the immediate removal to the fort of the whole of Hyder's family, whom he treated with kindness. Among them were Tippoo, then in his ninth year, and Kareem Sahib, born prematurely in consequence of fright on the preceding day.

Hyder was now left to begin the world again, with no resources but those of his own mind. He invited to his standard soldiers of fortune, of every description. Bangalore was for a time the place of rendezvous, and here he borrowed £40,000 of the native bankers. In a short time he was prepared to take the field against the Mysore army. The hostile forces met near Nungengode; and, Hyder having been defeated, his destruction appeared to be inevitable. His rescue affords an instance of that talent for intrigue and deception which seems to have constituted his leading feature of character, and to have influenced the whole tenor of his eventful life. He boldly addressed letters to the leaders of the hostile army, in which he assumed that they had made an engagement to seize Kunde Row, and promised the stipulated reward,-concluding with the observation, that nothing now remained but that they should immediately earn it. The bearer of these letters departed, duly instructed; and falling, according to the concerted plan, into the hands of the men at the outposts, was carried to Kunde Row,—who, entertaining not the least suspicion of an artifice, conceived that he was betrayed by his own army. Seized with a sudden panic, he instantly mounted his horse, and escaped to Seringapatam. This was done, of course, without any previous communication with the suspected Chiefs. His exit being quickly known, a general agitation ensued. Every man was disposed to follow the example of his leader, yet none seemed able to communicate to another the cause of his alarm.

Hyder attacked the enemy in this state of confusion, and captured the whole of their guns, stores, and baggage. The cavalry had by flight consulted their own safety, and the infantry were incorporated, without much reluctance, into the army of the victor. He shortly afterwards marched to Seringapatam, and despatched a message to the Rajah, intimating that Kunde Row, the servant of Hyder, ought to be given up to him; and that large balances due to Hyder by the State ought to be liquidated. After the payment of these arrears, if the Rajah should be pleased to continue him in his service, it was well; if not, he would depart and seek his fortune elsewhere. Such were the terms of his formal communication to the

Rajah; but to persons holding public offices he conveyed the substance of his demands, and threatened the consequences of rejection, in a more distinct manner.

Many of these persons had long held the most important offices of the government, and had benefited largely by the laxity and corruption that prevailed. They were accordingly more interested about the means of securing their private fortunes, than by any considerations affecting the fate of Kunde Row, the rights of the Rajah, or the safety of the State. Such principles opposed but slender impediments to the designs of the conqueror, who had signified his pleasure that the usurpation he meditated should appear rather as the spontaneous act of the Rajah himself. That unfortunate personage was readily made to understand that the danger was imminent; that no means existed of paying the balances, or making any appropriation of funds for their speedy liquidation; and that but one arrangement remained, which could afford the hope of averting more dreadful calamities. A proposal for carrying that arrangement into effect was, in this moment of terror, transmitted to Hyder in the name and with

the concurrence of the Rajah: namely, First, That districts of country yielding an annual revenue of three lacks of pagodas, (£105,000,) should be reserved for the Rajah's personal expenses. Secondly, That Hyder should assume the management of the remainder of the country, and charge himself with the responsibility of defraying the arrears, and providing for the pay of the army, and for public charges of every description. Thirdly, That Kunde Row should be given up to him. Hyder then waited upon the Rajah with all the forms of submission and respect; and from that moment his usurpation was complete.

Kunde Row was given up and confined. Before it had been determined that he should be surrendered, a message was sent to Hyder from the Rajah and the ladies of the palace, praying for mercy towards that unfortunate man, as a preliminary to the adjustment of public affairs. Hyder replied that Kunde Row was his old servant, and that he would not only spare his life, but cherish him like a parroquet,—a phrase of endearment commonly used in conversing with women, from the estimation in which that bird is held in the harems of the wealthy. When he was afterwards gently admonished of his severity to Kunde Row, he ironically replied that he had exactly kept his word, and that the remonstrants were at liberty to inspect the cage, and the rice and milk allotted for his food. Such was the fate to which he had doomed Kunde Row for the remainder of his miserable life.

The arrangements consequent on the usurpation occupied upwards of two months: then Hyder, having appointed his brother-in-law, Mookhdoom Ali Khan, Governor of the fort of Seringapatam, with a garrison of his most trusty troops, took leave of the Rajah with the usual formalities early in September, 1761, and proceeded to extend the boundaries of the kingdom. In the beginning of 1762 he added Sera, and its extensive territory, to the Mysore dominions. By the end of March, 1763, he had conquered the kingdom of Bednore. The available property of every description, including money and jewels, which he realised on the fall of the capital, is variously stated; but, without the risk of exaggeration, it may be estimated at twelve millions sterling. It was habitually spoken of, by Hyder, as the foundation of all his subsequent greatness.

