A History of the Mahrattas v2.c42.26

v2.c42.26

After the Moghul cavalry joined him, as already noticed, Lord Cornwallis resolved to undertake the siege of Seringapatam, and directed General Abercromby to move forward from the westward, for the purpose of joining him at that capital. As the grand army advanced from the northward, Tippoo burnt the villages, destroyed the forage, and drove off both the inhabitants and their cattle, so that the space on which the army moved was a desert, and the condition of its cattle and horses soon proved the efficacy of this mode of defence. On the 15th, Tippoo made a stand at Arikera, but was defeated; and on the 19th, Lord Cornwallis encamped at Caniambaddy, to the west of Seringapatam. But the battle he had gained on the 15th, and his position at the gates of the capital, were advantages more than counterbalanced by the state of his cattle, and the alarming scarcity which prevailed in his camp.¹ The want of forage and provisions, aggravated by the presence of the useless and wasteful Moghul horse, soon became so much felt that, combined with the lateness of the season, Lord Cornwallis abandoned all hope of being able to reduce Seringapatam before the monsoon; he therefore sent orders to General Abercromby to return to Malabar; destroyed his own battering guns and heavy stores, raised the siege, and on the 26th May marched towards Mailgotta, from which place the Mahrattas had also moved that morning. Great was the surprise of the English army, when large bodies of horse were seen advancing, of whose approach they had no intimation. Conceiving them to be enemies, preparations were at first made to treat them as such; but their real character was soon discovered, and though not unclouded with regret and disappointment, their arrival was hailed with great joy, as the ample supplies of the Mahratta Bazars afforded immediate relief to the famished camp. That we may not unjustly detract from the merit of the Mahratta commanders, as they have been accused of self-interested motives in the readiness with which they permitted their Bazar followers to sell to all comers : it is proper to mention that, though their followers took advantage of the period to raise the price of grain, their own troops suffered by the scarcity which for a few days ensued. Hurry Punt’s dispatches evince a very humane and laudable anxiety to alleviate the distress of his allies. The junction of the Mahrattas near the spot where Trimbuck Rao Mama had gained the victory over Hyder in 1771, was considered by them an omen particularly propitious.