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 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
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 fainad ty Martin Slue Esq* R.A. 
 
 ?by K-Vcyer 62. OfRufsM Savet-Bkwms 
 
 MAJOM G-E1TBB.AL
 
 LIFE 
 
 OF 
 
 MAJOR-GENERAL 
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO, BART. 
 
 AND K.C.B. 
 
 LATE GOVERNOR OF MADRAS. 
 
 WITH EXTRACTS FROM HIS CORRESPONDENCE 
 AND PRIVATE PAPERS. 
 
 BY THE REV. G. R. GLEIG, 
 
 M.A. M.R.S.L. &c. 
 
 IN TWO VOLUMES. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 HENRY COLBURN AND RICHARD BENTLEY, 
 8, NEW BURLINGTON STREET. 
 
 1830.
 
 LONDON : 
 PRINTED BV SAMUEL BENTLEY, 
 
 Dorset Street, Fleet Street.
 
 475.3. 
 
 V.I 
 
 TO HIS GRACE 
 
 ARTHUR DUKE OF WELLINGTON, 
 
 &c. &c. &c. 
 
 V 
 
 ^ WHO, FROM A PERSONAL INTIMACY WITH 
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO, 
 
 <* 
 
 en 
 
 10 WAS ENABLED 
 
 <M 
 
 H- 
 
 O JUSTLY TO APPRECIATE THE MERITS 
 
 OF THAT DISTINGUISHED INDIVIDUAL, 
 
 THE FOLLOWING WORK 
 
 IS, WITH SENTIMENTS 
 
 I 
 
 AND ADMIRATION, 
 INSCRIBED. 
 
 357145
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 IN spite of the unaccountable apathy with 
 which every subject connected with the adminis- 
 tration of British India is regarded, there are few 
 persons conversant with the transactions of the 
 last fifty years, to whom the name of Sir Thomas 
 Munro can be absolutely unknown. The many 
 striking and important transactions in which he 
 bore a part ; the high and responsible offices 
 which he filled ; the friendships which he con- 
 tracted with most of the distinguished characters 
 of the age ; and the estimation in which he was 
 held by them, these circumstances have all 
 contributed to draw him more generally into 
 notice, than almost any Indian functionary of 
 modern times ; whilst the attention thus excited, 
 has rarely failed to be kept alive, by an exami-
 
 VI PREFACE. 
 
 nation, however superficial, into his own merits 
 and services. No apology, therefore, seems neces- 
 sary for the attempt now made, to make his 
 countrymen in general better acquainted than 
 they are with the history of a man whom Mr. 
 Canning, with no less truth than elegance, has 
 declared, that " Europe never produced a more 
 accomplished statesman ; nor India, so fertile in 
 heroes, a more skilful soldier."* 
 
 But though the extraordinary merits of the 
 individual himself might well justify the desire 
 of rendering the particulars of his career as public 
 as possible, it is due to the feelings of those most 
 deeply interested in the present undertaking, to 
 avow, that they have been actuated by other, 
 and no less praiseworthy, motives. Few public 
 men have owed less to others, or more to them- 
 selves, than Major-General Sir Thomas Munro. 
 He entered the military service of the East India 
 Company at the early age of eighteen ; if not abso- 
 lutely destitute of money and interest, at all events 
 not more abundantly provided with either than the 
 generality of youths similarly circumstanced ; yet, 
 by dint of his own genius, his own industry, his 
 
 * Speech of Mr. Canning, on occasion of a vote of thanks 
 being passed in favour of the army employed against the Mah- 
 rattas in 1817, 18, and 19.
 
 PREFACE. Vli 
 
 
 
 own integrity, and his own sound discretion, he 
 rose to fill the highest station in the Presidency 
 to which he was originally attached as a Cadet. 
 
 Were there no other reason, therefore, to be 
 assigned for the present publication, the act 
 might be justified on the ground that such a 
 work is calculated to teach a very important 
 lesson, by impressing upon the minds of young 
 men employed in the public service, that there is 
 no prize beyond the grasp of talent, provided it 
 be accompanied by industry and strictly honour- 
 able conduct. 
 
 It must, however, be confessed, that other 
 motives besides these have had their full weight 
 on the present occasion. Perhaps there never 
 lived an European more intimately acquainted 
 than Sir Thomas Munro, with the characters, 
 habits, manners, and institutions of the natives 
 of India ; because there never lived an Euro- 
 pean who at once possessed better opportunities of 
 acquiring such knowledge, and made more ample 
 use of them. Profoundly versed in the Hindos- 
 tanee and other vernacular languages, and thrown 
 continually into situations where the vernacular 
 languages were alone spoken, he saw a great deal 
 both of Hindoos and Mohammedans, in what 
 may be termed their natural state ; and hence the
 
 Viii PREFACE. 
 
 conclusions at which he arrived touching their 
 dispositions and customs were at once more 
 philosophical, and more likely to be correct, than 
 those of men who have conversed only with the 
 corrupt and degraded race that frequent our Courts 
 of Law, or surround our Presidencies. It was an 
 act of justice, both to his own memory and to 
 the inhabitants of British India, that his senti- 
 ments on these heads should not be concealed ; 
 whilst their publication, if it lead but to farther 
 inquiry, may be productive of the most important 
 benefits ; not merely to the dependent, but to the 
 ruling country. It is not within my province, 
 did I possess the ability, to pass judgment, in a 
 work like this, on the system of internal adminis- 
 tration pursued in British India ; but he must be 
 a bold man who will contend that it is, in all 
 respects, absolutely perfect ; and sure I am, that 
 by none have more judicious schemes of ameliora- 
 tion been pointed out, than by the distinguished 
 subject of the present memoir. 
 
 Again, there are many persons who, without 
 perplexing themselves with questions of police 
 and revenue, are nevertheless desirous of know- 
 ing something of the general history of India, 
 of the nature of the climate, of the condition of 
 the inhabitants, of the productions of the soil,
 
 PREFACE. IX 
 
 and of the state of trade. By all such, the life 
 of Sir Thomas Munro will be found well worthy 
 of perusal ; inasmuch as there was not one of 
 these points to which he failed to turn his at- 
 tention, or of which he has neglected to give an 
 account, as accurate as it is entertaining. Then 
 again, if wit and playful humour, if vivid descrip- 
 tion and lively narrative possess attractions in 
 the eyes of readers in general, they are all to be 
 found here ; whether the subject discussed be the 
 operations of armies, the proceedings of social cir- 
 cles, points of literary disquisition, or the feelings 
 of the individual himself. In a word, the memoir 
 is given to the public for three excellent reasons : 
 first, because it is the right of eminent services 
 that they should not be at once forgotten ; se- 
 condly, because the work may, it is hoped, prove 
 useful ; and, thirdly, because, unless I grossly 
 deceive myself, it will be found both interesting 
 and amusing among others, besides circles, strictly 
 Indian. 
 
 Having thus explained the motives which 
 led to the publication of the present memoir, it 
 remains for me to say a few words touching my 
 own situation, as connected with its publication. 
 
 I had not the happiness to be in the slightest 
 degree acquainted with the late distinguished
 
 X PREFACE. 
 
 Governor of Madras,-r-I never so much as saw 
 him ; but I have long known and admired his 
 character and conduct, both as a soldier and a 
 statesman. Circumstances having induced me to 
 pay more attention to Indian subjects, than is 
 perhaps usual with men not personally connected 
 witli that country, I have found many .oppor- 
 tunities of estimating, as they deserved, the sound 
 judgment and high talents of Sir Thomas Munro ; 
 and hence, as far as a just conception of the prin- 
 ciples and order of his public life qualify one 
 man to write the history of another, I am willing 
 to persuade myself, that I am not unfit to appear 
 as his biographer. But on my own qualifications, 
 whether extensive or otherwise, I have, happily, 
 not been obliged to depend. There is another 
 gentleman connected with this undertaking, to 
 whom by far the greater share of its merits, if 
 it have any, is due ; I mean J. G. Ravenshaw, 
 Esq. one of the Directors of the East India 
 Company, a name not to be mentioned without 
 respect. That gentleman had actually prepared 
 a work, similar in almost every respect to mine, 
 which, with the utmost liberality, he put into 
 my hands, to be used as materials only. It 
 is but just to add, that Mr. Ravenshaw is not 
 responsible for any opinions which I have ven-
 
 PREFACE. XI 
 
 tured to advance. These, whether sound or un- 
 sound, are my own : but the principal labour of 
 collecting the correspondence, a good deal of 
 the arrangement, and, to a certain extent, at least 
 the drawing up of the plan, devolved upon him. 
 It is true, that I have not considered my self bound 
 to adhere to his suggestions in every respect; 
 many letters which he had marked for insertion, 
 1 have omitted, and several which he had omit- 
 ted, I have introduced; but, on the whole, my 
 obligations to him are too numerous and too 
 weighty, not to be thus publicly and gratefully 
 acknowledged. 
 
 With respect to the plan itself, it has been 
 adopted as presenting the best opportunities of 
 making the reader come, as it were, into perso- 
 nal contact with the individual whose story he 
 peruses. In his own letters, especially in those ad- 
 dressed to his nearest relatives and most intimate 
 friends, a much more accurate idea is to be formed 
 of a man's character, than from any history de- 
 tailed in the third person ; and if these exhibit, 
 as the letters of Sir Thomas Munro unquestiona- 
 bly do, marks of deep thought and brilliant genius, 
 they are infinitely more attractive than any other 
 species of literary composition. I do not, there- 
 fore, hesitate to own, that if the following cor-
 
 Xil PREFACE. 
 
 respondence be not widely read and universally 
 relished, 1 shall for the future greatly distrust 
 my own judgment in such matters. 
 
 The following interesting epitome of his ser- 
 vices, drawn up, I believe, on the occasion of 
 his advancement to the Order of the Bath, was 
 found among the private papers of Sir Thomas 
 Munro. It is given, as forming no inapt intro- 
 duction to the more detailed account which will 
 be found in the sequel. 
 
 MEMORANDUM OF SERVICES. 
 
 I ARRIVED at Madras on the 15th of Jan. 1780, 
 and did duty in the garrison of Fort St. George, 
 until the invasion of the Carnatic, in July, by 
 
 Hyder. I marched on the with the 
 
 grenadier company to which I belonged, the 
 21st battalion of sepoys, and a detachment of 
 artillery, to Poonamalee ; and from thence, after 
 being joined by His Majesty's 73d regiment, to 
 the Mount, where the army had been ordered to 
 assemble. The cadet company having arrived 
 in camp, I was ordered to do duty with it on the 
 20th August, 1780, and marched on the 26th of 
 that month with the army under Lieutenant- 
 General Sir Hector Munro. I continued with
 
 PREFACE. Xlll 
 
 the army while it was commanded by that officer, 
 and afterwards by Lieutenant- General Sir Eyre 
 Coote, and Lieu ten ant-General Stewart, during 
 all the operations in the Carnatic, in the war with 
 the Mysoreans and the French, from the com- 
 mencement of hostilities by Hyder Ally, until 
 the cessation of arms with the French, on the 
 2d of July, 1783. 
 
 I was present in the retreat of Sir Hector 
 Munro from Conjeveram to Madras, after the 
 defeat of Colonel Baillie by Hyder Ally, on the 
 10th September, 1780. 
 
 I was with the army under Sir Eyre Coote, at 
 the relief of Wandiwash, on the 24th of January, 
 1781. 
 
 At the cannonade by Hyder Ally, on the 
 march from Pondicherry to Cuddalore, on the 7th 
 February, 1781. 
 
 At the assault of Chilliumbrune, 18th June, 
 1781. 
 
 At the battle of Porto Novo, 1st July, 1781. 
 
 At the siege of Trepassore, 22d August, 1781. 
 
 At the battle of Polliloor, 27th August, 1781. 
 
 At the battle of Sholingur, 27th September, 
 1781. 
 
 1 was with the advanced division of the army, 
 under Colonel Owen, when that officer was at-
 
 XIV PREFACE. 
 
 tacked and defeated by Hyder Ally, near Chit- 
 tore, on the 23d October, 1781 ; but the 16th 
 battalion of sepoys, to which I belonged, having 
 been detached to the village of Magraul, about 
 five miles distant, to collect grain, and a body of 
 the enemy having thrown itself between this 
 post and the corps under Colonel Owen, and 
 rendered the junction of the battalions impracti- 
 cable, Captain Cox, who commanded it, made 
 good his retreat to the main army, by a forced 
 march of nearly forty miles over the hills. 
 
 I was present at the taking of Chittore, on the 
 llth November, 1781. 
 
 On the November, 1781, having been 
 
 appointed Quarter-master of brigade, I joined the 
 5th or left brigade of the army. 
 
 I was present when the army, on its march to 
 relieve Vellore, was harassed and cannonaded by 
 Hyder Ally, on the 10th and 13th of January 
 1782. 
 
 I was present at the battle of Arnee, on the 2d 
 June, 1782. 
 
 At the attack of the French lines, and battle 
 of Cuddalore, on the 13th June, 1783 ; on which 
 occasion I acted as aid-de-camp to Major Cot- 
 grave, field-officer of the day, who commanded 
 the centre attack.
 
 PREFACE. XV 
 
 I was present at the siege of Cuddalore, until 
 the 2d July, 1783, when hostilities ceased, in con- 
 sequence of accounts having been received of 
 the peace with France. From this period I re- 
 mained with a division of the army cantoned in 
 the neighbourhood of Madras, until after the 
 definitive treaty with Tippoo Sultan, in March, 
 1784. 
 
 In July, 1784, I proceeded to join my corps 
 stationed at Mellore, near Madura. In January, 
 1785, having been removed to the 30th battalion, 
 I joined it at Tanjore ; and on its being reduced 
 a few months after, I was appointed to the 1st 
 battalion of sepoys, in the same garrison, with 
 
 which I did duty until 1786 ; when, being 
 
 promoted to the rank of Lieutenant, I was ap- 
 pointed to the battalion European infantry, 
 
 in garrison at Madras. 
 
 In 1786, I was removed to the llth battalion, 
 and joined it in September, at Cassimcottah, near 
 Vizagapatam. In January, 1787, having been 
 appointed to the 21st battalion, I joined it in 
 the following month at Vellore. 
 
 In August, 1788, having been appointed an 
 assistant in the Intelligence Department, under 
 Captain Read, and attached to the head- quarters 
 of the force destined to take possession of the
 
 Xvi PREFACE. 
 
 province of Guntoor, ceded by the Soubah of the 
 Deccan, I joined the force assembled near On- 
 gole for that purpose, and continued with it un- 
 til, the service having been completed by the oc- 
 cupation of the forts, I proceeded to Ambore, a 
 frontier station, commanded by Captain Read, 
 under whom I was employed in the Intelligence 
 Department until October, 1790 : in that month 
 I joined the 21st battalion Native infantry, in the 
 army under Colonel Maxwell, which, in conse- 
 quence of the war with Tippoo Sultan, invaded 
 the Baramahl. 
 
 I was with the detachment sent out to cover 
 the retreat of the 1st regiment Native cavalry, 
 which fell into an ambuscade near Caverypatam, 
 on the llth November, 1790. I served in the 
 field with the main army, or with detachments 
 of it, until the conclusion of the war. 
 
 I was present in the pursuit of Tippoo by 
 Lieu tenant-General Meadows, through the Tap- 
 poor Pass, on the 18th November, 1790. 
 
 When the army, under Lord Cornwallis, en- 
 tered Mysore in February, 1791, I was ap- 
 pointed to the command of a small body of 
 two hundred sepoys, called the Prize Guard, to 
 be employed in securing captured property, and 
 in collecting cattle for the army on its march, 
 and various other duties.
 
 PREFACE. XV11 
 
 I was stationed in the town of Bangalore 
 during the siege of the fort; and was present 
 when it was taken by storm, on the 21st March, 
 
 1791. 
 
 I was with the army at the battle of Carrig- 
 hal, near Seringapatam, on the 15th May, 1791. 
 
 On the return of the army from Seringapatam 
 to the neighbourhood of Bangalore, I was con- 
 stantly employed on detachment in escorting 
 military stores and provisions to camp, until 
 December, 1791, when the army being ready to 
 advance to the siege of Seringapatam, I was 
 thrown into the fort of Ootradroog, to cover the 
 march of convoys from Bangalore to camp. 
 
 In the following month, January 1792, I was 
 appointed assistant to Captain Read, who com- 
 manded a detachment at Bangalore, employed in 
 forwarding supplies to the army. 
 
 In February, 1792, I marched with this officer, 
 and joined the army before Seringapatam, during 
 the negotiations for peace. 
 
 On the settlement of the peace, in March, 1792, 
 I marched with the detachment in charge of the 
 two sons of Tippoo, who were to be sent as host- 
 ages to Madras. 
 
 In April, 1792, I marched with the force or- 
 dered to occupy the Baramahl, ceded by Tippoo 
 to the British Government. 
 
 VOL. i. b
 
 XV111 PREFACE. 
 
 From April, 1792, until March, 1799, I was 
 employed in the civil administration of that 
 country. 
 
 On the breaking out of the war with Tippoo 
 Sultan, I joined the army under Lieutenant- 
 General Harris, intended for the siege of Seringa- 
 patam, near Raycottah, on the 5th March, 1799. 
 
 Colonel Read, to whom I had been appointed 
 secretary, having been detached on the llth to 
 bring forward the supplies in the rear of the 
 army, took the hill-fort of Lonlagherry by assault 
 on the 15th, on which occasion I was present. 
 
 The detachment, .after collecting the convoys, 
 set out for Seringapatam ; but, owing to the 
 labour of repairing the Pass of Caveryporam, it 
 did not reach the army until the 10th of May, 
 six days after the fall of the place. 
 
 Having been appointed by the Governor-Gene- 
 ral, Lord Mornington, one of the secretaries to 
 the Commission for the settlement of Mysore, 
 I acted in that capacity until the conclusion of 
 the Partition-Treaty, and the installation of the 
 
 Rajah, on the July, 1799. 
 
 As I had been appointed to the charge of the 
 civil administration of Canara, I entered that pro- 
 vince in the end of July, and joined the force 
 which had been previously sent to expel the ene- 
 my's garrisons.
 
 PREFACE. XIX 
 
 From July, 1799, till the end of October, 1800, 
 I remained in charge of Canara. 
 
 In the beginning of November, 1800, I pro- 
 ceeded to the Ceded Districts, to the civil admi- 
 nistration of which I had been appointed in the 
 preceding month. 
 
 I continued in charge of the Ceded Districts 
 until the 23d of October, 1807, when I sailed for 
 England, having then been employed, without 
 interruption, during a period of nearly twenty- 
 eight years in India. 
 
 I remained in England from April, 1808, till 
 May, 1814, when I embarked for India, and 
 reached Madras on the 16th September, 1814. 
 
 From September, 1814, till July, 1817, I was 
 employed as Principal Commissioner for the revi- 
 sion of the Internal Administration in the Madras 
 territories. 
 
 When preparations were made for taking the 
 field against the Pin dames, I was appointed to 
 the command of the reserve of the army, under 
 Lieutenant- General Sir Thomas Hislop. The 
 reserve was, in July, 1817, ordered to advance 
 and take possession of Dharwar, which the Peish- 
 wah had ceded to the British Government by the 
 treaty of Poonah. I reached Dharwar on the 
 10th of August, three days after it had been 
 given up to the advanced battalion of the re-
 
 XX PREFACE. 
 
 serve. I remained at Dharwar until the llth 
 October, engaged in arranging, with Mahratta 
 commissioners, the limits of the districts which 
 had been ceded by the Peishwah. On the 12th 
 October, I commenced my march for Sondoor, a 
 district held by a refractory Mahratta chief, whom 
 I was ordered to dispossess, and to deliver it up 
 to the officers of the Peishwah. 
 
 On the of October, I arrived at Sondoor, 
 
 which the chief surrendered without opposition. 
 On the 7th November, 1817, having repassed the 
 Toombuddra, I directed the reserve, in pursuance 
 of orders from head-quarters, to take up a posi- 
 tion beyond the Kistna, under Brigadier-General 
 Pritzler, and proceeded myself to Dharwar to 
 finish the political arrangements with the Mah- 
 ratta commissioners. 
 
 On the 14th November, arrive at Dharwar: 
 learn that the Peishwah has commenced hostili- 
 ties, and finding that my rejoining the reserve 
 was rendered impracticable by the interposition 
 of the enemy's troops, determine to endeavour 
 to subdue the neighbouring districts, by the in- 
 fluence of a party among the leading inhabitants, 
 and by the aid of a detachment from the garrison 
 of Dharwar, assisted by a body of irregulars col- 
 lected from the country.
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 On the December, 1817, disperse a body 
 
 of the enemy's horse, joined by the garrison of 
 Nawlgoond, and take possession of the forts eva- 
 cuated by the enemy on our approach. 
 
 On the January, 1818, having been joined 
 
 by a small battering train from Bellari, lay siege 
 to Guddur, which surrenders on the Ja- 
 nuary. 
 
 On the January, take the fort of Dumbull. 
 
 On the > January, the fort of Hoobley, and 
 
 on the day following, its dependent fort of Miss- 
 ricottah is given up to a detachment sent to 
 occupy it. 
 
 On the February, 1818, pass the Malpur- 
 
 bah ; and, after routing a body of the enemy's 
 horse and foot near the village of , en- 
 camped near Badami. 
 
 On the l?th February, a practicable breach 
 having been made, storm and carry the place. On 
 the 21st February, take Bagricottah. 
 
 On the 10th February, take Padshapoor. 
 On the 21st March, encamp before Belgamee ; 
 and, after a siege of twenty days, take the place 
 by capitulation on the 10th April. 
 
 On the 16th April, Kalla Nundilghur is given 
 up to a detachment of irregulars which I sent to 
 invest it.
 
 XX11 PREFACE. 
 
 On the 22d April, rejoin the reserve. 
 
 On the 10th May, take the pettah of Shola- 
 poor by assault. Defeat the Peishwah's infantry 
 under Gunput Row, at the battle of Sholapoor. 
 
 15th May, take the fort of Sholapoor by 
 capitulation, after a practicable breach had been 
 made. 
 
 31st May, encamp before Nepauni, and com- 
 pel Appah Dessye to give orders for the delivery 
 of Ookarah and other places to the Rajah of 
 Bolapoor. 
 
 On the 8th August, 1818, having received the 
 surrender of Paurghur, the last fort held for the 
 Peishwah, resign my command, after having, in 
 the course of the campaign, reduced all the 
 Peishwah's territories between the Toombuddra 
 and Kistna; and from the Kistna northward to 
 Akloos, on the Neemah, and eastward to the 
 Nizam's frontier. 
 
 The following contains a general view of his 
 Civil and Military promotions. 
 
 CADET 1779. 
 
 ENSIGN . . . October, 1780. 
 
 LIEUTENANT . 11 February, 1786. 
 
 BREVET-CAPTAIN . . 7 February, 1796. 
 CAPTAIN . . . 15 June, 1796. 
 MAJOR ... 7 May, 1800.
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 XX111 
 
 LIEUTENANT-COLONEL . 
 COLONEL 
 
 BRIGADIER-GENERAL . 
 COMPANION OP THE BATH 
 MAJOR-GENERAL . 
 K.C.B. . . . . 
 GOVERNOR OF MADRAS 
 BARONET 
 
 24 April, 1804. 
 15 June, 1815. 
 December, 1817. 
 October, 1818. 
 August, 1819. 
 November, 1819- 
 , " . 1819. 
 June, 1826. 
 
 Ash, near Wingham, Kent, 
 Nov. 9, 1829.
 
 ERRATA. 
 
 VOL.1. 
 
 Page 18, fur ' Ha'.eburton,' read ' Ha'.iburton.' 
 
 43, last line but three from the bottom, for ' Colonel Perrie,' rejd ' Colonel 
 
 Peiice.' 
 
 44, line T,for ' Pereinbanaum,' read ' Perimbaucum.' 
 
 60, last line but one, for ' Chiltore,' read ' Chittore.' 
 
 58, line 7, for ' Vezegapatam,' read ' Vizagapatam.' 
 
 96, 11, for ' Gujehatty,' read ' Gujelhatty.' 
 
 103, 24, for ' Kimagerry,' read 'Kisnagerry.' 
 
 127, tenth line from bottom, for ' Biddanou,' read ' Biddinore.' 
 
 141, sixth line from bottom, for ' nairrated,' read ' narrated." 
 
 210, line 10, for ' Sedashaghee,' read ' Ledashegur.' 
 
 230, last line but one from the bottom,/or ' Navis,' read ' Nairs.' 
 
 244, last line but one from the bottom, for ' Caleroon,' read ' Colleroon.' 
 
 245, line 8, for ' Rajniss,' read ' Rajahs.' 
 
 250, six lines from the bottom, for ' continued,' read ' contrived.' 
 
 251, seven lines from the bottom, for ' conjee,' read ' corge.' 
 
 309, line 6, for ' Persian,' read ' person.' 
 
 329, third line from bottom of the letter, for ' Ballair/ read ' Eellari.' 
 
 330, line 20, for ' Canaul,' read ' Canool,' 
 
 449, lines 12 and 15, for ' Mr. Barber,' read' Mr, Babcr.'
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 FIRST VOLUME. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Birth. Parentage. Early habits. Departure from home. 
 
 Page 116 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Arrival in India. First introduction to the Society at Ma- 
 dras. Early Campaigns against Hyder Ally. Private Cor- 
 respondence. War with Tippoo. Employment in the Intel- 
 ligence Department. Operations in the Mysore Country 
 Attack upon Tippoo's lines. Peace. . 17 140 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Appointment to the Revenue Department under Colonel 
 Read. Letters from the Baramahl. Second war with Tippoo. 
 Fall of Seringapatam. . . 141223 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Appointed to superintend the affairs of Canara. Correspon- 
 dence with General Wellesley. Letters to his relations. 
 
 224299 
 
 VOL. I. C
 
 XXVI CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Removal to the Ceded Districts. Letters from Mr. Webbe, 
 Lord Clive, General Wellesley ; and general Correspondence. 
 
 300373 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Returns to England Revisits Northwoodside. Feelings on 
 that occasion. Paper on the subject of Free Trade with India. 
 Marriage. Appointed Head Commissioner to Inquire into 
 the Judicial System. Returns to Madras. . 374 401 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Appointment of a Commission to revise the Judicial System. 
 Colonel Munro nominated Chief Commissioner. Arrival in 
 India. Objects of the Commission. Letters to Mr. Sullivan, 
 Mr. Canning, &c. \ '* r. . 402453 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 War with the Mahrattas. Campaign of General Munro's 
 Division. General Correspondence. . 454 520
 
 THE LIFE 
 
 OF 
 
 MAJOR-GENERAL 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO, BART. & K.C.B. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Birth. Parentage. Early habits. Departure from home. 
 
 THOMAS MUNRO was born at Glasgow, on 
 the 27th of May, 1761. He was the son of Mr. 
 Alexander Munro, a respectable merchant of that 
 city, and the second of a family which consisted 
 originally of five sons and two daughters ; all of 
 whom lived long enough to witness the growing 
 reputation of their relative, whilst the greater 
 number survived to behold it at its height. The 
 maiden name of his mother was Margaret Stark. 
 She derived her descent from the Starks of Kel- 
 
 VOL. i. B
 
 2 THE LIFE OF 
 
 lermont, was the sister of Dr. William Stark, the 
 distinguished anatomist, and, like her husband, 
 possessed excellent talents, a strong judgment, and 
 a cultivated taste; whilst to her many amiable 
 qualities as a wife, a parent, and a friend, all who 
 came within the circle of her acquaintance bear 
 testimony. 
 
 It rarely occurs that the infancy even of the 
 most illustrious men, is distinguished by any event 
 worthy of record ; and so far the infancy of Sir 
 Thomas Munro followed the ordinary course of 
 nature. He suffered, indeed, severely from the 
 measles, which attacked him at an early age, and 
 affected him with a partial deafness from which he 
 never afterwards recovered ; but with this excep- 
 tion, I am not aware of any occurrence, at this 
 stage of his career, deserving of particular notice 
 from his biographer. The case is somewhat dif- 
 ferent with respect to that interesting period, 
 when the contingencies of a school-life bring the 
 natural character into view, and the bent of the 
 man's genius is, for the most part, pretty accu- 
 rately pointed out by the proceedings and tastes 
 of the boy. As the early habits of Sir Thomas 
 Munro differed, in many essential particulars, 
 from those of boys in general, it may not be amiss 
 to subjoin here a brief sketch of them. 
 
 Young Munro received the rudiments of his 
 education, first at an English day-school, and 
 afterwards, at the Grammar-school of Glasgow; 
 through both which he passed, with the re-
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 
 
 putation of being, if not the most industrious, at 
 all events one of the cleverest lads of his standing. 
 Unlike most youths, he seems to have paid but 
 little attention to his lessons, except during the 
 hours of public business; yet such were his readi- 
 ness and aptitude of learning, that he always main- 
 tained a high station in his class. But it was not 
 in the presence of his tutor only, nor in matters 
 connected with scholastic proceedings properly so 
 called, that Munro especially distinguished him- 
 self. Among his companions, he was an object 
 not merely of affection but of respect. A temper 
 singularly mild, a deportment singularly open, a 
 disposition generous to a degree, rarely to be met 
 with, and a lively and cheerful manner, secured 
 for him the former feeling wherever he was 
 known ; whilst he possessed in no ordinary extent 
 the qualities fitted to command the latter in that 
 epitome of the great world, a public school. 
 Munro was endowed by nature with a robust 
 frame, great courage, extraordinary agility, and no 
 less extraordinary presence of mind. In every 
 manly and athletic exercise he excelled ; and in 
 his knowledge of the pugilistic art, he is admitted 
 to have stood unrivalled. The consequence was, 
 that whenever any enterprise was to be under- 
 taken, beset, or supposed to be beset, with more 
 than common danger, Munro was invariably 
 chosen to be the leader ; and he seldom failed, by 
 bringing it to a successful termination, to justify 
 the wisdom of the selection. With all these ad- 
 
 B 2
 
 vantages, however, of strength and science, Munro 
 was remarkable among his contemporaries, for his 
 placidity and forbearance of temper. In no in- 
 stance is he known to have provoked a quarrel ; in 
 numberless instances has he avoided it; indeed, 
 nothing short of some gross insult or injustice, 
 offered to himself or others, ever induced him to 
 strike a blow. The following extract of a letter 
 from one of his surviving playfellows will place 
 his conduct, in this particular, in its true light. 
 
 " I remember," says the writer, "that Sir Thomas 
 was by far the most skilful boxer at school ; he 
 beat every boy with whom he fought, even those 
 who were several years older than himself: he 
 was generally known by the name of ' Millie 
 Munro,' and was looked on as unequalled and 
 invincible at milling ; but he bore his faculties 
 most meekly. He never sought a quarrel, and 
 never was, in the smallest degree, insolent or 
 domineering. On the contrary, he was remark- 
 ably good-natured and peaceable; and his supe- 
 riority in fighting became known only in conse- 
 quence of his resisting the unprovoked attacks of 
 quarrelsome boys of superior age and strength, 
 and beating them by his coolness, his courage, 
 and his unequalled endurance. He was the pro- 
 tector of the weak against the strong, and, at the 
 same time, he was so unassuming and inoffensive, 
 that he had no enemies. This is not my opinion 
 only it was that of all our contemporaries, who 
 are now almost all dead."
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 5 
 
 At the Grammar-school of Glasgow, young 
 Munro remained until he had entered into his 
 thirteenth year, when he was removed ; and after 
 a short interval, spent chiefly in acquiring a know- 
 ledge of French, of writing, and arithmetic, he 
 was entered at the College and University of his 
 native city. There he studied mathematics, un- 
 der Professor Williamson, and chemistry with the 
 celebrated Dr. Irvine, in both of which sciences 
 he made rapid progress ; indeed, the latter gentle- 
 man has been heard repeatedly to affirm, that he 
 never had under his care a more promising pupil. 
 
 Whilst he thus conducted himself in what may, 
 perhaps, be termed public life, young Munro's 
 private pursuits were no less illustrative of the 
 spirit that lay dormant within him. Devoted 
 as he was to every active amusement ; an excel- 
 lent wrestler, a no less excellent runner, leaper, 
 and swimmer, he was equally devoted, as often as 
 opportunity occurred, to reading ; and the works 
 which he perused with the deepest interest at 
 each stage of his existence, serve to point out, that 
 from the first, his was a mind of no vulgar con- 
 formation. His earliest favourites were Robinson 
 Crusoe, the Lives of the Buccaneers, Anson's 
 Voyages, &c. with other works descriptive of 
 adventure and daring ; but as his years increased, 
 these gradually gave place to other and more va- 
 luable, though scarcely less exciting, performances. 
 Plutarch's Lives soon attracted his attention ; 
 Hume's History of England made large demands
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 upon him ; and Don Quixote became then, as it 
 continued to the last, an especial favourite. It is 
 worthy of remark, that he studied the latter 
 work, not, as is very frequently done by readers 
 of a more advanced age, merely on account of 
 the humour contained in it, but from a clear per- 
 ception of its real excellences, more especially in 
 the character of the Don, chivalrous and high- 
 minded amid all his eccentricities. So far, indeed, 
 was his admiration of the performance carried, 
 that, without any other assistance besides what 
 a grammar and dictionary afforded, he made 
 himself, at sixteen years of age, master of the 
 Spanish language, in order that he might duly 
 relish those beauties, of which he had been given 
 to understand, that a very imperfect idea could be 
 formed by examining them through the medium 
 of a translation. Nor was his study of the lan- 
 guage in which Cervantes wrote, permitted at all 
 to interfere with his other occupations. It was 
 treated by himself as an accomplishment to be 
 acquired at leisure hours only, though so intent 
 was he upon it, that he rose in the winter months 
 several hours before daybreak, lighted his lamp, 
 and sedulously pursued it. 
 
 It has been stated that the disposition of Sir 
 Thomas Munro was, from its earliest develope- 
 ment, singularly generous. Of this fact, ample 
 proofs will be exhibited in the course of the follow- 
 ing memoir ; but it were an act of injustice not to 
 give, at least, one specimen of the mode in which
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 7 
 
 it operated even now. Not long after he had thus 
 acquired a knowledge of Spanish, he was called 
 upon to translate certain papers found in a prize, 
 which was taken by a ship belonging to a mer- 
 cantile house in Glasgow. He accomplished his 
 task so much to the satisfaction of the owners, 
 that they presented him with a sum of money in 
 testimony of their regard, which Munro instantly 
 carried to his sister, with a request that she 
 would give it to his mother. He himself, he said, 
 neither had, nor could have, the smallest use for 
 it ; and he persisted in refusing, though urgently 
 and repeatedly entreated, to retain even a small 
 portion of it. 
 
 For nearly three years young Munro appears 
 to have kept his name upon the College books, 
 during the whole of which period his thirst of 
 knowledge was very remarkable. When he first 
 began to read for his own amusement, his taste 
 leaned, as is usual with spirited boys, to descrip- 
 tions of war and battles, or to the details of indi- 
 vidual heroism and endurance. By degrees, how- 
 ever, he looked beyond such points, and delight- 
 ed to examine the principles upon which men 
 acted, not less than to peruse the details of actions 
 themselves. He now studied Plutarch, not more 
 with a view to watch the fortunes of Alexander 
 in the field, than to trace the motives which led 
 him there, and the system on which he pursued 
 his conquests. In like manner, he found in the 
 Lives of Licurgus and Numa, matter not less in-
 
 8 THE LIFE OF 
 
 teresting than in those of Theseus and Romulus ; 
 whilst the comparisons which the biographer 
 draws between one of his heroes and another, fur- 
 nished ample food for reflection to his youthful 
 admirer. The case was precisely similar in Mun- 
 ro's examination of historical works. He no 
 longer read Hume for the sake of his spirited 
 details of the wars of the two Roses, or the grand 
 rebellion, but relished him to the full as much, 
 when treating of the state of knowledge at dif- 
 ferent epochs, and the progress of commerce and 
 civilization, as when describing personal rencon- 
 tres, or hair-breadth escapes. Nevertheless, his 
 general line of study evinced a decided predilec- 
 tion for the military art, regarded as something 
 more important than the mere routine of a sub- 
 altern's life. He perused with avidity the his- 
 tories of more modern times, narratives of the 
 wars in the reigns of Elizabeth and Anne, of the 
 campaigns of the great Frederick, and the events 
 which preceded them ; whilst the policy which 
 guided the several powers, in their alliances and 
 disagreements, their views in prosecuting and 
 abandoning the contest, these, with the general 
 tactics of Frederick himself, political as well as 
 military, furnished him with wide scope for study. 
 He read history, in short, no longer for amuse- 
 ment, but for instruction ; and by making himself 
 acquainted with the motives which guided men 
 in other times, obtained no imperfect insight into 
 those which were likely to actuate them in his own.
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 
 
 It is not, however, to be imagined, that young 
 Munro gave himself up so entirely to these re- 
 searches, as to be insensible to the charms of 
 poetry, or the beauties of romance. To both he 
 was keenly alive, as his enthusiastic admiration of 
 Shakspeare and Spencer, and, above all, of the 
 poetical portions of the Bible, may prove ; indeed, 
 his mind appears to have been so constituted, as to 
 be able to comprehend and to enjoy whatever was 
 really excellent, in every species of literary com- 
 position. The following fact will, it is presumed, 
 abundantly testify to the truth of this assertion. 
 The same individual who delighted in the grave 
 but spirited details of Plutarch and Hume, and 
 was enraptured with the description of Titania's 
 Bower, or Una's " Gentle Knight," devoured with 
 intense interest Smith's Wealth of Nations ; 
 which he laid aside, that he might for a time 
 forget its very existence, whilst following the 
 Don in his adventures, or laughing over the 
 eccentricities of Roderic Random. Yet, with 
 all his love of reading, Munro ceased not to 
 love his sports, and to engage in them with an 
 avidity rarely equalled ; indeed, the stranger who 
 saw him only with a fishing-rod in his hand, 
 or " with lusty arm buffeting the wave," could 
 have hardly been persuaded to believe, that he 
 ever gave a thought to other occupations. 
 
 Though born and educated in Glasgow, Munro 
 was not denied the opportunity of indulging in 
 those rural occupations to which his manly and
 
 10 THE LIFE OF 
 
 ingenuous temperament impelled him. His father 
 rented* a villa, called Northwoodside, beautifully 
 situated up the Kelvin, and distant about two 
 miles, or perhaps something more, from the city, 
 whither the family was in the habit of removing 
 every summer, and where young Munro spent 
 most of his vacations. The house was an old- 
 fashioned pile, surrounded by a court-yard, into 
 which, after passing through an avenue of vene- 
 rable trees, admission was obtained by a massy 
 iron gate. Behind it was a garden, which over- 
 hung the bed of the Kelvin, and commanded 
 a delightful view of the wooded and broken banks 
 which girdle in that romantic stream ; whilst not 
 far removed was a pool, or mill-dam, known by 
 the name of Jackson's Dam, and frequently re- 
 ferred to in the course of the following correspon- 
 dence. To the whole family, this spot was pe- 
 culiarly dear, inasmuch as it originally belonged to 
 Mrs. Munro's maternal grandfather ; but by none 
 was a temporary residence there more intensely 
 enjoyed, than by the subject of this memoir. 
 Keenly and sensitively alive to every thing grand 
 or beautiful in nature, young Munro appeared 
 to enter upon a new state of being, as often as he 
 visited it. If he read, it was either seated upon 
 a rustic bench which stood beneath a tall tree in 
 the garden, or perched among the highest branches 
 of the tree itself. If a fit of idleness took him, 
 he indulged it by rambling, sometimes from sun-
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 11 
 
 rise till nightfall, among the woods ; or he would 
 fish the Kelvin with his brothers or companions ; 
 and, when weary of that amusement, would refresh 
 himself by swimming in the dam. The latter, 
 indeed, seems to have been with him a very fa- 
 vourite exercise ; and the consequence was, that 
 he particularly excelled in it. 
 
 In this manner, time passed away, till young 
 Munro attained to the age of sixteen ; when his 
 father, who designed him for the mercantile pro- 
 fession, obtained for him a situation in the count- 
 ing-house of Messrs. Somerville and Gordon, one 
 of the most extensive West-India houses in Glas- 
 gow. The above event took place in 1777, when 
 the American war was at its height, and Glasgow, 
 among other loyal towns, deemed it expedient to 
 furnish men for the public service. Upon this 
 occasion, the magistrates, who were not unac- 
 quainted with Mr. Munro's military propensities, 
 made him a tender of a Lieutenancy in the corps 
 which they were raising. Had the right of choice 
 been left to himself, Munro would have gladly 
 grasped at the proposal; and his rise in the 
 King's service would have been, without a doubt, 
 as rapid as his merits must have become speedily 
 conspicuous ; but no such power was given to 
 him. His father expressed himself strongly op- 
 posed to the measure, and Munro was top dutiful 
 a son to thwart a parent's wishes, even though at 
 the expense of a serious sacrifice of his own.
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 He accordingly closed his ears against the whis- 
 pers of ambition, and continued at his desk with- 
 out repining, for about two years longer. 
 
 It has been stated, that Mr. Alexander Munro, 
 the father of Sir Thomas, was a merchant, and 
 that his dealings were extensive. These were 
 carried on chiefly with Virginia, and for many 
 years were attended with the greatest success ; 
 but the breaking out of the troubles gradually 
 plunged him into difficulties, which the Act of 
 Confiscation, passed by the Congress of the 
 United States in 1776, brought to a head. Mr. 
 Munro's affairs became, through no fault of his 
 own, completely involved. The house of which 
 he was a partner stopped payment ; and he him- 
 self, from a state of affluence, fell into comparative 
 poverty. How nobly his sons in general, and 
 the subject of the present memoir in particular, 
 behaved towards their parents under this reverse 
 of circumstances, the reader will discover for 
 himself as he proceeds. 
 
 It seems to have been the anxious wish of 
 Mr. Munro, to establish his son Thomas in busi- 
 ness in Glasgow ; with which view he struggled 
 hard, notwithstanding his own embarrassments, to 
 retain him in his situation ; but in the year 1779, 
 the effort was found to be beyond his means, and 
 was abandoned. The reader need scarcely be 
 informed, that India, in those days, was looked 
 upon as a Land of Promise, where every Euro- 
 pean must of necessity make a fortune, no matter
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 
 
 13 
 
 what the nature of his acquirements, or the 
 extent of his talents might .be; and as Munro's 
 abilities were well known to his father, and 
 justly valued by him, the latter not unnaturally 
 concluded, that in such a theatre, his son's success 
 was certain. It was accordingly proposed to 
 send him thither ; and the plan corresponding 
 well with the bold and adventurous spirit of the 
 youth, he very readily entered into it. There 
 does not appear to have been any difficulty found 
 in procuring for him an appointment; he was 
 rated as a midshipman on board the Company's 
 ship Walpole, Captain Abercrombie, and on the 
 20th of February, 1779, quitted home, a solitary 
 adventurer, to push his way through life. 
 
 Mr. Munro was well received by his friends in 
 London, and, by their assistance, was speedily sup- 
 plied with such necessaries as were deemed essential 
 to his comforts. Among these was included an 
 article of dress now rarely to be met with, though 
 then considered indispensable in the equipment of 
 a gentleman, I mean a cue, or false tail, with 
 which, as he had not hitherto worn one, he seems 
 to have been exceedingly amused.* But he 
 buckled it on according to established usage, 
 displayed it with great apparent indifference, and 
 
 * His expression is, " 1 got a false tail next morning, George 
 Brown says it is one of the handsomest in London. I must own 
 it is perfectly genteel ; it is exactly the size and shape of a. 
 farthing candle."
 
 . THE LIFE OF 
 
 in due time proceeded, in his novel attire, to join 
 his ship at Deptford. 
 
 Our midshipman had not occupied his berth 
 many weeks, when a revolution was effected in 
 the nature of his prospects, not, as may well be 
 credited, in any respect disagreeable to a youth of 
 aspiring mind and brilliant military genius. His 
 father, who had been deputed by the Glasgow 
 merchants to lay their claims of indemnity for 
 losses sustained during the war, before the Go- 
 vernment, arrived at this time in London ; and 
 being acquainted with Mr. Lawrence Sullivan, 
 one of the Directors of the East India Company, 
 procured from him a Cadetship for his son. With 
 this he hastened to Deptford, and presenting it to 
 Thomas, on board of the Walpole, was made 
 happy by discovering, that he could not have 
 wrought a more acceptable work. But though 
 Mr. Munro readily accepted the appointment, such 
 was his abhorrence of a life of sheer idleness, that 
 he continued voluntarily to perform the duties of 
 a midshipman ; and he persisted in thus employing 
 himself during a considerable portion of the voyage, 
 till certain military officers, who took their pas- 
 sage in the Walpole, and to whom he was person- 
 ally known, at last prevailed upon him to quit 
 the cockpit, and join the Cadets' mess. His ac- 
 count of a Midshipman's career is not however, 
 it must be confessed, of a very captivating nature. 
 After stating, in one of his letters to his father, 
 that the duties were more severe, and the hard-
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 
 
 ships more numerous, than he expected to find 
 them, he goes on to say, " Roderick Random's is 
 a very just description of a seaman's life ; he got 
 a wig, and I cut my hair, both for the same reason. 
 There is one thing, however, in which I think he 
 is wrong ; he says, that in attempting to leap into 
 his hammock, he threw himself over it. I tried 
 this method ; but, instead of throwing myself 
 over, I hit one of the beams such a thump with 
 my head, that I thought I had fractured my skull." 
 Nothing has yet been said of the friendships 
 which Mr. Munro contracted, or the intimacies 
 which he formed in early life. From what has 
 been stated of his peculiar habits and temper, the 
 reader will easily believe that his circle of ac- 
 quaintance was wide ; but there was a degree of 
 prudence about him which hindered him, even in 
 boyhood, from indiscriminately lavishing his re- 
 gards upon every playfellow. As a lad, the indi- 
 viduals whom he honoured with his confidence, 
 may be enumerated within a very narrow compass; 
 they included few, if any persons, besides the sons 
 of Dr. Moore, the celebrated author of Zeluco, 
 and the late Mr. George Brown, of Russell-square, 
 London ; but his confidence, once bestowed, was 
 little likely to be withdrawn, inasmuch as he 
 was particularly careful that none should obtain 
 who were not worthy of it. With Mr. Brown he 
 kept up a constant and unrestrained correspon- 
 dence to the day of his death. From the 
 Moores, however, circumstances early divided
 
 16 THE LIFE OF 
 
 him ; and though he and the gallant Sir John 
 entertained for each other an un diminished 
 respect, they met but casually in after-life; with 
 Sir Graham Moore, on the contrary, his boyish 
 intimacy was renewed on his return to England 
 in 1808, and continued, with increasing regard 
 and esteem, to the last. 
 
 Before concluding this brief account of the 
 early life of Sir Thomas Munro, it may not be 
 out of place to record a somewhat uncommon oc- 
 currence which befell many years after. There 
 happened to be in the same counting-house with 
 himself, when his attention was directed to com- 
 mercial pursuits, two young gentlemen named 
 James Dunlop and William Wallace.* These 
 exchanged the pen for the sword, about the period 
 when the subject of this memoir set out to join 
 the Walpole, and the three adventurers met 
 again, for the first time, under the walls of 
 Seringapatam, in 1799, each holding a high and 
 responsible situation in the army employed in 
 the reduction of that city. 
 
 * Afterwards General James Dunlop, and Colonel William 
 Wallace.
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 17 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Arrival in India. First introduction to the Society at Madras. 
 Early Campaigns against Hyder Ally. Private Corre- 
 spondence War with Tippoo. Employment in the In- 
 telligence Department. Operations in the Mysore country. 
 Attack upon Tippoo's lines. 
 
 AMONG other measures adopted with the view 
 of furthering Mr. Munro's prospects in life, his 
 relatives, with praiseworthy industry, exerted 
 themselves in procuring a number of recom- 
 mendatory epistles to influential persons at Ma- 
 dras. With these he reached his place of desti- 
 nation in safety, on the 15th of January, 1780 ; 
 and having delivered his credentials to such in- 
 dividuals as chanced to be within reach, he re- 
 ceived from most of them a very hospitable re- 
 ception. But it soon appeared in this instance, 
 as it appears in others, that friends are not to be 
 made by the magical influence of letters of in- 
 troduction. Mr. Munro met with much civility ; 
 he was invited to dine with one functionary, to 
 breakfast with another, and to sup with a third ; 
 but it does not appear that the attentions of his 
 
 VOL. i. c
 
 18 THE LIFE OF 
 
 new patrons extended farther. The consequence 
 was, that Mr. Munro, whose taste as well as the 
 state of his finances, rendered a frequent atten- 
 dance on gay parties the reverse of agreeable, 
 gradually withdrew himself from company, and 
 confined his social rambles within a circle of a few 
 persons whose genuine kindness of heart won 
 his esteem. Among these there were two in par- 
 ticular, Mr. Haleburton and Mr. Alexander Ross, 
 of whom, in his early correspondence, he makes 
 frequent mention, and for whom he entertained 
 to the last a high degree of respect. 
 
 I regret extremely that my limits will not 
 permit the insertion of any letters addressed at 
 this period by Mr. Munro to different members 
 of his family. Though written, as might be ex- 
 pected, in an inartificial style, they contain se- 
 veral ludicrous details of adventures, and sketch 
 the society of Madras in a manner not unworthy 
 of the pen of a Smollet, or the pencil of a Ho- 
 garth. Among other matters, they describe his 
 reception by the Commander-in-chief, Sir Hector 
 Munro, " who said he would be happy to serve 
 me, but was sorry it was not in his power to do 
 any thing for me." Whilst a lady who was pre- 
 sent, demanded " Are you from Glasgow ?" 
 "Yes." "Are you a son of John Munro?" 
 " No."" Of Ebenezer's, then ?" " No."" Lord 
 help me ! whose son are you then ?" They mention 
 likewise his acquaintance with one Dr. Ksenig, a 
 Livonian naturalist, with whom he held many
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 19 
 
 learned discussions ; and record a variety of laugh- 
 able anecdotes, touching the advices bestowed 
 upon him by persons more liberal of advice than 
 of any thing besides. But amusing as they are, 
 they must of necessity be suppressed, rather be- 
 cause of the superior interest attached to others, 
 than through any lack of merit in themselves. 
 Let it suffice therefore to state, that for six 
 months Mr. Munro abode at the Presidency, 
 doing duty, with other cadets, in the fort, and 
 dividing his leisure time between a study of the 
 native languages, and the society of his friends. 
 But a wider field was already before him on 
 which to exercise his talents ; and into that, as 
 soon as circum stances permitted, he made haste 
 to enter. 
 
 It is scarcely necessary to remind the reader, 
 that the annals of British sovereignty in the 
 East offer no parallel to the critical situation of 
 affairs, during the spring and summer of 1780. 
 Hyder Ally, one of the most absolute monarchs 
 and consummate generals of his age, disgusted 
 with the political tergiversations of the English, 
 had for some time previously linked his for- 
 tunes with their rivals, and now threatened, at 
 the head of a numerous and well-appointed 
 army, in which was numbered a corps of Eu- 
 ropeans, under Monsieur Lally, to carry fire and 
 sword into the Carnatic. The members of the 
 Madras government, in the mean while, at vari- 
 ance among themselves, took no steps whatever to 
 
 c 2
 
 20 THE LIFE OF 
 
 meet the threatened danger, but wasted, in mean 
 and mischievous cabals, time which ought to 
 have been employed to widely different pur- 
 poses. Sir Thomas Rumbold, the Governor, and 
 Sir Hector Munro, the Commander-in-chief, ap- 
 plied the whole powers of their mind to main- 
 tain a superiority over the other members of the 
 council, who, on their part, thought a great deal 
 more of thwarting the designs of these functiona- 
 ries, than of providing for the safety of the 
 colony. It is true, that Pondicherry was taken ; 
 that the fall of Mahe, by depriving the French 
 of their last harbour, had annihilated the inde- 
 pendent power of that nation on the Conti- 
 nent ; and that the strongholds of Vellore, 
 Arcot, and Wandiwash, were all occupied by 
 British garrisons ; but these posts were too far 
 removed the one from the other, to permit any 
 intimate communication between them, in the 
 event of an enemy obtaining even a temporary 
 superiority in the field. In like manner, the 
 Madras army was so distributed, as to render it 
 to all intents and purposes inefficient. One de- 
 tachment, originally commanded by Colonel 
 Harpur, and now under the orders of Colonel 
 Baillie, was beyond the Kistna, at a remote 
 distance from head-quarters : the remainder were 
 scattered in petty garrisons, over a wide extent 
 of country ; whilst the treasury, which ought to 
 have been well supplied, was found in so mise- 
 rable a plight, that funds for raising recruits
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 21 
 
 were wanting. Yet could the men, whose duty 
 it was to provide against emergencies, continue 
 to write and act as if none such were near, though 
 warned, so early as November, 1779, that the 
 Nizam had joined the confederacy against them, 
 and that the expulsion of the English from India 
 was determined on. 
 
 It were out of place, in a work like the present, 
 to enter into a detailed or critical examination of 
 the mode in which affairs were managed at that 
 juncture. It is sufficient to observe, that so late 
 as the month of June, 1780, long after Hyder 
 had completed his preparations, no measures 
 were adopted by the Madras government, having 
 a reference to war ; and that then the only order 
 issued was for Colonel Baillie to cross the Kistna, 
 that he might be more in readiness " in case of any 
 disturbance in the Carnatic." The same supine- 
 ness prevailed up to the 19th of that month, when 
 intelligence was received from the officer in com- 
 mand at Vellore, that Hyder had begun his march 
 from Seringapatam, and that a formidable force was 
 collected at Bangalore. Then, indeed, the alarm 
 seems to have been taken : but it was not till 
 nearly another precious month had been wasted, 
 till Arcot was besieged, and " black columns of 
 smoke were every where in view from St. Tho- 
 mas's Mount," that any serious efforts were made 
 to draw an army together. Nor is this all : 
 every one acquainted with Indian history must 
 be aware of the extreme infatuation which guided
 
 22 
 
 the councils of our countrymen even then. In- 
 stead of making choice of some centrical situation 
 within easy march of the capital, where the scat- 
 tered detachments from all quarters might assem- 
 ble, Conjeveram, a place forty miles in advance, 
 was selected as the point d'appui ; and thither 
 Colonel Baillie was directed to proceed, by a route 
 which carried him full fifty miles through a coun- 
 try every where hostile. The following letter 
 from Mr. Munro to his father, gives a connected 
 narrative of the operations which followed, whilst 
 it evinces how perfectly habits of sound and accu- 
 rate reasoning were natural, if I may so speak, to 
 the writer. 
 
 Camp near Marmelong, llth October, 1780. 
 
 DEAR SIR, 
 
 I MENTIONED to you in ray last how my acquaint- 
 ance with Mr. Ross began. By his advice, I remained at 
 Madras till the end of July, when intelligence being re- 
 ceived that three thousand Mysore horse had burnt Porto 
 Novo, and that Tippoo Saheb, Hyder's eldest son, with 
 a large body under his command, was laying waste the 
 country, a camp was formed at Mount St. Thomas, nine 
 miles from Madras. 
 
 In the last treaty between Hyder and the Company, it 
 was stipulated, that in case his dominions were attacked by 
 any foreign enemy, they should furnish him with seven 
 battalions of sepoys. A few years ago, when his country 
 was invaded by the Mahrattas, they did not send a man 
 to his assistance. As he was then unable to express his 
 resentment, he resolved to conceal it till a more convenient 
 time.
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. <> 
 
 Seeing the Company engaged in a tedious war with the 
 same people against whom they had formerly refused to 
 assist him, (the Mahrattas,) he entered the Carnatic in 
 July last, at the head of a powerful army, determined to 
 avenge the insults he had suffered. 
 
 The government here being at length convinced, by the 
 burning of the villages around, and the country people 
 daily flocking in multitudes to Madras, that Hyder had 
 passed the mountains, they prepared to oppose him. 
 General Munro was ordered to take the command of the 
 army, and, at the same time, instructions were sent to the 
 northward to Colonel Baillie, to march with his detachment 
 and join the main body. 
 
 On the 25th of August, Munro took the field at the head 
 of fourteen hundred Europeans and three thousand sepoys, 
 with thirty-two field-pieces ; and on the 29th he arrived 
 at Conjeveram. 
 
 Hyder, on the first intelligence of his march, raised the 
 siege of Arcot, and threw himself between the two armies. 
 He took post about four miles in front of Munro's camp. 
 
 Baillie had advanced within fourteen miles of the main 
 army, when, on the 6th of September, he was "attacked 
 by ten thousand men, the flower of the enemy's forces, 
 whom he forced to retreat, leaving six hundred dead on 
 the spot. 
 
 On the 8th, the grenadier and light infantry companies 
 of Macleod's regiment, two hundred Europeans, and nine 
 hundred sepoy grenadiers, under the command of Lieute- 
 nant-colonel Fletcher, were ordered to join Baillie, which 
 they effected next morning. 
 
 The General, having intelligence that Hyder intended 
 marching two hours after sunset, and that Baillie would 
 advance about the same hour, ordered the tents to be 
 struck, and to be sent along with the baggage into Conje- 
 veram Pagoda. Next morning he went to meet the de-
 
 24 THE LIFE OF 
 
 tachment. He had arrived at the side of a lake, where he 
 was making a road for the guns, when a sepoy, all covered 
 with wounds, brought advice of its defeat. 
 
 Baillie had marched at twelve o'clock at night : three 
 hours after, his advanced guard was attacked by the ene- 
 my's European infantry, who were placed in a grove upon 
 the side of the road ; and, at the same time, the horse 
 rushed on to the charge. He repulsed them in every 
 attack, and they had already begun to despair of success, 
 when three of his tumbrils blowing up, in the midst of the 
 confusion produced by the accident, his ammunition being 
 expended, they made another furious charge, broke his 
 ranks, and cut them in pieces; nor did they cease after 
 the few who still survived had thrown down their arms. 
 Colonel Fletcher, holding up his handkerchief on the point 
 of his sword, as a signal for quarter, was wounded in the 
 arm ; and, wrapping the handkerchief round it, he received 
 a cut across the belly his bowels dropped out, and he fell 
 dead from his horse. 
 
 The slaughter continued, till Mr. Lally rode up to 
 Hyder, and told him that it was not the custom of Euro- 
 peans to cut their enemies to pieces after they had surren- 
 dered themselves ; and that such inhumanity would be 
 highly resented by the Frenchmen under his command. 
 Upon this the Mysorean ordered his soldiers to cease. 
 Two hundred and fifty Europeans and a thousand sepoys 
 were all that remained; the rest, to the amount of two 
 thousand, fell on the field of battle. 
 
 Hyder paid dear for his victory, many of his best offi- 
 cers, and seven thousand of his bravest troops, were slain. 
 
 General Munro, as soon as he learned this event, re- 
 treated to Conjeveram, and next morning, before day- 
 break, he continued his march to Chingleput, where he 
 arrived the following day. In the hurry of the retreat, 
 the greatest part of the baggage and ammunition fell into
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 25 
 
 the hands of the enemy. By mistake, Lord Macleod was 
 not awaked till two hours after the army had marched ; 
 his baggage, with his bureau and all his papers, were taken. 
 Among them was a plan for the reduction of Hyder's 
 dominions. 
 
 The army was quite exhausted on its arrival at Ching- 
 leput. Above two hundred Highlanders dropped down 
 from the fatigue of a long march of thirty miles in a sul- 
 try day, rendered still more intolerable by the heat and 
 smoke of the villages to which the enemy had set fire, and 
 through which we were obliged to pass. On the 13th, at 
 sunset, we pursued our way to the Mount, where we 
 arrived next day, after marching thirty-six miles without 
 any refreshment. 
 
 The Chingleput hills and the groves which bordered 
 the road protected us from the Ludiwals, a species of irre- 
 gular horsemen, who, instead of receiving money from 
 Hyder, pay him so much monthly for being permitted to 
 plunder the territories of his enemies : multitudes of them 
 always follow our armies, to cut off our baggage, and set 
 fire to the villages which lie in our way, but they seldom 
 come within reach of our guns. 
 
 15th. We marched to Marmelong, a village six miles 
 from Madras, where we now remain encamped, in expec- 
 tation of assistance from Bengal to enable us to take the 
 field in the beginning of the year ; and, if they arrive 
 before the middle of the month, to make a second attempt 
 to raise the siege of Arcot. 
 
 The loss of Colonel Baillie's army is the severest blow 
 the English ever sustained in India. Some persons pretend 
 to vindicate Munro, but by far the greater part impute to 
 his imprudent conduct the destruction of the detachment. 
 Why, say they, did he linger so long within a few miles of 
 Baillie, without attempting to join him ? Why, instead 
 of sending the grenadiers, did he not go with the whole
 
 *<> THE LIFE OF 
 
 army? And why, when he saw Hyder march, did 
 he not follow him instantly, in place of waiting till the 
 morning ? On the other hand, it is said, that it was rea- 
 sonable for him to conjecture, that as Baillie had been able, 
 without any assistance, to repulse the enemy, he would be 
 still more able to do so again, after being so powerfully 
 reinforced ; and that by sending a detachment, had it suc- 
 ceeded, he would have lost less time than by going with 
 the whole army. 
 
 It is said, that ******* suggested the design of 
 dividing the army, contrary to the opinion of Lord 
 Macleod and all the old officers ; as he was afraid, that 
 when Baillie joined, the command of the grenadiers would 
 be taken from him and given to that officer, which he 
 thought would not be done after he had commanded them 
 in an action. 
 
 The General, by paying his spies too sparingly, received 
 very little, and often false, intelligence ; he neither rewarded 
 those who told the truth, nor did he punish those who 
 deceived him. One day upon the march, a Hircarrah 
 came up, and delivered him a letter from Colonel Baillie ; 
 he read it ; he seemed pleased with the contents ; and he 
 ordered his Dubash to give the messenger two pagodas 
 (sixteen shillings) ; the man smiled, it was a poor re- 
 ward for having received two wounds, and risked his life 
 in bringing him intelligence. 
 
 On our way to join the detachment, three men, who were 
 found sitting near the road, were brought to the General : 
 he told them, if they would carry him to Baillie, he would 
 reward them ; but if they should misguide him, he would 
 instantly put them to death. They walked at the head 
 of the army, with halters about their necks; and they 
 conducted us to the side of a lake, where the road termi- 
 nated. The General followed them, notwithstanding it 
 was obvious to every one, that they were carrying us
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 27 
 
 away from the scene of action, as we heard the firing, and 
 saw the smoke of the cannon near four miles distant, in a 
 different direction. These men were suffered to escape. 
 
 Lord Macleod wrote to Hyder, desiring to know which 
 of his officers, and how many of his men, were prisoners ; 
 and also that he would order his bureau to be restored, 
 there being some papers in it which could be of no conse- 
 quence to any person but himself. 
 
 Hyder wrote him in return, but took no notice of either 
 the officers or men. He only mentioned that Baillie was 
 his prisoner ; that Fletcher was killed ; and that as to the 
 bureau, had he commanded a small army, it might have 
 been recovered : but where he was at the head of a hun- 
 dred thousand horse, such things as these could never come 
 to his knowledge : he concluded with saying, that it was 
 well for us we had made such speed, for had he come up 
 with us, he would have cut us to pieces. 
 
 You may think I might have saved myself a great deal of 
 labour, in making such a long dissertation on matters which 
 you may think of very little importance ; the only excuse 
 I have to make is, that by continually talking on the same 
 subject with every person, my head is so filled with it, 
 that I can think of nothing else. There are just now six 
 or seven fellows in the tent, very gravely disputing whether 
 Hyder is, or is not, the person commonly called in Europe 
 the Great Mogul. 
 
 The next letter is to his mother ; and as it carries 
 on the detail of events in their natural order, I 
 subjoin it without any observations of my own. 
 
 DEAR MOTHER, 
 
 AFTER the defeat of Colonel Baillie's army, Hyder 
 returned to the siege of Arcot ; he took the pettah by 
 storm on the 1st of November, and the fort surrendered
 
 28 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 four hours after. Captain Pendergrass commanded ; but 
 being disabled by a wound towards the end of the siege, 
 he was succeeded by Captain Du Pont, who delivered up 
 the place. He says he was forced to it by the Nabob's 
 people refusing to fight. But Nanjif Chan, the Nabob's 
 resident, told Sir Eyre Coote, that the people under his 
 command gave every assistance in their power, and would 
 have continued to do so, had the siege lasted longer ; that 
 he set before the commandant the disgrace he would bring 
 upon the Company's arms, by surrendering without neces- 
 sity a place to which the richest inhabitants of the Car- 
 natic, with their most precious effects, had fled for pro- 
 tection ; that every consideration ought to induce him to 
 hold out to extremity the approaching rains, and the 
 probability of being relieved by the army ; but his re- 
 monstrances were disregarded, and Arcot, with its grand 
 magazine of military stores, was abandoned to the enemy. 
 
 Though the pettah was taken by storm, Hyder treated 
 the inhabitants with humanity : he permitted no plunder- 
 ing. Every man was continued in the enjoyment of his 
 fortune ; and all who had held places under the Nabob, 
 retained them under him. He gave the English officers 
 money ; and he presented one of them with three beautiful 
 horses, and a purse of one thousand rupees. 
 
 Sir E. Coote, with half a battalion of Europeans, arrived 
 in the beginning of the month from Bengal, the remainder, 
 with the artillery, are daily expected. Six thousand sepoys 
 are on their march overland. The army went into canton- 
 ments on the 15th : our battalion, which belongs to the 
 left, is quartered at St. Thome, a large village, situated 
 on the sea-shore, four miles below Madras. When the 
 Portuguese were powerful in India, it was a place of con- 
 siderable consequence ; no traces of its former masters now 
 remain, but five or six desolate churches, and the old 
 ensign-staff "nodding o'er the beach." The inhabitants
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 29 
 
 consist chiefly of a mixed race, descended from the ancient 
 Portuguese, and a few of the meanest of the natives, con- 
 verts to Christianity : they are directed by a bishop and 
 two priests, who are exceedingly zealous in their labours ; 
 but the land is barren. I was appointed an ensign in 
 October; date of rank, 20th May, 1779. 
 
 Your affectionate son, 
 
 (Signed) T. MUNRO. 
 St. Thome, 
 26th Nov. 1780. 
 
 From the date of this letter, up to the 15th of 
 December following, the battalion to which Mr. 
 Munro was attached (the 16th Madras Native In- 
 fantry) continued to occupy its cantonment in 
 St. Thome. The arrival of Sir Eyre Coote, how- 
 ever, infused new vigour into the government, 
 which made great exertions to collect the means 
 of transport for a fresh campaign ; and though 
 these came not up, and could not possibly come 
 up to the ordinary standard of efficiency, no time 
 was lost in turning them to account. 
 
 The following journal, transmitted by Mr. Mun- 
 ro to his father, and dated from the Camp at St. 
 Thomas's Mount, 2d October, 1782, gives a de- 
 scription so vivid of the operations which followed, 
 that I am induced to insert it entire. It was writ- 
 ten chiefly by night, when, to use the words of the 
 writer, " I was almost as much plagued by swarms 
 of troublesome insects flying about the candle, 
 and getting into my hair and eyes, and under my 
 shirt collar, as I would have been by the enemy." 
 Yet, long as it is, and illustrative of so many and
 
 30 THE LIFE OF 
 
 such complicated details, the original copy pre- 
 sents scarcely a single mark of obliteration : 
 
 DEAR SIR, 
 
 IN your letter of May 1781, you desire me to 
 give you some account of our wars here. I certainly would 
 have prevented your request, had I imagined that, while 
 you are so deeply interested in the fate of America, you 
 could have paid any attention to the disputes in India : 
 besides, I had not forgotten what wrong notions people at 
 home entertain of Hyder. I did not dare to mention 
 things as they really were, lest you should have said that 
 we made a great deal of noise about routing a parcel of 
 blackamoors. As a politician and a soldier, it would be 
 doing Hyder injustice to look upon him in the same light 
 as other Eastern princes ; his army is not only formidable 
 by their numbers, but by the bravery of the adventurers 
 that crowded to his standard from every corner of India, 
 on the fame of his intended invasion, as well as by a great 
 body of infantry disciplined by Europeans, and accom- 
 panied by an excellent train of artillery. 
 
 The newspapers say that a Committee of the House of 
 Commons is appointed to inquire into the causes of Hyder 
 Ally's irruption, and the extent of that calamity. It has 
 extended so far, that there is not a human being to be seen 
 in the country, the only inhabitants are the garrisons of 
 the forts, and the British and Mysorean armies. 
 
 After General Munro's retreat from Conjeveram, Hy- 
 der s first care was to drive away all the cattle, and to lay 
 waste the country ; in which he succeeded so well, that the 
 want of carriage-bullocks has ever since been one of the 
 chief obstacles to all our operations. As most of the forts 
 were at this time garrisoned by the Nabob's troops, and he 
 had long before gained the commandants, they surrendered 
 at the first summons ; but, what was of more consequence
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 
 
 than all the rest, Arcot capitulated on the 2d of November, 
 and was followed by the submission of Bom Rauze, and 
 many lesser poligars, who joined his army with all their de- 
 pendents. As they were unskilled in war, they were of little 
 service in the field ; but their country made ample amends, 
 by supplying his troops with all kinds of provisions. 
 
 Had Arcot been defended with spirit, it might have held 
 out till the army could have marched to its relief. It was 
 garrisoned by a hundred and fifty Europeans, besides 
 sepoys. Two breaches were made in the pettah wall, and 
 both stormed ; but so faintly, that it ought rather to have 
 encouraged the garrison to perseverance, than terrified them 
 into surrender. 
 
 The loss of the capital made a great impression on all 
 the country powers; for, though the defeat of Colonel 
 Baillie had convinced them how formidable he was in the 
 field, they had hitherto held in the utmost contempt his 
 capacity for conducting a siege. 
 
 After the fall of Arcot, Hyder, with the main body of 
 his army, sat down before Vellore, whilst detachments 
 invested Wandiwash and Permacoil. 
 
 It was at this time that Sir Eyre Coote arrived from 
 Bengal : the force he brought with him consisted of four 
 hundred European infantry, and two companies of artil- 
 lery. The army, which since the retreat from Conjeveram, 
 had been encamped in a strong situation at Marmelong, 
 a village about six miles from Madras, was permitted to 
 go into cantonments in the middle of November, after 
 having been exposed to the most violent and continued 
 rains for fifteen days, and when the face of the country 
 was so much covered with water, that they could no 
 longer be regularly supplied. 
 
 The troops marched out of cantonments, and encamped 
 at the Mount, the 15th of December. Small parties of 
 horse that continually hovered round the camp, drove
 
 32 
 
 away all the cattle that strayed beyond the outposts; so 
 that when we marched on the 16th of January to the 
 relief of Wandiwash, it was with the greatest difficulty 
 that a sufficient number could be collected to carry the 
 grain and military stores necessary for the expedition. 
 
 The army, when it marched from the Mount, was com- 
 posed of one thousand four hundred Europeans, five thou- 
 sand sepoys, and eight hundred black cavalry, attended 
 by a train of sixty pieces of cannon. 
 
 General Coote halted on the 18th, on the south bank 
 of the Palaur, four miles from Chingleput. 
 
 On the night of the 19th, Captain Davis was detached 
 with three battalions of sepoys to surprise Carrangoly, 
 a fort ten miles distant. By some unforeseen delay, he 
 did not get there till after sunrise ; but this did not make 
 him lay aside his design. Leaving a battalion in the rear 
 as a reserve, and placing some parties to fire against the 
 parapet, he with the rest advanced directly towards the 
 gate. A wet ditch had been carried round the place, 
 except where a causeway was left opposite to the entrance. 
 Over this Captain Davis brought two guns, with which 
 he burst open the outer gate, and advanced immediately 
 through a passage with many windings to the second. 
 Though confined in a small space, and exposed to a 
 shower of musketry on every side from the works above, 
 the artillerymen proceeded coolly in their work, and with 
 the second shot made a large breach. The first party that 
 entered was fired on by a party headed by the Killidaur, 
 who then threw down their arms, and received quarter; 
 but by far the greater part escaped by the opposite side 
 of the fort, where there was little water in the ditch. The 
 garrison amounted to one thousand two hundred men ; 
 but only three hundred, with the Killidaur, were made 
 prisoners. 
 
 Four officers of the detachment were wounded. Ten
 
 SIR THOMAS MUN110. 9Q 
 
 artillerymen out of twelve, and eighty sepoys were killed 
 or wounded. 
 
 Nothing of consequence was found here, except a con- 
 siderable quantity of grain. 
 
 This place, which, while in possession of the English, 
 had been overgrown with weeds, was now in a tolerable 
 state of defence : the ruinous parts of the walls were 
 repaired, and a new parapet carried round the rampart. 
 
 The army arrived at Wandiwash on the 24th of Ja- 
 nuary : the siege was raised the day before. The enemy's 
 force amounted to twelve thousand horse, and four thou- 
 sand foot. 
 
 Mheer Saheb, who commanded them, moved about 
 fifteen miles, and then halted to observe our motions ; 
 which he continued ever after to do, without once quitting 
 us, till the day of his death. 
 
 He invested this place in the beginning of December, 
 and the latter end of the same month opened a battery 
 of four twenty-four pounders, within three hundred yards 
 of the wall. The fire of the fort was so much better 
 directed, that after ten days he had done little more than 
 demolish part of the parapet, which the garrison soon 
 supplied with a stronger one of gabions and !he trunks 
 of Palmyra trees. The walls, like those of most of the 
 forts of this country, were built of so hard a species of 
 stone, that it was a considerable time before the shot made 
 any impression. 
 
 A party from the garrison, under the command of a 
 black officer, sallied on the 10th of January, surprised the 
 battery, and spiked the guns so completely, that they 
 could never afterwards be used. Upon this, another 
 approach was carried on to the edge of the ditch, where 
 a four-gun battery was raised, which was to have been 
 opened the day the army arrived. 
 
 The garrison was composed of a hundred of the Com- 
 
 VOL. I. D
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 pany's sepoys, and near double that number of the Na- 
 bob's. Lieutenant Flint, who commanded, was much 
 admired for his activity and the judgment he had shown 
 in the defence ; and he deserved as much praise for what 
 he intended to have done, as for what he really performed. 
 He cut off an angle of the fort, which was more elevated 
 than the rest; he mounted guns upon it, and laid in a 
 stock of water and provisions, so that had he been obliged 
 to abandon the body of the place, he was to have retired 
 to this post, and to have defended it some days longer. 
 
 It was here that the General received information of 
 Hyder's having raised the siege of Vellore. The My sorean 
 army, which encamped before it on the 1 4th of December, 
 was commanded by Mahomed Ally : Hyder himself re- 
 mained at Arcot. 
 
 Vellore is situated at the entrance of the Amboor valley, 
 which leads to one of the principal passes into Mysore, 
 and all convoys coming this way must pass in sight of 
 it ; for which reason, a strong guard was always requisite 
 to prevent their being intercepted by the garrison. It 
 was chiefly the dread of this that determined Hyder to 
 attack it. The force that Colonel Lang had to defend 
 it with was two hundred and fifty Europeans and five 
 hundred sepoys, besides a rabble of one thousand two 
 hundred Nabob's troops, and poligars. 
 
 The fortifications were built by the Mahrattas more than 
 two hundred years ago. The walls were formed of the 
 same hard stone which had been used at Wandiwash. The 
 stones were three or four feet thick, and eighteen or twenty 
 long, and were placed end-ways. The ditch which sur- 
 rounded it was two hundred feet broad, and fifteen or 
 twenty deep. Two miles to the right of the fort were 
 three fortified hills. A six-pounder from the nearest threw 
 a shot three hundred yards over the opposite rampart. It 
 was against this that the enemy directed their attack.
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 
 
 35 
 
 They began their approaches near a mile from the foot of 
 the wall. Nothing buc their numbers could ever have ac- 
 complished a work of such amazing labour : the soil on the 
 hills was so thin that they could not make trenches, but 
 were obliged to advance under cover of a wall of gabions, 
 and to fill them they had to bring earth from the plain be- 
 low. They met many large fragments of rocks in their 
 way. They undermined some, and rolled them down the 
 hill ; and those they could not manage they avoided by 
 making a sweep round them. In three weeks they had got 
 the better of all these obstacles, and raised a battery, which 
 in a few days demolished one of the angles of the fort. 
 They at the same time raised another on an eminence 
 which overlooked the place ; and the garrison, having only 
 a few small guns, could neither return their fire, nor show 
 themselves in the daytime. They laboured hard during 
 the night in cutting off the ruined angle, by a deep trench 
 with a breastwork behind it. On the night of the 10th of 
 January, the enemy, headed by Mahomed Ally in person, 
 made two attacks, and in both were repulsed with great 
 loss. 
 
 It was surprising that Hyder, after raising the siege of 
 Vellore, did not hasten to engage the English army before 
 it was reinforced. Had he been so inclined, he had time 
 enough to have overtaken it, as it lay three days at Wan- 
 diwash. Perhaps the high military character of General 
 Coote made him doubtful of success. 
 
 On the 28th we were on the road to Pondicherry, when 
 the General was informed by an express, that a French 
 fleet had appeared off Madras. It was necessary that the 
 army should be at hand to oppose their landing any troops. 
 Carrangooly was thought the most proper place, being half- 
 way between Pondicherry and Madras. The General en- 
 camped there two days after, and remained till he received 
 advice that the fleet was gone to the southward, and that 
 
 D 2
 
 59 THE LIFE OF 
 
 it had no land forces on board ; he then continued his 
 march to Pondicherry, where he arrived in the beginning 
 of February, and found the French at anchor in the roads. 
 
 On the 6th, in the morning, he went to see some artillery 
 destroyed, which had been left here ever since the siege of 
 1778. He was not gone above half an hour, when Hyder's 
 army appeared in sight of the camp, marching towards 
 Cuddalore. He returned instantly, and detached two 
 battalions to secure the passage of the Ariancopang river ; 
 but as three battalions, and the greater part of the followers 
 and cattle were in town, it was four o'clock in the after- 
 noon before the army marched. The two armies took dif- 
 ferent roads, which ran in the same direction, at the dis- 
 tance of a mile from one another. The enemy kept up a 
 constant cannonade the whole night; but to very little 
 purpose, for they either fired too high or so low, that the 
 shot sank into the rice-fields which lay between the two 
 roads. General Coote reached Cuddalore at break of day, 
 with the loss of an officer and twenty men. 
 
 It seems to have been Hyder's intention, by this rapid 
 march, to have gained possession of the bound-hedge, 
 where the English army must either have fought him un- 
 der every disadvantage, or abandoned the place to his 
 mercy. After the General had prevented the execution of 
 this scheme, he found himself involved in the greatest dis- 
 tress from the want of provisions ; for all that had been 
 brought from Madras were now consumed, and the whole 
 that could be collected in Cuddalore could not serve more 
 than two days. But he was soon relieved from his anxiety 
 on this account, for Hyder not choosing to comply with 
 the demands of the French for money, they sailed from 
 the coast the following day, and left the navigation open 
 to Madras, from whence supplies were immediately sent 
 to camp. 
 
 On the 8th of February, the day after the departure of
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 37 
 
 the squadron, General Coote drew up in front of the 
 bound-hedge, and offered Hyder battle, which he very 
 properly declined, as the position of the English army was 
 so strong that it did not afford him the smallest hope of 
 success. He therefore continued his march to the south- 
 ward, whilst the English returned to their encampments 
 within the bound-hedge. 
 
 During the five months that the army remained at Cud- 
 dalore, they received rice from Madras, but were obliged 
 to find beef and mutton the best way they could. This 
 was attended with much labour, the enemy having swept 
 away all the flocks and herds, except a few that ran wild 
 in the woods. The little excursions in quest of them were 
 the most fatiguing duties of the campaign. Sepoys only 
 were sent upon them. The detachment was usually com- 
 posed of three or four battalions, which set out from camp 
 an hour or two after sunset ; they marched all night, and 
 reached their destination by noon the day following. After 
 having collected what cattle they could find, and halted an 
 hour or two to refresh themselves, they hastened back to 
 camp, where they arrived next morning, fatigued beyond 
 any thing that can be conceived, except by those who have 
 felt it. Mheer Saheb, with the army of observation, lay at 
 Trividi, a village fifteen miles west of Cuddalore, from 
 whence he detached small bodies of horse on every side to 
 hinder any supplies from the country passing to the English 
 camp. Parties were frequently sent to surprise them, and 
 most commonly, when there was any prospect of success, 
 
 commanded by Colonel -. Yet, notwithstanding this 
 
 advantage, he was seldom so fortunate in his expeditions as 
 might have been expected. I shall only mention one in- 
 stance, which will serve as a specimen of the rest. 
 
 One morning, a little before day, he came so suddenly 
 upon one of the advanced sentries belonging to a party of 
 horse, that the fellows immediately rode off across the
 
 38 THE LIFE OF 
 
 country, without having recollection enough to alarm their 
 comrades. The Colonel continued to advance till he got so 
 near the main body, that he could see that all was quiet, 
 except a few that were sitting smoking round some little 
 fires they had kindled. Here he halted, and sent to the 
 rear for the guns ; and whilst they were coming, he drew 
 up the troops, as well as the darkness and the ground 
 would admit, with about one-third of them above the 
 knees in mud. The guns came up, and began a heavy fire 
 both of round and grape. When it had continued ten 
 minutes, the line advanced to take advantage of the con- 
 fusion into which it was not doubted the enemy must be 
 thrown by such a battery ; but they did not think that it 
 would be convenient to stay to judge of the effect of the 
 fire ; and the Colonel, entering their camp by storm, found 
 nothing but a few horses sick, which the enemy, in their 
 retreat, were obliged to abandon to his fury. The Colonel 
 was not more successful in any of his other expeditions. 
 He failed by not adhering to his original plan of attack, 
 and by substituting a worse in the moment of decision. 
 
 Whilst General Coote carried on this petty war about 
 Cuddalore, Hyder made himself master of Ambore and 
 Thiagur, in the Carnatic ; and of all Tanjore but the capi- 
 tal. We must, however, suppose he had good reasons for 
 remaining there. If it was not the smallness of his force, 
 it might have been with a view to keep Hyder to the 
 southward, and to draw his attention from the reinforce- 
 ment which was then coming from Bengal. 
 
 The General moved in the end of May to raise the siege 
 of Thiagur. He reached Trividi the 1st of March, from 
 whence Mheer Saheb retreated on his appearance : here 
 he halted two days, and then returned to his old camp at 
 Cuddalore. I cannot account for this conduct, unless by 
 supposing that from Baillie's defeat he conceived too high 
 an opinion of Ryder's army, and reb'ed too little on his
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 
 
 own, or that he did not think the place of sufficient conse- 
 quence to risk a general engagement to prevent its fall, 
 and that he only moved to divert the enemy and protract 
 the siege. 
 
 The Bengal troops having by this time entered the Car- 
 natic, the General, to hinder Hyder from striking any 
 blow against them, marched to the southward on the 16th 
 June, and two days after arrived at Chilambrum, a for- 
 tified pagoda, thirty miles south-west of Cuddalore. Ad- 
 joining to the pagoda there is a large pettah, surrounded 
 by a mud wall : the garrison were between two and three 
 thousand poligars. In the evening the General sent three 
 battalions to attack the pettah : the enemy, after a scattered 
 fire, ran to shelter themselves in the pagoda. By some 
 mistake, without orders, the foremost battalion pursued 
 them to the gates ; which finding shut, they brought up 
 a twelve-pounder against them. The second shot burst 
 open the outer gate. The spunge staff was fired out of the 
 gun in the hurry, and the man who carried the match was 
 not to be found. In this exigency, Captain Moorhouse of 
 the artillery, with great recollection, loaded and discharg- 
 ed twice, by the help of a musquet, and made a breach in 
 the second gate large enough to allow one man to go 
 through at a time. The sepoys rushed in : the space be- 
 tween the two inner gates was in a moment full of them : 
 they did not observe, midway between the two, a flight 
 of steps which led to the top of the rampart. The garri- 
 son, every moment dreading the assault, called for quarter, 
 but their voice was not to be distinguished in the general 
 tumult which HOW ensued ; for, some straw having taken 
 fire, caught the clothes of the sepoys, who were crowded 
 between the gateways, and every one pressing back to 
 avoid suffocation and the fire of the enemy, (which was now 
 redoubled at the sight of their disaster) many of them were 
 scorched and burned to death, and those who escaped hur-
 
 THE LITE OF 
 
 ried away without attempting to bring off the twelve- 
 pounder. Six officers and nearly one hundred and fifty 
 men were killed and wounded in this unfortunate affair. 
 The General, who was in the pettah at the time, ordered 
 some pieces of cannon to batter the wall. A fine brass 
 eighteen-pounder was ruined without making any breach ; 
 and day beginning to dawn, the troops returned to camp. 
 All thoughts were now relinquished of taking the place by 
 assault ; and there being no battering-guns with the army, 
 it was resolved to send for them to Cuddalore; and, after 
 taking the rice out of the pettah, to proceed to Porto Novo 
 to cover their landing. We marched to this place on the 
 22d, and the same day Mheer Saheb encamped five miles 
 to the westward of it. 
 
 Sir Edward Hughes arrived on the 24th with the bat- 
 tering train ; and whilst rafts were preparing to carry it up 
 the river to Chilambrum, our attention was called to an 
 object of much greater consequence; for, at daybreak on 
 the 28th, the sound of the reveille was heard in front of 
 the camp, and the rising of the sun discovered to our view 
 the plain for several miles covered with the tents of the 
 Mysorean army. Hyder was preparing to besiege Trich- 
 inopoly, when the commandant of Chilambrum advised him 
 of his having repulsed the English, and that they had re- 
 treated to Porto Novo. The time he had so long wished 
 for he imagined was now come, when he might, in one day, 
 destroy the only army that remained to oppose him. His 
 expedition showed his confidence of success he marched 
 seventy miles in two days, and encamped at Mootypollam, 
 four miles from Porto Novo. His troops were no less 
 sanguine than himself. Some came near enough to the 
 grand guard to warn them of the fate that awaited them 
 so soon as they should come forth to the plain. They bid 
 their foragers, who kept out of reach of the English sen- 
 tries, not fear them, but go wherever they could find the
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 41 
 
 greatest plenty, for that they would not dare to touch 
 them when they themselves were in the power of Hyder. 
 This language afforded little comfort to the desponding 
 part of our army, who, when they beheld the great extent 
 of the Mysorean camp, and the numerous bodies of horse 
 and foot that moved about it, could not avoid thinking Hy- 
 der as formidable as he was represented by those who had 
 escaped from Perimbacum, and entertaining the strongest 
 apprehensions of the event of the approaching engage- 
 ment ; but those who considered our artillery, served by 
 men whom Mr. Bellecombe had pronounced superior to 
 every thing he had seen in Europe, the perfect discipline 
 of the troops, and their confidence in their commander, 
 regarded Hyder offering battle as the most fortunate cir- 
 cumstance that could have happened. 
 
 A little after daybreak, on the first of July, the General 
 drew up the army in a large plain which lay between the 
 two camps. On his right was a chain of sand-hills 
 which ran along the coast, at the distance of about a mile 
 from the sea in the rear ; and on the left, woods and en- 
 closures, but with an open space between ; two miles to the 
 left ran another chain of sand-hills, parallel to the former, 
 and behind them lay the principal part of the Mysorean 
 army. At eight o'clock the enemy opened eight guns, in 
 two batteries which they had raised among the sand-banks; 
 but they were too distant to do much execution. The 
 General, having reconnoitred their situation, saw that it was 
 their wish that he should advance across the plain, under 
 the fire of the batteries they had constructed on every side, 
 that their cavalry might be able to take advantage of the 
 impression : he therefore made no change in his disposition, 
 but kept his ground, offering them battle till eleven o'clock, 
 when, finding they did not choose to make the attack, he 
 moved to the rear of the sand-hills on his right. The 
 army marched in two lines, the first commanded by General
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 Munro, the second by General Stuart. In the first were 
 all the European infantry, with six battalions of sepoys 
 equally divided on the flanks ; in the second, four batta- 
 lions of sepoys. One-half of the cavalry formed on the 
 right of the first ; the other half, on the left of the second 
 line. The baggage, guarded by a regiment of horse and 
 a battalion of sepoys, remained on the beach near Porto 
 Novo. The army, after marching a mile between the sand- 
 banks and the sea-shore, again defiled by an opening into 
 the plain, where the enemy's infantry and artillery were 
 drawn up waiting our coming ; but their horse still remained 
 behind the sand-hills. In an hour the whole of the first 
 line got into the plain, where they formed under the fire of 
 forty pieces of cannon. Not a shot was returned ; the guns 
 were not even unlimbered ; but every thing remained as if 
 the army had been to continue its march. The enemy, 
 encouraged by this, which they attributed to an intention 
 of escaping, brought their artillery nearer ; every shot now 
 took effect. The General rode along the front, encouraging 
 every one to patience, and to reserve their fire till they 
 were ordered to part with it. He only waited for accounts 
 from the second line. An aid-de-camp from General 
 Stuart told him that he had taken possession of the sand- 
 hills ; he immediately gave orders to advance, and to open 
 all the guns. The artillerymen, who had been so long 
 restrained, now exerted themselves. Their fire was so 
 heavy, that nothing could stand before it. The Mysorean 
 infantry only stayed to give one discharge ; the drivers hur- 
 ried away the cannon, while the horse attempted to charge ; 
 but they were always broken before they reached the line. 
 In a quarter of an hour the whole were dispersed. 
 
 Whilst the first line were engaged with Hyder, the 
 second was attacked by Tippoo and Lally, who were re- 
 pulsed by General Stuart in all their attacks to drive him 
 from the sand-hills ; and when Hyder fled, they followed
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 43 
 
 him. A deep water-course saved the enemy from pursuit, 
 for we were six hours in crossing it, which they, from the 
 number and goodness of their cattle, had done in one. 
 Our army was seven thousand five hundred fighting men. 
 The force of the enemy has been variously estimated. 
 A Portuguese captain, who deserted to us during the 
 action, and who pretended to have seen the returns, made 
 it amount to three hundred or four hundred (I do not 
 remember which ; it makes little difference,) thousand men 
 that could fight. However it may be, it is certain that 
 their numbers were such that the most exact discipline 
 never could have brought the whole into action. 
 
 I am sure you will be tired before you get to the end of 
 this long story ; but I have been particular, because it was 
 this action that first gave a turn to our affairs in the Car- 
 natic, and because it was considered at the time as the most 
 critical battle that had been for a long time fought in 
 India ; for what could be a more serious matter, than to 
 engage an enemy so superior in numbers, whose great 
 strength in horse enabled him to take every advantage, and 
 when there was no alternative between victory and entire 
 ruin ? Had we been once broken, it would have been im- 
 possible ever to have rallied when surrounded by such a 
 multitude of cavalry. It was known afterwards, that when 
 the action began, Hyder issued an order to take no prisoners. 
 
 The army halted a few days at Cuddalore, and then 
 went to the northward to meet the Bengal detachment, 
 which it joined without any interruption, in the beginning 
 of August, near Pulicat. This detachment amounted, 
 when it, left Bengal, to five thousand men ; but was now 
 reduced by sickness and desertion to little more than two 
 thousand : it was commanded by Colonel Perrie. 
 
 After this junction, we laid siege to Tripassore, a small 
 fort thirty miles north-west from Madras : it had a strong 
 garrison, but only four old guns on the works: and in
 
 44 THE LIFE OF 
 
 two days, a breach being made, it surrendered. Scarce 
 had the party, sent to take possession, got within the walls, 
 when the Mysorean army came in sight, hastening to raise 
 the siege. 
 
 The English colours, and a few shot, convinced Hyder 
 that he was too late : he turned back immediately, and 
 encamped at Pereinbanaum. It was said, and I believe 
 with foundation, that he sent a challenge to General Coote, 
 to meet him on the same ground where he had cut off 
 Colonel Baillie, where, as well from the natural strength 
 of the situation, as from the superstitious notions of his 
 people about fortunate places, he knew that, if ever he 
 was to be successful, it must be there. Coote, always 
 fond of fighting when there was a prospect of victory, 
 marched on the 27th to attack him. 
 
 The advance-guard, marching along the avenue which 
 leads to Conjeveram, received a discharge from four 
 eighteen pounders, placed in a grove to the left of the 
 road : it was immediately ordered to halt, till the line 
 should come up and form. While this was doing, the 
 General rode out to view the position of the enemy, and 
 found that a stronger could not have been imagined. Be- 
 sides three villages which they had occupied, the ground 
 along their front, and on their flanks, was intersected in 
 every direction by deep ditches and water-courses ; 
 their artillery fired from embrasures, cut in mounds of 
 earth, which had been formed from the hollowing of the 
 ditches, and the main body of their army lay behind 
 them. 
 
 The cannonade became general about ten o'clock, and 
 continued with little intermission till sunset ; for we found 
 it almost impossible to advance upon the enemy, as the 
 cannon could not be brought without much time and labour 
 over the broken ground in front. The enemy retired as 
 we advanced, and always found cover in the ditches, and
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 
 
 behind the banks. They were forced from them all before 
 sunset; and after standing a short time a cannonade on 
 open ground, they fled in great hurry and confusion 
 towards Conjeveram. More than six thousand of them 
 were killed or wounded. Our loss was about five hundred 
 men. General Stuart and Colonel Brown lost each of 
 them a leg by the same cannon-ball, as they were talking 
 together in the beginning of the engagement ; the Colonel 
 died a few hours after ; but the General recovered, and is 
 now in the field. It is doubted by many, whether we 
 have derived any advantage from this battle: they say, 
 that where every thing is to be lost by a defeat, and little 
 gained by a victory, an engagement ought not to be 
 hazarded, except some essential point is to be accompli shed. 
 That, in the present instance, this was not the case; that 
 the strength of the enemy's situation made victory uncer- 
 tain ; and that though they were totally defeated, the 
 want of provisions prevented us from pursuing our success; 
 and that the General, by attacking them in front, instead of 
 turning their left flank a little beyond which the ground 
 was clear, showed little knowledge of the country. 
 
 Others again say, that as we cannot follow Hyder all 
 over the Carnatic, we ought to fight him wherever there is 
 an opportunity ; that he had collected his whole force, and 
 waited for us on the same spot where he had defeated 
 Colonel Baillie ; and that if we could drive him from his 
 ground, where his army thought itself invincible, he never 
 would again dare to face us. 
 
 The army returned to Madras immediately after the 
 action, for a supply of provisions ; and in the end of Sep- 
 tember we again marched to try to bring Hyder to another 
 battle. He arrived at Shulingur two days before us, and, 
 as usual, took post near the road by which we were to 
 march. On the 27th, in the morning, the General went 
 out to observe his situation : having considered every thing
 
 46 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 attentively, he sent to camp for a brigade, to take pos- 
 session of the ridge of rocks within two miles of Ryder's 
 right. This being done, and every thing still appearing 
 quiet in the enemy's camp (for though they observed the 
 troopers that accompanied the General as a guard, they 
 considered them only as a reconnoitring party, and in that 
 persuasion all, except a few sentries, retired to rest in the 
 heat of the day), the General ordered the whole army to 
 advance immediately. The head of the line passed the 
 stoney ridge at two o'clock : the enemy were astonished at 
 the sight, and made haste to strike their tents. They had 
 scarcely got into order, when our army came opposite to 
 them, and halted within random shot. The camp colours 
 were planted, as if we intended to encamp ; and Hyder, 
 equally afraid to leave his advantageous post to attack us, 
 as to remain so near us during the night, began to retreat 
 in confusion. They could only get away by the left, along 
 the road leading to Arcot ; for there was a range of hills 
 in their rear, at the distance of three miles, and the 
 ground on the right was covered with wood, and so rugged, 
 that no guns could pass over it. 
 
 The General detached the second brigade to turn Hyder's 
 left, and draw up across the Arcot road, to prevent his 
 escape that way ; whilst the rest of the army advanced 
 briskly in front, to take possession of the encampment he 
 was quitting, and to drive him back on the hills in his 
 rear. Hyder, seeing that nothing could now save him but 
 a bold push, divided his best horse into three bodies, and 
 sent them under three chosen leaders, to attack as many 
 different parts of our army at the same time, promising 
 them the highest rewards in case they should succeed. 
 They came down at full gallop, till they arrived within 
 reach of grape, when being thrown into confusion, the 
 greater part either halted or fled ; and those that persevered 
 in advancing, were dispersed by a discharge of musquetry,
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 47 
 
 except a few, who thought it safer to push through the 
 intervals between the battalions and their guns, than to 
 ride back through the cross-fire of the artillery ; but most 
 of these were killed by the small parties in the rear. This 
 attack, though made with little spirit, enabled Hyder to 
 save his guns, which passed within half a mile of the 
 second brigade, while it halted by an order from the 
 General, to be at hand to support the rest of the line, in 
 case the cavalry had made any impression. Excepting 
 the escort with the artillery, every one in the Mysorean 
 army shifted for himself; we followed them till sunset, 
 when they were all out of sight, and we halted for the 
 night, two miles in the rear of their camp. Our loss was 
 not above fifty men killed and wounded ; Hyder 's loss 
 was great for the shortness of the action, and fell chiefly 
 among his best cavalry, upwards of seven hundred of whom 
 were counted dead on the field ; he also lost one piece of 
 cannon, which was the first ever taken from him in the field 
 of battle by a European army. 
 
 After the defeat, nothing was wanting to drive Hyder 
 out of the Carnatic, but the means of carrying provisions, 
 and a train of artillery, for the reduction of Arcot ; but we 
 were so far from having rice sufficient for this purpose, 
 that we had not more than enough for two days, nor did 
 we know where to find a supply. In this distress we were 
 relieved by Bom Rauze, the most powerful Rajah depend- 
 ent on the Nabob of Arcot. The pass which led into 
 his country, was not above two miles from the field of 
 battle. The army entered it the following day. The 
 country of Bom Rauze is situated among a heap of naked 
 hills. The intermediate valleys are cultivated in the highest 
 perfection : the communication between them is only by 
 narrow and difficult roads, through which no army had 
 ever marched. The inhabitants, secure in the natural 
 strength of the country, lived in quiet ; none of them had
 
 48 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 ever seen the face of an enemy. Hyder, when he entered 
 the Carnatic, summoned Bom Rauze to repair to his 
 standard, who refused to obey till the fall of Arcot, and 
 then complied only to save his lands from being laid waste. 
 He went to the Mysorean camp, attended by a numerous 
 body of his subjects, who serve without pay ; he followed 
 Hyder in all his expeditions ; and in the confusion which 
 attended the defeat in the last engagement, he escaped into 
 his own country. 
 
 He gave permission to his people to bring provisions to 
 the camp, and he himself collected considerable quantities 
 for our use in different villages ; but as many of them lay 
 at a great distance from camp, and the only access to 
 them was by rugged and intricate paths, the supplies 
 arrived so slowly, that although the greater part of the 
 cattle of the army was employed in conveying them, they 
 were little more than sufficient to replace the daily con- 
 sumption. It was to lessen this inconvenience that the 
 General detached Colonel Owen with six battalions of 
 sepoys and two hundred cavalry, to a village fifteen miles 
 off ; the Colonel sent a battalion six miles farther to a fort, 
 the residence of a petty poligar, to which the country 
 people brought rice enough to serve the detachment. This 
 place was separated from the valley where Owen lay, by a 
 chain of rocks. He encamped with his right to the hill, 
 his rear was secured by another hill, his left was open, and 
 there was a choultry two miles in the rear, on the Arcot 
 road, in which an officer was posted with a company of 
 sepoys. A range of hills ran along his front at the dis- 
 tance of a mile ; and two or three hundred yards from the 
 foot of them, opposite to the right of the camp, was the 
 entrance of the pass, which led to the valley, where Ge- 
 neral Coote lay. In this situation, Owen remained till the 
 22d of October, when his spies brought him intelligence 
 that Ryder's army was approaching : he did not pay much
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 
 
 regard to this information, at least he made no change in 
 his disposition. Next morning, at sunrise, the officer at 
 the choultry gave him notice that the enemy's army was 
 in sight, as he believed, at the distance of four miles, and 
 that they were advancing with the utmost rapidity. Upon 
 this, he went out himself with five companies to observe 
 their strength. It was, unfortunately, a considerable time 
 before he was convinced that it was their whole force ; he 
 had even once resolved to meet them ; but a little reflec- 
 tion made him take the wiser step of retreating. The bag- 
 gage, which had hitherto been forgotten, was now buried 
 to prevent its falling into the hands of the enemy. 
 
 The Colonel was detained so long waiting for the arrival 
 of the party from the choultry, that a large body of horse 
 came down with two guns, which opened upon his rear before 
 it moved from the encampment. As the pass was at no great 
 distance, the front of the line soon gained it, and placed 
 two field-pieces to cover the entrance, under the command 
 of Captain Moorhouse, an officer equal to any danger. 
 Two battalions entered, without losing a man ; but the 
 other three were obliged to halt to oppose the enemy, who 
 now fired from above thirty pieces of cannon, whilst their 
 matchlock-men kept up a continual discharge from behind 
 rocks and bushes; and their cavalry hovered round, looking 
 for an opening to charge. The rear battalion gave way ; 
 but the other two remained steady, and entered the pass in 
 good order, yet so hard pressed that they were forced to 
 abandon one of the six-pounders posted to defend it. As 
 soon as Colonel Owen learned this misfortune, he deter- 
 mined to make a bold push, not only to retake the gun, 
 but to check the enemy. Captain Moor, a Bengal officer, 
 and Captain Moorhouse of the artillery, offered their ser- 
 vices, which were gladly accepted. Captain Moor, put- 
 ting himself at the head of his grenadier company of 
 Europeans, marched back to the spot where the gun had 
 
 VOL. i. E
 
 50 THE LIFE OF 
 
 been left : finding it surrounded by a large body of horse 
 and foot, who were attempting to drag it off, he attacked 
 them vigorously, and was so much favoured by the rugged- 
 ness of the ground, that notwithstanding the inequality of 
 numbers, he put them to flight, and rejoined the line with 
 the gun. The enemy, though they kept a greater distance 
 after this repulse, followed the detachment, firing from be- 
 hind bushes to the end of the pass, when they retired ; and 
 Owen, continuing his march a few miles farther, met the 
 General hastening to support him. Seven officers and near 
 two hundred men were killed or wounded in this action : the 
 number that engaged, including a company of European 
 grenadiers, that had joined two days before, did not exceed 
 one thousand five hundred men. The battalion which had 
 been sent to collect rice was not informed of the enemy's 
 approach till eleven o'clock, when it retreated along the 
 hills, and joined the army next morning. 
 
 Colonel Owen gained great praise for the calmness with 
 which he gave his orders, and for the intrepidity with which 
 he exposed his person during the action ; he was, however, 
 blamed for some dispositions. It was thought by many, 
 that his having an outpost at the distance of a mile and a 
 half was injudicious, as it gave the enemy time to come up 
 before it could be recalled ; and that his encampment was 
 ill chosen, for that had he established it close to the pass, 
 he might have entered it with his whole force before the 
 enem^ could have overtaken him, when the nature of the 
 ground would have counterbalanced the inequality of 
 numbers. 
 
 The season being now far advanced, the army made 
 haste to relieveVellore ; but, notwithstanding every exertion, 
 it was found impossible to throw in more than three 
 months 1 grain. We left it in the beginning of November, 
 and next day encamped near Chiltore, a fort of little 
 strength, which had formerly been the residence of Abdul-
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 51 
 
 wahab Khan, brother to the Nabob, who defended it some 
 days against Hyder ; but having no prospect of relief, he 
 made his escape by night. The officer who succeeded to 
 the command, after a fortnight's siege, surrendered. The 
 person to whom Hyder intrusted the care of it was a man 
 of great resolution ; but having no artillery, and a breach 
 being made in two days, he capitulated. A battalion of 
 sepoys being left to garrison it, the rest of the army 
 marched on the 16th, to raise the siege of Tripassore, which 
 was invested by a strong detachment ; we had only one 
 day's rice with us; there were seven corps which had received 
 none the preceding day. A supply of six days luckily 
 joined us on the march. On the 19th, in the midst of a 
 heavy rain, we quitted the woods by a road that no army 
 ever had passed before; and though we did not advance 
 above five miles, it was attended with such difficulties, that 
 the rear-guard did not reach camp till twelve o'clock next 
 day. The rain continued all this time increasing, and was 
 accompanied with such extreme cold, that many hundreds, 
 both of men and bullocks, perished by the way; whole 
 families, worn out by hunger, fatigue, and the severity of 
 the weather, laid themselves down under the bushes and 
 died together. The rain continued without abatement for 
 two days ; there were two rivers between us and Tripas- 
 sore, and there was only two days' rice in the camp. 
 From this dismal situation we were relieved on the third 
 day, when the weather cleared up; we crossed both rivers 
 with less trouble than had been expected, and the whole 
 army was encamped before midnight, within three miles of 
 Tripassore, after being obliged to shoot four elephants 
 and a hundred horses, that could not get through the 
 river. 
 
 Tippoo raised the siege on the 20th, after having lain 
 a week before it. The artillery of the garrison consisted 
 of two eighteen-pounders, and six small old guns. 
 
 E 2
 
 52 THE LIFE OF 
 
 Tippoo opened a battery of four eighteen-pounders, and 
 in a few hours broke the carriage of one of the large guns 
 in the fort, which constrained the besieged to cease firing. 
 The enemy soon demolished the defences, and breached 
 the wall ; but the garrison, having repaired the damaged 
 carriage, opened all their guns, and soon silenced the 
 battery. 
 
 Tippoo, finding, from the deepness of the ditch in that 
 place, that he would be obliged to fill it before he could 
 storm the breach, raised another battery opposite to a 
 place of the fort where the ditch was fordable ; but was 
 hindered from mounting guns on it by the approach of the 
 army. The army went into cantonments in the neighbour- 
 hood of Madras, on the 3d of December. I am, &c. 
 
 Whoever may take the trouble to compare the 
 preceding narrative with the sentiments expressed 
 by Colonel Wilks and Mr. Mill, touching the same 
 transactions, will discover, that though in the 
 main a strict agreement runs through them, cer- 
 tain, and these not unimportant, contrarieties here 
 and there exist. In the estimation of Mr. Munro, 
 for example, the surrender of Arcot was not un- 
 avoidable; the place might have held out, and 
 ought to have held out, till relieved. Again, his 
 description of the battle of Porto Novo, though 
 in its details corresponding pretty accurately with 
 that of Colonel Wilks, differs from Mr. Mill's re- 
 lation in this important particular, that it fur- 
 nishes no ground whatever for accusing Sir Eyre 
 Coote of indecision ; whilst his account of the 
 affair of Pollilore represents it to have been 
 neither a doubtful victory nor a repulse. It
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 53 
 
 was a hard fought, but decidedly a successful 
 action. The army was not compelled to retreat 
 by any demonstrations on the part of the enemy. 
 On the contrary, after remaining upon its ground 
 a sufficient length of time to bury the corpses of 
 Colonel Baillie's ill-fated detachment, it fell back, 
 simply because means of subsistence, so far in ad- 
 vance, were wanting. Lastly, in spite of the 
 honourable anxiety manifested by Colonel Wilks 
 to do justice to the gallantry of Lieutenant Flint, 
 in the defence of Wandiwash, some facts have 
 been omitted even by him, which the journal now 
 given supplies ; whilst here, and here only, has 
 notice been taken of Colonel Lang's meritorious 
 services in the attack and defence of Vellore, 
 which these services eminently merit. 
 
