and which it was fuppofed would have proved fatal to the British interefts in that quarter of the globe. It was in this idea that Hyder Ally first ventured to invade the Carnatic; and it was upon the fame principle, that notwithstanding his repeated defeats, he ftill rejected every overture tending to an accommodation that could be made. A fufficient naval force to crush that of the Englith, was, excepting fome artillery and engineers, probably all the aid which he wished for from France; for he was little difpofed to place any great confidence in the fervices of a French, or indeed of any European army in India; their military knowledge and fkill, as officers and engineers, was all that he valued d; nor did he wish that France, or any other foreign nation, fhould retain any inland footing what ever in the country. He only wished the English refources by fea to be cut off, and he knew that every thing must then be at his own difpofal.

Exhaufted then as his patience, was, through the failure of France in fo long delaying to fulfil her engagements, whilft he was alone expofed to all the rigours of a molt dangerous war, how great muft have been his difappointment, and how highly muft it have excited the altonishment of all India, when it was feen, that with fo confiderable a real, and fo vaft an apparent fuperiority of force, the French fleet would not venture to attack the English in the open road of Madras; but that on the contrary, thefe inftantly pursue the fuperior enemy, take or difperfe the con

voy under his protection, and in a hard fought battle, wherein they had other difadvantages befides a fuperiority of force to encounter, leave the claim to victory undetermined? Nothing could have imprefled the princes and ftates of India more ftrongly with an opinion, of the great fuperiority of the English in all naval affairs, than thefe circumftances; nor could any thing afford a more grievous mortification to Hyder; who now faw his hopes of taking Madras, of depofing the Nabob of Arcot, and of placing his fon Tippoo in poffeffion of the Carnatic, to be as remote and uncertain as ever.

We have heretofore seen, that Tellicherry, on the Malabar coast, had been conftantly invested, and more or lefs clofely preffed, by Hyder's forces, from the very beginning of the war; and, that under the preffure of thofe loffes and misfortunes, which were about that time fo general, and of that depreffion and hopeleffnefs, bordering on defpair, which prevailed, it had even been in contemplation to abandon that fettlement. We have likewife fhewn, that Sir Edward Hughes had relieved and preferved the place.. The blockade, however, ftill continued, and the ftrength and number of the enemy increased; but they were of a kind, at that diftance from the feat of Hyder's power and difcipline, unequal to the carrying on of a regular fiege, and were contented with clofely fhutting up the place, and barring the principal paffages with forts; waiting for famine, or other diftrefs, to fupply the defects of military skill. The works

with which they blocked up the place, were covered by a fortified camp at a moderate diftance.

Such was the ftate of things at Tellicherry, when, in the very beginning of the year, Major Abingdon having arrived there from Bombay, with a confiderable reinforcement of troops, he immediately concerted measures for relieving the town from the diftreffes which it endured through its prefent ftraitened fituation, by a vigorous attempt to dislodge the enemy, and open the communications with the country. Having originally encamped with his own troops without the town, he was the better enabled to difcover the fituation of the enemy, and could the more immediately commence his operations; while his lying quiet for fome days, together with a vain opinion of their own ftrength, concurred in rendering them totally unapprehenfive of his defign.

Having drawn fuch part of the garrifon as could be fpared, with out notice, into his camp, he concerted his meafures fo well, that he had furprized, attacked, and carried their feveral forts, before day, on the morning of the 8th of January 1782; and purfued his fuccefs with fuch celerity and vigour, that not giving them a moment to recover from their confufion, he tormed the enemy's fortified camp as foon as it was light, and completely routed and difperfed their main force. Saddos Cawn, who commanded for Hyder, with his family, and a party of his beft or molt attached troops, retired into an exceedingly ftrong fortified houfe, and of a moft fingular conftruction; it be

ing fcooped into the fide of a hill, and the walls formed of the living rock.

Here they made an obstinate defence; but their faftneffes were at length forced, with con. fiderable flaughter; and an inner recefs, which was of fuch ftrength and contrivance as to be bomb proof, was not fufficient to fave Saddos Cawn (who was forely wounded) and his family, from being made prifoners. This man was reprefented in the European gazettes as being brother-in-law to Hyder Ally, an error founded on a fifter of his being in that prince's feraglio; a fort of connexion which is not at all confidered as conftituting any fuch degree of affinity.

Several hundreds of the enemy were killed, and fourteen or fifteen hundred taken prifoners, in this brifk action; which befides afforded a very confiderable fpoil, confifting in a numerous artillery, with a large quantity of military ftores, and a number of elephants, which were found in the feveral forts and redoubts. By this fuccefs, the communications with the country were not only opened, but the coaft, for feveral miles on either hand of Tellicherry, was entirely cleared of the enemy. Few things could have been more vexatious to Hyder than this ftroke. For his poffeffions on the Malabar coaft being partly acquired by conqueft and partly by fraud, the Nairs, who are the native princes and nobility, and who had fuffered moil feverely in the ineffectual ftruggle for the prefervation of their antient rights and liberties, which had, from the earliest times, till then, been unviolated, were ftill exceedingly difaffected

[D] 3

to

T

HE blow which Hyder received on the Malabar coaft, was foon returned with heavy intereft on the banks of the Coleroon. Indeed retaliation was generally to be apprehended as the confequence of faccefs, in the conflicts with that dangerous enemy.

