made such enormous demands, both of money and territory, as confirmed his resolution to persevere in arms. The council, on pretence of consulting Smith, recalled him to Madras, leaving the command with Colonel Wood, who had gained reputation by his rapid conquest of the lower districts. This officer, however, proved himself wholly unable to contend with Hyder; at Baugloor he was surprised, and obliged to retreat with confusion and loss, till relieved by the prompt arrival of Major Fitzgerald with a reinforcement. He was forthwith sent a prisoner to Madras, and the command devolved on the officer just named.

The British force had now been considerably weakened by remaining so long in the open field, precariously supplied with food, and exposed to the unfavourable influences of the climate. The Indian general, who had gained continual accessions of strength, determined on a bold movement, not in front of the English, but by one of his circuitous marches among the hills. First his general, and then himself, aided by their thorough knowledge of the passage of the Ghauts, descended suddenly into the lower districts of Coimbetoor and Baramal, with the conquest of which the British had been so highly elated. He found the troops of that nation scattered in numerous small bodies, and occupying indefensible positions, which fell one after another, almost without resistance, while several were betrayed by the native commandants; so that in six weeks he had reannexed to his territory all these boasted acquisitions. On this occasion a detachment under Captain Nixon was surrounded by the whole force of the enemy, and, after a most gallant resistance, almost entirely destroyed. Hyder then marched upon Eroad, which was under the command of Captain Orton, and invited that officer to come to his tent, under promise of safety. The latter, with a rashness which Wilks can only account for by supposing that he had previously dined, went and placed himself in the power of his enemy. That chief, it is said, piqued himself upon not breaking faith without some plausible ground; but there happened to be in the English army a Captain Robinson, who was formerly a prisoner and released on his parole, which he had not scrupled to violate. On this pretext Hyder not only de

tained Orton, but induced him, by force or threats, to sign an order to Captain Robinson to surrender the important fortress of Eroad, a mandate which this last thought it his duty to obey. The same pretext was used for breaking the capitulations with the troops in the garrison of Caveriporam, and sending them to Seringapatam, where they were immured in dungeons, and treated with the utmost severity.

Hyder, in his triumphant progress, now began to menace the rear of his adversaries. The English, awakening from their dreams of conquest, saw the very depôts and posts on which their military operations rested in danger of falling into the hands of the enemy. Their pride was so far lowered, that they despatched Captain Brooke to attempt a negotiation with the Mysorean sovereign. The latter received him extremely well, and seems to have explained his views with a candour not usual in the tortuous proceedings of oriental policy. He declared that it was, and had always been, his earnest wish to be on good terms with the British, an object defeated solely by themselves and their worthless ally, Mohammed Ali. He confessed that this desire was prompted by an enlarged view of his own interest, especially as being liable to a periodical visitation from the Mahrattas, whose usual time was now fast approaching. He frankly owned that he was unable to resist both them and the English, but warned Captain Brooke, that in such an extremity his resource would be to form a union with them against his European enemies, an arrangement in which he would find no difficulty. He desired them, therefore, to understand that there was no time to be lost in making him either friend or foe. The presidency accordingly sent Mr. Andrews, an individual greatly in their confidence, to the Indian camp; but still their terms were too high. Hostilities were resumed, and Smith being restored to the command, checked the progress of the enemy who, however, engaged at last in a most daring enterprise. With a body of 6000 chosen cavalry and 200 picked infantry, he made a rapid sweep of 130 miles in less than four days, and appeared to the astonished council within five miles of Madras. Awakened then thoroughly from their dreams of ambition, they were seized with the deepest feelings of despondence.

The British army could easily have returned in time to secure the fort; and they had only to fear the plunder of the country-seats, and perhaps of the native town, though this last danger is considered as doubtful; but they agreed at once to the demands which he made, that Colonel Smith should be ordered to suspend his march, and that M. Dupré, nominated as the future governor, should come out to treat for peace. In the present temper of the belligerents, the negotiation was neither long nor difficult; a treaty was concluded in April, 1769, on the condition of placing the possessions of both parties, with scarcely an exception, on the same footing as before the war. Hyder solicited an alliance offensive and defensive; the English granted only the last, which, however, was found to involve them in all the responsibility that, by refusing the first, they had sought to escape.

Hyder, having thus terminated with advantage and glory this great contest with the British, had, as he foresaw, soon to encounter a still more formidable enemy. The Mahrattas, under Madoo Rao, entered his dominions with a force supposed to be at least double that of his army, and led by able commanders. He endeavoured a second time to check them by laying waste his territory; but the invaders, as before, surmounted every obstacle, and, forming a regular plan of conquest, reduced successively all the strong places, committing the most monstrous cruelties. At one fortress, which had made an obstinate resistance, the barbarian leader ordered the noses and ears of the garrison to be cut off; and sending for the governor, asked if he was not conscious of deserving to be thus mutilated and disgraced? The other replied, "The mutilation will be mine, the disgrace yours;" an answer, the truth of which so forcibly struck the Mahratta that he dismissed the prisoner uninjured.

