the Sultán's motive could only have been 'an ardent desire to expel the British nation from India,' he remarked: –
'If the conduct of Tipú Sultán had been of a nature which could be called ambiguous or suspicious; if he had merely increased his force beyond his ordinary establishment, or had stationed it in some position on our confines, or on those of our allies, which might justify jealousy or alarm; if he had renewed his secret intrigues at the courts of Haidarábád, Poona, and Cabul; or even if he had entered into any negotiation with France, of which the object was at all obscure; it might be our duty to resort in the first instance to his construction of proceedings which, being of a doubtful character, might admit of a satisfactory explanation. But where there is no doubt, there can be no matter for explanation. The act of Tipú's ambassadors, ratified by himself, and accompanied by the landing of a French force in his country, is a public, unqualified, and unambiguous declaration of war, aggravated by an avowal, that the object of the war is neither explanation, reparation, nor security, but the total destruction of the British Government in India.'
He concluded by saying: –
'This therefore is not merely the case of an injury to be repaired, but of the public safety to be secured against the present and future designs of an irreconcilable, desperate, and treacherous enemy. Against an enemy of this description no effectual security can be obtained, otherwise than by such a reduction of his power, as shall not only defeat his actual preparations, but establish a permanent restraint upon his future means of offence[1].'
- ↑ Fuller details of this statesmanlike minute, and of the motives
