each, were in great forwardness, if not nearly finished, and feveral others, of different fizes, and in different ftates, upon the ftocks. Two battalions of fepoys were firft ordered from the Bednore country to invest Mangalore; which does not feem to have been much better garrifoned than other places lately fubdued. The town was taken without much refiftance; though the only account we have of it ftates, that a mine was fprung which blew up 80 fepoys; that they notwithstanding carried it fword in hand, though every street was mined and stockaded. The killedar, or governor, with his rabble, as the account calls them, fied into the fort; and that being of fome ftrength, they were obliged to wait the arrival of General Mathews, with artillery, and the greater part of his army, to carry on the fiege. The fort made no long refiftance; a breach nearly practicable being made in 36 hours after the batteries were opened, the governor furrendered March 9th. upon conditions; the fecurity of perfon, and 1783. of private property, being the principal. The En-, glish were now, nearly, if not entirely, in poffeffion of all the ftrong holds on the Malabar coaft; acquifitions which might have been of the greatest importance, if things had been in a happier train. But Tippoo Saib, now called Tippoo Sultan, determined to relinquish all other objects and purfuits, for the recovery of thofe very valuable as well as favourite poffeffions, which he had loft in the Bednore country, and which VOL. XXVI. he could not but expect to be loft on the Malabar coaft. He feems, however, to have hefitated much upon the queftion of relinquishing the Carnatic; for it was approaching to the middle of March before his troops began to file off from that country through the Changamah Pafs; and he feemed unwillingly himself to evacuate Arcot and bring up the rear; fo that it was evident, that nothing. lefs than the abfolute neceflity which prevailed, could urge him to the adoption of that measure. Thus, whatever faults or errors appeared in the conduct of this expedition, and however fatal its conclufion to the actors, the great object of the invasion, on the Malabar fide, which was to oblige the enemy to withdraw his forces from the Carnatic, was more fully and completely attained than it could even have been hoped for. The conduct of the general upon this approaching danger, feems to have been fo incomprehenfible, as to be equalled only, in that refpect by his letters to Bombay, which now became frequent. Indeed it may well be fuppofed from the whole, that his mind was at this period in fome ftrange ftate of diforder. His intelligence, if it may be called fuch, was not only fo defective, but fo incoherent and contradictory, that, in the manner he ftates it, it carries more the appearance of a fucceffion of dreams, than of any regular or rational chain of information. He was, however, confiftent in all his letters in preffing for a reinforcement; but, he at the fame time talked with as much confi[G] dence dence and careleffness of meeting the enemy in the field with that handful of men he commanded, as if the armies had been fomething nearly upon an equality. galore, or as much fooner as he had any certain intelligence of the enemy's approach, have withdrawn his troops and artillery entirely out of the open Bednore country; and poed them in the Gauts, which were already fortified, and deemed impregnable. He fhould have defended thefe paffes into the Malabar country to the utmoft; and if they had been at length found no longer tenable, he could have retired to the ftrong pofts on the coaft, which the enemy were in little condition for befieging; and where he would have been, at all events, open to fuccour from the fea. By this means, even the dearly purchafed treasures might have been faved; and all the fubfequent calamities would have been evaded. One of these letters is dated at Mangalore on the 20th of March, when he was, he faid, to fet out on the following day to Bednore to meet the enemy in the field, whom he reprefents as approaching to that place, and eftimates at 25,000; and, if there is no error in the copy we have feen as to the number, he talks of collecting 12,000 fepoys, along with his Europeans, to encounter them; although the troops of all forts then on the coaft, or in the Bednore country, difperfed even as they were, could fcarcely amount to half that number. He is, however, a week after at Cundapore, from whence he dates his next letter, the intelligence of the enemy being as vague as could be; excepting, that they are now reprefented as being within 35 miles of Bednore; and he concludes by obferving, that, without a reinforcement, it will be next to a miracle if he can keep his footing. His laft letter was dated at Bednore on the first of April. The enemy were then reprefented as being at 45 miles diftance; but it was dif-thews's European force confifted covered that Tippoo Saib commanded them in perfon. The line of conduct neceffarily to be pursued by the general in this emergency feems