then a Major commanding the third division, as read by him in the House of Commons, To rebut the charges which thus originated, the editor of the East India Military Calendar has given a detailed account of the events of that memorable day, from the pen of an officer at that time a Captain in the army, which corresponds in every material particular with that of Sir Eyre Coote, and appears moreover to indicate great military judgment on the part of Col. Clive. His arrangements for the engagement were admirable, and his conduct during the whole of it worthy of the high character which he had previously acquired; and though in its progress errors were committed by the eagerness and unmilitary conduct of the commanding officer of one of the divisions, who advanced without orders about 600 yards in front of the line, the ready genius of Col. Clive enabled him immediately to prevent the enemy from availing himself of this indiscretion, and finally carried him on to a complete and decisive victory, with a loss comparatively trifling on the part of the British. In reward for this service Col. Clive was presented by the Nabob with a jaghire of 30,000l. yearly; the payment of which was withheld by the East India Company on his return to England, where this unhappy man terminated his existence by his own hand, after a continuance of the most dreadful depression of spirits under which any one man ever laboured, and which has usually been attributed to occurrences in his life that did not properly fall under the cognizance of his military biographer. The military history of any individual, and especially of Lord Clive, is indeed by no means adequate to furnish a just estimate of his character.

The succeeding articles, which are dedicated to the military biographies of Major General Lawrence, who first introduced a regular discipline among the British forces in India and trained the natives in their employ to fight in the European manner; of General Caillaud, of General Carnac, of Lieut.-Col. Hartley, and of other distinguished officers, bring down the history of the wars of Hindoostan beyond the year 1770. Abounding with exploits, many of which are of the most spirited and interesting description, it is difficult to select from among so much valuable matter the most striking incidents. One instance, however, of coolness and intrepidity, which occurred at the siege of Ahmedabad, in 1780, deserves especial notice. A breach had been effected in the fort, and Lieut.-Col. Hartley led in person the column of grenadiers which followed the forlorn hope; but on reaching the foot of the breach intended to be stormed, he found that a trench had been dug during the night too wide and deep to be passed. In this critical situation, on casting his eye to the right he perceived a tower which had been breached, and the ascent, though difficult, not impracticable. With that ardour, that quickness of conception, and that coup d'œil, which form the leading features in a great military character, he immediately ordered the forlorn hope and column to wheel to the right, saying to them most emphatically, "Follow me, my lads!" and was himself the third or fourth man on the top of the newly discovered breach, where the British colours were immediately displayed. "Never," says the writer of the note from which these particulars are extracted, and who acted on this occasion as his aide-de-camp, "never while existence lasts will the figure of Col. Hartley, when he turned to give the word to his men, be erased from my recollection. Col. Hartley was rather above the middle size, with a handsome and gentlemanlike figure. He carried no weapon, but an Andrew Ferrara, which had belonged to his

1

brave brother-soldier, Capt. James Stuart, who fell mortally wounded on the advance to Poonah in the preceding January; but the dignity of his figure, the warlike spirit that flashed from his eyes, and the eagerness of his gallant soldiers to follow his orders, would have formed a grand military subject for a painter."

The services of Major Torriano, which occupy an important station in the present volume, will long be remembered with pride by our Eastern army; and his admirable and obstinate defence of the fortress of Onore towards the close of the war with Tippoo Sahib, has peculiar claims on our consideration. The account of the operations of this important siege is given at considerable length from a manuscript narrative drawn up by Mr. Cruso, an intelligent surgeon, who participated in the perils and fatigues of the besieged, and whose opportunities of acquiring a full and accurate knowledge of the whole proceedings were much inceased by his having been generally employed as the medium of communication between the respective commanders. On the first of January 1783, the British batteries under the command of Capt. Torriano opened against the fort, which was taken by storm on the 6th of the same month. Being disabled, by a wound which he had received on this occasion, from proceeding with the army, Capt. Torriano was left by the unfortunate General Mathews in command of Onore and its dependencies, and the fort was at the same time constituted the grand magazine of the army. On the fall of Cundapore the stores were subsequently removed to that place, and a series of successes distinguished the progress of the British arms during that and the ensuing months, until the commencement of April. At this period, some reverses having been experienced, a sudden panic seized the army, and a council of war was held at Cundapore, by which it was decided that that post was no longer tenable. Measures were immediately taken to abandon it, though not a man of the enemy had yet made his appearance; the stores were burnt and destroyed, and the whole garrison retreated in a confused and straggling manner to Onore. Apprehensive of the bad effects which might be produced among his own garrison by this pusillanimous conduct, Capt. Torriano, who had determined to act up to the spirit of his orders by defending the fort to the last extremity, issued a general order, which declared that the first of those persons lately arrived from Cundapore who betrayed a want of the proper spirit of a soldier, should be put to death, even without the form of a Court Martial. By this vigorous step he succeeded in protecting his cwn troops from the panic which had seized their fellow-soldiers, whom he also had the good fortune to restore in some measure to their duty. He then made a spirited exertion to recover the artillery which had been abandoned at Cundapore ; it however failed, as the whole was by this time in the possession of the enemy, into whose hands, from a want of the necessary precautions on their part, more than half of the detachment which had been employed in this expedition also unfortunately fell.

