into the plain; while the gloom of the horizon was at intervals dispelled by the flame of the cannon and the illuminated train of the shells. About ten o'clock at night, the firing entirely ceased, and the AngloRussian troops remained in undisturbed possession of the field; the engagement however proved undecisive, and the enemy, who soon afterwards received a reinforcement of six thousand troops, maintained their position between Beverwyck and Wyck-op-Zee. The allied army now found itself placed in a situation so critical as to require the greatest military talents, united with the most mature experience, to direct its future operations. Directly opposite, lay the enemy, in a position almost impregnable, and rendered confident by the accession of strength just received. A naked, barren, and exhausted country, thinly studded with a few ruined villages, scarcely affording shelter for the wounded, extended all around. The right wing of the allied army was indeed protected by the ocean; but a considerable body of troops, led by an active and resolute commander, threatened the left, and occupied the almost inaccessible position of Purmerend. To these local obstacles, were superadded others, still more formidable. The weather had set in, since the evening of the 6th of October, with increased inclemency; and the roads were so entirely broken up, that it was with extreme difficulty the urgent necessities of the troops could be supplied; to these complicated evils, the whole army lay exposed on the unsheltered sand-hills of North Holland-their arms and ammunition rendered unfit for use, and their tents and clothing continually drenched with torrents of rain. Nor did the stadtholderian party show any disposition to support the armies engaged in fighting their battles, but on the contrary remained inactive, and apparently indifferent to the success of the com mon cause. After weighing all these considerations, and consulting with the lieutenants-general of his army, his royal highness the Duke of York very prudently gave orders to withdraw the forces from their advanced position, which was accordingly effected, to the great regret of the troops, who were unacquainted with some of the principal difficulties that opposed their career. About seven o'clock in the evening of the 7th of October, the night being extremely dark, and the rain descending in cataracts, a very unexpected order was issued for the troops to assemble, and about ten o'clock at night the whole army was in full retreat towards Pellen and Alkmaar. By this sudden and decided measure, the retreat was effected, in the face of a vigilant and active foe, without disorder or immediate pursuit, and with little comparative loss. It now appeared advisable to return to England; but as the troops could not be embarked in the face of a superior army without considerable loss, the commanderin-chief, in conjunction with the vice-admiral, entered into a negotiation with General Brune, in consequence of which an armistice was at length agreed upon. It was stipulated upon this occasion, that the combined English and Russian army should evacuate the territories of the Batavian republic by the 30th of November; that the Dutch admiral, De Winter, should be considered as exchanged; that the mounted batteries at the Helder should be restored in their present state; that "eight thousand prisoners of war, French and Batavians, taken before the present campaign, and now detained in England, should be restored without conditions to their respective countries;" and finally, that Major general Knox should remain with the French to guarantee the execution of this convention. These terms, although justified by the critical situation of the troops, were doubtless humiliating; but the proposition of restoring the Batavian fleet, surrendered by Admiral Storey, which was at first advanced by General Brune, was received with just indignation; and his royal highness the Duke of York threatened, in case of perseverance in this point, to cut the seadykes, and inundate the whole country. But Thus ended the expedition against Holland, whence so many advantages had been anticipated, and so much benefit augured; which, instead of annihilating the influence of France-restoring the independence of the Dutch-and increasing the honour and glory of the British name; confirmed the dominion of the French republic in Holland, and superadded the claims of grati tude to the pertinacity of power. though the military and political objects of the expedition failed, yet the naval depart ment of the enterprise was crowned with complete success, and a hostile fleet, the last remnant of the maritime power of a nation which once rivalled Great Britain on the ocean, was drawn from a position where it was capable of exciting alarm, and added to the already gigantic force of the British navy. To complete the military history of this eventful year, the hostile operations of the * Narrative of the Expedition to Holland