Alarm produced by Hyder Ali’s progress—Difficulty of choosing between his alliance and that of the Mahrattas—Views of the Directors on the subject—Fruits of the treaty with Nizam Ali—War with Hyder Ali—Confederacy against him broken up—Subsequent events—The Company duped—Termination of the war.
HYDER ALI, so long as his ambition was confined within the limits of Mysore, attracted little attention. He was regarded as a mere adventurer, whose fall would probably be as sudden as his rise had been, and whose proceedings, however much they might excite curiosity, could not be supposed capable of seriously affecting the future fortunes of the East India Company. As early, indeed, as 1757, some alarm had been excited in the presidency of Bombay, by the intelligence that a Mahometan corps had for the first time entered Malabar. It was commanded, as has been already related, by Mukhdoom Sahib, Hyder’s brother-in-law, and was directed against the Rajahs of Cochin and Calicut, who were ultimately compelled to buy off the invader, by promising a military contribution of twelve lacs of rupees. Again, in 1760, when the presidency of Madras, in retaliation for the assistance given to the French, laid siege to the Mysore fort of Caroor, Kundee Row wrote to them, in the name of the rajah, to explain that that assistance had been given, not by him, but by one of his officers, Hyder Naick, who was actually in rebellion against him. After these passing notices, Hyder did not again become an object of much concern to the Company, till 1763, after he had made the conquest of Bednore, captured Mangalore and Honawar, and openly avowed his intention of reducing all the other forts of the sea-coast. In several of these the Company had factories, and it was therefore obvious that they must either make some arrangement, or be forced into direct collision with him. As he professed an anxious desire for friendship, peaceful measures were of course preferred; and the presidency of Bombay, on the 27th of May, 1763, concluded a treaty, by which he permitted them to erect a factory at Onore (Honawar) and to enjoy various commercial privileges. He expected something in return, and applied for 7000 stand of arms. The presidency, unwilling to offend by a complete refusal, sent only 500. In March, 1764, they became less reserved in their support, and in the belief that he might check the Mahrattas and other freebooters on the coast, allowed him to purchase some cannon and build a fighting vessel at Bombay.
While granting these favours to Hyder, the Bombay council were by no means free from doubts as to their propriety. Hyder, they remarked, might yet become “a very formidable enemy, unless he should be cut off, which his enterprising spirit rendered very probable.” Accordingly, when he would have committed them more deeply, by applying to them for succour during his struggle with Madhoo Row, they declined taking any part, “unless satisfied that their interference was essential to promote the Company’s interests.” Their agent at Tellicherry spoke still more plainly; and when Hyder, during a new application for aid, avowed his intention of making the whole of Malabar tributary, he expostulated with him, representing that the Company, being on terms of friendship with most of the native powers on the coast, could not remain neuter, unless he guaranteed full security for the Company’s interests.1
As this was the key to the policy which the Bombay presidency were attempting—though not with much skill and decision—to pursue, Hyder endeavoured to meet their views by offering, in return for aid in troops, stores, and guns, not only to defray every charge, but to grant the Company all the pepper trade on the coast. The bait so far took that the presidency, says Auber, almost ludicrously, “feeling it equally important to avoid giving umbrage to the Mahrattas, and to prevent their subduing the Bednore and Soonda countries, resolved to supply Hyder with 400 stand of arms and 100 barrels of gunpowder.” To give arms and ammunition to one of two contending parties was certainly a curious mode of avoiding to give umbrage to the other.
The directors were by no means satisfied with these proceedings, and in their letter to Bombay, dated 22d March, 1765, disapproving of the inclination of the council to support Hyder, observed, that a man of his aspiring genius “is more likely to become a formidable enemy than a friend.” The directors were at this time very much in the dark as to this new adventurer who was filling them with alarm. “These transactions,” they say, “render it extremely necessary that we should be informed of Hyder Naique or Hyder Ally Cawn, in which your advices hitherto have been very deficient; you are, therefore, hereby directed to send us, by the first conveyances, an account of his rise, what particular countries he possesses, by what means he is become so powerful, his genius and character, and every other material circumstance necessary for our information.” The directors continue thus: “In the foregoing part of this letter we forbade your supplying any of the country powers with muskets, which we again, and positively direct, be strictly adhered to, unless to the King of Travancore, for the reasons there mentioned. Cannon we absolutely forbid you supplying any one of the country powers with; and should not have thought there ever would have been a necessity for this, it appearing so remarkably inconsistent with our interest and policy. We also positively forbid your supplying the country powers with any other warlike stores whatsoever, or by whatever name they are distinguished (the King of Travancore excepted, as observed in other parts of this letter).” In explanation of this reservation in favour of the King of Travancore, it is stated that he “had applied for aid to the Dutch, in case Hyder should invade his territory; but that his chief reliance was on the Company, to whom he was prepared to transfer the 3000 candies of pepper, at the same price at which it was taken by the Dutch, provided the Company would supply him with warlike stores, and defend his kingdom, he defraying the expense of such aid.” If this was the ground of reservation, the directors were not acting very consistently, since at the very time they were censuring the Bombay council for not preserving neutrality, they were passing to the opposite extreme, and committing themselves, in a certain event, to a contest with Hyder.
The Bombay presidency, about a month after the date of the directors’ letter, and consequently some time before they could have received it, had taken a more decided part with Hyder, by addressing a letter to Madhoo Row, in which they pointed out the privileges granted by Hyder to the Company, and stated “that they could not sit down tame spectators, and see him deprived of the means of continuing them.” Had the Mahrattas resented this interference, the council could scarcely have avoided coming to an open rupture with them, and taking the field as Hyder’s allies. Fortunately the effects of the disaster at Paniput inclined the Mahrattas to moderation; and partly, it is said, through the good offices of the presidency, Hyder, when at the mercy of his enemies, made peace, in April, 1765, on the comparatively favourable terms which have already been described.
Gratitude was no part of Hyder’s character; and hence, no sooner was he relieved from his difficulties, than he set at nought the known wishes of his benefactors, and commenced the subjugation of Malabar. The presidency were both offended and alarmed, and directed their agent at Honawar to withhold from Hyder all further supply of firearms. They even took measures for opposing him, under the apprehension that in his indiscriminate depredations he would not spare the Company’s property, and considered an open rupture so imminent, that they requested the co-operation of the presidency of Madras. From the vacillating policy which the presidency had been for some time pursuing, it must have been difficult to anticipate their answer. On the present occasion they deprecated the rupture. Hyder, they said, having the command of all the passes leading into the Carnatic, might with ease send his cavalry forward, and do great mischief before effectual measures could be taken against him. He was, moreover, an important check to the power of the Mahrattas. Nizam Ali, they further observed, was offended at the grant of the Northern Circars, which they had obtained from the Mogul; and were Hyder and he to unite, the grant might be rendered abortive.
In consequence of this answer, the Bombay presidency abandoned their warlike ideas, and instead of fighting Hyder Ali, transmitted to him a treaty composed of fourteen articles, the first of which declared that “there shall be peace and friendship for ever.” Others of them stipulated that Hyder should not form a treaty with any European power contrary to the interests of the Company; that he should not attack any power in alliance with them, more particularly the Nabob of Arcot; that he should pay any debts due to them by the rulers of the countries of which he had taken possession; that he should give them facilities for trade; and supply them with pepper. This document, sent on the 11th July, 1766, was not answered till the 28th September. Hyder had new-modelled all the articles. The first began thus: “Thanks be to God, I have subdued the coast of Malabar from Cape Ramo to Ponany! Since there is so firm a friendship between the honourable Company and this state, how can my people join with the honourable Company’s enemies? As there is a fair friendship between the honourable Company and this Circar, they shall always receive more compliments than others.” Other articles stipulated for a supply of 3000 to 4000 muskets, and provided that whenever the Company might want troops, he would furnish them with 10,000 to 15,000, and that they would, in like manner, furnish him when his enemies rendered it necessary. In answer to the letter of the president, which had accompanied the proposed treaty, Hyder said, “I have received your honour’s esteemed letter. Thanks be to God, there is no separation or difference between your honour, the honourable Company, and the Circar, and it is my desire that our friendships may be firm, and increase daily more and more. Mahomed Ally Cawn, of Arcot, has also an intention, through the persuasion of low people, to have some disputes with me; but I also take no notice of it, out of regard to your honour.”
The contemptuous allusion here made to Mahomed Ali throws some light on the course of negotiation at this period. Mahomed Ali, presumptuous enough to aspire to the sovereignty of the Deccan, and the whole of the Indian peninsula to the south of it, was plotting against both Nizam Ali and Hyder; they, on the other hand, had a counterplot for his deposition; the Mahrattas were, as usual, intent on the two great objects which they contemplate when they enter into a confederacy—plunder during its existence, and exclusive conquest after its close; the Company was very incompetently represented at this time by the Madras council, who imagined that they were playing the rival parties against each other, whereas they were only their dupes. Only a short time ago we saw this council arguing strenuously against a rupture with Hyder, because, among other reasons, they regarded him as “an important check” on the Mahrattas. This was in June, 1766. In November, only four months later, they bound themselves by treaty to furnish Nizam with an indefinite number of troops, for any purpose to which he might be pleased to apply them, the main inducement being that he had formed a league with the Mahrattas for the purpose of crushing Hyder. The curious process by which they were converted to this new policy deserves to be described.
In July, while negotiations with Hyder were pending, he informed the Madras council that he had sent for his vakeel or ambassador. This created suspicion, and the more because it was at the same time reported that he had obtained from the Nizam (the title now usually applied to Nizam Ali), a sunnud or grant of the Carnatic. This report seemed to receive confirmation from the fact that he had suddenly quitted his conquests on the Malabar coast, and proceeded to Seringapatam, where it was stated that he had placed a child upon the throne, and then posted his army at Coimbatoor, near the confines of Caroor, bordering on the Carnatic. Another vakeel from Hyder had, on the other hand, assured the council that his master desired nothing more than to live in perfect friendship with the Company, and, for this purpose, requested an English gentleman might be sent to him to settle terms. Mr. Bourchier, a member of the council, was deputed accordingly, and set out with the vakeel. At Arcot he was desired to wait for a message from Hyder fixing the place of interview, and shortly after informed by the vakeel that he had received a letter from his master recalling him, and disapproving of an English gentleman coming to him. “The council,” says Mr. Auber, “considered the whole conduct of Hyder to be very questionable.” This, though undoubtedly a correct, seems but a lame and impotent conclusion, till we read further, and find it followed up thus vigorously: “When they reflected upon his immense conquests, his great riches, and the power which he had established, added to his pride and ambition, they felt that no opportunity should be lost to reduce that power within its ancient and proper bounds, and to check the intentions of a man who, by his violence and oppression, had rendered himself obnoxious to all the country governments, and dangerous to the peace and tranquillity of the Carnatic. They therefore viewed the resolution taken by the Nizam (to make war upon Hyder) a very important circumstance, and resolved to assist him with such a force as would insure success, and, at the same time, satisfy the Nizam of the sincerity of their intentions.” All this grandiloquence is merely a kind of smoke raised for the purpose of hiding the ridiculous figure which Governor Palk and his council were now cutting. As if for the purpose of making their inconsistency more manifest, it is added, “Information of the bearing of the Nizam towards Hyder was despatched to Bombay, that the president and council there might take the necessary measures for securing the Company’s possessions on that side, and be prepared to make use of their forces in the event of a rupture, in which case they concluded that many of the powers of the Malabar coast would be ready to embrace the opportunity of recovering their ancient possessions.” Such were the views and aspirations with which the Madras presidency rushed headlong into the very war which they had previously deprecated and condemned.
