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 .A* -fl
 
 THE 
 
 APPEAL 
 
 OF 
 
 LIEUT. COLONEL CHARLES BARTON BURR, C B. 
 
 OF THE BOMBAY INF/VNTRY ESTABLISHMENT, 
 
 TO 
 
 HIS EXCELLENCY THE MOST NOBLE 
 
 THE MARQUIS OF HASTINGS, K. G. 
 
 GOVERNOR GENERAI, AND COMMANDER IN CHIEF OF BRITISH INDIA.
 
 THE 
 
 APPEAL 
 
 OF 
 
 LIEUT. COLONEL CHARLES BARTON BURR, C. B. 
 
 OF THE BOMBAY INFANTRY ESTABLISHMENT, 
 
 TO 
 
 Ills EXCELLENCY THE MOST NOBLE 
 
 THE MARQ^UIS OF HASTINGS, K. G. 
 
 GOVERNOR GENERAL AND COMMANDER IN CHIEF OF BRITISH INDIA, 
 
 AGAINST THE CONDUCT 
 
 OF BRIGADIER GENERAL LIONEL SMITH, C. B. 
 
 WITH THE 
 
 AUTOGRAPH REPLY AND DECISION 
 OF HIS EXCELLENCY THEREON ; 
 
 AND A VARIETV OF OTHER DOCUMENTS SUBMITTED TO 
 
 THE MOST NOBLE MARQUIS, 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE THEREOF. 
 
 WITH THE SUBSEQUENT CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 WITU THE 
 
 BOMBAY GOVERNMENT, 
 
 ON TRANSMITTING THE SAME FOR THE CONSIDERATION OF THE 
 
 HON. THE COURT OF DIRECTORS. 
 LONDON : 
 
 SOLD BY JOHN HATCHARD AND SON, OPPOSITE ALBANY, 
 
 PICCADILLY. 
 
 1819.
 
 London : Printed by W. Bulracr and Cii. 
 Cleveland-row, St. James's.
 
 >- 
 
 o 
 
 ^»- 
 
 C-. 
 
 (M 
 
 1— 
 
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 691-^ 
 
 ^Lx 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 Introductory Address, - - - _ i 
 
 Despatch from Lieut. Col. Burr to Capt. Tovet/, - - 1 
 
 General Orders of Sir T. Hislop, 14 December 1817, H 
 
 Correspondence mth the Bomhuij Government, - 15-25 
 
 Appeal of Lieut. Col. Burr to the Most Noble the Marquis of 
 Hastings, ^c. Sfc. - - - - 27 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 63 
 
 Letter from Brig. Gen. Smith, to Lieut. Col. Burr, 
 
 Reply of Lieut. Col. Burr, - - - 64 
 
 Letters, Extracts of Letters, 4-c. ^-c. in illustration of the Facts 
 
 stated in the Appeal, - - - 69-80 
 
 Statement of the Paisfma's Force at Loonee, Jan, \st, 1818, 81 
 Statement of Distances, . - - 82 
 
 Copy of the Autograph Reply of the Most Noble the Governor 
 
 General to the Appeal of Lieut. Col. Burr, - - 89 
 
 Subsequent Correspondence with the Bombay Government, 93-103 
 Conclusion, - - - " " ^ 
 
 -■"'r.:r-.-«'s«7-a
 
 INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS. 
 
 ly submitting the following Series of Official Documents and 
 Correspondence to the highly respected friends and individuals, 
 who do me the honour to give it their friendly notice and atten- 
 tion, I trust I may be excused for still further trespassing on 
 their time with such remarks as have either been accidentally 
 omitted, in the original Correspondence, or which, from their 
 nature, might have appeared to ine, at the time, more appropri- 
 ately excluded from an Official Appeal, of a purely justificatory 
 nature, to my most exalted professional Superior. In the present 
 stage of the business, however, I trust that the same objections 
 do not exist to my illustrating the circumstances and situation 
 in which I was placed, by a few desultory observations, which, 
 though I may perhaps have occasion to submit them in an un- 
 connected train, will, nevertheless, I doubt not, be admitted as 
 of importance, in filling up any deficiencies that may appear to 
 exist in the mass of information contained in the Original Docu- 
 ments, which, though I felt deeply interested in rendering them 
 as perfect as possible, for the reasons I have already stated, have 
 
 B
 
 ii INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS. 
 
 appeared to me as requiring, in justice to myself, these additional 
 illustrations. 
 
 The first in order was the suggestion I had conceived it my 
 duty to offer to Brig. Gen. Smith, while he was yet at Poonah, 
 of the advantages that were hkely to result from the reduction of 
 Chakun, a strong little fort, about eighteen miles to the northward 
 of Poonah, commanding the direct road from Serroor with the 
 Ghauts, and a fertile and strong country on the verge of those 
 districts, whence I apprehended efforts would be made to harass 
 and disturb my position, if not to collect a force for its attack 
 and recovery : it was, moreover, a position to which the natives 
 themselves attached peculiar interest, as influencing their sup- 
 plies and communications. In the state of agitation and dismay 
 in which the Mahratta force was at that time,* there cannot be 
 a doubt, had a portion of our army shewn itself before Chakun, 
 it would have fallen immediately. No measure, however, was 
 taken by the General to reduce it, till, on his return from Sun- 
 gumnair, on the 2d of January, it fired a few shot on his ad- 
 vance, when orders were immediately dispatched to Colonel 
 Boles, then on his march with the heavy Division,-]- to move 
 towards it for that purpose. The messenger who took the order 
 
 • So great an alarm existed, that the garrison actually abandoned it a few weeks 
 after, on which Lieut. Robertson, the Police blaster at Poonali, hired some irregulars 
 for its occupation ; I applied to Gen. Smith for his sanction to add to these a few 
 invahd Sepoys ; but no notice was taken of my application, and the consequence 
 was, that, on the Paishwa's return from Baumongong, the irregulars surrendered it 
 to the enemy, who continued to hold it till I left Poonali. 
 
 f Then near Amednuggur, consequently seventy miles off at tiie tinic.
 
 INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS. iii 
 
 missed the Colonel, who, in consequence, reached Senoor with- 
 out receiving it, and on his arrival there the indignation excited 
 by the conduct of the garrison of Chakun having subsided, 
 Colonel Boles's division was assigned a ditiercnt duty, marching 
 south across the ]5eema to Loonee ; Chakun being permitted a 
 second time to become a nucleus for the enemy's parties, to as- 
 semble and shelter themselves, and straiten the supplies of the ca- 
 pital, which was thus surrounded on every quarter by the enemy's 
 garrisons, till the end of February, Avhen a different poHcy was 
 adopted, and Poonadar, Singhur, Looaghun, Izeiapoor, and 
 Chakun, positions of the enemy that commanded the approaches 
 to the capital in every direction, were reduced b}' the divisions 
 under General Pritzler and Lieut. Colonel Deacon. This may 
 give some idea of the degree of consideration bestowed on the 
 establishment, of the tranquillity of the capital at the time it was 
 entrusted to me, and the subsequent stability and depth of Brig. 
 Gen. Smith's plans, which he has so ruthlessly asserted "I had 
 
 RUINED." 
 
 The next point is, the state of the old Palace, and the instruc- 
 tions received on that subject. 
 
 The Palace was a quadrangular building, with large towers at its 
 angles, having one tower, and in the north face, two other towers, 
 in its curtains, all of which, though well built, and in good repair, 
 had no parapet, except on the interior side of the rampart, where it 
 was built up around the interior rev6tement, on and along which 
 the roofs of various buildings within the Palace rested, and over 
 all which an assailing enemy might lire. Moreover, as the scite
 
 iv INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS. 
 
 of this fort or building declined gradually to the river, the cur- 
 tain on that side (the southern), which stood on the highest 
 ground, was not above fifteen feet high, consequently nothing was 
 easier than to ascend the rampart in that quarter, which having 
 done, its assailants would be under cover of the parapet already 
 mentioned, commanding the interior courts of the Palace, while 
 every house to the southward and eastward, and many of those 
 in the other quarter, commanded, and a few had even loop holes 
 within pistol shot of the Palace. This however was the position 
 on which the maintenance of our footing in the city depended ; 
 yet General Smith would not allow of my strengthening it, he- 
 cause it betrayed, in the Jirst place, its defects; in the next, our 
 fears ; in the third place, if it afterwards was carried by the enemy, 
 it would be more difficidt to recover ; reasons which decided him 
 on leaving the position, with little or no improvements, but such 
 as could be reconciled with the above principles. A professional 
 reader may easily imagine what an enviable and tenable position 
 such a place, in the heart of an hostile capital, must have been. 
 When, however, the General published his Order of the 8th of 
 January, being, it would appear, convinced of the possibility, 
 not to say the great probability, of the Paishwa's endeavouring 
 to repossess himself of his capital, he sent his orders direct to 
 Ensign Slight, the engineer officer under my immediate command, to 
 commence directly building substantial masonry parapets round the 
 Palace rampart, and do every thing in his power, in consultation 
 with Lieut. Robertson, Police Master (who was also to furnish him 
 with the funds), /or the strengthening af his position and the de~
 
 INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS. v 
 
 fence of the citi/, directing him to stockade and palisade the 
 different streets and avenues, to construct portable chevaux-de- 
 frize, to remove from one quarter of the city to another (doubtless 
 expecting that the city would be attacked by the cavalry), and 
 evincing, by every act in his power, his apprehension of its falling 
 into the enemy's hands ; this too, at the very moment when he had 
 not scrupled to report officially to the Commanding Officer of the 
 armies in the field, for the Governor General's information, that 
 I had felt myself unnecessarily uneasy at the approach of the Pai- 
 shwa's army, without reflecting that I had nothing to apprehend. 
 How a man of honour, holding his distinguished command, can 
 reconcile himself to such conduct, I am at a loss to conjecture. 
 His Report of the 1th of January is in direct opposition to his acts, 
 and official measures, under date the ensuing day ; wherein he 
 expressly directs, by his orders of the 8th, that I was not to inter- 
 fere with Ensign Slight, who was solely responsible to him, and 
 who immediately, in consequence, received the orders to which 
 I have alluded. Y^et, in his orders conveyed through his Secre- 
 tary, Captain Hardcastle, under date the ensuing day (the 9th 
 of January), he adds, " You are directed to confine your atten- 
 tion solely to the defence of your position and the city ;" though, 
 as 1 have already shown, by the previous day^s Division Orders, 
 he had specially interdicted me from giving any directions on 
 the subject. 
 
 There is something so extraordinary in the whole of this con- 
 duct, that it is almost difficult to reconcile it with common sense, 
 nmch less with any maxim or principle of a professional nature.
 
 vi INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS. 
 
 I had, liouever, been somewhat habituated to receive the most 
 unjust, and unmerited rebukes, and private reprimands, on 
 private and false information, which General Smith frequently 
 not only listened to, but founded his oflicial measures thereon, 
 though I subsequently received his recantations in terms of equal 
 force. He had on one occasion written to me, that " / had 
 almost driven him mad," by ordering a convoy of 7000 bullocks, 
 escorted by about 1 100 horse and fool, to take post at a large 
 jortified village on the route, in consequefice of information I received 
 of Gokla, with his whole army, being close to them, and crossing 
 their route ; conduct which the General pronounced unwarranta- 
 ble, and DESTRUCTION TO ALL HIS PLANS ! and that I ousyht to 
 have let them, " having sent them off, take their chance ! " This 
 unmerited reproof was, however, recalled by a letter, written, it 
 is worthy of remark, at the very time, and bearing the very same 
 date, the 23d of December, with that — am I not justified in termino- 
 it, artful and insidious? — letter, authorising me to call for the 
 services of the 2d.-lst, which, he afterwards said, I had abused. 
 His private letter to me on this occasion says, " My dear Burr, 
 " — I am not only perfectly satisfied with the explanation you 
 " have given me, but sincerely thank you," &c. The conduct, 
 however, of the General, in reporting, on the 7th of January, 
 that I had betrayed unnecessary fears for the capital, which was 
 in no danger ; in ordering the engineer officer, on the 8th, to be 
 emancipated from his obedience to my authority, awr/ directina 
 him to use every means of strengthening the place, in conjunction 
 with another subaltern, the Police Master ; and, on the 9th, tlirect-
 
 INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS. vii 
 
 ing mc to devote my whole attention to the defence of the city 
 and my position, is so very extraordinary, that it is scarcely 
 to be reconciled to any other principles than that he was, 
 as he before said, out of his semes. Yet, at the very moment, 
 when all this was happening, he was aware that the division under 
 my command was in the most critical state, from the efforts of trea- 
 chery and seduction, which no pains were spared on the part of the 
 enemy to mature ; incendiaries, bribes, and innumerable and splendid 
 promises, were all employed to wean the brave and faithful troops 
 under my command from their duty and our interests, to what 
 might, doubtless, be supposed to have no trilling weight with 
 them, their domestic and national ties of loyalty and affection. 
 The situation in which we were placed at the time may not 
 unaptly be compared to a state of civil war, where both parties 
 were bound to each other by ties of consanguinity. Yet in this 
 distressing predicament, at a moment when 1 received the 
 General's orders to post parties of Europeans, with loaded 
 muskets, with the guns and tumbrils, whenever we might have 
 occasion to engage, and to deliver them orders, in presence of 
 the drivers, to shoot them on the spot, if they swerved in the 
 least, General Smith could reconcile himself, in violation of every 
 principle of discipUne and feeling, to send orders direct to the 
 different heads of departments, exclusive of the Grder that he 
 published to the whole army on the 8th of January, which had a 
 natural tendency to excite them to acts of disrespectful insubor- 
 dination, and neglect of their duty, teaching them to contemn 
 and disobey my orders, and which he was no more warranted
 
 viii INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS. 
 
 in doing, than the officers, wiio acted under them were, in obey- 
 ing them. 
 
 It is foreign to my purpose to enter into a detail here of 
 the particular circumstances Avhich occurred, or their parti- 
 cular effects ; they were, however, such as might be expected, 
 from the notoriety of my Commander's unmilitary conduct. One 
 of the effects, however, might have proved of the most serious 
 and fatal consequences, had I not given orders, in direct oppo- 
 sition to those of the officers at the head of the Department 
 acting under General Smith's orders, whose conduct had hazarded 
 the safety of our arsenal, hospital, treasury, and a great part of 
 the city. 
 
 In this state of hostility and counteraction with my Com- 
 mander, no professional man, I imagine, will blame me, or 
 hesitate a moment in pronouncing, that it became my duty to 
 resign a command, wherein I was subjected to such compli- 
 cated insults and indignities. Even General Smith himself, 
 independent of his satisfaction at the success of his conduct, in 
 having driven me from the theatre of my glory, and the field 
 that will long bear testimony to my devotion to the service, 
 must commend the feelings he has so successfully goaded, as he 
 must be conscious that he would not have scrupled to have 
 evinced, by every act in his power, his further implacability, which 
 Avould have been stimulated and invigorated by my continuance 
 in command. He has, indeed, I have every reason to believe, 
 done every thing he could, to prejudice the Most Noble Mar- 
 quis, our great and exalted Superior, against my humble exer-
 
 INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS. ix 
 
 tions in the public cause ; with what success, it would ill behove 
 me to offer an opinion, as His Excellency's autograph letter, 
 which he did nie the distinguished honour of addressing to me, 
 and which forms one of the accompaniments, speaks for itself. 
 
 It would have afforded me the most heartfelt pleasure to have 
 been permitted to reply to Cieneral Smith's subsequent invec- 
 tive against me to his Lordship ; that I have not had the oppor- 
 tunity will be evident by a reference to my Second Letter to the 
 Adjutant General, which request, to be permitted to reply to 
 General Smith's observations was not acceded to. I nmst there- 
 fore confine myself to the bare assertion, that I feel the utmost 
 confidence, that there is not a circumstance, or a calumnious 
 insinuation, that may have been incorporated therein, that I 
 should not have been able to refute as fully as the ungenerous 
 and unfounded assertions contained in General Smith's Despatch 
 of the 7 th of January, which has been already published, and in its 
 secret and confidential precursor, which has not ; but which, it 
 is evident, by the concluding lines of the public Despatch of the 
 7th, had contained statements which even he found it necessary 
 to correct and contradict. 'J'his is not the first or only instance that 
 could be adduced of the precipitancy and inaccuracy of General 
 Smith's official reports, even on occasions where ample time was 
 previously afforded for reflexion ; and where the natural conse- 
 quences of his inveteracy were self-evident. VVidi such a comman- 
 der, but little confidence can exist, and but little regret occur, be- 
 yond that of professional feeling, at being no longer associated on 
 the same professional theatre ; as where a commander can stoop to 
 
 c
 
 X INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS. 
 
 deteriorate the mite of merit of those under his command, de- 
 tracting from the humble portion of commendation to which 
 they may have established a fair pretension and claim, and 
 even strive to lower and deteriorate their professional merit in 
 the eyes of their Supreme Commander, but little reciprocal 
 confidence can exist, or hope of receiving the just tribute of indi- 
 vidual exertions, wherever the concession thereof would pluck a 
 sprig from the Commander's wreath, 
 
 I shall now conclude, by soliciting a moment's attention to 
 the circumstance of there having been at Poonah, almost ever 
 since my departure, a much stronger force, now that the Dec- 
 can is considered in a state of peace, than ever was there during 
 the time of my command, in the most active and alarming 
 periods of the war ; there having been at one time, an European 
 reo-iment, a regiment of cavalry, and four battalions of sepoys 
 at that station ; notwithstanding which, we have very lately had 
 occasion to make some awful* examples of its inhabitants, who 
 even now, in a state of profound tranquillity, have not scrupled 
 to conspire for the destruction of our government, and the anni- 
 hilation of every European in the place. If such is the case at 
 this moment, what had I not to apprehend, when their sovereign, 
 
 * A Brahmin, a goldsmith, and a Mahratta having been within these few days 
 blown away from guns for their treasonable practices ; and several others arrested. At 
 the time I commanded, I had occasion to execute a Mahratta, one of the police esta- 
 blishment, for the same crime, and had several people, one, an ex-minister of the 
 Paishzm, in confinement, with orders from General Smith for their execution, which 
 I did not carry into effect, for reasons which I reported to him.
 
 INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS. xi 
 
 lit the head of thirty-thousand of liis choicest troops, menaced 
 
 the instant destruction of my force, and the annihilation and 
 
 ruin of every inhabitant and individual, that did not espouse his 
 
 cause ? 
 
 C. B. BuHu, 
 
 Bombay, March 2Ath, 1S19. Lieut. Colonel.
 
 THE 
 
 APPEAL 
 
 OF LIEUT. COL. CHARLES BARTON BURR. 
 
 To Captain H. Tovey, Dep. Adj. Gen. to the Division of the 
 
 Army in the Deccan. 
 
 Sir, 
 
 Camp, Kirkee, November 6th, 1817- 
 My Letter of yesterday's date would have informed you 
 of my having removed the whole of the stores, treasure, and 
 provisions from our late cantonment to the village of Kirkee, 
 and of their being lodged in security therein, and of the 
 brigade being in a state of preparation to move out as circum- 
 stances might require. I have now the honor to report for the 
 information of the general officer commanding this force, that 
 soon after I had dispatched it, I received an intimation from the 
 Resident, of the probability of an immediate rupture Avith the 
 Paishwa, followed by a requisition to move out and attack the 
 INlahralta force which was then visible, and advancing to the 
 attack of our camp.
 
 2 THE APPEAT. OF 
 
 I, in consecjuence, formed the brigade, leaving the head quar- 
 ters of the 2d-6th regiment, who were previously weakened by 
 several strong detachments, in charge of the post of Kirkee, 
 together with the drill, sick, and unfits, and two iron twelve 
 pounders, under the command of Major Roome, and advanced 
 to meet the enemy, a part}- of whose horse hovered near the 
 column, and preceded our march. 
 