Madoo Rao being obliged, by severe indisposition, to yield the command to Trimbuck Mama, Hyder determined to make a stand, and intrenched his army in a very strong position covered by a range of rugged mountains. The hostile general did not attempt directly to force this camp, but pointed against it day after day such a harassing cannonade, that the Mysorean at length determined to fall back upon his capital. He began his march early in the night, hoping

MAHRATTA INVASION.

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before morning to be beyond reach of the enemy. But the rash discharge of a gun by one of the officers betrayed the secret, and the numerous squadrons of Mahratta horse were soon in full pursuit. A most extraordinary scene then ensued. The critical condition of the army had not prevented Hyder from indulging in habits of evening inebriety, to which he had become addicted, and which now rendered him wholly unfit for directing the movement of the troops. Having in this state met his son Tippoo, he assailed him with the bitterest reproaches; then seizing a thick cane, applied it to his back with such vehemence that the marks remained visible for upwards of a week. The prince, burning with indignation, went to the head of his division, dashed to the ground his turban, sword, and splendid robe, exclaiming, "My father may fight his own battle, for I swear by Alla and his prophet that I draw no sword to-day." The army, thus left to itself, soon became a crowd of scattered fugitives, and Hyder with difficulty, as the Mahrattas were busied in plunder, mounted a fleet horse, and almost alone reached Seringapatam. Tippoo, having assumed an humble garb, begged his way undiscovered through the midst of the enemy, and arrived the same night in the capital.

Trimbuck Mama immediately marched upon Seringapatam, and seemed on the point of putting a period at once to the career of the great usurper. The Mahrattas, however, possessed no skill adequate to the siege of so strong a fortress. They kept up for a month a daily cannonade, which produced no effect, while the resources of Hyder were constantly recruited. He now proceeded to operate with success on their rear, and, after a tedious and harassing warfare of a year and a half, prevailed on them to accept the high terms which he offered; namely, the cession of a great part of his northern dominions, and the immediate payment of fifteen lacks of rupees, and fifteen more hereafter, of which last term he fully understood the value.

The English during this war did not fulfil their engagement to aid the Mysorean chief in the defence of his dominions. Their councils, indeed, were in a very divided and distracted state. The crown had sent out Sir John Lindsay in a very anomalous character, as minister-plenipotentiary, holding a power nearly co-ordinate with that

of the governor and council. This person formed a close intimacy with the nabob Mohammed Ali, and joined him in urging that the presidency should embrace the cause of the invaders,-a measure which they firmly resisted; but these opposite impulses prevented action on either side. It was rather a subject of dismay to find that, in consequence of the large cessions extorted by the Mahrattas, their frontier and that of the British had actually come into contact.

Hyder, as soon as he had extricated himself from this invasion, employed the most active exertions to regain his lost territory. He turned his attention first to the Malabar coast, the communication with which could only be maintained through the intervening district of Coorg. He suddenly invaded that country, which he found almost wholly unprepared, and made a singular display of barbarian cruelty. He proclaimed a reward of five rupees for every head presented to him; then sat in state receiving and paying for these bloody trophies. But after seven hundred heads had been brought in, there appeared two with such peculiarly fine and handsome features, that he was moved with unwonted pity, and ordered the carnage to cease. Coorg was subdued; and the once powerful state of Calicut, distracted by internal commotions, scarcely made any resistance. Hyder's next aim was to recover the extensive territories wrested from him by the Mahrattas; and in this he was much favoured by the distractions in which that powerful confederacy was soon involved. Madoo Rao, their warlike chief, died in 1772, and after a short interval was succeeded by Ragonaut Rao, better known under the name of Ragoba, whose authority, however, was by no means fully acknowledged. The Mysorean rajah, therefore, fearlessly entered and overran a large portion of the ceded country. Ragoba, indeed, hastened to its defence, but being recalled by a violent insurrection, which ended in the overthrow of his power, he concluded a treaty allowing Hyder to occupy all the provinces south of the Kistna. Another army sent afterward under Hurry Punt, the leader of the party which expelled Ragoba, penetrated into Mysore; but Hyder having gained over a detachment of the Mahratta troops, baffled all his attempts, and obliged him to retreat.

Immediately after the treaty with Ragoba, the indefatigat ble Hyder began operations against a number of independen