In preparing for the coming struggle, Hyder Ali’s first measure was to set up a rival to Mahomed Ali in the person of his elder brother, Maphuze Khan. This person, in respect of succession, had certainly the better title of the two to the nabobship, and though he had been constrained to renounce his claim, was still hankering after it. As fortune had not favoured him, he professed to renounce the world, and took leave of his brother, ostensibly for the purpose of making the pilgrimage to Mecca. While he was proceeding to embark at Mangalore, he passed near the camp of Hyder Ali, then engaged in his Malabar conquest, and on visiting him, was easily induced to exchange his pilgrim vows for a jaghire and public employment. He was now sent into the Deccan, to act in the double capacity of Hyder’s agent and his brother’s rival. Hyder’s next attempt was to purchase the retreat of Madhoo Row and his Mahrattas. When it failed, he took what seemed the most effectual defence against the threatened invasion, by interposing a desert between himself and his formidable foe. For this purpose he issued orders to all his officers, civil and military, on the approach of the Mahrattas, to break down the embankments of the tanks, to poison the wells, to burn the forage even to the thatch of the houses, to bury the grain, and drive both the cattle and the inhabitants into the woods. The barbarous expedient, though it retarded, could not stop the progress of an army so dexterous in marauding, and Hyder Ali, almost driven to desperation by the steady advance of the enemy whom of all others he most dreaded, and by the treachery of his brother-in-law, Meer Sahib, who delivered up the fort and district of Sera in exchange for a jaghire given him 150 miles to the eastward, determined once more to try negotiation. It succeeded, and Hyder had the satisfaction, early in the month of May, 1767, to see Madhoo Row’s departure for Poonah. He had purchased it by thirty-five lacs of rupees and the cession of all the districts of Mysore lying south-east of Sera.
During this negotiation, Nizam Ali, with a large but ill-disciplined host, was approaching Mysore by an eastern route, and Colonel Joseph Smith, at the head of a formidable British force, was moving to form a junction with him on its northern frontier. It had been settled by compact with Madhoo Row, that the country through which Nizam Ali was to pass should be left untouched, in order to furnish his supplies; but the Mahrattas, in disregard of the compact, had completely rifled it. Nizam Ali’s army thus advanced with the greatest difficulty, and did not reach the Toombudra till the 9th of March, 1767. On the 24th of the same month intelligence arrived that the retreat of the Mahrattas was purchased. Colonel Smith, who had suspected from the first that the presidency had engaged in “a disjointed expedition,” urged on them the necessity of adjusting “some reasonable plan of action.” Nizam Ali had already begun to talk of retracing his steps, and returning in the ensuing year. It is believed, indeed, that the only thing which now induced him to advance was the hope of concluding an agreement, by which Hyder was to give him a present of twenty lacs of rupees, and pay him an annual tribute of six lacs for making common cause with him against the Company. Since his purchase of the Mahrattas, Hyder had continued to urge the treachery, but said nothing of the bribe, and Nizam Ali had some hopes of being able to extort it by going forward and working on Hyder’s fears. While the armies of Nizam Ali and the Company, though from very different motives, continued their march, Madhoo Row was encamped at Colar, waiting the payment of Hyder’s second instalment of money, and it was thought advisable to send a deputy, in the hope that he might be induced either to prosecute the war according to the original plan, or share the bribe which he had received for abandoning it. Colonel Tod, employed on this unpromising mission, states in his report, “that when he declared to Madhoo Row that he had come to talk on business, they (the Mahratta durbar) could not keep their countenances, but burst out a laughing in his face.”
Colonel Smith—whose suspicions of an understanding between Nizam Ali and Hyder were confirmed when he saw that the former, after entering Mysore, treated it as a friendly country—urged upon the presidency the necessity of vigorous preparations against a hostile invasion of their own territory. Mr. Bourchier, a member of council, who had been sent, Mr. Auber says, “to strengthen his hands,” but who in fact only hampered his movements, was less alarmed; and therefore the utmost they granted in reply to his representations was permission to return to the lower countries with his troops as soon as Mr. Bourchier agreed with him in thinking it proper. Before taking such a decisive step, it was agreed to demand a satisfactory explanation of Nizam Ali’s actual intentions. Vague declarations of inviolable fidelity, mysterious hints of an advantageous negotiation with Hyder, which would be defeated if the Company’s force departed, and pressing entreaties to join Nizam Ali’s camp near Bangalore, were accepted as a substitute for the satisfactory explanation; and it was agreed that the two armies should show how firmly they were united, by occupying the same ground. The British troops arrived; but what was their astonishment when, on entering the encampment at one point, they saw Nizam Ali’s troops departing at another, to take up a new position twelve miles distant. It afterwards appeared that this insult had been contrived for the purpose of removing some suspicions which Hyder had expressed, and convincing him that Nizam Ali was really determined to break with the Company.
The Nizam’s treachery being now manifest, Colonel Smith withdrew indignantly towards his own frontier. Strange to say, the Madras government refused to see what was now as clear as noon-day, and Mr. Bourchier continued to hope that something might yet be done by diplomacy. His credulity made it easy to impose upon him by new excuses; and when the rest of the British troops were withdrawn, three battalions, with their field-pieces, were, at Nizam Ali’s urgent request, to remain in his camp, as a demonstration of friendship and alliance! Mr. Auber remarks that “these events present a true picture of eastern intrigue and deception;” and he might have added, that they at the same time furnish a rare specimen of western folly and stupidity. While Hyder was playing his part in these intrigues, his attention was called to a domestic danger. Nunjeraj had been permitted to live in some state at Mysore, and might have spent the remainder of his days in ease and luxury, had not his old love of power tempted him to plot Hyder’s overthrow, by entering into a secret correspondence with Madhoo Row and Nizam Ali. On the discovery of it, Hyder sent repeated messages to Nunjeraj to come to Seringapatam, and give him the benefit of his counsel in present emergencies. The old man, though easily flattered, had remembrances which made him suspicious, and he did not consent without stipulating that his guard should accompany and remain with him, that he should still draw the revenue of his jaghire, and that no change should be made, except in the place of his abode. Hyder not only consented to these stipulations, but sent two of his leading officers, authorized to bind him to them in the most sacred of Mussulman forms, by swearing in his name on the Koran. The moment Nunjeraj arrived at Seringapatam his guard was seized, his jaghire was resumed, and he was thenceforth restricted, as a state prisoner, to the bare necessaries of life. He was in this instance the victim of a trick which had repeatedly been played before. Beneath the splendid cover supposed to contain the Koran, only a volume of blank paper was concealed.
While Hyder was completing his preparations for active hostilities, the game of duplicity continued to be played. When it became unnecessary, the mask was thrown off, and the new alliance was celebrated at Cenapatam with great demonstrations. From some chivalrous feeling, not easily explained, Nizam Ali not only permitted the Company’s brigade to depart, but furnished five companies, which he had retained, with a safe conduct only three days before hostilities actually commenced. An act which might also have seemed chivalrous, had they not expressly disclaimed any such feeling, was at the same time performed by the Madras government, who positively ordered Colonel Smith to pass to the enemy a supply of provisions, of which his own troops were in the greatest want. Nor was this the limit of their absurdity. Nizam Ali had encamped on the crest of the hills which overlook the Baramahal, and Hyder was following at the interval of two days’ march; but, says Colonel Smith in a letter to Lord Clive, “although it was quite as plain as noon-day to every person (except the council), that they were preparing to enter the Carnatic jointly, no measures were taken to establish magazines of provisions in proper places, nor any steps to supply our army in time of need.” Instead of attending to such paltry matters, the council were, it seems, engrossed by the more important business of obtaining from Nizam Ali a remission of two lacs of rupees, which they had agreed to pay as tribute for Chicacole, one of the Northern Circars, and “bills for a fifth of what Hyder was to pay” for being left unmolested.
The strength of the armies now about to engage in open warfare shows a vast preponderance on the part of Nizam Ali and Hyder, who must henceforth be designated as allies. Colonel Smith’s estimate of the enemy is as follows: cavalry, Nizam Ali’s 30,000, Hyder’s 12,860—total 42,860; infantry, Nizam Ali’s 10,000, Hyder’s 18,000—total 28,000; guns, Nizam Ali’s 60, Hyder’s 49—total 109. His own force amounted only to 1030 cavalry, of whom only 30, and 5800 infantry, of whom only 800, were European. He had sixteen guns. The act of hostility, which opened the campaign on the 25th of August, 1767, was to him not only unpromising, but disastrous. Having a very imperfect knowledge of the topography of the mountainous district in which he was encamped, he erected a defensive work in the eastern gorge of a pass, supposing that the enemy must force it to gain the low ground, and stood waiting for the encounter, when he was first made aware of his error by seeing his cattle, which were quietly grazing in the rear, suddenly driven off. The cavalry, hastening to the rescue, were assailed on all sides by superior numbers, and did not regain the encampment till nearly a third of them were slain. Thus crippled, Colonel Smith was unable to move till the 28th, and Hyder, taking advantage of his inaction, attacked the fort of Caveripatam, and carried it in two days.
A British reinforcement, under Colonel Wood, was expected from Trichinopoly. Hyder was well aware of its approach in the direction of Trinomalee, and might have intercepted it by occupying the pass of Singarpetta or Changama, through which alone a junction with the main body could be effected. By some blunder, Colonel Smith was allowed to take possession of it without opposition. Nizam Ali, disappointed at Hyder’s dilatoriness, did not hesitate to upbraid him with it, and give a significant hint that if the war was to be thus conducted, he would settle his differences with the Company in his own way. From this moment Hyder assumed greater activity, and in the hope of still preventing the junction, pressed close with predatory horse on Colonel Smith’s flanks and rear, and harassed him when he encamped at night with flights of rockets. On one occasion, when he thought he had brought the British into an unfavourable position, he ventured on a direct attack, but paid dearly for it, and was obliged with his confederate to retire in disorder, with a loss of nearly 2000 men. Colonel Smith lost only 170; but unfortunately was not able to follow up his advantage, as the enemy during the action had broken in upon the baggage, and carried off his scanty store of rice. Famine consequently obliged him to hasten off—as if he had lost instead of having gained the battle—for Trinomalee, which he reached on the 4th of September, after a march of twenty-seven hours, during which his troops had neither refreshment nor repose.
Colonel Smith had made his rapid and fatiguing march to Trinomalee, trusting to the assurance of Mahomed Ali, that he should there find an abundant depôt of provisions. Grievous was his disappointment. There was no rice, and not more paddy (the unprepared grain) could be procured in the town and neighbouring villages than sufficed to supply the most immediate necessities of the troops. Some idea of the dreadful prospect which opened up on them may be inferred from an event which, Colonel Wilks says, “is unexampled in English-Indian warfare – the desertion of an officer.” The despicable traitor, Lieutenant Hitchcock, was not allowed to profit by his infamy. Falling under suspicion, he was thrown into prison, where he lingered and died. Colonel Smith was obliged to quit Trinomalee in search of food, leaving in it, though a place of little strength, his sick, wounded, and military stores. The allies, however, were too much discouraged by their recent defeat, and too much occupied in fixing the blame of it, to give much annoyance; and he was not only permitted without further molestation to form the junction with Colonel Wood, but to return and find Trinomalee still safe. The enemy had, indeed, begun to erect a battery against it, and brought forward 10,000 horse to cover this operation; but on his reappearance they hurried with their whole army to the north-west, and encamped at the distance of only six miles.
