HONOURABLE SIRS,

I SHALL not trouble your Honourable Court with an explanation of the nature of the inceffant exertions both of body and mind which are required by the various duties of my present fituation; nor fhould I now have alluded to them, but that I am under the indifpenfable neceffity of ftating them, as the cause of my being obliged, on this occafion, instead of entering into a detail of particulars, to limit myfelf to a concife and general account of our late operations, and of my future intentions.

Our preparations for the campaign having been completed at Madras, the army marched from Vellore on the 5th of February; and, having reached Vellore on the 11th, we halted there two days, for the purpose of drawing from thence a fupply to my ftock of provifions, and an addition that had been prepared to the battering train, and of receiving fome ftores and recovered men from Arnee,

I had, previous to my arrival at Vellore, employed every means in my power to obtain accurate defcriptions of the different paffes that lead into the Myfore Country; and having feen fufficient grounds to be confident that the Moogly Pafs could easily be rendered practicable, I turned off to the right at Vellore, and not only afcended the pafs without much difficulty, but, by hav ing taken a route that Tippoo does not feem to have expected, I was aifo lucky enough to be able to advance a confiderable diftance into his country before it was poffible for him to give us the least obstruction.

The Forts of Colar and Oufcottah lay in our route to Bangalore, and furrendered to us without refiftance; but as neither of them were in a tenable condition, nor at that time of any value to us, I left them unoccupied, after difarming and difmifling their fmall garrifons.

1 arrived before Bangalore on the afternoon of the 5th of March, and on the 6th the Engineers were employed in reconnoitring

the place in the morning and evening: On their latter excurfion Lieutenant-Colonel Floyd, who escorted them with the whole cavalry, difcovered the rear of Tippoo's line of march, apparently in great confufion, and unfortunately fuffered himself to de tempted by the flattering prospect of striking an important blow, to deviate from the or

ders he had received from me, and to attack the enemy. His fuccefs at first was great, but the length and ardor of the purfait threw his fquadrons into great confufion, In this ftate they were charged by Tippoo's cavalry, and being out of the reach of all fupport, they were obliged to retire with great precipitation, and with the loss of above 200 men, and near 300 horfes. LieutenantColonel Floyd received a very fevere wound in. the face, from which, however, 1 have the pleasure to add, that he is now perfectly re

covered.

The ill fuccefs of our examination, the fear of losing time, and many other circum. stances, of which the hopes of obtaining a fupply of forage was not the leaft, induced me to determine immediately to attack the fort from the Pettah fide. The Pettah was accordingly affaulted and carried on the morning of the ift; and the fiege of the fort,

which was rendered fingularly arduous, not only by the fcarcity of forage, and strength of its works and garrifon, but also by the prefence of Tippoo and his whole army, was happily terminated by an affault of the night of the 21ft, in which the Kellidar, and a great number of his garrifon, were put to the fword, and our loís, in proportion to the nature of the enterprife, was extremely inconfiderable. I cannot, however, help expreffing on this occafion, my fincere regret for the death of that brave and valuable Officer Lieutenant-Colonel Moorhoufe, who was killed at the affault of the Pettah on the 7th of March.

I have not yet been able to obtain correct Lifts of the Ordnance, or of the different articles that were found in the magazines of the place; and I can therefore only fay in general, that there were upwards of one hundred ferviceable pieces of ordnance, near fifty of which were brafs, a large quantity of grain, and an immenfe depot of military ftores.

