Lord Macartney was a man of violent temper and overbearing disposition that kept him in continual hot water. He demanded unhesitating submission to his views from all with whom he came in contact. His relations with the supreme government at Calcutta were as unyielding as with those in immediate contact with him at Madras. His chief merit was his personal honesty in money matters, at a time of great laxity; a merit on which he was by no means silent, and which he did not insist on in his colleagues. He threw himself with ardour into the chronic quarrels carried on by the Madras Council with the Bengal Government and the military authorities, and, in pursuit of the quarrels, lost sight of the great interests at stake, and brought the Madras settlement to the verge of anarchy. Even before Sir Eyre Coote’s death he had been induced to believe that General Stuart had designs against the Government. This belief, for which not a scrap of evidence was ever brought forward, led him into a line of conduct that brought about corresponding and increasing opposition from Stuart. After Stuart’s arrest, the same suspicion was transferred to Burgoyne, with even less presumption of justice than had existed in Stuart’s case. Burgoyne proposed an interview in the presence of witnesses. Had Lord Macartney been less bent on the quarrel, he would have grasped the opportunity of coming to some understanding. Instead of this he used the most uncompromising language to Floyd. “Government would not recede; Government must be peremptory;” and he still affected to treat Burgoyne as having refused the command of the army. The following day, Burgoyne received a letter from the Select Committee arguing the old point of General Stuart’s commission, and asserting that Burgoyne had acknowledged the validity of Lang’s promotion to the rank of Lieutenant General, in spite of which he had withdrawn from camp without Lang’s permission. The Committee would not contest with him about any authority he might undertake to exercise, unless it endangered the public safety, but would not countenance his resumption of command. Lang’s command extended to the King’s as well as the Company’s troops, and they (the Committee) would convey dispatches addressed to either Commander in Chief, to Lang. If Sir John Burgoyne thought proper to act as Commander in Chief, and to convene Courts Martial, the Committee had no objection “unless their duty forced them to interfere.” Such unworkable arrangements were bound to lead to further quarrels. On the same day, as previously proposed by him, Sir John Burgoyne had an interview with Lord Macartney, Major General Bruce and Lt. Colonel Floyd being present. Throughout the quarrel, Burgoyne had been actuated by a desire to arrive at some working arrangement that would enable the public service to be carried on, while preserving the rights of the King whose senior representative he was. In this spirit he sought an interview with the Governor. But there was no