Being now reinforced by his junction with Colonel Wood and the arrival of other detachments, Colonel Smith resolved to assume the offensive. With this view he marched out to attack the allies, but found their position, with an impassable morass in front, too strong to be forced. Meanwhile, his provisions were again exhausted, and he was obliged to move eastward in search of food. The difficulties with which he had thus to contend continually increasing, he called a council of war, who gave it as their unanimous opinion, that it was necessary to evacuate Trinomalee, remove the wounded and stores to the stronger fort of Chittapet, and place the troops in cantonments at Arcot, Vellore, or wherever they could find food. The Madras council, who had caused this decision by their neglect to provide the necessary supplies, had discernment enough to foresee the disastrous results which might follow from it. As matters stood, the cavalry of the allies were ravaging the whole country, up to the very gates of Madras. How much worse would it be, if, from the removal of the Company’s army into cantonments, their power of mischief was indefinitely increased? Influenced by these considerations, they put their veto on the decision of the council of war, and insisted that Colonel Smith should still keep the field. The result proved that in this instance they had judged wisely.
Hyder Ali’s system of espionage was so perfect, that he was soon in possession of the decision of the council of war. When it was not carried into immediate effect, he concluded that Colonel Smith was only postponing it in the hope that the north-east monsoon would compel the allies to move into the upper country, and leave him at liberty to execute his plan. On this assumption, his determination was to protract the departure of the allies to the very last, and delay the final attack on the Company’s army, till, enfeebled by hunger and disheartened, they should fall an easy prey. In this he miscalculated. Colonel Smith, by judicious combinations, received reinforcements of troops, and small convoys of provisions and stores, and by careful search discovered large depositories of hidden grain, which enabled his troops to live in tolerable comfort. Thus during a fortnight, which, according to the view of the allies, was to have reduced them to wretchedness, they had improved in health, strength, and spirits. The allies, still proceeding on their own hypothesis, thought it not improbable that the Company’s force, driven to desperation, might attempt some desperate remedy, and force their way through all the obstacles which might be opposed to them. Accordingly, as a necessary precaution against any such attempt, they had not only taken up a strong position, but fortified it with strong redoubts, commanding every point and avenue from which it might have been assailed. It was in vain, therefore, that Colonel Smith attempted to lure them into the plain. The more he manoeuvred for this purpose, the less they seemed inclined to encounter him.
It is difficult to say what the result of this Fabian policy might have been, if fully carried out. Happily, Nizam Ali’s impatience compelled its abandonment. He had gone to the wars full of the hope of unresisted plunder, and had hitherto met only with disastrous defeats. Anything seemed to him better than the present inaction; and sooner than continue it, he would put everything in stake. By all means, he insisted, try the effect of a general engagement. Hyder, though he would have preferred a different line of tactics, was obliged to yield; and thus a decisive battle becoming the earnest desire of both armies, could not be long delayed. The Company’s force now amounted to 10,400 effective infantry, thirty European and 1500 bad native cavalry, and thirty-four guns. The strength of the allies was nearly the same as before.
At noon on the 26th of September, the allies brought a column, with sixteen of their heaviest guns, in front of Colonel Smith’s left, and commenced a heavy cannonade. A morass, not perceptible without close examination, intervened. Hyder’s plan was to entangle his opponent in this morass. Even should he succeed in passing it, the redoubts were still in front, and the main body of the allies ready to fall upon his right. Colonel Smith, ignorant of the morass, made a movement on the left, which made him for the first time aware of its existence. On the right it seemed to be terminated by a hill, behind which the greater part of the allied army lay concealed from view; and Colonel Smith therefore concluded that by making a circuit in that direction he would be brought in contact with the enemy’s left. No sooner, however, had he begun this movement, than the allies, still under the impression that his troops were in absolute want, and only anxious to escape to the north-east in the direction of Arcot, put their troops in instant motion, for the purpose of preventing it. The two armies were thus marching round the hill, concealed from each other—that of the Company from the south-east, and that of the allies from the south-west—to a common point of convergence. The consequence was that, to their mutual surprise, they were suddenly brought face to face on rounding the hill. The encounter was now inevitable. In the hurried arrangements which became necessary, the superior discipline of the Company’s troops gave them greatly the advantage; and they coolly gained a superior position, while the confusion of the allies, huddled together and unable to extricate themselves, increased. They had 100 guns; but so many of these were stationed in the redoubts, that not more than thirty of them could be brought into action, and being far less skilfully served, were soon silenced. The Company’s artillery, thus left free to act against the masses of the enemy’s cavalry, made dreadful havoc, and reduced them to a disorderly rabble, fleeing in all directions to get beyond reach of the fire. On this Colonel Smith ordered a general advance of his line.
Hyder had seen, almost as soon as the encounter took place at the rounding of the hill, that the day was lost; and drawing in his own guns within the redoubts, urged Nizam Ali to follow his example, and thus make a stand on fortified ground. He at first rejected the proposal with disdain, as timid and spiritless; but when the British line was seen advancing, his courage failed him. According to his invariable practice, he had been accompanied to the field by his favourite wives, with all the splendid and cumbersome appendages of rank. They were mounted on elephants, which stood in line at a short distance in the rear. When Nizam Ali made up his mind to retire the guns, his first orders were that the elephants should instantly turn. “This elephant,” replied a female voice from one of the howdahs, “has not been taught so to turn; he follows the standard of the empire.” The damsel made good her point, and did not turn till the standard had passed, and the shot were flying thick about her. Nizam Ali had none of her courage. An hour after he had declared that he would sooner die than submit to dishonourable flight, the redoubt, though still untouched, and capable of resisting any attack that could have been made upon it, did not seem sufficiently safe; and he was seen fleeing at his utmost speed, with a select body of cavalry, toward the west. He never drew bridle till he was fairly through the pass of Changama. Hyder behaved more manfully. After providing for the security of his army, and despatching his field-train on the only practicable road, he employed the night in clearing out the fortified position and putting his baggage in motion.
The victors encamped on the ground which had been occupied by the enemy, within a mile of the redoubts. Though the result was decisive, only nine guns had yet been captured, and an attempt to take advantage, by a night attack, of the confusion in the enemy’s camp, failed by the treachery of one of the guides, who turned out to be one of Hyder’s spies. At daylight the redoubts were found to be abandoned, but on ascending a height the whole of the allied army was seen extending along the road as far as the eye could reach. The pursuit was immediately commenced. Forty-one pieces of artillery, all belonging to Nizam Ali, were captured; fourteen more, which had been overset for concealment, were afterwards discovered. Hyder was seen in the rear, attended by his retinue of state, a troop of European cavalry, and 3000 select horse. His retinue, which he seemed to take a pride in displaying in the view of his pursuers, is thus described by Colonel Wilks—“It consisted of 300 select men on foot, clothed in scarlet, and armed with lances or pikes of light bamboo, about eighteen feet long, twisted round from bottom to top with thin plates of silver in a spiral form: the equal intervals of polished silver, and the dark brown of the seasoned bamboo give a splendid and not inelegant appearance to this ornamental but formidable weapon.” Before the decisive results anticipated from a continuance of the pursuit could be realized, want of food compelled Colonel Smith to retrace his steps. His loss in the action was only 150 men killed and wounded; that of the enemy exceeded 4000 men, sixty-four guns, with their tumbrils, and a large quantity of stores of all kinds except rice, which would have been by far the most valuable.
Tippoo Sultan, then seventeen years of age, had been sent eastward under the guidance of Ghazee Khan, the best partizan officer in Hyder’s service, and was actually plundering the country houses of the Madras council on the 29th of September, when intelligence of the battle of Trinomalee arrived, and made him suddenly decamp. His detachment, and the others connected with it, amounted to about 4000 horse. They advanced to the Choultry Plain, and pillaged St. Thomé and the adjacent villages. The council could give no relief. The condition to which they were reduced is thus explained in their letter to the court—“The continual reinforcements we had sent to camp had reduced our garrison so low, we were obliged to confine our attention entirely to the preservation of the fort and the Black Town, for which purpose it was necessary to arm all the Company’s civil servants, the European inhabitants, Armenians, and Portuguese.” Such were the first-fruits of the war into which they had inconsiderately plunged. Worse, they feared, was in store for them, for they add, “As it is uncertain when the troubles we are engaged in will end, and as we must, in the course of the war, expect to have many Europeans sick, we must earnestly request you to send out as large reinforcements as possible.”
As the battle of Trinomalee had cleared the country of invaders, and the monsoon was approaching, Colonel Smith placed his army in cantonments, and set out for Madras, in the hope of being able to make some arrangement for regular supplies when he should again take the field. Nizam Ali and Hyder retired to the Baramahal, so dissatisfied with themselves and with each other, that a month passed without an interview, and without any attempt to sketch out the plan of a future campaign. Hyder, who, besides having more sense than his ally, had also more at stake, seems to have made the first overtures of reconciliation; and it was agreed, instead of idly and angrily discussing past events, to devote all their energies to the future. The previous misunderstanding must have been well known in their camps, and to do away with the effect, it was deemed politic to give public evidence of re-established cordiality. A series of splendid festivals and ostentatious visits of ceremony accordingly took place, during one of which, when Hyder was the entertainer, he placed his guest on a seat or musnud, formed of bags of silver coin to the amount of a lac of rupees, and covered with cushions of embroidered silver. The whole, together with the other presents, were, according to established etiquette, carried off by the attendants as perquisites. The time, however, was now approaching for more serious occupations.
Hyder was the first to move. Conjeveram, Wandiwash, and Trichinopoly, the places selected for the cantonments of the Company’s army, were extremely objectionable, on account of their distance from each other. The defect was apparent, but little danger from it was apprehended, because it was presumed that the three rainy months of October, November, and December would necessarily be a season of inaction. In this calculation Hyder’s activity and enterprise had been underrated. He had started as early as the beginning of November, 1767, and by the 7th had recaptured Tripatore and Veniambaddy, situated in the northern part of the Baramahal. These places, being indefensible, were easily taken; not so the next. Continuing his progress northward for other ten miles, he was brought in front of the strong fort of Amboor, crowning a mountain of smooth granite, which terminates the valley of the Baramahal on the north, and overlooks on the east the fertile vale of the Palar, stretching away in the direction of Vellore and Arcot. It was accessible only on one side, and had for its principal defences two forts, a lower and an upper. Hyder arrived on the 10th of November, and on the 15th had so dismantled the lower fort as to make it no longer tenable. He was trusting, however, not so much to warlike operations without as to treachery within. Muckhlis Khan, the killedar or governor, who had received his appointment from Anwar-u-din, Mahomed Ali’s father, took advantage of the troubles of the times, and without formally throwing off his allegiance, assumed a kind of independence. In the beginning of the war the Company wished to occupy Amboor as a depôt, but Muckhlis Khan refused to admit any troops but his own. On this recourse was had to stratagem, and by surreptitious means troops had been introduced till they formed a body of troops in the Company’s interest amounting to 500 sepoys, an officer, a sergeant, and fifteen Europeans. Hyder, whose intelligence never failed him, was perfectly aware of the circumstances, and had undertaken the siege either because he had actually established, or felt sure of being able to establish, an understanding with Muckhlis Khan. The command of Amboor had been intrusted to Captain Calvert, a brave and rough officer, who had been wounded at the battle of Trinomalee. Fortunately, at the very time when he was obliged to abandon the lower fort and retire to the summit of the hill, he discovered the intrigue in which Muckhlis Khan was engaged, and dexterously managed to imprison him and his chief officers, and to disarm all his troops. These he turned to good account by compelling them to labour in the defence.
