fuppofed great, but unknown vaJuc. His wife and mother, (the former of whom is defcribed by Mr Haftings, as a woman of an amiable character) with all the otr women of his family, and fuch of the defcendants of Bulwant Sing as fill adhered to him, were left behind in the fort, with the remainder of his treafures, and a fufficient garrifon. Major Popham's troops did not want to powerful an incentive as the treafures enclofed in the fortrefs, to induce vigour in their attacks; though the profpe&t of fuch a prize, by no means tended to flacken their zeal The difficulties were however fo great, that the month of November was advanced, before they had proceeded fo far by fap, as to have a mine ready to fpring, which it was expected would enable them to form the place. In thefe circumftances, the Rhanny, (by which appellation the Rajah's mother was known) who Nov. 10th. feems to have had the entire command, furrendered the fort by capitulation. By the terms, he was to be allowed 15 per cent. upon the effects in the fort; and to be entirely at liberty, whether to refide in the country, or to follow her fon; in the one cafe to meet with perfect protection, and in the other, to be escorted by a proper fafeguard to the frontiers. We are totally uninformed as to the fate of the Rajah's wife. The governor general, wifhed that the treatures taken at Bidjeygur thould become a prize to the captors, as a reward for the unparalleled zeal and alacrity dif played, and the eminent fervices performed by the officers and troops, through the whole of this bufinefs. A letter written by him to Major Popham during the fiege, was understood, as giving a full fanction to fuch a difpofition of the fpoil. The officers, however, being juftly apprehenfive, that the company, or the council of Calcutta, might not agree to this meafure, determined, by a speedy dif tribution of the money, to put it as far as poffible beyond the power of recall. They accordingly proceeded to make a dividend of all the cash that could be told out, or af certained in the time, (being the greater part) on the very fecond day after taking the place. The fum to be diftributed on this firft dividend, amounted to 25 lacks, or 312,500l. of which the commander in chief's fhare was 36,70l. each of the majors, 5,6191. the captains above 3,000l. a piece, and the fubalterns, fomething more than 1400 each. The dividends of the native officers were but low; and a common fepoy's fhare, fomething more than fix pounds. It was fuppofed that fomething near two thirds of the cash was difpofed of by this dividend; but the other parts of the fpoil, confifting of large quan tities of rich merchandize, and of rubies, diamonds, emeralds, and other precious ftones, it was fuppofed would produce a very great fum. This difpofition of the Rajah's treasures, was not at all fatisfactory to the council of Calcutta, who paffed refolutions by which they declared, that the governor general had not formally, nor according to any liberal conftruc tion which could be put upon his letters, renounced, on the part of the company, as their reprefentative, their legal right to the property of the booty found at Bidjeygur. That the precipitate and irregular divifion of the booty made by the officers, thewed they did not confider thofe authorities as conftituting to them a legal title to it. That, their own unqualified acquiefcence in the mea fure, would establish a dangerous precedent with respect to the future conduct and claims of the army. And, on thefe grounds they refolved, that they could not renounce the company's claims on the booty; but that fuch meafures fhould be taken as would bring the question to a legal decifion, independent of any other measure it might be thought neceffary to adopt; leaving, how ever, to the officers the alternative, of fubmitting the whole matter to the determination of the board, in which cafe it was promifed, that the governor general's recommendation fhould be liberally confidered. It being laid down as a farther condition, that the officers fhould lend to the company, as part of a public loan, upon the ufual terms, their fhares of the prize-money, excepting only what each might refpe&tively declare upon honour to be neceffary for the fupply of his private wants. An anfwer, in a given time, was demanded from the officers; a failure in which would be confi dered by the board as a difobedi. ence of orders, and proceeded upon accordingly. Such was the iffue of the war of Benares, and fuch the fate of Rajah Cheit Sing. Peninfula of India. Efforts by France to recover her ancient poff ions and influence, and totally to overthrow the English power. French Squadron fails from the African islands with a strong body of forces for the coast of Coromandel; takes the Hannibal of 50 guns, and appears fuddenly before Madras, intending to deftroy the English Squadron in the road, and, in concurrence with Hyder Ally to befiege that place by fea and land, Caufes which obliged M. de Suffrein to abandon that defign and put out to fea. Is pursued by Sir Edward Hughes, who chaces and takes several of the convoy. Partial fea-fight; in which the French, having the wind in their favour, direct their whole force to the attack of the rear and a part of the center of the British line. Admiral's fhip, the Superbe, and Commodore King's fhip, the Exeter, fuffer extremely, through the great fuperiority of force by which they are attacked. Capt. Stephens, of the former, and Capt. Reynolds, of the latter, killed. Enemy fuddenly haul their wind and ftand off; are out of fight in the morning. Admiral, on his way from Madras to Trincomale, is joined by the Sultan and Magnanime from England. Falls in with the Enemy's fleet. Bloody action off the coaft of Ceylon, on the 12th of April. The damage on both fides Jo great, and fo nearly equal, that the hoftile commanders lie for feveral days within fight of each other, repairing their shattered hips. French fleet proceed to Batacalo, and Sir Edward Hughes to Trincomale. Confequences of thefe naval actions. Great difappointment to Hyder, in his expectation of fuch a co-operation on the part of France, as would enable him Speedily to reduce the Carnatic. Major Abingdon arrives with a body of troops from Bombay at Tellicherry, on the Malabar coast; where he defeats and takes