 But it is not to be supposed that Mr. Munro's 
 thoughts were, even at this interesting period, so 
 completely engrossed with public matters, as to 
 leave him without leisure for indulging those kindly 
 and generous dispositions which were natural to 
 him. The following letter to his mother, whilst 
 it casts considerable light upon his own proceed- 
 ings and fortunes, gives proof that the feelings of 
 a son and a brother were not less powerful in him 
 now, than when he dwelt at North side, in the 
 bosom of his family : 
 
 DEAR MADAM, 
 
 I HAVE long been impatiently expecting to hear 
 from you. Every fleet, I imagined, would bring me a 
 letter from at least one member of the family ; but though
 
 54 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 several ships have arrived, they have brought not a single 
 line for me. Your mentioning in your letter of October 
 1779, my father's disappointment at London, with your 
 hopes of his having gained some friends who might be of 
 service to him hereafter, makes me extremely anxious to 
 know if your expectations have been answered. Two years 
 is a long time to remain in uncertainty of your situation. 
 
 When I have found myself here at my ease, I have often 
 reflected how very different the case might be with you, and 
 that thought has given me more pain than any disappoint- 
 ment that could possibly happen to me here would do. 
 
 Mr. Graham, in November, got me appointed to act 
 as quartermaster to the fifth brigade, which, with my 
 ensign's pay, is worth about thirty shillings a day; but 
 this, though it might at home, and even in this country, 
 in peaceable times, be thought a handsome allowance, is 
 yet little more than sufficient, in the present state of affairs, 
 to find common necessaries; it is also only temporary, 
 as it ends with the war. However, when this happens, 
 Mr. Graham has promised to get me an appointment ; 
 but I don't think this is at all certain. At the same time, 
 I have every reason to hope, that if he remains here till 
 the conclusion of the war, he will do something for me. 
 
 We are just now encamped in the neighbourhood of 
 Madras, and shall march in a few days to throw a supply 
 of provisions into Vellore. 
 
 I shall write you again, and very particularly, by the 
 first ship that sails after the Swallow; but this must 
 depend upon circumstances. If I am in the field, it will 
 be impossible. Though you should not hear from me 
 for a twelvemonth, do not imagine it to be carelessness. 
 A letter runs a thousand risks in going to Madras from 
 the camp ; and even after this there is a chance of its being 
 lost on the way to Europe. 
 Camp, 30th Dec. 1781.
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO- 55 
 
 Of the military operations which took place 
 between the date of this letter and the signing 
 of the definitive treaty with Tippoo in 1784, 
 I regret that it is not in my power to give, 
 in Mr. Munro's words, any detailed account. 
 That he kept a regular journal of events, in 
 which not the movements of the army alone, 
 but those of the fleet also, were recorded, I am 
 well aware, but of that journal detached portions 
 only have been preserved; and as these add 
 little to the stock of information already pos- 
 sessed by the public, it were scarcely worth while 
 to transcribe them. I must content myself, there- 
 fore, with stating, " that he was present when 
 the army, on its march to Vellore, was cannonaded 
 by Hyder Ally, on the 10th and 13th of June, 
 1782, and shared in the assault of the French 
 lines at Cuddalore on the 13th of June, 1783 ; 
 that he on this occasion acted as aid-de-camp to 
 Major Cotgrove, who commanded the left attack ; 
 that he assisted at the siege of Cuddalore until 
 the 2d of July, when hostilities ceased in con- 
 sequence of the peace with France ; and that 
 from that period till after the close of the war, 
 he remained cantoned with a division of the 
 army, in the neighbourhood of Madras." To 
 this epitome of services, which, as the reader has 
 doubtless perceived, is copied from the paper 
 already given in the preface, I may indeed be 
 permitted to add one statement, to the truth 
 of which ample evidence exists, namely, that
 
 56 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 Mr. Munro permitted no opportunity of distin- 
 guishing himself, to escape ; and that, subordinate 
 as his rank was, he already began to be regarded 
 as an officer of extraordinary merit and promise. 
 
 The following letter is selected from many 
 written during this interval to his sister; it 
 affords a fair specimen of his mode of expressing 
 himself on lighter and more private topics. 
 
 You must not think me forgetful, if I do not write you 
 so often as to my father and mother, since I consider 
 it of little consequence to which of you my letters are 
 addressed : if they reach home, they are considered as 
 family epistles. 
 
 You cannot conceive what labour I go through a little 
 before the departure of the Europe-ships. I have half 
 a dozen of long letters to write, which employ me three 
 or four nights. I often wish, before I am half done, that 
 some quicker method could be invented of conveying 
 our thoughts. This would be of greater use to you than 
 to me, if your correspondence is now as extensive as it 
 formerly was. I have heard it frequently observed, that 
 most men, by a few years' absence from their native coun- 
 try, become estranged from their old acquaintances, and 
 look back with indifference on the scenes of their earlier 
 years. I have never yet been able to divest myself of 
 my partiality for home ; nor can I now reflect, without 
 regret, on the careless, indolent life I led in my father's 
 house, when time fled away undisturbed by those anxious 
 thoughts which possess every one who seeks earnestly 
 for advancement in the world. I often see my father 
 busied with his tulip beds, and my mother with her 
 myrtle pots ; I see you drawing, and James lost in medi- 
 tation : and all these things seem as much present to me
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 57 
 
 as they did when I was amongst you. Sometimes, when 
 I walk on the sea-shore, I look across the waves, and 
 please myself with fancying that I see a distant continent 
 amongst the clouds, where I imagine you all to be. John 
 Napier Greenhill is the only person here with whom I 
 can talk of these things : he is so great an admirer of 
 yours, that he one day solemnly declared to me, that 
 he did not think you inferior in vivacity to his sister 
 Anne. When I told him that he must not think me so 
 credulous as to regard this flight as his real opinion, he 
 assumed a grave countenance, and protested that he never 
 was more serious in his life. This is farther confirmed 
 by a letter I had some time ago from John Brown, 
 informing me that his amiable correspondent, Erskine, 
 had written him by the last ships a lively letter: his 
 opinion goes farther with me than John Napier's, which 
 I never have placed any confidence in since he one day 
 told me that he had beaten my mother at backgammon, 
 and that, had he not been afraid, he could have beaten my 
 father also. A man, after such assertions as these, will 
 say any thing. 
 
 Camp before Cuddalore, 17th July, 1783. 
 
 From the cantonments near Madras, Mr. Munro 
 removed, in July 1784, to join his regiment at 
 Mellore, near Madura, where he remained till 
 January in the following year, when he was trans- 
 ferred to the thirtieth battalion, then quartered at 
 Tanjore. With this corps he did duty during a 
 few months only, when, in consequence of its 
 reduction, he was made over to the first battalion ; 
 and he continued at Tanjore till his promotion to a 
 Lieutenancy in the month of February, 1786.
 
 58 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 This event attached him for a season to an Euro- 
 pean battalion at Madras ; but of service at the 
 Presidency he soon became weary, and, at his own 
 request, an exchange was effected for him into 
 the eleventh battalion of sepoys. The latter 
 corps was at the time stationed at Cassumcottah, 
 near Vezegapatam, at which place Mr. Munro 
 abode till January 1787 ; but he was eventually 
 appointed to the twenty-first battalion in garrison 
 at Vellore, and in the following month joined it. 
 
 Such is the meagre summary, which alone I am 
 enabled to give, of the professional career of Mr. 
 Munro during several years. It was a period of 
 profound peace, and of course furnished no oppor- 
 tunities of exertion in the field ; but it was by no 
 means wasted by the subject of this memoir in 
 idleness, far less in dissipation. The following 
 interesting letter to a correspondent in Glasgow, 
 will show how the leisure moments of Mr. Munro 
 were usually spent. 
 
 A country like India, which has been so often over- 
 run by historians and travellers, and the manners of whose 
 inhabitants have undergone but little change in so long 
 a succession of ages, affords nothing to engage the curio- 
 sity of Europeans, except when it becomes the theatre 
 of political revolutions, or is laid waste by contending 
 .armies. The powerful kingdoms you meet with in the 
 accounts of the early voyagers, have been long since over- 
 thrown. They have, within these two hundred years, suf- 
 fered numberless changes, now joined into great kingdoms, 
 now separated into a variety of petty principalities ; they 
 have been ruled alternately by Indians and Mohammedans.
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 59 
 
 The Zamorin is the only ancient sovereign in the south of 
 India ; he possesses a small district on the Malabar coast, 
 from which he is in continual apprehension of being ex- 
 pelled by Tippoo. He joined Colonel Fullerton's army, 
 with some of his followers, in the last war. 
 
 The Peninsula is at present divided among four great 
 powers, the Mahrattas, the Nizam, Tippoo, and the Eng- 
 lish. There are besides a few independent chiefs, such 
 as the King of Travancore and others; but they are too 
 inconsiderable to be of any consequence in the great scale 
 of politics. You may see, in the map published some 
 years ago by Major Rennel, the extent and boundaries of 
 their respective territories. The war which has been car- 
 ried on for two years past by the Mahrattas and the Nizam 
 against Tippoo, has made little alteration in them. 
 
 I have been, for some years past, amusing, or rather 
 plaguing, myself with the Hindostanee and Persian lan- 
 guages. I began the study of them in the hopes of their 
 becoming one day of use to me ; and I Was encouraged to 
 go on by the wonderful relations given by Messrs. Rich- 
 ardson and others of the magazines of the useful and the 
 agreeable concealed in Oriental manuscripts. I have been 
 unlucky enough not to have yet found any of these trea- 
 sures ; but I have found, at least I think so, that these 
 gentlemen have been rather lavish in their encomiums. 
 They have pronounced a number of books to be elegant, 
 beautiful, and sublime ; and they have supported the old 
 opinion, that fancy abounds much more in the East than 
 in the West. This doctrine may be very well adapted to 
 those people who imagine that a writer who frequently 
 introduces the sun and the moon, and roses and nightin- 
 gales, must be a very grand and very fanciful genius ; and 
 to those learned authors who attribute the fertility of Orien- 
 tal imagination to the heat of the sun who conceive it to 
 be expanded by that luminary, in the same manner as air ;
 
 60 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 and that, in tropical climes, the unfortunate owner is 
 hurried away by it, sometimes above the clouds, and some- 
 times into the sea, as if he were tied to Major Money's 
 balloon. 
 
 Among many books that they admire, is the poem 
 of Yooseph and Zuleiha by Tami a most patience- 
 proving story, founded on that of Potiphar's wife. Here 
 the lady does nothing but pine, and cry, and string similes 
 from the beginning to the end ; and her swain appears to 
 be an honest, wholesome, counsel-giving divine. 
 
 After an exordium, with which all Persian books begin, 
 in praise of God and the Prophet, Zuleiha's birth and qua- 
 lifications, mental and personal, are described. Among 
 the latter is one somewhat singular : the poet, after men- 
 tioning the largeness of her hips, says, the flesh was so soft, 
 that, when pressed by the hand, it came out between the 
 fingers like dough. 
 
 Not satisfied with his first description of her roses, rubies, 
 and narcissuses, he gives you a second, in which he com- 
 pares her features to the different letters in the alphabet ; 
 and on this occasion his ideas are so far-fetched, that I 
 was more puzzled to find the smallest similarity, than ever 
 I was by any geometrical problem. His pathetic scenes 
 are everlasting lamentations, in which the lady is angry 
 with her father and mother for bringing her into the 
 world, and with her nurse for giving her suck, and curses 
 the day in which she was born. His moral observations 
 consist of a heap of old maxims, commonly called proverbs. 
 
 When Joseph's brethren consult about making away 
 with him, they lay their heads together ; because wise men 
 say that two contain more than one ; and that if a man 
 cannot see to do his work with one candle, he lights 
 another. 
 
 The Leili and Mujnoon by Nizami is, if possible, still 
 more extravagant, absurd, and insipid than this. When
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 
 
 61 
 
 Mujnoon hears that Leili is to be given in marriage to 
 another, he flies to the wilderness, and tells his griefs to 
 the beasts of the forest by which they are so affected, that 
 they acknowledge him for their chief, and follow him 
 wherever he goes. 
 
 Colonel Dow, who, from his translations, appears to 
 have been but a poor Persian scholar, affects to be a great 
 admirer of these eloquent writers. Abul-Fazel, secretary 
 to the Emperor Ackbar, is, he says, " sometimes too 
 flowery ; but at other times he comes down in a flood of 
 eloquence on his astonished readers, like the Ganges when 
 it overflows its banks." 
 
 I cannot say that, in perusing this author, I did not feel 
 the astonishment which the Colonel describes ; but it was 
 owing to the immoderate length of his periods, that came 
 down upon me in floods of such paltry nonsense, as can 
 be imagined only by those who have read the Lady's 
 Magazine. 
 
 The Persian writers have always been fond of long, 
 pompous periods; and Abul-Fazel, who seems to have 
 thought that the essence of all good writing consisted in 
 this, has been so eminently successful, that his nominatives 
 and verbs are often posted at the distance of three pages 
 from each other ; and the space within is occupied with 
 parentheses within parentheses, where the sense, if any, lies 
 concealed behind such a number of intrenchments, that the 
 Council of Trent would be more puzzled to discover it, 
 than they were to settle the meaning of Grace. Antithe- 
 ses, and conceits of all kinds, are as much admired as long 
 periods: these are chiefly employed in pathetic scenes; 
 but when they have occasion to argue or moralize, every 
 thing is done by the help of proverbs. 
 
 An old schoolmaster, to give me an idea of the sagacity 
 of the philosophers of ancient times, told me a story the
 
 62 THE LIFE OF 
 
 other day of the poet Tami, who was also a notable divine, 
 and one of his scholars. He was, it seems, one of those 
 wise men who are fond of talking mystically on the most 
 common occasions : this continually kept up the attention 
 of his scholars, to know what he meant or wanted. He 
 happened once to drop an orange ; one of his scholars im- 
 mediately began to reason with himself on the meaning of 
 it. My master does nothing without a design. Tun was 
 the sound the orange made in falling. Tun, zun, zun, and 
 gumaun, have the same signification : gumaun, kumaun, 
 are written in the same way. Kumaun is koos in Arabic; 
 koos inverted is sook ; sook, in Persian, is bazar ; bazar 
 and nar-ar have the same appearance on paper : this must 
 be his meaning. The scholar ran and brought a pomegra- 
 nate, nar signifying a pomegranate, and ar, bring. 
 
 Saadi is looked upon as the standard of Persian moral 
 writers, and from his works are taken most of those little 
 stories you find in the Spectator of the drop of rain that 
 fell into the ocean, and others: but these are his best the 
 rest are nothing but heaps of proverbs and wise sayings, to 
 illustrate what every body knows : such as a wise king 
 should not be rash in ordering any one to be put to death, 
 because the doctor cannot put things to rights afterwards. 
 No man, with all his exertions, can ever get more than is 
 decreed for him by Providence ; and if he is not to catch 
 fish, he may throw his net into the Tigris till he is tired. 
 
 Sentences of their books are continually in the mouths 
 of every Mohammedan who understands Persian. Their 
 conversation, the most self-sufficient and pedantic that can 
 be imagined, and which turns unceasingly on Providence 
 and the Prophets, is stuffed with verses from them and 
 other books of poetry, except when they argue on religion, 
 and then they attack and defend with verses of the Koran, 
 though they understand no other Arabic ; and assert, at
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 03 
 
 the same time, that it is impossible to render the divine 
 spirit of it into any other language, or even to understand 
 it properly in the original. 
 
 Books are very dear in the East, and the barbarous 
 character in which they are written occasions a thousand 
 errors in transcribing ; so that the generality of people can 
 afford to buy but few, and these few, from their incorrect- 
 ness, they read with much difficulty ; but then they have 
 this advantage, that by the time they finish a book, they 
 have the greatest part of it by heart, and are enabled to 
 dispute more successfully. If they have any correct 
 copies, they are confined to the libraries of princes and 
 great men ; but even these cannot be read without hesita- 
 tion, as there are thousands of words in Persian that are 
 written in the same manner, but have different meanings, 
 and are differently pronounced. 
 
 Their histories since the eighth century are faithful; 
 but are written in a dull, heavy style, like the genealogical 
 chapters in the Bible. They contain but two descriptions 
 of men the good and the bad. The former are, without 
 exception, as strong as elephants, as brave as Alexander, 
 and as wise as Solomon ; the latter oppressed their sub- 
 jects, despised men of letters, and are gone to hell. 
 
 But of all their writings, none are more ridiculous, affected, 
 and quaint, than their letters. They are composed of wise 
 sayings, allusions, hints, broken sentences, and the blessing 
 of God, without which, they observe, nothing can be done 
 of the most high-flown expressions of friendship or fide- 
 lity ; but the same in all ; and of the most extravagant 
 complaints of the pain and torment of absence. 
 
 But every thing is set to rights again by philosophy's 
 luckily coming to the aid of the letter-writer, and reminding 
 him, that between friends an apparent separation is of no 
 consequence, as they are always present to each other in 
 idea. This is what they call the " Molakali Jismanio
 
 64 THE LIFE OF 
 
 Bohani," or corporeal and spiritual meeting; and without 
 these, few letters are ever written. 
 
 The Emperor Akbar, the most enlightened of the 
 monarchs of Asia, makes great use of them ; and consoles 
 himself with the one, for the want of the other ; but I am 
 not so much a philosopher as the Emperor, for I never write 
 to a Mussulman, without telling him, that notwithstanding 
 our spiritual meeting, unless the Cause of causes, God, 
 shall cause a cause, that shall be the cause of our corporeal 
 meeting, it will be altogether impossible for me to remain 
 much longer in the vale of tears. 
 
 Their best style of writing is, I think, their tales, which 
 are more simple than is generally thought in Europe. To 
 prove this, I send you the story of Shylock, which I found 
 in a Persian manuscript, with a literal translation of that 
 part which concerns him, for it is more properly the story 
 of the Cazi of Emessa.* 
 
 TRANSLATION. 
 
 " It is related, that in a town of Syria, a poor Mussul- 
 man lived in the neighbourhood of a rich Jew. One day 
 he went to the Jew and said, ' Lend me a hundred dinars, 
 that I may trade with it, and I will give thee a share of the 
 gain.' This Mussulman had a beautiful wife, and the Jew 
 had seen and fallen in love with her ; and thinking this a 
 favourable opportunity, he said, ' I will not do this ; but I 
 will give a hundred dinars with this condition, that after 
 six months thou shalt return it to me. But give me a 
 
 * This story is given verbatim, as coming from Ensign 
 Thomas Munro, in the collection of notes at the end of the 
 Merchant of Venice, in Malone's edition of Shakspeare. 
 A copy of the original Persian MS. written by Mr. Munro at 
 the time he discovered it, that is, in the year 1785 or 6, was 
 sent by him to his friend Mr. Haliburton ; but that gentleman 
 has unfortunately not preserved it.
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 
 
 65 
 
 bond in this form, that if the term of the agreement be 
 exceeded one day, I shall cut a pound of flesh from thy 
 body, from whatever place I choose.' The Jew thought 
 that by this means he might perhaps enjoy the Mussul- 
 man's wife. 
 
 " The Mussulman was dejected, and said, * How can this 
 thing be ?' But as his distress was extreme, he took the 
 money on that condition, and gave the bond, and set out 
 on a journey, and in that journey he acquired much gain, 
 and was every day saying to himself, ' God forbid that the 
 term of the agreement should pass away, and the Jew bring 
 vexation on me P He therefore gave a hundred gold dinars 
 into the hands of a trusty person, and sent him home to 
 give it to the Jew ; but his own family, being without 
 money, spent it to subsist themselves. 
 
 "When he returned from his journey, the Jew required 
 payment of the money, or the pound of flesh. The 
 Mussulman said, ' I sent the money a long time ago.' The 
 Jew said, ' The money came not to me. 1 When this, on 
 examination, appeared to be true, the Jew carried the Mus- 
 sulman before the Cazi, and represented the affair. The 
 Cazi said to the Mussulman, * Either satisfy the Jew, or 
 give the pound of flesh.' The Mussulman, not consenting 
 to this, said, ' Let us go to another Cazi.' When they went, 
 he also spoke in the same manner. The Mussulman asked 
 the advice of an ingenious friend that he had : he said, ' He 
 is a Jew, and thou art a Mussulman ; he is subject to thee 
 say to him, Let us go to the Cazi of Emessa ; go there, that 
 thy business may be well.' The Mussulman went to the 
 Jew, and said, ' I shall be satisfied with the decree of the 
 Cazi of Emessa.' The Jew said, ' I shall be so too.' Then 
 both departed for the city of Emessa. (Here follows a reci- 
 tal of the adventures they met with on the road ; but I 
 only translate that part of the story which concerns thd 
 Jew.) The Jew said, * O Judge ! this man borrowed a 
 VOL. I. F
 
 66 THE LIFE OF 
 
 hundred dinars of me, and made a pound of flesh from his 
 own body the pledge command him to give the money 
 or the flesh/ It happened that the Cazi was the friend of 
 the Mussulman's father, and on this account he said, ' Thou 
 sayest true, it is the purport of the bond. 1 He desired 
 them to bring a knife. The Mussulman, on hearing this, be- 
 came speechless. The knife being at length brought, the 
 Cazi turned his face to the Jew, and said, ' Arise, and cut a 
 pound of flesh from his body, in such manner that there 
 may not be a grain more or less ; and if thou shalt cut 
 more or less, I shall order thee to be put to death.' The 
 Jew said, ' I cannot ; I shall leave this business and de- 
 part. 1 The Cazi said, 'Thou mayest not leave it; for the 
 cruelty of the Jew is great. 1 He said, * O Cazi ! I have 
 released him!' He said, 'It cannot be; either cut the 
 flesh, or pay the expenses of his journey ;' and family me- 
 diators came in between them, and settled it at two hundred 
 dinars. The Jew paid another hundred and departed. 11 
 
 I have translated literally, without paying any attention 
 to the English idiom, that I might give you a better idea 
 of their manner. 
 
 The best imitators I have ever seen of the Persian wri- 
 tings are in the Turkish Spy. The tedious allegories of the 
 Adventurer have not the least resemblance to them : but 
 why attempt at all to imitate productions so much inferior 
 to our own ? Nothing is so absurd that does not find ad- 
 mirers in Europe. 
 
 The Vision of Mirza in the Spectator, sat all the literati 
 a-dreaming ; and for many years none of them would ven- 
 ture to write until they had first taken a nap. 
 
 This letter is already so long, that I must defer till my 
 next what I have farther to say on this subject. I shall 
 only say now, that the more I read, the more I am con- 
 vinced of the justice of Monsieur Voltaire's observations, 
 that the Persian poetry is something like the titles of their
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 67 
 
 kings, in which there is " souvent question" of the sun 
 and moon, or, if you please, " It is full of sound and fury, 
 signifying nothing. 1 ' I would not give a chapter of the 
 Don for the whole of it. 
 
 The date of the preceding letter is not given. 
 It was received in Glasgow in October, 1787, and 
 was probably written early in the same year ; but 
 the following tell their own tale, as well in this 
 as in other particulars. They breathe a fine spirit 
 of philosophy, as well as of disinterestedness and 
 affection. It is to be noted, that though the first 
 speaks of a fixed allowance as of an arrangement 
 to be made by Mr. Munro in his father's favour, 
 the practice of sending remittances home was not 
 then beginning. He had lived, even ' during his 
 maiden campaign, upon his pay ; and all his extra 
 allowances were regularly transmitted to Scot- 
 land. 
 
 TO HIS MOTHER. 
 
 Tanjore, 10th November, 1785. 
 DEAR MADAM, 
 
 THOUGH my situation is not such as I might 
 have expected, had Sir Eyre Coote lived, yet I still look 
 forward with hope, and do not despair of seeing it bettered. 
 The only cause I have for repining, is my inability to 
 assist my father as I wish, and the hearing that your spirits 
 are so much affected by the loss of his fortune. Yet I can- 
 not but think that you have many reasons for rejoicing. 
 None of your children have been taken from you ; and 
 though they cannot put you in a state of affluence, they 
 can place you beyond the reach of want. The time will 
 come, I hope, when they will be able to do more, and 
 
 F 2
 
 68 THE LIFE OF 
 
 to make the latter days of your life as happy as the first. 
 When I compare your situation with that of most mothers 
 whom I remember, I think that you have as little reason 
 for grieving as any of them. Many that are rich, are un- 
 happy in their families. The loss of fortune is but a par- 
 tial evil ; you are in no danger of experiencing the much 
 heavier one of having unthankful children. The friends 
 that deserted you with your fortune were unworthy of 
 your society ; those that deserved your friendship have not 
 forsaken you. 
 
 Alexander and I have agreed to remit my father 1007. a 
 year between us. If the arrears which Lord Macartney 
 detained are paid, I will send 200Z. in the course of the 
 year 1786. John Napier will tell you the reason why it 
 was not in my power to send more. 
 
 The writer of this beautiful letter was not 
 aware, that at the very moment when he was con- 
 gratulating his mother on the preservation of 
 every member of the family, one was on the eve 
 of paying the debt which all are doomed to pay. 
 No great while elapsed, however, ere the death of 
 his brother was communicated to him, to which 
 he replied in the following manner. 
 
 TO HIS FATHER. 
 
 Vellore, 15th February, 1787. 
 YOUR two last have made me almost afraid to 
 hear from you, which was one of the greatest pleasures I 
 had on earth ; for the one brought the melancholy accounts 
 of the death of a brother, whom, of all my brothers, if ever 
 I felt a partiality in favour of any of them, I loved the 
 most ; and the other, of the friend whom, of all my friends, 
 I most esteemed.
 
 Sill THOMAS MUNRO. 
 
 69 
 
 I cannot help being alarmed at my mother's situation : 
 her indulging her grief so unceasingly must prey upon her 
 health. I know the warmth of her feelings, and the 
 strength of her affection for her children ; but I hope her 
 religion and good sense will enable her to bear with resig- 
 nation the loss she has sustained. She has still many chil- 
 dren left, whose cares and attentions, though they can never 
 make her forget how excellent a son she has lost, may, in 
 some measure, console her for that which is now irre- 
 parable. 
 
 I mentioned to you in my last, that Daniel had gone to 
 Bengal : he tells me in his last, from Calcutta, " I leave 
 this to-morrow for Batavia, Malacca, and China. Mr. 
 Graham proposed my going there for a voyage, with two 
 hundred rupees per month. I was induced to close with it, 
 from the consideration of its being an introduction, and as an 
 opening to something more beneficial hereafter. You will 
 consult Mr. G. in the best mode of transmitting 150/. to 
 our parents, and the earlier it can be done the better ; I 
 mean that that sum shall annually be paid them by me. As 
 I shall be much at sea, 100/. per annum will defray my ex- 
 penses. In addition to this, you will endeavour to get my 
 allowances in the 36th regiment remitted." Daniel is gene- 
 rous and sanguine ; and I believe that his wish to assist you 
 has made him undervalue his own unavoidable expenses. 
 
 I must own that I shall advise him not to make any re- 
 mittance till his allowances are larger, unless it be his pay 
 in the 36th regiment, which I am afraid he will not be 
 allowed to draw if he is long absent; for, by distressing 
 himself at his outset, he might get into difficulties from 
 which he would hereafter, perhaps, find it difficult to extri- 
 cate himself. 
 
 There are several other letters in my possession, 
 dedicated to the same subject, all of them equally
 
 70 THE LIFE OF 
 
 touching; but 1 abstain from inserting them, only 
 because the limits of my work will not permit me 
 to give more than a portion of Mr. Munro's volu- 
 minous correspondence, 
 
 In the month of August, 1788, Mr. Munro was 
 appointed assistant in the Intelligence department, 
 under Captain Alexander Read, and attached to 
 the head-quarters of the force destined to take 
 possession of the province of Guntoor. The fol- 
 lowing contains an account of the causes which 
 led to that measure, as well as sentiments touch- 
 ing the policy and justice of the mode in which 
 it was effected. 
 
 TO HIS FATHER. 
 
 [The date uncertain, probably in January, 1789.] 
 
 THE most important public transaction, since my 
 last, is the surrender of the Guntoor Circar to the Company, 
 by which it becomes possessed of the whole coast, from 
 Jaggernaut to Cape Comorin. The Nizam made himself 
 master of that province soon after Hyder's invasion of the 
 Carnatic, as an equivalent for the arrears of peshcush, due 
 to him by the Company for the other Circars. The Com- 
 pany not being at that time in a situation to compel him to 
 restore it, he kept it quietly for several years ; and though 
 Sir John Macpherson sent Mr. Johnson to Hyderabad, to 
 demand the restitution of it, he paid little attention to his 
 request. But the Company, seeing their affairs again in 
 a respectable situation, determined to compel him to de- 
 liver what they considered as their own property. They 
 ordered Lord Comwallis to intimate to him, that they 
 were willing to discharge their arrears of peshcush, and to
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 71 
 
 .pay it regularly in future ; but that the restoration of Gun- 
 toor must be the price ; and that, in case of refusal or 
 delay, their troops would enter the province in fourteen 
 days. 
 
 Colonel Eidingtoun, with a detachment of a regiment of 
 Europeans, and four battalions of sepoys, being already 
 arrived on the boundary of the Company's territory, on 
 the 9th of September, Captain Kennaway, from Calcutta, 
 presented to the Nizam a paper, containing a demand of 
 the surrender of the Circar, a promise of a faithful dis- 
 charge of all arrears, as well as regular payment hereafter, 
 and notifying the time limited for the advance of the Com- 
 pany's troops. The Nizam, unable singly to contend with 
 such an antagonist, and despairing of assistance from any 
 of the country powers, (for Tippoo was unwilling to make 
 any movement without the co-operation of France, and the 
 Mahrattas were employed in expelling an usurper, and re- 
 instating Shah Alum on the throne of Delhi,) submitted 
 to the terms imposed upon him. He instantly issued 
 orders for his forces to evacuate Guntoor, but, at the same 
 time, protested against the violence and injustice of the 
 Company. " They ought," he said, " to have paid their 
 arrears previous to their insisting on the restoration of the 
 country ; and what security have I," he asked, " that they 
 will be more punctual in future in discharging their pesh- 
 cush than they have hitherto been ?" 
 
 It would certainly have been a more honourable and 
 manly policy to have paid him, first, all his just claims* 
 and then to have made the requisition. The consequence 
 would have been the same, with this difference, that adopt- 
 ing this method would have raised, while following the 
 other has degraded, the name of Englishmen ! 
 
 The spirit of the nation humbled in the West by an un- 
 fortunate war, seems to have extended its effects to this 
 country, in stooping to a timid, where a bold policy would
 
 72 THE LIFE OF 
 
 have been equally safe. The apprehension, if any existed, 
 was groundless, that the Nizam, if he had received the 
 money, might have employed it against the Company, and 
 refused to give up the province. The sum did not amount 
 to the quarter of one year's revenue ; and had it been ten 
 times more, it would have availed little ; for to a weak and 
 distracted government, without an army, money is but a 
 poor defence against a warlike and powerful enemy. He 
 knew that resistance would be in vain, and that it would 
 serve no other purpose than to afford the Company a pre- 
 tence for withholding the peshcush of the other provinces. 
 He was too wise to give them such an opening, and was 
 no doubt happy to save, in some measure, his credit, by 
 the consideration that they had some claim to the posses- 
 sion of Guntoor. His reply to Captain Kennaway's de- 
 mand is sensible and candid, it is the language of a 
 prince, who feels that he is insulted without having the 
 power to avenge himself. The perusal of it is affecting 
 it displays the humiliation of a great prince compelled to 
 sacrifice his dignity to necessity, and to suppress his indig- 
 nation at being told, that this is done with his own appro- 
 bation, and purely from motives of friendship by the Eng- 
 lish. If I can get a sight of the original, and a few spare 
 hours, I shall send you a translation of it. 
 
 I am, dear Sir, your affectionate son, 
 
 (Signed) THOS. MUNRO. 
 
 I subjoin to this a letter addressed to his sister, 
 of a date little, if at all, later than the preceding. 
 It is written in a very different style, and treats 
 of matters very different in then* nature.
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 73 
 
 Madras, 23d January, 1789- 
 
 MY DEAR ERSKINE, 
 
 NOT a scrap from you for almost two years ; 
 but my father, by sending me your fragment on Old Maids, 
 has taken care to let me see that you are taken up with 
 matters nearer home, than writing letters to me. Since 
 reading this poem, I have often wished that you were 
 transported for a few hours to my room, to be cured of 
 your Western notions of Eastern luxury, to witness the 
 forlorn condition of old bachelor Indian officers ; and to 
 give them also some comfort in a consolatory fragment. 
 You seem to think that they live like those satraps that 
 you have read of in plays ; and that I in particular hold 
 my state in prodigious splendour and magnificence that I 
 never go abroad unless upon an elephant, surrounded with 
 a crowd of slaves that I am arrayed in silken robes, and 
 that most of my time is spent in reclining* on a sofa, 
 listening to soft music, while I am fanned by my officious 
 pages ; or in dreaming, like Richard, under a canopy of 
 state. But while you rejoice in my imaginary greatness, 
 I am most likely stretched on a mat, instead of my real 
 couch ; and walking in an old coat, and a ragged shirt, in 
 the noonday sun, instead of looking down from my ele- 
 phant, invested in my royal garments. You may not 
 believe me when I tell you, that I never experienced 
 hunger or thirst, fatigue or poverty, till I came to India, 
 that since then, I have frequently met with the first 
 three, and that the last has been my constant companion. 
 If you wish for proofs, here they are. I was three 
 years in India before I was master of any other pillow 
 than a book or a cartridge-pouch ; my bed was a piece of 
 canvass, stretched on four cross sticks, whose only orna- 
 ment was the great coat that I brought from England, 
 which, by a lucky invention, I turned into a blanket in the 
 cold weather, by thrusting my legs into the sleeves, and
 
 74 THE LIFE OF 
 
 drawing the skirts over my head. In this situation I lay, 
 like Falstaff in the basket, hilt to point, and very com- 
 fortable, I assure you, all but my feet ; for the tailor, not 
 having foreseen the various uses to which this piece of dress 
 might be applied, had cut the cloth so short, that I never 
 could, with all my ingenuity, bring both ends under 
 cover ; whatever I gained by drawing up my legs, I lost 
 by exposing my neck ; and I generally chose rather to 
 cool my heels than my head. This bed served me till 
 Alexander went last to Bengal, when he gave me an Europe 
 camp-couch. On this great occasion, I bought a pillow 
 and a carpet to lay under me, but the unfortunate curtains 
 were condemned to make pillow-cases and towels ; and 
 now, for the first time in India, I laid my head on a 
 pillow. But this was too much good fortune to bear with 
 moderation ; I began to grow proud, and resolved to live 
 in great style : for this purpose I bought two table-spoons, 
 and two tea-spoons, and another chair, for I had but one 
 before a table, and two table-cloths. But my prosperity 
 was of short duration, for, in less than three months, I lost 
 three of my spoons, and one of my chairs was broken by 
 one of John Napier's companions. This great blow re- 
 duced me to my original obscurity, from which all my 
 attempts to emerge have hitherto proved in vain. 
 
 My dress has not been more splendid than my furniture. 
 I have never been able to keep it all of a piece ; it grows 
 tattered in one quarter, while I am establishing funds to 
 repair it in another ; and my coat is in danger of losing the 
 sleeves, while I am pulling it off, to try on a new waistcoat. 
 
 My travelling expeditions have never been performed 
 with much grandeur or ease. My only conveyance is an 
 old horse, who is now so weak, that, in all my journeys, I 
 am always obliged to walk two-thirds of the way ; and if 
 he were to die, I would give my kingdom for another, 
 and find nobody to accept of my offer. Till I came here,
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 75 
 
 I hardly knew what walking was. I have often walked 
 from sunrise to sunset, without any other refreshment 
 than a drink of water ; and I have traversed on foot, in 
 different directions, almost every part of the country, 
 between Vizagapatam and Madura, a distance of eight 
 hundred miles. 
 
 My house at Vellore consists of a hall and a bed-room. 
 The former contains but one piece of furniture, a table ; 
 but, on entering the latter, you would see me at my 
 writing-table, seated on my only chair, with the old couch 
 behind me, adorned with a carpet and pillow : on my 
 right hand a chest of books, and on my left two trunks; 
 one for holding about a dozen changes of linen, and the 
 other about half-a-dozen of plates, knives and forks, &c. 
 This stock will be augmented on my return by a great 
 acquisition, which I have made here, six tea-spoons and 
 a pair of candlesticks, bought at the sale of tHe furniture 
 of a family going to Europe. I generally dine at home 
 about three times in a month, and then my house looks 
 very superb ; every person on this occasion bringing his 
 own chair and plate. 
 
 As I have already told you that I am not Aladdin 
 with the wonderful lamp, and that, therefore, I keep 
 neither pages, nor musicians, nor elephants, you may. 
 perhaps, after having had so particular an account of my 
 possessions, wish to know in what manner I pass my 
 leisure hours. How this was done some years ago, I 
 scarcely remember ; but for the last two years that I have 
 been at Vellore, I could relate the manner in which almost 
 every hour was employed. 
 
 Seven was our breakfast-hour, immediately after which 
 I walked out generally alone; and though ten was my 
 usual hour of returning, I often wandered about the fields 
 till one ; but when I adhered to the rules I had laid down 
 for myself, I came home at ten and read Persian till one,
 
 76 THE LIFE OF 
 
 when I dressed and went to dinner. Came back before 
 three ; sometimes slept half an hour, sometimes not, and 
 then wrote or talked Persian and Moors till sunset, when 
 I went to the parade, from whence I set out with a party 
 to visit the ladies, or to play cards at the commanding 
 officer's. This engaged me till nine, when I went to sup- 
 per, or more frequently returned home without it, and 
 read politics and nonsense till bed-time, which, according 
 to the entertainment which I met with, happened some time 
 between eleven and two. I should have mentioned fives 
 as an amusement that occupied a great deal of my time. 
 I seldom missed above two days in a week at this game, 
 and always played two or three hours at a time, which 
 were taken from my walks and Persian studies. Men are 
 much more boyish in this country than in Europe, and, in 
 spite of the sun, take, I believe, more exercise, and are, 
 however strange it may appear, better able to undergo 
 fatigue, unless on some remarkably hot days. I never 
 could make half the violent exertions at home that I have 
 made here. My daily walks were usually from four to 
 twelve miles, which I thought a good journey in Scotland. 
 You see children of five or six years of age following the 
 camp, and marching fifteen or sixteen miles a-day with the 
 same ease as their fathers. 
 
 I have almost as much local attachment to Vellore as to 
 Northside ; for it is situated in a delightful valley, contain- 
 ing all the varieties of meadows, groves, and rice-fields. 
 On every side you see romantic hills, some near, some dis- 
 tant, continually assuming new forms as you advance or 
 retire. All around you is classic ground in the history of 
 this country ; for almost every spot has been the residence 
 of some powerful family, now reduced to misery by fre- 
 quent revolutions, or the scene of some important action in 
 former wars.
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 77 
 
 Not with more veneration should I visit the field of 
 Marathon, or the capitol of the ancient Romans, than I 
 tread on this hallowed ground ; for, in sitting under a tree, 
 and while listening to the disastrous tale of some noble 
 Moorman, who relates to you the ruin of his fortune and his 
 family, to contemplate by what strange vicissitudes you 
 and he, who are both originally from the North of Asia, 
 after a separation of so many ages, coming from the most 
 opposite quarters, again meet in Hindostan to contend with 
 each other this is to me wonderfully solemn and affecting. 
 
 Soon after the preceding letters were written, 
 Mr. Munro set out for Ambore, where he con- 
 tinued to do duty, in his new capacity, till the 
 year 1790. This was a period of no common 
 interest. Among other arrangements entered 
 into with the Nizam, it was stipulated, that a 
 corps, to be lent to him as often as his circum- 
 stances might require, by the British Government, 
 should not be employed against any power in 
 alliance with the Company ; and the powers thus 
 honoured with a friendly title were explicitly 
 enumerated. The name of Tippoo was not found 
 in the list; and that prince, well aware that he 
 was an object of jealousy both to the Mahrattas 
 and to the Nizam, experienced, as it was natural 
 that he should, considerable uneasiness at the 
 omission. He began to arm, and his movements 
 were before long of such a nature as to leave 
 no doubt of the hostility of his designs towards 
 the Carnatic. Though there was no such appre- 
 hension of a war now, as there had been ten
 
 78 THE LIFE OF 
 
 years previously, to preserve peace by every 
 honourable means was the decided policy of the 
 East India Company ; and this they hoped to 
 effect, not so much by the assumption of a for- 
 midable, though a defensive, attitude, as by keep- 
 ing up what was termed " the balance of power" 
 among the native states. To reduce Tippoo there- 
 fore entirely, was esteemed a measure fraught 
 with no less danger than to permit his pushing 
 his conquests too far. He was regarded as an 
 excellent check upon the Mahrattas, as well as 
 a rival to the Company itself, which would have 
 kept him so, had not his own precipitancy plunged 
 him into hostilities with the English nation. 
 
 The following letter from Mr. Munro to his 
 father contains so many striking truths, and ex- 
 hibits so fair a specimen of the writer's method 
 of thinking and reasoning on all subjects, that I 
 cannot refuse to it a place in these pages. It will 
 be seen, that the experience which he had by this 
 time acquired, encouraged him to take wider 
 views, and to deliver more decided opinions, on 
 the transactions passing around him ; that the jus- 
 tice of his conclusions have been fully confirm- 
 ed by the event ; and that the conclusions them- 
 selves are in many respects not less applicable to 
 the state of the Company's affairs at this moment, 
 than they were when originally drawn.
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 
 
 TO HIS FATHER. 
 
 79 
 
 Ambore, 17th January, 1790. 
 TIPPOO, after having been for the last two years 
 employed in suppressing a rebellion among the Nairs on the 
 Malabar coast, has at length turned his arms against the 
 King of Travancore. His design against this prince has 
 been known above a year in every part of India ; and 
 Government, on their part, have not failed to demand 
 explanations, and to trust, as usual, more to assurances, 
 so often broken, than to the more certain evidence of his 
 ambition, and the hostile movements of his armies. It is 
 above a year since the King of Travancore, seeing the 
 storm gathering, requested that two battalions of sepoys, 
 to be paid by him, might be sent to his assistance ; his 
 demand was complied with ; and he hoped that the pre- 
 sence of these troops would either deter Tippoo from 
 attacking him, or at least induce his allies, the English, 
 to support him in the event of a war. Experience has 
 already shown that he was mistaken in the first instance : 
 how far he was right in the second, a few days must now 
 determine. His country is naturally strong, and his 
 people are warlike ; but, unassisted, he will not long be 
 able to contend with his powerful antagonist. His domi- 
 nions are entirely surrounded by a range of mountains 
 and the sea, except an opening to the north, of about 
 ten miles, between the termination of the hills and the 
 Malabar shore. This space is defended by a high mound 
 of earth planted with a thick bamboo hedge, and is 
 farther secured by the fort of Cranganore, which the 
 Dutch sold last year to the King of Travancore. On 
 this transaction Tippoo grounds his reasons for now com- 
 mencing hostilities, asserting that the Rajah of Cochin, 
 being his vassal, had no right to sell it to the Dutch 
 without his approbation, nor they to another power. He
 
 80 THE LIFE OF 
 
 demanded its restoration some months ago, and was 
 refused by the King. The Government have signified 
 to him their intention of not supporting him in maintain- 
 ing any acquisitions he may have made since the last 
 peace. They at the same time wrote to Tippoo, telling 
 him that their ally, the King, was under great alarm at 
 his assembling an army on his frontiers; but testifying 
 their own confidence in his pacific disposition. Tippoo 
 was not yet ready for action, and therefore replied, that 
 nothing was farther from his thoughts than war ; but 
 having at length completed the reduction of his rebel- 
 lious subjects, he turned his arms instantly to the south- 
 ward, and cannonaded and stormed the Travancore lines 
 on the 29th of December, but was repulsed with the loss 
 of eight hundred men. A second attack is daily ex- 
 pected; and if the King is left alone, all his exertions 
 against a power so superior, can delay but for a very 
 short time his ruin. The English battalions were behind 
 the lines, but not at the place attacked ; and it is said 
 that they have orders not to act, even on the defensive. 
 If such be the case, the Rajah ought to dismiss them 
 with scorn ; for the present is the only moment in which 
 the aid of such a handful of men can be effectual. The 
 barrier once forced, orders for them to act will arrive too 
 late. All their efforts will then avail but little against 
 the numbers of their enemies, and will only serve to draw 
 a heavier vengeance on themselves and the unfortunate 
 Rajah. 
 
 The distinction made between recent acquisition and 
 ancient territory appears to be a subterfuge of Govern- 
 ment to cloak their dread of war under a pretended love 
 of peace ; for Cranganore was a fair purchase of the 
 Dutch from the Rajah of Cochin, subject, however, to 
 an annual tribute of thirty-five rupees. And Tippoo, 
 after the conquest of that prince's country, could not,
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 81 
 
 with any colour of justice, as long as he received the 
 annual acknowledgment paid to the former sovereign* 
 hinder the Dutch from selling it. 
 
 Should the English determine to support their ally, 
 they could not wish for a more favourable conjuncture 
 than the present. The Nizam, afraid df the growing 
 power of Tippoo, and his former caution increased with 
 years, would remain neuter ; and the Mahrattas, during 
 the present unsettled state of affairs at Delhi, and their 
 disputes with the Rajah of Jaipore, and other princes 
 of the North of India, would hardly engage in new wars, 
 unless with the view of regaining the provinces wrested 
 from them by Hyder. The flame of rebellion too being 
 scarcely extinguished in his own dominions, all the Nairs, 
 from Mangalore to Cochin, would crowd in arms to the 
 standard of an invading army. But for this invasion, I 
 fear that we are not yet in the state of readiness which 
 we ought to be. It will require some time to assemble 
 an army able to face the enemy ; and before such an 
 army can be put in motion, Tippoo may be in actual 
 possession of Travancore and all the southern countries. 
 We have derived but little benefit from experience and 
 misfortune. The year 1790 now sees us as unprepared 
 as the year 1780 did for war. We have added to the 
 numbers of our army, but not to its strength, by bringing 
 so many regiments from Europe ; for so great a number 
 of Europeans serve only to retard the operations of an 
 Indian army, less by their inability to endure the fatigues 
 of the field, than by the great quantity of cattle which 
 is requisite to convey their provisions and equipage. No 
 addition has been made to our sepoys, on whom we have 
 long depended, and may still with security depend, for the 
 preservation of our empire in this country. We have, 
 therefore, made our army more expensive and numerous, 
 though less calculated for the purposes of war, than for- 
 
 VOL. I. G
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 merly, both on account of the multitude of Europeans, 
 and the want of cattle. We keep up, it is true, a small 
 establishment of bullocks, but hardly sufficient to draw 
 the guns, far less to transport the prodigious quantity of 
 stores and provisions which follow an army. Had half 
 the money, idly thrown away in sending a naval squadron, 
 and four additional regiments to this country, been em- 
 ployed in increasing the establishment of sepoys and cattle, 
 we should then have had an army which, for its lightness 
 and capacity for action, would have broken the power 
 of our formidable rival. 
 
 Exclusive of the unwieldiness of our army, we shall 
 commence the war under the disadvantage of a want of 
 magazines, for we have none at present but at Madras. 
 Since the conclusion of the late war, we have acted as if we 
 had been to enjoy a perpetual peace. The distresses and 
 difficulties which we then encountered, from the want of 
 them, has not cured us of the narrow policy of preferring 
 a present small saving, to a certain though future great 
 and essential advantage. The money disbursed on such an 
 occasion would have been amply repaid by the facility 
 which it would have given to our warlike operations. 
 Magazines at this place, for instance, would have prevent- 
 ed us from being obliged to leave Madras encumbered with 
 a great quantity of stores and provisions ; from being 
 forced to fight in that situation, and after losing half of 
 them, compelled to return for a supply would have 
 brought us one hundred and thirty miles nearer the ene- 
 my's frontiers, and by that means have rendered it un- 
 necessary to have carried any great store of grain, as we 
 should have found it every where in the Mysore country, 
 and would have enabled us to have reduced the whole of 
 Tippoo's dominions in one, or, at most, in two campaigns. 
 It may be thought that Tippoo, on our entering his terri- 
 tories, would cut off all supplies of provisions ; but this is
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 83 
 
 not so easily to be done as may at first sight appear. It is 
 not here as in Europe, where they have only one harvest. 
 Every month produces a crop of some kind of grain or 
 other, which would serve for the subsistence of our army ; 
 or if that was not sufficient, we should find enough in 
 every little village. Tippoo, it may be said, might burn 
 the standing grain, as well as that laid up in the villages. 
 The former he might soon destroy, but not the latter, be- 
 cause it is not at all collected in. a public magazine, but 
 every man has as much as will support his family through- 
 out the year concealed in pits, in his own house ; and the 
 quantity is very considerable, as grain is the only food of 
 the inhabitants ; but Tippoo, in burning the grain, would 
 distress himself more than us ; for having little intercourse 
 with other nations, and his own being almost entirely com- 
 posed of husbandmen, he would deprive himself of the 
 principal source of his revenue. Besides, if he laid waste 
 the open country, he must collect great magazines, in a few 
 of his principal forts, to supply his numerous armies ; and 
 whenever any one of them fell, it would give us the means 
 of fixing ourselves firmly in his country ; for that which 
 would subsist his army for a month, would maintain ours 
 for a year. 
 
 It would therefore have been more wise to have made 
 these preparations, which would have facilitated the move- 
 ments of the army, than to have increased its unwieldy 
 force. It was not men that we wanted, for we were strong 
 enough before to fight and beat the enemy, but the power 
 of giving action and energy to the force in our hands ; for 
 it is an army that, while it is strong enough to face our 
 enemy, is also able to march with rapidity, that can alone 
 be formidable to him. 
 
 Notwithstanding our unprepared state, our force is so 
 superior, and our advantage so great in having the choice 
 of entering any part of his dominions, that many are of 
 
 G 2
 
 84 THE LIFE OF 
 
 opinion, that were we now to proceed with despatch to 
 form magazines, and to commence the war with vigour, we 
 might, without any great display of military talents, con- 
 clude it with the subversion of the rising empire of our 
 most inveterate enemy. 
 
 It has long been admitted as an axiom in politics, by the 
 directors of our affairs, both at home and in this country, 
 that Tippoo ought to be preserved as a barrier between us 
 and the Mahrattas. This notion seems to have been at first 
 adopted without much knowledge of the subject, and to 
 have been followed without much consideration. It is to 
 support a powerful and ambitious enemy, to defend us 
 from a weak one. From the neighbourhood of the one, we 
 have every thing to apprehend ; from that of the other, 
 nothing. This will be clearly understood, by reflecting for 
 a moment on the different constitutions of the two govern- 
 ments. The one, the most simple and despotic monarchy 
 in the world, in which every department, civil and military, 
 possesses the regularity and system communicated to it by 
 the genius of Hyder, and in which all pretensions derived 
 from high birth being discouraged, all independent chiefs 
 and Zemindars subjected or extirpated, justice severely and 
 impartially administered to every class of people, a nume- 
 rous and well-disciplined army kept up, and almost every 
 employment of trust or consequence conferred on men 
 raised from obscurity, gives to the government a vigour 
 hitherto unexampled in India. The other, composed of 
 a confederacy of independent chiefs possessing extensive 
 dominions, and numerous armies, now acting in concert, 
 now jealous of each other, and acting only for their own 
 advantage, and at all times liable to be detached from the 
 public cause, by the most distant prospect of private gain, 
 can never be a very dangerous enemy to the English. The 
 first is a government of conquest ; the last, merely of plun-
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 85 
 
 der and depredation. The character of vigour has been so 
 strongly impressed on the Mysore government by the abilities 
 of its founders, that it may retain it, even under the reign 
 of a weak prince, or a minor. But the strength of the su- 
 preme Mahratta government is continually varying, accord- 
 ing to the disposition of its different members, who some- 
 times strengthen it by union, and sometimes weaken it by de- 
 fection, or by dividing their territories among their children. 
 
 That nation likewise maintains no standing army, adopts 
 none of the European modes of discipline, and is impelled 
 by no religious tenets to attempt the extirpation of men of 
 a different belief. But Tippoo supports an army of 110,000 
 men, a large body of which is composed of slaves, called 
 Chailies, trained on the plan of the Turkish janizaries, 
 and follows with the greatest eagerness every principle of 
 European tactics. He has even gone so far as to publish 
 a book for the use of his officers, a copy of which is now 
 in my possession, containing, besides the evolutions and 
 manoeuvres usually practised in Europe, some of his own 
 invention, together with directions for marching, encamipng, 
 and fighting, and he is, with all his extraordinary talents, 
 a furious zealot in a faith which founds eternal happiness 
 on the destruction of other sects. 
 
 An opportunity for humbling an enemy so dangerous, 
 and so implacable, has now appeared ; and had we been in 
 the state of readiness for action which good policy de- 
 manded of us, one army might have entered the Coimbi- 
 tore country, and another set down before Bangalore, 
 almost before he could have opposed us. But so far from 
 this, no army is yet likely to assemble ; and it was with 
 much difficulty that Colonel Musgrave prevailed on the 
 Governor to send the 36th regiment, two battalions of 
 sepoys, one regiment of cavalry, and a company of artil- 
 lery, to Trichinopoly ; but the troops there, even when
 
 86 THE LIFE OF 
 
 joined by this detachment, will not form an army that will 
 be able to act offensively. 
 
 Our operations will be still farther impeded by the re- 
 ference which it will, most likely, be judged expedient to 
 make to Bengal, before we proceed on an offensive war. 
 
 The public look impatiently for the arrival of , 
 
 and seem to be sanguine in their expectations of the 
 happy effects to be derived from the ability and exertions 
 of so distinguished a character. Experience might have 
 taught them, at least in this country, to build less on 
 great names ; for they have seen so many impositions on 
 the understanding of mankind, invested with high offices, 
 and recommended by common fame, as were enough to 
 prejudice them against any man who should come among 
 them with such credentials. 
 
 I am, dear Sir, your affectionate Son, 
 
 (Signed) THOS. MUNRO. 
 
 The following extracts from a letter to his sister, 
 contrast powerfully with the document just given, 
 and prove, that the mind which could thus specu- 
 late upon the rise and fall of empires, was neither 
 insensible to the pleasure to be derived from a 
 contemplation of the forms of outward nature, 
 nor to the still more refined enjoyments which 
 depend upon the exercise of memory and re- 
 flection: 
 
 Ambore, 1st March, 1790. 
 
 I SPEND many of my leisure hours on the highest 
 summit of the rock on which the fort stands, under the 
 shady side of a bastion built by Hyder. 
 
 This spot has for me a certain charm, which I always 
 strongly feel, but cannot easily describe. It is a kind of 
 enjoyment derived from the wide view of the diversified
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 87 
 
 country below me, from the thoughts that its rivers, woods, 
 and villages, give rise to ; but above all, from the temporary 
 return that I make to my native country, while memory 
 contrasts the far distant with the surrounding objects. 
 
 While seated on the rock, I am, or I fancy that I am, 
 more thoughtful than when below. The extent and gran- 
 deur of the scene raises my mind, and the solitude and 
 silence make me think that " I am conversing with Nature 
 here." 
 
 To the east, I see a romantic and well-cultivated valley, 
 leading to the wide plains of the Carnatic. To the south, 
 a continuation of the same valley, running as far as the eye 
 can reach, into Mysore. All the rest, on every side, is 
 a vast assemblage of hills and naked rocks, wildly heaped 
 one above another. 
 
 I am so fond of my station here, surveying so many 
 regions, and enjoying the refreshing coolness of the stones 
 and the air, while the country below appears to be on fire, 
 that I seldom quit it till the sun, coming over my head, 
 forces me to descend. 
 
 I am particular in mentioning these things to you, be- 
 cause I know that you will be more interested in such little 
 incidents as mark the turn of my thoughts, and the man- 
 ner in which I pass my time, than in a thousand descrip- 
 tions of the country and its revolutions. 
 
 But you must not suppose, from what I have said, that 
 I am idle, and live entirely on the hill ; on the contrary, 
 I am so constantly employed that I have not time to visit 
 it more than once, seldom twice a-week. My business is 
 laborious in the extreme. 
 
 No great while elapsed after the date of this 
 letter ere Tippoo, who for some time threatened 
 the lines of Travancore, advanced in force, and 
 carried them by assault. This was the immediate
 
 88 THE LIFE OF 
 
 signal for a declaration of war on the part of the 
 British Government. An alliance was entered 
 into with the Mahrattas and the Nizam, each of 
 whom engaged to furnish a contingent, whilst 
 two large armies were commanded to assemble, 
 one under General Meadows, the successor of Mr. 
 Holland, at Madras, the other under General 
 Abercrombie, at Bombay. These measures no 
 sooner became known to Mr. Munro, than he 
 solicited and obtained permission to return to his 
 regimental duties ; but before he could quit Am- 
 bore, hostilities were begun, of which, as well as 
 of the events that led to them, he gives the fol- 
 lowing narrative : 
 
 TO HIS FATHER. 
 
 Ambore, 22d September, 1790. 
 DEAR SIR, 
 
 MY last letter to you was, I believe, written in 
 April or May. I then mentioned the new aspect of affairs 
 in this country, and some of the causes which appeared to 
 have produced so unexpected a change. A correspondence 
 was carried on between Tippoo and Government, from the 
 storming of the Travancore lines, till the declaration of 
 war ; but having had no opportunity of seeing it, or even, 
 from my remote detached situation, of hearing the current 
 reports respecting it, I cannot pretend to give any account 
 of its nature. I have only heard in general terms, that 
 Tippoo first disavowed having given any orders for hos- 
 tilities ; afterwards acknowledged his design of driving the 
 Rajah of Travancore from the territory which he had 
 usurped ; and, at last, threatened the Company with his 
 vengeance in case they should support their ally. I am
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 89 
 
 equally ignorant whether the motives ascribed to Mr. Hol- 
 land for his conduct, are founded in truth or speculation. 
 That he raised his demands upon the Rajah in proportion 
 to the approach of danger, is not improbable ; but that he 
 sold Tippoo a country which he meant to defend against 
 his arms, is too bold a species of villany to have ever been 
 conceived. 
 
 The inactivity of Tippoo may have been the cause of 
 our imputing to his political avarice a conduct which has 
 perhaps been directed solely by the coldness and indecision 
 of his character. All such intrigues, if ever they existed, 
 will be sooner known to Parliament than to the public in 
 this country. I shall therefore leave them, and confine 
 myself entirely to the detail of military transactions, which 
 have already, even in this early period of the war, been 
 attended with some important acquisitions. 
 
 In a very short time after Tippoo's invasion of Travan- 
 core, a triple alliance was formed against him by the 
 Company, the Mahrattas, and the Nizam. I am ignorant 
 of the stipulated force to be furnished by the two last 
 powers, but it appears, from their preparations, not to 
 have been very considerable. It was foreseen that their 
 usual delays, their dread of Tippoo, and the swellings of 
 the Kistnah and other rivers from the rains which fall con- 
 stantly and violently on the Malabar coast, though lightly 
 on. the Nizam's country from May till September, would 
 prevent their taking any active part till late in the season ; 
 and as Travancore appeared to be in the greatest danger, 
 it became necessary to send an army as expeditiously as 
 possible to the relief of the Rajah. Tippoo was already 
 master of the lines, when Colonel Hartley, from Bombay, 
 arrived at Parore on the 23d of April, with the 75th regi- 
 ment and two battalions of sepoys. This force, joined to 
 the Madras battalions, could not save Crunganore and Pa- 
 rore. Tippoo took them, and destroyed them ; but he
 
 90 THE LIFE OF 
 
 was deterred from advancing far into the country by the 
 rivers, by the strong position of Colonel Hartley on the 
 island of Vipeen, whom he could not easily attack, and 
 was afraid to leave in his rear; and, above all, by the 
 arrival of the English army on the plains of Trichinopoly. 
 He began his march towards Coimbitore on the 15th of 
 May, carrying with him all the guns and military stores 
 which he had found in Travancore. Though every means 
 had been adopted from the day of General Meadows's 
 landing, to hasten the preparations in every department, 
 the army was not ready to move before the end of May. 
 The General joined it on the 24th, and marched on the 
 26th of that month, with provisions for forty days. Before 
 he had advanced twenty miles, near twenty tumbrils broke 
 down ; and it was found that above one thousand bullocks 
 were wanting to transport the grain and stores ; he was 
 obliged to halt some days, in order to get the tumbrils 
 replaced from Trichinopoly, and to collect a supply of 
 bullocks. Whenever this was accomplished, he advanced 
 again ; but either from the badness of the bullocks, or of 
 their drivers, he made very little progress, not above five 
 or six miles a-day; and even the bullocks were always sent 
 back from the new to the old encampment, to bring on the 
 half of the provisions which had necessarily been left be- 
 hind. Twenty days were thus consumed in marching to 
 Caroor, though the distance is only sixty miles. The gar- 
 rison evacuated it on his approach. He halted there till 
 some repairs were made on the works, and a magazine 
 formed in it of thirty days' rice for the army, when he 
 marched on the 2d of July towards Aravacourchy, a place 
 of little strength, garrisoned by a few poligars, who sur- 
 rendered at the first summons. He arrived on the 10th at 
 Daraporam, and found it abandoned. A few of the ene- 
 my's irregular horse were seen this day for the first time, 
 and about fifty or sixty of them were killed or taken.
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 91 
 
 Tippoo was at this time at Coimbitore with his whole 
 force ; and as a report prevailed, and was by many be" 
 lieved, that he had resolved to fight the English army 
 there, the General threw the battering guns and superflu- 
 ous baggage into Daraporam, and prepared to meet him as 
 light as possible. 
 
 But Tippoo had already transported his army across the 
 Bowanny, and ascended the steep defiles on the road to 
 Seringapatam. On this information being received, the 
 guns and baggage were again brought out, and the army 
 advanced towards Coimbitore, to which place Colonel 
 Floyd was sent with the cavalry on the 21st, to prevent 
 its being burned by Seid Saheb, who had been left by 
 Tippoo to watch the motions of the English, and who re- 
 treated as they advanced, halting generally at the distance 
 of twenty miles from their camp. The unexpected ap- 
 proach of the cavalry prevented Seid Saheb from execut- 
 ing his instructions of setting fire to the town ; and the 
 army coming up next day. Colonel Floyd was detached in 
 pursuit of him with his own regiment, and three of native 
 cavalry. After marching thirty miles, he found himself, 
 about ten at night, in the middle of a small horse-camp of 
 the enemy. He dispersed the party, which amounted only 
 to five hundred, and took thirty or forty horsemen. They 
 informed him that Seid Saheb was encamped about eight 
 miles off, on the banks of the Bowanny, with eight thou- 
 sand horse, and a body of infantry, with guns. Thinking 
 it imprudent to attack so formidable a force, and the spot 
 where he was affording no forage, he fell back ten miles next 
 morning, and wrote to camp for infantry and guns. On 
 the 23d and 24th, Seid Saheb passed the river on rafts ; 
 and on the 29th, Colonel Floyd, having been reinforced, 
 marched in quest of him. When he reached the river 
 next day, he saw his rear-guard encamped on the opposite 
 bank : he threw away some shot at it, and returned to
 
 92 THE LIFE OF 
 
 camp. The result of this affair occasioned much disap- 
 pointment, and, as usual, a good deal of discussion. It was 
 said on the one side, that Floyd had no reason to doubt 
 the information of the prisoners, that the force of the 
 enemy, as described by them, was too superior to afford 
 any reasonable hope of a victory ; and that the advantages 
 to be derived from it, however complete, were not to be 
 put in competition with the disastrous consequences with 
 which a defeat would have been attended. But, on the 
 other hand, it was observed, that even granting the 
 strength of the enemy to have been as great as it was re- 
 presented by the prisoners, we must give up all thoughts 
 of maintaining by arms our power in India, if near two 
 thousand cavalry, highly disciplined and better mounted 
 than any in Europe, cannot face eight thousand half-armed 
 irregulars; that if there was a corps of infantry, it could 
 have done him no injury, as he could have kept aloof on 
 observing it, and retreated towards camp, where it would 
 not have ventured to follow him ; and if the horse had pur- 
 sued, he would have had to do with them alone ; that no 
 man of the least military experience would place implicit 
 confidence on the report of an enemy, especially when it 
 is well known that the strength of an army can never be 
 learned unless from officers accustomed to look at returns 
 of its numbers, and that all others exaggerate its force two 
 and three fold, not so much from design as from ignorance, 
 and not accustoming themselves to ascertain by the eye the 
 numbers of large bodies of men ; that any officer who has 
 had the smallest opportunity of seeing the erroneousness of 
 such reports, would have made allowance for the ignorance 
 of a marauding horseman, and reduced the strength of the 
 enemy one-half, in order to bring it nearer the truth ; that 
 the reports of the country people, the nearness of the Bo- 
 wanny, (a deep and remarkably rapid river, over which 
 Tippoo had, a fortnight before, transported all his infan-
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 93 
 
 try and guns,) and his own sagacity, ought to have taught 
 Colonel Floyd that Tippoo had left, as it afterwards ap- 
 peared, only cavalry behind ; and that, on the whole, 
 either from too much caution, or a want of field experience, 
 he, notwithstanding his zeal and gallantry, lost an oppor- 
 tunity, which he will in vain look for again, of cutting off 
 to a man, without the least danger to himself, between 
 three and four thousand of the enemy. 
 
 Colonel Stuart also returned to Coimbitore, about the 
 end of the month, from Polligatchery, which he had been 
 sent with a detachment to summon; but the Killedar refus- 
 ing to surrender, and having no battering guns, and the 
 Malabar rains still falling with great violence, he found it 
 would be impracticable to besiege it. 
 
 The distance of Tippoo above the Ghauts, which it 
 would require many days to descend, and the strong situa- 
 tion of the Coimbitore country, defended by the Bowanny 
 and the Cavery, at this time swelled by the western mon- 
 soon, encouraged the General to adopt the measure of di- 
 viding his army to hasten the reduction of several forts in 
 that province, which were still in possession of the enemy. 
 Heraie, a place of no great strength, capitulated to Colonel 
 Oldham in the beginning of August. Colonel Stuart, with 
 the 52d regiment, the grenadiers of the first regiment of 
 the Company, and four or five battalions of sepoys, opened 
 a battery against Dindigul on the 19th ; and the ammu- 
 nition being expended on the 21st, it became necessary 
 either to wait for the arrival of a supply, or to storm. The 
 latter appeared most eligible : a party was selected for this 
 purpose ; it consisted of the 52d, and the Company's Eu- 
 ropean grenadiers, supported by the 20th and 22d batta- 
 lions of sepoys. The rock was so steep, that the troops 
 were obliged to push one another up, which occasioned 
 their advancing to the breach in small straggling parties, 
 and their being repulsed with ease by a very trifling fire from
 
 94 THE LIFE OF 
 
 the garrison. Some accounts say, that the breach was not 
 practicable, the rubbish which had fallen from it not 
 being sufficient to enable the men to mount to the top of the 
 wall ; others, that the breach was a good one ; but the be- 
 haviour of the grenadiers shameful. They were saved 
 from the danger, perhaps from the disgrace, of a second 
 assault, by the appearance of the white flag on the wall by 
 daybreak next morning. The commandant was an old 
 man, who had formerly gone on an embassy to Constanti- 
 nople. His garrison consisted of eight hundred men ; but 
 only one hundred and fifty stood by him at the defence of 
 the breach ; which induced him, it is said, to observe, in an- 
 swer to a compliment of Colonel Stuart's, " that he would 
 not have seen him in camp for three months, had he not 
 been deserted by his men." Much heroism was not neces- 
 sary on the part of the garrison to have made good this 
 assertion ; for the works were found entirely rebuilt, and 
 only inferior in strength to those of Madras. The loss of 
 the storming party was inconsiderable. 
 
 A few days after the fall of Dindigul, Sattimungalum, a 
 fort on the banks of the Bowanny, was taken by a detach- 
 ment under Colonel Floyd. While a parley was holding 
 with the garrison, a sallyport was perceived to be un- 
 guarded, and was instantly seized by Captain Stuart, of 
 the 25th battalion ; on which the place surrendered. The 
 rains having abated, Colonel Stuart again moved towards 
 Poligatcherry, where he arrived on the 9th instant. The 
 General, in the mean time, remained at Coimbitore, as a 
 centrical situation, to collect his army, or to support any 
 division of it which might he attacked : he had with him 
 two regiments of Europeans, and one battalion of sepoys. 
 Colonel Floyd was on the Bowanny, waiting for its falling, 
 in order to besiege Daniagancottah, or Danicottah, accord- 
 ing to our maps. The General had forty days' rice in 
 camp, which he was to keep untouched till he arrived
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 95 
 
 before Seringapatam ; and exclusive of this, a magazine of 
 sixty days' rice was expected to be found at Sattimungalum 
 by the 20th instant : no difficulty was found in getting it, 
 for the country was as quiet as in the midst of the most 
 profound peace. The few parties of the enemy's horse 
 who had ventured across the Bowanny, had been dispersed, 
 and two or three hundred of them killed or taken. Pro- 
 visions abounded in the camp, for every thing was paid for 
 in ready money ; and the inhabitants were protected, by the 
 strictest discipline, from every kind of violence. The Ben- 
 gal detachment, which had arrived at Madras in July, was 
 encamped at Arnee, under Colonel Kelly, and, joined to 
 the 4th, 74th, and 76th regiments of Europeans, and the 
 21st and 27th battalions of sepoys, formed the" centre army. 
 Colonel Hartley remained in the neighbourhood of Cochin- 
 The Nizam was cantoned at Pangul, on the north side of 
 the Kistna. His nephew, Mahabut Jung, the Nabob of 
 Adoni, was at Rarchore, with about ten thousand men ; 
 and two of the Company's battalions of sepoys, and Purm 
 Ram Row, the Mahratta, with a body of horse from Poo- 
 nah, and the Bombay detachment under Captain Little, 
 had just passed the Kistna ; but all these allies, hindered 
 by the rains, but more by the terror of Tippoo, marched at 
 a great distance, till the English army should ascend the 
 Ghauts and engage him, in order to decide on their respec- 
 tive operations. Such was nearly the situation of the dif- 
 ferent powers when Tippoo Sultan, with his whole army, 
 marched suddenly from Seringapatam, and, to the surprise 
 of every one, again descended the Ghauts, and attacked the 
 advanced body of the southern army. 
 
 Within the space of a fortnight after writing 
 this letter, Mr. Munro resigned his situation at 
 Ambore, and joined the 21st battalion of Native 
 Infantry, which formed part of the army destined,
 
 96 THE LIFE OF 
 
 under the command of Colonel Maxwell, to in- 
 vade the Baramahaul. 
 
 Of the military movements which ensued, the 
 following extracts of letters to his father give, by 
 far, the most animated and striking account 
 which has yet appeared. 
 
 Tippoo left Seringapatam on the 2nd of September, 
 carrying with him some of the light country boats, to 
 transport his guns across the Bowanny ; but finding on 
 the road that this river had fallen considerably, he left 
 them behind, and descended the Gujehatty Pass on the 
 9th. A reinforcement of cavalry had, some time before 
 this, joined Seid Saheb. whom Tippoo had left at the foot 
 of the Pass in July. Colonel Floyd had received intelli- 
 gence of this, and also of the approach of his army ; but he 
 gave little credit to them till the llth, when they became 
 more circumstantial; and on the 12th, not a doubt remain- 
 ing of their authenticity, he despatched a sepoy to the 
 General. On the morning of the 13th, he sent out his 
 pickets to patrol ; they were driven in by the enemy's 
 horse ; and Major Dai-ley's regiment, which had been de- 
 tached to support them, was surrounded, and obliged to 
 take post among some enclosures, where it maintained its 
 ground till it was relieved by Colonel Floyd with the rest 
 of the cavalry, who dispersed the enemy, and killed about 
 four hundred of them ; and would have made a much 
 greater slaughter, had not the closeness of the country 
 prevented a pursuit. He returned to camp, and was at 
 breakfast at nine o'clock, when two guns were opened upon 
 him, and the enemy Avere discovered advancing in great 
 force on both sides of the river. The line was instantly 
 formed, and a cannonade commenced on both sides ; on ours, 
 by twelve guns, and on their part by eleven, which, in the 
 course of the day, were increased to fourteen. The enemy
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 97 
 
 fired from a great distance, but with good aim ; they dis- 
 abled some of our guns, and killed many men. To answer 
 their fire, it was necessary to give the guns a great eleva- 
 tion, which broke the axletree of one of the 12-pounders ; 
 and it being thought expedient to reserve a stock of ammu- 
 nition for the following day, the fire, on our side, was dis- 
 continued at one o'clock, except, at intervals, a shot at 
 such parties of horse as came near. That of the enemy 
 continued without ceasing till sunset, when they drew off 
 their artillery, according to some accounts, behind some 
 heights a few miles distant ; and according to others, 
 beyond the Bowanny. 
 
 Colonel Floyd, on their retreat, called together some 
 of the senior officers, to consult with them respecting the 
 measures to be taken : his infantry had suffered much, but 
 his cavalry very little, having been drawn up in a second 
 line, twelve hundred yards in the rear of the first : two of 
 his 12-pounders were disabled, and many of the bullocks 
 belonging to the other guns killed. Some were of opinion 
 that all the infantry should be thrown into Sattimungalum, 
 to defend it, while the cavalry should join the General, and 
 accompany him to the relief of it ; but it was judged more 
 prudent by the majority, to withdraw the garrison, and 
 proceed with all their force to meet the General. 
 
 The fort, which stands on the north bank of the Bowanny, 
 was distant about two miles from the detachment ; and Cap- 
 tain White, who commanded the 16th battalion, which gar- 
 risoned it, was ordered to join : he was expected at mid- 
 night, when the whole would have marched off, and, hav- 
 ing so much the start of the enemy, could not have been 
 overtaken; but White (who has since been permitted to 
 leave the service) was drunk, and did not bring over his 
 corps till daybreak. The retreat was instantly begun, but 
 three guns, from the want of bullocks, were left behind ; 
 and more would have been left, had not Captain Dallas 
 
 VOL. i. H
 
 98 THE LIFE OF 
 
 rode into the fort in the evening, and sat up the greatest 
 part of the night making two axles from a wooden 
 pillar, for the two 12-pounders which had been dis- 
 mounted. They were not overtaken till noon, at which 
 time Colonel Floyd, with all the cavalry, was two or three 
 miles in advance of the infantry ; for, not thinking that 
 the enemy could come up with him, he had, after a few 
 hours' marching, changed his original order of march, which 
 was in a double line, or two columns, the infantry on the 
 right, and the cavalry on the left, with the little baggage 
 remaining in the centre, and gone on with the cavalry to 
 forage. On hearing the firing, which was now very heavy, 
 he hastened back. The enemy had cut off most of the 
 baggage ; they had brought their guns within two hun- 
 dred yards of the right of the line, and enfiladed it as it 
 marched through narrow lanes, among thick hedges. An 
 attack had been made on two of them by the light com- 
 pany of the 36th, which was in the rear of the line, but 
 they had been repulsed by superior numbers, with the loss 
 of all their officers killed or wounded ; and had with diffi- 
 culty been twice rallied by Captain Brown, whose corps 
 was next to them ; but their fire had killed Burhan ul 
 Din, the friend of Tippoo, and the man next in authority 
 to him, while he was on foot urging the artillery forward. 
 The cavalry had, at the same time, charged, and been beat 
 back with great slaughter, leaving their leader, Hajah 
 Aftab Khan, mortally wounded close to the ranks. He had 
 been for some time in disgrace with Tippoo, and had taken 
 this opportunity of trying to regain his favour : he was 
 probably intoxicated with opium, for he cut at Captain 
 Byrne of the 36th, by whose fire he was supposed to have 
 fallen, when he stepped out to assist him. The infantry 
 were now again preparing to move, and bodies of horse 
 were collecting to charge them, when they should come on 
 an open piece of ground near their left. Colonel Floyd
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 99 
 
 came up at this time, and ordered part of his cavalry to 
 charge the parties in the front and rear of the infantry. 
 This was executed with so much spirit and success, that 
 they never ventured near again ; and, about an hour after- 
 wards, left the field with their infantry, and the detach- 
 ment continued its retreat to meet the General. The loss 
 in those two days was one hundred and fifty-six Euro- 
 peans and two hundred and eighty natives killed and 
 wounded. This action, in its consequences, entirely de- 
 ranged the plan of the campaign, and converted an offen- 
 sive into a defensive war; and this was the more grievous, 
 as it might so easily have been prevented. 
 
 There seems to be a fatality sometimes attending the 
 greatest geniuses, which deadens the energy of their 
 minds, and reduces them to the level of common men, at 
 the moment when their best concerted schemes are going 
 to be crowned with success. Had Tippoo acted with more 
 decision on the 14th of September, by bringing up more 
 guns, and pressing Floyd closer, he would probably have 
 defeated him ; or, if not that day, he would undoubtedly 
 have done it the following ; for not a man of the detach- 
 ment had eaten or slept for two days, and they could have 
 made little resistance to another attack. The General, 
 who had gone by mistake, for it would be unjust to 
 impute it to design, towards Doniancottah, could not have 
 been near to support them ; and, after their defeat, he 
 would himself have fallen an easy sacrifice, for he .had 
 only three battalions of sepoys, and two of Europeans, 
 without their flank companies ; and even Colonel Stuart 
 would have been fortunate, had he escaped with his 
 detachment from Poligatcherry. The Colonel was so 
 much convinced that these things would take place, that, 
 on receiving information from the General of Floyd's 
 situation, he made preparations for retreating (on the 
 first accounts of the loss of the army, which he expected 
 
 H 2
 
 100 THE LIFE OF 
 
 every moment to learn,) with all his force to Cochin. 
 Tippoo, fortunately for us, did not act with his usual 
 vigour, and the southern army escaped from destruction. 
 
 After the junction with Colonel Fk>)>d on the 16th, the 
 General advanced to bury the dead, and afterwards fell 
 back to cover the siege of Poligatcherry, which surrendered 
 to Colonel Stuart, after a siege of twelve or fourteen days, 
 but only one after the opening of the batteries. It fell 
 about the 24th ; and Colonel Stuart, with his detachment, 
 joined the army two days afterwards. Tippoo had taken 
 possession of Sattimungalum, and was now to the westward 
 of the Bowanny. The General marched on the 29th to 
 force him, as he said, to fight, but Tippoo had very dif- 
 ferent views : he wished to turn the war from his own 
 country, without putting any thing to the chance of a 
 battle, and he was not disappointed. On the General's 
 approach, he marched to Erode, which he had before 
 taken possession of, on its being abandoned after the 
 affair of the 14th : he continued to retreat towards Carore, 
 followed by the General, who kept in his track till he lost 
 it to the southward of Erode ; but fearing that he was 
 gone to attack a convoy coming from Carore, he continued 
 his route to the neighbourhood of that place, where he was 
 joined by the convoy. He heard nothing, however, of 
 Tippoo, who had struck across the country to Darapuram, 
 which surrendered after one day's firing of musketry, and 
 batteries being ready to open, to which, having no guns, 
 it could make no return. The terms of permitting the 
 garrison to join the army, were not punctually observed ; 
 for, after it had marched out, a clause was inserted, by 
 which the officers gave their parole not to serve during 
 the war. 
 
 Tippoo now hastened to attack Coimbitore, which had 
 been his great object in this incursion ; but chance, which 
 had done so much for us, disconcerted his plan. Colonel
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 101 
 
 Hartley had arrived at Poligatcherry, and detached the 
 10th and 13th battalions, which reached Coimbitore on 
 the 6th. An attempt on the place would now have been 
 in vain, for the garrison consisted of three battalions of 
 sepoys : this alone saved it, for the General would have 
 come too late : he did not receive the convoy till the 8th. 
 The two following days he moved to the westward, in 
 search of the enemy ; but not finding them, and beginning 
 to have some apprehensions for Coimbitore, he directed 
 his course towards it, and arrived in its neighbourhood on 
 the 17th. This was perhaps the wisest measure he could 
 have adopted, as it brought him between Tippoo and 
 the pass, interrupted his supplies, and, with proper intelli- 
 gence, might have prevented him from returning to the 
 eastward. Tippoo saw the difficulty of his situation : he 
 marched to Annymally, as if with an intention of going 
 round by Calicut, and reascending the Ghauts on the 
 Malabar coast ; but he returned suddenly, and passing 
 by Tripour, within a march of which the army then was, 
 reached his old station near Sattimungalum ; his evening 
 gun, which was heard next day by the General at Tripour, 
 gave him the first intimation of his return. The army had 
 now consumed the forty days' rice which they had been 
 desired not to touch, on the outside of the gates of Serin- 
 gapatam. They had lost about twenty days more in the 
 different forts which had fallen into the hands of the 
 enemy, and they were now reduced to the necessity of 
 sending another detachment to Carore for supplies : it 
 was commanded by Colonel Trent, and marched on the 
 24th of October. It consisted of two battalions of sepoys, 
 and was expected to return by the 1st of November, and 
 join the army near Erode, which proceeded towards that 
 place to meet it. The camp which Tippoo had occupied 
 since his return from Darapuram, was within ten miles of the 
 General : it was between the Bowanny and the Cavery :
 
 102 THE LIFE OF 
 
 the left at Bonancoral, and the right towards Caveryporam. 
 Here he formed the bold design of passing the Cavery, 
 almost in sight of the General, and of marching against the 
 Carnatic army, which had by this entered the Baramhaul 
 country : he began to cross on the 31st of October, and the 
 stream being barely fordable, it required three days to com- 
 plete the passage. While this movement was making, his 
 cavalry, which had been left in the rear to cover it, appeared 
 every day in large bodies near the pickets, which probably 
 made the General doubt some reports which he then re- 
 ceived respecting it, for he does not seem to have believed 
 it until the 7th, when the horse having disappeared, and 
 Colonel Floyd having gone out to patrole, brought infor- 
 mation of his having seen the track of the guns to the 
 bank of the river, and of the whole body of the enemy 
 having gone over some days before : however eager he was 
 to follow Tippoo, he could not march until the 8th, for 
 Colonel Trent had only returned the preceding day from 
 Carore. On the 9th the whole army was over, and next 
 morning the pursuit after Tippoo was begun. In the 
 mean while, the Carnatic army, under the command of 
 Colonel Maxwell, for Kelly died the day after he received 
 the account of the attack on Colonel Floyd, entered the 
 Baramhaul on the 24th of October, and meeting with no 
 enemy at Vaniambaddy and Trippetore, places defended 
 only by a mud wall, it advanced to Kimagerry, which re- 
 fusing to surrender, and being impregnable to any open 
 fire, it proceeded to Caverypatam, which it found deserted. 
 The day following, the 4th of November, Colonel Maxwell 
 sent back a detachment to Ambore, for rice. On the 5th, 
 he learned that Tippoo had passed the Cavery ; but, not- 
 withstanding this, he detached all his cavalry, about three 
 hundred, a few days after, to attack a party of Looties, 
 which he was informed was in a village about fifteen miles 
 distant. They returned, luckily, without seeing any. The
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 103 
 
 convoy from Ambore got safely to camp on the llth, at 
 three in the afternoon, and escaped Tippoo's advance, 
 which was waiting for them, by coming back by a road 
 different from that which they had taken in going. 
 
 The enemy, disappointed in their design on the convoy, 
 formed one against the cavalry. About four in the after- 
 noon a few Looties appeared. Torin, with his regiment, 
 was instantly ordered after them : they fled, and he pur- 
 sued without drawing a sword, and with only one troop 
 loaded, to the distance of eight miles, when, on turning 
 round a hill, he found himself close upon a body of two 
 thousand horse, drawn up in good order. On discovering 
 them he took to flight, and was chased to within a mile of 
 the camp, which he reached with the loss of seventy men 
 and fifty horses. When his flight was observed, the army 
 got under arms, and many corps crossed the river at sun- 
 set ; they were crowded together, and could not have acted 
 to advantage had it been necessary. The enemy, satisfied 
 with their success, had returned to their main body ; and 
 we, without venturing to advance to bring off the wounded, 
 fell back to camp at nine at night. Our camp was in a 
 valley, which narrowed from three miles, its breadth at the 
 north end near Caverypatam, to half a mile at the south, 
 near Kimagerry. A river ran through the middle of it, 
 along our front, and round our left : in our rear was the 
 high range of mountains which bounded the eastern side of 
 the valley. On the opposite bank of the river, about a 
 mile from our left, stood the fort of Caverypatam, which, 
 though it could not have stood a siege of more than a single 
 day, might have been a good post in front of an army ; and 
 beyond it were some heights which commanded all the left 
 of the camp. It was supposed that Cummer ul Din was 
 near us with a large detachment, and that he would next 
 day cannonade us from them, unless we prevented him by 
 taking possession of them before his arrival. The 3rd
 
 104 THE LIFE OF 
 
 brigade crossed the river at daybreak on the 12th, and 
 formed in front of them. At seven in the morning, the 
 enemy were perceived advancing from behind a range of 
 hills, about eight miles off: when they came within four 
 miles they discovered the brigade ; they stopped for some 
 time, as if surprised at what they saw, and then filed off 
 to the right without approaching our line : a few stragglers 
 came near to reconnoitre, but the main body remained the 
 whole day at the same distance. The 2nd brigade came 
 over the river at nine o'clock, to reinforce the 3rd, as 
 Major Goudie had informed Colonel Maxwell, that, from 
 the dust, a very great body of the enemy appeared to be 
 coming down upon him. They were satisfied with looking 
 at us, and they marched off about four in the afternoon. 
 We followed their example, which as soon as they dis- 
 covered, a small party galloped after us, but never came 
 within cannon shot. Many people said that the enemy 
 this day had infantry and guns. I looked at them with 
 different glasses, but could see nothing but cavalry, 
 rocket-men, and a few elephants; and altogether their 
 number did not seem to be more than two thousand. If 
 Tippoo in person was there, as it is now said he was, it 
 could only have been with an advanced party. 
 
 We remained quiet on the 13th ; but in the morning of 
 the 14th, the enemy were seen descending from the high 
 ground on our left. The army, after some delay, was 
 formed in the position which it ought perhaps to have 
 always occupied. This was done by falling back from the 
 left, or rather by changing front on the centre. In this 
 operation one brigade passed the river to the right ; the 
 front of the line was to the southward, instead of the 
 westward, and it was out of reach of the high ground 
 beyond Caverypatam. The 1st and 2nd brigades extended 
 across the valley, and the 3rd was in the rear as a reserve. 
 The narrowness of the ground made it impossible to bring
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 105 
 
 a greater force than our own into action against us, and 
 Tippoo could not attack us unless he crossed the river with 
 his right to engage our left wing, which it was idle to 
 imagine he would attempt, as the repulse which he would 
 undoubtedly have met with would have been attended with 
 the loss of his cannon. 
 
 Three guns were fired in the course of the day at a few 
 horse which were burning a village. The enemy con- 
 tented themselves with looking at us till the afternoon, 
 when they retired, and we encamped. It was confidently 
 affirmed by many, and with the same confidence denied by 
 others, that Tippoo was this day present in our front, with 
 all his army. I could see nothing like an army. The ene- 
 my did not appear to me to be three thousand strong, nor 
 could I distinguish either infantry or guns, though they 
 had certainly some of the latter, as we afterwards saw the 
 marks of them. I imagine, however, that they were only a 
 few which Tippoo had brought forward to cannonade our 
 left, and provoke us to cross the river, and follow him 
 towards his camp, which was about ten miles off; he would 
 have destroyed many of our men as we advanced, and his 
 army would have been ready to receive us : after being 
 nearly exhausted with fatigue, they might probably in such 
 circumstances have defeated us; and if not, the country 
 was open for their retreat, which it was not near Cavery- 
 patam, for they could have carried their guns only by one 
 or two roads among the hills, several miles from that place. 
 
 The enemy gave us no trouble on the 15th ; and on the 
 16th a letter from the General informed us that he was 
 within fifteen miles of us. Tippoo was on this and the 
 preceding day between the two armies ; good intelligence 
 and a judicious movement might have dispersed his army 
 and taken his artillery. On the 17th, when the armies 
 joined, he was supposed to have gone up the Pollicatt 
 Ghaut. Though he was not ten miles from us, he wished to
 
 106 THE LIFE OF 
 
 get to the southward before us ; he therefore marched all 
 night in order to gain the Tappore pass undiscovered. 
 Our advance, however, saw his rear about eight in the 
 morning of the 18th; and from the dust, they judged that a 
 great part of his army was already in the pass. The rear 
 was covered by about two thousand cavalry, which retreated 
 and formed alternately, while our line advanced, giving 
 them a few shot at the distance of twelve or fifteen hundred 
 yards ; they might easily have been overtaken, had not so 
 much unnecessary delay been used in following them. The 
 advance, which consisted of four regiments of cavalry, and 
 three battalions of sepoys, could have reached the head of the 
 pass at noon, and the army might have been there an hour 
 after ; instead of which, they did not reach it till near sun- 
 set, when most of the enemy were already through it. If 
 they had advanced briskly, they would, without any loss, 
 have got possession of all the guns in it ; but the contempt 
 with which Tippoo was once regarded, had unfortunately 
 changed into greater respect than he was entitled to, and 
 ambuscades were looked for in every wood. These two 
 opinions have both been hurtful in their consequences, one 
 has laid us open to the enemy, and the other has hindered 
 us from taking advantage of the critical situations into which 
 he has sometimes been brought, either through mistake or 
 necessity. 
 
 The preceding letter, which bears date, Camp 
 opposite Trichinopoly, 24th December, 1790, 
 brings down the narrative of events to the period 
 when Lord Cornwallis's arrival at Madras pro- 
 duced an important change in the conduct of 
 affairs. In the following, dated from Bangalore, 
 the 2d of May, 1791, a continuation of the same 
 interesting tale will be found ; and I give it, with-
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 107 
 
 out presuming to make the smallest alteration 
 either in style or matter, beyond an occasional 
 omission of criticism, which, however just, could 
 not be intended by the writer to meet the public 
 eye. After describing the various movements 
 which led the army to Velout, where it arrived 
 on the 27th of January, the preparations of the 
 Governor General, and other matters of less mo- 
 ment, Mr. Munro thus proceeds : 
 
 The army, with twenty heavy cannon, left Velout on the 
 5th of February, and got to Moogly on the 17th, where a 
 messenger from Tippoo delivered some proposals of peace 
 to his Lordship. He was dismissed next day with an an- 
 swer, that none would be listened to while he had a man in 
 the Carnatic. Tippoo continued still at Gingee, perhaps 
 with the hope that we would not venture to leave the Car- 
 natic while he was in it ; but finding himself deceived in 
 his conjectures, he ascended the Ghauts with great expe- 
 dition, and arrived at Bangalore only two days before us. 
 We heard of it on the 3d, at Oscottah. This place, and 
 Colar, the only places of defence which we had met with 
 on our march, had no garrisons but a few matchlock-men, 
 and of course surrendered at the first summons. The army 
 on the 4th, during its march to Kistnaveram, saw several 
 large bodies of horse; and while it was encamping, Tippoo, 
 with his whole army, passed to the north-east, about four 
 miles from its left flank. It was suspected, that he meant 
 to attack the rear or the baggage, and judicious dispo- 
 sitions were made to defeat both these designs. The army 
 was formed on some heights to the left before daybreak, 
 and halted till daylight to see where he was ; but as he 
 did not appear early, the right wing and the cavalry moved 
 off with the baggage, while the left kept its position till
 
 108 THE LIFE OF 
 
 they were some way advanced, and then followed. Just as 
 it moved off, Tippoo came in view, and advancing ra- 
 pidly, he opened ten or twelve guns ; but with hardly any 
 execution, as the wing seldom halted : his cannon were at 
 last brought to a ridge, from which he was afraid to de- 
 scend on account of some bad ground below, and his Lord- 
 ship seized this moment to make the left retreat out of the 
 range of shot. Tippoo fired a great deal, but at such a 
 distance, that not above eight or ten men were killed and 
 wounded ; and the army, without any other impediment, 
 continued its march, and encamped in the afternoon within 
 a thousand yards of the pettah of Bangalore. The next 
 day was spent in reconnoitring; and the cavalry, which 
 went out to cover the engineers, received a severe check 
 from the enemy. We lay to the northward of the fort, 
 which is to the south of the pettah. To reconnoitre the 
 eastern face of both, the engineers went out in the after- 
 noon, escorted by all the cavalry, about two thousand, and 
 three battalions of infantry, under Colonel Floyd. The 
 latter allowed himself to be diverted from, the business on 
 which he had been sent by the sight of some parties of the 
 enemy's horse, to which he gave chase, and he soon found 
 himself among the rear of their army, which was just 
 finishing a march, and occupying the ground of encamp- 
 ment. They fled before him on every side: he cut in 
 pieces some parties of infantry, took nine guns posted on 
 some eminences, and was hastening to attack another height 
 which he thought it necessary to gain, when he received a 
 musket-ball through his cheek, and fell from his horse. 
 He was soon remounted ; but unable to speak, or make his 
 intentions understood : from this instant every thing fell 
 into confusion. It was beginning to grow dark ; and the 
 regiments, which had hitherto been charging separately, 
 not receiving any instructions, or knowing what was to be 
 done, mingled together in confusion. The enemy, at the
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 109 
 
 same time, brought up some corps of infantry, and began 
 a heavy, but distant and ill-directed fire of cannon and 
 small arms; but this was sufficient to complete the con- 
 fusion of the cavalry. The retreat which they had begun 
 was soon changed into a precipitate flight. The ground 
 which they had to pass, was full of rocks and ravines, into 
 which many of them fell, and were taken by the enemy's 
 horse, who pursued, cutting off all those who could not 
 keep up with the main body, which never halted till it 
 came to a height, to which Major Goudie, who com- 
 manded the three infantry battalions, had advanced on 
 hearing the firing above a mile from the place where he 
 had been ordered to remain. By doing this he saved the 
 cavalry, for very few of them would otherwise have reach- 
 ed camp ; whereas his fire soon obliged the enemy to re- 
 tire, and he returned to camp with the cavalry. Floyd's 
 wound was certainly the first cause of the confusion ; but 
 it is perhaps not going too far to say, that it was a fortu- 
 nate circumstance : had it not happened, he would proba- 
 bly have pushed so far on, that he never could have extri- 
 cated himself; for the enemy were strongly posted, and the 
 flower of .their cavalry, which was at some distance, was 
 coming on, led by Tippoo. 
 
 In this affair about two hujidred and fifty horses were 
 taken, and about one hundred men ; near two hundred 
 were wounded, and fifteen or twenty killed. Tippoo sent 
 back all the prisoners, after ordering their wounds to be 
 dressed, and giving to each man a piece of cloth and a 
 rupee. This behaviour, so remote from his general cha- 
 racter^ occasioned a good deal of speculation respecting 
 the cause of it. Some said that it proceeded from his wish 
 of reconciling himself, if possible, with the English Govern- 
 ment ; and others, that it was done with the design of at- 
 taching our cavalry to him, and occasioning a defection 
 among them. Whatever might be his motives, he gained
 
 110 THE LIFE OF 
 
 more honour in this affair than they did. The credit of 
 the army was however restored next day by the infantry. 
 The 36th regiment and 26th Bengal battalion, with the 
 European pioneers and a detachment of artillery, stormed 
 the pettah at sunrise. It was surrounded by a wide dry 
 ditch twenty feet deep, and an almost impenetrable hedge, 
 fifty yards broad, of thorn and bamboo. Opposite to the 
 north gate, a bank had been left across the ditch : a gun 
 burst the outer gate without difficulty; but the inner, 
 though likewise soon broken, could not be opened, from a 
 barricade of earth and stones having been thrown up be- 
 hind it. In this service fourteen artillerymen out of twen- 
 ty were killed or wounded; and Colonel Moorhouse, beyond 
 comparison the most valuable officer in the army, received 
 two wounds, the last of which proved mortal, and put an 
 end to his life in half an hour. The guns being able to 
 effect no more against the gate, the pioneers demolished a 
 part of the mud wall, over which the flank companies of 
 the 36th regiment rushed, followed by the rest of that 
 corps and the Bengal regiment. The garrison, though it 
 consisted of two thousand men, dispersed instantly, every 
 man making for the fort as fast as he could. They took 
 care, however, in their flight, to set fire to the magazine of 
 straw, and every effort to extinguish it was in vain ; and 
 from this loss, the army, during the ensuing siege, suffered 
 the most serious distress. At noon, Tippoo's army ad- 
 vanced from the westward, and cannonaded at a distance; 
 but he withdrew in the evening, on hearing of the failure 
 of his attack on the pettah. It had been foreseen that his 
 approach was only a feint to cover this design, and a rein- 
 forcement of the 76th regiment and two Bengal battalions, 
 had been thrown into it. A detachment from his army of 
 four thousand chosen infantry, passing along the covered 
 way of the fort, entered several streets of the pettah at 
 once, there being no wall or ditch on that side. They
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. Ill 
 
 were met by the 36th and 76th regiments, and driven back 
 with the loss of about three hundred men, most of whom 
 fell by the bayonet. The 76th lost forty men, but the 
 36th only four or five. Though Tippoo remained always 
 near us, we saw no more of him till the 17th. The siege 
 was during that period prosecuted with little advantage. 
 The first battery was eleven hundred yards from the 
 fort. This distant battery, which contained ten eighteen- 
 pounders, was opened on the 12th, along with two en- 
 filading batteries of two guns each. Its effect was 
 just what had been expected; many shot missed the 
 walls, and those which struck were too scattered to make 
 any impression. The enfilading batteries, being within 
 eight hundred yards, did considerable damage to the de- 
 fences ; but it became necessary to make a new breaching 
 battery of nine eighteen-pounders. The spot chosen for it 
 was within four hundred and fifty yards of the fort, and, 
 while it was preparing, two twenty-four-pounders were 
 opened within six hundred yards ; but the besieged, as it 
 might be supposed, paying no regard to our distant fire, 
 which could not hurt them, turned all their guns against 
 them, and in a few hours disabled one of them, and obliged 
 us to withdraw the other. On the 16th, the nine-gun bat- 
 tery opened ; and though the fire of it was so ill-directed, 
 that Lord Cornwallis threatened to relieve the artillery on 
 duty, unless they managed it better, it ruined so much 
 of the curtains, that the garrison were alarmed, and called 
 on Tippoo to make a diversion : he had been nearer us 
 than 'usual the preceding day, and an attack was expected, 
 but perhaps not at the hour that it took place. On the 
 17th, in the morning, Lord Cornwallis was visiting the 
 batteries, when, about eight o'clock, fifteen guns opened 
 suddenly upon the left wing. The nature of the country, 
 which is full of hollow ways, had enabled Tippoo to ad- 
 vance unperceived, and the report of his guns was the first
 
 112 THE LIFE OF 
 
 notice that General Meadows had of his being so near. 
 The line formed without striking tents, and the troops sat 
 on the ground while the enemy kept up a brisk cannonade, 
 which, though distant, did a good deal of execution among 
 the followers crowded together in the centre of the camp 
 between the two lines of infantry, and it also killed or 
 wounded fifty or sixty men in the ranks ; which so far got 
 the better of his Lordship's temper, that he determined to 
 advance, and was giving directions to that effect, when 
 Tippoo drew off his army. Then it was observed, for the 
 first time, that a detachment with nine guns, supported by 
 a very large body of horse, had been concealed behind a 
 rising ground, and, from their position, there is little 
 doubt but that they were sent there by Tippoo to enter 
 our camp, whenever we should leave it to advance upon 
 him : they would probably, in such a case, have taken some 
 of our grain, and destroyed all our powder, which would 
 have put an immediate period to the siege. 
 
 Tippoo retreated about one o'clock : had he waited half 
 an hour "longer, he might have had an opportunity of try- 
 ing the success of his plans. A new battery of four 
 eighteen-pounders was opened next day within three hun- 
 dred and fifty yards of the fort ; two guns more were after- 
 wards added to it. 
 
 The fire of the enemy was now reduced to a thirty-two- 
 pounder from one of the ravelins, and a few small guns 
 from the more distant bastions and some works in the co- 
 vered way. An approach was begun, and at midnight, on 
 the 20th, a parallel was completed within fifty yards of the 
 sortie. At daybreak, Tippoo seemed to be determined to 
 make a diversion in favour of the besieged : a detachment 
 with four guns approached towards the pettah on the west 
 side, another with ten or twelve guns was posted in a 
 cypress-grove, about a thousand yards to the eastward ; 
 and at a little to the southward of it his whole army was
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 
 
 11.1 
 
 drawn up. Whatever his design was, he relinquished it 
 when we got under arms ; and the right wing, under Co- 
 lonel Stuart, advanced towards him : he was afraid, but I 
 believe with little reason, that the Colonel would turn his 
 right flank, and he retreated immediately to his old ground. 
 The party in the grove, being covered by the fire of the 
 fort, kept their station, and were observed all day to be 
 busily employed in making embrasures in the bank of a 
 tank to enfilade the batteries ; and as three of the bastions 
 of the gateway were now breached, and pur powder nearly 
 expended, it was resolved to storm in the evening. The 
 troops destined for this service were composed of all the 
 European grenadiers and light infantry of the army, 
 supported by the 36th and 76th regiments. They were 
 commanded by Major S. Kelly, under the orders of Co- 
 lonel Maxwell, who, as commanding officer in the pettah, 
 had the entire management of the attack. It was a clear 
 moonlight night. They left the trenches a little after ten 
 o'clock ; and as they rushed forward by the sortie towards 
 the breach, there was a very heavy but ill-directed fire from 
 the ramparts and the covered way : after a little difficulty in 
 finding out the road along the top of the works which formed 
 the gateway, and passing with ladders some gaps cut in them 
 by the enemy, they ascended the main rampart with very 
 little opposition, for no considerable body of the enemy 
 was formed near the breach ; an irregular fire which had 
 begun among them being soon stopped by the officers, they 
 gave three cheers, which were heard as far as the camp : 
 they advanced along the ramparts in two divisions, one 
 to the right, and the other to the left, bayoneting every 
 man they met : few of the guards escaped, for the ram- 
 parts were remarkably high, and had few passages for 
 descending. The enemy made scarcely any resistance, 
 but every man endeavoured to save himself: above three 
 hundred were bayoneted in the Mysore gateway, the 
 VOL. I. I
 
 114 THE LIFE OF 
 
 passage of which was blocked up by the throng that at- 
 tempted to get through it. Above twelve hundred fell 
 in different parts of the fort; and among them several 
 women and children, but as few as could be expected in 
 the confusion of taking a place at night by storm. The 
 Killedar, Bahadu Khan, whom Tippoo had brought with 
 him from Tisnaghery, when he left the Carnatic, was 
 among the slain : he had in vain endeavoured to collect a 
 party to make a stand at the breach : he was forced to 
 retreat, and was followed by two soldiers, against whom he 
 defended himself for some time with his sword, calling for 
 quarter; but they either did not, or pretended not, to 
 understand him. They conceived him to be Lally, and 
 they shot him through the head, and stabbed him in many 
 places with their bayonets ; his body, covered with a cloth, 
 lay on the rampart the whole of the next day. It was 
 visited by almost every man in the army, and all who saw 
 it, were struck by the nobleness of its appearance. He 
 was a tall robust man, about seventy years of age, with 
 a white beard descending to his middle; and he was 
 altogether one of those majestic figures which bring to the 
 mind the idea of a prophet. All firing ceased, and in less 
 than half an hour from the beginning of the attack, we 
 were in perfect possession of the fort. Tippoo was soon 
 informed of its fate, and he marched off immediately. The 
 greatest part of the garrison, being in the covered way, 
 made their escape to him : of two thousand that were 
 in the fort, most were killed or taken. Our loss did 
 not exceed twenty men. Lord Cornwallis had many 
 reasons to be anxious for the fall of Bangalore. It was 
 stronger than had even been supposed : the enemy had 
 made near twenty embrasures in the bank of the tank, 
 to enfilade the batteries ; and though they could not have 
 hurt the nine-gun, they would have silenced the six-gun
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 115 
 
 battery, and killed many of the troops on duty, and he 
 had not powder left for more than a day. 
 
 The country round the camp for several miles had been 
 destroyed by the enemy, and presented nothing but a 
 naked waste of land. All the forage found in the pettah 
 had been consumed by the middle of the month. Five 
 thousand of the public bullocks had died during the last 
 ten days ; and there being no slaughter-cattle now remain- 
 ing, near a hundred carriage-bullocks were taken every day 
 to victual the Europeans. His Lordship, from his uniform 
 steady conduct, deserved success: he never lost sight of 
 his object to follow Tippoo ; neither did he in the different 
 cannonades ever permit a shot to be returned ; but some 
 favourable circumstances, which he could not possibly have 
 foreseen, also concurred to the accomplishment of his views. 
 The enemy were surprised : they expected the storm on the 
 20th, and were prepared ; but on the 21st, Tippoo having 
 encamped within the range of their guns, they thought 
 themselves safe, and took no precautions to defend the 
 breach ; and the noble ditch which surrounded the fort 
 had not been carried in front of the gateway : had we met 
 with it there, it is not unlikely that, before we could have 
 filled it up, we should have been compelled, from want of 
 ammunition, to raise the siege. 
 
 The next extract is from a letter dated twelve 
 miles west of Bangalore, 6th July, 1791. It is 
 addressed, like the others, to his father, and car- 
 ries on the military history. 
 
 After the fall of Bangalore, it was barely possible, 
 had every thing been ready for advancing immediately to 
 Seringapatam, to have reduced it before the time at which 
 the western monsoon usually begins ; but as it was ap- 
 
 i 2
 
 116 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 prehended that, in case of a rupture in Europe, the French 
 would reinforce Tippoo, and as no great evil was expected 
 to follow the failure of the enterprise, but the termination 
 of the war from its success, it was determined to make the 
 attempt. It was first of all thought necessary to join a 
 body of the Nizam's cavalry, which had been for some time 
 blockading Gunjecottah. 
 
 We left Bangalore on the 28th of March, and moved 
 to the northward. Tippoo, who had marched the same 
 day, not knowing we would take that direction, crossed 
 our route by mistake, and lost one of his guns before he 
 could get out of our reach. We continued our march, and 
 the Nizam's General, Taje Wunt, after much irresolution, 
 joined us on the 12th of April, near Chintomany, with 
 fourteen thousand horse. 
 
