The Sun.
London, England, 1845-01-22 00:00:00

COURT-MARTIAL ON CAPTAIN .BYNG.
(From the Madras United Service Journal Cf Nov. 8.)
We mentioned in our last number that Captain Byng,
of the 6th Cavalry, had been ordered for trial,
And we
could not but express our regret that one of the scuute*t
and best officers in the service should be placed in *
situation to cause any anxiety to his friends. The official
letter of Captain Byng, whereon the charge against hint
is founded, was certainly ill-judged, inasmuch as he took
upon himself to offer objectionable opinions for the gui-
dance of his commanding officer, although such opinions
were fully concurred in by the three other captains
and three senior subalterns present with the regiment.
Mucks allowance must be made, however, for the state
of excitement prevailing at the time amongst both mon
and officers; indeed the Sepoys, on being addressed by
1 Captain Byng, in obedience to the orders of Major
Litchfield (who was well aware of that officer's influence
over the Sepoys and their strong personal attachment for
him) received his address, delivered in the presence of
the other officers, with one unanimous burst of feeling,
one and all positively refusing to listen to any orders
emanating from Major Litchfield, who, they said,
" would not attend to their grievances !"
After ascertaining the alleged grievances of the men,
and reporting precisely what they had stated, Captain
Byng, it appears, made known to Major Litchfield that
it was the unanimous and fixed opinion of the European
officers, that no chance whatever existed of inducing the
men to desistfrom their demerit's, and that they appeared
by their bearings to be convinced that, their officers had
no power at hand to control them; indeed, seeming to
have lost almost all faith in the word of their superiors,
as referring their officers to the order given out to them
by troops at Kamptee on which they had depended, and
the subsequent one from the pay department, depriving
the regiment of batta, which thus bore the appearance of
a positive breach of faith.
It is exceedingly easy for the Fort St. George officials,
calmly seated at their desks, with all quiet around them,
to come to a cool decisou upon this or that subject
submitted for considerati )n; but the case is widely
ditl'erent, situated as the officers of the Gth Cavalry were;
their own men excited almost to madness at real or sup-
posed grievances, and the other corps at the station, from
being similarly situated in regard to batta, hardly to be
depended on, should recourse to coercive measures have
become imperative!
(From the Calcutta Engliilanan of Nov. 20.)
The Most Noble the Commander-in-Chief's reasons for
not involving the regiment in " one common penalty,"
apart from this fact itself, and the destitution and distress
in which it would have left the men, their wives, and
families, at a distance of many hundred miles from their
homes, are thus given:—" I felt perfectly certain that
all had not been equally criminal. I believe that the
majority of the men were good and faithful soldiers. I
was fully convinced that they had been misled by a few
mischeivous and designing individuals. I felt it was due
to the regiment and to the army to satisfy myself on this
point, that I might be enabled to discriminate between
the really guilty parties and those who had foolishly
allowed themselves to be their dupes."
There is so much of kindly and merciful consideration
in these views, that we should be loth to criticise them
too closely ; but we must say that we have perused the
paragraph with no little astonishment. A mutiny, em-
bracing a whole regiment, taking the deliberate charac-
ter of a preliminary compact under the sacred form of
an oath to disobey authority, open disrespect to a com-
manding officer, and a demand, persisted in, to have this
commanding officer removed—a mutiny, so serious, that
its formal judicial investigation has left two men to
pay the awful penalty of their lives, eleven to bid
adieu to their country and families for over, three to
dra ; out two years of their existence in imprisonment
and hard labour, and 44 officers and privates by dis-
missal from the service, to be deprived of all present
means of support—is spoken of as the apprehended
work of " a few mischievous and designing indivi-
duals," while the " majority" of the men—actual sub-
scribers to the oath, and sharers in the open mutiny !
are believed to have been " misled"—to have " foolishly
allowed themselves" to be made the dupes of others.
These be honeyed words, but they stand in remarkable
contrast to the recorded facts which precede them, and
the fearful judgments which close the Commander-in-
Chief's remarks. Perhaps, however, we ought rather
to read in them the argument for the point we have
secondly to notice, viz., the delay in bringing the mu-
tineers to trial.
This is a question regarding which much discussion
has been raised, and opinions are still very much divided
upon the policy and necessity of the delay which took
place. It is currently reported that the 43d Regiment
Native Infantry volunteered to act against the 6th Ca-
valry at Jubbulpoor, if it was desired to resort there to
coercive measurs; and it is contended that, with the
powers of coercion held in this regiment and a detach-
ment of artillery, the 6th would have been made to give
up the ringleaders of the mutiny, and the corps been
marched back avowedly under impending investigation
and punishment. But, assuming the uncontrollable cir-
cumstances which are stated to have detained it in Jub-
bulpoor till March, it is still urged that an inquiry might
have been instituted so soon as the regiment reached
Nagpoor, and that this could have been as efficiently con-
ducted there, under the express direction of the Com-
mander-in-Chief, as at the station of Arcot; and that tho
anomaly would thus have been spared of marching men
through the country in apparent enjoyment of the con-
fidence of the State, who were destined at the conclusion
of their journey to be subjected to so severe an ordeal.
We now understand that great difficulties have existed
in identifying the ringleaders* in the outrages that have
occurred, and that much of the delay may be ascribed
to this cause; but still there is no sufficient reason
afforded why an investigation at Nagpoor should not
have equally well sufficed to overcome these with one at
Arcot. . . • • • •
We now come to the conduct of the pay department—tha
fans et origo of the immediate mischief that occurred.
The most Noble Marquis speaks most pointedly of this;
the terms " erroneous," " error," are prominently em-
ployed. At the time the issue of orders was made from
the Military Auditor-General's department to the troops!
at Jubbulpoor, we know it was alleged that the order
was in conformity with the pay regulations ; but even
this is now publicly contradicted. Were it, however, the
case, can a more anomalous state of things exist than that
any department, especially one serving under the very
nose of Government, should have power to issue or-
ders which involve important matters, without a previous
consultation with the paramount authority, or even its
cognisance of them. In this instance the pay department
might plead for their having merely intended to apply or-
dinary rules, but the military experience of its members
should have told them that it would be done under critical
circumstance, and that they should have made a previous
communication to the Government as a matter of duty. It
has been the policy of the Court of Directors to
make the Audit-office feel a singular degree of
independence, reporting to itself direct, and so forth.
This is necessary to a certain extent; but it may work ill
nevertheless. A good servant in the eyes of the Court is
too commonly the one who exhibits the greatest saving
of money to them ; and, with this influence brought
directly to bear upon the military Audit-office, its fun's-
tionaries may be apt to forget that its real and honour
able post is to arbitrate between the Government and the
servants of the State, giving to the latter their due, and
their whole due, though nothing more than their fair
due, and not to have its views too closely directed to the
savings which an audit in the oneand paramount interest
may enable it to effect. The present case of the 6th
Cavalry must, we should think, pave the way to some
reform in the condition of this department. It must be
brought more in contact with the Grovernment, for none
can patiently look upon an " error," springing from its
independent action, which has directly caused a once
untarnished corps to break forth in disgraceful mutiny,
and is now steeping the hearths of so many of our native
soldiers in affliction,, misery, and ruin.

