sense of misfortune, but unaccompanied by any sullenness or selfish depression; they answered compliments in a firm and noble manner, and each, with princely grace, offered to the English commander a rich Persian sword, in return for which he presented the elder with a fusee, the younger with a pair of pistols ; but no further reception of presents was permitted. The satisfaction of the father at the kind reception of his sons was testified by a royal salute from his batteries.

CHAP.

LXXI.

1792.

Insincerity

Still, notwithstanding all these appearances, notwithstanding the inestimable deposit which guaran- of Tippoo. teed his good faith, the Sultan shewed signs of insincerity, which almost provoked a renewal of hostilities. In pure reliance on the final execution of the terms agreed on, all operations on the British side were discontinued, and some of the troops dispatched to a distance; but the labours of additional fortification and the accumulation of military supplies in the fort were never intermitted. The agents of Tippoo consumed time by every species of chicane. The portions of territory to be ceded, their locality and importance in the hands of the powers to whom they were destined, were sedulously discussed; even in paying the first sum, according to the preliminaries, a paltry fraud was attempted, by putting a false value on the pagodas which were tendered. Such conduct left no doubt that efforts were making to gain advantages from the sufferings of the military and the probable decay of their besieging materials; and, if possible, to keep the treaty in a lingering state, until the monsoon should render operations impracticable.

proceedings of

Cornwallis.

Penetrating into these designs, the noble Com- March 11th. mander-in-chief resumed an offensive attitude. The Consequent guns, which had been withdrawn, were replaced on Earl the lines and in the redoubts; the princely hostages were directed to proceed forward to Bangalore, and the Mysorean soldiers, who were permitted to continue 14th. in their train, were disarmed and treated as prisoners of war; troops, under General Abercromby and Purseram Bhow, were judiciously posted so as completely to surround the fortress. The Sultan's ambassadors, justly estimating these demonstrations, waited on him,

CHAP.
LXXI.

1792. Definitive treaty.

20th.

and through their remonstrances he assumed a submissive tone; the hostile preparations were suspended, the hostages were reconducted to their former position, and, after some more useless delays, the definitive treaty was delivered to Earl Cornwallis, and separate parts to each of the allied powers.

Thus, contrary to some parliamentary predictions, Observations, and to the relief of fears occasioned by the British commander's retreat, terminated this conflict, reluctantly undertaken by England, dangerous during some portion of its progress, but pursued with vigour, skill, and judgment, to final success. The immediate benefits are not to be calculated by the receipt of money or the acquisition of territory, but by the weakening of a foe, whose avowed and inveterate hostility would render him, under any circumstances, dangerous; while, at the same time, he was not degraded to the state of a second-rate chief; but, by the diminution of his dominions and additions to those of other princes, a just and useful balance of power was established. It was no small achievement to have broken the measures and reduced the power of such an opponent as the Sultan of Mysore. When he was constrained, a British officer observes, to fight his own battles unaided, it was expected that he would fall an easy conquest to such a powerful confederacy; but, under every unpropitious event, in a continued series of illfated operations during a two-years' war, he suppoted himself in a manner that astonished even those who had the best means of knowing the probable state of his army and treasury*.

Lieutenant Moor's Narrative, p. 199. I have not cited separate authorities for each of the events related; it would have been useless, for the facts in general are told in unvaried terms. I have followed the authorities already cited, and derived information from Major Dirom's narrative; Malcolm's Political History of India, particularly vol. i. c. 2; and, as to the treaty, vol. ii. Appendix, No. i.; Mill's History of British India, and all the periodical and contemporary writers; particularly Earl Cornwallis's dispatches, and a Letter to the Court of Directors, and a pamphlet entitled "Observations on that Letter."

END OF THE FOURTH VOLUME.

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