the citadel or inner fort, which was strong, with a deep ditch, and mounted with many pieces of cannon, and send immediate intelligence to an army of 6,000 horse and 1,000 infantry, who were at that time on their road from Seringapatam, to hasten their progress, and make them advance with all possible rapidity; and he further observed, that as Tippoo himself would come to the immediate protection of his country, and, if once come while the English army remained in the open field, would give them cause to repent their temerity, there was no time to be lost.

Accompanied by a person who had officiated as interpreter between the jemadar and me, and whose good offices and influence with Hyat, which was very great, I had been previously lucky enough to secure, I set off at 10 o'clock at night, on horseback, to the British army. My companion was in high spirits when we set out from the fort; but as we proceeded, he expressed great apprehension of being shot in approaching the camp, and earnestly entreated me to sleep at a choreltry, which lay in our way, till morning. His terror must have been great indeed, to induce him to make such a proposal, as he knew very well that we had pledged ourselves to be back before dawn next day. I rallied him upon his fears, and endeavoured to persuade him there was not the smallest danger, as I knew how to answer the outposts, when they should challenge us, in such a manner as to prevent their firing. As we advanced to the camp, however, his trepidation increased; and when we approached the sentries, I was obliged to drag him along by force. Then his fears had very nearly produced the danger he dreaded, (the almost inevitable effect of cowardice); for the sentry next to us, hearing the rustling noise, let off his piece, and was retreating when I had the good fortune to make him hear me. My companion, alarmed at the noise of the musket, fell down in a paroxysm of terror, from which it was some time before he was completely recovered. The sentry who had fired, coming up, conducted us to a place where other sentries were posted, one of whom accompanied us to a guard, from whence we were brought to the grand guard, and by them conducted to the general.

I was no less pleased than surprised to find, that the commander of this gallant and successful little army was general Mathews---an old friend of my father's, and a person with whom I had served in the cavalry soon after I entered the service. When I arrived, he was fast asleep upon the bare ground in a choreltry. His dubash, whose name was Snake, recollected me immediately, and was almost as much frightened at my appearance at first, as my interpreter companion was at the shot of the sentry; for it was full five months since my hair and beard had been both shaved at the same time, during which period a comb had never touched my head: I had no hat—no stockings was clad in a pair of very ragged breeches, a shirt which was so full of holes that it resembled rather a net than a web of cloth, and a waistcoat which had been made for a man twice my size---while my feet were defended from the stones only by a pair of Indian slippers. Snake, as soon as he was able to conquer his terror, and stop the loquacious effusions of astonishment, brought me to the general, whom I found fast asleep. We awoke him with great difficulty, and, on his discovering me, expressed great pleasure and surprise at so unexpected a meeting; for, though he had heard of my imprisonment at Bidanore, he did not expect to have had the pleasure of my company so soon.

'Having stated to the general the nature and object of my mission, and related to him what had happened in the fort, he instantly saw the great advantages that must accrue from such an arrangement-entered into a full but short discussion of the business-settled with me the plan to be pursued in case of Hyat Sahib's acceding to or dissenting from the terms he proposed to offer; and in less than an hour after my arrival, I was dispatched back to the fort in the general's palanquin, with a cowl from him, signifying that the jemadar Hvat Sahib's power and influence should not be lessened, if he should quietly surrender up the fort. Before my departure, the general expressed, in the warmest terms, his approbation of my conduct; and added, that considering the importance of the fort, the extensive influence of Hyat Sahib, and the advantages that might be derived from his experience and abilities, coupled

with the enfeebled state of his army, the benefits of such a negociation scarcely admitted of calculation.

Notwithstanding the very flattering circumstances with which my present pursuit was attended, I could not help, as I returned to Hydernagur, finding some uneasy sensations, arising from the immediate nature of the business, and from my knowledge of the faithless disposition of Asiatics, and the little difficulty they find in violating any moral principle, if it happens to clash with their interest, or if a breach of it promises any advantage. I considered that it was by no means impossible, that some resolution adverse to my project might have been adopted in my absence, and that the jemadar's policy might lead him to make my destruction a sort of propitiation for his former offences, and to send me and the cowl together to Tippoo, to be sacrificed to his resentment. These thoughts, I own, made a very deep impression on my mind--but were again effaced by the reflection, that a laudable measure, once begun, ought to be persevered in, and that the accomplishing a plan of such importance and incalculable public utility, might operate still further by example, and produce consequences of which it was impossible at the present to form a conception. Those, and a variety of such suggestions, entirely overcame the scruples and fears of the danger; and I once more entered the fort of Hydernagur. At this time the British troops were, by detaching a part with colonel Macleod, to get round the fort, and attack it in rear, and, by death and sickness, reduced to less than 400 Europeans and 700 sepoys, without ordnance.