fo obvious, that nothing less than fome ftrong infatuation on his fide, together with the abfence of the principal officers, could prevent its being adopted. He should undoubtedly, at the time that he difpatched his first letter from Man. Tippoo Sultan appeared in fight, at the head of a prodigious army, in the beginning of April, and probably in three or four days after the writing of the general's letter from Bednore. His forces were so numerous, that they not only filled the plains near the city, but covered the hills to a greater diftance than the eye could reach. The moft moderate estimate ftates them at more than a hundred thoufand men. General Ma of detachments from the 98th, 100th, and 102d royal regiments, and of fome Bombay infantry, amounting in the whole to fomething about 600 men; and he had with the'e me thin battalions of brave and excellent fepoys, amounting to about 1600. If feveral accounts from the unfortunate survivors had not concurred in the relation, it would have been difficult to believe or to relate, that with this diminutive handful of men, the general marched out of Bednore, to en counter, in the open field, fo prodigious a force. The enemy were led in the attack by a French detachment; and about five hundred of his men having fallen in a few minutes, he then retreated to the fortress, abandoning the city altogether. Tippoo Sultan inftantly en clofed the fort, and the whole hill upon which it ftood, in the ftrictest manner; and bringing up heavy artillery with the utmoft expedition, furrounded the former on every fide with batteries. In the mean time, to prevent all poffibility of their rescue or escape, (though neither were in fact to be apprehended) he fent a detachment to attack the two Gauts; which, though they were not near fo effectually garrifoned as their ftrength and great importance deferved, were yet fhamefully loft, through the bad conduct of one or both of their commanders. Thus all communication with the lower country and fea coaft was cut off. That ill fortune, which is the proper fcourge of ill conduct, and which generally pursues it fo closely at the heels, now began every where to appear. The fu gitives that escaped from the Gauts, communicated their own confufion and terror fo effectually to the garrison of Cundapore, that they were inftantly feized with an equal panic; fo that, without the appearance of an enemy, nothing but flight and efcape were thought of. The precipitation and confufion under the impulfe of this blind fear were so great, that a number of men and horfes were drowned in the flight. Large magazines of ftores and provifions, which had been depofited in that place, were fet on fire and confumed in this unaccountable diforder; and a large field of artillery, was either disabled, of left to whatever enemy should arrive without being injured. Cundapore, with its valuable provifion for war, being thus fhamefully abandoned or destroyed, a part of the fugitive garrifon took refuge at Onore where it required all the firmness and prudence of Captain Tor riano to preferve the troops from being infected with their panic. Having however fucceeded in confirming his own garrison, and reftoring the fugitives in fome degree to their fenfes, he made a fpirited exertion to recover the artillery, which they had abandoned at Cundapore. But the enemy, purfuing their fuccefs, had by this time fallen into the low country, and were not only before-hand with him, but he hardly efcaped paying an undeferved penalty for the attempt. After feventeen days hopelefs\ defence, the unfortunate garrifon of the fortrefs of Bednore, being greatly reduced in ftrength, their fick and wounded exceeding 500, befides the great number flain, and the fire of the enemy greatly fuperior, they were reduced to the neceffity of capitulating. After fome difficulties, they were allowed the honours of war, but to pile their arms on the Glacis; they were to retain all private property, and to restore all public; and they were to be conducted to a specified port, and from thence [G] 2 conveyed to Bombay; being properly supplied with provifions both on the road and in the paffage. The general to be allowed a guard of one hundred of his own fepoys, with their arms, and 36 rounds of ammunition.. The luft of avarice feems ftill to have been predominant, even in this forlorn ftate of affairs, and under all the dangers to be apprehended from the refentments of a highly enraged victor, and at all times avowedly implacable enemy, For, in order to cover the public money in the fort from the captors, whofe property of right, and by the conditions it was, the officers were defired to draw upon the paymafter general for whatever fums they chofe, to be accounted for in their pay at Bombay, fuppofing that the money being divided in fo many hands, would pafs without obfervation. This opportunity of getting ready money without trouble or delay, was eagerly feized by the officers; and feveral, to their fubfequent great lofs, if not prefent misfortune, drew for large