiary Alliance held fast. Col. John Munro was acting in his official capacity on directions from Sir John Craddock when he prepared the Report on the Tent Contract. Ignoring this fact, General Macdowall ordered the arrest of Munro and had him goaled pending Court Martial. High handed and arbitray, the hapless Officer had no alternative but to petition the Govenor about the injustice done to him. Sir George Barlow ordered his release and forced the reluctant Commande in Chief to release Col Munro from confinement. 

The release of Col Munro infuriated the Officers,particularly the 28 Commanding Officers who had signed the demand for Col Munro be Court Martialed. Given the composition of the Presidency Army, Sir George Barlow hit on the right strategy to bring the malcontents to heel. He sent out feelers to the Native Troops both Infantry and Cavalry requesting them to support the Government and in this he was remarkable successful. Had the Native troops decided to follow the example of their fellow soldiers in Vellore, set just three years back, the entire edifice would have crumbled. And he used the King' Army to shore up his defences. As a measure of abundant caution, Sir George Barlow decided to move his Office/Headquarters from the Fort to the Choultry Plain and he set up Camp in the place where the Guindy Race Course now stands and the troops quartered at St. Thomas Mount were brought in to defend the outer perimeter. The news trickling in from the other Cantonments was disconcerting: Masulipattinam, Hyderabad, Travancore and Jalna were caught in the the grip of what appeared to all observers, a Mutiny. The Officers who spear headed the Mutiny did not relent.

An organization called "correspondence committee" was set up to co ordinate the entire efforts f all the mutinous officers and they drew up a Memorial that they planned to submit directly to Lord Minto, the Governor General, detailing their grievances and practically suggesting that Sir George Barlow be "recalled". The Madras Governor, like all good statesmen had an extremley well oiled espionage network and he somehow managed to get a copy of the Memorial even before it had been sent to the Governor General. Now he decided to strike. It cannot be dnied that had Barlow dithered in his response, the Military wing of the Company would have superceded the Civilian and Sir George Barlow rose to high office from the ranks of the Bengal Civil Service. He ordered the dismissal of 14 Officers who were asked to separate themselves from their regiment and take residence on the coast anywhere from Sadras to Nagapattinam. Lord Minto did not intervene and allowed Sir George Barlow a free hand. The troops fom what in now Sri Lanka were recalled and they had gone there to intervene in the Kandyan War.

The troops at Srirangapattinam, Travancore, Hyderabad and Masulipattinam were under the command of the most notorious of the rign leaders and Col. Arthur St. Leger is perhaps the most notorious. It wouls be an over simplification to say that he organized the whole revolt as he was not in India when musch of the planning took place. Howeve, he is certainly an early incarnation of the rotten breed of "petition writers" who in today.s India can be easily recognized as RTI activists r Trade Union Leaders. Clearly, this Officer who had won a resounding victory over Velu Thambi and his Nair hordes in Travancore, was the author of the Memorial to Lord Minto. All the ring leadrs including Col. Leger were suspended. And this action only turned the glowing embers into a huge flame.

Sir George Barlow was a seasoned administrator who had spent long years of service in India in the Administrative side of the Company. He felt tha an attempt at negotiations will help buy time and so sent Sir John Malcolm to masulipattinam where the new Comandant Col Innes was almost a prisoner of the mutinous officers. At the ame time he despatched Barry Close from Poona where he was the Residnt to Secondrabad. In Srirangapattinam the Mutiny took a very serious turn and in the skirmishes nearly 1000 native troops were kiled and only a handful of Europeans. Col. John Bell had by some expedient bought the support of the Native Troops. The 25th Dragoons were sent to intecept them after they had loted the Treasury and more than 500 lives were lost.

Finally the Government decided to compel all the Officeres o sign a Declaration of Loyalty which brought the crisis to a halt even as the Movement lost steam because its leadership had been suspended. The cause of all this, General Hay Macdowall soon met his nemesis. The ship, an Indiaman. Jane Dundas, was lost at sea off the coast of Africa, near the Cape of Good Hope.

The Revolt of 1809 like the Vellore Mutiny of  1806 represnted a major crisis and Sir George Barlow rose to the challenge.

Friday, June 26, 2020

THE MADRAS ARMY IN REVOLT: THE 1809 REVOLT AND ITS SUPPRESSION PART II

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books

Sir George Barlow and General Hay Macdowall
The Revolt of 1809 is a neglected episode in the history of India and since the Governor Sir George Barlow did not write either his memoirs nor commission an "authorised" biography, he has been represented only by his opponents in their writing. Chief amon whom was the famous Soldier Historian Sir John Malcolm who wrote a book in 1822 excoriating the Governor for the way in which he handled the Revolt. In truth however, Sir John Malcolm was sent by the Governor to negotiate with the rebellious Officers in Masulipattinam but failed miserably yo carry out his brief. Years later he penned his Observations on the Disturbance in the Madras Army in which he shifts the blame on the shoulders of Sir George Barlow. However the events of 1809 were far more complex than a mere clash between a vengeful Governor and a petulant Commander in Chief of the Madras Army, General Hay Macdowall,

There was trouble brewing in the Madras Army for at least a decade before the Revolt following the recoganization of the Company Forces in 1796. We have already alluded to earlier of some of the main grievances: (1) Equality of Pay between Bengal and Madras Armies (2) Continuance of the Tent Contract and (3) disparity in Command postings between Kings'Army and the Company Regiments. In normal circumstances these issues my have been resolved. But a series of miss steps involving the Governor and his Commander in Chief triggered what was essentially a conflict of supremacy between the Civilian Administration and the Military. Sir John Craddock who was the immediate predecessor of General Macdowall had instructed, Col John Munro to investigate the "Tent Contract" and offer suggestions. Acting on the directions of his superior, Col John Munro submitted a Report in which he recommended the abolition of the Tent Contract. The Report was a Confidential one and was marked only to the Commander in Chief. Perhaps the Madras Army too suffered from the same malaise of the Ministry of Defence under the Congress Regime. Interested parties would find the contents of official files before they were seen by the superiors and action taken. Munro wrote in his Report: "the grant of the same allowances in peace and war placed the interests and duties of commanding officers at variance with each other". What he stated so baldly was true and it was widelt known that the superior officers were taking a cut from the contracts handed down to native suppliers, perhaps for a consideration. The direct imputation of dishonesty added fuel to an already enraged Officer Corps. Within days this Repor was leaked. Any surprises here. None at all and a strrm of protest started brewing.

Twenty eight Officers of the Company, excluding the Kings' Officers signed a "collective memorial" demanding Col John Munro be tried before a Court Martial for impugning the "honour of the Officers"

Continued in Part III