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 Cornwallis help of both the Nizam and the Mahrattas, and thus isolated Tippoo. In securing these alliances he was materially assisted by the residents at the courts of Hyderabad and Poona, Mr.Kennaway and Mr. Malet [see, and ]. During the summer of 1791 he occupied himself in reducing the various hill forts and preparing for another march on Seringapatam, and on 19 Oct. he reduced Nundydroog, and on 21 Dec. Severndroog, both of which were believed to be impregnable. The campaign of 1792 was commenced on 25 Jan., when Cornwallis left Severndroog with his own army, and a considerable force of Mahrattas and of the Nizam's troops. In about ten days he reached Seringapatam, and on 6 Feb. the English troops stormed the whole line of the forts to the north of the Kaveri river. A few days later General Robert Abercromby [q. v.] came up from the west coast and formed a junction with Cornwallis, and the siege of Seringapatam proper then commenced. The rapid progress of the batteries frightened Tippoo, and on 25 Feb. he surrendered two of his sons as hostages, as a sign of his willingness to make peace. After much discussion the treaty of peace was signed, by which Tippoo agreed to cede about one-half of his territories as well as to pay a sum of 3,600,000l. The territory ceded was divided between the company, the Nizam, and the Peishwa, with the natural result of jealous feelings between the two native powers, which eventually led to war after Cornwallis had left India; but the power of Tippoo was broken, and the prestige of the conquering Mysore dynasty, which had been established by Hyder Ali's successes, was utterly destroyed. The way was thus paved for the final overthrow of Tippoo by Lord Wellesley. In one point the behaviour of Cornwallis and General Medows contrasts favourably with that of General Harris, who finally took Seringapatam. Both of the former left their shares of prize money, amounting to 47,244l. and 14,997l., to the army, while General Harris insisted upon every penny he could possibly claim. Cornwallis's whole conduct in India, and especially in the war with Tippoo, was highly approved in England, and on 15 Aug. 1792 he was created Marquis Cornwallis in recognition of his services.

After concluding the treaty with Tippoo Sultan, Cornwallis returned to Calcutta, and there occupied himself with the completion of his various reforms. First and most important of these was the promulgation of the Permanent Settlement, which was issued, after many years of discussion, on 22 March 1793. The state or the monarch had always been regarded as proprietor of the soil of Bengal, and to him the village community of the ryots or cultivators was bound to pay a certain proportion of the produce of the soil. This revenue was collected by royal officers called zemindars, who were either paid by a commission on what they raised, or who farmed the revenue of a district. When the company took over the government of Bengal, their collectors raised the revenue through the zemindars also, and were often bribed by these native officials to let them off lightly. Cornwallis changed the zemindar from a mere revenue official into the absolute proprietor of his district, with full rights of property in it, on condition only that he paid over a fixed sum yearly to the company's collector. This was a momentous revolution, caused really by the ignorance of native Indian laws and customs. Even more mistaken was the resolution of Cornwallis to make his land settlement permanent, thus rendering it impossible for the company to obtain more revenue, and allowing all the 'unearned increment' of the soil to go to this factitious aristocracy of zemindars. Shore (afterwards governor-general and Lord Teignmouth), the most experienced revenue official in India, pointed this out, and advocated that the settlement should be decennial (see Life of Sir John Shore, Lord Teignmouth, by his son); but Cornwallis was so thoroughly convinced of the corruptness of the company's civil servants, that he feared to leave them the chance of being tempted by the bribes of the zemindars, and insisted on making the settlement permanent. Next in importance to the Permanent Settlement were Cornwallis's judicial reforms. He forbade the revenue officials to exercise judicial functions; he regulated the powers of the zillah and provincial courts; he took over the whole criminal jurisdiction of Bengal by abolishing the office of nawab nazim; he established the sudder nizamut adawlut to be the supreme criminal court as the sudder dewanni adawlut was the supreme civil court, and finally he determined to apply the Mahommedan law in criminal cases with various modifications in accordance with English jurisprudence. Cornwallis was now anxious to leave India, in which country he had been detained two years longer than he had intended by the war with Tippoo, and he had the satisfaction to learn before he started that his chief coadjutor, Mr. (now created Sir John) Shore, was appointed to succeed him as governor-general, and his comrade, Sir Robert Abercromby, as commander-in-chief. On 13 Aug. he handed over the government to Sir John Shore, and sailed for Madras, in order to take command of the expedition against 