 Having chosen a situation in advance of our position at the 
 distance of one mile, we formed line, awaiting the junction of 
 the Dapooree Battalion under the command of Major Ford, 
 with three field pieces. At this period 1 was joined by the 
 Resident, who most gallantly exerted himself throughout the 
 day, in setting a distinguished example of zeal and animation to 
 the troops, encouraging the men whenever it became necessary, 
 and by his suggestions and information aiding my judgment in 
 the execution of the measures it became necessary to adopt. 
 
 On the approach of Major Ford's division, and being rein- 
 forced by the Resident's escort, and troops which had been 
 stationed at the Sungum, under the command of Major Cleeland, 
 who handsomely offered his services to me, I ordered the line to 
 advance, which we continued doing for near half a mile. The 
 Mahratta army, which was drawn up Avith its left resting on the 
 height in front of Gunnes Cundy, where a large body of the 
 Vinchore Rajah's horse was posted, extended its right to the 
 Mootah river, in which direction the principal masses of their 
 cavalry were formed, the total amount of which is supposed to 
 have been about 15,000, the intermediate undulating plain being
 
 LIEUT. COL. C. B. BURR. 3 
 
 occupied by a long line of cavalry and guns, supported by suc- 
 cessive lines of horse, as far as the eye could reach ; who seeing 
 us advance, moved forward from their position, and at the very 
 moment we were unlimbering for action, commenced a brisk 
 cannonade from their centre, while the masses of cavalry on 
 both their flanks endeavoured to turn ours, and succeeded in 
 getting in our rear. The action now became very interesting. 
 A body of Gokla's regular infantry made an attack in solid 
 column on the lst-7th regiment which was on the left of the 
 line, and who had scarcely succeeded in repelling it, and a num- 
 ber of horse, when a select body of the enemy's cavalry, seeing 
 their infantry repulsed, and pressed by the battalion, who could 
 with difticulty be restrained from pursuing them, made a de- 
 termined charge on the corps, some of the men wheeling round 
 the flanks, and repeating their attacks from the rear. The 
 bravery of the men however compensated for the disorder into 
 which they had been thrown by the previous attacks, and enabled 
 them, under circumstances of great difficulty, with the powerful 
 co-operation derived from the left brigade of guns, and a part of 
 the Bombay regiment, to beat ott' the assailants, who left many 
 men and horses on the ground, withdrawing to a distance, and 
 never after hazarding a repetition of their attack. 
 
 By this time Major Ford with his troops and field pieces from 
 Dapooree had joined us, and formed line on our right, when we 
 again immediately advanced near half a mile, the left of the line 
 being thrown back to check any attack of the enemy's, who were 
 in great force between them and the river, while the light com-
 
 4 THE APPEAL OF 
 
 panies of the 7th, which had at first preceded the line, were sent 
 to the rear to keep in check a large body of horse, who had 
 watched Major Ford's movement to our support, and who now 
 came down in rear of our right flank. 
 
 Soon after the enemy withdrew the greater part of his force 
 to a distance, retiring and drawing off his guns towards the city, 
 as we advanced, and the greater part of his infantry, computed 
 at 8000, part of which had been posted in advance of his guns, 
 and centre, in the bed of a nullah, and two Availed gardens, ex- 
 tending along the front of our position, now sent out their skir- 
 mishers, which, with others on the right of the line, and rockets 
 from both front and rear, continued to occasion us a few casual- 
 ties. The light infantry of the line, however, under the command 
 of Captain Preston, easily drove them off, and it being near dark, 
 I submitted to the Resident, as the enemy were evidently in full 
 retreat, the expediency of withdrawing the troops to camp, as 
 soon as it was dark, having fortunately succeeded in our prin- 
 cipal objects, meeting and driving the enemy from their position, 
 and occupying the ground they had originally taken up ; this 
 was accordingly done, and the whole returned to camp soon after 
 8 o'clock. 
 
 I am happy to say the casualties during the action have been 
 less than could have been expected, the greater part have how- 
 ever fallen on the lst-7th regiment. Only one European officer 
 (Lieut. Falconar of the 2d-lst) is amongst the wounded. Ac- 
 companying I have the honor to forward a return of the 
 number.
 
 LIEUT. COL C. B. BURR. 5 
 
 I have not yet heard a correct statement of the loss the enemy 
 suffered. I should imagine it could not be less than three or 
 four hundred killed and wounded ; native reports make it amount 
 to treble that number ; amongst the latter, are said to be the 
 Minister,* and some officers of distinction. 
 
 A more pleasing duty now arrests my attention, the tendering 
 that tribute of grateful acknowledgment due to the exertions 
 of the gallant force 1 had the honour to command, and of those 
 individuals to whose official rank and situation I feel so much 
 indebted for their cheerful support and devotion to promote ihe 
 success of the day. 
 
 The Bombay and Dapooree artillery under the command of 
 Captain Thew, and Lieut. Laurie, rendered the most important 
 services, and the spirited manner in which the guns were served 
 greatl}' contributed to the rapid success of the day. The de- 
 tachment of His Majesty's 6"5th regiment, and Bombay Euro- 
 pean regiment, commanded by Major Wilson, and Lieut. Cole- 
 man, honorably maintained, by their cool and steady conduct, 
 the long established reputation of those valuable corps, and the 
 zealous officers who commanded, Avhile Captains Med ford, Don- 
 elly, and Whitehill, at the head of their respective battalions, 
 were anxious to afford to their deserving corps an honorable 
 example, which was nobly emulated by the Resident's escort, 
 commanded by Major Cleeland. 
 
 To my Major of Brigade, Captain Halifax, to my Quarter 
 Master of Brigade, Lieut. Innerarity, Lieut. Ellis, Bazar Master, 
 
 • Moraba Dixit ; he died of iiis wounds a few hours after. 
 D
 
 6 THE APPEAL OF 
 
 and the other officers con)posing the Brigade Staff, I am ex- 
 tremely obUged for their exertions, during the whole of the 
 action. Lieut. Grant of the Grenadier Battalion, attached to 
 the Residency, most handsomely volunteered his services to 
 communicate my orders, and particularly distinguished himself 
 during the action. Captain Gordon, and Lieut. Dunsterville, 
 were also cheerful assistants on the occasion ; the latter does not 
 belong to the division of the force. 
 
 To Major Ford, and the officers and men of his fine brigade, I 
 feel the greatest obligation, for the cheerfulness and anxiety they 
 evinced to contribute to the general success of the day, while it 
 afforded me much pleasure to witness the anxious and humane 
 attention of Doctor Meek, and the medical gentlemen, to the 
 important duties devolving on them at this interesting moment. 
 
 On my return to camp, finding Lieut. Col. Osborne had ar- 
 rived, I delivered over charge of the brigade under my command 
 to him, having solicited his permission to express my acknow- 
 ledgment in Orders to the gallant force I had the distinguished 
 honor of commanding on an occasion of such peculiar interest. 
 
 I have the honor to be, 
 Sir, 
 your very obedient servant, 
 
 C. B. BuuR, 
 
 Lieut. Colonel.
 
 LIEUT. COL, C. B. BURR. 
 
 Camp near Poondh, Sth November, 1 8 1 7. 
 
 BRIGADE AFTER ORDERS. 
 By Lieut. Colonel Burr. 
 
 The Commanding Officer feels peculiar pride and pleasure in 
 returning his sincere acknowledgments to the troops he had the 
 honor to command in the action of this day, for their distin- 
 guished bravery and exertions. 
 
 The artillery by their animated and well directed fire, rendered 
 the most important services. 
 
 The cool and stead}^ conduct of the Europeans under the 
 command of Major Wilson particularly attracted his attention, 
 while the native corps, under their respective commanding 
 officers, zealously upheld the long established reputation of the 
 Bombay Native Infantry. 
 
 To Major Ford and the officers of his fine brigade, Lieut. 
 Colonel Burr begs leave to return his best thanks for their cheerful 
 and anxious co-operation, which proved so conducive to the 
 ultimate success of the day. 
 
 To the officers of the brigade staff, and those gentlemen who 
 did him the favour to volunteer their services as his personal 
 staff, he feels himself particularly obliged. 
 
 The commanding officer will have much pleasure in bringing 
 to the notice of the general officer commanding the force, the
 
 8 THi: APPEAL OF 
 
 meritorious conduct of the troops on an occasion of such pecu- 
 Uar interest, the recollection of which will ever constitute an 
 object of his utmost pride and gratification. 
 
 Extra drams to be issued to the Europeans immediately. 
 Lieut. Colonel Osborne having joined the brigade, all reports 
 and returns to be made to him accordingly.
 
 LIEUT. COL. C. B. BURR. 
 
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 3
 
 10 THE APPEAL OF 
 
 Head Quarters : Bombay, Wednesday, 28th January, 1818. 
 By the Right Hon. the Governor in Council. 
 
 Bombay Castle, 22d January, 1818. 
 
 The Right Hon. the Governor in Council has the highest grati- 
 fication in publishing to the Army the General Orders of Lieut. 
 General Sir Thomas Hislop, Bart. Commander in Chief of the 
 army of the Deccan, on occasion of the attack made on the 5th 
 of November last, by the troops of His Highness the Paishwa, 
 on the Bombay Brigade, stationed at Poonah under the com- 
 mand of Lieut. Colonel Burr, and the subsequent defeat of the 
 Paishwa's army on the l6th of that month, followed up by the 
 capture of the city of Poonah, by the 4th division under the per- 
 sonal command of Brig. General Smith, C. B. in the perform- 
 ance of which gallant and important services, the troops of this 
 Presidency had a most distinguished share. 
 
 The Governor in Council refrains from any expression of his 
 own commendation on occasions where military science and 
 conduct, exemplary gallantry, valour, and determined devotion, 
 united with signal forbearance and excellent discipline, have 
 drawn forth the warmest acknowledgments and the highest com- 
 meiidation of so distinguished a Commander. The Governor in 
 Council congratulates the Bombay Army on the honor attained
 
 LIEUT. COL. C. B. BURR. 11 
 
 on these memorable occasions, and while he feels the firmest 
 confidence that the loyalty and discipline of every corps requires 
 only opportunity to reap the same honours, he derives a heart- 
 felt pleasure in pointing out to their emulation the splendid 
 achievements of their comrades. 
 
 Head Quarters of tlie Army of the Deccan, 
 Camp at Gunny, \Aili December, 1817- 
 
 GENERAL ORDERS.* 
 
 By the Commander in Chief. 
 
 The Commander in Chief has received from Brigadier General 
 Smith, C. B. commanding the 4th division of the army of the 
 Deccan, the detailed accounts of an attack made on the 5th 
 ultimo, by the troops of His Highness the Paishwa, upon the 
 Bombay Brigade, stationed at Poonah, under the command of 
 Lieut. Colonel Burr, and of the subsequent defeat on the l6th 
 
 • This Order of His Excellency Sir T. Hislop had been previously received and 
 published by General Smitli, on the 7th or 8th of January.
 
 12 THE APPEAT> OF 
 
 ultimo of the Paishwa's arm_y, with the capture of the cit\' of 
 Poonah, by the 4th division, under the personal command of the 
 Brigadier General. 
 
 His Excellency would neither do justice to his own feelings, 
 nor to the merits of the troops employed on this occasion, were 
 he not to express to the Army at large, his high sense of admi- 
 ration of the wisdom of the plans, and the gallantry and valour 
 displayed in their execution, which have led to results so import- 
 ant and decisive, and His Excellency embraces this opportunity 
 of offering to Brig. General Smith his warmest thanks for the 
 manner in which his march was conducted from Serroor to 
 Poonah, under circumstances of no ordinary difficulty, encreased 
 as it was, by the total absence of regular cavalry : and the deci- 
 sion and promptitude with which his attack of the enemy's lines 
 was planned and executed, and their dispersion and overthrow 
 effected, by a perseverance and determined courage, which 
 have never been surpassed. 
 
 The Commander in Chief notices in this place, with equal satis- 
 faction and commendation, the exemplary behaviour of the 
 auxiliary horse, under the command of Captain Spiller, to whom 
 His Excellency desires to offer his best thanks for his gallant, 
 spirited, and successful charges against such superior numbers 
 of the enemy's cavalry. 
 
 The passage of the river, by the two divisions under the Brig. 
 General and Lieut. Colonel Milnes, is worthy of particular 
 notice, and His Excellency has great pleasure in lecording his 
 high sense of the gallant and able manner in which that measure
 
 LIEUT. COL. C. B. BURR. 13 
 
 was effected, particularly by the division under Lieut. Colonel 
 Milnes, to which the most determined opposition was given by 
 the greater part of the enemy's artillery and infantry. 
 
 The conduct of the Brig. General in providing for the safety 
 and protection of the city and inhabitants after the victory, is 
 entitled to, and has the high praise and approbation of the 
 Commander in Chief; and the signal forbearance and excellent 
 discipline shewn by the troops on an occasion so trying, and 
 under circumstances of peculiar aggravation and cruelty, reflect 
 a lustre upon their character, which must ever be remembered 
 with sentiments of the highest respect and gratitude, and His 
 Excellency most heartily participates in the feelings which the 
 Brig. General and his gallant army must have enjoyed at the 
 moment they planted the British colours on the Paishwa's palace, 
 in the heart of his capital, which owed to their discipline, 
 subordination, and forbearance, its preservation from plunder 
 
 and destruction. 
 
 His Excellency requests that Lieut. Colonel Burr will accept 
 of his warmest acknowledgments for the exemplary gallantry, 
 and determined devotion with which the sudden and perfidious 
 attack of his small force, by the whole of the Paishwa's army, on 
 the 5th ultimo, was so resolutely opposed, and successfully 
 
 repulsed. 
 
 The dispositions made by the Lieut. Colonel, on that occasion, 
 reflect the highest credit upon his military character, and the 
 success of his operations against a force so very superior in 
 numbers, is a convincing proof (if such were reciuircd), that 
 
 £
 
 14 THE APPEAL OF 
 
 coolness and discipline will always be found irresistible, opposed 
 to any numerical superiority, if deficient in those essential quali- 
 fications. 
 
 The conduct of the Isl bat. 7th reg. Bombay N. 1. upon 
 this memorable occasion, demands the particular notice of the 
 Commander in Chief, and although His Excellency feels it diffi- 
 cult to distinguish, where all have acted so admirably well, yet 
 the peculiar situation in which this gallant corps was placed, 
 pressed by severe and repeated attacks of the enemy, both 
 horse and foot, all of which were successfully resisted, entitles 
 this battalion to His Excellency's especial notice, and the Com- 
 mander in Chief desires that the expression of his highest appro- 
 bation may accordingly be communicated to the 1st bat. 7th 
 reg. Bombay N. I, 
 
 The conduct of Captain Ford and the brigade under his com- 
 mand, is also entitled to the Commander in Chief's cordial 
 approbation. 
 
 The Commander in Chief desires that Brig. Gen. Smith will 
 express to the Staff, the Artillery, His Majesty's 65th regiment, 
 the Bombay European regiment, and the whole of the Native 
 troops, his highest approbation of their conduct, which his Ex- 
 cellency will not fail to report in the flattering terms of praise it 
 so justly merits, to His Excellency the Most Noble the Governor 
 General ; and the Commander in Chief directs, that it be parti- 
 cularly explained to the Native troops, that their courage and 
 discipline will be no less the theme of his favourable notice to 
 that high authority, than their unshaken loyalty, and incorrup-
 
 LfEUT. COL. C. B. BURR. 15 
 
 tible fidelity, amidst the most artful and active attempts to seduce 
 them from their allegiance. 
 
 (Signed) T. H. S. Conway. 
 
 Bombay Ca,tk, 27th Jan. 1818. Adjt. General of the Amy. 
 
 Lieutenant Colonel D. Leighton, Adjutant General of the 
 
 Army, Bombay. 
 
 Sir, 
 I DO myself the honor of transmitting you an accompaniment 
 to His Excellency the Commander in Chief, giving cover to an 
 Address to the Most Noble the Governor General, founded on 
 circumstances which having happened while serving under the 
 Commander in Chief of a different Presidency, and been re- 
 ported for the information of His Excellency the most Noble 
 the Commander in Chief and Governor General in India, will, I 
 trust, be deemed by His Excellency Sir Miles Nightingall, a 
 sufficient apology for my soliciting his permission on the present 
 occasion to address myself direct to that supreme and exalted
 
 16 THE APPEAL OF 
 
 authority, to whom I have had the misfortune of being thus un- 
 fortunately misrepresented. 
 
 I have the honor to be, 
 Sir, 
 Your very obedient servant, 
 
 (Signed) C. B. Burr. 
 
 Sural, I6th June, 1818. Lieut. Colonel. 
 
 His Excellency, Lieut. General Sir Miles Nightingall, 
 K. C. B. Commander in Chief, &c. &c. &c. Bombay. 
 
 Sir, 
 It is with pecuhar satisfaction I find myself at length enabled 
 to submit to your Excellency, a statement of the circumstances 
 attending the measures for which Brigadier General Smith has 
 reflected on my conduct in his Despatch to His Excellency the 
 Commander in Chief of the army in the Deccan, on the 7th of 
 January last : to which statenient I most respectfully beg leave 
 to entreat your Excellency's indulgent attention, though unfortu- 
 nately in doing so, I am conscious I trespass largely on your 
 time. It is however a subject of some professional interest, which 
 I trust will plead in extenuation of my extreme prolixity, and 
 should nothing appear to you improper therein, as being uncon-
 
 LIEUT. COL. C. B. BURR. 17 
 
 necled with my Justification, may I beg your Excellency will 
 have the goodness to forward it on to the most Noble the Gover- 
 nor General and Commander in Chief in India ; to whom I feel 
 peculiarly anxious to submit this defence of my conduct, for an 
 act dictated by the most considerate attention to the important 
 interests at that time confided to my charge, and the most ear- 
 nest solicitude to acquit myself to my immediate Commander, 
 Brigadier General Sn)ith, of the duties he had done me the 
 honor to assign me ; in my humble attempts to discharge which, 
 I have been unfortunately held up to my most exalted Superiors, 
 and the public at large, as a blundering, thoughtless blockhead ; 
 an idea which silently submitted to, cannot fail of blighting every 
 future professional hope which the beneficence of an omnipo- 
 tent Providence has given birth to. 
 
 I have the honor to remain, 
 
 with the greatest respect, 
 
 your Excellency's 
 
 most obedient humble servant, 
 
 (Signed) C. B. Bukr. 
 Sural, 16t7t June, 1818. Lieut. Colonel.
 
 18 THE APPEAL OF 
 
 Sir, 
 
 Head Quarters, Surat^ \st July, 1818. 
 
 By desire of the Commanding Officer of the Province, I 
 have the honor to transmit, for your information and guidance, 
 the annexed copy of a Letter received yesterday, from the 
 Adjutant General of the army, dated 26th ultimo; and to re- 
 turn the Memorial addressed by you to the Most Noble the 
 Commander in Chief in India, with accompaniments, in order 
 that the same may be forwarded in triplicate, through the pre- 
 scribed channel, as directed in the Adjutant General's commu- 
 nication on this subject. 
 
 I have the honor to be, 
 Sir, 
 your most obedient servant, 
 (Signed) J. W. Aitchison, 
 
 To Lieutenant Colonel C. B. Bdek, Prov. Major of Brigade. 
 
 &c. &c. &c. 
 
 Surat. 
 
 (No. 519.) 
 Sir, 
 
 Bombay, 26th June, 1818. 
 
