VELLORE. 
403 
has been the removal of the males of Tippoo's family to Calcutta. 
I trust that the dreadful massacre, which took place on the 10th of 
July 1806, has awakened the Governors of India to a due sense of 
the dangers that surround them, from the determined hostility of 
all the Mussulmaun princes of that country. There can be no 
doubt that Tippoo's sons, particularly Moiz-ud-Deen, were deeply 
implicated in the conspiracy ; and it appears equally certain that 
the promptitude of Colonel Gillespie alone savetj us from a reli- 
gious war throughout the Carnatic. 
It must not be forgotten, that a similar attempt was made in 
Bengal by Vizier Ali. Though the danger was at that time obviated, 
yet the seeds of hostility still remain, and can be removed only by 
the vigilance of Government, and a scrupulous attention to the 
prejudices of the Hindoos, who form a majority of the population 
of the country. The enmity and attempts of Tippoo's family must 
have proved completely unavailing, had we not absurdly furnished 
them with arguments to mislead the minds of the sepoys, by per- 
sisting in a measure, which had created such general discontent. 
Nothing indeed could be more unfounded than the insinuations, 
that there was any intention of obliging the sepoys to become 
Christians ; it is even probable that the turban itself, which was 
proposed to be generally introduced among our native troops, was 
in reality not contrary to their religious customs; nevertheless, 
when it was discovered that the objects of Government had been 
misrepresented, and that this very turban had been stated, and 
generally believed, to be only a preparatory step to more serious 
innovations, it is almost incredible that the Governor of Madras 
should, for a moment, have delayed to recall the order. General 
VOL. I. 3 F 
