tried them, he said, already, and he knew them well; they had no conduct; "and even now," faid he, "when I have affembled fo great a "force to enter into their country, "they have not manifefted the "leaft glimmering of ability; and now therefore is the time to go "against them." Such was the ftate of things when, about the 20th of July, 1780, Hyder having made his way through the Gauts, burft at once like a prodigious torrent, into the Carnatic. No care whatever had been taken to guard or fortify thefe mountainous defiles; nor did he meet with any other obftruction in his paffage than what arofe from the narrownefs and difficulty of the ground. Even fome of the garrifons near their opening, which had made previous remonftrances of their weaknefs and danger, and applications for speedy reinforcements, had been totally un attended to. Hyder's army was estimated at 100,000 men; but by accurate accounts, they exceeded 86,000 men of all forts (the irregulars forming a great clafs) befides a ftrong body which had been difpatched under Meer Saib towards the northern circars; and other parties, which were employed in everywhere alarming the frontiers. In the grand army under his own command, it was computed that he had about thirty thousand welldifciplined foot, and twenty thoufand good cavalry; his force being rendered more formidable and effective by the aid of Lally's troops, whom he had obtained from the Nizam, befides the number of French officers, and other ! Europeans, who were before in his fervice. The general terror and confufion which now prevailed, could not be leffened by the indecifion which appeared in the public councils. Different and fluctuating opinions were held with respect to the modes of defence proper to be adopted, and the manner and place of affembling the forces. Orders were accordingly haftily iffued to the commanding officers at different ftations, and were again fuddenly revoked. What appears an odd refolution, was paffed in the felect committee, that the commander in chief's counfel rendered his prefence more neceflary at Madras than at the head of the army. In confequence of this refolution, inftructions were fent to Lord Macleod to fupply his place by collecting the forces and forming an encampment; but that officer differing much in opinion from the arrangements made in council, particularly with refpect to the place prescribed for affembling the army, fubmitted his thoughts upon the fubject, along with a plan which fuited his own ideas, to the prefidency; at the fame time declaring, that he could not adopt a refponfibility in the execution of plans which did not coincide with his own judgment. This difference of opinion, as the propofed change of arrange ment was not approved of, occafioned a departure in the select committee, from the late refolution of detaining Sir Hector Monro at Madras. In the mean time intelligence upon intelligence was continually poured in, of the ruin fpread on all all fides, and the danger threatened in every quarter by the enemy; and thefe accounts were generally accompanied with reprefentations from the different garrifons of their inequality to any effectual refiftance; and that with out a fpeedy and material fupply of men and ftores, they must fall an eafy prey to the invader. The Nabob anfwered the urgency of the prefidency for exertion on his part, and for fpeedy fupplies of provifions and means to enable the army to act, partly with excufes, and partly with reproaches for their tardinefs and inactivity. He promifed, however, to procure fupplies of oxen, theep, and rice, in as great number and quantity as he could. That he would exert himself to complete four regiments of cavalry, which fhould be put under the directions of the commander in chief during the war; and he confented to make affignments of territory for the fums which fhould be advanced by the Company to pay his troops. But fo defective was the order eftablished in this prince's government, and fo heedlefs were his minifters and council in at all providing for thofe fudden emergencies which were to be expected in the prefent ftate of invafion and danger, that his commander in the very ftrong and important fortrefs of Ginjee, when, under the apprehenfion of an immediate attack by Hyder, and though his own force and provifion were totally incompetent to the prefervation of the place, yet refufed to permit a British officer who was fent with a reinforcement to take any meafures for its defence, until he had received fpecific orders from his mafter for that purpose. Colonel Brathwaite felt great furprise and concern upon his arrival at Carangolly, to find the defence of that important poft in the hands of a very inferior officer and only twenty of the Nabob's fepoys; but his furprife was heightened, when that petty commandant fcrupled to receive even a fupply of ammu nition from him, becaufe he had received no particular orders on the fubject. The troops which that colonel was leading from Pondicherry to join the army, afterwards experienced the greatest diftreffes upon their