posed part of the road, upwards of fifty pieces of cannon began to play upon them with the most terrible effect. The several narratives vary somewhat as to the further issues of this dreadful day. According to official and other statements, the English repulsed repeated charges with prodigies of valour. Their bravery indeed is nowhere denied; but private accounts assert that Colonel Baillie, unaccustomed to separate command, and flying in an agitated manner from post to post, took no fixed position, and did not avail himself of his real advantages. The grenadiers called out to be led on, and not exposed without the means of resistance to the destructive fire of the enemy. Suddenly two tum brils exploded, spreading dismay, and threatening a failure of ammunition. The Mysorean cavalry, headed by a desperado named Sindia, made a furious charge, by which the whole sepoy force was broken, and mingled with the enemy in inextricable confusion. The handful of British troops still kept their ground; but as no hope could be entertained of their being able to withstand the whole army of Hyder, Colonel Baillie walked in front, waved his handkerchief, and concluded that he had obtained the promise of quarter. But when the enemy rushed in, either disregarding their pledge, or indignant at a straggling fire which was still kept up by the sepoys, they treated the troops with the utmost cruelty, stabbing those already wounded, and even women and children. The only humanity which was exercised was obtained through the exertions of the French officers Lally and Pimorin. The greater part of the corps perished on the field; all the rest, including 200 Europeans, were taken prisoners.

Such was this miserable catastrophe, on which Colonel Wilks hesitates not to pronounce, that if either of the commanders had followed the dictates of ordinary experience, both corps would have been saved; and if the two chiefs had acted well, the discomfiture would have been on the side of the enemy. Sir Hector advanced within two miles of the fatal spot; but observing the firing cease, and no return made to his signals, he withdrew; and, on learning the fate of the detachment, fell back to Chingleput, where he was joined by a smaller party under Colonel Cosby, who had conducted his retreat with ability and success. The prisoners were conveyed to Seringapatam, where they

GENERAL COOTE TAKES THE COMMAND. 65

were used with the greatest inhumanity, being chained two and two, thrown into dungeons, and fed on the most scanty fare.

The first advantage that the ruler of Mysore drew from this victory was the reduction of Arcot, which, after a respectable defence, surrendered on the 3d November, 1800. He held also in close siege Wandewash, Vellore, Chingleput, and other important bulwarks of the Carnatic.

The intelligence of this signal disaster being conveyed to the main seat of government at Calcutta, Mr. Hastings immediately took the most active steps to repair it. Sir Eyre Coote, a veteran officer, enjoying the highest military reputation of any in India, was appointed to the chief command, and sent from Bengal with 560 European troops, while a corps of sepoys prepared to march along the coast as soon as the rainy season should terminate. At the same time the Governor of Madras was suspended, and his place in course supplied by the senior member of council, who had always opposed his inactive policy; but the funds for the prosecution of the war were placed in the hands of the new commander-in-chief.

General Coote, on arriving at Madras, and preparing to take the field, found at his disposal not more than 7000 men, of whom 1700 only were Europeans. Yet with this force, so far from fearing, he anxiously desired to encounter in the field the numerous, brave, and well-commanded army of the enemy. What he dreaded was the harassing warfare carried on by Hyder in a country which he had already converted almost into a desert. The English army, when it left Madras, was like a ship departing on a long voyage, or a caravan preparing to cross the deserts of Arabia. Every thing by which life could be supported was to be carried, along with it; and the troops, continuing to depend on the capital alone for supply, were in danger of absolute famine. As they moved in a close body through this desolated region, never occupying more than the ground which they actually covered, clouds of the enemy's cavalry hovered round them; who, finding that they did not choose to waste their ammunition on individual objects, even rode up to the line and held an occasional parley. This consisted chiefly in fierce defiances and invitations to single combat. Dallas, an officer of great personal prowess, successfully encoun

tered several of the Indian chiefs, and his name was called out by the most daring. In this mode of fighting, however, the natives in general had the advantage.

Harassing as such a warfare was, and though the Mysorean chief continued to refuse battle, he was obliged to raise the siege of every place upon which the English directed their march. In this manner the important fortresses of Wandewash and Permacoil were relieved, and a stop was thereby put to the career of the enemy. The British commander, however, in following the rapid movements of this indefatigable adversary, found his troops so exhausted, and reduced to such destitution, as left no prospect of relief except in a general action, which he scarcely hoped to accomplish. But Hyder at length, encouraged by the appearance of a French fleet on the coast, and by a repulse sustained by the English in attacking the pagoda of Chillumbrum, intrenched his army in a strong post near Cuddalore, where he at once maintained his communication with the sea, and cut off the supplies of his opponent. The station was extremely formidable; but Sir Eyre Coote skilfully led his men through a passage formed by the enemy for a different purpose, drew up the troops in the face of several powerful batteries, as well as of a vast body of cavalry, and finally carried all before him. Hyder, seated on a portable stool upon an eminence in the rear of the army, was struck with amazement at the success of the attack, and burst into the most furious passion; refusing for some time to move from the spot, till a trusty old servant almost by force drew the slippers on his legs, and placed him on a swift horse, which bore him out of the reach of danger.

