After,
as usual, perpetrating horrible atrocities, and after sending a large
proportion of the population as slaves to Mysore, he marched against
Travancore. Now, Travancore was specially mentioned, in the treaty of
Mangalore, as one of the allies of the English, with whom Tippoo bound
himself not to make war; and had he not been prepared to fight the
English, he would not have attacked their ally. The excuse for
attacking Travancore was that some of the fugitives, from Coorg and
Malabar, had taken refuge there.
"Seeing that Tippoo was bent upon hostilities, Lord Cornwallis and his
council at Calcutta directed, as I learnt from an official at Madras,
the authorities there to begin at once to make preparations for war.
Instead of doing so, Mr. Holland, the governor, gave the Rajah the
shameful and cowardly advice to withdraw his protection from the
fugitives. The Rajah refused to comply with such counsel, and after
some months spent in negotiations, Tippoo attacked the wall that runs
along the northern frontier of Travancore.
"That was about six months ago. Yes, it was on the 28th of
December--so it is just six months. His troops, fourteen thousand
strong, made their way without difficulty through a breach, but they
were suddenly attacked by a small body of Travancore men.
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