Page:Sir Thomas Munro and the British Settlement of the Madras Presidency.djvu/41

 WAR WITH HAIDAR ALT 33

language of a prince, who feels that he is insulted without having the power to avenge himself. The perusal of it is affecting — it displays the humiliation of a great prince compelled to sacrifice his dignity to necessity, and to suppress his indignation at being told that this is done with his own approbation, and purely from motives of friendship, by the English. If I can get a sight of the original, and a few spare hours, I shall send you a translation of it.'

But Munro was a student and critic not only of what was oroing on about him in India, but of con- temporary history and politics in Europe, and his remarks and views on the events then happening may still be read with interest. In a letter to his friend Foulis, from Ambiir in April, 1790^ he ^T.'ites as follows of the likelihood of France becoming a successful rival to Great Britain, and even wresting from her all her foreign possessions : —

' If, like you, I were liable to be possessed by blue or any other devils, the situation of afiairs in France would be more likely than anything besides to produce such an event ; for as a friend to the glory and prosperity of Britain, I cannot behold with in- difference the restoration of French liberty. That nation, already too powerful, wanted nothing but a better form of government to render her the arbiter of Europe ; and the convulsions attending so re- markable a revolution having subsided, France will soon assume that rank to which she is entitled from her resources, and the enterprising genius of her

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