INDIA. 



course to that city with a body of 6000 cavalry ; and 

 alter man-hint; about HO miles in three days, present- 

 ed himself <>n Mount St Timine. The presidency was 

 so mut .1 alarmetl at his unexpected appearance, that 

 they entered into a negociation with him ; and on the 

 3d of April, an offensive and defenv.ve tre.ity was con- 

 I, i.n the simple condition, that the forts and 

 places taken on both skies should be restored. 



i after this treaty, HydT was involved in a war 

 with the Mahrattas. on which occasion he sought, Imt 

 in vain, that assistance from the British, which, by 

 treaty, they were bound to give him. In this war he 

 wa* at first very unsuccessful, having been totally de- 

 feated, in the year 177'. within a few miles of his own 

 capital. He himself escaped with great difficulty, with 

 a small remnant of his army, into Seringapatam, where 

 he defied the attacks of hi* aaraeraiii enausiea. who 

 poauiirrl neither the skill nor the ordinary requisite* 

 lor a /r I lyder waited in patience, until the ene- 

 my, by desolating the country, were compelled to leave 

 it. 



In 17~3, the Mahrattas crossed the Ganges to invade 

 the Rohili . ; a brigade of ti army 



marched to the western frontier of that country, and 

 drove the enemy beyond the river. For this protection, 

 the Huliilla chid* had stipulated to pay Sujah Dowlah, 

 a* whose allies the British acted, 40 lacks of rupee* ; 

 but when the service was performed, they payment wa* 

 evaded. 1 hi* breach of treaty led to the invasion and 

 conquest of the Kobilla country in 1774. A consider- 

 able tract of land m tW Doaab wa* alao coaiqvend from 

 the Ghauts. Thus the boundary of thr province of Uude 

 wa* advanced westward within 90 miles of Agra ; north- 

 westward to the upper part of the navigable course of 

 the Ganges ; and south westward to the Jommah river. 

 In the fo lowing year, on the death of .Suiah Dowlah, 

 the province of Benares wa* ceded to the British. 



In the year 177*. a war broke out between the Bri- 

 tish and the weitrrn Mahratus. This occasioned the 

 aarcfa of a brigade from Bengal aero** the continent to 

 the side of Bombay and Surat By some miinuinj.1 

 ant, it was obliged to capsrnUte with the Mahratta 

 gem-rat on the 9th of January 1 779. One of the term* 

 was, that a body of troops, which were advancing on 

 the other side, should be obliged to return to Bengal ; 

 i condition was not complied with, and the ex- 

 pedition proceeded. There were not mare than 7000 

 men, all native troops, rnraeaaniiarl by European offi- 

 cer* ; and yet they marched from the hanks of the 

 Jumnah to the western sea in despite of the Mahratta*, 

 whose empire tney traversed almost the whole way. 

 ar was attended by the conquest, by the English, 

 of the finest part* of the Guaerat and the Concan, m- 



dabad; in short, of the whole country from A hmedabad 

 to the river Pennar, and inland t/i the foot of the Ghauta ; 

 andonthesideefOude, the province of Gated and 

 other districts, together with the calibrated fbrtrrs. of 

 Gwahor, were reduced, and the war wa* carried into 

 the heart of Malwah. But, in consequence of the war 

 which broke out in the year 1780 with Hyder Ali, 

 peace was made with the Mahratta*, after detaching 

 Sdaxhah, the principal rasaibar of that state, from the 

 confederacy. All the acquisition* made daring the 

 war were given up, except nsantl* and the small islands 

 situated within the gutf fanned by Bombay, StlaatU, 

 and the continent. 



Hyurr All. indignant at the refusal of the British to 

 aaaiat hjaa igaimt the Mahratta*, made peace with thjaa, 



and prepared for the invasion of the Carnatic. On the Hmary. 

 24th of July 178 '. Hyder All's cavalry were only nine V "^"Y""' 

 miles distant from Madras ; and it was ascertained, 

 that his whole lore* consisted of 100,000 men, among 

 whom was a large body of European troops, under 

 French officers, and commanded t>y Colonel I.ally. In 

 this emergency, Sir Hector Munru ordered the British 

 armv to assemble at Conjeveram, and directed Colonel 

 Baillie, who commanded a detachment at Gumeropan- 

 da. to join him at that place ; but this detachment was 

 cut to pieces by Trppoo Saib, Hyder's son. This ob- 

 liged the Carnatic army to retreat, till Sir Eyre Coote 

 arrived from Bengal with a brigade of 7000 men, and 

 assumed the command. Sir Eyre immediately restored 

 the spirits of the army, and in a very short space of 

 time defeated Hyder in five several battles. In some 

 instances, however, the British were not so successful ; 

 for Tippoo entirely defeated a detachment of about 

 8000 infantry, and SOU cavalry, under Colonel Itraith- 

 waite. In the end of the year"l78'2 Hyder died ; and His death, 

 one of the first objects of Tippoo, who succeeded him, A- D- 

 was to recover Canara, which had lieen conquered by a 

 detachment under General Matthews. It had been 

 supposed by the presidency of Bengal, that an attack 

 : JKXJ'S provinces on the west of India, would, by 

 giving an easy and immediate entry into the most va- 

 luable part of his dominions, draw him off from the 

 Carnatic, which he still occupied, notwithstanding the 

 What* which his father had sustained. Accordingly 

 General Matthew* WM sent into Canara, a province 

 which Hyder Ali had conquered in 1763, and he suc- 

 ceeded in reducing the whole of it. The scheme suc- 

 ceeded in drawing Tippoo from the Carnatic into Ca- 

 nara ; but at the dreadful expense uf the loss of Gene- 

 ral Matthews and his army, which was obliged to capi- 

 tulate, on condition of being allowed to go to Bombay. 

 This condition, however, was not fulfilled ; and Gene- 

 ral Matthews, and 90 of his officers, were poisoned, and 

 most of hU troops were massacred. At last Tippoo find- 



enemies, were at 

 liberty to attack him, 



eing deat HeJ by the French in consequence of 

 the peace of 1 783, condescended to treat in March 1784. 

 By this treaty, matter* were restored nearly to the con- 

 dition in which they had been before the commence- 

 eat of hostilities. 



Having given this brief sketch of the wars in which 

 the British were engaged with the Mahratus, and with 

 Hyder Ali and his son, it will be proper to advert to 

 a general confederacy which seems to have been enter- 

 ed into agdnst the British, of the plan of which these 

 wan formed a part. The Nizam of the Decan having CenMcucr 

 taken disgurt at the conduct of the Madras government "? * 

 toward* him in 1779, determined on revenge. Under Bnl " h> 

 the iaaueoce of this feeling, he resolved to engage all 

 wen of Hindostan Proper and the De- 

 British. The Poonah Mahrattas were 

 engaged, and Hyder was preparing. There 

 id the Nizam himself, and the Berar M.ihrattas. 

 Each party was to pursue a particular scheme of attack, 

 suited to his local position and means. Hyder was to 

 attack the Carnatic; the Nizam the Circars ; the Poo- 

 nah Mahrattas were to keep the Guzerat army employ- 

 ed ; and the Berar Mahrattas were to invade and lay 

 waste the provinces of Bengal and Bahar. But this 

 confederacy, like most others among nations of different 

 habit* and interests, did not act in concert, or towards 

 the attainment of a common oliji ct : each member of 

 k pursued its own peculiar plans and interests. The 



most of hU troop* were massacred. Al 

 ing that the Mahrattas, hi* inveterate < 

 peace with the English, and at liber 

 and being deserted by the French ii 



