XIX.]

PROPOSALS TO SINDIA AND NAGPORE.

81

Nana Furnuvese, evaded the proposal of an alliance, but assured the Resident that he would faithfully observe the engagements of the triple alliance. A large Mahratta force was ostensibly ordered to assemble and join the expedition which the Governor-General was fitting out against Tippoo, but it was never intended to act, and the Mahrattas took no part in the campaign.

While these negotiations were in progress at Negotiations with Sindia and Poona, Colonel Collins, the Resident at the court Nagpore, 1798. of Sindia, was instructed to lay before him the letter of Zemaun Shah, requesting the co-operation of the British Government in driving the Mahrattas from Hindostan, liberating the emperor from bondage, and restoring him to the throne. The Resident was instructed to assure Sindia that the Governor-General was determined to resist this attempt to disturb the established states of India in their actual possessions, and to invite him to unite in a defensive league against the Abdalee. Sindia was also urged to quit Poona and return to Hindostan, where he would find an English army ready to join him. He declined the alliance, but promised to proceed to his own provinces in the north, a promise he did not intend to fulfil. The raja of Nagpore had maintained a friendly disposition towards the Company, and Mr. Colebrooke, the most eminent Oriental scholar of the day, was sent to his court to improve it, but the raja refused to entangle himself with an alliance.

Extinction of the French

force at Hyderabad, 1798.

To give effect to the subsidiary treaty with the Nizam, four Madras regiments, with proportionate artillery, were ordered to march to Hyderabad, but the Madras treasury was so empty, that the Governor was obliged to raise funds for their equipment on his own personal responsibility. They reached Hyderabad on the 10th October, but the difficulties of the transaction were not past. Every artifice and intrigue was employed for nine days to evade the performance of the treaty and the dismissal of the French corps. The vacillation of the Nizam and his minister arose,

82

EXTINCTION OF THE FRENCH AT HYDERABAD. [CHAP.

not only from the dread of a collision between the two forces, English and French, but also from a feeling of reluctance at the last moment to descend to a state of helpless and irretrievable dependence on a superior power. The Nizam, under the influence of personal terror, took refuge in the neighbouring fortress of Golconda. The British Resident, Captain Kirkpatrick, was obliged to assume a high tone, and to assure the minister that it was now too late to recede, and that the Nizam would be held responsible for the consequences of this breach of faith. Colonel Roberts, who commanded the British force, was anxious to bring the question to an issue before the arrival of the Nizam's household cavalry, who were known to be friendly to the French interests, and had been ordered up from the country. The minister was at length convinced that there was more danger in evading than in performing the engagement his master had entered into, and a proclamation was issued dismissing the French officers from the service, and releasing the sepoys from the obligation of obedience to them. Both officers and men were thrown into a state of confusion and dismay by this unexpected announcement. The British force was moved into a position which completely commanded the French encampment, and from which, if necessary, the French storehouses and magazines could be set on fire by red hot shot. The French commandant, Mons. Piron, on receiving his dismissal from the Nizam, sent a messenger to inform Captain Kirkpatrick that he and his officers were ready to place themselves under British protection, and expected to be treated according to the usages of civilised nations. But the men, to whom considerable arrears were due, rose in a body on their officers and placed them in confinement, and it was not without great difficulty they succeeded in escaping during the night to the English camp. Captain Malcolm, a young officer of great spirit and ambition, then rising to notice, was sent to quell the excitement of the native troops, and to offer them the payment of their arrears. By his great tact in the management of natives, he prevailed on thein to accept these terms,

xIx.]

BONAPARTE LANDS IN EGYPT.

83

and before the evening this large body of 14,000 disciplined troops, possessed of a powerful train of artillery and wellstored arsenals, was disarmed without the loss of a single life. This great achievement, the foremost of the new administration, filled the native princes, who were calculating on the downfall of the Company's power, with amazement, while it gave fresh confidence to their native subjects. The ability with which it was planned, and the promptitude with which it was executed, removed all cause of anxiety from the minds of the European functionaries of government at all the Presidencies, and created a spirit of confidence and devotion, which contributed essentially to the success of the Governor-General's plans.

