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Rh consistency, was taken by the doughty heroes of Freedom: – "We swear hatred to all kings except Tippoo Sultan the victorious, the ally of the French Republic. War against tyrants, and love for our country, and for that of Citizen Tippoo!"

But however imposing these childish rites may have seemed to the multitude, or amusing to persons of reflective minds, they soon attracted the notice of the Earl of Mornington, who arrived in Bengal as Governor-General in the month of May, 1798. Regarding the whole matter rather as an indication of hostile feeling than an evidence of any power to injure, this great statesman felt it his duty to institute a searching inquiry into the proceedings of Tippoo; the result of which was a decided opinion that they were equivalent to "a public, unqualified, and unambiguous declaration of war;" and that "an immediate attack upon Tippoo Sultan appeared to be demanded by the soundest maxims both of justice and policy." Notwithstanding Tippoo's reiterated professions of friendship, Lord Mornington had been for some time convinced of his duplicity. His correspondence with Zemaun Shah, and the result of his embassy to the Isle of France, were well known to the Governor-General; who could not avoid perceiving, in the military preparations of the Sultan, that the whole kingdom of Mysore bore a hostile and menacing aspect. The successes of the French in Egypt, and the possibility of transporting a body of troops from that country to the Malabar coast, added fresh energy to the councils of Lord Mornington; he saw that the period for action had arrived, and he lost not a moment in preparing for a struggle which he determined to make decisive.

The dangers to be apprehended from Tippoo were, moreover, greatly increased by the actual position of the neighbouring states. The only two by which his power could be balanced were the Mahrattas and the Nizam. The former confederacy, notwithstanding its great extent, was now in so distracted a state that the Peishwa, its