or excruciating deaths by which he cut them off when he felt them grow cumbersome, or feared the revelations they might make after he had been compelled to set them free. In this horrid butchery he had been engaged only a short time before his capital was stormed; and the knowledge of the fact, when first made known to the British soldiers, had so exasperated them, that they were with difficulty restrained from taking a fearful vengeance on all the members of his family and the inmates of his palace." It was found that M. Chapuy, and all other French officers taken, bore commissions under the Republic; but we are told nothing of Lally. intended to represent the humma, a fabulous bird, whose shadow will bring a crown to the head on which it falls—a bird that flies always in the air, and never touches the earth. The neck of this singular relic is entirely composed of emeralds. and the body of diamonds, with three bands of rubies. The beak is a large emerald tipped with gold; an emerald and pearl are the crest to the head. The tail and wings are rows of rubies and diamonds, all so closely set, that the gold of which the bird is composed is scarcely visible. That the throne must have been of enormous value there can be little doubt, though it would be difficult, perhaps impossible, to exactly estimate its worth. The conquest of Seringapatam was complete, and the glory of Mysore was gone for ever. The A number of tigers found in the palace yard whole number of troops engaged in the defence were ordered to be shot, for fear of accidents. In was 21,839. Of these, more than 8,000 were one apartment was the large and singular toy, entrenched on the island formed by the Cauvery, which was invented for the amusement of Tippoo, and this shows that 13,000 only were in the fortress, and is now in London. It is a rude automaton where fully two-thirds of them fell. In the assault, of a tiger, killing, and about to devour, a British the European killed, wounded, and missing soldier, who lies prostrate under its claws. In the amounted to only 337 of all ranks, while the native interior is a kind of organ, turned by a handle, and casualties were merely forty-nine. There were eight producing notes which are intended to represent officers killed and fifteen wounded; but the entire the growls of the tiger and the moans of the dying casualties from the 4th of April to the 4th of May victim. There were found near the palace the amounted to 1,164. There were taken 929 pieces recently buried bodies of his last European prisoners of cannon, including mortars and howitzers, and howitzers, one of whom was recognised as a grenadier of 424,000 iron balls, 520,000 lbs. of powder, and the 33rd Regiment. They had all been murdered 99,000 stand of arms; while in the magazines at night, by twos and threes, and the mode of and foundries was found all manner of warlike munition in the same proportion. killing them was by twisting their heads round their shoulders, and thus breaking their necks; and when our soldiers looked on these remains, such a spirit was roused, that made it well for Tippoo that with him the game of life was over, and he was lying in his grave at the Lal Bagh. Jewels worth about seven lacs of pagodas were taken in the treasury (near the door of which was chained an enormous tiger), with muslin shawls and rich cloths enough to load 500 camels. The footstool of the throne of Tippoo is now preserved in Windsor Castle, and is the golden head of a tigerthe emblem of his empire. Though conventional | in treatment, it is striking in detail; but the legs and paws are well modelled. The eyes and teeth are of crystal; the markings on the head are of burnished gold. A letter from Seringapatam* states that the throne itself, being too unwieldy, was broken up. It was a howdah upon a tiger, covered with cloth of gold: the ascent to it was by silver-gilt steps having silver nails, and all the other fastenings were of the same metal. The canopy was superb. Every inch of the howdah contained an Arabic sentence, chiefly from the Koran, and the pearl fringes alone of the canopy were valued at 10,000 pagodas. The apex of this canopy was a bird, said by some to represent a peacock; but Colonel Wilks says that it was better qualified for the post could have been *Asiatic Ann. Reg., 1799. There was found a book in M.S., entitled "The King of Histories," in which the Highland challenge of General Macleod, offering to fight Tippoo on the sea-shore, with 100 men a side, was alluded to; and the pretended answer of Tippoo was inserted. After calling Macleod a Nazarene, and adding that all Nazarenes were idolaters, and addicted to every vice, it continued thus:—“If thou hast any doubt of all this, descend, as thou hast written, from thy ships, with thy forces, and taste the flavour of the blows inflicted by the hands of holy warriors, and behold the terrors of the religion of Mohammed." And the story concludes with the immediate flight of Macleod and his men.† On the morning after the capture, General Baird resigned the charge of Seringapatam to Colonel Wellesley. It has been said, "that no officer + Wilks' "Southern India." 1799.] SEYD IBRAHIM. 