in 1799, short but decisive campaign in the Mysore by E. Walsh, M. D. country still remain to be recorded. From 한 66 these ardent expressions of attachment; No sooner had the intelligence of the arrival of a French army in Egypt reached Bengal, than the Earl of Mornington (now Marquis of Wellesley), the governor-general, gave orders to assemble an army on the coasts of Malabar and Coromandel; and while preparations were making for war, ` his lordship used his utmost exertions to accommodate the differences by negotiation; but the sultan met all his lordship's proposals either with insulting silence, or with hollow and perfidious professions of friendship. the time that peace was concluded between | did not fail to return suitable answers to Lord Cornwallis and Tippoo Saib, the Sultan of Mysore, in the year 1792, the affairs of India had remained in a kind of doubtful and suspicious tranquillity. The supposed lenity of the Marquis Cornwallis was blamed by many who were intimately connected with India; and, on the other hand, it was not probable that a prince of the pride and spirit of Tippoo could submit without reluctance to a treaty so inglorious to an independent monarch. Two great principles of action appear to have influenced the life and fortune of the King of Mysore: the one a flaming zeal, bordering on fanaticism, for the religion of Mahomet; the other, a hatred to the English, whom he affected to denominate polytheists, and considered as a mercenary band of commercial spoilers, who, by uniting intrigue with trade, and the profession of arms with an inordinate thirst for dominion, had obtained an undue and alarming preponderance in the east. Not content with augmenting his army, and collecting able officers, wherever they could be found, he corresponded with all the neighbouring courts, and solicited by turns every Mahometan power in Asia to enter into a holy war, for the extirpation of his enemies, whom he considered as the enemies of all true believers. Nor was he inattentive to the affairs of Europe; for he had sent a splendid embassy to Louis XVI., and now courted the friendship of the French republic, with as much assiduity as he had formerly sought that of the monarch. In a despatch to the executive directory of France, written from Seringapatam, and dated on the 2d of April, 1797, he announced his intention to nominate ambassadors, in order to testify his friendship to the government of France; and in a letter of the same date, addressed to the representatives of the people residing in the isles of France and Bourbon, he says, "I perceive it is now the moment for me to revive the friendship which I have always entertained for your nation: I acknowledge the sublimity of your constitution; and as a proof of my sincerity, I propose to your nation and to you a treaty of alliance and fraternity, which shall be for ever indissoluble, and shall be founded on republican principles of sincerity and good faith. If you will assist me, in a snort time not an Englishman shall remain in India; the springs which I have touched have put all India in motion." The French government, strongly impressed with the importance of extending their influence in the east, and of shaking the power of the British in that quarter, See Wood's Review of the War in Mysore. At length, a junction having been effected between the Madras army, under Majorgeneral Harris, consisting of thirty-one thousand men, and that of Bombay, under General Stuart, consisting of six thousand, the capital of the Mysore became the immediate object of their joint attack. The Nizam, though he had so recently given umbrage to the English government by the employment of a numerous body of European troops, deemed it prudent to take the field with a contingent of about twelve thousand troops, on the first summons of his British ally; but Tippoo, unable to procure either the expected assistance of Žemaun Shah from the north of India, or that of the French from Egypt, after wasting the country around, and defending the approaches to Seringapatam, found himself reduced to the necessity of standing a siege, without any other auxiliary aid than about four hundred volunteers from the Isle of France. On the 5th of April, the army under General Harris, after carrying the hill-forts of Neeldurgum and Anchitty, took up its ground opposite the west face of the fort of Seringapatam, at the distance of three thousand five hundred yards. On the 9th, the British general received a letter from Tippoo, in which he declared, "that he adhered firmly to the treaties, and demand dence of the sultan. That prince, who had a little time before seen the guards relieved, after surveying the British position with a glass, and concluding, because nothing unusual had occurred, that the attack was deferred, returned to his family. Aroused at length by the shouts of his own troops, and the firing of the artillery and musketry, he sallied out, accompanied by some of his followers, and taking his station at one of the gates, along with Syed Scheb, Meer Saduf, Syed Gofa, and a number of other chiefs, he attempted, when too late, to stop the progress of a soldiery, inflamed with the hope of spoil, and fearless of danger. After the assailants, who divided their forces for the purpose of clearing the ramparts, had overcome all opposition in every other quarter, the palace of the monarch still held out. ed the reason of the advance of the English moved forward under Major-general Baird.