 Having received the inclosed Letters and Memorial direct 
 from Lieutenant Colonel Burr, and submitted them to His 
 Excellency the Commander in Chief, 1 am instructed by him to 
 transmit them to you, for the purpose of being returned to that
 
 LIEUT. COL. C. B. BURR. 19 
 
 officer, in order that they may be forwarded, through the pre- 
 scribed channel, to Head Quarters. 
 
 You will be pleased to inform Lieutenant Colonel Burr, that, 
 as the Memorial was not forwarded while he was serving in the 
 Deccan, and as he seems to reflect on the professional conduct 
 of Brisiadier General Smith, under whose immediate command 
 he was employed, in some parts of his Statement ; it appears to 
 His Excellency an indispensable act of common justice, that 
 Brio-adier General Smith should be furnished with a copy of the 
 Memorial, in order that he may be fully apprised of its contents ; 
 after which, His Excellency will lay the Memorial before the 
 Richt Honourable the Governor in Council, for transmission to 
 the Supreme Government, for the information of the Most Noble 
 the Commander in Chief in India. 
 
 The Memorial to be transmitted in triplicate by Lieutenant 
 
 Colonel Burr. 
 
 I have the honor to be, 
 
 Sir, 
 
 your most obedient servant, 
 
 (Signed) D. Leigiiton. 
 
 To Major Gen. H. P. Laurence, Adj. Gen. of the Army. 
 
 Commanding Province of Guzerat, 
 Surat. 
 
 (True Copy.) 
 (Signed) J. W. Aitciiison, 
 
 Prov. Major of Brigade.
 
 20 THE APPEAL OF 
 
 To the Provincial Brigade Major to the Troops serving in 
 
 Guzerat, Surat. 
 Sir, 
 I DO myself the honor of transmitting you in triplicate, the 
 Letter to the Most Noble the Governor General, and Com- 
 mander in Chief, which you returned to me on the 1st instant, 
 for that purpose and transmission, through the Commanding 
 Officer of the Province, and have the honor to remain, 
 
 Sir, 
 your very obedient humble servant, 
 
 (Signed) C. B. Burr, 
 
 Lieut. Colonel. 
 
 Lieutenant Colonel Leightox, Adjutant General of the Army, 
 
 Bombay. 
 Sir, 
 In doing myself the honor of conforming to the directions con- 
 veyed in your Letter to the General Officer commanding the Pro- 
 vince, under date the 26th ultimo, with the communication of 
 which I was favoured on the 1st, calling for two additional copies 
 of my Letter to His Excellency the Most Noble the Governor 
 General and Commander in Chief, and requiring that the whole
 
 LIEUT. COL. C. B. BURR. 21 
 
 should be forwarded, through the Commanding Officer in the Pro- 
 vince, 1 beg you will do me the favour to state to His Excellency 
 Sir Miles Nightingall, that I should certainly, in the first instance, 
 have done myself the honor of transmitting the original through 
 Major General Laurence, had I not understood, from a com- 
 munication I had with that officer, that the circumstance in 
 (,uestion was of a nature he conceived I might forward my com- 
 munication direct, which I accordingly availed myself of, and 
 rc-ret I did not advert to it in the original Letter I had the 
 honor of addressing you. 
 
 Accompanving you will receive the Letter in triplicate, one 
 being, you have given me to understand, for Brigadier General 
 Smith On this subject, do me the honor most respectfully to 
 submit to His Excellency Sir Miles Nightingall, that however 
 consistent it may appear, and doubtless on a general prmciple 
 it must be admitted to be, affording every officer an opportunity 
 of being acquainted with every thing affecting him, submitted 
 for the consideration of our superiors, I cannot avoid considering 
 Brigadier General Smith's conduct towards me, as having sub- 
 jected him to the forfeiture of whatever claim he might other- 
 wise have been allowed to the communication in question ; 
 as not only in the present case, which has given birth to this 
 Appeal, has he absolutely denied, or withheld from me, the least 
 insight into the accusations he made against me; which I am 
 at this moment doubtful whether f know the extent of; as from 
 his private Letter to me of the 4th of January, he informed me 
 it was Ins intention to accuse me of being, by my professional 
 
 F
 
 22 THE APPEAL OF 
 
 misconduct, the author of what he at that time pronounced to be 
 a most serious public misfortune ; which he, nevertheless, has 
 never had the candour to afford me an opportunity of refuting — 
 a circumstance alone, I conceive, sufficient to establish my posi- 
 tion. But when it is associated with other facts I have therein 
 stated, wherein it will appear, that I have been judged, condemned, 
 officially reprimanded by him, and public orders issued of the most 
 huyniliating nature to me, without being previously made acquainted 
 even with the nature of the allegations against me, or called on, or 
 afforded an opportunity of offering one word in justification of my 
 conduct before judgment was passed, and the official acts, to my dis- 
 paragement and humiliation, publicly recorded. When His Excel- 
 lency is informed that these are not the only instances where I 
 have been severely censured by Brigadier General Smith, in 
 some instances on private and erroneous information anterior 
 to my being even acquainted of any blame being attached to my 
 conduct, which in different cases I have had to justify, and re- 
 ceived the recantation of the reprimands, after having been sub- 
 jected to all the distress residting from them, I trust that His 
 Excellency will admit, that in the present case, as I am merely 
 replying in the character of a defendant to a serious professional 
 charge, forwarded against me to the most exalted authority, that my 
 accuser has no claim to animadvert on my reply previous to its 
 being received by that authority, before whom my accusation has 
 been for some months, though the nature of the charge contained 
 therein has only recently transpired. As my accompanying 
 Appeal to the Most Noble Marquis is merely a defence of my
 
 LIEUT. COL. C. B. BURR. 23 
 
 owii conduct ; wherein if, in justice to myself, I have had occa- 
 sion to state facts that were not before noticed, or place others 
 in a light in which they have not been exhibited, as this may be 
 regarded, strictly speaking, a mere variation in the statement of the 
 subject that my accuser was the first to sketch and present in his own 
 view; however ynuch my statement may place things in a new 
 light, they carefully abstain from adverting to any thing uncon- 
 nected with my justification ; whence 1 am led to infer, that it 
 does not establish any right on the part of Brigadier General 
 Smith to receive my reply to his accusation, which right, if recog- 
 nised, w^ill, I doubt not, be admitted by His Excellency, as esta- 
 blishing a corresponding claim on my part, to rejoin thereto, 
 which, I should hope. His Excellency will not deny me, should 
 he ultimately decide on communicating my statement to Briga- 
 dier General Smith, and that officer add any further reflections on 
 my conduct to those he has already so ungenerously given birth 
 to ; moreover, under these circumstances, I trust it will appear no 
 more than just and reasonable to claim of Brigadier General 
 Smith, a copy for my information, of any report or reports he 
 may have made to superior authority, in any degree censuring or 
 reflecting on my conduct. 
 
 I have the honor to remain. 
 Sir, 
 Your very obedient Servant, 
 
 (Signed) C. B. Burr, 
 
 Surat, July, 1818. Lieutenant Colonel.
 
 24 THE APPEAL OF 
 
 Sir, 
 
 Head Quarters, Sural, Ijth August, 1818. 
 I AM directed by Major General Laurence to transmit, for 
 your information, the annexed copy of a Letter from the Chief 
 Secretary to Government, to the address of His Excellency the 
 Commander in Chief, intimating that your Memorial, under date 
 I6"th June last, has been duly forwarded to the Most Noble the 
 Governor General and Commander in Chief in India. 
 
 T have the honor to be, 
 Sir, 
 Your most obedient servant, 
 
 (Signed) J. W. Aitciiison, 
 
 To the Officer commanding Prov. Major of Brigade. 
 
 Southern D^^^sion ofGuzerat, 
 Sural. 
 
 To His Excellency Lieut. Gen. Sir Miles Nightingall, 
 K. C. B. Commander in Chief. 
 
 Sir, 
 
 I AM directed by the Right Honorable the Governor in 
 
 Council, to acknowledge the receipt of your Excellency's Letter 
 
 of the 28th ultimo, and to acquaint you, that Lieutenant Colonel 
 
 Burr's Letter to His Excellency the Most Noble the Governor
 
 LIEUT. COL. C. B. BURR. 25 
 
 General lias been rorwarded to his Lordship, and a copy trans- 
 mitted, as suggested by you, to Brigadier General Smith, C. B. 
 
 I have the honor to be, 
 
 Sir, 
 
 your most obedient humble servant, 
 
 (Signed) F. Warden, 
 Bombay Castle, 6th August, 1818. Chief Secretary. 
 
 (True Copy.) 
 
 (Signed) D. Leigiiton, 
 
 Adjutant General of tlie Army. 
 
 (True Copy.) 
 
 (Signed) J . W. Aitchison. 
 
 Prov. Major ol' Brigade.
 
 THE APPEAL OF LIEUT. COL. C. B. BURR. 27 
 
 To His Excellency General the Right Honorable the Most 
 Noble Marquis of Hastings, K. G. Governor General and 
 Commander in Chief of His Majesty's and the Honorable 
 Company's Forces in India. 
 
 My Lokd, 
 The Honorable the Vice President in Council at Calcutta 
 having published in the Government Gazette of the 19th of 
 April, the official Despatch of His Excellency the Commander in 
 Chief of the army of the Deccan, under date the 23d of January, 
 giving cover to Brigadier General Smith's report of the affair at 
 Corygaum, bearing date the 7tli of the same month ; 1 am at 
 length enabled, after a lapse of five months painful suspense and 
 anxiety, to submit to your Lordship, as the protector and guar- 
 dian of my professional character and honor, such remarks in 
 explanation and justification of my conduct on that occasion, as 
 the severe and unmerited reflections which General Smith has 
 therein thrown on my professional conduct and judgment, appear 
 to me to merit and demand ; which will, I trust, plead in exte- 
 nuation of my present intrusion on your Excellency's attention. 
 It would be a gratifying circumstance if, in so doing, I could 
 limit my present trespass to a few brief remarks ; but notwith- 
 standing the rule, I feel it my duty to prescribe myself, of citing 
 mere facts, and documents, and adhering as closely as possible
 
 28 THE APPEAL OF 
 
 to General Smith's own statement of the transaction, I am 
 concerned to announce, that there are so many collateral cir- 
 cumstances that bear on, and illustrate the subject of discussion, 
 and are so intimately connected with it, that I am afraid I shall 
 unavoidably be under the painful necessity of intruding largely 
 on your Lordship's valuable time; a reflection which however 
 derives a solace, in the knowledge that it is a professional ques- 
 tion of an interesting nature, consequently one which will be 
 honored with your Excellency's most gracious attention ; more 
 particularly as it involves the military character and prospects 
 of an officer, who has fortunately had the honor of being already 
 brought to your Lordship's notice, under circumstances of too 
 flattering and enviable a nature, not to excite a more than ordi- 
 nary jealousy to preserve your good opinion. 
 
 In conformity to the rule already adverted to, I beg leave to 
 submit in the first instance, a narrative associated with, and which 
 has for its basis, General Smith's Report; commencing with 
 his departure from Serroor, on the 22d of December, on which 
 day the Paishwa having then gone oft' to the hilly and jungly 
 country to the N. W. General Smith, for reasons therein stated, 
 took the route of Amednuggur to the N. E. and reaching that 
 place, which is thirty-one* miles from Serroor in three marches, 
 proceeded on without halting by the Nimbadora pass, to Sun- 
 gunmair, and the Wasserah Ghaut, the extreme point of his 
 
 * I suspect the measurement by General Smith's march route would give several 
 miles more than this, and the following distances.
 
 LIEUT. COL. C. B. BURR. 29 
 
 pursuit to the N. W.* distant from that of his departure eighty- 
 seven miles, whicli he reached on the 29th of December, being 
 eight days after his departure from Serroor, which is forty-one 
 miles E. N. E. from Poonah, and consequentlj^ one hundred 
 and twenty-eight miles, and eleven days march from the capital, at 
 ■which I was left, without any orders or instructions for my gui- 
 dance, occupying a fortified position, about three quarters of a 
 mile east of the city, with a lirigade of two thousand natives, 
 about two hundred Europeans, artillery and infantry, and three 
 hundred irregular horse; new levies composed of people, who 
 a few weeks before had been in the Paishwa's service. 
 
 It was under these circumstances, that General Smith wrote 
 to me, an o[/icial, secret, and confidential letter on the 9.3d of De- 
 cember, from Aukulnair, wherein he informs me, that conceiving 
 it a probable conse(juence of his movement, that the Paishwa 
 might descend into the Concan, I was, on ascertaining the cer- 
 tainty of such an event, to detach the 2d-6'th regiment, rendering 
 it as efficient as possible, to reinforce and co-operate with the 
 detachment of Bombay troops in the Concan ; and to appi}' to 
 Lieutenant Colonel Fitzsimons, commanding at Serroor, to 
 replace it at Poonah by the 2d- 1st regiment, which was thus 
 placed at my command ; and in a subsecpient paragraph of the 
 same letter adds, " It is possible, but less probable, if his High- 
 " ness himself should descend, that he might, on re-entering 
 " thcm,'|- fly to one of the hill forts in your neighbourhood, and 
 
 * Vide additional remark to the Appendix. 
 
 1 The diblriets in llie Deccan are inijjiied here, a.s tlie Concan is in the preceding line. 
 
 G
 
 30 TFIE APPEAL OF 
 
 " where his horse could not act. In this case, if practicable, the 
 " 2d-lst from Serroor shall immediately join you, to unite with 
 " such troops as you can possibly spare, in blockading him, 
 *' until I can bring up my division." 
 
 Affairs remained in this state till the 30th, nothing of any 
 consequence intervening. General Smith had arrived at Nuggur 
 on the 24th, passed the Nimbadora Ghaut the succeeding day ; 
 from which date (or that of the 26th, I am not positive which) 
 no accounts reached Poonah from his division, till the evening 
 of the Scf of January, when I had the honor of receiving a letter 
 from the Honorable Mr. Elphinstone, dated the 2^th of Decem- 
 ber, near Sungumnair,* giving me the outline of the Paishwa's 
 movement in their neighljourhood, and even then expressing his 
 doubt, nhether his Highness would direct his course to the south- 
 ward (or not). It is of little consequence transcribing this 
 letter,-)- as it could have had no influence on my anterior mea- 
 sures, beyond confirming me in my ideas of the policy and 
 prudence of that I had previously adopted, in applying for the 
 2d-lst, nor should I, under these circumstances, have even men- 
 tioned it, but that it was the only Letter I received from the army, 
 from the dale of General Smith's of the 23d, already adverted 
 to, written on the march from Serroor to Nuggur, which reached 
 me late in the afternoon of the 25th ; had it, however, been pos- 
 sible for Mr. Elphinstone's letter of the 28th to have reached me 
 on the 30th of December, at any lime previous to my dispatching 
 my application to Colonel Fitzsinions for the 2d-lst, it woull only 
 
 * Toorgon, near Akola. -| I liave annexed it to tlie Appendix.
 
 LIEUT. COL. C. B. BURR. " 31 
 
 have proved an additional and most conclusive reason, in support of 
 those that had already swayed me, in deciding to apply for the 
 assistance of that Corps ; and here it may not be improper to 
 add, that one of the last letters received from General Smith's 
 force, after his passing the Nimbadora Ghaut, from an officer 
 high in General Smith's and Mr. Elphinstone's confidence, to 
 another who was honored with Mr. Elphinstone's, adverting to 
 the probability of the Paishwa's return south, and approach to 
 Poonah, which Letter was shown me; expressed the sanguine 
 hopes they confidently entertained, that I would not allow him to 
 2)ass with impunity, but make an effort to follow and attack him. 
 
 Having thus shown the actual state of affairs on the morning 
 of the 30th, the orders I had recently received for my conduct, 
 and the expectations that were entertained on that subject at the 
 General's Head Quarters in Camp; it may not be improper, be- 
 fore proceeding further, to convey some idea of our situation at 
 Poonah, the enemy's capital, which had never been cleared of 
 his adherents, many more of whom had subsequently flocked in to 
 see their families, as his Highness passed north, about a fort- 
 night before, of whose views and conduct in a large open city, 
 several miles,five at least, in circuit, it became inipossibl to make 
 ourselves properly acquainted, exclusive of a number of private 
 armed men, whom the more respectable or wealthy part of the 
 inhabitants, and others, had retained in their service for the 
 defence of their houses and property, previous to our possessing, 
 llie city, and others, who the natives had been permitted to call 
 ,11, as escorts to travellers or merchandize going through the
 
 32 THE APPEAL OF 
 
 country. Under these circumstances, I had conceived it my 
 duty to inform General Smith, which I had done in different 
 Letters, of the impossibihty of my defending the city in the 
 event of the enemy's attacking it, and the necessity I should be 
 under of limiting our efforts to that of the defence of our posi- 
 tion, the old palace, near the N. W. angle of the city, where 
 we had four hundred men on duty, and Rastia's house, a very 
 capacious strong building, a kind of palace, on the skirts of the 
 city, which I had, from an idea of its importance and utility, 
 taken possession of and fortified, and in which I had ordered the 
 treasure, principal magazine, superfluous stores, and hospital, 
 and officers' families to be placed, with such additional details 
 as appeared to me likely to insure the possession of that neces- 
 sary post, with which I had opened a direct road through the 
 cultivated ground that intervened between it and our camp ; the 
 communication of which with the city might be considered as 
 depending in a great degree on the possession of this place, 
 which was intermediately situated for maintaining and support- 
 ing the position at the old palace, whicti formed a place of arms 
 in the north-west, while Rastia's house answered the same ob- 
 ject in the north-east quarter of the city, which was covered to 
 the eastward, at the distance of a short mile, by the position the 
 brigade under my command had been ordered to occupy, ex- 
 lending north and south, about one thousand yards along a 
 low ridse of ground, the rio-ht or southern flank of which rested 
 on a tank, defended by a battery, abbatis, and other field works, 
 extending to a second tank, obliquely in the rear of that flank.
 
 LIEUT. COL. C. B. BLKR. 
 
 33 
 
 while the left was terminaled by a ruinous house, that General 
 Smith had ordered to be converted into a redoubt -a circum- 
 stance which alone shows that the brigade which had been left 
 with me, was not deemed strong enough to maintam its ground, 
 without lun ing recourse to expedients that are seldom resorted 
 to, but in cases of peculiar necessity ; and which, notwithstand- 
 ing every exertion on our part to complete, were still in an un- 
 finished state; as, besides those already mentioned, it was in- 
 dispensably necessary to establish a strong redoubt, which 
 formed the key of our position, on the high ground parallel to, 
 and within five hundred yards of our front and centre. 
 
 'Jo defend these extensive positions, I have already slated 
 General Smith had left n.e about 2200* regular, and 300 irre- 
 gular troops ; but fortune, which has so providentially, through- 
 out, favoured the events wherein I have lately had the honor of 
 being concerned, had brought to Poonah, two days previous 
 thereto (the 28th), Lieutenant Colonel Cunningham, with 1700 
 irregular horse, some of whom, by far the best of die new levies, 
 hacri.ocu recruited by Captain Sydenham in the Nizam's dis- 
 tricts; all of whom, by a singularly fortunate chance, came in 
 virtue of a previous permission from General Smith to Colonel 
 Cunningham to that cflect, to be mustered and paid at Poonah. 
 
 • Detachments of the T?onit,ay and Dapooree Artillery, nine companies of the 2d-Gth ; 
 the lst-7th, winch had suHered on the 5th; a weak l,attalion of the Dapooree 
 (late the Paishwa's) infantry, with two companies of the Bomhay regmient; hoth 
 battalions of Native Infantry had detachments out, who could not join in consequence 
 of the war, a. well as men on furlough, which considerably reduced then- nu.nbers, 
 exclusive of 1 10 men on command at Carlce and Condalluh, at the top ol the Bhore 
 Ghaut.
 
