?8 HINDOOSTANo 



The substance of the treaty was : 1st, That Tippoo was to cede one 

 half of his dominions to the allied powers. 2d, That he was to pay 

 three crores and thirty lacks of Rupees. 3d, That all prisoners were 

 to be restored. 4th, That two of the sultan's three eldest sons were to 

 become hostages for the due performance of the treaty. 



Thus ended a war in which the advantages gained by us may be. 

 briefly stated thus: 1, Our most formidable enemy was so reduced by 

 it, as to render our possessions in India both profitable and secure. 

 .2, Madras was secured from invasion by possession of the passes, 

 and covered by a territory defended by strong forts. 3, The value of 

 Bombay was greatly enhansed by possessions gained on the Malabar 

 coast, protected by Poligautcherry and the frontier of the Coorga 

 Rajah. These advantages, it may be presumed, far overbalanced the 

 expences of the war. By a statement of major Dirom it appears that 

 Tippoo lost in this war sixty-seven forts, eight hundred and one can- 

 nons, and forty-nine thousand three hundred and forty men. 



The ambition of Tippoo Sultan was for a time repressed by the 

 victories which had forced him to sign the treaty above-mentioned j 

 and his power diminished by the cessions he had been compelled to 

 make : still, however, he retained the same enmity to the British go- 

 vernment, and the desire of revenge, should any events afford him 

 encouragement and an opportunity again to resume his arms. The 

 war which took place between England and France, in consequence 

 of the French revolution, seemed to present such an opportunity, and 

 Tippoo willingly listened to the suggestions of French emissaries, that? 

 by entering into an alliance with that republic, he might receive from 

 it such aid and support as should not only enable him to regain the 

 territory he had lost, but entirely to drive the English out of Asia ? 

 and share the dominions they had there acquired with the French. 

 In the month of February, 1798, a proclamation was issued by the 

 governor-general of the isle of France, importing that an embassy 

 had arrived at the Isle of France with letters from Tippoo Sultan, ad- 

 dressed not only to the governor of that island, but to the executive 

 direccory of France, proposing to conclude an offensive and defensive 

 alliance with the French ; to subsidize and to supply whatever troops 

 the French might furnish to the sultan ; and to commence against 

 :he British power in India a war of aggression, for which the sultan 

 declared himself to be fully prepared. The proclamation concluded 

 iy offering encouragement to the subjects of France to enter into the 

 service of Tippoo Sultan, on terms to be fixed with his ambassadors 

 '.hen on the spot. The circumstances attending this proclamation, on 

 inquiry, established the fact, that Tippoo had actually concluded such 

 an alliance as was mentioned in it with the French ; and it also ap- 

 peared that he had dispatched an embassy to Zemaun Shah, the sul- 

 tan of the Abdalli, the object of which could be no other than to en- 

 courage that prince in the prosecution of his long intended invasion 

 of Hindoostan. The French expedition to Egypt, likewise, in the 

 summer of the same year, appeared to have for its ultimate object the 

 execution of a plan of invasion of the British settlements in India, in 

 conjunction with Tippoo. 



la consequence of these transactions, which so evidently menaced 

 hostility, lord Mornington, (now marquis of Wellesley) then governor- 

 general of Bengal, addressed a letter to Tippoo Sultan, in which he 

 expressed his surprise and concern at the intercourse he maintained^ 