* army, and of the occurrence of hostilities?" Having crossed the rocky bed of the CaveTo this the general briefly replied by refer- ry, notwithstanding a heavy fire from the ring to the letters which had been address- city, the glacis and ditch were passed, after ed to the sultan by the governor-general. which the besiegers immediately ascendThe preparations for the siege were still ed the breaches in the fausse braye rampart continued with unremitting activity, and on of the fort, surmounting every difficulty the 22d, the Bombay army was attacked with the most singular gallantry. The at all its posts by six thousand of the ene-noise and alarm occasioned by this unexmy's infantry, and Lalley's corps of French- pected assault at length pierced the resimen, who behaved with their accustomed gallantry; but the assailants were repulsed on all sides, and compelled to retire into the fort with a loss of six hundred men. Previous to this attack, General Harris had received, on the night of the 20th, an overture of peace from the sultan, which was answered at noon on the 22d, by sending a draft of the preliminaries. The terms proposed to Tippoo were, "to cede half of his territories in perpetuity to Great Britain and her Asiatic allies; to pay two crores of rupees; to renounce the alliance of the French for ever; to dismiss every native of France from his service; to receive ambassadors from each of the allies; and to give as hostages four of his sons and four of his principal officers." To these humiliating proposals, the sultan condescended not at first to return an answer, but on the 28th he acknowledged the receipt of the proposals transmitted by General Harris, and stated, "that the points in question were weighty and important, and without the in-al surrender; but Major Allan, on whom tervention of ambassadors could not be brought to a conclusion; and therefore that he was about to send two officers, who would explain themselves personally to him." The general, considering this as an expedient to gain time, briefly replied by referring to the terms forwarded on the 22d, as the only conditions on which he would negotiate. A flag of truce was soon afterwards sent to the palace of the sultan, offering him and his friends protection on uncondition the execution of this commission devolved, could nowhere meet with Tippoo. The young princes, his sons, surrendered in the mean time to General Baird, under the strongest assurances of protection. After much entreaty, enforced even by threats, the gentlemen who had entered the palace were informed by the killedar, an officer of great trust, that the sultan was not there, but that he had received a mortal wound during the assault, and lay in the gateway on the north face of the fort. There, among heaps of slain, the body of the unfortunate monarch was found covered with wounds. With a Roman spirit, the Sultan of Mysore disdained to grace the tri *Those selected for the assault consisted of 1. Ten flank companies of Europeans; 2. Twelfth, thirty-third, seventy-third, and seventy-fourth regiments; The works being now complete, the trenches were opened, and on the 2d of May, the artillery began to batter in breach. On the evening of the succeeding day, the breach was considered as practicable, and orders were issued for storming the place in the course of the succeeding afternoon. On this occasion, a new stratagem of war was resorted to, and it was determined to make the assault during the heat of the day, as an operation of this kind was not likely to be expected at such a period, when the garrison would not only be less prepared, but less able to oppose an efficacious resistance. The troops intended to be employed on this occasion, amounting Supported in trenches by the battalion compa to four thousand in number, were accord-nies of the regiment of Meuron, and four batta lions of Madras sepoys. ingly stationed in the trenches early in the morning of the 4th, to avoid suspicion; and at one o'clock in the afternoon, they 3. Three corps of grenadier sepoys, selected from the troops of the three presidencies; 4. Two hundred of the Nizam's troops; 5. One hundred men belonging to the artillery, and pioneers; Colonel Sherbrooke, and Lieutenant-colonels Dunlop, Dalrymple, Gardiner and Mignan, commanded the flank companies, umph of his adversaries; and showed his | nions of the late sultan into four parts of people, that he did not basely seek his per- unequal extent, one of which, and that the sonal safety in the recesses of his palace, principal, including the capital and the port while they were endeavouring bravely but of Magalore, was annexed to the dominions unsuccessfully to support his throne from of the East India Company; a second was the battlements of his capital.