H I N D O 
dent on Bengal, or invade the northern circars of the Car¬ 
natic. See the article Circars, vol. iv. p. 608. Tippoo, 
in the mean while, who then poffelled the commodious 
port of Mangalore, on the coaft of Malabar, was-prepar¬ 
ing to ruth down the Ghauts, and overrun the province of 
Arcot, and the fouthern diftriCls potfeffed by the Englilh. 
It was about this time, that the daring projeCt of Bona¬ 
parte to attack the Britiih fettlements in India through 
Egypt and Arabia, began to unfold itfelf. Of the views 
of Napoleon on India, the following letter is plainly il- 
luftrative: 
«* Bonaparte, Member of the National Convention, Gene¬ 
ral in Chief, to the moll magnificent Sultaun, our great- 
eft Friend, Tippoo Saheb. 
“ Head Quarters at Cairo, 7th Pluvoife, 7th year of 
the Republic, One and Indivifible. 
“ You have already been informed of my arrival on the 
borders of the Red Sea, with an innumerable and invin¬ 
cible army, full of the defire of delivering you from the 
iron yoke of England. I eagerly embrace this opportu¬ 
nity of teftifying to you, the defire I have of being informed 
by you, by the way of Mufcat, and Mocha, as to your po¬ 
litical fituation ; X w'ould even with you could fend fome 
intelligent perfon to Suez or Cairo, poffeffing your confi¬ 
dence, with whom I may confer.—May the Almighty in- 
creafe your power, and deftroy your enemies. 
(Signed) Bonaparte.” 
India then lay fairly open to his ambitious views, ei¬ 
ther by tranfporting a force acrofs the Indian Ocean, pro¬ 
ceeding by the way of Baffora, or purfuing a route by 
the Black Sea, and traverfing the regions that intervene 
between the Cafpian and the Indus. Providentially, the 
glorious battle of Aboukir crippled the operations of the 
invader, though it could not compel him w’holly to reiin- 
quilh his daring enterprize. See the article England, 
vol. vi. p. 790. 
The thirft for revenge, which feems to have preyed in- 
ceffantly upon the mind of Tippoo, fince his defeat by 
the Englilh under lord Cornwallis, in 1792, betrayed 
his plans, and revealed, to the vigilant enquiries of the 
earl of Mornington, the various negociations he had let 
on foot. He had not only entered into a defenfive and 
offenfive alliance with France, but alfo invited the co¬ 
operation of the Porte, of Zeman Shah, chief of the Af¬ 
ghans, and of every Indian chieftain that could lead an 
army into the -field. Thefe faCts being unqueftionably af- 
certained, the new governor-general immediately decided 
on the line of conduft which his duty required of him: 
with a promptitude almolt unexampled, he affembled his 
armies, provided fupplies, brought into aCtion the re¬ 
sources of the Hate, and anticipated on the enemy their 
meditated blow. In order to fet every fpring in motion, 
the governor-general left the prefidency of Bengal, and 
repaired in perfon to Madras, where his prefence, fe- 
conded by the cordial co-operation of the governor of 
that fettlement, lord Clive, fon and fucceflor of the firft 
lord Clive, (and now earl of Powis,) produced the happieft 
effect, in bringing the objects of the campaign to a luc- 
cefsfui and fpeedy ilfue. 
By a rapid and unexpected march of the Britifli troops, 
Rationed in the northern circars, towards Hyderabad, 
the French commander was taken completely by furprife ; 
whiift the nizam, fenfible of his danger from the over¬ 
grown power which he had foflered in his capital, gladly 
co-operated with the Englifh in the Heps taken to reduce 
it. By a correfponding movement of the nizam’s cavalry, 
and the Britiih infantry and artillery, the French were 
completely furrounded; and on 22d of OClober, 1798, 
fourteen thoufand French fepoys, little inferior in difcipline 
to the native troops in the Englilh fervice, and com¬ 
manded by one hundred and twenty-four French officers, 
laid down their arms, and furrendered at difcretion. Thefe 
events were productive of new engagements, and gave 
birth to a fubiidiary treaty, which was concluded on the 
O S T A N. 99 
firft day of the enfuing September, between the Britiih 
government and the nizam. The fudden annihilation of 
lo large an army as that which had exifted under French 
leaders, induced the nizam earneltly to lolicit for his fe- 
curity an augmentation of the Britiih troops ; which re- 
queft was acceded to, and the fubfidiary force increafed 
to fix thoufand effective men, with a due proportion of 
European artillery, to be maintained by the nizam. This 
treaty was confirmed in England, and received the warm- 
dt applaufe of the court of directors. 
