Cornwallis, CHARLES, MARQUIS

Cornwallis, CHARLES, MARQUIS, an English general and statesman, son of the first Earl Cornwallis, was born in London, December 31, 1738, and was educated at Eton and the Military Academy of Turin. He served as aide-de-camp to the Marquis of Granby during part of the Seven Years' War; in 1766 was made a colonel; four years later, governor of the Tower of London; and the year after a major-general. In 1760 he had been returned to parliament for the family borough of Eye. Though personally opposed to the policy of forcing taxes upon the American colonists, he accepted a command in the war, and with an inferior force gained a victory over General Gates at Camden in August 1780, and more than held his own against General Greene at Guilford, March 1781. But his operations were hampered by the incapacity of his superiors, Howe, and after him, Clinton; and at length he was forced to surrender with all his troops at Yorktown, Virginia, 19th October 1781. This disaster proved the ruin of the British cause in America, and was the occasion of much dissatisfaction, resulting in a change of ministers at home. Cornwallis, however, who was high in favour with the king, escaped censure. In 1786 he was appointed governor-general of India and commander-in-chief, and in this double capacity distinguished himself by his victories over Tippoo Saib, and by unwearying efforts to promote the welfare of the natives, that proved less successful than they deserved. He returned from India in 1793, when he was raised to the rank of Marquis. As lord-lieutenant of Ireland, with Castlereagh as his secretary, he crushed the '98 rebellion, and showed a rare union of humanity and vigour in his measures for the pacification of the country. As plenipotentiary to France he negotiated the peace of Amiens in 1802, but showed little skill in diplomacy. Reappointed governor-general of India in 1804, he died at Ghazipur, in the province of Benares, October 5, 1805, on his way to assume the command of the army in the Upper Provinces. See his Correspondence, ed. by Charles Ross (1859); and the Life (in 'Rulers of India') by Karr (1890).