•
* As this has arisen from a general desire to screen tilt
guilty, it rather militates against the convictions of the Coni.:
mander-in-Chief, expressed in the paragraph we have before
quoted.

THAMES REGATTA CLUB.

A special general meeting of the members of this
Club was held on Monday at the British Hotel, Cock..
spur-street ; J. D. Bishop, El., in the chair. In
opening the business the Chairman congratulated the
subscribers on the result of last year's regatta, a ch..
eumstance in some degree attributable to the encou.
ramC agset
iereenatand g
h, a presencendthe
voi
cfe
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he
anPcreelsl
oi dre not V
f,
Enisgcloanundt,
Sir Lancelot Shadwell. Very little business Neu
transacted at the meeting. It was statiovedti.ctethh.ceathsuantLiii. -
receipts of the yearprhesaedntbeeyneaBr4BwLerle9st.h3ed ,DtuhkeeeaL
Nspec
ornirdbteihtruustnrefbo:cll4at/nh.
del:s.
the 7Ed
a. ,r al nodf
Ripon,that
aljathen
oellor of England, Viscount Castlereagh, the Univer-
sities of Cambridge and Oxford, the Leander Club.
the London Amateur Scullers' Club, the Union
Club, the Royal Thames Yacht Club, St. George's
Club, the Royal Academy'
Les Civil Engmeers, Thetis,
ISr
Sphinx,es tm in s taenrd, AHragl
coyn
oa un
Clubs,
t,- snestsi,leWAvoen deo
ri eylsia.
rge
Denman, Colonel Mercer, &c. The official result
of last regatta was presented. It was as follows The Gold Challenge Cup, four entries, won by the
Oxford University ; the Silver Challenge Cup, nine ,
entries, won by the Leander Club; the Pair Oar
Silver Cups, five entries, won by Messrs. Julius and
Dalgleish; the Challenge Scullers' Cup, thirteen
entries, won by Mr. Bumpsted ; the Champion (100
sovereigns) Prize, five entries, won by H. Coombes,
Newell, J. Phelps, T. Coombes--D. Coombes, cox-
swain ; the 50 sovereigns Four Oar Match, five en-
tries, won by the Newcastle (Clasper's) crew ; th*,
Pair Oar (\% atennen's) Match, twelve pair of oars,
first pair, Lett and H. Campbell ; the Scullers' (i.
termen's) Match, twelve scullers, first, R. Nisiielfi. •
the Coat, Badge, and Freedom, thirteen apprentices
won by Messam ; the Prize Wherr , three pair ot •
seulls, won by Kelly and Powell ; the Landsmen's
Match, Four Oars, four entries, won by the Chelsea
(Sheppard's) crew ; the Gentlemen's Eight Oared.
Match for Silver 11Iedals, eightyentiiPs, sewn fasts
contended, won by Messrs. Palmer, M00r1i5tid,(710,,,,,,,
theGHon. G. Porter,
1.
vG.s itivar_. Ftarrs,titl
marraninigetoonn,wPixtok!kig, awl