 34 THE APPEAL OF 
 
 Things were in this state when, on the forenoon of the 30th, 
 the people I had sent in advance towards Junair, brought me 
 information of the sudden return of the Paishwa, and that the 
 advance of his army had arrived at Chakun, eighteen miles 
 north of Poonah, from which and the adjoining country, in the 
 course of the day, numerous reports succeeded each other, and 
 wounded men, whom the enemy had pursued or permitted to es- 
 cape, all confirming the report that the Paishwa himself was with 
 his army, which was in great force ; and that the whole were in 
 full march to repossess themselves of his capital,* of which it was 
 said they were promised three days ( Loot MaufF) plunder ; after 
 Avhich triumph, it was generally believed, the annihilation of the 
 brigade under my command being considered the price of this 
 concession, the Paishwa would open a negociation for peace, pi-o- 
 ceeding in the mean time to some of the neighhoiiriug hill forts, with 
 which the position of Poonah is in a manner identified, sojne of them 
 towering above, and looking down upon it ; all which had never- 
 theless been left in the undisturbed possession of the enemy -f- when the 
 General marched, and which were now expected to become an 
 asylum to their prince,^, while awaiting the result of the sanguinary 
 
 * Their plan was understood to be, after entering the city, to take post and establish 
 themselves in the large houses and buildings belonging to their Sirdars, while their 
 cavalry hovered around our position, and ilivoured an attack thereon from the city. 
 
 ■f- Singhur or Seughur, the most proximate, being within a short march, had alone 
 a garrison of near 2000 men, 1 eing little less than the total amount of my brigade. 
 Poonadar, also a march off, had nearly as many more. 
 
 X An idea that was considerably strengthened by the belief that much of the trea- 
 sure that had been removed from Poonah, after the action of the 5th, had been sent to 
 Singhur. It was also the first object that would present itself in the route by which
 
 LIEUT. COL. C. B. BURR. 35 
 
 attack that was meditated lo regain his capital, which assumed, if 
 possible, a more delerniincd character, from the circumstance of 
 the energy which Trimbuckjce Danglea, who had hitely rejoined 
 his master, had endeavoured to instil into his councils and mea- 
 sures ; and the recent domestic afflictions which had occurred in 
 Gokla's family, whose only son had died but a few days before, 
 and daughter-in-hiw, his widow, a young woman in the prime of 
 youth and beauty, immolated herself on the funeral pile ; events, 
 it was said, he had sworn to avenge. Under all these circum- 
 stances, I conceived it ni}' duly lo apply for the assistance 
 of the 2d-lst, which I did about midnight of the 30lh, by the 
 following Letter, which was dispatched in duplicate lo Serroor, 
 and reached it the next day at one o'clock. 
 
 « Sir, 
 
 " Poonah, 30th December, 181 7. 
 
 " His Highness the Paishwa, by a variety and every account 
 
 " I have received during the course of this day, appears to be in 
 
 " full march to this city, I shall therefore detain Major Cun- 
 
 " ningham's horse; and it appearing to me that his near approach 
 
 " being understood to be at this moment near Chakun, a place 
 
 " about eighteen miles off, justifies my application to you for 
 
 " the assistance of the second battalion 1st regiment, which 
 
 " General Smith has authorised me, in his Letter from Aukul- 
 
 " nair, of the 23d December, to make in certain cases, I beg 
 
 the Paishwa was expected to pass Poonali, whitli it was supposed would liave been to 
 the west of tlie town.
 
 36 THE APPEAL OF 
 
 " the favor of your granting me the aid of that corps, and any 
 " cavalry you can spare, if you conceive it possible they can 
 " come on to this place, which, I should suppose, if unincum- 
 " bered with baggage, they might be able to effect ; but as my 
 " object in making this application is connected with further 
 ♦' orders, which I believe 3'ou are acquainted with, it is of the 
 " greatest consequence they should march with the utmost expe- 
 " dition, and as soon as it is practicable for them to do it with 
 " safety. 
 
 " I have the honor to be, 
 " Sir, 
 " your most obedient servant, 
 
 (Signed) "C. B. Burr, 
 
 Lieut. Colonel. 
 To Lieut. Col. Fitzsimons, 
 
 " commanding, Serroor." 
 
 Independent of what I have already stated, I was decided in 
 the adoption of this measure by the following considerations. 
 
 General Smith had placed the corps at my command under 
 certain circumstances that he had anticipated, having a reference 
 in one instance to defensive, in another to offensive operations; either 
 way thei/ were at mi/ disposal ; no reservation, proviso, or men- 
 tion being made of his park or stores at Serroor, which it is fair 
 to suppose he did not conceive to be in any danger;* as if he 
 
 * It alw ays appeared to me the policy of the enemy, not to destroy Serroor, though 
 an open cantonment, as so long as it was permitted to exist, it divided and conse- 
 quently weakened our force, by tempting us to keep two battalions with details of
 
 LIEUT. COL. C. B. BURR. 37 
 
 had, it is most natural to believe he would have taken them on 
 with him to Amednuggur, a place of unquestionable security he 
 had passed on his route, and circuitous pursuit of the Paishwa, 
 in preference to leaving them in a place which might become 
 lial)lc to fall into the enemy's hands, of which he seems to have 
 had no apprehension, though he appears to have foreseen from 
 the very moment he left Serroor, it might be surrounded by the 
 enemy's cavalry ; as he could nev'er suppose the Paishwa, in de- 
 scending into the Concan, a close, hilly, and very rocky country, 
 intersected by rivers and inlets of the sea, would take his 
 numerous cavalry, where they could neither act or get forage, 
 nor did he suj)pose that in retiring to a hill fort they could have 
 been of use ; for he expressly says, in his Letter of the 23d of 
 December, that his (the Paishwa's) horse could not act there, to 
 which he might have added, or subsist. It therefore accounts for 
 the inference, the General appears to have drawn in his Letter, that 
 by their being in the open country, it might not be easy, or even 
 " practicable," for the 2d-lst to join me ; a word which evidently 
 implies that the General adverted to an cneini/'s being in force 
 in the imghbourhood of Seri'oor, which might render the inter- 
 mediate communication difficult. I cannot conceive he meant 
 the neighbourhood of Foonah, as most probably he would not have 
 ordered me to leave it under such an impression. Hence I 
 
 artillery, irregular horse, and convalescent Europeans and Natives, for the defence of 
 a place, which many were of opinion it would have heen better to have abandoned at 
 the very commencement of iiostiiities, as a post tending only to distract our attention, 
 and increase our solicitudes. 
 
 II 

 
 38 THE APPEAL OF 
 
 deduce, that the General at that time, conceived that the appear- 
 ance of the enemy in the neighbourhood of Serroor, by no 
 means exposed Poonah to the least danger, though in the sub- 
 sequent application of this rule in his Letter of the 4th of Janu- 
 ary, he assumes quite a different basis. If, therefore, another 
 case occurred, not preciseli/ what he had provided for (and which 
 I have alluded to in the commencement of this paragraph.) but 
 partaking of both, and I had not availed myself of the services 
 of the corps, it was natural to suppose the General might, and 
 I sincerely believe would have said, " if under circumstances I 
 foresaw, I placed the corps at your disposal, and others occurred 
 of a still more urgent nature, compounded of all I had anticipated, 
 common sense dictated that my sanction extended to that also ;" and 
 by not availing myself thereof, I should have been held, and have 
 justly become, answerable for the result; which might possibly 
 have been the loss and destruction of the capital, if not of my bri- 
 gade also, which would have been imputed to my imbecility and 
 want of common discernment. 
 
 Secondly, it was evident, to meet General Smith's views, I 
 must actualhj have at the time, at mi/ disposal, what the being neces- 
 sitated to wait for would most ejfectualli) defeat the object he had 
 in view, the taking immediate advantage of the Paishwa's errors. A 
 reperusal of his Letter must have convinced the General that 
 conformity to the first part of his instructions, in the event of 
 his Highness descending the Ghauts, sending for the 2d-lst, 
 would have brought that corps to Poonah, so that their joining 
 me on his re-entering the Deccan, would have been out of the
 
 LIEUT. COL. C. B. BURR 39 
 
 question, as they would have been actually with me at the time ; 
 my measure therefore went no further, than placing things in that 
 state he had made arrangements would exist, at the moment of the 
 Paishwa's supposed re-entrance of the Deccan, and approxima- 
 tion of m}' position ; thus putting myself in possession of the 
 means of profiting thereby, instead of losing the opportunity alto- 
 gether, by not being prepared to carry the General's order into 
 execution. 
 
 Thirdly, I had no doubt that General Smith, the moment he 
 obtained intelligence, on which he could rely, of the return of the 
 Paishwa to the southward, would not lose a moment in following 
 him ; but zi-hen or where that intelligence might reach him, or 
 how he might be situated at the time, was what it was impossible 
 for me to know, or the time it might take him to retrace his toil- 
 some marches with cattle, the efficiency of which was consider- 
 ably impaired, before they resumed the pursuit from Serroor, on 
 the 22d of December ; l)ut I did know, having seen that the 
 Paishwa had twice doubled, and eluding the General's pursuit, 
 gained the lead of him by several marches, I had myself 
 been attacked by him only a few weeks before, in sight of the 
 same spot I then occupied, at a time I commanded a much 
 more numerous force, strengthened by a fine corps of European 
 infantry, and far more efficient in every respect, being united in 
 one body, and having less to defend or fight for, and though 
 we had the glory of beating them oft" the field on that occasion, 
 we saw him patiently, and boldly await the arrival of General 
 Smith with the rest of his troops, for upwards of a week, ar.d
 
 40 THE APPEAL OF 
 
 during the four succeeding days of the junction of the two divi- 
 sions of the army, hazard the chance of the various opportuni. 
 ties which presented themselves, while the rival armies lay within 
 random shot firing* at each other ; nor did the movement made 
 by General Smith on the night of the 14th, wlien he marched 
 out of camp to attack his Highness's position, induce him to 
 make any alteration therein : conduct, which when associated 
 with his retreat on the 17tli, carries with it a strong suspicion of 
 his having been busily engaged in removing his treasure and 
 property, of which we were told large hoards were still secreted 
 in his different palaces, which even the transient repossession of his 
 capital for a fen; clays, or even hours, might enable him to remove 
 ■what in the precipitation of his former flight he had not had an 
 opportunity of previously carrying away. 
 
 To the above I may be permitted to state a further motive, 
 the application itself bears testimony to my anxiety not to ex- 
 pose the reinforcement to any disaster by the requisition I made 
 for its services. I have stated it was late at night, and the next 
 day was expected to have been ushered in and devoted to an 
 arduous conflict; whatever might be the result thereof, their pre- 
 sence would be of the utmost importance — if victorious, it enabled 
 mc to follow up our triumph ; if unfortunate, it would probably 
 prove the means of giving confidence to my division, and by re- 
 storing the fortune of the day, enabled us to maintain our ground. 
 In whatever light therefore I viewed the question, it appeared to 
 me indubitably desirable that we should be reinforced. The 
 • There was no (iring the 13th,
 
 LIEUT. COL. C. B. BURR. 41 
 
 Brigade which I had the distinguished honor to command on 
 the 5th of November, had been reinforced the next morning by 
 the hght battahon, which the Honorable Mr. Elphinstone had 
 called in, together with a few horse, at a time the enemy actu- 
 ally possessed his capital in great force, and lay encamped 
 around it; when the Nagpore Rajah's treacherous conduct 
 obhged the Resident* at that court to call for INIajor Pittman's 
 corps to march to his assistance ; in cither and both cases, the 
 importance of their services had been regarded as fully jus- 
 tifying the necessity of the applications, and the danger attend- 
 ing their junction in common with most other, I might almost 
 sa.y, everi/ other militari/ movement, oj' t/ic least interest or impor- 
 tance in the scale of operations ; why therefore, I should be held 
 up to your Lordship and the public as an inconsiderate, blunder- 
 ing blockhead, because it happened that on the occasion of my 
 application only, an encounter wliich even General Smith has 
 officiallii pronounced and reported to be a glorious triumph, had 
 unexpectedly taken place, is what I have never yet been able 
 to attribute to any principle, that I am })ermitted to consider as 
 having weight, on an occasion of so nmch public importance. 
 Fortunately however, my professional character is not, 1 feel con- 
 fident, under your Lordship's guardianship, to be blighted by such 
 unfrenerous and unfounded assertions, which had I lelt less 
 anxiety than 1 do to uphold my character in the opinion of 
 
 * Late accounts from the frontier of Bcrar mention the Resident at Nagpore having 
 conceived it necessary to c;ill upon Col. Ailanis's division to move to the protection of 
 that capital, menaced by a movement of the I'aishivas towards that city.
 
 42 THE APPEAL OF 
 
 exalted superiors, the army, my friends, and the pubUc at large, 
 I might have relied with confidence for my justification, on the very 
 document that was intended to asperse it, which, as I have already 
 stated, admits a lapse of, and intervention of four days having 
 occurred, for the Paishwa's army to effect whatever object they 
 had in view; but I was justified in supposing it would have been 
 at least double, if not treble that time ; in which I am borne out 
 by the circumstance of Colonel Boles, Avho separated from Gene- 
 ral Sniith at the Wasserah Ghaut, and retraced the General's 
 original route, not having reached Serroor till the 7th* of 
 January, which fix^s the period that it would have taken General 
 Smith to have reached Poonah, at the \Oth, as it is not likel}' he 
 could have effected the latter part of the march in less time than 
 when he first came for the same purpose, the relief of the Poonah 
 Brigade. Thus no less than eleven days would have been allowed 
 the Paishwa for his operations against the city — which, had he 
 repossessed iiimself of. General Smith could not have dislodged 
 him from, in a less period of time, though therefore General 
 Smith did, by an extraordinary effort, beyond what he had him- 
 self thought possible, or at all events prudent, to attempt, on 
 going to the northward, save a great part of the distance he had 
 before gone over, this very effort and exertion of his is, I most re- 
 spectfully submit to your Lordship, an unquestionable proof, that 
 General Smith, notwithstanding Aei/awies mefor conceivi?ig Foonah 
 
 * It might have been the 8th, but I believe I am coiTect in stating the 7th. He had 
 i-eached Serroor before General Smith left it, the evening of the 8th. If the latter day^ 
 it is still more in favour of my argument.
 
 LIl-UT. COL. C. R. BURR. 48 
 
 in ilanuer, must have entertained the most serious apprehensions, 
 amountins; to a convii:tion thereof /j/wse//, or wliy attempt what 
 he represented to have been fraught with such impediments and 
 difficulties in the tirst instance— or why, having arrived in the 
 neighbourhood of Poonah, and by the unexpected route he had 
 taken, gained considerably on the Paishwa, abate or suspend his 
 pursuit, and at a time the Paishwa s army was ascending the Bhore 
 Ghaut to the S. E. within an ordinarij march of Corygaum, pro- 
 ceed north-easterly to Serroor, whence he did not again march till 
 the 8M.^— This, I presume, could only l)c attributed. First, to the 
 imminent danger in zchich he conceived Poonah to hacc been ; 
 Secondly, the necessity of making further arrangements regard- 
 ing the stores he had unfortunately left at Serroor, to prevent 
 the recurrence of those risks which they had so recently and 
 fortunately escaped ; nor could this eftbrt or anxiety have pro- 
 ceeded from, or been influenced by, any thing that had occurred 
 durino- his absence,/o/- it was not till he had reached Cliakun, on 
 his return towards Poonah, the twelfth of the thirteen marches men- 
 tioned in his Report, that he was aware of the events which had 
 happened the preceding day at Corygaum, which he reached 
 with a division of his army,* strong enough, doubtless, to have 
 decided, by their presence, the fortune of the day, as a reinforce- 
 ment to either of the divisions at Poonah or Serroor, but inade- 
 quate of themselves, as the result clearly indicated, to the pursuit 
 of the Paishwa's numerous army, which, just one month after, 
 
 * Horse Artillery, 2d regiment of cavalry. His Majesty's 65tli regiineiit light 
 battalion, 1st battalion I'd regiment.
 
 44 THE APPEAL OF 
 
 near the village of Couta, situated between Tasgaum and Sattarah, 
 hung on his rear, cutting off a number of his followers and bazar 
 people, and obliging him to take up his ground, and form and move 
 out his line to repel their attacks, at a time when, by the General's 
 own statement,* the enemy's cavalry opposed to him, only 
 amounted to fifteen thousand. 
 
 From the preceding statements it will, I conceive, be admitted 
 as undeniably established, that on the morning of the SOtli of 
 December, General Smith's force was at the-j- Wasserah Pass, one 
 hundred and twenty eight miles, and eleven (marches by the 
 route he had taken from Poonah, distant), and that, on that very 
 ;«07Vj?/?§-,thePaishwa's army had reached Chakun, being eighteen 
 miles, or one march, north of Poonah ; — how, therefore, General 
 Smith could feel himself justified in asserting that, '^ I u) fortunately 
 " did not advert to his pursuit of the Paishzca, zchich allowed him 
 " neither means or time to attack the Capital" — is what your Lord- 
 ship can best decide ; even the General's own statement admits 
 he did not reach Corygaum till the 3d of January, on which day 
 he miffht, had he not turned offcast from Chakun, have reached 
 Poonah, but he could not possibly have done it sooner; and as the 
 Paishwa was expected, and undoubtedly might have been, at his 
 capital, by day-break on the 31st of December, it is evident the 
 enemy had no less than four days to effect zchatever their troops 
 
 * 24th Januarv. " The enemy is upon me now, witli all liis effective liorse, 
 " twelve or fifteen thousand, stronger and bolder than they have ever yet been; 
 " they of course impede me a good deal, but I shall follow up his Highness as well 
 " as I can. One ensign and five Sepoys wounded to day." 
 •j- Vide additional remark to the Appendix.
 