fums, from one to two thousand pagodas apiece. throw of all the conditions to the ftrong. It is not, however, certain, that Tippoo Sultan would have confidered this plea or pretence, as at all neceffary to give a colour to the cruel vengeance which he took; whether he would not have founded it upon paft enormities, or whether he would not have gratified his indignation and revenge, without regard to appearances or confequences, are queftions ftill to be refolved. The troops having marched out of the April 28th, 1783. fortrefs, and piled their arms, were led about a mile from Bednore, where they encamped; being furrounded by fome battalions of the nabob's armed fepoys. On the following morning, the general was fent for to meet Tippoo Sultan without the town; but he, and thofe who accompanied him, after fome unknown examination, were put into clofe confinement, and never returned. In two days after, the field and ftaff officers, with all the captains, the paymaster, and the commiffary, were all fent for and likewife detained. The buckfhy, or paymaster, was then fent to the camp, when all the remaining officers were fhamefully ftripped and fearched before him; and the money being found and taken, they were afterwards plundered of every thing; and no meafures of humanity were longer obferved with them or the troops. Through this management, not a fingle rupee was found by the captors in the fort; and this circumftance, along with the profufenefs of the garrifon in the purchafes which they made at a market provided on their coming out, eafily led to a fufpicion of the fraud; which the money af- It would be too painful to enter terwards found in their poffeffion at all minutely into the fubfeabundantly confirmed; and thus, quent fufferings of thefe ill-fated a fmall infraction of the treaty on troops. It will fuffice to fay, that the fide of the weak, afforded after fuffering every degree of in(which is not entirely without ex-dignity and hardship in the first ample) a plea for the total over- initance, they were compelled to march march 16 days, under a burning that, by calculation, it was a lofs of 25,000 rupees to each fubaltern officer. fun, almoft naked, but loaded with irons, and driven without mercy like wild beafts, to a fort in the interior part of the country; where they underwent the moft grievous and cruel imprisonment, that any equal number of Englishmen, in the most inhofpitable and favage regions of the earth, had ever experienced. The fum here ftated feems, however, too vaft, to have been fecreted and conveyed in fuch a manner. Another officer, who fays he was fecretary to the general, and had free access to the rooms at the palace in which the treasure was depofited, and was even appointed to count parts of it, defcribes it as immenfe; and, befides heaps of unvalued riches, fuch as jewels, and maffy gold and filver furniture, eftimates the money at 48 lacks of pagodas. He farther fays, "A great part Though it is known that the general fuffered a violent death, the manner of it is not certain; fome accounts ftating that melted lead was poured down his throat; others that fcalding oil was thrown over his body; and a third, which feems more probable, that he was compelled to fwallow the poi-"of this money belonged to the fonous milk or juice of a fhrub, by which he died in great agonies. Several of the principal officers are likewife faid to have been barbaroufly murdered. We are in the dark as to the amount and final difpofition of the treasures found at Bednore. They were undoubtedly very great; and it feems probable, that they were moftly, if not entirely, recovered by the conqueror. One private account, to which the officer's name is figned who wrote it, ftates, that the general got poffeffion, exclufive of what Hyat Saib claimed, of thirty lacks of pagoda's, (amounting at leaft to 1,200,000l.) befides a great quantity of diamonds and other precious ftones; all which he fays he fecreted, and fent by his brother to Bombay. That his brother foon after fell into the hands of the nabob, who beheaded him; that the army was yet uninformed whether the treafure had arrived at Bombay: and "officers, and there was a great ftir about it, but the general kept it fecure a long time, and "what became of it I know not! "If we had juftice done us, and "the money divided out to us, it "would have been about 3,000l. "a fubaltern."-Both the letters were written fince the release of the officers from the long and grievous imprisonment we have mentioned. Such was the iffue of this unfortunate expedition, and the fate of a moft gallant body of troops, who feem to have been devoted, by a continued feries of mifconduct, to deftruction. Though it be an anticipation in point of time, yet, as the occafion may not offer again, we should think it unpardonable not to give due praife, to the unequalled fidelity, conftancy and refolution, with which the fepoys who were now taken, endured all the calamities and dangers of their long moft grievous, and almoft hopeless cap [G] 3 tivity i 1 |