The British possessions in India, except in Bengal, were at that time extremely limited. In the south, the East India Company owned the fort and town of Madras, the adjoining district (known in those days as the Jagír, and now styled the district of Chingleput), the town and fort of Cuddalore and some of the adjoining territory, the port of Dévikota and certain villages in Tanjore, and four out of the five sirkárs on the eastern coast, now known as the Northern Sirkárs, for which, however, they were bound to pay an annual tribute of five lakhs of rupees (£50,000) to the Nizam. The rest of the Carnatic, including the districts of Nellore, North Arcot, the greater part of South Arcot, and Trichinopoly, still belonged to the Nawáb of the Carnatic. Of the remainder of what now constitutes the Madras Presidency, the greater part of Tanjore was still held by its Mahratta chief; Cuddapah, Salem, Coimbatore, Madura, Tinnevelly, Malabar and Canara, Karnúl, and a portion of Ballári had been brought under the rule of Hyder, while the remainder of Ballári and Guntúr belonged to the Nizam. In Bengal, though the youngest of the British settlements, the Company, owing to the genius and vigour of Clive, had become possessed of a far more extensive, and at the same time extremely compact, territory, comprising the whole of the

time occupied, including two halts, 23 days, or a rate of 14 miles a day, against Goddard's 15 miles; but the country through which Roberts passed, though better known, having been recently traversed by Sir Donald Stewart's division, was far more difficult and more trying to the troops than that traversed by Goddard in 1779. In each case the object of the march was to retrieve a disaster to the British arms, and in each case that object was accomplished with brilliant success.

Lord Lake's famous march in 1804 in pursuit of Holkar's cavalry, when he traversed 350 miles in 14 days, cannot be compared with either of the above achievements, as Lord Lake's force was composed entirely of cavalry and mounted artillery. The same may be said of the most rapid marches in the Mutiny, which, when of any considerable length, were made with mounted troops.

fertile districts of Bengal proper, south of the Brahmaputra, Behar, and a part of Orissa. Bombay was still little more than a commercial factory, holding no territorial possessions, except the island of Bombay, the adjoining port of Bassein, and the island of Salsette.

In addition to the formidable confederacy of native chiefs, which at the time of which we write actually threatened the British power in India, there was every prospect of that confederacy being speedily strengthened by aid from France, which had declared war against England in 1778, and which subsequently afforded material assistance, both by land and by sea, to Hyder Ali and to his son and successor Tippoo Sultán.

Nor were the difficulties and weaknesses of the position in India counterbalanced by the strength of the Home Administration. Lord North's weak and unfortunate Government was still in office, tottering towards its fall. A strong party in the Court of Directors was opposed to the Governor-General, and supported the factious antagonism arrayed against him in his Council; and there can be little doubt that had the confederacy of native chiefs been more united in their operations and in their aims, or had a weaker man than Warren Hastings filled at this time the position of Governor-General, the extension and consolidation of British rule in India, which only a few years later had become an established fact, would have been one of the many "might have beens," which abound in the history of nations, as well as in the lives of individuals.

Such was the state of public affairs when Thomas Munro, then a lad nearly nineteen, landed at Madras. He remained for six months at the Presidency town, where he did duty with the cadet company, learnt his drill, and studied the native languages. Immediately on his arrival he was robbed by a native servant of some of his money

and the greater part of his wardrobe, which he found it no easy matter to replace; for in those days the pay of a cadet of infantry was only eight pagodas, or about £3 a month. Among the residents of Madras to whom he was introduced, his chief friends appear to have been Mr. David Haliburton, a civil servant, who was afterwards a member of the Board of Revenue and Persian translator to Government, and an eccentric merchant of the name of Ross, at whose house he made the acquaintance of a still more eccentric man of science, of the name of Koenig, a native of Livonia, whose English Munro describes in his letters as a mixture of Latin, Portuguese, and French, but who seems to have been much attracted by the young cadet's proficiency in chemistry. After having had a narrow escape of being appointed, at his own request, to the unfortunate detachment under Colonel Baillie, which on the 10th of September was beaten by and surrendered to Hyder, Munro was sent in July with the regiment to which he was attached, first to Poonamallee and afterwards to St. Thomas' Mount, whence, on the 20th of August, he marched with the army under the command of his namesake, Lieutenant-General Sir Hector Munro,* to meet the invading army of Mysore. Munro appears to have been present at all the operations under Sir Hector Munro and Sir Eyre Coote in 1780, 1781, 1782, and 1783, when, peace having been made with France, and Tippoo-who, on the death of Hyder Ali in 1782, had succeeded his father on the throne of Mysore-having moved the Mysorean army to the western coast, hostilities ceased in the Carnatic. These operations included the retreat of Sir Hector Munro from Conjeveram to Madras after the defeat of Colonel Baillie's force, the relief of Wandiwash, the battle of Porto Novo, the battle of Sholinghar, the taking of Chittoor,

* Sir Hector Munro does not appear to have been related to the subject of this memoir.

the battle and siege of Cuddalore, and several other engagements. In November, 1781, when still an ensign of less than two years' service, Munro was appointed quartermaster of a brigade, and at the attack on the French lines and battle of Cuddalore on the 13th of June, 1783, he acted as aide-de-camp to the officer who commanded the centre attack. From 1783 to 1788 Munro was employed on garrison duty at various stations. During this period he served with no less than five regiments, viz. the 1st, 16th, 21st, and 30th Native Infantry and a regiment of European Infantry, the number of which is not given, but to which he appears to have been posted on his promotion to the rank of lieutenant in 1786. In August, 1788, he was appointed an assistant in the Intelligence Department under Captain Read, and was attached to the head-quarters of a force sent to take possession of the district of Guntúr, which in that year was ceded by the Nizam to the Company. He continued to be employed in the Intelligence Department until October, 1790, when, war having broken out afresh with Tippoo, he rejoined his regiment, the 21st Native Infantry, and served with the army under Colonel Maxwell, which invaded the Baramahal. He subsequently shared in the pursuit of Tippoo by Lieutentant-General Meadows through the Tapur pass on the 18th of November, 1790, and afterwards, in 1791 and 1792, in most of the operations under Lord Cornwallis, including the siege and capture of Bangalore. In March, 1792, he accompanied the detachment in charge of the two sons of Tippoo, who were sent as hostages to Madras, and in the following month he was appointed one of the three military assistants, deputed to conduct the civil administration of the Baramahal under Captain (afterwards Lieutenant-Colonel) Alexander Read.

During the whole of this period, as indeed throughout his life, Munro kept up a constant correspondence, princi

pally with the members of his own family. His letters, even in the earliest years of his Indian service, especially those addressed to his father, to whom he usually wrote on the military operations, if they do not manifest brilliant literary ability, are remarkable productions to have come from the pen of so youthful a writer. Clear in expression, copious in their details, and free from all affectation of style, they contain what have been considered by competent judges as the most trustworthy narratives that have been written of the operations to which they referred. Dr. Wilson, in his annotations to Mills' History of British India,' more than once cites Munro's letters as embodying the most accurate accounts available of some of the engagements with Hyder, incidents in which had become the subject of controversy. These letters are for the most part simple narratives of facts which came under the writer's observation, and are but seldom interspersed with comment or criticism; and when comments do occur, they are very often merely recapitulations of the remarks and arguments which have been used by others regarding the tactics or policy of the generals. Thus, referring to the defeat of Colonel Baillie's force, Munro wrote:

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 army? And why, when he saw Hyder march, did he not follow him instantly, instead of waiting till the morning? On the other hand, it is said that it was reasonable 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

* Sir Hector Munro is here referred to.