 We reached Venkatgerry on the 18th, where we received 
 a reinforcement, under Colonel Oldham, from the Carnatic, 
 of five battalions of sepoys and a regiment of Bengal caval- 
 ry ; but of bullocks, which were of no less importance than 
 men, we got a very small supply. The number with which 
 we had gone against Bangalore had scarcely been found 
 sufficient for that service. Twelve thousand had died du- 
 ring the expedition, and they had not been replaced by 
 more than three thousand. The distance to Seringapatam 
 was double that to Bangalore, and there was every reason 
 to suppose that the place itself was more capable of de- 
 fence ; yet we did not hesitate to advance, in order to be- 
 siege it, with slenderer means. We hurried away from 
 the head of the pass on the 22d, carrying with us the Ni- 
 zam's cavalry; though we had already seen that they would 
 distress us greatly by destroying our forage, as they would 
 not venture beyond our outposts to collect it ; and that 
 they could be of no use to us, as the whole of them would 
 not face five hundred of the enemy's horse.
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 1*7 
 
 We got to Bangalore on the 28th, Tippoo marching on 
 our right about fifteen miles distant. His Lordship here 
 found it necessary to call on the army to assist him in the 
 grand design of reducing the enemy's capital before the 
 monsoon. Almost every officer carried, at his own ex- 
 pense, two or three bullock loads of shot or shells, and the 
 Nizam's troops alone carried five thousand eighteen-pound 
 shot. 
 
 The army left Bangalore on the 4th of May, with fifteen 
 battering cannon ; and as it was known that Tippoo had 
 laid waste the country on the routes of Cenapatam and 
 Shevagunga, which are the best and the shortest for 
 armies to advance to Seringapatam, we chose a third 
 by Cankanelly, which is both the longest and the most 
 difficult, because we hoped to find grain and forage ; but 
 the latter Tippoo burned as we approached; and the coun- 
 try being narrow, woody, and confined on both sides by 
 chains of hills, afforded little of the former. 
 
 After much labour and fatigue, and the loss of a great 
 deal of stores, we came in sight of Seringapatam on the 
 13th, at a place called Arkary. We intended to have 
 crossed the Cavery here, to join Abercromby, who had 
 been for some time posted at Periapatam with a consi- 
 derable quantity of rice and a battering train. The pas- 
 sage was too deep and too rocky ; and there was no other 
 below the fort, except one which led to the island, and 
 which was covered by Tippoo's army in front, and by 
 batteries in the rear. It became, therefore, necessary to 
 dislodge the enemy, in order to reconnoitre it. They 
 were strongly posted, with their right to the river, and 
 their left among a range of hills which ran nearly parallel 
 to the Cavery, about two miles from its bank. Their left 
 being the only part of their line that could be approached, it 
 was determined to attack them there an hour before sunrise.
 
 118 THE LIFE OF 
 
 The distance between the armies was only six miles, but 
 it was ten by the road which led from our right round the 
 hills to their left. Six battalions of Europeans, and twelve 
 of sepoys, destined for this service, marched on the 14th, 
 at eleven at night ; but the roads weie rendered so deep by 
 an uncommonly severe fall of rain, that they did.not come 
 in sight of the enemy till seven next morning. They were 
 then two miles distant, and we moved rapidly to seize a 
 hill which commanded their left. Tippoo saw our design, 
 and very ably counteracted it by pushing forward Cum- 
 mer ul Din, who commanded his left wing, to occupy it 
 and favouring this operation by sending a body of cavalry 
 to charge our right as it passed a ravine ; which obliging 
 it to advance cautiously, gave time to his own troops to 
 take possession of the post, from whence they instantly 
 commenced a warm enfilading fire, while Tippoo did the 
 same in front. 
 
 We suffered a good deal while forming after passing the 
 ravine. Whenever this was accomplished, the hill was at- 
 tacked and carried, and the enemy driven, though not with- 
 out resistance, into the island. Tippoo had not more than 
 three thousand horse in the field : he himself showed much 
 judgment and decision in taking up his positions. This 
 was to be expected from his character ; but the conduct of 
 his infantry excited much surprise. They stood the fire 
 of musketry, often till our troops were within a few yards 
 of them ; they defended every post ; they rallied wherever 
 the ground was favourable ; and, when at last driven from 
 the field, they retreated without confusion. All this 
 change of behaviour was, however, less owing perhaps to 
 the improvement of their discipline, than to other causes : 
 the strength of the ground, which, being full of rocks and 
 ravines, afforded them every where shelter, and made it diffi- 
 cult to follow them ; and their proximity to the island, the 
 batteries of which covered them from pursuit. Our loss
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 119 
 
 was about six hundred killed and wounded, and theirs 
 probably not more. We gained nothing by the victory, 
 but the liberty of looking at the island ; which it was not 
 thought prudent to attack, as the lateness of the season, 
 and the want of provisions, would not have allowed us to 
 remain on it till the fall of the fort might be expected to 
 take place. We halted some days, and, on the 20th, en- 
 camped at Caniambaddy, on the Cavery, eight miles above 
 Seringapatam. A strong detachment of the enemy was 
 seen next day moving towards Periapatam ; and as, from 
 the want of cattle, we could not advance to join Aber- 
 cromby and as the badness of the weather had put an 
 end to every hope of being able, at this season, to besiege 
 Seringapatam, we ordered the Bombay army to retreat, 
 which they did, leaving behind them all their sick and 
 their battering guns, several of which they did not wait 
 to destroy. 
 
 We had by this time lost the greatest part of our cattle : 
 the guns had for the two last marches been brought 
 forward with much difficulty by the assistance of the 
 troops, and the battering train had seldom got to its place 
 before ten at night. The weather too, which had been 
 unfavourable ever since our leaving Bangalore, had now 
 all the appearance of a settled monsoon. The remaining 
 bullocks, it was apprehended, would hardly be able to 
 drag the field-pieces back to Bangalore ; and we had only 
 twelve days' rice at half-allowance. In this situation, it 
 became absolutely necessary on the 22d to burst our 
 heavy cannon, to bury the shot, to throw the powder into 
 wells, and to destroy all the other besieging materials. On 
 the 24th, after repairing the passage of the ford, two 
 brigades crossed to favour the retreat of Abercromby ; 
 and they were recalled the next day on the arrival of the 
 advices of his escape. On the 26th, we set out on our 
 return to Bangalore ; marching but slowly, as the troops
 
 120 THE LIFE OF 
 
 were obliged to assist in dragging the guns, and in carrying 
 the sick and wounded, for whom there were very few 
 conveyances. Before we reached our new camp, we were 
 joined by a few horsemen, who gave us the extraordinary 
 intelligence, that Purseram Bhow, and Hurry Punt, with 
 the Mahratta army, were within a march of us. They had 
 marched above three hundred miles in four weeks; and 
 though they had despatched near a hundred hircarras to 
 give us notice of their approach, the roads were so well 
 watched by Tippoo's irregulars, that not one of them had 
 ever reached us. Their coming, though too late to save 
 our battering train, was, notwithstanding, a very fortunate 
 event for us : they gave us provisions and bullocks, 
 which enabled us to remain for some weeks in the neigh- 
 bourhood of Seringapatam, and to recover our half-starved 
 cattle by the wide range which their cavalry secured to 
 them for grazing : had they not arrived, it is not easy to 
 say what would have been our situation now ; we must 
 have marched every day to reach Bangalore on the 4th, 
 till which time we had provisions at half- allowance. Most 
 of the remaining bullocks would have died on the road ; 
 and the troops would have got there with little else than 
 their guns, which they must have dragged themselves. 
 But as Bangalore contained but little grain, they could not 
 have halted ; but after taking out a small supply, they 
 must have continued their march to the pass near Ambore. 
 The Mahrattas would probably have kept aloof. Tippoo 
 would have followed us, and would perhaps have pre- 
 vented us from ever getting again beyond Bangalore, to 
 which we would have been obliged to carry supplies, as 
 we did to Vellore in the last war. 
 
 From the date of the preceding, up to the 
 month of September, when the army again ad- 
 vanced upon Seringapatam, Mr. Munro was em-
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 121 
 
 ployed in the arduous and hazardous task of 
 transporting stores from detached depots into 
 camp. It was one of the busiest epochs in his 
 military life; insomuch that, as he informs his 
 sister, "he was sometimes for seven days toge- 
 ther without pen or ink, or any kind of bag- 
 gage." Yet he appears to have found leisure, 
 even then, to keep up a regular correspondence 
 with almost every branch of his family. There 
 is not one of these letters which might not with 
 perfect propriety meet the public eye; but the 
 selection has already swelled to so large an 
 amount, and so many yet remain to be inserted, 
 that I am reluctantly compelled to confine my- 
 self, on the present occasion, to a few extracts. 
 
 It will be seen that Mr. Munro, when discuss- 
 ing questions of public importance, almost in- 
 variably addressed his letters to his father. Such 
 was the case during the interval now under re- 
 view, when the idea began to be entertained of 
 a speedy accommodation with Tippoo. Against 
 this arrangement Mr. Munro vehemently ar- 
 gued. He pointed out the great advantages which 
 the present position of the British army afford- 
 ed over a prince weakened by repeated de- 
 feats ; and treated with the contempt which it 
 merited, a notion then generally entertained, that 
 the utter ruin of the kingdom of Mysore would 
 prove of serious injury to British interests. Of 
 the Mahrattas, at that time held in profound 
 respect, he spoke as of barbarous hordes, totally
 
 122 THE LIFE OF 
 
 incapable of meeting the British in the field, or 
 even seriously injuring the British territory by 
 their inroads ; whilst the Nizam he justly repre- 
 sented as a cipher, in spite of the extent of his 
 dominions, through the feebleness of his govern- 
 ment, and the disinclination of his troops to adopt 
 an improved system of tactics. It was not so, 
 however, with respect to Tippoo. He possessed 
 an energy of character unknown to other Eastern 
 princes, and ruled with arbitrary sway a people 
 among whom every improvement in the art of war 
 was sedulously cultivated. Such a man, he con- 
 tended, ought to be crushed at once, or at least so 
 weakened as to render him for ever innoxious; 
 and the present seemed to him to be the moment, 
 of all others, best adapted for the accomplishment 
 of that end. In a word, Mr. Munro derided the 
 policy which would seek to maintain in India, 
 what is termed in Europe, "the balance of 
 power ;" and argued on the necessity and sound 
 discretion of the very system of conquest into 
 which the East India Company were eventually 
 driven. 
 
 He concludes a masterly discussion with the 
 following sentiments, as just as they are clearly 
 expressed. 
 
 Men read books, and because they find that all warlike 
 nations have had their downfal, they declaim against con- 
 quest as not only dangerous, but unprofitable, from a sup- 
 position that the increase of territory must be always fol- 
 lowed by a proportionable increase of expense. This may
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 123 
 
 be true, when a nation is surrounded by warlike neigh- 
 bours, which, while it gains a province on one side, loses 
 as much on the other ; but there are times and situations, 
 where conquest not only brings a revenue greatly beyond 
 its expenses, but brings also additional security. The 
 kings of England knew this when they attempted the re- 
 duction of Scotland. There is, however, another example 
 which would apply better to our position in the Carnatic. 
 When Spain was, in the last century, engaged in a war 
 with France and Portugal, would not the possession of the 
 latter country have added much to her strength and secu- 
 rity, by removing every possibility of attack from the 
 frontiers of France ? By subduing the country below the 
 Ghauts, from Poligatcherry to Ambore, we have nothing to 
 fear. The sea is behind us, and in front we gain a stronger 
 barrier than we now have, which would enable us to de- 
 fend the country with the present military establishment ; 
 but as this, with the civil expenses, would be nearly equal to 
 the whole revenue of the country, let us advance to the 
 Kistna, and we shall triple our revenue without having oc- 
 casion to add much to our military force ; because our 
 barrier will then be both stronger and shorter than it is 
 now. I do not mean that we should all at once attempt to 
 extend ourselves so far, for it is at present beyond our 
 power; but that we should keep the object in view, though 
 the accomplishment of it should require a long series of 
 years : there is no necessity for precipitation. The dissen- 
 sions and revolutions of the native governments will point 
 out the time when it is proper for us to become actors. It 
 can never arrive while Tippoo exists : while his power re- 
 mains unimpaired, so far from being able to extend our 
 territory, we shall be perpetually in danger of losing what 
 we have. Why then not remove, while we can, so formi- 
 dable an enemy ? But his system, if not broken, may in 
 time be communicated to the successors of the Nizam, or
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 other Moorish princes who may hereafter appear in the 
 Deccan. If once destroyed, there is little danger of its being 
 re-established : it would require what may not appear in 
 many ages another Hyder ; and even he would be un- 
 equal to the task, without the concurring circumstances of 
 an European war to give him military skill, and a minority 
 and a weak prince to give him a kingdom. Nothing can be 
 more absurd than our regarding any of the native govern- 
 ments as powers which are to last for ages. It would not 
 be surprising if all of them were to cease to exist in the 
 course of twenty or thirty years. Let us then, while we 
 can, make the most of the superior stability of our own go- 
 vernment ; and if we are not, for inconceivable reasons of 
 state, to extirpate Tippoo, let us at least humble him, by 
 depriving him of the Malabar coast. When cut off from 
 all intercourse with Europeans, his political and military 
 systems may linger on during his reign, but will soon ex- 
 pire under a successor. 
 
 Mr. Munro was not personally present with 
 the army, either during its advance towards Se- 
 ringapatam, or at the attack upon the Sultan's 
 lines on the night of the 6th of February, 1792. 
 His narrative of that affair, therefore, though 
 ably drawn up, I abstain from giving, partly be- 
 cause it is avowedly compiled from the reports 
 of others, and partly because it is not calculated 
 to throw any additional light upon a transaction 
 with which the public is already well acquainted : 
 but the following supplement to it is inserted, as 
 eminently characteristic of the peculiar turn of 
 mind which, from the beginning to the end of
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 125 
 
 his career, distinguished the writer. If there was 
 one disposition more than another which he held 
 in sovereign contempt, it was that which, in too 
 many instances, prompts men to exaggerate the 
 difficulties of an operation for the sake of en- 
 hancing the merit of their own services in over- 
 coming these difficulties. 
 
 TO HIS BROTHER. 
 
 Bangalore, 25th February, 1792. 
 I REQUESTED Mr. Ross to copy an account of 
 the attack on Tippoo's lines, which I had given him, and 
 send it to my father ; if he does not he will lose nothing ; 
 for it. was very imperfect, having been manufactured 
 from at least a dozen of lette.rs from camp ; but most of 
 them so filled with puerile, extravagant descriptions, that 
 it was almost impossible to annex any distinct ideas to 
 them, or to draw from them any rational conception of the 
 battle. 
 
 I could never read one of these letters without cursing 
 
 heartily G and G , and the whole race of turgid 
 
 authors, whose corruption has descended even to subalterns, 
 and made language no longer answer its original purpose of 
 conveying ideas. 
 
 One fellow calls for the pen of a Homer, and tells you 
 that British arms " shine resplendent." 
 
 Another poor man is quite overcome with tumultuous 
 feelings, which, it would appear, prevented him from 
 giving utterance to any one of the thousand ideas which, 
 he asserts, crowded upon his mind to such a degree, as to 
 deprive him of every faculty but wonder! In this un- 
 happy state, he gives the following animated relation of the 
 engagement :
 
 126 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 " Moonlight impregnable lines batteries ditches 
 proud Sultan ferocious tyrant innumerable horse and 
 foot British bayonets triumphant heroes bloody field 
 eternally emblazoned on the records of Fame !" 
 
 From such records you will hardly wish for any farther 
 extracts. 
 
 Soon after the above letter was despatched, Mr. 
 Munro joined the camp before Seringapatam, 
 where he continued to do duty under Captain 
 Read, till the peace. His detail of the events 
 which preceded the negotiation, as well as his 
 sentiments touching the policy of the arrange- 
 ments entered into, are contained in the sub- 
 joined communication to his father : 
 
 28th April, 1792. 
 
 I HAVE written you one or two short letters 
 since the peace : they would have been longer had I not, 
 since the month of January, been employed in a laborious 
 situation, which takes up so much of my time as to leave 
 me none for private correspondence. I write from day- 
 break till sunset, every day, and at night I am either en- 
 gaged with idle people, or so much exhausted, as not to be 
 able to think correctly on any subject. I am, besides, so 
 little pleased with the peace, that I cannot without diffi- 
 culty bring myself either to talk or write of it. When 
 hostilities ceased, Tippoo had no place above the Ghauts 
 from Gurrumconda to Seringapatam. Besides the former 
 of these forts, he had Gooty, Balhari, and Chitteldroog ; 
 but all either so distant from the scene of action, or so 
 weakly garrisoned, as to give him no benefit from holding 
 them ; he had likewise Kisnagerry in the Barramahl, which
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 127 
 
 was however, at this time, of no consequence in the opera, 
 tions of the war, because its garrison was not strong 
 enough to attack convoys coming from the Carnatic, and 
 because that the Peddanadurgum Pass, in the neighbour- 
 hood of Ambore, being repaired, all convoys, after the 
 month of September, took that road as the most direct to 
 the army. He had lost the greatest part of his troops by 
 death or desertion in the attack of his lines, and he him- 
 self had lost his haughtiness, his courage, and almost every 
 quality that distinguished him, but his cruelty, which he 
 continued to exercise every day on many of the principal 
 officers of his government, particularly Bramins, on the 
 most idle suspicions. The remains of his infantry were in 
 the fort, and his cavalry on the glacis. He slept at night 
 in the fort, in the great mosque, for he never visited his 
 palace after his defeat on the 6th ; and during the day he 
 stayed on the outside amongst his horsemen, under a private 
 tent, from whence he observed, with a sullen despair, his 
 enemies closing in upon him from every side The Car- 
 natic army, on the north bank of the river, with their 
 approaches, which even on this side were carried within four 
 thousand yards of the wall, and a strong detachment occu- 
 pying the pettah, and half the island. The Bombay army 
 on the south side, about four miles distant, on the Peria- 
 patam road. Purseram Bhow, after ravaging Biddanou 
 advancing by rapid marches to fill up the interval between 
 the right of the Bombay and the left of the Carnatic army, 
 and complete the blockade, and no possibility of pro- 
 tracting the siege, even by the most determined resistance, 
 beyond fifteen days. In this situation, when extirpation, 
 which had been so long talked of, seemed to be so near, 
 the moderation or the policy of Lord Cornwallis granted 
 him peace, on the easy terms of his relinquishing half his 
 dominions to the confederates. Tippoo accepted these
 
 128 THE LIFE OF 
 
 conditions on the 24th of February, and orders were in- 
 stantly issued to stop all working in the trenches. The 
 words which spread such a gloom over the army, by dis- 
 appointing not so much their hopes of gain as of revenge, 
 were these : 
 
 " Lord Cornwallis has great pleasure in announcing to 
 the army that preliminaries of peace have been settled be- 
 tween the Confederate Powers and Tippoo Sultan." 
 
 His Lordship probably at this time supposed that every 
 thing would soon be finally settled, and that he would be 
 able in a few days to leave a sickly camp, where he was 
 losing great numbers of Europeans ; but Tippoo continued 
 to work with more vigour than before the cessation, and 
 used so many delays and evasions in ratifying the defini- 
 tive treaty, that notwithstanding his having already sent 
 his two eldest sons as hostages, and a million sterling, it 
 was believed that hostilities would be renewed. His Lord- 
 ship furnished him with the means of protraction, by 
 adopting a revenue, instead of a geographical division of 
 his country. It was stipulated, that the Confederates were 
 to take portions of his territories contiguous to their own, 
 and by their own choice, which should amount to half his 
 revenue. He was desired to send out an account of his 
 revenues, that the selection might be made. He replied 
 that he had none that they had all been lost at Bangalore 
 and otherplaces; but on being told, that in that case, the allies 
 would make the partition agreeable to statements in their 
 own possession, he sent out accounts in which the frontier 
 countries were overrated, and all those in the centre of 
 his kingdom, which he knew he would retain for himself, 
 undervalued. The fabrication was obvious, not only in 
 this particular, but also in his diminishing the total amount 
 of his revenue about thirty lacks of rupees. The Con- 
 federates however, after a few days, consented to submit 
 to this double loss for the sake of peace. But Tippoo,
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 129 
 
 after gaining one point, determined to try his success on 
 some others. The value of the whole had been fixed ; but 
 on proceeding to fix that of the districts which were to be 
 ceded, he threw so many obstacles in the way, that the 
 Allies found themselves at last compelled to adopt the 
 measure with which they ought to have begun. A list 
 was sent to him, which he was told contained half his do- 
 minions ; and he was desired to put his seal to it. After a 
 delay of two days, he replied that he would neither give 
 up Kishnagerry, Seir Klidroog, nor Gooty. His unwilling- 
 ness, to part with these places, which could only be useful 
 to him in an offensive war, convinced his Lordship of his 
 hostile designs, and made him resolve to insist on their 
 being surrendered : he ordered parties to make fascines, 
 and the young princes to go next morning to Bangalore. 
 The Vakeels of Tippoo, seeing his sons marching off at day- 
 break, ran and called up Sir John Kennaway, and begged 
 that they might be detained till they should inform the 
 Sultan, and get another final answer from him. His Lord- 
 ship, with his usual mildness, permitted them to halt after 
 they had proceeded about two miles ; but still it was not 
 till the 16th, three days afterwards, that the Vakeels 
 signed the treaty ; and it did not come out till the 19th with 
 the signature of Tippoo. So much good sense and mili- 
 tary skill has been shown in the conduct of the war, that 
 I have little doubt but that the peace has been made with 
 equal judgment. It has given us an increase of revenue 
 amounting to thirty-nine and a half lacs of rupees, which, 
 though from Tippoo's mismanagement of his finances, it 
 has not produced that for some years past, will soon be 
 easily afforded by the country; and by giving us possession 
 of the Baramhaul, it has rendered it extremely difficult, if 
 not impossible, for Tippoo to invade the Carnatic in future 
 from the westward, for the passes from Mysore into the 
 Baramhaul, though good, are few ; and though not de- 
 VOL. I. K
 
 130 THE LIFE OF 
 
 fended by fortifications, there are so many strong posts near 
 them, that an invading army must either take them, which 
 might require a whole campaign, or else leave them in the 
 rear, and run the risk of being starved by the loss of its 
 convoys. These are, no doubt, great advantages ; but 
 because greater might have been with ease obtained, I 
 cannot help thinking but that something has been left 
 undone. Why, instead of stumbling upon revenue ac- 
 counts, could we not have traced our boundary on the map, 
 taken such places as suited us from their political situation, 
 sent him entirely above the Ghauts, and not left him in 
 possession of Carore and Coimbitore, to plunder our 
 southern provinces, whenever he shall find it convenient 
 to go to war ? It is true, that the possession of Poligat- 
 cherry will make it always easy for a Bombay army to 
 take Coimbitore, and force him above the Ghauts, with 
 the assistance of a Carnatic army ; but to collect our troops 
 is a work of some months, and in that time he may pass Tri- 
 chinopoly, and ravage the Carnatic as far as Madras ; whilst, 
 by driving off the cattle and inhabitants, he may render it 
 difficult for us to equip an army for the field. If we are 
 in a situation to march, he will probably lose Bangalore in 
 the first campaign ; but he will always be able to prevent 
 an army without cavalry from besieging Seringapatam ; 
 and while he can do this, he can force us, after an expen- 
 sive war, to relinquish our conquests for peace. We 
 ought, therefore, to have kept Coimbitore, and established 
 a strong post at Sattimungalum, which would have made 
 an invasion on that side as impracticable as on that of the 
 Barramahl. Tippoo being then without magazines in the 
 low countries, and seeing strong posts in the neighbour- 
 hood of all the passes, which could defy his unskilful 
 attacks, and intercept his convoys, would have had no 
 temptation to begin a hopeless war ; but as the Allies must 
 also have had a proportional increase of territory, it is
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 
 
 said that he would then have been reduced too low. He 
 would have been more powerful than Hyder was when he 
 usurped the Government, and would have been as able as 
 he to defend his possessions ; and if he was not, so much 
 the better ; for every person who has seen his army, and 
 that of the other country powers, must be convinced how 
 much is to be feared from the one, and how little from 
 the other. 
 
 Lord Cornwallis was apprehensive that he should. have 
 been driven to the necessity of taking Seringapatam ; and 
 frequently exclaimed, " Good God ! what shall I do with 
 this place ?" I would have said, " Keep it as the best bar- 
 rier you can have to your own countries ; and be confident 
 that, with it, and such a frontier as the Cavery, skirted by 
 vast ranges of rugged mountains, which make it impassable 
 for an army, from Arakeery to Caveryporam, no Indian 
 power will ever venture to attack you." But every thing 
 now is done by moderation and conciliation ; at this rate, 
 we shall be all Quakers in twenty years more. I am still 
 of the old doctrine, that the best method of making all 
 princes keep the peace, not excepting even Tippoo, is to 
 make it dangerous for them to disturb your quiet. This 
 can be done by a good army. We have one ; but as we 
 have not money to pay it, we ought to have taken advan- 
 tage of our successes for this purpose, and after reducing 
 Seringapatam, have retained it and all the countries to the 
 southward and westward of the Cavery. By doing this, 
 we could have maintained a good body of cavalry ; and so 
 far from being left with a weak and extended frontier, the 
 usual attendant of conquests, we should, from the nature 
 of the country, have acquired one more compact and more 
 strong than we have at present. If peace is so desirable 
 an object, it would be wiser to have retained the power of 
 preserving it in our hands, than to have left it to the ca- 
 price of Tippoo, who, though he has lost half his revenue, 
 
 K 2
 
 132 THE LIFE OF 
 
 has by no means lost half his power. He requires no 
 combination, like us, of an able military governor, peace in 
 Europe, and allies in this country, to enable him to pro- 
 secute war successfully. He only wants to attack them 
 singly, when he will be more than a match for any of them ; 
 and it will be strange if he does not find an opportunity 
 when the Confederates may not find it convenient to sup- 
 port the general cause. When we have a General of less 
 ability than Lord Cornwallis at the head of the Govern- 
 ment, (such men as we have lately seen commanding 
 armies,) Tippoo may safely try, by the means of Gooty> 
 Chitteldroog, and Biddanor, to recover the conquests of 
 the Mahrattas and the Nizam. If Lord Cornwallis himself 
 could not have reduced Tippoo without the assistance of 
 the Mahrattas, for there is no doubt that without them he 
 could never, after falling back from Seringapatam in May, 
 have advanced again beyond Bangalore, if his integrity, 
 his sound manly judgment, and his great military talents, 
 could have done nothing, what is to be hoped for from 
 those whom we may expect to supply his room ? We cannot 
 
 look for better than or or , 
 
 men selected from the army as great military characters ; 
 but these gentlemen themselves are as well convinced as any 
 private in the army, how cheap Tippoo held them, and how 
 little honour he could have gained by foiling them. One, or 
 rather two, sallied forth ; and after spouting some strange, 
 unintelligible stuff, like ancient Pistol, and the ghost of a 
 Roman, lost their magazines by forming them in front of 
 the army, and then spent the remainder of the campaign in 
 running about the country, after what was ludicrously 
 called by the army the invisible power, asking, which 
 way the bull ran ? 
 
 The other, in May last, on a detachment of Tippoo's 
 marching towards him without ever seeing them, with an 
 army superior to Sir Eyre Coote's, at Porto Novo, shame- 
 fully ran away, leaving his camp and his hospital behind ;
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 133 
 
 and in advancing in February, a second time, when Tippoo 
 had lost the greatest part of his army, he allowed a few 
 straggling horse to cut off a great part of his camp equi- 
 page, and would have lost the whole had not Colonel 
 Floyd been sent with a small detachment to bring him safely 
 past the ferocious Tippoo. The Colonel found him as 
 much dismayed as if he had been surrounded by the whole 
 Austrian army, and busy in placing an ambuscade to 
 catch about six looties; he must have been a simple 
 looty that he caught. Lord Cornwallis said one day, on 
 hearing that the looties had carried away nine elephants, 
 near Savendroog, " that they were the best troops in the 
 world, for that they were always doing something to harass 
 their enemies ;" and I am confident that Tippoo has not 
 lost a looty in his army, who is not a better soldier than 
 any of these three Generals. Had his Lordship not ar- 
 rived, Tippoo would have been too much for them all, 
 and their confederates at their back. These characters 
 have led me out of my way, or I should have said a great 
 deal more about the armies of the Native Powers, the old 
 subject of Tippoo as a barrier against the Mahrattas, and 
 some oversights which his Lordship had nearly committed, 
 when he intended sending Medows with a part of the army 
 to Assore to wait for him ; but I feel myself getting blind, 
 and am besides afraid of losing the Manship, if I have not 
 done so already. 
 
 Your affectionate Son, 
 (Signed) THOMAS MONRO. 
 
 It is scarcely necessary to mention, that the 
 definitive treaty was no sooner signed and ratified, 
 than the British army broke up, and the several 
 divisions of which it was composed returned each 
 to its own presidency.
 
 134 THE LIFE OF 
 
 Large as the selection may appear, which has 
 been made from Mr. Munro's correspondence at 
 this period, many highly interesting letters have 
 been omitted, chiefly because they refer to cir- 
 cumstances long gone by, or narrate events in 
 which the public is not now likely to take much 
 interest. In some of these, the -opinions of the 
 writer, touching the talents of the different Ge- 
 nerals under whom he served, are very freely 
 given. He speaks of Lord Cornwallis, for ex- 
 ample, as of a man possessed of more than mo- 
 derate abilities, cool in the hour of danger, and 
 not unskilful in manoeuvring ; but by no means 
 competent to arrange the important details of 
 the commissariat, or happy in his system of 
 magazines and depots. In like manner, his 
 estimate of the military genius of Sir Eyre 
 Coote is extremely favourable; but with these 
 exceptions, he says of the officers employed from 
 time to time in separate commands, that they 
 were, one and all, totally unqualified to fill so im- 
 portant a trust. " Never having been placed," 
 says he, *' in situations which required the exer- 
 tion of thought, when they were cast ashore in 
 India, with Tippoo in their neighbourhood, they 
 were lost. They held his abilities as a General 
 too cheap rated their own too high, or despised 
 the advice of those who, from greater experience 
 in Indian warfare, were well qualified to give it.'* 
 Yet was he prompt to bestow praise, and ready to 
 encourage hopes, wherever there appeared scope
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 135 
 
 for the one, or reason for the other. Thus, of 
 Colonel Floyd's gallantry, he invariably speaks 
 in terms of the highest commendation ; whilst of 
 Colonels Fullerton and Kelly he makes frequent 
 mention, as of officers from whom great things 
 might be expected, providing fitting opportuni- 
 ties for the display of their talents were afforded. 
 Unfortunately, the one quitted India, and the 
 other died, before the expectations of Mr. Munro 
 could be realized. 
 
 Notice has already been taken of Mr. Munro's 
 excessive abhorrence of the practice of exaggera- 
 tion, to which men employed in the field are some- 
 times addicted. One example of his mode of 
 turning into ridicule the extravagant narratives of 
 his contemporaries, has been given ; and many 
 more are kept back, only from an apprehension 
 that a repetition of such details might fatigue ; but 
 the following reasons assigned by himself for 
 giving at length the description of certain affairs 
 in which he was engaged, are too characteristic of 
 the man to be withheld. " I have described these 
 battles at greater length," says he, " because par- 
 tial accounts, framed not from the impression 
 made of them by the scene itself, but from after 
 exaggerated reports, to serve the purpose of pro- 
 curing honour, without deserving it, have already 
 appeared in the papers of India, and will soon 
 pass into those of Europe, to be stared at and 
 admired by members of Parliament. I have seen 
 some public letters near the truth, but in general
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 they are so wide of it, that I have renounced 
 an opinion which I once held that they are the 
 best documents of history." I may be permitted 
 to add to this, that from the commencement to 
 the close of his career, the idea of aiming at dis- 
 tinctions which he was conscious not to have me- 
 rited, was of all others the most abhorrent to the 
 principles of Sir Thomas Munro. Ambitious he 
 doubtless was ; where is the man of real talent 
 who is not ambitious ? but his ambition urged 
 him to deserve honours and rewards ; by no means 
 surreptitiously to procure them. I cannot better 
 close this chapter than by the insertion of the fol- 
 lowing letters to his brother : they are replete 
 with fine feeling and admirable views of human 
 nature. 
 
 tO HIS BROTHER JAMES. 
 
 DEAR JAMES, 
 
 IT is now a good while since I wrote you, but 
 you never told me whether or not you received my last 
 letter. Your silence, I am afraid, is owing to bad health, 
 or the consequence of it, low spirits. Graham tells me 
 that he has been ill, and that you are but poorly, and 
 that he thinks Kishnagerry unhealthy : but if there are 
 not other instances against the place, your case and his 
 are not sufficient to condemn it. You gave me no answer 
 what steps you were taking to get a horse, or if I should 
 write to Captain Dallas about one for you. Your anxiety 
 after home will leave you by degrees. I had as much of 
 it as you for a year after my arrival ; but having good 
 health, and something to take up my attention in camp,
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 137 
 
 it soon left me. Nothing is so bad as moping and shut- 
 ting yourself (unless absolutely unable to go out) up from 
 society. You should mix with all men, and enter into 
 all boyish amusements, and not suppose that it is necessary 
 to imitate the formality of the learned in Europe. You 
 have a strange, or, rather I should say, ill-founded idea, 
 for many young people have it, that happiness is to be 
 found only in living in retirement with a few of our school 
 or college friends. Nothing can be more absurd than such 
 a sentiment: our attachment to early acquaintances is as 
 frequently owing to chance placing us together, to being 
 engaged in the same studies or amusements, as to worth 
 or merit of any kind. Such friends are not selected ; and 
 therefore men, as they advance in years, drop them for 
 others they think better of; and if they retain an affection 
 for any of them, it is perhaps only for one or two who 
 may possess those qualities which they would wish chosen 
 friends to possess, though it may have been circumstances 
 very different from those qualities that first formed the 
 attachment. If among your school-friends there are many 
 who are worthy of a warm friendship, you have been 
 more fortunate than I ; for though I was happy with my 
 companions at home, when I pass them in review, and 
 recollect their habits, tempers, and dispositions, I can 
 hardly see more than one or two whose loss I can with 
 reason regret. Whatever you may think now, you may 
 be assured that those who have now the first place in 
 your esteem will give way to objects more deserving, 
 because chosen when your discernment was more mature. 
 It must be confessed that there is a satisfaction in the com- 
 pany of men engaged in the same pursuits with ourselves ; 
 but it does not follow that they alone are deserving of our 
 friendship, and that there is no happiness in the society 
 of other men. I like an orientalist, a politician, a man 
 that walks and swims, or plays fives, because I like all
 
 138 THE LIFE OF 
 
 these things myself; but I at the same time have perhaps 
 a greater friendship for a man who cares for none of these 
 amusements. Your affectionate Brother, 
 
 (Signed) THOMAS MUNRO. 
 
 You should learn to play whist to pass the evenings. 
 
 TO THE SAME. 
 
 [A continuation of the subjects discussed in the last.] 
 
 Orcottah, 29th October. 
 
 MY DEAR JAMES, 
 
 I HAVE received your letters of the 16th and 
 18th, and also one from your friend Mr. Bryden. Your 
 mutual attachment is a proof of the good disposition of 
 both, and I wish your desire of continuing together could 
 be effected without injury to either; but this, from the 
 nature of the service, can only be done while at the Gene- 
 ral Hospital, where no man can wish to remain, except with 
 the view of gaining some experience of the country prac- 
 tice. But there are other claims upon you besides those 
 of friendship. The expense of your outfit was consider- 
 able, and our father is in no situation to pay it off. To 
 enable him to do this ought to be your first object. A 
 vacant situation now presents itself, which if you can se- 
 cure, it may be the means of attaining this end. The 15th 
 battalion wants a surgeon, and I have written to Mr. 
 Duffin to get you appointed to it. If you succeed, you 
 will have no cause to regret the loss of your friend : you 
 will be under an intimate friend of mine ; and, what is bet- 
 ter, a most excellent man, Captain Alexander Read ; 
 and you will also have as a companion your townsman 
 George Kippen. With them you will not find yourself 
 among strangers, but, in two days, more at home than you 
 have been since you left Glasgow. Your backwardness to
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 139 
 
 going into company is, I suspect, almost as strong a motive 
 as friendship for your wishing to remain at Madras ; but 
 you will find that there is no occasion for that kind of 
 diffidence when you come here. And I should likewise 
 hope, that by moving about, and having less employment 
 than at Madras, your health will improve. 
 
 Your affectionate Brother, 
 (Signed) THOS. MUNRO. 
 
 The following extracts from letters addressed 
 to the same individual, on his first arrival in 
 India, possess too much sterling merit to be 
 omitted. They deserve to be studied by all 
 young men, when first starting into life. 
 
 Though I am, in many respects, a greater boy than 
 you ; yet, as I have had the start of you in this country, 
 I will venture to give you some hints. Do not wonder at 
 any thing you see ; or if you do, keep it to yourself. Do 
 not pester people with questions about me, for men in ge- 
 neral are as much disgusted with hearing a person talk of 
 his relations as of himself. My father says you are diffi- 
 dent. I rejoice to hear it ; for it is a fault more easily cor- 
 rected than forwardness. You have no reason to be alarm- 
 ed at what is called launching out into the world. A little 
 experience will convince you, that it is composed neither 
 of wiser nor of better people than you have seen in small 
 circles. Play your own character without affectation, and 
 be assured that it will soon procure you friends. Do not 
 distrust your own medical skill ; if you do, you are a won- 
 derful doctor. In this country, a good understanding, 
 sound principles, and consistency of character, will do more 
 for you than a thousand discoveries concerning muscular 
 motion.
 
 140 THE LIFE OF 
 
 Again 
 
 If you are ordered to remain at Madras, you will not, I 
 am convinced, despise the country practice like some young 
 men, because it differs from that of Europe ; but be dili- 
 gent and active in the discharge of your duty, as the best 
 means of establishing your character, and recommending 
 yourself to your superiors. I hope you have too much 
 sense to visit punch-houses, and too much spirit to get 
 drunk. You will find books enough at Mr. Ross's to 
 amuse you when you are not attending to more urgent bu- 
 siness ; and if you want exercise, you have a delightful walk 
 on the sea-shore.
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Appointment to the Revenue Department under Colonel Read. 
 Letters from the Baramhaul. Second war with Tippoo. 
 Fall of Seringapatam. 
 
 WE have -hitherto followed the fortunes of 
 Mr. Munro as a soldier actively employed in the 
 field, and made a selection from his correspon- 
 dence, chiefly with a view of illustrating his feel- 
 ings and turn of thought, whilst in the imme- 
 diate presence of the enemy. We come now to 
 -a new era in his career, when, being appointed to 
 assist Captain Read in the arrangement of the 
 ceded district of Baramhaul, he may be said to 
 have passed, for a time, from the military to the 
 civil service. The circumstances under which so 
 great a change was effected are nairrated in part 
 by himself; but of certain important matters, of 
 which he has given no account, it will be neces- 
 sary to say something. 
 
 Strange as it may appear, it is nevertheless 
 perfectly true, that in the year 1792 there was a
 
 142 THE LIFE OF 
 
 deplorable deficiency among the civil servants of 
 the Company, in acquirements, the possession of 
 which is now justly esteemed indispensable in 
 persons employed in the administration of judicial 
 and revenue affairs. Accustomed to trust entire- 
 ly to their native assistants, very few collectors or 
 magistrates were acquainted with the languages 
 of the country, or knew any thing of the habits, 
 customs, dispositions, or prejudices of the people 
 entrusted to their care. All public business was, 
 in consequence, carried on through the instru- 
 mentality of interpreters, against whose fidelity, 
 though strong doubts might be entertained of it, 
 no charge could be brought. Now, though such 
 a state of things might exist, and did exist with 
 comparative harmlessness, at the Presidency, and 
 within the narrow tract immediately attached to it, 
 where the people had long been habituated to the 
 British system, and were become in a certain de- 
 gree reconciled to it, any attempt to introduce it 
 into a province like the Barramahl would have 
 argued an excess of infatuation in the authorities 
 which made it. The inhabitants of the Barra- 
 mahl were principally Hindoos, who for ages had 
 been guided by their own customs. Of the Com- 
 pany, or of its mode of acting, they knew nothing ; 
 and they were moreover, at this particular juncture, 
 labouring under the miseries incident upon having 
 their country made the theatre of recent war. To 
 have committed to men ignorant of their dialect 
 the charge of introducing among them the Com-
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 143 
 
 pany's authority, would have been an act of absolute 
 insanity. Lord Cornwallis was not the person to 
 fall into a blunder so gross as this ; and he conse- 
 quently made choice of military men, of whose 
 fitness for the task he had obtained the most sa- 
 tisfactory proofs, to reconcile the people of Barra- 
 mahl to their new masters. On this account it 
 was, that Captain Read received his appointment, 
 in preference to any of the revenue officers pro- 
 perly so called ; and he, for the very same reason, 
 chose as his assistants Lieutenant Munro, with 
 two other military gentlemen. 
 
 The sensation created by these arrangements 
 among the civil servants at Madras was very 
 great. No instance of the kind had ever occurred 
 before ; and the parties passed by, regardless of the 
 causes which led to it, spoke loudly of the whole 
 transaction as a heavy grievance. Perhaps there 
 was nothing extraordinary in this. It very sel- 
 dom happens that men see things in their proper 
 light, at the instant when a real or imaginary 
 affront is received ; and the Madras civilians would 
 have incurred no serious blame, had they content- 
 ed themselves with a few passing expressions of 
 discontent. But unfortunately the matter ended 
 not here. There arose an excessive jealousy of 
 the military in general, and of the individuals thus 
 employed in the revenue department in particular, 
 which ceased not to work long after they had 
 shown themselves in every respect qualified for 
 the duties imposed upon them. Towards Mr.
 
 1 44 THE LIFE OF 
 
 Munro, indeed, it continued to operate with 
 marked bitterness throughout the remainder of 
 his public life, and its violence appeared to obtain 
 fresh strength according to the progress which he 
 made from one post of honour to another. Yet 
 let justice be done to the civil servants. All 
 were not actuated by unworthy feelings, whilst 
 a spirit of emulation was stirred up which has 
 produced the happiest effects, by inducing them 
 to apply diligently to those studies, their back- 
 wardness in which alone brought upon them the 
 disgrace of which they complained. 
 
 It was in the month of April, 1792, that Mr. 
 Munro entered upon the duties of his new of- 
 fice, which he continued to discharge, up to the 
 spring of 1799 ; and perhaps there was no period 
 of his active life on which he ever looked back 
 with greater satisfaction. It is true, that his 
 duties were neither few nor unimportant. Be- 
 sides the care of attending to the revenue ac- 
 counts, and of keeping up a constant official 
 correspondence with the Board, Mr. Munro was 
 under the necessity of travelling continually from 
 one part of his district to another, for the purpose 
 of ascertaining from personal observation the con- 
 dition of the people, and the capabilities and 
 produce of the soil. Yet the climate appears 
 to have been favourable ; the face of the country 
 was agreeable ; and the means of intercourse with 
 European society, if not ample, were at least not 
 absolutely wanting. The consequence was, that
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 145 
 
 almost all his letters, dated from various stations in 
 the Baramhaul, breathe a spirit of unceasing cheer- 
 fulness and good-humour, whether they discuss, as 
 those addressed to his father usually do, subjects 
 of Indian or European politics, or refer to points 
 of literary or philosophical inquiry, as not unfre- 
 quently occurs in his correspondence with his 
 sister. The following letter to his father, among 
 other matters, gives an account of the cir- 
 cumstances which led to his acceptance of civil 
 employment, and may therefore, not inaptly, be 
 placed at the head of the present selection. 
 
 Derampoory, 14th April, 1793. 
 DEAR SIR, 
 
 IT will be unnecessary to say much of myself, as 
 James* will tell you every thing you can wish to know 
 respecting me ; and also George Kippen, of whom you are 
 so anxious that I should make honourable mention. I 
 believe I have already told you, that I am perhaps more 
 indebted to him than to Lord Cornwallis, or any body 
 else, for my present appointment ; for I declined once or 
 twice Captain Read's proposals for acting with him again, 
 between the months of July and October 1791, because the 
 conclusion of the war, at that time, appeared still distant. 
 I thought it improper to quit the grand army to join a 
 detachment, employed only in the escort of provisions, 
 and always far removed from the scene of action. Read, 
 however, thought it a want of friendship, and applied for 
 other assistants. His Lordship refused them : Kippen, on 
 this, immediately set to work ; puffed me off every where, 
 as he does in Glasgow ; talked and wrote to Read and me ; 
 
 * One of his brothers, who returned to Europe at this time in 
 bad health. 
 
 VOL. I. L
 
 146 THE LIFE OF 
 
 and at last persuaded me to write that I had no objections 
 to being employed in the revenue. The moment this was 
 done, I was ordered to join Read at Bangalore. I for- 
 merly gave myself the merit of having been entirely in- 
 fluenced in this affair by the accounts of your situation at 
 home; but had Kippen not exerted himself, I would 
 certainly not have quitted the army ; so that you see I 
 have some reason for being " proud of my friend." You 
 must not take all his expressions about me in a literal 
 sense : he is so great a politician, that he thinks it neces- 
 sary to make use of parliamentary-constitutional language 
 on all occasions. A proud day, " proud of my honour- 
 able friend," are not reserved for me alone every man 
 that he meets with becomes, almost at the first blush, 
 entitled to such honourable distinction; he wishes that 
 people should not only be on good terms with themselves, 
 but also with him ; and both these ends he accomplishes, 
 by being proud of his friends. When his reports are 
 
 confirmed by and other Indian travellers, you 
 
 will hardly suspect that they have very little foundation. 
 
 The is a worthy man, and was much esteemed in 
 
 this country ; but I perceive by your letters, that his good- 
 nature sometimes gets the better of his sincerity : but 
 what could he do ? you anticipated his answers to your 
 questions, and he was too polite to contradict you : you 
 will perhaps not let me off so easy, when I tell you that 
 he is a greater stranger to me than to you ; and that you 
 had more conversation with him at your first meeting, than 
 I have had in the whole course of our acquaintance. I 
 don't remember ever having been in company with him. 
 I have sometimes rode in a crowd with him on the march 
 during Ryder's war ; and I believe the only tete-a-tete I 
 ever had with him, was on Owen's expedition, when one 
 of my legs swelled in consequence of standing all night in 
 a torrent, that came down upon us in a narrow valley ; he
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 147 
 
 attended me constantly twice a day for about a week, till 
 I got well. From all this, I could not have supposed 
 that he could have given you any other information about 
 me than that we once had some very interesting conver- 
 sation on fomentations. 
 
 I mentioned to you, in a former letter, the amount of my 
 allowances, and that beyond them I cannot get a sixpence. 
 I observe the Glasgow politicians have given a large for- 
 tune to Captain Read, and some pickings to me. Read is 
 no ordinary character ; he might, in Mysore, have amassed 
 as much money as he chose, and by fair means too ; but he 
 was so far from taking advantage of his situation for this 
 purpose, that he even gave up his bazaar, and many other 
 perquisites of his military command, and received nothing 
 but his prize-money and commission, which altogether, I 
 believe, amounted to about six thousand pounds. What- 
 ever I might have done had I been left to myself, I could 
 get no pickings under such a master, whose conduct is in- 
 variably regulated by private honour and the public inte- 
 rest. These, and an unwearied zeal in whatever he un- 
 dertakes, constitute the great features of his character. 
 The enthusiasm in the pursuit of national objects, which 
 seizes other men by fits and starts, is in him constant and 
 uniform. These qualities, joined to an intimate know- 
 ledge of the language and manners of the people, and a 
 happy talent for the investigation of every thing connected 
 with revenue, eminently qualify him for the station which 
 he now fills with so much credit to himself and benefit to 
 the public. He will however, I am afraid, be removed in 
 March, or, at the farthest, July 1794, in order to conform 
 to system, which requires that civilians only should be col- 
 lectors. I have urged him to address Lord Cornwallis, to 
 solicit a continuation in office ; but I don't believe he will 
 do it ; his principle is to exert himself, and to leave it to 
 Government to discover the necessity of employing him.
 
 148 THE LIFE OF 
 
 When we were together at Seringapatam, during the ces- 
 sation, I prevailed on him to apply for the management of 
 the Baramhaul. His Lordship replied, that he could not 
 venture to interfere, for it would bring all the civilians on 
 his head. He however, a few days after, actually sent 
 him a commission, to command the forts in the ceded pro- 
 vinces, and to settle the revenue. Read was, however, of 
 opinion, and I believe he was right, that Lord Cornwallis 
 would have done this of himself, without any solicitation on 
 his part. 
 
 (Signed) THOMAS MUNRO. 
 
 The following is addressed to his sister, and 
 breathes the same lively but reflective spirit which 
 gives a tone to all his lighter correspondence. 
 
 Kishnagherry, 23d January, 1793. 
 DEAR ERSKINE, 
 
 DANIEL, after all his disappointments, is, I be- 
 lieve, in a fair way of doing well ; he is engaged in the 
 indigo business, which has lately become of great conse- 
 quence in Bengal, and is still rapidly increasing; and I 
 imagine he attends closely to it ; for Alexander says no- 
 thing of his having made excursions for several months. If 
 he can only, in the course of a year or two, get clear of 
 debt, and make a little money of his own, there can be no 
 danger afterwards ; for it is probable that success will give 
 him a confidence which will not be shaken by any trifling 
 losses he may in future experience. Alexander says, how- 
 ever, that he is the most desponding of mortals, and that 
 he is always foreseeing calamities that never happen. This 
 is quite different from me ; for, though I have been half- 
 starved for these dozen years, I have never ceased to look, 
 with great confidence, for some signal piece of good for- 
 tune ; and though I have, to be sure, been mistaken, this 
 has had no other effect than that of making me more san-
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 149 
 
 guine ; for I don't reason, as philosophers do, from analogy, 
 and other such matters. I don't say, bad luck to-day, and 
 worse to-morrow ; but rather, that bad luck, like other 
 things, must have an end, that mine having already lasted 
 so long, is a strong argument that I cannot have much more 
 of it ; and that I may therefore, like Quixote, very reason- 
 ably suppose myself to be on the point of achieving some 
 rare adventures. And should I go on for another dozen 
 years in the same way as the last, my confidence will 
 hardly be diminished. Were it possible that I could, by 
 any supernatural means, be informed that I should never 
 be independent in my fortune, it would not, I believe, sit 
 very heavy on my mind ; for I have considered very se- 
 riously the consequences likely to follow my acquiring 
 what is called a moderate fortune, and I have doubted if 
 I should be more happy with it than I am without it. 
 
 After spending a great part of my life in India, I should 
 not easily reconcile myself to sitting down quietly in a corner 
 with people among whom, as I should begin my acquaint- 
 ance so late a I should perhaps always remain a stranger. 
 Should the want of society tempt me to fall in love, and 
 get a wife, such a change would, I fear, add little to my 
 happiness. Would it not be a very comfortable matter, 
 about the end of the century, to read in the Glasgow 
 Courier " Yesterday was married Lieutenant Munro, the 
 eldest subaltern in the East India Company's service, to 
 
 Miss , one of the eldest maiden ladies of this place. 
 
 The ceremony was performed by the Rev. Mr. , in 
 
 the Ramshorn, and immediately after the happy couple," 
 &c. I have no relish, I suspect, for what is called domes- 
 tic felicity. I could not endure to go about gossiping, and 
 paying formal visits with my wife, and then coming home 
 and consulting about a change in our furniture, or phy- 
 sicking some of the squalling children that Providence 
 might bless us with. You will say" You will be a more
 
 150 THE LIFE OF 
 
 respectable character at home, settled with your family, 
 than wandering about India like a vagabond." But I 
 cannot perceive that the one situation is more creditable 
 than the other. Men, in general, go home, and stay in 
 this country, for the same reason to please themselves 
 not to raise their own or the national character ; and the 
 greater part of them go to their graves without having done 
 either much good or much harm in this world. Why 
 should I be eager to scrape together a little money, to go 
 and linger through twenty or thirty dull years, in a family 
 way, among my relations and neighbours ? In a place 
 like Glasgow, I should be tired in all companies with dis- 
 putes about the petty politics of the town, of which I know 
 nothing ; and anecdotes of families, in whose concerns I 
 am no way interested. Among the merchants, I should be 
 entertained with debates on sugar and tobacco, except 
 when some one touched upon cotton, which would give 
 me an opportunity of opening my mouth, arid letting the 
 company know that I had been in India, and seen one 
 species growing on bushes, and another on trees taller than 
 any that adorn the Green. After thus expending all my 
 knowledge, I should not again venture to interrupt the 
 conversation. Should I, after being tired of preserving 
 silence among these gentlemen, saunter towards the Col- 
 lege, for the purpose of having some discourse on general 
 topics of literary taste, of which men in all professions may 
 talk, and, in some measure, judge ; here I should encoun- 
 ter the prejudices and dissensions of small societies. If I 
 spoke to Mr. Richardson of Macbeth, he would probably 
 start, and reply in a fine frenzy " John Anderson hath 
 murdered sleep !" and send me home in amazement, like 
 Hamlet, " with each particular hair on end." After mak- 
 ing my escape from the professor of the " rolling eye," 
 should I give up the men in despair, and hasten to some 
 of my old female acquaintances, to see if they talked any
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 151 
 
 thing nearer the level of common understanding, I should 
 very likely find them in high argument on some abstruse 
 point of the mitre and pine-apple schisms. 
 
 In a place filled with nothing but sectarians of some 
 kind or other, I should search in vain for any rational 
 entertainment ; and, instead of congratulating myself on 
 having been able to return and live in my native country, 
 I should look back with regret to the society and the 
 interesting wars of India. It is this circumstance, the 
 not perceiving any new sources of honour or happiness 
 that could arise to me from the possession of money, that 
 makes me indifferent about it, any farther than just to get 
 enough to place me above want. My indifference, how- 
 ever, is only confined to a moderate fortune ; it does not 
 extend to a great one ; for that would enable me to spend 
 money without troubling myself much about accounts, and 
 to live in any part of the world I should like best. I could 
 have my town and country-house, where you might dis- 
 play your taste without beggaring me. We should look 
 out for a spot with plenty of wood ; rocks and water would 
 be wanting to complete the landscape, but these are easily 
 found in Scotland. 
 
 After putting you in possession of these three great ele- 
 ments of natural beauty, I should expect that you would 
 lay out the policy, and that you would manage your rocks, 
 and woods, and cascades, in such a way as to make me 
 fancy myself in Arcadia, or the Candia of Mr. Savary, or 
 the fabulous Tinian of Anson ; and if they were not to my 
 
 taste, I should entreat James's poetical friend, Mr. , 
 
 to celebrate both you and them in his unwieldy numbers. 
 But we can talk more of this when some of my dreams are 
 realized. James has, I believe, said every thing you can 
 wish to know of himself and me. I expect your chef- 
 d'oeuvre, Margaret's picture, in a few days, from Madras. 
 
 Your affectionate Brother.
 
 152 THE LIFE OF 
 
 Mr. James Munro, to whom several of the 
 letters introduced into the preceding chapter are 
 addressed, was a young man of exceedingly de- 
 licate constitution and sensitive mind. After 
 vainly struggling, for some time, against the in- 
 fluence of a tropical climate, he was compelled at 
 last to quit the country, in which his prospects, 
 had he been able to remain, were becoming daily 
 more and more bright. The following observa- 
 tions, suggested by that event, contain so much 
 truth and genuine philosophy, that I transcribe 
 them at length. They are contained in a letter 
 which is addressed to Mr. Munro's sister, and bears 
 date 25th April, 1793. 
 
 The first part of this letter is missing. 
 
 I consider life as valuable, merely in proportion to the 
 comforts and pleasures it affords ; and I would rather have 
 them strewed through its whole course, than treasured up for 
 its last remnants. It appears to me little better than mad- 
 ness for a man to expend his best days in toiling through a 
 perpetual succession of irksome scenes, from the absurd hope 
 of retiring to happiness, when the period of enjoyment is 
 gone. If James, by visiting Europe again, acquire one idea, 
 or an hour of comfort more than he could have done by re- 
 maining in India, I shall think him well employed much 
 better than if he had, while lingering under a painful disorder 
 in this country, amassed a large fortune in the course of a 
 number of years, and retired at an advanced age, among his 
 relations, to build a house and take a wife ; as if he lived 
 only for posterity, or as if we were all created, like Jews in 
 the Old Testament, solely for the purpose of filling up so 
 many links in a chain of prophets. The two next years
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 153 
 
 will be probably the happiest of allJames's life, and those to 
 which he will hereafter, with most fondness, look back, 
 instead of two years of constant pain under the burning 
 rock of Kishnagerry ; he will recover his health, and return 
 to his friends and native country, when he has been long 
 enough absent to make him impatient to see them, but not 
 to diminish his attachment. He will sail, I hope, in the 
 King George, in the first week in May. You will find him 
 as Scottish as ever : he will however, I dare say, presume 
 upon his travels, and venture to correct your pronuncia- 
 tion, and perhaps even ourfather's in the Sunday evening 
 sermons. 
 
 The following letter to his father speaks for 
 itself. It is only necessary to observe, that his 
 relatives, with natural pride, had on several occa- 
 sions communicated his remarks on revenue mat- 
 ters to men in power, a custom which he very 
 judiciously discourages. It was written during 
 one of his official tours, and bears date 
 
 Bank of the Cavery, opposite to Erode, 
 31st January, 1795. 
 
 DEAR SIR, 
 
 I SEE that you catch at every thing from which 
 you think that there is any chance of my drawing the 
 smallest benefit hereafter ; but I suspect that my commu- 
 nications will not much forward the accomplishment of 
 your wishes: they might raise the curiosity of Mr. 
 P., but could give him no very favourable opinion of me. 
 This however is of little importance, as it is not likely 
 that his sentiments will ever affect my views, either in one 
 way or another; but had I sent the statement, though it 
 could have done me no service, it might in his hands have
 
 154 THE LIFE OF 
 
 done me much injury. My opinions on this subject are 
 already known to the Revenue Board as individuals, though 
 never communicated to them as a public body. They are 
 anxious to gain information from every quarter, in order to 
 reform past abuses. Whatever is given privately, they take 
 in good part ; but it cannot be supposed they would relish 
 a newspaper attack. It is of more consequence for me to 
 be well with them than Mr. P., for my future progress must 
 depend on my own exertions and their support. There is 
 but little probability that he would interest himself about 
 me ; and if he did, it can hardly be imagined that Mr. 
 Dundas would, upon such a recommendation, take any step 
 in my favour ; his doing so would be highly improper, for 
 it is from the reports of the Government and the Board of 
 Revenue, under whom I immediately act, and not from my 
 own, that he ought to form his judgment of my fitness for 
 being entrusted with a civil employment. 
 
 Great additions might certainly be made to the Com- 
 pany's revenue on the coast. The first step should be to 
 find proper men jo manage it ; for, unless this is done, every 
 attempt at improvement will be in vain. No man should 
 get the charge of a district, who does not understand the 
 language of the natives ; for, unless he had perseverance 
 enough for this, he will never have enough for a collector ; 
 and he would besides be kept under the dominion of his ser- 
 vants, and ignorant of every thing that was passing around 
 him. Government have at last been convinced of the neces- 
 sity of such a regulation ; and Sir Charles Oakeley, just be- 
 fore he departed, issued an order, that after the 1st of Janu- 
 ary, 1 796, no person would be appointed a collector who did 
 not understand some of the country languages. To this 
 knowledge and zeal in fulfilling the duties of their station, 
 collectors should also unite a sound constitution, capable of 
 bearing heat and fatigue; for if they are not active in going 
 about their districts, and seeing every thing themselves,
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 155 
 
 the petty officers under them, in combination with the head- 
 farmers, will make away with the revenue on pretence of 
 bad seasons. In this country, where there are so few 
 Europeans, and where all business of taxation is transacted 
 in a strange language, Government have scarcely any means 
 of learning how the collector conducts himself, except from 
 his own reports ; and to think of preventing his embezzle- 
 ments by multiplying official checks, would only be an idle 
 waste of time and money. This evil, which can never be 
 entirely removed, would best be remedied by selecting 
 men of industry and talents, and placing them beyond the 
 necessity of perverting the public money to their private 
 use. A collector ought to have at least a thousand pa- 
 godas a month ; he will probably have been eight or ten 
 years in the country before he receives his appointment ; 
 and allowing that he remains ten more, and that he annu- 
 ally spends half his income, which he may do without being 
 very extravagant, by having no fixed place of abode, and 
 keeping an extra number of servants and horses for fre- 
 quent travelling, he may, at the end of twelpty years, return 
 home not much richer than he ought to be. The Revenue 
 Board made some time ago an application for an increase of 
 salary to collectors, which Government rejected, with great 
 marks of displeasure ; but, in doing this, they showed 
 little knowledge either of true policy or human nature ; 
 for when men are placed in situations where they can never 
 become independent by their avowed emoluments, but where 
 they may also, by robbing the public without any danger 
 of discovery, become so on a sudden, the number of those 
 who would balance which side to take, is so small, that it 
 ought not to be brought into the account. We see every 
 day collectors, who always lived above their salary, amass- 
 ing great fortunes in a very few years. The operation by 
 which this is accomplished is very simple. When rents are 
 paid in money, by giving Government a rent-roll below
 
 156 THE LIFE OF 
 
 the real one, and when in kind, by diminishing the pro- 
 duce of the land[or of the sales. It is in vain to say that 
 collectors, being men of education and character, will not 
 descend to such practices ; the fact is against this conclu- 
 sion. It is the same thing whether it is done by them- 
 selves or by those under them. It may be said, that their 
 gains arise from the successful trade of their agents ; but 
 when these very agents are invested with all their autho- 
 rity, and can, by pushing the payment of the rents, and 
 other contrivances, get the whole produce of the lands into 
 their hands at their own price, it is easy to see how dear 
 such a trade costs both Government and the people. The 
 immediate deduction, though considerable, is not all the 
 loss that revenue sustains, the obstruction of improvement 
 ought also to be reckoned ; for men occupied in such 
 schemes cannot have much leisure to attend to the extension 
 of cultivation. 
 
 The collector cannot expect that the country is to 
 flourish, when he himself has given the signal to plunder 
 it. The numerous band of revenue servants require no 
 encouragement to exercise the trade which they have al- 
 ways followed ; but they now act without restraint, and 
 are joined by the head farmers, in stripping the unfortu- 
 nate husbandmen of a great part of the produce of their 
 labours. This is the system under the Nabobs, under 
 Tippoo, under the Company, and, I believe, under every 
 government in India. The collectors and their deputies, 
 not being paid, help themselves, and by this means the 
 country is often as much harassed in peace as in war. 
 The private dividend among Tippoo's managers is from 
 twenty to forty per cent. A great part of the Nabob's re- 
 venues are remitted through agents to Madras, at three and 
 four per cent, per month. The rents in some parts of the 
 Carnatic are regulated by the grain sown, every kind pay-
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 157 
 
 ing a different rate, and in others they are levied in kind ; 
 and, in all, the leases are annual. Where the rents are fix- 
 ed according to the grain, the lands are measured every 
 year. The surveyors, in making their reports, are guided 
 by the bribes they receive, and a thousand frauds are prac- 
 tised both on the farmers and the Government ; and where 
 they are collected in kind, the produce of the land is either 
 thrown upon the cultivator, at a price much above its value, 
 or else a standard is fixed for the market, below which no 
 person can sell until the whole of the public grain has been 
 disposed of. Such wretched management, one would think, 
 must soon ruin the country ; but the universal custom of 
 early marriages is favourable to population ; and the in- 
 habitants, under all their oppressions, seldom quit their 
 native villages, because they are attached to them, and can 
 go no where that they will not experience the same treat- 
 ment. They soon forget their wrongs, for they must live; 
 and they again cultivate their fields the succeeding year, 
 with the certainty of being plundered in the same manner 
 as the last. This insecurity of property, though a great 
 obstacle to the increase of revenue, does not diminish it 
 much ; for, as the greatest part of it is at present drawn 
 from grain, the source of it cannot be lessened in any great 
 degree, without starving the inhabitants ; and they will 
 not want subsistence as long as it can be provided so easily. 
 A man has only to furnish himself with 9. couple of bul- 
 locks, a plough hardly costs a sixpence. If he turns up 
 the soil three or four inches, and scatters his seed, he is sure 
 of a sufficient return. Were we to abandon our present 
 oppressive mode of taxation, the country, instead of rice 
 and dry grain, would be covered with plantations of betel, 
 cocoa-nut, sugar, indigo, and cotton ; and the people would 
 take a great deal of our manufactures, for they are re- 
 markably fond of many of them, particularly of scarlet ;
 
 158 THE LIFE OF 
 
 but, unfortunately, few of them can afford to wear it. Many 
 Bramins use a square piece of it as a cloak, during the wet 
 and cold weather; but I don't remember ever seeing any of 
 the farmers with it. When they can appear fine, and think 
 there is no danger in doing so, there is no doubt but that 
 great numbers of them will substitute it for the camly, a 
 coarse thick woollen stuff, with which all of them are pro- 
 vided, which they carry in all seasons to defend themselves 
 from the sun and rain, and on which they sit by day and 
 sleep by night. 
 
 It is a mistaken notion that Indians are too simple in 
 their manners to have any passion for foreign manufac- 
 tures. In dress, and every kind of dissipation but drinking, 
 they are at least our equals. They are hindered from taking 
 our goods, not by want of inclination, but either by po. 
 verty, or the fear of being reputed rich, and having their 
 rents raised. When we relinquish the barbarous system of 
 annual settlements ; when we make over the lands, either in 
 very long leases, or in perpetuity, to the present occupants ; 
 and when we have convinced them, by making no assess- 
 ments above the fixed rent, for a series of years, that they 
 are actually proprietors of the soil, we shall see a demand 
 for European articles, of which we have at present no con- 
 ception. If we look only to the security of our own power 
 in this country, it would perhaps be wiser to keep the 
 lands, as they now are, in the possession of Government, 
 giving them to the inhabitants in leases of from five to 
 twenty years, than to make them over to them for ever, 
 because there is reason to fear that such a property may 
 beget a spirit of independence, which may one day prove 
 dangerous to our authority; but neither the present re- 
 venue, nor any future increase of it, can be depended upon, 
 while our military force is inadequate to the defence of our 
 territories, and while the enemy can ravage them, and drive
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 159 
 
 away the people, without our being able to hinder them. 
 We require for this purpose at least six or seven thousand 
 cavalry : an invasion would cost us more in six months than 
 the additional expense of such a corps would amount to in 
 ten years. While our army is composed only of infantry, 
 our power here will always be in the most critical situation, 
 in the time of war ; for one defeat may ruin us ; because 
 against an enemy strong in horse, defeat and extirpation 
 are the same. He may lose many battles without much in- 
 jury to his affairs, because we cannot pursue; but by one 
 victory he annihilates our army. It was on this principle 
 that Hyder fought us so often in 1781 ; and had he once 
 defeated Sir Eyre Coote, he would soon have been master 
 of every place in the Carnatic but Madras. Four or five 
 thousand horse might j ust now lay waste the Carnatic, and 
 Tippoo, by following rapidly with the main body, might 
 make it a very difficult and tedious business for us to col- 
 lect our scattered army to oppose him. He might, in the 
 mean time, collect and drive off the inhabitants ; the com- 
 munication with his own country would be secured by 
 posting a detachment at Policade, for Kishnagerry, the 
 only place of consequence in the neighbourhood, is above 
 fifteen miles from the great road, and as the garrison is 
 only one battalion, no party could be spared from it 
 to interrupt the march of his convoys. But if we had 
 six or seven thousand cavalry, such an invasion could not 
 with safety be attempted : irregular horse would not ven- 
 ture alone into the Carnatic ; and if they waited till Tippoo 
 marched with his infantry, our army might be drawn to- 
 gether in time to oppose him at entering, or at least to 
 overtake him before he could reascend the Ghauts. He 
 might be forced to fight, and the loss of a battle, at so 
 great a distance from home, and against an enemy now 
 strong in cavalry, might be attended by the total destruc-
 
 160 THE LIFE OF 
 
 tion of his army. There is no way of protecting the coun- 
 try but by such a body of horse : it would be more effectual 
 than a dozen of forts. The revenues of the Carnatic, 
 under proper management, might, in a few years, yield the 
 additional sum that would be required for this establish- 
 ment. 
 
 It is of the greatest importance to have a well-ap- 
 pointed army, not only to carry us successfully through a 
 war, but also to deter any of our neighbours from attack- 
 ing us ; because, whether beaten or not, they still receive 
 some new instruction in the military art. Though they 
 are averse to innovations, yet the force of example will at 
 last operate on them as well as on other people. Their 
 improved mode of carrying on war is a sufficient proof of 
 this ; and if they continue to make such advances as they 
 have done under Hyder, Scindiah, and Tippoo, they will, 
 in thirty or forty years, be too powerful for any force that 
 we can oppose to them. It is on this account very absurd 
 policy to keep two battalions with the Nizam, to teach 
 him, or his successor, to fight us. He has already formed 
 above twenty corps on the same model. We have got a 
 strange fancy, that, for the sake of the balance of power, it 
 is necessary to support him against the Mahrattas ; but we 
 have less to fear from them than from him and Tippoo ; 
 because the Moors are more ready than the Hindoos in 
 adopting the improvements of strangers, and are likewise, 
 by the spirit of their religion, strongly impelled to extend 
 their empire. I am convinced, that were the Mahrattas to 
 overturn both the Mohammedan powers, we would be more 
 secure than at present. They would see that nothing was 
 to be gained by attacking us, and would therefore let us 
 remain quiet, and either fight among themselves, or turn 
 their arms to the northward ; and when they had only 
 Asiatics to contend with, they would by degrees lose the
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNKO. 161 
 
 little of European discipline which they have already 
 learned. I believe I have all this time only been repeating 
 what I have often said to you before. 
 
 I am, dear Sir, your affectionate son, 
 
 (Signed) THOS. MUNRO. 
 
 The following letters to his sister contrast 
 powerfully with the preceding. The first con- 
 tains an ingenious and amusing attack upon the 
 principles of French philosophy, exhibiting the 
 writer in the character of a humorous satirist; 
 the second, playful and lively in part, is, at the 
 same time, replete with sound thinking and cor- 
 rect views. 
 
 TO HIS SISTER. 
 
 Wamlere, 5th March, 1795. 
 
 DEAR ERSKINE, 
 
 I FIND that all my arguments in favour of ignorance 
 and old customs have been lost upon you, and that I might 
 as well have attempted to put out the light of Mrs. Mary 
 Woolstonecroft, as to turn the heart of such a stubborn 
 reformer as you are now become. All nations are now, it 
 seems, to be one family ; and we are to have no more 
 quarrelling, no more fighting, except intellectual combats ; 
 and every man of us is to cultivate philosophy and the 
 arts, and to talk of nothing but urbanity, and humanity, 
 and gentleness, and delicacy, and sympathy, and love->- 
 every desert spot is to be converted into a garden, and the 
 whole face of the earth is to swarm with the sons and 
 daughters of reason and liberty! What then? Suppose 
 all these fine things realized, shall we have changed for 
 the better ? Let agriculture and manufactures be carried 
 
 VOL. 1. M
 
 162 THE LIFE OF 
 
 to their utmost possible extent, where does it all end ? but 
 in our being more effeminate in our dress, and more epicu- 
 rean in our food, than we are now. We must also admit, 
 that the increase of population has kept pace with the im- 
 provements of the arts ; and that the whole face of the 
 country will be covered with habitations, except what is 
 required for the purposes of agriculture ; but this cannot 
 be a very extensive space; for, as the earth will then be forced 
 to yield at least an hundred fold more than at present, I 
 reckon an area of twenty feet square a very ample allow- 
 ance for each person. This is making a very great con- 
 cession ; for, you know that every inch of the surface of dry 
 land might be covered with houses, and the inhabitants, 
 by having terraced roofs, might on the top of them raise 
 food enough for their sustenance, as was formerly done by 
 the Babylonians in their hanging gardens ; but as I wish, 
 contrary to the practice of the learned, to be moderate in 
 argument, I give you twenty feet square for your main- 
 tenance and recreation. What will be the consequence of 
 this advanced state of society ? We shall, like the Chi- 
 nese, throw our new-born children into rivers, with as little 
 remorse as if they were puppies. In towns where there 
 is no river at hand, Edinburgh for instance, the cry of 
 " Gardyloo" will probably be followed by a babe, instead 
 of the accompaniment which Queen Mary introduced from 
 France. Ten stories will be more certain death to the 
 young philosophers than a plunge into the river. We shall 
 then hear of more " 'scapes by flood than by field," and, for 
 want of romances and memoirs of revolutions, the adven- 
 tures of these foundlings will form a principal part of our 
 libraries. We shall not be able to walk out without being 
 jostled on all sides by crowds of enlightened men and wo- 
 men. All the sports of the field, and all rural pleasures, 
 will be at an end. There will be no rambling across the
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 163 
 
 meadows ; for every man will fence his territorial posses- 
 sions of twenty feet against all intruders. There will be 
 no hunting or shooting, for all wild animals will have 
 been destroyed ; and there will be no fishing, because every 
 living thing in the rivers will have been poisoned by manu- 
 factures. There will be no poetry, no silence, no solitude ; 
 and if by chance some genius should arise and invoke the 
 muse, he will sing more of being lulled to sleep by the clat- 
 tering of fulling-mills and other machinery, than by the 
 whispering of the zephyrs, or the sweet south, upon a 
 bank of violets. The hard-handed peasant will then wear 
 dog-skin gloves, silk stockings, and a solitaire, and be 
 wrapt in silk from top to toe like a cocoon; and as the 
 plough will then, by the power of machinery, go by itself, 
 he will look at its motions, mounted on the horse which, 
 in these barbarous times, would be employed in drawing it. 
 And the rich man, dressed in the finest stuffs that art can 
 produce, will sit in his marble palace gasping for fresh air; 
 for amidst the steam of human bodies, and the smoke of 
 engines and workshops, it will be impossible to get a 
 mouthful, unless by going to sea. When the world, by 
 the progress of knowledge, shall come to this pass, (if the 
 art of war, after being lost for many ages, is again discover- 
 ed,) it will be hailed as a noble invention, and the author 
 of it will perhaps receive the honours of the Pantheon, 
 for giving elbow-room to the half-stifled inhabitants of the 
 globe, by such ingenious machinery as fire-arms, instead of 
 its being effected by pestilence and famine : it will no 
 doubt be considered as a learned profession, and proba- 
 bly be classed as one of the branches of the medical art. 
 Now, supposing that the economists have accomplished 
 their great plan of filling the world with farmers and ma- 
 nufacturers, and made the whole face of the earth one great 
 city, it does not appear that the more important end of in- 
 
 M 2
 
 164 THE LIFE OF 
 
 creasing the happiness of mankind would be attained. But 
 there is another kind of philosophers who propose doing 
 this by other means. They do not mind what we eat or 
 drink, or wear ; their business is all with our minds with 
 our contemplations. They talk a great deal about the 
 material and mental worlds, and of their both being sub- 
 jected by man ; and of the accumulating lights of a perpe- 
 tual succession of speculative men, effecting in the one case 
 what physical agents do in the other. I cannot conceive 
 that that part of their studies which is directed to the di- 
 vision of the powers of the mind into different heads of 
 memory, reflections, &c. can ever make us wiser or better. 
 It is only giving us a new code of metaphysical jargon, in 
 addition to those which we have had already from the In- 
 dians, Greeks, and Arabians, and which will also, in its 
 turn, be supplanted by something equally visionary and 
 unimportant. Their disquisitions on government are not 
 likely ever to do much good for its best rules will always 
 be drawn from experience ; and whatever is good in their 
 theories, comes from the same source, though they often 
 absurdly enough regard it as the offspring of their own 
 genius. I never had much faith in the soundness of their 
 political doctrines, and still less after what has passed in 
 France. If they could ever discover and demonstrate 
 mathematically the origin of ideas, or sentiments, or what- 
 ever they please to call them, they might still be very 
 ignorant of the characters of men, and, of course, very unfit 
 for the administration of public affairs. We have never 
 yet had any proof that the knowledge of abstract sciences 
 makes those who cultivate them, either more able or more 
 virtuous. I rather suspect that they have a contrary ten- 
 dency. Were a convention assembled of all the most 
 celebrated writers in metaphysics and politics, for the pur- 
 pose of framing a constitution for a country that wanted
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 165 
 
 one, I should not hope for any great benefit from their 
 labours, nor be surprised to behold the tyranny of Robe- 
 spierre and his associates equalled by them. The mild 
 benevolent moralist, who had been accustomed to fortify 
 himself against the assaults of domestic calamities by the 
 maxims of philosophers, when brought into active scenes, 
 when agitated and exasperated by the strife of parties, 
 and when his latent ambition was awakened by the prospect 
 of power, would find all his former aids of old saws of no 
 avail, and might be hurried on to the commission of deeds 
 as atrocious as ever were imagined by Marat himself. 
 ventures to foretel that we shall advance with acce- 
 lerated rapidity, from one degree of improvement to 
 another, till at last we shall all be as good, and as wise, and 
 as happy, as angels. But could this prophecy be accom- 
 plished, it is not an event that ought to be wished for by 
 Christians, because we should become attached to this vain 
 world, and would have no motive for praying to go to a 
 better ; and pain and poverty, two apostles who have per- 
 haps made as many converts as all the bishops that ever 
 existed, would be turned out of doors. But religion out 
 of the question. I am much afraid, that could the Doctor's 
 schemes be brought to bear, they would not even contri- 
 bute to our worldly bliss. The human race, as I told you 
 before, is to be one great family. All malignant pas- 
 sions, and with them war, are to cease all nations are to be 
 alike enlightened. The gentlemen of Timbuctoo are to 
 speak French, and the ladies to warble Italian ; and the 
 tranquil pleasures of mankind are never to be ruffled, 
 unless by the death of their cattle, or the birth of their 
 children. To such a state of dull uniform repose, give me, 
 a thousand times in preference, the world as it now stands, 
 with all its beautiful variety of knowledge and ignorance, 
 of languages of manners customs religions and su-
 
 166 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 perstitions of cultivated fields and wide-extended deserts 
 and of war and peace. 
 
 Your affectionate Brother, 
 
 THOMAS MUNRO. 
 
 TO THE SAME. 
 
 Cariambutti, seventeen miles north-east of Senkledroog, 
 15th September, 1795. 
 
 DEAR ERSKINE, , 
 
 I SEE that you and my father stop all travellers 
 from India. I sometimes hear of them from Glasgow 
 
 before I know of their leaving Madras. I think I see 
 
 looking out of his carriage window, like John Bull from 
 Ecclesdown Castle. " Look at me now, Nick ; see where 
 I am got to." He deserves his good fortune, for he is an 
 excellent officer. Keith Macalaster is an old acquaintance ; 
 
 but I know nothing of , except what I have from 
 
 you, that he sleeps after supper in the middle of long 
 stories. This may be occasioned either by the nature of 
 the stories, or by the punch being too weak or too strong. 
 My father confirms your report, and observes with some 
 surprise, that he fell asleep while he, Major Macleod, and 
 Keith, debated about Hyder and Tippoo till two in the 
 morning. Had they been engaged in a real, instead of a 
 mock fight, I should not have wondered at his sleeping at 
 such an hour. He was Adjutant to one of the battalions 
 which served with the Nizam's army in Mysore ; but as 
 they always encamped at some distance from us, I never 
 was in company with him, though I have frequently seen 
 him : he is well spoken of, and, I believe, received a present 
 of a thousand pagodas, by order of Lord Cornwallis, for 
 a survey of the route of the detachment with which he 
 
 served. As to the doublet which exhibits among 
 
 you, it is none of mine ; I give up all claim to it : he
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 
 
 167 
 
 certainly robbed my wardrobe of many valuable articles ; 
 but this was not among them. Your conjecture about 
 
 Miss having enslaved him, is very right. In a 
 
 letter which I received from him last year, he is very 
 anxious to know how her brother is : had I not learned his 
 deplorable situation from you, I should have thought this 
 inquiry a little strange ; for he never troubled himself 
 
 about 's health before. I am sorry to say, that he 
 
 has been long ill, and is still in a very bad way ; but I 
 shall give him the particulars in a few days, when I write 
 to him. I suppose his excursions about the country in 
 the jacket you so much admire, must be a task imposed by 
 his fair enthraller, as a trial of his constancy. 
 
 The lady whom you pretend to have discovered for me, 
 does not, I hope, expect that I am, by night and day, to ride 
 over the hard stones on a tall trotting horse ; for should I by 
 chance, f when thinking of her instead of my Rosinante, fall 
 off and break my neck, how doleful it would be I mean, on 
 my part. We should have " Love's Labour Lost ;" and 
 the story would make such a charming new ballad, that were 
 I not a recreant knight, I ought to be impatient to see the 
 adventure finished. But you have forgotten in your plan 
 all the obstacles to the accomplishment of this great en- 
 terprise, not of neck -breaking ; for of that, as I have 
 already said, I make nothing, but of the celebration of 
 our nuptials. I have since the morning reckoned above 
 fifty ; but there is one which is worth them all, that the 
 lady never was in the mind which you say ; or if she was, 
 that it is fifty to one but she would change it before 
 I got home, were I even mounted upon an enchanted 
 wooden steed. Now, what is to be done when I arrive, 
 and find that she has given her hand to an unknown rival ? 
 
 If he were a knight, I might borrow : 's doublet and 
 
 horse, and challenge him to mortal combat ; but as it is 
 more likely that he has never been dubbed, there is nothing
 
 168 THE LIFE OF 
 
 left for me but to choose the most romantic manner of 
 dying. Hanging and drowning have both many advocates 
 among lovers : for my own part, I should prefer hanging ; it 
 is more pastoral, and I think that dangling by the neck 
 from a willow, would have a fine Arcadian appearance ; 
 besides, the branch might break, or some charitable swain 
 might pass that way, and cut me down before I had sighed 
 my soul away, which are chances that I could not have 
 at the bottom of a pond. But what makes this one of the 
 most hapless love affairs that ever distressed a forlorn 
 couple is, that, besides the lady's objections, I might have 
 not a few of my own. I have read so many romances and 
 novels, that I have got very high notions of beauty ; 
 nothing but such a peerless dame as Rosalind, or Angelica, 
 or Clarinda, will make me kneel. If the lady is not as 
 fair as Melisendra, " whose eyes misled the morn," I 
 would regard her with as much disdain as the Glassman, 
 in the Arabian Nights, did the Grand Vizier's daughter. 
 The fair phantoms whom I have so often seen carried off 
 by caitiffs, and rescued by knights, hold such sovereign 
 empire in my imagination, that there is no room for your 
 Lady Marys and Lady Bettys, nor even for your Marias 
 and Elizas. I have seen no woman in the course of my 
 errantry, that I did not think vulgar in comparison of those 
 transcendent nymphs with whom I have beguiled so many 
 delightful days " in hall and bower. 1 ' But suppose that 
 the course of true love should run smooth, and that we are 
 both returning to our castle, mounted on white palfreys; 
 here our troubles would begin, for when, after dismounting, 
 Melisendra, instead of taking up a lute, and pouring upon 
 my ear a strain like the sweet south, should fall to scold- 
 ing the servants, the spell would vanish, and, instead of a 
 magnificent palace near Trebizond, I would find myself 
 in a small house in a dirty street in Glasgow. After 
 having been so long used to a wandering life in a tent, I
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 169 
 
 doubt very much if I could muster steadiness sufficient to 
 confine myself to a house. If I could not, there follows a 
 cruel separation the lady in town, and I in the country ; 
 but as living under a tree or in a tent, in such a climate, 
 is not always pleasant, I should perhaps remove as far as 
 Persia or India, and, by increasing the distance, increase the 
 pangs of absence. 
 
 You see how many good reasons there are against your 
 scheme of my taking horse instantly, and hastening to 
 throw myself at the lady's feet : as to the other, of proxy, 
 I can only agree to it on certain conditions. If she is not, 
 or even if I fancy that she is not, so charming as Clelia or 
 Rosamond, I am to be at liberty to look for one that is. I 
 am to eat and sleep whenever I please, without any ques- 
 tions being asked. No private orders are to be given to the 
 barber or tailor about the decorations of my person. I am 
 not to be forced to sit up, and receive male or female visi- 
 tors ; neither the superintendence of the kettle nor tea-cups 
 is to be considered as a part of my duty. I am not to be 
 obliged to deliver my opinion on patterns for caps or petti- 
 coats for any lady. I am not to go out to tea or supper, 
 unless I choose. I am not to be ordered on any duties of 
 danger, such as escorting young ladies home in a windy, 
 or old ladies in a frosty night. I am to have liberty of 
 conscience, and to attend church as often as I think proper. 
 And, lastly, when I am tired of home, I may return to 
 India alone. N. B. Should any doubt hereafter arise 
 about the meaning of any of these clauses, my interpreta- 
 tion is to be received as infallible ; and should I explain 
 the same article different ways at different times, I am not 
 to give any reason for so doing. These are my terms, from 
 none of which I can recede. 
 
 I never wish so much to be at home, as when I hear of 
 your excursions to Saltcoats, Milliken, and Edinburgh ; for 
 I like to stroll about the country. I am happy to hear
 
 170 THE LIFE OF 
 
 that Saltcoats has done James so much good : he has no 
 complaints now, I imagine, that a little time will not re- 
 move. In all my letters, I have said that he ought not to 
 return here if there is the smallest danger of his health. I 
 have often lamented that he was so contemplative, and 
 looked so much forward, and with an eye so gloomy. Two 
 of his books were Hume's Essays and Read's Theories, 
 books which he may now read with entertainment and 
 without danger, but which could have done him no good 
 when he first saw them some years before he came to this 
 country. His sedentary, moping disposition ought rather 
 to have been directed to bustle and action than cherished 
 by dull studies. The cold, lifeless reasoning which is pre- 
 maturely forced upon an unfortunate student at a college, 
 is as different from the vigorous conception which is caught 
 from mingling with general society, as an animated body 
 from its shadow. It is distressing that we should persevere 
 in the absurd practice of stifling the young ideas of boys 
 of fourteen and fifteen with lojric. A few pages of his- 
 tory give more insight into the human mind, and in a 
 more agreeable manner, than all the metaphysical volumes 
 that ever were published. The men who have made the 
 greatest figure in public life, and have been most cele- 
 brated for their knowledge of mankind, probably never 
 consulted any of these sages from Aristotle downwards. 
 
 I wish we had a statement of my father's debts, that we 
 might know what part of the principal we could discharge 
 without incurring any great loss, by withdrawing our 
 money from the advantage of high interest. 
 
 The following letter to his mother, written 
 about the same time, gives an animated description 
 both of his own mode of life and of some of the 
 peculiarities and customs of the people over whom 
 he presided.
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 
 
 Bellari, 17th May, 1795. 
 
 DEAR MADAM, 
 
 IN the course of the last three months I have 
 
 written to my father, Erskine, and Alexander. I should 
 
 write to you all oftener, were I not so much out of the world 
 
 that I hear very little of public affairs ; and were my manner 
 
 of life not so uniform, that it is dull and uninteresting 
 
 even to myself. I often wish that some of those dreamers, 
 
 who prate so much about the pleasures of retirement, were 
 
 in my place ; for, to me, life without society is a heavy 
 
 task. I long for company, not merely for the sake of 
 
 conversation, but also to amuse myself with being idle. 
 
 For I would rather play fives or billiards, or make a 
 
 party to go up a hill or to swim, than read the finest 
 
 composition of human genius, or pass a classical night 
 
 with the whole of the Royal Society in full college. I 
 
 however still like reading, and the company of those 
 
 whom I suppose to be either men of taste or knowledge, 
 
 as much as ever; but without recreations of a lighter 
 
 kind, I should soon lose all relish for both. Were I by 
 
 chance thrown into a situation where it would be necessary 
 
 to relinquish either sport or study, I should without hesi- 
 
 tation give up study. It is impossible to express the 
 
 strong passion which I still retain, or which has rather 
 
 continued to grow upon me, for fives, swimming, and every 
 
 sport that I was fond of at school. I remember I left 
 
 Cassimcottah about eight years ago, on account of the 
 
 danger of hill fevers : but a stronger reason was, that I 
 
 could not live without playing fives. Were I to go home 
 
 to-morrow, instead of going about like a good citizen, and 
 
 visiting the various improvements in the manufactures 
 
 of my native town, one of my first excursions would be 
 
 to Woodside, to swim down Jackson's mill-stream ; and 
 
 as this would certainly be represented as an action very
 
 172 THE LIFE OF 
 
 indecorous in a person of my years, and as savouring 
 of an empty mind, I would excuse myself by saying 
 that I had only followed the advice of Lord Bacon : for 
 as I knew the deepening and widening of canals to be 
 matters of the utmost importance to a commercial nation, 
 I had resolved, in conformity to the principles of that 
 philosopher, to admit nothing on hearsay, however high 
 the authority, but to bring every thing to the test of 
 experiment; and that, with this patriotic view, I had 
 risked my person in a dangerous torrent. 
 
 Where I am now, I have no choice of study, or society, 
 or amusement. I go from village to village, with my tent, 
 settling the rents of the inhabitants ; and this is so tedious 
 and teazing a business, that it leaves room for nothing else, 
 for I have no hour in the day that I can call my own. 
 At this moment, while I am writing, there are a dozen of 
 people talking around me : it is now twelve o'clock, and 
 they have been coming and going in parties ever since 
 seven in the morning, when I began this letter. They 
 have frequently interrupted me for an hour at a time. One 
 man has a long story of a debt of thirty years' standing, 
 contracted by his father. Another tells me that his brother 
 made away with his property when he was absent during 
 the war ; and a third tells me that he cannot afford to 
 pay his usual rent, because his wife is dead, who used 
 to do more work than his best bullock. I am obliged 
 to listen to all these relations ; and as every man has 
 a knack at description, like Sancho, I think myself fortu- 
 nate when I get through any one of them in half an hour. 
 It is in vain that I sometimes recommend to them to begin 
 at the end of the story. They persist in their own way 
 of making me full master of all the particulars; and I 
 must, after making my objections and hearing their replies, 
 dictate answers in the same copious style to them all, 
 so that I cannot be sure that this letter will be ready to
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 173 
 
 go by the next ships. I am now in the middle of a deep 
 valley, about eight miles from the Cavery, and twenty 
 south of Pinagur, surrounded on every side by woody 
 hills, not covered with forests, but with trees of stunted 
 growth, brushwood, and such a thicket of thorns, as ren- 
 der them almost every where inaccessible : and as they 
 are like most of the hills in this country, composed either 
 of one vast mass of bare granite, or of large stones and 
 fragments heaped together, it is often impossible to 
 scramble up even where there are no other obstacles in 
 the way. There is not a tree on the plain, except here 
 and there a tamarind in the inclosures behind a farmer's 
 hut : but this scarcity is owing to neglect in not planting 
 others in the room of those cut down, not to barrenness ; 
 for every inch where the plough could go is cultivated ; 
 and even many spots among the rocks are turned up by 
 the hand. My tent is on the brink of a mountain stream, 
 which winds through this dismal valley ; for dismal it 
 appears at present, because it is the beginning of the 
 spring, and the whole plain is ploughed up, and looks 
 like a waste of red sand without a green thing. At the 
 extremity rise the woody hills which bound it ; and be- 
 yond them the lofty chain of mountains between Caveri- 
 pooram and Seringapatam : but though only fifteen miles 
 distant, the haze produced by the excessive heat is so 
 great, that they are hardly visible; and yet in clear weather 
 I have often seen them above eighty miles off. The 
 great heats are almost over ; for the land-winds, which 
 moderate them greatly, are now begun. In a few days 
 they will blow with great violence, and will continue 
 at the same rate, almost without intermission, till October. 
 The months of June, July, and August, with the exception 
 of a few clear days, will be cooler than in Britain : for 
 during this time the sky will be almost continually over- 
 cast, and the sun often invisible for many days. When
 
 174 THE LIFE OF 
 
 I speak of heat, I don't mean the thermometer, for it 
 will in general keep between 80 and 85 ; but the effect 
 produced on the human body, which, from the constant 
 high winds, frequently accompanied with drizzling rain, 
 feels this degree of heat much less than you do one much 
 lower at home. The middle of summer, on this account, 
 however strange it may seem, is cooler than the middle 
 of winter. 
 
 Mullegoord, 17th. I could get no farther with this 
 letter yesterday. I came here this morning, about five 
 miles to the north-west of the place I have just left. 
 Yesterday was the hottest day we have had this year ; 
 but there is a great change since. It began to thunder at 
 two o'clock this afternoon, and about four it looked so 
 threatening, that I went out to enjoy the coming storm. 
 I mounted an old high cavalier, the only remaining part of 
 a mud fort, which once covered this village ; the view was 
 wild and magnificent ; it was a vast assemblage of hills ; 
 for, from the spot where I stood, not a valley was visible, 
 except the small one which I had come through in the 
 morning ; the dust of the fresh ploughed fields was every 
 where flying up in whirlwinds ; and the dark clouds were 
 descending from the distant mountains upon the low woody 
 hills near me. I continued admiring this scene above an 
 hour, when I was driven from my station by the rain, 
 which poured down in a torrent, and was followed by a 
 tempest of hail, the second I have seen in this country. 
 The stones were perfectly smooth and round, and about 
 the size of small pistol-balls, I swallowed a great number 
 of them, to the memory of former days, while I was 
 hastening to my tent to get dry clothes ; but my reception 
 there was not so comfortable as it would have been at 
 home : for the convenience of being near a well, it had been 
 pitched in the dry bed of a swamp, which was now almost 
 knee-deep. After two hours'" work in cutting trenches to
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 175 
 
 carry off the water, and in throwing baskets of sand on the 
 floor of the tent to make it firm, I have at last got a spot 
 to bear my table and chair ; and am at last, after having 
 weathered the storm, engaged in giving you an account of 
 it. I have this moment had a visit from an old man, the 
 accountant of the village : he was drawn here by curiosity, 
 for he could not conceive what use I meant to make of the 
 baskets of sand he saw passing ; he told me there was 
 an excellent clean hut in the village, proof against all rain. 
 I answered, that after having been almost washed away, 
 there was no occasion to go any farther in search of clean- 
 liness. He said there would be a great deal more rain in 
 the course of the night, and that I should certainly be 
 drowned if I did not take his advice. This remark gave 
 me an opportunity of showing my knowledge in natural phi* 
 losophy : I informed him, that even if the rain should again 
 demolish my floor, I would get into my couch and set it 
 at defiance ; for that, in our elevated situation, it could not 
 possibly reach me, till every soul in the Carnatic was 
 drowned ; that I did not care how much water came down 
 the hills, I should never be alarmed, till I saw it coming 
 up ; when that happened, I should begin to have some 
 serious thoughts of drowning. He is gone home, fully 
 convinced that I am drunk. He saw me drinking tea, 
 which he supposed to be some strong spirits, to counteract 
 the cold. 
 
 Sholapaddi, 22d May. I am now on the bank of the 
 Cavery, about a mile below Caveripooram. The river is 
 about four hundred yards broad here, and is beginning to 
 fill. In a month more it will be even with its banks, 
 which are about twenty feet high. You perhaps figure 
 me to yourself in the middle of a rich country, walking on 
 the side of a beautiful stream : but every thing here is 
 wild and savage ; the valley, which is about two miles 
 broad between the river and the hills, does not produce a
 
 176 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 blade of grass. During the wet weather, by the force of 
 labour, it is covered with a poor kind of grain ; but the 
 rest of the year it is nothing but a heap of stones mixed 
 with thorns ; it is hardly possible to walk along the side of 
 the river, as the ground is every where cut by prodigious 
 deep ravines, full of bushes. I was above an hour yester- 
 day in walking a mile, and half the time at least was spent 
 in crossing them ; because, after descending, I was often 
 obliged to go a considerable way along the bottom before 
 I could find a place to scramble up. In returning I at- 
 tempted to come along the bed of the river ; but this way 
 was not pleasanter than the other way, wading through 
 deep sand, or stumbling over blue rocks rising abruptly 
 from it. The only agreeable part of my journey was in 
 sitting down upon one of them, and looking at the differ- 
 ent kinds of water-fowl catching fish. While I rested 
 here, the burning heat of the sun was rendered still more 
 oppressive by the reflection from the sand and water ; and 
 I do not know whether the patience of the fishing-birds in 
 watching for their prey, or mine in looking at them, was 
 greatest. I once thought of varying the scene, and going 
 home by water: this might have been the shortest way, 
 and would certainly have been the coolest ; but I felt 
 some kind of repugnance to swimming among alligators ; 
 for though here, as in many other parts of the country, 
 they are not mischievous, and there is no instance of their 
 ever having carried off any of the natives, who are perpe- 
 tually bathing, I reflected that it would be no consola- 
 tion to me to have it remarked by the old people of the 
 village, that they never remembered to have seen any per- 
 son taken down by them till this blessed day. I also re- 
 collected two or three instances of accidents having hap- 
 pened where these animals were said to be perfectly harm- 
 less ; these arguments were quite sufficient to deter me 
 from attempting the passage by water. I have not yet
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 177 
 
 taken the trmble to ascertain whether my conduct, on this 
 occasion, was the result of self-love, or of that wisdom 
 which Dr. Zimmerman, one of the most absurd coxcombs 
 I ever met with, says is produced by seclusion from the 
 world. If solitude is the mother of wisdom, it is to be 
 hoped that, in a few years more, I shall be as wise as 
 Solomon or Robinson Crusoe.- There is another thing in 
 favour of this idea, the simplicity of my fare, which, 
 according to some philosophers, is a great friend to genius 
 and digestion. I do not know if the case is altered by this 
 diet, being the effect of necessity and not of choice. 
 When my cook brings me a sheep, it is generally so lean 
 that it is no easy matter to cut it. Fowls are still worse, 
 unless fed with particular care, a science for which I have 
 no turn ; and as to river-fish, very few of them are eat- 
 able. If the fish and fowl were both boiled, it would 
 puzzle any naturalist to tell the one from the other merely 
 by the taste. Some sects of philosophers recommend nuts 
 and apples, and other sorts of fruit ; but nothing is to be 
 found either in the woods or gardens here, except a few 
 limes, and a coarse kind of plantain, which is never eaten 
 without the help of cookery. I have dined to-day on por- 
 ridge made of half-ground flour instead of oatmeal ; and I 
 shall most likely dine to-morrow on plantain fritters. 
 Some other philosophers think that gentle exercise, as a 
 branch of temperance, has also a share in illuminating 
 the understanding. I am very fond of riding in an even- 
 ing shower after a hot day ; but I do not rest much upon 
 this ; my great dependence, for the expansion of my genius, 
 is upon the porridge. 
 
 Chittore, 18th June. I remained only a few days in the 
 Caveryporam district, after writing the last part of this 
 letter: my tent was blown away one afternoon by a hurri- 
 cane of dust, such as those that Mr. Bruce met with in the 
 Desert. I thought at first, from the darkness, that it was 
 VOL. I. N
 
 178 THE LIFE OF 
 
 rain ; but when it came within a few miles, I soon guessed, 
 from the red colour of the cloud, what it was, for I had 
 before seen one, though not half so violent, at Bangalore. 
 It lasted about half an hour ; and, as I was in the middle 
 of it all the time bareheaded, I caught a cold, which, 
 together with the King's birth-day, carried me to Senkle- 
 droog. I stayed there a week, as the doctor told me, to 
 recover my health ; but it was, in reality, neither him nor 
 health, but the Swallow packet, that detained me. I 
 wished to be in society when she arrived, that I might 
 have a debate upon the intelligence she was expected to 
 bring out, both respecting European politics, and the 
 regulations of the Indian army ; but hearing nothing of her, 
 I took the field again, and, after several movements, I am 
 now on a beautiful spot, twelve miles north of Senkledroog, 
 and four from the Cavery. On all sides are groves of Pal- 
 myra trees, and the country is every where green with the 
 rising grain : the only uncultivated ground is a small space 
 in front of the village on which my tent stands. The wea- 
 ther is now pleasanter than in England ; the wind is high, 
 and the sky so cloudy, that the sun has scarcely been visi- 
 ble since the beginning of the month. I walked out this 
 afternoon at three o'clock, which is usually as hot as any hour 
 in the day, and did not return till near seven, when it 
 began to grow dark. I made a circuit of about ten miles, 
 without once thinking of heat. At this season of the year, 
 I take so much pleasure in these rambles, that I find it 
 difficult to confine myself to my tent. They are not so 
 solitary as I could wish ; for I often fall in with story- 
 tellers, who keep me company all the way. The farmers 
 of this country are, I believe, the most talkative race on 
 the face of the earth. A party of them met me this even- 
 ing with a complaint against some unknown conjurer, who 
 had set fire to their village twice in the course of the year. 
 I told them I had a great antipathy to all conjurers, and
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 
 
 179 
 
 would give them satisfaction on their producing him. They 
 said they had concerted a plan for discovering him, but 
 that it could not be executed without my assistance. I 
 was to take my station at a little distance from the village, 
 with a spying-glass in my hand ; all the inhabitants were 
 to pass in review before me ; when I could not fail, by 
 means of the virtues of the glass, to discover the felon who 
 had done so much mischief. I answered that it was an 
 excellent thought, but that the trial must be deferred till 
 I should get a new glass, as my old one was broken ; and 
 as we should then certainly catch the conjurer, I asked 
 what punishment it would be proper to inflict upon him. 
 They said, no other than drawing two of his teeth, with 
 which he would lose all his magic powers. I replied, that 
 this could not be done till he was taken ; but that, in the 
 mean time, there was another remedy, equally simple, at 
 hand, to defend themselves from him in future : any per- 
 son who had any suspicion of his having evil designs 
 upon himself, had only to get two of his own teeth drawn, 
 which would secure both himself and his property against 
 all the art of the enemy. I said I had some years ago 
 parted with two of my own teeth; and offered, if they 
 would accompany me back, to get them all made magic- 
 proof at the same cheap rate. They asked leave to go 
 home and consult about my proposal, and promised to 
 give me their answer in the morning; but I suspect that I 
 shall hear no more of the matter. Among the natives of 
 this country, the belief in all kinds of witchcraft, goblins, 
 and elf-shooting, is universal among all ranks. They fre- 
 quently take the conjurer by surprise, and draw his teeth 
 themselves without applying to justice. The cattle of the 
 farmers seldom die a natural death. If any accident hap- 
 pens in any of their families when they begin to plough a 
 field ; if a snake runs across the path, or if they see a land- 
 crab, they abandon it, and say that it is in possession of the 
 
 N 2
 
 180 THE LIFE OF 
 
 devil : it lies waste for several years ; and if then some 
 bold fellow ventures to break it up, and loses neither his 
 life nor his bullocks, it is supposed that the devil has, for 
 the present, relinquished his claim. I once had a complaint 
 from a man, of a conjurer's having killed his wife and 
 mother, and about twenty cows and bullocks. I thought, 
 at first, that some of the characters in the Arabian Nights 
 had again started up ; but, on farther inquiry, I found 
 that he had taken fourteen years to effect all this ; and I 
 thought it possible that, within this period, time alone, with- 
 out any foreign aid, might have dispatched a couple of 
 women and a few cattle. 
 
 I add to this a letter addressed to one of his 
 brothers, not only because of its extreme beauty, 
 but on account of its striking illustration of that 
 affection for early scenes and early friends, which 
 formed so prominent a feature in the writer's 
 character. 
 
 Senkledroog, 25th January, 1796. 
 DEAR JAMES, 
 
 I HAVE received your letters of June and Sep- 
 tember, 1794, and May, 1795. I cannot read your account 
 of your ramble among our old haunts, without wishing 
 myself along with you. I understand all the alterations 
 you mention, as well as if I saw them ; but I have too 
 much veneration for every thing about the place, to relish 
 any changes : I neither like the stone wall, nor the mak- 
 ing the entrance from the hollow part of the road where the 
 burn runs, instead of letting it go through the avenue as for- 
 merly. I hope the mill-lade is still full of mud ; that the 
 short road through the garden still remains ; that the rasp- 
 berries opposite to the dam still thrive for the benefit of 
 wandering boys ; and that no flood has carried away the
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 181 
 
 large stone in the deep water opposite to the bathing-house, 
 from which we used to plunge. Often have I sat upon it, 
 and encouraged you, in vain, to come in. Alexander and 
 William were not afraid of the water, and soon learned to 
 swim ; but I could never prevail on you to come above 
 the dam ; you always amused yourself among the stones 
 in the shallow water below, where it was hardly deep 
 enough for the minnows to play. This spot, next to our own 
 family, if any thing ever draws me home, will doit. I have 
 no friendships nor employment that should induce me to re- 
 turn. I had no companions in the grammar-school with whom 
 I associated after leaving it, except John Brown's sons and my 
 brothers : and they are now dispersed in all parts of the world. 
 By spending so much of my time in the house, I was more 
 among Erskine's acquaintances than any of my own, and I 
 would much rather see them than any of my schoolfellows. 
 My attachment to India has been much weakened since 
 you left it, by the loss of many valuable friends. You 
 alreadv know of James Irving ; but Dods, the oldest and 
 dearest of them all, is now gone ; he was my tent-mate in 
 80 at Conjeveram, and from that time till the day of his 
 death, my affection for him grew stronger and stronger ; 
 he was carried off, in the course of a week, by a hill 
 fever, which he caught at Gingee, where he had gone 
 with another officer for the sake of solitary excursions, 
 of which he was so fond, and of visiting the stu- 
 pendous rocks and ruins about that place. No year 
 ever passed that he did not contrive to spend several weeks 
 with me. He was going to see some friends at Trichin- 
 opoly, and from thence had promised to come through 
 the Baramahl on his way to Arnie. I wrote to him, that 
 I had a tent ready for him; but my letter came back 
 under a cover, informing me of his death. You fancy to 
 yourself Foulis and he and I meeting at Derarnpoory : 
 such a meeting I once flattered myself with seeing ; but it
 
 182 THE LIFE OF 
 
 is all over now, and the world has nothing which can 
 ever give me so much pleasure as it would have done ; but 
 I am afraid I shall soon have to lament the loss of another 
 friend. Foulis is so ill, that there is hardly any chance of 
 his recovery ; if he dies, I shall have seen the end of almost 
 the only three men with whom I have ever been intimate. 
 Taylor is the only exception ; and his constitution is so 
 much impaired, that he will be obliged to go to Europe. I 
 am now too old to form new friendships ; and I foresee 
 that I must go through life like a stranger among 
 people, some of whom I esteem, but for none of whom I 
 have any particular partiality. Daniel's marriage inclines 
 me to believe, that I am still a young man ; but when I 
 see all my friends dropping off, I feel that I have survived 
 all the pleasures of youth, and that I have only those of 
 age to look to the recollection of what is past. In all 
 my letters, I have constantly approved of your plan of sa- 
 crificing every prospect to the recovery of health, and I 
 hope you will persevere in this resolution ; but I am afraid 
 that your studies will be a great obstacle to success in this 
 point, because they confine you too much, and give you too 
 little exercise. I have often been attacked at Kishnagerry 
 about your indolence, and have always defended you on 
 the plea of bad health ; and the state I saw you in would 
 certainly have made any man listless, and incapable of 
 exertion. I have often, for a simple headach, sat without 
 moving or speaking for a whole day. Smith, who came 
 out in the ship with you, tells me that you were very lazy, 
 and that you shammed illness, and spent all your time 
 reading books in the jolly-boat, with a Scotchman called 
 Marshall : according to Smith's ideas, reading books is a 
 very idle kind of employment ; and I am so far of his opi- 
 nion, that I think it would have been better, had you in 
 your earlier days spent less of time in school or college, and 
 more with boys in the streets, it might probably have saved
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 183 
 
 you from the sickness, occasioned, I suppose, by too much 
 confinement, which threw you into the hands of quacks. 
 Daniel has settled fifty pounds a-year upon you. I shall 
 remit you a like sum in a month or two, and, with the help of 
 what Alexander can spare, I hope you will be able to manage 
 till you get into some kind of business; but you must 
 keep up your spirits, and be cheerful, and full of exertion 
 whenever health permits there is no doing without these 
 qualities. I have seen you, with all the dignity of a philo- 
 sopher, speak contemptuously of the understandings, the 
 pursuits, and engagements of your neighbours ; but nothing 
 is more unphilosophical, and, what is of more consequence, 
 more imprudent, than to show a slight to any person, how- 
 ever humble his capacity : there is hardly any man who 
 ever forgives it : and true philosophy consists, not so much 
 in despising the talents or wealth of other men, as in bear- 
 ing our own fortune, whatever it may be, with an unaltered 
 mind. I am preaching to you about an error that I often 
 fall into myself ; but never without repenting it. 
 
