your Lordship, of suggesting the augmentation of the cavalry in the service of the Rajah of Mysore, in the present situation of affairs, appears to me to be extremely proper. 6. I entirely approve the tenor of your Lordship's instructions to the Honourable Major General Wellesley, under date the 8th and 10th of December, for the regulation of his conduct towards the commander of the Peishwa's southern army, and the Mahratta chieftains situated near the frontier of Mysore. Until a necessity shall arise for the advance of the British army into the Mahratta territory, the junction of the Peishwa's troops would not only be premature, but would be productive of considerable embarrassment and inconvenience, while the interests and disposition of the commander of the Peishwa's troops appear to afford sufficient security for the co-operation of the force under his command, whenover the course of events may render that co-operation desirable. No. 1. 7. I am now employed in con sidering the means of raising additional funds for the provision of the investment, under the Presidency of Fort St. George, in order to supply the deficiency which may be occasioned by the present military preparations at that Presidency. 8. I entirely approve the measure of augmenting the regiment of cavalry stationed at Hydrabad to the war establishment. 9. I have the honour to transmit inclosed for your Lordship's information, a copy of my instructions of this date, to the Resident at Poona. I have the honour to be, &c. 30th Dec. 1802. (A true Copy.) INCLOSURES IN (B.) Letter from Dowlut Rao Scindia to the Governor General; dated and received the 13th December, 1802. YOUR Lordship will certainly have heard, by the papers of intelligence, of the misconduct of Jeswunt Rao Holkar, and of the events at Poona. Immediately on being apprized thereof I again marched from Ougein, towards Deccan, with the intention of proceeding thither for the purpose of quelling the disturbances, and of arranging the disordered affairs of that quarter. As the union subsisting between the two govern ments has rendered it an established practice between them to write information of the state of affairs, I have written the foregoing circumstances with the pen of friendship for your Lordship's information.. My kind friend, having now occasion to return to Deccan, and the limits of the territories of the two states being every where contiguous, I request, in the spirit of union, that strict injunctions may be written to the respective public officers stationed at the several places belonging to the Company, requiring them constantly to keep in view a regard to to the union of the two states. And whereas no distinction whatever subsists between the govern ment of his lighness the Peishwa and that of the Company, and I am the guarantee thereof, please God, it is certain that your Lordship, who holds the supreme authority over the affairs of the Company, who is distinguished for wisdom and foresight, and who is singular in this age in the observance of the dues of friendship, will on every occasion render the corroboration of the foundations of attachment and union, and the maintenance of the obligations of friendship and regard with respect to his Highness the Peishwa on the part of the Company as heretofore, and conformably to existing engagements in concert and concurrence with me, the objects of your attention, and give those objects a place in your friendly mind. (A true translation.) (Signed) N. B. EDMONSTONE, Pers. Sec. to Gov. No. 2. Letter from Amrut Rao to the Governor General ;* dated und received the 19th December 1802. YOUR Lordship will have heard by means of the papers of intelligence from Poona of the circumstances of the engagement which in consequence of certain disagreements, has lately taken place at the distance of three coss from Poona, between Ashrount Rao Holkar, and the officers of Dow lut Rao Scindia. My esteemed and beloved brother Pundit Purdhaun, however, has been induced by the representations of several short-sighted persons, and by the evil society of men of weak understanding, to proceed to the fort of Mhar, in the Koncan, in conse quence of which Holkar detached a body of troops, and brought me to Poona, where he had the honour of paying his respects to me. He has represented to me the sentiments of pure devotion and sincere attachment. Letters were therefore dispatched to Pundit Purdhaun, inviting him to return to this place. As the Company's Sircar, and this exalted Sircar, are firmly connected by the ties of friendship and unanimity, this is written for your Lordship's information. At this time Colonel Close has had the honour of taking leave. The obligations of friendship and cordial attachment require, that agreeably to established usage, a confidential person of rank be appointed to this Sircar on the part of the Company, in quality of Resident, as being highly proper, and seemingly with reference to existing union and friendship. Let your Lordship constantly gratify me with letters denoting your welfare. What more need be written? From Morabe Furnevces, and Raba Churkia, Of the same tenor as the. foregoing. (True Translation.) (Signed) N. B. EDMONSTONE, Sec. to Gov. *This letter bears precisely the same address as that which the Peishwa uses to the Governor-General, and is written in the same hand as are all the Peish wa's letters to his Excellency. Halkar is here styled Sippeh Saulaur, or commander, probably with reference to the projected arrangement by which that office was to be conferred on kim. The No. 3. Letter from the Resident with Doxlut Rao Scindia to the Governor General; dated the 11th December 1802. To his Excellency the Most Noble Richard Marquis Wellesley, K. P. My Lord, I HAVE the honour to forward three Khareetahs to the address of your Excellency from Maharaja Dowlut Rao Scindia, Cashee Rao Holkar, and Raja Zalim Sing. 2. Scindia is at present encamped midway between Ougein and the Nurbuddah. Ambajee Rao has joined the Maharaja, as also the Bhyes, both which events have caused general satisfaction at Scindia's Durbar. Ambajee Rao has reinforced the army of his prince with thirteen hundred cavalry, seven thousand infantry, regulars, and thirty-two guns. This force i under the command of twelve European officers, mostly English, I understand. 3. Jeswunt Rao Holkar has written to Ambajee, soliciting his mediation in negotiating peace between him and Scindia, observing at the same time, that a continuance of the present war must eventually prove destructive to the Mahratta empire. Holkar has likewise apprized Scindia that the Peishwa is pursuing measures of a ruinous tendency, meaning, I apprehend, Baajy Rao's application for the aid of a military force from the British government, and strongly urges the Maharaja to dissuade the Peishwa from entering into any engagements which may be adverse to those principles by which the ascendancy of the Mahratta State has been so long maintained in the Deccan. to 4. I have been detained here some days, waiting the arrival of two companies of Sepoys, and two guns, &c. which were ordered from Cawnpore to complete my escort, but did not reach Futteh Ghur until this morning; morrow there will be a survey ta ken of the cattle, ammunition, and stores, and on the following day I trust I shall commence my march towards the court of Dowlut Rao Scindia. 