nor is the water deep enough at any place at so great a distance from the island as to be out of the reach of batteries raised there. The soil, moreover, any is very convenient for any artificial fortifications; so that whichever of the armed powers should first obtain possession of Perim, it might be enabled to defend the passage against the greatest superiority of force.

The Earl of Mornington readily perceived the great advantages of this situation, in order to oppose the further progress of the of the army of Egypt. Orders therefore were immediately issued to the naval commander in chief in the Indian scas, to detach such a force to the straits of Babelmandel as he might judge sufficient for that important service.

The Indian army was at the same time commanded to assemble. This command was obeyed with the same vigour and alacrity with which it was given, and General Harris, with forces fully adequate to the object, advanced against Seringapatam. Such was the confidence with which the promises of Bonaparte had inspired the Sultaun of Mysore, that he rejected all approaches to conciliation made by the governorgeneral, not only with menace, but with contempt. The city of Seringapatam was therefore invested, and the siege commenced in April 1799. The enterprize, however, now appeared of greater difficulty than what had been first apprehended; the nature of the ground immediately adjacent to the city was such as rendered the works usual in sieges, and supposed necessary to their success, not merely arduous, but impracticable. The ardour of the soldiers, if not of the ge

neral

neral himself, had thus subsided into despondency; and the effect of the climate, so powerful in depressing the animal spirits, concurring with other causes, affected them with a desire at least to abandon the attempt.

The Governor-general, however, by his letters, communicated to them a portion of his own vigour, and thus encouraged, they continued the enterprize. It is not to our purpose to exhibit to our readers that information which may be as well collected from the gazettes of the day; we have no other design than that of compleating our picture of the administration and public character of the Marquis. Suffice it to add, therefore, that Seringapatam was carried by storm, and the Sultaun himself discovered among the slain. The body of Tippoo was found, after much search, in the midst of many of his subjects who had fallen around him; his countenance, like that of Cataline, wore in death the characters of those strong passions which had distinguished him whilst living; the same haughtiness, the same defiance, were still legible on his brow. Thus terminated the life of a man to whom his enemies readily allow an unusual strength of character, but with equal justice contend, that it was disgraced by almost every vice which could find place in the bosom of a tyrant. Thus fell the formidable power of Mysore, and thus, we may add, upon its ruin was established more securely the empire of the English in India.

If such was the splendour of what may be called the external policy of the Earl of Mornington, his

domestic

domestic administration is not less deserving the notice of biography. Our limits will not admit us to enter into a detailed narrative of what so justly merits attention; it would, however, be something of injustice to pass it over without notice.

The free traders of Asia, and the great body of English merchants, had long and justly complained of the monopoly of the company, and clamorously demanded a participation in the Indian traffic. The ministry had been thus, as it were, compelled to extend the hitherto narrow limits of private trade, and upon the renewal of the company's charter, an article was inserted to that purpose.

Upon the arrival of the Earl of Mornington at his government, it was his first care to provide for the full effect of this privilege. Whether by accident, or that the wording of the article having been left to the directors, they had contrived to insert those vague expressions which might render it wholly nugatory, the earl found that this privilege existed only in the charter, and that by the indirect counteraction of the company and its officers, it had not as yet been realised. The rate of freight, as fixed by the article, and extended by the company, became one of the first subjects of complaint. To this was added, the inconvenience of the goods being previously stored in the warehouses, and the great expence of loading, and landing, which the officers purposely contrived to augment to its most extravagant height. All this the earl endeavoured to correct, and by this means lost much of his influence with the court of directors.

Thus

Thus have we attempted to exhibit a picture of the public life and character of the Marquis of Wellesley. If we take a review of some of the leading traits, such as his foresight into the designs of the French; his intercepting their communication with the Indian powers; his seizing the opportunity of crushing their faithful ally, the Sultaun of Mysore; and lastly, his arduous efforts to ensure the rights of free trade, we shall not hesitate to place him among the first in the list of the most eminent public characters of the day.

This nobleman has now attained the forty-third year of his age: his person is tall and elegant, but his countenance does not exhibit that manly air which, according to the system of Lavater, might be expected from his actions. It is rather pallid, and in its contour evinces something of the man of pleasure and dissipation. The Marquis, however, like many other eminent men, has the praise of giving the lie direct to these traits of his physiognomy, for his character is removed from nothing so far as this fashionable insignificance.

In private life his conduct as a brother and a friend is equally amiable; from a patrimony extremely narrow he contrived to supply no inconsiderable addition to the fortunes of his brothers, and from his earliest youth was ever considered as generous even to imprudence. He of course possesses some of the foibles usually attached to a disposition of his ardent temperament; he is beloved by his domestics, and no one ever possessed greater influence over his Irish tenants. At a period when those of the greater part of the ab

sentees

sentees availed themselves of the distraction of the times to plunder their own farms, drive away their stock, and defraud their landlords of their rents, the Marquis of Wellesley was one of those few, who, like the Earl of Moira, lost nothing in the common calamity, and whose name alone was sufficient to contain his neighbourhood within their allegiance.

This nobleman is one of the most elegant scholars, and pleasing poets, both English and Latin, of the present age. His Latin verses, while at Eton, procured him much celebrity, and he has since written and published among his friends some smaller poems, which, with equal fancy, exhibit more maturity of taste and judgment. During his residence in India he has not neglected the promotion of the arts, but has zealously concurred with the favourite associates of the late Sir William Jones, (the members of the Asiatic Society,) to call forth into light the hidden treasures of oriental learning. The fine arts, architecture in particular, are his favourite pursuits, and a magnificent palace, in the seat of his government, has been the fruit of his taste and superintendence.

T. L. H.

WILLIAM CLEAVER, D. D.

LORD BISHOP OF BANGOR.

THE subject of this memoir is entitled to a place in our publication, as well on account of his conspicuous rank in the church of England, as for a situation of much responsibility and trust which he also occupies Ff

1803-1804.

as