His son, Tippoo, on the contrary, revelled in acts of the most
abominable cruelty. It would seem that he massacred for the very
pleasure of massacring, and hundreds of British captives were killed
by famine, poison, or torture, simply to gratify his lust for murder.
Patience was shown towards this monster until patience became a fault,
and our inaction was naturally ascribed by him to fear. Had firmness
been shown by Lord Cornwallis, when Seringapatam was practically in
his power, the second war would have been avoided and thousands of
lives spared. The blunder was a costly one to us, for the work had to
be done all over again, and the fault of Lord Cornwallis retrieved by
the energy and firmness of the Marquis of Wellesley.
The story of the campaign is taken from various sources, and the
details of the treatment of the prisoners from the published
narratives of two officers who effected their escape from prisons.
G. A. Henty.
Chapter 1: A Lost Father.
"There is no saying, lad, no saying at all. All I know is that your
father, the captain, was washed ashore at the same time as I was. As
you have heard me say, I owed my life to him. I was pretty nigh gone
when I caught sight of him, holding on to a spar.
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