C26 



TIPPOO BAIB TIRAILLEURS. 



length about 170 miles. It is rendered famous for 

 a battle between tin- Americans and Indians, in 

 November, 1811. 



TIPPOO S AIB, sultan of Mysore, son of Hyder 

 Ally, born in 1751, succeeded his father in 1782. 

 (Se'e Hyder Ally and Mysore.) He continued the 

 war in which his father was engaged with the Bri- 

 (ish until the peace of Paris (1783), which deprived 

 him of the assistance of the French ; and the alli- 

 ance of the Mahrattns with the British induced liini 

 to sign the treaty of Mangalore, in 1784, on advan- 

 tageous terms. His kingdom had now a superficial ex- 

 tent of 97,500 square miles, with a revenue of about 

 14,000,000 dollars. The country was well peopled 

 and under good cultivation, and the people, although 

 of Hindoo origin, contented with the Mohammedan 

 government. But Tippoo soon showed himself fa- 

 natical and intolerant. He caused the Bramins to 

 lie cruelly beaten, or forcibly circumcised, when 

 they would not consent to renounce their faith, and 

 treated the Christians with such rigour, that more 

 than 70,000 left his dominions. In 1787, he again 

 attacked the Mahrattas, and, in 1789, turned his 

 arms against the rajah of Travancore, an ally of the 

 British. An offensive and defensive treaty was 

 concluded (June 1790) between the East India 

 company, the Peishwa, and Nizam Ali. In the 

 campaign of 1790, several places were reduced by 

 the allies, and, in that of 1791, in which lord Corn- 

 wallis commanded in person, they besieged Tippoo 

 in his capital, Seringapatam. (q. v.) A peace was 

 concluded, February, 1792, by the terms of which 

 the sultan of Mysore consented to relinquish nearly 

 half of his territory, and to pay 30,000,000 rupees 

 (about 3,375,000). The ceded territory was di- 

 vided between the allies. But Tippoo was unwilling 

 to submit to this loss, and endeavoured, though 

 without success, to engage some of the native 

 powers in a war with the company. He also en- 

 tered into negociations with the French ; and his 

 intrigues were discovered to the British by the pro- 

 clamation of the governor of the Isle of France, 

 encouraging the inhabitants to enter his service. 

 Suspecting that the preparations of Tippoo were 

 connected with Bonaparte's invasion of Egypt, and 

 receiving from him only evasive answers to their in- 

 quiries, the Company determined to anticipate 

 hostilities, and, on the 22d of February, 1799, in 

 connexion with their former allies, they declared 

 war against the sultan. The forces of the native 

 allies being occupied by domestic troubles, the Bri- 

 tish were obliged to conduct the war alone. Two 

 armies, under generals Stuart and Harris, entered 

 Mysore, defeated Tippoo in two battles, and formed 

 a junction before Seringapatam, whither he had re- 

 treated. yrhe place was reduced by storm. May 4, and 

 Tippoo perished in the assault. The whole of My- 

 sore was now divided between the allies. The Bri- 

 tish annexed portions of the territory to the presi- 

 dencies of Madras and Bombay, and erected another 

 portion into a vassal kingdom under the young raja 

 or Kurtur Krishna, son of the last raja (who died 

 in prison in 1796), who was found in prison in Se- 

 ringapatam. The children of Tippoo, with his 

 wives and female relations, received the fort of 

 Vellore, in the Carnatic, as a place of residence, 

 with a yearly pension of 720,000 rupees from the 

 English East India Company. Tippoo Saib was a 

 man of bold and deep views, and evinced much pru- 

 dence and sagacity in the execution of his projects. 

 But, unfortunately for himself, he was surrounded 

 with flatterers, and neglected his old officers and 



coun-.-llors. His library, and hi* tiger, an automa- 

 ton with which lie was accustomed to amuse him- 

 self at table, are in the East India House, in Lon- 

 don. 



TIPTOFT. See Worcester, Earl of. 



TlllABOSCHI, GIROLAMO. This Italian scho- 

 lar, born in 1731, at Bergamo, was distinguished 

 for love of learning and unwearied application, even 

 in early youth, when his father placed him, at i leven 

 years of age, in the Jesuit college of Monza, where 

 he enjoyed the instruction of learned teachers, am! 

 at the same time acquired such a fondness for the 

 clerical profession, that he persuaded his lather, to 

 let him, at fifteen years of age, commence his novi- 

 tiate at Genoa. On its expiration, after the usual 

 period of two years, he was directed toghe instruc- 

 tion for five years in the lower schools in Milan, 

 and afterwards in Novara. He was subsequently 

 appointed to the professorship of rhetoric at Milan, 

 in the university of Brera. In this situation, he 

 distinguished himself, not only as a teacher, hut as 

 an author. Several works of deep research and un- 

 common solidity obtained for him an olfer of the, 

 place of librarian to Francis III. of Modena. Tira- 

 boschi made use of the valuable resources thus 

 placed at his command, to compose his celebrated 

 work Storia della Letteratura Italiana, which ap- 

 peared successively in fourteen volumes. This 

 work, which, in extent of learning, in accuracy, in 

 completeness, and in style, has not its equal in any 

 literature, extends from the commencement of in- 

 tellectual cultivation in Italy to the year 1700, and 

 excites so much the more wonder at the quantity 

 and value of its contents, as it was completed in the 

 short space of ten years, during which the author 

 also found time, as if for recreation, to produce va- 

 rious other works, which are highly distinguished 

 in their kind ; as the Biblioteca Modcnese. He also 

 wrote other works of a literary, historical and theo- 

 logical nature. He died at Modena, 1794, a sacri- 

 fice to his incessant application. 



TIRADE; along, declamatory strain, generally 

 of a violent nature. This term probably originated 

 from the musical expression tirata, which formerly 

 signified a series of notes of the same kind, rising 

 and falling by degrees. 



TIRAILLEURS ; a name given, since the wars 

 of the French revolution, to a species of infantry, 

 intended to fight seldom in close order, but mostly 

 dispersed, two and two always supporting eaeh 

 other, and in general to skirmish in front of the 

 columns and troops of the line. The movements 

 of the tirailleurs, nevertheless, are systematically 

 ordered : they are directed by signals, generally 

 given by bugles or small trumpets. The chief re- 

 quisites of good tirailleurs are great activity, and a 

 correct and keen eye, in order to accommodate 

 themselves promptly to circumstances; to collect 

 quickly into masses when so ordered, and dispeise 

 again with equal expedition ; and to act, constantly 

 in unison with the whole army. They must be 

 good marksmen, though they do not need the sumo 

 degree of expertness as the sharp-shooters. The 

 French introduced the system of tirailleurs in the 

 wars in their revolution ; having taken the idea, 

 probably, from the practice of the people of North 

 America, in the revolutionary war. (See Infantry.') 

 As the French, when first attacked, could not op- 

 pose their enemies with troops equally well disci- 

 plined, they adopted the system of columns, pre- 

 ceded by tirailleurs. Long practice developed the 

 rude beginnings, until tirailleurshave become indis- 



