Page:Sir Thomas Munro and the British Settlement of the Madras Presidency.djvu/56

 48 SIR THOMAS MUNRO

expectations of the happy effects to be derived from the ability and exertions of so distinguished a char- acter. Experience might have taught them, at least in this country, to build less on great names ; for they have seen so many impositions on the under- standing of mankind, invested with high offices, and recommended by common fame, as were enough to pre- judice them against any man who should come among them with such credentials.'

Throughout the war with Tipii, Lieut. Munro was actively engaged, and in his Memorandum of Services he specifies the various engagements and duties in which he took part. He was in command of a body of sepoys called the Prize Guard, was present when the fort of Bangalore was taken by storm, was at the battle of Karigal, at the siege of Seringapatam, and after the peace in March, 1792, he marched with the detachment in charge of the two sons of Tipu who were sent as hostages to Madras.

In long letters to his father, Munro describes the events of the war, and with minute detail the operations of the British troops at Palghat. in Malabar, and at Satyamangalam, Erode, Karur, Dharapuram, and Coimbatore, all in the Coimbatore District ; and at Tirupattir, Krishnagiri, and Kaveri- patam in the Salem District. Commenting on the two days' fighting with Tipii at Satyaman- galam he observes : ' There seems to be a fatality sometimes attending the greatest geniuses, which deadens the energy of their minds, and reduces