Page:A history of the military transactions of the British nation in Indostan.djvu/590

566 September, was known in the country, and was believed, as the French had represented it, a signal defeat. Maphuze Khan had received letters from Bassaulet Jung and the government of Pondicherry, which encouraged him to think, that they should very soon overpower the English in the Carnatic, when he might expect to be substituted to his brother Mahomed Ally, who was to be deposed from the Nabobship. This correspondence, and these expectations, the Pulitaver communicated to the king of Travancore, and offered, if he would quit the English, and join Maphuze Caun against them, to give him whatsoever districts in the Tinivelly country might lie convenient to his own. The King immediately exposed these documents to Mahomed Issoof, and standing on his importance, demanded the cession of Calacad and the adjacent districts, for which he had so long contended against the Nabob's government. He said, that more territory than he claimed had already been recovered with his assistance; that what might be refused by one, would be readily given to him by another; and that, if he should join the Polygars, the Nabob's authority would never be established in the Tinivelly country. Mahomed Issoof, whilst perplexed with this dilemma, was informed that the two eighteen-pounders, with 500 muskets, which had been sent, according to his request, from Madrass, were lost at sea; and that the two six-pounders, although landed, were stopped by the Dutch agent at Tutacorin. This mischance gave greater weight to the king's arguments, and greater value to his assistance; for the force of Mahomed Issoof alone was not sufficient to reduce the Pulitaver, whom all the best colleries in the country were flocking to defend. He therefore surrendered the districts which the king demanded; and the Presidency approved the cession; but the Nabob suspected that it had been promised by Issoof at his first interview with the king, in order to secure his future assistance to his own ambitious views. As soon as this agreement was settled, the Travancores moved again in conjunction with his troops. On the 6th of November, they invested the wood and fort of Easaltaver, which was one of