moft vigorous measures for the purpole of repelling that rebellious race. The grand feignior requefted that Tippoo would communicate to him whatever fubject of complaint he might have againft the English: when, by the aid of God and the grand feignior's good offices, thofe complaints fhould be removed, to his fatisfaction, and the grounds of oppofition and eftrangement be exchanged for the defirable objects of harmony and union. To this letter, Tippoo, after the ufual compliments to the grand feignior, and profeflions of reverence and devotion to the common faith of Ifmaulilm, replied, that, as "The French had made themfelves enemies to his highnefs, they had made themfelves fo to all the followers of the faith. God (faid he) is the protector and defender of the land of Hindoftan; next to him, this fuppliant, (meaning Tippoo himfelf) at the Almighty throne, does not and will not neglect the fervice of the people. I am fully confident that your highnefs will be difpofed to afford affiftance and fupport, in all matters, to us labourers. All Hindoftan is over-run with infidels and polytheifts, excepting the dominions of Khoo - dadaud - circar, which, like the ark of Noah, are fafe under the protection and bounteous aid of God. It is my hope, from the fupreme king of kings, that, as at the appearance of a fecond Adam, the religion of Iflaum will obtain exclufive prevalence over the whole country of Hindoftan, and that all the finful heretics will, with the utmost ease, become the prey of the fwords of the combatants in the cause of religion. Be it known to those who ftand at the foot of the imperial throne, that the

6

treachery, deceit, and fupremacy, of the Chriftians, in the regions of Hindoftan, are beyond the power of expreffion." Tippoo proceeds to deduce the history of the Chriftian dominion in India, from the time when the French and English,

each, with one of their detefted fhips, and a few Caffres" (infidels). on board, came to the coaft, to that when the English had adopted a determined refolution to fubdue the whole of Hindoftan; and, in conjunction with the Nizam Ally Khan and the infidels of Poonah, to fubvert the Muffulman religion. The whole energy of his mind, he faid, was continually exerted to fupport the religion of Mahomet. As an inftance of his zeal, he mentioned a defign he had formed, of quelling, by an armed force, commanded by one of his approved fons, certain exceffive commotions that had been excited, in the neighbourhood of Mecca, by the fon of Abdool Wahaub. This Abdool was an enterprizing Mahometan fceptic, who, fome years fince, eftablifhed a new doctrine, the foundation of which is, the abjuration of the fignal honours paid to Mahomet. His doctrine, a kind of Iflaumitifh Socinianifm, did not extend to a denial of the prophet's miflion, but it placed him in the condition merely of a meffenger of the word of God, poffeffing, in himfelf, no title to the adoration of mankind. This man obtained very numerous profelytes, who traverfed with him the countries of Syria, Arabia, and Egypt, propagating their tenets by the word. The power of the hierarch, Abdool, fpiritual and temporal, on his death, was transferred to his fon. Tippoo had written to the fupreme [F2]

minifter

*

minifter of the fhereef of Mecca, defiring to be informed of the fituation of affairs in that quarter. "For, (fays he) the holy receptacle is an object of veneration to the followers of truth, and an object of the regard of the all-powerful; and to do fervices thereunto is productive of bleffings both in this world and the world to come." Tippoo, in order to conciliate the friendhip of the Porte towards himfelf, and to roufe its refentment againft the English, flated, in his letter to the grand feignior, that, after he had granted peace, at the earneft and humble fuit of English ambaffadors, in 1784, they had excited and joined in a hoftile confederacy against the Khoo-dadaudcircar, in confequence of the friendfhip that fubfifted between the circar and the Sublime Porte. The English, he ftated, being informed of the miffion, the friendly reception, and the return of his ambaffadors from Conftantinople, "with hearts inflamed and confcious that they had given his highnefs (the grand feignior) proofs of their evil difpofition," immediately conceived, that all the tribe of Iflaum were about to league together for their deftruction.. Confederated with the Nizam and the infidels of Poonah, they waged war against the Khoo-dadaud-circar, for four years. At length, near a hundred thousand followers of the faith had determined to flay their wives and families with their own hands, and, rufhing on the infidels, drink the cup of martyrdom, and plunge the infidels into hell. The counfellors, the lords, and the respected fages of

Iflaumifm, all agreed, that this attack upon the dominions of the Khoo-dadaud-circar was in confequence of the deputation of ambaffadors, with letters to the Sublime Porte; and, therefore, that it was advifable, by any means, to accommodate matters for the prefent; to communicate to his highness all that had occured; and, joined by his highnefs's aid, proceed to exterminate the infidels afterwards. He had approved, he faid, the reprefentation of his faithful fervants, and furrendering three crores and thirty lacks of rupees, and half his country, which was all a dead lofs to him, put an end to the contest. In conclufion, he prayed that the victorious banners of Iflaum might be ever prevalent, and every trace of herefy and infidels be wiped away.

