Poonah; and as the Government of Madras was bound by previous treaty to support the Nizam against his enemies, an English force, under Colonel Joseph Smith, was ordered to advance and form a junction with the Nizam's troops on the northern frontier of Mysore.
The Mahrattas were foremost in advancing to the attack, and Hyder encountered these formidable adversaries in several engagements, with various success;[1] but finding that, unless he could divert the torrents which poured upon him on all sides, and direct their fury into a new channel, he would speedily be overwhelmed, he resorted to those means of corruption which seldom fail; and at length succeeded, by money and specious promises, not only in dissolving the confederacy, but in joining his late antagonists with him in an attack upon the British territories. These faithless friends and weak enemies were easily persuaded that it would better suit their policy and interest, instead of disabling one another by their feuds and jealousies, to join against the encroachments of the common enemy, and unite in the laudable undertaking of expelling the European infidels from their country. The Rajah of Berar was included in this treaty; and thus, in 1767, began a contest between the British and Mysorean Governments, which continued for several years with unabating vigour and animosity, and ended in the final subversion of the turbulent dynasty of Hyder.
When this formidable confederacy was concluded against the British, the territory of Hyder was of immense extent. He was master of Mysore and Bangalore; he possessed the vast mountainous country extending from Amboor to Madura, south-east of Seringapatam; he was absolute sovereign of the kingdoms of Balapore, Bijenagur, and Canara; of a great portion of the Malabar coast, and the Maldive Islands. His army amounted to 200,000
- ↑ Hyder issued the most peremptory orders to all his officers, civil and military, to break down the embankments of the reservoirs of water, on the approach of the Mahratta army; to poison the wells with milk hedge (Euphorbia Tiruculla); to burn all the forage, even to the thatch of the houses; to bury the grain; to drive off the inhabitants and the cattle to the woods; and to leave to the Mahrattas neither forage, water, nor food. – Colonel Wilks.
