The Sepoys
objected to travel by sea, as their caste rules forbade them to do so,
and he therefore sent off six battalions of infantry by land, and the
Nabob tells me they are expected to arrive in four or five weeks'
time. The Nabob of Arcot and the Rajah of Tanjore, both of whom are
very heavily in debt to the government, are ordered, during the
continuance of the war, to place their revenues at its disposal, a
liberal allowance being made to them both for their personal expenses.
"Tippoo is still in Travancore--at least, he was there ten days ago,
and has been endeavouring to negotiate. The Nabob tells me he believes
that the object of General Meadows, in advancing from Trichinopoly to
Caroor, is to push on to Coimbatoor, where he will, if he arrives
before Tippoo, cut him off from his return to his capital; and as
Meadows has a force of fifteen thousand men, he ought to be able to
crush the tyrant at a blow.
"I fear, however, there is little chance of this. The Mysore troops
move with great rapidity, and as soon as Tippoo hears that the English
army is marching towards Caroor, he is sure to take the alarm, and by
this time has probably passed Coimbatoor on his way back. With all his
faults, Tippoo is a good general, and the Nabob's opinion--and I quite
agree with him--is that, as soon as he regains the table land of
Mysore, he will take advantage of the English army being far away to
the south, and will pour down through the passes into this part of the
Carnatic, which is at present absolutely defenceless.
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