only large enough to contain a few people, Colonel Harris faw little chance of faving the officers and men under his charge: he, therefore, determined to put Mrs. Harris and his infant child, together with fome of the foldier's wives, into the boat; but to remain himself with his people. This was a trying and painful moment. He was to part with his wife, without telling her of his determination, being certain that if he had done fo, fhe never would have confented to leave him.-Slings were then prepared, and Mrs. Harris and the child were lowered into the boat by a rope fufpended from the yardarm of the fhip; the women who were to accompany them then followed in the fame manner, and Co. lonel Harris gave orders to let go the rope by which the boat was faftened to the fhip. Thus Mrs. Harris was made acquainted with her husband's refolution: She got on fhore without any accident befalling either herself or the child; but of her fenfations on the occa. fion, fuch readers as this anecdote is calculated to intereft, will form a more juft idea from their own feel ings, than from any defcription we can give them. Fortunately her diftrefs was not of long duration. The intrepidity of Colonel Harris prevailed over the mutinous difpo. fition of the failors; they yielded to his remonftrances, put themselves under his command, and by his exertions the fhip was faved. In 1787 the regiment was order. ed for Canada; but the war being now over, he remained at home with his family. He was not, however, to continue long with them at this time. His friend Sir William Meadows being appointed Governor of Bombay, he requested Colonel Har ris to accompany him thither, which kind entreaty the confideration of the future welfare of his family induced him to confent to. In the beginning of 1788, he failed for Bombay as one of General Meadows's fuite, and, foon after his ar rival at that place, he was appointed Military Auditor General. For his conduct in this fituation he received the thanks of the Court of Directors, although they chose to remove him from it, on account of his not be. longing to their fervice. In January 1790 Colonel Harris accompanied Sir William Meadows to Madras, on his being appointed Governor of that prefidency. After a short stay there, he joined the army at Tritchinopoly in the quality of Secretary to Sir William Meadows; and among other confidential trufts, the grain department was placed under his charge. During the whole of the following campaign he attended Sir William Meadows, and was prefent at the ftorming parties of Bangalore, Nundy droog, and Se verndroog. Before the action on the 15th of May 1791, Lord Cornwallis put him in command of the fecond line of the army, in a manner very flattering to his feelings. In this command he gained much credit, by judiciously posting Captain Drummond and the grenadier company of the 36th regiment, with two fix pounders, by which means he faved the wounded, all the followers of the army and the difabled guns, from falling into the hands of the enemy's cavalry. The battle was foon won by the able difpofitions of Lord Cornwallis, and the gallant conduct of General Meadows, Colonel Stewart, and the Line. On the termination of the war with Tippoo Sultaun, in 1792, Colonel Harris preferred returning to England with his friend Sir William Meadows, and feeing his family, to the advantages he would have de. rived from going to Bengal with the 76th regiment, of which he was now of Directors, who paffed a refolution, by which it was decreed, that all military recommendations to the Madras government, fhould be made by the Commander in Chief, and not by the Civil Governor. Hence the Madras army have now the fatifTM faction to know, that their feparate and individual merits fhall be appreciated by their Commander, who can alone poffefs the means of becoming acquainted with them. now Lieutenant Colonel, as his rank of full Colonel in the army would, on that establishment, have entitled him to confiderable emoluments. Thefe, however, were matters which he could never place in competition with the delight of feeing Mrs. Harris and his children after fo long an abfence. He accordingly haftened home; and had the pleafing, though melancholy fatisfaction, of arriving in time to attend the death-bed of his aged and affectionate mother. Having made fome domeftic arrangements, he again went to India in May 1794, accompanied by Mrs. Harris and his eldest daughter, and landed at Calcutta in the October following; where he remained Commandant of Fort William until January 1797, when being very un. expectedly appointed Commander in Chief at Madras, with the rank of Lieutenant General, he repaired thither. On his arrival at that government, he found the military patronagé entirely engroffed by the Governor; and confidering this not only an affumption of the privileges of the ftation he was appointed to fill, but as a material injury to the Madras army, he at once remonftrated against it, in ftrong and decided terms. Many endeavours were ufed, and much argument was employed, to perfuade him to yield to the wishes of the Governor; and it was even urged that the General's private intereft might suffer effentially, by his perfifting to claim his right to the patronage of the army under his command. But the General was too well convinced of the juftice of his claim to fubmit to the fallacious reafons that were advanced, much lefs to be diverted from his duty by any finifter at tempt to feparate his intereft from it. He, therefore, reprefented the matter to the Honourable the Court VOL. 2. In February 1798, the General was appointed to fucceed Lord Hobart, as Governor of Madras; and an opportunity foon occurred, which enabled him to difplay much promptitude, vigour, and decifion, in the new fituation in which he had been placed. The Marquis Wellesley had communicated to him his plan for deftroying the French party at Hyderabad, requesting that it might be carried into immediate execution. The General confequently loft not a moment in laying the plan before his own council, where it met with confiderable oppofition; notwithftanding which, he put it in force in the expeditious and able manner that is fo well defcribed in the Governor General's public difpatches*. And we have befides good authority to fay, that his Lordship has given the General great credit for his exertions in this fervice, in his private letters to his Majefty's Minifters, as well as to