Page:Sir Thomas Munro and the British Settlement of the Madras Presidency.djvu/51



The second Mysore War, or the war with Tipu Sultan, 1790-1792, was brought about by Tipú's invasion of Travancore. The Dutch having sold the fort of Cranganore to the Rájá of Travancore, Tipú asserted that the Rájá of Cochin, being his vassal, had no right to sell it to the Dutch, nor they to another power. The British East India Company then informed him that their ally, the Rájá of Travancore, was much alarmed at his assembling an army on his frontiers. Tipú replied that nothing was further from his thoughts than war. But as soon as he had suppressed a rebellion among the Náirs in Malabar, he passed into Travancore, and, though repulsed at first, soon succeeded in storming the Travancore lines. This was immediately followed by a declaration of war by the British. Hitherto the policy had been to regard Tipú as a useful buffer against the Maráthás, but on his invasion of Travancore a triple alliance was formed against him by the Company, the Maráthás, and the Nizám. A few weeks before the declaration