Tippoo Saib.
Tippoo Saib
Thismonarch, sultan of Mysore in Hindostan, was a son of the famous Hyder Ali, and became distinguished in those wars which Great Britain carried on for the purpose of subjecting this portion of India. He was born in 1751, and succeeded his father in 1782. In 1783, he signed a treaty of peace with England, which put an end to the wars that his father had commenced.
Tippoo had now a kingdom about twice as large as the state of New York in extent, with an annual revenue of $14,000,000. The country was thickly peopled and well cultivated; but Tippoo was a Mahometan, and he began to persecute those who differed from him in religious faith. He caused the Brahmins to be cruelly beaten, and such was his rigor towards the Christians, that seventy thousand of them left his dominions.
After a time, he became again involvedin a war with the English, and Tippoo was besieged by Lord Cornwall, in his capital of Seringapatam. Reduced to extremity, he agreed to a peace, by the terms of which he was compelled to relinquish one half his kingdom and pay the enormous sum of $15,000,000. This took place in 1792.
Tippoo was a man of great talents and a good deal of pride. He could not well submit to the humiliation he had suffered, and accordingly he again engaged in war against the English. He had entered into intrigues with the French, and as Bonaparte at this time made his famous expedition into Egypt, it has been supposed that he expected assistance from Tippoo in an attempt to subjugate India and strip England of her possessions in that quarter.
The British troops prosecuted the war with vigor, and having defeated the sultan in two pitched battles, he was obliged to retreat to his capital. Here he was again invested, and on the 4th of May, 1799, Seringapatam was carried by storm. Tippoo was slain in the assault, while bravely defending the ramparts, and his kingdom was divided. This monarch, though capricious and cruel, was fond of literature, and had collected an extensive and valuable library, which is still preserved in the University of Calcutta.