Mysore War

While Lord Wellesley was engaged in presanctioned in parations for war, he was so happy as to receive England, 1798. a despatch from the Court of Directors, written on the receipt of the Mauritius proclamation. The dread of the Mysore power, which they had thrice encountered in thirty years, still haunted their imaginations, and they began to tremble anew for the security of their possessions in the Deccan. They stated that if Tippoo had actually entered into a league with France, it would be neither politic nor prudent to wait till he commenced hostilities, but they also enjoined the utmost discretion in resorting to arms. Mr. Dundas considered that this breach of faith fully warranted a declaration of war, and Lord Wellesley was thus enabled to commence the campaign with the full concurrence of the authorities in England. On the 18th October he received intelligence that Bonaparte had landed in Egypt with the object of establishing a French empire in the East, and two days after issued orders to Madras to press forward the organisation of the army in every department, and to send the battering train and heavy stores to the frontier without delay. He likewise announced his intention to strengthen the Coast army with 3,000 volunteer sepoys, and, above all, with His Majesty's 33rd Regiment commanded by Colonel Wellesley, afterwards the Duke of Wellington, in himself a

84

First letter to

CORRESPONDENCE WITH TIPPOO.

[CHAP.

host. On the 8th of November, intelligence of Tippoo, Novem- the complete success of the movement for the ber 8, 1798. suppression of the French force at Hyderabad, reached Calcutta, and Lord Wellesley despatched his first communication to Tippoo Sultan. The British Government, he said, could not be ignorant of the intercourse he had formed with the French, the inveterate enemies of the Company, and then actually at war with England; and he was cautioned against a connection which "must subvert the foundations of friendship between him and the Company, and introduce into the heart of his kingdom the principles of anarchy and confusion." The Governor-General had, consequently, been obliged to adopt measures of precaution and defence, though he was anxious to live in peace and amity with all his neighbours. He was, however, desirous of propounding a plan which would remove all distrust and suspicion, and establish a good understanding between the Company and the Sultan, on the most stable foundations; and he proposed to depute Major Doveton for this purpose to his durbar. Lord Wellesley likewise resolved to proceed to Madras in person to obviate the delay inseparable from a distant correspondence, and to bring the authority of the Supreme Government to bear upon the military preparations. Sir Alured Clarke, the Commander-in-chief, was to be left in Bengal to watch the movements of Zemaun Shah, who had already crossed the Indus and reached Lahore. The Calcutta militia, an old institution which had fallen into disuse, was embodied to the number of 1,500. Lord Wellesley then embarked for Madras, which he reached on the last day of the year, and assumed the control of all the political and military arrangements, leaving the local administration undisturbed in the hands of the Governor.

Correspondence

Lord Wellesley found Tippoo's reply to his letter of Lord Welles- at Madras. With regard to the embassy, the ley and Tippoo, Sultan observed that the agents of a mercantile tribe, who had purchased a two-masted vessel,

1799.

XIX.]

TIPPOO'S EVASIVE REPLIES.

85

happened to go with a cargo to the Mauritius, and forty persons, French, and of a dark colour, ten or twelve of whom were artificers and the rest servants, had embarked in her for Mysore in search of employment. Some of these had entered his service, and the others had left the country. The French, "who were full of vice and deceit, had perhaps taken advantage of the departure of the ship to put about reports, with the view to ruffle the minds of both Sircars." The proposed conference with Major Doveton he evaded, under the pretence that "the treaties and engagements entered into among the four Sircars "the English, the Nizam, the Peshwa, and himself" were so firmly established and confirmed, as ever to remain fixed and durable, and be an example to the rulers of the age. No means more effectual than these could be adopted to give stability to the foundations of friendship and harmony." To this letter Lord Wellesley replied on the 9th of January, giving a full detail of all the transactions by which Tippoo had violated the treaties subsisting between him and the Company, and manifested the hostility of his designs. He stated that the new engagements which the Sultan had entered into with the common enemy, necessarily demanded new arrangements on the part of the allies. He solemnly admonished him to assent to the conciliatory mission of Major Doveton, and warned him of the dangerous consequences of delay in arduous affairs, entreating him not to postpone his reply for more than one day after the letter should reach his presence. Before the arrival of this communication, Tippoo had again written to the Governor-General to lull him into security, assuring him that "the sincerity of his friendship and regard, together with proofs of his solicitude for tranquillity and peace (his friendly heart being bent on their increase) had been made apparent." At the time when this letter was written, he was despatching Dubuc, one of his French officers, through the Danish settlement of Tranquebar, to the Executive Directory at Paris, to solicit the aid of 10,000 or 15,000 troops, who were to be maintained at his expense,