appeared determined to exhaust all the resources of cruelty which his ferocious nature could suggest. The wretched inhabitants were driven with their flocks and families to Mysore, and those who lingered were mutilated. All the forts, except four, held by English lieutenants, were surrendered by the venal or dastardly officers of the nabob.

army.

A.D

1780

The Madras army did not exceed 8,000, of which number 2,500 were under Colonel Baillie in Guntoor, and it was not till clouds of smoke were seen in every direc- March of tion from St. Thomas's Mount, nine miles from Madras Madras, that orders were issued to take the field. Sir Hector Munro moved out to Conjeveram to relieve Arcot, which contained the few military stores the nabob possessed, and which Hyder had besieged. Colonel Baillie was ordered to join Sir Hector with expedition, but he halted on the banks of the Cortilla when it was fordable, and the next day it was swelled by the rains, and continued impassable for ten days. Hyder Ali sent Tippoo with the flower of his army to prevent the junction, and an action was fought on the 6th September, in which Tippoo was so severely handled that he informed his father that no impression could be made on the English force without reinforcements, while Colonel Baillie informed the general that it was no longer in his power to join him at Conjeveram. Instead of proceeding at once with his whole force, Sir Hector simply detached Colonel Fletcher with 1,100 men to reinforce Colonel Baillie. So great was the dread which Hyder entertained of British prowess, that he had determined, in case of a junction of the two forces, to raise the siege of Arcot and retire. Colonel Fletcher and Colonel Baillie moved forward till the evening of the 9th, and a short march would have completed their union with the main body, but by an act of incredible fatuity Colonel Baillie ordered his men to lie on their arms for the night. Hyder Ali, seeing no preparation for any movement on the part of Sir Hector, brought his whole force up against Colonel Baillie. He planted his guns during the night with great skill, and on the morning of the 10th September the 1780 encampment was enveloped by the whole Mysore army. The troops fought like heroes, and the European Defeat of force, when reduced to 300, still demanded to be Baillie. led against the enemy; but Colonel Baillie refused to sacrifice the lives of these brave men, and held out a flag of truce, when Hyder's soldiers rushed on them and would have butchered the whole body but for the interference of

the French officers. Of eighty-six officers, seventy were killed or wounded, and the whole army, with all its stores, baggage, and equipments, was irretrievably lost. Had the Commander-in-Chief moved up when the cannonade was first heard, Hyder, attacked on both sides, must have suffered a severe defeat; but the dastardly Munro threw his heavy guns into the great tank or pond at Conjeveram, destroyed his stores, and retreated in haste and disorder to Madras, hotly pursued by the enemy.

A vessel was immediately despatched to Calcutta with information of the disaster. To the embarrassment of a Energy of war with the Mahrattas was now added that of a Hastings. war with Hyder, which had opened with the greatest disgrace the English arms had as yet suffered in India; but never did the genius and resolution of Hastings appear more conspicuous than on this occasion. "All my "hopes," he wrote, " of aggrandizing the British name and "enlarging the interests of the Company have given instant "place to the more urgent call to support the existence of "both in the Carnatic; nor did I hesitate one minute to "abandon my own views for such an object." He suspended Whitehill, the officiating governor of Madras who had refused to restore the Guntoor Sircar; he despatched every soldier that could be spared, together with fifteen lacs of rupees, for the exclusive use of the army, not to be fingered by the civilians; and the whole expedition was equipped and embarked within three weeks. The veteran Sir Eyre Coote, who had extinguished the French power on the Coast twenty years before, conA.D. Madras. sented to take the command, and retrieve the honour of the Company amidst the scenes of his early triumphs. Hastings also adopted the hazardous expedient of stopping the Company's investment and devoting the funds to the expedition; but even this resource was found insufficient, and he was obliged, for the first time in his administration, to have recourse to a loan.

1780

Coote
proceeds to

SECTION IV.

PROCEEDINGS AT MADRAS, FROM THE DEFEAT OF COLONEL BAIL-
LIE TO THE PEACE WITH TIPPOO, 1780-1784.

SIR EYRE COOTE arrived at Madras, eight weeks after the A.D.
disaster of Colonel Baillie, but found the equipment of the 1781
army so wretched, and the difficulty of obtaining Difficulties
supplies in a country swept by hostile cavalry of Coote.
so great, that it was ten weeks before he could make any
movement. But his arrival raised the drooping spirits of
Madras, and checked the career of Hyder, who, instead of
driving the English, as he had hoped, into the sea, found
himself confronted by his old opponent. Hyder had ob-
tained possession of Arcot through the treachery of the
nabob's brahmin commandant, and was engaged in be-
sieging Wandewash, which was defended by Lieutenant Flint
with the same gallantry which had been displayed by Clive
at Arcot. The hostile armies remained inactive for four
months; the English for want of provisions, and Hyder
from a dread of encountering them. Coote then attacked
the fortified temple of Chillumbrum, but was repulsed,
and Hyder was emboldened to risk a general en- Battle of
gagement, and marching a hundred miles in two Porto Novo.
days and a half, attacked the English on the 1st of July at 1781
Porto Novo; but after an engagement of six hours' duration,
was totally defeated, with the loss of 10,000 men, while
the casualties on the side of Coote did not ex- Of Pollilore.
ceed 300. The Bengal brigade was conducted
along the coast by Colonel Pearce with admirable skill, and
without a single accident, and he reached Pulicat in July.
Hyder detached Tippoo to intercept it, and Coote marched
150 miles to form a junction with it, which he effected on
the 2nd of August. Hyder had brought up the whole of his
army to oppose his return, and taken up his position on the
field where, exactly a twelvemonth before, Colonel Baillie's
army had been exterminated, which the astrologers assured
him was a lucky spot and a lucky day. The result of the
battle was doubtful, and both parties claimed the vic-
tory by firing a salute. In the month of September there
was a third engagement at Solingur, in which
Hyder was completely defeated, with the loss of
5,000 men, while only 100 fell on the side of the English.

