ANGLO-INDIAN WORTHIES. BY HENRY MORRIS, (MADRAS C. S. Retired.) Author of "A Manual of the Godavery District," &c. ANGLO-INDIAN WORTHIES. SIR THOMAS MUNRO: THE FRIEND OF THE RYOT. THOMAS MUNRO, one of the soundest of the early AngloIndian statesmen and the best friend of the Indian ryot, was born at Glasgow in Scotland on May 27, 1761. . He was the son of a merchant of that city, who was at one time in easy circumstances, but who subsequently, owing to failures in business, was reduced to comparative poverty. Thomas was an athletic, good-tempered, pleasing boy; and at an early age, while in a mercantile office, showed his perseverance and aptitude for acquiring languages by learning Spanish in order to read the celebrated Spanish story, Don Quixote, in the original. Receiving a cadetship in the East India Company's service, he left Scotland, and landed at Madras on January 15, 1780. The period at which Mr. Munro arrived in India was the most critical that had yet occurred in the history of the English in this country. Hyder Ali Khan, the able and powerful ruler of Mysore, was threatening to invade the Carnatic, avowedly with the object of expelling the English from it. The Government of Madras exhibited the most unaccountable apathy, and were making no preparations for defence. Still worse, the individual members of the Government were quarrelling among themselves. There were indeed English garrisons at Wandiwash, Vellore, and Arcot, and a detachment under Colonel Baillie was in the Northern Circars beyond the Kistna; but there was no adequate provision for meeting the threatened invasion. A few months after Mr. Munro's arrival, Hyder Ali's threat became a reality. It seemed to come suddenly. The |