The siege made little progress. At first little more was done than to give a decent pretext to the killedar for capitulating. When the original scheme of bribery failed, Hyder resolved to try it in a different form. Having sent a flag of truce to summon the garrison to surrender, he took occasion to eulogize the brave defence. Calvert replied that he had not yet given him an opportunity of deserving the compliment. Under cover of a second flag of truce, he offered a direct bribe and the command of half his army as the price of voluntary surrender. In answer to this ignominious proposal, Calvert simply admonished Hyder to spare the lives of his servants, as the next bearer of such a message would be hanged in his sight. On the 6th of December the Company’s army approached, and the siege was raised. In thus attempting to bribe Captain Calvert, Hyder, though he failed, gave proof of that instinctive knowledge of human character for which he was distinguished. Subsequent events proved that he had not mistaken his man. Calvert was not the blunt and honourable soldier for which his conduct on this occasion entitled him to credit; for it is painful to state, that at a later period he was brought to a court-martial, and found guilty of defrauding the Company by false returns.
The new campaign having been commenced, in consequence of the operations of Hyder, much sooner than had been anticipated, little progress had been made in arranging for the supplies of the army. The vague promises of Mahomed Ali, though his falsehood and faithlessness were notorious, were made the pretext for not forming a plain, practical, and independent system of commissariat; and there is even reason to suspect that the council, or at least some members of it, were not unwilling, from a petty jealousy of the commander, to endanger his success by throwing obstructions in his way. The relief of Amboor had been effected by the main body of the army, which had been assembled under Colonel Smith at Vellore. Colonel Wood’s division, which had been cantoned at Trichinopoly, was ordered to move to Trinomalee, and thereafter enter the Baramahal through the pass of Singarpetta. Hyder, when foiled at Amboor, had marched off to Veniambaddy, and was found here on the 8th of December by Colonel Smith, who had set out in pursuit of him. Nizam Ali had moved further south into the Baramahal. Hyder was preparing to join him, and had sent off his heavy artillery; but, to cover his design, took up a position which seemed to indicate that he meant to risk a battle. As this was not his real intention, he made only a show of resistance, and moved off after a loss which was slight in killed and wounded, but was serious in another respect, for he had the mortification to see his troop of European horse, under Monsieur Aumont, move off and join his enemies. This preconcerted treachery had wholly escaped him, and he saw himself foiled by his own favourite weapon. He was pursued for a short distance, but the main body of the army was obliged, as in the former campaign, to halt for supplies. The advance, under Colonel Tod, moved forward to Tripatore, which was abandoned. It must have been hastily; for, contrary to Hyder’s usual precaution, some grain and cattle were found in it.
Colonel Wood effected his junction without opposition, and the whole of the Company’s army approached Caveripatam, towards which the allies had retired. This place had been taken by Hyder in 1767, and to strengthen the position under its cover, some field-works had been thrown up. Nothing more was done till Hyder, seeing that he would be compelled to raise the siege of Amboor, sent some of his French officers to improve and extend the works, so as to form a safe camp for the allied armies. On reconnoitering the position, Colonel Smith was deterred by its strength from risking an attack, and was therefore the more delighted when circumstances occurred which rendered it unnecessary. Before detailing these, an affair of some importance must be described.
While occupying the strong position of Caveripatam, Hyder was constantly sending out detachments of light troops, who scoured the country, and made it impossible for Colonel Smith to obtain supplies without supporting the most unimportant convoys by strong detachments. Against one of these, which was expected by the pass of Singarpetta, and was protected only by a single battalion, Hyder set out in person, at the head of 4000 select horse, 2000 infantry, and five guns, calculating on an easy capture. Colonel Smith, aware of his departure, divined the object, and reinforced the convoy by two companies of grenadiers, a battalion of sepoys, and two field-pieces. Hyder, in ignorance of the fact, made a sudden onset at the head of his cavalry, and narrowly escaped with his life. He had a horse shot under him, and a bullet passed through his turban. After a short struggle he was obliged to acknowledge himself defeated, and return crestfallen to his head-quarters at Caveripatam.
Before undertaking the above unsuccessful foray, Hyder was aware that his strong position at Caveripatam could not be maintained. With a view to a retreat to the westward, he had despatched Tippoo and Ghazee Khan with his baggage and heavy guns on the 14th of December; four days later Nizam Ali quitted him with the main body of his army, and moved to the northward. He was on his way home, no longer dreaming of conquests in the south, and intent only on securing his own capital. An expedition from Bengal, under the command of Colonel Peach, had landed on the coast of the Northern Circars, and after a series of successful operations, was reported to be on the highway to Hyderabad. Alarmed beyond measure, Nizam Ali had opened a secret communication with Colonel Smith, and made overtures for peace. Hyder was too sharp-sighted not to be aware of it, and determined to make a merit of necessity. He thought that it might still be possible to make some use of Nizam Ali; and therefore, instead of finally breaking with him, and upbraiding him with his treachery, he simply deplored the events which had led to a change of counsels, and admitting that his confederate could not well avoid coming to a temporary accommodation with the Company, expressed the hope that the time might not be distant when the Mussulman interests might again be united for the final expulsion of the foreign infidels. Nizam Ali was relieved beyond measure by the friendly leave-taking. He had been perplexed how he could effect a separation from Hyder, and was now at perfect liberty to take his own course. Such is the explanation of his movement to the north, already mentioned. The secret correspondence with Colonel Smith assumed the form of an open negotiation, which terminated in the conclusion of a treaty, on the 23rd of February, 1768. Being made under very different circumstances from that of 1766, in which he rather dictated terms than accepted them, it exhibits him in a less dignified position, though it undoubtedly left him abundant cause for self-gratulation. Hyder, too, would at this time have willingly entered into a treaty; but when Colonel Smith, to whom he had made pacific overtures, simply referred him to the government of Madras, he understood it as a civil but distinct rejection of his advances, and therefore did not repeat them.
In the new treaty the influence of Mahomed Ali is very apparent. In that of 1766, Nizam Ali would not allow his name to be at all mentioned, but he was now formally recognized as one of the contracting parties. The authenticity and validity of a grant of the Carnatic Payeen Ghaut to Mahomed Ali, on the 26th of August, 1765, are distinctly recognized. The effect of this recognition was to free him from all dependence on the Deccan, and yet, by a singular confusion of ideas, he is made to declare that he holds this very Carnatic Payeen Ghaut as a free gift from Nizam Ali. The absurdity is obvious enough, but the effect is to make him absolute sovereign of the Carnatic, with the consent both of the Mogul and the soubahdar. In regard to the Northern Circars, Nizam Ali made an important concession, by admitting the validity of the grant from the Mogul, but this was more apparent than real, as for these very Circars he was to receive a yearly payment of five lacs of rupees. It is true that of this sum only two lacs was to be paid, the other three lacs being deducted to meet the payment of twenty-five lacs, for which Nizam Ali became bound as his share of the expenses of the war. Still, whether paid or deducted, the five lacs were to all intents a tribute payable for the Circars, notwithstanding the ludicrous statement by Auber, that “care was taken so to word the treaty, that the payment of the sum should not appear to be by virtue of the Company’s holding the Circars from the Nizam, but only in consideration of the friendship existing between them.”
In regard to Hyder, Nizam Ali made no scruple of denouncing him as a rebel and usurper, with whom no correspondence was to be maintained. Still less objection could he have, in consideration of a further tribute of seven lacs, to assign to the Company the whole territory of Mysore—a territory which, as Colonel Wilks justly observes, “he neither possessed, nor had the most distant hope of ever possessing.” In stipulating for this grant, the Madras council seem to have been desirous of emulating Clive’s successes in Bengal. They do not claim the property of Mysore, but are contented to rest satisfied with the dewannee, or power of drawing the revenue for their own behoof. By another article of the treaty Nizam Ali was compensated for the easy liberality of his grants, by an obligation on the part of the Company to assist him with two battalions of sepoys and six pieces of cannon as often as required.
By a still more singular article, the Mahrattas, who were no parties to the treaty, and had made no claim, were promised payment of the chout, or a fourth of the whole revenue.
The directors had from the first disapproved of the war, and refused to attach the least weight to the flimsy pleas by which the council of Madras sought to justify it. In answering the letter of the council, setting forth the deplorable condition to which Madras had been reduced by the ravages of Hyder’s horse in their immediate vicinity, they give a clear and full explanation of the policy which they were at this time disposed to adopt. After observing that the “quick succession of important events in Indian wars puts it out of our power to direct your measures,” they proceed as follows: “We can only give you the outlines of the system which we judge most conducive to give permanency and tranquillity to our possessions. We should have hoped that the experience of what has passed in Bengal would have suggested the proper conduct to you; we mean, when our servants, after the battle of Buxar, projected the extirpation of Sujah Dowlah from his dominions, and the giving them up to the king. Lord Clive soon discerned the king would have been unable to maintain them, and that it would have broken down the strongest barriers against the Mahrattas and the northern powers, and therefore restored Sujah Dowlah to his dominions. Such, too, should be your conduct with respect to the Nizam and Hyder Ali, neither of whom it is our interest should be totally crushed. The dewannee of Bengal, Behar, and Orissa, with the possessions we hold in those provinces, are the utmost limits of our views on that side of India; on the coast the protection of the Carnatic, and the possession of the Circars, free from all engagements to support the Soubah of the Deccan, or even with the Circars, preserving only influence enough over any country power who may hold them, to keep the French from settling in them; and on the Bombay side, the dependencies thereon, the possessions of Salsette, Bassein, and the castle of Surat. The protection of these is easily within the reach of our power, and may mutually support each other, without any country alliance whatever. If we pass these bounds, we shall be led on from one acquisition to another, till we shall find no security but in the subjection of the whole, which, by dividing your force, would lose us the whole, and end in our extirpation from Hindoostan. Much has been wrote from you and our servants in Bengal on the necessity of checking the Mahrattas, which may in some degree be proper; but it is not for the Company to take the part of umpires of Hindoostan. If it had not been for the imprudent measures you have taken, the country powers would have formed a balance of power among themselves, and their divisions would have left you in peace; but if at any time the thirst for plunder should urge the Mahrattas to invade our possessions, they can be checked only by carrying the war into their own country. It is with this view that we last year sent out field-officers to Bombay, and put their military force on a respectable footing; and when once the Mahrattas understand that to be our plan, we have reason to think they will not wantonly attack us.”
This important letter concludes thus:—“You will observe by the whole tenor of these despatches, that our views are not to enter into offensive wars in India, or to make further acquisition beyond our present possessions. We do not wish to enter into any engagements which may be productive of enormous expenses, and which are seldom calculated to promote the Company’s essential interests. On the contrary, we wish to see the present Indian powers remain as a check one upon another, without our interfering; therefore we recommend to you, so soon as possible, to bring about a peace upon terms of the most perfect moderation on the part of the Company, and when made, to adhere to it upon all future occasions, except when the Company’s possessions are actually attacked; and not to be provoked by fresh disturbances of the country powers to enter into new wars.”
