212 THE MARATHAS AND MYSORE

obtained from him a formal grant of the districts to the north of Madras called the Five Circars, which had been assigned by the Mzam to the French, and out of which the English had driven Bussy's garrisons in 1759. The grant cost nothing to an emperor whose sover- eignty had become purely nominal; but these districts, though under British occupation since they had been taken from the French, had never been formally ceded to the English by the Nizam, who, not unreasonably, had taken offence at the transaction. However, being in straits for money and in fear of Hyder Ali, the Mzam was soon pacified by a treaty under which the Madras government pledged themselves rather vaguely to support him in case of war. They also entered into a friendly arrangement with a marauding Maratha chief, who had hired out ten thousand horsemen to the Nizam. Scarcely had the treaty been signed, when Hyder Ali poured a large force into the Haidarabad territory; whereupon the Nizam, acting upon the agreement, at once demanded and obtained from Madras a contingent of troops. Meanwhile, the Maratha chief plundered the Mysore districts on his own account until Hyder Ali bought him off, whereupon he departed home with his booty to evade the Nizam's claim for a share in it. The Nizam next marched, attended by the Madras con- tingent, toward Mysore; but instead of fighting, he came to a private understanding with Hyder Ali, ac- cording to which both turned upon the Company. Some sharp skirmishing followed, in which the Nizam