Page:Sir Thomas Munro and the British Settlement of the Madras Presidency.djvu/15

 theirs'. This Munro did fully, and he had his reward, for to this day the natives of his old Districts rise up and call him blessed. In my official capacity I have visited almost every spot in the Madras Presidency in which Sir Thomas Munro lived or encamped, and can speak from personal knowledge of the impression that great administrator has left on the face of the country, the system on which it is governed, and on the hearts of the people. From Salem the Rev. W. Robinson, writing to me, says: 'Munro's name is held in the greatest reverence in this District, and the highest compliment they can pay a civilian is to compare him to Munro. I have talked to old natives who cherish his memory as that of their greatest benefactor.' In the Ceded Districts boys are still named after him, 'Munrolappa.' In the Cuddapah District wandering mendicants sing ballads to his praise. At Gooty a Bráhman schoolmaster recently informed me that 'Sir Thomas Munro is styled Mandava Rishi,—Mandava Rishi being no other than Munro deified.' In the recent season of scarcity, 1891-92, at a meeting held at Gooty, with the object of petitioning Government for a reduction of the land assessment, near the end of the proceedings an old ráyat stood up and merely said in Telugu, 'Oh for Munro Sáhib back again!'

As Munro's own letters afford the truest and the most vivid record of his life's work, they have been largely used in the following pages. They give this volume an autobiographical character which forms