In order to relieve the Carnatic, which was suffering under the ravages of a formidable victorious army, who had not only cut off a great part of our forces on that coast, but affronted our army even at the walls of Fort St. George, descents upon the coasts of Malabar were planned, in order to make a diversion: and General Mathews, in January 1783, landed, with a small army under his command, at a place called Rajamondroog——took Onore, and several forts; and being joined by other troops, which, under the command of Colonel Humbertson, had done considerable services to the Southward, and were now commanded by Colonel Macleod, marched from Cundapore, with an army consisting of twelve hundred Europeans and eight battalions of Sepoys, towards Hussaingurry Ghaut, a pass that leads over these immense mountains which divide the Peninsula, running North and South from Persia to Gape Comorin. After surmounting obstacles that would have discouraged a less enterprising Commander, and for which I refer you to his own Letter, inclosed herewith,[[8]] he mounted the Ghaut, carrying every thing before him with the fixed bayonet; and reached, within a short march of Hydernagur, the place where I was confined. Those operations were undoubtedly much facilitated by the death of Hyder Alli, which happened while I was in prison, and which drew the attention of Tippoo Sahib to affairs of more immediate importance than the defence of the Malabar forts.
I have thus digressed from the straight path of my narrative, in order to explain to you the occasion of the extraordinary revolution that so suddenly took place in the fort, which I stated to you in my last Letter but one——You will therefore look back to the conclusion of that Letter, from whence I again take up my narrative.
[8]. See Appendix.
I was utterly at a loss to conjecture what this so sudden resolution to release me and my opposite fellow-prisoner meant. I endeavoured to get some explanation of it from the persons about me; but all I could at the time collect was, that the Jemadar had directed me to be taken out of irons, and ordered me to appear before him. I walked out of the citadel with two or three men who had got charge of me: it was a delightful afternoon; and my sensations on once more revisiting the open air——at again viewing the vast expanse of the firmament above, and the profusion of beauties with which Nature embellished the earth beneath——were too blissful, too sublime, for description. My heart beat with involuntary transports of gratitude to that Being from which all sprung; and I felt that Man is, in his nature, even without the intervention of his reason, a being of devotion. For an hour of such delight as I then experienced, a year of imprisonment was, I thought, hardly too dear a price. Those exquisite sensations insensibly led my heart to the most flattering presages: the animal spirit appeared to have, in correspondence with the body, shaken off a load of chains; and as I walked, along, I seemed to tread on air.
As we proceeded forward, we found, at some distance from the fort, an open dooly, into which, the guards forcibly crammed me; and I was carried off, still attended by the same men. As we went along, they gave me to understand that Hyat Sahib, the Jemadar, was at a place ten or a dozen miles distant from Bidanore. I thought it within myself a most extraordinary circumstance, and was at a loss to conjecture for what purpose he required my presence there. Perhaps, thought I, it is to deliver me personally into the hands of Tippoo——perhaps to send me to Seringapatam. Suspense whetted my curiosity; and impatience to know my fate, set my mind afloat upon a wide sea of conjecture. Still, however, my senses acknowledged a degree of pleasure indescribable——I inhaled the fresh air with greediness, and, as I snuffed it in, said to myself, “Well, well——at the worst, this will enliven my spirits, and lay up a new stock of health and vigour, to enable me to endure with manhood whatever other sufferings the barbarians, into whose hands I have fallen, may have in store for me.”
When we had got about a mile from the fort, we met a person attended by three others, all on horseback. He was a man of considerable rank in that Country, and I recollected to have seen him at the Jemadar’s Durbar, where he had manifested a favourable disposition towards me, looking always graciously, and nodding to me, which, considering my circumstances and his, was not a little extraordinary. The moment he recognized me, he leaped from his horse, apparently in great agitation: then turning to the guards, ordered them to leave me immediately——saying at the same time that he would be answerable for the consequences. They seemed at first to hesitate, whether they would obey him or not; but on his shaking at them his sword, which was all along drawn in his hand, and smeared with blood, and repeating his orders a second time in a firm and decisive tone of voice and manner, they all ran off.
As soon as we were alone, he revealed to me, that he had all along known who I was——had most heartily pitied my sufferings, and privately entertained the most anxious wishes to serve me, but could not venture to interfere——the least jealousy, when once awakened, being there always followed up by summary vengeance. He then mentioned his name, informing me that he was the son of a Nabob near Vellore, whose dominions had been wrested from him by force, and united to the Carnatic; that his family had received great favours from my father, in return for which he felt himself bound to do me every service in his power; but that, having been, after the misfortunes which befel his family, taken into the service of Hyder, and holding then a place of consequence under him, he was disqualified from demonstrating his gratitude and esteem in the way he wished: he added, he had just come from the summit of the Ghauts, where he left the English army posted, after their having beat the Circar troops, and carried all the strong works which had been erected for the defence of the passes, and were deemed from their situation impregnable; that the Jemadar, Hyat Sahib, had gone thither to encourage the troops, and animate them to one grand effort of resistance, and would remain there till the succeeding day——Here he stopped, and seemed much agitated; but, recovering himself soon, said, in a solemn and alarming manner, “This day I heard Hyat Sahib give orders to bring you before him, in order that he might satiate his revenge by your death! How happy am I in having an opportunity to rescue you! I will carry you back with me, therefore, to Bidanore, and place you in a state of security with my family.”