In proportion to the superior importance it derived from the losses and disgraces elsewhere incurred, and to the necessity of making preparations for a vigorous defence, the exertions of the garrison continued to increase; nor were they at all suspended in consequence of the orders which soon after arrived from the Committee for the civil government of Bednore, which directed Capt. Torriano to evacuate and demolish the fort, and to proceed with his troops to join the army at

Mangalore. To this communication the Commandant replied by urging his orders from the General, and the serious detriment which could not fail to result from his neglecting to fulfil them under existing circumstances; he therefore declined to obey the instructions thus transmitted to him, and they were subsequently so modified as to leave his proceeding entirely at his own discretion. He however despatched to Mangalore the whole of the troops which had come in from Cundapore, and prepared with the remaining garrison for the defence of the fort.

At this period, the commencement of May, the garrison of Onore amounted in the whole to 743 persons, nearly one half of whom were raw recruits from the country, and only forty-two of the remainder were Europeans. These, in order to give some confidence, were encamped near the glacis on the outside of the fort, where they awaited the arrival of the enemy, who made his appearance on the 14th of the same month, upwards of 10,000 strong, under the command of Lutoph Ally Beg, a Persian veteran officer in the service of the Nabob. Several well directed sallies annoyed the enemy on his approach, but did not prevent him from taking up a position under the walls, which he commenced cannonading on the 26th. A well directed sortie, which took place on the 14th of June, enabled the besieged to spike the cannon of their adversaries; but this spirited exploit was rendered unavailing by the speedy reparation of the works, and the operations on both sides continued with unabated vigour.

On the 1st of July a proof occurred of the expertness of the enemy's French artillerymen, which was productive of serious personal consequences to Capt. Torriano. While laying an 18 pounder in the breach during the heat of the cannonade, immediately after having stepped from behind it, on his first taking aim, a shot struck the muzzle of the gun; and just as he had moved from the second similar attempt, the trunnion was grazed by a second shot; however, as the gun still remained serviceable, though moved from the direction given, he made a third effort, in doing which, a shot struck the cross-iron that is bedded in the cap squares of the carriage, and carried off the coins, which taking him across the breast, inflicted on him a very severe wound. From this time until the 25th of August, the enemy's fire was kept up almost daily with great activity, and did considerable damage to the works; to repair which the continual attention of both officers and men was required, which was given with such laudable alacrity, that the ruined defences were generally rendered before the next morning not merely respectable, but even in many cases additionally strengthened.

By this zealous perseverance the enemy was prevented from gaining any advantage during the three months through which his cannonade was maintained; and he subsequently changed his plan of operations on receiving intelligence that a cessation of hostilities had been agreed on between Tippoo Sultaun and the Commander-in-Chief, in which Onore was included. By this it was arranged that all operations should be suspended, and that every thing should remain in the then existing state; that the garrison of Onore should be furnished monthly with provisions from Bombay, and that a market should be daily supplied to the fort. With these equitable arrangements Lutoph Ally Beg did not, however, think fit to comply; and by the obstacles which he opposed to the introduction of provisions, the siege was converted almost into a