march, through the fame want of orders, which the Nabob's renters made a pretence for abfolutely refusing to fupply him with provifions. Such was the ftate of vigour, concert, and preparation, which appeared on the fide of the defenders of the Carnatic in this season of imminent danger and actual invafion; when every day furnished new accounts of devaftation and lofs: and there was fcarcely a place from one end of the coaft to the other that was not menaced, and in a state of alarm and confufion. Nor were these confined to the Carnatic. Tippoo Saib advanced with a great body of cavalry upon the northern circars; whilft, at the oppofite extremity, different parties of the enemy were approaching to Madura and the borders of the Tinivelly country. In this state of things, the Company's forces, tho in excellent condition with refpect to difcipline and the goodness and fpirit of the troops, were rendered incapable, from the causes already stated, of affembling, and confe quently quently of acting with effect. And while the army, which was capable of acting in the field, was reftrained by thefe impediments, the fpirit of ditaffection and mutiny, which bad payment and long arrears had fpread through the Nabob's garrifons, left little room for hoping that they were not much more difpofed to wifh for and accelerate a change of mafters, than to undergo the hardships or encounter the danger of maintaining their pofts. The only meafure that carried any appearance of vigour that was now adopted (although the fcheme was well laid, and the defign capable of good effect) funk under the prevalent fortune of the time. This was a plan committed in the beginning of Auguft to the execution of Colonel Cofby, for fuddenly drawing together a confiderable body of troops from the nearer garrifons, to be joined by two regiments of the Nabob's cavalry, with a view of cutting off fome great convoys of stores and provifions, which were to come through the paffes in their way from Hyder's country to the fupply of his army. Notwithstanding the provoking and unexpected delays which occurred in collecting the troops, Colby's activity and bravery might ftill have been crowned with fuccefs if it had not been for the general difaffection of the country people, and the treachery of the Nabob's fervants and officers. While the former not only refused to communicate any true information, whether with refpect to the enemy or to the country, and were induftrious in forging falfehoods, on purpose to miflcad that com mander, the latter were no lefs diligent in giving the most exact intelligence to Hyder of all his motions. By these means, the hope of an enterprize which might have had great effect in changing the fortune of the war, was not only overthrown, but it was with great difficulty, and no fmall exertion of diligence and activity, that Cofby's party efcaped being cut off in his endeavours to join the army; which he only effected upon the retreat from Conjeveram in the middle of the following month. In the mean time, an attack made by Aug. 10th. Hyder's horfe upon the villages and gardens about the Mount, brought the alarm immediately home to Madras; and occafioned confultations for the throwing up of fome works to cover the black town. The army had been ordered to affemble at Conjeveram; but on the day preceding the middle of the month, the general informed the felect committee that this defign could not be effected, through the want of bullocks to convey a fufficient quantity of pro vifions; the country people, to prevent their falling into the hands of the enemy, having conveyed them to diftant places of refuge. He therefore advifed, that the Mount fhould now be made the place of general rendezvous, where the troops fhould remain until eight days provifions could be col lected, and the means of conveyance procured; when the army fhould immediately proceed on its march. This being agreed to, another application was made to the Nabob to urge his exertion. in procuring a fpeedy fupply of bullocks 4 bullocks and provisions; and farther requiring, that he fhould appoint fome perfon of diftinction and confequence to refide with and attend to the wants of the army, in order that their future fupplies might be regular and conftant. Hyder, after menacing Gingee and fome other places with a fiege, as a blind only to his real defign, fuddenly marched, and fat down before Arcot, on the 21ft of Auguft. This circumftance forward. ed the Nabob's anfwer to the late application, in which he reminded the committee of the ftores of all kinds which he had laid up in feveral of his forts, and intreated that they would order the army to march immediately to the relief of his capital, where, he affured them, that the troops fhould be plentifully fupplied with every neceflary they wanted. However Hyder endeavoured to cover his defign upon Arcot, it had been fo far penetrated, or fufpected, that a confiderable detachment of the Company's troops had been previously fent from the important fortrefs of Vellore, which arrived in time for the reinforcement of that