Colonel Brathwaite had for fome 'confiderable time commanded a detached body of forces, which was called the fouthern army, and appears to have been destined to the protection of Tanjour and the adjoining provinces. It likewife appears that Sir Eyre Coote had early in the year been ftraining every nerve to advance the army from Madras to the fouthward, in order to be at hand to reprefs the defigns of Hyder Ally and the French on the fide of Pondicherry; and that he was fo entirely deftitute of the means neceffary to that purpose, that it was a work of time, and a matter of the greateft difficulty, to make a movement even to so small a distance as Chin gleput. It is not a little fortunate to the commanders of armies in general, that fuch embarraffing circumstances with refpect to the means of warfare are not frequent.

We find by that general's letter to the fecretary of ftate upon the fubject, that he was at the fame time involved in another difficulty, the nature of which we can by no means clearly compre.

hend. Sir Eyre Coote reprefents in that letter, that he was anxiously expecting the refult of an application which he had made to the governor general and council of Bengal, for restoring his authority over the fouthern troops, that he might be enabled to direct them to fuch a co-operation, as would tend to facilitate his own movements, and to diftract the defigns of their enemies. What new powers the commander in chief of all the company's forces could have wanted upon this occafion, or how the fouthern command fhould have got beyond his authority, we are incapable of explaining,

Colonel Brathwaite lay with his detachment on the banks of the Coleroon, which forms the northern boundary of the Tanjour kingdom, Though his force was not great with respect to number, his troops were excellent, confisting of about 2,000 tried infantry, and a fmall body of 250 cavalry, with 13 field pieces. His fituation in a flat and open country, where no fecurity, through the want of advantageous pofts, could be obtained by retreat, and where fuccour was impoffible, evidently would have expofed him to great danger, if a fuperior enemy, abounding in cavalry, had been within reach to profit of it; but this did not appear to be the cafe, for Hyder's army was diftant, and

[P] 4

the

the feveral deep and great rivers in the way, feemed to forbid the fudden and unexpected approach of any fuch confiderable body of the enemy, as might be fufficient to afford real caufe for alarm.

Thefe circumftances of the colonel's fituation did not efcape the vigilant attention of Tippoo Saib; whofe active mind, eagerly feeking for adventure, was ftill the more ftimulated to this fort of defultory enterpize, from the fuccefs which had attended his attack upon Colonel Baillie. It is to be obferved, that rivers, and even fmall or moderate arms of the fea, are a very ineffective barrier against Hyder's forces; who has for many years conflituted the pafing of fuch great and dangerous waters, under the moft untoward circumftances and alarming appearances, among the common military exercifes both of his cavalry and infantry. Tippoo Saib was accompanied in this expedition by Monf, Lally, with about 400 French; his native forces being eftimated at 20,000, of whom more than half were cavalry. With this army, and 20 pieces of cannon, he, by feveral forced marches, gained, with great expedition, the banks of the Colercon; and paffing that river with no lefs celerity than he had hitherto furmounted all other obftacles in his way, fuddenly furrounded Brathwaite's corps, which could not be fuppofed in any degree of preparation for fo unexpected an attack.

This action, in many refpects, refembled that in which Colonel Baillie was engaged, but was of much longer continuance. The attack commenced on the 16th of

February, 1782, and the affair was not decided until the 18th, It has been afferted in a letter, written by an officer who was in the action, that during 26 hours of those three days, an unremitting fire of cannon and fmall arms had been fupported on both fides. The fuddennefs of the furprize, nor the imminence of the danger, produced none of their ufual effects, whether with refpect to the collection and compofure, or to the undaunted courage, which were displayed and fupported thro' the whole affair, by the British commander and his officers; the former of whom, though feverely wounded and bleeding faft, could not be prevailed upon to withdraw from the action even for a moment. As he was attacked on all fides, and obliged to present a front to every attack, he threw his detachment into a hollow fquare, with his 13 field pieces interfperfed in its faces, and his fmall body of cavalry drawn up. in the centre.

Tippco Saib's defign, (and in which he thought he could not fail of fucceeding) was by a violent cannonade on all fides to break or diforder the fquare in fome of its faces, and then rushing on impetuously with his cavalry, inftantly to complete the deftruction of the whole. But the noife and violence of his cannonade, with the diftant fire of his mufquetry, were totally incapable of making the fmalleft impreffion on the order of the British fepoys, who, with a firmness that cannot be too much admired, were proof to a fire, and to fuch an afpect of inevitable deftruction, as might haye put the conftancy and difci