War and Politicks: the Belligerent Career of Colonel James Stuart
When I started working on the newly revamped India, Raj and Empire resource, I expected to find within the material most if not all of the classic elements of colonialism and empire. But what I found most interesting, when digging deeper into the documents, was the vast amount of in-fighting, conflict and corruption going on in the boardrooms and dining salons of the East India Company officials.
One character who stuck out for me was a British Army officer called James Stuart. Distinguished and brave, but also short-fused and outspoken, here was a man who fought as many private wars as public ones.
Portrait of James Stuart by George Romney © Wikimedia Commons
In 1775 he joined the East India Company as a colonel, after serving in North America, France and the West Indies. This was the same year that George Pigot, erstwhile Governor of Madras, returned to his old post after an absence of 12 years. Lord Pigot discovered things very much changed, and he didn’t like it. The Nawab of Arcot, who had previously co-operated with the East India Company in political matters, had taken control of Tanjore. Pigot immediately set about putting the Nawab back in his place, and poor James Stuart found himself caught up in the chaos that ensued. He wrote this letter to his brother at the end of September 1776, telling him the whole story of what had happened:
According to Stuart, Pigot behaved in an unconstitutional manner. Not only did Pigot have a deep personal dislike for the Nawab, but also his “general conduct to his [Pigot’s] Council was almost in every instance contrary to the established rules of the Company”. Stuart paints a picture of an unreasonable and volatile figure, motivated by pride and resentment to such a degree that his subsequent actions were unlawful and threatened to seriously damage political relations in India. The council (apart from three members who were related to Pigot) were apparently of the same opinion, and they gave Stuart – now commander-in-chief of the Madras Army - orders to arrest Pigot, which he duly did.
When news of this reached Britain, there was outrage, and Stuart was accused of acting out of revenge for Pigot standing in the way of his advancement and military power. In the above letter Stuart rubbishes this, and asks his brother – who, clearly the more level-headed sibling, had earlier impressed upon Stuart the importance of “not interfering in politicks” – to understand that he only acted as he did out of loyalty to the government. We don’t have his brother’s reply, but we do know that Stuart was suspended from his post and arrested. It was another four years before a court martial was set to try Stuart’s case. He was acquitted and restored to his former command in Madras, and went on to serve in several major battles.
However, history repeated itself in the 1780s when he fell out with Governor Lord Macartney, to the point that he was dismissed from his post. He subsequently challenged Macartney to a duel in Hyde Park (despite the fact that Stuart was missing a leg and had to prop himself up against a tree in order to level and fire his pistol).
An excerpt from a letter recounting the story of Stuart's duel with Macartney - NLS MS 8439. © National Library of Scotland. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. To see this document in the collection click this image.
When news of the duel became public, the King himself, via his aide Lord Sydney, wrote to Stuart ticking him off for “disturbing the public peace” and requesting a promise that he would never do something like this again. Rather than politely backing down, Stuart enters into an argumentative correspondence with Sydney defending his actions, claiming that his honour was more important than keeping the peace.
An excerpt from one of James Stuart's letters to Lord Sydney - NLS MS8439. © National Library of Scotland. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. To see this document in the collection click this image.
I don’t think ‘peace’ is a word that one would ever associate with Colonel James Stuart.
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