Certain factors soon led to the third Anglo-Mysore conflict. In 1788 Lord Comwallis obtained Guntur in the Northern Sarkars from the Nizam, who in return asked for British help on the strength of the Treaty of Masulipatam, 1768. Cornwallis now took a course, of action which amounted to a violation of the Act of 1784 in the spirit ff not in the letter. He wrote a letter to the Nizam on the 7th July, 1789, with a view to laying ” the foundation of a permanent and powerful co-operation”. He deliberately omitted Tipu’s name from the letter,which was declared to be as binding ” as a treaty in due form could be “. W, the historian of Southern India at this time, remarks that “it is highly instructive to observe a statesman, justly extolled for moderate and pacific dispositions, thus indirectly violating a law, enacted for the enforcement of these virtues, by entering ‘into a very intelligible offensive alliance”. “The liberal construction of the restrictions of the Act of Parliament had upon this occasion,” remarks Sir John Malcolm, “the effect of making the Governor-General pursue a course which was not only questionable in point of faith but which must have been more offensive to Tipu Sultan and more calculated to produce a war with France than an &vowed contract of defensive engagement framed for the express and legitimate purpose of limiting his inordinate ambition.”
This was indeed a sufficient provocation to Tipu. But the immediate cause of the war, which had been foreseen both by Tipu and Cornwallis, was the attack on Travancore by the former on the 29th December, 1789. The Raja of Travancore was an old ally of the Company according to the Treaty of Mangalore and was entitled to the protection of the English. He applied to John Holland, Governor of Madras, for help but the Madras Government paid no heed. Lord Cornwallis, however, considered Tipu’s attack on Travancore to be an act of war and severely condemned the conduct of the Madras Government. Both the Nizam and the Marathas, who apprehended that the growth of Tipu was prejudicial to their interests and were thus not well disposed towards him, entered into a “Triple alliance” with the English on the lst June and 4th July, 1790, respectively. The troops of the Marathas and of the Nizam rendered useful services to the English in the course of the war, as Lord Cornwallis himself admitted.
The Third Anglo-Mysore War was carried on for about two years i n three campaigns. The first under Major-General Medows did not produce any decisive result, as Tipu displayed “greater skill in strategy” than Medows. Lord Cornwallis wrote to Henry Dundas of the Board of Control: we have loot time and our adversary has gained reputation, which are two most valuable things in war.” He personally assumed command of the British troops on 29th January, 1791, when he also formed the project of deposing Tipu in favour of the heir of the old Hindu ruling dynasty of Mysore. Marching through Vellore and Ambur to Bangalore, which was captured on the 21st March, 1791, he reached Arikera, about nine miles east of Seringapatam, Tipu’s capital, by the 13th May. But on this occasion too Tipu displayed brilliant generalship; and when the rains set in, Cornwallis had to retreat to Mangalore owing to the utter lack of equipment and provisions for his army. The fighting was resumed in the summer of 1791, and Tipu captured Coimbatore on the 3rd November. But Cornwallis, with the help of an army sent from Bombay, soon occupied the hill-forts that lay in his path towards Seringapatam, arrived near it on the 5th February, 1792, and attacked its outworks. By his military and diplomatic skill Tipu averted a complete disaster, but he realized the impossibility of further resistance.
After some preliminary negotiations, the Treaty of Seringapatam was concluded in March, 1792. Tipu had to surrender half of his dominions, out of which a large portion, stretching from the Krishna to beyond the Penar river, was given to the Nizam, and a portion to the Marathas, which extended their territory to the Tungabhadra. The English acquired Malabar and sovereignty over the Raja of Coorg, to whom Tipu had to grant independence; Dindigul and the adjoining districts on the south; and the Baramahal district on the east. These were ” cessions of considerable importance in adding to the strength and compactness of the Company’s territories”. Moreover, Tipu had to pay an indemnity of more than 3,000,000 and to send two of his sons as hostages to Cornwallis’s camp.
Some writers have criticized Lord Cornwallis for having concluded the treaty with the Sult&n of Mysore instead of effecting his destruction, which, in their opinion, could have been easily done. Munro wrote: “Everything is now done by moderation and conciliation. At this rate we shall be Quakers in twenty years more.” Thornton regrets that Tipu “should have been granted so favourable terms”. But it should be noted that Cornwallis took this step out of some practical considerations. Sickness was spreading among his troops; war with France, and the consequent alliance between Tipu and the French, were apprehended; and the Court of Directors insisted on peace. Further, Cornwallis was not at all eager to occupy the whole kingdom of Mysore, which, in his opinion, would have made it difficult to effect a convenient settlement with the allies.
British Relations with Hyderabad and the Carnatic
The Nizam of Hyderabad
Like the governors of the other provinces, the Nizam-ul-mulk Asaf Jah, though theoretically representative of the Delhi Emperor in the Deccan, had made himself virtually independent of the latter’s Authority in the reign of Muhammad Shah. But the Authority of his son, Nizam ‘Ali. was menaced by the growing ambitions of the Marathas and the Sultans of Mysore, which led him to court British help. On the 12th November, 1766, he concluded an offensive and defensive alliance with the Madras Council. In the course of the First Anglo-Mysore War, he was temporarily seduced from this alliance by an agent of Hyder ‘AR, but he soon concluded a peace with the English at Masulipatam on the 23rd February, 1768. According to the treaty of 1766, as revised in 1768, the Company promised to pay an annual tribute of nine lacs of rupees to the Nizam in return for the latter’s granting them the Northern Sarkars. The sarkar of Guntur being given for life to the Nizam’s brother, Basalat Jang, the amount of tribute -was reduced to seven lacs. But in 1779 Rumbold, the tactless governor of Madras, secured the sarkar of Guntur directly from Basalat Jang and sought to stop the payment of tribute to the Nizam, who had violated the treaty of 1768 by taking French troops into his service. This was disapproved of by the Governor-General, Warren Hastings, but it served to alienate the Nizam, whose resentment had been already aroused by the English alliance with Raghoba, at a very critical moment. He joined in an anti-English confederacy with Hyder and the Marathas. Hastings, however, succeeded in detaching the Nizam from the confederates by returning Guntur to Basalat Jang when the Second Anglo-Mysore War had already pro to the disadvantage of the English.