garrifon. It was in a few days after Hyder invefted Arcot, that it was found neceffary at Madras that Sir Hector Monro fhould quit the committee for the camp; and he accordingly 'proceeded on the 25th to take the command of the army at the Mount. We have already feen that Col. Baillie commanded the Company's forces in the Guntoor circar. The orders which that officer had from time to time received fince the invasion took place, were various and contradictory, and had occafioned no fmall clashing of opinions in the felect committee at Madras. His first and some subfequent inftructions went to the direct attack of Hyder's dominious in that quarter, particularly to the reduction of the Cuddepah country; with, however, a difcretionary latitude to the exercife of his own judgment, in immediately directing his operations to thofe particular parts where it might appear at the time they were most likely to prove effective. Thefe orders were ftrongly oppofed and protefted againft by two members of the committee, who ftated various reasons to fhew, that Baillie's detachment fhould be immediately directed to march forward with the utmost expedition, and to join the army, at its then intended rendezvous near Conjeveram. Advices being loon after received from Baillie, that the nearnefs of Hyder's cavalry to the fouthward, with the overflowing of the Kristna on the northward, had, on both fides, fo contracted the fources and interrupted the courfe of his fupplies of provifion, that the providing fubfiftence for the forces became every day more alarming and precarious; and what was no lefs alarming, that he was apprehenfive of not being able much longer to detain the bullocks neceflary for a march, and without which the army could not in any circumftance at all move. Thefe advices occafioned, on the laft day of July, fome enlargement of that commander's inftructions; he being authorized, by the difpatches then forwarded, to march towards the prefidency, if he fhould find it abfolutely impracticable to fubfift the forces, either either in the enemy's country, or from fome other quarter. But as the danger at home approached more near, and became every day more urgent, the committee very foon after thought it neceffary to become converts to the original opinion of the two diffenting members, and to difpatch accordingly an exprefs to Col. Baillie, with orders to march towards the prefidency at all events; but with an avaricious eye ftill to more diftant fervice, advifed him to take fuch a route as might poffibly afford him an opportunity of cutting off fome of the enemy's convoys. The delay occafioned by this indecifion with refpect to Baillie's detachment, though not amounting to very many days, was the means of producing the fatal catastrophe that followed, the effects of which will be long remembered, and late, if ever, recovered. Aug. 25th. The only cavalry in the army at St.Thomas's Mount was a fingle regiment belonging to the Nabob. Upon the arrival of the general, Sir Hector Monro, in the camp, this regiment totally refufed ferving any longer, unlefs their arrears were immediately difcharged. The Ameer, a principal officer of the Nabob's, who was prefent, not withstanding the greatnefs of the exigency, when the fate of his mafter's capital was depending, refuted to comply with the demand. The troops continuing obftinate, the remedy adopted was to break the regiment, and to ftrip them of their horfes and arms. Seventeen black officers, and about fixty of the men, offered to ferve in a new corps, under the Company, and were gladly accepted by the general; the rest of the broken troopers were ordered to be fent under a guard as prifoners to Madras ; but the Ameer, on the following morning, took an opportunity of enlifting them all into his own body guard. Such was the difpofition and attention to that prince's fervice and interefts which then appeared among his principal fervants. The continual rain which now fell, had fwelled the rivers in fuch a degree, as to render the way from the Guntoor nearly impaffable: which, befides greatly retarding the march of Baillie's detachment, incommoded and diftreffed the troops exceedingly. Although Sir Hector Monro's force at the Mount was fo totally inferior in point of number, as not to feem by any means equal to the encounter of Hyder's army in the field, yet the excellency of the troops, along with the fine traiu of artillery that accompanied them, was no fmall counterbalance to the great fuperiority of the enemy in other refpects; and the junction of Baillie's corps, it was expected, would have enabled them to undertake any enterprize with effect. In thefe circumftances the general confidered that a forward movement towards Arcot would probably alarm Hy, der fo much, as to induce him to raife the fiege of that place; and that the junction with Baillie would produce a greater or more timcly effect, by its taking place at Conjeveram, which was near forty miles on the way to his ob ject, than it would by waiting for his arrival at St. Thomas's Mount. It is true, that Conje, |