tan's camp with alarm, slew some men in their tents, and secured a retreat amidst the confusion of the

scene.

In the fourth week from the commencement of the siege, a practicable breach appeared in the curtain near the north-west bastion. About two thousand five hundred Europeans, and nineteen hundred sepoys, were then selected (on the 4th of May) for the honor of closing the war by a seisure of the fort and town. Major-general Baird, who had served under colonel Baillie when Tippoo defeated that officer in the year 1780, and had been detained in close confinement for three years and a half, was destined to triumph in his turn over the prince by whom he had been so rigorously treated. Drawing his sword, he led the troops to the assault, with these animating words: "Come, my brave fellows, follow me, and prove yourselves worthy of the name of British soldiers!" The gallant detachment rushed from the trenches, forded the river, passed the glacis and ditch, mounted the breach, and then filed off in two columns to the right and left to meet the enemy.

The right division, under colonel Sherbrooke, advanced to the southern rampart, clearing the way with the bayonet. Captain Moll distinguished himself on this occasion. Almost singly, he pursued the enemy to a cavalier, behind a round tower, on which he planted a flag. So great was the panic in this part of the fort, that very little resistance was made; and this column soon penetrated to the eastern side.

The north-west bastion was quickly forced by the left column, though colonel Dunlop, who commanded it, was disabled by a wound. In its progress along the northern rampart, it was so warmly opposed, that considerable loss was sustained. The sultan resisted this divi

sion with his personal efforts; and his men, posted behind traverses, continued their exertions, until captain Goodall was sent with the light infantry to reinforce the party upon the interior rampart. The traverses were then flanked, and effectually cleared; and the column drove the enemy to the north-east angle. Here the unfortunate Mysoreans were farther endangered by the approach of the right column; and, while some escaped, a great number suffered the utmost vengeance of hostility.

Tippoo, contending for life and sovereignty, bravely disputed the possession of his capital; but, when his opponents furiously pushed along the ramparts, he mounted a horse, crossed the inner ditch, and reached the gate of a small fort, not without being wounded as he rode. In passing through the arch, he received a second ball in his right side, and his wounded horse fell with him. He was instantly raised, and placed upon a palanquin; while the bodies of many of his faithful attendants, who had fallen in his defence, blocked up the gate-way. He did not long remain in dreadful suspense, being shot through the right temple.

High expectations were formed of Tippoo's reign, before he ascended the throne: but these hopes were not gratified. He was vain, haughty, and imperious; unsteady and capricious, yet obstinate; rigidly attentive to minutiæ, and negligent of the grand concerns of goHis disposition was resentful, and his

vernment.

cruelty atrocious.

He was not destitute of talents; but he had not a sound or judicious mind.

The assault of his capital proved fatal to eight thousand of his soldiers; and, of the besieging army, above fourteen hundred were killed or wounded during the siege and in the act of storming. Ample stores of war were found in the place; but the amount of the pecu

niary spoils and jewels did not equal the expectations of the captors, who did not reflect on the prodigality of Tippoo, and on the systematic embezzlement of his revenue by his officers. The whole value did not exceed

1,143,216 pounds sterling.

On the morning of the assault, the troops in the fort, and in the entrenchments on the island, amounted to twenty-one thousand eight hundred effective men. The survivors having surrendered, the soldiery in other parts of Mysore soon followed the example; and circular letters from the general, supported by orders from Tippoo's superintendent of garrisons, were sent to the commandants of the provincial fortresses, requiring a speedy surrender to the British government. The majority complied with the demand; but some sustained a siege before they yielded.

The ruin of Tippoo was accelerated by the invasion of Egypt. A dread of the injurious consequences that might result from the acquisition of that country by the French, whose views were pointed to India, roused the spirit of the company and the government, and led to that memorable campaign which decided the fate of Mysore.

The settlement of the conquered country required serious deliberation. Various schemes were discussed, and examined in all their bearings and probable results; and it was at length determined, that a part of the territories of the late sultan should be assigned, not to a grandson of the usurper Hyder, but to a boy of only five years of age, the son of one of the lawful rajahs of Mysore; that the nizam should be gratified with a portion, and even the Mahrattas, though inactive in the war, should receive a share equal in point of revenue to one half of the division granted to his highness; that the remaining districts, including Seringapatam, should be

enjoyed by the company; and that, to the family of Tippoo, the fortress of Vellour should be appropriated as a place of residence, with such an allowance as might provide both for comfort and for splendor. General Harris placed the young rajah on the musnud; and his elevation gave great joy to the people, of whom the majority were Hindoos. His chief female relatives, writing to the general and the other commissioners appointed by the company for the execution of the plan of settlement, said, "As you have favored our boy with the rajahship, and nominated Purneah (a distinguished Bramin) to be his minister, we shall, while the sun and moon continue, commit no offence against your government. We shall at all times consider ourselves as under your protection and orders." A treaty was con cluded, by which the rajah was obliged to receive a military force from the English for the defence and security of his dominions, to pay a subsidy for such protection, and to submit to the interference of the governorgeneral, not only in the affairs of revenue, but in every department of administration. Thus, by war and policy, the British power in India was extended and secured.

The result of the battle of Aboukir seemed to confine Bonaparte to Egypt: but he did not despair of an opportunity of escaping, when he had sufficiently established his fame in that renowned region. He strengthened the capital with new works; rendered Alexandria more defensible; encouraged commerce; promoted the arts: and animated by his patronage the speculations of science. He reinstated the Turkish pasha in the authority allowed to him by the beys, and engaged to pay the accustomed tribute to the grand signor. But when Selim, influenced by the advice of a British envoy, had menaced with his vengeance the invaders of a country

which he considered as a province of his dominions, Bonaparte ceased to acknowledge the rights of the Porte, and superseded the crescent by the three-colored flag.

A jealousy of the French, rather than a spirit of obedience to the grand signor, prompted the Syrian pasha, Ahmed-al-Gezzar, to oppose the infidels who had dared to profane the territories of the faithful. He fortified and garrisoned Al-arish, and manifested an intention of leading or sending an army into Egypt. He was encouraged by a promise of aid from the English, who continued to blockade Alexandria, and cruise along the Egyptian coasts. Bonapartè, having endeavoured without effect to draw him into an alliance, resolved to attack him without delay; and twelve thousand men were ordered to invade Syria.

Arriving before the walls of Acre, Ahmed's seat of government, the French beheld the British colors displayed in the harbour. Sir Sydney Smith was at this station with a small squadron, which he augmented by the capture of French gun-boats. His friend Phelippeaux, the school-fellow of Bonapartè, had superintended the improvement of the fortifications of Acre; and though a professed engineer would perhaps have pronounced the town untenable, Ahmed and his European advisers were determined upon a vigorous defence.

When the French batteries had made a breach in the wall, and a mine was supposed to have destroyed a counterscarp, a party of grenadiers advanced to the assault but the breach was small, and too high; and so warm a reception was given to the enemy, that many fell before a retreat was ordered. In a sally from the town, others were sacrificed; but the confidence of the garrison was diminished by the absence of the British squadron, driven by gales from the bay. The French now made a lodgement in an angle of the wall, and pro