1799 cluded a defensive alliance with Portugal: and he earnestly exhorted the German states to unite in a vigorous prosecution of the war with their common enemy."-He, moreover, entered into a new convention with his Britannic majesty, by which he agreed to provide 17,593 men for their projected expedition against Holland, on condition of receiving £.88,000 for his first expences and £.44,000 per month during the service of the forces. Unfortunately for the allied interests, the result of the descent in Holland and of the campaign on the continent was such as created dissatisfaction in the emperor, and led to his dereliction of the cause which he had embraced, apparently, with so much ardour.-The defensive treaty which he concluded with the neutral crown of Sweden, after the close of the campaign, may be considered as indicating a disposition less friendly to the coalition. f 1799 TURKEY. CONFORMABLY with the measures which Selim had entered upon and the engagements which he had made in the preceding year, he now commenced hostilities by sea and land.-His fleet, in conjunction with that of Russia, attacked the newly created French departments in the Egean and Adriatic seas with considerable success; Cerigo, Zante, Cephalonia, and Corfu, being successively surrendered to them.-The sultan's land forces were, in the mean-time, employed in the defence of his provinces against the arms of France, for an account of which the reader is referred to the French history. EAST INDIES. LORD MORNINGTON had made great advances in his warlike preparations before the close of the late year; and the propitious events before related gave him a fair prospect of success. But, that he might avert the evils of war, if it could be done consistently with the company's safety and the dignity of the crown, he proposed, by letter to the sultan,† to send an ambassador to Seringapatam, to attempt the restoration of a good understanding between them in the way of negotiation; informing him, at the same time, that he had received intelligence of his hostile correspondence with France. To this Tippoo, after much delay, returned an evasive answer, indirectly declining a compliance with the governor's proposals, and evidently intended to deceive, and to protract the correspondence, whilst he should strike some decisive blow, in conjunction with his confederates." The sultan's intentions were notorious: yet, that he might afford him every opportunity of amicable accommodation that was compatible with his plan for the ensuing campaign, lord Mornington, soon after his arrival at Madras, on the last day of december, dispatched another letter to him, wherein he indirectly charges him with the basest perfidy, by giving him in detail all the information which he had received relative to the negotiations and arrangements which he had entered into with France, whilst he was congratulating the governor on the victory of the English fleet in the Mediterranean; and at the same time repeated his overtures for a negotiation. To this Tippoo, five weeks after, returned an answer which conveyed an indirect insult. After his accustomed bombast exordium, he said, with an air of indifference, that, "being frequently disposed to "make excursions and hunt, he was accordingly proceeding upon a hunting excursion. You will be pleased to dispatch major Doveton + November 8. 1798. December 25. || January 9. "about Wood's Review. 16. and Paper C. 1799 1799 "about whose coming your friendly pen has repeatedly written, slightly "attended." b The governor-general, having thus thrown the blame of aggression on his adversary, with the accumulated guilt of the grossest perfidy, settled his plan of operations with his allies, and prepared for a vigorous prosecution of warlike councils, as the only means to avert the impending storm. The troops on the Madras establishment, assembled at Vellore, were reinforced with 4000 men from Bengal, the 6000 subsidiary British troops which were with the nizam, and 6000 of that prince's best cavalry and as many sepoys. The command of these forces, which formed, together, one of the finest armies that ever took the field in India, attended by an excellent train of artillery and well provided with all kinds of military stores, was vested in general Harris, an officer of distinguished merit. And when the correspondence with Tippoo Sultan was seen to be fruitless, he passed the Ghauts to Ryacottah, on the borders of Mysore, whilst general Stuart, with the Bombay forces, was instructed to co-operate with him on the Malabar coast, and colonels Read and Brown were stationed with a strong body of troops in the southern districts. с Tippoo and the French government, in the mean-time, had been carrying on their negotiations, each power intending to make the other an instrument for effecting his own political designs; the former for taking revenge on a power to which he bore a mortal hatred and reinstating himself in his lost dominions, the latter for supplanting the English in their East India trade and territorial possessions. For the final adjustment of their treaty of alliance, Tippoo had dispatched general Dubuc, lately arrived from Mauritius, as his ambassador to the French executive directory, in the late year, to solicit the support of ten or fifteen thousand troops and a large naval force, in driving the English out of Indostan.