impoffibility o f reiiftance, and the danger of having both the
province and city defolated by the rage of the conqueror. He
fecretly fent to Matthews, as foon as he had entered the plains,
to offer to furrender the place, and to deliver to the Englifh all
the treafures; on condition, that the perfons and property of
the inhabitants ihould be fecured, and himfelf continued in the
government under the Englijh, with all the power he had under
Ayder.
Matthews, now in poffefiion o f the treafures of ages, and
dazzled by the heaps of the gems o f Hindoojlan, fuch ftrong
temptations rofe in view as inftantly to diffipate every virtuous
idea he might before have poffefled. Avarice and rapacity occupied
their feats, and he rofe like the fiend Mammon with all
his attributes. The General feized on all the treafures, and im-
prifoned Hyat Saib. He as fuddenly releafed him, and made to
him a pretended reftitution o f all his wealth *. Strong fufpicions
of the General’s conduit pervaded the army. To allay their
murmurs, he prevaled on Hyat Saib to prefent the troops with
about the value o f twenty thoufand pounds in pagodas. He
had alfo quarreled with Macleod, Mackenzie Humberjlon, and
major Shaw, after the capture of Bednore, on the fubjedt of precedency
with the company’s troops. They quitted the army,
and haftened to Bombay, to lay their complaints before the Pre-
fidency. Their abfence was moll fatally miffed. The General
now, for the firft time, fent difpatches to the Prefidency, filled
with falfe ftatements o f affairs, and complaints againil the army,
from the generals to the very common men.
* Lieut. Sheen’s Letter, in Capt. Oake’s Narrative, p. 77.
At
A t Bednore he found (to a patriotic commander) a more important
acquifition than any treafures. All Ayder's principal magazines,
a very fine foundry for brafs cannon, a powder manu-
failory, and immenfe ftores of every kind *. Matthews did not
make a true ellimate of this fpecies o f treafure; his avarice made
him negleit his fecurity, yet he weakened his army by making
detachments to every place where the profpedt o f plunder could
allure him. He negledted the ftrong paffes into the Myfore,
which, fecured, he might have relied fafely againft all the
efforts of the returning Tippoo. Among other places he fent a
detachment to Annampour, a ftrong fort, adjacent to Bednore,
which Ayder had made the depdt of the reft of his treafure.
The place was taken by ftorm. Let Lieutenant Sheen relate the
difgraceful event.— £i When a pradlicable breach was effedled,
4i orders were iffued for a ftorm, and no quarters \ which was
“ immediately put in execution, and every man put to the
“ fword, except one horfeman, who made his efcape, after
“ being wounded in. three different places. A dreadful fight
a then prefented itielf 5 above four hundred beautiful women,
“ either killed or wounded with the bayonet, expiring in one
“ another’s arms, while the private foldiers were committing
« every kind of outrage, and plundering them of their jewels,
« the officers not being able to rellrain them +.”
a T he troops were, however, afterwards, feverely repri-r
y* « manded for it. I had almoft forgot to mention, that fome of
“ the women, rather than be torn from their relations, threw
* Hcui. Charles Grevile’s Britiih India, iii. p. 8 4 4. t Sheen’s Narrative, p. 77.
V a s t M a g a -
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A n n a m p o u r .
H o r r id C r u e l t
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V o l . I. “ themfelves