"
"The English general made a great mistake, in not finishing with him
when he was there. We ought to have taken the city, sent Tippoo down a
prisoner to Madras, and there tried him for the murder of scores of
Englishmen, and hung him over the ramparts. We shall have all our work
to do over again, in another four or five years. However, it will not
be such a difficult business as it was last time, now that we have the
passes in our hands."
"There is no doubt, Uncle, that a considerable part of the population
will be heartily glad when Tippoo's power is at an end. You see, he
and Hyder were both usurpers, and had no more right to the throne than
you had."
"Quite so, Dick, and that makes our letting him off, when we could
have taken the capital easily, all the more foolish. If he had been
the lawful ruler of Mysore, it might not have been good policy to push
him too hard, for he would have had sympathy from all the native
princes of India. But, as being only the son of an adventurer, who had
deposed and ill-treated the lawful ruler of Mysore, it would seem to
them but a mere act of justice, if the English had dethroned him and
punished him--provided, of course, they put a native prince on the
throne, and did not annex all his dominions.
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