The next objeft of the earl of Mornington was to ef- 
feCt, if poffible, the extermination of that revengeful fui- 
tan of the Myfore, whofe father and himfelf, in concert 
with the French, had feized every opportunity to wage 
implacable war again ft the Englilh for nearly half a cen¬ 
tury ; and now annex his productive territory, with the 
important fort and capital of Seringapatam, and the valu¬ 
able fea-port of Mangalore, to the Britiih dominions. On. 
this important fervice, an army of eighteen thoufand Eng¬ 
lilh and native troops Were without delay marched into the 
Myfore, under the command of general Harris and lieu¬ 
tenant-general Stuart; and, being joined by all the forces 
of the nizam from Hyderabad, the objeCts of the expedi¬ 
tion were foonaccomplilhed; Mangalore and Seringapatam 
were both taken, and the tyrant iultan Tippoo Saheb kill¬ 
ed in the fack of the capital, as circumftantially ftated un¬ 
der the article England, vol. vi. p. 791. But it will be 
proper here to notice, that Hyder Ali, the father of Tip¬ 
poo, from a common fepoy in the fervice of the rajah of the 
Myfore, had rifen to the chief command in his army ; and,, 
on the rajah’s death, he imprifoned his fon, the rightful, 
heir, and feized the government and treafury, whereby he 
was enabled molt liberally to reward the foldiers for main¬ 
taining and fupporting him in thefe ufurped dominions.. 
The death of Tippoo, and the conqueft of the Myfore, 
now gave the Hindoo inhabitants of that province a molt 
gratifying proof of the juitice and clemency of the earl, 
of Mornington, who reftored to freedom the reprefenta- 
tive of the depofed rajah of Myfore, and who, from the 
hour of his birth, had been immured, by the ufurper, 
within the walls of a prifcn. The Britiih government 
likewife affigned to this prince an eftabiilhment luitabie 
to his rank, and inverted him with a limited fway over 
a confiderable portion of his hereditary dominions. For 
thefe aCts of lignal merit, the noble governor-general was 
repaid by the gratitude of his country, the approbation 
of his fovereign, and the bounty of his immediate em¬ 
ployers, the Ealt-Indiaf company : he was created a mar¬ 
quis, received the unanimous thanks of both houfes of 
parliament, and was voted an annuity of five thoufand 
pounds, for twenty years, by the court of proprietors of 
Ealt-India ftock, as a reward for his eminent lervices. 
The officers and foldiers, by whofe invincible courage 
the ltorm of Seringapatam was effected, found their re¬ 
ward among the immenfe treafures of the fultan, which 
every where abounded in this magnificent city. The trea¬ 
fury was rich in fpecie, while the merchandile, confining 
of mullins, lhawls, and various coftly articles of drels, 
was reckoned at the enormous amount of five hundred 
camel loads. The fultan’s throne, being too unwieldy 
to be carried, was broken up : it was conftruCted of a 
howdah upon a tiger, covered with Iheet-gold ; the afcent 
to it was by filver fteps gilt, having filver nails, and all 
the other faltenings of the fame metal. The canopy was 
alike fuperb, and decorated with a coftly fringe of fine 
pearls let round it. It was valued at 6o,oool. Iterling. The 
Iheet of gold with which it was covered was found to 
weigh 40,000 pagodas; the filver-work about it, the fup- 
porters of the canopy, and the fringe of pearls, were va¬ 
lued at 10,000 pagodas more. Every part of the howdah 
contained an Arabic fentence, chiefly from the Koran., 
fuperbly llamped, being railed and poiifned in the molt 
beautiful manner., A gold figure of a bird, covered over 
with precious ftones, was fcrewed to the roof of the ca- 
nopy j, its beak a large emerald, its eyes carbuncles, the 
breaft; 
