The unexpected loss of Bangalore, when, with his superior numbers, he was taking such means to relieve it, filled Tippoo with rage and despair, and for some time he was in a species of stupor; for the suddenness of Lord Cornwallis's movements disconcerted all his plans.

After seeing the breaches repaired, and the fort made secure under Colonel Duff against any sudden attack, Earl Cornwallis, on the 28th of March, began to move in a northerly direction, taking the route to Deonhully. Tippoo, who on the same day had struck his tents, moved in the direction of Great Balipoor, in a line diagonal to that pursued by the British; and the two armies meeting, crossed each -other, not without a sharp skirmish; but the enemy, as if feeling their weakness, only manoeuvred to avoid a general action. They defiled rapidly across our front, and wheeling into a road which ran parallel to that pursued by our troops, observed, without troubling themselves, our further movements. They were sometimes only three miles apart, and each army could see the glitter of the other's arms, and the clouds of dust that whirled around the marching columns.

Cornwallis had determined to penetrate into the heart of Mysore, and to dictate his own terms of peace at Seringapatam, the capital of Tippoo's country, and the strongest place which the brutal tyrant held; but, instead of advancing thither at that juncture, he was obliged to move northward to effect a junction with a corps of cavalry which Nizam Ali had agreed to furnish. This being accomplished on the 13th of April, the united forces moved south-east to meet a convoy which, escorted by 4,000 men, was moving by the passes near the castled rock of Amboor; and on its coming in, the whole army returned to Bangalore.

This march occupied fifteen days, and during that time Cornwallis had ample means to judge the value of Ali's cavalry. Nominally 15,000, they were only 10,000 all told, and tolerably mounted, but without discipline; and their appearance in our camp excited astonishment, disappointment, and sometimes laughter. No two men among them were accoutred exactly alike.

"It is probable that no national or private collection of ancient armour contains any arms or articles of personal equipment, which might not be traced to this motley crowd. The Parthian bow and arrow, the iron club of Scythia, sabres of every age and nation, lances of every length and description, matchlocks of every form, and metallic helmets of every pattern. The total absence of every symptom of order or obedience, except groups collected round their respective flags, every individual an independent warrior, affecting to be the champion whose single arm was to achieve victory." yet in an artistic sense these wild horsemen must have seemed somewhat picturesque; but they had neither provender nor provisions of any kind: thus Cornwallis made them relieve the 19th and other light cavalry in outpost duty; yet this they neglected, and took to pillaging friends and foes with perfect impartiality, heedless alike of the orders of their leader, Tewant Sing, a Hindoo, and of his second in command, Asseid Ali.

And

For many reasons the Governor-General was now anxious to end the war as briefly as possible. In Europe the French Revolution was raging in all its fury, and none could foresee where or how its results were to end. The debts of the Company were rapidly accumulating on one hand, while the drain on their resources was enormous on the other. This, and the state of affairs in his own camp, made him resolve to advance without delay upon Seringapatam. Being without proper equipage, the march of his army, when it began on the 3rd of May, assumed a most singular aspect, for so many bullocks had perished before Bangalore that even a reinforcement of 10,000 was insufficient for the conveyance of the baggage, artillery, and stores. Thus soldiers, sutlers, and camp-followers were seen carrying cannon-balls and other ammunition ; while at night the officers had to share their tents together. The troops of the Nizam alone conveyed on this painful march 5,800 lbs. of shot.t

The terror and despair of Tippoo now assumed a savage and despicable form. Though he had often affirmed on oath that every British prisoner in his hands had been released, he still retained among his victims twenty English boys, the survivors of a much larger number, whom he had barbarously mutilated, and educated as singers and dancers. They were now, when tidings came of the advance of Cornwallis, handed over to the Abyssinian slaves, and horribly murdered by the slow dislocation of the vertebræ-the head being twisted one way, and the body another. Tippoo now covered the walls of Seringapatam + Sir Thomas Munro.

