SUPPLEMENTARY NUMBER 
HO THE. 
MONTHLY MAGAZINE. 

JANUARY, 

HALF-YEARLY RETROSPECT OF DOMESTIC LITERATURE. 
History. 
TLEUTENSNT CoLONEL BEATSON 
has publifhed ‘* A View of the Origin 
and Conduét of the War with Tippoo 
Sultaun ; comprifing a Narrative of the 
Operations of the Army under the Com- 
mand of Lieutenant General George 
Harris, and of the Siege of Seringapa- 
tam.”’ Lieutenant Beatfon was fur- 
veyor-general to the army in the field 
and aide-de-camp to the Marquis 
Wellefley, under whofe aufpices and 
patronage this work, the materials of 
which were fubmitted to his infpection, 
now makes its appearance. 
ftanding that many official documents had 
been laid before parliament, and others 
publithed by the Eaft-India company re- 
jative to the late war in the Myfore, 
which has been fo fplendidly and de- 
cifively terminated, it appeared to the 
author of the prefent work, on his re- 
turn from india, that feverai points re- 
quired explanation, that erroneous opi- 
nions had been formed, that military 
operations had not been fufficiently de- 
tailed, and that few particulars had been 
recorded of a fieze the moft brilliant 
and important that ever was carried on 
in that quarter of the globe. For thefe 
and other reafons he juftly conjeCtures 
that a faithful and impartial account, il- 
luftrated with maps and plans, comprif- 
ing in a connected form every circum- 
ftance refpecting the origin and conduét 
of the war, would be favourably received 
by the Britith public. The narrative of 
Colonel Beatfon, drawn from documents 
whofe authenticity is unqueftionable, has 
we think completely juttified the Mar- 
quis Wellefley in his commencement of 
hoftilities, and the numerous anecdotes 
of the late Sultaun which are interfperfed 
have very much lowered in our eftima- 
tion the charaéter of Tippoo, who is 
ftated to have been a weak as well as 
head ftrong and tyrannical prince ; “ in- 
Monru_y Mac. 
Notwith-_ 
fluenced in his views both foreign and ~ 
domeftic, by a reftlefs and implacable 
fpirit, and totally unequal to the go- 
vernment of a kingdom, which had been 
ufurped by the hardinefs, intrigues, and 
talents of his father.” The rooted en- 
mity of Annibal againf{ Rome feems to 
have been revived in Tippoo’s deadly 
hatred of the Britifh government: ven- 
geance was the opjeét of his unwearied 
contemplation, ‘ The means,’ faid he, 
which I have taken to keep in remem- 
brance the misfortunes I experienced fix 
years ago from the malice of my enemies 
(alluding to the conquefts of Marquis 
Cornwallis), are to difcontinue fleeping 
in a cotton bed, and to make ufe of a 
cloth one: when I am victorious I fhall 
refume the bed of cotton.” The unhappy 
fate of Tippoo, however, denied him the 
luxury of returning to his cotton bed, 
but the ferocious wretch who has been 
often heard to fay that in this world he - 
would rather live two days like a tiger, 
than two hundred years like a fheep, 
will not generally be thought to have 
deferved one. It is ftated by Colonel 
Beatfon that the library of Tippdo con- 
fitted of about 2000 volumes in the va- 
rious branches of Afiatic literature, to- 
gether with an extenfive collection of 
original ftate papers of a very Important 
nature. Thefe valuable documents, con- 
ftituting a fufficient ftock of materials for 
a complete hiftory of the reigns of Hyder 
Alli Khan, and Tippoo Sultaun; and 
the proofs, continues Col. Beatfon, which 
they afford of the fyftematic and unre- 
mitting ardor with which the late Sul- 
taun laboured at the fubverfion of the 
Britifh power in India, are numerous, 
and of the moft unequivocal kind. All 
the records, we are happy to be informed, 
which were found in the palace are now 
in the poffeffion of the Marquis: of 
Wellefley; and as his lordfhip intends fy 
haye the whole tranflated as foon as 
4G poffible, 
