scandalous manner in which Travancore was misgoverned by the Dewan, or Prime Minister, into whose hands the Rajah had thrown the whole power of the state, this tribute fell into arrear; and the efforts made by Colonel Macauley, the Resident, to recover it, gave rise not only to much angry feeling, but to acts of positive hostility and treachery on the part of the Dewan. One of these was a desperate attempt to murder the Resident, who, with the greatest difficulty, escaped on board a British ship; and another was the actual destruction of a sergeant-major and thirty-three privates of H.M. 12th regiment, whose vessel had put into Aleppi for a supply of water. These unfortunate persons having been cajoled on shore, were surrounded and overpowered by the troops of the Dewan, tied in couples back to back, and in that state, with a heavy stone fastened to their necks, thrown into the backwater of the port and drowned.
These, and other hostile proceedings on the part of the Dewan, together with certain information that he was plotting with the Zamorin Rajah of Malabar, and other powers, for the overthrow of British supremacy, compelled the Madras Government, at length, to take active measures against him, and several bodies of troops were despatched into Travancore in various directions. Lieutenant-Colonel Arthur St. Leger, of the Madras Cavalry, was appointed to conduct the operations on the eastern side; Lieutenant-Colonel Cuppage, with another body of troops, was to enter by the northern frontier; while Colonel Wilkinson commanded a detachment in the south country, to reinforce the army in Travancore, if necessary; and another body of troops was assembled at Quilon, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Chalmers.
The last-named officer was soon required to employ the force at his disposal. At six o'clock on the morning of the 15th of January, 1809, he was informed that the Dewan's troops were advancing in different directions. On reconnoitring in front of the British lines to the left, a large body of infantry drawn up with guns were per-
