that the consistency, unity, and efficiency of our side of the balance has suffered no inconsiderable degree of diminution." He adds emphatically, " The balance of power in India no longer exists upon the same footing on which it was placed by the peace of Seringapatam."

"The final result," remarks the Governor-General, in a letter addressed to J. A. Kirkpatrick, Esq., at Hyderabad, "is the entire loss of the benefit of the triple alliance against Tippoo Sultaun, and the establishment of a French army of fourteen thousand men in the dominions of one of our allies, in the vicinity of the territories of Tippoo Sultaun, and on the confines of the Carnatic and the Northern Circars."

Notwithstanding Tippoo's correspondence with the French, with Zemaun Shah, and other powers, and the military preparations which were in progress in Mysore, the crafty Asiatic, with characteristic duplicity, continued to profess sentiments of the utmost amity towards the British Government. The following letter was received at Calcutta on the 26th of April, 1798 :

TIPPOO SULTAUN TO SIR JOHN SHORE.

"I have been favoured with your letter, notifying your intention of returning to Europe, and the nomination of Lord Mornington, who is of rank, to the office of Governor-General, in whom the same disposition would be manifested with yourself, to cultivate and improve the friendship and good understanding subsisting between the two states, and an inviolable adherence to the engagements by which they are con

nected. It is very well. You must impress Lord Mornington with a sense of the friendship and unanimity so firmly subsisting between us, and constantly favour me with letters communicating your health and welfare.

"(A true translation.)

N. B. EDMINSTONE, "Persian Translator to Government."

On the very day that this letter was received at Fort William, Tippoo's ambassadors whom he had sent to the Governor of the Isle of France, landed at Mangalore, a sea-port on the coast of Malabar, accompanied by the French force levied under Malartic's proclamation.

On the 17th of May, 1789, the following letter reached the supreme Government :

TIPPOO SULTAUN TO SIR ALURED CLARKE.

"I was much gratified by the receipt of your friendly letter, communicating the departure of Sir John Shore, and your having taken charge of the Government until the arrival of the Earl of Mornington. As you are a friend, I have no doubt of your constant disposition to strengthen the bonds of sincere attachment to the two states."

The annexed letter was written immediately after the intelligence of the Governor-General's arrival reached Seringapatam

FROM TIPPO0 SULTAUN TO THE EARL OF MORNINGTON.

Your Lordship's friendly letter containing the agreeable intelligence of your arrival at Calcutta, and your

taking charge of the Company's affairs, reached me at the happiest of times, and afforded me a degree of pleasure and satisfaction that cannot be adequately expressed upon paper. May the Almighty prosper to your Lordship this event! By the Divine grace, the exalted fabric of union and attachment, and the firm foundation of friendship and harmony between the two states, are in full strength. To adhere to the obligations of existing treaties, is a constant object with me. Your Lordship is from your heart a friend and wellwisher, and I am confident will hold in mind the observance of union and concord. I hope you will continue to gratify me by letters notifying your

welfare.

"(A true translation.)

N. B. EDMINSTONE, "Persian Translator to Government."

The Governor-General rightly judged that mere expostulations with such an enemy would be productive of no lasting benefit. The history of the past proved that nothing short of depriving Tippoo Sultaun of the power of doing mischief, could afford the British Government security against his hostile designs.

While, therefore, he proceeded to open a negotiation with Tippoo respecting Wynaad and other disputed territories, his Excellency urged upon the Government of Madras the duty of immediate preparations, on a scale commensurate with the enterprise which he projected. What effect Lord Mornington's letter to General Harris produced in the Council of Fort St. George, and what events occurred in consequence of it, shall be related in a succeeding chapter.

CHAPTER X.

Dismay produced at Madras by Lord Mornington's orders.-Mr. Webbe predicts that the Governor-General will be defeated, and impeached on his return to Europe.-General Harris alarmed.-Advises Lord Mornington to temporise with Tippoo Sultaun. -Memorandum of Mr. Webbe.-Weakness of the Madras Government.-Mr. Webbe trembles at the Prospect of an Invasion by Tippoo.-Recounts the Disasters, Dangers, Expenses, and Delays of the Wars with Hyder Ali and Tippoo.-Lord Mornington's Firmness.-Repeats his Orders.—Is supported by the Commander-in-Chief and the Council of Bengal.— Prepares for the Contest.-Negotiations with the Nizam and the Mahrattas.-Accomplishes the Destruction of the French Force of the Nizam without shedding blood.—The Nizam receives a British subsidiary Force instead of the disbanded French Corps.-Effects of this stroke of policy all through British India. Exultation of the Adherents of the British Government.-General Craig congratulates Lord Mornington on the Result.-Correspondence between Tippoo Sultaun and the Governor-General.

THE Governor-General's letters to General Harris, announcing that it was his positive resolution to assemble the army upon the coast of Coromandel, were received with anything but enthusiastic approbation at Madras. The bare idea of the possible renewal of hostilities with Tippoo Sultaun filled the members of that Government with the most painful apprehensions. When Lord Mornington's orders were communicated to Mr. Webbe, the Secretary of the Government, by Mr. Lushington, the Private Secretary of General Harris, that gentleman gave expression to his disapprobation of

"Our

the projected operations in the strongest terms. unprepared state for war, in the absence of a large portion of our troops in the Eastern Islands ;-our empty and bankrupt treasury at Madras;-all the horrors of Hyder's merciless invasion of the Carnatic,— of Tippoo's sanguinary destruction of Colonel Baillie's detachment, Sir Hector Munro's disgraceful retreat to Madras, and the first failure of Lord Cornwallis against Seringapatam rushed at once into Mr. Webbe's mind, after reading Lord Mornington's letter, and he exclaimed with bitterness and grief, I can anticipate nothing but shocking disasters from a premature attack upon Tippoo in our present disabled condition, and the impeachment of Lord Mornington for his temerity.""* Even the Commander-in-Chief of the army of Coromandel shrunk at first sight from the enterprise which Lord Mornington proposed to him. "For my

own part," observes General Harris, in a letter dated 23rd of June, 1798, "I have no doubt (as matters now stand with the French) but Tippoo will explain away our just grounds of complaint, although I am convinced he has committed himself to the full extent of the proclamation. His inveteracy to us will only end with his life, and he will always seize any opportunity that offers to annoy us; but notwithstanding this, and that the political circumstances of India are now much in our favour, it perhaps still remains a matter of serious consideration whether, in our very great want of cash, and the effect our being engaged in war in this country may have on the affairs in Europe, it would not be better that he should be allowed to make the

* Lushington's Life of Lord Harris.