• Wilks.

with caricatures of the British, and, to bar the approach of the latter, demolished the bridge over the northern branch of the Cauvery. As a preparation for the abandonment of his capital, he removed his harem and his treasures to Chittledroog, a fortress situated on a rock, and girt by many walls in a rough and unhealthy district. There, his mother-the widow of the fierce Hyder-and several of his wives, upbraided him with his lack of spirit; and eventually, stung by their taunts, and hoping by sheer dint of numbers, to overwhelm the British in the field, he selected a strong position with good military judgment-guided perhaps by Lally and his European renegadoes-and drew up his army on a range of heights above the Cauvery, and in the species of island on which stood Seringapatam, and thus placing himself between his capital and his able opponent, prepared for the stern issue. "The British army marched over the barren heights above the valley of Millgotah, and then commanded a view of the mighty fortress of Seringapatam -the nest of hewn stone, formidable even in the eyes of the British soldier, where Tippoo had brooded over his ambitious designs, and his dreams of hatred, in visionary triumphs over the strangers who had so lately imposed a yoke on Asia. Nature and art combined to render its defences strong. An immense extended camp without the walls, held the flower of the sultan's troops." *

This was on the 13th of May, and three days after, it was resolved to attack him. Our troops were encamped with their front towards Seringapatam, their right resting on a ridge of small hills, and their left towards the Cauvery. Before the Mysorean army lay some swampy ground, which Tippoo had taken care to strengthen by redoubts mounted with cannon, while the approach of the British was somewhat hemmed in between the river and the ridge of hills, thus diminishing their frontage to not much more than a mile, or, at the utmost, a mile and a half.

Cornwallis having ascertained that it was possible, by crossing the ridge, to turn the Mysorean left wing, and by wheeling round, to get into its rear, determined to make the attempt, and with the greatest silence and secrecy, ordered six European regiments, and twelve of sepoys, to begin their march for this purpose, at eleven at night. The Nizam's rabble horsemen moving at daylight, were to be the supports, while the rest of the troops remained to guard the camp.

Torrents of rain which fell, impeded the march, and the bullocks were so much exhausted by dragging the artillery, that day broke before the "Hist. Brit. Conquests in India," vol. i.

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appointed place was reached; but the intention of making an attack was by no means abandoned; though every corps had become bewildered. About half-past six a.m. our troops were in sight of the enemy, and, as the left flank and rear of the latter appeared to be commanded by a height-the hill of Carigat, which gave its name to the battle-and which abutted abruptly on the Cauvery, it was resolved to gain possession of it, although one of Tippoo's redoubts crowned its summit. This hill had two spurs, one of which was occupied by the main body of Tippoo; the other-a strong ridge of rocks extending for nearly three miles to his left, opposite to this ridge, and separated from it by a ravine-was the post occupied by the army of Cornwallis.

So the hill of Carigat was the point on which the fate of the battle was to hang. A British column, composed of infantry and cavalry, with eight guns in front, moved rapidly to seize it at the time when a strong force sent by Tippoo anticipated the movement, and from the ridge its cannon opened by a plunging and searching fire, just as our people cleared the ravine, and thus they were enfiladed till shelter was found among some rocks, and a frontage was formed. While Tippoo's detached column was occupied in seizing the point of attack, his main body had changed its front, and was advancing against us in line.

To meet these double movements, Cornwallis had to form his troops in two fronts of unequal length, but united at right angles. This strange, but necessary formation, had barely been achieved, when the enemy's Stable Horse, or select cavalry, which had been concealed by the peculiar nature of the ground, dashed out on the spur, and made a spirited charge, in which many of them perished by bullet and bayonet. Then the smaller of our two fronts, which consisted of five battalions, including the 52nd Foot, the 71st Highlanders, and Major Langley's brigade, the whole under Hamilton Maxwell of the 74th Highlanders, were ordered to carry the ridge from whence the obnoxious fire

came.

With splendid intrepidity, Maxwell's division advanced for 500 yards, under a heavy cannonade and a biting fire of musketry. The Mysoreans stood firm till our troops were within a few yards of them; but ere the bayonets could be levelled for a charge, they broke, fled, and rushed down the back of the ridge, at the foot of which three of their guns were taken, many of the gunners being shot down in the drag-ropes, while striving to get them away. By this time, Cornwallis had advanced with his other front, under Medows, against the