-To induce them to enter into alliance with him, he proposed, "that all the conquests "which may be made from the enemy, excepting those provinces which "the king has been obliged to cede to the English, the Marattas, and "the nizam, shall be equally divided between the two nations, and accord d ing to their respective convenience." And, in the confidence with which this alliance inspired him the sultan opened the campaign. ‡ * Whilst the commander in chief was moving with the grand army from the east, general Stuart had advanced to the opening of what is called the Poodicherrum Ghaut, in the range of mountains which surround the Mysore country, and had taken a position in the territories of the Coorga rajah, a friendly power.-His army was posted there in brigades on account of the nature of the country, which precluded the possibility of a more compact encampment, when the advanced division under Montresor was suddenly attacked by Tippoo, with a strong body of cavalry, in flank and rear. This brigade did not exceed 1400 men, and it was separated from the other divisions by extensive jungles, or thickets: but they maintained their ground with impenetrable firmness against the superior numbers of the enemy who surrounded them, till Stuart brought them relief: and the event of a severe conflict was, that the Mysoreans were defeated and driven from the field with great slaughter.-Tippoo Sultan, after halting a few days at his camp near Periapatam, retired to the defence of Seringapatam. + General Harris had, in the mean-time, been moving slowly from his station at Ryacottah towards Seringapatam; the vast incumbrances of his army preventing greater dispatch.-On his approach to Malevelly, Tippoo, who had before sent out parties to harass him on his march and to distress him by laying the country waste, advanced with his grand army and offered him * "The Mysore country is guarded by a range of celebrated mountains which rise to a "surprising height, and oppose to the eastern borders of the Carnatic, a mural front with ghauts, i. e. passes. From the word ghaut, the whole chain derives its name: they give an entrance "into the lofty, fertile, and populous plains of boundless view, which they support as buttresses "do a terrace formed on an immense scale. The Mysore country being at least two thousand feet "higher than the level of the Carnatic, is thence called the Table Land; the ascent to which is not to be accomplished even by a single traveller, without the fatiguing labour of many hours. “The path-ways up the Ghauts are worked by the hand of man along the deep-worn channel of some rapid torrent, or skirting the hollow ravines and winding excavations, which have formed "themselves on the face of this mountain precipice, and in many of these passes, the obstructions ❝of art, as well as their natural ones, are opposed to the progress of an invading army.”— Narrative Sketches. 17. 66 66 1799 1799 him battle. +-In the engagement that ensued, the right wing of the allied army attacked Tippoo's whole force, and, after a fierce conflict, broke his line of infantry on the right and put them to flight. Their left wing immediately gave way. Their cavalry, mean-while, having made an unsuccessful attempt on our artillery and baggage, they gave way on all sides, and left the confederates a victory easily obtained with the loss of seven men killed and fifty wounded.' Notwithstanding this success, general Harris expected further obstruction in his approach towards a city on the preservation of which the fate of the Mysorean empire depended. To avoid this, after making a feint on the right, the way by which lord Cornwallis had approached, he turned suddenly to the left; and, having easily effected his passage of the Cauveri, the enemy being prepared to oppose him in another quarter, he advanced to his place of encampment, within two miles of the city. ‡ The preparatory movements were all equally successful. While the commander in chief was on his march, colonels Read and Brown were well employed in reducing the forts in the Baramaul country, and collecting provisions for the grand army. And, when it had reached its destined point, colonel Floyd with his cavalry marched to meet the Bombay army, and escorted it safe to Seringapatam; Cummer ul Dien, who was sent against it, not daring to give them battle." The sultan, who, no doubt, reflected on the event of the last siege, and was desirous, perhaps, to protract his enemy's operations in hopes of receiving a reinforcement from France, or that the want of provisions in the course of a long siege, might constrain the confederates to retire, or that the elements might come to his aid at the approaching monsoon, now endeavoured to retard the general's operations by opening a correspondence with him. In a short letter to the commander in chief, he declared that he had adhered to treaties, and asked what was the meaning of the approach of the English army and the hostilities commenced by it. To this the general replied by referring him to lord Mornington's letters. Not a moment, mean-time, was lost by the confederate general. 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