To MONSIEUR COSSIGNY; the GOVERNOR of MADRAS; GHÛLÂM ALI KHÂN; the IMÂM of MUSCAT; and others: dated 18th TÛLOOEY. (15th December.)
THE [main] body of the accursed ones,* joined by the forces of Nizâm Ali Khân, and amounting together to nearly a hundred thousand horse and foot, accompanied by [a train of] artillery, having lately approached, with hostile intentions, within ten or twelve coss of our victorious army, which lay encamped near Shânoor: we no sooner received intelligence of this movement, than taking all our guns and baggage with us, we advanced rapidly against the enemy, whom we completely surprized.* The engagement which took place upon this occasion was fought on the 11th of Sufur, A.H. 1201 [or 2d December 1786]. The action, however, had not yet arrived at [the clashing of] swords and bayonets, when the enemy, no longer able to support the fire from our guns, involuntarily* took the road of flight; upon which they were closely pursued for two or three coss by our victorious army, who slew and took prisoners great numbers of the fugitives, besides obtaining possession of the whole of their baggage. In addition to this, three thousand camels, laden with various articles, twenty thousand bullocks, five elephants with canopies, twenty standards and kettledrums, and seven or eight thousand horses, fell into our hands.
Our victorious army is still in close pursuit of the enemy, and, with the blessing of God, the Aider, having driven them as far as Poonah and Hyderabad, which are the places of their residence, we shall communicate the same to you. That eminent person being among the number of our friends, we have thought it proper to give him the present detailed account of this battle.
It may be presumed, that if the Sultan had taken any guns upon this occasion, he would not have omitted so material a circumstance in the present Futah-nâmeh, or “letter of victory,” which, for this reason, may be suspected to have somewhat exaggerated his general success; though, on the whole, it is certainly less inflated and pompous, in point of diction, than is usually the case in similar productions. It would, at any rate, appear, that the advantages which he obtained over the enemy in this last action were of a more decisive character than those which had resulted from the battle which preceded it. It is probable, that the Sultan, in his Memoirs, entered into a fuller relation of the engagement of the 11th of Sufur, than that contained in the foregoing letter; but, unfortunately, that part of his narrative was included in the portion of the manuscript destroyed by the accident already alluded to. This, however, as well as many other defects of the present work, considered in an historical light, will, no doubt, be amply supplied hereafter, by the able and elegant historian of Mysore.
In addition to the foregoing account of the battle of the 11th Sufur, the Sultan’s letter to the Imâm of Muscat contains the following paragraph:
“Enclosed is a letter to Ghûlâm Ali Khân, and the other Sirdârs, [proceeding “to Constantinople], which you will forward to them.
“Agreeably to your own proposal, you must send a Vakeel [or minister] to “our Presence at the beginning of the ensuing season. You must likewise not “fail to establish factories at our different sea-ports; and as we have come to the “resolution, that not a single grain of rice shall be sold [in our country] to any “Nazarenes coming from Muscat, or to any others but the [bonâ fide] merchants “of Muscat, you, therefore, must give orders to the merchants of that place “bound to our ports, to bring with them certificates from our Vakeel there, in “order that they may be enabled to purchase and carry away [without obstacle] “whatever commodities they may require.
“Procure and dispatch to us some saffron seed, and also some mules, with the “breed of which you are acquainted [i. e. which you can recommend as being of “a good breed].
N.B. Wrote to the same effect as the above to Meer Kâzim, the commercial agent at Muscat, who was also desired to buy and send more pearls to the Sultan.