This victory enabled the English commander to relieve Wandewash a second time, which was again closely pressed by Tippoo; but it did not supply his urgent want of money, provisions, and equipments. After sundry marches and countermarches, Hyder once more took ground, and waited battle in a position chosen by himself, being no other than that fortunate spot, as he deemed it, near the village of Polilloor, where he had gained the triumph over the corps of Colonel Baillie. Here General Coote led his troops to an action which proved more bloody than decisive. He placed them in various positions, but found them everywhere

ENGAGEMENTS WITH HYDER.

67

severely annoyed by a cross-fire from the enemy. Mr. Mill's authorities even assert that his movements were paralyzed by a dispute between him and Sir Hector Monro, and that had Hyder made a vigorous charge he would have completely carried the day. But he at length yielded the ground on which the battle was fought, and the English reached it over the dead bodies of their yet unburied countrymen, who had fallen in the former action. The present, according to Mr. Mill, was boasted of in the Mysorean accounts as a complete victory; but Colonel Wilks says they represented it merely as a drawn battle, which was not very far from the truth.

Neither the fame nor strength of the British army was improved by this engagement. The commander, however, having learned that the important fortress of Vellore was besieged and reduced to extremity, determined upon a vigorous attempt to relieve it; and having understood that Hyder was posted at Sholinghur, resolved upon another effort to bring him to action. On the morning of the 27th September he pushed forward with such vigour as very nearly to surprise the Indians before their ranks could be fully formed. They rallied indeed, and made several brisk charges, but were finally obliged to betake themselves to flight, with the loss of 5000 men, while only a hundred fell on the side of the assailants. General Coote was thus enabled, though not without difficulty, to march upon Vellore, the siege of which was abandoned on his approach.

The war continued with various fortune. Intelligence having been received of hostilities between the English and Dutch, Lord Macartney, now president at Madras, formed the design of reducing Negapatam, the capital of their settlements; and, finding Sir Eyre Coote opposed to the measure, completed, without drawing from the main army, a detachment of 4000 men, commanded by Sir Hector Monro. The enterprise was conducted with the greatest vigour, and five successive lines of redoubts were carried by the besiegers, with such energy and intrepidity that the garrison, though consisting of about 8000 men, capitulated in fourteen days. All the other Dutch settlements on the same coast fell along with it; and even their important station of Trincomalee, on the island of Ceylon, was carried by storm.

Meantime Colonel Brathwaite, with a body of 2000 men, was recovering for the English their ascendency in Tanjore. His corps, however, when the whole country was occupied by the Mysorean cavalry, seems to have been too small to remain with safety detached from the main army. Hyder not only cut off from the British all sources of accurate information, but opened corrupted fountains; all the spies who pretended to give them intelligence were in his pay; and Brathwaite remained encamped on the banks of the Coleroon, without a suspicion that the flower of the enemy's forces were hemming him in on every side. Even when assured of the fact by one of the natives, he was so misled by opposite information as to think the assertion unworthy of credit. Suddenly he found himself enclosed by an army of more than ten times his number. All accounts agree that the resistance of this devoted little corps was truly gallant, and that, during the protracted contest, it repulsed repeated and desperate attacks. But at length an onset by the French troops broke the sepoys; the whole were thrown into confusion, and finally either killed or obliged to surrender. The French officers displayed their usual humanity, and even Tippoo, who commanded, did not on this occasion treat the prisoners with his accustomed cruelty.

Notwithstanding this triumph, Hyder felt deep anxiety as to his future prospects. He learned that, through the indefatigable exertions made by Mr. Hastings from Bengal, the Mahratta government had withdrawn from his alliance, and had even bound themselves to guaranty the British territory as it stood at the period of their last treaty. At the same time a detachment, which he had sent to besiege Tellicherry on the Malabar coast, met with a very unexpected resistance; they were not only unable to make any impression, but, on a strong reinforcement being received from Bombay, were beaten and compelled to surrender. Hyder was so much depressed by these unfavourable circumstances, that he had even formed the design of evacuating the Carnatic, when tidings arrived of a strong body of French troops having arrived on the coast; and, accordingly, on the 10th March, they were landed to the amount of 3000. The French and their allies, considering themselves now decidedly superior in the field, immediately laid