52 
llisiorg of Cegloii 
stores sufficient to undergo a siege, had suffered to fall into their 
hands. And thus the attempts of the English to attain pos- 
session of Ceylon were for tliis time frustrated. 
The iiiimense accessions of territory which the English have 
acquired in the East Indies since the conclusion of the Ame- 
rican war have rendered them greatiy an over-match for any 
other European power in that quarter of the world. On the 
vast peninsiiia of India, in particular, there is scarcely a power 
either foreign or native that can oppose to them any effectual 
resisfonce ; and they are left at leisure to cultivate the in- 
valuable advantages which this rich country presents to their 
eomraerce. The chief obstacle to their enterprises is the want 
of stations where their ships might be enabled at all times to- 
baffle the violent storms iiicidental to that climate. As the 
whole of that large tract which we possess along tlie Coro- 
mandel coast presents nothing but open roads, ail vessels are 
obliged, on the approach of the monsoons, to stand out into 
tlie open sea; and there are many parts of the coast that 
can be approached during only a few months of the year. 
As the harbour of Trincomalee, which is equally secure at all 
seasons, offered the means of obviating these disadvantages, 
it was evident that, on the first rupture with the Dutch, our 
countrymen would attempt to gain possession of it. Accord- 
ingly, the junction of the Dutch with the French Republic 
in the late war was the signal for the commencement of our 
operations against their colonies in the East. A body of 
troops was in 1795 detached for the conquest of Ceylon ; and 
this enterprise was crowned with success, after a course of 
military operations wliich 1 Tiail detail when I come to de- 
scribe the several places where they were carried on. 
4 
