Haidar ali and tipu sultan

CHAPTER III

SIEGE OF MANGALORE – TIPU’S CRUELTY

MANGALORE, the principal seaport in South Kanara, had been captured once by an English fleet, but was recovered by Haidar in 1768. It again surrendered, however, to General Matthews, prior to his attack on Bednur, the commandant declaring the post to be untenable. Tipu, determined to regain possession of the place, despatched a small force to seize it, but the attack was frustrated. He then resolved to besiege it in person with the whole of his army. Although he gained at the outset some slight advantages by driving in the outposts, and thereby causing a temporary panic in the ranks of the British troops. Colonel Campbell, the commanding officer, resolutely held the fort, which was ill adapted for defence, in spite of the vigorous attacks made upon it by the Mysore troops, aided by the skill of French engineers. Tipu’s heavy guns, however, had nearly reduced the fortifications to ruins, and an assault was daily expected, when news was received of the cessation of hostilities between the English and French. The officers of the latter nation who were in the Mysore service honourably declined to act any longer against the English, notwithstanding every inducement to them on Tipu’s part to continue the siege. They accordingly withdrew from the scene of operations; and Tipu, indignant at the repulses he had met with in his attacks on a place which was avowedly weak, converted the siege into a blockade. The garrison, being short of provisions, were reduced to the greatest distress, but still held out bravely. Tipu agreed to a temporary armistice, to the terms of which, however, he did not adhere, his object being to starve out the defenders. The instructions of the English admiral forbade the captain commanding the squadron to resort to any hostile measures during the period prescribed by the preliminary articles of peace between the two European nations. The result of this inaction was that the defenders of Mangalore were so insufficiently supplied with food, that disease broke out, and the hospitals were filled. On a council of war being held, it was resolved to surrender, the brave garrison being permitted to retire to Tellicherri, 80 miles to the south, according to the terms of a treaty which was executed in January, 1784. By this convention Tipu recovered possession of all the territory held by his father in Kanara and Malabar. Before returning to the upper country, he signalized his zeal for the faith of Islam by driving out of the coast region no fewer than 30,000 of its Christian inhabitants, who were forcibly deported into Mysore. His own account of this infamous transaction is that the Portuguese, having on pretence of trade obtained settlements on the western coast, had prohibited Musalmans from practising their faith, and expelled Hindus from their territory, those who remained, in spite of the prohibition, being enrolled as Christians. He added that, in process of time, they won over the local Rajas to tolerate their proceedings, and by cajoling the pliant population, made numerous converts to their ‘abandoned religion.’ ‘His Majesty, the shadow of God,’ so runs his bombastic effusion, being informed of these circumstances, the rage of Islam began to boil in his breast. He ordered that an enumeration and description of the houses of all Christians should be made, and then sent detachments under trusty officers who, after early prayers, acting in accordance with their instructions, seized 60,000 (sic) persons, great and small of both sexes, who were carried to the resplendent presence. They were then despatched to the capital, and the males being formed into battalions of five hundred each, under the command of officers well instructed in the faith, were honoured with the distinction of Islam, and distributed in the principal garrisons.’ These unfortunate people received the appellation of ‘Ahmadi’ or ‘praiseworthy’, and the date of their forcible conversion was commemorated by the phrase, ‘God is the protector of the religion of Ahmad⁵⁶.’

Similar cruelties were practised on the people of Coorg, the small hill district where Haidar had barbarously cut off the heads of all who opposed his progress. Some resistance having been made to the Mysore Governor, Tipu marched into the country with his army, and lectured the Coorgs on the iniquity of their custom of polyandry. He warned them that if any further rebellion took place he would extinguish it by removing the population and Islamizing them. At a later period he actually carried this barbarous threat into execution, devastating the province, and driving the wretched inhabitants like sheep to Seringapatam, where they had to submit to circumcision and the sanctifying rites prescribed by the despot.

CHAPTER IV

COLONEL FULLARTON’S MILITARY OPERATIONS

JUST before the death of Haidar, Mr. Sullivan, the English Resident at Tanjore, an official of exceptional ability, had devised a scheme for co-operating with Colonel Humberstone in Malabar, by sending an expedition to Palghat, via Coimbatore. But this plan, being opposed, or at any rate unsupported by Sir Eyre Coote, had fallen through. Mr. Sullivan now sought to forward the views of his Government by entering into negotiations with one Tirumal Rao, who professed to be an emissary of the Mysore Rani, with the object of restoring to power the imprisoned Raja. This design being approved by the British authorities, a force was despatched under Colonel Lang, which occupied various places in the Coimbatore and Madura districts. Colonel Fullarton shortly afterwards succeeded to the command. On learning that Admiral Suffrein was about to disembark French troops at Gudalur, he marched in haste to that place, but on his arrival heard of the cessation of hostilities between the European powers.

Being apprised however of Tipu’s violations of the armistice at Mangalore, Colonel Fullarton moved at once on Palghat from Dindigal to relieve the distressed garrison. He was encouraged in this effort by reports of disaffection among the Mysore troops, and of a widespread conspiracy to overthrow the usurper. But the latter combination, though it actually existed, was, fortunately for Tipu, detected, and all the leaders in it were summarily executed⁵⁷, except two who were placed in iron cages. Fullarton, notwithstanding many natural obstacles, due to heavy rain, and the vast forest which skirts the Anamalai Hills, succeeded in forcing his way to Palghat, which surrendered to his arms. Then finding it impossible to advance at once to Tellicherri on the coast, he proceeded to Coimbatore, which he captured. Before however, he could make any further progress, he received an intimation that negotiators were being sent to Tipu to arrange terms of peace, and he was directed to abstain from further hostilities.

As his force consisted of 13,000 men, and as he himself was an officer of great ability and energy, it is probable that his junction with the British troops on the west coast would have led to a complete defeat of Tipu. But, as we have seen on previous occasions, the vigorous efforts of the English military commanders were paralysed by the timidity and hesitation of the civil authorities at Madras. European diplomatists, with rare exceptions, are no match for the duplicity and craft of Orientals. It is not therefore surprising that, after protracted negotiations, in which the Madras envoys were subjected to much humiliation, Tipu signed in March, 1784, a peace for the mutual restitution of the places which the two powers had seized, and for the surrender of all prisoners, a convention by which he sacrificed little, and was able to boast that the English had cringed before him. The natural result was that he re-occupied all the southern part of Malabar, and that the fruits of Fullarton’s enterprise were thrown away. Even as regards the hundreds of persons languished in prison, and the thousands whom Tipu had forcibly carried away from their homes, he studiously evaded surrendering more than a very limited number. Indeed, the great majority of those who had suffered imprisonment had either perished from the hardships they endured, or had met with a violent death at the hands of Tipu’s executioners. Many of the English officers, besides General Matthews, had been ruthlessly murdered, by poison or other foul means, while natives of the country had been frequently sent to die at Kabaldrug.