After expressing their views thus explicitly, it was not to be supposed that the directors would approve of the treaty with Nizam Ali, in which they were evidently disregarded. Accordingly, they not only condemned it, but also appointed a select committee to carry into effect their instructions to the Madras presidency. In a letter commenting on the treaty they say, “In whatever light we view the 10th article of your treaty with the soubah” (the one relating to the grant of Mysore), “we see nothing but weakness, danger, and instability to our affairs.” Again: “Instead of pursuing pacific measures with Hyder Ali—as we think you ought to have done, knowing, as you did, our sentiments with respect to extending our territories—you have brought us into such a labyrinth of difficulties, that we do not know how we shall be extricated from them. But if it should have happened, when these advices reach you, that Hyder Ali should be extirpated, and if it should not be inconsistent with any engagements you may have entered into, our wish would be, to have restored to the ancient rajahs and powers to whom they belonged, the several districts and countries taken from Hyder Ali, after reserving to us the passes and forts which serve as a barrier between Mysore and the Carnatic. Such a step must demonstrate to all the Indian powers with whom we are connected, that we mean to distribute to every man his own, and by a just, mild, and prudent conduct towards them, to evince that conquest and plunder are not the objects of our pursuit; but that we mean to confine ourselves to the branches of our commercial interest, and the benefit of such revenues as have been granted to us by Mahomed Ali. When we reflect on the vast length of country from the northern parts of Chicacole (one of the Northern Circars) to the southern districts of Madura and Tinnevelly, the number of garrisons to be maintained, and the wild independence of most of the rajahs and polygars, from whom nothing can be collected but by a standing force, we regret our ever having passed the boundaries of the Carnatic, even for the possession of the Circars; for we have great doubts whether the charges will not always exceed the collections, and apprehend many ill consequences from so great a division of our forces. The preservation of the advantages we hold in the Bengal provinces, is the great object of our attention.”
In another letter, dated about six weeks after the above, the directors say, “Upon principles of policy, we wish for a peace with Hyder Naick, whenever it can be obtained upon the most moderate terms.” To leave no doubt as to what these “principles of policy” are, they say, “Our policy is to avoid everything that tends to the increase of the Mahratta power, which is evidently the misfortune of this war.” The Mahrattas, it is added, “will make the most use they can of the embroils of others. It is by this conduct they have arrived to their present degree of power; and our best policy is to check their growth by every opportunity, or at least not lending our own force to their aggrandizement, which we certainly do as often as we engage in wars with the few remaining chiefs of India, who are yet capable of coping with them. Nizam Ali and Hyder Naick are two of those chiefs, and it is our true interest to preserve a good understanding with them.” As the Madras presidency had shown how easily they could run from one extreme to its opposite, and be as rash in patching up a peace as they had been in rushing into war, the following caution is subjoined:—“We do not mean by this, that after the long and expensive war which you have been most unfortunately engaged in, you should yield to Hyder Naick, and accept of dishonourable terms; but whenever he shows a disposition to peace, we would have you meet him half-way; and if a reasonable compensation can be obtained for our expenses, we desire no increase of territory, nor fresh grants and privileges of any kind.” Before concluding, the directors again advert to what was now their main object:—“We have possessions enough in Bengal and the Carnatic to yield all the advantages the Company expect. What we want is, attention in our servants to their improvement and good management, and a time of peace and leisure to establish plans of economy and frugality, both in our own affairs and those of the Nabob of Arcot, whose debts and embarrassments will have no end till he confines his views to the Carnatic.”
Had the above letters been in the hands of the Madras government when Hyder, abandoned by his confederate, made pacific overtures to Colonel Smith, it is to be presumed a very different reception would have been given to them; but the idea of securing the sovereignty of Mysore to Mahomed Ali, and the dewannee of it to themselves, was now uppermost in their minds, and the last thing they were inclined to do was “to meet him half-way,” and grant him peace “on moderate terms.” His complete destruction was openly avowed to be the object at which they were aiming, and he was made perfectly aware that in the struggle he was henceforth to maintain single-handed, his all was at stake. Viewed only as a question of political expediency, few will now be disposed to maintain that the Madras council did right in telling such a man as Hyder that the only alternative left to him was victory or despair.
When Hyder abandoned his strong position at Caveripatam, and hastened westward, the departure of Nizam Ali, and consequent diminution of his force, was not the main cause. Intelligence had reached him that his conquests in Malabar were in imminent danger. An expedition had sailed from Bombay, and made its appearance off the coast of Honawar. At that port, as has been mentioned, Hyder had begun to prepare a fleet. He had even appointed a lord high-admiral. This was Lutf Ali Bey, an officer of cavalry, but so totally ignorant of naval matters that his interference alienated and disgusted those who, as practical seamen, had the actual command of the ships. The consequence was, that when the expedition appeared, Hyder’s fleet, consisting of two ships, two grabs of two masts, and about ten gallivats, sailed out and joined it. Mangalore, Fortified Island, and Honawar were thus easily captured. Tippoo, who had been sent forward with a light corps, shortly after arrived, but being too feeble to attempt any important operation, determined to wait the arrival of his father, who having, about the 20th of January, 1768, refitted his equipments at Bangalore, and intrusted the defence of that place to Fuzzul Oolla Khan, was now hastening westward by forced marches with his whole army. The British were, in the meanwhile, totally unaware of his approach, Tippoo having carefully adopted every precaution to conceal it from them. They were thus lulled into security, when early in the month of May, without a previous note of warning, Hyder’s whole army suddenly made its appearance before Mangalore. The consternation was extreme, and the result disgraceful. After a wretched defence, the garrison, consisting of 41 artillery, 200 European infantry, and 1200 sepoys, made a hurried embarkation, shamefully abandoning their sick and wounded, consisting of 80 Europeans and 180 sepoys, and all their field-pieces and stores. Honawar and Fortified Island yielded almost without resistance; and Hyder, after recovering all that had been wrested from him in Canara, was able to reascend the Ghauts before the monsoon set in.
Having ordered the body of the army, with all the heavy equipments, to proceed by easy marches for Bangalore, Hyder himself, with a select corps, hastened northward to Bednore. Intelligence had reached him that the principal landholders, offended at his exactions, had given encouragement to the British invaders; and he knew well how to turn it to account. Under the pretext of arranging the revenue for the ensuing year, he brought the landholders together from all parts of the country, and then coolly announced to them that he knew their treasons. Death was, of course, the penalty; but he meant to inflict a punishment which would cost them less and yield him more. A list of names, with an amount of fine attached to each, was then produced; and effectual means were forthwith taken to secure payment, by handing over such as were present to the department of torture, and ordering the immediate apprehension of such
as were absent. A similar, but still more perfidious measure, was resorted to in procuring a large contribution from Malabar. There the Nairs had again rebelled, attacked and carried, or compelled the evacuation of most of the blockhouses which had been erected as military posts, and seemed in a fair way of recovering their independence. Madana, the Mahometan governor, was unable to stem the torrent; and, on applying to Hyder for advice, was instructed how to proceed. Having opened negotiations with most of the chiefs, he intimated that the acquisition of Malabar having proved a burden rather than an advantage, his master was inclined to withdraw from it, and was therefore willing to restore their possessions on being reimbursed the heavy charges he had incurred. The terms were at once assented to; and Hyder’s provincial troops, who had been so completely hemmed in that they must have surrendered at discretion, departed not only in peace, but loaded with treasure. The independence thus purchased by the Nairs was held by a most precarious tenure. By making it a special condition that Ali Raja, through whom he had first obtained a footing in the country, should not be disturbed, and studiously omitting all mention of Palghaut, Hyder secured two points, one in the southeast and the other in the north-west, from which it would be easy at any future period to introduce an invading army and repeat his conquest.
The month of August, 1768, had now arrived, and consequently seven months had elapsed since the December of the previous year, when Hyder, by moving off from Caveripatam, had left the Company’s army in complete possession of the field. This precious interval certainly put it in their power to achieve brilliant results; but it must be confessed that they did not duly improve it. A rumour prevailed that Hyder, with his usual cunning, had only changed the plan of the war, and that he had a twofold object in view—to lure the Company’s army into his own territory, where he would starve them by surrounding them with a desert; and to hasten back into the Carnatic while they were thus entangled, and lay it waste with fire and sword. This rumour made Colonel Smith unwilling to penetrate into the interior, with the view of striking a blow at the enemy’s capital. With the present defective commissariat he could not march fifty miles beyond the frontier without running a risk of starvation; and he therefore proposed, in the meantime, to occupy the fertile country contiguous to the frontier, from Veniambaddy in the north, to Dindigul in the south, and Palghaut or Palghautcherry in the south-west. In the meanwhile, depôts of provisions and stores might be formed for the eventual operations of the war. The Madras government preferred a single concentrated effort in the direction of Bangalore, from which, in the event of success, an advance might be made on Seringapatam. It seems now to be admitted that the plan of the government was the more judicious of the two, but the difference of opinion prevented the full adoption of either. The result was an awkward intermediate course, composed partly of both.
The army was formed into two divisions. The one under Colonel Smith moved north to intimidate Nizam Ali, and quicken his negotiations for peace, and after accomplishing this object returned south to Kistnagherry. It was blockaded, and did not surrender till the 2d of May. The importance of the capture poorly compensated for the time wasted upon it. The other division, under Colonel Wood, after capturing all the remaining forts of the Baramahal, rapidly reduced those of Tingrecotta, Darunpoory, Salem, Ahtoor, Namcul, Erode, Satimangalum, Denaicancota, Coimbatoor, Palghaut, Darapooram, Arnavourchury, and Dindigul. All of these places, some of them of considerable strength, were taken without difficulty, but the value of the capture was diminished by subsequent blunders. Under the idea that there were only three practicable passes into Mysore, Colonel Wood believed he could secure the whole country by fortifying them; and, even after he had discovered the mistake, weakened his force by placing detachments in isolated positions, so remote from the main body and from each other, that they could not but fall an easy prey.
In other quarters the mismanagement was of a still more serious description. In virtue of a preposterous resolution of the Madras council, it was officially promulgated that Colonel Smith was in future to be aided by the advice and direction of two of their members as field-deputies. It was added that the council had prevailed upon the nabob Mahomed Ali to accompany them, for the purpose of assuming the fiscal management of the territorial conquests, garrisoning the minor forts with irregulars, conducting the negotiations for drawing off Hyder’s adherents, and generally for advising in all other matters. As if to complete the absurdity of their arrangements, one of the field-deputies was appointed commissary-general to the army, and thus, in his threefold character of member of council, field-deputy, and commissary, was at once the superior, the colleague, and the inferior of the commander-in-chief. To crown all, a Chevalier St. Lubin accompanied the deputies as privy-councillor and guide. He ultimately proved to be a mere impostor, but was in the meantime believed, on his own assertion, to have lived with distinction at Hyder’s court, to be intimately acquainted with his plans and resources, and to have extensive influence among his officers, native and European. While making these arrangements, the council were so ignorant of Hyder’s movements that, on the 7th of April, three months after he had begun his march to the west coast, they gave it as a special instruction to the field-deputies to watch the motions of Hyder, in order to prevent his marching to Bednore, and overpowering the troops from Bombay.