When I delivered the cowl to the jemadar, he read it, and seemed pleased, but talked of four or five days to consider of an answer, and seemed to be wavering in his mind, and labouring under the alternate impulses of opposite motives and contradictory passions. I saw that it was a crisis of more importance than any other of my life--a crisis in which delay, irresolution, or yielding to the protractive expedients of Hyat, might be fatal. To prevent, therefore, the effects of either treachery or repentance, I took advantage of the general confusion and trepidation which prevailed in the fort---collected

the Arcot sepoys, who, to the number of 400, were prisoners at large-posted them at the gates, powder-magazines, and other critical situations; and, having taken these and other precautions, went out to the general, who, according to the plan concerted between us, had pushed on with the advanced guard; and, conducting him into the fort with hardly an attendant, brought him straight to the jemadar's presence while he yet remained in a state of indecision and terror. General Mathews, in his first interview with the jemadar, did every thing to re-assure him, and confirmed with the most solemn asseverations the terms of the cowl; in consequence of which, the latter acceded to the propositions contained in it, and the British colours for the first time waved upon the walls of the chief fort of the country of Bidanore.

Having thus contributed to put this important garrison, with all its treasures, which certainly were immense, into the hands of the company, without the loss of a single man, or even the striking of a single blow, my exultation was inconceivable; and, much though I wanted money, I can with truth aver, that avarice had not even for an instant the least share in my sensations. It is true, the consciousness of my services assured me of a reward; but how that reward was to accrue to me, never once was the subject of my contemplation -much less did I think of availing myself of the instant occasion to obtain it. How far my delicacy on the occasion may be censured or approved, I cannot tell; but if I got nothing by it, I have at least the consolation to reflect that I escaped calumny, which was with a most unjustifiable and unsparing hand lavished on others. The general, it is true, promised that I should remain with him till he made some arrangements; and Hyat Sahib offered, on his part, to make me, through the general, a handsome present. The general, however, became dissatisfied with me; and I neither got Hyat Sahib's present, nor ever received even a rupee of the vast spoil found there.

• Here I think it a duty incumbent on me to say something of general Mathews, and, while I deplore the unfortunate VOL. IV.

X

turn in his temper, which injured me, and tarnished in some measure his good qualities, to rescue him from the unmerited the interested, and the envious, Light lie the ashes of the dead,

obloquy which the ignorant, have thrown upon his fame. and hallowed be the turf that pillows the head of the soldier--he was calumniated; and although he did not use me as I had reason to hope he would, I will, as far as I can, rescue his fame from gross misrepresentation.'

General Mathews, however, allowed his success to beget a spirit of presumption, which terminated in his capture, when Tippoo compelled him to take poison in prison! Previous to this the general broke his agreement with the jemadar, and ordered our author away, at an hour's notice, with dispatches to Madras and Bengal. But the mortification he felt at this ungenerous treatment, added to a change of diet, had an alarming effect on his constitution. He was seized with the most excruciating pains, his functions were lost in debility, and his head seemed deranged. Still he pushed forward on his journey with a strong resolution to fulfil his orders; but, at last, he became speechless and unable to stand. Having recovered a little he sailed from Anjengo to Tellicherry. Here he met with an honest attorney, who had the management of his affairs, but who, having received so many proofs of his death, was both surprised and pleased to see him. He presented Mr. Campbell with an exact account of his affairs down to that day. From this place Mr. Campbell proceeded over land to Madras, a distance of 800 miles. When at Tanjore he had an opportunity of being an eye-witness to that extraordinary and horrid ceremony, the burning of a Gentoo woman with the body of her husband, which we shall give as minuted down by him at the time it happened. He relates it as follows:

This day,

I went to see a Gentoo woman resign herself to be burned along with the corpse of her deceased husband.

The place fixed upon for this tragic scene, was a small islet on the bank of one of the branches of the river Cavery, about a mile to the northward of the fort of Tanjore.