48 



INDIA. 



HUtoir- operations of Hyder AH and of the Pconah Mahrat- 



* V"*' Us have been already detailed : the army of the Berar 



Mahrattas, though it was put in motion, never arived 



at the projected scene of action, and the Nizam speed- 



ily made peace. 



Before we proceed to narrate the particulars of those 

 wars which took place between 1784 and the present 

 time, we shall, as shortly as possible, give an account 

 of the divisions of Hinclostan, as they existed in that 

 year, when the British were at peace with all the In- 

 dian princes. 



Sttieof In 1781, the British possessed, in full sovereignty, 



Hindottan, t h e whole soubhah of Bengal, and the greatest part of 

 A. D. ITU*. jjaJjjjp. Jn Orissa they possessed the districts of Mid- 

 napore : the district of Benares also belonged to them. 

 Of the five northern circars,- four were in their posses- 

 sion, and these occupied the sea coast from the lake of 

 Chilka to the northern banks of the Krishna river. 

 Their territories in the Carnatic were confined chiefly 

 to the tract called the Jaghire, which extends along 

 the coast about 108 miles, and stretches inland 47 miles 

 in the widest part. They also were masters of Bom- 

 bay and Salsette. The dominions of the nabob of Oude 

 lay on both sides of the Ganges, occupying nearly all 

 the flat country between that river and the northern 

 mountains, as well as the principal part of the Dooab, 

 or the tract of land formed by the approximation of the 

 Ganges and Jumnah, to within 40 miles of the city of 

 Delhi. The district of Rampoor, at the foot of the 

 northern mountains, was held by a Rohilla chief. The 

 Seiks occupied the most western part of Hindostan, 

 viz. the whole province of .Lahore, the principal part 

 of Multan, and the western part of Delhi. There were 

 besides several petty princes in this part of Hindostan. 

 The Mahrattas formed two distinct states ; that of 

 Poonah, or the western ; and that of Berar, or the 

 eastern. These states occupied all the southern parts 

 of Hindostan proper, together with a large portion of 

 the Decan, from the confines of Agra northward, to the 

 Krisnah southward, and from sea to sea across the 

 widest part of the peninsula ; comprehending Malwah, 

 Orissa, Khandeish, and Bejapour; the principal parts 

 of Berar, Guzerat, and Ajmeer ; and a small part of 

 Dowlatabad, Agra, and Allahabad. The western state 

 was divided among a number of chiefs, who professed 

 obedience to the Paishwah, or head. The Paishwah 

 resided at Poonah, and there were three principal chief- 

 tains on the north of this city, and two on the south. 

 Those on the north were Scindiah, Holkar, and Futty 

 Sing. The first was indeed a sovereign prince. After 

 the Mahratta peace, he extended his frontier from Mal- 

 wah towards the Jumnah ; carried his arms northward 

 to Delhi, and obtained possession of the person of the 

 Great Mogul. The principal part of Berar was held 

 by the Nagpoor Rajah, and the remainder by the Nizam 

 of the Decan. There were several states tributary to 

 the Mahrattas ; among others, the Rajpoot principali- 

 ties of the soubhah of Ajmeer. 



The possessions of the Nizam comprised the province 

 of Golconda ; the principal part of Dowlatabad ; the 

 western part of Berar ; and Guntoor, one of the five 

 northern circars. The dominions of Mahomed Ali, 

 nabob of the Carnatic, commenced en the south of the 

 Guntoor circar, and extended along the whole coast of 

 Coromandel to CapeComorin. The dominions of Tippoo 

 Sultan comprehended generally the provinces of Mysore, 

 Bednore, Coimbettore, Canara, and Dindigul, besides 

 his father's conquests to the north ; stretching as far as 

 Travancore and Madura on the south ; Soonda and Be- 



japour to the north ; Guntoor and Ongole on the north- 

 east, and the sea on the <west. Tippoo was without 

 doubt the most powerful of all the princes of Hindos- 

 tan. His dominions were equal in extent to Great 

 Britain ; his revenue was computed at four millions 

 Sterling; and his military establishment consisted of 

 72,830 regulars ; 49,000 in garrison ; 7000 irregulars, 

 and 26,300 auxiliaries ; in all, 155,130 men. Of the 

 regular troops, 27,400 were cavalry ; 36,000 sepoy in- 

 fantry, Hindoos and Mahomedans ; 7300 topasses or 

 hatmen, that is, the descendants of the Portuguese 

 and other Europeans, infantry ; 200 European caval- 

 ry ; and 540 European foot. The artillery corps, con- 

 sisting of European topasses, &c. amounted to 1390. 

 There were 110 guns attached to the battalions; the 

 horse garrisons on the frontiers amounted to 21,000, 

 and the foot garrisons to 28,000. The auxiliaries were 

 supplied from the rajahs of Kydroog, Darwar, &c. and 

 consisted of 13,300 horse, and 13,000 peons, or irre- 

 gular troops. 



It was not to be supposed that a person, possessed 

 of the ambitious and restless disposition which charac- 

 terised Tippoo, would long remain at peace with such 

 an immense force at his disposal, or that he would find 

 any difficulty in raising pretences for commencing hos- 

 tilities. Accordingly, towards the end of the year 

 1789, he approached the country of Travancore for the 

 avowed purpose of recovering two places which the 

 rajah of that district had purchased from the Dutch, 

 but which Tippoo alleged were dependent upon him, 

 as forming part of the possessions of his tributary the 

 Rajah of Cochin. On the 2gth of December, he storm. 

 ed the lines of the Rajah of Travancore, who was not 

 disposed to to accede to his demands; but without suc- 

 cess. As this Rajah had put himself under the pro- 

 tection of the British government, and was acknow- 

 ledged to be so, by the treaty concluded with Tippoo 

 in 1784, war between the latter and the British seem- 

 ed unavoidable. Lord Cornwallis at this time was 

 Governor General of India. His first object was to 

 enter into a treaty offensive and defensive with the 

 Nizam. This was accordingly concluded on the 4th 

 of July 1790. A treaty was also formed with the 

 Paishwah of the Mahrattas. " The provisions of these 

 treaties were, that measures should be instantly taken 

 to punish Tippoo, and to deprive him of the means of 

 disturbing the general tranquillity, and that the Ni- 

 zam and the Paishwah should both vigorously prosecute 

 the war. 



The British Madras army was assembled on the plain 

 of Trichinopoly, and on the 24th of May 1790, Gene- 

 ral Meadows, who was to take the command^ joined it. 

 On the 12th of June, he entered the territories of the 

 Sultan. His first object was to relieve the Rajah of 

 Travancore ; and, before the end of the year, he was 

 completely successful. In the mean time, the Bombay 

 troops under general Abercrombie conquered the va- 

 luable districts below the Ghauts on the west and the 

 north, as far as the River Baliapatam. The next cam- 

 paign was carried on by Lord Cornwallis himself in 

 the centre of Tippoo's kingdom. The important fort- 

 ress of Bangalore was conquered. A successful battle 

 was fought near Seringapatam ; but the unfavourable 

 season of the year, which now began, and the delay of 

 the Mahrattas, prevented his Lordship from attacking 

 that city, which had been his principal design when he 

 commenced the campaign. In the mean time, the 

 Bombay army was marching to join his Lordship ; but 

 being unable to effect the junction, from the badness 

 3 



History. 



Tippoo in- 

 vades Trn- 

 vanco'e. 

 A, D. 1787, 



and is opp*. 

 sed by the 

 British, 



