already dead, or expiring in each others arms; while the common foldiers, cafting off all obedience to their officers, were stripping off their jewels, and committing every outrage on their bodies. He fays that others of the women, (without taking notice whether their lives were offered or not) rather than to be torn from their relations, threw themselves into large tanks, and were drowned. He, however, obferves, that the troops were afterwards feverely reprimanded for this action.

Such enormities undoubtedly deferved a fevere vengeance! Whether in the degree it was foon inAlicted, may be another confideration.

A fortunate ignorance of the difficulty and danger of forcing a paffage through the Gauts, feemed to be the only apology that could be made for the attempt, at leaft in the manner that it was conducted; and the fuccefs ferved to justify the rafhnefs of the undertaking. The only account we have of this tranfaction, is from an officer who was one of the party engaged in the attack; and he acknowledges that the poft would have been impregnable in any other hands than thofe of the motley crew, as he calls them, who were appointed to its defence. He defcribes the pafs as being about eight feet wide, three miles in length, and ftrongly fortified. The party fent on fo defperate and important a fervice, confifted only of the Bombay light company of Europeans, and between three and four hundred fepoys. He fays they took the firft barrier with little oppofition; but that when they were arrived at the fecond, they were

alarmed at the prodigious number and firong pofition of the enemy; but that as it would be then no lefs dangerous to rereat than to advance, they attacked them with fuch vigour, that they foon fled, leaving about 500 of their killed and wounded behind. Being flushed by this fuccefs, they then made their way with the bayonet, notwithstanding a heavy cannonade, until they had gained the fummit of the Gaut, by which the work was completed. He likewife informs us, that having then difpatched an account of their fuccefs to the general, he expreffed his aftonishment no lefs than his fatisfaction at the event.

The mountains being thus fcaled, their paffes fecured, and a free communication established with the fea-coafts, the rich, and ever yet unfpoiled Canara kingdom, with its capital, Hyder's royal favourite palace, and as it was fuppofed his treafures, together with many of thofe things on which he had moft fet his heart, now lay open and defenceless to the hands of the invaders.

The city of Bednore, the refi dence through many unknown ages of the antient and fequettered Kings of Canara, had of late changed its name to Hyder Nagur, or the Royal City of Hyder; a name which the English did not at this time admit, and which they hoped entirely to annihilate. This capital was to be ranked among the largest and fineft cities in India; its extent being fo confiderable, that fome of its streets run nearly in a right line two leagues in length; while its greatnefs was forgotten in the confideration of its beauty. But its population

was

Was not proportioned to its extent; for being the favourite refidence of the nobility, their fpacious palaces and extenfive gardens, enclofing vaft bafens or refervoirs of water, (one of the favourité and moft pleafing luxuries of the Eaft) took up much, and probably, the greater part of the ground. The Christian religion had been early propagated (undoubtedly by the Portuguefe) and ftill flourished fo exceedingly in this city, that a majority of its inhabitants, eftimated at 30,000, were of that profeffion.

The government and command of the city and country, were lodged in the hands of Hyat Saib, who seems to have moft worthily difcharged the truft repofed in him; and to have acted with a very extraordinary degree of judg. ment and policy in thofe meafures which he purfued for the prefervation of both from that impending ruin, which, all things confidered, it is not probable that any others could at that time have averted.

This man, fenfible of his total inability to oppofe the enemy, and of the certain deftruction which either that attempt or a fight would inevitably and immediately occafion, feems at once to have wifely directed his thoughts, to caft about the means, by which he might fo judicioufly apply a part or the whole of thofe treafures in his care, and which would otherwife become a fpoil, as that they might ferve to preferve the country, and more particularly the capital from defolation and ruin, until his fovereign could arrive to their rescue, and might then perhaps recover the very

ranfom which was the price of their falvation.