* given to the Nizam; a third, of small ex tent, to the Mahrattas; and for the fourth, a descendant of the ancient rajahs of Mysore was sought out, and placed upon the throne; while Futteh Hyder, Ardul Khalic, and the other sons of the deceased monarch, were taken under "the munificent protection" of the company, and surrounded with wotribute to inspire an idea of Asiatic magmen, troops, and every thing that can connificence. The capture of Seringapatam afforded a rich booty to the troops, who effected this important conquest with a loss not exceeding four hundred men in killed and wounded; and a scheme of partition was promulgated soon afterwards, dividing the domi of August, this flourishing and extensive settlement was obtained by Great Britain without firing a gun. *TIPPOO SAIB.-The character of this extraordinary man is differently represented, as opposite parties and interests have touched the portrait; while the difference of manners, the distance of In another hemisphere, the British arms the scene, and the obscurity which involves an were equally successful, and the flourishing oriental court, render it almost impossible to ascer- settlement of Surinam was wrested from tain the truth. He was born about the year 1749, the hands of the Dutch. A body of troops and was in stature about five feet eight inches. His person was corpulent, his neck short, and his having been collected in the islands of Grelimbs smail, particularly his feet and hands. His nada, St. Lucie, and Martinico, by Lieutecomplexion was brown, his eyes large and full, nant-general Trigge, were embarked soon his eyebrows small and arched, his nose aqui- afterwards on board a small squadron, conline; and all agree, that in his countenance there was an expression of dignity. Hyder Ally, the fa- sisting of two line-of-battle ships and five ther of Tippoo, conscious of his own disadvantages frigates, under the command of Vice-admifrom a neglected education, had been extremely ral Lord Hugh Seymour. On their arrival solicitous, it is said, for the accomplishment of off the mouth of the river Surinam, Goverhis son, who read and spoke more than one of the nor Frederici, after some hesitation, capituEuropean languages. He was fond both of read-lated to the British force, and on the 20th ing and writing, and latterly, it appears, kept a journal of every occurrence. In his youth, and during the lifetime of his father, he was held in universal esteem; but after his accession to the throne, he is charged with cruelty and caprice. Despotism is undoubtedly a wretched corruptor of the human heart; and perhaps we form a false estimate, when we measure the characters of eastern monarchs by the principles of civilized and Christian states. In his dress he was plain, in his manners unaffect ed; he was fond of horsemanship, and all the manly exercises, and despised those who used carriages and palanquins. Indeed, in most of his habits, he appears to have been of a severe cast of character; he was rigidly exact in the punishment of drunkenness and other vices, and his religion, which was tinged with the same character, approached to superstition. In his political govern ment, he is charged with caprice; and yet the circumstance that gave most disgust to men of rank, that of raising persons from low stations to offices of importance, might proceed from the laudable desire of promoting and rewarding merit. He is supposed to have acted under the infatuated persuasion that Seringapatam was impregnable; yet it is allowed, that, on examining the works on the morning of the assault, he was undeceived, though he still rejected every idea of surrendering his capital, and reconciled himself to the resolution of perishing under its ruins. On the whole, he was a great, though perhaps not a good prince; a false religion, and false notions of human rights and liberties, never fail to deprave the heart. The British navy, during the whole of this year, continued to display its wonted zeal and accustomed superiority; while the names of St. Vincent, Nelson, Smith, and Mitchel, made the English flag respected in Syria, Egypt, the Mediterranean, on the coast of Spain, and in the ports and shallow seas of Holland. So uninterrupted was the success of the British arms on her favourite element, that, although England did not lose a single vessel of war in the course of this year, not less than twenty frigates, corvettes, and luggers, belonging to France, and ten to Spain, were either taken or run on shore. The Dutch navy may be said to have been annihilated. In addition to the ships of war seized by Admiral Mitchel in the Nieuve Diep and the Texel, the Batavian republic lost a forty gun