Page:Sir Thomas Munro and the British Settlement of the Madras Presidency.djvu/35

 WAR WITH HAIDAR ALI 27

reserve their fire till they were ordered to part with it. He only waited accounts from the second line. An aide-de-camp from General Stuart told him that he had taken possession of the sand-hills ; he im- mediately gave orders to advance, and to open all the guns. The artillerymen, who had been so long re- strained, now exerted themselves. Their fii-e was so heavy that nothing could stand before it. The Mysorean infantry only stayed to give one discharge ; the drivers hurried away the cannon, while the horse attempted to charge ; but they were always broken before they reached the line. In a quarter of an hour the whole were dispersed.

•' While the first line were engaged with Haidar, the second was attacked by Tipii and Lally, who were repulsed by General Stuart in all their attacks to drive him from the sand-hills ; and when Haidar fled, they followed him. A deep watercourse saved the enemy from pursuit, for we were six hours in crossing it, which they, from the number and goodness of their cattle, had done in one. Our army was 7,500 fighting men. The force of the enemy has been variously estimated. A Portuguese captain, who deserted to us during the action, and who pretended to have seen the returns, made it amount to 300,000 or 400,000 (sic), (I do not remember which : it makes little diiference) men that could fight. However it may be, it is certain that their numbers were such that the most exact discipline never could have brought the whole into action.