ave
been a quarrelsome lot. On the voyage from England, Mr. Mitchell and Mr.
Sutherland, 'son of My Lord Sutherland,' had quarrelled, and Mitchell,
considering himself aggrieved, demanded his discharge on arrival at Bombay,
which was granted. He then sent a challenge to Sutherland, who wounded and
disabled him. But all duels were not so harmless. A few days afterwards,
Sutherland and Dalrymple, 'grandson of Sir David Dalrymple, His Majesty's
Advocate for Scotland,' both midshipmen, quarrelled over dice, and fought
a duel, without seconds, the following morning; when Dalrymple was run
through the body and killed on the spot--a fate that was apparently not
altogether undeserved. Sutherland was tried by court-martial, found guilty
of murder, and sentenced to death; but as it was necessary for the
death-warrant to be signed by the King, it was arranged to carry him a
prisoner to England. Touching at Barbadoes, he made his escape, and
remained there till a free pardon was granted him. Not long afterwards a
duel, arising out of a quarrel about a lady's health, was fought between
Stepney, the second lieutenant, and Berkeley, the third lieutenant of the
_Salisbury_, in which both were badly wounded. Stepney died a fortnight
after the duel, but, as the surgeon certified that he had not died of his
wound, Berkeley was not brought to a court-martial.

Meanwhile, great preparations were being made for a fresh campaign against
Angria, and while these bickerings went on among the subordinates, the
Governor and Matthews were engaged in planning the attack. Long before
Matthews' arrival, negotiations had been opened between the Portuguese
Viceroy, Francisco Jose de Sampaio e Castro, and the Bombay Council, for a
joint attack on Colaba. Through the management of Mr. Robert Cowan, who
had been deputed, in March, to Goa, for the purpose, a treaty of mutual
co-operation had been drawn up, by which the Bombay Council undertook to
furnish two thousand men and five ships. The Portuguese authorities
undertook to furnish an equal force. The negotiation was not completed
till the beginning of September, and Cowan, in recognition of the ability
he had displayed, was given a seat in the Council. The combined forces
were to assemble at Chaul, then a Portuguese possession, and march
overland to attack Colaba. Forgetting the old adage about selling the skin
of the bear while the animal was still alive, it was further agreed that
Colaba, after capture,