Star.
London, England, 1809-09-15 00:00:00

present our readers with a very full and circum
stantial account of the operations of the Southern bri-
gade of the Madras army, against the formidable lines
of Arumbooly. The whole'force-employed on this
service, under the command of Col. St. Leger, con-
sisted of his Majesty's 69th regiment of foot, 500
of the first battalion of the Sd native infantry, the Ist
battalion of the 13th native infantry, the 6th regiment
of native cavalry, and a party of artillery with ten
field-pieces and four howitzers. They arrived at the
Travancore frontiers and pitched their camp opposite to
the Arambooly Gate on the 6th February, four days
previous to the assault. The works at Arambooly
constitute a line of fortifications which extends for
the space of three qdarters of a mile, from hill to
hill, and is flanked on the right and left by strong
redoubts constructed on other heights. Tbe great
gate in the centre line covers' the principal pass
through the huge rampart of mountains .whicb di-
vided the kingdom of Travancore from the English
provinces. •
The force by which this important barrier was de-
fended consisted of 5000 regular infantry., armed
and disciplined after the manner of the Company's
sepoys, and commanded by several Europeans, be-
sides an immense multitude of Nair bowmen and
other irregular troops. Though the follbwing concise
account of the proceedings of the storming party
contains few particulars beyond those which are al-
ready known* it will still, as the testimony of .an eye-
witness, be perused with some degree of interest. •
The access to the works was extremely difficult,
from the stecyric of the hills, from jungles* ravines,
and rocks. • batteries on the southern hill corn-
mantled the whole line ; and it was proposed by Ma-
jor Welsh, who commanded our corps, to take posses-
sum of this hill in the night, by surprise. This plan
was adopted, and he accordingly marched on the
night of the 9th instant, with two companies of the
69th, two companies of the Ist battalion 3d regiment,
and seven companies of our battalion, the 2d of the
3d. A partyof pioneers carried scaling ladders, and
he hid a few artillerymen with him. I went with
our corps ; we were all night in getting up the hill,
throUgh the obstacles I mentioned. • The enemy ap-
peared very vigilant, but their whole attention was
directed to the north hill, towards which we had sent
several reconnoitring parties the day before. Having
got to the top, the scaling-ladders were placed, and
die whole force got in about an hour before day-light,
without disturbing a single sentinel. It was no diffi-
cult matter then to di ive the enemy down the hill.—
Our artillerymen turned the guns of the battery
against the line, and, as soon as day broke, a party of
oars charged the enemy on the ramparts of the line,
and drove them before them. At this time the rest
of Colonel St. Leger's force came up from the camp,
and the doors beirlg opened for them, they entered,
and took possession of the pass and all the works. We
had a Captain and sepoy mortally wounded, besides
five or six others slightly.
After an interval of a few days, which were em-
ployed in destroying the enemy's works, and the un-
serviceable portion of his ordnance, the army being
joined by 500 Coffrees belonging to the Ceylon regi-
ment, and a party of about 110 men of the Royal
Artillery whom Gen. Maitland had dispatched from
Ceylon, began their march into the interior on the
17th. The enemy meanwhile had taken post at Ko-
taur, not more•than seven miles distant from the Bri-
tish camp, and there awaited our approach. • An ad-
vanced party of Colonel Et. Leger's army, however,
under the command of Colonel Macleod, of the 10th
regiment, having entered the village, immediately
proceeded to the attack, and drove the Travancorians
from their guns at the point of the bayonet. The
guns, to the number cf 15, fell into the hands of the
conquerors. Our loss in this engagement did not ex-
ceed the number of four or five killed, and about 30

wounded; neither wiis the slaughter on the part of
the enemy vet y considerable, the greater part of them
being saved by the precipitancy of their flight. Such
indeed was the panic which these rapid and repeated
reverses had diffused among all ranks, that they
abandoned to their pursuers the fortresses of Oute-
ghery and Passanaveram, which are situated about
ten miles from Kotaur, and are accounted two of the

strongest posts in the whole country. Col. St. Leger,
after blowing up the ordnance which he had captured
at Kotaur, advanced again on the 19th, and took
possession of both fortresses.
On the 26th February, the date of our latest ad-
vices; the army remained encamped within five miles
of Passanavcram.
To the great mortification of our gallant country-
man, the splendid palace of the Rajah at that place
was found entirely empty, the immense treas•rcr. of
money and jewels which it was supposed to contain,
having been carefully removed at the time of the eva-
cuation.

Besides the detachment of artillery and infantry
from Ceylon, which joined Colonel St. Leger after
the storm of Arambooly, the whole of the King's
19th foot, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel the
Hon. P. Stuart, through the zeal and exertions of
the Ceylon Government, had on the first intelligence
of the disturbances been dispatched to Quelon ; they
reached that place by sea on the 4th ult. After the
arrival of this reinforcement, the army there under
Colonel Chalmers, consisted of upwards of 1200 Euro-
peans, including his Majesty's 12th and 19th regi.
ments, and four battalions of native infantry. In
consequence of the great difficulty of collecting in '
that quarter a sufficient number of draft bullocks, and
other necessary articles of equipment for the field,
this powerfql force had hitherto remained on the de-
fensive.
The two principal attempts made by the Travan.
corians on Colonel Chalmers's camp, took place on,
the 15th and 31st January—the engagement-of the
15th was the most severe of the twcr ; the loss of the
12th regiment on that day amounted to eight men
killed and 45 wounded, and that of the Sepoy Re_ gi-
ments, in all, to about 60 or 70 rank and file. The
• enemy left 700 dead and ten pieces of ordnance onl
• the field of battle. The proportion of their wounded,
of course, could not be so accurately ascertained. On
both these occasions our Native troops vied with the
Europeans in their steadiness and valour.
It doe; not
appear that any treaty with tfe Rajah
perruancogle bad actually been concluded at the
period to which our accounts extFusi. Proposals of
mis,,o,„•however, on the same terms which had
been f( in
re 47 proffered by the British Government,
,are said to'have been sent by the Rajah into camp.

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