Sir Thomas Munro.

BORN A. D. 1761.-DIED A. d. 1827.

MAJOR-GENERAL SIR THOMAS MUNRO, than whom, said Canning, "Europe never produced a more accomplished statesman, nor India, so fertile in heroes, a more skilful soldier," was a native of Glasgow, in which city he was born on the 27th of May, 1761. After receiving a

His first

liberal education, he sailed as a cadet for India in 1779. military service was in the memorable campaign against Hyder, and the extensive series of military operations which terminated in the peace of 1784.

After the reduction of Seringapatam, Captain Munro, who had made himself singularly well-acquainted with the institutions and languages of India, was appointed commissioner of the newly acquired province of Canara. Of his success in this office, the following extracts from his correspondence give ample testimony:-" The revenue was paid with a readiness of which I had seen no example; not because the inhabitants are more able than formerly to pay their rents, but because they believe that their readiness in discharging them will not, under the Company's government, be regarded as a proof of wealth, or as an argument for laying new impositions upon them." So far was this facility in the collection from being purchased at a sacrifice of revenue, that Munro's settlement was an increase of ninety-three per cent on the schedules produced by Tippoo in 1792. "I am anxious to get Canara into such a state that it may be managed by any body; and I am convinced that the people of this country, by my spending all my time among them, under the fly of a marquee, are already better British subjects than they would have been in twenty years, had I lived in a house on the seashore."

In 1800 the Nizam gave up an extensive territory, since known by the name of the Ceded Districts; and Munro's success in Canara at once pointed him out as the man to be employed in fully reducing this new acquisition to British subjection. "What becomes of newly acquired provinces in so disorganized a country, must depend in a great degree on the iminediate hands into which they fall at first. If the presence of Malcolm at Malwa has settled central India, no limit can be put, in this point of view, to the services of Munro. In England we have carried the cant about measures, not men,' to a ridiculous. excess. Nine parts in ten must always depend every where upon your mian. In India you may say the whole. During the seven years which Munro occupied this arduous post, his services in it may be best appreciated by comparing the state in which he received these districts, with that in which he handed them over to his successor; and by looking afterwards for a moment at the incredible labour which was rewarded with this almost incredible success. The Ceded Districts comprised a territory larger than Scotland, with a population of about two millions. They had sunk under long misgovernment to nearly the lowest point of anarchy that a people, retaining the outward appearances of society, can descend. Besides the Nizam's troops, the feudatories were in re

bellion, and 30,000 armed Peons over-ran the country. It had become the scene of every species of disorder, and the spoil of disunited hordes of lawless plunderers.' By his letters, war, it appears, had so stripped the fertile plains of trees, that he never saw any part of Scotland so destitute of them,-scarcely one for twenty miles. Famine in another place had laid most of the villages in ruins. Scarce one-fourth of the houses were inhabited. The revenue officers were hardened in peculation by the looseness of the late government. There was a swarm of Poligars almost equally troublesome, whether they remained in the country or deserted it. This was its condition when Munro undertook its charge. When he resigned, confusion had given place to order,—a body of inhabitants so little accustomed to regular authority, were reported to be as far advanced in civilization, submission to the laws, and obedience to the magistrates, as any of the subjects under the government.' A third more land was brought under cultivation. The revenues were collected not only with facility, but with unparalleled completeness and punctuality. By reducing them twenty per cent at first, he was enabled gradually to augment them from eleven lacs of pagodas to eighteen; and this, notwithstanding three unfavourable seasons. What must double the value of these pagodas is the further fact, that they came into the treasury without the necessity of calling out a single sepoy. The country was not merely quiet,-every one appeared satisfied with his situation. In 1807 the people were as much affected at his quitting them, as when twenty years afterwards they mourned over the grave of one whom they had learned not only to love as their father, but actually to talk of among themselves by that endearing name. A single example of this kind ought to shame to silence our incompetent and selfish countrymen, who, returning home with the consciousness of leaving no sympathy behind them, may be thus always understood as often as they are found maligning the character of a population whose affection they have never won, to be only bearing an irresistible testimony against themselves. A letter in 1801 from Cuddapah, depicts the state in which ten years of Mogul government had left it. A letter to Lady Munro in 1823, from the same place, makes no doubt of the enduring fidelity of their attachments. I was often at this place twenty years ago, but the heat made me always glad to get away. I still like this country notwithstanding. It is full of industrious cultivators; and I like to recognise among them a great number of my old acquaintances, who, I hope, are as glad to see me as I to see them.' Whilst we are looking at this most affecting relationship between the governor and the governed, and praying that its moral may sink deep into the hearts. of our Indian rulers of whatever order, let the reader just remember what was the office in which Munro had earned all this reverence and love. In the mode of individual settlement adopted by him, he was brought into personal contact, and upon so odious a subject, often necessarily into personal collision, with every single cultivator. This is true almost to the letter. We doubt whether any tax-gatherer before was ever greeted with tears of this description. The testimony of affection presented to him at this period by his assistant officers, (a cup, with the bas-reliefs from Ellora,) is equally honourable to all parties. We know that the Ceded Districts hold your name in veneration, and feel the keenest regret at your departure. As for ourselves, we attribute

our success in life in a great measure to you; and think, if we are good public servants, we have chiefly learned to be so from your instruction and example.''

In 1807 Colonel Munro returned to Britain, after an absence of twenty-seven years. He remained chiefly in London for a period of seven years, during which he had an opportunity of greatly illuminating the public mind on Indian affairs, in his evidence as a parliamentary witness on the renewal of the charter of the East Indian company. On the appointment of a commission for the revision of the system of judicial administration in India, Colonel Munro was placed at its head, and, in consequence, sailed for Madras in 1814. He found no little difficulty in introducing the changes which were recommended by the commission, and ultimately adopted; but by a union of firmness and moderation he eventually succeeded in his object. While thus engaged, the breaking out of the Mahratta war in 1817 called him into the field. At the head of no more than 500 regular troops, he completely defeated the Peishwah's plans of operation, and placed the threatened districts in a state of security, and ultimately of complete repose. At the close of the war, he gave up his command, and returned to England, with the intention of spending the remainder of his days at home. But, within a few months after landing, he was appointed by Canning governor of Madras; on which office he entered in 1820. His government gave great satisfaction to all parties, especially the natives. In the spring of 1827 he set out on a tour to some of the districts in which he had spent the first years of his residence in India. The cholera was prevalent in them at the time, and Sir Thomas had scarcely entered them before he was seized with the dire disorder, which run its course to a fatal termination in a few hours.

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The elevation and comprehension of Munro's understanding," says the Edinburgh Reviewer of his Life and Correspondence,' edited by Mr Gleig, were of the first order. He was in possession of a more thorough knowledge of the population of India, than pretty nearly all the rest of the service put together. Under these circumstances, and in the necessity of balancing contradictory authorities, there cannot be a suggestion made by him on a single point, civil or military, which does not deserve a distinct and respectful consideration. Sufficient evidence exists of his opinions on the most debateable topics of what may be called our foreign policy in India during the last fifty years. His earliest speculations on our war politics,-his prophecy that the force of circumstances must drive us onward, though interest as well as justice alike required us, if possible, to remain at peace, his ridicule of the notion that a balance of power (the Mahratta versus Tippoo, &c.) was practicable among bodies so false and fluctuating as the native states, were all verified by the event."

Sir William Hoste.

BORN A. D. 1780.-died A. D. 1828.

THIS distinguished officer was the second son of the Rev. Dixon Hoste of Goodwick in Norfolk. He entered the navy under Nelson,