 Your affectionate Brother, 
 (Signed) THOMAS MUNRO. 
 
 TO HIS FATHER. 
 [On the general state of the Country and the Army.] 
 
 DEAR SIR, Senkledroog, 18th April, 1796. 
 
 IT is now near a twelvemonth since the date of 
 my last letter from home ; but I have heard of you later 
 than this from Lieutenant Malcolm, the General's secre- 
 tary, who tells me that you were one of the last persons he 
 saw at home, and that he had a long talk with you about 
 Tippoo. Captain Read is still occupied in surveying and 
 leasing this country ; it will require another year to finish ; 
 so that we shall hold our civil employments till July 1797.
 
 184 THE LIFE OF 
 
 After that, it is likely enough that we may be sent to the 
 right about; though it Would certainly be wiser to let him 
 remain for a year or two longer, to try whether or riot the 
 plan which he has adopted will stand the test of experi- 
 ment. I have been here about six weeks. I go away in a 
 few days, and shall hardly be twice in the company of 
 Europeans before Christmas. You can therefore expect 
 no news from me, for I hear nothing but vague reports ; 
 and any information that I could send you would neither 
 be so correct nor so full as the public papers. There is no 
 appearance, at present, of the country powers giving us 
 any trouble. Tippoo is employed in reducing some refrac- 
 tory poligars, and is too weak to molest any of his neigh- 
 bours. The Nizam is in the same situation ; and the 
 Mahrattas are disputing about the succession to the Peish- 
 waship. All the Dutch posts in Ceylon are now in our pos- 
 session. An expedition has been talked of against Batavia ; 
 but I think it is doubtful that it will be attempted ; for it 
 is not worth the number of men that must fall victims to 
 its climate ; and if Holland is ever again to recover her 
 independence, of which we have some hopes from the last 
 advices, it is not worth while to plunder and distress her 
 without benefiting ourselves. In a political point of view, 
 all our Eastern conquests are not of half the value that the 
 Mauritius would have been ; for, as long as the French 
 have it and Pondicherry, they will always be able to make 
 an impression on the Carnatic, and, if supported by Tippoo, 
 
 to distress us as much as we were in 1780. 
 
 #*#*## 
 
 We are now looking out a little impatiently for the 
 army arrangements. Some copies have arrived in the 
 country of those which are said to have passed the Board 
 of Control and the Court of Directors; but they follow 
 too closely the plan of Lord Cornwallis to give general
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 185 
 
 satisfaction. Eighteen thousand sepoys will never be 
 found sufficient for the services of the coast ; and eighteen 
 hundred men is too great a number for a regiment. Corps 
 of this strength might answer well enough in an open 
 country, where the troops are kept together in large can- 
 tonments; but they are very ill-calculated for a country 
 with an extensive frontier, covered with forts, like the Car- 
 natic ; because, in order to garrison them, almost every 
 battalion must be broken into detachments, which will ruin 
 their discipline. We have now thirty- six battalions of 
 sepoys, which, with one hundred and sixty additional men 
 to each, makes our present establishment between seven 
 and eight thousand firelocks above the arrangements. If 
 Ceylon is reduced, we shall probably discharge a part of 
 the additional men ; but we shall, I am convinced, after 
 every possible reduction, be five thousand above it, and it 
 would, in the end, prove more economical to have this extra 
 number, or even eight thousand, than to limit ourselves to 
 that proposed by Lord Cornwallis ; for his establishment 
 will oblige us, on the breaking out of a war, to confine our 
 operations to the countries below the Ghauts till reinforce- 
 ments arrive from Bengal, while the other would enable us 
 to march at once to Seringapatam. The loss of a single 
 campaign would be attended with more expense than 
 would counterbalance all the savings that could arise from 
 the difference of the two establishments in times of peace ; 
 and the stronger would have another advantage over the 
 weaker, that it would secure us longer in the enjoyment of 
 peace, because an enemy would be more cautious in attack- 
 ing us when he saw us in a situation to receive him. Had 
 Lord Cornwallis been left to combat Tippoo without any 
 assistance from the Mahrattas, I suspect that he would 
 have given a very different plan from that which he has 
 now brought forward. The best article in the whole of it
 
 186 
 
 is, that of giving leave to retire on full pay after twenty- 
 five years' service. 
 
 Your affectionate Son, 
 
 (Signed) THOMAS MUNRO. 
 
 TO HIS FATHER. 
 [Relative to the state of the Country and the People.] 
 
 Wamlere, 10th May, 1796. 
 
 DEAR SIR, 
 
 THE average rent of cultivated land, in this 
 country, is not more than three shillings an acre. Waste 
 lands pay nothing. The inhabitants graze their cattle and 
 cut wood upon them, without being subject to any demand : 
 laying down fields in clover, and different kinds of grass, is 
 unknown in this country, where all the pasture is spon- 
 taneous. The average rent of the whole body of farmers 
 is not more than ten pagodas each. I am pretty sure that 
 there is not a man among them who is worth 500/., and 
 that, exclusive of their cattle, nine-tenths of them have not 
 five pounds. This extreme poverty is the principal cause 
 of the lowness of the rents, and not any fault of the soil ; 
 for at least three-fourths of the lands in cultivation are 
 capable of producing cotton, sugar, and indigo ; but 
 though the rayets have little money, I imagine that they 
 suffer less real distress than the peasantry of Europe. 
 The inclemency of the weather is what they hardly ever 
 feel: firewood costs them nothing, and dress very little. 
 Their own labour, for two or three days, is the price of 
 their house, which is built of mud and covered with straw 
 or leaves, and, in a warm climate, such materials answer 
 the purpose just as well as stone or marble. All of them 
 are married, and their families, so far from being a burden,
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNKO. 187 
 
 are a great support to them, because their labour produces 
 more than the expense of their maintenance : this is so 
 generally understood, that nothing is more common than 
 to grant a man a remission of rent on the death of his wife 
 or his son. Learned men who write of India, begin by 
 talking of the sun, and then tell us that its vertical rays 
 make the natives indolent ; but, notwithstanding all this, 
 the farmers are, at least, as industrious as those of Europe, 
 and their women more so. They owe their poverty to 
 their government, and neither to their idleness nor the 
 sun. There is a great variety of castes among them ; the 
 degrees of industry are different in them all; and in fixing 
 rents, it is as necessary to attend to this circumstance as to 
 the quality of the land. Bramins may perform all the 
 labours of agriculture, except that of holding the plough. 
 On this account, and because their women do not work in 
 the fields, they seldom pay more than half the usual rent. 
 It is fixed in the Carnatic at three quarters ; but this I 
 suspect is always by a partial valuation among the rayets. 
 The women of some castes go through every labour the 
 same as the men ; those of others cannot hold the plough ; 
 and those of others, again, are prohibited from every kind 
 of work in the fields ; but it is fortunate that the caste of 
 which both the men and the women are the most industri- 
 ous, is by far the most numerous of all. In this caste the 
 women manage every thing, and the men hardly ever ven- 
 ture to disobey their orders. It is they who buy, and sell, 
 and lend, and borrow ; and though the man comes to the 
 cutcherry to have his rent settled, he always receives his 
 instructions before leaving home. If he gives up any 
 point of them, however trifling, he is sure to incur her re- 
 sentment. She orders him to stay at home next day, and 
 she sallies forth herself in great indignation, denouncing 
 the whole tribe of revenue servants. On her arrival at the 
 cutcherry, she goes on for near an hour with a very ani-
 
 188 THE LIFE OF 
 
 mated speech, which she had probably begun some hours be- 
 fore at the time of her leaving her own house, the substance 
 of it is, that they are a set of rascals for imposing upon 
 her poor simple husband. She usually concludes with 
 a string of interrogations. " Do you think that I can 
 plough land without bullocks? that I can make gold? 
 or that I can raise it by selling this cloth ?" She points, 
 as she says this, to the dirty rag with which she is half 
 covered, which she had put on for the occasion, and which 
 no man would choose to touch with the end of a stick. 
 If she gets what she asks, she goes away in a good 
 humour; but if not, she delivers another philippic, not 
 in a small female voice, but in that of a boatswain, for 
 by long practice she is louder and hoarser than a man. 
 As the cutcherry people only laugh at her, she carries 
 her eloquence where she knows she can make it be attended 
 to. She returns to her unfortunate husband, and pro- 
 bably does not confine herself entirely to logical argu- 
 ments. She is perhaps too full of cares and anxieties to 
 sleep that night ; and if any person passes her house about 
 daybreak, or a little before it, he will certainly find her busy 
 spinning cotton. If I have not seen, I have at least often 
 heard, the women spinning early in the morning, when it 
 was so dark that I could scarcely follow the road. It is 
 the farmer's women who make most of the thread used 
 in all the cotton manufactures of India. 
 
 I am, dear Sir, your affectionate Son, 
 
 (Signed) THOMAS MUNRO. 
 
 The death of a Mr. Foulis, to whom Captain 
 Munro was sincerely attached, occurred about 
 this time, and drew from him the following beau- 
 tiful letter to his brother.
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 189 
 
 TO HIS BROTHER. 
 
 Wamlere, 23rd May, 1796. 
 
 DEAR JAMES, 
 
 I LEFT Senkledroog on the 6th, and have been 
 alone ever since, except one day that I was with Read at 
 Selim. I shall hardly be twice in the company of 
 Europeans again before Christmas. I am now on my way 
 to the Caveri, and I shall pass the King's birth-day on the 
 banks of it, among the hills, about four miles below the 
 spot where you may remember that we went one day to 
 swim. That place always brings my valuable friend 
 Irving to my mind ; but I have just lost a friend to whom 
 I was still more strongly attached than to him. Foulis 
 died at Major Brown's, near Madras, on the 1 7th. This 
 event he had long earnestly wished for himself; for, with the 
 exception of a few short intervals of ease, the last seven 
 years of his life was a period of great pain and constant 
 suffering, and often of agony. No man in the service was 
 ever so generally lamented. Now that he and Dods are 
 both gone, I feel myself indifferent, both with regard to 
 this country and home, for the loss of them leaves a blank 
 which I can never hope to fill up, for it is impossible that 
 I can ever be again with any other men as I have been with 
 them. Life is now too far advanced to commence such 
 friendships as subsisted between us; for, to make friendships 
 cordial and unreserved, men must not only have something 
 of the same tempers, inclinations, and ways of thinking, 
 but they must have passed many of their earlier years toge- 
 ther, in the same scenes of pleasure or distress. You 
 must not judge of Foulis from what he was when you saw 
 him disease and unremitting torment had totally altered 
 both his looks and his mind ; even when you saw him 
 somewhat better at home, none of the bad symptoms of his
 
 190 THE LIFE OF 
 
 disorder had been removed, and he was himself convinced 
 that there was not the smallest chance of his recovery. I 
 don't know if ever you met with Dods, except one day 
 that I carried you to his tattered tent at Seringapatam ; but 
 even from the short acquaintance that you had with both 
 of them, I make no doubt but that you found yourself more 
 at your ease, and were received with a heartier welcome, 
 than you often are by friends of longer standing at home. 
 
 I am very glad to hear that you have resolution enough 
 to prefer your health to every other consideration. Were 
 your constitution perfectly sound, you would certainly do 
 well to accept of Daniel's invitation ; but while you have 
 any remains of the bowel complaint, it would be great folly 
 to make dangerous experiments on yourself, to gratify either 
 your own vanity, or that of your friends. I would rather 
 see you in good health, the poorest doctor in Scotland, than 
 the richest in Bengal, and suffering what you did at Kish- 
 nagerry. 
 
 The arrangements are arrived. I shall send my father a. 
 list of the army, after they are carried into effect. 
 
 Your affectionate Brother, 
 (Signed) THOMAS MUNRO. 
 
 TO THE SAME. 
 
 Curtore, fifteen miles east of Derampoory, 
 
 24th September. 
 DEAR JAMES, 
 
 * * * * I wish I had been at 's mar- 
 riage with the party of , which you thought so dull. 
 
 You doctors are too nice about your company. Where do 
 you think the world is to find men of wit, and learning, 
 and genius, to place rank and file round every table ? I am 
 perfectly satisfied with reading in a book that there are such
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 
 
 men in the present age, without expecting that I am to 
 have one on each side of me, whenever I sit down to eat 
 a beef-steak. Thank God ! I sometimes devoutly say, I 
 am contented with my lot, and can make shift to swallow 
 my dinner, and supper too, even though it should not 
 be seasoned with the conversation of a Hedrick. I con- 
 sider that man was not made for me to mend ; and I there- 
 fore endeavour to take my company with a good appetite, 
 without fretting myself about their being fish or fowl. I 
 cannot deny but that I have often, when in a bad humour, 
 or low spirits, shifted the blame from myself to my friends, 
 and given them a hearty curse for not affording me more 
 entertainment, which they were perhaps, at the very same 
 moment, retorting inwardly, and likely enough, with as much 
 justice, for Providence has wisely ordained, that taste should 
 be in conversation, as it is in every thing else, various and 
 capricious, for it would occasion almost as much inconve- 
 nience in society if all of us were to debate eternally on the 
 same topics, as if we were all to fall in love with the same 
 woman. The drift of all these profound remarks is merely 
 
 to show that though and his party might not have 
 
 settled the point, whether Vortigern was a sprite of 
 Shakspeare's or a bantling of Mr. Ireland's ; or whether 
 Mr. Burke or his answerers had the best of the argument, 
 that they might have discussed other subjects, which might 
 have required as much judgment, though of a different 
 kind. I would not choose to give my days and nights to 
 retailers of family anecdotes ; but I like to sit down some- 
 times in the midst of a gossiping circle, and hear one tell 
 how his grandmother could thread a needle, without 
 spectacles, at fourscore, and another, how his grand-aunt, by 
 the father's side, could read a small printed Bible at ninety. 
 These, in the pride of your philosophy, you may despise 
 as trifling matters ; but I should be very glad when I am
 
 192 THE LIFE OF 
 
 reading my Bible at ninety, as God willing I shall, to see 
 you threading your needle at eighty without spectacles. 
 
 Your affectionate Brother, 
 
 THOMAS MUNRO. 
 
 25th. P. S. We are now obliged to arm to prevent 
 Tippoo from attacking some of our Mahratta friends. 
 This was to be expected from our absurdity in leaving him 
 so strong at the end of the last war. I am afraid that our 
 preparations may keep him quiet. Without another war, I 
 may not be a captain these ten years. There are now about 
 seventy above me. The only steps I have got this last 
 year are by two men whom I would not have given for all 
 they have left behind them Dods and Foulis. Taylor, 
 the last of my intimate friends, died at Amboyna in April. 
 I esteemed him no less than the other two, for the many 
 inestimable qualities that he possessed. There was some- 
 thing peculiarly manly, and, at the same time, amiable in 
 his disposition ; and this joined to his having attached him- 
 self to me in 81, when he was a boy of fifteen, has made me 
 feel his death, if possible, more than that of the other two. 
 
 TO HIS SISTER. 
 
 Derampoory, 4th March, 1797. 
 DEAR ERSKINE, 
 
 I HAVE received so many letters from you, 
 written in the course of last year, that I am now, from prac- 
 tice, become pretty expert in deciphering your cabalistical 
 characters. Your last packet is of the 3d June, except a 
 few lines by Charles Craig, of the 28th September. I 
 have not got the View of Clyde. Mr. Ross has sent 
 me the Glasgow papers, though he does not say from whom 
 he received them. I have been busy with them for some 
 days past, reading about the Broomielaw and Grange- 
 mouth, and the roups of steadings and tenements, and the 
 accomplishments of Mr. M'Gregor, who teaches graceful
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 193 
 
 attributes and the art of war to colonels of regiments, for 
 the good of his country. I don't know what to make of 
 this Grangemouth, whether to suppose it to be the place 
 where the canal joins the Clyde, or the old basin beyond 
 the black quarry, to which we used often to make excur- 
 sions through King's Park. The walk from thence to 
 Gadder, if I remember right, is through a very barren, 
 dreary country. I should however be glad to take it 
 again, to recall the days of other years, and to compare the 
 ideas excited by the view of the neighbouring scenes in 
 boyish days with those of a riper age. George Brown tells 
 me, that the expectation of deriving pleasure from such 
 things is all a delusion, and that though most men cherish 
 it, they soon find it vanish on trial. I believe that this is 
 the case in general ; but I should be sorry to find it so with 
 myself. I pass so much of my time in the open air ; I am 
 so fond of rambling in the fields, even in this hot climate, 
 that I am certain that, even independent of every relation 
 to past times, I should have greater pleasure in walking 
 along the canal, than in visiting the gayest place in Britain- 
 From this account, you will think yourself sure of me in 
 your intended expedition to Turkey or America, in quest 
 of Mrs. Listen ; but I can see very plainly that I shall not 
 be of the party ; for either I shall by that time be tired of 
 roaming, and wish to pitch my tent on some dry spot, if 
 there be any such in Scotland, where I may sit down 
 quietly, and read novels and newspapers, and gossip out 
 the remainder of my days with the toasts of a former 
 century ; or else I shall be restless, as I now am, or, what 
 the French call, in a permanent state of revolution, and 
 shall wish to move light, without any Encumbrance either 
 of male or female companion. I like to travel alone, be- 
 cause I can then go fast or slow, directly forward, or round 
 about, just as I please. So you may easily guess that I 
 would never answer for your squire ; you could not be sure 
 VOL. I. O
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 of ray attendance for a day ; for, supposing us both in full 
 march for Constantinople, and arrived at Ingolstadt or In- 
 spruck, or some such place in the Heart of Germany, I might 
 take it into my head, while you were looking at pictures or 
 churches, or sitting down to write a description of them to 
 one of your Glasgow friends, to push off, without giving 
 you notice, for Switzerland or Italy. I might probably 
 proceed from Leghorn to Aleppo, and so on to India, 
 from whence I would write you a letter, conjuring you, for 
 Heaven's sake, not to be alar-med for my safety, for that I 
 was in good health at Madras, after having most pro- 
 videntially escaped the plague, by not accompanying you 
 to Constantinople. You had better look out in time, and 
 provide yourself with a more steady person than me to 
 escort you. No one would do so well as James, if he 
 should be able to undertake the journey. If the stars 
 could contrive to make it fall out about the time I am leav- 
 ing India, I would meet you either on the Delaware or the 
 Bosphorus ; but as I somehow or other fancy, that there 
 is nothing in the manners or customs of the Americans very 
 different from those of our own seaport towns, I would 
 rather hear of your being among the Turks, for this would 
 give me an opportunity of seeing, in my route overland, 
 besides them, the Arabs and Syrians, and the remnants of 
 many other nations celebrated in ancient history. I hope 
 yet to see, in spite of our absurd alarms about the balance 
 of power, the greater part of the Turkish dominions, once 
 the seat of all the arts, under Russia or Austria. These 
 fine countries, which have been shut up from the world 
 since the dissolution of the Roman empire, would then be 
 laid open to the researches of philosophical travellers ; and 
 those who wished to go to something higher than philoso- 
 phy, might confirm their doctrines, by digging out a brazen 
 candlestick from the ruins of the first temple of Jerusalem, 
 or a brick from the foundations of the Tower of Babel. If
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 195 
 
 I did not think that I had already sufficiently tired your 
 patience with dissertations on war and population, I would 
 give you another, in which I should show " as how, 1 ' the 
 Russians would ere long be able, by their connexions with 
 Persia, to break up the Turkish 1 empire, without asking 
 leave of any power but Austria, which would be glad to 
 join in the crusade ; but these are matters of which we can 
 talk when we meet, which, after all your threats, will not, 
 I imagine, be in a foreign country. Were you really to 
 determine on leaving home, I am afraid that you would be 
 much disappointed in the pleasure which you expect from 
 travelling. You would meet, in all countries, with the 
 sameness and dulness of which you complain, particularly 
 in tropical climates, where it would be increased by the 
 languor occasioned by the heat of the sun. When confined, 
 like a prisoner, to your chamber, by his scorching rays, 
 with not a breath of air stirring, not a human being passing 
 before your eyes, every thing still as if in the middle of a 
 desert, you would then look back with regret to the busy 
 house of Glasgow. The Americans are so like ourselves, 
 that I should think an excursion to Philadelphia would 
 afford you much the same entertainment as if you were to 
 take shipping at Leith, go round the island, and land at 
 Greenock. There would be greater novelty and variety on 
 the continent of Europe ; but as you have not the lan- 
 guages, you would soon be weary of looking at strange 
 sights. In following travellers in your closet, every thing 
 appears in its fairest form : you never consider bad wea- 
 ther, deep roads, the breaking down of carriages, misera- 
 ble inns, and all the other heart-breaking, temper-trying 
 accidents which constantly pursue ladies and gentlemen on 
 their tours of pleasure. I would not have you listen to 
 what Mrs. Listen may tell you on this matter, for she is 
 not an impartial judge. The company of her husband 
 will make her overlook some inconveniences, and her wish 
 O 2
 
 196 
 
 THE LIVE OF 
 
 to draw you to her will make her conceal the rest. I have 
 never been very scrupulous in offering advice, whether 
 asked or not ; and in case you should hereafter think 
 proper to consult me on your intended travels by sea or 
 land, I think it best, without loss of time, to tell you, that 
 I think you ought never to quit your native land until you 
 are the wife of an ambassador. If you cannot bear the ab- 
 sence of a single friend, how do you think you could sup- 
 port the separation from all those with whom you have 
 passed your whole life ? The pleasure of corresponding, 
 and the prospect of meeting again, will soon console you 
 for the temporary loss of Mrs. Liston. I have formerly 
 found this to be the case with myself, when at a distance 
 from the friends I most esteemed ; but this happiness I can 
 no longer look forward to, for all those with whom I ever 
 kept up an unreserved and constant correspondence have 
 been carried off within a few months of each other. I have 
 very little of melancholy or despondency in my temper ; 
 but I feel that the season of forming disinterested friend- 
 ships is now past ; that I shall never again be able to give 
 the same confidence to any new friends, as to the old ones 
 who are gone ; and that though their loss will not make the 
 remainder of my life miserable, it will make it much more 
 cheerless and uninteresting than if they had lived. 
 Your affectionate brother, 
 
 THOMAS MUNRO. 
 
 TO THE SAME. 
 
 Derampoory, 7th February, 1798. 
 DEAR ERSKINE, 
 
 BOTH your sprigs of ivy have reached their des- 
 tination; for they have several times visited the Cavery in 
 my writing-table, and will yet, I hope, see the bank from 
 whence they came. Were I a man of a devout turn of
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 197 
 
 mind, they might give rise to many serious and comfortable 
 reflections on the world to come : even as it is, they warn 
 me that I am not what I was that I am as withered as 
 they that I may return home, but that my youth and 
 freshness will never return ; and that I must, sooner or later, 
 be mingled with the autumnal leaves of Vallambrosa, or 
 some other valley of death. They often remind me of old 
 women and their religious books, usually interspersed, for 
 what reason I do not know, with dried leaves of roses and 
 tulips in almost every page ; and then I fancy myself 
 again in the English chapel, turning over the prayer-book 
 of Miss Yule (I think), the old lady who sat in the same 
 pew with our mother, which, besides a collection of wither- 
 ed leaves, contained many excellent pictures of prophets 
 and angels. I fancy myself again listening to the drowsy 
 
 doctrines of Mr. , and wishing myself in the Green, 
 
 or any where but with him, while he was soaring beyond 
 this visible diurnal sphere. But when I read your verses, 
 I forget the ivy-mantled towers and kirks, and all the dis- 
 mal countenances of the crowds of quick and dead that are 
 poured out of them on a Sunday evening, and am trans- 
 ported to my old haunts at Northside. I cannot however 
 recollect the old tree which supported your ivy sprig. 
 There was one pretty tall tree near Jackson's dam, at the 
 sluice, and another higher up, near the hut made of 
 fir branches, for undressing ; but I do not remember that 
 either of them was encircled in ivy. The trees that at- 
 tracted most of my attention were in the Glebe; an old oak, 
 (I believe,) under which I made a seat, and two fir-trees, 
 with large projecting branches, on which 1 have often sat 
 and read voyages to the East Indies, much more pleasant 
 then than I have found them since. 
 
 I know not whether it is nature or early habits that give 
 us an attachment to particular ways of life, but I never pass- 
 ed any time so pleasantly as catching eels and minnows, un-
 
 198 THE LIFE OF 
 
 less, perhaps, when I was too indolent to fish, and sat 
 on a rock under Jackson's dam, with my feet dangling in 
 the stream, and my eyes fixed on the water gliding among 
 the stones. Many an idle, vacant, ruminating hour have I 
 spent in this position, from which I was usually at length 
 moved by some fell design against a shoal of minnows, or 
 against the long black insect which, in a sunny day, is con- 
 tinually sliding along the surface of the water. After so long 
 an interval, I find my fondness for these amusements but lit- 
 tle abated. I never was more happy to escape from school 
 than I am now to escape from business to some seques- 
 tered spot, to spend a truant day, just as I have done 
 five-and-twenty years ago. There is a place about twelve 
 miles from this, close to a little river, about half the size 
 of Kelvin, with its banks shaded with large trees, in the 
 midst of which stands the house or bower of Captain Irton, 
 who has little to do himself, and is always ready to stroll 
 or swim. I often visit him in this solitary retreat, and 
 spend the day rationally, as I think, between walking, 
 swimming, and fishing in a basket-boat : and if patience be 
 a virtue, a basket-boat is an excellent school for it; for I 
 have sat in it three hours, with the sun burning almost as 
 much from the water as from the heavens, without catch- 
 ing a single minnow. 
 
 I mean to go there the day after to-morrow, to enjoy 
 two or three Northside days. The place where I am now 
 is far from being so pleasant, because, besides being the 
 station of a cutcherry, and a large noisy village, it is on 
 the high road from Kishnagerry to Selim and Senkledroog; 
 by which means, though I have many visitors whom I am 
 happy to see, I have sometimes others who are as tedious 
 as any of your forenoon gossips. We have no inns in 
 this country ; and as we have much less ceremony than you 
 have at home, it is always expected that a traveller, whe- 
 ther he is known or not, shall stop at any officer's house
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 199 
 
 he finds on the road. When a tiresome fellow comes across 
 me, it is not merely a forenoon's visit, of which you com- 
 plain so heavily, but I have him the whole day and night 
 to myself. I do not, however, stand so much upon form 
 as you do with your invaders. I put him into a hut called 
 a room, with a few pamphlets or magazines, and a bundle 
 of Glasgow newspapers, and leave him to go to business, 
 whether I have any or not, till dinner-time, at four in the 
 afternoon ; and if I find that his conversation is too op- 
 pressive for my constitution to bear, I give him a dish of 
 tea, for we have no suppers now in this country, and leave 
 him at seven to go to more business. There is nothing in 
 the world so fatiguing as some of these tete-a-tetes they 
 have frequently given me a headach in a hot afternoon ; and 
 I would rather walk all the time in the sun, than sit listening 
 to a dull fellow, who entertains you with uninteresting sto- 
 ries, or, what is worse, with uninteresting questions. I am 
 perfectly of your way of thinking about visitors. I like to 
 have them either all at once in a mass, or, if they come in 
 ones and twos, to have them of my own choosing. When 
 they volunteer, I always wish to see two or three of them 
 together, for then you have some relief; but it is a serious 
 business to be obliged to engage them singly. I wonder 
 that we waste so much of our time in praying against battle 
 and murder, which so seldom happen, instead of calling 
 upon Heaven to deliver us from the calamity to which we 
 are daily exposed, of troublesome visitors. I had a letter 
 from George Kippen last week, and one at the same time 
 from John Malcolm, who is now a very regular corre- 
 spondent of mine. I believe I have mentioned all your 
 Glasgow friends, and have now only to say that I am also 
 
 alive myself. 
 
 Your affectionate Brother, 
 
 (Signed) THOS. MUNRO.
 
 200 THE LIFE OF 
 
 TO HIS FATHER. 
 
 [On the threatened invasion of England. Probability of 
 war with Tippoo. State of affairs at Hydrabad. State 
 and condition of the Bararaahl.] 
 
 Trichangoor, 21st September, 1798. 
 DEAR SIR, 
 
 THE only letter I have received from home since 
 May, 1797, was one dated in January last, from Erskine. 
 I have been looking out for the Glasgow Couriers ; but as 
 the ships are all arrived, I can have no chance of seeing 
 them now. I don't know whether my disappointment is 
 to be ascribed to your not having found an opportunity of 
 forwarding them, or to their having been intercepted by 
 some person as fond of reading newspapers as myself. I 
 feel the loss of them at this moment more than I should 
 have done at any other, for I was anxious to see how my 
 countrymen, the warlike citizens of Glasgow, and the Gor- 
 bals, felt under the denunciation of the Directory of Great 
 Britain. In reading the Parliamentary Debates, I have 
 often been afraid that we should allow ourselves to be 
 bullied into a peace, disgraceful for the present, and even- 
 tually more ruinous than any war ; and that, like the 
 Dutch, we should prefer buying a constitution from 
 France, to paying for defending our own. I can hardly 
 believe that the preparations for invasion have any other 
 object than to make us precipitate ourselves into peace on 
 any terms unless they be intended for Ireland, on some 
 hopes of co-operation. For my own part, I should not be 
 sorry to hear of the landing of a French army in Britain, 
 for I am convinced that the issue would show that such 
 invasion is more formidable while impending, than when 
 actually carried into execution ; and I hope that it would 
 infuse into all classes of men more confidence in themselves,
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 201 
 
 and a certain degree of military spirit, which every nation 
 that is within the reach of France, and that wishes to pre- 
 serve its independence, must possess, until the period 
 arrives, when, by the influence of the new philosophy, the 
 whole world is to become one grand commonwealth of 
 Quakers. 
 
 The alarm we had some time ago about Tippoo seems 
 to have blown over. He has, no doubt, entered into some 
 conditional engagements with the French ; but the sight of 
 preparations on our part, and the uncertainty of receiving 
 any assistance from France, have probably determined 
 him to give up all thoughts of war, or at least not to ven- 
 ture on hostilities before he is sure of being supported. 
 He is now in Seringapatam, busied, as he has been for 
 some years past, in improving its fortifications, but is 
 taking no measures for an offensive campaign. I have 
 always thought that it was essentially necessary to our 
 own security, that no such power as his should exist ; be- 
 cause, however limited it may be, he is always ready, from 
 the discipline of his army, and from his own disposition, 
 to take advantage of any dissensions among the neighbour- 
 ing states ; and as he knows that we are the principal ob- 
 stacle to his aggrandizement, he is always ready to sus- 
 pend his more partial enmities, and to join in any combina- 
 tion, either with the country powers, or with France, to 
 extirpate us. I wished anxiously that we should have 
 seized the present opportunity of reducing him, before 
 we could be prevented by the return of peace with France : 
 but if Government ever had any design of this kind, it has 
 been delayed, and, I believe, very properly, in order to 
 effect what requires more immediate operations, the over- 
 throw of the strong democratic party at Hyderabad. The 
 Nizam has for many years had a few corps of sepoys, 
 officered by Europeans of different nations, but the whole 
 commanded by a Mons. Raymond. They were for a long
 
 202 THE LIFE OF 
 
 time neither well paid nor well armed, nor were they 
 dangerous either from their numbers or discipline ; but, 
 after the late war, Raymond was permitted to make new 
 levies : he obtained a large tract of country in Jageer for 
 their maintenance, and was enabled to pay them regularly, 
 to clothe and arm them completely, and to bring them into 
 a high state of order. He was soon at the head of fifteen 
 thousand men, with a train of field artillery ; he hoisted 
 the tricoloured flag on all occasions ; and, at last, became 
 formidable to his master. Could any strong body of 
 French troops have been landed in India, it is most likely 
 he would have joined them and Tippoo against the English 
 and the Nizam ; but, whatever his projects might have been, 
 he, fortunately for us, died in the midst of them, about 
 two months ago. He has left no successor of equal abili- 
 ties or influence ; and as the different commandants have 
 various interests, and show but little deference to their 
 present chief, the Nizam has, either of himself or by the 
 interference of the Supreme Government, conceived the 
 design of breaking them altogether, or, at least, of dis- 
 banding all the corps that are suspected of being under 
 French influence. A strong detachment has been formed 
 in Guntoor, to march, in case of necessity, to Hyder- 
 abad. The sooner they move the better, for no time 
 ought to be lost in destroying this party, so hostile 
 to our interests in the Deccan. Raymond owed the rapid 
 increase of his power to the weak, timid policy of 
 * * * * * #^ wno might have suppressed it in the begin- 
 ning, if not by remonstrance, at least by menace ; but he 
 chose rather to sit and view its progress quietly, than to 
 do any thing to risk, or what he thought was risking, 
 hostilities. 
 
 The unity, regularity, and stability of our governments 
 in India, since they have been placed under Bengal, and
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 203 
 
 our great military force, give us such a superiority over 
 the ever-changing, tottering governments of the native 
 princes, that we might, by watching times and opportuni- 
 ties, and making a prudent and vigorous use of our re- 
 sources, extend our dominion without much danger or 
 expense, and at no very distant period, over a great part 
 of the Peninsula. Our first care ought to be directed to 
 the total subversion of Tippoo. After becoming masters 
 of Seringapatam and Bangalore, we should find no great 
 difficulty afterwards in advancing to the Kistna, when 
 favoured by wars or revolutions in the neighbouring states ; 
 and such occasions would seldom be wanting, for there is 
 not a government among them that has consistency 
 enough to deserve the name. There are few of the ob- 
 stacles here that present themselves to conquest in Europe. 
 We have no ancient constitution 'or laws to overturn, for 
 there is no law in India but the will of the sovereign ; 
 and we have no people to subdue, nor national pride or 
 animosity to contend with, for there are no distinct nations 
 in India, like French and Spaniards, Germans and Italians. 
 The people are but one people; for, whoever be their 
 rulers, they are still all Hindoos : it is indifferent to them 
 whether they are under Europeans, Mussulmans, or their 
 own Rajahs. They take no interest in political revolu- 
 tions ; and they consider defeat and victory as no concern 
 of their own, but merely as the good or bad fortune of 
 their masters; and they only prefer one to another, in 
 proportion as he respects their religious prejudices, or 
 spares taxation. It is absurd to say that we must never 
 extend our dominions, though we see a state falling to 
 pieces, and every surrounding one seizing a portion of its 
 territory. We ought to have some preconcerted general 
 scheme to follow on such occasions ; for, if we have not, 
 it is probable that we shall either let most of them slip
 
 204 THE LIFE OF 
 
 altogether, or, by acting in too great a hurry, not derive 
 so much advantage from them as we might otherwise have 
 done. 
 
 The Baramahl has now been completely surveyed, and 
 the rents of it fixed. They are, on an average, nearly 
 what they were under Tippoo. The inhabitants paid the 
 same then as now ; but the deficiency of his receipts arose 
 from the peculations of an host of revenue-officers. The 
 rents here, as I believe in every other part of India, are 
 too high. This circumstance, joined to the general poverty 
 of the people, is a great obstacle to every kind of improve- 
 ment, and it has hitherto prevented the lease from being 
 settled. Government have desired it to be made so as to 
 sit light on the inhabitants ; but they were not aware that, 
 in order to effect this, they must relinquish twenty or 
 twenty-five per cent, of the present revenue. This re- 
 duction will be recommended to them by every argument 
 that can be thought of; but I am not sure that they will 
 have resolution enough to agree to it. I do not myself 
 approve of attempting to establish a general lease at once 
 over the whole country. There are many arguments 
 against such a measure, founded on the poverty, the igno- 
 rance, and the manners of the people, which it would be 
 tedious to detail. I rather wish to continue the plan now 
 followed, which consists in letting every farmer please 
 himself; he may take as much or as little land as he 
 pleases every year ; he may reject his old fields and take 
 new ; he may keep a part of the whole for one year or 
 twenty, as he finds it most convenient ; and as every field 
 has a rate of assessment, which never varies, he knows per- 
 fectly what he has to trust to, and that his rent can never 
 rise or fall but exactly in proportion to the extent of 
 land he occupies. All that is required of him is, that he 
 shall give notice, between the 12th of April and the 12th 
 of July, of whatever land lie means to relinquish, in order
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 
 
 205 
 
 that it may be given in these months, which are the prin- 
 cipal season of cultivation, to any other man who wants 
 it. If he fail in this, he is obliged to pay the rent for the 
 ensuing year. By persevering in this system, the farmers 
 would soon know how much land they could manage : 
 they would cease to abandon whatever fields they had 
 in any degree improved ; and this practice, which would 
 answer every purpose of a lease, would gradually extend 
 over the whole country. If we endeavour to establish the 
 lease every where at once, it could not be permanent ; for 
 ignorance and inexperience, both on our side and on that 
 of the farmers, would lead many of them into engage- 
 ments which they would not be afterwards able to fulfil. 
 The Baramahl contains about six hundred thousand in- 
 habitants, among whom there are above sixty thousand 
 farmers, who hold their lands immediately of Government ; 
 but as the same man is frequently reckoned two or three 
 times, from having farms in different places, and as a father 
 and son often appear separately, the whole number of 
 independent farmers is probably not above forty-five or 
 fifty thousand. There are not ten men among them who 
 pay one hundred and fifty pagodas of rent. The rents of 
 the middling class of farmers run usually from about ten 
 to twenty pagodas ; so that you see we have no great land- 
 holders in this part of India. Many causes concur to pre- 
 vent the existence of such an order of men : the oppres- 
 sion of Government, and frequent wars, which hinder the 
 accumulation of property, by fines or plunder ; the universal 
 practice of early marriage, and of equal inheritance of 
 all male children, and the simplicity and cheapness of cul- 
 tivation. Whenever a farmer's servant saves a few rupees, 
 he buys a pair of bullocks. His plough does not cost him 
 a rupee : he rents a few acres from Government, and 
 commences farmer himself: if he is successful, he conti- 
 nues his business ; and if he meets with an accident, he
 
 206 THE LIFE OF 
 
 sells his cattle to pay his rent, and returns to his former 
 employment of a common labourer. In such a state of 
 things, it is almost impossible that great landed property 
 can ever be obtained by any one man, unless by fraud 
 or violence. The great number of farmers in the Baram- 
 ahl necessarily occasions much detail in the management 
 of the revenue ; but there is no difficulty in it, nothing 
 is required, but constant attention ; and where this is 
 given, it is both better for the country and easier for the 
 collector to receive the rents directly from sixty thousand 
 farmers, than by the medium of ten or twelve zemindars, 
 or great landholders. The rent of the division of the 
 country under my charge last year was one hundred and 
 sixty-five thousand pagodas, which was collected within 
 the year, without a single rupee outstanding, and without 
 any trouble, from about twenty thousand farmers. The 
 rent of dry land, or land which is only watered by rain, 
 is never less than half a rupee, or more than a pagoda, 
 per acre. The rent of wet land, or land which can be 
 overflowed by tanks or rivers, is usually four times as 
 much. I shall probably write you more fully hereafter 
 of these matters ; but I am in some measure deterred 
 by considering how improper it would be that any revenue 
 details should by accident get public, before they had 
 officially reached the Directors. 
 
 Your affectionate son, 
 
 THOMAS MUNRO. 
 
 Not long after the preceding letter was written, 
 the hostile designs of Tippoo became fully known 
 to the Supreme Government ; and Lord Morning- 
 ton, with an energy rarely equalled, and never 
 surpassed, made adequate preparations to defeat 
 them. Of these, as well as of the negotiations
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 207 
 
 by which a war was sought to be avoided, it is 
 unnecessary to give here any account. No reader 
 of English history can have forgotten, that to 
 the remonstrances and warnings of the Governor- 
 General, Tippoo turned a deaf ear ; and that the 
 assembly of two formidable armies, one under 
 General Harris at Madras, the other under Ge- 
 neral Stuart at Bombay, failed of producing any 
 effect. Finally, in the month of February, 1799, 
 the British troops, supported by a corps from 
 the Nizam's army, took the field, and on the 
 llth, General Harris commenced his march to- 
 wards Serin gapatam. 
 
 To facilitate the operations of the grand army, 
 by supplying it with provisions and stores, an 
 independent corps was collected in Baramahl, 
 under Colonel Read, to which Captain Munro 
 became attached. With this body he continued 
 to serve till the reduction of Seringapatam, when 
 he was nominated joint secretary with his friend, 
 Captain, now Sir John Malcolm, to the commis- 
 sioners appointed to arrange the partition treaty. 
 The following extract from a letter to his father 
 gives an account of this campaign, and describes 
 his own severe suffering from ill-health during 
 its prosecution ; whilst the remarks upon Tippoo's 
 government and character, as well as the pro- 
 phetic declaration of the line of policy which 
 the Company would find it necessary henceforth 
 to adopt, possess even now too much of interest 
 to be withheld.
 
 208 THE LIFE OF 
 
 TO HIS FATHER. 
 
 Bekul, 6th August, 1799. 
 
 You will think it extraordinary, that in- 
 stead of writing you military details as usual, until Erskine 
 was tired of them, I should have been silent during the late 
 short but eventful war, which terminated the life and the 
 empire of Tippoo Sultan, and gave us such complete re- 
 venge for all the murders and desolations committed by the 
 House of Hyder. But bad health and a great deal of 
 business, at least more than I could manage in the weak 
 state I was in, rendered me not only incapable of writing, 
 but even of observing with attention what was going on. 
 
 I was attacked by one of those fevers which the faculty 
 call anomalous, about the L 2%d of January. It sometimes 
 continued day and night, and always visited me many hours 
 every day, for one-and-forty days. It began, when I was 
 on a visit at Kishnagerry, with headachs and shivering now 
 and then ; I thought I might have drunk a glass or two of 
 bad wine. I drank nothing but water; but I was still 
 attacked as before ; and I believe it was ten days before I 
 discovered, by a regular cold and hot fit, that my visitor 
 was an ague of some sort or other. He was immediately 
 plied with bark ; but he had got too firm a hold to be easily 
 driven out. I had by tiiis time settled that I was to go to 
 the field as secretary to Colonel Read, who was appointed 
 to the command of a detachment of the army. I returned 
 to Derampoory about the 10th of February, to arrange 
 matters for delivering over charge of the revenue to an 
 assistant. My disorder continued to increase, and I set 
 out for Kishnagerry again about the middle of the month. 
 I had no conveyance but a horse, which I rode twelve 
 miles to a village, where I had pitched a tent. At night I 
 found that his motion had brought new complaints upon
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 209 
 
 me pains over all my body, which for a month after never 
 permitted me to sleep, or even to remain awake in bed 
 more than four hours out of the twenty-four. They came 
 upon me while I was asleep, and al ways awakened me re- 
 gularly at one or two in the morning, according as I might 
 have lain down at nine or ten o'clock. When once waken- 
 ed, no turning could give me the smallest relief, but rather 
 made me worse ; the only remedy was to sit up in my 
 chair till morning, which I did every night for five weeks. 
 On my arrival next day at Kishnagerry, the fever was so 
 violent and constant, that doctors were obliged to stop the 
 bark, and dose me with antimonials, &c. in order to ob- 
 tain an intermission. This was effected, but at the expense 
 of my hearing ; for, from four or five in the morning, till 
 eight or nine, was the only time I could hear. All the 
 rest of the day I was as deaf as any old man on earth. I 
 remained much in the same condition for near a fortnight. 
 The few intervals in which I could attend to any thing, I 
 was obliged to employ in accounts of revenue, and grain, 
 cattle, and other supplies, for the equipment of the army. 
 I never thought my life in any danger; but I had serious 
 apprehensions of remaining for ever deaf, and also of 
 losing my memory, which I found did not serve me as 
 usual. The fever, however, began to abate about the end 
 of the month ; and as the army had gone on to Policode, I 
 went up the Raicottah pass, to meet it on the 4th of 
 March. The change of air produced the effect which I ex- 
 pected ; for on this day the fever left me, and never after- 
 wards returned. 
 
 The right wing of the army entered the enemy's country 
 on the 6th of March, the left on the 7th, and the reserve, 
 with Colonel Read's detachment, on the 8th. I could not 
 bear the motion either of a palankeen or a horse, and was 
 therefore obliged to walk. The day was extremely hot 
 and close, while the dust, trampled by fifty thousand men, 
 
 VOL. 1. P
 
 210 THE LIFE OF 
 
 and as many horses and bullocks, rose like clouds of smoke; 
 the dust cleared away for a few seconds, sometimes in one 
 quarter and sometimes in another, giving us a glimpse of 
 the Nizam's cavalry, and elephants glittering in the sun, 
 and then closing again. In better health I should have 
 enjoyed the scene ; but I now beheld it with indifference ; 
 long sickness had so unhinged me, that I was almost dis- 
 solved in sweat. About noon we reached our ground; and 
 while sitting under a tree, waiting the arrival of our tents, 
 I pulled two stoppers of lint out of my ears, which the 
 doctors had desired me never to remove until the sun got 
 warm ; and I was surprised to find that I heard as well as 
 ever. The heat had probably loosened something which 
 had obstructed my hearing. We marched again next day, 
 and delivered our supplies to the army, which pursued its 
 march on the 10th towards Seringapatam, leaving Colonel 
 Read behind, with instructions to bring on a large body of 
 Bunjarries, then on their way from Hyderabad, and to join 
 the army by the route of Caukanhilly. The Bunjarries 
 not being expected before the beginning of April, Colonel 
 Read resolved to employ the intermediate time in reducing 
 the posts held by the Sultan's troops above the Ghauts, 
 along the frontiers from Raicottah to Peddanadurgam. A 
 hill-fort, called Soolaghury, was the only place that made 
 any resistance, and it was taken by assault. Some other 
 posts of little strength were evacuated on our approach. 
 
 A letter received on the 27th, dated Camp of Sultanpit, 
 14th April, from the General, informed Colonel Read that 
 the plan of attack was changed, that the army was to 
 cross the Cavery, and that he must therefore come on by 
 the Caveryporam pass. The original plan was to attack 
 the north-east angle ; but information of its having been 
 greatly strengthened, the lateness of the season, and the 
 difficulty of favouring the junction of the Bombay army 
 without passing the Cavery, induced the General to cross it,
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 211 
 
 and attack the west angle of Seringapatam. Colonel Read, 
 on receiving his orders, descended from the Peddanadur- 
 gam pass, and returned to Kishnagerry. The Bunjarries 
 came in about the 10th; but as, from the failure of the 
 monsoon, there was no water between Policode and the 
 Cavery, a distance of forty miles, he could not venture to 
 march from the Caverypatam river till after a heavy fall of 
 rain on the 14th; he reached Caveryporam on the 22nd, 
 which immediately capitulated. The pass, which is thirty 
 miles in length, winding between two lofty ranges of moun- 
 tains, and through which no army had passed for half a 
 century, required great labour to clear it. We got to 
 Marathully at the head of it on the 27th, and found that 
 General Floyd with all the cavalry, and three battalions of 
 infantry, had reached Cowdhully, six miles in our front, the 
 day before. We learned with surprise from him that the 
 grain of the grand army would be out on the 4th of May. 
 As there was not a blade of forage in the pass, it was ne- 
 cessary to leave the Bunjarries behind, till the road was 
 made, and they could not possibly now be up before the 
 2nd. I wished much to have marched on the 3rd, as there 
 were then enough above the pass to have supplied the army 
 three or four weeks, and to have pushed on so as to reach 
 Seringapatam on the 6th or 7th, leaving all the rest of the 
 Bunjarries behind, and also Colonel Brown's detachment, 
 which had then entered the pass; but General Floyd having 
 been ordered to join Colonel Brown, thought it would be 
 impossible to move on without him, especially as he was so 
 near ; he joined on the 5th ; we halted to let him rest on 
 the 6th. Early on the morning of this day we learned 
 from two spies that Seringapatam had been taken on the 
 4th, at noon ; but as they did not perfectly agree in their 
 accounts, and as official notice had been received from Lord 
 Mornington, that the grain in store in camp would be all 
 out on the 7th, and the army exposed to destruction if not 
 
 P 2
 
 212 THE LIFE OF 
 
 speedily relieved, we marched and got to Seringapatam on 
 the llth, where we found every thing in the greatest abun- 
 dance, for the bazaars were not only full, but the granaries 
 contained near two lacs of bullock-loads of paddy. The 
 public grain of the army would only have lasted till the 
 7th ; but a quantity sufficient to last fifteen days longer, 
 was discovered in the possession of dealers, who had brought 
 it on for sale. This being secured, and most of the fol- 
 lowers sent away, there was enough to have served the 
 fighting-men, had the place not fallen, nor General Floyd 
 arrived when he did. You will, long before this can reach 
 you, have seen in the public paper sail the details of this 
 interesting siege, and the death of Tippoo ; I shall there- 
 fore go on with the history of my own recovery. I had, 
 before my arrival at Seringapatam, got rid of the pains 
 which always called me out of bed ; but I had still, in a 
 greater degree than ever, profuse cold sweats, which kept 
 me so weak that I could hardly drag myself along with the 
 detachments. 
 
 Colonel Read marched on the 17th, with orders to pro- 
 ceed by Bangalore to Nundidroog, and to summon all the 
 forts between Seringapatam and Raicottah, in order to open 
 the communication with the Carnatic : all of them were 
 given up without any hesitation. We found Savendroog 
 strengthened, Bangalore completely demolished, and Nun- 
 didroog almost impregnable. He had no written instruc- 
 tions to go farther ; but he conceived that the General had 
 verbally given him a discretionary power to act according to 
 circumstances, he therefore marched towards Sera on the 
 28th of May, meaning to proceed by Chitteldroog to Bid- 
 danore. He signified his intentions in a letter written from 
 Savendroog ; and this afternoon, on reaching his encamp- 
 ment, he received an answer to it, ordering him back to 
 Bangalore. He was irregular in acting on mere conversa- 
 tion ; but ordering him back was, I am afraid, a greater
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 218 
 
 mistake on the other hand. It was known that some of 
 the remains of the Sultan's army had assembled in the 
 Biddanore province, under Dhondagee, a Mahratta who 
 had been circumcised by Hyder ; had commanded a body 
 of horse in his service ; had afterwards been a freebooter, 
 plundering both in the Mysore and Mahratta territories, 
 and had lately been taken by Tippoo and put in irons, 
 from which he had been released on the day of the assault, 
 by an officer who did not know his character. It was 
 necessary that a strong detachment should have moved 
 towards him without delay, to prevent him from gathering 
 strength, by the accession of the stragglers of the late Sul- 
 tan's army, who were ready to join any leader for the sake 
 of plunder. The consequence of this not having been 
 done is, that he has now been for some time in possession 
 of the whole Biddanore country, which he has completely 
 ransacked, and that a large force, if not the whole army, 
 must march to drive him out as soon as the weather per- 
 mits. I left Colonel Read at Nundidroog, and returned to 
 Bangalore, to take charge of the revenue, till it should be 
 determined to whom it was in future to belong. I got there 
 on the 80th of May ; the weather was very cold, and this 
 was the first day on which my cold sweats stopped. I was 
 obliged to set out again on the 8th of June, for Seringapa- 
 tam, to put myself under the commissioners. 
 
 During the whole of the campaign, I was so oppressed 
 with lassitude that I could not go through half of my pub- 
 lic duty, and I therefore never thought of writing private 
 letters. The most material transactions will appear in the 
 newspapers ; and I hope that a great deal of the corre- 
 spondence of Hyder and Tippoo, with the different powers 
 of India, and with Turkey, Persia, and France, will be 
 hereafter published. The whole of the correspondence 
 with the French, previous to the late war, is amongst the 
 records, as also the offensive and defensive alliance against
 
 214 THE LIFE OF 
 
 us. The great blow which Tippoo received at the conch*- 
 sion of the former war, by the loss of half his country, 
 appears to have confounded him, and to have worked so 
 great a change on his character, that he was at times re- 
 ported to be mad. He never had the talents of his father; 
 but he had always, till that event, paid his army regu- 
 larly, kept it in good order, given a great deal of attention 
 to business, and managed his finances tolerably well : but 
 from that time his whole soul seems to have been filled with 
 nothing but schemes of vengeance ; and so eager was he for 
 the end, that he overlooked the means. A restless spirit of 
 innovation, and a wish to have every thing to originate 
 from himself, was the predominant feature of his character. 
 He had, some years before the French revolution, new- 
 named all the forts in his dominions, and the whole sixty 
 years of the Indian cycle ; and, though a bigoted Mussul- 
 man, he had altered the venerable names of the Arabic 
 months, and substituted another era for that of the He- 
 gira. He had abolished all old weights and measures and 
 coins, and introduced new; and he had new-modelled his 
 revenue and army, and issued various codes of regulations 
 to his civil and military officers. After the reverse of his 
 fortunes in 1792, the rage for novelty, instead of abating, 
 increased : he issued more regulations, not only to the 
 principal officers of state, but to those in the most subordi- 
 nate situations, to the persons who had the charge of his 
 gardens, of his buildings, of feeding his bullocks and his 
 elephants, &c. none of which were ever attended to. Most 
 of jhem contain an exordium by himself, setting forth the 
 excellence of loyalty and the true faith, and endeavouring 
 to inspire his subjects with a detestation of Gaffers, or in- 
 fidels, that is to say, Europeans in general, but particu- 
 larly Englishmen, by lavishing curses and execrations upon 
 them. Happening one day to pick up his instructions to 
 the superintendent of his bullocks, the first line I read was,
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 
 
 215 
 
 " a Caffer a dog and a hog, are all three brothers in the 
 same family." He divided his Government into seven 
 principal boards, or departments, one of which was the 
 navy, without a single ship of war. He divided his coun- 
 try into thirty-seven provinces, under Dewans or Asophs, 
 as he called them ; and subdivided these again into one 
 thousand and twenty-five inferior districts, having each a 
 Tisheldar, with an expensive establishment of revenue 
 servants. He knew no way of checking abuses but by 
 augmenting the number of men in office, and sending two 
 Asophs to almost every province, instead of one, to prey 
 upon the inhabitants. The defalcation of the revenue, 
 which had formerly been about twenty per cent., was now 
 above fifty. His bigotry led him to make none but Mus- 
 sulmans Tisheldars ; most of them could neither read nor 
 write, and were often selected from the lowest ranks of the 
 military, at the annual muster in his presence, merely 
 from some fancy that he took to their looks. These men 
 were frequently recalled in the course of a year or two, and 
 placed at one of the principal boards. This so disgusted 
 the old servants of his father, that many of them retired 
 from public affairs, to lead a private life in their own 
 houses. By these and such like promotions, the number of 
 officers was augmented, while that of his fighting-men was 
 diminished. He had about one hundred and fifty general 
 officers to an army that did not exceed twenty-one thou- 
 sand regular infantry and eight thousand horse, though he 
 had above thirty thousand infantry and twelve thousand five 
 hundred horse on his returns ; while his father had not ten 
 Generals when he was in the Carnatic, with forty thousand 
 horse, and above sixty thousand infantry of different kinds. 
 His army fell every year more and more into arrears ; and 
 when Seringapatam was attacked, it had only received two 
 issues of pay during the last fourteen mouths. Besides an 
 expensive civil and military establishment, beyond the
 
 216 THE LIFE OF 
 
 resources of his revenue, he was carrying on repairs in 
 most of his forts, but particularly Seringapatam itself, on 
 which he had laid out, since the former war, about twelve 
 lacs of pagodas. He did not however hesitate, amidst all 
 his difficulties, to enter into a treaty with France, by which 
 he engaged to defray all the charges of a body of from 
 twelve to twenty thousand French troops. One of the ar- 
 ticles shows the extravagant imaginations with which he 
 sometimes amused himself. He proposes that the French 
 shall land at Sedashaghee, to the southward of Goa ; that 
 it shall be taken from the Portuguese and given up to 
 them ; that Bombay shall next be taken and given to the 
 French ; that the whole Malabar coast shall then be re- 
 duced ; after which they shall pursue their conquests up the 
 Coromandel coast, take Madras and Musulipatam, from 
 whence he shall detach forty thousand horse and as many 
 infantry, under one of his Generals, along with the French, 
 to subdue Bengal. Before entering into this treaty, he 
 sent round queries in writing to the members of the seven 
 principal departments, desiring their opinions upon the 
 policy of the measure. His own sentiments were known, 
 and they al Itherefore recommended its adoption except one 
 man, who had been formerly a merchant, and belonged at 
 that time, I believe, to the Board of Trade ; he dissuades 
 him from having any thing to do with the French tells 
 him that the plan cannot succeed ; that the very act of his 
 consulting them was imprudent ; that the secret could not 
 be kept by so many men ; that the English would hear of 
 it, and attack him before he could receive assistance : but 
 he was too much bent upon war himself to be turned from 
 it by the arguments of one man ; besides, he was continually 
 urged to it by Seid Saheb, who, being his father-in-law, 
 could take more liberty than any other person with him. 
 In private conferences, when no one was present but a 
 confidential secretary, he used frequently to ask him, how
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 217 
 
 long they were to sit down quietly under their disgrace 
 and calamity, and to tell him that he had considered him 
 dead as a prince from the day he surrendered half his 
 country, and that he should always regard him in that 
 light until he should conquer it again. After the cam- 
 paign opened, he did very little to retard the progress of 
 our armies. His design against the Bombay army was 
 well concerted, but very badly conducted. 
 
 It appeared from the papers found after his death, that he 
 had obtained very accurate information of the paths leading 
 through the woods to the rear of the advanced brigade 
 which he meant to attack. It appears by General Stuart's 
 public letters, that the first intimation he had of his de- 
 sign was the sight of his tents, and that even then he did 
 not believe it was him, but a detachment of no great con- 
 sequence. Had Tippoo not been fool enough to have 
 shown himself, by pitching his tents at Periapatam ; had he 
 remained that day in the open air, and marched early next 
 morning against Colonel Montroser's brigade, he would, 
 without doubt, have cut it off, and most probably the 
 greatest part of the rest of the army would have shared 
 the same fate. His repulse here seems to have dis- 
 couraged him so much, that he gave very little interrup- 
 tion to the march of the grand army. As it approached, 
 he fell back, and shut himself up in his capital, placing his 
 dependence upon the siege being raised for want of provi- 
 sions in camp, and upon his holding out till the Cavery 
 should fill, and make the carrying on of any farther opera- 
 tions against it impracticable. He seldom went to his 
 palace during the siege, but spent most of his time sitting 
 behind a cavalier, or visiting the ramparts. He did not 
 go towards the breach, the state of it was concealed from 
 him by his principal officers ; but one of his servants, im- 
 patient at hearing the false reports brought to him, called 
 out to him that there was a breach, and that it would
 
 218 THE LIFE OF 
 
 soon be practicable. This intelligence seemed to rouse 
 him, he resolved to see it with his own eyes ; and there- 
 fore, on the following morning, which was that of the day 
 previous to the assault, he went early to the spot ; he 
 viewed with amazement the condition in which it was; he 
 shook his head, but said nothing ; he returned to his old 
 station behind the cavalier, where he remained sullen and 
 buried in thought, as if conscious that his doom was now 
 fixed, seldom making any inquiries about what was doing, 
 and driving away with an angry answer whoever came to 
 ask him for orders. Bigot as he was, his apprehensions 
 rendered him superstitious enough to induce him to invite 
 the aid of Hindoo prayers and ceremonies to avert the evil 
 which threatened him, and to call for an Hindoo astrologer 
 to draw a favourable omen from the stars. With a man 
 of this description he spent the last morning of his life ; 
 he desired him to consult the heavens. The man an- 
 swered that he had done so, and that they were unfavour- 
 able unless peace was made. He was ordered to look 
 again, but returned the same answer. Tippoo gave him 
 money, and desired him to pray for him, and then drank 
 water out of a black stone as a charm against misfortune. 
 When the assault commenced, he repaired to the outer 
 ramparts ; but being driven from them, he fell as he was 
 returning into the body of the place, in a passage under 
 the inner rampart, called the Water-Gate, his horse fall- 
 ing at the same time; and his palankeen being thrown 
 down, the road was choaked up, and almost every soul in 
 the gateway slain. Though he had got a wound in the 
 leg, and two or three balls in the body, he was still alive, 
 and continued in this state above an hour. One of his 
 servants, Rajoo Khan, who lay wounded beside him, asked 
 his leave once or twice, when parties of soldiers were 
 passing, to discover him, but he always commanded him 
 to be silent. At last a soldier who was passing in quest
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO- 219 
 
 of plunder, and at whom it is said he attempted to cut, shot 
 him through the head : the ball entered the right temple, 
 and passed through the left jaw. It was for a long time 
 thought that he had concealed himself in the palace ; and 
 while parties were searching it to no purpose, in order 
 to put him to death for the murder of nine Europeans 
 who had fallen into his hands on the 5th of April, the 
 Killedar reported that he had been seen lying in the 
 Water-Gate. As it was now dark, a party was sent with 
 lights to search for him. After dragging out a great num- 
 ber of bodies, he was at last found half -naked : he was known 
 by his long drawers, and by some marks about his person. 
 He was drawn from amidst a heap of slain, among whom 
 his legs were twisted; and carried to the palace, where he 
 was laid on a palankeen, and exposed to view all next day, 
 in order that no doubt might remain of his death ; and in 
 the evening he was buried with military honours, in the 
 cypress garden, by the side of his father. With him fell 
 at once the whole fabric of his empire ; for the very means 
 he had taken to strengthen it, hastened its downfal. The 
 families of all his principal officers had always been kept 
 as hostages in Seringapatam, and being now in our 
 hands, it gave us an advantage, in their opinion, which, as 
 a civilized enemy, we could not have used. By employing 
 troops from all countries, by raising his officers from the 
 lowest ranks, and by paying the whole army himself, he 
 made them dependent on himself alone ; so that, after his 
 death, no person having sufficient influence to keep them 
 together, the greatest part of them either dispersed or sur- 
 rendered. He was so suspicious and cruel, that none of 
 his subjects, probably none of his own children, lamented 
 his fail. Cruelty and deceit were the two great engines of 
 his policy ; not that kind of deceit which attempts to over- 
 reach by cunning, but downright lying. He perhaps never 
 made a promise, nor entered into an engagement, without
 
 220 THE LIFE OF 
 
 considering, in the same instant, how it was to be broken. 
 The cruel punishments which he frequently inflicted, on 
 the most groundless suspicions, put a stop to all private 
 correspondence in his dominions ; his nearest relations even 
 did not venture to write to each other, but sent verbal 
 messages respecting their health or affairs. He had mur- 
 dered all his English prisoners not restored at the end of 
 the last war ; and it would have been death for any man to 
 be known as one who could speak or read English. Inter- 
 cepted correspondence gave him no insight as to our 
 intended movements : we found most of the intercepted 
 letters of the late and former war lying unopened, so that 
 we might have saved ourselves the trouble of using a 
 cypher. He had an active mind, which never suffered him 
 to be idle ; but his time was badly distributed, and much 
 of it wasted in matters of no real utility. With a most 
 barbarous taste, he affected to be fond of literature ; but 
 he was too tyrannical and too parsimonious to be an encou- 
 rager of it. His reign produced no works that are worth 
 reading, except the journals kept by his orders by the 
 ambassadors he sent to foreign courts ; and even these, 
 from what I have seen, contain very little interesting mat- 
 ter. A history of his own family was compiling under 
 his own directions, but it has not yet been found. He 
 wrote many hours every day, either a journal of orders 
 issued by himself, and of reports received by spies, vakeels, 
 or commanders of detachments ; or memorandums respect- 
 ing intended promotions, embassies, repairs of forts, mar- 
 riages of his principal officers, concubines for himself, 
 imprisonments and executions ; besides this, much of his 
 time was consumed in signing papers, for he not only 
 signed all public acts, but likewise the innumerable letters 
 and orders which were continually passing from the different 
 officers to all parts of the empire. When they were 
 brought to him, he was frequently busy about something
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 
 
 else, and could not attend to them ; by which means, 
 bundles of letters often accumulated for several months; 
 and when he at last signed them, it was often too late, as 
 the circumstances for which they had been intended were 
 entirely changed. The account which he heard of the 
 pomp and magnificence of foreign courts, made him ambi- 
 tious, with very inadequate means of imitating, or rather 
 mimicking, in the etiquette and regulation of his principal 
 departments, the state of the Sublime Porte. His civil 
 and military government was therefore divided into 
 seven principal departments, under each of which were 
 many subordinate offices, dignified with sounding Persian 
 and Turkish names ; and the presidents, and most of 
 the members of all of them, were Mussulmans, whom 
 he had been obliged to get from Hyderabad and the 
 Carnatic, as there were but few in Mysore, many of 
 them low vagabonds, who were almost ashamed to hear 
 their own magnificent titles ; these fellows, however, went 
 through all the grimace of statesmen, while all real busi- 
 ness was conducted by Bramins. As he had given himself 
 out as the champion of the faith, who was to drive the 
 English Caffers out of India, he thought it necessary to 
 gather about him as many Mussulmans as possible, and to 
 employ them in all situations, to the exclusion of abler 
 men of other castes : his Asophs and Tisheldars, or provin- 
 cial and district collectors, were therefore all true believ- 
 ers ; and when the Asophs were summoned to the pre- 
 sence, as they always were once a-year, to settle their 
 accounts, they were under the protection of Meer Sadek, 
 the Dewan, who, having the greatest share of all their 
 defalcations, took care to secure them from discovery. 
 The cutcherry Bramins who were to examine the accounts, 
 having likewise their respective shares of the plunder, 
 were interested also in keeping it concealed ; and the 
 Sultan himself, as he had raised them to high stations,
 
 222 THE LIFE OF 
 
 thought it necessary, for the honour of the faith, to treat 
 them with respect, he therefore never talked to them 
 of accounts ; he invited them to an entertainment, made 
 them sit beside him, asked them if the mosques he had 
 ordered to be built were finished, if prayers were regu- 
 larly said, how many Mussulmans were in the district, and 
 such like questions, and dismissed them in a few days to 
 return to their stations, and renew their depredations. He 
 dictated all orders himself, and even the very words of 
 them ; and was so particular in this, that he often made 
 his moonshees write over a letter two or three times. In 
 letters, and regulations, and writing of every kind, he 
 spent a great deal too much of his time ; but he took little 
 pains to see them executed, and left all investigations of 
 revenue matters entirely to Meer Sadek. His leisure hours 
 were chiefly spent in looking at jewels. He never bought 
 any ; but his father had collected a vast number in the 
 different places that had fallen to his arms, and used fre- 
 quently to make presents of them to officers who had dis- 
 tinguished themselves ; but Tippoo was too fond of them 
 to give them away. He had generally a casket lying on 
 his table to amuse himself with, when he was tired of bu- 
 siness. He had constantly a number of jewellers employed 
 in making them up into various ornaments for himself and 
 his women. He gave the models himself, and directed 
 how they were to be made, and always delivered and re- 
 ceived the jewels himself from the workmen. He had 
 bewildered himself for many years past so much in trifling 
 details, that he had abandoned the essentials for the forms 
 of business, and permitted his affairs to run rapidly to 
 ruin. The only objects that he pursued with invariable 
 constancy, were the discipline of his army and the forti- 
 fying Seringapatam. 
 
 You will see in the papers how the partition-treaty 
 has been made. I believe that it has not met with gene-
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 223 
 
 ral approbation here. Had I had any thing to do in it, 
 I certainly would have had no Rajah of Mysore, in the 
 person of a child, dragged forth from oblivion, to be placed 
 on a throne on which his ancestors, for three genera- 
 tions, had not sat during more than half a century. I 
 would have divided the country equally with the Nizam, 
 and endeavoured to prevail on him to increase his subsidy, 
 and take a greater body of our troops ; but, whether he 
 consented or not, I would still have thought myself bound 
 by treaty to give him his fair half of the country. I would 
 have given the Mahrattas a few districts, provided they 
 consented to fulfil their last treaty with him ; but not other- 
 wise. We have now made great strides in the South of 
 India. Many think we have gone too far ; but I am con- 
 vinced that the course of events will still drive us on, and 
 that we cannot stop till we get to the Kistna. I meant, 
 when I began this letter, merely to have given you the 
 history of my fever, in order to account for my apparent 
 negligence in writing, and to let you know exactly how I 
 was left. You might have had worse accounts of me from 
 other quarters ; but I have, as usual, run into a long gos- 
 siping story of Tippoo and his family. But he is now 
 at rest ; and this is the last time I shall trouble you with 
 him. Your affectionate Son, 
 
 THOS. MUNRO.
 
 224 THE LIFE OF 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Appointed to superintend the affairs of Canara. Correspon- 
 dence with General Wellesley. Letters to his relations. 
 
 BY the terms of the partition-treaty, incident 
 upon the overthrow of Tippoo, the province of 
 Canara was assigned, among other acquisitions, to 
 the British Government. It is a wild and rugged 
 district, situated on the western coast of India, 
 between the 12th and 15th degrees of north 
 latitude, and is bounded on the north by Goa and 
 Gunduck, in Bejapoor; on the south, by the pro- 
 vince of Malabar; on the east, by Mysore and 
 the Balaghaut territories ; and on the west, by the 
 sea. It extends one hundred and eighty miles 
 along the shore, and has been estimated to con- 
 tain about seven thousand three hundred and 
 eighty square miles of surface, of which four 
 thousand six hundred and twenty-two are below, 
 and two thousand seven hundred and fifty-eight, 
 including Belghy, Soondah, and Soopah, are above 
 the Ghauts. Of this province Captain Munro
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 
 
 was, at the express desire of the Governor-Gene- 
 ral, immediately requested to take charge, for 
 the purpose of introducing into it, as he had been 
 largely instrumental in introducing into Baram- 
 ahl, the authority of the East India Company. 
 
 There were a variety of circumstances which 
 led the subject of this memoir to view his pre- 
 sent appointment with regret. A long residence 
 in Baramahl, and a thorough knowledge of its 
 inhabitants, had attached him, in a remarkable de- 
 gree, to the country, which was now, through his 
 own and his coadjutor's exertions, reduced to per- 
 fect order. It is true, that he had hitherto acted the 
 part there only of assistant to Colonel Read ; but 
 the approaching resignation of that officer was al- 
 ready known, and Captain Munro had, with great 
 show of reason, anticipated that he would him- 
 self be nominated to succeed him. It was there- 
 fore no agreeable communication which announ- 
 ced to him, that, instead of being permitted to 
 reap the fruits of past exertions, he was about to 
 be transferred to a district even more unsettled 
 than that in which his revenue labours began, 
 where the inhabitants were understood to be pe- 
 culiarly savage, the climate peculiarly unfavour- 
 able, and all intercourse with Europeans in a great 
 degree cut off. Nor was this all. Though the 
 province of Malabar had been at that time eight 
 years in our possession, the attempts to reduce it 
 to due subjection were by no means attended with 
 success ; and hence it was very fairly anticipated, 
 
 VOL. I. Q
 
 226 THE LIFE OF 
 
 that the discontented chieftains there would make 
 common cause with the people of Canara, in 
 resisting the authority of the new collector. 
 These considerations were not without their 
 weight, in producing a disinclination on the part 
 of Captain Munro to accept the appointment ; 
 but that which influenced him more than any 
 thing besides was, the prospect of being separat- 
 ed entirely from old friends and associates. He 
 accordingly declined, for a time, to undertake a 
 task of which he dreaded not so much the diffi- 
 culties as the irksomeness ; nor was it till he had 
 been clearly shown how deeply the interests of 
 his country were involved, in his acceptance or 
 rejection of the charge, that he consented to 
 sacrifice private feeling in order to advance the 
 public good. 
 
 How Captain Munro spent his days in Baram- 
 ahl, his own letters serve in part to show. 
 Though attentive in no common degree to busi- 
 ness, he always had leisure for the prosecution of 
 private study. Under this head he included not 
 merely the attentive perusal of the best English, 
 French, and other European authors, but the 
 acquisition of the native dialects. Of Persian and 
 Hindostanee he was very early master ; and he 
 now made himself familiar with the Mahratta, 
 the Canarese, and almost every other vernacular 
 language in the Peninsula. In most he could 
 converse with fluency, and in all he could express 
 himself intelligibly ; whilst an occasional indul- 
 gence in social intercourse, and an occasional fit
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 22? 
 
 of idleness, sent him back with fresh vigour to 
 his toils. When the latter disposition came upon 
 him, however, he never gave it vent, by par- 
 taking in the ordinary recreations of his country- 
 men. He was no sportsman, either with the gun 
 or with the hounds ; and to cards he entertained 
 a particular aversion ; but he swam, played bil- 
 liards, quoits, and fives, with great skill and spirit ; 
 indeed, his partiality for the last-mentioned game 
 was such, that he has frequently been heard to 
 assert, " that he would rather live upon half-pay, 
 in a garrison which could boast of a fives-court, 
 than vegetate on full batta, where there was 
 none. Now all these amusements were to be 
 laid aside. He was called upon to remove to a 
 province, where, with the exception of his own 
 assistants, his eye would scarcely rest upon an 
 European countenance from one year's end to 
 another ; and though he obeyed the call, it was 
 with a despondency which never quitted him 
 during his residence in Canara. The following 
 extracts from letters to his sister, announcing his 
 appointment, will show that his feelings on the 
 occasion have not been misrepresented. 
 
 TO HIS SISTER. 
 
 Deria Doulet Garden, 30th June, 1799 ; a Palace 
 
 built by Hyder, near Seringapatam. 
 DEAR ERSK.INE, 
 
 I HAVE now turned my back upon the Ba- 
 ramahl and the Carnatic, and with a deeper sensation of 
 regret than I felt on leaving home ; for at that time the 
 
 Q 2
 
 228 THE LIFE OF 
 
 vain prospect of imaginary happiness in new and distant 
 regions occupied all my thoughts ; but I see nothing 
 where I am now going to compensate for what I have lost, 
 a country and friends, that have been endeared to me 
 by a residence of twenty years. I feel also a great re- 
 luctance to renew the labour which I have so long under- 
 gone in the Baramahl. It leaves few intervals for amuse- 
 ment, or for the studies I am fond of, and wears out both 
 the body and mind. Col. Read has sent in his resignation ; 
 and I had anticipated the pleasure of sitting down in the 
 Baramahl, and enjoying a few years of rest after so many 
 of drudgery ; for that country is now surveyed and settled, 
 and requires very little attention to keep it in order. It 
 is a romantic country, and every tree and mountain has 
 some charm which attaches me to them. I began a few 
 years ago to make a garden near Derampoory, sheltered 
 on one side by a lofty range of mountains, and on the other 
 by an aged grove of mangoes. I made a tank in it about 
 a hundred feet square, lined with stone steps ; and the 
 spring is so plentiful, that besides watering abundantly 
 every herb and tree, there is always a depth of ten or 
 twelve feet of clear water for bathing. I have numbers of 
 young orange, mango, and other fruit-trees in a very thriv- 
 ing state. I had a great crop of grapes this year ; and my 
 pine-beds are now full of fruit. When I happened to be 
 at Derampoory, I always spent, at least, an hour every day 
 at this spot; and to quit it now, goes as much to rny heart, 
 as forsaking my old friends. I must now make new ones, 
 for there is not a man in Canara whom I ever saw in my 
 life. Nothing would have induced me to go there, had I 
 not been pointed out for the business of settling that 
 country. I had at one time declined having any thing 
 to do with it ; and only two considerations brought me, 
 after wavering some days, to accept of it : the one, a 
 sense of public duty ; and the other, the chance which
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 229 
 
 I might have of being enabled to return a year or two 
 sooner to Europe than I could have done by remaining in 
 the Baramahl ; but I can have no certainty of this, as my 
 salary is not yet fixed. 
 
 The village where I am now halted is seventeen miles 
 west of Seringapatam, and was formerly the Jagheer of 
 Tippoo's execrable Dewan, Meer Sadek, who was cut in 
 pieces by his own troops at the memorable storm of that ca- 
 pital. It was burned down by Cummer ul Din, when he fol- 
 lowed General Floyd to Periapatam, to hinder his junction 
 with the Bombay army in April last ; and the inhabitants 
 are now busy roofing their houses. The burning of a 
 village is not so great a calamity in this country as might 
 be imagined ; for the houses are in general so mean, that, 
 among the lower ranks, the labour of a man and his family, 
 fora couple days, will repair the mischief ; and even among 
 the middling ranks, eight or ten rupees will cover all the 
 damage that their houses can suffer from fire. I am now 
 sitting in a choultry more than half unroofed by fire. 
 The few tiles that remain shelter me from the transient 
 glimpses of the sun, but not from the light showers which 
 the strong wind which blows night and day at this season 
 of the year is driving over my head in quick succession 
 from the skirts of the Malabar monsoon. I have been 
 forced to put this letter in my table several times since I 
 began writing, to save it from the rain; my tent is a mile 
 or two behind ; because being wet it is so heavy, that the 
 bullocks can hardly bring it on ; and I thought the best 
 way I could pass my time till it came up, would be in 
 giving you some account of my situation and prospects. 
 
 Captain Munro reached Cundapore, the prin- 
 cipal station in his collectorate, about a month 
 after the date of the preceding letter. It was
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 here announced to him, that two assistants would 
 be allowed, in the persons of Mr. Alexander 
 Head, the nephew of his friend Colonel Read, 
 and another individual, in whose experience the 
 Board were inclined to repose great confidence, 
 inasmuch as he had resided many years as a free 
 merchant both in Malabar and Canara. With 
 Mr. Read's appointment Captain Munro was 
 exceedingly well pleased : he was young, active, 
 and intelligent ; but the free merchant being con- 
 siderably senior to Captain Munro himself, the 
 latter remonstrated strongly against the arrange- 
 ment made for him. The following, addressed 
 to Mr. Read, expresses the writer's sentiments 
 so fully, and gives a description so vivid of the 
 state of the country, that I insert it. 
 
 July 1799. 
 
 DEAR- READ, 
 
 I AM happy on my own account, but very sorry 
 on yours, for your removal. You leave a pleasant situa- 
 tion and a delightful country, where peace and order are 
 established, to come to an unpromising land, inhabited 
 by a race more wild than any of your Mulliulies.* As 
 to the revenue, I expect to get none of last year's balances, 
 for Tippoo's servants have had time enough to go off with 
 the whole; nor do I expect one-half of the rent of the 
 ensuing year, for the southern half of the country was 
 completely ravaged by the Coorg people, who carried into 
 bondage some thousands of the inhabitants, and also by 
 the Navis of Malabar, who slaughtered man, woman, and 
 child. Tippoo's troops are still in possession of all the 
 
 * A race of hill-people.
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 231 
 
 forts of any consequence ; and DhondageeV* troops are 
 now below the Ghauts ravaging the centre and northern 
 
 o o 
 
 districts to the sea ; so that in- fact nothing is our own but 
 a few talooks near our military posts, and no aniils can 
 be sent any where else. Amidst all those troubles, the 
 rayets are driven from one place to another, the lands 
 remain uncultivated, and the season is almost over for 
 sowing paddy, from which almost the whole revenue of 
 this country is derived. I would not advise you on any 
 account to come here before October: there can be 
 nothing for you to do at an earlier period ; for there is 
 not employment for myself, from the difficulties of getting 
 together the rayets, &c. 
 
 No great while after the receipt of the above, 
 Mr. Read heard of the objections urged by 
 Captain Munro to the employment, at least in 
 Canara, of the gentleman originally selected as his 
 colleague. This, with certain grave insinuations 
 touching the extreme particularity of the collec- 
 tor's temper, induced Mr. Read to enter with him 
 into a sort of expostulatory correspondence, which 
 drew from Captain Munro not an explanation, 
 but the following laconic and humorous billet. 
 
 October, 1799. 
 
 DEAR READ, 
 
 I DO not remember writing any thing to Govern- 
 ment about assistants, except that they would send me 
 no more grown-up men of fifty. I know you are con- 
 siderably under that age, and I believe Mr. Rice to be 
 
 * This was the chieftain who made his escape on the taking 
 of Seringapatam, and rallied Tippoo's troops, and other adven- 
 turers, under his own standard.
 
 232 THE LIFE OF 
 
 equally young.* You are, in short, every way to my lik- 
 ing; and as for your revenue abilities, I never doubted them ; 
 but as in the unsettled state of Canara they can be of no 
 immediate use to Government, I '11 thank you to exert them, 
 in the mean while, in bringing on a good cook with you. 
 
 Besides the causes of regret detailed above, a 
 circumstance occurred, which had, at least, no 
 tendency to reconcile Major Munro to his change 
 of residence. Hitherto the military collectors 
 had enjoyed a considerable advantage over the 
 civilians, by being permitted to retain the full 
 amount of their professional pay, in addition to 
 the ordinary allowances of revenue servants : it 
 was determined at this critical juncture to place 
 the two classes more upon an equality, by limit- 
 ing the per centage, on collections granted to the 
 former. Now, though the disposition of Major 
 Munro was the reverse of avaricious, it would 
 have been altogether unnatural had he failed to 
 discover in the new arrangement fresh reasons 
 of discontent. He accordingly remonstrated 
 against it ; writing to Colonel Wellesley, among 
 others, upon the subject ; and he received from 
 that officer, in as short a space of time as cir- 
 cumstances would allow, the following friendly 
 
 communication : 
 
 Camp, September 1st, 1799. 
 DEAR MUNRO, 
 
 I HAVE received your letter of the 17th of August. 
 I long ago took the field, in alliance with my brother Henry, 
 
 * Mr. Rice was a very promising young man, who died on 
 his way to join Major Munro.
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 233 
 
 in favour of the military collectors. I gave him a very 
 particular memorandum upon the subject, which 1 know he 
 showed to the Governor-General. 
 
 He is gone to England ; and I don't know what is the 
 consequence. I have however written about it again this 
 day. In my opinion, the Revenue Board are against you, 
 which is the reason that Government are not so liberal 
 towards you as you have a right to expect. 
 
 I wish that you would write me something, particularly 
 respecting your own situation in an unhealthy climate, 
 having been promised a reward for your services in the 
 Baramahl, which you have never received, Sec. &c. which 
 I can show to my brother. Such a paper is more likely to 
 have a good effect than any thing I can say upon the 
 subject. 
 
 Believe me yours most sincerely, 
 
 ARTHUR WELLESLEY. 
 
 The following from Captain, now Sir John 
 Malcolm, relates to the same question, and 
 touches also upon the avowed reluctance of his 
 correspondent to assume the charge imposed 
 upon him. 
 
 19th September, 1799. 
 
 MY DEAR MUNRO, 
 
 I RECEIVED yours of the 9th and 21st ultimo, 
 some days ago, and would have written sooner, but waited 
 to learn the sentiments of your friends at Madras, on the 
 subject of your letters. 
 
 You will learn from their answers to what you have 
 written, that they are anxious for your being more recon- 
 ciled to the regions of Canara. Perhaps, in forming this 
 wish, they blend a good deal of public with some private
 
 234 THE LIFE OF 
 
 feeling. It is your fault for recommending yourself to 
 men who continue to cherish ridiculous ideas about the 
 good of the state. 
 
 You know how desirous I am that we should ascend 
 the Ghauts in our proper character in your quarter; and I 
 am convinced you will ere long feel the necessity of that 
 step. This I have endeavoured to impress as much as 
 possible on Kirkpatrick ; and hence, at the same time, 
 pointed out how conveniently you could ascend during the 
 rains ; but I have no doubt your deeds will speak more 
 forcibly than any words can to this point. 
 
 I could gain no information about what per centage you 
 were to have. I certainly think you had good reason to 
 hope, that an allowance equal to theirs would be recom- 
 mended for at least a given number of years. 
 
 I hope a farther acquaintance with your charge will re- 
 concile you more, and that that disgust which you have 
 conceived for the fair Canara, after seeing her in a drag- 
 ged, dabbled suit, may be removed, when she appears, as 
 she will soon, clothed in her summer dress, exhibiting her 
 luring charms. 
 
 I have not the treaties, or would send them. 
 
 Tli us far on my way to Persia. Direct to Bombay, 
 where you shall hear from, 
 
 Yours ever, 
 
 JOHN MALCOLM. 
 
 I add to this a letter from Colonel Wellesley, 
 likewise referring to the state of Captain Mun- 
 ro's feelings. It is no less honourable to the 
 heart of the writer, than illustrative of the esti- 
 mation in which the subject of this memoir was 
 held, by those best qualified to judge of his 
 merits.
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 
 
 235 
 
 Camp, in the province of Loo, 
 October 8th, 1799. 
 
 DEAR MUNRO, 
 
 I HAVE received your letter, and as I had some 
 hand in sending you to Canara, I am much concerned that 
 your situation there is so uncomfortable to yourself. It is 
 one of the extraordinary and unaccountable circumstances 
 attending the commission at Seringapatam, that my bro- 
 ther and I should Jiave imagined that you were desirous of 
 being appointed collector of Canara ; that we should have 
 been seriously angry with Kirkpatrick, who, it appeared, 
 had proposed an arrangement for you, of which you did 
 not approve, and which had occasioned your refusal of the 
 appointment for which you wished ; and yet that, after ail, 
 we should have done you an injury, instead of a benefit (as 
 well as one to the service) which we intended. I acknow- 
 ledge, that knowing my own wishes in your favour, and 
 being very sensible of my brother's, I cannot but attribute 
 what has happened to yourself. One word from you would 
 have stopped the arrangement ; and there is every reason 
 to believe that a provision would have been made for you 
 elsewhere. It is perhaps not now too late. I have written 
 to my brother upon the subject ; and I hope that he will 
 make an arrangement suitable to your wishes. Whether 
 he does or not, I hope that you will believe that your 
 cause has not failed for want of zeal on my part. 
 
 This country, into which I have come to visit my posts 
 on the Mahratta frontiers, is worse than that which you 
 curse daily. It is literally not worth fighting for. Here- 
 after, it will be necessary to communicate with it from Ca- 
 nara ; and I have desired the Amildar to make a good road 
 from Soopah towards your borders. I am told that Se- 
 dachee Ghur is not more than sixty miles by the road from 
 Soopah (my most western post) ; that in the war of 1780, 
 a detachment of Matthews's army advanced upon Soopah 
 by that road. I wish that you would desire one of your
 
 236 THE LIFE OF 
 
 people to communicate with the amildar of Soondah re- 
 specting this road, and that you would have a good one 
 made from Sedachee Ghur to meet it. 
 
 The drubbing that we gave to the Mahrattas lately, has 
 had the best effects ; and although all the robbers are in 
 motion to cut each other's throats, they treated us with 
 the utmost hospitality, and have sent back our people 
 whom they had driven away. 
 
 Believe me ever yours, most sincerely, 
 
 ARTHUR WELLESLEY. 
 
 Having thus explained the nature of the cir- 
 cumstances which placed the province of Canara 
 under the care of Captain Munro, little remains 
 except to commit to himself the task of describing 
 the manner of his life whilst in office, the nu- 
 merous and serious difficulties which met him at 
 every step, and the means which he adopted to 
 overcome them. It is necessary, indeed, to pre- 
 mise, that though of the following selection of 
 letters the greater proportion discuss matters of 
 business, they contain none of the dry and unin- 
 teresting details which usually fill up an official 
 correspondence; but illustrate, in striking and 
 forcible terms, the condition of the country, with 
 the customs, habits, and even history of the people. - 
 The individual, likewise, to whom most of them 
 are addressed, Mr. Thomas Cockburn, was one 
 of those functionaries whose public and private 
 career fully entitled him to the esteem and con- 
 fidence of all good men. Though educated in 
 the civil department, and then filling a high 
 station at the Board of Revenue, he harboured
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 237 
 
 none of that paltry jealousy of military per- 
 sons, concerning which notice has been taken. 
 On the contrary, both here and elsewhere, in 
 Baramahl, Canara, and afterwards in the Ceded 
 Districts, he afforded to Captain Munro an un- 
 ceasing and efficient support, which, it is but 
 fair to add, the latter shared in common with 
 every public servant whose zeal in the discharge 
 of his duties was apparent. But it is needless to 
 say more. The tone of Captain Munro's letters, 
 indeed, will make manifest how little of official 
 formality was recognized by either party; and 
 how perfectly the member of the Revenue Board 
 was disposed to second the collector, in all his 
 efforts to advance the welfare of the province. 
 
 Huldipore, 20th December, 1799. 
 MY DEAR COCKBURN, 
 
 THE letter you wrote me by poor young Rice 
 was brought to Cundapore a few days ago by Mr. Read. 
 You have contrived to crowd a great number of opinions 
 and questions into a very small space ; and I mean, when 
 more at leisure, to endeavour to answer them as well as I 
 can. Though I talk of being busy, I don't pretend that I 
 am doing much, but that I meet with a great deal of 
 trouble in doing little, for, besides the confusion and dis- 
 order kept up by our not being complete masters of the 
 country till October, and by the open and secret opposition 
 of a tribe of Rajahs and their adherents, the rayets them- 
 selves are a most unruly and turbulent race. This how- 
 ever, without ascribing to them any naturally bad disposi- 
 tion, may be easily accounted for when we know, that they 
 have twice lost the advantageous tenures by which they
 
 238 THE LIFE OF 
 
 held their lands once by Ryder's conquest, and now by 
 that of the Company. Before they fell under the Mysore 
 Government, their land-tax was probably as light as that of 
 most countries in Europe. When Tippoo's finances be- 
 came totally deranged about four years ago, when he did not 
 receive fifty per cent, of his revenue, they joined the Sirkar 
 servants in plundering, and recovered in some measure 
 their lost rights, by being permitted to withhold twenty 
 and twenty-five per cent, of their rents.* On my arrival, 
 they wanted not only to keep what they had got, but also 
 to get more ; while I was resolved, after making allow- 
 ance for the desolation of two wars, to bring the revenue 
 back to what it had been in 1789, the last year of any 
 regular government in Tippoo's reign, and then to leave it 
 to Government to relinquish as much of it as they might 
 think fit. As soon as they discovered my intention, they 
 entered into combinations to bring me to terms. These sort 
 of combinations had been very general under the weak and 
 profligate set of rulers they had had since 1792. They 
 were even encouraged, because men in office always con- 
 trived to receive something for settling them; and the inha- 
 bitants too gained their ends, in some measure, by obtain- 
 ing a remission of rent on account of the loss they were 
 supposed to have sustained from the neglect of cultivation 
 during their temporary insurrection. They sent me pro- 
 posals from all quarters, demanding, in general, a remis- 
 sion of all additional assessments since the conquest of 
 Hyder, as the only condition on which they would agree to 
 enter into any discussion about a settlement. I of course 
 rejected all preliminaries but such as I might think it 
 necessary, upon examination, to prescribe to myself. This 
 was considered by them as a declaration of war, and they 
 lost no time in taking the field ; that is to say, they refused 
 
 * The land tax due to Government is here meant ; not the 
 landlord's rent, as the English reader might suppose. 

 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 239 
 
 to come to the cutcherry. They absconded when peons 
 were sent for them. They almost starved some of the 
 amildars I had detached, by preventing them from get- 
 ting fire and water; and whenever I approached a village, 
 the inhabitants went off to another, so that I was some- 
 times several weeks in a district without seeing one of them. 
 Reports had been circulated among them, that the country 
 was soon to be placed under the Bombay Government; and 
 they therefore hoped, that by keeping aloof for a time 
 they would either see me removed, or constrain me to sub- 
 mit, lest the season should pass away before I could make 
 a settlement. Perseverance on my part, however, at last 
 brought over some deserters ; and by talking to them, as 
 your friend Cleveland* would probably have done, they 
 brought over more ; and I am now getting on as well as I 
 can expect ; but they are such a different kind of people 
 to any rayets to the eastward of the Ghauts, that I have 
 still but very little confidence in their engagements, and 
 am very far from being satisfied that they will perform 
 them ; and I can hardly venture to say that I shall come 
 within ten per cent, of the settlement. Six months will 
 however decide the question : a great deal of this is owing 
 to their obstinacy ; for if, instead of rising in a mass 
 like Frenchmen, and sending in memorials about privileges, 
 they had spent the time in the cutcherry, in discussing the 
 state of cultivation in their different villages, the settle- 
 ment would have been much more accurate than it is 
 easier for them to pay, and for me to realize. One of the 
 chief obstacles to my progress is the difficulty of procuring 
 men qualified to act in the revenue line : few of the 
 
 * This gentleman was a very remarkable Bengal civilian, who 
 civilized a wild and unruly hill-people in one of the provinces 
 under that Government, and won their hearts by much the 
 same kind of treatment which Sir Thomas Munro was in the 
 habit of exercising in other quarters.
 
 240 THE LIFE OF 
 
 natives of Canara are fit, because they have had no ex- 
 perience, having scarcely ever been employed either by 
 Hyder or Tippoo : all business therefore has been carried on 
 by people from Mysore ; but they have for some years past 
 been accustomed to such unlimited peculation, that it would 
 be madness to trust them; and as this is a country to which 
 revenue Brahmins seldom resort without a previous engage- 
 ment, I have no choice, but am obliged to take such as I 
 can get. It cannot be supposed that I yet know much of the 
 state of landed property. I have seen enough, however, to 
 convince me that it is very different in different parts of the 
 country. Whole villages have in some places been aban- 
 doned by the owners from the exorbitance of the assess- 
 ment;* in others, they are barely able to keep their ground 
 and subsist ; and in others the rent is so moderate, that the 
 lands are saleable. Wherever this is the case, the owners 
 are a bold, sturdy set of fellows, and would spurn at your 
 plan of being made dependent on any mesne lord. It is 
 not always easy, therefore, to distinguish who is the imme- 
 diate cultivator and who is not. A man who, with a pair 
 of half-starved bullocks, cultivates two or three acres, and 
 has no other means of subsistence, is a labourer and an im- 
 mediate cultivator; but a man who has five hundred acres, 
 and subrents four hundred and fifty, can hardly be called an 
 immediate cultivator, even though on the other fifty, which 
 he keeps in his own hands, he should sometimes guide the 
 plough, rather from simplicity of manners, and an honour- 
 able habit of industry, than from necessity. But my letter 
 gets long, and this is an endless subject ; so let me answer 
 one or two of your questions. Canara produces nothing 
 but rice and cocoa-nuts; its dry lands are totally unpro- 
 ductive ; so that the little wheat, or other dry grain, that is 
 raised, is sown in the paddy fields, where the water has 
 
 * Another term for what might more appropriately be called 
 land-tax.
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 
 
 been insufficient for rice. It produces hardly any pepper. 
 The sandal-wood and pepper for exportation come all from 
 Nuggar and Soondah. The soil is perhaps the poorest 
 in India. The eternal rains have long ago washed away 
 the rich parts, if ever it had any, and left nothing but 
 sand and gravel. One crop under a tank, in Mysore or 
 the Carnatic, yields more than three here. All the neces- 
 saries of life are extravagantly dear : rice is double the 
 price it is above the Ghauts ; cloth is twice or thrice as 
 much, and ghee, tamarinds, &c. five or six times ; so that 
 it will be impossible to get cutcherry-servants here at the 
 same rate as above the Ghauts. There are no manufac- 
 tures. The inhabitants are all either farmers, fishermen, 
 or bazaarmen. The Company can therefore have no invest- 
 ment of cloths ; and if they want pepper, I hope they will 
 purchase it in the market, and not harrass the people, and 
 impede the cultivation of it, by absurd monopolies. The 
 face of the country is rude and savage beyond description. 
 You are a traveller, and have seen the Raycottah Pass ; a 
 few deep water-courses thrown into the narrow valleys 
 about it, would give you some faint idea of what are called 
 the Plains of Canara. As far as I can guess by the eye, 
 not one-twentieth part of the country is cultivated ; and 
 if you want to cross it in any direction, except in the 
 few places where roads have been made at a great la- 
 bour, you must walk, for it is too rugged for riding. As 
 to the table-land you talk of, what I have got is a narrow, 
 jungly stripe, along the head of the Ghauts, upon which 
 the clouds breaking, pour down more water than in the 
 low country. Had we extended ourselves to Harpon- 
 hilly, I might have kept the field in my tent there during 
 the rainy season, when there was nothing to be done here, 
 and returned again upon the breaking up of the monsoon ; 
 but now I have nothing for it, but to shut myself up 
 during five months at Busoor, or, according to the maps, 
 VOL. I. R
 
 242 THE LIFE OF 
 
 Barcelore, and not see a single soul but an assistant : the 
 other six .or seven months, I must go my rounds from 
 Mount Delly to the neighbourhood of Durwar ; and 
 through all this wild tract I shall scarcely meet with an Eu- 
 ropean, except in the three or four weeks that I must spend 
 at Mangalore. What a vain, unprofitable life I lead ! Had 
 I remained in the Baramahl, I should have found leisure 
 for many other pursuits, as well as revenue ; but here all is 
 new : it is like labouring for ever at the rudiments of a 
 strange language. Whenever I have leisure to think at 
 all, I wish myself any where else but here. I doubt much, 
 even if I had the means of returning to Europe, whether I 
 could settle there after so long a residence in India : but, 
 at any rate, I am convinced that lingering out the dregs 
 of life there can never compensate the consuming the best 
 of my days in solitude on the Malabar coast. I admire 
 your recommending me to change my situation frequently, 
 and take care of my health. I change my situation every 
 week, but the sun follows me ; and no constitution can, 
 fora length of years, resist his attacks in a. tent: and I 
 find that through the small tents, the only ones that can 
 be carried in this country, his rays are whitening my aged 
 locks very fast. 
 
 One of the many evils of being out of society is the want 
 of books ; so that I am ignorant of what is doing in the 
 world ; and I have nothing to offer upon any subject, but 
 my own solitary ideas, unimproved by the consideration of 
 those of other men. 
 
 Sarsi, 28th February, 1800. 
 
 DEAR COCKBURN, 
 
 1st MARCH. I attempted to write this letter 
 yesterday, but was obliged to give it up, and attend de- 
 bates on settlements, thieves, &c. Except a fortnight spent 
 at Mangalore in October, I have not been more than a
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 243 
 
 week in any place since July. It is on marching days, 
 however, that I have most leisure ; for, by starting early, 
 I get to my ground several hours before the cutcherry or 
 inhabitants come up ; and if I halt at a deserted village, 
 of which there are plenty in this country, I probably get 
 the greatest part of the day to myself, and can write a let- 
 ter ; but if I stop near a village, I am instantly surrounded 
 by the inhabitants, with all their stories of grievances 
 against my amildars, their losses by the enemy, &c. Many 
 of these matters are of themselves of little consequence ; 
 but still, among a new people, who are strangers to us, it 
 is necessary I should hear them all. It is by giving a 
 great deal of my time to this at first, that I shall save time 
 hereafter ; for, by getting acquainted with me, they know 
 that the amildars, and all other revenue people, are merely 
 servants, who have no right to oppress them, or to demand 
 any thing but the Sircar rent. 
 
 No man, who has not seen Canara and Soondah, can have 
 the least idea of the endless vexatious interruptions the na- 
 ture of the climate, of the country, and of the people oppose 
 to the progress of revenue settlements. From the begin- 
 ning of June to the end of October, the proper season for 
 settlements, there is no certainty of a fair day. No wheel- 
 carriage can be used, not even a buffalo bandy ; in many of 
 the inland cross-roads, bullocks cannot travel loaded ; and 
 tents must be carried by coolies. My cutcherry-tent stands 
 pitched at Busroou, where I first got it. I could only bring 
 with me two very small captain's marquees, and three private 
 tents. How, you will ask, does your army move? It usually 
 sends its tents by sea, marches along the coast, and occupies 
 the houses of the inhabitants. If it moves inland, as it did 
 to Jumalabad, it marches parallel to the course of the rivers, 
 and probably only crosses one. The large tents are then 
 carried on elephants ; but an elephant would not answer my 
 purpose, because I never move without crossing a river, and 
 
 R 2
 
 244 THE LIFE OF 
 
 often two or three. The business of loading and unloading 
 him would take up the whole day. Even with bullocks, 
 the business of swimming them over takes up so much time, 
 that I am always obliged to wait an hour or two for my 
 tent, the same as if I was in camp. It cannot be sent 
 on the night before, because it is both difficult and dan- 
 gerous, in small canoes, to pass rivers in the dark, towing 
 cattle alongside. If I send it on the day before, I lose the 
 use of it for my cutcherry people. This want of tents 
 obliged me to leave all my writers behind, so that I am 
 compelled to copy all my own letters. Besides public, I have 
 had a great deal of troublesome private correspondence. 
 There were at one time about fourteen military stations 
 in my collectorate ; and there was hardly a commandant 
 of one of them who did not attempt to establish what he 
 called a police, and force me to write to him. Matters 
 were scarcely settled, before a successor came, and then 
 the same ground was to be gone over again. Colonel 
 Mignan is the fifth commandant I have had to correspond 
 with in Canara : had my rank entitled me to the military 
 command, it would have greatly facilitated my operations- 
 Peons, on account of the rivers, and also the number of 
 thieves, travel only in the day, and not more than twelve 
 or fourteen miles on an average. They seldom come in 
 less than fifteen days from Mangalore. The Tappal does 
 not go thirty miles a-day ; and letters by it, though they 
 are sometimes more expeditious than peons, are sometimes 
 again much longer in reaching, either from mistakes in the 
 department, or from my being out of the road, and the 
 people missing me. My correspondence with the more 
 distant districts is much more tedious than that between 
 Madras and Bengal. It would be much easier for me to 
 manage all the countries between the Kistna and the 
 Caleroon, than this collectorate. You must not therefore 
 be surprised, that the first settlement of it should take me
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 245 
 
 till April. You cannot imagine that it is my wish to keep 
 the field in a small tent, during the hottest months of the 
 year. I have been labouring hard for several months in 
 quest of all old accounts that could throw any light on the 
 former state of the revenue. They are imperfect ; but, 
 such as they are, I shall, whenever I can get leisure, make 
 a table of them, and tack it to my Jummabundy, and you 
 will then see the revenue as it stood under the Rajniss of 
 Biddenore, Hyder, and Tippoo. I see plainly that there 
 never will be the least chance of my being able to give you 
 the full and minute details on all revenue matters you were 
 accustomed to receive from Read. He has, I am afraid, 
 spoiled you all ; and nothing that is not equally copious, 
 will go down with you. In April, when I hope to have 
 finished the settlements, I do not expect to be able to say 
 much about them ; for I must first settle with three trou- 
 blesome fellows of Rajahs, who are now interrupting the 
 collections. 
 
 Your friend Colebrook, who accompanied Colonel Wel- 
 lesley through Soondah, will have told you what kind of a 
 country it is. Wild as it is, however, I prefer it much to 
 Canara ; for though it is all jungle, it is not, like it, full of 
 rocks and rivers. 
 
 I would be very happy to get away from this on any 
 terms. I should be perfectly indifferent on the subject of 
 allowances, could any arrangement be made to place me in 
 Mysore, the Baramahl, or Carnatic. I wrote you on this 
 subject before, and shall trust being assisted by you when- 
 ever there is an opening. 
 
 I wish you would give me a few hints about the etiquette 
 of writing. I shall in a few days write a short letter to the 
 Board, requesting they will allow me to compound a few 
 thousand pagodas' worth of pepper, received in kind for 
 money. The object is trifling ; and it is an indulgence, 
 the circumstances of the pepper planters stand very
 
 246 THE LIFE OF 
 
 much in need of. There ought to be no Company^ 
 pepper but what is fairly purchased by their agents. 
 After the zealous support you gave the weavers against 
 's violence, I have no doubt of your favouring this 
 
 measure. 
 
 Yours truly, 
 
 (Signed) THOMAS MUNRO. 
 
 In reply to this letter, Mr. Cockburn says : 
 " I regret your situation should be so extremely 
 irksome ; the more so, as any attempt to procure 
 your removal would be considered treason to the 
 state. Such is the estimation of your services, 
 that no one is deemed equal to the performance 
 of the difficult task you are engaged in ; and 
 though I can consider no reward adequate to the 
 sacrifice you make, yet I trust you will be able 
 to overcome your difficulties, and that Govern- 
 ment will do you ample justice when you have 
 brought the country into some degree of arrange- 
 ment.'* 
 
 TO HIS BROTHER. 
 
 Cundapore, 28th May, 1800. 
 DEAR ALEXANDER, 
 
 FROM your long silence, I would almost suppose 
 you to be as busy as myself, were it possible that any 
 private business could demand so much of a man's time 
 as the settling of two provinces, with Dhondagee's fol- 
 lowers plundering the one, and a Civil war in the other. 
 