If it was upon this principle that Hyat Saib acted, and none other is apparent, that could at all accord with his conduct, he certainly displayed great art, addrefs and knowledge of mankind in his management of the bufinefs. As foon as the English army had paffed the Gauts, he difpatched agents to the camp, who entered into a private negociation with the general, and fome fort of a strange treaty was concluded, the particulars of which, fo far as our information goes, are not yet perfectly known. It was however understood in the army, and accords pretty generally with the private accounts received by the government of Bombay, even after they had feen the principal officers of the king's forces who returned thither, that the capital, the country, the fortress at Bednore, with the public treasures and property, were to be deliver. ed up to the English; that the perfons and property of the inhabitants were to be fully fecured from all moleftation and injury; and that Hyat Saib was to continue in the government, under the authority of the English, holding much the fame powers that he had done under Hyder,

The army then advanced to the capital, which, as well as the fortrefs, they were put in poffeffion of, pretty early in the month of February. The government of Bombay were informed, that not withstanding this treaty and capi. tulation, the general, immediate. ly upon getting poffeffion of Bed nore, broke through them, by fuddenly feizing and confining

Hyat

Hyat Saib, to a clofe imprifonment; and that many bad confequences refulted from the alarm given, and the impreffion made by this violent proceeding. They fay, that very great treafures were found in the durbar, amounting to fourteen lacks, and upwards, which were at firft publicly fhewn to the officers by the general, and declared to be the property of the army. That there was much other treasure, and jewels, which were not expofed. That the breach between the general and Hyat Saib was foon after made up; and that the army were aftonished in a few days after to hear, that all that money, which evidently belonged to the government of the country, had been claimed by Hyat Saib as his private property, and was, upon that plea, actually restored to him by the general.

The effect of this conduct on the army need not be defcribed; but it was increafed upon this occation, by a recollection of fome former management tending to the fame object, which had been practiced at the fack of Onore, and by which they confidered themfelves as having been wronged of the greater part of the booty found at that place. Nor did the general's meafure, of carrying fome of the principal officers to Hyat Saib, and prevailing upon him to make a prefent of half a lack of pagoda's, amounting to about 20,000l. to the army, ferve in any degree to allay the difcontents, or to remove the fufpicions which fo generally prevailed.

But as if all these things had not afforded fufficient grounds for dif. fatisfaction, and still more dan

gerous effects in the army, the general had the misfortune to quarrel with the principal officers of the king's troops, upon the dif cuffion of fome points of rank between them and the company's forces; matters of difpute, which it will be eafily fuppofed, might have been well and prudently evaded in fuch a feafon. They were, however, fo managed, that the Colonels Macleod and Humberftone, with Major Shaw, being the principal officers of the royal forces, and all gentlemen of diftinguished character and honour, thought themselves fo injuriously treated, that, in a few days after the taking of Bednore, they were under a neceffity of quitting the army; and accordingly returned to Bombay, where they arrived towards the end of February. The lofs of thefe officers, was in due time, and that at no great diftance, moft fatally experienced.

During this courfe of fuch important events; the paffage of the Gauts; the treaty with Hyat Saib; the reduction, or poffeffion of the Bednore, capital and country; befides feveral intervening military actions, and all the extraordinary affairs that afterwards fprung up; not a fyllable of information, whether by letter or by meffage, had been received at Bombay from the general; and that government were under a neceffity of applying to Colonel Macleod for a detail of the operations of the army, as well as for fuch information as he could give, refpecting the nature of the treaty with Hyat Saib.

At length, on the 4th of March, being almost a week after the arrival of the royal officers at Bombay, the general found leifure to forward

forward his difpatches from Bednore to that government. It was found upon their being received, that inftead of conveying any particular, or even general account of his operations, of the treaty with Hyat Saib, or other matters, the explanation of which were fo much expected and defired, his letter contained a general accufation against his whole army; charging them indifcriminately, without the exception of a fingle officer or foldier, with acts of the higheft criminality.