 LIEUT. COL. C. B. BURR. 45 
 
 were capable of executing, a period wherein many a battle and 
 sanguinary triumph has been fought and won, without the pro- 
 babihty of relief being afforded. Though, as in the affair ofMaxen, 
 a powerful army commanded bi/ the King in person, zms in the Jieigh- 
 honrhood, watching the enemy's motions, nevertheless nineteen bat- 
 talions, and thirty-five squadrons were obliged to capitulate in /w//' 
 that time. How much more criticnl then must the situation of my 
 command have been,when, on a perusal of General Smith's Report 
 to his Excellency Sir Thomas Hislop (it appears from the Ge- 
 neral's own statement), that the Paishwa hud from the first taken 
 such pains to prevent his following him on the direct route of his flight 
 to Cullum, that he had, to avoid impediments, as well as other 
 reasons, taken the circuitous route by Amednuggur, a fact noto- 
 rious to the whole army. Jf therefore General Smith found himself 
 urged to the adoption of this measure when pursuing his High- 
 ness with every anxiety to impede and arrest his progress, it was a 
 just and natural conclusion, that the same difficulties which in- 
 terposed to prevent his following him, when flying before him 
 (as he terms it) in one direction, would operate with equal weight 
 to prevent his following him, when retracing by the same route the 
 course he had so recently taken. I was therefore fully justified in 
 supposing that General Smith could not return to Foonah in less 
 time than he took to march from it : — al all events, that n(j exertion 
 of his couUl expedite his arrival above two or three days ; and 
 consequently, that eight or nine days must elapse before he could 
 retrace his steps, even if informed of the enemy's return to the 
 southward, of which I had just reason to entertain the strongest 
 
 I
 
 46 THE APPEAL OF 
 
 doubts, from the nature of tlie country in which the General's 
 force was acting. The fact is, the Paishwa, as I have shown, might 
 have been at, and actually teas close to Poonah before General 
 Smith even commenced his march to the southward ; nevertheless. 
 General Smith reproaches me with an unwarrantable degree of 
 uneasiness, and want of foresight and reflection ; though, by his di- 
 vision order of the 7th of January, on the subject of the achieve- 
 ment of the 2d-l st at Cory gaum, he declares " the enemy's army to 
 " have amounted to twenty thousand horse, several thousand infantry, 
 " and two guns, attended by the 'principal Mahratta Chiefs, and the 
 " Paishzca in person :" while Captain Staunton, in a letter I had 
 the pleasure of receiving from that gallant officer after his memo- 
 rable triumph, computes the strength of the enemy beyond what 
 it had been at any former period of the war. The fact is, the 
 country might be said to have swarmed with them : the SOth, 
 the day that they reached Chakun, the ditferent bodies of their 
 army extended from that, north to Khair, which is four or five 
 miles, and as far as Malunga, four miles to the westward; and on 
 the first and second from Phoolshare on the Beema, twelve* miles 
 N.N.E of Poonah, and Cowrey and Looney,eacha short march 
 east thereof, to uithin gun-shot of our position in a nullah, in front 
 of which, near tico thousand of their men had taken post, who, with 
 others at Wagoley, eight or nine miles on the road to Cor\'gaum, 
 harassed and attacked the division I had sent under Lieutenant 
 Colonel Cunningham's command,|- to endeavour to assist the 
 
 * It is perhaps rather more. 
 
 j- Advancing to the column, and abusing the Sepoys in the most opprobrious
 
 LIEUT. COL. C. B. BURR. 47 
 
 2d-lst, annoying them with a constant fire of rockets and mus- 
 ketry, till their return to the village of Gorepurrah, close to our 
 lines, the same thut had been occupied by Colonel Mllnes, and his 
 gallant division of the army, on the l6th of November, on his crossing 
 the river and defeating the enemy (on that occasion), who at that 
 time occupied the very ground my brigade was then encamped 
 on, which was, in consequence, abandoned the same night. Whe- 
 ther this was a force that 1 ought to have regarded the approach 
 of to Poonah with contemptuous and silent indifference, your 
 Excellency can best decide ; — how far I allowed its proximity to 
 agitate or distress me, or, as General Smith has styled it, render 
 me " uneasy," the gallant brigade under my command can best 
 attest. There is however one proof, from which your Lordship 
 may be able to draw no unfair inference ; it is my Letter to 
 Colonel Fitzsimons of the 30th, already quoted, written at mid- 
 night, at a moment my time had been greatly occupied in making 
 a number of arrangements preparatory to the expected attack of 
 the succeeding dawn. After a day devoted to the anxious cares 
 of so responsible a command, as 1 had then the honor to hold ; 
 when, to add to my other sohcitudes, after having dispatched 
 expresses* to General Pritzler, informing him of the approach 
 of the Paishwa, and recommending his movement on Poonah, 
 providing for the safety of the stores, hospitals, and families, and 
 
 language foi' llicir esjMusing a service at variance witli tlieir allegiance, and of- 
 fering, if the men would break their ranks and join them, to advance and favour 
 their movement. 
 
 • Every letter of any consequence about this lime was necessarily written in 
 duplicate, some in tri])licate.
 
 48 THE APPEAL OF 
 
 the metropolis of an empire committed to my charge, withdraw- 
 ing the outposts in the neighbourhood, and completing the com- 
 munications, 1 had to make arrantjcments for the return to the 
 Ghauts of a valuable convoy of one thousand bullocks laden 
 with military stores and arrack, which had, unauthorized by me, 
 been permitted to move on, and which at this interesting mo- 
 ment, I was obliged to attend to, to prevent their falling into the 
 hands of the enemy, whose approach was expected from that 
 very direction by which the convoy, of whose advance I had 
 just been apprised, must have joined. It is a letter that, at this 
 distant period, with the knowledge before me of every thing that 
 has happened, I would not wish to correct or alter one word of, but 
 have often reperused with a degree of satisfaction that could 
 never result, if any part of n)y conduct on that occasion rose in 
 judgment against me ; it was an application I conceive myself justi- 
 fied in making, had I never received any instructions fi'om General 
 Smith ; hut it was an application, that it will appear evident, from 
 the very reording of it, owed its existence full us much to the previous 
 confidential orders and instructions I had received from him, as my 
 own ideas of the necessity, and expediency thereof; every thing 
 however confirmed me in the belief that General Smith had fore- 
 seen the probability of the Paishwa getting considerably the start 
 of him, even though in returning he should previously descend to, 
 and re-ascend from the Co7tcan, on which he had founded his 
 confidential orders, and directed me to he prepared to act offen- 
 sively against hint, on his return to our neighhoitrhood, by pursn- 
 itig, " blockading him, and awaiting his, the General's, arrival ;"
 
 LIEUT. COL. C. B. BURR. 49 
 
 operations zdiich required a lapse of time to execute, though in 
 viewincr and reporting on the inverse of this subject, he conceives 
 I ou'^ht to have been aware, notwithstanding the Paishwa had 
 returned hi/ a still more direct route than he had expected, that it was 
 impracticable for him, with near 30,000 men, to devote his atten- 
 tion to an open city, his capital, wherein it was supposed he had 
 immense treasures secreted ; or did the means he possessed render 
 it possible that ani/ operations should be attempted by him, much 
 less succeed ; all which the General most unreasonably and un- 
 warrantably expects I should have intuitively known, as well as 
 his direct pursuit of his Highness, by a route he had, as he 
 states, from a knowledge of its difficulties, before abandoned the 
 idea of attempting zcith guns, without which it was reasonable not to 
 expect him. Nor is it unworthy of remark, that at the very moment 
 he was stating this, he was reporting a severe and protracted 
 conflict of that very army, on a corps, the incitement to attack 
 which, either in a public or private view, must be admitted to 
 be of a most subordinate nature. 
 
 Were I indeed certain that the Despatch of the 7tli, which the 
 Honorable the Vice President has published, was the whole the 
 General had said against n^c, I might have contented myself ?o 
 allow that document to speak for, and confute itself; but the General 
 having treated my earnest application to him, for a copy of his re- 
 marks affecting me, xdth silent neglect; and having intimated to 
 me in his letter of the 4th* of January, that " I had ruined all 
 " his plans and exertions, and hrought a lamentable misfortune 
 
 * Vide Appendix.
 
 50 THE APPEAL OF 
 
 " upon the force and service at large, which it was impossible to dis- 
 " guise the source of;" it behoves me to be particularly explicit 
 in my explanations and the vindication of my conduct, under 
 so harsh and unmerited an accusation. How my conduct and 
 measures can have had this unfortunate tendency, as I had not 
 the honor of knowing what the General's plans were, it is impos- 
 sible for me to answer this part of the charge ; though I am at a 
 loss to conjecture how it could have occurred as the only mea- 
 sure for which he censures me, and which by any chance could 
 have had any influence thereon, has been officialljj represented by 
 him, " as one of the most brilliant aft'airs ever achieved in any 
 " army, in Avhich both European and native troops displayed the 
 " most noble devotion and romantic bravery, terminating in a glo- 
 " rious triumph over the Paishzca's combined forces." How such a 
 splendid victory , obtained at the trifling expense of only sixty men 
 killed, and double that number wounded, should have paralyzed 
 the efforts of the whole army under his command, a victory 
 which his Excellency the Commander in Chief of the armies in 
 the field has pronounced, on General Smith's Report, to be " one 
 " of the most heroic and brilliant achievements ever recorded in 
 " the annals of our army, a glorious event, constituting one of the 
 " brightest deeds in our Indian history," is not eas}"^ to explain — a 
 triumph too, the important consequences of which the immense 
 loss the enemy sustained in killed and wounded excepted, the General 
 has unfortunately lost sight of in his observations and report on 
 that occasion, as I have not a doubt in my own mind, and have 
 every reason to believe, it will be admitted by those under my
 
 LIEUT. COL. C. B. BURR 51 
 
 command at the time, that the loss of the two days his Highuess's 
 army devoted to that attaek, kos the saving of Poonah, as it 
 aflforded General Smith an opportunity of approaching suffi- 
 ciently near to excite doubts in the Paishwa's mind, particularly 
 after whiit had happened at Corygaum, of his ultimate success, 
 and induce him, doubtless conceiving our whole army, as well as 
 the General, had followed his route, to abandon his original 
 intention of attacking the capital, leading him to regard the 
 continuation of his march to the southward, as the most prudent 
 measure he could adopt ; where, owing to the communications 
 I had had the honour of making to General Pritzler, he was 
 enabled to take up the pursuit, overtaking and attacking the 
 Paishwa on difterent occasions, at a time General Smith had 
 taken the direction of Serroor, whereby he unfortunately increased 
 his distance, zchile some days were devoted thereto. On hearing of 
 the probability of which, I did myself the honor of addressing 
 the General,* to put him in possession of such information, re- 
 
 • 1 also wrote the same day to Mr. Elphinstor.c, informing liini, tliat my people 
 vho had brought me General Pritzler's letter had passed the rear of the Paishwa s 
 array, ascending the little Bhore Ghaut, that very day, leading their horses, which 
 were completely knocked up. In comuumicating this intelligence, 1 had hoped it might 
 have encouraged General Smith, then at Corygaum, within one march of them, to have 
 continued his march, or, as he calls it, his pursuit ..f the Paishwa, a little further, or if 
 he found his own division too much fatigued to do so, that he would have ordered 
 mine, which was fresh, and known by him to be in a stale of inmiediate preparation 
 to have taken it up, till General Pril/ier's force, then within a very few marches, could 
 have relieved us, conceiving that the General niiglit have allowed the infantry of liis 
 own division to replace my brigade, at least for a time at Poonah. His determhiation 
 however to go off to Serroor, which was to the cast north east, while the enemy were 
 going off to the southward, frustrated every hope connected with this suggestion. It
 
 62 THE APPEAL OF 
 
 warding my means of assisting his supposed wants, as might pos- 
 sibly render that movement unnecessary,* which, however, 1 
 was not so fortunate as to receive a reply to ; whether the 
 object thereof could possibly have been effected by Colonel 
 Boles, whose division was marching on Serroor, which it reached 
 on the 7th, the day after the General arrived from Cory gaum, 
 I am not of course competent to offer an opinion ; (but I believe) 
 I am perfectly correct in stating, that the General took precisely 
 the same corps -f- with him when he left Serroor, the afternoon 
 
 will indeed naturally strike the reader, that on four different occasions, where Brigadier 
 General Smith appears to have been on the point of reaping the reward of the exertions 
 his army had made to come in contact with the enemy, their fondest hopes were 
 blighted by the conduct of their commander. In the first instance, on the night of 
 the 14th of November, when the army marched out of camp to attack the enemy, and 
 marched back again without doing it. 
 
 On the morning of the 17th, when finding the enemy had moved off during the 
 niirht, their rear beins then in view and within shot, no efficient effort was made to fol- 
 low them up, though he could scarcely have been ignorant that their retreat was ob- 
 structed by difficult Ghauts and defiles in the immediate neighbourhood, which it was 
 impossible a retreating army could have escaped through without infinite loss and dis- 
 aster, had they been pursued. 
 
 Again, on his arrival at Corygaum, on the 3d of January, when the Paishwa, and 
 his :irmy, were embarrassed and entangled in the defiles and hilly country, commencing 
 at the little Bhore Ghaut, only one march from where he was at the time, and whence 
 he turned east north east to Serroor ; and. 
 
 On the 30th January, when he descended the Salpee pass, the Paishwa having the 
 same day descended another pass, a little to the eastward, from which ground Briga- 
 dier General Smith returned by the same route four days after, to meet General Pritz- 
 ler, leaving the Paishwa to go off to the eastward. 
 
 * The Paishwa was understood to be at this time at Sassorc, a short distance above 
 the Bhore Ghaut. 
 
 •f- Second regiment of cavalry, Horse Artillery, His Majesty's G5th regiment, light 
 battalion, 1 st battalion 2d regiment.
 
 LIEUT. COL. C. B. BURR. 58 
 
 of the 8th, as he reached Cory gaum with on the 3rd, and as 
 there was no enemy near Serroor * when he went there, they 
 having gone off to the southward, chiefly in the direction of the 
 Bhore Ghaut, and as but one day elapsed after the arrival 
 of his own, and that of Colonel Boles's division at Serroor, I 
 trust it will appear obvious, that nothing thai had resulted from 
 any measure of mine induced a necessity for this movement, 
 which is the only circumstance, I conceive. General Smith can 
 possibly strive to lay to ray charge, as the result of the affair at 
 Corygaum ; hence I have conceived it a duty I owed myself to 
 show, that it must have arisen from other circumstances, with 
 which lam unacquainted, and had no concern. 
 
 The ungenerous severity of these remarks of the General's, to 
 call it by no harsher name, is rendered the more forcibly strik- 
 ing by reflecting that onl}'^ a few weeks had elapsed since his 
 junction with the Poonah brigade,'^' under certainly less urgent 
 circumstances, when, even after we were aware he had reached 
 Serroor, were in communication with, and not only knew his 
 marches, but almost the very hour when to expect him ; an ob- 
 ject at that time ©/"universal and anxious solicitude — his con- 
 stant injunctions were, hazard nothing, I am near, and moving 
 
 * There might liavc been flying parties, but no enemy in force. The troops there 
 at this time consisted of the 2cl-lsl, Captain Belt's battalion of Poonah auxiliaries, 2d- 
 15th — A C-pounders detachment of artillery, details of sick and convalescent. 
 
 t Then consisting of a detachment of Bombay and Dapooree artillery, the Bombay 
 regiment, 2d- 1st, 2nd-()th, Ist-Jth ; besides a detachment of His Majesty's (j5th regi- 
 ment, the light battalion, Resident's escort, and a division of auxiliary liorse ; which 
 last, with the light battalion, had joined after the action of the 5lii November. 
 
 K
 
 54 THE APPEAL OF 
 
 tozi;ards you, you know when to expect me ; these, though not per- 
 haps the precise wording of his communications, contain their 
 literal essence and spirit ; yet, nevertheless, he ungraciously reflects 
 on me, because I did not risk the immense stake I had consigned 
 to my charge, to the chapter of accidents, 720t knowing when, or 
 even where, to look for him, or whether he had even an idea of the 
 danger we were in; and though it actually proved, in the sequel, that 
 we were as far removed from his assistance,* at the time, as if he had 
 been moving from Amednuggur or Kaira to bring me succour at 
 Panwell or Surat. Of the propriety of the General's orders, 
 which I have here cited, no doubt will, I imagine, be entertained ; 
 but I trust I may be excused for remarking, that they were for 
 the guidance of a division whose measures, in some degree, de- 
 pended on itself; they appear to have arisen in a belief that, after 
 the reinforcement we had recently received, and the defeat the 
 enemy had experienced, something more might be attempted 
 than had been already done, to follow up that blow, before he 
 arrived, by offensive operations, certainly optional with us at Kir- 
 kee, but by no means so with me at Poonah, where my fighting 
 rather depended on my enemy's measures than my own ; though I 
 certainly should have preferred, had I another corps, marching 
 out and meeting him in the field, in preference to defending 
 Poonah, bewildered amidst the sinuosities of its streets, wherein 
 the superior numbers, adroitness as shots, and local knowledge 
 of the enemy's infantry, would have had full effect, and every 
 advantage, while our disciphne would have been unavailing. In- 
 * Computed by General Smith's route to the northward.
 
 LIEUT. COL. C. B. BURR. 55 
 
 deed I have ever been of opinion, that that city was to be fought 
 for in the field* and that the force at my command was perfectly 
 inadequate to the occupation of the dift'erent positions necessary 
 to be maintained in any attempt to save it by any other means. 
 
 If, after all that I have said on this subject, a doubt should 
 still exist in your Lordship's mind, of the critical situation, and 
 nature of the weighty charge with which I was entrusted, 
 your Excellency will, I trust, pardon me for adducing such 
 proofs as, — notwithstanding the assertions of General Smith, that 
 the place was in no danger of an attack, — will, I doubt not, be 
 admitted as affording ample proof of his conviction to the contrary. 
 As, however, some of his measures may possibly admit of a diffe- 
 rent construction, it is the fairest way, both for the General and 
 myself, to slate the whole in succession as they occurred, whereby 
 your Lordship will be better enabled to decide what were the 
 General's real sentiments on the subject. 
 
 The first in order, of the measures to which I allude, was 
 General Smith's appointment, on leaving Serroor on the 8th of 
 January, of a division f of three Native and one European bat- 
 
 * I have already stated that the city was destitute of any other works for its defence, 
 than what we had constructed to strengthen the position I had been directed to oc 
 cupy, and the old Palace, which was an unfinished fortification amidst surrounding 
 and commanding houses. There was a wall with two or three round towers near the 
 river, which probably was the commencement of a work intended to envelope the whole 
 city, but of so little avail that it liad been abandoned almost as soon as begun, a strong 
 presumption that the Maiiratta government had convinced themselves that their 
 capital could only be defended in the open country. 
 
 ■f- Four hundred Bombay European regiment, lst-3d, 2d-9th, Bombay Native infan- 
 try, 2d-15tli Madras Native infantry, detachment of artillery, 170O auxiliary horse.
 
 56 THE APPEAL OF 
 
 talion, under the command of Colonel Boles, (who was also 
 directed to take charge of the train, which accordingly accom- 
 panied him from Serroor), for the purpose, as the General in- 
 formed me, of covering Poonah, in the neighbourhood of which he 
 was to move, as a corps of reserve and observation ; this, how- 
 ever, was done away by his being ordered on, about a fortnight 
 after, to join the General near Meritch, who, however, met him 
 at the Salpee pass,* about sixty miles south-east of Poonah, the 
 Paishwa having, nearly at the same time,-)^ descended only a few 
 miles east thereof; five days after:!: which. General Smith re- 
 turned south, to meet General Pritsiler, leaving Colonel Boles to 
 follow him, at which time the General transmitted me orders,^ 
 to detach every artillery officer and man, every howitzer and iron 
 gun, and the whole of my European detachment, to join Colonel 
 Deacon "s force, who had been ordered to advance from the 
 neighbourhood of Bheer on Poonah, for the reduction of Cha- 
 kun, the 2d-lst being ordered to reinforce me, and replace them 
 from Serroor. The first order was however suspended the day 
 after,|| when I received an intimation that as I might expect the 
 Paishwa would again pass between Poonah and Serroor, I was 
 to avoid, for the present, making any detachments. The Paishwa 
 however did not come, and Colonel Deacon approaching Poonah, 
 the previous order was comphed with, at a time General Pritzler 
 had arrived in the neighbourhood, and was besieging Singhur, 
 
 • The 30th of January, Gokla descending the same evening by the Salpee pass. 
 t The SOtli of January. + 4th of February. § 6th February, 1818. 
 
 (I By orders dated the 7tli of February.
 
 LIEUT. COL. C. B. BURR 57 
 
 which, as well as Poonadar, it was at length decided on reducing, 
 to ensure the tranquillity of the capital, which had been con- 
 stantly liable to alarm, from the strength and reported designs 
 of the garrisons of those important fastnesses : from all which I 
 imagine it will be obvious to your Lordship, that the reduction 
 of those places, identified as they were with the position ofPoouah, 
 zms at length considered essential to the security and tranquillity of 
 that capital, whence General Smith also wrote to Lieutenant 
 Robertson, to remove some property, or presents of value,* to 
 Amednuggur, as a place of greater safety. 
 
