TIPPOO RECEIVES A PARTY FROM MAURITIUS. 107 



6ion arrived at Mauritius, where they were altogether un- 

 expected ; but when Malartic, the governor, learned their 

 purpose, animated by that desire to promote national inter- 

 ests which generally characterizes Frenchmen, he deter- 

 mined to give them a cordial reception. They landed 

 under a salute of artillery, and were conducted to the gov- 

 ernment-house, where they were received in state. Ma- 

 lartic expressed the utmost readiness to accede to the pro- 

 posals of the sultan, which were no less than that he should 

 send an army of 25 or 30,000 men to assist in conquering 

 the English, the nizam, and the Mahrattas, and to divide 

 all India with himself. The arrangement was fully com- 

 pleted, with the important exception, that of the powerful 

 military force by which these mighty projects were to be 

 accomplished there did not exist a single soldier. All that 

 could be done was to transmit the plan, accompanied with 

 strong recommendations, to the executive Directory ; and, 

 in the mean time, to invite as many as possible of the 

 Frenchmen and natives resident on the island to enrol as 

 volunteers. With the most palpable imprudence the gov- 

 ernor issued a proclamation announcing the arrival of the 

 ambassadors and the object they had in view, and calling 

 upon all the citizens who had any martial spirit to enlist 

 under the banners of the Mysorean sovereign, who made 

 the most liberal offers of pay and allowances. They thus 

 succeeded in levying exactly ninety-nine persons, — a motley 

 group, — Europeans, Creoles, citizens, soldiers, sailors; and 

 with this troop, for want of more and better, the ambassa- 

 dors were fain to depart. They landed at Mangalore on 

 the 26th April, 1798 ; when Tippoo, though galled at the 

 utter disappointment of his expectations, and the rash ex- 

 posure made at the Mauritius, had still the means of avert- 

 ing the danger. He might, indeed, have disowned the en- 

 voys, and refused their mock-auxiliaries, while, by secret 

 explanations, he might at the same time have contrived to 

 keep open the communication with France. But he seems 

 to have been in a state of blind and violent excitation. 

 The embassy, with their slender accompaniment, were 

 welcomed to the capital, where they founded a Jacobin 

 club, planted the tree of liberty surmounted with the cap 

 of equality, and on the public parade hailed the sovereign 

 as " Citizen Tippoo." In these republican forms the sultan 



