437 
An Account of the JFar in 1803. 
regiment, with some Sepoys, and 200 of the royal artillery from the Cape of Good 
Hope, arriving most seasonably in August and September on the island; which, with a 
force from Bengal, ensured the safety of our possessions from any attempts of the 
natives. The Governor ordered detachments to take the field, and disperse those 
bodies of Candians who had entered our provinces, as also to bring back the re- 
volted natives to their allegiance. 
By the most consummate bravery and skill, our small body of troops soon re- 
trieved the almost desperate situation of affairs. The enemy were speedily driven 
from before the walls and from the neighbourhood of Columbo ; the communica- 
tion was rapidly re-opened between our different settlements, and the Candians 
driven back with immense loss to their own country. The affair mentioned in the 
following official dispatch completed the discomfiture of the Candians, and restored 
our settlements to security. 
Dow 7 iing-street, April 5. 
A dispatch, of which the following is a copy, was this day received by Lord 
Hobart, from the Hon. F. North, Governor of Ceylon : — 
My Lord, — It has pleased God to bless the exertions of our small force with 
the most extraordinary success. Not more than eight days ago, the King of Candy, 
at the head of the most numerous force which he could collect in his dominions, 
burst into these settlements at Sittivacca, and attacked the petty fortress of Hang- 
welle, at the distance of 18 English miles from this city, which was defended 
by a small garrison of 50 Europeans, 160 Sepoys, and 17 Gun-Lascars, on the 
-[^d, 4th, and 6th of this month. — Of these actions, the last was by far the most 
bloody and decisive. After a combat of an hour and a half, the Candians were 
defeated with great slaughter, their guns taken, together with the royal standard, 
and more than 120 Bengal and Madrass Lascars, rvho had been made prisoners 
at Candy, and compelled to work at the Candian guns, were brought back again to 
our service. The King fled at the beginning of the action, and was followed by 
Leuke, Dessauve of the four corles, and by the Maha Mohottiar, or chief secre- 
tary of state, both of whose heads he ordered immediately to be struck off. A re- 
inforcement was sent up on the night after the battle, consisting of 50 Europeans, 
and 80 Seapoys, under Captain Hankey, to join Captain Bollock, who had com- 
manded on that day, the ill health of Lieutenant Mercer, who had hitherto de- 
fended the place with great vigour and judgment, having rendered it necessary to relieve 
him from that fatiguing command. Captain Pollock marched forward towards the 
Candian frontier, on the morning of the 9th, and after overcoming all opposition, 
arrived on the morning of the 13th at Rouanelly, on the Calana Ganga, in the 
Candian territory, where the King had formed his principal magazine. Captain 
Buchan (who had proceeded with a detachment from Negumbo, through the Hina 
and the Hapittigam Cories) arrived there, at the same time, on the other side of 
the river; the enemy fled; the stores fell into our hands, and have been brought 
away ; and the town, with the King’s new Palace there, entirely burnt. 
The districts of Galle and Matura,of Chilou and Putlam, are also delivered 