On the 8th of June, Colonel Donald Campbell, commanding the advanced division of the British army, led it through the pass of Boodicota to Vencati-gherry. It surrendered on the 16th, and he shortly after proceeded to the fort of Mulwagul, which, after he had despaired of taking it by force, was captured by stratagem and the treachery of the governor. His next movement was on Colar, which surrendered at discretion after he had carried regular approaches to the crest of the glacis. In the meantime the main army was following slowly in the same direction, and arrived at Arlier in time to hear of the fall of Colar. On this event Colonel Campbell was ordered to return with his detachment to head-quarters. Mukhdoom Sahib, who had been plundering in the low countries, on receiving intelligence of Colonel Campbell’s success, had returned and taken post under the walls of Bangalore, twelve miles south-east of Bangalore. An attempt to surprise him failed; and the army moved on to Oossoor, which, after a short siege, was taken on the 11th of July. Shortly after both Anicul and Denkanicotta fell. During all his operations Colonel Smith had been seriously hampered by a total want of cavalry. During his visit to Madras he had recommended that some of Mahomed Ali’s irregular horse should be disciplined by English officers. In this way a small body of useful cavalry had been obtained. Many, however, were still wanted; and an agreement was made with Morari Row for his personal service with a body of his select troops. He was preceded by an advanced guard, and, on the 4th of August, joined the army, which had then proceeded to Ooscota, with a nominal force of 3000 horse and 2000 irregular infantry. A period of inaction now took place, partly because the battering train intended for the siege of Bangalore had been stupidly left behind on the first stage from Madras to Vellore, and partly because Mahomed Ali had fallen sick.
On the same day when Morari Row joined the British camp at Ooscota, Hyder entered Bangalore with the light troops of his advance. On the 9th of August they appeared to reconnoitre, and thereafter continued harassing the skirts of the camp. Morari Row had been urged by Colonel Smith to encamp within the protection of the British pickets, but he answered with a smile that he knew how to manage the Nuick; and took up his station about a mile to the right. During the delay caused by Mahomed Ali’s illness, he threw up a slight line of works, but the protection they afforded was so imperfect that Hyder thought he ought not to lose the opportunity of attacking them. Accordingly, on the night of the 22d of August, two columns of infantry set out, preceded by 6000 horse and some elephants, to beat up Morari Row’s camp, while Hyder remained in reserve with the main body of his army, to support the attack and counteract any movement by the British. The different localities of the camp were well known to the officers commanding the attack, and special instructions had been given to the cavalry to proceed directly to Morari Row’s tent, and bring off his head as a trophy. It was scarcely possible to take so experienced a Mahratta chief entirely off his guard. The moment he found he was attacked by cavalry, he had the singular presence of mind to order that not a man of his should mount; and that, as the best means of distinguishing friends from foes, each man should remain at his horse’s head, and cut down every person on horseback. The irregularity with which the tents were fixed greatly impeded the movements of Hyder’s cavalry, and the confusion was increased by Morari Row’s state elephant, who, on receiving an accidental wound, broke loose, seized his chain in his trunk, and struck with it at a mass of advancing cavalry. This strange onset threw these back on the columns of infantry, while just entering, and under the apprehension that the attack had failed, a hasty retreat ensued. The noise had reached the British camp, and Hyder, fearful of the consequences, could take no part in the fight. His loss in killed and wounded was about 300; that of Morari Row not more than 18.
Hyder, though foiled in this movement, was not discouraged, and immediately resolved on another of still greater promise. Leaving Bangalore in the charge of Tippoo, and his maternal uncle Ibrahim Sahib, he set out on the 3rd September, by a circuitous march, for the south, in the hope of cutting off the division of Colonel Wood, which was known to be ascending from the Baramahal, and was expected to reach Boodicota on the 5th. The route of the division was through a long defile, which pointed north-west for a few miles, and then, at a comparatively open spot, where it was met by a road from the north-east, turned at an obtuse angle nearly due west. Hyder, presuming that Colonel Smith would wait the arrival of the expected division at Maloor, had selected a position north-eastward of the angle of the defile, from which he might open an enfilading fire on it, and avail himself of the consequent confusion to overpower it completely; at the same time, the open road in his rear would secure a retreat in the event of failure. Colonel Wood, unable to learn the course of Hyder’s motions, had thrown his baggage into Maloor on the 5th, and continuing his march in the same direction, was, early on the morning of the 6th, moving towards Boodicota. The hills which form the defiles concealed the three bodies of troops which were thus, unconsciously to each other, converging towards the same point. Some scouts sent out by Colonel Smith having climbed to the top of the hills, reported that they had seen Hyder’s army and Colonel Wood’s division approaching as above described. Seeing that he would be able to clear the defile before Hyder, and take him at an advantage, he quickened his pace, and had just, after reaching the angle, begun to make his formations on the open ground, when, to his amazement, he heard a regular salute from the south-east. He had sent scouts to inform Colonel Wood how matters stood, and this officer had taken this method of testifying his joy. Hyder, as much surprised as Colonel Smith at the salute, was able to make a better use of it, and was soon beyond all reach of pursuit. One can scarcely wonder that Colonel Smith, thus balked of a victory at the moment when he had almost made sure of it, expressed himself so strongly that Colonel Wood resigned his command, and was succeeded by Colonel Long, who followed with the division in the direction which Hyder had taken, while the main body moved towards Colar.
Hyder moved much farther to the north than was necessary to elude his pursuers. He had an important object in view. His brother-in-law Meer Sahib had, it will be remembered, treacherously delivered up Sera to the Mahratta, and been rewarded by them with the government of Goorumconda, which had originally belonged to his ancestors. By his desertion Hyder was deprived of the best corps of his army, and he was therefore anxious for a reconciliation which would restore it to him. For this purpose he called in the aid of his wife, who pled his cause with her brother so ably, that she at last carried her point. The reconciliation thus effected was never after interrupted; and Hyder, after availing himself of an opportunity to ravage the territory of Morari, returned with a valuable reinforcement towards Colar, where the Company’s battering train was drawn out, and the field-deputies were talking confidently of the early investment of Bangalore.
Hyder’s position looked critical. Half his territory and several of his strongholds had been wrested from him—a chain of posts had been established—the place next in importance to the capital was threatened with a siege—and the army opposed to him was commanded by an officer of distinguished ability. On the other hand, these advantages of the Company were more imposing than solid. The captured places were not adequately garrisoned—the territory occupied was held by a precarious tenure—the siege of Bangalore, if protracted by a respectable defence, would starve out the besiegers, and swarms of light troops might, as before, spread like locusts over all the lower part of the Carnatic, and carry devastation and terror to the very gates of Madras. All these things were perfectly understood by Hyder; and he was, moreover, perfectly aware of the folly, ignorance, and conceit which presided at head-quarters, and rendered Colonel Smith’s abilities of little avail to the Company. Weighing all these things in an even balance, Hyder, if he had much to fear, had also something to hope, from a continuance of the war. There was one great danger which he could not have overlooked. The Mahrattas had more than once brought him to the brink of destruction, and he had every reason to believe that they were watching their opportunity. This consideration probably had more influence than any other in the resolution which he now took to make advances for peace. Had the Madras government been actuated by the spirit of moderation which, as has been seen, prevailed at this time among the directors, he would not have made them in vain, since at the very outset he offered greater sacrifices than they were disposed to demand. His own proposal was to cede the Baramahal and pay ten lacs of rupees. The Madras government, as if they had thought that the idea of peace was the very last which they ought to entertain, or that they had so humbled their adversary that he had no alternative but to accept any terms, however humiliating, which they were pleased to dictate, set no limits to their extravagance, and demanded an enormous reimbursement for the expenses of the war—a line of territory which should include the forts of Kistnagherry and Dindigul, and numerous concessions on the Malabar coast. Not satisfied with asking for themselves, they insisted that Hyder should pay Nizam Ali the tribute which they had promised him in the event of their having conquered Mysore, and that he should make important cessions of territory to Morari Row. The negotiation was finally broken off about the end of September, 1768, and the contest, which had never been entirely suspended, became more inveterate than ever.
The fort of Mulwagul had been garrisoned by Colonel Smith with his own troops, but during his absence the field-deputies had, on their own responsibility, substituted for this garrison a single company of the troops of Mahomed Ali. Hyder, aware of the change, took advantage of it as he was returning from Goorumconda, and by practising on the officer in command, gained possession of the place as if by surprise. Colonel Wood, again in command of his division, had hastened on the first alarm to its relief. On finding he was too late, he attempted to recover it. The lower fort was easily gained, but an attempt to carry the upper fort by a night escalade failed. On the next day, the 4th of October, Colonel Wood, observing a light body of troops moving, as if for the purpose of throwing a convoy into the garrison, set out with two companies and a gun to reconnoitre. He had no idea that Hyder’s army was near, and had allowed himself to be enticed two miles from his camp, when he observed 3000 horse and a heavy column of infantry moving to surround him. He galloped to the nearest picket, consisting of other two companies and a gun, and sending orders for his line to be formed and his baggage secured in the lower fort, hastened back to the support of the party he had left. Though it was completely surrounded, he forced through and joined it. Hyder, with his whole army, now appeared advancing over a height about a mile in front, and forwarding reinforcements. Flight was Colonel Wood’s only chance of safety; and, abandoning his two guns, he formed his companies into a square, and commenced a speedy retreat. It would not have availed him; and he was only saved from destruction by a battalion under Captain Matthews, who had been detached to his support, and succeeded in joining him. The united corps, after successive stands, were able to retreat till the line could give them more support. A desperate struggle now ensued. The enemy, in overpowering numbers, pushed forward with the utmost confidence; the British resisted with the energy of despair, but every moment was increasing their difficulties, and confusion had begun to spread in their ranks. Captain Brooke, who had received a severe contusion in the escalade of the previous night, was left in the lower fort in charge of the baggage. He had with him four companies of his battalion. Seeing the impending peril, he took every man he could muster, including sick, wounded, and camp-followers, and with two guns, dragged along by volunteers and mounted by wounded artillery, moved by a circuitous and concealed path to the summit of a flat rock in the vicinity. The moment he reached it he commenced a brisk fire with his guns on the densest masses of the enemy’s left flank, and at the same time ordered every man to shout, “Huzza! huzza! Smith: Smith!” The shout, heard by the main body, was re-echoed by them, in the belief that Colonel Smith had really arrived. The enemy, similarly deceived, gave way in every direction, and Colonel Wood had time to restore order among his troops and gain an improved position. Hyder was not long in discovering the stratagem; and, full of rage at the escape of his destined victims, furiously resumed the attack. He even attempted to charge with his cavalry up the hill on which the British were now posted, but had effected nothing when night closed and left Colonel Wood in possession of the field of battle. The British loss amounted to eight officers, 229 rank and file, and two guns; that of the enemy was estimated at 1000. As both sides had exhausted their ammunition, there was a necessary interruption of hostilities, and Colonel Wood was finally relieved from his perilous position on the 6th of October, by the arrival of Colonel Smith from Colar.
