ClIAP. V.
MADLIUA BESIEGED.
45")
As the loss of Madiira, by inteirupting the communication with Tinnevelly, ad. 1751. from which Mahomed Ali expected a considerable revenue, greatly crippled his resources, Captain Cope, who commanded the Company's detachment, volun- Failure of an
attempt on
teered to recover it. His means were very inadequate. He had only one Mjuium. battering cannon, three tield-pieces, and two coehorns ; and with these he set out at the head of 1 50 Europeans and 600 native cavalry, to lay siege to a city above two miles in circuit, and fortified with a double wall and a ditch. The deficiency of troops, so far at least as regarded niunbers, was, however, sufficiently supplied, for on coming within sight of Madm-a he was joined by the army of nearly 5000 men which was returning from Tinnevelly ; the artiller}' continued as before, and his whole success depended on the breaching power of a large old native gvm which might at any moment burst in his hands. The enterprise, though little judgment had
been displayed in arranging ^ ""'^
it, seemed favoured by for- tune. Several large breaches already existed in the outer wall, and the gun fired through one of them at the inner wall for two successive days made a breach which was deemed practicable with the aid of fascines. It was now resolved to storm. The reader naturally asks,
Why not continue the firing for another day, and enlarge the breach, so as to make fiiscines unnecessary? The answer is, It was impossible: the old gun had expended all its shot! The storming party passed the first wall witiiout resistance, but at the foot of the breach of the inner wall were enci)untered by a trio of champions; "one of them," says Orme, "a very bulky man, in complete armour," who fought manfully and wounded several of the forlorn hope before they were cut down. Meanwhile, bullets, aiTows, and stones poured thick from above. Nothing daunted, the storming party gained the ])arapet, but there saw a sight which might well have filled them with dismay. On each side of the breach was a mound of earth, with trees laid horizontally ipon it, yet leaving openings through which the enemy thrust their pikes, while at the bottom of the rampai-t a strong entrenchment had been thrown up, and from three to four tliousand men stood ready to defend it. The assault, in capt. o-ik' which it would have been madness to persist, was abandoned, and on the fol- lowing day Captain Cope, after blowing his old gun to pieces, because he had ^'^• not the means to carry it away, returned crest-fallen to Trichinopoly. It was indeed high time to be otf, for the bad spirit of the Tinnevelly army
View in Fort of Madura.— From Dauiell's Oriental Scenery.
returns to Tricliino-