5. Captain Robert Campbell being reported sick, his Excellency the Commander in Chief has been pleased, at my request, to nominate Captain Daniel Lyons to the charge of my escort. I have the honour to be, with the highest respect, My Lord, * Private, dated 14th Nov. 1802,-Ditto, dated 16th.-No. 50, dated 16th. cate cate to you his Excellency's entire approbation of the judgment and firmness with which you resisted the repeated endeavours of Amrut Rao and Holkar, to discover the system of policy which the British government would probably adopt in the present situation of the affairs of the Mahratta empire, and to induce you, as the representative of the British government in India, to countenance the measures which those chieftains might pursue, for the purpose of confirming the late revolution in the government of Poona From the tenor of his Excellency's instructions under date the 29th ultimo, you will have anticipated his Excellency's satisfaction at the intelligence of your arrival at Bombay. His Excellency also entirely approves the tenor of your address of the 22d ult. to the Hon. the Governor of Bombay, suggest ing the expediency of obtaining from his Highness the Peishwa kis recognition of the engagement concluded between his Highness and you on the 25th of October previously to his embarkation for one of his own ports under the protection of the British flag. 3. His Excellency observes, with great satisfaction, the solicitude of Amru: Rao and Jeswunt Rao Holkar, for the preservation of the friendship of the British government, and the direct application made by Holkar, for your mediation of differences between the Peishwa and him. His Excellency entirely approves your answers to Amrut Rao and Holkar on that occasion. 4. Your endeavours to obtain copies of the letters addressed to his Excellency by Amrut Rao, Moraba Furnavees, and Baba Phurkia, and transmitted in your letter to the Persian department under date the 28th ultimo, having failed of success, I inclose, by his Excellency's direction, a copy and translation of those letters for your information. The tenor of them evidently indicates the actual assumption of the authority of the goverment by Emrut Rao, and directly conveys an application for the countenance and support of this government in that assumption, by expressing a desire for the nomination of a Resident at the court of Poona, in consequence of your departure from that capital. 5. I also transmit inclosed a copy and translation of a letter which his Excellency has received from Dowlut Rao Scindia, expressive of his solicitude for the continuance of the friendship of the British government, both towards that chieftain and the Peishwa, and for the co-operation of the British government in the present crisis of the affairs of the Mahratta empire. 6. This appeal to the British power from all parties concerned in the actual commotions of the Mahratta states appeals to his Excellency to afford as favourable an opportunity for successful and pacific mediation as could be expected to occur under the known views and disposition of Scindia and Holkar, and the experienced instability of the Peishwa's character. 7. Notwithstanding the Peishwa's recent recognition of his engagements with you, his Excel To the Secretary, dated 16th.-No. 51. dated 17th.--No, 52. dated 22d.—To the Secretary, dated 24th.-No. 53, dated 28th. To the Secretary, dated 4th December.—No. 51, dated 4th.-No. 55, dated 7th. YOL. 6. #G lency fency the Governor General is induced to apprehend, from the general tenor of the information contained in your dispatches, and from the character and disposition of the Peishwa, that his Highness is more disposed to rely on the exertions of Scindia than on those of the British government, for his restoration to the Musaud of Poona, and that the Peishwa may avail himself of any opportunity which the future successes of Scindia, or the position of Scindia's troops may afford, of deriving protection and support from the arms of that chieftain. In this expectation his Highness may possibly evade the conclusion of a definitive treaty on the basis of the preliminary engagement, and relying on the security of his actual position, refuse to place himself under the protection of the British government, to avail himself of its exertions, for the restoration of his authority. This result will be rendered still more probable by an accommodation between Scindia and Holkar. 8. The intelligence contained in a dispatch from the Resident with Dowlut Rao Scindia, under date the 19th instant (of which a copy is inclosed) strongly indicates the probability of that event; and it is apparent, that the principal inducement, both of Scindia and Holkar, to enter into such accommodation, is the apprehension which they entertain of the interference of the British power for the restoration and establishment of the Peishwa's authority. It may be expected, therefore, that an accommodation between those chieftains will be accompanied by proposals to the Peishwa, under the mediation and guarantee of Scindia, of a nature which his Highness may be disposed to accept, rather than be indebted for the restoration of his authority to the interposition of the British government. 9. Under the circumstances of the actual conclusion of the defensive engagements between the British government and the Peishwa, and the adoption of active measures on the part of the British government in conformity to those engagements, and on the faith of the Peishwa's adherence to the stipulations of them, his Excellency considers that we possess a decided right to require the Peishwa's adherence to the obligations of those engagements under any contingency whatever, and to secure to the British go vernment the benefits of the ar rangement. In the event supposed therefore, his Excellency directs that you will intimate to the Peishwa, that, as the Governor General has not only ratified the preliminary engagement concluded between his Highness and you, but has proceeded to act in conformity to the obligations which it imposes upon the British government, and to incur considerable expence, his Excellency will consider the Peishwa's refusal to conclude a definitive treaty on the basis of that engagement, and to abide by its stipulations, to be a violation of public faith. That under those circumstances, his Excellency will deem himself at liberty to pursue such a course of policy as may appear to his Excellency to be advisable in the actual situation of affairs, for the security of the interests of the British government, and of its allies. It may also be proper to intimate to the Peishwa on this occasion, that, with a view to preclude |