In the beginning of the year 1766 he entered Canara, with the avowed intention of achieving the conquest of Malabar. While he was engaged in this work, the pageant-Rajah of Mysore died; and Hyder sent orders, with all the indifference attached to an affair of ordinary routine, to go through the usual formalities of inaugurating as his successor the deceased Rajah's eldest son, Nunjeraj Wadeyar, a young man then about eighteen years of age. This was in April, 1766. Hyder did not arrive in Seringapatam until the beginning of 1767. He then went through the ceremonial (from which habit and public opinion had not yet exempted him) of paying his public respects as a subject to his Sovereign. He had discovered, however, that the youth, since his mock-elevation, had betrayed some feelings of human nature, which the habitual degradation of a splendid imprisonment cannot always extinguish; and these feelings Hyder deemed it necessary to crush before they should gather strength. It will be recollected that districts, to the annual amount of £105,000, had been allotted for the personal maintenance of the Rajah. These were now resumed, and the palace was plundered of all the cash and valuables which had been saved from that income, with the single exception of the ornaments which the women had actually on their persons at the time when Hyder's

myrmidons entered to execute his orders. A new and reduced arrangement of the household was enforced, which left none but Hyder's spies within the palace-gates. In this year Hyder came to open hostilities with the English, concerning whose position in India a paragraph here may not be out of place.

COMMENCEMENT OF ENGLISH POWER IN INDIA.

About two hundred and fifty years ago, a few London merchants formed themselves into a Company for the purpose of trading to the East Indies. They obtained from Queen Elizabeth a Charter, constituting them a body politic, with the name of "The Governor and Company of Merchants of London trading to the East Indies.” Their Charter was obtained December 31st, A.D. 1600; and their fleet of four ships and a pinnace sailed from Torbay on the 2d of May, 1601. For several years successful voyages were made to the islands of the Indian Ocean, but in 1611 they obtained a footing on the continent of India. At that time the Mogul empire, the capital of which was Delhi, extended over all the northern part of India; and from the Emperor, or Great Mogul, the English obtained permission to establish factories at Surat and some other places. The decree of the Emperor, conferring certain mercantile privileges on the Company, is dated January 11th, 1612. In the course of time the adventurers extended their trade to other ports, and obtained by purchase or otherwise small tracts of land, on which they erected warehouses, factories, residences, and other buildings. These territorial acquisitions were by degrees enlarged and multiplied; and, as their trade and property increased, it became expedient to erect forts for protection and defence. In 1624, the Company projected an establishment on the eastern coast of the continent; but nothing permanent was accomplished until the year 1640, when permission was obtained of a local Chief to erect a fort at Madras. The works were begun without delay, and the place was named Fort St. George; and from that time it became the principal settlement of the English on the Coromandel coast.

For many years the Company maintained the character of mere traders, and by humility and submission endeavoured to preserve a footing in that distant country under the protection of the native powers; but at length they entered the lists of war, and mixed in the contests of the native Princes. A treaty which they had made with one of the native powers, brought them to be parties in an incursion upon the Mysore dominions. This was followed by a series of disastrous conflicts, until the 4th of April, 1769, when the English authorities agreed to negotiate upon Hyder's terms. The peace was not of long continuance. Hyder diligently employed the interval of repose in restoring order to his country, in enhancing his revenues, and augmenting the number and improving the discipline of his troops. He continued to extend his dominions and increase his power, with little interruption, for several years. About the end of 1780 he formed a treaty with some other native powers, for a system of combined operations against the English. The rapidity with which his cavalry overran the country, and spread ruin and desolation throughout a circle of many miles round Madras, filled the Carnatic with terror and dismay. The people fled from the open country to the woods and mountains, their houses were set on fire, the crops were destroyed, and the fields left uncultivated. Several engagements took place between Hyder Ali and the English, and famine raged in all its horrors.

In December, 1782, Hyder died at Chittoor, at an advanced age, which

is not, however, exactly ascertained. He was buried near Colar, where a mosque was in consequence erected; but his remains were afterwards removed to Seringapatam.

At the time of his father's death, Tippoo was on the western coast of India. The address and fidelity of the leading officers of the army had preserved tolerable order among the troops till Tippoo arrived; when the immediate payment of their arrears, and a few popular regulations, firmly established him on his father's throne, or as the actual Sovereign of Mysore, though the Hindoo Rajah was still alive, and a prisoner at Seringapatam. On the 11th of March, 1784, the English obtained Tippoo's signature to a treaty of peace, which, however, he soon violated by making war on the Rajah of Travancore, an ally of the British. Several communications passed, and in Tippoo's last he offered to send a person of dignity to Madras, who might (as he observed) "remove the dust by which the upright mind of the English General had been obscured." To this, General Meadows returned the following answer:-"I received yours, and I understand its contents. You are a great Prince; and, but for your cruelty to your prisoners, I should say an enlightened one. The English, equally incapable of offering an insult as of submitting to one, have looked upon war as declared from the moment you attacked their ally, the King of Travancore. God does not always give the battle to the strong, nor the race to the swift, but generally success to those whose cause is just. Upon that we depend."