Hyder, single-handed though he now was, had assembled so formidable an army that Colonel Smith told the field-deputies that, with the relative force of the contending parties, the siege of Bangalore could not be undertaken unless Hyder was previously beaten in a general action, and that the only chance of bringing on such action, supposing him disinclined to it, was to continue moving in two divisions, and endeavouring to entrap him into some position where it would be impossible for him to avoid it. A council of his officers, to whom he submitted these views, concurred in them, and it was resolved to strengthen the divisions by collecting every disposable man for this purpose. In letters to the Madras government, desiring them to interpose their authority to these measures, Colonel Smith, who now felt that he had submitted too long to an ignominious thraldom, complained bitterly of the insufficiency of supplies, notwithstanding his incessant remonstrances, and hinted that Mahomed Ali’s presence might be more useful than at Colar, where, for his protection and that of the field-deputies, a force little inferior in strength to one of the divisions of the army was detained. These letters, and the discouraging appearance which affairs were assuming, helped to open the eyes of the council to the preposterous course which they had pursued. They had formerly taken credit for “prevailing on Mahomed Ali to accompany the army,” but on the 15th October they addressed two letters, one to Colonel Smith, in which they expressed a hope that “he will be disburdened of the nabob;” and another to the field-deputies, in which, referring to the abandonment of the proposed siege of Bangalore, they plainly show that, whatever the amount of mismanagement might have been, they were determined not to bear the blame of it. “We cannot help,” they say, “expressing our amazement and just disappointment that so unexpected an obstacle should now be discovered. The laying in magazines of grain was to be one great object of your attention, and we have always understood that a sufficient store to supply you during the intended stage had been laid in at Colar and other places. If that has not been done, to what end have we been put to the expense of sending such quantities of artillery and ammunition for the siege of Bangalore? To what end have all operations been suspended, Colonel Wood recalled from the southward, and our whole attention drawn to that object, when it is most certain neither that nor any essential service could be undertaken without ample supplies of grain? If you have been deceived in this respect, why have we not been advised from time to time? We can hardly say we hope it is not so, because Colonel Smith’s assertion is positive. We desire you will explain this to us immediately, for our anxieties are too great to admit of delay; and we cannot help remarking with sorrow, that never army met with more impediments; at one time the want of artillery and stores for the siege keeps it inactive, then the nabob’s sickness fixes it immoveably in its camp; at another time the rains prevent all operations; and, last of all, it is rendered useless by the want of provisions.” Such was the language to which the council were reduced, only six weeks after disdainfully rejecting a favourable peace.
On the 5th of November, before the nabob and the deputies could have digested the contents of the above letter, Hyder, while constantly keeping out of reach of attack, and harassing the two British divisions by his light troops, started off, and, by a circuitous movement, suddenly appeared before Colar. His main object was to draw off Colonel Smith, who was threatening Deonhully; but he was also prepared, if he saw an opportunity, to attempt Colar by escalade. He accomplished the former object; and on being disappointed in the latter, revenged himself by burning the villages and devastating the country for several miles around. After the letter and the alarm the deputies had no longer any relish for campaigning, and were permitted, on hinting the wish, to return home. Colonel Smith was now told that if he could submit a plan for more successful operations, with his present means, he might have “the direction of the war;” if he had no such plan, he was to repair to Madras and aid the deliberations of the government. He adopted the latter alternative, and set out on the 14th of November, accompanied by the nabob and the deputies, under the escort of a division. The general opinion was, that the desire for Colonel Smith’s presence at Madras was prompted by a wish to try the effect of a change of command. Colonel Wood had made himself the favourite of the nabob, the deputies, and the government, and his campaign in the south was appealed to as evidence of his transcendent military talents.
Immediately after Colonel Smith’s departure, intelligence having been received that Hyder was besieging Oossoor, Colonel Wood marched, on the 16th of November, to its relief, at the head of about 700 Europeans and 4000 sepoys, with their usual field-pieces. He had also two brass 18-pounders; but, as he was meditating a night attack on Hyder’s camp, and wished to relieve himself of all incumbrances, he left them, with the whole of his baggage, camp equipage, and surplus stores, at Bangalore, where he had arrived on the 17th. He set out the same evening, but was obliged to abandon his proposed night attack, as he did not reach Oossoor till seven next morning. Hyder had made suitable preparations for Colonel Wood’s fondly-imagined surprise. On the previous evening he had desisted from siege operations, and remained encamped north-west of Oossoor till the British advance was entering it. In the hurried march only a small portion of the provisions and stores intended for the relief of the garrison had been brought up. While these were entering Hyder was not idle. His cavalry were making demonstrations in various directions, and his infantry were moving by a circuitous route to turn the British flank, and cut off the communication with Bangalore. The outposts had observed clouds of dust, indicating the movement of troops in that direction, and reported them to Colonel Wood, who, however, took no steps in consequence, and was first aroused to the danger by hearing repeated and heavy discharges of cannon and musketry. He lost not a moment in making a precipitate retreat. Hyder had outstripped him. Bangalore consisted of a fort, and a pettah or walled town connected with it on one side. When Colonel Wood left his so-called incumbrances behind him, the two brass eighteen-pounders had been found too wide for the narrow gate of the pettah, and had remained outside; the mass of the stores and baggage were deposited in the streets, and the draught and carriage cattle had mostly taken shelter under the walls. The garrison consisted of one of the best corps in Mahomed Ali’s service, and was commanded by Captain Alexander, who, on the first alarm of Hyder’s appearance, made an attempt to save the eighteen-pounders. He found himself instantly assailed on both his flanks, and retreated towards the fort. Hyder’s troops were now within the pettah, whose mud walls formed no defence against columns preceded by cannon, and attended by pioneers and ladders, and were proceeding for the fort, in the hope of either entering it along with Captain Alexander or of cutting off his retreat. Fortunately the officer in charge of the fort had closed the gate, and the few sepoys left within commenced a brisk fire, which kept the enemy at bay till Captain Alexander and his party were drawn up into the fort by ropes. Meanwhile, a dreadful scene was passing in the pettah. Men, women, and children, camels, horses, and oxen were pressing forward to escape the enemy, by gaining admission into the fort. The shutting of the gate made this impossible, and the avenues to it became completely blocked up. As the pressure continued, the stronger trampled down the weaker, and masses of dead and dying were piled in heaps. Two thousand human beings are said to have perished. When Colonel Wood arrived, it was only to find that the enemy were already out of sight, carrying with them his two eighteen-pounders, about 2000 draught and carriage bullocks, and nearly the whole of the stores, baggage, and camp equipage of his army.
After viewing the desolation caused by gross mismanagement, Colonel Wood returned on the 20th to Oossoor, to repair one of the errors of his former precipitation, by throwing some ammunition and stores into it; and on the 22nd was returning, after quitting Bangalore, which could no longer supply his troops, in the direction of Colar. He had reached the intermediate post of Arlier, and believed Hyder to be twenty-five miles distant, when he saw him suddenly appear, driving in the outposts with his cavalry and light troops, as a mask for the movements of his infantry. Soon after two batteries opened from a height. This cannonade, which the superior weight of Hyder’s ordnance, including the two brass guns, made effective on his part, was very imperfectly answered by the British field-pieces. Colonel Wood had two resources. He might have moved out of the reach of the enemy’s guns, or he might have adopted the more rational and spirited course of advancing on them. He did neither; and remained a whole day wasting ammunition in returning a fire which cost him in killed and wounded, one captain, six subalterns, twenty Europeans, and 200 sepoys. At ten at night, as the enemy had made a show of moving off to a distant encampment, Colonel Wood resumed his march; but the ground was scarcely cleared when he was startled by a fire of musketry on his rear and right flank. Similar attacks, obliging him to make repeated halts, were continued throughout the night. At daylight on the 23rd, just as his advance had passed an opening in the hills, Hyder’s army was seen pressing through it, with a view to cut off the British columns, and destroy them in detail. The bayonet relieved them from this danger, and they pressed on, though still harassed both on the right and left. Two miles further on, one of Hyder’s columns having arrested the British front, he brought forward his whole infantry, and made a furious attack. Ultimately the contest looked ominous indeed. The British ammunition had begun to fail, and the sepoys to despond. At this very moment the attack ceased, and Hyder commenced his retreat. At first Colonel Wood could only wonder at this unexpected deliverance, but ere long an approaching column of dust explained it. Major Fitzgerald, who, as the next superior officer, had succeeded to the command of Colonel Smith’s division, started off from Vencatigherry the moment he heard of the disaster at Bangalore, and was now in sight. In another hour he would have been too late. The field-pieces had only five rounds of ammunition remaining. Hyder had taken the direction of Bangalore, and it was therefore necessary to hasten to its relief. Major Fitzgerald volunteered to proceed on this expedition after receiving a small reinforcement to his division, while the rest of the army might repair its losses, and recover from its fatigues at Colar. Colonel Wood, who had at one time been bold even to rashness, was now so timorous and desponding that he would not allow the divisions to be separated, because his fixed opinion was, that united they were not a match for Hyder. His subsequent proceedings did nothing to redeem his honour, and he was ordered to Madras under arrest. He was afterwards tried, but escaped, as incapacity, the chief fault with which he was charged, has no punishment annexed to it by the articles of war. In his command he was superseded by Colonel Lang.
On returning from the west Hyder had sent Fuzzul Oolla Khan to Seringapatam, to collect levies and organize them. By the zealous and skilful discharge of this duty, he was able, early in November, to take the field with 7000 regular cavalry and infantry, a great number of irregulars, and ten guns. His object was to descend into the low country. This, the absurd arrangements of Colonel Wood, who had stationed a number of isolated posts, incapable either of separate defence or mutual assistance, rendered comparatively easy. By open attack or treachery, fort after fort fell into his hands, and he announced to Hyder that he would complete his descent by the Gujelhutty pass, by the 4th of December. On the 6th, Hyder descended eastward into the Baramahal, by the passes of Palicode and Topoor. Colonel Lang, who had foreseen this movement, despatched Major Fitzgerald, on the 10th, in the same direction, with an efficient corps of 5000. As no adequate means had been used to recruit the sepoy ranks after the casualties of last campaign, he was left under the walls of Vencatigherry, with a force which amounted, exclusively of garrisons and detachments, to no more than 370 Europeans and 900 sepoys. The first service required of him was to remove the battering train from Colar, where Colonel Smith had allowed the field-deputies to deposit it, notwithstanding his declared opinion that it was no safe place for stores, without an army in its vicinity. With the removal of the train, the dream of conquests which it was to have assisted in effecting, fled.
In descending into the Carnatic, Hyder despatched emissaries in all directions, to announce that he had destroyed the English army, and was about to resume possession of his posts in the low country, preparatory to the conquest of Madras. For a time, indeed, his progress, like that of Fuzzul Oolla Khan, was more like a triumph than a campaign. The forts, says Colonel Wilks, yielded “as if a magic wand had accompanied the summons.” Major Fitzgerald, following by rapid marches, had the mortification, at every halt, to hear of the fall of the place he next hoped to relieve. Thus he reports the fall, on the 6th of December, of Darampoory, on the 7th of Tingrecotta, on the 12th of Oomaloor, on the 15th of Selim, on the 17th of Namcul, on the 19th of Caroor, on the 25th of Erode, and on the 31st of Dindigul; Caveripooram and Palghaut, which also fell, are not reported. Some incidents connected with the captures of Erode and Caveripooram are not unworthy of being detailed.
