But the Sultan, who foresaw that some demands were to be made upon him, could not bring down his mind to the necessity of submission: he still placed a vague confidence in destiny, in the aid of foreigners, and in alliances which he hoped to form with the northern powers of India. Several other letters passed between Tippoo and the Governor-General, with studied delays and evasions on the part of the former, who affected to perceive no necessity for receiving a British envoy, as he was conscious of the most inviolable fidelity. Lord Mornington, however, convinced by the most irrefragable testimony of the falsehood of his assertions, and fearing the approach of the monsoon, ordered Lieutenant-General Harris to enter the territory of Mysore, with the army under his command, on the 3rd of February, 1799. He, at the same time, issued a manifesto, declaring that he was forced upon this measure by the frequent infractions of treaty of which Tippoo had been guilty, particularising the engagements he had entered into with France, then our enemy: his having permitted the French troops to land openly at Mangalore, and having collected by their aid a force clearly destined to carry those engagements into effect; his application to the French Directory for a more powerful force, destined to the same end; and his declaration that the delay of the meditated blow proceeded from no other cause than his expectation of receiving further aid from the enemy.
Tippoo, now perceiving that affairs were drawing to a crisis, and still wishing to procrastinate, wrote to the Governor-General on the 13th of February, declaring his willingness to receive Major Doveton; but his lordship, in reply, referred the Sultan to General Harris, who was now the only person authorised to receive his communications. All correspondence accordingly ceased; and on the 22nd of February a formal declaration of war was published in the name of the allies, who made the most active preparations for carrying it on with vigour.
The army appointed to invade the kingdom of Mysore