In 1792 the English army, accompanied by some native allies, besieged the fort of Seringapatam; when Tippoo acceded to the following terms :"That he should forfeit one half of his territories, pay £3,300,000, and give up two of his sons as hostages for a due execution of the treaty." After a few years of peace between the English and Tippoo, it was discovered that he was engaging the assistance of France against the English in India. In consequence of this, the Governor-General, Lord Mornington, declared war against him. The army took up its ground for the siege of Seringapatam on the 5th of April, 1799. On the 4th of May the Fort was in the possession of the English. The body of Tippoo was found amongst the slain in a gateway on the north side of the Fort. He was buried at the east end of the island of Seringapatam, near the remains of his father and mother. A splendid mausoleum, in the Mahomedan style of architecture, was erected, and is still kept in good repair, at the expense of the East India Company.

The English were now in possession of the kingdom of Mysore, and the Governor-General had to decide how it was to be disposed of. At the fall of Seringapatam, the direct male descendant of the Mysore Rajahs was a child six or seven years old, and the Governor-General determined to place him on the throne of his ancestors. The conditions on which he was to receive his dignity were the following: That the whole of the military force maintained for the defence of the country should be English; that for the expense of it he should pay annually £70,000; that, in case of war, or preparation for war, the English might exact any larger sum which they deemed proportional to the resources of the Rajah; and, last of all, that, should they be dissatisfied with his government in any respect, they might interpose to any extent, or even take the unlimited management of it to themselves. To these conditions the royal family assented, and the young Prince was placed on the throne in the city of Mysore, the ancient capital of the kingdom. Poorniah, a clever Brahmin, was made Prime

Minister, and Colonel Wilkes was appointed British Resident. If the Governor-General had appointed some well-qualified Englishman as tutor to the young Prince, the arrangements would have been complete the young King might have received a good education, and have been taught to govern both himself and his country.

Under the administration of Poorniah the kingdom was tolerably well managed; but when the young Rajah attained his majority, and took the reins of government out of Poorniah's hands, a number of crafty men got into power, and received bribes from those in inferior offices, with whom they combined to oppress the people. At length the people rebelled; and, the English troops having been called in to restore order, the GovernorGeneral, according to treaty, took possession of the country, appointed a Commissioner to govern it, and settled a pension on the Rajah of £110,000 per annum.

The present Commissioner is General Cubban, an old and experienced officer, who manages the affairs of the government so as to give almost universal satisfaction. The kingdom is distributed into four parts; and over each part there is placed an English officer from some regiment in the Company's service, as Superintendent of a Division." Each Superintendent has a junior officer as an assistant; and all revenue and judicial matters are settled, the arrangements being subject, of course, to the approbation of the Commissioner, who is responsible to the Governor-General of India. The kingdom is divided also into smaller compartments, called Talooks, similar to English counties. There are eighty-one of these Talooks; and in each a chief town, the population of which is, on an average, about 5,000. Each Talook is again subdivided into smaller divisions called Hoblies, something like wapentakes. Of these there are 1,542, each having at its head a small market-town with a population of about 1,500. Besides these there are 33,562 villages and hamlets, varying in population from 50 to 500. Bangalore, Seringapatam, and Mysore are the only very large towns. The population of the kingdom of Mysore may be estimated, therefore, at about five millions. The kingdom was never better governed than at present; neither were the people ever more contented and prosperous. The Commissioner has fortunately had under him, in the four divisions, a succession of very judicious officers, many of them godly men, who have exalted the English character in the estimation of the natives, and inspired general confidence. Under the present government the rich man is not afraid to display his riches, the merchant is sure of protection, justice is obtained without a bribe, and the cultivator ploughs and sows without any fear that his fields will be overrun by the foraging parties of an invading army. With a fine climate and a fertile soil, the people need but Christianity to make this little kingdom one of the happiest on the face of the earth. But, alas! the people are ignorant of the truth, and are misled by a system of false doctrines, a brief account of which may be given in future Numbers of this Magazine.

THOMAS HODSON.

PRODUCTIVE POWER OF VEGETABLE LIFE.

THE food of plants peculiarly distinguishes them from animals. While these subsist only on what has been organic matter, vegetables derive their nourishment from that which is inorganic, as mere earths, salts, water, or the gases. The particles of these become arranged in them, by the agency

VOL. VI.-FOURTH SERIES.

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