“ themfelves into large tanks, where they were drowned.” The
pretence for thefe brutalities was, that the garrifon, an uncivilized.
people*, had a£ted in contfaditftion to the rules of mine
among civilized nations. After the fpecimen we'gave here, I
fear the idea of the civilization the Britijh had arrive’d at, will
not rife to any great height. Matthews fupprefied in his dif-
patches all accounts o f this or fimilar tranfailions,. and alfo of
the vail treafures. We are beholden to private letters for the
hiftory. One officer was fo fhocked at one he had written, that
he tore it to pieces! Lieut. Sheen was not fb delicate ! All thefe
ihameful relations have been contradidled; yet ftill, as Sir Thomas
Brown exprelfes, they are among thofe' “ verities, we fear,
“ and heartily wiffi there was no truth therein.”
M a n g a l o r e T h e General, now in imaginary fecurity, defcended th e
T A K E N . -
Ghaut, to efredl new conqnefts in the maritime country. He
laid fiege to Mangalore. A pradlicable breach was foon effeaed,
which the gallant governor, Ruftan Alii beg, could not perfuade
his timid garrifon to defend, fo he was compelled to furrender.
A few years after, he unjuitly loft his head, in fight o f the city,
by order o f his cruel m after, Tippoo Sultan.
A t Mangalore the General received intelligence, that Tippoo-
■was in full march from the Carnatic to relieve his country.
After the receipt o f the news, his mind grew quite dif-
ordered. He re-afcended the Gffaut, and re-entered Bednore.
In a few days the enemy appeared. His forces were fo numerous,
that they not only covered the adjacent plains, but even
every hill, and more remote than the eye could reach. Matthews,
in a frenzy, marched out with his handful of men, and
7- met
met the expected fate; was at once defeated, with the lofs o f
five hundred men. He made his retreat into Bednore, which
he bravely defended feventeen days: but finding the garrifon
reduced by ficknefs, and the number o f flam, he capitulated on
honorable terms. The garrifon to be allowed the honors o f w ar:
but to pile the arms oh the glacis; to retain all private property,
and to reftore all public, &c. &c. Tippoo took polfeffion o f the
city. Notwithftanding his fituation, the avarice o f the General
overcame every confideration. He ordered the officers to make
unlimited drafts on the-pay mailer, who had before been greatly
exhaufted by various contrivances. It was currently believed,'
that he had fent by his brother to Goa, three hundred thoufand
pounds, and a great quantity o f diamonds, to be remitted to
Bombay; and that, even on the point of his. departure, he had
caufed'th'e bamboos o f his palanquin to be pierced, and filled
with pagodas. When Tippoo examined the ftate o f his tfeafury,
he grew enraged at this infamous fraud; he declared the
treaty void: put the officers and their Sepoys, faithful to them
to the laft, indifcriminately in irons, and marched them in that
condition, in a burning fun, to prifons at Sermgapatam and
other places. Numbers fell dead on the road, the remainder arrived
at the place of their deftination in the utmoft mifery, and
that increafed by the wretched dungeons they were confined in.;
Thofe who periihed, were nightly flung over the walls, and in
Chttteldroog the furvivors heard the tigers gorging themfelves
with the corpfes of their happier friends *.
B e d n o r e RET
A K E * 1.
* Lieut. Sheen’s Narrative, p. 89.
R 2 T he