Of Solingur.

A.D.

1781

Soon after the army retired into cantonments for the season at Madras, after a campaign in which all Hyder's plans were baffled by the superior strategy of Coote, and Coote's movements were crippled for want of supplies and equipments.

Macartney
governor

peer

In the brief period of seven years, two governors of Madras had been dismissed by the Court of Directors; one had been suspended by Hastings, and a fourth deposed by his own Council. The Presidency was demoralized to the core by corrupt transactions with the nabob, and the Court of Directors resolved to place the government in the hands of one who was free from all local associations, and untainted by the general corruption. Their choice Lord fell on Lord Macartney, an Irish of great political experience and dignified character. He of Madras. reached Madras in June, with the first intelligence of the war between Holland and England. Hyder lost no time in forming an alliance with the Dutch on the basis of mutual co-operation against the English. Their principal settlement on the Coromandel coast was Negapatam, 160 miles south of Madras, garrisoned by an army of 6,500 men. Contrary to the advice of Sir Eyre Coote, Lord Macartney equipped an expedition from Tanjore and Madras, which was confided to Sir Hector Munro, and 1781 Capture of greatly strengthened by the marines and seamen. Negapatam. The settlement was captured in November, and found to contain a large quantity of military stores be. sides two valuable investments. Two months after, Trincomalee, the noblest harbour in Ceylon, was also captured from the Dutch. But, notwithstanding the successes of the year, the pressure of the war was severely felt on the finances of Madras. All the revenues of the Carnatic, which ought to have been available for its defence, were absorbed by the nabob and his rapacious creditors, and the Government was at length constrained to assume the entire control of the province, reserving one-sixth for the nabob.

1782

Colonel Braithwaite had been despatched to protect Tanjore from the ravages of Tippoo, with a detachment of 2,000 Colonel men, almost all sepoys. The treachery of his Braithwaite. guides betrayed him into a position where he came unexpectedly on Tippoo's army of 20,000 horse and 20,000 infantry and twenty guns; for twenty-eight hours his force maintained the unequal contest without flinching, but was at length overpowered. "The annals of war,'

A.D.

says the historian Mill, can seldom exhibit a parallel to "the firmness and perseverance of this little army." This disaster was counterbalanced on the opposite coast by a sortie under Major Abingdon from Tellicherry, where he had been besieged for eighteen months, and the capture of 1,200 prisoners with sixty pieces of cannon. Hyder's despondency. 1782 Hyder began now to give way to despondency; his French allies had not made their appearance; Hastings had succeeded in detaching Sindia, the Nizam, and the raja of Nagpore from the grand confederacy, and the Peshwa now threatened to combine with the English, and wrest from him all the territories he had gained between the Kistna and the Toombudra. He lamented to his minister his folly in having plunged into a war with the Company. "The defeat of many Braithwaites and many "Baillies," he said, "will not crush them. I may ruin "their resources by land, but I cannot dry up the sea, and "I must be exhausted by a war in which I gain nothing "by fighting." The western coast he considered the weakest part of his dominions, and he determined to concentrate his efforts in that direction. He had issued orders to blow up the fortifications of Arcot, and to lay waste the Carnatic, without leaving a vestige of human habitation, when these gloomy forebodings were dissipated by the arrival of the French armament.

The French fleet was commanded by Suffrein, one of the greatest admirals France has produced. He met Admiral Hughes returning from the capture of Trinco- Naval malee, and an engagement ensued which proved actions. indecisive. Suffrein then proceeded to Porto Novo, and Landed 2,000 French soldiers and 1,000 disciplined Africans. In June, Sir Eyre Coote attempted the capture of Arnee, Hyder's chief depôt in the south, but after an indecisive action under its walls, Hyder succeeded in rescuing his treasure and his stores. Two other actions were in the meantime fought between the fleets without any practical result, and Suffrein having refitted his ships, sailed to the south. Lord Macartney had received intelligence that a second French force had arrived at Galle, and he began to tremble for Trincomalee and Negapatam. He entreated Admiral Hughes to hasten to the defence of Trincomalee; but he was jealous of interference, and sluggish in his movements, and on entering the harbour found that the place had capitulated four days before. The fleets now came again in contact, but the result was again indecisive.

1782