southward. In the event of the whole of Major-General Wellesley's detachment being necessarily employed in other directions, a detachment from the army under the immediate command of Lieutenant-General Stuart must be appointed for that service. 57. It will be necessary that the detachments appointed to occupy the ceded districts in Guzerat, and to the southward respectively, should be of sufficient strength to overcome any opposition on the part of the Peishwa's officers, who, in the present inefficient state of the Peishwa's authority, may refuse to obey his Highness's orders for the cession of the territories under their immediate controul; but the commanding officers of those detachments should be instructed to employ every effort to obtain the peaceable surrender of the districts from the persons in charge of them. 58. The government of Bombay will be directed, in concert with you and the Honourable Major-General Wellesley, to appoint the proper officers of collection in the ceded districts in Guzerat, and the government of Fort Saint George will be directed to pursue the same course with respect to the districts ceded to the southward of Poona. 59. Although these instructions are now stated, the Governor-General is aware of the motives which have precluded the government of Fort Saint George from taking possession of the districts ceded by the Peishwa, tɑ the southward of Poona; and his Excellency entirely approves the proceedings of the government of Fort Saint George in that respect. 60. I am directed to suggest to you the expediency of considering the means of inducing the Peishwa tó compensate to the British government for the loss incurred by the delay of the proposed cessions to the southward of Poona. It may indeed be questionable whether the Peishwa might not now be induced to substitute, in place of the cessions (to the southward of Poona) contained in the treaty of Bassein, territories more conveniently situated, and more easy of occupa tion. You will direct your particular attention, in concert with Major-General Wellesley, to this point, and you will advert to the possibility of obtaining a cession of territory for this purpose, either in the Koncan or in Bundelkund. 61. You will be pleased to communicate this dispatch to the Honourable Major General Wellesley his Excellency the Governor-General desires that Major-General Wellesley will consider this dispatch to convey to him instructions on those arrangements described in it, which depend upon him for their accomplishment. 62. Copies of this dispatch will also be transmitted to the governments of Fort Saint George and Bombay, to his Excellency Lieutenant-General Stuart, and to the Residents at Hydrabad and with Dowlut Rao Scindia, for their information and guidance. I have the honour to be, &c. (Signed) N. B. EDMONSTONE, Fort William, 30th May 1803. INCLOSURE (E.) Letter from the Governor General to the Peishwa; To his Highness the Peishwa. Your Highness has been restored to the Musnud of Poona under every circumstance that could tend to provide for the efficient exercise of your authority, to secure your dignity and independence, and to preclude the return of evils similar to those from which your Highness has been happily relieved by the good faith, energy, valour, and power of the British councils, and the British army. The situation in which your Highness has been placed since your departure from Poona, has afforded sufficient experience of the conduct of your ally, to enable you to form a correct judgment of the character and views of the British government, and of the real advantages which must be derived from the treaty of Bassein. Your Highness is therefore prepared to receive, with the confidence of established friendship, a full explanation of the nature and extent of my views and expectations in concluding the late arrangements with your Highness, and of the principles which will uniformly regulate the conduct of the British government towards your Highness, and towards every branch of the Mahratta state. My endeavours have been anxiously employed, for some years past, to establish between your Highness and the British government, such a connection as might secure the stability and efficiency of your Highness's authority, without in jury to the rights of your High ness, or to those of the confede rate chieftains of the Mahratta empire. My efforts for that purpose were renewed at those scasons of difficulty and danger when your independance was controuled, and when the existence of your government was exposed to hazard by the violence, rapacity, and ambition of your feudatory chieftains. Had your Highness then assented to the moderate and salutary propositions which I offered to your acceptance, you could not have been exposed to the disastrous event by which your Highness was expelled from Poona, by which your authority was subverted, your person endangered, and your country and your capital abandoned to devas tation and plunder. Your Ilighness is now convinced that the powerful alliance, which, if seasonably formed, would have averted that calamity, afforded the only means of repairing its injurious consequences, by restoring your Highness to the free exercise of your authority in the state, and to the full enjoyment of your rights, dignity, and independence. Maharaja Dowlut Rao Scindia could not easily have subdued Jeswunt Rao Holkar, whose troops had recently defeated the united armies of your Highness and of Scindia; and your Highness's experience of the controul exercised over your authority by Dowlut Rao Scindia must have convinced you, that even the success of Scindia's arms against the rebel, and your Highness's return to the Musnud of Poona under the protection of Dowlut Rao Scindia, would have been followed by an humiliating subject on of your dignity and power to the controul of one of your Highness's feudatories and servants. In the most desperate crisis of your Highness's affairs, I renew. ed my former proposition to your Highness, with the same limited views and equitable intentions to which it was originally directed. Without waiting your Highness's assent to the articles of the proposed alliance, I immediately adopted the most active measures for the protection of your Highness's person, and for the resto. ration of your authority; and your Highness has remarked with satisfaction the rapid and judicious movement of the British army under Major-General Wellesley, and the extraordinary