345 cavalry officer, Seyd Ibrahim, whose memory was so revered, that the Governor-General in Council, in 1801, passed a resolution, of which the following "In order to manifest his respect for the long services, the exemplary virtue, and impregnable valour of Seyd Ibrahim, the Governor-General in Council is pleased to order and direct that the amount of his pay, being fifty-two pagodas and twenty-one fanams per month, shall be conferred as a pension for life on his sister, who left her home in the Carnatic to share his misfortune in captivity, and who was subsequently wounded in the storm of Seringapatam. selected; but it may be suspected, without any Among those who had suffered most miserably in the dungeons of Tippoo was the famous native "In order, also, to perpetuate his lordship's sense of the Seyd's truth and attachment to the Company's service, the Governor in Council has ordered a tomb to be erected to his memory at Cowley Droog, with an establishment of two lamps and a fakir for the service of the tomb, according to the rites of his religion." + CHAPTER LXVII. THE FIGHT IN BALASORE ROADS-PARTITION OF MYSORE-RESTORATION OF THE ANCIENT HINDOO DYNASTY. To give coherency to the narrative of Tippoo's downfall, we have omitted to mention in its place, chronologically, a spirited sea-fight that took place in Indian waters early in the same year. Captain Edward Cooke, of H.M.S. La Sybille, of forty guns and 280 men (including a company of the Scots Brigade, who served as marines), while at Madras, having received intelligence that La Forte, a French fifty-four gun ship, with 700 men, was cruising in the Bay of Bengal, notwithstanding the vast disparity of force, put to sea in quest of her, and on the 28th of February, 1799, at nightfall, discovered four sail to windward, and by midnight had got the weather-gauge of them all. It was then perceived that one was a very large ship, with two stern lights; and for this ship, which proved to be La Forte, Captain de Serci (a pupil of Suffren), La Sybille at once bore down, when she was in the roads of Balasore, a sea-port of Orissa, where the Calcutta pilots usually Iwait the arrival of vessels. At a quarter past twelve, when the ships were about three cables' *Col. Beatson's "View of the War with Tippoo," &c. length (360 fathoms) apart, the enemy presented his broadside, fired, and bore up before the wind. In ten minutes, La Sybille, having got within two cables' length, luffed to the wind on the starboard tack, raked her fore and aft, and after this discharge, edging down before the wind, came fairly alongside, and a furious contest, often within pistol-shot, went on in the dark. Captain Cooke soon discovered that, although La Forte seemed well disposed to the conflict, his own fire was so superior as to render it probable that the matter would soon be ended. By half-past one the enemy's fire was considerably diminished, while that of La Sybille had become more close and rapid. About twenty minutes to two, La Forte ceased firing; but upon being hailed to know whether she had struck, her guns opened again. About ten minutes to two her lights were put out, her men were seen swarming into the shrouds as if about to board, and again she ceased firing. La Sybille also ceased, and hailed, but received no answer. Puzzled by this conduct, Captain + Madras Gazette, June 28, 1800. might receive, and not to accept gifts or presents, directly or indirectly. In his secret instructions to this commission, the Earl of Mornington announced his intention of restoring the representative of the ancient Rajahs of Mysore, accompanied with such a partition of territory between the allies as might also please the Mahrattas. The empire which old Hyder had founded with Parliamentary restrictions, and orders from home, forbidding wars of conquest, so trammelled the earl, that he could not, as he might have done, have assumed immediate authority over the conquered kingdom; he therefore proposed to partition it; to retain those districts which lay along the coast, or interrupted communication between provinces already in our possession; to make over a certain district to the Nizam of the Deccan; to offer the Mahrattas another, on certain conditions; and to raise to the government of the fourth, or remaining portion, as stated, the heir of the ancient family which Hyder had dispossessed. Cooke, who had been severely wounded, opened on her again, when her three masts and bowsprit went by the board. Three hearty cheers were given by the crew of La Sybille, and Captain Cooke, to prevent any separation, at once let go his anchor, and the moment day dawned, ordered out his boats and took possession of the prize. La Sybille's standing and running rigging were completely cut to pieces: not a rope was left standing on the mainmast, which, with the main and top-his sword was now about to be finally rent asunder. sail yards, was splintered and shot in various places. She had three men killed and nineteen wounded; and Captain Davis, a staff-officer who served as a volunteer, was among the first who fell. But the scene exhibited by the decks of La Forte was shocking: she had 150 men killed, and about 80 wounded. Her captain, and most of the officers, fell early in the action. She had