severe maladies caused by this mode of life, and to which many fell victims.
The first advantage drawn from this victory by the ruler of Mysore was the reduction of Arcot, which, after a respectable defence, surrendered on the 3rd of November. He held also in close siege Wandewash, Vellore, Chingleput, and other important bulwarks of the Carnatic. Meanwhile, at Madras, fear, indignation, and sorrow pervaded the minds of the inhabitants. Some sought opportunity of returning to England, others prepared for flight to Bengal; all joined in lamenting the brave men whose lives had been so uselessly sacrificed, and in bitter condemnation of the counsel which had led to such fatal results. The authorities of the Presidency were in a state of inexpressible alarm, and a fast-sailing vessel was despatched to bear to Bengal the intelligence of their mismanagement and its consequences.
As soon as the news of this signal disaster reached the chief seat of Government at Calcutta, Mr. Hastings, then Governor-General, immediately took the most active steps to repair it. Sir Eyre Coote, a veteran officer enjoying the highest military reputation of any in India, was appointed to the chief command, and sent from Bengal with 560 European troops, while a corps of Sepoys prepared to march along the coast as soon as the rainy season should terminate. At the same time the Governor of Madras was suspended, and his place in course supplied by the senior member of Council, who had always opposed his inactive policy; but the funds for the prosecution of the war were placed in the hands of the new Commander-in-Chief.
General Coote, on arriving at the Presidency, and preparing to take the field, found at his disposal not more than 7000 men, of whom 1700 only were Europeans. Yet with this force, so far from fearing, he anxiously desired to encounter in the field the numerous, brave, and well-commanded troops of the enemy. What he dreaded was the harassing warfare carried on by Hyder,