A wifh has often been expreffed by men of learning, that some account of the Punic wars had been left by the Carthaginians as well as by the Romans; or fome of their official papers, containing statements of the conduct of this great and victorious people. The Romans were at great pains to defroy every monument of Carthage. It was more liberal in the English to preferve the whole, and even to publifh many of the papers that were found, after the fall of Tippoo Sultaun, in his palace of Sering apatam. It is probable, that if any of the Carthaginian documents had been preferved they would have exhibited fomewhat of the character of thofe left by Tippoo. The conduct of the Romans would have appeared to be deeply tinctured

in Afia.

with artifice, injuftice, violence, and rapine: but, with much truth, there would have been a mixture of falfehood, and femi - barbarian cunning. We fympathife with the fultaun, when he defcribes and deplores the ruin of the Mogul empire, "shaken to pieces by its own fervants, wounded by the English, and, in its laft ftage, by the Mahrattas, who feized on the few remaining wrecks of its ancient greatnefs and fplendour; " and are deeply affected at the fad fpectacle of a poor fightless individual, of the royal family of Delhi, whofe fervants (under the Rohilla chief, Gholaum Caudir) had put out his eyes, feated in his house in a state the moft abject, and the only refources of his maintenance the fruits of his garden!" But we revolt at the falfehood of the fultaun, in the midst of all his religious profeffions, and defpife his mean and filly cunning, when we find him, in his letters to the French, afcribing the enmity of the British power to himfelf, to them in his letters to Zemaun Shah, attributing it to his having deputed ambaffadors to that prince: and, in his difpatches to the grand feignior, imputing it to his delegation of an embaffy to the Sublime Porte.

While Tippoo Sultaun attempted to direct the whole fenfibility and exertions of the Turks against the common enemies of Ifmaulism, on the one hand, the French, on the other, endeavoured, by foft words and fair profeffions, to afpend and fink their indignation, at the invafion of Egypt, in the recollection of the ancient and natural alliance between the Porte and France, and in a jealoufy of the Auftrians, Ruffans, and English. Neither the

Turkish ambaffador at Paris, nor the reis-effendi at Conftantinople, were able, by repeated inquiries, to obtain any other information refpecting the expedition, from Toulon, than that its only object was the conqueft and the deftruction of the order of the knights of Malta; an object that must be pleafing, and excite the gratitude of all Muffulmen. Bifhop Talleyrand, the minif ter, of the French republic, for foreign relations, folemnly affured the Ottoman abaffador, at Paris, that there was no other end in view; and that it was the fixed and unalterable purpose of the French government, to preferve the ancient friendship which had fo long fubfifted between France and the Sublime Porte, and to cement and ftrengthen it more and more. But, in the mean time, while the French minifter was making fuch proteftations, in reply to the letters fent by the French chargé d'affaires at Con ftantinople, Ruffin, as well as by the Ottoman government, that en voy had received letters, of an old date, in which the directory had written to him, that it was, indeed, true that Buonaparte had orders to go to Egypt; but this was only in order to punith the beys, to procure certain commercial advantages for France, and to ftrike a blow againft England; that it was the intention of the directory to fend an ambassador to the Sublime Porte, for the purpose of arranging all those matters, and fhewing various important advantages that would accrue to the Ottomans from that expedition and that if the Porte fhould be fo rafh as to declare war against the French republic, on account of this affair of Egypt, it would be immediately attacked by [F3]

the

the imperial courts, which were its ancient and conftant enemies.

It is probable that Talleyrand, when he gave the folemn affurances juft mentioned, to Aly-Effendi, had, in the multiplicity of bufinefs in which he was engaged, forgotten the contents of his letter to Ruffin. From the difcordancy between that letter and thofe affurances, it was manifeft that his defign was, in his converfation with the Turkish ambaffador, to deceive and amufe the divan, until certain intelligence hould be received of the fate of the expedition. But, after Buonaparte had landed, and made very confiderable progrefs, though in a very fhort time, towards the eftablishment of the French colony in Egypt, the French envoy at Conftantinople, the Spanish, and the Dutch, or, as he was called, the Batavian ambaffador, reprefented, to the Turkish government, that the poffeffion of that country, by the French, under the authority and accustomed tribute to the Porte, would be the very best thing that could happen, for the intereft and prefervation of the Ottoman empire; a partition of whofe Turkish dominions was certainly in the contemplation of the Ruffians and Auftrians, as the occupancy of the coafts of the Arabian Gulph, by the erection of forts, was in that of the English. The excitement that would be given to commerce, and the improvements that would be extended by the French in Egypt to other parts of the Turkif dominions, would ultimately redound to the wealth, power, and glory, of the fovereign Sublime Porte. Its French fubjects, at the fame time that they promoted the internal profperity of the Ottoman

empire, would be a powerful defence against both internal revolt and external aggreffion. In a word, the grand feignior ought not to take umbrage at the appearance of the French in Egypt, fince it was manifeftly for his good.

The Turkish government was neither fo much paralyfed by internal weakness, nor fo much overawed by a dread of the two imperial courts, as to bear fuch treatment and language, without expreffing and giving proofs of their refentment. To the Spanish ambaffador, the reis-effendi, with equal dignity, propriety, and feverity, replied, "I am forry to find the king of Spain become the tool of men who murdered his family, and shake a fabre over his own head!” An embargo was laid on the French fhips at Conftantinople, and in other Turkish ports. The French merchants, as well as confuls, were imprifoned, and their goods fequeftered. The French envoy, Ruffin, with his domeftics, was fent as a hoftage to the Seven Towers, and the arms of the French republie torn down from the French ambaffador's palace. The Spanish ambaffador received an order to quit Conftantinople within a few days. The Dutch ambaflador was ordered away, likewife, but, on his repre-. fenting that, in a few months, there might very probably be a change. in his government, he was fuffered to remain.

On the fecond day of September, the following memorial was delivered, by the Porte, to all the foreign minifters:

"The Porte, as all Europe knows, has long continued at peace with France, and on terms of the firicteft amity and good understand