the Court of Directors; a fervice which he justly terms "the leading ftep to the glorious conqueft of Myfore." In the war with Tippoo, which fucceeded this event, the General's military talents were called forth to the greatest advantage: and whether we obferve him preparing for the campaign, by making the neceffary appointments and arrangements from his knowledge of the individual merits of the officers under his com** F * See the first Vol. of our Regifter, State Papers, page 49. mand, mand, not from favour or partiality, or afterwards, in his prudent management and gallant conduct of the army, he equally claims our applaufe. But fome parts of his conduct deserve to be particularly noticed. The ftratagem of croffing the Cavery, without moleftation, at a place altogether unexpected by Tippoo, after leading him to imagine that the British army was following his reareat on the north fide of the river, was a stroke of masterly generalfhip. The rapid attacks on the Sultaun's pofts on the very day that the army took up ground before Seringapatam, and on the fucceeding day (6th of April), whereby a decided fuperiority was obtained for our arms during the fiege, evince much difcernment and fagacity and under cover of thefe attacks, completely gaining twentyfour hours on the enemy; for a detachment commanded by Major General Floyd, which the General had fent to ftrengthen the Bombay army, fufficiently proves the ability with which the whole manoeuvre was planned and conducted. But, above all, his having marched into the enemy's country, ftormed and took poffeffion of its capital, made nearly an entire conqueft of its extenfive and populous provinces, and finally terminated the war within three months from the period of its commencement, are circumftances fo fortunate, brilliant, and glorious, that in the page of Indian history they are alone furpaffed by the beneficial confequences which have been derived from them. Were it neceffary, we might here advert to feveral documents to prove the Marquis of Wellesley's high fenfe of the General's honourable and difinterefted conduct throughout the whole of the war; particularly in refpect of the prize-money, which we fee, by authentic documents, the General DISTRIBUTED IN THE STRICTEST CONFORMITY TO THE EXPRESS AND POSITIVE ORDERS OF THE GOVERNOR GENERAL IN COUNCIL. His own fhare of the prize-money the General lent to the Madras government, then much in want of cash, at a very confiderable lofs to himself. The profits arifing from the Bazar fund, during the campaign, he made a prefent of to different charitable inftitutions at Madras; but his largest donation was to the Afylum for the male chil dren of European foldiers, by which the fociety for its regulation were at once enabled to give an additional meal a day to the children, as a per manent increase of their allowances. The thanks which the General has received from both Houses of Par. liament and the Eaft India Company, are well known: and though we do not obferve that any of thofe marks of the favour of his Sovereign have been conferred upon him, which are ufual on fuch occafions, we can affure our readers that this circumftance is not owing to any neglect on the part of his Majesty's Minif ters: for the General has refufed the Irish Peerage; and the prefent vacant Red Ribbon has been offered to him, which, as a military honour, perhaps his friends may still perfuade him to accept. Such has been the military career of this active and valuable officer, and fuch the fuccefs with which it has been crowned. A few A few Authentic ANECDOTES of the MILITARY LIFE of Major-General FLOYD. GENERAL FLOY was born of refpectable parentage: his father was captain-lieutenant in the 1ft dragoon guards; his mother was the daughter of a clergyman. He had the misfortune to lofe his father when he was only eleven years old; but he was patronized by his father's friend, the late Earl of Pembroke, who procured him a Cornetcy in Elliot's light dragoons. In 1760 he went with that regiment to Germany, when he was only twelve years old; and was prefent at the battle of Emfdorf, in which he had his horfe fhot, clofe to the French line, and made a very narrow escape. In confequence of the attention he bestowed on his duty, General Elliot took particular notice of him, and, during twenty years that he remained in his regiment, the General manifefted the greatest friendship for Mr. Floyd. In 1778 he was appointed Major to the 21ft dragoons; and in the year following, LieutenantColonel of the 23d dragoons (now the 19th). With this corps he foon after went to India, where, in a few years, he gained much credit for the high ftate of difcipline to which he brought them, notwithstanding the difficulty of training the horfes of that country. In 1790, at the battle of Santtinmungulum, a detachment of cavalry, commanded by Colonel Floyd, was attacked by the whole of Tippoo's horfe, and notwithstanding the fu. periority of the latter, they were repulfed with confiderable lofs. This detachment alfo behaved with much fpirit and bravery in the action of the thirteenth and fourteenth of Sep. tember, when, towards the clofe of the fecond day, the enemy were beaten from the field. At Bangalore, the Colonel, with his cavalry, attacked the rear of Tippoo's line of march, and took feveral guns, camels, elephants, &c. &c; but the Colonel received a fhot in the face, and his fall threw the fquadron into diforder: two of his men, however, having raised him from the ground, and placed him on a horfe, the detachment recovered its order, and joined the main body of the army. In the first victory obtained by Lord Cornwallis before Seringapatam, Colonel Floyd's cavalry were again engaged, and fought with their ufual gallantry. They followed him through every danger and difficulty; and on many occafions faved his life, by hazarding their own in its defence. In 1795 this zealous officer attained the rank of Major General. In the late glorious war with Tippoo Sultaun, he was fecond to General Harris in command of the army; and in that high ftation acquitted himself with great ability, and with his accustomed fuccefs. At the battle of Malavilly, his cavalry destroyed a whole cufhoon of Tippoo's best infantry. On General Floyd's return to his native country, in July 1800, after an abfence of nineteen years, he was honoured with the particular notice of his Majefty, who has fice conferred on him a fubftantial mark of his favour. |