thirty 24-pounders on her main deck, fourteen 12- and eight 36-pound carronades upon her quarter-deck and forecastle, besides brass swivels; while the metal of La Sybille was twenty-eight 18-pounders on the gun-deck, ten 12- and ten 32-pound carronades, fore and aft. Captain Cooke's wounds were severe he was struck in the arm and ribs; but one, made by a swivel ball, was a dreadful one, and occasioned such symptoms that it was supposed to have penetrated the lungs. He expired on the 23rd of May. His body was preserved in spirits, and buried, with military honours, at Diamond Harbour, by H.M. 76th Regiment, and the Directors of the Company voted a monument to be erected to his memory at Calcutta. The fall of Seringapatam was followed by the entire submission of all Mysore. On the 14th of May, Kummer-ud-Deen, Futteh Hyder, and Purneah, waited on General Harris, who received them with the honours due to their rank, and to whom they submitted, without any other condition than that they should be preserved in their lives, estates, and titles. The whole army under their command imitated their example, and peace and order were thus easily established everywhere throughout Mysore. The settlement of its future government on the principles of equity and good policy, became now the task of the Governor-General, who, with the concurrence of Nizam Ali, appointed General Harris, Colonel Arthur Wellesley, his brother, the Honourable Henry Wellesley, afterwards Lord Cowley, and Colonel Barry Close, "commissioners for the affairs of Mysore." Captains Malcolm and Monro were appointed their joint secretaries, and as such, had to take an oath binding them not to disclose the instructions they Thus the territory of Canara, with its fortresses and posts at the head of the different passes which lead into Mysore, together with the city of Seringapatam, was assigned to Britain, or the Company, "in full right and sovereignty for ever." The tract of country which bordered on the Deccan was given to the Nizam; and Harponelly (with its fortified town), a district bounded by the Tumbudra river, was made over to the Peishwa; but as that leading chief failed to comply with certain stipulations, it was left to form the basis of a new treaty, and in the meantime was to remain in the hands of the Company. Maharajah Krishna Oudraver, a child, the lineal heir of the old rajahs, was raised to the throne of the fragment that remained, but which was, in reality, neither less nor more than his forefathers reigned over before the days of Hyder; and the entire superintendence of his affairs was committed to the Brahmin Purneah, who had been Tippoo's chief minister of finance, and was known to be a man of ability. Beatson gives the age of the infant rajah at five years; Sir John Malcolm at three. Various members of his family were still surviving, including his maternal grandfather and his paternal grandmother, who was in her ninety-sixth year, and consequently must have lived in the days of Queen Anne. Summoned suddenly from obscurity to a throne, they were filled with gratitude and joy; and the old ranee, second wife of the old rajah, who lived at the time of Hyder's usurpation, and another lady, who was maternal aunt of the new one, wrote thus to General Harris and the commissioners : "Your having conferred on our child the government of Mysore, Nuggur, and Chitteldroog, with their dependencies, and appointed Purneah to the dewan, has afforded us the greatest happiness. Forty years have elapsed since our government ceased. Now you have favoured our boy with the government of this country, and nominated Purneah to be his dewan, we shall, while the sun and moon continue, commit no offence against your government. We shall at all times consider ourselves as under your protection and orders. Your having established us, must for ever be fresh in the memory of our posterity from one generation to another." The yearly revenues from the territory assigned to the little rajah were equal to £412,222 sterling; and it was to be held by tenure. He was to abstain from interference in the affairs of all foreign states, and not to permit the residence of Europeans without the consent of the Company-in whom, in short, the real government of his territories was entirely vested. As they had appropriated Seringapatam, a new residence for the rajah was selected, and Mysore, the ancient capital, was fixed upon. In 1787, Tippoo, wishing to obliterate all trace and memorial of the ancient Hindoo dynasty, ordered this town and fort, which crowned a lofty hill, nine miles from Seringapatam, to be levelled to the ground, and the materials to be used for the construction of a castle called Nuzerhar, while the people were driven away. All the materials were now brought back to construct a palace for the young rajah, and on the 30th of June the ceremony of placing him on the musnud was performed by General Harris, in presence of the commissioners, a great concourse of Hindoos, who rent the air with yells of acclamation, while volleys of musketry were given by H.M. 12th Foot, and the batteries of Seringapatam gave a royal salute in the distance.