COURT'S DRAFT, OBSERVATIONS ON THE COURT'S DRAFT, military department without the assistance of a mili- 97. It is proper, however, to state, that, previously to the month of December, 1796, the period at which a military officer was employed to conduct the details of the business in the military department, it was frequently necessary to send privately many of the current papers which had been received by the government in the military department to the officers of the general staff, and other staff-officers at the presidency, with a view to obtain information and assistance, for the purpose of enabling the government to pass orders upon the subject of those papers. The references which were thus made for information and assistance to the staff and other officers, must have frequently involved the consideration of subjects in which those officers were directly or remotely concerned, and upon which they had previously given an official opinion in their capacity of members of the military board, or as the heads of some departments or officers. To have recourse, therefore, to those officers for assistance, under such circumstances, was not only attended with delay, but was highly objectionable in its principle: but there was no remedy for this serious evil, excepting that which the government adopted, by employing a military officer for the conduct of the details of the business in the military department. 98. The ground of the proceedings of the supreme government, adverted to in the preceding paragraphs, for employing a military officer for the conduct of the details of the duties of the government in the military department, and the principles upon which those proceedings are founded, have been justified and confirmed by subsequent practice and experience: and the public service, and the interests of the honourable company, have derived the most substantial and important advantages from the measure, particularly with respect to the diminution at the close of the last war, in the year 1801-2, and on other occasions, of the military expenses of the presidency of Bengal, and to the constant revision of those expenses. But the court, in the 147th paragraph of the general letter to the supreme government in the military department, dated the 20th of June, 1804, observed, that the appointment of a military officer to be secretary to the government in the military department, was contrary to the spirit of the 57th section of the act of the 33d of his present majesty, cap. 52d. 99. The spirit of that act is to prevent unqualified persons from being appointed to discharge the duties of civil offices and employments, &c. It is doubtful whe ther the office of secretary to the government in the military department comes within the letter of the act, as expressed in that clause, and is included in the description of officers, places, or employments, in the civil line of the company's service enumerated in the clause. 100. It may also be doubted, whether the legislature had the office of secretary to the government in the military COURT'S DRAFT, No. 128. OBSERVATIONS ON THE COURT'S DRAFT, military department in contemplation in framing that clause: It is evident that the legislature, in describing the persons to fill offices of great trust and responsibility in India, could not intend to restrict the government of India to that class of the servants of the honourable company, which cannot, at any period of their service, in the civil branch of the service, be qualified to discharge properly the duties of secretary to the government in the military department. 101. If, however, the clause of the act abovestated, be susceptible of a contrary construction, it appears to be indispensably necessary, consistently with the principles described in the preceding paragraphs, with the due and proper performance of the duties of the government in the military department, and with the interests of the company and of the state, that the court should confirm the proceedings of the government for employing a military officer to dis. charge the details of the duties of the government in the military department, and should adopt measures in concert with his majesty's ministers, for having the clause of the act of the 33d of his majesty so modified or explained, as will admit of the government selecting a person to fill the office of secretary to the government in the military department, from the only class of the company's servants which can be qualified to discharge the complicated, laborious, and important duties of that office. 102. The progressive increase of the duties in the military department having rendered it extremely difficult for the secretary in that department to conduct the business of his office with that degree of regularity and dispatch which are essentially necessary to the proper course of the public service; the state of captain Hook's health having also required additional aid in the office, and the details, in that department, being of such a nature, that the assistance required in the secretary's office could only be afforded by a public officer, the governor-general in council appointed captain Hill to be assistant, in October, 1805, to the secretary of government in the military department, with a salary of 500 rupees, or 60 per mensem. 103. It appears, therefore, that captain Hook has been continued in his office, and that captain Hill has been appointed his assistant, on grounds entirely connected with the public service. Both of these gentlemen are unknown to lord Wellesley, excepting by their public characters. The court of directors may certainly compel the government of Bengal to dismiss them, and to appoint civil servants to their situations. In this case it would be much more advantageous to abolish the office altogether, than to give the government the nominal assistance of persons in one of the most important departments of the service, who must be utterly unqualified to perform their duties, and whose appointments will only tend to prevent the government from obtaining such information as they may require, from military officers attached to the staff COURT'S DRAFT, 9th. Increase of the salary of the military secretary to the governorgeneral, from rupees 300 to rupees 1500 per month, without a previous reference to the court, agreeably to their orders, as known at that time in Bengal. OBSERVATIONS ON THE COURT'S DRAFY, staff of the army, or to the personal staff of the 104. With regard to the imputation of contumacious disobedience of orders in this case, it is perfectly evident, from the facts and arguments as herein stated, that the governor-general in council acted under a sincere conviction that the military business of the coun cil could not proceed if the court's order were carried into execution. In such a case the situation of the governor general in council would be dangerous indeed, if he should be deemed guilty of disobedience of orders under the law. 105. In the 27th paragraph of the letter in the military department, dated the 30th September, 1801, the governor-general in council informed the court of directors that he had appointed captain Merrick Shawe to be military secretary to the governor-general, and to the captain-general and commander-in-chief of the forces. Since that period of time captain Shawe performed the duties of military secretary to the governor. general, and to the captain-general, with great dili, gence, zeal, and ability; but without receiving any salary in either of the capacities until the month of May, 1802. 