Colonel Freschman, who had succeeded Colonel Wood on his departure from the south, retired sick to Trichinopoly shortly after Fuzzul Oolla’s descent, leaving the command to Captain Orton, who concentrated his force at Erode. The district in which it stands is remarkable for fertility, but the cruel rapacity of Mahomed Ali’s government had exhausted its resources. The provisions of Erode were in consequence insufficient for a short siege; and a detachment of fifty Europeans, 200 sepoys, and two three-pounders, was sent, under Captain Nixon, to escort a supply from Caroor, about forty miles to the south-east. Hyder’s approach was known, but it was supposed that two more convoys could be brought up before he arrived, and that, in the meantime, the detachment would be strong enough to oppose any force that Fuzzul Oolla Khan might be able to bring against it. These were gross miscalculations. The detachment had been little more than an hour upon its march when about 1000 horse were observed to the eastward. These, after reconnoitring the detachment, withdrew. Captain Nixon had arrived within two miles of an intermediate post, at which he intended to halt; but, on mounting the summit of a rising ground, was startled by three well-directed cannon-shot, which plunged from some masked guns into the head of his column. Before he had time to unlimber his three-pounders, he found ten field-pieces playing on him at little more than point-blank distance. After forming, he retired a few paces for cover behind the crest of the hill, to consider how he might best make for the post, which he conceived might still be in the hands of his own people. How astonished was he on finding that, instead of a detachment sent by Fuzzul Oolla Khan, Hyder’s whole army was opposed to him. In a few minutes he saw two deep columns of infantry advancing to attack his little party, while about 12,000 horse were rushing on at full speed to envelope them on every side. The fifty Europeans stood firm, and reserving their fire till the enemy’s column was within twenty yards, gave a volley and drove it back at the point of the bayonet. It was an unavailing effort, for the cavalry at the same moment charged the left and rear of the sepoys. A horrible carnage ensued. Not an individual of the detachment escaped without a wound except Lieutenant Goreham. From speaking the language, he was able to explain himself to an officer of rank, who saved him by giving him a seat on his horse behind him.
Placing the wounded in conveyances, Hyder hurried to Erode to display his trophies, and, to make the nature of them understood, sent in a flag of truce to ask the aid of an English surgeon. Shortly after he sent a summons, translated into English by Lieutenant Goreham, demanding the surrender of the place, and inviting Captain Orton to repair to his tent, under the assurance that, if a capitulation was not agreed to, he would be at perfect liberty to return. Strange to say, Captain Orton accepted this invitation, perhaps because he had been making too free at dinner. His next in command was Captain Robinson, who had been taken prisoner the year before, and released on his parole not to serve again during the war. He was of course now serving in violation of his parole, and this not without the knowledge, but with the sanction of his government. It was the knowledge of this fact that had mainly induced Hyder to request the conference with Captain Orton, as he meant to retaliate in a manner which, if not justifiable, certainly taught a useful lesson. Affecting to have become acquainted with the breach of parole for the first time during the conference, he expressed his astonishment at such dishonourable conduct, and declared that he considered himself free from his promise of a safe-conduct. He offered, however, that if Captain Orton would sign an order for the surrender of the place he would permit the whole garrison to retire with their property to Trichinopoly. Captain Orton, after standing out the first day, yielded on the second, and wrote the order. The more remarkable part follows. Captain Robinson was bound by duty, and had the strongest of all personal motives, to disobey the order, and yet, under no other compulsion, surrendered the same evening. Shortly after Caveripooram, which had long been gallantly defended by Captain Faisan, was compelled to capitulate under a similar promise of safe conduct to Trichinopoly. Neither promise was kept, and both garrisons were thrown into prison, where Captain Robinson afterwards died. Hyder’s faithlessness was almost proverbial, and it may be presumed, without any breach of charity, that he would have acted in the same way, though he had no plausible pretext for it. The Madras government, however, had set the bad example, and had only themselves to blame when they found it turned against them.
With these events the year 1768 closed. In the course of little more than two months, Hyder recovered every place which had been wrested from him except Colar, Vencatigherry, and Kistnagherry—the former two untenable posts, the last strongly seated on the summit of a rock, but in a locality where it could scarcely influence the course of the war. After the capture of Dindigul, Fuzzul Oolla Khan was sent to operate upon the provinces of Madura and Tinnevelly. Hyder, re-crossing the Cauvery, marched eastward along its northern bank. Major Fitzgerald, who was in the vicinity of Trichinopoly, and suspected that Madras was his object, hastened northward to interpose between him and this capital. Hyder on this turned south-east, so as to place himself in the rear of Major Fitzgerald’s track, and left no doubt as to his locality by the flaming villages which marked his course. His arrival at the Coleroon brought him to the frontiers of Tanjore, which he agreed to spare in return for four lacs of rupees. He then proceeded northward, and occupied the very position which Major Fitzgerald had at first taken up, but been obliged to abandon, in order to seek for food at Cuddalore, on the sea-coast. The road to Madras had thus been left open, and the presidency were in consternation at the prospect of a visit which might be expected to be far more disastrous than that of Tippoo Sahib, which was still fresh in their memories. The council had formerly disdained to listen to any terms of accommodation, unless everything they chose to ask was conceded to them. In a few short months all their dreams of conquest had vanished, and it was now their turn to make pacific overtures. Hyder was perfectly aware of the advantageous position he had acquired, and acted with more moderation than he had experienced in similar circumstances. In answer to the governor’s communication, he expressed his readiness to conclude a peace, and requested that an officer might be sent to his camp, to whom he might explain the terms. Captain Brooke, the officer who made the sudden and successful diversion during the action at Mulwagul, was employed for this purpose, and furnishes an interesting report of his interview. Hyder began by complaining that though for many years he had kept an envoy at Madras for the purpose of establishing a solid and lasting friendship with the English, all his efforts had proved unavailing, chiefly in consequence of the intrigues of Mahomed Ali. Twice during the present war—once to Colonel Smith at Kistnagherry, and the second time to the field-deputies at Colar—he had made overtures of accommodation, only to see them ignominiously rejected; but he was still willing to make peace with the English, if they would look to their own interests, exclude Mahomed Ali from their counsels, and send a person to his camp with full power to treat. He next observed that the Mahrattas periodically invaded his country to levy plunder, and would certainly not rest there if the opposition they had hitherto experienced should from any cause be withdrawn. At present Mysore was a barrier interposed between them and Arcot, but they had frequently proposed to him a partition of the nabobship. He had refused to enter into their views, because he believed them adverse to his interests; but they were preparing an invasion on a very formidable scale, and, as he did not feel strong enough to fight both Mahrattas and English at once, it would soon be absolutely necessary for him to make sure of the friendship of one of them. He preferred the English, and it was now for them to say whether he was to make good that preference.
On receiving this report, the Madras government ordered Captain Brooke to repair again to Hyder’s camp, with an outline of the terms to which they were willing to agree. Hyder rejected them at once, declaring them unsuitable to the relative positions of the parties, but, at the same time, expressed his readiness still to receive Colonel Smith or any gentleman of rank charged with reasonable proposals and possessed of full powers. Only one of two courses remained open to the government—to prosecute the war with renewed vigour, or accept of peace on the best terms on which it could be obtained. With their usual inconsistency and vacillation, they did not adopt either, but preferred a course which attempted ludicrously to combine both. To proclaim their determination for war, Colonel Smith, whom they had so long kept idle at Madras, was again placed at the head of the army, which was concentrated at Chittapet; and to indicate their longing for peace, Mr. Andrews, a member of council, was appointed to repair to Hyder’s camp. Colonel Smith arrived at Chittapet on the 1st of February, and on the 14th Mr. Andrews, who had accompanied him, set out on his pacific mission.
Hyder, in the meantime, was communicating with another party, of whom the presidency had good ground for being apprehensive. The French, who had for some time almost entirely disappeared from the scene, were ambitious of again appearing upon it. Under pretence of securing Pondicherry from any attack by native powers, they were busily employed in renewing its fortifications; and M. Law, who had formerly figured in the war which terminated so fatally, was evidently buoyed with the hope of figuring more gloriously as a restorer of French ascendency in the East. Hyder was, of course, to be his great coadjutor. Nothing could have been more acceptable to him than the following letter from Hyder:—“It is a long time since I had the pleasure of receiving any letters from you, advising of your health, the news of these parts, and that of the French in Europe. Considering the friendship and regard which the French Company and the sirdars of their king in Europe bear to me, I am very glad to hear of the increase of their happiness and power, also of your health. You have doubtless heard from them the repeated victories which, by the blessing of God, have attended the Circars troops; also the defeat of the English, and my laying waste the Trichinopoly, Arcot, &c. countries. My victorious armies are now gone toward Madras, near to which place they will proceed, when you will certainly send to me a person of distinction to inform me as well of certain affairs of your country of Europe as these parts; and till then be constant in writing me very particular letters, advising of the above matters, the situation of affairs in Europe, the English seaports, and their sirdars—all which will be the means of increasing our friendship and regard.”
The council, seeing the danger thickening around them, endeavoured to obtain a respite by proposing a truce of forty days. Hyder cut down the number of days to twelve, which began to run from the 22d of February. As soon as this truce was signed, Mr. Andrews hastened back to Madras to lay Hyder’s ultimatum before the council, and receive further orders. Hyder, relieved for the time from actual warfare, employed part of his leisure in receiving a pompous deputation from the council of Pondicherry. The truce expired on the 6th of March; and, as no proper use had been made of the interval which it furnished for concluding peace, hostilities immediately recommenced. The abilities of Colonel Smith began to tell in the Company’s favour; and a series of movements took place, during which Hyder more than once found himself critically placed. He determined, therefore, to avoid similar risks in future, and with that view, returning to his old tactics, drew off gradually to the south. In this way the two armies were carried to about 140 miles to the south of Madras—Hyder in advance, as if retreating, and Colonel Smith following in his wake. Hyder’s object was now gained. Sending off the whole body of his infantry, guns, and baggage of every description, and the great mass of his cavalry, with orders to retire by the pass of Altoor, he started off at the head of 6000 chosen horse and 200 foot. In three days and a half he moved 130 miles, and on the 29th of March arrived within five miles of Madras. In the evening of the same day Hyder acquainted the governor with his arrival, and the object of it, in a very characteristic letter. After referring to the previous steps which had been taken to terminate the war, and the various movements he had been obliged to make in consequence of Colonel Smith’s approach with the evident design of attacking him, he continues thus:—“Colonel Smith, notwithstanding the negotiation of peace being on foot, again arriving within two or three coos of my army with the same design as before, I immediately decamped, and with a view to settle a lasting peace the soonest possible, am arrived at the Mount (St. Thomé). My regard to our friendship and the intercourse of letters which has passed between us, made me decline coming to blows with the colonel; and the same consideration has made me entirely forbid the burning the villages and seizing the cattle, on which heads I have given proper orders throughout my army. I now write this, therefore, to desire you will send to me Mr. Du Pré, who is a wise sirdar and one of the councillors, and with whom, moreover, I have maintained a correspondence since the first arrival of Mr. Andrews. To him I shall impart my thoughts respecting the establishing a peace and sincere friendship between us; which, having fully understood, he may return and acquaint you with; in which case that foundation of a lasting peace which we are both desirous of will be established. In case of any delay therein, I am not to be blamed: let me hope, therefore, that you will send the said-gentleman with all possible expedition. Entertain no apprehensions whatever, but be pleased to send him with a contented heart.”
Auber’s Rise and Progress of the British Power in India, vol. i. p. 110. ↩︎