* Colonel Barry Close obtained the post of resident at the new court, for which he was every way qualified. Under a strong military escort, the sons of Tippoo were sent to Vellore, where, though kept under necessary surveillance, they lived in ease and splendour, and were treated with every courtesy. Their income was four lacs of pagodas, or £160,000 yearly. Policy forbade the re-elevation, in any way, of the race of old Hyder. Educated, as they had been, in rancorous hatred of the British, they could not be expected to think with calmness now of those Colonel Beatson. | 347 to whom they owed their downfall from mighty power and royal independence; and it was by no means unreasonable to suppose that, if an opportunity offered, the heir of Tippoo might, as the Earl of Mornington wrote, seek "the recovery of that vast and powerful empire which, for many years, had rendered his ancestors the scourge of the Carnatic, and the terror of this quarter of India.”+ The territory now annexed by the Company exceeded 20,000 square miles in dimensions. The revenue obtained, therefore, was great, and drawn chiefly from vast and fertile districts, that only required peace and leisure to be able to liquidate with ease the demands now made upon them. Consistency, as the Earl of Mornington had foreseen, was now given to our acquisitions in Southern India, together with a degree of military strength and security we had never possessed before. Colonel Alexander Beatson tells us that there were no less than sixty great passes through the mountains, most of which were practicable for armies, and two-thirds of which were open to the descent of cavalry. By the possession of these Ghauts now, we were secure from those desolating invasions which had occurred during the wars with Hyder and Tippoo, and all the level country was equally safe along the coast of Malabar. Under good and wise government, the people of the new territory, from being our bitter enemies, became our firmest friends, and many of the bravest men of Mysore were to be found in the ranks of the Company's army. The Earl of Mornington's proposed cession of some territory to the Peishwa of the Mahrattas was an act of considerable generosity. In 1798, when the treaty was concluded with the Nizam, the GovernorGeneral offered to conclude one of a similar nature with the Peishwa; but after some diplomacy on the subject had been wasted, the latter dropped it, and said he "would faithfully execute subsisting engagements." One of these was to join us in arms against Tippoo, in the event of his making war on any of the parties to the triple alliance formed by Marquis Cornwallis; hence, when Tippoo's intrigues with the French Republic were naturally deemed by us equal to a declaration of hostilities, the Peishwa promised that he would send a contingent to the field under Purseram Bhow, and a body of our troops was held in readiness to join that leader. Nana Furnavese, who was again chief minister at Poonah, and favourable to our interests, urged Bajee Rao to fulfil his promise; but such was the influence of Dowlut Rao Scindia, + Wellesley's "India Despatches." "View of the War with Tippoo," &c. clined; so the reserved territory was divided equally between the Nizam and the Company. In July, 1799, General Harris left Seringapatam for Pondicherry, and, in accordance with orders received from the Gover nor-General, he surrendered to Colonel Wellesley the civil and military government of Mysore; and there are few instances which discover a more conscientious and competent performance of duty than his rule in the conquered kingdom. "He displayed a capacity for detail, for intricate accounts, for laborious public business, for judging of men in civil and military situations, for discerning "In seven months' absence from Madras, we not only took the capital of the enemy-who, as you observe, should never have been left the power of being troublesome-but marched to the northern extremity of his empire, and left it in so settled a state, that I journeyed from the banks of the Tumbudra river, 300 miles across, in my paJoo lanquin, without a single soldier as escort-exSlid cept, indeed, at many places, the polygars and peons, who insisted on bag being my guard through their respective districts. This was a kind of triumphal journey I did not dream of when set the native character, for COOLIE OF THE MATHERAN RANGE, WESTERN GHAUTS. penetrating and un ravelling native intrigue, such as has seldom in the world's history been seen in so young a man. His laborious toil for the public good, while his health was really delicate, showed a devotion to duty which became characteristic of the man, and enabled him to set an example to the people of the British Isles which has not been lost." A letter from General Harris to a friend, after leaving Mysore, contains the following passage: the half imbecile ruler of which was, at any time, liable to become the dangerous instrument of the Peishwa, or any prince more subtle and ambitious than himself. Our forces within his territory had hitherto been paid by a monthly subsidy, the payments of which were extremely irregular, and always liable to stoppage by the treachery or waste of the Hyderabad court; and it now became the object # 44 Life of General Lord Harris." |