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his power, and their want of resources; had pressed upon them the necessity of CHAP. V.

Mahrattas to

forming a peace with the Mahrattas, as in that event Hyder would be restrained 1780. by his fears; and had written in similar terms to General Goddard at Bombay. commend Soon after, when they were informed of the probability that hostilities would be peace with the renewed with the Mahrattas, they reiterated the statement of their apprehensions; the Supreme and concluded that, destitute as they were of resources for all active operations, they could only collect their troops as much as possible, and wait to see what the resolutions of the Supreme Board would enable them to undertake.

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Board.

parations.

Before the end of November, the Nabob, whose intelligence respecting the Make no preproceedings of the Indian powers was in general uncommonly good, informed the Governor, that a treaty had been formed between Hyder and the Mahrattas, to which Nizam Ali had acceded, for a system of combined hostilities against the English. Though in his answer to the Nabob the Governor appeared to discredit the intelligence, it was not long before he was satisfied of its truth; and in the letter which on the 31st of December the Select Committee addressed to the Supreme Board, they represent the treaty between Hyder and the Mahrattas as an undoubted fact. Still they were not so much impressed with a sense of imminent danger as to be deterred from sending a body of troops to the assistance of Goddard, in lieu of those which were detained at Tellicherry ; being in daily expectation of a regiment from Europe; conceiving themselves sufficiently strong to cover the principal garrisons; and deeming it vain, without cavalry, to attempt to protect the open country against the invasion of a vast body of horse. In the month of January, 1780, the President wrote to the Court of Directors, that, notwithstanding the alarms in which they had been held by the hostile appearances of Hyder and the Nizam, and notwithstanding the provocation which the support of Ragoba had given both to the Mahrattas and the Nizam, there was still a prospect of tranquillity; and in the following month, he repeated, in still stronger terms, a similar assurance. Till the month of June, no measures were pursued which had a reference to the war; and even then, it was only commanded that Colonel Harpur's detachment, which had been transferred to the command of Colonel Baillie, should cross the Kistna, to be more in readiness," in case of any disturbance in the Carnatic." On the 19th of June intelligence was received from the officer at Velore, that Hyder had began his march from Seringapatam, and that a great army was already collected at Bangalore. On the 28th of the same month, the Select Committee of Fort St. George declared, by letter to the Supreme Board, that Hyder had received from the French islands a great quantity of military stores; that his

1780.

BOOK V. army, which he had been rapidly increasing for two years past, was now equipped for immediate service; that a part of it was already advanced to the borders of Carnatic; and that intelligence had been received of his being actually employed in clearing the road to one of the principal passes.

Surprised by arrival of the

enemy.

While the affairs of the Presidency were approaching to their present situation, a division had existed not only in the Council, but in the Select Committee itself. The President however, and the General had combined; and they retained a majority in both. In contemplation of the resentment of Hyder, and the progress of his power, the party, the views of which were apt to discord with those of the leading members of the government, had strongly urged upon them, at various times, the necessity of making preparations against the invasion with which they were threatened by Hyder, and of which they had received intimation from various quarters. If the resources of the Nabob and the Presidency combined were unequal to the maintenance of an army sufficient for the protection of the open country, it behoved them at least to assemble the troops; which, scattered as they were in petty garrisons over a great extent of country, could not, in case of an emergency, be collected without a lapse of time; and of which the junction would become hazardous, and perhaps impracticable, if the country were pervaded by Hyder's horse. The majority, indeed, had expressed their opinion of the necessity of having the troops collected in a body, and ready to act, previous to invasion. But they had not yet become persuaded that the danger was sufficiently imminent to render it necessary that preparation should begin.

On the 21st of July information was brought from the commander at Amboor, that Hyder and his two sons, with the principal part of his army, had come through the pass, and that his artillery was drawn up in the road to Changama. This intelligence, though it was confirmed from several quarters, was treated with slight regard by the party in power; and on the 23d, when Lord Macleod represented to the Governor, "That perhaps the report of Hyder's invasion might be true, and that he thought at all events they ought to take measures to oppose him; the Governor answered, What can we do? We have no money. But added, We mean, however, to assemble an army, and you are to command it."* The next day brought undoubted intelligence, that Porto

* Lord Macleod was the commanding officer of the European regiment which had lately arrived. See the extract of his Letter to the Secretary of State, quoted in the First Report of the Secret Committee, p. 44 and 51.

Novo, on the coast, and Conjeveram, not fifty miles from the capital, had been CHAp. V. plundered by the enemy.

The army, with which Hyder had arrived, was not less than 100,000 strong: Of his infantry 20,000, were formed into regular battalions, and mostly commanded by Europeans: His cavalry amounted to 30,000, of which 2,000 were Abyssinian horse, and constantly attended upon his person; 10,000 were Carnatic cavalry, well disciplined, of which one half had belonged to the Nabob, and after having been trained by English officers, had either deserted or been disbanded for want of ability to pay them: He had 100 pieces of cannon managed by Europeans, and natives, who had been trained by the English for the artillery of the Nabob: And Monsieur Lally, who had left the service of the Subahdar for that of Hyder, was present with his corps of Frenchmen or other Europeans, to the amount of about 400 men; and had a principal share in planning and conducting the operations of the army.

The arrival of Hyder, and the rapidity with which his cavalry over-ran the country, and spread ruin and desolation in a circle of many miles round Madras, filled Carnatic immediately with terror and dismay. The people fled from the open country to the woods, and the mountains; their houses were set on fire; the fields were left uncultivated, or the crops destroyed: Alarm succeeded alarm: Intelligence poured in from all quarters, that one place after another was assailed; till every part of the Carnatic frontier appeared to be entered, and even the northern Circars exposed to a similar fate.

tions.