ship, the Hertzhog Van Brunswick, in the straits of Sunda; and as the sailors were obviously disaffected to the new government, all further exertions by sea on the part of that power were wholly interdicted." CHAPTER XIII. BRITISH HISTORY: Opening of the Session of Parliament of 1798-9--Rejection of Mr. Tierney's Mo tion for Peace-Renewal of the Habeas Corpus Suspension Act-Introduction of a Bill for imposing a Tax upon Income-Annual Supplies-Message from the King relating to Ireland-Animated Dis cussion on the Subject of a Legislative Union between Great Britain and Ireland-Vehement De bates in the Irish House of Commons-State of the Public Feeling in Ireland-Mr. Pitt's Resolutions, containing Overtures of Union-Carried in the British Parliament-Joint Address of the two Houses to his Majesty-Motion for the Abolition of the Slave-trade lost-India Affairs-Prorogation of Parliament. AMIDST the various calamities in which the wars of the French revolution had involved the continental states of Europe, it was the happiness of this country, surrounded by her guardian ocean, and defended by the prowess of her invincible navy, to escape all the heartrending scenes of actual war, and to feel its influence chiefly or alone in her trade and finance. On the opening of the parliamentary session of 1798-9, on the 20th of November, the benches formerly occupied by the minority appeared still deserted; but as little could be effected at the full flood of ministerial power and influence, either by their counsel or their opposition, the absence of these statesmen was the less to be regretted. The speech from the throne spoke with just exultation of the late splendid triumphs of our navy, under Lord Nelson, "which had turned an extravagant enterprise to the confusion of its authors, and afforded an opening which might lead to the general deliverance of Europe. The magnanimity of the Emperor of Russia, and the vigour of the Ottoman Porte, had shown that these powers were impressed with a just sense of the present crisis, and their example would be an encouragement to other states, to adopt that spirited line of conduct which alone was consistent with security and honour. At home, our preparations, and the zeal of all ranks of people, had deterred the enemy from attempting an invasion of our coasts: and in Ireland, the rebellion had been repressed, while the views of ill-minded people, who had planned the subversion of our constitution, had been fully detected and exposed. Under the pressure of protracted warfare, it was a great satisfaction to observe that the produce of the public revenue had been fully adequate to the increase of our public expenditure: the national credit had been improved, and commerce had flourished in a degree unknown." "Our situation," said his majesty, in conclusion, "renders the continuance of heavy expenses indispensable, but the state of our resources, and the public spirit, will furnish the necessary supplies without essential inconvenience to the people, and with as little addition as possible to the burdens of the state. We have surmounted great difficulties; our perseverance (in a just cause) has been rewarded with success; and our situation in a period of danger, compared with that of other countries, proves that the security of the British nation depends, under Providence, on its own constancy and vigour." The address, moved in the lords by the Earl of Darnley, and seconded by Lord Craven, was animadverted upon by the Marquis of Lansdowne, who exhorted the ministers of the crown "to draw from these victories, so justly celebrated, the advantages they were calculated to secure, and to make them the means of obtaining that most desirable of all objects, a safe and honourable peace. Instead of this, the continuance of war was announced, and our new alliances exulted in. But could we place any reliance on such a league as that which now subsisted with Russia and the Porte? Was it upon such allies that we could depend for a vigorous co-operation? It would be wise to lay aside all idle plans of conquest; a spirit of moderation and disinterestedness should govern our conduct; the true dignity of the nation would be consulted in making such concessions as were necessary for the restoration of the general tranquillity, at the moment of gratulation and victory." Lord Holland observed, "that if the consequence of the victories we had gained were to be a revival of the horrors of war, England had little cause to rejoice. The speech from the throne held forth the probable success of a powerful confederacy against France. We had heard such language before; but we had only seen devastations extended over the surface of the globe, with less and less prospect of procuring tranquillity. He felt the difficulty of succeeding, in the hour of victory, to moderate desire. He knew that it was an unwelcome task to address their lordships on the subject of peace; but a sense of public duty influenced his conduct, and he |