232 LORD MORNINGTON'S MEASURES. CH. XXXIX. known portion of the globe, the country of fraud and falsehood. Tippoo's ambassadors were sent to the Mauritius in the guise of merchants, with instructions to observe the utmost secrecy in their communications with the French authorities; but on their arrival, they were received, in spite of their remonstrances and entreaties, with all the honours of their rank, and were publicly announced as the plenipotentiaries of the Sultan of Mysore, the ally of the French Republic. No sooner had the Mysorean ambassadors delivered their credentials, than Malartie issued a proclamation announcing the proposal of the Sultan, and inviting volunteers to enrol themselves in the service of this mighty potentate who was about to declare war against Great Britain, and to expel the English from Hindostan. This proclamation was received at Calcutta in June, 1798. Lord Mornington, the Governor-General, at first questioned its authenticity; but, in a few days, his doubts were removed by a despatch from Lord Macartney, and by the arrival of persons who had been present at the reception of the ambassadors, and at the promulgation of their embassy. Lord Mornington was moreover informed, that the ambassadors had subsequently left the Mauritius in a French frigate with French officers and two hundred men, engaged for the service of the Sultan. 26th of April, this force landed at Mangalore. About the same time, Lord Mornington ascertained that Tippoo had despatched an embassy to Zemaun Shah, the ruler of Cabul, Khorassån and Cashmere, who had always been the determined enemy of the English. On the The Governor-General took immediate measures to repel the expected attack. But it appeared, upon inquiry, that the forces of the Company could not be made ready for active service in less than six months; and the only native allies upon whose fidelity reli 1799. MISSION TO SERINGAPATAM. 233 ance could be placed, were the Peishwa and the Nizam; but the feeble and distracted Governments of these princes, afforded little hope of their being able to fulfil the conditions of the treaty of 1792, by which the Courts of Poonah and Hyderabad were bound in alliances offensive and defensive with the East India Company. At the beginning of August, Lord Mornington heard of the French preparations in the Mediterranean; and on the last day of October, the account of the victory at the Nile reached Calcutta. On the 8th of November, the GovernorGeneral addressed a letter to the Sultan of Mysore, apprising him that his correspondence with the French was known to the Government of the Company, and proposing to send an envoy to Seringapatam with the view of detaching him from the French connection, and restoring the friendly relations which it had been intended to establish by the treaty of 1792. This letter had no effect; and several attempts of a similar kind to maintain peace having been frustrated by the evasions of the Sultan, Lord Mornington on the 3rd of February, 1799, ordered General Harris to enter the territory of Mysore, and to march direct upon Seringapatam. The force under Harris consisted of about thirty thousand men besides a contingent of twelve thousand well-appointed troops, with a large body of cavalry, which, contrary to expectation, had been promptly furnished by the Nizam. At the head of the 33rd British regiment was the brother of the Governor-General, a commander who was soon to fill India, and ultimately Europe, with his fame. Arthur Wellesley, though he bore no greater military rank than that of a regimental colonel in this expedition, was nevertheless high in the counsels of the Commander-in-Chief. associated with General Harris and three other officers in a political and diplomatic commission, to which the Governor-General had delegated all his He was 234 RUPTURE WITH TIPPOO. CH. XXXIX. powers of making terms or concluding peace with the Government of the Sultan. Meanwhile Tippoo had marched in pursuit of an army under General Stuart, which was advancing from the coast of Malabar, to effect a junction with Harris's main body. The Sultan at the head of ten or eleven thousand of his best troops came up with Stuart's advanced guard of two thousand men near Periapatam. The brigade sustained the assault of the Sultan's troops, until Stuart arrived, when the Mysoreans were compelled to retreat with heavy loss. Undaunted by this reverse, Tippoo was disposed to try his fortune in a general action, and when the main army was within a few days' march of the capital, he attacked the outposts at the village of Mallavalley. But after a sharp struggle, in which Wellesley's regiment took a prominent part, the Sultan retreated; and making no farther attempt to resist his enemy in the field, he retired within the fortifications of Seringapatam. British before On the 4th of April, a week after the battle of Mallavalley, General Harris appeared beSeringapatam. fore the capital of Mysore. The works were of great extent, and had recently been repaired. The defence was conducted by French engineers, and the garrison was of sufficient strength. During the progress of the siege, Tippoo endeavoured to negotiate; but at this stage of the conflict, the English General could offer only peremptory terms. These were the renunciation of the French alliance; the payment of two crores of rupees; the cession of a large territory; and the surrender of hostages for the performance of these conditions. An answer was required within forty-eight hours; and none being received at the expiration of that time, the siege proceeded. On the 3rd of May, the breach was effected, and on the following morning, the assault took place with two thousand five hundred European, and nineteen hundred native troops, under the com 1799. SIEGE OF SERINGAPATAM. 235 mand of General Baird. The storming party encountered a galling fire of musketry in the advance, but the breach was undefended, and the place was soon in the possession of the assailants. Tippoo Sultan himself fell, fighting to the last. The capture of Seringapatam placed the whole kingdom of Mysore at the disposal of the Company. The conquerors appropriated to themselves a portion of the coast which extended their sea-board from Coromandel to Malabar. They likewise retained the fortress and island of Seringapatam, together with some smaller districts. Portions of territory were assigned to the allies of the Company, the Nizam and the Peishwa. The territory of which Hyder had dispossessed the Hindo rajah forty years before, was restored to his heir, a child of five years old, but under such restrictions as rendered him a vassal of the Company Colonel Wellesley was appointed Governor of Seringapatam instead of General Baird, who had led the assault with such signal success; a preference which was complained of, not without reason, by the senior officer. Treasure, to the amount of nearly a million and a half, was found in Seringapatam ; * together with a mass of papers which proved that Tippoo had long been in correspondence with the French relative to designs against the British power in India. A letter from Bonaparte, announcing his arrival at the Red Sea, with an innumerable and invincible army, to rescue the Sultan from his oppressors, and requesting him to send a confidential agent to Suez or Cairo, was published among the Indian despatches after the fall of Seringapatam. The rapacity of General Harris, in appropriating to himself and his generals double the amount of booty to which he and they were entitled, caused a great scandal. Unsuccessful attempts were made by proceedings in the Court of Chancery to recover the share of prizemoney of which the general officers had unjustly deprived the rest of the army. The opinions of the law officers on the subject, with other particulars, are to be found in the Wellesley Despatches. 236 SESSION OF 1799. CH. XL. CHAPTER XL. INCOME TAX-BONAPARTE'S LETTER PROPOSING PEACE HADFIELD'S OF THE THE Parliamentary Session of 1799 was remarkable for its financial measures. Early in the year a large subsidy had been promised to the Emperor of Russia in consideration of an army of forty-five thousand men being employed against the French. The money was readily voted by the House of Commons; Tierney, who now took the foremost part in opposition, approved the policy of cultivating continental alliances, and declared his belief in the possibility of organising a new confederacy against the French. The great victory of the British fleet, and the still more signal reverses of the French armies, had inspired new confidence in the war, and no man thought this a fitting opportunity to renew the twice rejected proposal for peace. It was now said by those who most exulted in the recent fortune of war, that the next offer of terms would come from the other side of the Channel. The scheme of taxation by which Pitt had intended to impose the chief burden of the war upon surplus property and income, had proved a failure. The weight falling upon articles of luxury could be evaded or mitigated at the option of the sufferer; and, in the result, not only was the revenue disappointed, but trade was materially injured by the retrenchment or disuse of the luxuries, which had been selected as the criterion of taxation. The failure of the triple |