 5th June. I had hardly begun when I was interrupted. 
 The new countries we have got by the conquest of My-
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 247 
 
 sore are close upon very bad neighbours. Savenoor and 
 Dharwar, which run along our frontier, belong to the 
 Peishwah, and Appah Saheb, the son of Penseram Bhow; 
 but neither of them has much authority. Their depu- 
 ties plunder each other, and are seldom able to enforce 
 the collections of their respective districts, which are full 
 of a rebellious, or rather a thieving set of petty zemindars ; 
 and mixed with them is a fellow called Dhondagee, who 
 was released from irons in Seringapatam in the confusion 
 of the storm, and who has got together a rabble of twenty 
 thousand horse and foot, with which force he acts nomi- 
 nally for the Peishwah, but more for himself than any 
 body else. We have taken an alarm without much foun- 
 dation. I think that he is secretly supported by the 
 Mahrattas, and has hostile designs against us ; and Colonel 
 Wellesley has marched towards the Toombuddra with 
 what troops could be drawn together in Mysore, to watch 
 his motions. I do not however imagine that he will 
 venture to meddle with us ; for he could get nothing 
 by it, and might ruin himself. Some parties, in his name, 
 have entered Soondah, and taken one or two mud-forts; 
 but they are most likely freebooters, over whom he has 
 no control. These depredations give us good ground for 
 insisting on the Mahrattas keeping him in better order, 
 and, if they do not, for our taking possession of Savenoor 
 and Dharwar for our security, and driving him and them 
 across the Kistna. But I suspect we shall be like the 
 Spaniards, keep our tempers till we have got what is reck- 
 oned a sufficient diplomatic quantity of provocation, and 
 lose the present moment, so favourable to us when the 
 Nizam is with us, the Mahrattas weak and divided, 
 and no French in India. We may display our moderation 
 for a time ; but circumstances will force us to the Kistna ; 
 for it is impossible we can ever remain quiet with such 
 a scattered frontier and such a disorderly neighbour.
 
 248 THE LIFE OF 
 
 In Canara we have let a couple of hundred thieves, belong- 
 ing to Kisnam Naigur, a poligar, surprise Jumalabad, a 
 hill-fort stronger than Savendroog, or any other I have 
 ever seen. We have likewise got a fellow, who styles him- 
 self the Rajah of Vittel, in arms. So, between these civil 
 wars, and the settlement of a new country, I have more 
 work than I can well get through, and writing enough 
 to make me blind. This is so much the case already, 
 that I grudge the time my eyes are employed about this 
 letter. I have no accounts from home since I wrote you 
 last. I hope you have a good Indigo crop ; and I shall 
 be happy to hear that your calculations respecting the 
 home-market are just. You must not flatter yourself with 
 a peace on the Continent. It will probably all end in 
 the restoration of monarchy in France, after the cox- 
 combs have tried in vain to make some of their own 
 absurd creations answer the purposes of government. 
 Buonaparte, you see, is capetising them ; though a Scottish 
 minister, according to a newspaper I saw some time ago, 
 had, in the spirit of prophecy, when he thought he was 
 sure of him, consigned him and his blasphemous host to 
 the lice and locusts of Egypt. The frogs would have 
 had no chance. 
 
 Your affectionate Brother, 
 
 THOS. MUNRO. 
 
 TO MR. COCKBURN. 
 
 Cundapore, 7th June, 1800. 
 DEAR COCKBURN, 
 
 I HAVE to-day transmitted to the Board a report 
 on the ancient and present state of the revenue of this 
 country. To draw together the materials, I was forced 
 to go through more labour among sunnuds and accounts 
 than I ever underwent in my life before: and it is not 
 probable that I shall ever again have leisure to go so 
 much into any other matters connected with revenue. I
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 249 
 
 got together every thing in the course of my circuit, and 
 meant to have devoted a month after coming down the 
 Ghauts to arranging and writing: but hearing of the 
 affair of Jumalabad on my way back, I saw there would 
 be no leisure or days of quiet for such an occupation ; and 
 I therefore hurried through, as well as I could, by starts, 
 when I could get clear of mobs of rayets, from Soon- 
 dah, plundered by Dhondagee, and from Canara, robbed, 
 and their families frequently murdered, by the banditti 
 in the southern districts. You will easily see that it is 
 only an outline, not half filled up ; but, such as it is, I 
 hope it will convey a clear idea of the land-rent of this 
 province for some centuries back. I wished to have 
 traced the nature of landed property in Soondah, if such 
 property actually existed there, by a chain of sunnuds, 
 up to the eighth century ; but the sunnuds take too much 
 time ; many of them are intricate and obscure ; and after 
 translating a dozen sometimes, I meet with nothing to 
 illustrate the object of my search. Time slips away, 
 business accumulates, and I am in danger of neglecting 
 the present generation, while I am attempting to ascer- 
 tain whether or not their forefathers were permitted 
 to eat a greater proportion of the produce of the land 
 than they do. With the view of clearing away difficul- 
 ties for new men, I shall exact the payment of balances 
 more rigorously than I would have done, had I wished 
 to take a lease of the country. This will bear hard upon 
 some individuals; but where there has been nothing but 
 anarchy for the last seven years, order can only be esta- 
 blished by being inflexible, indulgence can be thought 
 of afterwards. I have pointed out what I think it ought 
 to be ; but whether a reduction of the land-rent is imme- 
 diately granted or not, I hope you will give up the portion 
 of the customs I have proposed, immediately, and let me 
 have your orders soon enough for the news to be spread 
 over the country in the course of next month ; and also to
 
 250 THE LIFE OF 
 
 reach the Arabian and Persian gulfs by the opening of the 
 season. My peons in the neighbourhood of Jumalabad have 
 defeated a party of the enemy, and taken some prisoners. 
 In consequence of this success, the expelled amildars 
 of Hurrup and Poottoor have again entered their districts. 
 Another fellow in the opposite end of Canara started up, 
 and burned some villages near Sedasiwagur ; but a party 
 of sepoys and peons routed his party ; he fell himself in 
 the pursuit. If I had had the command in Canara, it 
 would have greatly facilitated the settlement, and possibly 
 have prevented some of the disturbances which have since 
 happened ; but I hardly see how this can be brought 
 about, with so many seniors to myself serving in every 
 corps. The disturbances are not to be attributed to any 
 disaffection in the great body of the inhabitants. The 
 reverse is the case. There are not ten men who pay rent, 
 in arms against us. The insurgents consist of a body of 
 peons, sent down the Ghauts by Kisnam Naigur, of other 
 peons, formerly sent from Mysore to garrison the forts in 
 Canara, by Hyder and Tippoo, who first enlisted in the 
 Bombay army, and then deserted, of a parcel of vagabond 
 moplas, who have always subsisted by thieving, and of 
 some armed men brought from Malabar by a fellow called 
 Vittel Hegade, an old pensioner of the Bombay Govern- 
 ment, under which he has long acted the part of a rajah. 
 It is he who has set up a Moorman, under the title of 
 Futteh Hyder. I have no doubt of my peons being able 
 with fifty sepoys to quell this desperate rebellion, .as it is 
 called. The enemy have no real strength, because no part 
 of the country is for them. They have, however, conti- 
 nued to establish the reign of terror, by burning the houses 
 of some, and murdering others, who either refused to act 
 with, or informed against them. Had I leisure to enter 
 into such details, I could give many strong proofs of the 
 fidelity, or loyalty, or what you please, of our new subjects.
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 251 
 
 After all the alarm of general insurrection, I imagine I 
 shall have less trouble with Futteh Hyder than with Cecil 
 Smith.* He has called on me to send accounts current 
 and vouchers the 3rd of every month, or else to give good 
 reasons for not doing so. Nothing is more difficult than to 
 find reasons that shall satisfy a man on a subject he does not 
 understand. This third day is certainly a theme on which 
 the auditor and I, without understanding one another, 
 may write a great deal for what the French call public 
 instruction. 
 
 Yours truly, 
 
 THOMAS MUNRO. 
 
 Cundapore, 13th July, 1800. 
 DEAR COCKBURN, 
 
 THE Board will probably be averse to making the 
 reductions I have proposed, till the permanent system is 
 introduced. The benefit, however, to be derived from any 
 system, consists chiefly in an abatement of rent ; and the 
 sooner the inhabitants experience the benefit the better. I 
 am not, however, in a hurry, for if Canara is not in such 
 easy circumstances as it ought to be, it is, at least, as easy 
 as the Baramahl. You may therefore defer till a future 
 occasion a part, or the whole, of the proposed reduction 
 of land-rent ; but with respect to customs, unless you 
 reduce those on rice exported to two Bash*, pagodas per 
 conjee, and abolish the inland transport duties on that 
 article, for there is hardly any other grain in Canara, you 
 will rather hurt than improve your revenue. The loss 
 would be only temporary. Next year, or the following, 
 the increase of the quantity exported would, I am per- 
 suaded, counterbalance the decrease occasioned by lowering 
 the duty. I hope you will allow the reduction this year. 
 
 * The Accountant-general.
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 I wait anxiously for it, in order to settle the customs for 
 1210, which is now begun. I am in some haste, because 
 I suspect I shall be called, by the progress of our military 
 operations, to Soondah ; and unless I have your orders be- 
 fore that time, I shall be obliged to hurry through the 
 business of customs. It will occur to you, that with two 
 internal petty wars carrying on, I cannot possibly have 
 time to introduce any system of great innovation. Day 
 and night are hardly long enough to hear and answer dis- 
 trict letters about rebels ; Dhondagee's partisans enlisting 
 men ; depredations of banditti ; revenue, &c. All the 
 writing in the world will not put people right, who do not 
 understand how to go about a thing ; and my entering into 
 explanation is too like schooling to be relished. I perceive 
 you have puffed me off at a great rate, and given me 
 greater than usual allowances. Salary is not so much what 
 I want as removal. I came here because, after having been 
 named as a person qualified to ascertain the actual revenue 
 of the country, I could not decline the task, without 
 seeming to desert my duty ; but now that this is done, and 
 that the collections, except where interrupted by invasion, 
 are as regular as in the Baramahl, or even more so, I 
 think my work is performed, particularly as the recovery 
 of Jumalabad* will soon make Canara quiet. Every thing 
 was so new, and all in such disorder on my first arrival, 
 that the whole of the last year has been a continual struggle 
 against time, to get forward and bring up arrears. In this 
 one year I have gone through more work than in almost all 
 the seven I was in the Baramahl. 
 
 Yours very truly, 
 
 THOMAS MUNRO. 
 
 * One of the strongest hill-forts in India, which had been 
 taken from us by surprise by the rebels.
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 253 
 
 It has been stated, that, in addition to the dis- 
 turbances occasioned by the turbulence of certain 
 refractory chiefs, Major Munro found himself in- 
 commoded, and the peace of his province threat- 
 ened, by the warlike movements of a chief named 
 Dhondee, or Dhondagee Wahag. The history 
 of that adventurer has in part been narrated by 
 Colonel Wilks ; but that the interesting corre- 
 spondence about to be submitted to the reader's 
 notice may be rendered in all its allusions intel- 
 ligible, it may not be amiss to preface it with a 
 brief sketch of his singular career. 
 
 Dhondee Wahag, by lineage a Mahratta, was 
 born in the territory of Mysore, and town of 
 Chengerry. He performed his first military ser- 
 vice during Hyder's invasion of Coromandel, as 
 a private horseman under Bistnoo Pundit, by 
 whom he was accounted a brave, active, intel- 
 ligent, though most dishonest soldier ; but be- 
 coming weary of the restraint attendant upon 
 regular warfare, and enriched by plunder ga- 
 thered indiscriminately from friend and foe, he 
 abandoned the Sultan's service at an early period 
 of Lord Cornwallis's campaign. He now betook 
 himself, with a few followers, to the neighbour- 
 hood of Dharwar, where, after the conclusion of 
 peace, and the return of the Mahratta armies, he 
 collected a band of freebooters, and, commencing 
 robber by profession, levied heavy contributions 
 upon the provinces north of the Toombuddra. 
 Dhondee, however, was willing to cloak his
 
 254 THE LIFE OF 
 
 marauding propensities under the show of devo- 
 tion to his late master's interests. With this 
 view he opened a negotiation with Tippoo, in 
 which he undertook, on certain conditions, and 
 with a little secret aid, to recover for him the 
 whole principality of Savenoor ; but before mat- 
 ters could be fully adjusted, his own precipitancy 
 drew upon him the angry notice of the court of 
 Poonah, which sent against him a considerable 
 army, under the command of a chief named 
 Gockla. After a protracted resistance, Dhondee 
 was at length totally defeated, and compelled to 
 enter, with his whole party, consisting of two 
 hundred horse, into Tippoo's service. 
 
 This event occurred in June, 1794 ; but his re- 
 ception, though not more severe than his crimes 
 merited, accorded well with the cruel and deceit- 
 ful character of the Sultan. He was offered large 
 preferments as the reward of his conversion to 
 Mohammedanism ; and on refusing to abandon 
 the religion of his fathers, he was cast into pri- 
 son. Finally, his troop, after being plundered of 
 horses, arms, and clothing, were dismissed ; he 
 himself was forcibly circumcised, and, having 
 narrowly escaped death by the hand of the exe- 
 cutioner, was kept closely confined in irons till 
 the capture of Seringapatam. 
 
 During the confusion incident upon that event, 
 Dhondee escaped from his dungeon ; and gather- 
 ing round him a band of desperate men, he 
 aspired at nothing less than the establishment of
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 255 
 
 a new and formidable dynasty in the South. Had 
 his caution been equal to his daring, though he 
 must have doubtless failed in the end, his over- 
 throw would have been a matter of greater diffi- 
 culty than it proved to be ; but by seeking, with 
 reckless activity, to introduce anarchy even where 
 his influence extended, he brought upon himself 
 at once the vengeance of the British Government. 
 The army of Mysore, under the command of 
 Colonel Wellesley, was directed against him, and 
 a campaign begun, which has never, as far as I 
 know, been minutely described ; but of which 
 it may truly be said, that the operations exhibit 
 no indistinct developement of that extraordinary 
 genius which has since obtained for the Duke of 
 Wellington a name second to none in military 
 history. 
 
 Colonel Wellesley, having drawn a portion of 
 his force together, passed the Toombuddra on the 
 24th of June, and advancing to Ranny Bidnore, 
 carried it by assault on the 27th. From that 
 date up to the 2d of July, he found ample occu- 
 pation in clearing the Nugger country of Dhon- 
 dee's cavalry ; after accomplishing which, and 
 receiving supplies of men and grain, he pushed 
 for the Wirdah. The river being crossed on the 
 1 1th, a redoubt was constructed, as well for the 
 protection of the boats as to secure the communi- 
 cation with the rear ; when information being 
 received that Dhondee was on the march to 
 offer battle, Colonel Wellesley moved on the
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 12th, and took possession, on the 14th, of the 
 town of Savenoor. Into this place he threw his 
 baggage for safety, he himself encamping in front 
 of it ; but Dhondee, though he approached 
 within two coss of the British position, and 
 closely reconnoitred it, did not venture to attack ; 
 on the contrary, he retreated to Hoondgul, whi- 
 ther, on the 14th, Colonel Wellesley followed 
 him ; but he had evacuated it ere the columns 
 reached their ground, and, though the town was 
 taken by storm, Dhondee escaped. 
 
 On the 15th, Colonel Wellesley marched 
 against Luckmasur, which, as had been the case 
 with Hoondgul, was abandoned ; and on the 
 16th, he raised the siege of Sirholly. The 17th 
 again was spent in retracing his steps to Save- 
 noor ; whilst, on the 18th, he directed the Mah- 
 ratta force, stationed at Hallehall, to join him. 
 From this date his own letters, written with the 
 unreserved freedom of private friendship, con- 
 tinue the narrative of events ; and as these have 
 happily been preserved among Sir Thomas Mun- 
 ro's papers, I subjoin them without one word of 
 comment or remark. 
 
 Camp at Savenoor, July 20th, 1800. 
 DEAR MUNRO, 
 
 I WAS joined last night by Gockla's cavalry, and 
 expect to be joined this day by that under Chentomeny 
 Row. This materially alters my situation as it stood in 
 regard to Soondah. In order to get that corps from Hill- 
 cah, it must now come to me; and on its route it may as
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 257 
 
 well clear out Budna Goor, and all that country. I have 
 sent orders accordingly; and if guns are wanted for Budna 
 Goor, they will be furnished from a redoubt which I have 
 upon the Werdah, which is about seven miles from Ban- 
 capoor. 
 
 Send orders by express to your people, to use every ex- 
 ertion to supply the wants of the corps, and afterwards 
 the same exertions to forward supplies to my troops. 
 
 I wrote to Mungush Row this day upon the subject. 
 Believe me yours most sincerely, 
 
 ARTHUR WELLESLEY. 
 
 I have just received your letter of the 15th, and I shall 
 be obliged to you if you will delay the sale of your rice 
 for a short time. 
 
 I venture to introduce here a letter addressed 
 to Colonel, afterwards Sir Barry Close, because it 
 connects the preceding with those which follow. 
 It is only necessary to add, that on the 26th 
 Dummal was stormed, and that on the 27th 
 Gudduck was given up without resistance. 
 
 Camp, right of the Malpoorba, opposite Manowly, 
 July 31st, 1800. 
 
 MY DEAR COLONEL, 
 
 I HAVE the pleasure to inform you that I have 
 struck a blow against Dhondee, which he will feel severely. 
 
 After the fail of Dummul and Gudduck, 1 heard that 
 Dhoondee was encamped near Soondetty, west of the 
 Parasquer Hill, and that his object was to cover the passage 
 of his baggage over the Malpoorba, at Manowly. I then 
 determined upon a plan to attack both him and his bag- 
 gage at the same time, in co-operation with Bowser. His 
 detachment, however, did not arrive at Dummul till the 
 
 VOL. I. S
 
 258 THE LIFE OF 
 
 28th, and was two marches in my rear ; but I thought it 
 most important that I should approach Dhoondee's army 
 at all events, and take advantage of any movement which 
 he might make. I accordingly moved on, and arrived on 
 the 29th at Alligawady, which is fifteen miles from Soon- 
 detty, and twenty-six from this place. I intended to halt 
 at Alligawady till the 31st, on which day I expected Colo- 
 nel Bowser at Nargoond ; but Dhoondee broke up from 
 Soondetty as soon as he heard of my arrival at Alliga- 
 wady, sent part of his army to Doodwar, part towards 
 Jillahaul, and part with the baggage to this place. I then 
 marched on the morning of the 80th to Augugoor, which 
 is east of the Parasqur Hill, where I learnt that Dhoondee 
 was here with his baggage. I determined to move on and 
 attack him. I surprised his camp at three o'clock in the 
 evening, with the cavalry, and we drove into the river or 
 destroyed every body that was in it, took an elephant, 
 several camels, bullocks, horses innumerable, families, wo- 
 men, children, &c. &c. The guns were gone over, and we 
 made an attempt to dismount them by a fire from this 
 side; but it was getting dark, my infantry was fatigued 
 by the length of the march, we lost a man or two, I saw 
 plainly that we should not succeed, and I therefore with- 
 drew my guns to my camp. I do not know whether Dhoon- 
 dee was with this part of the army ; but I rather believe 
 he was not. Bubber Jung was in the camp, put on his ar- 
 mour to fight, mounted his horse, and rode him into the river, 
 where he was drowned. Numbers met with the same fate. 
 
 One Tanda of binjarries, in this neighbourhood, has 
 sent to me for Cowle, and I have got the family of a head 
 binjarry among those of several others. I have detained 
 them ; but have sent Cowle to the binjarry. 
 
 I hear] that every body is deserting Dhoondee, and I be- 
 lieve it, as my Mahrattas are going out this night to attack 
 one of his parties gone towards Doodwar. They were be- 
 fore very partial to my camp.
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 259 
 
 I have apian for crossing some Europeans over the river 
 to destroy the guns, which I am afraid I cannot bring off; 
 and then I think I shall have done this business complete- 
 ly. I am not quite certain of success however, as the 
 river is broad and rapid. 
 
 Believe me, &c. &c. &c. 
 
 (Signed) ARTHUR WELLESLEY. 
 
 P. S. I have just returned from the river, and have 
 got the guns, six in number. I made the Europeans swim 
 over to seize a boat. The fort was evacuated. We got 
 the boat and guns, which I have given to the Mahrattas. 
 
 GENERAL WELLESLEY TO MAJOR MUNRO. 
 
 Camp at Kittoor, August 7th, 1800. 
 
 MY DEAR MUNRO, 
 
 I ARRIVED here on the 5th. Dhoondee had 
 gone even to the sources of the Malpoorba, where he passed, 
 and his baggage is following him. Colonel Stevenson is 
 after them, and will cut off part of the tail, I hope. I have 
 halted here in the neighbourhood of a bamboo jungle, to 
 make boats, which I must have upon the river, in order to 
 keep up my communication with my rear. 
 
 I went yesterday to Hullihall, and was glad to see the 
 country so much improved since last year ; it is now one 
 sheet of cultivation. The dubash there ought to be hang- 
 ed for having made any difficulties in collecting the rice to 
 be stored. 
 
 My principal objects in going to Hullihall, were to con- 
 verse with your amildar respecting his operations upon the 
 frontier, and with him and the paymaster's man, respecting 
 a depot for my troops to be made at that place. 
 
 In regard to the forts, the allies, respecting whom it 
 would be inconvenient to convert them into enemies at the 
 
 S 2
 
 260 THE LIFE OF 
 
 present moment, are exceedingly offended at their forts 
 being taken from them by a parcel of peons. Besides, to 
 tell you the truth, now that Dhoondee is off, I don't see 
 what end it will answer to put your guards in the forts on 
 the frontier, excepting to perpetuate confusion. 
 
 The Company do not intend, I believe, in consequence 
 of this warfare, to take possession of any territory. To gar- 
 rison a fort then against the inclination of the person who 
 deems himself, and is supposed by the Government, to be 
 the rightful owner, will only tend to bring on a kind of minor 
 contest on the borders betweenyouramildars and theMahrat- 
 ta killedars, in which nobody will be gainers excepting the 
 thieves, and which we, above all other people, ought to en- 
 deavour to avoid. 
 
 I have therefore desired your man to withdraw his peo- 
 ple from Jeygoor, &c. which are Goklas Jagheer; to use 
 the peons he has raised, in preserving tranquillity in ,hat 
 part of Soonda, and not to pass the Company's borders till 
 he hears farther from me. 
 
 Many circumstances have tended heretofore to occasion 
 this system of thieving upon the borders, and that of one 
 party giving protection to the robbers of the other, which 
 I hope will no longer exist. 
 
 First, the government of this country has been for some 
 time in a very disturbed state, and every man has been ac- 
 customed latterly to do very nearly whatever he chose. 
 Secondly, the Mahrattas undoubtedly took possession of 
 Soonda ; and if they were not encouraged to da so, they 
 were not opposed by us until a very late period, when 
 they broke off a treaty which was pending. They have al- 
 ways therefore looked at our possession of that country 
 with a jealous and an envious eye, and of course saw with 
 pleasure, and rather encouraged, any attempts made to dis- 
 turb the tranquillity of the people living there under our 
 protection.
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 
 
 261 
 
 I hope now, that before we shall have done in this coun- 
 try (if we do not take it for ourselves), we shall establish 
 in it a strong government, one which can keep the rela- 
 tions of amity and peace. At all events, we have already 
 established a respect for ourselves; we have gained a 
 knowledge, and have had a friendly intercourse with the 
 principal people ; and it is not probable that they will 
 hereafter be very forward to encourage any disturbance 
 in our country. They see plainly that it is in our power 
 to retaliate; and from what I have seen of their country 
 and their mode of management, I am of opinion, that at. 
 present our robbers would get more than theirs, or, in other 
 words, that they have more to lose than we have. 
 
 I have had some conversation with them all upon the 
 subject : they promise fairly that nothing of the kind shall 
 happen in future, and I acknowledge, that if we are not to 
 take possession entirely of the country, I rather prefer to 
 trust to what they say, than to the desultory operations of 
 amildars and peons. In regard to the storing of rice, the 
 dubash swore that he could not get a grain, although the 
 head man of the place, which is only twenty-five miles from 
 Hallihall, promised a large quantity in eight days, on the 
 evening that I arrived here. 
 
 I was therefore under the necessity of desiring your 
 amildar (whom I believe to be the brother of Mungush 
 Row) to exert himself to collect some. 
 
 He says that he will begin to do so immediately ; and he 
 thinks he will be able to procure a quantity in a short time, 
 which will be of use to me. 
 
 He is to put it with the store at Hallihal!, to take the re- 
 ceipt of the dubash, and it is to be drawn from thence as 
 I may want it. There was some doubt whether the 
 amildar would riot want money for his purchases of grain 
 upon this occasion, as he had given over to the dubash all 
 he had collected. In order to obviate this difficulty, I have
 
 262 THE LIFE OF 
 
 ordered the commanding-officer at Hallihall to give him 
 whatever money he may want from the dubash's treasury, 
 upon his receipt ; and I have also desired the commanding- 
 officer to inform you whenever he will authorize an issue of 
 money to him. 
 
 A store of rice at Hallihall will be a great comfort and 
 convenience to me ; and I shall be glad to have it increased 
 to any extent that may be practicable. If you should wish 
 any other arrangement, either for the mode of collecting it, 
 or for that of advancing the money, let me know it, and I 
 will alter that above stated accordingly. 
 
 Believe me yours most sincerely, 
 
 ARTHUR WELLESLEY. 
 
 FROM THE SAME TO THE SAME. 
 
 Camp on the MaJpoorba, August 16th, 1800. 
 
 DEAR MUNRO, 
 
 I wrote to you on the 7th, and informed you of 
 the manner in which Dhoondee had escaped. A detach- 
 ment from Stevenson's corps followed his track, and the 
 road was covered with dead camels, bullocks, and people, 
 but we got hold of nothing. Bowser* has since crossed 
 the river Malpoorba, and has advanced to Shapour ; and 
 he tells me, that he found many dead cattle, and people of 
 all ages and sexes, on the road. The people of the coun- 
 try beyond Shapour plundered four thousand binjarries. 
 I am now employed in crossing the Malpoorba, and I hope 
 to be prepared to advance in two or -three days. I shall 
 
 This officer was to hare joined Colonel Wellesley at Sin- 
 hetty about the 25th of July ; but not arriving so soon as was 
 expected, Colonel W. resumed his operations without him. He 
 came in on the 1st of August.
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 263 
 
 leave something on this side, in case Dhoondee should 
 double back. 
 
 I wrote you fully respecting your amildars on the 7th ; 
 since that day I have received a letter from Suba Row, 
 (whose name, by the by, I never heard till he put himself 
 in possession of part of the country,) in which he tells me 
 that he will neither come to me nor withdraw his Tamea, 
 without orders from you ; and he makes many bad excuses 
 for this determination. I had no idea that he had so many 
 peons as he says he has, (twelve hundred,) or I should not 
 have called him to me ; and I have since begged of him to 
 go wherever he pleases, and never let me see or hear of him 
 again. I agree with you, that provided he does not disturb 
 my rear, his expedition will do me more good than harm 
 with my allies. 
 
 I have put them to the test respecting the thieves you 
 mention at Mundragoor. They promise that the cattle 
 shall be forthwith restored, and that the head men of those 
 villages, which, by their own acknowledgment, are inha- 
 bited by thieves only, shall be given up to me. 
 
 Your people at Hullihall are behaving capitally. They 
 have sent me leather for my boats ; and Captain Greenley 
 informs me that they will send me some arrack which I expect 
 from Goa; and this will be a considerable relief to my 
 cattle. Believe me yours most sincerely, 
 
 ARTHUR WELLESLEY. 
 
 FROM THE SAME TO THE SAME. 
 
 Camp at Hoobly, August 20th, 1800 
 
 DEAR MUNRO, 
 
 I HAVE received your letter of the 14th. My 
 state of supplies is as follows: 1 have twelve hundred
 
 264 THE LIFE OF 
 
 loads in the grain department, and fifteen hundred full 
 binjarries in camp. I am told that I have five thousand 
 between the Werdah and the Malpoorba ; and as the head 
 man has not deceived me lately, I believe it. Besides that, 
 three thousand binjarries left me at Kittdor on the 5th, in 
 order to fill along the borders of Soondah, and Savenore, 
 and Darwar. There are five thousand binjarries full, who 
 are following the Nizam's camp; but some of them, I be- 
 lieve, have only jowarry : now for my consumption. It is 
 impossible to say exactly what it is, when every body can 
 get as much rice as he can eat, as Mahrattas, Moguls and 
 all, go to the same bazaar one day, and to different bazaars 
 the next; and it is not practicable to form any rational 
 estimate. 
 
 The fighting men of the Company's troops, to whom 
 alone I allow rice in times of scarcity, consume eighty 
 loads a-day, including those of Bowser's detachment. 
 Thus then, as long as rice is produced at all in the bazaars, 
 that is to say, while we are in a country which produces 
 rice, I allow about one hundred loads of binjarry to be 
 sold ; or, if the country is plentiful, I allow still more. 
 When rice was not to be got in the country, as was the 
 case between the Werdah and the Toombuddra, and, in- 
 deed, till we came to Kittoor, I allowed none to be sold by 
 the binjarries, excepting to the Grain Department; and I 
 issued it to the troops at the rate of half a seir gratis. 
 They then consumed eighty bags per diem. 
 
 At this rate of consumption, I have now in camp some 
 thirty-three days' rice, and between the rivers, Lord knows 
 what. It is however very clear, that I am now in no 
 want, and that I am not likely to suffer any. 
 
 The binjarries I look upon in the light of servants of the 
 public, of whose grain I have a right to regulate the sale, 
 as I may find most advantageous to its interests, always 
 taking care that the have a proportionate advantage. But,
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 
 
 265 
 
 besides these, there are another set of people who have 
 attended my camp ; these are dealers from Mysore, of 
 whom I have kept no account. They come and sell their 
 grain, and go off again ; and, till we arrived at Kittoor, the 
 rice they brought was all that was sold. Of these, I am 
 told, there are many upon the road at this moment. 
 
 I look forward in future to the following sources of sup- 
 ply : first, a few hundred loads at Hullihall suppose five 
 hundred ; secondly, when the season opens, two thousand 
 one hundred loads, for which I will make the binjarries 
 go to the Seedasheegur river; thirdly, as much more 
 from Canara as you can let me have. 
 
 You see by the state of my supplies, that I can wait 
 till the Ghauts are practicable for bullocks ; and I must 
 beg of you to let me know the road, and the name of the 
 place to which I shall send upon the Seedasheegur river, 
 and the districts which you would wish my binjarries to 
 go in future. 
 
 My ideas of the nature of the Indian governments of 
 their decline and fall, agree fully with yours ; and I ac- 
 knowledge that I think it probable that we shall not be 
 able to establish a strong government on this frontier. 
 Scindiah's influence at Poonah is too great for us ; and I see 
 plainly, that if Colonel Palmer remains there, we shall not 
 be able to curb him without going *o war. There was 
 never such an opportunity for it as the present moment ; 
 and probably by bringing forward, and by establishing in 
 their ancient possessions, the Bhow's family, under our 
 protection, we should counterbalance Scindiah, and secure 
 our own tranquillity for a great length of time. But I de- 
 spair of it ; and I am afraid that we shall be reduced to the 
 alternative of allowing Scindiah to be our neighbour upon 
 our old frontier, or of taking this country ourselves. If 
 we allow Scindiah to be our neighbour, or if the country 
 goes to any other through his influence, we must expect
 
 266 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 worse than what has passed thieves of all kinds, new 
 Dhoondees, and probably Dhoondee himself again. If we 
 take the country ourselves, I don^t expect much tranquillity. 
 
 In my opinion, the extension of our territory and in- 
 fluence has been greater- than our means. Besides, we have 
 added to the number and the description of our enemies, 
 by depriving of employment those who heretofore found it 
 in the service of Tippoo and of the Nizam. Wherever 
 we spread ourselves, particularly if we aggrandize our- 
 selves at the expense of the Mahrattas, we increase this 
 evil. We throw out of employment and of means of sub- 
 sistence, all who have hitherto managed the revenue, com- 
 manded or served in the armies, or have plundered the 
 country. These people become additional enemies at the 
 same time that by the extension of our territory our means 
 of supporting our government and of defending ourselves 
 are proportionably decreased. 
 
 Upon all questions of increase of territory, these con- 
 siderations have much weight with me, and I am in gene- 
 ral inclined to decide that we have enough ; as much, at 
 least, if not more than we can defend. 
 
 I agree with you, that we ought to settle this Mahratta 
 business and the Malabar Rajahs, before the French re- 
 turn to India ; but I am afraid that to extend ourselves 
 will rather tend to delay than accelerate the settlements, 
 and that we shall thereby increase rather than diminish the 
 number of our enemies. 
 
 As for the wishes of the people, particularly in this 
 country, I put them out of the question. They are the 
 only philosophers about their governors that ever I met 
 with, if indifference constitutes that character. 
 Believe me ever yours most sincerely, 
 
 ARTHUR WELLESLEY.
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 267 
 
 FROM THE SAME TO THE SAME. 
 
 Camp at Jellahaul, Sept. 1st, 1800. 
 
 DEAR MUNRO, 
 
 UNFORTUNATELY, the Malpoorba fell on the 
 24th, and Dhoondee crossed it on that night and the next 
 day, at a ford a little above the junction with the Kistna. 
 Lieutenant-colonel Capper was then at this place; and 
 although I had desired the Mahrattas to push on for the 
 very place at which Dhoondee passed, and Colonel Capper 
 entreated them to attend to the orders I had given them, 
 and promised to follow with all expedition, they would 
 not move from the camp. If they had occupied that place, 
 Dhoondee could not have passed there; he must have re- 
 turned to look for another ford higher up the river, and would 
 then have fallen into my hands. He is gone towards the 
 Nizam's country, and left behind him, on the north side 
 of the Malpoorba, a jandah of ten thousand binjarries, 
 which I have got. I likewise took and destroyed five 
 excellent guns and carriages, some ammunition, tumbrils 
 (Company's), arms, ammunition, &c. &e. which he had 
 left in charge of the Jalloor poligar. 
 
 I have crossed the river, and I am going to the Nizam's 
 country immediately. 
 
 I sent off this day eight hundred empty binjarry bul- 
 locks to load in Canara on the Seedasheegur river. I shall 
 desire them to go by Hullihall, and shall give them a letter 
 to your amildar there. I shall be obliged to you if you 
 will write to him, and point out the place to which you 
 would wish them to go to get the rice. 
 
 1 shall also be obliged to you if you will let me know 
 what sum of money you can let me have, between this time 
 and the month of November, after providing for the pay- 
 ment of the troops in Canara till January, when I under- 
 stand that you begin to make your collections.
 
 268 THE LIFE OF 
 
 I have money in camp to pay the troops for the months 
 of August, September, and nearly for October. I expect 
 at Chittledroog one lac of rupees; so that you see I am 
 not in want, although it is necessary to look forward to 
 the means of procuring a supply in future. 
 
 Believe me yours most sincerely, 
 
 ARTHUR WELLESLEY. 
 
 FROM THE SAME TO THE SAME. 
 
 Camp at Yepulpurry, Sept. llth, 1800. 
 
 MY DEAR MUNRO, 
 
 I HAVE the pleasure to inform you that I gained 
 a complete victory yesterday, in an action with Dhoondee's 
 army, in which he was killed. His body was recognized, 
 and was brought into camp on a gun attached to the 19th 
 dragoons. After I had crossed the Malpoorba, it appeared 
 to me very clear, that if I pressed upon the King of the 
 two Worlds, with my whole force, on the northern side of the 
 Dooab, his Majesty would either cross the Toombuddra, 
 with the aid of the Patan chiefs, and would then enter 
 Mysore, or he would return into Savanore and play the 
 devil with my peaceable communications. I therefore de- 
 termined, at all events, to prevent his Majesty from putting 
 those designs in execution, and I marched with my army 
 to Kanagerry. I sent Stevenson towards Deodroog, and 
 along the Kistna, to prevent him from sending his guns 
 and baggage to his ally, the Rajah of Solapour, and I 
 pushed forward the whole of the Mahratta and Mogul 
 cavalry in one body, between Stevenson's corps and mine. 
 
 I marched from Kanagerry on the 8th, left my infantry 
 at Rowly, and proceeded on with the cavalry only, and I 
 arrived here on the 9th the infantry at Shinnoor, about 
 fifteen miles in my rear.
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 269 
 
 The King of the World broke up on the 9th from Mai- 
 gerry, about twenty-five miles on this side of Kachoor, 
 and proceeded towards the Kistna; but he saw Colonel 
 Stevenson's camp, returned immediately, and encamp- 
 ed on that evening about nine miles from hence, between 
 this place and Bunnoo. I had early intelligence of 
 his situation ; but the night was so bad, and my horses 
 so much fatigued, that I could not move. After a most 
 anxious night, I marched in the morning, and met the 
 King of the World with his army, about five thousand horse, 
 at a village called Conagull, about six miles from hence. 
 He had not known of my being so near him in the night, 
 had thought that I was at Shinnoor, and was marching to 
 the westward, with an intention of passing between the 
 Mahratta and Mogul cavalry and me. He drew up, how- 
 ever, in a very strong position, as soon as he perceived 
 me, and the victorious army stood for some time with 
 apparent firmness. I charged them with the 19th and 
 25th dragoons, and the 1st and 2nd regiments of cavalry, 
 and drove them before me till they dispersed, and were 
 scattered over the face of the country. I then returned 
 and attacked the royal camp, and got possession of ele- 
 phants, camels, baggage, &c. &c. which were still upon 
 the ground. The Mogul and Mahratta cavalry came up 
 about eleven o'clock, and they have been employed ever 
 since in the pursuit and destruction of the scattered frag- 
 ments of the victorious army. 
 
 Thus has ended this warfare; and I shall commence my 
 march in a day or two towards my own country. An 
 honest killedar of Shinnoor had written to the King of 
 the World by a regular tappall, established for the purpose 
 of giving him intelligence, that I was to be at Rowly on 
 the 8th, and at Shinnoor on the 9th. His Majesty was 
 misled by this information, and was nearer me than he 
 expected. The honest killedar did all he could to de-
 
 270 THE LIFE OF 
 
 tain me at Shinnoor ; but I was not to be prevailed upon to 
 stop, and even went so far as to threaten to hang a great 
 man sent to show me the road, who manifested an inclina- 
 tion to show me a good road to a different place. My 
 own and the Mahratta cavalry afterwards prevented any 
 communication between his Majesty and the killedar. 
 
 The binjarrie must be filled, notwithstanding the con- 
 clusion of the war, as I imagine that I shall have to carry 
 on one in Malabar. 
 
 Believe me yours most sincerely, 
 
 ARTHUR WELLESLEY. 
 
 Besides Dhoondee, whose overthrow is thus 
 narrated, allusion has been made to one Vettel 
 Hegada, another active disturber of the public 
 tranquillity in Canara. The career of this per- 
 sonage was neither so protracted nor so brilliant as 
 that of the Mahratta. After committing various 
 atrocities, he was in the end surprised and 
 defeated ; and the following laconic communica- 
 tion to Mr. Cockburn sums up his not very 
 eventful history. 
 
 DEAR COCKBURN, 
 
 I HAVE now got Vettel Hegada and his heir- 
 apparent and principal agents hanged. His defeat and 
 seizure were entirely owing to the zeal of the inhabitants ; 
 and I have no doubt that I should be able, with their 
 assistance, to get the better of any other vagabond rajah 
 that should venture to rebel. 
 
 Yours truly, 
 
 THOMAS MUNRO.
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 271 
 
 In spite of the numerous and complicated 
 public affairs which in Canara he was called upon 
 to administer, Major Munro ceased not to keep 
 up, as he had ever done since his first arrival 
 in India, a regular correspondence with his 
 friends and relatives at home. From this and 
 it is exceedingly voluminous I have selected 
 only such portions as appear best calculated to 
 throw light upon the state of his feelings, to 
 illustrate his character, and to convey informa- 
 tion respecting the condition of the country; and 
 give the letters in the order of their dates, without 
 offering any commentary or remark of my own. 
 
 TO HIS MOTHER. 
 
 Cundapore, 25th August, 1800. 
 DEAR MADAM, 
 
 THE last letter I have received from you is 
 dated fourteen months ago, in June, 1799- I am sorry 
 you have quitted your country-house for so trifling a 
 consideration as the expense, which could never occasion 
 any inconvenience to me to discharge. There is indeed 
 no way in which I could employ my money, that would 
 yield me half so much pleasure as to hear that it had 
 enabled you to enjoy the country air, to have your own 
 dairy and garden, and to walk in the fields, a recreation 
 of which you were so fond at Northside. Oliver Colt 
 will make no difficulty in advancing my father any sum 
 he may want for hiring a house in the country next 
 summer. In ancient times, the day of flitting to the 
 country was always to me the most joyful day in the year, 
 and that of leaving it the most melancholy, though I used
 
 272 THE LIFE OF 
 
 to get often wet in October, when returning home from 
 school. I should think very little of such wettings now ; 
 for they are but mist compared to the rains of Canara. 
 I have seen only one fair day since the 26th of May, and 
 very few others in which the fair intervals have exceeded 
 three or four hours : for the last five days it has not 
 stopt a moment, day or night. During these three months 
 I have very seldom been able to venture to walk a mile 
 from the house, without being caught in a shower. A 
 man from Greenock would think of defending himself with 
 his great-coat. Such a piece of dress would however be 
 only an useless incumbrance ; for he might as well expect 
 that it would keep him dry when swimming, as when 
 exposed to the torrents which in this country descend 
 from the skies. I would rather live upon ensign's pay 
 in a sunny climate, than be sovereign of Canara. .If I 
 can contrive to get away I shall go, though it will pro- 
 bably cost me near half my income. The very months 
 which are here so uncomfortable, are, beyond the Ghauts, 
 the pleasantest in the whole year. The sky is generally 
 overcast, and only just rain enough to prevent the ground 
 from being parched up. After my saying so much about 
 rain, you will naturally imagine that I am surrounded by 
 swamps, and can scarcely stir a step without sinking to the 
 neck in mud. It might have been so before the Flood ; 
 but at present, after it has been raining for a month, the 
 surface of the earth, after one hour of fair weather, is 
 as dry as if it had not rained at all. The action of the 
 rains has long ago washed away every thing that is 
 soluble in water, and left nothing but the skeleton of 
 the earth, which every where presents a rugged surface, 
 formed either of rock, or of a cake of gravel many feet 
 thick, or of coarse sand ; and all is so uneven, that the 
 water runs off immediately ; or if there be a few level 
 spots, the soil is so porous, that it is absorbed almost
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 273 
 
 instantaneously. The moment the rain ceases, no water 
 is to be seen except on the rice-fields, which may compose 
 about one-fiftieth part of the land. All the rest remains 
 uncultivated, because it will produce nothing. The thin 
 coat of grass with which it is covered, is burned up after 
 a few weeks of dry weather, and leaves a naked mass of 
 rock or gravel exposed to the sun ; so that were it not 
 for the rich verdure of the trees, which spring up where 
 nothing else will grow, Canara would look more bleak 
 than the most barren spot in Scotland. What are usually 
 called the pleasures of the country, are unknown in Canara. 
 We can see no flocks feeding, for it does not produce a 
 single sheep ; it can hardly be said to produce cows, for I 
 don't believe that the milk of a hundred of the diminutive 
 black race it possesses would make a pound of butter. 
 And we cannot ramble among cultivated fields, for the 
 whole country is waste, except the rice-lands, which are 
 overflowed. 
 
 Your affectionate Son, 
 (Signed) THOMAS MUNRO. 
 
 TO HIS SISTER. 
 [Extractfrom his Journal, which came tohand 4th Oct. 1800.] 
 
 I HAVE often wished to write you a journal in 
 return for your highland expedition ; but there is no like- 
 lihood of my being able to accomplish it while I remain a 
 civil military collector. 
 
 I am now literally, what I never expected to be, so much 
 engaged, that I have not leisure to write private letters. 
 From daybreak till eleven or twelve at night, I am never 
 alone, except at meals, and these altogether do not take 
 up an hour. I am pressed on one hand by the settlements 
 of the revenue, and on the other by the investigation of 
 murders, robberies, and all the evils which have arisen 
 
 VOL. I. T
 
 274 THE LIFE OF 
 
 from a long course of profligate and tyrannical government. 
 Living in a tent, there is no escaping for a few hours from 
 the crowd ; there is no locking oneself up on pretence of 
 more important business, as a man might do in a house, 
 particularly if it was an upstair one. I have no refuge 
 but in going to bed, and that is generally so late, that the 
 sleep I have is scarcely sufficient to refresh me. I am still, 
 however, of Sancho's opinion, that if a governor is only 
 well fed, he may govern any island, however large. 
 
 I left Carwar yesterday morning, where the Company 
 formerly had a factory ; but abandoned it above fifty 
 years ago, in consequence of some exactions of the Rajah 
 of Soondah, who then possessed this country. I crossed an 
 arm of the river, or rather a creek, about half a mile 
 broad, in a canoe, and proceeded on foot, for the road was 
 too bad for riding, over a low range of hills, and then over 
 some rice-fields, mostly waste, from the cultivators having 
 been driven away by frequent wars, till I came again to 
 the edge of the river. It was almost one thousand yards 
 wide; and as the tide was going out, it was extremely 
 rapid ; and as there was a scarcity of canoes, as well as of 
 inhabitants, I was obliged to wait patiently under a tree 
 for two hours, till one was brought. I was, in the mean 
 time, beset with a crowd of husbandmen, as I always am 
 on my journeys, crying out, " We have no corn, no cattle, 
 no money ! How are we to pay our rents ?" This is their 
 constant cry, in whatever circumstances they may be ; for, 
 as the oppressive Governments of India are constantly en- 
 deavouring to extort as much as possible from them, their 
 only defence is to plead poverty at all times, and it is but 
 too often with just cause they do so. They think, that if 
 they are silent, their rents will be raised, and I shall there- 
 fore be pursued with their grievances for some months, till 
 they find, from experience, that I do not look upon their 
 being quiet as any reason for augmenting their rents. The
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 275 
 
 party that attacked me, though natives of this part of 
 the country, are Mahrattas : they speak in as high a key 
 as the inhabitants of the Ghauts, which, as a deaf man, 
 I admire, but not their dialect, which is as uncouth 
 as the most provincial Yorkshire. Our conversation about 
 hard times was interrupted by the arrival of a canoe, which 
 enabled me to cross the river, and get away from them. 
 After a walk of about two miles farther, I got to my 
 halting-place, at a small village called I balgah. Though 
 I had only come six miles altogether, I had been above six 
 hours on the road. As my tent was not up, I got into a 
 small hot hovel of a pagoda to breakfast. I forget how 
 many dishes of tea I drank ; but I shall recollect this point 
 to-morrow. When I was done, however, as my writing 
 materials were not come up, as the place in which I was 
 was very close and hot, and as I knew my tent and bullocks 
 would not, on account of the rivers, be up before dark, I 
 resolved to make an excursion, and look about me till sun- 
 set. There is hardly a spot in Canara where one can walk 
 with any satisfaction, for the country is the most broken 
 and rugged perhaps in the world. The few narrow plains 
 that are in it are under water at one season of the year ; 
 and during the dry weather, the numberless banks which 
 divide them make it very disagreeable and fatiguing to 
 walk over them. There is hardly such a thing as a piece 
 of gently rising ground in the whole country. All the 
 high grounds start up at once in the shape of so many in- 
 verted tea-cups ; and they are rocky, covered with wood, 
 and difficult of ascent, and so crowded together, that they 
 leave very little room for valleys between. I ascended one 
 of them, and stood on a large stone at the summit, till 
 dark. The view before me was the river winding through 
 a valley from a mile to two miles wide, once highly culti- 
 vated, but now mostly waste ; the great range of moun- 
 tains which separate Soondah from the low country, about 
 
 T2
 
 276 THE LIFE OF 
 
 twelve miles in front, many branches running from it like 
 the teeth of a great saw, to the beach, and many detached 
 masses running in every direction, and almost all covered 
 with wood. On returning home, I found my tent arrived, 
 and it was as usual filled with a multitude of people, who 
 did not leave me till near midnight. I continued my jour- 
 ney at daybreak this morning, over cultivated fields for 
 the first mile, and all the rest of the way, about ten miles 
 more, through a tall and thick forest, up a valley towards the 
 foot of the Ghauts. The prospect would have been grand 
 from an eminence ; but as it was, I saw nothing, except the 
 heavens above me, and a few yards on each side through 
 the trees. I liked the road, because it was carrying me 
 away for a time from a country I am tired of. My halting- 
 place was on the edge of a small mountain- stream. There 
 was not a clear spot, enough for my tent, though a small 
 one; but I was in no hurry about it, as there was plenty of 
 shade under the bamboos and other trees, to breakfast. 
 Canara does not produce such a breakfast as you have 
 every day in Scotland without trouble ; mine was very bad 
 tea, for I had been disappointed in a supply from Bombay. 
 Some bread, as heavy as any pebble of equal size in the 
 stream beside me, made about a week ago by a native 
 Christian of the Angedivas, perhaps a descendant of Vasco 
 de Gama, and as black as the fellow himself. It was how- 
 ever to me, who had seen no bread for three months, less 
 insipid than rice, and with the addition of a little butter, 
 of at least seven different colours, a very capital entertain- 
 ment. You, who have fortunately never been in this 
 country, may wonder why butter is so rare. It is because 
 the cows are so small and so dry, that the milk of fifty of 
 them will hardly make butter for one man. They are all 
 black, and not much larger than sheep ; and as they give so 
 little milk, no man makes butter for sale. Every farmer 
 puts what milk his cows yield, into a pot or a bottle, and
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 277 
 
 by shaking it for half an hour, he gets as much butter as 
 you may lift with the point of a knife ; when, therefore, 
 the serious task of raising a supply of butter for my break- 
 fast comes under consideration, my servant, before he gets 
 a sixpenny worth, is obliged to go round half a dozen of 
 houses, and get a little at each. The whole together 
 is not more than you eat every morning to your roll. 
 When I had finished breakfast, and was sitting, as an East- 
 ern poet would say, " listening to the deep silence of the 
 woods, 1 ' the little stream running past me put me in 
 mind of Alander, and led me insensibly to Kelvin, and 
 to the recollection of the companions with whom I had so 
 often strayed along its banks, and thinking of you amongst 
 the rest. I thought that none of them, now alive, would 
 
 feel more interest than you in . 
 
 20th January. I was interrupted yesterday by the 
 arrival of my cutcherry people. I meant, I believe, to 
 have said, that as no person would feel more interest than 
 you in my solitary journey through Soondah, I determined, 
 as soon as my writing-table should arrive, to begin, at 
 least, an account of it to you, whether I should ever finish 
 it or not. The wood was so thick, that it was not till after 
 some search, that a spot could be found to pitch my tent 
 upon: it was an open space of near a hundred yards 
 square, which had in former times been cultivated, and 
 had since been overgrown with high grass, which had a few 
 hours before our arrival been set fire to by some travellers, 
 (who were breakfasting and washing themselves in the 
 river,) because they thought it might afford cover to tigers. 
 It was still burning ; but some of it, nearest the shade of 
 the trees, being too wet with dew to catch fire, afforded a 
 place for my tent. The people who accompanied me were 
 so much alarmed about tigers, that as soon as it grew dark 
 they kindled fires all round, and passed the night in shout- 
 ing to one another. I never go to bed to lie awake, and
 
 278 THE LIFE OF 
 
 was therefore in a few minutes deaf to their noise ; but 
 either it or the cold awoke me about two hours before 
 daybreak ; having no cover but a thin quilt, I was obliged 
 to put on my clothes before I went to bed again, as the 
 only way to keep me warm. The thermometer was at 
 47, which you would not think cold in Scotland ; but 
 at this degree I have felt it sharper than I ever did in 
 the hardest frost at home. It is probably owing to our 
 being exposed to a heat above 90 during the day, that 
 we are so sensible in India to the chill in the morning. I 
 continued my journey this morning on foot, for the road 
 was so steep and narrow, that it was in most places impos- 
 sible to ride. The forest was as thick as yesterday, nothing 
 visible but the sky above ; the trees were tall and straight, 
 usually fifty or sixty feet to the branches ; no thorns, and 
 scarcely any brushwood of any kind ; no flowers spring from 
 the ground in the forests of India. The only flowers we 
 meet with in them are large flowering shrubs, or the blos- 
 soms of trees. The ground is sometimes covered with long 
 grass, but is more frequently bare and stony. Nothing grows 
 under the shade of the bamboo, which is always a principal 
 tree in the woods of this country. After travelling about 
 two miles, I got to the foot of the Ghaut, where I met 
 some of my people, who had lost their way yesterday, and 
 had nothing to eat. I am fond of climbing hills ; but I 
 ascended the Ghaut with much pleasure, because it was 
 carrying me into a colder region, because I should be able 
 to travel without being stopped, as in Canara, every four 
 or five miles by deep rivers, and because I should again, 
 at Hullihall, bless my eyes with the sight of an open 
 country, which I have not seen since I left Seringapatam. 
 On getting near the top of the Ghaut, the woods had been 
 in many places felled, in order to cultivate the ground 
 under them, and I by this means had an opportunity, from 
 their open breaks, of seeing below me the country through
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 279 
 
 * ' 
 
 which I had been travelling for two days. It was a grand 
 and savage scene mountain behind mountain, both moun- 
 tains and valleys black with wood, and not an open spot, 
 either cultivated or uncultivated, to be seen. I was now 
 entering a country which had been long famous for the 
 best pepper in India an article which had been the grand 
 object of most of the early voyages to the coast of Mala- 
 bar; but there was not a single plant of it within manyjniles. 
 On reaching the summit of the Ghaut, and looking towards 
 the interior of the country, I saw no plains, and scarcely 
 any thing that could be called a valley ; but a heap of hills 
 stripped of their ancient forests, and covered with trees, 
 from one to twenty years' growth, except a few intervals 
 where some fields of grain had recently been cut. Neither 
 in Canara nor Soondah does grain grow annually, except in 
 such lands as can be floated with water. On all hills, 
 therefore, and rising grounds, and even flats, where water 
 is scarce, a crop of grain can only be obtained once in a 
 great number of years ; the time depends on the growth of 
 the wood. When it is of a certain height, it is cut down, 
 and set fire to ; the field is then plowed and sown. If the 
 soil is good, it yields another crop the following year, and 
 it must then be left waste from eight to twenty years, till 
 the wood is again fit for cutting. All the land within my 
 view had undergone this operation ; eve'ry field had a differ- 
 ent shade, according to the age of the wood, and looked at 
 first sight as if it was covered with grain of various kinds ; 
 but I knew to my sorrow, that nineteen parts in twenty were 
 wood. My halting-place was much pleasanter than yes- 
 terday ; it was an open plain of about half a mile in length, 
 surrounded with wood ; but neither so high nor so thick as 
 to hinder me from seeing the hills beyond it. 
 
 My baggage being all behind in the pass, I sat down 
 under a tree, and entered into conversation with half a 
 dozen of the inhabitants, the owners of the fields where we
 
 280 THE LIFE OP 
 
 were then sitting. They consisted of the accountant of a 
 neighbouring village, and five farmers, two of whom were 
 Mahrattas; but the other three belonged to one of the 
 castes of Indian husbandmen, who never eat any kind of 
 animal food, nor taste any thing, not even water, in any 
 house but their own ; they wore beards as long as those of 
 their goats, and they looked almost as simple and innocent. 
 They pointed to a few straw-huts at the end of the field, 
 and told me it was the spot where their village had formerly 
 stood ; it had been burned and plundered, they said, about 
 four years before by Yenjee Naigue, who had acted as a 
 partisan in General Matthew's campaign, and had after- 
 wards continued at the head of a band of freebooters till 
 the fall of Tippoo, when he relinquished the trade of a 
 robber. They had forsaken their abodes during all that 
 time, and were now come to know on what terms they 
 might cultivate their lands. I told them they should be 
 moderate, on account of what they had suffered. 
 
 21st January. I asked them some questions about the 
 produce of their fields. One of the bearded sages replied, 
 that they yielded very little ; that it was sometimes difficult 
 to get a return from them equal to the seed they had sown. 
 Had I asked the question of any other Indian farmer, five 
 hundred miles distant, he would just have given me the 
 same answer. It is not that they are addicted to lying, for 
 they are simple, harmless, honest, and have as much truth 
 in them as any men in the world ; but it is because an op- 
 pressive and inquisitorial Government, always prying into 
 their affairs, in order to lay new burdens upon them, forces 
 them to deny what they have, as the only means of saving 
 their property. An excellent book might be written by a 
 man of leisure, showing the wonderful influence that forms 
 of government have in moulding the dispositions of man- 
 kind. This habit of concealment and evasive answers, 
 grows up with them from their infancy. I have often asked
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 281 
 
 boys of eight or ten years old, whom I have seen perched 
 on a little scaffold in a field, throwing stones from a 
 sling to frighten the birds, how many bushels they ex- 
 pected when the corn was cut. The answer was always 
 " There is nothing in our house now to eat. The birds will 
 eat all this, and we shall be starved." The farmers are 
 however, as far as their knowledge goes, communicative 
 enough where their own interest is not concerned. I there- 
 fore turned the discourse to the produce of a neighbouring 
 district. One of the old gentlemen, observing that I had 
 looked very attentive at his camly, was alarmed lest I 
 should think he possessed numerous flocks of sheep ; and he 
 therefore told me with some eagerness, that there was not 
 a single sheep in Soondah, and that his camly was the pro- 
 duce of the wool of Chitteldroog. I was looking at his 
 camly with very different thoughts from those of raising his 
 rents. I had not seen one since I left Mysore : it is the 
 only dress of the most numerous and most industrious 
 classes of husbandmen. They throw it carelessly over their 
 head or shoulders to defend them from the sun ; they cover 
 themselves with it when it rains, and they wrap themselves 
 up in it when they go to sleep. The rich man is only 
 distinguished from the poor man by having his of a finer 
 quality. It was in this simple dress that I had for many 
 years been accustomed to see the farmers and goatherds in 
 the Barainahl ; and when I saw it again on the present 
 occasion, it was like meeting an old friend ; it prepossessed 
 me in favour of the owner ; it brought to my remembrance 
 the country I had left, and it filled me with melancholy, 
 while I considered that I might never see either it or any 
 of my former friends again. Our conference was broken 
 up by the appearance of my writing-table. I had placed it 
 under a deep shade, on the side of a clear stream, little 
 larger than a burn, where, after breakfasting, I wrote you 
 yesterday's journal. Such streams seem to abound in this
 
 282 THE LIFE OF 
 
 country, for I am now writing on the bank of such an- 
 other ; but under a canopy of trees, like which Milton never 
 saw any thing in Vallarabrosa. The aged banian shooting 
 his fantastic roots across the rivulets, and stretching his 
 lofty branches on every side ; and the graceful bamboo 
 rising between them, and waving in the wind. The fall 
 of the leaf has begun for some time, and continues till the 
 end of February. It was their falling on my head, and 
 seeing the rivulet filled with them, that put me in mind of 
 Vallambrosa. 
 
 It was so cold last night, that I had very little sleep. I 
 rose and put on all my clothes, and went to bed again ; 
 but as I had no warm covering, it would not do, and I lay 
 awake shivering most part of the night. At daybreak I 
 found, to my astonishment, the thermometer at 34. I had 
 never seen it in the Baramahl below 47. I continued my 
 journey as usual, a little before sunrise, through a forest 
 with a few openings, except where the wood had been cut 
 down for the kind of cultivation I mentioned to you yester- 
 day, or where there were a few rice-fields; but none of 
 them half a mile in extent. Through the openings, I had 
 glimpses of the low hills on all sides of me, some of them 
 covered with wood, some entirely naked, and some half 
 covered with wood and half with grain. I met with seve- 
 ral droves of bullocks and buffaloes, belonging to Dharwar, 
 returning with salt from Goa. I saw a herd of bullocks 
 feeding near the road, and I was glad to find they were the 
 cattle of Soondah, for they resembled in size and colour 
 those of Mysore. There is hardly a cow in Canara that is 
 not black ; but above the Ghauts black is uncommon, 
 four-fifths of them are white ; and the rest of different co- 
 lours. Men are fond of systems, and before I came here, I 
 had convinced myself, that the diminutive size and the dark 
 colour of the cattle of Canara, were occasioned by scarcity 
 of forage, and the deluge of rain which pours down upon
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 283 
 
 them near six months in the year ; but the rains are as 
 heavy and constant here as in Canara it cannot therefore 
 be by them that they have been dyed black. I am not grazier 
 enough to know what influence poor feeding may have on 
 the colour of cattle ; but, if I recollect right, the small 
 breed from the highlands of Scotland are called black cattle. 
 
 There is no want of forage in Soondah, for, where- 
 ever the wood has been cleared away, the grass is four or 
 five feet high. On coming to the place where I was to 
 pitch my tent, I found that the head-farmer of the village, 
 by way of accommodating me, had prepared an apartment 
 of above twenty yards square and eight feet high, made of 
 long grass and bamboos : it had been the work of a dozen 
 of men for two days. He was much mortified that I 
 would not go into it. I preferred the shade of trees 
 during the day, and my tent at night. His son attended 
 with a present of a fowl and a little milk. It is the custom 
 in India, and was formerly in Europe, for men placed in 
 the management of provinces, to live upon the inhabitants 
 during their journeys through the country ; the expense 
 thus incurred, and frequently a great deal more, is com- 
 monly in this country deducted from the amount of the pub- 
 lic rent. I told the farmer, that as I meant to make him 
 pay his full rent, I could not take his fowl and milk with- 
 out paying him for them ; and that I would not enter his 
 pundull, because he had not paid the labourers who made 
 it ; but that / should pay them, and order my cutcherry 
 people into it. It cost me a good deal of time and trouble 
 to persuade him that I was in earnest, and really intended 
 that he should not feed any of the public servants who 
 were following me. 
 
 22d January. I am now again seated at the side of a 
 rivulet darkened with lofty trees. I have come about ten 
 miles ; but as I understand that Soopah is only four miles 
 farther, I mean to go on again the moment I see my tent
 
 284 THE LIFE OF 
 
 come up ; for I am not sure that it is on the right road, 
 and were it to miss me, I might be obliged to pass the night 
 under a tree ; which is not pleasant in such cold weather, 
 when there is no military enterprise in view, by which I 
 might comfort myself with the reflection of its being one of 
 the hardships of war. I passed the greatest part of the 
 night in endeavouring to keep myself warm, but with very 
 little success ; the covering I had was too scanty, and all 
 my most skilful manosuvres to make it comfortable were 
 therefore to no purpose. The thermometer at daybreak 
 was at 36. It was 78 yesterday in the shade at three 
 o'clock, which is the hottest time of the day : it will, I 
 suppose, be about the same degree to-day. Such heat 
 would be thought scorching at home, but here it is rather 
 pleasant than otherwise. I enjoy the sun when his 
 beams find an opening among the branches, and fall 
 upon me; and were it not for the glare of the paper, 
 I would not wish them away. Nothing can be more 
 delightful than this climate at this season of the year. 
 The sun is as welcome as he ever is in your cold northern 
 regions ; and though from 70 to 80 is the usual heat of 
 the day, there is something so light, so cheerful and re- 
 freshing in the breezes, which are continually playing, 
 that it always feels cool. They are more healthy and 
 sprightly than the gales which sported round Macbeth's 
 Castle, where the good King Duncan said " the martins 
 delighted to build." My road to-day was an avenue of 
 twenty or thirty yards broad through the forest. The 
 trees were taller and thicker than I had yet seen them. 
 The bending branches of the bamboo frequently met and 
 formed a kind of gothic arch. I passed many small rice- 
 fields, and five or six rivulets. The most extensive pro- 
 spect I had the whole way was over a flat of rice-fields, 
 about a quarter of a mile wide and a mile long, bounded 
 at the farther end by a group of conical hills covered 
 with wood, beyond which I could not see. It was in
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 285 
 
 woods like these that the knights and ladies of romance 
 loved to roam ; but the birds that inhabit them are not 
 the musical choristers, who, at the approach of Aurora, 
 or when a beautiful damsel opened her dazzling eyes, 
 and shed a blaze of light over the world, were ever ready 
 with their songs. They do certainly preserve the ancient 
 custom here of hailing the appearance of Aurora ; but it 
 is with chirping and chattering, and every sort of noise 
 but music. I must however except some species of the 
 dove and jungle-cock ; for, though they cannot warble, 
 the one has a plaintive, and the other a wild note, that 
 is extremely pleasing. The lark is the only musical bird 
 I have met with in India. But notwithstanding the want 
 of music and damsels, I love to rise before the sun and 
 prick my steed through these woods and wilds under a 
 serene sky, from which I am sure no shower will descend 
 for many months. 
 
 31st January. I have been for these eight days past 
 at Soopah, a miserable mud-fort, garrisoned by a company 
 of sepoys. The village belonging to it contains about 
 a dozen of huts, situated at the junction of two deep 
 sluggish rivers. The jungle is close to it on every side, 
 and the bamboos and forest trees with which, since the 
 creation, the surrounding hills are covered, seem scarcely 
 to have been disturbed. Every evening after sunset, a 
 thick vapour rose from the river, and hid every object 
 from view, till two hours after sunrise. I was very glad 
 this morning to leave such a dismal place. I had for my 
 companion, every day at dinner, the officer who com- 
 manded. He was one of those insipid souls whose 
 society makes solitude more tiresome. I was, to my 
 great surprise, attacked one morning by a party of four 
 officers from Goa, headed by Sir William Clarke. He 
 was going as far as Hullihall to see the country. I told 
 him he ought to begin where he proposed ending, for that 
 all on this side of it was such a jungle, that he never
 
 286 THE LIFE OF 
 
 would see a hundred yards before him, and that all 
 beyond it was an open country. He had put himself under 
 the direction of an engineer officer as his guide, and had 
 fixed on a spot some miles farther on for their encamp- 
 ment, so that he could only stay about an hour with me. 
 He gave me the first account of the Duke of York's land- 
 ing in Holland ; but the overland packet, he said, brought 
 nothing from Egypt. 
 
 The country through which I came to-day was a con- 
 tinuation of the same forest, through which I have now 
 been riding about sixty miles. My ride to-day was about 
 twelve miles ; not a single hut, and only one cultivated 
 field in all that distance. After the first' four miles, I got 
 rid of the hilly uneven country in which I had so long 
 been ; and the latter part of my journey was over a|-level 
 country, still covered with wood, but the trees neither 
 so tall, nor growing so close together, as those I had left 
 behind. I could have walked, and even in many places 
 rode, across the wood in different directions, which would 
 have been impossible on any of the preceding days. I 
 have halted under a large banyan tree, in the middle of 
 a circular open space about five or six hundred yards in 
 diameter. One half of it" is occupied by a natural tank 
 covered with water-lilies. The rest is a field, which was 
 cultivated last year. It was just in such a forest as this 
 that the characters in " As you like it 1 ' used to ramble. 
 What an idle life I have led since I came to India ! In all 
 that long course of years, which I look back to sometimes 
 with joy, sometimes with grief, I have scarcely read five 
 plays, and only one novel. I have dissipated my precious 
 time in reading a little history, and a great deal of news 
 papers, and politics, and Persian. I am not sure that I have 
 looked into Shakspeare since I left home : had I had a vo- 
 lume of him in my pocket, I might have read the " Mid- 
 summer Night's Dream," while I was sitting two hours 
 under the banyan tree, waiting for my writing-table and
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 287 
 
 breakfast ; but instead of this, I entered into high converse 
 with a Mahratta boy who was tending a few cows. He told 
 me that they gave each about a quart of milk a-day : this is 
 a great deal in India. Twenty cows would hardly give so 
 much in Canara. He told me also, that the cows, and the 
 field where we sat, belonged to a siddee. I asked him 
 what he meant by a siddee. He said a hubshee. This 
 is the name by which Abyssinians are distinguished in 
 India. He told me that his master lived in a village in 
 the wood, near a mile distant, which consisted of about 
 twenty houses, all inhabited by hubshees. I was almost 
 tempted to suspect that the boy was an evil sprite, and that 
 the hubshees were magicians, who had sent him out with 
 a flock of cows, who might be necromancers for any thing 
 that I knew, to waylay me, or decoy me to their den. 
 But I soon recollected that I had read of Africans being 
 in considerable numbers in this part of India. They are, 
 no doubt, the descendants of the African slaves formerly 
 imported in great numbers by the kings of Bijapoor and 
 the other Mohammedan princes of the Deccan, to be em- 
 ployed in their armies, who were sometimes so powerful 
 as to be able to usurp the government. 
 
 15th March. This letter ought, by this time, to have 
 been half way to Europe ; but I have had so much to do, 
 and have had so many letters, public and private, on my 
 hands for the last six weeks, that I never thought of you. 
 I went in the evening, after talking with the cowherd, to 
 see his master. He was a young boy, whose father had been 
 hanged for robbery some years before. I saw his mother 
 and several of his relations, male and female, not of such a 
 shining black, but all of them with as much of the Negro 
 features, and as ugly as their ancestors were in Africa two 
 centuries ago. I am now about seventy-five miles south of 
 their village; but by traversing the country in different 
 directions, I have come above twice that distance. I am 
 encamped on the bank of a little river, called the Wurdee,
 
 288 THE LIFE OF 
 
 and am within about two miles of the borders of Nuggar, 
 usually called by us Biddanore. I have now seen the 
 whole of the Soondah ; and it is nothing but an unvaried 
 continuation of the same forest, of which I have already 
 said so much. Along the eastern frontier the country is 
 plain, and appears, from ancient revenue accounts, to have 
 been, about two centuries ago, well cultivated and inha- 
 bited ; but it is now a thick forest full of ruinous forts and 
 villages mostly deserted. The western part of Soondah, 
 towards the Ghauts, is an endless heap of woody hills 
 without a single plain between them, that never have, nor 
 probably ever will be cultivated, on account of their 
 steepness. It is among them, in the deepest glens shaded 
 by the highest hills and thickest woods, that the pepper 
 gardens are formed. The plant is every where to be met 
 with in its wild state, but its produce is inconsiderable. 
 It is from the cultivated plant that the markets of India 
 and Europe are supplied. The cultivators are, with very 
 few exceptions, a particular caste of Bramins, who pass the 
 greatest part of their solitary lives in their gardens, 
 scarcely ever more than two or three families together ; 
 their gardens are but specks in the midst of the pathless 
 wilds with which they are surrounded. They are dark 
 even in the sunniest days, and gloomy beyond description, 
 when they are wrapt in the storm of the monsoon. 
 
 TO MR. COCKBURN. 
 
 Morbidderi, 7th October, 1800. 
 
 DEAR COCKBURN, 
 
 I WROTE you some days ago from Karkull, and 
 promised to answer your queries ; but you are not aware 
 that there is so much to do here, that I have not time to
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 289 
 
 think. My leisure is devoted to sleep, in order to recruit 
 for next day. The most serious obstacles I have met with, 
 and which are to be met with nowhere else, are the shape 
 of the country and the wetness of the climate. I cannot 
 go the rounds of Canara and Soondah by any road, under 
 six hundred and fifty miles. Ten miles a-day is as much 
 as a cutcherry can go on an average in this country ; and as 
 nobody travels at night, by the badness of the roads and 
 interruptions at ferries, it is usually late before we get to 
 our ground; and with prayers and ablutions, and waiting 
 for baggage, nothing is ever done on these days. So here 
 is sixty-five days lost at once. When I turn my face to 
 the North, whatever goes wrong in the South must remain 
 so for several months ; for I cannot go back and put it 
 right immediately, as I should do in a dry country where 
 there was breadth as well as length. It was a continual 
 scramble for the Mattasiddies to get from their houses to 
 the cutcherry, with their papers damp and their petticoats 
 wet; and when we were fairly assembled, there was as 
 much coughing as in a church at home, which, with the 
 clattering of the rain on the tiles, made it difficult for a 
 deaf man like me to hear what was saying. I could not 
 call in intelligent natives from the neighbouring districts to 
 enter into agricultural investigations; for every man at 
 that time stayed at home to look after his farm. They 
 come for their own amusement to the cutcherry, when the 
 weather begins to get moderate ; but then I am obliged, at 
 the same time, to take the field. 
 
 There is another business here which takes up a great 
 deal of my time, though it is almost unknown on your 
 coast disputes about estates. In the Baramahl, not one 
 complaint in a hundred was about property in land, here 
 nine in ten are on that subject. The hearing of them 
 alone takes, one day with another, above two hours. Mv 
 business is seldom under ten hours a-day, and often twelve 
 VOL. I. U
 
 290 THE LIFE Of 
 
 or thirteen. A man may go on at this rate for a season or 
 two, but it is impossible to keep it up. I am, besides, 
 anxious to get Canara into such a state that it may be 
 managed by any body ; and I am convinced, that the peo- 
 ple of this country, by my spending all my time among 
 them under the fly of a marquee, are already better British 
 subjects than they would have been in twenty years, had I 
 lived in a house on the sea-shore. But this mode of life, 
 while it effectually accomplishes the important end of re- 
 conciling them to our government, by keeping me conti- 
 nually in a crowd, necessarily puts it out of my power to 
 enter much into any details which require much thought 
 and uninterrupted leisure. I am never alone; and at this 
 moment I am listening to letters and ordering replies. 
 
 Now, having finished my " indolent excuses," let us 
 answer, as well as we can, your queries. 
 
 All my settlements were made with the landlords, or, in 
 cases where there was no landlord, with the immediate occu- 
 pant. I cannot ascertain the number of landlords, because 
 one man often has land in half a dozen of different villages, 
 and his name appears in them all ; but I am pretty sure 
 that the number is not under twenty thousand. All rents 
 are in money. The rent in kind entered in the statement 
 was not a certain proportion of the crop ; but the equiva- 
 lent of a certain portion of money-rent, which was taken to 
 store different garrisons. I gave up the grain, and substi- 
 tuted the same sum for which it had been originally com- 
 muted last century. No land in Canara was ever held 
 either of the Sirkar or of intermediate proprietors, on the 
 condition of sharing the crop. The thing is unknown 
 here. All agreements among farmers and their tenants 
 are for a fixed rent, either in money or kind or both ; and 
 it is the same whether the crop is scanty or abundant 
 
 In Canara, all the lands which the landlords do not im- 
 mediately manage themselves, have a known fixed rent, in
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 291 
 
 money or kind, which it never exceeds, and for which it 
 has been given from one generation to another. We are 
 therefore sure that, by estimating such lands at what they 
 have paid for some years past, we are not taking a high, 
 precarious rent, but one which experience has proved to 
 be just. It is this system of fixed rents both among land- 
 lords and tenants, together with several other leading 
 points, that tempts me to suppose that I know the actual 
 state of this country, nearly as well as I did that of the 
 Baramahl, after a seven years' residence. It is how- 
 ever to be recollected, that it is a subject on which, after 
 every possible investigation, one can only speak with uncer- 
 tainty. 
 
 I acknowledge that my opinion is now more favourable, 
 with respect to the situation of the landlords here, than it 
 was when I wrote my letter of the 31st May. During the 
 four months I was confined by the monsoon at Cundapore, 
 several hundred causes about claims to estates came before 
 me. The produce was perfectly ascertained, because the 
 accounts of it were brought forward by both parties. 
 There was no instance in which the Sirkar's share was more 
 than one-third. In many it was not one-fifth, or one-sixth, 
 and in some not one-tenth, of the gross produce. It may 
 be said that the most profitable lands are the most likely 
 to produce contention. I have reason, however, to think 
 that those alluded to were of all descriptions; and I 
 am convinced that, by keeping a register for two or 
 three years of all disputed lands, we should be able to 
 form a more accurate judgment of the average produce 
 than could be done from a survey. A claim given in by 
 a hundred and forty-one Christian landlords, has already 
 furnished me with more examples of this kind. These 
 men were carried into captivity by Tippoo in 84 : they 
 returned last year ; and as they are composed of all de- 
 scriptions of men, from the highest to the lowest, they give 
 
 u 2
 
 292 THE LIFE OF 
 
 a correct average of their own estates. These estates were 
 confiscated by the Sultan, and divided among other castes. 
 The Christians have claimed them again. It appears from 
 a statement, acknowledged to be correct by both parties, 
 that these lands are now cultivated by no less than two 
 hundred and thirty-five under-tenants, who pay yearly to 
 the proprietors Bah. pagodas 2532. 
 
 The Sirkar-rent is Bah. pagodas 859- 2. 15., very little 
 more than one-third of the landlord's share, and probably 
 not one-sixth of the gross produce. The Christians are 
 supposed to be the most industrious class of rayets in this 
 province. The average of their lands is therefore higher pro- 
 bably than that of any other whole caste ; but I imagine that 
 there are a great number of substantial landholders in all 
 castes, and even in whole villages, in Mangalore, Bantwall, 
 and Barkoor, whose lands would average as high. Had 
 we any means of ascertaining, with any degree of certainty, 
 what the Sirkar's share actually is, the rest would be easy ; 
 for by reducing it to twenty-five per cent, of the gross pro- 
 duce wherever it was more, and letting it remain untouched 
 wherever it was less, we should be as sure of realizing our 
 land-rent as we could be in England, and the proprietors 
 and their tenants would be as comfortable as they are in 
 that country. The industry and economy of the people 
 the fertility of the soil the mildness of the climate the 
 facility and cheapness of cultivation, enable the landlords 
 to pay here with ease a proportion of the produce which 
 could not be levied in Europe, without reducing them to 
 beggary. 
 
 I am not now inclined to think that more than fifty, or 
 at most sixty thousand pagodas ought to be remitted, or that 
 twenty or twenty-five thousand of it ought to be remitted 
 in the current year : the rest should be reserved till you 
 make the permanent settlement. The use of making an
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 293 
 
 immediate remission of a certain portion, say one-sixteenth, 
 is to convince the inhabitants that our demand is now 
 limited, and that they may exert all their means in im- 
 provement, without the smallest risk of attracting the at- 
 tention of the Sirkar. When they are satisfied that this is 
 the case, a new spirit will be given to agriculture. But it 
 is a difficult matter, and would be a work of time, to over- 
 come their doubts and suspicions of our intentions by mere 
 assurances. The speediest and best way of effecting it 
 would be by a general remission its being general, and 
 every where equal, would show that it was not made with a 
 view of averting partial failures, but that it was made be- 
 cause we had enough, and had fixed our demand. They 
 have already begun to show more confidence than I could 
 have expected. The inhabitants of Cundipore, who know 
 me best from my having been four months among them, 
 have taken sunnuds as proprietors for more than one-third 
 of the Sirkar-lands of that district, which amounted to 
 above seven thousand pagodas rent, and I imagine they 
 will take sunnuds for all the rest next year. These are 
 lands from which the proprietors have been driven or ex- 
 pelled twenty years ago, or to which, from the failure of 
 heirs, there have been no owners during that period : they 
 have been considered as Sirkar-lands, and cultivated at a re- 
 duced rent, by a succession of cultivators. It is usual to 
 allow a remission of about one- fourth of the rent of all 
 lands which revert to the Sirkar, because a temporary holder 
 will not go to the necessary expense in cultivating them, 
 inasmuch as he is liable to be turned out by any man 
 who bids more. When a man takes a proprietary sunnud, 
 he has the advantage of permanent possession, and the 
 Sirkir has the advantage of a permanent rent, for a pro- 
 prietor has no claim to indulgence for failure of crops, or 
 any other losses, and indeed very seldom asks it. Estates
 
 294 THE LIFE OF 
 
 are frequently left uncultivated for a year, in consequence 
 of disputed claims to the succession, and a curse pro- 
 nounced upon whoever shall cultivate them, till they are 
 adjusted. But the rent is paid as regularly as if they had 
 been cultivated as usual. 
 
 Your conjecture about the black books* specifying the 
 extent and measurement of lands, is wrong ; had it been 
 right, all the rest would have been easy. I mentioned in 
 my report, that the Bijannaggar settlement had not been 
 made from measurement, and none has hitherto been made. 
 Estates are in the black books called wurgs, and are de- 
 tailed according to their rent, without any mention of their 
 extent. When they are subdivided, the different lots be- 
 come new wurgs, and are entered under new names, with a 
 reference to that of the original wurg, from which they had 
 been separated. The rents are specified, but nothing said 
 about the land. Hence it happens, that though we know 
 what rent any particular village has paid at different pe- 
 riods, we know nothing of its wurgs ; the situation and 
 extent of them is scarcely known to any body but the 
 owners. They are often composed of fields lying at a dis- 
 tance from each other; and the lands of one wurg are some- 
 times scattered about in two or three different villages. 
 The village servants know very little about them, because 
 rents have been always fixed, and paid, whether the pro- 
 prietor cultivated the whole or only a part of his estate : 
 they never went to measure his land, or to estimate his 
 crop, for it was no part of their business. I am perfectly 
 
 * These black books are the village registers. They are from 
 three to four inches thick. The leaves are a sort of coarse 
 cloth, of the substance of pasteboard, and dyed black. They 
 are written upon with a sort of slate pencil, which does not rub, 
 though it will wash out.
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 
 
 295 
 
 of your opinion about customs, and the danger of reckoning 
 upon revenue to be drawn from consumption ; but I must 
 answer Webbe on this subject, as I have just got a query 
 from him. 
 
 Yours very truly, 
 (Signed) THOMAS MUNRO. 
 
 Such was the manner in which Major Munro 
 (for he had by this time been promoted to a Ma- 
 jority) spent his public life in Canara. It now 
 only remains that I give some account of his 
 more private proceedings, for which, in a MS. 
 journal kept by his friend and assistant, Mr. Alex- 
 ander Read, I am fortunate enough to find ample 
 materials. 
 
 As often as the calls of duty permitted him to 
 remain stationary at his head-quarters, Major Mun- 
 ro, who was economical of his time, rose every 
 morning at daybreak, no matter how late the 
 business of the preceding night might have kept 
 him up, from a bed which consisted simply of a 
 carpet and pillow spread upon a rattan couch. 
 On quitting his chamber, he walked about bare- 
 headed in the open air, conversing with the na- 
 tives, who, on various pretexts and at all seasons, 
 beset him, till seven o'clock, at which time break- 
 fast was served up for himself and his assistants. 
 Of this he partook heartily, more especially of 
 the tea, which he considered a wholesome and 
 refreshing beverage; whilst of sugar he was so 
 singularly fond, as frequently to request an addi-
 
 296 THE LIFE OF 
 
 tional allowance, for the pleasure of eating the 
 lump that was left undissolved at the bottom of 
 the cup. 
 
 Breakfast ended, and the meal never lasted 
 longer than half an hour, the assistant received 
 his instructions, and withdrew to the office of his 
 moonshee and English writers ; upon which, 
 Major Munro first dispatched his private and 
 official letters, and then adjourned to his hall of 
 audience. There he remained during the rest of 
 the forenoon, surrounded by his public servants 
 and the inhabitants, carrying on the current 
 duties of the province, investigating claims upon 
 disputed property, or obtaining such information 
 as could afterwards be acted upon only by the 
 aid of notes and calculations. 
 
 In this manner he employed himself till about 
 half-past four in the afternoon, when he broke 
 up his court, and retired to his apartment to dress. 
 Whilst the latter operation was going on, his 
 assistant usually read to him either public and 
 private letters, should such be received, or, in 
 default of these, a portion of Hudibras, or some 
 other amusing work. At five o'clock he sat down 
 to dinner, from which hour till eight he laid aside 
 the cares of office, that he might delight those 
 who were so fortunate as to enjoy his society, 
 with his wit, humour, and remarkable powers of 
 conversation ; but punctually as the hour of eight 
 returned, his habits of business were resumed. His 
 night-cutcherry then opened, which, like that of
 
 THE LIFE OF 297 
 
 the day, was always crowded with suitors ; and 
 though he professed then to attend only to mat- 
 ters of minor moment, midnight rarely found him 
 relieved from his arduous duties. 
 
 Whilst he thus regulated his conduct by the 
 standard of usefulness only, he gradually acquir- 
 ed, both in his costume and manners, a consider- 
 able degree of eccentricity. Remote from all 
 intercourse with polished society, he attended very 
 little to the niceties of dress ; so that whilst in 
 his person he was always remarkable for cleanli- 
 ness, his attire gave few indications of time wast- 
 ed at the toilette. His garments, likewise, set all 
 changes of art and fashion at defiance : they con- 
 tinued to hold the form which they had origi- 
 nally assumed in the days of Sir Eyre Coote ; 
 whilst his cue was not unfrequently tied up with 
 a piece of red tape, in the absence of a wrapper 
 of more appropriate colour and texture. In like 
 manner, his conversation would, at times, assume 
 a character indicative of any thing rather than an 
 excess of refinement. The idea of love he treated 
 with unsparing ridicule, declaring that idle men 
 only fell into so gross an extravagance ; and when 
 informed by Mr. Read of the marriage of their 
 mutual friend, Mr. Ravenshaw, his only obser- 
 vation was, " I would not advise you to increase 
 the difficulties of your situation, by taking a 
 young wife for an assistant." 
 
 Major Munro was at all times particularly hu- 
 mane towards the inferior animals. He possessed
 
 298 THE LIFE OF 
 
 an old white horse, which he had purchased in 
 the camp before Cuddalore, and which he had 
 ridden ever since, as long as it was capable of 
 carrying him ; and now that its strength failed, he 
 caused it to be tended and fed with the utmost 
 care and regularity. Nay, his attachment to the 
 animal was such, that, finding it unable to bear 
 the fatigue of a removal, he literally pensioned it 
 off when he himself quitted the district ; and his 
 grief was unfeigned when he heard that, his ser- 
 vants having withdrawn it by mistake, it died 
 upon the road. So it was with a flock of goats 
 which he kept in Canara; to supply his family 
 with milk, and in watching whose gambols he 
 took great delight. On no account whatever 
 would he permit the peons to drive them away 
 during the storm, from beneath the verandas, 
 asserting that the goats had as much right to 
 shelter as any persons about his cutcherry, and 
 that none should presume to deprive them of it. 
 
 One more specimen of the habits of this ex- 
 traordinary man may be given, ere I close the pre- 
 sent chapter. Besides his favourite amusements, 
 swimming, billiards, quoits, and fives, he possessed 
 a curious predilection for throwing stones, of which 
 Mr. Read has furnished us with the following 
 whimsical illustration. " Having got completely 
 wet on one occasion," says he in his MS. Journal, 
 " during a morning-ride, I wrote him a note, 
 requesting that he would wait breakfast. He 
 returned for answer * I will wait ten minutes,
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 299 
 
 which, in my opinion, is enough for any man to 
 put on his clothes.' When 1 joined him, I per- 
 ceived a stone in his hand, and inquired what he 
 meant to do with it. ' I am just waiting,' an- 
 swered he, * till all the Brahmins go away, that I 
 may have one good throw at that dog upon the 
 wall ;' and added, ' whenever I wanted to play 
 myself, in this or any other manner, in the Ba- 
 ramahl, I used to go either into Macleod's 
 or Graham's division.' "
 
 300 THE LIFE OF 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Removal to the Ceded Districts. Letters from Mr. Webbe, 
 Lord Clive, General Wellesley; and general Correspondence- 
 
 MAJOR MUNRO had now superintended the af- 
 fairs of Canara rather more than fourteen months, 
 during the whole of which period he underwent, 
 both in body and mind, extreme and incessant 
 fatigue. From twelve to sixteen hours of every 
 day had been devoted to public business ; yet his 
 health, so far from giving way, seems to have im- 
 proved; and he at length enjoyed the unspeakable 
 satisfaction of finding, that his exertions had not 
 been made in vain. Instead of a wild and disorderly 
 province, overrun with banditti, and full of refrac- 
 tory chiefs, Canara became, comparatively speak- 
 ing, tranquil ; the revenues were collected without 
 difficulty ; the condition of the cultivators was 
 seen daily to improve ; law and justice were admi- 
 nistered with regularity ; and the inhabitants at 
 large were happy. A petty disturbance would in- 
 deed, from time to time, occur ; and a robber chief
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 301 
 
 would occasionally sweep away the property of a 
 few peaceable families; but the former seldom ex- 
 tended beyond the bounds of a single village, and 
 the latter in no instance failed to meet the punish- 
 ment which he deserved. In a word, the principles 
 of good government were established ; the people 
 recognized, and submitted to them ; and matters 
 were in a train where, though the highest abilities 
 only could have shaped it out, they might, by ordi- 
 nary diligence and attention, be preserved. Major 
 Munro felt this ; and conscious that he had per- 
 formed the task which had been, sorely against 
 his wiJl, imposed upon him, he considered him- 
 self at liberty to apply for a removal to some more 
 agreeable station. 
 
 It will be in the recollection of the reader, that 
 soon after the fall of Tippoo, the British Govern- 
 ment in India began to negotiate a new treaty of 
 alliance with the Nizam. By the terms of this 
 agreement, the British Government pledged itself 
 that no power or state whatever should commit, 
 with impunity, any act of unprovoked aggres- 
 sion or hostility upon the territories of its ally ; 
 and, to enable the Company efficiently to fulfil 
 this engagement, two battalions of sepoys, with a 
 regiment of Native cavalry, were permanently 
 added to the subsidiary force to be maintained by 
 the state of Hyderabad. To secure the regular 
 payment of this augmented force again, the Nizam 
 Avas prevailed upon to commute his monthly sub- 
 sidy for a cession of territory, and made over in
 
 302 THE LIFE OF 
 
 perpetuity to the Company all that he had ac- 
 quired by the treaties of Seringapatam in 1792, and 
 of Mysore in 1799- By this means, the Balaghaut, 
 south of the Kistna and Toombuddra rivers, to- 
 gether with the Talook of Adoni, &c. passed into 
 the possession of the British Government; and 
 two-thirds of Panganoor, with a portion of Good- 
 iput, being afterwards added, the whole obtained 
 the general appellation of the Ceded Districts. 
 
 Than the province thus acquired by the East 
 India Company, there was no part of the Penin- 
 sula less acquainted, either by experience or tra- 
 dition, with* the blessings of a settled government. 
 Containing within its bounds the city of Bijanag- 
 gur, the capital of the great Hindoo empire, it 
 had for centuries been the theatre of constant 
 wars ; first, between the Hindoo and Mussulman 
 kings of Bijapoor and Hyderabad ; and after- 
 wards, when the latter submitted to Aurengzebe, 
 between the Mogul government and the Mahrat- 
 tas, the Rajah of Annagoondy, or Bijanaggur, the 
 Rajah of Mysore, and numberless other petty 
 princes. Such a btate of things could not fail of 
 inuring the inhabitants in general to the use of 
 arms; and the feeble authority of the Nizam, 
 when it came to be extended over them, instead 
 of diminishing, only increased their turbulence. 
 
 The collection of the revenue being entrusted 
 entirely to poligars, zemindars, and potails, each of 
 these became the leader of a little army, and for- 
 tifying his village, carried on destructive feuds
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 303 
 
 with the villages immediately contiguous to him. 
 Bands of robbers, likewise, wandered through the 
 open country, plundering and putting to death 
 such travellers as refused to submit to their 
 exactions ; whilst the Government, conscious of 
 its own weakness, scarcely attempted to inter- 
 pose for the prevention of evils by which it was 
 itself a principal sufferer. 
 
 It is computed, that in the year 1800, when the 
 Ceded Districts were transferred to the Company's 
 rule, there were scattered through them, exclusive- 
 ly of the Nizam's troops, about thirty thousand 
 armed peons, the whole of whom, under the 
 command of eighty poligars, subsisted by rapine, 
 and committed every where the greatest excesses. 
 
 Of the motives which induced Major Munro 
 to apply for removal into such a district, it is not 
 very easy to speak with confidence. Perhaps he 
 was ambitious of the honour of restoring order 
 to a country, from the management of which 
 most persons would have shrunk. Perhaps he 
 anticipated such advantages, in a pecuniary point 
 of view, as would enable him to return at no 
 distant period to England ; or perhaps, which is 
 the most probable conjecture of -the three, his 
 continued dislike of Canara led him to desire, at 
 all hazards, a change of residence. Be this as 
 it may, he did solicit the Government to be 
 entrusted with the care of the Ceded Districts, 
 almost as soon as he learned that the cession was 
 about to be made.
 
 304 THE LIFE OF 
 
 It was not without a good deal of hesitation 
 and reluctance that Major Munro's request was 
 granted. His services in Canara were so fully 
 appreciated, that the Madras authorities enter- 
 tained some dread of removing him ; indeed, 
 there is strong ground for asserting, that no con- 
 sideration whatever, besides their knowledge of 
 the great difficulties to be overcome in the ad- 
 justment of the new territory, would have pre- 
 vailed upon them to sanction his resignation 
 of the collectorate of Canara. This how- 
 ever, united with a conviction that there was 
 not perhaps another individual in their service 
 competent to discharge the delicate trust which 
 he voluntarily assumed, at length determined 
 them ; and Major Munro was, in October, 1800, 
 removed to the Ceded Districts. But the pro- 
 vince which he now resigned was not again 
 given in charge to one man. As if aware that 
 another Munro was not to be looked for, Govern- 
 ment divided Canara into two collectorates, ap- 
 pointing to one of them Mr. Alexander Read, 
 of whom mention has already been made, and 
 giving up the other to the guidance of Mr. 
 Ravenshaw. 
 
 Were I to attempt a connected and regular 
 history of all Major Munro's public and private 
 proceedings, for the space of the seven years in 
 which he held office in the Ceded Districts, I 
 should swell the present memoir far beyond the 
 bounds within which it must necessarily be con-
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 305 
 
 fined. Though less uncomfortable perhaps than 
 during his sojourn in Canara, he can hardly be 
 said to have been at any moment less busy ; and 
 his labours, at least for a time, were attended by 
 personal dangers, more imminent than had on 
 any previous occasion beset him. When he 
 took possession of his province, he found it, as 
 has been stated, swarming with armed men, 
 composed partly of the Nizam's troops, now in a 
 state of mutiny, and partly of the followers of 
 turbulent poligars. Three months were ex- 
 pended ere the former could be expelled, and 
 nearly a year expired ere the latter were re- 
 duced, or the country placed in any degree of 
 security. In the mean while, and indeed during 
 the first four years of his residence, Major Munro 
 never dwelt in a house, but was continually in mo- 
 tion from place to place, till he had repeatedly tra- 
 versed the entire extent of his district. On these 
 occasions his home was in his tent, and, strange as 
 it may appear to the common reader, it is never- 
 theless perfectly true, that he travelled through 
 this wild and barbarous country unattended by 
 any guard of sepoys. But Major Munro was 
 well acquainted with the character of the natives 
 of India. He knew that among the rudest of 
 them, there is a sort of instinctive reverence of 
 constituted authorities, which, for the most part, 
 keeps them from resisting or offering violence to 
 their rulers ; and, anxious above all things to 
 secure their confidence, he took the most effec- 
 VOL. i. x
 
 306 THE LIFE OF 
 
 tual method of doing so, by exhibiting unbound- 
 ed confidence in them. Never was experiment 
 attended with happier results. By mixing 
 among the people, divested, of the parade of 
 state, he acquired such information as no man 
 but himself could have obtained ; and by teach- 
 ing them to look up to him as a functionary fear- 
 less, because perfectly just, he gradually and 
 surely reconciled .them to a regular government. 
 
 But it was not by such obstacles only, that 
 Major Munro found his attempts at improvement 
 impeded. In 1803 a drought prevailed, which 
 continued with unabating severity throughout 
 1804, and produced, as in India drought always 
 produces, the most serious evils. The ground was 
 parched up ; there was no grass in the pastures ; 
 straw was enormously dear ; a great proportion 
 of the cattle perished; and many of the poorer in- 
 habitants were forced to quit their homes. By 
 the most unceasing and judicious exertions, 
 Major Munro not only alleviated a temporary 
 distress, but saved the country from the horrors 
 of a famine which then desolated the Nizam's 
 dominions, whilst he continued, at the same time, 
 to secure for the Company's treasure a revenue 
 such as none besides himself would have dreamed 
 of collecting. Nor were other and lesser griev- 
 ances wanting. His friend Mr. Cockburn re- 
 tired from the "Revenue Board, and new com- 
 missioners were appointed, from whom he cer-
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 
 
 307 
 
 tainly did not receive the efficient and friendly 
 support which Mr. Cockburn had constantly 
 afforded him. There was a cry for more trea- 
 sure ; there was an unaccountable anxiety to in- 
 troduce a permanent settlement, long before the 
 country was ripe to receive it; and even the 
 style of his official letters was objected to, as 
 abrupt and disrespectful. Against these com- 
 plicated difficulties, Major Munro manfully bore 
 up ; and the official documents inserted in the 
 Appendix, serve to show that, when in 1807 he 
 retired from office, he had achieved a perfect 
 conquest over all opposition, and rendered both 
 to his employers and to the people of the Ceded 
 Districts, services the most inestimable. 
 
 The selection from his correspondence, which I 
 have judged it expedient to give in the follow- 
 ing chapter, is short ; not because there are any 
 letters written at this period of his history desti- 
 tute of value, but because, being chiefly official, 
 and relating to matters of revenue and police, they 
 are not likely to interest very deeply the ordi- 
 nary reader. A few however, even of these, are 
 inserted, chiefly with a view to illustrate the 
 system upon which he acted ; whilst from several, 
 which contain sketches of the habits and con- 
 dition of the people, large extracts have been 
 made. Some again will be found to treat of do- 
 mestic matters; others to touch, as heretofore, 
 upon the transactions of the day ; and one or two 
 
 x 2
 
 308 THE LIFE OF 
 
 of a third description have been added, in order 
 that his mode of communication with friends and 
 acquaintances at a distance, may be known. 
 
 Besides these, I have introduced several letters 
 from his correspondents, more particularly from 
 General Wellesley, illustrative of various points 
 in Indian history ; whilst here, as elsewhere, the 
 only arrangement attempted, has been to give 
 them in their chronological order. 
 
 The following from Mr. Webbe,* Chief Secre- 
 tary to Government, containing an inclosure 
 from Lord Clive, then Governor of Madras, will 
 explain both the circumstances under which 
 Major Munro entered upon his new charge, and 
 the estimate which was formed of his services 
 and talents. 
 
 Fort St. George, 27th Sept. 1800. 
 
 DEAR MUNRO, 
 
 THE answer to your last letter you will find in 
 the inclosed private note from Lord Clive to me ; and as 
 his Lordship has said so much, I (contrary to your maxim) 
 do not think it necessary to say more. 
 
 The time however is drawing near when we may expect 
 the final ratification of the new treaty ; and I send this by 
 express to apprize you, that you will probably be ap- 
 pointed Superintendent of the whole Ceded Districts, with 
 four civil assistants, as collectors of such portions as you 
 
 * Mr. Webbe, like Mr. Cockburn, was one of those civi- 
 lians who permitted no consideration to weigh with him besides 
 attention to the public good. He was a warm admirer and firm 
 supporter of Sir Thomas Munro, during the continuance of both 
 in office.
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 
 
 may appoint them. The assistants may be, Mr. Cochrane, 
 Clivers head-assistant, who is master of Persian and Hin- 
 dostanee ; Mr. Thackeray, who has received the reward for 
 the Gentoo language ; Mr. Stodart, who has been a long 
 time assistant to one of our Northern collectors ; and 
 some other undubashed Persian, if I can find him. These 
 gentlemen will be put on a better footing than the assist- 
 ants in the Baramahl, under Read ; but your allowances 
 must be curtailed, in consequence of your pertinacious re- 
 sistance to the authority of a regular government, and in 
 conformity to that noble contempt of wealth in which you 
 affect to imitate the old snarler in the tub. Provide ac- 
 cordingly, my good man, for your early departure to the 
 Upper Regions ; and I hope that you will not require Mer- 
 cury to conduct you thither. I stipulate, however, that 
 you leave a sufficient number of good men and true, to 
 enable Read to conduct the affairs of Canara after your 
 departure. 
 
 Remember, you will be required to move at a short 
 notice; and don't let me find you casting any "longing, lin- 
 gering looks behind " at a bit of a back-yard, with two 
 peppercorns and a beetle-nut tree. I conclude that you 
 will not get the resolutions of Government on your letter 
 of 31st of May from the Revenue Board, in less than a 
 month. Know then by these presents, that you are autho- 
 rized to grant the whole extent of the remission of land- 
 rent recommended by yourself, provided you shall judge it 
 to be necessary, after a considerable remission of duties and 
 customs, and provided you shall be able to make it appear 
 that you do not go snacks with the innocent Gentoos. All 
 the inland duties, except the halet, to be abolished, and the 
 sea-customs regulated in the manner of the Madras cus- 
 toms, except on rice, which is to pay one Bah y pagoda 
 per cerge. Set to work, Sir, and expedite, for expedition
 
 310 THE LIFE OF 
 
 is the soul of business ; and you boast, I see, of what you 
 can do when you begin stoutly. Yours truly, 
 
 D. WEBBE. 
 
 LORD OLIVE'S ENCLOSURE. 
 DEAR WEBBE, 
 
 I HAVE read Munro's letter with attention, and 
 am quite satisfied that the wishes of so excellent a fellow 
 and collector ought to be cheerfully complied with ; and 
 therefore consent to your informing him, he will, volens 
 the Governor-General, be appointed with assistants to the 
 collectorship of the ceded countries, as soon as the trans- 
 action is completed ; and that his time of moving to his 
 new station shall be his own. Ever yours, 
 
 CLIVE. 
 
 Pray tell him my desire of detaining him on the Malabar 
 coast has arisen from my opinion and experience of his 
 superior management and usefulness ; but that his argu- 
 ments have convinced me that his labours in the Cistoombud- 
 dra and Kistna province will be more advantageous than 
 his remaining in the steam of the Malabar coast, although 
 I should have thought that favourable to a garden. 
 
 TO HIS BROTHER. 
 
 
 
 [Announcing his removal from Canara to the Ceded 
 Districts.] 
 
 Harpenhilly, 22d November, 1800. 
 IT is now a long time since I heard any thing of 
 you, not less, I believe, than two months. I have been 
 removed from Canara; so that your letters, in order to find 
 me, must in future be directed to Bangalore. Though I 
 have nothing to say to that place, the post-office people 
 there are acquainted with my movements, and will forward
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 311 
 
 them accordingly. You will have heard that a treaty has 
 been concluded with the Nizam, by which he cedes to us 
 for ever all his possessions to the southward of the Toom- 
 buddra and Kistna, as a tunkhah for the expense of the 
 subsidiary force employed with him. The bargain is a 
 good one with respect to territory, as it improves our 
 frontier ; but with respect to revenue, I do not imagine 
 that we shall be any great gainers. The countries will 
 not yield any thing like the sums entered in the schedule 
 of 1792 by Tippoo, because he overrated all the more 
 northern districts from the certainty of their falling to the 
 Nizam's share ; and Gurrumcondah and Multuvar, in the 
 hope of his being able to prevail upon us to take them ; 
 but as we insisted on having the Baramahl, which was 
 then undervalued, we now get all the losing districts, which 
 will balance the advantages we gained by the Baramahl, 
 Canara, and Coimbitore. We have now a great empire 
 in the southern part of India; and if we can only keep the 
 French out at the general peace, it will, after remaining as 
 long undisturbed as Bengal has now been, yield us a very 
 noble revenue, drawn with ease from willing subjects. But 
 before such a desirable change can be effected, we shall 
 have to remove many powerful and turbulent poligars, 
 and many petty ones of modern origin, who have taken 
 advantage of the troubles of the times, in order to with- 
 hold their rents for a few years, and then to declare them- 
 selves independent. The reduction of these vagabonds, 
 who are a kind of privileged highwaymen, will render us 
 much more able to resist our external enemies ; for, in all 
 our late wars, we have been obliged to employ a great 
 number of troops, to secure internal tranquillity, instead 
 of sending them to augment the army in the field. 
 Your affectionate Brother, 
 
 (Signed) THOMAS MUNRO.
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 The following Code of Instructions issued by 
 Major Mimro at this time, to one of his assistants 
 in the Ceded Districts, possesses too much merit 
 to be withheld. It exhibits a just view of the 
 principles by which the writer's public conduct 
 was regulated ; whilst for precision and clearness 
 of detail, it deserves to be taken as a perfect 
 model of official correspondence. 
 
 WILLIAM THACKERAY, ESQ. Collector of Adoni. 
 
 Cuddapah, 17th February, 1801. 
 SIR, 
 
 1 HE district of Adoni being now placed under 
 your immediate management, the instructions to amildars ; 
 of which I inclose you a copy, will give you a general 
 idea of the principles by which the settlements and realiza- 
 tion of the revenue ought to be guided. Adoni having 
 been for many years past in a state of anarchy, the inha- 
 bitants having been plundered, not only by the revenue 
 officers and zemindars, but by every person who chose to 
 pay a nuzzeramah for the privilege of extorting money 
 from them, and the heads of villages having on the same 
 terms been permitted, and even encouraged, to carry on a 
 continual predatory warfare against one another, it cannot 
 be expected that the change of government will all at once 
 be followed by the restoration of order. A road has 
 however been opened to the attainment of this desirable 
 object, by depriving the poligars and zemindars of all 
 undue authority ; and every kind of outrage will by de- 
 grees be completely repressed, by seizing and punishing 
 the offenders. Your military peons are fully adequate to 
 this purpose ; for it is not probable that the disturbances 
 will ever go beyond the revival of former disputes between 
 neighbouring villages, and the renewal of their petty depre-
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 313 
 
 dations. On such occasions, whatever the number of the 
 insurgents may be, you should never hesitate in sending 
 out your peons to apprehend the ringleaders ; for a very 
 small party, acting under the orders of Government, has 
 seldom much difficulty in dispersing the largest body of 
 people tumultuously assembled. 
 
 2. There is no poligar in Adoni capable of exciting 
 any great commotion. Lalmeneni, by being confined to his 
 hereditary district of Pondikonda, from which he draws 
 but a trifling income, has no means of amassing money, 
 and consequently none of raising men to support him, in 
 disturbing the tranquillity of the country. He has no 
 claim to the inheritances of Kapitral or Kotkenda. Both 
 districts were resumed by the Nizam's Government on the 
 death of the last poligar. The management of them, but 
 merely as teshildar, was given to Lalmeneni in 1797, and 
 his first step was to withhold his kist, and break out into 
 rebellion : he was reduced with difficulty, ^nd restored 
 on condition of paying the expenses of the expedition, 
 which he did by plundering the inhabitants. His removal 
 from a station which he was so little qualified to fill, and 
 to which he had no right, was doing him no injustice : and 
 though he is no doubt dissatisfied, it is not at all likely 
 that he will venture to excite any disturbance, because he 
 must perceive that he is incapable of making any resistance, 
 and that it could only end in the loss of the little patri- 
 mony he now enjoys. 
 
 3. As there is not the slightest ground to suppose that 
 there is any number of disaffected people in Adoni, your 
 amildars ought to act with firmness, and not suffer them- 
 selves to be alarmed by every idle rumour of insurrection 
 to which the inhabitants can have no motive. And any 
 failure in this respect, as it must render their authority 
 weak and inefficient, ought to be regarded as a sufficient 
 cause for their removal. Every application from them for
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 an increase of military peons must be rejected. Those now 
 in the province are sufficient for common occasions ; and 
 should more at any time be required, the necessary force 
 will be furnished on your writing to me. 
 