Saados Cawn, who had long blockaded that place. of Coromandel, but of giving fuch a fatal and decifive blow to her old rivals, as might enable her, with the aid of the native powers, to chace them entirely out of India. The ftate of affairs on that continent, was the most favourable that could be imagined, or almost wifhed, to that defign; for befides the exhaufture of their strength and treasures, in that open, very extenfive, and dangerous war, in which the English were unfortunately engaged with the two greatest powers of India, moft moft of the other ftates happened fquadron and convoy into Port at that time, through various un- Praya Bay, fulfilled, however, (as toward caufes, to be avowedly or we have formerly feen) the fecond fecretly inimical to their interefts; object of his commiffion, by fe. and France was to confider all curing the Dutch fettlements at their enemies, as being virtually the Cape of Good Hope from the her own allies. She accordingly hoftile defigns of that armament; fpared no expence, and avoided and having left a fufficient French no rifque, for the accomplishment garrifon behind for their future of this purpofe; and notwith- protection, proceeded, with the ftanding the vaft objects which remainder of his force, to join the had in view, both in America and the West Indies, at the fame time, her attention to this was unremitting, and her exertions in fending out men, fhips, ftores and artillery, were great and unceafing. We have heretofore feen that he was not always fortunate in these attempts, and that the lofs of fome of her convoys were no fmall impediment to her defign; but perfeverance, as ufual, at length triumphed over misfor tune. The new alliance with Holland, and the inability of that republic to protect the great fources of her power and wealth in the Eaft, against the defigns of the English, was an additional fpur to France, for endeavouring by all means, and at all events to acquire a naval fuperiority in India. Nothing lefs could effectually protect the Dutch fettlements; and as Sir Eyre Coote had fo unexpectedly and effectually oppofed, and given fach fevere checks to Hyder Ally, it feemed that nothing less could fecure to that conqueror the complete reduction of the Carnatic, particularly including Madras, without which, nothing elfe could be confidered as fe cure. M. de Suffrein, after his unfuccefsful attack upon the English M. de Orves, who was his fuperior in command, at the island of Mauritius. Upon this junction, the French commanders having now a force of ten fail of the line, befides one fifty gun fhip, and feveral large frigates, they failed for the coaft of Coroman⚫ del, being accompanied by a number of transports and storethips, together with a confider. able body of land forces; and M. de Orves dying on the paffage, the fole command of the fleet devolved on M. de Suffrein. The British fquadron and convoy under the conduct of Capt. Alms, with the troops under Gen. Meadowes, which had departed for India while the French were ftill at the Cape, met with fuch extraordinary delays, through adverfe winds, and a fucceffion of exceedingly bad weather, that they were expofed to the greatest danger of falling in, fhattered and difperfed as they were, with the united force of the enemy, who had failed fo much later from the Mauritius than they had done from the Cape. The Hannibal, of fifty guns, happened to be the only victim to this unlooked for danger. That hip being entirely separated from the reft, found herfelf in very dark and tempestuous weather, Admiral Sir Edward Hughes, after the taking of Trincomale, was obliged, on the laft day of January 1782, to fet fail for Madras, in order to procure a large fupply of ftores and provifions; articles which his fhips, after the long and hard fervice they had undergone, could not but now ftand in great need of. His fqua. dron confifted only of fix fhips of the line; and thefe had been fo long at fea, as to be neceffarily much out of condition, and their crews much weakened by loss and Feb. 8th, fickness. Upon his ar rival in Madras Road, 1782. he received intelligence from Lord Macartney, the governor, that a French fleet, amounting to thirty fail of all forts, had arrived upon the coaft, taken feveral veffeis, and were then fuppofed not to be above 20 leagues to the northward. In this alarming and critical fituation, expofed in an open road to the attack of fo fuperior an enemy, and that even before he could get the neceffary fupplies on board, the admiral was most fortunately reinforced on the following day, by the arrival of Capt. Alms, in the Monmouth, of 64 guns, accompanied by the Hero, of 74, and the Ifis, of 50 guns. The admiral ufed the utmoft difpatch in getting the neceffary ftores and provifions on board, 2 while Sir Eyre Coote, with his ufual zeal and attention to all parts of the fervice, ftrengthened the fquadron by the much wanted fupply, of a detachment of 300 officers and men of the newly arrived 98th regiment; who were accordingly diftributed by the admiral in thofe fhips which were the weakest in point of men. This difpatch was fully neceflary; for on the 15th of February, and before the fhips had yet completed their equipment, the French fleet appeared fuddenly in the Of. fing, confifting of twelve fail of line of battle fhips, (including the English Hannibal, and another fifty) fix frigates, eight large tranfports, and fix captured veffels. The enemy, after standing in directly for Madras, feemed at once to receive fome unexpected check in their defign, and suddenly caft anchor, at noon, about four miles without the road; while the English admiral was butily employed in placing his fhips in the most advantageous pofitions for covering and protecting the numerous veffels which lay within fide of them, and in clapping fprings upon their cables, in order that they might bring their broadfides to bear full upon the enemy in his approach. The fudden change of motion and defign which appeared on the fide of the French commander, proceeded from the unexpected difcovery, and confequent difappointment, which his near approach had produced. He had no previous knowledge or even idea, of the arrival of the three fhips of war from England. He had proceeded to Madras under the moft flattering illufion; that of figna. |