1780.

On the 24th of July, the Select Committee assembled in deliberation. The English operaobject of greatest urgency was, to call the troops together, and form an army in the field. The European regiment at Poonamallee, that of Velore, the batta lion of Europeans, and the four battalions of sepoys cantoned at Pondicherry, the battalion of sepoys, and the grenadiers of the European battalion at Madras, the battalion at Trichinopoly, and the artillery at the mount, received orders to be in readiness to march: Absent officers were summoned to join their corps; and all things necessary for an army in the field were ordered to be immediately prepared: Letters were sent to the other Presidencies and settlements: The Governor-General and Council were importuned for money; and informed, that, if the Presidency were assured of pecuniary means, and not embarrassed by their ignorance of the state of affairs between the Bengal government and the Mahrattas, they would produce an attack on the possessions of Hyder on the western coast, by assistance sent to the detachment at Tellicherry, and the cooperation of his Majesty's fleet.

Book V.

1780.

Colonel Baillie, who commanded the detachment in Guntoor, consisting of about 150 Europeans, infantry and artillery, and upwards of 2,000 sepoys, was instructed to operate a diversion, by attacking Cudapah, or some of the other possessions of Hyder. This step was vehemently opposed in council by the antagonizing party; as sure, they said, to fail in detaching from his principal object any part of the attention or forces of Hyder; and sure to enfeeble their defence at home, by the absence of so important a part of their forces, which ought to be directed to march without a moment's delay by the safest route to Madras. As an additional reason for persisting in their original orders, the Governor and his majority alleged their doubts of being able to procure provisions for a greater number of troops than the marching orders already embraced. Colonel Baillie But on the 31st of July, when a letter was received from Colonel Baillie, representing the difficulties he experienced in finding subsistence for his troops, or in detaining the bullocks absolutely necessary for his march, they altered their instructions, and directed him to proceed towards the Presidency, taking such a route as might offer a chance of intercepting some of the enemy's convoys.

recalled from

Guntoor.

Different views in the Council.

By the majority, in which both the Governor and the General were comprised, it was resolved, that the troops should assemble, and the army should be formed, at a place near Conjeveram; where they would be nearer to the stores of provisions laid up by the Nabob in the forts, and prepared to yield a readier support to the garrisons which the enemy might assault. To constitute the majority of the Governor, it so happened, that the voice of the General was requisite; and if he departed to take the command of the army, their majority would be lost. On the ground that his counsels at the Presidency were of more importance at this moment, than his presence with the army, it was moved and voted that he should not depart; and that the command of the army should be entrusted to Lord Macleod. When the plan of operations, however, and in particular that part of it which consisted in assembling the army at Conjeveram, was communicated to that officer, he represented the danger with which, now that the country was invaded, the separate detachments would march to a place so distant and exposed; preferred the security of forming a junction in the neighbourhood of Madras, and of not taking the field till an army should be assembled sufficient at least to cope with the principal bodies of the enemy's horse; and declared his aversion to adopt a responsibility in the execution of plans of which his judgment did not approve. These observations These observations appear to have piqued the General, who insisted upon the advantage of assembling close to the scene of action, for the purpose of protecting the forts; and instead of acknowledging

1780.

the difficulty of uniting the forces near Conjeveram, he ventured to pledge him- CHAP. V. self to the Committee for carrying that measure into effect. Upon this, it became a matter of necessity, that he should leave his seat in the Select Committee; but to preserve its majority' to the party to which he belonged, a new expedient was devised. On the allegation, that his plans had no chance of support, and that his reputation, neither as an officer nor a man, was safe, if the managing power were to pass into the hands of the opposite party, it was, previous to his departure, proposed, and what was thus proposed, the majority which he helped to constitute had pre-ordained to decree, that a person, whom he named, should be appointed as an acting member of the Committee till his return. It naturally followed, that such proceedings should be severely criticized by the opposite party; and one member of the Council excited so much resentment by the asperity of his remarks, that the majority first replied to him with greater intemperance than that which they condemned; then suspended him from his seat at the Board; and lastly the General wrote him a challenge.

tachment sent

convoys with

On the 2d of August, while preparations were making, and the army was A strong denot yet assembled, a project was adopted for sending a strong detachment to intercept toward the passes, with a view to intercept the enemy's convoys. Colonel the enemy's Cosby was the officer chosen to command the expedition; and a force was pro- out effect. vided for him, out of the troops stationed at Trichinopoly and Tanjore, strengthened by two regiments of the Nabob's cavalry from Tinivelly, which joined the detachment at Trichinopoly on the 27th of August. Several causes of retardation operated on the expedition; but the grand impediment arose from the disaffection of the inhabitants. The sort of partnership sovereignty which the Nabob and the Company had established in Carnatic, had hitherto been extremely oppressive to the people, and had completely succeeded in alienating their minds. Though Hyder was carrying devastation over the country, he was less detested as a destroyer than hailed as a deliverer. While Colonel Cosby found himself in the greatest distress for intelligence, which by no exertion he was able to procure; every motion of his own was promptly communicated to Hyder by the people of the country:* He was disappointed and betrayed even

* Captain Cosby, in his official letter, dated Gingee, 5th September, 1780, says, "There is no doubt but that Hyder has, by some means, greatly attached the inhabitants to him, insomuch that my hircarrahs (spies) tell me, the news of my marching from Thiagar was communicated from village to village all the way to Trinomallee, from whence expresses were sent to Hyder; and in my march yesterday from Tricaloor, the country being extremely woody, the line was several times fired upon by match-lock fellows collected together, I suppose, from different villages, by Hyder's 1

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