 Having now, I conceive, fully shewn to your Lordship the in- 
 justice and futility of the assertions, and imputations in the Re- 
 port that has led to my present protracted trespass, I anticipate 
 your Excellency's pardon for submitting, as an Appendix hereto, 
 some Letters and official Orders, which have either a direct refe- 
 rence to the above circumstance, or appear to be intimately con- 
 nected therewith, and which having ultimately led to my resig- 
 nation of the honorable and interesting command I held at the 
 principal theatre of the war in the Deccan, an event which 
 your Lordship having doubdcss been already made acquainted 
 with, it becomes a duty I owe to myself and your Excellency, to 
 put you in possession of the principles by which I was actuated 
 on the occasion, which I most anxiously hope will prove a suffi- 
 cient and honorable justification of that, to me, most distressing 
 measure, to which, nodiing but a conviction of the imperious 
 necessity, from the humiliating and embarrassing predicament 
 * Which had hitlicrto been permitted to remain in the Palace.
 
 58 THE APPEAL OF 
 
 in wliicli I was placed, by the conduct of my immediate Com- 
 mander, could possibly have urged me. 
 
 In looking over these Documents, it doubtless will not escape 
 your Lordship's notice, that the General's Report of the affair* 
 at Corygaum to the Commander in Chief of the army of the 
 Deccan, — his Order* on the same subject, — his official reprimand 
 to me, for my secret and confidential orders to the pai/?naster at 
 Poonah, of the 2d of January, to suspend taking up any more 
 money of the Shroffs, at a time I had his orders in im/ pocket to 
 leave the capital, and march after the Paishzca, whereby every 
 thing that remained must be placed in jeopard}', and the utmost 
 danger; an order, he was well aware, by my Letter of the 5th of 
 Januar}^ I had prepared to act upon, when the events at Cory- 
 gaum called my attention to precautionary and defensive ope- 
 rations, — his Order regarding the officers at the heads of depart- 
 ments at Poonah,-)' were all of simultaneous date, all subsequent 
 to the receipt of my Letter of the 5th of January, in reply to his 
 of the preceding day, on the subject of the affair at Corygaum, 
 which Letter he never did me the honor to answer, wherein I took 
 the liberty of telling the General " the disaster we had to lament 
 " arose from the duties he had done me the honor to assign me, that 
 " / was prepared to justify my measures, and only sought to know 
 " zvhat he alleged against me ;" and what is not less remarkable, 
 and to which I most respectfully beg leave to call your Lord- 
 ship's attention, all of corresponding date.|. with the publication 
 
 * 7th of January. f 8th of January. 
 
 X It was brought to me by one of my own people, who brought also one of the
 
 LIEUT. COL. C. B. BURR. 59 
 
 of his Excellency Sir Thomas Hisloji's coniphmentary Order of 
 the 14th of December 1817» wherein he does me the honor to 
 mention me in terms of the most flattering and honorable dis- 
 tinction, in the same Order with General Smith. 
 
 How I came to be so unfortunate as to be held up to my most 
 exalted Superiors, to those inmiediately under my command, 
 and to the army at large, in such a variety of humiliating and 
 degrading ways, at that particular moment too, when, as General 
 Smith liad never thanked me hy himself,* his staff, or his orders, 
 for the event of the 5th of November, or even acknowledged the 
 receipt of the Despatch, though transmitted in duplicate, one after 
 his arrival in camp, an event which he has even, I believe, repre- 
 sented in his Report thereof, as an attack on my position at Kir- 
 kee, not a regular field engagement, where I marched out to 
 meet and give battle to the enemy, and defeated the collected 
 force of the realm, in the presence of their Prince, and under 
 the walls of their capital, is what I shall not presume to conjec- 
 ture, to your Lordship. It may possibly appear, under these cir 
 cumstances I might have anticipated some merciful forbearance 
 from him, an officer who had on former and subsequent occa- 
 sions, exhausted the language of panegyric, in commendation of 
 far less important, and subordinate events. Suffice it however to 
 state the fact, as the best criterion — of the degree of justice, con- 
 above. I have the original Order, wliich is a mere copy of Sir Thomas Hislop's, tlie 
 day of puhlication at Serroor not being added, or any thing but tiie Deputy Adjutant 
 General's signature, and that of Mr. Russell, the first Assistant. 
 * Vide Supplement B.
 
 60 THE APPEAL OF 
 
 sideration, and liberality Avith which it has been my misfortune 
 to be treated by him. I believe, indeed, it presents an almost 
 unique instance in the annals of history, of an officer having had 
 the singular good fortune to command on so glorious an occa- 
 sion, where an audacious and faithless host in arms, who hut the 
 preceding moment were not only our friends, hut our allies, were 
 met in fair and open combat ; and, in the face of day, undaunted 
 by their surrounding myriads, defeated by the brave devotion of 
 a handful of troops ; a triumph which is generally admitted to have 
 given a tone to, and have shed its rays on the subsequent events 
 and politics of the war, being treated with so little respect or con- 
 sideration, by my immediate Commander, Avho did not even con- 
 descend to record one word of commendation to the gallant 
 officers and men I had the honor of commanding. Thus, while 
 I have the misfortune of seeing myself held up to the public in 
 this invidious light,yor having been the cause of the Paishwa's ex- 
 periencing a second defeat, the victory on which his Excellency 
 Sir Thomas Hislop has paid me the highly flattering compliment 
 to found his acknowledgments, and your Lordship, the more 
 exalted and distinguished honor of announcing from the ram- 
 parts of Fort William, remains unlettered, if I may be permitted 
 to use the expression, in the records of the Commander of that 
 division in which I immediately served. 
 
 I shall not here take the liberty of intruding on your Lord- 
 ship, the detail of the humiliations and indignities heaped upon 
 me by General Smith, subsequent to these events, great and nu- 
 merous as they Avere, even on the occasion of my strictest con-
 
 LIEUT. COL. C. B. BURR. 61 
 
 formity to the literal and verbal purport of his orders. They are 
 so completely lost and absorbed in the superior magnitude of his 
 ungenerous treatment, by his Official Report of the 7th January, 
 for your Excellency's information, that it would be descend- 
 ing into inferior and subordinate considerations to give them 
 attention. 
 
 I shall therefore conclude this prolix trespass on your Lord- 
 ship's attention, happy if I shall have had the good fortune to 
 justify my conduct, and redeem it from the harsh and unmerited 
 aspersions contained in General Smith's Report, herein alluded 
 
 to. 
 
 I have the honor to remain, 
 
 with the greatest respect and confidence, 
 My Lord, 
 
 Your Lordship's 
 most obedient and most huml>le servant, 
 (Signed) C. B. Burr, 
 
 Surat, I6th June, 1818. Lieut. Colonel of Infantry.
 
 THE APPEAL OF LIEUT. COL. C. B. BURR. 63 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Letter from Brigadier General Smith, to Lieutenant Colonel 
 
 Burr. 
 
 My dear Colonel, 
 
 Camp Klwregaum, January 4, 1818. 
 
 You have almost broken my heart by the lamentable misfor- 
 tune you have brought upon the force, and the service at large, 
 in your conduct respecting the 2d-lst, which has been nearly 
 sacrificed, with the loss also of nearly all the Madras artillery 
 detachment. 
 
 Your public responsibility will be too heavy and serious for 
 me to use any private reproaches. If you look at my instruc- 
 tions to you, in the only two cases in which I allowed you to 
 move the 2d-lst, you will see how contrary you have acted to my 
 wishes. Whatever created danger in Poonah, created danger also 
 in Serroor, where all my heavy park was ; and how you could 
 possibly think of withdrawing the corps in such circumstances, 
 and how Colonel Fitzsimons could allow of it, are perfectly inex- 
 plicable.
 
 64 THE APPEAL OF 
 
 You must have known the Paishwa was rapidly flying from me, 
 and could be in no temper or condition to delay his march to 
 escape me, by attacking you. 
 
 You have ruined all my exertions and plans, and occasioned 
 the loss of many brave men for nothing, and I cannot of course 
 disguise the source of such a misfortune. 
 
 I march for Serroor to-morrow, have saved the wounded, and 
 buried the dead ; keep the auxiliary horse, &c. till I send j'ou 
 orders. 
 
 Yours, very truly, 
 
 (Signed) Lionel Smith. 
 
 Letter from Lieut. Col. Burr, to Brig. Gen. Smith. 
 
 My dear Sir, 
 
 I AM just honored with the receipt of your favor from Cory- 
 gaum, of yesterday's date, and could I for a moment blame my- 
 self for the catastrophe that has befallen our brave comrades, in 
 their endeavour to join me at this station, be assured my feelings 
 would be of the most acute nature. Thank God, I can neither 
 accuse myself of a want of attention, I will even presume to call 
 it devotion, to your orders, or a want of consideration for the 
 lives and fortunes of my professional associates, in whose pre- 
 servation alone our prosperity and security must ever depend. 
 Those friends and officers who are best acquainted with my pro-
 
 LIEUT. COL. C. B. BURR. 65 
 
 fessional and private character, will, I feel confident, bear testi- 
 mony to this assertion ; but it is not in our power to control or 
 foresee the decrees of Prov idence, or ensure success to the best 
 devised or well intentioned plans ; as every officer who has had 
 the anxious duties of command devolve on him, under circum- 
 stances of great difficulty and danger, must have occasionally, 
 and ever will experience. Believe me, my dear General, the 
 situation in which I have been placed has not been to me a 
 bed of roses. Other officers, at this moment enjo^'ing honorable 
 and distinguished commands, have had the good fortune to have 
 had means placed at their disposal, and duties entrusted to them, 
 which made their only solicitude, that of meeting and engaging 
 the enemy, in the way which their own ideas and resources sug- 
 gested. My case has been otherwise ; / have had an immense re- 
 sponsibility attached to me, with very limited means; with a very small 
 regular force, and a few irregular horse, I have been placed at the 
 heart of the Mahratta Empire, in the very centre of the scene of 
 hostilities ; I have had to occupy, and be prepared to defend, a 
 fortified position, fixed on for me to occupy, and protect the 
 metropolis of our enemy, filled with his fugitive troops and emis- 
 saries, and the private hired men, whom individuals have been 
 permitted occasionally to engage for the protection of their 
 houses or merchandize on the road ; maintain a chain of posts to 
 the Ghauts, assist in forwarding on convoys ; and finally, be pre- 
 pared for offensive operations against the Paislma himself at the 
 head of an immense army, perhaps more numerous at this moment 
 than ever it has been, pouring down upon us — at a moment when
 
 66 THE APPEAL OF 
 
 you were unfortunately at a distance, — determined, it was under- 
 stood, to make some desperate effort to retrieve his fortunes in 
 passing this place, and evidently on the point, as far as it was 
 possible to conjecture, of going to await the result on some of the 
 neighbouring hill forts, with which this position may be said to 
 be associated ; in all of which are strong garrisons, whence his 
 troops can sally forth to annoy this force, or assist his own at 
 pleasure. Yet amidst all these difficulties, I never lost sight of 
 the object you had in view, blockading his Highness in any of 
 his fastnesses, he might intend to retire to ; with this view, and 
 to enable me to carry your orders into as immediate effect as 
 possible, after the enemy might have been beat off" from this, 
 which I undoubtedly expected to be first obliged to do ; I made 
 the application which has led to the disaster we have to lament. 
 It arose from the duties you had done me the honor to assign me, and 
 which I was determined to acquit myself of, to the best of my abili- 
 ties ; with this view, every an'ongement had been made as secretly and 
 quietly as possible, to enable me to pursue the Paishwa without loss of 
 time. I had even, — counting upon the possibihty of the 2nd-lst 
 arriving the night of the 1st, — sent out people to the Paishwa's 
 camp, which I had reason to believe was not more than seven or 
 eight miles from me, to gain such local information as might guide 
 me in any attempt, the proximity of his Highness to my position 
 might urge me to (attempt) ; communicating my ideas on the 
 subject to one or two of my friends ; which, however, the unfor- 
 tunate news from Corygaum obliged me to abandon. 
 
 My conscience, therefore, beheve me, my dear General, most
 
 LIEUT. COL. C. B. BURR. 67 
 
 fully acquits me of the professional guilt you unfortunately think 
 attaches to my conduct, and enables me to look forward with 
 fortitude, not devoid of the proudest feelings of hope and con- 
 fidence, to any scrutiny, which my conduct may be thought to 
 require ; hard indeed would be the soldier's lot, if measures 
 were to be judged by their results ; — it is the measures them- 
 selves, that I am prepared to rely on for my justification. We 
 cannot always command success, but where no pains have been 
 spared to ensure it, one can with no ordinary confidence look 
 forward to the result. It may not be improper for me to remark, 
 that when I sent off my application to Colonel Fitzsimons for the 
 2d-lst, the advance of the Paishwa's force was at Chakun, eigh- 
 teen miles north, and I believe, westerly of this, and thirty-six 
 west of Serroor, and Gokla's force said to be at Mullunga, which 
 is still further off to the west ; and the route by which the Paishwa 
 was expected to advance, was that of Dapooreeor Chinchore ; 
 it was therefore, I think, a fair inference, that the battalion would 
 have been enabled to reach this, even had the enemy not quitted 
 this before their arrival, which was also to be expected. 
 
 May I request the indulgence of being permitted the perusal 
 of any Report you may deem it necessary to make, regarding 
 this unfortunate business. 
 
 It may not be improper to inform you at this time, which 
 other more important circumstances prevented my doing sooner, 
 that, in consequence of my having received a Report from Lieut. 
 Rankin, commanding at Carlee, of the state of his post, and the 
 enemy's conduct and force in that neighbourhood, which ap-
 
 68 THE APPEAL OF 
 
 pearcd to render it advisable to reinforce Condallah, and place 
 his own party in safety, — under the existing circumstances in our 
 neighbourhood, as well as his own, I deemed it expedient to di- 
 rect him to send back a convoy of one thousand bullock loads 
 of gunpowder, biscuit, and grape shot, which had arrived at 
 Carlee (to Condallah), under an escort of a Havildar and twelve, 
 and subsequently to fall back for its better protection to that post, 
 after dismantling his position at Carlee. 
 
 I have since received a report, that an European officer, with a 
 compliment of artillerymen, and 2 6-pounders have arrived at 
 Condallah, together with Captain Delamotte, about eighty 
 pioneers, and 400 workmen ; — and that Colonel Prother was on 
 his march to the same place, in consequence of orders from 
 Bombay, which 1 have not yet been made acquainted with. 
 
 I remain. 
 
 My dear General, 
 your very faithful and obedient servant, 
 (Signed) C.B. Burr. 
 
 Camp, Poonah, 5th January, 1818.
 
 LIEUT. COL. C. B. BURR. 
 
 69 
 
 Camp, near Serroor, 8th January, 1818. 
 
 DIVISION ORDERS. 
 By Brigadier General Smith. 
 
 The following officers of general departments stationed at 
 Poonah, arc declared to be under the special authority of the 
 officer commanding the division, or Poonah subsidiary force, 
 and are in no case subject to the orders of the officer com- 
 manding the troops at Poonah, except in as far as their duties 
 may relate to that proportion of the troops there serving; and 
 Brigadier General Smith requires that they shall in no way be 
 interfered with in any orders they may receive from the respective 
 heads of their departments, and they are solely responsible to 
 those officers and the Brigadier General. 
 
 Engineer department, - - - 
 
 Ordnance department, - - - 
 
 Commissariat, - - ■ 
 
 Pay-office, - - - 
 
 (A true Extract) 
 
 Ensign Slight. 
 Lieut. Laurie. 
 Capt. Snodgrass. 
 Lieut. Gibbes. 
 
 (Signed) H. Tovky, 
 
 Dept, Adjt. General. 
 
 U
 
 70 THE APPEAL OF 
 
 Copy of a Letter from Lieut. Col. Burr, to Captain Tovey, 
 Dept. Adjt. General, on receiving the above Order. 
 
 Captain Tovey, Dept. Adjt, Gen. 4th Div. of the Army of the 
 
 Deccan. 
 Sir, 
 
 I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the Extract of 
 the Division Orders of the 8th, which will be immediately pub- 
 lished, and beg you will do me the favor to represent to General 
 Smith, that I am unconscious of having interfered improperly 
 in any department ; if, unfortunately, it has been so represented, 
 I shall feel much obliged, — at the same time, I doubt not the 
 General will consider it an act of justice, — to let me know in what 
 I have erred, that I may be enabled to justify my conduct. 
 
 I have the honor to be placed by him in a most responsible 
 situation, wherein much is expected of me, and much must ne- 
 cessarily devolve on me ; in the discharge of this duty, I shall 
 use my best endeavours to acquit myself of the responsibility 
 which attaches to me, and am not devoid of a hope, that I shall 
 be so fortunate as to justify myself to the General, for whatever 
 measures the circumstances under which I am placed may 
 oblige me to adopt, in the discharge of the duties of the situation 
 confided to me. I know of no Order I ever gave Lieut, Gibbes, 
 that can, by any construction, be regarded as an interference in 
 his department, beyond a secret and conJid€ntiar\Vi]m\Q\.\ox\, which
 
 UEUT. COL. C. B. BURR. 71 
 
 lasted about forty-eight hours, not to receive any more treasure, 
 at a time I expected to be hourly attacked, — thought it possible, 
 if not probable, that the enemy might succeed in some of their 
 attacks on the extensive positions we occupy, — and conceived it 
 my duty to the service, not to subject them to a greater risk than 
 could be avoided, or hold forth a greater temptation to the 
 enemy to attack any particular point, by an accumulation of 
 wealth, where we might find a difficulty in protecting it. I had 
 understood from Lieut. Gibbes, that he received daily large sup- 
 plies of money ; the city, it was supposed, would be immediately 
 attacked, and it behoved me to use every endeavour to prevent 
 the treasure in the city, at the responsibility of the Shroffs,* being 
 transferred from their private risk, to the public charge of the 
 Company, to whom they would naturally willingly advance lacs, 
 when they expected to be plundered by a hostile army of every 
 pice in their possession. 
 
 The second day, after the immediate danger of the attack on 
 the city had subsided, and having received a letter from General 
 Pritzler, mentioning to Mr. Elphinstone, that he would require a 
 lac and twenty-thousand pagodas, I thought n)yself justified 
 in removing the restriction, a sense of duty had urged me to 
 impose ; at the same time I intimated to Lieut. Gibbes, what 
 would be the extent of an application on his treasury, which I have 
 every reason to conceive he was unacquainted with ;— this is, 
 
 * I liave since heard that one Surat ShrofF alone had twenty two lacs of rupees in 
 Poonah at the time.
 
 72 THE APPEAL OF 
 
 as far as I know, the extent of my interference with the Pay- 
 master. 
 
 With regard to the Engineer, I cannot for a moment persuade 
 myself, that officer has considered any part of my conduct un- 
 authorized. He is an intelHgent, diUgent young man, and has 
 ever, as far as I can judge, been happy to execute every order 
 1 gave him, which could of course only concern the duties* of 
 this place, unless my having detained him here is considered 
 improper, which I did myself the honor of reporting to the 
 General, and had every reason to suppose my conduct met with 
 his approbation. 
 
 Anticipating the General's most indulgent construction of 
 this trespass on his time and attention, 
 
 I have the honor to remain, 
 Sir, 
 your most obedient humble servant, 
 (Signed) C. B. Burr, 
 
 Lieut. Colonel. 
 
 • I little imagined at this time, that the Order in question was only a prelude to En- 
 sign Slight's being directed to consult with Lieut. Robertson, Superintcndant of the City 
 Police, and commanding the daily guards thereof, and, in concurrence with him, adopt 
 such measures as might appear adviseable to them for the defence of the city, 
 entrusted to my military charge; I was thus not only excluded a voice on the 
 occasion, but became subjected to the necessity of conforming myself, in the moment 
 of difficulty and danger, to the ideas by which they had been guided regarding the 
 defence of the capital, for which I was personally and alone answerable with my 
 commission.
 
