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handful of sepoys; the force under Medows comprised 15,000 of all arms, "the finest English army," wrote Cornwallis, "that had ever been assembled in India.” On 25th May the whole expedition assembled on the plain of Trichinopoly the principal aide of the General being his military secretary, Colonel George Harris, of the 5th Fusiliers, hereafter to win for himself the highest distinction against the same enemy. In the meantime the ally to whose succour they were marching was showing himself worthy of their best exertions. The Rája of Travancore had only a territory of 7,000 square miles at the most, with a population of less than two millions; but he and his people possessed the courage of mountaineers. The Rája had also engaged some European officers to drill his men, and by their advice had drawn up strong lines of fortification on the north-eastern frontier of his naturally inaccessible country. Two of the forts on the coast had also been bought from the Dutch to add to the strength of the little principality from that side; and thus, when Tipu demanded their surrender, the Rája defied and beat off, with loss, the famous soldiers of Mysore. That was in 1789. Next year he was again attacked, when the tardy arrival of the British at Coimbatore drew off the attention of the invader. This was on the 23rd July, 1790, and the army obtained some successes between that date and the 21st Sept. But a detachment of cavalry was surprised by Tipu, and driven back with the loss of some of its guns, and Tipu also took some of Medows' magazines. Meanwhile the GovernorGeneral had sent down a flanking force along the Northern Sirkars, which effected a junction with Medows, and raised his force by over 9,000 troops. The gallant Hartley, who had saved the honour of the Bombay army eleven years before, also co-operated on the Malabar coast, and in December captured one of Tipu's best officers, with over 2,000 of his men. Nevertheless, the Governor-General was far from feeling satisfied with the conduct of the war, which was bringing but a

small harvest of results in proportion to the expense.* Before, indeed, he could have heard of the success of Hartley-the chief exploit of the campaign-he had set sail for Madras, where he arrived before the year was ended, and at once took up the conduct of affairs. Once more the Mysore troops laid waste the Carnatic, and Tipu re-opened his futile negotiations with the Council of Pondicherry. On 11th Feb. Cornwallis assembled his army at Vellore, and, after misleading Tipu by a series of able manœuvres, made his way into the Mysore plateau without encountering the enemy, taking Bangalore on his way, which surrendered on 21st March. So far all had prospered, and it might have been expected that the allies would now gather heart to fulfil their engagements, and take an active part in the proceedings. This, however, they failed to do; and after vainly menacing Seringapatam, Cornwallis was obliged to begin his retreat on 26 May, after destroying his siege-train, for the draught of which he had no cattle left. Some forts were taken by the British; on the other hand, Coimbatore was battered to the ground by Tipu, the remains of the garrison being taken away captive. So far Cornwallis had done no better than Medows, if as well. In the following year, however, the allied forces made a show of exertion; the Mahrattas, in particular, took some places, and plundered parts of the Mysore country, but the objects of the British Government seemed no nearer of attainment. Nevertheless, the prestige of that Government was to some extent maintained, and even increased, by the pertinacity with which the army occupied the country on the north-east of Mysore, and reduced the frontier castles.

At length, in Jan., 1792, Cornwallis felt at liberty to make a great forward movement. The army had been reinforced, and was now in great strength, and the commissariat had been thoroughly organised. The camp of Tipu was assaulted, the

* Authorities chiefly quoted in text.

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Governor-General being wounded, while Tipu was forced to fly, and evacuate all his posts north of the Kávari river. On the 5th Feb. Cornwallis stood before the walls of the outworks on that side, with 20,000 good troops and a powerful siegetrain. The works being taken in a night attack, though not without heavy loss, the Sultan judged it prudent to ask for terms. An agreement was made, by which some territory was ceded, and money penalty paid, and the Sultan's two eldest sons. were delivered up to the British Governor-General, as hostages for the fulfilment of the conditions. Travancore was saved; the adjoining highland principality of Coorg was restored to its hereditary chieftain; and each of the treacherous and useless allies was rewarded with a slice of the forfeited territory, enough being retained by the British to round off the territories of Madras, and--for the first time-give interior possessions to the little Presidency of Bombay.

[See authorities already cited. Also Malleson's "Seringapatam, past and present," Madras, 1876: Michaud; "Progrès et Chute de l'Empire de Mysore "; 2 vols., Paris, 1801-9: and Marshman; "History of India," 3 vols., London, 1867, a most useful summary.]

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CHAPTER IX.

THE END OF THE ANARCHY.

Section 1: Cornwallis as a Reformer-Section 2: Sindia's Second Administration-Section 3: Wars in the Deccan and Destruction of

Tipu.

SECTION 1. Thus far Cornwallis had been carrying the work of Warren Hastings to a necessary, if not always intentional conclusion. The treaty of Salbai, followed by the treaty of Mangalore, was in appearance, a peaceful settlement; yet the result had been an increase of British influence, which soon led to further expansion. All the military policy of the period was thus shaped. In civil affairs also the mark of the last Governor but one was plainly impressed; and although, in this department, some deviation was made, the change was not always of unquestioned benefit. The institutions of Cornwallis were, it cannot be doubted, due to a genuine benevolence. But their wisdom was not equally certain, for they were sudden and rapid rather than due to natural evolution. What Pitt and Dundas ordered, in pursuance of the recommendations of the Governor-General, was, it must be admitted, wanting in full knowledge, and tainted by the preconceived opinion-from which no British statesman of that day could be wholly free-that the measure of reform was the interest of the master.country. Hence things from which Hastings would have shrunk-the permanent settlement of the land, the exclusion of natives from all posts of honour and authority, the renewal of the Company's commercial privileges and illusive responsibility; while the King's Cabinet and the British Parliament assumed the actual management of those

political and military proceedings which grew out of the necessities of the trade.

How completely the preference of British interests, real or supposed, must have affected these arrangements may be seen very clearly by anyone who examines the state-papers of the time. Thus, to take one example, Cornwallis closes his famous minute on the Land Revenue of Bengal by the remark that the real value of the Bengal Presidency consists in the degree to which it is able to "furnish a large annual investment" for Europe and and China. We shall observe this-which may be called the commercial fallacy-pervading all the reforms of the day.*

First, then, let us briefly consider the legislation on land tenures, ending in what has been since known as "The Permanent Settlement." It has often been said that Cornwallis was a blind Englishman, who could find nothing to surpass the usages of his native land, and who sought to advance Bengal by giving the people what he conceived to be the benefit of the quasi-feudal system of landlord and tenant. But in point of fact that was by no means the sole peculiarity of the Bengal "Settlement," nor was it invented by Cornwallis; the Revenue Board of ten years before having already recognised the agents in possession as holding a vested interest in the estates, and having laid down the lines of the new system by a series of tentative agreements. In 1786 the Court of Directors had sent out instructions that the revenue should be henceforth fixed for ten years; and added, that if it was found to work well, then the assessment should be confirmed in perpetuity. Before carrying out these orders Cornwallis judged a further enquiry requisite. The result was perplexing; for while, on the one hand, the subject appeared wrapped in impenetrable darkness, on the other the experts, headed by Mr. Shore, an oldstanding member of the Board, maintained that the "Ryots," as the tenants were called, had clear and distinct rights which *" Letter to Dundas," quoted by S. Karr; "Cornwallis,” p. 76,

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