 4. The advanced period of the season has prevented me 
 from going farther into detail, than what is called a moza- 
 war, or village-settlement: and as it has been made in 
 haste, it is no doubt in some instances too high, and in 
 others too low. This irregularity is, in a great measure, 
 the consequence of a change of government, as the shan- 
 bogues and potails take advantage of it, to bring forward 
 false accounts, in order to lower their rents ; but as it is 
 not necessary to make out your kistbundy for the Board, 
 until the whole of the Ceded Countries shalLhave been 
 settled, the amildars and your own cutcherry will have an 
 interval of some months to correct whatever is wrong. For 
 this purpose, it is necessary that they should go to the prin- 
 cipal villages and make their inquiries on the spot. 
 Wherever it appears that the rent is evidently too heavy, 
 it must be reduced, but not until the whole deficiency 
 has been ascertained, nor until four kists have been paid ; 
 for if the rayets discover your intentions sooner, they will 
 in every village, even where they are most lightly assessed, 
 make poverty a pretence for withholding their rents. I 
 am not anxious to add to the jumma every decrease in the 
 rents of villages which may have been obtained by false 
 accounts, because it is not likely it can be considerable ; 
 and by being left to the rayets, it will enable them to extend 
 their cultivation the ensuing year, and us to bring it to 
 account with advantage. The amildars will send you 
 statements of the loss and gain in every village ; that is 
 to say, of the excess of the rents of land in cultivation 
 above, or their deficiency below the present settlement; 
 and when the whole is completed, a copy in Mahratta 
 must be sent to me.
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 315 
 
 5. The amount of the present settlement, after deducting 
 the receipts under the late Governor, on account of the 
 current year, is to be collected in six kists, beginning in 
 January and ending in June, the first and last kists are 
 to be each ten per cent., and the four intermediate kists are 
 to be each twenty per cent, of the whole. The potails are 
 severally answerable for the rents of their own villages, and 
 jointly for those of the whole district. Their settlements 
 with the inferior rayets are made partly in kind, but chiefly 
 in money : they are bound by their present muchulkas 
 not to exact more than the usual cundayun, or money- 
 rent, on pain of being fined, and to give a statement of 
 their settlements, both in money and kind, to the amildar. 
 If their settlements exceed in every village the settlement 
 of the sirkar, the whole of the surplus is their own. If 
 they exceed it in some villages, and fall short in assessment 
 on those villages in which the excess is, and if, after this, 
 any profit remains, it goes to the potails. If the total ex- 
 cess is less than the total deficiency, then a reduction in 
 the sirkar settlement, equal to the difference, must be made 
 previous to the making out of the kistbundy. If, after all, 
 losses should arise from the failure or flight of rayets, the 
 potail must himself make good their rents. It is not how- 
 ever to be expected that he will be able to do so in every 
 instance, for his circumstances are often so low, that were 
 we to exact the rigorous performance of his engagements, 
 it would involve him in ruin, and the revenue would next 
 year lose the rent of his lands, which would be left uncul- 
 tivated. The demand against him should never be carried 
 to such a height as to injure him materially. The teshil- 
 dar will be able to judge from information, to what extent 
 he is capable of discharging the balance ; and such part of 
 it as he is unable to make good, must be levied by a 
 second assessment, or tufreek, upon the moza. When the 
 amount is so great that it cannot be easily paid by the
 
 316 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 moza, it must be levied on the magany. The capability 
 of mozas to make good balances is so various, that no 
 fixed rule can be laid down for determining the exact sum 
 of the second assessment ; but I think it never ought to be 
 more than ten per cent, of the jumma, though in many 
 cases it must be less. Whenever it exceeds ten per cent, 
 the difference must be assessed from the magany. 
 
 6. All second assessments must be deferred to the last 
 kist, and a kulwar statement of the loss must be transmit- 
 ted by the amildar, and approved by you before he makes 
 the tufreek. 
 
 7. The potails collect the kists from the cultivating 
 rayets, by means of the toties and tunkdars, or kolkars ; 
 every rayet pays his money in presence of the shanbogue, 
 who enters it into his accounts, detailing the different coins 
 of which it is composed. When the whole kist is col- 
 lected, the shanbogue and potail carry it to the teshildar's 
 cutcherry, from whence it is remitted to your treasury. 
 Receipts, specifying the various coins delivered, must be 
 given through all the gradations of collection ; that is to 
 say, by the shanbogue and potail, to the rayet, by the 
 teshildar to the potail, and by you to the teshildar. This 
 regulation must be enforced by fine or dismission, in 
 cases of neglect, for, if not, every thing will fall into con- 
 fusion. 
 
 8. Whatever light or base coins of the village kist are 
 rejected by the teshildar's shroff, must be made good by 
 the potail himself, and not by the rayets ; and, in the same 
 manner, whatever light or base coins of the teshildar's kist 
 are rejected at your cutcherry, must be made good by his 
 shroff, and not by the potails, because he forwards them 
 either from negligence or fraud, for both of which he ought 
 to be accountable. 
 
 9- All collections must come direct to your treasury. 
 The teshildar must never be permitted to withhold any
 
 SIR THOMAS MUN1U). 317 
 
 part under pretext of the distress of the district servants, 
 &c. from the want of pay. Should the exigence even be 
 pressing, no deviation must ever be admitted ; for it is 
 better a temporary inconvenience should be suffered, than 
 that a road should be opened for peculation and dis- 
 order. 
 
 10. No servant, from a peon upwards, must be dis- 
 missed but by your order, and no new one entertained till 
 he has appeared at your cutcherry, and been registered by 
 your authority. It is of the utmost importance that you 
 should insist on the most scrupulous observance of this re- 
 gulation ; for it is only by following it up that you can 
 obtain information of what is doing by the revenue ser- 
 vants around you, and convince the inhabitants that it is 
 not them, but you, who manage the country. After once 
 giving you an establishment of servants, I shall not, in 
 future, interfere with any removals or appointments which 
 you may think proper to make. If I find peculation or 
 abuse of power proved against any of your servants, I 
 shall request you to dismiss him, but I shall always leave 
 it to you to fill up the vacancy. Though you ought never 
 to pass over the slightest degree of peculation in any per- 
 son in office under you, yet it is necessary that you should 
 proceed with caution, both in order to let the arrangements 
 of a new government acquire some consistency, and to 
 guard yourself against misrepresentation ; for old animosi- 
 ties, jealousies, the hope of supplanting a rival, and many 
 other improper motives, frequently urge men to bring for- 
 ward unfounded charges, supported by crowds of false 
 witnesses. The common revenue-peon ought never to be 
 dismissed without the fullest proof of misbehaviour ; for 
 though he is not, strictly speaking, a hereditary servant, 
 he is generally so, and this consideration renders him so 
 trustworthy, that I do not remember a single instance of 
 any one of them, who was a native of the country, ever
 
 318 TEIE LIFE OF 
 
 making away with money committed to his charge. The 
 nature of their employment gives them an opportunity of 
 knowing most of the abuses practised by the higher re- 
 venue servants ; and the teshiledars, on that account, fre- 
 quently complain of them, in the hope of being permitted 
 to supply their places with people of their own choosing. 
 
 11. I have ordered a temporary resumption of all 
 enaums, for the purpose of examining whether the whole 
 have been duly authorized by the sirkar, or only a part. 
 Whatever has been surreptitiously obtained will be re- 
 annexed to the sirkar-lands, and the rest given up. The 
 enaums, pensions, russooms, &c. which I suppose ought 
 to revert for ever to the sirkar, are all such as have 
 not been granted under the sunnud of the Nizam, or some 
 of the former princes of Hyderabad, or their ministers; 
 or under that of Bassaulet Jung, or Mohaubet Jung; and 
 all such, as having been granted under those sunnuds, had 
 however been resumed previous to the Company's Govern- 
 ment. Enaums, &c. though granted originally by amildars, 
 or inferior revenue-officers, may be continued, provided 
 that they have been held forty years without interruption ; 
 for so long a possession may be allowed to constitute a kind 
 of prescriptive right. In all doubtful cases, your decision 
 ought to be in favour of the enaumdar. 
 
 12. The moyen zabitah of your cutcherry is the limit of 
 expenditure on that head. The serishtadars, and even the 
 moonshees, ought not to receive the full amount opposite 
 to their names, till you see, from the experience of a year 
 or two, how far they may become entitled to it by their 
 services. 
 
 13. When the cutcherry is completed, it will consist of two 
 branches; one Hindowi, and the other Canari. Whatever 
 may be the merits of the two serishtadars, you must, appa- 
 rently, at least, repose the same degree of confidence in 
 both, and employ them exactly in the same manner, by
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 319 
 
 hearing their respective opinions, and adopting that which 
 appears most judicious, and sometimes rejecting both 
 where you see cause. You will keep alive emulation 
 between them, which will urge them to exert themselves 
 in trying who can bring forward most information, and 
 render,, himself most useful. Your moonshees should be 
 people unconnected with either of them, in order to fur- 
 nish you with the greater number of sources from whence 
 to draw your knowledge of revenue matters ; even although 
 they should be capable of giving you much instruction, 
 they will at any rate serve as a check upon your serish- 
 tadars. It is by a general and unreserved communication, 
 not merely with your own cutcherry, but with such of your 
 teshildars, or inferior servants, as appear to be men of 
 capacity, and by receiving all opinions, and being guided 
 implicitly by none, that you can restrain every person in 
 office within the line of his duty, guard the rayets from 
 oppression, and the public revenue from defalcation, and 
 preserve in your own hands a perfect control over the 
 country. I am, Sir, 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 (Signed) THOMAS MUNRO, Collector. 
 
 The subjoined extract of a letter to Mr. Cock- 
 burn, gives a concise, but true description of the 
 effects of Mussulman rule. 
 
 Cuddapah, 25th February, 1801. 
 THE ten years of Mogul Government in Cudda- 
 pah, has been almost as destructive as so many years of war ; 
 and this last year, a mutinous unpaid army was turned 
 loose during the sowing season, to collect their pay from 
 the villages. They drove off, and sold the cattle, extorted 
 money by torture from every man who fell into their hands,
 
 320 THE LIFE OF 
 
 and plundered the houses and shops of those who fled ; by 
 which means the usual cultivation has been greatly dimi- 
 nished. 
 
 In subduing the refractory poligars, of which 
 notice has already been taken, Major Munro was 
 largely indebted to the zeal and exertions of Major- 
 General Campbell, an old and meritorious officer, 
 who had command of the troops in his district. 
 It very rarely happened, that these freebooters 
 offered any serious resistance, or, if they did, 
 that they were not immediately defeated ; but the 
 chief of a place called Ternikull chanced on one 
 occasion to repulse a detachment sent against him, 
 which was at once too weak in point of numbers, 
 and otherwise unprepared, to carry a strong fort. 
 An extremely illiberal outcry was raised at the 
 Presidency, as soon as the intelligence of the 
 affair came in ; and Mr. Cockburn having applied 
 to Colonel Munro for correct information, the 
 following rnanly defence of General Campbell's 
 conduct was called forth. 
 
 Anantpoor, 24th April, 1801. 
 
 DEAR COCKBURN, 
 
 I RECEIVED your letter without date, and lose 
 no time in contradicting the strange report about Ternikull. 
 It was expressly upon my requisition that General Camp- 
 bell marched against the place. He had heard nothing of 
 the outrage committed ; and it was only in consequence of 
 the receipt of my official letter urging him to act without 
 delay, that he sent off the first detachment.
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 321 
 
 This and every other expedition were undertaken at my 
 request: he had no business to consult me farther. In 
 the mode of attack, he of course followed his own judg- 
 ment. Had I even had a right to have given an opinion 
 upon the plan of operations, I do not believe that I would 
 have wished to alter the General's own. I thought, like 
 every body else, that Strachan's detachment was fully 
 equal to the enterprise. 
 
 As to the loss of lives, it is a thing that must be looked 
 for in all military affairs. On this occasion, it was probably 
 owing to the too great ardour of the dragoons in attempting 
 to force the gate, before the infantry came up. But this> 
 kind of spirit among the inferior officers and privates, 
 though it sometimes carries them too far, is the soul of an 
 army. 
 
 General Campbell had no battering guns ; he had, there- 
 fore, no alternative in the second attack, but to escalade. 
 The three guns, afterwards drawn from Gooty, by which 
 the breach was made, were not supposed to be serviceable, 
 and were only at last used from the extreme necessity of 
 the case. The loss is no doubt to be regretted, but can- 
 not, with any justice, be imputed to the General, whose 
 conduct, both at Ternikull and every other place, deserves 
 great praise. Taking the whole of his operations from first 
 to last, it will be found that there is no instance in India of 
 so many poligars having been reduced with so little loss. 
 He met, it is true, with little opposition ; but this was owing 
 to his having taken his measures so well, as to leave them 
 no time to assemble followers sufficient to make resistance. 
 
 The Gentoo translation of the regulations will answer 
 for the Ceded Districts ; for even in Harpenhilly, the most 
 Canarine part of them, a great proportion of the inhabit- 
 ants understood Gentoo. You will however want Canari, 
 for Canara, as nobody there understands Gentoo. Even 
 
 VOL. I. Y
 
 322 THE LIFE OF 
 
 Canari itself is a strange language, introduced by the con- 
 querors from Bijanaggur ; and though commonly, it is 
 far from being universally understood by the inhabitants. 
 From Miliserum to the Chandergeery river, no language is 
 understood but the Malabars of that coast ; from Chan- 
 dergeery to Barkoor, the native language is Toolawi ; 
 but Canari is also common from Barkoor to Gokurn ; the 
 Konkain Mahratta is the first, and Canari the second 
 language. In Ankolah, Konkain is the only language. 
 Canari is the prevailing language in the southern, and 
 Mahratta in the northern part of Soondah.* 
 
 Yours very truly, 
 
 THOMAS MUNRO. 
 
 TO HIS FATHER. 
 [Descriptive of the country. His own proceedings.] 
 
 Kalwapilli, 3rd May, 1801. 
 DEAR SIR, 
 
 I AM now writing in my tent on the banks of 
 the Pennar, about fourteen miles east of Calliundroog, 
 which place I left this morning. I am on my way to Tar- 
 putty, where I hope I shall be able to halt for a few weeks. 
 The country I am travelling through is more destitute of 
 trees than any part of Scotland I ever saw ; for from Pen- 
 nacandah, by Gootty and Adoni, to the Kistna, we scarce- 
 ly meet with" one in twenty miles, and throughout that 
 whole space there is nowhere a clump of fifty. This 
 nakedness, however, is not, like your's in Scotland, the 
 fault of the soil ; for it is every where good, and capable of 
 producing grain and trees in abundance. It is, I believe, 
 to be attributed to the levelness of the country having 
 
 * This is no less true than singular ; perhaps there is not a 
 province in India where so many languages, all of them written 
 as well as oral, prevail.
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 323 
 
 always made it the scene of the operations of great armies 
 of horse. The branches have been cut down to feed the 
 elephants and camels, which always accompany such armies 
 in great multitudes, and the trunks to boil the grain for 
 the horses ; and a long continuance of oppressive govern- 
 ment has extinguished every idea of forming new planta- 
 tions. While journeying over these dreary places, I have 
 often wished for some of the friendly groves of the Baram- 
 ahl, or the dark forests of Soondah, to shelter me from 
 the burning heat of the sun. The average height of the 
 thermometer in my tent, for the whole of the last month, 
 was 107 at two p. m., and 78 at sunrise. At this in- 
 stant, half-past one, p. m., it is 98, yet the air feels plea- 
 sant and cool; for there was a heavy shower four days ago, 
 and the sky has been cloudy and the wind high ever since. 
 It is now whistling through the canvass, and makes me 
 almost fancy myself at sea, scudding before a strong tropi- 
 cal gale. My way of life naturally turns my attention to 
 the weather ; but the mercury has been more than usual in 
 my head to-day, in consequence of reading in a newspaper 
 some remarks upon the probable causes of the yellow fever 
 in America. Among these are reckoned the prodigious 
 heat of 96, and the sudden changes from heat to cold, 
 which are sometimes from 30 to 40 degrees in the course 
 of a few days; but these causes produce no such effects 
 here. I have not seen the mercury at noon under 96 for 
 these three months past ; and as to sudden extremes, the 
 thermometer, from the beginning of November till the end 
 of January, usually stands at 50 at sunrise and 80 at 
 noon. In Soondah the heat at noon is the same ; but it is 
 often under 40 J in the mornings. I have seen it as low as 
 34. I am convinced, however, that the fever I had two 
 years ago, though there was nothing yellow in it, arose 
 from my exposing myself to the morning air ; for I always 
 rise about half an hour before the sun, and usually walk 
 
 Y 2
 
 324 THE LIFE OF 
 
 in front of my tent without hat or coat for an hour, which 
 is the coldest in all the twenty-four. I was often so cold, 
 on sitting down to breakfast, that I could scarcely hold 
 any thing in my hand. That fever has now been long 
 gone, and I am at present as well as ever I was in my life. 
 My sight, if I do not flatter myself, as men who are grow- 
 ing old often do, is better than it was a dozen of years ago ; 
 for I can read by candlelight without any inconvenience, 
 which I could not do without great pain for many years 
 after I had an inflammation in my eyes at Ambore, in 1789 ; 
 but whether the salutary change has been occasioned by 
 fever, or by my breathing a moist atmosphere, like that of 
 my native land, on the Malabar coast, where my clothes 
 were hardly ever perfectly dry, or by my having, unknow- 
 ingly, inhaled some of Dr. Beddoes's dephlogisticated 
 nitrous gas, I have not yet fully ascertained. I have 
 seldom, I believe, given you so much detail respecting 
 myself; but you must lay this to the charge of those who 
 killed Tippoo. Had he been spared, he would have occu- 
 pied the chief place in all my pages to you. Erskine often 
 complained of his constant appearance in all my letters. 
 When I write her next, I must introduce the Nizam in his 
 room. I doubt however that he will live so long. He 
 has, at any rate, lived long enough to transfer all his pos- 
 sessions south of the Toombuddra and of the Kistna, 
 after its junction with the Toombuddra, to the Company, 
 on condition of their defraying all charges attending the 
 subsidiary force now with him. 
 
 I have at last heard from Messrs. Harington, Burnaby, 
 and Cockburn, on the subject of the remittance of a bill for 
 1000A sterling, to clear your house in the Stockwell. In 
 August, I shall remit the remaining sum due upon the 
 house, and also 200/. sterling, in order to augment my 
 annual remittance to 400/. sterling. As my mother is so 
 fond of the country, and as a garden would probably con-
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 325 
 
 tribute to her health, she ought certainly to be under no 
 concern about the trifling expense a country-house may oc- 
 casion, in addition to one in town. I therefore hope that 
 you will draw on Colt for whatever it may cost, and let 
 me know the amount, that I may add it to the 400/. which 
 I mean should go entirely to your town expenses, and that 
 you will likewise inform me what other debts you may have 
 besides the mortgage on the house, that I may discharge 
 them, and relieve you at once from the vexation and anxiety 
 to which you have so long been exposed. My next letter 
 must be to my mother. 
 
 Your affectionate Son, 
 
 THOMAS MUNRO. 
 
 TO MR. COCK.BURN. 
 
 Poolwenderah, 15th September, 1801. 
 DEAR COCKBURN, 
 
 I HAVE lately heard some reports that you are 
 thinking of going home. I hope it is not true, both on the 
 public account and my own ; for I can never again ex- 
 pect such a patient hearing, and so much allowance for 
 circumstances, as I have hitherto been accustomed to meet 
 with. I lately made a circuit through Ballari Wajer, 
 Caroor, and Gootty, to see whether they had suffered as 
 much from the famine of 92 as they are reported to have 
 done by the Curnum's accounts. There is no doubt some 
 exaggeration; but not a great deal, if I may judge from 
 what I saw. Most of the villages are in ruins scarce 
 one-fourth of the houses inhabited. T^hat part of the 
 country, and Adoni, suffered particularly ; because they 
 have scarce a single tank. The soil is black cotton 
 ground, which does not retain water ; yet the fertility of 
 it drew great numbers of inhabitants to those districts ; 
 though many of the villages were, at all times, obliged 
 to bring their water from the distance of two or three
 
 326 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 miles. Though the whole of the Ceded Districts suffered 
 more or less from famine, I have little doubt that, in 
 seven years, the full amount of the schedule might be 
 realized. I would not, however, venture to give this 
 opinion publicly, because there are some obstacles to its 
 accomplishment. The principal one is the public cry for 
 money, which, by making me raise the rents now, instead 
 of waiting a couple of years, may make it twelve or four- 
 teen, instead of six or seven, before we reach the schedule. 
 I am confident that the revenue may be brought to the 
 schedule, or even beyond it, in the time I have mentioned ; 
 and were I half a dozen years younger, I would, in spite 
 of the outcry* against me, raise it very little during the 
 first two years, by which means I should make sure of 
 effecting my point in the next four. 
 
 Yours very truly, 
 
 THOMAS MUNRO. 
 
 The following letter refers to a circumstance 
 which occurred in the portion of the Ceded Dis- 
 tricts committed to Mr. Thackeray. It is a docu- 
 ment of great public importance even now, inas- 
 much as it contains satisfactory proof, that a 
 civil functionary in India is safer when travelling 
 unattended, than if he be followed by a weak 
 military escort. 
 
 TO MR. COCKBURN. 
 
 Ponnamilah, 12th December, 1801. 
 DEAR COCKBURN, 
 
 SINCE writing you yesterday, I have received 
 yours of the 3d, giving me the alarm about Thackeray. 
 
 * The allusion here is to the complaints of certain new mem- 
 bers of the Revenue Board that he did not exact from the 
 people, particularly in Canara, a sufficient amount of revenue.
 
 SIR, THOMAS MUNRO. 327 
 
 1 heard of it the 27th of last month, and instantly wrote 
 the General to send a party, and I have offered a reward 
 of one thousand rupees for the potail of Ternikull, by 
 whose orders the murders were committed. Such out- 
 rages are frequent in the Ceded Districts, particularly in 
 Gurrumcondah ; but I do not write upon them, because it 
 would only be troubling the Board to no purpose; and 
 you would have heard nothing of the late affair, had 
 Thackeray not happened to be upon the spot. Why did 
 I suffer him, you say, to be without a guard? Because I 
 think he is much safer without one. I traversed Canara 
 in every direction unaccompanied by a single sepoy or 
 military peon, at a time when it was in a much more dis- 
 tracted state than the Ceded Districts have ever been, with- 
 out meeting, or even apprehending, any insult. 
 
 I do the same here : there is not a single man along 
 with me, nor had I one last year when I met all the Gur- 
 rumcondah poligars in congress, attended by their followers. 
 I had deprived them of all their cowle; and they knew 
 that I meant to reduce them to the level of potails, yet 
 they never showed me the smallest disrespect. The na- 
 tives of India, not excepting poligars, have, in general, a 
 good deal of reverence for public authority. They sup- 
 pose that collectors act only by orders from a superior 
 power ; and that, as they are not actuated by private mo- 
 tive, they ought not to become the objects of resentment. 
 I therefore consider the subordinate collectors and myself 
 as being perfectly safe without guards ; and that by being 
 without them, we get much sooner acquainted with the 
 people. A naigue's or a havildar's guard might be a pro- 
 tection in the Carnatic ; but it would be none here in the 
 midst of an armed nation. Nothing under a company 
 could give security, and even its protection might not al- 
 ways be effectual, and would probably, in the present state 
 of the country, tend rather to create than to prevent out- 
 rages. However this may be, such a guard for every col-
 
 328 THE LIFE OF 
 
 lector cannot be spared from the military force now in the 
 country. The murders in Adoni seem to have originated 
 in private revenge. I directed Thackeray to add a certain 
 sum to the last year's jumma, but to let the people know 
 that it would not be finally settled till my arrival in the 
 district. Under the Nizam's government, many heads of 
 villages had gained considerably by the general desolation 
 of the country, because they got credit for a great deal 
 more than their actual loss by diminution of cultivation. 
 It was necessary to raise the rent of these villages to a fair 
 level with that of others in similar circumstances. The 
 people who brought forward the information required for 
 this purpose, are those who have been murdered. They 
 were all natives of Adoni, and one of them was a gomash- 
 tah in the cutcherry. The village of Ternikull, like most 
 others in the country, is fortified. The potail refused 
 to agree to the increase proposed. The serishtadar, know- 
 ing that there would be no difficulty in settling with the 
 inhabitants, if he were removed for a few days, ordered 
 him off to Adoni ; but, instead of obeying, he shut the 
 gates, manned the walls, and murdered, in the cutcherry, 
 the three men who had given in statements of the produce. 
 These unfortunate people, when they saw the pikemen 
 approaching to dispatch them, clung for safety about the 
 serishtadar, which was the cause of his receiving some 
 accidental wounds. Thackeray, who was encamped near 
 the village, hastened to the gate, and on being refused 
 admittance, attempted to get over the wall. The men 
 above threatened, and called out to him to desist, saying 
 that they had taken revenge of their enemies, but had no 
 intention of opposing the sirkar ; and he at length, very 
 properly, withdrew to his tent. This is the account given 
 me by a peon who attended him. Now, had he had the 
 guard, about which you are so anxious, it would most 
 likelv have occasioned the murder of himself and of all his
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 329 
 
 cutcherry ; had it been in the inside, it would have been 
 easily overpowered by one hundred and fifty peons ; and 
 had it been at Thackeray's tent, it would have followed 
 him to scale the wall, and brought on an affray, which 
 would have ended in the destruction of them all. Nothing 
 is more dangerous than a small guard in a turbulent 
 country. The sepoys themselves are apt to be insolent, 
 and to engage in disputes. Cutcherry people are, in 
 general, too read}' to employ them in overawing the in- 
 habitants, and have very seldom sufficient sense to judge 
 how far it is safe to go ; and a collector will never meet 
 with any injury, unless he attempts to employ force, which 
 he will hardly think of when he has no sepoys. I am 
 therefore against making use of guards of regulars. 
 Thackeray has always had above a hundred military peons 
 in his division. I shall give him three hundred more ; and 
 he can select an escort from them, who will be sufficient for 
 his protection, if he does not try to scale forts. The con- 
 duct of the people of Ternikull, after the atrocious mur- 
 ders in the cutcherry, was certainly, with regard to him at 
 least, extremely moderate, and affords a strong proof that 
 he is personally in no danger. On the 22d November, two 
 days after the affair at Ternikull, three potails and cur- 
 nums were murdered by another potail of Adoni, for 
 giving true statements to the sirkar servants. By looking 
 at the map, you will see that Thackeray's division, lying at 
 nearly equal distances from Gootty and Ballair, is better 
 covered by a military force than any other part of the 
 Ceded Districts. Yours very truly, 
 
 (Signed) THOMAS MUNRO. 
 
 I subjoin to this a letter of a somewhat earlier 
 date, addressed to Mr. Thackeray himself. It re- 
 lates to the same subject, and places, in a clear
 
 330 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 light the coolness and sound judgment of the 
 writer. 
 
 Cuddapah, 30th November, 1801. 
 
 DEAR THACKERAY, 
 
 I WROTE you yesterday in duplicate, and have 
 since received your letter of the 24th. While I am at such 
 a distance, and no certain communication by Tappaul, 
 you should write directly to General Campbell whenever 
 any disturbance happens, stating the particulars, the prin- 
 cipal actors, and their force, as nearly as you can ascertain 
 it. Notwithstanding the outrage at Ternikull, I have 
 not the smallest doubt of our being: able to reduce the 
 
 o 
 
 country to complete subjection, with very little trouble. 
 The poligars and bedars of Adoni, are but contemptible in 
 comparison of those of Gurumcondah and Cuddapah, who 
 are now, I think, in very good order. I should hope that 
 no hostilities will be attempted again in the Fung Pollam ; 
 but every means must be exerted, by promising rewards, &c, 
 to apprehend as many of the rebels as possible. They 
 must be traced to Canaul, or wherever they fly to, and 
 seized. When the detachment of troops approaches, fur- 
 nish the commanding-officer with guides, and send him 
 an intelligent carkoon, who is acquainted with the country 
 and the inhabitants; and you ought also to go to the 
 camp and give him whatever information you may have. 
 Make your cutcherries resume their work as soon as 
 possible, in the same manner as if nothing had happened ; 
 for if they show apprehensions where no violence has 
 been actually committed, it will weaken their authority. 
 It will also excite suspicion and alarm among the inhabi- 
 tants, and perhaps induce many to put themselves on 
 their guard, or even to resist, where no opposition was 
 intended. 
 
 One hundred Asham peons will march from thence this 
 evening and join you, and one hundred more will march
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 331 
 
 from Gomendah, about the 3d of December, which, with 
 the hundred I wrote you yesterday to raise, will make 
 you strong enough to prevent any violence being again 
 offered to your cutcherry. 
 
 Shenewar Row seems to have been rather imprudent ; 
 but he failed on the right side in exerting his authority. 
 Had there been thirty or forty peons with him at the 
 cutcherry, it could not have happened. 
 
 TO MR. COCKBURN. 
 
 Anantpoor, 18th April, 1802. 
 DEAR COCKBURN, 
 
 I AM very much obliged to you for your friendly 
 hints about official respect. Whatever appearances may 
 have been, you may be certain that the military collectors 
 never had an idea of any thing contrary to it. Holdig 
 their situations contrary to the ordinary rules of the 
 service, and having been supported in them chiefly, if 
 not altogether, by the Board of Revenue and the late 
 Chief Secretary,* they must have been mad, had they 
 intentionally failed in becoming deference to them. 
 
 I have always written in the same style both to the 
 Governor and to the Board of Revenue, without ever sus- 
 pecting that my disrespect had attracted their attention. 
 I must confess, however, that the words at the close of a 
 letter, " I have the honour, &c." were omitted by design ; 
 but I omitted them for the same reason that I once used 
 them, that I thought it was the fashion. I observed that 
 they were falling into disuse in public correspondence in 
 Europe, and I supposed that the same might have been 
 the case in this country. Indeed, I was in some degree 
 confirmed in this opinion last year by a government order 
 
 * Mr. Josias Webbe.
 
 332 THE LIFE OF 
 
 directing all officers, when writing to the Adjutant-General, 
 to drop the usual complimentary expressions, and simply 
 sign their name at the bottom of the letter. This is 
 perhaps approaching too closely to French modes; but 
 I imagined it was the will of Government, and could not 
 believe that what they approved in the military they would 
 censure in the civil department. Be this as it may, I find 
 that I have been wrong ; and I shall trust to your kindness 
 to point out, hereafter, any expressions in my letters that 
 may be deemed exceptionable. 
 
 I have to-day despatched to the Board a letter, with 
 some long statements respecting poligars, which have cost 
 me more trouble than I was aware of when I began ; for 
 scarcely a day has passed since I entered the ceded coun- 
 tries, that some part of my time has not been occupied 
 by them. 
 
 One of my views, in drawing up the statement, was to 
 show what the poligars really are ; that is to say, the 
 nature of their titles to their pollams, and the probable 
 force they would be able to muster in the event of rebellion. 
 From the want of this kind of information, great mistakes 
 are often committed in military operations; for officers 
 going against poligars know commonly very h'ttle about 
 their resources, or whether they can bring five hundred 
 or five thousand men into the field. They are therefore 
 rash in some instances ; but in many more most absurdly 
 cautious. Yours truly, 
 
 THOMAS MUNRO. 
 
 TO THE SAME. 
 
 Cuddapah, 27th May, 1802. 
 
 DEAR COCKBURN, 
 
 I HAVE now a charge of near fourteen lacs, nine 
 and a half of which are under my own immediate manage- 
 ment, with a set of amildars and curnums, hardened in
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 333 
 
 peculation by the looseness of the late Government, and 
 with a swarm of poligars almost equally troublesome, 
 whether they remain in the country or desert it. This is 
 surely enough for any one man. I have found it so 
 serious a task, that having got both poligars and amil- 
 dars into some little order, I was thinking of taking an 
 hour or two from business, because I perceived that I 
 could not go on at the same rate much longer. But the 
 Board too, as well as Government, thinking that my time 
 could not be occupied by such an employment, have de- 
 sired me to give them a particular account in a diary, of 
 the manner in which I spend it. I must apply to them 
 next month to get a remission from this new duty. I 
 cannot see what purpose it would answer here, except to 
 hinder me from looking after more important matters. 
 I have been told that it is common for the assistants to 
 make it out ; but no assistant could make out mine. I 
 keep my assistants at home studying the languages. They 
 never travel with me ; and were they even constantly at 
 my elbow, they would not understand what was going on, 
 as all business is transacted in a barbarous mixture of 
 Moors, Mahratta, and Gentoo. To explain to them, 
 would take more time than to write it myself; and to 
 write it myself is to leave part of my business undone, 
 in order to write about the rest for the day is scarcely 
 long enough to get through what comes before me: and 
 I am therefore obliged to relinquish a great deal of detail, 
 into which I often wish to enter. My time has been 
 spent so much in the same way during the last three years, 
 that it is very easy to give an abstract of it. I have had 
 no holidays since I left Seringapatam in 1799. I have had 
 but two idle days; one that I rode over to see Sidout, 
 and another that I went forty miles to see Cuppage at 
 Mundidroog. I feel the effect that a long perseverance 
 in such a course must always produce. I have no bad
 
 334 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 health, but am perpetually jaded, and get through busi- 
 ness much slower than I should do with more relaxation. 
 I state these points in hopes that, if you take your sent at 
 the Board, you will prevent any extra trouble from being 
 thrown upon me. Yours very truly, 
 
 THOMAS MUNRO. 
 
 TO THE SAME. 
 
 Cuddapah, 5th September, 1802. 
 DEAR COCKBURN, 
 
 WITH respect to your queries concerning the 
 Ceded Districts, I can hardly answer them with much cer- 
 tainty, for revenue matters often deceive one's expectations. 
 Were I young enough to remain eight or nine years, the 
 term which in one of your public letters you calculated 
 would be sufficient to restore the country, I would almost 
 venture to promise to carry the settlement up to Tippoo's 
 highest jumma, with the exception of Gooty and Ballari, 
 and the Nizam's old province, Adoni; but as my stay must 
 be much shorter, I must limit my views to a more mo- 
 derate revenue. Were I sure that every succeeding Board 
 of Revenue and Government would support the slow and 
 gradual increase of assessment which has already been re- 
 commended, I would undoubtedly adhere to it ; but it is not 
 likely that I shall be permitted. The desire that men at 
 the head of affairs usually have of seeing the country, or 
 at least the public income, flourishing under their auspices, 
 will most probably compel me to proceed too rapidly, and 
 bring the revenue to a stand four or five lacs below the 
 point to which it ought to have reached. If I am even 
 left entirely to my own judgment, it is possible enough that 
 I may not have sufficient resolution to follow the wisest 
 course. I may get nervous as I grow older, and become 
 afraid of censure. If I leave room for my successor to 
 raise the revenue, it would be said that I allowed the in-
 
 SIR THOMAS MUN11O. 335 
 
 habitants to defraud Government. If I raise all that 
 the country can pay, and he could raise no more, it would 
 be said that I had oppressed the people for the sake of ex- 
 hibiting a high settlement. However this may be, I have 
 no thoughts at present of precipitating matters, though 
 I shall, for the sake of assisting the public want of money, 
 press the rayets rather more than I ought to do. 
 
 The following, addressed to Lieut.-General 
 Stuart, Commander-in-chief, at Madras, contains 
 an abstract of Colonel Munro's opinions as to the 
 most effective method of preserving order in his 
 district. It is given as a specimen of the accu- 
 racy with which he was accustomed to calculate 
 all points, whether they related to civil or military 
 administration. 
 
 Tippoo Samooder, llth November, 1802. 
 DEAR SIR, 
 
 As I am convinced that the present state of this 
 country, and the prospect it may have of future tranquil- 
 lity, cannot be objects of indifference to you, I shall take 
 the liberty of offering a few observations upon them. Ge- 
 neral Campbell lately communicated to me a letter from 
 the Chief Secretary, relative to the expediency of detaching 
 troops from hence to the Raichoor province, upon a requi- 
 sition from Hyderabad. I gave my opinion in favour of 
 the measure, not only because we are bound by treaty 
 to comply with such requisitions, but because it will tend 
 to confirm the quiet of the Ceded Countries, for the nu- 
 merous petty zemindars on the north bank of the Toom- 
 buddra, who give shelter to all fugitive poligars from 
 this side, and who likewise frequently send parties of 
 banditti across the river to plunder, will be deterred from
 
 336 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 pursuing such practices, when they see that they are exposed 
 to an attack from a force so much nearer than that at 
 Hyderabad. 
 
 It likewise occurred to me, that if the reduction of the 
 Raichoor insurgents were successfully executed, of which 
 there can be little doubt, it would be a strong motive for 
 inducing the Nizam to consent that the part of the sub- 
 sidiary forces still in the Company's territory, which he 
 might otherwise insist on being ordered to Hyderabad, may 
 be stationed at Ballari. The districts usually called the 
 Doab, lying between the Kistna and Toombuddra, are 
 the part of the Nizam's dominions over which he has 
 perhaps the least control. Their great distance from 
 Hyderabad, and the reluctance which has been generally 
 shown to detaching any considerable part of the force sta- 
 tioned at that capital, have long since taught the zemindars 
 to regard it without much apprehension ; but a part of the 
 subsidiary troops stationed in the neighbourhood of Ballari 
 or Adoni, and ready to move at a moment's warning, 
 would completely overawe them. This detachment would, 
 at the same time, be of great service in curbing the po- 
 ligars of the Ceded Districts, until, by being kept during a 
 few years as low as they now are, they shall have lost the 
 power of exciting disturbances ; and it would be at hand, 
 likewise, to act against the Nabob of Canore, in the event 
 of, what is not altogether improbable, his failing in the 
 payment of his tribute to the Company, which has now 
 been transferred from the Nizam to himself. 
 
 There are still two poligars in the Ceded Country, 
 who have not yet come in; but only one of them, the 
 Ghuttim-man, can make any resistance: his country is 
 strong, and he has himself been long habituated to a pre- 
 datory warfare. I overlooked the refractory conduct of 
 both these men last year, because it appeared imprudent 
 to engage in fresh operations immediately after the dis-
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 337 
 
 turbances in Cumbum and at Ternikull. There will be 
 no difficulty in expelling them, should they persist in their 
 disobedience; but I shall not call upon General Campbell 
 until the Raichoor campaign is over. It may then perhaps 
 be necessary to proceed also against the Zemindar of 
 Panganoor, because I am not sure that he will submit to 
 an addition to his peshcush, which must be laid on in order 
 to reduce his power. Should it so happen, that an attack 
 upon all these three chiefs becomes indispensable, their 
 reduction will be easy, and will be effected with little or 
 no loss ; and the Ceded Districts may then be considered as 
 completely subdued. 
 
 I have always thought that such matters ought to be 
 agitated as little as possible, until the instant of execution 
 arrives ; but the Revenue Board having objected to the 
 expenses of an establishment of matchlock and pike 
 peons, which I raised originally by order of Government, 
 to supply the deficiency of regular troops, I have been 
 forced to explain to them the service for which they will 
 probably be required in the course of a few months, with a 
 view to persuade them, if possible, to suspend any reduc- 
 tions until June or July next, and to let it then be made 
 gradually. 
 
 Though when poligars are in considerable force, and in 
 possession of strongholds, regulars must always be em- 
 ployed ; yet when they are once driven to the jungles, 
 peons are better calculated for pursuing them, and dis- 
 covering, and seizing the principal leaders ; and unless this 
 is done, there is always a danger of their rallying again. 
 Peons too are much better qualified than regulars to dis- 
 cover and prevent any projected insurrection. Officers 
 commanding corps or detachments have few or no means of 
 finding out the designs of the poligars in their neighbour- 
 hood ; and a rising may happen almost before it is even sus- 
 pected, which may afterwards, before it can be finally 
 
 VOL. I. Z
 
 338 THE LIFE OF 
 
 quelled, occasion a heavy loss of men and money. When 
 peons, natives of the country, are stationed in small parties 
 in every considerable poligar village, they can easily per- 
 ceive what number of armed followers the poligar has, 
 whether they are chiefly idle men, who depend entirely 
 upon him, or men who follow agriculture or other 
 occupations, and whether or not there is any design of 
 drawing them together to raise commotions. When they 
 have any reason to suspect such intentions, they send intel- 
 ligence, and a sufficient party is dispatched to seize the 
 ringleaders, before they have time to collect followers. Re- 
 gular troops could not be dispersed in this manner with- 
 out ruining their discipline, and, what is worse, without 
 exposing them to the risk of being sometimes cut off, 
 which has always the mischievous effect of encouraging 
 the poligars. 
 
 There are now above three thousand peons dispersed over 
 the Ceded Districts, for the purpose of preventing the re- 
 turn of the fugitive poligars and their followers, of watch- 
 ing the conduct of the poligars who still remain in the 
 country, and of dispersing all assemblages of armed men. 
 Their whole expense is fifty thousand pagodas, which is 
 far below that of a battalion of sepoys, if we reckon arms, 
 clothing, &c. ; and though they would not be able to keep 
 their ground, unless there were troops to support them, 
 yet as such aid is ready when required, they are more use- 
 ful than any additional battalion of sepoys could be ; and 
 were the option left to me, I would prefer the 'peons. 
 Were they reduced at once, I should be deprived of almost 
 every means of knowing what the poligars are doing. 
 Those who have been expelled would collect parties of two 
 or three hundred, and return through Panuel to plunder; 
 and in Gurrumcondah, a great part of which province is a 
 collection of poligarships, they would set the amildars at 
 defiance, and pay very little rent, unless compelled by mi-
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 339 
 
 litary force. The calling out of detachments, which would 
 then be continually required, would occasion almost as 
 great an expense as the peons, and would not answer so 
 effectually the important end of preserving the peace of the 
 country. 
 
 Had there been a small garrison of peons in Ternikull, 
 as there always was when it belonged to the Nizam, the 
 disagreeable occurrences there never would have happened. 
 It is certainly better to prevent such outrages, than to be 
 obliged to punish them. I have recommended to the 
 Board of Revenue, that the peons should remain as at 
 present till July next, that one-fourth should then be re- 
 duced, that one-fourth should be reduced each of the 
 two succeeding years, but that the one-fourth then left 
 should be kept up for some years longer. I must confess, 
 however, that I would wish that one-third, instead of one- 
 fourth, should be kept up until all danger of poligar dis- 
 turbances was at an end. The expense would be sixteen 
 or seventeen thousand pagodas a-year, which is trifling 
 when compared to the advantages of securing internal 
 quiet. My object is to establish every where the authority 
 of Government completely, and not to leave a set of tur- 
 bulent chiefs in a condition to oppose it whenever they 
 see an opportunity ; and if v/hat I have suggested is 
 adopted, there will never be any poligar wars in the Ceded 
 Districts. 
 
 I have taken the liberty of submitting this subject to 
 your consideration, because, when it is referred by the 
 Board of Revenue to Government, the question of the 
 expediency of employing the peons, will no doubt be de- 
 termined by your opinion. I am, &c. 
 
 (Signed) THOMAS MUNRO. 
 
 2
 
 340 THE LIFE OF 
 
 General Stuart's answer is as follows : 
 
 DEAR SIR, 
 
 I AM favoured with your letter, dated the llth 
 instant. The state of the countries composing the Ceded 
 Districts, and their future tranquillity, are objects which 
 certainly cannot prove indifferent to me ; and I am very 
 much obliged to you for your observations upon them. I 
 shall, when the question comes before Government, object 
 to your disbanding any part of your peons. The present 
 is undoubtedly the most improper time that such a mea- 
 sure could be proposed, when we may expect a great part 
 of the regular troops to be called upon for other, and most 
 probably, distant service. I am entirely of your opinion, 
 that when poligars are in force, and in possession of 
 strongholds, regular troops are necessary for the pur- 
 pose of dislodging them. But when they are dislodged, 
 and driven to the jungle in a dispersed state, peons are far 
 preferable to the regulars, for every purpose of discover- 
 ing and apprehending them : they are likewise preferable 
 to the regulars for the other purposes you mention. For 
 these reasons, though it may probably be practicable, at a 
 proper time, to reduce a part of them, I shall, upon all 
 occasions, oppose their entire reduction. 
 
 I have had some conversation with Mr. Webbe upon 
 this and other subjects regarding you ; and we entirely 
 agree in opinion respecting the propriety of your system 
 and reasoning. 
 
 I am in haste, but with great esteem, 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 Your very sincere and faithful humble servant, 
 
 J. STUART. 
 
 Head-quarters, Choultry Plain, 
 November, 1802.
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 341 
 
 In the mean while, the rupture which had 
 long threatened with Scindiah and the Rajah of 
 Berar, occurred; and Generals Lake and Wel- 
 lesley, at the head of their respective armies, 
 took the field. With the former of these officers, 
 Colonel Munro was not drawn into communica- 
 tion ; but with the latter he kept up, throughout 
 the entire campaign, an intimate correspondence. 
 As may be imagined, the larger portion of the 
 letters which passed between them, are at once 
 too brief, and partake too much of an official cha- 
 racter, to possess much interest in the eyes of 
 ordinary readers ; yet there are some which well 
 deserve a place in this or any other collection ; and 
 the following appear to me to be of the number. 
 
 FROM MAJOR-GENERAL THE HONOURABLE ARTHUR 
 WELLESLEY, TO LIEUTENANT-COLONEL MUNRO. 
 
 Camp at Hatteer, fifty miles N.N.E. 
 from Meritch, April 8th, 1803. 
 
 MY DEAR MUNRO, 
 
 As it is possible that the service on which I am 
 employed may last after the rivers will fill, it is necessary 
 that I should make arrangements for having boats upon all 
 of them. I have accordingly written to Pourneah, and to 
 Mr. Read, to have some prepared in Mysore and in 
 Soondah : and I must request you to have twenty basket- 
 boats made in the Ceded Districts. They should be of the 
 size of ten feet diameter, and three feet deep, and I wish 
 that they may be covered with double leather. The lea- 
 thers ought to be sewed with thong, and of such a size as 
 to cover the gunnels of the boats all round. I intend that 
 your boats should be upon the Malpurba, respecting which
 
 342 THE LIFE OF 
 
 I will write to you hereafter. Besides boats, I shall want 
 boatmen, of which your districts ought to furnish a large 
 proportion. Pourneah says, that when he managed Har- 
 ponelley, that district, in particular, furnished a large 
 number of people of this description. The total number 
 that I shall want is three hundred, of which Soondah can 
 give only twenty ; Mysore, I suppose, about one hundred ; 
 and I must depend upon you for the remainder. 
 
 The pay which I have given the boatmen is one gold 
 fanam for every day they do not work, and two gold fanams 
 for every day they do; this money paid daily if they choose 
 it. Let me know how many people of this description you 
 can send me for this pay. You will see, by the date of this 
 letter, that I have lost no time, and I am still in high 
 style. I am now moving towards the Nizatn's frontier 
 to facilitate a communication with Colonel Stevenson, and, 
 eventually, our junction. As I advance, Futty Sing and 
 Meer Khan fall back, and I meet with no opposition. I 
 expect to be at Poonah some time about the 20th. 
 
 Believe me, my dear Munro, ever yours most sincerely, 
 
 ARTHUR WELLESLEY. 
 
 FROM THE SAME TO THE SAME. 
 
 Camp at Poonah, May 14th, 1803. 
 
 MY DEAR MUNRO, 
 
 I LEARN from General Stuart, that he has 
 desired you to supply me with twenty boats for the Mal- 
 purba, and some boatmen. 
 
 You know that the rivers will fill between the 14th and 
 20th of June ; and I beg you take early measures for pro- 
 viding this mode of passing them. 
 
 As you are too far from me, and it is possible that you 
 may not be able to send off the boats at a period suffici- 
 ently early for my purpose, I have directed that ten of the 
 boats made in Soondah, which were intended for the river
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 
 
 Gulpurba, may be left on the river Malpurba. Ten of 
 your boats consequently are to be sent to the river Gul- 
 purba, about thirty miles farther on. I beg you to give 
 orders upon this subject to the people you will send with 
 the boats. Their station upon the river Malpurba will be 
 at Langoly ; that upon the river Gulpurba, will be at 
 Gourgerry. The boatmen whom you will send, will be 
 divided equally between the stations, on the river Mal- 
 purba, Gulpurba, and Kistna. Their pay is to be one gold 
 fanam for every day they do not work, and two gold fanams 
 for every day they do : it is to commence from the day 
 they will leave their villages, and to be paid weekly. I will 
 settle with you for it, to the day of their arrival at their 
 posts, as well as for the expense of the carriage of the boats. 
 Afterwards, it will be paid by the officer in chargeof the posts. 
 
 Believe me, my dear Munro, ever yours most sincerely, 
 
 ARTHUR WELLESLEY. 
 
 The Peishwah arrived yesterday, and is going to be 
 seated on his musnud. 
 
 FROM THE SAME TO THE SAME. 
 
 Camp, twenty miles east of Arungabad, 
 August 80th, 1803. 
 
 MY DEAR MUNRO, 
 
 SciNDlAH and the Rajah of Berar have entered the 
 Nizam-'s territories, have passed Colonel Stevenson with 
 an army of horse only, and propose to be upon the River 
 Godavery this day. If the river should be fordable, they 
 may be able to get to the southward ; and I give you 
 notice, that you may have your tannahs prepared in your 
 villages, and desire them to defend them. They are 
 starving already : flour and grain sell two and a half seers 
 for a rupee in their camp ; because the inhabitants, finding 
 that they have no guns, and that the horse cannot get over 
 their walls, do not choose to give up their property upon
 
 344 THE LIFE OF 
 
 the first requisition, and they have not leisure to wait long 
 in any particular place. 
 
 I have received intelligence, that a fellow, by name 
 Mahtab Khan, who was formerly in Tippoo's service, is 
 employed by the Rajah of Berar to raise horse at Cudda- 
 pah. You may probably find this fellow out ; and I re- 
 commend that he be treated as he deserves. 
 
 I beg you to keep the Werdy bullocks in the service : 
 I will write to General Campbell regarding them. 
 
 If I should not have been so unlucky as to have the 
 Godavery become fordable about six weeks sooner than 
 usual, I hope to be able to strike a blow against their 
 myriads of horse in a few days. 
 
 Believe me, my dear Munro, ever yours most sincerely, 
 
 ARTHUR WELLESLEY. 
 
 FROM THE SAME TO THE SAME. 
 
 Camp, September 10th, 1803. 
 
 MY DEAR MUNRO, 
 
 I HAVE received your letter of the 28th of Au- 
 gust. I have arranged the conquest at Ahmednagur, 
 exactly as you have suggested : I have appointed Captain 
 Graham to be collector, and have given him a large body 
 of peons and of horse to forward supplies and preserve 
 tranquillity in my rear. 
 
 I should have wished to have you in that situation, but 
 you were not on the spot ; and it is not impossible but that 
 your services will be required in your own districts ; I 
 have already put you on your guard. 
 
 Since I wrote to you last, I have given the enemy a turn. 
 By a few rapid marches to the southward, I have shown 
 them that they could not go alone to Hyderabad, and I 
 have consequently forced them to return to the northward. 
 
 I don't know whether they will come back again ; but it
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 
 
 is reported that they are going back to Burhampore ; that 
 the silladars are much discontented, and swear that they 
 will not serve unless supported by the infantry and guns. 
 
 It cannot be expected, however, that I shall be able to 
 inarch with celerity equal to that of an army of horse 
 only ; and some of these may enter your districts. But, on 
 the other hand, it is probable that I may stop them. 
 
 The Bengal army has commenced offensive operations, 
 and will cross the Jumna. The troops in Guzerat took 
 Baroach by storm on the 29th of August. Colonel Ste- 
 venson beat up a horse-camp on the night of the 6th ; and 
 he tells me that he proposed to repeat the attack upon 
 another on last night ; I have not yet heard whether he 
 did so or not. No enemy has elsewhere come within forty 
 miles of him. Believe me ever yours most sincerely, 
 
 ARTHUR WELLESLEY. 
 
 FROM THE SAME TO THE SAME. 
 
 Camp, October 1st, 1803. 
 MY DEAR MUNRO, 
 
 I INCLOSE a memorandum which I have re- 
 ceived from Bistnapah Pundit, the commander of the Rajah 
 of Mysore's horse serving with me, relative to a claim which 
 he has upon the Rajah of Harponhilly. It appears that the 
 Rajah gave him a village in enaum, which he has now 
 taken from him. Mr. Cochrane knew that the grant had 
 been made, and confirmed it ; and I shall be obliged to you 
 if you will inquire into the circumstances, and let Bistna- 
 pah keep his village if possible. I entirely agree in the 
 opinions expressed in your letter, upon the subject of 
 offensive and defensive war; however, I think that you 
 are mistaken respecting the possibility of checking, by 
 defensive measures, a predatory war carried on by horse 
 only ; indeed, I have done it already in this campaign.
 
 346 THE LIFE OF 
 
 The fact is, that a predatory war is not to be carried on 
 now, as it was formerly. All the principal villages in the 
 country are fortified (excepting in our happy country, in 
 which our wise men have found out tKat fortifications are 
 of no use) ; a few peons keep the horse out ; and it is 
 consequently necessary that they should have a camp and 
 a bazaar to resort to for subsistence, in which every thing 
 they get is very dear ; besides, this necessity of seeking 
 subsistence in the camp prevents them from extending 
 their excursions so far as they ought, to do any material 
 injury. 
 
 The camp, on the resources of which an army of this 
 kind must submit, must be rather heavy ; besides, there 
 are great bodies in it. They must have tents, elephants, 
 and other sewary ; and must have with them a sufficient 
 body of troops to guard their persons. The number of 
 cavalry retained in such a camp must consequently be 
 very large. 
 
 Large bodies move slowly, and it is not difficult to gain 
 intelligence of their motions. A few rapid and well con- 
 trived movements, made not directly upon them, but with a 
 view to prevent the execution of any favourite design, or 
 its mischievous consequences, soon bring them to their 
 bearings ; they stop, look about them, begin to feel restless, 
 and are obliged to go off. 
 
 In this manner I lately stopped the march of the enemy 
 upon Hyderabad, which they certainly intended ; they 
 were obliged to return, and bring up and join their infan- 
 try ; and you will have heard, that in a most furious 
 action which I had with their whole army, with one divi- 
 sion only, on the 23d of September, I completely defeated 
 them, taking about one hundred pieces of cannon, all their 
 ammunition, &c. &c. &c. They have fled in the greatest 
 confusion to Burhampore. Take my word for it, that a 
 body of light troops will not act, unless supported by a
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 347 
 
 heavy body that will fight ; and, what is more, they cannot 
 act, because they cannot subsist in the greater part of 
 India at the present day. 
 
 It is reported that General Lake has defeated Perron. 
 After that, he will of course open a communication with 
 the Raajpoot chiefs, and will move into Berar. I have 
 designs upon that quarter also. The only difficulty I feel 
 now, is the entire want of magazines in the Rajah's terri- 
 tories ; but I shall surmount that difficulty. 
 
 I wish that I could have you with me ; but I see no mode 
 of effecting that object. 
 
 Believe me ever yours most sincerely, 
 
 ARTHUR WELLESLEY. 
 
 We have taken Pawagur, a strong hill-fort belonging to 
 Scindiah, in Guzerat. 
 
 The following is General Wellesley's reply to 
 a letter in which Mr. Munro had questioned 
 the wisdom of certain movements preceding the 
 battle of Assye. 
 
 Camp at Cherikain, November 1st, 1803. 
 MY DEAR MUNRO, 
 
 As you are a judge of a military operation, and 
 as I am desirous of having your opinion on my side, I am 
 about to give you an account of the battle at Assye, in an- 
 swer to your letter of the 19th October ; in which I think 
 I shall solve all the doubts which must naturally occur to 
 any man who looks at that transaction without a sufficient 
 knowledge of the facts. Before you will receive this, you 
 will most probably have seen my public letter to the 
 Governor-General regarding the action, a copy of which 
 was sent to General Campbell. That letter will give you 
 a general outline of the facts. Your principal objection to 
 the action is, that I detached Colonel Stevenson. The
 
 348 THE LIFE OF 
 
 fact is, I did not detach Colonel Stevenson. His was a 
 separate corps equally strong, if not stronger than mine. 
 We were desirous to engage the enemy at the same time, 
 and settled a plan accordingly for an attack on the morn- 
 ing of the 24th. We separated on the 22d ; he to march 
 by the western, I by the eastern road, round the hills be- 
 tween Budnapore and Jalna ; and I have to observe, that 
 this separation was necessary, first, because both corps 
 could not pass through the same defiles in one day ; 
 secondly, because it was to be apprehended, that if we left 
 open one of the roads through those hills, the enemy might 
 have passed to the southward while we were going to the 
 northward, and then the action would have been delayed, 
 or probably avoided altogether. Colonel Stevenson and I 
 were never more than twelve miles distant from each 
 other; and when I moved forward to the action of the 
 23d, we were not much more than eight miles. As usual, 
 we depended for our intelligence of the enemy's position 
 on the common hircarrahs of the country. Their horse 
 were so numerous, that without an army their position 
 could not be reconnoitred by an European officer ; and 
 even the hircarrahs in our own service, who were accus- 
 tomed to examine and report on positions, cannot be em- 
 ployed here, as, being natives of the Carnatic, they are as 
 well known as an European. 
 
 The hircarrahs reported the enemy to be at Bokerdun. 
 Their right was at Bokerdun, which was the principal 
 place in their position, and gave the name to the district in 
 which they were encamped ; but their left, in which was 
 their infantry, which I was to attack, was at Assye, which 
 was six or eight miles from Bokerdun. 
 
 I directed my march so as to be within twelve or four- 
 teen miles of their army at Bokerdun, as I thought, on the 
 23d. But when I arrived at the ground of encampment, 
 I found that I was not more than five or six miles from it.
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 
 
 349 
 
 I was then informed that the cavalry had marched, and 
 the infantry was about to follow, but was still on the 
 ground ; at all events, it was necessary to ascertain these 
 points ; and I could not venture to reconnoitre without my 
 whole force. But I believed the report to be true, and I 
 determined to attack the infantry if it remained still upon 
 the ground. I apprized Colonel Stevenson of this determin- 
 ation, and desired him to move forward. Upon marching 
 on I found not only their infantry, but their cavalry en^ 
 camped in a most formidable position, which, by the by, 
 it could have been impossible for me to attack, if, when 
 the infantry changed their front, they had taken care to 
 occupy the only passage there was across the Kaitna. 
 
 When I found their whole army, and contemplated their 
 position, of course I considered whether I should attack im- 
 mediately, or should delay till the following morning. I 
 determined upon the immediate attack, because I saw clearly 
 that if I attempted to return to my camp at Naulniah, I 
 should have been followed thither by the whole of the 
 enemy's cavalry, and I might have suffered some loss : in- 
 stead of attacking, I might have been attacked there in the 
 morning ; and, at all events, I should have found it very 
 difficult to secure my baggage, as I did, in any place 
 so near the enemy's camp, in which they should know 
 it was ; I therefore determined upon the attack imme- 
 diately. 
 
 It was certainly a most desperate one ; but our guns 
 were not silenced. Our bullocks, and the people who were 
 employed to draw them, were shot, and they could not all 
 be drawn on ; but some were; and all continued to fire as 
 long as the fire could be of any use. 
 
 Desperate as the action was, our loss would not have ex- 
 ceeded one-half of its present amount, if it had not been 
 for a mistake in the officer who led the picquets which 
 were on the right of the first line.
 
 350 THE LIFE OF 
 
 When the enemy changed their position, they threw 
 their left to Assye, in which village they had some infan- 
 try ; and it was surrounded by cannon. As soon as I saw 
 that, I directed the officer commanding the picquets to 
 keep out of shot from that village ; instead of that, he led 
 directly upon it ; the 79th, which were on the right of the 
 first line, followed the picquets, and the great loss we sus- 
 tained was in these two bodies. Another evil which re- 
 sulted from this mistake was the necessity of introducing 
 the cavalry into the cannonade and the action, long before 
 it was time, by which that corps lost many men, and its 
 unity and efficiency, which I intended to bring forward in 
 a close pursuit at the heel of the day. But it was neces- 
 sary to bring forward the cavalry to save the remains of 
 the 79th and the picquets, which would otherwise have 
 been entirely destroyed. Another evil resulting from it 
 was, that we had then no reserve left, and a parcel of 
 straggling horse cut up our wounded ; and straggling in- 
 fantry who had pretended to be dead, turned their guns 
 upon our backs. 
 
 After all, notwithstanding this attack upon Assye by 
 our right and the cavalry, no impression was made upon 
 the corps collected there, till I made a movement upon it 
 with some troops taken from our left, after the enemy's 
 right had been defeated ; and it would have been as well to 
 have left it alone entirely till that movement was made. 
 However, I do not wish to cast any reflection upon the 
 officer who led the picquets. I lament the consequences of 
 his mistake ; but I must acknowledge that it was not pos- 
 sible for a man to lead a body into a hotter fire than he did 
 the picquets on that day against Assye. 
 
 After the action there was no pursuit, because our 
 cavalry was not then in a state to pursue. It was near 
 dark when the action was over ; and we passed the night on 
 the field of battle.
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. . 351 
 
 Colonel Stevenson marched with part of his corps as 
 soon as he heard that I was about to move forward, and 
 he also moved upon Bokerdun. He did not receive my 
 letter till evening. He got entangled in a nullah in the 
 night, and arrived at Bokerdun, about eight miles from 
 me to the westward, at eight in the morning of the 24th. 
 
 The enemy passed the night of the 23d at about twelve 
 miles from the field of battle, twelve from the Adjuntee 
 Ghaut, and eight from Bokerdun. As soon as they heard 
 that Colonel Stevenson was advancing to the latter place, 
 they set off, and never stopped till they had got down the 
 Ghaut, where they arrived in the course of the night of the 
 24th. After his difficulties of the night of the 23d, Colonel 
 Stevenson was in no state to follow them, and did not do so 
 till the 26th. The reason for which he was detained till that 
 day was, that I might have the benefit of the assistance of 
 his surgeons to dress my wounded soldiers, many of whom, 
 after all, were not dressed for nearly a week, for want of 
 the necessary number of medical men. I had also a long 
 and difficult negotiation with the Nizam's sirdars, to induce 
 them to admit my wounded into any of the Nizam's forts ; 
 and I could not allow them to depart until I had settled 
 that point. Besides, I knew that the enemy had passed 
 the Ghaut, and that to pursue them a day sooner or a day 
 later could make no difference. Since the battle Stevenson 
 has taken Barhumpoor and Asseergur. I have defended 
 the Nizam's territories. They first threatened them 
 through the Caperbay Ghaut, and I moved to the south- 
 ward, to the neighbourhood of Arungabad. I then saw 
 clearly that they intended to attempt the siege of Asseergur, 
 and I moved up to the northward, and descended the 
 Adjuntee Ghaut, and stopped Scindiah. Stevenson took 
 Asseergur on the 21st. I heard the intelligence on the 
 24th, and that the Rajah of Berar had come to the south 
 with an army. I ascended the Ghaut on the 25th, and
 
 352 THE LIFE OF 
 
 have marched a hundred and twenty miles since in eight 
 days, by which I have saved all our convoys, and the 
 Nizam's territories. I have been near the Rajah of Berar 
 two days, in the course of which he has marched five 
 times ; and I suspect that he is now off to his own country, 
 finding that he can do nothing in this. If that is the case, 
 I shall soon begin an offensive operation there. 
 
 But these exertions, I fear, cannot last ; and yet, if they 
 are relaxed, such is the total absence of all government 
 and means of defence in this country, that it must fall. It 
 makes me sick to have any thing to do with them ; and 
 it is impossible to describe their state. Pray exert your- 
 self for Bistnapah Pundit, and believe me ever yours most 
 sincerely, 
 
 ARTHUR WELLESLEY. 
 
 FROM MAJOR MUNRO. 
 [To a friend on his marriage.] 
 
 Guddacull, 17th March, 1803. 
 
 whom I left yesterday morning, has 
 
 to-day pushed after me your letter of the 10th. I long 
 ago heard from him that you were among the stricken deer, 
 which fully accounted for your long silence. The only 
 thing that surprises me is, that you should so soon have 
 begun to think of your old friends, and of the common 
 affairs of the world. You have certainly got the start of 
 me in making your permanent settlement, though I would 
 not have suspected it, from the outrageous manner in 
 which you always talked of matrimony. I really believe 
 that your arguments against it have contributed greatly to 
 keep me single, by always putting me upon my guard, 
 whenever I spied the enemy blushing in a female form. 
 My happiness, I am afraid, must still be deferred for a few 
 years, and most likely to the period when I shall prefer
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 353 
 
 the comforts of a nurse, to the charms of a wife ; when I 
 shall be so sun-dried, and so cased in flannel armour, that 
 no dartshot from any eye black or blue, shall ever reach 
 my heart. What a life have I led ! I have wasted the 
 best of my days without the joys of love, and without the 
 endearments of domestic bliss. I can easily see from your 
 
 letter, that Mrs. is a beautiful girl ; and from what 
 
 you call the short work that you made, or rather that she 
 made with you, that she is an enchanting woman ; but all 
 the fascinations of form and manner soon lose their power, 
 unless the man is held by superior attractions. If a wo- 
 man has not a disposition somewhat similar to that of her 
 husband, if she has not those endowments which can render 
 her an amiable and intelligent companion, he will soon re- 
 gard her with indifference. Mrs. is so young, and 
 
 fortunately so far from scenes of dissipation, that you may 
 direct her mind to any pursuits you please ; and you may 
 give her a taste for reading, which, besides being a perpe- 
 tual fund of innocent amusement to herself, will make her 
 society more interesting to you and to your friends. 
 
 Yours ever, 
 
 THOMAS MUNRO. 
 
 The following remarks upon the campaigns of 
 Lord Lake and Sir Arthur Wellesley, will not, 
 it is presumed, be read without interest. 
 
 TO HIS BROTHER. 
 
 Rachatti, 12th February, 1804. 
 
 DEAR ALEXANDER, 
 
 YOUR letter of the 2d January reached me some 
 time ago. The war is now over. The treaty with Scin- 
 diah has not yet been published here ; but I suppose we 
 shall soon have it from Bengal. Delhi and Agra are said 
 to be among the cessions. We are now complete masters 
 VOL. 1. 2 A
 
 354 THE LIFE OF 
 
 of India, and nothing can shake our power, if we take 
 proper measures to confirm it. The most essential one is 
 a military arrangement for the whole of our possessions. 
 Our armies ought to be so much increased as to enable us, 
 if necessary, to carry on a war against a confederacy of the 
 native powers with France, and, at the same time, to retain 
 our own feudatories in subjection. The revenues of our 
 new acquisitions, and the increase of revenue in our old 
 dominions, during a state of tranquillity, ensured by the 
 protection of a powerful army, would more than counter- 
 balance all the additional expense of the military establish- 
 ment. 
 
 You are quite an enthusiast with respect to General 
 Lake. General Wellesley had, however, greater difficul- 
 ties to encounter, a greater body of infantry and artillery, 
 a much more formidable cavalry, and all animated by the 
 presence of their sovereign ; not dispirited by the desertion 
 of their officers, like the northern army. If there was any 
 thing wrong at Assye, it was in giving battle ; but in the 
 conduct of the action, every thing was right. General 
 Wellesley gave every part of his army its full share ; left 
 no part of it unemployed ; but supported, sometimes with 
 cavalry, sometimes with infantry, every point that was 
 pressed, at the very moment that it was most necessary. 
 
 I allow them both great credit ; but, after all, I see no- 
 thing very extraordinary in the success of the war. I 
 never doubted that the result would be what it has been. 
 I calculated, at the opening of the campaign, two years for 
 the complete conquest of all the possessions of Scindia and 
 the Berarman. I thought their cavalry would have shown a 
 little more enterprise ; but they ruined it and destroyed its 
 spirit, by teaching the troopers that they did not depend 
 upon cavalry, but upon infantry. By coming forward 
 with regular infantry, they gave us every advantage we 
 could desire. They opposed to us men that never could
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 355 
 
 be made so good as our own, from the want of a national 
 spirit among the officers, and of the support of European 
 battalions ; and they trusted the success of the war to the 
 event of close engagements. More credit has been given 
 to the firmness of their infantry than it deserved. They 
 seem to have made but little opposition, except during the 
 short time our army was forming, and to have relied more 
 upon their artillery than their musketry, as is fully proved, 
 by our horse having suffered little loss, unless by round and 
 grape-shot Your affectionate Brother, 
 
 THOMAS MUNRO. 
 
 TO HIS MOTHER. 
 
 [Describing the Country, &c.] 
 
 Anantpoor, 20th August, 1804. 
 
 DEAR MADAM, 
 
 IT gives me great pleasure to hear that your 
 health is better than it has been for some years past ; and 
 that you are able to enjoy the pleasure of walking ; and 
 that you sometimes go as far as Edinburgh. If you are as 
 fond of gardens as in former times, it must be a great com- 
 fort to you to have one so near the house. I would give a 
 great deal to have here such a garden as that at Leven 
 Lodge; but, instead of the shady groves in which it is 
 supposed that we Indians pass our lives, there is hardly a 
 tree between this place and Poonah. I am endeavouring 
 to convert about an acre of ground into a garden, but find 
 it very difficult to get either seed or plants. All that I 
 have in it are fourteen fig-trees, about ten or twelve inches 
 high, which survived out of a great number of plants 
 brought from a small garden at Cuddapah, above a hun- 
 dred miles distant. I have also a few vines, for they are 
 hardy, and thrive every where. I prefer the fig and the 
 
 2 A 2
 
 356 THE LIFE OF 
 
 vine to most other fruit-trees, because they bear in ten or 
 fifteen months ; most other fruit-trees, in this country, do 
 not bear in less than eight or ten years. I have sown the 
 seeds of the mangoe, the orange, and several others ; but 
 I do not mean to stay in this country to see them in blos- 
 som. I have no river at my garden's end, but a deep well, 
 from which I draw water with the assistance of a wheel 
 and four bullocks. It is only in the great rivers in India 
 that running water is seen throughout the year; such 
 streams as Kelvin, or even Clyde, and all others down- 
 wards, only flow after a fall of rain, and all the rest of the 
 year present nothing to the eye but a bed of dry sand. In 
 this part of India, we have none of the verdant fields that 
 are every where seen in Britain. The waste lands are 
 always brown and naked, with hardly a blade of grass : 
 the corn-fields, after the crop is cut, soon become perfectly 
 bare, and nothing is to be seen but an immense plain of 
 red or black earth, until the grain rises again the follow- 
 ing year. In our kitchen-gardens, carrots and onions are 
 better than they are in Europe. My green peas just now 
 are about four inches high, and I despair of ever seeing 
 them reach to five ; but this is owing, I believe, to my bad 
 gardening, for many people have them as luxuriantly as in 
 Scotland. My garden is altogether such a miserable place, 
 that I am almost ashamed to go into it, and usually avoid 
 it in my walks : it is however of no great consequence how 
 it is, as I am always absent eight or nine months in the 
 year, and would not have leisure to enjoy its beauties, 
 were it the finest in the world. 
 
 My father tells me, that John has been dux of his class 
 for some days : I would rather hear that he was a favourite 
 among his companions, and their dux when out of school. 
 Your affectionate Son, 
 
 THOMAS MUNRO.
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 357 
 
 TO HIS SISTER. 
 
 Anantpoor, 22d July, 1805. 
 
 DEAR ERSKINE, 
 
 You are now, I believe, for the first time, a letter 
 or two in my debt : nothing from you has reached me of a 
 later date than the 16th of May, 1804. This correspond- 
 ence between India and Scotland, between persons who have 
 not seen each other for near thirty years, and who may 
 never meet again, is something like letters from the dead 
 to the living. We are both so changed from what we 
 were, that when I think of home, and take up one of your 
 letters, I almost fancy myself listening to a being of an- 
 other world. No moral or religious book, not even the 
 Gospel itself, ever calls my attention so powerfully to the 
 shortness of life, as does in some solitary hour the recol- 
 lection of my friends, and of the long course of days and 
 years that have passed away since I saw them. These 
 ideas occur oftener in proportion as my stay in this country 
 is prolonged ; and as the period of my departure from it 
 seems to approach, I look with pleasure to home ; but I 
 shall leave India with regret, for I am not satisfied with 
 the subordinate line in which I have moved, and with my 
 having been kept from holding any distinguished military 
 command by the want of rank. I shall never, I fear, be 
 able to sit down quietly to enjoy private life ; and I shall 
 most likely return to this country in quest of what I may 
 never obtain. 
 
 My resolution of going home has been strengthened by 
 having this year discovered that my sight is not so good as 
 it was. I find that when writing I must go to the door of 
 my tent for the benefit of light when I wish to mend my 
 pen. I endeavour to believe that this is entirely owing to 
 my having lived so many years in tents under a burning
 
 358 THE LIFE OF 
 
 sun. The sun has probably not shone in vain ; but I sus- 
 pect that time has also had a share in whitening my hair 
 and dimming my sight. His hand appears now before my 
 eyes only thin and shadowy, like that of one of Ossian's 
 ghosts, but it will grow thick and dark in a few years, and 
 I must therefore return to my native land, and see my 
 friends before it is too late. Alexander will go home in 
 December, if peace is made before that time with the 
 Mahrattas. 
 
 I hope you have been successful in your memorial about 
 Captain Douglas's property. I should not have been san- 
 guine myself had you not mentioned the able counsel by 
 whom you have been advised. 
 
 Your description of Drummond's seat in the north 
 makes me wish myself there for a few weeks. If I could 
 be sure of living fifty years without growing older, I should 
 like to pass ten or twelve of them in such a place. Its 
 game would not recommend it to me, for I am no sports- 
 man, and would not disturb them ; but I should admire 
 its hills and deep glens and mountain-cascades, if it has 
 any. I should hardly agree to your plan of employing 
 your great landscape painter, Nasmyth, in laying out the 
 ground. All that I have seen of his works is in Hector 
 Macneil's Poems. He is too fond of peopling his land- 
 scapes with fine gentlemen. In his view of Cambuskenneth, 
 he has filled up half the picture with an overgrown Bond- 
 street lounger. It is just such a figure as might have been 
 expected from a tailor who had studied painting, and been 
 accustomed to exclaim occasionally, after taking a measure 
 of a full suit, " and I too am a painter." Were I to get 
 possession of Woodstock, when Drummond had killed all 
 the game, and become tired of it, Nasmyth would no 
 doubt, for the honour of Scottish landscapes, think it ne- 
 cessary to exhibit me in the same high-finished style 
 lounging under a tree, and musing most deeply on the loss
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 359 
 
 of my hat. But I would submit to this to see the place 
 and its present inhabitants. 
 
 Your affectionate Brother, 
 
 THOMAS MUNRO. 
 
 TO HIS MOTHER. 
 
 Raydroog, 23rd October, 1805. 
 DEAR MADAM, 
 
 You will have no cause to accuse me of silence 
 if the last ships reach England without accident ; for I 
 believe that I have written three letters to you within these 
 three months. You will see by them that your alarms 
 about my health are groundless, and that I am as well as 
 ever I was at home. My only Indian complaint, as I 
 mentioned in one of these letters, is a slight pain, which 
 I sometimes feel in my back, occasioned by a fall in 
 leaping over a ditch, about twelve or fourteen years ago. 
 You will however think very little of it, when you know 
 that it has never, for a single day, prevented me from 
 riding or taking a morning's walk of about four miles, 
 which I do every day at sunrise, if I do not ride. I feel 
 it most after sitting long in one position. And I am con- 
 vinced that my father's lumbago at Northside gave him 
 more trouble in a week than mine has given me in twelve 
 years. A much more serious complaint is the deafness 
 which I brought from home, and which is older than my 
 remembrance. The temporary fits which I used to have 
 at home of extemporary deafness are much less frequent 
 in this country ; but I am more impatient under them, 
 because a society of grown-up gentlemen are not so easily 
 prevailed upon as my schoolfellows were, to raise their 
 voices for my convenience. I have now given you the 
 history of all my ailings, and I imagine they are as few as 
 fall to the lot of most men of my age, even in Scotland.
 
 360 THE LIFE OF 
 
 I have been induced by your letter of the 8th of March, 
 the longest I ever received from you, to repeat all that 
 I wrote in a late letter on the state of my health ; and 
 I mean also to follow your advice of writing oftener, though 
 I should send but a few lines at a time. With respect 
 to going home, it is my intention to leave India next 
 year ; but I have many doubts about adopting your plan 
 of seeking a family of my own. I saw myself some ob- 
 stacles to it ; but you have raised up many more by your 
 alarming account of the manners of modern ladies. As 
 you exclude youth, and beauty, and family, from the 
 qualifications of a wife, I suspect that you mean that I 
 
 should lead to the altar the widow , or some ancient 
 
 lady, who has composed a treatise on the education of 
 young women. Had I passed all my life at home, I might 
 perhaps, as my sisters say, have been the fittest person to 
 choose a wife for myself. I might have been acquainted 
 with her from her early years, known perfectly her temper 
 and disposition, and been in little danger of being deceived 
 on these points ; but after an absence of near thirty years, 
 spent chiefly in a tent, I shall on my return know as little 
 of the women of my own country as those of any other 
 nation in Europe. And as I shall not have so many 
 opportunities, as younger men, of mixing in female society, 
 I should, if I trusted entirely to my own judgment in the 
 choice of a wife, find most likely, when it was too late, that 
 I had made a bad one. I am therefore inclined to think 
 that it will be the wisest course to be guided by your opi- 
 nion in this important matter. 
 
 I am very sorry that you have been obliged to abandon 
 Leven Lodge on account of its distance ; because you will, 
 I am afraid, find the want of the garden. Your new house 
 has the advantage of being nearer Mrs. Erskine ; but from 
 its situation at the corner of two streets, it must be a very
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 
 
 361 
 
 noisy place, and can have very little ground. You say 
 that it has more than we had in Glasgow. This may well 
 be, for we had none there. 
 
 Your affectionate Son, 
 
 THOMAS MUNRO. 
 
 It will be in the reader's recollection that the 
 year 1806 was rendered memorable in the annals 
 of Anglo-Indian history, by the diffusion of a 
 spirit of disloyalty throughout the native army, 
 such as had never before shown itself. Certain 
 injudicious orders on the subject of dress ap- 
 pearing at a moment when Missionary exertions 
 chanced to be unusually great, furnished a handle, 
 of which the disaffected adherents of the house 
 of Tippoo failed not to take advantage ; and both 
 the Mussulman and Hindoo sepoys being taught 
 to believe that a design for their forcible conver- 
 sion to Christianity was in agitation, a tremen- 
 dous conspiracy, having for its object the massacre 
 of all the Europeans in the country, was the con- 
 sequence. Neither of the conspiracy itself, nor of 
 the mutiny at Vellore, to which it led, am I 
 called upon to give any account; but the fol- 
 lowing letters will show how the chief authorities 
 at Madras were affected by it, as well as the opi- 
 nions which Colonel Munro continued, in spite 
 of appearances, to cherish. It is scarcely neces- 
 sary to add, that the office of Governor was at 
 that time rilled by Lord William Bentinck.
 
 362 THE LIFE OF 
 
 (Private and confidential.) 
 
 FROM LORD WILLIAM BENTINCK TO LIEUT.-COLONEL 
 MUNRO. 
 
 Fort St. George, August 2d, 1806. 
 MY DEAR SIR, 
 
 WE have every reason to believe, indeed un- 
 doubtedly to know, that the emissaries and adherents of 
 the sons of Tippoo Sultan have been most active below 
 the Ghauts, and it is said that the same intrigues have 
 been carrying on above the Ghauts. Great reliance is said 
 to have been placed upon the Gurrumcondah poligars, 
 by the princes. I recommend you to use the utmost vigi- 
 lance and precaution ; and you are hereby authorized, upon 
 any symptom or appearance of insurrection, to take such 
 measures as you may deem necessary. Let me advise you 
 not to place too much dependence on any of the native 
 troops. It is impossible at this moment to say how far 
 both native infantry and cavalry may stand by us 
 in case of need. It has been ingeniously worked up into 
 a question of religion. The minds of the soldiery have 
 been inflamed to the highest state of discontent and dis- 
 affection, and upon this feeling has been built the re-esta- 
 blishment of the Mussulman government, under one of the 
 sons of Tippoo Sultan. It is hardly credible that such 
 progress could have been made in so short a time, and 
 without the knowledge of any of us. But, believe me, 
 the conspiracy has extended beyond all belief, and has 
 reached the most remote parts of our army ; and the 
 intrigue has appeared to have been every where most suc- 
 cessfully carried on. The capture of Vellore, and other de- 
 cided measures in contemplation, accompanied by extreme 
 vigilance on all parts, will, I trust, still prevent a great 
 explosion. I remain, my dear Sir, 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 W. BENTINCK.
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 
 
 363 
 
 Subjoined is Colonel Munro's reply. 
 
 Anantpoor, llth August, 1806. 
 
 MY LORD, 
 
 I HAVE had the honour to receive your Lord- 
 ship's letter on the 2nd instant. On the first alarm of the 
 conspiracy at Vellore, I dispatched orders to watch the 
 proceedings of the principal people of Gurrumcondah, for I 
 immediately suspected that the sons of Tippoo Sultan were 
 concerned, and I concluded that if they had extended their 
 intrigues beyond Vellore, the most likely places for them to 
 begin with were Chitteldroog, Nundidroog, Gurrumcondah 
 and Seringapatam. 
 
 Gurrumcondah is perhaps the quarter in which they would 
 find most adherents, not from any thing that has recently 
 happened, but from its cheapness having rendered it the 
 residence of a great number of the disbanded troops of 
 their father, and from the ancestors of Cummer ul Din 
 Khan having been hereditary Killedars of Gurrumcondah 
 under the Mogul empire, before their connection with 
 Hyder Ally, and acquired a certain degree of influence in 
 the district which is hardly yet done away. The family 
 of Cummer ul Din is the only one of any consequence 
 attached by the ties of relationship to that of Tippoo 
 Sultan ; and I do not think that it has sufficient weight to 
 be at all dangerous without the limits of Gurrumcon- 
 dah. 
 
 The poligars, I am convinced, never will run any risk 
 for the sake of Tippoo's family. Some of them would be 
 well pleased to join in disturbances of any kind, not with 
 the view of supporting a new government, but of render- 
 ing themselves more independent. The most restless among 
 them, the Ghuttim-man, is fortunately in confinement ; and 
 I imagine that the others have had little or no correspon- 
 dence with the Princes. Had it been carried to any length,
 
 364 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 I should most likely have heard of it from some of the 
 poligars themselves. 
 
 The restoration of the Sultan never could alone have 
 been the motive for such a conspiracy. Such an event 
 could have been desirable to none of the Hindoos who 
 form the bulk of the native troops, and to only a part of 
 the Mussulmans. During the invasion of the Carnatic by 
 Hyder, the native troops, though ten or twelve months in 
 arrear though exposed to privations of every kind 
 though tempted by offers of reward, and though they saw 
 that many who had gone over to him were raised to dis- 
 tinguished situations, never mutinied or showed any signs 
 even of discontent. Occasional mutinies have occurred since 
 that period, but they were always partial, and had no 
 other object than the removal of some particular grievance. 
 The extensive range of the late conspiracy can only be 
 accounted for by the General Orders having been converted 
 into an attack upon religious ceremonies ; and though the 
 regulations had undoubtedly no such object, it must be 
 confessed that the prohibition of the marks of castes was 
 well calculated to enable artful leaders to inflame the minds 
 of the ignorant, for there is nothing so absurd but that 
 they will believe when made a question of religion. How- 
 ever strange it may appear to Europeans, I know that the 
 general opinion of the most intelligent natives in this part 
 of the country is, that it was intended to make the sepoys 
 Christians. The rapid progress of the conspiracy is not to 
 be wondered at, for the circulation of the General Orders 
 prepared the way, by spreading discontent ; and the rest 
 was easily done by the means of the tappal, and of send- 
 ing confidential emissaries on leave of absence. The cap- 
 ture of Vellore, and, still more, the rescinding of the offen- 
 sive parts of the regulations, will, I have no doubt, pre- 
 vent any further commotion, for the causes being removed, 
 the discontent which has been excited will soon subside and
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 
 
 365 
 
 be forgotten. The native troops, sensible of their own 
 guilt, will naturally for some time be full of suspicion and 
 alarm ; but it is hardly credible that they will again com- 
 mit any acts of violence. 
 
 TO HIS FATHER. 
 [On the same subject.] 
 
 Anantpoor, 4th September, 1806. 
 
 DEAR SIR, 
 
 MY promotion to Lieutenant-Colonel, about 
 which you appear so anxious, is an old affair. I am about 
 half-way up the list, next to John Dighton ; and Davidson, 
 who has given you so much trouble, is about a dozen lower 
 
 down. is, I suppose, gentleman-usher to all 
 
 old Indians, on their arrival in Edinburgh ; for I find that 
 he introduces all those who visit you. I imagine that those 
 Indians, from their talking of nothing but India, must 
 be very insipid company to the old resident natives of 
 Scotland. 
 
 I do not admire the plan of the 's, in setting 
 
 George to read so early. Had he been the son of Scrib- 
 blerus, or Mr. Shandy, such an experiment might have been 
 
 expected ; but I could not have believed that would 
 
 have tried it. She may make her son puny and sickly by 
 such early studies, without making him a bit wiser than 
 other boys who begin three years later : he will get sore 
 eyes and wear a wig, and be tormented by his play- 
 fellows. 
 
 Alexander will have written you of the peace with Holkar. 
 The armies have returned into quarters, and there is at 
 present no likelihood of any of the native powers interrupt- 
 ing our tranquillity. A very serious mutiny took place in 
 June, among the sepoys at Vellore, in which sixteen officers 
 and about a hundred Europeans of the 69th regiment, lost
 
 366 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 their lives. The fort was, during some hours, in the pos- 
 session of the insurgents, but was very gallantly recovered 
 by Colonel Gillespie, who happened very fortunately to 
 be in the command of the cavalry at Arcot, and hastened 
 to Vellore on the first alarm, with the 19th light dragoons 
 and 7th regiment native cavalry. Some of his own letters, 
 of which I inclose a copy, will give you a full account of 
 the affair. 
 
 A committee was appointed to investigate the causes of 
 the insurrection. It has lately been dissolved ; but I have 
 not heard what report it has made. I have no doubt, how- 
 ever, that the discontent of the sepoys was originally occa- 
 sioned by some ill-judged regulations about their dress; 
 and that it broke out into open violence, in consequence of 
 being encouraged by the intrigues of Tippoo, son of Moiz 
 ul Din, then a prisoner in the place. The offensive article 
 of the regulations which occasioned so much mischief, and 
 which has since been rescinded, ran in the following words: 
 
 10th. " It is ordered by the regulations, that a native sol- 
 dier shall not mark his face to denote his caste, or wear ear- 
 rings when dressed in his uniform. And it is further di- 
 rected, that at all parades, and upon all duties, every sol- 
 dier of the battalion shall be clean shaved on the chin. It 
 is directed also, that uniformity, as far as is practicable, 
 be preserved, in regard to the quantity and shape of the 
 hair upon the upper lip." 
 
 This trifling regulation, and a turban, with something 
 in its shape or decorations to which the sepoys are extreme- 
 ly averse, were thought to be so essential to the stability 
 of our power in this country, that it was resolved to in- 
 troduce them, at the hazard of throwing our native army 
 into rebellion. One battalion had already at Vellore re- 
 jected the turban, and been marched to Madras, with 
 handkerchiefs tied about their heads ; but the projectors 
 were not discouraged. They pushed on their grand design, 
 until they were suddenly stopped short by the dreadful
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 367 
 
 massacre of the 10th of July. They were then filled with 
 alarm : they imagined that there was nothing but dis- 
 affection and conspiracy in all quarters, and that there 
 would be a general explosion throughout all our military 
 stations. There was unfortunately, however, no ground 
 for such apprehensions ; for almost every person but them- 
 selves was convinced that the sepoys, both from long 
 habit and from interest, were attached to the service 
 that nothing but an attempt to force the disagreeable 
 regulation upon them would tempt them to commit any 
 outrage, and that whenever this design was abandoned, 
 every danger of commotion would be at an end, and the 
 sepoys would be as tractable and faithful as ever. Their 
 discontent had nothing in it of treason or disaffection. It 
 was of the same kind as that which would have been ex- 
 cited in any nation, by a violent attack upon its prejudices. 
 Peter the Great found the Russian beard a tough job. 
 Beards and whiskers are not now such weighty matters in 
 Europe as formerly ; but even now, an order to shave the 
 heads of all the troops in Britain, leaving them only a 
 lock on the crown like Hindoos, or to make all the presby- 
 terian soldiers wear the image of the Pope or St. Anthony, 
 instead of a cockade, would, I suspect, occasion some ex- 
 pressions, if not acts, of disloyalty. A stranger who reads 
 the Madras regulation, would naturally suppose that the 
 sepoys 1 beards descend to their girdles, and that they are 
 bearded like the pard ; but this is so far from being the 
 case, that they are now, and have been, as long as I can re- 
 member, as smooth on the chin as Europeans, making a due 
 allowance for the difference of the razors employed on the 
 two subjects. And as to the hair upon the upper lip, its 
 form is so much like that which sometimes appears upon 
 the upper lip of our own dragoons and grenadiers, that 
 none but the critical eye of a shaver could distinguish the 
 difference. Had the grand projected shaving-match ter- 
 minated without accident, it might have amused the spec-
 
 368 THE LIFE OF 
 
 tators like a pantomime upon a large stage ; but when it 
 is considered how many brave men lost their lives by it, 
 one cannot help feeling for the national character. 
 I am, dear Sir, your affectionate Son, 
 
 THOMAS MUNRO. 
 
 TO HIS FATHER. 
 
 The date uncertain. 
 DEAR SIR, 
 
 MY last letter to any of the family at home was, 
 I believe, to Erskine, and I then told her that I should 
 make a remittance for the purchase of Leven Lodge. 
 Some letters, both from you and her, gave me reason to 
 fear that it might be sold, and that you would be forced to 
 leave it. I hope that I have not been too late ; for my 
 mother appears to be attached to the place, and has enjoy- 
 ed better health at it than she has done for some time, and 
 she would probably not be so well any where else. It 
 would, at all events, be very distressing to her to be driven 
 to seek another habitation ; for even a better one would 
 not please her so much. She would regret the loss of her 
 walks in the garden, and of all the trees and shrubs she 
 has been accustomed to take care of. Messrs. Harington, 
 Cockburn, and Harington, of Madras, have promised to 
 remit to you an order for 2000/. sterling, by the first op- 
 portunity. This money is meant for the purchase of Leven 
 Lodge ; but should that place have been unfortunately al- 
 ready sold, you can then buy any other which you think will 
 be agreeable to my mother. I hope she received the two 
 shawls mentioned in the inclosed bill, which were consigned 
 by the Monarch, in March, 180J, to Munro and Brown. 
 The treaties with Scindiah and the Berar Rajah give us 
 the greatest accession of territory ever acquired on any 
 former occasion. Not having seen the schedules, I do not 
 exactly know the amount of the revenue ; but I have heard
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 369 
 
 that the cessions from Berar are estimated at sixty lacs, 
 and from Scindiah at one crore and seventy lacs of rupees. 
 We get the provinces of Delhi and Agra, and all Scindiah's 
 possessions to the northward of Icy poor, Jandipoor, and 
 Gohud ; a part of Guzerat, Ahmednaggur in the Deccan, 
 and Cuttack, which connects the northern Circars with Ben- 
 gal : General Wellesley dictated the terms. The gradual con- 
 quest of India might have been considered as certain, when 
 Bangalore was taken ; for when the Mysore power was 
 broken, there was no other that could resist us. Tippoo 
 himself was incapable of making any great exertions in the 
 war in which he lost his life. Several of the principal 
 powers have already received a subsidiary force ; and there 
 is little doubt that most of the others will follow their 
 example hereafter, either with the view of defending them- 
 selves against external enemies, or rebellious competitors ; 
 for in Eastern governments, the death of the reigning 
 prince is usually followed by a disputed succession : when- 
 ever they submit to receive a subsidiary force to be con- 
 stantly stationed in their dominions, they have, in fact, lost 
 their independence. They are influenced by the councils 
 of the British Government in India ; they become accus- 
 tomed to its superiority ; they sink into the rank of tribu- 
 taries ; and their territories, on the failure of heirs, or 
 perhaps sooner, will form provinces of the British Empire. 
 I am, dear Sir, your affectionate Son, 
 
 THOMAS MUNRO. 
 
 I cannot better conclude the present chapter, 
 than by inserting a letter to his sister, which an- 
 nounced his intention of .quitting India; a design 
 which he carried into effect soon after the letter 
 itself was despatched. 
 
 VOL. i. 2 B
 
 370 THE LIFE OF 
 
 Anantpoor, 5th August, 1807. 
 DEAR ERSKINE, 
 
 A NUMBER of your letters have reached me within 
 these few months ; and I am not sure whether or not I have 
 answered any of them : they are dated the 21st of June and 
 31st of December, 1806, and the 2d of January and 6th of 
 February, 1807- One of them contains four sheets and a 
 half, which is perhaps the cause of my not having before 
 ventured to confess that I had received it. The climate 
 of Scotland has, by your account, improved very much in 
 its effects on the growth of trees. I find some difficulty in 
 believing this, because it is contrary to the course of nature ; 
 for men and women have always observed, that as they grow 
 older, every thing else degenerates. The seasons become more 
 inclement, and corn, and animals, and trees, more stunted in 
 their growth. But your trees your ivy, have escaped the 
 influence of this general law, by their having been protected 
 in their tender years by some firs. I remember two of 
 those generous natives of our isle, as you call them, at 
 North side, and though they were at least fifty years old, 
 they were scarcely twenty feet high : they certainly did not 
 shoot up three or four feet in a season, in their youth ; yet 
 they were the two most respectable trees in that part of the 
 country; and I doubt if your woods can show any thing 
 like them. Trees in this country, with the advantage of 
 artificial watering, hardly ever shoot more than six feet in 
 a season, and in general, not more than four or five ; but 
 much less if goats get among them. I have a great mind 
 to bring home a flock of five hundred or a thousand, if 
 
 O ' 
 
 I can get a passage for them, merely to show you what they 
 can do in one day in your elephant woods. I think they 
 would finish the leaves in the forenoon, and the bark in the 
 afternoon. But, it is in vain to talk of trees and goats to a 
 politician ; and I wish, therefore, that I could tell you who 
 this Mr. Paul is, about whom you ask. Some say that he
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 371 
 
 is a tailor, who brought out a long bill against some of Lord 
 Wellesley's Staff, and was in consequence provided for ; 
 others say that he was an adventurer, who sold knicknacks 
 to the Nabobs of Oude. All that I know for certain is, 
 that he is a great patriot, and that if you are obliged to 
 get patriots from India, it is high time that I were 
 home. 
 
 I am now preparing to quit this country : I have written 
 for a passage, and mean to go to Madras next month ; and 
 if nothing unexpectedly occurs to detain me, I shall sail in 
 October, and reach England, I hope, in March. I shall 
 leave India with great regret, for I shall carry with me only 
 a moderate competency, while by remaining four or five 
 years longer, I should double my fortune ; this, however, 
 is of little consequence, as I am not expensive. But what 
 I am chiefly anxious about is, what I am to do when I go 
 home. I have no rank in the army there, and could not 
 be employed upon an expedition to the Continent, or any 
 other quarter ; and as I am a stranger to the generous 
 natives of your isle, I should be excluded from every other 
 line as well as military, and should have nothing to do but 
 to lie down in a field like the farmer's boy, and look at the 
 lark sailing through the clouds. I wish to see our father 
 and mother, and shall therefore make the voyage ; but I 
 much fear that I shall soon get tired of an idle life, and 
 be obliged to return to this country for employment. 
 Your affectionate Brother, 
 
 THOMAS MUNRO. 
 
 [The following extracts from his correspondence with Mr. 
 Thackeray at this time, are too valuable to be withheld.] 
 
 " IT is an old military privilege, which has at all times 
 been very fully exercised, to abuse the civil powers. I 
 
 2 B 2
 
 372 THE LIFE OF 
 
 bear it with a Christian spirit of resignation, because most 
 know, that all officers, and especially ensigns, always speak 
 from the best authority, and that it therefore becomes us to 
 hear what they say with proper deference." 
 
 The above relates to a complaint of a subaltern officer, 
 who, when travelling through the country, could not, as 
 he asserted, procure as many chickens and eggs as he want- 
 ed, though he saw the former running about before him. 
 
 " I regret your loss (alluding to his removal to a higher 
 situation) on my own account, for I used to enjoy a fort- 
 night's halt at Adoni, and talking of Greeks and Trojans, 
 after having seen nobody perhaps for three or four months 
 before, but Bedurs* and Gymnosophists." 
 
 " I hope that you will, in your new Government, carry 
 into practice the maxims of the Grecian worthies, whom 
 you so much admire ; and that you will act in all situations, 
 as Aristides would have done ; and when you feel that 
 your English spirits prompt you to act first and think 
 afterwards, that you will recollect the temper of Themis- 
 tocles < Strike, but hear.' You are not likely to be 
 placed in exactly the same situation; but many others may 
 occur, in the course of your collectorate life, that will 
 require as great a command of temper ; and if there is any 
 faith in physiognomy, I have no doubt that you will rival 
 the Grecians; for, after you were cropt by the Adoni 
 barber, you were a striking likeness of a head of Themis- 
 tocles I recollect to have seen in an old edition of Plu- 
 tarch's Lives, printed in the time of Queen Elizabeth." 
 
 " The fault of our judicial code is, that there is a great 
 deal too much of it for a first essay. Our own laws expanded 
 gradually during several centuries, along with the increas- 
 ing knowledge and civilization of the people, so that they 
 were always fitted in some measure to their faculties. But 
 
 * A caste of poligars, a sort of militia peons.
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 373 
 
 here, without any preparation, we throw them down in the 
 lump among a parcel of ignorant rayets and equally 
 ignorant pundits, whose legal knowledge does not extend 
 beyond the term puns of cowries^ for that is almost all that 
 is to be found in Halhed's boasted code of regulations." 
 
 " It would have been better to have curtailed nine-tenths 
 of the regulations, to have confined appeals within narrower 
 limits, and to have made the zillah judges absolute. Some 
 fifty or sixty years hence, when the natives had become less 
 litigious, and had learned what laws they had got, the sages 
 of [those days some future * Scotts and Malcolms' 
 might give them a more extensive code." 
 
 " I hope the conjunction of so many judges at Masu- 
 lipatam will reform its morals. If the daughters of Be- 
 lial are as numerous as they were in former times, I am 
 afraid that they will still hold the balance of power, and 
 that a conflict between them and the judges will be an 
 * impius congressus.' "
 
 374 THE LIFE OF 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Returns to t England. Revisits Northwood-side. Feelings on 
 that occasion. Paper on the subject of Free Trade with 
 India. Marriage. Appointed Head Commissioner to in- 
 quire into the Judicial System. Returns to Madras. 
 
 EARLY in the month of October, 1807, Lieu- 
 tenant-Colonel Munro prepared to carry into ex- 
 ecution the determination expressed in the pre- 
 ceding letter. With this view he applied for 
 and obtained permission to resign his situation in 
 the Ceded Districts ; and, after a few days spent 
 in putting the affairs of the province in order, he 
 proceeded to Madras. Here he found a home- 
 ward-bound fleet in readiness to sail ; and having 
 bidden farewell to such of his old friends as still 
 remained at the Presidency, and written a few 
 valedictory letters to others scattered through the 
 provinces, he took his passage for England. 
 
 Upwards of seven-and-twenty years were 
 now elapsed since the date of Colonel Munro's 
 first arrival in India, during the whole of which
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. #75 
 
 time he had been actively and busily employed 
 either in a military or a civil capacity. As a 
 soldier, he had served with marked distinction in 
 many campaigns, rising from the rank of Cadet 
 through all the gradations to a Lieut.-Colonelcy ; 
 as a civil officer, he had discharged duties 
 more arduous and more important than ever be- 
 fore fell to the share of a British functionary in 
 the East ; and his talents, both for business and 
 war, were acknowledged, on all hands, to be of 
 the very highest order. But it was not in the 
 mere routine of regimental and revenue affairs 
 that Colonel Munro was admitted to possess a 
 degree of intelligence rarely equalled. His 
 thorough knowledge of the native languages his 
 intimate acquaintance with the native character 
 his facility of seeing into and unravelling the in- 
 tricacies of native diplomacy, rendered his opinion 
 on all points connected with Indian administra- 
 tion peculiarly valuable ; and for many years back 
 it had been sought with eagerness, and received 
 with attention, by the highest authorities in the 
 country. Of this, ample proof may be found in the 
 recorded minutes of the several Governors-Gene- 
 ral, by all of whom, from Earl Cornwallis down- 
 wards, he was consulted, and to all of whom he 
 freely gave advice, whether the question at issue 
 referred to the settlement of the land revenue, or 
 the organization and equipment of the army.* 
 
 * See the Appendix.
 
 376 THE LIFE OF 
 
 In a word, from the date of his appointment as 
 assistant to Colonel Read in the Baramahl, till 
 his embarkation at Madras, Colonel Munro may 
 be said to have moved in a much wider 
 sphere than that which he was supposed to 
 occupy ; being in more than one instance the 
 author of arrangements in which he never ap- 
 peared, exactly as the scene- shifter in a theatre, 
 though himself unseen, is the real cause of the 
 transmutations which the sword of harlequin 
 seems to produce. It is not, therefore, surprising 
 to find, that his departure from the scene of his 
 labours was lamented by men of all ranks as a 
 serious national calamity, or that he carried with 
 him the admiration and esteem of the liberal, 
 with the respect even of those to whom his merits 
 rendered him personally an object of something 
 like envy. 
 
 After a pleasant passage of rather more than 
 five months, Colonel Munro landed at Deal on 
 the 5th of April, 1808. His feelings on that 
 occasion were necessarily of a very mixed nature. 
 Early associations were, of course, brought back 
 in full vigour to his mind ; but there arose with 
 them that apprehension of unseen evils, that 
 dread of finding realities less bright than the pic- 
 tures drawn by imagination, which cannot be 
 wholly shaken off by any man who, after an 
 absence of eight-and-twenty years, is about to 
 revisit the haunts of his youth. Nevertheless his 
 anxiety to enjoy again the society of his relatives
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 377 
 
 was too great to permit him to linger unneces- 
 sarily in the South. He hurried through Kent, 
 and having transacted certain business, which de- 
 tained him, till the summer was far advanced, in 
 London, he took the road to Scotland. 
 
 Some of the melancholy forebodings which seem 
 to have assailed him on his first landing in Eng- 
 land, were now destined to receive their accom- 
 plishment. Time had wrought its usual effects 
 both upon his own family and elsewhere ; for the 
 mother whom he loved so tenderly, died a year 
 previous to his arrival, and his father was fast ap- 
 proaching that state, when the society even of those 
 nearest and dearest to us can scarcely be said to 
 interest or amuse. Of his brothers, likewise, two 
 had paid the debt of nature; and of his early 
 acquaintances many were sleeping with their 
 ancestors, whilst such as survived were unavoid- 
 ably changed, if not in disposition and feeling, 
 at all events in outward appearance. Yet nature 
 was the same now as she had ever been, and 
 the lapse of so many years had in no degree 
 affected the intensity of delight with which 
 Colonel Munro was accustomed to look abroad 
 upon her charms. 
 
 The following letter to his sister presents 
 as beautiful and affecting a picture as I recol- 
 lect ever to have seen, of the feelings of a 
 noble-minded man under very peculiar circum- 
 stances.
 
 378 THE LIFE OF 
 
 Glasgow, 25th October,. 1808. 
 DEAR ERSK1NE, 
 
 YOUR letters to Alexander and me, without date 
 as usual, have arrived just as punctually as if they had 
 had that qualification. We shall not be in Edinburgh till 
 the 2nd November, and instead of paying you a visit at 
 Ammondel, I must, I believe, stay at home until I re- 
 cover my hearing ; for I am now deafer than ever I was 
 in my life, owing to a cold which I caught, or rather which 
 caught me, a day or two before I left Edinburgh. I have 
 been little more than a dumb spectator of all the gaiety 
 which you talk of, for I can hardly hear a word that is said. 
 I never was so impatient under deafness as at present, when 
 I meet every moment in my native city old acquaintances, 
 asking fifty questions, which they are obliged to repeat 
 four or five times before they can make me comprehend 
 them. Some of them stare at me, and think, no doubt, 
 that I am come home because I am deranged. I am so 
 entirely incapable of taking any part in conversation, that 
 I have no pleasure in company, and go into it merely to 
 save appearances. A solitary walk is almost the only thing 
 in which I have any enjoyment. I have been twice at 
 Northside, and though it rained without ceasing on both 
 days, it did not prevent me from rambling up and down 
 the river from Claysloup to the Aqueduct Bridge. I stood 
 above an hour at Jackson's Dam, looking at the water 
 rushing over, while the rain and withered leaves were de- 
 scending thick about me, and while I recalled the days that 
 are past. The wind whistling through the trees, and the 
 water tumbling over the dam, had still the same sound as 
 before ; but the darkness of the day, and the little smart 
 box perched upon the opposite bank, destroyed much of 
 the illusion, and made me feel that former times were gone. 
 1 don't know how it is, but, when I look back to early 
 years, I always associate sunshine with them. When I
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 
 
 379 
 
 think of North wood-side, I always think of a fine day, with 
 the sunbeams streaming down upon Kelvin and its woody 
 banks. I do not enter completely into early scenes of life 
 in gloomy, drizzling weather ; and I mean to devote the 
 first sunny day to another visit to Kelvin, which, whatever 
 you may say, is worth ten such paltry streams as your 
 Ammon. 
 
 The threat conveyed in this letter, of visiting 
 Northwood-side again, was, on more than one 
 occasion, punctually executed ; when every spot, 
 endeared to him by the recollections of other days, 
 received its due share of notice. He bathed in the 
 dam, wandered through the woods, sat down upon 
 the old bench, and even climbed the aged tree 
 among whose branches, or at whose roots, he had 
 so frequently indulged his youthful taste for read- 
 ing ; and he turned his back upon the place at 
 last, not without a pang of regret, such as he felt 
 when starting into life upwards of a quarter of a 
 century before. 
 
 When the novelty of his situation had in some 
 degree worn off, and things began to assume 
 around him the air of familiar objects, Colonel 
 Munro gradually entered, with more and more 
 spirit, into the society of his native land. He 
 now spent a good deal of his time in Edinburgh, 
 where he resumed his favourite study of Chemis- 
 try, by attending Dr. Hope's lectures, and by 
 perusing such works as had come out since his 
 departure for India ; whilst he varied his mode of 
 life by making frequent excursions, sometimes to
 
 380 THE LIFE OF 
 
 the seat of his brother-in-law, sometimes to other 
 places. He began, likewise, to look around for 
 some desirable property, with a view of purcha- 
 sing, if not of permanently settling on it ; and 
 more than one appears to have been submitted to 
 his choice, without effect. But Colonel Munro 
 was not calculated to lead long, and with comfort 
 to himself, a life of absolute idleness. The want 
 of employment began at last to be felt ; and hav- 
 ing in vain sought to dispel, by wandering from 
 place to place in England, the weariness arising 
 out of it, he removed to London, where he took 
 up his temporary abode. 
 