blockade. No communication was allowed to pass, except through his hands; and while he prevented, by the most vigilant attention, the least attempt at repairing any of the damage sustained by the cannonade, even within the fort, he not only strengthened his own intrenchments, but even took possession of several posts which had been previously left unoccupied, and actually assaulted and captured Fortified Island, within sight of the garrison. In vain did Capt. Torriano remonstrate against these violations of the treaty; shuffling excuses, apologies, and the whole train of wily artifices which disgrace the diplomacy of Eastern courts, were resorted to, but no beneficial result was derived from his repeated applications. Famine and disease began now to cause dreadful havoc among the small garrison, from which daily desertions took place; and it appeared to be the determination of the Sultaun's General, to weary out the perseverance of the Commandant. By similar means the officer commanding at Mangalore was induced to surrender that important station; and this intelligence was forwarded by Lutolph Ally Beg to Capt. Torriano, with an offer of the same terms, provided he also would capitulate. To this summons, that officer replied "that it was wholly incompatible with British honour to surrender a post while it was tenable, and that Onore would be held while there was a horse, a dog, or a rat, living in it." This food the garrison was, in fact, reduced to at the commencement of 1784: rats were roasting in all quarters of the town; and when any cavalry horse was near death, his throat was ordered to be cut, and his flesh preserved for food. Salted buffaloe's and horse flesh mixed was the best diet which could be procured for the troops, who were now reduced to about sixty effective men; and a dish of the same was constantly served at the table of the commanding officer. From this distressing situation they were not relieved until the 16th of March, when Capt. Torriano received orders to deliver up the place, under the treaty which had then been concluded. These instructions were willingly obeyed; and having succeeded, by very decisive measures, in rescuing the whole of the Brahmins who had taken refuge in the fort from the dreadful fate which would have awaited them, had they been left behind to the tender mercies of Tippo Sahib, he landed at Bombay with the remains of his garrison, 238 in number, sick included, on the 18th of April, having lost, during the eleven months of the siege, by death, desertion, &c., 505.

The novelty of most of the details of this brave and gallant defence, and the spirited and judicious conduct of the able officer who commanded, have insensibly led us into greater length than we had contemplated, in noticing its more prominent features. We must, therefore, hasten to call the attention of the reader to a few of the more striking points which are comprised in the remainder of the volume, but must not omit to notice that Major Torriano, on his return to England, presented to the Court of Directors a memorial in defence of the Indian army under the command of General Mathews, from the charges of wanton cruelty and barbarity which had been brought against them in the Annual Register for 1783, which is given in a note to his memoirs; and is stated to have been perfectly satisfactory to Mr. Burke, who expressed considerable regret at having so hastily given publicity to this offensive matter, which he promised to take the earliest opportunity of contradicting. An extract of a communication from Lieut.-Col. Gordon to the editor, which is ap

"in this

pended as a note to the biography of that gallant officer, also fully contradicts the statements in the article referred to, relative to the barbarities which are there detailed as having accompanied the storming of Annantapoor. So far from "four hundred beautiful women, pierced with the bayonet, and expiring in one another's arms," being situation treated by the British with every kind of outrage;" Col. Gordon declares that "not a woman lost her life within the garrison excepting one old woman and a child, who were accidentally wounded on the first fire from the forlorn hope, after forcing the second gateway." It is pleasing to see, even at this distance of time, these calumnies thus completely rebutted; and these replies cannot be too frequently repeated, nor too widely circulated, since the human mind is so readily and deeply imbued by detraction that it is all times difficult to obliterate its impressions.

Passing over the distinguished services of Lieut.-General Brown, Major-General Burrell, Col. Pearse, Sir Barry Close, and many other highly meritorious officers, which our space prevents us from noticing, we stop for a moment at a singular circumstance which is mentioned in the memoir of Sir David Ogilby, and which can scarcely, we believe, be paralleled in the history of European warfare. At the siege of Cotampallum, the garrison of which amounted in numerical strength to twelve times that of the detachment sent against it, which this gallant officer commanded, two Poligar princes, affected friends to the English interest, but whose troops actually held the place for the Sultaun, came without leave of admission into the lines, to pay, as they alleged, a visit to the English officer. Conversing, however, without reserve in his presence in the Tamul language, in which, unluckily for them, Sir David Ogilby was a proficient, their astonishment was great when they found themselves arrested as spies and traitors; and orders were given for their execution, by being blown from the three-pounder piece of ordnance, precisely at seven o'clock the next morning, unless the fort had previously surrendered at discretion. It is almost unnecessary to add that this bold stroke was productive of the desired effect.

The services of Major-General Beatson, which were chiefly directed to the engineer department, and in which he displayed talents that have seldom been exceeded, are given with considerable detail, and merit the conspicuous station which they occupy. To him was Lord Cornwallis indebted for that important discovery which induced a total change in the mode of attack on the strong position of Bangalore, and which occurring at a period when nearly the whole of the ammunition had been expended without effect, was then the means of achieving its conquest in twentyfour hours with a very trifling loss on the part of the besiegers. By this fortunate circumstance many lives were saved, the siege incalculably expedited, and the army was released from the constant harassing to which it was exposed from that of Tippoo Sultaun, which continually hovered around the English lines. In the glorious and decisive campaign of 1799, the merits of Major Beatson were equally conspicuous. Not only was the plan which he presented, and which pointed to the reduction of Seringapatam as the first and immediate object of the campaign, approved by Lord Mornington, to whose previously conceived ideas on the subject it was opposed; but the attack of that important fortress was conducted in conformity with his advice. The Madras and Bombay engineers had presented a different plan for the operations against that