effort by which that gallant and skilful officer saved your capital from destruction. The conduct of the British government on this occa sion manifests the sincerity of my regard for your Highness's welfare, as well as the justice and moderation of my views. Reflecting on these circumstances, yourlighness will rely on the stability of the alliance which you have wisely framed, and on the good faith, equity, and magnanimity, of the powerful government which I represent. My object is to establish a permanent foundation of general tranquillity in India, by securing to every state the free enjoyment of its just rights and independence, and by frustrating every; roject calculated to disturb the possessions, or to violate the rights of the established power of Hindustan or of the Deccan. My propositions to your Highness were founded on the application of this general principle to the circumstances of your Highness's situation and government, and the stipulations of the treaty of Bassein have been framed exclusively with a view to maintain the general tranquillity of India, by preventing the destruction of your power, and by securing your just rights from violence and usurpation. Under the treaty of Bassein, your Highness is restored to the exercise of your legitimate power on the foundation of the support of the British government. The Company is pledged to protect your Highness's dominions from any encroachment either on the part of your feudatory chieftains, or of any foreign power; at the same time the most effectual secu rity is provided for the preservation of the respective interests and possessions of all the Mahratta chieftains tains within the limits of their separate dominions andauthorities. The late treaty, being exclusively of a defensive nature, imposes no restraint upon any state or power which shall respect the rights and possessions of the British government and its allies; nor can any right or power to interfere in the internal concerns of any of the Mahratta chiefs, be derived from the stipulations of that treaty, beyond the limits of your Highness's legitimate authority, to maintain which is equally the duty of your subjects, feudatories, and allies. The presence of the subsidiary force at Poona will enable your Highness to enforce a due submission to your authority within your immediate dominios, and your Highness is entitled to command the exertion of the whole British power in the event of any emer gency which may require the aid of the Company, for the protection and defence of your government and possessions. It is neither consistent with the principle, nor necessary to the ob. jects of the treaty, that the British government should exercise any interference in the internal affairs of your Highness's immediate government of a nature injurious to your dignity and independence. The amicable right of mediation, which the British government de rives from the treaty of Bassein, is manifestly necessary to the ellectual operation of that general gua. rantee, which constitutes a fundamental principle of the alliance, and which is equally essential to the preservation of your Highness's legitimate authority, and to the security of the just rights and interests of other states. It is not the intention of the British government to claim the exercise of YOL, 6. the right of mediation, excepting in cases expressly warranted by the treaty of Bassein, or in those cases in which the British media tion has been rendered necessary by the measures adopted for the restoration of your Highness to the Musnud of Poona. Your Highness has justly appreciated the zeal, ability, and success of the Honourable Major-General Wellesley, in obtaining the co-operation of several of your Highness's southern Jaghiredars, for the support of your Highness's cause, and in securing their future attachment to your Highness's government. I received with great satisfaction from Lieutenant-Colonel Close, the information of your Highness's declared resolution to distinguish by your favour those among your Jaghiredars, who, on the faith of Major-General Wellesley's assurances, have manifested their attachment to your Highness's cause; and I am happy to learn that your Highness had adopted measures for conciliating the general body of your subordi nate chiefs and Jaghiredars. Your Highness must be sensible that the complete consolidation of your authority must depend, in a considerable degree, upon the success of the measures which you may adopt for the purpose of securing the attachment and duty of your subordinate chiefs and Jaghiredars. On this consideration, I found a confident expectation that your Highness will readily admit the advice and mediation of the British government in fulfilling the equitable claims, and in establishing the just rights and privileges, of that class of your subjects. The stipulation of the treaty, which requires that your Highness M should in protecting the Nizam's dominions from the encroachments and ambitious projects of external enemies. Under the protection of the British power, the government of his Highness the Nizam has enjoyed uninterrupted securi ty, amidst the distractions and disorders which have disturbed. the surrounding states of the Deccan, and which (if the British protection had been withdrawn) must have agitated the Nizam's dominions. Your Highness will not fail to contrast the compara tive order and regularity of the Nizam's government, under the protecting influence of the British power, with the confusions which have distracted the state of Poona, and which must have endangered its existence if your Highness had not solicited, and obtained, the powerful and seasonable protection of the British government. Your Highness will also contrast the condition of your authority and government, under the oppressive controul and unwarrantable usurpation of your own chiefs or servants, with the freedom and independence of his Highness the Nizam's authority, under the operation of his defensive engagements with the Honour. able Company. Faithful to the fundamental principles of the treaties subsisting with the Nizam, the British goverment has invariably limited the exertion of its power to the protection of his Highness's person and government, and has manifested an uniform disposition to maintain inviolate the dignity and power of the Nizam, and to abstain from any infringement of his Highness's just authority within his own dominions. Your Highness will therefore be |