 LIEUT. COL. C. B. BURR. 73 
 
 N. B. — As my remarks regarding the officers at the head 
 of the other departments, are of no consequence, as affecting my 
 own conduct, and of course, on the present occasion, perfectly 
 uninteresting to your Lordship, I have taken the liberty of 
 omitting them. 
 
 The following Letter, though of one day's anterior date to the 
 Order of the 8th, alread}' cited, was not received by me, till I had 
 replied thereto, and is therefore inserted in this place ; as in- 
 troducing it, agreeable to its date, would, by deranging the order 
 of the Correspondence, have confused the subject. 
 
 To Lieut, Colonel Burr, Commanding at Poonah. 
 
 Sir, 
 
 I have the Commanding Officer's directions to acquaint you 
 that the annexed* Letter, addressed by your order to the Pay- 
 master at Poonah, has been referred by that officer to the Bri- 
 gadier General's consideration. 
 
 The Commanding Officer cannot but express his astonishment, 
 that you should, under any possible circumstance, have taken 
 upon yourself to give such extraordinary orders to the Paymaster, 
 which went to excite alarm among the money-dealers, to depress 
 our credit, and increase difficulties in raising funds. 
 
 The Commanding Officer is extremely displeased at your con- 
 
 • Introduced in the Supplement.
 
 74 THE APPEAL OF 
 
 duct on this occasion, and directs me to convey liis positive 
 oi'ders that, in future, you in no way whatever interfere with the 
 Deputy Paymaster, who is solely to receive his instructions from 
 the Brigadier General, or the Resident. 
 
 You will assign Lieut. Gibbes, D.P. M. convenient accom- 
 modations for his duties in Rastia's house,* from which he is on 
 no account to be removed, but on authority from Head-quarters. 
 
 I have the honor to be. 
 Sir, 
 your most obedient servant, 
 
 ( Signed ) H. To v e y , 
 Camp, near Serroor, Jth Janttary, 1818. Dept. Adjt. General. 
 
 Copy of a Letter from Lieut. Colonel Burr to Captain Tovey, 
 Deputy Adjutant General. 
 
 Captain Tovey, D.A.G. 4th Division of the Army of the 
 
 Deccan. 
 Sir, 
 I HAVE the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of 
 the 8th instant, conveying me a severe reprimand, the first I have 
 
 * Lieut, Gibbes was actually at this time, and had for some time preceding, been 
 in command at the post at Uastia's house, where he had made choice of his own 
 quarters, had always expressed himself satisfied with his accommodation, and had been 
 assured by me that it was my wish, unless circumstances occurred to interfere with it, 
 to continue him in that command.
 
 LIEUT. COL. C. B. BLRR 75 
 
 ever had the misfortune to receive in my life, during upwards of 
 twenty-eight years service, from any professional superior, under 
 whom I have had the honor of serving, since I have held a com- 
 mission, for conduct, which so far from considering culpable on 
 my part, I should conceive it an imperious duty I owed my 
 honorable Employers, and the public service, to repeat under 
 similar urgent circumstances. 
 
 With this unfortunate difference of opinion on a subject of so 
 much importance, deeply distressed at the animadversions it has 
 been my misfortune to experience in public Orders, as well as 
 various private and official comnmnications, from an exalted su- 
 perior, to merit whose approbation has been the unceasing and 
 anxious object of my constant solicitudes, I conceive it a duty 
 I owe to him, to myself, and the service, of which I have the 
 honor to be a member, to request you will do me the favor most 
 respectfully to entreat of the General Officer commanding this 
 division, to relieve me from the weighty responsibility that I feel 
 attaches to my situation, by appointing some other officer more 
 likely to be honoretl with his confidence and approbation, in the 
 discharjie of the varied anil anxious duties I have for some time 
 past had the honor to be entrusted with. The General, I feel 
 confident, is sufficiently acquainted with my professional and 
 private character, to be convinced that it is not devoid of the 
 deepest regret, I have felt myself impelled, at this interesting 
 moment, to adopt this measure, but it is one due to himself, as 
 well as to myself. In submitting this request to General Smith, 
 do me the favor to state, that under the circumstances in which
 
 76 THE APPEAL OF 
 
 I find myself situated, should he find it convenient to dispense 
 with my presence with this force, I should feel obliged by his 
 permission to avail myself of the first favorable opportunity of 
 proceeding to the Presidency. 
 
 I have the honor to be, 
 Sir, 
 your most obedient humble servant. 
 
 (Signed) C. B. Burr, 
 
 Camp, Poonah, January \Ath, 1818. Lieut. Colonel. 
 
 Letter from Captain Tovey to Lieut. Colonel Burr, received 
 the 23d of February, about 5 o'clock in the evening, and about 
 a quarter of an hour before Lieut. Colonel Boles arrived to 
 relieve me. 
 
 Sir, Camp, near Neembuck, 25th January, 1818. 
 
 I have had the honor to lay your letter of the 14th instant 
 before Brigadier General Smith, who has directed me to com- 
 municate that, in compliance with your request, he will take the 
 earliest opportunity of relieving you from your present command, 
 but under existing circumstances he cannot permit you to pro- 
 ceed on leave of absence to the Presidency. 
 
 I have the honor to be. 
 Sir, 
 your most obedient servant. 
 
 To Lieut. Colonel Bure, ( Signed) H. ToVEY, 
 
 commanding at Poonah. Dept. Adjt. General.
 
 LIEUT. COL. C. B. BURR. Tt 
 
 The preceding Letter was accompanied by another packet of 
 Orders, of which the following is an Extract. 
 
 Camp, near Corygaum, 8th February, 1818. 
 
 DIVISION ORDERS, 
 
 By Brigadier General Smith. 
 
 Lieutenant Colonel Burr, commanding at Poonah, is granted 
 leave of absence to the Presidency, upon being relieved by the 
 officer appointed to succeed at that station. 
 
 (Signed) H. Tovey, 
 
 Deputy Adjutant General. 
 
 N
 
 78 THE APPEAL OF 
 
 SUPPLEMENTARY. 
 
 Copy of a Letter written by order of Lieutenant Colonel Bure, 
 on the 2cl January, which led to General Smith's reprimand of 
 the 7th of January. 
 
 Secret and confidential. 
 
 Lieutenant GiBBEs, D. M. Paymaster, Poonah. 
 
 Sir, 
 I AM directed by the Commanding Officer (Colonel Burr) to 
 desire that after the receipt of this, you do not, until a change of 
 circumstances is notified to you by his orders, take up any more 
 money on the public account from the Shroffs of this city, or any 
 other persons, as your doing so must be entirely at your own 
 
 responsibihty. 
 
 I have the honor to be. 
 
 Sir, 
 your most obedient servant, 
 
 (Signed) A. Morse, 
 
 M. B.
 
 LIEUT COL. C. B. BURR. 79 
 
 Extract of a Letter from Captain Hardcastlk, Major of Bri- 
 gade, to Brigadier General Smith. 
 
 Dated Camp, January 0th, 1818, 
 
 With reference to the present destination of the division under 
 Lieutenant Colonel Boles, who is expected to be at Loonee 
 about the 11th instant, I have been instructed to acquaint you, 
 that you are not, on that or any other account, authorized to un- 
 dertake any offensive operations whatever in any quarter, with 
 any part of the troops at Poonah ; and the provisional instruc- 
 tions in which you were authorised to do so by the Commanding 
 Officer's Letter of the 23d ultimo, are cancelled. 
 
 (Signed) M. Hardcastle, 
 
 Major of Brigade. 
 
 The preceding paragraph is inserted, to shew in what light 
 General Smith regarded those orders. 
 
 Copy of a Letter to which I have alluded in the body of 
 my Address to your Lordship, as having been received by me 
 from the Honorable Mr. Elphinstone, on the evening of the 
 2nd of January. 
 
 To Brigadier General Pritzlkr, &c. &c. &c. 
 
 ^IJ^i Camp, Toorgon, near Akola, December 28. 
 
 Since this force left Ahmednuggur the Paishwa has been en- 
 camped at Baumunwarry (or Baumungong) ; it seems to have
 
 so THE APPEAL OF 
 
 been his intention to proceed ultimately to the northward, for he 
 yesterday sent his tents to the Wassera Ghaut, south of this 
 place ; but General Smith, after marching northward as far as 
 Kolar on the Paira, suddenly turned west, and encamped yes- 
 terday at Sungumnair, on which the Paishwa recalled his tents, 
 and moved to Cotool, west of this place, with the supposed de- 
 sign of proceeding northward by Rajoora. The advance of this 
 army, however, induced him to abandon his design, and return 
 this forenoon to Baumunwarra. It is now uncertain whether 
 he will fly to the southward, or attempt to pass to the northward 
 by some other route. A large * body of his cavalry is said to 
 be still to the south of the Ghauts, 
 
 (A true Copy.) 
 
 I have, &c. &c. &c. 
 (Signed) M. Elphinstone, 
 
 Resident, 
 
 My dear Colonel, 
 
 The above is the news of to-day. I doubt whether the Paishwa 
 will go south, after all. 
 
 Your's, sincerely, 
 
 M. Elphinstone. 
 
 Colonel Burr. 
 
 * This perfectly agreed witli my previous information ; of course, this division of 
 the enemy had not near the distance to march to Poonah as those who had penetrated 
 the hilly and jungly track.
 
 LIEUT. COL. C. B. BURR. 81 
 
 The following Statement of the Paishwa's force, on the 1st of 
 January, 1818, though probably considerably exaggerated, may 
 tend to convey an idea of the vast army by which he was accom- 
 panied. It is founded on the information of a very intelligent 
 native, supposed to be well acquainted with the subject. I have 
 therefore tlwught it might be a proper conclusion to the Ap- 
 pendix, together with a Tabic of Distances. 
 
 Statement of the Paishwa's force at Loonee, on the 1st of 
 
 January. 
 
 With his Highness Badjce Rao, from - 4000 to 5000 
 
 BappoGokla - - - - 10,000 to 12,000 
 
 NarrapuntAptay - - " 2000 to 3000 
 
 WamunRowAplay - - - 1000 to 2000 
 
 Sedajee Row Nepaunker - - 4000 to 5000 
 
 ChintamonRowPutwerdhen - - 3000 to 4000 
 
 Mahadow Row Rastay - - - 1000 to 2000 
 
 Trimbuckjee Danglea - - 2000 to 3000 
 
 27000 to 36000 
 
 In the rear, supposed with Gen. Smith, 
 
 Abbou Poorundarrce - - 3000 to 4000 
 
 Vinchoorkur (Rajah) - - - 6000 to 7000 
 
 Grand Total 36000 to 47000 
 Besides some Pindarrees left in the neighbourhood of Serroor.
 
 82 THE APPEAL OF 
 
 The subjoined Statement of the relative distances of places 
 adverted to in the Statement, which it may be interesting to 
 know, and framed from an actual survey, may be relied on. 
 
 From Poonah to Nassick, the place General Smith 
 
 and the Paishwa were both supposed to be British miies. 
 
 marchino- on, via Ahmednuo-our - - 158 
 
 And by the most direct road by Chakun - 100 
 
 From Poonah to Sunsrumnair, via Ahmednuoo-ur 120 
 
 From Poonah to Sunguninair (by Chakun) - 72 
 
 From Poonah to the Village of Wasserah (Ghaut) 127 
 
 From the Wasserah Ghaut to Sungumnair - 8 
 
 From Sungumnair to Kullum - - - 34t 
 
 From Sungumnair to Rahoory - - - 33 
 From Sungumnair to Baumunwarry or Baumun- 
 
 gong - _ . . - I4i 
 
 From Chakun to Corygauni - - - 14 
 From Corygaum to the Little Bhore Ghaut, east of 
 
 Poonah - - - - l6j 
 
 From Ahmednuggur to the Village of Wasserah - 55 
 
 Remark — I have stated, in the preceding comparative view of 
 distances, that the Paishwa was supposed to be marching on 
 Nassick ; the second paragraph of General Smith's Report of 
 the 7th of January specifically adverts to it ; while, by a reference 
 to the Honorable Mr. Elphinstone's Letter of the 28th of De- 
 cember, it will appear that it was not till the preceding day that 
 General Smith, who had been previously marching northward.
 
 LIEUT. COL. C. B. BURR. 83 
 
 suddenly turned west, when in the parallel of Sungumnair. Of 
 his plans or movements, I have already stated the extent of iny 
 knowledge, being limited to his confidential Letter of the 23d of 
 December ; but it is evident, had he not, on reaching the 
 parallel of Sungumnair abrupUy turned west, he would have 
 reached * Nassick (or the parallel thereof,) by the 29th ; it was, 
 however, impossible for me to know where the General was. 
 
 True Copies and Extracts, 
 
 (Signed) C. 13. Burr, 
 
 Lieutenant Colonel. 
 
 ■f A. — Some of the difference in General Smith's Statement of 
 distances, may be accounted for by a perusal of Mr. Elj[)hinstone's 
 Letter lo General Pritzler, from which it would appear that the 
 General's route had taken him circuitously, and north about, to 
 the \\ asserah Ghaut ; as, in the above Letter of the 28lh, the 
 day before the General entered it, he mentions it as being to the 
 southward ; the greater, however, the distance the General went 
 over, and the further he was removed from me at Poonah, the 
 greater the necessity that existed for my adoption of every pre- 
 cautionary measure in my power. 
 
 Extract from General Smith's official Despatch of the 7th of 
 January : " I entered the Wasserah Ghaut with great difficulty 
 " on the 29th ultimo, the passes having been blocked up and 
 
 * Whicli would have placed liim 158 miles off. 
 ■\ Vide ante, p. 29.
 
 84 THE APPEAL OF 
 
 " trenched by the enemy. The guns could only be dragged by 
 " great labour of the troops, and my rear guard did not reach 
 " camp till tuelve the foUouhig day." Hence it appears, that at the 
 very moment General Smith's rear guard were marching into his 
 camp at the Wasserah Ghaut, 128 miles, by the route he had 
 taken, from Poonah, the Paishwa had arrived at the very thres- 
 hold of my position. How General Smith, the immediate trustee 
 of the reputation of the force entrusted to his command, could, 
 under these circumstances, feel himself justified in making the 
 Report he did for your Lordship's information of the 7th of 
 January, is what I feel myself at a loss to conjecture, knowing 
 as he did that I had his Letter in my possession, wherein he in- 
 formed me, it might be some time before he could bring his 
 division up. 
 
 * B. To prevent any misconstruction of what passed on 
 
 this subject, I find myself under the painful necessity of intrud- 
 ing still further on your Lordship's attention with the following 
 detail thereof. 
 
 On the General's arrival at the camp we occupied at Kirkee, 
 on the IStli of November, I rode out to pay my respects to him ; 
 he was then riding along the front of our line, and on my going up 
 to him, he took no notice of me. I continued riding by him for 
 sometime, when the Honorable Mr. Elphinstone said, " General, 
 here is Colonel Burr, come to pay his respects to you." On this 
 he turned towards me, and with much frigid indifference, said, " I 
 
 * Vide ante p. 59-
 
 LIEUT. COL. C. B. BURR. 
 
 85 
 
 am glad to see you mounted, Colonel."-" I congratulate you on 
 your achievment;" the General's usual n.ode of addressmg me 
 ^vas far more friendly and cordial. The above was however all 
 that passed for some time, and with the exception of some un- 
 important conversation, all that passed between us that day 
 
 Early after breakfast the next morning, I received a note from 
 him, couched in his usual style of friendship, to attend him, as 
 he was anxious to see me ; I was at the time prepanng to do so, 
 and immediately went over to his camp with a light heart, ex- 
 pecting thanks and compliments, when he informed me, he would 
 require my battalion to accompany him in his intended move- 
 nient agamst the enemy ; that it would only be separating us tor 
 . day or two. and he hoped I would reconcile myself to their 
 temporarv absence. I replied, I should be very happy to have 
 the honor' of accompanying them, if he would permit me, and 
 that I believed my doing so, would be agreeable to all parties. 
 He told me he was very certain of my anxiety to do my duty, 
 but that he wished me to remain in command at Kirkee ; that as 
 soon as the business was over, I should have my corps back 
 again ; and that he was sure, when I knew his anxiety to have 
 them with him, as one he could place so much dependence on, 
 that he was certain 1 would not wish to deprive them ot an 
 opportunity of sharing in what was going forward. I repeated 
 my wish to accompany or keep them : but finding the General 
 see.ned to have made up his mind on tlie subject, 1 endea- 
 voured to acquiesce with a good grace to an arrangement which 
 I certainly did wish had not been decided on. 
 
 o
 
 86 THE APPEAL OF 
 
 After this the General did me the honor to encourage me to 
 offer my opinion regarding the proposed attack, and on his 
 going out to reconnoitre the enemy's position, I accompanied 
 him. 
 
 I do not recollect whether it was during this day or the next, 
 or both, that being alone with the General, he expressed in very 
 kind and friendly terms, the regret he felt at having applied to 
 Bombay for a senior officer to be sent up to supersede me in 
 the command at Poonah, allesrinoj that he had not the least 
 idea, I was in the state of health I then was, or he never would 
 have thought of doing so ; that he should put me in orders imme- 
 diately for the command of a brigade, and expressed himself 
 much concerned at what he had done. And at a subsequent in- 
 terview, after Poonah fell, and he had put me in orders for the 
 command thereof, repeated these assurances, saying his applica- 
 tion had placed him in an embarrassing situation, but he would 
 keep me in command of Poonah as long as possible, adding, 
 " I shall make," or " have made, particular mention of you in 
 my Despatches." I thanked him, and expressed my hope that my 
 conduct would at all times be so fortunate as to give him satis- 
 faction, and that he might depend upon my utmost exertions to 
 meet his approbation. He replied, " That he was very sure of." 
 
 The above is, to the best of my recollection, a faithful, correct, 
 and, as far as necessary, a verbatim report of what passed be- 
 tween us on these subjects, by which I presume it will be ad- 
 mitted ; — whatever compunction General Smith might have felt 
 for the injustice he had done me in applying to (my own) the
 
 LIEUT. COL. C. B. BURR. 87 
 
 Bombay Government, for my surpercession in an honorable 
 command, Avherein he had not even given me a trial ; and how- 
 ever wiihng he appeared to be to malce atonement for what he had 
 done on that occasion,— he warily avoided associating it with any 
 of those demonstrations of commendation or gratification at late 
 events, which,— from the gracious manner in which he had pub- 
 licly noticed in Orders the subordinate achievements of the 
 smallest parties, when employed against Pindarees and other 
 freebooters,— not only myself, but the whole force under my 
 command, on that memorable occasion, had a right to, and 
 confidently expected. 
 
 True Copies and Extracts. 
 
 C. B. Burr, 
 
 Lieutenant Colonel.
 
 [89] 
 
 REPLY 
 
 OK THE 
 
 MOST NOBLE THE GOVERNOR GENERAL. 
 
 AND 
 
 SUBSEQUENT CORRESPONDENCE WITH THE BOMBAY 
 
 GOVERNMENT. 
 
 Copy of the Autograph Reply of the Most Noble the Governor 
 General, received at Surat, the l6th of November, 1818. 
 
 Sir, Cakutta, October \3th, 1818. 
 