 Any man who has distinguished himself as 
 Colonel Munro had done, is sure of finding a 
 ready admission into the best society of the British 
 capital. Many of his personal friends were set- 
 tled there ; and his reputation having already ex- 
 tended far beyond the bounds of their circle, he 
 found all classes anxious to cultivate his acquain- 
 tance. He met their advances with the frankness 
 which was natural to him ; and, whatever the 
 company might be into which accident threw 
 him, he both received and communicated grati- 
 fication and amusement. Himself a man of 
 letters and science, he was perfectly at home 
 in the literary and scientific circles : accustomed 
 to think profoundly on state questions, he was 
 equally at home among politicians ; whilst even 
 with that large portion of men who depend upon 
 their titles, their wealth, or other adventitious
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 381 
 
 circumstances, for importance, he never failed to 
 be at ease. In mixed or large companies, he was 
 indeed usually silent, because his deafness hin- 
 dered him from comprehending what was said 
 when many persons spoke together ; but, wher- 
 ever an opening was made, he delighted and in- 
 structed those about him by his playful wit and 
 great conversational powers. 
 
 Whilst such was the tenor of his more social life, 
 Colonel Munro never ceased to take a lively interest 
 in the situation and prosperity of the country. He 
 watched with an attentive eye the progress of the 
 war in the Peninsula, of which, even when affairs 
 wore the most unpromising aspect, he predicted 
 the successful termination, and he invariably ad- 
 vocated the sound policy of putting forth the 
 whole strength of the empire in the struggle. It 
 has been asserted, I believe upon good grounds, 
 that his Grace the Duke of Wellington made 
 more than one effort to obtain the assistance of 
 his well-known talents. Be this however as it 
 may, there can be no doubt that he was in con- 
 stant communication with the Duke, than whom 
 no man more justly rated him ; whilst his own 
 anxiety to join the Peninsular army was such, 
 that he would, in all probability, have been per- 
 mitted to indulge it, had not his services been 
 again required by the East India Company.* 
 
 * When the expedition to the Scheld was fitted out, Colonel 
 Munro accompanied it as a volunteer, and was present with Sir 
 John Hope, whose guest he was, at the siege of Flushing. Un-
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 One of Colonel Munro's chief amusements at 
 this time consisted in attending the discussions in 
 the courts of law, and the debates in parliament. 
 The former interested him chiefly because they 
 enabled him to compare one mode of administer- 
 ing justice with another ; the latter could hardly 
 fail of exciting the deepest attention from one 
 whom nature herself had intended for a states- 
 man. Whether he entertained at this period any 
 idea of obtaining a seat in the House of Com- 
 mons, I am unable to say ; but events were fast 
 approaching which furnished the least reflecting 
 with the power to judge as to his fitness or unfit- 
 ness for the office of a senator. 
 
 The period drew near when the Company's 
 charter must either expire or be renewed, as it had 
 been twenty years previously ; and public atten- 
 tion began to be directed, with no ordinary eager- 
 ness, to the result. Parliament partaking in the 
 feeling which existed to a greater or less degree 
 throughout the country, determined to do no- 
 thing rashly, but to examine the matter fully, 
 and in all its bearings, ere they came to any deter- 
 mination. Many persons connected with India 
 were, in consequence, summoned to give evidence 
 before a Committee of the House of Commons, 
 touching the relative advantages and disadvan- 
 tages of renewing or withdrawing the charter, in 
 whole or in part, unchanged or modified, whilst 
 
 fortunately none of his letters, written at the time, have been 
 preserved.
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 383 
 
 the question of throwing open the trade of India 
 was discussed with all the violence which such a 
 question was likely to excite in this commercial 
 country. I speak not my own language, but that 
 of the Commons of England,* when I assert, that 
 among all whose opinions were sought on that 
 memorable occasion, Colonel Munro made the 
 deepest impression upon the House, by the 
 comprehensiveness of his views, by the promp- 
 titude and intelligibility of his answers, and 
 by the judgment and sound discretion which 
 characterised every sentiment to which he gave 
 utterance. I cannot occupy the pages of a 
 work like this, by transcribing from a volume 
 which is within the reach of all who take an in- 
 terest in East India affairs ; but of his mode of 
 arguing, as it appears in certain memoranda which 
 have fallen, with other of his manuscripts, into 
 my possession, it were unjust not to afford at 
 least one example.^ The following very able 
 paper relates to the question of opening the trade 
 to India with the outports ; though whether in- 
 tended for his own perusal only, or drawn up at 
 the request of another party, I am unable to 
 state. It will be read with peculiar interest at a 
 
 See a Report of a Committee of the House of Commons, on 
 India Affairs, 1813. 
 
 f The reader is referred to the Appendix for many more, 
 which, if he be desirous of making himself acquainted with the 
 views of a great Indian statesman, will amply compensate the 
 labour of perusal.
 
 384 THE LIFE OF 
 
 moment when the affairs of the East are again 
 about to be made the subject of parliamentary 
 discussion. 
 
 MEMORANDUM ON OPENING THE TRADE WITH INDIA 
 TO THE OUTPORTS, 1st FEBRUARY, 1813. 
 
 1. The discussions between His Majesty's ministers and 
 the Directors of the East India Company, regarding the 
 renewal of the Charter, have apparently broken off upon 
 a point which neither party seem at first to have looked for- 
 ward to, as coming within the range of concessions to be 
 made to public opinion. The opening of the import trade 
 from India directly to the outports of the United Kingdom 
 is never once mentioned by Lord Melville in his letters 
 of the 28th December, 1808, and 17th December, 1811, 
 though he insists on the admission of the ships as well as 
 the goods of private merchants to the trade of India as a 
 preliminary condition, yet this applies only to the exports 
 from the outports and the imports to the Port of London ; 
 and in one of his last communications to the Directors, on 
 the 4th of March, 1812, in answer to the sixth article of 
 the hints submitted to him by that body, viz. " The whole 
 of the Indian Trade to be brought to the Port of London, 
 and the goods sold at the Company's sales," he observes, 
 that the adoption of the regulation suggested in this propo- 
 sition will probably tend to the security and advantage of 
 the revenue. 
 
 Lord Buckinghamshire's letter, of the 27th of April, 1812, 
 contains the first notice of an intention to open the import 
 trade to the outports ; and in his letters of the 24th De- 
 cember, 1812, and 4th January, 1813, he states, that 
 this change in the original arrangement had been the re- 
 sult of personal conferences with persons interested in the 
 trade of the outports, who had shown that the liberty of 
 export without that of imports would be nugatory.
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNKO. 385 
 
 The sentiments of the Directors, on the opening of the 
 trade, had long been known to His Majesty's Government. 
 It might have been expected, therefore, that ministers would 
 at once have formed their own plan, and proceeded to carry 
 it into effect ; or if, before taking this step, they wished to 
 receive every suggestion by which it might be improved, it 
 might have been expected that they would have begun 
 with examining the petitions, and hearing the Delegates 
 from the outports ; that they would then have heard the 
 objections of the Directors to the claims of the outports, 
 admitted them if just, rejected them if otherwise ; and, 
 finally have adopted their own plan, either as it originally 
 stood, or with such amendments as might have been judged 
 expedient. But instead of following this course, ministers 
 enter into a long negotiation with the Directors: they 
 bring forward no complete system ; they discuss insulated 
 points, keeping others in reserve, as if the Directors had 
 been the agents of a foreign power ; they confer with the 
 Delegates, and call upon the Directors to relinquish to the 
 outports the right of importing direct from India, which 
 they themselves, until a very late period of the discussions, 
 had evidently no idea of conceding. Whether both parties 
 (cnew previously or not, that to the outports the right of 
 exporting, without that of importing direct, would be nu- 
 gatory, the appearance at least of such a knowledge ought 
 to have been avoided. 
 
 The Directors however, by not objecting to Lord Mel- 
 ville's declaration, that ships should clear out from the out- 
 ports, had virtually acceded to it, and ought therefore to 
 have agreed also to the claim of importing direct ; provided 
 it could be shown that this measure would be productive of 
 no serious injury to the Company or the public. Among 
 the evils which they regarded as the inevitable consequence 
 of it, were, the great additional facility of smuggling, the 
 diminution of their sales and profits to such a degree as to 
 VOL. I. 2 C
 
 386 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 incapacitate them from paying their dividends, and of ne- 
 cessity the complete breaking up of the system by which 
 India is now governed. Ministers maintained, that, as 
 guardians of the public revenue, they were as much in- 
 terested as the Directors in the prevention of smuggling, 
 and that regulations adequate to this purpose could easily 
 be framed. It was surely no very unreasonable request, 
 on the part of the Directors, to be made acquainted with 
 those regulations, on the success or failure of which the 
 very existence of the Company would probably depend ; 
 but ministers refuse to give them this satisfaction, and re- 
 quire that they shall consent to run the risk of annihilation, 
 on the assurance that a remedy will be found perfectly 
 competent to save them. Ministers were bound to have 
 shown clearly, not only that smuggling could be prevented, 
 but that very important benefits would accrue to the pub- 
 lic from the opening of the trade to the outports, before 
 they pledged themselves to so great an innovation ; for, 
 without weighty and manifest advantages, what wise states- 
 man would hazard such a change in a system which has 
 been found so eminently useful in all the main points for 
 which it was intended ? It is well known that smuggling 
 has been carried on to a great extent in the river Thames ; 
 that it is only within these few years that means have been 
 devised to restrain it at all, and that it is still too frequently 
 practised with impunity. It would of course extend in 
 proportion as the field for it was widened ; and if it has not 
 yet been subdued in the river Thames, in what time, it 
 may be asked, can we rationally hope that, by any set of 
 regulations, it will be effectually repressed in the numerous 
 creeks along the coasts of Scotland and Ireland ? Have 
 such regulations been yet prepared ? and have the Com- 
 missioners of Customs and of Excise expressed their con- 
 fidence that they will be efficacious ? If they have not, the 
 experiment of a free trade with India should for the pre-
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 387 
 
 sent be confined to the Port of London. For this restric- 
 tion, the Directors have, on their side, the high authority of 
 some of our most eminent statesmen Mr. Pitt, Mr. Fox, 
 and the late Lord Melville. Against it, the ministers have, 
 in their favour, commercial theory and the arguments of 
 the outports, promising great commercial advantages. 
 
 No candid man, who considers fairly the correspondence 
 that has passed on this subject, can resist the belief, that 
 Government has throughout been guided solely by a view 
 to the public good ; and we may therefore infer, that be- 
 sides the security of the revenue, the advantages which it 
 contemplates are the encouragement of our own manufac- 
 tures by an increased export, and the benefit both of India 
 and this country by an augmented importation of Indian 
 produce. 
 
 Now as to the exports, it is not likely that they will 
 ever, unless very slowly, be much extended ; opposed by 
 moral and physical obstacles, by religion, by civil institu- 
 tions, by climate, and by the skill and ingenuity of the 
 people of India. 
 
 Some increase there will undoubtedly be, but such as 
 will arise principally from the increase of European esta- 
 blishments, and of the mixed race which springs up in 
 their chief settlements. 
 
 No nation will take from another what it can furnish 
 cheaper and better itself. In India, almost every article 
 which the inhabitants require is made cheaper and better 
 than in Europe. Among these are all cotton and silk 
 manufactures, leather, paper, domestic utensils of brass 
 and iron, and implements of agriculture. Their coarse 
 woollens, though bad, will always keep their ground, 
 from their superior cheapness. Their finer camblets are 
 warmer and more lasting than ours. 
 
 Glass-ware is in little request, except with a very few 
 principal natives, and, among them, is confined to mirrors 
 
 2 c 2
 
 388 THE LIFE OF 
 
 and lamps ; and it is only such natives as are much con- 
 nected with Europeans, who purchase these articles. They 
 keep them, not to gratify their own taste, but to display 
 to their European friends when they receive their occa- 
 sional visits ; at all other times they are put out of the 
 way as useless incumbrances. Their simple mode of 
 living, dictated both by caste and climate, renders all our 
 furniture and ornaments for the decoration of the house 
 and the table utterly unserviceable to the Hindoos ; living 
 in low mud-houses, eating on the bare earth, they cannot 
 require the various articles used among us. They have 
 no tables ; their houses are not furnished, except those of 
 the rich, which have a small carpet, or a few mats and 
 pillows. The Hindoos eat alone, many from caste, in the 
 open air, others under sheds, and out of leaves of trees, 
 in preference to plates. But this is the picture, perhaps, 
 of the unfortunate native reduced to poverty by European 
 oppression under the Company's monopoly ? No it is 
 equally that of the highest and richest Hindoo in every 
 part of India. It is that of the minister of state. His 
 dwelling is little better than a shed : the walls are naked, 
 and the mud-floor, for the sake of coolness, is every morn- 
 ing sprinkled with a mixture of water and cow-dung. He 
 has no furniture in it. He distributes food to whoever 
 wants it ; but he gives no grand dinners to his friends. 
 He throws aside his upper garment, and, with nothing 
 but a cloth round his loins, he sits down half-naked, 
 and eats his meal alone, upon the bare earth, and under 
 the open sky. 
 
 These simple habits are not peculiar to the Hindoos. 
 The Mohammedan also, with a few exceptions among the 
 higher classes, conforms to them. 
 
 If we reason from the past to the future, we can have 
 no well-founded expectation of any considerable extension 
 of our exports. If it were as easy, as some suppose, to
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 389 
 
 introduce the use of foreign articles, it would have been 
 done long ago. 
 
 From the most distant ages of antiquity, there was a 
 constant intercourse between India and the countries on 
 the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea, without the introduc- 
 tion of foreign manufactures among the Hindoos ; and 
 since the discovery of the Cape of Good Hope, there has 
 been an extensive trade with the western nations of Europe, 
 without any one of them having been more successful than 
 the ancients in prevailing upon the Hindoos to change 
 their customs so far as to use their commodities in pre- 
 ference to their own. Neither the Portuguese, the Dutch, 
 the French, nor the English, have in this respect effected 
 any considerable change ; but this will be imputed to the 
 restraints imposed by the monopolies of trading compa- 
 nies. Let us impute to this cause all that we can. Still 
 we should expect that some progress would have been 
 made in three centuries ; that if all the natives could 
 not purchase foreign articles, the rich would, and that 
 the demand would be greatest at the chief seats of Euro- 
 pean trade, and lessen gradually towards the interior. 
 But the inhabitants on the coast are as little changed as 
 in the interior. The very domestics of Europeans adopt 
 none of their customs, and use none of their commodities. 
 
 The monopoly-price, it will be said, has prevented their 
 sale among the natives ; but it is well known that Euro- 
 pean articles are often sold at prime cost. The monopoly 
 might impede, but it would not completely hinder the 
 sale. It ought to operate in India as in Europe. It does 
 not prevent us in Europe from purchasing, it merely com- 
 pels us to take fewer of the articles we want. 
 
 The monopoly of spices by the Dutch, and of piece- 
 goods by the English, has not prevented their sale in 
 Europe. It has made them dearer, and made the con- 
 sumers take less. Why should a monopoly of exports
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 to India not follow the same course ? Why should not 
 the principal native merchants purchase of the Company, 
 and retail to the country dealers ? We must therefore 
 look to some other cause than monopoly for the little 
 progress that the demand for European commodities has 
 made among the Hindoos. Besides the peculiar customs 
 and institutions and climate of India, we must look to the 
 superior skill of the Indian workmen. We cannot pro- 
 fitably export to them until our own fabrics excel theirs. 
 When this is accomplished, no extraordinary skill will be 
 required to extend the sale. The Indians will purchase, 
 even though we should endeavour to prevent them, just 
 as we in this country purchase the contraband stuffs of 
 India. 
 
 But though there are unquestionably many obstacles 
 to any considerable increase of our exports to India, the 
 prejudices of the natives have not so much share in them 
 as is usually supposed. Their prejudices extend only to 
 intoxicating liquors, and certain prohibited kinds of food. 
 They do not reach to other things. Every article, as it 
 comes from the hands of the workman, is pure. There 
 is no prejudice against the cloth, though there may be 
 some against the particular form of the garment. The 
 grand obstacles to our exports are the inability of the 
 Indians to purchase our commodities, and the cheapness 
 and excellence of their own. It is obvious, therefore, that 
 their demand for ours can only be enlarged either by a 
 general improvement in the condition of the natives of 
 India, or by a reduction in the price of European articles : 
 coarse woollens are undoubtedly the article which would 
 find the greatest sale, if they could be furnished at a 
 moderate rate. Almost every native of India has a broad 
 piece of coarse woollen, which he uses as a Highlander 
 does his plaid. He sits on it, sleeps on it, and wraps it 
 round him when he walks abroad in cold or rainy weather.
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 391 
 
 Its texture, something like that of the camblet of our 
 boat-cloaks, and its hairy surface, which throws off the 
 rain, is better adapted to the purposes for which he wants 
 it, than the European manufacture ; and he would con- 
 sequently, even if the prices of both were equal, still give 
 it the preference. In seeking, therefore, to extend our 
 exports, cheapness is not the only requisite, the tastes of 
 the natives must also be studied. Some articles, which 
 we like plain, they like with the most gaudy colours, and 
 vice versa. Though simple in their diet and habitations, 
 they are as fond as any people in the world of expense 
 in their dress, their servants, and whatever they consider 
 as show or luxury ; and, as far as their means go, they 
 will purchase for these objects, from foreign countries, 
 whatever their own does not produce. It is singular, how- 
 ever, that after our long intercourse with India, no new 
 article of export has been discovered, nor the quantity of 
 any old one materially augmented ; but with regard to the 
 imports, the case is different. A new article, raw-silk, has 
 been introduced by the Company into Bengal, and im- 
 ported largely into this country ; and cotton and indigo, 
 the old products of India, have only of late been brought 
 in any great quantity to this country. 
 
 Though the trade between Britain and India is not at 
 all proportionate to the population and resources of the 
 two countries, yet when we consider the skill and industry 
 of their respective inhabitants, the nature of man constantly 
 searching for new enjoyments, and the invariable effect of 
 commerce in exciting and supplying new wants, we cannot 
 refuse to admit that a change must at last be effected, how- 
 ever slow and imperceptible in its progress, when the 
 mutual demand of the two countries for the products of 
 each other will far exceed its present amount. Whether 
 an increased export of European commodities is to arise 
 from furnishing them cheaper, or of a fashion more suited
 
 392 THE LIFE OF 
 
 to the Indian market, in either case the event is to be 
 looked for rather from the exertions of private traders than 
 of the Company's servants ; not that the Company's ser- 
 vants are deficient in knowledge or industry, but that they 
 are not stimulated by the same deep interest ; that they are 
 few in number; and that it is contrary to every rational 
 principle of calculation to suppose, that in so small a body 
 the same amount of talent shall be found as among the 
 immense multitude of men trained in commercial habits, 
 from which the merchants of Britain may select their 
 Indian agents. 
 
 The danger of colonization from the resort of European 
 adventurers to India, is an objection entitled to very little 
 weight. They could not by law become proprietors of 
 land. They could not become manufacturers, as the supe- 
 rior skill and frugality of the natives would render all 
 competition with them unavailing. They could find no 
 profitable occupation but as mechanics for making articles 
 for the use of European residents, or as traders or agents ; 
 but the number employed in these ways would necessarily 
 be limited by the extent of the trade, without a correspond- 
 ing increase of which it could not be materially augmented. 
 The Europeans who might go out to India, in consequence 
 of the opening of the trade, would be chiefly the agents of 
 commercial and manufacturing houses in this country. 
 But it is manifest, that only so many as could be advan- 
 tageously employed would be kept in India. If it ap- 
 peared on trial that more had been sent out, the excess would 
 be recalled. If adventurers went to India to trade on 
 their own account, their number also would necessarily be 
 regulated by the extent of this trade, and those whom it 
 could not employ would be obliged to return. Few Euro- 
 peans would go to India only with the view of returning 
 ultimately to their own country. Those who remained 
 could not colonize. Confined to trade, excluded by law
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 393 
 
 from the possession of land, and unable to find employ- 
 ment as manufacturers, they could never rise into a flou- 
 rishing colony. They would be kept down by the great 
 industrious Indian population, and they would probably 
 dwindle into a race little better than the mixed caste de- 
 scended from the Portuguese. But supposing even an 
 extreme case, that all the Europeans who could find em- 
 ployment in trade in India should settle there, and abandon 
 for ever their native country, and that their number should 
 in time amount to fifty thousand, yet even this number, 
 unlikely as it is ever to be seen, would, if left to itself, be 
 lost among a native population of forty millions. Its own 
 preservation would depend on the stability of the British 
 Government ; and even if it were disposed to act in oppo- 
 sition to its own interest, it would be unable to disturb the 
 authority of Government for a moment. The only way in 
 which European colonies could be productive of mischief 
 to India, would be from the increased number of adven- 
 turers who, in spite of every precaution, would escape 
 to the interior to seek service among the native princes, 
 and might, when they were fortunate enough to meet with 
 an able one of a warlike character, instigate him to invade 
 the territory of his neighbours. But we are now subject 
 to the same inconvenience by the desertion of European 
 soldiers and settlers. It would unquestionably be aug- 
 mented, but not to any alarming degree by colonization. 
 
 The Americans were not checked in their enterprises by 
 an exclusive Company. They had a free trade to India, 
 and ought, according to the advocates of that system, to 
 have undersold the Company, and filled all India with 
 European goods. But the Americans have not done this, 
 say the outports, only because they are not a manufactur- 
 ing people, and because, as they carry on a profitable trade 
 with Spanish America for bullion, they find it more conve- 
 nient to export that article to India, in order to provide
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 their cargoes there. But what is to hinder them when they 
 come to this country, with the produce of their own, from 
 sailing to India with a cargo of English manufactures ? 
 Nothing but the conviction that they could not be sold. 
 Were it otherwise, no American, any more than a British 
 merchant, would carry bullion where there was a market for 
 goods, and content himself with a profit on one cargo 
 where he might have it on two. The Americans are a 
 sober, industrious, persevering race, with all the skill and 
 enterprise of our outport merchants, and all the attention 
 to their interest of trade, which forms so strong a contrast 
 between the private trader and the agent of a joint-stock 
 company ; and with all these useful qualifications, every 
 man who is not blinded by prejudices in favour of old esta- 
 blishments, will readily believe that the Americans, had 
 they not unhappily quarrelled with this country, would in 
 time have circulated our manufactures to every corner of 
 India. On viewing, however, the process by which they 
 were to arrive at this end, we perceive, with surprise, that 
 almost from the beginning they had been going rather 
 backward than forward. In the six years from 1802-3 to 
 1 807-8, the proportion of goods to bullion in their exports, 
 was only about fifteen per cent. In the three years from 
 1808-9 to 1810-11, it was not more than eight per cent.: 
 and these goods were almost exclusively for the use of 
 Europeans. The active American trader therefore has not 
 been more successful than the agent of the Company in 
 importing to the natives a proper taste for British manu- 
 factures ; and indeed there is but too much reason to fear 
 that all the enterprise of the outport merchant will be 
 equally fruitless, and that the natives will, in spite of rea- 
 son and free trade, still persist in preferring their own fine 
 stuffs to the dowlas of England. 
 
 Persia and Arabia on the west, and the countries on the 
 east of India, either have what they want within them-
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 395 
 
 selves, or they receive it cheaper from India than they can 
 be supplied from Europe. 
 
 On the whole, there is no ground to look for any con- 
 siderable increase in the demand for our manufactures, by 
 the natives of India, unless by very slow steps, and at a 
 very distant period ; and it may be questioned whether 
 the private traders would export so much as the Company 
 are now bound to do. 
 
 With respect to the imports from India, the quantity 
 is expected to be increased, and the price diminished by 
 shorter voyages and other causes. Most of the articles 
 now imported, India is capable of supplying to any extent; 
 and every measure by which the demand can be enlarged 
 and the supply facilitated, of those commodities which do 
 not interfere with our own manufacture, promotes the 
 national prosperity. 
 
 Piece-goods, the great Indian staple, have fallen in de- 
 mand, in consequence of the improvement of the cotton 
 fabrics of this country, and are likely to fall still lower. 
 As they cannot rise without interfering with our own 
 manufactures, all that is necessary is to supply ourselves 
 the demand which still remains, without the aid of fo- 
 reigners. Cotton is grown in abundance in most parts 
 of India ; but while it sells at only half the price of 
 that from America, it can be brought with advantage 
 to England, only when the trade with America is inter- 
 rupted. 
 
 The importation however might, it is supposed, be 
 greatly increased by more attention to clearing the cotton 
 in India, where labour is so cheap by cultivating from 
 among the various kinds which are indigenous to the soil, 
 that which is best adapted to our manufactures, or by in- 
 troducing the culture of foreign cotton, such as that of 
 America or Bourbon. In the north of India the fields 
 of cotton are artificially watered; in the south they are
 
 396 THE LIFE OF 
 
 left to the rain and dews of heaven. In the north, 
 therefore, the Bourbon and American cotton, both of 
 which require much moisture, would be most likely to 
 succeed. 
 
 For encouraging the culture of the best kind of Indian 
 cotton, and clearing and preparing it for the home-market, 
 and for promoting the growth of foreign cotton in India, 
 no person is so well qualified as the manufacturer of this 
 country ; for he who has sunk a large capital in expensive 
 buildings and machinery, has a much deeper interest in 
 securing a durable supply of good cotton than the mer- 
 chant who can with much less inconvenience divert his 
 capital from one object to another. 
 
 Bengal raw-silk has been for some years imported to the 
 amount of about 600,000/. per annum, and may be increas- 
 ed to any extent, if protected by duties against the French 
 and Italian. 
 
 , Indigo is now imported equal at least to the demand of 
 all Europe. 
 
 Sugar, by a reduction of the existing duties, might be 
 brought home to any extent; but would prove highly de- 
 trimental to the West Indian planters. 
 
 Pepper and drugs have long been supplied equal to the 
 demand, which cannot admit of any considerable increase, 
 as the consumption of these articles must, from their very 
 nature, be at all times extremely limited. 
 
 These are the chief articles of Indian produce, which 
 find a sale in the European market. Of some, the con- 
 sumption can never be much increased, and of others it 
 cannot be augmented without injury to our home manu- 
 factures and West Indian colonies. All of them, with the 
 exception of sugar and cotton, require very little tonnage ; 
 and the expected increase of shipping must consequently 
 prove delusive, until we. can either undersell the American
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 397 
 
 cotton, or consent to bring the Indian into competition with 
 the West Indian sugar. 
 
 The same outcry is still kept up against the Company's 
 monopoly, as if it still existed in all its former strictness, 
 and were not in fact nearly done away. That monopoly, 
 however, even in its most rigid state, has been the source 
 of many great national advantages. It enabled the Com- 
 pany to expend annually 64,000/. in the purchase of Corn- 
 wall tin, which they exported without any profit, and often 
 with a loss. It enabled them to expend 80,000/. for the 
 encouragement of the Indigo manufacture, and to support 
 the traders in that article during their difficulties, by an 
 advance of nearly a million sterling. It enabled them to 
 persevere in the preparation of raw-silk, though they lost 
 on their sales of that article, from 1776 to 1785, to the 
 amount of 884,0007. ; and it enabled them to acquire the 
 extensive dominions now under the British Government in 
 India. These territories never could have been acquired, 
 had there not existed a Company possessing the exclusive 
 trade directing their undivided attention constantly to 
 India, and employing their funds in extending their do- 
 minions. The whole of the merchants of Britain trading 
 separately, could neither have undertaken nor accomplish- 
 ed so magnificent an enterprise. 
 
 The Company are willing that the trade should be thrown 
 open to the Port of London ; but this, it is asserted, will 
 not afford a wide enough range for the skill and enterprise 
 of British merchants. But are these qualities monopolized 
 by the outports ? Have not the London merchants their 
 full share, and have they not capital sufficient to carry on 
 all the Indian trade which the most visionary theorist can 
 look for ? If freedom of trade is claimed on the ground of 
 right, and not of expediency, every port in the kingdom 
 ought to enjoy it; for they have all the same right ab-
 
 398 THE LIFE OF 
 
 stractedly. But, unfortunately, it is necessary to withhold 
 the benefit from them, because the warehouse-system and 
 customhouses are not yet sufficiently spread along our 
 coasts ; or, in other words, because a great increase of smug- 
 gling would unavoidably ensue. The East India Com- 
 pany are attacked from all quarters, as if they alone, in this 
 kingdom, possessed exclusive privileges. But monopoly 
 pervades all our institutions. All corporations are inimi- 
 cal to the natural rights of British subjects. The corn 
 laws favour the landed interest, at the expense of the pub- 
 lic. The laws against the export of wool, and many others, 
 are of the same nature ; and likewise those by which West 
 India commodities are protected and enhanced in price. 
 It would be better for the community that the West India 
 planter should be permitted to export his produce direct 
 to all countries, and that the duties on East Indian sugar, 
 &c. should be lowered. 
 
 When the petitioners against the Company complain that 
 half the globe is shut against their skill and enterprise, 
 and that they are debarred from passing the Cape of Good 
 Hope and Cape Horn, and rushing into the seas beyond 
 them with their vessels deeply laden with British mer- 
 chandise, they seem not to know that they may do so now 
 that all private traders may sail to the Western coast of 
 America ; to the Eastern coast of Africa, and to the Red 
 Sea; and that India, China, and the intervening tract only, 
 are shut. Some advantage would undoubtedly accrue to the 
 outports from the opening of the trade. But the question 
 is, would this advantage compensate to the nation for the 
 injury which the numerous establishments in the metropolis 
 connected with India would sustain, and the risk of loss on 
 the Company's sales, and of their trade by smuggling? 
 
 The loss of the China trade would subvert the system 
 by which India is governed: another equally good might 
 possibly be found ; but no wise statesman would overthrow
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 399 
 
 that which experience has shown to be well adapted to its 
 object, in the vain hope of instantly discovering another. 
 
 It yet remains doubtful whether or not the trade can be 
 greatly increased ; and as it will not be denied that London 
 has both capital and mercantile knowledge in abundance, to 
 make the trial on the greatest scale, the danger to be ap- 
 prehended from all sudden innovations ought to induce us 
 to proceed with caution, and rest satisfied, for the present, 
 with opening the trade to the Port of London. Let the 
 experiment be made; and if it should hereafter appear that 
 London is unable to embrace the increasing trade, the 
 privilege may then, on better grounds, and with less danger, 
 be extended to other places. 
 
 If Government cannot clearly establish that no material 
 increase of smuggling, and no loss on the Company's sales, 
 and consequent derangement of their affairs, would ensue 
 from allowing the outports to import direct from India, 
 they should consider that they are risking great certain 
 benefits for a small contingent advantage. 
 
 It was not, however, by drawing up such 
 papers as this, nor yet by his evidence before 
 the Committee of the House of Commons alone, 
 that Colonel Munro took part in the great ques- 
 tion then under discussion. Very many of the 
 articles which appeared in the several Reviews 
 a still greater number of the pamphlets which 
 came out at the time, were submitted, previous 
 to publication, to his revision ; whilst not a few, 
 for which others have obtained credit, owe all 
 their merits to him. It seemed indeed as if bu- 
 siness, public business, was the atmosphere in 
 which alone he could freely breathe ; for even
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 his period of professed relaxation was more than 
 half consumed in attending to matters of high 
 moment. Yet was Colonel Munro all this while 
 a close and attentive inquirer into other sciences. 
 Besides chemistry, for which his partiality con- 
 tinued unabated, he studied political economy 
 in the abstract, as he found it taught in the 
 pages of Ricardo and his rivals, making his 
 remarks upon each passage as he went along; 
 and of the soundness of his views the reader 
 may judge for himself by turning to the spe- 
 cimen of his criticisms which is given in the 
 Appendix. 
 
 It can hardly be forgotten, that one effect pro- 
 duced by the minute inquiry into the affairs of 
 India at this time, was to occasion a somewhat 
 unfavourable impression throughout the coun- 
 try at large, of the operation of our judicial 
 system in the East. The same sentiments 
 were entertained by the Court of Directors, 
 who determined to send out a Commission with 
 full powers of inquiring into, and ameliorating, 
 such defects as might be found to exist; and 
 Colonel Munro's intelligence on judicial as well 
 as financial subjects was so apparent to all who 
 enjoyed an opportunity of appreciating it, that 
 he was at once selected as a fit person to be placed 
 at its head. He accepted the appointment, more 
 from a desire to better the condition of the na- 
 tives, and to benefit his employers, than through 
 any craving of personal ambition, and as he had
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 401 
 
 been detained in England whilst the late in- 
 quiries were pending, by an especial act of au- 
 thority, the fact of his having overstaid the cus- 
 tomary term of leave was not permitted to inter- 
 fere with the arrangement. But previous to his 
 setting out, a change took place in his own cir- 
 cumstances, which gave a turn to the whole of his 
 after-life, I allude to his marriage with Miss 
 Jane Campbell, the beautiful and accomplished 
 
 daughter of Campbell, Esq. of Craigie House, 
 
 Ayrshire. This event occurred on the 30th of 
 March, 1814, at the residence of Mr. Campbell; 
 and it is not going too far to affirm, that whether 
 his own happiness be considered, (a feeling which, 
 with Colonel Munro, could not operate unless 
 there were some other being besides himself on 
 whom to fix his affections,) or the advantages con- 
 ferred upon the society of Madras, by the pre- 
 sence there, in the highest station, of a lady re- 
 markable for the correctness of her manners and 
 steadiness of her principles, nothing could have 
 befallen more fortunate or more beneficial in its 
 general consequences. 
 
 VOL. i. 2D
 
 402 THE LIFE OF 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Appointment of a Commission to revise the Judicial System. 
 Colonel Munro nominated Chief Commissioner. Arrival in 
 India. Objects of the Commission. Letters to Mr. Sulli- 
 van, Mr. Gumming, &c. 
 
 COLONEL MUNRO had been married barely 
 seven weeks, the greater portion of which he spent 
 in London,* when, his commission being duly 
 made out, and all other things prepared, he set 
 sail, with his wife and sister-in-law, from Ports- 
 mouth. He reached his place of destination on 
 the 16th of September, after a pleasant passage 
 of eighteen weeks, the ship not having touched 
 at any port by the way ; and landing immedi- 
 ately, found himself once more amid the bustle 
 and gaiety of Madras. 
 
 * One brief interval of something less than a fortnight was 
 occupied in paying a visit to Paris, which, being filled by the 
 armies of the Allied Sovereigns, presented more than common 
 attractions to Colonel Munro. But of the adventures attending 
 that excursion I know nothing.
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNHO. 403 
 
 The following letter to his friend George 
 Brown, Esq., gives a lively description of the 
 manner in which he was received at the Presi- 
 dency : 
 
 TO GEORGE BROWN, ESQ. 
 
 Madras, 30th September, 1814. 
 
 MY DEAR GEORGE, 
 
 WE arrived here on the 16th, without touching 
 anywhere, after a passage of above eighteen weeks, of 
 almost constantly fine, and often very hot weather. I was 
 so tired of a ship-life that I often wished I had never left 
 home ; and what I have gone through since landing has 
 not tended to change my mind on that subject. I have 
 now been here a fortnight, and have had so little time to 
 think about any thing, that I scarcely know whether I am 
 in India or not. I have been attending to nothing but 
 visits. The first operation on landing is for the stranger 
 to visit all married people, whether he knows them or not. 
 Bachelors usually call first on him then his visits are 
 returned ; then his wife visits the ladies ; and altogether 
 there is such calling, and gossiping, and driving all over 
 the face of the country, in an old hack-chaise, in- the heat 
 of the day, that I can hardly believe myself in the same 
 place where I used, in former times, to come and go 
 quietly without a single formal visit. But all this is owing 
 to a man's being married. Had I come out single, I 
 should have been settled at once, and nobody would have 
 thought it worth their while to call upon one. While I 
 am passing through all these tiresome ceremonials, I often 
 wish that I were trudging through the streets to Russell- 
 square. We are all going to a ball to-night, to be given 
 to General Abercrombie on his departure; and here 
 another trouble begins which I did not foresee I shall 
 
 2 D 2
 
 404 THE LIFE OF 
 
 be obliged to stay late to bring away the ladies. General 
 Abercrombie has given much satisfaction here ; and his 
 conduct has contributed greatly to remove the party-spirit 
 which formerly subsisted among different classes of people. 
 Every thing is now perfectly quiet ; and, as far as I can 
 learn, there is no appearance of any disturbance either 
 domestic or foreign. Yours truly, 
 
 (Signed) THOMAS MUNRO. 
 
 Colonel Munro was not, however, disposed to 
 waste, in such pursuits as these, time of which 
 he entertained a just value. He addressed him- 
 self at once to the novel and important task 
 which had been committed to him ; for a due un- 
 derstanding of which it will be necessary to lay 
 before the reader a brief sketch of the state of 
 affairs as they then subsisted. 
 
 The great leading feature of that system of in- 
 ternal administration, which owes its origin to the 
 Marquis Cornwallis, consists in the total separation 
 of the two departments of justice and revenue, 
 by depriving the collector of all authority as 
 judge and magistrate, and vesting it in the hands 
 of a distinct functionary. To this may be added 
 the entire subversion of every native institution, 
 the transfer of the property in the soil to a dis- 
 tinct class of persons, dignified with the appella- 
 tion of Zemindars, the overthrow of all heredi- 
 tary jurisdictions, the abolition of all hereditary 
 offices, and the removal, as much as possible, out 
 of the hands of the natives, of every species of 
 power and influence.
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 405 
 
 According to the ancient customs of the coun- 
 try, as they prevailed under the rule of the Mo- 
 gul dynasty, the officer to whom was committed 
 the charge of administering the revenue in every 
 district, was, by whatever title recognised, vested, 
 throughout that district, with extensive judicial 
 authority. It was his business, in an especial 
 manner, to hear and to determine all disputes 
 arising out of the collection of the land-tax ; to 
 defend the rayets, or cultivators, against the 
 tyranny of his own officers, and to cause restitu- 
 tion to be made whenever he saw reason to be- 
 lieve that more than the established amount had 
 been exacted from them. Both the titles of these 
 functionaries, and the extent of their jurisdiction, 
 necessarily varied in different parts of India ; 
 but their power, whether it extended over a pro- 
 vince, a portion of a province, or a single village, 
 was every where in effect the same. 
 
 Again, in all Indian villages, there was a re- 
 gularly constituted municipality, by which its 
 affairs, both of revenue and police, were adminis- 
 tered, and which exercised, to a very considerable 
 extent, magisterial and judicial authority, in all 
 matters private as well as public. At the head of 
 this, in the provinces subject to the Presidency 
 of Fort St. George, were the Potail and the 
 Curnum ; the former being to his own village at 
 once a magistrate and a collector; the latter, a 
 sort of notary or public accountant. Under them 
 again were the Talliars, or village police, consisting
 
 406 THE LIFE OF 
 
 of a body of hereditary watchmen, whose business 
 it was to assist in getting in the revenue, to pre- 
 serve the inhabitants from outrage, to guide tra- 
 vellers on the way, and who, in the event of any 
 robbery, were held answerable for the loss, in 
 case they failed to produce the thief or the pro- 
 perty stolen. But the most remarkable of all the 
 native institutions, was perhaps the Punchayet. 
 This was an assembly of a certain number of the 
 inhabitants, before whom parties maintaining dis- 
 putes one with another, pleaded their own cause, 
 and who, like an English jury, heard both sides 
 patiently, and then gave a decision according to 
 their own views of the case. The Punchayet was 
 of course differently composed, according to the 
 matters referred to its decision. If a question 
 relating to caste, for example, required solution, 
 the Punchayet w r as not made up of the same de- 
 scription of persons who sat upon a question of 
 doubtful right to property ; but in all cases the 
 Punchayet, though a tribunal voluntarily consti- 
 tuted, that is to say, not formally recognised by the 
 Mohammedan authorities, exercised a great and 
 beneficial influence among the people. Thus 
 were all the affairs of the village, the collection 
 of the revenue, the adjustment of disputes, the 
 suppression, and sometimes the punishment of 
 crime, conducted within itself, not perhaps in 
 every instance with perfect justice or impartiality, 
 but at least with promptitude, and the utmost 
 regularity.
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 407 
 
 Precisely, similar to this was the arrangement 
 or organization of larger tracts of country, which 
 embraced, according to circumstances, ten, twenty, 
 forty, or a hundred villages. At the head of 
 each of those was a zemindar, poligar, teshildar, 
 or amildar, with his establishment of paykes 
 or peons under him, who received the revenue 
 from the potails, exercised an authority over 
 them, and was to his district, in almost every 
 respect, what the potail was to his village. Thus, 
 under the Mohammedan rule, the same system 
 prevailed which, according to the best authenti- 
 cated traditions, existed long before the Mogul 
 conquest, the administration of revenue carry- 
 ing along with it, necessarily and in all cases, the 
 power of a magistrate, and the authority of a 
 judge. 
 
 Arrangements such as these are, it must be 
 confessed, diametrically opposed to all the pre- 
 judices arising out of an acquaintance with the 
 state of Europe only. 
 
 An Englishman, for example, finds it extremely 
 difficult to believe, that a system which intrusts 
 to one and the same man the duty of collecting 
 the revenue, and deciding upon the propriety of 
 that collection, can be a good one ; or that justice 
 can be effectually administered by persons pos- 
 sessing no legal power of enforcing obedience. 
 
 We are so much accustomed to the checks and 
 balances, to the forms, technicalities, and pecu- 
 liar arrangements of our own constitution, that
 
 408 THE LIFE OF 
 
 we consider all others as imperfect; and the 
 farther removed they may be from the institu- 
 tions in which we take so much pride, the louder 
 are we, for the most part, in condemning them. 
 I am not exactly prepared to say, that over the 
 minds of the framers of the judicial and reve- 
 nue system of 1793, these sentiments had any 
 weight; but experience has proved, that they 
 acted in every particular as if such had been 
 their opinions. 
 
 By the regulations of 1793, all power was at 
 once withdrawn from the hands of the natives. The 
 village municipalities and zemindars' jurisdictions 
 were abolished ; and the provinces being parcelled 
 out into zillahs or districts, a certain number of 
 Europeans were nominated to take charge of each. 
 These consisted for a while of no more than two 
 functionaries ; one of whom was enjoined to con- 
 fine himself entirely to the collection of the re- 
 venue ; whilst upon the other devolved the entire 
 charge of hearing and determining all causes, of 
 taking cognizance of all offences, and of regu- 
 lating all matters of police, throughout a popula- 
 tion of perhaps two hundred thousand souls. To 
 aid him in the discharge of his momentous duties, 
 he was furnished with a single European registrar, 
 and a specified number of native assistants, whilst 
 his police consisted of some twenty or thirty hired 
 darogahs, posted at different stations, from one 
 extremity of bis zillah to another. But the powers
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 409 
 
 of the zillah judge were, both in civil and crimi- 
 nal cases, exceedingly limited. He could give no 
 sentence against which appeals were not allowed ; 
 whilst with persons accused of offences beyond the 
 pettiest breaches of the peace, he could adopt no 
 summary mode of proceeding. They must be of 
 necessity committed to gaol, there to be kept till 
 the arrival of the Circuit Court, before which, 
 after the manner of the gaol deliveries at home, 
 they were arraigned. In a word, the Judicial 
 system of 1793 swept away by one stroke every 
 institution under which the natives of India had 
 lived for ages, and introduced a mode of acting, 
 as nearly analogous to that pursued in England, 
 as was at all compatible with the circumstances 
 of the two countries. 
 
 The immediate consequence of this was, that 
 the collector ceased to be in the slightest degree 
 useful, beyond the mere routine of levying and 
 getting in the taxes ; for he was not permitted 
 to decide any dispute even between his own 
 servants and the rayets, ah 1 such being cognizable 
 by the judge and magistrate alone. Now it is 
 very obvious, that no human exertions could pos- 
 sibly keep pace with the demands for justice 
 made in this manner, among a people numerous, 
 tenacious of their rights, and proverbially litigious. 
 Had he been authorised to act according to the 
 free and unfettered dictates of his own discretion, 
 the zillah judge would have been quite incompetent
 
 410 THE LIFE OF 
 
 to try and decide all the causes, criminal as well 
 as civil, which arose within his district ; but as if 
 it had been the design of those who framed the 
 judicial system, that it should prove as little 
 efficient as possible, the zillah judge was not left 
 to act according to the dictates of his own dis- 
 cretion. A variety of forms were invented, with- 
 out paying strict attention to which no business 
 could be done : a legal language was introduced 
 entirely unknown to the mass of the people ; 
 depositions were required, in all cases, to be taken 
 down in writing ; oaths were fabricated, repulsive 
 to the religious prejudices of the community ; 
 nay, a distinct class of vakeels or advocates was 
 created, without the intervention of one or more 
 of whom, no suit could be tried, nor any cause 
 determined. As a matter of course, the busi- 
 ness of every court fell, under such circumstances, 
 rapidly into arrear, till at last the evil became so 
 glaring, as to demand the application of some 
 immediate remedy. 
 
 Perhaps the whole history of legislative pro- 
 ceedings furnishes no parallel to the method 
 now adopted for the purpose of obviating the 
 disproportion which was found to exist between 
 the demand for judicial decisions, and the occa- 
 sions for them. Instead of simplifying the process, 
 or increasing the number of legal courts, the au- 
 thorities of the day enacted a regulation, by which 
 certain fees were required to be paid by all per-
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 411 
 
 sons on the institution of suits ; whilst various ad- 
 ditional sums were demanded during the progress 
 of these suits, by the imposition of taxes upon the 
 proceedings. In like manner, measures were 
 adopted with a view of facilitating the collection 
 of the revenue, not less novel, though even more 
 iniquitous. It is to be observed, that the parties 
 paying had all along been referred to the regular 
 courts for redress, in case of extortion on the part 
 of the agents of Government, though the latter 
 were authorised to seize and put up for sale the 
 zemindar's estate, in the event of his falling into 
 arrear ; whilst the unhappy zemindar was left to 
 enforce his rents from the rayets, by the tedious 
 process of a legal action. After most of the 
 zemindars had fallen victims to this system, the 
 power of summary distraint was extended to that 
 order, and the rayets in their turn suffered all the 
 miseries attendant upon the condition of men 
 placed beyond the protection of the law. No 
 doubt the courts were open to them : they could 
 institute proceedings against the zemindar for 
 oppression ; but the expense attending the suit 
 was in many instances heavier than could be 
 borne ; whilst the delay in bringing it to a close, 
 rendered it ruinous in all. For, in spite of the 
 late measures, the files of the different courts 
 continued to exhibit a melancholy list of arrears. 
 Appeals, moreover, being permitted from tribunal 
 to tribunal, no man could tell when his cause
 
 412 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 would be decided; because no man could tell 
 whither it would be carried by his defeated and 
 irritated opponent. 
 
 In this state things remained during many 
 years, vice and misery increasing with a rapidity 
 which set all corrective measures at defiance. It 
 was not that there ever existed the slightest 
 disinclination to administer justice with strictness 
 and assiduity. Whatever may have been the 
 results of their efforts, no person can deny to 
 the judicial servants in India the praise of ex- 
 cellent intentions and great zeal ; but the system 
 was one which could not fail to render abortive 
 the most unremitting exertions of such as acted 
 under it. It was to no purpose that partial 
 changes were from time to time effected. The 
 entire scheme being founded on a belief that the 
 natives were unworthy of trust ; that they could 
 not be allowed to participate in the labours of 
 administration, except in the most subordinate 
 capacity ; that all their institutions were as faulty 
 in practice as they were wrong in theory ; and 
 that even Englishmen ought not to be placed 
 in situations where interest and moral rectitude 
 were in danger of clashing, proved utterly un- 
 manageable from the plain and obvious absence 
 of adequate means to direct it aright. There is 
 not space for illustrating the truth of these asser- 
 tions in a work like the present; but he who 
 desires the most ample information, is referred
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 
 
 to the Fifth Report of the Select Committee 
 on East India Affairs, than which no abler docu- 
 ment has ever been laid before the public. 
 
 The Bengal judicial and revenue system made 
 its way slowly, and by degrees, into Madras; 
 in some of the provinces subjected to which, it 
 can scarcely be said to have come into operation 
 so late as 1808. This was not owing to any lack 
 of zeal on the part of its inventors, nor yet to 
 a conviction among the heads of departments at 
 Fort St. George, that the system was imperfect ; 
 but the Madras provinces came gradually into 
 our possession, and they were for the most part, 
 when first acquired, managed by men who saw 
 much in the Bengal system to condemn. Canara 
 and the Ceded Districts, for example, two of the 
 most extensive provinces in this part of India, 
 were acquired in, comparatively speaking, modern 
 times ; and both from Canara and the Ceded Dis- 
 tricts, the new judicial system was, at least for 
 a while, carefully excluded. But no exertions on 
 the part of the collectors could successfully op- 
 pose the wishes of the Government for the time 
 being; and not long after Colonel Munro re- 
 signed his charge, the new system was introdu- 
 ced into both provinces. The same results follow 
 here which had occurred elsewhere; justice 
 ceased, in a great measure, to be administered, 
 and the increase of crime was appalling. 
 
 It is a curious fact, that whilst this state of
 
 414 THE LIFE OF 
 
 things existed, and whilst the records sent home 
 from time to time, by the supreme authorities in 
 India, were filled with ample proofs of its exis- 
 tence, the formal reports from the heads of de- 
 partments contained little else besides assurances 
 of the'" growing prosperity of the country." It is 
 not less extraordinary, that for a long series of 
 years the justice of these assurances was never 
 once questioned, and that the voluminous reports 
 forwarded from the zillah judges and collectors, 
 though teeming with the most important infor- 
 mation, were cast aside as so much waste-paper. 
 Happily for the interests of British India, how- 
 ever, a more just notion of what was due both to 
 themselves and to their subjects, was at length 
 excited among the home authorities. Doubts 
 began to be entertained, that matters might not be 
 exactly in the flourishing condition represented. 
 Inquiries were instituted, in consequence, into 
 the contents of documents, too long neglected ; 
 and the truth burst upon the minds of those 
 engaged in them, with a ^ force not to be re- 
 sisted. Finally, the celebrated Fifth Report came 
 out in 1812, which drew towards the affairs of 
 India, other eyes besides those of its immediate 
 rulers, and measures began to be devised for the 
 correction of a system, the inefficiency of which 
 could no longer be denied. Hence arose the 
 Commission of which Colonel Munro was ap- 
 pointed to act as head ; a distinction for which 
 his well-known acquaintance with the native
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 
 
 character, and his thorough knowledge both of 
 the new, and of the ancient systems of admi- 
 nistration, eminently qualified him. 
 
 Whilst this important measure was in progress, 
 a Committee of Directors was formed at the India 
 House, for the purpose of corresponding with the 
 most eminent of the Company's servants then 
 in England, and gathering both their sentiments 
 as to the operation of the judicial system, and 
 their opinions touching certain proposed modifi- 
 cations of it. The answers sent in to the queries 
 of that Committee have all been made public in 
 the Second Volume of Selections, printed by order 
 of the Court ; but the peculiar circumstances under 
 which they were drawn up deserves to be known. 
 From the tone assumed in several despatches 
 lately transmitted to India, as well as from other 
 causes, a notion generally prevailed, that it was 
 the intention of the Court not to reform, but to 
 abolish the judicial system ; and as no rational 
 man could well stand up as the advocate of so 
 sweeping a measure, it is very little to be won- 
 dered at if the civil servants of the Company 
 were decidedly opposed to it. The notion, how- 
 ever, gained additional strength, when the appoint- 
 ment of Colonel Munro, as head commissioner, 
 became known ; and there is no longer room 
 to doubt, that not a few of the sentiments pub- 
 lished in the volume just referred to, were de- 
 livered under an impression that extreme caution 
 was necessary.
 
 416 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 If men at home conceived an idea so erroneous, 
 it is not surprising that it should have prevailed 
 to a still greater degree abroad. Interest as well 
 as honour was there brought into play ; for the 
 civilians could not but perceive, in the prospect 
 of an overthrow of the system, an abolition of the 
 many lucrative offices which they had hitherto 
 filled ; whilst it is fair to state, that a consider- 
 able proportion of them, though they saw that 
 the machine worked badly, clung to the hope 
 that in time it would right itself. It was in vain 
 therefore that the Court of Directors, in one 
 despatch after another, assured them that a re- 
 form, not a repeal, of existing regulations was 
 intended. They looked upon the Commission 
 as devised to work the entire overthrow of that 
 fabric which had once been designated " a Mo- 
 nument of Human Wisdom ;" and they were 
 prepared to throw every impediment in the 
 way of the accomplishment of the task assigned 
 to it. 
 
 With such a feeling abroad, it is scarcely neces- 
 sary to say, that no man would have coveted, that 
 very few would have accepted, the appointment 
 pressed upon Colonel Munro. He saw before him, 
 from the first, only difficulties and crosses ; and as 
 the powers of his commission were to expire at the 
 end of three years, he entertained but faint hopes 
 of being permitted to effect one- twentieth part 
 of the benefit which he felt himself capable of ef- 
 fecting. This he stated in a letter to a friend, pre-
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNKO. 
 
 vious to his departure from England ; and the 
 result proved that, to a certain extent at least, he 
 had not calculated erroneously. Nevertheless 
 he set sail, as has been described, reached Ma- 
 dras in safety, and took the first opportunity of 
 explaining his own views, as well as those of the 
 Court of Directors. The following valuable 
 paper places the object of the Commission in so 
 true a light, that it ought not to be withheld. 
 
 Letter from Col. Munro, First Commissioner, toD. Hill, Esq. 
 Chief Secretary to Government. 
 
 24th December, 1814. 
 
 SIR, 
 
 IN my letter of the l!3th instant, I stated that I 
 had carefully examined all the reports from the judges, 
 collectors, and commercial residents, to the Committees of 
 Police, from 1805 to the present year. From these materials 
 very able reports have been framed, both by the late Com- 
 mittee of Police, and by that which preceded it ; and both 
 have suggested several important improvements in the 
 existing system of police ; but none of these have yet 
 been carried into effect, nor have any of the amendments 
 ordered to be made by the Honourable Court of Direc- 
 tors in their judicial despatch of the 23th of April last, 
 been rendered unnecessary by any late regulations of Go- 
 vernment. 
 
 2. As the whole subject of that despatch therefore still re- 
 mains for consideration, it may be proper to submit to the 
 Governor in Council an abstract of its contents ; exhibiting 
 under two heads first, all those matters which Govern- 
 ment, after referring to the Sudder Adawlut and subor- 
 dinate courts for their opinion, are to adopt or reject, as 
 
 VOL. I. 2 E
 
 418 THE LIFE OF 
 
 they think fit ; and, secondly, all those on which the order 
 for carrying them into effect is imperative, and no discre- 
 tion is left with Government; and then to suggest the 
 means by which the proposed alterations may be most rea- 
 dily accomplished. 
 
 3. The points which are to be referred to the sudder and 
 subordinate courts for their opinion, and on which Go- 
 vernment may exercise their discretion, are as follow : 
 
 1st. A revising of the forms of process in the sudder 
 and subordinate courts, " with the view of rendering the 
 proceedings in civil cases as summary as may be com- 
 patible with the ends of substantial justice." Under this 
 general injunction, attention is called to the following par- 
 ticulars. 
 
 2d. Whether or not the reply and rejoinder may be 
 dispensed with. 
 
 3d. Whether " the practice prescribed by Regulation III. 
 1803, of taking down in writing all depositions, although 
 delivered orally in open court, 1 ' be necessary or not. 
 
 4th. A mature consideration of the subject of employ- 
 ing licensed vakeels " with a view of devising, if it be pos- 
 sible, a remedy for an evil so generally acknowledged." 
 
 5th. Whether the restrictions which formerly existed 
 under Regulation II. of 1802, on appeals from the regis- 
 ters and judges of the zillah courts, should not be revised. 
 
 6th. Whether the fees and stamp-duties imposed by Re- 
 gulations IV. V. and XVII. of 1808, have not served to 
 discourage, and ofter to preclude, the fair claimant from 
 applying to our judicatories. 
 
 7th. What is the amount of the sum within which the 
 execution of the judgment pronounced by the village potail, 
 or punchayet, should not be stayed by appeal to the zillah 
 court ? 
 
 8th. Cases in which the principal zemindars may " be 
 intrusted with the powers of an agent of police."
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 419 
 
 9th. Whether or not it would conduce " to the more 
 prompt and convenient administration of criminal justice, 
 if the zillah judges were to be so far invested with a juris- 
 diction in criminal matters, as to enable them to hear and 
 determine all cases of public offence not of a capital na- 
 ture, and now cognizable by the courts of circuit only." 
 
 10th. Whether the same important end would not " be 
 materially furthered, were the collectors, acting as the 
 magistrates of zillahs, to be empowered to punish offenders 
 by corporal punishment, to the extent of thirty rattans ; 
 by fine, not exceeding one hundred Arcot rupees; and 
 by imprisonment, not of longer duration than three 
 months." 
 
 llth. Whether or not " the collector should be associated 
 with the zillah judge, in the trial of offences at quarterly 
 sessions." 
 
 12th. Whether "the sentence of the Provincial Courts of 
 Circuit may not be carried into immediate execution, with- 
 out a reference to the Nizamut Adawlut, when the guilt is 
 clearly established, and there seems to the circuit judge no 
 ground for recommending the prisoner to mercy ; and, with 
 the same view of expediting the administration of the 
 criminal law, whether the present forms of proceeding in 
 the court of circuit will not admit of simplification, con- 
 sistently with the substantial ends of justice.*"* 
 
 The following are the points of modification in the judi- 
 cial system, on which the order for carrying them into 
 execution is positive, and in which no other discretionary 
 authority is left with Government, than merely as to the 
 manner in which this is to be done. 
 
 * This has reference to a regulation, which required that 
 no capital sentence should be carried into execution till the pro- 
 ceedings of the trial had been revised by the highest legal court 
 in the Presidency. 
 
 2 E 2
 
 420 THE LIFE OF 
 
 1st. " No further appeal to be permitted from a deci- 
 sion of a zillah court, or an appeal from the register, or 
 from any native tribunal." 
 
 2nd. Village punchayets to be authorised to hear and 
 determine suits. 
 
 3d. The potail, or head of the village, " by virtue of 
 his office, to execute the functions of commissioner within 
 his village, in the several modes prescribed by the Regu- 
 lations." 
 
 4th. Intermediate native judicatures between the vil- 
 lage and zillah court to be established, " and to be invested 
 with a jurisdiction over a certain number of villages, so as 
 that there may be three, four, or five in a zillah ; and the 
 judges to receive a fixed salary in addition to a fee on the 
 institution of suits brought before them." 
 
 The order for the establishment of these native judica- 
 tures, though not absolutely unconditional, is so far posi- 
 tive, that nothing but some very serious obstacle is to 
 prevent its execution. 
 
 5th. " The punchayet on a larger scale than that of 
 the village, so as to have a greater selection of persons'" to 
 be employed under the native district judge. 
 
 6th. Suits brought under the cognizance ofthepotails 
 and curnums to be altogether " relieved from fees and 
 stamp-duties." 
 
 7th. The sudder to receive from the subordinate courts, 
 and furnish Government with yearly or half-yearly reports 
 of the nature and number of suits, " in which the following 
 particulars are to be stated." 
 
 1st. The number of suits instituted in each court now 
 existing, or hereafter created, decided or dismissed, ap- 
 pealed or not ; to what court, confirmed or reversed. 
 
 2nd. Original awd appellate courts to show original 
 and appeal suits, and proportion of appeals reversed or 
 confirmed.
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 421 
 
 3d. Average value of matter litigated ; nature of the 
 dispute ; situation of the parties, particularly in cases of 
 land ; whether paying rent to Government, or zemindar, 
 or other holders of land. 
 
 8th. The village police, agreeably to the usage of the 
 country, to be re-established in the zemindary countries, 
 and placed under the orders and control of the magistrate ; 
 and " in such other parts of the Madras possessions in 
 which it may be found neglected, or in a mutilated con- 
 dition, to be also restored to its former efficiency. " 
 
 9th. On the completion of the village police, the 
 darogah establishment and the police corps to be reduced 
 as far as practicable. 
 
 10th. The superintendence of the village and zillah 
 police to be transferred to the collector. 
 
 llth. The police of districts to be under the teshildar 
 instead of the darogah. 
 
 12th. " The agents of the collector in the administra- 
 tion of the police, will be the district amildars, or teshildars, 
 and the village potails, curnums, and talliars, aided, as 
 occasion may require, by the amildars'* peons, and by the 
 cutwalls and their peons, in large towns." 
 
 13th. The office of zillah magistrate to be transferred 
 to the collector. 
 
 14th. The enforcement of the pattah* regulation to be 
 secured by an adequate process, under the superintendence 
 of the collector in his magisterial capacity. 
 
 15th. " No demand of a zemindar, &c. for arrears of 
 rent, should be receivable in any court but upon a pattah." 
 
 16th. No zemindar to be at liberty to proceed to sell 
 under distraint, without an order from the collector. 
 
 * The pattah was a species of lease which the zemindar was 
 required to grant to the rayet, and which secured to the latter 
 the possession of his farm as long as he paid his rent.
 
 422 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 17th. Cases of disputed boundaries to be decided by 
 the collector, on the verdict of a punchayet. 
 
 5. The above . abstract exhibits all the alterations in 
 the judicial system which the Court of Directors have 
 either ordered to be taken into consideration, or to be 
 carried into execution by Government : of this last class, 
 by far the most important one is the transfer of the police 
 and magisterial duties from the zillah judge to the collec- 
 tor ; and as all the rest are subordinate to and dependent 
 upon this, it must necessarily be carried into effect before 
 any one of them can be brought forward. I would there- 
 fore recommend that the court of Sudder Adawlut should be 
 directed to prepare without delay a regulation for trans- 
 ferring the office of magistrate and superintendent of the 
 police from the zillah judge to the collector. It would 
 perhaps be advisable, that this regulation should be as 
 short as possible should be free from all details, and should 
 simply authorize the transfer, and leave the collector, as 
 magistrate, to be guided by the existing regulations. A 
 more comprehensive regulation, containing all the rules 
 which it may be deemed expedient to insert, may be framed 
 hereafter ; but no time should^be lost in issuing the short 
 one proposed. 
 
 6. After investing the collector with the authority of 
 magistrate, the court of Sudder Adawlut might be directed 
 to prepare regulations to give effect to the other arrange- 
 ments ordered by the Court of Directors, proceeding in 
 the order of their relative importance. The first regula- 
 tion on this principle, therefore, should be one for restoring 
 the management of the village police to the heads of vil- 
 lages, and of the district police to the teshildars or amil- 
 dars, under the collector ; the second should be a regu- 
 lation for constituting heads of villages, by virtue of their 
 office, native commissioners, and for the direction of village 
 punchayets. The third should be a regulation for the
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 
 
 appointment and guidance of native district judges, or 
 commissioners, and district punchayets. 
 
 The fourth should be a regulation authorizing the collec- 
 tor, as magistrate, to enforce the pattah regulations. 
 
 The fifth should be a regulation to prevent zemindars 
 and proprietors of land from distraining without the autho- 
 rity of the collector. 
 
 The sixth should be a regulation placing the decision of 
 the cases of disputed boundaries, alluded to in Regulation 
 XXXII. of 1802, in the hands of the collector. 
 
 These six regulations, together with the one for trans- 
 ferring the authority of magistrate to the collector, will 
 comprise all the points in which the orders from home are 
 positive, and which therefore require immediate attention. 
 After they are finished, the other articles, which embrace 
 a revision of the process of the civil and criminal courts, 
 the granting of criminal jurisdiction to the zillah judge, 
 and the associating of the collector with him at the Quar- 
 terly Sessions, on which subjects the instructions of the 
 Court of Directors are not absolute but conditional, may 
 be taken into consideration. I have, &c. 
 
 (Signed) THOMAS MUNRO, 
 
 First Commissioner. 
 
 Such were Colonel Munro's views of the mea- 
 sures necessary to give effect to our judicial sys- 
 tem. With what spirit they were regarded by 
 the authorities of Fort St. George, the foUowing 
 series of letters will best explain. 
 
 Extract of a Letter from Col. Munro to Mr. Sullivan, 
 dated Madras, 20th January, 1815. 
 
 THE last letter from your son John and myself would 
 have apprised you, that the business of the Commission
 
 424 THE LIFE OF 
 
 is likely to encounter a good deal of delay in the beginning. 
 Mr. Elliot received an impression, very soon after his arri- 
 val, that every thing was in the best possible state ; that an 
 approximation had been gradually making of late years to 
 the system proposed in the judicial dispatch of the 29th April, 
 1814 ; that much of it had, in fact, been anticipated; that 
 more could hardly be done without danger ; that great im- 
 provements had taken place since I left India ; and that 
 were I now to visit the districts, I would abandon all my 
 former opinions, and acknowledge that the collector could 
 not be entrusted with the magisterial and police duties, 
 without injury to the country. Though I knew that there 
 was no foundation for these assertions, it appeared to me 
 necessary to wade through all the police reports, and the 
 proceedings of the Committee, in order that I might be 
 enabled to assure Mr. Elliot, not as an opinion of my own, 
 but as a fact drawn from these documents, that things re- 
 mained just as they were seven years ago. After going 
 through them, I found that the present Police Committee 
 had not ventured to go so far as its predecessor in 1806. 
 That Committee proposed to place the police under the 
 collector; but this proposal having been rejected by the 
 Bengal Government, as contrary to the Regulations, the 
 present one has contented itself with recommending that 
 the police shall remain under the zillah judge, but that 
 the heads of villages shall be employed instead of darogahs. 
 The President of this Committee persists strenuously in 
 maintaining its doctrines. It was very natural that he 
 should do so, while the Bengal Government supported the 
 infallibility of the Regulations. But when the Court of 
 Directors had given up this point, I hoped that he might 
 have relaxed too. I however see little chance of such a 
 change. 
 
 The President is undoubtedly a shrewd, intelligent 
 man ; but he has spent his life in the commercial depart-
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 
 
 ment, excepting a few months that he was a circuit judge. 
 He has therefore only that general knowledge of the inha- 
 bitants, of local institutions, and of revenue details, which 
 any sensible man may derive from reading and conver- 
 sation : he is totally without experience. It is therefore 
 very reluctantly that, in compliance with the wishes of Mr. 
 Elliot, I have two or three times met him, in order to dis- 
 cuss the subject of Police. I feel as if I were conversing 
 with a well-informed Captain of an Indiaman, who has all 
 that general knowledge of India which can be derived from 
 books, or a short residence on the sea-coast. 
 
 Extract of a Letter from Col. Munro to Mr. Gumming, 
 dated 12th January, 1815. 
 
 I HAVE been chiefly engaged, since my arrival here, 
 in reading the police reports of the last three years, and the 
 proceedings upon them, in order to ascertain whether any 
 measures had been founded upon them, which might render 
 unnecessary any of those directed to be adopted by the judi- 
 cial despatch of the 29th April, 1814. After losing much 
 time in going through them, I found that nothing had been 
 done which was not known in England, when I left home. 
 You are aware, that most of the men in office about the 
 Presidency are Regulation-men, stickling for every part of 
 the present system, and opposers of every reform of it 
 from home. 
 
 One of the most important benefits that will accrue to 
 the inhabitants, from appointing the collector magistrate, 
 will be the prevention of distraint. Many rayets are now 
 with me on this subject, from the Baramahl and the 
 Ceded Districts. The exactions of many of the mootadars 
 are carried to a most ruinous extent, and cannot be pre- 
 vented by the courts. I sent an old rayet, of eighty years 
 of age, from the Baramahl, to Mr. Cochrane yesterday,
 
 426 THE LIFE OF 
 
 to take down his case, for the information of the members 
 of the Revenue Board, who believe that our rayets are 
 protected by our courts. He gives a very clear statement 
 of his case : he has paid his rent regularly during seven 
 years, and within that period has been compelled by dif- 
 ferent distraints to pay more than double his rent. He 
 has given in two petitions to the court at Salim, for two 
 different cases, one five years, and the other three years 
 ago ; he has paid deposit-fees, stamps, &c. and visits the 
 court almost every month ; but the number of his first pe- 
 tition has not yet come round. Under a collector-magis- 
 trate, the injury could not have happened. 
 
 Extract of a Letter from Col. Munro to Mr. Gumming, 
 dated 1st March, 1815. 
 
 I HAVE not written you since my arrival, because 
 there has been nothing done to write about. I have 
 written fully to Mr. Sullivan, explaining the cause of the 
 delay. I am not now, as when I was in the Ceded Dis- 
 tricts, acting without interference, and authorized to pur- 
 sue whatever measures I thought best for the settlement of 
 the country ; but am obliged, before I can take a single 
 step, to wait for the concurrence of men who have always 
 been adverse to the proposed changes. The Government, 
 with its secretaries, the S udder Adawlut, and its register, 
 and every member of the Board of Revenue, excepting 
 Cochrane, are hostile to every thing in the shape of the 
 rayetwar system. 
 
 I think it necessary to caution you, that if it is expected 
 that instructions are to be obeyed, the strongest and plain- 
 est words must be used : for instance, the expressions, 
 " It is our wish ;" " It is .our intention ;" " We pro- 
 pose;" do not, it is maintained here, convey orders, but 
 merely recommendations. Unless the words, "We di-
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 
 
 427 
 
 reel," " We order,"" are employed, the measures to which 
 
 they relate will be regarded as optional. 
 
 # # * * 
 
 You will observe, that during two successive years, 
 there was not one appeal decided in the Sudder Adawlut ; 
 and that the judges of the subordinate courts seldom com- 
 plied with the order of deciding ten causes monthly. Mr. 
 
 , who was long a zillah judge, proposed that the 
 
 zillah judges should be directed to transmit a report 
 monthly or quarterly, exhibiting in different columns the 
 date in each suit, of the complaint, answer, and of such 
 document being filed. This would have shown at one view, 
 the progress of every trial, and where the delay arose ; 
 but it was rejected, as instituting too severe a scrutiny into 
 the conduct of the judges, and the accompanying paper 
 substituted in its room. 
 
 I shall in a future letter explain the cause of the dimi- 
 nution of suits. You know very .well that it does not 
 proceed from the increased number of suits settled. But 
 the great defect is, that no protection is afforded to the 
 rayets. Those who do not know them, say that the courts 
 are open ; but when it is considered that rayets, on an 
 average, do not pay above seven or eight pagodas rent, 
 and that this sum is from one-half to one-third of the gross 
 produce of their farms ; any person may at once see how 
 incapable such men must be of going to courts of justice. 
 But even among those rayets who are more substantial, 
 every person who has been much among them, knows that 
 not one in ten will ever complain of the extra collections 
 and extortions of renters : they are deterred by many con- 
 siderations, by the fear of not being able to bring proof, 
 and by the dread of the renter's influence being exerted 
 to injure them, whenever an opportunity offers. In order 
 to protect rayets, it is not enough to wait for their com- 
 plaints, we must go round and seek for them. This was
 
 428 THE LIFE OF 
 
 the practice of every vigilant collector ; he assembled the 
 rayets of each village on his circuit, inquired what extra 
 collections had been made, and caused them to be re- 
 funded. A renter who has four or five hundred rayets 
 under him, imposes an extra assessment of ten or twelve 
 per cent., and collects it, without difficulty or opposition, 
 in the course of a few days. Suppose they should com- 
 plain afterwards, which is seldom the case, the process of 
 the court would occupy many months, probably some 
 years, and they would be obliged to abandon their suit, 
 from not being able, from their poverty, to wait its issue. 
 An English farmer, or shopkeeper, would not pay an 
 unauthorized assessment of ten or twelve per cent, above 
 his rent; and people who make regulations in this country, 
 scarcely seem to know, that rayets are not English farmers ; 
 and that, in general, they pay every exaction, without resis- 
 tance and almost without complaint. Even if there were 
 any spirit of resistance to such demands, it would be effec- 
 tually suppressed by the power of distraint. This power 
 is directed by the judicial despatch to be taken away ; and 
 many of the higher class of rayets will, in consequence, be 
 encouraged to resist undue demands ; but the great body 
 of the rayets will still submit to them quietly. It will re- 
 quire a long course of years, perhaps ages, before they 
 acquire sufficient courage and independence to resist ; and 
 until this change is effected, our present courts cannot pro- 
 tect them. We must adapt our institutions to their cha- 
 racter ; they can be protected only by giving to the col- 
 lector authority to investigate extra collections, and to 
 cause them to be refunded. I hope that Lord Bucking- 
 hamshire will take up this subject, and make the necessary 
 orders be sent out. From an expression in a letter from 
 Mr. Sullivan to his son, he seems to think that the Com- 
 mission have authority to inquire into the revenue settle- 
 ments. The despatch certainly gives no authority of this
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 429 
 
 kind. The Commission, however, has a kind of indirect 
 control in revenue matters ; for, in examining how far the 
 courts protect the rayets, the inquiry will lead to the 
 knowledge of their being compelled to pay extra assess- 
 ments. Since my return to India, I have had visits from 
 several rayets from the Baramahl and Ceded Districts on 
 this subject ; and I have reason to believe that these de- 
 mands are more general than before the establishment of 
 the courts. 
 
 Extract of a Letter from Col. Munro to Mr. Gumming, 
 dated Madras, 3d March, 1815. 
 
 I WROTE you on the 1st instaTit, mentioning the 
 general state of affairs here. I have since then seen Mr. 
 Gahagan, one of the late collectors in the Ceded Districts, 
 and now one of the circuit judges of the Chittoor Court. 
 He concurs in my opinion, that the courts cannot protect 
 the rayets, and that unauthorized collections are greater 
 since their institution than before, and that the evil can 
 only be remedied, by giving to the collector authority to 
 investigate and recover extra assessments from zemindars 
 and renters. Every man who has been a rayetwar collec- 
 tor, knows that these exactions are made every where ; 
 but no man who has not been one, believes it possible, 
 with so many courts open. 
 
 The inhabitants are yet unacquainted with the object of 
 the Commission ; but the universal opinion is, that it is 
 appointed chiefly for the investigation of abuses in the reve- 
 nue line. I do not undeceive them ; for the belief has 
 very good effects, as it deters the native head-servants from 
 peculating to so great an amount as formerly; induces 
 some of them to refund ; and is at this moment, I believe, 
 causing the cutcherry servants of Coimbitore to bring for- 
 ward in the accounts of this year, lands which, though
 
 430 THE LIFE OF 
 
 cultivated, have for some years been reported as waste. 
 The rent of these lands, as stated by the people who bring 
 forward the charges, is considerably above a lac of pago- 
 das. As far as I can guess, from many communications 
 with them, and making allowance for exaggeration, it may 
 be about sixty thousand. The Board of Revenue, with 
 the exception of Cochrane, believe that the whole state- 
 ment is false. There is both falsehood and truth in it. 
 Cochrane proposes that I should inquire into it in the 
 course of my circuit; but this was objected to. The mem- 
 bers of Government are also averse to my having any thing 
 to do with it ; so that I am afraid I shall not be permitted 
 to make an investigation. If I can find any means of do- 
 ing it in part, as connected with defects in the judicial system, 
 I shall endeavour to carry it, so far at least as to show that 
 the revenue has been defrauded to a considerable extent, 
 and that those triennial and decennial leases afford great 
 facilities for such practices. 
 
 Extract of a Letter from Col. Munro to Mr. Cumming, 
 dated Madras, 14th March, 1815. 
 
 No orders have yet been issued for carrying into 
 effect the instructions contained in the judicial despatch of 
 the 29th April, 1814 ; and the Commission consequently 
 still remains at Madras. 
 
 Mr. Elliot tells me that the resolutions of Government 
 on the subject are printing for circulation, and that they 
 correspond nearly with my view of it, except in not trans- 
 ferring the office of magistrate to the collector ; but this 
 is the most essential part of the whole, for without it, 
 the collector will be merely the head darogah of police 
 under the zillah judge; and the new system will be com- 
 pletely inefficient. No time should therefore be lost in 
 sending out, by the first conveyance, a short letter, stating
 
 SIR THOMAS MUN110. 431 
 
 the heads of alterations in the present system, which are 
 imperative and not optional with the Government here ; 
 and ordering them, not recommending, to be carried into 
 immediate execution. 
 
 I have fully explained, in my letter to Mr. Sullivan, my 
 reason for wishing to have only one person joined with me 
 in the Commission, and to have him also an acting member 
 of the Sudder Adawlut. It was evident, that while both 
 the members of the Sudder Adawlut objected to every 
 change, every measure which the Commission might pro- 
 pose to Government, when sent to that court to be brought 
 forward as a regulation, would be kept back under some 
 plea or other ; and that while the Sudder Adawlut was di- 
 latory and irregular in its own proceedings, no reform 
 could be expected in those of the lower courts. 
 
 You will observe, that in the two years 1812 and 1813, 
 there was not a single appeal decided. I have looked at 
 some of the appeal cases, and am sorry to say that much 
 of the litigation is occasioned by the judges being in gene- 
 ral very ignorant of the customs of the natives, and of the 
 internal management of villages. This arises from very 
 few of them having been ray et war collectors. I shall 
 mention two cases which I read the other day. 
 
 The first originated in the zillah court of Trichinopoly, 
 in 1808. It was a suit instituted by some Bramins, to re- 
 cover from the rayets of a village 1800 Rs., for their share 
 of the crop, as Swami Bhogum, or proprietor's right. The 
 rayets asserted that the contribution was not as proprietor's 
 share, but voluntary to a pagoda. The curnum's ac- 
 counts, which would probably have settled the matter, 
 were refused by the judge in evidence, and the plaintiff 
 cast. The Provincial Court reversed the sentence, and 
 gave them a decree ; not only for the money which they 
 claimed, but for the land, which they did not claim. The 
 Sudder Court ordered the whole proceedings of both
 
 432 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 courts to' be annulled, leaving the parties to pay their 
 respective costs, and begin de novo, if they please. 
 
 The second is a suit brought by a relation, in the fifth or 
 sixth degree, of the Poligar of Wariourpollam, to receive 
 from the poligar an allowance in land or money, on account 
 of his hereditary share of the pollatn. He carries his cause 
 in the Zillah and Provincial Court, and the sentence of the 
 sudder is not yet given ; but I see, on the back of the 
 
 paper, in 's handwriting, " I think the decree of 
 
 the Provincial Court is right." Now I am positive that 
 they are all completely wrong. 
 
 This cause, which has been going on for six years, would 
 have been settled by a collector in half an hour. Indeed, 
 the plaintiff would not have ventured to bring his case be- 
 fore a collector ; for among the military zemindars, such 
 as Wariourpollam, Calastry, Venkatgherry, &c., the near- 
 est relatives, and far less the more distant, have no claim 
 to the inheritance. The poligar usually gives to his bro- 
 thers, &c., an allowance for their support, according to his 
 own pleasure, not to any right. The plaintiff, I have no 
 doubt, has been instigated by some vakeels to make the 
 demand ; for whatever happens, his fees are secure. The 
 irregularity and negligence of some of the courts has 
 been so glaring, that the sudder has been obliged to 
 stimulate them by a circular letter. Stratton* wished to 
 have established a more effectual check, by making them 
 send reports showing the date of the institution of each 
 suit, and of every document filed ; but though he could 
 not carry this, and will often be obliged to satisfy him- 
 self with a protest, his exertions will make all the courts 
 more active. 
 
 * This gentleman was especially selected by Colonel Munro 
 to co-operate with him in the Commission. It was not without 
 much demur that his wishes were acceded to.
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO 433 
 
 The Commission too, though it has not yet begun to act, 
 does yet some good by its presence; for it is generally 
 believed among the natives that it is authorized to inquire 
 into all abuses, both in the judicial and revenue line; and 
 this opinion has some influence in checking them. I have 
 had rayets with me from almost every part of the country, 
 with complaints ; but I have no direct authority to inquire 
 into revenue abuses. I can only take them up where they 
 are connected with the judicial system. 
 
 Extract of a Letter from Colonel Munro to Mr. Gum- 
 ming, dated Madras, 9th April, 1815. 
 
 No regulations for village courts are to be framed, until 
 it is ascertained whether the potails are willing to act. 
 Who before ever heard of statesmen asking public ser- 
 vants, whether they are willing to do their duty ? The 
 question will surprise the potails much more than me, who 
 know the men from whom it comes. No regulation for 
 village police is to be drawn up, till we know whether the 
 potails are fit for the duty, and whether the tallaries are 
 sufficiently numerous. The Native Governments never 
 doubted the fitness of the potails ; nor our own, till now. 
 Who is to decide the point of their competency, if it is not 
 admitted to have been established by universal practice ? 
 for there is not a man about Government, and scarcely ten 
 men in the provinces, who know the difference between a 
 potail and a weaver. With regard to the tallaries, they 
 have been working at them for ten years, without having 
 learned much ; and they may go on for ten longer, to as 
 little purpose : for, how can it be otherwise, seeing that 
 such inquiries were not made in many of the provinces 
 before the permanent settlement, and, since that period, 
 cannot be made with any effect, from their having rendered 
 
 VOL. I. 2 F
 
 434 THE LIFE OF 
 
 the curnums, in a great degree, independent of the revenue 
 servants. In some districts, so far from knowing all the 
 details of tallaries' allowances, I doubt if the collector 
 knows the number of curnums, or even of villages, under 
 him. To enable him to learn these matters, the curnums' 
 regulation should be repealed, and the curnums should be 
 placed entirely under the collectors. Even after this is 
 done, some years will be required to enable the collector to 
 establish his authority, and to procure the information 
 wanted. But, rather than adopt this simple, and indeed 
 only way, of accomplishing the object, they will go on 
 calling upon the collector for more information, who can 
 only send them a copy of what they have got some years 
 ago ; or they will avail themselves of the judicial power, 
 and issue a decree of the courts to compel the curnums to 
 produce his accounts, who may produce what he likes, 
 for there is not a soul about the court who can tell whether 
 they are true or false. 
 
 Extract of a Letter from Colonel Munro to Mr. Gum- 
 ming, dated Madras, 20th June, 1815. 
 
 I HAVE received your letter of the 4th October 
 last, inclosing extract from Mr. Colebrooke's minute, &c. 
 on the 19th April. I have been busy ever since the 15th 
 May in drawing up Regulations for potails, punchayets, 
 &c. I could do nothing sooner ; because it was only then 
 that the answer of Government was received, informing the 
 Commission that the regulations were to be prepared, on the 
 principle that the police only, and not the magisterial office, 
 was to be transferred to the collector. The regulations 
 ordered to be prepared by the Commission, are ready ; Mr. 
 Stratton is looking over, correcting, and copying them 
 fair, and they will be sent next week ; that is to say, 
 they will be sent to the Sudder Adawlut ; for all regula-
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 435 
 
 tions must be transmitted through that channel. The 
 Sudder Adawlut may keep them some months before they 
 
 submit them, with their remarks, to Government. 
 
 **###* 
 
 The regulations are not exactly what I think they ought 
 to be. I would have wished to have given greater autho- 
 rity both to potails and teshildars, as well as to commis- 
 sioners. But it was necessary to limit the powers of these 
 officers within narrow limits ; for otherwise, the regulations 
 would not pass here, and would certainly be thrown out 
 by the Bengal Government. The great object is to get 
 the system introduced in any way ; when this is once 
 effected, the necessary changes can easily be made here- 
 after. You already know that the Commission is composed 
 only of Stratton and myself. It is quite enough ; for the 
 more members, the less is done. I wished on this account 
 to have been sole Commissioner ; but I see now, that no- 
 thing could be done without a member of the Sudder 
 Adawlut in the Commission ; for, unless Stratton were in 
 that court, there would not be a single man there, or in 
 the Government, to support the proposed changes. He 
 will be opposed by both the other members ; but still 
 their opposition will be much less determined than it would 
 have been, had he not been present to dissent from their 
 opinions. 
 
 I wished, while the regulations are under consideration 
 here, and in Bengal, to have made a circuit through the 
 country, in order to inquire into the state of the village 
 police; the effects of the judicial system in protecting the 
 inhabitants from oppression, and also how far it was calcu- 
 lated, along with the leasing and permanent settlement 
 system, to secure the rayetsfrom extra assessments, and the 
 revenue from embezzlement. But I see little chance of 
 being permitted to enter into these inquiries efficiently, or 
 in such a manner as to render them useful. Were I now 
 2 F 2
 
 436 THE LIFE Ol 
 
 collector of the Ceded Districts, or of any other district, I 
 should be able to bring forward more information in three 
 months, than I shall now in three years as Commissioner. 
 Look at the orders of Government in their consultation of 
 1st March, 1815, to the Commission, in which we are 
 directed " to conduct all such investigations through the 
 local officers, to conform to the established system of in- 
 ternal administration;"" and compare these orders with 
 those to Thackeray and Hodgson, when they made their 
 circuits, by the command of Lord William Bentinck. How 
 am I to learn any thing, if I am limited to a consultation 
 with the local officers? If they possess the information 
 required, they may be called upon to furnish it, without 
 my going to them. If they have it not, they will hardly 
 assist me to acquire it ; and to perform the duty which 
 they have themselves neglected. The Commission ought 
 certainly to have the same means of investigation that a 
 collector has ; and, for this purpose, the collector and ma- 
 gistrate ought to give notice to the heads of villages, cur- 
 nums, and inhabitants, that they are to give information on 
 any points on which it may be required from them by the 
 Commission. 
 
 The Minute of Government, and the Letters to Go- 
 vernment from the Commission, have been circulated to 
 all magistrates and collectors, so that they must see how 
 Government feels, when it cautions the Commission " to 
 conform to the established system of internal administra- 
 tion," or, in other words, not to break the peace. Great 
 abuses have prevailed, I believe, in Coimbitore, and some 
 other collectorates ; and I should like much to investigate 
 the Coimbitore proceedings, in order to show Government, 
 either that they are well-founded or not ; but my being 
 employed in the investigation will be opposed by almost 
 every person in the different Boards here : because the abuses 
 have chiefly arisen out of the leasing system, which they
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 437 
 
 have supported. Chaplin, Ross, and one or two other 
 rayetwar collectors, are the only persons in the country 
 qualified to conduct such an inquiry ; but they cannot be 
 spared from their own districts ; and if the inquiry is con- 
 fided to two or three respectable senior servants, it will end 
 in nothing being proved against the revenue servants of the 
 collector, and in the inhabitants being convicted of a con- 
 spiracy, and in being consigned over to be plundered here- 
 after, without any hope of redress. When the Commis- 
 sion was first appointed, the general belief among the in- 
 habitants was, that it would inquire into revenue abuses 
 as well as the defects of the judicial system ; and this 
 opinion created a considerable alarm among all the cut- 
 cherries whose conduct had been incorrect ; but the alarm 
 has now, I imagine, completely subsided. I lament that 
 the Commission will not be able to do one-half of what, 
 might reasonably have been expected; but, unless the Bengal 
 Government opposes every change, I hope that we shall at 
 least be able to establish the village police and punchayets. 
 If the collector is to be magistrate, a positive order must be 
 sent from home ; for you will see from the correspondence 
 that there is no chance of the measure being otherwise 
 adopted. 
 
 Extract of a Letter from Colonel Munro to Mr. Curn- 
 ming, dated Madras, 1st September, 1815. 
 
 WE have made no progress here since I wrote 
 you in June last. The resolutions of Government of the 
 1st of March, and my letters, will have informed you 
 how little has been done; that no one thing has been 
 finally done; that different points of the judicial des- 
 patch have been referred to the Sudder Adawlut, the 
 Board of Revenue, and the Commission ; that they are 
 respectively to call upon the local officers for their opinions
 
 438 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 on certain points, and that they are then to frame the 
 regulations. 
 
 These regulations, when framed, will be some months 
 with the Sudder Adawlut, who will report upon them to 
 Government, and Government will then send them to 
 Bengal for the sanction of the Supreme Government. 
 Some months will elapse, before their sanction is granted ; 
 they must then be translated, which will consume some 
 months more ; and by the time they can be circulated to 
 all the districts, the Commission will have expired. The 
 six regulations drawn up by the Commission, have been 
 with the Sudder Adawlut about two months ; and it is quite 
 uncertain how much longer they may remain with them' 
 Only one will be circulated, without reference to Bengal ; 
 it is that which transfers the police, but not the office of 
 magistrate, to the collector; and will not do any good. 
 The Council will oppose the promulgation of the rest? 
 without the authority of the Supreme Government. They 
 will therefore be sent to Bengal ; and as Lord Moira pro- 
 poses that the two Governments should deliberate ma- 
 turely on the whole subject of the judicial dispatch, and 
 " avail themselves of the advantages of a mutual inter- 
 change of sentiments and suggestions, in the course of the 
 deliberations respecting so serious an object," it may be 
 some years before they are issued. Why should we amuse 
 ourselves with interchanges of sentiments, on things which 
 have undergone a ten years 1 discussion, and which the Go- 
 vernment at home has directed to be adopted ? or of what 
 use can it be, to import sentiments from Bengal, on pun- 
 chayets and potails, which most of the public servants 
 under that Presidency profess never to have heard of? I 
 see no way of enabling the Commission to answer any of 
 the objects of its institution, but by sending out orders 
 without delay to the Government here, to carry into im- 
 mediate execution, without reference to, or waiting for an
 
 SIR 1HOMAS MUNRO. 
 
 answer from Bengal to any reference that may have been 
 made, all those modifications on which the Government 
 at home have already made up their mind. 
 
 The proposed changes have many opponents ; because 
 there are only a few collectors who understand the nature 
 of them, from not having seen potails and punchayets em- 
 ployed, before the introduction of the judicial code ; they 
 are opposed by many in the judicial line, who consider the 
 present system, whatever it may be, as the best. They are 
 opposed by some, from a sincere conviction that native 
 agency is dangerous ; and by some, because they have had 
 no share in suggesting them ; but the best-founded motive 
 of opposition is one which has only lately appeared, namely, 
 the probability that the natives will give so much preference 
 to the settlement of laws by heads of villages and pun- 
 chayets, as to leave so little business to the zillah courts, 
 that many of them will be reduced. I do not believe that 
 this would happen soon ; because it will be a considerable 
 time before the plan can be completely communicated to the 
 natives, and the neglect or silent opposition it is likely to 
 encounter will subside. But I am certain this result will 
 follow, whenever it meets with proper support. In the 
 outset, we shall have complaints from the judges of the 
 ignorance of the potails and punchayets, their partiality 
 and corruption. This will often be true ; but the evil will 
 be greatly overbalanced by the good. I only wish to see 
 the plan introduced in any state, however imperfect, its 
 defects can be gradually corrected ; and I am convinced 
 that, under every disadvantage, it will work its own way. 
 
 It was my intention, if there had been time enough, 
 to have visited every district under the Madras Go- 
 vernment, in order to have ascertained upon the spot 
 the opinions of the people respecting the judicial system ; 
 but this will now be impossible, as a whole year of 
 the life of the Commission has already nearly elapsed,
 
 440 THE LIFE OF 
 
 I should have begun with Chittoor, and then taken up my 
 old Baramahl friends and Coimbitore, in both of which, 
 but particularly in Coimbitore, great abuses prevail. I 
 think that, in our conversations at home, I have mentioned 
 that the leases would induce the collector's servants and 
 head inhabitants to keep down the cultivation, and to de- 
 press it still more by false accounts, and that Government 
 would thus lose a large portion of revenue, without re- 
 lieving, in any degree, the pressure upon the great body of 
 the rayets. All this has happened in Coimbitore, and, with 
 a few exceptions, in every district into which the decennial 
 lease has been introduced. Coimbitore would be the first 
 field that could possibly be found for examining the effects 
 both of the judicial and the new revenue system, for the 
 court servants have been tried and convicted of a conspiracy 
 against the revenue; and the judge has now reported that the 
 revenue have conspired against the court servants ; I have 
 therefore been wishing for some time past to go there, but 
 I have great doubts of obtaining permission, as almost every 
 man in office here is against my being sent. They have 
 in general maintained that there were no abuses, and that 
 the leases were settled with great correctness ; but liow that 
 the reports of the assistant collector Bell have stated the 
 contrary, they are unwilling to put such arguments into 
 my hands as I should find there. I enclose you a docu- 
 ment from the Sudder Adawlut, by which you will see that 
 they did not decide one appeal for nearly three years. 
 When Stratton was appointed, there were many petitions 
 of two or three years' standing, which had not been 
 answered. 
 
 Extract of a Letter from Colonel Munro to Mr. Gum- 
 ming, dated Madras, 6th October, 1815. 
 
 OUR regulations have been in the hands of 
 Greenway three months, and may remain there as much
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 
 
 441 
 
 longer, if Mr. Elliot does not call for them and publish 
 them, without a reference to Bengal, which his council wish 
 him to adopt. Even if he take this line, they cannot be 
 translated and promulgated in less than six months. If 
 they go to Bengal, they will never pass, at least not in the 
 lifetime of the Commission. Had the Council adopted 
 the plan of the Court of Directors contained in the judicial 
 despatch of the 29th of April, 1814, the regulations might 
 have been passed before this time, and we might now have 
 been looking at the effect of them, and supporting them 
 where we found they met with opposition. You will see 
 that, if they are kept back until the information required 
 by the Government consultations of the 1st of March is 
 furnished, they can never pass, because that information 
 can only be got from a district which has been surveyed 
 and settled, Ryotwar ; and even not completely, from such 
 a district. The public correspondence will show you the 
 cause of my going to Coimbitore ; it is to assist John 
 Sullivan in discovering the cause of the abuses which have 
 been committed, and the means of restoring order. 
 
 Extract of a Letter from Colonel Munro to Mr. Gum- 
 ming, dated Madras, 30th April, 1816. 
 
 THE Commissioners' proposed regulations may 
 now be considered as passed, as the Governor means to put 
 their passing to the vote on the 3d instant. They will be 
 opposed in Council, upon the grounds which I long ago 
 stated the necessity of waiting for all the heads of infor- 
 mation required by the resolutions of the 1st March, 1815, 
 together with a report from the Commission of the potails 
 and tallaries fit or unfit, willing or unwilling, to execute 
 the duties expected of them ; and of those referring the re- 
 gulations to Bengal for sanction, previous to their being 
 promulgated here. The information which was sought, 
 seemed to be required merely for the purpose of wasting
 
 442 THE LIFE OF 
 
 time. No man who knew any thing of potails or tallaries, 
 ever thought of asking them whether or not they liked 
 their duty. As to their allowances being in many cases in- 
 adequate, it might be made the subject of future inquiry ; 
 but was no ground for suspending the introduction of the 
 proposed system. A police committee had been sitting in 
 1812 to 181 4, and had called for all the statements of allow- 
 ances that the collectors could furnish. A fresh call was 
 not likely to produce any thing beyond another copy of 
 what had already been forwarded. That committee re- 
 commended that the police should be placed under the 
 heads of villages. But it is now thought, that these same 
 heads of villages may not be willing or able to act, because 
 they may, in addition to their police and revenue duties, 
 have two or three ten-rupee causes to settle in the course of 
 the year. 
 
 There is nothing in the Court's letter respecting the 
 allowances or inclinations of the potails or tallaries, or 
 authorizing the keeping back the regulations until an in- 
 quiry shall have been made into these matters. The ascer- 
 tainment of the allowances in question could only be accu- 
 rately made by a survey, which would be the work of 
 many years. When collectors of unsurveyed districts re- 
 port that tallaries have only three or four rupees a-year, we 
 cannot be sure whether they have three or four, or thirty or 
 forty. The accounts are too vague to be depended upon. 
 The answer to all this is,that whether the tallarie has four ru- 
 pees or forty, he is at his post, doing his duty ; and it seems 
 therefore quite unnecessary to make the introduction of the 
 village police depend upon the answers he may give to our 
 questions, about his liking his duty or his allowances. In 
 many places, the allowances are too small ; because we have 
 stopped a part of them ; in others, they also appear to be 
 too small ; where no change has been made, and the talla- 
 ries are said to be starving ; but as they have been starving
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 
 
 443 
 
 in the same way for a century, and still do the village 
 duty, they have undoubtedly the means of living, either 
 from land at a favourable rent, or some other source, which 
 has escaped the collectors ; and if we wait until it is dis- 
 covered by them, we shall be just where we now are ten 
 years hence. 
 
 The Police Committee, though they proposed that the 
 police should be placed under the heads of villages, never 
 attempted to define what the head of a village was. Dif- 
 ferent opinions were entertained on this point among the 
 people at the Presidency ; but nothing was fixed. The 
 Commission have defined what they thought must, under 
 the various changes occasioned by our revenue system, be 
 considered as the head of the village ; but because this de- 
 finition does not suit all opinions, the whole system is 
 violently opposed, upon the plea that the Commissioners, 
 head of the village is not the potail of the Court of Di- 
 rectors. It was never maintained by the rayetwar collec- 
 tors, that the establishment of village servants was complete 
 and uniform throughout the country ; and that there were 
 ancient hereditary potails in every village. They described 
 the general structure of the village municipality, as it ought 
 to be when complete, and as it still existed throughout the 
 greater part of India ; but they mentioned that in many 
 places it had been violently broken down, and in others 
 neglected, and suffered to fall into decay ; but that it 
 might be gradually restored, and that enough still re- 
 mained, almost every where, for carrying on every necessary 
 duty. The Commission have said, wherever the ancient 
 or modern potail is in office, he is the head of the village ; 
 and that where there is no potail in office, the person, how- 
 ever he may be designated, who comes nearest to the de- 
 scription of the potail, by exercising the same powers, is 
 the head of the village. The Sudder Adawlut and their 
 friends say, that this is a departure from the plan of the
 
 444 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 Court of Directors, who looked forward to a potail, not to 
 a renter or a renter's agent, or a stipendiary corrupt agent, 
 as the head of the village. To this we answer, that we 
 must take what we have ; if we cannot get the best, we 
 must take the next best ; that our permanent and lease 
 settlements have in some cases abolished the office of 
 potail, and included his enaums in the rental, and in others 
 have resumed a part of his enaum, and set him aside to make 
 way for a renter ; that you cannot restore the potails with- 
 out violating your engagements, and throwing the village 
 into confusion ; because, if the potails were suffered to 
 exercise any authority over the servants of the village, 
 they would form a party in opposition to the renter, and 
 prevent the collection of the rents, and the servants would 
 be under two masters; that whether a man is called a 
 renter or a stipendiary agent, is nothing to the purpose ; 
 that if he is the collector of the revenue, has the charge of 
 the village servants, and directs the affairs of the village, 
 he is the head of the village, and is for the time the real 
 potail ; that this renter is, in many cases, the old potail, 
 and that even the stipendiary agent will often be merely 
 a new title for the old potail acting for a distant renter. 
 All this has been fully stated in our report ; and will, I 
 hope, be understood at home. When we speak of a potail, 
 we must attend to reality, and not to the name. If we were 
 to insist on employing only the ancient potails, we should 
 be obliged to look out for the obscure descendants of 
 above a thousand of them dismissed under the Mysore 
 Government, and remove an equal number of more modern 
 potails, who have been acting from twenty to fifty years. 
 The inconveniences however of renters, and the agents of 
 renters acting as potails, will not be so great as might at first 
 sight be expected. It will not apply to one-tenth of the ter- 
 ritory under Madras, and even in that portion it will dimi- 
 nish every day, as many of the renters are constantly fail-
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 445 
 
 ing, and the villages reverting to the old potails. With 
 regard to the great zeraindaries of the northern circars 
 and the western pollams, we can have very little internal 
 control, whether the villages are under old or new heads ; 
 but even there, I am satisfied that by far the greatest pro- 
 portion of the villages is in the hands of old potails. I 
 found it so in the great zemindaries of Chittoor and Har- 
 penhilly ; and I see no reason to believe that the case is 
 different in other quarters. It is evident that no person 
 can be the village moonsif who is not the head of the vil- 
 lage. The head of the village is the person who com- 
 mands the village servants, directs the cultivation, and 
 collects the revenue ; revenue and agriculture are his con- 
 stant employment. Police is also one of his duties, but is 
 only a casual one. Justice is still more casual ; for it may 
 sometimes happen, that not a single suit will come before 
 him in the whole year. The only practicable course seems 
 therefore to be, to let the performance of this contingent 
 duty belong to the potail ex officio, for it certainly could 
 not be discharged by any other person, by whatever title 
 he might be called ; because he could have no authority 
 over the village servants. The Sudder Adawlut conclude 
 their long remarks upon our drafts', by proposing that a 
 selection shall be made from the potails for the office of 
 village moonsif, so as to give to each a circle of from 
 ten to twenty miles. This is evidently a second edition 
 of the Native-Commissioner Regulation. They propose 
 that the selection shall be made from those potails who 
 are pointed out as most fit, by the references of the people 
 to their decisions. They do not seem to be aware that 
 upon their own doctrine, and that of most of the subor- 
 dinate judges, the discovery of the proper persons could 
 never be made in this way; for they maintain, that the 
 natives have so little confidence in each other, that they 
 cannot be prevailed upon to submit to arbitration ; and
 
 446 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 while they retain this distrust, it is not easy to conceive 
 how the voice of the people is to point out the persons 
 whom they wish to have as arbitrators. The simplest and 
 wisest, and indeed the only mode that can be safely 
 adopted, is, that of constituting the potail ex-officio village 
 judge, as ordered from home. The appointment cannot be 
 made by selection, in the way proposed ; and even if it 
 could by any other, it would be effected by bribery and 
 intrigue among the servants of the zillah court, which the 
 judge would be unable to prevent. It may be supposed, 
 that the same talent which enables the ex-officio potail to 
 
 A/ 1 
 
 manage the revenue of his village, will qualify him to de- 
 cide two or three ten or five-rupee suits in the year, or to 
 refer them to a punchayet. But suppose it does not, it 
 is of no great consequence ; the parties can go to another 
 potail. In the same way, when the potail is supposed to 
 be partial or corrupt, the parties will go somewhere else. 
 We shall have from the potails hundreds of decisions con- 
 trary to form ; many that are wrong in judgment, and many 
 perhaps that are corrupt ; and much clamour will be raised 
 about them ; but still the evil will be trifling in proportion 
 to the good, and will gradually be corrected by the people 
 not applying to potails of bad character. The great advan- 
 tages of the village regulations are, that they do not touch 
 the existing judicial system, but leave it to go on as before. 
 Every inhabitant, therefore, who does not like the potail 
 or punchayet, has still the benefit of all the existing code, 
 as it is optional with him either to resort to the village 
 authorities or to the regular courts. Which of these are 
 best suited to the wants of the inhabitants must be left to 
 their own decision. The experience of a few years will 
 show to which they give the preference. 
 
 Another argument which has been brought against the 
 village regulations is, that they do not apply to those villages
 
 SIR HOMAS MUNRO. 447 
 
 and districts which are managed by renters and agents, in- 
 stead of regular potails; and that to introduce them into such 
 places is contrary to the intention of the Court of Directors. 
 There is every where a head of a village who manages its 
 affairs ; and it would certainly be absurd to say that the 
 inhabitants are not to have justice at home, but must go to 
 a distant court, merely because this head man does not cor- 
 respond with the idea which some people have formed O f 
 a regular potail. 
 
 I do not know that any of the men who so stoutly oppose 
 the present modifications, have ever suggested any thing for 
 the improvement of the revenue or judicial system, though 
 they have adopted without hesitation whatever has come 
 from Bengal. They are much alarmed lest a corrupt 
 village judge should contaminate the purity of the judicial 
 system ; and they tremble at the unknown consequences of 
 his oppressions, armed as he is with the power of deciding 
 on a cause of ten rupees, and of confining for twelve hours ; 
 yet they have sat quietly since 1802, and allowed the great 
 body of the rayets to be put under contributions by every 
 man who chose to do it. It is only now that the Coimbitore 
 inquiries, in which they had certainly no share, has sug- 
 gested that among so many regulations, it might be useful 
 to have one to protect the rayets from extortion, and the 
 revenue from depredation. These objections about heads 
 of villages, seem to me so whimsical, that I am persuaded 
 they originate in their not having any very distinct notions 
 on the subject. None of them have ever had much to say 
 to heads of villages ; and some of them, I imagine, first 
 became acquainted with them, through the medium of the 
 Court's letters. Some of them are, I think, hostile to the 
 village regulations on principle, and are convinced that 
 they must do mischief, because they are contrary to what 
 they have been accustomed to follow and applaud. But
 
 448 THE LIFE OF 
 
 others, I am satisfied, would gladly see them introduced, if 
 they could only be sure that they were in every point con- 
 formable to the intentions of the Court of Directors, and 
 that the evils which they apprehend from them would not 
 arise. 
 
 You will observe, that the potail is not to act as referee, 
 and that his decisions, as moonsif, are final and limited to 
 ten rupees. Reasons on both these heads have been given 
 in our report ; but there are others which we did not think it 
 advisable to notice. The reference of suits would have 
 brought the potail too much in contact with the zillah 
 judge, would have frightened him, and made him wish to 
 give up the duty. An appeal to the zillah judge would 
 have had the same effect, and would have been secretly 
 encouraged by the servants and vakeels, SEC. of the court, 
 who are jealous of all new dealers in the same line ; for they 
 have discernment enough to see, that the village system 
 will injure the business of the court followers, and will 
 eventually occasion a reduction of their establishments. 
 The potail requires rather to be encouraged, than to be 
 alarmed by penalties ; the forms and checks by which he 
 is restrained, are rather too numerous than too few. His 
 jurisdiction reaches only to ten rupees, his decisions are set 
 aside for partiality, and he is liable for corruption to fine 
 and imprisonment. Under the Native Governments, he 
 settled suits in his village ; and if either party was dissatis- 
 fied, he carried his complaint to the amildar, who settled it, 
 but no questions were put to the potail. When he had 
 given his decision in his village, right or wrong, he was 
 never afterwards troubled about the matter. We must 
 therefore be cautious not to bring him too directly under 
 the authority of men who have many prejudices against him, 
 who have pronounced that he can do no good, and who 
 will not be sorry to see their predictions verified.
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 449 
 
 Extract of a Letter from Colonel Munro to Mr. Gum- 
 ming, dated Madras, 24th September, 1816. 
 
 You will be glad to hear that the regulations de- 
 fining the powers of the collector as magistrate, and of the 
 zillah judge as criminal judge, have at last passed, together 
 with the general police regulation. 
 
