reflection," says Thornton, who has argued these vexed questions with his usual lucidity, "did not occur to Lord William Bentinck, he had far less of sober thought and deliberative power than became his character of Governor-General of British India: if it did occur, his lordship cannot be acquitted of the charge of wantonly and recklessly provoking consequences which his successors might have bitter reason to lament."
We shall leave his lordship between the horns of this dilemma, and now proceed to matters more in unison with the duties of the military historian.
Coorg was a small principality on the confines of Mysore, perched upon the range of mountains that look down upon Malabar and the western coast of India. A pass, connecting the coast provinces with Mysore, runs through the Coorg Hills; and so long as this pass was in the possession of an adverse prince and a brave independent people, Mysore might become assailable from the Company's western capital, Bombay. Hence Hyder and his still more implacable son had bent every effort to conquer Coorg; but at the commencement of Lord Cornwallis's war against Tippoo the Rajah risked all the dangers of Tippoo's success, and boldly volunteered co-operation with the British. He not only allowed the Bombay army to pass through his dominions, but, when distressed for provisions, he supplied it with grain and cattle, refusing all pecuniary compensation. He joined Lord Cornwallis before Seringapatam, shared in all the dangers of the campaign, was foremost in every fight, and almost worshipped the British soldiers for their indomitable courage in those desperate encounters. Grateful for these services, Lord Cornwallis undertook never to interfere in the internal affairs of Coorg, and commuted a large money payment, insisted on by the Bombay authorities, for an elephant, which the Rajah was yearly to present to the East India Company.
In our second and final war with Tippoo the Rajah of
