xvi historical chronicU. 



ture ef the srns^ grains IS more preca- I /^-'s reJoubr, wiijcli was desperately 

 jriouj. anJ rhey are lefs nourilhingj jdifendea, Josr their way, by wh;ch they 

 foi being on the high groui.ds, they ; were unable lO co-operaie with Jord 

 can only De waieied r'rom the neavefts, I Cornwall IS, which they would have 

 wheie^t che whole of the Carnatlc, | done had they pufhed through the 

 (by .he regular slope from tlie Gauts I enenr.y's camp to the river, before they 

 to the seu, which is supposed by DrI turned to the left, by which it is sup- 

 Anderson co be ten feet in every mile,) j posed we ihould have entered Seringa- 

 may be cultivated by only rais ng suf- pacam along with Tippoo, at least we 

 ficient banks to the eastward, to re- must have takes every thing he was 

 tain the ram that falls in the monsoon, \ pofsefsed of out of the fort, 

 which is so considerable, that in the I " On the *6th ulr. when the twohos- 

 course of six weeks, by accurate mea-j tages were delivered, and every thingwas 

 surement, it was found near fifty in-' settled, he went tohis tenc,and was with 



ches had fallen at Madras \ more after- 

 wards fell, but the quantity I do not 

 know; our last monsoon liowever was 

 uncommonly severe, more so than had 

 been known for many years. 



" The elevationof the Mysore coun- 

 try above the sea must be very great. 

 The pafscs on the Malabar coast have 

 been ascended by the Bombay army 

 with much difficulty ; and on th s coast 

 on ascending the Padnadurgum pafs one 

 hundred miles from the sea, in an hou r's 

 walk, I got into a country fifteen de- 

 grees cojler than the Carnatic. 



" Tippoo, by all that appears, has 

 been the friend of the poor ; the rich 

 he always tojk the liberty of plunder- 

 ing, and he had intiodij..ed many vi- 

 Juible and extensive m.inufacturfs in 

 the pettah ortownofBangiljre. Before 

 our army came there, it is said lo.ooo 

 weaving families were maintained; and 

 ■we found long streets, with .almost 

 tvery ho ise nlled with cotton; but 

 the Mysore country can never main- 

 tain a great power, though an excel- 

 lent o le to def.nd, being ev.ry where 

 pro;ec;ed by almost impregnible forts. 

 Biddanore is the country with Coim- 

 batore, that made Hyder so powerful ; 

 and as Tippoo is allowed to keep Bid- 

 danore, he is still very respectable. 



" Our joy at the peace was very much 

 d.imped by an unlucky circumstance 

 that happened to general Meadows, 

 whose zeal and personal bravery, be.ng 

 always foiemcst in every d.irg^r, had 

 endeared him to the whole army. He 



had appeared unhappy ever since the at- 

 tack of the lir.ts, w.Sen the right wing 



which he commanded, afier taking Lai- beneiitied by our conquests.'' 



Yours, &c 



difficulty prevented from doing a ra(h 

 deed, thatallthe army, and almost eve- 

 ry person in India would have long de- 

 plored. It seems he imagined that the 

 army conceived this mistake on the 

 6rh, was done on purpose to prevent 

 the complete victory that lord Corn- 

 wallis would otherwise have gained ; 

 and that he could not convince them 

 to the contrary but by this ra(h act. 

 I am very happy, however, to tell you, 

 that he has recovered, and is now out 

 of danger, and easy in mind, being 

 convinced that the army have always 

 given him the greatest credit for his 

 chearful and zealous co-operation with 

 lord Comwallij on all occasions. You 

 will observe that in these circumstan- 

 ces there is a peculiar delicacy in lord 

 Cornwallis's public thanks to the army, 

 in which he mentions Meadows in the 

 most handsome terms. 



" We are now all enjoying the hap- 

 pinefs that peace gives, and it took 

 place most opportunely for the coUec- 

 lection of die crops ; for in our nort.h- 

 ern circars ihe;e ^s a most dreadful fa- 

 mine rag ng ; one half, n»y three 

 fourths of the inhabitants destroyed, 

 the coontry every where bring cover- 

 ed with human bon'S. The failure 

 of the crops in some measure in Beri- 

 gil, which oblige the g ivcrnment to 

 lay an embargo on the exportation of 

 grain, has made the de v.istation S") great ; 

 and if the Carnatic had been reduced to 

 similar distrefs, which night have hap- 

 pened at this time by the invasion of a 

 few horse preventing the collection of 

 the crop, we ihould have been butlittle 