 An immediate difficulty presented itself to this Government 
 on the receipt of your Appeal against the conduct held by Bri- 
 gadier General Smith towards you. A positive act of injustice 
 has something of precision in it, which may make the Supreme 
 Authority to pronounce on its quality ; but where the matter 
 agitated is open to the question between the existence and non- 
 existence of slight in manner, or involves the measurement of a 
 tone in which a superior officer communicates, through the form 
 of private correspondence, his dissatisfaction to an individual 
 under his command, it is hardly possible that such a tribunal
 
 90 REPLY OF THE 
 
 can entertain the subject. The observation does not imply thai; 
 Government contemplates lightly any thing which can wound 
 the feelings of a distinguished officer. It could not view without 
 regret, a mortification suffered by one, who had exemplarily 
 served the state. In proof of that interest, the Government re- 
 quested from me, in my capacity of Commander in Chief, a 
 consideration of your case, which could not be given to it by the 
 Governor General in Council. The transfer has not obviated 
 all the difficulty ; for sufficient embarrassment remains to make 
 it necessary that my Answer to you should be only in a demi- 
 official shape, and not through the Adjutant General or Military 
 Secretary. On reflection, it must occur to you that the un- 
 graciousness of demeanour towards you, which you have im- 
 puted to Brig. General Smith on his arrival at Poonah, after 
 your victory, is asserted to me solely on your construction. The 
 construction may have been accurate, in which case I should 
 lament the circumstance ; still, the apparent disregard may 
 have been unintentional, and Brig. General Smith may not have 
 been conscious of his deficiency in due civility. A complaint of 
 this kind can, therefore, furnish no ground for special inter- 
 vention. The Letter which Brig. General Smith addressed to 
 you respecting your having exposed the battalion to be attacked 
 at Corygaum, by summoning it from Serroor, is not attended 
 with similar uncertainty. Though the expressions used in that 
 Letter appear to have been a sort of confidential effiision, the 
 reprehension is signified too much in the character of Com- 
 mander, not to establish your title to refer to me for an opinion
 
 GOVERNOR GENERAL. 91 
 
 as to the justice of its application. On that account, I feel bound 
 not to withhold or disguise my sentiment on the point. I cer- 
 tainly think that the antecedent instructions justified you in re- 
 garding yourself as possessing entire discretion, relative to de- 
 manding the aid of the baltahon in question. As to your exer- 
 cise of that discretion, I must of course be sensible that many 
 circumstances may be unknown to me, which ought to he taken 
 into calculation, were a decided opinion required on the policy 
 of your causing the battalion to reinforce you : but it is quite 
 enough to say, that, as far as appears to me, your motives for 
 doingj so were strono;. 
 
 The form of Brig. General Smith's Letter to you, Ibrbids my 
 noticing the subject officially. In a private manner, my senti- 
 ments shall be communicated to him ; nevertheless, I am to 
 entreat that you will not mistake the only principle on wliich I 
 could so interfere. While I trust to have healed your soreness by 
 the profession I have made, 1 must hope that 1 shall induce you 
 to meet frankly any consciousness Brig. General Smith may 
 manifest of having erred towards you : and that I may thence 
 have the satisfaction of thinking, that my writing to him on the 
 subject, has led to the restoration of cordiality between two 
 valuable servants of the State. 
 
 I have the honor, Siu, to be, 
 
 Lieut. Colonel Bubb, your very obedient, 
 
 &c. &c. &c. and humble servant, 
 
 (Signed) Hastings.
 
 [92] 
 
 Private.* 
 
 Madras, July 28th, 18 IS. 
 
 Sir, 
 I beg to acknowledge the receipt of your Letter of the 27th 
 ultimo, from Sural, accompanied by the copy of one addressed 
 by you to the Marquis of Hastings. They were transmitted to 
 
 me the moment they were received by Lieut. Colonel . 
 
 I entreat you, Sir, to believe the real sincerity of every expres- 
 sion of acknowledgements and applause contained in the Ge- 
 neral Orders I had the gratification of publishing to the army 
 under my command, in testimony of my admiration of the zeal 
 and determined intrepidity so nobly displayed by you, and the 
 handful of gallant troops you had the pride of leading on the 
 5th of November last, against the powerful and overwhelming 
 force of the then Paishwa, who having ventured to attack you, 
 was completely defeated, and obliged to retire. Much of your 
 glorious success on the memorable occasion in question, cannot 
 likewise fail to be attributed to your cool judgment and ability, 
 
 * This Letter is peculiarly interesting to me, as his Excellency had, previous there- 
 to, traversed the country generally, and personally visited and inspected the particular 
 positions in and about Poonah, to which reference is made in the different parts of my 
 Statement and Appeal to the Most Noble the Governor General. lie had also not only 
 received all the calumnious and ungenerous reports made by General Smith re- 
 garding me, but had had an opportunity of seeing him personally, when I have little 
 reason to doubt, as large a portion of blame was endeavoured to be attached to my 
 conduct, as the Brig. General thought likely to be credited.
 
 SUBSEQUENT CORRESPONDENCE, &c. 93 
 
 an impression which no circumstance has, and I trust never 
 possibly can occur to remove— or to diminish in my mind. 
 I have the honor to remain, with great esteem, 
 
 Sir, 
 your most obedient and very humble servant, 
 .. n^ ^'a (Signed) J. HisLOP. 
 
 Lieut. Colonel Buer, v o ' 
 
 &c. &c. &c.Surat. ^^^^^ Copies) C. B. Burr, 
 
 Lieut. Colonel. 
 
 Head-quarters, Surat, 1st December, 1818. 
 
 Sir, 
 I AM directed by Major General Laurence to transmit for 
 your information, the annexed Copy of a Letter to his address, 
 from the Adjutant General of the Army, dated the 26th ultimo, 
 and of its accompaniment, intimating that the Most Noble the 
 Commander in Chief in India will communicate to you his 
 Excellency's sentiments on the subject of your Representation 
 
 therein adverted to. 
 
 I have the honor to be, 
 
 Sir, 
 
 your most obedient servant. 
 To Lieut. Colonel C. B. BuBii, 
 Comn^anding South.Div. of Guzerat. (Signed) J- W. AlTCIIISON. 
 
 g^jjjf Prov. Major of Brigade.
 
 9t SUBSEQUENT CORRESPONDENCE WITH 
 
 No. 936. 
 
 Q Bombay, 26th November, 1818. 
 
 I AM directed by His Excellency the Commander in Chief to 
 transmit to you the enclosed copy of a letter from Mr. Secre- 
 tary Farish to his address, advising that Lieut. Colonel Burr's 
 Representation had been received by his Excellency the Most 
 Noble the Governor General in Council, and that the case had 
 been referred to the decision of the Most Noble the Commander 
 in Chief; whose sentiments will be duly communicated to the 
 parties concerned ; and to request that you will make the ne- 
 cessary communication to Lieut. Colonel Burr, for his infor- 
 mation. 
 
 1 have the honor to be, 
 
 To Major General H. P. Laurence, &C. &C. &C. 
 
 commanding. Province of Guzerat, (Signed) D. LeigHTON, 
 
 Surat. Adjt. General of the Army. 
 
 Military Department. 
 
 To His Excellency Lieut-General Sir Miles Nigiittnoall, 
 
 K. C. B. Commander in Chief. 
 Sir, 
 
 I AM directed to acquaint your Excellency, that his Excel- 
 lency the Most Noble the Governor General in Council, con- 
 sidering the subject of Lieut. Colonel Burr's Representation, 
 forwarded with your Letter of the 28th of July last, to involve a
 
 THE BOMBAY GOVERNMENT 95 
 
 question which is purely miUtary, has referred the case to the de- 
 cision of the Most Noble the Commander in Chief, whose sen- 
 timents will be duly communicated to the parties concerned. 
 
 I have the honor to be, 
 
 &c. &c. &c. 
 
 Bombay Castle, (Signed) J. FarISH. 
 
 23d November, 1818. Secretary to Government, 
 
 (True Copy) 
 
 (Signed) D. Leigiiton. 
 
 Adjt. General of tlie Army. 
 
 (True Copies) 
 
 (Signed) J. W. Aitchison. 
 
 Prov. Major of Brigade. 
 
 To the Provincial Major of Brigade to the Troops serving in 
 
 Guzerat, Bombay. 
 Sir, 
 
 I beg leave to forward, through the General Officer com- 
 manding the Province, the enclosures, Avhich I am anxious should 
 be forwarded to his Excellency the Commander in Chief, with 
 
 as little delay as possible. 
 
 I have the honor to be, 
 
 Sii{, 
 
 your most obedient servant, 
 
 (Signed) C. B. Burr, 
 Surat, December, 1818. Lieut. Colonel.
 
 96 SUBSEQUENT CORRESPONDENCE WITH 
 
 To His Excellency Lieut. General Sir Miles Nightingall, 
 K.C.B. Commander in Chief, &c. &c. &c. Bombay. 
 
 Sir, 
 
 The Enclosure, — being the Copy of an Autograph Letter, which 
 his Excellency the Most Noble the Marquis of Hastings has 
 done mc the honor of addressing me, under date the 13th of 
 October, in answer to the Appeal I had the honor of submitting 
 to that exalted authority, through your Excellency, in June last, — 
 reached nie on the l6"th ultimo, since which I have also been 
 favored, on the 1st instant, with a communication of the Most 
 Noble Marquis's Public Reply, transmitted to the Government of 
 Bombay, as communicated by the Secretary of Government to 
 your Excellency, on the 23d ultimo, and forwarded for my infor- 
 mation by the Adjutant General, on the 26th. 
 
 Under these circumstances, I should not have been so long in 
 submitting for your Excellency's, and the Right Honorable the 
 Governor's information, the enclosed Document, had I not been 
 anxious to afford Brigadier General Smith an opportunity of 
 making me the cunende honorable, which might have urged me 
 to wave troubling my Superiors any further on this subject. More 
 than a month being elapsed, since my receipt of his Excellency 
 the Governor General's Letter, without any communication 
 from my late Commander ; I am naturally led to conclude, he 
 does not intend adopting the Most Noble Marquis's recom- 
 mendation. Thus situated, and having nnfortunatehj been omitted
 
 THE BOMBW GOVERNMENT. 07 
 
 in both the General Orders, uhich his Excellency has published in 
 his Reviez.- of the conduct of the different Officers zcho have held 
 particular commands, or had the good fortune to distinguish them- 
 selves during the late War, 1 trust your Excellencies will recog- 
 nise the justice and propriety of my most respectfully submitting 
 this, to me, invaluable Document, and flattering testimony of his 
 Lordship's approbation and favorable opinion, for your Ex- 
 cellencv-s consideration, and admission on the Records of the 
 Government of this Presidency. Your Excellencies will, I 
 moreover hope, pardon the feeling that suggests the necessity, in 
 justice to my character and feelings, of submitting the whole of 
 these Papers for the consideration of our Honorable Employers, 
 to afford them an opportunity, not only of being acquainted 
 ^vith the circumstances that immediately led to my resignation 
 of the highly honorable, and distinguished command, it was my 
 peculiar 'good fortune to hold in the Deccan, at the commence-, 
 ment of hostilities, but also to put them in possession of the 
 opinion of the most exalted and experienced professional and 
 public character in this country, on the merits of my case 
 whereby it will doubtless appear to their Honorable Court, that I 
 have unfortunately, and unjustly, suffered, under circumstances 
 peculiarly distressing and humiliating, at a moment I might have 
 reasonably expected to have experienced a different fortune,-- 
 the severity of which has alone been mitigated, by the proud 
 consciousness of the prudence and propriety of my conduct, 
 in the discharoe of, at that time, one of the most anxious in- 
 teresting, and unporlant commands in India, together with the
 
 98 SUBSEQUENT CORRESPONDENCE WITH 
 
 gracious and flattering reception, and consolatory assurances I 
 have since had the honor of experiencing from your Excellencies, 
 as well as every other noble and exalted authority, to whom my 
 Appeal has been subsequently submitted. Hence I trust your 
 Excellency and the Right Honorable the Governor, will graci- 
 ously accede to my present request, permitting me to forward 
 Duplicates of my late Appeal, for transmission to the Honorable 
 the Court of Directors, to whom, should the Right Honorable 
 the Governor vouchsafe to permit the Copy at present in the 
 Secretary's office to be forwarded, with the enclosed Docviment, 
 by the ships under despatch, not a moment shall be lost on my 
 part in replacing it, and accompanying it with an additional 
 Copy for transmission to Europe. 
 
 I have the honor to be, with great respect, 
 your Excellency's 
 most obedient humble servant, 
 
 (Signed) C. B. Burr, 
 
 Lieut. Colonel.
 
 THE BOMBAY GOVRRXMENT. 99 
 
 To His Excellency the Right Honorable Sir Evan Nepeax, 
 Bart. Governor in Council, &c. &c, &c. Bombay. 
 
 Right Hoxouable Sir, 
 
 It would be difficult for me to convey to your Excellency 
 an ade([uate idea of the feelings with which I am impressed in 
 submitting, for your information, — with a request that it may be 
 honored with a place on the Records of our Government, — the 
 accompanying gracious, and highly consolatory and flattering 
 copy of an autogra[)h testimony of the approbation of our 
 most exalted Superior, in conveying his sentiments on the sub- 
 ject of the Appeal, I had the honor of making him, through 
 his Excellency the Commander in Chief, and your Plonorable 
 Board, in June last ; whereby 1 have the gratifying reflection of 
 receiving an ample exoneration and justification of the ruthless 
 and humiliating allegations and reflections laid to my charge by 
 my late Conmiander, who having, notwithstanding, failed to avail 
 himself of the recommendation of our exalted Superior, has 
 rendered it a duty I owe to myself, to submit my present appli- 
 cation, which, for the reasons I have detailed in my Letter of 
 this date to his Excellency the Commander in Chief, I trust your 
 Excellency will see the propriety of the wish I have therein ex- 
 pressed, of submitting the whole of the circumstances, and Papers 
 illustrative of my case, for the information of the Honorable the 
 Court of Directors ; to admit of their being acquainted with
 
 100 SUBSEQUENT CORRESPONDENCE WITH 
 
 the circumstances and events, which decided inc in the adop- 
 tion of a measure, which nothing but the huniihating and em- 
 barrassing predicament in which 1 Avas placed, could — your Ex- 
 cellency's knowledge of my professional feelings and character, 
 Avill, 1 feel conscious, do me the justice to admit, — have urged me 
 to adopt. 
 
 I have the honor to be, with the greatest respect, 
 
 Your Excellency's, 
 most obedient humble servant, 
 
 (Signed) C. B. Burr, 
 
 Lieut. Colonel. 
 
 No. 9. 
 
 Cy„ Bombay, 6th January, \S\Si. 
 
 I am directed by the Commander in Chief to transmit to 
 you the accompanying copy of a letter from the Chief Secretary 
 to Government, for your information, and to request you will 
 have the goodness to comply with the latter part of the second 
 paragraph. 
 
 1 have the honor to be, 
 Sir, 
 3'our most obedient servant. 
 
 To Lieut. Col. C.B. Bukr, ^^'^"^^ ) ^ LeigHTOX. 
 
 &c. &c. &c. ^^^^- ^^^^^^ of the Araiy.
 
 THE BOMBAY GOVERNMENT. 101 
 
 Military Department. 
 
 To His Excellency Lieut. General Sir Miles Nigiitingall, 
 K. C. B. Commander in Chief. 
 Sir, 
 
 I AM directed to acknowledge the receipt of Your Excellency's 
 Letter of the 28tli ultimo, and to acquaint you that the Right 
 Honorable the Governor in Council cannot have the least 
 objection to a compliance with Lieut. Colonel Burr's request to 
 transmit the whole of the proceedings relative to the treatment 
 he had experienced, while serving under the immediate command 
 of Brio;. General Lionel Smith, C. B. to the Honorable Court 
 of Directors. 
 
 2d. The copy of his Address to the Supreme Government in 
 the Secretary's Office, will, agreeably to his rctiuest, be trans- 
 mitted, and the Lieut. Colonel is to furnish another copy thereof, 
 with duplicate copy of the Letter from the Most Noble the 
 Marquis of Hastings. 
 
 I have, &c. &c. 
 
 (Signed) F. Warden, 
 
 Bombay Castle, 4 th January, 1819. Chief Secretary. 
 
 (True Copy) 
 
 D. Leighton, 
 
 Adjt. Gen. of the Army. 
 
 Q
 
 102 SUBSEQUENT CORRESPONDENCE WITH 
 
 Extract of a Letter to the Honorable the Court of Directors in 
 the Mihtary Department, dated the 7th January, 1819. 
 
 Para. 15th. In our Despatch of the 12th September last we 
 had the honor of brino;ino; to the notice of Your Honorable 
 Court the distinguished services of Lieut. Colonel Burr, avIio had 
 been left in the command of the Poonah Brigade on the break- 
 ing out of the late war ; that officer, in consequence of the treat- 
 ment he had received, while serving under the immediate com- 
 mand of Brigadier General Smith, having deemed it necessary 
 to appeal to the Most Noble the Governor General in Council ; 
 the Supreme Government considering the subject to be purely 
 military, transferred the proceedings to the Commander in Chief, 
 and His Lordship's sentiments thereupon have accordingly been 
 communicated to those Officers respectively. 
 
 l6th. 'J'he Letter of His Lordship to Lieut. Colonel Burr, 
 leading him to expect a communication from Brig. General 
 Smith, which might remove the grounds for the mortification he 
 had leltfrom the Brig. General's conduct towards him, not having 
 been received, the Lieut. Colonel considered it due to himself, 
 to transmit to us, for the information of Your Honorable Court, 
 a Copy of a Letter he has received from His Lordship, which we 
 have the honor to enclose, accompanied by the Appeal of Lieut. 
 Colonel Burr, and Brig. General Smith's Vindication of his con- 
 duct to the Supreme Government. 
 
 17th. It must be altogether unnecessary for us to add any
 
 THE BOMBAY GOVERNMENT. 103 
 
 expression of our own to the favorable opinion entertained by 
 His Lordship of the services and conduct of Lieut. Colonel 
 Burr. 
 
 (A true Extract) 
 
 (Signed) J. Farish, 
 
 Secretary to Government. 
 
 (True Copies) 
 
 C. B. Burr, 
 
 Lieut. Colonel.
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 I SHALL here close this prohx trespass on the patience and at- 
 tention of my friends by a brief remark, though it may possibly 
 have already occurred to the reader, namely, that so far from 
 the requisition for the services of tiie 2d-lsl regiment having 
 proved injurious to the public interests, or been attended with 
 any disastrous results beyond what was naturally to have been 
 expected, as a professional result,* from the very nature of the 
 circumstances which occasioned their being called for, that 
 it was actually attended with the most beneficial effects, far be- 
 yond any thing my most sanguine hopes could possibly have 
 anticipated or expected ; as that corps, single handed and un- 
 supported, had the glory of arresting the progress of tlie Paishwa's 
 army, till it could no longer carry its merciless and destructive 
 projects against its capital and my position into execution, which 
 was as much as could have been reasonably anticipated from 
 
 * Had tlic enemy attacked the city and uiy position, as was expected, I liavc little 
 doubt that every coqis under my command would Iiave sustained a loss little inferior, 
 if not equal to that of the 2d- 1st at Cory gaum, which by this means drew off' the 
 enemy from their meditated attack, and alone bore what we all expected to have 
 largely participated in.
 
 lOG 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 its most efficient co-operation with the other corps of the brigade 
 under my command, and the conjoint efforts of their valour ; 
 though I certainly indulged the hope that their arrival might not 
 only enable me to maintain the position and city, the defence of 
 V hich was entrusted to me, but moreover carry into effect Brig. 
 General Smith's ultimate orders, conveyed to me in his confi- 
 dential instructions of the 23d of December. 
 
 C. B. Burr, 
 
 Lieut. Colonel. 
 
 London : Printed by W. Bulmer anil Co. 
 Cleveiand-row, St, James's. 
 
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