CORNWALLIS, Charles, 'sr MARQUIS and 2n EARL, English general: b. London, 31 Dec. 1738; d. Ghanpur, Benares, India, 5 Oct. 1805. He was educated at Eton and Cambridge, and entering the army served in 1761 in a campaign of the Seven Years' War as aide-de-camp to the Marquis of Granby. After passing through all the various promotions he obtained the rank of general. He represented the borough of Eye in Parliament from 1760 until the death of his father in 1762, when he succeeded as Earl Cornwallis. In 1770 he was made governor of the Tower. In Parliament• he generally sup ported the ministry, but exercised an inde pendent judgment on several important ques tion& In particular he was opposed to the policy which brought on the American war; but though offered a special leave of absence from the king sailed with his regiment when it was ordered to America in 1776. He served with distinction under Generals Howe and Clinton in the campaigns of 1776-79 in New York and the Southern States, and in 1780 was left in independent command in South Carolina, with 4,000 men. He defeated General Gates at Camden 16 Aug. 1780, and General Greene at Guilford 15 March 1781. He then invaded Virginia, but after moving his forces according to successive and contrary instructions from Sir Henry Clinton, he was besieged in Yorlc town, where he had entrenched himself, and cotnpelled to surrender on 19 Oct. 1781. In
1786 Lord Cornwallis was sent to India with the double appointrnent of commander-in-chief and governor-general; and not long after the government of Bengal declared war against the Sultan of Mysore for an attack upon the Rajah of Travancore, the ally of the British. The first campaign was indecisive; but in March 1791, he invaded Mysore, captured Bang-alore; and in the year after besieged the city of Seringapatam, and obliged the sultan, Tippoo Sahib, to sue for peace, and surrender a large portion of his dominions. On the conclusion of the war Lord Cornwallis returned to Great Britain, and in 1792 was created marquis, ap pointed master-general of the ordnance, and admitted a member of the privy council. In 1798, at the time of the rebellion, he was ap pointed lord-lieutenant of Ireland, which office he filled until 1801, conducting himself with great firmness and judgment. In the sarne year he was sent as plenipotentiary to France, where he signed the Peace of Amiens. In 1804 he was again appointed governor-general of India. Consult Marshall, (Memoir) (Gateshead 1806); Lord Cornwallis, (Correspondence) (edited by Ross, London 1859) ; Seton-Karr, °The Mar quess Cornwallis)) (in (Rulers of India,) Ox ford 1890).