 * * * 
 
 A long Report has been given in by the Sudder Adawlut 
 on the answers to their queries, received from the provincial 
 and zillah judges. It was so short a time in my possession, 
 that I could only run over it hastily. It was chiefly on 
 matters of civil process ; but where it treats of the transfer 
 of the police to the collector, it evidently, I think, en- 
 deavours to place, in an unfavourable light, those opinions 
 which are at variance with their own. Mr. Harber, in 
 particular, is treated very unfairly. The Sudder Adawlut 
 seem to value opinions, rather by their number, than their 
 quality. The opinion of such a man as Mr. Barber, who 
 has been so long and actively employed in police duties, 
 both in the revenue and judicial line, is worth the opinions 
 of the whole Sudder Adawlut and half a dozen of common 
 
 judges besides. You know, I believe, that 's opinion 
 
 stands for that of the Sudder Adawlut, he writes whatever 
 he thinks proper, signs it without difficulty, and it is then 
 the voice of the court. I never myself had much faith 
 in the opinions of the judges concerning the police, be- 
 cause their fixed situation gave them little opportunity of 
 knowing much about it ; and my faith has not been much 
 increased by what I have seen since my return to India. 
 The zillah judges are now chiefly men who were sent from 
 Madras as registers; they had the code of regulations for 
 their guide, and few ever thought of inquiring about any 
 thing beyond them. They have been fixed to one spot, 
 
 VOL. I. 2 G
 
 450 THE LIFE OF 
 
 with little communication with the inhabitants, except by 
 a native in court. They hold them in too much contempt 
 to think their institutions worthy of the smallest considera- 
 tion, and they have such a reverence for the courts, that 
 they think every improvement in the state of the country 
 is the consequence of the labours of some court or other. 
 The circuit judges entertain the same notions; and hence 
 they attribute the submission of poligars and the increasing 
 tranquillity of the country, to this or that judge, when it 
 is owing to neither judge nor collector, but to our extended 
 influence among the neighbouring states, and to the dread of 
 a regular army, which puts down all opposition. The ob- 
 jections of such men, to the new arrangement, cannot be 
 expected to arise from any knowledge of the native cha- 
 racter or customs : it rests upon the old commonplace 
 arguments of their venality, ignorance, and incapacity, and 
 the necessity of employing European agency every where. 
 It is besides very natural that every person connected 
 with the courts should disapprove of measures which they 
 suspect will tend to diminish the business of the courts, 
 and to enable Government to abolish some of them. The 
 advocates for the old system speak on all occasions as 
 if the regulations were completely efficient throughout the 
 country ; whereas they have little effect, except in the im- 
 mediate vicinity of the court, and their police is every 
 where vexatious and oppressive. Both the framers of the 
 regulations, and most of the men who speak of their excel- 
 lence, never seem to have considered the great difference 
 between the condition of the people here and in England, 
 and that the state of society and the character of the 
 natives, make the regulations totally inapplicable to the 
 great body of the people in this country. Mr. Sullivan 
 and myself have, in two or three paragraphs of the Coim- 
 bitore report, endeavoured to show how little they are cal- 
 culated to redress or protect the rayets; and I hope he will
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 451 
 
 find time to give some details of the police of that province, 
 which was held up as a model to be imitated every where 
 else. If he does, he will show how odious, and degradingly 
 vexatious it has been to the inhabitants ; how utterly in- 
 competent a stationary magistrate is to control it, and 
 how little dependence is to be placed on the reports of the 
 circuit judges in general, whenever they venture beyond 
 their calendars of prisoners. 
 
 But it is only waste of time to continue the discussion 
 about the new arrangements. The only way is to let them 
 have a fair trial, like their predecessors, for eight or ten 
 years' experience will show which is best ; the natives will 
 decide the question. If they settle their disputes among 
 themselves, through heads of villages and punchayets, and 
 leave the courts with not half their present business, it will 
 be pretty evident that they have got something they like 
 better. Though the regulations framed by the Commission 
 are now passed, I expect nothing from them for some time. 
 The example set at the Presidency will extend to the 
 provinces, and in many of them it will yet be some months 
 before they are even begun to be acted upon ; but they will 
 find their way through all opposition, and I trust make us 
 ashamed in all parts of India, of having attempted to ex- 
 clude the natives from all share in the administration of 
 justice. I don't know what Government are doing with the 
 Coimbitore report it might have been sent home six months 
 ago. It is a tender subject for most of the great authorities 
 here, who did not believe there could be any abuses, where 
 
 the regulations were so well understood. has found 
 
 fault with some casual remarks made by the collector and 
 myself on the servants' regulations, and has, in the name 
 of the Board of Revenue, in a letter to the collector, entered 
 into an elaborate argument to expose our errors, which I 
 imagine John Sullivan will not think it worth while to 
 answer. I am ver anxious to reform both the servant and
 
 452 THE LIFE OF 
 
 the curnum regulations, so as to leave the collector at liberty 
 to employ his own servants, and to exercise the same autho- 
 rity over the curnum as before the permanent settlement ; 
 but I doubt if we shall be able to make the alterations, 
 unless orders to that effect are sent from home. 
 
 Extract of a Letter from Colonel Munro to Mr. Sullivan, 
 dated Coimbitore, 17th March, 1817. 
 
 I COULD have wished to have had the village re- 
 gulations more free than they are from forms and writings ; 
 but so many imaginary difficulties and delays occurred at 
 every step, that I was very glad to get them passed in any 
 way. I thought it better to do this, than to run the risk 
 of something happening to prevent their being carried into 
 effect at all, while we were wasting time in unprofitable 
 debates. I was satisfied that the main object was to get 
 them established any how ; that when this was once accom- 
 plished, they would maintain themselves, and that whatever 
 corrections might be found requisite, could easily be made 
 hereafter. I must still repeat what I have said in every 
 letter, that the only chance of rendering either the present 
 or any other system efficient, is to employ men who are not 
 hostile, but friendly to it ; and that as opportunities offer, 
 men of this description ought to be placed hr council in the 
 Sudder Adawlut and the Board of Revenue. 
 
 The influence of the judicial system has been very pre- 
 judicial to the internal administration of the country, both 
 among Europeans and natives. It has thrown almost the 
 whole of it into the hands of judges who know little of the 
 natives, because they have little communication with them, 
 except upon the bench. It has compelled those collectors 
 who would wish to protect the rayets against the extortions 
 of zemindars and renters, to look on quietly, because, by 
 law, redress can only be given by the courts of justice, to
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 453 
 
 which the rayets cannot afford to go. It has enabled those 
 collectors, who are averse to every business but amusement, 
 to refuse to hear the complaints of their rayets ; and it has 
 left the rayets in a worse state than under any native go- 
 vernment, completely at the mercy of the renters, because 
 the courts cannot give, and the collectors are prohibited 
 from giving, them relief. 
 
 Extract of a Letter from Colonel Munro to Mr. Sullivan, 
 dated Bangalore, 28th July, 1817. 
 
 THREE or four years more will work a great change 
 in public here. It cannot be expected that men who have 
 been accustomed to regard the system of 1793 as perfect, 
 will easily give it up as altogether inadequate ; or that 
 even those who have lost their reverence for that system, 
 will favour a new one which must, in its course, do away a 
 great proportion of the courts and appointments connected 
 with them. We might as well expect to find military men 
 applauding a system for reducing the army. I am not 
 therefore at all discouraged by the number of opinions 
 against the system, because every person in the judicial 
 line must be against it, either from interest or prejudice. I 
 am still less discouraged, from observing on the spot how 
 little those opinions are worth, even if there was nothing 
 to bias them : nine-tenths of them are those of men who 
 know as little of India as if they had never left England. 
 The case of Coimbitore, and the opinions procured upon 
 it previous to the investigation, are strong proofs of how 
 little the oldest servants know of the natives, and the 
 abuses of authority.
 
 454 THE LIFE OF 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 War with the Mahrattas. Campaign of General Munro's 
 Division. General Correspondence. 
 
 THINGS were in this state, and the Commission, 
 after meeting with endless delays and opposition, 
 was just beginning to act, when events befel 
 which turned, for a time, the attention of all 
 concerned into a different channel. 
 
 It is scarcely necessary to remind the reader 
 that the Pindarries, encouraged by the peculiar 
 distribution of the British army, a large propor- 
 tion of which was cantoned in the Deccan, as well 
 as secretly supported by Scindiah, Holkar, Ameer 
 Khan, and others, began, towards the close of 
 1816, to make frequent and destructive inroads 
 into the Madras provinces. These became at last 
 so annoying, that the necessity of resorting to 
 strong measures for their suppression, could no 
 longer be denied, and the approach of war upon 
 a large scale, and against other besides avowed 
 enemies, was very generally anticipated through-
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 455 
 
 out India. It is true that the Native powers, 
 to whom remonstrances were made, affected to 
 deplore the continuance of the predatory sys- 
 tem, and expressed themselves willing to coope- 
 rate with the British Government in the extir- 
 pation of the freebooters ; but the readiness with 
 which they gave to those very freebooters a safe 
 passage through their countries, and the perfect 
 exemption which they experienced from the evils 
 of which the Company complained, led all rational 
 persons to conclude, that in such professions there 
 was no sincerity. The consequence was, that the 
 Governor- Genera], with the promptitude and 
 sagacity which distinguished him, began early to 
 arrange his plans for a campaign ; and orders were 
 issued which placed the troops of each of the 
 Presidencies in a condition for immediate service. 
 Whilst these preparations were as yet imper- 
 fectly begun, Colonel Munro, from whose pene- 
 tration the true state of affairs could not be con- 
 cealed, esteemed it proper to solicit from the 
 Supreme Government employment in the line of 
 his own profession. With this view, he addressed 
 a letter to the Marquess of Hastings, in which he 
 gave it as his decided opinion, that the defensive 
 system ought at once to be abandoned. " Against 
 Native armies in general," says he, " defensive 
 measures are always ineffectual, but more espe- 
 cially against Pindarries. The great Mahratta 
 armies, though they move rapidly, must occasion- 
 ally halt for their bazaars, supplies, and baggage,
 
 456 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 which affords a chance of coming up with them ; 
 but there is no chance of this kind in the case of 
 Pindarries, who move without bazaars, and enter 
 the country merely for plunder, without any view 
 of conquest. They can only be put down by 
 seizing the districts in which they assemble, and 
 either keeping them, or placing them under a 
 Native government, which can keep them under 
 complete subjection." Finally, he requested 
 " that, in the event of a war, he might be en- 
 trusted with the command of the subsidiary 
 forces of Hyderabad and Nagpoor, and of such 
 force as might be destined to act between the 
 Godavery and Nerbuddah. I am senior to any 
 of the officers now employed in that quarter," 
 continued he : "I have seen as much service as 
 any officer in the Madras army, having, with the 
 exception of Lord Wellington's short campaign 
 in 1803, been in every service with the army 
 since June 1780, when Hyder Ally invaded the 
 Carnatic." 
 
 The preceding letter was written in the month 
 of January, 1817, when as yet the occurrence of 
 a war had not been positively ascertained, or, to 
 speak more correctly, when it was still a matter 
 of doubt with whom the war should be waged. 
 It contained sentiments perfectly in accordance 
 with those of the Governor-General ; yet the lat- 
 ter, though not unacquainted with the high cha- 
 racter of Colonel Munro, declined to supersede 
 officers already in the field. Whence this deter-
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 457 
 
 mination arose, whether from a feeling of delicacy 
 towards the officers in question, or from a mis- 
 taken view of the civil duties in the discharge 
 of which Colonel Munro was engaged, I pos- 
 sess no means of determining ; but of the fact 
 itself no doubt exists : indeed, it was distinctly 
 stated, that even in the event of hostilities, his 
 Excellency could hold out little hope that Colo- 
 nel Munro would be employed actively in the 
 field. 
 
 Time passed, and every day rendered more and 
 more palpable the extent of the confederacy which 
 had been formed for the overthrow of the British 
 power. Not Scindiah, and Holkar, and Ameer 
 Khan only, but the Peishwah himself became an 
 object of suspicion ; if not to other functionaries, 
 at all events to Mr. Elphinstone, whose situa- 
 tion as resident gave him ample opportunities of 
 observing, which his natural acuteness failed not 
 to improve. It will be recollected, that early 
 in 1817, a new treaty of alliance was set on foot 
 with His Highness, which had for its object a 
 more convenient mode of providing for the dis- 
 charge of engagements already in force. To this, 
 as it implied a considerable cession of territory, 
 the Peishwah exhibited so much reluctance, that 
 June arrived ere the negotiation produced any re- 
 sult ; nor was it till the 13th day of that month that 
 the treaty of Poonah was concluded, and several 
 important provinces made formally over to the 
 East India Company. These, including a district
 
 458 THE LIFE OF 
 
 in the southern Mahratta country, in which were 
 situated the forts of Darwar and Koongul, a tract 
 of land south of the Werda, and other places, 
 were estimated to produce an annual revenue of 
 thirty-five lacs of rupees, and they were given up 
 as a compensation for the maintenance of a sub- 
 sidiary force of three thousand infantry and five 
 thousand cavalry. 
 
 In the mean while, however, the dispositions 
 which Lord Hastings had resolved to make were 
 gradually arriving at maturity. Lieutenant- 
 General Sir Thomas Hislop, Commander-in-chief 
 at Madras, received orders to assume the guidance 
 both of his own army and of that of the Deccan, 
 and to associate with himself, as a member of a 
 political commission, Colonel Sir John Malcolm, to 
 whom a Brigadier's warrant was issued. A similar 
 promotion was, at the same time, conferred upon 
 various other officers, including Colonels Doveton, 
 Floyer, and Pritzler, of the Madras Presidency ; 
 whilst to each of them was committed either a 
 division or a brigade in the army of which Sir 
 Thomas Hislop was at the head. Now, the whole 
 of these officers, however meritorious in other 
 respects, were junior to Colonel Munro; their 
 experience in Indian warfare was more limited 
 than that which circumstances had enabled him to 
 acquire ; yet they were all advanced to the rank of 
 Brigadiers, and all invested with commands, whilst 
 he was left in the grade of Colonel, to attend to 
 civil occupations. Colonel Munro was deeply
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 459 
 
 hurt at this arrangement : if ever he felt ambi- 
 tious for distinction of any kind, it was for that 
 which the command of troops, in the presence of 
 an enemy, alone affords an opportunity of earn- 
 ing ; and it wounded him severely to discover, 
 that now, when other circumstances combined 
 to open a door for its attainment, the pleasure of 
 his superiors should alone stand in the way. 
 
 With matters in this vague and unsatisfactory 
 condition, considerable importance was attached 
 to an early occupation of the new provinces ceded 
 to the Company. Their local position gave to 
 them great value in the existing state of affairs ; 
 whilst in the event of a rupture with the Peish- 
 wah, that value would be increased fourfold ; and 
 hence both the Supreme Government and the 
 Government of Madras were exceedingly desirous 
 that no time should be lost in adjusting the trans- 
 fer. Colonel Munro was strongly urged to ac- 
 cept the office of Commissioner in this arrange- 
 ment. It was not the kind of office which he de- 
 sired to fill at a moment when hostilities were 
 on the eve of commencing ; nor did he conceive 
 that the higher powers behaved to him with the 
 consideration to which he was entitled, when they 
 repeatedly pressed it upon him ; but Colonel 
 Munro had never accustomed himself to indulge 
 a private feeling, when the public good seemed 
 to be at issue; and, after a slight struggle be- 
 tween inclination and patriotism, he accepted it. 
 He accordingly repaired to the Toombuddra,
 
 460 THE LIFE OF 
 
 upon which a force was already assembled, to the 
 command of which Brigadier-General Pritzler 
 had been appointed, and assuming the temporary 
 direction of it, made ready to occupy Darwar, 
 either by persuasion or force. 
 
 No great difficulty was experienced in the ac- 
 complishment of this service. Major Newal, 
 being pushed forward at the head of a battalion 
 of sepoys, arrived in front of the place several 
 days before Colonel Munro, who, with the re- 
 mainder of the brigade, was hindered from pass- 
 ing the river by a violent flood ; but that intelli- 
 gent officer conducted matters with so much 
 address, that he prevailed upon the garrison, 
 though in a state of mutiny, to submit. Colo- 
 nel Munro came up soon after they had evacua- 
 ted the place, and took quiet possession. He 
 remained here several weeks, transacting business, 
 or rather striving to transact it, with the agents 
 appointed by the Peishwah to meet him ; and he 
 addressed, during this interval, the following 
 characteristic and important letter to His Excel- 
 lency the Governor-General. 
 
 Darwar, 12th August, 1817. 
 WITH regard to what more immediately concerns 
 myself, though I cannot but regret deeply to feel, for the 
 first time, the army in advance shut against me, and that 
 your Lordship's plans do not admit of my being employed 
 with the forces in the Deccan, I am sensible that those 
 plans ought not to give way to the views of individuals. 
 I have accepted the command offered to me by the
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 
 
 461 
 
 Madras Government, of the troops destined for the occupa- 
 tion of the Peishwah's cessions in Darwar and Savanore. 
 Had I been certain that it would have led to nothing else, 
 I would have declined it ; but I indulge the hope that, in 
 the event of hostilities, and of any vacancy occurring 
 among the brigadiers in the Deccan, it may possibly lead 
 to my being employed in that quarter. When I consider, 
 however, the weakness of the Native states, and the cha- 
 racter of the chiefs under whose sway they now are, I see 
 little chance of war, and none of a protracted resistance. 
 They have not force to turn our armies, and lengthen out 
 the contest by a predatory invasion of our territories. 
 Their great distance from our frontier, and the magnitude 
 of our disposable force, are almost insurmountable obstacles 
 to the success of such an enterprise ; whilst nothing but 
 our following them too regularly, could save them from 
 being almost entirely destroyed. They may run ahead for 
 a few days, but, if followed perseveringly by numerous 
 small detachments properly supported, they will have no 
 time to rest or plunder ; they will be exhausted and over- 
 taken. I have seen Sir John Malcolm's able observations on 
 this subject ; and I should, if any thing, rather rate their 
 military power lower than he does. It is not that they 
 want resources, that they have not men and horses, but 
 that there is no one amongst them possessed of those su- 
 perior talents which are necessary to direct them to ad- 
 vantage. 
 
 There is so little system or subordination in Native go- 
 vernments, that much more energy is required under them, 
 than under the more regular governments of Europe, to 
 give full effect to their resources. Scindiah was never for- 
 midable, even in the height of his power. The great means 
 which he possessed were lost in his feeble hands. The 
 exertions of Holkar against Lord Lake were still weaker 
 than those of Scindiah. The power of Scindiah's, as well as
 
 462 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 of Holkar's government, has so much declined since that 
 period, that it is scarcely credible that either Scindiah or 
 Meer Khan would venture to oppose by force, any measure 
 for the suppression of the Pindarries. But it is still possi- 
 ble that they might act otherwise ; for there is sometimes 
 a kind of infatuation about Indian chiefs who have lost a 
 part of their dominions, which tempts them to risk the 
 rest in a contest which they know to be hopeless. 
 
 The situation of the British Government with regard to 
 the Native powers, is entirely changed within the last 
 twenty years. It formerly brought very small armies into 
 the field, with hardly any cavalry ; and the issue of any war 
 in which it engaged was extremely uncertain. It now 
 brings armies into the field superior to those of the enemy, 
 not only in infantry, but also in cavalry, both in quality 
 and number. The superiority is so great, that the event 
 of any struggle in which it may be engaged is no longer 
 doubtful. It has only to bring forward its armies, and 
 dictate what terms it pleases, either without war, or after 
 a short and fruitless resistance. It may however be 
 doubted whether, after the settlement of the Pindarries, it 
 ought to avail itself of its predominant power, in order to 
 extend the system of subsidiary alliances, by stationing a 
 force in Bhopaul or in any other foreign territory. While 
 the military power of Mysore and of the M ahratta chiefs 
 was yet in its vigour, subsidiary alliances were in some de- 
 gree necessary for its safety, but that time is now past ; 
 and when, therefore, the evils which a subsidiary force en- 
 tails upon every country in which it is established are con- 
 sidered, it appears advisable that future security against 
 the Pindarries should be sought by their reduction, and by 
 compelling Scindiah, for his conduct in supporting them, to 
 cede the districts restored to him in 1805-6, rather than by 
 stationing a subsidiary force in Bhopaul. There are many 
 weighty objections to the employment of a subsidiary force.
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 
 
 463 
 
 It has a natural tendency to render the government of every 
 country in which it exists, weak and oppressive ; to ex- 
 tinguish all honourable spirit among the higher classes of 
 society, and to degrade and impoverish the whole people. 
 The usual remedy of a bad government in India is a quiet 
 revolution in the palace, or a violent one by rebellion, or 
 foreign conquests. But the presence of a British force cuts 
 off every chance of remedy, by supporting the prince on the 
 throne against every foreign and domestic enemy. It ren- 
 ders him indolent, by teaching him to trust to strangers 
 for his security ; and cruel and avaricious, by showing him 
 that he has nothing to fear from the hatred of his subjects. 
 Wherever the subsidiary system is introduced, unless the 
 reigning prince be a man of great abilities, the country 
 will soon bear the marks of it in decaying villages and de- 
 creasing population. This has long been observed in the 
 dominions of the Peishwah and the Nizam, and is now be- 
 ginning to be seen in Mysore. The talents of Purneah, 
 while he acted as Dewan, saved that country from the usual 
 effects of the system ; but the Rajah is likely to let them 
 have their full operation. He is indolent and prodigal, 
 and has already, besides the current revenue, dissipated 
 about sixty lacs of pagodas of the treasure laid up by the 
 late dewan. He is mean, artful, revengeful, and cruel. 
 He does not take away life, but he inflicts the most dis- 
 graceful and inhuman punishments on men of every rank, 
 at a distance from his capital, where he thinks it will re- 
 main unknown to Europeans; and though young, he is 
 already detested by his subjects. 
 
 A subsidiary force would be a most useful establishment, 
 if it could be directed solely to the support of our ascend- 
 ency, without nourishing all the vices of a bad govern- 
 ment ; but this seems to be almost impossible. The only 
 way in which this object has ever, in any degree, been at- 
 tained, is by the appointment of a Dewan. This measure
 
 464 THE LIFE OF 
 
 is, no doubt, liable to numerous objections ; but still it is 
 the only one by which any amends can be made to the 
 people of the country for the miseries brought upon them 
 by the subsidiary force, in giving stability to a vicious 
 government. The great difficulty is to prevent the prince 
 from counteracting the Dewan, and the resident from 
 meddling too much ; but, when this is avoided, the De- 
 wan may be made a most useful instrument of govern- 
 ment. 
 
 There is, however, another view under which the sub- 
 sidiary system should be considered, I mean that of its 
 inevitable tendency to bring every Native state into which 
 it is introduced, sooner or later, under the exclusive do- 
 minion of the British Government. It has already done 
 this completely in the case of the Nabob of the Carnatic. 
 It has made some progress in that of the Peishwah and the 
 Nizam ; and the whole of the territory of these princes will, 
 unquestionably, suffer the same fate as the Carnatic. The 
 observation of Moro Dekshat, in speaking of the late 
 treaty to Major Ford, " that no Native power could, from 
 its habits, conduct itself with such strict fidelity as we 
 seemed to demand," is perfectly just. This very Peishwah 
 will probably again commit a breach of the alliance. The 
 Nizam will do the same ; and the same consequence, a far- 
 ther reduction of their power for our own safety, must 
 again follow. Even if the prince himself were disposed to 
 adhere rigidly to the alliance, there will always be some 
 amongst his principal officers who will urge him to break 
 it. As long as there remains in the country any high- 
 minded independence, which seeks to throw off the control 
 of strangers, such counsellors will be found. I have a 
 better opinion of the natives of India than to think that 
 this spirit will ever l5e completely extinguished ; and I can 
 therefore have no doubt that the subsidiary system must 
 every where run its full course, and destroy every govern- 
 ment which it undertakes to protect.
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 465 
 
 In this progress of things, the evil of a weak and oppres- 
 sive government, supported by a subsidiary alliance, will 
 at least be removed. But even if all India could be 
 brought under the British dominion, it is very question- 
 able whether such a change, either as it regards the natives 
 or ourselves, ought to be desired. One effect of such a 
 conquest would be, that the Indian army, having no longer 
 any warlike neighbours to combat, would gradually lose 
 its military habits and discipline, and that the native troops 
 would have leisure to feel their own strength, and, for want 
 of other employment, to turn it against their European 
 masters. But even if we could be secured against every 
 internal convulsion, and could retain the country quietly 
 in subjection, I doubt much if the condition of the people 
 would be better than under their Native princes. The 
 strength of the British Government enables it to put down 
 every rebellion, to repel every foreign invasion, and to give 
 to its subjects a degree of protection which those of no 
 Native power enjoy. Its laws and institutions also afford 
 them a security from domestic oppression, unknown in 
 those states; but these advantages are dearly bought. 
 They are purchased by the sacrifice of independence of 
 national character and of whatever renders a people re- 
 spectable. The natives of the British provinces may, 
 without fear pursue their different occupations, as traders, 
 meerassidars, or husbandmen, and enjoy the fruits of their 
 labour in tranquillity ; but none of them can aspire to any 
 thing beyond this mere animal state of thriving in peace 
 none of them can look forward to any share in the legis- 
 lation, or civil or military government of their country. It 
 is from men who either hold, or are eligible to public office, 
 that natives take their character : where no such men ex- 
 ist, there can be no energy in any other class of the commu- 
 nity. The effect of this state of things is observable ir) all 
 the British provinces, whose inhabitants are certainly the 
 VOL. I. 2 H
 
 466 THE LIFE OF 
 
 most abject race in India. No elevation of character can 
 be expected among men who, in the military line, cannot 
 attain to any rank above that of subahdar, where they are 
 as much below an ensign as an ensign is below the com- 
 mander-in-chief, and who, in the civil line, can hope for 
 nothing beyond some petty, judicial, or revenue office, in 
 which they may, by corrupt means, make up for their 
 slender salary. 
 
 The consequence, therefore, of the conquest of India by 
 the British arms would be, in place of raising, to debase 
 the whole people. There is perhaps no example of any 
 conquest in which the natives have been so completely ex- 
 cluded from all share of the government of their country 
 as in British India. 
 
 Among all the disorders of the Native states, the field is 
 open for every man to raise himself; and hence among 
 them there is a spirit of emulation, of restless enterprize 
 and independence, far preferable to the servility of our 
 Indian subjects. The existence of independent Native 
 states is also useful in drawing off the turbulent and dis- 
 affected among our native troops. Many of these men 
 belonging to the Madras army, formerly sought service in 
 Mysore. 
 
 If the British Government is not favourable to the im- 
 provement of the Indian character, that of its control 
 through a subsidiary force is still less so. 
 
 Its power is now so great, that it has nothing to fear 
 from any combination ; and it is perfectly able to take 
 satisfaction for any insult, without any extension of the 
 subsidiary system being necessary. It will generally be 
 found much more convenient to carry on war where it has 
 not been introduced. This was the case in both the wars 
 with Tippoo Sultan. The conquest was complete, because 
 our operations were not perplexed by any subsidiary alli- 
 ance with him. The simple and direct mode of conquest
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 467 
 
 from without, is more creditable both to our armies and 
 to our national character, than that of dismemberment 
 from within by the aid of a subsidiary force. However 
 just the motives may be from which such a force acts, yet the 
 situation in which it is placed, renders its acting at all too 
 like the movements of the Praetorian bands. It acts, it is 
 true, only by the orders of its own Government, and only 
 for public objects ; but still it is always ready in the neigh- 
 bourhood of the capital, to dictate terms to, or to depose 
 the prince whom it was stationed there to defend. 
 
 I cannot conclude this letter without apologizing both 
 for its length and for the freedom with which I have ex- 
 pressed myself. But it appears to me that our Indian 
 Empire has now reached that point whence it becomes a 
 subject for the most serious consideration, whether it ought 
 in future to be extended by means of subsidiary alliances. 
 
 In the mean time the Peishwah, whose designs 
 had all along been hostile, but whose antipathy to 
 the British name received a violent increase in 
 consequence of the late treaty, devised number- 
 less expedients for the purpose of obtaining revenge 
 for his wrongs, real or imaginary. Immediately 
 after the close of the negotiation, he withdrew 
 from the city of Poonah, to which, on a variety 
 of pretexts, he refused to return ; but he was not 
 the less busy, through the instrumentality of his 
 ministers, in forwarding the measures which he 
 had in view. There was an old engagement on 
 the part of the Company, to reduce under his 
 subjection certain petty princes, over whom he 
 claimed to hold a feudal superiority. Among 
 these, the chieftain of Soondoor was included ; and 
 
 2 H 2
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 the Peishwah became extremely urgent that 
 British Government would employ against him a 
 part of their force now in the field. For some 
 time, Mr. Elphinstone entertained serious doubts 
 whether it would be prudent to comply with this 
 request. As Soondoor lay at a considerable dis- 
 tance from the line of communication, the division 
 detached against it must, in the event of a rup- 
 ture, be completely isolated ; and Mr. Elphinstone 
 could not bring himself to recommend such an 
 arrangement, whilst the disposition of his High- 
 ness remained uncertain. But in the month of 
 August, Sir John Malcolm having travelled ninety 
 miles by post, for the purpose of obtaining a 
 personal interview with the suspected potentate, 
 brought back a report so favourable, that all Mr. 
 Elphinstone's scruples vanished. Not only was 
 the reduction of Soondoor recommended as a mea- 
 sure well calculated to please the Peishwah, but 
 General Smith's division, which had hitherto re- 
 mained in the vicinity of Poonah, was ordered in 
 advance ; and the residency was left, in the 
 midst of an armed population, to the protection of 
 an inconsiderable detachment of a few hundred 
 sepoys. 
 
 At the suggestion of Mr. Elphinstone, Colonel 
 Munro received instructions to employ the force 
 with which he held Darwar, in the reduction of 
 Soondoor. Leaving a small garrison to secure 
 the former place, he marched on the 13th of 
 October, and arriving in the valley on the 27th,
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 
 
 Soondoor was immediately given up. There 
 was something more than commonly striking in 
 the circumstances which accompanied this sur- 
 render. The chieftain, Sheo Rao, had enjoyed 
 his principality in uncontrolled possession for 
 upwards of twenty years, holding his little court 
 in a formidable stone fortress which commanded 
 the valley ; and he had been repeatedly heard to 
 declare, that sooner than submit to the tyranny of 
 the Peishwah, he would bury himself in its ruins. 
 Against the strength of the British empire, how- 
 ever, he felt that it were madness to contend, and 
 after a severe struggle, made up his mind to sub- 
 mit. " He came out," says an eye-witness, " with 
 his little court and retinue, and met the detach- 
 ment in the glen which leads into his valley ; and 
 on reaching the fort, he delivered up the keys 
 with a dignified resignation, which affected every 
 individual who witnessed the scene. He de- 
 clared that no alternative was left to him, but 
 to throw himself on the protection of the Com- 
 pany ; and called aloud to Colonel Munro, when 
 he took his leave, so as to be heard by all his fol- 
 lowers, * Think of my situation, have some consi- 
 deration for us all/ ' The appeal was not made 
 in vain. Colonel Munro, touched by the humi- 
 liation of the unfortunate man, at once acceded 
 to every request which he advanced ; and left 
 him to the full as much overwhelmed with gra- 
 titude at the generosity of his conqueror, as 
 sorrowful on account of the overthrow of his own
 
 470 THE LIFE OF 
 
 importance. It is worthy of remark, that when 
 the Peishwah's Government came tojbe broken up, 
 Colonel Munro recommended that the Sheo Rao 
 should be restored to his principality, and that the 
 British Government, well disposed of itself to act 
 with generosity, readily acceded to the pro- 
 position. 
 
 Having accomplished this service, Colonel 
 Munro, in obedience to his instructions, gave up 
 the command to Lieutenant-Colonel NewaU, with 
 directions to move the brigade to the point where 
 Brigadier-General Pritzler was appointed to join. 
 He himself, in the mean while, took the road to 
 Darwar, with the intention of returning as soon 
 as possible to the Presidency ; for of military 
 employment he now despaired ; and the duties of 
 Commissioner were not of a nature to detain him 
 longer than need be from his family. But on 
 reaching the former place on the 14th of Novem- 
 ber, intelligence came in, which gave a new turn 
 to the whole of public affairs, and opened out to 
 him new and more brilliant prospects. The 
 attack upon the resident at Poonah left no room 
 to doubt that a Mahratta war was begun ; and 
 Colonel Munro instantly repeated his application 
 to be placed in charge of a corps. 
 
 This was done on the 26th of November, in a 
 letter descriptive of the state of the southern 
 Mahratta country and of his own views touching 
 the particular field in which his services might 
 be made available. " I hold," he says, " at pre-
 
 SIR THOMAS MUN11O. 
 
 sent the command of the troops in the expected 
 cession in this quarter ; but I can bring into the 
 field only three or four companies of the garrison 
 of Darwar, to which I propose to add a few 
 hundred peons, for the purpose of expelling the 
 Mahrattas from the slip of country between Dar- 
 war and Soondah. But even this subaltern com- 
 mand I deem more useful at the present moment, 
 than that of any division south of the Toombud- 
 dra." On the 28th, however, he wrote again ; and 
 his letter contains so many evidences of the singu- 
 lar sagacity and profound calculations of the writer, 
 that I cannot deny to the reader the satisfaction 
 of perusing it at length. 
 
 " The hostile conduct of the Peishwah," says he, address- 
 ing himself to the Governor-General, " and my present 
 situation in the middle of the southern Mahrattas, where 
 I have an opportunity of seeing a good deal of their civil 
 and military government, will, I hope, in some degree 
 excuse my addressing your Lordship so soon again. No 
 intelligence has yet been received here respecting the 
 determination of Scindiah ; but whether he accede to or 
 reject the arrangement proposed to him, it seems de- 
 sirable that the whole, or at least the greater part, of the 
 Madras troops now in the field, should be brought as 
 soon as possible to act against the Peishwah. The local 
 situation of the Poonah territories, and the still remain- 
 ing influence of the Peishwah, as the nominal head of the 
 Mahratta states, make the overthrow of his government 
 the most important, perhaps, of all the measures that can 
 be adopted for the safety of our own dominions. 
 
 " The Mahratta Government, from its foundation, has 
 been one of the most destructive that ever existed in
 
 4*72 THE LIFE OF 
 
 India. It never relinquished the predatory spirit of its 
 founder, Sewajee. That spirit grew with its power ; and 
 when its empire extended from the Ganges to the Cavery, 
 this nation was little better than a horde of imperial thieves. 
 All other Hindoo states took a pride in the improvement 
 of the country, and in the construction of pagodas, 
 tanks, canals, and other public works. The Mahrattas 
 have done nothing of this kind : their work has been 
 chiefly desolation. They did not seek their revenue in 
 the improvement of the country, but in the exactions of the 
 established chout from their neighbours, and in predatory 
 incursions to levy more. Though they have now fortu- 
 nately been obliged to relinquish their claims, the wish 
 to revive them will never cease but with the extinction 
 of their power. A government so hostile in its principles 
 to improvement and tranquillity ought, if possible, to be 
 completely overthrown. It may be a matter of some 
 difficulty to decide what ought to be established in its 
 room, and whether the chief of the government should be 
 taken from among the relations of the Peishwah or the 
 descendants of Sewajee. Before the establishment of the 
 new state, however, it might be expedient to require the 
 cession of the southern Jagheers, and of the provinces 
 south of the Kistna, to the British Government. 
 
 " The provinces between the Werdah and the Kistna 
 are not properly Mahratta : though there is a considerable 
 mixture of Mahrattas, the Canarese form the great body 
 of the people. The Mahratta jagheerdars and their prin- 
 cipal servants are therefore considered, in some measure, 
 as strangers and conquerors. The best of the horse are 
 in general Mahrattas, and no doubt attached to their chiefs ; 
 but the infantry in the forts and villages are mostly Cana- 
 rese, and ready to join any power that will pay them. All 
 the trading classes are anxious for the expulsion of the 
 Mahrattas, because they interrupt their trade by arbitrary
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 4? 3 
 
 exactions, and often plunder them of their whole property. 
 The heads of villages, a much more powerful body than 
 the commercial, are likewise very generally desirous of 
 being relieved from the Mahratta dominion. If the 
 Peishwah do not submit unconditionally, or if the greater 
 part of the Madras troops can be soon brought against 
 him, the conquest of his territory will be effected without 
 much difficulty. But in the event of his not submitting, 
 and of its not being practicable to employ speedily such 
 a force against him, the conquest of his southern provinces 
 would be much facilitated by pursuing the course adopted 
 by Hyder Ally in this very country, of garrisoning all the 
 forts and walled villages with peons from Mysore and the 
 Ceded Districts. By this means the regular force is kept 
 entire for field-service, and the civil as well as the military 
 possession of the country is obtained. An army of horse, 
 which is excluded from the principal towns and villages, 
 cannot remain long together; it can receive no regular 
 supplies ; its chiefs having no place of security, can have 
 no treasure, except in their camp, which is soon exhausted ; 
 the troops are not paid, become dispirited, and gradually 
 disperse ; for even the most irregular and predatory troops 
 cannot be kept long together in the field, unless they have 
 a home to which they can retire in security with their 
 plunder." 
 
 The preceding letter is in every respect worthy 
 of the high talents and fervent zeal of its writer ; 
 but the end which he sought to attain by it* 
 was, by the unsolicited favour of Lord Hastings, 
 already accomplished. So early as the 20th of 
 October, a Brigadier's commission had been made 
 out for Colonel Munro, and forwarded to the 
 Commander-in-chief of the army of the Deccan,
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 with instructions to transmit it whenever the 
 fitting moment should appear to the latter to 
 have arrived. There could be no doubt as to the 
 sentiments either of Sir Thomas Hislop or of 
 any other officer attached to his army on such 
 an occasion. All earnestly desired to see Colonel 
 Munro associated with themselves in the glorious 
 operations before them ; and the commission was 
 in consequence sent forward on the very day of 
 its arrival at head-quarters. 
 
 By this new arrangement, which was not com- 
 municated to him till the 29th of November, 
 General Munro found himself invested with a 
 somewhat obscurely-worded superiority over the 
 movements of the reserve division hitherto com- 
 manded by General Pritzler. It was announced 
 to him, at the same time, that he should commu- 
 nicate directly with Mr. Elphinstone, the ap- 
 pointed agent for the Governor-General, in con- 
 trolling the operations of the war with the Peish- 
 wah, whilst the latter was recommended to avail 
 himself of General Munro's assistance in the 
 adjustment of all matters political as well as 
 civil. It may with truth be asserted, that never 
 were instructions received with greater satisfac- 
 tion, or acted upon with better will. There 
 existed between these two distinguished function- 
 aries the most unreserved confidence, which no pal- 
 try jealousy was permitted for a moment to in- 
 terrupt ; and hence their letters, official as well as 
 private, are all composed in the spirit which ought
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 4 75 
 
 alone to actuate men engaged in the common 
 cause of advancing the welfare of their country. 
 But General Munro's situation was not, in other 
 respects, of a very cheering nature, as the follow- 
 ing brief account of it will show. 
 
 In the first place, his military instructions were 
 so expressed, that though they gave to him the 
 rank of Brigadier, and appointed him to act espe- 
 cially with the reserve, it was doubtful whether 
 they conferred upon him authority to assume the 
 personal command of that corps, or authorized 
 him merely to direct its general movements, 
 leaving the execution in detail to General Pritz- 
 ler. In the next place, as the reserve was already 
 advanced to the Kistna, between which and Darwar 
 the communication was both remote and hazard- 
 ous, all power of joining it, had such a measure 
 been clearly defined, was, at least for the pre- 
 sent, taken away. The total amount of force, 
 therefore, actually placed at his disposal, amount- 
 ed only to five companies of Native infantry, with 
 two field-pieces ; whilst of a staff to assist him 
 in the organization of such additional means as 
 he already began to count upon, he was entirely 
 destitute. Nor did his difficulties end here. 
 
 The Peishwah no sooner came to a determina- 
 tion of acting with hostility towards the British 
 Government, than he issued orders for the re- 
 occupation of the districts which he had ceded 
 by the treaty of Poonah. He directed his jag- 
 heerdar chieftains likewise, supported by Cassee
 
 476 THE LIFE OF 
 
 Rao Gokla, who was in command of a corps of 
 regular infantry and cavalry, to threaten from the 
 Dooab, between the Kistna and the Toombuddra, 
 an invasion of the British territories : and he filled 
 with troops every fort, castle, and post which 
 appeared capable of embarrassing the movements 
 of an enemy. The consequence was, that General 
 Munro found himself in some measure compelled 
 either to act wholly upon the defensive, for which 
 the numerical weakness of his detachment was 
 peculiarly ill-adapted, or to commence a series 
 of sieges, destitute of all means for conducting 
 them. It must be confessed, that few men would 
 have looked upon such a position as other than 
 desperate ; but General Munro's energies on the 
 present, as on other occasions, increased in exact 
 proportion to the increase of his difficulties, and 
 he embarked fearlessly in a course of hardihood 
 and daring, to which the exploits of earlier times 
 in India alone furnish a parallel. 
 
 Instead of making any effort to retard the 
 movements of the reserve, or to bring it back 
 to some position where he might be able to join, 
 he communicated both to Mr. Elphinstone, and 
 to General Hislop, his wish, that General Pritz- 
 ler should push rapidly towards Poonah ; and he 
 instructed that officer himself to lose no time in 
 opening a communication with the British resi- 
 dent at the Mahratta capital. This done, he sug- 
 gested that one or more light brigades ought to 
 be formed out of the entire force, infantry, ca-
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 477 
 
 valry, and artillery, with which General Pritz- 
 ler might assist in following the Peishwah to any 
 point on which he might retire, whilst the re- 
 mainder, with a few heavy guns, should be sent 
 back to him, for the purpose of being employed 
 in the siege of the forts, with which the southern 
 Mahratta country was studded. In the mean- 
 while, however, he determined not to trust to 
 contingencies, upon the certain occurrence of 
 which it was impossible to count, but with his 
 five companies of sepoys to cross the Toombud- 
 dra, and open the campaign in the enemy's coun- 
 try. This was at once a generous and a bold 
 plan generous as far as the feelings of others 
 were affected, and bold as it referred to his own 
 situation. Yet the reasoning upon it rested was as 
 sound in theory, as the promptitude with which 
 he carried it into execution was laudable. 
 
 General Munro knew perfectly well, that a 
 force so inadequate as his could offer no resist- 
 ance whatever to a numerous army prepared to 
 pass the frontier of the Madras territory at a 
 variety of points. The division which advanced 
 directly against himself, he might perhaps re- 
 pulse ; but in the mean while other corps would 
 make good their entrance, and the Company's 
 possessions must suffer insult, which it would be 
 impossible for him either to ward off or revenge. 
 On the other hand, he justly calculated, that 
 were he to carry the war into the enemy's coun- 
 try, they would naturally think first of resisting
 
 478 THE LIFE OF 
 
 the aggression ; and hence, should no other bene- 
 fit arise out of the movement, it would at all 
 events serve the purpose of securing the British 
 subjects against the evils of a contest at their own 
 doors. But his calculations were too profound 
 and too justly formed, not to extend beyond this. 
 He conceived, that by alarming the feudatory 
 chiefs for the safety of their own possessions, lie 
 would shake their fealty to their superior ; whilst 
 a few successes in the outset would in all proba- 
 bility deprive them of the power, if not of the 
 inclination, to do serious mischief during the re- 
 mainder of the struggle. It was well, under such 
 circumstances, that the strong fortress of Soon- 
 door chanced not to be in possession of the 
 Peishwah's troops. General Munro had, it ap- 
 peared, seen enough, even at the moment when 
 Sheo Rao was displaced, to make him hesitate 
 as to the propriety of committing that strong- 
 hold to a JVlahratta governor ; and the event 
 proved, that in distrusting the fidelity of the 
 ally in whose favour he then acted, a fresh in- 
 stance was given of that singular insight into 
 human character which so peculiarly belonged to 
 him. 
 
 Having made up his mind to pursue this plan 
 of operations, General Munro lost no time in ap- 
 plying to the Madras Government for such an 
 increase of force as would at once give additional 
 security to the frontier, and aid him in following 
 up his proposed invasion. The application was
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 479 
 
 seconded both by Mr. Elphinstone and the Com- 
 mander of the army of the Deccan, to both of 
 whom he communicated it ; but though repeated 
 again and again, on each occasion in terms more 
 urgent than before, it met with no favourable at- 
 tention. This was exceedingly mortifying, and 
 to a person possessed of less energy of character, 
 might have proved utterly destructive of all hope; 
 but in General Munro it excited only an addi- 
 tional determination to trust all to his own con- 
 duct and good fortune. He resolved, at every 
 hazard, to keep the war out of the Company's 
 possessions ; and seeing that regular troops were 
 not to be had, he adopted the following singular 
 expedient for recruiting his little army. 
 
 The extraordinary talent which General Munro 
 possessed of acquiring the confidence and good- 
 will of the people over whom he presided, has 
 been noticed on more than one occasion during 
 the course of this memoir. Hitherto he had 
 been called upon to make use of that feeling only 
 in preserving order in provinces subject to the 
 British rule; he now prepared to avail himself 
 of it for the subjugation of a district every where 
 overrun by the Peishwah's troops. He deter- 
 mined to arm the inhabitants of the newly ceded 
 provinces, and to employ them, under revenue 
 amildars of his own selection, against their legiti- 
 mate sovereign, and he set about this singular ope- 
 ration with so much prudence and judgment, that 
 it was attended with perfect success.
 
 480 THE LIFE OF 
 
 The following letter to the Adjutant-General 
 of the army of the Deccan, which bears date 
 December 24th, will sufficiently explain how the 
 system operated, whilst it will convey to the 
 reader a knowledge of the resources with which 
 Brigadier-General Munro opened his campaign. 
 It is only necessary to premise, that the batter- 
 ing-train, of which the writer speaks, consisted 
 of two iron eighteen-pounders, two iron and 
 two brass twelves, with two mortars, which he 
 was permitted to borrow from the garrison at 
 Bellary. 
 
 TO THE ADJUTANT-GENERAL OF THE ARMY 
 OF THE DECCAN. 
 
 SIR, 
 
 I HAD the honour to address you on the 22d 
 instant, from Koongul. The force by which I was then 
 accompanied, consisted of two flank and three battalion 
 companies from the garrison of Darwar. The battalion 
 companies proceeded next morning to meet the battering- 
 train from Bellary, and I marched at the same time with 
 the flank companies, with one of the battalion guns, and a 
 five and a half inch mortar, under the command of Major 
 Newall, for Nawelgoond, in order to relieve that place, in 
 which I had a garrison of peons hard pressed by Cassee Rao 
 Gokla. On approaching within two miles of Nawelgoond, 
 some small parties of horse were seen ; and advancing 
 about a mile farther, the main body was discovered 
 moving slowly along the side of a rising ground, at the 
 distance of about a thousand yards. Its strength appeared 
 to be about seven hundred ; and as it seemed to have an
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNltO. 
 
 intention of coming round upon our baggage, two shells 
 were thrown, by which two horsemen were killed. The 
 whole body upon this moved off, attended by about two 
 hundred foot, which Cassee Rao had brought with him, and 
 the garrison of Lallghurry, amounting to about one hun- 
 dred men, and was soon out of sight. 
 
 When the Peishwah commenced hostilities, it became 
 evident that the local situation of this province, and 
 Gokla's extensive jagheers in it, would give great facility 
 to the enemy in making incursions into the Company's ter- 
 ritory. The most likely way of preventing it was to find 
 the enemy employment in the defence of his own posses- 
 sions ; but as there was no disposable regular force pre- 
 sent, I determined at once to avail myself of the aid of the 
 inhabitants in accomplishing this object. As much pro- 
 gress in this plan has already been made as was possible 
 with the means within my reach. 
 
 I appointed military amildars to most of the districts in 
 the enemy's possessions on this side of the Malpurba, 
 with orders to raise peons, and get possession of as much 
 of their respective districts as was practicable. Among 
 these men, Ram Rao, a native of Mysore, was appointed 
 to Nawelgoond ; he got possession of above half the district 
 in a very short time, and on the 19th instant he advanced 
 from a village about two miles from Nawelgoond, with 
 five hundred peons, to attack Govind Rao Gokla, who was 
 at that place with a body of seven hundred horse. About 
 six hundred of this body were picqueted in the streets, and 
 the open space between the pettah and fort. The rest were 
 mounted and watching Ram Rao, who advanced at noon 
 so rapidly that he entered the pettah before the body there 
 could mount and get out of it. The panic was so great 
 that they galloped off in every direction, without attempt- 
 ing to make any resistance. Nineteen horses were taken, 
 above twenty were left dead. A considerable number of 
 
 VOL. I. 2 I
 
 482 THE LIFE OF 
 
 the enemy were killed. Govind Rao, who commanded, 
 escaped with difficulty ; and of two sirdars under him, one 
 was killed, and the other wounded and taken. 
 
 Cassee Roa Gokla, who was then at Badami, on hearing 
 of the defeat of his son, marched to join him with five 
 hundred and fifty horse, and two hundred foot ; and after 
 collecting the fugitives, he arrived at Nawelgoond on the 
 22d, Ram Rao having retired into the old fort : .he oc- 
 cupied the pettah before daylight on the 23d, and was 
 pressing the fort very hard, when the approach of Major 
 Newall's detachment saved the garrison, as its ammunition 
 was nearly expended. The enemy left nine or ten dead in 
 the streets, and they were so much dispirited by their loss 
 in the two attacks, that they abandoned Lallghurry, 
 the ghurry that protects Nawelgoond, and carried off the 
 garrison. 
 
 I have given these details, because, without them, I 
 could not have done justice to Ram Rao, whose conduct 
 is entitled to the highest praise. 
 
 Having thus succeeded in raising the blockade 
 of Nawelgoond, General Munro turned his undi- 
 vided attention to the safe conveyance of the 
 train through the heart of the enemy's country. 
 For this purpose, Major Newall, who, with the 
 Brigadier, fell back upon Darwar as soon as the 
 operations detailed above were completed, was 
 sent out at the head of a detachment of three com- 
 panies, and meeting the convoy at Colaspoor, on 
 the 3d of January, brought it in unmolested to 
 head-quarters. There accompanied the guns six 
 fresh companies in addition to Major NewalPs 
 escort, namely, two of the 12th Native infantry,
 
 SIR THOMAS MUN110. 
 
 and four of pioneers ; and there came in soon 
 afterwards, three troops of Native cavalry, un- 
 der the command of Captain Gorton. The lat- 
 ter were furnished by Major-General Lang, who 
 commanded in the Ceded Districts, at his own 
 responsibility ; and they proved of essential ser- 
 vice in future operations, by checking the vexa- 
 tious approaches of Cassee Rao Gokla's clouds 
 of horse. 
 
 As soon as these inconsiderable reinforcements 
 reached him, Gen. Munro, conceiving that he was 
 sufficiently strong to act on the offensive, made 
 ready to open the campaign in real earnest. This 
 he did by investing Guddak on the 5th of Janu- 
 ary ; and on the 6th, after a few shells had been 
 thrown and a battery erected, the place surrender- 
 ed. He moved next upon Dummul, which, after 
 sustaining a four hours' fire from two batteries, 
 capitulated on the 8th ; the garrison, of four hun- 
 dred and fifty men, engaging not to serve again 
 during the war. From Dummul he marched upon 
 Hooblee, where he arrived on the 13th, having 
 received by the way a very acceptable accession 
 to his force in two hundred Mysore regular in- 
 fantry. Hooblee opened its gates without resist- 
 ance, though garrisoned by three hundred men, 
 on condition that private property should be re- 
 spected; and on the following day, Miserieko- 
 tah was admitted to the same terms. All these 
 places General Munro immediately occupied by 
 corps of peons, by which means his little army 
 
 2 i 2
 
 484 THE LIFE OF 
 
 of regulars was kept entire, and fit for ulterior 
 operations. He then returned to Darwar, threat- 
 ened at every step, as he had been during his 
 advance, by Cassee Rao Gokla's cavalry ; but as 
 they neither risked a serious attack, nor waited 
 to receive one, he arrived there on the 16th, 
 without the loss of a man. 
 
 In the mean while, a variety of lesser operations 
 were conducted with extraordinary success by the 
 irregulars, whom it was not esteemed necessary 
 to attach immediately to head-quarters. These, 
 under their amildars, not only drove the enemy 
 from the open country, but succeeded in expel- 
 ling them from several forts and many walled 
 villages, whilst the inhabitants generally, gained 
 over by the judicious proclamations circulated, 
 espoused with avidity the cause of the British 
 army. It had occurred to General Munro, that 
 were the cultivators once assured of adequate pro- 
 tection against the vengeance of their chiefs, they 
 would gladly hold back as much of the revenue 
 as had not yet been collected ; and he caused it 
 to.be every where announced, that the British 
 Government would treat as enemies all those who 
 paid any farther tribute either to Gokla or the 
 Peishwah. The people were not slow in paying 
 obedience to an edict in itself so acceptable. 
 They not only refused to satisfy the demands of 
 their old masters, but acted every where in aid of 
 the General's irregulars ; and the consequence was,
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 485 
 
 that before the 18th of January he was in pos- 
 session of the whole of the Mahratta territory 
 south of the Malpurba, with the exception of 
 the two small forts of Hoola and Hangull, of 
 several villages situated to the north of that river, 
 and of a narrow district lying on the north-east 
 of Julleal. 
 
 It has been stated that General Munro, on the 
 fall of Miseriekotah, returned to Darwar. He 
 himself remained here up to the 4th of February, 
 organizing his force, and putting the conquered 
 provinces in order; but his troops were in the 
 interval actively employed, partly in escorting 
 treasure, partly in opposing the Pindarries. It 
 will be recollected that a band of these marauders, 
 passing the flank of the British troops beyond 
 the Nerbuddah, and ascending the Berar Ghauts 
 in the month of December, took their course 
 southward. Amid the complicated movements 
 which the flight of the Peishwah occasioned, they 
 were little heeded till they entered the Com- 
 pany's territories, separated into lesser bodies, and 
 spread havoc and dismay in all directions. One 
 of these marauding companies, which re-crossed 
 the Toombuddra on the 18th of January, marched 
 north, and arrived on the 20th between Darwar 
 and Hullyhall, whither General Munro instantly 
 dispatched his cavalry to intercept them. It was 
 led by Captain Gorton, who managed matters so 
 well, that he came by surprise upon the enemy's
 
 486 THE LIFE OF 
 
 bivouac before sunrise on the 21st, and they were 
 driven with some loss and great confusion beyond 
 the line of the frontier. 
 
 But it was not in providing means for the 
 re-organization of his little army alone, that 
 General Munro occupied himself during this 
 period. He renewed his application for ad- 
 ditional troops, both to the authorities at Madras, 
 and to the Supreme Government ; and he en- 
 joyed at last the satisfaction to learn, that the 
 latter had issued peremptory orders that the 
 application should be attended to. On the 7th of 
 January an official announcement reached him, 
 that, by the especial command of the Governor- 
 General, His Majesty's 22nd dragoons, with a 
 battalion of Native infantry, then in the Ceded 
 Districts, were placed at his disposal. Unfortu- 
 nately, however, the alarm of a Pindarry inva- 
 sion interfered to hinder the accomplishment of 
 this promise, and he was in consequence com- 
 pelled to trust still longer to his own energies. 
 Nor was this all. Though the Madras Govern- 
 ment could not spare the troops which an autho- 
 rity superior to its own had allotted to General 
 Munro's use, it conceived itself authorized to de- 
 mand from him the party of Native cavalry now 
 in his camp, as if a corps already weak beyond 
 example could be weakened still farther, yet 
 continue effective. General Munro, with great 
 propriety, paid no attention to the requisition, 
 but kept Captain Gorton's squadron till it was
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 
 
 relieved, many weeks after, by European dra- 
 goons. 
 
 On the 5th of February General Munro once 
 more took the field, at the head of twelve com- 
 panies of infantry, four of them being Mysoreans, 
 three troops of horse, four companies of pioneers, 
 four long guns, as many field-pieces, and one 
 howitzer. He directed his march upon Badau- 
 mee, a fortress situated on the Malpurba, by a 
 route so intricate, that the pioneers were continu- 
 ally employed in opening a path for the column, 
 whilst both were exposed to repeated annoy- 
 ance from the enemy's cavalry, which in great 
 numbers hovered round them. On the 9th he 
 reached Belloor, the garrison, consisting of four 
 hundred horse and three hundred foot, escaping 
 over the hills as he approached, and leaving him 
 to take unmolested possession of a place not de- 
 void of importance. Here he halted till the 
 12th, preparing his feeble means, as he best could, 
 for the siege; and then pushed forward in high 
 spirits and excellent order towards Badaumee. 
 
 After carrying by assault a fortified pagoda, 
 which commanded the line of his march, General 
 Munro arrived in presence of the place to be 
 attacked, and immediately took up the best posi- 
 tion which his scanty numbers would permit. 
 This was directly in front of the lower range of 
 works, for Badaumee consists of a number of 
 entrenched heights, having a walled town at the 
 foot of them; and before any attempt could be
 
 488 THE LIFE OF 
 
 made upon the former, it was necessary to obtain 
 possession of the latter. No time was lost in 
 throwing up and arming batteries, which played 
 upon the wall without intermission, till a breach 
 being effected on the 17th, which appeared to 
 be practicable, preparations were made to storm. 
 The place was carried with little loss, notwith- 
 standing a gallant defence offered by the garrison 
 in the streets, and the assailants pressed on with 
 so much vigour to escalade the fort, that its com- 
 mandant hung out a signal of surrender. The 
 garrison, marching out with their arms and pri- 
 vate baggage, were permitted to depart with a 
 safe conduct ; and by ten o'clock at night of the 
 18th, Badaumee was in full possession of the 
 British force. 
 
 With the single exception of Darwar, there was 
 no fortified town south of the Kistna to be com- 
 pared, in point of importance, with Badaumee ; 
 and even Darwar was so far inferior to its rival, 
 that its works were both less regular and less 
 extensive. As a necessary consequence, the fall 
 of such a place produced a strong sensation 
 wherever intelligence of the event arrived ; and as 
 General Munro had been joined during the siege 
 by the long-expected reinforcements, an opinion 
 speedily obtained throughout the South of the 
 Mahratta country, that to offer resistance to his 
 arms was absolutely useless. Baggrecotah, a fort 
 of some strength upon the Gutpurba, scarcely 
 waited to be summoned ere it opened its gates ;
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 489 
 
 whilst Hangul submitted to a single company 
 of sepoys, detached under Lieutenant Stott to 
 straiten its garrison. In a word, the whole of 
 the territory on the south of the Gutpurba was 
 subdued; and nothing remained for him to 
 effect, except the consolidation and political 
 arrangement of his conquests. 
 
 Partly with a view to effect this end, partly 
 that he might repair, as far as possible, the injury 
 done to his cannon during the late siege, General 
 Munro halted at Baggrecotah from the 22nd to 
 the 26th. This was not however, at least to him, 
 a period of rest or relaxation. On the contrary, 
 but a faint idea will be entertained of the extent of 
 business with which he was oppressed, if the mere 
 detail of his own military movements be consider- 
 ed ; indeed it may with truth be asserted that these, 
 rapid and sometimes hazardous as they were, oc- 
 cupied much less of his attention than the many 
 other arrangements to which he was a party; for, 
 during the entire course of his warlike operations, 
 he was compelled to administer all the civil and re- 
 venue details of the different provinces which he 
 overran. He kept up at the same time a constant 
 correspondence with Mr. Elphinstone, Sir Thomas 
 Hislop, Sir John Malcolm, and others, by whom 
 he was regularly consulted as to the general plan 
 of the war ; and this was the more embarrassing, 
 that on their parts the correspondence was in 
 cipher, to which, though he repeatedly applied for 
 it, the Madras Government neglected to supply
 
 490 THE LIFE OF 
 
 a key. It is impossible, in a work like the present, 
 to insert even a few of the many admirable let- 
 ters written by him at this period ; but I have 
 introduced into the Appendix one official com- 
 munication addressed to Mr. Elphinstone, which 
 will serve as a specimen of the rest, and suffice to 
 prove the truth of the remark just hazarded, as to 
 the multiplicity of affairs which he was called 
 upon to transact. 
 
 On the 26th of February, General Munro 
 again pressed forward, directing his steps up the 
 right bank of the Gutpurba, with a view, first, of 
 completing his conquests south of that river, and 
 then carrying his arms into the districts on the 
 north. The breaking down of some of his guns 
 delayed him, so that he did not reach Gohauk till 
 the 7th of March, but here he crossed the stream, 
 and, re-crossing -at Ghorgurry, encamped be- 
 fore Paudshapoor, which immediately submitted. 
 One fortress only, that of Balgam, now remained 
 in the occupation of the Peishwah's troops : it was 
 a place of greater strength than any which he had 
 yet attacked, and was held by a garrison of not 
 less than one thousand six hundred men ; it is 
 not therefore wonderful that, with his scanty 
 means, he should have experienced some doubt 
 as to the prudence of attempting it. But his 
 hesitation, if such it deserve to be called, exerted 
 no farther influence over him than to produce a 
 powerful appeal for farther means ; and when he 
 found that the exigency of the service would
 
 SIR THOMAS' MUNltO. 491 
 
 permit no attention to be paid to it, he shrank 
 not from the responsibility of employing those 
 already within his reach. He arrived before the 
 place on the 20th ; and such were the skill and 
 energy with which the siege was pushed, that on 
 the 10th of April a capitulation was signed. By 
 this the enemy pledged themselves to evacuate 
 the fortress by the evening of the 14th at the 
 latest; arid on the 12th General Munro was in 
 possession of one of the most formidable forti- 
 fications in this quarter of India, the enceinte 
 of which, covered by a broad and deep ditch, 
 measures about a mile and five furlongs. 
 
 It is scarcely necessary to observe, that General 
 Munro's official despatch, giving an account of 
 this operation, speaks warmly in praise of the 
 zeal and intelligence of both officers and men 
 who served under him. Perhaps no man in com- 
 mand ever did greater justice to his inferiors, or 
 took less credit to himself ; and hence, whilst we 
 find Lieut.-Colonel Newall, Lieuts. Lewis and 
 Dickenson, Walker and Mackay, mentioned in 
 the terms which their gallantry and devotion 
 deserved, not one syllable of self -commendation 
 is to be discovered in the document. This, how- 
 ever, was only one out of many noble traits in the 
 character of Sir Thomas Munro. Whether wealth 
 or fame were the prize to be gained, there never 
 lived a human being more perfectly free from self- 
 ishness ; indeed, it appeared as if, on all occasions, 
 he was more anxious that others should reap
 
 492 THE LIFE OF 
 
 their merited rewards, than that common justice 
 should be done to his own pre-eminent exer- 
 tions.* 
 
 The loss sustained by the British army during 
 this siege amounted to no more than twenty- 
 three men killed and wounded ; that of the 
 enemy was admitted by themselves to exceed 
 seventy. The result of the operation placed at 
 the disposal of the conqueror a strong and com- 
 manding fortress, thirty- six pieces of ordnance of 
 large calibre, sixty smaller guns and wall-pieces, 
 besides complete stores of every description. No 
 acquisition could have fallen into General Mun- 
 ro's hands of which the value was more likely 
 to be acknowledged ; for his eighteen-pounders 
 were so run at the touchhole, through repeated 
 use, that three fingers might have been easily 
 introduced. 
 
 General Munro rested his over-wrought divi- 
 sion at Balgam till the 17th, employing him- 
 self all the while in the consolidation of his 
 conquests ; after which, being apprised of the 
 march of General Pritzler with the main body of 
 the reserve, for the purpose of joining and acting 
 henceforth under his orders, he put his little 
 column in motion to meet it. He retraced his 
 steps towards the Gutpurba, which for the 
 
 * General Munro was so deficient in gunners, and indeed 
 in Europeans generally during this siege, that he was obliged 
 to employ the troopers of the 22nd dragoons, both as artillery- 
 men and grenadiers. He speaks of their services in these 
 capacities as being most meritorious.
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNKO. 493 
 
 third time he crossed on the 18th ; and on the 
 following day the much-wished-for junction was 
 effected at a place called Nugger Manowlie. 
 Now then at length the subject of this memoir 
 saw himself at the head of a somewhat respectable 
 force ; and he who had effected so much with 
 means apparently inadequate to any thing, was 
 not slow in entering, with his enlarged resources, 
 upon operations of still greater importance. 
 
 The fall of Balgam having completed the con- 
 quest of the Peishwah's dominions south of 
 the Kistna, General Munro determined to grant 
 him no cessation ; but to push forward as far as 
 the Beemah, between] which and the Gutpurba 
 Cassee Rao's select infantry and guns were known 
 to be encamped. No needless wavering occurred 
 in the execution of this project ; for the division, 
 marching on the 26th, compelled the enemy to 
 fall back with precipitation, and arrived on the 
 9th of May, in front of his position, under the 
 guns of Shalapoor. General Munro, in spite of 
 a heavy fire from the works, closely and accu- 
 rately reconnoitred it. A native officer was then 
 sent forward with proposals for the surrender of 
 the place ; but the Arab governor, regardless of 
 the sanctity of his flag, murdered him at the foot 
 of the rampart. Nothing therefore remained but 
 to commence the siege with as little delay as pos- 
 sible ; and to this end, the energies of every man 
 and officer in the British camp were henceforth 
 zealously directed. 
 
 " The fort of Shalapoor," says Colonel Blacker,
 
 494 THE LIFE OF 
 
 " is an oblong of considerable area, with a wall 
 and fausse-braye of substantial masonry, flanked 
 by substantial round-towers. A broad and deep 
 wet ditch surrounds the place, and the north and 
 east sides are covered by an extensive pettah, sur- 
 rounded by a good wall, and divided in the same 
 manner into two parts, of which one is imme- 
 diately contiguous to the fort. To the south- 
 ward, communicating with the ditch, is a tank, 
 surrounded on three sides by a mound, which in 
 its extent formed a respectable breastwork to the 
 enemy's position under the walls. Their force, 
 thus strongly posted, amounted to eight hundred 
 and fifty horse, five thousand five hundred and fifty 
 foot,* including one thousand two hundred Arabs, 
 and fourteen guns ; independent of the garrison, 
 estimated at one thousand. Major de Pinto, a 
 country -born descendant of Europeans, command- 
 ed, the regular infantry, and the Native chief, 
 
 * Colonel Blacker, though usually remarkable for his accu- 
 racy, has greatly underrated the amount of the enemy's force. 
 By official returns obtained after the siege, it proved to be 
 Of Arabs . . . 2000 
 
 Mohillahs . . 1500 
 
 Sindees . . . 1000 
 
 Gosaens . . . 700 
 
 Major Pinto's infantry . . 1000 
 
 Hindostani and Deccan ditto 4000 
 
 Total 10,200 
 Cavalry 1,500 
 
 Grand total . 11,700
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRU. 495 
 
 named Gunput Rao Phansee, was the hereditary 
 commandant of the Peishwah's artillery." 
 
 From the description which has been given of 
 the ground occupied by the enemy's field-force, 
 it will be seen that nothing effective could be at- 
 tempted against the fort, whilst the covering 
 army continued unbroken ; and that to hazard an 
 attack upon it, without first of all gaining pos- 
 session of the works on which it leaned, would 
 have been to waste the lives of his own soldiers 
 for no purpose. General Munro accordingly di- 
 rected his attention chiefly to the reduction of 
 the pettah ; and having ascertained that the walls 
 were not so lofty, nor the ditch so deep as to ren- 
 der an escalade impracticable, he resolved to make 
 trial of that species of assault. With this view, 
 he distributed his little corps into three columns, 
 two of which, led on by Lieutenant-Colonel 
 Newall and Major Giles respectively, were told 
 off for the escalade ; whilst the third, under 
 General Pritzler, was appointed to act as a 
 reserve, and to watch the movements of Gun- 
 put Rao Phansee's army. They mustered, each 
 of the escalading parties, two companies of 
 European flankers, two ditto Native rifles, one 
 weak battalion Native infantry, and one company 
 of pioneers ; whilst the reserve was made up of 
 two troops of His Majesty's 22nd dragoons, with 
 their gallopers, two companies of European and 
 four of Native infantry, four six-pounder guns, 
 and two howitzers.
 
 496 THE LIFE OF 
 
 These arrangements being made over-night, at 
 an early hour on the 10th, the attacking columns 
 moved forward, so as to reach the bottom of the 
 wall just as the dawn was breaking. The ladders 
 were immediately planted, and a brisk fire of 
 artillery opening at the same time upon the de- 
 fences, at a distance of three or four hundred 
 yards, the troops gained the parapet at a rush : 
 they leaped down into the streets, and driving 
 the defendants before them with great impetu- 
 osity, soon made themselves masters of the pet- 
 tali. But the enemy's army, alarmed by the 
 firing, began to make a movement, and in a few 
 moments the reserve found itself exposed to a 
 heavy cannonade from seven guns, pushed for- 
 ward under cover of a strong body of infan- 
 try to enfilade them. The artillery of the re- 
 serve was not slow in replying to this salute ; 
 and a warm cannonade ensued on both sides, till a 
 shot from one of the six-pounders striking a tum- 
 bril in the enemy's line, it exploded, and caused 
 a good deal of confusion. General Munro in- 
 stantly saw his advantage, and with the greatest 
 promptitude took advantage of it. The reserve, 
 reinforced by such troops from the pettah as 
 could by this time be spared, was ordered to ad- 
 vance, Colonel Dalrymple, of the artillery, lead- 
 ing, whilst the General himself, waving his hat 
 in his hand, nobly set the example. It was an 
 irresistible charge. The enemy, panic-struck, gave 
 way, after a feeble resistance, and abandoning
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 
 
 their guns, in the hurry of the flight, took 
 shelter within their lines. 
 
 From this moment it was abundantly evident, 
 that the spirit of the Peishwah's followers was 
 broken. A few abortive attempts were indeed 
 made, in the course of the day, to recover the 
 pettah ; but these failing, the attention of the 
 Mahratta leaders was directed entirely to secure 
 a retreat. About noon, numerous parties of fifty 
 and a hundred men each were observed stealing 
 from the camp, which halted, one or another, at a 
 couple of miles' distance ; and towards four o'clock 
 p. M., the whole army, with the exception of the 
 artillery, which would have encumbered without 
 assisting the movement, was in rapid march to 
 the westward. 
 
 General Munro saw at a glance in what predi- 
 cament affairs stood. The enemy had got the 
 start of him too far to be followed with effect by 
 infantry ; but the cavalry, consisting of the 22nd 
 dragoons, two hundred irregular horse, under 
 Captain Munro, of the 7th Native cavalry, and 
 a like number of the Nizam's horse, which had 
 just arrived under Doolah Khan, were placed 
 under General Pritzler's orders, and sent in pur- 
 suit. No body of men could do their duty more 
 effectually. General Pritzler overtook the re- 
 treating column about seven miles from Shala- 
 poor, charged, broke, and utterly dispersed it, 
 killing upwards of eight hundred upon the spot, 
 and scattering the remainder over the face of the 
 
 VOL. i. 2 K
 
 408 THE LIFE OF 
 
 country. The closing in of night, indeed, alone 
 saved any of the fugitives ; but the army upon 
 which the Peishwah mainly depended, was so 
 thoroughly disorganized, so completely broken in 
 spirit, and denuded of arms, equipments, and 
 baggage, as to be, in a military point of view, 
 utterly annihilated. 
 
 These preliminary operations being happily 
 concluded. General Munro next applied himself 
 to the task of reducing the fort, against which his 
 batteries opened on the llth, and continued to 
 play till the 14th. A practicable breach was thus 
 effected ; but the killedar, disheartened by wit- 
 nessing the defeat of the covering army, antici- 
 pated the threatened assault, by proposing to 
 capitulate. His offer was not rejected ; and the 
 garrison being permitted to march out with arms 
 and private baggage, Shalapoor was taken quiet 
 possession of by the conquerors. There were 
 found in the place, besides wall-pieces, and abun- 
 dance of military stores and ammunition, thirty- 
 seven guns of different calibres ; whilst the total 
 loss sustained during the progress of a service so 
 arduous, amounted to no more than one hundred 
 and two men and officers killed and wounded. But 
 the importance of this capture, and of the victory 
 which preceded it, is not to be estimated by the 
 number of people slain, or the amount of material 
 captured. There cannot be a doubt that intelli- 
 gence of so heavy a disaster took away from the 
 Peishwah the last glimmering of hope which he
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 499 
 
 might have hitherto encouraged, and tended not 
 a little to bring about the memorable negotiation, 
 which ended soon afterwards in his surrender to 
 Sir John Malcolm. 
 
 With the fall of Shalapoor, General Munro's 
 brilliant campaign may be said to have closed, in- 
 asmuch as no other place offered the slightest re- 
 sistance to his arms. Attempts were indeed 
 made by several of the chieftains, more particu- 
 larly by Appa Dessaye, a jagheerdar of great 
 influence, to overreach in negotiation one whom 
 they ventured not to resist by force ; but Gene- 
 ral Munro's knowledge of the native character 
 was too intimate to lay him open to wiles which 
 he saw through, and defeated with the utmost 
 coolness. The following letter to Mr. Elphin- 
 stone will explain how these matters were ma- 
 naged. 
 
 2nd June, 1818. 
 
 AFTER leaving Sutturah on the morning of the 
 29th ultimo, I rejoined the reserve the following day about 
 noon. On my arrival, I found that an order from Appa 
 Dessaye to his officers at Manowlie, directing the imme- 
 diate surrender of that place to the Company, had been 
 received in camp, and despatched about an hour before. 
 Though the order itself was perfectly clear, I was con- 
 vinced, both from the character of the Dessaye, and his 
 recent conduct, that it would not be acted upon, without 
 an attempt being made to gain time to try the effect of 
 negotiation ; I therefore determined to prevent all unne- 
 cessary delay by marching to Nepawmee. I informed the 
 two dewans of the Dessaye, who were in camp, of my in- 
 tention. They endeavoured to dissuade me from ad- 
 
 2 K 2
 
 500 THE LIFE OF 
 
 vancing, by urging all the usual arguments about their 
 master's sincerity and attachment to the British Govern- 
 ment. I told them that their master had been long enough 
 at hand to have carried into effect the order which I had 
 sent to them ten or twelve days ago, for the surrender of 
 Manowlie, if he had been disposed to do it ; that the sea- 
 son was too far advanced for me to halt, in order to see 
 whether he was sincere or not ; that I should in conse- 
 quence march next morning, the 31st May ; that on the 
 1st June I should encamp before Nepawmee, and that if 
 the receipt for the delivery of Manowlie to the person whom 
 I had sent to receive possession of that place, did not reach 
 me early on the 2nd, I should, on that day, treat the Des- 
 saye as an enemy, and commence the siege of his fort. 
 
 On hearing this, the dewan, Nachur Punt, said, that he 
 would himself instantly proceed to Manowlie and deliver 
 it up, which he did accordingly. 
 
 When I marched from Erroor on the 31st ultimo, Appa 
 Dessaye had sent no order for giving up the district of 
 Chickoree. His second dewan, Singoo Punt, who ac- 
 companied me, proposed to deliver up the circar, and 
 retain the enaum villages. His plan was at once rejected, 
 because it would in fact have enabled the Dessaye to con- 
 tinue to maintain a number of his servants at the expense 
 of the districts. I told the dewan that the order must be 
 for the surrender of the whole district, without any reser- 
 vation, and that it must be brought to me before my arrival 
 at Nepawmee. He met me on the march yesterday morn- 
 ing with this order ; but as it reserved the enaum villages, 
 it was returned to him ; and he soon after came back with 
 another order for unconditional surrender. As the time 
 during which he was absent was too short to admit of his 
 
 o 
 
 having gone to Nepawmee for the second order, it was 
 evident that he had brought loth with him.
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 501 
 
 Such is a brief and imperfect outline of the ser- 
 vices of Sir Thomas Munro, during the war with 
 the Peishvvah and the Mahrattas, in 1 817 and 1818. 
 From first to last, they were carried on under disad- 
 vantages against which few besides himself would 
 have held up ; yet their results were such as an or- 
 dinary mind, however enthusiastic in its calcula- 
 tions, could not for a moment have anticipated. 
 Of the hindrances thrown in his way, a tolerably 
 correct estimate must have been already formed. 
 He could scarcely be said to be at the head of an 
 army, even when General Pritzler joined him ; 
 and till that event occurred, his whole force fell 
 short of the strength of a moderate sized regi- 
 ment. The Madras Government, moreover, by 
 what principle actuated I presume not to say, was 
 the reverse of diligent in attending to his re- 
 quests: nay, there are circumstances connected with 
 their proceedings, which would almost lead the in- 
 different spectator to conclude, that failure on his 
 part would have been more acceptable than the 
 most brilliant success. The extraordinary vacilla- 
 tion likewise displayed by those in power the 
 shifting of command from General Pritzler to 
 General Munro, and from General Munro to Ge- 
 neral Pritzler, might, and in ordinary cases must, 
 have led to the worst consequences. Indeed, it is 
 not going too far to affirm, that nothing but the 
 great temper, and pure and honourable zeal of 
 these officers, hindered such an issue from taking 
 place.
 
 502 THE LIFE OF 
 
 Again, upon General Munro was devolved 
 not merely the conduct of the war, but the civil 
 administration of all the provinces which he 
 obtained by conquest or cession. Every question 
 connected with the settlement of claims, the ad- 
 justment of the revenue, and the administration 
 of justice, was referred to him, by which means 
 his tent was not more the head-quarters of an 
 army, than the chief civil court in the Southern 
 Mahratta country. Then his correspondence with 
 other functionaries was voluminous. All unpre- 
 judiced men estimated him as he deserved, and 
 were in consequence glad to avail themselves of 
 his advice ; whilst he was too sincere a patriot 
 to refuse his council, though aware that of the 
 merit of deeds arising out of it he would reap 
 no portion. 
 
 But if General Munro's difficulties were of no 
 ordinary nature, and if there were a few quar- 
 ters where the result of his exertions was wit- 
 nessed with regret, these evils were more than 
 counterbalanced by the admiration of all the great 
 and the good both in India and in England. In 
 the gazettes of the day, and in the popular ac- 
 counts of the war, his name, it is true, will not 
 be found at every page ; but the public records 
 at Calcutta at the India House and in the 
 British House of Commons, abound with testi- 
 monials to his honour. The private letters, like- 
 wise, of all the most eminent men employed at 
 the same time, are full of expressions of admira-
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 503 
 
 tion of his conduct ; of which the following, ad- 
 dressed by Sir John Malcolm to Mr. Secretary 
 Adams, may be taken as a specimen. 
 
 17th February, 1818. 
 
 I SEND you a copy of a public letter from Tom 
 Munro Saheb, written for the information of Sir Thomas 
 Hislop. If this letter makes the same impression upon 
 you that it did upon me, we shall all recede, as this extra- 
 ordinary man comes forward. We use common vulgar 
 means, and go on zealously, and actively, and courageously 
 enough ; but how different is his part in the drama ! In- 
 sulated in an enemy's country, with no military means 
 whatever, (five disposable companies of sepoys were no- 
 thing,) he forms the plan of subduing the country, ex- 
 pelling the army by which it is occupied, and collecting the 
 revenues that are due to the enemy, through the means of 
 the inhabitants themselves, aided and supported by a few 
 irregular infantry, whom he invites from the neighbouring 
 provinces for that purpose. His plan, which is at once 
 simple and great, is successful in a degree, that a mind 
 like his could alone have anticipated. The country comes 
 into his hands by the most legitimate of all modes, the 
 zealous and spirited efforts of the natives, to place them- 
 selves under his rule, and to enjoy the benefits of a Go- 
 vernment which, when administered by a man like him, is 
 one of the best in the world. Munro, they say, has been 
 aided in this great work by his local reputation, but that 
 adds to his title to praise. His popularity, in the quarter 
 where he is placed, is the result of long experience of his 
 talents and virtues, and rests exactly upon that basis of 
 which an able and good man may be proud. 
 
 Confess, after reading the inclosed, that I have a right 
 to exult in the eagerness with which I pressed upon you 
 the necessity of bringing forward this master-workman.
 
 504 THE LIFE OF 
 
 You had only heard of him at a distance ; I had seen him 
 near. Lord Hastings, however, showed on this, as on 
 every other occasion, that he had only one desire how 
 best to provide for every possible exigency of the public 
 service. 
 
 It is not worth while to encumber the pages 
 of a work like this with a transcript from the 
 numerous official documents which lie within the 
 reach of all men ; but the two following pane- 
 gyrics, the one contained in a private letter from 
 Lord Hastings, the other spoken by Mr. Canning 
 on occasion of a vote of thanks being passed to 
 the army in India, are too eloquent to be omitted. 
 
 *' In a public acknowledgment of your exploits," says 
 the former, " I have striven to express my opinion of their 
 tone and importance. With that attempt, however, I 
 cannot be satisfied ; it may be liable to be considered as one 
 of those official recognitions, where the phrases arc not 
 supposed to be exactly measured ; and when he who offers 
 the compliment may be suspected of exaggeration in the 
 terms, for the sake of proving his own liberality in the 
 estimate of his command of language. Allow me, there- 
 fore, to indulge myself in a private declaration of my senti- 
 ments, that I may assert the formal tribute paid by me to 
 your merits, to have been strictly what your conduct 
 claimed ; assuring you of my sincere regret, that your 
 exertions should have contributed in any way to the injury 
 of your health. Let me say, that I do not speak on your 
 own individual account only : I have a deep sense of the 
 loss which the public interest sustains by your relinquish- 
 ment of active employment. You too have the conscious- 
 ness, would you avow it, of this latter feeling in your 
 breast ; and you will internally grieve that you cannot con-
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 505 
 
 tinue to advance those great objects which you have so 
 conspicuously promoted. It will be some consolation to 
 you to know, that you must convey with you the applause 
 of all who have witnessed your energy and judgment ; 
 while this letter will be my testimony to our honourable 
 employers, that they cannot too highly rate the quality of 
 your efforts in their service." 
 
 Mr. Canning's meed of praise, doubly valuable 
 as arising from a man whose eloquence left an 
 impression never to be effaced on the minds of 
 his auditors, was as follows. After applauding, 
 as they deserved, other armies and other leaders, 
 the speaker went on to say : 
 
 " At the southern extremity of this long line of operations, 
 and in a part of the campaign carried on in a district far 
 from public gaze, and without the opportunities of early 
 especial notice, was employed a man whose name I should 
 indeed have been sorry to have passed over in silence. I 
 allude to Colonel Thomas Munro, a gentleman of whose 
 rare qualifications the late House of Commons had oppor- 
 tunities of judging at their bar, on the renewal of the East 
 India Company's charter, and than whom Europe never 
 produced a more accomplished statesman, nor India, so 
 fertile in heroes, a more skilful soldier. This gentleman, 
 whose occupations for some years must have been rather of 
 a civil and administrative than a military nature, was call- 
 ed early in the war to exercise abilities which, though dor- 
 mant, had not rusted from disuse. He went into the field 
 with not more than five or six hundred men, of whom a 
 very small proportion were Europeans, and marched into 
 the Mahratta territories, to take possession of the country 
 which had been ceded to us by the treaty of Poonah. The 
 population, which he subjugated by arms, he managed
 
 506 THE LIFE OF 
 
 with such address, equity, and wisdom, that he established 
 an empire over their hearts and feelings. Nine forts* were 
 surrendered to him, or taken by assault, on his way ; and 
 at the end of a silent and scarcely observed progress, he 
 emerged from a territory heretofore hostile to the British 
 interest, with an accession instead of a diminution of force, 
 leaving every thing secure and tranquil behind him. This 
 result speaks more than could be told by any minute and 
 extended commentary." 
 
 To the above testimonials in favour of the 
 great merits of General Munro, no language of 
 mine could add any thing. All therefore that 
 I feel called upon to observe is, that there was 
 not a point connected with the well-being of an 
 army, to which he paid not the most scrupulous 
 and unremitting attention. By a discipline 
 strict, yet mildly administered, he at once kept 
 officers and men to their duty; whilst of maraud- 
 ing or wanton plunder, scarcely an instance oc- 
 curred during the entire course of the service. 
 
 " He possessed," says an officer now in England, who 
 filled a responsible situation on his staff, " the happiest 
 talent at conciliating every one under his command, whether 
 European or Native, by his open, manly, just, and honour- 
 able way of acting on all occasions ; but he never sacrificed 
 duty. He never allowed any one to assume an authority 
 
 * Mr. Canning was mistaken as to the number of fortresses 
 taken. Even those reduced under the immediate eye of Ge- 
 neral Munro himself exceeded the number of nine; and if 
 others captured under his auspices be counted, they will amount 
 to more than thrice nine.
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 507 
 
 that belonged to him by right of his situation ; and he was 
 ever most scrupulous not to encroach on the rights and pri- 
 vileges of others, either directly or indirectly. I never met 
 such a considerate man. He never would allow a rude or 
 uncourteous letter to be addressed to any officer, let his 
 rank be what it may, though he never allowed any thing 
 improper to pass unnoticed, and used severity when neces- 
 sary, but always reluctantly. He never allowed a letter or 
 order to issue under his name, without its being first shown 
 to and approved by him. When displeasure was express- 
 ed, and found afterwards not to be deserved, he always 
 acknowledged his error as openly as he had expressed his 
 disapprobation ; but these errors seldom happened with 
 him, for he had too much value for the feelings of all 
 under him." 
 
 The war being now at an end, General Munro, 
 whose health had suffered severely from fatigue, 
 made ready to rejoin his wife and family, whom 
 he had left at Bangalore. For this purpose he 
 applied for leave to resign all his commissions, 
 civil as well as military ; and though strongly 
 urged by the Governor- General to assist his friend 
 Mr. Elphinstone in permanently settling the con- 
 quered districts, he resolutely refused. 
 
 No sooner, therefore, was the reluctant consent 
 of the Marquis of Hastings received, than he gave 
 up his command, and took the road to Madras : 
 yet even on this occasion he was not inattentive 
 to the public good. He drew up a paper on the 
 state of the country, whilst prosecuting his jour- 
 ney, which for clearness and energy might serve 
 as a model to all compilers of statistics; and
 
 508 THE LIFE OF 
 
 which, though it be too voluminous for insertion 
 in this place, will be found in the APPENDIX. 
 
 General Munro found his family anxiously 
 waiting his return at Bangalore, with whom he 
 arrived in due time at Madras. Here, about two 
 months were devoted to the arrangement of ne- 
 cessary affairs, public as well as private; and 
 on the 24th of January, 1819, the party em- 
 barked for England, with a firm determination 
 never again to revisit the Eastern hemisphere. 
 
 Subjoined are a few letters to private friends, 
 written during the progress of the war. They 
 are given, not only because they illustrate the 
 amiable qualities of General Munro's heart, but 
 because, in more than one instance, they throw 
 additional light upon the circumstances in which 
 he was engaged. 
 
 TO GEORGE BROWN, ESQ., LONDON. 
 
 Camp at Guddak, 15th October, 1817. 
 
 MY DEAR GEORGE, 
 
 WHILE I pursue my present occupation, I see 
 no chance of writing long letters ; I have been constantly 
 in tents since the beginning of last January, and during 
 that time, between travelling in the sun and writing, I 
 have almost destroyed my sight. I have come to camp to 
 enjoy a little ease, and save my eyes, and I am now on 
 my way with a military force to reduce the petty Mahratta 
 chief of Soondoor, a descendant of Morari Rao, formerly an 
 ally of the Company against Hyder Ally. He will pro- 
 bably surrender his little territory without resistance, on 
 receiving the assurance of some provision being made for
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 509 
 
 him. Whether he does or not, I believe I must conform 
 to the fashion, and write something about manoeuvres, 
 and demonstrating and surmounting invincible obstacles of 
 nature and art. If you don't see something of this kind 
 in the papers, you may conclude that my eyes are in a very 
 bad way. We have now in the field about three times the 
 force that was employed under Lord Lake and General 
 Wellesley, against the Mahratta confederacy in 1803 ; and 
 I know of no hostile force any where, that is able to meet 
 a single division of any of our armies. With regard to 
 the Pindarries, they are a most contemptible enemy, whose 
 numbers have been greatly exaggerated. No party of 
 them has yet been seen strong enough to oppose a few 
 hundred regulars. All their different parties do not pro- 
 bably exceed ten or twelve thousand, including all kinds of 
 rabble. They never would have ventured to enter our 
 territory, had they not discovered that we were restrained 
 from following them into their own. This conduct of the 
 Indian Government, which I suppose was owing to orders 
 from home, produced the consequence which every body 
 here foresaw. The Pindarries, when they saw that they 
 had nothing to fear if they could only get safe back with 
 their plunder to their own country, were encouraged to 
 repeat their depredations in ours. They are under dif- 
 ferent chiefs, among whom there is little union, and but very 
 slender resources. Even if they were ever so well united, 
 they have only a few very small districts, chiefly in the 
 dominions of Scindiah and Holkar. Some of their chiefs 
 were formerly in the service of the Mysore and other 
 Native governments, and are now, from the weakness of 
 their governments, enabled to maintain some kind of inde- 
 pendence ; and as their possessions are inadequate to the 
 maintenance of their followers, they make up the deficiency 
 by levying contributions both on their Pagan and Christian 
 neighbours. They can make no resistance, and will pro-
 
 510 THE LIFE OF 
 
 bably disperse on the advance of our armies, and seek em- 
 ployment under some of the Native states. Scindiah and 
 Holkar's family will, I imagine, accede to any terms we 
 may dictate. Enough of politics, I am almost tired of 
 them, and often wished, when I read your letter, describing 
 your journey to the Continent, that I had been with you. 
 Few have seen so much in so short a time ; and at a time 
 when Buonaparte's operations have rendered most countries 
 on the Continent much more interesting than ever they 
 were before. 
 
 TO MRS. MUNRO. 
 
 Dummul, 19th November, 1817. 
 I LEFT camp yesterday morning, and the sudden 
 transition from constant noise and bustle, to silence and 
 solitude, appears almost like a dream. This is the only 
 time since my last return to India that I have travelled 
 alone by regular stages, except during my journey from 
 Hurrihur to Darwar. I was glad that you were not in 
 camp, because it would have been both fatiguing and un- 
 comfortable to me as well as to yourself, and would have 
 been a very inconvenient interruption to the free and 
 constant access which every body in a camp should have to 
 the commanding officer ; but, now that I am alone, I am 
 sorry that you are away. It is only when I am alone, 
 however, that I wish for you. I should not like to have 
 you at Darwar, because I might be called away suddenly, 
 and be obliged to leave you alone among strangers, 
 and the distance from Madras would be too great for you 
 to undertake the journey alone. I wished much to have 
 had you with me this morning in my walk. The weather 
 is so cool, that I went out after breakfast, between ten and 
 eleven, and strolled along the bank of a rocky nullah for 
 an hour ; often standing still for some minutes, looking at 
 the water tumbling over the stones, and the green sod and
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 511 
 
 bushes looking greener from a bright sun. There is 
 nothing I enjoy so much as the sight and the sound of 
 water gushing and murmuring among rocks and stones. I 
 fancy I could look on the stream for ever it never tires 
 me. I never see a brawling rivulet in any part of the 
 world, without thinking of the one I first saw in my earliest 
 years, and wishing myself beside it again. There seems to 
 be a kind of sympathy among them all. They have all 
 the same sound, and in India and Scotland they resemble 
 each other more than any other part of the landscape. I 
 had written thus far about one o'clock to-day, when I was 
 interrupted by the killedar of this place wanting a pass to 
 visit a pagoda in the Company's territory, with twenty 
 horsemen ; then came complaints from the head man of 
 the village about camp followers ; then my own Bramin 
 and Mahratta letters, which, with half an hour for dinner, 
 occupied me till dark. As the same thing will happen to- 
 morrow and to-morrow, I am now finishing this letter by 
 candlelight, with the help of a handkerchief tied over the 
 shade. This, I believe, is the first time since we were at 
 Shevagunga that I have had such an apparatus. When 
 I was encamped about three weeks ago on the spot where 
 I am now, every thing looked dismal : it had been raining 
 constantly for many weeks ; the ground was swampy, the 
 tents were wet outside and inside, and man and beast were 
 jaded. The ground is now dry and covered with grass, as 
 if not a foot had ever trodden upon it ; the change is so 
 great, that it seems to me like a transition from war to 
 peace, and as if a long time had passed since I was here. 
 I shall feel the same thing at every halting-place on my 
 way to Darwar, and I shall be harassed with complaints 
 from every village about my own devastations among the 
 grain-fields, when I was marching down this way. 
 
 I have contrived to read the whole four volumes you 
 sent me of the Tales of my Landlord. The Black Dwarf
 
 512 THE LIFE OF 
 
 is an absurd thing with little interest, and some very dis- 
 gusting characters. I like Old Mortality much ; but cer- 
 tainly not so well as Guy Mannering. Cuddle has got a 
 little of Sambo about him. His testifying mother is just 
 such an auld wife as I have often seen in the West. 
 Colonel Graham is drawn with great spirit ; and I feel the 
 more interested in him from knowing that he is the cele- 
 brated Lord Dundee. I admire Edith, but I should like 
 her better if she were not so wonderfully wise she 
 talks too much like an Edinburgh Reviewer. Kind re- 
 membrance to Cochrane and his lady. 
 
 TO MRS. MUNRO. 
 
 Camp at Darwar, 28th December, 1817. 
 I DO not know when I wrote you last, but I 
 think it must have been about eight or ten days ago, 
 which is the longest time that has ever passed without my 
 writing to you. I believe that one of the causes of my 
 writing to you just now is, that I am too tired to do any 
 thing else. I am constantly occupied all day, and some- 
 times till very late at night, in a new line of business, in 
 encouraging plots against all the constituted authorities of 
 the ancient government, and hearing the accounts of the 
 success or discomfiture of my friends the conspirators. I 
 see new groups and new faces every day, and many of 
 them not very well-favoured ; but well enough for the 
 work in which they are engaged. It is a most fatiguing 
 task to keep them all going, and to be called up at night, 
 and to have my sleep murdered by dire recitals of counter- 
 plots. I hope it will be all over by Candlemas, or, at 
 least, by Whitsuntide, and then I shall go to bed and sleep 
 for a week ; and I should not care if it were at sea, for I 
 should like to be rocked by the waves after all this hurly- 
 burly on shore.
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 513 
 
 TO MRS. MUNRO. 
 
 Camp at Jallihal, llth February, 1818. 
 I SUPPOSE your next letter will inform me of 
 your having got into the paymaster's bungalow. It is a 
 great comfort, in every situation, to have a home of one's 
 own ; and, on this account, I sometimes prefer a hot tent 
 to a cool house ; but at present, I think, I should have no 
 objections to exchange, for the weather is getting very hot 
 in this part of the country, and we feel it the more from 
 the coldness of the night. The days are almost as hot now 
 as last year when we were travelling from Madura to 
 Coimbitore. The thermometer is above ninety in the heat 
 of the day, and about fifty at sunrise. On marching-days 
 we rise at three, and either stand or sit, as we please, in 
 the cold, until four, when, our tents being packed up, we 
 march off. It continues very cold till about seven, and by 
 eight o'clock the sun is quite oppressive. From the mo- 
 ment we leave Darwar, our march is over black ground, 
 cracked by the heat of the sun; and almost all the water we 
 meet with is brackish, except some that is as salt as the sea. 
 I sometimes think of the fine water of Malabar, when I am 
 obliged to swallow this stuff with my tea ; but I console 
 myself with the expectation of better times, when I shall 
 be able to finish M. Du Diffand, of whose letters I have 
 read at long intervals about half a volume, since we last 
 parted in July. You must think that I am very idle, and 
 it is perhaps the case ; for I do not recollect that I have 
 devoted any part of my time to the reading of any other 
 book, not even of a Review. I dare say you are better 
 employed ; but I suspect that you have never yet finished 
 Mitford's Greece. I like the book so well, that I am much 
 distressed at his not having continued it to the death of 
 Alexander. Kind remembrance to the Marriotts. 
 
 VOL. I. 2 i.
 
 514 THE LIFE OF 
 
 On the 13th January, 1818, he wrote to Mr. 
 Stratton, his colleague in the Judicial Commis- 
 sion, in the following terms : 
 
 " I have not a moment to myself ; I am doing 
 subaltern's duty as a general-officer, and am obliged to 
 endure more fatigue than ever I did in any camp in my 
 life. When I was at the head of the reserve, the business 
 was easy. I had Staff to look after all the details ; but 
 now I am again in a civil as well as a military capacity. 
 I am endeavouring, with a small detachment, to occupy an 
 extensive tract of country, which, I fear, has been so much 
 exhausted, and will be so much overrun by the enemy, 
 that it will not pay the landstrum I have taken upon 
 myself to raise. I have not a moment to myself from 
 morning to night, and unless times change very much, it 
 may be a long while before I can answer the Bengal 
 queries." 
 
 FROM THE SAME TO THE SAME. 
 
 Camp near Belgaum, 24th March, 1818. 
 I CAN be of no use to you while the war lasts. I 
 shall never be able to command six hours' leisure, which 
 you think enough ; and even if I had this leisure, I should 
 be thinking of more immediate concerns than laws and re- 
 gulations. I have five-and-twenty amildars on my hands, 
 with a list of about seven thousand peons, or, what is called 
 in the newspapers, irregular infantry. I have also the 
 command of regular troops, the political management of 
 the southern jagheerdars, and much more than I can well 
 attend to. I should be delighted to have a few weeks' 
 leisure with you at Madras, to finish whatever is wanting ; 
 but you must expect nothing from me while I am on this 
 side the Toombuddra. You can do what is wanting your- 
 self better than any body else.
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 515 
 
 PROM THE SAME TO THE SAME. 
 
 Camp, Badshapoor, llth March, 1818. 
 
 MR. is wrong, if he thinks I am tired of 
 
 the Commission (judicial). I am as much interested about 
 every thing regarding it as when I embarked from Eng- 
 land ; but the long illness I had at Madras, and the over- 
 whelming labour I have had for the last six months, have 
 injured my constitution, and will soon render me unfit for 
 any heavy business. It is therefore better that I should 
 give up my employment, than that I should seek to retain 
 it when I am no longer capable of discharging its duties as 
 formerly. 
 
 On the 16th May, he wrote from Shalapoor 
 
 " I am half blind ; the heat is excessive 108, and not 
 under 100 in the day, for nearly a month. It has knocked 
 up many officers and men, and has almost finished me. 1 ' 
 
 FROM THE SAME TO THE SAME. 
 
 Camp, Hooblee, 15th June, 1818. 
 I MUST get you to draft the letter ; a few lines 
 will do. I would not trouble you, were I not still occu- 
 pied with the details of a camp. This takes up all the 
 forenoon, and always some part of the afternoon. I am 
 engaged in transferring some territory from the most 
 turbulent and ambitious of all the Mahratta jagheerdars, 
 the Dessye of Nepawmee, to the Kolapoor Rajah. To do 
 this, I must have the command of troops, as it is military 
 authority which facilitates civil arrangements among these 
 chiefs. I shall not quit my command till I have done all 
 the rough work which I think necessary for ensuring the 
 quiet conduct of these men hereafter. The fellows have 
 no idea of recognizances.* 
 
 * Alluding to a good deal of discussion which had passed 
 among the judicial Commissioners on this point.
 
 516 THE LIFE OF 
 
 TO HIS SISTER. 
 
 Camp near Belgaum, 28th March, 1818. 
 
 MY DEAR ERSKINE, 
 
 WHEN I think of the long time which has passed 
 without my writing to you, it seems so strange, that I can 
 hardly believe it. There are many causes, however, which 
 prevent me from writing either to you or to any one else as 
 formerly. I cannot now write by candlelight ; and it was 
 after dark that all my private letters used to be written. 
 If I persist in writing when I feel my eyes uneasy, they 
 water, and get blood-shot. But the great obstacle to my 
 corresponding with you and my brother is, the endless pub- 
 lic business writing, which comes upon me whether I will 
 or not. Fortune, during the greatest part of my Indian 
 life, has made a drudge of me ; every labour which de- 
 mands patience and temper, and to which no fame is at- 
 tached, seems to have fallen to my share, both in civil and 
 military affairs. I have plodded for years among details 
 of which I am sick, merely because I knew that it was ne- 
 cessary, and I now feel the effects of it in an impaired 
 sight ; and a kind of lassitude at times, as if I had been 
 long without sleep. But though I have not written to 
 you, I have, I believe, thought of you oftener than at any 
 former period. The changes in my constitution make me 
 naturally think oftener of home, where it would suffer less ; 
 and I certainly never think of home without remembering 
 you, and wishing to ramble with you among the banks at 
 Ammondel, or any other banks you b'ke. When I am 
 once again fairly upon your favourite bridge, nothing 
 shall ever tempt me to return to India. I hope, however, 
 that you will not expect me to eat as much as any three of 
 your guests, nor insist upon my being sick, when I devour 
 only as much as two. 
 
 I do not recollect whether I have written to Margaret 
 since my return to India, but I fear that I have not. I
 
 * SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 517 
 
 hear O f her frequently, as well as of all my friends at home, 
 from Alexander, who is an excellent correspondent. I 
 hope that Mr. Erskine is again well, and able to enjoy his 
 country-life and long walks, as usual. He ought never to 
 be sick ; for were he but in health, he has so much enjoy- 
 ment in every thing, that he would never have an unhappy 
 hour. 
 
 We are still engaged in war with the Peishwah ; but it 
 is not likely to last longer than two or three months, and 
 may probably be over sooner. I shall then turn my whole 
 thoughts to giving up employment, and getting leave to go 
 home ; and I hope that I shall be able to leave India by 
 September. 
 
 The following, which was written to Lord 
 Hastings during his stay at Madras, will not, it 
 is presumed, be read without interest. 
 
 Madras, 12th November, 1818. 
 MY temporary detention here, in consequence of 
 the Castlereagh's having been driven out of the Roads by 
 the hurricane of the 24th ultimo, has permitted me, before 
 leaving this country, to have the honour of receiving and 
 answering your Lordship's letter of the 22nd September. 
 
 I believe that there is no stronger incentive to the zea- 
 lous discharge of public duty, than the hope of gaining the 
 approbation of those whose characters we have been accus- 
 tomed to respect, because they are respected by the pub- 
 lic : it cannot therefore but be a source of the highest 
 gratification to me, to find that my endeavours to execute 
 properly the share of the late campaign assigned to me*, 
 have been deemed worthy of a private testimonial, as well 
 as official record, by your Lordship. Had I not been 
 conscious that I ought, on account of my health, to leave
 
 518 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 India for a time, I would not so soon have given up my 
 situation in the Mahratta country, as I thereby sacri- 
 ficed every future prospect of again earning praise where I 
 most valued it. 
 
 On my return to Madras, Mr. Elliot expressed his de- 
 sire that I should remain in India till January, in order to 
 finish what he thought was still incomplete in the business 
 of the late Commission; and he mentioned at the same 
 time, that it was his intention to re-establish the Commis- 
 sion until my departure. I was sorry the proposal was 
 made, because my not assenting to it might be construed 
 into disrespect : but I declined it on the ground, that hav- 
 ing relinquished a military command merely on account of 
 the state of my eyes, it was impossible that I could accept 
 of a civil situation which, from the very nature of its duties, 
 must prove much more injurious to them. Had they not 
 suffered so much from long residence in this country, as to 
 render an entire relief from business necessary for a time, 
 I should, with pleasure, have resumed the pursuits of the 
 labours of the Commission ; for I was anxious to give what 
 assistance I could in carrying into effect the orders of the 
 Court of Directors, for employing the natives more exten- 
 sively in the internal administration of the country. Their 
 exclusion from offices of trust and emolument has become 
 a part of our system of government, and has been produc- 
 tive of no good. Whenever, from this cause, the public 
 business falls into arrear, it is said to be owing to the want 
 of a sufficient number of Europeans ; and more European 
 agency is recommended as a cure for every evil. Such 
 agency is too expensive ; and even if it was not, it ought 
 rather to be abridged than enlarged, because it is, in many 
 cases, much less efficient than that of the natives. For the 
 discharge of all subordinate duties, but especially in the 
 judicial line, the natives are infinitely better qualified than 
 Europeans. I have never seen any European whom I
 
 SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 519 
 
 thought competent, from his knowledge of the language 
 and the people, to ascertain the value of the evidence 
 given before him. The proceedings in our Courts of Judi- 
 cature, which, in our Reports, make a grave and respec- 
 table appearance, are, I know, frequently the subject of 
 derision among the natives. 
 
 But it is said that the natives are too corrupt to be 
 trusted. This is an old objection, and one which is gene- 
 rally applicable, in similar circumstances, to the natives of 
 every country. Nobody has ever supposed that the sub- 
 ordinate officers of the Excise and Customs in England 
 are remarkable for their purity. But we need not go home 
 for examples. The Company's servants were notoriously 
 known to make their fortunes in partnership with their 
 native agents, until Lord Cornwallis thought it advisable to 
 purchase their integrity by raising their allowances. Let 
 this be done with regard to the natives, and the effect will 
 be similar though not perhaps in a similar degree, for we 
 cannot expect to find in a nation fallen under a foreign 
 dominion the same pride and high principle as among a 
 free people ; but I am persuaded that we shall meet with a 
 greater" share of integrity and talent than we are aware of. 
 While we persist in withholding liberal salaries from the 
 natives, we shall have the services of the worst part of 
 them : by making the salaries adequate to the trust, we 
 shall secure the services of the best. Natives should be 
 employed in every situation where they are better calcu- 
 lated than the Europeans to discharge the duty required. 
 In all original suits, they are much fitter to investigate 
 the merits than Europeans. The European judges should 
 be confined almost entirely to the business of appeals. In 
 criminal cases, the fact should be found by a native jury, 
 who are much more competent than either the European 
 judge or his officers to weigh the nature of the evidence. 
 
 Our Government will always be respected from the in-
 
 520 THE LIFE OF SIR THOMAS MUNRO. 
 
 fluence of our military power ; but it will never be popu- 
 lar while it offers no employment to the natives that 
 can stimulate the ambition of the better classes of them. 
 Foreign conquerors have treated the natives with vio- 
 lence, and often with great cruelty, but none has treated 
 them with so much scorn as we ; none has stigmatized 
 the whole people as unworthy of trust, as incapable of 
 honesty, and as fit to be employed only where we cannot 
 do without them. It seems to be not only ungenerous, 
 but impolitic, to debase the character of a people fallen 
 under our dominion ; and nothing can more certainly pro- 
 duce this effect than our avowing our want of confidence 
 in them, and, on that account, excluding them as much as 
 possible from every office of importance. 
 
 It is with great reluctance that I have declined acting 
 again in a Commission, the main object of which was, to 
 give to the natives a greater share in the internal adminis- 
 tration of the country; and the remarks which I hav 
 ventured to make have been drawn from me chiefly by my 
 anxiety to satisfy your Lordship that my refusal to engage 
 in a civil occupation has proceeded altogether from the 
 same cause which compelled me to resign my military 
 command. 
 
 END OF THE FIRST VOLUME. 
 
 LONDON : 
 PRINTED BY SAMUEL BKNTLEY, 
 
 Dorset Street, Fleet Street.
 
 
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