Page:Our Indian Army.djvu/248

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
224
OUR ANGLO-INDIAN ARMY.

extended their frontier to the Toombuddra, and the Nizam carried his beyond the Pennar. The English took their share in detached portions: on the east, the frontier territory of Baramahl; in the south, Dindigul; on the west, a great extent of the disputed coast of Malabar, including, Tellicherry and Calicut. No objection was made till it was observed that this last section included Coorg, long the subject of much deadly contest, and which the Sultan declared he would never give up. Lord Cornwallis, however, was equally determined to have it, for he could not abandon to the fury of Tippoo the faithful allies of the English, and a race unjustly oppressed. Upon this, refusal all was again in movement, the princes were separated from their native attendants,- and arrangements entered into for despatching them to the Carnatic, under an English escort. Preparations were made for renewing the siege; the army was full of new hope and animation, and Purseram Bhow began once more to plunder. In less than two days, however, the Sultan again felt the weight of the necessity which pressed upon him, and sent notice that the demand was acceded to. A considerable delay still intervened; but on the 18th of March, 1792, the definitive treaty was transmitted to the young princes, that by their hands it might be delivered.

Accordingly, at ten o'clock on the morning of the 19th the royal hostages waited on Lord Cornwallis, and the eldest presented to him all the three copies of the treaty. As the Vakeels of the two allied chiefs, who did not choose to appear in person, soon after entered, his lordship returned their copies, which the boy delivered to them in a manly though evidently less cordial manner; and, on hearing something muttered by the Mahratta envoy, asked what he grumbled at, hastily adding, "They might well be silent, as certainly their masters had no reason to be displeased." Indeed, if any of the parties concerned had reason to grumble, it was the Anglo-Indian Army; for instead of the large grants which had accrued