Hyder Ali's Appeal to the Hon'ble East India Co., 1764

Summary

Based on a letter dated 27 August 1764, this article narrates how Hyder Ali of Mysore appealed to the East India Company’s Bombay Council for military assistance. Seeking to safeguard the monopoly of pepper and sandalwood trade, he proposed a triple alliance between himself, the Nizam of Hyderabad and the English against the Marathas. Hyder Ali reported repelling Maratha forces and offered to restore the Company’s factories from Carwar to Dabhool if the English joined him. He requested guns, muskets, soldiers and ammunition at his own expense, and asked that the Madras Council and Portuguese be persuaded to cooperate. When the Company hesitated, he offered further terms: the English would assist both him and the Nizam with troops to depress the Marathas; in return they would gain exclusive rights to pepper and other trade in his dominions and he would procure for them territory south of the Western Ghats captured in the campaign. Despite his promises to pay expenses and advance large sums, the Bombay Council declined, fearing Maratha retaliation and doubting his military strength. The article situates this correspondence within Hyder Ali’s broader diplomatic manoeuvres and supplements earlier studies of his relations with the British.