106. At the period when captain Shawe was appointed to these situations, (on the 29th of July, 1801) the governor general was preparing to proceed to the upper provinces, and although his lordship, at that time, had it in contemplation to establish a salary for the military secretary proportionate to the increased duties of the situation, he was unavoidably prevented, by the pressure of other public business from stating and recording in council the sum which he deemed to be adequate to the augmented labour and responsibility of the office. 107. The governor-general deemed it to be advisable to consolidate the duties and authority of the captain-general as far as might be practicable, with the duties and authority of the governor-general in council, and he had accordingly directed various returns, reports, and informations, on several points respecting his majesty's troops in India, to be transmitted to the governor-general in council, in the military department; a variety of references and applications however must be made to the captain-general, which it is unnecessary to record on the proceedings of government, but to which the public service requires immediate attention. 108. The governor-general, at an early period of time, found it impracticable to carry on the duties relative to the army, which the station of captaingeneral necessarily imposed, without constituting a military office of record under an officer immediately attached to his person. The governor-general, since that time, found the duties which devolved on him by the app ointment of captain-general, particularly du ring his progress to the upper provinces, and during his residence at the military stations, considerably to exceed his first expectations in that respect. 109. The nature of the duties to be performed by the COURT'S DRAFT, No. 128. OBSERVATIONS ON THE COURT'S DRAFT, No. 128. the military secretary to the captain-general, requires, that the person holding the office shall possess not only an extensive knowledge of military details, but also those qualifications which shall entitle him to that decree of confidence which must necessarily be placed in the person entrusted with the duties of such a sta-` tion. It is, therefore, an object of importance to the public service, and to the governor-general, that he chould be able to command the services of an officer properly qualified to fill the station of military secretary; and as the officer, holding the appointment of military secretary of the captain-general, must necessa rily devote his whole time and attention to the duties of that situation, and cannot receive, from any source, those allowances which the extent of his duties, and the responsibility of his station, so strongly demand; the governor-general in council had no hesitation in stating that this officer ought to be placed, with regard to allowances, on a respectable footing. 110. The salary hitherto allowed to the military secretary to the governor-general was only 300 rupees, 361. a month, exclusive of the pay of his regimental rank, and the batta of major. When the duties and responsibility of the person holding the office are considered, the low scale on which the salary was established can be ascribed only to the circumstance of the military secretaries of former governor-generals having generally, if not invariably, at the same time, held other offices of considerable emolument. 111. The governor-general in council deemed it to be reasonable and proper that a consolidated salary of 1500 rupees per mensum, 1851. shou'd be granted to the military secretary of the governor-general and captain-general, and that the separate salary of 300 rupees a month, as military secretary to the governorgeneral, should be abolished. The salary of the military secretary was accordingly fixed at that amount, exclusive of the pay of his military rank, and the governor-general further directed that captain hawe, the actual secretary, should receive the increased salary of 1500 rupees per month, from the period of the commencement of his augmented duties as secretary to the governor-general, and to the captain-general of the forces. 112. The minute of the governor-general, on the subject of the augmentation of the salary of his mili. tary secretary, is recorded on the proceedings of the 6th of May, 1801. 113. The court of dire tors, however, having, in their general letter of the 20th of June, 1804, disapproved of the salary established for the military secretary to the governor and captain-general, the governor-general in council, in the month of May, 1805, rescinded his former orders on this subject, and directed the salary of the military secretary to the governor and captain-general, to be reduced to the sum of 1003 rupees, 1251. per mensum, exclusive of his military pay; the scale which has been fixed by the court of directors. 114. On COURT'S DRAFT, OBSERVATIONS ON THE COURT'S DRAFT, No. 128. 114. On reviewing all the circumstances of the case, with reference to the extended, laborious, and important duties performed by the military secretary to the governor-general and captain-general, and to the amount of salarics established by the court, for offices, under the presidency of Bengal, no doubt can be entertained, that the salary established by the court for the military secretary to the governor and captaingeneral is inferior to the general standard, and conse quently inadequate to the extended responsibility of the duties performed. In fact, the salary, as established by lord Wellesley in May, 1802, was considered to be inferior to the amount at which it ought to have been permanently fixed, with reference to the laborious and increasing duties of the office. 115. It is difficult to understand how this transac tion can be stated to involve a question of such impor. tance, as to have required previous reference to the court; the order of the court was executed when received, and the difference of salary to the military secretary was as follows, under the two plans. Allowances to the military secretary, previously to lord Wellesley's arrangement. If the military secretary be a lieut.-col. Established allowance Military secretary to governor-gen. 314 Established allowance 314 Rupees 914 or 1331. per month, exclusive of pay, gratuity, &c. or 1147. per month, exclusive of pay, gratuity, &c. Allowances as fixed by lord Wellesley, 1500 rupees, or 1877. pr month exclusive of pay. Ditto as fixed by the court's last order, 1000 rupees, or 1257. pr. month exclusive of pay. 10th. Allowance to co- 116. The governor-general in council having dislonels Harcourt and Mon- patched lieutenant-colonel Monson to Europe, in son, charged with dis- charge of advices to the court of directors, considered patches to Europe, and it to be reasonable to allow lieutenant-colonel Monpleading the case of capt. son the pay and allowances of his regimental rank, to Madan as a precedent, be drawn in India by his agent, on producing a certinotwithstanding the or- ficate of lieutenant-colonel Monson being alive. The ders of the court, that governor-general in council, however, restricted the captain Madan's case authority for paying those allowances to the period of should not be considered twelve months from the date of lieutenant-colonelMonas a precedent. son's embarkation for Europe. At the same time it was deemed to be proper, consistently with the general principle established with respect to staff-officers proceeding to Europe, that the extraordinary allowance, drawn by lieutenant-colonel Monson, as commanding officer of his majesty's 76th regiment, should not be drawn by him during his absence; such allowance was of course drawn by the officer in the actual command of the regiment. Adjutant-gen. king's troops Pay per month. rup. 2,250, or 2811. 2,250, Military secretary to the commander in chief Establishment per month. 3,484, or 4351. under establishment for office, 2,404, or 300/. 1,266, or 158/. &c. 117. |