Although Tippoo approached our pofition, and even cannonaded the camp, both on the 7th and 17th, yet on thefe occafions, and on all others during the fiege, he took his

meafures

meafures with fo much caution as to put it effectually out of my power to force him to risk an action; and on the night of the affault he retired, in great hafte, from the fouth fide of the fortress, where he was then poited, immediately upon his being acquainted with its fall. After giving fome repairs to the breaches, making a number of neceffary arrangements, and leaving the train of heavy artillery to be refitted during my abfence, I moved from Bangalore on the 28th, with a defign of fecuring a fafe and speedy junction with a large body of cavalry that the Nizam had promised to send to me, and of receiving a reinforcement of troops and a fupply of provifions and ftores, which I had fome time before ordered to be in readiness to join me, by the way of Amboor, from the Carnatic, confidering those as neceffary preliminary measures for enabling me to proceed to the attack of Seringapatam; and I at the fame time communicated my intentions to General Abercromby, and directed him to ufe every exertion in his power, that might be confiftent with the fafety of the corps under his command, to prepare himself in the manner that I prefcribed, to give me effectual affiftance when I should reach the enemy's capital.

Tippoo having made a movement to the westward on the fame day that I marched from the neighbourhood of Bangalore, I fell in with his rear at the diftance of about eight or nine miles from that place; but, from the want of a fufficient body of cavalry, it was found impracticable, after a purfuit of confiderable length, either to bring him to action, or to gain any advantage over him, except that of taking one brafs gun, which, owing to its carriage breaking down, he was obliged to leave upon the road.

My first object being to form a junction with the Nizam's cavalry, I made fuch movements, or took fuch pofitions, as I knew would eff.ctually prevent Tippoo from intercepting them, or even from difturbing their march; but, although I was at great pans to point out the fafety of the march to Rajah Teigewunt, and to encourage him to proceed, the effects of my recommendations and requests were but flow; and, after wafte of time, which, at this late feafon of the year, was invaluable, and which ala oft exhausted my patience, the junction was not made till the 13th init.

It is not eafy to afcertain the number of the corps with precision, but I fuppofe it to amount to fifteen or fixteen thousand horfe; and though they are extremely defective in almost every point of military difcipline, yet, as the men are in general well mounted, and the Chief, have given me the VOL. XX.

ftrongest affurances of their difpofition to do every thing in their power to promote the fuccefs of our operations, I am in great hopes that we shall derive material advantage from their affistance.

This junction being accomplished, I marched on to effect my next object without lofs of time; and having arrived at my prefent camp on the 18th, and ordered the moft expeditious meafures to be taken for tranfporting the ftores from the head of the pafs, I fhall commence my march again to the weftward on the 22d, and, after calling at Bangalore for the heavy artillery, I trust that I shall find it practicable to reach Seringapatam before the 12th of next month.

No ufeful purpofe could be promoted by my enumerating the difficulties which I have already encountered in carrying on the operations of this campaign, and it would be equally unprofitable to enlarge at prefent upon the obstacles which I forefee to our future progrefs; they are, however, of fo weighty a nature, that under different circumftances I fhould undoubtedly act with more caution, and defer the attempt upon the enemy's capital till after the enfuing rains; but, acquainted as I am with the unfettled fituation of political affairs in Europe, and knowing that a procraftinated war would occafion almost certain ruin to your Finances, I confider it as a duty which I owe to my station and to my country to difregard the hazard to which my own military reputation may be expofed, and to profecute, with every fpecies of precaution that my judgement or experience can fuggeft, the plan which is most likely to bring the war to an early decifion.

I have, at the fame time, been the more encouraged to perfevere in the execution of my original intentions, as both the Nizam and the Mahrattas bave of late thewn an uncommon alacrity in fulfilling their engagements, which, by the fmalleft appearance of backwardness on our part, would be immediately cooled; and which, I truft, will, in addition to our own efforts, effentially contribute to counteract many of the difadvantages which the difficulty of the march, the risk of scarcity of provifions and forage, and the approach of the rainy feason, prefent against the undertaking; and if thofe obftacles can be overcome, the capture of Seringapatam will probably, in its confequences, furnish an ample reward for our labours.

A few days after our fuccefs at Bangalore, Tippoo repeated his propofitions to open a Negociation for terminating our differences; but whether with a fincere defire to obtain peace, or with the infidious hopes of exciting jealoufies in our Allies, by inducing Sf

me