In General Orders of the 8th of October the following, regarding an officer of the corps, was issued :

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"The Honourable the President and Select Committee have been pleased to appoint Lieutenant James O'Hara, who stands next for promotion, to be a captain, in consideration of his gallant behaviour in the attack on the north-west ravelin at Pondicherry, which has been mentioned to them in a particular manner by General Munroe, and for which they have thought proper to confer on him the mark of their approbation."

The French having no other settlements in India except Mahè, on the Malabar coast, it was decided to take it, although by doing so, a war with Hyder Ali was risked. On the 21st of December, 1778, the European battalion in Fort St. George, and on the 29th the European battalion at Tanjore were ordered on this service, under Colonel Braithwaite. The force consisted of two battalions of the corps, three native regiments, and Captains Cliford's, Regnalt's and Nodler's companies of artillery; Lieut.Colonel Browne commanded the European battalion from Tanjore, and Major William Cook the one from Fort St. George. Early in March, the expedition had arrived before it, and Mahè surrendered on the 19th of March. On the 29th of November, the fort was blown up and destroyed; and the force, although intended, if required, to join Colonel God

dard in Guzerat, moved into Tellicherry, at that time attacked by the Nairs.

On the 1st January, 1779, the following order was published by Sir Eyre Coote, Commander-inChief in India:-" Lieutenant--General Sir Eyre Coote, on his return to the command of India, felt himself particularly happy in the recollection that he should have the honour once more of leading those troops whose military firmness and intrepidity he has been an eye-witness of in so many instances during former wars. But on his arrival here he begs leave to address the army on this establishment with the overflowings of a heart replete with gratitude to them as an Englishman, as King's and Company's officers, for the essential services they have so lately rendered the English nation, its allies, and most particularly their masters, the Honorable East India Company. The service they have been employed on during the siege of Pondicherry, required leaders of approved military abilities, and soldiers in the highest sense of the word, and as such, the army on the Coromandel coast have signalised themselves to all the world."

In April of the same year, all the sappers and miners of the corps were sent to demolish the works at Pondicherry, at which time the 2nd of the 1st regiment of Europeans were there stationed.

As Colonel Braithwaite's force were prevented joining Colonel Goddard in Guzerat, Colonel Browne, of the corps, at the head of a detachment

composed of 100 Madras Artillery, the 1st battalion 2nd regiment of the corps 500 strong, and a battalion of Sepoys, embarked at Madras, and on the 14th April, 1780, joined Colonel Goddard near Pawungurh. On the 19th, the corps formed part of the force which attacked the Mahratta camp, when the enemy retired and could not be brought to action; Colonel Goddard remained inactive during the rains; in October the Europeans of his force were embarked at Surat and sent down towards Bassein, near which, on the 13th November, he joined them with the Sepoys with whom he had marched down the coast; by the 28th November trenches had been opened, and the first battery completed at a distance of 900 yards from the north face of the fort. In the meantime Colonel Hantley's small force, of which the Bombay Europeans formed part, were constantly engaged with the enemy for upwards of six weeks in preventing the siege of Bassein being raised, which Colonel Goddard's force persevered in, and obliged that strong fortress to surrender on the 11th December; on the 13th, Goddard, with the cavalry and grenadiers of his division, joined Hantley, who on the previous day had signally defeated the Mahrattas in a determined attack they made on his position.

On Colonel Goddard's advance on Poona, the battalion of the corps, with the Bombay European Regiment, led the column of attack which forced the Bhore Ghaut on the 8th of February, 1781,

and assisted in maintaining the position of Kandalla against the whole Mahratta army of 70,000

men.

During the retreat on Panwell, from the 20th to the 23rd of April, particularly near Chouke, the Bombay, with the Madras European Regiment, had the honour of being on the rear-guard, on which occasion the corps suffered severely. At the conclusion of the war, the greater number of the surviving privates of the Madras European Infantry were transferred to the Bombay Regiment, but the officers, three non-commissioned, and a few privates, returned to Madras.

In January, 1780, it was well known to every person in India, except the government of Madras, that Hyder Ali was preparing, for the invasion of the Company's territory, one of the most numerous and effective armies ever seen in India. No steps were taken to meet the emergency, and the troops remained at the stations of Poonamallee, Nellore, Trichinopoly, Pondicherry, Tanjore, Guntoor and Masulipatam, as if the country was likely to remain for years in a state of the most profound peace. So late as the 21st June, when the British commandant at Amboor reported the actual descent of the Mysore army into the Carnatic, the intelligence was treated by the council of Fort St. George with slight regard, and although pressed by Lord M'Leod of the 73rd Highlanders to pay some attention to the report, government would take no decided steps.

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It was only when columns of smoke were visible in every direction from St. Thomas's Mount, when the flying and terrified natives were crowding in to escape the vengeance of Hyder's cavalry, which had swept the country, and were carrying devastation. and ruin wherever they went, and when the enemy's near approach to Madras created fears for their own safety, that the governor and council opened their eyes and began to shew some symptoms of energy, and directed the movement of their troops to meet and arrest the progress of the Mysoreans. Poonamallee being considered the most centrical point, and where the 73rd Highlanders were stationed, was fixed upon as the place where all the troops should assemble. Upon the first of August, 400 of the corps, 800 Sepoys, and twenty pieces of artillery, were marched there from Madras and the Mount: after a few days, this force, encreased by H. M.'s 73rd, moved to the Mount, and were intended to remain there until the arrival of Colonel Braithwaite with 200 of the corps, 100 artillery with ten field-pieces, four battalions of infantry, and a regiment of native cavalry from Pondicherry, and Col. Baillie, with 200 of the corps, two companies of artillery with ten field-pieces, and five battalions of Sepoys from Guntoor in the Northern Circars.

On the 26th August, Sir Hector Munroe, accompanied by Lord McLeod, Colonels Braithwaite, Fletcher, and Harper, marched from the Mount towards Conjeveram. His army, very poorly supplied