He ftated, that after the furrender of Bednore, the flame of difcontent had broke out among the officers, which rapidly fpread, from thofe in the king's immediate fervice, to thofe in the company's; and that this flame being blown by a few zealots for plunder and booty, he was apt to think was the caufe, which deprived him at that critical time, of the fervices of the Colonels Macleod and Humberstone. That the agents for the captors had been loud in their reprefentations of the fuppofed right of the army; and that they and the officers had done every thing that was difrefpectful and injurious to him; which circumftances, fo contrary to good order and difcipline, could not fail to increase the fpirit of plunder in the foldiery, who, encouraged by the practice of the officers, were become as loofe and unfeeling as the moft licentious freebooters. He called upon the government to take measures for preventing fuch dangerous proceedings; faid, that the troops in Bednore were almost in a state of mutiny; that the enemy were collecting a force within 30 miles;

and that the profpect of resettling that city became every moment more diftant, through the dejection of Hyat Saib; who, from the illiberal and indecent expreffions of officers, was filled with apprehenfions that made him utterly defpond, and rendered him incapable of any exertion.

Nothing is mentioned of the treafure, which was the ground of diffatisfaction or difpute, nor whether any treasure whatever was found at Bednore; and the government of Bombay were by him left totally in the dark, as to the objects to which the rapacity attributed to the army was directed.

As the general had referred in his letter to the difputes between him and Colonel Macleod, relative not only to rank, but to the manner of fupplying the king's forces on fervice, and to certain papers upon the fubject, which he fuppofed had been already laid before the board, thefe were accordingly demanded and obtained from the colonel. That government likewife found themfeives under a neceffity of applying to him and to Colonel Humberstone, for all the verbal information, and for all the written details, relative to the proceedings and ftate of the army, during that period in which they had been kept totally in the dark upon the subject, between the time that the general wrote his letter from Cundapore on the 19th of January, and that of their departure from Bednore.

The refult of all their information and enquiries were, a declaration that imputations of the moft ferious nature, and fupported by ftrong teftimony, appeared against the general: and that, feeling the ftrongest

con

conviction that the fervice could not profper in his hands, they thought it their indifpenfible duty not to continue him any longer in the command of the army. They accordingly paffed a refolution to remove him from the command of the army, as well as to fufpend him from the company's fervice, until he had cleared up the charges which appeared against him. As Colonel Macleod was the firft officer in rank upon the coaft, befides his merit having been already eminently diftinguished in the defeat of Tippoo Saib, he was appointed to the command of the army in the Bednore country; and Colonel Humberstone and Major Shaw were required to rejoin it along with him.

It was the latter end of March before thefe refolutions were paffed, and this appointment made; and that unfortunate army was doomed never to experience the benefits which it might have derived from the abilities of thofe approved officers.

They were, however, permitted to bask in the glare of a fhort-lived fuccefs. That formidable hoftile force which the general reprefented in his letter as collecting within 30 miles of him, must have been totally ideal, as the fubfequent events fully fhew that no enemy whatever appeared either then or long after in the country. He had indeed an enemy, and that enemy fufficiently dangerous; but he was far diftant, and not yet even in motion. Hyat Saib had managed matters with fo much addrefs, that fo far from fuffering any appearances in the Bednore Country, which could excite alarm or apprehenfion, he carried his

policy fo far (if we may credit fome of the private accounts) as to offer to raife a confiderable body of forces to join and support the English army; and the general is even charged with defpifing his enemy too much, and with placing too great a confidence in his own force, for refusing this dangerous fuccour.

The upper country being thus apparently fecure, the troops carried on their operations upon the coaft with great fuccefs. On the upper part towards Goa, a Captain Carpenter invaded the Sundah, or Sounda country, (which Hyder had conquered or recovered from the Portuguefe, as an appendage to his then new kingdom of Canara) where he carried every thing before him; reducing Carwar, and all the other principal forts.

But the great and principal expedition, was that against the important fortrefs and port of Mangalore; than which, none of all his acquifitions had been dearer to Hyder during life; as all his fanguine hopes of becoming a formidable naval power were there centered. Indeed his induftry and perfeverance in that refpect, would, in any other perfon, be confidered as amazing. And notwithstanding the heavy loffes which he had repeatedly fuftained at fea from the English, and notwithstanding the numberless cares and dangers in which he had been involved by the prefent war, yet his attention to this point was fo unremitting, that the rudiments of a navy, it might be faid in despite of fortune, were now rifing into form at Mangalore; where three fhips of the line, from 50 to 60 guns

each,